уАКNumber One Dungeon SupplierуАЛ


 Chapter 1 Welcome to the System

    <h4>Chapter 1 Wee to the System</h4>

    "Jin, I guess if you''re reading this letter, then I''m already dead."

    Xie Jin gripped the letter tightly as its words hit him. He continued to pack up the furniture and other odds and ends that were left behind in the almost-empty house of his grandfather, Xie Ming, who had passed on recently.

    Thewyer who was handling the inheritance of his only caretaker had given Jin a key to open his grandfather''s safe. Jin''s mother had given birth to him when both she and her partner were in theirte teens, but unfortunately, they were brutally murdered by a rogue, psychopathic cultivator.

    That''s right. In today''s world, anyone could be a cultivator so long as they had the potential. Those with sufficient cultivation could run at high speeds that rivalled modern-day transportation systems or even fly. That said, public transport was still avable for bothmoners and cultivators anyway.

    However, that did not mean thatmoners (those who were without cultivation, or who had not yet awakened their abilities) were at a disadvantage against modern-day cultivators.

    In the interest of keeping safety and order, the top ten most supreme cultivators during the golden age of cultivation had convened and acted on their collective wisdom, thus drastically changing thews of nature. As a consequence, all babies that were born after that change had their Dantian chi point solidified, and all humans бк cultivated or otherwise бк could never truly be killed.

    This meant that if someone (whethermoner or cultivator) was used wrongly, or killed due to coteral damage from another cultivator''s fight, they could be resurrected. However, the cost of resurrection was prohibitive, and not only because of the money involved in doing so.

    There were rituals that needed to be done, expensive but obtainable materials that were required for the resurrection process, and experts that had to be hired as well for the after-resurrection care. The hospitals and rescue services would not resurrect someone unless the person killed was cleared by the court as innocent.

    Hence, thew was strict and the penalties against cultivators who hadmitted a felony were extremely harsh. With an entire eco-cycle being developed around this neww of nature,moners and cultivators alike could progress better together. This subsequently brought upon the age of innovation and modified science, which made life easier for everyone.

    However, that did not mean cultivators were not allowed to fight; rather, they now fought at their own risk. As long as duel pacts were initiated properly and the parties had settled the arrangements for resurrection rituals, the government would not use them of murder.

    Duels used to require a third party witness. Thanks to the advent of modern technology and the numerous security cameras in ce, all that cultivators needed to do now were merely to apply online via a phone app.

    Unfortunately for Jin''s parents, a psychopathic cultivator had, through an old defunct cult, found a way to circumvent thew of nature and managed to destroy their Dantian permanently бк eliminating all possibility of resurrection. They were the first andst victims as Jin''s grandfather, Ming, was a two-star General, and on that score, the police and military cultivators mercilessly hunted the rogue cultivator down with extreme prejudice. The case wasterbelled highly ssified in order to keep the public unaware of the existence of a method that could destroy the Dantian.

    The paternal side of Jin''s family did not approve of the actions of their son, and would neither acknowledge his existence nor partake in any responsibilities concerning him. Ming, being the prideful general that he was, could not care any less for pity or what Jin''s paternal side thought of him, and he took on the full responsibility of bringing up his grandson.

    In order to take care of Jin, Ming stepped down from his long military service and opted to live a humble life with his grandson. Jin''s grandmother passed away at a young age, and so his grandfather was the only rtive who took care of him. Ming knew that his daughter and his son inw-to-be were deeply in love and that they had been determined to make amends for that moment of recklessness.

    "Jin, you are now 23 years of age. I want you to understand that no matter how highly cultivated one can be, it is impossible to beat the Grim Reaper and the onset of illness. Also, I am leaving this terrace house to you. Worry not about the near future, for the house has already been paid for and there is definitely enough money in the bank for you to live veryfortably for a few years."

    "However, I know that you have always wanted to be self-sufficient бк and an entrepreneur, at that! I me my old habitsбн in truth, I have been monitoring what you were surfing online, so I knew what you wanted to be even though you were trying to keep it hidden from me. (Ahem бк your taste in girls is nearly the same as mine, and I strongly approve.)" Jin did not know whether he shouldugh or cry, but he read on.

    "Instead of giving you my full inheritance, I have had it locked. Mywyer will give it to you portion by portion when you fulfil the conditions that I have in mind. I bought a piece ofnd right beside the shopping street that we often visit for you to create what you want. It should be sufficient for future expansions as well." Jin''s eyes welled with tears a little, recognising and appreciating his grandfather''s great concern, effort and love.

    "Lastly, there is a very special secret that I have saved specially for you. Even the military does not know about this бк a secret which I am keeping to the grave. It served me well."

    The letter ended there. Jin checked the envelope again, remembering that there was a bolt of silk inside. He took out the beautiful cloth and unfolded it. Wrapped within was yet another piece of paper, but this time, it was covered in an encrypted code. A special one, homebrewed by Ming and Jin, and they alone knew the encryption algorithm. Jin wiped away his tears and started to decode the hidden letter.

    The code was unusually difficult. The hardest decryption that Jin had attempted prior to this had taken him half an hour at the very most. However, this time, his grandfather had sneakily introduced a new element to the algorithm, something that he did from time to time.

    Jin persevered. To his relief, he seeded in breaking the code after one and a half hours, but all his efforts resulted in a mere four words out of many sentences of gibberish.

    "Wee to the System." Jin read aloud.

    Without warning, an intense pain shot and coursed through his whole body. Jin immediately fell to the ground and started convulsing. As though a pair of invisible hands were choking him, Jin was unable to utter a single word, much less call for help. Next, waves of high-tension headaches racked his brain, making him feel like his brain was going to explode. The five seconds that had passed in reality seemed like five decades of pain to Jin, but when it stopped, a serene feeling passed through him.

    He took a deep breath and heard a sweet, heavenly voice that felt ever so familiar.

    "Wee to the System, Jin. I have analysed your dreams and desires and have made certain adjustments to the System as per my father''s requests."

    "Your father... ?" Jin asked, dazed and sprawled on the floor. "Does that mean that you are my mom?"

    "In a way, yes, I was Yun Er, your mother. Ming had this system module installed in him before I was born, but he used it only when he felt it necessary because he felt like it did not suit him at all."

    "Later, he made a request to the System, and thus managed to extract the remaining spirit of me from my broken Dantian, which was fused into the System. Subsequently, the System acknowledged my presence, cing me as the person in charge." Yun''s melodious voice rang out gently and clearly within Jin''s mind.

    "When you say the System, you mean the System referenced in fantasy novels? THAT System? Such things exist?" Jin''s mouth was agape with astonishment.

    "That is correct. Your grandfather was chosen by the System, but he did not wish to utilise the System, becauseбк" Yun paused. "...it was not what he wanted. The system is more useful for the purposes of business-building rather than pursuing cultivation, which was what your grandfather was passionate about."

    "So... should I call you Mom?" Jin hesitated a little but decided to speak his thoughts.

    "Just call me Yun. I have no rights to be called your mother as I have no recollection of you being my child. The system informed me that it was part of the consequences of spirit transference when the Dantian is broken."

    "Okay, Yun it is." Jin finally sat up, and a screen appeared in front of him. "Thank you for weing me. So what does this system do?"

    "It will make you the number one Dungeon Supplier." Yun''s voice had a twinge of happiness to it as she said the words.

    .

    .

 Chapter 2 Handphone

    <h4>Chapter 2 Handphone</h4>

    "So he really did know that I wished to be a dungeon supplier. I thought I kept it secret." Jin whispered. The dungeon supplier is one of the most uing and lucrative jobs that a number of cultivators wished to be.

    What is a dungeon supplier? A question an averagemoner would usually ask when modern cultivators described their hobbies to them. The dungeon supplier profession existed ever since the enforcement of strictws to keep the wildlife in check.

    With the advent of resurrection, cultivators started to be reckless in their pursuit of cultivating. In the past, most cultivators would fight against the wildlife at their own risk. They would group and band together to fight against monsters previously impossible due to their high cultivation levels which caused a threat to the cultivators'' life.

    The resurrection procedure allowed them to be bolder and those rich cultivators would keep trying against those high levelled monsters to bring more riches in because of the rare resources they salvaged from the rare monsters.

    However, these hunts caused a disruption in the wildlife food chain and the enforcement ofws made it illegal to hunt most of the wildlife without a permit. That''s where the profession of dungeon supplieres in.

    High levelled cultivators in the past created a dimension space, which allowed them to replicate the monsters that were living in the wild. These dimension spaces gave new cultivators the chance to practice against seemingly real monsters to enhance their familiarity with real-lifebat as well as help them develop new strategies. These were initially avable in famous sects until someone decided to do it as a business.

    Hence, the dungeon supplier profession arose. The dimension space was not per say a dungeon but it was more of an instance. Cultivators based on their experience fighting against the monsters will replicate the same monster into the dimension space.

    He takes a fee for a cultivator or a group of cultivators to fight the monsters. The good thing about the dimension space was that if the monsters were stronger than the cultivators and seeded in ''killing'' the cultivators, all the participating cultivators suffered were days of unconsciousness.

    As the dungeon supplier business booms, various kinds of dungeons were created to appeal to the new market. Technology started to be incorporated into the dimension spaces which allowed low levels cultivators to fight against ''rare'' monsters at a lower difficulty.

    Some cultivators in the business even fused the magic of dimension space with technology to create all new monsters for cultivators to fight against. Some business even gave rewards forpleting the dungeon or instances. However, the market started to be diluted with more or less the same type of monsters. The fights or forms of fighting were more or less scripted but people still like a dose of a fight to release pent-up stress.

    With the current technology,moners can even experience what it is like to be a cultivator and some even managed to awaken as one, making the dungeon supplier job a fairly lucrative one. However, the conditions to be a dungeon supplier gets harder with each year.

    The use of technology made it expensive to maintain if the businessman''s cultivation is low. The alternative was to get into the vocational school for dungeon suppliers which required a high cultivation and grades to learn about the dimension space. The course itself was not cheap either.

    Jin wanted to be a dungeon supplier in order to get creative authentic feelings he felt fighting the dimension space Ming had summoned. Ming had much experience in the army so fighting monsters were his bread and butter. His friend gave him a scroll that contained a dimension space and Ming decided to show Jin how real monsters can behave.

    The goblin Jin fought gave him jitters to this day but the experience was extremely exhrating. It could not bepared to the current dungeon suppliers in the market. Jin even tried the ''most authentic'' five stars dungeon supplier that grandfather Ming brought him to on his 21st birthday but it was still inferior.

    Ming said the monsters were a reflection of the cultivator''s experience. He had been fighting goblins for years when he was just an infantry soldier so he knew its strengths and weakness. "Nothing can be more authentic than the thing that is fighting desperately for the sake of its own survival." Ming had once said.

    As Jin was staring into space, he had totally forgotten about the screen that was in front of him. It was blinking white and ck, telling Jin to ce his phone in front of the screen. Jin did what he was told taking his handphone out of his pocket and cing it on the screen.

    The handphone fits nicely onto the screen. It instructed Jin to remove his hand while leaving the phone on the screen. He was a little sceptical but he believed that the Systems he read about had their own quirks. Therefore, he released his hand and the handphone was floating in mid-air while stuck to the screen.

    Jin was amazed when he saw his handphone starting to change its shape slowly. It got a littlerger like thetest Zamzung Note 55 but was ck in colour with a carbon fibre coating along with a sleek back cover. In a minute, the screen of the phone blinked and a progress bar appeared as if it was installing something.

    The instation was fast and the screen immediately asked for a fingerprint. "Jin, you can pick it up now," Yun said in his head. Jin picked the phone up and the ck and white screen where the phone was being held disappeared.

    He ced his left thumb on the allocated slot provided by the phone and it epted the print. The phone subsequently asked for a retina scan and he gave the phone what it asked of him. After scanning both of his eyes, the phone restarted and showed a weird OS picture of a sleeping panda instead of the standard Ant-droid picture.

    "Ehh Yun, mind exining? What did the System do to my phone?" Jin questioned.

    "Jin, the System transferred some of its capabilities to your phone for easy ess and usage as you start out as a young budding dungeon supplier," Yun replied.

    The phone went to its home screen and Jin did not see much of a difference but a notification appeared in front of it as if the phone was trying tomunicate with Jin.

    "The phone will now automatically unlock itself when you are viewing it. No one else will be able to ess your phone since the phone now requires the touch of your hand and the look from your eyes. -Yun"

    "So you canmunicate me via the phone or through my head?"

    "I can do both depending on the situation, so you will not look like a fool in public. Ming had some weird gazes back when he was using the System. It was amusing, to say the least. Hahaha!" Yun gave a smiley emoji on the phone.

    "So what else can this new phone do?" Jin asked and a multiple number of messages appeared.

    "A lot, firstly the specs of this phone had been upgraded to the 10 times stronger than the strongest current PC configuration in the world. It is even stronger than theputers handling the particle elerators. It will upgrade the hardware by itself when necessary."

    "You will never need to charge this phone ever again. The battery life is infinite and you do not need to worry about damaging it. The screen is of top military grade and is able to stop a bullet. You can drop the phone from 101 floors, and the cover of the phone will protect the phone."

    "In the event, it gets damaged, the System will change it for you again on the spot," Yun added a happy :D emoji in the text too.

    "What this phone ultimately does is to serve as an aiding tool for you to be the best dungeon supplier your grandfather wants you to be. You can take a look in the phone menu."

    Jin noticed that there were many new apps in the phone which he should slowly go through. He felt curious when he saw an app called ''Personal Stats''.

    He pressed on it and a stressed panda looking at a clipboard appeared as the starting screen for the app.

    *********

    Name: Xie Jin

    Profession: Dungeon Supplier wannabe

    Cultivation Level: Grade II

    Monsters: Nil

    Dungeon: Nil

    **********

    He looked at how pathetically empty his stats were and decided to press the home button to try another app but Yun stopped him and told him to go to the Missions App directly.

    There, he saw a number of missions avable for him but found two that were in red, indicating high importance. "Get your first monster!" and "Get your store up and running!"

    "Looks like I will try the mission ''get your first monster!'' first." Jin tapped on the phone again and a list of conditions appeared in front of him before a big red button appeared at the bottom stating Mission Start. "I guess this is the start of everything." Jin put his phone down on the table and excitedly ran into his room to get geared up.

    .

    .

 Chapter 3 First Mission

    <h4>Chapter 3 First Mission</h4>

    Jin went into his room to change his clothes into something more suitable forbat. The clothes were slightly enhanced with some defensive inscription magic and had leather pads in the joint areas.

    He also took out his Grade 1 iron sword that he had since high school. He could have bought a Grade 2 weapon but he was too used to the weight of the iron sword and it was given to him by his grandfather Ming.

    Perhaps, he had yet to ept the fact that he had really lost his grandfather and holding this sword gave him some closure. Regardless, it had been some time since he used itst due to the intense workload at university and this was the only weapon he had familiarity with.

    Now that he was nearly graduating from his degree course inputer engineering, he suddenly pondered whether it was wise of him to go into battle just like this. Although a Grade 2 cultivation was average for his age, there were talented people that had Grade 5 or 6 cultivation.

    In China, the province of Guangdong, Shenzhen where he was living, the cultivation grades goes up to Grade 20. Grade 20 was the highest that the most supreme being had ever reached and recorded. There was only one cultivator ever to reach to Grade 20 in China''s history. His name was Lu Guan Yu and he was the one who proposed the change in thews of nature to letmoners have a better standing against the cultivators.

    Other countries had simr cultivation grades but some might be using a different system. To quote an example would be like the metric system versus the imperial system. To date, most countries adopted China''s cultivation system because of its simplicity in measuring strength and power.

    "Yun, I do not think I am able to do this." Jin took out his iron sword from the scabbard and gave it a few swings. His confidence wanes a little as he knew the swing was not as strong as it used to be.

    "Jin, if you give up now, you are disappointing not just your grandfather but yourself too. If not now then when? When are you ever prepared? Tomorrow? Ten yearster?" Yun said in his head and Jin felt like Yun started to act like a mother which that he never had.

    "Besides, you have yet to explore the functions of your new handphone, why are you so discouraged so soon."

    Jin went back to the living room and picked his phone up to read the list of conditions at the current mission screen.

    *********

    Mission 1: Capture a goblin.

    Many viewed goblins as mundane monsters that are not worth fighting. They did not realise how goblins can be as intelligent as a normal human being and they gain experience fighting against them. Capture a goblin and through training, the goblin will be a menace to even high cultivators in time toe. You are allowed to use one Betor.

    Optional objectives: Catch a variety of goblin sses (at least three different sses)

    Rewards: A Grade 1 Boss monster for your 1st instance.

    ********

    "What''s a Betor?" Jin asked Yun which she immediately responded by closing the mission app and automatically went further down the phone''s menu. An app with the name "Betors" was on it. Jin tapped it and the starting screen had a panda carrying a sword and shield while wearing a roman full helmet. The app loaded and rectangr grey boxes appeared as if trying to say that the content behind it was locked.

    "I will randomly unlock a Betor to apany you for this trip. Other Betors will need to be paid for by you to be unlocked." Yun casually said while the phone screen received a notification. He tapped on it again and a panda holding a gift box for him appeared.

    Jin tapped on the gift box and a magical circle summoning loading screen popped up. It was simr to what he usually saw in those mobile game apps. A grey light flickered in the magical circle before ady with a simple white robe held onto a book surfaced from the magical circle.

    "Betor meant warrior in Latin, fearing none and feared by all. These fearless warriors will only be loyal to you and only you. They will follow you to death if necessary. Of course, resurrection is possible, you just have to bear the cost." Yun giggled a little.

    Suddenly, thedy in the phone jumped out from the screen and into reality. Seeing how a slender lookingdy appeared out from Jin''s phone, he was not prepared to hold onto her properly and both of them fell.

    Jin recollected himself and realised thedy was clumsily sitting on his chest. "Hi Master, my name is Milk, I am of the ss acolyte which can cast holy magic. Still a beginner though! So it will be a pleasure to work with you!" Milk grabbed Jin''s right hand and shook it vigorously.

    "Ehh, Ms Milk, you can first get off my chest."

    "Am I that heavy!?" Milk pouted and crossed her arms right below her breast as if it was supporting it. Jin felt her weight even more as she rxes but he could not help and sensed a tree growing in hisher regions.

    "No no no, it is just that I like to formally greet my-"

    "AH! You are blushing, aren''t you!" Milk slowly ced her face closer towards Jin, making him feel more ufortable.

    "Yes, yes I am blushing." Jin turned his head to the right as he answered to Milk.

    "Hahaha, at least you are honest enough, I will let you off this time." Milk stood up and patted her robes a little.

    "Anyways, yes I am Milk, a Grade 2 cultivator too. I will like to be at the backline supporting you but that does not mean I cannot hold my weight in a one to one fight when necessary. Just remember to rescue me, Master." Milk gave an aegyo face while holding her book on her chest while pushing her sses up. The smooth long brown hairplemented the look, which made Jin stared nkly for a little while.

    He quickly came back to reality and took a look at his mission app once again. He did not know what he would face but without the courage to step forward, he would not be able to start his dream as a dungeon supplier.

    Jin asked whether Milk was ready before he pressed the red big button at the bottom of the mission screen after reading the conditions again.

    The screen on the phone turned yellow with ck stripes indicating "CAUTION, GATE OPENING." The phone flew out of Jin''s hand and an eastern magic circle appeared from the phone. It created an opening akin to a small portal which subsequently sucked both Jin and Milk into an all-new region with sparse forests.

    "The mission has teleported you to the goblin parallel world where goblins ruled the area. Humans are their enemies and the rebel resistance against them. You will find true goblins worthy to be part of your dungeons." Yun said.

    "I am starting to believe those fantasy novels are stories recounted by people who really encounter them." Jin took a gulp of his saliva and heard footsteps from afar with the heightened senses he had cultivated in Grade 2. There were at least four or five individuals, with one dded in armour.

    "Let''s bash some goblin''s skulls Master." Milk looked a little too sinister to be an acolyte. If one had not known her, they might that she was a fraud.

    Jin nodded and unsheathed his sword from his scabbard.

    .

    .

 Chapter 4 Grade 2 Meant Something

    <h4>Chapter 4 Grade 2 Meant Something</h4>

    Jin did not have a cultivation technique, which was unlike most of the Grade 2 cultivators. His grandfather Ming had noted that Jin had a great cultivation potential but even with his years of experience in the army, Ming could not find a suitable and decent cultivation technique for him. Hence, under Ming''s tutge, Jin trained by taking bits from a variety of cultivation manuals and martial arts to strengthen his body and his senses.

    He increased his speed through the teachings of the Leopard Pounce Style, bolstered his strength through the Robust Bull Style and gained heightened sense from the yful typus Style. His potential and hard work allowed him to move into Grade 2 when his body tempering of various styles showed its effect.

    The weakness of such mixture of styles is that Jin could reach Grade 2, at most Grade 3. Ming decided to do this was to give Jin a strong foundation before he took on a cultivation worthy of his potential. Unfortunately, Ming passed away before he could fully research on a good cultivation manual for Jin to use.

    With his senses heightened from the yful typus style, he was able to deduce that the goblins were tired and looking for a ce to rest. If they strike now, he might have an advantage against them.

    He did not know whether the goblins themselves had cultivation or not since anything was possible. Regardless, he moved forward using the steps of a leopard and with a goblin in sight, he struck his sword down. Two slightly blurry beige coloured human silhouettes appeared behind Jin as he struck his sword against the unaware goblin.

    The number of silhouettes showed the grade Jin was in. The colour of silhouettes showed the degree of strength Jin had in that particr grade and the human silhouettes indicated the type of cultivation Jin was using. Since Jin was not using any, his powers indicated a human silhouette instead.

    If a cultivator used a Tiger cultivation technique at the peak of Grade 2, the user is able to show two lively tigers with highly defined coloured silhouettes. Something simr to an image seen in 4K HDR resolution. Likewise, if a cultivator just reached and obtained a Grade 2 cultivation level using the Snake cultivation technique, two snakes silhouettes will appear but they would appear extremely grainy, blurred and in ck and white.

    Hence in a Grade itself, there was some degree of power difference which the cultivators differentiated themselves.

    To his surprise, the goblin nearly died from the sudden ambush and its pulse turned very weak in an instant. "Quickly Jin! Throw the phone at it! Do not let it die out!" Yun shouted within Jin''s head. In a reflex move, Jin threw the phone at the dying goblin.

    Yun managed to switch the phone''s app in time to "Hunt! Hunt!" If one could look properly at the starting screen as Jin threw the phone, a panda wore a survival hat carrying a was shown in it. The phone hit the dying goblin and the goblin was absorbed into the phone. The screen suddenly showed a loading progress bar.

    "Taming in process, please hold." The bar continued to be filled until it reached 100%.

    "Capturedplete, please view Monster Card." The phone immediately flew back to Jin and he looked at the startled four goblins left. One was a spear wielder, a crossbow user, a cloaked goblin and a goblin carrying a bunch of items.

    "Missionplete, do you wish to stay on longer toplete the optional objectives?" Yun asked objectively. "Let me try those optional ones." Jin was getting pumped up. It was a long time he felt this way.

    The spear goblin went forth and gave a strong thrust towards Jin but he was able to dodge it barely in time. "Looks like I reallycked the practice." Jin took a step forward using the Leopard pounce and hit the spear goblin with the hilt of the sword with his right hand. He managed to stun it for a second, hence taking the chance to disarm the goblin by pulling the spear with his left hand.

    Jin suddenly sensed a projectileing towards him so he hid behind the spear goblin using it as a shield. Despite being in pain, the spear goblin took this opportunity to bite into Jin''s left shoulder.

    He shouted with some agony but continued his actions. He knew if he died here, it would just be so shameful as a Grade 2. Jin, therefore, gathered his strength via the Robust Bull Style and plunged the Grade 1 iron sword into the goblin with the two human silhouettes appearing behind him again.

    Jin let go of the spear that he was trying to disarm and pulled his handphone from the side of his waist pouch. He gathered his strength and punched the goblin with his left hand that held the handphone.

    The handphone app was remotely controlled by Yun so she once again activated the capture. The goblin was eventually captured by the phone again and the taming process was sessful.

    "Three moreбн! Wait where did the cloaked goblin go?" Jin suddenly felt an intent to kill from behind. He quickly turned his body and through basic electroreception training he had from the yful typus Style, he estimated where the attack wasing from.

    -Clink!-

    Jin noticed that the cloaked goblin was masked as he saw some green liquid came off from the dagger when it collided with the sword. "Poison!?" Jin staggered a little and the dagger goblin stepped backwards andter lost into the forest.

    "Master, Heal up!" Milk finished casting from her book and a sphere with an aura of healing was generated in front of Jin. As long as Jin was around it, he would receive boosted regeneration. Jin noticed his fatigue was slightly removed and the bite wound he received from the goblin closed up.

    The dagger goblin noticed that Jin was not the only one around and the battle could have been won if not for the assistance of Milk. Hence, it quickly changed its target to Milk and dashed towards her.

    Milk on the hand was not afraid as if she was expecting the attack. Jin realised his Leopard Style was not fast enough to even catch a goblin without cultivation but Milk had a "Leave it to me Master" kind of face.

    True enough, as the dagger goblin pounced towards Milk, a light barrier stopped the goblin with the poisoned daggers in its track. Milk had cast ''Holy Shield'' before casting ''Minor Healing'' towards Jin.

    Milk then took the book she was holding and bashed it into the dagger goblin''s head. To Jin''s amazement, two highly defined coloured angel silhouettes appeared behind Milk as she did that. An indent appeared in the dagger goblin''s head and the book was stained with blood and brain mass.

    Jin did not forget and immediately threw the phone towards the goblin. The goblin was sessfully captured and tamed in an instant. "Optional Objectivespleted, initiating the return," Yun said in Jin''s head and he disappeared right before an iing crossbow arrow missed its target.

    When Jin opened his eyes and found that he was back at the house, he was panting a little and found his clothes stained with some blood. Milk looked at her book that still had some of the goblin''s brain on it. "Master, since the hunt is done do call me again when you need my help! I had fun!"

    Milk touched the handphone that Jin was holding and her presence was gone. "I guess being a high-level Grade 2 did mean something. I have to buck up more." Jin mumbled to himself.

    "Yes Jin, your performance was below expectations," Yun said in a straight voice.

    "Still, youpleted your mission and I will issue you your rewards ordingly."

    .

    .

 Chapter 5 Nineteen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique

    <h4>Chapter 5 Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique</h4>

    "Please receive your rewards in your phone, Jin" Yun said to him in a little impatient tone. She seemed excited to let Jin get his rewards. Jin took out his phone again and realised that the phone was still sparkling clean.

    "Oh if you are wondering, yes the phone disinfect itself every five minutes. It''s a weird function but nheless, effective." Yun interjected her thoughts to Jin.

    Jin just continued on to unlock his phone and saw the panda holding two gift boxes waiting for him to open. He tapped on it and the screen turned ck with prison bars emerging from the darkness of the screen. The bars started to crack and from the darkness, a card burst out from the cage.

    ********

    Grade 1 Boss Monster

    Name: Eight Legged Mountain Boar

    Description: The Eight Legged Mountain Boar is a variant species of the Six Legged Mountain Boars that lived in the ancient Greater Sunda Inds in South East Asia. Fully grown boars are usually solitary in nature making them extremely aggressive in their territory. When near death, it has the capability to shed its body to walk on two legs and its final form looked like a humanoid with a pig head. It will use its tusks like a sabre weapon upon its shedding of skin. The tusks it grows have a high medicinal value capable of prolonging life.

    Grade 1 Difficulty: * * * *

    *********

    He looked at the artwork of the card and read its abilities when he flipped the card on his phone. "How does this boss monster work in the dungeon setting?" Jin knew that most dungeon suppliers have a boss monster in a single instance due to theplexity of the dimension space.

    They can never truly send a series of monsters out into the dimension space especially when the dungeon suppliers these days relied on technology to create such spaces. Hence, instead of a continuous dungeon experience, the cultivators wille out of the dimension space upon victory and jump in again for the next fights.

    "I will exin more to you as you proceed to the next high priority mission. For now, view your next gift forpleting your optional objective!" Yun said with thrill. Jin felt curious as to why Yun felt this way and he did what he was told again. As he tapped on thest gift box, the phone seemed to be downloading arge data file. When it finished downloading, a new app appeared on the top of the phone menu.

    "Cultivation" was the name of the app''s name and he tapped on it to open. A panda doing the tai chi pose was its starting screen and when it loaded, a single document titled "Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique" was in the list.

    "The initial Panda technique was researched by your grandfather. Although it was iplete, the System hadpiled and analysed sufficient cultivation manuals through your grandfather''s database from the military. Hence the creation of the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique. It has a 99.5%patibility with your current cultivation potential."

    Jin casually looked through the contents of the cultivation manual of the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique. There were instructions and pictures apanying the instructions. Within the manual, he also found the teachings of the yful typus, Robust Bull and Leopard Pounce styles. It was indeedpatible with what he had learnt.

    "Forpleting the optional objectives of this current mission, this is way more rewarding than the main objectives! What if I had skipped the optional objective, does that mean I would have lost such a valuable item?" Jin could hear Yunughing for some time before she started to talk.

    "That was exactly the same thing I told Ming when he passed this to me. The cultivation technique was one of your inheritances passed down by Ming via the System. However, he does not want you to get it just bypleting a mission. He wants you to work the extra mile for these missions and made you understand the optional objectives are just as important as the main missions."

    "But I do not cut corners! ...well not that much." Jin realised his grandfather knew about his asional skiving.

    "It is true, but now that you are going to be your own boss, having your own shop. It is important to respect your customers by giving them the best quality. That is how you be number one."

    At this point, Jin''s stomach growled and he decided to walk to the Tiangong Shopping District to grab a bite for his dinner. He definitely remembered to change his bloodstained clothes before moving to the Tiangong Shopping District.

    He was a little excited with all the new developments he had in one day that he just ordered a Wacdonalds meal for a quick bite in order to get back into this dungeon supplier business as soon as possible. While he was eating, he slowly scrolled through the goblin cards he captured.

    ********

    Grade 1 Monster

    Name: Goblin (Spear)

    Description: It is a goblin, what kind of exnation do you want? You should have seen enough novels or games to know about them! Fine, the goblin is an adapt spear user in its world, let it fight enough and perhaps it will learn some tricks from the other cultivators.

    Grade 1 Difficulty: * *

    ********

    "What is this description?" Jin nearly choked on his fries as he read the card.

    "You can skive does not mean I can''t do that either!" Yun sent a pouting emoji through his phone as if she pouted at the food Jin was eating. "Oh, grandfather did say that you adored fast food a lot and yet you can still maintain your slim figure," Jin recalled.

    "In any case, all of your monsters are able to upgrade themselves and subsequently lower their grades when necessary against lower level cultivators," Yun replied.

    "So they are like those traditional role-ying games where instead of me training them, it''s the cultivators that are training them while they are fighting to train themselves up? That is so wicked!" Jin sipped on his soda grinning.

    "Of course! What other dungeon suppliers have are scripted monsters or monsters created from limited experience. The monsters you have are real living ones which will be resurrected by the System each time they die. Regardless, they will remain loyal like how the betors are strictly loyal only to you. This is the rule of the System that they can never break once they were captured." Yun continued her talking.

    "I am indeed looking forward to them." Jin quickly browsed through the sword goblin and the dagger goblin and reopened the Missions app,

    *********

    Mission 2: "Get your store up and running!"

    Take a look at your plot ofnd. With the aid of the System, get your permit, call the construction workers in and redesign via the limits of the System.

    Optional Objective: Get a Panda standee suitable for your shop without the aid of the System.

    Rewards: Custom-made Dimension Space Portal Machine

    ********

    "What is with this obsession of Pandasбн" Jin ced his handphone on his forehead and tapped his forehead with it a few times.

    "Ming said you always loved carrying that Panda soft toy around the house when you were young. You were extremely mad with him when the babysitter he hired for a day identally throw away it with the garbage when you left it in the kitchen."

    "Ah... Xiao Heiбн" Jin really did had fond memories with his panda soft toy but he did not realise his grandfather took it to heart. It was the first toy Jin ever remembered having. He also vaguely remembered that Ming told him it was his parents that bought it for him before they were killed.

    Jin still liked pandas, but he thought it was a little childish at his age to get another soft toy. He guessed his grandfather wanted him to reminisce about the old days.

    After his burger set meal, he ced the tray at the return tray area and started to walk towards the plot ofnd that Ming bought for him. "Yun, how can I get the permit of a dungeon supplier? I thought you need to go through rigorous exams or be super rich to get a permit."

    "It''s done, you got a permit," Yun replied with the fullest confidence.

    "HUH?" Jin immediately received an email notification from the Business Association Affairs office of Shenzhen indicating that they had approved of his application to be a dungeon supplier. They will be sending the Dungeon Supplier Certification in two to three working days.

    "What just happened?!"

    "Magic. :)" Yun gave him a notification on his phone instead of telling him directly. The working wonders of the System can never be estimated.

    .

    .

 Chapter 6 The Plot of Land

    <h4>Chapter 6 The Plot of Land</h4>

    "Yea, I could use some magic in my life right now." Jin bitterlyughed as he reached the derelict plot ofnd near the shopping street which Ming bought from. He had totally forgotten the existence of this humongous plot ofnd near the Tiangong Shopping District.

    It was in ruins from an arson and the previously abandoned building was still an eyesore to many. The Tiangong Shopping District had suffered a poor streak of business due to that particr plot ofnd since people had been avoiding it.

    Thend was previously owned by a pachinko franchise business and they were earning a fair share of the money. One of the shopping street district store owners was rumoured to have frequented there and lost a great deal of money.

    Unable to pay his debts, the loan sharks and bank officers had been visiting his shop to get collect money. The ruckus enough for him to not earn any revenue and made his shop neighbours lost their customers too. The bankrupt store owner eventually became fed up with everything in life and decided that burning the pachinko was the best revenge he can get for ruining his life.

    Of course, it was his own fault but he did not wish to admit it at all.

    The funny thing is, the night he wished to burn the pachinko down, the pachinko boss was having an affair right in his office with his daughter. The store owner found out and decided to burn the boss, his daughter and himself to death on that very same night. Little did he know his precious daughter was actually ''sacrificing'' herself to get money from the pachinko boss to pay the debts of her father. Her father refused to believe her and set the whole ce alight.

    The daughter and the boss tried to run away but the father had already locked and blocked all the exits, rendering their escape attempts useless. The boss tried to call 119 but luck had it that the phone battery died out the moment he had connected to the fire department. This was because he had been videoing the entire scene from the start of the affair until the time he tried to call 119.

    ording to the uploaded cloud security camera yback, the daughter eventually gave up all her hatred for a moment and embraced her dad while both of them suffocated to death from inhaling the smoke. The boss struggled, trying to put the fire out with any extinguishers he could find but was killed by a falling ceiling, which he had cut corners with when building the store.

    Ever since then, the pachinko incident made therge plot ofnd undesirable. Anyone in the vicinity knew that thend was bad news. Some even said that the ghost of the store owner continued to live on in the ce to haunt any neers.

    It was five years since then and the plot ofnd that was valued highly previously was at a new low. Many developers were itching to get this piece of cash cownd but they were scared of the history of it. So, no one had offered to buy it until Ming came along. Ming probably realised that with the help of the System, Jin might have a chance to strike big with thisrge plot ofnd and inadvertently helped revitalise the Tiangong Shopping District. Perhaps this might never happen but one can only try.

    "So Yun, how is the System going to help with this burnt piece of crap here. It probably needs days to clear all this junk and the reconstruction work will cost a hell lot of money. Aside from the locked inheritance, even the leftover money of 48,000ish Yuan in the bank, it is not enough to up a proper storefront." Jin had a very bad headache upon seeing this abandoned building.

    His phone vibrated, and the screen automatically shifted itself to ''Store Layout'' App. The starting screen was a panda wearing a construction hat and holding multiple rolls of blueprints near its chest, Jin was starting to get amused by the panda rted starting screens. "Pick one of the threeyouts provided by the System, I will do the rest for you while you keep yourself busy with the optional mission objective," Yun exined to him without revealing too many details.

    There were threeyouts aptly named Layout A, B and C. The blueprints were simr except where the storefront was located at. At the west of the plot ofnd? Center of thend? Or east of thend? While Jin majored inputer engineering, he had dipped his feet wet into general engineering and civil engineering since his crush was in civil. Hence, he figured out theyout in the blueprints was sound minded after analysing them.

    There was not much a difference in the blueprintyouts as well so he decided to pick it at the west of thend which coincidentally faces one of the exits of the Tiangong Shopping District. At least, customers would see the shop aspared to the centre or the east where they were more secluded.

    He chose Layout A and a few pictures popped up. There were the options of the interior design for the store. He had been to many dungeon supplier stores so he already had a picture of what he wants in mind. Some were downright fanciful, others were just cluttered with weird junk to make it hippy. He decided to go with something clean and minimalist.

    Most dungeon suppliers had individual rooms for their customers'' privacy to battle but Jin had a deep impression of a dungeon supplier store in an outlying town area where the business owner ces the dimension spaces in the open and had a magic eye overseeing the battles inside the dimension space.

    The magic eye then streamed the battle on the TV outside for people to view.

    This method help distract the customers waiting for their turn while allowing fellow cultivators to deduce battle tactics against the monster they were going to fight. In addition, it helped to create hype for the customers waiting.

    Jin exined to Yun his desires upon seeing that none of the interioryouts fits the criteria he wanted. "Hmm, what you wished for is indeed reasonable and within the budget of the System. Alright, I can approve of it. Here are the sample pictures of various interior designs of the criteria you mentioned to me." Yun said in his head.

    Jin excited looked at his phone again as the screen refreshes. After ten to fifteen minutes, He decided on a certainyout and tapped on the option. "Jin, you sure you want thisyout? After today, you will not able to change youryout that easily unless you opt for a major renovation. Do you need more time to think about it?"

    "Yes, I decided to go with this." Jin subconsciously nodded his head to agree with Yun.

    The moment he agreed verbally, the Panda with the construction hat appeared again and bowed towards Jin. A small text bubble appeared on top of the panda "Thank you for your patronage."

    Suddenly construction rted barricades like acoustic echo barriers fell from the skies without a single sound onto the plot ofnd. The echo barriers covered the whole plot ofnd and were at least fifty meters tall. If Jin had been there to witness it, he might have thought he had be insane. He quickly looked around to see if anyone saw the same event he did.

    To his surprise, there was no one around despite thete evening probably due to the poor business in Tiangong Shopping District.

    "Jin,e back tomorrow. Have a good shower and rest, you will have busy days ahead. I think. Hahaha!" Yun gave a cheeky emoji smile.

    .

    .

 Chapter 7 Store Open! Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 7 Store Open! Part 1</h4>

    The digital rm on his phone rang at 6 am for Jin. He woke up a little groggy, made his bed and did two sets of 25 push-ups to start the day. It was his usual routine to maintain his physique. After a few slices of toasted bread with jam, he went to the printer to check on the status of his panda print for the standee.

    The system did not state that it had to be a human-sized standee so with some materials lying in the house, he decided to do a standee himself without incurring any additional cost. Hence, he used quality paper that was left over from his final year project in university and made azy panda standee with inspiration from his cultivation manual.

    "Jin, the shop reconstruction waspleted at 4.49 am. The echo barriers had been taken away." Yun notified him through his phone as she did not want to disturb Jin''s building of thezy panda standee.

    Jin gave a little bit more glue and while waiting for the standee to dry, he checked his phone. "Alright, thanks Yun, I will get going soon." He wore something a little more formal than usual, a simple shirt and brown pants, before leaving the house with the stic bag that contained thezy panda standee.

    His house was just a few hundred meters away from the shopping district and in 10 minutes, he was able to reach the shop. When he reached the plot ofnd, he was bewildered. The entire burnt abandoned building was gone. There was a small park erected within the new plot ofnd with several stone chairs and tables. A few trees and bamboo were nted in the small park as well right beside the store.

    Shopkeepers and people who were used to Tiangong Shopping street were stunned by the overnight removal of the abandoned pachinko building. Some even praised the heavens for someone daring enough to remove such a bad omen away from the Tiangong shopping street.

    The exterior of the store amazed him, it did not have any modern vibe to it, but rather the sense of a traditional shophouse with three stories. The shutters were closed and there was a door with an electronic lock at the side of the shutters.

    "Use your phone to unlock the door."

    The lock gave a short beep and Jin went into the shophouse. Lights were immediately turned on via smart sensors the moment Jin went in. The interior was the exact opposite of the traditional shophouse.

    The shop had a very clean, bright, minimalistic look with a mahogany redwood bar counter at the centre with full grained leather bar stools that could swivel in the middle of the room. At each side of the room, there were two 49-inch 16K HDR TVs mounted on the wall. A total of four TVs at the moment but the store itself could seem to amodate another six more TVs.

    He copied the concept he got from the outlying towns'' dungeon supplier stores. When the customer is in the dimension space, people outside can view it. He had the bar concept to provide some form of refreshments to hopefully earn some money while his customers wait for their turn.

    "Before we proceed any further, I have already rewarded you your custom-made dimensional space portal machine, it is at the side of the bar counter."

    Jin noticed the machine was actually just a simple lookingputer. "I modelled it to look like aputer so it would not take up too much space, unlike those models you saw in the current dungeon suppliers. I am also giving you functions of a workableputer too." Yun said as if she took pride in what she did.

    "The Custom-made Dimension Space portal machine, or as I aptly named it Panda Port will provide dimensional spaces to four stations as situated in front of the 4 TVs. Rent your customers these dog tags. As long as they stay in front of the TV with the tags on when the summoning circle appears, they will be teleported into the system."

    "There are a few things I need to exin before you can officially open the store. So either listen up or read the email that I am going to send you." Yun became stern.

    "The first floor is where the dimension space portals are. 2nd floor is the resting area if they ever get defeated. You are responsible for bringing the unconscious up for them to rest when they are out of the dimension space portals."

    "Unlike other suppliers, the system induced a certain amount of extremely pure chi energy in the dog tags so if they were defeated, the emergency chi energy will activate and save their lives. They will only be unconscious for five to ten minutes before they wake up regardless of grades."

    "As you have noticed, there are currently neither drinks nor food avable at the counter, you need to unlock them yourself. I will provide you with in water. You are not allowed to bring any external food produce or refreshments for I will provide them when the timees."

    "But I am not aiming to be a chef, I want to be a dunge-" Jin was interrupted when he interrupted Yun.

    "A number one dungeon supplier who knows the needs of his customer. If they want to eat in here, they have to pay for a dungeon ticket because this is the business of a dungeon supplier. Each dungeon ticket entitles them panda credit via their phone. The panda credit allows them to buy drinks and food from you. No more, no less. No refible less in water."

    "A cooking permit application had already been approved and will be sending to your shop soon."

    "Wait let me guess, the in water must be extraordinary if you are providing them," Jin remembered the gourmet fantasy novels.

    "No, from your standard tap water, perhaps more purified. That''s all."

    "Guess I was expecting too much." Jin sighed.

    "I was actually joking, yes it is the purest water from deepest springs of the Aqua world where mermaids and merman lived." Yun chuckled.

    "Anyways, the price for a dungeon ticket cannot be changed. All revenue earned will be taken and charged to the system. I will give you a straight 5% cut of everything until you increase dungeon supplier rank."

    "5%?! " Jin sighed and reluctantly epted. He knew there was no free lunch in the world. All the reconstruction work, the beautifulyout in the interior and even the phone was not given for free. No wonder he initially felt that the system was being so generous.

    "Wait, what is this dungeon supplier rank? I never heard of it before."

    "It is the system''s way of ranking you, pitting you against the entire world''s dungeon suppliers. Right now, you are in the rank of the hundreds of thousands. To be more precise. Rank 954,885 dungeon supplier. Work hard to be the number one okay? I love you Jin." Yun sent a blow kiss emoji towards him.

    "Oh, we digress. The third floor is the personal viewing room. The customer can pay a sum of money to view his video progress with slow-motion yback, zoom in zoom out function and viewing it on a 360 degrees hologram using themands of simple hand or voice gestures. In order to improve, you need to know your own weakness and study the enemy''s strength. There are only ten rooms and with the number of rooms limited, it''s firste first serve. Alternatively, customers can download a HD video for 5 Yuan."

    As Jin acknowledged Yun in his head, he turned on theputer. He happened to find a menu of the store with a single dungeon instance on it currently. As he looked at the price, he felt his heart drop.

    "Goblin Dungeon Instance - 245 Yuan"

    .

    .

 Chapter 8 Store Open! Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 8 Store Open! Part 2</h4>

    "245 Yuan?! Most dungeon suppliers have their lowest level instance at 50 Yuan or so. Who will want to y here?!" Jin tried to be calm but he was super agitated. He knew the market forces in China did not work this way.

    This was not a food store but a service store, and if ced at such high prices, who will even want toe here to y? The Tiangong Shopping District is meant for the lower and middle-ie sses in the neighbourhood and most of the ce was only mildly developed.

    Granted, the major businesses andmercialpany buildings were about a station away and even one of the biggest Multinational Companies in China, Huawee was around the corner from Tiangong Station. The telmunications giant located their ''smart city'' headquarters a few bus stops from Tiangong District, making it ideal for people who wish to have a break from the busy life toe to Tiangong Shopping District.

    "Trust me, they wille again after trying it once." Yun gave a sly emoji andforted Jin to rx.

    "Alright, I will trust you. Anything else I should know?" Jin ced thezy panda standee near the Panda Port.

    "You havepleted the optional objective, we will issue your reward now." The Panda Port started to glow and a few metal objects grew out of the Port. Jin was no longer stunned by such actions, just viewing it with amazement. Jin recognised the objects and ced them in suitable ces.

    "The Panda Port has the full functionality of a high spec PC, monitors your shop cameras and the dimension spaces if necessary. It also has the function of cashier port and provides high speed secured VPN wifi for your customers. Of course, the System will notify you if their logs show that they are doing something illegal."

    "With the advanced cashier port, they can use MeChat or BaliPay, credit card or cash to pay. All modes of cash are allowed and all foreign currency is allowed too. The issuance of Panda Credits will be done by the cashier port too. It will automatically be added as personalised credits in their respective e-wallets."

    "Yun, I am surprised. For a system, it can be quite amodating towards modern technology."

    "Jin, as long as you achieved the goal of being number one dungeon supplier, the System will do anything for you... for a price :P" Yun became a little yful.

    It was nearing 11 am and Jin had scouted all the rooms, learned the basics of the functions in Panda Port, created a dungeon instance, joined one and subsequently exited so that it was easier to exin to his customers. He would be aughing stock if he did not know anything and still called himself the boss of this area. Although technically, the System was the boss and he was just the front.

    "I shall take quickly grab a meal at Wacdonalds before I officially start the business. Can''t start with an empty stomach." He ordered his usual set meal and gobbled everything down before he returned to the store.

    Some of the store owners managed to catch a glimpse of the mysterious owner that suddenly created a storefront over a night. Either he is super rich or well connected to pull such strings to get everything done so quickly. They wondered what shop it was since there was no store sign at the moment.

    Jin did not realise any of this and entered his store to prepare the opening of it. He hoped to open it during lunch time so at least someone mighte in. He was not expecting much but nevertheless had some hope.

    "Jin, ce your phone near the Panda Port to transfer the monster cards for synchronisation."

    "I am surprised, they cannot synchronise wirelessly?" Jin asked.

    "There is one or two bugs that the System had not been able to sort out so I do not wish to bring it out. Bad for the end user."

    "I get what you mean, no worries. Maybe I can help." Jinughed a little while cing his phone near the Panda Port for it to synchronise with the phone.

    "You are all set, Jin. Go ahead and open the shutters."

    Jin took in a huge breath and with his heart beating fast, he opened the shutters of his shop.

    The store is officially open~!

    With the shutters lifted, there were already a few high school students looking around the shopping area to chill and rx.

    "Hey Bu Dong, check it out, the new shop we saw in the morning before heading to school is now open." Yue Han pointed to Bu Dong towards the direction of the shop.

    "Looks like an eatery or bar? Man but I want to y something, the test just now stressed me out." Bu Dong sighed a little.

    "Let us check it out first before we head to the usual dungeon supplier hangout."

    "That supplier again? His monsters are boring, what zing Phoenix? I managed to beat that fried chicken in less than five minutes."

    Jin just started to turn on the televisions on the side of the wall to prepare for guest with his phone via the ''Store Layout'' app when he suddenly saw two high school kidsing towards the store. He recognised the uniform as being one of the high schools around the neighbourhood but he had forgotten the name momentarily.

    Bu Dong greeted the young man turning on the TV. He saw a menu appearing on the TV with the words "Goblin Dungeon Instance." Yue Han got a little curious too and asked, "Dungeon Supplier?"

    Jin nodded and replied. "I only have one instance at the moment as my products are still being prepared. The basic facilities are working so I am opening the store early."

    Bu Dong got a bit excited that a new dungeon supplier is in the hood but shocked when he saw the price. "245 Yuan?! Are you ripping me off? Are they not just goblins?"

    Jin needed to pull himself up as a little snobbish towards the customers. If he bowed down, his customers will take advantage of him. "Try them yourselves and you will understand."

    "We are not stupid, Mister. Besides we are in Grade 2, no matter how superior a Grade 1 can be, they will not be able to win a Grade 2. Bu Dong, let''s leave from this scammer." Yue Han smelled something amiss and tried to bring Bu Dong away from this ce.

    However, Bu Dong did not move away. "Mister, if we win, any rewards?"

    "The rewards are still pending shipping. You can collect our in-house credits first before the rewards shipped over." Jin lied coolly as he pretended to type on the phone to reply to a message.

    However, in actual fact, he was panicking and typing to ask Yun for help. "Will there be rewards?"

    "Rewards need to be unlocked too! :P " Yun added a yful emoji.

    "Hey Bu Dong Bro, you sure about this? No matter how I see this, it feels like he is a bartender with a dungeon supplier permit. His monsters probably are not worth fighting. He is charging high because this ce looks like a ce for hippies." Yue Han sweat a little seeing how his best buddy is having a moment of stubbornness. The pending shipping issue felt like a red g too.

    "Its okay, Yue Han, I happened to win a decent bet in the previous dungeon supplier, I got some money to spare. Mister, let''s do this. Where do I pay?" Bu Dong took out his phone and was ready to try something new. He was confident he was going to win and started to think of ways to brag how easy it was against the new dungeon supplier.

    "You can pay here with your preferred mode of payment." Jin gave theziest poker face he can make.

    Bu Dong ced his phone on the cashier port and a beep was heard. He checked his e-wallet and saw his e-cash was deducted by 245 Yuan. He also saw that he received an equivalent amount of customised credits called Panda Credits.

    "The Panda Credits can use to purchase food or refreshments in the future when you patronise this ce again or you can use it to purchase items from the vending machine on the second floor when you regain your consciousness." Jin scouted the area and saw drinks and snacks vending machine on the second floor along with lounge chairs equipped with state of the art health monitoring equipment.

    The Panda Port machine imprinted Bu Dong''s name on a metal dog tag upon receiving payment and Jin gave Bu Dong the tag oncepleted.

    "Use this tag to activate the dimensional space at Station 1. Return it when you are done." Bu Dong observed the dog tag and saw his name on the front of the tag. At the back of the tag, he saw a few details like zero dungeons won, zero dungeons lost, Cultivation Grade yet to be determined.

    "You can see him fight using the TV here." Jin offered the empty bar stool directly facing Station 1 to Yue Han. Yue Han thanked him and ced his school bag at the top of the bar counter and see Bu Dong activate the dimensional space in front of the TV.

    The TV instructed Bu Dong to wear the tag and started to show the countdown. Bu Dong stretched a little when the dimension space teleported him into it.

    "First customer. Let''s see how effective those goblins are." Jin smiled

    .

    .

 Chapter 9 First Customer

    <h4>Chapter 9 First Customer</h4>

    The smell of early morning dew. The quality of air was pure and fresh. The trees swayed slightly with the blow of a gentle wind. Bu Dong was extremely surprised because of how well simted the dimension space was. Judging from the environment itself, he can say that the money was half worth it to just experience something new. Everything felt more lifelike than reality itself.

    If he was not here for a fight, he might even have taken a stroll in the sparse woods asionally to get out of the cramped city environment. There were even the activities of insects and wild birds toplement the scenery.

    Bu Dong was genuinely impressed by the dimension space itself. One must be extremely skilled in his current cultivation grade to create something so lifelike. The past dungeon suppliers he had patronised did not even bother to put in any consideration into the environment unlike Jin''s and only gave a stock environment scene to have them fight the monsters they chose.

    The most those dungeon suppliers did was to create a few obstacles so that the customers could hide or use it to disrupt the monster.

    Meanwhile, Yue Han was amazed by the TV viewing when Bu Dong joined the dimension space. He had heard of dungeon suppliers using a magic eye to observe the battle to stream onto a TV.

    However, for this new shop, it did not feel like a magic eye observation at all.

    It seemed as if an entire professional film crew was following Bu Dong because the camera angles were perfect. It also switched views to get the most cinematic scene, making it a treat to just watch Bu Dong moving around the dimension space. It could not be better with the 16K HDR resolution TV. The stream output to the disy was fantastic to look at.

    Bu Dong at this moment heard a few cracking sounds and withdrew his sword from his storage ring. Cultivators at this modern age still used rings, watches, earrings, other essories, and even phones to store their items. However, they got a little expensive for most cultivators to get despite the advances in technology. Able to obtain one literally showed that the person or their family was fairly wealthy.

    Bu Dong did not bother about anything and charged straight towards the cracking sounds. When he reached the area, there were no monsters around. Was the environment too real that he might have heard the woods rather than the goblins?

    He observed the area carefully this time around and took a step forward. Unfortunately, that next step caused him to suddenly lose his bnce and fall into a hole with wooden spikes. It was a trap made by the goblins!

    Bu Dong cried in pain as the wooden spike pierced his feet. He had never felt such pain in his entire life before, it was too real for a dimension space. With its victim falling for the trap, the spear goblin went nearer and gave a stab in the back of Bu Dong''s shoulder. The goblin even twisted the spear to inflict more pain before pulling it out to throw in another stab. However, Bu Dong managed to parry the second thrust with his sword.

    Bu Dong''s heart for the first time felt real fear and so did Yue Han when he watched his friend wallow in pain. "Hey! Mister! What the fuck is this?! Should this not be a dungeon instance and not a torture chamber?"

    Jin was stunned by the developments of the whole situation as well. However, he gave azy look and said, "Precisely, this is a dungeon instance."

    "Then let me in now!" Yue Han could not stand the sight of his buddy being left in a lurch. He took out his phone and started waving it towards him.

    "I am sorry, shop policies. Once the dungeon started, no one else can go in. He either has to finish it or forfeit." Jin gave a strict order. The system did not deny him allowing other guests to go in during a fight but Jin was being true to the origins of a dungeon supplier. The current dungeon suppliers cared about money and not the experience of a fight.

    "Damn man, can I at least tell him about the dangers?" Yue Han''s plea was ignored as Jin slightly shake his head in response to him.

    Bu Dong''s fear was umting, thinking that he was really going to die for the first time. He had been conquering dungeon instances as a hobby and had never been defeated. How could he face his friends when they found out he lost to a few Grade 1 monsters and they were just goblins!

    Feeling that he could not stand the humiliation, he released a burst of strength using his cultivation, Angry Ape Style, and jump out of the trap. Little did he know that the enemy seemed to be anticipating that and from the trees, the dagger goblin intercepted Bu Dong''s path. A sharp jab to the waist made Bu Dong do a reflexive counterattack against the goblin and he plunged his sword into the dagger goblin.

    The dagger goblin knew he would be fighting to his death and with his remaining strength, he shaft another dagger into Bu Dong''s abdomen. Bu Dong and the goblin fell to the ground with a loud thud. At this point, the sword goblin ambushed and struck Bu Dong from his blind spot, giving him a swift death.

    "Dungeon Instance lost at Station 1." Ady announcer''s voice who sounded like Yun echoed throughout the shop and Bu Dong returned to the ce where he was once teleported from. The wounds on him werepletely gone in ordance with the dimensional space''s rules but he was still rendered unconscious.

    Jin walked out from behind his bar counter and carried the high school kid up to the second floor. Yue Han, with a bitter expression, carried his backpack and Bu Dong''s to the second floor too. Jin ced him on the nearest lounge chair and strapped the pulse oximetry onto Bu Dong. His breathing and pulse were within an eptable range.

    "Should I call the dungeon supplier''s non-emergency service to bring him back home? How long will he be unconscious? 2 days? 1 night?" Yue Han asked Jin with some worry on his face.

    "No need, my dimension space is advanced enough. He should be awake within 10 to 15 minutes. Please ask him to return the dog tag back when he wakes up. Else it will start beeping loudly when you get it out of the store premises." Jin started to walk back towards the bar counter when Yue Han spoke out.

    "I will return it for him." Yue Han took the dog tag out and noticed the details on Bu Dong''s dog tag.

    *********

    Bu Dong

    -Dungeon Won:0-

    -Dungeon Lost:1-

    -Cultivation Grade:2-

    *********

    He was amazed the metal changed the stats of Bu Dong''s status. He heard of such magical metal that could be rewritten, restamped, or imprinted again but this was the first time he saw it with his own eyes.

    "Thank you for patronising my shop." Jin has yet to think of a name for his shop. He took the dog tag that Yue Han gave before he started walking back to the first floor. Jin returned the dog tag back into the Panda Port and a spreadsheet programme was created within the Panda Port''s PC.

    "Jin, the customer database has been created and the dog tag is ced in a secured ce." Yun gave a smiley face. "Congrattions for getting your first customer. Please check your mission app for future missions!"

    .

    .

 Chapter 10 Unwilling To Concede

    <h4>Chapter 10 Unwilling To Concede</h4>

    Bu Dong slowly opened his eyes. His head was in a little mess. "You alright bro?" Yue Han was drinking a beverage and he offered it to him. "Have a drink. Its taste is quite refreshing." Bu Dong took the offer and swallowed it. He felt a little more revitalised and asked. "Where did you get this from? I did not see this panda soda brand before."

    "It''s from the vending machine over there. I used your phone credits to get it. Apparently, it does not ept anything except the credits this weird store uses." Yue Han grabbed the drink from his buddy and drank a little more.

    "Oh my gosh Yue Han, how did you know my password?"

    "So simple, everyone, even the cleaner, knows that you have liked Xing Li for the longest time ever. Hence, your password is definitely her birthday. I do not know whether she is just that oblivious towards you or she was is pretending."

    Bu Dong asked Yue Han to pass the drink back and lied down on thefy lounge chair. He took a long look at the empty room. "How long was I out? A few hours? A night?"

    "Hahaha, if you can believe it. Only 10 minutes or so. Apparently, the boss said it had something to do with the advanced technology of his dimensional space. By the way, I saw the whole thing, you were trashed badly by a few goblins."

    "I think I managed to kill one though. This was way too unexpected. Everything felt too lifelike. It did not seem scripted tooбн I mean that dagger goblin, he was really fighting as if it meant life and death for him."

    "This owner is not simple, I wonder what kind of experiences he went through to get such vivid clones of such monsters." Yue Han pondered loudly.

    "Maybe they are really real life monsters." Bu Dong joked.

    "That''s true, perhaps we can ask the ones in ss exhibits at the national museum of ancient humanoids. I think they have might have some clue." Yue Han suggested with sarcasm.

    Bu Dong kicked the stool his friend was sitting and Yue Han nearly fell because of that. "Regardless, this was really an eye-opener. The 245 Yuan was worth it. Also, I might be thinking a little too much but I feel that this dungeon instance stirs my cultivation a little."

    "You serious? Did you not say you are stuck in the peak of Grade 2 for some time?"

    "Yeah, I was a little shocked too when I managed to kill the dagger goblin. I felt that I gained some spirit force and it stirred within my Dantian."

    "Woah, can you imagine if you manage to defeat all three goblins? You might have a chance at a breakthrough." Yue Han pondered a little.

    Bu Dong sat up and drank thest bit of panda soda before throwing it in the recycling bin beside it. He signalled his pal to follow along and decided to ask the owner some questions.

    "Boss, thank you for the dungeon instance." Bu Dong thanked Jin as he walked down the stairs. Jin looked at him "Care for another go? There are currently no other customers yet."

    "Maybe tomorrow, I need to go back and heal my pride''s wound first." Bu Dong shamelessly acknowledged.

    "I will like to ask though, how many people can I bring for a dungeon instance?"

    "Maximum four, all of them need to pay before they can go in with you."

    "Any time duration per instance run?"

    "Standard fifteen minutes, but time decelerates in the dimension space. Should be at most three hours in there. Additional extra time yed will be charge per five minutes on Earth."

    "If that''s the case when I am watching the y on TV?" Yue Han questioned.

    "The highlights of the instance. Do not worry, the magic eye technology of mine is powerful enough to make the transition of important highlights smooth. Also if you wish to watch your dungeon yback, you can rent a yback room for 50 Yuan and it includes a video link which you can download from our servers."

    "Else you can buy your video in full HD for 5 Yuan. You can keep it for study purposes or you can upload it for streaming purposes or whatever. The link will be sent via your phone ount once you make the payment."

    "Boss, what is your name?" Bu Dong initiated the question.

    "Jin."

    "Boss Jin, I would like to reserve a ce tomorrow to y."

    "No reservations allowed, firste first serve." This time round, it was not Jin''s rules but the System''s.

    "Heh, you are so inflexible, unlike your monsters. I would like to have one of my ybacks." Bu Dongughed. For some reason, he was starting to respect the new owner for creating such a challenge for him.

    "That will be 5 Yuan and thank you for patronising the store," Jin confirmed the payment and Panda Port did everything else. Bu Dong and Yue Han finally left the store.

    "You sure, you areing back again tomorrow?"

    "Why not? You saw how devious those goblins were. It has been a long time since I felt excited about something again. Besides, if his monsters can really stir my cultivation, I think it''s a worthy investment."

    "Anyways, call your elder sister to join us. I remember she is a Grade 2 Peak specialised in healing? She will be a great help. I will try and contact Kong Xian."

    "Haha, are you paying for us? She might not be willing to y if she has to pay and I need to convince her too."

    "Ahhh fine, fine. I will pay for the four of us, then can you get Kong Xian too."

    "I will be d to render my services, Mr Rich boy. Also, I guess you are relying on Kong Xian to shield us?"

    "Yea, judging from the dungeon instance, we need the holy trinity* topletely defeat it. Besides, I think that Boss Jin is not an easy person. The dungeon instance might not be as easy as killing those three goblins."

    The rest of the day was rather quiet, no one was eager to try to enter the new shop. There were some loiterers that looked at the store but had no courage to go in. "I guess this is the effect of the ursed plot ofnd. No matter, this gives me time to read my cultivation manual and take a look at the Mission app."

    The mission app has updated various missions for him to choose. There was no high importance mission at the moment so he decided to choose one that does not have a time limit.

    ********

    Mission: Learn the cultivation manual

    Mission objectives: strengthen your foundation core with the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Cultivation manual

    Secondary mission objectives: Learn a new move from the manual.

    Rewards: Pork Cutlet (Tonkatsu) Curry rice set and soda from the vending avable on the first floor.

    *********

    "Well, at least it''s not panda cutlet curry rice set." Jin opened the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique cultivation manual and read its contents. Apparently, the technique emphasis was leaning towards efficiency. Do not move unnecessarily unless you need to do so, like a panda who lies around the area doing nothing.

    A single finger strike should push the enemy away. A single palm strike would push the enemy to their knees begging for their lives. Strength and efficiency was the takeaway message from the cultivation manual. Jin decided to read and understand the Lazy Panda Swipe as much as possible.

    For dinner, he closed the shop for a while to grab a bite at a diner cafиж in the Tiangong Shopping District to celebrate getting his first customer. As he went in, the shopkeeper greeted him and passed him the menu. Seeing that the rumoured new shop owner was in his shop, Shen Sifang could not help but ask.

    "Are you the new owner of the store at the end of the shopping street?"

    .

    .

 Chapter 11 Sleeping Works

    <h4>Chapter 11 Sleeping Works</h4>

    "Indeed I am, and I would like the all-day breakfast set," Jin ordered his food as he looked at the near empty diner cafиж. There was a granny drinking her tea with her grandson. The diner cafиж itself had a cosy feeling to it.

    "Coming right up." Shen Si Fang personally cooked the dish and the years of experience could be seen through the speed and technique in cooking the all-day breakfast set. In less than 15 minutes, the order was ready and he personally served it to Jin.

    "Mind if I sit and talk to you? Oh, and this meal is on the house." Si Fang asked politely.

    "Sure, I do not really mind at all. Thank you for the food. Name''s Xie Jin, calling me Jin will be fine. It is a pleasure to meet you." Jin extended his hand for a handshake as Sifang ced the food on his table.

    "Shen Si Fang, owner of Lele Diner Cafиж." Sifang returned the courtesy and sat opposite of him.

    "Firstly, thank you for getting rid of that abandoned building that has been there for the longest time ever. The whole shopping street thanks you for having the guts to do so." Si Fang bowed his head a little as a sign of respect.

    "Although you are not part of Tiangong Shopping District, I would like to wee you to our humble shopping district. I just so happened to be the head of the shopping street and I wanted to visit you tomorrow. It was a surprise for you to take the initiative instead."

    "I had no idea you were the head of the shopping street. I believe this was really a coincidence." Jin ced the scrambled egg into his mouth. It was soft and a little salty which was the way Jin happened to like it. Si Fang saw Jin''s expression and felt happy that his customer liked his food.

    "May I know what manner of shop you are opening?"

    "Dungeon supplier and ehh a bit of food and drinks as well in the future." Jin felt honesty is the way to go to create a proper business rtionship.

    "Oh? That''s rather interesting. We do not have any dungeon suppliers and your shop might be the entertainment we sorely needed since the dreaded pachinkopany. I look forward to your shop sess so we can reap some rewards from it too!" Suddenly Si Fang realised what he said and quickly bowed his head a little again. "I apologise if I am too blunt."

    "Ah, you do not have to be. I too know this ce has been in the dumps. If we can work and earn together, it is for the best." Jin did not really care much but decided to bootlick a little as he sipped the mushroom soup from the bowl. Boss Si was after all the head of the Tiangong Shopping District. Knowing such an acquaintance might help in the future.

    "We can help you spread the news of the opening of your shop. Perhaps some might even patronise it. I might do so too, I have neglected my cultivation for some time." Si Fang tried to salvage the conversation, thinking that Jin might have some bad first impression of him.

    "I will thank you for that in advance." Jin wiped his mouth with a piece of napkin provided.

    "Boss Si, thanks for the food, it was good."

    "Ahe again, I will provide you with a discount!" Shen Si Fang was slightly embarrassed that all he could talk to the neer about was business.

    ---------

    "Sis Yue Wen, are you free tomorrow?" Yue Han was preparing the utensils for dinner when he decided to ask his elder sister Yue Wen about the dungeon instance. Yue Han had contacted Kong Xian earlier and he agreed the moment he heard Bu Dong was paying.

    "I have a ss in the morning. Why?" Yue Wen was stir frying some vegetables when Yue Han questioned her.

    "Rich kid Bu Dong wants your help in a dungeon instance. He is asking Kong Xian toe as well." Yue Han took the bowls out from the drawer and started scooping the rice from the rice cooker.

    "Did he run into some difficult instance? It is really rare for Bu Dong to ask me for help." Yue Wen ced the cooked vegetables into a te.

    "Yeah, remember the burnt pachinko building?" Yue Han waited for Yue Wen nodded before he continued.

    "Apparently this new shop owner bought the whole plot ofnd and he built a new shop overnight. When we took a look, it was actually a dungeon supplier."

    "Wow, he must be super rich to build a new shop overnight." Yue Wen started to put minced meat into the wok and started cooking again.

    "I am not sure about that, but his store is off the charts. The dungeon instance was crazy. The Grade 1 goblins literally wrecked Bu Dong."

    "Bu Dong lost?" Yue Wen nearly lost her concentration when cooking the minced meat.

    "Yeah, but the funny thing is, Boss Jin''s dimension space only rendered him unconscious for about 10 minutes or so. Bu Dong could even drink and walk afterwards with no side effects."

    "Wow, I studied a bit on the Dantian and the effects of the dimension space a little as part of my university module. Not many people can reduce the duration of unconsciousness and have no side effects at all. I truly am impressed if this is true." Yue Wen ced the cooked minced meat onto another te.

    "Bu Dong is paying for your part since he asked you at the veryst minute."

    "Sure, why not? I would like to personally see the store myself too. Now, let''s eat, Mom and Dad won''t be back home so early today." Yue Wen ced the wok in the kitchen sink and sat down with Yue Han as he continued his story about Boss Jin.

    ---------

    Meanwhile, Jin opened his shop for another two hours before he closed it. As expected, some walk-ins took a look at the shop and saw the dungeon instance menu, calling it a ripoff. Some even shamelessly advised Jin to reconsider his prices. Jin''s response for every ''advice'' was unyielding and did not give in to any sort of pressure at all. He saw the experience of Bu Dong and became firm with the System''s decision.

    Besides, Yun told him that when Bu Dong killed a monster, he did earn a small amount of spiritual force which was beneficial for his cultivation. Jin decided to keep this a secret and let his customers find out themselves.

    "Yun, you said that my goblins can learn or level up as well. How does this work?" Jin walked home while checking the stats of his goblins and indeed saw some changes. The spear goblin had his strength increased while the dagger goblin had his dexterity increased.

    "They will slowly grow their stats attribute that isparable to a Grade 2. The dagger goblin, for example, learned dagger mastery, allowing it to use daggers with more proficiency." Yun replied.

    "However, all these minor stats and abilities are not too much of a concern to you right now. You need to affirm your cultivation type as quickly as possible and gain cultivation grades so that you are able to find stronger monsters. As you grow in cultivation, so do your betors. Take note of that."

    Jin acknowledged Yun''s advice and returned home to cultivate the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas technique. Unknowingly, he fell asleep deeply while trying to cultivate. Perhaps, he was not used to the new routine and the life he was currently having.

    Jin managed to wake up in time when his daily rm rang and he found himself sitting cross legged. "Ah, I guess I fell asleep." Jin thought to himself.

    Suddenly, he felt that there was a change in his Dantian when he got up from his cultivation stance. Jin quickly summoned his strength and portrayed it out in the open. A loudzy yawn was heard from behind him and as he looked up, he saw two panda silhouettes rolling around.

    "My cultivation type changed so quickly?!" Jin was a little bbergasted by the turn of events.

    "Yes Jin, The cultivation manual preached efficiency. What is more efficient than cultivating when you are sleeping."

    Jinughed and rolled on the floor holding on to his stomach. "Is that why this cultivation technique is called Lazy Astral Pandas? Hahahahahaha!"

    "Ming figured that you would be so tired with the constant care of your shop that you may neglect your cultivation. A day not at work equates to a day without revenue. Therefore, the cultivation technique he created for you allows you to cultivate while you sleep. Brilliant dad, isn''t he?"

    "I will put a joss stick and offer him some coffee at his altarter." Jin still could not believe it as he went to shower to kickstart the new day.

    .

    .

 Chapter 12 Tonkatsu Curry Rice

    <h4>Chapter 12 Tonkatsu Curry Rice</h4>

    Jin visited Lele Diner Cafe again for breakfast and started his work. This time, he did not take up the discount as suggested by Si Fang since Jin did not wish to owe Boss Si too much.

    There were no customers in the morning so Jin went to the small park beside his shop to practice his Lazy Panda Swipe move. Like the move suggested, the attack looked seeminglyzy but it requires careful coordination of the muscles as the strength that pulsed through it was immense.

    "Yun, since I managed to change my cultivation type to Panda, is it possible to unlock a part of the rewards? If not, the shop may seem a little empty." Jin asked.

    "Sure, I will unlock the Tonkatsu (Pork cutlet) Curry Rice for you first, that way you do not always have to eat those rubbish Wacdonalds meals too." Yun contemted a little before she answered Jin.

    "Awesome, do I really have to learn how to cook? I do not exactly have a kitchen...just a bar counter." Jin questioned when the panda with the gift box appeared in his phone again.

    "Not really, your main objective is to be a dungeon supplier. If you were aiming to be a chef, the System would have forced you to do everything from scratch. However, it does not hurt to learn some cooking!" Yun was a little angry with her tone.

    "Gee, I am sorry Yun." Jin wiped his sweat away after practising his new move. Yun began to sound more like a mother to him.

    "Hmph, you better be. Anyways, take a look at the bar counter and you will know where to get your food for your customers." Yun opened the storeyout app for him and it automatically zoomed into the bar counter blueprint.

    Jin went back into the shop and checked the bar counter. When he opened the allocated cab, he saw a series of piping hot pork cutlets in an oven lookingpartment. In the other cab, there was adle and a pot of nice smelling curry waiting to be scooped out.

    "Wow, this bar counter is magical too? Won''t the customers be suspicious since this bar is at the centre of the shop?"

    "You do not have to worry that much, as the bar counter is designed to hide its presence. Besides, most of your customers will be concentrating more on the instances." Yun made Jin speechless but he continued his tour around bar counter items found out where to obtain the tes, sses and how to use the rice cooker and dishwasher.

    ---------

    "Quickly, let''s get Kong Xian and head to Boss Jin''s shop!" Bu Dong quickly packed his belongings and hurried Yue Han the moment ss ended. "Even if you hurry, Yue Wen will not be there until 1.30 pm!" Yue Han shook his head a little at Bu Dong''s hastiness.

    "It''s fine, we can discuss tactics a little when we reach there." Bu Dong argued back.

    "This is the first time I''ve seen you so pumped up. At least get lunch or something." Yue Han suggested to Bu Dong while they waited for Kong Xian at the school''s bus stop.

    "Didn''t Boss Jin say that he will be selling food items as well? Why don''t we go there to eat instead? At worst, we can eat at Lele Diner Cafиж." Bu Dong proposed the idea.

    "Hey guys, I brought my full kendo armour as requested. It is a pain to move things around though." Kong Xian arrived at the bus stop with his bag and a duffel bag full of equipment.

    "Hi Kong Xian and thanks, I will hold that for you." Bu Dong held onto Kong Xian''s duffel bag and it immediately transferred into Bu Dong''s storage ring.

    "You sure this dungeon supplier''s monsters were that hard that I even need to bring my official duelling equipment?" Kong Xian was a member of the school''s Kendo club and even represented the school''s team in tournaments.

    "You will understand when you fight, let''s go! The bus is here." Bu Dong knew it would be difficult to exin unless Kong Xian saw it for himself.

    ----------

    It was noon and Jin was about to prepare the tonkatsu curry rice for himself when ady came in. "Is this the dungeon supplier store? Erm Boss Jin?"

    "Yes, I am Jin. How can I help you? Do you wish to enter a dungeon?"

    The short hairdy was dressed in her ck sports attire and wore a thinyer jacket to cover her sports tank top. She went nearer to the bar counter to look at the cleanlyminated menu. "So what Yue Han said was true. This ce is clearly a ripoff."

    Jin did not even bother to correct her but before he could say anything, she interrupted him once more. "One Goblin Dungeon Instance please."

    Jin blinked but showed her to the cashier port. "That will be 245 Yuan. Mode of payment?"

    "E-wallet." thedy smiled gently towards Jin. When the payment was done, she saw the new credits in her wallet. "Panda Credits?"

    "You can use this to buy food at the bar counter or refreshments on the second floor. There are some items still pending shipping so please bear with me a little. Also, here is your dog tag." Jin passed the customised dog tag to her and the food menu.

    "So that means I cannot buy food with real cash but only with Panda Credits?" Thedy asked as she sat down and look at the menu.

    "Yes, the food here is meant for the cultivators who participates in the dungeon instances. This is not an eatery. I believe some dungeon suppliers out there are doing the exact same model too."

    "Ahh, I did not know that. I will get probably the only thing you have on your Menu." thedy giggled again.

    "Coming right up, please ce your phone at the credit port in front of you." Jin poured a ss of spring water introduced by the System and ced it in front of her. Thedy did what Jin told her and the Panda Credits went down to 45 credits.

    "Assuming, one credit is worth 1 Yuan, your curry rice cost 200 Yuan!" thedy was a little stunned when she looked at her phone.

    "Miss...your Tonkatsu Curry Rice is here." Jin ignored her words and passed her the curry rice.

    "Oh Sis, you are here early!" Yue Han shouted a little outside of Jin''s store but Yue Wen was a little preupied with the curry rice especially when the aroma of the curry was thick.

    "That''s rather fast, I assume it is pre made kind of curry ri-" The first bite made her stop talking.

    "Woah, Boss Jin, you serving curry rice? I want one!" Bu Dong saw Yue Wen chomping down on her tonkatsu curry rice.

    "Boss Jin, this curry rice is the best I have ever eaten!! Even the cup of water tastes so good!" Yue Wen gave a wide smile. Jin quietly asked Yun what was in the curry rice. "Ehh, the usual. The boar is from the family species of the six legged boars, the curry is a mix of spices obtained from top quality farms etc." Yun did not bother to say so much, Jin was not aiming to be a chef anyways.

    "Bu Dong, you know the drill." Yue Han ordered one Goblin Dungeon Instance and the rest followed. Bu Dong then transferred money to the rest as a promise to treat them for this dungeon instance.

    "Thanks, rich guy." the three others nearly said it simultaneously which made Bu Dong rolled his eyes a little. He and the rest then ordered the same as Yue Wen and started to discuss their strategy for the uing dungeon instance.

    Meanwhile, their tes were shamelessly licked clean, not a single drop of curry was left. Even Yue Wen cleaned her te of curry but was more conscious of her actions than the high school boys. "Perhaps it was a mistake to sell food..." Jin quietly thought.

    .

    .

 Chapter 13 Rematch

    <h4>Chapter 13 Rematch</h4>

    "Okay, let''s recap. Kong Xian in the front, Bu Dong and Yue Wen at the centre and I cover the rear?" Yue Han drank another cup of spring water, he was sweating a little from the anxiety and probably a little from the curry as well.

    "Yes, we cannot leave Yue Wen alone at the back in case of a rear assault, especially by that pesky goblin." Bu Dong was ying with his dog tag in his hands.

    "But you do not mind if I get stabbed at the back?" Yue Han shook his head.

    "Well, it makes sense to keep our best offensive yer and the healer safe." Kong Xian retorted.

    "At least we can identify the goblins after Bu Dong showed us the video. It is still terrifying to see Bu Dong drop like a fly." Yue Wen interjected as she stretched a little.

    "Alright, let us gear up in case they attack the moment we teleport." All of them nodded and took out their weapons. Yue Han and Bu Dong assisted Kong Xian with his kendo armour and they stood at Station 1''s TV. After which, the three of them wore knee pads and elbow guards.

    "Eh before we go, how are we going to will handle our belongings in real life?" Yue Wen asked.

    "There are a few panda miniatures at the mounted shelves on the wall next to the TV. Present one of your dog tags close to it and it will activate the storage system. Please be considerate and use one miniature for the whole party!" Jin instructed them as he started to put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

    "That''s quite an ingenious and cute idea for storage! Boss Jin seems to have a soft spot for pandas." Yue Wen took a look at the miniature but realised she was not able to take the panda out of the shelves even with some force.

    "I did not have a choice in this! Though I have to admit they are really cute." Jin thought quietly.

    The party of four ced their belongings into the panda miniature and the panda miniature glowed warmly to indicate that the storage ce was taken. Will people be able to steal this? Bu Dong was curious but did not sound it out. He sort of trusted Boss Jin for all his quirkiness.

    "Ready guys?" The four raised their dog tags near the TV and once it confirmed the party of four, they were all teleported simultaneously without a hitch.

    While themotion of the Bu Dong and others was going about, people that were loitering around the shop started to get interested. Some of the outside crowd were captured by the thick curry aroma.

    Some were looking at the four taking out their weapons and instantly knew this no name store was a dungeon supplier. Others waited for the four to be teleported to confirm their suspicion that this store was by a dungeon supplier.

    A few curious office workers started to walk in after their lunch to have a look at the interior of the well designed store. One of the office workers happened to look at the TV screen at Station 1 and saw that it was showing the live stream of the four youngsters who went into the dungeon instance. He beckoned the rest and they started to gather for interest sake.

    "Ohoho, things start to get interesting." Jin started the dishwasher as he saw the crowd got a little bigger around Station 1. Although the System disinfected the entire area every five minutes through whatever creepy technology it employed, Jin pretended to wipe the bar counter to eavesdrop the crowd''s conversations.

    "If only my house had such a cleaning function." Jin sighed a little. He was actually relieved that he did not have to constantly clean the store.

    "Jin, youzy brat!" Yun gave an annoyed emoji text via his phone.

    The party of four teleported sessfully into the forest instance. "Oh my gosh, the air is so fresh in here!" Yue Wen was astonished the same way Bu Dong got affected when he came here for the first time...

    "Even the environment looks lusher than real life." Kong Xian went to touch the greenery around him.

    "As much as I would like to stroll around, we got goblins to hunt and kill." Bu Dong reminded the whole group. The others could notin much since rich kid Bu paid for their expenses. They readied their weapons and Yue Han used his cultivation, the Blind Bat Style to start looking for the goblins. He climbed up a tree and started to whisper into midair.

    "I got a signal east of our position. They are moving slowly to our position with much caution." Yue Han carefully climbed down from the tree.

    "All three of them?" Kong Xian held his two handed giant sword the way he carried his bamboo sword.

    "I cannot be sure, but that''s the only signal I received and they are approaching towards us." Yue Han came down and unsheathed his sword.

    "Let''s move to the east, towards that clearing. At least, we might have some advantage in open space." Bu Dongmanded them and they move as a group. Their pacing matched with each other so they could cover each other''s back.

    "Is it the first time those kids are ying? Why are they so afraid of the monsters? The big guy is even wearing a Kendo armour." One of the crowd membersughed as hemented.

    "I saw the two high school kidse here yesterday, it seems that this is their second try."

    "Hey, I have seen that boy in the middle before! If I am not mistaken, he is Bu Dong!" The crowd quickly squinted their eyes after the office workermented. Some immediately recognised him.

    "Isn''t Bu Dong the best in that ranking of the major dungeon supplier ''King''s Monsters'' in themercial district?"

    "Yea, I heard he was the local champion for two consecutive years!"

    The chatter became more fervent and some even started to tweet in their group chats. It seems that Bu Dong was a local superstar in the field of dungeon supplierpetitors that rarely made his appearance. Some said that his dad was a multi-millionaire but Bu Dong did not use much of his parent''s resources to be the best dungeon cultivator in the local scenes.

    "I saw movement in the bushes!" Bu Dong shouted as he made a vertical downward movement with his sword, producing a series of shockwaves towards the direction of the bushes. However, they did not know that this automatically created an opening for the goblins when the rest got distracted by the shockwave.

    The dagger goblin threw a dagger towards thergest one among them, Kong Xian but the dagger got reflected by the wooden kendo armour. It was previously reinforced with Armour Projections created by Kong Xian''s cultivation Towering Tortoise Style, making it very sturdy against sneak attacks.

    The dagger goblin shouted to provoke the cultivators but Bu Dong told them to stay calm in the clearing of the forest. "We have the numbers, they do not have the range and I wonder who will have the most patience." Bu Dong jeered at the dagger goblin.

    Within five minutes of waiting, the sword goblin surprisingly came out into the clearing first and signalled to Bu Dong as if he wants a one to one battle. "Remember Bu Dong, do not fall for their tricks!" Yue Han reminded as Bu Dong epted the challenge. The other three slowly stepped away while keeping watch against the sneaking dagger goblin.

    The sword goblin brandished its sword around Bu Dong and rushed towards him. "Haha, you lost the moment you moved first." With two ape silhouettes shouting angrily on top of Bu Dong''s head, he parried the goblin''s sword with his Angry Ape Style and managed to gain an attack opportunity and struck towards the goblin''s heart.

    However, instead of trying to dodge the attack, the sword goblin simply went forward and Bu Dong''s attack went through! Bu Dong was able to kill a goblin this time round with ease.

    Or so he thought.

    The goblin dropped his sword and immediately held onto Bu Dong with whatever strength he had left. His trembling ws slowly sank into Bu Dong''s skin and it tried to bite him. Bu Dong tried to shake the goblin away, but little did he not know that at the side of him, a spear came not to pierce him but to swipe his legs, causing him to fall down.

    Bu Dong fell and his party members had their whole attention on him again. The perfect time for the dagger goblin to strike. Thankfully, Yue Han had the Blind Bat Style and he turned his back at the right moment to block the leap attack on Yue Wen. However, the dagger dug into Yue Han''s shoulder and to worsen Yue Han''s predicament, the daggers were poisoned.

    Yue Wen turned back and used her sword cane to push the dagger goblin away, but the dagger goblin was fast! It tumbled to evade the sword cane and it leapt into the air again, hoping to catch Yue Wen off guard.

    Suddenly, arge towering figure came swooping in and charged into the dagger goblin. The dagger goblin was knocked back a few meters. "Thank you Kong Xian!" Yue Wen caught her breath.

    "Do not thank me yet, make sure it is dead first!" Kong Xian rushed towards the staggered dagger goblin.

    When the party was handling the unexpected dagger goblin encounter, the spear goblin took the chance to stab into Bu Dong. Bu Dong, in the nick of time, used his left arm to block the spear thrust.

    "Arrgh!" He endured the pain of the spear going into his left arm and used his right arm to decapitate the struggling sword goblin. The spear goblin withdrew his spear from Bu Dong and tried to strike again.

    "Damn! The goblins are ruthless! Are they really Grade 1 goblins?!" The crowd started getting really wild. They had not seen such a heated battle against monsters for a long time!

    "No wonder, they even wore knee pads and elbow guards! They were actually expecting such a fight!"

    "If Bu Dong is struggling this much, would we have any chance against it?"

    Jin folded his arms behind the bar counter and stepped in at this moment of the heated conversation. "You dare call yourselves cultivators?"

    .

    .

 Chapter 14 Boss Monster!

    <h4>Chapter 14 Boss Monster!</h4>

    Upon hearing thement, the crowd''s mood suddenly turned silent. What Jin implied was true. Ever since the strictws set upon cultivators, most people cultivated for the simple benefits like being less fatigued. They did not cultivate because they wanted to be the best but it was just beneficial for them.

    "If you want to cultivate, why would you bother cultivating half ass?" Boss Jin stung them hard with the truth. "Do not give me the crap that I have a job and therefore I cannot cultivate much. Back then, people cultivated while ploughing horse crap all day."

    Boss Jin then walked away and thought that he gave them some food for thought. "That speech is like horse crap too." Yun said while giving a (-_-'') emoji on his phone.

    "Eh? I thought I did okay." Jin suddenly became embarrassed and hid near his Panda Port.

    "Well, no use crying over spilt milk. While what you said is somewhat true and also irrelevant at the same time, let''s hope the performance of the four young cultivators motivates them." Yun sighed in his head.

    The crowd suddenly went wild again shortly after and Jin used his Panda Port to observe Station''s 1 progress. Aspared to Bu Dong''s previous performance, Jin was impressed that Bu Dong learnt from his mistake and became warier by not underestimating the goblins.

    Yue Wen poked the dead armless dagger goblin a few more times with her sword cane to make sure it was dead after Kong Xian did a heavy cleave that destroyed both the dagger goblin''s weapons and his hands. While Bu Dong was blocking the spear goblin''s attacks, Yue Han used his Blind Bat Style to do a swift sh towards the spear goblin despite his internal injuries.

    This gave time for Kong Xian to pull Bu Dong out of range of the spear goblin and Yue Han retreated immediately. "Yue Wen senpai, try and heal Bu Dong! I will distract and defeat the spear goblin." Kong Xian instructed Yue Wen and charge towards the spear goblin.

    "Heal me too Sis, I think I got poisoned by the dagger goblin." Yue Han started to pant heavily and his face became slightly pale.

    The spear goblin looked at his left arm, the swift sh done by Yue Han was not deep but it was a little annoying. He could still handle it and it did not affect the spear''s movement much. He took the blood from that wound and painted his face with it. Since he was thest one, he might as well go down in glory.

    Kong Xian was used to one to one fights since he was in Kendo club. While official kendo tournaments forbid the use of cultivation, that did not stop unofficial matches during practice or even dungeon instances. He charged in a suitable stance that specifically dealt with pole weapons users.

    Even the goblin himself went into a defensive stance, which made the crowd watching go crazy. The crowd''s noise did not go unnoticed. More and more people near the shopping street started to query what was happening and the news of an insane dungeon began to spread like wildfire.

    "I am not sure about this but the goblin seems more like a human than the goblin that we all are all familiar with!"

    "I am thinking of rooting for the underdog as well. This goblin has guts!"

    Jin smiled at the change of developments as he continued to watch from Panda Port. He initially wanted to master his cultivation move, the ''Lazy Panda Swipe'' to at least intermediate level before he started hunting again. However, the urge to hunt became stronger.

    If the crowd really became his customers, he needed to find monsters that are more difficult or at least a variety. The burning desire of cultivation started to burn furiously within him since he needed to obtain more power to be the number one dungeon supplier.

    "Wow! That Kendo guy parried the spear at the veryst moment and cut the goblin into two!" The crowd was cheering loudly for Kong Xian without him knowing.

    Meanwhile, in the instance, Yue Wen was trying to close the arm wound for Bu Dong. She brought a sling bag filled with some essential medical supplies like bandages and some basic antidote concoction she learnt in university. When Yue Han told his sister about the goblins using poison, she came prepared.

    Yue Wen subsequently used her own chi via her cultivation, Healing Maiden Technique to close the arm wound after she wrapped the wound nicely. She also told Yue Han to go into cultivation stance and try to slow the poison within him after he drank a bottle of poison antidote.

    Kong Xian started to look at the surroundings and asked, "Shouldn''t the instance stop by now?"

    "I have no idea at all. Perhaps there are more goblins around? Mind staying on guard Kong Xian? Ah, Yue Wen senpai, could you please be gentler?" Bu Dong struggled a little when Yue Wen applied a little more pressure at the area.

    "Hahaha, I cannot believe the champion of King''s Monster is afraid of pain." Yue Wen applied a little more pressure cheekily. The mood around the dungeon instance livened a little but good things like peace do notst. A sense of heavy pressure appeared from nowhere.

    "This pressure...It''s a Grade 1 Peak!" Kong Xian struggled to move his sword into a defensive stance.

    Heavy footsteps and a sound of an animal was approaching closer to their position. A voice of a female announcer issued a dungeon wide warning. Even the crowd was shocked by the change of developments.

    "WARNING! BOSS MONSTER. WARNING!"

    "Yue Wen senpai, attend to Yue Han and get his poison out as soon as possible. My right arm can still work and I can now feel my left hand. Tend to meter!" Bu Dong and Kong Xian immediately took a fighting stance when the pressure wore off.

    A boar with eight legs emerged from the forest and whenever it goes, the trees start to break in order to give way. The eight legged boar boss monster saw the two humans and stared at them.

    "Holy shit! Now I understand why Boss Jin''s instance is expensive!"

    "Now I understand why you asked me to wear the Kendo armour." Kong Xian had cold sweat dripping.

    "Well then, let''s beat this pig down." Yue Han spoke with some panting as he used his sword as a support.

    "Agreed, but have an adrenaline shot first Yue Han, else you will not have any strength." Yue Wen injected the syringe into Yue Han without asking for his permission.

    "You are the healer...but why are you inflicting more pain upon me." Yue Han wanted to cry so badly.

    "OINK!" The boar snorted in such a cute way that the mood of the party lightened up and the crowd outside nearly burst intoughter. "I think it meant to provoke us?" Kong Xian started his charge after he calmed down a little from that ''menacing growl'' from the boss monster.

    "Let''s go!" Bu Dong pointed his sword towards the boar and followed behind Kong Xian. Yue Han and Yue Wen split out from the group, hoping to nk it from both sides.

    "The show has just begun... I hope." Jin looked at his screen with much interest.

    .

    .

 Chapter 15 Angry Ape Pronounces Its Superiority

    <h4>Chapter 15 Angry Ape Pronounces Its Superiority</h4>

    "Do not let the boar charge!" Kong Xian shouted and shed with the boar head on before it could move. Bu Dong tag teamed with Kong Xian while exchanging blows with the boar so that it could not find the chance to retaliate.

    Yue Wen went from the side to strike its nk with sess but the attack was insignificant to make a difference. The multiple flesh wounds by the sword crane were not sufficient to attract the attention of the boar.

    On the other hand, Yue Han decided to attack from its rear. He hoped to jump up the moment the boar was distracted by Kong Xian and Bu Dong. The two at the front of the boar realised Yue Han''s intention so they took a step back and sprinted forward again for a joint attack. Yue Han took the chance to ambush the boar''s rear.

    However, the boar was smarter than they thought. It powered up its tusks and rushed forward to face the joint attack. The distance for Yue Han to cover immediately lengthened and he had no choice but to dash after the boar.

    When Yue Han timed his leap the moment he got close, the boar suddenly let out an ominous amount of fart! The fart was strong enough to knockback Yue Han when he was in midair. Yue Han rolled around the ground to cover his eyes and nose as the fart smell stings and stinks.

    "Oink Oink Oink hehe Oink!" The boar wasughing as it parried Kong Xian and Bu Dong with its tusks. "Sis..help, I think I''m poisoned again." Yue Han coughed badly and held onto his throat as he crawled further away from the boar''s surprise attack to gasp for air.

    "At this rate, that guy with the Blind Bat Style will probably grow poison resistance." The crowdughed at poor Yue Han''s predicament. "Ahhh Choo!" Yue Han sneezed at Yue Wen as she brought him aside of the battlefield. She then concentrated to push the fart''s poison out of his body with her chi. "You are really unlucky Yue Han."

    Separately, the duo seemed to be at an impasse with the boar. "For just a Grade 1 Peak, this is a better training bag than my juniors." Kong Xian stepped back after shing with the boar. "A training bag that can literally kill me!"

    "But at this rate, we will run out of stamina. I am thinking of using my secret skill." Bu Dong breathed heavily from the intense exchange of blows.

    "There are weapons lying around from the goblin fight, I will keep it busy!" Kong Xian roared and two tortoise silhouettes appeared above his head. "Towering Tortoise Style! Wide Armour Projection of the Tortoise!"

    His Kendo armour glowed deep with greenish colour energy and he provoked the eight-legged boar toe towards him. Bu Dong ran to grab the spear from the dead goblin and started to concentrate his fighting stance.

    "Is he doing what I think he is doing?!" One of the office workers in the crowd had his jaw wide open. The others that were familiar with Bu Dong''s techniques started toprehend the situation.

    "That''s the stance for one of his secret moves: the ''Angry Ape Pronounces Its Superiority!''. He used it when fighting in the semifinals of King''s Monsters!" The crowd started to chat loudly and some struggled to catch a glimpse of it on the TV.

    "What a long name for a technique." Jin thought to himself. "Maybe, that''s why it is a secret technique, haha." Yun threw in herments.

    Bu Dong gathered his chi and concentrated it at the tip of the spear that he was holding with his right hand. His offhand sword was ced over his right shoulder for a follow up attack and perhaps Bu Dong thought that it looked cooler that way as well.

    Apparently, the crowd did not deny that and started chanting for Bu Dong to kill the boar. "Bu Dong! Bu Dong! Bu Dong!"

    "Are you done?!" Kong Xian handling the brunt of the assault from the boar was getting push back every second. If he faltered, he could be killed at any second.

    "Now! Sword Art! Angry Ape Pronounces Its Superiority!" Two highly defined angry ape silhouettes emerged from Bu Dong and a burst of speed was released from his legs. Like an arrow being let loose from the bow, he bolted pass Kong Xian and the spear went straight into the boar''s skull.

    "I will not fail!!!!" Bu Dong screamed and he shed his sword with his offhand. With the momentum of the raised sword, he decided to puncture his offhand weapon into the open wound.

    Just he was about to do that, he felt a major change in his Dantian and suddenly a burst of power came from within him. He did not hesitate any further and struck the sword into the boar''s skull. A massive amount of blood ruptured from skull wound and the pig gave a soft ''oinkkбн.''

    The crowd went hysterical when they saw Bu Dong had not two angry apes but three appearing above him as he came down from the dead boar. "He turned into a Grade 3 cultivator while fighting the boar! This situation became so overbearing!" Everyone was extremely excited, even the party of four in the dungeon was surprised by the turn of events.

    "Hmm, why didn''t the boar activate its shedding of its body?" Jin was happy for Bu Dong but being unable to see the full potential of the boar, Jin could not help but feel bad for the boar.

    "Bu Dong managed to do a critical hit, causing an instant death for the boar. Remember? Only when near death will the boar shed its body." Yun exined to Jin.

    "Oh well, they did well though." Jin smiled.

    "Bu Dong, that was amazing!" Kong Xian could not help but drop to the ground from fatigue.

    "This battle is the best dungeon instance I have ever had." Yue Wen was amazed by the attack.

    "I cannot say that for myself...but it sure was intensely stinky." Yue Han was a little annoyed he did not contribute much to the fight. All of themughed.

    A female announcer''s voice echoed through the entire dungeon. "Congrattions on your dungeon clear. Instance is closing in 3, 2, 1." The party of four were teleported back to the shop and they were stunned when they saw themselves being surrounded by a lively crowd.

    "Bu Dong! That attack was amazing!" Bu Dong was not the only one who received praise. Some were impressed by Kong Xian tackling the boss monster solely by himself. Others took this chance to talk to the sporty Yue Wen and praised her for her medical skills in the midst of battle. Yue Han was not left out but obviously not for the right reasons. Thankfully, he was an easy going guy andughed with the crowd.

    What felt like a lifetime of adrenaline rush for the party of four, in actualitysted for only ten minutes or so in real time and a little over 1 and a half hours in dungeon instance time.

    "Bu Dong, Yue Han, Yue Wen, Kong Xian," Jin shouted their names and beckoned them toe to him.

    "Yes, Boss Jin?" All four nearly said it at the same time. They had a lot of respect for this new dungeon supplier for giving them a thrill of a lifetime.

    Jin pointed to arge board at the back of the store, near the stairs leading to the second floor. Bu Dong then realised that it was a score and rankings board.

    "First to clear Goblin Dungeon Instance: Grade 3 Hong Bu Dong, Grade 2 Ma Yue Han, Grade 2 Ma Yue Wen and Grade 2 Heng Kong Xian." The names were embossed in silver at the top of the scoreboard under Goblin Dungeon Instance. The scoreboard also stated their timing 1 hour 39 minutes and 11 seconds and it was ced right under the ''First to Clear'' section.

    "Oh my god, this is the first time my name is on a scoreboard and the first to clear!" Yue Han could not believe his eyes, he thought there were still after effects from the poison.

    "Boss Jin, will this be here forever?" Yue Wen was also excited, she did not expect to have such a glory to her name! The crowd started to whisper about it and talked to Jin.

    "Boss, are you openter in the evening? I would like to try the dungeon instance!" One of the office workers initiated first.

    "I should be open," Jin said so bluntly which made the crowd nearly staggered as a whole. Boss Jin seemed so shameless even when he should be the one bending his back over for customers.

    "Hahaha, Boss I like your attitude. You got the guts to reprimand your customers and yet serve them such a good quality dungeon instance. I willeter and try it!"

    "Me too! I will ask my friends toeter!" The crowd became friendlier to each other and started to exchange what kind of cultivation styles they practised with each other before they to went back to go work.

    "Ahh, this is the shop I always wanted to open." Jin thought quietly.

    .

    .

 Chapter 16 Pandamonium

    <h4>Chapter 16 Pandamonium</h4>

    The party of four decided to rest for a while at the bar counter while most of the crowd dispersed since lunch hour was near its end. Jin offered them some of the thirst quenching spring water and they had never felt so great. Yue Wen kept asking what brand of water it was for it to taste that great.

    "Bu Dong, what you said is true. I feel my cultivation stirring furiously in me." Yue Han sat cross legged upon saying it and so did Yue Wen and Kong Xian. "Yeah Boss Jin, howe there is spirit force that can stir our cultivation in the monsters? Are they really real life monsters?" Bu Dong asked bluntly.

    Bu Dong was the only one that did not need to cultivate. He was feeling good with the increase of cultivation grade. He had been stuck in Grade 2 Peak for nearly eight months and he thought the only way to increase it was to go into the military service. Never had he thought that this new dungeon supplier''s instance pushed him to the limits. Perhaps that was what he needed.

    "Trade Secret." Jin did not say much.

    "So Boss Jin any rewards for clearing the instance?" Bu Dong changed the topic, knowing he would not be able to get much by pestering Boss Jin. However, he got excited to know what he could get after he and the others managed to clear the dungeon.

    "Give me a moment, let me check." Jin gave an excuse for Yun to immediately step into the picture and she quickly briefed Jin with regards to the rewards. Jin pretended to walk back to the Panda Port to buy some time for her exnation.

    "While it is not necessary for you to do so, download this app here for a better utilisation of our store." Jin realised thezy panda standee near the cashier port he created previously suddenly had a Quick Response (QR) code attached to it. Regardless, he pointed it to Bu Dong and Bu Dong took a look at it.

    Bu Dong did not notice thezy panda standee previously and found it cute too. He opened his QR code reader and his phone started to ask the permission for the app download. When he downloaded it, Bu Dong found out that the app was named ''Pandamonium''. Its app icon was portrayed by a panda peeping through from the corner of the icon.

    He tapped on it and a loading screen with a group of pandazily stacking on each other was shown. "Too cute, Boss Jin loves pandas way too much." Bu Dong saw a login screen prompting for a username only but no password. "ce your dog tag near your phone. The near fieldmunications (NFC) chip in the dog tag will do everything for you." Jin instructed Bu Dong on it.

    Bu Dong did as instructed and realised a profile was already set up for him. The app was quick and responsive aspared to other apps created by the dungeon suppliers who tried to get their feet wet in the app market. Even the major local dungeon supplier King''s Monsters app was not as advanced as Jin''s.

    Within the app, Bu Dong realised the app interface was extremely clean and intuitive, making it easy for people to use. There was a personal stats tab, rewards tab, a panda chat tab which had a contact list to connect with the future cultivators visiting the store, an in-house currency tab, a score ranking tab and even the food menu tab.

    When Bu Dong scrolled through the app, the tabs were easily identifiable by the different unique pandas. For example, the currency tab has a picture of a panda holding arge coin with a ''P'' in it. The app even had a web store but it was currently not avable for viewing. A notification stating "work in progress!" was shown when Bu Dong tried to tap on it.

    "My items have not arrived yet, so it is not wise to open the web store." Jin gave an easily believable excuse. "You can check the rewards tab."

    Bu Dong quickly scrolled back up to the rewards tab, which was portrayed by a panda inside the gift box with its head and paws hanging out of the box. He saw there was a mail notification in the rewards tab stating that he had been awarded 35 Bronze Panda Medals.

    "Each dungeon instance gives 10 bronze medals. A first clear bonus varies between instances. For this dungeon instance, you received 25 bronze medals. Once the web store is up, you can exchange your medals with store items." Jin exined clearly.

    At this point, the other three got up from their cultivation stance and Bu Dong introduced them to the app as well. All of them indeed received the same amount of 35 Bronze Panda Medals and they even started to exchange contacts within the Panda App.

    Kong Xian got curious and decided to open the personal stats tab and was bewildered. There was a full analysis of his current ability by breaking it down to certain attributes. "Boss Jin, these personalised stats of mine are they true? How did you predict them?"

    "Trade Secret. All I can say when you are in the dimensional space, the pandas behind the scenes worked especially hard to analyse your stats like Strength, Dexterity, Chi and Constitution into this table. Whatever you revealed in the dimensional space like your Armour Projection, the pandas will record it." Jin tried to poke fun with them a little since they were starting to get the hang of the pandas.

    "Boss, are you sure those pandas are not skiving?" Yue Wen giggled at how immensely adorable these pandas pictures were in the app. Even the emoji in the Panda Chat was all well animated pandas making such expressions.

    "We will be back soon. I promise, also I would like the HD video download again." Bu Dong took out his phone and automatically ced it at the credit port.

    "You guys were in a party, there are four individual videos and a party video. Would you want your individual video or all of them?" Jin asked.

    "I will take all five of them, keep it as a trophy and research. Can I pass them the links in the Panda Chat?" Bu Dong queried but before he had any exnation, he saw his phone gave a beep to indicate the total cost of 25 Yuan was deducted from his e-wallet. That Boss Jin did not skive when it came to collecting money!

    "It has already been ced in your rewards tab and yes you can share it with them via Panda Chat," Jin replied. He waved goodbye to the party of four as he stretched his legs and body for a while.

    "Remember to eat your meals! Do not neglect them! A boss that is sick for a day is a boss with no revenue for a day!" Yun reminded him.

    "Ah yes, I just remembered I have not eaten after all themotions."

    "Isn''t that what I said just now?" Yun got a little annoyed and gave Jin a Panda emoji with its tongue stuck out. Jin ignored Yun as he quickly helped himself with a te of Tonkatsu curry rice and started to savour its taste. The store became quiet again.

    But not for long.

    .

    .

 Chapter 17 Boss, One More Serving Please!

    <h4>Chapter 17 Boss, One More Serving Please!</h4>

    "Ahhhh... I don''t feel hungry but I do want to eat too." Wa Xiong Da was walking along the Tiangong Shopping District from his way after a long trip from the neighbouring province of Fujian. He kept thinking that the food in this district was not enticing as it used to be.

    "I should probably lose some weight." Feeling dejected he continued to stroll along the shopping district until he smelled a tinge of curry fragrance.

    "When did the shopping district sell curry rice? I do not remember there being any new storeing up. Those square headed shop owners could not even get away from their traditional food items when I told them the food was not great at all." Xiong Da grumbled a little.

    Xiong Da''s sense of smell was sharply enhanced with his cultivation, the Hungry Hippo Style. He concentrated a little and tried to follow the scent of the curry fragrance. The fragrance got stronger as he approached the end of Tiangong Shopping District.

    A part of him wanted him to savour this new food item that had such a strong thick aroma. The other part of him kept telling to stop thinking about food.

    Xiong Da found out the direction that the fragrance wasing from where that the burnt pachinko building was previously at. However, now it had been reced with a traditional looking shophouse and a small beautiful looking park that upied the area. "What happened to this area when I left for my business trip?"

    The footsteps got even more hurried and the aroma indeed originated from this store. There was indeed someone eating the curry rice behind the bar counter. To his dismay, Xiong Da looked at the menu and realised that it was actually a dungeon supplier store.

    "245 Yuan?! For an instance?" He thought to himself that the shop owner was ripping people not just of their wallets but their intelligence too.

    "Hi, can I ask where did you buy this curry rice from? The aroma emanated from this curry rice is extremely enticing." Seeing this was a dungeon supplier store, he was not expecting much from the owner''s reply. He must have bought it from some delivery service like Qiandu Waimai.

    However, Xiong Da had not smelled such an incredible aroma of curry before. His mouth was filled with activity. The saliva within him overflowed like a tap that was left gushing in the kitchen sink and his taste buds were already screaming at him.

    Jin was about to eat his curry rice and felt a little annoyed when this person with a waistline probably three times bigger than him interrupts his meal. "Why can''t I eat in peace?!" Jin thought to himself.

    "That''s karma for ignoring me!" Yunughed heartily.

    "This tonkatsu curry rice is served here, part of service for the cultivators who train, y and fight the dungeons. If you like one, buy a dungeon instance."

    Xiong Da was astonished by the shop owner''s answer. Although he was a cultivator of the Hungry Hippo Style and possessed a weapon for self defense purposes, he did not use much of it. Thus he was just a mere Grade 1 cultivator at 34 years of age.

    "You are not worthy of her!" Those words kept echoing within Xiong Da''s head which prompted him to lose weight despite the urge to eat a lot. But eventually, his stomach''s desires overtook his weak willpower and he finally had the courage to ask. "I will have one instance ticket, just pass me the curry rice!"

    "Pay first." Jin was also hungry, for his customer''s money.

    The payment was done and Jin took a while to get the tonkatsu curry rice ready. He scooped a generous serving of rice from the rice cooker as he previously did for Bu Dong and the others.

    He used the tongs to grab therge piping hot pork cutlet from the oven-like cab and ced it on a metal griddle. He wore a pair of stic gloves as he handled the cutlet and he cut it into several slices. After which he used a medium sized metal pizza spat to scoop the sliced cutlets to ce it on top of the steamy rice.

    He then opened the magical bar cab where the thick aroma of curry started to seep out of the pot. Beside the pot, there was a button for Jin to push so that the curry sauce would flow out of the pot through arge tap and into a gravy boat. Surprisingly, such an action done by the System did not cause any spige and the tap wasrge enough for chunks of potato and carrots to flow out from the tap.

    The gravy boat was near to the brim when the pot tap automatically stopped. He took the gravy boat out and subsequently poured it onto the te with the golden breaded pork cutlet and rice.

    After which he used a pair of mini tongs to grab a few pieces of Fukujinzuke, lucky god pickles, which was nibbed in red from a jar provided by the System. He ced the Fukujinzuke at the side of the tonkatsu curry rice and the dish was ready to be served.

    "Eh? Isn''t this a little too fast when ites to cooking or preparing the food? Are they instant food?" Xiong Da suddenly felt like he was cheated, but decided to hold his thoughts until he tried it for himself.

    The aroma infused into the air from the te that was in front of Xiong Da and it was intoxicating to say the least. He quickly grabbed the utensils that were wrapped in a piece of serviette and scooped a mountain full of rice with curry.

    When the spoon came into contact with his lips, he felt a rush of goodness moving up his throat and brain. The taste of the rice was smooth like silk and the curry had the perfect bnce of sweetness and spiciness. As he chewed on, the chunk of potato with the curry was tip top fresh.

    This time round, he took the pork cutlet with his chopsticks and dipped half of it in curry. When he bit it, the crunchiness of the breaded tonkatsu was exploding in his mouth. The meat was fresh and juicy with a dash of saltiness thatplemented with the taste of the curry.

    Those two mouthfuls of savoury food made Xiong Da unable to stop and he gobbled the whole te within minutes.

    Jin served a ss of pure spring water to him and it was not insipidpared to the normal tap water Xiong Da had always been served in restaurants. That natural sweetness within the spring water made it satisfying and refreshing especially after such a meal.

    "Can I have one more serving please! Boss, it''s...it is super delicious! I do not mind the price! ...Sorry Boss may I know your esteem name?" Xiong Da wiped his sweat with his oversized business coat and raised his right index finger.

    "Name''s Jin and no. You do an instance run first before you can have another." There was no one item only per rule, but Jin was adamant to not allow wastage.

    "But I do not think, I can pass the dungeonбн" Xiong Da thought to himself how humiliating it was when he first try a dungeon instance.

    "Wait a minute." Xiong Da thought to himself. "If I can train at this dungeon supplier and enjoy such delicious food too. Does that mean I may be able to train myself and maybe...prove myself worthy while enjoying good food at the same time? I might actually have a chance!" Xiong Da seemed a little desperate but at the same time, this desperation gave rise to unfounded determination.

    "Okay Boss Jin, I will give it a try!" Xiong Da took off his business coat and rolled his sleeves up. He took the dog tag from Jin and Jin exined the standard instructions.

    "Station 2." Jin figured this person had some hidden agenda. How can this fatty just agree so easily to an instance fight. Since young, he knew these foodies would die trying to get their food desires fulfilled through unscrupulous ways instead of following orders. Anyways, he gave Xiong Da some privacy by using the station further in the store.

    "Boss, I am going in now!" Station 2 teleported Xiong Da into the instance.

    Jin realised an important thing. How the damn panda was he going to bring this fatty up the stairs to rest if he was rendered unconscious?!

    .

    .

 Chapter 18 Abrupt Mission

    <h4>Chapter 18 Abrupt Mission</h4>

    "You are all alone by yourself Jin. This is karma for ignoring me. K A R M A.ll~?" Yun started to hum a song happily in his head.

    "I should quickly eat my tonkatsu rice or I won''t have any strength to carry him!" Jin rushed to his curry rice and started to take in a few mouthfuls of the now lukewarm tonkatsu. He took the te along with him towards Station 2 in order to watch the battle instance.

    Just as he was about to sit down in front of Station 2''s TV behind the bar counter...Xiong Da was already teleported back from the instance, lying t on the ground.

    Breathing but motionless.

    Jin stood behind the bar counter with his eyes filled with boredom, weariness, frustration and emptiness. Did he forget to mention he had a mouthful of delicious pig meat in his mouth too? Yes and that.

    "Oh no! Someone had been rendered unconscious! What can we do? Oh! Boss Jin is around, isn''t he? But he can''t seem to hear me. What shall I do?" Yun whined ceaselessly.

    "Fine! I am sorry Yun for ignoring you!" Jin spoke with anger mixed with regrets. "Can you help me with this?"

    "What was that? An apology? Or did I hear a plea? System, I think my hearing is getting worse. Should I do tell the whisperer to do the job himself? What? You actually agree with me that this should be a punishment for him? I think so too!" Yun was in bitch mode. If Jin could have physically seen Yun, he would have pummeled her into orange juice.

    "Fine! I''ll do it myself after my lunchбн" Jin grudgingly epted his fate.

    "But what if that person needs medical attention? What if he does not feel good lying on the floor for such a long time? Oh oops, why am I talking to the wall? Silly me!" Yun continued to be spiteful.

    "OKAY, I WILL DO IT NOW!" Jin reluctantly put his spoon down but not before he stuffed another mouthful of curry rice into his mouth.

    ********

    Abrupt Mission: Bring the unconscious Xiong Da to the second floor.

    Mission Objectives: as stated above.

    Secondary Objectives: Kowtow three times in front of the phone with the magnificently gorgeous picture of Yun. The picture will be sent to you.

    Rewards: Yun''s Forgiveness.

    ********

    Jin immediately choked on the food he had just swallowed and quickly grabbed a jar full of spring water to calm himself down. "Oh My Gosh. This Yun." He took a deep breath and walk out of the bar counter, towards the fatty zing'' around on the floor.

    He grabbed Xiong Da by the hand and tried to pull normally. He did not budge a single centimetre. "What kind of weight does he have?!"

    "You mean how heavy he is? ording to the stats here obtained from the dungeon instance... about 185kg." Yun said with a chuckle.

    "18- WHAT? How did he even walk so quickly just now?!" Jin felt that his soul wished to depart from his body upon hearing Yun''s reply.

    "It is probably his cultivation Hungry Hippo which allowed him to withstand such weight or maybe you are just weak. Weak Boss Jin." Yun gave a ''tsk tsk tsk'' sound to show her dissatisfaction towards Jin.

    Jin immediately used his cultivation the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas, and two pandas silhouettes aszy as Xiong Da appeared at the top of Jin. The way those pandas acted was not helping his situation but he now was able to drag Xiong Da towards the stairs leading to the second floor as if he was trying to hide a murder victim.

    "He does not feel like 185kg, more like nearly 300kg!" Jinined

    "Oh did I not say a two before saying hundred and eighty five kilograms? Must be a slip of my tongue." Yun giggled again.

    "There is no way I can carry this behemoth-sized piece of flesh up the stairs." Jin''s head started to hurt more than the pain he felt behind his back at the thought of the abrupt mission. However, at this moment, he realised something and went to check the abrupt mission objectives again.

    Suddenly, Jin had a grin. An evil one.

    "The mission did not state on the kind of condition Xiong Da will arrive on the second floor." Jin went into his fighting stance and did the newest move he just learnt Lazy Panda Swipe! With twice the power of his strength in selected muscles in his right arm, hezily did a swipe towards Xiong Da''s belly. To his surprise, the swipe was indeed strong enough to knock Xiong Da up the half spacending of the stairs leading to the second floor.

    "Oh my! You are so violent, Jin!" Yun was satisfied that Jin was able to figure out the agenda of the mission objectives. Jin quietly said thank you in fear of Yun''s repeated retaliation and did the same Lazy Panda Swipe again to push Xiong Da to the second floor.

    Heter dragged Xiong Da to a suitable angle and distance to a lounge chair. "I hope the System''s lounge chair is sturdy enough to hold 285 kg of weight plus or minus the residual kic energy of his weight." Jin readied his Lazy Panda Swipe and once more, Xiong Da flew butnded straight onto a lounge chair.

    "Hooray for studying physics in engineering." Despite using the moves only three times, Jin felt his entire right arm muscle bing extremely sore. He immediately plugged the pulse oximetry onto Xiong Da and turned on the cardiac monitor to check his breathing and pulse. Jin also checked the areas he used the swipe attack and realised there seem to be no damage done.

    "The Hungry Hippo Style allowed the cultivators to use his adipose tissues or his fats like the blubber of a hippo. They are nearly impervious against blunt attacks at higher grades of cultivation." Yun exined like she was a teacher.

    "Then how did this fatty die so fast in the instance?"

    "Dagger to the throat, there is nothing to protect the throat." Yun turned on the video recording of Xiong Da''s death on Jin''s phone. All Jin could do is shake his head at Xiong Da''s ipetence.

    Jin massaged his right arm a little before doing the second objective. Since no one was around on the floor except the unconscious fatty, Jin ced the phone beside the wall of the second floor and Yun immediately showed a picture of her in her younger days.

    Jin was actually slightly bewitched by Yun''s picture. The flowing silky walnut brown hair and that devious smile with a pair of horizontally wide eyes staring at him. He could not help but felt a skip in his heart even though he knew that was a picture of his mother''s younger self. The kowtow somehow became a little easier when you started to idolise a person.

    He did three sincere prostrations and the abrupt mission waspleted. "Your apology has been epted, I forgive you," Yun spoke in his head. "I have unlocked a few features of your shop inpleting not just the abrupt mission but the mission you did halfway too."

    Before Yun could say another word, Xiong Da spoke out loud. "Big Brother Boss, you have a girl you could not get too?" His eyes started to tear up as he saw Jin in a prostrated position at a picture of an extremely gorgeous girl the moment he woke up.

    "Oh no..." Jin wondered what he got himself into.

    .

    .

 Chapter 19 Instructors

    <h4>Chapter 19 Instructors</h4>

    "Eh no Mr Wa, that picture is just a wallpaper on my phone. I just so happened to do some back stretches." Jin tried to make some excuses but it seems that Xiong Da knew they were lies. The truth, on the other hand, was still interpreted wrongly.

    "Big Brother Boss, just call me Xiong Da. You do not have to hide from me, I fully understand how you feel." Xiong Da had his body fully reclined on the lounge chair. Jin felt that there was no use arguing with him and just epted as it was. Anymore disagreement would further strengthen the thought of his idea.

    Also, thank goodness, the chair was made by the System as Jin could not bear to see furniture break on the second day of his store''s opening.

    "Great chair by the way." Xiong Da was a little quiet and Jin decided to leave before things start to getplicated but he was one step toote.

    "I have this girl that really likes me, but this love rival of mine stole her from me. He pummelled me in a duel and demanded that the girl belonged to him. She had no choice but to respect the rules of the duel and reluctantly left with him but also because he kept saying he had the money to pay for her parent''s medical debt."

    "But I have the ability to pay for her parent''s debt too, She just kept denying me to do so! Why did she ept that guy''s money?" Xiong Da started to cry loudly.

    "At this day and age...people still duel for such consequential decisions? How old fashioned can they get?" Jin wondered.

    "Technically, they can still invoke the rites of a duel to settle things in court, but only if both parties agree to it. It''s just that most sensible people would not do such stupid things and instead let thew and evidence decide." Yun replied.

    "Xiong Da, why did you even ept the rites of duelling if you knew you are going to lose badly? You could have peacefully settled it."

    "He kept provoking me and said I was useless, and that I could not protect her. Besides, I wanted to act cool in front of my girl. If I cannot protect her, how can I call myself a man? I had to die trying... just that I did not die. I wish I could die now." Xiong Da started to wipe his drippy nose with his sweaty shirt.

    Jin realised that this was a customer that he might be able to help. Provided, Xiong Da decided to still help himself after that insulting humiliation from his dungeon instance.

    "You said you have the money right?" Jin questioned him.

    "Yes! All I have is money. Useless things if I cannot get my girl." Xiong Da started to sulk.

    "Rest up and wash, when you are ready toe down, we will discuss how to win that girl back." Jin started to walk towards the bathroom.

    In the recovery area, there were two mixed gender bathrooms equipped with showering capabilities. Jin thought the bathroom space provided by the System was spacious until the likes of Xiong Da proved that the System was just being amodative.

    He reached out for a towel from the cupboard near the toilet and gave it to Xiong Da. "So fluffy! the towel is so fluffy!! It seems Boss Jin really prides himself with quality service for his customers." Xiong Da once again praised Boss Jin.

    "As I said, get a shower. I assume you have some clothes in the luggage that you carried in just now right?" Jin questioned him once more and Xiong Da nodded.

    Jin went down the stairs and saw no one was around the shop yet. He took Xiong Da''s luggage and brought it up to the 2nd floor for him.

    Xiong Da listened to Jin and ced his dog tag near the scanner to the bathroom to take a shower. To his surprise, the shower itself was unique. Instead of just one showerhead, he realised they were ced throughout the whole shower unit. The corners of the floors, the ceiling and the walls had mini shower heads. The moment he pressed the wash button, jets of high pressure water came from all side of the shower unit, simr to how a car goes through an automated car wash service.

    At the soap dispenser unit, there were various types of soap avable with panda pictures indicating which part of the panda you should wash. Shampoo, conditioner, face soap and body soap were all avable. Xiong Da did not even need to press the dispenser as when he ced his hand at the soap dispenser unit, the shampoo was automatically dispensed for him.

    The dispenser was also responsive enough for him to umte arge amount of soap. He thoroughly washed his entire body. He was thankful that the shower was spacious enough for him to move around in.

    He turned around to press the wash button for the shower and the jets of high pressure water came out again. This time the shower heads even moved slightly and gave a massage-like feeling with the jetstreams of water. If he could openly confess, this was probably the first time Xiong Da felt he was very clean from a shower.

    After he was done, there was even a blow-dry function in the shower unit that blew alternating lukewarm and cold air from the floor and ceiling which dried Xiong Da up in less than a minute. The towel given by Jin was more for his hair.

    "For 245 Yuan, the food and shower alone is worth it." Xiong Da wore the new clothes he had taken from the luggage and went down the stairs to meet with Jin.

    When Jin went back to the first floor, he immediately gobbled the remaining tonkatsu curry rice despite it being a little cold. He did not wish to waste any food.

    "What features did you unlock Yun?" Jin talked as he had his mouth full of food.

    "Firstly, one that might aid your current situation. Your betors can now be used as instructors if your cultivators require help. In the olden days, only the famous high grade dungeon suppliers were able to produce such models in their dungeon instances and they were called schrs instead." Yun exined the new feature to him.

    "Ah, I have heard of such instructors being provided by high end dungeon suppliers. However, I remember them as a programmed AI with a set of instructions for the users. They cannot bepared with betors like Milk."

    "Oh, do remember you can only use one betor for each instance and they cannot be summoned concurrently in two dungeons."

    "Well, I only have Milk with me." Jin finally finished his curry rice and ced the te into the dishwasher.

    "She costs 189 Yuan per instance run. Either you or the customers can buy new equipment for her but that cost needs to be taken up by you all."

    "That''s interesting, if Xiong Da employs Milk for the dungeon instance, he might have a chance of passing the dungeon in the long run."

    "Also Jin, take note that the monsters will not attack the betors. All the betors will do is guide their students. They are able to weaken the monsters a little to help their students but they won''t kill it for them. Hence, only support ss betors will be avable for hire."

    "sses like archers, tanks, mages and healers can be used. Offensive betors will not be shown for instructor selection."

    At this moment, Xiong Da arrived downstairs. "I will exin the other features to youter. Good luck getting this customer''s money. I await your sess." Yun seemed to have a happier tone.

    "Boss, I am here. What did you want to talk about?" Upon hearing Xiong Da arrive, Jin''s eyes looked as if he saw a juicy meaty hippo served on a golden te.

    .

    .

 Chapter 20 Milk Milks Money

    <h4>Chapter 20 Milk Milks Money</h4>

    "Judging from your performance just now, you are hoping to increase your cultivation so you might have the chance to dere for a rematch?" Jin queried and Xiong Da could only nod his head in disappointment.

    "I am a bit ashamed of my previous performance but yes I would want to."

    "How determined are you?"

    "Very! I will go to the mountains and back again for her."

    "Isn''t the phrase go to the end of the world and back again." Jin sighed at Xiong Da''s simplicity.

    "Same thing boss, I could hardly walk up a hill, much less a mountain." Xiong Da said without thinking.

    "It''s alright I get what you mean. Now I will tell you my n. I have an AI instructor that might be able to help you in your path of cultivation, are you willing to partake?"

    "I heard the AI instructors are just preprogrammed bots in the dungeon instance. However, Boss Jin, so far what you have shown me in this store shows that you deal with only the best quality. So I believe the instructor you are getting for me will be top notch too." Xiong Da''s earnest attitude kind of melted Jin''s heart a little for believing in him.

    "It will be a little costly, are you still willing?" However, that attitude did not satiate Jin''s thirst for money. Fat Hippo''s money.

    "I told you already money is not a problem!" Xiong Da folded his arms to express his slight disappointment in Jin''s distrust of his capability to pay.

    "Okay, so here is the n. At least three instances with the instructor. If the stations are upied by other customers, you wait for your turn. If not, you can continue on once you wake up from your unconsciousness." Jin did not need anything else to convince him.

    "Do at least three instances and if you think you can do more, tell me and I will set you up for more." Jin now tried to hook the hippo for more.

    "How much is the instructor programme?" Xiong Da started to sweat a little.

    "189 Yuan per instance run," Jin said with a firm voice.

    Xiong Da nearly pulled his hair out when he heard the price. That will be 434 Yuan per instance! But how could he back down now when after he had said to Jin. "I will prove my worth!" He thought to himself.

    "Okay Boss Jin, I ept your proposal. So I start tomorrow?"

    "What rubbish are you talking about? Why tomorrow when you can start immediately? Is your determination that weak? Otherwise, why did I ask you to bath for? So you can start afresh!" Jin could not help but reeled the fishing line immediately when he hooked the fat hippo in. Perhaps Jin''s determination to eat up Xiong Da''s money was stronger than Xiong Da''s courage to train his cultivation.

    Xiong Da gave a gulp and he took out his phone to ce it on the credit port. A total of 1302 Yuan was deducted from his phone in an instant.

    Jin pretended to be serious as he continued to encourage Xiong Da about how he had already taken his first step into the road to higher cultivation but in his heart, Jin was jumping crazily because of the increase in revenue.

    He also introduced the Pandamonium app to Xiong Da and told him to take a look at his stat while Jin ced his phone near the Panda Port to synchronise his only betor, Milk, into the store''s system.

    After which, Jin directed Xiong Da to Station 2 for the start of training. When Xiong Da arrived in the forest instance he heard someone cheerfully calling him.

    "Yooohooo! You Xiong Da?" Milk came walking in unknowingly from the edge of the woods with a seductive manner. Xiong Da could not help but gulp another portion of his saliva and nodded his head.

    "Did Jin not say it''s an AI instructor? Why does the instructor look so perfect? Wait, of course she looks perfect, she''s an AI programmed instructor! However, she looked too human to be considered as an AI instructor. Boss Jin really has good taste and good programming skills!" Xiong Da kept on praising Jin.

    "Hey there Mr Big Guy, I''m Milk! Nice to meet you." Milk''s smile seemed to make Xiong Da''s nose swell up with blood. The swelling in his nose got even worse as Milk''s chest involuntarily shook and so did Xiong Da''s head.

    Suddenly, the thought of Ruo Ying appeared in his mind. He quickly shook his head and affirmed his mind''s stance "My heart cannot waver! All I have is her. The one and only Ruo Ying!"

    Milk noticed a subtle change in Xiong Da''s behaviour so she stopped teasing him and took her book weapon out to block a sudden dagger throw from the woods. After which, she took the book with her and jumped high to knock on Xiong Da''s head.

    "First thing! Do not fall for the same attack again! Be alert of your surroundings!" Milk started to scold Xiong Da and he quickly observed the surroundings. His Hungry Hippo Style was more of a defensive kind of style but if used correctly, it could inflict great damage too.

    "The only disadvantage your style has is speed. So you have toplement with either advanced thinking, knowing where your enemy will strike next or brute force to make the enemye out from its hiding ce." Milk opened her book and flipped a few pages to cast a strength buff on Xiong Da.

    The dagger goblin burst out of the bushes to attack Xiong Da but he was able to dodge in time after noticing a slight movement in the bush with Milk''s prompting. However, his eyes still could not avert themselves from Milk''s chest even if his heart told him not to, else Xiong Da could have dodged and counterattacked the dagger goblin.

    Jin saw the whole scene and pitied him. "The concentration you need is doubled with Milk around and she can y this subus act so well," Jin remembered the first encounter he had with Milk.

    "Focus! Stop looking at mine and start thinking about how to get hers!" Milk jumped up again and knocked Xiong Da''s head. Xiong Da, with a slight bruise on his head took out his iron war club mace from his storage ring. Instead of charging, he smashed the ground with all his strength as advised by Milk earlier on. The shockwave indeed staggered the dagger goblin a little, which caused it to fall down.

    "Now move forward and attack the dagger goblin!" Milk shouted and pointed her book towards the goblin. Xiong Da rushed towards the dagger goblin but this time the spear goblin came from the side and attacked Xiong Da.

    The ambush frightened Xiong Da and this gave the dagger goblin the opportunity to strike from a kneeling position. Naturally, it aimed for his neck and the strike was true. Xiong Da bled profusely as the dagger goblin held onto Xiong Da''s body to stab for the second time.

    However, a book flew from afar and hit the dagger goblin over and it fell again. A holy energy based Cross came out from Milk''s hand and it both struck the spear and dagger goblin, making them unable to attack Xiong Da.

    Meanwhile, Milk walked slowly towards Xiong Da without casting a spell. Xiong Da was fading to unconsciousness from the loss of blood but Milk did nothing to save him.

    "Your Hungry Hippo Style made you strong against attacks. Dare to strike your enemy while you endure attacks by your enemies. This will scare them and make them think you are either insane or invincible."

    All Xiong Da could do to react was to puke sputum of blood from out his mouth while blood ceaselessly flowed out of his throat. He waster teleported back to the front of the TV of Station 2. Milk had also been returned into Jin''s phone

    "You could have saved him, why did you not do that?" Jin asked with some curiosity.

    "Well, why hold his hand when you can guide him while he ces some moh on it too?" Milk gave a wink to Jin as she was having a video conversation with him on the phone. However, at the same time, Jin also noticed the background in her ce surprisingly empty but that was just a passing thought.

    "Oh Milk, I''m starting to like you a lot more." Jin curled his lips.

    "Anything for the benefit of my master." Milk blew a kiss and turned her back towards Jin waving goodbye before she closed the video call with him.

    "Xiong Da, I am going to make you a strong cultivator. Before that, let me improve mine." Jin stretched a little before he dragged Xiong Da again to the stairs and used Lazy Panda Swipe again to send him up to the second floor.

    .

    .

 Chapter 21 Soda and Juice

    <h4>Chapter 21 Soda and Juice</h4>

    Jin spent most of the afternoon handling Xiong Da. With each dungeon, Xiong Da managed to learn something new from Milk and in total, he did five dungeon instances. During the downtime between each dungeon instance, Xiong Da got to savour the store''s only specialty, the Tonkatsu Curry Rice. To him, delicious food cured every wound.

    Not only did Xiong Da think that the curry rice was the best food he had ever eaten for a long time, the Panda soda he bought was also exceptionally tasty. Where did the soda came from? Uponpleting the mission to master Lazy Panda Swipe, Yun had unlocked the bar shelves in the middle of the bar counter ind, allowing Jin to stock drinks on the first floor.

    The system stocked the bar with two types of drinks unique to the store and in the food menu, they werebelled as Panda Soda and Bamboo Juice. Jin knew that whatever the store put up, it would definitely be of a good quality...and something rted to pandas.

    Jin took one of each type from the bar shelves and he realised that the cans were already cold. Heter found out that the bar shelves had some kind of refrigeration technology which kept the cans cool for consumption.

    The aluminium can of soda disyed a picture of a panda holding a ss bottle and blowing cold air out from its mouth. The taste of the carbonated soda had a citrus vour that Jin had never tasted before.

    "The Panda Soda''s vour was created with a blend of the natural citrus which originated from Yunnan in Southwest China, the Himyas foothills and Northern Myanmar. The sweetener in Panda Soda also uses a mixture of top quality brown and maple sugar to enhance the vour."

    Next to try was the bamboo juice. The Bamboo Juice came in a can as well but the can was shaped like an internode of a bamboo stem. When stacked together, it looked like an artificial bamboo nt was growing beside the bar shelves.

    Jin tried the juice and Yun exined to him the origins of the bamboo. "The bamboo used originated from the Sakhalin inds in Russia. The juice was cold pressed immediately after they were harvested. Only new bamboo shoots that emerged a golden yellow culm with red margins surrounding it were harvested in order to have the best quality of juice."

    "The juice itself is cold and sweet, making it refreshing to drink since it also helps to clear the meridians in the lungs, heart and stomach," Yun added.

    Xiong Da finally stopped for the day and thanked Jin. "Boss, I really did learn a lot today! I will be sure toe back tomorrow for more training. Please help me thank Milk sensei too." Xiong Da bowed a little and took his small luggage with him home.

    -------

    "Hey Bin Yong, I found a ce that might be of an interest to you. This could possibly be the best uing hangout ce for us." Shi Zuo said with excitement after he came back from his lunch break at around 2.30 pm.

    "What did you find this time? The previous time, you introduced a cabaret club style bar and you guaranteed it would be a hit too. In the end, the whole night was filled with disaster. I do not need any more of your weird rmendations." Bin Yong said with disgust as he vividly remembered the incident he had in the bar.

    "This time I can vouch for Shi Zuo! This will be a good one!" Luo Bo held onto Shi Zuo shoulders as she came to Bin Yong''s cubicle. She was giggling around with Shi Zuo, which made Bin Yong feel a little awkward.

    Bin Yong sighed and ced his digital pen down on his drawing tablet and spun his chair, facing towards Shi Zuo and Luo Bo. "For your girlfriend''s sake. I will listen. This is thest time if this ce is a failure, I am not going out with you two for the next month."

    Of course, he would listen to Luo Bo. That short bubbly girl with deep dimples was his love crush until his best friend Shi Zuo decided to chase after her. Obviously, Bin Yong did not let his non-blood rted brother down and even helped him get Luo Bo.

    "You know Tiangong Shopping District, there was once a burnt pachinko building?" Shi Zuo started his recount of the area.

    "Yea, who in this area does not know about the story of that building?" Bin Yong had crossed his legs and folded his arms to listen.

    "Well, someone actually had the guts to buy thend and he set up shop there." Luo Bo continued.

    "What kind of shop, a restaurant? Did you guys try it yet?" Bin queried.

    "No no, do not jump the gun bro...well technically I think the shop owner has food services too but that is not the main point." Shi Zuo started to digress from the main point like he always did.

    "Then what is it? Stop beating around the bush." Bin Yong replied.

    "It''s a dungeon supplier!" Luo Bo smile nearly melted Bin Yong''s heart. Ah, how could he ever forget? The three of them went to a dungeon supplier and Shi Zuo actually confessed his feelings to her when they were in the most dangerous zone of the dungeon.

    While the confession happened, Bin Yong was taking all the heat from the boss monster "You could have confessed AFTER you guys help me kill the monster!" That was what he thought when he was being attacked in the dungeon instance. In the end, all of them died horribly but the two hitched off well from the encounter, while Bin Yong was left in the dumps.

    Regardless, it was the worst memory to date and he did not wish to relive it. His brother seemed to be quite oblivious to Bin Yong''s feeling too.

    "I guess I will take a pass, the director asked me to hand him the first drafts of the character drawing for the new animation by tomorrow."

    "Aww,e on it''s been a long time since all three of us yed together and this dungeon supplier is different! Trust me!" Shi Zuo was confident about that fact and Luo Bo nodded furiously.

    "Yes Bin Yong, we also saw Bu Dong getting a team together to pit against the new dungeon supplier''s monsters. It was exhrating! I felt my heart nearly drop out when he faced the boss!" Luo Bo could not contain the excitement she felt during Bu Dong''s match.

    "What? You mean that Bu Dong? The local champion of King''s Monster for two consecutive years?" Bin Yong was really surprised.

    "Yea and rumours said that the dungeon run he did with his team was the second run. He apparently lost the first." Shi Zuo remembered the livid crowd gossiping all around when they questioned Bu Dong.

    "Okay, then this dungeon supplier is worth checking out." Bin Yong realised what he actually said and suddenly felt a wave of regreting in. "Shit, I got caught in their trap!"

    On the other hand, Luo Bo and Shi Zuo were ecstatic that they managed to convince their friend after so long. "This will be the first outing we have had together for this year!" Luo Bo high fived Shi Zuo and the couple waved Bin Yong goodbye.

    Bin Yong confirmed that the couple disappeared and waited for silence to return to his cubicle. He then started to bang his head softly on the table.

    "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

    .

    .

 Chapter 22 Evenings Crowd

    <h4>Chapter 22 Evening''s Crowd</h4>

    It was the evening and Jin decided to have a Wacdonalds meal for dinner. Hence, he closed the shop and pasted an A4 sign stating that he would be back in an hour or two. "Wacdonalds again Jin?" Yun seem to have gotten angry again.

    "Well, I cannot possibly eat curry rice all week right?" Jin argued.

    "The curry rice has more nutrients than this empty calorie burger set! The ingredients in the curry like carrots and spices will help stimte your body vitals and nourish your meridian points! The pig meat gives you a high amount of protein too!" Yun said.

    "Alright, just this onest time for this week okay?" Jin had no strength to argue with Yun after that shameless incident in the afternoon.

    "Hmmph, we will see." Yun said in a fit of anger.

    During the meal, Jin started to scroll his mission app again and saw that the mission list was updated. "I should get a new monster for the sake of variety, else people will get bored of the goblins."

    One of the missions he found gave him what he wanted.

    *********

    Mission: Capture Lady Snake and her two servants

    Secondary Objective: Use your only panda move to defeat them

    Rewards: Treant Grade 2 Boss Monster

    ********

    "Perhaps I should do this tomorrow morning. I doubt my right arm has the strength to swipe anything right now." Jin was indeed using his left hand to eat his Wacdonalds meal instead. While the right arm held onto his phone since it required less movement.

    Xiong Da''s five dungeon instances raked in more money in a day, way more than he could have made if he worked as an averageputer engineer. However, Jin needed to bring him up to the second floor forpulsory health monitoring as stated by the countries''w if the cultivators were rendered unconscious.

    The only way to bring Xiong Da up? Lazy Panda Swipe. The training he got for sending Xiong Da up tremendously improved his swipe''s strength, speed and uracy. The downside was the soreness. Jin figured if he cultivate at night via his Neen Lazy Astral Panda Technique, the soreness should be reduced or gone by tomorrow.

    Also, when he thought about it further, he did not actually earn that much since hismission was about 5% for each instance ording to the System''s rules. However, he did not need to worry about rental, about stock, about maintenance of the shop. What he was receiving was puremission.

    He also had some inheritance money left by histe grandfather Ming hence bills at home were easily settled. All Jin had to do was to focus on earning money to be the best dungeon supplier.

    Jin epted the Lady Snake Mission and he leisurely scrolled through the other missions as he sipped his Coca K drink.

    "Hmm, what is this?" Jin got curious of the mission title and tapped to expand the details.

    *********

    Mission: Earn a total of 10,000 Yuan

    Rewards: Level 1 Dungeon Supplier

    Missionpletion: In progress

    **********

    "Oh, this is one of those ongoing missions. I forgot to tell you about it. Heh." Yun said casually.

    "Huh, what do you mean by Level 1 Dungeon Supplier? What does it do?" Jin started to seriously questioned Yun.

    "By being a level 1 Dungeon supplier, you will get 10%mission and your shophouse facilities will expand a little. Basically, increasing your dungeon supplier level is beneficial for you."

    "Did you not say that the System judged me by ranking? You said I was ranked 900,000ish?" Jin was getting confused.

    "Oh no, the levels here are meant to help you expand your shop and increase your earnings. The system will still judged you by your supplier ranking and give you a reward once you reach a certain milestone."

    "Is there a mission for me to view for the rankings?" Jin shook his head. How could Yun forget such important stuff?

    "You do know I can read your hidden thoughts too if I want to. I did not forget, it is just that I did not want to bombard you with so many things." Yun replied honestly.

    "Alright, I will give that a pass then. I do admit I still have lots to learn." Jin sighed and started to walk back to his shop.

    "That''s the spirit of humility that I hoped you cultivate!" Yun gave a thumbs up emoji via his phone.

    As he was walking back, he notice something odd. There was loud chattering from the end of Tiangong Shopping District. As he looked closer, there was actually a long queue waiting for him at his shophouse!

    "You said toe here as soon as possible! But the store seems to be closed!" Bin Yong felt annoyed and a little disappointed being rushed straight from work the moment the clock struck 5.30 pm.

    "There''s an A4 sign stating that he will be back, I checked!" Luo Bo reassured Bin Yong and he could not resist her.

    "Take a look at this crowd, I am not lying to you! And we are already considered the first few. Consider yourself lucky Bin Yong." Shi Zuo looked back and saw the queue for Jin''s store getting longer.

    Jin was taken aback but he walked briskly towards his shop and entered through the side door. Some of the crowd in the afternoon remembered the Boss and cheered as he came back from his dinner.

    "Boss Jin! Hurry and open your shop! We cannot wait to give the dungeon a try!"

    "Give me 5 to 10 minutes to prepare everything." Jin spoke before he closed the side door. As he closed the door, he took in a deep breath.

    "WOOOOOOO, I cannot believe this! This feels like a miracle!" Jin raised his fist up quickly and vigorously drew it back.

    "Hahaha, I am feeling excited for you too, do your best for the evening~! It''s all-or-nothing to handle and impress the crowd!" Yun cheered him on.

    Jin quickly used the bathroom on the second floor while the System boots up all the stations and Panda Port. Everything was restocked from the drinks to the curry rice. Even the soda and snack bar vending machine on the second floor was ready.

    "Let''s do this!" Jin said to Yun as he opened the shutters of the shop. The crowd started to queue at the Panda Port. Some of the crowd started to exin how the shop worked based on observations in the afternoon.

    "Oh my gosh, this is a rip off!" Bin Yong stared at the menu when they were at the cashier counter.

    "Sorry Boss, do not bother about him, three instance tickets!" Shi Zuo said immediately as thest station, Station 4 was the only one avable at the moment.

    "Okay, please pay individually." Jin acknowledged their order and the phones tapped in and tapped out of the cashier port. Bin Yong grudgingly paid his part. If not for Luo Bo, he would haveined even more. The dog tags were issued to Shi Zuo and the trio quickly ran to Station 4 even before Jin could direct them to that area.

    The rest of the crowd also bought their dungeon instance tickets and Jin gave them directions on which station to go to once the initial team were done. Yun was helping Jin in his head telling him on what to do while not confusing him.

    Both of them were working like cogs of a machine...well two cogs of a machine. Actually, when Jin thought about it, it was Jin who was a cog and Yun the engine.

    Some of the crowd that was waiting started to order the tonkatsu curry rice and some drinks with the Panda credits they had umted from buying the dungeon instance. They did not regret their choice ofing here even if it was not for the dungeon instance.

    Bin Yong looked at the atmosphere around him and it was intensely heated up. Everyone were busily chatting on how to advance during the dungeon, telling each other what to do. Some even used the viewing experience in the afternoon to guess what needs to be done. "This is amazing, I have not seen this kind of energy for quite some time." Bin Yong thought to himself.

    "Baby, you are our scout okay? Alert us when you see the goblins." Shi Zuo instructed Luo Bo and she gave a quick salute to tease him. "Bin Yong, just survive as long as you can okay?" Bin Yong just nodded his head.

    "It''s just a dungeon is it not? Why are you two being so serious?" Bin Yong said as he took out his sword and round shield from his storage ring. He actually did feel a little excited, perhaps it was the energy from the atmosphere even though he had ced such low expectations upon himself.

    "You will understand soon Bin Bin!" Luo Bo took their belongings and left it in the panda miniature by the side of the TV shelves.

    "Let''s try to kill some goblins!" Shi Zuo ced his dog tag in front of the TV and the other two followed him. Station 4 officially started their dungeon y and the crowd waiting, took the chance to take a look at them.

    .

    .

 Chapter 23 Yun

    <h4>Chapter 23 Yun</h4>

    The whole store was bustling with such fervent energy as the crowd watched four simultaneous dungeon instance runs in the store. Not only were the TVs at each stationsrge enough for the crowd to share together, the new customers were also amazed by the magic eye technology employed by the store.

    "Switch! Shi Zuo back up now!" Shi Zuo parried the spear goblin''s attack upwards with his axe and sidestepped for Bin Yong. While its spear was high up in the air, Bin Yong ced his round buckler forward and mmed it towards the spear goblin body, causing him to stagger and fall to the ground.

    With the goblin now stunned, three simultaneous arrows from Luo Bo flew into the goblin''s body and Shi Zuo followed up with an axe cleave to the goblin''s right arm. Blood continuously flow out from the goblin and Bin Yong took the chance to stab his sword into the goblin''s heart.

    The crowd cheered at Station 4 when thest goblin went down but the rest of the stations did not have such luck. Most of them were defeated by the sneak attacks of the dagger goblin. Jin stopped his shop operations and started to carry them to second floor for health monitoring.

    Before he carried them to the second floor, Jin ced them at a couch near the stairs leading to the second floor. This way, the customers next in line could use the station without being hindered by the unconscious bodies in front of the TV. Some of the customers even offered help to assist Jin but he declined the offer and told them it''s his job.

    As Jin did not wish to waste time, he decided to carry two unconscious male customers at a time to the couch area and to do so, he used his cultivation technique to increase his strength. At this moment, most of the the crowd realised why the store was full of pandas.

    "Boss! No wonder you have so many pandas stuff in the store. We figured you were a Panda user!" One of the customers pointed out the obvious.

    During this asion, Jin realised something extremely important. What about the female customers that were rendered unconscious? Even though there were CCTV cameras as proof, Jin may still be used of molesting them or worse, **** by the unsuspecting crowd or even the female customers themselves just for carrying them to the second floor.

    Even so, there were no chaperones to handle the second floor since the recovery area were used by both genders. If a male customer had malicious intent to do something underhanded to a fellow female cultivator that was unconscious, how could the shop handle such a scandal?

    "Do not worry, Jin. I will handle it." Suddenly a very familiar voice came from within the crowd while Jin was handling the two unconscious customers. That familiar silky walnut brown hair came into view. That same devious smile and beautiful wide eyes.

    That 173cm talldy with a simple white silk office shirt with her sleeves folded up. That grey formal office skirt with a thin chocte brown belt essory that showed her curves and a nude colour stocking that went easily with the pair of ck kitten heels. What she was wearing, cried out demure but her facial features were second to none.

    The male customers dropped their jaws and stopped what they were doing just to appreciate the refined beauty of nature while the female ones were amazed by the perfect three dimensions of her body she was portraying.

    The wless beauty took the initiative to pick up the unconscious female customer with pure elegance and carried her effortlessly to the couch.

    She winked at Jin as she continued to help Jin with the female counterparts. When the first floor was cleared of unconscious customers, she lied down on one of the avable lounge chairs on the second floor to monitor the customers. Jin went back to operating the store and serving the customers.

    "Boss Jin! You know that gorgeousdy that helped you?" One of the customers could not hold his curiosity and started to ask questions. The other customers surrounding him pretended not to be interested but they were actually listening intently into the conversation.

    "Ehhh, she is someone I know and am close to." Boss Jin was dumbfounded as he did not know how to reply. Should he say that that was his mom but she actually died before and came back looking younger instead?

    "Any idea if she''s attached?" the other customer could not bring himself to not ask.

    "Do not get any ideas, she''sбн.married and very faithful." Not to mention she also gave birth to him and was still scolding Jin for not taking care of himself.

    "Now, that is a challenge to partake!" One of the customers joked. All Jin could respond was with a bitterughter with a tinge of hostility. "I dare you, you rascal." Jin quietly thought.

    "Hahaha, to see my own son wanting to defend me. That''s a first." Yun giggled and replied in his head.

    "How can you exist here and there?" Jin took a look at the CCTV live footage on his Panda Port and he saw Yun still lounging leisurely on thefortable reclining chair.

    "Magic! Hehehe! The system took your thoughts into consideration and decided to gift me a body to help with the shop. We cannot let the store go bankrupt fromwsuits, usations or even scandals even before it starts to earn proper money right?" Yun exined to him.

    "Besides, if you hire an assistant, they might not possibly be able handle the magical stuff as calmly as you did." Yun stated.

    "me it on the inte. Those light novels are the culprits that made me immune to these kind of surprises. However, ehh Yun." Jin stuttered a little.

    "Yes?"

    "You are really beautiful." Jin thought and blushed a little. Thank goodness he was squatting down to get some curry from the magical cab so the customers did not see his expression.

    "Aw, do not fall in love with me okay? I have your father already. But I am starting to love you as my child too." If Jin could see the CCTV footage at the Panda Port, Yun was peacefully smiling whileying back on the chair.

    "Thank you for the opportunity to reunite with my son, Dad." Yun thought quietly of Ming, Jin''s grandfather.

    Meanwhile, the crowd burst into roar at Station 4. "This could be the next group on the ranking board!" One of the Station 4''s crowd shouted!

    Bin Yong panted rapidly as he held up his buckler to hold off the tusk attack by the Eight Legged Boar. The lucky arrow shot to the eyes made the boar extremely furious but the trio was still holding on without any healing personnel.

    Shi Zuo remembered he still had some quick healing sprays from previous dungeon suppliers they visited and passed everyone a few bottles before the battle started.

    "Okay sorry for judging you brother. This battle is beyond myprehension on how versatile the monsters can be that deadly and dangerous. But one thing is for sure, I actually like this a lot more than other dungeon suppliers." Bin Yong took another blow from the angry boar but he managed to sneak in a few sword shes while activating his Bombardier Beetle Style.

    "I told you! This could be our next regr hangout ce! You have yet to try Boss Jin''s food yet, the smell of the curry rice was incredible!" Shi Zuo dashed and did a leap attack with his axe using his Mad Monkey Style towards the boar''s nk.

    "Hey! I was the one who encouraged you toe with us! Stupid Bin Bin!" Luo Bo went for a good angle and released her arrows with her Illusive Rabbit Style.

    Bin Yong could not give a reply to her immediately with his hidden feelings now vulnerable and in the open. However, that one moment of thought allowed the blind boar to hit his target properly and Bin Yong was knocked a few meters away.

    "Shit, Luo Bo go help Bin Yong now! I will distract the boar for a while!" Shi Zuo let out a shout simr to how a Mad Monkey screamed and the Boar turned its head to face him.

    Bin Yong was bleeding quite a lot at right shoulder and he saw Luo Bo panicking while rushing towards him. "Ah, I failed them again like that time." He ced his head down on the ground to breath as slow as in order to endure the pain.

    Luo Bo came and she quickly knelt down, put down her bow and searched her sling bag for the quick healing spray. "Do not die on us now Bin Bin, you are not allowed to do so!" Luo Bo words were firm despite that innocent looking face Bin Yong was staring at.

    "I will do my best." Bin Yong closed his eyes as Luo Bo started to use the healing spray.

    .

    .

 Chapter 24 Second Form of Boss Boar

    <h4>Chapter 24 Second Form of Boss Boar</h4>

    "It''s enough Luo Bo, you should aid Shi Zuo." Bin Yong stood up as steadily as he could, using his sword as a support. From the position she was kneeling, she realigned her sling bag and picked up the bow she left on the floor.

    Bin Yong took a deep breath in and started to use his sword to hit his buckler. "Bang Bang Bang!" The ruckus of metal against metal was amplified by his Bombardier Beetle Style and he finally got the attention of the boar.

    Just as the Boar turned to see where the ruckus was from, another three arrows flew into its flesh at the nk. The boar was obviously tired while contending with Shi Zuo but thetter was injured and he looked like he would have copsed anytime if not for Bin Yong''s timely intervention.

    Shi Zuo''s Mad Monkey Style was meant for attack and not for defence. However, the phrase the best offense is the best defense still held true. The cuts and shes that Shi Zuo delivered made the boar bleed and Bin Yong could see that with a little more effort, it might die.

    "Oh, they might have a chance to invoke the second form." Jin identally spoke out loud as he was looking at Station 4 and the crowd of customers in front of the TV immediately turned around stunned.

    "Boss Jin...what do you mean second form?" Cold sweat slowly dripped down from one of the customer''s neck.

    "Take a look for yourself, it should happen anytime soon. I think."

    "Luo Bo, it seems it is dying, let''s go for an all-out attack!" Bin Yong suddenly took charge of the situation. Luo Bo nodded happily and with her cultivation style, two Rabbits were seen jumping around above her. She bent her knees a little and held her bow string as stretched as possible. The arrow in the bow was slowly gathering the chi from Luo Bo and from the surroundings.

    The boar suddenly noticed the threat was not from the human with the sword and shield but from the ranged weapon user. Without regards for its life, it charged frantically towards the bow user.

    The distraction worked well, Bin Yong summoned out his cultivation, two beetles were flying in circles above him and he used all his might to m his buckler towards the nk of the boar. The boar who let its guard down was pushed from the side, causing it to fall sideways.

    The arrow gathered enough chi and Luo Bo released the tension of the string and the arrow sted out of the bow. Luo Boter fell to the ground due to providing chi energy for the charged arrow shot. Bin Yong quickly got out of the way before he got caught in the st radius of the charged arrow.

    "Boom!" Arge amount of smoke and ground dust appeared when the arrownded onto the knocked down boar. Bin Yong was amazed by Luo Bo''s all-out attack. "Good Job Luo Bo!"

    Luo Bo could not respond verbally but raised her hand and gave a thumbs up. Shi Zuo who was on the ground too,ughed loudly. Bin Yong started to chuckle a little. They did it right?

    "Buu Buuu, Buuu Heee!!" A sound was emitted from the smoke and dust. Bin Yong immediately went into defensive stance. "What? I thought we killed it?" Bin Yong was rmed.

    Shi Zho and Luo Bo tried to sit up as well when they heard the noise from the boar. "That does not sound the same as the boar we killed just now!"

    From the smoke, a small figure roughly 50 centimetres in height stood tall on the corpse of the dead eight legged boar. "Guys, I thought you said the boar is the final boss!" Bin Yong cried out to them.

    "That was what we saw when Bu Dong killed it instantly!" Shi Zuo shouted back.

    "Instantlyбн? Could it be that Luo Bo''s attack was not strong enough to kill it instantly?" Bin Yong started to talked to himself. However, before he could think of any other reason, that small figure dashed out of the near dissipating smoke. Bin Yong''s quick reaction in using his buckler managed to buy him more time in the dungeon but he was knocked back into a tree, causing him to throw up some blood.

    That small figure was actually a cute looking piglet standing on its two legsбн.and it was holding the boar''s tusk as its weapon. "Buuu Heee!" The piglet snorted out loud to show its aggression.

    Meanwhile, the customers stared at the TV with nk looks. "Boss, did you purposely put the boar with a piglet sound and vice versa for this piglet." The crowd was waiting for the answer but Jin opened a Panda Juice and leant on the bar counter before speaking.

    "Trade Secret."

    "If not for my respect for Boss Jin''s food and quality dungeon, I would probably smack him real hard with my cultivation." One of the customers sighed.

    "Then I guess, Bu Dong did not trigger the piglet because he killed it instantly. Damaging it hard and letting it bleed to death probably allowed it to trigger the second form of the eight legged boar." Another customer deduced it and everyone thought it was the only possibility.

    Suddenly the chatter around the bar counter got even more heated than usual. Some started to change their strategy while others checked if they had sufficient items tost them through the boss battle. One of the customers even asked Jin if he sells dungeon essential supplies.

    "I will have them soon, they are still pending for shipping. Do not worry, if you are careful, you do not actually need to buy any items for this dungeon."

    "Yeah right, I do not see how I do not need to worry when this dungeon boss has a second form! Why don''t you try it and show us how it is done Boss!" One of the customers provoked Jin and somehow, it caught on with the crowd.

    "Yeah Boss! Show us how this is done! I will even pay for your instance ticket!" The crowd got even louder.

    "Okay, but after Station 4 finishes their turn. I might need to bring them up for health monitoring." Jin promised them and Yunughed at the absurdity of the request of the crowd.

    "Hahaha, Jin I cannot believe they are giving out free advertisement service for you." Jin grinned a little at Yun''sment and continued to enjoy the show at Station 4.

    "Bin Yong, careful! The piglet ising at you from the right, but it''s a feint from the front!" Luo Bo shouted as she knew a thing or two about illusions and feints due to her style, Illusive Rabbit. However, she was too weak to help Bin Yong after the charged arrow.

    Shi Zuo tried to aid Bin Yong but he was careless in his defence a few seconds ago, causing him to be mmed hard from the tusk attack, which the small piglet carried around so effortlessly. The wounds he initially got from the fights started to get bigger.

    Compared to the big sized boar, the pigletcked strength butpensated with speed and versatility. The attacks were not hard hitting enough to take Bin Yong down but it was wearing him down fast.

    "I have to use a feint too, else I am not able to hit the piglet!" Bin Yong thought to himself as he defended another flurry of attacks delivered by the piglet.

    The piglet finally jumped backwards after its attack to regain some stamina but Bin Yong thought this was the best opportunity to feint his way to victory. He quickly staggered and went down to his knees while pretending toy his sword on the ground.

    Instead of waiting to get some stamina back, the piglet rushed forward with all its might upon seeing the new situation. The moment the piglet was within range, Bin Yong looked at it intently and his cultivation shines brightly above him. "Bombardier Beetle Style, Bombardment Counterattack!" Bin Yong shouted. A burst of hot high pressured gas came gushing out from Bin Yong''s shield and it immediately surrounded Bin Yong and enveloped the piglet.

    The hot pressured gas scorched the piglet''s skin, ears, eyes and even mouth which caused the piglet to be in pain and misses its attack, falling to the ground beside Bin Yong. Without any hesitation, he quickly picked his sword up to thrust at the piglet''s back.

    However, the severely injured piglet did not give any quarters and pushed the tusk it was holding backwards. At that heightened juncture, both managed to strike their targets. The tusk was pierced into the left lower ribs, going through Bin Yong''s left lung while the sword was pierced into the piglet''s neck. Both fell to the ground lying in a pool of each other''s blood.

    "Bin Bin!" Luo Bo cried out at her helplessness as she tried to drag herself towards Bin Yong. Shi Zuo was unable to move from the wounds he received from the piglet and he could only see his friend fall from the attack.

    Suddenly, a female announcer voice was heard and stated that the dungeon waspleted. The crowd did not cheer at Station 4 and there was only silence. When the trio came out of the dungeon instance, Luo Bo and Shi Zuo were back to peak health but Bin Yong was rendered unconscious.

    The crowd started to p as if to wee them back to safety and Jin said their names out loud.

    "Grade 2 Nu Bin Yong, Grade 2 Mei Shi Zuo and Grade 2 Zha Luo Bo, you have cleared the dungeon and your timing had been ced in the current scoreboard right over there. Only the top 30 timings will be listed. As of now, congrattions."

    Now the crowd cheered a little, giving them the respect for clearing not just the dungeon but the hidden form of the boss too.

    .

    .

 Chapter 25 What a Cheat!- Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 25 What a Cheat!- Part 1</h4>

    "Do you need my help with him?" Jin offered help to the trio to bring Bin Yong to the second floor for health monitoring.

    "Thank you Boss for the offer, but we should be able to manage." Luo Bo struggled to smile a little but in other people''s eyes, it was quite a natural smile. Shi Zuo and Luo Bo together slowly brought Bin Yong up the second floor.

    "Boss Jin! Don''t you dare try to run away!" one of the customers teased him.

    "Yea Boss! Show us how you defeat them!" The crowd''s chatter got noisy and some even started to chant Boss Jin''s name. From the view of Tiangong Shopping District, it felt like there was a major party going on at the end of the shopping street.

    People that were strolling around, doing some window shopping eventually started to be curious about the no name traditional shophouse being so crowded and lively while the rest of the shopping street was dead quiet.

    Even Shen Si Fang, the owner of Lele Diner Cafe, pretended to clean the premises outside his store to check out at the high level of noise at the end of the shopping street. He was happy that the new store owner Jin already had quite a crowd even at the starting week of his store.

    "Perhaps, those are his friends celebrating with him, the ce will probably get quiet again after a week or two." Si Fang could not help but felt a little jealous. He used to have quite a decent amount of business until the Tiangong Shopping District was defiled by the Pachinko scandal.

    "Come on Boss! Do not say I go back on my word." Man Zhuang who previously offered to pay for Boss Jin''s instance came forward to the Panda Port and ced his phone down. "Thank you for your business." Jin did not back down at all.

    "Wow, Boss is quite magnanimous, I was not expecting you to give me Panda Credits as well." Man Zhuang smiled at the sudden influx of Panda Credits. He could now afford to buy more drinks or even some curry rice. He thought to himself what a hit it could be if the curry rice or the drinks can be sold without purchasing the dungeon instance tickets. Perhaps it was the restriction that made it desirable.

    As Jin walked out from behind the bar counter, the crowd from all stations started to peek at Station 4. Jin decided to use the dimensional space at Station 4 since it was emptied by the trio who recently passed the dungeon.

    Jin did a few oblique side stretches to loosen his body and arms a little before he ced his phone near the TV and got teleported. Some were already amazed by the technology employed by the store and Jin''s act of using his phone got even more hype.

    "I thought he needs to use dog tags to go in?"

    "Perhaps, he has a dog tag attached to his phone?" The customer replied to the person beside him.

    "No, I think it''s the same NFC technology he used in the dog tags. I believe he was thinking for the customers, hoping not to clutter our phones with customised apps unlike those new hippie stores." Man Zhuang, who was more tech savvy, theorised.

    "But Boss Jin has a customised app for this store too! Take a look!" One of the customers opened the Pandamonium app to show it to the Man Zhuang.

    "Ah, so that means there is a possibility that Boss Jin is actually giving us the option to use dog tags if we n to just ''try out'' his store. If we actually like the store and hope to patronise it more, the app will be a more convenient option rather than the dog tag." Man Zhuang concluded as he immediately downloaded and tried out the app himself.

    "Woah, it is actually quite well designed! So clean, and the app features respond quickly too! It even allows you to connect to the store''s secured Wifi without any prompt." He was unable to stomach this properly. As one of the department heads for the telmunications giant in China, Huawee, Man Zhuang could not believe that the technology employed in this little store was as sophisticated as theirs, or perhaps even better.

    "Okay tech guy, let''s take a look at Boss Jin''s performance! You can rant to us about how great Boss Jin ister or maybe mock him for boasting too much." The crowd started tough a little at the customer''s remark towards Man Zhuang.

    Jin was teleported safely into the dimension space and the quiet sparse wood environment was a refreshing change from the lively atmosphere he had in the shop. Not that he despised the lively atmosphere, it was just that the change was pleasant.

    Jin stood there while still scrolling through his phone. He was checking on the monsters'' stats and hoped that the goblins had grown a little after all those fights.

    "The dagger goblin and spear goblin are eligible for a Grade 2 promotion" Yun said.

    "How do they get promotion? By me fighting them? Doing some side quests for them? Obtain certain rare crystals to grow them?" Jin tried to think of possible ways to deal with the Grade 2 promotion.

    "Haha, it is actually simpler than that. You just upgrade them on your phone, there''s an upgrade icon at the bottom of their stats if you scroll all the way down. Their equipment will also change for the better although if you upgrade them now, they might prove a little challenging to you aspared to them being in Grade 1 at the moment."

    "Perhaps, I will do that tomorrow, why spoil such a wonderful show in the making?" Jin smiled.

    "Shrewd businessman, you have what it takes to be one." Yun replied.

    "It''s a pity I cannot upgrade the sword goblin though." Jin was looking at the sword goblin''s attributes.

    "Most cultivators are sword users, they have been training against opponents using the sword for the longest time. Hence, the sword goblin being at Grade 1 proved to be just another inferior opponent. Aspared to the dagger and spear goblin, which most modern cultivators do not have a chance to fight and practice against, those two goblins were able to have a slight advantage against them." Yun exined the rationale behind the sword goblin''sck of promotion.

    "However, this does not mean that the sword goblin is not learning. Being exposed to many fighting arts, the sword goblin itself is starting to be able to defend and strike more precisely than before."

    When Yun finished talking, Jin could sense the three goblins approaching.

    "What is Boss Jin doing on his phone? Should he not be aware of those goblins or is he that confident of winning?"

    "We shall see." Man Zhuang spoke.

    "My minions, do not hesitate to attack me like how you would attack my customers. Of course be a little more dramatic in dying since we are putting on a show for them." Jin ced his phone in his pocket and started to look around.

    He remembered what Yun told him about the monsters. They were all loyal to him no matter what due to the System''s influence. The goblins nodded their head slightly to prove their loyalty but to the audience that was watching, it felt like the goblins weremunicating with among each other.

    The goblins internally agreed and quickly went into position for a three pronged attack.

    "Oh the goblins are moving towards Boss Jin!" One of the customers shouted and all of them in the shop tried to look at Station 4''s TV.

    .

    .

 Chapter 26 What a Cheat! -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 26 What a Cheat! -Part 2</h4>

    Jin was stillzily looking around the environment but in actual fact, he was using the yful typus Style location sensing ability, a part of various styles he learnt before he had the Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation.

    However, with the advent of Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation, the location sensing ability was actually enhanced. Pandas had inherent functional hearing that could be used to listen into ultrasonic range and with the cultivation technique he was using, he was able to take advantage of it.

    Since he used the basis of yful typus for location sensing and the Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation for enhancement, he casually called it the yful Panda Hearing ability. "Both you and Ming have poor taste in naming convention." Yun pointed out.

    "Well, it works, it should be fine." Jin started to notice where the goblins were. Although Jin seemed like he was not in any stance, the muscles in his hands were already starting to gather the chi within it, ready to burst out at any moment.

    The goblins took the first initiative and all three leap at once, doing a three pronged attack, hoping to surprise their master. However, they were so wrong.

    Jin was expecting them.

    When the goblins were within range of their strikes, Jin immediately lifted his arm and used a simple swipe to counterattack. That Lazy Panda Swipe did not only block their attacks but the force was so powerful that it broke their weapons! That was not all, the impact of the swipe caused the broken weapons and the goblin to be knocked back at least tens of metres!

    The after impact also made some of the broken pieces of the weapon prate the goblins during the knockback and the dagger goblin died in an instant from the broken weapon pieces during the knockback.

    Unfortunately, the unluckiest one was not the dagger goblin but the sword goblin. The knockback from the swipe caused it to have its neck pierced by a dislodged branch and it died choking.

    The spear goblin was already coughing up blood due to serious internal injuries but it remembered the master''s orders to be dramatic. So it held its throat to suffocate itself while pretending to be choking from the internal injuries and it died for the ''show''.

    The crowd outside of Station 4 stared at the screen and the disbelief in the people was in for all to see. Some had their jaws opened so wide that any wider, and they would need to have surgery to fix it back. The silence was so deafening until one could not take it and shouted. "OH MY GOD, IS HE A CHEAT?!"

    The silence in the room rapidly turned into an upheaval ofints.

    "You sure Boss Jin was a Grade 2 Cultivator?!" One of the crowd tried to confirm it.

    "Did you not see his cultivation when he was carrying the unconscious up to the recovery floor?"

    "Yeah! At most he could be a Grade 2 Peak from the looks of it!"

    "This is too overbearing! Did Boss Jin reduce the difficulty before he went into the instance?"

    "That is not possible, you saw how those goblins move and how perfect the three pronged strike was coordinated by the goblins! They were aiming to kill him!"

    "Ahhhhh my brain is going to explode!!"

    "Herees the eight legged boar! Mr Oink!" One of the customers shouted at the top of his voice to attract attention. Each and every customer was looking with hawk eyes to make sure Jin was not cheating.

    "Oink Oink!" The boar stared at Jin with murderous eyes. All Jin did was put his hand out and beckoned it toe towards him.

    The boar stomped his feet on the ground for a few times before he starts to charge furiously towards Jin with its tusks facing right at him. This time round, Jin was not just standing around, he bent his knees a little.

    "Is he going to sidestep the boar?" One of the customers asked.

    "I think so if he sidesteps too early, it will be useless, the boar can change directions very quickly, especially when it has eight legs. If he sidesteps toote, he would not be able to avoid therge wide tusk attack since the boar basically has a 160 degrees angle of attack with a radius of roughly 1.5m."

    "Are your estimates even urate?" A customer doubted the reply.

    "I''m quoting based on the closest monster I know of, the six legged boar." the nerdy customer replied with confidence.

    "Maybe, he just going to swipe the boar to death. Hahaha!"

    "Those tusks are definitely harder to break than the goblin''s cast iron weapons. Even if he can do that, he probably will die alongside with the boar from the charge impact. You cannot ignore the basic physics of the dimensional space." the know-it-all customer chipped in his opinion in again.

    "Shhhhh!" The crowd around the nerdy customer wanted to see with their own eyes the defeat of the boar.

    The boar was getting closer but Jin was not moving at all. The charge of the boar suddenly changed and it became twice as fast the moment it was at least 10 meters away from Jin. Instead of side stepping, he was still in the same position, unmoving.

    "It''s toote, he can not sidestep in time when the charge quickened." Man Zhuang said.

    Yes, the boar was reaching him in a matter of seconds and its tusks were aiming straight at Jin. But Jin was waiting...waiting for the boar to reach as close as he could before he released his Lazy Panda Swipe. The stance he was in was to gather as much strength and chi to handle an opponent that was oversized and heavy. Besides, he had practiced more than enough times in the afternoon.

    "What is this boar when you have to handle Xiong Da?" Jin thought to himself.

    "Here ites!" One of the customers just shouted out her anxiety.

    "Boom!"

    The crowd went silent again as they saw through the TV, a jumbo eight meters long boar being sent upwards as if it was a backyard rocket experiment. All that was left on the ground was Jin with twozy panda silhouettes hovering above him.

    Like a rocket that ran out of fuel, the boar dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Jin was walking towards it to confirm his kill when the female announcer stated that the dungeon waspleted.

    Jin was teleported safely back to Station 4 and everyone looked at him like tongue tied horrors. Jin smiled and bowed a little before he returned to the bar counter. After which, he looked at the time and saw that it was nearly 10 pm.

    "Shop is not taking anymore dungeon runs for today. Those who wish to do their dungeon runs and have not done so, please finish it. Food services are closed." Jin shouted as he ignored the crowd''s stare.

    "How did you have such power for Grade 2??" Man Zhuang said in a voice as steady as possible.

    Everyone suddenly looked at Jin waiting for his answer but instead, he said two words.

    "Trade Secret."

    "Ah, I think I hear a crow caw." a customer sarcastically replied.

    "Yea, oh look, I am one now. Caw Caw Caw." The customer portrayed his cultivation and 2 crows silhouettes flew around his head, cawing in the store.

    The crowd started tough at the senseless conversation and Man Zhuang also gave up asking for now. Some continued with their dungeon while others started to leave the store with mixed reactions.

    However, one thing was for sure. They woulde back here again, the sense of excitement and the atmosphere was totally different from other dungeon suppliers, not to mention the food was amazing.

    The second day of the store''s opening was eventually concluded once the unconscious customers woke up. Jin bid them goodbye and closed his shop.

    .

    .

 Chapter 27 Grade Upgrades

    <h4>Chapter 27 Grade Upgrades</h4>

    "You okay Bin Bin? Do you feel pain anywhere?" Luo Bo was a little guilty about being unable to help Bin Yong during thest part of the match. Shi Zuo was a little embarrassed and apologised to Bin Yong too.

    "Why are you two being so courteous? It''s so unlike the both of you. Well, it sure hurt a little during the fight but we won, did we not?" Bin Yong shrugged off their concern but he was slightly happy Luo Bo was concerned about him.

    "Shit, shit, stop it. That girl has already been taken. What are you thinking?!" Bin Yong suddenly thought to himself. "But...it would not hurt if I enjoyed this a little for the moment rightбн?"

    "Hahaha, I was fine, but Luo Bo was so anxious about you that it actually made me guilty for not showing concern about you. Now that I think about it, you sure gave it your best instead of letting the piglet defeat you." Shi Zuoughed a little.

    "Well, it just felt so real. The fight for survival, it was either the piglet or me. I did not get such a feeling when I was ying in other dungeon suppliers'' instances. The adrenaline rush was there, it would have been stupid to just give up." Bin Yong exined clumsily but truthfully, he did want to look a little cooler in front of Luo Bo.

    "But eat a little less in the future okay, Bin Yong? Carrying you up to the second floor was such a chore!" Luo Bo teased him, seeing how he got better and was not angry at all. Bin Yong, on the other hand, was regretting that he had been unconscious.

    "Haha, letse back to Boss Jin''s again sometime, okay? I think, we can consider this to be our next new usual hangout ce." Bin Yong blushed a little as he suggested it. Both Shi Zuo and Luo Bo suddenly looked at each other and shared a High Five. Bin Yongter realised that he was the light bulb and he said his goodbyes to the couple, taking the underground subway back home while the couple spent some time together.

    Little did he know that this dungeon supplier would change his life.

    --------

    Jin returned home and ced a can of ice cold coffee in front Ming''s altar. He gave a light bow and went to shower. As he came out of the shower, he saw the younger Yun walking around the house, reminiscing about the past.

    She even returned to her own room to see certain items still intact after so many years but the room was a little dusty. "Lazy men, can''t they clean the house?"

    "I can hear that." Jin went to the kitchen for a cup of milk before he returned to his room. Yun yawned a little and decided to return to the System, the body slowly dissipating into thin air as if it never existed.

    "You wille back tomorrow to help me again right?" Jin asked when he saw the disappearing act right in front of his eyes.

    "Yea, I will. You do not have to worry about me, Jin. Have a good cultivating rest first. There are a few things to settle in the morning."

    Jin nodded his head and sat on the floor in his room to start his cultivation. Slowly but surely, he fell into a deep sleep.

    The next morning came in a blink of an eye but as Jin woke up, he felt that his muscles were indeed no longer sore and he felt a little stronger. Hence, he portrayed his cultivation in his room and was shocked to find out three pandas rolling around above him.

    "Grade 3?!" Jin was genuinely amazed. He knew he was near Grade 2 Peak before he met the System but he thought that the four years during university would have eroded his cultivation quite a fair bit, bringing it back to, at best, an average Grade 2 strength.

    "It has to do with your cultivation potential. Did Ming not tell you that all you needed to do was to find a proper cultivation technique to awaken your potential?" Yun reminded Jin.

    "For most people, cultivation degradation may ur but it was due to your potential that your previous cultivation remained the same despite negligence on your part."

    Jin nodded and took a look at the mission app. "I believe the ''earn 10,000 Yuan'' mission should have beenpleted? I roughly took into ount the number of people that bought instance tickets."

    "Yes, you have reached sales of 11,250 Yuan within the first two days of business. Hence, you are now promoted to Level 1 Dungeon Supplier. Dungeon Supplier Ranking will be updated at the end of the financial month." Yin informed Jin.

    "So what''s the upgrade? Do not tell me it''s just two additional stations." Jin remembered how the fantasy light novels gave very stingy upgrades.

    "It''s two additional stations." Yunughed when Jin heard the news. "And an underground floor is unlocked."

    "Woah what! An underground floor?" Jin now started to get excited.

    "Come and take a look for yourself. It was renovatedst night when youpleted that mission. Or do you wish to partake in the Lady Snake capture mission first?" Yun said in his head.

    "I will take a look at the underground floor before catching the Lady Snake. It was tiring to open the shop for an entire day, I will probably use the mornings during the weekdays to catch monsters in order to increase the store''s variety or train myself." Jin finally thought to himself.

    "Maybe I will open in the morning for the weekends."

    "That''s a fairly sound decision and you will have some time for yourself too." Yun agreed fully.

    "Alright, I cannot wait to see the new floor." Jin quickly cooked a te of scrambled egg and bacon along with a few pieces of toast for breakfast. A hearty breakfast for the start of a new day.

    As Jin was walking to his store, he went ahead and upgrade the spear and dagger goblins to Grade 2. "How will the new grade affect the current dungeon setup?"

    "Once all of your monsters have upgraded to the new grade, additional difficulties will automatically be created. While waiting for the entire team of a dungeon instance monsters to be upgraded, an option called ''Normal+'' difficulty will appear." Yun exined.

    "Do the customers have to pay more for the upgraded difficulty?" Jin thought about it and felt that the price was already unfair. If his customers had to pay more for the same type of content, it was akin to scamming.

    "Nope, they do not. However, the cultivators can now have the options to choose what kind of difficulty they want the mobs to be on the TV before entering the dimensional space. So for now, there will be ''Normal'' and ''Normal+'' difficulty."

    "You have not discovered the full extent of the dungeon instance yet. For most dungeons, they will have three kinds of difficulties set for them. Normal, Hard and Extreme. That also means that the dungeon instance will be capped at a certain grade." Yun exined to him.

    "For the Goblin Dungeon Instance, it will be capped at Grade 3 and that grade will be the Extreme difficulty setting for the instance. Another example would be the next mission you will be undergoing. If you seed in capturing the Lady Snake, you will get a Grade 2 Dungeon and the capped grade for that dungeon will be at Grade 4." Jin took in the information and started to understand how the dungeon instance mechanics worked. While it seemed simple from the start, some minor things that could enhance the experience of the customers.

    Jin reached his storehouse and entered from the side door. Before he proceeded to the underground floor, he created an A4 paper sign and ced it outside. "Not open in the morning for weekdays."

    "I have updated the Pandamonium with your notice so customers will know of the new change," Yun said and Jin checked his phone. A new Panda tab appeared in the app and it stated ''Notice and Announcements''.

    "This Pandamonium app sure is handy." Jin smiled and now looked at the newly created door entrance to the underground floor near the stairs.

    .

    .

 Chapter 28 Underground Floor

    <h4>Chapter 28 Underground Floor</h4>

    The ss panel door was next to the stairs leading to the second floor. The couch that was once there was shifted further to the right.

    It was a reinforced ss panel sliding door that did not obstruct the current designyout of the storehouse. It seemed like the upgrades had been taken into consideration when the store was created.

    "Specially reinforced NASA-approved military grade ss with top quality extreme defence inscriptions, capable of withstanding Grade 19 Peak attacks at least twice," Yun said with some gusto.

    "What in the world are you hiding down there that it requires such a powerful ss door?" Jin was now curious.

    "Go downstairs, you will see." Yun suddenly appeared as her younger self now and followed him from behind.

    Beside the ss door was a panel, simr to the credit port at the Panda Port PC. Jim took his phone out and ced it over the port to activate the door.

    "For customers, they can use the dog tags given to them to gain ess," Yun said to Jin as the door slid open quietly

    When the door opened, the stairway was lit brightly and at each side of the stairway were pictures of pandas tumbling, as if they missed a step and continued to fall all the way until they reached the underground floor.

    Jin stepped into the basement and saw a fewrge crates lying around. Yun told him that the phone was needed to authorise the crate opening and he did what was instructed by Yun.

    Suddenly, items flew out of the creates and started to fly around the room, filling the area. Upon further inspection, he found that some of the parts were used to create a cinematic screen on each side of the wall.

    In total, three cinematic screens were constructed, filling up all three walls of basement 1. In the middle of it all, three cute carved pandas in white jade were ced side by side, equally spaced out from each other. As exquisite as the System always was, the white jade statues even had ck jades within the carved pandas design, which made it even more lifelike.

    The three carved white jade pandas were not without their identities. The panda on the left wore an old eastern Chinese war helmet but the helmet was toorge for it that it covered its eyes

    The centre panda had a long beard, and carried an ancient backpack with a variety of goods in it. The craftsmanship of the white jade was so detailed that the goods on the backpack could be easily identified.

    Lastly, the panda on the right was a youngzy panda nibbling on a spear as if it was eating bamboo.

    "Let me guess. For you to have a seemingly ''innocent looking'' ss panel door on the first floor means that you have items of very high value in the basement. What can be more valuable than what they are portraying? I have also deduced that these statues have a dimensional space port simr to the stations on the first floor. So....shops?" Jin tentatively asked Yun, who was touching the white jaded pandas.

    "Yeap!! Panda Armoury, Panda General Store and Panda Weaponry." Yun''s smile was dazzling like the white jade. Now he understood why his dad was smitten over her.

    "So...three shops in my store. Am I a boss of a department outlet now?!"

    "It''s called an efficient use of space! I wonder why greedy capitalists of the world never thought of doing such a thing?"

    "Are you kidding me? I cannot possibly handle this all by myself." Jin suddenly had a big headache.

    "Silly Jin, why are there dimensional space ports here?" Yun questioned him.

    "Dungeon Instance? As a shop?!" Jin was surprised why no one really ever thought of that.

    "Yeap! Instead of a proper dungeon instance, there will be an exit added to the dimensional space and which they do not have to pay for it. All they have to do is show either their phone with Pandamonium installed or their dog tags!" Yun exined to Jin as she walked around basement 1.

    "Also, they are not exactly stores, more like reward redemption counters. The panda medals your customers earn can be used to exchange for essential items here. Most of the items offered in the global market can be found here and your customers can use panda medals to buy them. Of course, ours are of a higher quality." Yun smiled.

    "Now I understand why you need to have such a reinforced gate at the front entrance. You literally have the entire world''s market in these three stores." Jin started to think that he was going insane.

    "Did I mention to you that your store is protected by the best defensive perimeter and anti-hacking systems in the world? Would you believe me?"

    "At this rate, if you said that you were a god. I would believe you too." Jin said in response.

    "Nonsense, I am better than god. I am your mother." Yun knocked Jin on his head and started to walk up to the first floor.

    "In any case, you can use your phone via the storeyout app to activate this area," Yun shouted down from the first floor.

    Jin searched for his storeyout app and he scrutinised the basement blueprint. He realised that there was a possibility that the storeyout did not stop at basement 1. The excitement of having aplete shop made him unable to wait to unlock more levels of his dungeon supplier store.

    As he activated the basement level with his storeyout app, the three cinematic screens immediately came alive. It appeared as if they were advertising each of their own stores and the screen quality itself was top notch.

    "Angry with goblins backstabbing you? Get your armour here for just 8 panda medals! First week opening!" shy pictures of clothing and armour were shown along the cinematic screen of the Panda Armoury

    "Quality potions. 2 medals. No negotiation." An old-school Chinese way of writing prices on wooden ques was shown on the cinematic screen for the Panda General Store.

    "GREAT DISCOUNT, FIRST WEEK OPENING! 10 panda medals for all weapons!" Various animated short clips showing the weapon''s design were shown for the Panda Weaponry.

    "Even the shops have their own personality." Jin giggled at the amazing reward redemption counters.

    "Hey Yun, what about me? I do not have a personal weapon or armour for myself." Jin slowly walked back up to the first floor. "I cannot possibly get panda medals since I am the Boss."

    "Do I really need to spell it out for you? Is it not obvious enough after you have been with me for so long?" Yun folded her arms as she stared at Jin.

    "Oh...missions. Right...I should start doing the Lady Snake mission soon too." Jin searched for the betor App and summoned Milk out. However, Milk was teleported onto the couch and she was lying down on the couch sexily while holding her bolster.

    "Hmmm? Five more minutes...Master." Milk turned to her supine position and used her left forearm to block the light from going into her eyes. Shezily dropped her right arm down to the floor and her bolster rolled towards Jin. Milk''s figure was extremely revealing with the thin maroon silk gown that she was wearing.

    Yun picked the bolster up, went towards Milk and stuffed the bolster into her face. "NO FIVE MORE MINUTES!" Milk was suffocating and tried to pull the bolster out of her face but Yun was not giving her any chance.

    "Okay Okay! I''ll wake up!" Milk tried to kick Yun away but Yun persisted as if she explicitly knew Milk''s sleeping behaviour.

    Two beauties fighting in the morning. Jin could only stare at the current scene. "Ah...such a blissful morning."

    .

    .

 Chapter 29 Lady Snake

    <h4>Chapter 29 Lady Snake</h4>

    Yun dragged Milk off the couch and up to the second floor bathroom whilemanding Jin not to follow them. "Do not even think about looking at the CCTVs!" Yun stared at Jin with the eyes of a tiger as Milk whined to Jin.

    "Help me master!!! Save me from this demoness~!!! I just want to sleep five more Ahhhhhh!" Yun was ruthless as Milk was continuously hit by the threads and risers of the stairs all the way up to the second floor. It was like a little kid pulling her giant little doll.

    "What a wonderful sight." Jin nearly teared up due to being able to witness such a pure and beautiful scene. He quietly looked at the two new stations installed by the System, allowing him to operate a total of six stations in the shop.

    The new stations had a slightlyrger TV, 55 inchespared to the other four which were only 49 inches. Perhaps, the System had underestimated the size of the crowd when it first started.

    Suddenly Milk ran down the stairs with her standard battle equipment and hid behind Jin. He could feel a slight plushie feeling pressing against his back as she cowered from Yun. "Master! Save me from this demoness!"

    Yun did not bother too much about her and snapped her fingers. A portal appeared right in front of Jin and Milk. "Just get this woman to work and I will not bother her." Yun walked away to the second floor with a little spite.

    "Let''s go, Milk." Jin took out his pathetic Grade 1 iron sword and went into the portal. When they exited from the portal, all they saw was arge patch of grasnd. Beyond the grasnd, there was a slight slope with someone sitting by arge cherry blossom tree.

    The wind blew and it carried a soft melody with it. It wasing from therge cherry blossom tree. Jin knew that Yun probably brought them straight to the enemy. Since the clue to the whole mission was Lady Snake, the grasnd was the best area for such a monster to ambush them.

    Milk immediately cast holy shield which was a visible magic barrier protecting the team and Jin started to move forward.

    Upon closer observation, there was a little girl ying an ancient 1.4 metre long Chinese zither with 16 strings beside the cherry blossom tree. The girl saw her guests arriving and started to y an enchanting melody.

    Jin suddenly felt that his body could not move and Milk was affected as well. The melody became even louder and from the grasnd, a Great White Snake slowly slithered in front of Jin. Its eyes, which was a mix of ruby and blood red, stared at Jin with great intensity. At this point, the melody stopped and the girl gave an innocent smile to Jin.

    "I assumed that''s Lady Snake." Jin made some serious eye contact with the snake yet it was not making a move to bite Jin.

    "Actually no, the one ying the zither is Lady Snake," Yun said in his head.

    "What? She is the Lady Snake? That''s more like a Loli Snake!" Jin thought at the back of his head.

    Lady Snake plucked the strings of her zither once more and two giant ants, each with an individual colour to it. One white and one red ant crawled out of the ground. The ants tried to grab Jin and Milk with theirrge wide mandibles but the holy shield previously cast by Milk was protecting them to a certain extent.

    "Not good, we will be cut in half by these giant ants if we do not do something fast." Jin tried to tremble as much as possible to the point he managed to bite his own tongue. The moment he did so, he was free from the spell and he quickly used his sword and stabbed it into the white ant''s mouth.

    The white giant ant split out haemolymph, a mixture of interstitial fluid and blood from when it was pierced by Jin''s attack, making it move backwards. Jin used his cultivation to summon the strength of Grade 3 to sh his sword, which was within the ant, upwards. He quickly took his phone and threw it into the mess he made of the white ant.

    "Captureplete," Yun reported.

    The Lady Snake realised she gotcent and yed a fast violent melody which made the Great White Snake, who was originallypletely docile into a vengeful and frenzied creature. It immediately opened its mouth and tried to bite Jin.

    The speed of the snake''s attack was swift but the snake did not know the power of a simple swipe by Jin as he tried to parry the bite with his sword. The snake''s fang collided with his iron sword and the snake''s fang broke into two pieces.

    It immediately recoiled backwards, which gave Jin the opportunity to push forward and attack the red ant. Due to change of melody, the red ant also changed its target, leaving Milk alone and directly charging at Jin with its broad mandible open.

    "Chance!" Jin thought to himself as he dashed closer to the ant, hoping to perform the same attack he did to the giant white ant. Unfortunately, he was wrong when the red giant ant spewed out a breath of fire towards Jin.

    "What!?" Jin could not change his trajectory in time so he decided to bet everything on the holy shield that Milk had cast on him and dramatically increased his speed like a lightning bolt that pierced through the skies.

    The holy shield held for a short while before the magic wore off. That short while though, was sufficient for Jin to sessfully plunge the whole sword into its mouth. More of the haemolymph leaked out and Jin mmed his phone on the ant''s head, causing it to fall to the ground and subsequently disappear into thin air.

    "Captureplete." Yun reported once more.

    This time, the girl ying the zither was extremely livid. With Milk still paralysed from Lady Snake''s ability, Jin had personally taught this girl how to respect her elders.

    "Actually, she is over 200 years old." Yun interjected when she read Jin''s thought.

    "...I will just focus on the battle." Jin was too dumbfounded to say anything else.

    The little girl plucked another string but this time, a visible sonic wave projectile flew towards Jin, which he barely dodged.

    "Is she even a snake?!" Another sonic wave came but Jin controlled the situation by utilising his Lazy Panda Swipe''s impact to block the attack.

    "Who said she was ever a snake? Are you making assumptions that she''s a snake from her name?" Yun''sments were getting on Jin''s nerve but he tried to concentrate as much as possible on the battle.

    The snake did not spare Jin after his attempt on its fang. It relentlessly tried to bite him while Lady Snake kept releasing deadly sonic wave projectiles towards him. In addition, the open grasnd gave Jin zero advantage against the attacks and all he could do was run. There was nearly no chance to capture the girl even though she was stationary.

    "Stationary...I might actually have a chance!" Jin thought of a stupid but feasible idea.

    .

    .

 Chapter 30 GODDD PUNCH!

    <h4>Chapter 30 GODDD PUNCH!</h4>

    The Great White Snake mmed its tail at Jin but he reciprocated with his Lazy Panda Swipe. He was thankful that the technique he learnt was a simple one with much utility. However, during Jin''s attack, he was careless enough to allow a sonic projectile by Lady Snake to inflict damage upon him and he fell backwards with a pulsating pain going through his body.

    The sonic wave vibrated through his whole body, causing him to be paralysed momentarily. That was all the time needed for the Great White Snake to wrap around Jin and bind him. Now the pulsating pain turned into strangling pain and Lady Snake started to y a melodious tune on her zither as if to signal her victory.

    "Let''s try out my theory then." In his left hand was the handphone he had used previously. Jin lightly tapped the phone onto the snake. Lo and behold, the snake disappeared in a whiff into thin air and Jin fell to the ground in pain.

    "Capturing in progress," Yun reported to Jin.

    "Great! That means my theory actually works." He gritted his teeth and started dashing towards Lady Snake. She was not happy with the abrupt change of events. Changing from the melodious tune, she caressed all the strings on the Chinese zither and made an extremely sharp piercing sound.

    Five sonic wave projectiles,rger than the ones Jin initially encountered, came towards him at great speed.

    "Capture iplete, Monster will be released," Yun reported and Jin curled his lips a little as he raised his phone and faced the screen towards the onught of sonic wave projectiles.

    From the phone''s screen, the Great White Snake broke out of the device, rushing out to where it should belong, the grasnds. If not for its overwhelming strength, it might have been detained forever. Hence, it was expecting an attack from Jin since he had the ability to detain it for a few seconds. That was why the white snake burst out of the device with its mouth wide open.

    Little did it know that it faced an attack albeit not from Jin when it burst out of the phone''s screen.

    The sonic wave projectiles had no mercy, ripping the Great White Snake into pieces. The head of the snake fell to the ground in disbelief that it was killed by its beloved mistress. The mistress that it had served for the past 200 years. Did the mistress think that it had betrayed her?

    At its dying breath, Jin squat and tapped the phone on its struggling head. "You will be reunited with your friend soon, just give me a few more minutes."

    "Captureplete," Yun reported.

    "Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh!" For the very first time, the girl screamed instead of using her zither to express her feelings. Jin could finally have a proper look at Lady Snake without the interference of the Great White Snake.

    Her pale skinplexion made it whiter than any Caucasian he had ever known. Her crystal white hair was as wavy as a den of little ivory white snakes, moving around her hair There she sat and tears of white blood dripped from her ruby coloured eyes as she screamed in agony.

    She banged her zither a few times in frustration and then red at Jin. That look of hers contained such baneful killing intent and it was all directed at Jin. It was as if she vowed to the heavens that she would not stop even if Jin died in her hands. She woulde after his family members and make sure everyone rted to him was dead.

    "Oh no you don''t, you little bitch." Milk finally got out of her total paralysis. "I am the one who should be mad. You made me unable to serve my master properly, let me teach you a thing about frustration!"

    Jin was at a loss for words. "That girl has probably just lost apanion that was with her for years."

    "To be urate 183 years," Yun interjected.

    "And your anger is stronger than her loss?"

    "I am just angry for not having enough sleep!" Milk was like a little child wanting her way of things so Jin stepped aside for her to take the stage.

    Milk walked towards Lady Snake with each step fuming with anger. However, each step was also met with multiple sonic wave projectiles which Milk blocked with her current holy shield. "Oh, this little bitch needs a personal lesson." Milk got even more upset that the situation was not going her way.

    "I can try to-" Jin was interrupted by a m of Milk''s oversized book.

    "To temporarily capture her like how you did with the white snake so we can advance forward and have a better shot at her? Sure, after you let me break that barrier around her first." Milk gave a pouty face and opened her book to start chanting.

    "Barrier?" Jin thought to himself quietly and realised he did not think this through enough. If Milk could cast magical barriers to protect him, why couldn''t enemies do it too? He had forgotten the enemies he fought were now of higher grades. It should be of no surprise to him that higher level monsters had stronger skills and chi/magic abilities.

    Milk shone brightly with holy magic and Jin could feel the warmness of her spell powers. On the other hand, Lady Snake felt threatened and she was at a loss due to the different types of emotions conflicting within her.

    Without herpanion, she did not have a proper guardian to protect her against attacks. It had never happened before so she frantically dished out as many sonic wave projectiles to not only protect herself from the insanity of emotions but also to attack the enemy as well.

    Jin helped block a few projectilesing towards Milk with his Lazy Panda Swipe but inadvertently got hit too. However, he stood there as long as possible for Milk to finish her incantations.

    "Master, thank you for your sacrifice for the undeserving me. I present to you Milk''s special... GODDD PUNCH!"

    An ethereal golden fist emerged from the skies and came crashing down towards Lady Snake. While it looked slow from a distance, the impact against the shield barrier was tremendous, causing therge blossom tree to be blown away.

    Lady Snake saw the attack but did not run from it. Instead, she tried to direct her attacks towards the ethereal golden fist. The god punch eventually broke the barrier and it continued to fall downwards.

    As the golden fist was about to touch its enemy and obliterate the little girl into nothingness, Lady Snake looked as if she reached a moment of enlightenment. Lady Snake did not panic nor did she cry at her impending doom. She became calm and yed a peaceful calming melody at the end of her demise.

    "Now!" Using the strength of his Lazy Panda Swipe, he threw his phone like a frisbee and it whisked through the air faster than the falling golden fist. With arge bang on Lady Snake''s head, she was knocked over away from her zither and disappeared before the golden fistnded.

    The little girl was absorbed into the phone and Yun said the process of capturing was ongoing. The golden fist continued for a while longer, prating into the ground and causing arge hole around the area of impact.

    Both Milk and Jin stood their ground to withstand the aftershocks of the golden fist. However, Milk seemed weak after the attack and Jin held tightly onto Milk and thanked her for exerting herself.

    "Oh No!! Master, do not take me if I faint, I am still a pure nun." Milk began to hold onto Jin even tighter. Jin could not help rolling his eyes to the back of his brain but continued to grab on to her as her gait was still unbnced after the attack.

    "Ahhhhh~! Master, you are so- " Milk immediately fell onto the ground as Jin suddenly let go of her when she made that sound.

    "Capturepleted... for some reason, she did not resist," Yun reported and she opened the portal for Jin. Jin tried to return to the shop via his portal but he continued to hear an aegyo whining sound from behind. "Master!!! Don''t leave me behind!"

    "Bye." Jin opened the betor''s app and recalled Milk. He stretched a little before heading back to his store via the portal.

    Mission Complete.

    .

    .

 Chapter 31 Peppers

    <h4>Chapter 31 Peppers</h4>

    Yun was sitting beside the bar counter, drinking her Bamboo Juice from a straw. "Well done, youpleted the mission. I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

    "I believe the bad news is that I did notplete the secondary mission objectives." Jin went to the bar counter and grabbed a Panda Soda to drink in order to refresh himself. For one reason or another, the food and drinks that he ate in the store seemed so satisfying after a fight.

    He remembered a quote from the inte, "Hard work should be rewarded with good food.", and he had begun to feel that this saying was so true ever since he started working here.

    Yun nodded her head and gave a smile. "Then you will be happy to hear the good news. Firstly, your reward has already been sent into the monster app."

    Jin drank some of his soda before browsing through the monster app and checking the status of all of his new monsters.

    ********

    Grade 2 Monster

    Name: Wyrm Ant (Fire)/(Ice)

    Description: Ants contacted and drank the blood of an ursed wyrm, causing them to slowly evolve and grow the characteristics of a wyrm. In summary, it has big jaws on its mouth and spews fire from it, how much cooler can it get? I am justzy to write the ice wyrm entry. The white ants blow ice. There you go.

    Grade Difficulty: * * *

    ********

    Grade 2 Monster

    Name: Lady Snake and her Great White Snake

    Description: The girl was born and abandoned by her parents. A ck boa swallowed her whole when she was a baby but the Great White Snake came for no reason and rescued her. However, her legs were eaten due to the attack of the ck boa so she always depended on the Great White Snake to move her around. Why am I writing a description that you will probably not care about? NEXT.

    Grade Difficulty: * * * *

    **********

    Grade 2 Boss Monster

    Name: Sakura Blossom Treant

    Description: It''s a tree. A TREE THAT CAN KILL PEOPLE. Stop bothering me.

    Grade Difficulty: * * *

    ********

    "Yun, can I ask who does these descriptions in the monster app? That person does not even have a sense of ownership or pride for his/her own work." Jin could not stand reading the monster app.

    "That''s the good news! You are getting a new betor to apany you. That also means you can have a new instructor too!" Yun smiled genuinely.

    "How is this good news?! That''s worse news than the bad news!" Forget about him saying the food was refreshing. Jin wanted to faint immediately.

    "Ehhh, if you ept this betor, you get a new food item?" Yun tried to pacify him a little but it does not seem to be working.

    "No, I do not wish to ept this betor if his or her attitude is like this," Jin argued back as he waved his hands, indicating disinterest.

    "Sorry Jin, I am afraid you have to ept it, it''s part of the hidden objective reward," Yun replied back.

    "What hidden objective?" Jin''s eyes went wide open as he quickly opened his mission app to check.

    "There is nothing except these two missions objectives!" Yun rolled her eyes a little and puffed out a sigh of breath.

    "Of course it''s not there, dummy, it''s HIDDEN! Youpleted it the moment you caught the Great White Snake. I did tell you to go for Lady Snake but nope, you had to experiment on the Great White Snake." Yun tried to make an excuse and gave a face of "I told you so."

    "...Fine, I ept this betor but two food items and add in two more drink items aspensation for my emotional trauma of you not telling me about hidden mission objectives." Jin tried to y tough on Yun.

    "Stop forgetting that I can read your mind. Two food items and one drink item. No further negotiations." Jin sulked at Yun''sment.

    "I really should try and obtain the X-Man Maa Helmet so Yun will stop looking into my head," Jin thought to himself.

    "Stupid, that is useless against something already in your head to begin with." Yun stuck her tongue out.

    Yun snapped her fingers and the betor app automatically came up on Jin''s phone. Another greyed out box was removed and it summoned a 148 centimetres tall ten year old kid with two ponytails out. She was wearing an oversized ck mage hat with an overly long red cloak, holding a wooden staff.

    She looked at Jin for a moment and looked down. Jin thought she was scared of the first encounter so he decided to squat down and introduce himself. "Hi, I am Jin, your new-"

    "Tsk. Maggot. Don''t you dare look thest great descendant of the Fiery Demonic Queen Sage in the eyes, you have no qualifications to do so." The kid was irritated by Jin''s presence.

    "Is she an emo kid? Is she in some chuunibyou stage? Is she like that loli snake, 200 years old disguised as a 10 yea-BOOM!" An immensely loud explosion happened right in front of Jin and it would not be a surprise if police came rushing in, thinking there was a terrorist attack. However, the sound proofing system was second to none in the world. No one would suspect a single thing when the shutters of the store were still down.

    "Stop bothering me when you do not need to!" The little loli girl personally returned herself back to the app after igniting a fire st in front of Jin.

    "Oh, she is just shy when she saw you Jin. Her name is Peppers. Isn''t she lovely? You two will work well together!" Yun giggled a little at the predicament Jin was in.

    "Fiery Demonic Queen Sage?" Jin had third degree burns but he just stood at the bar counter nkly at the turn of events. Everything besides him was unharmed despite the violent st of fire. "I''m also guessing the shop is fireproof, judging by how I am the only one injured." There was still a small part of his hair still on fire and Yun cast some instant system magic to cure Jin of his wounds.

    "Yun, sometimes you are as despicable as those fantasy novels I read. Now I understand why you did not even bother to negotiate much with me in regards to the food items." Jin bbered out nonsense before filtering what he thought in his brain.

    "Oh, Jin! I am hurt! How can you call your mom despicable? You ungrateful bra-" Before Yun could finish her sentence, Jin immediately knew where he went wrong and went to his knees, starting to kowtow.

    Yun could not help butugh loudly again. "You are so afraid of another abrupt mission? Get up, get up. I will show you the new food items."

    Yun snapped her fingers again and the bar counter cabs started to shake vigorously. "As usual, check your cabs and the bar countertops. There you will find what I have given you." Yun smiled and continued to sip her Bamboo Juice.

    .

    .

 Chapter 32 Healthy Tasty Food

    <h4>Chapter 32 Healthy Tasty Food</h4>

    The most obvious addition was a coffee machine at the right of the long bar counter. It had a very minimalistic ck design which blended well with the bar counter and did not take up too much space. In fact, it was just a big ck metal box with a single button at the front stating coffee.

    He also noticed that the coffee machine was directly connected to an automated French press and an assortment of cups was neatly stacked right beside it. Jin had just finished his soda so he would have to try it outter.

    The next two food items required Jin to look at the storeyout on his phone. When he located the blueprint, he found that the first food item was actually hidden inside a drawer. He opened it and a burst of freshness overtook his senses. The items, which were onigiri, were neatly arranged and the temperature seemed to be just right for the food.

    With his current cultivation, Jin was able to smell a variety of ingredients held within the drawer. Each of the items contained a specific ingredient in it. When he took one to eat, the myriad of fragrances he noticed from the drawer did not contaminate the food even though it was ced in such apact space.

    "More than one vour? I smell at least 10 types of meat in this drawer." Jin continued to chew on the rice and part of the ingredient as well. The sticky taste of the white pearl rice matched perfectly with the abundant fish roe, which had a firm texture to it.

    The ckish roe subsequently melted in his mouth, creating a creamy yet smooth butterish consistency. A few of the fish roe even popped in his mouth but it was a subtle feeling that stimtes the tongue too.

    The Nori was the exact opposite. With the richness of the pure ocean''s taste of umami, it was a little dry and toasty, making it quite savoury. This made the nori supplement the sweet buttery taste of the roe. Along with the stickiness of the rice, all three ''simple'' ingredients blended the vours well together.

    "In fact, there are more than 100 types of onigiri avable in that drawer but customers are not allowed to choose when they order one." Yun smiled at Jin''s face of pure bliss.

    "So it''s a random vour each time they try it?" Jin was very surprised at the amount of variety.

    "Yes, the probability of getting the same vour again is not high at all. The ability to create a good and tasty onigiri is only limited by one''s imagination. You can probably have a near infinite amount ofbination of onigiri." Yun replied.

    "Onigiri is indeed a good product to serve here. People can just have a quick bite while they wait for their turn instead of eating a full meal." Jin thought when he took another bite of the onigiri he was holding.

    "Okay, I need to know, what is in this onigiri that makes it taste so good?" Jin could not believe that this would be the only time he tasted this onigiri if everything went ording to Yun''s exnation.

    "There is a variety of rice used for the onigiri, most of which are tribute rice for the emperor and the ancient official administration. For example, the current one you are eating is from Suzhou, which was used as a specialised levy in the past." Yun continued to exin.

    "The fish roe you just ate came from an albino Beluga Sturgeon fish from the Southern Caspian Sea near Iran. One of thest fewrge enclosed ind seas...or as some people would call it: argeke. No matter, this albino Beluga Sturgeon was bred in the wild and the eggs wereter collected and processed. The cost of it was approximately 176,960 Yuan per kilogram and so happened to be in the list of the top most expensive food items in the world."

    "The nori, also known as edible seaweed,es from a species of red algae that was bred in majorboratories and specialised hydroponic farms, where the biology of the nori was altered to give the best amount of iodine and vitamin B12."

    "Bred in specialised farms?" Jin was curious. He thought most of the System''s food was from the most natural and ideal conditions.

    "Nori farming is considered as an advanced agriculture because of the processing of algae. Theseboratories seeded in their breakthroughs for altered nori that can maximise the production of nori while retaining the best amount of vitamins."

    "In short, you are actually providing the healthiest option for my customers and me," Jin concluded.

    "I would say that they are quite tasty too. However, without the touch of a chef, it stillcks that ''personal'' factor which makes food uniquely their own." Yun reached over and took an onigiri to eat as well.

    Jin shrugged his shoulders as he heard that. He knew he was not cut out to be a chef so he did notment much. As long as his customers were satisfied, he would be too.

    As Jin wanted to check the magical cab of the bar counter for the next new food, he received a text message from Xiong Da, a Grade 1 Cultivator of Hungry Hippo Style via the Pandamonium app. "Boss, are you not yet open? I am here waiting outside of your shop for some time already."

    Jin quickly took a peek at his watch and released its near 12pm. He quickly munched through his onigiri as he walked towards the side door of the store. "Xiong Da, give me five minutes, I will open soon...wha-?" Jin peeked out of his store to give his regards to Xiong Da but he realised there was actually a queue right behind Xiong Da.

    "Ah! Boss Jin, I thought something happened to you. I had been here trying to knock on the shutters to call for you. I totally forgot about the Pandamonium app until the customers behind me reminded me about it." Xiong Da''s face became like the Laughing Buddha''s as he saw Boss Jin. He thought that Boss Jin abandoned him.

    "I was tweaking something in the shophouse while listening to music, so I did not hear themotion outside. Give me a moment to open the shop." The customers chattered and got excited as Jin closed the side door. How could Jin even think of abandoning Xiong Da? He was like a personal ATM machine that provided free money.

    After Jin closed the side door, he went to wash his hands from eating the onigiri and cleared the cans of drinks into the recycle bin. He made sure that he booted everything up with the Store Layout app on his phone and synchronised his new monsters into the Panda Port.

    He then squatted down to unlock the shutters and customers started to pour in again. "Finally out of that hot sun. It''s a good thing Boss informed us through the Pandamonium app in the morning or else I would have had to stay in this hot sun for a long time." One of the customers stepped in and the cold air of the shophouse gently caressed his face.

    "Yes, I should get the QR code from that Panda standee so, in future, I will not be like a stupid person bying so early in the morning." One of the customers unabashedly announced.

    "Boss, your air conditioner is the best. It''s not too cold nor too weak." Someonemented.

    "Yea, I agree with you. That hot zing sun was killing me until I stepped in here. The temperature feels like the most optimal one for a human being." Another customer added theirments.

    "It would have been worse if not for the small park outside. Boss, your decision to make a small park in this plot ofnd was right. We do not need to stand that long with the stone chairs you provided. The shade from the tree helped too." The customer could not stop bootlicking the Boss, hoping Jin might show favouritism towards him.

    "Queue up for your dungeon instance tickets. There is a new dungeon instance avable if you wish to try." Jin nonchntly announced and started his business once more.

    .

    .

 Chapter 33 Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance

    <h4>Chapter 33 Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance</h4>

    "New dungeon?" Da Se Lang was one of the new customers being roped into this new dungeon supplier by his colleague Hong Deng Long during his lunch break. Deng Long tried the goblin dungeon with a few of his friends the night before but they only managed to kill two goblins.

    Deng Long knew that passing the dungeon would yield a user 10 Bronze Panda Medals. It was trending news in the Pandamonium main chat. He also had confirmation of it from customers talking who spoke personally to Shi Zuo and Luo Bo when they were in the recovery room.

    In addition, he found out from other customers in the Pandamonium main chat that if people managed to kill all three goblins and reach the dungeon boss, the eight legged boar, they would earn three Bronze Panda Medals.

    Hence, this dungeon supplier store did not follow the current trend of dungeon suppliers, which sold a package of dungeon instances. How that worked was to let cultivators encounter a certain set of monsters in one instance at a time After defeating an instance, they unlocked a new dungeon instance but they had to exit the dungeon to fight again.

    This broke the continuity of said dungeon experience as well as reducing the difficulty of the dungeon. Hence, many customers came to Boss Jin because they liked the traditional dungeon experience where there was a continuity of the dungeon experience despite the increased difficulty.

    "If the dungeon is not difficult, it should not be called a dungeon at all. I really rmend you to try Boss Jin''s dungeon instances." That was how Deng Long, a Grade 2 Peak cultivator convinced his colleague Da Se Lang, who he knew was a Grade 3 Peak cultivator.

    "Oh my god, the dungeons are expensive!" Se Lang saw the price and wanted to faint.

    "Se Lang, I promised you this is the real deal. You said you were so sick of King''s Monster dungeons that you retired about two years ago right?" As he managed to hook Se Lang, Deng Long decided to sweeten the deal.

    "How about I treat you once to the new dungeon instance? Take it as thanks for constantly covering my portion at work because of my wife?" Deng Long dangled the carrot right in front of Se Lang to y with him. Deng Long and Se Lang were fellow police officers at a local police station, Tiangong Police Station near Tiangong Shopping District.

    "Okay, fine. If you lie to me, you treat me to a meal too, okay?" Se Lang managed to stick one more condition in to refine the ongoing deal. "If you like it, your treat." Deng Long counter offered while he nodded his head reluctantly. However, in actual fact, he knew he was going to win this bet hands down. He smiled when Se Lang was not looking as he waited for their turn to get the dungeon tickets.

    "Boss Jin! Three Goblin Dungeon Instances with Instructor Milk as per usual!" Xiong Da loudly announced his orders to Jin. Some of the customers suddenly whispered among each other. "Instructor? As in AI instructor?"

    Jin nodded slightly and said "Avability is limited. At the moment there are only two instructors. You can take a look at Xiong Da''s dungeon instance to get a feel of the instructors. Be warned though, Panda Medals will be reduced since the instructors are helping you to clear the dungeon."

    "Xiong Da, Station 5 so I do not have to carry you around that much." Jin pointed at it and Xiong Da''s Station lit up.

    "Thank you, Boss! I will fight once before I eat your delicious curry rice again!" Xiong Da smiled back at Jin and walked towards it.

    Some of the customers then decided to take a step back and look before they decided on something new. That included the new dungeon instance which Deng Long and Se Lang would be trying.

    Yet, that did not deter Deng Long and Se Lang to try the new dungeon. Those two were police partners since they both sucked at the police academy. They knew each other''s weaknesses and strengths and Deng Long believed with Se Lang around, they should be able to clear it.

    "Boss Jin, nice to meet you again." Deng Long greeted him.

    "Ah, Deng Long right? It''s a pleasure having your patronage again." Jin had the System memorise most of the names and faces of each of his customers. This way, whenever he saw a returning face, Yun would personally remind him about it. This way, it brought a personal touch and familiarity to the customers, as if the customers really mattered to him. That was his first step to gain regr loyal customers.

    "Boss Jin, I am humbled for you to remember my name. This is Da Se Lang, a dear colleague at work." Deng Long smiled and introduced his colleague Se Lang to Jin.

    "So, which dungeon instance are you looking at?" Jin asked with a smile on his face.

    "The new one, ehh.. Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance. Two of those please." Deng Long looked at the menu to confirm the name of the new dungeon.

    "418 Yuan for one ticket, two will be a total of 836 Yuan. Please pay individually for the Panda Credits to be valid." Jin waited for them to pay at the cashier port before he issued them the dog tags.

    Jin previously asked Yun whether he could change the name or give a nickname to suit Lady Snake. "Lady Snake sounds so confusing when you have the Great White Snake with her," Jin said while he browsed the monster app list.

    "Well, they are your monsters, nicknames are definitely allowed. Please do not tell me you want to name her loli snake. I will personally smack you." Yun was a little feisty with her reply.

    "Hahaha, as much as I would like to, I respect her strength. Zither Mistress sounds like a better nickname than Lady Snake." Jin said.

    "Hmm, I am cool with that." Yun changed Lady Snake''s name on the monster app to Zither Mistress and subsequently on the new dungeon instance as well. Zither Mistress was just a simple nickname that Jin thought of for the little girl turned monster he just caught. However, if Jin could see behind the scenes of the monster app, that 200 year old little girl was crying with joy for the first time.

    She was abandoned and had been trying to survive for so long that she did not know a thing about warmth. Having a name, a name just for her because she mattered instead of a title given by people who feared her. She realised what it meant to have her presence acknowledged.

    "Station 3, have a nice day! And hope you two enjoy yourselves." Jin bowed a little and called out to the next customer.

    "How does this work?" Se Lang looked at his dog tag as he waited for Deng Long to send him back the money.

    "Just ce the dog tag near the TV. It will detect the dog tag and will transport us to the dungeon instance." Deng Long felt a little proud to know the procedures of this peculiar shop.

    Se Lang and Deng Long were teleported safely to the dungeon instance. They found themselves surrounded by hundreds of meters of grasnds and arge sakura blossom tree erected right in front of them.

    Right below the sakura blossom tree, a little girl was happily ying her zither as the sakura petals descended and danced with the music.

    .

    .

 Chapter 34 Xiong Das Determination

    <h4>Chapter 34 Xiong Da''s Determination</h4>

    "Guys, look! Station 3 is really doing the new dungeon instance!" The customer before Se Lang and Deng Long overheard some of their conversation with Boss Jin and decided to stalk them a little to see whether they heard correctly.

    To his expectation, they were really doing the new Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance. The customers that were waiting for their turn for the dungeon instance immediately went over to take a peek at the new dungeon instance.

    "Wow, as expected from Boss Jin. The wind breeze, this illustrious music that the enemy was ying and the sea of lush green grasnds filled with flowers. It''s so fantastic if we really can just chill in here." Deng Long took in a deep breath.

    "This beautiful serene scenery...The need to escape reality. Knowing that danger is right around the corner, waiting, makes us appreciate our life and this moment of tranquillity." Se Lang started rambling.

    "The yearning to return to this peaceful life if we manage to defeat the monster. This Dungeon Supplier boss really knows how to y with our feelings by creating this life like environment. Even I feel the same as you do about this ce." Se Lang squat to pick a flower up to appreciate.

    "Well, stop being philosophical and start paying attention to the monster right in front of you." Deng Long took out his weapons, titanium made dual batons and portrayed his Grade 2 cultivation, the Wobbling Wombat Style.

    Se Lang also reached out for his weapons in his storage ring and a scythe flew out from the storage the moment he called for it. He swung it around a few times and portrayed his Grade 3 cultivation, the Wacky Wolf Style to intimidate the monsters.

    In King''s Monster or other simr dungeon suppliers, if the monsters were lower level than the cultivator, portraying the cultivation would make the monsters be slightly afraid of the cultivator. This was subtly programmed into the dimensional space to instil superiority in their cultivators.

    However, the monsters in Boss Jin''s store appeared nonchnt and even assumed the cultivator portraying his cultivation was a sign of provocation. The ants made a screeching voice andmenced the attack.

    From the distance, the monsters looked like normalrge sized ants. A closer look by Se Lang revealed that the colour was out of the norm and the mandibles of the ants were too huge. Close quarters would be a hassle and would not be beneficial.

    "Let''s kill these ants quickly and we can start fighting the Zither Mistress to end the dungeon instance." Se Lang spoke with confidence and dashed towards the ants.

    "I doubt the boss is the Zither Mistress. If Boss Jin''s goblin dungeon is of any indication, there should be more monsters at the very least, and maybe even a boss." Deng Long thought to himself before he trailed behind Se Lang.

    Deng Long also noticed that in the previous goblin dungeon he participated, it followed a subtle stage pattern that Boss Jin did not explicitly show in his dungeon in order to provide some continuity to dungeon experience.

    The eight legged boar boss monster would never appear until all three goblins were killed and the yers were roughly given a short five minute downtime to recover and regroup. Hence, there were technically two stages to the goblin dungeon. Judging by the iing ants'' attack, Deng Long deduced that there would be at least three stages subtly blended together in this Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance.

    The wyrm ants saw their iing opponents were speeding through the grasnds so they decided to spew fire and ice projectiles towards them in order to slow their movements.

    "Oh interesting, fire and ice breathing ants, this Boss Jin certainly has some creativity in his monster designs." Using the Wacky Wolf Style, Se Lang managed to dodge each and every ice and fire projectileing towards him.

    The speed of the projectiles was slow enough for him to predict where they were going tond, so it was not a problem for him. After sufficient training, he even dodged a bullet once without his cultivation while catching a serial theft criminal.

    However, Deng Long was not the same as his friend. He was not able to catch up with Se Lang''s speed and inevitably got caught by some of the attacks. If not for his Wobbling Wombat Style, which allowed him to reduce the duration of status ailments, he could had been burnt very badly or frozen for a long time.

    Separately, the crowd outside was yet again amazed by the professional streaming created by the store''s magic eye technology. Each dodge Se Lang made was dramatic. Each attack Deng Long got caught in was captured with style and impact. This cinematic experience made each and every customer watching the stream on the edge of one''s seat...well metaphorically. Most of them were standing to allow more people to watch the stream.

    On the other side of the store, some of the customers were not able to catch such an exciting scene due to the dense crowd so they opted to look at the other stations. A few customers tried to catch a glimpse of Xiong Da since Boss Jin talked about instructor Milk.

    "Oh my God, is that the AI instructor? She is too hot! How can fatty withstand her looks?" One of the male customers identally blurted his mouth.

    "She looks too lifelike to be an instructor! Boss Jin are you hiding your real employees from us?"

    "Oh, you males are more disgusting than him. Look at that fatty, so focused on his training! I would rather marry him than you lot if I was to choose. At least I know he can be loyal." A female customer contended.

    "But you got to admit, her curves are near perfect." Another male customer confessed.

    "I will make your curves near perfect too when you get home. You can start by giving me your wallet." That male customer had forgotten that his girlfriend was nearby when heplimented.

    The revtion of Milk made a number of male customers'' nose nearly bleed all over their shirts while some of the female customers were secretly inspired by her embodiment of sexiness and respect for giving Xiong Da a proper lesson, not just acting like a bimbo.

    Most of them kept thinking Milk was really a person instead of an AI instructor despite Boss Jin''s insistence on the matter when they asked him about it. Otherwise, he maintained his silence whenever he could.

    Xiong Da was more focused today and he even did things that Milk told him yesterday. The reason for such determination was because he found out Boss Jin''s dungeon instances somehow did stir his spirit force in his cultivation afterying dormant for such a long time.

    The reason for dormancy was that the Hungry Hippo Style was a style that required arge amount of spirit force for the cultivator to improve himself like how the hippo was always hungry for more food. The style was passed down to him as part of his family''s inheritance when their ancestors were still living in the mountains, where spirit force was abundant.

    What Boss Jin said about helping him was true and he appreciated the fact that it really did work. Xiong Da had had many people try to scam his money and think that he was an easy target but he was actually awyer in one of the top firms in China, HHH and Partners Ltd.

    The moment people thought he was an easy target, he slowly collected evidence of fraud and scam. Once the scammers thought they had hooked him in for sure, Xiong Da went on the offensive and sued them to bankruptcy. He made sure they never had the chance to recover ever again in life.

    With his cultivation stirring within him, he knew this could be the chance to really improve himself and get his girl back again. Of course, the girl that he liked was through a dating app but they hit off really well.

    Despite his position and status, Xiong Da pretended to be in and simple in order to see if the girl really liked him or if it was just for his money. He could smell bullshit after many tries but this one was truly different. He felt that she was the one.

    If not for that incident which he told Boss Jin about, he would have used his status as awyer to crush his love rival. However, he also wished to prove his worth, so that he could really protect her if the need ever arose.

    "For Ruo Ying!" Xiong Da rushed forth and did a heavy smash on the spear goblin, crashing him into smithereens. He looked back and Milk gave him a thumbs up.

    Boss Jin looked at Xiong Da''s increased performance and began to think. "Perhaps, I should pair Peppers and him together for the Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance. That way, I will get more money and see how Peppers works."

    Speaking of the Zither Mistress, the crowd cheered at Station 3 when Jin was not looking.

    .

    .

 Chapter 35 Blood Explosion Inscription

    <h4>Chapter 35 Blood Explosion Inscription</h4>

    "Two dead ants with just one sh!" The customers shouted so loudly that it started to attract the attention of the entire shop.

    "And he even deflected that abrupt explosion when he destroyed them. I think he is my new idol along with Bu Dong!" A female customer squealed to her friend.

    "Huh? If he loses, I willugh at you." her friend replied with some doubt at Se Lang''s ability.

    "Wow, Boss Jin is too cunning, to have suicidal fire and ice ants in this dungeon!" The customer started sweating. To him, the goblin dungeon was not easy and this Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance was a whole new level of danger and excitement.

    "Did Boss Jin make his monsters easier?" One of the customers started to query.

    "How is it easy when you have to deal with suicidal ants? Besides, that scythe wielding person is a Grade 3 and from the looks of it, it is even possible that he is a Grade 3 Peak!"

    "Yun, do they really explode when they die? I captured them before their death so I had no idea about it." Jin asked Yun in his head and she replied with a firm shake of the head as she sat at the corner of the bar counter.

    "I do not have suicide ants, it is probably his ability." Jin reaffirmed his customers so that they did not spread wild rumours.

    "I know of the Wacky Wolf Style, those cultivators do not have such an ability. I think it is an inscription or a certain essory." The know-it-all customer was back and he was there again to exin. The crowd started to chatter loudly about the possibility of using an inscription. Some were surprised that a serious contender visited the shop.

    "I did not expect that at all." Deng Long finally caught up to Se Lang as he saw the explosion from a distance.

    "I think their organs that produce fire and ice were interrupted, causing an internal explosion within their bodies." Se Lang swung down his scythe to remove any taints on it.

    "I have to admit, the monsters are indeed more lifelike than the other dungeon suppliers. Most Grade 2 monsters readily die after a swing of my scythe."

    "Did they not?" Deng Long thought Se Lang was overpowered as well.

    "You forgot how my scythe works?" Se Lang scoffed a little.

    "Oh, the lingering effects of your Blood Explosion inscription." Deng Long still felt that Se Lang''s scythe was a cheat weapon after being friends with him for a long time.

    "Yes, I believe that is why the fire and ice ants erupted. When I first swung my scythe, both of them coordinated their defence to block my attack with their mandibles but my scythe did inflict a wound. I was really lucky this time round I guess."

    Se Lang had an offensive inscription embedded in his scythe that had a chance to trigger the enemies'' blood vessels to explode, causing internal bleeding. At worst, internal haemorrhage of various organs since the blood vessel that exploded was randomly targeted by the inscription.

    "You are the expert after all. I would take your exnation anytime." Deng Long was already d that he passed ''Stage 1'' of the dungeon. That meant that he would get some panda medals even if they lost the instance.

    Why the panda medals? There were some rumours going around in the Pandamonium main chat stating that Boss Jin had top notch goods as rewards. This was why it took some time for clearance in shipping and also the reason Boss Jin was not able to reveal the goods at the opening of his store. No matter how baseless a rumour is, there was a hint of truth in it and Deng Long believed it for now.

    If those rumours were really true, it did not hurt to earn some panda medals to exchange for a reward or two. Undoubtedly, this had already been the best move he had done in quite a while. Treating his friend to this dungeon instance and making a simple bet with him. Deng Long had probably already won since Se Lang was starting to like the dungeon. Not to mention, getting those panda medals for free with little work done was a bonus to his bet.

    Deng Long then remembered Se Lang had always hogged the glory back in the station when they bagged criminals. Deng Long figured it was fine for him to give Se Lang a little payback and a taste of his own medicine.

    At this moment, the Zither Mistress seemed to be ying an endearing melody, which Jin was familiar with, the call of the Great White Snake. The snake lurked in the grasnd and crept slowly towards the duo.

    However, Se Lang''s perception was high enough to notice a creature slithering within the grasnds. The police work he was specialised in had enhanced his investigative abilities.

    "Let''s y with you since those ants were a lucky kill." Se Lang swung his scythe horizontally and a wide energy wave crossed through the grass to attack the Great White Snake. Unfortunately, the energy wave was met with a sonic wave from the Zither Mistress and the melody she was ying got even more upbeat. "I guess this will not be as easy as those ants." Deng Long shrugged his shoulders lightly and smiled at Se Lang.

    "Even better." Se Lang''s thirst for blood was evident. All the restraints he had to exercise in the police job made it unsuitable for his Wacky Wolf Style despite the fact that he liked the job a lot. To be able to let go all at once on monsters capable of handling his attacks was a big plus for him.

    Se Lang ran towards the Great White Snake as he dodged and deflected Zither Mistress''s sonic waves. The Great White Snake did not y defensive against Se Lang and glided towards him with immense speed.

    Both collided head on with the snake going for Se Lang''s torso while Se Lang went for its oesophagus. The scythe''s attack was not able to scratch the scales of the snake while Se Lang was an inch away from being bitten to death.

    The Zither Mistress smiled as Se Lang made the same mistake as Jin, who got distracted by the snake''s bite attempt and got hit by a sonic wave. Zither Mistress rapidly threw another shot at Se Lang. However, Deng Long was there to cover his buddy''s back. With his Wobbling Wombat Style, Deng Long parried the second sonic wave with his dual batons.

    "Thanks Bud!" Se Lang was able to break through his temporary paralysis. Now he knew he had to put in spirit force to deal damage against the Great White Snake since normal physical attacks would not be able to damage its scales. At Grade 3, cultivators were able to harness the spirit force within them to enhance their attacks.

    As cultivators proceeded to Grade 3 and higher, they could use their Chi as a sort of spiritual weapon enhancement or even armour that was simr to the Towering Tortoise Style Armour Projection that Kong Xian used. In Kong Xian''s case, higher grades of the Towering Tortoise Style would allow him to create a more potent chi armour specialised in high defence.

    Se Lang inserted some spirit force into his scythe and did a swirling attack against the Great White Snake but it retaliated with a tail swipe. The impact of the swipe was strong enough to parry the swirling attack and knocked Se Lang backwards. Despite this, the scythe managed to do some damage to the Great White Snake too.

    The snake ignored Deng Long and struck with immense hostility against the fallen Se Lang. Deng Long took this opportunity to attack the nk of the Great White Snake but the Zither Mistress was faster and did three continuous sonic wave projectiles against Deng Long before he could attack the snake.

    Se Lang was bitten through his heart despite his counter attack that blinded the snake. Deng Long got unlucky when thest sonic wave slit his throat and he fell to his death.

    Though there was some luck involved, the teamwork shown by Zither Mistress and the Great White Snake wasparable, if not possibly stronger, than the teamwork of Deng Long and Se Lang. Both lost their lives due to some selfishness in the dungeon and that was why they returned to the store lying unconscious.

    "This is exactly the dungeon I was expecting from Boss Jin." One of the customersmented as Jin brought the two men up to the second floor.

    "You are right! I believe the Wacky Wolf cultivator got a little cocky after his first kill. He kept leaving the Wobbling Wombat cultivator behind when the Wombat user could have blocked the attacks for him. Boss Jin''s dungeons required teamwork more than anything."

    "Damn! I do not want say this but even his monsters are more coordinated than most of us." A female customer deduced the reason behind Se Lang and Deng Long''s loss and the crowd agreed readily.

    Jin smiled at his customers'' response and brought the guys up.

    .

    .

 Chapter 36 Onigiri Gacha

    <h4>Chapter 36 Onigiri Gacha</h4>

    Se Lang''s vision was slowlying back to him. "Ah crap, if I got unconscious that means I have to get my annual cultivation leave approved again." As he sighed, he heard a fewughters in the room so he knew there were still some people in the recovery room. Perhaps, it might not be toote in the night.

    However, he saw broad daylight shining from the window so he looked around and saw Deng Long already awoke, drinking a Panda Soda he bought from the vending machine. "Ah you awake? I took your phone and got a Bamboo Juice for you." Deng Long threw the juice can and his phone to him.

    "How long was I out?" Se Lang caught the can of Bamboo Juice from Deng Long and opened it to drink it.

    "Ehh 15 minutes or so? We should still have some time back to the station if we get some quick bites." Deng Long stood up to stretch his arms while Se Lang was still sitting on his lounge chair looking confused.

    "15 minutes? Are you kidding me? I have never heard of such short periods of unconsciousness aftering out of the dungeon instance. Tell me how long was I really out?" Se Lang began to get a little impatient with Deng Long''s answers.

    "Look at your watch or your phone. If you think I tempered your phone''s timing you can check the timing on the. Unless you think that everyone on the inte is conspiring against you." Deng Longughed and Yun who went to check on the unconscious female customers was also giggling at the side of the recovery room.

    "Mr Da, Boss Jin takes pride in the quality of goods and services he provides. I believe your friend does not have any intention of lying to you." Yun spoke politely.

    Like an young angel''s voice to his ears, Se Lang just nodded his head. He had never seen such a beauty in his life but he became immediately disappointed to see a ring on her finger.

    "Mr Hong, if you would like to have some quick bites, we have new food additions in the menu which may fulfill your stomach''s desires." Yun interjected.

    "REALLY?" Deng Long thought he had to eat rubbish Wacdonalds fast food but it looks like there could be some hope left for his stomach to partake in some delicious good food. He could never forget the night he first tasted Boss Jin''s tonkatsu curry rice.

    "Why are you so excited abou- Oh! This taste! It really hits the spot." Se Lang was amazed by the Bamboo juice. That right amount of sweetness which tingles his tongue and the coolness of it as it passes through the throat.

    "See, even Boss Jin''s can of juice is fantastic. Se Lang, you can stay here if you want to ogle at that married woman but I am going to see what Boss Jin has in his menu." Deng Long quickly rushed down the stairs the moment he finished talking. Se Lang got a little embarrassed by Deng Long''s honest remarks and he quickly followed him.

    "Boss! I heard you have some good stuff in your menu, why did you not tell us?" Deng Long shouted and everyone across the store heard it. People started to approach the bar counter to check out the food menu but found no new items. However, Deng Long found the ''New food addition'' announcement near the bar counter at the back of the store.

    "Well, this is a Dungeon Supplier store, not a cafиж. I see no reason why I should promote my food menu. Besides, I have yet to update the menu since I just received them this morning." Boss Jin exined and a number of customers nodded at his reasoning and then realised they had been cheated by him. They thought Boss Jin would announce new food items to them so every customer who came in to eat bought only the tonkatsu curry rice.

    "How could you not! Oh and Boss Jin is so sneaky! You ced the new items menu out of sight! Oh my god, the announcement shows more than one new addition. Onigiri, Coffee and Slice of Triple Cheese Pizza?!" Deng Long looked at the new menu and spoke out loud.

    "BOSS! WHY YOU DID NOT TELL US!?" As if all the customers were in cahoots, they shouted in unison! Some of the customers who brought their lunch in while waiting for their turn immediately regretted their decision.

    "Boss, I will get two onigiris, can I get to choose the vour?" Deng Long''s mouth started to fill with saliva as he saw the picture of the onigiri in the menu announcement.

    "No, it''s random. Payment at credit port please." Deng Long did as such and Jin took out two wrapped onigiri from the drawer. There was no stic wrapping around the onigiri which Deng Long thought wasmon for most store takeaways with exception of the nori being wrapped around it.

    However, the System did provide a type of PFA free (polyfluoroalkyl substances) food wrapping paper for takeaways so users eating the onigiri would not drop it if the rice did not stick together.

    Yet, the possibility of that happening was low unless the onigiri was deliberately split into two.

    Deng Long took both onigiri from Boss Jin, one in each hand. He unhesitantly took a bite from the onigiri in his right hand and steam came out from his mouth. The face of bliss was shown so openly that the customers began to swallow their saliva, even those who just had their lunch.

    "I am no foodie but this onigiri is definitely stuffed with fried chicken karaage in it. The oil and meat juice within the karaage did not overflow into the rice until I bite into it. This is god damn delicious!" Se Lang saw Deng Long''s undeniable expression and ordered the same thing after being influenced by him. The rest of the customers followed suit.

    "Oh my! I liked this a lot, it''s shrimp! Oh no. Why did I not order this earlier, the shrimp. So fresh. So so fresh!" the female customer squealed as she gobbled up the onigiri.

    "Dayum! Bacon and Cheese! I cannot believe this goes so well that the rice and nori in the onigiri!" Se Lang was surprised at this new twist when he ate it.

    Eventually, everyone in the shop got so affected by the new food item hype that they started posting filings of the onigiri on Instagraph and Mechat. One of the customers even nicknamed these random filings of onigiri by Boss Jin as Onigiri Gacha since no one in the store had yet to receive the same one.

    As everyone was happily chatting about the new onigiris and started to leave the store since lunch break was ending soon, the store suddenly experienced a minor tremor. Some even started to check whether if there was an earthquake rm being sounded out.

    However, it was not a tremor nor was it earthquake rted. "BOSS! I smell new food! Give me one of each!"

    The call of the Hungry Hippo beckons Jin as Xiong Da identally tumbled down from the stairs of the second to the first floor.

    .

    .

 Chapter 37 Coffee Connoisseur

    <h4>Chapter 37 Coffee Connoisseur</h4>

    "Boss, quickly! I am feeling super hungry right now!" Xiong Da pleaded to Jin as he ced his phone at the credit port. Once the Panda Credits were deducted from his ount, Jin proceeded to bring the tes of food in front of him.

    One te of tonkatsu curry rice, one piece of onigiri and arge pizza spat of Triple Cheese Pizza. Xiong Da could not control himself and chomped the whole piece of onigiri down his throat. "Hmm! the taste of this purple rice...from Yunnan, Mojiang? No, it cannot be. I remember the Yunnan tribute rice was less tasty than this. Where is this from Boss?"

    "Yunnan." Jin had a reply from Yun. It was indeed the Yunnan tribute rice and it was used to make the onigiri in order to bring out the best properties of the rice.

    Its stickiness.

    "Are you serious Boss? Matching the sweet rice taste with the pickled plums enhanced the umami vour of the onigiri. I cannot imagine who your chef is but this onigiri is near perfect."

    "Not perfect?" Jin furrowed his brows a little.

    "Not perfect, because I only had one of it. Give me another!" Xiong Da smiled as he started eating his tonkatsu curry rice.

    "Sorry, the onigiri I picked are at random. You may or may not have the same vour again." Xiong Da was a little disappointed upon hearing the news, but in a way excited too.

    "Does that mean I get to eat something new every time I order it?" Xiong Da eyes began to sparkle.

    "Ehhhh, I guess so...enjoy your meal."

    "Give me a cup of coffee too. Add some milk into it too." Xiong Da requested as he enjoyed every scoop of his curry rice.

    "The condiments are near the coffee machine. Self service." Jin went to the coffee machine and ced the cup, which was painted with a little baby panda on it, in the designated spot on the machine. He pressed the one and only button on the machine and waited for the machine to do its wonders.

    Though Xiong Da was eating his curry rice, he got a little suspicious with Boss Jin''s coffee. "He is going to use a machine to make the coffee for me? What can be a better coffee than a self brew one?" Xiong Da shaked his thoughts off from his head. If a simple onigiri could surprise him, maybe the machine was calibrated to the strictest of standards of coffee.

    There was some grinding sounding from within the machine andter Jin was able to see the grinded beans being pressed into the french press with hot water subsequently flowing into the press. Once the machinepleted the process of the french press, the coffee was dispensed into the cup.

    "Your cup of coffee, I suggest you try it without any condiments, else you can add those yourself." Boss Jin presented the painted baby panda bear cup to him.

    Xiong Da was still a little skeptical. He was a serious coffee connoisseur and this cup could make him be the happiest man in the world aside from being with Ruo Ying. Or he could be the nastiest man Boss Jin would ever meet. Maybe, he might give Boss Jin a little ck after all the things he had done and the good food he had eaten so far but he will still be nasty.

    Regardless, he cleared his curry rice and quickly requested for a cup of the spring water. "Quickly Boss, or else your coffee ''might'' be wasted." Xiong Da hurried him but Boss Jin did not evenply with him. Yet, Jin did not see Xiong Da this serious even in the dungeon instances and he became interested in Xiong Da''s sudden change of mood.

    First, Xiong Da brought up the cup to have a look. "Hmm, enamelled ceramic cup. Not bad. This cup is able to hold the heat and keep the coffee warm enough for a decent amount of time. The design also suits the subtle atmosphere here. You pass in the cup department. No wonder you took your own sweet time to get me water."

    He then took a whiff of the heavy aroma from the coffee and he started to write notes in his handphone with his stylus pen. "A little floral and chocte in it...could it be?" Xiong Da stared at Jin and immediately sipped a little of the coffee.

    His look was so solemn as he continuously wrote notes down with each consecutive sip. "I really underestimated your coffee machine. I did not expect it to do better than a professional." At this point, Jin suddenly saw the two Hungry Hippos emerged from the depths of Xiong Da''s cultivation.

    "Ah...I guess I levelled up. Ahahha!" Xiong Da suddenly went back to his cheerful demeanor but he immediately got off the chair and gave a deep bow to Jin. "Thank you Boss for providing such excellent coffee."

    "Yun, is the coffee that good?" Jin asked quietly and Yun replied. "Hmm, probably just top 10 in the world."

    All of a sudden, Xiong Da started bbering about the goodness of the coffee. "You maintained the vour of the ck Ivory coffee really well that I really do not need to add those nonsensical condiments as you said."

    "What''s ck Ivory coffee?" Jin asked once more to Yun since he had to continue the act as if he knew what he was doing towards Xiong Da.

    "ck Ivory coffee beans are one of the few... uniquely harvested coffees in the world. Elephants digest the best Arabica coffee beans and shit the beans out... literally. People then harvest the beans from their poop." Jin wanted to puke when he heard it but he controlled himself really well by nodding his head to Xiong Da.

    "Of course, our elephants are different from the current ''best'' method on earth. In fact, our elephants have to be at least Grade 2 Peak before they can ingest those beans. All of the elephants were extremely well fed, bred wildly and monitored closely."

    "From the looks of the coffee and the taste of it, your ck Ivory coffee beans had a medium roast to it before being grounded so the beans will not be too overpowering while bringing out its true character."

    "Manual Grinding is rmended but it seems that your machine did a better job to have the freshly grounded coffee kind of smell. Not to mention I believe your french press had a type of cloth filter which removes the slight oiliness from the coffee making."

    "The water was exactly at 93 degrees Celsius, not too hot nor cold. I thought this was the only thing your machine could do right since the professionals always had a tough time gauging the temperature but it looked like I was wrong."

    "How do you even know that? By the time the coffee cools to roughly 65-70 degrees Celsius, you could not have known that." Jin questioned Xiong Da.

    "My cultivation allowed me to not just smash monsters Boss. I modified it a little so it can feel and deduce these kinds of minute details of food out." Xiong Daughed loudly.

    "This cup of coffee truly brought out the vour of the ck Ivory Coffee. Mainly the taste of dark chocte with a hint of grass and a little spice from the cinnamon and the tobo. The taste was also soft to my cultivated sensitive taste buds without it being too burnt or having too much of a bitter taste. The aftertaste was sweet and no doubt clean."

    Once Xiong Da finished his assessment, he bowed towards Jin once more and continued to enjoy his coffee...and pizza.

    "No doubt the Hungry Hippo." Jin was d the coffee managed to train and stir his cultivation up to Grade 2.

    .

    .

 Chapter 38 Panda Yawning Technique

    <h4>Chapter 38 Panda Yawning Technique</h4>

    Xiong Da eventually fared better after the increase in grade which made it easier for him to kill the goblins and he even got to face the eight legged boar. This type of training not only helped Xiong Da, it actually increased the proficiency of the goblins too. The Sword Goblin managed to upgrade to Grade 2 and it inadvertently raised the difficulty bar of Normal + mode.

    It''s too bad no one had tried such Normal+ mode yet since most of the cultivators who participated in the normal goblin dungeon did notplete it. In addition, not every cultivator who bought Boss Jin''s dungeon instance was happy when they were killed so quickly in the goblin dungeon.

    As days went by, there were people who supported such dungeons like Xiong Da, Se Lang and Deng Long. Most of the other customers who managed to defeat at least a goblin or two eventually realised that there was a small amount of spirit force within them, making it stir their cultivation.

    It became an open secret to people who participated in Pandamonium chats. However, there were also disgruntled cultivators who alwaysin that they want their money back after losing badly to the goblins.

    Of course, Boss Jin refused adamantly to theirints. He insisted his goods were not pegged to a higher difficulty unless they chose to do so. Thankfully, no cultivator was stupid enough to make a move on a dungeon supplier because the suppliers were backed by the consumer''sw and China''s Dungeon Supplier Union.

    "Why are theyining so much especially when they are so ipetent?" Yun casually asked Jin during one of the more peaceful afternoons.

    "Well, from what I know, they are just being spoiled by dungeon suppliers who made them feel superior. The dungeon supplier in the central shopping district, King''s Monster, for example, have a package that includes an AI instructor that literally held the cultivator''s hands throughout the whole dungeon instance."

    "Most of the unhappy ones felt fear when they fought with the goblins as they could not handle how life threatening it is to them." Jin drank a cup of the ck Ivory coffee and felt awake almost immediately.

    "Heh, even though they will just be unconscious?" Yun made a cup of coffee for herself too.

    "They were probably scared of getting injured or could not endure the pain. Anyways, its like what I have said before. Not everyone bes a cultivator because they need it. They do it because of the minor benefits. After enjoying peace for so long, people start to take things for granted." Jin put the cup back into the dishwasher.

    "Yea, I got that. Especially after the Dantian modification, the modern society abides by another set of rules. Still, it does not hurt knowing how to defend oneself. Look what I had be, I am a living example." Yun scoffed at her perfect young body as she sipped her hot coffee but Jin was at a loss of words. He did not know how tofort Yun since she was killed by the rogue cultivator that uses forbidden techniques to permanently destroy someone''s Dantian.

    "Last I heard, Dad made sure that his dead body is in the deepest confinement of a max military security prison ind. All the culprit can do now is to rot like a mummy." Yun realised the silenceing from Jin so she tried to move the topic forward a little. However, she actually dug a bigger hole for herself.

    "Wait, what? I thought the media said he was not given a chance to be incarcerated but sentenced to a permanent death with immediate effect. Why did Grandpa not kill and incinerate him?" Jin was curious about the situation.

    "Oops, what I just told you was supposedly top secret." Yun pondered for a while and decided to tell Jin since she knew Jin would pester her sooner orter.

    "Please do keep it to yourself. They wanted to extract information from his brain through certain military cultivation techniques that were specialised for interrogation. However, the rogue cultivator shut his life force into his Dantian and he was considered ''dead'' at that point of time."

    "Dad wanted him to be cut into pieces and have his solidified Dantian incinerated in the cauldron of Nine Heavenly mes but the higher ups still wanted to extract information and he could not do a damn thing. That was partially the reason why he retired." The predicament of Grandpa Ming was appalling to Jin even though he was a well-known two star general back in the army.

    "Anyways, you should continue with your new technique as part of the mission objectives." Yun went up the stairs to take a look at the customers that had fallen unconscious about 10 minutes ago.

    Jin recently took up a new mission to learn a new technique in order to increase his repertoire of skills. The technique associated with Grade 3 was called the Panda Yawning. All he had to do was to learn how to yawn as readily as he could so he can use the skill at his will.

    The cultivation manual in his phone stated that he did not necessarily need be tired to initiate the skill. What Jin could do was to breathe in deeply through his mouth so he could feel the air hitting the back of his throat.

    While he exhales, his shoulders had to rx a little. "When the yawnes, reach into it and extend as long as you can. During that period, stretch the jaw muscles." Yun said in his head.

    The first time he seeded in trying it, he managed to gather chi within his mouth. However, the chi gathered was not strong enough.

    "Practice till you feel that the gathering of chi in your mouth bes natural," Yun added further exnations.

    Jin wanted to get this mission done as soon as possible mainly for one reason. Panda Yawning technique was one of the few ranged attacks he could learn in the Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation manual. Once he was able to master this, he would be able to garner enough chi to shoot a beam of Yin and Yang chi out of his mouth.

    There was some small illustration on the manual on how the attack looks like but Jin remembered those old Godji movies where Godji fired a purplish blue beam. Yun said that was the closest resemnce of Panda Yawning technique.

    Separately, it had been a few days since the opening of the underground floor yet no one bothered to ask about the ss panel door that was near the stairs. Jin deduced that the customers thought it was some sort of maintenance room, server room or even a simple storage room so they did not ask about it.

    Coincidentally as he was thinking of the underground stores, an old customer hade back to visit Jin. "Hi, Boss Jin! I brought a few of my friends here to y with you!" Yue Wen, a Grade 2 cultivator that uses the Healing Maiden Style which aided Bu Dong and his team to bag the first dungeon clear.

    "Is the reward redemption using those Panda Medals up yet?" Yue Wen remembered Boss Jin''s answer was that shipping required some time. Little did she know, she was up for a surprise.

    .

    .

 Chapter 39 I Can Look Pretty While Fighting?

    <h4>Chapter 39 I Can Look Pretty While Fighting?</h4>

    "It''s right over there, near the stairs." Jin pointed out the inconspicuous ss panel door to her group of friends. The few customers that were hanging around after their recovery suddenly got interested too. They had been ying for quite some time and most of the customers thought the rewards were not yet shipped.

    "Is that not some maintenance or storage room?" Jia Ying, one of Yue Wen''s friend replied to Jin''s direction.

    "I thought the same too since the other side of the door seemed dark. I tried going near it, it was locked and there was no knobs or anything." One of the customers alsomented that he assumed the same too.

    "Nope, just open the door using your phone if you have the Pandamonium app else use your dog tags." Jin casuallymented as he walked out of the bar counter, towards the ss door.

    Jin was there to help troubleshoot in case Yue Wen was not able to go in. She ced her phone at the security port beside the door and the ss panel slides open. The lights lit up and on the other side of the door revealed a downward stairway.

    "Can I bring my friends down too?" Yue Wen asked since she was currently the only one in her group that had the Pandamonium app installed and logged in.

    "They can follow you but without the dog tags or Pandamonium, they will not be able to go into the next area." Jin replied to them.

    "So much security just for reward redemption?" Jing Ru, another friend of Yue Wenined about the unnecessarilyplicated procedures.

    "Well, I did tell you girls that the shop is slightly different from a normal dungeon supplier store. Let''s just buy the dungeon instance tickets first. I promised it is worth it." Yue Wen put her hands together, as if praying to her friends to believe her just this once.

    "You better not lie to us. Hahaha. Boss, one goblin..?" Shi Hui looked back at Yue Wen to confirm the dungeon instance and Yue Wen nodded her head happily.

    "One Goblin Dungeon Instance for each of us." Shi Huipleted the order for the entire group.

    Jin showed them to the credit port while Yue Wen stayed near the door. Some of the customers were interested but hesitated a little and pretended to lurk around for a little while.

    "All done, here are your tags. You can now follow your friend down the dimensional space instance." Jin thanked them and he lead them to basement 1.

    "Dimensional space instance? Are we not going to see the rewards?" Shi Hui wondered but she left those thoughts behind for the moment and subsequently entered the underground area with the group of girls.

    "Oooh! Boss Jin, your panda pictures have the right amount of cuteness in them." Yue Wen appreciated the tumbling panda artwork as she walked down the stairs to the basement 1.

    When they reached basement 1, they were immediately surprised by the three humongous cinematic screens on the walls. Each of the screens was showing advertisement of their own stores. At the moment, all of the screens were showing the kind of discounts they were having for the types of rewards they are ''selling''.

    "Oh my god, this is amazing. I have never seen a dungeon supplier store so dedicated to fluffing up their reward redemption counter." Shi Huimented while still in awe.

    Jin was leaning at the side of the wall near the stairs enjoying the overwhelmed looks the girls had in their expression. Some of the customers from the 1st floor arrived at basement 1 and saw a drastic difference in the change of environment.

    "How do I buy stuff?" Yue Wen saw something that caught her eye in the Panda Armoury advertisement.

    "Go into the dimensional space. The dimension space port is located at the White Jade panda statues." Jin once again pointed it out to these clueless girls that were excited by the merchandise he offered.

    "Come let''s go!" Yue Wen signalled her friends as she ced her phone near the armoury panda statue and she was teleported away.

    Yue Wen arrived safely in the dimensional space and she noticed her friends have caught up with her. However, she and her friends could not contain their excitement. The armoury store was in fact designed like a luxurious department store that does not have an end at sight.

    The floors were marble tiled with certain areas carpeted. The clothes had legitimate brands like LoLoLemon, Zal, Mike, Armano and many more that were simr to the real world. "The quality is the same!" Jia Ying screamed across the empty department store.

    The girls quickly rushed to Jia Ying to verify the clothes. "In fact, this is of a better quality." Jia Ying was a student in fashion designs and she was trained to see if a product was a knock off. Hence, the girls readily trusted her judgement.

    The girls walked around and their shopping senses tingled in the air. It had been a long time since they had an entire store to themselves. Yue Wen tried on one of the sports leggings and it was extremelyfy. "Hmm, there are no price tags on it, how do I even check?" Yue Wen looked around the leggings for a price tag and the section for the price list but to no avail.

    "Eight Bronze Panda Medals." A small red panda came out from nowhere talking. "Oooh! So cute!" Yue Wen immediately grabbed the red panda and it responded to her cuddle by rubbing its nose on her face.

    "Like a dungeon instance, you are the only group here in this store. This store''s dimensional space will only close until you are satisfied with your shopping or browsing. When a new group wishes to enter, a new separate dimensional space will be created just for them." The red pandamented.

    "However, when Jin, our big boss, wishes to close his shop, there will be a warning given for each and every store''s dimensional space created to warn the users to exit the dimensional space in 5 minutes time. Else you will be forcefully kicked out of the dimensional space." The small red panda continued to speak to Yue Wen as she snuggled it.

    In the Panda Armoury, several AI red pandas were created by Yun to help serve the customers within each dimensional space.

    "I assumed this will be a true armoury store, you know those metal and leather armours etc. Instead, I found clothes that can be bought and perhaps ording to my friend of a higher quality too." Yue Wen tried to question the viability of the Panda Armoury.

    "This is indeed a true armoury store. Metal armours are avable if you wish to have a look, I can direct you there. However, these clothes here are all enchanted with varying levels of defence inscriptions. In addition, the clothes sold here are manufactured and approved by the originalpany brands and they are of the highest quality ensured. Big Boss Jin did notpromise its quality and material because you can actually use this inbat." The red panda replied.

    "If you are still wary of the product, we can show you the certification to sell said products and you can cross check it with the clothingpany. The enchantment of inscriptions came from a different supplier and that, in Jin''s words, is ''Trade Secret''." The red panda continued to clear Yue Wen''s doubts.

    "You mean I can actually look pretty while fighting?!" Yue Wen eyes sparkled like diamonds.

    .

    .

 Chapter 40 For New Clothes!

    <h4>Chapter 40 For New Clothes!</h4>

    "Yue Wen!!! This dress is so pretty and the Red Panda is so cute!! It keeps following me that I have no choice but to carry it." Shi Hui smiled widely as she ran towards Yue Wen with the dress on while carrying the red panda around.

    "Oh my god, that piece of clothing costs 130 Bronze Panda Medals?" Yue Wen nearly fainted from the price. It was a ck silk dress with a short tie from the clothing brand, Armano. Jia Ying told Shi Hui that the dress alone costs about 10 800 Yuan in the market. Yue Wen almost coughed blood out when she heard the original price in the market from Jia Ying.

    Apleted goblin dungeon gave her about 10 Bronze Panda Medals. However, because of her participation in the first dungeon clear, she had an additional 25 Bronze Panda Medals. She now possessed a total of 35 bronze medals.

    Yue Wen told Shi Hui that assuming she managed to pass a dungeon each time she participated, she needs to participate in the goblin dungeon at least 13 times to get that 130 Bronze Panda Medals. Hence, Shi Hui needs to spend 3185 Yuan to be able to get that Armano ck dress.

    "This is a steal! That''s about 70% discount on a branded dress! Yue Wen, why did you not tell us about this shop earlier?!" Jing Ru joined the conversation as she saw Shi Hui''s dress. While they were conversing, all four red pandas united and they werezing on each other''s tummy.

    Jing Ru could not help but took her phone out to take a photo of the red pandas. However, the picture came out nk. "I am sorry user, no photos or videos allowed here. You are however wee toe back anytime to look at the items again." One of thezy red pandas spoke out.

    Jing Ru bitterlyughed at its response. There were too many things attracting her desires and she believed the other three felt the same too. There were not just clothes. This department store had shoes, essories like earrings, nes, watches and even contact lens!

    "Red Panda, am I able to use my medals to buy something for someone?" Yue Wen asked.

    "Yes, you can but there are some rules you have to abide. One, you have to dere that it is a gift for someone else before purchasing or else we will tag the item under your ID in the Pandamonium. Two, you can only gift if that person registered to Pandamonium."

    "Why will you tag it under my name?" Yue Wen asked again while tickling the red pandas on the floor. The red pandas responded with a small squeal as if it wasughing in reaction to the tickle.

    "In the case where your items are stolen. You track where your item has gone to and deactivate the inscriptions via the Pandamonium if necessary. However, if your phone was stolen, the reverse can actually happen. The item may imprint a GPS location into your memory, and gives you a direction to where your phone wasst seen."

    "Wow, such an amazing yet a little scary kind of technology Boss Jin has." Yue Wen replied.

    "Not really, it is a fairlymon type of cultivation spell in the inscription. However, the dress can only imprint that many times before it loses its inscription power."

    "In addition, whenever your inscription loses power due to wear and tear or because of other circumstances such as losing your phone,e back to Boss Jin. We will recharge the inscription free for the first time. Subsequent recharging has a charge to it and the price differs."

    "Ehh so do the inscription lose power often??" Jia Ying asked the Red Panda in ce of Yue Wen since she does not think much about utility.

    "Our Grade 2 Defense inscription can partially absorb 5,000 average Grade 2 attacks or approximately 500 Grade 3 Peak attacks. You can never find such durability from other Inscriptors. We offer quality that is second to none." Red Panda boasted proudly.

    Yue Wen patted the red panda and decided to buy a sports legging and singlet from the brand Mike which cost about 15 Bronze Panda Medals. The leggings and the singlet each have a Grade 2 Defense Inscription imbued on them, allowing Yue Wen to take more hits aspared to a simple sports singlet.

    She went to the changing room to equip her ''armour'' and to her surprise, the grey dry-fit singlet magically shrink a little. It was fitting while having plenty of room to move about. The Red Panda did tell her that the defense inscriptions will adjust the clothing to match her size so it does not impede her during a fight. The ck leggings also have simr effect and she felt extremelyfortable in her new set of clothing.

    "Are there any other inscriptions other than Defense?" Yue Wen asked the red panda casually after she got out of the changing room.

    "When you are of a higher grade, other kinds of inscriptions are avable for choosing like Power, Jump, Dash or Evade. If you wish to add a new inscription to your current clothing,e to our store again to get it imbued. As usual, no charge for the first alteration."

    "I can buy the new inscriptions here?"

    "Nope, you have to get it either from the Panda General Store or loots from the dungeons. We will not entertain other inscriptions because they are of a inferior quality." The Red Panda answered.

    "You can get loot from dungeon instances?" This was the first time Yue Wen was hearing it.

    "Low probability but possible." The red panda smiled at her and wagged its tail.

    "Such brilliant services. Oh, Boss Jin~! Are you secretly some mafia boss that sells ck market stuff or a top brass of a secret government agency." Yue Wen could not help but admire Boss Jin''s capability to have such contacts to get such amazing rewards. At this point, Jin could not help but sneeze as he returned to the 1st Floor.

    "Yun, there''s dust in the basement?" Jin rubbed his nose a little.

    "Impossible, the air venttion systems are working perfectly, let me have the System diagnose if there was any possible programming bug in the venttion systems."

    The friends of Yue Wen got jealous when they saw that she was able to buy items from the Panda Armoury. "Well, let''s fight the dungeon and get you some Panda Medals, so you girls can buy some things too." Yue Wen smiled as they exited the area to move up to the first floor.

    She felt a little too embarrassed to look at the Panda General Store and the Panda Weaponry since her friends had no medals at all. Hence she decided to proceed to fight the goblin dungeon with them. If she had time to spare in the future, she would take a look.

    Upon logging into Station 6, Yue Wen noticed that there was a Normal+ mode included in the selection screen. "Boss Jin! What''s Normal+ mode?"

    "Stronger Goblins, same boss monster." Jin replied back.

    "Any additional rewards?" Yue Wen lit up a little.

    "If you managed toplete the dungeon? 15 Medals. If you can kill all the goblins, 6 Medals instead of the usual three medals." Jin answered her question with a little excitement. Someone might finally have the courage to try the new Normal+ mode.

    "Yue Wen, shall we give it a try?" Jing Ru questioned Yue Wen as she noticed the other three girls suddenly had a burning innate desire to hunt when they heard about the increase in medals.

    "For new clothes!!" Yue Wen selected the Normal+ mode and they were teleported to the dungeon instance.

    .

    .

 Chapter 41 Venus Four - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 41 Venus Four - Part 1</h4>

    Customers might think that this group of girls were courting death for trying Normal+ mode in the Goblin Dungeon Instance. They could not believe a group of pretty girls fighting for the sake of clothes would have any chance against a single goblin.

    Little did they know that the girls themselves have a few tricks up their sleeves and possibly might blow their minds. Regardless, some people started to gather around Station 6 to watch the show.

    Stronger goblins were still goblins. They might be tougher, harder to kill but they were merely a type of monster with only limited intelligence. That means with good teambination and some decent preparation, Yue Wen''s group might pass the dungeon.

    For a good teambination, Yue Wen purposely chose these three girls for Boss Jin''s dungeon because each of them had an identity not known to almost any in this store. They were all part of the national team of various sports from their university, the National University of Shenzhen.

    Jing Ru, majored in Mathematics was a meek looking girl with short ited hair which she had it dyed in light greyish pink. Despite her appearance, Jing Ru was the university team leader for air rifle and possessed a Grade 2 cultivation, the Gunning Giraffe Style. Her skills to shoot a target at 45 meters while moving was a skill no one in the team could perform. Do not underestimate her because of her demure attitude.

    Jia Ying, the girl who majored in Fashion Design was in the university team for Wushu and specialised in the art of spear. Her long silky hair and well rounded bosom did not sullen her nickname, ''Zhao Yun'' who was a famous general and spearsmen in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.. Her Sanguine Stag Style eliminated many of her opponents in the field ofbat and it propelled her to Grade 3 at such an early age.

    Shi Hui was just a student in Audio Engineering but she was known as the uing modern dancer in Shenzhen''s field of performing arts. She also had the opportunity to be a dance choreographer for a musicpany despite her age when she was interning for her degree.

    This girl always had hair with long outward curls and a smile full of sunshine made many suitors down to their knees begging for just one date. Her Shadow Swan Styleplemented her dancing which was infused into her fighting skills making her apetent Grade 2 Peak cultivator.

    Last but not least, Yue Wen, a Grade 2 cultivator who studied chemistry and had the Healing Maiden Style. Although she was not in any national teams, she was somewhat the clique''s leader for this elite group of girls.

    Her innate chi was so strong that she once studied at the Cultivation Centre in Recovery Arts (CCRA) for summer school and fared better than any of the students residing in the centre. She cultivated her own style with the help of a professor in the CCRA and created the Healing Maiden Style.

    For the past week, she returned to the CCRA in search for the professor who aided her and within that short period of time, she managed to reach Grade 2 Peak, utilising the spirit force she received from Jin''s dungeons.

    These four girls were the best of buddies since Junior High and even went to the same High School. They were so well known in school that fellow students and ssmates called them the Venus Four.

    The Venus Four teleported safely into the Goblin Dungeon Instance. This time round, Yue Wen noticed that the atmosphere was slightly different. The sun was setting in the distance, giving the entire forest a warm amber glow. That also meant that the Venus Four may have to fight in the battleground with a reduced line of sight.

    However, this entire situation did not deter Jing Ru. As a markswoman, she had borrowed and prepared a night vision scope in case they really had to fight in the dark. Yue Wen had indeed nned for the worse case scenario knowing Boss Jin''s attitude towards a rich and deep dungeon experience. Jing Ru went up to a small hillside slope and prepared a few strings with bells in case goblins tried to ambush her from behind.

    Jing Ru''s stepfather was an aplished police sniper who also happened to have survival training experience so when Jing Ru sought the advice of her stepfather, it totally made his day. He never thought his ever so quiet step daughter would approach him. The week before visiting Boss Jin''s dungeon, Jing Ru learnt much from her stepfather and now applied what she had learnt to this Goblin Dungeon Instance.

    She took out her Winterwolf 39 Caliber air rifle and ced it at the spot where she can cover her friends. She took a pellet out to infuse with a little bit of Chi and inserted it into the rifle. Jing Ru was locked and loaded.

    Jia Ying, on the other hand, was trying to attract as much attention to herself so that the goblins will go after her instead. She took out her highly flexible waxwood spear and unted her skills in the small clearing. Jia Ying had the waxwood spear tip sharpened just for this dungeon instance. She also wore a Grade 1 inscription silk wushu uniform which she used for tournaments when she entered the dungeon instance.

    Shi Hui wore a simple blue buttoned shirt with her sleeves rolled up and tied her hair curls up to a ponytail. She took out her War Fan and stay aside Yue Wen, since she was the only healer in the group.

    Yue Wen knew the goblin dagger had poison coated daggers so she had her mates to carry a pill ne with the poison antidotes on standby. If they got hit by the poison, they should immediately take the poison antidote from their ne. However, it was not just a simple antidote. Her study in chemistry allowed her to do some modification to the poison antidote.

    Simr to the ancient days, she used a modern cauldron which can stimte the effects of pill forming. By putting an existing pill into the cauldron, it can calcte and show the form out on a screen via an inte database. It then advised the user some rmendations on what kind of modifications will have minimum effect on the pill. Of course, the cauldron rmendations could be overwritten by the user but Yue Wen decided to y safe for now and made modifications in ordance with the rmendations.

    She controlled her chi effortlessly during the pill making, allowing the cauldron to produce a poison antidote with some wound healing effect. In addition, due to her good control of chi, the quality of the pills she made was approximately 80 out of a 100 as deduced by the modern cauldron hence the wound healing effect in the poison antidote was strengthened.

    With all the preparations, she only hoped that they could at least put up a good fight in this new Normal+ mode. Yue Wen initially wanted to do the dungeon instance for the challenge of a realistic dungeon experience and the spirit force but now she and her team had a new goal in mind.

    For new clothes.

    .

    .

 Chapter 42 Venus Four - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 42 Venus Four - Part 2</h4>

    The system''s dimensional space system worked in mysterious ways that no man could ever deduce. When Jin activated a portal station at the Panda Port, the System created a clone of the real goblins along with the current living environment, which the System provided for them as the dungeon instance, at that particr time and date.

    When Jin activated Station 6, the goblins were having their meals in their dimensional home. The system copied the entire environment system to Station 6 as if the goblins themselves were experiencing a butterfly effect in their particr timeline.

    Whether the goblins managed to kill their opponents or not, they would gain experience and the experience of the cloned goblins would merge with the current goblins through the workings of the System.

    When Station 6 was activated, the cloned goblins heard a loud rming from the north of their hideout. It was an environment wide rm which they believed was a spell their master had ced to alert the goblins of enemy cultivators to be teleported into their current dimensional home.

    The goblins hurried to pick their worn out weapons and pieces of cloth for their armour. All ready to run and hunt their opponents within minutes.

    As they were about to leave their hideout, a red pigeon came flying to their hideout, signalling a message from their master. ording to the message, the goblins were able to remove their restrictions and fight at their best for this particr encounter.

    In addition, their master authorised them to wear thetest armour and weapons that they were bestowed. All of the goblins were dancing with joy since they had been wanting to try them ever since they got it more than a week ago.

    The new leather armours and alloyed-iron weapons they had been keeping in their hideout could not be worn because of a restriction given by their master. Unless told to do so, they would not be able to don the new equipment and there was a powerful spell binding on their abilities.

    With the arrival of the red pigeon, it not only gave the message to the goblins but also cast a spell to temporarily remove those ability restrictions.

    The goblins ced their old items aside and helped each other to put on the new equipment before they head out.

    "It''s too quiet for far too long. Are they really waiting for night to approach so it will be easier to strike us?" Jia Ying walked around impatiently without straying too far from Jing Ru''s protection.

    "Speak of the devil." Through a walkie talkie, Jing Ru whispered she saw some movement from the south east and started to adjust her scope.

    Jia Ying noted and raised her guard for any attacks. To her surprise, a goblin came out from the bushes, wielding a spear. Yue Wen was startled by the change of appearance by the spear goblin.

    It was wearing full leather armour with some metal pieces aspared to cloth rags it used to wear. The spear it was carrying had a humanoid skull attached at the end of the pole, assuming the goblin used it as a counterweight.

    The goblin raised its spear towards Jia Ying as if it wants a proper duel. Yue Wen immediately informed Jing Ru to be on guard for the dagger goblin. It was the same trick they used on Bu Dong.

    Jing Ru acknowledged and continued to survey the surrounding with her scope but oddly enough, two other goblins came out to the open as well.

    They were not ambushing them like they had been doing in Normal mode and this made Yue Wen a little anxious. "Could they be thinking that they are a match against us in a proper duel or is this a ruse? Is there a different goblin waiting for us?" Yue Wen started to panic at the goblin''s sudden change in attitude towards fighting fair and square.

    The sword goblin eventually raised its sword at Shi Hui and spoke angrily in goblinnguage as if it wanted to pick a fight with her. Yue Wen nodded her head when Shi Hui looked to her for guidance and she went forward to face the sword goblin.

    Meanwhile, Jing Ru had her sights pointed at the dagger goblin at all times. However as she was focusing on it, the goblin seemed to realise her presence and actually smiled back at her.

    Jing Ru was totally confounded. "Did the goblin really know my position or does it just happen to smile at me?" The thoughts started to give her cold sweat. While it was true that she was a marksmen, all she had been doing was hitting items that did not retaliate back. Still, she gritted her teeth and maintained her calm using one of Gunning Giraffe''s skills, the Stoic Giraffe.

    By initiating the skill, Stoic Giraffe, she maintained her emotions with her pulse and breathing stabilised. Fortunately, Jing Ru was able to keep her calm in time as a dagger came flying towards her. With a skillful shot, her pellet came in direct contact with the flying dagger. The dagger recoiled from the mid-air collision with the chi-powered pellet and it dropped onto the ground.

    "So he does know where I am located." Jing Ru exhaled a heavy breath and reloaded another pellet into her Winterwolf rifle. She knew that what the goblin did was to warn her not to have any ''smart'' ideas against the two duels as it was watching her closely.

    "For goblins, they seem quite honourable for this fight." Jin casuallymented which made almost every customer in the store puke blood.

    "Boss, if you know what they did to me, you will reconsider your words..." one of the customers replied.

    "I once had a nightmare about goblins and Boss, the goblins were from your store. I think I will not see goblins the same way ever again." Another customer added.

    "Boss, do you have a fever when you said that? If so, please take your medicine." Almost every other customer tried to reply sarcastically to Boss Jin but their eyes never left the screen as the duels between the Venus Four members and the goblins began.

    Jia Ying gave a straight strike towards the goblin to test its abilities. Sometimes, a y of strength was all that''s needed to conclude the fight but the goblins are only that honourable in their word to fight solo.

    The spear goblin slides its spear along Jia Ying''s strike the moment her hand was extended and decided to attack her rear. "Hmph! You indeed have skills to foresee my y of strength was actually a feint! Yue Wen might be right after all! I could be able to find a more worthy opponent with monsters than men."

    The straight strike was indeed a feint as a st of energy from the spear was released at the tip of the spear. If the goblin had head on against Jia Ying, the energy st would have gotten him and knocked him back.

    Even if he could have resisted it, it was enough to give Jia Ying an attack of opportunity to deal additional damage to the enemy.

    Jia Ying responded to the goblin''s counterattack by going with the flow of the straight strike. Her spear pulled her forward to evade the attack from the goblin.

    Unfortunately, the goblin was not fast enough to respond and she got away to the other side of the clearing. The battle got even more intense from here on.

    .

    .

 Chapter 43 Venus Four - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 43 Venus Four - Part 3</h4>

    Shi Hui was defending from multiple sh attacks by the sword goblin. Her blocks were as graceful and gentle as the river streams while the goblin attacks were crude but on point like a hammer striking on an anvil.

    During the duel, the goblin even managed to perform a sword art which made Shi Hui be very wary of its advances. However, she was still able to defend most of its attacks with style which asionally blinded the goblin with her beauty.

    "That sword art seems toe from the Grade 1 Mantis cultivators. It is simple to learn but I did not expect the improved goblin managed to pick up such a skill." One of the customers noticed.

    "Wait, if this improved goblin knows about sword art, does it mean it actually learns our attacks, arts and even fighting patterns?" Another customer remarked with some caution.

    "Do you mean Boss Jin''s monsters can learn like AI search engines in Mooogle and Qiandu? If so, Boss, your dimensional space technology is frightening!" A female customer eximed.

    "If my monsters do not learn, how will you ever improve?" Jin shot them back with a question worth pondering.

    "Cultivators should not just cultivate, they should learn and understand that there will always be a mountain higher than the mountain you knew." An elderly onlooker in the store gave a simple reply to Jin''s answer.

    "But the highest mountain is Mount Everest." A customer tried to retort cleverly but everyone just ignored him and watched the TV at Station 6.

    The goblin tried to do a sucker punch as a follow up of its sideward sword sh but Shi Hui managed to blocked it with her chi infused palm. Compared to the spear goblin, it seems that the sword goblin was doing more progress against Shi Hui since all she could do was to dodge or defend every other attack.

    In fact, this was what Shi Hui wanted. Using her Shadowy Swan Style, she learnt the patterns of the sword goblin''s attacks and found a weakness within it. All she needed to do was to wait for the sword goblin to repeat the same pattern again before she strikes.

    On the other hand, the dagger goblin began to be fidgety even though he knew it would not be a good idea to interfere. While it managed to warn the ranged weapon user about her position, there was a possibility that she would retaliate if it decides to assist any of its fellow goblinpanions'' duel.

    However, its monster instincts overtook its self-discipline and threw two daggers as a distraction at Jia Ying while it races towards Yue Wen hoping to distract the ranged weapon user. Yet, Jing Ru actually knew that Yue Wen would be the target since she was the healer of the party but she believed Yue Wen would be able to take care of herself.

    Hence, instead of aiming the dagger goblin, Jing Ru actually fired her rifle towards the spear goblin. Her pellet shot managed to topple its spear and gave Jia Ying the breather she needed after blocking the daggers thrown by the dagger goblin.

    "This time you made me mad." Jia Ying wanted to finish up the spear goblin and head towards the dagger goblin so she summoned her cultivation. Three stag silhouettes appeared above her and she immediately performed a Spear Art, the ''Stampede of the Sanguine Stag''.

    As she moved her spear towards the spear goblin, multiple afterimages of her waxwood spear appeared alongside the spear that she was holding, causing confusion to the spear goblin. The Wushu red ribbon that was tied near the spearhead created even more distraction for the goblin.

    The goblin was not able to block the afterimages as they were not just another illusion. There was spirit force imbued in Jia Ying''s spear art. Hence it suffered an onught of attacks before the real waxwood spear pierced through the leather armour it was wearing and died.

    Yue Wen anticipated the dagger goblin toe after her and she devised a way to deal with it. Before she came to Boss Jin''s dungeon, she actually went to her little brother Yue Han, the cultivator of the Blind Bat Style for an item.

    A shock trap.

    As long as the enemy steps into the vicinity of the trap deployment, a shock will be applied to it. Yue Han had a few of these small metallic balls that were easy to deploy when he redeemed some prizes from King''s Monster with Bu Dong, the cultivator of the Angry Ape Style. Unfortunately, the shock trap was of an inferior quality which were more effective against Grade 1 monsters. That does not mean it would be entirely useless against a Grade 2 goblin.

    The goblin unknowingly dived into the trap since it thought Yue Wen was defenceless against its high rate of attack. However, when the goblin came into range, the trap was activated and blue lightning struck the goblin. With the multiple daggers stered all around its body, it actually became perfect conductor for the shock trap.

    Yue Wen temporarily withdrew her sword cane and projected two palms full of chi energy to the goblin, as if the chi energy from the palms were squashing it. This gave Jing Ru sufficient time to reload for attacking the spear goblin and aiming at the dagger goblin.

    "Do not underestimate us even though you are stronger now." Yue Wen spoke to the goblin as she saw two Giraffes silhouettes appeared behind the bushes. This was the weakness of a sniper cultivator, Jing Ru had been trying to cover her cultivation as much as she could. However, if she continued to cultivate to higher grades, her master said that there would be a chance for her to hide the cultivation during sniping.

    Regardless of her thoughts, she meticulously performed her Gun Art, ''Phantasmic Shot of the Gunning Giraffe.'' Her chi ran through her entire rifle, powering a shot that could disappear during its path of flight and appeared within five meters of the enemy''s head, making it almost impossible for the goblin to predict the attack.

    With the goblin restrained, it was more of an assurance to make sure the shot would be true.

    Even before the others could hear the sound of the shot, pieces of goblin brain matter sttered all around the ground was evident enough of Jing Ru''s skills.

    The sword goblin panicked a little when it heard an explosive sound from Jing Ru''s shot and it was coincidentally at the weakest part of its attack pattern.

    "Good fight."

    Shi Hui swiped her war fan to block the sword and went dangerously close to the goblin. She grabbed the goblin by its leather armour and with Chi infused into her palms and legs, she did a body throwing technique that made the sword goblin toppled on the ground.

    Shi Hui immediately plunged her closed war fan into the sword goblin''s mouth. With chi infused into her war fan, she slits open its mouth, causing breathing difficulties for the goblin. After which, she swiped her fan towards the ground to remove the goblin blood from her fan.

    All three goblins dead. All customers outside Station 6 had their jaws opened including Jin. Well, Jin was actually practicing his Panda Yawning. The crowd was astounded by the performance of the girls and they cheered very loudly for them.

    "It''s a good thing, this ce is partially soundproof even with the shutters up or else the owners in the shopping district wouldin about the noise these wild animals made." Jin thought and yawned once more.

    .

    .

 Chapter 44 Venus Four - Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 44 Venus Four - Part 4</h4>

    "Oink! Oink! Oink!" the Venus Four heard the distant shouts of the eight legged boaring from the south and the girls had little time to regroup for the boss fight.

    "Take your positions again. Assuming what Boss Jin said was true, what we had practised for the past few days will bear fruit!" Yue Wen shouted and the girls got together into a line formation.

    Jing Ru was still at the elevated slope providing overwatch for the team but this time round, she put her Winterwolf air rifle down and took out a ForestBear .50 calibre air rifle from her storage ring.

    Compared to the Winterwolf air rifle, the ForestBear air rifle was heavier, sturdier and packs arger punch than the former one. However, the drawback of the rifle was its recoil and reload. The chi needed to be infused into a .50 calibre pellet was higher in order for it to be lethal in a fight. At her current grade, to infuse sufficient chi quickly into a .50 calibre pellet allowed her to have at most two shots.

    She hoped the practice runs they did for the past few days was enough to defeat Mr Oink with one full team attack. Yue Wen was at the scene for the first dungeon clear so she knew it was possible to kill the boar with one attack. If they dragged on for too long, the little piglet would emerge from the weakened boar form and they had to deal it while exhausted.

    In the line formation, Shi Hui was right in front of them instead of Grade 3 Sanguine Stag Style cultivator Jia Ying, followed by Yue Wen. "The Shadowy Swan Style user is not a tank and in the current teamposition, it will be more sensible for her to hold the secondary offensive role to support the Sanguine Stag Style user." Mr-Know-It-All customer who always lurked in Jin''s store said out loud and this time hisment actually created some discussion.

    "Maybe, they want the Shadowy Swan Style user to soften Mr Oink for the main offensive role of the team to have a one hit kill." A customer decided to voice out his opinion.

    "Ah yes, the instant kill so the little piglet will not appear, but I heard it''s cute! I would like to take a look at it if possible." the female customer replied happily.

    "The cute things in Boss Jin''s dungeons are just too dangerous. Remember the Zither Mistress? From the distance, her white wavy hair attracts your attention and when you saw her innocent pure smile, your heart will just melt. With the melodious music she ys in every instance, she is no doubt the Young Siren of the Grasnds." A customer who tried the Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance could not forget the Zither Mistress.

    "If he had known that young little girl was at least 200 years old. I wonder how he will take it." Jin was grinning at himself but continued to keep quiet.

    "Mr Oink ising! Shi Hui and Jia Ying get ready!" Yue Wen ced her palms onto Jia Ying and began to transfer her chi for Jia Ying''s use. Jia Ying readied her stance as if she was going to perform another spear art.

    Shi Hui knew the location of the boar from Jing Ru''s overwatch so she positioned herself and the line formation was adjusted ordingly. Now the boar came into the small clearing with Venus Four on the other end.

    Both of them were roughly 50 meters apart from each other and the boar stomped its feet. "Oink!" The boar did not dy a second more and sprinted towards Shi Hui. On the other hand, she smiled at the thought of the boar''s primal instincts when it charged towards Shi Hui. She immediately portrayed her cultivation, the Shadowy Swan Style and initiated her War Fan Art, "Rosy Illusion of the Swan in the Shadows!"

    It was a Grade 1 illusion technique which lowers the guard of the enemy. In the boar''s view, it had its whole peripheral vision framed with a field of rose right in front of it. The smell of rose and sudden urge of loving it overcame its senses and emotions of rage.

    The boar slowed its pace and started to roll around the mud in the clearing as if it was ying in the field of rose. Without any resistance to illusion magic, the boar''s mind was controlled by Shi Hui.

    "Jing Ru! Jia Ying! Now!" Yue Wen gave arge shout and pushed herst bit of Chi into Jia Ying. A heavy presence of Chi aura suddenly emanated out of Jia Ying as she tried to contain and focus the chi given by Yue Wen into her spear as much as possible.

    When Jing Ru heard Yue Wen''smand, she gently pressed her trigger and the ForestBear rifle fired her chi infused .50 calibre pellet. The pellet screamed through the air, subsequently creating arge hole in the skull of the boar. The eight-legged boar immediately went into a series of spasm.

    "Spear Art! Turbulent Pierce of the Sanguine Stag!" Within the same moment, Jia Ying shouted and extended her arm towards the convulsing boar. She aimed her chi infused waxwood spear towards therge opening that Jing Ru created and the spear automatically extended its length and pierced through the boar.

    It was as if the boar was on a stick waiting to be cooked. Jia Ying used whatever strength that she had to swing the ''boar on a stick'' into a bunch of trees beside the clearing. Yue Wen could clearly see Jia Ying''s muscles bulging and veins popping as the boar was being smashed into the woods.

    After a 180 degrees swing, Jia Ying let go of the spear and fell to the ground panting crazily. The spear slowly returned to its original length and was still stuck on the boar. Yue Wen sat beside her, drained of her Chi too. Shi Hui went to check the boar while Jing Ru continued to stay in her hideout till the end of the dungeon.

    "Did we do it?" Jia Ying was sweating profusely and felt intense heart palpitations. At this moment, thedy announcer made the announcement and all of them gave a sigh of relief.

    "Normal+ Modepleted. Please stand by for teleportation."

    The Venus Four teleported safely back to Station 6 and the girls saw that they were surrounded by a crowd of customers. The customers cheered in front of them and congratted them for their efforts.

    "You are an inspiration to the rest of the female cultivators! Show those arrogant males that we can do it too!" A female cultivator went forward to shake their hands.

    "Guess I have to work harder, Boss Jin! One more dungeon instance ticket please!" Customers started to reorder from Boss Jin again which caused Jin to have a curious thought for himself. "How do these customers have so much money to spare? Is this not just a mildly developed neighbourhood?"

    Subsequently, he erased that thought away, it would be a bad omen to even think about it. Yun nodded her head and looked at Jin. "Yes, just collect the money and do not think about anything else."

    .

    .

 Chapter 45 Boy with the Bamboo Flute

    <h4>Chapter 45 Boy with the Bamboo Flute</h4>

    "Congrattions for winning this time limited dungeon." Jin saw the girls was experiencing a bout of acknowledgements from the crowd.

    "Time limited?" Both the customers and Venus Four immediately looked at Jin with eyes widened.

    "Yes, time limited. Considering how things go, the goblin dungeon will subsequently have its first Hard mode difficulty. When the Hard Mode difficulty goes online, the Normal+ difficulty will be removed."

    "I doubt I will be doing Normal+ mode, although killing all the goblins gave out decent number of medals, I do not think I can cope with Grade 2 goblins." A customer shuddered in fear of doing Normal+ mode.

    Separately, Yue Wen immediately went to check her Rewards tab in the Pandamonium app and suddenly screamed out with joy. "Boss! When does this time limited Normal+ mode end?"

    "Like I said, when Hard Mode goes online. I am unable to give you a proper date." Jin replied.

    "Then you will be seeing us everyday at least for one goblin dungeon run!" Yue Wen quickly prodded the rest of her gang to check their rewards tab after forcing them to install the Pandamonium app. Upon reviewing the tab, all of them looked at each other with jubtion and nodded their heads furiously at the idea ofing back everyday.

    "What is going on?" the customer who did not wish to proceed with Normal+ mode asked Yue Wen.

    "This time limited dungeon actually gives a coupon discount of 10 Bronze Panda Medals. That is almost equivalent to getting 10 more Bronze Panda Medals! What is more exciting than clothes?"

    "Getting a discount!" Venus Four smiled so radiantly that the customers were infected by them.

    "Boss Jin! Can we stack the coupon discounts on a single item?" Shi Hui asked anxiously. She was not giving up the dream of getting that branded ck silk dress. Jin nodded his head and the girls screamed crazily again.

    The customers in the store suddenly got pumped up and started asking one another whether they wished to join up to fight against the goblins in either Normal or Normal+ mode.

    They figured if they managed to get more panda medals, they would be able to procure some items from the underground stores and they would be able to eventually defeat the Goblin Dungeon Instance.

    "This ce is really not a bad deal after all." Jing Ru spoke as she observed the crowd interaction.

    "Your reasons?" Jia Ying asked, secretly hoping Jing Ru would have the same conclusion as her.

    "For 245 Yuan, I can participate in one of the best fights in my life, food that smells and tastes terrific, a wide range of practical clothes and weapons for grabs if you do well in the fights. Which dungeon supplier in Shenzhen no wait, I should generalize a little. Which entertainment outlet you know of is able to provide such a wonderful...all round package?" Jing Ru was analysing each and every benefit of 245 Yuan.

    "But the Boss seemszy." Jia Ying giggled as she drank the bamboo juice she just bought from Boss Jin.

    "Then thiszy boss is the smartest boss I have ever known." Jing Ru took her contact lens off and wore her spectacles forfort.

    Venus Four stayed in the store for a while more as they tried out the variety of food which Boss Jin currently offered. The clique also gave some advice to the customers since they became a minor celebrity in the store forpleting Normal+ Mode.

    Jin did not forget to ce their names up on the scoreboard and the Venus Four was also awarded an additional 25 Bronze Panda Medals for the first dungeon clear in Normal+ Mode. Yue Wen showed her group the ranking board and their names were at the top of the dungeon clear for Normal Mode. The girls managed to takeover Bu Dong''s group first clear.

    "I believe Bu Dong will go nuts if he heard you took the first clear for Normal+ Mode." Jia Yingughed a little too loudly but most did not care as they were viewing the dungeon instances at various stations.

    "Yes, he definitely would try his best to get the Hard Mode first clear in order to have his name at the top." Shi Hui smiled as she drank her ck ivory coffee.

    ----------

    "Hey Di Ku, do you want to go to Tiangong Shopping District for dinner?" Ni Pian Zi asked Mei Di Ku as they justpleted their extra curricr activities in Tiangong Senior High.

    "Sure, Lele Diner Cafиж?" Di Ku asked Pian Zi but it seems he had a different opinion.

    "I heard the shopping street has a new store, we can try their food!" Pian Zi said excitedly when he ced his Er Hu, a chinese two stringed fiddle used in the chinese orchestras.

    "Isn''t that new store a dungeon supplier? What do you mean by you wish to eat there?" Di Ku questioned him while he kept his bamboo flute.

    "Oh, you did not know? That dungeon supplier apparently provides food services if you purchase his dungeon. I personally went there to take a look but did not have enough cash with me at that point in time." Pian Zi remembered the aroma of the tonkatsu curry rice, it was simply unforgettable.

    "Besides, you have yet to treat me after you won that top prize in thatpetition." Pian Zi was referring to an annual provincial musicalpetition which Di Ku participated. Only the top musicians regardless of categories were invited to join it.

    Di Ku happened to be the youngest and brightest of all the participants and he clinched the top prize without much effort. Some said he could be next uing winning musician for the nationalpetition.

    "What is this about treating? Looks like I want in too." An elderly bespectacled man with small moustache came towards them while holding a thin file.

    "Teacher Pu Ting! Ah, we were just casually talking about how Di Ku should treat us a meal at the new dungeon supplier store beside Tiangong Shopping Centre." Pian Zi included his chinese orchestra teacher, Pu Ting into the conversation.

    "Oh! I think I did hear rumours of such a store. It was charging exorbitant prices for its dungeon but cultivators seem to keep going back to that store. As if there was some sort of hidden magic which pulls them in." Pu Ting remembered one of the teachers talking about it in the staff room.

    "Well, all I want is to try the curry rice." Pian Zi shamelessly replied.

    "Sir, do you wish toe with us? I will be honoured with your presence." Di Ku tone changed dramatically. Teacher Pu Ting was the reason why he managed to clinch the top prize. He was not any famous instructor in the field of Chinese orchestra but Pu Ting was able to find the ws of Di Ku''s music and kept on improving his skill.

    Di Ku had the opportunity to work with various well-known instructors due to his family''s influence but they could note close to how meticulous and well thought Pu Ting''s teachings were. Those shameless well-known instructors only wanted money and favour from his family.

    "Well, this is a good time to test my cultivation as well as seeing Di Ku''s style in battle. It had been a long time since I practised it." Pu Tingughed heartily.

    "Then Sir, you will be in for a surprise. Because I heard the store has a monster that ys the Zither." Pian Zi decided to sweeten the deal for the both of them so there would be a higher chance for both of them to tag along.

    "For real?" Di Ku and Pu Ting had their eyes opened. They never encountered nor heard of such a monster. Pian Zi was right and decided to hook them in closer.

    "Yeap, I saw it with my own eyes and believe me, even the dungeon was named after her. The Zither Mistress. Currently, no one managed to pass the dungeon yet."

    "Now, this is interesting, I wonder if I will be able to have a proper music battle with Zither Mistress." Di Ku finally had something to look forward to. After thepetition, he thought he could find stronger opponents and have a proper musical conversation with people who shared the same interest as him.

    Instead, all he received was boot licking from them, hence the only thing to look forward to was Pu Ting''s lessons at school. Of course, he did not expect much from a monster. It would just be interesting to see one just in action.

    "Let''s not waste time and let''s go, this time I will treat you for sure. Teacher Pu Ting, you are not allowed to say no after all the help you had given me." Di Ku said with arge grin.

    "Well then, let me drive you guys there. You two wait for me at the entrance of the school." Pu Ting was delighted to see his disciple genuinely smile after the provincial musicalpetition.

    .

    .

 Chapter 46 Boy with the Weasel

    <h4>Chapter 46 Boy with the Weasel</h4>

    "Hmm Yun, are there any dungeons slightly easier for the customers? They are practically newbies that do not know how to fight at all." Jin was looking through the videos of his customers trying to get pass Normal Mode or Normal+ Mode. They were failing so badly that Jin spent more time sending his customers to the recovery bay than congratting them.

    "Most of the goblins kicked their asses so hard. It''s starting to not get funny. I might lose customers in the long run even though I have incentives ced for them." Jin thought in his head while manning his store.

    "But I heard some of them started to get the hang of it. There were a few cultivators that even managed to raise their rank to Grade 2 because of us." Yun replied to Jin as she read a book in the recovery bay.

    "Maybe I am not asking the question in the right way. How about a dungeon that allows them to collect spirit force much more easily so they can proceed to the next dungeon with more confidence? Getting them to fight the sneaky goblins without any situational awareness or decent response time is courting death." Jin shook his head as he saw another cultivator lying t at Station 2.

    "Maybe a grade restriction to this new dungeon?" Jin tried to parley with Yun, hoping he would get something out of this vague discussion.

    "All dungeons have their own grade restriction, and if you are too high of a level, your powers will be restricted. However, I get what you mean. You want something like an entry level dungeon so they are able to garner spirit force more than medals."

    "Yes, exactly! If they could increase their cultivation, they might be inclined to believe this shop is helping them and with the incentives ced, they will always return for more. I do not disagree on the difficulty of goblins but the cultivators in our current modern society are...just too useless." Jin dragged the body up to the second floor for monitoring.

    "You were useless if it was not for your granddad guiding you." Yun thought for a moment and asked Jin to check his mission app.

    ********

    Mission: Kill 200 different looking zombies

    Secondary mission: Kill all 200 zombies with the Panda Yawning technique.

    Reward: Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance.

    ********

    "Kill, not capture? And wow zombies, they seem to be the perfect entry dungeon monsters." Jin was surprised by the new conditions.

    "Well the zombies were dead to begin with, the spirit force residing inside them is the only essence they contained or received through certain conditions. Conditions like necromancy or unnatural chi disaster. However, in the Zombie World, all who were killed or died due to natural conditions would be zombies. That is theirw of the world. "

    "Killing them releases the spirit force. The spirit force of a zombie is unique enough to have a certain spirit signature assigned. The phone automatically absorbs the spirit signature in order to ''capture'' them. You can have fun killing them without any mercy." Yun gently smiled at Jin''s hardworking demeanour despite his cultivation giving him azy look.

    "Does that mean I could also just kill living ones and get their spirit signature?"

    "I knew you would ask about that possibility. No, living beings have their spirit signature within their Dantian no matter which monster it is...well unless gically modified but I digress."

    "The spirit signature of every being is the most obvious when it is weakened or near death because the Dantian which provides core of the chi is depleted, leaving the spirit signature to be exposed for the phone to capture."

    "That is also why you cannot really capture human souls because of the solidified dantian."

    "I will do this mission either tonight or tomorrow morning. Looks like I have new customersing in." Jin stopped his conversation with Yun to greet the new customers.

    "Two high school kids...and their teacher?" He thought to himself when he saw the kids'' uniform and they were being too formal with the elderly male for him to be their rtive.

    "Ah, this is indeed the store of the infamous dungeon supplier. Such extravagant equipment. May I humbly ask for your name?" Pu Ting bowed his head while he took his fur felt hat off.

    "Name''s Jin. What can I get for you guys?" Jin did not question much but Yun noticed a slight disturbance from the first floor and utilising the system''s powers, she turned her book into a screen of one of the CCTV.

    "Get me the Zither Mistress dungeon instance, three of them." Di Ku raised three fingers to reaffirm his choice towards Jin.

    "Careful Jin, the elderly is not someone to be trifled with." Yun quietly sent her thoughts to Jin.

    "Sir, might I add that this dungeon instance has a restriction on your grade. You will be forced down in grade. Do you wish to continue?" Jin realised what Yun meant and said it out loud.

    Pu Ting gave a slight smirk. "For you to figure it out so easily, I guess I really need to improve on hiding my cultivation. Either that or...never mind. I understood Boss, give us the three instance tickets. My student is treating me hahaha!" It was obvious Pu Ting was trying to deflect something but Jin did not care much and epted their orders.

    They did the transaction routine all new customers went and Jin directed them to Station 5. "Hmm...A proper instructor?" Jin thought as he judged Pu Ting. Although he never had proper formal training, most of his learning came from the books that were passed down from histe grandfather Ming.

    Ming knew that by rote learning, Jin would just be another cultivator following the books and he would not grow to his fullest potential. Hence, Ming did not interfere with Jin as he wanted him to learn through trial and error. He still gave certain advices which allowed Jin to elerate his training and evenbat lessons to increase hisbat awareness.

    Those life skills could not be taught but only through experience he would learn. That was how Jin managed to stay quick witted during missions. In addition, watching how people fight in the store also became a part of Jin''s hobby too. He took notes with the help of the System and thought of ways trying to counter them or how he could win if he was in that situation. Therefore, Jin was naturally interested in the instructor''s teachings and how his disciples react to the Zither Mistress dungeon instance.

    Di Ku, Pian Zi and Pu Ting were teleported into the grasnd and the first thing that came into their mind was an illustrious yet smoothing medley from afar. There was a tinge of sorrow within the medley but all three of them recognised some well known music pieces within that medley too. Was it a coincidence? Di Ku would not know until he challenged the Zither Mistress.

    Di Ku could not resist his urge any longer and took out a leather briefcase from his storage ring to retrieve his bamboo flute. "Pian Zi, thank you for bringing me here. I am starting to think, this is a meeting I have long been wanting."

    As Di Ku ced his lips on the bamboo flute, two weasel silhouettes appeared above him. "Willful Weasel Style, Di Ku is getting serious." Pian Zi sweat a little as he knew how single minded Di Ku could be.

    The two fire and ice wyrm ants also appeared from the ground and Pu Ting signalled to Pian Zi to take care of them. "I will aid you if you need help, till then fight as hard as you can." Pu Ting smiled a little as he held his hands behind his back.

 Chapter 47 A Thousand Scars

    <h4>Chapter 47 A Thousand Scars</h4>

    Pian Zi was not as talented in music as Di Ku nor was his cultivation towards a musically inclined style. Hence he did not take his Chinese fiddle out, instead, Pian Zi portrayed his Nettled Nautilus Style and reached out for a cuss from his storage ring.

    Since he knew that his teacher and Di Ku would be aiding him, Pian Zi decided to be reckless and immediately used a Cuss Art, ''Scramble of the Nettled Nautilus''. The skill allowed him to gain a burst of high speed like a jetstream propelling the nautilus towards the ants.

    The fire wyrm ant stood no chance against him as Pian Zi cut off its legs before it even got the chance to react. Despite the haemolymph oozing out of its legs, it was able to overturn its body and shoot a st of fire at Pian Zi after he went to a halt from his skill.

    The burning incurred from the wyrm fire ant was sufficient to inflict arge amount of damage on Pian Zi. Unlike Hong Deng Long, whose style was the Wobbling Wombat, Pian Zi did not have any resistance against elemental damage causing him to scream in pain. The Ice Wyrm Ant took the opportunity to gather ice energy within its organs to shoot but an etherealrge weasel ambushed the ice wyrm ant from its back and bit it hard.

    The ice st missed Pian Zi which allowed him to recover a little. "Thanks, Di Ku!" Di Ku was using his bamboo flute to summon andmand an ethereal weasel to stop the attack of the wyrm ant, allowing Pian Zi to throw his cuss into the wyrm ant''s body. Pian Zi then gave a punch to its head, causing it to be knocked down.

    Heter plunged the cuss further into the ice wyrm ant and it was unable to move any further. When he turned to see the fire wyrm ant, he saw his music teacher had one of his foot on top of the ant''s body. The ant was already dead.

    "Pian Zi, you have done enough. Let Di Ku handle the rest. Just wait for the battle to end, and you can eat your curry rice." Pu Ting beckoned Pian Zi to stand on the sidelines to see the entire battle unfold.

    Customers who were chilling at the bar counter started to recognise that the trio who went into the dungeon made significant progress against the ants. They began to gather around Station 5 to watch a possible first dungeon clear.

    Amand was given again by Di Ku by blowing a single sound from his flute and the ethereal weasel started to zigzag around the grass fields to attack the Zither Mistress. Unfortunately, the Great White Snake mmed its tail on the ground causing the ethereal image of a weasel to disappear from the impact of the attack.

    This time round, the Zither Mistress gave a short nce to Di Ku before she returned to ying her zither. Her medley changed to a heavier darker tone and Di Ku started to y a proper song instead of summoning an ethereal weasel again.

    Somehow, the Great White Snake sensed that Zither Mistress would like to battle head to head with Di Ku so it retreated a little, giving some space for their duel.

    The sound of warm spring that was carried through the wind at the start of the instance began to be sorrowful and Di Ku responded by starting his performance with a slow and mellow melody toplement with Zither Mistress''s tune. However, the sorrow Di Ku felt from Zither Mistress was neither cold nor sad, it was just bittersweet.

    Through the Chi of Music, both the spectators Pian Zi and Pu Ting could hear and feel the emotions of both musicians as if they were signifying the end of spring and the start of a separate season, the chorus of autumn.

    As if the grasnds were alive, they reacted to the chi of the music battle and the surroundings slowly transformed. The sakura blossom tree witheredpletely, making it bare while flowers in the grass fields bloomed to colours of yellow and blue and even the winds were slightly chilly. The short transformation of the grasnd was a sight to behold that even the customers at Station 5 who were enjoying the melody, were in awe with it.

    As the music continued on, Di Ku decided to be more aggressive in his conversation with Zither Mistress as he would like to know her technical skills in ying. So he started to y a more serious and yet fuming tone. His Chi turned deadly and the intent to kill could be felt even by the snake.

    The Zither Mistress noticed the abrupt change of music but continued her tune to paint a picture of regret as it became the one to follow up on Di Ku''s advance.

    Di Ku''s flute y was forceful and he gave no quarters for Zither Mistress to rest as he reached to the climax of his song. However, he was very surprised a monster was able to sync with him despite not knowing the song he was ying. She was able to ad lib at her own pace without being pressured by his advances.

    Pu Ting folded his arms and saw how calm Zither Mistress was during her y. If she reallypeted with Di Ku, there was a chance Di Ku might actually meet his match.

    Di Ku became a little frustrated by how Zither Mistress transitioned so well into his song that he did be unstable in his techniques and began to y with his emotions instead. However, the emotions he started showing was repressed feelings of jealousy, anger, guilt and loneliness.

    Those emotions were repressed by his family expectations, the desire for normalcy in life and the despise he had for people not as talented as him.

    The chi resonance in his music turned erratic and even the grasnds reacted to it. Flowers withered immediately, the grass turned ck and the soil started to stink. The ethereal weasel was also identally summoned and Di Ku''s emotions in the chi corrupted it to be disobedient, threatening andbative. It immediately headed straight for the Zither Mistress.

    Pian Zi was shocked. He has never seen Di Ku look so troubled and uncontrolled in his music career before and he looked at Pu Ting, hoping he might do something for Di Ku. Yet, Pu Ting stood there listening to the music intently.

    The Great White Snake intercepted the ethereal weasel and both were locked inbat. The Zither Mistress immediately responded with a tune of her own when she heard Di Ku''s music. Her emotions of extreme pure loneliness leaked a little from her chi of music but it was mainly focused at her recipient. The flowers right beside her maintained its vibrance of autumn.

    Upon hearing her reply, Di Ku was shaken. An image of her trying her very best to be included in the society, the need for survival for the sake of normalcy in life and her longing to have her legs back flooded his mind. Her emotion of loneliness was so strong that Di Ku could not bear the weight of her music.

    He eventually fell to the ground on his knees feeling all cold and wanting to cry. The emotions eluded from her chi of music was strong enough to affect Di Ku mentally. At this moment, Pu Ting appeared and shot pure energy st of chi towards Zither Mistress which caused arge explosion.

    "We would like to forfeit this dungeon." Pu Ting shouted out loud and a confirmation message was read out by ady announcer. "Yes, we are sure."

    All three came back safely from Station 5 with customers facing them befuddled. Some were tearing while others felt miserable. "Looks like the Zither Mistress has a lot more experience in the maniption of chi in her music than expected."

    "Behind that face of her probably lies a thousand of scars which could be not heal with just time. However, I would feel bad that if we left the shop just like this. Let me y a song to calm the whole lot of you." Pu Ting took out his Gu Qin, a type of zither whose music is simr to a cello, from his storage ring.

    He ced his Gu Qin at the bar counter and yed a tune with chi infused in it which slowly calmed the customers and even boosted their chi generation, making them feeling energetic again.

    "This guy is not a simple person." Jin closed his eyes to appreciate the music.

    .

    .

 Chapter 48 Coupon Bookle

    <h4>Chapter 48 Coupon Bookle</h4>

    "Here is your all day breakfast set. Anything else?" Shen Si Fang, the owner of Lele Diner Cafиж presented Jin his usual order. Si Fang had requested earlier for Jin to have dinner with him at his ce in the afternoon. Jin knew it was not some congrattory dinner due to Si Fang''s straightforward nature. He definitely had an agenda for inviting him to the cafиж for dinner.

    "Nope, thank you Boss Shen." Jin smiled and started to dig in into the meal while Boss Shen sat beside him with two other people. Judging from the looks of their attire and demeanour, they looked to be store owners as well.

    "Firstly, let me congratte you Jin for doing really well in your first few weeks of opening. The number of cultivatorsing to your ce started to make our shopping street a little livelier." Si Fang said with a lively look.

    For the longest time since the pachinko fire, Tiangong Shopping District nearly went into deficit for a number of years and things finally started to pick up after Jin opened his shop. People who patronised Jin''s shop would asionally visit the shops in the shopping street and found out that there were actually hidden gems in the district, which made it worthing to.

    "I would like to introduce you to themittee members of this shopping district. This is Kan Ke Ru, the franchise store manager for Wacdonalds and Ji Lai Fu, the boss for the general goods store, Fresh Price." Shen Si Fang introduced them to Jin.

    "Let''s cut to the chase, we like to make you the honorary member of -" Ji Lai Fu started.

    "Not interested. I am sorry, too much trouble." Jin interrupted Ji Lai Fu before he could continue. "If you are asking me to do stuff, I apologise but I am technically not under your shopping district."

    "No no no. We are hoping that you could provide some erm...promotional awareness to our shopping district. All you have to do is provide customers with a discount coupon booklet so they know that there are discounts avable to our shops." Kan Ke Ru exined, trying to defuse the sudden tense situation that Lai Fu inadvertently created.

    "Why should I do that? I have nothing to gain." Jin sipped his soup.

    "While you are not part of the Tiangong Shopping District, we are providing the same incentives by allowing you to ce your dungeon instance tickets for sale in the discount coupon booklet. That way, you will be able to gather more customers too." Ke Ru tried her best to keep Jin in the conversation.

    "I am sorry, I do not provide discounts for my tickets. My items on sale are of a reasonable price." All three shop owners wanted to puke blood. Reasonable pricing? More like extortion!

    "How about this? For this month edition, I will put you in the front page too." Si Fang said to Jin in order to sweeten the pot.

    "Please do consider for the sake of the shopping district. Else, this shopping street would not be able to survive." Lai Fu tried to amend his position after being shot down previously.

    "Then I will buy the entire shopping street when it goes bankrupt," Jin said so casually, the three owners perpetually rolled their eyes up and hoped that the grim reaper woulde to take their lives at this very instant. What kind of confidence does this dungeon supplier had? To begin with, if he had that much money, why would he even want to work when he could have just enjoyed his life.

    Si Fang thought he was just bluffing and he tried another approach. "How about we provide you 0.5%mission of our profits for this month as a tryout."

    "This is not what we discussed!" Both owners started to shout and it startled some of the customers in Si Fang''s store. They immediately apologised and asked Si Fang to step aside for a while.

    "Why are you cing so much faith in that little kid. He is too young to even know how business works!" Lai Fu snorted.

    "But have you seen the influx of customers we started having? I mean look at Ke Ru. Even though Wacdonalds is an international brand in fast food, there were so little customers in the past. The profit margins were considered the lowest in Shenzhen. How has your business been for the past two weeks, Ke Ru?" Si Fang queried.

    "Nearly all the tables were taken. It was like a miracle!" Ke Ru mentioned.

    "And from the look of things, I am willing to bet this guy is just going to get more famous." Si Fang''s cunningness was obvious for all to see.

    "I cannot fathom why you have so much confidence in that kid. Alright, say we are willing topromise, what if he still does not?" Lai Fu''s head started to hurt.

    "We will raise themission to about 1% and that is the most I can offer. If we are able to make it big, have more customers than before, we should have enough profit despite the discounts." Si Fang replied.

    Unknowingly to them, Jin could actually hear the whole conversation due to his technique, yful Panda Hearing, which allowed him to have acute hearing senses and situational awareness.

    "If I get amission from them, is it added into the store''s coffers?" Jin asked Yun in his head.

    "Well, If I were the System, the System will definitely say no because the System is fixed. But I am Yun. It''s still money for a little give and take event. I see no reason why you could not do so. Besides, you said it yourself. You are eventually buying the whole shopping street."

    "I meant that as a joke," Jin replied as he tasted the scrambled egg.

    "Deep inside, a part of you isn''t joking. I believe in that. Sooo..." The moment Yun stopped talking, his phone vibrated in his pants.

    As he took it out, there was a notification from the mission app stating that a new mission started. "That means I have three ongoing missions." Jin sighed a little and opened it up.

    ********

    Mission: Scam the Tiangong shoppingmittee and do a makeover of the coupon booklet such that it benefits you more than them.

    Secondary Mission Objectives: Get amission of more than 1%. The higher, the better the reward will be.

    Reward: Unknown, to be rated by secondary mission objective.

    **********

    "This Yun. I can visualise her sticking her tongue out at me right now." Jinughed a little and started to think how he couldplete the mission. To be fairly honest, he was actually having fun disturbing them the entire time before they stepped aside to discuss.

    "Time for round 2." Jin wiped his mouth with a napkin.

    .

    .

 Chapter 49 Half or Nothing

    <h4>Chapter 49 Half or Nothing</h4>

    The threemittee members finally returned to the table Jin was sitting at and they restarted the conversation again.

    "Okay, we have decided to give you 1% of themission for the month if you decide to join our coupon booklet. However, this is a one time offer. It would not happen for the subsequent months if you continue to join our coupon booklet." Si Fang came strong in his stance.

    "Half of themission or nothing." Jin yawned as he talked to them.

    "This conversation is over. There is no use talking to ad who refuses to listen." Lai Fu immediately stood up.

    "There is no use talking to an old man if he does not change his ways. Thank you for giving up your shop to me in the future." Jin ced his hand on his chin.

    "Why you littleбн" Lai Fu immediately portrayed his cultivation in front of him. Four Great Shark silhouette appeared above him. Lai Fu cultivated in the Shimmery Shark Style and he wanted to give Jin a smack. Ke Ru and Si Fang were not able to stop him. They were of a lower grade than him and knew it was of no use talking sense when he was angry.

    "You want a fight to settle this?" Jin''s eyes narrowed and he portrayed three pandas silhouette rolling around him.

    "You are just a Grade 3, why should I be afraid of you?" Lai Fu snorted.

    "Grade 4 does not mean much to me at all." Jin stood up and walked out of the Diner cafиж. "Are youing for the duel?"

    Se Lang, the cultivator of the Wacky Wolf Style coincidentally saw Boss Jin portraying his cultivation as he was patrolling the shopping street. "Boss Jin, what is happening? Why are you showing your cultivation out in the open?"

    "Ah, great timing Se Lang, you mind witnessing a duel between us?" Jin waved his hand as he beckoned the policeman on duty to be the judge of the duel.

    "If you insist." Se Lang did not know what was happening but duels happened fairly regrly so he did not mind.

    "Conditions of victory?" Jin asked Lai Fu but he replied by snorting again as he folded his arms.

    "One, kowtow and kiss my feet. Two, distribute the coupon booklet for the next six months without your participation in the booklet." Lai Fu demanded.

    "epted, mine is quite simple. 100%mission from the entire shopping district for one week. Allow me to redo the entire coupon booklet and I will distribute it as well. Lastly,e to my store for training with an instructor for an hour a week for a month. Of course, you have to pay for it.

    However, let me sweeten the deal. If I lose, I will give 100% of mymission to you for six months."

    "Simple my ass." Si Fang, Ke Ru and Se Lang all had cold sweat upon hearing Jin''s demands.

    "I agree because I am going to kick you so hard, you wonбфt see iting." Lai Fuughed loudly.

    "I could say the same to you." Jin yawned again as he scratched his head.

    "I presume that both parties have epted the terms of this duel and it had been recorded down by me as an official witness of this duel. I, Police Sergeant of Tiangong Police Station, Se Lang now permit this duel for 10 minutes. First to get unconscious lose." Se Lang announced and asked people to clear the street for a while.

    "Ready? Start!" Se Lang shouted.

    Lai Fu took out his two handed sword from his storage ring and the uncle with a beer belly disappeared into thin air. It took a moment for Jin to realise that the cultivation aura of the Shimmery Shark wasing from above. He looked up and Jin could see Lai Fu diving straight at him.

    "Two Handed Sword Art! ''The Nasty Appetite of the Shimmery Shark!" Lai Fu shouted as his sword dive was immediately enhanced by a silhouette of the shark''s mouth at the tip of the sword.

    "Eat this!" The shark mouth grew so big that even if Jin tried to run, he would still be caught in it.

    "Panda Yaw---" As the sword came closer, arge energy beam of chi was shot out continuously from Jin''s mouth towards Lai Fu.

    "What?!" Lai Fu saw the iing beam but he could not dodge in time. Hence, he decided to fight fire with fire so he poured more chi into his Nasty Appetite of the Shimmery Shark. The Shark silhouette came into contact against the continuous chi beam which made it look as if the shark was swallowing the beam attack.

    Being a Grade 4, Lai Fu heavily focused his chi downwards as he struggled badly against the chi beam. "Is he not supposed to be just 23 years old? Why would he have such a unique technique of chi? Also, his chi quantity is definitely more than average! A Grade 3 could not have sustained such a long duration chi beam!" Lai Fuined in his thoughts.

    After a few more seconds, the beam did stop and Lai Fu ced his remaining chi into the sword dive. "I bet he would be too tired to dodge! Hismission will be mine!" Lai Fu sniggled a little as his sword mmed into the ground, creating a crater impact in the middle of the shopping street.

    As he waited for the dust from the sword dive to settle down. He picked up his great sword to check for any blood on it. "Wait a minute...this smell on my sword...is actually ketchup sauce!"

    He quickly swung his sword around to dissipate the dust and saw Jin giving the ketchup bottle back to Si Fang. Jin thanked Si Fang but little did he know Lai Fu wanted to cleave both him and Si Fang together.

    "Sorry Brother Si Fang!" Lai Fu swung his sword but suddenly arge impact of an air explosion appeared in front of him. The impact made him fly towards his general store, the Fresh Price and damaged some of the goods being sold outside of the shop.

    His workers immediately tried to pull him it out of the mess he made in front of his store. "All of these goods! You are going to pay for it!" Lai Fu shouted.

    "Oh, you want another go?" Jin cracked his knuckles and yfully invited him toe over.

    "Wow, is that Boss Jin? Why is he fighting with Boss Ji?" The onlookers started to gather and query.

    "I heard Boss Ji was not happy with Boss Jin whose store had been swarming with customers! They even made a bet against each other''s earnings!"

    "I thought Boss Ji is a Grade 4 cultivator? Why is he losing to Boss Jin?"

    "Hah! I believed Boss Jin is a genuine Grade 3 Peak cultivator! Compared to Boss Ji, who only knows how to eat, drink and collect money. His Grade 4 was probably earned through eating good food with spiritual force in them. He clearly did not train like how Boss Jin did."

    "Ya! If not how could Boss Jin be able to bring us such difficult dungeons that creates so much excitement and the rush of adrenaline whenever we participate in it?"

    The small talk started to annoy Lai Fu and he shouted loudly, "Shut up!" In response, Jin ced his index finger to his lips and hand signalled the crowd to keep quiet. The crowd quietly grinned at Jin''s antics but it only made Lai Fu even more angry.

    He was so angry that he started to gather whatever chi energy reserves he had left in his body to defeat Jin. He figured that Jin was pretending to be strong after the attack as Lai Fu saw Jin started to shiver a little.

    In the previous contact with Lai Fu, Jin casually used his Lazy Panda Swipe without any chi infused in it. Hence, Jin was trying to contain the chi damage he received from Lai Fu. The grade difference does y a part in the power inequality but Jin realised Lai Fu was probably going to give it his all.

    "His Chi is strong but does not have much quantity due to theck of training. I have yet to infuse chi into my arm properly, so I should have a chance of defeating him." Jin suddenly of thought a trick which might be able to turn the tide of the whole battle in the next attack.

    .

    .

 Chapter 50 The Grandma

    <h4>Chapter 50 The Grandma</h4>

    Seeing how Lai Fu was ready to attack at any second. Jin quickly infused both his hands with chi. During that time, he consulted Yun with a few queries, which she answered promptly.

    "Kid, what are you distracted with?" Lai Fu shouted and charged towards him. "Two Handed Sword Art! ''Shimmery Shark Dive!''" While looked like a straightforward sword stab with the chi silhouette of a shark covering his entire sword, the skill actually had the capability to turn at any angle to respond to any sudden quick movements.

    "Let''s see how the kid manages to dodge or halt this attack!" Lai Fu thought that this was the end of Jin as well as the many rewards he was about to reap. Not many were able to stop ''Shimmery Shark Dive'' in the past and it even earned him a reputation as the Great Ji in the shopping district.

    "Swipe." Simr to how one would throw a frisbee, Jin hurled his phone towards Lai Fu while utilising a chi infused Lazy Panda Swipe. The phone was thrown with such force, that it sped towards Lai Fu. Meanwhile, Lai Fu snorted at the futility of a projectile attack.

    "It''s just a phone, my charge will divert it." Lai Fu continued to sprint towards Jin. However, what he did not expect was the phone to entirely miss his chi shark silhouette that was epassing his sword and pass through it to reach his forehead.

    At that moment, arge thud was heard, causing his charge to be interrupted by the handphone throw. At that particr moment, he did not notice a miniature hand with a staff emerge out of the phone temporarily and all of a sudden, arge fiery explosion urred, enveloping Lai Fu in it.

    "Oh my god! Did the phone just explode?!" The onlookers were appalled.

    "Could Boss Jin still be carrying the Zamzung Notephone 7? The phone that could explode from overcharging?" The onlookers whispered to one another.

    "You mean Boss Jin purposely infused it with chi to ignite the battery? That is overbearing!"

    Meanwhile, Jin strolled towards Lai Fu and the look on Lai Fu''s face was quite pathetic. "I will finish this." Just as Jin was about to use his chi infused Lazy Panda Swipe, arge spiritual pressure descended upon the whole area. No one, including Jin was not able to moveбн Except for one person.

    One olddy walked towards them, aided by her stick with her cultivation portrayed out in the open. It was no simple creature that was being portrayed. In fact, it was a griffin and she was able to show thirteen griffins proudly flying above her.

    Si Fang saw who it was and went to his knees. "The Gleaming Griffin Style! It''s Grandma Yuan!" The store owners in Tiangong Shopping District knew who Grandma Yuan was. She was one of thest guardians of a traditional practice where each district appointed a guardian of their own choosing to protect themselves from enemies during the world wars, gangsters or even monster attacks.

    Unfortunately, the tradition died out when the security of every district was governed by the modern government. Most of the districts did not have a guardian anymore, and if they did, it was just a role without any status nor power. However, Grandma Yuan had been protecting the Tiangong District for the longest time ever. Some even said she was around during World War Two.

    "Stop this nonsense at once." Grandma Yuan spoke in a very stern voice and she lightened the spiritual pressure.

    "If two owners from the same street fight, this will only incur more hatred. Who will suffer? The street suffers. The customers suffer and ultimately the name of Tiangong suffers yet again. Do you wish to have a repeat of the pachinko fire incident? I will not allow this." Grandma Yuan stomped her walking stick and everyone suddenly trembled a little.

    "Ah, I heard of the guardian of Tiangong District but I did not know that she really exists." Jin bitterly smiled at the change of events.

    "What are you two fighting for?" Grandma Yuan walked slowly towards them and saw Lai Fu lying on the ground. She ced her stick on Lai Fu''s face and prodded him a little.

    "You have not changed ever since you started your business here." Grandma Yuan sighed a little.

    She then narrowed her eyes at Jin with doubtful intent. "And the young and eager one could not help but unt his skills."

    "Si Fang, get me the all-day breakfast set, less salt and arge serving of your mushroom soup. We will discuss this." Grandma Yuan said in a calm manner and slowly walked into the Lele Diner Cafиж. Si Fang immediately nodded his head and quickly went into the cafиж to prepare as he asked his servers to clear a table for them.

    "Okay everyone, the duel has been forfeited. Please disperse." Se Lang signalled the onlookers to get on with their lives.

    "So, Lai Fu care to exin?" Grandma Yuan gave a gentle puff before she drank the soup.

    "Let me, Grandma Yuan." Ke Ru exined in full detail what had transpired and finally, Grandma Yuan looked at Jin.

    "You want to remodel the whole coupon booklet and have a 100%mission for a week? That I understand that it is to your advantage, but why make Lai Fu have training with your AI instructor?"

    "Because I am a dungeon supplier. It is my job to aid the cultivation of others. From a nce, I can see Lai Fu''s cultivation stagnated at Grade 4. Due to what reason I do not know. However, I understand one thing. Whoever tries my dungeon can cultivate further."

    "What rubbish, you just want to earn more money from me. I am not stupid." Lai Fu snapped back but Grandma Yuan pulled his ear and he kept quiet.

    "Fine, assuming you win the bet and you can remodel the booklet. How will you do it to attract more people?" Grandma Yuan asked Jin as Si Fang brought her all-day breakfast set to her.

    "I can exin, but it will take a while if you do not know how my shop works." Jin said with confidence.

    "You only have until I finish this breakfast set." Grandma Yuan started to dig in.

    Jin exined that each coupon would have a chance at a lucky draw in Jin''s shop to win either Bronze Panda Medals or panda credits. The cultivators could use them for food from Jin''s food services or getting equipment from his underground stores. He would not be providing any other discounts as he emphasised that his prices were reasonable.

    The excuse he gave for 100%mission for the first week was to cover losses if he joined the coupon booklet. After which, he would not ask for anything more.

    "Besides, I am not a part of the Tiangong Shopping District and I do not share the benefits of an owner in a shopping district like all of you. I need some propermission to cover myself if I were to join the coupon booklet."

    "Then that settles it. Do not join the coupon booklet." Grandma Yuan threatened.

    "Sure, I will get back to opening my store for the evening." Jin yawned a little and stood up to leave the shop.

    "Wait!" Lai Fu shouted and Jin looked back.

    "Are you sure you can push my cultivation to Grade 5?" Lai Fu questioned seriously.

    "Give me a week or two. I should be able to get a dungeon instance up that might be able to help you." Jin replied.

    "Then Grandma Yuan, I sincerely apologise for going against your wishes. I will bet on Jin''s method for the coupon booklet and the 100%mission for a week since Brother Si Fang also has faith in him." Lai Fu bowed his head in front of Grandma Yuan for forgiveness.

    Grandma Yuan smiled a little and looked at Jin. "Do not disappoint Tiangong Shopping District, or I wille after you."

    Jin nodded his head in respect and left the store.

    "Missionplete, Jin. Guess it all went well." Yun was sipping her ck ivory coffee when Jin entered the store from the side door.

    .

    .

 Chapter 51 Bam and Boo

    <h4>Chapter 51 Bam and Boo</h4>

    Jin woke up early in the morning from his Neen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivating stance and felt extremely refreshed. The chi moving in his body was purer and he felt that he had shedded some waste through his skin. The bad thing was that he had to clean up the room because of the waste that was expelled from his body.

    He took some time to clear the area and began to think what he could do to remove the waste without having to clean his room up. He thought about cultivating in his bathroom but that will be awfully weird for a ce of cultivation. "Unless I renovate the house and have an open concept bathroom so that I can immediately wash my body the moment I wake up."

    "You mean a jacuzzi tub. Arge jacuzzi tub." Yun spoke in his head.

    "Ehh yea. Probably that." He went to take a quick shower and ate two onigiris he brought back from his store. "Can I take a look at the rewards for yesterday''s mission?"

    "I ced it on the dining table, did you not see it when you took the onigiri from the fridge?" Yun materialised and came out from her room. She was wearing something more simple, a casual navy blue shirt and ck shorts aspared to the usual white formal shirt and skirt.

    "New clothes?" Jin sat on the dining table and chewed on his minced pork onigiri as Yun walked down to the 1st floor of the terrace house.

    "Might as well make use of the Panda Armoury while at it." Yun went to the dining table and ced her hand on the rectangr ck leather suitcase.

    "Is it the same as usual, they need my phone?" Jin passed the phone to Yun and she opened it for him as he was busy eating thest bit of his minced pork onigiri.

    The suitcase interior was filled with a red velour interior and inside it, Jin assumed they were a pair of bamboo sticks. "This is your secondary objective mission reward for getting 100%mission. You are smart to think outside the box and the System rewards you for your effort."

    "But they are just two bamboo sticks. Do I make bamboo juice out of it and get a super duper upgrade?" Jin was being annoying as he thought he was being cheated by the System.

    "Nonsense. These bamboo sticks are your weapons." Yun lifted up a longer green stick and showed Jin. "This longer stick is called Bam, while the shorter stick is named Boo."

    "A ha ha ha ha. I could not have thought of any other name more original than Bam and Boo." Jin ced his hand on his forehead and tilted it backwards. "I cannot believe the System has such terrible naming system."

    "Hey, these weapons are one of a kind, quite a unique yet versatile set of weapons you will ever have. I really believe the System did not cheat you. Listen to my exnations and you will understand." Yun gave a pouting face to Jin for not believing her.

    "Well show me how you use it or how useful it is." Jin gave Yun a chance.

    Yun ced Bam and Boo in the suitcase and brought it to their backyard where there was a clearing forbat training, which Ming and Jin used frequently. She ced the suitcase down on the ground and opened it again. Firstly, she took Bam out and immediately, the bamboo stick turned into a scabbard without Jin batting his eyes. The scabbard was in and simple except for a simple panda face insignia on the scabbard and handle.

    "Both Bam and Boo can change into a variety of weapons. Bam''s basic form is a katana while Boo''s a wakizashi. However, mastering Bam will be difficult because you can actually manipte Bam with chi to adjust Bam''s sword length to your liking during the battle."

    "So what is the furthest reach can Bam go to? And how fast can I adjust the de?" Jin asked.

    "As fast as you blink and at your current grade? Three meters long." Yun drew the katana out of the scabbard and the de blinked in silver as the morning sun shone on it. Jin marvelled at the shiny de which he found out had a tinge of neon green in the temper line of the katana as part of the design.

    Yun then put some chi in and the katana instantly changed its reach to three meters with it pointing to Jin. "The sword''s material is mainly nickel and chromium with some vanadium. You be d to know there are amorphous metal mixed in it as well to make the katana even lighter." Yun told Jin about it since he should have a basic knowledge of metals from his university days.

    "Wow, you have bulk metallic sses in it too? That is amazing and thank goodness there is no titanium since it is too blunt for fighting despite its hardiness." Jin thanked the System for being knowledgeable.

    "Andddd the scabbard interior is made of titanium." Yun grinned.

    "The handle has an anti-slip coating and the materials used to make it easy for you to infuse chi into the sword."

    "Do all these materials applied to Boo too?" Jin asked and Yun nodded.

    "But Boo is not able to extend its reach. It is, after all, a secondary weapon." Yun informed Jin.

    "Now the fun part. If you put Bam and Boo together, you will get a bamboo bo. With chi

    maniption, you can also change the bamboo stick into a longbow or shortbow if you wield it so. Use your chi to create energy arrows for firing."

    "Wow, that''s really a lot of functions." Jin was bewildered by both the simplicity andplexity of Bam and Boo.

    "You can also use it as nunchucks, dual batons and for getting 100%mission, the System allows you to change it into a portable Bamboo Cannon. However, the cannon requires arge amount of Chi to fire and if you are Grade 5 and below, you are only able to shoot it twice safely." Yun demonstrated again and the two bamboo pieces immediately became arge bamboo bore with a handle for her to hold.

    "This is insane. Thank you, Yun, for giving me such weapons." Jin was like a child getting a new toy. He swung Bam around in the backyard to get a feel of the weapon. Yun squatted for a while as she watched Jin trying the weapon.

    "Unfortunately, you really need to train in order to master the weapons. Hence, the System reward forpleting the main objective would aid you in your trainingбн Just that it is kind ofplicated." Yun spoke and gave a troubled face.

    "Complicated?" Jin stopped for a while and looked at Yun.

    .

    .

 Chapter 52 Disciple of Zeru

    <h4>Chapter 52 Disciple of Zeru</h4>

    "A new betor had been awarded to you." Yun snapped her fingers and Jin''s phone started to vibrate again.

    He sheathed Bam and ced it on the floor along with Boo. He opened the betor app and immediately noticed the greyed out box had a silhouette. The new betor had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail. However, the facial features and expression were of a male. He wore a dull red yukata with a ck hakama pants, coupled with a grey obi. His face even had a Z-shaped scar on his right cheek which looked very familiar to Jin.

    Then it dawned upon him.

    "IS THIS SAMURAI Z? The legendary Sword Saint in the history books and ssical movies? He is my betor??" Jin''s heart and eyes nearly popped out when he saw his favourite historical figure and old time movie character as a betor. He initially found those old videos of Samurai Z in the cupboard of his mom''s old room when Ming was still around. He would quietly sneak into her room to feast on her collection of old movies.

    The betor''s pseudonym was Zeru but Jin knew his real name since he was a historical figure in China, Zhe Rou. He was Japanese Caucasian mixed born in China but no one ever called him by that name ever since a movie tribute of him, Samurai Z, broke the box office records that were worth billions of yuan.

    History dictated that he was trained and mastered at least 50 differentplete sets of sword arts from different styles. He found the ws of almost every style that he eventually managed to create a style of his own that was supposedly wless. Unfortunately, no one has ever seen his original style or either lived to tell the tale. Some historians argued it was just hearsay since there was no actual evidence to it.

    The movie recounted his experience of the thousand men showdown he had in Nanjing, China where he had defended his master, a famous but likeable politician, Tou Ma. They were ambushed by rebels during the Chinesemunist revolution and Zeru fought off every one of them while using a bokuto, a wooden sword as his sword was under repair.

    He and his master survived the encounter and lived to tell the tale. Because of that, Tou Ma became extremely influential in the game of politics and crashed his opponents while remaining politically relevant and popr to his countrymen.

    Eventually, Zeru found out the sword maintenance was also part of the rebels'' n to disarm the guards of the politician for the attack. He decided to find the culprits, only to find his mythical Grade 16 sword smashed to dust through the use of a forbidden cauldron technique.

    As the tribute movie made headline news in the papers, people from every continent wished to be his disciple, in hopes to gain fame or glory. However, Zeru did not care about royalties or fame but he did not refuse a retirement sum from his master in order to live in seclusion and anonymously from the press. There was no news of him afterwards of whether he had passed on.

    "So this is my new master?" A low voice was heard from the house and they saw Zeru strolled in, taking in the sights of the modern era. Ironically, he still held on the bokuto that crushed the ambush of Nanjing.

    "I would not dare!" Jin immediately kneeled down in front of the sword saint.

    "Hahahaha! I guess, at this age, to have someone know a thing or two about me. I am really humbled and honoured." Zeru smiled genuinely.

    "However, whether you dare or not is not of a choice of yours. You are his master ording to the System." As Yun was talking to Jin and he found out Yun also had her head down, kneeling in front of him. It was obvious that deep down Yun admired him too.

    "That is true, Yun." Zeru eventually kowtowed once towards Jin before he stood back up.

    "Unfortunately, I can not have a master weaker than me. It is embarrassing to say the least."

    "Which is why I will make an exception for you and only you when many others more capable than you had died trying to be it." Zeru sat on a stone stool in the backyard facing the duo.

    "Be my disciple." Those three words carried such weight that if it was measurable, it could even be heavier than the world itself.

    Jin''s eyes went wide as he looked up towards Zeru and realised he was not joking. He could not believe what he heard. The most famous sword saint in the 20th century who took down thousands of highly ranked cultivators all by himself while protecting his master was actually telling Jin to be his disciple.

    "Ahh, be warned though. Your training will be extremely tough. I will introduce you to appropriatepanions that will teach you how to use each and every function of Bam and Boo properly. Well, not every function but you get my drift." His words subsequently had a jovial tone to it but he gave Jin a stare which was so deadly that Jin could feel a grim reaper had already taken his entire soul away from him and left his body alone.

    "He is serious business." Jin thought to himself as he swallowed his saliva, unable to respond for a moment. Aspared to Grandma Yuan''s empty threats, Zeru''s were more dangerous.

    "Oh and you are unable to back out after you be my disciple. That will be equally embarrassing too." Zeru closed his eyes and smiled widely.

    "Yes, I understand! Shi Fu Zeru, I am humbled to be your disciple!" Jin respectfully kowtowed three times in front of him. After which, he continued to kneel until his Shi Fu decided to respond.

    Zeru stood up and picked Boo up that was right beside Jin. He unsheathed it and at the middle of Z''s scar, he drew a line between it, creating a ? on his face. It started bleeding but Zeru was not bothered by it. With the blood on Boo, Zeru lifted Jin''s right shirt sleeve and in a blink of an eye, he carved an X on his right shoulder.

    It was extremely painful as Jin felt his shoulder burning from the carving but surprisingly, no blood was spilt. "My blood has entered your bloodstream and you are officially my direct disciple." Zeru swung Boo a little andter sheathed it back into the scabbard.

    He signalled Jin to receive Boo which Jin did so with two hands and stood up before Zeru disappeared into thin air.

    "Now I understand why Yun said it''splicated. My master is my subject but I am a disciple of my subject." Jin held on tightly to Boo as he knew the difficult part to be the number one dungeon supplier had yet to begin.

    .

    .

 Chapter 53 Shanghai Tower

    <h4>Chapter 53 Shanghai Tower</h4>

    Even though Zeru disappeared into thin air, he still gave a notification via the betor app. "Training starts in 3 days." Jin realised that Zeru knew that the bulk of the revenue came during the weekends since Jin opened his store from morning to night for the weekends.

    "I believe the System did not wish for me to lose that much money even though I needed training." Jin grinned a little.

    Meanwhile, Yun asked Jin to clear a bulk of his missions and personal tasks such as the revamp of the coupon booklet before he starts his training on Monday. Or else, he might not have sufficient time in the next few weeks to do so.

    "Actually, Yun I might need some help with the lucky draw." Both Jin and Yun locked the gates of their house before they left.

    "Hmmph on what?" Yun magically took out a ck sports running cap and wore it.

    "I had some ideas for the lucky draw but I might need to tap on the resources of the System." Jin took out his phone to study the list of owners that participated in the coupon booklet from an email Si Fang sent.

    "Well, if you do that, the System will probably create a mission objective. Are you willing to risk it?" Yun strolled beside Jin while he continued to look at his phone.

    "It''s fine, the System is fixed. You are ermm somewhat alive. I believe it will be a reasonable mission objective." Jin spoke with confidence.

    "Ohohoho, do not be too confident. You have yet to fall from the grace of the System." Yun giggled a little.

    "How bad can it be?" Jin thought quietly but he had momentarily forgotten that Yun could listen to his thoughts if she wants to.

    "How about a mission on finding a girlfriend?" Yun teased Jin and he nearly tripped as he walked.

    "Okay, okay, I am sorry. I must remember to know my limits." Hisst rtionship attempt was unfortunately unforgettable and he had yet to move on from it.

    Both reached the store within 10 minutes and upon opening the side door, they found a thick envelope in their door''s letter box.

    "No threat detected, you can safely open that," Yun said casually as she took her cap out and let her hair down for a while before she bunned it up again.

    "You mean the System scanned my letters?" Jin tore open the envelope seal and found the prototype coupon booklet as well as the thumb drive to edit the booklet if needed. A business card of the shopping district''s graphic design studio and print stores were attached in the envelope as well.

    "I have to, we cannot let our host just die from a letter bomb or from an anthrax attack without squeezing him dry right?" Yun walked into the bar counter ind to wash her hands.

    "Sometimes, I wonder what is the goal of the System." Jin approached the cab that held the triple cheese pizza to get a slice out.

    "For you right now? To be the number one dungeon supplier in the world." Yun went to make a cup of ck ivory coffee for herself.

    "Right now? You mean you have other ns for me after achieving that goal?" Jin took arge bite of the pizza and gave a look of bliss.

    "Trade secret!" Yun giggled as she tries to cool her coffee down a little.

    "Tsk copycat." Jin opened his betor app and summoned both Peppers and Milk out for the zombie mission. Yet again, Milk was in her golden silky gownzing around the couch with her curvy body looking as majestic as ever. Peppers was in her panda print pyjamas sleeping next to the couch while she hugged arge pillow with her drooling saliva.

    Milk opened one of her eyes and saw Jin and Yun looking at them. "Five more...EEEEYAAAAA!" Yun immediately pulled Milk and Peppers'' legs up to the second floor. Peppers was still in deep sleep like a log even though her body and head kept hitting the stairs multiple times. Although the heart was willing, the flesh was not and Milk was seen helplessly struggling against Yun. "Ma-ow ooo-ster~! Helpppuuuбн"

    As Jin had the scene locked in his mind, he could not help but think about his third betor but he suddenly dismissed that thought the moment he felt a dark vibe emanating from his phone.

    Yun shouted at Jin to give her 10 minutes, five minutes longer than usual because of the new addition to the sleeping couch club.

    Hence, Jin looked up at the news for a while and one of it caught his attention. The birth of a new baby panda by Jie Jie and Lee Lee in the Shenzhen Provincial Zoo. The pictures were well taken and the baby panda was overly cute.

    "I guess I should take a day off to take a look at the pandas in the zoo. That will also be a good training material as well. Seeing how the pandas move might give me an insight for my cultivation." Jin decided to make an excuse to close the shop for a day.

    Suddenly, a notification appeared when he was browsing the news.

    ********

    Mission: Travel to Shenzhen Provincial Zoo and take a selfie picture with the baby panda.

    Reward: All coupon booklet rted expenses fully paid by the System.

    ********

    "Yun! Did you just gave me a mission?" Jin shouted from the first floor.

    "As if I am not busy enough?!" Yun shouted back like a mom handling two babies who did not wish to listen to her.

    "Oh, so this mission is by the will of the System...? I thought it allowed Yun to be the spokesperson. Guess there might be exceptions every once in a while." Jin thought it was a little fishy butpleting system missions were essential to his growth as a dungeon supplier.

    "It probably had a reason to do so." Jin shrugged his shoulders as he tried to reason it to himself and waited for the two betors to get ready for the Zombie World.

    "Are you three finally ready?" Yun''s well bunned hair turned into a mess after the fixing the two betors to work and she panted a little. All three nodded with much ''enthusiasm'' and Yun teleported them to the Zombie World and she continued drinking her ck ivory coffee.

    "Coffee is still the best remedy for mornings." Yun finally had some peace to herself for a while.

    Upon safely arriving at the Zombie World, Jin found himself at a ce he had seen on the inte. Just that, it was not the same as he remembered it.

    "Shanghai Towerбн?"

    He peeked through the window of a deste building that Yun had teleported them to and he saw the Shanghai tower in ruins. "Why would there be a building simr to Shanghai tower here in this world...or is it truly the Shanghai tower?" Jin asked Yun in his thoughts.

    "All the worlds that you had visited, even the food that you sold and ate are from various parallel worlds that would have happened if there was a change in the original timeline of Earth," Yun said solemnly.

    "Is the Earth that I am in, the original timeline?" Yun shook her head at Jin''s question.

    "Do not fret, the original timeline does not necessarily mean it is a better world to live in. Some things were meant to be kept as a secret. You happened to be privileged to learn one of the many secrets of the world. Now, forget about that and focus on your mission."

    .

    .

 Chapter 54 Provoking Peppers

    <h4>Chapter 54 Provoking Peppers</h4>

    Jin knew the main mission objective was to get 200 different looking zombies but he did not know how strong those zombies would be. What if they were cultivator grade zombies?

    Even if they were not sane or conscious, defeating a zombie with a simr grade cultivator would prove to be a challenge. Therefore, he decided to bring out Peppers, the Fiery Demonic Queen Sage...or whatever she was called because she seems to change her title on a regr basis.

    "Assuming they do not have cultivation abilities, I still could not think of a way of defeating 200 zombies with Panda Yawning. I will definitely be exhausted at the end of 10 chi beams. It will also be difficult even with the help of Peppers."

    Jin decided to have a better understanding of the current situation and went to the top of the abandoned building they were in. Milk and Peppers followed behind Jin and they encountered no sign of zombies as they reached the top of the building.

    "I chose the safest area for you to be teleported to. Aren''t I kind?" Yun continued to sip her coffee while surfing the on the Panda Port PC.

    She was right.

    Upon looking out from the roof of the abandoned building, there were zombies hidden in every corner of the streets even though the sun was out. Some were strolling mindlessly while others kept bumping into each other.

    "Guess they are more towards the western cultured zombiesбн?" Jin tried to crack his brain.

    "Are there even different races of zombies?" Peppers asked as she looked at the chaos around them.

    "Zombies from our Chinese folklore do not even venture out during the day. I am not entirely sure about Western myths but I guess they are already quite different to begin with. Besides this is an entirely different world from what we know of. Wait, are you not the one responsible for the Monster Dictionary App? Why are you asking me this question?" Jin''s brows furrowed as he responded to Peppers.

    "Hmmph, I am just testing you." Peppers folded her arm and continued to ignore Jin. Or she tried to.

    "That does not mean those zombies are not rted to us. Every myth and tale has a speck of truth in it." Milk yawned a little.

    "Yun, does Peppers and Milk killing zombies affect my secondary mission objective?" Jin suddenly thought about it.

    "Yes, they do if you count them," Yun replied.

    "Count them?" Jin needed more rification.

    "Well yeah, I could ask the System not to count their kills so your secondary mission objective will still be valid," Yun replied back again while she finally read on the baby panda news on the inte.

    "I feel that it''s too hard toplete the mission objective," Jinined a little.

    "Yes Mr Obvious, That is why it is called the secondary objective and not the main." Yun''s eyes rolled up at Jin''s ridiculous questions. "Of course the rewards will be good. Remember Bam and Boo? If you did notplete the secondary objectives, you will still obtain Bam and Boo."

    "Just that, you will not have the other functions unlocked, for example, the Bamboo Cannon or Bamboo Bo." Yun clicked on more news with regards to the baby panda. "So cute." She thought to herself.

    Jin disregarded Yun''s sarcasm and he continued to survey the area for the next 30 minutes. The zombies'' movements were too random but he noticed that they reacted a lot to sound when a zombie identally made it. "Yeap, definitely western zombies in a Chinese city. Such irony."

    "Are you going to do something soon? I am bored." Peppers ced her hand on the railings and stared nkly at the local scenery.

    "Say, do you have any spells that can be used to copy a certain technique. Hmmm...something like copying a fireball spell into a one time use fireball scroll?"

    "Ehhh let me check my bag." Peppers opened her bag and she stared at it for a long time.

    Subsequently, she took out a thick tome with an empty green cover and nk pages.

    "I have a spell copying tome which you can use and there are 250 pages in it. Just ce the spell incantations into the first page of the tome and it will copy the same spell to the other 249 pages. Quite handy is it not?" Peppers started to grin evilly.

    "Actually, I was thinking of imprinting the chi beam from Panda Yawning into the spell. I have no idea how to change it into an incantation." Jin gave an awkwardughter towards Pepper and Peppers'' face changed dramatically to an irritated look.

    "If not for the fact that exploding you would cause you to fail your mission and the absolute loyalty I have graciously given to you even though you do not deserve it, I would have done it straight away." Peppers groaned in a low voice.

    "Eh? I thought Yun said she will give you a jar of gummies if you listened to Jin?" Milk retorted.

    "You!!" Peppers face suddenly turned red and took out another scroll and shoved it to Jin before she turned her back at him.

    "Shoot your chi beam into this scroll. It will turn it into an incantation." Peppers did not face Jin while she talked. Milk could see her pouting at the side and could not resist but giggled.

    "Milk, are you able to create an anti-acoustic dome barrier around us?" Milk was able to fulfil Jin''s request, making Jin feel that Milk was one of the best supporters he could ever have.

    She cast it on the floor right beside Jin and a dome-like barrier was created and expanded to amodate the trio. Suddenly Jin had an even more brilliant idea. "Hey, Peppers, how about you cast the biggest explosion you could ever muster into this scroll?"

    "Why should I do that?" Peppers started to scoff at him.

    "Because I am your master." Jin became a little pretentious.

    "My only master is one who is able to harness the power of explosions, not a panda user!" Peppers suddenly realised what Jin could possibly be doing.

    "Are you afraid your explosion cannot beat my awesome chi beam?" Milk could not stand Jin''s bad acting or lying. She could not tell the difference but she knew she needed to step back a little before things started to get heated, literally.

    "What? We saw your chi beam in the fight against Lai Fu! It was like as weak as a slime." Peppers remembered that Jin needed her help against the Grade 4 cultivator, Lai Fu.

    "That was not even my full power." Jin grew proud while trying to make Peppers think he was hiding something. However, both the betors knew that this was a poorly done ruse against Peppers.

    "Ohhh, you think you can trick me by provoking me to attack you so you can capture the explosion spell. Well too bad, no. I will not waste mana doing such stupid things." Peppers tried to call it off before it gets even more unbearable.

    "Hah, your mana pool is that little?" Jin identally triggered Pepper''s anger for pointing out her weakness.

    "No!" Peppers finally fell for Jin''s trick and she chanted, "Death heed my call! Teach this callous master of mine what is the meaning of a beautiful explosion!" Arge magical circle appeared right in front of the staff Peppers was holding.

    "Explosion That Exceeds That Stupid Chi Beam!" Peppers shouted so loudly that both Milk and Jin could barely hold theirughter in themselves from that nonsensical spell name. A small tiny fireball appeared from the tip of the staff and it went straight towards Jin. He quickly opened up the scroll that was able to trante an attack into a magical incantation.

    Little did he know, the fireball exploded right before it was in the range of the scroll''s trantion ability. Jin quickly moves forward and the scroll started to absorb part of the explosion. Jin was unfortunately within the area of the explosion and he withstood it as much as he could. Although he could feel his skin was burning away, he did not let this opportunity to pass by that easily as he shot out the strongest Panda Yawning out onto the back of the scroll that he was holding.

    By some miracle, the scroll managed to absorb the explosive power of Peppers and the chi beam from Jin. If not for Milk''s anti-acoustic barrier, the zombies all around them would have noticed them.

    .

    .

 Chapter 55 Operation Fireworks

    <h4>Chapter 55 Operation Fireworks</h4>

    "Ahhh what is this heavenly feeling?" Jin woke up to see two towering silhouettes covering his face from the sun while he felt that his head was being supported by arge soft cushion.

    "Ah you are awake, that''s good." Milk continued to caress his hair and Jin suddenly felt even more tired than before.

    "Why am I on your thigh? Even though it feels veryfortable." Jin wanted to sleep on it longer.

    "You were badly burnt but I managed to fix you up. Yun came to this world momentarily to scold Peppers for nearly killing you. Although I have to say, it was partially your fault too." Milk curled a strand of Jin''s hair.

    Meanwhile, Peppers was still in a prostrated position after she was reprimanded by Yun to not move until Jin wakes up. "I am sorry for the trouble I caused." Peppers said it reluctantly mainly due to her innate pride of being a superior mage.

    Jin thanked Milk and stood up to walk towards Peppers. He picked up the oversized wizard hat that was right beside her and assisted Peppers to stand up. She staggered a little and awkwardly used Jin''s body as a pir of support since she was not used to kneeling for long periods of time and she had numbness in her legs. This made her feel as if she had pins and needles in her legs.

    Jin ced her hat on her head and adjusted it a little. "You do not have to, I am the one who should say sorry. I should have asked you to cast an explosion spell instead of-"

    "HAH! You owe me that jar of gummies!" Peppers'' expression immediately changed when she looked at Milk winning a small bet.

    "I did tell you he would apologise to you. He is not as bad as you think he is." Milk''sughter was a little haughty.

    "I.. hmmph!" Peppers kept quiet for once.

    "Alright, I think we wasted enough time here, let us prepare our battle n." Jin could not be bothered with these two betors when he was trying to be sincere in his apology. He immediately asked Peppers the method for cing the page of incantation which he had painstakingly obtained into the green tome of replicated spells.

    Surprisingly, Peppers was not one bit annoying. She taught Jin and gave clear instructions on it. "Thank you Peppers. That was really helpful." Jin smiled at Peppers and she nodded her head nonchntly.

    "Perhaps, she wasn''t given much care and concern previously." Jin thought for a while and decided to take a note about it.

    Jin followed Peppers'' instructions and sessfully inserted the page of magic incantations into the tome and the tome glowed warmly with magic. "Let''s move quietly into the Shanghai Tower," Jin told them where they were headed to.

    He thought of something and took his phone out. As he turned on Mooogle Maps, it actually showed him the area where he was standing. Hence, he tried typing in the Shanghai Tower into the app and explicit directions were given on how to go to Shanghai Tower.

    Jin also looked at the time on his phone and it appeared to be synchronised to the time of this world as well.

    "Looks like we might have a good night show to watch if everything goes well." Jin beckoned both toe with him and they followed closely and tried to avoid any zombies.

    "Are you really trying to get the secondary mission objective? I still think it''s too hard for you." Milk suddenly expressed her concerns when she used herrge book to kill a zombie at the head.

    Jin made her cast her anti-acoustic dome barrier on a piece of pebble, making it a portable barrier wherever they go. This allowed them to move as quietly as possible and allowed Peppers to cast her smaller scale explosive spells without worry. Peppers for onceplimented Jin on his ideas.

    "Heh, I actually learnt it on a tabletop game when I yed with my friends." Jin thought and realised he had not seen those high school friends of his for a long time.

    He was not very sociable during university for a reason or two but during high school, he and his friends were quite a bunch of troublemakers. Perhaps he should give them a call when he had the timeбн.or perhaps not. They might be able to deduce that Jin had a system in him.

    Slowly but surely, they managed to reach Shanghai Tower by dusk without too much difficulty. The Mooogle map directions were easy to understand but Jin decided to y it safe and took the smaller streets. It took a long time but they encountered fewer zombies.

    "Yun, by any chance are you able to get me the schematics for Shanghai Tower?" As they were hiding within a bush, Jin asked Yun for some help through his thoughts.

    "What? Why would you...ohhhhhh. I get it now. Wow, did you actually learn this from Peppers?" Meanwhile, Peppers had an innocent look on her face as Jin stared at her.

    "No no, but I think she will love it once I tell her about the n. And perhaps...just perhaps she might have a better perception of me." Peppers had a ''What are you looking at me for'' kind of look on her face.

    "Alright, if it can improve the rtionship between you and her, I guess it is worth a shot. Check your email shortly." Yun said in his head and his phone vibrated.

    He never understood why people said the phone was the best buddy you would ever have until today. Without the help of the System''s created phone, he might have encountered lots of trouble in this Zombie World. He downloaded the attachment via some mysterious Wifi which he believed was the System itself or else he could not exin where the Wifi came from and viewed the PDF file he was offered by Yun.

    The blueprint was borate from an engineering point of view and was not some simple fire emergencyyout map. To his surprise, Yun even circled parts of the structural vulnerability of various floors. Since there were 128 floors and 250 pages of explosion spells, Jin could not help but snicker.

    "Maybe I should keep a few pages of the tome for future use." Jin thought of using only two pages of explosion spell per floor but in reality, that would not destroy the whole building.

    From the blueprint, the building had a sort of fail-safes in the design despite the structural vulnerabilities that Yun had pointed out so it would not be destroyed that easily.

    "I guess I will just ce a page at each structural vulnerability on every floor and ce the other where I think where the zombies will congregate the most. That sure is a lot of work but it will be spectacr."

    Jin finally told the n to Peppers and Milk and to Jin expectations, Peppers face lit up like a full moon and pumped up, all ready to go.

    "I called it Operation Fireworks." Jin grinned widely.

    .

    .

 Chapter 56 Feasibility

    <h4>Chapter 56 Feasibility</h4>

    "Shall we get to work then?" Milk felt excited at Jin''s reckless n to kill two hundred different looking zombies while using only the Panda Yawning technique. This n should allow Jin to achieve both the main and secondary objectives.

    By mixing Panda Yawning chi beam with the powerful explosion from Peppers in the page of incantations, Jin had increased the power of the Panda Yawning by multiple folds. Not only that, but he had also replicated that page of incantations to 250 pages worth of spells.

    The mission did not state that the Panda Yawning could not be modified. Thinking out of the box was essential for an engineering student to score well in their projects in the university and Jin was d he was able to put it into use by exploiting the loopholes of the mission objectives.

    "I will take the highest floor and work from the top to the bottomбн.eh how do I send the details to you girls?" Jin split the tome into two and gave the first half to Milk and Peppers.

    "Oh do not worry, Yun is coordinating the details with us. She is afraid we will screw up." Milk explicitly looked at Peppers.

    "I will not! This will be one of the masterpieces that I shall carve on this world!" Peppers replied proudly.

    "No, I will definitely guide the two of you." Yun''s voice was transmitted to the trio.

    "Then let''s get started, we do not have much time to waste," Jin said while preparing to take the stairs.

    "Eh how about trying the elevator?" Both betors said in unison.

    "Shouldn''t there be no power in the elevators?" Jin looked at them assuming that hismon sense should be right since the Shanghai Tower was in ruins and the whole ce had been festered with zombies.

    "Never hurts to try." Milk pressed the button and they were right after all. The elevator was working.

    "Okay...." Jin remembered that Shanghai tower had one of the fastest elevators in the world. He just hoped it would work normally because he indeed felt toozy to take the stairs and thankfully it did. He had slight nausea due to the change in air pressure but it was not so bad as he could handle being brought up from the first floor to the observation deck.

    "Top observation deck." A female announcer voice was heard when he reached the top essible floor. "So, there is still some power in the building after all." He then remembered that Shanghai tower was boasted as one of the newer skyscrapers that have eco-sustainability. He would not be surprised if the Tower had sr panels to power up the building''s secondary generators.

    There were indeed zombies all around so he decided to use Bam and Boo together and it became a Bo before he splits them apart to be a pair of dual baton. "There were no criteria that hurting them with other weapons will cause the secondary mission objective to be invalid right?"

    "Yes, you can do that, but note that if you happened to kill one by ident, the secondary mission objective will be moot," Yun warned Jin, knowing that he was dying to get the secondary mission objectivepleted.

    She assumed he was too enticed by the secondary rewards he had earnt from the previous mission. Or perhaps he regretted not being able toplete the secondary objective during the Zither Mistress mission where he was supposed to use the Lazy Panda Swipe technique to kill his enemies.

    Jin figured out the location of the structural vulnerability of the top observation deck and tried to be as quiet as possible and regretted that he did not learn Panda Tumbling, a type of movement technique that allows the user to move swiftly and quiet like wheels rolling on the road.

    He learnt Panda Yawning in order toplete a mission and it was one of the few missions avable in the mission app.

    ********

    Mission: Master the technique of Panda Yawning by creating the beam in less than a second. Beam created should have sufficient power to reach a distance of 100 meters.

    Reward: Quality of life improvements in the store.

    ********

    There was also a mission on Panda Tumbling but it was only avable after he epted the Panda Yawning mission. At the moment, he was able to shoot his beam in less than a second but he still did not have sufficient chi power to create a beam that could reach a distance of 100 meters.

    He figured this zombie mission was meant to train his Panda Yawning technique but he did not expect that he had gone a different route to defeat the zombies.

    Regardless, he was able to find the location of the structural vulnerability of the observation deck. At that point, the sun was already setting and the moon along with the stars shone brightly under the lightless city.

    "Guess I better hurry." He quietly ced one of the pages of the magic tome near the centre of the observation deck and slipped away to the lower floor via the emergency stairway.

    On the next floor, he noticed that there was moonlight shining through the windows of the other floor but it was not strong enough to light up the area for him to see.

    Hence, with the aid of his own technique, the yful Panda, thebination of teachings from the yful typus style and the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Technique, he was able to navigate through the darkness without making too much disturbance by avoiding them.

    Unfortunately, the cover of darkness did not make things any easier. Some of the zombies were still able to discover him but a few knocks of the dual batons caused them to bump into each other and the noise that they made distracted them from Jin.

    "Wow, this will be difficult if I have to go through each and every floor." Jin started to think that his n was not as feasible he thought it will be. It was possible to do, just too strenuous and it would be daytime before everything was done. Jin did not want daytime toe since he wanted Peppers to see some fireworks. Maybe, he himself wished to see some too.

    "Unlessбн" Jin took out his phone to turn on the betor app. "Milk, by any chance, do you have a flight spell or spells that can make you as light as possible?"

    "Ehhh I guess so, why?" Milk telepathically answered him and her message appeared in the app. She paused a while before replying again.

    "Are you thinking of jumping out of the building? (-.-)" An emoji appeared in Milk''s reply to Jin but Jin did not reply at all. Milk assumed that Jin had bumped into some trouble so that was why he might want to change the ns a little.

    "There''s quite a number of zombies loitering around the building. I do not think I can pass through them easily." Jin''s reply confirmed Milk''s suspicion.

    "Ehhh sort of. It is a Feather Light spell, which will reduce your weight to ?. Even if you fall from the top of the building, your cultivation strength should be able to withstand the impact and damage." Milk offered her choice of spell for him.

    "So what about the spell pages that you asked us to ce? We covered about 10 floors already." Milk replied to her.

    "Just leave them be, did you kill any zombies along the way?"

    "Not much, just a few."

    "Alright leave the area and return back to the abandoned building. Also, you mind asking Peppers for a page of incantations and ce that Feather Light spell at the elevator on the 10th floor? I will take it from there."

    "Already did the transferring of the spell before you asked. We will ce it behind the flower pot which is right beside the elevator."

    "See you and may the goddess protect you." Milk sent a praying nun emoji at the end of the text and the chat ended.

    "Oh shucks, I forgot to ask. How do I activate the spell for the Explosive Panda Yawning?" Jin scratched his head.

    .

    .

 Chapter 57 Plan B

    <h4>Chapter 57 n B</h4>

    He wanted to take out his phone once more to ask either Milk or Peppers for help but a zombie found him hiding behind a pir. Jin quickly joined the two batons together to reform the bamboo Bo and sweep the zombie''s legs, causing it to fall.

    He then manipted chi into the Bo and it turned into a short bow. Jing gave a point-nk shot using a small amount of his chi and he shot the zombie''s arms and legs, pinning it down to the ground. All the zombie could do was to struggle fruitlessly.

    After which, Jin ran to the emergency stairways and closed the door as quickly but gently as he could in order not to attract additional attention to him.

    "That was close." Jin panted a little from the manoeuvre. He could have easily killed the zombie but not killing was harder than he thought.

    "I shall save you the trouble of asking Peppers." Yun suddenly spoke in Jin''s thoughts. "Upon knowing the n, she secretly inserted a trigger incantation into the tome too. As long as ites into contact with fire or when a zombie touches it, the page will release its magic."

    "Wow, Peppers is really smart. I really do see her in a new light." Jin praised Peppers but little did he know, she nearly sneezed.

    Nearly.

    Milk was able to notice the irritation in Peppers'' face and quickly tried to cover her mouth. The anti-acoustic barrier had long worn off when they were leaving the 10th floor and Milk did not have time to create another one. Upon this incident, she quickly took a small piece of rubble and immediately cast the anti-acoustic dome barrier once more.

    Peppers was also relieved that Milk was able to stop her in time else it might potentially ruin the n that Jin had painstakingly prepared. Yet, she was also extremely excited to see her magic in action and hoped that her master would not disappoint her.

    Jin got to the 10th floor and managed to find the incantation page of Feather Light spell behind the flower pot and noticed there was an additional small cloth bag at the side. He assumed that it belonged to Peppers and Milk since it was ced right beside the incantation page of Feather Light. He opened the cloth bag and saw a folded piece of paper and two rings.

    *********

    Master!

    The ring in blue is a one-time use spell enhancer ring and the white ring is used to trigger the Feather Light spell since you have no idea how to read magic incantations. Show me the best fireworks you can produce!

    Else I will never. NEVER. Ever. Forgive. You.

    Peppers <3

    PS: Return those rings to me, I can still reuse them!

    **********

    "Hahaha, she is so cute when she is nice." Jin smiled a little and decided to proceed with n B but in actuality, n B was made up on the spot.

    He took the elevator again to the 80th floor and purposely chose an office with a stronger metal door instead of those flimsy ss doors most modern offices have. In that office, there were a few zombies lying around ying dead so Jin decided to clear them to initiate n B. He shed the zombies'' legs with Bam to render their mobility.

    After which, he took wires fromputers, extension plugs and cables to tie the zombies up and gave a Panda Yawning Chi Beam each on their heads. All were obliterated within a second and what was left were their lifeless bodies.

    "8/200 different looking zombies killed. Panda Yawning used. Secondary Objective remains valid." A notification popped up instead of Yun saying it in his head. Perhaps, she could not be bothered with all these little numbers or she thought Jin was just trying too hard.

    Jinter smashed one of the windows facing the Jin Mao Tower, which was situated right beside the Shanghai Tower. He then quickly grabbed as many pieces of furniture as he could find in the office and blocked the entrance and exits he saw on the blueprint.

    There was some noise from all the moving of the furniture and this attracted the attention of the zombies on the 80th floor. However, the metal door was able to withstand the zombies'' constant banging.

    After all the furniture moving was done, he walked nearer to the smashed window and portrayed his cultivation, the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas and threezy panda silhouettes yawned simultaneously. With all the chi he could gather, he shouted as loud as he could.

    "I WILL BE NUMBER ONE!!!!"

    His shout pierced through the silent night and every zombie in the vicinity woke up from their aimless routine. Jin could see that his shout had a tremendous effect on the undead poption so much so that the zombies themselves started to make lots of noise, attracting even more zombies.

    "Now we shall await the congregation of the zombie conference." Jin took a chair with rollers and sat beside the smashed window. He could see Milk and Peppers from afar, standing at the top of the abandoned building they once stood. They seemed to be able to handle the zombie threat quite well as the route leading to the abandoned building was filled with smoke and ashes.

    "I guess Peppers had fun sting them to pieces but I thought she said her Mana was low."

    "Oh, her Mana was once low when she just started as a mage. Since then she tried various ways to improve magic spells in order to reduce Mana usage while she increases the efficiency of her attacks as well." Yun''s voice suddenly appeared in his head.

    "Ever since the System contracted her to be a betor, all she requested was an infinite pool of Mana and she did not care who her master was. Unfortunately, nobody ever contracted her till you."

    "Wait, I thought the System came from grandpa...so?" Jin questioned as he looked at the zombies moving hastily in the streets towards Shanghai Tower.

    "There were other people before Ming who were selected to use the System too, but whether they were sessful in their life remains confidential," Yun replied.

    At this point, the knocking at the doors was more violent and one of the doors managed to break loose. However, there was still stacked furniture remaining that prevented them froming through.

    "I shall wait a while more before I start Operations Fireworks." Jin thought to himself.

    Suddenly a phone notification came on. It was a picture message sent by Milk. Jin opened it and was bbergasted. "These zombies can climb??!" In disbelief, Jin quickly took a peek out of the smashed window and saw thousands and thousands of zombies ''climbing'' up the Shanghai Tower.

    They were actually zombies stacked on one another, hoping to reach Jin through the masses of numbers. Yet they were rather fast and not the slow walking zombie that Jin had all along been encountering.

    "Why are they so active now?" Jin was still in a bit of shock.

    "Because they are attracted to chi energy. For the whole time, you used little to no chi energy on your way here aside from the attack you did when the explosion happened which caused you to faint. However, the chi emitted from you was also absorbed by the page of incantations."

    "Oh my, what mess did I put myself in?" Jin''s legs shivered a little.

    While all these were happening, Peppers created a floating boxrge enough for Milk and herself.

    She even took out some snacks from her bag of seemingly endless space and shared it with Milk.

    "This will be a great show to watch!" Peppers beamed as she munched on a few pieces of sea salt and ck pepper potato chips.

    .

    .

 Chapter 58 Explosion is an Ar

    <h4>Chapter 58 Explosion is an Ar</h4>

    The zombies were stacking up fast on the ground floor of the Shanghai Tower, and one could assume that the remaining floors were packed and flooded with just zombies. Meanwhile, the furniture that was used to block the entrances of the 80th floor was being pushed away by the horde of zombies wanting toe in. There was little time for Jin to hesitate any further.

    Jin initially wanted to keep a few pages of the Explosive Panda Yawning spell but it seemed that he would need all the firepower he could garner. "Goodbye cruel world!" Jin wore the two rings that were bestowed to him by Peppers and he used his cultivation powers to jump out of the window as high as he could.

    The tome that was filled with the pages of Explosive Panda Yawning was left on the chair beside the smashed window. As he jumped out of the window, he activated both the Feather Light spell ring and the Chi Enhancer ring at the same time.

    For a second, it seemed that the change in air pressure from his sudden ''loss of weight'' gave him an airlift and he unleashed his cultivation once more. This time, the three rollingzy panda silhouettes yawned simultaneously and with all of his chi overflowing from the effects of the Chi Enhancer ring as well. Jin gathered as much as he could handle and unleashed thergest and biggest Panda Yawning chi beam he had ever done.

    His Panda Yawning chi beam had always been a fusion of white Yang and ck Yin energy but with effects of the Chi Enhancer, the white energy glowed brighter which was blinding even to Jin and the ck energy darkened to a colour darker than ck.

    Unknown to him, the phone in his pocket gave him a mission app notification stating that the mission on Mastering Panda Yawning waspleted. Meanwhile, he was so busy yawning the chi beam, he did not realise that the beam pushed him backwards in midair.

    Where was the beam aimed at? Mainly the chair with the tome on it. Not to mention the beam killed tens of brainless zombies that followed Jin blindly out of the window which made some of them fall off the building. However, the moment Jin''s chi energy beam touched the tome, there was light.

    A burst of light so brilliantly bright, it felt like it was the birth of a new star.

    *KA BA BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

    The rapid release of energy caused a shockwave that caused Jin, who was ? of his original weight to be knocked back even further, making him crash into the neighbouring Jin Mao Tower. He rolled across the floor to break his momentum but inadvertently crashed into various cubicles and office furniture. He finallynded on a sofa which cushioned him from further impact.

    "WOOOHOOO!!" Peppers and Milk were already wearing sunsses during the massive explosion of the Shanghai Tower. The impact of the explosion reached the abandoned building but Peppers'' flying box was able to maintain its stability despite the knockback from the impact. Milk even prepared the highest level of Holy Shield to protect them from the st while they enjoyed watching the fireworks.

    "I must say, this explosion could be a new contender to your Guinnessie Record of Explosions." Milk watched hundreds of zombies being sent out of the tower by the aftershocks of the explosion.

    "Hmm, I shall give him an overall score of 8/10 for the explosion." Peppers licked her fingers after finishing the second pack of chips that she shared with Milk.

    "8/10? I would give an 8.9/10 for the aftereffects of flying zombies." Milk continued to spectate as the top floors of Shanghai tower gave way and fell onto the zombies on the ground. She signaled Peppers to bring the flying box higher for a better view of the situation.

    "Do you always have to be this irritating. Can''t you just give a whole number?" Peppers opened a bag of gummies and chewed on a ck and white panda looking gummy. The ck part of the panda tasted like kokac-vour and she nibbled on it a little longer to savour the taste.

    "What? Giving a decimal point gives my review a perception of being sophisticated." Milkmented as she watched what''s left of the burning building. Shanghai''s Tower''s 80th floor and above was obliterated by Jin and at the top of Shanghai Tower, the fire was burning brightly like a beacon of hope.

    Hope that Peppers would be able to see such beautiful explosion once more.

    "But why 8/10?" Milk was curious at Peppers assessment.

    "Because the explosion was not colourful enough. It only consisted of ck and white. My explosions contained various colours. I can make green, blue, orange, yellow and red explosions." Peppers took another gummy and it was T-rex shaped.

    "What, you lowered your evaluation score because of colours?" Milk could see the debris that fell from Shanghai tower killed quite a number of the zombies as Jin''s shouting did the trick to attract them to the tower.

    "Why not? Explosion is an art. Colours do matter!" Peppers closed her eyes tightly when she identally ate a sour snake shaped gummy.

    "Well, art takes into ount other things as well! Not just colours!" Milk went ahead to steal a few gummies from Peppers but Peppers noticed it and pouted angrily at Milk.

    "That''s why for a first timer, giving him an eight is considered high in my books. In addition, he could have spread the pages of the tome and that would have potentially expanded the radius of the explosion, inflicting more damage-"

    Suddenly, they saw more explosions and it came from the first ten floors. Both of them stopped their chatter and continued to watch with anticipation. They believed one of the zombies identally touched the page of Explosive Panda Yawning. With Yun previously directing them to the structural vulnerability of the first ten floors excluding the basements, they now hoped for the best part to happen.

    The second wave of explosions awoke Jin''s senses and he found himself being surrounded by zombies. Thankfully, the zombies were not looking at him but at the window on the outside of Jin Mao Tower. He then noticed his phone was on the floor with two notifications, stating that the zombie main and secondary mission objective had beenpleted.

    "I guess with most of my chi expelled out after that attack, the zombies did not view me as a threat." Jin was weak from hisck of chi but his Dantian was still generating a small amount of chi every minute because of his innate cultivation potential. Hence, he managed to sneak out of the zombies'' sight.

    He crawled slowly to the side of the office where he had crashed into and move slowly to a corner where he could view what had happened to the Shanghai Tower.

    To the trio''s delight, the Shanghai Tower finally copsed as it was not able to hold the weight of the entire building once the first ten floors was destroyed.

    "Mission Complete with style," Yun said in a cool voice and teleported them back to the shop.

    .

    .

 Chapter 59 Quality of Life Improvements

    <h4>Chapter 59 Quality of Life Improvements</h4>

    Jin and the other two betors returned safely to the store and found out an hour or so had passed since the time they went to the Zombie World. "Time dtion is a mechanic even I myself cannot exin. So do not look at me with such a curious face Jin." Yunmented as she prepared three tes of curry rice right in front of them.

    All three hurriedly got to the bar counter and started to eat. "Thanks for preparing the food Yun,e to think of it, I sure am famished!" Jin immediately dug in by taking the piece of pork cutlet dipped with curry into his mouth. Yun asked for what would they like for drinks and each had their own preference for beverages. Milk wanted Bamboo Juice, Peppers asked for a Panda Soda while Jin just preferred spring water.

    During their brunch, it was evident that Peppers indeed became closer to Jin after the zombie mission and Yun was proud that she even initiated the conversations. "I guess Jin unknowingly killed two birds with a stone for that mission." Yun smiled at her own thoughts.

    "What? My explosion is only 8/10?! After all the troublesome work that I had done? Impossible! I said it''s at least a 9/10" Jin eximed loudly.

    "Well, if you were not so obsessed with the secondary mission objective, you would not have gone through all those troubles!" Peppers stuck her tongue out and stole a piece of pork cutlet from Jin''s te. Jin showed his slight anger which Peppers giggled at but deep inside him, he was d Peppers got more lively so he let the matter slide.

    "Master~~! Did I do good too?" Milk tried to get the attention of Jin but he totally ignored her advances.

    "Here, a piece of pork cutlet for you too." Jin took one of the bigger slices and ced it in Milk''s te.

    "Master! What if I grow fat from this cutlet?" Milk pouted while Peppers was jealous Milk got a bigger slice.

    "You can give that to me if you do not want it at all" Peppers tried to cross over Jin''s seat to tantly steal the pork cutlet.

    "Ah! No, this is a gift from Master!" Milk quickly threw that piece of pork cutlet into her mouth before Peppers was able to reach it. Yun chuckled at the scene and wanted to talk to Jin with regards to his rewards but someone interrupted.

    "Jin, you did well to persevere, despite some discouragements from your fellow betors and the system. That is what I would like to expect when the training starts." Zeru came and sat beside Milk. "Lady Yun, I would like one of this pork cutlet too."

    Yun dly served the pork cutlet to him and both Milk and Peppers told him the details when he was not around in Zombie World.

    "Hahaha! It''s a pity I could not have gone with you two. I definitely believe it was a spectacr sight to see Jin''s first attempt at creating such arge firework." They talked for a while longer before Milk and Peppers returned to the Betor app.

    However, Zeru remained and out of the blue, he kneels down in front of Jin. "Shifu? What are you doing? Please get up."

    "No, Master Jin. I like to rify a few things with you or else there might be a longsting misunderstanding between us. I am firstly your Betor and secondly your teacher. Use me as you would have with both Milk and Peppers or else I am a failure as a Betor." Zeru rified his stance with Jin.

    Jin was stunned for a moment and Zeru continued to talk. "While if this sounds contradictory and you could not bear to treat me as an equal Betor then how about this? I am only your Shifu when we are in my training instance. Other than that, please do treat as one of your betors. How does that sound?"

    "Sure, thanks Zeru for the rification, you may stand up now." Jin immediately got what he meant. Zeru did not want to have the special treatment of a Shifu just because he was going to train his master. Yet, He would still like to serve his master to his fullest.

    "Thank you, Master Jin." Zeru bowed and took his leave and returned to the Betor app.

    "Now, it is my turn for your attention." Yun was handed Jin his handphone which he had initially ced on the table.

    "Congrattions forpleting two of the system''s missions. I will be providing you with the rewards from the ''Master the Panda Yawning Technique'' mission." Yun smiled and snapped her fingers. The store shook a little and things magically appeared all around the shop.

    While it was not immediately noticeable, the shop actually expanded by a few square feet. There was now more space between the bar counter and the various stations. Speaking of stations, all six stations were now equipped with the 55 inch True 16K UHD TV and the 49 inch TVs were wall mounted at the top of the 55 inch TV.

    "What''s with the additional set of TV? Panoramic view of the dungeon instance?" Jin asked.

    "If that''s the case, the system would have ced it side by side instead of a top-bottomyout. The TV at the top would be used to show the names of the participants entering the dungeon as well as some vital statistics." Yun replied.

    "During the dungeon run, it will also capture and yback certain epic moments during the cultivator''s fight. It would be for those who identally missed it and for the entire store to see as well. Since people usually crowd the area and other customers usually struggled to see what''s themotion."

    "Oh like those sports games where someone scored a goal?" Jin felt that it was a good idea.

    "Yeah, exactly like that. This will create a more extensive and perhaps expansive experience for the customers to bond with each other. " Yun subsequently asked Jin to take a look at his Pandamonium app.

    "Your Pandamonium app had been updated to thetest version. The system had updated the user interface with a cleaner design and now you can officially put announcements to inform your customers."

    "In addition, cultivators who installed Pandamonium are able to watch the live stream of any of the six stations in full HD if they pay a monthly subscription fee of 40 Yuan as one of the in-app purchases in Pandamonium." Yun showed where the new Panda icon was and it was represented by a Panda biting on a film reel.

    "Huh? Are you allowing this? I thought you had the pay per video deal." Jin questioned Yun.

    "Hmm, you didin it was not very feasible to do this sort of model, saying it was outdated which the system eventually bowed down to the consumption trend of modern society." Yun shrugged her shoulders a little.

    "Can they download the stream if they like the stream?" Jin asked once more.

    "Definitely for 5 Yuan." Yun raised up her hand, showing a five to Jin.

    "Here you go again. How is that following the consumption trend of modern society?" Jin shook his head.

    "Then what would you suggest?" Yun ced her hands on her hips, feeling a little irritated too.

    "Hmm..." Jin thought for a while as he tapped his fingers on the table.

    "How about making it free for those who subscribed and participated a dungeon recently? For example, if a customer participated in two dungeons, they will have two free downloads? Will that encourage the customers? I am sure the system can do that up, else I''m fairly versed in programming codes and see what I can do to make that happen." Jin offered his expertise from the university.

    "Hahaha, the system is way superior to what you are capable of. Besides, what you suggest is feasible butplicated. I will just throw in four free downloads per week." This time round, Yun shook her finger at Jin.

    "You can do that and you can add a new subscription model of 60 Yuan for the live stream and an additional 10 downloads per week?" Jin thought about it for a while and felt that it was feasible.

    "I will discuss with the system and get back to you. That sounds fairly decent." Yun agreed to Jin''s suggestion.

    "Well, I guess that is true too. Is that all for the improvement of quality for the store?"

    "Not quite, remember the existence of the third floor?" Yun asked Jin and she can see Jin nearly forgot about it,

    "Oh? Oh yes, nobody really used the yback functions room. " Jin was a little disappointed that no one really used that function when he was the one who requested for it.

    "Yes, you are right. Literally, no one ever used it. Come with me." Jin followed Yun as she walked up the stairs to the second floor and everything looked almost the same, except for more leg space.

    When he reached the third floor, he was surprised it was not just an improvement of quality for the store.

    It was a revamp.

 Chapter 60 Revamped Third Floor

    <h4>Chapter 60 Revamped Third Floor</h4>

    "What happened to this ce??" Jin was surprised by the whole revamp of the third floor. There used to be several rooms for yback purposes but right now, all the walls were hacked down and the ce turned into a gallery room.

    The floors were installed with ck polished granite flooring which was slightly reflective but blurred enough to not offend the decency of thedies that patronised the shops. A mix of brown and green bamboos lined the four walls of the third floor with grey pebbles and stones that covered the soil. The contrast of the bamboo and the granite floor gave the gallery room a sense of Zen.

    There were no obvious windows on the third floor but Jin noticed a fairly narrow separation between the roof of the shophouse and the four walls. In that separation, the System installed an angled ss panel which allowed sufficient sunlight to shine upon the bamboo nts and brightened the gallery a little with some natural light.

    The venttion system of the store kept the ce cooling enough as it was regted by the System. In fact, the whole store was regrly kept between 16-20 degrees Celsius depending on the weather.

    There was also a mixture of dim and bright lighting installed too. It apparently had a day and night settings which gave the room a distinct kind of homely yet sophisticatedly professional feel in addition to the Zen atmosphere Jin was experiencing.

    Jin was genuinely impressed by theyout of the gallery. "This is amazing, it is really beautiful and tranquil."

    So what did the gallery contain? Simr to what Jin had seen in the basement, there were a number of pedestals simr to the what he had seen in basement 1. However,pared to the pedestals in the basement 1, the pedestals here were all empty except for one right at the corner where the stairs were located.

    Aside from the pedestals, there were two additional bronze statues that were shaped to a fat cute penguin with bigical eyes. Both of them were ced at each side of the stairs.

    Each of the penguins was signified with a gender locked item. The left penguin had a long curly handlebar moustache and a top hat while the penguin on the right had a big ribbon at the top of its head

    "They areбн?" Jin asked.

    "Bathroom instance, justrger in size." Yun thought it was obvious enough.

    "What? How would I know they were bathrooms?!" Jin did not understand the system''s logic even though it tried to be artistic andplicated at the same time. Perhaps Yun already knew it was a bathroom instance so she had no problem identifying it.

    "But don''t the toilet signs usually showed a male with a top hat and female with either a dress or long hair?" Yun was a little confused, she really thought it was a decent idea to have the penguin statues.

    "Well, who in the right mind will ce the toilets right beside the stairway? The gallery is the main attraction and I believed the customers who notice it probably thinks that they are part of the interior decor. Then what happened to the showers and toilets on the second floor?" Jin could not believe Yun and he guessed she had her dull moments too.

    "It is still there, for you know customers that do not have the Pandamonium app." Yun suddenly felt a little embarrassed after being pointed out by Jin.

    "Also, why would you put so much emphasis on a toilet?" Jin was a little curious for a toilet instance.

    "Come, let us have the Boss to deduce why would the system do that?" Yun tried to subtly gain back some authority over Jin. A sore loser she was and she knew that was a bad trait of hers but sometimes she could not help it. Although she did try her best to tone it down whenever possible.

    "After the dungeon runs, they can take a shower or have a good dip in a tub?" Jin answered as he stares at the bronze penguin statues

    "That does not really answer the question since the toilets on the second floor can do that as well but it is nevertheless one of the functions," Yun replied.

    "It takes time so a bathroom instance in a dimensional space will reduce the time needed due to the time dtion and forfort with privacy I supposed?" Jin tried to guess and Yun nodded her head.

    "You can take a look at the instance if you want and you will understand it." Yun was a little excited.

    "Wait, before anything, I still think the cement of the penguins needs to be changed." Jin interrupted her.

    "To where?" Yun got a little irritated when Jin changed the subject. She ced her palm out signalling ''where exactly''.

    "Right beside the actual toilets." Jin replied by pointing downwards.

    "Fine, I do think it''s a little weird after what you said." Yun gave in to the reason for now.

    "Alright, let me try to -URGH why is this so heavy?!" Jin even used his Grade 3 cultivation strength and he was unable to lift the statue up.

    "Because there is an anti lifting inscription in it in order to prevent theft. Gravity bounded unless the system permits movement." Yun giggled and snapped her fingers. In an instant, the penguin statue was light enough for Jin to carry it with one hand and he brought it down to the second floor.

    When he reached the second floor, he notice a few different changes as well. "For just a mission objectivepletion, there are quite a lot of changes to the store."

    "Mmhmm, the rewards given to you were not based solely on the Panda Yawning mission."

    "And which?"

    "The hidden mission objective of that Zombie Mission. By simultaneously killing more than 50 zombies. Since you did a magnificent job killing more than 50 zombies at a go, the system decided to provide you with a reward appropriate for your effort. A multiplier effect on the mission reward forpleting the Panda Yawning mission." Yun arrived at the second floor with the second penguin statue.

    "But this is a lot of changes!" Jin did not want to nitpick but the changes were overly generous even for the system.

    "What the system decides to give you is a secret even to me. I am just its front." Yun smiled as she ced the penguin where Jin directed. She snapped her fingers once more and the two penguins who initially did not have any pedestals to them were given one albeit a shorter and smaller one.

    "So, what do you want go through first? The bathroom instance? or the instance on the third floor?" Yun asked as she looked at her watch to see how much time they had before they need to open the store for business.

    Jin walked away from the penguin statue and stared at a new oversized vending machine that was embedded in the wall.

    "This."

 Chapter 61 Vending Machine

    <h4>Chapter 61 Vending Machine</h4>

    "What is with this vending machine? It does not seem to be selling any juice or snack bars." Jin noticed the vending machine had a countertop and a screen at the far end of the vending machine. It seemed that if you bought something from it, the countertop would split into two in order for something to appear.

    "Oh this!" Yun requested for Jin''s phone and she entered into an app that had the words ''Supervisor mode'' on it. She then returned the phone to him and asked him to try it.

    "Yes, ce your phone on the centre of the vending machine to start up the machine. For customers who use this vending machine, they can pay via e-wallet or credit cards."

    "I assumed cash as well right? I saw a bill eptor for notes and coins." Jin did what was instructed, the vending machine came to life, and they waited as the machine booted the screen up.

    "Yes, and it epts other cash currencies too. Do not worry about the conversion, we have decent exchange rates and the machine can give exact change for any currency avable." Yun was equally excited for this.

    When the screen finally booted up, a Panda was seen carrying a cardboard box and an animation was being yed. The Panda was opening a box when another cardboard box dropped from the sky. It immediately ran to the second box and tried to open it but a third box popped up from the ground. Eventually, the whole screen was filled with boxes and it entrapped the panda with a number of boxes. The animation was on a y loop but in each animation loop, the panda was at a different location and so were the boxes when they appeared.

    However, despite the animation looping continuously, there was always arge red box warning indicated at the bottom of the screen. It stated that it was at the customer''s own risk to spend their money on this vending machine and all goods were non-refundable through real cash. The store was not liable if they were not satisfied with their goods.

    "Loot Boxes?!" Jin was taken aback, since he finally discovered the true identity of the vending machine, the name ''Panda Crates'' appeared on the countertop in ck and white. It seemed that the countertop acted as a screen too.

    "That screen is protected by ss as strong as the one we used for the basement ss door. It can withstand any amount of weight and it cannot be broken that easily." Yun punched the countertop hard and there was no effect at all.

    "This is also an interactive screen for the customers to choose which type of loot box they wish to open," Yun asked Jin to ce his phone at the centre again to activate the vending machine.

    The vending machine had two screens on purpose to confirm the order of the loot box when a customer wished to buy it.

    "How much per loot box and what do they contain?" Jin was in a little dilemma. While he knew that the selling of loot boxes was a good misation n, it might be a pitfall for customers too. Especially if the loot was be a pay to win item instead of a purely cosmetic item which had no effect in the dungeon run at all.

    Having pay to win items meant that the customers might be able to receive beneficial items, which would make the dungeon easier. That would definitely spoil the dungeon experience.

    While this kind of misation n was mostly used for software games, he knew of certain dungeon suppliers that did this too.

    However, they were not well received by the public due to the criticism that most of the items were pay to win. Hence, quite a number of customers did not really patronise their stores except the really rich ones. Therefore, in recent years, only high end dungeon suppliers provide such service to their customers.

    Even if so, most of these loot box service was a form of manualbour service where the customer paid the money and the employee would grab a random box from a storage room and gave it to the customer.

    So it was the first time Jin encountered a loot box service in a vending machine which was quite practical and mysterious too. He wondered where the boxes woulde from. Considering the size of the countertop, he expected arge box appearing right in front of him.

    "100 Yuan for each loot box and it contains a chance to receive a digital pet, digital pet costumes, panda ''god'' blessings and a ticket to enter a limited time dungeon instance," Yun replied to him

    "What? What? What and WHAT?" Jin was surprised with each and every detail given by Yun.

    "Seeing is Believing. Quick! Choose the currently avable loot box." Yun was excited. As Jin looked at the selection screen, there was a background animation of the heavens and a bridge floating in the clouds with a silhouette of a couple wearing traditional Chinese clothing.

    At the centre of it, all was the loot box waiting to be selected. Jin slowly realised that this animation in the background was the traditional legend of the Qixi Festival! Also known as the Double Seventh Festival or the Chinese Valentine''s Day in the modern context.

    "Are you saying that the loot box will drop a ticket to enter a dungeon instance with regards to Qixi Festival?!" Jin was totally in shock while Yun was impatient and pressed the loot box option on the screen at the countertop.

    A confirmation screen came out asking "Are you sure you wish to buy this product?" Yun pressed ''Yes'' and the screen on the countertop was turned off. After which, there was an animation being yed at the top screen of the vending machine with Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, the characters in the legend of Qixi, running from the opposite sides of the bridge to meet up with each other.

    The moment they met, a small box popped out of the countertop. "This looks like a ring box," Jin observed as he picked up the pink velvet ring box.

    "Open it!" Yun seemed even more anxious than Jin and he opened to find a storage ring. The only difference from ordinary storage rings was that it was beautifully crafted and there was a small design of the Legend of Qixi inscribed on the ring.

    "This is a rental storage ring given by the vending machine. After you are done opening the storage ring, the vending machine will ask for the ring and the ring box to be returned to the vending machine."

    "But this is an amazing design, it would be a pity not to have it." Jin was admiring the intricate design of the ring.

    "Exactly! Hence, another chance of selling an item! If you wish to keep the storage ring, the vending machine also gives the option to buy the ring...at a higher price of course! They will not be able to steal it too since I have installed these ss walls and door around the vending machines in order not to disturb the unconscious who are resting and to lock the culprit if he does not wish to pay for it." Yun grinned widely as she leaned on the ss wall separating the vending machines and the rest of the second floor.

    "Wow! This is simply fantastic and quite also devious of the system." Jin was extremely satisfied with this new marketing gimmick.

 Chapter 62 Scheming System

    <h4>Chapter 62 Scheming System</h4>

    Quickly! Open it now! Yun was not able to do anything since the rental storage ring is temporarily Bonded to Jin. Jin released the items in the storage ring and he noticed the items of interest on the countertop. There were a few pieces of tickets with the Qixi design andyout in it and a blue stone on the countertop.

    "So is this what every customer will get when they buy the loot box?" Jin looked at the tickets.

    "Mhmm! You will definitely get two random pieces of cosmetic items, a stone, and a dungeon ticket. It acts as a promotion for the uing dungeons. The time-limited event about this is, the loot boxes actually give the customers a major discount on the dungeon instance ticket as we promote the dungeon in advance in the future." Yun answered Jin.

    "So you are putting a promotion in a loot box vending machine which technically defies the whole definition of loot box system in the modern context of the entertainment industry?"

    "That is the whole fun of it, is it not?" Yunughed out loudly.

    Jin ignored Yun and noticed the tickets were QR code on the tickets with his name on it. "These tickets are the digital pet and digital pet costume code which are designed only for you and nonrefundable," Yun exined to Jin.

    "What are these digital pets? You mean they are something like Pokeman? " Jin asked.

    "Not really, more like that major inte game in the past. Ehhh I think it is NewPets? If I remembered correctly. These pets are just aesthetics which will follow you around when you are doing the misceneous service dungeon instances in the store."

    "Misceneous Service Dungeon instances?" Jin asked again.

    "These days, System and I believe that we need to attract all sorts of customers by using this kind of gimmicks to hold them on. Technically, we are not breaking the rules of our dungeon supplier license since we are still using dimensional instances to provide such services." Yun said.

    "This is indeed interesting but won''t other dungeon suppliers catch up to such technology?" Jin questioned the validity of these service dungeon instances.

    "If my sources are not wrong, some major Dungeon Suppliers do have the money to invest on research and development to provide services like ours, such as the Underground shopping centre. However, I foresee that we have at least a five to ten years head start in terms of technology but in my opinion, they won''t be able to catch up that soon."

    "Five years is quite short." Jin raised an eyebrow at Yun''s exnation.

    "That is assuming a miracle happens and they are able to get the source code from the system. It''s an extremely conservative estimate by the system which likes to consider all odds but in reality, I think at least 20 years. By the time they catch up, we should already be number one. Hahaha!" Yun giggled.

    Jin scanned the QR code of the tickets with his Pandamonium app and two notifications appeared. Jin tapped on the notification and the app brought him to another screen to show his peting out from a simple cardboard box.

    It''s a little panda pet and it was standing straight with its head seemedrger than its body. The next thing that he received was a bowler hat and the app asked whether he would like to equip that costume to his new pet. He acknowledged it and he was directed to a section solely for pets.

    "Is this one of the reasons why the Pandamonium app went through a major upgrade?" Yun nodded her head to Jin.

    "Please choose a name for your pet before proceeding on." A notification popped up prompting Jin to do so and he decided to just call it Xie Xie since it was his surname and he was not that good at creating names on the spot.

    A profile appeared for Xie Xie including basic stats like Hit Points, Strength, Dexterity, and other attributes. The pet profile was simr to the stats screen for the cultivator that was using the Pandamonium app too.

    "What are these stats for? Are they going to join the battle in the dungeons as well?" Jin asked.

    "Oh no, not at all but in the future, there might be pet arenas for cultivators to try their luck in such contest or challenges. At the moment, we just keep it as a Trade Secret for them."

    "So...Is that Polished Metal Panda Pedestal on the third floor rted to this Service Dungeon Instance you are talking about?" Jin asked as he threw the two tickets into a shredding machine right beside the vending machine.

    "Indeed, that is the Panda Muscles, a gym service for those who wish to train themselves. Hence, when you enter that gym, Xie Xie will appear and follow you around."

    "Oh? That''s really cute of the system." Jin wanted to take a look at the gymter. Right now, he questioned Yun with regards to a few burning issues in his mind.

    "So, is the pet randomly selected and what if the customer gets the same pet or the same costume again?"

    "The first pet is not random, they will get their pet based on their cultivation style." Yun stretched her arms a little.

    "For your second question. you do not have to worry about that. The probability of getting a new pet is significantly lower than a new pet costume ticket. So when they buy a loot box, the chances to get two costume ticket is higher. Also, there is no such thing as a duplicate item, because the system handles everything the moment they ced their phone on the vending machine. Brilliant, is it not?" Yun smiled brightly while she exined further.

    "However, if they do not like a pet or costume, they have the chance to sell it back to the web store in the Pandamonium app for Panda Credits, albeit at a fixed price of 25 Panda Credits regardless of the item. Technically, this is a win-win situation for both parties."

    "If that is the case, why will you choose the Loot Box method? Why not make it a fixed promotional item" Jin suddenly realised the Pachinko situation.

    "Well, it''s mainly due to one thing. People will think they are getting rewarded and it''s true that most loot box methods employed by majorpanies is based on thepulsion mechanics but our loot box method is not entirely based on that. We reward the cultivators justly for their purchases. If they are not happy, they can exchange them for Panda Credits again."

    "Also, all these pets and pet costumes are just aesthetics which bring no direct benefit for the cultivator at all. Even the stat profile of a pet is based on the cultivator''s efforts if they chose to train their pet and that is not rted to the loot box." Yun justified her case.

    "Alright, how about this weird looking stone?" Jin held the stone up and could not understand its purpose.

    "Put your hands together and concentrate." Jin listened to Yun and did just that. Momentarily, he felt brave and ready to take on the world. At that point, his stone immediately disintegrated into dust.

    "This is a one-time low-level inscription kind of stone which I must emphasise. It is bonded to the user who received it. Only the user who bought it can use it. I aptly called it the Panda God Blessing but in actual fact, it''s an inscription that provides you the motivation or the courage to press forth. Each Loot Box contains one such stone. It is either the Blue Stone of Courage or White Stone of Calming." Yun said as she snapped her fingers and a white stone appeared in front of Jin.

    Jin tried the white stone and he felt a sea of tranquility epassed over him for a moment.

    "Why would you want to sell this in the loot box?" Jin asked Yun and she sighed.

    "The truth or the lie?" Yun questioned Jin.

    "Both."

    "Lie: Everyone needs a little courage and peace in their life. This is a good reward which the system promotes thepulsion mechanics in the customer to get this loot box."

    "Did you not say the loot box method was not based onpulsion mechanics?"

    "I said not entirely." Yun''s eyes shuffled a little.

    "The truth?"

    "The System somehow or rather had too many of this stones in stock. It wanted to find a way to dispose of them and throwing them seems like a waste. It decided to put it into Loot Boxes to entice people to get it while benefiting them and the system." Yun said with an annoyed face.

    Lastly, the Qixi Dungeon Instance Ticket. Before Jin opened his mouth, Yun immediately exined to him. "The Qixi dungeon instance is an instance tomemorate the Qixi Festival. The cost of the loot box was meant solely for the ticket to enter the Qixi Festival dungeon instance. The rest of the loot box items were just gimmicks to entice people to get the box."

    "Then why would you not just sell the gimmicks and dungeons separately, won''t we earn more money that way?" Jin thought it was a little illogical to not earn money from them.

    "Because you are a Dungeon Supplier. Do not lose sight of that." Yun looked a little angry when she said that.

    "Besides, it is a time-limited event dungeon instance which the system insisted in order to get more business. Throw more goodies in and the customers will be hooked by it."

    Jin realised that the system is rather scheming and kept the Qixi ticket with him for the moment. It seemed that he had much to learn to make customers happy but at the same time to take their money.

    "Oh but do not worry. Once the event is done, the dungeon will still be avable in a month time or so...Just more expensive."

    "Let''s take a look at the toilet instance you were so insistent about." Jin epted the loot box vending machine which the system created and beckoned Yun to follow him.

 Chapter 63 Toilet Instance?!

    <h4>Chapter 63 Toilet Instance?!</h4>

    With a tap of Jin''s phone, both he and Yun were teleported into the toilet dungeon instance via the top hat penguin statue.

    "This is not a toilet at allбн" Jin looked around the environment and found that they were at the top of a mountain hot spring with a wooden cabin.

    The view was breathtaking and there was nothing but lush forests at the bottom of the mountains and clear blue skies above him. There were a series of valleys around the area that showed the depth of the dungeon instance.

    Jin always wanted to try and shout at the top of the mountain to see if it really echoed back. "Hello!!" The entire mountain area did indeed echo back a little.

    The temperature of the mountain hot spring area was a little cold but not to the extent that he needed extra clothing to protect himself. Besides, a little amount of chi infusion was sufficient to protect the body even if he was naked.

    He then noticed that there were penguins working round the clock to keep the hot spring area clean. "I really wonder why you are not using pandas for this instance. It''s a little weird you did not include them at all."

    "Because in reality, pandas hate ces where they are too cold or too hot, making them such temperamental creatures. The penguins, on the other hand, do not mind this kind of cold up in the mountains and the asional dip in the hot spring ironically makes them happy too." Yun pet one of the penguins and magically took out a fish for it to eat.

    "Besides they are a hard-working bunch of birds. Easy to feed and breed."

    "Are they not artificial intelligence created by you? Why do you make them feel as if they are that real?" Jin had been wanting to ask ever since he had heard of the Red Panda AI in the Panda Armoury.

    "Make them life-like and the customers will adore them. They always want to touch these animals but they are too scared of them or vice versa. Touching also help release oxytocin which reduces blood pressure and anxiety." The penguin that Yun just fed allowed her to hug it.

    "Eh, is this a private instance or a public instance?" Jin blushed a little when he asked.

    "Private. It''s a toilet instance where customers are able to go in as a party as well if they wish to but there is the public instance too if they wished to have a go at it. Of course, the public is a gender specific instance."

    "You mean the private is..." Jin thoughts started to go wild a little and Yun chuckled. "You do know you are already 23 years old, right? Be more mature about this! But yes, the private ones allow couples or groups to enter and what they decide to do is their own business." Yun shoved the penguin towards Jin.

    "Judging from this magnificent looking instance, I believe they have to pay for it too." Jin tried to hug the penguin but the penguin yfully bit Jin, causing him to be startled. After which, the penguinughed and dived into the hot spring.

    "Definitely! You think we work for charity? What you see is just a part of what the toilet instance has to offer. They can pay via Panda Credits or real cash currency. Same goes for other service instances." Yun casually washed her feet in the sitting shower cubicle near the wooden cabin and sat at the edge of the natural hot spring to soak her feet.

    "Panda Credits as well? Oh, if they decide to use Panda Credits, less credits to spend on food. I see." Jin followed Yun and dipped his legs into the hot spring. It was a little hot at first but it eventually became veryforting, especially when the weather was cold and his feet were warmed up.

    The hot spring was extremelyrge and there was a Chinese themed pavilion at the side of the hot spring, allowing people to sit on it and enjoy the atmosphere in the hot spring pool.

    Meanwhile, Jin realised all the penguins were actually wearing a winter cap that was shaped like with panda ears. "Hahaha, since pandas cannot work here, you made the penguins wear panda caps to make them imitate little pandas?" Jin questioned Yun casually.

    "Or else the panda-loving customers will question our decision of using penguins. I admit I simply want to pull the customers'' legs once in a while." Yun asked for Jin''s phone and he handed it to her. Unknown to him, Yun used his phone to summon Xie Xie, the pet panda that Jin obtained recently to the instance.

    "I am already questioning the validity of penguins living in the mountains. Hahaha! I mean since it is AI, why not have a panda around here?" Jin put his hands into the pool to warm them up a little before touching Xie Xie.

    The pet panda yawned a little as it was held by Jin. However, Jin immediately faced the pet panda away from him when it yawned due to natural reflex. He thought it was going to shoot a chi beam out of its mouth.

    "Are you scared of your own technique?! Hahaha!" Yun wasughing hysterically at the current scene.

    Jin ignored Yun once again and he left the pet panda with Yun. He then got up and walked into the cabin to take a look at the facilities in it. To his surprise, there was arge panda yawning yet again right in front of him in the cabin when he opened the door. He got scared out of his wits once again, thinking this time around a panda would shoot a chi beam out for real since Yunughed it off previously.

    "Hahahaha! Rx! I am really not that mean to y such a cruel joke on you." Yunughed again upon reading his thoughts and Xie Xie started to learn how to chuckle as well.

    Upon walking into the cabin, he saw athree rooms in there. The main room had a panda in a white cor shirt sitting beside a massage table bed and two massage chairs. It lifted its paw up and invited Jin to have a rest on the massage table.

    Jin had some doubts but he was willing to give it a go. "Do not worry, Jin you looked at the wall, this panda is a certified massage therapist." Yun was standing by the cabin door with Xie Xie resting on her head.

    "Did you not say there are no pandas here? Why is there one here?'' Jin looked at Yun.

    "This is a cabin with regted air conditioning, why won''t a panda like it here?" Yun gestured her hands to hurry Jin up.

    "We will see about wha- Ahhhhh~! This is really good. Lower a little." Jin mumbled his words as the Panda Massage Therapist worked its magical paws on Jin''s back.

    "You have worked hard, your muscles are a little tight." The Panda Massage Therapist spoke in a low voice.

    "Indeed, I have..." Jin felt like he was going to sleep if this continued.

    "Do not worry, my massage will revitalise you in no time." The Panda inserted a little bit of chi in its paws and Jin felt like he ascended out of his body. While Jin was having his massage, Yun sat in the automated massage chair and pressed a few buttons for the chair to work wonders on her body.

    "Okay, I think I have enough of this ce, let''s open the shop and allow the customers to explore this area on their own." Jin stood up from the massage table after a good 30 minutes massage and left the dungeon first in order to open his store.

    With the major quality improvements in his whole store including the new revamped third floor, it was time to earn some money for the system.

 Chapter 64 Chance, Bro.

    <h4>Chapter 64 Chance, Bro.</h4>

    "Hey Bing Yong, would you like to go to that Boss Jin''s ce again tonight?" Shi Zuo asked Bin Yong after a project meeting. Bin Yong, Shi Zuo and Luo Bo were in an animation project proposal together and they finally got the go-ahead by their director to proceed with their project.

    Tonight was one of the few nights they were free before everything would start to get hectic all over again. "Sure Shi Zuo, let''s go. I would like to release some pent-up stress. We shall see if Boss Jin has anything new tonight." Bin Yong answered casually.

    "Did I hear Boss Jin? Is that the new Dungeon Supplier in Tiangong shopping district?" Ady''s voice was heard from behind Bin Yong.

    "Oh, Jia Le, was it?" Shi Zuo vaguely remembered the name of this young beautiful yet talented animator that thepany just recruited not too long ago. Apparently, her work quality and speed could rival senior animators like Bin Yong.

    "Ah, I apologise for eavesdropping on your conversation." Jia Le gave an awkward smile. She identally got excited about the rumoured Dungeon Supplier on Tiangong street that she had forgotten her manners towards her seniors at work.

    "Do not worry Jia Le. You do seem interested in it. Want to join us?" Bin Yong thought this was a good time to bond with his new co-worker since he had heard that she was selected by themittee members to be part of the animation team that Bin Yong was in. Besides, she might be a good distraction for him since Luo Bo would being with Shi Zuo.

    "Thank you Senior Nu!" Her short bobyered hair reminded Bin Yong of Luo Bo when they first met each other in thispany and he got a little distracted.

    "Senior Nu?" Jia Le suddenly saw that Bin Yong was in a daze but Shi Zuo came from behind him and initiated the conversation once more.

    "Ah, do not mind this klutz''s head. Whenever he thinks of something important or finds inspiration, he will just go nk for a while. You know, this guy here is amazing in Boss Jin''s dungeon."

    "You have all been there before?" Jia Le eyes lit up.

    "Yeap, and I think we are one of the few who officiallypleted the goblin dungeon. You will be surprised but our names are on the scoreboards." Shi Zuo continued to boast about their endeavours.

    "Wow, I did hear that Boss Jin has a very low sess rate in thepletion of dungeons, and you two did it? Is there anyone else in thepany who joined you two?" Jia Le was amazed by them.

    "Luo Bo from the Production department. The three of us entered and came out victorious. Oh, I remember we bought the yback video from Boss Jin. The fight was amazing, I dealt so much damage that the boss boar was nearly killed!" At this point, Bin Yong came out of his daze and tried to stop Shi Zuo from bbering too much.

    "Ahhh, you do not want her to know you were the one who delivered the final blow to that monster?" Shi Zuo nudged at Bin Yong.

    "Woah, Senior Nu did it? How?" Jia Le seemed genuinely interested, which Bin Yong found odd because the conversation was going a little too well for mere acquaintances.

    "Come with us to have dinner at Boss Jin''s ce. You will get to see him in action." Shi Zuo winked and pat Bin Yong''s back hard.

    "Boss Jin sells food too? That''s the first I''ve heard of it." Jia Le questioned the validity of a dungeon supplier''s ability to provide food.

    "Oh, his tonkatsu curry rice is one of the finest I have ever eaten." Bin Yongplimented Boss Jin''s choice of culinary. "If I could eat that every day, I think I would be in bliss too." Shi Zuo added.

    "Then, looks like we should really go there then!" Jia Le smiled so delicately, Bin Yong blushed a little when he saw it.

    "Ah, do remember to bring a good amount of cash or have sufficient cash in your e-wallet. That boss is a monster in eating money too." Shi Zuoughed loudly as Bin Yong tried to calm him down since there were some co-workers that turned to look at them. "Alright, looks like I better get going, see you guys tonight!" Shi Zuo waved.

    "Chance, Bro. Do not lose it." Shi Zuo sent a voice transmission to Bin Yong before he walked away, leaving Bin Yong all alone with Jia Le at the corridor outside the meeting room.

    "So, erm see you at 6 at Boss Jin ce? If you are done early, you can go ahead and queue first." Bin Yong then asked Jia Le if she knew the exact location of Boss Jin ce.

    "Sorry, I have not been there before. I have only heard about it in the forums online and from the small talks." Jia Le shook her head.

    "Alright, erm. Let us meet up together on the ground floor before we head out. Do you mind giving me your phone number? I will text you- oh wait! You are in the same department as me." Bin Yong panicked for a while.

    "Ahaha, it''s okay, let me give you my number. We might need it for future contact for the project too." Jia Le acted cool but inside that little heart of hers was racing crazily. Of course, she knew who Bin Yong was! His artwork was some of the best she had ever seen when she happened to be in the same art college Bin Yong was previously in.

    His artwork inspired her so much that she even asked her professor for Bin Yong''s previously submitted assignments. Her mentor was surprisingly a fan of Bin Yong since she had the chance to work with him as well. So her mentor was able to ede to her request and gave her his works to preview. Hence, the admiration for his artwork slowly turned into infatuation and she decided to apply at the samepany he was in to try her luck to get closer to her idol.

    Right now, it was unbelievable for her to be working on the same project with him. "Perhaps, I can be friends with himбн" She thought about it when the meeting was still in session.

    "Alright, I received your phone details and I had added you in Mechat. Contact youter?" Bin Yong smiled and went to get some coffee in thepany''s cafeteria before returning back to his desk. Meanwhile, Jia Le''s heart finally had a chance to rest a little after he left.

    However, she quickly went to thedies bathroom and hid in the toilet cubicle for a while, feeling very excited about that evening''s meeting.

 Chapter 65 Trust Me, Bro

    <h4>Chapter 65 Trust Me, Bro</h4>

    "Hey bro, I just started stalking Jia Le on every avable social media she might have." Shi Zuo was snickering when he was in Bin Yong''s cubicle. Bin Yong had some administrative matters to settle before he could leave so Shi Zuo who finished work on time, came to find him.

    "What? How did you even- actually, nevermind. Do not tell me how you did it." Bin Yong shook his head at Shi Zuo''s terrible habit of looking into people''s social media ount. He had a knack forputer programming and he specialised in IT security since he was in the IT department of thepany. In fact, he was the only IT security specialist that thepany hired to protect their animation works online and handle thepany''s site security.

    "Okay okay, but this is something you will like to know. She might still be single. You might have a chance." Shi Zuo took a seat from an empty cubicle and rolled it towards Bin Yong.

    "Might still be single?" Bin Yong raised an eyebrow. "Such a beautiful girl like her does not have a boyfriend yet?" He whispered to Shi Zuo.

    "Well, perhaps a high chance that she''s single. She seemed so popr with her peers of both genders that I honestly cannot tell. However, there were no consistent male or female partner when I analysed the pictures. I meane on, she is downright gorgeous, do not tell me you are not interested at all."

    "I ermm.." Bin Yong did not know how to reply.

    "Forget it, I don''t think I have a chance." Bin Yong threw in the towel before the fight even began.

    "BRO! What are your talking about? I feel my cultivation tingling. I feel like she might be into you!"

    "Thest time it tingled, you introduced me to a girl with a triad boyfriend." That was why Bin Yong could not forgive Shi Zuo for introducing him to weird ces. Not to say Boss Jin''s ce was weird. Oh okay, he admitted Boss Jin''s ce was a little weird. But at least he had his fair share of fun while he was there.

    "Trust me, Bro, this is really different. I mean you got her number right?" Shi Zuo tried to stir up his interest once more.

    "For work purposes?" Bin Yong gave an excuse to defend himself.

    "What bullshit! You think a girl from this day and age would randomly give you their number?" Shi Zuo randomly bullshitted Bin Yong for giving him a bullshit excuse.

    "Because it is for work purposes??" Bin Yong could see that Shi Zuo was extremely adamant.

    "Dude! just give it a try, you never know where it could lead you. How about this? Just try to spend some quality time with her tonight?" Shi Zuo nearly gave up on Bin Yong if he did not want to help himself.

    "Is that not what we were going to do?" Bin Yong thought that was the case.

    "Oh, sometimes you are so dense, that I do not even know why I still try to help you. Luo Bo and I will be leaving first for Boss Jin''s ce and queue up if needed." Shi Zuo ced the chair back at the empty cubicle he had taken it from.

    "Wait up, I am finishing this document soon." Bin Yong tried to speed up his work a little.

    "Nope, not waiting." Shi Zuo immediately walked away. Bin Yong thought he was joking and he continued to do his work.

    After 15 minutes or so, a strawberry fragranced breeze filled his cubicle. "Ah Senior Nu, you are still here?" Bin Yong could not help but tense up after the pep talk that he had just gotten from Shi Zuo.

    "Ehhh, you just ended?" Bin Yong was lost for words.

    "Yeah, I realised that I did not have any of your friends'' contact so I thought to have a look at your cubicle to see if you were still around." Jia Le was wearing a simple grey round tee and a stretch scuba leggings.

    "Ah, you could have texted me," Bin Yong then realised that it was a stupid thing to say.

    "Oh, erm sorry Senior Nu. I thought it was more convenient to find you at your desk." Jia Le suddenly did not know how to reply. Was she being too direct?

    "Ahahah no need to apologise, I just thought texting may have been faster...Do you want some sweets?" Bin Yong tried to salvage the awkwardness of the situation by offering her a bowl of sweets which he had by the side of his desk.

    "Oh, gummy bears! Sure!" Her smile was sweet enough to make Bin Yong stared at her for a while before realizing that he should get his work done.

    "Ah screw this, I can finish it tomorrow." Bin Yong saved his document and took his sling bag out from his drawer. "Give me a moment Jia Le, let me go to the loo."

    "Sure, you want me to wait at the ground floor?" Jia Le asked.

    "Nah, just wait for me at the elevator."

    They both went their separate ways but all they could feel in their hearts was arge banging sound. Yet, that banging got louder with each step they took away from each other. Jia Le secretly took another gummy bear candy pack from his desk and giggled a little while Bin Yong smiled widely without noticing as he was walking to the toilet.

    Bin Yong readied himself a little in front of the mirror. "Should I really give it a try?" He washed his face once more and met Jia Le at the elevator.

    "Hey Bro, we are already near Boss Jin''s ce and for some reason, there is a long queue today. You better hurry." Shi Zuo messaged Bin Yong and he was shocked while he waited for the elevator with Jia Le.

    "What''s wrong?" Jia Le noticed a change in his expression.

    "Oh, erm Shi Zuo, you know, the guy you saw me with this afternoon. Well, apparently he went ahead to Boss Jin''s with his girlfriend. He just told me that the queue at Boss Jin is really long. I am sorry that I took too long." Bin Yong apologised to Jia Le but she denied it immediately.

    "No, No. It''s definitely not your fault Senior Nu. I happened to be caught up in my work too." Jia Le made up an excuse on the spot.

    "Guess that makes both of us really bad workaholics." Bothughed happily at the current situation they were in and the elevator came right on time.

    "How are we getting there?" Jia Le asked as the elevator was on the ground floor.

    "If you do not mind some brisk walking, we can reach there in 15 to 20 minutes." Then he realised Jia Le was in her ts when he looked downwards.

    "Erm....or we can take the bus too. If it is ufortable for you to-" Jia Le immediately took out a pair of sneakers and ankle socks from her storage ring.

    "Let''s brisk walk! Should be a good chance to warm up our cultivation too!" Jia Le went to a corner near the main entrance of thepany to change her shoes and even that small action of hers started to interest Bin Yong.

    "Shit, am I thinking too much?" Bin Yong thought to himself. Suddenly he received a new notification in his MeChat from Shi Zuo. "BRO, NEW DUNGEON! Check the Pandamonium app."

    As he was waiting for Jia Le, he decided to check the Pandamonium app. He also saw a notification on his phone that the app had been updated too.

    When he first opened the app, a new advertisement appeared on the front of the app. "Get the new loot boxes, with guaranteed Qixi festival dungeon ticket!"

    Another advertisement was right below it. "Great Wall of China Instance avable right now! Suitable for both beginners and veterans. Come and experience the fight against zombies and help defend the mothend!"

    "Senior Nu, I am ready!'' Jia Le even tied her hair into a small ponytail and pinned her bangs with a small bellflower pin. She then walked gracefully towards Bin Yong.

    "Great! Let''s get going. Oh and you can call me Bin Yong. It''s after work, we can let go of the formalities." Bin Yong casually said as they headed out of the main entrance of thepany.

    Bin Yong did not know that this little gesture became one of the happiest moments of Jia Le''s life. She blushed slightly and walked beside him.

 Chapter 66 Wingman

    <h4>Chapter 66 Wingman</h4>

    "Man, you guys arete. Look at the queue! It''s horrendous! But we bought you all the tickets!" Shi Zuo shouted at Bin Yong and Jia Le when they finally reached the store.

    "Sorry sorry, I was too caught up with writing the minutes of thatst meeting." Bin Yong breathed a little heavily but Jia Le appeared to have warmed up for a fight after that brisk walking session. "Oh gosh, I need more training." He thought to himself.

    "Are you treating us then?" Luo Bo tried to take advantage of the situation that Bin Yong had ced himself in and Jia Le chuckled a little.

    "Bro! Here are the tickets." Shi Zuo passed two pairs of tickets to Bin Yong. "The second pair is my treat." Shi Zuo winked and patted on Bin Yong''s shoulder as he examined the tickets.

    "I know of the Great Wall of China instance and but what is this Emerald Mountain Hot Spring instance? It was not featured on the app." Bin Yong queried Shi Zuo.

    "I am not sure too, I asked Boss Jin about it and he said enter via the penguin statue on the 2nd floor."

    "Penguin statue? I did not remember seeing such a thing the previous time I came here and I thought Boss Jin loved Pandas instead." Bin Yong finally caught his breath and noticed the long queue outside of Boss Jin''s store.

    "And I do not remember Boss Jin being so popr that he had these many customers queuing up for his dungeon!" The shophouse was quite crowded and the customers were making quite a ruckus. A number of people were standing around the stations to view the dungeon instances while others were waiting at the small park beside the shophouse.

    Fortunately, the small park was brightly lit with stone seats and tables and the customers took turns to rest when the queue moved. It was also cooling for some reason aspared to the surroundings of the Tiangong shopping district and this made the wait bearable for most customers.

    "Scan the QR code of your ticket in your Pandamonium app, it will automatically show you the queue number and an estimated waiting time would be given before it is your turn." Shi Zuo showed it to Bin Yong.

    "Wow, the upgrade of the app is indeed a step-up. Ah, but Jia Le does not have that app." Bin Yong was concerned about Jia Le if she was being left out of the group.

    "Oh, I asked Boss Jin about that. Apparently, you can share the app with anyone and they will be given a link to download the application package for the mobile app." Luo Bomented.

    "Why make it soplicated and not ce it in Twentycents, Mooogle store or Gapple Store?"

    "I did ask but he said does not want to pay money for it. He said passing the app rmendation through word of mouth would be sufficient." Luo Bo shrugged her shoulders.

    "Oh well, we will never know Boss Jin and his weird antics. Jia Le, let me share the Pandamonium app with you. Sorry, if we make you left out." Bin Yong searched the app and easily found the share button while Jia Le took out her phone to get the transfer.

    She booted up the app after installing and it asked for a QR code of a dungeon instance ticket. Bin Yong passed the Great Wall of China instance ticket to her and a temporary profile was set up for her with no name on it.

    "Ah, I think you have to join the dungeon instance for the Pandamonium app to update. Shi Zuo said it''s some advanced technology which he himself could not figure." Jia Le attentively listened and nodded her head as an acknowledgement.

    "Now, you are the one making us feel that we are left out, Bin Bin who is that?" Luo Bo interrupted their chat.

    "Ahaha! Sorry guys, this is Jia Le. She joined thepany not too long ago. About 4 months odd?" Bin Yong introduced Jia Le to the couple.

    "Hello! Nice to meet you." Jia Le extended her hands to the couple as they exchanged names and greetings.

    Suddenly, all four of their phones pinged a notification and indicated that their station would be avable shortly. The approximate waiting time was reduced to 15 minutes. "Buddy lets head to Station 6 first." Shi Zuo held onto Bin Yong''s shoulder while Luo Bo was still outside of the store telling Jia Le about the essential functions of Pandamonium.

    "So bro, how did it go?" Shi Zuo asked Bin Yong with regards to Jia Le.

    "What? Nothing happened." Bin Yong tried to hide his feelings but it was in clear for Shi Zuo to see.

    "Liar, we saw the both of you smiling so widely as you approach from the distance. Luo Bo even said if this was an animation frame, there will be gentle colours painted in the background with white and pink sparkles all around you two. She can even make up a tune for the both of you." Shi Zuo tightened his grip around Bin Yong''s shoulder.

    "That description...was detailed." Bin Yong was speechless as they reached Station 6 and saw a glimpse of the new dungeon instance.

    "So, I will cut to the chase, do you like him." Luo Bo stopped talking about the Pandamonium functions the moment the guys left and stared intensely at Jia Le.

    "What are you talking about, Bin Yong - I mean Senior Nu and I are merely acquaintances." Jia Le was caught off guard by the sudden question. Her eyes shifted a little and she stumbled over her words.

    "He liked me a lot even to this day. However, as nice as he can be, I will never be able to reciprocate his love and kindness since I am indeed deeply in love with Shi Zuo...despite his odd habits." Luo Bo revealed that she knew Bin Yong liked her all along.

    "You mean he is still singl-? I mean I did not expect Bin Yong to be erm...wooing you." Jia Le was equally shocked by Luo Bo''s confession and Bin Yong''s rtionship status. She thought someone as cool and professional as Bin Yong would have already been taken.

    "Ah, from your expression. You looked relieved." Luo Bo grinned from Jia Le''s state of shock and confusion as if she immediately understood the whole situation.

    "I ermm.." Jia Le blushed a little and nodded her head slightly. She could never imagine her idol was still single and here she thought she would be satisfied with just being friends with him. Suddenly, she was feeling greedy and wanted more.

    "Then get close to him tonight if possible. Shi Zuo and I will be your wingman for you and that dense little beetle." Luo Boughed sincerely and gave a thumbs up to Jia Le.

    However, for Jia Le. Her mind was in a mess. She did not know whether this was a really golden opportunity presented by the heavens themselves or just a big bad joke.

    "Do not worry, I can read people well enough and Bin Yong is like an open book. I have 100% confidence he does has an inkling of interest in you. But he is held up by the chains of the past, he could not see forward. Help him but not too much and see if he is worth it." Luo Bo gave a fairly sensible advice. After all, this was probably the first time Jia Le made contact with Bin Yong.

    However, Bin Yong''s numerous artwork had already made Jia Le understood what kind of person he was and secretly seeing how Bin Yong worked in the office for the past four months affirmed her beliefs even further.

    "Why are you helping me?" Jia Le still could not understand why Luo Bo was interested in helping her.

    "Because he is my darling''s best friend who he could have betrayed him many times to win me over. However, he did not. A guy with such loyalty to his friend and righteousness is hard to find and I want him to have the best in life too." Luo Bo solemnly replied.

    "Also, I have a good hunch about you and him and I feel that you will not let him down." Luo Bo giggled and Jia Le finally rxed.

    "I will try my best too." Jia Le bowed a little towards Luo Bo as a sign of respect and gratitude. Instead of replying, Luo Bo grabbed Jia Le close to her arms and brought her into Jin''s store.

 Chapter 67 Captain Hei

    <h4>Chapter 67 Captain Hei</h4>

    Luo Bo and Jia Le managed to squeeze through the crowd to get to Station 6 which they finally found Bin Yong and Shi Zuo. "Oh my gosh, You did not see what had happened just now. I am dying to try this instance immediately." Shi Zuo was pumped up as he said to the clueless girls.

    When the dungeon instance at Station 6 waspleted, the participants who managed to stay alive reappeared in front of the station while the others who were unconscious did not emerge from the station. Instead, they were being sent to a different dungeon instance as part of the improvement in the quality of life features by the system.

    "Hmm, the new recovery bay service instance really make me feel like a heavy burden was lifted from me. I can finally concentrate on handling the cash, exnation and food." Jin''s thoughts were transmitted to Yun.

    "Not only that, we will be able to utilise the system''s AI to monitor the unconscious and in a way collect their data to improve their future experiences," Yun said nonchntly as she helped the Panda AIs which were wearing nurse caps in the recovery bay instance.

    "Do they even know that we are collecting their data?" Jin was a little disturbed by it.

    "Need to know basis. Anyways, it is in one of the uses when we obtained the Dungeon Supplier certification that we are given rights to collect information for the benefit of the customers." Yun reasoned it to Jin.

    Cultivators that were knocked out from the dungeon fights would first be teleported to the Recovery Bay Service Instance. Once their conditions were stable enough to be awakened, the Nurse Pandas AIs would teleport them to the second floor and Yun would facilitate the transfer, ensuring that they awake properly from their unconscious state.

    If there were not enough lounge chairs on the second floor to amodate therge influx of customers, the recovery bay instance will hold them until they are conscious. The Nurse Panda AIs would personally guide them to the exit of the dimensional space. They would be teleported to a terminal station on the second floor where they could get food or loot box from the vending machines.

    The best part about the Recovery Bay Service Instance was the ability to amodate an endless number of customers without expanding space in the real world while providing top-notch health monitoring services for the customers.

    "Luo Bo, Jia Le, let''s get going! It''s our turn soon!" Bin Yong was more joyful than before aspared to the other outings they had been together. Both Shi Zuo and Luo Bo could inly see the difference with the presence of Jia Le. The couple looked at each other and smiled deviously.

    The party ced their belongings in the miniature pandas'' storage that were on the shelves beside the TVs and teleported into the dungeon instance using their phones. When they arrived, they felt a strong gust of wind blowing at them and it made the girls screamed when they realised where they were.

    "Are we on a celestial beast?!" Shi Zuo could not believe they were currently standing on top of a gigantic brown falcon in midair.

    "Ah, new recruits. That is wonderful." A grizzly voice was heard from behind them and they turned around to look.

    "A talking panda?!" Luo Bo immediately squealed at the fluffiness of the bigzing panda sitting at the head of the brown falcon.

    "Not just a Panda, Captain Hei here." The panda was wearing an air force officer hat and a formal officer shirt which he could not button at all. There were even some decorations and a medal on his shirt. The captain rank designation on his shoulders was easy to recognise and he could be telling the truth.

    "We are waiting for a few more recruits before the mission goes underway." Captain Hei said as it gave amand to the brown falcon to dive down a little.

    "This is not just a four-man party instance?" Bin Yong was quite surprised.

    "We will start with four if necessary since Boss said there are too many recruits trying to make a difference nowadays. He asked me to proceed when I had a team of roughly eight to ten members." Captain Hei took out a small straw of wheat to chew.

    At this moment, a smaller grey falcon soared up into the skies and brought three new members into the team whom Bing Yong initially did not recognise.

    "Introductions first and make it quick! We have zombies to kill!" Captain Hei shouted.

    Everyone on the brown falcon noticed that their phones vibrated and the names and faces of everyone were shown in the Pandamonium party tab list. Bin Yong realised that they were under Squad A while the new members that just came in were listed under Squad B.

    However, Bin Yong thought it was a little rude if he did not introduce himself properly to the rest.

    "Hi, I am Bing Yong. These are my party members. Jia Le, Shi Zuo and Luo Bo." The rest of the Squad A greeted as Bin Yong introduced them to Squad B.

    "Bu Dong here, this is Kong Xian and Yue Han." Bu Dong extended his hands to shake with Bin Yong while the rest waved their hands.

    "I saw your name on the scoring board and I am d to meet a fellow Dungeoneer."

    "Oh, so you are the rumoured young cultivator who defeated every dungeon instance in King''s Monster." Bin Yong returned his greetings.

    "Compared to Boss Jin''s monsters and dungeon instances? That was nothing." Bu Dongughed and suddenly another grey falcon appeared beneath them.

    As the grey falcon tried to soar higher than the brown falcon, an enormous figure jumped from the grey falcon andnded loudly on the brown falcon. Thankfully, the brown gigantic falcon did not budge at all.

    "Looks like that''s thest recruiting from Station 6. We would be off soon!" Captain Hei shouted.

    Shi Zuo found thest recruit really familiar andter recognised him. "Are you Xiong Da? The Hungry Hippo Cultivator? The one who ordered that pretty AI instructor-Ahhhh" Luo Bo pulled his ears and stared at Shi Zuo intensely.

    "Looks like I have be a minor celebrity in Boss Jin''s store." Xiong Da roared withughter.

    "Big Brother Hippo, looks like you are in my Squad!" Bu Dong beckoned him toe and they exchanged greetings. Everyone looked equally nervous but excited at the same time when the brown falcon dived down and they caught a glimpse of the Great Wall of China.

    "Alright, recruits. Here is the mission. We have intel that a deadly gue was created by a group of nefarious cultivators of the undead which infected the whole town, creating a horde of zombies under theirmand. The zombies from that town had been secretly covered by those cultivators and now decided to attack a part of the Great Wall at Liaodong." The panda was talking to them with its back facing the whole group but the weight of its words had the presence of authority which they could not deny.

    "Unfortunately, the zombies were quite sessful at their attacks, using quantity over quality against our soldiers defending the borders. So we are going to send Squad A to reinforce the foot soldiers at the watchtowers, while Squad B will kill the zombies that were climbing the walls. Given the cultivation I have senseding from all of you, you should be able to clear this without any trouble." Captain Hei immediately rubbed the brown falcon''s head and it dived down even further.

    The situation was as bleak as Captain Hei had described it, the zombies were overrunning the watchtower and soldiers were being pushed back by the horde. All eight of them knew that this was the first massive battle they had ever participated.

    Jia Le had some fear in her since this was also the first time she participated in Boss Jin''s dungeons. She trembled a little while holding her weapon but Bin Yong ced his hand on her shoulders to reassure her.

    "Are you all ready?" Captain Hei turned his headzily and stared at them once more. All had the determined look to pass the dungeon instance.

 Chapter 68 A Small Sacrifice

    <h4>Chapter 68 A Small Sacrifice</h4>

    "A few things before I descend any further." Captain Hei took out two ck talismans with red inked symbols on it and passed it to the squad leaders, Bin Yong and Bu Dong.

    "Use them if you are in deep trouble. They might be a lifesaver for you." The panda captain continued to bite its straw of wheat.

    "Your call signs and symbols are based on the type of cultivation you have when you check your map on the Pandamonium app. Oh and do not worry, your phones are protected by the dungeon instance and the battery consumption is low. If you need to recharge your phone after the instance, ask Boss Jin." Captain Hei exined.

    The Pandamonium app immediately showed the party list and assigned a well-designed symbol for each and every member.

    *********

    SQUAD A

    Bin Yong - Beetle

    Shi Zuo - Monkey

    Luo Bo - Rabbit

    Jia Le - Bellflower

    SQUAD B

    Bu Dong - Ape

    Yue Han - Bat

    Kong Xian - Tortoise

    Xiong Da - Hippo

    ********

    "The call signs are used to facilitatemunication in case you forget their names and it''s easier to recognise symbols on a map than names." Captain Hei tapped the brown falcon once more and it swooped down even further.

    "Last thing! An open voice transmission channel had been set up for the whole group. Concentrate on who you will like to speak with and you will connect with them." Captain Hei spoke and snapped his fingers.

    All eight cultivators were energised with overflowing chi and Captain Hei ordered them to jump off the brown falcon. "Let me create anding area for all of you!" Xiong Da the Hippo was the first to dive down to a forested area.

    "War Club Art, Hippo Ground Pounding Smash!"

    He lifted his War Club while he was flying and aimed his weapon at the ground. The chi which Captain Hei gave, allowed him to create a sonic boom in a second. The War Club decimates the branches blocking its way and when it reaches the ground, the impact was immense enough to uproot the trees and instantly kill the human-looking zombies within the radius of the War Club skill.

    Foul blood and organs sttered throughout thending area. Thus, Hippo created a safending area for the seven other cultivators to arrive at which they used the chi they received from Captain Hei tond safely.

    As Xiong Da took out his phone to check the area map in the Pandamonium app, he saw a counter blinking at the top of his screen.

    "Zombies killed: 17"

    "Oh? So the app keeps track of the number of zombies we are killing. Perhaps a reward for doing so." Hippo thought to himself. The squads managed to locate one of their objectives from afar at thending area. The smoking watchtower on the Great Wall.

    "It will take roughly 10 minutes to reach there by foot and the forest is brimming with zombies." Bin Yong the Beetle stated as he studied the map.

    "Then we better hurry because thisnding area seems to have a "COME GET ME, I''M FOOD" sign to attract them." Yue Han the Batmented as the nearby zombies started to sense the delicious chi energy from the cultivators.

    "Kong Xian..ehh I mean Tortoise and I will lead the vanguard through the forest. Squad A should conserve your strength to take over the watchtower from the zombies. Maybe save any footsoldiers if possible since Captain Hei mentioned about them." Bu Dong the Ape spoke out the battle n for both squads.

    "We should be okay with that, but who will be protecting our rear?" Beetle took out his weapons, a sword and buckler.

    "Leave it to Big Brother Hippo," Bat replied and hurried them to get going before the zombies came for them. Meanwhile, Hippo felt ted that the team decided to rely on him. Looks like the training in those goblin dungeons might prove worthy soon.

    "Tortoise, get your armour projections up and I will lead the way." Ape gathered his chi once more and infused it with his sword.

    "Understood, Tortoise Style! Wide Armour Projection of the Tortoise!" Kong Xian said it out and chi energy started to swivel around his body, giving him a projection of a greenish medium armour silhouette. The Armour Projection acts simr to chi armour but a stronger and more specialised version of it.

    "Let''s go!" Squad B leader Ape shouted and they were running through the forest to reach the Great Wall. The skill, Wide Armour Projection of the Tortoise, which Kong Xian the Tortoise generates was arge but fairly weak chi barrier surrounding him and the group.

    Obstacles like trees would be ignored by the barrier but when the zombies came into contact with it, it would gently push the undead to the side of the barrier where Ape would take over and kill them with his sword. Most of the zombies in the vicinity were not too much of a threat mainly because the two squads were behind them and they could not respond in time. Those who responded were the zombies who caught a glimpse of them moving forward.

    The situation, however, was not the same when they approached the Great Wall. The zombies were everywhere as if trying to tear the Great Wall down with their overwhelming numbers. The squads were close enough to notice some arrows flying past them.

    "Hey! Looks like Captain Hei did send us reinforcements!" A Panda with a coned straw hat shouted as it saw the eight modern looking cultivators dashing into the battlefield ughtering the zombies.

    "Clear a path for them if possible!" Another Panda foot soldier shouted and threw a brown small packet with an ignited fuse over the Great Wall where a horde of zombies was creating a body pile to climb up the wall.

    "BOOM!"

    ck smoke and dust filled the air as parts and pieces of zombies flown in disarray. The only damage being done to the Great Wall was an incoherent artwork of zombie blood. "Beetle! Bring your squad up to the Great Wall, Squad A will bring peace to these undead." Ape shouted.

    "Rabbit, Bellflower! I will give you a lift, step on my hand and jump!" Tortoise lowered his knees and intercrossed his fingers to provide a cusp for Luo Bo the Rabbit to jump. However, Rabbit inserted chi into her leg muscles and jumped onto Tortoise''s shoulder before performing a high jump to grab onto the edge of the Great Wall.

    "Thanks, Tortoise but I think I can handle myself!" Rabbit teased back as a Panda foot soldier grabbed onto her hand to pull her up. Tortoise was a little annoyed but returned to focus on Bellflower.

    "I think I do need the lift! " Jia Le the Bellflower stepped onto Tortoise''s hand and he used his chi to throw her up to the Great Wall. Bellflower managed to coordinate and sync with Tortoise''s movement with her jump and she barely managed to grab on to the edge of the Great Wall.

    "I got you little Bellflower!" Rabbit held onto Bellflower''s wrist and pull her up. However, one of the zombies suddenly emerged from the pile of dead flesh after the explosion and ran up the pile to grab on Bellflower''s ankle.

    "Ahh!" Bellflower cried and Rabbit nearly toppled over from the zombie''s grab. Although the zombies were weak in dexterity, constitution and intelligence but their strength despite their sizepensated for all of it. Thankfully, a nearby panda foot soldier immediately dropped his weapon and rushed to hold onto Rabbit before she fell over the edge.

    "Jia Le!" Beetle noticed themotion when he was guarding Tortoise and immediately threw his shield. "Shield Art! Shield Boomerang of the Beetle!" The shield was immediately charged with Beetle''s chi and flew into the elbow of the zombie grabbing Bellflower.

    The Zombie''s hand snapped into half and Rabbit tried to pull her up quickly. If not for the Panda foot soldier''s help, both Bellflower and Rabbit would have fallen into the pile of zombies. "No! Panda!" Bellflower was in shock when Rabbit pulled her over to the inner body of the Great Wall. Rabbit turned back and she noticed that the panda who was holding onto her was already bitten by numerous zombies.

    "Panda!" Both Bellflower and Rabbit''s rage went through the roof. The Panda smiled at them for thest time and his expression changed to one with fury as he turned his body to m the zombies. It even bit one of the zombie''s head off before it fell to the ground.

    Bellflower and Rabbit knelt and tried to check its breathing. "It''s a small sacrifice..bring us victory..." The honourable panda puffed out itsst breath and Rabbit closed its eyes out of respect.

    At this point, a small number of Panda foot soldiers reinforced the area and surrounded the two cultivators. "Protect the cultivators as they climb up the wall! We will win the watch tower back!" A higher ranking panda foot soldiermanded.

    "Those zombies are going to pay!!" Rabbit shouted and even Jia Le who seemed fairly demure had anger in her eyes.

 Chapter 69 Intermediate Bow Ar

    <h4>Chapter 69 Intermediate Bow Ar</h4>

    "Monkey! Quickly, we do not have much time left! The zombies are amassing once more!" Kong Xian the Tortoise wanted to assist Shi Zuo the Monkey up the Great Wall but thetter was too upied by the horde of zombies surrounding them.

    "Damn, and here I thought I can look cool in front of Luo Bo instead of impressing the guys," Shi Zuo gritted his teeth and gathered his chi out into his arms and legs. His cultivation of two monkey silhouettes appeared right above him screaming. He knew he could have just taken the offer from Kong Xian and joined his teammates. However, that would probably put Tortoise very vulnerable to zombie attacks after the lift assist.

    "Axe Art! Frenzy Fury of the Mad Monkey!"

    The surroundings around Shi Zuo turned hotter as the chi of the Mad Monkey Style emanated out of his body. Without hesitation, zombies dived towards him, hungry for his chi energy. He, however, was grinning at the change of situation.

    "Bin Yong! Jump now, I will catch upter!" Shi Zuo positioned his axe at the tip of his shoulder and bent his knees forward. The instant a zombie came into his reach, a vicious vertical force was released from Shi Zuo''s axe de causing the zombie to be divided into two pieces.

    Shi Zuo nced upwards and saw multiple zombies behind the first were sliced into two pieces too. He smirked and did the same with the zombie at his left and this time it was a horizontal sh attack. All zombies within the range of 10 metres were killed instantly.

    At this point, he heard hollers from the top of the Great Wall. "Shi Zuo! Come up now!" Bin Yong the Beetle was beckoning him to head over.

    "Haha, today I will let you be the hero of the day for thedies Bro," Shi Zuo whispered to himself and gave a V sign with his left hand and move forward towards Yue Han the Bat.

    "Damn it, Bro! Why are you acting like this!" Bin Yong cursed under his breath and redirected his focus to the current objective.

    "Beetle Cultivator, do not leave yet!" A Panda foot soldier with a Sergeant rank insignia on his right chest came towards him with a small ornament box. "Take this white gem infused with the magic of the West. Headquarters said that it contained an area of effect spell Turn Undead. ce it at the top of the watchtower and use it to disperse this evil."

    "Understood." Bin Yong opened the ornament box and kept the white gem in his storage ring. The Panda Sergeant then signalled its troops and the panda foot soldiers packed their wall shields to form a wall at the rear of Squad A. "GO! We will cover your back!" Panda Sergeant gave a hot-tempered war cry and the other pandas shouted in unison to attract the attention of the zombies.

    The Zombies started to rush from both sides of the wall body. "Let me handle this, Bin Bin. I have a favour to pay back." Luo Bo went to the front and aimed her bow at the iing horde that was upying the watchtower.

    "This is for you Mister Panda. Intermediate Bow Art! Charge Tornado Puncture of the Rabbit!" Luo Bo portrayed her cultivation, the Illusive Rabbit Style and surprisingly three rabbit silhouettes jumped above her. She knelt with one knee on the ground to steady herself as chi began swirling around her chi energised arrow. She nocked the arrow and aimed towards the iing horde from afar.

    "Luo Bo! You broke through and using a higher level Bow Art too?" Bin Yong was shocked by Luo Bo revtion of her cultivation.

    "I had received some training from my family members." Luo Bo kept her answer short as she focused her aim. "I need to shoot when they are nearer but I do not know if I had enough energy stored in my arrow for these many zombies."

    "Rabbit, let me assist! Kunai Art! Entrapping Fields of Bellflower!" Jia Le said as if she knew what was in Luo Bo''s mind. She portrayed her cultivation, Breathtaking Bellflower Style and two bellflower silhouettes bloomed in mid-air above her.

    She plunged her kunai to the stone floor of the Great Wall and brownish green roots creeped out from her kunai. The speed of the roots emerging from the kunai increases and it hastened to the speed of a flying arrow.

    As one of the roots touched a zombie, it sprouted more branch roots trapping the zombie from moving. Eventually, many other zombies were also trapped and it slowed down the progression of the assault by the horde since a number of them were blocked by the trapped zombies.

    The winds around Luo Bo quivered and she finally loosed the arrow and was knocked back by the recoil. Bin Yong managed to catch Luo Bo before she fell to the ground. At this moment, Luo Bo felt that Bin Yong changed a little. Previously, Bin Yong would have been conscientious towards Luo Bo but this time around, he had his eyes on Jia Le too. "I am d he might have found the one." She smiled a little at this small change of attitude of him towards her.

    As the energised arrow screamed and pierced through the horde, the swirling chi energy created a centrifugal force equivalent to a mini tornado and cut each and every zombie in its range. Meanwhile, some other zombies were being sted away from the arrow and flew off the Great Wall. The distance they were thrown off was sufficient to cause immobility or even death.

    "Weird, did the arrow not detonate?" Luo Bo panted as she crouched with the support of her bow.

    "Still, that was an amazing shot." Jia Le praised Luo Bo.

    "No, Thank you. That entrapment support was right on time. I could not have gone full power if not for you." Luo Bo expressed her gratitude to Jia Le.

    "You two were fantastic. Come. Let''s head in the watchtower before more zombies encroach the tower." Bin Yong helped Luo Bo up and they started moving forward into the watchtower.

    "Pandas! Stay alive!" Luo Bo shouted as she headed forth.

    "Fighting! Do your best" Jia Le added in and followed behind Bin Yong.

    "Sleepyheads! Did you hear that? Two cutedies just gave you encouragement. How do you all respond!?" The Panda Sergeant yelled at the Panda foot soldiers and they responded with a resounding growl. The morale of the troops shot up and became even more determined to continue the fight against the zombies.

    Things were going suspiciously well until a loud st was suddenly heard away from the Great Wall.

    "Oh my gosh!! What is that?!!" Yue Han the Bat and Shi Zuo the Monkey turned to the direction and started to have cold sweats.

    "Something we have to defeat." Bu Dong the Ape swung his sword downwards to remove the zombie blood.

    "Ohohoho, a challenge eh?" Xiong Da the Hippo picked up his war club from the remnants of a smashed brain and tried to look at the direction of the st.

    While they were in the dungeon instance, the crowd outside was going crazy as usual. Because of the magic eye technology, they knew what wasing for Squad B and Monkey.

    "Interesting, I thought the zombie dungeon will be exclusively Grade 1. I did not expect it to modify the difficulty to a higher grade." Jin thoughts were heard by Yun.

    "We did discuss how the grade based dungeons like Goblin Dungeon and Zither Mistress Dungeon were quite harsh to the modern cultivators. While it was a sort of benchmark for our customers, it was not the best cultivating solution for our customers." Yun said as she was tending to an unconscious cultivator in the Recovery Bay service instance.

    "Agreed, we should be more proactive in engaging the customers to something they can handle with a minor notch up in difficulty. Definitely not to the extent of holding their hands to the end of the dungeon. The old model of grade based dungeons is just not for everyone." Jin nodded his head slightly.

    Minor notch up? If Bu Dong and the rest heard what Jin had said after they saw what wasing for them, they would personally put a notch into Jin''s face.

 Chapter 70 Zombie Abomination

    <h4>Chapter 70 Zombie Abomination</h4>

    Squad B''s objective was to break the siege against the Great Wall while Squad A would need to im the watch tower back. However, the presence of Shi Zuo the Monkey from Squad A had proved a tremendous help for the ever advancing zombie horde.

    The number of zombie bodies continued to pile before the Great Wall as some Panda foot archers provided some ranged support from the tower for Squad B too.

    Unfortunately, after the loud st from afar, the horde of zombies in the forest became emboldened by the presence of that particr abnormality and pressed their attack against Bu Dong and the others.

    "I will handle this!" Xiong Da the Hippo charged to the front of the battlefield and faced the forest.

    "War Club Art! Breaking Shockwaves of Hippo!" Xiong Da proudly portrayed his cultivation, the Hungry Hippo Style and two hippo silhouettes opened their mouths widely above him. Xiong Da dragged his war club along the ground and swiftly raised it up causing dust, stones and sand to be mixed with his chi energy waves as the waves shot through the forest, decimating the iing zombies.

    Xiong Da knew that the ground dirt would not have much effect on the zombies since they were blind to begin with but more sensitive to hearing and chi energy. If the technique was used on humans, the sand and dust will blind them temporarily or distract them even if they managed to dodge the chi energy waves.

    In any case, he just wanted to try it since Instructor Milk forced him to learn the variation of this technique topensate for theck of uracy his powerful attacks had. Thankfully, what he was fighting against right now did not dodge or block his attacks, making it a good opportunity to test his technique out.

    He took a breather since the technique expended quite a fair amount of chi and from his storage ring, he grabbed a panda face shaped bottle filled with blue liquid. "Good thing I went to the underground floor to get a few brewed consumables that replenish my strength. It''s a pity they are a little expensive in terms of medals."

    Xiong Da started to drink the blue liquid from the bottle and it tasted like soda grape juice. To his amazement, the moment he swallowed the blue liquid, he felt his Dantian rapidly converting the blue liquid to the chi he needed.

    "Oh! This is indeed worth the medals!" Xiong Da was really satisfied with his purchase. Most chi regenerating potions required some time for the concoction to take effect but Boss Jin''s potion worked instantaneously.

    Suddenly, that particr presence which they initially felt turned even stronger. Yue Han the Bat, who was proficient in detection realised that the presence was rapidly elerating towards them.

    "Guys, iing!" Yue Han shouted as he decapitated another zombie.

    "OWWWWOOOOOOO!!" Arge zombie charged towards them, not caring of any obstacles or zombies blocking its path. As it was charging, it noticed Bu Dong fighting solo against multiple zombies and mmed its ''hand'' at him.

    Bu Dong the Ape managed to dodge in time but was knocked back by the immense force. The zombies, on the other hand, was not as lucky as Bu Dong since they were not fast enough to move away from the area of attack.

    "Holy Geezers!" Shi Zuo the Monkey was taken by the size and disgusting look of the zombie abomination. It was packed with muscles that seemed to be buffed by steroids. Instead of normal human hands, Shi Zuo assumed it was reced by a dead corpse with its head merged with the wrist.

    Two headless corpses became its hands and all the zombie abomination could do was to il its hands around. Its head was also fused with the shoulders and Shi Zuo noticed that there was an enormous mouth along its back instead of a spine.

    "How do we even defeat this?!" Yue Han panicked and nearly got bitten by a zombie. Thankfully, Shi Zuo kicked it away in time and told him to get a hold of himself.

    "Shit! Looks like I might have to execute that intermediate sword art if things go south." Bu Dong seemed to be in a dilemma. Unlike Luo Bo''s intermediate bow art, Bu Dong had decided to learn a moreplicated intermediate sword art which required a substantial amount of chi, stamina and concentration to execute. It was akin to the ultimatest technique for his current Grade but he did not have the confidence to do so in such a messy and chaotic environment.

    "Do not think so much! Let''s do what we can!" Xiong Da the Hippo shouted and he dashed forth to face the monster head on. Compared to the goblin attacks, the swings that the zombie abomination made was slower which allowed the Hippo to dodge with some effort despite his size.

    "I will cover the rear for now! Bu Dong! Concentrate on the zombie abomination and win! That is what you always do!" Kong Xian shouted as he reinforced his armour projection with more chi and took care of half a dozen zombies with a horizontal sh of his two-handed sword.

    "Damn, he is right!" Bu Dong shook his head and pped both of his cheeks before he charged in too. With a quick upper sword strike, Bu Dong managed to sh off the headless corpse on the right from the abomination''s wrist but to his surprise, multiple low growls came from behind its back.

    "What!? There are zombies climbing out of his back...mouth!" Yue Han shouted as the abomination ced its hand on its back and a zombie from the mouth willingly crawled up its back to merge with its wrist in order to be a part of its right hand again.

    "Shit! How are we going to defeat it while being surrounded by zombies and he had the chance of regenerating it?" Yue Hanined again but this time around he managed to kill another zombie.

    "Oh just shut up!" Shi Zuo got annoyed by the whining of the Bat. He too took out a potion from his storage ring and started to guzzle the entire bottle. It was not from Boss Jin''s underground stores but a simr chi regenerating consumable which came from his past dungeon ys created by other suppliers.

    While it might not be as fast activating as the one Xiong Da had drunk, Shi Zuo was slowly feeling the effects of it.

    "Bat, what are your sword arts?" Shi Zuo yelled at Yue Han while he chopped another zombie head off.

    "Mainly, flying sword dive and diversion sword technique." Yue Han replied back.

    "Great, I might have an idea to stop the zombie abomination for a moment for us to dish out our strongest attacks!" Shi Zuo began gathering his chi within him once more.

 Chapter 71 Interim Leader Shi Zuo

    <h4>Chapter 71 Interim Leader Shi Zuo</h4>

    "I did not encounter the zombie abomination before when I was in this dungeon earlier on." A Grade 1 customer said out loud as everyone in the store who was looking at the 49 Inch TV at the top of Station 6 saw the yback of how the Zombie abomination came onto the scene.

    "Yeah, me too. Boss Jin, is that some secret encounter?" A customer who was waiting for his turn asked.

    "No, each and every zombie dungeon instance was modified to suit the team of cultivators'' averagepetency. This is especially applicable for returning cultivators that participated in our dungeons. Remember the stats profile in your Pandamonium app? " Jin asked them.

    "Are you saying you took into ount our strengths and weaknesses along with the stats of other cultivators to create a dungeon instance suited just for us?" Another customer with spectacles asked.

    "Mmhmm. For Station 6, there are two Grade 3 cultivators as you can see the stats on the wall mounted TV. Both of the squads each have a Grade 2 Peak cultivator as well and the rest are Grade 2. The zombie abomination was created to challenge the Grade 3 and Grade 2 cultivators. " Jin exined.

    "If your team consists of mainly Grade 1 cultivators, the zombie abomination will not appear and that particr team will be able to focus on learning how to fight and handle the pressure of many enemies."

    "Oh my gosh, Boss Jin. Can I call you my master?" A customer wanted to bow down and prostrate in front of Boss Jin.

    The other customers who had heard the reasoning of this new dungeon instance started to respect Boss Jin. They did not expect Boss Jin to go so far thinking and caring for the growth of the cultivators participating his dungeon instances.

    "Boss, now I understand why your dungeon instances have such exorbitant prices attached to it. You are actually tailoring the fights for the whole team while personalising it based on our stats." An officedy gave a thumbs up to him after noting that the price of the zombie dungeon instance was at 350 Yuan. Some of the newer customers saw him in a different perspective.

    "It is all about the experience. Subsequent dungeon instances will follow this model in the future unless explicitly stated like the Goblin and Zither Mistress dungeon instances." Jin smiled at them.

    "I wholly agree about the part on dungeon experience and I respect Boss Jin for it too. Tailoring the dungeon instances required a lot of information andplex maniption of the dimensional space. Seeing how high tech your dungeon instance is, you must either be a highly specialisedputer expert with good knowledge in the creating dimensional spaces or you hired an excellent team of developers." Mr Know It All customer happened to speak out and some of the customers started to bootlick Boss Jin even more.

    "Does that mean you recorded all our information and powers into your database system? Is it really secure? Although I know we indirectly allowed the collection of personal data as stated in the dungeon supplier''s general terms and agreement. But what if other people are able to hack your database and ess it?" Suddenly, a concerned customer started to ask.

    "Nope, that will never ever happen. Rest assured, all your information will be protected with the highest guarantee. If it is gone or had I been hacked, I will behead myself and put it in a toilet bowl for you to use." Jin confidently affirmed the concerns of his customer.

    "Seeing how he sells such cutting edge technology embedded in these dungeon instances along with all these awfully cute animal AIs, I have full confidence in Boss Jin''s data security." Mr Know It All backed up Jin and other customers started to believe in him too.

    "Thank you for thepliment but let''s continue watching. I believed Shi Zuo is about to do something." Jin smiled and gestured his hand towards the TV.

    "Shi Zuo, what''s your n?!" Bu Dong did not mind letting Shi Zuo lead the battle. He was, after all, more of apetent fighter rather than a strategic leader in the battle.

    "You still have that ck talisman that Captain Hei gave you right?" Shi Zuo seemed to be searching for something in his storage ring as Yue Han guarded him. Currently, Xiong Da the Hippo was the only one in the sh with the zombie abomination.

    "Yes, but he had not given me any information regarding its uses. I just assumed it would be useful if we are in a pinch." Bu Dong blocked a punch from a zombie with his sword and immediately shed it down.

    "Guys, hurry up! I do not have all day to y with him". Xiong Da was getting tired and had a bit of difficulty trying to dodge the blows of the abomination. Thus, he was using his two handed war club to parry its blows else he would take the blow like a staunch hippo. However, he would not be able to hold long if Squad B could not think of something fast.

    "Found it!" Shi Zuo used some strength to pull an item out from the storage ring and it was an ancient looking two handed iron axe with a stone grip. What was mind boggling about it was its size. It was asrge as Shi Zuo himself and he had difficulty dragging it forward.

    "Bat! I need you to divert its attention and have its back facing me. If you are able to bring it close to me, that would be great because this weapon is so freaking heavy!" Shi Zuo told hismands to Yue Han the Bat but he got nervous.

    "What if-- Damn it! Fine! I will do what I can!" Yue Han swallowed his nervousness down his throat and was determined to move forward. How could he be frightened at this point when everyone was trying their best?

    "We will provide you support too!" Apparently, some of the Panda foot archers were able to eavesdrop on their conversation and the cultivators realised it could be due to the open voice transmission channel which Captain Hei talked about.

    "Tortoise, how are you holding up?" Bu Dong headed over to Kong Xian the Tortoise and assisted him with the zombie killing.

    "Not too bad but your presence lifted some pressure from me." Kong Xian wiped his sweat off his forehead.

    "I remembered you had a skill...erm a shout that provoke enemies." Bu Dong continued to transmit his conversation to the open channel.

    "Yes, the Tortoise War Cry but if I do that, I might be overwhelmed by other zombies. Why would you want me to use that?" Kong Xian stabbed his two handed sword through two zombies.

    "Bat will be distracting the abomination right? That will leave Hippo free from the Zombie abomination''s attention. Let Hippo join up with Tortoise since Hippo''s area wide attacks will do the job against that many zombies." Shi Zuo spoke in the open channel as well.

    "Panda Archers, I noticed you asionally used fire arrows. Can you use them on the zombie abomination to slow it down as Bat distracts it!" Shi Zuo was decisive and firm in his orders. While he might be ying around with his girlfriend Luo Bo, he was actually very serious when ites to his work. The attention to details could have made him a respectable worker in thepany but his yfulness left a deeper impression on most coworkers.

    Five of the Panda foot archers on the Great Wall acknowledged and readied their bows. "Big Bro Hippo, break off on my count!" Yue Han ran in the opposite direction of the zombie abomination and into the woods.

    It was not obvious what Yue Han was doing to the rest of the squad but he was actually gaining as much momentum as he could to activate his sword art. His speed became fast enough to jump between trees in order to climb higher into the air.

    "Sword Art! Descension Sword of the Blind Bat!" Yue Han shouted and his chi propelled him upwards to the sky to about 60 metres in the air. While in mid air, he immediately aimed his sword towards the zombie abomination and started to dive down in an angle considering the distance between him and the abomination.

    "Sword Art! Shadow Sword of the Blind Bat!" This time round, Yue Han''s cultivation style, the Blind Bat Style, portrayed two bat silhouettes right above him swooping down. His body started to emit chi which temporarily altered the properties of his body into a semi translucent shadow form along with his sword.

    "Now!" Yue Han yelled.

    The chi emitted by two sword arts was sufficient enough to catch the zombie abomination''s attention and Xiong Da the Hippo took this precious opportunity to sidestep and smashed his war club on its feet. The abomination turned to face Xiong Da which was ironically the direction towards Shi Zuo.

    The Zombie abomination was now crippled and hence an easier target for Shi Zuoter on. It also gave Shi Zuo enough time to gather his chi for his attack against the zombie abomination.

    Although there was some movement by the zombie abomination, Yue Han was able to adjust his trajectory and struck with tremendous force. Although it was a deep flesh wound, it was not strong enough to nearly cut its arm away.

    In the shadow form, Yue Han was able to pierce through the zombie abomination without colliding into it. He thennded safely without damaging his body from the dive because of his shadow form. However, the chi consumption was high so he had no choice but hope he was able to lure it as near as he could to Shi Zuo.

    Xiong Da took out the same few chi generation bottles he used earlier and threw to Shi Zuo and Bu Dong. "Drink it! The chi regeneration from this bottle is superb!" For the team to seed, Xiong Da believed it did not matter to share some of his consumables.

    "This will be a great help!" Shi Zuo raised the bottle up to thank Xiong Da. After drinking, he smashed the bottle on a zombie''s head that came too close to him andter used the half broken bottle to pierce its neck.

    Meanwhile, the team of Panda foot archers who listened to Shi Zuo orders took aim with a fire burning at the tip of their arrows. They simultaneously loosen their arrows and all five fire arrows urately lodged itself on the zombie abomination. There was one shot that went into the wound that Yue Han had previously created.

    As if the abomination understood pain, it raged and iled its hands even more wildly but at a much slower rate due to the burning fire arrows. Bu Dong saw it and suddenly thought that his intermediate sword art might actually have a chance against it and thus his confidence grew back.

    Xiong Da immediately aided Kong Xian after drinking his bottle of chi regeneration and passed thest remaining bottle to Kong Xian. "I will cover you for a while, drink it andter attract the zombies away from the abomination."

    "Thank you for this kindness." Kong Xian nodded at Xiong Da and started to drink while Xiong Da smashed a few more undead skulls into oblivion.

    "Bu Dong! I might need more time!" It was obvious Shi Zuo''s output of chi was increasing but controlled to prevent it from attracting the attention of the zombie abomination. Yue Han was also steadily luring it closer to Shi Zuo but he was reaching the time limit of his shadow form.

    Considering the situation, Bu Dong took out the ck talisman with the red symbols from his storage ring. It started to glow warmly as he held it on his hands.

    "I hope this will really help."

 Chapter 72 Black Talisman

    <h4>Chapter 72 ck Talisman</h4>

    Bu Dong held the ck talisman up with two fingers and focused a small amount of chi into it.

    "Activate!"

    He immediately ced the ck talisman onto the ground and an borate magic circle with a luminous image of a yin and yang with other peculiar symbols surfaced right before him.

    The customers that were watching the dungeon instance buzzed out in excitement! Even Jin folded his arms and leaned forth the bar counter to catch the scene as it unfolded right before them.

    A thick fog arose right before Bu Dong and a fairly enormous furry figure was summoned out of the magic circle.

    "Oink!"

    "That ck talisman summoned Mr Oink?!" Most of the old customers including Bu Dong was shocked! Wasn''t the ck talisman supposed to help them and notplicate the situation even more?

    "Continue watching." Jin snickered a little as he folded his arms.

    "Did Captain Hei actually gave wrong information?" Bu Dong''s brain was in a mess and he readied his sword to fight against the eight-legged boar which he previously encountered in the Goblin Dungeon.

    "Oink! Oink!" The eight-legged boar seemed happy in spite of its grunting as it saw Bu Dong. At the same time, it actually gazed keenly at the zombie abomination. Bu Dong could notprehend the next scene when Mr Oink actually lunged itself towards the zombie abomination. "Bat! Yue Han! Watch out! Mr Oink ising!" Bu Dong hurriedly eximed.

    However, it was toote when Yue Han heard the warning. He suddenly saw a familiar figure dashing towards him and the zombie abomination. Thankfully, his shadow form was still in effect when Mr Oink collided into him. Hence, all he got was some blunt trauma at the side of his body.

    The boar furiously rammed into the zombie abomination which inadvertently helped Yue Han to move it nearer to Shi Zuo. Not only that, the leg injury which Xiong Da inflicted earlier took effect and the zombie abomination fell to the ground. It was not able to get up in time to prevent the next consecutive strike from Mr Oink.

    Meanwhile, everyone was cheering for Mr Oink for no particr reason. "This is amazing! Does that mean the same thing might happen from Bin Yong''s ck talisman activation?" One of the returning customers who knew Boss Jin''s dungeons well enough questioned him.

    "Perhaps," Jin''s smiled broadly and returned to the Panda Port to attend to a new customer.

    Seeing how the abomination was on its knees, the boar lowered its head and pierced its tusks into the abdominal area of the zombie monster. Mr Oink used all its muscles to lift the zombie abomination up before mming it down to the ground. The ground trembled and even cracked from the impact due to the continuous assault by the eight-legged boar. It seemed to cause some degree of internal injury with sounds of bone cracking and blood spewing from the wound inflicted by Mr Oink'' tusks.

    The abomination roared in an unknownnguage for every zombie in the vicinity to hear and its intentions were clear. Itmanded the zombies to attack the boar and demanded them to sacrifice themselves to heal it.

    "Oh no, you don''t. Towering Tortoise Technique! The Aggravated Cries of the Tortoise!" Kong Xian spoke loudly in a firm voice. While it seemed ironic to say the name of a technique to produce the provoking war cry, it was the way how eastern cultivation techniques and weapon arts worked in this world.

    Words itself are a form of power. A praise, an insult or even just a sentence of reason could invoke the chi within to be released out of the body. To date, the concept in the power of words igniting chi from within could not be fullyprehended by martial arts grandmasters, past schrs or even modern researchers. There were theories but the evidence to most of them was at most flimsy.

    However, that did not stop any cultivator for fully utilising it into their cultivation styles. Thus by saying the name of the technique or weapon art, the words imbued the cultivator''s chi allowing it to be shaped and formed into the desired effect of a technique.

    While most techniques required the incantation of its name before executing the attack, some techniques from certain cultivation styles allowed one to attack first before stating its name. Most of such cultivation styles were mainly used in an assassination. However, in the case of Jin, his Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation style utilised a different sort of concept.

    Kong Xian''s thunderous shout enabled him to emit a huge breath of chi causing the zombies to move towards Kong Xian in order to satisfy their hunger pangs for chi. The shout overpowered themands of the abomination, rendering its cry for help useless.

    Seeing how he seeded in luring the majority of the zombies, Kong Xian quickly proceeded deeper into the forest with Xiong Da alongside him.

    All thanks to Mr Oink, Yue Han was finally alleviated from the mounting pressure he had faced against the abomination and stepped aside from the battlefield to catch his breath.

    "Good job Yue Han! You confronted your fears with determination." Shi Zuo took a deep breath in and dragged the gigantic axe towards the abomination. "It is time to face my fear too." Shi Zuo feared his technique would fail him.

    Meanwhile, the abomination, despite itsck of intelligence, noticed that reinforcements would not being and for the first time, it struggled to get Mr Oink''s tusk out of its body by persistently striking the boar until it managed to break one of the tusks out of its head.

    Mr Oink experienced such an excruciating pain from the broken tusk that it finally withdrew itself from the scuffle and the abomination shouted in victory. Without dy, itmanded the zombies residing in its mouth to emerge and mend its wounds.

    Unfortunately, its victory and respite were short lived.

    "Intermediate Great Axe Art! The Divide between the Mountains of Mad Monkey!" Shi Zuo was seen unleashing a tremendous amount of chi in an instant. The cultivation of the Mad Monkey was portrayed above Shi Zuo with two monkey silhouettes banging their hands in midair. Suddenly, a third monkey silhouette materialised from nowhere and joined the two monkeys.

    "Grade 3!!!!" The customers roared with exhration in their hearts as they saw Shi Zuo jumped from Grade 2 Peak to Grade 3.

    The great stone axe he held up becamerger to the extent it was simr to the build of abomination. With two hands barely grabbing onto the great Axe, Shi Zuo swung it down with all his might aiming at the mouth which was positioned at the back of the monster. The force was so vehement that Shi Zuo thought that his backbone would have cracked by just swinging the great axe.

    As predicted, the zombies within the mouth came out trying to halt the swing of the great axe but it was fruitless. The axe was so heavy that it sliced and smashed every zombie in the abomination''s monstrous mouth as they tried to block the attack. Finally, the axe was lodged into the zombie abomination''s back and the weight of the axe made the abominationpletely immobile.

    "Now! Bu Dong!" Shi Zuo fell to his knees but Yue Han caught him in time and carried him further away from the abomination.

    "Intermediate Sword Art! Lacerate in the zing Edge of the Angry Ape!" Bu Dong was already running towards the abomination and simultaneously preparing to activate his technique without the distraction of the zombies.

    His sword instantaneously turned bright orange red and heat was being radiated out of it. Bu Dong stabbed the abomination with all his might and plunged his sword deep into it. At that moment, the flesh of the abomination started to turn scarlet red in colour and a fire was ignited within the monster. ck smoke was seening out of the abomination''s orifices and within seconds, the stench of dead flesh burning diffused into the air. The fire within the monster started to burn fiercely and in minutes, the whole body was on fire.

    The customers cheered loudly at Squad B victory and at the end of the pile of burnt flesh was the great axe which returned to its original size. Yue Han high fived Bu Dong as Shi Zuo sat for a while.

    "Leader, there is no time to rest. We must assist Tortoise and Hippo." Bu Dong offered his hand to Shi Zuo.

    Separately, Squad A Leader Bin Yong was having a bit of trouble on the third floor of the Watchtower. "Leave me be! Rabbit and Bellflower, take this white gem to the next floor!" After throwing the white gem to Jia Le, Bin Yong panted as his buckler was raised up high to protect his face and his sword pointed towards a zombie.

    A Zombified Grade 3 Cultivator.

 Chapter 73 White Gem

    <h4>Chapter 73 White Gem</h4>

    The zombified cultivator portrayed its cultivation of three buffalo silhouettes but all of the buffaloes were being infected and gave a crazed look in them.

    "No! We cannot leave you alone here!" Bothdies argued that Bin Yong could not win this alone. The injuries they received from the zombified cultivator was not grave but it posed a concern to Bin Yong.

    "Get the gem up to the top floor and we will win the objective of this dungeon!" Bin Yong was insistent.

    "No! This is a matter of principle. I will not abandon arade to die." Jia Le shoved the gem to Luo Bo and nced at her as if she was looking for approval.

    While Luo Bo had the urge to stay with Bin Yong to provide some assistance, she realised that it was a chance for Jia Le to prove herself in front of Bin Yong and provide them with some personal space.

    In addition, she was a cultivator specialised in long ranged attacks and her presence might inadvertently hinder them.

    "No! What if there is another zombified cultivator on the next floor, at least one of you will still be able toplete the objective." Bin Yong reasoned as he defended himself from the attack by the zombified cultivator.

    They did not encounter the cultivator until they cleared the entire 3rd floor of the watchtower. It slowly walked down from the top floor when there were no other zombies to interfere with their duel.

    During the ascent of Squad A, Jia Le managed to block each and every stair with her cultivation technique Root Barrier of Bellflowers, which allowed her to create a physical barrier made up of roots that entrapped and slowly drained any zombie that wished to pass through it.

    "Jia Le, Bin Yong is in your care!" Luo Bo ced her hand on Jia Le''s shoulders and subtly nodded at her. Jia Le knew where Luo Bo wasing from and in return, she passed her a kunai with a small white talisman attached to it.

    "This kunai of mine was inscribed with a one-time chi technique. Use this to trap and kill your opponent if needed." Jia Le exined to Luo Bo the use of her kunai. Without turning back, Jia Le headed forth and assisted Bin Yong to the best of her ability while Luo Bo changed her short bow to an automatic hand crossbow from her storage ring.

    Jia Le practised the Breathtaking Bellflower style for her cultivation. It gave her control of her chi to cast limited earth elemental spells. Unfortunately, she mostly used it for art practices as she was growing up. However, she did learn some cultivation techniques to protect herself from danger and to participate in dungeon instances with her friends but most of it was defensive and support spells.

    "Why did youe back?" Bin Yong was a little disappointed and angry at the same time when he saw Jia Le running towards him.

    "As I said, I really can''t leave you alone." Jia Le took out another Kunai from her pack that she strapped on her leg.

    "I.." Bin Yong became conflicted. He does not want Jia Le to get hurt from this zombified cultivator again but he was also happy she stayed to help him despite what he had said.

    After a minor sh with the zombified cultivator, Bin Yong noticed the zombified cultivator wascking in speed for a Grade 3 but its strength and uracy were heightened by at least two fold. Not only that, the cultivator seemed to have an intent to kill Bin Yong and Jia Le aspared to the mindless zombies who just wanted to fulfil their hunger pangs for chi.

    "Then let''s defeat this quickly." Bin Yong took out the ck Talisman which Captain Hei said to use during a pinch. As he was in the watchtower, he did not know of the situation outside of the watchtower.

    "Activate!" Bin Yong shouted and he experienced the same magic circle which Bu Dong had witnessed.

    "Ke ke ke ke!" Three small greenish figures appeared right in front of Bin Yong and he had the same shock which Squad B perceived. Instead of words to convince Bin Yong, the spear goblin took the initiative to strike the zombie cultivator with his spear but the zombie deflected the strike with its sword.

    The dagger goblin gave no quarters for the zombie after it deflected the spear goblin''s strike and went straight for its vitals. The zombified cultivator was not able to escape quickly and the dagger was pierced into its neck. However, being an undead, the cultivator turned its head and tried to bite the dagger goblin but the goblin had quick enough reflex to move away. The poison on the dagger which the goblin usually coated it with had no effect to the zombie as well.

    With a few simple hand signals. the sword goblin signalled Bin Yong to cooperate with it and Bin Yong agreed with some hesitation. "I guessed the goblins are really helping me instead of attacking me this time around. Does that mean the ck talisman summoned creatures from other dungeons to aid me? Guess my enemy then is my ally now." Bin Yong charged forth with his buckler raised.

    "Bin Yong, I will help too! Kunai Art! Entrapping Fields of Bellflower!" Jia Le did the same technique she used helping Luo Bo. The roots appearing from her kunai raced towards the zombified cultivator and grabbed its legs and hands.

    Regrettably, they were not strong against the Grade 3 zombie and it ripped one of the roots apart before it could be entrapped. However, the distraction was sufficient for Bin Yong and the sword goblin. Suddenly, two goblin silhouettes appeared above the sword goblin and its sword was infused with its own chi.

    "The Goblin is actually a Grade 2?!" Bin Yong felt that he should not be beaten by a goblin. "Shield Art, Ramming st of the Beetle!" Bin Yong''s shield was infused with his chi and he mmed his shield to the zombified cultivator. As the shield touches the zombie, it automatically released a minor gas explosion which caused the zombie to lose its right sword arm and part of its right shoulder too.

    Bin Yong then rolled forward after his attack to give the sword goblin some space to execute its attack. The sword goblin shed downwards furiously before picking up the zombie''s sword that fell to the floor a second ago. After which, the goblin spun and shed upwards, creating a long sh wound starting from the abdominal area and exited from the left side of its chest.

    As organs and blood gushed out from its wound, Jia Le threw a kunai at the zombie, hitting it right in its mouth. The kunai activated and roots and branches sprouted from its mouth and subsequently into the body and out from the zombie''s wounds again.

    After a minute, the zombie stood there lifeless in a sort of artwork meshed with flesh and nts. Subsequently, a few bellflowers started to bloom from it and it was bizarrely beautiful yet enchanting. Bin Yong panted and thanked the three goblins before they disappeared into thin air while Jia Le fell to her knees feeling exhausted.

    Bin Yong''s heart raced a little but he took out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the zombie artwork. Bin Yong then turned his head to peek at Jia Le but realised toote that she was already staring at him.

    They stared at each other a while longer without breaking any eye contact before Bin Yong decided to open his mouth. "It''s...actually quite pretty." Jia Le immediately giggled at hisment followed by a series ofughter which both of them shared.

    Separately, Luo Bo found some resistance on the top floor and coincidentally cleared the entire floor at the same time Bin Yong and Jia Le defeated the zombified cultivator. She took out the white gem of Turn Undead and ced it on a pedestal with the handwritten A4 paper sign attached on it.

    "PLACE WHITE GEM HERE." There was even a panda pawprint to sign it off.

 Chapter 74 Gold Panda Medal

    <h4>Chapter 74 Gold Panda Medal</h4>

    Once Luo Bo ced the white gem on the pedestal, the gem floated up off of it and energy burst out from it.

    Like a shining beacon from a lighthouse, the watchtower sent a magical bright shockwave through the entire area, causing the undead to stop moving all of a sudden. The zombies then slowly crumbled into dust and if someone had been paying attention to the chi in the environment, they would have been able to discern that the tension in the air was lifted and a sense of relief washed over the area when the entire horde of zombie perished into the ground.

    Members of Squad B who were fending off the undead overheard a loud ste from the far end of the Great Wall and turned to see a burst of white magical shockwavesing from the watchtower.

    "They finally did it." Shi Zuo wiped his sweat off his head with his shirt sleeve. Yue Han hollered loudly while the rest of them sighed with relief while some with a smile on their face.

    They were not the only ones celebrating. Even the customers in the store cheered loudly for showing them such an exciting stream of a dungeon run. The spirits were running high and some of the customers even offered to buy drinks for strangers, which was still a fairly rare scene in Jin''s store on a normal day, or any store for that matter.

    Meanwhile, Squad A was reunited on the top floor and Luo Bo was pleasantly surprised to find that both of them survived the encounter with the Grade 3 zombified cultivator. "It was a good thing Captain Hei gave us that trump card. Looks like Boss Jin had somepassion to not make things too difficult for us."

    "Hahaha, I heard from some of the customers that there is a Normal+ mode for the goblin dungeon and a team actuallypleted it. Maybe, he would like to cater to all sort of cultivators, which I believe it is a good thing." Luo Bomented as the three of them walked down the stairs with Jia Le deactivating the nt barriers she invoked previously to prevent zombies from overwhelming them.

    When they were out of the watchtower, the members of Squad A noticed a small toon consisting of Panda foot soldiers and foot archers standing in a square formation right in front of them.

    "Salute!" Sergeant Panda ordered and the soldiers straightened their pose and lifted their paws, cing them on their left chest. The coordination and discipline of the soldiers were very obvious to Bin Yong and the rest of the cultivators and indicated that they went through harsh training.

    "A sincere thank you for eliminating the zombies." The Sergeant Panda ordered the remaining panda soldiers to be at ease and they started to clear the area up and assess the situation. At this point, a grey falcon screeched and descended near Bin Yong. When itnded, it seemed to signal them to board it.

    "Is this not the falcon we saw before we got here?" Jia Le asked.

    "Then that means Captain Hei is close. Come, let''s get on board and perhaps we will be able to meet the rest." Bin Yong jumped up onto the falcon and unknowingly extended his hand towards Jia Le first before realising Luo Bo was closer to him instead.

    "Oh oops." Bin Yong clumsily moved his hand away from Jia Le and then towards Luo Bo. She epted his offer and grabbed his hand to get up onto the back of the gigantic falcon. When Jia Le got up, Luo Bo winked and smiled at her, as if to indicate that she did a good job influencing Bin Yong.

    The falcon took off from the Great Wall and travelled a fair distance before meeting the brown falcon in midair which Captain Hei was piloting. "Ah! The remaining members of Squad A looks like you are all back safe and sound too." Hei beckoned them to join up with the other cultivators on the brown falcon and they did.

    Bu Dong went up to Bin Yong and congratted him on the sess of his mission objective as well. "Ahaha, it''s not me who did it. It was Luo Bo here. Also, we could not have seeded without the aid of Jia Le." Bin Yong refused the praise but directed it to Luo Bo.

    However, Luo Bo ignored Bu Dong and ran to hug Shi Zuo. "You stupid! How could you just leave us alone? That Bin Yong was so useless today. All he has been doing was protecting Jia Le and not me!. He will forget about us soon! Uwaahhhhh!"

    While Shi Zuo was a little dumbfounded, he was d to hear a summary of what had happened in the watchtower. He gave a thumbs up to Bin Yong and sent a private voice transmission to him. "Emerald Mountain Hot Spring instance! Chance!"

    "Shut uppp!" Bin Yong replied to the private transmission and gave an angry yet contented kind of look at Shi Zuo before Shi Zuo continued tofort Luo Bo.

    In the meantime, Jia Le wanted to tell Bin Yong that he did a good job too but there was too much drumming in the corner of her heart. "Perhaps...I should just take it slow for now and I think I am already quite content with the progress today." Jia Le lied to herself as her emotions in her expressed a ring ''No'' to her instead.

    "Alright, hold on tight, I am going to bring you all to somewhere." Captain Hei took another straw of wheat from his officer shirt pocket before he patted the brown falcon''s head. Upon receiving themand, the falcon dashed through the skies with great speed.

    Meanwhile, Captain Hei erected a shield barrier to protect the young cultivators from the piercing winds during the flight of the brown falcon.

    After a moment, the falcon came out from the clouds and the cultivators saw a colossal mountain right in front of them. The view below was magnificent too. As the falcon got closer to the mountain, they noticed arge cave with a red double iron door.

    Captain Hei signalled the falcon tond at the side of the cave and everyone got off. Captain Hei then threw a dirty bronze key to Shi Zuo. "You are the MVP for today''s dungeon. Open the iron door and you will find the rewards that the Panda Nation had left for you and the two Squads. Till then, may the cultivation be with you, Pandawans."

    "He called us Pandawans? Which means we are not recruits to him anymore?" Xiong Da was amazed andughed at the change of attitude by the Panda AI.

    "What does Pandawan even mean?" Bu Dong never heard of such a word.

    "I believe it''s a parody of a title in Moon Wars that meant apprentice. Maybe we could ask Boss Jin about itter." Xiong Damented.

    "Askter, treasure first!" Shi Zuo hurriedly ced the key into one of the red iron doors and it clicked. Everyone was so excited that they chattered and imagined what kind of treasure would be in there. Hence, all eight of them coordinated to push the red iron doors apart and they were stupefied by the sight of what was in the cave.

    A tattered cardboard box.

    "WHAT THE PANDA!" Yue Han was always the first to be dramatic.

    "Did they cheat us?" Kong Xian was extremely displeased.

    "Let us just check the box first." Jia Le decided to walk towards it before Bin Yong stopped her.

    "Wait! What if it is a trap? Like a test by Captain Hei?" Bin Yong made a bit of sense but he did not notice that Shi Zuo had ignored him and walked towards the cardboard box.

    "It''s a bunch of keys with another note and a small rectangr wooden box." Shi Zuo reported as he unboxed the contents in it.

    "HA HA HA HA! The Pr Phantom Gentlebear Strikes Back! If you want your loot,e and find me! This is one of the keys that you will need when you enter my instance! However, do not say that I am selfish. I am gentlebearly enough to leave a part of the treasure for you! (Well, actually my bag was already brimming with loot, and I did not have any other space for that.) Till then!" Luo Bo took the piece of note and read it out loud.

    "Perhaps a dungeon puzzle piece?" Xiong Da felt extremely delirious from that possibility as he saw the bunch of keys were identical in nature and there were exactly eight of it. He loved mystery and to put it into dungeons? He was definitely looking forward to it.

    "OH MY GOSH!!!" Shi Zuo opened the wooden box and found eight gold panda medals and everyone was delighted by that reward alone.

    "Does that mean the gentlebear would have a ton of gold medals with it?!" Bin Yong could not control his jealousy when seeing that such a generous reward had been stolen. A few secondster, a female announcer stated that the dungeon waspleted and they would be teleporting back soon.

    Meanwhile, in Jin''s store, the whole crowd was bursting with lots of questions again.

 Chapter 75 Emerald Mountain Hot Spring

    <h4>Chapter 75 Emerald Mountain Hot Spring</h4>

    The eight cultivators came out gradually from Station 6 and they were bombarded by praises and questions for each of the cultivators from the curious customers. Meanwhile, the teams that were next in queue did not hesitate to jump into the station for their turn.

    While they wished to know what had happened, they did not want to waste any more time due to the adrenaline rush they experienced watching the eight. Perhaps they might learn some answers once they got out from their instance.

    The zombie dungeon instance was actually meant for four yers but in lieu of time and the number of customers Jin had in his store, the modified instance by the system allowed multiple teams to join. This was to save time and increase customers'' satisfaction while teaching them how to y as a group.

    "Brother Xiong Da! You improved a lot since thest time I saw you!" Mr Know It All shouted at him and shook his hand as a congrattory action. "Ahaha, you humbled me too much. If not for Instructor Milk''s help and a bit of yours, I would not have been so confident for this dungeon!" Xiong Da thanked Mr Know It All and turned towards Jin to acknowledged him for giving him such an opportunity.

    "Who is Instructor Milk?" a few fellow customers saw how strong Xiong Da became, they queried who that was.

    "Milk was the AI instructor that I hired who was rmended by Boss Jin. The price may be slightly hefty but you really can learn a lot from her. I was nothing until she whipped me up into shape. Within a few weeks, this is the result of my training." Xiong Da continued to talk and his charisma as awyer had influenced many to hire the AI instructor.

    "Boss Jin! I''d like to book her for tomorrow!" A customer shouted across the room but Jin shook his head and said no reservations allowed. "Ahh that''s sad but it is fine. I wille tomorrow since the wait here is not as bad as other dungeon suppliers and I will be able to watch how other cultivators fight." The male customer sighed at Jin''s refusal.

    "I do agree. It is indeed a good experience to learn from the cultivators that shed with the monsters." Another bespectacled customer deduced.

    "I am actually more interested in what actually happened in the dungeon. What was with that reward?! Gold Panda medals?!" A female customer with long hair asked

    "Check the leaderboards and you might have a clearer picture. Although some had alreadypleted the dungeons. This is technically the first clear for the zombie dungeon on a modified difficulty of Grade 3 hence higher rewards."

    The eight cultivators who took a look at the board and saw the following.

    *********

    "Great Wall of China Instance (Modified Difficulty: Grade 3) (Number of yers: 8)

    Mission Clear Time: 2 hours 10 minutes 12 seconds

    Cultivators:

    Grade 3 Hong Bu Dong

    Grade 3 Zha Luo Bo

    Grade 3 Mei Shi Zuo

    Grade 2 Peak Nu Bin Yong

    Grade 2 Peak Hen Kong Xian

    Grade 2 Wa Xiong Da

    Grade 2 Ma Yue Han

    Grade 2 Xu Jia Le

    Zombies killed in total: 4589 and 2 Bosses

    *********

    "100 zombies for one bronze medal and every subsequent 100 zombies will yield an additional bronze medal. If you score 500 zombies and above, you will yield one silver medal." Jin exined with patience.

    "However, the zombie kill score will be average out to each cultivator and each will receive reward appropriate to their actions since some cultivators are specialised towards support healing or defensive type of cultivation, it would be unfair to them too."

    "For example, if you scored an average total of 499 zombies, you will only get 4 bronze panda medals. If you scored an average of 500 zombies or 1000 zombies, you will get 1 silver panda medal as your reward."

    "The two bosses with variable strength will only appear for teams with an average cultivation of Grade 2 and higher. Each cultivator will yield five bronze medals if killed. However, killing the two bosses and getting an average kill score of 500 zombies per cultivator would trigger the Phantom Gentlebear event." Jin was reading out what Yun had told him when the tattered cardboard box scene happened in the instance. If not, he would have suffered a panic attack if the customers bombarded with questions.

    "Why did you not tell us about all this information beforehand?" A customer was a little frustrated that there were hidden mechanics within the dungeon.

    "What''s a dungeon without any surprise? Since you people saw it with Bu Dong and his teammates, I would not mind revealing it out now." Jin tried to defend his initial sense of cluelessness.

    "Guys! I had written down everything that Boss Jin said in the Pandamonium app!" A high school student customer shouted out loud while waving his phone to the crowd in the store. The newly upgraded Pandamonium app had an inbuilt forum where cultivators who experienced Boss Jin''s store started to put in dungeon walkthrough guides and experiences they had encountered.

    Some other cultivators even gave their own advice on cultivation and when a walkthrough guide became popr through the number of likes andments, it would be automatically be pinned for neers or returning cultivators to browse through.

    It had only been less than a day that the Pandamonium app was upgraded and the forum was already bustling with activity with various cultivators'' experience with Boss Jin''s dungeons. Each instance had their own subthread and it was easy to keep track of the notices.

    "Then what is the value of the silver and gold medal?" An office worker customer asked.

    "One silver panda medal is equivalent to 10 bronze panda medals. One gold panda medal is equivalent to 10 silver panda medals." Jin answered.

    "Wow! This gold medal is worth 100 bronze medals?! That means I can buy a new weapon from the underground store!!" Yue Han was ecstatic!

    "Same, I could buy a few more of those chi generation potions by Boss Jin. It was so effective." Xiong Da nodded his head in agreement.

    Meanwhile, some of the customers were shocked "There is an underground floor to this store?" Some of the returning customers immediately pointed at the direction of the inconspicuous ss door right beside the stairs leading to the 2nd floor. Even Bin Yong and his gang did not know the existence of that underground floor.

    "One more question Boss!" the same office worker asked once more and Jin gave him a stare with his boredzy eyes.

    "I promise! What is the Phantom Gentlebear? A new uing dungeon?"

    Jin was bing a little irritated by this customer and after all the exnation that he had to do, he answered back with a shrug. "When ites, ites. Till then collect those keys if you wish to enter it in the future."

    Since Shi Zuo was in possession of those keys and the gold medals, he immediately beckoned the other seven to gather as he split the loot among them. They withdrew their items from the storage miniature panda beside Station 6 and kept their keys along with it. As for the gold Panda medal, there was a QR code at the back of the gold coin and they immediately captured the code to increase their medal stock.

    Separately, Shi Zuo asked Bin Yong and Jia Le to join the next instance with them. "Bro, I confirmed with Boss Jin, the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring instance is indeed on the second floor."

    Jin identally overheard it and was relieved that the so called toilet instance as Yun had dubbed it, was renamed to his liking. He doubted no one would have bought the service instance ticket if it was still named as the toilet instance. "Why do both the system and Yun have such bad naming sense?"

    With the renaming of the service instance, many of the customers initially thought it was a dungeon instance and Jin had to exin it was not. After repeated exnations to several customers, Jin finally learnt the right phrases along with some tact and was able to fully exin what a service instance was.

    Bin Yong and his friends went up to the second floor and saw a considerable revamp of the area. "Ah! This is the penguin statue!" Luo Bo went to touch it and asked Shi Zuo to take a picture of it with her. Though he appeared to be reluctant, he actually took quite a number of pictures and even asked Bin Yong and Jia Le to join for a group selfie.

    "So all I had to do is to scan my phone here at this penguin statue?" Bin Yong was a little confused at how it worked since Shi Zuo was the one who introduced it to him.

    "Yea, just ept the teleportation, the statues for each gender are separate." Shi Zuo nodded his head and let Bin Yong entered first. "They are separate if you wished to go into a public service instance, but I registered for a private instance with Boss Jin." Shi Zuo chuckled along with Luo Bo and they high fived together.

    "What are you waiting for? Get in there, Bellflower." Luo Bo held onto Shi Zuo''s arms and both of them were getting ready to enter the female penguin statue.

    "I бн" At this point, Jia Le''s heart was pumping furiously as if it wished to burst out of her chest. Her flushed face was so obvious that people might have thought she was drunk with alcohol. Luo Bo sighed at her hesitation and helped Jia Le to pick her phone out of the bag and assisted Jia Le to ce her phone on the male penguin statue.

    "In life, there are three things you cannot recover. The word after it''s being said. The moment after it''s missed and the time after it''s gone. Do not hesitate and grasp that moment if you really liked him." Luo Bo gave a slight nudge and stepped aside. Jia Le took one deep breath and epted the instance teleportation.

    "Do you think we are rushing them a bit too much?" Shi Zuo questioned Luo Bo but she smiled and entered a separate service instance from Bin Yong and Jia Le.

 Chapter 76 If Only Jia Le Was Here

    <h4>Chapter 76 If Only Jia Le Was Here</h4>

    "What a view!" Bin Yong entered the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring service instance and was taken aback by the magnificent scenery on the top of the mountain surrounding the hot spring. He purposely went to the edge of the mountain to have a better view of the greenery of the entire area.

    The temperature was slightly colder than usual but it was nothing he could not handle despite the blue checkered shirt he was wearing. The air was also calm with little to no wind and Bin Yong took a deep breath in before exhaling. "Even the air is filled with a presence of chi in it. Not many ces on Earth can simte such an experience."

    He also noticed there was no one around despite such a spacious hot spring and he guessed Shi Zuo could have booked a private hot spring instance for the both of the guys.

    "If only Jia Le was hereбнinstead of him hahaha!" Bin Yong''s crude thoughts arose from the depths of his mind since he did hand her a hot spring ticket beforeing into the store. A few momentster, a number of penguins came out from the cabin area squawking loudly.

    "Hiiiii! Wee to the Emerald Mountain Hot Springs! Enter the cabin to remove your clothes and use the sitting shower cubicle before you enter the hot spring!" One of the AI penguins articted its instructions well.

    "These penguins sure are cute." Bin Yong squat down to touch their fluffy short feathers and the penguin enjoyed the asional rubbing under its beak. Another penguin interrupted by asking Bin Yong some questions.

    "Customer, would you like to have some plum sake along with your partner?" The penguin asked.

    "Sure, why not? " Bin Yong assumed Shi Zuo would like some alcohol while they share some personal man to man conversation. Perhaps, Bin Yong could also learn some tricks from him to woo Jia Le though deep down, he did think about Luo Bo. But he knew he had to move on in life.

    "Would you like a massage during your stay with us?" The penguin asked Bin Yong once more.

    "What kind of massage services do you provide? Do I have to pay for any of them?" Bin Yong asked.

    "Oh no, you had already paid the highest premium package, so all services rendered are included in it. We provide two main types of massage service. The first is the facial and head massage by our talented Penguin Massage Therapist during your dip in the hot spring." Even without any fingers, the penguin used its flippers to demonstrate a ''One'' sign.

    "The second is a full body massage which will be conducted in the cabin by our trusty three stars certified Panda Massage Therapist. Rest assured you will feel refreshed after the instance. However, if you wish to have a massage service focused on a certain body region such as the back or the legs, do inform us."

    "Alright, I will take both of them since it had already been paid for." Bin Yong was delighted that Shi Zuo treated him to such a magnificent package deal.

    "Understood, please change and we can proceed with the massage." The penguin bowed and walked away as if it began to prepare for Bin Yong.

    "Strange, what is taking Shi Zuo so long?" Bin Yong then realised Luo Bo could be holding him back or he was the one still hanging onto Luo Bo. In addition, the time dtion of instances would mean he had to wait for a while longer for Shi Zuo if he did not teleport at about the same time as him so Bin Yong decided to proceed without him.

    After Bin Yong removed his clothes in one of the rooms of the cabin, he took arge green towel from the cab beside him and wrapped it around his waist and a small ck towel to wash his body in the pool. Therge green towel was particrly fluffy, simr to what he felt when he touched the penguin.

    He then took a shower at the sitting shower cubicle andter dipped into the hot spring pool. The hot water initially gave him a little scare before he submerged himself fully into it. He felt his pores opened immediately and when he put his head out of the pool for a breather, the cold air in the mountains quickly cooled his head. It was an exceptionally satisfying feeling.

    What was unique about this hot spring was that there was a Maple Tree in the centre of the hot spring pool and at times, the asional falling of the red leaves oddly brought peace to his heart. He also realised the hot spring seemed to rejuvenate his chi points in his body and began to experience a sense of contentment in the pool.

    "Sir, your plum sake is here. Do you wish to have a drink first or a massage?" The penguin was holding a wooden bucket with the plum sake and a two small wine cups in it.

    "I would like a cup before proceeding with the face massage." Bin Yong went to the side of the pool to grab the wooden bucket from him and ce it near the stone perimeter of the hot spring.

    The penguin acknowledged his request and skillfully opened the ss bottle of the plum sake with its flippers. The action of pouring the sake from the bottle into the cup was an artistic sight to behold.

    "You are absolutely amazing Mr Penguin." Bin Yong praised it.

    "Thank you for your generous praise." The penguin ced the sake ss bottle and the wine cup down. Being an artist, Bin Yong briefly admired the little penguin art design of the wine cup before he drank the wine cup with one gulp. When the plum sake went down his throat, it had the right sweetness and does not hurt his throat a single bit.

    "Boss Jin should sell this plum sake in the stores... this is ahhhh~!" Bin Yong had never drunk such high quality plum sake.

    "Shall I start the massage?" Bin Yong nodded at the penguin''s question and it provided him with a soft andfortable pillow at the side of the stone perimeter of the hot spring. Heid his head on it and the penguin whistled for the massage therapist to start working.

    "Customer, I am Mr Patsu" Bin Yong looked up and saw a white penguin with greased spiky feathers at the top of its head. "I will be your massage therapist for today." Mr Patsu dipped a small towel into a bucket filled with hot spring water and ced the towel on Bin Yong''s eyes.

    It then did the same again andid another wet on his neck area. "I will be starting the massage right now." Mr Patsu took some jasmine scented ointment and started to apply on his face and head. The flippers at work were remarkably phenomenal as Mr Patsu massaged the pressure points of his face.

    "So so sofortableбн" Bin Yong really enjoyed this until he heard a teleportation sound. "Bro, you areteбн.this is the best massage I have ever had." Being in a moment of bliss, he did not care much and enjoyed Mr Patsu''s massage.

    "Customer, wee to Emerald Mountain Hot Springs! Enter the cabin to remove your clothes and use the sitting shower cubicle before you enter the hot spring!" The same AI penguin repeated the exact same thing but this time, there was no reply.

    "Would you like a massage?" The same conversation ensued but Bin Yong heard no audible reply from Shi Zuo but still did not care a single bit. The massage was simply heavenly when Mr Patsu started to focus on the head area. As Mr Patsu resoaked towel that was covering Bin Yong''s eyes, he took a peek at the direction of the cabin to see that the door was closed in a jiffy.

    "Hmph, maybe Luo Bo rejected him from going into the same hot spring instance as her. Served him right to prioritise his woman instead of his good friend." Bin Yong smirked and rested his head on the pillow again for Mr Patsu to continue the massage.

    Minutester, he heard the cabin doors opening again and the showers turned on. "Bro, why so quiet? Luo Bo rejected you?" Bin Yong still hear no reply but decided to not care too much for that dejected friend of his. "Ah Mr Patsu, higher a little. That spot is itching for your skilful touch."

    "Understood." Mr Patsu moved its flippers slightly higher up his scalp and the feeling was terrific.

    Bin Yong eventually heard someone went into the pool and he felt a familiar presence sitting beside him on his left. He asked Mr Patsu to stop for a while as he turned his head to the right to take a wine cup. Bin Yong filled it to near the brim of the cup "Bro, don''t be sad. Have some plu-"

    Jia Le was blushing in full redness with a green towel wrapped around her petite yet slender body. She tied her ponytail higher which revealed an elegant nape right beneath it. Without hesitation, Jia Le gently took the cup which Bin Yong was holding and drank the whole cup.

    At the first mere sight of her, Bin Yong was in such a shock that he felt like his heart was blown off a 1000 metres away from this mountain. His unsightly mouth could not say a single word out and suddenly he felt that the hot spring was getting so hot that he felt like fainting.

 Chapter 77 Mr Patsu and Friends

    <h4>Chapter 77 Mr Patsu and Friends</h4>

    Emotions were running high in the hot spring until Mr Patsu broke the silence. "Since all the customers had arrived. Would you like to partake in a mini game? There will be rewards if you win the mini game."

    Mr Patsu''s words broke Bin Yong''s daze and he managed to return back to reality. "Erm, sure. Jia Le, would you like to join?"

    Jia Le was a little frustrated butrgely relieved. She herself could not bear the intense beating of her heart and it might have further worsened since Bin Yong appeared to have feelings for her, based on his reactions.

    "Okay, I will join." Jia Le nodded her head lightly as she pulled her towel further up her chest.

    Mr Patsu pped its flippers and two penguins swam towards them with a medium sized parcel each in their beaks. "Quickly wear the yukatas prepared in the parcels ande to the side of the mountain right at the front."

    The two acknowledged Mr Patsu and stood up together but soon realised that both were scantily d with just a single green towel. They looked away from each other with faces flushed in pinkish red as they collected the parcels from the penguins.

    Jia Le got out of the hot spring and opened the parcel to reveal a gorgeous sakura flower pattern on her yukata, a casual Japanese garment usually made of cotton fabric. She changed on the spot by wearing the yukata over her towel and tightening her sash after removing the towel. When Jia Le was tying her sash, she could not help but turned her head to peek over at Bin Yong. However, it was too much of a coincidence between them as Bin Yong turned at the same time to peek at her.

    "Oh!" The two embarrassed adults returned to focus on their clothing but Jia Le could not seem to tie a proper knot on her sash. "Do you need some help?" Mr Patsu asked Jia Le whether she needed assistance and she hastily shook her head.

    "Customer, please assist your partner. She seemed to be having difficulty tying her sash." Mr Patsu ignored Jia Le and gestured Bin Yong to help her since he was already done with his. Bin Yong slowly walked towards Jia Le with his head looking sideways and downwards.

    "Do you need help?" Bin Yong finally nced upwards and saw Jia Le in the eye. That abrupt eye contact was all that needed to ignite their hearts again on fire but both were still in some awkward denial.

    "Mmm. Please help me." Jia Le closed her eyes while holding on to her yukata and her sash tightly. Bin Yong indecisively took over the sash and his hands trembled as he assisted Jia Le with her sash.

    While he was doing that, he whiffed the same but now faint fragrance of strawberry he remembered smelling from the office. All he needed to do was to untie the sash and perhaps everything might fall into ce.

    For Jia Le, her senior and idol, whose artwork she always looked up to, was now right beside her. All she had to do was to grab him by his cor and she would be in his embrace. Even if it was just for a second, she believed it was worth it.

    Not known to each other''s feelings, there was indeed a tightening tension...a fiery desire in them which they wished to release out in the open and as they were dying to relish the touch between themselves. Nothing was stopping them in this service instance for unleashing their bestial cravings from within except for the respect and inculcated courtesy for each other.

    However, Bin Yong controlled real hard to hold his zing urges and tied the obi and looked at Mr Patsu once he was done.

    "Alright, please follow me." Mr Patsu led them to the side of the mountain where there was a deep gradient slope where one could fall and never return. The base of the mountains was filled with forests but both Jia Le and Bin Yong noticed something wasing.

    Meanwhile, two group of penguins were having trouble transporting parts of a rather heavy looking crossbow to them. The penguins eventually installed therge crossbow in between two rocks which seemed to be crafted and designed well for the cement of the crossbow despite its natural aesthetic.

    The penguins then installed arge magnifying ss and a seat at the top of the crossbow which looked ridiculous and useless while another group of penguins were carrying buckets of soap bars towards Bin Yong and Jia Le.

    At this moment, they heard a frightening bellow from the forest and something...emerged out of the forest. It looked like an enormous pile of foul mud moving slowly towards the top of the mountain as it left its remnants which rot the earth and nts that were in contact with it.

    "That is Mr Muddles. He always like a bath every alternate week at the top of this hot spring and while we do wee him grudgingly, we prefer him to be clean before enjoying our hot spring pool as a sign of respect to other customers using the pool too." Mr Patsu shook its head as it offered an exnation to Bin Yong and Jia Le.

    "Hence, your objective is to make him as clean as possible before he enters our pool. Shoot the soap bars at it and he would absorb it to cleanse himself." Mr Patsu demonstrated how to load the crossbow and he shot the soap bar at Mr Muddles. Unfortunately, it missed badly.

    "One of you need to get up and upy the spotter''s seat and use the magnifying ss while the other fires the crossbow. Do not worry, since there are only the two of you, the penguins will continuously hand over the ammunition to you but you have to do the reloading yourself." Mr Patsu pped its flippers once more and the penguins jumped into action with much noise.

    "Do you want to take the spotter seat?" Bin Yong asked Jia Le. This time round, with the attention redirected to something else, he was more confident of himself.

    "Okay, but I don''t exactly know how the spotter works." Jia Le looked at Mr Patsu hoping it will have some exnation.

    "Ah Customer, it is simple. Get up and use the control screen. It will be intuitive from then on. Oh and there are special power ups once in a while. Do remember to use them!" Mr Patsu exined once more.

    "Come, I will give you a hand to get onto the seat since the yukata might hinder your movements." Bin Yong remembered she might not be wearing any undergarments and had genuine concerns for her one and only clothing to maintain her decency.

    Jia Le epted his help and Bin Yong held onto her waist to lift her up to the spotter''s seat. "Thank you, Bin Yong." Jia Le voice now became a sweet melody to him.

    Jia Le took a closer look at the magnifying ss and realised there were touch screen functions on the screen including the adjustments needed for Bin Yong to calibrate the crossbow.

    "Bin Yong! Turn the knot beside the crossbow until you hear two clicks and you are ready to fire." Jia Le gave instructions and Bin Yong did as instructed then he fired a fairly big piece of soap. From the side of the crossbow, he saw the soap bar flying into Mr Muddles.

    It immediately produced some white steam from its body and bellowed even more. "We need more attacks in! It seems to be moving slightly faster!" Jia Le readjusted the magnifying ss to have a better view. "Yes fire now!" Jia Le gave the order and Bin Yong fired.

    Within minutes and a fewrge soap bars disappeared into the Mr Muddles, a power up skill appeared in front of Jia Le. That came at a crucial time as they saw Mr Muddles had climbed half of the distance up the slope of the mountain. However, the rot seemed to lessen as Mr Muddle climbed higher but Bin Yong was getting tired from the reloading and firing which made him pant a little.

    "Do you want me to take over?" Jia Le was a little concerned seeing how Bin Yong was getting exhausted. "No its fine, you are doing great giving me those instructions. They were clear for me." Bin Yong gave a thumbs up to her and focused his enemy on his crosshair.

    "Do not worry, I have obtained a power up, it might help!" Jia Le waved him a fist to encourage him to press on.

    "Then, let''s do it, baby." Bin Yong unknowingly said it out loud which Jia Le noticed his affection and her lips curled into a smile.

    "Firing!" Bin Yong shouted as he sent anotherrge piece of soap bar towards Mr Muddles. Right when he fired the soap bar, Jia Le pressed a button on the magnifying ss indicating "Ergement."

    The soap bar that was flying immediately grew in size and became gigantic. Since Mr Muddles could not evade, it could only closed its eyes to meet its impending doom from the soap bar of death. The soap bar hit its target so hard and fast that Mr Muddles only swallowed it partially with the rest hanging out of its mouth.

    In a short while, Mr Muddles swallowed the rest of the mammoth soap bar and with a bright light emanating from its body, it was reborn into a transparent jelly pudding slime. Mr Patsu and the rest of the penguins cheered by squawking incessantly as Mr Muddles happily climbed its way up to the mountain and jumped a little in joy. It then approached Bin Yong and Jia Le to thank them for cleansing by hugging the both of them simultaneously.

    Unfortunately for the two, the hug by Mr Muddles brought them close together that they felt each other''s skin. Bin Yong could no longer resist and hugged Jia Le without any hesitation.

    "I am really sorry, but I think I might have feelings for you." Bin Yong shouted out loud with all the courage he had in his heart while trying to tone his confession down as he was afraid Jia Le was all along just being kind towards him.

    "Don''t be sorry. You can start by bringing me out on a dinner date." Jia Le returned the hug and both embraced each other tightly. Jia Le closed her eyes and smiled widely. She was d her gamble paid off.

    "Promise." Bin Yong slowly let go of her as Mr Muddles released them and they subsequently enjoyed each other''spany in the hot spring instance together.

 Chapter 78 Trash Items

    <h4>Chapter 78 Trash Items</h4>

    The weekends were extremely busy with the new Great Wall of China instance which proved to be a hit among new and old cultivators alike. There was also some great feedback from the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring service instance as well and many were pleasantly surprised by the mini game it had incorporated.

    Unfortunately, not many customers grasped the idea of a promotional loot box since the Qixi Festival dungeon instance was not up yet ording to Jin and even fewer went to the third floor as most people thought the yback rooms were still there. Those who took a peek at the third floor even got confused by the sudden change of scenery of a zen gallery and decided to return to the crowd on the first and second floor.

    The underground floor, on the other hand, was very popr with many of the customers visiting the store service instances to get new clothes, items and weapons. For those whopleted the Great Wall of China dungeon instance, the generous reward from it allowed the new cultivators to purchase improved weaponry and armour.

    Jin also noticed that there were lesser customers who bought tickets to the Goblin and Zither Mistress dungeon instance due to the substantial reward from the Great Wall of China dungeon instance. However, it was not exactly a bad thing since the zombie dungeon instance allowed multiple teams to join and it increased the rate of customers turnover which indirectly raised his profits.

    It was the end of Sunday nearing 12 am midnight and Jin finally closed the shutters to his store. He retrieved his phone at the bar counter to check the store ounts app. The sales were simply splendid and the profits earned during those two days were staggering for him.

    "Question, why is the system giving such generous rewards for the zombie instance? It was so stingy when it came to the Goblin and Zither Mistress. Right now, it felt like those two dungeon instances are more or less going to be thrown aside if this keeps up." Jin picked up the used dishes and utensils and ced them in the dishwasher.

    "Why, isn''t it good for the customers? They can finally upgrade and equip themselves with better clothes with stronger inscriptions." Yun materialised from nowhere and stretched herself a little before taking a can of Bamboo Juice and a piece of the Triple Cheese Pizza from the bar counter to have a quick supper.

    "But will it not cost a lot for the system to create such items? I mean 1 Bronze Panda Medal was roughly 25 Yuan based on the Goblin dungeon instance and 1 Gold Panda Medal would be like...2500 Yuan? The zombie dungeon instance only cost 350 Yuan! Hence, the system is losing about 2150 Yuan for that first clear!" Jin got a bit annoyed even though he knew that it was the system that was losing money and not him but who knows? Maybe that might affect him indirectly if the system lost too much money.

    "But that was just the first clear." Yun munched at the Triple Cheese Pizza as the additional cheese from the pizza was being pulled away from her mouth.

    "Well, the subsequent clears still gave quite a fair bit of Panda medals. Cultivators who managed to kill the two bosses in the zombie dungeon would be rewarded an additional silver medal. ording to that thought logic, it would roughly be 500 Yuan per zombie dungeon clear and that means we are losing 150 Yuan for every sessful dungeon runs." Jin felt he was in distress after calcting the numbers out.

    "What if I tell you, almost every item made in the underground store cost lesser than a bronze panda medal?" Yun drank her Bamboo Juice to clear her throat.

    "Huh, how is that possible? I personally entered the store service instance and noticed how fantastic the quality of each of the items is. How could they cost less than 25 Yuan each?" Jin was really confused so he stopped what he was doing and hoped Yun would provide an exnation to him.

    "Remember the Parallel World theory I told you about?" Yun chewed the remaining piece of the Triple Cheese Pizza.

    "The systembed far and wide through many worlds and found hundreds of suppliers that sell these items. For example, there is a world where clothing triumphs everything and another world where inscriptions were taught since young. What you saw here are actually the lowest tier of items in their world, the trash of trash." Yun signalled Jin for another slice since she was still hungry. He promptly took another from the bar counter drawer and ced it on her te with a pizza peel.

    "Thank you. Anyways, one man''s trash is another man''s treasure. The quality of items we have in our underground store was marked as inferior in those worlds but to us, it is actually one of the best in this world due to the severeck of technology and craftsmanship making all of these. Peace in this modern society has kind of eroded our need to fight or I should say directed to other means of security. Hence, we are actually ripping their money off for selling such trashy items." Yun proceeded to take arge bite of the Triple Cheese Pizza.

    "Besides, having your customers equipped with ''decent'' equipment, allow them to fight better in subsequent dungeons. If not, they will never progress forward and we cannot sell stronger dungeons out in the future." Yunughed at the entire scheme created by the system.

    "Alright, if that''s the case. What shall we do for the Goblin and Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance? I mean, I really like the new model of dungeon instance the system had created with the Great Wall of China but I believe we need to revamp the older dungeons to catch up with the new trend." Jin reflected on the two days of sales and also realised something.

    "Some of the customers also feedback that we do not have enough food variety and some are asking for the plum sake wine from the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring to be avable in the store too." Jin showed a look of concern through his deeply furrowed brow.

    "Jin, you are demanding too much. I do not think you couldplete everything you want that quickly" Yun chuckled a little.

    "To be the best dungeon supplier, I think it is fairly reasonable to be demanding a lot of myself." Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "Then I shall be expecting a lot from you tomorrow and I would like a coffee, please." Zeru mysteriously appeared which he then sat beside Yun.

    "Good Evening Master Zeru, here to check on your disciple?" Yun asked Zeru as she gobbled thest part of the second slice of pizza and patted her stomach.

    "Actually, it''s already morning and yes you are right. I am telling him the objectives of his training so he would have some mental preparation for tomorrow''s training." Zeru thanked Jin for the coffee.

    "That is actually quite kind of you. Usually, most masters do not even reveal their ns to their disciples." Yunmented.

    "So what are the objectives for tomorrow''s training, Master?" Jin asked.

    "You said you wanted to improve your dungeon instance and you do not have sufficient food variety. In addition, I need your proficiency in Bam and Boo up. So how about we do all three at once?" Zeru exined to Jin before he sipped his ck Ivory coffee.

    "Ah, such wonderful coffee." Zeru enjoyed it.

    "Then I guess, it will be a rough day tomorrowбн" Jin sighed but he knew what he was getting into. He needed to improve himself to get stronger monsters and if Zeru can help him obtain food ingredients, perhaps he might not need to always rely on the mission rewards.

    Zeru wanted to make some small talk after his coffee but it was gettingte so he took his leave to not bother Jin for too long.

    Just as Jin and Yun closed the store and were walking back home, Yun remembered she had forgotten to mention something to Jin. "Oh yes, Jin. You hadpleted the Level 2 Dungeon Supplier mission after the tremendous sales from the past two days. I shall reveal to you your rewards after your training. Perhaps this might be some motivation for you."

    "Hahaha! Although I look forward to it, I am a little scared since its Zeru." Jin bitterlyughed.

    "Just try your best. You will prevail." Yun smiled at Jin as they both returned back home.

 Chapter 79 The Start of Zerus Training

    <h4>Chapter 79 The Start of Zeru''s Training</h4>

    Jin knew that he had been expelling the bad waste from his body for the past week or so. Hence, instead of cultivating in his room, he went to the toilet near the kitchen to cultivate. It had a bigger space than the bathroom in his room. It was a rather pitiful ce to cultivate but it was easy to clean the waste away in the morning. Not to mention, he could just wake up, have a shower and in a few steps, there would be food avable in the kitchen.

    "I think I could not get anyzierбн" Jin woke up after a restful cultivating sleep early in the morning. Being at Grade 3 allowed him to sleep less and still be able to perform his daily work without harming his health. He figured at Grade 4, all he needed was two or three hours of uninterrupted sleep to survive each day. However, that would inadvertently affect his cultivation process since his cultivation style was based on sleeping while cultivating: the Neen Lazy Astral Panda technique.

    Jin changed into a ck tracksuit with a white shirt so it would be easier for him to move aroundter. A notification appeared on his phone and it was Zeru stating that he would be waiting for him in the shophouse.

    "Yun, I will be leaving first!" Jin shouted out loud before he left the house and took a jog to the shophouse. As he got in from the side door, Zeru was already sitting at one of the barstools with his eyes closed and hands folded.

    "Have your breakfast, then we will proceed," Zeru continued to speak with his eyes closed. Jin acknowledged his orders, took a few onigiris from the bar counter cab and started to eat in peace. Jin then noticed that Zeru was in a different outfit than his usual green hakama. It was maroon red in colour and it suited his long yellow hair that was tied into a ponytail.

    "Ready?" Zeru opened one of his eyes and stared at Jin.

    "Yes, I am." Jin nodded his head as he hastily swallowed thest bit of rice from the onigiri to drink a cup of water.

    "Good, now put this on." Zeru threw a parcel at Jin and when he opened it, he discovered a set of green wristbands and ankle bands.

    "Are these the infamous 100kg wristbands and ankle bands once they are activated?" Jin asked in a tongue in cheek manner to lighten the mood a little.

    "Close enough. Just wear those and we will start training. Yun gave me permission to open portals just for your training." Zeru maintained his seriousness and snapped his fingers, opening up a portal, while Jin followed as he put on the bands.

    When Jin arrived from the other side of the portal, there was nothing in sight but barrennd all around him with a campsite prepared beside arge tree. The soil was grey in colour and the sun was shining so brightly that Jin felt like he was burning up. Thankfully, the enormous tree provided some shade from the zing sun.

    Right behind him was Zeru wearing a circr straw hat he picked up from the campsite. "They call this ce the Farm World and the system assisted me to purchase thisnd from the authorities." Zeru seemed to be untying a small satchel from his waist.

    "Thend in this world is extremely fertilised and they have the blessing of their earth elementals which allowed thend to produce corps within a day or two. I have checked the time dtion with Yun and it is about half a day for 2 hours of your current Earth."

    "So I have roughly a day''s worth of time here before I start my shift back on Earth?" Jin checked his watch.

    "Yes, and this is your objective." Zeru passed the satchel to Jin and when he checked it, he found a bunch of seeds.

    "I will be generous to you as this your first time training. Grow these seeds within 5 days or I will leave your Betor group." Zeru eyes glowed intensely and Jin realised he was not kidding.

    "But Shifu, I have no knowledge regarding farming at all and if I do 10 hours worth of work simultaneously, it might jeopardise the store''s intake of customers." Both Jin and Zeru had a mutual understanding that they should not affect the shop''s opening hours. However, the way Jin phrased his reply sounded like an excuse since Zeru noticed Jin was already showing some mental distress at the scale and magnitude of the task at hand.

    "Do not worry, I will take care of the necessary details, All you need to do is plough thend, ce the seeds, and water them when needed. When you are not around, I will freeze the germination of the seeds." Jin heard a voice from behind but all he saw was a tree. A tree...? Jin quickly looked up and realised it was indeed the tree that was talking.

    "Aren''t you the Sakura Tree Treant in the Zither Mistress Dungeon?" Jin was taken aback that he felt the monster looked very familiar and it was talking to him in his ownnguage.

    "Hah, I am more than a thousand years old. I have listened enough to speak thenguage of Human." The Sakura Tree Treant replied with a hearty guffaw.

    "This is Shu, he will be the caretaker of this farm when you are away tending to your store. Old Shu, I will be leaving my disciple in your care." Zeru thanked Shu for his cooperation in the training of his disciple.

    "No worries, it has been a long time since I have bullied a new budding. Hahahahah!" Both Shu and Zeruughed loudly and left Jin feeling slightly awkward.

    "Anyways, those bands that you wore are maic bands." Zeru snapped his finger once more and Jin immediately fell to the ground with his legs closed together and his arms spread out wide like a cross. Jin felt an intense pain in his torso area as both of his hands were repelling each other. He then gathered some chi to power his muscles to maintain the movements, but it was barely enough to not feel any pain for the moment.

    "The armbands will repel while the ankle bands will attract. If you put all four bands close enough together, you will probably be squeezed into a ball." For the first time, Jin saw Zeru smile widely.

    "Is he a closet sadist?" Jin struggled to maintain his chi in his arms and shoulders.

    "With this handicap, plough thend, sow the seeds and water them. Shu will handle the rest of it. I will be back in 2 days time to check on your progress." Zeru waved his hand and teleported away.

    "Understood, Shifu." Jin bowed his head even though he was on the floor.

    "Haha Budding! Although the ground is extremely fertile, which makes it easy for your seeds to grow, you need lots of strength to break the ground, else you would be going nowhere." Shu spoke as he looked at Jin trembling.

    "I will do what I canбн" Jin was not adept in the cirction of his chi. For the past few fights that he was in, all he do was st the chi via his technique. Learning how to control his chi to maintain his muscle movement from the properties of the mas while ploughing thend would indeed be a hassle.

    "I have to do this, if not Zeru will leave the groupбн" Jin gritted his teeth and tried to stand up. He knew this Master was the real deal and it would be his loss if he could notplete his training.

    "Hahaha, seeing a young budding struggling again. Brings back some memories." Shu thought to himself as he watched Jin silently for now.

 Chapter 80 Young Budding

    <h4>Chapter 80 Young ''Budding''</h4>

    "Come on Budding, move your feet. We do not have all day!" Shu was waving its branches, trying to encourage Jin to stand up. However, each time he tried to do that, the mas on his wristband would be attracted to his right ankle band. It made him adopt a fetal position where his back was leaned forward, head bowed, limbs were bent and drawn closed to the torso.

    "Just a question, why are you calling me Budding? Not bud or seedling?" Jin asked with his face nted on to the ground. He was getting tired of not being able to move the way he wanted.

    "Ohhh, are you lecturing me now?" Shu uprooted his own root and smacked Jin lightly with it.

    "Ouch! Why are you hitting me?" The root somehow managed to hit his butt.

    "Then why are you lecturing me? I am older!" Shu attacked helpless Jin again.

    "That does not mean you are right! Ow!" Jin managed to evade the strike for the first time. The root broke the ground effortlessly but Jin was too busy trying to avoid its attack that he did not notice. Nevertheless, he got smacked at the butt again by Shu. At the rate of Shu being needlessly provoked, Jin will indeed have a flower budding out of his butt by the end of the day.

    "I will call you whatever I like. Budding!" Once again, Shu lifted his root and wanted to smack poor Jin but Jin rolled around on the ground. It was the basis of Panda Tumbling a movement skill he had read briefly in the cultivation manual. Jin did not know that it would be useful in this situation. However, the more he tried to evade, the more violent and frequent the thrashing became.

    "Well. you do not make any sens- Wait wait wait I''ll like to parley!" Shu finally withheld its root and gave Jin a chance to talk.

    "How about apromise? You call me seedling and I shall do a favour for you!" Jin was gasping for air after rolling crazily around on the barren ground.

    "How about epting the word budding!" Shu was still angry that Jin tried to correct him.

    "Before that, why are you insistent on the word budding?" Jin was really curious. Was Shu really arrogant to not change his ways or did something happen to him?

    "Becauseбн" Shu was dumbfounded by Jin''s question and tried to search his memories but all he could remember was a scene of a married couple carrying a newborn baby girl. He clearly remembered that was the first time its sakura flowers were beginning to grow.

    "Look! The tree is finally budding!" The mother was rocking the sleeping baby girl as she pointed at one of the sakura buds from the tree.

    "Hahahha, our efforts to revitalise this ancient tree worked! How aboutmemorating the tree''s revitalisation and her birth by inscribing her name on this tree? If she ever feel that she lost her calling, this old ancient tree may act as a symbol of strength and stability for her?" The father spoke with much kindness in his voice as he kissed his baby child on her forehead.

    "You druids trust your trees too much." The mother asked her significant other to hold the baby and she weaved a spell in midair with two fingers.

    A magical symbol appeared and an egg emerged out of the magical symbols. The moment the mother grabbed the egg, it cracked and a small white snake with red eyes popped out in front of her. To her pleasant surprise, the baby snake had its first contact with their cute little baby girl and it immediately slithered towards her to lick.

    "Well, that saved me a lot of effort for imprinting my gift to our baby girl." The mother chuckled

    "Then I shall say the same to you. You beast summoners trust your animals too much." The fatherughed heartily as he passed the baby to his wife.

    "Not funny, dear. What are you going to name our child?" The mother gently caressed the bark of the ancient tree.

    "Have we already not decided? Ke Mi. Cute and sweet." The fatherughed loudly again as he inscribed the name on the Sakura Tree with a few other druidic symbols on it.

    "I do hope the seeds of these young budding sakura flowers will eventually grow into magnificent trees too." At that point when the father ced the druidic symbols on the tree, Shu was born.

    As Shu was reminiscing the past, it unknowingly released his chi through the gentle swaying of its leaves and infused with the memories of his past. Jin who was in desperate need of chi from the overexertion of his chi absorbed Shu''s chi and learnt the past of his awakening.

    Treants are fairly unique creatures as they were one of the many helping hands of nature. The chi they released were simr to how normal trees produced oxygen. Both the environment and cultivators can easily harness the chi treants released into the ecosystem or body and converting it for their own use.

    "Isn''t that the Zither Mistress?" Jin remarked to himself.

    "You know her? I will call you seedling if you can find her for me." Shu heard Jin and realised he could be absorbing its chi and possibly read its memories too.

    "Hahahahah! What are you talking about? That girl is in the same dungeon as you!" Jin could not believe if Shu was joking.

    "What? How can that be? That girl with that evil aura within her? You must be kidding me!" Shu shook its branches vigorously.

    "I am clearly not joking with you." For some reason, Shu''s chi was churning wildly within Jin and he managed to get up slowly from the fetal position although it took a lot of concentration.

    Jin painstakingly took his phone out of his pocket and tapped the monster app with all his effort to show Shu the stats of Zither Mistress. Suddenly, a bright light shone out from his phone and Zither Mistress was riding the Great White Snake right in front of Jin.

    "How did she even appear?" Jin immediately looked at his phone and saw that the picture of Zither Mistress had disappeared from the stats profile.

    "Is that really her?" Shu bent its trunk and looked at her closely. However, instead of letting Shu look at her, the Great White Snake brought Zither Mistress to the back of Shu where the druidic symbols were inscribed.

    It signalled her to touch Shu and though she was initially hesitant, she plucked her courage up andid her palm on the symbols. At that instant, a burst of warm light enveloped Zither Mistress and the Great White Snake. "It really is herбн" Jin saw a tear dropped from Shu''s face on its upper trunk. The lush green foliage it initially had, immediately grew young buds of sakura flowers out of its stalks.

    "Ke Miбн" This was the first time the Zither Mistress spoke and she teared upon touching the druidic symbols. The young buds immediately bloomed into sakura flowers and petals started to fall as if to reminisce the scene when Shu had first awakened.

    "Seedling. You have done me a great service for finding my creator''s daughter." Shu bowed slightly to Jin.

    "Please Shu, I didn''t do anything at all. The system conveniently ced the two of you together." Jin waved off and refused to ept any thanks.

    "Ahh, regardless I believe the first part of your training ispleted." Shu chuckled as it asked Jin to look around him. The majority of the thrashing that Jin evaded had thoroughly softened thend. In addition, the tear fell from Shu''s wooden eyes was a Tear of the Treant. A fairly precious item, if collected, which had the ability to enrich this barrennd.

    "All you need to do now is to plough thend. For an old treant, I''m really nice aren''t I? Now, off you go Seedling. Continue your training as I catch up with young Ke Mi." Shu shook its branch as if asking Jin to move away from them.

    "Oh, and the copper hoe is right beside the tent." Shu then started talking to Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress.

    "Speaking of copper, I guess the system''s phone is indeed omnipotent for it not to be affected by such strong maic waves." Jin thought to himself as he controlled his muscles and walked like a tin man towards the tent.

 Chapter 81 Magnetic Bands

    <h4>Chapter 81 Maic Bands</h4>

    Jin sat near the copper hoe for a break. Even though he had the chi of the treant, he was losing too much due to theck of control.

    "Perhaps, I can circte my chi around the maic bands? I wonder if that will help?" he thought of the way maism works, the stuff he learned in university and high school and wondered if he could stimte chi energy into electromaic force.

    However, heter abandoned the idea as he realised that maic force was a force that was tooplicated without properputation of numbers. He also had to derive atomic structures and electrons to simte the maism through his chi. If he could not control his chi to that kind of degree, he might as well think of something else.

    Right now, all Jin was doing with his chi was counteracting the effect of the maic bands through brute force. Forcing all his chi to move throughout his muscles so that he could withstand the repelling and attraction of the mas.

    The brute force method would actually have worked if he had substantial understanding of the anatomy of his body in rtion to his chi points. Unfortunately, he was not a medical student nor was he well versed with the chi points of his body.

    He knew the basics but not enough to make much of a difference. However, assuming he had an unlimited amount of chi, the brute force method would actually work. All he needed to do was burst his chi throughout his body. Even if he did have an unlimited amount of chi, maintaining it required a tremendous amount of chi and the extent of the strenuous damage to his body would eventually kill him within a day.

    At the moment, as he was using his own chi to control his muscle movements, he was able to cope with the strain using his current cultivation grade but he would not be able to maintain it all the time for five days consecutively. The way his chi flowed wastefully out of him into the surroundings made him feel like he was an overheated piece of metal just out from the furnace.

    "Overheatedбн.that''s right! Mas might lose their maism if intense heat is applied to them. Or maybe it could reduce the strength of maism. Argh, I guess I really returned what I learnt back to my lecturers." Jin sighed even though he finally remembered a part of his studies during his high school days. The reason why heat could destroy maism was that maism followed a strict degree of order. If one creates chaotic movement in the atoms, the atoms in the metal would lose their electron pairing.

    "But I don''t exactly remember the right temperature. All I do know is that the correct temperature is somewhere around water''s boiling point for ferromaic materials. Let''s see if the method worksбн.if I can concentrate enough chi to produce heat near the bands and not scald or burn myself in the process hahaha!" Jin bitterlyughed to himself.

    Jin went further away from the campsite, in case he identally burned the whole ce down. When he felt that he had adequately distanced himself away from the campsite, he concentrated his chi cirction and focused it on his hands. At first, it started to get warm slowly but at approximately 50 degrees Celsius, not only his hands got hot, the surroundings were scorching too.

    "Damn, I should focus it within my palms and not radiate it out. Or else I will be the one burning up and not the ma." Jin wiped his sweat away with his sleeves.

    "What if I follow those useless motivational workshops that I had to attend in university for points. Those image training exercises to attain a specific goal." Jin thought to himself before he took a deep breath and tried again.

    With an image of carrying a bowling ball, he imagined concentrating the chi between his three fingers. He figured that it was better to think something smaller and detailed than abstract ideas like being rotated in a microwave or imagining that you were one with the chi. Jin was a science oriented person, he needed theory and hands-on experience to understand something fully. However, when ites to the mysterious system that he was bestowed with, he could only grudgingly ept the fact that trying to understand it would be a waste of time for now.

    Initially, the chi within his three fingers began to gather but it was leaking chi out to the surroundings again. However, it was a start. At least it flowed to where he wanted it to be.

    Next, he imaged a container. Not a simple stic container but a container with manyyers of protection. Something like keeping a priceless national jewel in a safe box that was ced in a vault, which was protected by multipleyers of security and hidden hundreds of metres under the ground. That was his image of moving the chi in an enclosed environment. Slowly, his chi was circting within his three phnges but it was not hot enough, he probably felt it was roughly 40 degrees Celsius.

    "Not enough, I need it to be at least boiling point of water to let it lose some of its ferromaism." Jin seemed a little more confident and the chi that pulsed through him was no longer just Shu''s chi. His dantian seemed to have adapted to the consumption of chi that Jin needed to ovee his trial and started to produce more.

    In addition, the surroundings did not feel as hot as he had been feeling previously although the sun was still zing right above him. "Next, I need to ensure I do not get burnt by my own chi or have it explode in front of me." Jin now imaged himself to have duplicatedyers of skins and those skins were theyers of chi he needed to form in order for the chi to envelope him.

    Soon, he felt that it was hot enough for the experiment. He slowly showed an eagle w gesture with his three fingers and ced it near the maic wristband. Suddenly, the wristband moved by itself the moment it got in contact with the heat and it started to crawl along Jin''s body!

    "What the?!" Jin was surprised by the change of circumstances and saw that not just that particr wristband that was behaving that way. The other three bands immediately move around Jin like a centipede crawling hastily all around his body.

    "So, you finally found the trick to defeat the living armour?" Shu spoke to Jin as it saw the metal bands crawling alonghis body.

    "What? You mean these are not maic bands?" Jin was finally able to rx without being restricted into a cross figure.

    "They are a sort of training gift by Master Zeru. He knew that you would be able to break the living armour quickly because you are toozy for your own good so he decided to add the traditional option in the living armour with a little twist." Shu purposely sneezed and suddenly Jin felt something weighing him down.

    "The traditional option?" Jin then realised it was the living armour that became heavier.

    "Aye, the living armour now adds weight but it will randomly move around your body. This way, you will have to shift and handle the weight of your body during your farming. In addition, the weight will increase by 10 kg every hour. Right now, it''s 50kg per living armour." Shuughed loudly.

    "Wait, is this living armour weak to heat?" Jin was a bit concerned.

    "Nah it can withstand more. This was meant to be just a test to see if you were using your brains or if you were going to force your way out through the ordeal. Either way, youpleted your task and received this gift from your master." Shu yawned when it was exining.

    "Also, you looked like you have grasped the basic idea of controlling your chi from this part of training too."

    "Then it is time to do the manualbour fast." Jin figured he wasted an hour or two in the Farm World trying to figure out how to solve the maic bands but things would only get harder if he did not continue fast enough. Not to mention, he was already exhausted from expending his chi even though his Dantian was producing a higher quantity of fresh chi quicker than before.

    Jin finally picked up the copper hoe and started to plough thend with the additional 200kg of weight shifting all around his body.

 Chapter 82 Jacks

    <h4>Chapter 82 Jacks</h4>

    "Hey! Look at that guy there, he is ploughing thend faster than any of us are able to do!" From a distance, a man dressed in a brown shirt was lying prone on the ground with his binocrs looking at Jin.

    "But it looks like he had difficulty ploughing thend despite that rate he is going." Another man in greymented as he took the binocrs from his friend. This was the first time both of them saw this unknown farmer around the area and there were suspicions that this was the person they had been looking for.

    "How could anyone not pay tribute to the Jacks if they wish to create a farm in this area?" A guy in a yellow shirt was crawled was crawling angrily towards them. "It is either he does not know the rules or he was the one we are all looking for" Brown spoke out.

    "If that is so, why are we being so cautious against him? We could just walk towards him and clobber this little boy." Yellow was not in agreement with Brown.

    "You want the same incident to happen again after that Z scarred monster ambushed the entire hideout just for that bag of seeds?" Grey replied with spite to Yellow.

    "That is why Boss is going to ask his cousin for reinforcements. After you confirmed the seeds are in the possession of that farmer, we will strike. Seeing how the farmer moves, he probably usedrge amount of money to hire that Z scarred loser once and it appeared like he does not have the capability to go against us." The person in yellow shirt spoke with a certain animosity in his tone.

    "Hahaha! He will not take us by surprise this time round again" Brown scoffed.

    "Ah! Shhhh! You guys are making too much noise!" Grey was enraged that they might expose their hiding ce despite being at least a few kilometres away from Jin.

    "Look! He is really holding on to the seeds!" Grey sneered when he saw Jin took out the exact same satchel that was missing from their base.

    "Then we shall act now before he stupidly nts those seeds." Brown wanted to pounce on the opportunity.

    "Well, if he does. Hold any actions for now." Grey suddenly changed his orders and stared at Brown whom he reluctantly acknowledged it. "Yellow, gather our remaining brothers to take revenge and let''s hope boss will bring his reinforcements," Greymanded Yellow and he sped off into the wilderness.

    "You previously said to strike immediately. Are you really that afraid of that Z scarred loser and a useless novice farmer boy?" Brown was still angry he could not strike while the iron was hot.

    "Stupid, take a look at the side of the farmer. There seems to be a great white snake with a little girl ying some sort of instrument." Grey returned Brown the binocrs and he managed to catch a glimpse of the little girl.

    "Ah, so you think we should kidnap that girl and use her for a ransom since he is rich??" Brown asked Grey which Grey responded with a knock at Brown''s head.

    "Stupid! Are you ignoring the fact there is a Great White Snake?!" Grey barked at him.

    "With our strength and speed, we can definitely outrun that Great White Snake!" Brown retorted but Grey knocked his head once more.

    "How stupid can you get! This means the farmer is not an easy one. We should wait for more brothers toe and attack all at once. Let''s see what will happen when you mess with the Jacks." Grey smiled as he continued to survey the situation with Brown.

    Separately, Jin was ploughing through the broken barrennd for about 2 hours straight and he finally got the hang oo ploughing as he tried to be as systematic he could after creating a row of ploughednd. Afterboriously loosening the soil, Jin was thinking of sowing some seeds before he continue ploughing additionalnd.

    Hence, he thought to open the satchel which Zeru, his Betor and Shifu, gave him to take a look at it. The seeds inside the satchel were sparkling like diamonds and he knew he would not be able to identify them. Perhaps he might know what he would be nting if Shu the Treant gave him some details. "Since they are sparkling, I guess they are worth quite a lot too." Jin shrugged his shoulders and suddenly felt the strain from the weight of the living armour.

    Fortunately, Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress was happily ying her Zither with her Great White Snake lyingzily right beside her. The tune was the only thing that broke the monotony of the back breaking ploughing. For some reason, the tune motivated Jin further and he appreciated any help or encouragement he could get.

    Meanwhile, the living armour was circting around him and shifting their weight to counteract his centre of gravity. This constantly made him lost his bnce and he had to shift his weight regrly to make sure he does not fall and break the momentum. Fortunately, the previous self image training of chi allowed him to picture how to control his chi for his lower limb muscle movements in order to not fall from the weight of the living armour. Jin also used Lazy Panda Swipe technique to power his arm movements which made ploughing of thend much easier.

    "Two hoe spaces for one seed. So judging by the amount ofnd you have ploughed, you need at least a third more. After that, you can call it a day. I would fertilise thend with the Tear of the Treant over the night so nt the seeds tomorrow. Like what I have said. Your objective is to plough, nt and water the nts when needed." Shumented and Jin acknowledged with glee. A little more and he can rx!

    Another one hour in Farm World passed by. The living armour got heavier, Jin was breathless from all the work but he finally ploughed thend required for the seeds.

    "Alright Ke Mi, I will talk to you another day, it is time for your Master to return back." Shu smiled at Ke Mi and she disappeared after waving goodbye.

    "Thanks Shu but how do I return?" Jin asked as he bent down to put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

    "Inside the tent has an open portal waiting for you to jump in. I had informed Zeru." Shu replied.

    As Jin went into the tent and returned to the real world, the Jacks'' first wave of reinforcement arrived. "Grey, I brought the brothers along. Boss said that he would arrive the next day with a special guest but let''s finish this as soon as possible so we can make Boss proud! Is that farmer still there?" Yellow was jovial.

    "Right in the tent resting. Let''s strike now, the little girl and snake had disappeared!" Brown did not know how such arge snake disappeared right in front of his eyes but he did not care. He knew the farmer was still in the tent.

    "Then let''s go!" Yellow gestured to his brothers the small tent and they rushed madly to the tent.

    Meanwhile, Shu wanted to extend its roots before noticing themotion from afar. "Perhaps I should not cultivate thend for now." Shu kept its roots to itself and camouged its face with some of its tree bark.

    The Jacks arrived at the tent and surrounded it with no weapons. Yellow took the initiative to rip open the tent to find no one was inside.

    "What! Where did he go?!" Yellow was particrly annoyed.

    "His scent seemed to stop here too." Grey kneeled to smell the ground.

    "Is he underground?" Brown asked as he searched but it was of no use.

    "Argh! That''s why I said we should have struck him when he was holding the seeds! Now we would not know where the seeds are." Yellow became frustrated.

    "No worries, judging from this freshly ploughed plot ofnd, I believe he will be back," Grey said.

    "Then let''s thrash hisnd, this will give him a warning not to mess with the Jacks!" Yellow shouted which the other brothers agreed with and even Grey was surprisingly epting to this act of rashness.

    "Haha! These humans. How are they going to destroy the ploughednd? With their own hands and legs?" Shu smirked a little and some of its leaves rustled from the movement. However, Shuter realised it was dead wrong and its mouth went wide open for a moment.

    They were indeed using their hands and legs to destroy the ploughednd as each and every one of them began to slowly metamorphose into a beastlike form.

    The Jacks were a n of werejackals.

 Chapter 83 Yellow

    <h4>Chapter 83 Yellow</h4>

    "Alright, I think we have done enough damage." Grey was satisfied with the destruction the Jacks had brought to the farm.

    The tent was ripped into pieces and any equipment rted to farming was broken. Instead of just kicking up the nicely ploughednd, the Jacks went an extra mile and dug massive holes all around the farm. They even scooped up the topsoil of the entire farm and put them in sandbags.

    "I did not expect that such good quality soil was hidden in this barren area for such a long time," Brown observed the topsoil with its wed hand before carrying therge sandbag full of it away. Despite being werejackals, they were also experienced farmers in the Farm World so they understood the importance of good soil and fertilisers.

    "Yellow, you hated that novice farmer right? Then stay here until he appears. Howl and we wille to your assistance." Grey gave Yellow specific instructions before ordering the rest to carry the bags of soil back to their new hideout.

    At that instant, therge ancient tree at the centre of the barrennd rustled and Sakura flower petals started falling to the ground. Some of the petals even fell into the sandbags of soil.

    All of the werejackals immediately looked up at the tree and saw that there was no threat above them. They did not even bother to ask why there was a blooming tree in the middle of the barrennd. They saw too many weird things sprouting in the Farm World and a blooming tree in a barrennd was nothingpared to the miracles they had seen.

    "I will climb up just to be sure." Brown volunteered and easily jumped up to the highest branch of the tree to check for any movements. As itnded on the tree branch, he suddenly felt a prick from where he was standing

    "Ah darn it, I did not notice that at all." Brown immediately tried to remove the wood splinter and he caused a lot of ruckus on the tree branch while trying to do so. More the Sakura flower petals were shaken from the tree and fell onto the werejackals and more were mixed with the topsoil.

    "Anything there?" Yellow was excitedly anticipating to see if that useless farm boy was hiding up in the tree but Brown signalled to them there was no threat.

    "Just a splinter." He finally took it out and jumped down from the tree.

    "Let''s go then. Yellow, be careful of him. He might have some things up his sleeves if he can disappear just like that." Grey warned Yellow but Yellow sort of ignored his kind advice.

    "Hahaha, I know what we should do." Yellow gestured to his two fellow trusty werejackals as they took out beer and meat from their rucksack and started to use the campsite near the big ancient tree. Grey shook its head and ordered the rest to return.

    Shu was standing there as stationary as he could. He knew he could kill the three werejackals but that would be a waste. It was obvious that Jin was their target. "Hohoho, let''s see how Seedling reacts to this when he gets back. It will be a nice show to watch."

    Separately, Jin finally returned to the shop and the cool air conditioning blowing at his face was veryforting. He looked at the time and realised he still had 45 minutes to an hour before he opened his store.

    "You should take a shower." Yun was at the side of the bar counter drinking her ck ivory coffee again. She subsequently passed a stic bag to Jin. "There is a set of fresh new clothes in here, go up and shower."

    "Thanks, Yun." Jin took the stic bag and noticed that he felt lighter. The living armour was finally not moving around him when he was in the store and did not suppress him with training weights.

    He immediately went to take a refreshing shower and found that all four bands that were on him suddenly shifted and turned themselves into one digital watch after his shower. "Wow, quite a handy feature."

    "It helps act as your storage space too. Very convenient, is it not?" Yun smiled at Jin as she knew Jin did not have a personalised storage item for some reason. All he had been using was a simple storage ring that was bestowed upon him by his grandfather, Ming. However, Yun did not tell Jin that it was her who gave Zeru the living armour bands.

    "When it is not trying to put you down with weights, probably." Jin nodded his head and saw the time on his new watch. "But I liked the ck sleek design. I should thank Shifu Zeru for it." Jin smiled a little and looked at his to-do list on his phone.

    "45 minutes left. I should start doing the coupon booklet before the submission deadline by Friday. Oh no. This is pandastic. My training ends on Friday too." Jin suddenly developed a big headache.

    "Perhaps you can finish Zeru''s training by today and you have more time for the coupon booklet," Yun suggested.

    "But won''t that mean I need to close the store for a day?" Jin started to ponder if it was really worth it to close his shop.

    "Quite a number of shopkeepers take off for cultivation purposes, more so for dungeon suppliers. Besides, it''s oddly weird for azy person like you to not take a day off in weeks." Yun replied with slight curiosity.

    "True, alright. I will just post an announcement to say we are closed for today." Jin chuckled at Yun''s indirect praise of being hardworking.

    "Already did!" Yun stuck her tongue out at the side of her mouth and gave a peace sign.

    "You nned this, didn''t you ?" Jin rolled his eyes up and his head was titled sidewards as he sighed once more. Jin knew that Shu was prepping thends with fertilisers so he figured he could take a short lunch break which consisted of a te of delicious curry rice and a can of invigorating bamboo juice before going back to Farm World.

    "All the best, Jin." Yun snapped her fingers and a portal appeared.

    "You must be kidding me." Jin arrived back at Farm World and saw three wolfish looking humans sitting at his campsite drinking beer and eating barbecue meat. Not to mention, the fields were utterly destroyed with holes and hills of soil. Jin''s dejected expression was so priceless that Shu could barely hide hisughter.

    "Oh, so our little farm boy is back. Alone." Yellow bit arge piece of meat from his barbecue stick. He signalled his two underlings to attack Jin and they smashed their bottles and sticks on the ground before dashing towards Jin.

    "Now I am really mad." Seeing that they are monsters, Jin thought he might as well capture them and get the truth out from them. With his phone on his left hand, the living armour transformed to their usual shapes and turned heavier again. Fortunately, it was not randomly shifting itself around the body so concentrating chi to support the weight in one area was much easier than before.

    The werejackal underlings were going for a two-pronged attack on Jin but he was not going to defend. Instead, Jin was greedy and bolted towards Yellow.

    "Stupid farm boy, know your limits!" Yellow bit thest part of his meat and he howled as loud as he could before swiping his ws at Jin. Jin quickly unsheathed Bam, the katana form of his weapon and shed with Yellow.

    Yellowughed when the katana did not make a single scratch on its w hand and thought this was the perfect opportunity to counterattack. Just as Yellow was about to bite Jin''s neck, Jin opened his mouth first and arge beam of chi energy was directed at Yellow''s chest. A gaping hole appeared in the middle of Yellow''s chest as the chi beam momentarily pierced through the skies before it dissipated.

    "What! " Yellow tried to back off as he coughed out arge amount of blood but without any dy, a left hook was sent straight into at his face.

    "Lazy Panda Swipe!" Jin delivered a deadlybination of his swipe technique infused with chi along with the support of the living armour causing Yellow''s head to be flying off for quite a distance. At that particr moment, the phone had already touched Yellow''s body and the phone started its capturing process.

    "Captureplete," Yun said in his thoughts.

    Jin looked at the other two underlings and they were shaking. What useless farm boy? This farm boy just took care of a senior werejackal and they tried to run away.

    "Oh no, you don''t." Roots suddenly extended from Shu and grabbed the underlings by their legs. It then dragged the two werejackal underlings towards it while the werejackals desperately tried to run away from it. "The soil that my Seedling ploughed tenaciously was destroyed and taken, I think some repayment of fertilisers is needed." The roots pulled the underlings a few metres above the ground and brought them to Shu''s mouth.

    "Thank you for the meal." Shu opened its tree barked mouth wide and stuffed the two underlings inside its mouth before closing it. All Jin could see were helpless ws trying to hold onto the edge of Shu''s mouth but it was futile as Shu munched on them.

    Shuter gave a loud burp. "Gah, beer battered Jackals."

 Chapter 84 Shifu Zeru

    <h4>Chapter 84 Shifu Zeru</h4>

    Jin opened his phone and checked the status of the newly captured monster. "So, it''s a werejackal. Hmm, the stats profile said this monster can be ced either in the Zither Mistress dungeon or Goblin dungeon." Jin looked up and stared at Shu for a while.

    "Nope, they are already in my stomach and I am not spitting it out for you to capture. That would be gross. Look over the horizon instead." Shu pointed towards the north with its tree branches and Jin saw a pack of simr looking werejackals running towards him.

    "I wonder if it is okay to call my betors for support?" Jin figured this could be a part of Zeru''s training but there was no way to fight such arge pack. He would definitely be outnumbered. They were not like the zombies, easily countered and killed.

    "Ask and thou will receive." Zeru appeared out of Jin''s phone and stared at the horizon for a while.

    "What is with that cheesy line? And I thought you would only return two dayster?" Jin gave his Shifu a vexed look.

    "Sometimes things do not go exactly as nned, and this is one such example," Zeru said in a cool and calm voice that oddly made Jin uneasy. When Jin thought about it, he was, in fact, the first disciple Zeru had taken. In a way, he was an inexperienced teacher since he only fought for himself and his master. At the very least, he was trying to teach. "Perhaps, he should not force himself too hard and use the traditional route of teaching students." Jin thought to himself.

    "Actually, Zeru''s master did not really teach him much and mostly gave him lots of weird errands to do. I think Zeru is trying to imitate his master and he hopes that you will learn in the same way he did. Guess it was not working too well. That was why he decided to appear early to amend his mistakes." Yun said in Jin''s thought.

    "I noticed that your sword skills are still unpolished from the previous brief fight with the yellow Werejackal. While you did utilise your cultivation techniques, you did not have any proper sword techniques toplement it. It would be quite the disgrace if other people knew Zeru''s disciple cannot hold a sword properly." Zeru unfolded a cloth that was covering his wooden sword.

    "Hence, I shall teach you by sparring with you right here, right now. Try to learn everything." Zeru raised his sword as a sign of challenge to Jin.

    "What? But those werejackals areing!" Jin started to have cold sweat as Zeru was going to duel right in front of the werejackals.

    "Then shoo them away as we fight. Right now, I am giving you five seconds before I start my attack." Zeru beckoned Jin to start, or he would make a move.

    Jin just gritted his teeth and rushed forward with his sword.

    "Your centre of gravity is out of ce and I can easily see where you are aiming. Were the shifting weights from the living armour insufficient training?" With his wooden sword still sheathed at his waist, Zeru dodged Jin''s attack with just a slight shuffle of his feet. After which, he used his wooden sword''s hilt to bash Jin''s stomach, making Jin nauseous, almost throwing up in the process due to the sharp pain in his abdomen.

    "Do not rely on speed and strength alone. It might work now against belligerent dumb creatures but what if you met a true sword master? Get up once more." Zeru was serious in his duel with Jin. He really did want Jin to improve.

    "Yellow is gone!" Brown shouted as he sighted the Z scarred monster and the farm boy fighting each other. Although it seemed like a one-sided battle.

    "Then we attack them all together and grab the farm boy''s body. Take him away from the Z scarred monster and check if he still has those seeds," Grey shouted furiously and took his axe out while he was running. "That stupid yellow, I told him to be more careful."

    "Grey! Boss will being earlier than expected since this area is closer to the reinforcements. He also said he has a big surprise for that darn z scarred monster once he arrives." Brown ryed the message to Grey. Brown was able to pick up far-reaching howls due to his were-powers bestowing an increased sensitivity of hearing.

    The werejackals like Brown and Grey each had an attribute raised abnormally high from living a certain number of years. For Grey, it was an increase in intelligence and magical abilities. Hence, he was the logistic and strategic head for the Jacks. He could manage a simple fire or ice spell with ease. Most werejackals could never dream of having the chance to do so. Despite that, both Brown and Grey werepetent fighters which was why they each had a name based on their fur colour. Their boss bestowed these titles to differentiate themselves from the underlings.

    "Good, let''s go!" Grey raised its axe and signalled the whole pack of werejackals to charge forward.

    Jin fell to the ground once more and Zeru had yet to unsheathe his wooden sword when fighting against him. There were only hilt strikes, kicks, punches and even a p, but that does not mean Jin was not learning. He did not realise there were so many simple ways to counter swords solely with hand to handbat.

    Jin in desperation took some sand and threw it at Zeru before attacking. "Decent move, but you threw it too early, I can anticipate your next attack without keeping an eye on your movements."

    Zeru rushed forward and grappled Jin during the sand attack which made Jin drop Bam. While in a grapple hold, Jin had a hard time breathing due to the pain. "Looks like our party crashers have arrived. Pick your sword up, I shall spar with you properly." Zeru released Jin and unsheathed his wooden sword.

    Jin suddenly heard a loud howling voice from behind but before he could do anything, Zeru dashed past Jin in a sh and smacked the werejackal down to the ground with his wooden sword. Zeru promptly continued his move set by stabbing the wooden sword into Jin from the back. Thankfully, Jin was ready for the strike and blocked with Boo before he attempted to pierce Zeru.

    "You need to lock your wrist when you thrust. Take note of your footwork too. Also, why do I feel like there is ack of conviction to attack me? Are you scared of me? If you are, how are you going to fight in the future if there is a threat against your loved ones? Or your customers?" With each question, Zeru pushed Jin back even further.

    Jin disengaged from Zeru, only to find out he was going to get pounced on by another werejackal. Somehow, the movements of the werejackal were slower than Zeru and Jin used Boo again to block the werejackal''s swipe attack. Instead of disengaging, Jin lunged onto the werejackal and used Bam in his right hand, to stab the werejackal in the throat. He quickly dropped Boo and the handphone appeared from his wristbands which he used immediately to capture the werejackal.

    "Captureplete," Yun said in his mind.

    "Haha, I see that you found another function for the living armour. To store your phone between the wristbands for easier ess." Zeru moved like a flying arrow towards Jin and he sessfullynded a hit on Jin''s back which caused Jin to fall to the ground again. However, this time three werejackals directed their fury towards Zeru, which gave Jin a split second breather to retaliate back against him.

    "Excellent, you are learning." Zeru twirled his wooden sword with his fingers and blocked all four attacks simultaneously. Jin could only find himself bewildered by Zeru''s techniques. Zeru smiled and continued to attack Jin but as time went by, Jin got more and more used to Zeru''s attack. Now he managed to defend himself from at least half of the attacks. To both master and disciple, the werejackals were like flies attracted to the delicious smelling food.

    Grey, who was observing the fight from the sidelines, knew it would be stupid to intervene in the duel between the farm boy and the Z scarred monster. He also realised the farm boy was capable of making his brothers disappear into nothingness. He counted six werejackals who disappeared.

    In addition, the Z scarred swordsman was not even making an effort to kill the werejackals, unlike in the previous ambush where they greatly suffered as he searched for the sparkling seeds.

    Brown was itching to prove his worth but Grey stopped him. "Wait for Boss toe. In the meantime, let those two humans wear each other out."

    "Heh, you do not need to wait any longer," Brown smirked as they heard an echoing howl behind them. Both turned to look and saw arge praying mantis hovering above them with two towering figures at the top of it.

    "Boss Gold and Lady Boss Cat are here." Brown howled loudly and charged towards Jin.

 Chapter 85 Perfectly Normal Parry Slash

    <h4>Chapter 85 Perfectly Normal Parry sh</h4>

    "Gold, have you been out of practice that you need help against a puny little farm boy and a pretty boy with a scar on his face?" Lady Boss Meomi, the werecat yawned and stretched her paws.

    The golden fur werejackal jumped from the flying praying mantis as he ignored the werecat andnded on a werejackal underling that was about to flee from the battle. He turned the werejackal around to face him and pulled his upper mouth to the side until he ripped it out of its mouth and shoved it into its throat until it died.

    "I do not need weaklings in my n and do not go back on your word when all of you swore that you will fight to the bitter end for the n." Gold tore apart the dead werejackal''s chest and gouged his beating heart out of the spastic body. The heart was still throbbing in Gold''s ws as he took a bite of it.

    The heart contained the raw were-powers which further powered Gold for his own purpose. Normally, he would not do such a thing and closed an eye to the matter by disciplining the werejackal and giving a stern punishment. However, he was more terrified of the monster right in front of him than the monster he was going to be.

    Grey knew that Gold had no choice but to show authority not just to the werejackals that were fighting a hopeless battle but also to his ''friend'' that came along with him. Meomi was considered as one of the up anding leading were-humans to take over the were-humanmunity and Gold hoped that he could at least be her right-hand man so that he could bring the prestige of Jacks up.

    "Commendable effort to impress me but nevertheless futile." Meomi gently stepped down from the praying mantis after itnded. "So Gold, which boy do you want to give me?"

    "The...farm boy." Gold actually wanted Meomi to battle against Zeru since he knew his limits but after showing such an act of power, he could not possibly back down.

    "I can sense your reluctance. Do not say the werecat Meomi is not a cat of great benevolence." The werecat took out its whip with a double-bitted axe attached at the end of the whip instead of a cracker. "Besides, I think I want to caress that scar of his. Purrrrr."

    Zeru yet again dodged Jin''s crude attempt at wounding him but this time, he grabbed Jin by his cor and performed a judo throw. With Zeru''s face exceedingly close to Jin''s, he started to whisper. "Take this technique cube. Press on that button and you will learn part one of my ''Perfectly Normal Parry sh'' which will be more than useful for most fights right now."

    Jin suddenly felt a gentle nudge on his abdominal area from Zeru. Jin quickly picked up the cube and searched for the button while being grappled from the judo throw. "Found it!" Jin thought to himself and he immediately pressed the button but arge jolt was suddenly discharged from the cube which paralysed him for a while.

    However, to the were-humans, it seemed Jin was spasming in the grapple lock and they thought it was the best opportunity they would get to hurt the both of them. At the very least, the farm boy could be taken away from the Z scarred swordsman. Even Grey thought it was the best chance they could have and rushed forward.

    "Naive." Meomi decided to chip in a bit of effort into this ''perceived'' attack of opportunity by magically extending her axe whip to attack Zeru, hoping she would distract the pretty boy enough to not let this be a one-sided ughter.

    Unsurprisingly, Zeru did what was expected by Meomi. He released Jin and with a swing of his sword, a small spiral cyclone was generated right in front of him. "Perfectly Normal Sword Cyclone," Zeru spoke under his breath as he saw each and every werejackal that rushed in cut, with multiple sword wounds, by the cyclone attack.

    "Hmmm. Now I understand why you needed me against him. Well, this also got me even more interested in him. Go get the seeds back." Meomi sent her orders and Gold ran the long way to prevent getting hit by the sword cyclone.

    While Jin was paralysed for that few seconds, his muscle memory and brain receptors were actively changing within him through the immense jolt that he received from the technique cube. When Jin was finally able to move, he quickly dragged himself away from Zeru and picked up Boo again.

    He ced Boo in his living armour which acted as his storage space and stabilised his stance. At that instant, his body felt an imminent presence right beside him and swiftly turned to deflect an iing attack.

    "What?! He can predict my Dark Shadow ws?" Gold''s ck ws, which were as long as a machete and could not be seen especially in the night, were easily countered by Jin. What he did not expect next was that the katana de slides along his ws and slit one of the tendons at his wrist.

    Gold immediately disengaged and felt an overwhelming sense of fear rising from within. "How did that farm boy execute the same attack as that Z scarred monster?!" On the other hand, Jin was overly surprised by that attack he just performed. He was sure that it was definitely part of the Perfectly Normal Parry sh.

    "Because when you are sparring with Zeru, an abrupt mission was created. The criteria of the mission is to defend against Zeru''s strikes at least 150 times. And the moment you achieved it, Zeru''s knowledge turned into a series of readable data that can be easily absorbed by the brain and stored in a technique cube. That was why he abruptly stopped the fight the moment he realised the cube was formed." Yun exined to Jin in his thoughts.

    "However, that parry sh technique will only ur once every five attacks. You have to train every day to get increase the proficiency of that technique. It is the same for your Lazy Panda Swipes and Panda Yawning beams. Hard work still matters."

    "That is still good news," Jin smirked and started to rush towards Gold. Based on the recent experience, he knew that his normal sword strikes were not strong enough to damage an average werejackal. Jin also needed to utilise the strength from Lazy Panda Swipe for his attacks to injure the werejackal. With that said, the Perfectly Normal Parry sh technique was formidable enough to wound the boss werejackal, Gold, without using any chi.

    "Even though you are capable like that monster swordsman, your thinking is still akin to a simple farm boy." Gold howled loudly but his howl sounded different from what Jin had heard previously.

    True enough, the werejackals, that were initially injured from Zeru''s sword cyclone attack, executed a high jump from their positions and all of them were going tond on Jin with fangs thirsty and hungry for a proper kill.

    "Uh ah ah! Right now, I am your opponent, pretty boy. Rejoice!" Meomi pounced on Zeru as he gave a quick nce at Jin but she missedpletely when Zeru shuffled to the side. In response, she followed up her pounce with a low kick which Zeru waspletely aware of and used his wooden sword to stop her in her tracks. Unfortunately, that was not the end as she was acrobatic enough to shift her weight to her left hand and attempted to strike Zeru once more with her axe whip.

    "I do wish to kill you instantly but you are currently not my master''s attention. So I shall entertain you until he cleared some jackal waste." Zeru raised his sword and blocked the axe whip as he used his left hand to grab Meomi''s leg and threw her to the sakura tree.

    Despite that throw, Meomi managed to reposition herself in midair and she intended to use the tree trunk as a springboard for her to propel towards Zeru. Her n was sound minded in theory but she did not expect one thing as her eyes were not focusing on the tree but Zeru.

    Shu opened his mouth the moment Zeru threw her and Meomi''s legs were in Shu''s mouth before she realised it was toote.

 Chapter 86 Training Complete

    <h4>Chapter 86 Training Complete</h4>

    Meomi panicked a little when she miscalcted her step, only to realised that she went into arge hole of the trunk. "There wasn''t any tree hollow when I was fighting that pretty boy!" Meomi wanted to get out of the tree hollow but she slipped and fell. She suddenly felt it was a little toote to notice all that resided in this tree hollow were bones and the recent remains of werejackals.

    "Is this a sort of venus flytrap?!" Meomi instantly felt something was amiss and quickly chanted some incantations as she tried to burst out of the trunk hollow along with her innate feline agility.

    However, Shu immediately closed his mouth shut the moment he felt that the cat was in its mouth. Meomi''s incantations gave her a split second of booming strength to jump but she was out of luck. Her feline speed wasn''t fast enough to entirely escape the terrifying wooden jaws of an ancient tree treant.

    She lost both of her lower limbs and a part of her tail to Shu and she was bleeding profusely right in front of it. The adrenaline rush wore off and the sensation of paining from the loss of her legs instantly paralysed her ability to scream.

    "Mmm, this cat has some juicy tender meatpared to those rough jackals." Shu started munching joyfully and was really tempted to get eat the rest of her now that she was lying right in front of her.

    "Old Shu, how is Master Jin going to capture her if you eat her up?" Zeru used his sword and attempt to stop a chi point of Meomi''s body which surprisingly worked and her bleeding momentarily stopped.

    "Gah, Zeru if she could not escape my mouth, she is not worthy for Seedling to use for the dungeon. Besides, all of them do not seem to be a threat to him." The treantughed as he gestured Zeru to look at Jin.

    Zeru turned to take a quick nce at Jin and grinned. "Looks like young Master Jin has a bit of hidden potential." The scene was a piece of artwork which Zeru did not expect.

    "Impossibleбн" Gold continued to tremble in fear as he saw Brown, Grey and all his other underlings being stabbed by multiple bamboo spears sprouting out from the ground and left hanging in midair. Right in front of Gold, the farm boy portrayed four angry panda silhouettes baring its fangs at him above the farm boy.

    Jin was panting extremely hard as he was continuously delivering chi into Bam and Boo which were firmly stuck on the ground. Every werejackal on the scene were bleeding slowly to death which was why Jin quickly took his handphone out and mmed his handphone onto Bam and Boo.

    "Initiating Mass Capture Procedure. Please Wait." Yun said in a calm voice and all of the werejackals that were pierced by the bamboo spears immediately disappear.

    "Mass Capturing in Process..."

    "What just happened?! What are that four weird bears appearing above the farm boy? Where did all my underlings go to?" Gold fell backwards and was extremely terrified to see all the werejackals disappeared.

    "I am quite surprised you can pull such a trick." Zeru pped his hands and smiled brightly.

    "Actually, I was not expecting that would work." Jin gave a sigh of relief when he saw a notification stating that the mass capture was a sess.

    "How did you do it? Who are you guys?" Gold was on its knees when he finally saw Meomi lying lifeless on the floor which prompted Jin to throw the phone at her and she too disappeared.

    "Eh, who will be so stupid to tell their tricks to their enemies? Shall we continue our battle?" Jin managed to calm himself down and his chi regeneration had stabilised. He was actually thankful that Gold was dumb enough to let him recover.

    "Actually, I like to know." Shu waved its branches hoping to attract Jin''s attention so he could quench his curiosity.

    "Later Shu." Jin was still focused on Gold in case he tried to sneak attack him.

    "I admit defeat! Please, Sire! Spare my life!" Gold immediately prostrated in front of Jin but he did not buy the act.

    "I do not believe you. I have seen enough Wu Xia movies to not get trick by this kind of act." Jin ready his sword once more.

    "I do not know what you are talking about! I am willing to do anything to show my allegiance to you!" Gold was sweating buckets of water.

    "Then let me hit you with this...ehh metal box and do not resist. I assure you and your entire n will be released if you do what I said." Jin was happy he did not have to fight anymore if he had the chance but he did not withdraw from his stance.

    "If what you said is true, I am willing to do so!" Gold shouted and spread out his w hand and retracted his dark sleek ws as a show of sincerity. Jin did not hesitate and threw this phone at him and the capture process was quicker than any other he had seen before.

    "Oh, this is interesting. So if someone is willing enough to submit, the capture is nearly instantaneous." Jin thought to himself and Yun agreed verbally in response.

    "So now, are you going to tell me how you did that? If I was not here to personally witness it, I would say you would be bluffing, little Seedling." Shu was excited to know how he did it.

    Jin walked towards Shu to sit and lean against him as he looked up to the moonless sky. "Yun said that I can make Bam and Boo change to any weapon form previously. She listed a few, the cannon and a bow as an example, but I truly wondered if it could change into other weapons if I wield it so."

    "Hence, I did a bit of experimenting during the weekend before the trainingmences and I found out that the forms that she listed could be created in an instant without any chi inserted to it. All I had to do was to think about the weapon form I want for Bam and Boo." Jin took out a bottle of spring water that he had taken from the shop before he came back for farming.

    "So I decided to put some chi into Bam and it worked! Bam turned into a short spear. So I tried to put in more chi and Bam! It became even longer but at that point in time, I was not proficient with my chi control and did not proceed any further." Jin drank a few gulps before throwing some of the delicious precious spring water on his face to refresh himself.

    "With today''s training, I finally managed to get some control of my chi but I think I was panicking when I saw the entire night sky filled with murderous werejackals trying to get a piece of me. Hence, I gambled by pouring every drop of chi I could summon into Bam and Boo, hoping I could create a series of bamboo spears sprouting out from the ground."

    "Nevertheless, I did not know I was able to reach Grade 4 and the ascension probably released more chi into the attac-бн.Wait a minute. Is Shu sleeping?" Jin looked up and saw Shu with his eyes already closed and not responding.

    "You might have a talent for making trees sleep. Anyways, the training will be cut short for today. You can go back to your shop with lots of time to spare. I will being to your store tomorrow morning and we can continue the sparring in Panda Muscles." Zeru smiled and waved to him.

    "Oh, onest thing. You should nt those seeds when you have the time. They will grow into something good, trust me." Zeru then disappeared from Farm World and into Jin''s phone.

    "Ahhh, I guess I should continue farming for now or else it will a waste of time." Jin looked around the campsite and saw the broken tools lying around but heter gave a nce at Bam and Boo with an evil stare. If both of his weapons could react, they would have cursed him crazily because Jin turned the both of them into a hoe and a spade separately with his chi. The des transformed into shapes that suited the purpose of a hoe and spade while the hilt was extended into a handle.

    Jin slogged the night once again to properly even thend as much as he could before daybreak in Farm World. With the ascension into Grade 4, Jin could feel that the ploughing was so much easier than before especially since he did not have the training weights activated.

    "Oh, Seedling. You are still here. Good story." Shu yawned as he saw thend around him ploughed neatly. "Ah, I see you had been busy all night. Well, go take a rest ande back tomorrow."

    "Thest time you said that, you allowed werejackals to tastefullyndscape my farm." Jin became particrly paranoid to Shu''s assurances.

    "Hahaha! This time, I hired a bodyguard! Give me a second for me to take it out." Shu rustled his leaves a little and in the midst of the lush foliage appeared the samerge praying mantis that transported Gold and Meomi to the battlefield.

    "It was dumb enough to eat one of my specially created mind control bugs on my branches and it became my pet! Hahahaha! So off you go Seedling, have a good rest and leave the fertilising to me." Shu used his branch to shoo off Jin which he yet again entrusted Shu to take care of the farm.

    By the time he returned to the shop, it was only 3.30pm. "Maybe I could return back home to bath and have a short nap before I open the store again in thete evening."

 Chapter 87 Black Pepper Pork Bun

    <h4>Chapter 87 ck Pepper Pork Bun</h4>

    Jin took a long shower after he reached home and a nap for the first time in weeks after discovering his cultivation could substitute his sleep. When he woke up, it was already 6.20pm in the evening. Jin changed into another fresh set of clothes and decided to walk around Tiangong shopping district for a change.

    He noticed that for some reason, it was definitely busier than usual and he guessed it was probably due to the uing Qixi Festival. The Valentine''s day for the Chinese while the Japanese celebrated Tanabata Festival in lieu of it. Although the Chinese businesses did market Valentine''s day in February, they did not let go of the business opportunities for Qixi Festival as well. Hence, it resulted in many Chinese to celebrate Valentine''s Day nearly twice a year.

    Besides, Jin was also walking around to check which store would be worthy to invest in. He had the coupon booklet that was delivered by Shen Si Fang, the owner of Lele Diner Cafer, with him and was investigating the different various types of stores in Tiangong Shopping District.

    Unfortunately, it was already in the evening when he got to the shopping streets and quite a number of ces were bustling with crowds. As time passes, the queues would only get longer.

    "Ah, perhaps I should just go back to my shop for food." Jin thought to himself as he continued walking down the street to check on the food stores. Nothing really caught his attention since he was somewhat spoiled by his shop''s own food menu.

    Suddenly, he picked up a whiff of a terrific fragrance of meat with his acute sense of smell from his cultivation. Despite the faint aroma, it felt strong, thick and especially appetising. He briskly walked around the street, trying to concentrate his senses to pick that particr smell of meat in the turmoil of good smelling food in the shopping street.

    Soon, he found where the smell was and it was from a ck pepper pork bun which an office worker recently bought. "Hi Mister, sorry to interrupt." Jin tapped on his shoulder.

    "No, I do not want anything." The office worker adamantly refused any request.

    "Sir, no. I am not selling anything, I just want to know where you bought this ck pepper pork bun from?" Jin also gestured using his hands that he was not selling anything.

    "Oh, you should have said so earlier. Go straight, turn right. You will see a street vendor there selling these buns. There should not be any queue and they are fantastic, go give it a try" The office worker kindly directed Jin and he was able to find it in no time.

    Jin found ady covered with a mask and cap, working all alone at the side of the street with her mobile stall attached to a motorbike. The smell was indeeding from the stall''s mini traditional oven which he peeked to have a look.

    "Mister, do you want to buy one?" The female shop vendor was constantly looking left and right which Jin suspected that she was selling without a licence. While having a licence might overall help mobile street vendors, the maintenance of the licence was expensive. Not to mention, the licence itself was a hassle to obtain especially for migrants or illiterate vendors.

    "I will like one. How much?" Jin opened his wallet to check if he had any spare cash notes around since most transactions were wireless.

    "15 Yuan," she replied.

    "Hold on a moment." Jin tried to dig his pockets to see if he had any loose change. He did not really want to give his 50 Yuan note and get back even more small change.

    "Ah, then make it two buns.." Jin figured he should buy one for Yun to try too.

    "Understood, please hold on for a moment." The female shop owner prepared an additional paper bag and bent down to check whether the ck pepper pork buns were ready. Meanwhile, Jin got a little interested in the female stall vendor. Although he could not see her entire face behind that mask, her eyes alone were simply dazzling. Not to mention, he got upset that almost everyone in the street had a girlfriend with them. Hence, like what all singletons would do, he took the chance as an attempt to observe her body while she was working.

    Her apron covered the majority of her body but Jin managed to catch a glimpse of her side view and he celebrated this little victory in his heart.

    "Thank you for waiting, that will be 30 Yua-" In an instant, the female stall vendor seemed to saw someone she did not wish to see which she immediately pushed the buns to Jin and started to pack her items.

    "Inspector?" Jin tried to look around and he noticed an officer with a blue shirt patrolling the streets. It could really be an officer from the City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau. Even so, the police officers around the area might have the ability to fine the street vendors too.

    "Do you want the money?" Jin asked once more as he knew how hard it was for unlicensed street vendors to be on the run while earning their keep. The female shop owner did not respond and frantically packed her items. However, she was still organised in her packing, which showed that it was not the first time she ran away from them.

    The Police officer was getting nearer and finally noticed her. He immediately picked up his pace and Jin slowly distanced himself away from the street vendor but something else happened.

    "Damn! Of all times why now!?" The female stall vendor cursed under her breath as she tried to get the motorbike to work. Soon, she quickly gave up and tried to push the stall but Jin could clearly see that it would be a futile event as he bit a part of the ck pepper pork bun to watch the showdown between the stall vendor and the police officer.

    However, when Jin took that small bite, his eyes lit up and immediately put the buns on top of thedy''s mobile stall. He pushed the mobile stall without asking if she needed any help. His new Grade in cultivation and the farming training he justpleted, made him stronger than before. "Lady Boss, ride on the motorcycle. I will push you to safety!"

    Seeing how the customer pushed the motorcycle so effortlessly, Zhen Qing agreed hastily and hopped onto the seat of the motorcycle. She did not care about the consequences of implicating other people in it. All she knew was if she ever got caught again, she might probably be jailed. Her customer ran and pushed the mobile stall further into other streets. She also started to notice that the police officer began to call for backup and ran towards her.

    "Milk, Zeru. Any distraction tactics you two can pull off?" Jin sent his thoughts to his betors as he ran with the mobile stall.

    "Why did you not include me?" Peppers replied back angrily.

    "I can help. Zeru, follow my lead." Milk and Zeru took the chance to appear right beside an alley along the streets and they were holding beer bottles. They timed themselves perfectly the moment Jin ran past the alley.

    "Kyaaaaaa! Help!!! Molester!!!" Milk was surprisingly in her nightgown and Zeru tried his best to pretend along by pulling her gown''s strap down. "Wahhahaha!" Zeru shouted as long as possible too. The officer heard the scream and immediately changed his target to Zeru. Unfortunately, the officer did not know what was waiting for him when Zeru knocked him out with his wooden sword.

    "Why are you all still ignoring me?" No one had yet to reply Peppers.

    Jin and Zhen Qing managed to travel a few streets further away from Tiangong shopping district where they finally stopped. "Thank you, kind sir." Zhen Qing came down from the motorcycle with her mask and cap off to sincerely bow.

    "Your ck Pepper Bun was worth it!" Jin was simply blinded by her beauty and could not say any more than that. He then took the 50 Yuan note out once again and passed it to her. "Kind Sir, after what you have done, please take this as a treat!" Zhen Qing refused Jin''s money firmly.

    "No, please, just ept it. I know how hard it is to run a business." Jin shoved the money back and began to walk away, feeling really happy to do a good deed.

    "Sir, what do you work as? Perhaps I could patronise it." Zhen Qing shouted at him after some hesitation.

    At that moment, Jin suddenly thought of a very good yet simple n to eat those delicious ck pepper pork buns in the future.

 Chapter 88 New Employee?

    <h4>Chapter 88 New Employee?</h4>

    "Hey, ummm... Would you want to work near my store?" Jin asked Zhen Qing when he was busily feasting on the ck pepper meat pork bun.

    "Sorry?" Zhen Qing did not know how to respond to Jin''s question. It was too abrupt and perhaps out of context when taking into consideration the current situation.

    "Not sure if you know but I am the owner of the dungeon supplier store at the far end of Tiangong shopping district." Jin could not help himself and took the second piece to eat. "Sorry, Yun, this was actually meant for you."

    "I do not understand, then why would you want a street vendor like me to work for you?" Zhen Qing got a little scared when she started to think that this may have been his motive all along. She had a reason to be scared since she had been scammed quite a few times in the past.

    "Let us just say it''s a mutually beneficial rtionship?" Jin could not keep his eyes off Zhen Qing, but she was ignoring eye contact whenever possible. She did not like this sudden rapid, development. It was true that this stranger helped her but this was way over the top.

    "I''ll like you to work beside my store. In return, you give me the details and I will help you apply a proper licence to work." Jin remembered the wondrous system creating his dungeon supplier licence in a blink of an eye.

    "What? But what benefit will you get?" Zhen Qing was curious and perhaps a little happy that such an opportunity had appeared. Of course, she knew about the dungeon supplier store at the end of Tiangong Street. Each street vendor was dying to park their food store there if possible. However, the dungeon supplier''s boss owned the wholend, so he had the ability to kick them out mercilessly. And, she did not know that the store''s boss was this young fellow here. He was probably around the same age as her, perhaps even younger.

    "However, whether you continue to remain there will be based on your performance. Let''s say we are doing this on a trial basis. You serve my queuing customers food while I provide you with a licence. Even if I deemed you not worthy after the trial, you get to keep the licence for a year before you need to renew it or drop the licence. How about that?" Jin knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world. If he generously allowed her to do what she wanted in that area, the street vendor would start to think that he was trying to take advantage of her.

    "Okay, I will consider your proposal. When do I start?" Zhen Qing asked

    "Tomorrow at 11 am. Name''s Jin." Jin raised his hand towards Zhen Qing.

    "Zhen Qing. A pleasure to meet you, Boss Jin." Zhen Qing shook Jin''s hand in return.

    "Oh, and if I may, I might change your mobile stall into something more advanced so you will be able to cook better stuff. There is also a possibility that I will provide different ingredients for you. However, we will see the overall response from the customers first. Is that okay with you?" Jin asked Zhen Qing,

    "I have my own small pride as a street vendor, but if your ingredients and the changes you make will improve the overall taste of my cooking, I will dly try." Zhen Qing replied.

    "If there is nothing else, I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow." Jin smiled, as he was able to see that pretty girl once more. Oh, but the bun was definitely the main objective.

    Jin returned back to the store. "Yun, I Have somethin-"

    *BOOM* The mini explosion causes the entire store to light on fire momentarily but the threat was immediately removed with the system''s mysterious powers.

    "WHY DID YOU IGNORE ME!" Peppers was furious when Jin came back to the store. He was on fire again andter cured by Milk, who was lying on the couch with her cow shaped plushie.

    "CONGRATS JIN!!!" Yun subsequently hugged Jin so hard that he could not breathe well.

    "What? Why are you congratting me?" Jin gentle pushed Yun away to get a breather. He had absolutely no idea what was happening. First the explosion and now the sudden hug.

    "WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME AGAI- ow." Zeru knocked Peppers out with a light knock of his sword hilt.

    "Zeru and Milk told me that you were acting like a hero for some girl." Yun was giving Jin the nudge. Yun had known what Jin had been doing all along, but she decided to back down for once and let the Betors believe that they were the ones who found Jin a potential love interest

    "So, what does she look like?" Yun asked.

    "Actually, I was about to ask you about her." Jin shyly scratched his head.

    "If there is anything within my powers, I am willing to help you. Your sense of dressing? Which restaurant to go to?" Yun gave such arge smile. Even though she had no past recollection of raising Jin, her father Ming was constantly telling her about Jin as he grew up. Even though it was not all the time that she got to y the mother role for Jin, she thought that if she could help in any way, she would be equally satisfied too.

    "No no, I wanted to ask if she could set up her mobile street stall right here in our garden park," Jin asked with some hesitation in his voice.

    "Ahhh, No," Yun said in a straight face.

    "Is there anything I could do? I mean technically I am also the boss here even though I am still learning..." Jin tried to reason with Yun.

    "No, I do not allow because you did not ask her for her identity card or details to apply for the food licence." Yun then giggled.

    "But she-" Jin realised what Yun was agreeing to him and smile with a defeated look. "Looks like I was worried for nothing."

    "No worries about that, since we have some free time for now. I still would not suggest you opening your store tonight." Yun went to the Panda Port and checked something.

    "Why?" Jin asked.

    "Because as a Level 2 Dungeon Supplier, you are now required to make your own dungeons."

 Chapter 89 Dungeon Maker Instance

    <h4>Chapter 89 Dungeon Maker Instance</h4>

    "Are you serious? I can finally make my own dungeons?" Jin''s eyes were twinkling like stars at night.

    "Why are you that excited?" Yun was taken aback by his change of attitude.

    "Well, why did I want to be a dungeon supplier in the first ce? To be able to create dungeons! To be a dungeon master and ultimately the master of many dungeons!" Jin was jumping around like a little kid that had his favourite candy given to him.

    "Well, do not be too hasty. Although I did say that you are supposed to create your own dungeon, there are rules set by the system too." Yun dampened Jin''s mood a little but he did not care much. He would finally be able to create his own dungeons.

    "Follow me, I will show you the Dungeon Maker dimensional space instance." Yun beckoned for Jin toe closer to the Panda Port and she prompted Jin to check his phone. This time round, there was a new app installed, called the Key.

    "Click on the Key app to enter this dimensional space instance. There is a difference between this instance and other service instances. This ''Key'' app requires neither your fingerprint nor a scan of your retina. It needs your bio-identity, your absolute willingness to enter as well as an additional factor: The presence of the system."

    "What''s with the added security?" Jin was very curious.

    "Because you are literally ying as a god in this instance. In fact, there is a ''god'' particle element in this instance too, which ifnded into the wrong hands, would cause bad things to happen. Very bad things. That was why the system did not allow you to create dungeons until it knew you could be trusted." Yun exined in a fairly serious manner.

    "Well, if that is the case, I am honoured." Jin did not know the responsibility that he would be carrying. He had thought that he would just be ying a game, creating a dungeon out of nothingness.

    "Anyways, let''s enter." Yun ced her palm on the Panda Port and Jin followed suit. They were teleported immediately into the Dungeon Maker instance.

    To his surprise, it was just an enclosed yet brightly lit white room. There was an empty table at the centre of the room.

    "Wee, to the dungeon maker instance. You will understand after I exin everything...well at least the basics." Yun walked towards the empty table and ced her palm on it. Suddenly, like a science fiction movie, the table glowed and digital screens were floating right in front of Jin and Yun.

    "Firstly, since you are still a Level 2 Dungeon Supplier. The system will provide you with a couple of scenarios and a set of AI characters if needed. As you level up, you will have more of the restrictions lifted from you. However, I think you will find that it is more or less still quite fun to create something."

    "Oh, that''s actually pretty good in my opinion. I would rather have a base to work from than to start from scratch. I am not exactly the most creative guy." Jin said humbly. However, he was really excited. Back in high school, he yed Dungeons and Dragoons with the same close friends for a long time. They all took turns to create thrilling adventures for their ygroup. It was also then that Jin found an interest in dungeon creating. It was a pity he had not see any of his friends for such a long time.

    "Next, budget. Each dungeon you create has a budget. If you exceed that particr budget, you will not be able to publish that dungeon for your customers to y as they would not be profitable for the system. However! You are allowed to petition and let the system personally rate the dungeon. If the dungeon seems interesting enough but it is over the budget by sayбн an additional 25%, the system may allow you to publish that dungeon." Yun exined and there were even aids from the digital screens floating on top of the table.

    "Why would there be a budget?" Jin was curious.

    "Your creatures need to eat, drink and sleep. Their daily lives still move on even though they are in your captivity." Yun added.

    "Captivity, what a crude way to put it," Jin argued.

    "It is true and you know it. Anyways, the system takes care of all the necessary essentials for your creatures, hence it puts a budget onto your dungeon making. To make things simple, we will be converting the budget currency into something simple for you to remember." Yun continued.

    "Each AI cost 10 dungeon dors while each creature you capture has their own individual cost attached to them. The system even has its own set of monsters that you can utilise but they cost more since you did not catch them yourself. You can, however, buy them if you have sufficient cash." Yun said.

    "Cash? As in Yuan or Dungeon Dors?" Jin asked.

    "Yuan, to make things simple, each Dungeon Dor is equivalent to 100 Yuan. So if you have sufficient Yuan to spend, you can actually buy them or you can just select where they live and travel to that particr alternate world and catch them." Yun exined further.

    "Is the dungeon creator easy to use?" Jin walked towards the table and took a look.

    "Very instinctive. You will get the hang of it within minutes. Anyway, that is more or less the rules for now. Have fun!" Yun walked out of the room and left Jin to his own devices.

    When Yun left, Jin started looking around and saw an instruction manual on the table. He flipped opened the manual and noticed a lot of simple exnations and pictures were given. In no time, he managed to grasp the basics and decided to try it out.

    "Alright, let''s try this out!" Jin smiled to himself as he pressed the ''ON'' button on one of the digital screens.

    The whole room then started shaking vigorously.

 Chapter 90 Jin At Work

    <h4>Chapter 90 Jin At Work</h4>

    "Wee to the Dungeon Maker" The digital screen showed those few words bright and clear.

    A selection appeared right in front of Jin. Improving old dungeons or creating a new dungeon?

    "Well, let''s check on the old dungeons and see if I can give them a good revamp. In addition, there are some building blocks on it so I can use that as a learning experience before I build my own dungeon.

    Jin pressed on the first option and the dungeon maker gave a list of avable options for Jin to choose from. All three dungeons were avable for him to edit. The goblin dungeon, the zither mistress dungeon and the Great Wall of China Dungeon. He selected the goblin dungeon and noticed the entire room change itsndscape to suit the dimensional space of the forested area where the goblins resided. Arge cinematic screen simr to what Jin had seen in the underground stores were activated right in front of him.

    Other options such as AI characters and monsters on loan appeared on a separate digital screen. Jin knew that this current dungeon format was something simr to an arcade style where yers fought their enemies in waves.

    "I should create a short storyline while utilising the monsters I have in this dungeon." Jin thought to himself and checked the budget for Goblin Dungeon. Jin found that, surprisingly, the budget allocated for this dungeon was not even half used so he decided to take a look at the AI characters and monsters on loan avable.

    "Hmm, Boar Knights? That would definitely be interesting." Jin thought for a while and finally decided on a short storyline. He started to put a few AI characters in, repositioned the goblins and even added more goblins to suit the all-new storyline. After he was done, he checked the budget and discovered that he was barely within the budget. And just like that, he pressed the finish button.

    "System is calcting storyline viability and interest." The same female announcer spoke in the Dungeon Maker instance and Jin waited for the results as the room he was in started to show stock images of dummy yers trying the dungeon. In less than a minute, the system gave an approval rating of B+, which meant that he was allowed to publish this particr dungeon.

    However, he did not realise that upon using the budget to the maximum, the cost of the dungeon had increased by another 100 Yuan. "I think the new storyline should be worth it for the cultivators. Besides, it would be on modified difficulty, which would be slightly easier for neers to try."

    After Jin published his dungeon, he suddenly saw a pop-up. "Congrattions on creating your first dungeon! A new creature has been given to you for your efforts. Please check your creatures list for more details."

    "Wow, a new monster?" Jin quickly opened the digital screen that contained his monsters and he found a creature that might actually suit the Zither Mistress dungeon. He did not know whether the system was trying to help him indirectly or it was just a coincidence. However, Jin had been encountering too many coincidences that he started to question whether the system was directing him towards a certain path in life.

    He checked the stats profile of the new creature and it was the Sand Witch. ording to the profile''s description, the Sand Witch was ady with extraordinary abilities in the maniption of sand, dust and dirt. Her ability to create the sand-rted summons was on par with high tier mages.

    Next, he opened up the Zither Mistress dungeon to revamp it for a better storyline. Unlike the Goblin dungeon, he did not keep the original monsters. Instead, Jin decided to remove the wyrm ants and in exchange, he ced the Sand Witch in it.

    "I think this scene would be great for Zither Mistress." Jin had decided to change the dungeonndscape by adding an open-air theatre to the grasnds. Once again, he added the necessary AI and monsters on loan and he carefully added lines of possible dialogue for the AI to speak.

    ording to the manual, the AI needed to know what their motive was in the particr dungeon, what role the AI was ying at and how extensive the role would be. Jin, the dungeon creator, could add in additional lines and dialogues for it to understand its roles better so that it could better interact with the cultivators when needed.

    However, unlike the goblin dungeon, Jin was required to use the demonstrate y option to create stock dummy yers to simte the scene as he had trouble visualising some of the aspects of this particr new storyline. "This is much harder than I envisioned it to be." Jin did onest test run before submitting the new storyline to the system.

    Fortunately, he was able to get a B rating and he was given some constructive criticism by the system to improve on certain things. "If Sand Witch interrupts the y at scene C, it would have a more dramatic effect than iting in scene D." The female announcer exined to him.

    "Hmm, but won''t it affect scene E and F if I do that?" Jin asked

    "That is where the customers'' choicees in. Give more room to your customers and it will be a better experience." The female announcer stated.

    "Alright, let''s try that," Jin said and changed his design around as rmended by the system. For some reason, Jin suddenly felt that the system was fairly reasonable and knowledgeable in the aspect of dungeon making. He thought that it would be more cold and calctive, simr to what was written in the fantasy novels he had read.

    "Now, time to create the new dungeons with the new creatures I just caught." Jin stretched his hands and did some waist turning before proceeding to create a new dungeon. The interface for everything remained the same and he started by choosing the situation he wanted the cultivators to be in before he started to add in various modifiers.

    "Hmm, with them acting as a group, I think this is the best situation to go forth withбн" Jin pressed on modern settings option and chose a bank building while he started to get creative with his cement of monsters and AIs.

    "Hahaha, Bank Heist. This will be great to let the cultivators y hero." Jinughed as he tried all sorts of options he was permitted to by the system to fit the storyline. To top it off, Jin had already been in the Dungeon Maker for nearly 8 hours straight and he did not feel a single bit of fatigue at all.

    "Perhaps, I should restrict the amount of time he is allowed to stay in thereбн"Yun started to get a bit anxious when Jin was creating his dungeons a little too joyfully.

 Chapter 91 Zhen Qings Trial

    <h4>Chapter 91 Zhen Qing''s Trial</h4>

    Time passed really quickly since Jin was having fun. By the time he finished the new dungeon, it was already past midnight. Time dtion in the dungeon maker was simr to the other service instances and this showed that Jin had literally spent hours creating his dungeons.

    "Hey, Jin. Enough of the dungeon creation, it''s already 12.40am. Get back home and rest, you still have training with Zeru early in the morning." Yun went into the Dungeon Maker just to get him out.

    "But I am finishing soon. Besides, I can sleep less now that I am a Grade 4." Jin was still busy tinkering with the options for the Bank Heist Dungeon.

    "Nope, not allowing you to do so. If you do not stop now, I will impose a time limit for you to stay here in the future. You need to sleep in order to continue cultivating. Look at it this way. If you are always stuck here with your dungeons and do not cultivate, you would not be able to fight new and stronger monsters and when your customers reach a certain grade, they would get bored of your dungeons too despite the modified difficulty option." Yun was getting angry with Jin so Jin finally conceded and saved his progress on the Bank Heist dungeon before he stopped.

    Jin grabbed a few onigiris before he returned home and stayed in the toilet near the kitchen to cultivate once more. "I really think I should find a new solution to this rather than staying in the toilet to cultivate." He sighed a little before he started the cultivation.

    The morning came quicker than he had expected and so did the amount of waste expelled by his body. The waste literally filled the whole bathroom with filthy sludge. It was lucky that it did not smell as bad as it looked. "Shit, how am I going to clear all this without clogging my pipes." He tried to stand up but the filthy sludge was stuck around him.

    "Ehh, Yun! Help?" Jin shouted out of the toilet and Yun yawned as she slowly walked down from her room. "What a mess." Yun started to get a headache when she saw the sludge all around the bathroom.

    "Well, at least it''s in the bathroom, I cannot imagine it being in my room. I would have cried a bucket of tears." Jin tried to waddle around the filth as he walked to the basin to wash his face and hands. "I have no idea why or how I managed to produce this much sludge."

    "Most probably due to the activities you did. Farming, fighting, flirting with a girl and dungeon creation." Yun grinned when she emphasised the flirting portion to Jin but it did not seem to affect Jin that much since he was in a predicament that he could not solve.

    "There is nothing much you can do, I will call the plumber and also check if he has any solution for your future cultivation," Yun said as she stopped Jin from getting out of the bathroom with sludge on his legs. "Stay here, I will get a towel."

    Jin went to the storehouse early in the morning after showering at least twice. Zeru was already in the store when Jin reached and they proceeded to the third floor to visit Panda Muscles.

    "I must say, I really like the facility of Panda Muscles and if I had known earlier, I could have just ask you toe here to train with me." Zeru ced his hand on the Hulky White Jade Panda Statue and he teleported along with Jin.

    "Wow, I do agree, this is amazing." Jin entered Panda Muscles and found himself at the centre of a massive gym warehouse facility. There was a swimming pool, a fully equipped gym, an indoor running track, some rock climbing, a fighting ring, a couple yoga mats and some other stuff that they could not see clearly.

    "Hi, wee to Panda Muscles." A female Panda receptionist was right behind them, which made them realise that they were right beside a reception counter.

    "I would like to go to the sword training section. He is following me as well." Zeru said with his arms folded.

    "Understood, the sword training section is 1600 metres away from this reception centre. Please follow the glowing red arrows on the ground. They will guide you to your location." The female Panda receptionist bowed and thanked them for using their service.

    "Well, what are you waiting for? This is a gym facility after all, let''s run there." Zeru immediately sped off and Jin tried to catch up but it was futile. Without any movement techniques, his speed would not be on par with Zeru''s.

    "Slow, give me 50 pushups and then another 50 burpees." Zeru scolded Jin for beingte and they officially started their training for the morning session. In that session, Jin was getting his basics, including sword holding, corrected. Each time he held it wrong, Zeru would order Jin to run around the sword training section with his sword held up high.

    Once the training was done, Jin quickly took a shower and started studying the coupon booklet andparing the stores he had noted in yesterday''s evening trip around the shopping district. He had not forgotten about the baby panda mission he got just before going to Shanghai tower, which required him to visit the Shenzhen Provincial Zoo. The rewards for that baby panda mission allowed him to have all expenses paid for for the coupon booklet promotion.

    Suddenly, there was a knock at the side door and it startled Jin as he was focusing on the coupon booklet research. "Ah, it''s nearly 11 am, should be her I guess." Jin opened the door and saw Zhen Qing neatly dressed with her hair all tied up in a ponytail.

    "Hi there. Please,e in." Jin offered her toe into the shop and he exined to her the details of her business partnership. "I will allow you to set up your store in my mini garden and you do not have to work all the way till the night. You may leave whenever you want. The toilet is on the second floor if you need to use it. You do not need to pay any rent, and whatever you earn, you get to keep. However, what I need will be your identity card to apply for the licence."

    "Wait, why are you being so generous?" Zhen Qing found something was amiss.

    "I am not, it''s a trial. If everything goes smoothly and my customers like it, I might potentially take a partial percentage of your daily profits in the future. Aside from that, I would invest in proper appliances for you to use and superior ingredients if you perform well." Jin iterated his agenda.

    "Okay, but is it alright for me to start right now? I mean you have not applied for the licence yet." Zhen Qing passed Jin her identity card and relevant details needed for a licence application.

    "It''s fine, if any police officeres for you, just direct them to me. I will settle for you. This is, after all, my plot ofnd. Besides, I have a friend that deals with these licences...it is not really a major problem." Jin smiled and realised something.

    "Ah, where are my manners, would you like something to drink?" Jin asked.

    "Oh, it''s fine. Thank you. I will set up my store now." Zhen Qing refused the offer.

    "Alright, I will show you where to park your store." Jin showed her the way and as both of them entered the mini garden, there was already an allocated slot of Zhen Qing to set up her mobile stall. It was under a tree, making it a good spot for customers to get food and not too strenuous for Zhen Qing to work out in the open.

    "Hmm, Yun''s work?" Jin thought to himself and told her about the flow of the customers'' queue. She understood and began to prepare her ingredients. For the first time ever, she finally got to work peacefully without worrying about inspectors.

    Zhen Qing would not forget the gratitude Jin had shown her even though it was just a trial period.

 Chapter 92 Ridiculous Pricing

    <h4>Chapter 92 Ridiculous Pricing</h4>

    "Eh, Se Lang! Looks like our local dungeon supplier brought up something new!" Hong Deng Long showed Se Lang his phone when they were eating at the police cafeteria.

    "Bank Heist Dungeon Instance? Sounds like fun!" Se Lang''s voice was a little muffled since he was currently busy munching on his lunch. Jin had managed toplete the Bank Heist dungeon instance after he showed Zhen Qing where she could park her mobile stall instead of focusing on the coupon booklet where he left off. It was obvious that he did not like that particr coupon booklet, even though it was part of a mission he had achieved.

    "What''s that?" A female detective just got her food and sat beside them.

    "Ah, Madam Xue, it was the dungeon supplier we were casually talking aboutst week." Deng Long exined as he took his phone back from Se Lang and showed Xue Ping the promotion on Pandamonium.

    "Oh, you mean that dungeon supplier where you said Se Lang was rendered unconscious because he totally underestimated the monster''s capability." Xue Ping vaguely remembered Deng Long boasting about it, which made Se Lang slightly embarrassed.

    "Yes, Yes I did underestimate Boss Jin''s monsters, but it''s time to move on." Se Lang rolled his eyes and continued to slurp his wanton noodles.

    "Haha, Madam Xue, want to join us tonight? Maybe you and Sir Lee can finally find something to enjoy together." Deng Long teased Xue Ping a little.

    "Haha, I will ask him if he is free tonight. Whether hees or not is his choice but I will definitely join you guys if nothing pops up in the afternoon." Xue Ping agreed to it and Deng Long was practically jumping in joy. Xue Ping and Lee An were two of the top detectives this precinct had ever seen. If you add Se Lang, even with his humiliating defeat, it was the perfect team to win some panda medals and get some good equipment from Boss Jin''s underground stores.

    "Ah, Madam. Remember that the dungeon will be expensive, but the experience is a real treat. So do not be too shocked if you find the price a bit ridiculous." Deng Long said.

    ----------------------------

    "THIS IS RIDICULOUS! WHAT KIND OF PRICING IS THIS!" Xue Ping shouted at the top of her lungs when she saw the pricing list on the menu.

    "Calm down dear! It''s fine, I will pay for your portion" Lee An dragged her away before she could make a big ruckus. However, everyone in the store justughed it off since it had already be a daily urrence for a neer to find the pricing to be ridiculously expensive.

    "Sorry, everyone. This is the first time my friend hase here." Deng Long lowered his head a little as a sign of apology.

    "No worries, so what are you looking at? Se Lang, do you want to have another go at the Zither Mistress?" Jin asked the party of four.

    "Nah, boss, I want to try something up my alley. The Bank Heist instance." Se Lang said while pointing it at the newly decorated menu.

    "Ah, working when you are off duty? You sure are diligent." Jin chuckled a little and typed the order into the cash registry. Do you wish to partake in any service instances? The Emerald Mountains Hot Spring?" Jin tried to entice them a little but it did not work.

    "Nah, it is fine, the Bank Heist instance for four will be enough. Any group discount?" Se Lang asked Jin hoping he might throw in a favour or two for him

    "Sure, but only if you join the new Zither Mistress dungeon too, or else that will be 1720 Yuan." Jin really knew that Se Lang was still traumatised by the multiple losses he had experienced in the Zither Mistress dungeon. In the end, Se Lang rejected Jin and paid for the rest. Heter collected the money from Deng Long and Lee An individually and passed them the tickets.

    "I am going to put a warrant out on this ce if the dungeon is a scam!" Xue Ping was still furious Deng Long brought her to such an expensive ce.

    Both Lee An and Xue Ping just got married and they were saving some money to get an apartment together. Hence, Xue Ping was quite paranoid when it came to spending unnecessarily.

    "If there''s one thing I know about Boss Jin, it''s that his dungeons are top notch." Se Lang backed up Deng Long''s decision toe here.

    "Dear, just calm down. Look let''s get you some food before we start." Lee An pointed at the mobile stall when they got out of the store as they waited for their number to be called.

    "Sir Lee, let me get it for you. If not your wife will be yapping at you for wasting money again." Deng Long said as he went to the mobile stall that was surrounded by people too.

    "Deng Long I can hear youuuuu." Xue Ping gave him an angry look but Deng Long did not care. Se Lang could only shake his head. Xue Ping and Lee An were not only their superiors in the police station, Xue Ping was also Deng Long''s distant rtive while Lee An was Se Lang''s senior when they were in high school. It was funny how fate connected them together and how they also became close work colleagues and friends.

    "Mdm, Four ck Pepper Buns please." Deng Long was finally able to order after some waiting.

    "Here, four ck Pepper Buns, That will be 60 Yuan in tota- Oh it''s you, officer." Zhen Qing finally realised Deng Long''s identity.

    "Oh, Mdm. I guess you have a proper permit now since you are not running away from me?" Deng Longughed as he paid 60 Yuan.

    "Thank you for turning a blind eye previously and yes, Boss Jin has graciously allowed me to work here. I believe he has the permit." Zhen Qing gave a half-truth since she did not know whether Jin really had a permit ready for inspection.

    "Hahaha, that is good. I loved your ck Pepper Meat Bun a lot. I guess it''s fantastic you are finally able to work in peace. Alright, I will be going first, all the best!" Deng Long waved as he started to munch on his ck pepper meat bun.

    "Here you go, guys." Deng Long gave the buns to them while Se Lang exined some dungeoneering essentials and experiences he had learned in Boss Jin''s dungeon. Deng Long definitely made fun of Se Lang, which helped to ease Xue Ping''s mood.

    After a while, all of their phones vibrated. "Station 2, it is our turn." Lee An read and all of them went into the store to find four girls waiting at Station 2 too.

    "Bank Heist Instance?" Yue Wen asked casually, after which Lee An nodded.

    "Nice, we were waiting for it as well. Perhaps, it will be a group raid with you guys." Yue Wenmented.

    "Oooh! Group Raid with young girls? That is a treat." Deng Long whispered to Se Lang and he jabbed back at Deng Long for being so lecherous.

    At this moment, Station 2''s TV portrayed eight queue numbers, which corresponded to Yue Wen''s and Se Lang''s groups.

 Chapter 93 Briefing

    <h4>Chapter 93 Briefing</h4>

    All eight cultivators were teleported safely into the instance but they noticed that they were in an enclosed moving vehicle. Four were sitting on each side of the vehicle, facing the other four.

    They heard a loud siren wailing right outside the vehicle and it was obvious the vehicle was dodging and swerving to beat the traffic.

    "Good afternoon to our new cultivators and our one Pandawan, Yue Wen." A Panda was sitting at the end of the vehicle greeting them."I am Captain Bai, Deputy Head of the Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) and a Squadron leader for SWAT." The Panda was wearing a bulletproof suit with a white formal shirt and pants on, which were surprisinglyrge enough to fit him. Despite having a belly, they could not ignore the muscles and scars that were not covered by his rolled up shirt.

    "Boss Jin decided to send the eight of you here because he felt that you all are capable enough to handle a very specific crisis" Captain Bai stared at them with the eyes of a reaper. "Fortunately, he was right, or I would have personally kicked you out of the van if I had sensed any fear in any one of you."

    "First up, wee to CNU Foxtrot. I will be separating you into two teams before I brief you on your mission details." Captain Bai smacked the vehicle violently and a digital screen reluctantly appeared at the back of the vehicle.

    ********

    These are the call signs in case you forget your partner''s name.

    Foxtrot A:

    1. Se Lang - Wolf

    2. Deng Long - Wombat

    3. Xue Ping - Puma

    4. Lee An - Yak

    Foxtrot B:

    1. Yue Wen - Maiden

    2. Shi Hui - Swan

    3. Jia Ying - Stag

    4. Jing Ru - Giraffe

    ********

    "This is our iing situation. At 1159 Hrs, we received a silent panic rm from the First Panda Bank and subsequently at 1210 Hrs, the bank''s rm was activated, causing the bank defences to be activated and lock up both the robbers and hostages in it." Captain Bai said sternly.

    "We do not know the intent of the robbers because they only held one hostage and released the rest before activating the bank''s rm at 1210 Hrs. However, at this point in time, we are still confirming the list of employees and customers who have safely escaped. The robbers might be lying to us and have additional hostages to surprise us."

    "So, this is where youe in. There is a secret exit that only the CEO of the First Panda Bank knows about. You will be travelling through that secret passage and enter the Bank through the second floor."

    "Fortunately, there are only four major floors you need to search since the automated security bots on each floor have already searched the whole area. Only the ground floor, basement 1, basement 2 and the top floor had their security bots destroyed. "

    "Sir, question, are you sure the security bots were not hacked?" Lee An the Yak raised his hand before interrupting Captain Bai.

    "Valid question, Cultivator. You can be that sure they are not hacked. Boss Jin personally built them and guaranteed us that they are unable to be hacked, not to mention their 100% uracy in their results." Captain Bai replied.

    "That means Boss Jin wants us to focus on those areas rather than searching the other floors to make the dungeon instance simple enough." Shi Hui replied.

    "Ahh, I get it. Trying to make the storyline real enough. That''s a real challenge for a dungeon instance." Lee Anplimented Jin indirectly.

    "Enough, let''s get back to the briefing." Captain Bai ordered for silence.

    "Foxtrot A, your objective is to enter the building and exterminate the robbers. Do not let them run away with the cash. By all means necessary, get the cash back. If they managed to leave the city with the cash, you failed. Oh, and if you die, you fail too, although that''s pretty obvious." Captain Bai snorted.

    "Foxtrot B, your objective is to secure the VIP hostage who we believe is located on the top floor in the CEO''s office. Be careful, the CEO office was equipped with quite a dangerous creature...I am not sure how the robbers managed to bypass it or defeat it but if that creature is really under their control, you will have a tough fight." Captain Bai warned Foxtrot B.

    "Why would the CEO have a creature in his office?" Se Lang the Wolf asked.

    "Weird hobby of his. It was unlucky for the CEO to leave his office for lunch when they attacked. He could have controlled his pet and killed the robbers." Captain Bai sighed.

    "May I know who this VIP is? Is it really that important to save him or her?" Yue Wen the Maiden asked.

    "Valid question Pandawan Yue Wen, the VIP is no other than the finance minister''s son. He was there for some meetings. We do not know if he was the real target or whether the money was the primary motive. In any case, suit up! We have less than 5 minutes until we reach our destination."

    "Suit up?" Jia Ying the Stag asked.

    "Aye, inscribed bulletproof vest. They provide a barrier with a 50% chance of deflecting iing projectile shots. You will need it. Sources say that the robbers are packing some heavy firepower. Return them when you are done with the dungeon." Captain Bai continued to speak into his walkie-talkie, with regards to a certain security detail.

    "Open transmission channels? ck Talisman?" Yue Wen, being the only experienced dungeon raider, asked those questions to Captain Bai as the others suited up.

    "Channels are open. No ck Talisman but the bank has graciously provided ess codes to their weaponry on each level. Use them however you wish." Captain Bai replied and at the same time, the vehicle came to a sudden halt

    Captain Bai turned off the digital screen and mmed the doors open to reveal a very chaotic scene right outside the First Panda Bank. Police had cordoned off certain roads and paramedics were on scene treating the wounded.

    "This is like a real bank attackбн" Xue Ping the Puma was astounded by the level of detail in this particr dungeon.

    "Told you, the price is worth it." Deng Long tightened his suit.

    "Ehh, Giraffe, your bullet vest suit is not worn properly." Se Lang noticed she wore it too loosely.

    "Oh, its okay, I am going to scout for a vantage point and am not joining the battle directly. Thank you for the concern though, Wolf." Jing Ru the giraffe bowed as she carried arge sack of items with her.

    "Oh, we have a sniper in our team. Wolf, if your team need any help. Do not hesitate to ask, she will provide overwatch." Yue Wen smiled at Se Lang.

    "Then won''t it be better if someone from our team followed you instead?" Se Lang was concerned for their safety after hearing the warnings from Captain Bai.

    "I will follow them then since it would be awkward for you guys to go with these young girls." Xue Ping the Puma offered her help.

    "Then I graciously ept your help." Yue Wen shook hands with Xue Ping.

    "Alright, enough chit-chat. Follow me. I will show you where the secret entrance is." Captain Bai even had a shotgun slung along his shoulders as he beckoned them to follow him into the bank.

    The adrenaline in all eight cultivators was real and they could not wait to get into action.

 Chapter 94 Secret Passage Way

    <h4>Chapter 94 Secret Passage Way</h4>

    The CEO of the First Panda Bank was walking in circles anxiously at the side of an abandoned building three blocks away from the First Panda Bank. There were two Panda police guards armed to the teeth protecting him and they saluted Captain Bai when both of them saw him.

    "Captain, no sign of any intrudersing from the secret passage." The panda police guard informed Captain Bai before they were ordered to be at ease.

    "Took you long enough." CEO Scabba took out his pocket watch and pushed up his monocle. "I have been waiting here for ages. Are You sure your team can apprehend these jackals?" The rat stuffed his pocket watch back into his pocket before he jumped up onto one of the panda guards. He asked the guard to support him while he wrote the passcode on the wall of the abandoned building with his ws.

    "This is the passage to the First Panda Bank?" Se Lang was mystified by this weird way of hiding a secret passage to the most secure bank.

    "Yes, the abandoned building was a ruse, it has 24 hours of non-standardised monitoring. There are pressure pads and heat sensor monitoring, and there are even hidden security bots." Captain Bai said as he entered the room with his shotgun pointing forwards despite already affirming it was safe.

    "Clueless homeless people will usually stay here. They can open the door to this abandoned building without the passcode but the passcode is needed to open a secret level hidden in the basement." Scabba the rat jumped off the Panda guard''s paw and walked along with the cultivators.

    "The secret passage will lead you straight to the vault room," Scabbamented,

    "That is the stupidest passageway I have ever heard of. If the robbers knew about this route, they will surely enter from the abandoned building." Xue Ping the Puma replied with a shake of her head.

    "Then they are the stupid ones. If the passageway detects anything that looks and feels like money or gold, the passageway system will automatically open the hidden lead valves and highly radioactive sources will be emitted through the valves. They will die horribly in the passageway." Scabba chuckled at the ingenious design of the secret passage.

    "Then wouldn''t we die? I believe some of us have wallets on us." Deng Long felt cold sweat start forming on his body when he heard Scabba.

    "As long as I cast this inscription on your hand, you will not be affected by it. The duration is long enough for you to reach the Bank''s vault." Scabba took a wand out and cast a mass spell to both Foxtrot teams.

    "Then what about the way back?" Shi Hui the Swan asked.

    "The way back? You are joking, right? Come back from the front door of the bank once you get rid of those damn jackals." Scabba said in an annoyed tone after putting his wand away and led them to the secret basement level.

    Both Foxtrot teams looked at Captain Bai and he agreed with Scabba. The cultivators were here to fight and not to back down. Why did they have a sudden sense of dread when CEO Scabbamented.

    "Let''s get going! The more time we dally, the more time the jackals have to fulfil their mission." Lee An said and he went through the secret basement level.

    "Onest question: does the passage lead to inside the vault or outside the vault?" Jia Ying the Stag asked for rification''s sake.

    "Of course, outside the vault!" However, Scabba seemed to be a little unsure of his answer, but only Lee An managed to catch a glimpse of it before he entered the basement.

    "Surely my imagination but guys, I think we should be careful." Lee An spoke in a low voice after everyone entered the secret passage, except for CEO Scabba and Captain Bai.

    "Why? What''s wrong Dear?" Xue Ping questioned him softly.

    "I felt a bad vibeing from that CEO guy. This heist might not be as simple as we think." Lee An exined.

    "Well, it is alreadyplicated enough with a VIP hostage in their hands. Anyways, let''s hurry, we do not want to fail this mission." Se Lang answered and they picked their pace up.

    When both teams reached the end of the passage, there was a button and a trapdoor right underneath them. Se Lang pressed on the button and the trapdoor opened without any problem. All seven of them jumped down and realised the CEO was either wrong or had lied to them regarding their destination.

    They were in the vault itself and they could hear drilling noises from the other side of the vault door. One more thing that surprised them was that the vault room was emptied out with a note on a trolley.

    "Hai Guys! We meet once more! Mr Gentlebear strikes yet again! Am I such a kind soul to CEO Scabba? He called me the moment the silent rm tripped off and asked me to take care of his valuables. Actually, who am I kidding? I was the one who tripped the silent rm before I left. Do not say I am not Gentlebearly enough to leave you the most precious item in this vault room!" Yue Wen read it out loud.

    "Who is this Gentlebear? And does that mean we have lost before we started?" Deng Long was a little confused at this change of development.

    "I think it is part of Boss Jin''s borate n to promote a future dungeon. The same thing happened in the Zombie Dungeon Instance that I was in as well. All the gold and riches disappeared and he left us a key. However, this time round, he did not leave anything for us" Yue Wen exined.

    "So does that mean we have to find this Gentlebear guy?" Lee An looked around for any clue of intrusion and so did the rest of the makeshift police squad but all they found was a ss sealed box with a feather inside it.

    "Captain, the vault was swept clean by some gentlebear, oh, he left behind a dull looking feather." Being the leader of Foxtrot A, Se Lang reported back to Captain to ask for some guidance.

    "Change of objectives, protect the feather at all costs. Eliminate the robbers and rescue our VIP. I will ry the information to CEO Scabba." Captain Bai ordered the teams in a stern booming voice.

    "Wow, Captain Bai changed his directive immediately. It was as if this was expected." Deng Long the Wombat thought about it and wondered if there was any conspiracy involved in this heist. Suddenly, the drilling from the vault door got even louder.

    "Do we have eyes on the top floor?" Xue Ping asked Yue Wen, since she was their recement for Jing Ru.

    "I am trying to contact Jing Ru the Giraffe, but she is not responding to her calls." Jia Ying replied instead of Yue Wen.

    "This is because I am fairly upied." Finally, a response came through the transmission channel. Jing Ru was indeed busyбнwith an opponent standing on the same rooftop as her.

 Chapter 95 Jing Ru

    <h4>Chapter 95 Jing Ru</h4>

    "So this group is actually smart enough to employ a pair of eyes on a roof. Not to mention, the same roof I am standing on too. Colour me impressed." A catdy stretched its paws and Jing Ru could see arge duffel bag right beside her too.

    "Well, what are we waiting for? I am kind enough to wait for you to draw your weapons." Nyanmi spoke to Jing Ru the Giraffe as she drew her pistol from her holster and fiddled around with it. This was one of the monsters that Jin loaned from the system, and by using the stats of Meomi the werecat he captured, he modified it to be a sniper.

    For Jing Ru, this was a predicament. She was a long-range marksman, not a closebat fighter. However, the cat was waiting for Jing Ru to draw her weapon before she fired. It might be a ruse but Jing Ru could only gamble if she was patient enough.

    But why gamble when you are already prepared for it?

    Jing Ru was wearing a long dress with safety pants and the choice of clothes was deliberate to hide her hidden pistol in case she needed to use it immediately. She pretended to drop her sack of items on the ground to search for a weapon.

    However, Jing Ru was not stupid. She did not expect this to be a foolproof n. That was why she purposely ced her sack near an exhaust vent so that she had the chance to take cover quickly if needed. Meeting her expectations, Nyanmi fired her pistol and Jing Ru immediately hid behind the vent but she was surprised the shot was not aimed at her but instead at a Panda Police Guard that casually opened the door to the rooftop without checking.

    "I do not need extrapany." Nyanmi kept shooting at the door and the injured Panda Police fell back further before Nyanmi took out a detonator and pressed a button to ignite an explosive she had ced right beside the rooftop door.

    Jing Ru could have taken that opportunity when Nyanmi was distracted to fire her shot but she was more concerned about the Panda policeman who received the shot. The stairway leading to the rooftop copsed and all Jing Ru could hope for was that the policeman was fine.

    "Well, no more distractions. Let''s fight." Nyanmi took out a new pistol clip to reload and that was when Jing Ru fired her Glock air pistol she took from her sack. To Jing Ru''s surprise, the reloading was a ruse as there was still a remaining bullet in Nyanmi''s gun. The shot barely missed Jing Ru while her shot was nowhere near Nyanmi.

    This gave Nyanmi the advantage to press forward and attack as she reloaded. Meanwhile, Jing Ru panicked in this turn of events but she immediately took a deep breath and tried to run away from the exhaust vent as she gave some retaliation fire.

    "Hahaha, it is so nice to y with my food." Nyamiughed as she jumped over the exhaust vent to where Jing Ru was previously hiding. What she did not know was that Jing Ru ced a ymore behind before she left.

    "BOOOOM." The ymore surprise attack was sessful and Nyanmi was thoroughly injured with pieces of the exhaust vent piercing her skin.

    "Hah, nice one little chick. Now let''s see if you can really run away from an angry cat." Nyanmi took some of the metal pieces out of her skin and it has begun to slowly regenerate itself. Most were-humans had some form of regeneration ability but they were not as fast as a troll would have been.

    "I am a Giraffe!" Jing Ru teased Nyanmi as she leapt off the rooftop and used her sack as a cover when she smashed into a room in the opposite building. She then quickly dropped a smoke grenade and left the room as quickly as she could.

    It was a pity that she did not have any prior knowledge of her battleground. As an air rifle sniper trainee, she regretted not grasping the basics properly from her stepfather, who had military and police background. However, Jing Ru was grateful she learned a number of tricks from her stepfather and they had proven to be useful so far. Her stepfather, on the other hand, was equally happy that she was willing to interact with him and learn from him.

    "Pfft Humans, they think they can hide their tracks with smoke." Nyanmi jumped into the same window as Jing Ru and opened the door widely. Unfortunately, she did not realise that Jing Ru was hiding there with a short twin barrel shotgun and she sted the cat''s face away. Nyanmi lifelessly fell to the ground. "Underestimating me is your downfall." Jing Ru whispered.

    "I think it applies to you too." Suddenly a whip appeared and knocked the shotgun away from Jing Ru''s hands and a w strike swiftly wounded Jing Ru on her chest. Thankfully, the bullet vest she was wearing managed to block the swipe attack. However, the chi energy from the w strike knocked Jing Ru''s backwards, causing her to crash into an adjacent room.

    "Tsk tsk tsk that smoke screen was a decent move, but you were not observant enough." Meomi yed with her whip. Jing Ru realised it was another catdy and she giggled.

    "I shall say the same to you too." Jing Ruughed sinisterly which made Meomi be on guard and forced her to check her surroundings. Little did she know, it was actually a ruse by Jing Ru as she took the chance to run down the stairs with her trusty Winterwolf rifle.

    "That beetch." Instead of chasing her directly, Meomi decided to climb out of the window and jumped to the first floor. "I shall hunt a giraffe then; I bet its neck is tasty."

    "Guys, I ampromised. There is a catdy chasing after me. I managed to kill one but the other is on my tail. I won''t be providing support for now." Jing Ru panted as she raced down the stairs.

    "Do not worry, I think we have a battle of our own to settle too." Yue Wen told her to take care of herself although the situation in front of them could potentially be even worse than hers. There was intense knocking and hitting of the vault door when the drill stopped once more.

    It could only mean one thing. The robbers had finally managed to destroy the vault mechanism to open the door.

 Chapter 96 Sisterhood

    <h4>Chapter 96 Sisterhood</h4>

    The door drill managed to pierce the vault door but both teams were prepared and understood what needed to be done. Foxtrot A would dy and distract the robbers while Foxtrot B snuck past them to find the VIP.

    How were they going to sneak past? Xue Ping''s Grade 4 cultivation, the Prancing Puma, had the ability to make the entire team be invisible for a set amount of time. However, it was chi consuming. To solve this, Yue Wen took out a set of chi regeneration bottles, the one Xiong Da had used previously in the Zombie Dungeon Instance.

    Like a character in a game, Xue Ping gulped the set of chi regeneration bottles before she unleashed her invisibility technique. If she used that technique alone, she would be able to stay in such a form for 10 minutes. It was extremely useful for her daily work when she was required to ambush and catch the criminals. However, she did not expect Lee An to formte such a n to catch the jackals off guard and let Foxtrot B slip away to find the hostage.

    While it was true that having seven people to overpower the robbers would be the most ideal situation, they would never know if the mastermind had other ns in mind. Securing the VIP as fast as possible was clearly the best solution.

    The vault door slowly creaked open and Foxtrot B stuck to the walls right beside the vault door while Foxtrot A readied their weapons.

    "Boss, are you sure this is the right vault? There is literally nothing in here!" Brown shouted as he and Yellow stood in front of the vault door and noticed the vault room was sparkling clean.

    "Let''s check further in. Perhaps there are some-" Brown suddenly got tackled while Yellow felt a sense of pain pulsating through his chest. Suddenly, two men appeared right in front of them and knocked them away from the vault door.

    These precious moments of confusion gave Foxtrot B enough time to dash past the werejackals and up the staircase. It was obvious where the stairway was since there were multiple werejackals guarding each section of the room. Meanwhile, Se Lang was tasked to guard Foxtrot B''s rear so he followed them from behind until they reached basement 1, where there was an elevator they could take.

    The werejackals were not senile either. Even though the female cultivators were invisible as they rushed up the stairwell, their scent betrayed Foxtrot B''s position. Fortunately, Deng Long''s and Lee An''s distraction at the vault door worked, causing most of the werejackals to be caught in an dilemma.

    But not for long. "Yellow, kill those invisible bastards! Brown, follow him. I will handle these two meatshields." Grey, who usually gave the orders, personally charged in and attacked Deng Long and Lee An, allowing Yellow and Brown to fall back momentarily.

    "With pleasure Grey." Yellow sped up the stairwell to find that the elevator was closing. The stab delivered upon Yellow was not sufficient to stop a werejackal and his regeneration abilities kicked in, so now he was already close to full health. To Yellow, this was a walk in the park as long as he focused his strength on his legs. With that, a sudden burst of speed carried him towards the elevator.

    "Scythe Art, Whirlwind Slice of the Wacky Wolf!" Se Lang, who was guarding the elevator revealed himself when he attacked Yellow. With an exquisite swing of his scythe, the chi energy reinforced the swing of the scythe, producing a wind effect as strong as a de.

    At the speed Yellow was moving, he was not able to evade in time and his tail was sliced into two pieces by Se Lang''s surprise ambush. The attack nevertheless did not hamper Yellow. It instead made him even madder and he viciously crashed himself into Se Lang.

    Se Lang was able to resist the charge attack as he used his scythe to defend. When he found his attack did not connect but the impact damaged the elevator''s door, rendering it useless. Luckily, the lift had already closed by then due to Se Lang''s timely intervention and Foxtrot B was headed to the top floor.

    Separately, Xue Ping was sitting at the corner of lift feeling extremely exhausted. She even unbuttoned the top button of her shirt to feel morefortable. She did not realise that the maintenance of the Invisibility Cloak of the Prancing Puma, when used on the whole team, would be so toilsome.

    "At the very least, we are moving ahead," Shi Hui took out her weapon and fanned her teammate a little.

    "I think I feel more ufortable having a war fan right in front of me." Xue Ping was blunt even though Shi Hui was just trying to be helpful. Both Jia Ying and Yue Wen giggled as Shi Hui blushed and kept her war fan away.

    Suddenly, the lift jerked and it stopped moving, with the emergency lights turning on. The team of girls sighed as if they were half expecting it. "Never a smooth trip in Jin''s dungeons." Yue Wenined as she asked Jia Ying for a hand to force open the top hatch.

    With Jia Ying''s might, it was an easy task to pry open the hatch and Yue Wen was assisted out of the hatch. However, when she climbed up out of the elevator, it shook violently for a moment and it felt like the elevator was going to drop.

    "LOSE SOME WEIGHT!" Both Jia Ying and Shi Hui shouted at the same time as they panicked and held onto the railings in the elevator.

    "NO, IT''S NOT ME!" Yue Wen''s face reddened as she looked up the elevator shaft. "The problem is over there!" Two familiar looking ants were biting on the wires of the elevator and one of the wires was already chewed off.

    "Aren''t those the wyrm ants in the Zither Mistress Dungeon? Are they the pets that CEO Scabba talked about?" Yue Wen was now fearful about dropping into oblivion if the wyrm ants managed to chew all the wires off. She quickly exined the situation to the whole group and Xue Ping finally stood up.

    "Let me handle this. Are we close to a floor or in the middle of it?" Xue Ping took out her weapon, a power fist, which was an oversized ted gauntlet that surprisingly fit nicely onto her right hand. Although the rest she took was short, the chi regeneration potions were still in effect so Xue Ping managed to regain some chi energy back.

    "We stopped exactly on the 19th floor, maybe just slightly higher. I think if you st through the elevator doors, we might have a small passageway to go through" Yue Wen checked the elevator shaft and noticed arge number 20 was painted on the wall, which was quite a distance away from them. She also observed simr door mechanisms andpared it with the one on floor twenty before making the previous assumption.

    "Then I shall do exactly that." Xue Ping applied some of her chi into power fist, which generated a visible energy field around the gauntlet and four puma silhouettes appeared above her.

    "Step back!" Xue Ping warned Jia Ying and Shi Hui as she bent her legs a little and pulled her right arm back for a power punch.

    "BOOM!" The elevator door was broken into smithereens but it also shook the elevator vigorously. "Quick, move out!" Xue Ping was acting like the older sister to these young university girls and even supported Yue Wen down.

    However when Yue Wen crawled out of the broken elevator door and to the 19th floor, the elevator shook once more and the elevator cabin sunk further down, preventing Xue Ping from crawling through the passageway.

    "No!" the three girls shouted in unison. They could not bear to leave their new big sister to her death.

    "BOOM!" An abrupt explosion was heard and the girls realised that Xue Ping punched her way out of the elevator cabin but that caused the cabin to lose its one and only wire that was holding it. "Big Sis! Grab it!" Jia Ying with her quick reflexes took out her spear and thrust it forward the moment she saw Xue Ping jumping upwards.

    The power uppercut was strong enough to let Xue Ping fly a few floors up but that attracted the attention of the wyrm ants since they were done with chewing the wires of the fallen elevator. Xue Ping heard the shouting and saw the spear poking out of the elevator shaft and she immediately readjusted herself to catch the spear.

    Unfortunately, Xue Ping also used the spear to break her fall and the immense weight nearly caused Jia Ying to lose her bnce a little. If not for Shi Hui and Yue Wen''s immediate help, Jia Ying would have dropped the spear too.

    "Thanks, cuties!" Xue Ping managed to get onto the 19th floor and unhesitantly hugged the three girls. "I will handle those nasty antsy ants, and you guys go find the hostage. I will catch up with you guyster." Xue Ping released them from her tight embrace.

    "Big Sis, take this just in case." Yue Wen passed another chi regenerating potion to her.

    "Yue Wen, you are too kind, and isn''t this potion really expensive? The one you passed to me earlier seemed like they were top grade quality" Xue Ping was a little hesitant to ept it.

    "No worries! I have more in my storage ring. I earned all these from Boss Jin''s dungeons and they are quite cheap. I do not want you to die because of a little ant either!" Yue Wen teased as she signalled the rest of her team to follow her up the stairs.

    "Well, time to squash some ants then." Xue Ping readied her fist.

 Chapter 97 Se Langs Luck

    <h4>Chapter 97 Se Lang''s Luck</h4>

    "Since you are using a long weapon, don''t you think you are at a disadvantage right now?" Yellow bared his fangs at Se Lang as bothpeted in a temporary contest of strength near the broken elevator door on basement level one.

    "That''s what you think. Do not forget that the wolf is your natural predator. Especially a cornered one" Se Lang retorted and he kicked Yellow to push him away. Unfortunately, that move also caused him to lose bnce and fall into the broken door. Yellow thought this was the best chance to pounce on Se Lang since Se Lang would have lost the advantage of his scythe in such an enclosed ce such as the elevator shaft.

    Se Lang did not break his fall in time since basement level one was the lowest floor in the building and all the elevator shaft amodated further down was the length of an elevator cabin for maintenance purposes. Se Lang then saw something that he could never have foreseen.

    It was not Yellow diving into him with his fangs and ws wide open but it was the falling elevator cabin.

    "Meet your death!" Yellow saw Se Lang''s stunned face and smiled with satisfaction at the sight of his horrified face. "What wolf? You are a dead wolf!" Yellow shouted to himself but suddenly an extremelyrge and heavy object hit him hard on his head. Before he could turn around to check, he was already sttered on the ground with Se Lang''s his scythe pierced into what remained of his body.

    However, Se Lang was not spared either. The falling elevator cabin hadpletely sttered Yellow''s remains all around Se Lang and squashed him in the process. All he felt was arge thud followed by the immense numbing of his senses.

    "Damn it, did I die again without doing anything much?" Se Lang coughed out some blood before he fell out of consciousness.

    "Looks like I made the right decision of not following your orders, Grey." The sound of the elevator cabin crashing down made Brown relieved that he had ignored Grey''s order and stayed to help him against the two cultivators.

    "Tsk, whatever. Say that again when you defeated these two cultivators." Grey spoke as he held onto his axe.

    "If Se Lang dies this early in the dungeon, my respect for him goes down the drain." Deng Long could not help but shake his head.

    "I doubt he will die that quickly, he did win the title policeman of the month after all." Lee An blocked an attack from Brown with his knuckle knives

    "He got that award again for this month? Are you sure he is not sucking up to someone? Now I really want him dead." Deng Long got slightly frustrated that his efforts were not acknowledged by the higher ups even though Se Lang partnered up with him.

    "Then I shall inform you that you will be joining him soon." Grey went into a deadlock with Deng Long and cast his spell, which was a st of green fire that jetted out of his mouth.

    "Holy shit! A fire breathing jackal? Where did Boss Jin encounter this many fire breathing creatures from?!" Deng Long blocked his face with his hands and batons to prevent it from getting burnt. Being a cultivator of the wobbling wombat, he had some resistance against all elements. Previously, his fight against the fire wyrm ant was enough to spur himself to train his resistances even further during his cultivating period. However, the fire he was experiencing was not like the fire he had previously encountered or experienced.

    "Hahaha, how did you like my brother''s werefire?" It stings a lot ye- Shit!" Brown was interrupted by Lee An.

    "Talk when you are confident of winning." Lee An delivered a flurry of punches and shes with his knuckle knives and being the cultivator of the Yonder Yak that he was, even what seemed like a slight miss in his attack waspensated by twice that amount, delivering even more. Lee An had the stamina of a yak to dish out the attacks.

    On the other hand, Brown was a hand to handbat specialist. Combined with his were ws, they were a match for Lee An''s flurry of attacks. They were both waiting to see who would slip up first in their attacks and that would be the opening both fighters need to exploit.

    "Do not underestimate the wombat!" Even with the werefire burning his skin, Deng Long charged in with his batons filled with chi to bash Grey. He figured that a magic caster was the weakest after casting a spell so with the surprise element on his side, and judging from Grey''s expression when he charged in, he pressed forward for the attack.

    "Baton Art! Eardrum Burst of the Wombat!" Deng Long shouted in an attempt to distract Grey and aimed the batons at Grey''s ears. The attack was sessful even though Grey tried to retaliate, causing the sides of his head to be bashed by the metal batons. The attack also disoriented Grey, because Deng Long''s technique created minute vibrations that caused the enemy to go deaf.

    Deng Long proceeded with a frontal head bash, which caused Grey to faint. "At this rate, we will eventually arrive at a stalemate." Deng Long was able to knock Grey out with his batons but he found that their regenerative abilities were strong enough to get them back into fighting form. Deng Long knew his attacks were blunt and bashing Grey until he died would have been possible if he was not already exhausted beyond measure by the previous werefire attack.

    The fall of Grey distracted Brown once again and Lee An found an opening to exploit. "Knuckle Knife Art! Crippling Punch of the Yak!" Lee An punched Brown''s elbow, causing a dislocation and Lee Anplemented it with a stab and sh. At this moment, Brown also noticed that Deng Long wasing for him too so Brown gave a disruptive deafening howl that paralysed both the cultivators.

    He then grabbed Grey and ran up the 1st floor for the safety of the pack of other werejackals.

    The paralysation wore off but the initial skirmish caused a great deal of stress to their bodies. Deng Long took this chance to take a look at his phone, hoping to see the progress of their other teammates. Besides, there was something that Brown had said that bothered him.

    "Bro, Se Lang really died." Deng Longughed as he showed Lee An his phone and all Lee An could do wasugh bitterly with Deng Long.

    "At the very least, the rest are still alive. Even our lookout." Lee Anmented, which made Deng Longugh even more.

    "Even a lookout being upied by some monstersted longer than Se Lang. Bro, can you rmend me for the policeman of the month instead?" Deng Long teased Lee An.

    Unknowingly on a bed in the recovery bay service instance, Se Lang was sneezing the moment he woke up. The Nurse Pandas had to run a couple more tests to make sure he was not suffering some other side effects from the dungeon instance.

 Chapter 98 Discussion in the Recovery Bay

    <h4>Chapter 98 Discussion in the Recovery Bay</h4>

    "Hey there, so what dungeon did you try thatnded you into this mess?" The patient beside Se Lang tried to make small talk while he rested until the Nurse Pandas gave the go ahead.

    "Oh, the Bank Heist dungeon instance. I got killed by a falling elevator." Se Lang embarrassingly said. "At least, I took one of the werejackals with me before I fainted though, so it was all good."

    "Ahh, our group tried the Bank Heist dungeon instance too. The CEO Scabba was truly scheming. He released two werecats at us while pretending to be a hostage at the top floor." the patient replied.

    "Wait, CEO Scabba is a hostage? In my dungeon instance, he was guiding us through a secret passage so we could ess the bank." Se Lang got really curious about why his dungeon instance was different from his bedmate''s.

    "Secret Passage? What? When we entered, Captain Bai rammed the armoured van through the bank''s front doors and surprised the werejackals."

    "That cannot be, I was also lead by CEO Scabba through a secret passage, but the three werejackals, with armbands, indicating their colours, were very strong. Half the team died killing the three werejackals before we could proceed further. However, we got shot by enemy snipers from the opposing building when we arrived on the first floor." A female patient who overheard the conversation decided to chip in her opinions.

    "Why are all our instances so different? Is there a specific criterion?" Se Lang''s interest was currently piqued to the max with the difference in dungeon instances. Then it finally clicked

    "Miss, was anyone in your group a veteran who participated in other dungeons andpleted them before ying this instance?" Se Lang felt that this might be a mini puzzle to be solved.

    "Hmm, the other team members had previouslypleted the zombie dungeon instance. At least we think so because they were called Pandawans by Captain Bai." the female patient thought about it before answering the question.

    "What''s a Pandawan?" The male patient right beside Se Lang asked.

    "I think that''s the criteria. In my group, someone was also called a Pandawan by Captain Bai." Se Lang concluded.

    "Still, it''s just a theory, we have yet to confirm with other people yet." Se Lang then asked for more details about their dungeon runs. The discussion got so heated that the Nurse Pandas had no choice but to interrupt them. "Shhh! This is a ce of healing. Keep your voice down."

    "I shall post my experience on the forums in the Pandamonium app. Let''s see what kind of response we can get." The male patient decided that it was best to ask the other cultivators. After all, many hands made light work.

    "I will add in my experience once you post it in the forums." The female patientmented before she returned to her bedside for some rest.

    "I can do the same." Se Lang nodded his head as he took this chance to take a look at the Pandamonium app. He had not been exploring much of the app and since he was not allowed to move around, he guessed it was as good a time as any to do so.

    "Streaming services?" Se Lang decided to give it a try after reading the details in the Pandamonium chat. It apparently live streamed ongoing battles. Since he was going to get a one off bonus for being the policeman of the month in Tiangong station, he did not see why he shouldn''t subscribe to it. This way, he could keep track of his team''s progress.

    The payment was straightforward and he was surprised that there was even wifi in the store, allowing him to stream in this recovery bay service instance. After a while, a nurse Panda came towards him and asked him several questions.

    "Sir, would you like to watch the stream on a bigger screen? We can provide you with various angles of the battle at your bedside as you wait for your clearance from the recovery bay. There will be earbuds too for your entertainment and this way, it will not disturb other patients. If you are wondering, there will be no additional charges. Consider this as a service for subscribing to the streaming services." The Nurse Panda spoke with grace.

    "Sure, I will partake in it." Se Lang realised since he was paying for it, he might as well take advantage of it.

    "Very well, here are the earbuds. Please give me a moment." The nurse panda passed the earbuds to him and with some gesturing in the air, three digital screens magically appeared in front of Se Lang. The quality of the stream was also top notch and this made Se Lang very satisfied to watch his teammates fight.

    "Wow, what is that?" The male patient who was right beside Se Lang asked and subsequently, nearly every patient that was conscious and near Se Lang was interested in this feature of his. Se Lang did not know that his action caused a ripple down effect in the recovery bay instance and many of the patients started to subscribe to the streaming services, bringing a sudden influx of ie for Jin.

    Separately, the customers outside of Station 2 were heatedly discussing the battle. One of the issues a number of them were interested in was the appearance of the wyrm ants. They tried to make assumptions but none seemed to make enough sense for them to be true, and they had no choice except asking the boss about the appearance of the wyrm ants in the dungeon. However, they did not wish to offend Boss Jin''s decision to put a copy of the wyrm ants.

    "Boss, are you putting duplicates in your dungeons? However, I really do feel the wyrm ants are a good addition to this battle!" A customer finally asked the question no one dared to ask.

    "Yeap, I did ce them there because I did not feel they were appropriate for the new Zither Mistress Dungeon, which, by the way, I renamed it to the Music Theatre Dungeon. So nope, at this moment I am not intending to put any duplicates in any of my dungeons and the wyrm ants will not appear in the Music Theatre Dungeon." Jin gave a firm reply to the customers.

    "Wow! Music Theatre Dungeon? Then did you revamp the goblin dungeon as well?" another customer who was previously an avid dungeoneer of the goblin dungeon had decided to try the new Bank Heist dungeon instead.

    "Yes, I did. It''s on the menu." In Jin''s mind, there were annoying thoughts going around, such as "Why can''t you read the menu when you bought the new dungeon? It is so obvious on the newly decorated menu!" However, he tried to stay calm and responded as nicely as he could.

    "Eh, there is nothing new on it. You just renamed it Goblin Forest Dungeon?" the customer retorted back quickly.

    "I meant the description." Jin felt like he wanted to shoot a Panda Yawning beam at the customer but he controlled himself. Therge influx of today''s crowd had made him very tired despite his promotion to Grade 4. Meanwhile, he wondered how Zhen Qing was doing and decided to check the CCTV in the garden through the Panda Port.

    "Looks like her buns are well liked too. Perhaps I should think of asking Yun to upgrade her stall and get better ingredients." Jin was lost in his thoughts for a while that he did not notice a very loud cheer resounding, which coincidentally began spreading from Station 2, where the bank heist instance was currently in progress.

    "Haha, it appears our young giraffe has quite a fair bit of tricks under her sleeve." Jin smiled.

 Chapter 99 Meomi

    <h4>Chapter 99 Meomi</h4>

    "Come out! Come out, little giraffe. I know where you are hiding~!" Meomi crackled her whip in the middle of the apartment building. She could smell where Jing Ru was, and even hear her breathing. This was more fun than pointing her out directly for she could taste the fear in Jing Ru''s scent with every step she took.

    "Do yourself a favour and surrender to me. Perhaps I will give you a quick death rather than torturing you." Meomi catwalk slowly towards the room in which Jing Ru was hiding. It was a four room t that Jing Ru was hiding in and there was nothing special to that particr apartment.

    That was what Jing Ru wanted Meomi to think, at least. Although her sack of items was left in the higher floors of the apartment building, she still had two storage rings with her that were equipped with various items. Jing Ru then purposely chose three levels lower after she found that the Cat was not chasing after her and decided to hold her position in a vacated apartment. Meomi got a little irritated that the Giraffe decided to hide instead of running down to the first floor like what a normal scared human would have done so.

    This misjudgement was what Jing Ru needed to prep the apartment to her advantage as much as she could. Anything in the apartment that she felt was useful, she ced in strategic ces whilst also hiding them in in sight. Even though she knew this was just a dungeon instance, she still felt somewhat guilty towards the house owners if they knew what was going to happen next.

    "Giraffeeeee~!" Meomi knew Jing Ru was scared of her but not stupid enough to not have a few tricks to counter her. If she was hiding in the room, she would definitely have barricaded it sufficiently to block a frontal attack.

    However, who said that cats liked to bash through the front door? They preferred the windows!

    On that thought, Meomi jumped out of the window of the living room, trailing around the apartment walls and finally found the room where Jing Ru''s scent was the densest.

    "Found you~!" Meomi thought to herself as she peeked through the window and observed the room barricaded with a cupboard. Jing Ru was behind a table facing the door while hiding under a piece of nket. There were a bunch of clothes lying on the table untidily and Meomi felt that it was an attempt to distract her senses and smell.

    "Good try, giraffe but I have other stuff to do. I can only afford this much time with you." Meomi rolled her whip around her hands and prepared to use that to strangle Jing Ru, effectively only using one swift strike.

    The moment Meomi saw some movement under the nkets, she broke the ss and pounced right at them. Her swift paws wrapped the whip around Jing Ru''s head but instead of strangling, it seemed that Meomi had used too much force and Jing Ru was decapitated.

    "BANG!" The rifle sound was piercing loud but Meomi could not understand where it came from until she saw blood oozing through her chest.

    "BANG!" The angle of the shot was readjusted and Jing Ru once again squeezed the trigger. The only difference was that this time, the bullet flew through the head of the stunned werecat.

    With whatever remaining consciousness Meomi still had, she realised that the decapitated head was a dummy and Jing Ru was hiding in a corner of the room beside a number of stuffed toys. She purposely ced her clothes at random locations in the room to distract Meomi''s detection, just as Meomi had predicted.

    However, Jing Ru did not give the werecat any chances and kept shooting at her. She remembered the previous catdy had her wounds healed and skin regenerated at a tremendous pace.

    With shots littered into the seemingly dead body of the cat, Jing Ru removed the cupboard slightly, giving herself enough space to leave the room. But before Jing Ru left, she tied a raffia string to the pin of the grenade and pulled it when she left the room. She hastily dashed out of the apartment and was safe from the imminent explosion

    "That was easier than I thought. I did not expect her to die that quickly. I guess she really dropped her guard the moment she took my ''head'' off". Jing Ru returned to the apartment and collected the weapons she had hidden all around the apartment before she left the building and search for another vantage point, preferably one without werecats ready to kill her.

    The panda police heard themotion and started to cordon off the area. They initially wanted to arrest Jing Ru as she was unwilling to turn over her weapons but Captain Bai was coincidentally around, and he let Jing Ru continue with the mission.

    Separately, Xue Ping had a rather easy time handling the wyrm ants. A few punches were all that was needed to pacify the ants. True, the fire and ice projectiles were a shocker at first but Xue Ping had her fair share of troubles in her line of work. Once the ants were pummelled into the ground as ant juice, she decided to proceed to the top floor.

    However, there was something in the ants that caught her attention. There was a metal casing that survived Xue Ping''s punches in ice wyrm ant''s abdomen. She fished it out of the ant''s stomach and went to a nearby toilet to wash the metal casing.

    There were no dents nor cuts on the metal casing, which indicated that the metal casing could not have been bitten by the wyrm ants. She remembered how the ant''s mouth was strong enough to leave a scratch on her power fist.

    She assumed someone imnted it into the ant. Unfortunately, it was locked so she kept it in her storage ring as she continued to the top floor. Perhaps, she might returnter to check on the other ant since Xue Ping suddenly had a bad premonition.

    Meanwhile, on the top floor, Yue Wen and the remainder of Foxtrot B saw a well-groomed human with bright gold hair standing unrestrained near the windows of the CEO office. There was no one else other than him in the office and his attire showed that he was just a normal businessman.

    "Wee,dies to the final stage." Gold licked his lollipop and pointed it at them. "I hope you are as sweet as this lollipop."

 Chapter 100 Final Stage

    <h4>Chapter 100 Final Stage</h4>

    "Remember what that CEO Scabba said? There might be some weaponry around to aid us." Lee An recalled that tidbit of information as he was catching his breath with Deng Long after since Brown had taken Grey away to the higher floors.

    "But you saw how tough they were and you can probably tell that they are pretty smart too. They realised they could not win and decided to back off." Deng Long mentioned to Lee An that these monsters were not simple.

    "All the more we should find the weapon cache." Lee An insisted and talked in the open transmission channel for CEO Scabba or Captain Bai.

    "Ah yes, Cultivator Yak. Every floor will have a weapon cache and evenrger one since you are near the vault basement. Look for a ck button near the vault. I have activated the cache remotely for you to use. And please remember to protect that feather. It is very precious indeed." CEO Scabba switched to a private channel when he was talking to Lee An, after which he pressed a button on his phone to activate the weapon cache.

    In the vault basement, both Lee An and Deng Long heard a click and decided to take a look around. In less than a minute, Deng Long found the ck button, which was hidden behind an iron pipe. "If you put the button at such an inconspicuous ce, how will the bank security manage to find it in time if they really needed it?"

    "Perhaps, it is not meant to be found? Weapon maintenance is a pain." Lee An chipped in his thoughts but Deng Long did not bother much and pressed the button. A wheezing sound came from the iron pipe beside the ck button and a section of the pipe slowly opened.

    What was inside the pipe was a stack of talismans and two pistols. Lee An checked the talismans and found that there was a variety of provisional inscriptions. While inscriptions such as the blood explosion inscription on Se Lang''s scythe were permanent, provisional inscriptions had a time duration attached to them. Depending on the skill of the inscriber and the intensity of the inscription ability, the time duration could range from five minutes to nearly a whole year.

    "Hard-rock Armour, Healing Wasp, Wyrm Fire. Wow! Although these inscriptions are basic to middle level tiers, the inscription quality seems to be top notch." Lee An individually checked each of the inscriptions and thought about whichbination would be most optimal for the uing fight.

    "If the werejackals ran away to somewhere safe, it would be vital to choose something hard hitting. But if they had morerades, I think an area of effect inscription woulde in handyбн" While Lee An was lost in his own private world, Deng Long was admiring the pistols. Although they were not strong, the broomhandle pistols used mostly during the world wars were famous for being the first few semi-automatic pistols ever to be created was a sight to behold.

    The bullets for the broomhandle pistols were not the usual standard 7.63mm cartridge, instead the rounds were bigger and the tips were coloured bright red. Deng Long knew a bit about guns since he was in the police but these kind of bullets were still a first for him.

    "Lee An, we are wasting time. The more time they have, the more coordinated they will be." Deng Long stuffed the broomhandle pistol into his trousers behind his waist, took a bunch of inscriptions from the iron pipe, and pasted it wherever he could on his weapons and body. Once pasted, a piece of provisional inscriptions embedded itself onto an item and also to a part of Deng Long''s body.

    It was strenuous for a cultivator to embed more than one permanent inscription on their body but provisional inscriptions were different. Because of their nature, as long as one had enough money to buy them, a cultivator could embed up to five different inscriptions. While it might seem like a small number, for policemen, it was a pain in the neck when facing a gang of rich mobsters in possession of unknown inscriptions.

    "But if you do not find the rightbination, you will not get the maximu- Wait don''t! Let me choose my inscriptions -NOO!" Deng Long snatched the inscriptions that Lee An was holding and randomly stuffed them on Lee An and the provisional inscriptions were immediately absorbed by Lee An''s body.

    Unlike permanent inscriptions, which required a very intricate procedure to be embedded whilst also being harder to remove, provisional inscriptions were easier to put on and take off. It could be embedded at a moment''s notice and could be removed based on the user''s will. However, in Lee An''s case, it would be a waste of such good inscriptions so he reluctantly held onto them even though they were not the bestbination of inscriptions.

    "Let''s go." Deng Long patted Lee An''s back and passed the remaining broomhandle pistol to him.

    ----------

    "Where is the VIP?" Jia Ying revealed her waxwood spear in front of Gold as he continued to savour his lollipop.

    "Why, of course, he is dead!" Gold giggled with his lollipop in his mouth.

    "The VIP was a ruse created to get special unit forces like you sweeties toe to me instead of the bank vault." Gold then ced his legs on the table andid back on the chair to continue sucking his lollipop.

    "Well, then I am sad to inform you that the vault was cleaned out by some other phantom thief. You have nothing left." Xue Ping managed to catch up and overheard the conversation.

    "But you have the feather, right? All I want is that feather and nothing else. In fact, if you pass me that feather, I will give you 100 panda silver medals as a reward. Such a sweet deal, is it not?" Gold grinned.

    "I believe you will be arrested before you even obtain the feather." Xue Ping wanted to show her badge as a sign of authority against this scum but then she remembered that this was just a dungeon. All she had to do was to beat him up nice and good. Hence, Xue Ping powered her metal gauntlet up with chi.

    "Oh? You wish to solve this with violence? Are you sure you are qualified to kill the VIP? How about I give a call to my ''father'' and get the other police units on standby toe charging in. Let''s see how you will handle that!" Gold chuckled as he pressed a few buttons to make a call.

    However, none of the girls was moving to stop him.

    "Hello, father? Help! Apparently, the police had-" They noticed that Gold''s voice changed drastically when he was talking but suddenly his handphone was shot out of his hand and Gold''s right ear was ringing in pain. He yelled in agony as he looked outside the window, only to see a human girl with two giraffe silhouettes above her head had had her sights on him the whole time.

    The girls, on the other hand, were snickering at Gold''s ''secret'' move. Jing Ru had informed them that she was going to try and kill him but she had underestimated the wind trajectory, causing her to miss a direct headshot. "It''s okay, Jing Ru, you did your part quite nicely anyway." Yue Wenforted her and asked her to continue to monitor the situation.

    "Dammit! That Meomi said that she and that cat could handle the sniping part! Damn!" Gold raised his voice in rage and transformed himself to his werejackal form. "You want a fight, I will give you one. God of Jackals, embrace me in your realm and fill me with power!" Gold shouted with might and vigour, which caused translucent blue flies to fly out of his mouth.

    The quantity of flies that came out of Gold''s mouth was able to cover his entire body, causing Foxtrot B to be too scared to advance. They did not wish to test the unknown and did not wish to advance without caution. In seconds, Foxtrot B saw the golden furred werejackal quickly transform into a body with ck sleek skin and a visibly stronger body.

    "This is the blessing of the almighty jackal god. I shall use his blessing to snatch the feather of truth!! Behold! ck Armourskin of the Jackal!" Gold''s voice was hoarse but it was tolling on the girls'' heads. Gold took the opportunity to strike at them.

    "Oh no, you don''t!" Xue Ping was the least affected because of her cultivation grade so she quickly countered Gold''s attack with a furious attack of her own. However, the impact of the sh caused the windows in the CEO office to be broken.

    Yue Wen realised this fight was beyond the Grade 2''s like Shi Hui and herself. Although both were Grade 2 Peak, nearing Grade 3, the power difference could be felt when Xue Ping shed with Gold''s enhanced form.

    Fortunately, they could still support Xue Ping even though they were just Grade 2. Yue Wen enhanced her chi and was prepared to heal any wounds inflicted by Gold while Shi Hui was preparing her War Fan Art of Deception, hoping that her illusions would still be effective against Gold''s perception.

    "War Fan Art! Mirror Image of the Shadowy Swan!" Shi Hui cast her Shadowy Swan technique at Xue Ping and it created blurry images of her when she moved. The mirror image was able to absorb an attack or two but the probability differed with each attack.

    Meanwhile, Jia Ying helped out by giving Xue Ping a few breathers and openings with her spear strikes as Gold was too focused on defeating Xue Ping.

    -----------

    "I counted ten." Lee An whispered as he peeked around the stairs towards the ground floor. "What? I counted thirteen." Deng Long replied. The two men were trying to gauge whether they had enough firepower to go against the entire pack of werejackals and to do that, they had to determine the enemy numbers.

    "Shit, I think one of them sensed us!" Lee An pushed Deng Long back when he saw movement on their side. However, he was wrong, and it seemed that they had not been noticed by the werejackals yet.

    "Then, we have to use the element of surprise to our advantage as much as possible." Deng Long took out his batons with style and dashed towards the ground floor. In a sh, Deng Long mmed his batons into the ground and suddenly, an enhanced oversized silhouette of his wobbling wombat appeared right in front of the werejackals. It startled the werejackals for a moment, which gave the massive panda enough time to bite one of the werejackal''s head off and sh at another.

    Deng Long then realised it was abination of the inscriptions Biting Snake and shing Cutter in his batons that caused his cultivation animal to appear as a chi imbued silhouette and assist him. The adrenaline rush he was experiencing caused him to press on with the attack.

    Lee An did not stand by twiddling his thumbs when Deng Long rushed in like an idiot against all the werejackals. He instantly activated the inscription that was embedded in his legs and arge fissure cracked the ground floor into two. Copious amounts ofva spewed out of the fissure and which burnt one of the werejackal to death.

    The fissure separated the pack of werejackals into two, making it more advantageous for Deng Long and Lee An.

    The werejackals were nevertheless unfazed by the drastic change in the situation and continued to attack Deng Long and Lee An.

    "Dual Baton Art, Drumming Storm of the Wombat!" Deng Long dashed through four werejackals as he executed his attack. His simple speed boost inscription was embedded into his body and it allowed him to perform his attack two times faster than usual. Each werejackal he passed, he was able to deal at least ten blows to a different part of the body, causing major fractures and internal bleeding.

    "Knuckle Knife Art, Cutting Punch of the Yak!" Lee An''s weapons were inscribed with basic fire and ice inscriptions and the flurry of attacks with his knuckle knives were sufficient to bring down at least five werejackals.

    In a minute, they ughtered the whole group of werejackals, leaving Grey and Brown devastated.

    ---------

    Gold was still holding strong against the team of four girls. His ck armourskin of the jackal had allowed him to fend off most of the attacks from the grade 2 and 3 cultivators. Only the really strong one with the heavy metal gauntlet on her hand posed a threat to him.

    However, the lesser grade cultivators proved to be an annoyance to him after a while, since they were providing heals and buffs to their main damage dealer while the irritating female spear user was quick to notice openings and had tried to stab at him a few times.

    "I should take them out fast." Gold took a step back towards a nearby wall and pretended to go defensive. Xue Ping, though, did not care for tricks, since her style of fighting had always been, and always would be straightforward. Her attacks followed this same straight-forwardness.

    Unfortunately, Gold had roughly figured out her pattern of attack and the moment she got close again, he activated his other skill. "Hunt of the Golden Jackal!"

    Xue Ping did not realise that what she attacked was just an afterimage of Gold, until she heard screams behind her, before realising that Gold had attacked the rest of her teammates. Gold was ruthless. He bit Shi Hui in the neck and tore a piece of her flesh away, leaving her to bleed to death.

    Yue Wen managed to block the crucial attack but Gold had plunged his ws into her lungs, causing her to copse and gasp for air. Jia Ying was the only one who survived his attacks since she was attackedst and had witnessed herrades being savagely killed by Gold. It was only due to that and her quick reflexes that she was alive. The number of mock battles in school allowed her to develop a sense ofbat awareness.

    "Crafty!" Gold fell back and now directed his assault towards Xue Ping. However, in Xue Ping''s eyes, he was already dead. "Intermediate Power Fist Art: Spatial w of the Prancing Puma." Every word of the technique she said was filled with anger, rage, and wrath. Her power gauntlet, which was usually closed for punching, opened up. Xue Ping curved her gauntlet into a w and she just stood as steady as a puma waiting for its prey. This w was also being projected into the air, the deadly w of a puma slowly forming into shape.

    Pumas were known to hunt downrger preys than them and this time, there was no exception to Xue Ping. Gold was at least 1.5 times bigger in size but that did not stop her from being confident in herself. The one she believed should be frightened was Gold as he dashed through the office like a bolt of lightning towards Xue Ping, thinking that she was still preparing her technique.

    As soon as Gold was in Xue Ping''s attack range, the power w flew out of her hand to grab Gold''s neck and strangled him. Like a telekinesis user, as Xue Ping bashed her bare fist into the ground, the power w followed her direction and crushed Gold not just into the ground but also to the level below the CEO''s office.

    "Spear Art, Flying Horn of the Stag!" Jia Ying was merciless. She did not wait for the cloud of dust and smoke to settle to check on whether Gold was dead or not. Jia Ying immediately powered her spear with chi and threw her spear like how a stag fearlessly rushes at its enemy with horns pointing forward.

    The spear pierced through the skull of the ckish gold werejackal and Gold could only tremble in pain as it slowly died.

    "Dungeon Complete!" A female announcer spoke and coincidentally, that was also the time the rest of Panda Special Police Force rushed through the front doors of the First Panda Bank. Grey and Brown, who were prepared to fight Deng Long and Lee An, quickly dropped their weapons and surrendered to the overwhelming number of Pandas.

    "Oh, I guess theypleted it." Deng Long rxed his stance and Lee An found a seat near the bank counter to take a breather. "Deng Long, I did not expect this dungeon experience to be this exhrating. This is really money well spent." He ced his knuckle knives aside to wipe his sweat.

    "But not without losses." Deng Long checked his phone to see the status of the team, only to find that Yue Wen and Shi Hui had died in battle.

    Captain Bai walked in through the front door with CEO Scabba and they congratted the two policemen for their valiant effort.

    "I am sorry, but do you still have the feather?" CEO Scabba was quite anxious for his feather and since the dungeon was already done, Deng Long figured it was okay to pass the feather to him.

    "Wait! Do not pass that feather to him yet!" Jia Ying shouted as she and Xue Ping arrived on the first floor through a working elevator. Lee An suddenly trusted his premonitions and took the sealed box away from Deng Long before he held his knuckle knives once more.

    "What are you doing? This is the property of the First Panda Bank. Return that to me at once or I will tell Captain Bai to arrest you." CEO Scabba was getting pretty annoyed.

    Xue Ping took the sealed box and smashed the box into pieces right in front of CEO Scabba "What are you doing!?" Captain Bai immediately load his shotgun and aimed it at Xue Ping as she took the feather out of the box.

    "Is this feather really yours?! CEO Scabba!" Jia Ying shouted and her question was like a magic chant used to activate the feather. The feather, which had initially been dull slowly glowed and turned into bright silver.

    CEO Scabba was not able to resist the feather''s magic and spoke. "No it belongs to The Great Gentlebear and he said that he would give me 50% of what he had stolen if the heist incident was resolved. The werejackals and werecats were just expendables." Scabba then realised he said something he should not have and the entire Panda police immediately redirected their weapon towards CEO Scabba.

    "I will take that confession as a testimony." Captain stared fiercely at CEO Scabba. The rat in question was quivering in fear. "You are under arrest, CEO Scabba. Good Job, Pandawans. You and your fallenrades will receive your due rewards."

    Just like that, Captain Bai snapped his fingers and all the surviving cultivators returned to Station 2. The customers that were waiting for their turn burst out into a huge cheer. Although there were casualties, their performance was nheless ster.

    "Well Done, fellow cultivators at Station 2. Come, follow me to the Ranking Board." Jin smiled as he beckoned the heroes of the day to the ''podium''.

 Chapter 101 Rare Loot Drop

    <h4>Chapter 101 Rare Loot Drop</h4>

    ********

    Bank Heist (Veteran Version) First Clear:

    Grade 4 Xue Ping

    Grade 4 Lee An

    Grade 3 Jia Ying

    Grade 2 Peak Deng Long

    Grade 2 Peak Jing Ru

    Honourable Mentions:

    Grade 3 Se Lang

    Grade 2 Peak Yue Wen

    Grade 2 Peak Shi Hui

    Time Taken (In Game): 1 Hours 24 Minutes

    ********

    Se Lang, Yue Wen and Shi Hui came down in time for the first clear ceremony and the apuse they received from around the store was immensely gratifying.

    "I am starting a new tradition. For any first clears, I will personally reward the participants with a smallplimentary gift." Jin proceeded to give each of them a specially made medal. Xue Ping was the first to receive it and she loved the design of the medal. It was simr to love at first sight, except with a medalбн It was a gold ted medal with a Panda wearing a bandit mask on it. The panda was carrying a bag of cash, which was slung over its shoulder. Behind the medal was her name and her achievement: "Insane Damage Dealer".

    Subsequently, the whole team checked each other''s medals to see if there was any difference between the titles and some of them, they discovered, were downright ridiculous. Deng Long received the "Anything Goes" achievement while Lee An had "Indecisive Nerd" behind his medal. Yue Wen got "Not Fat, Just Fab." and Jing Ru giggled at her "Infamously Tactical."

    "Why did I get the achievement Pure Unlucky? Boss Jin, it feels like you are insulting me." Se Lang cried bitterly but everyoneughed at Se Lang''s poor luck. Shi Hui had obtained the achievement "Selfless Little Sister" and Jia Ying got "Don''t Mess with Me", which actually made her smile secretly in her heart.

    "How did you create and inscribe the medals so quickly?" Yue Wen was curious but Jin''s reply was simple.

    "Trade Secret."

    "Next, the reward from this dungeon is one gold panda medal for the survivors, and three silver medals for the fallen in recognition of their effort. I believe you should all have received them by now." Jin said and walked towards Xue Ping. "If memory serves me well, then I believe you found yourself a metal casing?"

    "Yes, I did." Xue Ping had totally forgotten about that and took it out from her storage ring. Jin took it from her and ced his phone against it. Like a street magician, Jin turned the old looking metal casing into a suitcase. He then turned the suitcase towards them and opened it.

    In the suitcase, the group found a few vouchers. "This is a rare loot drop which you have incidentally found," Jin replied. This caused a huge uproar in the entire store.

    "What?! Loot Drop? Are you kidding? Someone actually found some loot in Boss Jin''s dungeons?" A male customer eximed.

    "This is amazing since we finally get to see what Boss Jin''s loot drops look like." Mr Know it All was curious about this particr rare drop.

    Deng Long picked it up and read the voucher. "The Icesteel of the Wyrm. It says to redeem it at the Panda Weaponry store. There''s a total of eight vouchers here."

    "It''s a loot drop from one of the monsters, the icewyrm ant. This will allow you to forge a weapon of your choice using that particr voucher in the Panda Weaponry. The Icesteel of the Wyrm has the ability of ice, following its namesake. Usually, you would need an inscription for ice attacks but with this material, you are able to cause ice elemental damage once in a while without inscriptions." Jin knew what he was talking about because he had seen and implemented the loot drops when he was in the dungeon maker instance. He understood that sooner orter people would get a loot drop, despite such a low probability.

    Upon realising the value of the voucher, everyone in the storeunched into a heated discussion and went crazy, creating a number of theories. Right now, they were discussing that since the icewyrm ant could already drop such precious loot, it was hard to imagine what the boss monsters could drop. For example, they might get the werefire element in their weapons if Grey dropped the loot or maybe the ck armourskin ability for their armour from gold. The amount of money they were paying would then be considered peanuts when theypare it to these fantastic loots.

    "Thank you, Boss Jin!" The whole team of cultivators could not wait and decided to proceed to the Panda Weaponry immediately to exchange the vouchers.

    "Alright people, the ceremony is over. Continue with your dungeons!" Jin pped his hands together and asked everyone to return to their stations.

    When the group of eight cultivators entered the panda Weaponry, they saw the weaponry counter being handled by a red panda with a ribbon on her tail.

    Behind the counter was a messy scene of a trio of bulky muscr ck bears working near a furnace. It was a fairly standard scene of cksmithing work where one held onto the metal while the other two took turns to hammer the heated metal.

    However, the coordination of the bears was something to be in awe at. Each hammer stroke delivered upon the metal was perfectly followed by the next, while the bear holding onto the metal rotated it with such speed, it required a trained eye to see the whole process properly.

    "We would like to exchange the vouchers!" Yue Wen, who was holding onto the vouchers, told the red panda over the counter.

    "Wee Back, Miss Yue Wen, Are you sure you want to use these limited rare vouchers?" the Red Panda sniffed at the vouchers that Yue Wen ced before she used her tiny paws to inspect the vouchers. Yue Wen had been to all three underground stores and was rather familiar with the workings of the stores. That was why she had volunteered to hold onto the vouchers for the team.

    "Yes, please. We would like to redeem all of the vouchers." Yue Wen replied with a nod of her head.

    "Personal weapons?" The Red Panda took a small chop with her paws and stamped ''REDEEMED" onto all the vouchers. The Venus Four loved the red pandas but they resisted their urge to cuddle them when they were working.

    "Yes, we do not want a standardised weapon. I told them about the procedures briefly." Yue Wen then beckoned everyone to take out their existing weapons and ce it on the counter. When ordering a new weapon, customers could use existing weapons to upgrade their weapons so that their specifications would remain. Alternatively, they could buy an entirely new weapon with certain standard specifications.

    "Sword Crane, War Fan, Air Rifle, Spear, Inscribed Scythe, Dual Batons, Knuckle Knives and a Power Fist. Am I correct?" The Red Panda ran on all fours along the long counter table to check the team''s weapons. Everyone nodded and epted that those were the type of weapons they wished to upgrade.

    "Alright, since this is a voucher redemption to upgrade your weapon, the payment for the upgrade will be subsided heavily by the store. The total payment for all eight weapons wille to 8 silver panda medals." Yue Wen acknowledged the red panda''s pricing and offered to pay the medals first before the rest of her team would pay her back. A usual upgrade would cost about 5 silver panda medals. The red panda used her paw on a digital tablet and a receipt appeared on the other side of the cash register.

    "Please stand by as our master smiths create the items for you." The Red Panda pressed another button and the conveyor belt on the long counter moved.

    The three ck bears suddenly stopped working on the item that they were creating and instead began gathering all eight weapons. One of the bears brought out an enormous icy blue block of crystal and with a decisive hammer blow, broke it into eightrge pieces. After which, all three bears hugged each other and suddenly merged into a giant looking bear with three heads and six hands.

    Cultivators such as Se Lang, Lee An, Deng Long and Xue Ping were shocked to see the transformation of the three-headed bear. The Venus Four, on the other hand,ughed at their reactions since they had already visited the underground stores.

    The gigantic form of the bears blocked the working progress from being seen from behind the counter but there were lots of hammering sounds ringing and shouting from all three bears. Various colours of sparks could be seening out of the furnace and within minutes, the three-headed bear brought all eight weapons to the counter. All three heads gave a side grin in unison before it transformed back into three separate ck bears. Then it continued to work on the piece of iron they were previously working on.

    "Amazing, just amazing." All eight cultivators took their new weapons fresh from the counter and gawked at it for a moment. Each and every one of them couldn''t wait to use it in their next battle.

 Chapter 102 Gratitude

    <h4>Chapter 102 Gratitude</h4>

    By the time thest customer left, it was already 11.30pm. And that meant that Jin finally had the chance to take a seat after an entire day''s worth of work. He took two pieces of the random voured onigiri from the drawer and walked out of the store.

    He also noticed Zhen Qing taking a short break after standing the entire day serving the customers outside. However, she was extremely satisfied. For the first time in Zhen Qing''s life, she not only sold all her stock that she had baked for the day, she had even gone back home to obtain all of her reserved stocks of ingredients during Jin''s dinner break.

    Her reserved stocks were so heavy that she decided to leave her mobile stall at Jin''s ce and hailed a cab to get everything she needed to Jin''s store. Zhen Qing then painstakingly knit the bun dough and prepared the vegetable and meat stuffing on the spot to have sufficient food avable for sale after Jin''s dinner.

    Jin had initially wanted to help but he decided that if he interfered with Zhen Qing, he would not know the extent of her determination and that was a key factor in deciding whether she was a suitable employee for the store in the future or not.

    "Here, an onigiri for your hard work today." Jin passed her an onigiri along with a can of Bamboo Juice from his shop.

    Like every customer that ordered the onigiri from him, the weary face of Zhen Qing immediately turned into one filled with delight and satisfaction. It was a simple pork meat stuffing but Zhen Qing was able to taste superior quality of the onigiri. There were hidden ingredients that she could not identify at the moment but she knew of their presence since the umami from the pork stuffing could not be enhanced by itself. The rice was hands-down the best rice she had ever eaten. Zhen Qing even thought that it was possibly the rumoured emperor tribute rice in the ancient past. Or perhaps, she was just so hungry that she was hallucinating. However, the taste was impable and undoubtedly one of the best pieces of food she had ever eaten in her life.

    "This onigiri is delicious! Where did you buy this from? Wait, could it be that you made this yourself?" Zhen Qing was wondering why Jin was trying so hard to rope her into his store. Was it because he was looking for a cooking apprentice despite his shop''s speciality?

    Zhen Qing knew and heard street rumours regarding Jin''s mouth-watering food but at the cost of buying his dungeons. Just then, when she tried the onigiri, she theorised that Jin was talented in cooking but used dungeons as a way to cover his cooking talents.

    "Unfortunately no, it''s from a food supplier, but due to their wish to remain unnoticed, I cannot name them at the moment. They want to keep themselves as a secret for now. This bamboo juice is from them too. Give it a try." Jin unwrapped his onigiri and took a bite.

    "Oh. I am sorry." Zhen Qing replied with a tinge of embarrassment. She guessed she was thinking too much and perhaps all Jin really wanted was someone cheap to employ while taking a percentage of the profit for the day. Maybe, Jin was using this onigiri chance to show her that she was inferior and could be reced anytime. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became since she could not believe that such an amazing opportunity coulde knocking in her life. There definitely be some strings attached to Boss Jin''s peculiar store.

    "So erm Mr Jin, how much of the profit are you going to take from me? Is 20% sufficient?" Zhen Qing figured that if she took the initiative to ask first, then she might have the upper hand in the negotiation. She was willing to give a profit of up 35% and she decided to start out from a reasonably low percentage to try her luck. There was possibly a chance that Jin might agree to such a low number.

    "Hmm? What are you talking about?" Jin was just enjoying the silentpany of Zhen Qing. He was a simple man to begin with. He had always been an introvert in high school and university but that did not stop Jin from wanting to be a dungeon supplier. Jin thought that he understood the challenges of being a Boss of his own shop since he had been working part time for various different shops as he was growing up.

    His grandfather Ming encouraged him to do so even though he was financially stable. Ming believed a bit of hardship and real world experience would teach Jin what it was like to be a proper working adult in the future. Of course, there was a chance that these hardships and experiences would not help Jin and might instead derail him from his path of sess. These bad experiences could range from meeting up with the wrongpany of friends to being fired from his job, but Jin was fortunate enough to not encounter any of those.

    Still, Jin had it real easy with the system''s help. The system in Jin was such a cheat in life that it made all his previous work experiences invalid. However, the system definitely did not make it easy for him either. The immense size of the crowd every day exhausted Jin to such a point that he felt like giving up too.

    Of course, he did not ask Yun what would happen if he gave up. Maybe the system would leave him rather than giving him a second chance in life? That also meant he would need to start from the bottom with little money to his name. Right now, the system was literally providing him with all the necessary things in life such as good food, decent entertainment and a sufficient ''sry''.

    "I mean, this trial thing that you are conducting. Surely you will want something in return for the investment of your property, right?" Zhen Qing replied when Jin''s face was totally nk.

    "Ehhhh, no you can keep your money for this trial. Maybe I might charge you in the future if I decide to employ you. Wait, I should be the one giving you a sry if I employ youбн" Jin could not think of any other excuses although what he truly wished for was another helper. Sure, Yun could help around the store, but she primarily needed to take care of the fallen cultivators that fell unconscious from the dungeon battles. Technically speaking, the AI Nurse Pandas could take care of them but cultivators had already dubbed Yun as the store''s Beautiful Nightingale of Nursing. The pep talks and care were given by Yun when she was in the recovery instance encouraged the cultivators to move forward and try the dungeons once more. Hence, she was a vital part of the store, despite Yun being hidden behind the scenes with the AI Nurse Pandas.

    "Haha, okay and Thank you, Mr Jin, for your food and drink. It has really been a long time since I have eaten and drunk so well." Zhen Qingughed at Jin''s clueless face and his slightly awkward reaction.

    Jin, on the other hand, felt a slight tugging in his heart. The smile andughter that Zhen Qing had portrayed for the first time this entire day made him feel pleased. "Jin will be fine. Having a Mister in my name makes me feel old." Zhen Qing nodded but she suddenly became serious again.

    "I would like to continue for tomorrow but I do not have enough ingredients after today''s sale. I even finished my reserved stock of ingredients and I need to contact my supplier for the goods, but those will take a while toe. I really underestimated your customers'' appetite for food." Zhen Qing started to stand up and pack her mobile stall.

    "So...I might not be able toplete your trial for these two weeks. That was why I asked how much of the profit you want aspensation." Zhen Qing lowered her head and appreciated the opportunity that Jin had given her.

    "What do you need? I might be able to provide you but you might need toe to the store to take it and prepare it in the morning." Jin had secretly whispered to Yun in his head and it seemed like it was an easy task for Yun to aplish.

    "Pork belly meat, it would be better if there was some skin. Minced Pork, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, ground ck pepper, granted sugar, salt, spring onions...Oh, I am sorry. I think asking for all this stuff is a little too much." Zhen Qing realised she had bbered too much until she saw Jin earnestly speed typing what she said onto his phone.

    "Anymore?" Jin innocently looked up at her.

    "Erm...Lard, in flour, vegetable oil... and sesame seeds." Zhen Qing decided to finish the list of ingredients she needed to him.

    "Okay, got it. Hmm, I remember you hastily trying to make the dough and meat stuffing. Do you have more equipment to prepare your stuff? I mean, you probably need some time to do all the preparation work." Jin was thinking of opening a dungeon instance using the Dungeon Maker to create a kitchen instance for Zhen Qing to work her magic. Of course, without monsters for now.

    "I think I can handle it in my mobile stall if you can supply me with the ingredients." Zhen Qing was really embarrassed to ask for any more. Firstly, she was already keeping all the profit, and now Jin would be providing the ingredients for her. Any more, and Jin might really think that she was shameless and trying to take advantage of him.

    "Okay, I believe I can get you the ingredients by tomorrow morning. Come to the store by 8 am. I should be here. Now, go travel home safely and get some rest ." Jin smiled as he noticed Zhen Qing had alreadypleted packing her items. He had forgotten how fast she could pack her stuff, trained during the times when the police inspector was chasing after her.

    "Once again, thank you Jin for this opportunity." Zhen Qing bowed a little and took off in her motorcycle. All Jin could do was watch her silhouette disappear at the end of the street and he waited for the sound of her motorcycle to die out in the night before he started to close the store and return home.

 Chapter 103 Reflection

    <h4>Chapter 103 Reflection</h4>

    "So, how was your day at work?" Yun could be seen sitting on the couch eating a chicken burger from Wacdonalds while listening to her old CDs that she had found in her room. She had connected the CD yer to the modern loudspeakers and listened to them as she ate. It appeared that Yun had decent technical knowledge, which surprised Jin. He did not expect her to know how to connect an old CD yer to the loudspeakers.

    "You were there and technically, you know about every step and breath I take. How can I hide anything from you? Besides, how did you have the money to buy Wacdonalds?"

    "Hahaha yes you cannot, I was just being courteous. Oh and I just paid for this meal with your debit card." Yun grinned with her mouth full of food. She then offered fries to Jin, which he did not refuse, since it was his money to begin with. Sometimes, Jin could not figure out Yun''s personality. Yun could be motherly at times to Jin but he realised that she loved to y the role of the fool with him, acting childish and all. However, when it came to working in the recovery instance, she was very professional.

    While Yun might not have noticed, (or she could have since she was connected to Jin). Customers praised her for the excellent bnce in care and authority she showed when dealing with patients in the recovery instance.

    A number of patients would get rowdy simply because they simply could not ept the fact that they lost the dungeon instance. "I barely yed the instance and I died to it! I want a refund!" Some customers demanded their refund but Yun always stood tall in those situations and never backed down from the argument.

    At other times, Yun was the caring mother that everyone wanted. Since the dungeon instance was still in fact reality, some of the cultivators went through their first death experience and the memories and phantom pains they felt after waking up from the recovery instance was traumatic. Yun was nevertheless there to console them and even encouraged them to try again. "There will always be someone stronger in this world, but at the very least, now you know what it was like to know fear. Understand it, work with it and finally be in control of it." Yun''s words vividly remained in one of the female customer''s heart and to this day, that encouragement was one of the reasons why she was still a fairly regr customer of Jin''s store.

    "Hey, Jin stop nking out and eating my fries!!!" Yun noticed her packet of fries was almost consumed entirely by Jin and he was not responding to Yun when she talked to him.

    "Huh, oh sorry..wait Hey, didn''t you buy this meal using my money?" Jin took another few pieces of fries before Yun snatched it back and wept at the abysmal remaining amount. Jin felt a little bad for her and said he would buy a meal for her next time but then he realised he had just fallen into her simple trap.

    "Hehe, do not be this naive again when you are chasing that girl. She is not a simple one...I think." Yun said casually as she took her cokac drink and sipped it. However, after she was done with her burger, she turned her body towards Jin, who was sitting beside her, while listening to the soft rock music. "Tell me, why did you want her to be your employee? Do you know the kind of risk you are bringing upon yourself if you bring in amoner who knows nothing about the system? Let''s just assume she decides to keep it a secret and she was fine with it, but what if she was threatened by people to spill your secrets?"

    Despite Yun rambling on and on, Jin only captured a single word. "She''s amoner?!"

    "Huh, you cannot discern that she hasn''t cultivated and that she''s amoner?" Yun was slightly shocked by Jin''s response, after which, she realised that she was only able to determine that the girl was amoner since it was the power of the system that allowed her to do so. "Ah, my bad. my ability allows me to discern if anyone could be a threat to you in the store. Remember that old man that brought two high school students to have some sort of magical musical contest with the Zither Mistress Ke Mi? He was roughly a grade 9 cultivator but he was suppressing his cultivation to grade 4 for some reason."

    "Oh, I had no idea that you had such an ability." Jin was astonished by this new fact regarding Yun.

    "You never really ask much, like how you only follow instructions of the system rather than taking charge of this life of yours. This is not university or high school. There isn''t anyone to guide you through this but yourself. Of course, you can follow the system and get a decentlyfortable life out of it but surely you can do better than this. My dad would have been disappointed." Yunshed herints at Jin and suddenly Jin felt like she struck a very sensitive nerve of his.

    What she said was true. He never had a proper goal in life, so when the system now forced him to be the number one dungeon supplier, he assumed that all he needed to do was to follow the system''s orders and he would reach there eventually. He simply took the system''s missions and followed them blindly, even though he originally wanted to be a dungeon supplier.

    Now that he was reflecting, he realised that it was also a whim that he had had in university that made being a dungeon supplier his goal. And this was just so that he was able to escape the clutches of an engineering job. It was only because he took the whim more seriously than other things in life that he started to research about how to be a supplier, and what was needed to be a sessful supplier.

    It was then that Jin started to take life by its horns and steer in the direction he wanted...until he found that his grades started to drop and he panicked. Since then, his goal changed to suit the circumstances he was in and Jin started to solely focus on his grades, in hopes of receiving a proper engineering degree.

    He gave excuses to himself, saying that he wanted to get a decent paying engineering job and that he needed to earn some money before perhaps opening a dungeon supplier store. However, those excuses were only used to fuel hisziness, causing him to not take charge of his own life.

    "Are you listening to me? Why are you nking out again? Are you that tired?" Yun was a little annoyed that Jin went into a nk stare, but when she saw Jin''s serious expression, she decided to keep quiet for a while.

    After a while, Jin lowered his head and spoke. "I will think about my life choices. Thank you for reminding me of how pathetic I am." Upon hearing that, Yun sighed and ced her hands on Jin''s shoulders.

    "Jin. Look at me." Yun was trying to create eye contact with him and Jin reluctantly looked at her.

    "Yes, you are pathetic, but at the very least, you are trying to make something out of your life. This shows that you are not giving up. Hey, eyes on me!" Yun spoke seriously to Jin but Jin wanted to look away because he could not bear looking at her while feeling lousy.

    "Look, Jin. I am not saying that your choice to just follow the system was wrong but remember that the system is just a means to live your life. Make the system do things for you rather than you doing what the system wants you to do. If you have not noticed yet, this system is very flexible and charitable...to a certain degree. As long as you use it well and not to exploit people, I think it will serve you well." Yun then pats on Jin''s head and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

    "If you need anything, ask me. The betors and I are here to help you." Yun waved at him as she yawned and returned to her room. However, in less than a few seconds, she opened the door to her room. "Oh and don''t think I forgot about the initial question even though our conversation derailed. Give me a good reason why you want her to be your helper and maybe I will help you by getting her the ingredients."

    Yun closed the door once more while Jin was staring nkly into space again. "Because I think I am interested in her."

 Chapter 104 Coupon Making

    <h4>Chapter 104 Coupon Making</h4>

    Instead of cultivating in the night as he usually did. Jin decided to take a nap for a change. Being a grade 4 cultivator allowed him to sleep less and still be healthy, in fact, he could go on without sleep for a few days if he needed to.

    Back in the ancient days, Grade 4 was the lowest grade that most masters would rmend for a person to reach before travelling and exploring the world, since you didn''t need to eat or sleep as much, making it easier to survive in the wilderness. Not to mention, it would be easier for someone to stay on the run when escaping enemies and monsters at Grade 4 than when they were at the lower grades.

    After a two hour nap, it was around 3 am in the morning when Jin woke up. He had a quick shower in the ensuite first before he left the house. He took a look at the toilet beside the kitchen. It seemed Yun did call a plumber in an attempt to fix the sludge problem but there were still tools left behind by the plumber team. "Guess they are still trying to solve it," Jin remembered he received a text message after his training in the Panda Muscles with Zeru that it would take a few days for the plumber to resolve the problem.

    Jin now had a habit of bringing an additional set of clothes with him ever since the farming training session, since, in order to serve his customers professionally, he needed to change out of his sweaty attire after training. The living armour wristbands that turned into a storage watch when he was not using them for battle had been more useful than the limited storage ring that Ming had given him. Nevertheless, Jin carried the old worn-out bronze ring with him as a sentimental memento of Ming.

    Upon reaching the store, he opened the drawer in the bar counter that contained the Tiangong shopping district coupon booklet which Si Fang, the owner of Lele cafиж, had delivered to him at least a week ago. Jin picked the booklet up then turned on the Panda Port, his personalputer, cash registry, and the ess to the dungeon maker instance. With a tap of his phone, Jin was teleported to the dungeon maker instance, where he had more time to spend than staying in the true reality.

    But what determines what is a ''true'' reality? It appeared that Jin, when was exposed to the parallel world exnation, his concept of time taught in school, had been thrown out of the window and perhaps ended up in the incinerator when itnded. He experienced time dtion of various dungeon instances and travelling to the other worlds had made himpletely lose his concept of time. If not for his cultivation, Jin would have tired himself out.

    Since he was a creator in the dungeon maker instance, he created a chair for himself and ced the coupon booklet right in front of him. Jin tried to load the inte from his phone and surprisingly the connection was really stable. He ced it on the table and digital screens immediately mirrored the phone''s screen. With the research Jin did during his mini window-shopping tour around Tiangong shopping district, he used a Tiangong shopping district directory he found on the inte on one screen while the other was a Mooogle Map of the area.

    With the pep talk that Yun gave himst night, Jin figured that if he wanted to be a proper boss of the shop, he should finish the tasks that were given by the system so he could move forward. Although the coupon booklet mission waspleted, Jin had promised to revamp the coupon booklet in order to bring in more customers not just for him, but for the shopping district as well. He also did not forget that he had assured Lai Fu, the owner of Fresh Price, that he could bring Lai Fu to Grade 5. Lastly, he had to take a photo with the baby panda that was finally open to the public for viewing.

    "As much as I hate to admit, the Tianggong shopping districtmittee members like Wacdonalds, Lele Cafe and Fresh Price have very good people traffic. If I can somehow tap into this traffic, I will definitely achieve better exposure."

    "However, in return on my side, I should not be biased against other shops. In terms of business, those three shops have a better gross profit than the rest of the stores in the district. If I would like to boost the overall reputation of the district, I should ideally help different type of stores." Jin thought to himself.

    Upon looking at the Mooogle maps, he realised that if he targeted each specific store, it would be too cumbersome for him and the details on the coupon booklet would definitely put off anyone that saw it.

    "I shall make it simple then and go ording to the original coupon booklet as a base to work from." In the coupon booklet, there were various sections such as electronics, clothes, antiques, cafes, restaurants, toys, video games, handy stores and even books. "If what the system says is true, uponpleting the Baby Panda mission, the system will pay all expenses with regards to the coupon booklet right?"

    Suddenly, on the digital screens, arge yes appeared instead of Yun exining to him. Jin then realised that in this particr instance, he couldmunicate with the system too. "Any expense? What if I decide to give 1 million yuan as part of a lucky draw? Will you do that too?"

    Surprisingly, the system did say Yes once more but Jin felt that there might be a catchter on if he really did that. He had read enough fantasy novels to know that Newton''s thirdw where every action would have a reaction was still applicable, system or not.

    In any case, with the help of the dungeon maker, Jin had recreated the coupon booklet. "This instance is so useful, I can literally create whatever I want." However, the moment he said that the system replied with a message. "Item creation was within limits."

    Jin could not help butugh and decided to take a look at the new coupon booklet. He had pped a page of his own coupons in every section of the coupon booklet. The idea was if they had bought a dungeon ticket from his shop with the coupon he created, they were eligible for a free purchase of any one item they bought from the shopping district.

    Customers could also buy the products in advance and show him the receipt along with the coupon and he would pay for the product. This meant that the customer could potentially not pay for the dungeon instance if the product they bought was more expensive than the dungeon. They might even get additional money back, which was a win for the customers and the shops in the shopping district.

    Theoretically, Jin should be able to get a bulk of the money he spent refunding customers from the agreement of a 100% profit in the first week. This meant that he would even have proof of the receipt to get the money back from the store owners since the objective of this coupon booklet was to increase the exposure of the shopping district and increase its reputation once more so that people could erase from their minds, or at least move on from the pachinko fire incident .

    However, not every store owner in the district would be honest and might even fake the results or create excuses in order to keep the profits so that they might finally not see red at the end of the fiscal month. Still, Jin had a better n in the long term so that even if they did not wish toply with the agreement that the shopping districtmittee had with Jin.

    It would actually be a sort of rtionship test to observe which store owners were willing toply and which do not. Hence, if he ever felt the need to expand his business prospects and wished to do a few business co-operation, he would roughly know which stores owners to look for and which ones to avoid.

    There was another set of coupons attached to the booklet too. These coupons indicated that if the customer purchased any item(s) with a value of more than 50 Yuan, they were eligible for a lucky draw ticket. Jin had gotten the idea from the Japanese Ichiban Kuji. In a Kuji lottery, you would always win something. Jin, however, did not set the prizes yet, and since the coupon was due for approval, Jin figured he had a few more days to think of the Kuji prizes after he submitted the revamped coupon booklet.

    After a few changes to some graphical details, Jin realised something very important which he had forgotten. He had not chosen the name of his shop.

 Chapter 105 Dungeon World

    <h4>Chapter 105 Dungeon World</h4>

    "See what I mean? All you have been doing is just going through the motions that the system gave you that you did not even bother with the shop''s name. You were initially so excited with the shop building at the start but ever since the missions came in, you were just blindly following them without thinking much." Yun came into the Dungeon Maker instance dressed in her pyjamas while yawning and scratching her head.

    "I seeбн It looks like I do need to take some initiative of my own to get the things done." Jin remembered that some of the customers had been asking for the shop''s name and Jin had always been evading the question. Little did he know that he himself had only been avoiding it because there wasn''t such a mission yet.

    Same went for this coupon booklet that he had been postponing. He was giving himself excuses such as the need for training or customersing first. There were even situations where he pinned the me not on his ownziness, and instead onto his cultivation style, the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas. However, Jin realised that he needed to change something and be a proper boss, rather than just a boss by name. He realised he had to step up his game.

    "I will pass the coupon booklet to Si Feng in the morning when he opens his cafиж. The name of the shop thoughбнgive me some time to think about it." Jin spoke to Yun as he passed the coupon booklet to Yun for preview. She yawned once more before she flipped the pages of the coupon booklet.

    "Hmm, interesting, this will indeed improve the exposure of the shop and it will also increase the sales of shops in the short run. However, if the shops do not know how to retain customers or provide anything worthy in the future. It will be nothing but just a temporary boost of sales." Yun gave her own opinion.

    "That''s primarily the objective of these coupon booklets, the short-term profits. So if they cannot help themselves, I cannot help them too." Jin replied.

    "I am interested in this Kuji lottery. What exactly are you offering as a prize for your lottery?" Yun said.

    "To be honest, I have no idea. I initially wanted to give exotic weapons to people, or perhaps vouchers like the one Xue Ping found in the dungeons, but I realised some rich people might just take the chance to buy every lottery ticket just to get the weapon voucher." Jin said.

    "Oh can they even do that? I thought the coupon booklet would only be sent to every household around the district and subscribers to the online social media pages of Tiangong Shopping District." Yun asked as she instantly created a chair for herself in the Dungeon Maker instance and sat down to take a closer look at the coupon booklet.

    "Yeah, and they could also buy more coupon booklets at a certain price at the administrative office of Tiangong Shopping District or even the participating store outlets," Jin replied.

    "Hence, I was thinking of misceneous stuff like Panda charms or even Panda plushies to attract the females and perhaps figurines of our monsters for collection purposes. A customised figurine of Zither Mistress and the Great White Snake could actually attract collectors. Haha! " Jin suddenly thought of Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress and the Great White Snake in a stylish fighting pose. Ke Mi would be sitting on the head of the Great White Snake ying her Zither. That could actually be worthy for collection. Or perhaps, the three goblins with their weapons drawn while riding on top of Mr Oink, in his first form of course.

    "That might actually work, why not visualise that and let the Dungeon Maker create them?" Yunmented.

    "You mean I can do that with the Dungeon Maker? I thought I had to manually create the items by drawing or writing them out on the Dungeon Maker ording to the instruction manual." Jin was surprised by this new piece of knowledge.

    "How do you think I create this chair without even touching the Dungeon Maker interface?" Yun questioned.

    "Because I thought you were a part of the system, that''s why!" Jin tried to create a simr chair to Yun''s in his mind and in an instant, the same exact chair appeared right in front of him.

    "Haha!, I did not say its without consequences." Yun bluffed Jin when he did that and tapped on a digital screen. The screen fizzled for a while and it came online again with some statistics of resources.

    Jin was befuddled by the various types of resources and it looked like one of those civilisation building games which he had yed before. He saw Dungeon Dors, Matter, Magic and Souls. Unfortunately, he could only be considered an amateur at those kinds of gamespared to fighting or roleying games.

    "Whenever you create something for your own dungeon, you used dungeon dors, as I exined earlier. As you can see, the amount of dungeon dors you have right now is only in the hundreds. And like I said previously, you can use Yuan that you earned and convert it into Dungeon Dors. That was what the system has been doing with all the Yuan you have earned from your shop. It was converting all of the Yuan it earnt into the resources Matter, Magic and Souls. "

    "With sufficient Matter and Magic, you can create almost anything that you want, and you are only limited by your imagination. The system will determine how much of each resource is needed to be utilised for your item," Yun exined.

    "So all those dungeons and service instances? They were all created with Matter and Magic by the system. The Dungeon Dors also allow the system to purchase those resources not just in this world, but on other worlds as well, with an inbuilt currency exchange. Why the system uses Dungeon Dors is because it is currently the highest value of them all, simr to how the USD in this world works."

    "This is definitely bing something moreplicated than I thought. I always thought the system was just almighty enough to create something out of nothing and it was limiting my creation because I was not yet worthy enough."

    "Nonsense. You finally said that you wanted to control this system on your own so I am now giving you full reign of it. It might be hard or difficult to grasp at first but you should be able to get the hang of it quickly." Yun genuinely smiled at Jin.

    Meanwhile, as Jin was looking through the statistics, he noticed the side of the screen had a small mini map so he decided to erge it. "Is this a mineral ore mine? Or is this some sort of underground facility?" Jin took a closer look at the graphics in the mini map.

    "It is actually, in fact, a dungeon in a parallel world. We aptly called it the Dungeon World because everyone in that world loves to participate in dungeons. Hence, the system has already quietly created a permanent dungeon in that world for when you have decided to expand and create a dungeon supplier store over there as well. In fact, that world is somewhat simr to yours at the same time it is also slightly different from this world." Yun exined as she pulled up the facts of that particr world to the digital screen.

    "How is it simr?" Jin asked as he was a little overwhelmed by the amount of data shown on the digital screen.

    "In the Dungeon world, almost everyone is an adventurer. If I am not mistaken, they are something simr to the adventurers in your roleying games? That tabletop game, Dungeons and Dragoons? Ah yes, they will explore the dungeons to get essentials such as food, water and other various resources." Yun replied.

    "Even though one person may be a fruit seller, he had to hunt and harvest for his fruits in a dungeon in order to sell because a particr dungeon will magically grow fruits in it. Hence, there are dungeons sorge and bountiful that people even create a town or a megapolis surrounding the dungeons because the monsters never ever leave the dungeons no matter what."

    "The simr thing about this Dungeon world with your RPG games is that whenever an adventurer dies, they will resurrect again. The same goes for the monsters living in the dungeons. Both the adventurers and monsters require a set time to resurrect once again. Even the resurrection process is so much simpler than your world''s procedures."

    "Hence it is forever an infinite loop of monsters killing adventurers and adventurers killing monsters. That is why in that world, so many adventurers and monsters are born that the adventurers live in high skyscrapers created by magic due to overpoption. Meanwhile, more monsters mean deeper underground dungeons. And surprisingly, that dungeon world''sndmass somehow grew too. Now you will probably understand why Dungeon Dors is considered the most valued in the currency exchange market."

    "So I guess that''s the difference about that dungeon worldpared to our world? I mean, when we kill the monsters here, they are dead on the ground and don''t revive."

    "That''s the difference we are going to make for that dungeon. The dungeons that are created by that system to increase Matter, Magic and Soul? It permanently kills the adventurer." Yun grinned widely.

 Chapter 106 Harsh Reality

    <h4>Chapter 106 Harsh Reality</h4>

    "When the dungeon kills the adventurer permanently, he/she will be absorbed for whatever amount of resources they have. Dungeon Dors, the armour he is wearing, his knowledge, and also his soul. Hence, Money, Matter, Magic and Soul." Yun disclosed more about the system''s dungeon in the Dungeon World.

    "You mean the system actually kills the adventurer and uses them to build my shop?" Jin was a little uneasy with the fact that his shop was somewhat built on the dead adventurers.

    "Why are you feeling ufortable with that fact? The meat that you eates from animals too. You were born to consume. It is a primordial cycle that you cannot avoid. If you are unwilling to take part in this, I will stop talking right now and even help you erase this portion of your memory. You can be forever ignorant and continue with your life as an above average dungeon supplier." Yun stood up and folded her arms as she talked down to Jin.

    She knew that this was, after all, his decision, but if he wanted to be an outstanding dungeon supplier, he had to acknowledge the fact that he had to do that by standing on a mountain of corpses. In addition, even if he had not fully realised it yet, a person can''t just catch a monster and make them unconditionally loyal to Jin in dungeons just like that, and she had been tantly hinting it to him for quite some time.

    Jin paused for some time while Yun quietly stood there with her arms still folded, continuing to stare at him as she waited for his answer. He started to connect the dots between all that was happening. The system and Yun were slowly guiding him, rewarding him items generously so that he could grow and ultimately benefit the system. He was in fact just a cog in the system''s works but if it was some constion, a veryrge cog. However, as repayment for helping the system, the system would make him a stronger person that ran a better dungeon supplier.

    He also remembered the hard times he had suffered being alone, having to care for himself. While it is true, his grandfather was a retired general but Ming did not spare Jin in any way. Ming made Jin worked for what he wants, and if Jin did not get it, it was his problem.

    "You want a newputer? Work hard for it. Get it yourself. I am already paying for your electricity bills." "What you got bullied by bullies? Here, books are on the shelves. Go learn them and challenge them again. Come back to me again when you seed." The shbacks of hardship of trying to get back up without any help made Jin thought twice about refusing the system''s orders.

    Would he really want to have the system removed from him? This luxury when he could finallyy back in life and just work sufficiently hard enough for life to pass by? If he just listened to the system, he assumed everything would be just fine. He never thought that this thing would ur to him.

    Separately, this might be a simple end goal: to be the number one dungeon supplier, but who knew when people with evil intentions would want his technology or threaten him or maybe even Zhen Qing if he employed her. He was not entirely oblivious to this matter as he started to notice the actions of King''s Monster subtly react to the opening of his store.

    For the first time ever, King''s Monster, a mega dungeon supplier in Shenzhen business district was offering discounts. There were even forum users in Pandamonium that casuallypared the recent amount of human traffic in King''s Monster and Boss Jin''s stores and said that King''s Monster was seeing a lower human traffic than ever before.

    Hence, he figured he needed the help of the system to get stronger by whatever means necessary. If he needed to build the shop on a mountain of monster and human corpses to protect himself and the ones he loved and had an interest in, then so be it....or that what he thought at that point.

    Jin would also never forget how his childhood was torn away by the loss of his parents because they were not strong enough. How he had been ostracised by other kids because he was parentless. As he grew older, he even heard weird and bad rumours that his grandfather Ming was actually his father, that Ming probably knocked up a young prostitute or two and that therefore, Jin was just the result of an unwanted pregnancy.

    "Yun, I do not entirely understand this entire thing but I am willing to give it a try. Please exin more about how this dungeon in the Dungeon World works." Jin finally said with some resolution. Yun smiled as she continued.

    "You know those monsters you captured? They are actually being utilised in this dungeon and each level has their own ecosystem that is simr to their world. In a way, this is their rightful home after you captured them." Yun exined with further details.

    "When you use them in your dungeons, they will inevitably get stronger against the adventurers here because of the experience they receive. In return, those who kill your dungeon monsters and survive a dungeon floor, returning to tell the tale, they will find a treasure box with an enticing amount of dungeon dors." Yun then opened up Mooogle Maps and typed the dungeon''s coordinates into the digital screen and the maps showed the location of the dungeon.

    "While I did say the Dungeon World is overpopted, the system managed to create the dungeon at the edge of the world after a new wave ofndmass arose in that world. So the dungeon is currently located in a very rural area with a small developing outpost, inhabited only by new and inexperienced adventurersing to explore the frontiers."

    "So in a matter of time, those adventurers will notice that this dungeon will be filled with death," Jin interjected.

    "Yes, and therefore your job now is to not just supervise the shop but the dungeon too. Of course, the shop is still your main priority, but if you supervise this particr dungeon asionally, it would boost your resources and you will ultimately be able to create a better dungeon experience for your customers." Yun opened a few more digital screens and showed Jin that he could even improve the dungeon levels with traps, equip his monsters with better equipment and a lot more other things.

    "Kind of a stupid question but I need some rification. If my monsters die in that world, they will need to be resurrected as well, right?" Jin figured that it had something to do with the "Souls" part of the resources since Yun did not exin much about it.

    "Yes to your thoughts. We use the adventurers'' souls to resurrect your monsters and even use those souls for your AIs. That is also where the Dungeon Dorse in. In some mysterious way which I myself do not understand either, the system uses dungeon dors to purchase souls if we arecking in the Souls department. Of course, the undead zombies are way cheaper. For a price of one soul, we can bring back about 100 zombies." Yun confirmed Jin''s queries.

    "Wow! I am starting to doubt how something in me can be thisplicated. Hmmбн At this rate, it will be hard to always refer to the dungeon in the Dungeon World without a proper name, since I have many dungeons of my own." Jin remarked.

    "Then what are you waiting for? Give it a name. After all, it''s a sort of a personal dungeon that you will be handling."

    "I will think about it, but how else can I help with the dungeon in the Dungeon World besides equipping my monsters?" Jin felt that he should do more than just putting more traps and finding more monsters to fill his ''personal'' dungeon.

    "Join in the dungeon and fight alongside your monsters," Yun said as she brought up another screen and showed that a group of fresh adventurers was preparing to go into Jin''s personal dungeon.

 Chapter 107 Living Takes True Courage

    <h4>Chapter 107 Living Takes True Courage</h4>

    "Join in the dungeon? You mean helping my monsters kill those people?" Jin was not surprised by this at all. He knew when he epted the fact that he would build this shop of his on a mountain of corpses, but he still felt very hesitant to take a life away. This would be the first time he would be killing someone and if what Yun said was true, they would never resurrect again.

    Someone will experience the hate Jin had gone through or the grief Ming had to suffer. If there was a cycle of karma, Jin felt that he would be at the epitome of it. Even though he was bringing happiness and joy to his fellow cultivators and customers in his world, he would be hated for the grief and destruction he created in this Dungeon World.

    "Yes, Jin. You will be killing them. They will be absorbed by the system and you will be able to use them for your shop." Yun said in a serious and cold manner. She understood that Jin could run away from this choice but in actuality, this was not one out of many paths to take. This was a one-way road.

    Jin gritted his teeth and had decided to act on it. In his life, all he had been doing was following the rules but he had only been escaping from reality and using eptance as an excuse for being ignorant. The many choices he had regretted not making had haunted him time and time again. Even right now, he wished to me the system for utilising such ruthless methods to make him stronger.

    However, he understood that no one was forcing him this time round. He would kill to make his shop better. He would kill to make himself stronger. He would kill to protect someone he loved. "I agree to join. Is there anything I need to be aware of?"

    Despite Yun was the one speaking most of the time, this time the system spoke with its digital screen. "You can die in this dungeon too. That is the risk you have to take." Jin stared at the digital screen nkly when the system wrote it out in ck and white.

    "But you can use anything in your disposal to stop your enemy. Your cultivation. Your weapons. Your betors. Your monsters. Whatever you need to create, this Dungeon Maker will assist."

    The system''s words were harsh and on point. It made Jin feel really scared and at the same time caused his adrenaline to start pumping. However, Jin could not help but rify something that was on his mind. "Can I get resurrected?"

    "Right now? No." Those three words, or more specifically, the first two, lit a speck of hope for Jin, but he figured it did not remove the fact that he could really die with his current resources.

    "You might be thinking along the lines of: If I can die, then why should I bother?" Yun interjected for the system, ying the intermediary between the two of them and probably sweetening the deal for Jin while she was at it.

    "In any encounter you intervene, the system will give you twice the amount of resources in return aspensation for the risk you are taking. Or you can assume it as justified rewards. As usual, do not ask me how or why. All I know is that it is doing that to motivate you to join and take ownership of your personal dungeon." Yun exined.

    "Oh and trust me, knowing the system, I think it can be generous once in a while as well if you intervene sufficiently." Yun tried to coerce Jin more as she was instructed by the system, even though she was starting to think it was unnecessary. She could see the fresh eyes of determination in Jin.

    "Well, if I am not wrong. That also means that my monsters will not die as frequently and I will have more Soul resource to spare for my shop too." Jin added his reasoning.

    "Very good! You are actually paying attention and learning. I was afraid you were too bombarded by the new information to process it all." Yun pretended to sigh a relief.

    "Indeed I am. I am still very shocked. I even feel that all of this just a bad drea-." A sudden firey explosion came from his phone, which was on the Dungeon Maker''s table interface. It had blown up the entire area.

    However, in a matter of seconds, Milk appeared to heal Jin''s burns and took the opportunity to hug him too. "See, this is not a dream at all, Master." The fluffiness was incredible and Jin justid in her embrace for some time.

    "Ahhh! Master you pervert! I am telling Zhen Qing this when she bes your girlfriend!" Peppers came out of the phone and teased Jin. However, all he could do was tough bitterly. He realised at that moment both Peppers and Milk probably had their own troubled pasts that he had yet to discover but for now, he understood this was their way of encouraging him.

    "Master Jin, whenever you need me in your personal dungeon. Do not hesitate to call for me. Just your thought alone would be enough to send me out for battle." Zeru appeared humbly and knelt with one leg on the ground and his sword ced right in front of him.

    "Same here! I would like to st them out of the dungeon!" Peppers raised her hand up with delight.

    "If I allow you to do that, won''t the dungeon be destroyed by you?" Jin got out of Milk''s embrace and she too, like his other betors, silently nodded her head with a zealous look in her eyes.

    "Ah, do not worry about that, the dungeon was designed to withstand Peppers'' strongest st. The ecosystem would be recreated again in a short period of time due to thews of nature in the Dungeon World." Yun yet again rified Jin''s doubts.

    "To have such serva- no,rades by my side is a real honour. I will be in your care." Jin looked at his three betorpanions. Even though he knew that the system chained them to him, Jin still treated them with respect.

    "One more thing Master." Zeru stood up and talked. "When you hold Bam and Boo, remember this. Engage inbat fully determined to die and you wille out alive. Wish to survive the battle and you will surely meet death. Becau-"

    "Because living takes true courage." Both Jin and Yun spoke in unison, which amazed Zeru. He smiled and ced his hand on Jin''s back before giving him a forceful pat. Both Yun and Jin did not realise that both of them could never forget that quote when they first watched Samurai Z in the movies. Yun smiled back at Jin and asked the question once more.

    "So, are you ready to join the fray?"

    "No. I am not." Jin smiled widely as he said that, which stunned everyone for a moment. Peppers was ready to shoot another fire st at him when she recovered and Milk was bitterlyughing. Was the pep talk all for nothing?

    Jin then realised his mistake, waved his hands frantically to stop everyone from delivering bodily harm and rephrased his sentence. "No, I am not ready because I would like to prepare some items before I head in!" Jin tried to calm the sudden awkward atmosphere.

    "Not funny Jin." Zeru used his scabbard and knocked on Jin''s head before the betors disappeared into mid-air.

    "Alright, quickly craft your items. This party leader for this party of four is debriefing the rest of his squad." Yun folded her arms and shook her head as she saw Jinunching into a frenzy, trying to create items and putting them into his storage watch.

    However, no one even Yun knew that the initial refusal he spoke so quickly was the hesitation he had been suppressed to a corner of his heart the entire time he realised the situation he was in.

 Chapter 108 Adventurers

    <h4>Chapter 108 Adventurers</h4>

    "Are you sure this is the dungeon?" Alex tightened his newly bought armour te on his chest. They had heard that the dungeon they were currently standing in front of was a fairly dangerous one. There had been several reports regarding groups of adventurers going in and noting out ever again. Some assumed that the monsters in the dungeon enved the adventurers but all of it became hearsay when a group of experienced adventurers returned safely with a chest full of dungeon dors.

    "Yes, this is the dungeon. I promised that group of experienced adventurers a percentage of our spoils and performed a blood binding contract. They cannot possibly lie about the location of this rural dungeon." Betty, the group leader, checked her quiver to see if there was a sufficient amount of arrows in it.

    "Usually most dungeons will provide physical treasures such as weapons or gold coins. Overall though, this is a better deal since dungeon dors are more valuable than gold coins. If we are able to get roughly the same amount of dungeon dors as those adventurers, we will be able to livefortably for 3 months or so after deducting the profit cut we need to give to them." Charles juggled with his knife, disying quite a lot of finesse.

    "Still, I do not like the rumours about people going missing upon entering this dungeon. Even those experienced adventurers did not give many details on what to expect." Daisy spoke as she held onto her cross pendant.

    "I believe those rumours were spread to scare people away from this dungeon. Therefore, they would be able to have a better loot run than the others. I have seen enough people spreading bad rumours, and trust me, they spread like wildfire. Besides, we have been through a number of dungeons together. I do not think we should worry that much." Betty counted the number of red healing potions she had as she spoke.

    "Then, what are we waiting for? Let''s go into the dungeon now before it gets toote. Also, rumours are always based on the truth, no matter how exaggerated, so I suggest just clearing one floor for now." Alex picked up hisrge triangr shield and ced at the back of his armour te.

    "Before we go in, let me say a prayer so we can return safely." Daisy the priest gathered everyone and said a few words before enlightening everyone with her spell of Blessing Guidance. Blessing Guidance empowered the adventurers with a small increase in defence and attack.

    "Alright, let''s get going before Alexins again." Betty gestured and everyone picked up their gear, prepared to go into the dungeon.

    ----------

    "Before I leave the Dungeon Maker, there are a few things I would like to rify. Do these adventurers have cultivation grades?" Jin started to stuff misceneous items into his storage watch. He even created a reinforced stic fibre tactical mask with an anti-reflective and anti-re ss ne, which would prevent his face to be seen by the adventurers.

    "They have levels attached to themбнThe closest I can rte is indeed to a roleying game. They gain experience points and whenever an adventurer levels up, they will be able to ''boost their stats'', so to speak, or use more destructive magical abilities." Yun took a seat and started to monitor the movement of the adventurers.

    "How strong are these adventurers that are entering the dungeon since you say they are based on levels?" Jin checked his equipment one more time.

    "Probably a Grade 2 or 3 equivalent. Nothing you cannot handle. Remember though, they might fall in battle but they will not die until you destroy their heartpletely. Stabbing through it works too." Yun reinforced her statement.

    Jin gulped his saliva back down his throat, not in anticipation but in fear. In this personal dungeon of his, there were currently three pathways to take when they reached the first floor of the dungeon. Each pathway to lead to a different monster ecosystem, or more urately speaking, Jin''s monsters'' abodes.

    "All these items I made from the Dungeon Maker, can I use them not just for this personal dungeon but in other parallel worlds too?" Jin wanted to know since he could practically make anything in the Dungeon Maker if it was within creation limits.

    "You can use anything for your personal dungeon that has been created by the Dungeon Maker but restrictions apply for all items you want to bring to all other worlds unless it has been approved by the System to allow you to take it out. For example, the coupon booklet is good to go." Yun reaffirmed Jin.

    "I am ready now, where do I go to intervene?" Jin asked trembling while holding onto Bam.

    "They seemed to be entering the level where the Zither Mistress and the Great White Snake lives. I will teleport you there when you are ready." Yun replied but she noticed that he was giving the thumbs up gesture to her. So, she teleported him immediately to Zither Mistress''s level.

    Yun then snapped her fingers and her pyjamas instantly transformed into a buttoned shirt and shorts as she sat down and stared at the screens in the Dungeon Maker.

    ----------

    "Wow, this dungeon is really big." Charles had the highest perception among the whole party. It was amon trait for a thief to have when they reached level three. Charles scanned the surroundings of the dungeon and noticed that there were no traps, no small minions and also no sense of danger. It felt more like a home than a dungeon area, which was particrly odd to him.

    "I do not sense any danger and that itself makes this dungeon more dangerous than others." Charles strained his visual senses and hearing ability until he saw a little girl resting under a tree from afar. Charles took a look at the surroundings and noticed that for a cave looking dungeon, the area was very brightly lit as if there was sunlighting in from above ground. However, he could not find any crevices at the top of the dungeon floor nor any artificial lighting around to illuminate the area. He even felt that the fire torches they were carrying werepletely useless ever since they entered the first floor of the dungeon.

    "A kid, with arge snake," Charles whispered back to the group and the entire group halted their movement.

    "How far are they away from us? The direction?" Betty took out her bow from its scabbard and an arrow from her quiver. Daisy took her magical staff out and extended the length of the staff. She was a healer but she also knew how to fight back if it was necessary. Lastly, Alex unbuckled his shield from his back and ced it in front of him.

    "Here, this way. I cannot determine how far they are. Perhaps a 100metres?" Charles was making a wild guess, which annoyed Betty. "Approximately 250 metres away." Betty rolled her eyes the moment she found the target that Charles was talking about.

    "What do you think it is?" Alex, who was still kneeling with one leg on the ground, asked Betty.

    "Probably some sort of oriental snake demon I guess." Betty took a closer look and saw that the little girl had not noticed their presence yet. She nocked her arrow and aimed at the little girl.

    "So, what''s the n?" Alex looked at the rest of the party.

    "If it is just a snake demon, we can take it down within 10 minutes. I have prepared a level 3 spell of Smiting Evil, which is effective against demons." Daisy took the initiative to speak.

    "Alright, so I will stand on guard. Alex and Charles. You two move forward slowly and as quiet as possible in the tall grass. Especially you Alex. Your armour ting makes too much noise. Once both of you feel that you are at afortable distance away from the two targets, hold your position until my power arrow spell is ready to fire." Betty spoke.

    "After the enemy gets injured, Alex will charge in immediately while Charles takes the long way for a good execution, using your Backstab ability. When they are noticeably exhausted, Daisy, you will fire your smite evil spell and we will get the spoils for this dungeo-"

    It was at this point when Betty was talking halfway with her focus towards the little girl and the white snake that she heard arge explosive noiseing from a small hill on their right.

 Chapter 109 Path of Regrets

    <h4>Chapter 109 Path of Regrets</h4>

    Before they could deduce what had happened or appraises the situation, a magic simr to an explosion was activated right in the middle of the four adventurers. Jin was using one of the forms of Bam and Boo, the Bamboo Cannon.

    Initially, when Jin arrived at the same floor as Zither Mistress. He asked Zither Mistress to y and rx under Shu, the ancient treant. He then went far away from the position Zither Mistress, Ke Mi, was sitting and observed the party dynamics of the group with binocrs that he had created from the Dungeon Maker instance.

    He saw Charles leading the group and thought he was the boss. That was until he realised Betty was the party leader. It could be seen by the way she was givingmands to the entire party. Hence, taking this opportunity, Jin took the chance to fire his Bamboo Cannon.

    The shot that he had just fired was not an explosive one but more of a shbang, designed to disorient them greatly. However, there was a small st that did not deal much damage to four of the adventurers. Jin took this chance to grab onto one of Shu''s branches. With a slight tug on the tree branch, it magically extended to near a small slope where Jin fired his shot. Shu instantly retracted the branch after the shot was taken, and Jin, who was holding on tightly returned to where Shu was located.

    Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress, stopped pretending to y with the Great White Snake and took her zither out for battle. Once more, Jin held tightly onto Bam in Bo form and dashed towards the disoriented adventurers.

    Meanwhile, only Alex had barely recovered from the shbang stun because of his high constitution stats and he saw a ck shadow dashing towards the group. He knew something was amiss and quickly shouted as loud as he could in order to initiate his ability, Provoking Call. This would allow any monsters within his range to be provoked by him, hence they would target him instead of his allies. He then saw the ck shadow running towards him and he immediately gripped his shield hard despite still having an unsteady gait due to the disorientation.

    However, within seconds, the ck shadow ran past him with no acknowledgement of his presence and it first went for the team''s healer, Daisy. Jin mmed Daisy down, causing her to fall down, gasping in pain.

    Next, Jin took out a stun gun and shot it at their guardian, Alex. He purposely increased the voltage when he created it in the Dungeon Maker so that it would periodically send pulses of electricity for a minute to paralyse Alex. The metal armour ting also made for a good conductor, which caused Alex to have more spasms. The moment when the pulse of electricity stopped, Jin proceeded to use his staff to deal a low blow at Alex, causing him to trip. That was when he mmed his bo hard on his head.

    For some reason, Jin was starting to feel conflicted emotions in him. A part of him does not want to harm Alex but he did not expect the fight to be so one sided. Jin felt like he was in control of the team''s lives. There was still a part of him that resisted the idea of killing. That part of him though was getting weaker with every second that passed.

    Did he really have to kill and listen to the system orders? He did not have the heart to do so but yet he felt so pressured. So pressured by the current situation, so pressured by the system. Does he really have what it takes to take an innocent life just for his store? Can he see them as just livestock?

    Charles finally recovered from the disorientation and he himself had a few tricks of his own. He took out an improvised smoke bomb and threw it on the floor. The st immediately made the area within a radius of ten metres be covered in thick smoke. He hoped that the st would confuse Jin for a while as he grabbed Betty, who was beside him and sprint in the other direction.

    "I do not think the adventurers were missing or enved! I think they were being killed by this masked Reaper!" Charles panicked as he held onto Betty''s hand tightly and kept running. However, they did not know that Jin had the skill yful Panda Hearing, which was able to sense the direction they were moving despite the smoke screen. Yet, he had another n instead of chasing them down.

    "What about Alex and Daisy? Are we going to leave them there?" Betty was scarred by the scenes she had seen as she ran away with Charles. Betty vaguely remembered how the Reaper beat the level 2 priest Daisy with one staff strike, as well as rendering the Level 3 Guardian Alex unconscious, using the electrical stun contraption the Reaper had on him.

    "I do not care about them as much as much as I care about you!" Charles looked back for a moment to see if the Reaper was catching up on them but did not realise that they had totally forgotten about the Great White Snake and the little girl. The girl was sitting on top of the snake''s head and with just a pluck of her zither, both Charles and Betty were not able to move a single muscle.

    Jin did not do anything more to both Alex and Daisy. Instead, he walked towards both Charles and Betty. "Why am I still hesitating to kill that guardian and priest? Did I not promise myself to build my shop on a mountain of corpses?" Jin thought to himself as he got closer and closer to the Charles and Betty. His thoughts and words were being held back by his own morals. He was unclear, unsure. This was not how he was taught.

    Although it seemed like Ke Mi had immobilised thempletely, in actual fact, she had only immobilised the major hand and leg muscles. "Please let us go! We will give you whatever you want!" Charles shouted desperately.

    Charles suddenly looked at Betty inplete shock and said the unspeakable. "Take her if you want! Do whatever you want with her! I promise I will not disturb this dungeon anymore!" Charles changed his tone by 180 degrees, which made Betty turn her head and face him in disbelief.

    "You said you cared about me!" Betty stared at Charles now with anger and rage evident in her tone.

    "Not as much as I care about myself!" Charles said in a spite of fury.

    Jinter noticed the two of them crying, begging for mercy, trying to outbid the other''s promise since they could not see that Jin had yet topletely kill Alex and Daisy due to the smoke.

    "I do not think I have any qualms when removing liars from this world." Jin did not know whether it was the current atmosphere of hate and anger between the two of them that made him blind to the fact that he wanted to kill Charles for being such a dishonourable teammate.

    As Jin walked a few steps forward, and raised the Katana Bam up, wishing to strike Charles down in one go. However, at that moment, another pluck of the Zither was heard and this time round Jin was immobilised by Ke Mi.

    "Master. Don''t Killбн." Ke Mi spoke with much effort, caused by the bacsh from harming her master, as shemanded the Great White Snake with her zither to bring her closer to Jin. She then dropped her precious zither onto the ground as she dragged herself forward and ced her forehead against Jin''s.

    Suddenly, a rush of memories coursed through Jin''s mind. If not for his cultivation, the surge of memories would have killed him in an instant. It was only then he realised that Ke Mi was trying to tell him something as specific memories of her past shed through his mind.

    They were memories of her pent up anger and confusion against the people who had been hostile towards her. Her first kill at the young and innocent age of 13 and how she regretted doing so even though she was dying for that day toe. She cried for many days and nights after that and even tried to go back to the vige to beg for forgiveness. However, she was only met with more hatred and anger. In order to protect herself, she had to kill again out of self-defence and things then just spiralled down.

    Eventually, she was numbed by the pain and anguish she had inside of her for many years until Jin identally found her. Although Jin captured her for the purpose of the dungeon, she was once again reunited with a long lost friend of her parents, Shu. The current dungeon abode that she was living in was even morefortable than what she had ever lived in before despite its simplicity.

    Ke Mi could not imagine that she would have known her real name if not for Jin. Not only that, her skills grew stronger with each shop dungeon fight. Speaking of shop dungeon instances, Ke Mi even met cultivators that were actually happy to see her and appreciated her music. Although they eventually died quite horribly by her hands, she never felt such a sense of relief until she met Jin.

    Therefore, she did not want Jin to follow in her footsteps that only lead to a path of regrets.

 Chapter 110 Jins Resolution

    <h4>Chapter 110 Jin''s Resolution</h4>

    During that surge of memories Ke Mi transmitted to Jin, he felt the emotions that Ke Mi had experienced. He felt the rage and the hatred for the vige people that discriminated against her. He felt the fear and disdain when she begged for forgiveness. But worst of all, and the most confronting of all, he felt the nk satisfaction of killing someone and the sorrowful regrets that apanied it.

    Every single day, she yearned for the need to escape from reality but as the years went by, she ultimately epted the consequences of her rash actions, no matter how reluctantly. Jin also experienced the change of perspective that she had gone through, how she came to view everyone as a threat to her survival. She even had suicidal thoughts but because of her lifelong partner, the great white snake, she barely managed to stay sane and grew strong from her adversity.

    However, that was not the most important thing that Ke Mi wanted to show Jin. What she wanted to show came next. They were her memories of after being captured by Jin. She had felt a sense of extreme hatred going through her. How she had failed to anticipate his actions and how underestimating Jin was the greatest mistake of her life.

    It was then, though, that she lived out her happiest moments.

    Ke Mi showed Jin that his actions of putting her in his dungeon instances gave her hope. He gave her the title Zither Mistress, which would seem like an ordinary honorary title, but to her, it felt like Jin had forgiven her of her sins and wished for her to start anew, ditching the heinous title of Lady Snake.

    This small little action might not have meant much to Jin but it meant a hell of a lot to Ke Mi. In addition, this was an initiative he had taken all by himself, and he was not forced by the system to do so.

    What Jin saw next was her memory of his hard work trying to revamp the Zither Mistress dungeon instance and change it into the all new music theatre dungeon instance it was now. He could have just inserted some monsters to make the fights more difficult for his customers but no he did not stop there.

    Jin painstakingly recreated every single detail of a proper theatre. Although he was not very familiar on how to build an open-air theatre, he purposely took the time to search for blueprints and built a theatre from scratch.

    Jin even asked Ke Mi for her opinions, which had not been necessary in her opinion, but at that moment, she felt appreciated.

    Hence, this Jin that she was looking into the eyes of was not the Jin she knew, the Jin she adored. This Jin was not the Jin she was proud to call her master. She did not know how else to convey her message other than this memory transfer method.

    However, this method was sufficient to break Jin''s conflicted heart. He dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, crying behind the tactical mask.

    Jin then remembered Yun''sints regarding his passive behaviour and maybe she was right after all. Jin should have noticed that the things did not add up. Why did Yunin to Jin that he needed to buck up in life all of a sudden? Wasn''t it just to hint that he needed to something with his life?

    It was at that moment, he realised that Zeru''sst-minute advice was not about the battle against these adventurers. He remembered that his quote in the movies had originally been from his delicately portrayed internal struggle, revolving around his dilemma between protecting his master, the one and only person that really mattered to him in his life, and conforming and surrendering to the rebels.

    Zeru could have dropped his weapon and broke his code of honour. Zeru could have killed his master, which his master did encourage him to do in order to save his very own life. But he did not. No matter the adversity, he had stood strong to what he believed in and fought his way through mountains upon mountains of enemies.

    Jin was feeling shameful that he had not have figured out his Shifu''s advice and nearly killed innocent adventurers just because the system told him it was necessary to do so. And because Jin blindly followed, he did not have a proper opinion of his own. "Living takes true courage...Thank you, Shifu for your timely reminder...." Jin had decided to make up his mind.

    "You are right Ke Mi. I am not fit to be your master if I had gone through with this murder. No...I was not fit to be your master the moment I had the thoughts to kill people." Jin solemnly looked at Ke Mi as she asked her Great White Snake to lower her down. Ke Mi proceeded to give a warm, pleasant hug to Jin and he responded with a waterfall of tears.

    Once Jin had calmed down, he then looked Ke Mi in the eyes with newfound resolve. "Do not worry Ke Mi, I promise you I will try and fix everything and be the master that you once saw and adored."

    "Milk. Peppers. Zeru." Jinmanded and they appeared right in front of him.

    "Zeru, knock out these two immobilised adventurers. Milk, go heal the other two if necessary. I should not have beaten them that badly. Peppers, prepare a magical teleportation spell to teleport these four adventurers back to their town." Jin then paused for a while and added another order for Zeru as they acknowledged their orders.

    "Oh and Zeru, before you knock them out, castrate that thief for being so ball-less," Jin said with a firm tone. He did not wish to kill but seeing how spineless that thief was, he just had to teach a lesson to Charles. One that Charles would remember for life as Jin despises people who abandon theirrades. A teaching he can never forget from Ming.

    The moment Charles heard that order, he panicked so much he started to spout nonsense. "You crazy Reaper! Commanding kids to fight for you. You are the one true ball-less freak!"

    "Master, you are giving this dishonourable man whom was so willing to abandon hisrades too great a saving grace. You should also amputate his fingers and toes too and give them to the werehumans as snacks." Zeru suggested.

    "Castration will be enough." Jin shook his head and Zeru nodded his head to show he understood.

    Once Milk healed the other two, Peppers actually cast a memory maniption spell on the three adventurers other than Charles to make them forget what had actually happened. Zeru proceeded to pull Charles'' pants down and with two quick shes of his sword. First his underwear and then his penis dropped noiselessly like a withered flower dropping onto the ground. "Dishonourable. Be thankful I am skilled." Zeru swung his sword to remove the stained blood on it before stepping aside.

    Charles did not feel any pain for a moment but when he saw hisid penis on the floor, his whimpers turned into shouts of rage. "I WILL COME BACK TO KILL ALL OF YOU!" Charles screamed at the top of his lungs.

    "Try us." Jin nodded towards Peppers and she teleported all four of them back to their town''s front gate. When the deed was done, Yun instantly appeared in front of Jin with her arms folded.

    "Tell me, what were you doing removing our resources from the dungeon? Have you forgotten how I can punish you, Do you want to kowtow to me now to apologise for what you have done?'' Yun stared very intensely at Jin and the pressure from her was immense.

    However, Jin finally stood his ground. "You and the system said yourselves that this was a personal dungeon of mine right? Then destroy this dungeon at once."

    "If I destroy this dungeon, where will your monsters live?" Yun started to interrogate Jin.

    "I will use the Dungeon Maker to create a service instance for them to live in. In fact, I will create something far more suitable for each and every monster I captured as well as my Betors. They are serving me so it is natural for me to provide them with the best home I can give them." Jin replied.

    "Then, how are you going to build their homes if you have no resources?" Yun questioned his method.

    "You said that my Yuan can be converted into Dungeon Dors right? The system also uses Dungeon Dors to procure soul right? That also means the system can use Dungeon Dors to buy Matter and Magic. So all I have to do is earn more money via the shop. I do not care if I do not receive that much of a profit if it means my monsters and betors can have a good home." Jin tried to piece all the information he had obtained together and used them to his advantage.

    "Maybe I will create more dungeon shops and open them in suitable parallel worlds. Or perhaps I will create a magical teleportation portal that periodically allows adventurers or cultivators from parallel worlds toe to my store and fight." Jin suggested more practical practices.

    "But such parallel worlds might not have cultivators that have a solid dantian point like yours or resurrection like these adventurers in the dungeon world. They could die if they joined your dungeons and then you would be back to square one." Yun argued back.

    "If that''s the case, knock them unconscious or something. Maybe I can use a magical inscription to cause non lethal blows to those adventurers." Jin replied back.

    "Why are you going for such a pacifist route? Did you not feel the adrenaline rush and enjoyment when you were in power of those adventurers'' lives?" Yun mentioned how Jin was drunk with power a while back.

    "You are right. I am a hypocrite like every other human you have met and will meet or maybe worse, a coward. But right now, I am a coward with the courage to not kill someone just because someone told me to. I will stop being a conformist for even a dead fish can go with the flow of things, and I am certainly not a dead fish." Jin clenched his fists when he said that.

    At this moment, Yun facial expression rxed and she pped her hands slowly. "But in my eyes, you are no longer the coward I thought you would be. It took you a massive amount of courage to finally step out from conforming to the expectations of others."

    "You have finally shown me that you have the guts to make a decision on your own despite the fact the fact that the System''s method is the one of the most efficient for your path to bing the number one dungeon supplier," Yun said as she walked towards Jin and rubbed his head.

    "You and I both know though, that now that you chose to go this route, it will not be easy getting those resources," Yun said to Jin as she teleported him back to the Dungeon Maker and at interface console of the Dungeon Maker, she closed the cave opening of the dungeon. "Until you create that service instance you talked about, I will not destroy the home of your many monsters. The stress and internal pressure Jin had been experiencing for the past few hours were finally lifted off his shoulders, knowing that this small yet intense adventure hade to a close. But then he started to think and came up with an idea that he could not help but ask.

    "Maybe we can raid the dungeons in this dungeon world? Get their treasures and convert them into resources. Perhaps capture more monsters too? You did say that the monsters are overflowing in this world. It should not bother anyone if we capture a few for ourselves." Jin asked Yun and she looked at him andughed.

    "Dungeon Takeovers?" Yun grinned.

    ==================

    Author''s Final (unfiltered and unedited) thoughts:

    Hi readers, these few days might have been a weird rollercoaster ride for you but let me exin myself a little. While this exnation might not be the best of the best exnation and maybe you do not ept it, but this is the perspective that I have for this current arc. You have your rights of opinion.

    Firstly, I felt that the sudden turn of tone and setting was necessary. It is to throw the readers off theirfort chair. The light tone of the novel they have been enjoying (I hope) thus far and this is how Jin felt too. Jin just followed the motion, conforming, floating around in life. He takes whatever life gave him. He adapted to it.

    So this dark tone was to shake Jin too and hopefully shake the readers too. (but, of course, it seems I have underestimated the bacsh.) Next, different opinions from Yun was seen. Yun had already given Jin a pep talk and that he needed to change himself. He says okay I will change but saying and doing is two different things. Will he really change? Yun wants to see whether is he going to ''change'' for the better or worst.

    Hence, thank you. thank you to reader Drakross and hisments in chap 109 for figuring out and interpreting what I wanted for Jin.

    Jin wanted to start anew. that was why he started with the coupon booklet making but was that change enough to be anew? Yun wanted to see if he can handle the truth and if he does not, will he really change? I want Jin to experience confusion. The sudden high pressure and stress in a whole new situation. the flimsy reason for him to kill people and being influenced by external factors. If he really did what the system said, it means that all he did was to keep his mind shut and adapt to the situation. He was conforming to the system whims and that was his rationale to keep sane in this sudden stressful situation.

    Therefore, like what reader Drakross said. He can use the system as a powerful motivator to change himself or use it as affirmation for him to continue staying as a conformist which I had already dropped hints all around the novel from time to time, how he conformed to life.

    Then herees to the part of killing. Some people think this is too extreme, like why would a rational person think its okay to kill? That is because he is faced in a situation where he thought he was trapped with two choices. Ignore the fact or kill something and contribute. He was thrown into that decision and he was pressed to make a decision fast.

    Under a new environment he was introduced in, the internal interest of wanting to change, wanting to do something. Pressured by the fact that his betors will support him regardlessly of what he does while secretly hoping he might do something right since they could not exactly disobey him.

    Like I had said in thements in chapt 109. Do not just judge the rationality of a person based on his personality alone. It is just one factor of an equation. No human is purely ck and white like aic book character. Everyone is grey. Different shades of grey.

    TLDR: jin wants to change, he wants to take initiative in his actions. Yun challenge him to a grave situation to see if he can really change himself. he did not until things happened. Once he realised that he is more than just a conforming dead fish, he starts to take stand in this.

    I am sorry if I could not convey this message well enough in the story. I will try harder but till then, thank you to those who did not drop the novel and seeing this through. Thank you to the readers whomented. I really appreciate each and everyment. They made me see your personal perspective and how I could improve my storytelling in the future too. and also, Thank you for those who read but decides to drop it because I am notpetent enough in my storytelling. I respect your choice and all I can do is to improve.

    till then. its back to the same old vibe of the novel with an all new Jin. (I really hope he keeps it that way.)

 Chapter 111 Reason For Hiring

    <h4>Chapter 111 Reason For Hiring</h4>

    Yun was extremely delighted that Jin had finally started to take the management of his own shop into his own hands. Before this incident, she had some doubt that Jin would not change. He said he would do things, but he would procrastinate or he would just follow things blindly anyway. No matter how much she tried, he kept staying in hisfort zone.

    He had the potential to be a superpower in the next decade but how could a person possibly reach that level when his mind is trapped in a cage- A cage called indolence and apathy.

    Yun knew she had to push him. Push him so hard that he could change. But how? Suddenly it hit her. How about showing him the regret of a person...The regret one feels from just mindlessly following the flow of events. And the only person she knew who would be able to pull it off was Ke Mi.

    Yun started to form a n. Even though it may have been unfair, she had to create a situation where he would not only understand Ke Mi regrets but also truly feel embarrassed about himself. She didn''t care if he never realised how much effort she put in because she just wanted to help him, not get anything from it.

    He might falsely believe that she would kill others for profit, even pushing him into ughtering people if necessary. Maybe their rtionship would have a crack in it from today onwards, but that was not too bad of a price to her. Fortunately, none of those mattered if Jin finally woke up.

    "Dungeon Takeovers? What exactly is that about? Is that what they callpleting a dungeon in this world?" Jin was curious about that.

    "No, not really, it means that we would take control of the dungeon and take control it for its resources temporarily. It is simr to how a miner/miningpany would find a vein of gold and im it for himself. So we go in, whack those monsters and grab a bunch of resources that are just lying around." Yun replied as she sat on the table interface of the Dungeon Maker.

    "Instead of grabbing a bunch of resources, why don''t we mine those resources?" Jin thought of that idea when Yun gave the example of mining which intrigued him.

    "What you do mean?" Yun did not get the drift from Jin.

    "Remember how Zeru gave me those crystal seeds which I have not nted yet? I wonder if there is anything simr to it in those dungeons. Alternatively, we have the Dungeon Maker. Maybe we can create a mining bot that scans the area and mines the resources while we defend it and kill the monsters." Jin suddenly had many ideas beginning to pop up in his mind.

    "Besides, you said the monsters would take some time to resurrect if they die so that means we can use that time to nt some mining bots in order to mine the resources." Jin mind started to go wild with idea after idea and Yunughed.

    "Okay, stop right there young man. Before you get overzealous with the whole new me," Yun calmed Jin down, "Just remember that Dungeon Takeovers are different and quite unique. If you managed to clear the dungeon entirely, the dungeon would actually give you a tribute of Matter, Magic and Souls for a month. That was where the system took the idea from to craft such a ruthless variant. To the system, why a tribute when it can get a constant source of resource as long as people are vying for the dungeon''s treasure. Maybe it''s wed if you look at it from another point of view but the system had already calcted that this was one of the highest efficiency means of gathering at the lowest cost possible."

    "But most of the time, the dungeon would never bepleted by one person because the dungeons here are long winded and demanding. Hence, a raid party is always rmended to do so and if a raid partypletes it, it will be written on a wall of the dungeon at the entry so people would not be stupid to try it for a period of time since the tribute can only be given once a month. However, that is not a problem since there are so many dungeons around it doesn''t really affect the adventurers."

    "You did say vendors did that too. How do they work then?" Jin asked

    "They send many raiding parties to many dungeons and the sessful ones get decent pay. While it might not seem like much but high level raiding parties earn a lot of dungeon dors." Yun said.

    "So, if we find a good resource dungeon and enter it with my betors and monsters along with me. Then clear it by defeating each and every monster, we can get a good haul?" Jin wanted to confirm.

    "I thought you would only be bringing your betors. I did not expect you to say you are going to bring your monsters in too." Yun was pleasantly surprised.

    "Why not? I have yet to fully explore their offensive powers and abilities. Maybe this will be a good chance to learn about them and subsequently improve their dungeons too. Besides, they need to work to have their new home up and ready as soon as possible." Jinughed as he suddenly thought of Ke Mi and felt like patting her head.

    "So do you want to go now? There is one nearby for you to try if you want." Yun asked as she genuinely smiled at Jin.

    Jin looked at his storage watch to check the time and refused. The watch was surprisingly useful. It showed the time of the Dungeon World as well as the time in his original world. It also showed how much time had psed to give him back a proper sense of time.

    "It''s nearly eight in the morning; I promised Zhen Qing that I would provide her ingredients for her ck pepper buns. Anyways, I might do that Dungeon Takeoverter, but not yet. Oh, by the way, Yun, are you able to procure those items on the list I gave you?" Jin asked Yun politely.

    "Well, you did not reply to me when I asked you about why you want Zhen Qing as an employee considering there''s a risk of her knowing the system''s secret." Yun tested Jin once more.

    "I think I like her. That influenced my decision and I am biased towards hiring her. But if you want a logical answer, I really feel that her buns are delicious. She might even have other tricks that she had not shown us. However, that one day was sufficient for me to understand how hardworking she is, how she preserved under the hot sun, standing for the whole day without rest apart from the toilet breaks, which was ironic since she didn''t want to use our store''s toilets." Jin replied as he listed her traits he had discovered whilst observing her.

    "She even brought her reserved stocks just to fulfil her side of the bargain. I do not think she even had a proper food break. Not to mention, I noticed Zhen Qing was really happy serving the customers and I can asionally see her smile despite the mask she wore for hygiene."

    "Zhen Qing even declined to work further because she did not have enough supplies. From what I know about other street vendors, I am pretty sure they might have used scrupulous ways to get lousy quality food supplies at the fastest and cheapest possible way. However, Zhen Qing did not. She insisted on using her own ingredients and I respect her profession as a cook more than a simple street vendor. That''s why I want to hire her." Jin finally gave his analysis.

    "No bad points during this observation?" Yun questioned.

    "Does me being a shameless stalker during work count?" Jinughed bitterly as he spoke the truth. He had made excuses to leave his bar counter just to nce at Zhen Qing.

    "And the obvious advances to keep her to the stall which she felt a little suspicious about and she may or may not be creeped out about? Yea I agree, that''s a bad point too." Yun teased Jin.

    "Was it really that obvious?" Jin blushed

    "Yes, Mr Oblivious." Yun rolled her eyes and pressed a few buttons on the table interface she was sitting at.

    "The system and I have long since created a kitchen instance since we thought you might have be interested in cooking after eating the tonkatsu curry rice, but it seems our prediction was off. We might as well we give Zhen Qing the special rights to the kitchen instance since she would probably need the time dtion to prepare her items. However, remember to tell her to rest. Time dtion formoners might be straining on their bodiespared to us cultivators." A special ess card appeared on the table of the dungeon maker and Yun passed it to Jin.

    "The ess card gives her the privilege to enter the dungeon at will. I have also reduced the time dtion of the kitchen instance to the minimum so it extends only 2 hours for every one hour in the real world. I hope you know what you are doing Jin."

    "I do. I will try and find a suitable cultivation technique for herбнthat is if she is okay with learning how to cultivate. But right now, during the time she is in the kitchen instance, I will try to create an improved mobile stall for her." Jin added and Yun gave him the thumbs up before they left the dungeon maker instance.

    Moments after they arrived back at the store, the doorbell at the side rang. "What impable timing." Yun squeezed Jin''s shoulder and gently pushed him to the side door.

 Chapter 112 An Urgent Plea

    <h4>Chapter 112 An Urgent Plea</h4>

    Jin got to the door and noticed that Zhen Qing got bigger..rger in size? "BOSS JIN I NEEED YOUR HELP!"

    It was not Zhen Qing as he had initially thought, but instead, it was Xiong Da, the cultivator who used the Hungry Hippo Style that rang his bell this early in the morning. It was only then that Jin saw a slight silhouette of ady riding the motorcycle behind Xiong Da.

    "What is the problem?" Jin decided to handle Xiong Da first since he had always been a regr customer at his store. It would be disrespectful to shoo him away even though it was not opening hours yet.

    "Thank goodness you are early, I was thinking that I might have to wait until afternoon for your presence." Xiong Da was sweating really badly.

    "What''s with the urgency?" Jin hoped to find out the reason quickly so he could talk to Zhen Qing. However, Zhen Qing also noticed that Jin had a customer barging in so she decided to park her motorcycle in the same garden spot she did yesterday and waited for Jin to finish.

    "Do you remember how I told you that about a guy who challenged me to a duel and I lost?" Xiong Da hoped that Jin remembered the reason he decided to buy Jin''s dungeons and the verbal agreement that had transpired between the two of them.

    Jin nodded his head. How could he forget? He was the first regr customer Jin had ever had and that embarrassing duel was the reason why Xiong Da was training so desperately hard with the help of Instructor Milk.

    "I happened to bump into my crush again, Ruo Ying, and I noticed that there was some bruising on her face under her makeup. I even noticed some bruises under her sleeves too." Xiong Da''s rage was bursting out of him and his angry chi could be felt by Jin.

    "Aren''t you awyer? You can now sue him for abuse or assault, can''t you?" Jin was curious about why Xiong Da had not pressed for a case.

    "Ever since I knew about thisst night, I told her I would bring him to the police but she could only hold her tears back. Ruo Ying said that her father had gambled all that wretched guy''s money away hence she could not even hope to run. That guy even made her father sign a screwed up contract saying that he had to pay all the money back with interest. That bastard even told him that he would be holding Ruo Ying a little while longer as a guarantee. There was no chance Ruo Ying''s father could call the cops or employ awyer because that was written in the contract." Xiong Da clenched his fists even harder.

    "Surely, you can find some loopholes in that contractбн" Jin was beginning to wonder if Xiong Da was really awyer.

    "Oh, there lots when I had the chance to take a look at it. But I decided to meet him next week and settle our old score. After I win, I will crush him into minced meat while making sure he is not eligible for resurrection. No...that''s not good enough...I will also gift him a mountain of debts too so he can pay for his actions!" Xiong Da got so riled up that Jin saw his Hippo silhouettes out screaming.

    Zhen Qing was shocked and thought that the fat guy wanted to beat up Jin and wanted to call the police immediately. However, she noticed Jin was still standing at the side door rxed and decided to hold her phone close to her just in case.

    "Ah, seems like you reached Grade 2 Peak." Jin was amazed by the dedication of Xiong Da.

    "But are you sure that Ruo Yong girl that you mentioned will still be in love with you? Perhaps she just wanted you to get her out of the predicament she was in. Maybe she was just trying her luck and just wanted to use you like the same way that...what''s that guy''s name?"

    "Lan Ji Ao" Xiong Da spit his saliva at the side of the walkway upon saying his name. Jin then folded his arm and cleared his throat to show his discontent.

    "Ah sorry. Boss Jin." Xiong Da then realised he was at Boss Jin''s doorstep.

    "Anyways yea, she might actually use you just like how Ji Ao used her. Or perhaps, this was an borate n for Ji Ao to humiliate you even more and show Ruo Ying who was the boss." Jin queried Xiong Da but it seemed that it was a waste of effort.

    "I know, I have thought of all the possibilities. However, she was the only one that really understood me when I was in contact with her previously. Also, she did try to send some messages to me during the past month but she rarely instigated long conversations because her phone was being monitored by Ji Ao. Besides, even if she does not like me anymore, I would still like to help her. But in order for me to help her, I need your help. Please Boss, help me!" Xiong Da went to his knees and prostrated.

    Zhen Qing was befuddled by what had transpired. First, the fat guy seemed to be threatening Jin and right after Jin folded his arms, he began prostrating in front of Jin. Who was this Jin exactly? No matter what, it looked like Zhen Qing was right to be put up a defensive front for now. Last night, she was thinking that maybe her prayers had been answered after all these years of hard work but now she did not know if this was the right opportunity for her or not.

    "So how did you want me to help you exactly?" Jin noticed Zhen Qing''s awkward expression from afar and decided to support Xiong Da up. The moment Xiong Da stood up, he took out a cheque for 50 Thousand Yuan and shoved it into Jin''s camp.

    "This is the deposit. Train me like I am in a special forces hell boot camp. All I ask is that I eat good food during breaks. I am willing to sleep on the floor of the shop if I have to!" Xiong Da''s resolution was very obvious. He did not care about anything but his desire to save the girl he liked...and delicious food.

    In some way, Jin felt quite shameful that he was not as resolute as Xiong Da. It took Yun a massive amount of effort to get Jin to open his eyes and let him stand on his two feet and here Xiong Da was overflowing with determination, wanting to change at all cost all by himself. Even if there was no 50 thousand Yuan to entice him, Jin had already been inspired by Xiong Da and pumped up to work doubly hard for him. But, with that cheque of 50 thousand yuan, he could also convert the money into dungeon dors for his monster''s home so it was a good bonus.

    "Alright, I might be able to help you but just hold on to that cheque until I can confirm it for you." Jin returned the cheque to Xiong Da and returned to the store. He pretended to check his phone for something but he was actually messaging Zeru about whether he could assist Xiong Da.

    "I will not take another disciple." Zeru adamantly refused to assist Xiong Da.

    "Nono, I am not asking you to train him as your disciple but as an instructor," Jin remembered Yun said offensive sses like Zeru could not be used as an instructor on the fields since it would make the battle too easy. Speaking of instructors, only a few used Milk as their instructor and no one took Peppers but it could be the notion of AI''s being useless in battles. None of the customers knew that Milk and Peppers were not just AI instructors.

    "Oh! Okay, sure, but I thought the system would not allow offensive sses as instructors?" Zeru asked. "For that part, I respect the system''s opinion because I too feel it would be too easy for cultivators if you joined them for the battle. Hence, I am not asking you to join him in the dungeons. Instead, you will be training him in Panda Muscles." Jin typed furiously on his phone''s screen pad.

    "Understood, I shall wait for him over there." Zeru''s portrait immediately disappeared, indicating that he had teleported himself to Panda Muscles.

    "So, Boss. Is it okay? If 50 thousand Yuan is not enough, I can give you more. To me, money is not an issue at all." Xiong Da opened his suitcase to take out his chequebook and wrote a nk cheque for Jin. "Name your price!" Xiong Da seemed to be sweating as he passed that nk cheque to Jin but he was determined to go all out for Ruo Ying.

    Meanwhile, Jin tore the nk cheque into pieces right in front of him and took the 50 thousand yuan cheque from his suit pocket instead. "This will be enough for now." Jin beckoned Xiong Da toe into the store

    Jin also beckoned to Zhen Qing, albeit with a gentler expression, but all Zhen Qing could do was nod her head and entered the store with Xiong Da.

 Chapter 113 Short Sightedness

    <h4>Chapter 113 Short Sightedness</h4>

    "Xiong Da, let me settle some internal shop matters before I get to you. Is that fine with you?" JIn asked Xiong Da politely.

    "Sure, Boss. Your jobes first." Xiong Da entered and he realised it had been a long time since hest stepped into Jin''s store that it had the same empty atmosphere he had first experienced a few weeks ago.

    "If you did not notice, this is Zhen Qing. She is undergoing a certain trial to see if she is fit to be my employee and whether she is agreeable with the working conditions." Jin introduced Zhen Qing to Xiong Da since both of them came into the store before opening hours.

    "Oh hi there, I remember you. Your ck pepper buns were fantastic and no offence, but they can''t match the quality of Boss Jin''s." Xiong Da finally noticed the pretty girl that had entered the store after him.

    "Haha Xiong Da, you are too spoiled by the simple dishes that are served here." Jin chuckled.

    "Seriously, if you have more food variety, I will personally buy an apartment or even a house just to eat your food on a daily basis." Xiong Da praised Jin.

    "Zhen Qing, This is Xiong Da, my first regr customer since the shop''s opening." Jin introduced Xiong Da to her.

    "I..uh Thank you. I will try harder." Zhen Qing started to realise she was wrong to suspect Xiong Da of any malicious intent against Jin. The way they were reacting at the doorstep could possibly just be their unique way of bonding between friends.

    "Hmm Xiong Da, instead of waiting, go to the third floor. There is a Muscr Panda Jade Statue there. ce your phone against the statue and it will work the same way as the underground stores. I might have someone waiting for you there right now." Jin suddenly saw a notification on his phone and decided to ask Xiong Da to meet with Shifu Zeru while he took care of Zhen Qing''s ingredient matters.

    "Oh? I thought the third floor was just the video yback rooms." Xiong Da remembered the level that not a lot of people frequented.

    "I have changed it quite a bit, you will understand once you have taken a look. I will check on you in a bit." Jin inserted the cheque into the Panda Port and the Port surprisingly epted it and credited Jin''s ount with 50 thousand Yuan. "You never cease to amaze me at how flexible you take money in." Jin thought to himself.

    "Okay Boss, See youter then." Xiong Da went up the stairs while Jin finally gave Zhen Qing his full attention. After conversing with Yun, Jin understood that if he wanted Zhen Qing to trust him, he should act more like a boss with a reasonable and logical mindset. If he was too generous, Zhen Qing might think that Jin was up to no good. If he was too stingy, Zhen Qing might not work for him at all.

    Jin would need to have the right ratio of carrot and stick to gain Zhen Qing''s trust. Sure, he might have an interest in her and assumed that she probably had the right characteristic and attitude for the employee he was looking for. However, if she did not improve in terms of skills and increase her dish repertoire within these two weeks, Jin would decide not to employ her since she would not be worthy of the risk Jin was taking to hire her.

    "Zhen Qing, follow me. Tap this ck card here to enter." Jin used his phone and tapped it against the Panda Port and Zhen Qing quickly followed. When she was safely teleported, she realised she was not in the store anymore but in a different area.

    It was a spacious looking kitchen but just like any of Jin''s instances, it was not a normal kitchen. In fact, it was a kitchen equipped with so many appliances and kitchen equipment that a novice cook would be overwhelmed by the sheer amount.

    There were multiplerge ovens, stainless steel cookware, knives, a few dozen refrigerators and even a freezer room that kept the recently killed animals fresh. "There are too many items to take note of in this kitchenбн" Zhen Qing was bbergasted and could not imagine that Jin would have so many items. If a master chef ever saw this, he would have scolded Jin for not using the kitchen at all.

    "This is a kitchen service instance. Ehбн a sort of separate reality if I put it simple terms. I specialise in dimensional spaces so creating this was not an issue. What you see here is all real and not an illusion. If you have any questions, just ask. I understand it might be a little hard for amoner who has not experienced cultivation to understand" Jin exined.

    Zhen Qing was quite surprised that Jin found out she was just amoner. Was it that obvious to a cultivator? In any case, Zhen Qing shook her head. She had previously read up a little on dungeon suppliers and dimensional spaces in the previous night so she understood a little.

    "If I am not mistakenбн" Jin was looking around the kitchen and finally found a tablet screen. Zhen Qing noticed he was tapping furiously on it and then a female voice was heard. "Wee Ms Zhen Qing. I am the AI for this magnificent kitchen. If you need directions for a certain food stock or the location for any equipment, just ask and I shall direct you to it."

    "Wow, this kitchen is equipped with an AI voice?" Zhen Qing thought she had to memorise every single part of the kitchen to fully utilise it, but clearly, this was no longer the case. With an AI helping her and assuming the AI is capable, everything would be much easier. However, she doubted the AI could help her much.

    "If you think that the AI is useless, how about this? Let me show you." Jin read Zhen Qing''s doubtful face and grinned. "AI, tell me where to find the chicken eggs and the kitchen equipment needed for creating a fried egg," Jin spoke aloud.

    "Yes, Mister Jin. Would you like to use any specific chicken eggs? What kind of pan would you like to use? If you have no preference, I have highlighted the areas where you can find the items you have requested." Once the AI was done talking, certain parts of the kitchen were illuminated by a green LED.

    Jin and Zhen Qing walked to the fridge and opened thepartment that was illuminated in green. They found the eggs and Zhen Qing noticed that the eggs were stored at an optimal temperature. She went to open anotherpartment and it was vegetables and noticed the temperature that it was kept at was slightly different. Theyter checked the otherpartments in the kitchen and Zhen Qing realised that the equipment the AI suggested was all that was needed to make a good fried egg.

    In short, Zhen Qing found out that this kitchen was not just a simple nightmare for a novice chef like her. It was also the ideal kitchen for a master chef with a perfectionistplex.

    "You will find all the ingredients you can think of in this kitchen, and more. I have made sure most of the ingredients could be found right here with some additional stuff. The AI here can assist you if you need help. If there are some additional appliances that you need which are not avable here, just tell me or the AI. I believe it will also ry the message to me if you cannot find me." Jin exined to Zhen Qing.

    "Also, keep that ck ess card for these two weeks," Jin added.

    "Wait, Jin. Eh I mean, Boss Jin. I could not possibly ept this. Just give me some ingredients and I will make do at my mobile stall." Zhen Qing replied. Upon listening to Zhen Qing''s request, Jin politely refused.

    "No, I cannot allow you to do that. There is a reason why my food items are a notch above the rest. The secret food supplier I receive my food from also used this kitchen and the ingredients here we have in stock. If you want to improve your ck pepper pork bun, I suggest you try using the ingredients here." Jin lied to Zhen Qing while not revealing any expression.

    "Also, you asked me to procure these ingredients and they are not cheap. Hence, use them optimally by preparing the ingredients here. Increase your current price to thrice the amount or else it would be an insult to the quality of these ingredients, I will hold my end of the bargain by not taking any profit during this two week trial," Jin added.

    "I will be blunt to inform you that there will be changes to the mobile store that you have been operating at. It should be finished earliest by the time you are done with preparing your items. If not thetest would be tomorrow afternoon. Of course, nothing will be done to your current one. I am building an entirely new street stall." Jin informed Zhen Qing on what he was going to do.

    "Why would you do all this? There is not to your benefit at all." Zhen Qing asked with a bewildered facial expression.

    "By the end of the two weeks, if you like this ce, I will hire you and we can discuss the terms and conditions. If you do well and create more customers, the long-term benefits for me are huge, as I can receive money from your side in the future as well. However, if you did not like the ce, you can leave with the profit you made and note that I might not offer such generous terms to you again. Besides, this trial will also help me determine whether a street stall can help distract those cultivators that are waiting for their turns to enter the dungeon."

    "In short, yes it might not be a benefit to me currently, but if it seeds the way I think it will, the short term loss would be worth it," Jin said in confidence.

    Zhen Qing could finally understand where Jin wasing from. If she failed, he could just scrap the idea. On the other hand, if she passed, he would have more customers indirectly and profit from them in the future. If she passed but did not wish to continue, he could find a better chef to take her ce. It made sense that he was being generous. He was looking forward into the future.

    At this point, Zhen Qing was a little embarrassed about how short sighted she was. Perhaps, it was because of all the running from the police and taking small opportunities whenever she could to sell more items that she did not see the overall big picture that Jin had in mind.

    "Okay, I will do it." Zhen Qing nodded.

    "Alright fantastic. The time dtion here is 2 hours to 1 hour in reality. So you have about roughly 6 hours to prepare your ingredients." Jin exined a little more about the time dtion to Zhen Qing and she added it to the multitude of things listed down in her mind.

    "Looks like this is really the opportunity for me to break through in life." Zhen Qing finally giggled to herself as she saw Jin leaving the kitchen to her. "Time to start to see if those ingredients can really improve my ck pepper pork bun."

 Chapter 114 Aesthetics

    <h4>Chapter 114 Aesthetics</h4>

    Jin left Zhen Qing to do her work in the kitchen and he believed that the system disguising as a sentient AI would only help her when necessary. Jin now had a few things to do. One was to take a look at Xiong Da and perhaps participate in the training for a while since he had yet to do his daily morning training.

    The second thing he needed to sort out was the street stall improvement that Jin had told Zhen Qing about. There was nothing wrong with the current mobile stall that Zhen Qing was using, it was just that Jin could improve the seating area surrounding the street stall, modernise the street stall so it would look more eye catching while not losing the traditional look that his store had portrayed.

    Speaking of his store, it was about time he put up the store house sign and perhaps redecorate the shop a little to suit the panda theme to the ce was rocking. "I have about 10 Thousand and 300 hundred Yuan in my earnings ount right now courtesy of Xiong Da as well as roughly 4000 dungeon dors.

    With the exchange rate of 100 Yuan to 1 Dungeon dor, I would have about an additional of 1000 dungeon dors if I convert everything. Hmm. That is not a really good idea at all. I should only convert the Yuan when I really need it." Jin was looking at his phone''s calctor and found there was an exchange button that showed him the conversion rates and the total amount of money he would receive.

    "Judging from what I have previously built from the Dungeon maker, I guess I will set the improvement for the street stall and the store''s internal renovation a budget of 500 Dungeon Dors. That should be more than sufficient." Jin realised that he could not be azy boss like he used to be. Back then, the financing of the store was all supported by the system, and he did not have to worry a single thing. All he did was serve the customers when need be and continue his daily life as per normal.

    Now he had to keep a tight watch on the amount of money he had. Sure, the upgrades to the mobile stall and the internal decorations may not be worth the amount of dungeon dors he was spending since they were only for aesthetics rather than for function.

    However, the image of the shop, especially in the era where the look and feel of the products would determine the sess, was equally as important as what the shop could actually do. Sensory or even subliminal effects would be essentialpetitive tools against other dungeon suppliers.

    Jin already noticed the effect the system created when using Pandas in the shop. It made both male and female customersing in feel rxed andfortable,pared to other dungeon suppliers, whose atmospheres were all about anger, rage, fights and power. The dungeon supplier "King''s Monster" had figments of various monsters all around their shop.

    Jin also remembered the feeling he experienced when he was on the third floor of his store. He noticed that a lot of his customers did not dare to enter because they could feel the tranquillity of the area and felt like they were disrupting the peace. However, Jin still did not understand the rationale of a tranquil gallery when the statues would teleport them to a ce of excitement.

    "This is just my conjecture but I think the system wants the customers to know and experience something incredibly unique in this day and age. I think the system wants our customers to know that there can be a ce of tranquillity even within our fast-paced world of chaos. Besides, this could also allow the customer to transition properly into something different." Yun came from out of nowhere and poured herself a coffee to drink. Jin then realised Yun had disappeared when Xiong Da and Zhen Qing came into the store. Perhaps, she did not want the others to misunderstand her rtionship with Jin.

    "If you have not noticed, the Zen gallery kind of gives you the ''Alright, let''s try again. I can do this.'' kind of vibe?" Yun added a few pieces of sugar cubes and some milk.

    "I realised too. Still, that third floor needs more promotion and more service instances. " Jin replied back.

    "Well, its either you make more money or you do more missions," Yunmented as she sipped her coffee.

    "Enough missions for now. I have yet toplete the Baby Panda mission and a few other things are still lined up on my te. Getting more missions will justplicate things." Jin shook his head.

    "Maybe the system might give you a helping hand once in a while you know? It would not harm you to check periodically." Yun smiled at Jin, which incidentally gave Jin a sense of apprehension.

    "Yeah, I will check itter." Jin had enough with the system making his life miserable a moment and Yun chuckled at his reply.

    ----------

    Xiong Da entered Panda Muscles as Jin instructed to him and found that he was surrounded by various gym equipment in a warehouse that was void of people.

    "Mister Xiong Da?" Xiong Da heard his name and turned to look, only to find that it was a red panda receptionist. He did not know that Jin had now made all the service instance receptionists excluding the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance red pandas. "Yes, I am Xiong Da." He replied to the innocent looking red panda.

    "Your instructor is waiting for you at the other end of the warehouse. Just follow the illuminated path which I am about to show you now and you will find him. Your instructor also said to reach there in 2 minutes or he will not teach you anything. The distance you need to cover is 800 metres."

    "800 metres in 2 minutes?!" Xiong Da''s jaw dropped. Commoners'' average timing was roughly 3 -4 minutes. He knew some cultivators could definitely do better than that but his cultivation style was focused on power not speed. So, in terms of speed, he was no different from amoner and all he could do was rely on his stamina and willpower.

    "I am starting the timer in 5бн.4.." The Red Panda ignored Xiong Da''s expression and started to count down. Xiong Da wanted to curse under his breath but he guessed this was what he needed to defeat Lan Ji Ao.

    "2бн1бнgo!" The Red Panda pressed a button on her counter and a starting pistol shot was fired off, which made Xiong Da frantically run while following the green arrows on the floor that was illuminated just for him to follow.

    Xiong Da did not pace himself in any way and started sprinting the moment he started. He could not think of anything since it was too quick for him to process anything. Fortunately, he knew how much he had to push himself as the arrows not only showed the direction he had to move within this enormous warehouse, numbers were also illuminated to indicate the distance he had already run.

    However, in 400 metres, he was already gasping for air, but Xiong Da knew he needed to push himself forward. If he stopped here, the instructor that was waiting for him would refuse to help him. Hence, Xiong Da gritted his teeth and told himself to not think and move forward.

    While waiting for Xiong Da to arrive in two minutes, Zeru was reading up on Xiong Da''s personal profile created by the system, since every action Xiong Da had carried out and every word he said was recorded by the system. The system thenpiled everything for Yun and Jin in case they need to use it to improve customer satisfaction.

    For example, Yun would personally ''whisper'' information about a certain customer that returned to y at Jin''s store. This would make that particr customer feel more appreciated and would he/she would then be more inclined to return to Jin store a third time. However, Yun would only be able to ry this information. How Jin used it would be a separate matter.

    As Zeru was a little old fashioned, the system had created physical books for him to peruse. The moment Zeru agreed to ''take care'' of Xiong Da, he started to read up on Xiong Da''s profile. Milk also came by and told him what she had taught Xiong Da but obviously, she was just pushing him to bepetent at his current skills and suggested to him which skills were more useful.

    "Well, at the very least, this guy is now motivated enough to want something." Zeru closed his book and checked the timer when he heard rapid breathinge from the side of the ring arena that Zeru was in.

    "You are 4 secondste. I do not wish to teach you anything." Zeru folded his arms as he stood in front of Xiong Da with menacing authority.

    "Sir! I have no excuses, Sir! But please give me a chance to prove myself." Xiong Da was trying his best to get those words out of his mouth.

    "What chance? You squandered your chance when you werete by 4 seconds. You could have run immediately before the timer started and that would have given you a 5 second head start. In a fight, you have to use everything at your disposal to win." Zeru tried to test Xiong Da''s resolve.

    Xiong Da then stared intensely at Zeru. "Lawbreakers. I dislike them. Scrap that! I detest them! Why must I lower myself to their level just to win a fight? Why can''t I be righteous in an uwful fight? I do not wish to fight dirty like that bastard Ji Ao!" Xiong Da shouted.

    "So you want to win with overwhelming power and not with trickery?" Zeru asked.

    "Yes, so that I can be that selfish knight that protects his one and only princess in his heart!" Xiong Da shouted as he started to get up.

    "Now I see your resolve." Zeru extended his hand and Xiong Da grabbed it to climb up into the ring arena. Xiong Da then realised that he was not supporting himself properly because he was still weak from the 800m sprint and therefore, he nearly fell.

    However, Zeru held on Xiong Da well enough to prevent the fall with only one hand, which made Xiong Da feel astonished! He weighed over 300 kilograms but the master instructor in front of him stood steadfastly and supported him with ease.

    "What are you nking out for?" Zeru''s question snapped Xiong Da back into attention and he quickly got into the ring arena.

    "Spar with me, give me all you got and in the meantime, entertain me with your current situation. Every single detail." Zeru gestured Xiong Da toe at him and Xiong Da did.

    "Oh, I have a brain full of details and I hope I am more than just entertaining." With his weapon in his hands, Xiong Da charged towards Zeru with no regards to his life.

    "I do not think you should think that highly about yourself." Zeru chuckled as he faced Xiong Da with no weapons.

 Chapter 115 Hungry Hippo Style

    <h4>Chapter 115 Hungry Hippo Style</h4>

    As Zeru was assessing Xiong Da, he noticed the hungry hippo style that he was cultivating did not seem to be the same hippo style he remembered from years ago. "Student Xiong Da, where did learn your cultivation style?" Zeru gently pushed the warclub away no matter how hard Xiong Da tried to hit him with it.

    "From my familyбнthe Wa Family." Xiong Da gasped his breath as he replied back.

    "Wa Family? Hmmm... Would you by any chance know of a person called Wa Kao Wei?" Zeru took the initiative and attacked, which Xiong Da barely defended. He was nearly knocked out of the ring arena if not for the ropes around surrounding it.

    "Kao Wei? That''s my grandfather. Cough cough." Xiong Da began to think that this instructor that Jin introduced was not an AI but a real person instead. "How could an AI be so talkative and even know things that are personal?" Xiong Da thought to himself.

    "Ah, your expression gave away your thinking, student Xiong Da. Boss Jin told me to find out more about you so we could put together a detailed n. If you are thinking along the lines of me being a human, I am sad to say that I am not but just an advanced AI." Zeru utilised a low sweep and caught Xiong Da off guard again.

    "Damn it, Boss Jin! If your AI is this clever, why have you not taken over the world yet?" Xiong Dained as he fell to the ground.

    "I happened to remember that the Wa Family had a history of using the Hippo style but they never stated what kind of Hippo they were cultivating as. However, several hidden records showed that Wa Kao Wei practised the Hotshot Hippo style. That was why I was curious about your cultivation being the Hungry Hippo style instead." Zeru was basing it off his personal memory but he could not lie well and Xiong Da also felt like something was off. He had seen enough liars to catch one.

    "Did Boss Jin dig into my history?" Xiong Da was quite annoyed. No one really knew that his cultivation was different from his family''s except for a select few.

    "Yes, I did dig into your history." Jin came in at the right moment and assisted Zeru in order to not expose the lie of him actually being human. "If not, how would I know whether you were lying or not?"

    "Boss! Why would I be of interest to you? Besides, those are confidential secrets. How could you even find out about all this?" Xiong Da queried suspiciously.

    "To be honest with you, at first, I did not think it was possible to link you to the infamous Wa Kao Wei. However, I took an interest in reading the diaries of my military grandfather after he passed away. He used to talk about a cultivator named Wa Kao Wei being notorious in the streets. The Hotshot Hippo cultivator." All the practice of white lying during opening hours had prepared him to create a usible half-truth.

    The truth was that Zeru had told everything to Jin telepathically and what he said was indeed true. Meanwhile, Jin used the cover of his grandfather''s diaries since they were from the same generation and the world was still considered big for them. Xiong Da began to find Jin''s exnation to be slightly usible.

    "So Instructor Zeru, after assessing him, what is your conclusion?" Jin asked.

    "He cannot fight for nuts. He said he learnt stuff from the goblin and zombie fights but when he tried to apply them against me in a fight, it did not transfer over well enough." Zeru''s honest opinion scarred Xiong Da''s weak heart. "Besides, this Hungry Hippo style is not really for fighting. It seems menacing but its bite is nothingpared to the bark it makes."

    "That was the easiest way to shoo my bullies off during school and university without wasting too much time on cultivation. That way I could spend more time on food and studies." Xiong Da exined to them that he applied some modifications to the cultivation style that he had initially obtained from his family.

    "This is troublesome. You not only modified your cultivation, but you have also advanced in that particr cultivation of yours." Zeru started to crack his head open trying to think of a way to help him.

    "Why is that really bad?" Jin asked since he did not have much knowledge of other cultivation styles.

    "A modified cultivation is usually good if someone knows what they are doing, but usually you need years of experience to properly modify a cultivation. Xiong Da modified his cultivation for the sole benefit of early easy cultivation at the start, but he had not realised that it would then not be easy for him to cultivate in the future. Also, if I am not mistaken, like a hungry hippo, this cultivation style needs a lot of spiritual force for it to level up. The only good advantage it has is that if he really does level up, he will be a very strong powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with." Zeru offered his analysis.

    "So what Xiong Da needs is to fight in more dungeons? Since our dungeons can give him some spiritual force if he defeats them." Jin said as they figured out a n to help Xiong Da.

    "Alternatively, I can teach him the ways of the Hotshot Hippo style, but if we did it that way, he would have to unlearn everything and that would need more than one week''s worth of time." Zeru offered.

    "Either way, it will not be easy for Xiong Da. Perhaps we can look into the person that Xiong Da hates?" Jin looked at Xiong Da for any answers.

    "Lan Ji Ao? I have plenty of things on him." Xiong Da grinned widely as he started to list the things verbally.

    "He is a cultivator of the Crazy Crocodile Style and he dual wields Sais as his main weapon. Thest time we fought, he just used his overwhelming strength to defeat me so I was not able to see any tricks I could use to win against him. However, he did duel with other cultivators before and I had my private investigator spy on those battles. He was really dirty when he knew he could not win." Xiong Da exined as he sat in the corner of the ring arena and gave them his information about Ji Ao.

    "He did things like calling extra hands toe in and beat the person up or pretending to be weak and pitiful then pull out a hidden dagger from his sleeve and throw that dagger into his opponent''s throat. He will use everything and anything to defeat the opponent. It''s despicable!" Xiong Da raged on.

    "Well, he is not wrong to use any methods he can to win the fight. It is just that his public image will go down the drain and people woulde to despise him." Zeru said.

    "Unfortunately, I agree with Zeru. This is how some people fight. However, that does not mean you do not have any hope. You still have a week to go." Jin pat on Xiong Da''s shoulder.

    "What can I do? If I am not mistaken he is at the very least a Grade 3 cultivator and he might be training towards Grade 3 Peak too." Xiong Da was worried. He might be powerful with his pen and thew at his back but he was not well versed in his cultivation.

    "We will think up something. Besides, don''t think I didn''t notice that you took the initiative to rest when you should not have. Go give me 50 push ups now." Zerumanded and Xiong Da immediately acknowledged. He looked at Jin and nodded his head.

    "Fine, I guess I have to think up something too." Jin thought but on the outside, he smiled to them in confidence. After which, Zeru trained Xiong Da on a rigorous physical training routine that Jin joined in for the first hour before he left Xiong Da to the mercy of Zeru.

    "Next item on the agenda: the mobile stall and store sign." Jin wiped his sweat off and proceeded to the first floor, only to hear doorbell ringing once more.

 Chapter 116 Coupon Booklet Submission

    <h4>Chapter 116 Coupon Booklet Submission</h4>

    "Good morning Jin." Si Fang, the owner of Lele Cafe, greeted Jin at his doorstep. "Boss Si Fang, what is the matter?"

    "I was opening my store for the morning and coincidentally saw you talking with one of your customers. I became inclined to pay you a visit." Si Fang tried to be polite but Jin knew what he was here for.

    "Ah, the coupon booklet? I was about to give it to you in the afternoon since I did not know what time you are avable. Give me a moment." Jin took the coupon booklet out of his storage watch and passed it to Si Fang.

    "Thanks, Jin! And here I was thinking that you had totally forgotten about it so I was about to remind you." Si Fang received the coupon booklet and started to browse it. He was pleasantly surprised to see that despite it being a prototype, it was all printed neatly in an appealing format. Si Fang had originally thought that he would need to send it to the print stores again.

    "This is amazing! The new cover page of the coupon booklet is so eye catching and shy! Your coupons seem more than reasonable...in fact, the deals practically make it like a freebie. Are you sure you will not end up in debt by the end of this month?"

    "I have my ways to recover my losses. If this month coupon booklet can help the Tiangong shopping district, then it will have served its purpose well." Jin replied.

    "This is better than anything we have ever made! I will show it to the rest of themittee members but in my opinion, I feel that your version will get the approval quite quickly. Initially, I was expecting snippets or draft coupons and we would have to discuss how to format and design the booklet. I guess I worried for nothing." Si Fang gave a thumbs up and continued to praise Jin.

    "It is nothing much, I just happened to know someone who is capable of making beautiful designs. However, I do not think I will be able to participate in other monthly coupon booklets. In fact, this will most likely be my first andst time." Jin broke the news to Si Fang early.

    "Why? Are you moving out or something?" Si Fang assumed the worst since he knew this shopping district was not exactly the best ce to attract customers despite it being near to a business district as well as the Huawee Tech campuses.

    "No, I anticipate I will be busy with certain matters that require my personal attention in the futureбн" Jin portrayed it vaguely but Si Fang got the idea. Besides, Jin was not exactly a part of the Tiangong shopping district in the first ce, so he was not obligated to be a part of the coupon booklet.

    Si Fang wanted Jin''s store in the booklet because he saw potential Jin could bring. Perhaps Si Fang thought that if he could help Jin scratch his back, Jin would likewise do the same for him in the future.

    "I understand, but if you wish to join in the future, just tell us. I should be able to pull some strings." Si Fang thanked Jin and told him that he would visit again to announce the results of the approval process.

    -----------

    After tens of minutes of taking stock of the ingredients required for her ck Pepper Pork Bun recipe, Zhen Qingid all the ingredients she needed on a wide kitchen counter. She was already shocked by the quality of meat the moment she took the pork belly out of the freezer. Zhen Qing did not even need to taste it. Just from the rich colour of the pork meat, the odour and the meat texture, she was easily able to tell that what Jin procured for her was no ordinary pork belly meat.

    She tried asking the kitchen AI and to her surprise, the AI answered that the bs of pork belly meat came from the British Berkshire Pig, which was prized for their juiciness, vour and tenderness. The pork''s high fat content made it ideal for high temperature cooking. Even with her limited and out-dated cooking knowledge, she knew that this pig was considered rare and hard to breed.

    Even if the Kitchen AI made a mistake, the physical properties of the b of pork belly made her feel embarrassed she was using such an expensive meat for her simplistic bun. No wonder Jin said that he wanted her to increase the price of the ck pepper pork bun.

    However, the quality of the ingredient was one thing, but the skills of the cook mattered too. If Zhen Qing was not able to bring out the intrinsic vour of the British Berkshire Pig, it would be a failure and a waste of such expensive pork. It had been a long time since Zhen Qing encountered a cooking obstacle rather than a more physical one, such as running from the inspectors or meeting rowdy gangsters.

    Subsequently, Zhen Qing found that the pork belly meat was not the only exquisite item in the pantry. The rice wine was fermented for many years, the oyster sauce was organically made without any added MSG. Even the sea salt that she requested was taken from at least a few hundred metres deep in the sea. The more she heard from the Kitchen AI, the more amazed and confused she became.

    Why did Jin wants to hire her when his ingredients were top notched? Even a normal hotel chef would have better qualifications and experience than her when it came to handling this kind of food. Or was it that Jin managed to find out that Zhen Qing was once qualified to be a chef champion for an international cooking contest until scandals hit her hard? She suddenly shook her head vigorously.

    "Impossible, I have dyed my hair regrly and changed my identity. He would never have been able to find out about that." Zhen Qing tossed that thought away.

    "I will give it a try first and see if the current recipe works on the new ingredients." Zhen Qing did not have any confidence at the moment when it came to preparing arge number of ingredients the way she had always did. She decided to try a batch of ck pepper pork buns to see if the richness of taste shed with her original recipe.

    ----------

    "Why are you moving so slowly? Faster!" Zeru knocked Xiong Da''s thigh as he saw Xiong Da did not squat low enough when he was doing a series of jumping squats. In less than 40 minutes, Zeru had already made Xiong Da perform 5 sets of 50 push ups, an 8 second 100 metre sprint, 50 sit ups and 50 squats.

    "This is too toughбн" Xiong Dained but every time he did that, he noticed that an onigiri was taken away from the tray that Jin had ced in front of Zeru and him as refreshments.

    "That will be one less onigiri for you." Zeru smiled as he feasted on the rice onigiri, making Xiong Da cry as he continued to do his squats.

    "Aren''t you an AI instructor? How do you even eat the onigiri?" Xiong Dained once more.

    "Maybe I am AI. Maybe I am real. Who knows, and honestly, who cares? What really matters is that youplete your training." Zeruughed loudly as he enjoyed the scrumptious onigiri.

    "Why am I doing such simple training? Don''t you have more exciting ones?" Xiong Da tried to change the subject.

    "Sure, How about 60 squats instead of 50? Will that be exciting enough for you?" Zeru folded his arms and mentally counted the number of times Xiong Da had squat. "In any case, this exercise routine touches on many major movement patterns and it''s more natural than many other methods I have. Also, I do not know how much your overlyrge body can handle, so this will incur less injury in the long run." Zeru started to exin.

    "What is most important is that you are working on your strength and cardio so that you will be able tost longer in a fight. Since you say Ji Ao fights dirty and uses a pair of Sais, I am assuming he is leaning more towards agility than strength. Even the Crazy Crocodile style is based on agility. You might have the power from Hungry Hippo, but if you do not have the stamina to withstand his speedy attacks, you will fail too." Zeru gave a proper exnation about why he chose to do this particr exercise routine for Xiong Da.

    "Now that you know the reason, give me 5 more sets before I let you eat whatever onigiri remains." Zeru knocked on Xiong Da''s thigh once more and all Xiong Da could do was to bear with the pain.

 Chapter 117 Modified Black Pepper Pork Buns

    <h4>Chapter 117 Modified ck Pepper Pork Buns</h4>

    To Zhen Qing''s amazement, the first batch of ck pepper pork buns was ready to be sampled not long after she used the kitchen''s oven instead of the usual y oven she had.

    "This particr kitchen dimensional space instance is used to quicken the pace of a chef cultivator. I believe Boss Jin had said that the instance reduced the effects of time dtion in order not to damage your body since you have not cultivated. However, the kitchen instance has also utilised the cultivation magic of timepression and this can be seen in almost all the kitchen appliances." the Kitchen Ai spoke nonchntly about it.

    "Is that why my ck pepper pork buns are ready in 10 minutes?" Zhen Qing took the buns out and the aroma they emitted was already extremely different from the usual ck pepper buns.

    "Of course, the timepression can also be further increased but that might have some negative effects and may lead to certain unknown side effects, which areplicated for an amateur to deal with, hence we went for the fastest safe alternative of timepression for the kitchen appliances to save time." The kitchen AI spoke.

    "Whatever you did, it sure is a time saver." Being amoner, Zhen Qing did not know that being cultivation brought so much convenience. If she had known, she would have taken some time to cultivate when she was youngбн the only problem was that she did not have the time in the first ce.

    All she could remember doing was working in various part time jobs so that she could attend her dream school. She slogged through sleepless nights to try to attain the cooking school''s schrship so that she did not have to rely on her useless father.

    "Focus!" Zhen Qing awoke from her thoughts as she blew the newly made bun in an effort to cool it down quicker for her to eat.

    One bite.

    That was all it took to make her feel like she was in a food paradise. The British Berkshire pork belly blended perfectly with the other simple yet exquisite ingredients, which in turn enriched the vour of the bun to another level of greatness.

    However, it was not the richness that concerned her when she ate it, as she realised she could taste theck of confidence she had on herself when the end product.

    Zhen Qing then remembered her mentor''s teaching. "The recipe has no soul. You as the cook must not only bring the technical skills into the dish, but also the soul of the food needs to be crafted through your hands and feelings."

    Zhen Qing looked at the time. Roughly an hour had passed and she figured it would take another half an hour or so for experimenting. At most, another hour. Hence, she would still have at least another four hours to prepare the rest of the ingredients.

    This time round, she thought of modifying the recipe a little by adding a few herbs so that the richness of the pork belly did not overpower the rest of the ingredients. She tried her luck by asking the kitchen AI for a few bundles of sage and rosemary and the Kitchen was indeed stocked with it.

    When Zhen Qing found the bundle of herbs, the fresh smell it exuded made her envy how well stocked this kitchen was. She quickly took a few bundles and tried to rece the spring onions with some sage and a hint of rosemary. Of course, she decided to make a variation of them, since she had forgotten much of her out-dated cooking knowledge.

    "I guess this is really a good chance to go back and hit the cooking books once in a while." Zhen Qing asked herself whether this was really a good chance to go back to being a chef. Of course, she might do it with her new identity instead of her old one.

    In less than half an hour, the experimental pork buns were ready and Zhen Qing tried asking whether the kitchen had a y oven, simr to a tandoori oven so that it could improve the baking process too.

    "Yes, the kitchen is equipped with a modern tandoori oven that has a timepression module attached to it. However, we will rmend you to personally supervise the process because it does not have a timer like the modern oven," The Kitchen AI replied to Zhen Qing concerning her queries.

    "However, the kitchen will observe how and when you pick those baked buns out. Through repeated motions, the kitchen believes it will be able to serve you better by telling you when it''s about time to take them out."

    "You are able to do that? Wow! That is astonishing!" Zhen Qing was once again dazzled by the learning capability of the Kitchen AI. Jin was actually hiding something this amazing from the world. Was he some sort of cultivation technology whiz or was she just this unknowledgeable of the real world?

    Zhen Qing prepared the tandoori oven with charcoal provided by the kitchen and she realised that even the stick-like white charcoal was not normal. "Is this Binchotan?" Zhen Qing was able to recognise the unique charcoal shape and the Kitchen AI acknowledged. "Yes, it is Binchotan, which is also known as white charcoal, a type of high quality charcoal from ubame oak that originates from the Wakayama Prefecture in Japan."

    "I remember that this kind of charcoal burns longer and hotter despite using no chemical or toxic products associated with it so there aren''t any unpleasant odours to itбнNot to mention the price tag to it isбнOh my gosh, I am afraid of failing Boss Jin now." Zhen Qing smiled bitterly.

    As the modern tandoori oven heated up, the kitchen''s venttion was able to push out most of the smoke. "I really wish I had this kind of venttion as wellбн" Zhen Qing spoke to herself as she saw that the oven was more or less ready in a minute. She skilfully ced the buns into the oven and within a minute, she already saw changes taking ce inside the oven.

    Zhen Qing had been making ck pepper pork buns for months so she knew what was the right colour the bun needed to be for it to be the perfect time to take it out of the timepressed tandoori oven. Even the slightest change of smell in the baking process would prompt her to take action. In short, this timepressed tandoori oven was a test on her ability of observation but she performed splendidly. All the experimental buns were baked to perfection. The look of the tandoori oven baked buns already gave Zhen Qing the impression that it had far surpassed the buns that were left in the modern oven since she had more control over the baking process.

    Now for the tasting process! She cleaned her pte with some lemon water before trying each and every one of the buns. Since the first bite into the bun, she realised that the crispy crust and the mix of herbs, along with the British Berkshire pork belly, was simply out of this world. Each bun had its own unique taste, which was satisfying too, but eventually, she decided to go with a mix of sage and spring onions as the vegetable stuffing with the pork.

    "Oh, this is sooo good." Zhen Qing closed her eyes and enjoyed that moment of bliss. It had been a long time since she had challenged herself that much in cooking and she began to relish in the joy of cooking once again. Not only that, she finally got back the ''soul'' of the food, which her teacher constantly drilled her about.

    "Now to prepare the batches of buns for the entire day!" Zhen Qing was all fired up. She rolled up her sleeves and started to prepare a simr amount of unbaked buns based on yesterday''s sales.

 Chapter 118 Store Sign

    <h4>Chapter 118 Store Sign</h4>

    It was two hours before the store opened at 12 pm and Jin had a lot of things he wanted to do. He had the store aesthetics to decide, the mobile stall to build, Xiong Da''s training n to create and the trip to Shenzhen Provincial Zoo to take a photo with the Panda Baby.

    "I shall deal with the store sign first and after that will be the construction of the mobile stall." Jin thought to himself as he stepped into the Dungeon Maker Instance again.

    Jin had initially thought about his store name when he was younger. He wanted the name to be something impactful and perhaps cringy like Monsterevolt but since the system made him adopt the panda theme, he decided to work around that theme instead.

    "The app is called Pandamonium, maybe I should follow that naming sense?" Jin thought to himself and tried a variation of names.

    "Pandmonia, Pandatorium, Pandamonsters, Pandamonium za, Pandastic Dungeons...Or maybe Pungeons. Urgh, thest one was horrible." Jin thought to himself and felt that Pandamonium was sufficient.

    "Actuallyбн no. I feel like I ask the shop customers to decide, but at the same time, if I let the customers choose it, it does not feel as if the shop belongs to me. Maybe I should give more thought to thisбн"Jin felt a little pressured since he was spending more time on the store sign than intended, and he felt he should work on the mobile stall design sooner rather thanter.

    So Jin decided to allocate probably another 10 more minutes to thinking about the shop name as he browsed the web for news or images on his phone.

    "ooh, the game Dungeons and Dragoons is releasing another expansion at year''s end." Dungeons and Dragoons was one of the most anticipated game franchises that many people followed intensely due to its revolutionary gamey style. Jin loved the game franchise a lot when he was a student.

    "Wait...Dungeons?" Jin suddenly had a sudden inspiration and tried writing the store name down. Pandas and Dragoons?...No...Dungeons and Pandasбн!

    "Sounds simple, cringy and eye catching enough." Jinughed to himself. Even though Jin wished to use Pandamonium, he felt that he should try to be innovative rather than just using the name the system provided.

    Perhaps there was still some mistrust between the system and him. Maybe this was Jin''s naive way of rebelling against the system after what it made him go through.

    But whatever it was, Jin would continue to utilise the system for his own benefit as much as the system utilised him for its own purposes.

    Jin opened the Dungeon Maker interface and started to create arge sign. He purposely used Moso Bamboo as the integral material since it was a high quality bamboo that was not only strong and durable, but paid patronage to the panda theme of the shop. He happened to chance upon it when he was searching on Qiandu. Though Jin was only going by rmendations from the search engine, he did ask Yun, who happened to appear in front of him, for her and the system''s opinion. All she did was approve of the rmendation, saying that it was indeed one of the superior choices she would potentially use.

    Although Jin did not have the expertise, skill, or patience needed to write Chinese calligraphy, anything was possible with the power of Dungeon Maker...as long as Jin could pay the price quoted by the Maker.

    Upon request by Jin, the Dungeon Maker immediately provided tens of calligraphy examples with the words Dungeons and Pandas on it, all of which were fantastic. However, he felt like something was missing.

    "It is because this is made by the system via your request and uses the least amount of money. Hence, there is no chi energy and no spiritual force on your signboard. Compared to the work it has done on the third floor, this is like a child scribbles on a piece of paper instead of a beautifully written signage." Yunmented as she noticed that Jin was quite upset with the choice he made.

    "So you are saying I have to pay more for the sign if I want the system to imbue spiritual energy into the signage?" Jin rified with Yun and she nodded as a reply.

    "Alternatively, you could do the calligraphy yourself and imbue the spiritual force into it free of charge. However, no matter what you do, I will say that it is important to have high energy chi emanating out of your signage. That way, in the future when you serve higher grade customers, they will respect you." Yun exined the reason for having a good signage board.

    "Why don''t I just update my sign regrly?" Jin casually asked. He thought that all he needed to do was upgrade the sign every time he went up in grade.

    "You can do that too, but what if a random high grade cultivator enters your store and they notice that the signage is devoid of chi energy?" Yunmented.

    "Wait wait, what do you mean by emanating chi energy? Do you mean my signage needs to give off chi energy?" Jin was a little confused by Yun''s exnation.

    "You do know that in grandmaster-level paintings, all you need to do is input a little bit of chi energy for you to feel the deep impressions of the painters and the visualisation of the paintinging to life. This is the same for your signage. While I might have phrased it a little incorrectly previously, my point still stands on how your signage would needs to impress your new customers when they insert some chi energy into it. This is in order to see if your dungeon store is something worthy enough for them to enter, so take it as first impressions do matter." Yun tried her best to exin something new to Jin.

    "That was also the reason why I did not immediately ask you for the store''s name. Although you did not ask for it either..." Yun seemed a little annoyed when she finished her sentence.

    "But since we are at it, the system has ced a new mission for you that rtes to your signboard." Yun signalled Jin to check and Jin obliged as he took his phone out to view the new mission. If what Yun said was true, the mission should be difficult since getting a high-end signage would be extremely expensive.

    "Complete a Dungeon Takeover? That''s it? Sounds too good to be true." Jin became very suspicious when he saw the reward was in fact a Grade 19 calligraphed Signage which Jin could choose at will.

    "Take it as an apology from the system for what it made you go through. The system and I were doing that for your sake even though you could say that it was quite heavy handed." Yun subtly tried to apologise to Jin.

    "I would still choose a fairly difficult yet still suitable dungeon even if you gave me the choice since I do not have the time to constantly go on takeovers if I have to handle the shop while still trying to gather as much resources as possible." Jin was equally clumsy in his reply as he tried to ept the system''s apology.

    "Then that settles for the signage, now let''s move onto the mobile stall design." Jin saved all the things he had searched for and began work on the mobile stall, beginning from a brand new temte in the dungeon maker.

 Chapter 119 The Caravan Store

    <h4>Chapter 119 The Caravan Store</h4>

    Zhen Qing finally finished preparing the required amount of pork buns for the day. She had prepared a little more than yesterday just in case the same thing happened and she sold out all her usual stock again.

    However, she did spend a total of 6 hours in the Kitchen instance and the moment she came out of it, all she feel was a wave of great fatigue hitting her hard.

    Then she saw Jin passing her a cup of coffee. "Do you drink coffee?" Jin asked and all she could do was nod her head.

    The ck ivory coffee was extremely enticing and Zhen Qing did not hesitate to take a sip out of it. Even from just the first sip, she felt an elephant trumpeting its nose within her and she instantly discovered that a sort of energy was coursing through her body, revitalising her.

    Within seconds of the next sip, the surge of energy stabilised and radiated out from her body.

    Zhen Qing''splexion was totally different from before.

    "What kind of coffee drink is this? I felt so much energy bursting into me!" Zhen Qing felt that if she drank the whole cup of ck ivory coffee, she might be able tost the whole day of work.

    "It''s a high grade coffee that has some spiritual force within itбн." At this point in time, Jin finally found the inspiration regarding how to help Xiong Da. However, Jin ced it at the back of his mind for the moment and concentrated back on Zhen Qing for now.

    "So, I think that because your dantian chi point had not been cultivated, you are rather sensitiveбн uhhhбн that''s not a good way to put itбн Ah! Got it! You are more receptive to any spiritual force you received." Jin exined the reason why she suddenly felt that surge of energy pulsing through her body. However, Jin told her that if she had cultivated, she would experience even less fatigue. All Zhen Qing could do was to nod her head.

    Regardless, Zhen Qing informed Jin that she had already created a modified ck pepper bun and was ready to start work. While she was eager to see the expression on Jin''s face when she told him about it, Zhen Qing was rather sad that she was not able to bring the modern Tandoori oven out from the kitchen instance.

    "Come with me." Jin beckoned her to follow him the moment he heard the exciting news of the modified ck pepper pork buns. He kept track of the developments of Zhen Qing''s cooking through the system logs when he was in the dungeon maker making the new Mobile stall, but he felt even more excited hearing it from Zhen Qing instead.

    Zhen Qing followed Jin outside to the park. Lo and behold, a brand new street stall on wheels was installed right next to the small park.

    It was not a simple looking street stall, and instead it looked like a mini caravan that had a traditional storehouse theme simr to Jin''s shop. The caravan blended really well with the surrounding garden. It even had arge panda figure lying on top of the caravan''s ''roof'' like the sleeping Buddha but with food surrounding it.

    Even the chairs and tables were rearranged by Jin to make the small garden park appear like a separate stall itself.

    "This is amazing! How did you even bring this here on such a short notice?" Zhen Qing could not believe her eyes when she saw the new mini shop caravan. When she heard that Jin was making a mobile street stall, she assumed it would just be an improvement to her simple, run down, mobile stall. She did not expect it to be this fanciful.

    "Trade Secretбн.oh alright. I have been nning this for some time and all I needed was the right person to start the whole thing." Jin lied through his teeth. He had been preparing this speech in his mind for quite some time so that every word could be said with confidence.

    "Then Boss Jin, I could not possibly keep the profits then, the ingredients are fantastic...the caravan looks beautiful...I really cannot do this for free. Please, take some of themission back." Zhen Qing really felt guilty that she would be taking all the money she earn all to herself.

    "Then, in that case, you are officially hired...that is if you wish to work here full-time. It was a sort of test to see whether or not you had the kind of attitude I look for in an employee." Jin smiled widely but in his mind, he was actually happy to get some of the profits even though he was still willing to give two weeks worth of profit to her. The reason was him being biased to Zhen Qing. However, the amount of dungeon dors he spent on that caravan was hefty. It would be beneficial if he received some money from whatever sources he could find.

    The cost for the stand was close to the budget of 500 dungeon dors, which was supposed to be used for the signage and the mobile stall. However, since the system was going to give the signage as a reward, he figured he could splurge a little more on the caravan.

    What was more important about the caravan was not its looks, but its features. Zhen Qing immediately saw the the modern tandoori oven in the caravan.

    "My supplier..for these kinds of appliances had managed to integrate the timepression features into the kitchen appliances here as well."Jin was thinking about how to lie to Zhen Qing while making it believable for her.

    He realised that not allowing the people he knew know about the system was getting harder and harder. However, he needed help to get better food so it was worth a try lying to Zhen Qing and hoping that he might have a chance to properly exin the system to her in the future.

    "However! This is a prototype! The interior of the caravan simtes the workings of a dimensional space. Therefore, what you see in here is really a trade secret. Do not leak this out to other people!" Jin warned Zhen Qing and she furiously nodded her head

    "As this is a prototype, the timepression is slightly slowerpared to the one you experienced in the Kitchen instance in order to not create any possible side effects to the real world." Jin noted the kitchen appliances to her.

    "This way, you can actually ess the kitchen instance storage from here." Jin opened a cab under the counter in the caravan, and it showed the prepared ingredients that Zhen Qing had created in the kitchen instance.

    "This is just so fabulous!" Zhen Qing started to look around the whole caravan and saw the potential that was in it. She was really considering being under Jin''s employment indefinitely when she saw at the potential this small caravan could bring.

    "One additional feature this prototype has is the Kitchen AI that you are already familiar with. It will assist you whenever need be," Jin passed her a wireless earpiece and when she wore it, the kitchen AI was able tomunicate with her.

    "The earpiece should be able tost the entire day before it needs to be put into a charger pod." Jin pointed Zhen Qing to where the charger pod was kept in the caravan and she mentally made a note about it. However, it was actually a facade and the earpiece did not even need any charging to begin with. It was just to make it usible for Zhen Qing.

    "Is there any contracts I have to sign to be under your employment or is it a fixed part time rate?" Zhen Qing questioned Jin when she was looking through how equipped the caravan was. The fantastic equipment, the high quality food and the ability to do almost whatever she wanted was a dream for any chef...or an ex-chef.

    "We can properly discuss the terms and conditions either at the end of the day or the end of two weeks as we previously agreed upon. I apologise that such a test was given to you to test your personality." Jin bowed his head a little to apologise.

    "If we do the two week trial, I will take at least 45% of the profits for myself and we canter negotiate from there. Alternatively, you can discuss about it in the evening." Jin exined to her.

    "Let''s take the two weeks trial...but if I wish to change my mind and decide to discuss earlier?" Zhen Qing tried her luck and wanted to pretend she was a little hard to get.

    "We will see about that." Jin learnt enough in life to notice when a girl was trying to be difficult. He wanted to acknowledge and agree to Zhen Qing''s request but he decided not to. He knew that if he backed down now, he would not be able to maintain his image as a boss with his own ideals.

    That would make Zhen Qing hold the upper hand if she tried to negotiate the contract. If Jin had unlimited funds, he would just do as he pleased, but right now, every Yuan mattered.

    Zhen Qing realised she might have pushed too hard on a golden opportunity to be back on the tracks of being a chef again. Hence, she agreed and started to prepare her things in the caravan.

    It was then, Jin also ced arge sign right beside the caravan. "Rules to follow, or you will be cklisted from buying a dungeon or food."

    He realised on the previous day that there were still a number of people behaving fairly unhygienic and he was confident that being banned from buying the food and dungeons would definitely deter them from spoiling the garden. This was all despite him knowing that the system took care of the cleanliness of the garden anyway.

    However, if he could set some rules, Jin felt that maybe...just maybe... he might be able to change the mindset of the people in the long run.

    The rules were simple. Finish your food. No Spitting in the garden. Throw your waste away. ce your dirty tray in the allocated area of the caravan stall. Throw your waste into the trash bin.

    Currently, what Zhen Qing sold was only the ck pepper buns, so there were no trays to be used. However, Jin wished to expand the idea and perhaps it into a service restaurant instance that served not just a select amount of food, but a list of dishes.

    In order to do that, he wished for Zhen Qing to get used to his ''prototypes'' and instances. Furthermore, he wished to get her a suitable cultivation technique so that she might work more efficiently in the service instances. He was equally worried though, that she might get poached in the future or would not wish to work for him.

    "One thing at a time." Jin thought to himself as he saw Zhen Qing humming away preparing the kitchen in the caravan.

    "Yes...one thing at a time." he stared at her with an intense tugging sensation in his heart before he proceeded to open his store for business.

 Chapter 120 Panda Packaging

    <h4>Chapter 120 Panda Packaging</h4>

    "Eh Yue Han, want to go Boss Jin''s store for lunch? I still have some Panda Credits to spend and I also have to check out the underground stores. Perhaps I should y in a dungeon too. Want to follow?" Bu Dong asked Yue Han right after school.

    "Sure! Why not? I am starving and I have to save some money for the new uing Dungeons and Dragoons expansion." Yue Han agreed to Bu Dong.

    "Dude, that expansion will not even be here until the end of the year. You probably have sufficient money to y a dungeon too." Bu Dong felt that Yue Han did not want to go y in Boss Jin''s dungeons after the zombie horror Yue Han had previously experienced.

    ''I will consider, and if not, I can always just observe your ythrough by the bar counters." Yue Han reluctantly agreed even though he did not like the experience he had with the zombie dungeon instance. That was because if he did not improve constantly, he might eventually end up pulling Bu Dong down in the future. Or if you looked at it the other way, Bu Dong might advance his cultivation so fast that Yue Han would not be able to catch up with him.

    "Hmm, whatever suits you." Bu Dong did not worry too much about it. He knew that if he yed alone, the difficulty in Jin''s dungeon would be modified a little.

    Both Bu Ding and Yue Han took their time to travel to Jin''s ce, thinking that once they reached Boss Jin''s area, the lunch crowd would have already dispersed.

    They were wrong.

    In fact, they were surprised once again by Jin''s new addition to his store. "I swear that Boss Jin has more tricks under his sleeves than a performing magician." Yue Han casually said.

    Both of them saw a brand new caravan parked just beside the garden with lots of people buying something that smelled oh so delicious. They too were able to smell it and they were half expecting the aroma to being from Jin''s store. However, what they did not expect was that Jin had created a mini food store right outside his dungeon store

    They also found that the entire garden park had been rearranged, making it easier for people to wait for their turn while having their snack time.

    "Hey, Bu Dong, let''s try that first." Yue Han went ahead of Bu Dong in order to buy the buns.

    "Panda Credits or real cash?" Zheng Qing asked politely when it was Bu Dong''s and Yue Han''s turn to order their buns.

    "Panda Credits." Bu Dong ced his phone near a QR code at the cash counter and the panda Credits were immediately deducted. At that point in time, the two high school students could not bear the incredible smell from the surrounding people that had already begun to savour their snack.

    It was then that Zheng Qing turned to focus on the cooking of the buns. Even with the help of the advanced kitchen appliances, Zhen Qing had to focus properly to get the buns as they were being baked at incredible speeds.

    The customers did not care about the process as much as the chef. All they cared about was if the ck pepper buns could be served immediately.

    With a slight burn mark and a slight change of smell, Zhen Qing was able to discern that the buns were ready to be taken out. Her nimble hands brought the buns out of the modern tandoori oven and onto the kitchen counter.

    Zhen Qing then proceeds to package the buns nicely. Previously, all she used was a basic brown paper bag to let the customers have something to hold the hot bun. However, with the caravan''s resources, Zhen Qing now inserted the new baked ck pepper pork buns into a brand new kind of packaging.

    A customised panda looking packaging.

    There was a pair of panda ears poking out of the high quality paper packaging and the design for the overall package gave one a feeling of a pandazily looking at you.

    When Zhen Qing inserted the buns into the panda packaging, which inted it, the look of thezy panda became more prominent, making it seem like a fat andzy panda.

    She then passed the buns to both Bu Dong and Yue Han and some serviettes along with it. "Careful, it''s still hot." Zhen Qing smiled so graciously at them that even the high School kids became smitten due to her.

    With the new kitchen appliances and the caravan''s modern venttion, Zhen Qing finally did not need to wear a mask to cover her mouth. Although she still continued that habit of putting on a mask when she was preparing her ingredients since hygiene was an important aspect to her.

    The two boys held onto their panda buns with caution and blew some of the steam, hoping it would cool faster. However, Yue Han was not able to wait any longer so he quickly took a bite.

    The look on his face was priceless.

    "So juicy! So hmmmm!" Yue Han could not stop chewing on the ck pepper pork bun. The dough was baked to the perfect point that gave it a slight crisp. Not too hard, not too soft. The sesame seeds provided the bun with a very slight crunchy taste thatplimented the bun really well.

    The meat stuffing could be described using the word heavenly. Yue Han could not believe that such a heavenly tasting meat existed. He would not be surprised if this meat was from some high grade animals or maybe even monsters.

    Yue Han did not care that much though since the meat was already melting in his mouth. Bu Dong had the exact same reaction as Yue Han and they finally realised everyone besides them was also appreciating the new food item.

    "Is this your speciality, Lady Boss?" Bu Dong could not help but ask.

    "Lady Boss? I would not dare!" Zhen Qing thought to herself thinking how ridiculous that would be. Jin was her sole benefactor, maybe even miracle maker right now. How could she dare to be so close towards her benefactor?

    "Nono, I am just an employee. But yes, this is my speciality." Zhen Qing''s voice was a beautiful melody to the customers. If she was not in a rtionship with Jin then perhaps the guys present might have a chance.

    "Is all the other food in the store made by you too?" Yue Han asked but Zhen Qing gave him a curious look before she realised what he was saying.

    "Eh, I think Boss Jin has a separate supply from me." Zhen Qing answered honestly and vaguely since she did not know.

    "Well, this bun tasted really good, I can bet you that Jin hired you to rece his other supplier." Yue Han deduced this but all Zhen Qing did was smile before continuing to serve another customer who came by.

    Once they were done, the two high school students went ahead into Jin''s store. "Ah, Bu Dong and Yue Han, wee back." Jin smiled at them and they greeted Jin warmly in return.

    "Boss, are there any new dungeons?" Bu Dong asked.

    "You have not been here a while so almost all of the dungeons will be new for you. The goblin and Zither Mistress dungeons have been revamped to suit the new scenario dungeons. They have be simr to the zombie instance dungeon. However, I have also kept the old battle style for those who just want to fight monsters and not worry about the plot. This is also the case for the zombie and bank heist instances." Jin exined to his regr customers the services he now sold.

    While Jin was previously fiddling around with the caravan design in the dungeon maker, he was also thinking about how he could squeeze ..no maximise the potential of each dungeon.

    Hence, Jin added back the previous battle system...with a slight twist. He dubbed the new mode Arena Battles. This meant it was simr to that 2D street fighting games but unlike those games, the cultivators were allowed to choose what monsters they wanted to fight against.

    The battle could be based on the themes dungeons, like choosing a goblin arena battle or a Zither mistress arena battle. The cultivators could also choose to battle individual monsters if they likedбн but there was a catch. The cultivators could purchase the training arena battle ticket and choose specific opponents from various dungeons to fight against if they had fought with them before. The key phrase there was ''if they had fought them before.

    Most of the monsters were locked apart from basic ones in the dungeon-themed battles. If the cultivators wanted to unlock the monsters, they needed to purchase a random battle arena battle ticket to test their skills and pit them against monsters they have never fought before. After fighting the new monsters, despite the result, the cultivator would be able to choose that monster to fight in the arena.

    In order to not let arena battles gain too much poprity and overtake the scenario dungeons Jin had put a lot of time and resources into, the themed arena battles were priced only 40 yuan cheaper than the same current theme dungeons instances.

    "Specific training arena battles are dependent on the number of monsters you choose to fight. The more you choose, the more expensive it will be, but on the other hand, if you choose enough monsters, you can receive a slight discount too." Jin said to the customers as they were previewing their options even further.

    Bu Dong felt quite energised by the ck pepper buns and so was looking at the menu intensely. "I''m in the mood for...." He gave a grin that Yue Han felt it was trouble.

 Chapter 121 Random Arena Battle

    <h4>Chapter 121 Random Arena Battle</h4>

    "Random Arena Battle? Are you sure?" Yue Han was a little nervous when Bu Dong said that. "Ah, don''t you worry Yue Han. I''ll pay for you this time round too." Bu Dong pats his good friend on the back.

    Bu Dong knew Yue Han did not like to experience the unknown as much as he did but Yue Han had always been a very good friend to him. No matter thick or thin, Yue Han would go through with Bu Dong''s bravado. Seeing how Yue Han tried his best all the time for Bu Dong, Bu Dong concluded that the money he spent was nothingpared to the steadfast friendship and support he received.

    Hearing that Bu Dong would pay for the random arena battle ticket, Yue Han agreed with a small sigh.

    The moment they bought the tickets, a notification appeared on their pandamonium app. Jin had now added a notification feature for all the dungeons he created.

    Jin did this is to help facilitate his work or else every single new customer would ask him for an exnation. While he was happy to help out and exin the workings of the dungeons to every single customer that came in, he was after all the only one person manning the store.

    Exining to someone would upy his time, which could otherwise be used to serve other customers that were waiting for their turn.

    The queue could get long at times and the turnover of dungeons was already being better managed due to the new team merging ability by the system. Hence, one of the few things that were impeding the whole waiting process was he himself.

    In the short notification, there was a short thank you for purchasing the dungeon, a synopsis, the special rules (if any), as well as the potential rewards they could receive from each dungeon.

    He remembered a customer saying that it would be ridiculous to try a dungeon and hope to get a reward by carving into every single monster, holding the wishful thoughts that you might potentially find something in a monster.

    Hence, he decided to ce a reward chest at the end of every dungeon, which now included a number of physical panda medals they would certainly earn as well as a possible item reward, which the system would determine randomly.

    The real panda medal coins were a dilemma for Jin at first but he figured everyone had sufficient storage ring space to spare since it upied the currency section of the storage ring, which was literally limitless. However, that was not the main point. At this age of information and technology, the cashless transactions made money feel like it was merely a bit. A series of ones and zeros.

    That was why he felt that he wanted to make the cultivators feel as if they really earned something rewarding from the dungeons. The weight of the coins would give the customers a sense of satisfaction that outweighed the practicality of it.

    Of course, the panda medal coins could be changed into digital ones if the customers wished for it. All the service instances, including the underground stores, would allow both physical medal coins and digital wallets.

    Both Yue Han and Bu Dong read the information regarding the random arena battle and started to read on about the details.

    The rules were simple. A cultivator would fight three stages of monsters. In each stage, the monster could differ from a badass boss monster to a measly minion. At the end of the stage, a bottle of low chi regeneration and low health recovery potion would be given to each cultivator. Whenever the cultivator passed a stage, they would win a set amount of panda medal coins. Even if they lost, they would still be able to keep the set of panda medal coins.

    "This is not too bad." Yue Hanmented as he read through the notification. "Dumb dumb, it''s basically the same as every dungeon. It is just that they give a set of potions after each fight." Bu Dong shook his head at Yue Han.

    "If only they gave such a potion for each ''stage'' of the themed fights. That would be most wonderful." Yue Han sighed but Jin exined his reasoning.

    "I made some slight adjustments to every dungeon so that you will now be able to find a set of basic potions for each individual at the start of every dungeon. I doubt that it will help you a lot if you do not have the skill, but if you use it wisely and in a timely manner, it would be a different story." Jin interjected his opinion into their conversation.

    "Let''s not waste any more time, get this arena battle done fast, and then go eat a good meal." Bu Dongughed heartily and went to ce his phone against the Station 3 interactive tablet to start the dungeon dimensional space.

    Yue Han quickly followed Bu Dong, but not before he inserted his items into the storage panda miniature beside the TV at station 3.

    When Yue Han arrived, he saw Bu Dong standing at the centre of a stadiumбн? That was what he thought at first. But then it suddenly clicked and he instinctively knew that it was the Roman Coliseum back when it was in its full glory.

    However, the whole coliseum was silent and there was not a single soul in sight. Its emptinessbined with the scorching hot sun made the two kids feel a little ufortable. It felt like they were not fighting for any honour but instead were fighting for their own survival.

    Bu Dong took out his weapon the moment he heard a clunking sound that he deduced was due to metal moving. Yue Han, with the Blind Bat style, concluded that there was only a single monster walking out from the metal gates ahead of them.

    "Looks like I have some delicious boys to devour," Meomi licked her mouth as she cracked her whip against the floor. She finally had some proper closebat action to vent out the frustration she felt ever since her experience against the gunning giraffe girl.

    There were rumours being spread around in the Pandamonium forum chat that two cats were acting as sniper supports for most bank heist scenarios but not many were able to find the cat snipers.

    While it was ''programmed'' or ordered by Jin for the cats to act as snipers, the cat snipers Meomi and Nyami were constantly switching their sniper nests and not many cultivators yed enough to find all the possible sniper nests that the cat snipers could possibly be located.

    However, Mr Know It All seemed to be coting the information he found about the dungeons and was posting on the forums quite regrly. In fact, most users upvoted a number of his guides to the point where the system pinned his dungeon guides for other cultivators to reference.

    Mr Know It All slowly and surely became a minor celebrity in Jin''s store though no one actually knew his real name. In addition, no one even saw him personally went into a dungeon either. He was simply lurking in Jin''s store. Recently though, he was hanging around the Panda Caravan more since he was allowed to eat food with real cash and not Panda Credits.

    "I have no clue what we are fighting against. Be on your guard." Bu Dong took the front guard while Yue Han was at his rear.

    Meomi finally felt her blood rushing. This time it was not some silly hide and seek. It looked like it was going to be a straightforward battle. She caressed her whip as she inserted some spirit force, causing the whip to suddenly split in two.

    The whip''s material also hardened and slowly turned into a pair of swords. However, instead of her holding the pair of swords in her two hand-like paws, she used her tail to hold onto one sword while the other was in her right paw.

    The stare off contest between Bu Dong and Meomi was concluded the moment Yue Han identally shuffled his leg a little.

    *CLANG*

    The Angry Ape Bu Dong shed head on with Meomi and the sand surrounding their sh burst outwards, creating a temporary cloud of sand around them.

    Bu Dong did not know when the sand around them would disperse so he quickly inhaled arge breath of fresh air.

    Meomi though had already noticed his intent and delivered a sharp jab to Bu Dong''s abdominal area. Bu dong did not expect Meomi to be that swift in her attacks and he lost the breath he was trying to hold.

    Nevertheless, Bu Dong''s quick thinking allowed him to call forth his cultivation, disying three angry apes that roared so loudly that the sand cloud that was about to settle down on them to disperse away from them. Despite this, it was not the angry apes that did the dispersion as they were just a depiction of Bu Dong''s power.

    It was because Bu Dong had shouted extremely loudly at the same time as the appearance of angry apes that it felt like it was the apes shouting it. The shout also gave Bu Dong some breathing space as it temporarily stunned Meomi.

    That was when Yue Han made his presence known. The dust cloud gave Yue Han some time to sneak up from the back to use his dive sword jump. That mere second of paralysis had given both Yue Han and Bu Dong the striking opportunity they needed to cut the cat down.

    "Sword Technique! Dive Sword of the Blind Bat." Yue Han only shouted out when he was close to Meomi in order to give her as little time as possible to react. At the same time, Bu dong executed his sword technique. "Intermediate Sword Art! Lacerate in the zing Edge of the Angry Ape!" A me was ignited on Bu Dong''s sword and as the Ape silhouettes pound its hands to its chest, the fire grew in an instant.

    Just as both the sword techniques were about to connect, a wild grin appeared on Meomi''s face. While it brought some concern to Bu Dong when he saw it, he struck the werecat with no hesitation.

    The stab from the back by the sword dive caused Meomi to flinch while the burning intense me from the sword of the Angry Ape user burnt Meomi''s insides as it pierced through the heart of the cat.

    The werecat spat out some blood at Bu Dong before she fell to the ground breathless. This was when Bu Dong felt that it was too easy. "Maybe it''s the first stage?" Yue Han alsomented that the werecat was too easy to defeat.

    Suddenly, Yue Han noticed that the two swords that Meomi had been holding had disappeared, but when he realised it, it was toote. The werecat''s swords had activated their effect.

    "What!" Yue Han felt something strangling him and when he ced his hand on his neck, he felt something blocking his neck. It even made his hands bleed when Yue Han tried to touch it. Simrly, Bu Dong was suffering from the same thing.

    "Is this the whip?!" Bu Dong could barely voice out his words when the whip started to tighten itself.

    Meomi had activated a quick weapon skill when she sensed she had no time to react after that second of paralysis. However, she still felt upset that she had lost to the cultivators yet again.

    Bu Dong desperately began to think as his brain was dying for more oxygen. "I cannot free myself in this state; I can only save Yue Han now."

 Chapter 122 Yue Hans Enlightenmen

    <h4>Chapter 122 Yue Han''s Enlightenmen</h4>

    "Broбн!" Yue Han''s eyes were getting blurry and his hands were bing weak as he tried to struggle against the coiling whip around his neck. His breath was gradually bing weaker and weaker by the second but despite all this, Yue Han still desperately tried to loosen it as much as he could.

    Despite his eyesight failing him, he could still see an almighty silhouette sluggishly taking a step at a time towards Yue Han. "Haha, I am sorry Bro...I do not think I canst any longer." Yue Han thought that Bu Dong had managed to cut the bindings of the whip and was approaching to help him too.

    That was not the case. Before he even knew what was taking happening, Yue Han was suddenly able to breathe once more, though he still fell to his knees as a result of the previousck of oxygen.

    *Thump*

    With a single look, Yue Han ascertained that Bu Dong was lying motionless on the floor. He could not believe what he was seeing so he crawled towards Bu Dong and tried to remove the whip that was strangling Bu Dong.

    The whip continued to tighten despite Bu Dong being stationary and it only loosened its grip on Bu Dong''s neck when Yue Han cut it in two. With the basic knowledge of CPR that Yue Han had learnt from a safety rescue workshop from summer camp, he checked Bu Dong''s carotid pulse as well as his chest movement in order to test for breathing. There were no signs of movement from either of the two tests, meaning, unfortunately, Bu Dong had passed away.

    At this point, Yue Han just smashed his fist against the ground. "Damn it! Why did you die and leave me all alone!" He cursed at how useless he was in almost every fight. He cursed at his inferiorityplex and the inability to do anything unless he was told to do so.

    "Then stop cursing and start trying to get up." A deep voice echoed throughout the empty Coliseum. Yue Han looked around, searching for the voice, but instead found that a chest had suddenly appeared right in front of him. He did not know what to do until the mysterious voice echoed once more. "Come on, do not dally. Open the chest to receive your rewards and your set of potions."

    Yue Han did not know whether the voice was trying to trick him or not but he did know that the rules explicitly stated that there would be a chest with rewards in it after each fight. When Yue Han turned around to take onest look at Bu Dong''s body, he realised that it had already been removed. Yue Han figured that it was the dimensional instance at work so he stood up and opened the chest.

    There were indeed physical panda medal coins in the chest and within that mass of bronze panda medal coins lied two sets of recovery potions. Since the boss was killed, the rewards were actually meant for Bu Dong and Yue Han, but that was before the whip trap had killed Bu Dong. Therefore, Yue Han had the opportunity to keep two sets of recovery potions. He then ced all the coins into his storage ring and noticed that there were only 50 bronze panda medal coins, half of which belonged to Bu Dong.

    "Very good. now that you are somewhat ready, I can now appear." the voice suddenly boomed loudly throughout the whole coliseum and Yue Han felt tremors from underneath his feet. Arge tree suddenly grew out from the depths of the Coliseum grounds.

    "Name''s Shu. I am your next opponent." Shu''s deep voice reverberated in the entire area again. Yue Han fell backwards as he instantly acknowledged that this was an opponent he could definitely not defeat.

    "Or rather, this little guy will be your next opponent." The ancient treant opened its mouth and something monstrous slowly revealed its face. Without dy, two serrated des sprouted out of Shu''s grotesque mouth and Yue Han trembled when he identified it as a giant praying mantis.

    The praying mantis monster tilted its head at the cowering Yue Han to stare at him for a moment before it opened its mouth with sticky saliva drooling out of it. "If you do not want the monster to eat you, I suggest you do something about it." Shu was particrly amused by Yue Han since this was his first time seeing someone so frightened to die and yet that someone was not doing anything to save themselves.

    "I should just let it kill me and end this dungeon." Yue Han mumbled to himself until he turned and saw the spot where a piece of the whip had yet to be removed. "But if I really do that...won''t that mean that Bu Dong saved me for nothing?" Yue Han tried to rationalise in this deadly situation but it was not helping him a single bit.

    "But this is a just a dungeonбнBu Dong will not me me for dying so easily...right?." Yue Han''s actions suddenly contradict his cowardice thoughts as he frantically reached for his sword.

    How could his body or mind ever forget? How could he ever forget the times Bu Dong had saved him from gangster or bullies? How could he ever forget the times Bu Dong tried his best no matter how bleak the situation seemed at the time? How could he ever forget the times Yue Han saw Bu Dong practice his ming sword technique, causing damage to his own body just so that he could win against Jin''s dungeons?

    Each and every cultivator in the world had been taught to not disrespect the dungeon instances. This was because the creation of a dungeon came from the cumtive experience of a Supplier. What you wanted to achieve when you entered a dungeon was not primarily to have fun. It was to battle against the monsters, because to battle against monsters was also to battle against oneself.

    The cultivators that fought in dungeons provided by the dungeon suppliers would learn not just about the monsters he or she had fought against, but they will also learn about himself or herself along the way.

    Some older cultivators said that technology in the modern suppliers had dulled that understanding of oneself and thereby the growth of oneself, but that did not mean the essence of dungeoneering and fighting monsters was lost. This was especially true for Jin''s dungeons since the monsters that the cultivators were fighting were all real and authentic.

    That was why despite the major failures that many cultivators faced in Jin''s store, they all sooner orter realised what they had learnt during the dungeon instances far outweighed the mere fun that they would have experienced otherwise. This was the main reason why many failed dungeoneers would still return to Jin''s store for the difficulty and realism of the monsters.

    Yue Han picked up his sword and looked directly into the thousand eyes of Shu''s pet mantis. "Even if I cannot kill it, I will not throw away the chance Bro has given me!" As Yue Han suddenly realised the importance of dungeons and the faith Bu Dong had in him, he felt a surge of energy pass through him.

    Yue Han had just experienced a stage of enlightenment, which caused him to go up in grade. When he disyed his cultivation, he could see three bat silhouettes flying above him screeching in excitement. The treantughed loudly, which started to annoyed Yue Han.

    "So you had the power inside you all along, it''s just that you were chaining yourself down," Shu exined and he waved his tree branches as a signal for the Giant Praying Mantis to fly swiftly towards Yue Hanбн But Yue Han was prepared.

    "Flying? Do not underestimate the capability of the Blind Bat Style!" Yue Han confidence rocketed with his new grade and he ran the other direction away from the praying mantis.

    "What is he exactly doing?" Shu was baffled by the change of actions of Yue Han but he stillmanded to Praying Mantis to chase after it.

    "Hmph looks like, I might be able to trick it." Yue Han smiled as he dashed into the Coliseum interior. The fight for Yue Han''s survival had just barely begun.

 Chapter 123 Blind Bat vs Praying Mantis

    <h4>Chapter 123 Blind Bat vs Praying Mantis</h4>

    The Roman Coliseum was as run down as what Yue Han thought it would be. In fact, it made him think of the medieval times. While there were no people around, the vaulted spaces in the Coliseum were converted into workspaces or housing spaces.

    It was obvious when one saw the random tools lying around the vaulted spaces and the personal touches here and there that Yue Han discovered as he was running away from the Giant Praying Mantis. "What irony, the natural predator running away from the prey." Yue Han thought to himself as his steps felt much lighter than before.

    With the grade promotion, Yue Han was finally able to utilise the inner chi force of the Blind Bat Style. He was able to navigate through echolocation even more urately than before. Previously, he was learning various steps technique from the Blind Bat cultivation manual and the grade promotion allowed him to use one he had always dreamt of using.

    The Webbed Wings Running Technique

    It might sound weird, heck, it sounded stupid but the Blind Bat Cultivation Style was tailored for scouting with a touch of assassination. The Webbed Wings Running Technique was a basic movement technique that every Blind Bat cultivator needed to learn though its potential would only be fully unleashed when one reached Grade 3.

    The Webbed Wings Running Technique enabled Yue Han''s every step seem as if he was gliding on air. This made one of the diving sword techniques, The Descension Sword of the Blind Bat, even more potent than ever.

    With gilded steps and gracious movements, Yue Han did not expend much chi nor stamina as he scouted the area for a good position to fight the Giant Praying Mantis. He was also hoping that the Mantis would tire itself out. Yue Han felt that the ancient Treant was controlling the Giant Praying Mantis to make things easier for him since praying mantises usually excelled in ambushes rather than chases. Or perhaps the ancient Treant was just toying with Yue Han.

    In the amphitheatre of death, Yue Han crashed through a set ofrge doors before he reached a ce where he suddenly felt a sense of tranquillity surrounding him. It felt like the grip of death had loosened and death itself did not matter anymore, even if it came right up to him and stared him in the face. Yue Han carefully looked around and found himself in a chapel with a broken symbol engraved into the top of the wall.

    The Giant Praying Mantis stomped through therge doors and bared its mandibles at Yue Han. It looked like it had enough of running and wanted this useless chase to stop immediately.

    "I was thinking the exact same thing, Mr Mantis." Yue Han felt that the chapel was the perfect ce to end the fight against the Giant Praying Mantis. There were many obstacles such as the pews and pirs around for him to dodge and hide behind when necessary unlike the open space in the Coliseum Arena.

    The Giant Praying Mantis did not waste any time and swung its des, causing an energy ripple wave through the air. Yue Han was shocked because the simple looking insect had the ability to fire chi energy projectiles, a high-tier move for a monster. Fortunately, there was a row of box pews right beside him and Yue Han jumped behind the pew for cover.

    Yue Han was considering using the diving sword technique but since he was now equipped with the knowledge that the Mantis could fire projectile attacks, he felt it was too reckless. "That means that I have to execute an all or nothing attack." Yue Han thought to himself as he quickly glided across the box pew to another before an energy ripple wave struck his previous location, decimating the box pew.

    Yue Han immediately took out the basic chi regeneration potion that he had received from killing Meomi and quickly chugged it down. He was thinking of using the samebo he had used to distract the Zombie Abomination during The Great Wall of China dungeon instance.

    But instead of distracting likest time, Yue Han''s eyes had a spark that disyed his intent to kill the overgrown insect. His bloodlust could also be sensed by the Giant Praying Mantis, which caused it to be on its guard as it moved towards him.

    With his new movement technique, Yue Han did not waste any time. When the Mantis stopped its attack to move closer, he directed extra chi into his legs and lower back before he jumped out from behind the box pew and ran up the wall. As Yun Han tried to run out of the box pew, the Giant Praying Mantis took that opportunity to strike rapidly and tried to capture its prey with its spiked raptorial forelegs.

    Unfortunately, Yue Han was not skilled enough nor fast enough to avoid the attack and the Giant Praying Mantis not only grabbed his left hand but furiously tore it away from his torso. "FUUU-!" Yue Han cursed as his left arm was torn apart easily by the herculean strength of the Mantis'' forelegs. Blood was spewing all over the chapel''s walls.

    Yue Han eyes were blurry from his tears of pain and his legs wanted to give way so he could curl up and cry at the loss of his left hand. However, he bit his tongue and gritted his teeth, trying to muscle his way through the excruciating pain as he rebnced himself and prepared the wall run.

    Meanwhile, the mantis feasted on Yue Han''s left hand but was immediately ordered by Shu to focus on murdering Yue Han. It could not disobey Shu''s order despite its basic instincts being to feed.

    Regardless, that small window of time when the Mantis was feeding allowed Yue Han to find the optimum angle to dive down and execute his personalbo techniques. "Sword Art! Descension Sword of the Blind Bat! Shadow Sword of the Blind Bat!" Yue Han shouted with all the might he could muster and with only one hand left, he jumped off of the wall.

    The Giant Praying Mantis thought that Yue Han was being foolish. All it saw was a pile of flesh to be readily cut by its serrated forelegs. Hence, it went into the usual ambush position as it discarded the skeleton shaped hand it had been holding.

    Yue Han smirked when the Praying Mantis thought that he was merely easy prey once more. The Descension Sword of the Blind Bat gave Yue Han the high velocity andposure for him to collide directly with the Mantis'' agile forelegs.

    The Mantisughed when Yue Han locked ''des'' with it as it used its other serrated de to cut Yue Han. Yet, the one who had thestugh though, was Yue Han, as he turned semi translucent and the Mantis de went through him partially.

    At the same time, Yue Han changed the angle he was holding his sword and managed to find a ligament he could cut through. Both of their attacks hit simultaneously, which caused them both to flinch.

    "Further! I have to cut further!" Yue Han had adrenaline rushing through him as his mind rid itself of all unnecessary thought. All he wanted was to make sure he killed the Mantis or at the least, he had to die trying. With his Webbed Wings Running Technique, he glided under the Giant Praying Mantis and sliced its underbelly, which caused light green haemolymph to spill out.

    The Praying Mantis cried out as it tried to turn but it was futile as Yue Han shed one of its back legs off. Despite its injuries though, it was not going to give up. The Mantis flew sideways when Yue Han was least expecting it and counterattacked with a pierce through Yue Han''s abdomen.

    Yue Han coughed up blood since his Shadow Sword Art skill only partially blocked attacks, meaning that if he managed to evade sufficiently and not suffer a full frontal attack, he could survive. Regrettably, the previous attack was through his stomach.

    Despite thatst frontal attack by the Mantis, Yue Han summoned his remaining strength and threw his sword with all the chi he could invoke as ast ditch attempt to kill the Mantis. The sword somehownded right in the centre of the Giant Praying Mantis'' ocellus.

    Both prey and predator stared each other in its eyes before falling to the ground, gasping for air. In hisst moments before he lost his consciousness, Yue Han saw a chest appearing before him.

    "Hahaha, looks like I won the second round by the skin of my teeth...too bad I can''t get the rewardsбн" Yue Han thought to himself when a root suddenly grabbed the treasure chest and opened it forcibly. The root shook the contents out right in front of Yue Han and he barely absorbed all of it into his storage ring before fainting.

    "As long as you don''t give up on yourself, the world won''t give up on you," Shu spoke with wisdom before the third round officially started. "But right now, looks like its lights out for you. Try again next time. I look forward to meeting you again, young bat." Shu chuckled as he used the same root that opened the chest to m Yue Han body into pancakes.

 Chapter 124 Revealing the Bellators...?

    <h4>Chapter 124 Revealing the Betors...?</h4>

    "Yo, guess it''s the reverse now. Hahaha" Bu Dong passed a can of Bamboo Juice to the recently awoken Yue Han in the recovery bay instance.

    "Ahбн" Yue Han stared at Bu Dong before heid his head heavily back down on thefortable pillow. "Gosh..this bed is so much better than the one in my bedroom." Yue Han took the Bamboo Juice that Bu Dong had opened for him and sipped slowlyбн at least until he was reminded of the sweet refreshing taste of Boss Jin''s juice.

    "Ah! Patient Yue Han! You should not be too hasty! Drink slowly!" A nearby Nurse Panda became flustered as she saw Yue Han gulping down the can of Bamboo Juice.

    "He should be fine! He''s tougher than he looks." Bu Dong tried to reassure the Nurse Panda but the Nurse Panda insisted on checking Yue Han''s condition.

    "Let the nurse do her job." The beautiful and elegant Yun popped by and both the boys just nodded their head in unison. Yun smiled back at them and walked towards Yue Han''s bed to check his vitals.

    "You did well, Yue Han. Not many cultivators would have continued fighting if they had lost an arm in the middle of the battle. Trulymendable!" Yunmented as she scrolled through the digital tablet that contained the information on his vitals.

    "Yeah Bro, that was awesome. I was checking out the video stream on my phone and Dayum! You performed way better than I expected!" Bu Dong did not hold back his praises for Yue Han, which made him flush red in embarrassment.

    "Yourpliment means a lot to me." Yue Han smiled as he closed his eyes and tried to remember thest time he ever received a praise. Regardless, it felt tremendously wonderful.

    "Alright, rest up a little more and then get going. Do not hog my beds." Yun''smanding tone made her even sexier, so much so that the patients surrounding them envied at the two boys because of the attention they were receiving from their goddess.

    "So... How many panda medal coins did we get in total?" Bu Dong could not help but ask for his rightful rewards.

    "Hahaha, do not worry, even if I wanted to keep your share, the coins seem to be digitally marked under your name. Maybe that is why Boss Jin emphasised on having a personal ount for Pandamonium." Yue Han finished his Bamboo Juice and Bu Dong offered to dispose of it for him.

    "I got a total of 75 bronze medal coins, your share from the first round was 25 medal coins. Hey, nurse, not sure if you know the answer but can I use the Panda Medal Coins to buy food too?"

    "At the moment, you can only use Panda Credits but I can suggest that to Boss Jin and he might consider changing it." The Nurse Panda replied.

    "In any case, I should treat you to some Tonkatsu Curry Rice. You did great." Bu Dongughed but Yue Han refused. "No, let me." Yue Han smiled as he closed his eyes to rest for a while. Bu Dong could not help but admire the newfound bravery and boldness his best friend was disying.

    ------------

    The day passed by in the blink of an eye and it was nearly night. Jin yawned and felt extremely tired. The gruelling events that he had gone through throughout the day felt like a bad nightmare and a passing dreambined.

    "Boss Jin, I will be taking my leave soon." Zhen Qing thanked Jin as she saw him packing up the area. He had asked her to close her store forty five minutes earlier than him so she had the time to pack up and clean the kitchen caravan. It was true that the system would probably be able to do the cleaning for her and probably do it better too, so Jin wanted her to rest early and said he could do the cleaning for her.

    However, Zhen Qing refused. Her teacher had a saying and it went like such: "A dirty kitchen will not produce good food." Zhen Qing repeated it to Jin and he found no way to refute her in any way. Her hardworking attitude, the guilt of the previous him not working to be what he truly wanted continued to pluck the strings of Jin''s heart.

    "I will change for the better. For her. For me. For my monsters and betors." Jin thought to himself as he continued to pack up the store.

    Zhen Qing was finally done with her cleaning just before 11 pm so she hurriedly returned home on her motorbike. It was then that Xiong Da rolled down the stairs from overexertion. He looked at Jin with pitiful eyes that clearly expressed his desire for food. Zeru also walked down the stairs with pride that was akin to an esteemed master.

    "Did I say that you are allowed to eat?" Zeru spoke with a straight yet harsh tone. Upon hearing those words, Xiong Da immediately went to his knees and faced Zeru. "Nooo, Instructor!" Xiong Da shouted extremely loudly, so loudly, in fact, that if Jin had not pulled his shutters down previously, the surrounding neighbourhood might hadined.

    "Is it okay to show yourself that readily outside of the dungeon instance?" Jin sent a voice transmission to Zeru and he grinned. "Xiong Da has more or less already figured out that I am real. Besides, the AI instructor thing does not suit my role." Zeru replied to Jin''s voice transmission as he stared at Xiong Da.

    "It''s fine, Zeru. Let him rest for now." Jin prepared a te of Xiong Da''s favourite Tonkatsu Curry Rice and asked him to stand up. Despite this, Xiong Da did not dare to move even though he had received permission from Jin. "Get up and rest for the day. Boss, give me a te of Tonkatsu Curry Rice too." Zeru also gestured for a bowl with his finger and Jin readily agreed. Xiong Da immediately got up with renewed vigour and began to gobble down his curry rice.

    "Boss Jin, I cannot believe you. You have such talented people working for you yet you call them AI instructors." Xiong Damented as he asked for a jug of spring water to quench his thirst.

    "This is because these are the few people I have found that are not only talented enough to just teach but also willing to work with me in certain ''experiments''. Remember how Instructor Milk was able to spread herself through multiple dungeons? It''s a trade secret that I can''t disclose yet but what I can say is that I''m currently utilising a prototype technology that allows her consciousness to be spread through multiple instances." Jin tried to lie and reason with Xiong Da.

    "I wanted to pose them as AI instructors to test that initiative. While it has achieved its desired effect, not many people like the idea of using AI instructors. So perhaps you are right! I''ll think about properly employing them as actual instructors." Jin discussed with Xiong Da on the possibility of his betors being around the shop in person.

    "But still, it is quite unprecedented to use these ''talents'' to instruct people. Not many dungeon suppliers have instructors and that is mainly because of the unfounded theory that it would show that the Supplier''s dungeons were not optimised or that the Supplier could not provide a proper dungeon and required instructors to guide people. Besides, they are all acquaintances of mine that I have known for some time. Therefore, I can confidently tell you that those who instruct here, such as Milk, all work whenever they have free time and that they are not working full time here. The dungeons are traditionally meant to train your own body and soul so I believe that you cannot force someone to do things in them." Jin exined to Xiong Da his own personal rationale.

    "That is quite true. Then how about this way? Maybe something like mercenaries for hire?" Xiong Da would like a powerhouse like Zeru with him.

    "It will defeat the purpose of dungeoneering." Zeru knocked Xiong Da''s head with the back of his spoon.

    "Speaking of Instructor Zeru, he looked really simr to the famous historical figure, Samurai Z." Xiong Da asked for another te of curry rice, which Jin willingly gave to his top customer.

    "I just so happened to be quite a passionate fan of him. But trust me, the scar is 100% real." Zeru smirked and that was when Milk appeared out of nowhere too. "Xiong Da! How''s your training?"

    Xiong Da nearly spits out all the rice in his mouth when Milk identally grabbed him a little too tightly. "Ah Big Sister Milk! Instructor Zeru was extremely strict and I abhorred his training. However, I do admit that he really pushed me to my limits, all for my own good." Xiong Da had already deduced that both Milk and Zeru were real. He also realised that Jin was making them act as AI instructors to protect their identity.

    Jin smiled as Milk and perhaps even Peppers (if she could control the urge to fry everyone with her explosions) could eventually interact with the customers...and maybe, just maybe, they might be the hands that he would need in the future since they were capable of defending themselves and also knew the system well enough.

    "Yes, you canmand them however you like, I was starting to wonder whether you would ever let them out into the open." Yun ryed her thoughts to him.

    "If they are able to wear normal clothes, I think they would be able to blend into the store''s atmosphere quite nicely." Jin never had never thought about that until now. He always assumed that they were just there to help him fight. Jin had nearly forgotten that they were real and all those interactions he had with them were just the interactions between a master and his servant, and not between friends.

    If not for Ke Mi opening his mind and helping him out of his unknowingpliance to the system, he would never have realised that each and every monster and betor were hispanions in his journey to bing the number one dungeon supplier.

    "I am really ashamed of myself." Jin thought to himself as Xiong Da wasughing merrily with Milk and Zeru. "I will think of a way to let them work and enjoy themselves instead of just being locked up in my phone or some alternate dimension all the time," Jin promised that he would add this onto his to do list.

    Talking about his to do list, he remembered he had yet to create a training n for his beloved Hungry Hippo customer. "Xiong Da, I finally know what kind of training will boost your spirit force tremendously. Not only that, I am also sure that you will love this n."

    "What is it?" Xiong Da suddenly turned around and a serious expression appeared on his face.

    "Your love for good food." Jin hinted this to Xiong Da regarding the uing n and he immediately disyed his puppy eyes to Jin. "Boss, if you can really pull this off, I, Xiong Da, promise that if you need any legal help, I will be there to help you."

    Jin chuckled and said, "Give me a day or two. Right now, follow Zeru''s training and build your strength and stamina up." Xiong Da acknowledged Jin''s orders before he returned to a nearby hotel for some rest.

 Chapter 125 Hot Springs Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 125 Hot Springs Cultivation</h4>

    Instead of closing the store and sleeping back at his own house, Jin decided to do something a little unconventional.

    Jin went to the second floor and entered the Emerald Mountain Hot Springs Instance. The penguins who had all initially been lying aroundzily throughout the hot spring mountain suddenly felt a presence entering and began to panic.

    "Calm down guys, I aming here to rest and cultivate." Jin tried to alleviate their anxiety and they immediately rxed a little upon hearing his voice.

    Mr Patsu, the penguin representative, came forward and greeted Jin. "Boss Jin, to what do we owe the honour of youing in personally?"

    "Whenever I cultivate, it seems arge amount of sludge will appear. Seeing how you all have experience in dealing with sludge courtesy of Mr Muddles, I figured this would be a good ce to cultivate and rest." Jin exined his reasoning as he started to take his clothes off for a bath.

    "Indeed, the penguins here are extremely professional and they can remove any stains. While it is not rmended for most cultivators under Grade 3 to stay long in the hot springs pool, I think it should be fine for Boss to cultivate within the pool since your current cultivation is at Grade 4. We will also add additional potent herbs to aid with your cultivation." Mr Patsu started tomand the penguins to prepare the herbal solution for their Boss. He figured they would be restless if they could not do anything to serve the Boss of the store.

    "What kind of herbal solution is it? Does it cost Dungeon Dors to acquire them?" Jin was concerned that he needed to spend money on these herbs.

    "It is a mix of the ingredients for the Elixir of Life. Jade Leaf, Cinnamon Branch and Flower of Gold are a few examples. The system stated that you would be given a free trial of the herbs. After which, each herbal solution will cost about 20 Dungeon Dors. Boss, I can assure you that your cultivation will soar and you would be able to have a better rest than ever before." Mr Patsu bowed his head to show that he was sincere.

    "Those herbs sound like...they are metals and not herbs." Jin expressed his suspicion.

    "Indeed, there is a slight element of metal within all of those herbs, and they are primarily the reason why thest Qing Dynasty Emperor died from metal poisoning. Though that was because the herbal solution he took contained true metals rather than herbal metals." Mr Patsu dly exined all of this to Jin.

    "Will I faint in the pool if I cultivate for too long? My body might not be able to discern the time dtion here, especially when I have not been cultivating diligently recently." Jin expressed his concerns. He initially wanted to just cultivate near the pool beside the wondrous Maple Tree.

    "Do not worry, we will wake you up when your body is close to reaching its limit. We cannot possibly let our boss faint in our pool." Mr Patsu assured Jin and pped his hands. The penguins immediately rushed out while holding the herbal solution and started to diffuse it into the hot spring waters.

    Jin slowly entered the hot spring pool and instantly felt the effects of the hot spring taking effect. The pores all over his body opened up to absorb the spiritual energy of the herbal solution and the hot spring water.

    Gradually, Jin sat in his usual cultivation pose of the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas style and began to doze off.

    ----------

    As Jin was cultivating in his personal Emerald Mountain Hot Spring instance, Yun was actually in the Dungeon Maker. "How would you describe him at this current moment?" Yun asked the interface as she was fiddling with some stuff.

    "Slow. Lazy. Inefficient. Hypocrite." The system replied.

    "But within a day, it really seems that he has changed, or at least tried really hard to." Yun replied back.

    "Notmendable but still a subject of interest. For now. Been a long time since the system''s methods were defied. Will support solely for the sake of research." The system coldly acknowledged Yun and unlocked a certain screen on the Dungeon maker for her.

    "Hahaha, I believe Jin should be very happy with this new upgrade." Yun smiled as she tinkered with the Dungeon Maker interface for a little while longer.

    ----------

    Jin sluggishly opened his eyes as he yawned a little. He tried to stretch his arms but he felt that they were extremely heavy, as if he was being pinned down when he tried to move around.

    Only then did Jin realised that he was in a pool of deep, dark, ck sludge. He could hear the penguins pacing furiously to try and solve or at least reduce the severity of the situation by throwing in hundreds of bars of soap into the hot springs pool.

    "Ah, Boss, you are awake." Mr Patsu was panting and his fur was filled with patches of sludge. It was obvious that Mr Patsu had participated in the cleaning process too.

    "How long was I out for?" Jin suddenly felt something furry grabbing his torso and he was being pulled out of the sludge. "Roughly 16 hours." The Panda Massage Therapist said as he gave Jin a towel to cover himself up.

    "I caused this?" Jin was really curious. He knew that cultivating would cause waste to be expelled out of the body but this was ridiculous. The amount he expelled was definitely more than the amount of water he had in his entire body.

    "When you started to cultivate, you absorbed almost the entire pool of hot spring water and the herbal solution along with it. It was not long after that a yellowish ck substance began oozing out of your body, filling up the pool." The Panda Massage Therapist spoke.

    "Not only that, we also invite Mr Muddles, our friendly dirt collector, to ingest the sludge but he was also overwhelmed by the amount you had expelled and needed to move down the mountain to digest what he had eaten." Mr Patsu sighed.

    "Why did this happen?" Jin could not figure this part out at all but in that split second, he noticed a trace of bloodlust in the air and parried an iing sword strike.

    "Excellent use of the Perfectly Normal sh." Zeru disengaged himself and stood before Jin. "If this was a day ago, you would not have been able to dodge that." Zeru hinted that the removal of waste substances had something to do with his improved agility.

    "Disy your cultivation and you will understand." Jin obeyed Zeru''smand and called out his panda silhouettes. Previously, there was a simple silhouette of a panda along with three highly defined panda silhouettes to indicate that Jin had just reached Grade 4. However, right now, he saw four highly defined panda silhouette.

    "It''s only been 16 hours and I have already attained Grade 4 Peak?" Jin was in awe but it still did not make sense to him. He had been cultivating for nearly a month and the amount of time he needed to cultivate to get from the start Grade 3 to Grade 3 Peak was roughly three weeks or so.

    "A culmination of factors I believed. The hot spring waters, the herbal solution, and your abrupt change in attitude can all be said to have contributed to the sudden increase. Not to mention, it seems your body''s chi is very attuned to the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas style. However, it''s also probably because it''s the first dose of herbal solution you have ever received. which is why your body was very receptive to it. I doubt it will ever happen again." Zeru exined.

    "Sorry, Mr Patsu and Penguins for the extra work." Jin apologised but the penguins and even the Panda Massage Therapist refused his apology.

    "To see our Boss gain this much power means that we have helped a lot. Besides, the system will aid to clean the instance once you take your leave. It is just that we could not let you drown in your own sludge. Hahahaha!" Mr Patsu said out loud.

    "Alright, if that''s the case, I will be leaving this instance and return tonight for some more!" Jin returned back to the store from the service instance after he took a thorough bath and made his way to the 1st floor. It was then that Yun told him that Zhen Qing had used the caravan''s enter the kitchen instance and had already started prepping her items for the morning.

    "Then, it''s about time we head to the zoo toplete the baby panda mission," Jin called for a taxi as he took out a few onigiris to serve as his breakfast. Jin felt that at Grade 4 Peak, he should be able to stay rtively safe in the zooбн it was just a zoo, right?

    Well, it was a zoo...

    The Shenzhen Provincial Zoo of the Cultivation Arts.

 Chapter 126 Hunt or Fish?

    <h4>Chapter 126 Hunt or Fish?</h4>

    It was roughly 6.30am in the morning when the taxi came and the ride to the zoo was a fairly long one. This gave Jin some time to expand on some previous ideas he had thought of.

    He was giving thought on how he should deal with the Xiong Da''s training n. He already had a basic idea of what he would want to do.

    He wanted to make Xiong Da eatбн That was all there was to it! He wanted to make him eat. Since eating monster would allow for a spike in cultivation courtesy of the Hungry Hippo style, Jin thought that the best way for Xiong Da to improve over a short period of time was to stuff him with delicacies and monsters.

    An eatingpetition would be interesting because he would get to see how Xiong Da would fare against his monsters but that would also mean that Xiong Da would realise that his monsters were sentient enough to listen to andprehend human speech.

    He even thought of capturing monsters that were simr to animals, like Mr Oink, and cut them up for a BBQ. However, Jin did not know how that would work out. The dungeon dimensional instances were supposed to act as a fake reality aspared to the service instances, which were meant to be fake to serve their intended purposes.

    If Jin carried out the hunting part, did that mean that his monsters would be repeatedly killed and dissected? The umted experience of the monsters'' several deaths might eventually break the minds of those sentient creatures of his.

    "So I have to find something dumb enough to kill again and again but still smart enough to learn repeatedly so that my customers won''t just pay for grinding." Jin thought to himself.

    "To be honest, there are quite a number of creatures that fit your... criteria." Yun ryed her answer to Jin''s mind.

    "Example?" Jin asked in his thoughts and Yun said that most of his creatures were sentient so they had the potential to grow further.

    "You could catch those wild monsters that do not think much, but if you managed to catch a variant creature that has reached the peak intelligence of their species, it would be perfect since they generally contain better spirit force in their meat. In fact, most creatures know that the world follows the simplew of eat or be eaten. The same applies to you when you step into their world." Yun exined to Jin.

    "So Mr Oink is actually a variant creature of an already deviant variant of its natural species. That is why it seems as if it has a decent level of intelligence."

    "Alrighty then, what worlds would you say fit my criteria?" Jin questioned

    "If you want good food? I would say you should nt the crystal seeds you obtained in the Farm World and harvest them when they are ripe" Yun replied.

    "You know I don''t have time for that." Jin shook his head but at least he was facing his phone. So the taxi driver did not think anything was out of the ordinary.

    "Then I guess the Hunting World or Fishing World would be the next best alternative," Yun suggested.

    "What are the pros and cons of each world?" Jinter received an electronic information pamphlet on his phone from Yun and it showed the description of the two worlds.

    "Oh...so I might have to hunt for days without rest to get a good catch in the hunting world." Jin analysed the two worlds. The Hunting World consisted of many different monsters with varying spirit force. But to catch them, you needed to find their tracks, and when you found them you needed to ambush them or fight them head on. Jin figured they might be good monsters for the dungeons or perhaps just decent ingredients for a tasty meal.

    "The fishing world is probably what I will go for. Xiong Da needs quantity instead of quality, as per Zeru''s rmendation. The fishing world has an abundance of fish that grow at a rapid rate so it will be easier to get arge quantity of fish with high spiritual powers." Jin deduced that the fishing world would be the best choice.

    "But you need a ship or at least a boat to go into the deeper parts of the endless oceans," Yun told him as she automatically opened a section of the information pamphlet to show Jin that she was not ying around with him.

    "A ship to haul and store the fishes as well as to protect ourselves from the vicious weather? It can even fly so you can perform sky fishing?" Jin was dumbfounded by it. "So you mean I have to buy a ship?"

    "Actually, you do not have to at this particr point in time but if you do want to catch fish withrge spiritual forces, you will need a ship. Besides, I am already thinking in advance to the time when you would need to create a new service instance." Jin could hear that Yun''s voice was a little condescending when he thought of something innovative.

    Yes, upon seeing the potential of the fishing world, Jin wished to create a Fishing Service Instance on the third floor. With the dimensional space''s power of time dtion, he hoped it would attract some fishing enthusiasts as well as some of the older poption to spend money in his store.

    "But you should really do something to advertise the third floor. The Panda Muscles is such an extensive gym facility and yet practically no one is using it." Yun presented Jin with her feedback.

    "Perhaps I should package it with the dungeonsбн Wait! Speaking of dungeons, I forgot to ask you, but what is the status of the Qixi Festival Dungeon? You initially said that the tickets were for future use, but at this rate, people might start to think that it was a scam from the Loot Box Machine." Jin continued to ask Yun.

    "The Qixi Festival Dungeon is a system made themed dungeon, do you wish to change it in any way? Or else, I can just give you the rights to the dungeon and you can publish it immediately." Yun gave a nonchnt answer.

    "That''s it?" Jin was a little taken aback by Yun''s response.

    "Yes, that''s it. The next themed dungeon by the system will be the Halloween one." Yun sent him the details of when the Halloween dungeon would appear as a reward in the loot box machine.

    "Okay, I am now curious. Why is the system giving out these dungeons for free? How about the monsters in them?" Jin looked at the details of the Qixi Dungeon that was sent to his mailbox.

    "You have to take care of the monsters'' well being, so technically, it isn''t free in that sense. But if you really want to know the reason, there really isn''t any. The most likely reason is that the system wants to celebrate these events. Besides, you are too slow with your capturing of monsters." Yun digressed a little.

    "I realised that the cost of housing all the monsters have inevitably increased with the new Qixi Festival dungeon." Jin rested his head on the back seat of the taxi and sighed as he looked out through the window. It looked like he would be reaching the zoo soon.

    "Then consider the gift from the system both a boon and a blight." Yun did not care much about Jin''s whining.

    "In any case, I should take a look at the Qixi festival dungeon when I am back in the store." Jin looked out of the window to appreciate the scenery for a while.

    "Just remember to look around the zoo for any cultivation that might be suitable for Zhen Qing too if you want her to work longer and more efficiently." Yun gave herst piece of advice before she became silent.

    The taxi was reaching the zoo''s entrance and Jin thought of bringing his betors with him around the zoo since this could be one of the only few times they were out of the shopping district. Maybe Zeru had seen it before, but hey, it could have been many years since hest entered the zoo.

    "Mister, we have arrived. Payment via Mechat?" The taxi driver asked and Jin paid with his phone before stepping out of the taxi.

    "Yeap, I am definitely bringing those rascals out for a walk." Jinughed bitterly as he noticed a number of cultivators amassing this early in the morning just to visit the zoo.

 Chapter 127 Casual Clothes

    <h4>Chapter 127 Casual Clothes</h4>

    Jin wanted to summon them out as soon as possible but he suddenly remembered the Morning Couch Club. Both Milk and Peppers were not early birds and he could not imagine what would happen if they appeared in their sleeping gowns in front of this many cultivators

    "I can fix that for you. Give me to a fairly secluded location...." Yun said as she appeared so smoothly that no one really exactly saw her appearing from thin air.

    "...Like that ce right behind that toilet?" Jin really could not find any ce secluded in this already crowded location. Yun, who was wearing a tight singlet and leggings, gave Jin an annoyed look.

    "Okay, okay, how about that bus park right over there? The busses don''t seem to be operating at the moment and it looks like the CCTVs are not pointed directly at the back of the buses either." Jin offered another solution and Yun agreed to that.

    "Give us a few minutes, we will be right back." Yun took Jin''s phone as Jin went ahead to queue for the tickets. He wanted to pay via his phone but since Yun had taken it, he took a look at his wallet to see if he had sufficient money in it.

    Meanwhile, behind the busses, Yun firstly magically redirected the CCTVs angles slightly and cast an anti-vision and noise barrier around the bus they were hiding behind. Sheter summoned and knocked the senses out of the two sleepy heads. Zeru also appeared at the request of Yun. "Master Zeru, please let me put some makeup on the scar for you. I do not want you to attract too much attention and make Jin worry about you too."

    "Hahaha, Lady Yun, you are too kind to your ''son'' even though you are just an embodiment of her soul." Zeru epted the makeup from Yun and his scar was covered up nicely.

    "There you go, although it would be really good if you could cut your hair too, though that would be asking too much. I believe you value your style too." Yun hoped Zeru could change his appearance so perceptive people like Xiong Da would not question his identity too much.

    "Oh no, that''s a really simple request to ede. I am happy to cut it. It''s just that it was always my previous master that ordered me to do that instead of me taking the initiative to do so so I just let it grow long. Perhaps, that''s how I chase for my master''s affection." Zeru took his wooden sword out and swung it backwards.

    As he held his long ponytail tightly, Zeru aimed his wooden sword fairly close to his hairband and cut his ponytail with a single stroke.

    "May I...keep it?" Yun blushed a bit as she raised her hand towards Zeru after he cut his ponytail off... Zeru had a weird expression on his face due to her odd request but did not mind. Maybe Yun and the system had some use for his hair or DNA or whatever they wanted to do with it. He then tied his hair again since there was still a sufficient amount for him to tie it into a small ponytail.

    "Uwahhh! I do not want to wake up~!" Peppers yawned with her mouth wide open while Milk grabbed onto Peppers like how she would do with her pillow. Milk even rubbed her face against Pepper''s head. "Mmmm, so fluffyбн I want to sleep mor- Ow!!"

    Yun knocked both of their heads again. "Wake up and change into some casual clothes. Jin is bringing you guys to the Zoo. Master Zeru, please change into this too. I will put up an anti visual barrier if you want to change here."

    "Haha, Lady Yun, you are too considerate as always. Please do." Zeru picked up the clothes and changed immediately with the anti visual barrier in ce in order to not offend little Peppers. Meanwhile, Milk felt that she wanted to see the whole scene of Zeru changing but Yun pulled her ear and told her to get changed too.

    -----------

    Jin managed to buy the tickets but he was left with only 50 Yuan in his wallet. "Ahh.. maybe I should bring some extra cash out in the future just in caseбн" The zoo tickets were 40 Yuan per person and he figured he should buy one for Yun too.

    "Speak of the devilбн" Jin waster stupefied by the sudden change in appearance of his betors and Yun. Milk was wearing a sleeveless swing top with a pair of ck jeans while Zeru wore a casual white shirt with his sleeves folded up along with a pair of long blue pants. For Peppers...Jin could not help butugh as she really looked like a little kid with a sleeveless crop top that had polo neck and a denim overall dress.

    "What?!" Peppers was controlling her urge to shoot a fireball explosion at Jin but she was also ashamed to do so in front of so many people.

    "Nothing, you look rather cute." When Jin said it, Peppers suddenly opened her eyes widely and stepped on his feet. "Hmmph, I am always cute." Peppers agreed heartedly, which made the entire group amused and theyughed as a group.

    Milk, on the other hand, teared up a little but managed to wipe it off before anyone else noticed. It had been a long time since she had this kind of familial feeling. "Let''s get going then! Or else Jin will not make it back to his store in time." Milk turned around quickly and headed towards the zoo entrance.

    "Jin, I shall show you the prowess of knowledge of I, the Demonic Sage Queen!" Peppers stood near to him.

    "You know about this zoo''s cultivation styles and masters?" Jin thought Peppers was just trying to boast in front of him.

    "She knows of not just the zoo but also everything rted to it...because I made her read everything about it when the mission was created for you," Yun spoke out but Peppers was trying to cover Yun''s mouth.

    "Did you know? Peppers is actually really diligent when she studies. I remember seeing her trying to memorise everything as quickly as possible. She thought that you would be going to the Zoo the day after you received the mission. Little did she know that you put it off until now." Milk interjected and this time Peppers ran to Milk to cover her mouth.

    "Ahhh, no wonder she is always so angry with Jin. She just wanted to show to her master how dedicated she was." This time it was Zeru who spoke up and Peppers just gave up and sighed. It was at this moment that Jin went up to Peppers and patted her on the head.

    Peppers looked up and Jin smiled at her. "Thank you for all the hard work that you have done. I really appreciate it, now let''s see. How about you tell me more about this ce." That smile made Peppers brighten up a little. Her nose grew even longer when Yun squat down to give her a light squeeze. "You little brat, working so hard right behind our backs."

    "Haha! Now listen up carefully!" Peppers started to unt her knowledge to Jin and Yun as they walked side by side while Milk and Zeru were behind them smiling at this lively scene between the three of them in the middle of the noisy crowd.

 Chapter 128 Royal Zodiacs

    <h4>Chapter 128 Royal Zodiacs</h4>

    From what Jin knew about the Zoo of the Cultivation Arts, what Peppers had told him was all correct. In fact, she really did know more about the Zoo more than him. Every province had a Zoo of the Cultivation Arts as most cultivators'' techniques and styles were based on animals.

    All monsters and even animals had power levels that corresponded to the grades for humans. But unlike humans, they were unable to choose what kind of powers they would have as they were born with them.

    Although the humans in this world were not born with an ability, they all had the potential to adopt a cultivation style that they liked and were attuned to. It was the best advantage humans had over monsters and animals and was also why they were able to rule the world.

    It was true that observing the cultivation of wild animals would provide a better insight into a particr style for a person with the same cultivation style, but those animals were not exactly the easiest to find. Also, people would have to travel far and wide to locate them and it might even disrupt the native ecosystem in the long run.

    Hence, zoos were renovated in order to allow cultivators to observe the animals, learn from them, and maybe even teach fellow cultivators of the same style as well. Therefore, there were many recruitments near the various animal enclosures and that was how guilds or sects were created these days. Bying to the Zoo of Cultivation Arts.

    The Shenzhen Provincial Zoo of Cultivation Arts might not necessarily be thergest, the biggest, or even the most modern, but it boasted the most extensive range of animals in enclosures.

    When Jin''s group entered the zoo, they were immediately bombarded by various recruiters of different animal sects. If they had had the time, it would have been a good ce to learn more about prominent sects and guilds. Perhaps it was also possible that joining one would improve the store''s standings in the future as Jin might have the backing of a sect if there any problems arose.

    However, Jin was not nning on joining one at the moment. Firstly, he was here only for the Baby Panda Mission. He just wanted to take a selfie with it, or maybe with the whole group too and then immediately return to the store. Time was money, and those were the two things he could not afford to waste at the moment.

    "Would you like to join the Furious Monkey Sect? We even have members in the Royal Zodiac Monkey Sect!"

    "Do not listen to him! The Raging Tiger Sect is your best choice, one of our founderses directly from the Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect!"

    "Dear fellow cultivators, how about joining the Towering Tortoise Sect? Our roots came from the ancient spirit monster, the ck Turtle of the North!"

    "Towering Tortoise? Is that not what Kong Xian, that Kendo highschool kid, used?" Jin thought to himself but eventually ignored all the recruitments and shouldered his way out of the main square and into the animal viewing enclosures.

    "Wow, they were crazy about trying to get people to join them. Why are they so desperate?" Milk was a little annoyed since she knew there were times in the main square where she could had been groped due to the massive amount of people present. Despite this, Zeru had been protecting her from possible fidgety hands and Milk could only give a genuine wide smile in return for Zeru''s honourable protection.

    "More people means more tribute to their Sect and that, in turn, means that their higher-ups would have more money," Jin said and that was also one of the reasons why he refused to join the sects. They might ept people with different cultivation styles at first but eventually, they would want them to learn their main style.

    "If that''s the case, won''t there be many different sects with different prefixes and animals associated to them?" Milk continued to ask questions as the group followed the map towards the Panda Enclosure.

    "Not really. There are grand sects like the Royal Zodiac ones, which control nearly half of China''s current economy. Under those grand sects, there arerge sects that control the smaller sects and that''s where cultivators who have various cultivation belong." Zeru tried to exin and Jin agreed with him. Seeing Jin agree, Zeru could not help but sigh since it looked like even if it was in the future, the power chain did not change a single bit.

    "So, it''s like many organisations within one parent organisation?" Milk asked and Zeru nodded his head.

    "Compared to the past, these small sects do not matter much now and it''s more like a meeting ce for cultivators so that the cultivators can have a sense of belonging. The ones that really have the fighting power and perhaps the power to protect the country would definitely be the Royal Zodiacs." Jinmented.

    "Ah! I read about the Royal Zodiacs! They are the 12 Chinese animal cultivators that the Jade Emperor eventually assigned as protectors after calling for a meeting that required the animal cultivators to cross the magical river to meet up with him. Eventually, they were selected for the years on the Chinese calendar too!" Peppers proudly mentioned.

    "Hahaha! But do you want to hear something different and perhaps the true story of how the Royal Zodiacs came to be?" Zeru smirked when he proposed that idea. Everyone immediately had their attention on Zeru.

    "There was no Jade Emperor in the first ce. The one in reign was the Banned Emperor and his name brought fear and oppression to all. Needless to say, themon folk were not happy and even the nobles were struggling under his rule. Therefore, the original cultivators of the 12 Royal Zodiac animals, who were initially nobodies, were the ones that brought him down in a grand fight at the River of Death." Zeru continued his story when he realised everyone was already intrigued by his story.

    "They fought for 12 days and 12 nights with each cultivator taking turns to wear the Banned Emperor down. At the end, when the fight was almost lost and all hope was nearly gone, the Banned Emperor saw his most trustworthy brother, the Jade Prince came. He thought that the Jade Prince had brought reinforcement. However, to his surprise, the Jade Prince betrayed him by delivering the deathblow and before he died, the Banned Emperor even found out that it was the Jade Prince that tricked him by calling for the meeting at the River of Death."

    "Hence, in order to keep this assassination a secret, the Jade Prince continued the lie that the Banned Emperor was sick and eventually died. Heter seeded as the new Emperor who honoured the 12 founders who had battled the Banned Emperor and painstakingly changed the course of history and the books were written with their help too." Zeru concluded as they were reaching the panda enclosure.

    "How did you even know about this?" Jin asked with immense curiosity.

    "Trade Secret." Zeru smiled and the entire groupughed at Zeru using Jin''s catchphrase. However, deep in his heart, he mourned for his old master.

    "It''s because my previous Master was thest descendant of the hidden and forgotten 13th Royal Sect. The Royal Zodiac Panda Sect." Zeru thought to himself as he noticed how Jin and his previous master had some things inmon.

 Chapter 129 Three Eyed Tiger

    <h4>Chapter 129 Three Eyed Tiger</h4>

    The Panda Enclosure was allocated with one of the biggest plots ofnd by the Shenzhen Provincial Zoo of Cultivation Arts since it housed one of the national treasures of the country. Yet the amount of viewing space was still not sufficient for the sea of cultivators and tourists that just wanted to take a look at the cuteбн fat andzy pandas.

    Although the name stated that this was the Panda Enclosure, the physical barriers were only there for decoration as the enclosure was protected by a series of high grade barrier defence inscriptions and there was even a Grade 10 guard protecting the Pandas. This guard was the highest grade cultivator out of all the guards stationed in this Zoo since the rest of the enclosures were monitored by Grade 3 to Grade 5 Zoo Guards depending on the value of the animals.

    "Argh, I can not see anything!" Peppers wanted to blow the entire ce up just so that she could have a good view of the pandas. Jin tried to dissolve her explosive thoughts by picking her up and ced her on his shoulders.

    "Ah!" Peppers grabbed on to Jin''s head tightly and it nearly made him fall. Zeru and Milk immediately supported Jin while Yun secretly took a few photos with her brand new phone, which she happened to create when they were at the main entrance. She needed to use Jin''s phone as a base to allow the system to duplicate all the functions and abilities of the phone since Jin''s phone was uniquely coded just for him.

    "Wow! The scenery is really beautiful!" Peppers managed to bnce herself and took in the view. As the physical barrier did not extend that high up and the defence barrier inscriptions were hidden, Peppers was able to have a good view of the entire area.

    There was a miniature hill in the enclosure and on it, there was a small patch of bamboo. Right at the base of the hill was a yground for the younger pandas to have fun.

    "Oh look! Is that Jie Jie and Lee Lee?" Peppers squinted her eyes a little to try and get a better look and they saw two pandas taking care of their little baby panda.

    "Ah, it seems too far away to take a proper selfie with the baby panda." Jin felt troubled. In his mind, he thought of taking a picture of just the pandas and then using technology to crop and fuse his face into the picture.

    "Erm no Jin, that will not work." Yun ced her hand on Jin''s shoulder and shook her head. She did not know that Jin was that desperate.

    "Hear Ye Hear Ye! It''s thest week of the event to take photos with the baby panda!!" A crier rang his bell as he shouted with arge signage on his chest. Jin walked towards the man shouting with Peppers on his shoulders.

    "You''re saying that I can take photos with the baby panda?" Jin questioned.

    "Yes, mister! It''s thest week of the photo taking with the baby panda! Join the fight arena down at the amphitheatre, which will start in half an hour. All participants who canst at least five minutes against our cultivation masters will have the right to take a photo with the baby panda as well as a photo of their cultivation animal as a memento." The annoyingly loud man showed the signage he was holding to Jin.

    "Where do I sign up?" Jin asked and the loud man just asked Jin to register via his phone with the QR code provided at the bottom of the signage. Jin put Peppers down and took his phone out to scan the QR code.

    "Heh! Uncle, you should just quit now and not waste our time waiting for the fight arena." A group of young brats surrounded Jin and Peppers as they lifted their heads in arrogance.

    "None of your business!" Peppers retorted at the brats and one of them stared fiercely at Peppers. "Do you not know who we are?!"

    "I am sorry we are in your way. Peppers let''s go." Jin immediately held Peppers back and walked in the other direction away from them. Jin knew that there were always these kinds of irritating cultivators that wanted to unt their strength onto others. That was also the reason why he did not wish to go to the Zoo earlier.

    Fortunately, he decided toe today. If not, he would have failed the baby panda mission or perhaps he would have had to take a harder route just toplete the mission.

    "Hey Hey Hey! Who said that you are allowed to go just because you apologised. Bow down to us now! And say that you are sorry for bumping into the members of the Three Eyed Tiger!" A few of the Three Eyed tiger members ran quickly to surround Jin and Peppers as their leader spoke loudly.

    "Poor soul, to encounter the Three Eyed Tiger." Some of the onlookers were whispering what bad luck the man must have to meet that group.

    "Yea, he should just kowtow and get away from them." Another onlooker gave his views.

    "What''s the Three Eyed Tiger?" Milk asked one of the onlookers.

    "Oh, foreigner? Anyways, they are a well known notorious Triad group in Shenzhen. Offend them and like the Third Eye in their name, they will never forget their hostility towards you. " The onlooker spoke.

    "Is it that normal for this triad group and their members to make a ruckus here?" Milk continued to ask.

    "If they are outside the zoo? No, the police will stop them at all cost. However, the Zoo''s rules make it a yground for these triads to y punk at times. Of course, if it gets too outrageous, the Zoo Guards will stop them" Another onlookermented.

    "If they are notorious, why would they even allow them to lurk around?" Milk could not understand. Shouldn''t the guards do something about it?

    "Dirty Politics and Money, my dear." An olddy smirked as she gave herments to Milk and smiled at Yun.

    "Grandma Yuan?" Yun realised that the district guardian just so happened to be in the same zoo as Jin. "How bad can Jin''s luck get?" Yun could only sigh at his double whammy.

    Meanwhile, the Grade 10 Zoo Guard rolled his eyes. "Just my luck that a duel happens near my enclosure." He reported the situation to his higher ups and continued to monitor the situation. "Understood, Panda-10, we will send a guard and medic over to clean up after them." The Zoo Headquarters replied as if it was a normal urrence.

    Yes, it was indeed a normal urrence in the Zoo of Cultivation Arts since cultivators were allowed to duel anytime in the Zoo. While it technically also a public area, there were sufficient guards and CCTVs around to oversee any duels from afar. The Zoo even had a field hospital to treat any immediate injuries if required until the ambnce from the main hospital arrived.

    "So what will it be Uncle? Are you going to bow down to me, Zhen Kao Peng" The leader of these goons, Kao Peng sneered.

    "No." Jin yawned a little as he scratched his head. Peppers sniggered when she saw Jin yawn as she took out her staff and pointed it at them. "Nope, you guys are going to be the ones doing the kowtowing instead."

 Chapter 130 Overkill

    <h4>Chapter 130 Overkill</h4>

    Kao Peng sneered at the little girl who whipped a staff out from out of nowhere. He looked at the older guy and felt no threat from him at all. "Guess I can get those storage rings and maybe the staff too once they prostrate in front of me. Time to teach them a lesson." Kao Peng thought to himself and felt proud that he found the right target this time.

    He then sent a voice transmission to his underlings to move forward even more and if possible grab that expensive looking staff away from the little girl. Suddenly, he felt an eerie silence behind him and he turned around, only to find that a defensive barrier had been created behind him.

    "What in the worl- BOOOOOOOOM" A gigantic st of fire immediately incinerated the area and caused almost everything in its way to be burnt to a crisp. The onlookers panicked and screamed at the sudden change of events and even the Grade 10 Zoo Guard instantly raised a high level barrier up when he saw the fire st.

    However, he was not as fast as Milk who created the defensive barrier first. "Ooo, Foreigner you seem very capable." Grandma Yuanplimented Milk''s powers and she smiled back. "That was nothing, I know for a fact that Jin and Peppers would have been strong enough to prepare in advance."

    "You know the victims?" Grandma Yuan tried to probe further.

    "You mean the victors? Yes, I do know them, Tiangong District Guardian Yuan." Milk said unhesitantly and Grandma Yuanughed.

    "Hahaha, looks like Jin does have some talented friends after all." Grandma Yuan continued to watch the one sided battle.

    "Hmmmm! It''s really been a long time since I was allowed to release so much firepower." Peppers stretched her arms while holding on to her staff. The Three Eyed Tiger''s gang members that were in front of Jin were trembling when they saw what Peppers did to their gang leader.

    "Witch!!!" The gang members shouted in unison but before they knew what had taken ce, a shadowy stick hit their faces and they dropped to the ground like flies. "How rude." Jin swung his Bamboo Bo after hitting the gang members.

    When the smoke cleared, Kao Peng was barely standing, with third degree burns located on his entire body. Apparently, his underlings had unintentionally managed to protect Kao Peng by standing right in front of him, hence the bulk of the st was taken by his underlings.

    Kao Peng''s legs were shaking as he pulled out a relic from his storage ring. Kao Peng initially did not have the intention to use this precious relic. He was told to hold onto the relic of life as a secondary backup for his senior in case his senior ever got into trouble. This was the amount of trust his senior had ced on him.

    However, at this moment, he valued his pathetic life more than anything else. "Sorry Senior Wai, I did not expect things to be this way." Kao Peng used the remainder of his chi to activate the relic of life.

    A bright light shone from the relic and enveloped him in some mystical eastern magic that allowed him to heal quicker than Jin''s top quality recovery potions. "I will take my revenge for myrades!" Kao Peng''s vigour renewed and his body seemed stronger than before.

    "You want another dose? I will dly give it to you." Peppers readied her staff but suddenly Jin stopped her. "It''s okay Peppers, I will deal with him. Besides, your firepower made the onlookers too scared."

    ''Too scared?'' Peppers immediately stiffened up as some bad memories started to appear, causing her to all of a sudden start screaming. "What''s wrong?" Jin diverted his attention for a moment and Kao Peng took that opportunity to strike with his sword.

    "Shit!" Jin held onto Peppers and barely dodged the first attack, but Kao Peng was relentless and Jin received a long straight cut along his arm. Kao Peng was delighted that he managed to deal damage to Jin and hungered for more.

    However, Jin did not give him the chance tounch his third attack. With a deep breath, Jin released a powerful chi beam, which caused Kao Peng''s main sword arm to dissipate into nothingness. This time round Kao Peng was filled with terror and dread. He did not expect both the girl and her guardian to be this powerful. "You watch out!" Kao Peng shouted as he retreated to safety.

    Meanwhile, the onlookers had mixed reactions. Some rejoiced that the Three Eyed Tigers were taught a lesson but others were quite fearful of the spells of the little girl and the mysterious skills disyed by her guardian.

    "Are you okay?" Milk rushed over and checked on Jin''s wound. Without dy, Milk cast a simple healing spell. "Milk, do you have any calming spells?" Jin saw how scared Peppers was all a sudden and was concerned.

    "Give me a moment." Milk used her fingers to draw some mystical symbols in the air, which intrigued Grandma Yuan. In a few moments, Milk cast a mix of the Courage spell and Mind Calm Spell on Peppers and it allowed her to act normally once again.

    "Sorryбн Jin." Peppers wanted to cry so badly but it looked like she was holding her tears back because of the crowd.

    "No worries Peppers. Tell us when you are ready." Jin consoled Peppers and soon people who were watching the scene slowly dispersed to mind their own business.

    "So Jin, I see that you have a few foreign friends in yourpany." Grandma Yuan spoke and Jin stiffened a little.

    "Ah, Grandma Yuan." Jin bowed towards her and Grandma Yuan suddenly felt that something had changed about this Jin that was standing before her. Was she overthinking it? She was not sure. Jin also wanted to ask why was she here but decided to keep quiet for the moment.

    "Hurry to the amphitheatre, I can handle the report," Yun said to Jin as the Grade 10 Zoo Guard came towards them and rified the current situation with her. There were a few dead bodies around with the solid Dantians and since this was a duel that had many witnesses, the Zoo Guard confirmed that Peppers could not be charged for their deaths. However, on the behalf of Jin, Yun had to write a report regarding the entire incident, which the Zoo Guard wouldter use as evidence.

    "Milk, are you able to handle Peppers for now?" Jin was still worried about Peppers'' sudden mental breakdown.

    "Do not worry, Peppers is stronger than you think. Go to the fight arena first, we will be there in no time," Milk assured Jin and Zeru decided to tag along with Jin.

    "Zeru, don''t. Keep an eye on the girls in case a simr case happens again." Jin told Zeru but Zeru refused. "The same might happen to you too since you did not finish that guy off." Zeru warned him. Although Zeru had the same sentimental feelings as Jin, his main priority was still Jin since he was the master.

    "At worse, I will call you guys." Jin pointed at his phone and Zeru got his drift.

    "Understood, stay frosty." Zeru nodded his head and Jin ran as fast as he could to the amphitheatre. Little did Jin know, Kao Peng was prepping his possible demise.

    .

    .

 Chapter 131 Ku Wai

    <h4>Chapter 131 Ku Wai</h4>

    Although the fight against the Three Eyed Tiger members was over quickly, Peppers having a panic attack caused a lot of dys which meant that Jin had roughly five minutes to reach the amphitheatre. "Hahaha, if only I had learnt more movement techniques simr to the Blind Bat style, then I would have been there by now." Jin could only me himself for not learning the Panda Tumbling movement technique in his cultivation manual.

    Jin knew that the zoo''s amphitheatre was within reach when he heard announcements of the fight arena about to take ce from the surround speakers. He knew that there would definitely be another battle in the fight arenater in the afternoon but he wanted to open his store on time.

    Doing the fight arena now would allow him to save more time as well asplete the baby panda mission. Jin slowed his running to a jog due to the crowd going into the amphitheatre. He was rushing because this was not the first time he hade to the Zoo of cultivation arts. He knew the unspoken rules of the fight arena since he had been part of the audience with his grandfather.

    In this kind of fight arena, if you werete, your chance to fight would be forfeited. This was because discipline was one of the core values of cultivation. If you were tardy, it was generally assumed that you were not strict with yourself, hence the forfeit. That was why Jin tried to walk through the masses and run whenever possible...until he saw a precarious looking man in a white suit.

    Jin sensed that this man was trouble so he tried to manoeuvre away from him if possible but eventually he realised that the white suit man was walking towards him no matter how hard he tried to shake him off,

    Eventually, the white suit man had enough and performed a spectacr high jump, which briefly stunned the masses for a moment beforending right in front of Jin. "Is this him?" The man with the white suit spoke in a low voice and pointed the camera of his phone towards Jin.

    "Yes, Senior Wai! That''s him! He stole your relic of life and caused me to lose my arm!" Jin realised it was Kao Peng shouting through his phone via a video chat.

    "Return the relic of life to me along with your head, or I shall make you taste suffering that is worse than death for trifling with the Three Eyed Tiger." Senior Ku Wai spoke in a deep voice as he took his suit off and tore his shirt into pieces to show his strength and superiority.

    Right in front of Jin, Ku Wai''s body seemed like a monsterity. Six packs with bulging muscles that had two tigers tattooed on each side of his arms. Every onlooker began to move away from the main source of conflict in order to give the two cultivators space to duel.

    "I am busy right now, how about this. You let me finish the fight arena first and then you can deal with me in whatever way you want?" Jin looked at his watch and saw that there were only a few minutes left before the Fight Arena officially begins."

    "What if I don''t?" Ku Wai went into his fighting stance and stared intensely at Jin.

    "Then I shall announce that themencement of the first fight to ur right here and right now." An olddy''s voice blurted out from the masses and Jin realised it was Grandma Yuan.

    "What are you looking at? You didn''t know that I was one of the Zoo''s honoured cultivation masters?" Grandma Yuan smirked as she said that and with a snap of her fingers, a defensive barrier appeared around Ku Wai and Jin.

    "However, unlike the usual Fight Arena, you two will be fighting until both of you resolve your differences." Grandma Yuan said.

    "Excellent, that means I can still collect the baby panda picture for Princess while I''m at it." Ku Wai cracked his knuckles and shouted, showing his cultivation of five tiger silhouettes roaring in the sky. However, Jin managed to notice that one of the tiger''s silhouette was simple, indicating that his opponent was either an average Grade 5 cultivator or that he had just reached Grade 5.

    While there was still a power gap between Grade 5 and Grade 4 Peak, Jin thought that he might be able to win if he was careful enough. "I will give you onest chance. Relic of Life and bow down so I can cut your head cleanly." Ku Wai said fiercely.

    After Jin quietly took out Bam from his storage watch, the watch immediately turned back into four bands of living armour, ready to move around Jin''s body whenever needed. There was no stance Jin could adopt as he didn''t know any so he instead drew his sword out and tugged his scabbard at the side of his waist with the help of his belt.

    "Jin, Dungeon Supplier. Panda Style." In every duel, it was more respectful for each side to announce their names before they started to fight.

    "Ku Wai, Senior Member of the Three Eyed Tiger, Member of the Crouching Tiger. Terrific Tiger Style." Ku Wai did not waste any more time as he dashed forward with no weapons in hand.

    "Quan Fa?! He uses martial arts?!" Jin realised he might be in more trouble than he thought he initially thought he was in. Ku Wai''s fist was easy to predict but the speed it swooped in was lightning fast. If not for Jin''s Perfectly Normal Parry sh, which managed to block the fist, Jin might have suffered a mortal blow to his chest.

    Ku Wai was initially smirking when Jin used his sword to block the attack, but he was shocked when his Tiger Fist of Suffering was not only blocked but he found some blood on the side of his rock hard fist.

    "Guess you are not to be underestimated after all. Now I understand why Kao Peng was so badly defeated by a normal looking guy like you." Ku Waimented but he was actually buying some time for his chi to control the bleeding on his fist.

    To be able to cause a wound on his fist raised some rms for Ku Wai. Either Jin had some really good inscriptions that allowed his attacks to pierce through the defence of his Terrific Tiger martial art or he really had the skill to do so just with his own strength. "That means he''s at least a Grade 4 cultivator." He thought to himself.

    "I did not use the Relic of Life or whatever you called it. That friend of yours who you talked to just now used it. If you do not believe me, you can check the Zoo''s CCTV cameras." Jin refuted the earlier usation as he entered a defensive stance. He knew that if he attacked outright, he would lose, but with the Perfectly Normal Parry sh, there might be a chance for him to defeat Ku Wai. Of course, that was the most ideal situation.

    Jin knew from his title as a member of the Crouching Tiger Sect, a direct sect under the Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect, that he was not an easy opponent. He probably had some secret technique that could overpower Jin instantly. "Well, I have my own trump cards tooбн"Jin thought to himself.

    "Does not matter, I will deal with that friend of mer. But since you dissolved his hand away, at the very least I will repay that debt." Ku Wai rushed in once more.

    Meanwhile, Grandma Yuan was in total shock as she thought that Jin would be defeated in one go and that would teach him a lesson. She remembered that just weeks ago, Jin was only a pathetic Grade 3 cultivator. When did he have the ability toбн

    "Unless he has the thing that Old Ming hadбн" Grandma Yuan had her suspicions and decided to confirm it when she had the chance.

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 Chapter 132 A Real Mean Punch

    <h4>Chapter 132 A Real Mean Punch</h4>

    The fight raged on between Ku Wai and Jin and it was so breathtaking that the onlookers were starting to take videos of the battle. People werementing about how amoner was fighting evenly against a Three Eyed Tiger Senior member.

    Even Ku Wai was beginning to feel the pressure every time he shed with Jin. There were times when Jin barely managed to defend with his sword but when Ku Wai pressed on with a stronger attack, Jin would always somehow manage to parry it would deal damage to his Terrific Tiger Fists.

    Meanwhile for Jin, he was observing how Ku Wai was fighting as the fight dragged on. "He is mostly a Fist user and after he saw the Perfectly Normal Parry sh, he became more cautious with his attacks and only executes skilled fist arts when the first punch connects." Jin thought to himself. Compared to Ku Wai, there was a severe deficit in Jin''s arsenal, practically nothing except for Panda Yawning and Lazy Panda Swipe.

    Jin had the ability to change his weapons on the fly but Ku Wai was not giving him space to do so since he was punching ."Punching!" Jin thought to himself as he remembered someone else who could dish out a punch. A real mean punch too.

    "I wonder if it really worksбн" Jin knew how agile a martial artist could get and if he wanted tond a direct hit, he would need to properly immobilise him. He took out Boo from his living armour bands and gave mental instructions to the living armour bands. Upon hearing the ns, the living amour bands seemed to be excited in anticipation for the iing action.

    "That guy''s face changed...He must be nning something." Ku Wai noticed that something was amiss due to the slight change in Jin''s expression. Maybe he was wrong but his hunch told him otherwise. "I will throw in a few more punches before I execute my ultimate technique."

    Ku Wai pretended to rx a little by jumping on the spot for a few seconds, which caused Jin to daze for a bit and that was when he struck. Ku Wai knew that the differences in routine pattern could make his opponent think and at that point, his opponent would be in a slight daze, not sure what he could do to prevent the attack. Ku Wai figured that Jin did not have the experience of constant fighting so he would definitely be caught off guard by the change of attack pattern.

    In a sh, Ku Wai rushed in and started off with a flying kick instead of his regr punch. Jin managed to parry in time and caused a slight wound to Ku Wai''s leg, but that was Ku Wai''s main objective. He also knew that Jin''s parrying could not be used twice in a row, so the first attack was a feint. The moment Jin attempted to counterattack, Ku Wai performed a frontal somersault, which allowed him tond right behind Jin.

    "Intermediate Fist Art! The Ambush of the Terrifying Terrific Tiger!" The shout of his technique caused onlookers with a cultivation grade of two and lower to tremble with fear. That was the indication of the power gap between the grades. The aura of the Grade 5 fully suppressed the cultivators of Grade 2 and lower.

    The Five tiger silhouettes immediately turned into onerge sized tiger silhouette that was big enough to provide shade for the two people fighting each other. Ku Wai ced all his chi into his right fist and like a tiger ambushing its prey, his fist looked like arge tiger silhouette''s w going for Jin.

    "Lazy Panda Swipe!" Jin knew that at this instant, he had to sacrifice something for his n to work. Jin used the Lazy Panda Swipe with his left hand, which was covered with Boo since was transformed into a bamboo gauntlet. Four Panda silhouettes appeared while baring their teeth at therge tiger right above Jin and the onlookers finally saw the cultivation style of this mysterious yet normal looking male.

    Ku Wai saw Jin''s cultivation andughed. "My Victory!" His Tiger Fist shed head on with Jin''s left hand swipe and the impact caused both cultivators'' chi to radiate out so harshly that it could be felt by the surrounding onlookers.

    "What strong chi for a Grade 4." Grandma Yuan was bing more and more impressed by Jin''s struggle but it looked like the battle was going to end. It did but not the way Grandma Yuan had expected. While it felt intense, it was obvious who was losing as they saw Jin''s hand moving lifelessly after the sh of fists...but something was missing. The onlookers realised the green gauntlet was gone and thought it was destroyed by the attack.

    However, when Jin''s left hand came into contact with Ku Wai''s fist, the bamboo gauntlet actually grabbed hold on Ku Wai like a spreading contagion. Not just that, Boo wrapped around Ku Wai''s Hand and thin bamboo spikes appeared from Boo to temporarily immobilise him.

    Ku Wai suddenly felt that he could not move his fist and felt extremely heavy, so much so that he crashed into the ground. Furthermore, the spikes pierced through his shoulders and legs, making it difficult for him to move. The onlookers were extremely shocked by the sudden turn of events.

    Jin had ced the four living armour bands within Boo and with Jin''s Chi it was shaped as a gauntlet. When Boo transferred itself to Ku Wai, it was also based on Jin''s imagination of the weapon and a lot of chi was being pumped into Boo to keep it malleable and natural in order for it to cover the transfer of the living bands to Ku Wai.

    When the bands reached Ku Wai, they immediately grew as heavy or maybe heavier than what Jin had experienced in the Farming World, which caused Ku Wai to fall.

    The moment Ku Wai fell to the floor, Jin pulled off the shiest stunt that the onlookers had ever seen. Jin jumped up high and with his right fist holding on to his phone, he plummeted it down towards Ku Wai with two words.

    "GODDDDDDD PUNCH!"

    A golden shy gigantic fist appeared from nowhere and mmed Ku Wai with a force to be reckoned with. The ground broke and pieces of it flew away from the violent impact. Thankfully, the defensive barriers were working properly and blocked all the debris from hitting the onlookers.

    As a result of the attack, Ku Wai was rendered unconscious by Jin''s vicious punch. Jin was not able to kill him because Ku Wai''s constitution was still stronger due to his Cultivation Grade. Well, Jin could have ended his life with a sh through his throat since he was unconscious but this was sufficient enough for Jin.

    "I now dere Jin as the Winner for his fight." Grandma Yuan announced the result the moment she saw Ku Wai''s condition and the defensive barriers were lowered. The guards and medics were already on standby since they were informed that one of the fights for the panda photo taking was officiated outside of the amphitheatre by Grandma Yuan.

    Grandma Yuan walked towards the panting Jin and gave him a seal. "You can now go take a picture of your baby panda and improve your cultivation." She then walked away as promptly as she came. "Oh, and good job." Grandma Yuan turned and gave him a smirk before she walked into the amphitheatre.

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 Chapter 133 Panda Enclosure

    <h4>Chapter 133 Panda Enclosure</h4>

    "Jin, are you okay?" Milk and the rest finally caught up with Jin who was sitting at a bench being attended by the Zoo''s Medic. "His arm has been rendered useless by the previous fight, he needs attention at the hospital. He was initially low on chi but for some reason, his chi production is higher than the usual standards. Though it is not that surprising given since being a Grade 4 cultivator despite still being this young is an achievement. Other than that, I have treated most of his wounds." The female field medic gave her assessment to Jin''s friends.

    "Its okay, I can fix that arm for him. He does not need to go to the hospital." Milk took the female medic''s ce and assessed Jin''s arm all by herself. "Slight nerve necrosis due to ack of chi and blood, some of the bones are impacted but they are not much of an issue, I can fix that." Milk gently touch Jin and managed to figure out his problems. "Oh, some internal bleeding due to the tearing of the muscles."

    "If that''s the case, should we not rush him to the hospital?" The field medic did not know that the injuries problem were this bad. "Rx." The entire group said in unison, which scared the field medic for a moment. Within the next minute, the field medic then realised that she had really worried for nothing when Milk once again wrote some magical symbols in the air as a healing spell materialised to help heal Jin.

    "You are a western magic arts practitioner?" It was not rare to see western magic in this modern world but western healing magic was one of the hardest styles magic to master in the world. Some said that the western healing magic was harder because they copy...erm... incorporated Eastern Healing techniques into the magic to make it have more of an effect and work more efficiently.

    Hence, Western Healing Magic was considered as the highest standard of healing magic even though the eastern counterparts did not wish to admit it. Milk nodded her head but the field medic who had seen a variety of western magic could notprehend the magic she just saw.

    "Ah, it''s a variant healing magic, it''s easier on her mana." Jin decided to help Milk answer when he somehow understood that some lying was necessary to keep Milk''s existence consistent to this world''s standard.

    "I see, even so, this is literally a miracle. I would like to know more about this if possible." The field medic continued her small talk and eventually she realised that Jin was a Dungeon Supplier. "I will go and take a look if I ever have the time, till then take care of yourself, Mr Xie." The field medic took her leave and the entire group felt a sense of relief.

    "Thanks for covering for me back there, Master." Milk pinched Jin''s cheeks for fun.

    "Ahhhhh, no. Thank You for your help back then as well as right now. I can''t imagine what I would have done otherwise." Jin smiled back at Milk, which caused Milk to irresistibly hug him.

    "You are so cute, Jin!" Jin was a little embarrassed as a few bystanders were around and saw Milk hugging Jin so openly in the public. He quickly pushed her away and asked her to calm down. It was then that Jin noticed that Peppers had been hiding behind Yun this whole time. "Come here, Peppers."

    Peppers quietly came forward with her head down. "What exactly happened?" Jin asked and Peppers looked at Milk, who gave her the nod of approval to go ahead. "I was exiled from my country because of my terrifying magical powers. They were...too scared of me." Peppers gave him the short version but Jin believed that it took a massive amount courage to even say that much.

    "Do not worry, I am not scared of you a single bit. Neither is Milk, Yun or Zeru. If anyone is afraid of you,e to us. We will protect you with all our might!" Jin looked Peppers in the eye and gave her his assurance.

    "But...there are times that I can''t control myself, and the magic in me feels like it''s about to explode. I am afraid I might burn you...and you will be scared of m-" That was when Jin and the othersughed.

    "What a joke! Have you forgotten the times you have already burnt me? Was I scared of you? Was I afraid? Did I really scold you?" Peppers shook her head in answer to every question that Jin had asked and Jin smiled at her too.

    "Then? What are you afraid of? Be yourse-" Jin stopped when he realised he almost said the wrong thing to Peppers, which caused Peppers tough. "Hahaha, I will control myself, but master. Be there to stop me if I cannot." Peppers stepped backwards and graciously did a curtsy bow like a princess with her denim dress.

    "Alright, let''s go to the Panda Enclosure again and take the picture with the baby panda." Jin began to walk back to see the pandas once more when he noticed the field medics were pushing Ku Wai into the Zoo''s ambnce. Jin unconsciously checked for the storage watch on his hand and Boo to make sure that they were with him before he walked away.

    Jin figured Ku Wai would probably end up going to the field hospital first for some monitoring and care before heading to the main hospital. "Did he say...he was getting a panda picture for princess?" Jin thought to himself and walked back with the entire group.

    "Ah! You managed to win the seal to take a picture with the Baby Panda?" The same annoying zoo attendant who was shouting to promote the fight arena spoke to Jin once again. "Here you go." Jin passed the seal to him and the attendant scanned it with his phone to make sure it was authentic.

    "Sure scared me back there with that fire st thing. Anyways, follow me. Are you taking the photo as a group or alone?" The zoo attendant asked as he gestured for them to follow him to the back of the Panda Enclosure.

    "You are okay with such a big group?" Jin was pleasantly surprised.

    "Yeah, sure. I believe you painstakingly earn it fighting the grandmaster. Besides, that was some fine ass kicking you performed back with those triad members. Been a long time since someone openly disobeyed them in this zoo. I will close one eye this time round just for you buddy. Heck, you can pass me one of your phones so that I can help you guys take the group photo." The annoying zoo attendant became so generous that Jin just had to forgive his annoyance..for now.

    "Give me a moment! I will bring the baby panda into the office for the whole group shot, then we will do the official one in the panda enclosure." The zoo attendant took some time but he managed to bring the baby panda into the Panda Enclosure office.

    "Alright, hold this Hero." The zoo attendant passed Jin the baby panda and the group quickly took a photo with the zoo attendant''s help.

    "Not a bad picture." Yun saw the picture and praised the zoo attendant.

    "Hahaha, it''s one of my hobbies and it was my idea to do this photo taking thing to make my zoo job a little more interesting." The Zoo attendant took the baby panda back from Jin and that was when he noticed that something was off.

    The Baby Panda who was usually against visitors was actually veryfortable around Jin.

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 Chapter 134 Panda Xin

    <h4>Chapter 134 Panda Xin</h4>

    "Maybe the Baby Panda was tired." The zoo attendant shrugged his shoulders and brought Jin to the Panda Enclosure. He asked the rest of the group to stay in the office for a moment if they wanted to or they could head back out to see the photo taking process. They agreed to do thetter.

    It was then that the Grade 10 Zoo Guard flew down from his guard tower and towards Jin. "I need to use this inscription on you to remove any possible germs or virus that might affect the Pandas, are you okay to proceed?" The guard spoke as he took out an inscription talisman and held it for Jin to see.

    "Sure, no problem, I understand." Jin agreed to it and the guard spoke the incantations for the inscription to work. Meanwhile, the zoo attendant sneered quietly as he thought to himself. "Those things are redundant since the moment they entered the office, the inscription for removing those germs were already doing their work." In any case, the zoo attendant opened the enclosure gate for Jin.

    "I see that you won the fight arena. Which master did you fight against?" The Grade 10 Zoo Guard was there in case Jin tried to do anything funny to the Pandas. After all, they were the treasure of not just this zoo but the entire country too.

    "Tiangong District Guardian Yuan allowed a custom fight against one of the Three Eyed Tiger Senior Members. I barely managed to win." Jin tried to stay humble in front of the Grade 10 Guard.

    "Hmmph! That''s so Grandma Yuan, always breaking the zoo rules to fit her. Anyways, have a seat near the Panda yground, we will set up the camera equipment for you to take a good photo with the Baby Panda." The Guard said as he continued to watch Jin''s movement as the zoo attendant prepared the camera equipment.

    The bystanders were extremely jealous that Jin had a close shot but the regrs of the zoo started to pity Jin. They knew that Pandas never liked anyone newing into their territory. Perhaps only the young ones were mildly interested in their new ''toy'' before they got sick of it. Hence, Jin would never get a proper photo and even if he did, it would probably seem forced. If that how it happened, he probably would not get any inspiration for his cultivation after taking the photo.

    "Heh, we have a good show to watch." the regrs of the zoo chuckled as they stood by just to see how the Pandas trashed this cultivator. There was a reason why the cultivators who wanted to take a photo with the Pandas need to pass the Fight Arena.

    It was because there was this particr panda that was fiercely territorial in nature and even the Grade 10 Zoo Guard had troubles keeping it in check. Sure, the Grade 10 Guard could instantly stop that Panda with force but would the management be happy with that? That was a definite No. In any case, the territorial Panda, who was named as Xin, had already gotten familiar with the noisy zoo attendant and the Grade 10 Zoo Guard so it wouldn''t bother them again.

    As Jin sat at the yground while waiting for the Zoo attendant, It was then that something happened that everyone did not expect. The Pandas were not being territorial but was instead gathering around Jin.

    Everyone who was waiting for a show where the Pandas trashed Jin immediately took their phones out to start taking photos of Jin having fun with the Pandas. Meanwhile, Jin was overwhelmed by the sudden cosiness of all the Pandas gathering around him. Some even yfully bit Jin. All he could do now was to let them do whatever they want.

    Some of the younger pandas even tried to crawl up Jin''s head and one of them even rested atop of it permanently. Both the Zoo Guard and Zoo Attendant were in awe by the sudden change of events. What they had learnt from their experiences was that even cultivators who cultivated Panda Styles, which were already few in numbers, could not garner this kind of reaction from the Pandas.

    Those Panda Cultivators could at most get one or two Pandas to like them. It was never the entire bunch like how they were surrounding Jin...except for Xin. Xin was at the back of the enclosure with baring its teeth quietly. Jin noticed Xin presence from behind him and turned to look at him. For some reason, Jin knew what it desired.

    It wanted to battle with someone, someone who was worthy because this enclosure was boring to it. Xin noticed that Jin acknowledged its lust for battle and slowly walked to the middle of the enclosure. "Okay guys, give me some space, your big brother wants some action with me."

    When Jin spoke, it seemed that every single Panda knew what he was talking about and walked away from him. Meanwhile, all of this was being recorded by Yun and the other betors were amazed at how Jin managed to aplish such a feat. "Panda Whisperer!" Peppers casually said and the entire group seemed to agree.

    Separately, Jin did not take out any weapons out since this was technically a friendly fight, although he was getting the feeling that Xin wanted to kill him. Besides, if Jin took a weapon out, he would probably be killed by the Grade 10 Zoo Guard instantly.

    Xin screeched and dashed towards Jin. Meanwhile, Jin focused all of his chi into his arms and prepared to receive the iing assault. Although the pandas were bigger in size, their size did not exactly trante to pure strength well mainlyziness but also Jin being a Grade 4 Peak had the power to match them.

    Thankfully, these pandas were held in captivity so their power levels were not as high or as cunning as the wild ones in nature. While Jin was push backed a lot from the initial charge, he was eventually able to hold on and grapple around with Xin.

    He allowed the Panda to think it had the upper hand for the moment before going around Xin before performing a grappling lock and pushing the Panda down. The Zoo attendant saw the ongoing fight scene and wanted to stop them but the Grade 10 Zoo Guard stopped him. "Let Xin vent out some of its boredom and perhaps also let that guy teach Xin some humility."

    The Zoo Guard knew that Jin was going easy against the Panda but that did not mean he was not keeping a close eye at him. With a few grapple holds and some judo throws, Xin finally panted. "Is this all you got Brother Panda?" Jin wiped his sweat away. Even though it was easy to overpower the Panda, it wasn''t an easy job ying along with it.

    In the end, Xin nodded its head and stared at Jin as if it wanted to say that it would build up strength in anticipation for a rematch. It then bit its own flesh and let the blood drip onto the ground. Jin obliged it by biting his own thumb and dripped some blood onto the same spot on the ground in return. Xin walked towards the blood to smell and lick it. After which, it screeched and every other panda followed suit.

    "What are they doing?" Milk asked.

    "A mutual agreement between animal and human. An informal blood pact." Peppers exined as she remembered reading about it. It was a rare urrence for it to happen, not just in the Zoo but in the wild too. "It meant that the Pandas have acknowledged Jin as a friend, brother andrade." Yun smiled as Jin had aplished way more than what he should have aplished over here.

    When he heard the union of screeches, Jin felt a sense of power umting within him.

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 Chapter 135 Spiritual Union

    <h4>Chapter 135 Spiritual Union</h4>

    During the unison of screeches, the surrounding atmosphere turned extremely tranquil and there was a feeling of floating in space. The Pandas, Jin, and even the crowd near the enclosure were experiencing the same thing, all at the same time. They felt a starry spiritual force floating and coursing through each and every man and animal present.

    Jin, at the centre of it all, was the one most impacted by it. He could feel not only the spiritual force of the pandas but the gentle unison of the Yin and Yang chi around the area of which Jin was in the middle of.

    After a while, everything slowly returned to normal, the only difference being that the Pandas became even more friendly and they started to grab onto Jin like he was a ma to ferrous metals. Even Xin walked towards him and rubbed its head against Jin''s legs.

    "This is the first time in my life that I have seen an informal blood pact and a spiritual union between a group of animals and a human. In addition, for both events to happen simultaneously? It''s nothing short of a miracle." The Grade 10 Zoo Guard was astonished by Jin''s actions while the Zoo Attendant was bbergasted. Judging from the initial fight to the current situation, the Grade 10 Zoo Guard finally felt that this normal looking cultivator was not a simple one. "Perhaps I should get to know who he is."

    "Is it really that amazing to have a blood pact and spiritual union ur at the same time?" Milk was totally foreign to these ''rituals'' since she was not part of this world at all, and unlike Peppers, she had not read up on it.

    "It is. Having an informal blood pact with an animal is actually the highest honour one can attain in a friendship between man and animal. When this pact urs, it means that the animal is willing to ept you as both arade and a mutual brother. I believe it had something to do with Jin''s cultivation that caused the pandas to behave this way." Zeru exined to Milk

    "Animals cannot perform a formal Blood Pact because theyck the sufficient intelligence to initiate it, so initiating an informal blood pact willingly means that the animal fully trusts the cultivator." Peppers interjected her local knowledge into the conversation.

    "The fight with the big Panda also proved that Jin was willing to fight not for his own benefit but to show the Panda that he was willing topromise for the Pandas. The pandas probably felt his intentions and judged him through his actions." Zeru further added on.

    "However, for the Spiritual Union...I honestly do not know how Jin managed to attain it. To achieve it with an animal means that the cultivator chose the perfect cultivation method that is attuned so perfectly to him that the animal acknowledged his choice of cultivation and chose to impart their knowledge of their own style upon the cultivator. In my previous lifetime, I only saw it once and that was when my Master managed to unlock it. He was one of the most powerful and wise masters I could ever serve." Zeru continued.

    "To achieve spiritual union with not one, not two but the entire group of Pandas...it''s beyond astonishing. It felt like it''s Heaven''s will." Zeru could not help but feel honoured that he was serving Jin and was able to partake in this beautiful view.

    "So will Jin get stronger?" Milk questioned Zeru with excitement.

    "Definitely, but that does not mean that he will have ess to those Panda''s skills. Like cultivation masters, the pandas have purposely locked their powers, waiting for Jin to unlock them as he grows stronger in his cultivation." Zeru replied.

    "That is also why many peoplee to the Zoo to attain the acknowledgement of the animals whose styles they have been training. It is all so they can attain the spiritual union. Like what Zeru said, not many are sessful, but those who are will eventually be very powerful." Yunmented.

    Meanwhile, in the crowd, bystanders were shouting in excitement as people shared their knowledge like how Zeru had. They were talking about how lucky they were to catch such a rare yet insightful glimpse of a spiritual union.

    "Hmmph, this is more intriguing than I thought." Hiding in the noisy crowd was Mr Know It All grinning at the entire course of events before he decided to leave the area quietly. No one, not even Yun, knew he was there at all.

    "Mister! I need you toe here to take the photo!" The zoo attendant wanted to help Jin but he believed no matter how hard he tried, those clinging pandas would not let go of him. All he could do was to hurry Jin up toe to the yground.

    "Alright my brothers and sisters, calm down, let''s go take a photo together." After the spiritual union, Jin seemed to understand the pandas even more clearly than before, and the same thing applied to the Pandas regarding their understanding of Jin. They followed him without making any noise, like the Pied Piper leading the children away .

    "This is the most amazing shot I will ever take in my life." The Zoo attendant said and took the picture once Jin and the Pandas settled down at the yground. He was not the only one taking it though, as the rest of the crowd were spamming their phones and DSLR cameras just to take a picture of the congregation of pandas piling up on top of each other. Causing Jin to nearly drown in Pandas.

    When the Zoo attendant was done taking the photo, Jin stopped him for a moment. "Do you mind giving me a photo of the baby panda without me in it?"

    "For you? Absolutely. You have made my day, and one more picture of that little cuddle is nothingpared to what I have in my possession right now." The zoo attendant then asked Jin to hold on to the yful baby panda in his hands and took a close up shot of it.

    "Give me a few minutes, I will get the photos printed. In the meantime, I do not have the authority to allow you to do so, but I believe the pandas trust you enough to y with them."

    "Do not worry, I will watch him carefully in case he decides to kidnap any of them." The Zoo Guardughed heartily as Jin continued to y with the pandas at the yground.

    Within ten minutes, the photos were ready and Jin bid farewell to the pandas. Though sad, they knew that he could not stay long. All they could do was to yearn for him toe back soon. "I will, I definitely will." Jin felt a warmness in his heart that he could not describe.

    "So are we going back right now?" Yun asked Jin, who still had some panda fur stuck on his clothes. Jin shook his head and pointed at the field hospital. "I would like to give this to Ku Wai first." Jin showed the beautiful close up shot of the Panda to the entire group and the girls could not help but express great love for the photograph.

    "Do we really have give him this? This is so cute!" Peppers wanted that photo to be ced in the store.

    "Well, I have many others courtesy to the Zoo attendant..whom I do not know the name of. Was too upied by the pandas." Jin removed another ball of fur from his shirt as he walked towards the field hospital.

    --------

    "Can I visit Ku Wai? I fought him not too long ago and he dropped one of his possessions on the ground which the medic did not pick up." Jin told the front desk counter and the nurse agreed to pass it to Ku Wai when he woke up.

    "Why did you do that? Did he not want to end your life?" Peppers questioned Jin''s actions.

    "The cycle of revenge will never end until someone steps away. I vaguely heard that some ''princess'' of his wanted a panda photo so I hope that this small deed may eventually end this stupid cycle of hate before it gets worse." Jin said as he called for a taxi that allowed all five of them to board.

    On the way back, they happily chatted inside the taxi until they eventually reached the store, only to find an extremely long queue of customers waiting outside Jin''s store.

    .

    .

 Chapter 136 Get To Work!

    <h4>Chapter 136 "Get To Work!"</h4>

    "Why is there such arge amount of people waiting outside? I am notte or anything!" Jin checked his phone to look at the time and subsequently assured himself that is it was indeed not opening time yet.

    When Jin got off from the taxi, the first person he saw was Xiong Da. "BOSS! Why did you not tell me that you would not be opened in the morning?" Xiong Da shouted

    "Did I say that I would open in the morning for you?" Jin asked and Xiong Da was stunned for a moment. "Besides, Zhen Qing is here, isn''t she? Why did you not ask her?" Jin looked at Zhen Qing and she nodded her head to confirm the fact that Xiong Da had not asked her.

    "Hahaha, it''s kind of embarrassing, but the truth is that I did not want to leave the queue." Xiong Da shyly spoke after Jin reprimanded him.

    "Then what''s everyone else here for?" Jin was curious as to exactly what was happening.

    "Eh? You were the one who sent out the message saying that the Qixi Festival Dungeon was up and running. The people queuing here are the ones who bought the tickets from the loot box machine and Pandamonium stated this morning that it would be up today." Xiong Da exined and curiously looked at Jin for an answer.

    "Even Bin Yong and Jia Le are queuing, despite it still being the afternoon." Xiong Da pointed at the newly formed couple waiting patiently in the queue.

    "Happened to be our off days today." Bin Yong blushed when he said it whilst holding Jia Le''s hand. "So we thought it would be nice to participate in the event at your store and perhaps have some lunch in the store as well before we go watch a movie in the evening."

    Jin knew the one who yed this trick was either Yun or the system. Yun looked at him innocently and shook her head, denying her involvement. Jin could only sigh at the system taking the initiative to post those Pandamonium messages.

    "Okay, give me five to ten minutes for the store''s equipment to be up and running," Jin assured the queue and the group of betor entered with him.

    "Who are they exactly? Why are they allowed to enter Jin''s store before us?" A customer asked and Xiong Da replied back before baseless usations could be thrown around. "They are the instructors and helpers hired by Jin. Don''t tell me you can''t even recognise Yun?"

    The customers that were queuing started to mellow down after Xiong Da''s exnation. They trusted him because he was a well known regr customer that frequented Jin''s store and Xiong Da would therefore probably know more things about the shop than all of thembined.

    "Still, it''s rare to see Boss Jin going out with such a big group." Bin Yongmented casually and Jia Le giggled. "Boss Jin has a personal life outside of this shop too you know, like how we have to be outside of our jobs to enjoy each other." She ced her arm closer to Bin Yong, which caused the customer right behind them to be slightly envious of their lovey dovey rtionship.

    "Ah, what are you looking at." That particr customer''s girlfriend then pinched his arm and nearly gave him a death stare before he tried to save himself. "It''s just that I suddenly feel how fortunate I am to have you by my side. I imagine that if I were still single, I would be cursing and swearing at how affectionate the couple in front of us is."

    "Really?" His girlfriend pouted a little but blushed too.

    "Definitely." The customer smiled widely, which caused his girlfriend to hide her face in his chest and giggle. Meanwhile, in the customer''s headбн."Safe~!" was all he could think about.

    -----------

    "Are you angry Jin?" Yun saw Jin hurrying to power up everything in the store. Even Zeru and Milk went to the second and third floors respectively to turn on the equipment.

    "A little, but when I think about it logically, it''s not really that a big deal. I knew the system would do things that would make things difficult once in a while. I believe this is something small, and besides, if the system pushes me to earn money, it means that I canplete the short term goals I have faster, like recreating the monster homes." Jin checked the Panda Port to see if everything was working normally.

    When Zeru and Milk came down, Jin decided to take advantage of this chance to request for the Betor''s help. "Zeru, do you mind being the instructor for not just Xiong Da but for everyone who goes into Panda Muscles?" Zeru immediately knelt down and dly epted the work.

    "And Milk, do you mind helping out at the recovery instance in recement of Yun?" Jin asked Milk and Milk readily agreed but then realised something. "If I work at the Recovery instance, then what would Yun do?"

    "She would help out with the food orders here," Jin answered and immediately looked at Peppers. It was obvious that she wanted to help in the store too.

    "I have a very important mission for you Peppers." Jin squatted down and talked to Peppers. Jin knew not to underestimate this little kid. She might be young but she undoubtedly held a universe of knowledge in her head. Like pepper, she could be hot and sharp but if you knew her well enough, she would bring you many benefits.

    "I need you to go to the Dungeon Maker and learn about each and every customer. Their cultivation, their techniques, their ws, and how to improve. Is that okay? Or is that too much?" Jin asked gently and Peppers scoffed.

    "Are you kidding me? That is like the best job I could ever hope for! To collect data! To analyse! Also, finding out about their ws and helping them make improvements? That''s the greatest pleasure a sage could ever get. I honestly prefer that over you asking me to wash the dishes or something." Peppers answered so truthfully that Yun walked over to where Peppers was and pulled her ear.

    "Is there something wrong with washing dishes?" Yun used her authority as the system''s spokesperson to overpower Peppers so that all Peppers could do was apologise before the pain got even worse.

    "Alright, Betors let''s officially get to work!" Jin ordered and the entire group went to their respective instances. "I should also check on Zhen Qing before I open up the store." Jin realised he was too caught up with his betors that he forgot his first real employee.

    "Hi Zhen Qing, how are the preparationsing along?" Jin called using his phone as he found it awkward to go out of the shop at the moment since the customers would be expecting him to open the store instead of going to the caravan. Also...he was just too shy to see Zhen Qing face to face.

    "All good! When I saw the queue outside growing, I decided to go back into the kitchen instance to prepare some more ingredients. I should have enough ingredients now to serve them all." Zhen Qing replied using the earpiece she was wearing that allowed her to listen to the Kitchen AI. She did not know that it could be used tomunicate with Jin too.

    "Excellent, if you need some ck Ivory Coffee, don''t hesitate toe into the store and have a cup. You need your energy to serve the customers. Do not faint on me." Jin showed some concern to Zhen Qing but all she said in reply was "Okay, Thank you."

    "Do not worry, one step at a time." Jin took in a deep breath before he opened the shutters of his store. Qixi Festival Dungeon? If only, he could celebrate Qixi, which wasing in a few days time, with Zhen Qing...that would be the best.

    "Hahaha, do not push your luck and lose a potentially good chef." Jin bitterly smiled to himself as he raised the shutters up and weed his customers. "Wee! And Xiong Da! To your training now!"

    .

    .

 Chapter 137 Niu Lang and Zhi Nu

    <h4>Chapter 137 Niu Lang and Zhi Nu</h4>

    Xiong Da thought that he would be able to eat something first but he had already ordered three ck pepper buns when he was waiting for Jin to open his shop. "Yes, Boss!" Xiong Da knew that what he was doing was all to regain his pride and give Ruo Ying back her freedom, so these sacrifices were worth it.

    Bin Yong and Jia Le managed to get in early and secured a Station. Compared to previous dungeons, the advertisement stated that a cultivator needed to bring their loved one for the Qixi Festival Dungeon. Hence the Qixi Dungeon instance was ideally for two cultivators, a couple would be ideal. If the cultivators wished to participate as a group, they would not be rejected though they may have a slightly different dungeon experience inparison to the couples.

    "Oh my god! The new Qixi Festival Dungeon Instance is that expensive without the ticket?" Bin Yong caught a glimpse of the menu when he was thinking of getting some drinks before he entered the dungeon.

    "How much is it?" Jia Le took a look before she immediately covered her mouth in surprise. "It''s that expensive?" Jia Le looked at Jin and he nodded. "The perks of using the loot box machine. In the future, the loot box machine will sell a themed dungeon at the start of every month and that will be the only way to get to the ticket cheap. Do not worry, since when have my dungeons not given you a nice and proper experience?"

    "Never, at least not that I know of any." Bin Yong wiped his cold sweat away, thanking his stars that the whim to buy two loot boxes for both him and Jia Le was the right choice. A whopping 500 Yuan for a ticket instead of the loot box price of 100 Yuan.

    There were some customers who saw the ticket price and were taken aback too, only to shamelessly ask if there were any loot boxes left. "There is a limited quantity every day until the actual Qixi Festival, so grab it while you can." Jin smiled and the moment he finished speaking, a number of customers began rushing up the stairs just to use the Loot Box Vending Machine.

    "What a scary tactic you used." Jia Lemented as she knew that the price for the dungeon was probably inted due to it being the Qixi Festival, just like every other store. Jin could only shrug at her reply and continued to serve the customers.

    "Woah, Ms Yun! You are not in the recovery instance?" a fairly regr customer queried when he saw the rumoured Nightingale of Jin''s store. "Jin found someone more proficient than me in the art of healing so I offered to relinquish my ce to her. Even I approve of her. You will soon understand why she is the real Nightingale of Jin''s Store."

    "Bin Yong, let''s go!" Jia Le noticed Station 5 was blinking, waiting for the couple, so they quickly rushed over. Even though the new Qixi Festival Dungeon Instance had a rmended slot of two people, the dimensional space station was able to facilitate up to eight cultivators so it could effectively handle four different dungeon instances at the same time.

    When Bin Yong and Jia Le teleported into the dungeon, they realised that they were already caught in the action. "Catch those two!!!" A senior pce guard shouted and both Bin Yong and Jia Le found that they were beside a couple pce guards that were d in the same heavy armour as the one shouting at them.

    "You two mercenary immortals! What are you two staring at? Quickly go catch the traitors. This is under the orders of the Heavenly Empress herself!" The senior pce guard shouted at them and ordered them to do so. It was then that Bin Yong and Jia le realised the two that were running were the Cowherd boy, Niu Lang and the Weaver Girl, Zhi Nu.

    "Do we really have to catch them?" Jia Le looked at Bin Yong as they started to chase after the running couple. The legend of Qixi festival originated from the legend of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu. Zhi Nu was the immortal weaver girl that served under the Heavenly Empress and she was the granddaughter of the Heavenly Emperor. Niu Lang, on the other hand, was just a kind-hearted mortal and a simple cowherd boy.

    The legend went like this. One day, when Niu Lan was out tending to his cows as usual, he found the Zhi Nu''s clothes through pure chance. Searching for the owner of the clothes, he happened to see Zhi Nu bathing in a pond near his cottage. When he returned the clothes to her, somehow or other, they fell in love at first sight. Now, in this dungeon, it seemed that the Empress found out that her granddaughter had decided to marry a mere mortal just for love so she was probably ordering the pce guards to capture Zhi Nu.

    For Bin Yong, the Qixi lore resonated with him a lot. He, a kind-hearted man, though he wouldn''t say it out loud, had fallen in love at first sight with Jia Le, which till this day he could not believe actually happened. And so, he knew how the cowherd and weaver felt. If in this dungeon, he was somehow able to change the course of the legend, it would bring him great joy.

    "Let''s pretend to chase after them but provide them with our assistance if needed." Bin Yong sent a transmission message to Jia Le, which she readily agreed to. Although Jia Le''s love for Bin Yong was from an obsession rather than a love at first sight, she slowly but truly appreciated that she had made the right choice, even if the tactics both she and Bin Yong''s friends had used were rather underhanded.

    "We cannot outrun them Niu Lang!" Zhi Nu turned her head to check how many people were chasing after them. Neither of them was fighters and both knew that every second they spent together could be theirst.

    "Do not worry, just a little further away from the heavenly pce and I might be able to buy us some time!" Niu Lang held tightly onto the Ox leather hide cape he was wearing. It was actually the skin of the dead Heavenly Astral Ox, Taurus, whom Niu Lang had unknowingly taken care of for many years when Taurus had been exiled from the Heavens for a selfless crime. In return for Niu Lang''s kindness and upon hearing his love situation, Taurus told Niu Lang that should he ever die from old age, Niu Land should preserve his skin and carve his horns out as a blowing horn. Lastly, he should keep his tail hair for protection.

    "If you ever feel like you are in a pinch and require help desperately, express your desire for help as you blow the horn. Help will arrive. Give some of the tail hair to your loved one the moment you see her again and ask her to hold onto it properly. You will understand why when the situationes. For now, I shall return to Earth and gaze upon the stars from the ground." The dying words of the Heavenly Astral Ox had always stayed in Niu Lang''s heart and mind and he had never forgotten them.

    "Lady Zhi Nu! Stop at once and you will be forgiven for your crime!" The senior pce guard who was chasing them shouted boomingly at them.

    "It is not a crime for me to love someone I like!" Zhi Nu replied as she stuck her tongue out at them.

    "Do not make things difficult!" The Pce Guards began to move even faster the moment the senior guard gave the order. Meanwhile, Bin Yong and Jia Le ran quietly behind them, hoping to find the right opportunity to strike them and save the star-crossed lovers.

    .

    .

 Chapter 138 You Shall Not Pass!

    <h4>Chapter 138 You Shall Not Pass!</h4>

    "Ah!" Zhi Nu, the Weaver Girl, identally fell after running for such a long distance and the pce guards were catching up on them. Niu Lang the Cowherd Boy stopped to help Zhi Nu up gently, just like how he would pick a flower from the fields.

    Niu Lang would have already given up a long time ago if not for the Heavenly Astral Ox cape that he was wearing. There was no other way he would have been able to run for so long at such a fast pace and keep the Pce Guards away from them.

    "Zhi Nu, I think we have run far enough away from the Heavenly Pce. I counted and confirmed that the number of pce guards that were chasing us is all here. Niu Lang stood right in front of Zhi Nu as the Pce Guards, along with Bin Yong and Jia Le, approached them.

    "You sure can run fast, but no matter how fast you run, you will never be able to outrun us! Especially me, He Bao!" The senior pce guard, He Bao, shouted at them and with a hand gesture, five other heavily armoured pce guards surrounded them.

    "Lady Zhi Nu, for conspiring with that mortal, I am afraid I have to punish you too!" He Bao unsheathed his sword from its scabbard before Niu Lang unexpectedly spoke out loudly.

    "You two! You two are mercenary immortals, right? Will you listen to my plea?" Niu Lang kneeled before Bin Yong and Jia Le, begging for mercy. "I am really in love with Zhi Nu. I do not care about what happens to me but I beg you to please take her away from this mess! I am willing to give anything and everything to you if you help her! Even my next life or my future lives will be in service to you!" Niu Lang banged his head against the celestial floor as hard as he could to show his sincerity.

    Niu Lang knew there was no way to get out of this alive but if the two mercenary immortals who were rumoured to do anything as long as the price was right truly lived up to their rumours, then maybe Zhi Nu might have a chance to be left alive and escape from this mess. That way, he could buy some time for Zhi Nu to escape.

    "What are you talking about Niu Lang?! I will not leave you alone to die!" Zhi Nu cried and immediately hugged Niung to stop him from kowtowing in front of the mercenary immortals. She figured these immortals probably received a hefty payment from the Heavenly Empress, which would probablyst them for a lifetime.

    "Hahaha! Useless efforts by a useless mortal! Your act of cowardice has entertained me sufficiently, now you shall pay the price for loving our Lady Zhi Nu!" He Bao rushed towards them with the intention to kill the mortal. Zhi Nu would be injured by his strike but he knew that the Pce Doctors were proficient enough to fix an immortal up.

    *Ba -ng~!*

    A small beetle-shaped bronze shield appeared in front of He Bao and the strike was deflected by it. "Niu Lang, you said you would pay us with everything you had, right?" Bin Yong smirked when he saw He Bao''s stunned face. Niu Lang shouted "Yes! Anything!!!" At that instant, he quickly took out his horn that was carved from the Heavenly Astral Ox and blew into it hard.

    *Buuuuu oooooonnnnnnn*

    The hunting horn echoed through the area, and the next scenepletely befuddled the pce guards. That was because they saw a giant shadow lurking over Niu Lang''s back. "Hmmph, I will take care of them, run away!" A giant ck minotaur with leather shoulder armour and leg guards grunted at Niu Lang. Zhi Nu ced her hands over her mouth to mask her shock at the reveal of Niu Lang''s secrets.

    Bin Yong had decided to stay behind with the Minotaur to fight against the guards in order to buy more time for Jia Le and the couple to escape. It was not wise to split the party and divide their forces, but Bin Yong figured that if he could keep this minotaur alive, it might prove to be a formidable ally inter fights. He participated in enough of Jin''s dungeons to know that this was just the beginning. In addition, this seemed to merely be the start of the legend, and therefore, only the start of the dungeon, meaning the worst had yet toe.

    The minotaur snorted at the pce guards before howling loudly to disy his fury. With his two handed great sword, the minotaur bashed a nearby pce guard with it, which caused him to fly towards the Heavenly Pce. Jia Le took this chance to grab Zhi Nu before running off with Niu Lang as they ran towards the Temporal Gate of Heavens which connects the Heavens, Earth and Hell.

    "You are not getting away!" He Bao roared in anger and blew into his own hunting horn. Subsequently, two animated stone lions, one ck, one white, crawled out from the celestial floor. These were the mostmon Regal guardian beasts that most senior pce guards were able tomand.

    The type of material the guardian beasts were made out of showed how powerful the senior guard was. Stone was the weakest while gold was the strongest. Most of the guardian lions that were summoned came as a pair. The ck Stone Lion represented Yin while the White Stone Lion represented Yang.

    "Go hunt down this mercenary immortal, tear him into pieces and then track down the others and kill all of them. Go, my stone lions!" He Baomanded as he continued his fight with the giant Minotaur. "I promise I will kill you!" He Bao cursed under his breath at Niu Lang who pulled such a trick on them.

    The summoned Minotaur was proving to be a tough opponent for the Pce Guards, mainly because its origin was the Heavenly Astral Ox, a named entity unlike the pce guards who had only been training without much realbat experience.

    Not wanting the Minotaur to do all the work, Bin Yong also went into a fighting stance. Just from seeing the small interactions between the pce guards and the Minotaur, he knew that this would be a tough fight...

    ----------

    "For a ce in heaven, it''s surprisingly quiet." Jia Le casuallymented to herself, which made her chuckled. "It''s a dungeon instance! If this were real, I don''t think we would have been able to run away that easily simply due to overpoption." That''s what she thought Bin Yong''s reply to herment would have been and smiled. She and the star crossed couples eventually reached the Temporal Gates of Heaven. However, the three of them were met with another obstacle.

    "I am sorry but you are not allowed to pass, Lady Zhi Nu. And little mortal, I have to punish you for escaping my security check! " Two gate gods, also known as Men Shen, stopped them right at the Temporal Gates of Heavens. These divine guardians of doors and gates were used to protect the heavens against evil influences and to encourage good hearted ones to enter.

    "Please! Let us go! All I want is to have a simple life with Niu Lang! Nothing else!" Zhi Nu tried to plead the gate gods for their forgiveness. Niu Lang once again felt useless and felt that he had made Zhi Nu suffered.

    Jia Le noticed the look on Niu Lang''s face and recognised it immediately. She patted Niu Lang on the shoulder and said, "Love conquers all. Believe in it!" Upon hearing that, Niu Lang did not know if he should be thanking the mercenary immortal for her advice since he still had no idea whether or not he believed it.

    "By the Heavenly Empress'' Decree, I cannot allow you to pass through. However, if you prove yourself worthy through our test of strength! " The door gods, who were talking in unison, suddenly stopped and came out from their posts at the gates.

    "I, Duke Zhuang, Divine Left Gate Guardian of the Temporal Gates of Heavens." The red faced door god shouted out his name and wielded his two handed mace, going into a fighting stance.

    "And I, Duke Zhong Wu, Divine Right Gate Guardian of the Temporal Gates of Heavens!" The green faced door god announced his name too as he swung his halberd out in the open.

    "Will battle all of you. Till then, You shall not pass!" Both Divine guardians of the Temporal Gates of Heavens shouted in unison as they readied their weapons against the group.

    .

    .

 Chapter 139 Umbral Minotaur

    <h4>Chapter 139 Umbral Minotaur</h4>

    ---A few minutes before---

    "Oh my god! Niu Lang was able to summon a ck Minotaur?!" The customers in the shop were once againpletely astonished by the surprises Jin had in store for them. "If Niu Lang had been that strong in the old folktale, he probably would have openly defied the Heavenly Empress and there would never have been a Qixi Festival." A male customermented and the others around him startedughing.

    "Does that means Zhi Nu will also have a certain set of battle skills?" A female customer queried and many other customers started to conjure possible theories. "She''s a weaver so she might have some string rted attacks." An elderly onlooker who heard the Qiximotion decided toe and take a look at how a Dungeon Supplier would be able to weave a fresh story out of an old folktale.

    "You are most probably right, Madam." Yun magically took out a foldable chair from the bar counter and offered her a seat. The granny thanked Yun and sat down to watch the dungeon matches. Even the customers were kind enough to allow the granny to have a good view of the dungeons.

    ------------

    Bin Yong defended against another strike from the ck Stone Lion before it stepped back and blew a breath of ckish fire at Bin Yong. "Shit, they can breathe fire too?" Bin Yong briefly remembered the time when he fought against a Wyrm Ant in the Zither Mistress Dungeon with some random cultivators since his friends Luo Bo and Shi Zuo were not avable to apany him.

    He remembered how demoralising it was to have to fight fire and ice at the same time. If Bin Yong was not mistaken, the White Stone Lion would be able to shoot ice projectiles at him too. As a test, he tried to harass the White Stone Lion. As predicted, it shot out shards of ice at him.

    This was when Bin Yong grinned a little. "I guess this mantle was a good investment after all." From his storage ring, he took out a mantle and wrapped himself with it. The mantle had a fire absorption talisman inscribed, which cost him about 80 bronze panda medal coins. After that, he also took out an essory band from his storage ring and wore it immediately. The band was inscribed with an ice resistance incantation that cost 10 bronze panda.

    Compared to cold, he was actually more afraid of fire since he remembered being burnt alive in the Zither Mistress instance and the freezing cold was merely damage he would try to avoid if he had sufficient resistance. The rest of the panda medal coins he had received from his multiple dungeon ythroughs were spent on upgrading his simple buckler into a bronze beetle shaped shield.

    It looked way cooler on Bin Yong especially since he was a beetle style cultivator. Thankfully for him, the red panda in the weaponry store said that he was the 100th customer to use their services so they also slightly tempered his sword, which gave his sword a small power boost for free. The appearance did not change much but Bin Yong could feel that it was slightly lighter and swung better than before.

    "Come at me, kitties." Bin Yong finally dared to face the two stone lions face to face. Meanwhile, the Umbral Minotaur, as he was named by the customers, was having a stбн batting the pce guards with his warclub as they dashed towards him. The Pce guards'' armour was strong enough to absorb a partial amount of blunt damage so the guards were tenacious enough to continue fighting against the Umbral Minotaur.

    He Bao had enough of being whacked around like a baseball so he summoned his qi into his sword as the other pce guards were distracting the Umbral Minotaur. "If I am not able to finish off this cow, I am not worthy of the title Senior Pce Guard!" The sword was blinding with a whitish blue me radiating off of it before He Bao shouted out. "Exorcism de of Yin!"

    He Bao swung his sword and three crescent waves burning bright with whitish blue me began flying towards the Umbral Minotaur. The pce guards took the chance to rush in and hold back the minotaur to prevent it from running.

    The first crescent wave of blue exorcism fire torched the Umbral Minotaur and it howled loudly in pain. Despite all the pain, it was going through, the Minotaur used all of its might to lift two guards that were holding his arms and smash them together with a powerful p. The second crescent wave burned the pce guards but it also damaged the Umbral Minotaur''s arms badly.

    With no strength left to defend against the third attack, the minotaur stood there in preparation to receive it and endure the pain. Yet, something flew towards the third wave and the bluish me exploded right in front of the Umbral Minotaur. The me had exploded when it hit the ck Stone Lion that Bin Yong had knocked back in the Minotaur''s direction with his Shield bash attack.

    It happened when the ck Stone Lion was concentrating on spewing ck mes and it thought that Bin Yong was being burned to a crisp by its me since there was little to no movement from him. However, in truth, the fire absorption mantle was actually absorbing all the fire damage as Bin Yong redirected some of the mes with his shield too. During that time, the fire absorbed by the mantle was slowly converting into stored energy for Bin Yong to use.

    The process was extremely delicate so Bin Yong could not move too much, or else the fire absorption mantle would just release the fire it absorbed and dissipate it as heat energy into the surroundings. Once Bin Yong thought there was sufficient energy, he used one of his Shield Arts, namely a Shield Bash, on the ck Stone Lion when it least expected it, causing it to fly and crash into the blue me crescent wave.

    The Umbral Minotaur did not waste the precious chance it had been given and grabbed the other two pce guards that were holding its legs and smashed them into the floor before throwing them towards He Bao like how a baseball pitcher would throw a ball.

    Thest pce guard who had been holding his tail suddenly backed off and ran away. He Bao managed to dodge the two gyro-ball throws from the Umbral Minotaur and dashed forward. The Umbral Minotaur snorted as he went down on all fours. With his horns aimed at He Bao, the bull shed head on with He Bao.

    Unfortunately for He Bao, he had underestimated the power of the bull''s charge. His sword broke into smithereens and one of the horns gored through his pce armour. That moment of recklessness was the greatest mistake He Bao had ever made, or would ever make. The Umbral Minotaur proceeded to drop him and stomp on him continuously with his hind legs. Within minutes, all that was left was a battered mess of metal and flesh.

    --------

    To Jin''s surprise, the customers actually cheered for the Umbral Minotaur even though it was just an ''NPC'' in the dungeon. He did not expect it to receive an ovation. "Man, that Umbral Minotaur was wicked, just look at how it tore the Pce Guards apart!" A male customer shouted.

    Meanwhile, in the same station where the same instance was being yed by four other cultivators who were ying as a group, the situation was different. Those cultivators actually chose to help the Pce Guards, though Niu Lang still summoned the same Umbral Minotaur out to protect him.

    However, one of the cultivators received the same fate as the senior pce guard in the dungeon Instance Bin Yong was in, before they brought down the Umbral Minotaur, but not before sustaining severe casualties "Serves those cultivators right for trying to go against Niu Lang!" One of the customers was filled with angst because the four cultivators decided to blindly follow the pce guards.

    "So the system is also giving cultivators choices like how I did in the Bank Heist Instance. Interesting!" Jin thought to himself while telling the customers to simmer down a bit. They apologised to Jin before continued enjoying the show.

    .

    .

 Chapter 140 Battle Weaver

    <h4>Chapter 140 Battle Weaver</h4>

    "I do not want to fight, but I will if I have to!" From her sash, Zhi Nu took out a box of needles and swiftly took two needles out. What could not be seen by the naked eye was that two strings were attached to the needles Zhi Nu took out and she held it in her own fighting pose, unique and something that could only be created by a distinguished Weaver.

    "I will assist." Jia Le took out her kunai from her bag that contained her stock of kunais. Jia Le even had a thick nylon sheath bag attached to her legs for a quick draw of kunais if needed. She showed off her Breathtaking Bellflower cultivation and disyed three flower silhouettes slowly waving in the air above her.

    Niu Lang suddenly felt like a burden for he was just a mortal with a specially made leather hide cape and an extra ox horn. Somehow, Niu Lang felt that he should not use that horn at this particr moment but he would use it if he had to. "Go hide!" Jia Le shouted and Niu Lang quickly obliged since he knew he would just be a burden if he remained.

    "I will strike first!" Duke Zhuang, the Left Divine Guardian, spoke as he smashed his two handed mace down towards the ground and caused arge crack to appear in the celestial ground. Jia Le smiled at this as cracks in the ground meant that a growing flower could struggle through and blossom under hardship, ultimatelying out stronger.

    "Kunai Art! Entrapping fields of Bellflowers!" Jia Le sacrificed the kunai she had been holding and threw it into the crack that was created by Duke Zhuang previously. Within moments, arge series of vines appeared from the crack and wrapped themselves around Duke Zhuang, entrapping him in a tangle of vines. Zhi Nu wanted to attack Duke Zhuang too but was a step toote because Duke Zhong Wu, the Right Divine Guardian, swooped in and broke the vines.

    However, the experienced Jia Le took this opportunity to throw another Kunai at them. "Kunai Art! Rising Thorn of the Earthly Bellflower!" When the Kunai touched the side armour of Duke Zhong Wu, arge spike of chi burst out from the kunai, which simted a spike growing out from the ground, wounding Zhong Wu''s right shoulder.

    Seeing Jia Le''s actions, Zhi Nu did not hesitate and moved her arms around with a needle in each hand. The invisible strings of death tied around the kunai''s handle and with a pull, the kunai plunged deeper into Duke Zhong Wu''s shoulder. This also caused therge spike of chi to pierce all the way through and render his right shoulder useless.

    At this point, Duke Zhuang broke out of the vines and threw his mace at Zhi Nu. To his surprise, the two handed mace was left hanging in midair right before it hit Zhi Nu''s enchanting face. Cold beads of sweat flowed down the side of her face as she let out a sigh of relief. Zhi Nu had been dexterous enough to weave the strings to create a shield that was strong enough to stop the impact of the flying mace.

    This time, Zhi Nu smiled, because with a weapon at the mercy of her strings, she was extremely deadly. She moved her hands as if she was dancing and the two handed mace flew back at Duke Zhong Wu, who had an injured right shoulder.

    Unfortunately, the door guards were not going to be taken down with just that. Duke Zhong Wu managed to catch the two handed mace barehanded even with his injured right shoulder. It was then that Zhi Nu grinned and Duke Zhong Wu noticed something was amiss. There were still strings attached to the two handed mace and the strings were released immediately when Duke Zhong Wu realised it.

    A barrage of needles burst out from theyer of strings that was wrapped around the handle and Duke Zhong Wu was immobilised. "A weaver does not just know about needles and strings. Acupuncture is something I learned while I was in the mortal world with Niu Lang!" Zhi Nu shouted and Duke Zhong Wu could barely move.

    Duke Zhuang, on the other hand, grabbed Duke Zhong Wu''s halberd and cut the strings attached to the needles, but the Zhi Nu''s acupuncture needles had already paralysed him. It was also at that point that Duke Zhuang noticed a bright lighting towards him.

    "Intermediate Kunai Arts! Booming Blooming Bellflowers!" Several kunais were thrown in session in his direction and when the Kunai came into contact with something, an explosion was ignited in the shape of a Bellflower. With that, Duke Zhong Wu had fallen but Duke Zhuang was still standing, albeit precariously. He took Duke Zhong Wu''s Halberd and swung it around him continuously, which caused a mini hurricane to appear right in front of him. Debris was moving around the hurricane, which was a boundary to stop for both kunais and needles from reaching him.

    Within the eye of the hurricane, Duke Zhuang finally thought that he was safe for a moment before he heard an incantation shouted out from above. "Sword Art! Flying Bombardment Dive of the Bombardier Beetle!" Bin Yong was seen flying into the eye of the hurricane with the help of the Umbral Minotaur that threw him into it. It appeared that Bin Yong and the Umbral Minotaur had finished their fight and rushed to aid Zhi Nu and Jia Le.

    Duke Zhuang was not giving up a single bit as he pointed the halberd towards Bin Yong''s direction and did a high jump. "Rising Lion Strike!" Duke Zhuang''s halberd disyed the silhouette of a Lion. Through the fuzzy hurricane, all the bystanders could see was the silhouette of a beetle flying down into the mouth of a lion.

    "h! Another Lion! Enough with the Lions!" Bin Yong shouted as he remembered duelling the white stone lion. The ice shards were surprisingly fast and all Bin Yong could do was block them with his shield. There were no openings since the White Stone Lion always kept its distance since it had seen the fate of its counterpart.

    It was at that moment that Bin Yong remembered the gift he had earned in the mini game he had yed in the Emerald Mountain Hot Springs Service Instance. He actually received a mixed set of smoke grenades and sh bombs. From his storage ring, he quickly pulled one out and there was a whitebel, which indicated that it was a shbang.

    "Perfect!" Bin Yong thought to himself as he quickly threw it at the White Stone Lion, which the Lion instinctively targeted, causing arge sh that blinded the lion. Bin Yong, who covered himself with the mantle before the shbang exploded, used that opportunity to dash in and stab the White Stone Lion through its mouth causing it to die when the ice shard it had been generating exploded within its mouth.

    ----------

    The hurricane dissipated when Bing Yong and Duke Zhang shed, but the bystanders could only see arge explosion of chi happening right in front of them. Only right after the explosion could the rest of the group see Bin Yong lifelessly drop from the sky along with Duke Zhuang.

    "Bin Yong!!" Jia Le reacted quickly as she saw him crashing down. Bin Yong had seeded in his attack but it nearly cost him his life. With her kunai arts, vines grew in time to catch Bin Yong and Jia Le quickly rushed towards him. "Hahaha...looks like I underestimated the enemy this time round." Bin Yong whispered.

    "Shhhh, do not talk. Drink up." Jia Le took out a high grade chi regeneration potion which she had bought from Jin''s underground store and let him sip it bit by bit. Bin Yong coughed and he tried to drink the potion''s content slowly.

    When Jia Le was attending to Bin Yong, the Temporal Gates of Heavens opened, indicating that the group had passed the test. Zhi Nu called out for Niu Lang toe out from his hiding spot but there was no answer...and she assumed the worst.

    "Yes...assume the worst, Zhi Nu." The Heavenly Empress walked towards the group as she had her pce guards hold onto a heavily bruised Niu Lang.

    .

    .

 Chapter 141 Heavenly Empress

    <h4>Chapter 141 Heavenly Empress</h4>

    "Let him go! That would be your reply when you see this scene right? However, in your heart, you know that even if you say that, I would notply, which is why you are currently silent. Am I correct?" The Heavenly Empress Ma Zu talked down to Zhi Nu with absolute authority and some defying grace mixed in.

    "Zhi Nu now knows she is in the wrong, please pardon that particr mister and Zhi Nu will listen to Heavenly Empress Ma Zu''s instructions." Zhi Nu immediately knelt down with her head against the floor.

    "Kill him and your sins will be dissolvedpletely and everything will merely be water under the bridge." Ma Zu ordered the guards to throw Niu Lang in front of her. "Oh, and those mercenary immortals, do not even think or dare toe near. Else I will have you killed instantly too."

    "Darlingбн" Zhi Nu teared as the guard lobbed a sword to her and Niu Lang was so badly bruised that he could barely talk. However, he used all the strength he had left and said. "Do it... I''d rather die in your hands than by the hands of these guards."

    Zhi Nu trembled as her hand reluctantly picked the sword up. Her tears were like a waterfall and she was gasping for breath from all the silent crying. "For the rest of my life, I will never regret liking you. I will never regret loving you. I will never regret having you be a huge part of my life."

    "But I will regret killing youбн" Zhi Nu did not even dare to wipe her tears away as she did not want to close her eyes and forget her raison d''etre. Her one and only love. The memories of spending time with him shed through her mind, only to be cruelly interrupted by the Heavenly Empress Ma Zu''s orders. "Hurry up and finish him, do not waste my time."

    At that moment, Jia Le was too afraid to do anything but Bin Yong, who was still coughing up blood, tried his best to stand up. "DO NOT KILL HIM!" Bin Yong shouted with a slight hoarseness in his voice.

    Zhi Nu turned her head as if suddenly broken out of a trance. "Do not do it! Who was the one who tried to bring you out of the Heavenly Pce? How did he do it? How many risks did he have to take just toe here and bring you away? Who was the one who begged to try and hire us so you that you could remain safe regardless of his safety? Who did you risk yourself for against the D--cough cough! Against the Door Gods? Was the fight against the door gods just for show? If you already decided to defy the Heavenly Empress and live the life you wanted, why are you stopping right now? Are you that selfish?!" Bin Yong words made both Zhi Nu and Jia Le equally stunned.

    "Tsk, Mercenary immortals! I told you not to interrupt!" The Heavenly Empress immediately summoned an energy bolt and wanted to kill Niu Lang. However, the skies turned ck all of a sudden and a flock of magpies swooped down from above, causing Niu Lang to disappear right before their eyes.

    Bin Yong then realised that Niu Lang had suddenly appeared in front of him. He quickly took out his small, pathetic shield and pushed his body forward to protect Niu Lang. It was then that a beautifuldy with a terrific figure wearing a ck feathered dress appeared right in front of Bin Yong to shield Niu Lang too.

    "Queen of Magpies, Que Er. Why are you here?" Heavenly Empress Ma Zu was annoyed by the change of events but her guards were quick to restrain Zhi Nu from moving away. "Apromise. I am here for apromise. You owe me something but clearly, you do not intend to return it to its rightful owner. Therefore, I willpromise, but you have topensate me."

    "That silver hairpin? Why should I give you that? It was mine to begin with!" Heavenly Empress Ma Zu took the silver hairpin out and gazed lovingly at it.

    "Then you have topensate me. You are not allowed to kill the mercenary immortals and the mortal boy."

    "Hah! And why should I listen to you? You are just a minor queen of the magpies whereas I am the Empress of the High Heavens. However, I still don''t like owing people." The Heavenly Empress took onest look at the silver hairpin and chanted some words before she threw it towards the Queen of Magpies and the rest of the group.

    The silver hairpin suddenly changed shape and a magical river appeared right in front of them, splitting the heavens. The river stream was raging with the Heavenly Empress Ma Zu''s anger. It was so fierce that none of them from either side of the river would have any chance to cross the river.

    "Then let this river be the means to forget the past." The Heavenly Empress walked away with her guards, leaving Zhi Nu to suffer right in front of the raging river. Before Ma Zu walked away, she turned around and said, "If you wish to meet him, it will be at your own peril. I am warning you right now. Forget about him and start afresh."

    Meanwhile, Zhi Nu cried in front of the river even more, which caused the river stream to be even more turbulent. She regretted not being strong enough to stand against Ma Zu and be with Niu Lang. She knew that no matter how high she could jump or how far she was willing to travel to see the end of the river, it would be impossible because it was technically a magic spell by Ma Zu to prevent her and only her from meetingNiu Lang. It was a curse and mercy at the same time. Thepromise Ma Zu had given to the Queen of Magpies for borrowing her silver hairpin and not returning it on time.

    Separately, the bruised Niu Lang move closer to the river despite his wounds. "What are you doing?" Que Er was a little annoyed that this mortal which Taurus asked her to take care of decided to throw his life away by going into this magical river.

    "Sir Taurus said that his tail fur would provide protection, so I will use all of it to meet Zhi Nu on the other side of the river." Niu Lang wanted to die trying just to meet Zhi Nu onest time.

    "If it could protect you, you would not be in this state right now!" Jia Le tried to reason with him and tried to pull him away from the river but he was refusing to budge.

    "Wait, you said you have Taurus''s tail?" the Queen of Magpie questioned him with a certain degree of seriousness,

    "Yesбн" He took out a bunch of the tail fur and showed it to Que Er. "I even gave some of it to Zhi Nu, hoping Taurus would take care of her too." Niu Lang coughed.

    "HA HA HA HA! Oh Taurus, Oh Taurus. The mortal you chose. So Interesting, so pitiful and yet so admirable. Like you, he is so stubborn and loyal. For you, my old friend, and your caretaker''s undying love, I will do him a service." Que Er took a strand of the tail fur and demanded him to hold on to the rest securely.

    Facing the river, She threw the tail fur and the river temporarily split apart and that was when Zhi Nu finally saw Niu Lang. "Stop! Do not move yet!" Qu Er shouted and shemanded her flock of magpies to appear and create a bridge right in front of them, spanning across the width of the river.

    "You two may now meet. The time limit is just 30 minutes before Taurus''s magical fur dissipates. My bridge of magpies can hide both of your presence from Empress Ma Zu if you stand right in the middle of it. After which you have to part ways or else Ma Zu will not spare either of you. Now go, your 30 minutes are ticking away." Qu Er said and Niu Lang dragged himself towards the middle of the Magpie bridge.

    Zhi Nu immediately ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "Niu Lang!! I am sorry! I am sorry I ever thought of killing you."

    "I do not me you a single bit. Who even dares to defy the Heavenly Empress so openly?" Both of them looked at the mercenary immortals and both knelt and bowed their heads towards Bin Yong and Jia Le.

    There was a slight warmth in both of the couples. "It was interesting to see this story from a new perspective." Bin Yong said. He really felt like he was part of the folktale legend so much that he had nearly forgotten that this was just a dungeon instance.

    "You were very brave....to stand up to the Heavenly Empress" Jia Le looked at Bin Yong with much affection and crept closer towards him. "Argh, my hand" Bin Yong wanted to embrace the moment but Jia Le identally sat on his hand, which was still recovering from the pain.

    "Sorry! Are you okay dear?" Jia Le moved away a little and wanted to see his hand but Bin Yong did not care right now. He used his other hand to bring her forward and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. His first kiss. It was also Jia Le''s first genuine one, and Jia Le then wrapped her arms around Bin Yong and gave him an even more passionate one.

    "Aw." The Beetle and Bellflower couple had totally forgotten about the cameras that were constantly streaming their actions to the crowd, which caused the customers waiting for their turn to cheer extremely loudly at their sess. Jin also felt a little embarrassed but he felt proud that someone had actually managed to find the true ending of the Qixi Festival Dungeon Instance even though it was only the first day, ording to Yun at least.

    He was surprised by the system''s decision to include things like the yer''s interaction and choice along with the need for charisma skills instead of just fighting skills. Maybe the system really did learn from Jin''s method of creating dungeons and refined its own. However, Jin also felt like the system was making fun of him through the use of the death issue between Zhi Nu and Empress Ma Zu. Or maybe he was thinking a little too much.

    "In any case, kudos to the BxB couple." Jin bitterly smiled to himself, thinking about when he too could be as brave as Bin Yong. On that though, he started to print out the medals for the couple.

    .

    .

 Chapter 142 The Peoples Favourite

    <h4>Chapter 142 The People''s Favourite</h4>

    "WOOOOOOOOO!" The customers cheered as the Beetle and Bellflower couple came out of Station 5. They were cheering for Bin Yong and Jia Le for giving them such a spectacrly beautiful dungeon run. It felt like they had rewritten the Qixi Festival folktale into their own story.

    "Congrattions for finding the True Ending of the Qixi Festival Dungeon Instance." Jin pped along with the customers and the couple could only blush. "Way to go Mister Beetle!" A customer cheered for Bin Yong''s speech against the Heavenly Empress. Jin ushered his two customers to the Wall of Honour, which was what most of Jin''s customers dubbed it as.

    "For your first dungeon clear of the Qixi Festival Dungeon instance, I am awarding you 1 gold medal each as a reward as well as a custom-made actual medal, courtesy of our store." Jin passed the gold Panda medal coin to the couple, which got Bin Yong more excited than having it as digital currency. "Wow, this is so much prettier in real life than the one I saw on the phone." Bin Yong tried to bite it and was assured that it was real.

    He then received a medal with Niu Lang and Zhi Nu meeting each other on a bridge of magpies imprinted on it. At the back of the medal, it stated his name along with his achievement "Lion Ass Kicker", which made him giggled.

    For Jia Le, her achievement was "Fantastic Kisser", which she blushed at instantly and followed by punching Jin''s arm. "You are so bad!" Jia Le took this chance to move closer to Bin Yong and kiss him on his cheek, which made the customers cheer loudly once more!

    "One more thing. Because Bin Yong has consecutively been on the Wall of Honour for a number of times, I would like to present him with a set of vouchers. It contains two tickets to the Panda Muscles Service Instance as well as the Emerald Mountain Hot Springs Service Instance." Jin passed an envelope to Bin Yong, which he bowed a little when epting to thank Boss Jin.

    "The Panda Muscles is a service instance for all your training needs. I even currently have an instructor stationed there to assist with your training if you need any help. It is a ginormous service instance with a gym, fighting ring, swimming pool, indoor running track and many other facilities."

    "Is it paid per entry? Or is there a monthly membership fee?" A customer seemed interested in the notion of a well rounded exercise facility.

    "Currently, it is 40 Yuan per entry for the Panda Muscles on the third floor. Monthly, annual and even lifetime memberships will be avable within the week! Remember to check it out in the Pandamonium announcements." Jin was finally able to advertise his service instance with therge crowd having their attention on him. After which, he thanked Bin Yong and Jia Le for their participation and returned to the cash counter.

    In less than a minute, a few customers had already decided to try and take a look at the Panda Muscles service instance. "Jia Le, want to go and check it out?" Bin Yong did not want to miss anything out but Jia Le refused.

    "I want to eat some good food first!" Jia Le pointed at the curry rice on the menu since wanted to rest for a while and Bin Yong readily agreed. "Miss Yun! Two Tonkatsu Curry Rice and Panda Soda! Ehh.. is it okay for me to order the ck Pepper Bun from here?" Bin Yong courteously gave his orders to Yun.

    "Yeap, Just tell me how many you want and I can go get it for you." Yun smiled so gently, Jia Le was a little jealous of such perfection but she noticed Bin Yong was not paying much attention to Yun at all.

    "Okay, Give me one ck Pepper Bun for now, I will pay for that with Panda Credits too." Bin Yong nodded his head to Yun and waited for the food. "I wonder if Boss Jin will produce even more delicacies or main dishes?" Jia Le could not wait for the Tonkatsu Curry Rice. If not for the Panda Credits, she would not even have dared to imagine what kind of prices this shop would charge for its food.

    "Depends if our new chef wants to create something new or not." Yun passed the Panda Soda to the couple first.

    "You mean, she has been creating all this great food?" Bin Yong opened the Panda Soda Can and he let it fizzle for a moment before he started to drink it.

    "Only the ck Pepper Bun is her current creation. The rest were from a secret food supplier which Jin has not revealed to me either. However, he said that he did not wish to rely on that food supplier too much. In case, you know..." Yun smiled as she walked away to get the curry rice for them.

    "Ahh, over reliance and the food supplier might charge more for its products. Come to think of it, Boss Jin''s dungeons are not really that expensive. In fact, it''s a steal even at 500 Yuan." Bin Yongmented to Jia Le.

    "Why would you say that? Haven''t other dungeon suppliers either started to supply something simr or have already supplying something simr to Boss Jin?" Jia Le replied.

    "Oh, you noticed those advertisements on the news websites too?" Bin Yong asked Jia Le as heter thanked Yun for the quick serving of the tonkatsu curry rice.

    "What advertisements?" Yun served the second te to Jia Le, which she gratefully epted.

    "Oh, apparently people have started to copy Boss Jin''s modus operandi, especially King''s Monster. They are serving food alongside their dungeons. Shi Zuo that monkey decided to give it a try and he said it was only so-so though." Bin Yong immediately chomped on one of the pork cutlets and the juicy bit of the meat made him feel bliss. The sweet curry swam around his mouth and caused him to hunger for more.

    "However, the dungeons were terrible or maybe worse than before. Shi Zuo said It looked more shy but it did not have the impact. He also said it didn''t have the feeling of excitement that he experienced when he was ying the Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance." Bin Yong described as Jia Le secretly stole one small cutlet piece away from Bin Yong.

    "I see, thank you for the info. Looks like we have to step up our game too." Yun chuckled, and Jia Le agreed with her opinion. "Please more dungeons or service instances and most importantlyбн more food!! I am really starting to feel like this shop is my second home. I used to hate dungeons but for some reason, ever since I started dungeoning in Boss Jin''s store, I feel the need to dungeon every once in a while or I might get withdrawal symptoms!"

    Some of the customers that were beside them overheard their conversation and inserted their opinions too. "Same here, I can never go to other dungeon suppliers after experiencing Jin''s Dungeons. Besides, the spiritual force I receive regardless of victory or defeat has been beneficial for my cultivation." A female officedy spoke outright.

    "This dungeon made me lose weight and those clothes in the underground store, Oooo Ms Yun! Please ask Boss Jin for a discount sale or something! The clothes are all so beautiful but I can''t afford them all."

    "As beautiful as me?" Yun tried to boast and almost all the customers around the coupleughed cordially. The atmosphere around the bar counter was gentle, warm and pleasing, which was quite the contrast to the areas near the Dimensional Space Stations, where the crowd were ced at the edge of their seats to see the cultivators win with style or lose valiantly.

    Jin managed to catch a glimpse of the entire situation and was d that he made the right choice to put Yun, the people''s favourite, right at the front line to gain poprity for the shop.

 Chapter 143 Panda Muscles

    <h4>Chapter 143 Panda Muscles</h4>

    "Instructor Zeru! What next?!" Xiong Da shouted loudly to prove that he was done with the exercise regime that Zeru had given him. Xiong Da had sweat enough to fill up akerge enough for a hippo to float around.

    "That will be it for today. Go get yourself some food, you deserve it." Zeru gave his approval and Xiong Da was finally able to rx in the boxing ring. Having spent a lot of time in Panda Muscles, he did not realise it was alreadyte night.

    During the time Xiong Da had been training, he had seen a number of new faces in the Panda Muscles Service Instance. Many were trying out the equipment installed in this major facility. Who did not like new advanced stuff? Even Xiong Da, who was particr about gyms, had started to love Panda Muscles a lot. The individual toilets here were cleaner than any high ss gym had he tried going to and that was his pet peeve for most gyms that he had gone to.

    To Xiong Da''s surprise, there were actually instructors allocated for the Panda Muscles Service Instance. All the customers had to do was hire them from the centre of the Panda Muscles facility, which was where the reception centre was located. The funny thing was that the instructors were actually the gang of werejackals and werecats that had been captured by Jin.

    "Wow, is Jin secretly a super engineer that knows how to programme his instances or is he some crazy smart genius that knows some high level cultivation magic?" Xiong Da could not help butment when he saw the werejackals walking around helping the cultivators.

    "Unless...those monsters are REAL?" Xiong Da tried to rationalise the possibility since Zeru was real even though he acted as an AI instructor when the training had just begun.

    "Heh, he just so happened to find some...group that was willing to believe in him and lent their technology and cultivation magic expertise to him. But trust me, Jin has fought enough monsters to create these dungeons." Zeru tried to exin and defend Jin vaguely when he passed a bottle of fresh spring water for Xiong Dato drink. Xiong Da also dismissed that thought after some consideration. There was no dungeon supplier, for now at least, able to provide real monsters in captivity, and much less have those different monsters act the same each time in the dungeon.

    "Hahaha, sounds like he made a deal with the devil...or should I say the Pandas." Xiong Daughed as he thanked Zeru for the water.

    Initially, the werejackals looked menacing and cultivators had a hard time starting a conversation with them, but in no time, the male cultivators finally got used to their presence. They were giving the cultivators advice as well as training tips also while helping them develop a training regime. In fact, only the werejackals were fast enough to keep up with the cultivators'' training pace.

    For the females, Nyami and Meomi were the ones assisting them. Nyami already had enough students to open a ss for yoga while Meomi did CrossFit training with the other females.

    "You sure you guys won''t get stronger by training with us?" A grade 2 male cultivator asked Werejackal Grey and heughed at the cultivator. "If we do not train with you guys, you guys will feel that we are not a challenge at all!"

    "So in a way, we are training with the enemy to learn about our enemy?" The ponytail female cultivator questioned and Meomi nodded her head. "Applies to both of us."

    "That''s not a bad way to train since having a rival works always works well" The grade 2 cultivator replied as he continued his weightlifting reps.

    When Xiong Da was fully rested up, he noticed that some of the customers had their digital pets out with them. Some of the pets were cheering their cultivators on, while others were holding onto a towel or a bottle of water for them to refresh themselves.

    "Ah, I totally forget about the existence of my digital pet." Xiong Da took his phone out and checked the Pandamonium forums. He quickly activated his pet and a small, cute, miniature sized hippo yawned in front of him. Xiong Da also bought the Qixi Festival loot box because he thought that maybe...just maybe... Ruo Ying would join him in the future.

    "In any case, let me give you some new clothes." Xiong Da remembered he had a pet fashion ticket to use and Pandamonium revealed a lollipop essory. Xiong Da thought it was hrious how he got a food fashion item and quickly slotted the essory onto his digital pet hippo.

    "I wonder if these pets have other abilities other than just tagging along." Xiong Da reminded himself to ask Jin but at the moment, he decided to go take a shower first before he went for his dinner.

    -----------

    "Where''s Boss Jin?" Xiong Da asked as he looked around the now empty store, with only Yun cleaning the bar counter and Milk sitting nearby drinking a cup of ck ivory coffee.

    "He is outside at the kitchen caravan with Zhen Qing." Milk told Xiong Da and he guessed he had to put his digital pet question on hold for the moment. "Ms Yun, give me - Oh Ms Yun, you know my stomach very well." Before Xiong Da even opened his mouth, Yun had already started putting dishes out onto the bar counter for Xiong Da.

    There was already an assortment of food for him to savour. Triple Cheese Pizza, the random but tasty onigiri, his favourite ck Ivory Coffee, and two tes of Tonkatsu Curry Rice along with a jug of spring water for him to rinse it all down.

    "Is this part of the n? Does Jin want to feed me with lots of good food? Because if so, I''m down!" Xiong Da shamelessly asked but Yun shook her head. "This is not even the beginning of his n, I think you will be able to try his n out tomorrow."

    "Any hints?" Xiong Da was already munching on his food when he asked the question.

    "Find out tomorrow!" Milk teased him even further but Xiong Da just gave a huff and continued to eat his food.

    Meanwhile, Jin was helping Zhen Qing clean the kitchen caravan. "Boss, it''s okay, I can handle this myself."

    "No, I want this done quickly so I can ask you a few things." Jin insisted but Zhen Qing instantly stopped him after a while. "No, Boss. Stop. I understand that you are my boss but we need to have some workspace authority. This is the kitchen, therefore it is my domain. I hope you can appreciate and understand why I want to clean and pack things myself." Zhen Qing exined.

    "Ah." Jin realised that he was at the wrong and Zhen Qing wanted to be in control of her space. "Okay, if that''s the case, I''ll wait for you to finish cleaning and then we can talk." Jin tried to salvage the whole conversation.

    "What is it about? I can multitask." Zhen Qing picked up where she left off and continued her cleaning.

    "It is about your cultivation." Jin sighed as he was starting to realise he might not get the chance to bond with her properly so he changed his topic.

    "Hmm...I will quickly clean this up and get back to you." Zhen Qing hurried as she felt more pumped than ever even though the day had made her extremely tired. ''If I could really learn a cultivation method, I might be able to do more things!'' Zhen Qing thought to herself as she started to dread the status of amoner.

    .

    .

 Chapter 144 Choosing A Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 144 Choosing A Cultivation</h4>

    Since Zhen Qing was amoner, Jin had been cing cans of bamboo juices into one of the kitchen caravan''s refrigeratorpartments. The bamboo juices not only cooled her down throughout the day but also gave her a boost of spiritual force to keep her working.

    However, Jin knew that this would not effective in the long run. With Zhen Qing insisting on by working herself, which was for reasons that he did not know yet, the toll of work would eventually cause trouble to her health. Working from 8am till 10pm was extremely tiring by itself, not to mention staying in the kitchen instance to prepare her ingredients before 8am.

    Jin was surprised that she had not slowed down a single bit since she started working. It was even, to an extent, admirable. Preparing ingredients, selling them and eventually cleaning the store all by herself.

    "I am done, did you mention something about cultivation?" Zhen Qing was holding a bamboo juice for a drink.

    "Have a seat, can I have your Mechat ount? So I can send you the details." Jin asked and Zhen Qing readily gave Jin her contacts. Jin then sent over a PDF document he had obtained during the Zoo cultivation trip he had gone on with his betors. It contained the type of cultivation styles they had as well as a simplified version of the pros and cons of each cultivation. It was of course not an exhaustive list of cultivation styles, but for amoner, it would give them some idea of what they would like to use.

    "Wow, I did not expect there to be so many styles. But, is it okay for me to cultivate despite being this old?" Zhen Qing asked as she scrolled through the pdf.

    "It is never toote to cultivate, there was one time where a seventy year old uncle took up cultivation to improve his health a little. Of course, he still died around 100 because he had had enough of life." Jin exined.

    "I thought one of the goals of cultivation was to obtain immortality?" Zhen Qing questioned.

    "It initially was, but that was before the advent of the solid dantian. During the golden age of cultivation, the leading figures of cultivation were contemting whether they wanted immortality or this solid dantian resurrection. Eventually, they decided to go with resurrection because they figured the world power gap dynamics would only continue to grow even wider with immortality." Jin replied.

    "So when people realised the solid dantian initiative was carried out, there was rioting. Several high ss noble houses fought against these groups of cultivators to force them to revert the change. They said they were selfish in initiating such a change in thews of nature."

    "What happened next?" Zhen Qing was casually reading the descriptions of some of the cultivation styles as she listened to Jin. Jin thought that he was boring Zhen Qing so he shortened his recount.

    "Civil wars, internal strife but surprisingly, the leaders were quite ruthless and selfless at the same time, if that even makes sense. The wealth of noble houses that they annihted was given to the poor people as food stock and materials for building. So -"

    "No no no, what I wanted to ask is what happened after getting the solid dantian? How long do people live for now? I mean, I heard the oldest person right now was 200 odd years old, but the way you say it, it''s as if people can choose when they want to die." Zhen Qing interrupted Jin''s exnation of the past.

    "Ehhh...in a way yes and no? For example, people who get cancer and do not get proper treatment will still die. We are still not immune to sickness such as colds, fevers etc and will still die from severe illnesses such as heart disease and other cancers. Sure, at higher grades of cultivation, we can slow down the rate of cancer or block the sensation of pain and ignore the illness. Eventually though, the cultivator would not be able to hold off these cancer cells and what the body would then do is stop the heart slowly so that we can have a peaceful death."

    Jin vividly remembered how Ming did not tell him a single thing and pretended everything was fine until Jin found him sleeping peacefully on his bed with several documents prepared on his bedside table.

    All he could do at that point of time was follow the instructions on the documents to prepare the funeral, which was conducted in a temple far from the house with no friends or family except for the priests. When Jin tried calling his close contacts, a few friends of his Jin saw quite frequently said that they were already informed previously and sent their condolences to Jin.

    "Are you okay?" Zhen Qing saw a tear roll down Jin''s face despite no change of expression. Did she hit a nerve upon talking about this?

    "Oh, I think I''m just a bit sleepy...ahaha. Do not worry about it." Jin wiped that tear away and smiled.

    "In any case, take a look at the cultivation styles and I will see if I can find any manual for you to practice. I might even ask Milk, Peppers or Zeru about it, whom I believe you met earlier this afternoon, to help you with it." Jin said as he started to stand up in order to end the conversation.

    "Yea, Peppers was really cute." Zhen Qing smiled when she remembered how Peppers interacted with her earlier. "In any case, thank you, Boss. See you again in the morning!" Zhen Qing perked up upon seeing the cultivation list as she returned home on her motorcycle.

    "Boss! I will be leaving too!" Xiong Da just saw Jining in and decided to wave him goodbye for the night. Jin returned the farewell and entered the store.

    "Time for part 2: Fishing World. My Betors, are you all still okay? Any of you sleepy?" All three betors immediately appeared in front of him kneeling down.

    "Sleep? That is for the weak!" Peppers shouted, which made Zeru and Milk grin.

    "Get going Jin, I will clear the ce up for you." Yun smiled brightly before she shooed her ''kid'' off to work.

    .

    .

 Chapter 145 Deep Ones

    <h4>Chapter 145 Deep Ones</h4>

    "Oh Oh Oh! Jin! Before you go. Take this." Yun ced an inscription on his handphone and it glowed with a white and ck aura. "This is specially made by the system. It''s an ultra grade capture inscription. With this inscription on your phone, it will automatically catch monsters once they are severely damaged." Yun smiled as she exined to him.

    "You mean I do not have to worry about the monsters dying? I can just go all out?" Jin asked and Yun nodded her head. "All you have to do is concentrate on capturing it, and the inscription will do the rest. However, there are some monsters out there that can resist the powers of capture, especially after they have escaped it once. When that happens, use your phone."

    "Is my phone that strong? Hahaha!" Jinughed and Yun nodded her head once more.

    "Yes, you might not believe it but the metal used in your phone is god tier. The rumoured Grade 20..or maybe 21. Depends how you see things. Anyways, it was created from the metal arrow tips of the Norse Hunting God Ullr, who in another parallel world is still alive." Yun casually said.

    "Gods are real?" Jin had been wondering if all the folktales he has heard were actually people from other parallel worlds.

    "God" is just another name for people with immense strength and longevity." Yun shrugged her shoulders and created a portal. "Now, off you go."

    Yun teleported them to the Fishing World as requested by Jin. They teleported safely through a gate portal, which brought them to a fishing port almost devoid of people. In fact, there was hardly anyone around except for a person at the counter near the docks. They noticed the town port''s infrastructure was rather extensive, expanding up to a hill. Jin felt an eerie feeling going through him as he stared at the town for a while. It was as if telling him to get out of here as soon as possible.

    Jin walked towards the broken down counter and the elderly male yawned, "Visitors? Nevermind, do you want to rent a boat? For 5 Dungeon Dors only." The Elderly male said and pointed at the rather deste looking boat. Both Jin and his betors were reconsidering their choice of the world.

    "Do not worry, despite its looks, it is sturdy enough to go out to the sea and has a storage space of about 10 000 fishes regardless of grade...Hahaha!! That is if you can manage to catch even ten in these waters."

    The elder male continued to puff his paper cigar.

    "What do you mean? Is the water here not suitable for fishing?" Jin asked as he looked at his phone to check how much dungeon dors he had left.

    "Mutant fishes. They are eating up and breaking the ecosystem in this ce. Apparently, some idiot decided to experiment on our fishing port and mutant fishes started to eat up our vulnerable fishes. The funny thing is, we managed to catch one or two of these mutant fishes and their spiritual force seems stronger than any other fishes. They even taste better than those fishes we usually catch."

    "Then what''s the catch? Why is this ce devoid of people?" Zeru looked around and could not sense anyone''s presence.

    "We are ordinary fishermen, not warriors, these mutant fishes could even eat people and cause damage to the boats. Other fishermen had left for better pastures and safer fishing ports. I was left here because I am the mayor of the fishing port. Name''s Swabs "

    "Jin and they are the rest of my entourage." Jin brought his hand up for a handshake which the mayor obliged. "Such strong hands...but not seasoned in fishing at all. What are you guys up to?"

    "Ermm..fishing," Jin replied awkwardly.

    "Heh! Are you begging to die after all that I''ve said? If so, my boat price is up to 100 dungeon dors or no sale."

    "Hnnng! What?! Do you think we cannot handle the fishes?" Peppers decided to barge in and showed her temper to which Jin held her back a little.

    "Huh, feisty. Does not matter much if I do not know whether my boat will be returned to me." Swabs snorted as he took another puff from his cigar.

    "Why would we want your boat? We can go search at other ces then. Thank you." Jin turned around and decided to leave this fishing port before an evil aura filled the entire ce.

    "Hey, maybe you should consider again. Now for a 1000 Dungeon Dors. Price is rather cheap considering you are exchanging it for your lives." Swabs now walked out of the counter as he threw the cigar down onto the floor and from the abandoned houses a number of shadows appeared with grins on their faces.

    "Deep Onesбн" Peppers took her weapon out and so did Zeru and Milk. "The mythological Chuchulu and the other Great Old Ones." Jin could not help but smile bitterly. He did not expect the Fishing World to be filled with the lore of the Luvcraft..

    The Deep Ones were humanoids with fish heads, scaly fins or abination hairless greyish green skin. Their big bulbous eyes and longish arms with wed webbed hands and feet made them looked like an abomination.

    "Chuchulu? How dare you say that name in front of us! That forbidden name! In the name of Lord Dagen! I swear fishing is the least of concern right now!" Swabs shouted with deep hatred.

    The Deep Ones somehow acknowledged Swabs'' agony and hatred that they gave various war cries which awoken many other sleeping Deep Ones in that isted fishing port. Some of the Deep ones even had weapon and armour on them.

    "I have no idea what we have gotten into, but all I know right now is we have to stay alive." Jin pulled out Bam and Boo and started to dual wield them while his living armour bands turned active and ready to move whenever needed.

    "Do you want me to cast a big massive explosion mixed with the rage of fire and thunder? All I need is time casting and I can easily obliterate this fishing port while helping you to catch some Deep ones for dungeons too." Peppers sniggered but Jin shook his head.

    "Where will we be if you do that and inadvertently destroy the only boat. We do not know if other parts of the Fishing world is overrun by the same type of monsters. Let''s do this while protecting that boat and perhaps we can go catch some fish." Jin said.

    "You still want to catch fish with that boat knowing that there are possibly more Deep Ones lurking in the sea?" Peppers scolded Jin for such a useless n.

    "I know I am contradicting myself. But perhaps...this is the only ce that is infested by Deep Ones?" Jin gave a fool''s expression and his betors could only roll their eyes or sigh.

    "In any case, no massive explosions. Just smallбн" Before Jin could finish his sentence, Peppers had already fired a st of fire at the far end of the port. "Or maybe medium ones.." Jin shook his head and proceeded forward to fight against the Deep Ones.

    .

    .

 Chapter 146 Deep One Hybrid

    <h4>Chapter 146 Deep One Hybrid</h4>

    Jin rushed forward to a single Deep One, only to realise that there were other two Deep Ones that jumped from the top of a roof to take him by surprise. Instead of stopping, Jin pushed forward even further, bashing the Deep One in through the door and into a storehouse, giving Jin some fighting space.

    The Deep One was relentless, its webbed ws tried to scratch Jin but the living armour moved in time to block the scratch. However, Jin still felt the impact of its webbed ws. The other two Deep Ones moved in to surround Jin but they did not notice Boo on the ground left by Jin.

    With another step towards Jin, Boo reacted by bursting out a series of bamboo spikes simr to how Jin used it against Werejackal Gold. The two Deep Ones were pierced by the spikes which caused one of them to die when one of the spikes pierced through its throat. However, with Jin''s new inscription imbued by Yun, the Deep One was immediately captured. The other was stunned momentarily but tried using brute force for its way out of the spikes despite its injuries.

    Meanwhile, Jin tried to sh the Deep One that he bashed through the abandoned storehouse but its skin was rubbery and the sh was neglected. "Damn, this is really harder than I thought."

    Separately, Zeru was protecting Peppers as she cast her sts of pent up fury. Compared to Jin, Zeru had an easier time defeating the Deep Ones. Despite using just a wooden sword and the Deep Ones'' near impervious skin to shes, Zeru opted for the stabbing option, or as he dubbed it - "The Perfectly Normal Poke."

    He held his wooden sword like a Fencer with a rapier and his left hand at the back to support his stance. Every strike was a vital hit to the Deep Ones'' organs, especially its heart which Peppers told them where it was. Zeru could not imagine how much knowledge that little kid had in her head.

    Milk, on the other hand, was casting support spells for Zeru, making his strikes more urate and swift. She asionally smacked them with her giant book when Zeru was busy with another Deep One which caused them to stagger if they came too close, buying Zeru some time to defeat them too.

    "Peppers, even though you have a near infinite source of mana, you should stop once in a while or else your body would not be able to take it. " Milkmented to Peppers as she could see Peppers breathing slightly harder. The fire sts not only caused great damage to the fishing port but the pure force annihted the Deep Ones, instantly adding them into Jin''s repertoire of monsters. Of course, Jin would eventually have a headache when he builds up his Monster Home instance but for now, that was another problem for the future.

    "Seriously, if Jin let me out more to fight, I could train more!" Peppers wiped her sweat as she supported herself with her magical staff. Even so, her magical staff was already gathering power for the next fire st, all it required was Peppers''mand.

    "Achoo!" Jin coincidentally sneezed loudly which startled the Deep One for a second, and unknowingly Jin''s katana was able to pierce through its rubbery skin and into its vital organs. Jin did not know exactly how that happened but took the opportunity to use Lazy Panda Swipe to m the Deep One to the ground, causing it to disappear.

    When Jin picked up Boo and looked around the abandoned storehouse, there wereyers of dust and spider webs at the corners of the area, indicating that this fishing port could have had been a trap all along.

    "Why did Yun bring us here..." Jin thought to himself which Yun replied him with a simple answer. "The System provided the coordinates. It determined that the best quality of fishes would be right over here."

    "Alright." Jin pushed forward and ignored the excuse or reason that Yun provided. He knew the system was doing what was best for itself rather than the overseeing the safety of Jin and the others.

    As he got out of the warehouse, he noticed a group of armoured Deep Ones moving towards the betors. Zeru was currently busy with the couple of Deep Ones that were currently surrounding them which Peppers even had to stop her long-range bombardment and used psychic sts to push the Deep ones away.

    "Damn, at this speed, I won''t be able to help them in time!" Jin decided to take the risk and try Panda Tumbling. He had seen how the pandas in the zoo tumbled all around him, evading his grab at times just to y with him. In addition, He even read up on it during his dinner. Theory wise, he had grasped the basics, and now for the application.

    Jin focused his chi into his leg muscles especially in the quad and hamstrings as he leapt to dive forward. When he covered a certain amount of distance with his diving leap, he quickly curled himself up like a panda rolling down the hill, causing his speed to increase rapidly.

    The constant tumbling action made him spin even more furiously from being a cute little panda rolling down a hill to arge wheel speeding down the mountains. Like Zonic the Hedgehog, Jin turned into an amalgamation of white and ck energy ball rolling towards the armoured Deep Ones and crashing into them.

    It did not end right there, the crash delivered a gushing impact of chi energy that caused the Deep Ones to disperse from their organised charge. Jin then spread his arms and legs from his curl position and struck one of the Deep Ones that was knocked back.

    Zeru did not waste any time assisting Jin after he finished ying the Deep Ones that engaged them. Like a hunter using his spear to catching a fish flowing along rivers, Zeru pierced an unvignt Deep One through his heart causing it to cough out greyish blood out.

    When all this was happening, Mayor Swabs went to its boat wanting to escape from the chaos. "This is crazy! How can these visitors be this strong?!" Swabs went into the deck of his boat and bit his wrist. As a Deep One Hybrid, he let his slightly greyish red blood flow out from his wrist as he hurried to draw a ritual circle on the deck of his boat.

    "Oh Lord Dagen, listen to the pleas of your filial supporter! What is dead may never die, but rise again, harder and stronger!" Swabs cried as heter used his right hand to forcibly stab through his chest. He caressed his beating heart even though pain coursed through his entire body. The beating of his heart quicken due to the sudden loss of blood but Swabs massaged his heart to calm down before squeezing it, causing him to drop t at the deck of the boat.

    Swab''s personal sacrifice, fervent prayers had met the expectation of his Lord Dagen, the wretch Fish God of the Deep. The Great Old One.

    .

    .

 Chapter 147 Lord Dagen

    <h4>Chapter 147 Lord Dagen</h4>

    Jin and the others did not know that Swabs had sacrificed himself for the ritual and continued to fight against the Deep Ones for their survival. The ritual went on silently until Swabs'' entire body waspletely engulfed by the ritual process.

    The boat started to crack and slowly, the hull of the boat disappeared while the magical ritual circle was still floating in mid air. That was when Milk happened to catch sight of the red glowing circle floating at the docks.

    "Is that...Oh shit!" Milk quickly ran towards the dock, which was filled with Deep Ones crawling out of the sea and onto the pier. Zeru noticed Milk hastiness and shouted at Jin. "Master! I am going with Milk!"

    Jin nodded his head as he grabbed Peppers by her waist. "Ack! What are you doing Master!" "You said you wanted time for a mega big explosion, right? Well, grab on to me and prepare to cast! I will tell you when to release it!" Peppers blushed a little as Jin was holding her very tightly but she nodded her head and started to chant out words that did not make sense to Jin.

    Jin pushed Peppers up to his back and piggybacked her but unknowingly squeezed Peppers butt whilst doing so because he was in a rush. Peppers did not expect that and mischanted her spell, which caused a slightly forceful magical feedback to her circuits.

    "Gah! Watch where you are grabbing! I mischanted my spell because of you and now I need to do it all over again! Peppers knocked Jin with her staff and continued to chant while Jin ran further into the port town. Surprisingly, there were few Deep Ones further into the port town but a growing number of them were chasing after Jin and Peppers.

    Meanwhile, on Milk''s side, she noticed that the ritual was nearlyplete and all she could do was either dy it further or break the ritualponent. While she might not know about rituals in the Fishing World specifically, ording to Peppers, all rituals had the same basic fundamentals.

    She once said, "As long as you change a single word, symbol or add a new catalyst into the ritual, the ritual will not be as effective as it should be. Some rituals might only go awry but most rituals should be rendered ineffective. For example, you are summoning a horse, instead of a mature, strong, healthy horse, but just by adding a bit of salt to this ritual and... Ta-da~! The Horse turned into a baby horse instead."

    Milk looked at the ritual circle and figured. "If it''s trying to summon some deep dark monster, then perhaps some Light energy would cause it to be less effective! Zeru, do what you must, just make sure that I don''t get interrupted!" Milk instructed Zeru to protect her as she decided to channel Holy Energy into the ongoing ritual.

    "Understood." Zeru rxed his fencer''s stance and instead, stood behind Milk like a strong solid tree with his eyes closed and his short hair waving along in the ocean''s sea breeze. But in fact, the stance he was assuming now was the stance he used when he protected his master against a dozen enemies. "The Perfectly Normal Trap." was the stance he used.

    As long as a Deep One entered a certain range of Zeru, he immediately attacked it. Although the rubbery skin partially negated Jin''s damage when he was shing it with a good katana, Zeru was able to cut a Deep One down effortlessly. If one looked closely, they would notice a tiny reinforcement of chi surrounding the entire wooden sword. Zeru had condensed a copious amount of chi to create that small thin sharp edge reinforcement, which allowed his wooden sword to cut even better than any other sword one had ever known.

    That was what Zeru was known for when he was well and alive in the past. Many had tried to copy his technique but all had failed to do so. Some even called it the Perfect Sword Essence, a level higher than Sword Core Essence, which most master swordsman already had difficulty even reaching, but in reality, Zeru was just that good when it came to the matters that concerned the sword.

    The few Deep Ones who were intelligent enough figured that no matter how hard they tried to go near Milk and Zeru, they would be mercilessly cut down. Hence, they decided to run after the other group of visitors and evenmanded others to go after them. Soon, there were not many Deep Ones surrounding Zeru and Milk.

    "Ehh Master, I think...there will be moreing your way." Zeru sent his message via Jin''s phone''s loudspeakers and could not help but chuckle as he saw a shining bright beacon running up the hill where the rest of the Port Town was situated. "Just for your info, you are very visible from the docks."

    "What do you even mean?!" That was when Jin noticed Peppers'' magic staff was sparkling with a radiant red colour. "Please do not release your fire st of fury and hatred or whatever other demonic words you added into it." Jin thought to himself since he figured if he really did say that out loud, it would cause Peppers to miscast a second time. He did not want to know what would happen if she miscast.

    "I do not think...I can interrupt it any furtherбн" Milk was panting heavily. Her arms were tired. Her mind was going nk from fusing holy energy into the ritual. One thing was for sure, even if the ritual waspleted, Milk did manage to alter the initial intent of the ritual or at least dy it.

    "Milk, Stop. I am bringing you out of here before we get caught in things." Unlike Jin, Zeru performed an energised horizontal sh that wiped out any iing Deep Ones that tried toe near him as he sheathed his wooden sword and carried Milk gently.

    "Zeru, I am sorry." Milk was still pushing whatever holy energy she could muster into the forbidden dark ritual even though she was being lifted up by Zeru. "Shh, rest easy Milk, I will definitely bring you to safety." Zeru saw Milk reluctantly close her eyes due to fatigue and he sneakily gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead before he carried her further away from the ritual site.

    Meanwhile, the ritual circle started to shake vigorously. The interruption of the ritual by Milk''s holy energy caused Lord Dagen to be infuriated. He initially wanted to send some minor spawns, probably Deep One Hybrids that would match up to the visitors'' strength for his loyal supporter''s offering but little did he know that the supporter decided to betray and insult him. The holy energy was a p on the face to his superiority and generosity. He was so furious that he decided to send a replica of his powerful visage down to the ritual site to disy his wrath.

    A gigantic monolith pir abruptly appeared at the ritual site. The sun was still up moments ago and it was slowly blocked by the ascending moon. To the naked eye, it was merely a gigantic piece of stone but as the moon blocked half the sun, the stone lit up in bluish green colour with crude inscriptions on it.

    Suddenly, something raised its enormous scaly arm to grab onto the monolith. As the two separate groups saw it crawl out of the waters, the earth shook with the jarring sounds it made when its hideous fish head arose from the sea. It started twirling around the monolith pir and its entire fish body was revealed. Like a gigantic serpent with two hands, its howls echoed through the port town, causing the Deep Ones to stop abruptly and kneel down to it.

    "....So, do I hit the massive group of Deep Ones here or that big Derpy one over there?" Peppers asked the wide-mouthed Jin when she just finished pre-casting her unique signature st.

    .

    .

 Chapter 148 The Derpy One

    <h4>Chapter 148 The Derpy One</h4>

    "That one! NOW NOW NOW!" Jin, who saw the smaller replica of Lord Dagen, was extremely afraid. This was the first time he had seen such a huge monster appearing in his life. Even though Jin was far away from the docks, it was very obvious that the monstrosity was extremely huge.

    "Take this Derpy one! Super Big Bang Bammmmmmm!! " Peppers shouted as loud as she could as she aimed her magical staff at Replica Dagen and aplex magic circle filled with a rainbow of colours appeared in front of the magical staff. "Go!" Peppers shouted and from the magical circle appeared the silhouette of a muscr person, who pulled himself halfway out of the circle and held his hands back to throw a ball. A ball of energy.

    With Peppers''mand, the silhouette threw the energy ball at Replica Dagen. The ball was thrown at such a high velocity that Replica Dagen did not see iting at all. When it turned its head, the ball had alreadye into contact with Replica Dagen.

    What ensued after that was... spectacr.

    A sudden blinding sh of white light was followed by an intense muffled roar. A pir of fire rose from the ground as if it wished to bloom like a flower beaming with life. The ''Life'' of this particr flower could be seen changing from a burning red to a devilish violet andter through the entire colour spectrum as it soared into the skies, wanting to touch the semi-eclipse. The fire continued to rage as smoke and dust were expelled from the monolith pir that was violently agitated from the bottom of the sea.

    Both Jin and the Deep Ones stared in awe as they saw the Replica Dagen full of burns and scars fall from the burning monolith pir and into the shallow waters of this unknown deste port town. The fire on the giant serpent was so intense that the water itself started to heat up and evaporate.

    "Uhhhhhh I feel terrible." Peppers grumbled as she started to feel very nauseous and the next moment she vomited rainbows in front of Jin, which he did not dare to get close to in case any of the vomit stained his shirt.

    It was there and then that Jin saw a white silhouette dashing on top of the sea waters. He squinted his eyes a little and realised that it was actually Zeru. This was the first time he had seen Zeru appear very serious and aggressive in his stance.

    "....Technique. Red Lotus Bone Slicer." Zeru whispered as he sped like a ne zooming close across the water. His wooden sword gradually changed its colour to bloody red and the wooden sword''s afterimages could be seen zooming past along with Zeru as he got closer to the dying Replica Dagen who had yet to inflict a single bit of damage on the party.

    Although the Replica Dagen had a fragment of Lord Dagen, the Fish God himself, within it, when it saw Zeruing for its life with immerse bloodlust, it too felt fright and fear for a moment as it struggled to move into deeper waters. For once, it felt as if it was not the true terror incarnate and that that title was reserved for the one racing towards it.

    In a sh, Zeru sent thousands of cuts through the burnt serpent and when he reached the end of the tail, blood spewed wildly like water sprinklers in an erged hose, which caused the serpent to cry in agony before it drowned in its own pool of grey blood. Then, it began to slowly disappear as it was being captured by Jin''s new inscription.

    The remaining Deep Ones fell to their knees to bark and growl in sadness while Jin ced Peppers down and let her rest on steady ground. Not long after, all the Deep Ones slowly returned to the sea. However, they did not just return to the sea. Each and every one of them purposely searched the docks for the broken pieces of the burning monolith pir.

    Some of the Deep ones even jumped onto the monolith in an attempt to stop the fire from burning the stone pir but they were essentially jumping into their graves. Others gathered water in their mouths and shot beams of water to try and cool it down.

    Seeing that they did not attack Jin anymore, Jin slowly descend back towards the docks to reunite with Milk and Zeru, only to see another weird scene taking ce. Groups of Deep Ones were appearing out of the sea water while carryings of live fishes and walking towards Jin and the betors.

    "Urgh, the smell of fresh fishбн I feel like vomiting again." Peppers held onto Jin but the now conscious Milk walked towards Peppers and cast a calming spell, which helped with nausea as well. "You sure you''re okay, Milk?" Jin asked and Milk closed her eyes as she nodded her head with a smile. "I am all good, although I am not sure if I made things worse or better."

    "It''s fine, everything is now over and it looks like..the Deep Ones are offering us fish tooбн" Jin felt like it did not make sense until Peppers answered him. "Probably a contract with the township here. If I am not wrong, the reason they are giving you this bountiful amount of fish is because 1) they are fulfilling their contract or 2) they wished to break the contractбн.because I see Gold and ancient artefacts hidden within those fish too.." Peppers squeezed her nose as the Deep Ones brought a bountiful amount ofrge fat fish that were full of spiritual force to Jin.

    Jin did not hesitate and wanted to keep them so he was about to put them in his storage watch before Yun suddenly spoke to him. "Jin, use your phone instead. Putting them in your storage watch will cause them to die and lose their spiritual force. Just face your phone towards them. I will initiate the transfer."

    Jin hurriedly proceeded to face his phone in the direction of the wondrous bounty and it all magically disappeared. The Deep Ones were startled for a while but returned back to the sea once they hadpleted their job. This procedure went on for half an hour as the Deep Ones kept bringing fish and golden artefacts to Jin.

    "At this rate, I am beginning to think that they might actually be giving you such arge amount of fishes as a tribute since youбн..We... killed their replica god." Pepper deduced that it was not possible for the Deep Ones to be so generous, especially having seen what had happened to the Town''s people. All were gone except for a Deep One Hybrid masquerading as the only person living in this town. Even Peppers did not know where he had gone to during the fight.

    "Look on the bright side, at leastбн we get monsters, fish and possibly gold that can be converted into dungeon dors. Also, I believe I have learnt a new technique too." Jin tried to reason.

    "But it''s been a long time since I''ve vomited." Peppers stared at Jin.

    "It''s been a long time since I got serious." Zeru nodded his head in agreement with Peppers.

    "It''s been a long time since I''ve fainted due to overexertion." Milk just had to chip in too.

    "Okay okay...I get it. Let''s just call it a day and erm...eat Tonkatsu Curry Rice?" Jin tried to salvage the whole group''s opinion when Yun decided to suddenly appear in front of them and interrupted the whole group. "Do not be a cheapskate Jin." Yun folded her arms and shook her head towards the portal.

    "For a job well done, I had unlocked some delightful desserts, not because of you Jin, but because the Betors worked hard." Yunplimented the betors, which made Peppers and Milk shout with joy and happiness. Even Zeru had a wide smile on his face, which left Jin speechless.

    "Come on guys, let''s go. Except for you Jin." Yun snapped her fingers at Jin and pointed her finger at the iing Deep Ones while she gestured the rest to return.

    "Finish collecting all the tribute before youe back, alright? I''ll leave the portal here for you until you are done." Yun said as she walked into the portal. All Jin could do was groan as he stayed back to collect all the fish from the Deep Ones.

    .

    .

 Chapter 149 Desserts Time!

    <h4>Chapter 149 Desserts Time!</h4>

    The moment the three, including Yun, returned from the Fishing World, Peppers quickly jumped onto a bar stool and sat readily at the bar counter. "Seriously, go wash your hands or something. I still notice some vomit on your shirt and denim dress." Yun said as she walked behind the bar counter.

    "But I want to at least see the dessert first!" Peppersined like a little kid waiting for their candy. Yun shook her head and passed Peppers two small, warm, white towels. Milk proceeded to help Peppers wipe her face and clean off some of the colourful vomit she had on her shirt and used the other towel to wipe Peppers'' hands.

    Yun then provided warm towels for Milk and Zeru and they used them to clean themselves a little. It was then that she finally proceeded to take something out of the cab.

    "What do you have in store for us?" Peppers perked up as Yun seemed to carry a well designed rectangr cake box. The box had a panda ying in a pile of yellowish aspen leaves printed on it.

    "Just give me a minute, don''t open it yet!" Yun took out yet another cake box with an exquisite design of red pandas frolicking in the snow. The betors, even Zeru, were getting curious about what was inside these boxes.

    "Are we waiting for Jin toe back? Because if we are, I can''t say I will be able to resist the urge rip open this beautiful box!" Peppers could not wait any longer as she leaned her body closer to the boxes when she suddenly felt pain coursing through her ears.

    Both Zeru and Milk were pulling each of her ears, which caused her to stop at her tracks. Yun added into the fun by squeezing both of her cheeks. "Nuuuuuuu, thiz izzzz BooooLLllyyyyiiinnnggg!!" Peppers could not pronounce her words well with Yun pulling her cheeks and they all had fun except for Peppers.

    "Are the desserts all gone?!!" Jin hurried through the portal and saw two elegant boxes in front of him. "Yes, they have been eaten. Cleanly too. I can let you keep the boxes since that''s all we''ve left."

    "Yes! ALL GONE!" Peppers caught on with the lie and tapped on her stomach...until a loud growling lion reverberated through the entire empty store. Milk could not help but snigger and even Zeru diverted his attention away from Peppers. Jin could only silently stare at Peppers'' embarrassed face as she turned around to face Yun and whispered, "Pretty please?"

    Yun smiled as she lifted the high-quality cake box lid with the design of a red panda ying in the snow. Within an instant, cold, white smoke slowly seeped out of the box and Yun slowly took out the contents of the box for them.

    It was a slice of simple looking cheesecake.

    Peppers wanted to rush in and devour the whole thing but Milk ced her hand on Pepper''s face and pushed her away. "Whyyyyy? I am hungry Sister Mil- Hmmmmm this ..hmmm...This! uwaaaaa" Peppers could not talk after Milk stuffed a fairlyrge piece of the cheesecake into her mouth. With just that mouthful, Peppers felt like the cheesecake was better than any other sweet food she had ever tasted. It was not too sweet and it had the perfect bnce of cream cheese and sugar.

    "Hmmm...The cheese. It''s not thick nor is it too cheesy. It feels extremely light and pleasing, something like chiffon cake...no...maybe like a souffle. In any case, it''s especially good as afternoon high tea or even after a meal. There''s enough tanginess, but not overly so, and I can taste a hint of lemon too. Really well done." Zerumented as he chewed slowly.

    The other four people around the bar counter had stopped eating just to listen to Zeru''sment before Yun asked: "...cheesecake lover?"

    Zeru nodded innocently and said "I travelled around the world with Master during his diplomatic trips and managed to try as many cheesecakes as possible. Tried America''s, Japan''s, Italy''s and even Germany''s. The system''s cheesecake tastes most like the Japanese variant yet has the base of America''s, which in my opinion is quite a good blend of ingredients and vours."

    After listening to Zeru''s remarks, Jin took another bite and began to appreciate the moist cheesecake. Peppers, on the other hand, moved her hands closer towards the unopened cake box and Yun quickly took the box away.

    "Did I say you can open it?" Yun red at Peppers and all she did was give a series of cute puppy eyes to Yun. Yun sighed as she ced the box down and opened it.

    This time round, there was steaming out from the box and they waited for the steam to dissipate, revealing to them a pie. Inparison to the in looking cheesecake, the dessert pie had more decorations on it. In fact, there were white sprinkles and biscuits at the side of the crust. Yun took it out and showed it to them, which caused them to drool just at the sight of it.

    She cut the pie into five pieces and served on a piece to each of them. Obviously, Peppers was the first to be served and she quickly picked it up to eat. The moment she munched on it, her eyes went wide andter she squinted from bliss.

    "There are oreo biscuits in it! Thisбн.this! Why does it taste so sinful?! The feeling of the Oreos being fried inside the baked pie! The chocteyer on the top of the pie with the white sugar sprinkles...mmmm. I love it!" Peppers kept giving her praise to Yun even though she knew it was created by the system.

    "It''s an Oreo Pie with Fried Oreo stuffing. I do not think any human being or any well-reputed chef cultivator will be able to copy this." Yun chuckled as she enjoyed her pie. The Fried Oreo Pie, as Yun dubbed it, was baked by the system using kitchen technology unknown to Jin''s current world. It transposed cheesy battered fried Oreos into the chocte pie while it was still being baked. Not only has the pie retained its shape and taste, but the fried oreo inside it also enhanced the ''munchability'' of the pie.

    "Ohhhhh I can feel my fats in me stirring but this is so delicious, I cannot get enough of it." Milkined as both Peppers and Yun stared at her. As a matter of fact, Milk had the best waistline among the three of them.

    "I do not know much about fried Oreos or pies, but the cookie inside the fried stuffing of the pie is soft and does not feel too oily. Instead, the cookie gave the pie a choctey taste as well as a light crunch. The stuffing of the pie, which I believe is made up of cake batter, is spongy yet slightly crispy at the same time. To me, it feels like the fried Oreos inside the pie epitomised the beauty of frying since it createsyers of enjoyment just by having a bite of the pie." Zeru gave his review but Milk and Peppers werepletely ignoring him and instead were just humming in the background while relishing every bite of the pie.

    "The box is really nice. Will the customers be able to reuse this box after they enjoy the dessert?" Instead of simply staying blissful with the current food, Jin wondered if the aesthetics of the packaging could be put to better use. The betors and Yun ignored him as they continued to savour the sweetness of the cheesecake and the impactful vour of the Fried Oreo Pie. Jin then realised that there was ayer of stic which could be removed and that the box could be reused.

    Unfortunately, no one was listening to him and he decided to...slowly rejoin the conversation of food as Yun brought out another serving of both desserts for them to partake in.

    .

    .

 Chapter 150 Bargain

    <h4>Chapter 150 Bargain</h4>

    Jin proceeded to the dungeon maker after he enjoyed his share of desserts while the rest of the group returned to their respective abodes for some rest. The first thing Jin checked was the number of tributes he had received from the Deep Ones and the number of Deep Ones that were captured collectively by the rest.

    "Hmmmбн1204 fish." Jin stared at the Dungeon Maker screen for a moment as he sipped a cup of ck Ivory Coffee, which he brought into the instance. He inspected the list of fish that had been categorised by the System''s interface and noticed a lot of the aquatic life that had been sent as tribute was seafood that was known in his world too. "Tuna, Salmon, Crabs, Shrimpsбн Wow, a one-metre long shrimp and a five-metre long prawn?" Jin was continuously amazed by the things he discovered from other parallel worlds. Could he be called a World Traveller now?

    "Not qualified to be a Parallel World Traveller. You are a Dungeon Supplier." The system replied via a screen. Jin forgot that he was still at the mercy of the System no matter how he tried to go against it. "In any case, I think I know what I will do for the Fishing Service Instance," Jin remembered how he had loved the idea of a sushi conveyor belt when he had seen that in a sushi restaurant as a kid.

    "System, will the fishes respawn after they are caught and eaten?" Jin was thinking of designing a live sushi store as the concept for the service instance.

    "Yes, you have captured them with your device. All fishes captured are spawned as time passes in the fishing service instance that you are creating." The system replied.

    "Excellent!" Jin checked the amount of dungeon dors he had before he started creating the service instance. "Still in the low thousands...Hmm if I trade in half of the treasure artefacts, how much would I get?"

    "Please hold, calcting." Each and every ancient artefact given by the Deep ones was being scanned thoroughly by the system and the process took roughly five seconds for each artefact. The system interface even showed the artefact being analysed right on the spot in that period of time before switching to the next artefact. Jin barely had time to take a closer look at one properly before it was changed to the following artefact.

    "Total amount of the gold and ancient artefacts is roughly 50 thousand dungeon dors. Sufficient for you to make 10 high quality service dungeon instances or three scenario themed dungeons. Alternatively, it is sufficient for you to make a high quality home for all your monsters including all the Deep Ones you have captured." The system analysed.

    "Roughly?" Jin thought to himself suspiciously. "This is not right. The system has always been be exact, why did it say roughly?" Hence, Jin decided to rify. "Give me the exact amount of the whole transaction."

    "50,856 Dungeon Dors." The system replied promptly.

    "Tell me the supposed price if I had sold it half an hour ago." Jin tried his idea and surprisingly, the system did give an answer.

    "50,922 Dungeon Dors." The system gave its reply once more.

    "If that''s the case, I am willing to sell my artefacts if you trade it for 70 thousand dungeon dors."

    "..." The system did not know how to respond since it seemed to be doing some internal calction.

    "55,412 Dungeon Dors. That''s most people''s limit."

    "Are you sure that''s all that you can do? I believe the markets you are selling at are probably in some open market. Have you tried the ck Markets? What I am asking is definitely less than what the ck Market''s market price. I mean,e on! These are treasures once hoarded by the Deep Ones. Surely they are worth something. I bet you are secretly earning amission too right?" Jin tried to do what most Chinese did best. Obscene bargaining.

    "... What you have said indeed holds value. Please hold." The system showed a ''Please Hold'' signage on its screen while it started to venture into the ck markets, or at least that was what Jin had gathered.

    "93,521, Best Offer." The system replied with a smiley emoticon.

    "Come on, make it 100,000 and we have a deal. Tell them we might even give them priority if we find such artefacts again." Jin tried to push his luck.

    "...No Deal. Offer stays at 93,521 dungeon dors." The system gave an angry face emoticon immediately but Jin was unrelenting.

    "Fine. No deal then, I am not selling it to them. Tell them they can continue to wait for the next seller toe and hope that they offer something even close in quality to these ancient artefacts. So best of luck to them." Jin gave his reply to the system, which continued to be the middleman.

    "Buyer said at most 95,000. That is the maximum he is offering." The system gave its reply, which brought a smile to Jin''s face. "Deal. Process the transaction."

    It had been a long time since he had done some haggling and he missed such days before the advent of digital payments became widespread. He did not expect that he could do this again but he was d he could as it was fun doing so.

    "Transactionpleted. 95,000 dungeon dors have been deposited into your ount. You have a total of 102,014 Dungeon Dors. Please use it wisely."

    "With this, I could skip the trip to the Dungeon World and put off Dungeon Takeovers...but I still need to get my store sign up before people mistake my shop as Pandamonium." Jin spoke to himself as he grinned when he saw the money being transferred into his ount.

    "Time to properly make the Fishing Instance and open it for my regr store customers." As Jin knew what he wanted, he managed to finish designing the Fishing Service Instance, or as he renamed it, the Reservoir of Deep Fishing Service Instance.

    When he was done, Jin noticed that he still had approximately two and a half earth hours before 8am so he decided to enter the Emerald Mountains Hot Springs again to cultivate until 8am Earth time.

    "More Cultivation, More strength, More enlightenment, More Money!" Jin began his cultivation once he informed Mr Patsu, the penguin representative of his time constraint.

    .

    .

 Chapter 151 Reservoir of Deep Fishing

    <h4>Chapter 151 Reservoir of Deep Fishing</h4>

    "Boss! How did you get here so early? Wait! Did you sleep in your store? I don''t think you''ve changed your clothesбн" Xiong Da was already waiting outside of the store when Jin opened the side gate promptly at 8am. He even noticed Zhen Qing setting up the kitchen caravan as the door to the caravan was slightly ajar...and her motorcycle was nearby.

    "Ahaha...in a way. My house is nearby. I get changed after I show you something." Jin rubbed his head as he smiled like a fool at Xiong Da and it made himugh too. He quietly sent a mind message transmission to Yun since she was the only one who could read his thoughts and Yun replied "Okay."

    "Boss, your dedication to me shall be remembered. At least, I, Wa Xiong Da, will never forget this kindness." Xiong Da bowed his head. "Don''t be, you are paying me too." Jin ushered Xiong Da into the shop and he could never get over the fact that Jin''s shop was always this clean no matter how crowded and messy it was the day before.

    "Do I have to pay for the new instance or something? I assumed that it''s a new instance since Yun said you prepared something big." Xiong Da prompted but Jin did not answer him. "Just follow me to the third floor," Jin instructed and Xiong Da readilyplied.

    "Ahhhбн The third floor. No matter how many times Ie to this floor, I always feel a tranquil peace settling in my heart." Xiong Da took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was then that he noticed something new.

    "Is that a panda...biting a fish while carrying a fishing?" Xiong Da looked at the new statue addition and decided to scrutinise it a little. "The fishing in carved jade...looks really delicate yet so impactful. I reallymend on your art supplier''s workmanship. Can I touch it?" Xiong Da asked and Jin nodded his head.

    Xiong Da brushed his fingers through the new jade statue and felt the smoothness of the jade. He then yfully touched the panda''s fang that was plunged into the fish it was biting. "So what is this? Some Fishing instance?"

    "You are correct. This is a Fishing Service Instance. Come! Let''s go in together." Jin asked Xiong Da to enter first via his phone since he had already edited the permissions of the Service Instance for Xiong Da to enter whenever he wanted this week. Only when the Hungry Hippo had teleported safely did Jin follow him in.

    "Oh my gosh, this is splendid." Xiong Da was teleported to a ce where he saw a brown bear sitting at the side of a voluminouske that reflected the deep blue sky on its crystal water. There were willow trees surrounding the entireke, which made the ce feel even more serene than ever. The asional bird chirping and the blowing of some gentle wind made the ce felt unperturbed by the city life.

    "It''s mainly a saltwaterke, so you will be able to find different types of fishes and the amount of fish you can catch is in the thousands." Jin tried to promote it to Xiong Da but he felt a little sceptical. "Boss, so you want me to catch the fish? And then what? Eat it raw, just like that?"

    "My assistants and I will cut it up for you." The bear that was sitting at the side of theke answered him as it yawned.

    "That brown bear, Mr Roro, is an Itamae or master sushi chef. Bring a fish to him and he will cut it up nicely for you right over there and the fish will still retain all of its spiritual force." Jin pointed at the far end of theke slightly beyond the willow trees. Jin had nned it such that the noise from the sushi counter area would not affect the gathering of anglers. Meanwhile, the NPC Mr Roro was created with more than 10 thousand dungeon dors. Sure, it cost a lot, but Jin bet on the possibility that this service instance would be a hit. He was willing to bet that it would attract the fishing enthusiasts from the city if he advertised it strategically and of course, the most important thing was not the fishing itself, but the sushi part.

    Since Jin was able to obtain such arge amount of high quality fish, he could try opening a side sushi store for this. Of course, The Reservoir of Deep Fishing Service Instance was expensive to enter, hence Jin even prepared a submenu to show off its exclusivity as well as recoup the abyssal amount of dungeon dors spent on it.

    The submenu contained the following

    ************

    Catch and Eat!

    1 Sessful Try:100 Yuan

    5 Sessful Tries: 225 Yuan

    10 Sessful Tries: 425 Yuan

    Unlimited Tries for the entire day: 5000 Yuan

    ************

    Jin did not explicitly state that it was just a sushi store since he knew that Mr Roro was capable of bringing out the full potential of every single catch. This was especially true if they asked Mr Roro for his expertise. Jin wanted to respect the customer''s choice but he was also sly enough to not let them know. Finding out the hidden secret of a store was one of the pleasures and regrets a customer could experience.

    "So Boss, all I need to do is just catch a fish and bring it to Mr Roro?" Xiong Da asked once more to confirm and Jin nodded his head.

    "The fishing rods are in that shack, you can choose one for yourself or we can help you choose one." Suddenly, a group of bear cubs appeared and pointed towards a wooden shack. Xiong Da followed a bear cub as it led the way while the rest were yfully wrestling with one another near theke.

    "Those are Mr Roro''s helpers and apprentices." Jin tagged along with Xiong Da while heughed at Jin''s choice of NPCs. "Boss Jin, always a bear lover."

    Xiong Da entered the wooden shack, only to see that the interior was like an extensive fishing store that was being manned by another bear cub. "Are you a beginner in fishing? If yes, I would rmend this particr fishing rod. This rod is easy to use and will not break easily! However, you can only catch basic fish with this rod, though there is still a chance you will able to catch a rare one!" The bear cub listed the pros and cons of the beginner rod, which looked like a simple wooden rod with a string attached to it.

    "I will take that, I have no experience when ites to fishing." The bear cub acknowledged Xiong Da''s request and gave him the fishing rod along with a few basic fishing tackles. "Use your chi wisely once you throw the fishing bait into theke. It will attract the fishes'' attention. Have fun fishing!"

    Xiong Da went to the edge of theke and another bear cub helped and taught Xiong Da on how to fish, which broughtfort and ease to Xiong Da, who had never fished before. Meanwhile, Jin was analysing if the bear cubs were responding properly as NPCs and semi instructors for the fishing part. He tweaked its cuteness to attract females but at the same time not so much that it became awkward for the males.

    "Well, here goes nothing! Xiong Da performed his first attempt as he swung the wooden rod into theke and waited for a while. He sat down with Jin and started to engage in small talk before he felt a slight tug on the wooden rod and decided to pull gently as instructed by the little bear cub. "Pull now!" the bear cub yelled and Xiong Da was excited.

    The pull was a little heavy so he tried his best to be careful. Fortunately, he did not encounter much resistance and when he pulled his fishing rod outбн.he realised why. "It''s a boot. You want me to eat a boot?" Xiong Da stared at Jin as he chuckled.

    "Could be quite nutritious indeed. Hahahaha, but the probability of that happening is actually quite low. You are really lucky!" Jin patted Xiong Da''s back as he encouraged him to try once more.

    .

    .

 Chapter 152 Caught!

    <h4>Chapter 152 Caught!</h4>

    While Xiong Da was waiting for his rod to move, he ced his fishing rod on a rest stand and he began to exercise, starting with a series of air squats. "Is that the exercise routine that Zeru asked you to do?" Jin asked with some curiosity.

    "Yeah, he said that I should train to have a solid lower body strength foundation since I have been sitting a lot due to all the paperwork I need to do. In addition, it would help me gain proficiency in bncing myrge body while also increasing my core strength. That way, I can manoeuver effortlessly whenever I have the opportunity to counter attack."

    "Did he teach you any new techniques or anything?" Jin continued to question Xiong Da since he had not seen Xiong Da in action whilst training since he had to attend to his shop.

    "Not really, but I did show him my techniques and he told me how to improve them. In fact, the advice he gave me was better than Sister Milk''s but please don''t tell her that! I am afraid she might get angry!" Xiong Da whispered to Jin but little did he know that Milk could hear everything Jin could hear.

    "That ingrateful FATTY HIPPO! :( " Milk sent an emoji sticker through Jin''s phone, which he quietly dismissed.

    At this moment, Xiong Da'' fishing rod started to shake again and in a sh, Xiong Da moved quickly from his squatting position to grab hold of the fishing rod. That transition caused Jin to be taken aback. "You are able to move that fast?"

    "It''s part of my Hungry Hippo movement technique. Surprised?" Xiong Da smirked at Jin''sment as he continued to struggle to hold onto the fishing rod. Aspared to the previous attempt, He felt a real pulling sensation from the rod as he tried to reel it in.

    "Do not rely on brute force! The line can break! Use your chi force to strengthen your fishing rod if need be!" The bear cub, which waszing around while waiting for a catch to happen, suddenly perked up and told Xiong Da what to do while it was jumping around on all fours.

    "Xiong Da! Calm down! Look where the line is going, you have to position yourself and the rod!" Jin had learnt a little about fishing when he was with one of his Grandpa''s friends. He had somehow forgotten his name but he took care of him when his grandfather had some urgent things to attend to.

    Xiong Da took a deep breath and reeled in the fishing rod slowly while feeding a stable amount of chi into his fishing rod so that his line would not break easily. As the water was calm enough, he was able to see the vague movements of a fish''s silhouette and followed it closely. He knew that if he screwed up either the chi output or reeling in the fish, he would have to redo everything, so he was taking it slow with the guidance of the bear cub.

    It felt like a tug of war, which was not what Xiong Da imagined fishing to be. He did not know that fishing was that toughбн yet exhrating. Suddenly, a bright ruby red coloured fin appeared from out of the crystal blue waters. "Oh, that could be a good catch!" Jin ced his hands over his eyebrows to block the sun for a better view in case the fish appeared again.

    "Come on, Xiong Da just a little bit more! When I say pull, use all your might to pull!" The bear cub was also intensely staring at the line and the fish. It was definitely getting closer and the adrenaline rushing through Xiong Da was too damn high.

    "NOW! PULL!" the bear cub yelled, which startled the other bear cubs and Mr Roro for a moment.

    "HIPPO STYLE, GRAND SLAM FISSURE!" Xiong Da turned his body as he pushed his rod over his shoulders as if he was performing a magnificent judo throw. The fish that had been struggling finally gave in as it was being pulled out of the water and into the skies.

    All three saw how the fish''s ruby scales sparkled in the air before itnded on the ground, still jumping and sshing around while gasping for air. "Holy shit, that''s the goddarn most beautiful salmon I have ever seen!" Xiong Da rubbed his sweat away from his forehead as a group of bear cubs pulled a metal tub towards Xiong Da. It wasrge enough to ce the 19 meters long salmon in, whose scales beautifully sparkled in various shades of red under the sunlight.

    "Do you want a photo with your first catch?" a bear cub was biting onto an analogue camera while the other was carrying a tripod stand. "Eh sure, how do I woah~!" Xiong Da saw that the salmon was still struggling even after it had been pulled out of the water and he tried to hold it as tight as possible, which was quite a difficult task since the scales were quite slippery.

    Meanwhile, the bear cubs were already setting up the analogue camera along with the tripod stand and in the end, one of the cubs was holding onto the camera trigger wired to the analogue camera, ready to take the picture.

    "Are you ready?" Before Xiong Da could even say yes, the salmon near wiggled its way out of his hold and into the metal tub. Out from the frying pan and into the fire. "Chef Roro!! He caught a salmon!" the bear cubs shouted as they came together to push the metal tub on wheels towards the sushi counter. Fortunately, the Cubs had managed to take a pic, which Jinter gave Xiong Da along with arge pat on the back, congratting Xiong Da on a job well done. "Go enjoy your fish before you fight for another!"

    "Hmmph decent catch. How do you want to eat it?" Chef Roro, who lookedzy initially, was now extremely serious, with his arms folded while standing on his hind legs. Xiong Da also did not realise that Chef Roro had a scar on his face until he looked closely.

    Remembering how Jin said that this was the n to eat good food to gain as much spiritual force as possible, Xiong Da decided to stretch a little before he gave his orders to the sushi chef. "Master Chef Roro! Salmon Nigiri, Aburi Salmon Nigiri and Salmon Belly Nigiri for starters!"

    It was time to feast... big time.

    .

    .

 Chapter 153 Salmon Nigiri

    <h4>Chapter 153 Salmon Nigiri</h4>

    "Hmmm, give it to me fast too, I cannot stand the thought of eating without actually eating!" Xiong Da imagined the fantastic vours that this wonderfully enormous fish would produce. Even by just holding it previously, he had felt a robust spiritual force coursing through the salmon.

    "I am sorry, but I am only able toply to one order." Chef Roro bowed his head and Jin noted that it was working properly. "Chef, overwrite themand solely for this man, Wa Xiong Da. Themand overwrite is valid for 5 days." Jin spoke to the Chef as if he was rewriting hismands just for Xiong Da.

    "Understood Boss Jin." Chef Roro nodded his head and ced the salmon on the sushi counter and knocked the fish unconscious with the back of his knife. First, he washed the salmon with a hose and then cut the underbelly of the salmon to remove the guts and other soft organs from the body.

    For a bear, Chef Roro showed that his knife wielding skills were superb and the finesse he portrayed was top notch. Soon after, he cut the p near the fish''s head just behind the upper pectoral fin and bent the head back before detaching the body.

    Chef Roroter gave the fish head to one of the bear cubs "Roast it over a wood fire." The bear cub acknowledged the Chef''s orders as it took the fish head to the oven that was close to the sushi counter. Chef Roroter adjusted the salmon before he took his knife and sliced along the spinal column of the salmon as gentle as possible.

    Heter picked up the salmon fillet and ced it into another metal tray before proceeding forth. "That salmon fillet...is wless. There are no hack marks left by the knife at all!" Xiong Da eximed and Jin remembered that Xiong Da was a food gourmet on top of his normal work. Jin could clearly see he did not make a mistake making Xiong Da the first person to try out NPC Chef Roro''s cooking. Not only would it fulfil Xiong Da''s training ns, he also had a food gourmet critic as a reviewer and tester, which Jin would probably have needed to pay money for if it had been someone else with such high qualifications.

    Of course, Jin tried to find the credentials of Xiong Da, which was not easy even for aputer whiz like him, until Yun utilised the system to find out that Xiong Da was going via an alias as a food gourmet and his ratings were off the chart. Some even rumoured that he had the god''s tongue when it came to criticising food, although Jin was pretty sure that it was just his cultivation. While looking through Xiong Da''s reviews and articles, he did not find any regarding the food in his dungeon supplier store. That could only mean two things...okay, perhaps three.

    It was may have been that his food was not good enough to be in Xiong Da''s food review list or since his store was technically not a food store at all, he did not review it. Lastly, Jin thought that perhaps Xiong Da was keeping this store to himself and did not wish to reveal it to other people.

    Chef Roro was now cutting the other part of the salmon by segmenting the dorsal fin away. This time around, he was more careful with the cut since this particr part of the salmon contained the salmon belly too, which was where most of the spirit force was. Without moving the fish too much, he neatly incised the other salmon fillet. It was another clean cut and Chef Roro flipped it once more to cleanly cut the belly b that was attached to the core of the fish.

    "The knife went through with such long and shallow strokes. This is indeed a master at work. Boss Jin, your bear here is in almost as good as those hidden sushi chefs terms of knife skills. Simple, clean, effective. I mean,e on! This is a 19 metre long salmon! Just by sitting here looking at him cutting it so easily makes me wonder how much practice this chef must have had! Definitely better than those Michelin star chefs by miles, who keep doing those weird stunts just to entertain their customers." Xiong Da analysed, which made Jin feel like his response had some hatred towards famous chefs.

    While Chef Roro might have had more fish yield by scraping the rest of fish that was left, he decided to pass it to the bear cubs as fresh food for their hard work.

    With the salmon fillet he just sliced, there was still the ribcage attached, so Chef Roro continued to perform his knife skills with surgical precision to remove the ribcage away from the fillet. He tilted his knife towards the bone of the ribcage to prevent any damage done to the salmon meat.

    Chef Roroter made a slight slit near the tail of the fillet and began to remove the scales from the salmon fillet by running the knife between scales and the fillet. Lastly, he called his bear cub apprentices toe in and remove the pin bones of the fish while he proceeded to cut the next salmon fillet.

    "Even by just seeing the Chef doing technical work, I am starting to get hungry just by sensing the spiritual force emitting out of the salmon meat. Please, Chef! Do not torture me any longer."

    "Fishing requires patience and so does good food." Chef Roro replied and Xiong Da could not deny his wisdom. With a grunt from Chef Roro, the bear cubs apprentices who had been idle immediately moved forward to pass him the rice tub along with a te. It seemed that Chef Roro''s simple noises were sufficient instructions and signals that rified what needed to be done.

    The rice tub was filled with vinegar sushi rice, which was prepared beforehand by the apprentices. Chef Roro went towards the fish fillet that was already free from bones and beautifully cut arge piece of the fillet and slowly prepared a te of sushi for Xiong Da.

    Meanwhile, Xiong Da helped himself by the pouring the soy sauce and the wasabi. He knew not to mix them together since it was a disrespect to the master for stating that his fish quality was insufficient to eat with just the sauce.

    Within moments, the chef first brought out the salmon nigiri sushi for Xiong Da to taste.

    "Enjoy." Chef Roro said as Xiong Da cleaned his hands with a sanitised wet towel and prepared to enjoy it. The salmon nigiri consisted of a ball of vinegared sushi rice smeared with wasabi sauce and was topped with the salmon slice on top of it. The salmon was bright orange in colour, a contrast to its scales and the juice of the meat could be seen protruding out of the meat.

    Xiong Da could not help but take his handphone out. "Camera eats first, then me." Xiong Da held his phone with his left hand as he skillfully took a few pictures before using his right hand to taste the mouth watering sushi. He dipped the salmon nigiri, the meat itself, into the soy sauce and shook it a little before putting the entire thing into his mouth.

    The moment it made contact with Xiong Da''s sensitive tongue that had been perfected by the hungry hippo style, Xiong Da could not close his mouth. The taste of the sushi was impably desirable. When he started to chew, he could not help but feel his whole body ascend into a different state of being.

    The state of Grade 3.

    .

    .

 Chapter 154 Happy Xiong Da

    <h4>Chapter 154 Happy Xiong Da</h4>

    "Boss! BOSS! BOSSSSSSS!!!!!" Xiong Da could not help but hug Jin tightly. Even though he was just a Grade 3 cultivator, Jin could feel that his grip could rival a Grade 4 cultivator. "I know Zeru said he needed a lot of spiritual force to gain strength, but this is really a bit -OoF!" Jin thought to himself before he felt that the squeeze was too straining.

    "Okay okay! Xiong Da, you can let go of me now!" Jin tried to push Xiong Da away but he noticed Xiong Da was crying. "What are you crying for? The food is too good? You getting your grade 3?" Jin struggled more against Xiong Da''s grip.

    "BOTHHHHHH!!! Thank you Bossss!!" Xiong Da loosened his grip before heposed himself. "As much as I would like toment on the taste, it''s simply cannot be described with words right now. Also, the Salmon Sushi Nigiri has so much spiritual force that I could foresee the inevitability of it being very popr too." Xiong Damented.

    "That is because as I was cutting, I slowly concentrated the spiritual force of the entire salmon fish all into one portion of its meat. This way though, you would not be getting much spiritual force from the other portions." Chef Roro exined why he would only do one particr dish for a fish caught. "However, Boss Jin said to allow you to sample every part of the fish. I guess he wanted to maximise the whole fish''s spiritual force."

    "So there you go Xiong Da. Continue to catch fishes while doing your exercises and eat them to gain spiritual force. This is the n for the next few days before your decisive duel. Till then, I will be minding my own business as usual." Jin told Xiong Da as he stole a piece of the sushi from him.

    "Don''t mind me," Jin said and Xiong Da justughed it off as he enjoyed the remaining pieces while Chef Roro continued to prepare the remaining dishes for Xiong Da.

    ----------

    "So, have you decided on the cultivation that you want?" Jin asked Zhen Qing when he entered the Kitchen Instance from his Panda Port after leaving the Reservoir of Deep Fishing Service Instance. He even purposely brought some ck Ivory Coffee for Zhen Qing to drink along with a well decorated box of cheesecake.

    "Not really, since most of the cultivation was fighting based, very violent and don''t suit me. Although one caught my eye. The cultivation of the Penguin Styles" Zhen Qing said and Jin could not help but snigger. "That much of a coincidence?" Jin thought to himself before he took his phone out and checked out the penguin styles. He knew for sure that Zhen Qing had never tried nor was very interested in the shops'' dungeon instances. She was just too focused on her cooking.

    "Why the penguins?" Jin once again tried to strike a conversation with Zhen Qing as she was preparing the ck pepper pork buns while he read up on the different penguin styles.

    "Mainly because of their adaptability. They might seem clunky onnd, but when they are in the water, they are like a fishбн in water... I think it applies to me too as truth be told, I am...slightly awkward if I am not in the kitchen." Zhen Qing was more talkative than usual and what she said had already proved that fact.

    "However, I still feel like they are stillcking something. It''s not my number one choice, but in my opinion, the penguin styles suit me better than the rest." Zhen Qing smiled as she finally finished the fifth batch of buns that were to be soldter.

    "I see, let me take a look at the styles in detail and ask around to see if there are any good cultivation manuals around. In the meantime, my store is going to sell this dessert soon. Take a break and give me your opinion about it." Jin showed the box to her and she agreed to take a short break. Besides, she needed the spiritual force energy from the ck Ivory Coffee.

    "What is it? The box is really pretty though, sturdy enough to hold the contents properly if the interior is just as good." Zhen Qing took a thorough look at the box and gleed at the red panda.

    "It''s a cheesecake. Let me open it for you." Jin gently removed the cake box lid and the steam from the evaporating dry ice flowed out of the box. "Ooh, great contraption to keep the cheesecake cool." Zhen Qing now further investigated the interior of the box and saw that the cake was covered by anotheryer of some sort of insting stic that prevented the dry ice from contaminating the cheesecake. The sticyer was easily removed and Zhen Qing took the cake out.

    "Having no design on the cheesecake is sometimes the best design." Zhen Qingmented as she saw how simple yet alluring the yellow dessert was. With a spoon she took from the kitchen instance, she cut the tip of the cheesecake and scooped it up to eat.

    "Hmm. It''s delicious." Zhen Qing did not show any other expression when she was eating. She was really analysing not just the taste, but also its shape, smell, texture and even the box design. "But it''s cold."

    "Ehh of course, it''s cold. The dry ice made it cool. Is that a bad thing?" Jin queried as he was getting a little worried. He knew it was delicious but he did not expect such a ''cold'' response from Zhen Qing.

    "No, not that kind of cold. It feels void of emotions. The cheesecake didn''t induce any feelings in me when I ate it. It is quite rare for me to feel that way. I get that the coffee had a feeling of voidness since it was generated by a coffee machine but to feel the same way from the cheesecake...Is it from the same food supplier that you contracted?" Zhen Qing asked a straightforward question.

    "Ehh...yes, it is. Do I need toin to them or anything?" Jin was a little startled by Zhen Qing''s response but she shook her head.

    "No, this cake is fabulous and to themon folk, the food will be a hit. Maybe to the food gourmets too. However, it felt too calcted for me. Sure, having the right amount and maybe the exact amount would produce explicitly wonderful tastes but I feel like this is not how food should be made." She walked towards the kitchen''s oven and took out a trial bun that she always made to test the new batch of ingredients.

    "Here, try this." Zhen Qing gave the ck Pepper Pork Bun to Jin for tasting. "But I ate it a few days ago, I know what it tastes like," Jin replied to Zhen Qing, which made her sigh before she shoved her bun into his mouth.

    It was at that moment that he finally understood what she meant.

    .

    .

 Chapter 155 Your Cooking

    <h4>Chapter 155 Your Cooking</h4>

    "This is mytest improvement on the ck pepper pork bun. There are only some slight variations in the ingredients I put in bu-"

    "It tastes so much better than the original one!" Jin kept biting and chewing the bun that Zhen Qing had forced into him. Somehow, not only his stomach felt satisfied, but also his heart. He had never felt this way while eating the system''s food.

    "See what I mean? Zhen Qing curled her long hair behind her ears, which revealed the side of her face, which caused Jin just stare like an idiot for a moment. As she took another scoop out of the slice of cheesecake, the expression on her face lightened up a little and Jin realised why people said their hearts melt for the ones they loved. He did not believe he could feel it again.

    "I think I can replicate this if you want." Zhen Qing offered but Jin shook his head immediately.

    "No, don''t. I''d like to suggest something else instead. Create a main dish. Something filling for the masses. Easy to eat and filled with ''warmth'' just like this bun that you have created." Jin told Zhen Qing and her eyes widened up.

    "A main dish? That will be slightly difficult if I still have to continue preparing the ck pepper buns." Zhen Qing was immediately thinking about what would be a good meal to serve right here while amodating her current workload.

    "I will suggest limiting the number of buns that you sell. Then use the rest of the time to research or create the main dish you want. If you need to take time off selling those buns, do so. My main objective here is to create a conducive and pleasing environment for cultivators to dungeon, eat and have fun." Jin said as he licked his fingers after finishing the bun.

    "So my food here is technically unnecessary?" Zhen Qing blurted the truth out so bluntly that it stunned Jin for a while. "Zhen Qing used the truth! It was very effective!" Yunughed to herself as she continued to eavesdrop on the conversation through Jin.

    "Ehh...no, that''s not what I meant," Jin replied with a little hesitation, which made Zhen Qing realise that she had gone too far with her words.

    "Erm, sorry Boss." Zhen Qing had nearly forgotten the help that Jin had given her, not to mention that the amount of profit she had been making these past few days was three times more than she had ever earned in a full week on the streets.

    "No, don''t. You are right. The food that the supplier provides can feed all the customers and they might even create more varieties for me in the future." Jin told her truthfully, which made Zhen Qing anguish that she had spoken so bluntly. Was Jin going to fire her so quickly?

    She remembered how she was so headstrong in her opinion when she was the head chef and now it seemed that her behaviour from had not changed at all, even after all she had been through. She was quite cold to Jin and was too focused on her work. Even when Jin wanted to help her out, she chased him away while enforcing her own principles when this was not even her store, to begin with. "Oh well, I guess it was fun...while itsted." Zhen Qing thought to herself as she braced herself for the next few words from Jin.

    "But I like...your cooking." Jin bit his lips as he said that out. However, to Zhen Qing, a sudden palpitation coursed through her heart for some reason and she really felt relieved upon hearing that. Unfortunately, Jin had not finished talking.

    "So, I want you to stay and make that main dish that will rival or maybe even surpass what my secret food supplier creates. If you keep this up, perhaps I can renege the contract I have with them and you would be able to find a little spare change in your wallet. " Jin hoped that the allure of money would have some effect on her but he did not know her enough to make a prediction.

    Zhen Qing was already delighted to be able to stay in one ce and have someone trust her despite her headstrong attitude. She quietly nodded her head and finished the cheesecake and coffee. "Thank you, Jin for the tea break. I will clean it up."

    "Erm, not sure about this, but if you want the box, you could just remove the contents and keep the box. If not, just throw it into the recycle bin." Jin told her before he waved her goodbye and left the kitchen instance. For Zhen Qing, she did what Jin had told her as she stared at the box for a moment. "If only I could be as carefree as this little Red Panda right here." she flicked her finger at the red panda on the box before she put it away nicely and continued with her work.

    "Good attempt right there." Yun was already sitting at the bar counter, drinking her routine coffee and she passed him a few sets of new clothes.

    "Nah, was not trying to-" Jin tried to make another excuse as he changed right in front of Yun. He was not embarrassed at all since Yun had already infiltrated his thoughts. What sort of other privacy could he possibly have? Even Yun did not mind a single bit.

    "Uh uh uh, it was obvious to the third party right here, you are still trying. Do not give up though." Yun wagged her fingers, which caused Jin sighed more.

    "Let''s change the topic, shall we? Since I have enough dungeon dors, I''d now like to create the monsters'' home." Jin exined to Yun as he looked at his watch. Despite all the fishing and the tea break, the time dtion in both instances made real time pass even slower. Only thirty minutes of earth time had passed and Jin roughly had four, at most five hours, before he needed to open the shop.

    "You are not going to create a dungeon with the Deep Ones?" Yun asked. Usually, Jin would have gone straight to the Dungeon Maker to create a dungeon.

    "I want that permadeath dungeon in the Dungeon World to be destroyed as soon as possible. Its very existence continues to make me regret why I had ever even chose to lift up my weapons with the intentions to kill. Hell, I should not have even had that kind of thoughts." Jin squeezed his fists with anger as he remembered how foolish he was.

    "To be frank, it''s not entirely your fault. The system might have secretly influenced your actions since you were in the Dungeon Maker, the heart of the system. I did not have a say in the matter because I had to support the system''s choice since I am part of it. However, that did not stop me from influencing others to help you just like how the system unconsciously influenced you." Yun told him some truth behind that dark day as Jin was about to enter the Dungeon Maker.

    "...I see." Jin held his phone even tighter. Jin did not know that Yun was actually constantly fighting a battle against the system behind his back and he thought that it had partly been her intention to make him bent on killing all along. Meanwhile, Yun knew that it was a little lie she had to create to make him go forward. The system had created that permadeath dungeon but she didn''t actually have to reveal it to him at all.

    However, she decided that if he could really outgrow hiszy self upon learning the truth, it would be worth a shot, no matter how cruel the method was. Eventually, Jin learnt that the system was not to be med too. The system needed resources and the resources were there for it to consume. Jin was just regretful that he had been influenced by the system itself.

    "Continue to get a higher cultivation and perhaps with enlightenment, you will notmit such stupid mistakes ever again." Yun actually went behind Jin and gave him a gentle hug as he was contemting. Jin was a little astonished but at the same time, he feltfort.

    Thefort of his mother''s embrace.

    .

    .

 Chapter 156 Sanctum of Worlds

    <h4>Chapter 156 Sanctum of Worlds</h4>

    When Jin entered the Dungeon Maker, he already had ns in his mind on how he wanted to build his Monsters'' Home. To create it in a simr style to an apartmentplex or a high ss condominium.

    The simrities between a normal condominium and the one he was going to create ended there though.

    Sure, he could do worse, like imprisoning them and using them when needed, making them deprived of hope and they could not do anything since themand of absolute loyalty would force them to obey Jin no matter what.

    However, Jin did not wish to be that kind of person. He remembered the friend of Ming''s who he took him out to fish once told him something. "Life is an echo. What you send out will eventuallye back to you. So treat others how you want to be treated and that way respect will be earned."

    While Jin tried to ask the monsters, except for the Deep ones since he just caught them, for their ideal home, many were quick to respond that they would live in whatever abode their Master would give them. Only Ke Mi and the goblins, who had forged a closer bond with Jin, told him their preferences, though they were more requests rather than preferences.

    For example, the goblins wanted a room to themselves rather than sleeping openly with each other while Ke Mi wanted to be with Great White Snake and Shu.

    Jin was no architect but he had yed enough simtion building games like The Zims to n out a house design. Not to mention that he also studied the basics of architecture as part of his university modules. Hence, with the limited knowledge he had, he tried to recreate the rooms he envisioned with the experience he had from creating dungeons.

    With much work put into the ''Sanctum of Worlds'', which is what he had dubbed the massive apartmentplex since all the upants came from different worlds, Jin was finally done after countless hours in the Dungeon Maker. He looked at his storage watch and saw that there was still some Earth time left before he had to open his shop so he hurriedly entered the Sanctum of Worlds to view the building.

    When Jin entered the instance, it looked like a simple apartmentplex with a couple of trees on either side of the road. It was unfortunate that the building had such a mouthful of a name but it looked in on the outside. He did not bother to beautify it since it''s the inside that mattered more than the outside. Besides, it cost him dungeon dors just to upgrade the look of the apartment. Oh, those trees and the road? They wereplimentary courtesy of the system after the exorbitant amount of money he spent making this that he could have spent on making more dungeons.

    As he entered the apartment building, there was a lift that could bring him up all the way to the 20th floor. However, most of the apartments were left empty for future upants and currently only the first floor was upied.

    The first apartment he visited was the goblins. Hence, after Jin unlocked the door to their apartment, he called out the goblins and Mr Oink from his phone. The goblins had their jaws open wide the moment they came out of Jin''s phone.

    The ''room'' was actually an instance in a bigger instance. Within the goblin''s home instance, the goblins were situated in a forest-like area with three wooden huts in a wide clearing. The small vige even had a goblin totem that Jin had randomly made based on the inspirations he had from his earth''s history and fantasy tales. Since the goblins he caught were simr to them, he figured he would give it a try.

    The vige had a meat rack, a small training ground for the goblins to practice and even a campfire for the goblins toe together for meals. Meanwhile, Mr Oink was rummaging happily through the forest and soon found the cave near the vige that Jin had made for Mr Oink to sleep in. The goblins thanked Jin for providing them with a new home that was far superior to the small broken down shack they used to upy.

    Next, Jin did the same thing as he entered the Zither Mistress'' apartment. For her, it was slightly different. Perhaps biasness yed a role in the amount he had splurged on this instance, which could be seen from Ke Mi''s face as she was bbergasted by the scale of her home instance. It was actually modelled to look like an old Chinese courtyard house, also known as a Si He Yuan. While this kind of house was meant for extended families, right now, it belonged solely to Ke Mi, the Great White Snake, Shu, and his praying mantis.

    However, the emphasis was given to the courtyard more than the rooms since Jin knew that the tree, reptile, and insect would appreciate it more and most likely spend more time there. Even Ke Mi, who was used to the emptiness, was unsettled by such a grand gift by Jin.

    The courtyard provided space for Shu while the Great White Snake preferred to sleep on the roof of the courtyard house. Meanwhile, the praying mantis stayed by Shu''s side while Ke Mi slept in the house. For the first time, she felt like she was a noble.

    Although a big house usually meant that there was a lot of cleaning to be done, since this was an instance monitored by the system, she did not have to worry about anything like that. Jin had a feeling that Ke Mi would not be used to sleeping in such a big house so he purposely created a bed right beside Shu. And true enough, Ke Mi liked that more than the one in the house.

    For Jin, the zombie ce was one of the cheapest as the one he put the least amount of effort into. The funny part was that when Jin tried to summon them, the whole lot of them just rushed out of the phone like some ck sludge being forced out of a pipe. Jin had used a pre-made instance that the dungeon maker had as part of its repertoire.

    It was a derelict theme park where the rides still worked asionally. Since some of the zombies were ''intelligent'' enough to get on the rides, once there was a sufficient amount of zombies on board the ride, the instance would automatically activate the rides for the zombies to have some fun.

    Jin made quick work of his visit to the zombie''s home instance and went to the Jacks'' home instance straight after. This was the one he was really interested in, mainly because of one thing. The werejackals and werecats loved their farming and he had a farming errand on his to-do list for a very long time.

    He had created a mansion for therge group of werejackals and werecats to live in. Just outside of their mansion, there were acres ofnd just waiting to be ploughed. With sufficient dungeon dors, Jin also bought Nyanmi from the Dungeon Maker since she was on rental for the Bank Heist Instance, and this allowed her to permanently live with Meomi as well as the rest of the gang. That way, Meomi would at least have a female friend if the Jacks proved to be an annoyance. To Jin''s surprise, Meomi actually regarded Nyanmi more as a sister rather than a friend.

    "Gold, I have something to ask you," Jin asked Gold, the leaders of the Jacks, to step aside for a while after a tour of the ce. "Master, what can I do for you? After seeing the home that you have given us, we are willing to do anything for you." Gold beat his chest as a sign of respect to Jin.

    "I would like to know if you can nt these seeds as well as helping me identify what these seeds actually yield? Why did Zeru take these away from you guys?" Jin took out the seeds that Zeru had stolen from the Jacks in the farming world. It felt like an eternity had passed since that training incident.

    Gold looked at the crystal seeds andughed. "Boss, these crystal seedsбн" His expression turned serious as he looked at Jin.

    "...are actually eggs of a monster in the Farming World."

    .

    .

 Chapter 157 Crystal Seeds

    <h4>Chapter 157 Crystal Seeds</h4>

    "Eggs of a monster?! Then why did Zeru ask me to nt them?" Jin was taken aback for a moment before Gold sniggered. "That is because that is how they grow. Many do not know the proper method of harvesting and raising these pretties."

    "Actually,e to think of it, I still don''t really know the whole story of why you guys attacked me," Jin asked Gold as he called the rest of the Jacks to gather once more.

    "I can do the first part of the exnation." Zeru appeared from mid air and he immediately sat on thefortable sofa in the front room of the mansion. Topensate for the fact that the mansioncked the personal items to let it be called a home, it had space. Space for 20 to 30 odd werejackals to stay in. Some might say that it was merely a glorified hostel but it was the best Jin could do with limited amount of dungeon dors allocated for the whole ''Sanctum of Worlds''.

    "I initially asked Yun what kind of monsters Jin would like to have as part of his training. Instead of giving me a proper answer, she took a hat out and asked me to pick a random one. At first, I thought she was kidding, but she insisted that she had always wanted to try that out. So out of all the lots, I picked the Farming World and the eggs of this monster, which I believe Gold or the other werejackals would be able to exin better." Zeru gave a summary while the rest of the Jacks'' higher ups like Brown, Grey, and Yellow sat beside himfortably.

    "The monster that those eggs hatch into are the ones you are currently wearing." Gold pointed at his storage watch and nodded his head as Jin looked at Gold with disbelief. "Yes, Living Armour. What you are wearing is just a fragment of it, a small sample of these monsters. If I am not mistaken, those bands were scraped off from a dying living armour, sufficient to retain its sentience and some of its abilities."

    "Meanwhile, these little crystals seeds here are different. They can outgrow what you are wearing and create a living suit for you to wear in dangerous battles. That is why the Jacks were chasing these eggs down like crazy. As luck would have it, we managed to obtain this batch of eggs through a series of fortunate events. But I guess our luck ran out when we saw Zeru crashing into our caves." Gold said as Zeru chuckled.

    "You mean there are monsters in the Farming World?" Jin thought the Farming World was just a ce for people to farm.

    "As you''ve said, it''s the Farming World. Some people farm monsters for nefarious deeds, for taming purposes, or even just for farming purposes. These Living Armour eggs came about when one of our ''clients'' thought that he could repay his debt since he had ''identally'' found a series of quartz crystals despite it being the size of a seed. He did not know they were the eggs of the Living armour." Grey spoke and Yellow giggled.

    "Later, we realised he was actually lying. He utilised a half broken living armour as the bed of his farming since he found out it was capable of growing these so-called quartz crystals. What he did not know was that these ''crystal seeds'' die off if they are not kept properly. So people started to hound him." Yellow spoke further.

    "Grey realised that these seeds were not ordinary. So he used a satchel bag of time stop to collect the remaining seeds. Oh if you are wondering, these satchel bags are quitemon in our world since the preservation of our harvest is important. " Brown took his turn to talk.

    "While we beat the shit of our client." Yellowughed loudly and the rest of the werejackals in the front room joined in.

    "Do you have any idea how to grow it then?" Jin asked as they returned the bag full of crystal seeds...or eggs to let Jin have a closer look at them once again.

    "We initially found a manuscript on how to grow them, but since there are many people and monsters around us now, I think it would be better if we borrowed their expertise." Gold said honestly to Jin.

    "You mean Shu?" Jin figured that they were talking about the ancient treant since he had the powers to govern the earth and soil around him.

    "Not just that old cranky tree, but the little girl that was always with him too." Gold said as he took a piece of paper out and wrote something. After which, he asked Jin to follow him out of the mansion.

    "Why would you need her for?" Jin then took his phone out to summon Shu and Ke Mi outside the mansion.

    "You know how music helps with nt growth due to their vibrations that stimte the growth? The concept is simr but Ke Mi''s music has chi in it too. So while Shu helps with the fertilisation part, Ke Mi''s music will nourish the crystal seeds." Gold exined to Jin andter reiterated the whole situation to Ke Mi and Shu.

    "We can do that," Shu said as Ke Mi nodded her head willfully. She seemed excited to be able to help out in something.

    "However, Boss. I need you to find these things in the Farming World when you have time. It would greatly enhance your living armour''s capabilities. It is not urgent though, as the Living Armour Seeds takes time to grow." Gold took the paper he just scribbled on and passed it to Jin.

    "A Horn of the Burning Lion Demon? A tail of the Water Snake Demon? Hoofs of a Lightning Goat Demon? What are all these for? Parts of a Chimera? Besides, how do you know about all this?" Jin couldn''t fathom the kind of monster parts he needed.

    "He might not look like it but Gold is actually a Schrбн before he turned to the client protection business. Also, if that''s the case, I suggest adding the Gem Eyes of the Transforming Spider." Grey took the chance to add his piece.

    "Any story behind that?" Jin asked but Gold smirked. "Enough stories for today, Master. By the way, good suggestion Grey. That one might be the easiest solution to donning his armour quickly." Gold patted Grey on the back and turned back to look at Jin with seriousness in his eyes once again.

    "Do not underestimate these demons, more so the transforming spider. I have not seen the full extent of your new level of strength, or cultivation grade, as your world puts it. But from what I have deduced, you might be able to pull it off if Sir Zeru is with you. However, I suggest you try encountering them first to see if you can find their weaknesses." Gold warned Jin.

    "For these battles, Jin, I will not be helping you out. Consider this as the next part of your training mission; a continuation of where we had left off from the crystal seeds." Once Zeru spoke, Jin''s phone vibrated and he noticed a series of missions appeared in it. They were exactly the four monster missions he had to fight andplete.

    "Do not worry though, I will not let you go in unprepared. When you are ready, either night or day, proceed to Panda Muscles and we will spar." Zeru said.

    "At least, there is now a proper goal for my training." Jin left the Jacks'' Home Instance and moved on to the final two home instances. The Star Crossed Lovers and the Deep Ones.

    .

    .

 Chapter 158 A Magpies Wish

    <h4>Chapter 158 A Magpie''s Wish</h4>

    "Master!" Niu Lang and Zhi Nu kneeled down and greeted Jin, which shocked him for a moment.

    "Alright, you two. Do not disturb the Master, go and enjoy your new house." Que Er, the Queen of Magpies, was standing beside Jin with an elegant smoke pipe in her mouth. Staying true to the lore, Jin had custom-built a house that had a bridge behind it and right behind the house? A setting Moon instead of a Sun as the backdrop of their home instance.

    Apparently, Jin only had ess to Niu Lang, Zhi Nu and the Queen of Magpies, Que Er. The rest of the bosses and minions were not unlocked for him by the System. Perhaps the system thought that it would be too generous to give him the entire cast of the Qixi Festival dungeon instance. Or maybe, it felt that Jin was not ready to receive the entire cast since his cultivation was still considerably low. Whatever the reason was, Jin did not care much and created a house to let these two star crossed lovers have a proper home.

    "But they sure were happy to see each other even though they are still together," Jinmented vaguely but the Queen of Magpies interjected with her own remarks. "It''s because before you brought them together, they were only allowed to see each other once a year...for centuries."

    "Isn''t Niu Lang a mortal? How did heбн" Que Er knew that question wasing so she interrupted Jin. "He realised he was only part mortal after the whole incident. Remember Taurus, the ox that he took care of? That old cow stayed with the cowherd boy for far too long and gave him his everything. Leather hide, tail hair, horn, and meat."

    "Niu Lang ate the meat of the celestial ox, making him partially immortal. People did not know that he lived for centuries before he finally died of old age. I helped him look younger every time he went to meet Zhi Nu so that he would not feel so guilty looking imperfect every time they reunited." Que Er added.

    "Soon after, since the strands of tail hair were being used up, they decided to not use the entire strand but half the strand per year. The duration was cut drastically and they saw each other for maybe 10 mins or so. The powers of half the strand were not equivalent to half of a full strand." The Queen of Magpies took another puff of smoke in.

    "On theirst encounter, they did not even speak a single word and instead just stared into each other''s eyes until the strand magic was used up. Niu Lang lived for another 50 odd years or so before he died in a secluded area of the world."

    "There are a lot of things that don''t add up. Why are you helping this couple so much? How did Niu Lang survive so long without being noticed by anyone else?"

    "Because Taurus helped my mortal lover, which was the reason why he was punished and sent to Earth. Yet, despite his sacrifice, both of us were not daring enough to aplish what Zhi Nu and Niu Lang had. So whenever I helped them, it was actually just me selfishly trying to remember my old lover before he passed on due to sickness." Jin could see Que Er trembling a little as she retold her story to him.

    "Sorry," Jin said to her but she shook her head. "A partial immortal was not safe so I kept him under wraps in a magical farnd. He did notin much and his only goal was to see Zhi Nu once a year. If you look at it from some other perspective, it might look like he had an unhealthy obsession for her and I was encouraging that even more, but he wanted to stay that way. Hence Iplied." Que Er replied.

    "Then this Niu Langбн" Jin looked at Niu Lang, so young and robust, who did not in any way look like the man Que Er had described.

    "I do not know, I thought this was your doing, bringing the three of us together again." Que Er looked at him with a curious eye.

    "Actually, the system brought them together." Yun appeared in front of them.

    "The system wanted to know what love is?" Jin tried to deduce the system''s intention but Yun shrugged her shoulders. "All I know is that the system brought these people together again. It didn''t want to tell me what its purpose was though."

    "In any case, Que Er. If you are ufortable staying with those two star crossed lovers, tell me and I will create a new house or something." Jin told Que Er but sheughed.

    "Me? Ufortable? Give me a roof to perch on and I will already be happy enough. To see the two of them together? You made my oldest wishe true." Que Er waved goodbye to Jin as she turned into a beautiful red magpie and flew around in the night sky.

    -----------

    Lastly, Jin visited the Deep Ones'' Home Instance with Yun since she was around. It had an absolutely different atmosphere inparison to the star crossed lovers Home Instance. Jin had not wanted to try this because he thought he might drown in it, but surprisingly he was able to breathe normallyбн even in the lowest depth of the seas with just a ray of dwindling light shining through the waters.

    He released the Deep Ones from his phone along with Derpy and they looked really excited to view the Seabed Town, which was modelled from Luvcraft''s illustrations of Innsmouth. While the Deep Ones were exploring the area, Derpy came towards Jin with its eye right in front of him. Even the diameter of Derpy''s eyeball was three timesrger than Jin''s height.

    "Insolent one, do you not know the kind of wrath you will receive by capturing a fragment of Lord Dagen? I might be under your control at the moment but know this. He will not forget the loss of his fragment. In fact, if he knows that you still have a fragment of him, Lord Dagen will do whatever it takes to retrieve it back, even if it means allying with the Great Old Ones."

    "Ehh, so are you my ally?" Jin was not scared a single bit and was ying around with Derpy.

    "Unwillingly, yes. Somehow, you broke the connection between this particr fragment of Lord Dagen and the main body. I still have his powers but whenever I use them, let it be a reminder. Once I unleash my destructive powers and abilities for you puny human to observe, always remember that Lord Dagen can use the same moves a hundred times- No, a thousand times stronger than me!"

    "Okay, Derpy. Hand." Jin lifted his hand out and Derpy pulled its gigantic hand out and gently tapped the tip of its ws against Jin''s hand. "Good Fish."

    "I am not just a Fish! I am not Derpy either! I am the fragment of Lord Dagen''s Entity! I am -" Before Derpy could finish its words, Peppers appeared between it and Jin.

    "So?" Peppers folded her arms and Derpy immediatelyid its entire body down in submission.

    "There you go, that''s a good fish. Now listen to Master Jin or I''ll give you to Chef Roro so he can make you into sashimi." Peppers winked at Jin and he chuckled as he patted Peppers'' head.

    "Now, Derpy. Go govern your underlings. Make sure they are ready for fights. Soon I will create a dungeon for you guys to terrorise the cultivators." Jin said and Derpy reluctantly agreed.

    "Do not worry Derpy, to the cultivators, you are Shadow Dagen. A shadow of the Real Lord Dagen. Better than just a fragment." Jin waved goodbye as he went back to the store, still dry and clean. Derpy was secretly delighted by the new name and started tomand the Deep Ones around to make themselvesfortable.

    "New Day, New Customers." Jin stretched a little before he checked if everything was in order to open the store.

 Chapter 159 Father and Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 159 Father and Daughter</h4>

    "Dad. This is the one I was talking about." Jing Ru was demure with her actions but Ren Wei, Jing Ru''s stepdad, could clearly see that Jing Ru was barely holding in her excitement while bringing him to this Dungeon Supplier.

    "There is no store name on the map directory at all." Ren Wei took a look at his map on his phone and it only showed a plot ofnd.

    "Mmhmm, it has only been opened for a month I believeбн So I think the official directory has not been updated yet." Jing Ru said and then realised she did not know the shop''s name at all. She had been referring to the store as ''that dungeon supplier store near Tiangong Shopping District'' or ''Boss Jin''s store''. "Perhaps I should askter," She thought to herself.

    The store was not as packed as the day before since that was the release of Qixi Festival Dungeon but there was still quite a number of people despite it being a working day. "Boss! Good afternoon!" Jing Ru was slightly friendlier than before since she had already been to Boss Jin''s store a few times and Jin had also put in the effort to remember his customers.

    "Ah, Jing Ru! How are you doing? Brought your boyfriend along?" Jin teased Jing Ru, which made her blush slightly as she shook her head vigorously. Ren Wei, despite being in his mid-40s, looked rather suave and was handsome and muscr enough for people to mistake him as being in the early 30s category.

    "Hahaha, Boss, I like your humour but sadly, I am just her ermбн" Ren Wei was considering whether or not to call himself Step Dad or Dad in front of Jin when Jing Ru stepped in to help.

    "He is my Dad! Don''t make him that happy by praising him as young-looking! He has been giving me non-stop training to enhance my shooting and survival skills. There are times I feel like giving up." Jing Ru said to Jin and he noticed that Jing Ru did be slightly different since thest time he saw her. There was a bit more ruggedness-No, that was not the wordбн There was a bit more maturity in that pure looking demure face.

    "Please Boss, do not listen to her. She has been bugging me day and night to train her, even when I just get back from work. Jing Ru said that she wanted to train more so she could prove to be more useful in her team''s subsequent meetups." Ren Wei let the cat out of the bag and Jing Ru yfully beat her stepdad on his shoulder.

    "It''s good that you two have such a jovial rtionship. Not many people treat their family as closely as you two do." Jin smiled at them genuinely and it made Ren Wei really happy that his stepdaughter had given him a chance by to be part of her life.

    Ever since her mother died shortly after their marriage due to a freak car ident during her dailymute to work, Ren Wei did not know if he could properly take care of Jing Ru. There was an eerie coldness always present between the two, the feeling of distance. It felt like he was still a stranger to Jing Ru.

    Of course, Jing Ru was sensible enough to let her mother remarry as she felt that Ren Wei''s ''credentials'' were way better than her biological father but she could not bear the fact that she had lost her mother so soon after.

    If anything, Ren Wei wanted to personally thank this particr dungeon supplier for indirectly helping him and Jing Ru be closer. Meanwhile, Jing Ru felt differently on this issue. Ever since she lost her mother, her biological father did not even return to visit her at all. Although she detested him, he could at least have returned andforted her.

    Slowly but surely, Jing Ru saw that Ren Wei was trying his best to not only bring food to the table but also to take care of her like how a parent would. She was touched by his sincerity but had no idea how to express her gratitude. Jing Ru''s interest in air rifles and her cultivation also began when she tried to understand her stepfather''s upation.

    Little did she know that a bookworm like herself would have a knack for using air rifles and her cultivation soared through the roof so quickly that the university air rifle club made her the university''s air rifle team leader. Her stepfather supported her fully and tried to teach her some tricks, which she utilised. She attempted to use these training sessions as a means to bond with him.

    However, it was not until Jing Ru had decided to team up and fight in Jin''s dungeons that she started to take cultivation more seriously. She asked Ren Wei, who was a police sniper, for more tips on how to improve. It was then that she began to enjoy hispany even more despite the harshness of the training he put her through. Of course, Ren Wei was sensible enough and always tried to strike a bnce during the training since Jing Ru was also trying her best open herself up to him.

    "So what do you two, Father and Daughter, wish to try? By the way, Jing Ru, not sure if you''ve been told already but there are new desserts on the menu if you wish to try them out. And for the father, we have a new service instance, called the Reservoir of Deep Fishing. Basically, it''s a fishing instance, where you can spend some time fishing and if you catch a fish, you can have it prepared, cooked, and served in many ways too." Jin tried to promote his new items in the store since he got Yun to handle the bar counter.

    "Hahaha, I am not a fan of desserts, but the rest of the girls, especially Shi Hui, that dancer girl, would love it a lot. However, I might give it try in the future with them." Jing Ru replied.

    "Boss, what is this fishing instance? Do you mean I can enter it like a dungeon instance but instead of fighting, I can fish? And mind exining what you meant by I can have it cooked?" Ren Wei was a little confused since it was his first time here. Although he''d heard about the instances from Jing Ru talking about it, he thought it would be better for the owner himself to rify it.

    "What you''ve said is correct. You can not only fish but upon sessfully catching a fish, you will be allowed to bring it to our Master Chef and he will create a meal out of it for you. Things like sushi or fish soup." Jin replied and Ren Wei more or less got the idea.

    "Dad, I like to eat sushi! Trust me when I say that the food in Boss Jin''s ce is one of the best. Not just me but others also think that he secretly hid the food behind the dungeons so that dungeoneers would have to literally fight for the food. That way though, you will have the greatest satisfaction." Jing Ru excitedly told her dad.

    "Then, we shall do one dungeon and one fishing instance." Ren Wei smiled at his daughter and they decided to take a closer look at the menu before choosing which dungeon to take on.

    .

    .

 Chapter 160 Goblin Forest Dungeon Instance

    <h4>Chapter 160 Goblin Forest Dungeon Instance</h4>

    "We will take the Goblin Forest dungeon instance." Jing Ru said as she heard from Jin that some changes had been made since the previous time she and her university friends had tried it. Besides, it would be easier to show her stepfather how Jin''s dungeons worked in one of the cheaper dungeons where the pressure to seed wasn''t as heavy.

    Even though Ren Wei had been warned by Jing Ru to bring a little more cash than usual since the dungeon supplier that they were going to cost more, he could not believe the price until he saw it first hand. "Are you sure they are good?" Ren Wei confirmed with Jing Ru in case he was wasting his money and she nodded her head.

    "The best I''ve ever been in." Jing Ru said with confidence.

    "Alright, I trust you, girl." Ren Wei paid for the tickets, which allowed him to set up an ount in Pandamonium. Jing Ru even offered to show him how to use itter. "For now though, just follow me!" Jing Ru gleed as she walked towards Station 1.

    "ce your phone here, and you will be teleported in. As for the rest of your stuff, you can put them in the Panda Miniature on the shelf over there." Jing Ru taught Ren Wei the ropes of this dungeon supplier, which gave Jin some time to attend to other customers, though he really didn''t need to. That was because he had a very inclusive and friendlymunity of customers that helped each other. Customers such as Jin''s were hard, almost impossible, toe by and that was one of the reasons so many people constantly came to the store despite its sky-high prices.

    Father and daughter eventually teleported into the dungeon instance and immediately found themselves in a tight situation when they got teleported near a dramatic scene, where both parties were engaged in a standstill. An eight-legged boar that looked like Mr Oink was bleeding badly and panting heavily while being surrounded by a group of knights.

    Upon a closer look, the group surrounding Mr Oink were boars with humanoid features riding on top of six-legged boars simr to Mr Oink. Both Ren Wei and Jing Ru discovered that Mr Oink was backed to a corner near a cliffside and the Boar Knights were inching ever closer.

    "Join us Great Variant! We promise to treat you better, maybe the Boarman King will even knight you as one of the Royal Boars! Just agree to abandon those filthy green uglies!" One of the Boar Knights snorted as he dragged a chained goblin that was beaten to near death and showed it to Mr Oink. The rest of the Boar Knights snorted in agreement when the Royal Boar Knight Hamlet threw the chained up goblin in front of Mr Oink.

    Jing Ru could barely discern that the goblin in question was, in fact, the sword goblin. She recognised him because of his broken scabbard hanging at the side of his waist. "No matter how I see it, the goblins are the victims here right now." Jing Ru had always treated them as the enemy because of past dungeon experiences, but right now, she could sense that Jin had altered the story a little, making the goblins the story''s supporting characters.

    With the backdrop of the forest as cover, Jing Ru took out her rifle from her storage ring and wanted to go in without giving much thought. However, Ren Wei stopped her immediately. Instead of talking, Ren Wei performed several hand gestures, which Jing Ru understood from her constant training. They were visualbat signals that Ren Wei had taught her to improve nonverbalmunication.

    Some might argue, why not use a chi voice transmission instead? The reason was simple. There might be chi detection spells around or even a cultivator specialised in chi maniption and detection. These knights might just be musclemen but one could not discount the fact that a Chi Knight was among them. Hence, the simple and efficient old method of hand signals were used.

    "You cover this area, I will go ahead and distract the enemy." Ren Wei spoke with a few hand gestures, which Jing Ru acknowledged immediately. Although Ren Wei was well suited for the support role since he was a police sniper, he wanted to go the frontline for a few reasons. One, he wanted Jing Ru to focus on learning how to support instead of only frontline fighting and Two, he had been itching to go to the front for quite some time. Theck of frontline action in the police force made him thirst for some intense closebat fights.

    The third andst reason was that the situation did not allow any time to set up. Ren Wei had already identified two sniping positions but it could have taken too much time, giving the chance for the situation to turn for the worse.

    "BANG! BANG! BANG!"

    Ren Wei fired three consecutive shots holding an air rifle modelled like a M1 Garand as he stood in the middle of the forest, making it very visible for the Boar Knights to notice him. What they did not know was that their Royal Boar Knight Hamlet had already fallen to the ground from his six-legged boar, choking on his own blood.

    The Boar Knights could not fathom what hit Hamlet except for Ren Wei, who had purposely shown his Grade 4 cultivation of the Musket Muskrat out in the open to attract attention. Ren Wei had directed his shots towards the small vulnerable gap between the helmet and the chest armour of the Royal Boar Knight. What Ren Wei did not expect was that the Boar Knights had a thick neck whenpared to humans.

    While it did not kill Hamlet, it was obvious that fatal damage was delivered. One of the Boar Knights, who was the healer of the entire group, immediately attended to the Royal Boar Knight Hamlet while the rest immediately focused their attention on Ren Wei. That distraction was what Mr Oink needed to push through the entire group with the sword goblin in its mouth.

    "Shit! The Great Variant is getting away!" One of the Boar Knights shouted and wanted to chase after Mr. Oink but another shot came from afar, which was once again, something they did not expect. The shot was urate enough to hit one of the six-legged boar''s eyes, which caused it to go berserk for a moment, causing chaos. This created a chance for Ren Wei and Jing Ru to escape.

    "Did you set it up?" Ren Wei finally caught up with Jing Ru as they were running away in the same direction as Mr Oink.

    "BOOM!"

    The distant explosion from afar made Jing Ru smiled and Ren Wei grinned back at her.

    .

    .

 Chapter 161 Guardian of the Fores

    <h4>Chapter 161 Guardian of the Fores</h4>

    The Boar Knights were rental monsters that had been on discount when Jin had first essed the Dungeon Maker. The knights were simr to Nyanmi but the rental cost of Nyanmi was equivalent to ten of these boar knights.

    Jin initially thought that getting more rental monsters would bring more variety to the table. However, his funds were severely limited by the decision he made in the Dungeon World so he had not touched any rental monsters for the time being with the exception of these boar knights and Nyanmi. Nheless, it was a good idea to increase the variety. Jin also wanted to buy the Boar Knights outright like what he had done with Nyanmi but for some reason, he never felt any decent connection or bond with them, so he decided to just keep them as rentals.

    Separately, in terms of monsters, the Boar Knights, and Boar people as a whole, were quite different from werebeasts like the Jacks. The Boarmen had a boar head and legs with a humanoid body while the Werejackals were humans that could transform into Jackal Humanoids.

    As he was watching the father-daughter duo''s fight, since there were currently no new customers, he heard footsteps entering his store. "Boss Jin! How are you? Just popping by to say hi!" Xue Ping brought Lee An along to drop by Boss Jin''s store for a moment.

    "I am not too bad, busy with work?" Jin noticed that they were each holding onto a panda packaging wrapped around a piping hot ck Pepper Pork Bun, waiting for the buns to cool down a little. Eventually, Lee An was too hungry and immediately grab a bite out of the tasty looking bun despite its temperature.

    "We had sort of some minor investigation going on but when we heard that it''s near Tiangong Shopping District, we thought we coulde and say hi to you after our work. Oh, and the buns are so much tastier than before!" Xue Ping replied as she could not resist a bite herself.

    "It''s definitely meatier, the vours are slightly stronger, and there is this warm kind of feeling thates along with it too. No doubt this is one of the best buns I''ve ever eaten." Lee An talked with his mouth full and did not care about his appearance a single bit.

    "Eh? Is that?!" Xue Ping just realised that Boss Jin was standing near Station 1 watching the dungeon fight and noticed someone familiar. Lee An was suddenly curious due to Xue Ping''sment and took a look too. He almost dropped his bun on the floor.

    "Is he someone special?" Jin asked since he vaguely remembered Jing Ru saying that her father was a police sniper.

    "If I am not mistaken, he is one of the top snipers in the police force of our entire province but he did not wish to be promoted because of the workload it would bring. He said he wanted to spend more time with his new family." Xue Ping answered Jin''s question as she double checked the name that was on Station 1''s TV.

    "Is he that good?" Jin asked once more, and Xue Pingughed. "Continue watching and you can judge him for yourself. Though I think he is hiding his true ability from his stepdaughter. Oh erm, I meant daughter. Boss, please keep that to yourself!" Xue Ping realised she had messed up when Lee An knocked her on her head.

    "Ohбн Do not worry, I would not say it out." Jin nodded his head and continued to watch the dungeon fight as the two police detectives walked themselves out of the store with Lee An pinching Xue Ping on her cheeks for her careless remark.

    ------------

    Even though Ren Wei''s tracking skills were hardly used ever since he got into the police force, it proved to be quite beneficial when it came to searching for a reckless woundedrge boar. The boar was panting really heavily and the goblin was beaten to the point that treating his wounds conventionally would only prolong his suffering.

    Both father and daughter took a look at the injuries of the boar and tried to assess if they could do anything for it. It was at this moment that they heard the rustling of the leaves, which immediately made both of them pull out their air pistols out from their holsters.

    "Stop! They are not the enemyбн" The beaten sword goblin used whatever strength he had left to shout. It was then Jing Ru faced her air pistols downwards and saw two other goblins slowly walk out of the bushes. Ren Wei realised that the goblins were talking the samemonnguage as them to hear too, which he found quite immersive for a dungeon instance. He did not believe that there could be an actual plot to a dungeon instance.

    "What happened to you and Mr Oink?" The cloaked dagger goblin came and agilely removed the chains from the sword goblin''s neck and limbs. The spear goblin took some medication out and started pasting medicated leaves onto Mr Oink''s wounds while the dagger goblin gave the sword goblin a small potion to drink.

    "We were ambushed and these metal clunking Boarman kept calling Mr Oink some Great Variant. I tried to fend them off, but there were too many of them. Theyter defeated me and quickly chained me up for the crime of ''holding the Great Variant''." The sword goblin finally had the strength to talk properly after drinking the potion.

    "I think they called it the Great Variant becauseбн ehh Mr Oink, was it? He had two more legs than the boars they were riding." Ren Wei projected his conjecture, which attracted the goblins'' attention.

    "Dad, it''s not just that, you do not know about Mr Oink. He actually has a second form if he gets too injured." Jing Ru interjected her knowledge about Mr Oink. "So, if I am not wrong, as long as Mr Oink is not entirely dead, he can grow back to his first form again."

    "But that will take ages, probably a goblin lifetime." The Spear Goblin chuckled.

    "Still, he is one of the guardians of the forest, we cannot let him get captured by some weird knights and his King." The Sword Goblin managed to stand up for a while before he dropped to the ground again.

    "I am sorry for thete reply but thank you for saving my friend as well as the Guardian of the Forest." The cloaked dagger goblin raised his hand and Ren Wei shook it firmly.

    "Anyway, we can help?" Ren Wei asked directly. He knew that the knights were relentless and they would definitelye back with more manpow- no, more Boarpower to capture the goblins and Mr. Oink.

    "We have nothing to offer you but possible death if you assist us. Are you still willing to help?" The cloaked dagger goblin said bluntly.

    "Is this all you got?" Ren Wei asked once again with regards to the number of goblins they have and the dagger goblin nodded its head.

    "We three are the only ones left that patrol the Goblin Forest. Even if we die, the forest will somehow recreate us again to protect its secrets. The Guardians are the same as us but capturing the forest guardians, on the other hand, is another issue altogether." The spear goblinmented.

    "So you guys would rather fight to the death for this secret forest than be captured? Aren''t you all curious about the secrets this forest holds?" Jing Ru questioned them and they all shook their head.

    "No, we definitely do not wish to be killed but we will die for the cause if we have to. Also, all we know is that there is an abandoned stone temple in the middle of the forest. We have never gone in there before and never wish to." The cloaked dagger goblin answered.

    "But we will have to if you all want to survive." Ren Wei said with certainty, which made the goblins doubt themselves a little.

    "Regardless, I believe that the Knights will need to regroup, or perhaps call in more reinforcements in order to hunt down Mr Oink now that they have an unexpected variable, us. So we have time on our hands to prepare." Jing Ru suggested, which made Ren Wei pause to wonder.

    "They said they have nothing to offer, yet you wish to help them?" Ren Wei asked and Jing Ru pouted at her stepdad. "Mom would do the same right? She married you because she trusted that you would do more good than her."

    Ren Wei was stunned for a while before he smiled like a fool. "That''s true, let''s do this."

    .

    .

 Chapter 162 Lay of the Land

    <h4>Chapter 162 Lay of the Land</h4>

    "Mr Oink can bring you around the forest quickly while I go ahead and scout for the Boar Knights." the Dagger Goblin informed Ren Wei and Jing Ru before and he immediately disappeared into the shadows of the forests.

    "Mister Ren Wei, I will show you a good vantage point so that you can get an overall view of this forest." The spear goblin beckoned them to follow him while Mr Oink let the Sword Goblin ride on him so that he could rest a little longer as they tagged along behind the spear goblin.

    As the entire group ventured through the forest, they eventually came across a small pathway that led up a ginormous tree. It was so narrow that it barely allowed Ren Wei to walk up, let alone the armoured boar knights. Hence, Mr Oink sat down near the pathway with the sword goblin while the spear goblin continued to lead the way for the human duo.

    "Careful with your steps. Do not let the scenery and height to distract your footing." The spear goblin was climbing up the giant tree swiftly and with grace, clearly disying that he had done it many times before. Climbing the tree held some difficulty for Jing Ru and Ren Wei but they eventually managed to make it to the top to behold the beautiful view of the forest''s canopy.

    "This feels so real." Ren Wei took a deep breath in and the air was avidly fresh as it entered his lungs. To watch thisndscape view of the serene top of the forest with Jing Ru had already made this entire dungeon trip worth it. To see her so happy... so rxed, her emotions unrestrained aspared to the times she tried to behave well and proper when he was at home with her. It in a wayforted Ren Wei''s heart.

    "There, I believe you can see that distant castle in the north? That''s the Boarman Castle. While you might not be able to see it clearly, there is-"

    "Major movement from the North, marching towards the south. A regiment of roughly 40 odd people, sorry, I meant boars." The spear goblin was surprised that Ren Wei was able to deduce that immediately...butter realised that he actually had his binocrs out and they had thermal functions.

    "Wow, Dad you really are going all out! You even brought your expensive thermal binocrs?" Jing Ru was pleasantly shocked that her Dad brought out his personal set of gear for the dungeons. "Why not? This is in fact still a sort of battlefield that I am participating in. You cannot underestimate your enemy in any way."

    "I know the Dagger Goblin well enough that I know he will purposely mislead them to certain parts of the forest. This will give us ample time to set up any traps we or set up ambush positions." the Spear Goblinmented as he started to show Ren Wei theyout of the goblin forest.

    "If I am not mistaken, the dagger goblin will be leading them to the Venus Animal-traps. If they are still stupid enough to follow him through them and somehow make it through, he will most likely lead them to the poison venting trees. It should reduce their numbers by a fair bit." The spear goblin remarked and Jing Ru raised her hand as if she was in ss.

    "Question, venus animal-traps?" The spear goblinughed and apologised for not exining.

    "They are actually trees that eat live prey, they attract their unknowing prey with a beautiful scent or even an illusion of a female dryad. But usually, the live prey is eaten up because they wandered too close to the meat loving trees." The Spear Goblin said as he passed a protective charm each to Ren Wei and Jing Ru.

    "These charms will stop the meat eating trees from targeting you as well as providing a thinyer of protection against the poison. That does not mean you can stay there for long though." The spear goblin exined.

    "Then the dagger goblin has this with him too?" Jing Ru asked but the goblin surprisingly shook his head.

    "We are immune to the forest''s weapons as we protect its secrets. Therefore, we transverse unhindered," he replied.

    "Lastly, right behind this big tree is where the hidden temple is. If what you say is true and we really do have to fall back to that ce, I need to say that I have no clue what lies in store for us." The spear goblin stared at Ren Wei for a moment and he understood clearly from the goblin that he really did not wish to disturb the inner peace of the temple.

    "I cannot promise you that we won''t have to take cover in there but I can promise you that if we ever do, I will make sure that no survivors will ever report what they find back to their superiors. I will also promise you that neither of us will take anything from there for personal benefit." Ren Wei was dead serious with his statements, whichforted and reassured the spear goblin.

    "From their speed along with the density of the forest, I presume they will eventually have to get off their riding boars and walk through the danger zones. But let''s say they somehow knew where Mr Oink is hiding because I''m pretty sure we can assume he is hiding. How should we proceed?" Ren Wei said as they started to walk down the tree''s pathway.

    "Ehh Dad! You are thinking too much, just bring Mr Oink with us as bait." Jing Ru answered.

    "But don''t you have to make sure your asset is safe rather than putting it in a risky position?"

    "Heehee! We are in a dungeon, worst case scenario we can just try again." Jing Ruughed and Ren Wei sighed with a smile on his face. "Well at the moment youngdy, you are not the one paying." He gave a light knock on Jing Ru''s head as they reached the forest floor and Jing Ru stuck her tongue out at him.

    In the end, the two humans and the two goblins along with one energetic Mr Oink came together as they discussed how to proceed.

    "We will take roughly 10 minutes to reach to the Venus Animal-traps so that should give us some time to get some personal traps set up before they get there." Ren Wei said as he ced his bag and storage ring on the ground alongside Jing Ru''s to have an inventory check.

    "We have ymores,ndmines, a few bear traps, shock traps and even automated pitfall traps... Oh, some explosive caltrops too!" Jing Ru said it out aloud and Ren Wei looked at her with a curious expression.

    "Where did you even get all these kind of traps? I thought we only brought training ymores for dungeon instances." The father was slightly concerned about his daughter''s choice of weaponry.

    "Hahaha! I got it all from Boss Jin''s underground general and weapon store! They were having some minor discount so I took the chance to buy the items that I wanted. Oh, I also got myself a nice looking dress from there too." Jing Ru smiled innocently but Ren Wei could not imagine the amount of money she had spent. She assured him those traps can only work in the dungeons and were bound by a standard restraining spell simr to the training ymores which could not be used outside of a dungeon instance.

    "Ohhhhh I know that look Dad. No, I did not spend any more money than you gave me for the dungeon instances. All these can only be bought with panda medal coins. So in a way, they are all kind of like my rewards for winning Jin''s dungeons. They are not that easy to obtain at all!" Jing Ru had a slightly proud expression on her face, which startled Ren Wei as he looked at her with a devious smile.

    "I have my own set of weaponry too and judging from what I have just seen, I know you will like them." Ren Wei smirked as he took out his extensive gear of weapons.

    Jing Ru''s eyes sparkled.

 Chapter 163 Trap Setup

    <h4>Chapter 163 Trap Setup</h4>

    There were a few customers who had just finished their dungeon runs and had decided to chill at the bar counter for a while before they left until they noticed Station 1''s ythrough. "Wait a minuteбн you can actually ally with the goblins?!" One of the male customers who was holding onto a bamboo juice was stunned.

    His other friends who were discussing a different topic stopped and looked towards Station 1 too. "Hey, that''s true! You can ally with the goblins too." A bespectacled friend of his confirmed his query.

    "How did they do it? I thought we had to kill the goblins and Mr Oink?" the same customer who had found out about this anomaly quickly asked Yun, who was nearest to the bar counter. She giggled a little and said "Did we actually say that you had to fight against the goblins? All we have described was just the story. Your decision of choosing which side you want to fight for is just the beginning of the story that you create for yourself in the dungeon. That is the beauty of Jin''s story themed dungeons."

    "Ohhh! But still, wow, fighting against the boar knights would be a challenge." The group of customers agreed since they had sided the boar knights and knew that they had a trump card which the goblins did not know about.

    "It will be interesting to see how these two long-ranged cultivators fight against the Boar Knights'' trump card. In the meantime, Yun, can I have that cheesecake dessert you mentioned?" The male customers each ordered a cheesecake and continued to watch Ren Wei and Jing Ru fight against all odds.

    ----------

    Mr Oink had Ren Wei, Jing Ru and the two goblins on its back on the way to the Venus Animal-traps habitat. After which, Ren Wei took out his binocrs to check how far the enemies were and how much time they would have to set up traps in this area before the enemy reached them.

    "Roughly about one kilometre away. Jing Ru, ce the bear traps near those two trees and roughly a few steps after it, ce a pitfall trap near thatrge rock. Before putting the pitfall trap, Spear goblin, would you mind helping me tie these three grenades together? Two explosive and one shbang above that tree with a stone as a counterweight. " Renwei ordered his daughter and the spear goblin, which they acknowledged immediately.

    Meanwhile, he was analysing the possible sniping positions where they could provide support during the confusion. He did not know how these Venus animal-traps worked but he would have to adapt as the situation developed.

    "Once you are done, Jing Ru go ride with Mr Oink to the poison-venting trees and find suitable ambush positions for traps. As usual, mark those traps with our standard signals so when we fall back, I will then know where not to step."

    "You sure you don''t want to supervise the trap cing yourself?" Jing Ru finished setting up the bear traps. Jin''s supplied traps were easier to affix aspared to the ones in real life. With just a simple application of chi energy, the bear traps opened up. Of course, before opening the traps, Jing Ru had already camouged the trap with the surrounding mud and soil along with some leaves. The traps were new so they were a little shiny and the re might ring rm bells for the boar knights.

    "No, I trust your judgement and creativity." Ren Wei smiled at her but deep inside he had a selfish motive."Besides, I want to try out a few new techniquesбн just not in front of you." He thought to himself. Jing Ru epted her father''s praise as she along with the Spear Goblin rode off to the next area.

    "You are not following them?" Ren Wei asked the sword goblin and he smirked in reply. " Like I can let you have all the fun."

    "Hahaha, it''s just something that I do not wish to let my daughter see for now." Ren Wei immediately revealed his cultivation as he performed his technique to set up the entire area with traps. Four Muskrats? No. Six Muskrat silhouettes were running around holding muskets in their hands above Ren Wei.

    "Oh my god! That simple looking guy is a Rank 6 cultivator?!" The male customers who were enjoying their cheesecakes nearly puked it all out. Even Jin was shocked while Yun sniggered since she already knew his cultivation level as soon as he entered the store.

    "Advanced Muskrat Art, Ambush of the Muskrats. Advanced Rifle Arts, Ten Musket Rifles Whistling." Ren Wei''s advanced trap art allowed the six muskrats that were once silhouettes turn semi corporeal as they quickly picked up the assortment of traps Ren Wei had initially ced on the ground and started to ce them as quickly as possible in ces he already had nned in his mind.

    Meanwhile, his advanced rifle arts allowed him to have ten chi bullets at hismand. Instead of shooting the bullets through a rifle, all he had to do was whistle and the chi bullet would execute hismand to kill or injure someone...or some boar. This was an assassination technique which he was barely able to use during his service in the police force due to obvious reasons. He learned it because it was part of the cultivation manual but he never really tried it out in the field.

    Separately, the semi corporeal muskrats were running around carrying traps that were stronger than what Jing Ru had bought. Shock traps? Of course not! Ren Wei''s version was a Thunder st trap, a version stronger than a basic shock trap. Pitfall trap? Pfft, good joke! His Spikefall trap had spikes at the bottom of the pitfall.

    Ren Wei did this away from the sight of Jing Ru because he himself did not want Jing Ru to see the brutal side of his cultivation and its techniques. They were here to have fun, but to Ren Wei, using skills and techniques he was not allowed to use during work was also a type of fun. Of course, Ren Wei would not annihte them all as he still wanted to leave some boar knights for Jing Ru to practice on.

    When the muskrats had set the traps, they immediately disappeared and Ren Wei hid on top of afortable tree branch that allowed him to oversee almost every single Venus Animal-trap.

    The Sword Goblin did not care about the methods Ren Wei used but smirked all of a sudden. "The bastard knights areing. Enjoy Mr Sniper."

    .

    .

 Chapter 164 Boar Knights

    <h4>Chapter 164 Boar Knights</h4>

    "Hah! That dagger goblin thinks that we will be tired while running because we have heavy armour on!" Royal Boar Knight Hamlet snorted with arrogance as he and his regiment of elite boar knights continued to chase after the sole goblin. The boar knights were enchanted with a spell that made their armour light so running was not an issue for them.

    It happened when the dagger goblin silently assassinated one of the mage boar knights. Their mage knight was one of the few knights who had practically no armour on, which allowed the dagger goblin topletely surprise the mage knight and kill him in one blow.

    Such an action enraged Royal Boar Knight Hamlet as mage knights were not easy to find and rece due to their exceptional talents in detecting where the enemy would be and supporting the entire regiment with buffs.

    Regardless, Hamlet was joyful when he saw the goblin slow down considerably, especially when they charged through the forest, destroying obstacle courses ofplex flora as they chased down the goblin.

    Eventually, the dagger goblin stopped and tried to climb a tree but to slipped and fell. Of course, it was merely a ruse to let Hamlet feel that his objective of capturing or killing the goblin was nigh.

    "Ha! You pitiful green ugly! You deserve the punishment of my Hammer!" Bacon, a Quasi Royal Knight, faithful to Hamlet, shouted as he brought out his hammer and the rest of the Boar Knights finally took a breather to watch the show.

    As the hammer fell to break the ground, the dagger goblin used his lightning reflexes and leapt across a small opening between two trees. Unfortunately, Bacon did not run into the hidden bear trap. Instead, he too leapt through the small opening of the two trees, hoping to destroy the tree in the process as he aimed to catch the pesky goblin.

    It was at this moment that branches from both trees became animated as they grabbed onto Bacon and started to poke through his armour to hold tightly onto him. "What the?!!" Bacon felt the tree branches prating into his skin and it was causing him immense pain, although it was still bearable for a boar man. However, Bacon was immobilised and could not move.

    That was when he realised his blood and energy were being sapped away and into the trees. "Damn it! These trees are Venus Animal-traps!" Hamlet shouted as hemanded a few of his knights to get Bacon out of the trees.

    "SNAP!"

    A boar knight suddenly shouted in agony as the knight realised that there was actually a well-hidden bear trap right beside the two trees. "Traps?!" Hamlet then found out that the dagger goblin had probably led them into an ambush area but there was still no signs of movement around.

    "Maybe it is just a solitary trap but just in caseбн Shield Cavalry! Surround me and observe for a possible ambush! Hammer Cavalry, continue helping Sir Bacon out of that blood sapping tree quickly! One of you go and help that poor sod in the bear trap. Sword and Lance Cavalries, search the area thoroughly for that stupid goblin." Hamlet shouted as the remaining boar knights split up to do what was needed of them.

    However, that order was soon to create a heavy blow on the Knights'' morale and it all started when a couple of the hammer cavalry knights under Bacon went around the tree to try and pull Bacon out. As they simultaneously pulled Bacon out of the blood sapping trees, the momentum caused them to step backwards, activating the pitfall trap that was hidden a few steps behind the two trees.

    Five Hammer Boar Knights along with Sir Bacon fell into the pitfall trap and in that chaos, a bullet shot which was muffled by the boars'' own shouting and snorting noise removed the counterweight of the stone that was holding onto the live grenades.

    Unknowingly, a bright sh of blinding light distracted the Boar Knights. That sh was followed by an explosion which urred inside the pitfall trap, causing the Boar Knights, including Bacon, who were trapped inside to be badly wounded. One of the fallen knights died because of the weight of five other boar man crashing onto him. The explosion of the grenades sealed the deal.

    As the dust settled and his eyes recovered, Hamlet looked around to see more boar knights lying around the area, only to find two goblins taking the opportunity to ensure that the fallen boar knights were killed properly. Ren Wei''s standard bullet shots were sufficient to drop the boar knights but the knights were too sturdy to die from a bullet wound so the goblins went in for the follow up kill.

    Hamlet became extremely enraged by the loss of hisrades as he shouted at the top of his lungs and charged furiously towards the two goblins, only to suddenly feel the exact same sensation he had experienced just an hour or so ago.

    "BANG!"

    Hamlet fell to the ground again while he realised the shot had hit his torso this time round. The armour he was wearing had helped reduce the damage the bullet could have dealt but there was still some bleeding.

    The Shield Boar Knights rushed towards Hamlet and once again a healer managed to heal and support Hamlet. "What in the bollocks! Where is the remaining Mage Knight? Why can''t he find that human archer!" Hamlet knew that the human who had just shot him was the same human that had shot him not so long ago. Hamlet was certain. He was very positive that it was the same dreaded person that had interfered with the taming process of the Great Variant.

    "I have found him Sir Hamlet! The trace was too hidden that I had to cast the detection magic again to confirm what I saw. He is right over there hiding on the top of that particr -" Before he could finish his sentence, two chi bullets went through his eyeballs and blood spurted out from the mage boar knight''s eye sockets, which sprayed all over Sir Hamlet''s face. The mage knight lifelessly dropped to the ground, which caused even the staunchest of knights to cast doubts on whether they could surviveбн

    "Bang!" Another bullet shot was heard but this time around. It skidded through the tip of Hamlet''s short tusk, which startled him once again. "Shit!" Hamlet quickly lowered his head. The Shield Boar Knights continued to carry out their duty of protecting their Royal Knight but instead of facing the enemy like a true fearless knight, they all hid behind their shields as they trembled in dread and horror. The morale of the entire boar knight regiment was in shambles.

    -----------

    While Jing Ru was cing the traps where she thought was suitable for a decent ambush in the area filled poison venting trees, Mr Oink was actuallyzing around right beside the spear goblin. The goblin knew that everything would be fine since Ren Wei was leading the other two.

    Everything was going rather smoothly until Jing Ru felt a sudden st of heavy spiritual force coursing through the area. The male customers who were watching the highlights were on the edge of the seats as they knew what wasing. The trump card of the Boar Knights.

    The Reigning Regal Boar, ''Little'' Miss Buu.

    .

    .

 Chapter 165 Little Miss Buu

    <h4>Chapter 165 Little Miss Buu</h4>

    That st of spiritual force fired off by Little Miss Buu made Jing Ru barely able to maintain herposure. In the meantime, Ren Wei also felt a small part of the same sensationing from the poison vent trees. "This is very bad, to have a sensation from a st of spiritual force so far away means its really strong." Ren Wei then realised that the Boar Knights he was fighting were suitable for Jing Ru to handle but the monster with such substantial spiritual force should have been meant for him instead.

    Hence, Ren Wei immediately revealed himself and decided to move towards the Poison Venting Trees. "Do not worry about here, follow Dagger, he will guide you. I will keep the boar knights busy." The sword goblin swung his sword around to unt his sword skills to provoke the boar knights while the dagger goblin guided Ren Wei. At the same time, the dagger goblin decided to speed up when he saw that Ren Wei managed to keep up with ease.

    "Come fatties, Let''s have a rematch." The sword goblin purposely spat on one of the dead boar knights and beckoned Hamlet toe for it.

    "You will regret it now that you are alone." Hamlet''s anger soared once again and its confidence grew when he saw that he could finally take revenge on the goblin without fearing the sniping human archer.

    ----------

    "Buu Buuu Buuuu!!" Little Miss Buu snorted as it waved its short chubby arms around. The female prized boar was being carried by four unyielding boar knights on top of a pnquin throne filled with cushions and pillows. There was even an umbre on the pnquin throne and she was using telekinesis magic to grab food from the table of therge pnquin throne and ce it into her mouth.

    The Regal Boar pointed at the Spear Goblin and Mr Oink and gestured for them to give up before she would be forced to do anything nasty to them. Thankfully, Jing Ru was near a poison venting tree when the st of spirit force had been fired so she had not been discovered. She decided to hide behind momentarily so that she could recover her breath from the spiritual force strain. However, Jing Ru could also see that her charm was waning by being so close to a poison venting tree.

    "Oink! Oink! Oink!" Mr Oink issued a challenge against Little Miss Buu but she justughed, which came out as a snort. With a wave of her short hoofs, a magical circle appeared right above her and a mud rock that was enhanced with magic was shot out of the magical circle. The mud rock attackpletely missed as Spear Goblin pulled a tassel of Mr Oink''s hair to control his movement around the poison venting trees as they ran further away from the Little Miss Buu.

    When Jing Ru took a closer look of Little Miss Buu, she discovered that this ''Little'' Miss Buu was not little at all. The amount of fat on its body would have been a lifetime supply of mountain boar meat for tens if not hundreds of people. The fat on her belly looked really enticing even for Jing Ru as she realised she had yet to eat her lunch beforeing to Jin''s store.

    Upon reviewing the whole situation, Jing Ru knew that Mr Oink was running away so that Little Miss Buu would pursue him. This way, they would be able to take advantage of the traps Jing Ru had ced. However, seeing how powerful the regal boar was, Jing Ru thought that she could only weaken it enough before her Dad could show up and take care of it.

    Also, monsters with magical abilities would most likely have a magical barrier or shield that reduced the amount of damage done to it. If Jing Ru wanted to act, she would have to act swiftly and decisively for her only advantage at the moment was the element of surprise. That was when Jing Ru remembered the weaponry that she had taken from her father''s collection.

    A rocket propelled grenade.

    To her luck, the poison that was venting out of the trees was actually chlorine gas. She did not exactly want to know about but she was forced to when the charm''s powers of protection were all used up and Jing Ru had to take a whiff of it. Fortunately, like every prepared huntsman, she brought out her gas mask and wore it for protection.

    A shot of an RPG and chlorine gas? That''s quite the cocktail for disaster but Jing Ru figured the gas was probably not concentrated enough to make an impact against the magical barrier shield. Still, she decided to give it a try.

    Little Miss Buu was relentless in her attacks too. Somehow, she too had learned that the gas would be dangerous if she used fire rted attacks in this area so she had stuck to earth magic to shoot at Mr Oink and the Spear Goblin instead. However, they were agilely traversing the forested areas, unlike the knights who had to ensure that there was sufficient space for their Regal Boar to travelfortably. Of course, Little Miss Buu made the effort to remove the trees if necessary when they blocked the knights'' pathway.

    Meanwhile, Jing Ru still stuck to the bushes to avoid being seen by the chasing pnquin until Mr Oink cleverly brought Little Miss Buu closer to a special area that Jing Ru had painstakingly prepared.

    "Buuu! Buuu!" The Regal Boar was tired of chasing and started summoning tens of magical rocks, ready to throw them all at once at Mr Oink. That was when Mr Oink began to go on the offensive with a tug of his tassel of hair by the spear goblin.

    "BAM!" The headstrong Mr Oink collided loudly against the magical shield of Little Miss Buu but it did not let up and continuously charged against the shield. Left with no choice, Little Miss Buu had to redirect some of her magical powers to maintain the shield. During that time, the spear goblin stood up on the Mr Oink''s back and initiated a basic spear art he had learnt from the cultivators over time, Deep Thrust. With all his might, the spear goblin focused all its strength and energy onto the spear and pierced at the shield, causing it to drastically reduce in strength.

    At that point, Little Miss Buu gave up on conserving strength and decided to unleash five mystical rock shots at her aggressors. The damage was severe as the rocks smashed into the spear goblin''s head and even destroyed one of Mr Oink''s tusks. But Mr Oink and the spear goblin still remained strong as they striking at the shield, seemingly unfazed by the damage. The spear goblin decided to pour all his strength into his attacks while Mr Oink charged even more furiously. Eventually, their efforts paid off as Jing Ru saw a minute crack beginning to form on the front of the shield barrier through the scope of her personal rifle Winterwolf.

    "BANG!"

    A charged chi shot was fired without any warning and the energised rotating air bullet spiralled its way towards the crack, causing the shield barrier to shatter into thousands of pieces before dissipating into the air.

    "Disperse now!" Jing Ru shouted towards the Goblin and Boar duo as she dropped her rifle and jumped out from the tree she was hiding behind. She then leapt towards the pnquin throne with two Uzis, a handgun style machine gun capable of bursts of bullets, firing at the front two Boar Knights that were holding onto the pnquin. The boars soaked up the bullets like a sponge but also like a sponge, all excess that it couldn''t take oozed out as blood leaked out from their bodies.

    This caused the pnquin throne to be unstable and caused Little Miss Buu to fall to the ground involuntarily. Her clean, untainted body touched the forest''s mud and the broken shield caused her to breathe in the chlorine gas. At this crucial moment, Jing Ru threw a gunny sack full of items at Little Miss Buu.

    The Regal Boar somehow caught the sack and noticed a variety of metal items in that bag. Some were small and looked like a pine cone while others were round shaped. Regardless, that period of distraction granted Jing Ru the chance to take out her ultimate weapon, the rocketuncher, from her storage ring.

    Without much aiming since she was practically firing at point nk range, Jing Ru braced herself for death because she knew that she would not survive the explosion at such close proximity.

    "Click"

    The RPG roared vociferously as it flew out of theuncher and towards Little Miss Buu. Before she could react, she was engulfed by a blinding white light. A light so bright that it probably brought her to pork heaven. The destruction of the area was stupendous as the explosion was monumental when it interacted with the chlorine gas in the area. Obviously, Mr Oink and the spear goblin knew that Jing Ru would do something big so they had already started running away from the area but they did not expect the radius of the explosion to be this vast.

    Even Ren Wei had to stabilise himself from the aftershock as he was running towards their battlefield. "Holyбн Jing Ru, you are one heck of a daughter." Ren Wei stopped in his tracks to voice a little prayer as a sign of acknowledgement for her efforts since he was unable to contact her via voice transmission.

    "Looks like Daddy will have to clear the dungeon or else this your death, despite it being temporary, will have been in vain." Ren Wei talked to himself as he looked at the dagger goblin and returned to the Venus Animal-traps.

    .

    .

 Chapter 166 No Mercy

    <h4>Chapter 166 No Mercy</h4>

    "Hmm that explosion? Pretty good... I rate it a 7.9 out of 10. Clever use of the environment to induce such a scale of kaboom." Peppers came out and observed with Jin for a while. It reminded Jin of the past where he had also been judged for destroying the abandoned Shanghai Tower while running away from a horde of zombies as well as receiving a fairly harsh score from her. It did felt like ages ago when that happened.

    "Why 7.9? What did she do wrong?" Jin asked Peppers, who was continuously writing notes on the fight. She was diligently doing the job that had been assigned by Jin, which was to note the mistakes each cultivator had made and how they could improve. Jin mainly needed her to do that because he eventually wanted to create a teaching ss with Peppers as the teacher.

    Instructors were needed in the gym for the techniques and body but the application of those skills was an entirely different matter. With Peppers'' mind akin to an ocean of knowledge, it would be a pity not to use that knowledge to earn some extra cash. Since the system recorded every single battle in detail, Peppers could review with the cultivators as a group or individually so that they could improve their skills.

    However, in order to do that, Peppers needed to gather more knowledge about every person. She was definitely not some superhuman who knew the weakness of a person just by touching him.

    "She killed herself, that''s where she went wrong. If she did not die from the explosion, Her score would be roughly in the high 8''s or highly difficult 9s." Peppers sniggered as she imagined herself creating the explosion impably. Regardless, both Jin and Peppers knew that the end was nigh since Little Miss Buu was, in a way, the final boss. All Ren Wei had to do was clean up the rest of the Boar Knights.

    ----------

    "Hahaha! Finally caught this bugger!" Hamlet panted as he kicked the chained up sword goblin which had been captured once again. The damage dealt by the sword goblin was more than enough to earn him a badge of honour by the standards of the Boar Knights.

    Utilising the traps that had been ced by Ren Wei previously, the sword goblin had managed to defeat the groups of knuckleheads who just wanted revenge for theirrades. The thunderst traps electrocuted the poor boar knights into charred barbecued pork encased in burnt metal. Not to mention, the Spikefall traps were activated by the heavy weighing boar knights, causing them to be delicious kebabs.

    Only with thebined efforts of Hamlet and his shield knights had they managed to encircle the sword goblin and subsequently pummel him to death. They then chained the dead goblin up with the intention of using him as a trophy as well as a memorial for the knights he had killed.

    As the boar knights were celebrating by brandishing the dead goblin around, they did not know that a sniper already had its barrel aimed at them. "Advanced Rifle Arts, Hyper Beam." Ren Wei whispered as he chanted his Rifle Art technique. The six muskrats silhouettes did not appear above his head and instead materialised right beside his Barrett Sniper Rifle, a weapon he had changed to midway from the ssic M1 Garand rifle so that he could focus on his sniping abilities.

    The six muskrat silhouettes, while corporeal, held onto his sniper rifle like multiple bipods as Ren Wei began to half squeeze his trigger in order to charge up the rifle shot. He knew that Hamlet was the leader of the Knights right from the beginning, even before he left the battlefield in an attempt to save Jing Ru. But he thought that he could get rid of most of them and leave Hamlet for Jing Ru to finish. He did not know what had happened but the dagger goblin assured him that the trees in the forest hadmended Jing Ru on a fine job killing an enemy far stronger than her.

    One of the muskrat silhouettes suddenly turned to Ren Wei and gave him a thumbs up, indicating that the rifle was charged and ready to fire. "No Mercy." His index finger squeezed down on the trigger fully and arge energised chi beam was fired from the end of the barrel. Smoke and energy heated up the flora around the sniper, causing it to burn. Despite the st, there was no sound other than the crack of the rifle barrel from overheating.

    Without noticing anything, the rest of the boar knights did not see an iing beam of whitish yellow energy that signified their doom and eradicated them from the face of this dungeon instance. Their faces were never to be seen again and Ren Weipleted the dungeon with ease.

    He waster teleported to back to the store, only to see that Jing Ru was already eating a cheesecake without him. Meanwhile, the group of male customers who had been watching the entire thing pped and cheered for Ren Wei. "Ah?" Ren Wei was extremely confused and only during the lunch conversation with Jing Ru did she exin the dynamics of Boss Jin''s shop, how she was in the recovery room and all.

    "I did not know that you were hiding things from me! Until this group of busybodies began telling me how awesome my dad is!" Jing Ru pouted and turned her head away from Ren Wei. However, as she turned her head, she was grinning madly due to only now realising how her new Dad was such an amazing person. "Well, him having secrets is also equally cute." She thought to herself as she continued eating her cheesecake.

    Meanwhile, Ren Wei did not know how else to coax her but to buy her the second dessert on the menu to appease her. It was then that Yun, who was at the bar counter, reminded Ren Wei about something more important than the order he had just ced.

    "You left the dungeon a little too early and did not see the treasure box on your way out. Don''t worry, we do not cheat any customers of their rewards." Like a magician, Yun took out arge metal box from underneath the counter and brought it out onto the table for them.

    "ce your phone near the lock and it will automatically open," Yun said and Ren Wei did as instructed, only to see that the lock was in fact animated with a small touchscreen beside it. A panda appeared to say congrattions and the box opened slowly.

    Looking inside the box, Jing Ru squealed like a piglet upon seeing tens of bronze medal coins as well as a transparent box holding two guns. They were a set of replica Thompson Contenders with a chibi goblin keychain on the end of the handgrip. The Thompson Contender was a break action single shot pistol design from the 1960s. It was rumoured to be one of the strongest pistols in the world and even Ren Wei was amazed upon seeing not just one, but two of these amazing pistols.

    "Wow, this is fantastic! You got such a cool weapon!" The male customers took a peek and thought it was better than the average weapons they had received. They too had tried to unt the loot that they had received from the dungeon but it did not get the attention they had expected.

    "Let''se here again when I am off duty." Ren Wei said as he took another bite of the Fried Oreo Pie and savoured it to the fullest extent. "Definitely," Jing Ru had a broad smile on her face as both father and daughter were having a good time at lunch andter at the fishing service instance.

    .

    .

 Chapter 167 1st Month Ranking

    <h4>Chapter 167 1st Month Ranking</h4>

    It had been a few days since the aggressive promotion of the Reservoir of Deep Fishing Service Instance mainly via word of mouth and the Pandamonium app that now had over seven hundred cultivators using it.

    Jin thought that this was an impressive feat considering he had only opened the store for almost a month. The days and nights were long, but he had finally passed the first hurdle that brought down many shops. Jin figured that he should offer some sort of discount to celebrate one month of opening, which unexpectedly coincided with him serving one thousand different customers. Maybe he should advertise the discount... maybe not.

    Although shops that had high-quality goods did not necessarily need to advertise as people would naturally flock to them, advertising would bring the store in question up a notch especially when the said store was still young. Not to mention theck of a Shop Signage. For the past few days, he had been tweaking the Sanctum of Worlds since he had created it in a slight rush. Right now, the Sanctum of Worlds had direct ess to the other three service instances that Jin had made.

    Jin figured that these instance connections allowed the monsters to use the facilities to improve themselves as well as take a rest after working the entire day. This also allowed other monsters to mingle together so that they could get to know each other a little more. Jin thought of doing this to take advantage of the system''s ability to allow the monsters to have a better quality of living.

    Of course, he had also ced interconnections between various Home Instances of the different monsters but each retained their right to privacy. If one monster wished to enter to another Home Instance they would need the permission of at least one monster from the instance they wanted to visit.

    Also, guess which home instance was the most popr? The prestock Home Instance that was made for the zombies. Almost every monster entered their Home Instance just to have a little fun on the broken down rides and the zombies were also kind enough to let them y.

    Talking about broken rides, Jin heard from Yun that there was an incident just a day ago where a roller coaster had derailed while travelling up the chain hill. A third of the coaster train fell from the tracks and crashed into the ground, causing the zombies on the ride at the moment to be squashed.

    Fortunately, those zombies were instantly resurrected by the system and were teleported to the front of their Home Instance. The cause of the crash was not a malfunction though, but it was the caused by one particr monster who tried to ride it. Due to what had happened, it was unanimously agreed by every monster that he was forbidden to touch that ride ever again.

    This monster who had wrecked the roller coaster was none other than Mr Derpy, who could leap higher than the roller coaster but instead tried to fit his whole body into the roller coaster. He was thinking that if Shu and Mr Oink had not broken the ride when they went on it, he would also be able to enjoy this simple looking roller coaster. However, Jin knew that the roller coasters were actually programmed to break every once in a while, hence the theme of a broken down amusement park. Regardless, it was ironically funny to see such a great being being bullied by the smaller sized monsters.

    ----------

    "Wee Boss! Buying new armour for yourself?" The red panda, who was one of the ''saleswomen'' at the Panda Armoury, asked Jin politely as it jumped onto his shoulders and rubbed against his cheek. Jin smiled as he stroked the red panda''s head. Meanwhile, Jin''s digital pet appeared too and sat firmly on his head.

    "Nah, to be honest, I am looking for armour for some of my monsters," Jin said and the Red Panda immediately categorised the type of armour suitable for his monsters. The store''s filled shelves that were meant to be a time waster for most shoppers here instantly shuffled and reorganised themselves to show Jin what was rmended for his monsters.

    "Thank you Red Panda, but I am afraid I am only browsing for ideas and inspiration for my own creations." Jin patted the Red Panda repeatedly.

    "Why are you looking to buy armour for them?" Yun asked as she came into the Panda armoury, yawning since it was early in the morning before the Sun had even risen.

    "I am looking to do some dungeon takeovers. Either that or Shifu Zeru''s training. However, the more I thought about what I should do, the more I think I should get the shop''s sign up as soon as possible. I mean, even regr customers like Jing Ru and Xiong Da had asked for the shop''s name and I haven''t given them a proper answer."

    "Didn''t you already name it Dungeons and Pandas? h, this is so off-topic, what do dungeon takeovers have to do with- Oh...Armour for your monsters." It seemed that Yun without her ck Ivory Coffee in the morning had made her thinking rather dull too.

    Jin could have bought the armour items with dungeon dors but he figured he would look at the prices first and instead try to replicate some of the armour with the Dungeon Maker. He figured it might be slightly cheaper and he could also add in modifications that would fit the monsters rather than human cultivators.

    "Hmmm, if only the other monsters had the same kind of upgrades like the goblins used to have. Remember? They had new weapons and armour when all of them reached Grade 2. Even now they are using them, especially against higher ranked cultivators." Jin sighed as he admitted that he had not been doing many missions because of the many loose ends he had to handle that had presented themselves due to all the decisions he had made in past missions.

    "If that''s the case, I can help you out." Yun snapped her fingers and yawned once more as if she wanted to join the Morning Couch Club with Milk and Peppers. A notification appeared on Jin''s phone and stated the following:

    "Congrattions from the System, Dungeon Supplier. The monthly rankings have been released and the System is pleased to inform you that you have advanced through the ranks. Pleasee to the Dungeon Maker to receive your rewards."

    "Monthly Ranking? Oh...yes, you did mention before, that the level that I attained as a dungeon supplier was different from the Store Ranking." Jinmented as he gently put the Red Panda back down as he headed for the Dungeon Maker.

    "1st Month Ranking: 840,199 cing. You have closed the gap to the position of being the Number One Dungeon Supplier. Please receive your rewards and continue to work hard as a Dungeon Supplier."

    "How does someone be number one?" Jin knew it was a bit of a stupid question but he just had to ask. Obviously, it had to do with either fame or the number of customers he served or perhaps it was thergest amount of money contributed to the system.

    "There are a few criteria to it. Reach the maximum level for Dungeon Suppliers. Earn arger daily revenue turnover than the current number one dungeon supplier. These are the few criteria which you need to achieve but you are still too far behind to know the exact conditions and statistics. Continue toplete the missions. They will enable you to reach Number One." The system showed the information on its interface and Jin was deep in thought for a moment.

    "I have also tweaked your preferences in missions and reced them with more ''humane'' ones. Pleaseplete your missions." The system replied once more.

    "What is the profit turnover rate for the number one ranking?" Jin questioned the system and the system gave a vague answer. "The top twenty rankings have a daily revenue of at least millions of dungeon dors."

    "How the hell can I evenpete with that?!" Jin thought to himself "Millions?! And that''s in dungeon dors too?! How was he going to even get a thousand dungeon dors for himself." Jin thought to himself as he cracked his head. He either had to charge unconscionable prices or he had to diversify his business.

    "Proceed slowly. There is no rush for you to get there at the moment. Things will be revealed to you sooner orter and there is no time limit for you to get there." Yun scratched her head and pressed a button in the dungeon maker to reveal the rewards to Jin.

    "It''s actually not much, but it should help you out in the armour and weapons department," Yun said as a new table mystically appeared in the Dungeon Maker.

    .

    .

 Chapter 168 Workings of the Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 168 Workings of the Dungeon</h4>

    "What is this exactly?" Jin walked closer to the new table and found a vending machine right beside the interface table to the Dungeon Maker. In fact, the machines looked like they dispensed cards out of the machine.

    "The system couldn''t find a fancy name for it, but this is where you can buy cards to equip your monsters. You might find it random but I will exin more in a while. Right now, with this new upgrade, the system has also pegged your monsters'' power level to your cultivation grade, simr to your Betors. The upgrade should make it easier for you to track the levels of the many monsters you have." Yun started to lean on the vending machine while exining the new machines to Jin.

    "Yes, I have been thinking about that and how the power level of the monsters and dungeon difficulty actually works. I always assumed that it''s just the system''s workings since I initially thought that the monsters each had their own grade. Won''t that affect the cultivation difficulty of the dungeon?" Jin asked as he ced his hand on the table to support himself as he talked to Yun.

    "A ssic example would be the recent instance for Ren Wei and Jing Ru. Although Little Miss Buu was just a modified version of a boar knight that I rented, there was no indication of her power level after I modified her. Yet for some reason, she was always used as thest boss against cultivators. Does that mean that her cultivation grade is actually higher? Was she pegged to a Grade 6 difficulty aspared to the Royal Boar Knights like Hamlet?" Jin continued to throw his questions at the half awoke and half annoyed Yun but before he could ask any more, she stopped him.

    With a p of her hands, a porcin cup of ck ivory coffee along with a saucer appeared on her palm. She savoured it with a sip and gave out a breath of relief. "First. I must reiterate that the system will adjust the difficulty of the dungeons to suit the average grade of the party that enters it. And what I am about to tell you in the next few minutes is sort of a ''trade secret'' so I will like to emphasise keeping this to yourself and not sharing it with your customersбн " Yun started to exin the system''s working.

    "We will use Jing Ru and Ren Wei as the example since you mentioned them. The system will continue to adjust its difficulty in real time when they are fighting. Little Miss Buu was meant for Ren Wei, a Grade 6 cultivator. Since she was designed to be thest boss, matching what you have created in the Dungeon Maker for the goblin route of the plot. However, it encountered only Jing Ru, Spear Goblin and Mr Oink without Ren Wei in the party. Hence, the system first released a signal. In this case, the release of spiritual force, to notify the higher grade cultivators."

    "At the same time, Little Miss Buu''s stats were temporarily reduced to Power Level 4 to suit Jing Ru''s Grade 3 Peak and her allies, Mr Oink and Spear Goblin, who were at power level 3 instead of power level 3.5. Oh, also, 3.5 is just a more convenient way of saying Grade 3 Peak. Allies are always reduced to ''one level'' lower than the participating customers. However, the moment Ren Wei entered the ying field by either defending, attacking or supporting Jing Ru in any way, Little Miss Buu would have its stats inted to power level 6.5 with the help of the system." Yun finished her exnation and drank some more coffee.

    "The system can do that? I know thatpressing one''s power level is a standard technique that even animals are capable of doing, but inting power level? I''ve never heard of that before." Jin was rather confused by the capabilities of the system. If the system is so almighty, why would it still need Jin to be around?

    "You are right, the system can buff and debuff a monster anytime it wants. When it does such things, it requires resources though. However, the resources that it uses are quite different from Souls, Matter and Magic that you are acquainted with." Yun wanted to continue but this time around, Jin stopped her by raising his palm angrily.

    "Stop right there. If we want to continue this conversation, let''s get out of the Dungeon Maker first. I do not want to be influenced by the system again." Jin had a sense of deja vu when Yun started to talk about resources.

    Yun could not help butugh and shook her head. "Hahaha Jin, seeing you being so cautious makes me chuckle so hard." She wiped her tear away before she continued to talk. "I am just joking, the System uses dungeon dors to buy the buffs. Remember how we only give you a certain percentage of the money you earned because the rest was taken by the System? Yeah, the system used that to buff the monsters. As you umterger customer bases, we will increase the percentage you earn because of the economy of scale, meaning that amount of money is sufficient to buff the monsters."

    "So you are saying that if my cultivation goes up, the system is inadvertently getting more money since it does not need to buff monsters as much? How does that even benefit me in any way? That sounds more like a rip-off." Jin felt a little irritated learning something new as he realised the system was cheating him off.

    "Erm, maybe it''s still the first month and you haven''t noticed, but do you know how expensive the electrical and water bill is for this ce? How about the payment for building this store? Do I need to go on?" Yun folded her arms as she answered Jin''s thoughtless question.

    "If that''s the case, I would like to have proper bookkeeping done. Is there-" At that instant, the Dungeon Maker screen shed and a list of ounts appeared. Proper bookkeeping? The system was so advanced with its records that the kind of auditing it did for the ounts put the ''Big Four'' ounting firms to shame.

    Jin roughly remembered yesterday''s sales and took a look at the ount only to see that everything was well kept. "But yeah, the system does a littleбн Hmm... it can do a bit of editing of the ounts to ensure that there is a small amount of savings for you in case of rainy days." Yun added.

    "I see, so if I have an inspector check my records...a normal inspector wouldn''t really see the difference, but..." Yun shook her head when Jin voiced his thoughts out loud.

    "There are no buts! Even the best of the best inspectors will not see the anomaly that the system created. It guarantees the ingenuity and authenticity of the bookkeeping." Yun interjected.

    "Soбн if someone really does pick it up, will the system help since it is so confident about it?"

    "Yes, the system willpensate youбн in one way or another." The Dungeon Maker suddenly wrote on the interface near him. It was at that time that they realised they had derailed from the original conversation by a whole lot.

    "Ehh Yun, how does this reward system work again?" Jin shyly asked and Yun nkly stared at him but did not mock him as she stretched her arm out.

    "Just give me your phone! I will show you how it works instead of just exining."

    .

    .

 Chapter 169 Battle Card Interface

    <h4>Chapter 169 Battle Card Interface</h4>

    Yun ced Jin''s phone on top of one of the cash ports of the vending machine and the interface besides the machine responded with a few messages. "First time user of the Battle Cards Interface detected. Creating decks for each monster type corresponding to the monsters User has caught. Please hold..."

    From the vending machine, packs of cards with the monsters'' began keep appearing in chronological order. First were the goblins, then Mr Oink, and subsequently Ke Mi as well as the rest of the gang. Jin and Yun were moving around quite a lot while collecting the packs to ce them on the table''s interface.

    "Wow, there are quite a few packs of cards indeed! But how do they actually work?" Jin asked and Yun, who was taking out the cards from the card packs, answered him.

    "Watch and learn young Pandawan." Yun finished opening the goblin deckpletely and ced it on the interface. She then asked Jin to not touch the rest of the decks at the moment. "As you can see, the moment you ce the cards on the interface, the screen will immediately bring up the monsters corresponding to the deck that the card is from."

    True enough, the Spear, Sword and Dagger Goblin came out on the screen and they were shown as cards. In the next few steps, Yun showed him how to get the deck cards scanned and analysed by the system. The cards that had weapons and armour on them appeared right in front of him as well. Yun ced the weapon card behind the dagger goblin and the screen immediately updated the card art with a new image. Right now, the dagger goblin not only held two daggers, but it was also equipped with a shortbow and quiver that was hanging right behind its body, though it was covered by his cape.

    "Wow, this is more advanced than any card game system I have ever seen." Jin was a little excited as it had been ages since he hadst touched a proper card game. "Mmm, so let''s say this is what I wanted my monster to equip. I would put these two cards into this particr slot here and press this big green ''Fuse'' button. So, the interface would then cover the slot and in a few seconds a new card would appear." Yun waited for a while and true enough when the cover for the slot was automatically opened, a new card was revealed.

    "What''s more is that the monster cards are actually holographic. Pick it up and insert some chi into it." Yun instructed Jin and he did as he was told. A greenish light screen appeared from the card and the stats, weapons and any armour equipped were all shown on it.

    "This is really fascinating, but why should I do this? Can''t I make my own items for the monsters?" Jin asked.

    "Well, you could. It doesn''t matter if you create or buy the equipment, maybe you might even get something from dungeon takeovers. All you have to do is ce them on this interface for them to be converted into cards. "Yun demonstrated with the teacup and saucer by cing them onto the interface and after some magical particles swirled around the item, the teacup and the saucer both became cards.

    "But do you have the strength and time to locate and coordinate weapons and armour for the ever increasing number of monsters? Are you going to equip all your zombies with different equipment? With this card system, you can even ask the system to optimise the procedure by automatically equipping items." Yun exined.

    "I seeбн Makes sense, but I''m gonna think about it and y around a little before doing anything drastic. Anyway, now that he has a bow with him, calling the Dagger goblin ''Dagger goblin'' isn''t really appropriate." Jin took a closer look at the design of the card. The front was illustrated with the new art design disying the new weapon and the back of the card was actually engraved with a unique goblin insignia silhouette to identify the card deck this particr card was from.

    "Just call him Daggers, like how they call each other Spear and Sword." Yun gave a random suggestion and Jin gave her a curious look. "Don''t they have their own names?" He then summoned the three into the dungeon maker.

    "You called us?" The three goblins immediately kneeled and Jin saw that the dagger goblin was actually holding onto the new short bow that Yun had randomly inserted as an example.

    "Erm, I am really sorry for not asking before, but what are your names?" Jin scratched his head in embarrassment.

    "Master, My lowly name is Piercestriker," The Spear Goblin spoke.

    "My great master, my humble name is shreaver," Sword Goblin answered.

    "Master, one''s name is Ripcaller. Also, thank you for the new equipment." Dagger Goblin bowed once again in gratitude.

    "Eh, I was just testing out a new card system. Do you guys have any preferences in terms of weapons or armour?" Jin beckoned them to stand up ande towards the interface. The table was slightly tall so Jinmanded the Dungeon Maker to lower the table and they all sat around it and started discussing.

    "Are you okay with a short bow?" Jin asked and Ripcaller, the dagger goblin, nodded his head excitedly, bordering on wildly. "It was my childhood dream to work with a bow, but I was just not allowed because the quota for the goblin archers reached the maximum for our vige," Ripcaller responded.

    ''Hmm, I wonder what the goblin world is likeбнMaybe I should ask them during my free time.'' Jin thought to himself while he continued discussing their weapon preferences. Once they were done, Jin rearranged the cards and carried out the cement of cards as tutored by Yun.

    Within minutes, magical particles appeared around each of the three goblins and they were decked full with armour they had just chosen. The three goblins liked it more than the standard armour given to them when they previously reached Grade 2. Now they were deadlier than before and would prove a challenge to many more cultivators.

    ''The changes to the power levels and streamlining the card system sure is useful.'' Jin thought to himself before he repeated the same equipment selection process for everyone, first by calling them into the dungeon maker and then discussing what equipment would be good for them. Of course, exceptions were made. The zombies and the Deep Ones weren''t asked as the zombies were brainless while the Deep Ones had yet to contribute to the shop''s coffers.

    "Yun, so how do I earn new cards if I do not make or create new equipment?" Jin packed the deck of cards properly and the Dungeon Maker now had a dedicated drawer to keep the card decks neat and organised. Whenever Jin wanted a specific deck, all he had to do was call out the monster''s name, and card decks in the drawer shuffled themselves for Jin to precisely pick his desired card deck out.

    "Just pay 10 Dungeon Dors for a card., It''s more or less random but there''s a chance for unique rarity. Oh, do remember to tell the system which monster you intend the equipment to be for or else it will just give you a card randomly."

    "Ew, I have to deal with gacha too? And 10 Dungeon Dors? That is like 1000 Yuan." Jin made a slightly disgusted face.

    "If that''s the case, you can just wait until you reach a new cultivation grade and the system will endorse an array of equipment cards." Yun shrugged her shoulders to express her nonchnt attitude.

    "Forget about that for nowбн I just struck some gold. Maybe I could redesign the digital pets system and do a battle card game with the digital petsбнinstead of them just fighting mindlessly in an arena." Inspired by the battle card system, Jin thought to himself and wrote it down in the KIV section of the to-do list on his phone.

    .

    .

 Chapter 170 Lai Fus Favour

    <h4>Chapter 170 Lai Fu''s Favour</h4>

    "So you are finally going to do the Dungeon Takeover now?" Yun asked and Jin shook his head and showed her a message on his phone.

    "Oh Lai Fu, that general store boss of Fresh Price? He ising in the morning to give you the freshly printed of coupon booklets?" Yun asked Jin and he nodded his head, only to have said store owner knocking on his door, which could be seen shown on the Dungeon Maker interface. Speak of the devil!

    "Guess he is already here" Jin took a look at his watch and noticed that it was already 8.30am earth time so he exited the Dungeon Maker to greet Lai Fu.

    "Ah, Jin, great timing. I thought I was a little too early." Lai Fu said as he weirdly saw Xiong Da hand-standing upside down beside the shop waiting toe in too.

    "Boss, why did you make me wait? I have to go fish to get my spiritual force up!" Xiong Da got down from his upside-down stance gracefully, which was truly unexpected for someone who cultivated the Hungry Hippo Style. Jin then realised Xiong Da was utilising his chi more than usual and the chi he emitted was stronger and denser than before. It''s possible that it could even rival a new Grade 4 cultivator in terms of chi density.

    Lai Fu was a little shocked when he heard the word fishing. "You serious? You can actually fish here?" Lai Fu asked Xiong Da and he nodded his head.

    "Haven''t you heard? Boss Jin has a new fishing service instance, in addition, the fish you catch can be eaten straight away. Sure, there was some weird types of fishes that appear asionally but his AI Chef Roro is able to do such an amazing job that sometimes I wonder if Chef Roro is just a master chef in the bear suit." Xiong Da said as he walked into the store and greeted Yun.

    "You allow your customers to walk in even though it is not opening hours?" Lai Fu got even more confused but Jin quickly shook his head to try and clear up the misunderstanding.

    "No, he is a special case since he asked for some help with his cultivation. While I am not an expert, he apparently trusts me and my team a lot so we decided to give him a chance. We are d that we did since it looks like he is improving too. Speaking of which, I remember I owe you a training too." Jin spoke and Lai Fu was a little embarrassed.

    "Erm, instead of the training favour, do you mind if I go into that fishing instance?" Lai Fu had actually overheard the conversations of Jin''s dungeon supplier and recently overheard the news of being able to fish in his shop when the customers were shopping for basic groceries at his store. Lai Fu didn''t want to do it this way and sacrifice potential training but in order to confirm the hearsays he had eavesdropped, he decided to propose this deal. Besides, he actually hoped that he would get into the fishing instance more than getting training.

    "Oh? You are interested in the fishing one instead? Erm okay sure. I have several prices in the submenu but since I owe you for acting like a jerk, I shall offer you the most expensive option." Jin said and Lai Fu became a little excited.

    "You can fish without restraint for the entire day...okay, let me rephrase. You can fish without restraint during the opening hours today." Jin realised he did not wish to propose to Lai Fu the same offer that was given to Xiong Da. Sure, he owed Lai Fu a favour, but that did not mean he had forgiven Lai Fu for what he had done.

    "What can I catch in there? Prawns?" Lai Fu asked and Jinughed.

    "Sure, but they are at least five metres long," Jin said, which made Lai Fu confused.

    "It''s fine, you will understand once you catch something. Do you have professional gear? If you do, you can bring those in." Jin did not wish to say much as he wanted to focus on the coupon booklets that were beside him but Lai Fu was too excited.

    "...Ummбн. Let''s say I bring in a boat... can I fit that in your instance?" Lai Fu averted his gaze a little as he asked that question.

    "Judging from your question, you are seriously going to bring a boat in? Your storage ring can do that?!" Jin knew that most storage rings were not able to carry such arge object unless you had an extremely high grade storage ring. Wild rumours said that you could even bring an ind around with you if you had a Grade 19 or Grade 20 storage ring. However, no one even bothered to produce such a ring because the materials and processes required to build such equipment were too costly even for a billionaire.

    "I actually do...just a small boat though," Lai Fu humbly whispered and nodded his head frantically.

    "Okay, if you say so, I should be able to allow it. Theke should berge enough for you to row your boat around." Jin said that and Lai Fu coughed a bit.

    "Anyways, thanks for the- Waaa?" Suddenly, Lai Fu went to his knees and prostrated in front of Jin. This made Jin extremely shocked and he was beyond astonished. Why did Lai Fu, such an egotistical proud person, kneel in front of a person that was technically his business rival?

    "Wait, wait, Boss Lai Fu, please get up! What are you doing?" Jin panicked once he recovered from his shock and quickly tried to get Lai Fu to stand back up. It was a good thing that it was early in the morning since he could not imagine what kind of ruckus or rumours would travel around if they saw Lai Fu acting like this.

    "Boss Jinбн I loved fishing! I still do actually, and in fact, to tell you the truth, I was a fisherman before I became a general store owner. However, I have not been able to participate in deep sea fishing for a very long time because my wife does not allow me to do so. If your fishing instance is as good as everyone says it is and it lets me enjoy fishing once more, I will be in your debt."

    "Boss Lai Fu, please! You have not even entered the instance, do not do this! You are not making any sense at all." Jin pulled him up and he saw that Lai Fu was on the verge of crying.

    "I''m sorry! It''s just that the thought of fishing again after so long made me really emotional. Please do not mind me. Oh, and before I forget, these are your coupon booklets. They are approved and ready to go." Lai Fu wiped his tear and quickly passed the stack of coupon booklets to Jin.

    "Maybe I should ask Shen Si Fang about the details instead." Jin thought to himself as he received the stacks of coupon booklets.

    "I saw the booklets you made! They were really fancy and the deals will definitely help our shopping district in the short term. Now I understand why you said you wanted a week''s worth of profit." Lai Fu said to him as he happily passed Jin the remaining booklets.

    "So, are youing in the afternoon for the fishing instance?" Jin asked once he received all the coupon booklets from Lai Fu.

    "Erm, perhaps tomorrow. Do you mind if I bring some friends along? I thinkбн they might be happy if they heard I am going to be fishing again." Lai Fu asked Jin again but he shook his head.

    "They can join you but they will have to pay for it. I am only allowing you to go in for free because I owed you. Also, are you sure you are okay to ask your friends toe with you? You seemed a little out of yourself when we mentioned fishing. Plus, you have not tested it out yourself to see if you really like the instance." Jin said with some concern. Though he knew he did not have to care, especially if Lai Fu was bringing in more of that sweet sweet moh to his shop by inviting his friends, for some reason he felt an obligation to help Lai Fu.

    "Yea sure, just show me the menu, I will tell them the -OH MY GOSH SO EXPENSIVE!" Lai Fu nearly vomited blood upon seeing the price and only just realised how much he had saved when Jin said he was allowing him to fish for the whole day free of charge.

    "That is why I asked." Jin sighed but Xiong Da, who had been talking to Yun, overheard almost everything and added hisments into the conversation. "Trust me, the fishing instance is worth it! If you don''t believe me, I can even bet 1000 Yuan that you will like it."

    "You are willing to go that far?" Lai Fu thought for a while and guessed he would just call his friends since he had nothing to lose. After all, his portion was sponsored by Jin.

    "Okay, tomorrow then." Lai Fu agreed with Jin and as he went off, so did Xiong Da.

    "Looks like it''s time for me to prepare the sure win lottery prizes before the shop opens! Yun, you mind doing me favour?" Jin beckoned Yun to follow him into the Dungeon Maker once more.

    .

    .

 Chapter 171 Lottery Prizes

    <h4>Chapter 171 Lottery Prizes</h4>

    Jin re-entered the Dungeon Maker with a copy of the newly printed coupon booklet with him and asked the system to make aparison between the one he had submitted with the current booklet he was holding. Jin wanted to know if any changes had been made and the system analysis came back in a jiffy.

    "The quality of the coupon booklet has beenpromised but the contents of the coupon booklet remain the same." The system informed Jin and he let out a sigh of relief. After this, Jin summoned Peppers into the dungeon maker although she was still in her pyjamas.

    "Mind waking her up? I need her to do some work for me." This was the main reason why Jin had asked Yun to apany him into the Dungeon Maker. He did not want to carelessly touch Peppers in any way in case it offended her. Besides, Yun had experience and was already an expert in waking up the members of the Morning Couch Club.

    "Roger that, I thought you wanted me to prepare some of your lottery prizes." Yun smiled as she started to drag Peppers out of the Dungeon Maker to wake her up and get her changed.

    "Well, if you are listening to my thoughts, then yeah. I would like your opinion on some stuff once I''m done with the creation of the prizes since I am targeting a diverse audience of both genders and I cannot be sure that I will get it right." Jin said.

    The idea behind these lottery prizes was that if a customer bought more than 50 Yuan worth of items they would be entitled to a lucky draw ticket. The coupons along with the receipts were used as proof to enter the lucky draw. Despite this, unlike typical lucky draws, the customers would win a prize with every draw.

    The idea was simple, there were several categories in the lucky draw. Mainly A, B, C, D, E and F. These 6 categories would be mishmashed into a box and customers would try their luck by picking a ticket out of the box. The ticket would correspond to the type of prize they would receive. Category A contained the best prize while category F contained something simpler.

    So would Category A be easy to get? Nope. There were only three tickets in Category A since a smaller proportion of the tickets were allocated the higher categories. Maths and Logic stated that the probability of the customer winning a Category A prize was extremely small at the start of the event but the chance got higher when the box had fewer tickets in it. What''s more was that once the tickets were ced in the box, they were fixed and could not be altered. Hence, it was all down to luck and simple probability.

    Since Category F constituted the most of the tickets in the box, Jin decided to start with something simple. He decided to create straps with chibi versions of his monsters on them, something simr to what Jing Ru and Ren Wei had earned bypleting their dungeon run.

    Category E contained inkbrush paintings of random scenes in the dungeon, either of thendscape or random shots of the monsters which made good decorations at home.

    Category D was actually the cups he used to serve the ck Ivory Coffee that had various designs of baby pandas tumbling around printed onto the cups.

    Meanwhile, Category C were plush toys that not only came in the shape of pandas but also cute chibi versions of the Great White Snake, the Werebeasts'' Faces and Mr Oink.

    Category B was something special. He had purposely called various monsters toe into the Dungeon Maker once again, but this time it was for a photo shoot. He had recreated figurine poses using real life monster and the Dungeon Maker 3D-printed the entire picture as a figurine with a detailed background base that the figurine stood on.

    For example, Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress, was stylised into a figurine that featured her sitting on the head of Great White Snake. The three goblins were grouped with Mr Oink into one figurine. Ripcaller, the dagger goblin, was lying on Mr Oink''s head sleeping while the other two were sitting Mr Oink''s back talking cheerfully to each other.

    The leading werebeasts like Gold, Grey, Yellow, and Brown, were in a team fighting formation, each carrying their weapons as if they were being surrounded.

    When it came to the zombie figurine, there were zombiesing out of the abomination''s back while some zombies were being squashed by it. Last but not least, Jin made a figurine of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu holding both hands as if they had just rushed to meet each other on an old wooden red bridge. They even had magpies on both of their shoulders to signify the help of the Magpie Queen.

    Lastly, for Category A, there were three unique prizes and simr to other categories, the prize-winner would not know which prize they had won until the ticket showed the name of the prize next to the prize category. One unique prize Jin had thought of was a booklet of tickets that contained one ticket to every dungeon instance ever made, excluding the arena and tickets to the service instances. The other prize was a secret prize for the cultivators but not for Jin as it is a figurine of Mr Derpy with the Deep Ones worshipping it. Not only would they receive this prize, but they would also receive each and every figurine that was in Category B.

    Thest prize wasrge. Veryrge. Jin had created a life-size adult Panda Plushie with premium quality synthetic fur that would not drop off easily while also having a nice texture to touch. He thought that the females and young girls would like it. The prize winner could actually use it as a sofa if he or she wished to, all they had to do was sit on the stomach and it would function as a beanie couch.

    Jin did not know that could be done untilбн Peppers came in andfortably slept again on top of the Panda''s stomach. "Guess she did give her opinion in a way, even if it is a little unconventional. I guess I will let her off this time round." Jin smiled as he saw Peppers sleeping sofortably on it. "Arggh! Don''t drool!" Jin quickly took a tissue out from his storage watch and wiped Peppers'' face but Peppers just continued to sleep like a log.

    While all this might seem quite expensive seeing as how Jin had used quality materials for every category of prizes, he was quite unfazed by it. This was because everything would be paid for by the system since Jin hadpleted the mission where he would need to take a photo with a baby panda.

    He passed the mission with flying colours and the system had no reason to reject him since the reward of that particr mission was to pay for the expenses incurred for the entire coupon creation.

    "Looks all good," Jin was rather satisfied by the results of the prizes and decided to post them out today.

    .

    .

 Chapter 172 Dungeon Reviews

    <h4>Chapter 172 Dungeon Reviews</h4>

    The handling of the store could not get any harder, especially since Jin was actually looking forward to the end of the day. The coupon booklets had been handed out to the customers and most of them thought that it was just the regr coupon booklet that the Tiangong Shopping District handed out every month.

    Usually, most customers did not really care about the coupon booklets unless they were released around festive seasons like the Lunar New Year or Christmas. That was also the reason why Shen Si Fang, themunity head of the Tiangong Shopping District''s owners, wanted to use Jin as a pulling factor to draw in more business in the new month of October.

    Si Fang did not worry much about November because with the advent of 11 November the Singles Day and ck Friday were enough to encourage everyone to go on a massive shopping craze. Not to mention, December had Christmasбн The gold mine for business.

    Fortunately, the day did pass by without too much trouble and Jin even had new customersing in because of the coupon advertisement. He was pleasantly surprised that such an old method of advertising still worked with the mobile technology age they were in. What saddened Jin was that no one had yet decided to participate in the sure win lucky draw, which Jin was excited about and had put a lot of effort into.

    In order to participate in the sure win lucky draw, one had to spend at least 50 Yuan in the shopping district and show the corresponding coupon and receipt to Jin in order to participate in the lucky draw. "I guess it''s just the first day, can''t expect too much out of it." Jin thought to himself as he closed the shop slightly earlier that day. Yun had said that she and the system would take care of the mess once she briefed Jin, his betors, and monsters on what they need to do for the dungeon takeover.

    Jin entered the Sanctum of Worlds and asked everyone to gather at the werebeasts'' mansion since they had thergest amount of space and could amodate everyone in their farm fields.

    "Everyone, listen up. We are going to do a Dungeon Takeover and the system has already chosen a potential dungeon for Jin to take over. We are not taking some deserted and dangerous dungeon because Jin does not have the experience. Instead, the system has chosen the Subterranean Fortress of the Roleying Minotaurs." Yun announced to everyone with a loud hailer megaphone.

    Jin had seen and checked the dungeon stats for the Subterranean Fortress of the Roleying Minotaurs via the system. Apparently, the Dungeon World had a thing called Dungeon Reviews, which was a local search service powered by a crowd sourced review forum. Hence, Jin looked up the Subterranean Fortress of Roleying Minotaurs when the system had suggested that particr dungeon to him.

    While having a silly name, it was a fairly popr dungeon and a number of adventurers liked to take part in it mainly because the minotaurs in the dungeon protected arge vein of high density gold that could be exchanged for a lot of dungeon dors.

    The minotaurs themselves roleyed into various characters because their minotaur lord, Moloch, was a higher demon that wanted to try out various jobs but never had the chance to because of his nobility and prestige in the demon hierarchy along with his demanding workload. Hence, in order to make his various dreamse true, the jobs that he fantasised about were projected by his minions.

    This meant that most of the minotaurs under the service of Moloch were in some sort of roley costume basically 24/7. Initially, the minotaurs found the idea ridiculous but decided to y along with their lord. Subsequently, the majority of the minotaurs were so absorbed in perfecting their disguises that they started to pick up on the skills rted to their disguises.

    While there were not many details about the various cosying minotaurs, most of the adventurers had reviewed the dungeon as being rather challenging but rewarding at the same time. "Killing a costumed minotaur will you 10 to 50 dungeon dors, which is extremely generous whenpared to other dungeons. However, as you travel deeper into the underground fortress the monsters be harder and harder to beat," said Reviewer Cashploxx, who was one of the Dungeon Reviewers that hadmented on the dungeon.

    What intrigued Jin the most was the next paragraph of the review written by Cashploxx. "A small party is not rmended to go further than the Second Gate of the fortress and I would even suggest arge raid party of at least 25 people before entering the Third Gate of the fortress. I was one of the few fortunate ones that entered in arge raid party of up to 50 people and we managed to fight against Lord Moloch. His attacks became rather repetitive after we got used to them and that made him predictable but we still did not manage to kill it until a highly skilled strike force that had been waiting to ambush and KS (killsteal) the boss brought it down."

    "While frustrated, they were kind enough to share 90% of the tribute with the rest of the 50 members. We were rather angry but gave in eventually since we knew we would not have been able to kill the Lord without them." Upon reading, Jin learnt that kill stealing did happen in the dungeons and asked Yun how it worked and if she could stop it.

    She said that she would notify Jin when any other people came close since the system could detect intruders and warn him about it. "The system will take all measures so that you canplete the mission smoothly. The reviewer Cashploxx might have gotten lucky and got 90% of the tribute but not everyone in the dungeon world is as fortunate as them. Hence, it is imperative that you obtain achieve 100% of the tribute."

    "Because 100% of the tribute also means more resources for the system, which is why the system is helping so much," Jin said nonchntly and Yun could not argue back with that logic.

    "Do we have a n on how to take down this fortress?" Peppers raised her hand and asked but both Yun and Jin shook their heads. "We tried to find information regarding the dungeon but none of the online resources had any clues. Yun tried asking the system but the system refused to give any despite its innate desire to take over the dungeon." Jin replied to Peppers and Yun stepped in again.

    "The system still wanted to make this a challenge for Jin since the reward is a very high grade store signage. To be honest, the system only wanted Jin to bring one or two monsters with him into a separate dungeon that it had suggested but I negotiated with it and the system decided to allow him to go full force on this dungeon instead." Yun added and the monsters were cheering madly since it was the first time they could go all out against something as an entire group.

    "In any case, we will be utilising everyone and everything that we have to take over this fortress. It will be arge scale operation and remember to do maximum damage! More minotaurs killed equates to more monsters for Jin to create Dungeons with!" Yun shouted out through a loud hailer megaphone. The monsters and the betors yelled out in unison, disying their agreement.

    This time around, Jin was not just a Dungeon Supplier. To the adventurers in the Dungeon world, he was a Monster Summoner, and a high leveled one at that.

    .

    .

 Chapter 173 Force Your Way

    <h4>Chapter 173 Force Your Way</h4>

    "This is bad, I did not expect a wide open area right in front of the fortress," Jin and his betors were hiding behind an extremelyrge rock after getting in through the cave entrance of the dungeon and descending a few levels.

    Right in front of him was a spacious clearing that created at least one kilometre between Jin and the front of the fortress. Also, there were guards standing on the outer fortress walls. Thankfully, unlike medieval castles or other important fortresses, there were no moats or drawbridges, though the fortress did have a portcullis, which was atticed grille gate made of mainly metal.

    "So...Master, how should we proceed?" Peppers was itching to create an explosion right in front of the gates but Jin stopped her from chanting by putting his hand over her mouth as he grabbed her by the waist and pulled back to the rock.

    "I need you to conserve your strength. Although you have an unlimited amount of mana, I do not want you to vomit rainbows before the boss fight. If your explosive powers can rival even a fragment of the Fish God, I think you can pit yourself against a demon well enough." Jin whispered to Peppers but noticed her face blush red. Jin thought that she was angry because he did not allow her to fire her explosive spells but it was actually something else. Peppers had not expected her master to forcefully grab her by the waist.

    ''Ahhh! Peppers is growing. Being so conscious of her own body.'' Milk thought to herself and chuckled quietly. "Alright then Master, what are we going to do?" Milk asked Jin as Peppers was clearly not in the mood to talk at the moment.

    "Remember the Great Wall of China dungeon instance?" Jin smiled wildly as he took his phone out and checked it once more. He had captured thousands of zombies from the deste Shanghai Tower incident and if the minotaurs in this Subterranean Fortress of the Roleying Minotaurs did not have any siege defences apart from the guards, he might just be able to pull his crazy n off.

    However, Jin took his time to read through the Dungeon Reviews and one reviewer revealed a tidbit of information about the first gate of the fortress. It was indeed protected by siege defences like bombards, oil pots, and ballistas. It did not have much effect against high level adventurers who used simple tricks like high jump or teleportation but it was deadly against a massive army of low level adventurers.

    To the minotaurs, the zombies would be like practice targets if they did the same thing they did in the Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance. However, the concept of piling the zombie bodies up to reach the crossover wall parapets was indeed something that interested Jin.

    "The distance to cover in order to reach the base of the wall will prove to be a problem but I think we can handle that," Jin asked his betors to return into his phone and he summoned Shu. The moment he did that, the minotaur guards spotted an unusual tree sprouting out from behind arge rock and growing massive within seconds.

    "Intruders!!!" The minotaurs shouted and the fortress walls were lit up and some even cast light magic onto the ceilings of the cave so that the area would be brightly illuminated. Despite this, all they saw was a tree, but they did not take any chances as they began to adjust their bombards and ballistas.

    "Now!" Jin shouted at Shu and with magic imbued on his vines to store stic energy for maximum draw force, Jin was flung out from the branches and leaves like a projectile leaving a slingshot, travelling at breakneck speed towards the fortress. As Jin flew out of Shu''s vines, he immediately unsummoned Shu and started to curl up into a ball, allowing him to execute Panda Tumbling, which caused Jin to move even faster.

    The minotaurs, who had just aimed their siege defence weapons to focus on the tree, did not have the time to readjust their defences to prevent the projectile that was flying towards them so the guards quickly cleared the area, which allowed Jin to fly and cross over the first gate effortlessly.

    As hended, Jin realised he hadnded in the middle of a regiment of minotaursбн in cowboy costumes. "Shit!" Jin thought to himself as he immediately mmed Boo into the ground. Stalks of Bamboo began to grow out of the ground and surround Jin like a shield to protect him while the cowboy minotaurs drew out their revolvers and started to shoot at him.

    Thankfully, the bamboo shield was up fast enough and Jin only received a flesh wound from a lucky bullet. However, the shield would notst from the barrage of attacks so Jin only had seconds to think of his next move.

    "Ahhh! Screw this!" Jin took out his phone and began to summon the zombies. Simr to what happened during the release of the zombie horde in their own home instance, the zombies crawled out of the phone with haste and like a ck tsunami of bodies they crashed into the cowboy minotaurs. The minotaurs were overpowered by the sheer numbers and they were unable to retaliate.

    "Zombies! To the second gate!! Quick!!!" Jin took out Boo from the ground and transformed it into a bamboo cannon. He hurriedly aimed it at the wall when he saw minotaurs trying to carry a pot of hot burning oil to deter the zombies that were currently piling up at the gates.

    Using the umted chi, Jin released a shot from his bamboo cannon and like fireworks, the top of the second gate exploded as the oil reacted with the chi energy that was produced from the cannon shot. The minotaurs on the gate were burnt and unable to deal with the zombie body pile.

    This allowed Jin to climb up the wall by literally walking on a pile of corpses and he managed to ascend over the parapets of the second gate. There he saw the fortress and the panicked rush of minotaurs arming themselves.

    "Zombies! Bite, grab, scratch and eat any minotaurs on sight until they are captured by the system!" Jin ordered the zombies to create as much chaos as possible between the first and second gate as he jumped over the wall to face another regiment of cosying minotaurs.

    "The real fight begins now!" Jin summoned the werebeasts when a regiment of costumed minotaurs created a bull wall in front of them to prevent them from proceeding any further.

    .

    .

 Chapter 174 Dangerous Zombies

    <h4>Chapter 174 Dangerous Zombies</h4>

    As Jin crossed the Second Gate and entered the inner courtyard of the Subterranean Fortress of the Roleying Minotaurs. The zombies were fighting wildly against the preliminary line of defence to prevent them from attacking Jin from the back.

    Although Jin hadn''t equipped the zombies since there were at least a thousand of them, he had actually enhanced them with an equipment card called ''Elementary Element Roulette'' as well as an ''I am the Alpha V1.0'' enhancement card.

    With the ''Elementary Element Roulette'' card, each zombie summoned out would have a chance to be an elemental zombie, either Fire, Ice, Poison or Thunder. Poison had the highest probability of appearing, which was followed by ice, fire andstly thunder since it boasted the highest elemental damage. The probability for a zombie to be an elemental zombie was at a ratio of 1 out of every 50 zombies.

    Jin figured this ''equipment'' card was one of the better options avable for the zombies, as well as the other potential ''horde'' troops he might get. Sure, the zombies would still be in melee but at the very least their bites, ws, and grabs would contain a slight elemental discharge. It''s like a very, very, very weak version of "Burning Hands" or "Icy Touch".

    Hence, even though the attacks contained very little elemental discharge damage, quantity made up for the quality of their attacks. However, these elemental discharges were considered a magical enhancement, simr to a temporary inscription. After a certain amount of attacks, the element within the zombie would be fully discharged and they would be turned back into a normal zombie once again. The element within those zombies would also disappear if they were unsummoned by Jin.

    In addition to the elemental zombies, the ''I am the Alpha V1.0'' enhancement card would buff a zombie to be an alpha zombie. This kind of zombies had developed below average intelligence along with the ability tomand the other mindless zombies to perform certain tasks. Of course, the buff was an extremely rare urrence and the chance of an alpha zombie appearing was extremely low, probably at a ratio of 1 out of a few hundreds of zombies.

    However, having even just one alpha zombie helped Jin a lot because the zombies could now move around effectively as a group and maximise their advantage in numbers. Unfortunately, simr to the elementary element roulette, the intelligence of the alpha zombie would disappear if they were killed or unsummoned, which Jin thought was a pity.

    He noticed that the increase in intelligence also created a sort of personality for the zombiemanding them. Hence, Jin did what he could by asking the System to tag and document the behaviour of every zombie that had their intelligence enhanced. This way, Jin wouldter have the opportunity to properly develop that particr zombie into a stronger entity. Peppers casually gave herment during the equipment phase earlier in the morning, saying that an Undead Lich would be a good addition to the team but that it also required a lot of spiritual force enhancement for a zombie to develop into a lich from scratch.

    In any case, there was currently an alpha zombie fighting amidst the regr zombies right inside the outer perimeters of the second gate. This particr alpha zombie called himself Derek. The orders were simple, kill everything on sight which Derek had reaffirmed bymanding waves of zombies to flood up the First Gate walls and disrupt the Cowboy Minotaurs.

    On the walls of the First Gate, the zombies actually fought against the real mean looking minotaurs that didn''t have costumes on. They were considered as the outcasts of the fortress as they found the whole costume roleying to be ridiculous. However, they had made a pact with their lord Moloch, hence they could not break the pact unless they were killed at least once on duty. Oh oops? Reincarnated again and the pact still hadn''t been broken? Back to square one.

    Then what about that particr statement that said they had the ability to break off the pact, which was written in the contract that they signed with Lord Moloch? Written in slightly smaller yet permeable ink was a subuse that the breakage of the pact would only happen if you were killed by a strand of human hair without any magic imbued into it and in yourst breath you had to shout "DAYUM!". It was only then that the minotaur was allowed to die and be free.

    Those minotaurs who downright refused to wear the costumes were so na?ve to believe that all they needed to do was to die crazily a few times that they rushed to their deaths again and again and again. During the process though, they somehow became fanatics of seeking their own death and unknowingly became part of the roley squad.

    Simply because of this mentality in their minds, they always tried to die in the ugliest way possible. Some of the Fanatic Minotaurs would let themselves get beaten and eaten by the zombies until they were captured by the System via Jin''s new capture module installed in his phone. Anything that came from his phone could capture a monster once it had been beaten into submission. Hence, his betors and monsters were no exception.

    Meanwhile, some of the Fanatic Minotaurs fought valiantly like how they were originally designed and protected their fortress... but they went a little overboard. A Fanatic Minotaur was seen holding onto some ballista arrows while throwing them with such strength that it seemed to be an actual ballista, perhaps even faster than one! The only downside to this method was its short rangepared to an actual ballista. It was due to the fact that a ballista required time to reload. When he thought of this, the minotaur came up with the idea that throwing the arrows would be a much more efficient way to kill the zombies.

    One minotaur even picked the entire bombard up and used it as a portable cannon, managing to kill many zombies whilst his other Fanatic Minotaur buddy reloaded the bombard by stuffing the multiple cannonballs manually. The only downside of this was that the minotaur was a little too close to the parapet of the fortress wall and the knockback made him fall to the ground and die.

    Cause of death? Its horns went straight through the ground, causing it to be stuck. Then, the amount of force with which it entered the ground broke its neck, which led to its unfortunate death. Meanwhile, its buddy, who had been reloading cannonballs, took therge iron balls and smashed them through the sea of zombies until he ran out of balls to throw.

    On another part of the wall, the Cowboy Minotaurs were putting up a decent fight. Their use ofssos and revolvers made it appear as if they were herding cattle. The fight almost went their way until Derek the alpha zombie managed to gather a group of poison zombies. He used the normal zombies as ''human'' shields to protect the group until they were able to get close and poison the Cowboy Minotaurs.

    There were other elemental zombies around and Derek made sure that they were protected by a sufficient amount of undead so that their lives would not be wasted and their attacks would always strike true.

    The zombie horde eventually managed to prevent the preliminary line from backstabbing Jin since he had rushed in to battle... almost too quickly! He and his werebeasts were about to face some terrifying foes.

    The Battle Maid Minotaurs.

    .

    .

 Chapter 175 You Have A Problem With Our Costumes?!

    <h4>Chapter 175 You Have A Problem With Our Costumes?!</h4>

    "I think they are dressed like this so that people will underestimate them." Meomi could somehow feel the danger the Battle Maid Minotaurs emitted via her innate cat senses. "I do not think the dresses make them weak. In fact, I think the dresses make them even more dangerousбн" Goldmented as he noticed some male minotaurs, those big bulky muscr bull humanoids that were capable of crushing a car with their bare hands, were also wearing french maid outfits with frills.

    "You have a problem with our costumes?!" One of the Battle Maid Minotaurs shouted at them. This particr minotaur was a male yet he was wearing a blue coloured bob hair wig while carrying a spiked chain ball as his weapon. He stepped forward and flexed his muscles, causing the maid sleeves to rip apart due to the sheer size of the bulging muscles. "Name''s Mer."

    "Yem." Another Battle Maid Minotaur proceeded to announce his name as he carried a 2-metre long barrel rifle that Jin had not seen before. However, the way Yem was holding his rifle showed that he had no intention to use it as a long range weapon but rather as a blunt weapon.

    "Sebastia." This time round Jin noticed that the minotaur that had spoken was a female and unlike the brutish features minotaurs usually had, the female minotaurs featured more human-like characteristics than their male counterparts. To an extent, Jin could even categorise the minotaur as a refined female human wearing fake bull horns. But Jin knew he could not underestimate this female minotaur that wore a butler tuxedo and held her arms behind her back.

    "So the males are wearing maid uniforms while the females are wearing the butler onesбн The lord of the fortress must have some screwed up fetishes." Jin thought to himself as he noticed the other maid costumed minotaurs were kneeling in front of the three named minotaurs. It appeared that these three were the leaders of this group of minotaurs.

    "We are the ultimate servants of the fortress and we will not allow you to pass through and tarnish the cleanliness of our Lord''s abode!" Mer shouted out as he threw his chain ball at Meomi.

    Meomi smiled as she used her whip to deflect the iing chain ball strike and Jin was surprised that she was actually powerful enough to do so. "Didn''t you say "No mercy"? This is better since I do not have to hold back as I did in the dungeons!" Meomi licked her lips while Goldughed heartily. "Don''t lie, you never hold back! You just don''t have the humility to admit that some of Boss Jin''s customers can defeat you!"

    Gold, who was previously scared of Meomi, had be friendlier and more daring in his conversations after they had been captured by Jin. Even Meomi had mellowed down her egoistic attitude in front of the other werebeasts and treated them nicer than she had back in the Farming World. She had a simpleбн maybe an even primal reason. She was being fed constantly with decent food, had a solid roof above her head and did not need to fear being attacked so she figured she didn''t need to be so harsh on herrades.

    Gold moved to attack the rifle wielding minotaur while the vice leaders of the werebeasts pressed forth to fight against Sebastia. Even Nyanmi, who was always by Meomi''s side, decided to help out against the female butler all for one reason. The werebeasts never participated in a fair fight because war was a dirty business. The three of them had, therefore, felt that ganging up would probably be logical since the one without weapons was usually the most dangerous.

    Separately, Grey, who was the tactician of the group, continued to do his job as hemanded the twenty to thirty werebeasts to fight against the opposition''s toon of Battle Maid Minotaurs. "Master Jin! Continue onwards! Conserve your strength! We will handle the situation here!" Grey shouted as he asked one of the werejackals to follow Jin in the unlikely event of any unexpected ambushes.

    "Grey, I will leave him with you instead. You need the manpower more and besides, I have plenty more in here." Jin pointed at his phone as he rushed across the inner courtyard and entered the fortress.

    "Now that Master is not here, we can fight without worries." Gold shouted as he turned and let out a deafening howl, which encouraged the others to fight with all their might.

    "That howl will be yourst!" Yem shouted as he rushed forward. It was at that moment that Gold realised something. The long rifle was actually a scabbard for a longsword. Gold was not able to evade the first strike but the ck armour skin of the jackal that he had cast on himself when he was rushing at his opponent managed to soften the blow, meaning that the strike only caused a flesh wound.

    "I will pay that back by at least double." Gold grinned as he plunged his left ws into the Battle Maid Minotaur as Yem struck him on his torso with a side-sh. Yem bore through the pain but it did make him flinch a little, which gave Gold that precious split-second opportunity to gift his friendly neighbourhood minotaur a sucker punch delivered right into his face. Yem noticed that his vision on his left eye had be blurry due to all the blood, but his right eye identified that this punch was anything BUT ordinary. He remembered that there had been ck ws protruding from Gold''s knuckles but now they had disappeared.

    "Looking for these bad boys?" Gold released his left ws by scratching Yem''s tough leather skin, making another wave of ws that ran through Yem''s skin, causing it to finally tear and bleed. It was at this instant that Yem noticed Gold really had long ck metallic ws growing from his knuckles and that he could retract them anytime he liked.

    However, Gold was bluffing Yem. Those ws that grew from his knuckles? They could onlye out briefly since they devoured arge quantity of his werebeast powers to make the ws razor-sharp and impervious against the toughest materials. Not to mention, it hurt a lot each time Gold made the ws grow out of his knuckles, meaning he could barely maintain it for longer than eight seconds.

    However, all of these were the setbacks of a low level equipment card that Jin had equipped on the big boss of the werejackals. Even Gold had agreed and acknowledged that the versatility and possibilities of this weapon far outweighed the potential risks and the bodily harm it caused him. Yun had said that a higher level of that same equipment card would cause fewer side effects when using it. Either that or Jin had to increase his cultivation grade so that the monsters would also grow stronger, easing their side effects when handling the equipment.

    However, instead of Goldughing, Yem tore a part of his maid dress and tied it around his head to cover both of his eyes. "Come!" Yem shouted at Gold as his body sank into a battle stance.

    .

    .

 Chapter 176 Jackals!

    <h4>Chapter 176 Jackals!</h4>

    "This is bad, it looks like his speciality isn''t the rifle - wait, what?" Gold thought to himself as he noticed that Yem had sheathed his longsword back into the rifle looking ''scabbard'' and he subsequently pointed the rifle at him. "Shit! So that thing can interchange between a sword and a rifle?" Gold panicked as he knew he was not an extremely agile monster.

    If Gold rushed forward now, Yem would probably notice Gold and would shoot him on the spot. "Is there anything I can do?" Gold panicked and stepped back. A shot was fired... and it barely missed him by a hair''s width. "Tsk, this bleeding has affected my breathing," Yem snorted as he parried a Werejackal follower that had tried to ambush him with his rifle. Within a split second, Yem reloaded and shot the werejackal before the Werejackal follower could even recover.

    "Shit!" Gold felt a flesh wound appeared on his ear from another shot taken by Yem when he was trying to take that small window of opportunity to move forward. At this rate, Gold was seriously contemting whether or not he should use his ultimate skill, ''The Hunt of the Golden Jackal'', so early in the fight.

    That ultimate skill of his allowed him to experience a sharp boost in speed but he knew that it could not rival the speed that Yem disyed when he was reloading, not to mention the speed of a bullet. However, Gold did notice a weakness in Yem''s attacks. He would only shoot when someone made a move but what about if he didn''t make a move... or at least he didn''t appear to? Could he really differentiate the various sounds in such a chaotic battlefield? Probably not, and that was what Gold was betting his life on.

    With Gold being a schr previously, he definitely had some magic spells and tricks up his sleeves. So without any incantation, Gold made a mimic voice of himself roughly five metres away from Yem, who fell for the trick causing him to unload the bullet in that direction. That was when Gold thought that he might be able to trick him.

    Gold immediately activated the Hunt of the Golden Jackal and started to cast multiple mimic voice spell "Screw it!" The shot identally hit a fellow battle maid minotaur though the trajectory of that bullet was purposely set up by Gold. After that previous mimic voice came the mimic sound of Gold''s footstep and Yem followed the sound as strictly as possible, sticking close. This caused Yem to injure many of his own teammates in the course of his charge.

    Meanwhile, Gold used that chance to get closer to Yem while suppressing his fear of getting shot as much as possible. It was vital for his survival since breathing, especially when it was closer to the enemy, would make it easier for Yem to pick it up.

    It was after the fifth shot that the other named minotaur Mer noticed Yem hitting his own teammates and told him to stop. "You can''t afford to be distracted, you know?" Meomi was already in front of Mer as she turned her whip into two swords, which were used to stab Mer.

    "Bloody beetch!" Mer shouted as he tried to ''shoo'' Meomi away by flexing his muscles, which cause the swords to get stuck, while he used his right arm to karate chop the werecat in front of him. Unfortunately, the cat was more agile than Mer had anticipated and gracefully climbed up onto his head before trying to stuff the sword she was holding with her tail into its neck.

    Suddenly, a shard of ice appeared from out of nowhere, aiming for Meomi''s head. Luckily for her, she sensed the attack in time and retreated from that position. "I am not just a brute!" the one-horned minotaur Mer shouted as he swung the chain ball once more. But this time Mer thought he had managed to hit Meomi because he had cast an aura of ice when she hadnded, causing her movements to be restricted.

    Meomi purred at the iing attack and ''poof!''. In an instant, she turned into a small ck cat and elegantly evaded the attack by standing on the tip of one of the spikes on the spiked chain ball. Mer tried to retract the chain ball but he did not notice how the ck cat had managed to tip-toe it''s way along the chains of the chain ball.

    Before he knew what was appening, Meomi transformed back into a werecat while standing on his shoulders and used a Cat o'' nine tails to whip him. You can imagine the pain since the Cat o'' nine tails was a type of multi-tailed whip that was specifically designed tocerate the skin and cause intense pain. And this horrifying whip pped Mer right in the face. Mer shouted in pain, which was cruelly stopped by Meomi, who used her tail to forcefully insert the sword through the poor minotaur''s mouth.

    She finished the killing blow by performing a stationary somersault kick andnded the kick on the hilt of the sword, causing the sword to plunge further into Mer''s throat. Mer waster captured by the System.

    In the meantime, Gold had managed to close the gap between him and Yem... who finally noticed that it was all a rouse by Gold. However, it was toote to even grab the longsword from his rifle as Gold bit Yem in the neck as he used his w knuckles to stab Yem''s chest repeatedly.

    The Hunt of the Golden Jackal also increased his bite power and Yem could not resist the attacks Gold had dealt him, which caused him to drop to the ground due to theck of breath as he subsequently disappeared. Gold did not move an inch away from Yem''s until the System was done capturing him. Only then did he finally let go and take a breather.

    Gold took a look at Meomi and saw that she had nearly finished ying with her prey at the same time as Gold had finished with his. They both took a look at Grey and Yellow, only to see that they were actually having difficulties fighting Sebastia.

    "Do not interfere! This is the pride of the vice leaders!" Yellow shouted as he too took a breather while Brown and Nyanmi continued attacking Sebastia. "Then you will not mind me joining," Grey entered the fray as he had previously had his eyes on all three separate fights even though his main focus should have been on the other battle maid minotaurs along withmanding the rest of the Jacks.

    "Heh, if you say so," Gold wiped his fur a little before taking overmand of the rest of the Jacks. He might not be as capable a tactician as Grey but Boss taking over themand of the Jacks boosted their morale by a lot.

    "Finish it before I die from boredom little sister." Meomi yawned as she threw the two swords towards Sebastia, only to see both of them deflected. But it allowed Nyanmi to catch both swords and shebined it with her own whip weapon.

    "Yes, Onee-Sama." A twin edged whip sword appeared and Sebastiaughed.

    "As if one more wolf man and a new weapon will make any difference." Sebastiaughed but the vice leaders shouted in bestial fury.

    "JACKALS!"

    .

    .

 Chapter 177 Sebastia

    <h4>Chapter 177 Sebastia</h4>

    Grey had analysed Sebastia a little when he was watching her fight against the vice leaders of Jacks and Nyanmi. To his surprise, Grey noticed simrities between her fighting style and the cultivators that he had encountered in Jin''s dungeons.

    The style was simr to a Chinese martial art called Wing Chun, which specialised in remaining a fairly stationary position to readily block fast moving blows to vital points. The martial artist achieved this stationary position by only shifting or turning within a stance on the heels and balls of the feet. Grey had encountered one particr cultivator who had fought with the techniques of the Wing Chun in her style.

    The Cunning Crane Style.

    He did not exactly remember who that particr cultivator was as he could not differentiate each and every cultivator since they all looked more or less the same to him. However, he remembered the vicious attacks and blocks that proved to be a tough fight for him and the other vice leaders. Grey figured that if the Jack''s vice leaders had not encountered that Cunning Crane Cultivator, they probably would have lost the fight against Sebastia a long time ago.

    Hence, Grey understood why Sebastia said that an additional enemy or weapon would not make a difference to her, showing that she was skilled enough to not let these unexpected circumstances matter at all. However, Sebastia did not know that the Jack''s vice leaders had more experience fighting dirty and it was also right up Nyanmi''s alley.

    With Grey around, both Yellow and Brown felt more reassured since Grey was like the big brother that took care of them even though he was actually younger than them. While they did not verballymunicate, the three of them had devised a fairly high pitch growl and howl system, which served as signalling andmands.

    Initially, it was just a Jacks system that Meomi and Nyanmi were not able to understand. Mainly because Meomi was not that interested while Nyanmi had just joined them in their home instance. However, as time went by, they got to know each other better in both the dungeon and home instances. Through this period of time, the werecats were finally able to understand the high-pitched growling they were hearing. Of course, it was partially Grey''s credit too because he had forced it into the cats''zy brains since he knew it woulde useful someday.

    Thankfully, the cats were smart enough to pick it up easily and it did not take much effort to teach them the basics. "Stay at a distance, let her do the attacking whenever possible." Although the howls and growls addressed this through broader terms, the meaning got across to all of them.

    Grey made them move away because he had observed a few things. All three werebeasts had weapons with them but Sebastia was strong enough to deflect weapon blows. Sure, if they had asked Boss Gold to aid them, his w knuckles would probably prate her defences. However, Gold would not always be able to protect the vice leaders. What if Jin was in trouble and Gold was not around for whatever reason? Should the vice leaders just suck their thumbs and watch Jin die in front of them? Definitely not.

    "All I can think of now is hit-and-run." Grey signalled to them andmanded the group to tire Sebatia as much as possible. Tire the target out? Are you kidding? That''s was the Jackals'' most efficient way of fighting that both Yellow and Brown excelled at. Well not much for the cats... but hey! At least Nyanmi couldze around while fighting now, which was a good thing.

    Yellow would pounce every once in a while Brown attacked with his axe and Nyanmi with her whip sword from afar. Grey chipped in by shooting some low-level fireballs to distract Sebastia. Eventually though, Sebastia realised they were just buying time.

    She realised that not only were they making her tired from the constant blocking, she did not have a chance to attack because of the nature of their hit and run style. Also, the longer they dragged their time, the more battle maid minotaurs would be killed. Hence, if Sebastia did not do something fast, she would probably be the only one around and the number of werebeasts would definitely overwhelm her eventually, no matter how powerful she was by herself.

    Sebastia was confident in her strength so she decided to make her move... and that was when Grey smirked in silence. As the jackals were continuing their hit and runs, Sebastia was fairly stationary so Grey actually decided to proceed with a secondary n along with the hit and run tactics. He purposely cast and tagged the jackals and Nyanmi with a magic spell. Each time they went close to Sebastia, they would release the spell as close as possible to her.

    The spell seeped into the ground to be embedded. Yes, it was a trap spell, sort of like andmine but instead of it being physical, it was magical in nature. Slowly but surely, the hit and run tactics had allowed the vice leaders and the werecat to ce tens of magical traps surrounding Sebastia without her having the slightest clue.

    The few steps forward was all Sebastia needed to cause the series of fire, thunder, and ice spells to be activated in one go. The burn, shock and freeze severely damaged and paralysed Sebastia, which made the vice-leaders job easy.

    Yellow went for the head, Nyanmi aimed for the torso, while Brown swept his axe at her legs. Sebastia waspletely defenceless against the multitudes of attacksing from all direction, causing her to eventually be captured by the System along with the rest of her battle maids.

    "So slow." Meomi yawned as she was lying down atop one of the parapets on the wall of the second gate. It seemed that she had observed the whole battle from there. "Nyanmi, why didn''t you unleash your skills?" Meomi asked as Nyanmi went up to return the swords to her.

    "Because the Jacks wanted to prove themselves. I figured I would just aid them in boosting their ego. Would be beneficial in the long run." Nyanmi exined. She was slowly being caressed by Meomi as she stretched her entire body.

    "Clever girl~! That is one way to get those muscleheads to y into our hands." Meomimented but Nyanmi replied back with ament that pleasantly surprised her. "The Grey Jackal though, he''s kinda cute."

    "I think so too." Meomi grinned at Nyanmi and they ended upughing with each other for some time.

    However, the one who was not able tough was Jin as he was facing a foe he never even imagined he would face on a replica Golden Gate Bridge in the middle of the fortress castle. "WHERE ON EARTH AND ALL THE PARALLEL WORLDS IS THAT A COSTUME?! IT''S A FREAKING-"

    A punchnded near him, which Jin managed to dodge with Panda Tumbling. If he had not jumped away at thatst moment, he would have been ttened into pancakes with strawberry jam sttered on the roads of the fake bridge.

    "MEGA ROBOT!"

    .

    .

 Chapter 178 Mechataur

    <h4>Chapter 178 Mechataur</h4>

    For something over forty metres tall, the mega-robot was rather... simple. It didn''t wear a costume, had no frills and was overall just not stylish at all. The robot was shaped like a minotaur with two horns protruding from its head and it wielded a gigantic axe. It had glowing eyes and its body was made out of metals that were painted with shades of brown and green.

    "A robot for a monster!! Go Mr Derpy, I CHOOSE YOU!" Jin took out his phone and out came the tremendouslyrge monster that even rivalled the Mega Robot Minotaur in size.

    "I, Mechataur, will defeat this monstrosity! For Justice!" the mega robot spoke as its eyes turned from yellow to red as if it was disying its anger. "I am the guardian of this fortress and I will not let you sully this sacred fortress!" Mechataur shouted and pointed at Mr Derpy toe forth and fight it.

    However, Mr Derpy stared at it for a moment beforeughing. "Boss, you want a shy show or an instant kill?"

    "You cannot do both at the same time?" Jin asked but Mr Derpy just scoffed in reply. "You think you are worthy of a shy and ins-" Before Mr Derpy could finish his talking, Mechataur punched at Mr Derpy, which sent him flying into a nearby cavern wall. The impact caused the entire fortress to shake momentarily and Mr Derpy ended up slightly stunned.

    Mechataur did not give Mr Derpy any chance to recover as it immediately sent its axe flying towards Mr Derpy. The axe struck true and hit Mr Derpy in his chest. The Mechataur then forcibly opened its chest tes to reveal an internal cannon that looked like it was charging up a beam to attack the immobilised Mr Derpy.

    "Urgh, can I trust Mr Derpy to finish this battle?" Jin felt like he should do something to assist the Lord Dagen Replica since it looked like he was going to lose the battle. However, no matter how he looked at it, the only person that could destroy this mega robot was Peppers.

    He really wanted to keep Peppers for the final battle against the boss if possible but if Mr Derpy could not keep this situation under control, it would bite him in the back.

    "Damn it, advancing in this dungeon is more important!" Jin summoned Peppers and she twirled her staff as she appeared out of Jin''s phone. To his surprise, Peppers was not attacking at all even though she was summoned out.

    "Eh Peppers?" Jin called out to Peppers, only to see that she was in a trance for some reason.

    "IT IS A ROBOT!!!! Master! It is a robot!!!" Peppers squealed as she kept tugging at the side of Jin''s shirt.

    "Are you not going to attack it?" Jin asked as he started to drip cold sweat. What was with this sudden fascination with a robot?

    "Can I keep it as a pet? Mr Derpy is too useless, I prefer a robot! Look! It''s going to shoot a st of wildfire at Derpy!" Peppers eyes were sparkling brighter than a diamond, her mouth was wide open, so much so that she was unable to contain her drool and Jin wanted to faint at this sudden turn of events.

    "Then destroy it!!! So we can captur-" "BOOOOOOOM!" The Mechataur had finished charging its attacks and fired at the pinned down Derpy.

    "Mr Derpy!" Jin shouted with worry though Peppers remained dazzled and wow-ed by the Mechataur. The mega robot alsoughed with a booming voice. "Justice is served best served as a fillet!"

    Suddenly, from within the smokes of the explosion, a streaming jet of water burst out and pierced through the chest of the Mechataur. "What?!" The Mechataur was shocked as it started to run diagnostics to see if any vital parts were damaged by the attack.

    As Mechataur was analysing the damage, the metal and concrete around the bridge suddenly morphed and surrounded the Mechataur by wrapping around its legs, arms and even part of its torso.

    The metal bars of the bridge even turned flexible. The bars crept into the hole in the Mechataur''s chest, subsequently mending it.

    "Master! It even has healing abilities! I thought Derpy was able to control the metal and concrete, but it turns out that it really was just a dumb fish." Peppers seemed to be rooting for the enemy''s robot more than Mr Derpy but Jin was relieved to see that the Lord Dagen Replica was still alive and kicking.

    "Mr Derpy, Instant kill it. Do not make me worry."

    "Hahahaha! I made you worry?! I am the almighty Derp- I mean, I am the Almighty Shadow Dagen! You never had to or will ever have to worry about me!" Derpy zoomed out of the cavern walls and headbutted the Mechataur, causing it to fall to the ground in the middle of its healing process.

    Derpy then magically floated upwards and started to fly around the Mechataur. As he swirled around the fallen Mechataur, it was obvious that water particles and magic was beginning revolving around him and within seconds, Derpy flew upwards and the ground magically burst with a gush of water, very simr to a geyser.

    The geyser of hot steam and water pierced through the Mechataur once more, causing an evenrger hole to appear on the Mechataur but Mr Derpy was not done this time and would not allow it to heal again. His eyes stared at Mechataur''s blinking red ones before he gathered more water particles. From within the water particles, Deep Ones were being summoned and within seconds, it was raining monsters.

    "Die for me, filial ones." Mr Derpymanded the Deep Ones tounch a suicide attack and they swooped towards the partially broken robot. Unlike the zombies, who would probably have sttered into pancakes once they reached the ground, the Deep Ones had simple tridents and spears that damaged the Mechataur due to the momentum of the fall.

    Not only that, the Deep Ones also exploded and their blood and flesh corroded the metal parts of the Mechataur. When the Deep Ones exploded, both Jin and Peppers had horrified expressions on their, faces which made Mr Derpyughed.

    "Did you see the extent of my powers? Aren''t they magnificent! Aren''t they shy enough, my puny master?" Derpy smirked with arrogance.

    "MY ROBOT!!!!!!!" Peppers cried out loud as dramatically as she could.

    "ALL MY MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN!" Jin cried too and hugged Peppers as he remembered that the fallen monsters in the Dungeon World needed to be reced by using Souls and Souls, which in turn required money. Seeing how the Deep Ones just went ahead and killed themselves because Mr Derpy wanted to show off with a shy trick made him incredibly sad. " I said instant kill, didn''t I?" Jin''s heart was broken to see yet another Deep one fell and exploded.

    "Ehhhбн Didn''t you initially said you wanted a shy instant killбн?" Derpy scratched its head at his master''s mourning. Still, the deed was done and the Mechataur had died(been captured) in a fairly brutal fashion... with spears stuck in him and many holes created by the corrosion of its metallic skin.

    .

    .

 Chapter 179 Lord Moloch

    <h4>Chapter 179 Lord Moloch</h4>

    After the capture of Mechataur, Jin walked off with Peppers towards the next area and left Mr Derpy to guard the bridge so that they could focus on fighting the next boss. Although Jin hoped that it would be the final boss.

    "Another Gate, another boss I guess." Jin pushed the giant iron double door gates open with rtive ease. They looked heavy but when Jin pushed it, he realised they were just for show. A bright shining light shone onto Jin as he opened the gate and Jin half-expected the dungeon to have ended. Unfortunately though, he realised that he celebrated too early.

    "Wee Summoner." A man was talking to him while sitting on arge metallic throne. He was apanied by two costumed minotaur guards who were waiting to pounce on Jin at their lord''s signal. The more Jin tried to observe the man on the throne, the weirder he thought the Lord of this ce was.

    Yes, it was a man on the throne. But there was a stuffed minotaur plushie on top of his head that covered his eyes. The plushie also seemed to be animated as it yawned when the man greeted Jin but no matter how the man moved, the plushie was always covering his eyes.

    "Come closer Summoner, I am rather impressed by how fast you managed to enter thest part of the fortress. I am Lord Moloch." Moloch spoke quite gently but his voice had a tone of authority to it.

    In addition, whenever Moloch moved his hand, a massive stone minotaur statue behind his throne also moved along with him like a puppet. Jin gradually began to appreciate how impressive the statue was when he came closer to the throne. It was decorated with various precious metals carved into it andбн what seemed to be two auto-trackingser ray guns that followed Jin when he approached the throne.

    Not only that, but there were two guards wearing ck sunsses along with a full formal suit, acting simrly to a modern secret service guard... with a twist. Why a twist? Both were not just minotaurs, they were mino-centaurs. The had the body of a horse but a humanoid upper body that resembled that of a minotaur. They stood tall guarding each side of the throne.

    As for Lord Moloch, who was sitting on the throne, he was surprisingly humble with his attire. All he wore was a casual shirt with its sleeves folded up along with some skinny long pants. Of course, there was also that stuffedzy cookie brown minotaur plushie that moved around his head while covering Moloch''s eyes no matter how much he moved.

    "I''d like to ask a few questions. Would you mind answering? Oh, and I hope you don''t mind standing as you answer since most of the maids that I have hired have disappeared after battling with your monsters." Lord Moloch was hinting at something and Jin knew that either this lord demon had an ulterior motive and that was why he was stalling for time or he was just in curious.

    "Sure, go ahead Lord Moloch." Jin smiled as if he was greeting a customer but in his mind, he sent a voice transmission to Peppers to be on the lookout for anything suspicious, including anything magical.

    "Please, just call me Moloch." The lord demon smiled as he pped his hands in joy. "First question, are the minotaurs that disappeared safe?"

    "Yes, they are," Jin answered truthfully.

    "Then, I believe they are under yourmand now?" The minotaur lord asked as he now leaned back on his throne and crossed his legs.

    "Yes, they are," Jin replied truthfully yet again.

    "I see. Your purpose foring here? To get the tribute or to capture the entire fortress? Summonerбн?" Lord Moloch realised he had not asked for Jin''s name.

    "Jin. And the primary purpose of this trip was to get the tribute. The secondary objective was the monsters and before you ask, yes, if possible, I wanted to capture you too, still do, to be frank." Jin took the initiative to answer, which caused the guards to take their weapons out and prepare for a fight. However, Moloch stopped them with a gentle lift of his left hand and ced his head atop his right arm as he started to slouch over his throne. Although he seemedzy, Jin felt that he was actually interested in the conversation.

    "Excellent, I can sense that you are not lying to me. So. Let''s assume that you manage to capture me. What will happen to me? Will I have to swear eternal fealty to you? Will I have a choice in matters or will I be forced to do your bidding? Do I have any off days? Can I do whatever I like?" Moloch continued to ask a barrage of questions and it felt like Jin was going through a job interview with the demon.

    "Once you are captured by me, I will provide you with suitable housing and free food. All your servants would still be under yourmand but all of you would automatically pledge your unwavering loyalty to me. Hence, in a way, yes, you have to do things my way but since we can have civil conversations, we can discuss things through, negotiate your "contract", so to speak. Off days areбн subjective to nature. You will understand once you enter mymand." Jin answered all of Moloch''s questions in a clear-cut manner, which made Lord Moloch ponder for a moment.

    "I wonder what would happen if I were to be relieved of this post here." Lord Moloch talked to himself before he leaned forward and the plushie that once seemedzy began to stare at Jin. It was as if Lord Moloch was actually the plushie rather than the man that was talking.

    "If you are wondering, yes. This toy. This plushie is the real me, Lord Moloch. My king, Baal, reduced me into a plushie for losing the tribute a countless number of times to adventurers. I told him that I prefer to do desk-rted administrative stuff but he would rather use me as musclehead, sitting on this pathetically small throne and guarding the tribute area." Moloch answered.

    "So being fed up with King Baal, I decided to carve a ce of my own liking. Since the dungeons would be targeted and King Baal would not want to send further reinforcements to protect this ce, I decided to do things my way. At the very least, I am having some fun before I get killed by the high-level adventurers."

    "Therefore, I have a proposal for you. Capture me. Release me from my servitude to King Baal. I''ll serve you instead... though there is a condition. I want you to take this fortress and transform it into a proper town fortress. That''s all I want: to be a proper lord."

    "What do you mean a town fortress?" Jin asked and Moloch raised an eyebrow. "You don''t know what a town fortress is despite being so proficient in the art of summoning? Sorry, I assumed you had a lot of experience with dungeons." Moloch was surprised until Peppers started exining to Jin.

    "Creating a dungeon town fortress means that you are creating an actual town while defending it from monster enemies. It is actually the reverse of a dungeon fortress, which is what you were fighting in. Monsters and willing adventurers cane into this town to resupply. They can choose to settle down, live a life, and defend the area. In short, it''s like a neutral area for monsters and adventurers to coexist in peace."

    "Then why would monsters want to attack this ce? I am sorry, Moloch, I am more of aбн bookworm that specialises in catching monstersбнnot really a -" Jin was a little embarrassed until Moloch stepped in.

    "No need to apologise. I understand how you feel. Sometimes, you just get too engrossed into something that you just do not want to care about other stuff. I think you and I have much alike." Moloch''s human puppet grinned.

    "Monsters attack because they A) Want the fortress for themselves. And B), Instead of a tribute, taking over a town fortress means that you get full ess to the dungeon''s resources. So if they win against the whole town, the monsters would get to utilise the entire dungeon''s resources and be the Lord of this area. I don''t really know why adventurers cannot attack town fortresses but that''s just how things work."

    "Actually not exactly, records show that adventurers do attack dungeon town fortresses if they posed a threat against their daily life. However, in most cases, they do not do it because they treat dungeon town fortress as havens. If you include an adventurer guild, all the more they would not attack the area. Not to mention, they would also help defend against monsters that raid the area. Hence, they do not really have a problem staying in an area where monsterse to them." Peppers was delighted to provide them with an answer.

    "Wait, then howe you want me to create a town fortress if only monsters can rule as lordshipбнOh... Oh! OH! I get it now!" Jin realised Moloch was rather crafty. He did not want to be under themand of his old king and wanted to have an independent ce under his own rule. He would then give the benefits of the town fortress to Jin even though he was merely an adventurer. Besides Moloch might have known that he would against Jin. Why fight when you can just join?

    "So, how shall we do this? Do you want to let your new Master continue reigning the current fortress by beating you up or shall we get into the moreplicated stuff?" Jin summoned Sebastia, Mer, and Yem out of his phone and they immediately knelt in front of Jin instead of their former master. Moloch grinned and showed Jin to his meeting quarters.

    A power y by Jin but one that was necessary to discuss the terms of surrender for Lord Molochбн Though Jin felt Moloch was actually pretty excited about it and would not take much persuading.

    .

    .

 Chapter 180 Dealing With A Demon

    <h4>Chapter 180 Dealing With A Demon</h4>

    "So, tell me how this works." Jin was sitting in a meeting room that looked rather nd considering it was used to discuss important matters pertaining to the future of the fortress. He thought Moloch would have made the ce a little more posh than the other rooms so that his guests would have a better experience.

    "Hahaha, I know what you are thinking." Moloch the plushie was shaking its head in sync the human puppet that it was on. "This room had been picked clean by the adventurers. Even a vase, a simple decorative porcin vase, was taken by them! I meane on, can''t they just leave the poor vase alone and just kill me so that they get the gold tribute?" Moloch wasining as he sat down while Sebastia and the other maids went to make tea for Jin and Peppers.

    Peppers loved the attention she had been getting since currently Jin had only summoned her and not the other betors. Not to mention, Jin had never really summoned her alone before at all. To be part of an important discussion, Peppers was extremely excited and ready to serve her master to the best of her abilities.

    "Anyways, I digress. Here''s the thing. This is totally an assumption but from based off of historical records I looted from some adventurers, I believe it should work despite it being theoretical. Usually, when an adventurer like you kills me, the magical core of this dungeon would be exposed and it would allow you to reach into the core before it would verify that you are eligible for the tribute." Moloch started to exin how the dungeon town fortress works.

    "But, if you capture me, the process will be totally different. The magical core would not be exposed but a dungeon guardian would be summoned from the core. That guardian is the so-called ''spirit'' of the dungeon core and the one who handles the tributes and resources in this particr dungeon."

    "Technically, it''s not meant to be beatable because the spirit of the dungeon core uses the exact same guardian to gauge how powerful the monsters are that want to take over the fortress. A certain time limit would be issued and it would allow the core to determine what kind of resources it would grant the monsters to start with. Hence, it''s something like a punching machine in the arcade, your ''score'' in beating the dungeon guardian would determine how much it would provide us with."

    "What kind of resources would it provide?" Jin asked and all he could think of were the resources that had been introduced to him such as Matter, Magic, Souls and Dungeon Dors.

    "Walls, houses, water supplies, lighting supplies. The basic necessities for creating a proper town. If we do well enough, we could build walls as strong as the ones this current fortress has." Moloch answered as he began to sip his cup of coffee that had just been brewed by Sebastia.

    "But Jin just flew over your pathetic walls." Peppers answered in a matter-of-fact tone, which Moloch could not help but sigh at.

    "In all my life as a Lord, never have I seen someone as crazy as this Summoner. Catapults? Sure. Catapulting a human over a wall? Unheard of!" Moloch appeared to be very impressed by Jin''s actions.

    "So you are sayingбн there has not been a single flying mob or wizard that tried to enter the same way as I did?" Jin could not help but secretly basked in the hidden achievement he had just been bestowed by Moloch.

    "The adventurers do have wizards that can fly. Usually though, they would need preparation to fly over the walls. And even if they did do that, there would be only one, or at most, a bunch of them flying in. We would have already identified these buggers and shot them out of the sky before they could even get the chance toe close. If not, we would just handle them when the need arises. Jin, on the other handбнlet''s just say he is an exception." Moloch purposely made Jin happy in the hopes that he would more easily ede to his demandter on.

    "So the dungeon core allows you to choose whether this is a dungeon town fortress or just a dungeon fortress?" Jin asked and Moloch nodded his head.

    "Aye, and most monsters would choose the dungeon fortress because they are technically protecting the dungeon core''s resources, hence the dungeon core gives them a reward for protecting the area. It is the easiest and safest way to do things. Because even if the monsters lost the dungeon, the core would still give them a reward, albeit smaller." Moloch gave Jin a detailed answer.

    "Dungeon Town Fortresses on the other hand, utilises the resources of the dungeon core. That is why there are not many dungeon town fortresses. And even then, they are moremonly used as a sign of power rather than as actual resupply bases. Take my Demon King, Baal, for example. He has an Empire Fortress, which is a wayyyyy upgraded version of a town fortress, and all he uses it for is to show off. He uses the rewards from almost every other dungeon fortress to build up his own Empire." It was clear that Moloch said King Baal''s name in anger.

    "Ohбнso that''s why dungeons are lucrative for adventurers. Then I must ask, will it always be only monsters that can activate the dungeon cores even as the world continues to expand?" Jin was curious since he remembered the dreaded dungeon that had been created by the system in the frontiers.

    "Absolutely, the dungeon core only recognises monsters. Humans have tried multiple times and they have not been able to activate the cores at all." Moloch told Jin but in Jin''s mind, he was thinking otherwise. Since Jin was an outsider, would he also be able to activate the dungeon core? Technically, he had the powers of a Panda, which to the natives could be considered as a monster. And Even if he couldn''t activate it with that, he still had the living armour bands which always stuck to him. Could they be used?

    If Jin was really able to control the dungeon core, he would not be at the mercy of this Demon Moloch despite him being controlled by Jin due to the System''s powers. But what if he had a way to break out from the System, no matter how unlikely? What if the System was not as almighty as it imed to be? That was why Jin had the idea of controlling the dungeon core himself. Call it greed, personal benefit or just leverage, Jin felt that no matter what, this dungeon town fortress could be a great way to earn easy dungeon dors, that is if Moloch could really run the town as well as he imed he could.

    "I don''t exactly trust you, I don''t know your motives or even your desires in running the town fortress. How would you run the town fortress? What happens if King Baal or his underlingse for the town fortress? I am sure that no matter what, they would not leave this precious ce alone, or worse, let it be handled by a traitor."

    "That''s when the fun stuff happens, isn''t it?" Moloch leaned back in his chair and sniggered. Jin was not able to get it but Peppers nodded in agreement. Jin looked at Peppers for an exnation but Peppers did not give him any. "It is indeed beneficial." Peppers hinted as she continued to see Jin make a perplexed face.

    "Ohбн They woulde to us. That means I would be able to capture them if I am around." Jin realised how stupid he was to not see this crucial benefit.

    "Not just that, they would also be decked out in armour and weapons, perhaps in wads of cash too. If you are powerful enough to capture them, they would be in our service and our town would be significantly stronger." Moloch finally smirked at Jin. Looks like he was looking beyond the silver lining of the clouds and at the clear blue sky beyond.

    "And your opponent Baal would get weaker each time he tried to raid you." Jin was finally catching onto Moloch''s n.

    "Not just that, King Baal would also most likely send out his trusted warriors and some of those warriors would also oversee other dungeon fortresses too. Capture them, make them loyal to us, get them to attack their own dungeon cores and then we can create either another town fortresses or a dungeon fortresses for the reward." Moloch added.

    "I finally see where all of this is going. Looks like a lot of work though." Jin tried to downy this particrly grand n of Moloch.

    "No money, no honey." Moloch shrugged his shoulders as he raised his hands in innocence.

    "Give me a chance to talk to my closest summons for a while and ask for their opinions before I decide." Jin remarked but the moment he said that, his phone buzzed with notifications, arge one at that.

    "Emergency Mission: Capture Moloch, clear the dungeon core and create a town fortress or higher." The system notification was written inrge red font. Jin realised that it had been a while since the system hadst done that.

    "Wow, the rewards." Jin was instantly held captive by the rewards the system offered but he still decided to ask his betors for a second opinion, actually, it was a third opinion since the system had just taken a side.

    "It''s a really a no brainer, Master." Zeru sent a message notification with a cartoonish sticker of him nodding his head.

    "Go Fighting, Master! PS: did I use it right? I heard it being used by an injured cultivator in his messages when I tended to him in the recovery bay." Milk sent an emoji and a Fighting! sticker.

    "Then, I shall sign a deal with the devil then, literally." Jin said as Peppers also nodded her head enthusiastically.

    "Correction, Demon." The plushie smiled with bliss as he asked Jin if both could prepare before he was captured since the dungeon core would immediately appear.

    .

    .

 Chapter 181 Dungeon Core

    <h4>Chapter 181 Dungeon Core</h4>

    The remaining Minotaurs stopped fighting against Jin''s monsters and both sides respected the ceasefire and an understanding was reached after a fortress wide announcement was given. The losses were quite insignificant on Jin''s side aspared to Moloch''s but it was still eating up a fairly substantial amount of Jin''s wallet.

    The system calcted that it would roughly need 2000 dungeon dors for the loss of zombies and the werejackals. There were also some injuries incurred by a number of other monsters, including all of Mr Derpy''s wounds. All those were included in the recovery costs calcted by the system.

    Jin once asked Yun why Milk couldn''t just heal them such that they would incur fewer recovery expenses and the system stated that even if Milk was able to heal them, she would need to use quality catalysts as healing materials and they cost money. Unfortunately, Milk had to agree with the system on this one and acknowledge that healing monsters were slightly different from healing humans since her healing magic was catered for humans.

    "Heh, but humans are monsters in the eyes of other species." Jin rolled his eyes at the ridiculous reasoning the system gave and guessed it all came down to more money that the system could leech from Jin.

    Meanwhile, Moloch and Jin gathered all the monsters around the throne room and they exined the current situation to the remaining Minotaurs, whom immediately assured their lord that they would stilly down their life for Moloch even if he were to be captured by Jin.

    "Wow, they are surprisingly loyal to you even after what you put them through." Jin casually said and Moloch scoffed at him.

    "What do you mean?! The costumes were of SUPERIOR quality! Look at how poor I am, what do you think caused this?!" Moloch''s man puppet posed angrily with his arms folded.

    "Erm...technically, you forced your own ideas upon them. Now it makes me wonder if you would really be a good fortress lord." Jin suddenly had his reservations and Moloch panicked a little. However, his underlings suddenly came forward to Jin and helped their lord out.

    "Our Lord might be entric regarding the costumes part but he really did go to great lengths to help us!" One of the remaining Fanatic Minotaurs shouted.

    "I too have to admit that Lord Moloch did whatever he could to aid us. Minotaurs in the Dungeon World are considered as mere muscle heads with no magic abilities. We can''t breathe mes like dragons and we cannot grow anyrger like giants. Our movements are not exactly the most agile no matter how much we train, meaning we can barely keep up with a high level assassin, much less beat one. Hence, most dungeon fortresses only put us as front liners and nothing more. Lord Moloch took us in when nobody wanted us." Sebastias pitched in her own opinion regarding Moloch.

    "Having a heart of gold doesn''t exactly mean that he ispetent in administrationбн but oh well, at least he had a conscience and a desire to carve out a ce of his own." Jin thought to himself and somehow he felt that Yun wasughing at him.

    "What''s the matter, Yun?" Jin asked in his thoughts.

    "Nothing much." Yun did not bother to exin herself.

    "So, shall we get started?" Lord Moloch kneeled in front of Jin as if he was waiting for an imminent execution. Only then, Jin took out his phone and knocked the phone against Moloch''s head. There was no killing needed since the monster was willing to be captured on its own ord and the phone absorbed the essence of Lord Moloch immediately.

    As expected, the entire fortress shook as if it was crying over the loss of its owner and from the throne room, the gigantic minotaur stone statue looked at Jin before it shot out a fairlyrge metallic ball at the throne chair, causing it to be destroyed.

    Jin immediately summoned Moloch out along with his man puppet and Molochmanded the man puppet to hold him up so that he could initiate the dungeon core process. At the same time, Jin summoned every single monster he had in his possession. He did not worry about the potential loss of monsters in this iing guardian fight. The rewards offered by the system were far greater than any mission he had ever done before, making it a worthy investment.

    **********

    Completion of the mission will allow the User to earn the following:

    Increase in current Store Rank.

    License to build a store in the Dungeon Town Fortress.

    Dungeon Town Fortress to be established as a "Defend the Fort" Emergency Raid Instance.

    Ability to transfer customers to Dungeon Town Fortress in case of Monster Raids.

    A Sum of 100,000 Dungeon Dors

    More details will be avable uponpletion.

    **********

    If what Moloch said was true and the results of the guardian fight was a measure of the resources they would be getting, Jin definitely would go all in.

    "I''m ready," Jin said to Moloch and everyone behind them was nervous about what was going to take ce. The man puppet brought the demon Minotaur plushie closer to the core and the plushie moved its hand to activate it.

    A bright light shone from the core and a loud booming screech came from above. A tremendously menacing behemoth magically appeared from the ceiling and decided to crash itself into the crowd in front of the throne.

    Jin saw what wasing and unhesitatingly unsummoned every monster as fast as he could, preventing the behemoth from destroying his ''army'' of monsters.

    Unfortunately, the minotaurs that were not captured by Jin werepletely obliterated and the impact from the crash sent almost everyone flying into the walls of the spacious throne room.

    Even the solid stone walls of the throne room were barely standing from the attack of the behemoth. It roared once more and the smoke that apanied the crash was dispelled almost instantly.

    It was then Jin was able to witness the looks and ferocity of the dungeon core guardian. It''s beautiful ck stone skin. Its fangs that surprisinglyplemented its bull head created a fantasy monster from Jin''s darkest nightmares. Its legs, both front and hind, had spikes attached, ready to be shot out at a moment''s notice to counter any attacks aimed at its legs.

    Its defining feature though, was its metal like hair mane started from his head and grew all the way down its back. It looked like the bundle of steel hair had a will of its own as it pierced a dying Minotaur''s head, leaving nothing behind.

    Jin had not felt such abyssal fearing out from his heart ever.

    "Holy cowбн"

    .

    .

 Chapter 182 Bull Behemoth - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 182 Bull Behemoth - Part 1</h4>

    The bull behemoth roared once more, which caused everyone in the vicinity to shield their ears due to the how deafening the roar was. This immobilised Jin and the minotaurs, which allowed the behemoth to pick off the stationary targets like he was picking off flowers from a flower bed.

    Most were able to quickly ovee the ringing in their ears caused by the behemoth''s shout. Jin and Moloch were of course among them. "Tsk, I cannot believe the dungeon core gave us the hardest difficulty." Moloch cursed loudly under his breath. Jin somehow managed to overhear Moloch despite the persistent ringing after the shout of the behemoth.

    "What do you mean the hardest difficulty?!!" Jin shouted as he could not even hear himself when he spoke normally.

    "No time for that, throw all your firepower towards at the dungeon core guardian!" Molochmanded all his remaining troops to fire at the behemoth. Fanatic Minotaurs from the first gate had brought their ballistae and bombards into the throne room before the initiation of the dungeon core. They immediately eded to Moloch''smand.

    Despite being stationary, those siege weapons proved to a decent opening attack and also provided enough time for the rest to regroup. Jin summoned half of the zombies he still had and ordered them to harass the behemoth and keep him busy while the siege weapons rained down hell. Unfortunately, the siege weapons were destroyed almost instantaneously with one swipe from the behemoth so this n was blown out of the water.

    Surprisingly, Derek the Alpha Zombie appeared once more, which was akin to winning the lottery twice in a row. It actually was pretty simr, since "I Am The Alpha V1.0" could be seen as the lottery for zombies. Anyhow, since it was his second time inmand, Derek knew what to do aspared to when he was enhanced the first time.

    Hence, he made a toon of elemental zombies and asked them to fall back for a moment as the main regiment of zombies charged forward as furiously as they could. The spikes of the behemoth proved useful against the zombies as they were shot out of the legs to prevent the zombies from biting the behemoth.

    However, quantity triumphed over quality as the spikes regeneration rate was slower than the number of the zombiesing at the behemoth. The behemoth was very quickly being overwhelmed. In the meantime, Jin summoned out Peppers, Milk and Zeru.

    "Milk! Prepare God''s Punch!"

    "Peppers! You know what you need to do!"

    "Zeru! Execute your best moves against it once Peppers finishes destroying it!" Jinmanded all three betors to do their best.

    "Master, it would be best if you could immobilise it. Although the size of this thing should warrant a slower movement, it does not seem to work that way in this world!" Peppers shouted.

    "I will think of a way as soon as possible. For now though, both of you start casting!" Jin agreed with Peppers after seeing how the colossal behemoth moved so agilely despite its size. He then summoned Ke Mi the Zither Mistress, Shu the Ancient Treant, Que Er the Magpie Queen, Zhi Nu the Battle Weaver, and Niu Lang the Cowherd.

    As if they knew what Jin had in mind, they immediately headed to battle doing what they did best. Ke Mi the Zither Mistress yed her Zither with absolute elegance in the midst of the messy chaos in the throne room. Her battle songs not only sharpened the souls of herpanions, allowing them to concentrate better, it also caused the behemoth''s movement to slow down a little.

    Shu the Ancient Treant started to gather the elemental zombies around it as he fired them off one by one like a slingshot towards the behemoth. The elemental zombies that crashed into the behemoth discharged all of their whole elemental power as they continued to scratch and bite it to the best of their abilities. The behemoth was annoyed by this and started to used its metal hair bundle to sweep them off its back.

    The zombies being catapult to the bull behemoth''s back distracted it sufficiently for Niu Lang to get close to it and blow the Taurus horn that he held. What appeared from the horn was a surprise to Moloch. He witnessed the Mechataure punching out of the horn.

    "I gave the control of the Mechataur and the other bulls to Niu Lang because he seemed to have the affinity towards all cows, bulls and buffalos," Jin said as he summoned Mr Derpy from his phone.

    This time round he gave a Mr Derpy amand that made him grin widely.

    Not to mention, Mechataur actually had a cockpit. Niu Lang entered it as Mechataur opened the cockpit hatch for him after it was summoned. To Niu Lang''s pleasant astonishment, there were Chinese words that appeared in the cockpit console system as he held onto the controls. In the cockpit console, he suddenly heard a "Wee Niu Lang" in the voice of Taurus.

    "Lord Taurus?!" Niu Lang cried out and the console indicated it to insert the Taurus Horn into it. The moment it did that, a jolt went through his brain and a series of information entered his mind.

    "Thank You from the bottom of my heart, Lord Taurus." Niu Lang teared up as he gripped the control sticks and ced legs onto the paddles. With a flick of a button, the console system lit up brightly. "Taurus Titan System unlocked, initiating Heavy Armament mode." Mechataur, who was a previously simple minotaur looking robot, suddenly underwent an amazing transformation.

    Two jumbo sized Gatling guns grew out from each side of its arms. Its chest opened up and revealed not just a heavy sting cannon but also multiple missile slots. Behind its shoulder tes, two homing missileunchers were activated and aimed at the behemoth. Its tail separated into three prongs as it acted as a tripod against the recoil.

    "EAT LEAD!" Niu Lang and Mechataur shouted in sync. Continuous sounds of bombardment drowned the Heavy Armament Version of Mechataur in smoke as the Gatling guns rotated speedily to rain bullets of lead upon the Behemoth, who was trying to get up after being punched by the very same massive robot. Missiles screamed and exploded when they came into contact with the skin of bull behemoth. Cannons pierced holes through the behemoth. The zombies that were still on the behemoth and had not been burned by the friendly fire crawled into the holes to discharge their elemental energy inside of the behemoth for extra damage.

    Niu Langter realised that the reason the behemoth was still pinned down was all thanks to Zhi Nu the Battle Weaver as her strings immobilised the massive bull momentarily the instance the behemoth had gone went down. Of course, it was with her weaving strings. But Zhi Nu couldn''t have done it alone. Such a colossal behemoth would be extremely taxing to pin down and if it had not been for the help of Que Er, the Magpie Queen which boosted everyone''s magic or chi capacity through her Magpie Witchery since no one could havested so long against something sorge.

    The bombardments from Mechataur were fierce but they were not enough to keep it down. Eventually, it ran out of ammo and Mechataur overheated from the constant barrage of attacks. Even Niu Lang, who was in the cockpit, felt the heat emitted from the gigantic robot.

    "One minute temporary emergency shutdown for cooldown." The console system indicated red and out popped a cycling pedal. Niu Lang immediately stepped onto the cycling pedal and rode like his life depended on it, which it sort of did. By doing so, it would help to elerate the cooling system.

    "GOOOODDDDD PUNCH!" Milk was in midair, courtesy of our friendly neighbourhood slingshot tree, and sent her beautiful signature attack crashing down into the behemoth''s face. The golden fist of holy judgement burned through the face of the behemoth.

    "I am not done!! PART TWO!" With the boost of magic powers by Magpie Queen, Milk was able to transcend her limits by twirling her entire body once before executing another God Punch. The punch disyed a silver fist rather than gold but the damage it did against the behemoth was still immense.

    However, something unexpected happened to the behemoth after Milk punched it.

    .

    .

 Chapter 183 Bull Behemoth - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 183 Bull Behemoth - Part 2</h4>

    Instead of the beast flinching from the attacks, a roar fiercer than the initial one caused everyone around it to fly once again into the walls of the throne room. Even Mechataur was lifted from the ground as a result of the shockwave impact of the behemoth''s roar.

    "Phase Two?!! How can this be!" the man puppet held tightly onto Moloch since the plushie looked as if it was about to fly away from shock.

    "I do not know what the hell phase two is but I''m gonna give it a two phased explosion!" Peppers managed to finish casting her explosive magic because Mr Derpy had predicted that something like this would ur and it used its body to protect Peppers from the explosion.

    Not only that, the bull behemoth heard Peppers and decided to charge towards her after also sensing a gathering of intense density of magic from her. Mr Derpy did not hesitate to retaliate back which he acted as a bodyguard asmanded by Jin. Meanwhile, Peppers continued to finalise the casting of her explosive magic in order to make sure there would be lesser drawbacks from the magical spell.

    "Any moment now Ms Peppers! " Mr Derpy shouted as its eyes shone in green, causing the entire throne room to shudder in perpetual fear. "I am Shadow Dagen! A Fragment of the Lord Dagen himself! Taste his wrath!!!" Mr Derpy shouted as a magical circle immediately appeared at the dungeon core guardian''s feet as he continued to wrestle with it.

    Suddenly, massive amounts of gigantic tentacles appeared from the magic circle and grabbed the behemoth before wrapping it up like an Egyptian mummy. The tentacles did not only grab the behemoth but they also excreted poison and acid, which corroded the skin of the behemoth. The guardian did not hesitate to try and break free of its new biological constraints but the more it tried, the more pain it felt.

    "Shu!!! Now!!" Jin shouted at Shu as the tree used the additional magical powers of the magpie to grow roots under the throne room and break the floor that the behemoth was standing on. The roots pushed the behemoth out of the throne room and eventually broke the iron doors that sealed off the area, cing it atop the broken bridge where the battle between Mechataur and Mr Derpy had taken ce.

    The fusion of magical roots and dark tentacles was disgusting but undoubtedly useful as they immobilised the struggling behemoth. Its constraints were further tightened by Zhi Nu, who had ced tens of heavenly string ''bomb'' traps near the entrance. She initially ced it there in case the behemoth tried to break away from entrapment but little did she know that it actually enhanced the immobilisation of the behemoth.

    "Super Big Bang Bammmmmmm Version 2.0!" Jin carried Peppers once more towards the entrance of the Throne room as she aimed her magical staff at the Katamari that consisted of a ball of strings, roots, and tentacles along with a flustered bull behemoth.

    As usual, a rainbow colouredplex magical circle appeared in front of Peppers and instead of a human silhouette, a tremendously oversized fish head slowly emerged from the magical circle. The fish opened its mouth slowly as if it was about to inhale a great amount of air. However, out of its mouth, it ''exhaled'' a greenish blue beam that burned the tentacles, roots and eventually the behemoth.

    The behemoth tried to move away from this terrifying st but the fish head was able to follow its target, giving the behemoth zero reprises from the damage it took. The st beam ensued for the next ten seconds before Peppers fainted from the strain of the magical spell, rainbow vomit still leaking out of her mouth.

    Jin quickly turned her around to let the vomit out of her body and for her to breathe or else the vomit would clog up her windpipe. The weakened Milk staggered towards Jin and held onto Peppers. "I will take care of her from here. Go." Milk whispered with whatever strength she had left.

    Jin nodded his head as he took out Bam and Boo. He turned them into a cannon and started to fire at the behemoth, which was panting crazily. "Looks like it did not manage to enter phase 2 sessfully, you guys disrupted its regeneration process." Moloch came towards Jin as he was firing his cannon, sweating like a pig.

    "Man, if you can talk that much, you should help with attacking or something," Jinined towards Moloch but it was also at that moment that he saw a figure standing on top of the broken bridge and he trailed off.

    "бн. Technique. White Lotus Breeze." Zeru swung his sword once and white flowery petals magically surfaced from his swing as the petals indolently descended onto the broken behemoth. When a petal of the white lotus touched the behemoth, a river of blood gushed out of the behemoth as if a fireman had turned on the water hose at full power. The behemoth, unsurprisingly, screamed in agonising pain.

    More of the white lotus petals descended upon the behemoth and the bridge was beginning to overflow with blood, tainting the river below in a dark scarlet red. Despite its wounds though, the behemoth stood up again with all strength it could muster and stared at the man firing a cannon at him.

    Jin was overextending his limit with this simple act too. At Grade 2, he was only able to shoot two cannon shots from his bamboo cannon and theoretically at grade 4, he should only manage with four. However, with the Magpie Witchery, which allowed him to boost his chi, he already exceeded four shots and till now, he had already fired off more than ten shots.

    He was barely standing straight and the recoil of the cannon was not helping him at all. Jin was simply firing based solely on willpower and remembering the training he had received from Zeru in the Farm World to exert himself even further. His Dantian somehow managed to produce just enough chi to shoot a chi cannon shot once again.

    "Didn''t Moloch say there was a time limit?!" Jin thought to himself as he fired off thest shot he could muster before he fell to the ground, feeling extremely dizzy and weak.

    The Behemoth snorted the moment the cannon shots stopped hitting him before it roared once more and from within, the bleeding stopped. The bull behemoth stood up on two legs and white wings stained with blood emerged from its back. Jin then felt a warm tender light shining from it.

    "Do not be deceived by that tender warmness. That shine, it hurts eventually." Moloch smirked as the man puppet stood before Jin. "But not to fear master, I provide you with some shade." Moloch''s man puppet snapped its finger and poker cards appeared in front of him.

    He threw the cards at the Winged Behemoth but the ''angel'' shot them down in an instant with ray beams from its eyes. However, the cards did not exactly disappear. Instead, as they dissolved in the ray beams, the cards transformed into doves and they continued to fly towards the angel.

    The doves flew and crashed into the behemoth before exploding into sts of green fire. The Winged Behemoth was angered by the attack and decided to swoop down to destroy its enemies. At this point, Moloch''s man puppet pped once and out came tens of poker cards as they started to revolve around him. Moloch swung his hand in a circr motion and the cards erged themselves to be a hundredyer barrier to halt the winged behemoth''s advance.

    The Winged Behemoth did not care though and started to use all its might to punch through the card barrier. However, it btedly noticed that each time a card broke, pieces of the card would still cut the behemoth. The wounds were minor, but for a protective barrier to do damage against the enemy was still a feat.

    As it broke through thest card barrier, the Winged behemoth saw Jin squatting with his Bam Katana Form. "That chi regeneration from Jin''s Dantian point is amazing." Yun thought to herself as she saw the entire scene unfolded before her eyes while she was in the Dungeon Maker.

    Jin poured whatever chi he still had, but being too weak to even propel himself upwards, Moloch gave him a helping hand. By cing an erged card under Jin, the card pushed him upwards.

    It was at this time that Jin felt something stirring within him. It was as if a Panda was growling along with him. Without even looking, he understood this particr feeling as he felt some power returned to his legs.

    "Grade 5." He smirked to himself.

    However, what he did not notice was that not only did he attain Grade 5, something within him had been unlocked when he reached Grade 5 and he had already unconsciously used it in the battle against the Winged Behemoth.

    ck Yin and white Yang energy flowed out of him and encircled the katana, which strengthened it tremendously. What he did not know was that his Katana had been infused with ck Fire and White Ice.

    The Winged Behemoth received Jin''s Katana pierce with its own punch... only to see its arm shrouded in blocks of White Ice whilst burning with ck Fire. It yelled in agony as it fell to the ground. However, before its body reached to the ground, the guardian disappeared and an area wide announcement was given by the dungeon core.

    "Time''s up."

    .

    .

 Chapter 184 Dilemma

    <h4>Chapter 184 Dilemma</h4>

    How devastating the battle had been was clear to see when you looked at the mess it left behind.. A number of Zombiesid t on the ground, unmoving. Dead minotaurs were piled up in the corners of the throne room. Siege weapons had been broken to pieces and were unrepairable. Mechataur was barely able to function after the overexertion of its new mode and many others just lied on the floor from exhaustion.

    Probably the only few who were left standing were Zeru, Shu and Moloch. However, even the Ancient Treant had spent most of his magical powers on the previous root entrapment spell it had cast on the bull behemoth.

    "Looks like you did not give it your best shot, which wasmanded by your Master." Moloch casually remarked towards Zeru, who came forward to pick Jin up.

    "As a betor, it is indeed crucial for me to follow themands of my master. And I did execute that technique to the best of my ability." Zeru carried Jin towards Milk and Peppers. "But I am his master too. And being his master, I am obliged to take care of my disciple to make sure he does note to any harm but also push him past his limits. It looks like you did the same too. You look powerless and all, but I can sense that you are hiding more than you are showing."

    "Good insight and foresight." Moloch did not speak any more as he walked alongside Zeru.

    At this moment, Yun appeared from a portal, which startled Moloch. She was carrying a crate full of potions and with a snap of her fingers, the boar knights emerged from her phone. Without anymands even voiced out, they immediately assisted Yun by distributing the potions to the fallen monsters.

    Yun walked towards Jin and his betors before she personally took out a unique golden bottle and slowly fed its contents into Jin''s mouth. Jin also used all his leftover strength to sip the potion and force it down through his throat.

    Fortunately, the effects were rather immediate. Jin could eventually stand and walk but was still suffering from a bad migraine. "Careful! Overexertion of chi has left you weak. The potion enables you to recover faster but you still need proper rest once you have finished with matters here." Yun and Zeru rushed to steady him

    "I would like to say that I''m fine but it looks like I will need to rely on both of you for a while. Thank you." Jin whispered as he looked at Moloch.

    "No, Thank you Master Jin for an excellent battle." Moloch bowed in front of him.

    "Now, I believe some questions need to be answered." Jin stared sternly at Moloch.

    "Please understand Master. Those questions can wait. We should initiate the dungeon town fortress before our rewards are forfeited by the dungeon core." Moloch gestured with his hands towards the direction of the exposed dungeon core and Jin reluctantly walked towards the dungeon core with the help of Yun and Zeru.

    It was not that he did not trust Moloch, but from the expression Moloch had during the battle, it felt like there were some things that had beenбн forgotten. Maybe Jin did not ask the right questions, which was why Moloch did not exin.

    Still, it was obvious that Moloch was withholding information. For example, how did he know there was a Phase 2 of the guardian? Is itmon to have a Phase 2 or was it only for this particr dungeon guardian? Surely being the lord of this dungeon fortress woulde with its own perks. Such as knowing a thing or two about the guardian manifestation of this particr dungeon core.

    In any case, Jin did not have any strength to fight back verbally or physically and decided to just go with the flow. Moloch reached towards the dungeon core and wanted to ce his hand on the core''s metallic ball body but he halted midway.

    "I too have questions for you Master, for I am curious. You are indeed the epitome of mystery to me too. Most summoners can only summon one or two monsters. Very high level summoners can control only 10 low level monsters at once. Even the world''s strongest and mightiest summoner would probably only be able to control a few extremely high level monster at once, mainly because they have mutual respect over a long bonding period." Moloch exined his curiosity to Jin.

    "But here, not only have you surprised me time and time again, you have defied the meaning of a "monster summoner". I mean, HUNDREDS of zombies? Various humanoids/humans under yourmand? Take away all that, but what about the capturing process. I expected you to capture me with a summoning ritual contract but no. You just hit me with a metal te that shone and I was under yourmand."

    "I do not feel obliged to serve you, like what I felt in the presence of Demon King Baal. Instead, I feel as if I was willing to serve you all along as if it was a natural given for me to protect you. I must say, in my eyes, you are not just a Legendary level summoner. You might, in fact, be a Demigod or God level summoner. "

    "However, from this fight, I can see that you still have yet to reach the full potential of your powers, which is frightening, to say the least. But my pet peeve is that you seemed to act as a warrior rather than a mage, which kind of contradicts the meaning of being a summoner. Argh, it''s just me ranting anyways." Moloch could see Jin was looking pretty annoyed. Moloch had stopped him from asking questions but right now, he was talking non stop.

    "Erm, anyway. Because of all these weird traits you possess, I was wondering if you would like to try and see if you could activate this dungeon core. For fun really. I would like to see if a summoner of your capability would be able to create an affinity with the dungeon core, seeing as you have such a high affinity with monsters already." Moloch shrugged his man puppet''s shoulder and Jin nodded his head gently.

    He moved forward beside Moloch and following his instructions. Jin ced his hands against the dungeon core. "Welp, I guess you are just a normal human." Moloch felt a little dejected to see that nothing was happening.

    "Jin, ce your phone on the core instead." Yun, who was beside Jin, whispered.

    Suddenly Jin felt chills running down his spine. Previously, it would indeed have been a no brainer to put the phone down so that the System within him could control the town fortress. A choice he would have made in a heartbeat.

    However, after the incident he had had with the System, he wasn''t so sure. He still hadn''t forgiven the system for throwing him into a moral dilemma, though he did regret not thinking straight. It was true that if he let the system control it, the fortress would definitely be better managed in a more efficient manner than what Moloch could have done. However, wouldn''t that go against Moloch''s idea of bing a lord?

    If that was the case, maybe Moloch already knew that humans could not activate the dungeon core and wanted to quell the thirst of greed by allowing Jin to try it for himself. This was so that he could avoid the "if only I had touched the dungeon core instead" scenario. Hence, Jin would undoubtedly ce his trust in Moloch and he would have full control of the town.

    Of course, Moloch had been captured by Jin but after the dungeon core guardian battle, Jin was wondering if it had really been a good choice to let someone so mysterious and secretive take over the dungeon town fortress.

    Both choices had their pros and cons that would impact the future of this dungeon town fortress. In the long run, Moloch would be able to do well if he and Jin were able to ovee the obstacles, namely King Baal. This was because Moloch knew what he wanted but it would be tough.

    On the other hand, giving the system the dungeon core would guarantee the short-term safety of the town. This was because the system would definitely utilise resources from its own stockpile to maximise the town''s defences since it would be protecting its own interests as well. However, this was still a dungeon TOWN fortress. Jin had no first hand knowledge on how the system would handle the citizens.

    "What are you waiting for?" Both Yun and Moloch spoke at the same time, which caused Jin to get irritated.

    "I just want to sleepбн"

 Chapter 185 Dungeon City Fortress

    <h4>Chapter 185 Dungeon City Fortress</h4>

    "Master Jin, be quick. I don''t know how long the dungeon core will stay exposed for so you better get a move on or all the effort we put in will end up wasted." Moloch said and Yun was looking at Jin with a slightly puzzled look. "Isn''t it obvious enough to let the System take care of management?" Yun spoke her thoughts to Jin.

    "Do I really have to choose a sideбн?" Jin scratched his head for a moment before he grabbed Moloch off the man puppet. The man puppet immediately squatted and curled into a ball as a result of the sudden detachment of its main source.

    "You said you are a puppet right?" Jin looked at the minotaur plushie but Moloch felt very exposed without the man puppet as if he was naked. It nodded his head cutelyбн and went ahead and did the most unconventional thing ever.

    He took his phone out and stuffed the entirety of it into Moloch''s mouth. His heavy handed shoving of the phone into the plushie caused Moloch to choke momentarily. He subsequently pushed Moloch into the dungeon core. At that moment, he also released a bit of his chi into Moloch, which caused his phone to be activated from within the plushie.

    The insides of the metallic ball shaped Dungeon Core immediately shone brightly. Subsequently, an entire monitor along with an old school mechanical keyboard appeared right in front of it. There was even music ying from the dungeon core.

    "It''s a brand new day~!

    Brand new day~!

    A brand new morning hase~!

    Be Happy ~! Be Happy~!

    The wind of happiness continues to blow as we start our day~!

    One, Two, Three, Let''s Go~! "

    The music had apanying lyrics that came from the metallic ball as it was heard throughout the whole throne room.

    "Oh My Gosh! This seems so creepy despite the cheerful deposition of the song. Waitбн that''s probably why it''s creepy" Yun was taken aback by the sudden songing from the metallic ball and so was Jin. Moloch eventually threw up the phone from its stuffed mouth and Jin noticed it was covered with cotton. He then slowly put Moloch back onto the man puppet.

    However, the man puppet immediately got up and pped Jin each time Moloch shouted at him. "Do not! Ever! Do! That! Again! Else I will put super glue on my man puppet." Moloch was angry but at the same time, he was blushing as well. As much as Jin was stunned by the pping, he also noticed that the ps were really weak aspared to the ferocity of magic Moloch wielded.

    Once the music subsided from the metallic ball, the monitor lit up. "Dungeon Town Fortress or Dungeon Fortress?" Moloch went ahead with his man puppet and entered the option of the Dungeon Town Fortress without any hesitation.

    "Congrattions! You have cleared 3 Phases of the Dungeon Core Guardian. You are eligible for a Dungeon Town Fortress with iron wall fortifications, a starter set of shops and inns, a starter set of service and industryponents, aplete wiring of electrical supply as well as piping for your water supply." The monitor disyed the details clearly and Moloch was able to see what was given as a reward.

    "Alternatively, you could also start with the area ofnd of a Dungeon City Fortress but no other perks would be given other than a basic wiring and piping provided for all houses." The console gave the group another option that surprised Jin. Was the hard fought struggle against the guardian really that great that the dungeon core gave the option of an immediate Dungeon City Fortress.

    "Hmm, a town with a basic set of facilities and aplete wall fortification would be great but that dungeon city fortress is extremely tempting as well." Moloch was thinking out loud.

    "Why would you want a Dungeon City Fortress? Isn''t it iplete? I doubt we have the resources to even feed the masses if it is justnd." Jin replied as he finally felt the effects of the potions he drank kicking in.

    "Because thend is the most importantmodity. The current Dungeon Fortress we are in will roughly be the size of the Dungeon Town Fortress. However, if we choose the Dungeon City Fortress, we would have even more room to expand as well as more production than a Dungeon Town Fortress." Moloch exined to Jin.

    "Besides, it is hard to expand with a Dungeon Town Fortress. We need to either pay more dungeon dors to expand per square feet, which could cost more in the long run even. On the flip side though, we would have a solid foundation."

    "So you are suggesting we take the Dungeon City Fortress and build up from scratch? How confident are you on being able to do that? Did you not say that you would be content with just a Dungeon Town Fortress? Would it not be easier for King Baal to siege the Dungeon City Fortress since we would not have proper fortifications?" Jin was concerned. He understood Moloch had a long running interest but he was currently being too greedy.

    "The System said it would help with the defences," Yun spoke to break up the argument. "Jin, what you did just nowбн was unconventional to say the least, but it did give the System partial ess to the Town Building. Technically, it can brute force the dungeon core to grant itself full ess but it decided to take a step back and observe what this Moloch plushie is able to do." Yun added and Moloch was slightly confused. It was then that both Jin and Yun provided him with a short exnation regarding Jin not being a monster summoner, but instead a dungeon supplier.

    "I see! Now I finally understand why you stuffed that phone into me and hoped that it would work." Moloch nodded his head upon hearing Jin''s circumstances.

    "I believe what Jin did was a good choice, though a little abrupt. If he had chosen the System, it would probably have immediately chosen the former while just you alone would have taken thetter despite there being no guarantee on if it will work out in the long run." Yun replied to Moloch.

    "It can work! All I need is timeбн and some breathing room." Moloch somehow felt slightly ashamed to admit that he would not be so bold to create a Dungeon City Fortress all by himself if it was not for Jin''s help.

    "So, how far is the System willing to go in terms of defences? Just walls? Maybe some cannons?" Jin asked Yun but she shook her head.

    "Just because you are in the Dungeon World does not mean you cannot apply concepts from the modern world. If you do that, the Dungeon City Fortress will have no need for walls." Yun replied.

    "But in the modern world, there aren''t any defences in most cities except for city-wide monitoring and most defencese from the borders, such as anti-air missiles or deterrence with military force. How can theyбн Oh." Jin realised he had just voiced out all his options.

    "A standard metal fencing should be sufficient. City-Wide Monitoring will prevent any sneaky bastards and in terms of chasing the enemies down, we would have the upper hand since we have intelligence on their movements in this city."

    "Regardless, we need to focus on our basic needs first since we will only be given standard housing," Moloch interjected and hoped that this would not turn into another conjecture discussion and instead prove to be useful.

    "Can we change the housing to our own specifications?" Jin typed the question onto the monitor, hoping that it would have a response. The metallic ball kept quiet for a while before responding. "Additional changes to specifications require dungeon dors. Please choose an option before proceeding to the city/town building."

    "Let''s choose Dungeon City Fortress first and then we will go from there." Jin finally gave in to the idea of having a Dungeon City Fortress instead of a fully equipped Dungeon Town Fortress. That way, he could build a modern city within this small part of the dungeon world and perhaps create an urban battlefield for his customers.

    Moloch proceeded to select the City Fortress option and the entire dungeon shook violently. The group watched the throne room crumble before their eyes and the dungeon space was expanding rapidly with the dungeon core ball at the centre of it all.

    .

    .

 Chapter 186 Needs of A City

    <h4>Chapter 186 Needs of A City</h4>

    When the dungeon finally stopped shaking, Moloch looked at the monitor in front of the metallic ball to check avable options he had for building things. "Updated blueprints needed before consideration of building," The monitor disyed its answer.

    "Say, if we are still in the building process since this is currently an empty plot ofnd, wouldn''t we be very vulnerable to attacks?" Jin questioned now that he had seen just how massive the area ofnd they had been bestowed was. He had asked the Magpie Queen to send a Magpie to fly from one end of the dungeon space to the other. It had been five minutesбн the magpie familiar had yet to return to Que Er.

    "Ah, don''t you worry. The dungeon core has already set up a barrier to ban hostile forces froming in. Even if they somehow manage to brute force their way through, they would be randomly teleported to another Dungeon Fortress, Wild Dungeon, or Dungeon Town Fortress." Moloch replied.

    "We have about three months or so before the barrier goes down. In the meantime, adventurers who wish toe here and trade will still be permitted and Monsters that want to live here will be given permission as well." Moloch added.

    "But there are so many administrative things to sort through. Three months is not enough!" Jin questioned Moloch once more but he just shook his head. "Never enough. In any case, you mentioned that you had specific housing requirements?"

    "I will introduce you your adviser that will take charge in telling you the things that I want." Jin beckoned Peppers toe forward and formally introduced her to Moloch.

    "Peppers, I know that I have already given you a task to read and understand the weakness of every cultivator as well as how to improve them. Initially, I wanted you to be a teacher like Zeru, helping with the sses, conducting lectures, etc. However, I believe that you are needed as a special adviser here more than anything right now." Jin ced his hands on her shoulders and gripped tightly. He knew that she had just woken up from the use of her signature spell but life had to move on.

    "What do you need of me?" Peppers asked as she rubbed her eyes.

    "I need you to learn the various bureaucracy systems on our earth and try to exin to Moloch here that the Feudal System is not as efficient as he believes it to be. After which, I need you to implement a political system here. Also, find the ws in modern-world political systems and make some modifications before introducing them here. There will be lots of paperwork to do." Peppers lost it upon hearing paperwork. It meant that she could do research and apply her theoretical work into practice!

    "Understood, I will get right to it-" Jin stopped Peppers from finishing her sentence.

    "No, rest for today. You have already done great." Jin said as he asked Milk to bring Peppers away.

    "I do not think I can deal with city management aloneбн It''s not that I do not trust Moloch but the cement of buildings is of great importance. Maybe I should pay ''her'' a visit too." Jin thought to himself. He believed it would be better to seek professional help when it came to city management.

    "Who are you thinking of?" Yun asked as Jin''s thoughts didn''t specify a name.

    "Just an old friendбн in the civil engineering and district development sector." Jin quietly sent his thoughts to Yun and she could feel a sense of lonelinessing from him.

    "Anyways, Moloch. I am going back to my world for now. Once you have gathered all your followers that arise from the dead, use this key. It should provide you more sce andfort inparison to sleeping on the empty ground of a dungeon." Jin passed a key to Moloch, which was a time limited ess to a guest room in the Sanctum of Worlds since Jin had yet to create a proper space for them to stay. Perhaps, he did not need to create a room for them to stay seeing as housing was soon to be built in the Dungeon City Fortress.

    He probably also had a lot going on in his mind for he knew how hard it was to create a city from scratch. Too many simtion games instead of studying or properly nning his life during his university life made him realised the pains of creating and maintaining an actual city. By no means was Jin an expert though, and he recognised that. He knew that with the System backing Moloch up, everything would be fine. He was now d that he had done what he did by stuffing the phone into Moloch, no matter how unconventional.

    Eventually, Jin bid farewell to his new monsters and saw that it was already 5 am in the morning, courtesy of his storage watch. "Perhaps I should get some proper sleep in my own house for once." Jin thought to himself and then he realised he had yet to thank everyone who had participated in the battle.

    Well, sure, he could just go back home and pretend that this was just another dayбн But no. These monsters were, in a way, his workers and today they had done a fabulous job. Jin knew that he himself could never have hoped to achieve what they had done today alone. Heck, he had even seen how those minotaurs from the Dungeon World had tried to fight against the behemoth and apuded their bravery against such terrifying foe.

    So instead of going back to the real world, Jin decided to enter the Sanctum of Worlds and visited each individual room in order to thank every monster personally. Needless to say, the monsters were already ecstatic to receive praise from their master, but having him personally enter their instance to thank them individually? It was an honour for them.

    Some even started talking about their experiences against the minotaurs and the bull behemoth. Oh, but the zombies? Jin did not really know how to make them feel appreciated other than turning all the rides on and asking Peppers to throw some fireworks for the zombies to look at in their ever ck skies.

    While the humanoids and humans had all yed major roles in the dungeon fortress, Jin knew that the unsung heroes of this dungeon run were definitely the zombies. They may not be heavy hitting but they sure kept all the enemies, especially the behemoth, upied.

    "You know, technically, you can find more humanoids or humans to aid you, and not just your new city but for the dungeon store too. A cksmith and a proper maintenance crew for Mechataur are all valid options." Yun said as she casually talked to Jin alongside other humanoids.

    "As if I have the time to find these people when I already have to take charge of the store. I can''t just leave the store because I want to do other stuff." Jin suddenly had so many things to do that he felt a little overwhelmed.

    "Maybe you should start reducing your work hours so that you have more time on your hands," Yun suggested to Jin but his only reaction to her suggestion was his furrowed brows.

    "What do you mean? Won''t that lead to less money earnt? Is that not undesirable for the System?" Jin asked once they were back in the shop.

    "If you use it wisely, I think that the time would be well spent. Currently, you are working in the from afternoon 1 to 10 pm, sometimes it even drags till 11 pm. That is roughly 10 working hours, which is longer than most shops'' opening hours." Yun opened the side gate of the storehouse and held the door open for Jin.

    "Not to mention, you have hardly taken any breaks these past two weeks. You have practically been working nonstop and if it weren''t for your cultivation, you would have broken down a long time ago. This is rather unhealthy." Yun added.

    "So you are saying thatбн" Jin pondered for a while before Yun answered for him.

    "That you need better time management. Manage your time, otherwise, there is no way you can manage both your dungeon supplier as well as your new city."

    "Well, that''s kind of true. I''ll see what I can do." Jin then paused and wanted to ask Yun why he would need a real cksmith when the System was already selling armour, weapons and general supply items. In the end though, he just continued walking.

    "Perhaps, I will do that when I have a clearer head. I am just too tired to discuss anything right now." All Jin could think about right now was a pillow for his head. The effects of the potions might have kicked in a long time ago but the body still needed rest.

    And he did sleep when Jin reached home. Just a bit too long.

    .

    .

 Chapter 187 Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 187 Nightmare</h4>

    "HmmmбнWhat time is it?" Jin thought as he woke up feeling a little groggy. However, he noticed that the ce that he was woken up in was more than just a little different from where he fell asleep. There was no bed beneath him, there were no windows disying the urban view outside nor were any of his belongings around him.

    The shirt that he was wearing was not his and was instead a straitjacket. Jin noticed that there were chains and high level restrictive inscriptions binding him. He tried to look around but he could not even move a single inch. He felt constricted, unable to breathe normally.

    Eventually, he became more aware of his surroundings. The walls were cold and the only other light source other than a dimly lit candle in the corner of his room was light filtering in from under the door.

    Jin struggled as he panicked due to the drastic change of environment but it was all to no avail. "What is this ce?!" Jin tried to talk but he was muted by a mouthpiece that robbed him of speech.

    "What is with this darkness?!" Jin tried toprehend what was happening it but the more he thought about the situation he was in, the more desperate he became. Jin tried to use his chi but it was to no avail.

    Suddenly, he realised that this body was not actually his! Jin had tried to harness the Dantian point of this body, only to find that the chi waspletely different from his usual chi. All chi fell under one category but every person''s chi was unique as if it had a personality like their users. For example, some might be light and peaceful like Milk''s healing maiden chi while some chi might make you feel determined to seed like Bu Dong''s and Bin Yong''s chi.

    On the other hand, some could be dark and cold, simr to the one Jin felt generating from ''his'' Dantian point. However, this was not just any dark and cold chi. It was not pitch dark but rather crepuscr in nature, as if the darkness crawled up his skin and kissed his neck, only to bite down like a sharp fang ready to sink into your pulsating carotid artery. Its coldness crippled your senses, making him numb for the fang of darkness to take over while the cold continued to wash over him. Jin knew that this chi could leave wounds deeper than mere flesh.

    It was only then Jin realised he could hear the thoughts of someone else.

    "Patience. The day wille when the Twelve receive their retribution. Hmmph. Hmm Hmm He He He~!" He had a grimaced look under his mouthpiece as if he noticed Jin with him and Jin couldn''t help but shiver from the thought of someone so skilled in observation.

    ---------

    "JIN! WAKE UP!" Yun shouted at the top of her lungs and somehow that woke Jin up, cold sweat had soaked the clothes he was in. He was panting heavily after that weird dream he had just experienced. Jin hurriedly touched his entire body to make sure that he was able to move around.

    "What happened to you? Why are you touching yourself? Was it a nightmare or was itбн" Yun gave Jin a naughty smile but to Yun''s surprise, Jin sighed in relief.

    "No, just a bad nightmare... I think." Jin responded, unsure of what to make of what he had just experienced. Was that really a dream? Why did it feel so real then? Was he lucid dreaming?

    "Ohбн Cause you overslept for nearly the entire day. It''s already evening." Yun pointed at the rm clock at him and Jin was bbergasted. "It''s already 6 pm?! What about the shop?" Jin was a little jumpy when he realised that he had slept for more than 12 hours and missed nearly a whole day''s worth of work.

    "Do not worry too much! I was actually nning to let you sleep over a little anyway while I managed the shop for you. Though I did not expect you to sleep over by more than 7-8 hours." Yun said as she shook her head in disappointment.

    "Sorry, I did put on my rm though." Jin turned on his phone to check, only to realise it was turned off.

    "Yeah, I turned it off for you when I got back from the shop after my dinner break. It was definitely working since my ears are still hurting. Even when I tried to shake you to wake you up you were not responding." Yun was a little frustrated.

    "...Is that why I feel pain in my cheeks right now?" Jin asked as he rubbed his cheeks to soothe the pain he was feeling.

    "Well, I tried to use some force to wake you up." Yun started to snigger as she shrugged her shoulders.

    "And you can see, even without you, I was able to run the shop sessfully. Although some people did ask about you." Yun said proudly but it made Jin feel a little disappointed.

    "But I was slower since I was working at the cash register as well as serving the food. Had to ask Milk toe and help with serving the food for a while. Didn''t know it was that hard." Yun tried to cheer him up, hoping that he did not think too much about the whole issue.

    "In any case, anything important happened when I was gone?" Jin asked and Yun, remembering something important, widened her eyes in realisation and shook Jin''s bed even more.

    "Yes! Yes! Xiong Da came by and asked for you. Apparently, he wants you to be the witness of the duel against Ji Ao. However, you were not around so he announced that he would conduct the battle at your shop if possible." Yun said vividly.

    "But I do not have an arena prepared for a cultivator versus cultivator fight. All I have are random monster arenas." Jin replied to Yun as he yawned. It looked like the nightmare he had did not allow him to have a proper rest at all.

    "Hmmph, maybe create a variant of that the arena battles? Perhaps monsters fighting beside them to increase the Xiong Da''s winning chances?" Yun suggested.

    "Or let them fight two monsters each and both of them then meet each other on thest final stage duelling for the win?" Yun added on to her suggestion.

    "Then if Ji Ao loses to the monsters, he would beter shown as the inferior one? But that way Xiong Da won''t get to fight him." Jin thought to himself whether if that was really a good idea.

    "Maybe allow both of them to be resurrected at thest stage? During the final stage, they are not allowed to be resurrected. However, fighting against the monsters would probably give them a slight edge for the final fight but the rewards are hidden until they killed the monsters. But seeing how Ji Ao is usually the cunning one, he would probably just kill himself at the start and he will resurrect with full health waiting in the final fight. Such act would most likely lower his reputation among the crowd too." Yun replied.

    "I see. If that''s the way, I believe the crowd, which I assume his love crush Ruo Ying will be among the spectators observing how Xiong Da had grown as he fights against the monsters. Also, the judge would see that this would most likely be an unfair fight against Xiong Da since Ji Ao was already waiting there for him. They will grow to respect him even more if he can win against this Ji Ao." Jin thought this was an ingenious idea to bring Xiong Da''s reputation up among his friends and customers in the shop but it was a risky gamble. If Ji Ao decides to fight against the monsters fair and square, all of this conjecture would not happen.

    "Trust in Xiong Da, he had practised hard and you have helped him a lot. Both you and I also have seen how much effort he has put in for over the past few weeks." Yun reaffirmed Jin''s decision.

    "Alright then, but let''s take some precautions since we are ''performing'' for the crowd." Jin grinned a little and Yun felt excited to see the oue how all this unfold.

    They were looking forward to the battle and both were rooting for Xiong Da from the depths bottom of their hearts.

    .

    .

 Chapter 188 Shop Sign

    <h4>Chapter 188 Shop Sign</h4>

    Jin had a change of clothes and decided to throw additional sets of clothing into his storage ring quickly but it seemed that his wardrobe was thinning out. "I have to do theundry again," The thought of doing housework hit Jin, making him wish that he would be in some fantasy novel that he does not even need to change his clothes regrly.

    Regardless, today is not the day for housework as he quickly dashed out of his house to reach the store promptly. There were already some people waiting to enter the store and one of them was Xiong Da.

    "Boss! I was worried sick! What happened to you? Are you okay?" Xiong Da asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "I wasбнehбнI overslept." Jin decided to admit that he overslept and everyone in the queue looked at each other beforeughing in unison.

    "Boss Boss! If you had something important to do, just say so. No one would me you!" A customer shouted heartily at Jin.

    "Yeah Boss, you do not have act Panda-ish on us." Another female customer giggled as shemented.

    "Haha, Boss, by the way, we really like your new signage. Did not know that it was up, until this morning!" Xiong Da added as he pointed at the top of the store. Jin then realised that the signage that the System promised was already up. It took no chance to immediately hang it up in order to draw more attention.

    And attention it did draw.

    It was not a majestic sign бнit was an overly majestic neon billboard with an innocent looking Panda hugging onto a hoard of equipment like swords, axes and gold coins. However, it looked like it was sleeping while biting onto a bamboo spear. The billboard was overly huge that it nearly covered the entire 2nd and 3rd floor of the traditional storehouse.

    Right at the bottom of the billboard, the words "Dungeons and Pandas" was written in a simple, elegant calligraphy that eluded the beauty of the words. Surprisingly, it felt a little poignant but the bittersweet aftertaste of the calligraphy on the thick bamboo sign was overshadowed by the gigantic cute billboard above it.

    "The System has no sense of taste, putting such a big billboard neon sign at the middle of nowhere. This is not Osaka where the Gilco Running Man was surrounded with multiple signboards from other shops." Jin could not help butugh bitterly as he thought about it.

    "You seem a little disappointed, is it not to your liking?" Yun caught up with Jin after leaving the house.

    "I have mixed feelings about it," Jin replied in thought.

    "Try activating your Chi to it. You will understand." Jin did what Yun said and suddenly he was transported to another world.

    Scenes of him trying to fight against monsters, capturing monsters, the escape from the zombies from the Shanghai Tower and the recent fight against the Bull Behemoth. They were all rushing into his mind until Jin broke the Chi flow from it.

    He immediately felt an adrenaline rush, as if he was pumped up to go for another round of a fight. "I бнunderstand what you meant now." Jin had really underestimated the powers of the System. To make him feel so excited, so anxious for another fight. This high grade sign board was not to be underestimated.

    "Mmmhmm, all the other customers who poured their Chi into the signboard shared simr feelings too. While the new customers do not have experience of the dungeons here, the System made them incite simr incidents and memories that would give them an urge to go for battle." Yun exined in Jin''s head.

    "Boss, why are you in a daze?! Your signboard looks too good that you cannot help but admire your store for a moment?" Xiong Da was being sarcastic but Jin nodded.

    "It looks perfect," Jin said shamelessly which made all the customersugh at Jin''s boldness to create such a gigantic billboard. It will surely create and attract attention from other people.

    Jin subsequently opened his store but he asked Xiong Da toe over to one side and both Yun and Jin decided to tell Xiong Da about the n they had. However, when Xiong Da heard about the entire n, he stepped back and bowed.

    "Boss. Ms Yun. I respect the both of you for wanting to help me. But I think this is not necessary. I really want to fight fair and square with Ji Ao no matter how dirty or underhanded his methods are." Xiong Da requested not to do such a thing for him. If they want him to fight against monsters, he would and in fact, he would like to as well, so he can get into the mood for a battle.

    "I see, if that''s the case, I am sorry. I thought you were really that desperate to win and that was why you wanted to have the duel over here." It seemed that both Jin and Yun misinterpreted Xiong Da''s intention.

    "Yes and no. Yes, I chose here because I wanted to show you how much I have improved and no matter the oue, this ce had already grown to be something like my second home. Although technically, I own more than 4 apartmentsбн but you get what I mean." Xiong Da could not help boasting a little although his intentions were clear to Jin.

    "No because, in the end, I know that this is all about my selfish ego. I mean, Ruo Ying has her own life. If she cannot be happy, I cannot be happy either. But the selfish me also want myself to be happy by making her mine. However, the more I think about it, the more I feel that by doing so, I am going to be like Ji Ao." Xiong Da justified himself.

    "I was really really tempted to do what you said, but in the end I think, I should just try my best. In this day and age, I doubt doing something so earnest would get you the girl but it''s worth a try." Xiong Da shrugged his shoulders.

    It was at this moment that Jin punched Xiong Da to the floor with a Lazy Panda Swipe. This surprised almost everyone in the store. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? YOU THINK THIS IS LIKE A DUNGEON INSTANCE?! IT''S OKAY TO LOSE?" Jin shouted so loud that it made the customers stop what they were doing just to see themotion. Even Zhen Qing was shocked by Jin''s outburst. It was the first time she saw him behaving this way.

    "Do not give me that kind of bullshit! You want to save that girl. You save her all the way. You think war and love are fair? No fucking way. You do what you need to get your girl! But you know what? I actually respect you for trying your best to stay righteous but now you are having doubts about yourself! Do not give me this kind of crap! Were all those training sessions for nothing? Do you think the Fishing Instance was easy to set up?!" Jin continued to rage, at which point Yun decided to intervene by pulling Jin back away from Xiong Da.

    Meanwhile, Xiong Da was on the ground reflecting on himself. Jin was right since when was the almightywyer and the shameless famous food gourmet so scared of a dirty fighter like Lan Ji Ao? He wiped the bit of blood from his nose and stood up with confidence.

    "You are right, Boss. I will do what I need to do. No matter what, I will get Ruo Ying by myself even if I brave through the 18 floors of hell and back!" Xiong Da said with assertiveness.

    "Then I will create the arena for you." Jin finally cooled down a bit, unknowingly with the help of Milk via his phone with a calming magic spell.

    "Thank you, Boss. I look forward to it." Xiong Da could not help but hug Jin hard despite what he had done to him.

    However, little did he know that, even before all thatmotion, someone was watching Xiong Da from the side lines ever since he entered the shop. "Xiong Xiongбн" Ruo Ying who hid herself among the crowd whispered his name as she could not help but teared a crystal of joy and relief from her eyes.

    Ruo Ying adjusted her jacket and her cap as she walked out of the shop before she got noticed by Xiong Da.

    .

    .

 Chapter 189 Lan Ji Ao

    <h4>Chapter 189 Lan Ji Ao</h4>

    "Heh, so this is the ce where that stupid Hippo wants to duel? What a stupid looking sign board!"

    Lan Ji Ao saw the shop sign from afar as he got out of the subway station. In fact, it was so eye-catching that the entire shopping district had been talking about it for a whole day.

    "shy shop, dead Hippo..." Ji Ao took out his phone and called Ruo Ying.

    "Where are you? I just got out of the station. Let''s quickly get this done with so that we can continue with what we were doing back home." Ji Ao smirked at the thought of it. On the other hand, Ruo Ying only replied by saying that she was waiting for him at a nearby bus stop.

    She felt stupid for the past few months. She felt really stupid to have listened to Ji Ao just because he had the money to pay for her father''s debts and bills. Ruo Ying did not want to burden Xiong Da because she sincerely liked him for what he was. She never wanted to give Xiong Da the impression that she was willing to go for Ji Ao.

    All she desired was a life free of debt and she did not want to show Xiong Da that side of her family nor her desperate attempts to clear the debts her family owed. He was too considerate, almost to the point of being gullible. Ruo Ying could have used him but she did not expect that her heart was not willing to do so. But now, even with Ji Ao, she was not able to run away from the increasing debts since Ji Ao only paid off the interest so that she would stay with him.

    He knew that if he cleared all of her family''s debt, Ruo Ying would just break away from him. No, he did not wee that sort of notion since he l.u.s.ted after her beautiful body every day and night.

    However, Ruo Ying did not give in to him and his money that easily. Her cultivation of the Esthetical Egret Style allowed her to struggle against Ji Ao''s advances, which was also why Ji Ao was always so frustrated. Due to this, he constantly beat her up since he was able to get into neither the mood nor the body.

    But as time went by, it seemed that he began to take more enjoyment in beating her body to a pulp rather than attempting coption with Ruo Ying. The beatings made his blood race, probably the other side of his cultivation, And now with Xiong Da interfering for the second time, he wanted nothing more than to feast on the fears of a scarred hippo once more.

    "Shall we go grab a bite to eat first?" Ji Ao wrapped his arms around Ruo Ying when they met up and licked her tender but bruised neck as a show of his affection. Ruo Ying, on the other hand, struggled once more, though all this served was to make Ji Ao''s blood boil in anticipation.

    "Ahhh, the spirit of the rebellious Egret is back again. Ohh, I have to thank that fat useless Hippo for this part of you." Ji Ao backed away, giving the illusion to Ruo Ying that she had attained a small victory. He knew that once he had beaten Xiong Da, she would be devastated because her white knight would not able to save her.

    "Lan Ji Ao. You came." Xiong Da was standing in front of the shop and was waiting for them patiently while restraining himself from beating Ji Ao up straight away outside on the streets. He wanted to show Jin, the customers, as well as the random passer-bys that he was the greater manpared to this dirty sneaky fellow.

    "My, my, would you look at the Hippo. Looks like you are confident that you will win this match. I am pleasantly surprised. Back then, you were nearly pissing your pants when you were about to duel with me." Ji Ao tightened his grip over the girl with a cap, who Xiong Da identified as Ruo Ying. She looked up as she adjusted her cap, looking at Xiong Da in the process.

    Their eyes connected from that one nce and both managed to pass their feelings to each other through mere eye contact. "I am sorry. I am sorry I was so foolish. Please save me!" Ruo Ying did not utter a sound but Xiong Da understood the meaning behind her gazeforted her with one nce. However, the despair in her eyes was also as real as the hope. She knew that the odds of Xiong Da winning was extremely low... but the chance was not zero.

    "I will." Xiong Da nodded very slightly and only Ruo Ying managed to capture that gesture.

    "So where is this arena you spoke of?" Ji Ao asked. He knew that Xiong Da purposely chose this ce so that there would be no home ground advantage for him. But what did he have to be scared for? Xiong Da was just a measly Grade 1 Cultivator a few months ago. At most... very most, if you stretched it, He might just be a Grade 2 Cultivator, which was still something to scoff at.

    In fact, there was nothing much to worry about. Xiong Da did not know that Ji Ao had increased his Grade to 4, allowing him to learn a new intermediate technique just a week ago. It wasn''t just Xiong Da who had been training. Ji Ao was looking forward to humiliating Xiong Da even more and he used that as his motivation.

    All these thoughts were happening in Ji Ao''s head while the conflicted trio were walking into the store.

    "How about we draw up a contract?" Ji Ao wished to y the same ''game'' with Xiong Da as he had done with Ruo Ying.

    "No! Ah-" Ruo Ying felt a powerful grip pressed down on her bruised arm, which was obviously Ji Ao in an attempt to silence her. Xiong Da was extremely ufortable but Jin was sending him a voice transmission. "Do not do anything rash. Control that anger and only release it when the time is right."

    "No need. I already have one prepared here." Xiong Da took out a doc.u.ment file from his storage ring and mmed it down upon the table. "If you win. You will gain all of my material possessions." Xiong Da purposely did not tell him the losing conditions because they were all in the contract. He took out a suitcase from his storage ring and opened it, revealing thousands upon thousands of USD notes right in front of Ji Ao.

    "If you lose, Ruo Ying returns to me. Now, sign the contract." Xiong Da demanded as he opened the first page of the contract while he shoved a pen at him. Ruo Ying was extremely shocked by this turn of events. How did Xiong Da have so much money in his hands? Did he loan it all out just to get her back? Was he really that confident in winning or it was all just a ruse?

    Meanwhile, Ji Ao was delighted, no, he was exhrated to see that suitcase. "HA HA HA HA! This is like striking the lottery prematurely!" Ji Ao could not imagine what kind of possessions Xiong Da had as he turned the doc.u.ment file page by page to see stocks, some more cash, and even a couple properties. The doc.u.ments were legitimate and the contract was definitely a lucky break for Ji Ao.

    Without any hesitation, he signed the contract with Xiong Da on the impulse of greed, which made Xiong Da smirk, but only for a second. He immediately reverted to his desperate face as he continued acting desperate for Ruo Ying. Jin then realised why Xiong Da had said that the reputation method from the fight was a small thing. It was because he had already prepared something that would cause Ji Ao''s immediate downfall.

    "This is Boss Jin. We will be going to the third floor to enter an instance, where we will have our match." Xiong Da exined to Ji Ao as calmly as he could. "What instance? A Dungeon Instance?"

    "That does not matter. It is just a dimensional space simr to that of a dungeon instance. It has a boxing ring inside. You and I can fight to our hearts'' content there. All of this will be telecasted on the TVs here as a sign of proof and witness." Xiong Da introduced the Panda Muscles. Jin had eventually settled on creating a bigger match ring to stage the fight, which Xiong Da requested. No Monsters, No Powers up or anything... just lots of witnesses.

    Convenient witnesses.

    "I see. Then you mister. You shall be our judge." Ji Ao knew that in dungeon instances there would be no deaths, which meant that he could choose anyone to be the judge. It also meant that he could go all out against Xiong Da. Although he usually increased his chances of winning by inserting a person he knew to be the judge, he did not care much about that since he was fighting against a Grade 2 Hippo.

    "Me?" The man in the middle of the store pointed at himself, confused about why he was selected. He had slightly long unkempt hair that was tied into a short ponytail, wore a red cheapish jacket along with a simple ck shirt that had a white skull printed on it

    "Yes, you." Ji Ao nodded his head as he beckoned the perplexed man to follow them up onto the stage. The customer also followed them as Ji Ao tried to buddy up with the chosen judge when they went up the stairs.

    "Big Brother, you looked like someone who needs money and I feel a connection between the two of us. If you find anything that can tip the match in my favour, it would be appreciated. Also, how about letting me win and I give you some of this sweet sweet cash?" Ji Ao whispered to the customer when Xiong Da was going up the stairs.

    "Ooo.. Sure." Mei Shi Zuo replied as he gave Ji Ao a cheeky thumbs up.

    "So that bastard really did choose him! That''s exactly what Jin''s little assistant predicted." Luo Bo said as she ordered a cheesecake and asked Peppers to join her.

    "When searching for someone in a crowd, individual neurons tuned to different visual spaces shift their selectivity to colour and direction depending on the task at hand." Peppers tried to unt her knowledge regarding Xiong Da''s n while she excitedly waited for her cheesecake.

    "Well at least part 1 of the n has been executed perfectly." Jia Le held tightly onto Bin Yong as she was anxious regarding how things would unfold.

    "Don''t worry. Xiong Da will have his revenge." Jin said as he was privy to Xiong Da''s personal n.

 Chapter 190 The Hippo Plan - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 190 The Hippo n - Part 1</h4>

    Before that fateful day of the fight, Xiong Da had conversed with new found friends he had fought within Jin''s shop. In particr, he had be good buddies with Bin Yong and his group of friends. Their battle against the zombies in the Great Wall of China Instance had bonded them to a level that was more than just friends.

    Not just them, Yue Han called his sister Yue Wen along and she too contacted Se Lang and the rest of the police cultivators. Apparently, they too knew who Xiong Da was and did not mind helping. However, not all of them were able to make it but Se Lang and Xue Ping promised to help.

    After he exined his situation to Bin Yong and the others in the Pandamonium group chat, they had agreed to help him on the day of the fight. Jin had thought that Xiong Da was so focused on getting his revenge and the girl back that he would just fight this battle for love blindly without a n. Heter apologised to Xiong Da for the outburst that he had disyed. "It was really immature of me to do such a thing," Jin said to Xiong Da as an apology.

    "Nah, I really needed and appreciated it. I have been an adult for too long that I was being a little too realistic. I forgot that sometimes love needed some craziness and immaturity." Xiong Da said to Jin and told him that everything was under control though he might still need some of Jin''s help.

    However, that outburst was not just for him. It was also for Jin himself when he remembered how powerless he had been in almost every situation but that would be left as a story for another day. When Xiong Da, Ji Ao, and Shi Zuo were all teleported into the Panda Muscles, Ruo Ying was left back at the first level of the store feeling both scared and lonely due to arge number of people watching the fight.

    "Hi! By any chance, are you Ruo Ying?" Yue Wen, the cultivator of the Healing Maiden Style tapped her shoulder lightly. Ruo Ying acted on reflex and quickly blocked the moment she felt someone touching her shoulders, which startled Yue Wen a little.

    "Woah woah woah, calm down! I am one of Xiong Da''s friends. Actually, most of us here are friends and acquaintances of his." Yue Wen said as she raised her hand in surrender to show that she came in peace.

    "Sorry! Sorry!" Ruo Ying bowed her head slightly to apologise but her cap fell off and everyone finally saw the true beauty she possessed. If not for the bruise by the side of her forehead, her irresistible pulchritude would make every guy in the shop fall in love with her.

    "Damn it, that fatty better win." Bin Yong growled in anger as he saw the obvious abuse Ruo Ying had to experience. Even Jia Le and Luo Bo wanted to go into the Panda Muscles and teach Ji Ao a lesson.

    "Don''t worry. I can heal your physical wounds... but as for the heart, I will leave that to our dear fatty." Yue Wen winked at Ruo Ying as she started to pour her chi into Ruo Ying. "The wounds might not disappear instantly but my chi would help revitalise your meridian points, allowing you to recover faster." Yue Wen added.

    "Milk, we have a potential customer that has been injured on the 1st floor. Although Yue Wen has it covered, I want our patient to be in tip top condition. Come here once you are avable." Jin made a phone call through his Panda Port to let the others know that the boss of this shop would not leave any injustice hanging. Milk eventually came by to attend to Ruo Ying but Yue Wen had already elerated the healing process. There was almost nothing Milk really need to do but she still cast a calming spell for Ruo Ying.

    "Ms Ruo Ying, I am a policeman working at the Tiangong Police Station." Se Lang presented himself in front of Ruo Ying as he walked into the shop, almost as if he had been called to the scene of a crime. Not to mention the timing was impable and right beside him was Police Detective Xue Ping. Se Lang went closer to Ruo Ying and whispered. "And an acquaintance of Xiong Da."

    He immediately returned to his professional stance and started to ask Ruo Ying a few questions. "May I query about the injury? It does not seem like a fall." Se Lang asked. Ruo Ying was speechless. She did not know where to start and suddenly felt that she had underestimated Xiong Da''s love for her and started to break down crying.

    "Miss, if you feel that you need a quiet ce to voice out your troubles, we can provide you with that." Xue Ping sat beside Ruo Ying and passed her a tissue which Jin conveniently ced a box of right beside them.

    "No, it''s okay. I want to say it in front of all of you. Xiong Xiong is doing so much for me. I will fully expose Ji Ao even though he said I would regret doing so." Ruo Ying wiped her tears away and started to pour her entire story out to the small group. It was around this time that the other customers noticed that every station was tuned to the boxing ring in Panda Muscles.

    "Sorry to intrude on your entertainment time. I would like to ask all of you to be witnesses for the fight. If you are unhappy and do not wish to watch it, I will give you a refund." Jin shouted but the customers were not angry at all.

    In fact, they were all looking forward to it.

    "Brother Xiong Da is fighting?! Oh, I can already see him trashing that arrogant shithole." A male customer voiced his opinion out after seeing how Ji Ao acted in front of the shop. The ruckus was too obvious to not overlook.

    "Anyone up for a bet? Loser gets to buy Zhen Qing''s ck pepper pork buns. Of course, I am definitely voting for Brother Xiong Da." One of the usual gambling customers shouted out and they some even supported him.

    "Damn it, here I thought I would be the only one who thought that Brother Xiong Da would be winning this. I thought I could make a bet out of this." The gambling customer spoke up again and some of themughed.

    "The camaraderie in this storeбн" Ruo Ying noticed that almost everyone knew who Xiong Da was and they were earnestly rooting for him.

    "Xiong Da had influenced not just me but almost everyone else to work hard in this dungeon supplier store. I think this shop would indeed be different without him around. Also at the rate he is training and cultivating, he might even beat me in terms of cultivation. So trust him, he will win you back." Jin smiled at Ruo Ying and he offered her an onigiri and in water to calm herself down.

    "Part 2 of the hippo n executed." Jin thought to himself after seeing Ruo Ying finally started to trust Xiong Da''s friends.

    .

    .

 Chapter 191 The Hippo Plan - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 191 The Hippo n - Part 2</h4>

    "Gentlemen, are you ready?" Shi Zuo was standing at the centre of the brightly lit boxing ring but Ji Ao sniggered and proposed something to Xiong Da.

    "Hey, Xiong Da. How about we fight like boxers? No weapons. Just you and me with our fists?" Ji Ao took out his shirt and revealed a series ofrge crocodile scales tattooed on his back. He had gotten it to show his ferocity. Ji Ao wanted to do this in case Xiong Da had some high grade weapon that he might have acquired since he was now seen as a rich fat guy. Without weapons, Ji Ao thought that it would increase his chance to win even further.

    Damn, if Ji Ao knew Xiong Da was rich, he would have plummeted him into pieces the first time round and extorted money from him. Ahh but this would be equally a good chance too.

    "Sure," Xiong Da took out his shirt to reveal his enormously big belly, so white and tender fresh. Ji Ao could not help but chuckle as he flexed his abdominal muscles to reveal his six packs. "Just warming up." Ji Ao smiled deviously at Xiong Da but he did not care.

    "Since I am the witness, can I propose the rules of engagement?" Shi Zuo said and Ji Ao readily agreed. "One round, unlimited time. No physical weapons, fight till death since this is an instance. Simple enough? Can I have your storage rings and shirts for safe keeping?" Both agreed and they gave their shirts and storage rings to him.

    What Xiong Da did not know was that Ji Ao had already told Shi Zuo what to do and the rules of engagement which Shi Zuo readily agreed.

    "Ooo, that sneaky guy is definitely going to use magical scrolls or temporary inscriptions." Luo Bo tried to figure what Shi Zuo was saying as she watched the telecast from the Stations.

    "Does not matter," Jinmented that knowing how strong Xiong Da was even at just Grade 3. He would not be surprised if Xiong Da could overpower his opponent with raw physical strength. If the fishing service instance was working for Xiong Da as intended, Jin would not be surprised if he was at Grade 4 right now.

    Xiong Da started to do some simple footwork and jumped on the spot. Ji Aoughed at the ridiculous hippo trying to imitate a proper boxer. Ji Ao betted that Xiong Da did not know that he was once a professional boxer and even had made a small name for himself.

    "Ready? Fight!" Shi Zuo shouted as he quickly stepped back and out of the way of the two''s fighting. Xiong Da went in hoping to strike Ji Ao with a punch but the Croc dodged just in time.

    "So slow!" Ji Ao shouted as he delivered a counterpunch straight into the fatty''s belly. Xiong Da immediately fell to the ground from the counterpunch and saw four crocodile silhouettesughing at the hippo that was on the floor.

    Ji Ao did not give him any chance and continued to kick and stomp on Xiong Da without any care. Each kick and stomp were forceful and gave no quarters for Xiong Da to even recover. "This is way too easy!!! I should have just allowed him to punch me once." Ji Ao thought to himself as he sniggered and continued by going over him and sat on his belly.

    "This is the mostfortable punching bag I have ever enjoyed." Ji Ao continued to punch repeatedly as Xiong Da tried to block the attacks to his face with his hands. The jabs from Ji Ao started to show its effects as Xiong Da arms and chest started to bleed.

    This was one of the passive technique of the Crazy Crocodile Style. Able to bleed the opponent despite using fists.

    "Xiong Xiong!" Ruo Ying saw Xiong Da being beaten so badly that she wanted to go to the third floor and stop Ji Ao. Xue Ping grabbed her hand and told her to calm down.

    "Calm down?! Xiong Xiong is risking his life for me! Betting his personal possession for me! And he is bleeding like crazy just for me! How can I stand here and not do anything? I did nothing but hurt his feelings for the past few months and I have regretted my stupid choice for ignoring him ever since because I really love him so much that I do not want to hurt him with my problems!" Ruo Ying broke down again as she tried to struggle out of Xue Ping''s grab. She even portrayed her cultivation of the Esthetic Egret Style but it was no match for the Prancing Puma.

    "That beetch!" Ji Ao apparently heard the whole conversation through a loudspeaker from Shi Zuo''s phone. "You! Are you also in cahoots!?" Ji Ao realised that the guy he chose was a mistake.

    "Does not matter, this Xiong Xiong of yours has been broken by me and you will be too." Ji Ao cursed under his breath.

    "That was not part of the n at all, Bro." Xiong Da looked at Shi Zuo with tears. Tears of joy and happiness that Ruo Ying felt that way for him.

    "Luo Bo wants to y cupid again. I am just the cupid bow." Shi Zuo shrugged his shoulders and Xiong Da could onlyugh. "Please thank Ms Cupid for me."

    "What are youughing at?!" Ji Ao wanted to throw another punch but Xiong Da eyes turned extremely deadly and even managed to catch Ji Ao''s punch with ease.

    "I was just ying with you but ytime is over because the Hippo needs Egret for some alone time together." Xiong Da said with a grin on his face as he portrayed his Hungry Hippo Style.

    "Oneбн Twoбн Three? Four?!!" Ji Ao was panicking as he saw four hippos right above Xiong Da''s head and then he felt something crushed so easily and realised that it was his fist. They were all into pieces. Only after that realisation did he notice the pain.

    "ARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!" Ji Ao screamed.

    Xiong Da returned the favours by holding onto his right arm and broke them into two andter crushed them with raw brute strength. "Oh, I purposely chose this boxing ring because I knew you were a boxer and now I am beating you in your own field. To show just how pathetic you are."

    Afterwards, Xiong Da held onto Ji Ao''s legs and mmed with a simple overhead throw which crippled his back immediately. "I am going to crush your bones one by one. Especially your hands and legs which were used to abuse Ruo Ying."

    It was then that Jin suddenly turned off the telecast and all the stations were back to the dungeon fights that were ongoing.

    "AWWWWW BOSSS!!" The entire crowd was booing at Boss Jin.

    "Hey! There might be minors in this shop okay? It was kind of obvious who would win." Jin said and almost every customer startedining. "If you wish to continue, you can buy the streaming download feature. If you want, you can watch the yback of this match. I assure you this way you will not miss any of it." Jin said nonchntly.

    "Damn it, Boss, if I did not respect you, I would have beaten you up now on the spot for being this shameless and ruthless in business." One of the customersined as he quickly signed up for the streaming feature in the Pandamonium.

    Jin could only smile politely. "It''s nothing personalбн It''s just good business."

    .

    .

 Chapter 192 The Hippo Plan -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 192 The Hippo n -Part 3</h4>

    "Very sneaky technique. I like it." Yun smirked as she sent her thoughts to Jin as they saw many customers logging onto their Pandamonium ounts just to watch the fight unfold. That few Yuan for the subscription? It was well worth it to see such a bastard get a beating.

    "I am not wrong, there are some minors in the store." He nced sideways towards Bu Dong and Yue Han, which made Yun roll her eyes while maintaining her smile. Even Bu Dong and Yue Han bought the subscription just to watch the brutal violence that was happening in Panda Muscles.

    "Wait, wait! Please wait!" Ji Ao was trying to get out of the mess he was in but there was really no way out. The storage rings were given to Shi Zuo and Xiong Da even ripped off his belt and shoes away in case of any hidden weapons. All he was left with were his pants.

    However, Ji Ao could not run away even if he wanted to. Xiong Da had broken his spine into two and Ji Ao was in extreme pain. If it weren''t for his cultivation, he would have already been paralysed and killed. What he did not understand was how Xiong Da managed to cultivate to a Grade simr to his in such a short period of time. "Was he not a Grade 1 Cultivator for the past few months? Did he take some demon drugs to gain this kind of insane power?" He identally voiced out his thoughts and these were overheard by Xiong Da.

    "Drugs? Hahahahahaha!" Xiong Da grabbed Ji Ao by his neck and brought it close to his face. "The power of wealth and hard work. A mere jerk like you would not understand how desperate and determined I was to crush you." Xiong Da punched him in his stomach again, making Ji Ao feel like fainting before Xiong Da threw him to the ground again.

    "You think you will get away with this? You think I will note back even stronger just to bite you?" Ji Ao was bitter when facing his impending defeat yet Xiong Da wasughing loudly.

    "Hahahahahaha!!! Do not worry, you will not find the opportunity to do so." Xiong Da went forward and kicked his opponent''s face, causing him to fly to the corner of the boxing ring post.

    "Bullshit! I will find you! I will crush you! I will make sure Ruo Ying suffers even more because of this!" Ji Ao could not even talk properly at this point but he could only curse Xiong Da in his thoughts.

    "Hey, hey, no sleeping." Xiong Da brought Ji Ao''s hand out of the boxing ring and stomped on it hard, causing it to dislocate entirely. For the next ten minutes, Xiong Da had his fun breaking him again and again before he asked Shi Zuo for his warclub to end his opponent- no, his victim''s suffering immediately.

    It was indeed a good thing that Jin had switched the channels off from the main store and directed them to the Pandamonium because it was indeed way too brutal. It was also in the interest of Xiong Da to not let Ruo Ying watch the full thing since she might not be able to take the brutality of it.

    "Good. Let him die that way." Ruo Ying felt more satisfied than ever when Luo Bo showed her the broadcast, which discredited Jin''s thought. "I guess the hate for him was more than just superficial." Jin reminded himself not to underestimate the other gender''s feelings.

    "Now that he is dead, he should be in the recovery instance. Time for Part 3 of the n. Boss Jin, do you mind letting us enter the recovery instance?" Detective Xue Ping was ready to act on the next part of the n with Se Lang. She might not have known Xiong Da directly but upon hearing the cruel things Ruo Ying had been subject to, Xue Ping could not wait to arrest this guy.

    "Yes. I do mind." Jin shook his head which caused everyone to be surprised. They thought that Jin wanted to help Xiong Da catch this guy?

    "The recovery instance is a highly controlled environment as well as part of a dungeon experience for other customers. The other customers have the right to rest. From what I see, we have things all under control. Besides, he has nowhere to run when hees out of the recovery instance." Jin replied and he was not wrong.

    Besides, from what Jin knew, the recovery instance did not have an entrance and only an exit. He did not query if it was part of the System''s design but he would check it out once this entire thing blew over. He knew that only Milk and Yun were able to ess it since he tried to do so a few times after he found out Peppers tried to enter it once but was denied ess too.

    "I understand, we will wait outside the exit of the recovery instance." Xue Ping beckoned Se Lang to follow her as they saw the hero of the day walking down the stairs. People started to cheer for him.

    "Brother Xiong Da, that was intense, man! How did you get to Grade 4 so quickly?!" Bin Yong congratted him.

    "All thanks to Boss Jin. He worked hard for me too." Xiong Daughed heartily but subsequently stopped because he saw that Ruo Ying was too guilty to look at him in the eye. He thanked the rest first for their support and his friends foring to help him before approaching her.

    "Hey," Xiong Da stood in front of her.

    "...Thank you. Xiong Da." Ruo Ying did not dare to look at him in the eye for all the wrong decisions she had made. Xiong Da wanted to console her but he was interrupted by some loud shoutsing from the stairs.

    "I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG! LET GO OF ME!" Ji Ao tried to struggle but Se Lang and Xue Ping''sbined cultivation strength stopped him from escaping. Not to mention, he was handcuffed by an inscription that suppressed the strength of a cultivator, which made Ji Ao''s mouth the only thing he was free to use.

    "I have friends that will get me out. You watch out, hippo. Next time I see you, you will be hippo meat." Ji Ao snapped at them.

    "Do not worry, those friends will join you." Xue Ping scoffed at him. The previous time that Xue Ping and Lee An hade to visit Jin after a raid was based on information from Xiong Da''s private investigations. Ji Ao was not only going to face charges for forced imprisonment and assault but also for the pedalling of drugs too.

    "Oh and remember the contract that you signed? It''s a contract of forfeit. A forfeit of your entire material possessions too. See you in court for your charges." Xiong Da said with confidence.

    "Court?!" Ji Ao was too angry to even think.

    "You do not know him? Well then, doesn''t it suck to be you. He is from HHHw firm." Se Lang pushed him out of the store and towards a waiting patrol car.

    "Fattyбн HHHw firm? Oh my god! You are that infamous attorney that co-founded aw firm at the age of 34?" Luo Bo suddenly understood why she had always felt that Xiong Da was so familiar.

    "Oh, you know me?" Xiong Da stuck his tongue out to pretend to be innocent.

    "How did you even have the time to work on cases when you were out here training?" Jin was pleasantly surprised too but Xiong Da just shrugged before Ruo Ying stared at him.

    "Iбн" She tried to voice her own opinion. Xiong Da immediately turned back and said. "I am still the Xiong Da that you know and love. I too am sorry that I tried to hide things. I just wanted to see if someone was really genuine about me rather than just for my money. I am also sorry I was too weak to save you back then."

    "Andбн I still like you." Xiong Da scratched his head as he said it so innocently.

    "Idiot Xiong Xiong. Why did you say it out loud?" Ruo Ying nodded gently and finally showed a faultless smile as she poked Xiong Da''s belly.

    "I LIKE RUO YINGGGGGG!!" Xiong Da unhesitantly picked Ruo Ying up. The subject of his intimacy squealed a little beforeughing. The rest of his friends were also happy that everything had ended well for him.

    Xiong Da''s efforts had finally paid off.

    .

    .

 Chapter 193 Being Followed

    <h4>Chapter 193 Being Followed</h4>

    Everything ended without a hitch in Jin''s shop. There was even a slight boost to revenue thanks to the stunt he pulled during Xiong Da''s fight. It was then that he realised he had forgotten something.

    "Yun, did Lai Fue by to im his fishing instance I promised him?" Jin began to close his shop and decided to return home to do some housework after also remembering all the clothes he had yet to wash.

    "He actually came by and asked if he coulde by next week instead. Apparently, the notice was too short for his friends to rush down and they needed some more preparation time." Yun yawned as she walked back with Jin.

    "Ah, I am not surprised. By the way, how is the lottery going? Anyone manage to grab the big prize yet?" Jin asked as they walked back together.

    "Not really, but at least there were some ims and they were quite satisfied with the lottery considering it''s somewhat a ''free'' gift for the things they bought from the district," Yun said but suddenly she felt distressed.

    "What''s wrong? A headache?" Jin noticed the sudden change in her expression.

    "No, it''s the System. Someone is trying to break into your shop but do not worry too much." Yun recovered from her weird headache and told Jin about it.

    "Why didn''t the System just tell me directly? I am still holding my phone. Also, do you want to go back and take a look at the culprit?" Oddly, Jin did not feel any panic at all since Yun had just said that there was nothing to worry about.

    "Maybe it feels that it would be more natural to announce it through me than through your phone." Yun gave a weak smile but got serious as sheter realised they were being followed too.

    "Why do I feel that the store break in and being followed by some obvious people is kind of connected?" Jin casually said as he turned around and took out Bam in Katana form. Yun did not do anything for the moment and continued to stay alert.

    Multiple men appeared from the shadows and they were all well dressed. ck suit, leather shoes and sunsses despite the fact that it was night time. Perhaps the moonlight was too blinding for them.

    "Break in? Did I order you to do that Ku Wai?" A female voice was heard behind the group of men as they made way for her to go through. Jinter saw that she looked fairly young but she was actually in a wheelchair with a familiar looking person pushing her through the crowd.

    "No, Princess. I did not do that nor did I order that. Do you want me to send people to investigate?" Ku Wai asked politely.

    "It''s fine, the break-in attempt is under control." Jin blurted out, which caused each and every of the ck suits to take their pistols out and aimed at him. However, just a gentle rise of thedy''s hand made them lower their guns.

    "I am sorry...Jin, was it?" Thedy spoke as Ku Wai pushed her wheelchair forward where there was a street light that illuminated her beauty that was hidden from the shadows. Her facial physical features wereparable to Yun''s fairly strict but appealing elegance. Her hair was long and slightly curly at the edge of her hair and she was wearing a tight henley shirt which revealed her slim figure.

    "Yes, I am." Jin nodded and sheath his sword as Yun had her arms folded.

    "I am sorry for the sudden disruption of your daily life but let''s just say I would like a favour from you even though we had barely met." Thedy got straight to the point before even saying her name.

    "Before anything, can I ask for your name and why do we need to talk under such circumstances?" Jin asked but it seemed everyone except for Ku Wai was irritated. Only a nce from Ku Wai allowed the rest of the ck suits back down from their usual aggression.

    "Ah, I apologise! Sometimes I get too preupied with things that I forget simple stuff but I am surprised that you do not know of me. I am Hu Yang Ling, the youngest daughter of the head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect." Yang Ling said.

    "Oh, no wonder you wished to meet me this way." Jin realised that it must have been hard for important figures of the country to walk around peacefully without being targeted.

    "Firstly, thank you for sparing Ku Wai. He might not be the strongest nor most talented in my sect but he is a very loyal person that has protected me in many instances. It would indeed have been disappointing if I had lost him. Also, I presume I also need to thank you for the panda photo that you gave Ku Wai. I wanted a picture of a baby panda on a whim and did not expect Ku Wai to really try and obtain it so I thank you for doing the job for him." Yang Ling said.

    "However, I came here to do more than just thank you." Yang Ling became serious as she beckoned Jin to follow her to her car for a private conversation.

    "I will return home first and help you with yourundry since obviously, you do not have time to do so," Yun spoke like a true mother as Jin put his hands together and said sorry before following Yang Ling to her car.

    "Your wife?" Yang Ling asked casually, hoping to ease the tension between them before the serious conversation started.

    "No. Just a ...close rtive." Jin could not possibly say that Yun was his mother, especially since they had the means to dig into his past.

    "I see." Yang Ling seemed relieved for some particr reason before the ck suits opened the SUV. Jin saw that the interior of the SUV was styled like a limousine. Seats at the back of the SUV were facing each other and the seats were clearly made of high quality material. He then noticed that Yang Ling being on a wheelchair was not an act. Ku Wai was assisting her into the SUV.

    The moment the SUV doors closed, they suddenly started to move, which Jin made realise he had been tricked into entering the car. "Jin, I assure you that this is not a kidnapping." Yang Ling tried to exin the urgency they were in but it was not helping her case that everything was pointing to a kidnapping. Jin seemed like he was ready to fight back.

    "Calm down Jin. I swear on the honour of my name, I promise that Princess really does need your help." Ku Wai bowed his head a little to show the sincerity of Yang Ling''s request. Jin calmed down before he folded his arms.

    "What do you want from me?" Jin''s words were short and direct.

    "I know that you are a dungeon supplier. I have even sent people to your shop to spy on you ever since Ku Wai returned from the hospital and we found out how he was defeated. Those monsters that are in the dungeon... they are too unique, to the point that I doubt the reports delivered by my men." Yang Ling started to praise Jin.

    "Please get to the point," Jin said.

    "Well, although its true that the selection of your monsters is still... erm...cking in variety, it is justifiable since your cultivation is lower than Ku Wai''s. But still, I have to admit that I even if I have dabbled in dimensional instance technology before, have no way to recreate what you have created. Even the dungeon suppliers that the Royal Zodiac have contracted were unable to do what you did." Yang Ling babbled on, which made Jin slightly ufortable.

    "So... I want you to create a dungeon for me." Yang Ling leaned forward as she felt very excited saying it.

    .

    .

 Chapter 194 Come To My Shop

    <h4>Chapter 194 Come To My Shop</h4>

    "Then juste to my shop. I see no reason why I should amodate you more than any other customer." Jin said bluntly, which made Yang Lingugh while Ku Wai frowned.

    "Mind your words, dungeon supplier. You might have bested me but that does not mean that you have the right to insult the Princess!" Ku Wai raised his voice despite being humble in his request minutes ago.

    "No, no, it''s fine." Yang Ling stoppedughing and reverted back to her serious face as she took out a suitcase and opened it to show stacks of neatly ced cash right in front of Jin.

    "I appreciate the offer and while I admit that this amount of money is indeed very tempting, I will not just create a dungeon for you for money." Jin knew that he had the upper hand right now in this conversation because Yang Ling had praised him. He might not know how much he could push this potential investor cum customer but he thought that trying would not hurt him. He had nothing to lose since they were in need of his help and he did not need theirs.

    What he knew was that she had never experienced the joy and exhration experienced by the customers/spies who had actually participated and had only read through reports, which was uneptable in his eyes. It was akin to telling a chef that you liked their food because you had seen other people eating it, but you did not wish to eat the food because you wanted the chef to create something new just for you to eat.

    "Is it because you need samples of monsters? If that''s the case, our Sect has many strong monsters for you to observe, experiment and even fight against." Yang Ling said as if it was nothing to her.

    "No. That is not what I meant." Jin shook his head before continuing to exin his ''justification'' in a more logical sense.

    "I do not know your cultivation style or grade. I do not know how you fight. I do not know the reason behind your sudden obsession with my dungeons. I do not know if you will just take my technology and recreate it since these are my trade secrets and also, you have not tried any of my dungeons before, so I do not feel obliged to help you." Jin tried to justify himself but in the end, he revealed the real reason behind his rejection.

    "My cultivation was crippled ever since the moment I lost the movement of my legs." Yang Ling spoke seriously to which Ku Wai seemed shocked since she had spoken the truth to a stranger. If outsiders knew what the other Royal Zodiac Sects knew, that her cultivation was really crippled, they would take advantage of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect.

    Currently, almost every Sect thought that Yang Ling was in a wheelchair to hide her cultivation from other Sects. In the previous Royal Zodiac generations, there were one or two royal cultivators that hid their true cultivation by pretending to be sick. They assumed that Yang Ling was doing the same too.

    "I want you to create a special dungeon for me so that I can remember the days of cultivating and fighting. I also heard that fighting your monsters provides spiritual force. There might be a small chance that I might recover my cultivation if I absorb enough spiritual force. It''s a selfish reason but the kindness that you showed Ku Wai along with the fact that you are a dungeon supplier made me believe that I can trust you for this task." Jin noticed that Yang Ling spoked with some truth in her words. He did not know why but he felt she was still hiding something. At the very least they were not all lies.

    "Lost your legs?" Jin thought about how simr she was to Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress.

    "I am sorry to ask but have you not tried other cultivation styles to remedy your injury?" Jin asked.

    "Are you actually stupid? The only cultivation you are allowed to cultivate in a specific Royal Zodiac Sect is that particr cultivation and no other." Ku Wai''s had some angst in his words as Jin disyed his ignorance to Yang Ling.

    "Secretly, I did. They did not work though. The only reason my father still keeps me around is that I am very good with numbers and management." Yang Ling replied, which reminded Jin that he still had yet to visit his ex-girlfriend for some advice on city management.

    When the car pulled up, Jin realised he was back at his store. While it was easy to walk to his store, taking a car was somewhat of a different matter since the roads did not connect his house to the Tiangong shopping district.

    "How''s the break in attempt being handled?" Jin asked Yun, who was still back at his house doing housework, through his phone and she replied that the attempt was just simple lockpicking. Thewbreaker did not stay any longer after failing a few times.

    "Why am I back at my store?" Jin asked Yang Ling.

    "Did you not say that I have not tried your dungeons so you won''t help me? Well, I am going to try them now." Yang Ling replied and Ku Wai also insisted oning along. "That way, you will know how I fight and I get to have a first hand look at your technology to see if they are really as good as what was stated in the report." Yang Ling said in a way to soothe her possible ''saviour''.

    Yang Ling inwardly admitted that she was being impulsive and did not think through much since she usually got what she wanted without much effort. She did not expect that the name of the Royal Zodiac did not mean much to Jin aspared to other people. How could one be that oblivious to a Royal Zodiac Sect, much less the family that controlled it?

    Besides, she could not ignore the prophecy the Zodiac fortune teller had said since half of it had alreadye true. "A picture might be worth a thousand words but the picture of a baby panda is worth much more."

    Despite being such a cringing prophecy, the two hundred year old fortune teller was never wrong. Many of the Royal Zodiac Sect members that had heeded her advice and managed to grasp the meaning behind her cryptic yet embarrassing prophecies always did extremely well in life. Hence, she could not help but think that Ku Wai or Jin might be the one that would be able to turn her life around.

    However, even Ku Wai did not know about this prophecy of hers and thought that the baby panda photo was just based on a whim.

    "Fine, considering you are some sort of a big shot and afraid that people might target you, I am willing to let you in after opening hours. But only this once. I will not entertain requests like this in the future. If you want to experience my dungeons again, you will have to do it during opening hours." Jin said as he let Yang Ling and Ku Wai enter the shop while he asked the other ck suits to move away as they could attract unwanted attention, especially since it was in the middle of the night.

    "That''s more like it!" Yang Ling smiled as she entered the shop with Ku Wai. Jin subsequently tried to exin how the shop worked, totally forgetting that Yang Ling had read reports on his shop and already knew what to do.

    "So Jin, what dungeon should I pick?" Yang Ling asked as she continued to look at the menu.

    "If it were up to me, I would say the Music Theatre Instance." Jin knew not many chose that dungeon because it was really too hard despite the fact that the dungeon was already modified to fit cultivator''s level.

    Even Bu Dong, Bin Yong and his group or the Venus Four would not able to clear the Music Theatre in one go. Only the Venus Four managed to clear it after a few tries and they even thought that was the hardest dungeon they ever cleared. It was however very rewarding after clearing the instance.

    Jin eventually told them that the Music Theatre dungeon instance was some sort of dungeons for veterans despite the modification to the difficulty level. The number of choices and the subtle choices that one could make in the dungeon made it hard for cultivators who were used to simple dungeon crawlers.

    It was also an attempt to throw off the System learning capability and see if the System could subsequently recreate a simr dungeon like this. Jin also used this Music Theatre instance as an experience to create the Gentlebear instance but it was still working in progress due to theplexity in choices he wanted cultivators to make in a mystery dungeon.

    "Okay, let''s go with that then." Yang Ling agreed as she was then ushered to Station 3, which was the closest to the cash port.

    After the payment, both Ku Wai and Yang Ling entered the instance with both excitment and trepidation.

    .

    .

 Chapter 195 Terrifying Tiger

    <h4>Chapter 195 Terrifying Tiger</h4>

    "So, the two of you are the new guards eh?" A Panda spoke up when Yang Ling and Ku Wau teleported in. He was smoking his cigar, wearing a tweed cap along with a coat and had an eyepatch covering his right eye.

    "And you are?" Yang Ling was unfamiliar with the Music Theatre Instance since her reports only consisted of the Goblin Forest and the Bank Heist Instance. Ku Wai wanted to stand in front of Yang Ling but she stopped him for a moment and allowed the One Eyed Panda to speak.

    "Name''s Hui. I am the driver and manager of this musical group, The Enlightened. Boss Jin said that he would be bringing in a few guards once in a while as a favour for me." The Panda looked at Yang Ling who was in a wheelchair as he continued to smoke his cigar.

    "Well, if he let you in, you must be good at something." Hui threw the cigar on the floor and asked them to follow him. It was then that Yang Ling and Ku Wai finally took in the sights, at this particr instance.

    They were in the outskirts of a small vige. Apparently, the travelling music group was restocking their wares and supplies for the trip to the next town for their performance. Hui, the One Eyed Panda, brought the duo to meet the Enlightened members.

    "They might seem like a weird group of monsters but they are one damn good music group." Hui introduced them to the group. Ke Mi, The Zither Mistress and her pet, the Great White Snake,solely yed the zither and she was a master at it. The Fire and Ice Wyrm Ants were called Mr Hot and Ms Cold respectively and they somehow learnt how to y the drums and bass. Lastly, Hui introduced them to Ms Sandy, the Sand Witch as well as the main vocal of their group.

    Jin never used the Sand Witch despite her being gifted by the system. The Music Theatre was not just a dungeon instance for the Sand Witch but it was actually her home at the same time. She was the only one that Jin had difficulty moving into the Sanctum of Worlds no matter how much he enticed her.

    Ms Sandy also refused all of Jin''s gifts, including the equipping of cards to increase her equipment level. She said she would not equip any new skills or weapons until someone managed to defeat the Music Theatre. Jin was suspecting that she might be an extreme introvert who onlye out when she had to work. Regardless, she did her work splendidly and never cease to amaze Jin when it was her time to shine.

    Jin also guessed that it was because of her that the Music Theatre Instance was extremely hard for the cultivators. Nearly everyone who fought in that instance could not get past a certain stage.

    Hence, Jin figured that he should give Yang Ling the hardest instance to try so that she might be put off and not disturb Jin in the future despite the fact that she might be a potential investor. Jin realised that he might not want to meddle with the Royal Zodiacs since they always brought their own set of troubles along with themбн especially if they began negotiating partnerships. Jin already had enough on his te at the moment and politics on top of it all would just be too much. That was also one of the reasons why Jin kept his curiosity at bay when he found out that Yang Ling''s cultivation had been crippled.

    "We are leaving in a few minutes and travelling to the Grasnd''s open-air music theatre for the performance. Your objective is to prevent the musical troupe from getting injured and if possibleбн prevent the truck from damage in the process. Boss Jin said it is be fairly sturdy but if damaged it would be hard to repair since they did not build such things in this era." Hui said as they finished introducing themselves to the troupe.

    Ku Wai was surprised to see a modern truck with an open load bed in a medieval setting. Their luggage and belongings, which he assumed were the musical instruments, were ced near the driver''s seat while the rest sat at the other end of the open load bed.

    Yang Ling was given the seat at the front with Hui since her disability made her very vulnerable and a cramped space that allowed for limited mobility would serve as a hindrance. It was quite clear at the moment that Yang Ling was only serving as a hindrance. Despite this, Yang Ling still persevered, disregarding the looks she received from the monsters.

    "Do not worry about it Princess, I will protect the troupe when necessary." Ku Wai said as he closed the truck door and jumped into the open load box of the truck. "Hmmph, to be frank, the Enlightened members themselves already have a few tricks of their own too so you guys being guards were just for additional precautionбн although it is starting to seem more of a hindrance rather than help." Hui was being sarcastic towards Yang Ling but she did not respond.

    She knew she could not move but she did not know that Hui said that line to almost every cultivator he met. It just so happened that his words stung more than they should have. The ride began and the monsters were happily chatting with each otherбн as expected of the bodyguard, Ku Wai was silent throughout the entire trip.

    Needless to say, not long after they departed from the small vige, they encountered some trouble. There was a Praying Mantis eating flesh at the side of the road with a destroyed caravanying beside it.

    Ku Wai saw the danger ahead and climbed out of the truck. Yang Ling also opened the side door of the truck, only to be stopped by Ku Wai. "Princess, it will be fine, I can handle this alone. Just rx and watch the show." Ku Wai said to her as he closed the door again, which made Yang Ling quite frustrated. "I can handle it on my own too even without my cultivation." She thought to herself.

    The Praying Mantis stopped chewing the flesh on the side of the road and turned to find another caravan in the distance along with a man walking towards it. It did not care much since it was enjoyed the flesh it was eating so why should it stop? Its prey wasing towards it so it did not need to move from its eating spot.

    Yang Ling had already guessed that they would end up in one of Jin''s premade dungeons. She was smart like that. Due to his princess'' deduction, he had brought his full gear along with him. Unlike the time when he used only his fists against Jin, he was far better equipped.

    Temporary inscriptions of the Tiger gave him additional strength but also a boost in agility and uracy. He had even equipped two small triangr metal tes that had strips of metals protruding from the tip, symbolising a w.

    Since his enemy was still stationary and enjoying its snack, he might as well take the initiative. He wanted to finish it in one blow before the battle got drawn out. It would be wise to save Yang Ling''s skills for ater part of the dungeon.

    "Terrific Tiger Style, Sprint Strike of the Tiger." With both metal tes, which he usually used as shields, aiming at the praying mantis, he drew back his arms and squat down, all while leaning forward. With a kick, his entire body became a deadly arrow that cut through the wind and towards the Praying Mantis.

    *CLANG!*

    Metal shed with metal. The scythes on the praying mantis'' forelegs deflected the w shields and it even tried to follow up with a sh, but Ku Wai twisted his body just in time to evade the attack.

    "So this Praying Mantis knows the art of counterattacking. Interesting." Ku Wai took a few steps back and went into his fighting stance. The praying mantis even beckoned it toe closer, taunting him.

    "Boss Jin sure has some interesting monsters." Yang Ling talked to herself as she started to take notes in the truck.

    .

    .

 Chapter 196 Troublemaker

    <h4>Chapter 196 Troublemaker</h4>

    The Praying Mantis did not give Ku Wai any quarters. It executed its swings precision and power. While the shield did reduce Ku Wai''s mobility, he was thankful that he had brought it out to fight against this monster. He had made some careless miscalctions regarding the monster, which nearly cost him his arms if it were not for the shields blocking the attacks for him.

    However, Ku Wai could see that the shield would not be able tost if the Praying Mantis continued being relentless in its attacks. As much of a musclehead he was, he too read the reports on Jin''s dungeons.

    And from the reports, he concluded with one statementбн they were difficult. It was not just because they were story-based but the monsters Jin created through dimensional technology was tip top. Upon fighting against this particr praying mantis, which was definitely not the boss, he could already see that Jin''s skill in creating monsters was superior to the dungeon suppliers the Royal Zodiacs contracted.

    And that was without even mentioning the atmosphere and actual characters. The customers might think that it was easy for the dungeon suppliers to create an instance and fill it with the environment or non-yable characters like Hui the One Eyed Panda. It was not. To bring life into an empty world that was decided and ruled over by programming rules and a high maniption of magic was not a feat to be underestimated.

    Unfortunately, both Ku Wai and Yang Ling did not know the truth. Jin was not actually that smart, after all, it was only because of the System that Jin was able to do what he did. Yet Jin was not pushing the system to its the maximum potential because of the fallout they had had with each other.

    True, the System was still giving out missions, but the missions were not as forgiving as they used to be. Perhaps the System did not really care much about Jin any more.

    But with limited feedback and Yun as the middleman, ying on both teams, it was difficult for Jin and the System to reconcile.

    Thankfully, Ku Wai had sufficient experience inbat and eventually learnt the patterns of the praying mantis. Hence, he started to be more aggressive in his attacks and even used the w shields to their limits in order to close the gap between the praying mantis and himself.

    He pushed forth until he was in contact with the praying mantis'' underbelly. "Intermediate Fist Arts, The Ambush of the Terrifying Terrific Tiger!" He shouted loudly and his hand turned slightly shadowy in nature and yet his fist was stronger than steel. The punch was strong enough to not only cause a dent through the praying mantis'' carapace body but it went into its organs too.

    Ku Wai did not stop there as he poured his chi through his fist and both Hui and Yang Ling could see the Praying Mantis melt right in front of their eyes. It was part of the Terrific Tiger Style to insert chi into the cultivator''s punches. But Ku Wai did more than that. He let his own chi pulsate through the praying mantis causing its body and its functions to be disrupted like microwaves vibrating the molecules and exciting it to the point where it melted.

    Later, Ku Wai took out a handkerchief to wipe the melted parts of the mantis away from his hand and proceed to look at the wares that were destroyed in the caravan. "Nothing much of use nor any hidden treasure. Guess the report is true."

    Ku Wai remembered that Jin''s dungeons only gave their rewards at the end now, aspared to other dungeon suppliers who will ce certain prizes in monsters'' body. Jin used to do that but felt it was too inconvenient and broke the pacing of the story if they were in a theme.

    "All clear, we can go ahead." Ku Wai knocked on Hui''s side of the truck as he went back to the open load bed and joined the other monsters.

    "Nice fight." Ke Mi said simply and gave him a thumbs up. Even the wyrm ants were pping with their legs. It was still a mystery how the ants were able to y instruments but Ku Wai guessed he would probably see itter on in the dungeon. However, the only one that was unhappy was Ms Sandy. In fact, she felt a little off aspared to the other monsters.

    "You okay?" Ku Wai asked not because he was concerned but more to test her and check her bodynguage. Ms Sandy, however, did not respond nor even looked at Ku Wai at all.

    Meanwhile, Yang Ling was taking notes of the dungeon instances and wasparing it to the monsters they had fought before in previous dungeon suppliers. "Hmm, even the road has its uneven variations. Jin really took much into detail for his dungeon instance. Now I can roughly understand why it costs a lot. There are many things not included in the report and I am d I have entered one of his dungeons."

    Hui continued to ride his truck and Yang Ling continued to feel that this particr dungeon instance felt more like a trip along the countryside than a dungeon. "Not a bad ce to be honest, I have been in the city for so long, it sure is nice to have a bit of change of scenery."

    Yang Ling did not usually feel that way about life as she lowered the window of the truck. The crazy pace ofpetition in the Royal Zodiac family was crawling up her head. The loss of her cultivation along with her crippled legs made family ties even more strained than ever. Of course, it does not really matter much to her since she was the youngest daughter and her two other brothers would most probably be vying for the head position of the Sect.

    Probably this was the one time she felt at peace for the longest time ever but that peace was interrupted after a short while. "Hmmm, I think I hit some rock or some sharp object along the way and we did not notice it." Hui said as he stopped to check the integrity of his truck, only to find out that one of the wheels was really punctured.

    "Time out for a while." The Panda banged at the side of the truck to notify the rest of the monsters and Ku Wai.

    Suddenly a sentient root appeared from the sides of the road which was most probably camouged by the tall grass. It grabbed onto Hui and caused him to fall, hitting the truck first andter the ground, which led to him bing unconscious. More roots appeared and dragged Hui into the depths of the tall grass.

    "Hui!" Ke Mi shouted and immediately looked at Mr Hot, the Fire Wyrm Ant. He nodded his head and sent a st of fire from its mandible to the tall grass. The entire field went up in mes and the roots that were holding Hui were startled by the attack, making them flinch and throw Hui away in order to protect themselves.

    The Great White Snake quickly slithered through the grassy knolls on fire to grab Hui and threw him towards the road as it tried to return back to Ke Mi''s side. However, the roots that once took Hui, now targeted the Great White Snake and it held the snake tight to the ground, causing it to choke in the smoke and burn in the fire.

    Ms Cold realised something was amiss and tried to blow some ice cold breath at that particr area only to see the Great White Snake being wrapped around with vines struggling. The struggle was getting weaker each second, so Ke Mi did not hesitate to use her Zither and cut the vines with sonic waves.

    Ku Wai rushed in to drag it to safety, only to see he was being interrupted by roots appearing from the ground, trying to not just to grab him but to stab him too. Fortunately, he had speed inscription of the tiger on, which increased his agility and he retreated back.

    "Ohohoho, not bad." Arge ancient tree crawled towards the musical troupe Enlightened and it revealed its face.

    No doubt, it was none other than Shu who was causing trouble.

    .

    .

 Chapter 197 Two Can Play The Game

    <h4>Chapter 197 Two Can y The Game</h4>

    "I havee for you, my little sweet Sandy," Shu spoke in an irritating voice as the others turned to look at Sandy, the Sand Witch. "I am sorry to disappoint but I have a contract that I need to fulfil." Sandy stepped out of the truck and walked towards Shu. He did not harm her, unlike the others.

    "I have one condition though. Let them go. They are innocent and not under the cursed contract." Sandy said without even turning back to look back at them.

    "I am sorry Sandy, but I cannot leave any witnesses behind. You know what the contract demands." Shu said as it peeled off a piece of its bark, making the ursed blood contract in the open for everyone to see. Shu even poured some magic into it and the contract glowed bright red. Upon doing so, Sandy screamed in pain as her backless dress revealed a simr blood contract that stretched from her shoulders down to her lower back.

    "Now, return to me when you are done." The Treantughed hideously as Sandy tried to control her powers and defy the Treant. But s, her will was weak against themand of the blood contract. She could not help but fire a magical st of sand towards the truck. "That is if you survive!"

    "Sandy!" Ke Mi shouted as she deflected the sandst away with her own sonic st.

    "You have to kill me! I cannot stop the blood contract!" There were conflicted feelings present on her face. The group was not able to get a grasp on her feelings as they seemed contradictory based on her expression. She was crying buckets of tears while smiling deviously at the same time.

    "Snake!" Ke Mi could not voice out more than a few words but this was still a major improvement since when she had only just started working under Jin, all she could verbalise were primitive grunts. As if that one phrase had magic in it, the Great White Snake woke up from the slumber it had been put in by the roots of the Ancient Treant Shu.

    The Sand Witch knew each of the musical troupe members'' strengths and weaknesses so she knew that the Great White Snake would pose a threat to her if she was not careful. From a range, Sandy would have a better advantage against it so she took her chance to eliminate the threat as soon as possible.

    However, the truck that was initially stationary started moving towards her. She then noticed Ku Wai driving it under themand of Yang Ling to smash straight into her. Instead of attacking head-on, the slight shock from seeing a truck rushing at her made her movements slow, which caused her to hesitate before transforming into sand.

    It was at that point though that Sandy realised she was being ignored. She watched as the truck continued to drive towards where the ancient treant disappeared. "Oh? Seems like Yang Ling knows something." Jin smirked as he drank a cup of ck Ivory Coffee and ate a te of cheesecake for his midnight supper.

    "I have no idea what you are doing Princess but I trust you!" Ku Wai gulped down some saliva as he ran the truck with a broken tire through the vast thickets of the jungle. It was obvious that the truck was being battered by the obstacles of the jungle yet Ku Wai did not care as he pushed through, trying to maintain as much of the truck''s integrity as possible.

    "Trust me, if I have learnt anything from the reports regarding Jin''s story themed dungeons, it''s that we are given a choice for every action we take, making it as close to real life as possible. And if that does not work, we can always y the dungeon again and try to find the optimal oue once more. Trust me, I don''t like this eitherбн it''s like we''re being controlled like a marite by a puppeteer, except the puppeteer is a dungeon supplier. Anyway, despite that, I have to say that this is way better than any dungeon instance I have ever entered before." Yang Ling calmly spoke to Ku Wai but her heart was actually racing as the truck went through the jungle.

    It was not from the challenge of escaping from the Sand Witch, nor was it from the thrill of riding in a truck through the jungle. It was because she saw Jin''s monsters. Fire and Ice breathing ants? A tree that could initiate a blood contract? A humanoid monster manipting sand? What in the world had Jin seen that made him able to visualise all of this? Howplex was his maniption of his dimensional technology and his knowledge of vast subjects like western magic? Basically, she wanted to know how on earth he was able to create such an intricate dungeon? She could hardly believe Jin was just a graduate from an engineering course.

    Jin was definitely hiding something and even if he would not, or could not reveal it to her, she would try her best to use him to his full potential, for her sake. After all, she had power, money, and youth on her side. Sure, she was currently crippled but who knows, maybe Jin could do something about that too.

    Maybe she would assign him the role of her sole dungeon supplier since she could manipte some funds from the Royal Zodiac Tiger sect for her private use. Or maybe...just maybe get him to like her. That would save a lot of effort. Yang Ling could not help but blush a little at the prospect of having such a capable guy by her side. "Perhaps that would increase my standing with Father."

    "Hmmph, Looks like the Great White Snake and Hui were able to escape." Sandy breathed a sigh of relief before standing still to regain her original body. Turning into sand was an escape ability for the Sand Witch but it took some time for her to regain her physical body. She might be able to take on a sand form but she would only be impregnable towards physical attacks, not magic attacks... and the Enlightened members were elementally and magically inclined.

    As much as she wanted to defy the orders of Shu, she was unable to because of the blood contract. Jin purposely integrated this into the instance to encourage the yers to find ways to save Sandy. The Venus Four used brute force and subdued her to the point that she was unable to move before they sealed her up until they were able to defeat Shu. They kept her alive despite having the chance to kill her because Jin had told them that defeating her was not the true ending of the instance. However, their method of "saving" her sort of eluded the essence of the "true" ending.

    The truck eventually broke down as it crashed into a fallen log but beyond the log was a clearing where the ancient treant humming to himself happily. "What a pity, Sandy did not kill a single one of you. Well, since you are all here, how about you entertain me a little." Shu said as he grabbed a beehive he had been growing by the side of the clearing and delicately squeezed the beehive as honey began to flow into his mouth.

    "Great tree, are you able to break the blood contract? If so, what do you require of us to break it?" Yang Ling was being pushed through the clearing on a wheelchair that was conveniently kept in her storage ring.

    "Did I not say that no witnesses were to be left behind? She will being for you guys soon enough. Besides, why are you helping someone who you just met not too long ago?" Shu scoffed at Yang Ling''s politeness.

    "Let''s say it''s for mutual benefit. Sandy seemed to be in pain when she tried to kill us and I''d like to survive this particr ordeal." Yang Ling replied.

    "You sure she was in pain? Are you sure she was not delighted?" Shu asked once more as he shook his branches, causing sakura blossoms to fall all around the clearing. It was really beautiful to watch, provided one had the time to enjoy it.

    "I am certain she was in pain. To be honest, she probably still is" Yang Ling affirmed her answer as Ku Wai kept quiet and let Yang Ling handle the talking.

    "Then let me ask you this. What is your motive? Are you truly breaking the contract in an act of kindness or are you only doing this because you hope to be rewarded and this is the most logical course of action?" Shu went off the script a little as he pried into Yang Ling''s mind. To his surprise, her mind resistance was rather strong but the question confused her a little, which allowed Shu to enter her thoughts and see what was in there.

    Jin was not stupid either. He had purposely sent her into the Music Theatre because of this reason. Shu was capable of something simr to mind control. The sakura blossoms were how the praying mantis was tamed by Shu. Even if Shu could not control the mind entirely, he was capable of carrying out some mind tricks, one of which was taking a look at people''s thoughts. Of course, it wasn''t an all-seeing eye, and the stronger one''s cultivation was, the harder it was for Shu to peer through.

    However, Jin remembered that Yang Ling''s cultivation was crippled, hence he had asked Shu to quietly infiltrate her mind so that he could learn what she was thinking. A Member of a Royal Zodiac sect would nevere with zero strings attached so Jin purposely acted dumb to make Yang Ling think he was a gullible target.

    "I am doing this because it is the most logical thing to do. Kindness does not exist in my view of the world. It is an illusion or a trick people use to manipte others." Yang Ling answered boldly.

    "Your answer ismendable. Very well." Shu had already searched through her thoughts as he snapped his roots, which suddenly caused Ke Mi to erupt in a series of screams.

    .

    .

 Chapter 198 Playing To Their Tune

    <h4>Chapter 198 ying To Their Tune</h4>

    Ke Mi screamed as if her lungs were bursting and her eyes began to glow red. She punched her zither a few times and subsequently the side of the truck. At this point, her hand instinctively moved to y the zither, which caused both Mr Hot and Ms Cold to gradually fall under her control with each pluck of the zither.

    "Wow, I have never seen this particr scene actually y out before. This is the first time someone has triggered this scene." Jin watched on closely as Ke Mi went into a fit of rage. He knew that all of the rage was scripted in the Dungeon Maker but he still felt it was exceedingly realistic. The scripts were based on the choices that Jin had selected. The Dungeon Maker would use the scenes to script appropriate actions for the monsters to take.

    Jin was not too worried about how Ke Mi was reacting. She was not acting either as she was really in pain during the process of this particr dungeon. Jin remembered that the System had told him that all these were just copies of the real monsters. Anything positive or negative they learnt from this particr instance would merely be summarised as experience for them. Once, he was so worried that he went to their home instance to ask how they were.

    Despite his care, the monsters thought that Jin was overreacting since everything was fine. Eventually, he found out that the System did not ''export'' the whole experience to the monsters. It merely yed it back to them, much like watching a first person movie, so that the monsters could learn what had gone wrong or what could be improved. Jin could only sigh at the marvels of the System. If only the System was capable of rewind time so that Jin could make multiple choices and pick the best one among them. However, life did not work that way and he could only ept the choice he had made and move forth.

    "Princess, this is bad." Ku Wai did not bother with the wheelchair anymore and immediately carried her to safety. But was there really a safe ce around them? They were in the middle of a clearing that was deep in the jungle. The ancient treant was in control of the environment and there was no one other than themselves.

    "So the rest of the Enlightened troupe was blood contracted by the Treant too?" Yang Ling was confused by the sudden turn of events. "So why did the Treant make the Sand Witch attack the troupe? To confuse us?" Yang Ling could not help but question the weirdness of this particr instance. Everything was done to confuse them.

    "If you think about the dungeon instance name... Don''t you think it makes some sense?" Ku Wai, who was usually a muscle-head, tried to voice out his ownprehension of this particr dungeon.

    "What do you mean?" Yang Ling could not wrap her head around it as Ku Wai dodged a fire st attack from Mr Hot. She then saw that the wyrm ants were carrying Ke Mi on their back while climbing out of the crashed lorry.

    "That Treant is the conductor, the lead, or something like that. The rest of the musical troupe are all ying their roles to drag us into the scene. We were being yed by them all along." Ku Wai used his battered shield w to block an ice shard but it broke upon impact.

    "So you are saying that we were just ying to their tune?" Yang Ling questioned as Ku Wai raced through the thickets.

    "Mmhm. This jungle is their theatre, we are their audience, and this situation was all set up as part of the y. We assumed we were going to see a proper y when we ourselves were actually the unwilling actors." Ku Wai said.

    "What a terrible y this is." Yang Ling shook her head and started to grasp onto what Ku Wai was trying to say. Suddenly, roots appeared in front of them, causing them to be trapped.

    Not only that, they were being grabbed by Shu and were brought back to the clearing. The roots were merciless as the cultivators were dragged back against the ground, causing cuts and wounds to ravage their bodies. Ku Wai was able to tough it out but not Yang Ling due to her loss of cultivation.

    However, being an ex-cultivator, Yang Ling was still able to endure the pain as they were being dragged back. Upon the clearing, they saw that Sandy, Ke Mi, Mr Hot and Ms Cold were all waiting for them.

    "That was not nice of you to just run away. We have barely begun!" Shu said as he subsequently wrapped the entire clearing in a barrier of vines and roots, making it nearly impossible for the duo to escape again. Heter let go of them a distance off the ground, letting them plummet. Ku Wai though, now free from the grasp of Shu, spun in mid air to save Yang Ling before shended t on the ground.

    "It''s okay, Ku Wai. I can still handle myself." She smiled at the worried Ku Wai and stared at Shu. "If you want a fight, we will give you one. Besides, I am dying to experience some action with my new gadget." Yang Ling figured there was no other way other than fighting it out with the Treant and the other mind controlled monsters.

    "Are you sure princess? Did you not say that it''s still in the prototype stage?" Ku Wai worriedly stared at her.

    "That was why we looked for Jin, right? Jin! I know you are looking at us through this dungeon. Do you want to know why I want a dungeon? I will show it to you. Not many know the existence of this. In fact, you are the among the first to know about it. That is how much I am willing to trust you so that we can have a partnership!" Yang Ling shouted as she took out a suitcase from her storage ring.

    To fully utilise the powers of storage, Yang Ling had kept a storage suitcase in her storage ring, mainly because her storage ring did not have the capacity to contain the items that were in that particr storage suitcase.

    "Very well, I want to see what you have. It better live up to what you have hyped it up to be! I am going to allow you to prepare to your fullest before we start our fight, purely for entertainment purposes!" Shuuded at Yang Ling''s efforts to fight against them.

    Yang Ling looked at Ku Wai with a serious gaze and he nodded his head. "This princess is too stubborn for her own good. Hmm, but I did swear that I would do anything for her... no matter what." Ku Wai ced his palm on the storage suitcase and the digital lock on the suitcase unlocked with a sophisticated click.

    Inside the suitcase was an exoskeletonбн though that was overstating it by quite a lot. It was essentially just a metal chest frame with pistonden harnesses. Yang Ling had aptly named it Gearbox, which was printed on the frame. Ku Wai wore it upon his shoulders and the harnesses tightened immediately the moment it detected Ku Wai''s body. The exoskeleton frame was meant to increase the capabilities of a human by detecting the movement of the user''s muscles and then amplify those movements.

    Each punch could potentially be two times deadlier as the frame was able to amplify the speed and strength of the user. The frame was made of a highly durable metal, although it was still inferior to Jin''s Bam and Boo by a long shot. That said, it was still able to endure attacks and damage like the shield w that Ku Wai had used before it was broken.

    Ku Wai did not only equip the Gearbox frame but also attached one of its essories, the Titan Fists, as Ku Wai had dubbed them. The metallic gauntlets were installed into the frame and he mmed his Titan Fists together.

    In terms of power, they were definitely more powerful than a standard Power Fist like the one Xue Ping used and when equipped with the Gearbox frame, their speed and ferocity would be enhanced, allowing Ku Wai to break through power levels of Grade 6 despite only being a Grade 5 cultivator, which was an amazing feat, since no weapons had ever been able to do that, with the exception of certain Epic or Legend levels of inscription, but they were all owned by mysterious beings and lost to the mundane world.

    "This prototype had made by the Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect''s Military Armament Research Facility using the blueprint and schematics supplied by yours truly." Yang Ling spoke proudly as Ku Wai banged his fists together once more, ready to fight.

    .

    .

 Chapter 199 The Decoy

    <h4>Chapter 199 The Decoy</h4>

    Jin was surprised by the sudden honesty of Yang Ling. Did she notice that Shu was collecting information on her so she decided to y the card of an honest businessman... or maybe she really wanted to start a partnership with Jin?

    In spite of that, Shu did his job by transmitting the information to Jin as he continued with the dungeon instance. In addition, Ku Wai and Yang Ling were nevertheless closer to the true ending of this particr dungeon than anyone had ever been. Ku Wai had even understood the meaning of the ''Theatre'' part in the title Music Theatre Dungeon instance.

    Yang Ling was still sitting on the ground whilst holding onto the suitcase that Ku Wai had opened. She was so vulnerable and defenceless that she was almost begging to be a target and so Shumanded Sandy to attack her. This time around though, Sandy looked at him and sted her sand powers at Shu instead.

    The blood contract on her back was not activated and Shu was surprised as he used his branches to fend off the sand st. "Oh ho? You managed to deactivate it?" Shu was slightly irritated by the sudden development as Sandy walked towards Ku Wai and disyed her fighting stance to the other blood contracted monsters.

    Ku Wai was surprised by Sandy as she grinned at him. "You have to thank your princess for nning it all." Both Ku Wai and Sandy looked at the back to see Yang Ling posing with a peace sign on her right hand and as she smiled deviously.

    From the seemingly imprable barrier of roots and vines came Hui the One Eyed Panda. He was riding on the Great White Snake and there was someone else seated behind him. Ku Wai took a closer look and realised that this ''person'' had the face of Yang Ling.

    Only then did he realise what was happening and he startedughing at Yang Ling''s ingenuity. "Princess, I cannot believe you actually used that despite the warnings from the Sect Head not to use it. No wonder I felt that you were dumber than usualбн uhhhhбн. No offence intended." Ku Wai spoke to the Yang Ling that was on the snake.

    "The Sect Head destroyed me once, I will not let him take control of my life again. I am going to do what I want! I will use all of his resources if necessary so that I can carve a name for myself, so that my destiny will be in my own hands." the ''other'' Yang Ling said as Hui helped her get down from the Great White Snake and brought her to the Yang Ling that was with Ku Wai.

    As both the Yang Lings touched each other, theybined into one whole again. Yang Ling stretched her upper body a little before Hui carried her again. Not only were the monsters present taken aback, but even Jin was also bbergasted by the current scene.

    "What the heck?!" Jin could notprehend the current scene. Shu was also confused as hell and demanded to know what was happening.

    "I lost my cultivationбн but that does not mean I lost my mana circuits." Yang Ling gave Shu a hint, and Shu then realised that what she had used was Western Magic. "I see, so I guess you have an Epic Level Mastery of Maniption Magic," Shu spoke with great understanding, which made Yang Ling astonished by the level of knowledge that the ancient Treant held.

    "You tter me, I merely have an Intermediate Level Mastery of Maniption Magic. Ibined it with Intermediate Level Mastery of both Summoning and Psionic Magic to create this original magic of my own. I have yet to fully master it, but it seems to be working quite well at the moment." Yang Ling wanted to brag a little since it was her first time using it in the field.

    Jin became really curious after hearing that conversation and immediately stopped eating his midnight snack to enter the Dungeon Maker. He pulled out the entire records of the current dungeon instance that Yang Ling was still in to see what he had missed.

    To his surprise, during the dungeon instance, Yang Ling was already acting before the start of the fight against the Sand Witch. She suspected that Sandy was being manipted by another person/monster or waiting to be manipted by that person/monster based on her intuition when Hui introduced them to her. By then, she had already noticed that something was off.

    Hence, she started casting her own Psionic magic as she let her own mind control Sandy, which allowed Sandy to fight against the mind control from the blood contract. Yang Ling knew that in order to break a mind control contract, she either had to destroy the source, which she now knew was the Ancient Treant or help the victim break out of it using his/her own will.

    Unfortunately, she could not let the Treant know that. If he could manipte one monster, why would he not manipte the rest of the monsters? It meant that he was just waiting for the right time to do so. It was at this point that Yang Ling realised how ruthless the Treant was.

    If the cultivators managed to kill Sandy, the other monsters would be in grief, making them easier targets to manipte, and using a contract would cover the way he would mind control the monsters, hence making the cultivators assume that the contract was just a one off thing.

    When the Treant managed to lure the cultivators into his own ying field where he had the home advantage, he would utilise his abilities to the fullest. Judging from the current scene, Shu did just that. Everything was going ording to Yang Ling''s predictions.

    Hence, Yang Ling decided to make a decoy by summoning a transparent slime blob and utilising it to replicate herself via maniption magic. By using psionic magic, she was able to transfer a part of her consciousness into the transformed slime decoy, allowing her to partially take control of it. Considering the fact that she was crippled, Ku Wai would not have noticed it at all.

    "After many months of training, you finally look prettier than me..." Yang Ling said proudly in the yback as the decoy nodded her head in agreement. It was a pity that Ku Wai could not see the difference. An eptable level of deception was required when making the features of the decoy. She remembered the first time she had made the slime blob replicate her features, there was nothing but a :) on its face.

    Yang Ling had to perfect her maniption magic in her spare time but she did not regret it at all, especially since there were many times where she was needed in events as a ''special'' guest but in actual fact, it was just to show the presence of Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect. Her father used her as a showpiece for minor eventsбн and there were a lot of minor events.

    With the decoy all ready, the slime blob threw Yang Ling into the tall grass on the other side of the road, where it was not being burnt by Mr Hot''s mes, and of course, Yang Ling broke the fall with her psionic magic before she subsequently dragged the unconscious Hui and the Great White Snake away from the scene of battle with her psionic powers.

    Once the truck had left and Sandy had her guard down, Yang Ling took the opportunity to cast a telekinesis hold onto Sandy. To her surprise, the Great White Snake was already awake and assisted Yang Ling with the hold. Sandy tried to retaliate but she had just reformed from her sand form, making her extremely vulnerable, so the Great White Snake had a major advantage against her.

    "Ah Ah Ah! To think that my troupe members fell to that stupid tree." Hui woke up rubbing his head to ease the pain from the throw. "Thank you, my fellow guard, and you, little snake, for saving this old life of mine. I shall return the favour." Hui walked towards Sandy, who seemed agitated to see Hui. Despite this, she was also crying.

    "I will release you from your pain." Hui removed his eyepatch, only for Yang Ling to see an empty void through that eye socket. Sandy''s blood contract was forcibly removed as it was being absorbed into the void of the Panda''s eye.

    "I am sorry Manager Hui, I did not mean to hurt you." Sandy cried as the Great White Snake released its grip.

    "It''s okay, it''s okay. Now... let''s get back our other troupe members."

 Chapter 200 Re: Control

    <h4>Chapter 200 Re: Control</h4>

    "This is dangerous, have I also been affected by her Psionic magic?" Jin was slightly worried that everything that had happened, from the ''kidnapping'' to letting here into his store was all part of a n she had made.

    Peppers, who was slouching on a sofa in the Dungeon Maker whilst reading up on ''City Management 101 for Dummies", looked at Jin as he talked to himself. "Nope, I do not sense any residue Psionic magic on you, Master." Peppers said nonchntly as she continued to flip another page.

    "Could she be so skilled in Psionic that she did not leave a trace?" Jin became a little paranoid despite Pepper''s assurance.

    "Nah, even at Legendary Mastery of Psionic Magic, the magicians cannot fool my Demonic Sage Eyes as there will always be a trace of Psionic magic left behind. Let alone at Intermediate Mastery." Peppers replied as she gave another nce at Jin before returning to read her book. It was a mystery how she got such a book, but Jin assumed the System got it for her.

    Magic was simr to cultivation. As long as one worked hard on understanding it and if one was able to grasp the abstract concept of the given knowledge and fundamentals behind it, they could reach a high level quickly. However, whether they would have the ability to execute it, would depend on their training, on the expansion and usage of their Mana circuits.

    Some were born lucky with high levels of Mana circuits, others trained it or consumed expensive catalyst to increase theplexity of their Mana circuits. Regardless, the Mana circuits were simr to the meridian points. In fact, both the chi points and Mana circuits run parallel with each other but for some reason, many were unable to practice both magic and cultivation at the same time. Even if they do, it was even more umon for a user to be extremely adept with both cultivation and magic.

    Hence, with the crippled cultivation and with the Dantian point not producing any chi for Yang Ling, it actually enabled her to have a better grasp of her Mana circuits. Thereby, allowing Yang Ling to reach decent levels of mastery towards magic and of all magic, Psionic and Maniption which was one of the hardest few to learn or master.

    At this point, the System beeped via the Dungeon Maker console and issued out with a mission. "Create a feasible business partnership with Yang Ling. Rewards: Adaptable Immunity towards Maniption and Psionic Magic."

    "Adaptable? What does that even mean? Will the profits in creating a partnership with her be included in my overall rankings?" Jin asked bluntly. Jin knew that the System would not give up such an amazing business opportunity with Yang Ling the moment she blurted out military research. After all, defence spending expenditures for almost every developed country was among the top few priorities in their budget despite the peace each country had. The problem was how ethical her military research was.

    "I will exin this. It means that the System will assist you to filter the maniption magic you would be affected with. For example, if Milk casts a spell to calm your nerves which is a positive maniption magic, the System would provide you with the option to ept it or not. However, if Yang Ling casts mind control on you, you can also decide whether to ept it or not as well. If you deny both of their magic, nothing will happen to you." Peppers said as she continued to read her dummy guide.

    "Oh...okay. That sounds ridiculously powerful." Jin said but Peppers looked up at Jin and shook her head.

    "Not many in this world seem to really know how to use Psionic Magic well. You could say Yang Ling is indeed a rare talent in the art of Psionic Magic based on the System''s database that I previously read. However, if you cross over worldsбн Perhaps that might prove to be a very useful trait to have."

    Within the Dungeon Maker, Jin took Peppers words into consideration and continued to watch the battle instance. With Shu still reeling from the betrayal of his mind controlled minion, he quickly tried to rein the rest of the minions into battle before they were brainwashed by Hui.

    Hui, on the other hand, ran to a safer spot with Yang Ling in his hands while Ku Wai, the Great White Snake and Sandy battled it out against Ke Mi, Mr Hot, and Ms Cold. As Ke Mi did not have any mobility on her own, Shu assisted her with his roots and brought her to a higher ground where she could attack and support the ants.

    Meanwhile, Yang Ling was enjoying the fluffiness of the NPC Panda. "Hmm, the fur is so fine and fluffy, I really wish to cuddle this to bed." Yang Ling thought to herself seeing that she had done all she could for this current battle. Not to mention the fatigue she umted expending that much energy on the clone. However, Shu was not sparing Yang Ling nor Hui as it continued to spurt out roots from the ground to attack them but Hui seemed to be fairly good at evading.

    Ku Wai mmed his Titan Fists onto the Ms Cold but her ice walls proved to be a nuisance against Ku Wai, not to mention Shuбфs brilliant multitasking by counterattacking along with the ice wall. However, Ku Wai managed to evade the piercing roots in time with his new Gearbox frame and pressed on to counter attack. While Ms Cold was keeping Ku Wai busy, Mr Hot was preparing his fire st that was umting at his mandible.

    Unfortunately, Mr Hot waster interrupted by the Great White Snake which slithered with lightning speed towards him, causing Mr Hot to panic and shooting the st prematurely, causing quite a bit of bacsh to himself. The Great White Snake easily evaded therge st and opened its mouth for the bite against the ant.

    Poison seeped into Mr Hot''s body as the Great White Snake mmed his body to the ground but Mr Hot tried to retaliate back as it spewed fire from its breath. It was a battle of tenacity and time, to see who was able tost longer. A burning snake or a poisoned ant.

    As that battle rages on, Sandy fought head on with Ke Mi again. The roots helped Ke Mi to move around the battlefield but that did not stop Sandy. As long there was ground, there would be sand, soil and dirt, her powers would still be effective against Shu''s moving root tform that Ke Mi was on. The ground shook as tworge hands formed from sand grabbed onto the roots and tried to tear them apart, while Ke Mi yed a battle melody that shot out multiple sonic waves towards Sandy.

    Thankfully, Sandy was capable of defending herself by creating sand shields that collided with the sonic waves. Shu knew that if he loses Ke Mi, he would lose a great deal of firepower and so was the same situation on his opponents as Sandy was probably the only one capable of fighting against Ke Mi. Hence, Shu demanded Ke Mi to use her stronger techniques against Sandy.

    Ke Mi acknowledged and immediately changed her battle tune to a stronger, fiercer one to turn the losing tide against the cultivators. Razor Winds were flicked out from her zither, decimating and prating the sand shields that Sandy cast. One of the Razor Winds managed to sh off one of Sandy''s hands away.

    Or did it?

    Sandy transformed into Sand Form once again but this time, with a twist. Arge sand twister was one of her Sand Form techniques to escape which she now used as an attack ability. She pushed herself forward against the continuous attacks of Razor Winds from Ke Mi until she was in close proximity to her.

    The sand twister burdened Ke Mi''s eyes, nose, ears and mouth, causing her to stop ying and at this point, Sandy quickly returned to her physical form while kicking Ke Mi towards the direction of Hui.

    "Manager Hui! Now!" Sandy shouted but she was unable to save herself as she was being aggressively pierced by Shu''s roots after she turned back to her physical form. Yang Ling did not waste Sandy''s effort as she used her Psionic magic to telekically grab the flying Ke Mi in case Shu snatched her back.

    Hui quickly unveiled his eye patch and released the blood contract control from Shu, resulting in Ke Mi returning to normal. Shu got even more annoyed at losing one of his best mind controlled minions and roared loudly causing his sakura blossoms to rain on them.

    "No, this is not good. Do not let the petals touch you! They are as sharp as swords!" Hui shouted as an advice to the cultivators. Yang Ling immediately used her magic to move them away but there were too many of them to focus on and Ke Mi was still giddy from the bacsh of the forced removal of the mind control to aid them.

    Ku Wai saw the falling petals and realised that Shu was indiscriminately attacking everyone since the remaining mind controlled minions were of no use to him. "But they are still petals right?" Ku Wai shouted at Hui, to which he nodded.

    "If that''s the case, Intermediate Fist Art, Chi Tiger Face Rising Uppercut!" Ku Wai ignored Ms Cold and sprinted towards Shu and immediately jumped up to deliver an uppercut to the tree. Even though the Gearbox frame only covered his arms and not legs, his cultivation strength still allowed him to jump high.

    As Ku Wai jumped up with his fist up high, an angry face of a ferocious tiger appeared through his fist. The chi induced tiger''s face becamerger with each passing second, with its mouth biting at the bark of Shu and destroyed any petals that were in the way as Ku Wai continued his uppercut.

    This was not just an ordinary uppercut. Especially when you remember that it was enhanced the mechanical abilities of his Gearbox frame since the frame had a small chi emission booster that caused Ku Wai''s attack to be more potent.

    As the tiger face ''crawled'' up Shu, Ke Mi finally stabilised herself and with a p, her zither was pulled back to her side. A seemingly pre-made song rushed out of the zither as the petals continued to fall. But within a few seconds of the song ying, almost everyone saw that the petals were not falling towards them, in fact, they were beginning to gather. Yet, the gathering of the petals presented a huge strain for Ke Mi and she could not hold it any longer.

    It was then arge st of fire incinerated the petals and Ke Miter realised Hui was beside her beloved Great White Snake that was grabbing onto the near dead fire wyrm ant. Apparently, the Great White Snake also had used the antidote in its fangs the moment Hui released Mr Hot from Shu''s mind control.

    Shu, on the other hand, suffered a great deal of damage from Ku Wai''s attack but he was not done with the Ancient Treant. With the upper cut allowing him to be in mid air, he did propel himself with whatever that was remaining in the chi emission booster in the Gearbox frame and punched Shu''s trunk with his infamous fist technique.

    "Intermediate Fist Art! The Ambush of the Terrifying Terrific Tiger!!!!!!"

    With Ku Wai''s fist stuck within Shu''s trunk, Ku Wai shouted loudly as he expended all the Chi that he had within him and was hoping to melt Shu like the Praying Mantis. Unfortunately, the results were not spectacr as the ancient Treant was only partly melted. Regardless, once he saw that its branches started to fall and the roots on the ground became unresponsive, Ku Wai believed he managed to defeat this monstrosity.

    Yang Ling and Ku Wai finallypleted the Dungeon Instance with the entire Enlightened Troupe intact. (Well, somewhat intact.)

 Chapter 201 Music Theatre Instance

    <h4>Chapter 201 Music Theatre Instance</h4>

    The victory was short lived though. Ku Wai fainted in mid air after using up his entire reserve of chi in his body. There was no one with sufficient strength to even catch him in mid air, causing him to fall straight to the ground. The Gearbox frame was also busted due to the excessive use of the chi booster which caused the frame system parts to fry up.

    "...Princess, we did it." Ku Wai whispered as he smiled once more before fading into oblivion and ending up in the Recovery Dungeon Instance. Only Yang Ling was left in the dungeon. Manager Hui helped to gather everyone including Ms Cold whose mind control was dispelled when the treant was killed.

    "Thank you for saving my troupe members." The One Eyed Panda bowed in front of Yang Ling who felt exceptionally fatigued from the overuse of her magic. She could even feel her Mana circuits strained from this particr battle. "If you do not mind, we could perform an impromptu concert right here for you as a token of gratitude," Hui said and the rest unanimously agreed to it.

    "I am honoured to hear it." Yang Ling said since this was after all the Music Theatre Dungeon Instance. Of course, she would like to hear the troupe perform as part of the reward. Suddenly Yang Ling was being lifted by the Great White Snake after agreeing to Hui and was brought near the broken ancient treant. She sat near it along with the slightly charred snake courtesy from Mr Hot''s fire attacks and there was a sudden urge to care for it.

    Yang Ling should no need to worry much since the instance would most probably be reset after she left the dungeon. Besides, it was just a dungeon, wasn''t it? Why did she suddenly feel a close attachment to the snake? Even more than with Ku Wai, who she spent years with. Perhaps, it was just in the heat of the moment but the more she thought about it, the less she was able to find an exnation. Hence, she decided to go with her feelings for the moment and stroked the poor little charred snake as they both waited for the Enlightened Troupe to prepare their stage.

    Manager Hui was really creative in building up an impromptu stage. With the help of Ke Mi and Sandy, they created an elevated stage by having Ke Mi cutting up the once invulnerable vine and root barrier, that barred them from going out, with her Razor Winds attack while Sandy reinforced the vine and roots into a stage.

    Hui even used the fallen branches asrge torches by asking Mr Hot to light them up. Not only that, thoserge torches were subsequently being covered by a very thinyer of ice which managed to reflect and amplify the fire''s light, making the stage to be slightly more vibrant and brighter. Yang Ling could not imagine how the physics worked with an ever burning torch on a branch near a thinyer of ice but hey, it no doubt was really pretty.

    When the stage was ready, Hui and Sandy managed to bring out all the instruments and they started to tune them before they started. That was when Yang Ling saw how dexterous the wyrm ants were in strumming the bass and beating the drums.

    "Ahh, finally able to see the new ants in this musical performance." Jin initially did not want to use the ants again since they were being used in the Bank Heist Dungeon Instance, but he could not help but to bring continuity for cultivators who fought the wyrm ants in the old Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance.

    Jin initially wanted to rent the same kind of ants, like how he did with Nyanmi, but little did he know that the Fire and Ice Wyrm ants actually mated andid eggs, birthing two new wyrm ants that had the same traits as them, probably even stronger. It was because both parents'' abilities interfered with each other. The ice melts when in contact with the fire wyrm ant''s fire. But the newborn wyrm ants abilities did not interfere but insteadplemented each other. Ms Cold''s ice will not be burned by Mr Hot''s fire.

    In any case, Jin named the original parents of the wyrm ants as Father Hot and Mother Cold in case they gave birth to more ants. He also renovated the courtyard home instance of Ke Mi to amodate the ants. Yeap, they were living beneath the courthouse with a rtivelyrge ant nest from which they asionally appeared to the surface to y with Ke Mi. Not to mention, with the addition of Mr Hot and Ms Cold, Ke Mi finally had some monsters to bond with over music.

    "The stage is ready, the members are prepared too." Manager Hui said as the sun started to set and its rays shone through the broken tree, giving an additional amazing lighting to the current set they had on stage.

    "Mydy, may I proudly present to you the Enlightened," Hui said as he slowly withdrew himself from the stage and sat beside Yang Ling. Both of them pped and even the Great White Snake was banging its tail with excitement and sticking out its tongue.

    Although Sandy took on stage with a few bandages on, she still looked as exquisite as usual and started to sway with the music that Ke Mi, Mr Hot, and Ms Cold started ying. To Yang Ling''s surprise, Sandy was actually singing Chinese songs from the 1990''s and 2000''s. What was even more surprising was the ones that Sandy sang were those Yang Ling actually liked too. It was too much of a coincidence but she did not care and enjoyed every moment of it.

    The rendition of Ke Mi''s zither with modern instrument brought in a brand new remix to the songs that Sandy was singing to the point that Yang Ling was dying for a recorded version of Sandy''s songs. It was not just mellifluous and alluring but her intonation of the Chinese lyrics was spot on. Yang Ling also could not help but tear at some of her renditions of the songs.

    For example, while the original song was slow, affectionate and moving with the expression of the song, it had a feeling of restraint. Yet, Sandy''s rendition of the original song was full of intrigue and regret, expressing a different feeling of undying love with the same set of lyrics.

    "If only she existed in real lifeбн" Yang Ling said to herself as she thoroughly enjoyed the entire impromptu concert before leaving the dungeon instance. At that moment, she realised something was amiss. "Shouldn''t there be a reward for me at the end of the dungeon?" Yang Ling asked Hui and he nodded his head.

    "Yes, there is but it seems that Boss Jin wanted to spice up the reward for you," Hui said before he waved goodbye to Yang Ling and she was teleported back to the main shop, seeing Ku Wai, who was anxiously waiting for her, while Jin was finishing his cup of coffee.

    "You two did really well in this dungeon to the point it''s considered as a first clear but because it''s off shop opening hours, I am afraid it is not counted to the Wall of Honour," Jin said.

    "I do not care, I want my reward!" Yang Ling showed her pouted face but it looked as if she felt more refreshed than ever. Ku Wai took out another wheelchair from his storage ring and helped Yang Ling onto it.

    "Give me some time for your reward because you are the first who cleared one of my hardest dungeons to date. If you do not mind, I will contact you via the Pandamonium app on which you have registered before entering the dungeon." Jin said.

    "How about converting that reward to making a new dungeon for me?" Yang Lingбфs face changed to a serious business one and at the same time cheeky too. "I am even more convinced that you are the right man for this job and I am willing to pay serious bucks for this."

    "Can making a dungeon be considered as part of a partnership deal with Yang Ling?" Jin gave his thoughts to Yun and she replied with a yes.

    "It''s more or less the start of the partnership with Yang Ling. Besides, the system did not state whether it needs to be a long term one or a once off partnership. As long as you cooperate in making the dungeon with her, it''s a legitimate business transaction. Besides, you can use that dungeon not just for her, but for yourself too. Hence a partnership deal."

    "I will consider it," Jin unknowingly yed hard to get which made Yang Ling even more interested in getting both the Dungeon and Jin in her hands. However Jin did not have any prenotion of liking her, it was just business and rewards to him.

    .

    .

 Chapter 202 Aspiration

    <h4>Chapter 202 Aspiration</h4>

    "So, I take that as a Yes?!" Yang Ling tried to push her luck for Jin''s reply, after which Jin kindly asked them to leave his store. Ku Wai, who always barked louder than his bite, for once did not say anything. Perhaps, he started to recognise Jin as a really talented dungeon supplier and if he made any more fuss, it might jeopardise Yang Ling''s chance of getting him to create a dungeon for her.

    As the royal tiger princess went off, Yang Ling did not just leave things hanging. "Ku Wai, send some loyal men from the triad to continue to report his movements to me and protect him if necessary. He is a potentially valuable asset and I do not wish for other Royal Zodiacs to ever find him, nor my brothers." Yang Lingmanded Ku Wai, which he acknowledged immediately.

    On the way back home, Ku Wai called the Three Eye Tiger Triad Leader and told him about the series of developments that happened to Yang Ling and Jin. "I see, I see. If princess demands so, then all the more we would keep an eye out for this dungeon supplier. If her business prospers so will this triad, continue the good work Ku Wai. Keep me in touch." San Ya Bai said as he put his phone down and returned to smoke his cigarette while keeping tab of his triad''s ounts in the middle of the night.

    "Princess, you better produce some results fast, I can only keep both the expenses and secrecy of the project at bay for so long." Ya Bai said as he let out a puff of his smoke and rubbed his temple after seeing the ounts.

    Jin would never know that the day he met the Royal Zodiac Tiger Princess would kickstart a series of events that might shake the region or even the country. But till then, he was still a simple dungeon supplier with an upper hand.

    -------------

    Zhen Qing was looking at her old culinary notes in her locked room in fear her drunken dad would barge in and make noise. If not for Jin''s kindness for allowing her to bring back the ck ivory coffee, Zhen Qing would have been exhausted every day.

    She knew this could not go on and hoped that Jin would be able to find a suitable cultivation for her. However, she also remembered that Jin told her to take some days off when necessary to do research on her food. Hence, it was also partially her fault that she did not wish to take any rest in between days.

    Mainly because of one thing. She already signed a contract with Jin a few days ago when his store apparently turned about one month old. Jin gave her the choice of either a profit based contract or a sry based contract, at which point she immediately chose the former. The terms were simple and neatly exined, mainly because Xiong Da offered to create the wording of the contract based on both parties'' terms and conditions.

    Upon signing the contract, Jin did not hesitate to even pay Zhen Qing half a month''s worth of sry based on the profits she earned for him. It was as if he already knew that she would be choosing that and he had prepared the money in advance just for the moment she signed it.

    Zhen Qing used to earn just enough to get by with rent and daily expenses with her street vendor cart. Not only that, she gave sufficient allowance for her jobless dad to eat but instead, he continued on drowning himself with beer and wallowed at the unfairness of life.

    She hated him for that a lot, and really hoped that he would just rot and die for being such a useless bum. Not only did he gamble the allowance away, he always asked for more which constantly made Zhen Qing stressed out by the persistent extortion of more money.

    If not for the fact that it was partially her fault that he became like this, she would have left him long ago. However, as months and years went by, she could not help but feel that she already repaid any debt she owed him.

    Regardless with this new job that she attained, she managed to earn at least 3 months'' worth of sry and that was just half the sry, at the start of a possible rocketing career. Jin even told her that if she continued to seed the way she did with the ck pepper pork buns, he would create a service instance for her to open her own restaurant in the shop.

    If Jin told Zhen Qing at first that he would want her as his head chef when he knew nothing about cooking, much less being in a different profession, Zhen Qing would not believe it. However now that she personally experienced dungeon instances, she had a totally different opinion. Zhen Qing had the opportunity to enter the Reservoir of the Deep Service Instance and tried Chef Roro''s sushi and was amazed by the quality of it.

    It was unlike the cheesecake she ate, there was the feeling of hard work and effort being put into the sushi. Mainly because, the fish was extremely fresh and with the fisherwoman (herself) fighting to get the food, it made the food especially delicious. While Zhen Qing expected an AI NPC like Chef Roro to have such precise and urate skills of cutting, what truly amazed her was his aptitude to adapt with different kinds of fish and making various dishes.

    Hence, she was really excited about how Jin''s AI NPCs could help within the new restaurant instance. That also meant she did not have to suffer from aspiring apprentices, who just wanted to steal her skills and techniques, just so that they could make their own name out there. She could improve the AIs like how she did for the kitchen instance and they would be there to serve her loyally.

    Hence, she was extremely happy to hear that she could open her own restaurant instance. To date, having the small caravan under her name made her secretly smile so Zhen Qing could not imagine what was it like to ever return to the cooking industry.

    Perhaps, she could even help Jin attain a Michelin Star for the restaurant instance, the possibilities seemed to be endless with him around.

    But right now, the most important thing was to get Jin''s request of creating a main dish be done as soon as possible to continue to prove her worth to him. And she guessed that she should whip out her speciality. The one she was known for, before she exited the cooking industry.

    Ramen.

 Chapter 203 Cultivation Focus

    <h4>Chapter 203 Cultivation Focus</h4>

    Jin decided to take the rest of the night to cultivate in the Emerald Mountains Hot Spring Service Instance since he was in the shop. As usual, the sludge from his body was ever expanding, yet the penguins and Mr Muddles performed better with each time Jin came in.

    Mr Muddles even managed to hold more sludge than before, bingrger in size than when it first appearing in the Emerald Mountains. Also, because the hot springs instance was something the System created, it had endorsed Mr Patsu and the penguins with more cleaning equipment and better, more potent herbal solutions for Jin to soak in.

    Of course, Jin had to pay for the herbal solutions, but he still felt it was a worthwhile cost especially since each grade''s hurdle of advancement would only get higher. However, this time around, when Jin started to cultivate his Neen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation, he felt something different. He felt a calling from within him. A particr screech which he had heard before.

    As Jin tried to focus on that screeching, he felt even more absorbed into cultivation than ever before. What he did not know was that, as he was focusing on that screeching, the sludge he produced got even thicker and cker as if it was being removed forcibly by Jin himself.

    When Jin was finally able to hear the screeching properly, he felt a sense of bonding with it and soon, he was teleported into a higher ne where he could finally touch, see, and listen to the things around him rather than just listening to his Dantian churning out his chi.

    In this particr higher ne, there was nothing but bamboo shoots all around him and a panda that looked like Xin in front of himzing around until it finally noticed Jin. Jin took his fighting stance because he knew that Xin loved to fight, but the panda in front of him just paced himself slowly towards Jin.

    Jin thought it was a ruse, but eventually Xin did not even make any move against Jin and instead wanted Jin to pat his head. It was at that moment Jin felt he was being pat on his head too. The feeling was warm and fuzzy as Jin enjoyed this particr moment in life. However, when he opened his eyes, he could not believe what he was seeing.

    "Hello, Jin." A familiar voice appeared and Jin could not help but cry in front of him.

    "Grandpa." Jin did not move a single inch as Ming continued to pat him on his head. "I am sorry I left without warning. This is the only way I canmunicate to you and probably the only way I can impart my knowledge of what I got to know to you." Ming in his old army uniform asked Jin to apany him through the Bamboo forest.

    "The Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation manual has many techniques that would definitely be useful to you but it would be hard to learn them all on short notice and I believe you need strong skills in the near future to not only protect yourself but your monsters, your customers and ultimately your hard work and blood, the store."

    "Hence, I had purposely ced this half written cultivation manual in the hands of the System despite knowing how despicable it could be, so that hopefully you will get to interact with my spirit." Ming said.

    "You mean that you did not really die, but hid yourself in me?" Jin asked if his grandfather was that noble. All he could do was to shake his head andughed.

    "I am not that grand, this is just the remaining part of my soul before I lost the battle to cancer. I decided to impart you with my own knowledge so that you will perform even better and not be too shaken with the strict teachings I obviously made you suffer through. Let''s just say this is the ultimate reward for all the strict lessons you attended under me and probably my way of saying sorry for negligence." Ming said as they enjoyed each other''spany in the bamboo forest.

    "Also, I am not sure if you could even attain this in the first ce. I mean, you needed to have a spiritual union with your cultivation animal before even meeting me." Ming admitted.

    "You mean that there was a chance in life that I would not chance on to this encounter?" Jin questioned Ming and he nodded his head.

    "I assumed that with the System and you, there was a decent chance that you would achieve spiritual union with a panda to attain stronger powers. It''s just a matter of when. And here I thought I mighte in and save the day for you. How could I have predicted that you would be able to achieve this during peaceful times?" Mingughed at Jin''s luck with the System and Jin could only sigh at Ming''s usual sarcastic remarks.

    "In any case, I will teach you more about spiritual union in the days toe since the cultivation manual techniques are harder to learn even though its basics are useful. But because you kind of like bonded with more than just one panda, not to mention one of them happened to have a partial bloodline of a lost breed of pandas. The skills that you going to learn from me and the pandas will be better than the ones you can cultivate from the book." Ming said confidently.

    "Didn''t the System say it''s wless?" Jin retorted at Ming as part of a bad habit.

    "h! If it was wless, the System would not have given it to you just because I asked it to give you. It would have given it to a guy or girl that has better affinity in cultivation than you, who just wants to build a shop." Ming scoffed at the System.

    "You seem to know a lot about the System." Jin replied and Ming felt likeining before he stopped and spoke seriously to Jin. "That discussion is also for another day. In any case, do you remember the ck Fire and White Ice skill that you have unleashed unconsciously? That is part of your skill repertoire from your spiritual union."

    "Yeah, I kind of figured once I started to remember the details. Since there is no way, I have unlocked such powerful magic." Jin said.

    "Oh, could you at least be excited or something, rather than saying things so calmly?" Ming used his walking stick to hit Jin even though he did not even need a walking stick to walk. Apparently, Ming once said that having a walking stick around was to prepare for the eventuality that might happen and it too made a handy good weapon to have.

    "Aren''t you the one who taught me to be calm! Now I finally understand how Yun got her chic attitude." Jin snapped back at Ming and that was how the grandson and grandfather interacted with each other as they grew up.

    Bickering towards each other.

    "Then why don''t you snap back at her? Is it because she is part of the System that you are scared of her?" Ming nipped Jin''s weakness and Jin could not reply back in time, allowing Ming to savour his short lived victory.

    "Anyways, as much as I hate to say this. If you find the System worthy to cooperate with, do it. Yes, it is ultimately there to serve its own cause which I still had problems identifying what is it. But do know that, the world is really bigger than you know. Does not hurt to have an almightywork that you can utilise." Ming said as they reached near the end of the bamboo forest.

    "Network?" Jin furrowed his brows at that word but Ming did not exin much.

    "Another time, Grandson. Looks like your penguins are calling you." Ming pushed Jin a little with his walking stick and Jin suddenly felt like he was falling off from a cliff.

    "UWAHHH!!" Jin forced himself out of the hot spring ''waters'' andter realised he was covered in a lot of sludge. A bitter, he most probably would have suffocated in his own sludge.

    "Boss! We thought we had lost you in that pool of sludge! We are sorry we were unable to get everything out in time." Mr Patsu cried in happiness to see that his Boss was still alive "We will get more improved equipment to serve you better the next time!" Mr Patsu said as he gave a towel to Jin.

    "It''s alright Mr Patsu. I am d I am still alive too." Jin said as he pulled himself out of the sludge and had a fairly long shower. He figured he should keep Ming a secret for now as much as he could from Yun and the System even though he know that they could read his thoughts.

    "Oh... Now I understand why Yang Ling''s partnership reward is adaptable immunity. If it''s full immunity, Yun and the System would probably not be able tomunicate with me." Jinughed at that thought as he prepared himself to start the new day.

 Chapter 204 I Got Nothing?!

    <h4>Chapter 204 I Got Nothing?!</h4>

    "Soбн Have you decided to join forces with Yang Ling yet?" Yun asked as she passed Jin another set of new clothes while hinting to quickly join forces with Yang Ling so that they would have a boost in sales.

    "Still considering." Jin thanked Yun for the new set of clothes and helping him with the housework at home. "You can repay me by epting her proposal." Yun was blunt but Jin shook his head.

    "As much as I want to, she is a Royal Zodiac member. No matter what, I have to be careful when dealing with her. Perhaps, I will ask Xiong Da toe with me to set up a proper one time contract for this particr dungeon just to be on a safe side." Jin said as he entered the bar ind to take some onigiris out to eat.

    "Hmm, that''s a good idea too I guess." Yun resigned asking, knowing that Jin probably had his own ns. Meanwhile, Jin was looking at the Panda Port and realised the System had yet to give him his rewards for the Dungeon City Fortress option that he picked.

    "Ehhh, about that. Right. You see, the System felt that you have not really build a city fortress yet. I mean, all you have is a piece of emptynd with no blueprints and no infrastructure in ce. Hence, I think the System would not be giving you the entire rewards." Yun embarrassingly admitted which made Jin folded his arms at her.

    "I am guessing it is not intending to give me that 100,000 dungeon dors that easily." Jin assumed that the System was more of a cheapskate than him.

    "Andбнalmost everything else. I promise I will force the rest of the rewards out from the System." Yun raised her hand up high to make a vow, knowing that the rift between the System and Jin would just get even further if this continued on unchecked.

    Jin did not have much expectation but at the very least he still got his top grade store sign and that annoyingrge panda billboard outside his shop that kind of spoilt the aesthetics of the traditional storehouse feel. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Jin shrugged his shoulders and looked at Yun. "And? Do I still get the increase in store rankings?"

    "Nopeбнbecause the increase in store rank will only work if you have an additional store opened in the Dungeon City Fortress, which you currently do not have. Besides, the store rank increase depends on, as what the System had said, the amount of profits you turn over each day."

    "Basically, I get nothing then. Why are you going around the bush to tell me this for? You could have just said it straight. I am not getting anything from the System." Jin felt really pissed early in the morning.

    "Well, I did help you get something out of this whole entire messбн" That was when Yun who could not see eye to eye with Jin, suddenly brightened up. "A half increment of your dungeon supplier level to Level 2.5! Are you ready to see the changes?" Yun beckoned Jin to follow her out of the shop which he did so reluctantly. What kind of system gives you a 0.5 for a level?

    When he walked out of the door, he realised the sound of the door was different and noticed that the traditional storehouse shutters turned into something totally different. It felt like Jin just came out from a different store instead of his.

    "Do not worry, there was no one around to be able to see the change I had made. Besides, I have a feeling this little princess of ours had disabled the security cameras around the area for quite some time so I believed the system took that chance to modify it." Yun gleaming with excitement.

    "You mean that you predicted I would have asked this question in the morning?" Jin raised his eyebrows at Yun as she nodded her head. "Knowing that you would not trust the System, the chance of you asking that question was really high. Even if you had not asked, I would have shown it to you."

    Yes, it was indeed a drastic change aspared to before. This time around, there was a big screen at the centre of the shop instead of the shutters. The screen was advertising the different types of dungeons that Jin was having.

    In addition, the front screen asionally broadcasted footage of his customers running the dungeons which the magic eye managed to capture, that made Jin feel that they were some dramatic cinematic scenes from some movie. At the two ends of therge screen were the entrance and exit. There was even a dimensional port attached beside the entrance door.

    "Why this change? Why is there a dimensional port at the side of the door." Jin for some reason felt the dimensional port was the game changer for this half a dungeon supplier level that he suddenly attained.

    "Firstly, enter without your phone," Yun said as she opened the door for him and noticed a major upheaval in his store. Almost everything had disappeared. His bar ind, his TVs, his wall of honour. Everything was gone. Jin decided to stay calm for a moment and hoped there was something more to this upheaval he experienced.

    "You looked calmer than expected. I thought you would go apeshit and ask where everything had gone to." Yun said as the store was really empty with the exception of a couple registration machines withrge Panda statues holding on the sides of the machines. The rest of the room surroundings looked simr to the Zen gallery on the third floor but less tranquil and more pleasing to the eyes since it was meant to wee people.

    The registration machine was as interactive as the Loot Box Vending Machine he had on the second floor but this was slightly different.

    "Wee to Dungeons and Pandas! If this is the first time you participate in Dungeons and Pandas, The pandas will rmend you to register your information here first by installing this app prior to entering the shop!" An interactive screen with a panda wearing a receptionist outfit was shown.

    There was free secured wifi in the shop that allowed the customers to be connected to the System''s server to download the app and only the app. Hence, there was no ess to the open inte wifi or whatsoever of anyone to leech. Aside from that, there were posters on the walls in the store that was rather dummy proof for cultivators and potential customers alike to enter the dungeon instance.

    "If you do not have any phone with you or do not wish to install the app, no worries! We can issue you a one-time dimensional tag that allows you to enter the shop!" The Panda Receptionist said.

    "Wait a minuteбнso you are saying that my whole shop has turned into a dungeon instance?!" Jin finally understood why the dimensional port was outside of the entrance. Yun nodded her head frantically.

    "Oh, you do not have to worry aboutmoners like Zhen Qing. There is no time dtion norpression in the store''s dimensional instance. We are using an instance just so that there is more space for interacting and more stuff we can put in." Yun asked Jin to put his phone on the dimensional port on the registration machine since each machine was also installed with one and he was teleported to his shop and upon looking, he pinched himself to make sure he was truly awake.

    For he was absolutely stunned by the brand newyout of his shop.

    .

    .

 Chapter 205 Shop Level One Instance

    <h4>Chapter 205 Shop Level One Instance</h4>

    Jin could not believe his eyes the moment he teleported into the dimensional instance. He wouldter aptly rename it as the Shop Level One Instance because it''s simpler to remember that way. However, at the point of revealing the whole entire Shop Level One Instance, it was beyond his wild imaginations.

    "I did say I would try my best topensate you since you are not getting those other rewards yet." Yun smiled widely as she felt as if Jin was in a toy store, staring in awe at the entire ce.

    Indeed, the ce had received an entire revamp with the unlimited space that the instance allowed. It portrayed a very spacious feeling and no doubt the customers joining this Shop Level One Instance would be in delight upon seeing the change.

    When they were teleported in, both Jin and Yun were immediately at the epicentre of a massive circr shaped hall. And at the centre of the hall was where the new bar circr ind was situated. Around the ind, there were six cinematic like auditoriums and the bar ind which was in the middle of the six auditoriums with low levelled ramps that lead to them. And yes, the auditoriums were the dimensional stations which the cultivators will have ess to.

    So technically, if you are standing at the centre, you had a view of all six different auditoriums. Each auditorium was separated by a very thin fogged reinforced ss simr to what the ss door was installed to protect the basement. The ss was capable of keeping the auditorium''s noise level within its own area too so that the customers would not be distracted by the neighbouring auditorium.

    Why would they do that? Because each auditorium had a cinematic widescreen that was able to portray crystal clear movies of the dungeons that people were participating in. In short, each auditorium was in truth a sort of movie theatre. Just that the seatings were free and anyone cane and go whenever they wanted.

    What is most interesting was that the theatre did not only show the scenes of a particr dungeon. With dimensional technology, anything was possible and so were announcers and critics. Shop Level One Instance had employed their very own ''unique'' announcers and they were none other than the penguin Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One, a trainee from Chef Roro''s who was situated in the fishing service instance.

    Mr Patsu was wearing a suit and carrying a headset mic wherever it went while Bear Cub One had arge red shy bowtie and an old school cordless mic with him. The idea of the announcers was to hype up the dungeon fights especially when the instance was teeming with crowds. Jin thought that this was a really good idea since it was really funny to see Mr Patsu with Bear Cub One following it, running around the entire area.

    The auditoriums did not only have an ultra high definition screen installed, but the couches were also equally of high quality. Yes, couches, not stic seats. Four extended ''Kennedee'' Curved Sofa were ced on each ''step'' of the auditorium and that amounted to 24 of those sofas in each auditorium and there was a total of 144 in the current shop instance.

    Was that a big idea? In fact, yes it is! For a sofa like that, it would have cost Jin 117,130 Yuan or 13,000 sterling pounds but knowing the System, it probably manufactured the sofas way cheaper than the current market price or had bought it at a very cheap price since he did not forget that the System was a business rted entity.

    Jin asked why such expensive sofas and Yun''s answer was simple. To show that the shop had ss andfort. Springs, frame and the joinery were important for durability especially when the number of people using it would definitely be high considering the crowd size Jin always had in his shop. At the very least, they did not have to squeeze with each other aspared to the old storeyout.

    However, he wondered how long this spacious feeling wouldst or would it be even emptier. This was still subjective especially when all he went through was just the first month of business. That was why he thought the poprity from the customers were merely due to them finding the store as a refreshing novelty.

    Fortunately, he was severely underestimating himself as the regr customers that he had, were growing by the day.

    Aside from the auditorium, there was a unique feature of this particr shop instance. The epicentre of the circr hall wasrge enough for a second floor within this shop instance. However, it was still considered as floor 1.5 if Jin would name it because it served as a viewing floor with tables.

    The tables were there for customers to have their snacks and drinks to rest and rx or wait for their friends if needed. Not to mention, they could purchase the instant meals at the bar ind as per usual and bring the food up to eat.

    What about Zhen Qing''s caravan? It was no longer outside of Jin''s shop since it would have been redundant and instead, it was stationed at the centre of the second floor so people were still able to buy ck pepper pork buns from her. Because everything was interconnected with the dimensional technology, Jin even suggested cing some of the drinks and snacks at her caravan area in case customers craved for more.

    "In truth, I would have wanted this shop instance the moment you started the shop but the System figured that people needed some gradual change aspared to an instant change." Yun tried to justify thete use of the shop instance.

    "It''s a good call. I think people would freak out if it started as a dimensional instance. At least there are people who are convinced that this is all part of the shop''s feature. Besides, I think it would also help to transit well when they are teleported to the Dungeon City Fortress. They would think it was part of an instance too." Jin said

    "It will definitely be part of an instance, your customers like the Dungeon World''s monsters will not die, they are just using different ws of nature'' to resurrect themselves. Besides, the System will not harm the customers no matter what. It is one of the system''sws or rules it could not break." Yun answered Jin.

    "But they can harm the shop owner''s pride, expectations and morals?" Jin was a little annoyed with that answer and Yun was rather speechless at his sudden spite.

    "In any caseбнTHANK YOU SYSTEM!" Jin shouted as loud as he could, as he knew that the System would probably just ignore him but Yun was astonished by Jin''s sudden change of attitude or was it sarcasm? She could not figure it out at the moment. "Give thanks and gratitude when it is appropriate. Grandpa Ming said so." Jin replied to Yun as he continued to look around the Shop Level One Instance.

    And yes, because he was just a level 2.5 Dungeon Supplier, his other floors were not changed or incorporated into the new shop instance. Jin figured when he reached the full Level 3 Dungeon Supplier Rank, he should be able to get them.

    For now, Jin thought of going into the Dungeon Maker and readjusting a few things in the Shop Level One Instance before he opened his store.

    .

    .

 Chapter 206 Improvement of Digital Pets

    <h4>Chapter 206 Improvement of Digital Pets</h4>

    What are you nning?" Yun said as she followed Jin into the Dungeon Maker. "Maybe not the most important of things, but I figured we should use this chance to put this up." Jin opened up the Shop Level One Instance on the Dungeon Maker interface and added one particr feature.

    The digital petpanions.

    He was thinking about his little bowl hat panda, as it suddenly appeared in the dungeon maker. Jin remembered he had written a keep in view note to redo the pet system and nned to make it simr to the the Battle Cards Interface that the System introduced. He felt that this would make a nifty little subsystem for the cultivators to waste more money into digital goods just to make their pets look prettier and more interactive.

    He eventually made two vending machines simr to the Battle Card Interface and ced those at the second floor of the Shop Level One instance, so people could purchase cards to customise their pets. It was easy to create those vending machines because the System already had the blueprints for the Battle Card Interface and all it had to do was to convert the existing loot box coupons into cards.

    The Pet Card Interface was initially only provided aesthetics, but Jin figured if he put skills and traits into the mix, he would be able to have a battle pet instance. It could be free for all the cultivators mainly because the vending machines would be the money makers for this particr service instance.

    And yes, he did create a simple battle pet service instance that was styled from the infamous Digiman that many people used to love when he was a child. He figured Digiman was better than Pokeman, Wanguard or Yu Ki Oh because of its simplicity and the cultivators would be using their pets to fight. True, Yu Ki Oh might be a better choice but the tactics required in Ambush Cards and Mystic Cards would be mind boggling for a novice in card game creation such as Jin.

    Skills wise, it was easy to recreate since they were based on the cultivation manuals that existed in System''s database.

    He hoped that the new battle pet service instance would attract a feeling of nostalgia from older cultivators and hype from students, just like what happened with the fishing instance. To date, Jin was actually surprised that Lai Fu had been sending waves of middle aged gentlemen that frequented the general store to try out the fishing instance. Perhaps, he wanted more information from those customers, to see if Jin was lying to him.

    But Lai Fu was surprised by the positive response and feedback from the middle aged customers and could not wait to have his turn when his friends were in town. On the other hand, Jin benefited from Lai Fu''s doubt. Although those middle aged customers did not fight in the dungeons, they appreciated the fishing service instance and the joy of catching fish excited them, making them rather frequent customers to Jin''s shop. Their only regret was that there was no booze.

    "Boss Jin! Give us a service instance that provides us alcohol. Judging from the quality of your shop, I cannot wait to see, smell and drink good booze it can bring!" A middle aged gentleman said with his friends and they all agreed readily.

    "I have such ns in mind, just give me some time. This is, after all, a dungeon supplier store." Jin replied and they allughed at him.

    "So, I have to fight with a monster to get my booze? Does not sound a bad idea after all! Do not make it too hard on us old men!" The middle aged gentlemen heavily patted Jin''s shoulder as a sign of appreciation for him to keep up the effort as they left the store.

    Hence, Jin wished to do the same for the younger age group. Ultimately, he hoped to revolutionise the dungeon supplier industry, by providing various service instances and catering to everyone, regardless of gender, race, and age.

    Jin eventually named the battle pet service instance as Pet Battle Royale and at the moment, it featured only one type of battle background. A simple room. Jin could have gone for mountains, forests, seas or a valley, but he went for the simplest terrain so that the battle itself would be the focus. (Not to mention, it''s the easiest to setup!)

    He even added the NPCs and his monsters as opponents in case cultivators or customers wished to have a PvE experience more than a PvP experience. For example, Ke Mi had a miniature version of herself as the pet and even the Great White Snake possessed a pet version of itself, so customers were able to fight a variety of monsters with their pets.

    After adding the Pet Battle Royale service instance, Jin also added teleportation service to the other floors of his store mainly because the Shop Instance was ''digitised'' for the first floor. The rest of the floors were not dimensional instance based.

    Jin hoped to get his level 3 dungeon supplier as soon as possible to digitalise the entire store, as hinted by Yun, so that his customers would not get confused by the sudden disconnect in the experience between the shop instance and the real store.

    "Is there any way to get my level 3 dungeon supplier status faster?" Jin asked Yun as he exited the Dungeon Maker to check the Pet Cards Vending Machines but she could only reply with an unfortunate no. "Reaching the required profit is the only way to increase your dungeon supplier level if you do notplete the System''s missions to reach it," Yun said. It was the equivalent of saying: Do favours for the System and you will get more rewards.

    Jin was then constantly being reminded that his grandfather Ming''s advice to cooperate with the System for now and reap its rewards but to do so with caution and not to follow it blindly. Jin kind of knew that, after what the System had done towards him, but the gentle reminder was also a wakeup call since he had yet to ept the partnership deal with Yang Ling. He had to remember to proceed with caution, especially when dealing with the Royal Zodiacs.

    People would be dying to work with the Royal Zodiacs and Jin would also be of the same mindset, if only he did not have the System. But with the System, he could not help but feel that someone might eventually discover the specialty that Jin had.

    Then they would either use overwhelming force to get the System from him or use despicable methods to force him to give it up. It would not have bothered Jin that much previously, but the nightmare he recently had, made him more paranoid than ever before. Having the nightmare and the appearance of Yang Ling on the same day, that was too much of a coincidence.

    Yet, Jin felt that if he were to tread the waters carefully, he might be able to get a strong ally on his side, since he was dealing directly with the Royal Tiger Family rather than theirckeys.

    "Never mind, I should take things step by step," Jin mumbled. At the same time, he realised Zhen Qing hade in, standing near the bar ind shocked, stunned or maybe bewildered by the immense change of theyout.

    "Zhen Qing! How do you like the new ce?" Jin figured that Zhen Qing followed the instructions and used her phone to enter even though she was amoner since she had an ount on the Pandamonium app ever since he asked her to join him in the fishing service instance.

    "Oh Jin, I thought I was dreaming...this ce is amazing." Zhen Qing held onto her sling bag with her legs shaking slightly. Zhen Qing could not imagine Jin being able to create such a big spacious space and she already figured it was probably the dimensional technology that Jin always talked about.

    As Jin brought Zhen Qing around to see the new features, she stopped him and said. "I need some time off in the afternoon to be in the kitchen instance if possible. I would like to research and experiment on the new main dish that I had in mind." Zhen Qing requested time off for the first time and Jin immediately epted her request even though it would be a downer to see the caravan not in operation in the new Store instance at it''s opening.

    "The caravan is just a temporary measure. My goal is the restaurant instance." Jin reinforced the statement in his head as he seemed confident of Zhen Qing and saw something more than just her cooking ability in her. Aside from liking her, Jin felt that she had more to offer if she could excel in her cooking and cultivation.

    "Show me your best main dish." Jin smiled as he sent off Zhen Qing to the Kitchen Instance.

    .

    .

 Chapter 207 Dungeon City Barrier

    <h4>Chapter 207 Dungeon City Barrier</h4>

    After sending Zhen Qing into the Kitchen Instance, Jin had a few more things to take care of. First was the increase in Grade. Now that he was a Grade 5 cultivator, he remembered the perks of the promotion such as the grade promotion for all of his monsters and new equipment cards that he could acquire from the Battle Card Interface.

    Jin proceeded to the Dungeon Maker to have a look at the Battle Card Interface and true to its word, the System had a pack of new cards waiting for Jin to open at the vending machine of the Battle Card Interface.

    Like a kid in a card store, hoping that there was a rare card in his pack of cards, Jin excitedly tore the packaging from the side and unveiled the cards. The number of cards he received was proportional to the type of monsters that he currently had. With Goblins, Humanoids, Zombies, Werebeasts, ''Humans'', Deep Ones and Minotaurs, he received 25 cards that would help him with enhancing the capabilities of his monsters.

    In addition, Jin was given new decks for the various Minotaurs so he immediately started to optimise his monsters for future dungeons and fights. He figured it would be best to do it as soon as possible in case of any probable attacks against him or when he travelled to other worlds. Also, he decided to do it before he got anyzier like a panda.

    "Heh, I should add to my portfolio. Cultivator. Dungeon Supplier. Monster Summoner. Parallel Worlds Traveller and Card Collector." Jin grinned at that small thought as he continued to inspect the cards for the Minotaurs.

    "You called us?" Moloch appeared along with the diverse group of Minotaurs behind him. Yem, Mer, Sebastia and even Mechataur appeared in front of Jin. Luckily, the Dungeon Maker was able to expand in size to amodate the Mechataur like how it did for Mr Derpy and the crowd of Deep Ones which Jin summoned.

    He briefly exined the workings of the card enhancement as he had also done with his other monsters when they first entered the Dungeon Maker. Aspared to the initial few times exining to his monsters when he first got the equipment card deck, this time round was much smoother, faster and spoken with more confidence. In no time, the Minotaurs understood the concept and began to look through the cards that Jin chose for them.

    "Ooo different poker card quality." Moloch was rather happy with his upgrade that Jin inserted for him and so were the rest of the Minotaurs. "Ah yes, did you manage to get the blueprints or some form of city n for the Dungeon City Fortress ready?" Moloch asked and Jin shook his head.

    "I have texted the personбнermm sent a message to a contact of mine. I should get a reply soon or maybe by tonight. I hope." Jin forgotten Moloch did not know what was a handphone or the modern technology that he was using.

    In the meantime, I have given you guys unlimited ess to the guest room, until I create a proper home instance for you all. I even asked the Werebeasts to give you guys some work in the fields if you want." Jin replied.

    "Actually, I would like to go back to the Dungeon World and check on thend of the Dungeon City Fortress and perhaps, start setting up a magical barrier with my other servants," Moloch suggested and it reminded Jin that Moloch had his remaining followers and servants that he had yet to capture.

    Jin initially wanted to catch all of them, butter abandoned that thought. If they could resurrect without the system, why should he catch them? Aside from making them stronger with enhancements from equipment cards, each death those minotaurs incurred would eventually add up as expenses for him in the future. He would rather acquire more unique, (and hopefully) stronger monsters from other worlds, or even from Dungeon World, that would aid the defence in the Dungeon City Fortress in the future.

    "Imagine if I managed to capture the Monster leaders of those who decided to raid the Dungeon City Fortress." Jin''s imagination went wild for a moment butter thought of something rted to barriers.

    "I thought you said that the Dungeon City fortress is protected by the Dungeon Core for about three months?" Jin queried.

    "Yes, that is from the Dungeon Core. What I meant was to set up the foundation of the magical barrier for the future, when the Dungeon Core releases its barrier." Moloch replied as the man puppet adjusted his head even though Moloch did not need any help bncing.

    "I thought about it. Even if we can detect invaders that could enter the city and subjugate them without any prejudice, we are still vulnerable to King Baal''s magic. He could summon meteors from nowhere, causing the earth to split thus eradicating our armies (if any) within seconds or send the entire city into chaos before he even sends out his own personal army to attack."

    "Hence, I am going to set the foundations of the magic barrier. It will take me some time and I figure it would be better to do so now, before the construction of the city. That way, the barrier will not just be a superficial one, but a more intricate and sturdy solution that can prevent the types of magic I described...or at the very least reduce the effect of such terrible magic." Moloch said and Jin agreed to that.

    However, before he let Moloch leave, he posed the System a question. "You said you would be partially responsible for the Dungeon City Fortress, right? What is your opinion on making such arge extensive magic barrier?"

    "Thend mass allocated by the said Dungeon Core is 82,403 km^2, simr to the size of the city of Chong Qing, one of China''s four municipalities, or the approximate size of Austria. To create a magical barrier of such a size would be detrimental to the current grade of Moloch, due to your low cultivation grade and it would result in a barrier that is less than optimal." The System replied in the Dungeon Maker interface.

    "That is not wrong. That was why I said it would just reduce the effects of such strong and wide area of effect (AoE) magic." Moloch answered.

    "The optimal solution is to create a barrier simr to the one currently ced by the Dungeon Core. The System suggests User retrieve a defunct Dungeon Core so that the System might be able to replicate the design of the barrier used." The interface continued to write.

    "Hmm, I know the presence of defunct Dungeon Cores but the existence of such cores is limited. There should not be many around since people and monster tried to exploit their materials. For example, King Baal''s crown was created from a defunct Dungeon Core and it innately increased his powers." Moloch replied.

    "I am surprised you know so much about him." Jin was curious about Moloch''s rtionship with King Baal.

    "Hmm hmm. Anyways, I will just prepare to create a basic barrier and ask my servants to scout for information about a defunct Dungeon Core. This way, we will at least still have a barrier against any form ofrge scale attacks." Moloch briefly ignored Jin''s prompt and said what was needed which both the System and Jin agreed to.

    "If that''s the case, I assume you are sending out your three battle maid leaders to scout?" Jin asked as he looked through his equipment cards and Moloch nodded. "They are my most trustworthy and strongest subordinates. Your monsters'' fight against them was not even at their peak performance. Since I ordered them to just let most adventurers pass after they felt that they tested them enough."

    "But who could have predicted I was up against a monster capturing maniac? Hahahaha!" Molochughed and Jin could not help but sniggered too.

    "Alright, Yem, Mer, and Sebastia. Come here, I will re-evaluate your equipment once more before Moloch send you out on your scouting expeditions." Jin said and the three battle maids walked up to him.

    "Yes, Master Jin, but do not hesitate to call us back if you ever need our help," Sebastia responded as the battle maid leaders bowed in front of Jin, instead of kneeling, like they usually have done for their lord, Moloch. Jin was in fact relieved because he felt he had not done enough to deserve that much respect from them.

    Jin reviewed their equipment once again and even added some cards from the new card pack to their loadout before they proceeded to scout for defunct Dungeon Cores based on their Lord Moloch''s information.

    .

    .

 Chapter 208 The Test and an Olive Branch

    <h4>Chapter 208 The Test and an Olive Branch</h4>

    Thest thing on his agenda was a new dungeon instance for histest shop instanceyout. It was the month of October and there can only be one important event in October that everyone looked forward to.

    Halloween!

    Jin remembered that the System wanted to create a Halloween dungeon for the store but would it reallye true? "The System will never break its promise. Besides, there are already pre orders for the new Halloween dungeon instance through the loot box vending machine since the start of the month." Yun said as she sat on the brand new barstool at the bar ind to drink her daily dose of ck Ivory Coffee. Jin also remembered the loot box machine had already changed its theme.

    "And so it will provide the dungeon just like it did for the Qixi Festival?" Jin asked, to which Yun took out her phone to browse for information. It seemed like Jin had something in mind and Yun figured that he would want to add something into the fray, considering that he had recently captured so many monsters such as the Minotaurs and Deep Ones.

    "Actuallyбнyou can either allow the system to do whatever it wants or add something more to your liking to the current dungeon instance. You wanted to increase your dungeon supplier level, right? I have asked the System to post a mission for you since its interests aligned with yours." Yun said as Jin took his phone out to check on the new mission.

    "Enhance the Halloween Dungeonyout and achieve sales of more than 500 people by the end of November. Repeat customers are allowed. Rewards: Restaurant Instance." The System stated and Jin scrolled to check if there were any other mission objectives.

    "Secondary Optional Objectives: Reach general sales of 5000 people by the end of November regardless of service or dungeon instance. Rewards: Level 3 Dungeon Supplier." Jin read the mission details from his phone and also noticed that the City Dungeon Fortress mission had been renamed to "Build the City Dungeon Fortress."

    "5000 people?! Are you kidding me? How am I going to do that on such a short notice?" Jin looked at his storage watch and saw that the first week of October was already over. If he remembered correctly, hisst month''s general sales number were totalled to 1600 odd customers including the sales of his service instance. It was actually a sess number for such a small shop in a fairly forgotten shopping district.

    Not to mention it was his first month where there was still an air of novelty surrounding the shop and he was not very confident in getting such a big number by the end of next month. If he needed to get 5000, he had to work thrice as hard, maybe more, because even if he managed to achieve the miracle of maintaining the number of peopleing in, it was not enough to hit 5000.

    "Is this the way of the System testing me? 5000 customers?" Jin said with a tinge of anger in his voice. It was obvious that his patience was tested by the System and it also seemed the System had had enough of him.

    "Yes, this is the System testing you, but I believe it''s rather kind of it not to put it as part of the main objectives." Yun tried to calm Jin down, but it was not working very well. "And ermбн it allowed customers to repeat and did not restrict it to unique customers?" Yun''s words of constion were not helping to put out the fire.

    Jin mmed his fist on the Dungeon maker which scared Yun for a moment before he took a deep breath. "I am sorry Yun. I will try my best to make up with the System." Jin said with slight reluctance, but it seemed that he was keeping Grandpa Ming''s words in mind. If not for Ming, he would probably not able to control his anger and would have created arge fuss.

    Yun gave a slight smile and told Jin that she would not bother him. Jin might not like it, but Yun was still considered as his ally..albeit a questionable one. Although it was a no brainer that she was in cahoots with the System. Did she really help Jin out behind the scenes or did the System ask her to act this way so that it could mend the rtionship slowly?

    Jin had no idea but decided to keep things on track. The task was currently quite overwhelming but if he did it step by step, he should be able to achieve his goal. "If only Yang Ling''s dungeon could be considered within the general sales too. That would help with numbers a little." Jin said out loud and the System gave him a reply.

    "Yes. Your partnership with Yang Ling does help with the general sales of the shop. However, she can only be considered as 1 customer."

    "What if I made her pay per use? Does that count? Since it is still within the general sales and the mission allows repeat customers." Jin said and the System acknowledged.

    "Yes, it counts if it is paid per use and it has to be done within this shop. You are not allowed to bring the System''s technology out of the store." The System stated in the Dungeon Maker interface.

    "You did not mention that when you first created that mission," Jin argued although he had all along wanted Yang Ling to do that in order to protect the secrecy of the System. However, since the System now mentioned about this particr use, Jin wondered if he could make full use of this particr opportunity.

    "The System is now adding that use within the mission for rification sake." The System stated as it immediately amended the mission briefing for Yang Ling''s partnership.

    "Adding a use after I had epted the mission? Won''t that be a break of trust between the System and the User? I thought you are testing me to see if I am worthy, now you are proving to me that you are the one that is unscrupulous." Jin said as calm as possible even though he was very agitated from within.

    "бн" The System paused for a while before replying.

    "State your request. The System will deem if it is worthy ofpensation." The System answered Jin and he grinned.

    "Amend your Adaptable Immunity so that Yun cannot read my thoughts too, maybe selective ones. I need some privacy in my mind especially when she is my ''mother''. You might not know this, but I have been wanting to think of lewd stuff and having someone maternal monitoring your thoughts dampens my human needs." Jin said. He knew that this was just a poor excuse and the System would definitely guess the underlying reason behind the amendment of the immunity skill.

    If Yun cannot read Jin''s thoughts, the System would not be able to understand Jin''s thought process. However, Jin had a feeling that if the System really wanted to, it could have just forced itself into Jin''s thoughts so the amendment of the Adaptable Immunity to Psionic Magic skill was just for show but still beneficial to Jin.

    "If my needs are not met, how can I work optimally for you? How would I be motivated to work? You are a System, you know how primal our needs can be. We are creatures unlike you, who is only numbers. Isn''t that why you recruited us in the first ce?" Jin reinforced his argument and surprisingly the System responded.

    "You are not entirely wrong, nor entirely correct. Remember. You are a being of interest, not of need. Very well, the System will ept your request as an olive branch, as a way of mending the rtionship too. There might not be such exceptions in the future." The System stated.

    "Are you sure you want to close off future negotiations? Isn''t that breaking the rtionship even further? I thought you want to have a mutual understanding. Well, I get that you are superior and all, but even the scientists need to consider the needs of their experimental rat, right?" Jin pushed his luck further to see if he could get the System to give in a little more.

    "The scientist can always find a new rat but the System will determine again based on User''s performance." The Dungeon Maker interface immediately kept quiet after showing that on the screen and left Jin to work on the Halloween Dungeon that was already downloaded into the Dungeon Maker.

    Well, at the very least, Jin tried.

 Chapter 209 Zhen Qings Specialty

    <h4>Chapter 209 Zhen Qing''s Specialty</h4>

    "I have no strength left." Zheng Qing said to herself as she looked at the time on the clock in the kitchen instance. Roughly six hours had passed but it was not yet time for Jin to open his store. She looked at the mess she made in the kitchen instance before she tiringly fell to the floor and curled herself up.

    Her hands were stained with noodle flour and the kitchen preparation table had various ingredients lying all around. She wanted to make Ramen even more after seeing the bulk of the menu that Jin showed her. He even let her try every dish on the menu except the onigiris.

    Mainly because the onigiri was too random, there were too manybinations for Zhen Qing to keep track. Yet, she still took the effort to try one every day, hoping that she would eventually hit a simr taste once again. It was also good training for her especially when ites to taste.

    However, even though Zhen Qing told Jin that every dish he introduced had no ''soul'' of the food, they were undoubtedly top notch quality. Take the curry rice for example. The pork cutlet was cooked with precision with the crumbs golden in colour and yet the pork itself was still juicy and meaty. Not too dry or too oily.

    Jin also told her that if possible, he would like to avoid Chinese food mainly because it would be apetition against the stores in the Tiangong Shopping District. He did not want to have a food war against the shopping district since he was a dungeon supplier, not a restaurant owner. The reason he wanted to have a restaurant instance was to incorporate rest and fun all in the same ce.

    That was also the reason why he introduced Panda Credits into this shop, just to emphasize once again that the food was not the main attraction of the area but the dungeons. If the cultivators wished to eat his food, they would need to buy the dungeon tickets.

    That was the main intention of Jin but he was also a business owner. Eventually, he was also blinded by greed which overshadowed his initial noble intentions. Jin tried to experiment with the possibility of selling food via real cash by allowing Zhen Qing to sell her ck pepper pork buns.

    It was a fantastic experiment due to a few reasons. Zhen Qing was trying out in his shop to see if it was viable to work with him. Jin knew that he needed Zhen Qing to build some trust in him so the caravan was a good ce to start. If she was going to be an employee, it would be vital to have her be exposed to a part of the System. Thirdly, the buns were her own creation and he would like to observe if she had the capability to create something exquisite with minimal help from the System.

    Fourth, it was the excuse of using her, an external temporary business partner to try out how cash flows into the shop via food as a merchandise. Thankfully, Zhen Qing did not disappoint with her brand new ck pepper pork buns as many people loved it. Lastly, it was for selfish reasons such as Jin liking her.

    Sometimes, Jin wondered if she was fully incorporated into the System, would the System aid her to be the best Chef for Jin. However, he was equally scared too. What if the System favoured her more than him? What if the System decided to provide her more aid than she ever needed or perhaps revealing itself to her?

    However, reading too much into the future would just stress Jin out so he figured it would be wise to let her have her own way by gifting her a restaurant instance. In the future, if she continued to do well and maybe she could just be content working under him as long he gave her room to grow.

    Zhen Qing rested for a while before standing up and washed her face to refresh herself again. She knew that this was indeed a good opportunity to show Jin her skills since her speciality was not in Chinese food but in Japanese food. The reason was that she was not entirely of Chinese ethnicity but a mix of Russian and Japanese too. Her mother was Russian Chinese and her father was Chinese-Japanese.

    She was brought up partly in Russia and subsequently in Japan before an incident that caused her and her father to flee to China to keep a low profile. That was also the reason why Jin was astonished when Zhen Qing said that she was going to cook a non-Chinese dish for Jin for the main dish.

    Her speciality was Shio Ramen, meaning the broth seasoning was more inclined towards sea salt as this particr type of broth had fairly strong Chinese ties influence in this particr cuisine. However, Zhen Qing wanted to create something new. Something her Sensei was extremely good at.

    Tsukemen.

    Tsukemen is a ramen dish in Japanese cuisine consisting of noodles which were eaten after being dipped in a separate bowl of soup or broth. While her Sensei taught her many different cuisines as part of her training, Zhen Qing was rather secretly well versed with the art of tsukemen. Especially since her Sensei was undisputedly the number one tsukemen master in Japan. Why did he decide to choose her as his disciple? It was still a mystery to her but she was fortunate enough to be under his tutge.

    Her Sensei taught her his good traits and his bad traits. For example, his obsessive tendency for cleanliness made Zhen Qing a clean freak because ''a dirty kitchen cannot produce good food''. That was why Zhen Qing always toiled till near midnight in Jin''s caravan store before she left the store. Yet, she always felt that the store seemed to be cleaner than she had left it when she came to work in the next morning.

    Even though Zhen Qing wasted her youthful years of being his apprentice, her Sensei would never impart his secrets to his Tsukemen directly to her. He always dealt with the broth himself and if she wanted to learn the recipe, she had to learn by tasting, feeling, hearing and even more tasting of his noodles. Every single day, they would share a bowl of tsukemen as part of a tradition to learn from any mistakes made on that particr day.

    That was why Zhen Qing now struggled to attempt to recreate the same particr taste if possible. It had been many years and the taste might have been unforgettable. However, the human''s memory would always dramatise the history to the extreme in order to retain one''s memory about a particr thing.

    "Maybe I should give up trying to recreate that particr vourбн" Zhen Qing said to herself as she began to throw the mess she made on the table away into the trash bin.

    It was during that instant when she felt like giving up as she was cleaning the mess up that she noticed abel on one of the fridges.

    "Perhaps, I should try recreating ''that'' first before attempting to recreate Sensei''s vour." Zhen Qing who was initially ambitious decided to go back to her shio ramen speciality, the one in which she managed to make a small name for herself.

    .

    .

 Chapter 210 Lets Battle!

    <h4>Chapter 210 Let''s Battle!</h4>

    For the first time after a long while, the first customer at the front door wasn''t Xiong Da but actually Bu Dong''s gang. Yue Han, the Blind Bat cultivator, and Kong Xian, the Towering Tortoise Cultivator.

    "Hmm, are you sure we are at Boss Jin''s ce?" Kong Xian was curious yet amazed by the drastic change around the shop ever since he saw the shop roughly a month ago.

    "Yue Han and Ist remembered seeing the big Panda Billboard and the new shop sign, Dungeons and Pandas, but this new screen instation and the removal of shutters? This is my first time seeing this." Bu Dong, the Angry Ape cultivator replied with slight confusion.

    "Did we not enter Boss Jin''s store yesterday when we were rooting for Brother Xiong Da? How did Boss Jin change things so quickly? Is my watch functioning properly??" Yue Han took out his phone to check his inte connection to see if his watch was sync correctly.

    "Trust me, if it was not for today''s pop quiz, I would not have remembered regretting not studying yesterday because we were there helping Brother Xiong Da out." Bu Dong reaffirmed Yue Han''s doubts. Even though Bu Dong knew how crazy Boss Jin''s changes were in terms of shopyout, but this was too absurd.

    "In any case, it looks like the store is open." Bu Dong pointed at the door which previously had a digital signage to show that it was ''Closed'', which was currently showing ''Open for Business''. The trio entered the shop only to have the shock of their lives.

    "Where did the entire shop go to?" Bu Dong cried out, suddenly seeing panda statues and some big colourful machines in the middle of the shop. He panicked a little, did Jin just got spirited away from his life?

    Was the past month a one time miracle that made him captivated with the wonders of cultivation and fighting monsters?

    "Ehh Bro, look at thisrge sign here." Kong Xian said as he beckoned the other two who were estranged in their own delusional thoughts. "Returning customers, please use the dimensional port at the entrance over here!" A panda pointed at the sign, so Kong Xian immediately presented his phone towards the dimensional port like how he had done it a month ago.

    And Poof! He disappeared with the other two quickly following suit.

    "WHAT THE CRAZY SHIT IS THIS!" Bu Dong shouted at the top of his lungs to show his amazement at the current new store instance. Even Yue Han and Kong Xian were made speechless by the whole newyout. If the previous store was fantastic, the current one was magnificent beyond belief.

    Jin was at the bar ind looking a little fatigued, but continued to smile at his customers and greeted them as he usually did. "Wee back." He had barely finished the Halloween dungeon but there were still some minor tweaks he had to do before releasing it out into the public. This was one dungeon he decided not to try all by himself when he looked to review it.

    "Oh, the horrors." He thought to himself.

    Perhaps it would be a good decision to dy the Halloween dungeon just for a day and let the returning customers enjoy the current newyout just for one day before he releases the new dungeon to the public. In the meantime, he could also do some publicity about the Halloween dungeon, which would allow the cultivators to be prepared. In addition, the weekend was just around the corner, making it the perfect time to release it too.

    "How did you do all this?!" Bu Dong was still sceptical with the currentyout andter realised that a small little pet ape was sitting right beside his shoulder.

    "Wait, is this the pet that I bought from the loot box machine? Ohhhhh! Oh my gosh! I can even touch it!" Bu Dong eximed as he saw his pet had a small burst of smoke appearing asionally. It was after all simr to his cultivation, the Angry Ape. Yue Han noticed it too and saw that his pet bat was flying around, not allowing him to catch it.

    Kong Xian suddenly felt left out and asked if it was some reward they managed to get from the dungeon fights. "Nahh, it was from the loot box machine on the second floor. I had already forgotten all about the existence of this little rascal until now." Bu Dong replied as he remembered he saw the ape only once when he tried the Panda Muscles instance to work out.

    "You can now get it from the floor above you in the new Pet Battle vending machine instead of the loot box machine." Jin pointed upwards as he told Kong Xian and the three decided to explore the all newyout like little kids in an adventure yground.

    The trio quickly ran up the spiral stairs and found the vending machine beside the closed caravan store. They followed the instructions strictly to help Kong Xian get his personal pet. "Wahahaha, behold my pet tortoise!!!" Kong Xian brought it up solely with his right palm and the pet tortoise''s newborn eyes looked at Kong Xian with fascination. It even let out a loud squeak to acknowledge his new master.

    Later, both Bu Dong and Yue Han noticed that Kong Xian had a few cards on the table and they remembered what the vending machine stated. There was a Battle Pet service instance which they could try.

    Yue Han who was usually strict with the amount of money he spent each day, had decided to buy a card pack too because he was a total sucker for card collections. "Attack Up, Defence Down, Vitality UpбнAll these cards are enhancement cards...Oooh! Wing Attack!" Yue Han got excited to see that he received a skill card among the pack of enhancement cards.

    "Shall we try to battle?" The kid spirit inside Kong Xian was burning brightly. Why would they not? They were born in the era of Digiman and Pokeman. To be able to have their own pets and making them fight with special skills was like a childhood dreame true for all of them.

    Even Jin secretly created a personalised deck with his own money. Sure, the System might be getting some money from him but it was inconsequentialpared to the amount of money he had earned. He liked this kind of battle pet cum card games too.

    Spendthrift Bu Dong, unlike Yue Han, was simr to Jin and had already bought five packs of cards. However, he thought to open themter when they were battling or right after it. "Do not reveal your special technique unless you need to." His cultivation master told him with regards to his cultivation techniques and he had even applied them to the card game. It seemed like Bu Dong was both a serious cultivator and a gamer at heart.

    Right beside the Pet Card vending machines was the dimensional port for the Pet Battle Royale service instance which both Yue Han and Kong Xian entered without hesitation and quickly took their ce at each side of the room.

    Both of them booted up their Pandamonium App and the interface to the Pandamonium automatically booted the Pet Card sub-application onto their screen which showed the health of their pets and their stats. Yue Han and Kong Xian grinned at each other so widely that they simultaneously shouted two words.

    "LET''S BATTLE!"

 Chapter 211 Pet Battle

    <h4>Chapter 211 Pet Battle</h4>

    Customers began to flow into the new shop instance slowly, and many were looking very surprised by the drastic change Jin made. What was more surprising was to see some of the customers being apanied by their pet and many began to query where they could get one.

    Meanwhile, the others were walking around the entire shop instance to take in the spacious sight of the area only to hear an announcement in the all new Auditorium One. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Although there are no takers in the current dungeon instance, which I believe it was due to the efforts of Boss Jin, there is currently one pet battle ongoing and we are showing it in Auditorium One!" Mr Patsu who was on his headset microphone was shouting out loud to beckon the curious customers to have a taste of the new sofas andrge cinematic screen.

    All the customers in the shop instance moved towards Auditorium One the moment they heard the word ''battle''. Many could not believe how sturdy andfortable the sofas were. No matter what distance they were from the screen, no one was blocking their view and the couches wererge enough to enjoy with their fellow friends. The disy, on the other hand, was total eye candy with it being highly defined and the broader view made people awe at the quality.

    "LET''S BATTLE!" Both Yue Han and Kong Xian unknowingly created the tagline for the subsequent pet battle arena fights for the spectators.

    "Towering Tortoise!" Kong Xian did not give it a nickname since he could not think of one at the moment, but his digital pet tortoise who was floating aroundzily acknowledged his orders and went into the arena. The tortoise had arge shell that looked like it was carrying a miniature mountain on its back.

    "Blind Bat!" Yue Han shouted and the bat wearing a ck blindfold which was perching itself on Yue Han flew into the arena and took the initiative to start its attack without any warning. It zoomed straight through the room like an arrow, aiming for the head of the tortoise.

    It was rather easy how the pet battle worked. At the start of the fight, each yer was allowed to choose five cards from their deck of cards, if they have any and those five cards would be the only five cards they could use for the entire battle. Both yers'' pets would continuously attack each other and the yers could activate the cards they chose at any given time.

    During the battle, the yers could give verbalmands to their pets to intensify the attacks, guard, or evade. At any time, the yers could activate their cards to push their pets to the limit.

    Kong Xian who liked to y defensive in real life unconsciously did the same thing with his tortoise.

    The cards that were initially in his hand were now floating right in front of him and so was Yue Han''s when the battle started. He then realised it was easier for him to use them as he remembered that he needed to bring the card up and away from the remaining cards and swiped through mid-air to activate it.

    "Defence Up!" Kong Xian pretended he was in the anime shows where they shouted out the card names as he swiped the card that was floating right in front of him. The card flipped and flew up above his head, erging itself to a point it was easy for the spectators to see what kind of card he was using.

    Even the card itself had intricate designs of a knight turtling itself with a shield up with the back of the card was a design of azy panda with the heading "Pet Battle!'' and a subheading "Dungeons and Pandas" at the bottom of thezy panda to show that the cards were properties of Jin''s merchandise.

    With the activation of the card, the towering tortoise suddenly had a shield in front of it and it prepared to block the iing attack unless Yue Han countered his friend''s card.

    "Attack Up!" "Special Technique! Wing Attack!" Yue Han did not hesitate to use two cards in session. He was an aggressive yer when it came to card games which were unlike his nature in his cultivation and training.

    The two cards flew up above Yue Han''s head and the Attack Up had a design of a warrior holding onto two swords, while the other card was specifically designed to match Yue Han''s bat appearance. Even if other cultivators obtained cards with the same technique, their cards would be redesigned specifically to their pet''s appearance. For example, if Shi Hui, the cultivator for Shadowy Swan obtained a Wing Attack card, the design of the card would be of her pet swan rather than Yue Han''s pet bat.

    The Bat immediately had its wings reinforced and it was shining like solid polish steel and there was a sword that magically flew in to damage the shield that the tortoise had. However, to Yue Han''s surprise, the tortoise had its shell aiming at his bat only to realised that Kong Xian''s floating cards were down to three.

    "Damn! Did he use another card when I wasбн" Yue Han looked up only to see an erged card showing a tortoiseshell gleaming. "Hahahaha! Yue Han! You are too predictable! I have known you long enough, to predict you would go in strong!" Kong Xian said as he yed the "Reflect Shield" technique card.

    Wing Attack allowed Yue Han''s pet to do piercing damage while Reflect Shield would be able to let Kong Xian''s pet reflect partial damage at Yue Han. The bat''s attack ensued despite the change of developments and as it cut the tortoise, it received damage from the reflect shield but did significant damage to the tortoise as well.

    "Tortoise! Counterattack the bat right now!" Kong Xian shouted as it noticed that the bat flinched receiving the damage from the Reflect Shield. The tortoise was sturdy enough to withstand the attack and it did not hesitate to attack the bat the moment Kong Xian gave his orders.

    On the other hand, Yue Han hastily used another card. "uracy Down!" The card erged with a picture of a squid throwing a ck goo ball, which came out of the card flying into the arena and st at the Towering Tortoise. Its vision was blurry from the goo attack which caused it to miss.

    Yue Han immediately used all his remaining cards since he knew from his phone that his blind bat''s health point was extremely low. "Attack Up! Critical Hit Up! Blind Bat, give it your best!!" The Critical Hit Up had the design of an archer shooting a bullseye and it tranted into a target board that got ced onto the tortoise. The Blind Bat swooped in without hesitation once again under themands of his master.

    Separately, Kong Xian who was left with attack cards was in a bind. With uracy down, his attack might not be able to hit. He was in a quandary whether to attack or defend.

    "Argh damn it! Since you are this aggressive, I will go all in too!!"

 Chapter 212 The Tortoises Struggle

    <h4>Chapter 212 The Tortoise''s Struggle</h4>

    "Seeing how Yue Han went all in, Kong Xian followed suit! He is throwing down everything as well!" Mr Patsu, the penguin massage therapist NPC, who was now an announcer in Auditorium One shouted to hype the crowd and indeed he did. The customers who were first slouching to watch in the auditorium were creeping to the edge of their seats to see this particr battle unfold right in front of their eyes.

    "Kong Xian did not even flinch at such an aggressive attack!" Bear Cub One, the co-announcer beside Mr Patsu added hisments which made some of the customers rooting for Kong Xian. Meanwhile, more customers streamed in and were even more startled because of the noise the crowd in Auditorium One was making.

    "Defence Up! Evasion Up! Counterattack Up!" Kong Xian frantically selected each card and swiped them up. Being Defensive in cultivation made Kong Xian too cautious to put a proper bnce in his choice of cards, but it seemed that he had made the right choice doing so when it was up fighting against Yue Han.

    As the Defence Up card erged and moved to the right for the other cards, Evasion Up, lit up and magnified, a ballerina silhouette figure in the card design appeared. It waster followed by the Counterattack Up which card design was of a silhouette of a knight piercing hisnce to a ck silhouette figure that smashed its sword on the knight''s shield.

    However, something extraordinary happened! The Counterattack Up card shone even more brightly than any card that a pir of light materialised on to the card. "OOHHHHH!!! Critical Draw!! yer Kong Xian had managed to activate a Critical Draw from his cards!" Mr Patsu shouted and this made the customers even more curious.

    "Critical Draw is a random event when the feelings of the pet and its master''s actions aligned!" Bear Cub One eximed. "It is possible only when the Pet felt the same way as its master''s actions which allowed the critical draw to activate, causing the Counterattack card effects to be two times more effective than usual! Two times!" Bear Cub One continued whichpelled some customers who were previously rooting for Kong Xian to cheer loudly.

    The Towering Tortoise did not disappoint as two out of three cards effectsbined causing the mountain on its shell to suddenly spew smoke, creating a smoke screen effect that made the Blind Bat''s uracy and speed drop as it flew towards the tortoise.

    "Hahaha! How would the smoke screen affect the uracy of a blind bat?" A customer rooting for Yue Han shouted back at Mr Patsu and his answer was simple. "Well, its magic of cards. Believe in the cards."

    "Your answer stinks." Bear Cub One retorted after which the customersughed, but Mr Patsu did not care and continued withmenting.

    "Hahaha! Even if you reduce it''s uracy and speed, remember my pet is a bat!" Yue Han said to Kong Xian to show that his efforts were fruitless. Indeed, even in the midst of the smokescreen which was created by thebination of its Defence Up and Evasion Up card, the bat still managed to pinpoint the location of the tortoise because of its innate echolocation skills. It just required more time to find the tortoise to attack.

    The moment it found the slow moving tortoise, it sped up and dealt its attack. The tortoise who was trying to escape could not outrun the flying bat and was bitten by the bat. Not only that, the bat managed to cause a critical wound since the bat bit on its tail, a vital spot of the tortoise, and even the tortoise was inflicted with a bleeding condition.

    It was at that moment, Kong Xian was smirking away which made Yue Han worried. "I did not expect the smokescreen but it seemed that it helped my pet to buy some time." Kong Xian said with confidence.

    "What are you talking about? Your pet is bleeding to death as we speak." Yue Han replied with a tinge of fear in him.

    "Tsk tsk, not if your pet dies first. Towering Tortoise counter attack now!" Kong Xianmanded and his tortoise pet shouted, clearing the smoke screen effect. From the small mountain on its shell, everyone in Auditorium One could see that it was brimming with red boiling liquid. It seemed that the Critical Draw allowed the pet to activate one of its ability that usually required a technique card to allow the pet to attack.

    "Go now! Volcano ster!" Kong Xian followed what was written on the Pandamonium pet app interface in his phone as he shouted with confidence. The bleeding towering tortoise gave a menacing look at the equally broken bat and aimed its shell at it.

    "Evade with all your strength Blind Bat!" Yue Han shouted but it was toote as theva sted out the tortoise shell was spewing on the entire arena that even caused the ground to burn. If not for the fact that the blind bat was flying, it would have been in a hot mess. Unfortunately, one of theva sts seeded to hit the bat causing it to drop to the ground on a puddle of hotva.

    The health bar on Yue Han''s phone swiftly reduced to nothing and the battle was concluded. Bu Dong who was watching the battle on the side while choosing his cards pped his hands at the current battle. The customers in Auditorium One who were watching pped for an equally fantastic battle that could only be seen in Jin''s shop.

    Suddenly, two new cards appeared in front of Kong Xian and so was Yue Han. However, for Yue Han''s case, he was only allowed to choose one of the two for keeping. "Hahaha, the cards are a no brainer for my next match!" Kong Xianughed as he saw one of the cards was the volcanic ster that was used recently.

    "Wow, you can earn more cards just by battling?!" A customer saw the cards being given out to them at the end of the battle. "Yes, not only that, if you cannot find any yer to fight, you can fight our monster''s mini pet too!" Mr Patsu said.

    "Can we do two versus two battles too?" A female customer asked as she wanted to fight alongside her boyfriend and Mr Patsu said it was allowed which made the customer excited and she rushed off to buy the card packs.

    "Boss Jin, I know you like to take our money but this is too much. I have a family of two to feed and now I have to take care of my new pet on my shoulder?" The male office worker cried his woes out.

    "I am sorry to hear that. Please buy responsibly." Jin bowed his head a little but his friend had already dragged him up to the second floor. "What are you crying for! Quick, let''s buy the cards and try it out!"

    "But my allowance for meals!" The male office worker cried out.

    "Screw that! Just eat grass for the next two weeks until our sryes in again." His friend persuaded him effortlessly and brought him up to the upper floors.

    "Good fight," Bu Dongmented as he was at the corner arranging his final choice of cards. "You want to fight with me?" Kong Xian was beaming with confidence.

    "How about I fight both of you?" Bu Dong gave out a challenge which both of them could not refuse. "You are on! Oh but eh, is it allowed?" Yue Han asked but even Bu Dong shrugged his shoulders.

    "The only way to find out is to try it out." Bu Dong did a long jump with his new Grade 4 cultivation and prepared his cards while the other two took the sides of the room. At this point, the interface showed an option. "two versus one?" which all three readily pressed on that ''Yes'' button.

    The room suddenly expanded sideways the moment all three of them pressed ''Yes'' and the floor which was damaged by theva previously was patched up. "This is beginning to be my favourite part of Boss Jin''s shop." Yue Han said even though he lost terribly in the previous game.

    "Same goes for me. At this rate, I need to work part time again to feed this new hobby." Kong Xian agreed with Yue Han.

    "Just remember not to neglect your cultivation." Bu Dong reminded them as he pulled out his cards from the deck.

    "LET''S BATTLE!!!" All three shouted at each other once more.

    .

    .

 Chapter 213 Cosmetic Cards

    <h4>Chapter 213 Cosmetic Cards</h4>

    "Ladies and Gentlemen!! Thank you for buying from Dungeons and Pandas! You will not regret getting those card packs!" Mr Patsu went up to the second floor to thank the current crowd.

    "However! When you have the chance, return to Auditorium One! Looks like our dear little boys are not over with the fight!" Mr Patsu jumped up the table and flew down to the first floor.

    Well, it''s more like diving down andnding on his stomach since his penguin wings did not work. Yet, Bear Cub One managed to drag the unconscious penguin to the Auditorium One to see the screen portraying Bu Dong against Yue Han and Kong Xian.

    "What a match with two yers battling against one?! How is that fair!" A customerined loudly about this injustice. "Tsk tsk tsk, my friend, you do not seem to know much about Bu Dong. He is a guy who fights well and a rather wealthy little boy. I remember seeing him treating his close friends to a number of dungeons just so that he could have a team with him." Another customer who just bought a card pack told the stranger.

    "Wait, so you are saying?"

    "Yes, I believe Bu Dong is wealthy enough to buy multiple packets of these cards and felt confident enough to fight against the both of them." The customer''s guess was somewhat on the mark and he opened his card pack, hoping to see at least an umon rarity card.

    Bu Dong called out for his Angry Ape to arrive on the scene which made both Yue Han and Kong Xian slightly jealous. "Wowбнthis is the power of money, right?" Yue Hanmented and Kong Xian could only agree.

    The Angry Ape was not just any ape beating his chest like a King Kong. Instead, it was fully clothed, had a circlet on its head and a long red polestaff. It was like a mini Sun Wu Kong, and the customers gasped at such beautifully detailed clothing as well as the actions it was portraying.

    "Ah, if you guys are wondering. The card packs you are getting are all arena based cards. There is a small probability that you will receive extra cosmetic cards. Yes, extra cosmetic cards, definitely not at the cost of your cards in the pack." Mr Patsu said loudly as they saw how fanciful Bu Dong''s Angry Wu Kong was.

    "However, the pole he is holding is a weapon, definitely not cosmetic right?!" A customer shouted out and Mr Patsu shook his head. "No, it looks like a weapon but it is cosmetic in nature. The attack Bu Dong''s pet does with that pole would be equivalent to the same amount of damage done without the pole too. Rest assured, the cards you received can be equipped to your character." Mr Patsu announced.

    "Hmmph, another gimmick to earn people''s money. And I foresee it will be even more popr than the fishing instance." Mr-Know-It-All was sitting at the corner of a sofa in Auditorium One to write his notes down again. "Still, I must admit it''s an interesting gimmick that even I am rather intrigued by. I feel the urge to buy all the cards just to see the entire battle collection." Mr Know-It-All sporadically took out his phone to check his stocks investment app.

    "Looks like it would indeed be a good day to buy those cards for some study." He grinned quietly at a profit he had earned as he waited patiently at the corner of the sofa for more information from that jumpy penguin announcer. "Come to think of it, the card collection is still part of Jin''s store. Boss, don''t mind me adding it into the spending expenditure!" Mr Know-It-All thought to himself and smirked when he remembered he was at ''work'' and he had some budget to buy stuff, allowing him to save some of his own money.

    "Oh, there is actually a cosmetic card pack option, and it''s one quarter the price of the card packs." One of the male customers who was whining to Jin saw that and proceed to buy a cosmetic pack despite him saying he did not have any cash with him. Guess, he decided to eat even more grass in the uing days.

    "Yes! But if you wish to get more bang for your buck! You can head out of the Shop Level One instance and purchase a loot box from the second floor!" Bear Cub One interjected. "That way, you can get the uing Halloween instance ticket at a low price before it is sold out! Not to mention, there are cosmetic items in it too!" Bear Cub one iterated and the customer who bought the cosmetic pack not too long ago suddenly felt cheated.

    Jin had also asked the system to renovate the loot box machine a little. He asked the System to remove the blessing stones of courage which no one really used. Maybe some who were frequent returning customers might see the effect of the blessing stones of courage in the uing Halloween instances, but that was the only advantage they might have.

    Instead, Jin asked the System to put limited costume cards in the loot box machine that pertained to the Halloween theme. It can be bought as a package with the Halloween instance ticket or individually. Hence, If the tickets were sold out, the system would continue to sell the limited costume cosmetic cards and there was some use to the loot box machine.

    Why did Jin not ce the loot box machine on the first floor? He wanted to but the main reason for the loot box machine to be on the second floor was that he wanted to suck more money from people who walked out from the recovery instance.

    By taking advantage of their feelings, their desire of wanting to seed, to try again or the feeling of wanting to get a small souvenir after the battle for the sake of memento was a great way to earn money from the customers via the loot box machine.

    However, Jin did request the System to create another loot box machine to be ced with the new pet vending machines and that was one thing that the System dly obliged. Unfortunately, the System said it required a day to generate that loot box machine. Jin figured that there was a quota for the number of discounted tickets it could allow for the Halloween instance, so it wanted to cote the numbers from the sales of the current loot box machine.

    "Why didn''t you say earlierбн" He wanted to push himself off the upper floor andmit suicide in front of Jin. "Ah, no worries, the cosmetic you bought have a chance of umon and rare costumes! The ones that can shine or sparkle with effects! The Halloween loot box, on the other hand, provides limited edition costumes that could only be obtained until the next series of costumes appear!" Bear Cub One said and the word time limited made everyone jumpy.

    Upon hearing Bear Cub One''s announcement, some people even started to walk towards the exit of the Shop Level One Instance to try out the loot box machine. Meanwhile, some people were divided. They wanted to watch the match with Bu Dong, yet they also would like to get the Halloween loot box.

    Eventually, some stayed on to watch the match and those who were eager went to get their cards. Those were also one of the many who had subscribed to Jin''s Nettoflix kind of channel where they could rewatch the matches to learn from their mistakes and for entertainment purposes.

    "Hmm, looks like this pet thing is more serious than I thoughtбнI should create a card recycler machine soon or else they willin due to the duplicates." Jin noted to himself as he enjoyed the exnations by Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One. They had made his job easier.

    "BOOOOM!" A loud sound came from the screens of Auditorium One and Jin continued to enjoy the match in Auditorium One.

    .

    .

 Chapter 214 Two Versus One

    <h4>Chapter 214 Two Versus One</h4>

    "Hahahaha!" Bu Dongughed as he spammed two Attack Up cards at the same time to deliver a massive blow against Kong Xian''s tortoise pet. It seemed that when two of the same cards were selected, the card''s effects were enhanced to a tier two level, an umon card type. It had the same umon rarity as the techniques because of its tier two level.

    Both of the cardsbined simultaneously to produce a brand new card design that had a ck armoured swordsman carrying a great bigass two handed sword with just one hand. The card shimmered and Bu Dong''s pet, the Angry ''Wu Kong'' Ape, which was carrying the polestaff had the silhouette of a giant sword as it smashes the polestaff against the Kong Xian''s pet, the Towering Tortoise.

    Nevertheless, Kong Xian and Yue Han were not stupid. The trio were casual card buddies for the longest time ever and knew that their wealthy friend loved to use shy cards even though he was humble in nature.

    That was why the aggressive Yue Han even ced defence cards into his choice of hand. What surprised Yue Han was the next move the defending yers were making as he had no idea that the entire Battle Pet Royal system was so robust.

    Kong Xian naturally ced a Defence Up card and Yue Han did the same but his idea was that the Defence Up card could enhance the Towering Tortoise instead of his Blind Bat pet. As odd as it may seem, the Defence Up card went into the Towering Tortoise when Yue Han shouted for that pet instead.

    To their eagerness, Yue Han saw their Defence Up cardsbine into a tier two level. Kong Xian did not think much and assumed its part of the instance''s way of helping them to defend a tier two card.

    A new card design of arge cross like looking shield appeared in front of the Towering Tortoise, a vibe of those historical crusaders being the guardians of the weak. The giant sword shed with the wide cross shield and the sound of metal against metal made the yers'' blood raced with excitement.

    Apparently, when Bu Dong was against Kong Xian and Yue Han, he did not have the disadvantage that he thought he would have. The Pet Battle Royale Instance gave Bu Dong the choice to select two additional cards, making it a total of seven cards in his hand at the start of the battle to bnce the odds when facing the two of them.

    Given that the cards he could choose were not random but deliberate choices, he could have selected cards that were detrimental towards his opponents'' pets. Yet, Bu Dong did not and chose the ones that he really felt like trying just for the sake of fun. They were after all his friends and they could battle again for free since the only price they paid was the cards. (Although truth be told, Bu Dong realised the collection cards were eventually more expensive than he thought.)

    Yue Han did not waste Towering Tortoise''s effort by blocking the Angry Ape as he quickly swiped the Critical Hit Up card andmanded his Blind Bat to swoop in as soon as possible.

    "Defend yourself Angry Ape!" Bu Dong shouted as the Angry Ape used its polestaff to block the bat''s attack. However, the polestaff broke into two and the bat''s wing shed the Ape''s chest. "Fall back now!" Bu Dong shouted.

    "Press forth with the attack!" Kong Xian shouted as he used his new technique card, the Volcanic ster. The pet tortoise eded to his master''smand and redva was sted out of its miniature mountain shell.

    "Evade again!" Bu Dong shouted. Meanwhile, Yue Han found it was weird that Bu Dong was not attacking. What was even weirder that he was avoiding and defending without the use of defensive cards. Did Bu Dong miscalcte something and was not able to attack back or was it because the continuous attempt to attack Bu Dong did not leave him any chance to counterattack?

    "No, he is not that stupid either. He might be a person with all the shy moves, but he still knows how to y strategically. Either he is faking it right now, or he intentionally brought all the shy cards out just to show off." Yue Han thought to himself.

    In any case, Yue Han knew that Bu Dong was hiding a trump card. So he decided to keep his own Wing Attack technique while trying to elude some aggression by taunting Bu Dong and throwing in another Attack Up card into the fray.

    On the other hand, Bu Dong did have a trump card, but he was going to use it after the two buddies of his expelled some of their attack cards against him. Bu Dong wanted to wait a little longer before using it but seeing how his pet was more of an assault pet than a defending one; it would notst long under the barrage of attacks.

    "Arggh!! I shall use that! Are you ready, Angry Ape?" Bu Dong shouted and though his pet''s back was facing him, he could see a slight nod from tired beastly figure after defending for a long time.

    "Alright! I, your Father, shall show you how it''s done! Fear me! Tremble under the feet of the almighty Bu Dong!" Bu Dong became all too proud and both Yue Han and Kong Xian ced their hands on their faces knowing that Bu Dong was going to throw some shy card.

    Bu Dong brought that ''shy'' card out from the midst of several floating cards and he swiped with all his might. To all three''s amazement, as Bu Dong swiped that card, the edge of that card produced sparks. Instead of erging immediately, it spiralled upwards making the opposing duo aware that Bu Dong activated a very shy card.

    Suddenly, the card disappeared and did not erge at all which made Bu Dong dumbfounded. "Eh? Did the card effect fail or something?" Bu Dong said out loud and it triggered Yue Han and Kong Xian tough.

    "So? No card effect? Blind Bat attack now! Deal the finishing blow to the pet of the Almighty Bu Dong. Make his pet bow down to yours truly!" Yue Hanmanded and Kong Xian assisted by giving a Critical Hit Up card to Yue Han, which was the other card he obtained from winning. Yue Han wished to use Wing Attack at this moment but he did not want to risk too much seeing that Bu Dong''s card effect was not activated.

    However, deep inside him, he also felt the urge to be aggressive and give Bu Dong an overkill, to teach him a lesson for being so high and mighty. Needless to say, that Wing Attack card was not needed when the trio suddenly saw a bright light enveloping Bu Dong''s Angry Ape. Even, Kong Xian''s Critical Hit Up was subsequently returned to his floating cards. It was being refunded by the Pet Battle instance as they did not allow any attacks to be done at the current moment.

    "What is happening?" A customer shouted at Mr Patsu for an answer since it was the first time they saw a card in action being returned to the yer''s hand. However, some of the smarter customers, or the customers that had yed sufficient card games had a premonition of what wasing. It was after all a staple part of most card games.

    Mr Patsu gave a nce at Bear Cub One, and both gave an astounded look before giving the answer out.

    "Digital Evolution."

    The crowd went bonkers from hearing those two words.

 Chapter 215 Digital Evolution

    <h4>Chapter 215 Digital Evolution</h4>

    "Digital Evolution." Those two words were in red as they came out right in front of the Angry Ape''s face when the light continued to envelop it. Both Yue Han and Kong Xian were shocked by the change of developments.

    "Ohбнso the card did work. Hahaha! NOW! Bow down to me, you minions!!" Bu Dong wasughing loudly as the light around the Angry Ape finally faded away to reveal a brand new pet (albeit temporary) in the arena.

    The Angry Ape now had bigger fists, sharper teeth and even a face painted with red tattoos. It was initially slouching but with its evolution, it stood up straight. The Angry Ape looked even nastier and perpetually angrier than it ever was.

    Only then in the Pandamonium Pet interface, it showed the name of his new evolved pet. ''Angrier Ape'', the name of the pet was also shown in the pet interface of Yue Han and Kong Xian to which they could not help butugh at the name.

    "Angrier Ape! Hahahaha! I will bow down to the almighty Angrier Ape." Yue Han got on his knees and kowtowed right in front of the monster whileughing. Kong Xian did not hesitate to follow and made fun of Bu Dong''s new pet name. Even Bu Dong cried at the naming convention of the Pet Battle Royale Instance.

    "Bosssss Jinnnn! Give me a better and cooler name for my pet!!!" Bu Dong whined as he felt shameful for all the taunting he tried to do. In actual fact, the System and Jin did not bother to make too many changes mainly because it was not worth the System''s time to make that many changes and Jin did not implement too much of a modification on such a short notice.

    Upon seeing how Bu Dong managed to get quite a fair bit of attention, Jin decided not to alter the naming convention. "Power has its price. And the price for such power is money spent and a stupid name." Jin thought to himself as he giggled along with the other customers at how stupid the naming was.

    Bute to think of it, he wondered how his panda would sound like even though he already gave a nickname to it. Lazy Panda? Or Lazy Astral Panda? If that''s the case, it would be Lazier Astral Panda and perhaps the ultimate digital evolution would be Laziest Astral Panda. That did not sound too bad at all.

    "Yun, if that''s the naming convention, how about Healing Maiden or Breathtaking Bellflower?" Jin asked about the female cultivators who did not practice any conventional cultivation.

    "Good question, perhaps you can ask the System about it." Yun was lying back on a stool beside the bar ind looking at the battle too.

    "Aren''t you part of the System? That was why I asked you about it." Jin said and wondered why the sudden delineation between Yun and the System.

    "Hmmph." Yun continued to ignore Jin and watched the show.

    "Must be the digital mood swing." Jin did not care much and continued to tend to some customers and watched the fight whenever possible. After a month, he realised that there was some personality split in Yun. Sometimes, she was gentle and caring, always looking out for Jin, while other times she became arrogant like a young spoiltss and not caring for the world.

    "Well, since you two are joking, I will be serious. Angrier Ape attack with all your might!" Bu Dong shouted as he immediately flipped all four cards he had in his possession.

    "Attack Up! Vitality Up! Critical Hit up! Technique: Powerful Fist!" Bu Dong screamed his lungs calling out each and every card. Instead of pulling one card at a time to swipe them, he swiped all of them in an instant and it activated abo effect, something simr to what had happened with Kong Xian''sbination of cards.

    The Powerful Fist had a card design of an ape with an inted fist surrounded with visible chi while Vitality Up''s card design was a nurse holding on a small needle, squirting blood out of the needle. No matter how many times Bu Dong had seen it, the card design and effects were so detailed that it brought all other card games to shame.

    Granted, there were only a few VR rted card games to date and never before did he see a dungeon instance being made for card games. He was very sure there was no such thing and Jin could have created the first and yet perfect version of a card game using a dungeon instance.

    Bu Dong continued to be in awe as he stared at thebination of Attack Up, Critical Hit Up and Powerful Fistbining into one brand new card. "Fist of Power", a card design with a fist that was beaming with rainbow chi energy and it was more animated than the rest of the cards.

    "Looks like a tier two card," Yue Hanmented and Kong Xian nodded his head. Would they want to continue the fight upon seeing a brand new tier two pet with a tier two technique? Sure, why not?

    It was yet again a ''do or die'' situation maybe that would always be the case for subsequent fights if they continue to meet aggressive yers like Bu Dong. "Kong Xian, swipe all the cards including mine!!" Yue Han shouted at Kong Xian.

    "Huh!?" Kong Xian was suddenly confused by the weirdmand from his friend. It was then Yue Han realised he made a mistake. Of course, Kong Xian did not realise that his friend''s cards could be used for his own since only Yue Han who had the first hand experience understood that particr mechanic.

    However, it was toote as Bu Dong''s Angrier Ape smashed his shiny Fist of Power onto Kong Xian''s towering tortoise. "That tortoise is a pain in the butt to fight." Bu Dong said as it obliterated Kong Xian''s pet in an instant.

    It was left with Yue Han and he too found out that once Kong Xian''s pet was killed, the cards on him were not transferable to Yue Han. "Ahhh, that''s a pityбн" Yue Han sighed to himself as he saw hisbination of cards were probably not sufficient to fight against Bu Dong.

    Nevertheless, he still gave it a try as there was nothing else to lose.

    "Swipe All!" Yue Han shouted as he did the same as what Bu Dong had done previously and his cards immediately flipped. Unfortunately, for Yue Han, thebination did not yield any surprising effect and his blind bat was crashed by the Angrier Ape. "Guess, it was really down to luck for now until someone researched all the possiblebinations out." Yue Han thought to himself as he surrendered to Bu Dong.

    Four new cards appeared in front of Bu Dong upon victory and his Angrier Ape returned back to being the Angry Ape once more. Meanwhile, three cards appeared collectively for Yue Han and Kong Xian and they each only got to choose one out of the three cards.

    "So it''s risky fighting two vs one but the rewards are immense." Mr Know-It-All penned his thoughts down on his trusty notebook whilepiling what had happened for the past two fights.

    "This is way more interesting than I thought. If done right, it can be the next big trend for dungeon instances instead of just a niche right here. Perhaps, I should nudge a few of my old contacts to visit Jin''s store." He smirked at the decent development of this particrly small shop and drank his wife''s specially made Oolong tea.

    "Now I am beginning to understand why Boss said to take care of him." Mr Know-It-All thought to himself and hoped to see a dungeon battle in this new shop instance.

    .

    .

 Chapter 216 External Forces

    <h4>Chapter 216 External Forces</h4>

    It was nearing the closing hour for Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas yet there were many people still hanging around to use the Pet Battle Royale Instance. In fact, he was earning more from the Pet vending machine than the dungeons for that particr day.

    If not for the almighty System that was able to produce an unlimited amount of cards, Jin''s card machine would have broken down within an hour. Many people were overwhelmed by the simplicity of the gamey and yetplexity underneath it all. Some even took pictures of their pets and began to show them to their friends on social media.

    Bu Dong and his buddies did not hesitate to rmend Jin''s ce to the online card forum they had always visited and even took pictures of their cards as proof. Many people online were doubting the authenticity of this particr new game but some showed interest in it. There was even a customer that recorded the entire match via phone cam and uploaded it online.

    Also, Mr Know-It-All did make a phone call to a specific contact and reported this particr card game design to his old friend. "Yes, you know me well enough to understand that I do not lie. If you can convince Jin to sell you the schematics for his instance and the workings of the technology, you will profit tremendously." Mr Know-It-All was talking inside his idle car.

    "Buy his technology?? All I have to do is see the workings of his instance, and I can probably make a better copy!" The friend of his replied.

    "Nah. Yourpany''s technology is too outdated. Even that prototype you showcased in that major convention three months ago should not be able to recreate it. Believe it or not, his technology is industry changing, breaking all traditional notions of dungeon instances. Compared to you, his use of dungeon instance is at least five to ten years more advanced. He might just be the new underdog in dungeon instance technology." Mr Know-It-All giggled.

    "Haha! Do you wish to turn this into another bet?" His friend asked.

    "Why not? What are you going to bet?" Mr Know-It-All questioned.

    "If I cannot replicate his technology and I cannot buy out his technology, I will fulfil two requests of yours which-"

    "Which I have to create on the spot and no changes after the bet. And if I lose, I have to pay you 1 million USD. Wow, you do know that bet of yours is so old school and useless to you. When you are earning millions by the hour." Mr Know-It-All rolled his eyes.

    "You piece of shit, if not for the fact that you are my best buddy, I would not have let you off for owing me 20 million USD." His friend argued.

    "You are still counting those junior school bets? Hahaha, anyways, here are my two requests. One, please continue to fund my organisation as always, your donation is well appreciated. Two, even if you cannot copy or buy his idea, perhaps, partner up with him? Making that shopping district the next big thing in Shenzhen would be equally interesting." Mr Know-It-All gave his requests to his friend.

    "You care for this boy a lot eh? No wonder I feel a little lonely these days. I mean for the first time your requests are not as self-centred as before." His friend sneered at him.

    "Hahaha, people do change you know. Besides, these are also my orders from Boss. You know him well enough, that''s why I ask this from you." Mr Know-It-All said.

    "Fine, since it''s from Boss I will take on this bet. But remember, I am doing it for Boss, not for you. I am still not letting you off the hook. 20 million USD, please pay as soon as possible." His friend finally agreed to help Mr Know-It-All.

    "After I strike the lottery 20 times consecutive." Mr Know-it-All meant fat chance.

    "Ahh, whatever. Bye asshole." His friend dropped the phone call, and Mr Know-it-all drank thest portion of his wife''s Oolong Tea.

    ----------------------------

    "What do you mean that you were not able to pick into the shop''s lock?! Aren''t you supposed to be the best lockpicker in Shenzhen?" Wo De Tian, the CEO of King''s Monster shouted at the lockpicker.

    "I tried. It wasn''t a digital lock like most people use, but a mechanical door lock. Since, you did not specify that he had a mechanical lock, all the tools I brought were useless."

    "However, I did bring an extra set of conventional tools, but they were also not working. The pick felt different from usual." The lockpicker argued back at De Tian as he was a respected person in his field.

    "So? What are you waiting for? It''s already night and you are not going to try again?" De Tian looked furiously at him for retorting.

    "My payment first." The lockpicker demanded.

    "Screw you and your payment, Chen Hai. You have yet to show results for this store." De Tian waved him off, but Chen Hai banged De Tian''s table in his office. "After all the stores I helped you infiltrate, and with just this one failure, you are going to dismiss me?" Chen Hai fought back for his employment.

    "Okay." De Tian gave a long pause before continuing. "I shall put my trust in you again this time around because of your past merits. So show me the results." De Tian threw a thick fat envelope on the table which he took out from his drawer. "Buy whatever tools you require, I do not care if you need to demolish the building or something. Get me his dimensional portal server." De Tian who was slouching back on his chair, leaned forward and gave a deadly serious look at Chen Hai. The office was suddenly filled with chi that represented the embodiment of death.

    "But if you ever run away from me or if you ever dare toe back to me with no results again. Do not me me for being ruthless." De Tian spoke in a rather slow and quiet tone.

    "And I hate people that bang my precious table," De Tian said as he continued to slouch back on his chair and turned his chair away to look at the window, where he could see in in sight the building with King''s Monster logo. Chen Hai got the feeling he nearly avoided cmity, he now humbly walked away with the envelope.

    Chen Hai realised he had pushed too far as he had forgotten that De Tian was the vice head of another Triad in Shenzhen, one capable of fighting toe to toe with the Three Eyed Tiger Triad.

    The Ruby Rat Triad, notorious for their highlyplicated involvement of the entertainment culture in China, especially Shenzhen, and high levels of corruption which even the police was not able to pursue.

    It was rumoured that the Ruby Rat Triad was able to buy off judges and politicians to the point that it was able to hinder the results of a ten years corruption investigation in just three weeks. Buying bails for the vice heads, torturing andter killing the policemen and detectives involved through murders disguised as idents.

    If youpared them in terms of ruthlessness, the Three Eyed Tiger Triad could be considered the modern day Robin Hood while the Ruby Rat Triad was the equivalent of Al Capone less the drugs.

    "Hmmph, Panda. You watch out. Coming into Shenzhen to carve a name for yourself in the entertainment industry is the one and only mistake you should not have made." De Tian stared at the distant for a while before he continued to do his work.

    .

    .

 Chapter 217 The Unexpected Date

    <h4>Chapter 217 The Unexpected Date</h4>

    "Come on let''s get going, Brother Se Lang! Do not let Jia Ying wait for too long!" Shi Hui, the cultivator of Shadowy Swan, pulled Se Lang''s shirt as he was window shopping at the armour store in Boss Jin''s shop.

    Weirdbination to see Shi Hui with Se Lang together? Well, Se Lang was equally shocked when Shi Hui asked him for a date out of the blue, just a few days after they participated in the Bank Heist dungeon raid together.

    He remembered he was super nervous since he had never been asked out by a girl before. It had always been the other way around and surprisingly; the girls distanced away from him. (In retrospect, it was mainly because of his partner Deng Long, who was a rather lousy wingman, but Se Lang med himself instead.) Se Lang''s impression of Shi Hui was a girl with elegance, and yet she was able to portray a quiet sense of pride in the way she carried herself out in public.

    Compared to him, who was just a simple patrol officer in the police force for two years, Shi Hui was an overachiever. When he found out the facts about Shi Hui, he could only sigh at the achievements she had aplished. Uing modern dancer, a guest dance choreographer while just being an intern in a musicpany and many other ys she had under her belt of experience when she was still young.

    Well, technically, Se Lang had been selling himself short. Deng Long, his partner in ''crime'', could vouch for him. Se Lang was after all an outstanding police officer and he was not even trying hard all the time. Imagine if he strived harder, he could rise through the ranks pretty quickly. Who knows? He might be able to be a detective in a short period if he tried.

    In any case, Se Lang did ask Shi Hui what exactly she saw in him during their first date. Kind of stupid of him to do that, but nevertheless, he needed to find out. "Hmmm, if you want an honest answer. I have none! I have always wanted to try dating a policeman and someone older. You match quite nicely!" Shi Hui said as she smiled so innocently that Se Lang''s heart melted instantly both in a good and bad way.

    "Soбн Does that mean I am just a temporary stand-in for her gap for love until she finds someone more worthy? Kuuu~! " Se Lang wondered and could not help but feel like crying. "Well, if you are ufortable, we can call it off right now." Shi Hui said before the end of their first date, and Se Lang shook his head.

    "I will be honest with you too then. My feelings are conflicted now, but I will take this as a learning experience for future rtionships. Till we break up, I will be in your care then." Se Lang bowed a little and Shi Hui could not help it as she burst intoughter.

    "Hahaha! Experience?! Oh my gosh, you are still a ''wizard'' despite being so handsome?" Shi Hui covered her mouth and continuedughing.

    "бнY--Ye-Yesбн" Se Lang could not help but be embarrassed as Shi Hui pped his back.

    "Then Mr Wolfie, I shall first start liberating your wizardhood by allowing you to kiss me." Shi Hui pointed at her lips and then yfully point at her forehead. "Which ones would you choose? Mr Wolfie?"

    "бнIбнwill choose the forehead." Se Lang could not help but tremble. He moved closer to her as she stared at him for a long while before he gathered up his courage.

    "Ahhh! You are so slow!" Shi Hui grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself up to his lips. The warmness of her lips touched his cold, dry lips and he could not help but feel excited by the bodily contact he had with Shi Hui.

    "How did that feel Mr Wolfie, the Wizard?" Shi Hui asked coyly with her arms still wrapped around him. He was still in a daze.

    "Fantastic. Felt like I am in heaven." Se Lang''s legs were like jelly and thankfully Shi Hui backed up a bit after his reply.

    "That''s that for the first date!" Shi Hui said as she continued to tease Se Lang.

    ---------

    "Heyyyyy Mr Wolfie!!!!! Stop daydreaming!!!" Shi Hui wrapped her arms around Se Lang''s muscr ones, and he was brought back to reality. "What are you thinking about that made you go into a daze?"

    "Erm no, I was just thinking how bizarre and yet miraculous it was to have that first date together a few weeks back." Se Lang blurted out and it made Shi Hui grin, but her expression changed as quick as a traffic light.

    "Well, stop daydreaming and let''s get going for the Halloween instance! Jia Ying, Jing Ru and Yue Wen are waiting!" Shi Hui said. Yes, the Halloween instance was up and about a week had passed since Jin created the new Halloween instance which he posted on Pandamonium as an advertisement.

    "Ehh, don''t you think if I go with you girls, won''t it feel like I am the odd out one, the ermбн fifth wheel? I mean, you girls are the Venus Four. It would be kind of sad if I break your teamposition." Se Lang said.

    "They are nning to use this instance to re-evaluate you since you did so poorly in that Bank Heist Dungeon. Jia Ying also said ''So what if he is a policeman if he cannot protect us in this new dungeon, he has no right to be your boyfriend.''" Shi Hui replied while imitating Jia Ying''s voice.

    And Jia Ying had every right to be jealous. Shi Hui was after all her best girl buddy in the Venus Four group despite the four girls'' already being this close knitted. She could not stand Shi Hui leaving her so quickly just because she got a boyfriend that easily. Even more so when Jia Ying secretly adored Se Lang too.

    Jia Ying felt it was stupid of her toment that Se Lang was rather cool looking and seemed somewhat reliable to Shi Hui, who agreed with her. (On the side note, poor Deng Long, he had no one liking him.) She did not expect Shi Hui to have feelings for him too and her simplement even reinforced her friend''s beliefs, that made Shi Hui take the initiative to go for him.

    Now Jia Ying had mixed feelings within her. Should she feel happy that Shi Hui was with Se Lang or should she be anguished that her best friend took Se Lang? She did not know what to do.

    Se Langughed at Shi Hui and nodded his head. "Okay okay, but at least let me buy this first." Se Lang took an odd looking device from the store''s ''New Stock!'' cabs and brought it towards the counter.

    "What''s that?" Shi Hui asked as she picked it up and read thebel on it. "Enhanced Chi Releaser"

    "It''s actually for you. Remember how we earned the Icesteel Weapons from the Bank Heist raid? I figured this Enhanced Chi Releaser would help topensate your long range weakness since your war fans seem to be suited for closebat." Se Lang was a little concerned.

    "Huh, but I have been using illusion skills topensate for my innate long range weakness, so that I could go close to the enemy." Shi Hui replied and was wondering why Se Lang would waste his panda medals on something like that.

    "But after watching the Bank heist video online several times, I concluded that it used a lot of your chi, right? So I was thinking, with the new Icesteel War Fans and this enhanced chi releaser device, you could be able to shoot out projectiles. Like, I don''t know, maybe use Ice Shards or create a blizzard?" Se Lang replied as he paid for it at the front counter.

    "You have no idea what this enhanced chi releaser does, right?" Shi Hui squinted her eyes at Se Lang.

    "I asked the Red Pandaбн? Does that count?" Se Lang started to sweat a little.

    "Yes, an elemental weapon like the Icesteel type would indeed allow users to utilise the power of ice within a certain distance of the enhanced chi releaser. This way the user would not need to rely on close contact for the power of ice to activate." The Red Panda receptionist surprisingly backed him up.

    "Ohhh, thank you Red Panda, do you mindbining the Icesteel War Fans and the releaser for me?" Shi Hui gave the Red Panda her War Fans and the Red Panda grabbed it with its mouth before passing both items to the three headed bear weaponsmith tobine them into one.

    Suddenly, Se Lang felt a nudge at the side of his stomach and he saw Shi Hui grinning widely. "Thank you! This is the first present you gave me!"

    .

    .

 Chapter 218 Halloween Theme

    <h4>Chapter 218 Halloween Theme</h4>

    "You two know how to make people wait." Jia Ying was seen sitting on the upper floors of the Shop Level One Instance. She was petting the Sanguine Stag that was on herp when Shi Hui and Se Lang found her. Jia Ying was also adjusting her deck of Pet Battle cards which seemed to be the trend now in Jin''s store.

    There was even an auditorium that was dedicated to the Pet Battle Royale Service Instance and sometimes if the battles were intense, both the auditoriums were assigned for it. What about the dungeons? Were they not as popr as before? Were Jin''s monsters now cking?

    Definitely not.

    The new Pet Battle Royale Service Instance was catered to various groups of people. One of them was the people who wanted to fight against monsters instead of yers because they preferred to do so. They thought that they could learn a thing or two from a yer versus Monster environment before fighting against other cultivators.

    Hence, the monsters were equally busy fighting various yers too. What the yers did not know was that the monsters were alive and notputer simted. So, they were getting a challenge which was equally if not harder than the yers. Reward wise was still the same. The yers were unaware, but when the monsters won, they got better food, modern equipment or even orbs of spiritual force for their home instance.

    It was an incentive that Jin created to help the monsters build up their own home. Earning something through hard work established more ownership and pride for their new home instead of just giving them everything at hand. Therefore, this spurred the monsters to fight harder and stronger in Pet battles too.

    Of course, the cards were sometimes regted by the System in those individual battles. Otherwise, the new cultivators would be trashed by them. If such cases ur, the Systempensated them with Panda Medals which they could use in Jin''s general store to get items. (Yes! That general store does not just sell potions! They have a partially hidden everyday store section which the customers have yet to discover.)

    "Still, it''s amazing how lively the shop has be with the new shop instance, and it saved me a lot of trouble. I remember the police station issued an increased alert to Tiangong Shopping District two weeks ago because of Boss Jin''s arrival. I even had to break a few fights up, because people tried to squeeze into Jin''s shop." Se Langmented as his Wacky Wolf pet jumped on his head and wagged its tail.

    "Seriously, Boss Jin should have gone with a shop instance from the start, when he opened his shop. It would have been a fantastic experience to see the Qixi theme." Shi Huiined about the previous shop interior while her pet swan sat quietly on herp.

    With the shop being a dimensional instance, the whole ce was now decorated with Halloween theme. One day afterunching the shop''s dimensional instance, the returning customers were amazed by yet another drastic change to the store''s interior design.

    Instead of the simple in spaciousyout, the entire ce revamped with a gothic setting to it. The ceiling of the Shop Level One instance was initially white and dull but now there was a stained ss ceiling with ever bright moonlight shining in.

    The stained ss, or art ss, which required artistic and engineering craftsmanship to assemble the pieces in real life, was a treat to the eyes, especially an overlyrge ss ceiling like Jin''s. However, with the aid of the System, all it cost was several dungeon dors which Jin dly paid since the interior of a shop yed an essential part in the psychological aspect of customers.

    "Yeah, I like the stained ss ceiling the most." Jia Ying returned the deck of Pet Battle cards into her storage ring and looked at the ceiling. It was not the usual scary Halloween kind of stained ss design but rather various flowers which she could not identify.

    The ss ceiling was divided into seven parts, simr to how the Shop Level One Instance was being separated, allowing each part of the auditorium to be lit up in various colours. Also, the colours were not too bright nor too gloomy, and it fits the theme of Halloween.

    Even the couches which were initially white were changed to ruby red, and there were floating candles around the auditoriums. The caravan which Zhen Qing was operating was also redesigned to fit the theme.

    There was initially a panda statuezing around on top of the caravan, but now it turned into a Frankenstein costume panda where the patches of ck seemed to be ''sewn'' onto the bear, and it even had a nut bolt through its head.

    Getting the customers into the mood was vitally important for a shop like his. Not to mention, to fulfil his ridiculous secondary mission objective of getting 5000 customers general sales would not seem as absurd as it would be with the all new Battle Pet service instance.

    "Hahaha, but the funniest thing was Boss Jin and Zhen Qing. I liked how Zhen Qing managed to pull off such a terrible looking costume and still disy such grace." Shi Hui quietly took a picture of the beautiful cook who happened to wear a bloodied chef outfit with fake tools hanging on the side of her waist, yet she still appeared so sexy in it.

    "Talking about sexy, I think Yun and Milk were just too hot for their costumes." Se Lang blurted out and suddenly felt a kick on his left shin. Jia Ying gave an annoyed look at Se Lang as if to say "watch what you are saying stupid guy" and pointed at Shi Hui.

    "But butбнJin''s costume is over the top ridiculous." Se Lang gave hisments on Jin to change the topic. Se Lang also initially thought it was another AI NPC that helped Boss Jin with the Bar Ind until Jin took out the head to reveal his face. Jin was in a panda suit with a traditional Count Drac looking suitбн with a panda head. Even the oversized panda head had two canine teeth protruding out of its mouth.

    "Unfortunately, he was toozy to act the role of Count Drac." Jia Ying tried to reinforce the change of topic while peeking down to the lower floors from where she was sitting and saw Jinzily walking around in that costume giving out Halloween lollipops.

    Riding on the wave of Halloween. Jin also decided to throw in more cosmetic items rted to Halloween, and he learned a thing from mobile games gacha. For a limited time only, during the Halloween period and till the end of November, the Pet Battle vending machine would have an increased rate of getting a limited set of special moves.

    Oh, but he was not that evil in sucking people''s money. The reason Jin gave out Halloween lollipops was that attached to the candies was a QR code that allowed the customers to get a free Halloween limited edition cosmetic item which could only be redeemed once.

    "Oh yeah, I do agree with Se Lang. Milk and Yun were very sexy in their costumes." Shi Hui did not care about the derailed topic both Se Lang and Jia Ying tried to create. She liked how Se Lang was blunt and honest about everything. It was that quality of his, which made Shi Hui find Se Lang very attractive. In university and even in her musical performance, not many were willing to tell the truth and always sugar coated things.

    "Anyways, Jia Ying, where are Jing Ru and Yue Wen?" Shi Hui realised they were not around.

    "Ehh, about that. They went for the Halloween instance first because Jing Ru''s father came by with her. With a powerhouse like Jing Ru''s father, Yue Wen wanted to see how strong a Grade 6 was and dragged the both of them into the dungeon instance. We could wait for them here." Jia Ying said.

    "Besides, we might have a higher chance of winningter on, since they could tell us what to watch out for." Jia Ying added butter saw Shi Hui pouting.

    "It must have been that impatient Yue Wen. How dare they not wait for us! It was not Se Lang''s fault to take that much time window shopping in the weapon store!" Shi Hui was somewhat upset.

    "If that''s the case, we should also go as three member team. I do not want to be spoiled by Yue Wen again." Shi Hui grabbed Se Lang''s hands and pulled him up.

    "But we might not be strong enoughбн" Se Lang wanted to argue, but Jia Ying took the opportunity to pat on Se Lang''s back as an excuse. "You cannot stop her when she is adamant. Let''s go Se Lang." Jia Ying felt her heart beating slightly faster.

    "Okay, okay. In any case, I nearly forgot that Boss Jin''s dungeons are modified to yers'' grade." Se Lang agreed, and he smiled at Jia Ying before he was dragged away by Shi Hui.

    So cheerful. So gullible. The trio had no idea what they were in for, with this Halloween instance.

    .

    .

 Chapter 219 Wrecked

    <h4>Chapter 219 Wrecked</h4>

    "Where am Iбн" Se Lang experienced a sharp headache the moment they teleported into the instance. It did not help that his breath felt heavy only to realise he was wearing an oxygen mask. His eyes were blurry, and he needed some time to adjust.

    "This settingбн Shit!" His strength was waning for some reason, but he was finally able to make some sense of the current situation. He looked around before he tried to get out of his seat, only to find he was being strapped down. "Argh...the seatbelt."

    He looked at the side of him to find a dead disfigured corpse and he started to panic. Se Lang quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and looked around. It was a terrible mess he was in. Luggage scattered all over the aisle and there was a scent of smoke but he could not figure out where it wasing from. The lights were not working and it looked like it was dark from a glimpse he took through the window port.

    He could only conclude that he was in a broken down ne that went through an emergencynding and guessed that he and perhaps the other two were entrenched in this particr setting.

    "бн Water? Shit! Fuckl!" Se Lang only realised now that his shoes were soaked. This made him get a clearer picture of his situation. If he did not escape in time, this broken aerone would be filled up and drown him.

    "Shi Hui! Jia Ying! Are you two around?!!" Se Lang shouted when he suddenly heard a loud explosion and saw a bright light from the right side of the ne. "Did one of the turbines just break down?" Se Lang thought to himself as he could feel the ne tilting into the water.

    "Damn damn damn damn!!" Se Lang knew there was no time and his heart was racing extremely fast. Se Lang guessed if he tried to escape now, he might be able to survive. But if Se Lang didn''t, he might die trying to search for the other two.

    "No wonder Boss Jin kept emphasising to every customer that if the Halloween dungeon instance is too scary for you, or you could notplete the first stage, he would refund the money back to you via the Pandamonium app. He was not joking at all!" Se Lang was wasting precious time finding someone to me when the ne window broke, causing more water to flow in.

    "Arggh, if they are still unconscious it will take me forever to search for them." Se Lang surmised he needed to use his Wacky Wolves technique. "Wacky Wolf Style, Bloodshot Eyes of the Wacky Wolf!" Se Lang covered his eyes with his hand. He inserted chi via his hand for faster maniption of blood into his eyes.

    His entire pupil turned bloody red while the capiries in his iris erged, causing his eyes to have a deadly gaze. However, it was quite painful for him to utilise it in such short notice since he usually calibrates his chi into his eyes for a long time before the effect starts. Unfortunately, time was currently a preciousmodity and Se Lang had to use it to rescue Shi Hui and Jia Ying.

    Se Lang''s Bloodshot Eyes of the Wacky Wolf gave him the ability to sense heat, making him a portable heat sensor especially when it came to finding criminals. Combined with his other searching ability, Acute Smell of the Wacky Wolf, criminals had no ce to hide. Right now, he had no time to activate thetter and only used his bloodshot eyes to find heat signatures in this particr metal container of impending death they were stuck in.

    "Found them! Exactly two heat signatures!" Se Lang quickly ran towards the first heat signature that was the closest to him. It was Shi Hui and she was still rendered unconscious.

    "Did Boss Jin purposely tweak the teleportation method to put us into such a state?" Se Lang thought to himself as he removed the oxygen mask off Shi Hui and unbuckled her belt.

    "Shi Hui, wake up! Wake Up!" Se Lang shook her shoulders but it was to no avail. She was not waking up. He turned his head to look at the other heat signature to confirm the distance.

    "Crap, the water level is rising, I have to rescue Jia Ying first." Se Lang deduced that he should go for the other heat signature that was registered by his bloodshot eye''s ability which he believed could only be Jia Ying since she was closer to the broken part of the ne that began to amass a pool of seawater.

    "Wait for me here, honey. I will be right back for you in a moment." Se Lang climbed and jumped over the centre seats to reach the other aisle. He quickly moved to the second heat signature. It was indeed Jia Ying and he reached for the buckle.

    As he was doing that, a sudden shriek was heard throughout the entire ne. Se Lang quickly looked around and noticed nothing. "Must be that stupid Boss Jin adding some scream background music to scare me and the re-" Se Lang did not see any heat signature but as a policeman, he had developed some battle instinct when someone tried to ambush him, so he quickly dodged.

    He was right, some sort of weapon nearly stabbed him as he heard metal shing on the floor. "Cold-blooded creatures?!" Se Lang immediately removed one of his bloodshot eyes to see normally. The forced removal of his ability caused his eyes to bleed but there was no other option.

    He closed his left eye with the bloodshot eye ability still intact in case he needed it and focused on the enemy. It was some fish-like human and it seemed very interested in taking Jia Ying away. As one of the Fishman moved forward to block Se Lang''s advance, the other Fishman was trying to grab her away.

    Thankfully, Se Lang did not unbuckle Jia Ying yet and the Deep One had trouble carrying her out of her seat. "Don''t you dare touch her, you fish creeps!" Se Lang took out part of his inscribed scythe that had the blood explosion inscription.

    With a button, he managed to remove the scythe de out and it automatically turned into a sabre weapon. Se Lang knew the limitations of his weapon, so he modified it to be able to use it in an enclosed ce too.

    The Deep One that was on the advance, charged towards Se Lang and in this situation, Se Lang did not hesitate to go all out. The longer he stayed in this ne, the more likely he would drown.

    "Scythe Art, Whirlwind Slice of the Wacky Wolf." Se Lang intercepted the stab of the spear which the Deep One was using with his bare hands and pushed his scythe de into the Deep One''s throat before slicing it. The slice caused a whirlwind effect that damaged the Deep One that was trying to grab Jia Ying.

    Se Lang pushed the decapitated Deep One and summoned his scythe pole stick out and stabbed it right through the chest, hoping the fish monster had the heart in the same ce where humans have it. Unfortunately, it was not but the attack managed to stagger the Deep One before Se Lang closed in and stabbed his de through its opened mouth and into its brains.

    He quickly removed his de from the dead fish man and unbuckled Jia Ying. At this point, Se Lang panicked because he just remembered that he had left Shi Hui defenceless. Se Lang quickly opened his left eye only to notice the heat signature at the back of the ne disappeared.

    "SHIT! STUPID FISH MEN!" Se Lang shouted in agony for failing to protect Shi Hui.

    .

    .

 Chapter 220 Getting Ou

    <h4>Chapter 220 Getting Ou</h4>

    In retrospect, Se Lang regretted shouting. When he did that, he stomped his feet with chi which in turn started to rock the entire ne, causing it to sink even further. Not only that, he realised that the Fishmen were not the only ones on the ne with him. All the other ''dead'' passengers began to twitch their fingers and feet.

    Eventually, they turned their head towards Se Lang and admired his beautiful, tasty chi. Aye, the passengers were not deadбнyet. "What the hell is with this instance!" Se Langбфs fear was creeping up into him. The undead zombies were struggling to get out of their seats as more seawater gushed through the broken parts of the ne.

    "Jia Ying is not even awake, and if I leave her alone to fight the zombies, the Fishmen might kidnap her while I am not looking." Se Lang talked to himself and scratched his head. "Arrgghh! Why did I sign up for this instance?!" If the audience were to look over at this particr instance, they would think it was quite unusual for Se Lang, their neighbourhood policeman, to be this afraid.

    Thankfully, all Halloween instances were not being broadcast mainly because Jin wanted to keep the horror and suspense factor of this instance. It was also to keep the customer''s identity secret, just this once. Jin did not want them to beughed at in case of some embarrassing moments. Jin expected that certain situations might arise, especially when a group was ced in a stressful environment, which might lead to some of his cultivators showing their true colours.

    Not to mention, Jin also promised that the customers were allowed to get a refund if they resigned before the end of stage one of the Halloween instance. It would be in poor taste to show multiple failures in the auditorium.

    "Believe it or not, Se Lang hates scary movies. I remember him beating up a clown just because he came out to scare him in a House of Mirror attraction. Have I mentioned he even broke half of the House of Mirror attraction causing them to halt their business for half a day to rece them?" Deng Long told Shi Hui as he passed a set of Halloween tickets to her before their gathering. "Heter apologised and promised to pay for the mirrors. It was simply hrious."

    Shi Hui did not expect his friend to be this generous, but Deng Long could not deny admitting that he only did that because he had too many tickets. He spent a lot of money since he wanted the cosmetic costumes from the Halloween loot box. "I heard this rumour that if you buy the Halloween loot box instead of just the card, there was a higher chance of getting a rare cosmetic set. Especially when the tickets were limited."

    "Then what about those criminals who ambushed him?" Shi Hui could not help but ask since Se Lang was such a scaredy cat ording to Deng Long. "h, he has his special skills so that he simply cannot be ambushed, and even if they do manage to escape his sights, they cannot escape his incredible sense of smell. He is a cheat when ites to being a policeman." Deng Long rolled his eyes.

    "Then why aren''t youing with us?" Shi Hui asked Deng Long, and he sighed heavily. "If not for my self-admitted obsessivepulsion to get the limited-edition rare Halloween costume for my pet, I would not need to do overtime to earn back that money." Deng Long said as he pulled out his phone and showed Shi Hui his digital pet in the Pandamonium App. It was a cloaked floating wombat with a skull mask on the side of its head, holding a scythe while carrying a basket full of candies.

    "It''s just too cute," Deng Longmented as he could not wait to visit Jinбфs store to y with his wombat.

    --------------------

    "Take a deep breath." Se Lang knew that they were sinking, so he immediately killed a zombie near him and checked the bottom of the seat. "Life vest! At least Boss Jin still managed to make this instance as realistic as it can be." Se Lang thought to himself as he put on the life vest for the unconscious Jia Ying.

    After which, he killed another few zombies that were trying to grab him with his scythe de before finding another life vest to wear. "In this kind of stupid horror scenario, I should bring another life vest in case the other one doesn''t work." Se Lang thought to himself as he grabbed a few life vests, threw them into a sling bag that was lying around and wore one for himself. Se Lang then continued to ce Jia Ying on his shoulder as he held onto her thighs so that he had a free arm to swing his weapon when he needed to.

    However, that short amount of time those preparations took, allowed a few of the zombies to break free, desperately crawling towards Se Lang. "Gah, no time to deal with you guys!" Se Lang''s heart was pounding, for what he was about to execute, could turn into a life or death situation. He called his Icesteel Scythe out of his storage ring and kept the one with the blood explosion inscription.

    "Intermediate Scythe Art! Moon Divide of the Wacky Wolf!" Se Lang aimed his scythe at the side of the ne and performed his weapon art. The chi absorbed by the Icesteel Scythe was incredibly bigpared to his previous scythe, but it allowed him to dish out a vastly stronger attack as well. With just one swing, his weapon art had cleanly cut the ne into two, leaving him with seconds of oxygen avable, before the entire interior of the aircraft broke into two.

    "Intermediate Scythe Art!!! Moon Barrier of the Wacky Wolf!" Se Lang yelled once more as he twirled and whirled his Icesteel scythe with just one hand. The chi he expelled for this skill was immense mainly because this barrier was now for two instead of one. Also, it was not a simple two-dimensional barrier but a three-dimensional one which simted a sphere like chi barrier around Jia Ying and him.

    Furthermore, the Icesteel scythe gave his chi barrier the element of ice, creating a thin ice coating around Se Lang and Jia Ying. Se Lang was betting on this after he had previously learnt how elemental weapons could affect their skills. Although it could be considered a double edge sword, it barely saved Se Lang and Jia Ying this time around.

    Upon realising the potential of the ice element affecting the chi barrier, he used the same weapon art, Moon Barrier of the Wacky Wolf once more to reinforce his barrier. The thin ice coating became thicker, and this gave Se Lang some peace of mind before he rxed and panted for his breath.

    "If my physics knowledge is not that rustyбн. Maybe we can float up to the surface of the sea..." Se Lang vaguely remembered the density of Ice is lighter than water. If such physical properties still hold true in this dungeon instance, maybe they could float up. That was also assuming no Deep Ones were attacking them.

    All Se Lang could do now is hope. Hope that Jia Ying and him could get out of this dreadful scenario alive.

    .

    .

 Chapter 221 Awkward

    <h4>Chapter 221 Awkward</h4>

    The spherical white ice barrier surprisingly held up against the seawater which gushed into the ne that Se Lang cut into two. It allowed the two of them to escape the zombie attack and without being stuck in the crashed ne. Se Lang then continued to stay in the barrier to recuperate. Besides, it was not as cold as Se Lang would have thought, but he could feel the temperature dropping.

    "I have no idea if we are floating or sinkingбн" Se Lang involuntarily hugged Jia Ying for some warmth, but he just so happened to grab her breast identally. "Ah? What this is fluffyбн" Being a man and a ''Wizard'' that had yet to have the opportunity to be physically close with Shi Hui, he could not help himself but fondle it a little once. He realised what he was touching was kind of soft, warm andfortable.

    Unbeknownst to him, Jia Ying was already roughly awake when she was being carried around like a sack of potatoes by Se Lang but she was too confused and the headache was straining her. When she began to hear Se Lang shouting his weapons art out, she figured they were in a pinch and did not mind being the girl to be rescued.

    That kind of feeling was great to savour once in a while especially by someone you had a crush on. "Sorry Shi Hui, let me enjoy this since you did not even give me a chance topete for him." Jia Ying thought to herself and so she continued to pretend to be unconscious and cherished the involuntarily physical touch untilбнit was apparent that he was a bit of a pervert.

    "Not that I do not like itбн" Jia Ying thought whether to scold him for betraying his girlfriend or continue to let him fondle her a little. "Maybe, I should let him off as a reward for saving me." However, a few seconds in Jia Ying could not help but slightly twitch involuntarily. Se Lang retracted his hands immediately and started to talk to himself.

    "Arrgghh! You already got Shi Hui! Why did you even do that? How can you face herter? Stupid me!" Jia Ying could hear Se Lang pping his face, and she could not help but smile a little. "At least this pervert knows some form of shame. I wonder how would he react if I tried to kiss him." Jia Ying thought to herself as she feigned a terrible headache.

    "Where am I...?" Jia Ying spoke in a low and quiet voice.

    "WeбнWe-e-eбн" Se Lang did not know whether his previous actions made her wake up or if she found out that he fondled her breast. Se Lang knew that he could not lie as he had upheld that value of integrity ever since he was a kid and never broke it before.

    "What is this ice thing? Is this part of the instance?" Jia Ying squinted her eyes and moved her head around, pretending toprehend the situation, but in fact, she could not look Se Lang in the face as her lips were curled from one end to the other. Jia Ying figured Se Lang was also conflicted, but she decided to tease him a bit.

    Se Lang took a breath in before he exined the situation to Jia Ying. "Ahh, so is he going to avoid that act?" Jia Ying thought to herself as she also began to understand the current dire situation they were in. "бнand that is why we are currently stuck here."

    "I seeбнso do you want to break the ice barrier and check? I do not think we are sinking though since the pressure of the sea- that is if Jin''s instance is realistic enough- would have already made cracks on our ice barrier, I believe we could be near the surface." Jia Ying concluded and wanted to take out her spear but Se Lang stopped her.

    "Before that, I have something to admit, that I missed out on in my exnation." Se Lang was breathing slightly rapidly, but Jia Ying did something unexpected. She gave a gentle kiss on Se Lang''s lips and subsequently ced her index finger. "That will be a secret between the both of us." Jia Ying teased him and also wanted to test how he would deal with it.

    Would he tell Shi Hui about it or would he keep it a secret? In any case, Jia Ying did mention to Shi Hui that she wanted to test his abilities and she did not say how she would do it and what kind of skills she was examining.

    Se Lang, on the other hand, did not know how to react. Should he live with this or should he tell Shi Hui about it? Se Lang was confused, did Jia Ying kiss him on purpose to see how he would react? Shi Hui did warm him about Jia Ying testing him, but he never even expected he would be subjected to this kind of test.

    Seeing how Se Lang was still stunned by the kiss Jia Ying gave him, she turned around to smirk before focusing on the task at hand. "Are you ready? I am going to break the ice barrier to check the surroundings." Jia Ying said as she wanted to call out her spear from her storage ring to break the ice barrier.

    "Do you want me to deactivate the shield instead?" Se Lang decided to put the ''secret'' matter aside for a while. No point arguing about that issue right now if they could not get out of this alive.

    "No, if I break it, I assume you can mend your barrier again with chi right? Best case scenario, we are at the surface of the sea. Worst case scenario, you can close the barrier and I can check if we are that far away from the sea''s surface. If I do not survive, you are still around toplete the instance. If I survive, I can send a chi voice transmission to you." Jia Ying calmly analysed the situation.

    "Besides, you did say we were sinking. Not yet sunk. So, I assume we should not be too far away from the surface and if the ice barrier is indeed sinking, all the more reason I should not dawdle." Jia Ying exined and Se Lang agreed to the n.

    Jia Ying secretly thanked Se Lang''s questioning since it also prevented her from rushing after that awkward situation she ced herself in. First, she directed her chi into her lungs, making it expand slightly more than usual and slowed her heart rate by a quarter. She was able to do it with ease since it was part of her Sanguine Stag style training. Her style had techniques that required a quick session of attacks that expended her stamina drastically hence the need to modify her heart rate and endurance.

    Jia Ying nodded her head at Se Lang and she summoned her spear to pierce the barrier, and to their surprise, there was no watering in but instead air. However, there was no sunlight but artificial lighting and the air Se Lang breathed in was stale and murky.

    Meanwhile, Jia Ying felt like a baby chick out of its shell, staring with bewilderment at the outside world as if the current situation did not make any sense to her. It was then Se Lang wanted to release the barrier to have a look.

    But even before Se Lang had the chance, both heard a piercing scream.

    A scream for help.

    .

    .

 Chapter 222 The Island

    <h4>Chapter 222 The Ind</h4>

    "You are kidding me." Jia Ying stared with bewilderment as she pulled Se Lang up to make him confirm that she was not hallucinating. They were surrounded by Deep Ones once more and Se Lang deduced that the Fishmen somehow managed to pull the spherical ice barrier to an ind of theirs.

    What Se Lang could not predict was that the person they wished to rescue was locked in a hanging prison cage at the top of a cliff of the ind. Speaking about the ind, even Se Lang could not believe his eyes when he got out of the ice barrier. It was a horror of another level. Never mind about the Deep Ones, they were not a concernpared to the ind they were stranded on.

    The Ind of Halloween Candies.

    Yes, the entire ind was made out of candies. The sand they were stepping on seemed to be refined pink sugar. The palm trees were growing erged gummy balls and the grass looked ravishing to savour. Even the cliff that Shi Hui was hanging over from looked like it was made out of dark chocte. (Later Shi Hui confirmed, it was indeed dark chocte. She tasted it when she was bored of waiting for them.)

    "Se Lang!!!!! Jia Ying!!!!!" Shi Hui was in a beautifully coloured candy cage hanging by the edge of the mountain cliff as she screamed their names. "Save me!!!!" She continued to scream.

    "Do you really think she needs to be saved?" Jia Ying gave a look of resignation as she pointed at Shi Hui.

    "Wellбн She is indeed kept in a cage." Se Lang did not know how to respond either.

    "Yes, in a candy cage, licking a lollipop and swinging her legs happily at us." Jia Ying ced her palm on her face and shook her head. "If it was up to me, I would leave her to rot for a long while in there."

    "I doubt she would get hungry. She can probably chew her way out of the cage. Although maybe her teeth will rot from all that candy." Se Langughed as he said that.

    "Hmm, but I think we should take care of ourselves first." Jia Ying swung her waxwood spear and prepared her stance to battle against the Deep Ones. Se Lang deactivated his barrier and took out his blood explosion inscribed scythe. He also figured that Icesteel weapon would be a bad idea against the Fishmen.

    "Woah woah woah. Violence! Violence! That is uncalled for!" A voice was hearding from the thick forest of candies that was right beside the pinkish sugar shore. There appeared a figure, wearing a formal coat who had a pumpkin on its head. The pumpkin figure came nearer and revealed that it did not have any eyes, instead it was lit up with fire from within.

    Not only that, he was holding arge box of sweet and cheese popcorn, munching away as he walked towards Se Lang and Jia Ying. Apparently, the two of them did not let their guard down since Shi Hui was still hanging at the top of a cliff.

    "Wee! Wee to the Ind of Halloween Candies! Would you like some popcorn?" The pumpkin figure extended its box of popcorn towards them and surprise! Surprise! Those popcorn automatically flew into the mouths of the Deep Ones, making them pumped up with adrenaline the moment they swallowed it.

    Not only that, their scales slowly transformed into a spectrum of different colours and the dark greenish colour that they once had became a mirage of colours. "This is more like it. Bright and cheerful, maybe sweet too. See you guyster! Tata! y nice with each other!" The Pumpkin figure turned his back and Se Lang noticed that his name was sewn onto his formal coat.

    It was none other than Pyro Jack or as the folktales called it, the Jack O Lantern. The me wielding pumpkin ghost.

    The Rainbow Deep Ones now eager to try out their new found strength pounced towards Se Lang and Jia Ying. Fortunately, the cultivators were one step ahead of them. "Intermediate Scythe Art! Moon Divide of the Wacky Wolf!" Se Lang stepped in in front of Jia Ying and activated his weapon art before her. Se Lang''s scythe glowed brightly like the moon as he performed his mid range chi enhanced sh, causing the first wave of Rainbow Deep Ones to be cleanly cut into two by his attack.

    Jia Ying took the opportunity to step on Se Lang, seeing how he bent his body forward, to execute her weapon art in mid air. "Intermediate Spear Art! Thunderous Storming Stampede of the Sanguine Stag!" Such a long name but its effect was equally amazing. This particr technique was not the same nor an improvement of the basic weapon art, the Stampede of the Sanguine Stag, that she used in previous dungeon instances.

    Jia Ying''s weapon art enabled her spear to act simr to Jin''s maniption of Bam and Boo. Instead of bamboo spikesing out of the ground, Jia Ying''s weapon art caused spears to appear randomly out of the ground. But that effect activated only after she threw her spear deeply into one of the Rainbow Deep Ones and the spear continued to spiral into the ground.

    The difference was that Jin was able to control his Bam and Boo with precision but Jia Ying could not. She could only hope that the weapon art was able to hit most of the Rainbow Deep Ones.

    In a way, her weapon art was more of an area denial technique rather than an area of effect weapon strike. Still, it managed to kill quite a few Rainbow Deep Ones. However Se Lang was doing a better job than her in defeating the colourful Fishmen. It was because this was, after all, his specialty rather than hers.

    Arge open area with multiple enemies was the perfect setting for a Scythe user to shine, unlike the spear cultivator. Jia Ying was better suited to battle against single opponents instead of many hence her recent weapon art was trained in that direction. By preventing herself to be surrounded with the area denial technique and systematically take down each and every enemy.

    In the meantime, Se Lang mowed through the Rainbow Deep Ones, and after a few kills, his Blood Explosion inscription worked wonders against this horde of monsters. Perhaps the rush of adrenaline made it easier for the blood explosion inscription to activate, or he was just purely lucky in getting a number of inscription activations in one fight.

    Separately, Shi Hui took out a pair of opera sses from her storage ring and watched her boyfriend ''perform'' in action. "So beautiful. It''s as if he was dancing with the Fishmen." Shi Hui saw Se Lang dodge an iing attack, unpaired his scythe into two and shed at the Fishmen in front of him while he used the pole stick to stagger the Deep One that tried to ambush him from the back. Jia Ying did not idle seeing how skilful Se Lang was. "I cannot let him beat me!" She thought to herself as she focused on one enemy at a time.

    Before long, Se Lang managed to mop up almost every single Rainbow Deep Ones as he leaned on a gummy palm tree to recover his breath. He then heard another screaming from the cliff. "Wooo hoooo!!! Brilliant fight!!!!" Shi Hui pped her hands happily to congratte her boyfriend.

    Suddenly, the thick candy forest revealed a path to the two of them. Even a sign appeared stating the following. "Walk through the yellow candy path! It will lead you to your beloved friend!"

    "Is this some sort of tauntбнby that Pumpkin guy?" Jia Ying ced her finger in the seawater to have a taste of it. It was sweet with a bit of savoury seaweed vour added to it.

    "Ahahah, even the sea became sweet water." Jia Ying could not help but also try the pinkish sugar-like substance on the shore before Se Lang beckoned her to follow him into the candy forest.

    .

    .

 Chapter 223 For The Sake of Fun

    <h4>Chapter 223 For The Sake of Fun</h4>

    Initially, both Se Lang and Jia Ying thought that the yellow candy path would be filled with treacherous candy monsters especially when they were crossing through the Candy forest. But it seemed that Boss Jin was ying with their feelings once again.

    The sounds of the forest caused them to be on edge, but nothing pounced out of the forest to ambush them. To the relief of their fruitless worries, they managed to reach the top of the Ind of Halloween Candies which was their supposed ultimate destination to save Shi Hui.

    Despite being alerted throughout the entire yellow candy path, Jia Ying did get a chance to experience the wonders of the ind as she secretly picked up a few candies from the forest and tasted them. The forest was made out of liquorice trees, and cotton candy bushes were widespread. Se Lang, on the other hand, was still cautious towards the ind since he did not know what kind of poisons he could end up eating.

    Both Jia Ying and Shi Hui did not seem to have the slightest worry in that regard and enjoyed each and every piece of candy they could nibble on. Besides, they did not have the luxury to taste such sweet stuff most of the time aside from Boss Jin''s cheesecake and fried Oreo pies. Those oreo pies were a sin, Shi Hui had to do an extra work out each time to burn the calories after eating that particr pie, but it was worth it in her opinion.

    Upon reaching the top of the ind, what stood between them and Shi Hui was yet another candy made castle. To their surprise, there was a couch at the front of the castle''s gate with Pyro Jack sitting and waiting for them.

    "So slow! I have finished eating an entire box of popcorn waiting for you guys! Don''t you guys even have a sense of time!?" Pyro Jack shouted at them.

    "Return Shi Hui to us, or we will not hesitate to use force to get her back!" Se Lang was a policeman through and through which caused Pyro Jack tough. With a snap of his finger, Shi Hui suddenly appeared from mid-air, and shended right beside Pyro Jack. The couch was soft yet sturdy enough to soften hernding.

    "Off you go now little one, your friends are waiting for you." Pyro Jack said as he shoo-ed Shi Hui to her friends. With some doubts in her mind, Shi Hui slowly walked towards them and hugged Jia Ying. Se Lang was also expecting a hug but instead Shi Hui used the non-lethal side of her war fan to beat Se Lang''s head.

    "Slow!!! And why didn''t you save me but my friend instead!" Shi Hui pouted at Se Lang, and before he could say a word, Pyro Jack cut into their conversation.

    "See! I gave your friend back! Now you have to ede to my request too!" Pyro Jack pped his hands, and suddenly three heavily armoured knights came flying from the castle walls. If Jia Ying identified them urately, it seemed that the knights were wearing gingerbread armour wielding Lollipop swords, axes andnces while using chocte chip cookies as their shields.

    The Lance Gingerbread Knight was even mounted on a gummy bear as his ride and the gummy bear growled lowly at the cultivators. Without any hesitation, the cultivators pulled their weapons out ready to face the Gingerbread Knights, but Pyro Jack stopped them.

    "Woah Woah Woah! I did not say they were the ones you had to fight!" Pyro Jack stood up and stopped them.

    "But did you not send the Rainbow Deep Ones to fight us and even imprisoned our friend?" Jia Ying spoke out as she maintained her stance and her spear was raised against Pyro Jack''s throat. However, Pyro Jack was unfazed by the threat of the spear de right beside its pumpkin head. He even walked nearer and caused the edge of the de to scrap some of the pumpkin away.

    "It was all for the sake of fun. You are unharmed, and I have returned you your friend. Had you sumbed to those creatures, there would be no way for you to help me anyway. If you decide not to listen to me by all means, then kill me... if you can." Pyro Jack''s fiery eyes turned from bright orange to a deep blue one.

    Shi Hui decided to intervene and asked Jia Ying to put the spear down. "Babe, he did not do anything to me. He was the one who rescued me from the Fish Men and ced me in the prison cage to stop them from catching me. I guessed it''s his own sick twisted way to save a person." Shi Hui exined.

    "Then why did you ce her in a cage and not in this castle that you are in?" Se Lang questioned, and that was when Pyro Jack''s face lit up with bright orange me once more.

    "Ah ha! Now you are asking the right questions!" Pyro Jack opened the gates of the candy bricked castle and the cultivators realised that there was no pretty candy life inner courtyard. But it was a dark chocte sludge and it made the castle interior cold and dull.

    "You see, the evil liquor chocte witches from a faraway kingdom had ced a hex onto my castle and even created a chimeara to guard my rightful throne. An amalgamation of different sweets, which I have no idea how to fight! I mean, I have used my fire to melt candies if they were bad but this time around it''s different."

    "The chimaera was able to spew liquor on the castle so if I were to fight with my fire powers, my entire castle would end up in mes! Why should I have to burn down, my precious candy castle because of this chimaera!? Hence, I implore you to kill this monster! You will be rewarded by yours truly if you can defeat this chimaera!" Pyro Jack was extremely dramatic as he even had cards to show the sequence of events that had happened as if the cultivators were a bunch of kids.

    "Thenбнare the gingerbread knights here to help us as well?" Se Lang asked.

    "Oh no, they are here to show their faces and prove the legitimacy of my rule on this ind." Pyro Jack said sarcastically but Se Lang did not get the meaning behind which made Pyro Jack sigh. "No you dumb fool. Of course they are here to help you since my castle is sort of a candy maze to prevent outsiders from stealing my treasures."

    "Unfortunately, the knights are but a guide. They shall not risk themselves to protect any of you because they have no obligation to do so." Pyro Jack did not exin much as he returned to his seat to eat his sweet and cheese popcorn.

    The cultivators were left with more questions than answers, but the Jack O Lantern did not entertain them much. "Please." The Gingerbread Knights raised their hand towards the direction of the castle gates as if to wee them into the castle.

    Somehow Se Lang felt that this should be the second stage of the Halloween Instance since beating the chimaera would most probably be thest stage of the dungeon. He checked his inventory once more before he continued with the two girls that did not care much and walked into the castle.

    However, little did they know that they had activated the hidden extra stage of the Halloween Stage. Most of the cultivators that managed to reach this stage were not patient enough to listen to this well-known folktale ghost that caused more troubles and deception. The majority perceived him as an enemy after he powered up the Deep Ones, so they decided to fight rather than listen to him, most often ending the Halloween Instance there and then.

    Only a small percentage managed to activate the hidden instance, but those who didбн They were in for an experience they would likely be unable to forget for the uing days.

 Chapter 224 Bad Vibes

    <h4>Chapter 224 Bad Vibes</h4>

    Se Lang initially felt bad vibesing from the castle. Even before he entered it, especially after he saw how ugly it looked from outside the castle gates when Pyro Jack was talking.

    But that sneaky Jack O Lantern lied.

    The moment all three entered the castle courtyard, the gates behind them closed shut fast as if it closed its mouth to keep its prey inside and never allow them to resurface again. Se Lang noticed the door closing after taking a few steps inside but he was unable to react in time because of the Gingerbread Knights that blocked the gateway.

    When the gate closed, the dull interior design of the courtyard turned into something deste and broken. It was an illusion that Pyro Jack was barely maintaining till now when the cultivators stepped into the ''castle'' courtyard.

    It was in fact, an abandoned house that was left untouched for ages. Shi Hui turned back to demand an exnation from the knights but they seemed to have disappeared from their sights. Se Lang tried to pull open the castle gates to gain ess back to the ind but it was to no avail.

    The ''castle'' walls surrounding the abandoned house were smooth like concrete, unlike the fluffy and colourful walls they had seen from the outside. Jia Ying sprinted around and searched for a way up, but found no stairways to the top of the walls. She tried to do a few high jumps, even executing a jump attack weapon art but it was equally useless.

    No matter how high she tried to jump, the walls got even higher. It proved to show that they were stuck. "Shit! No wonder that stupid pumpkin was being so kind to us. This was a trap after all! Why did I even bother to listen to it!" Se Lang banged his hands on the castle gate but there was no sound produced at all. Shi Hui went tofort him, it was in his nature to help people after all, he could not exactly be med.

    It seemed that it did not allow anything, even sound, to escape beyond the gate and walls. Were they imprisoned? They had no idea at all. All they could do was explore the abandoned house which Jia Ying considered a bad idea.

    "You know, we can just quit the instance if we think it''s too hard for us." Jia Ying suggested as she felt the creepsing from the vibes of the abandoned house.

    "But we won''t be able to get anything back after reaching this far. Jin only said he would refund those who could not get past the first stage. It seems to me that we are far past the first stage." Shi Hui replied.

    "Besides, I was in captivity almost the entire time. Not really the best way to spend my ticket and I have to burn some calories after eating those candies. Fighting the chimera if it really exists sounds like a better option to me than quitting." Shi Hui added on.

    "But I just have a very bad feeling about the abandoned house. I am not sure if it is the right choice to even go in." Even though Jia Ying was considered the bravest of the Venus Four, and often scoffed at the other three for their wimpiness, the vibe she felt from the abandoned house gave her a bad feeling.

    "We have no other ce to go. We tried jumping over the walls, trying to destroy them, but not even able to leave a dent on them. Nothing seems to work. The only thing left to do is to go inside the abandoned house." Se Lang exined. "If things really get too rough, we can just leave. No use staying if we get too scared."

    "If that''s the case, then why are we even in a dimensional instance? Isn''t its purpose to train us up while having fun whenever possible? I think Boss Jin had a reason to create something this ominous. If it was in real life, I would have just ignored it." Shi Hui said as she began to walk towards the house and entered the building.

    "Ahh, that girl!" Jia Ying hesitated for a while but eventually could not help but to follow after her. She entered the building next, followed by Se Lang after he took out his scythe de from his scythe since he was going into small cramped area again.

    Unfortunately, Se Lang should not have wasted any time. After he went in, he found himself...in a hall of mirrors.

    "Oh, what the hell...so does that mean Shi Hui and Jia Ying who entered separately are in a different maze?" Se Lang considered what to do next and tried to break the mirrors with his de. He guessed that if he managed to break them, they would not have any illusory effect on him. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried to break them, they would not budge.

    "F.u.c.kl, I hate this kind of scene!" Se Lang remembered thest time he was ced in this situation. Fear was eating him up as he trembled forward.

    Meanwhile Jia Ying was not in a hall of mirrors but instead, she was tied up on a chair and blindfolded. She could only hear footsteps which she assumed belonged to either Shi Hui or Se Lang.

    "So... you think you fooled me, huh? Thinking that I was not around to witness anything." The voice of Shi Hui went in from one ear to another.

    "What are you talking about? Don''t y around Shi Hui, we need to explore this abandoned house and find a way to get revenge." Jia Ying sweated a little. Did Shi Hui somehow know about the little incident between them when Jia Ying and Se Lang were in the ice barrier? How could that be? Did Se Lang secretly tell her about it?

    "Stop lying to me!" A forced push caused the chair''s legs to give way and Jia Ying crashed to the ground. "So, you thought that we are best buddies and that I would be fine with the idea to share him with you?!" Shi Hui continued to kick Jia Ying in the stomach but she was not relenting.

    There was something off about Shi Hui. This was not her normal behaviour at all. Jia Ying felt it was not right and decided not to say anything at the moment. "Huh! You think keeping quiet will help you in any way!" Shi Hui pulled Jia Ying up by her hair as she shouted in her ear.

    Separately, when Jia Ying and Se Lang were up against their own fears, the real Shi Hui was wounded fighting with the Gingerbread Knights that ambushed her in the abandoned two storey house. "Where did Jia Ying and Se Lang go? Why are they not here yet?! Did they leave me alone? Was that why Se Lang did not rescue me but Jia Ying?!" Those were the hidden thoughts that were being echoed throughout the abandoned house as the three gingerbread knights, now with green fire in their eyes fought her.

    Each of the three cultivators was fighting against their own insecurity, their own personal fears in their own way in this abandoned house that they entered. However, each and every second that they spent in there was equally torturous, Pyro Jack wasughing heartily at their misery as he watched the three suffer in his personal house of madness.

 Chapter 225 Workings of The Extra Stage

    <h4>Chapter 225 Workings of The Extra Stage</h4>

    Although Jin was at work, he was notified by the System via his phone when cultivators tried the extra stage in the Halloween Instance. Particrly because he would like to personally watch over the cultivators who entered that stage since that was one of the parts he had added into the first version of the Halloween Instance.

    The scenario for the Halloween Instance was initially designed to be solely on the ind of Halloween Candies with Pyro Jack as the main antagonist of the entire instance. However, Jin felt that what the System did was inadequate since candy was not the only thing representing Halloween.

    Perhaps for the System, it might mean something more symbolic since it was statistically proven that one quarter of the annual candy sales in the world were from Halloween events. Hence, it was a no-brainer why the System decided to choose Candies as the main focus of the theme.

    However, Jin wanted to show that this was not the case. He wanted to show his artistic expression on the festival of the dead spirits. Although the root concept of Halloween was simr to the Seventh Month Ghost Festival which most Chinese folks continued to participate in, Halloween had turned into something more superficial, which allowed Jin to experiment.

    He hoped to create an instance to invoke life threatening situations to instil the fear of death which one took so lightly in this rxed society. It was not just for the customers, but also for him to understand death itself, since he himself nearly took a person''s life once. He wanted to see the instance through the perspective of the System. He hoped that it could maybe allow Jin to find out, why the System wanted him to go through such a horrible experience.

    Therefore, he eventually created the extra stage for the Halloween Instance. His main purpose for this extra stage was to see if the cultivators could ovee the fear of oneself, their own inner thoughts and the insecurities they had. In order to create this extra stage, he had employed both Milk and Peppers to consult on the topic of psionic magic so that he had a basic understanding of it. Jin could have asked Tiger Princess Yang Ling but he did not want to make his rtionship with her any moreplicated.

    This was because to make things real for the cultivators, the instance could not use a one-for-all kind of temte for the extra stage. For it to be believable, it had to be tailor made to the cultivators to a certain extent. However, in order to do that, it would need tens if not hundreds of ''what if'' situations for Jin to design which was clearly inefficient. So, to make things simpler, Jin directly asked the System for help with the use of light psionic magic against those cultivators.

    Fortunately, the System agreed to Jin''s request. Whether it did so to further mend their rtionship or for its own benefit, one does not know. Thus, the System''s instance had modifications made by Jin and it was released to the cultivators to participate and y.

    Of course, Jin was not stupid. He knew that people might develop traumas and such, so he specially asked Milk whether it was too dangerous for cultivators to enter this kind of instance. After a deep discussion with Milk, Jin figured it was safe enough to go through it, especially with Milk''s healing powers and the System''s amnesia ability to change the way one perceived the memory if needed. Such an ability was bestowed to Milk for her own discretion in assessing the patient when the cultivators finished the instance.

    Aside from the warning that Jin had given his customers about resigning from the instance, he had also ced a disimer about the use of horror scenarios, which could even lead to traumas. Before being able to enter the Halloween Instance, the cultivators had to give their verbal consent (which was recorded) and acknowledge that they were aware of the risk before entering. It was aplicated process, simr to entering a surgery, but Jin created this to protect himself in case he got sued or anything. However most of the cultivators who entered and managed to pass the first stage, thought that the warnings were just part of the experience and that the worst part was over after escaping the sinking ne. No one could have predicted, how thoroughly tailor made the extra stage of Jinбфs Halloween Instance would end up being.

    "Ah, so the ones who joined the extra stage are Se Lang, Shi Hui and Jia Ying..." Jin took off his Pand Head (Drac with Panda Head) and briefly watched the scenes. "Looks like they are unable to make it." Jin saw the three of them struggling to the best of their abilities but it was not exactly working out for them.

    Se Lang did the most radical thing ever for his obstacle. He personally cut his own wrist and left a trail of blood to mark the route he was taking. He was not leaving the blood trail like Hansel and Gretel''s breadcrumbs but more like basic trail markers on the floor beside the mirror to indicate he came here before.

    This way, he managed to know whether it was the same mirror that he stumbled upon again. It was a systematic and methodical way to tackle the problem but it was also eating his heart up. Because in some of the mirrors, he saw Shi Hui by herself fighting against the Gingerbread Knights, while Jia Ying was being tortured by some ck silhouette figures. (Only Jia Ying perceived the illusion that the ck silhouettes were Shi Hui and Se Lang.)

    Se Lang was at a loss. Should he save Shi Hui who seemed to be outnumbered? Especially considering her status as his girlfriend? But unlike Jia Ying, she was able to fight back and he trusted her abilities to cope. However, he did not know, that Shi Hui was fighting both a physical and psychological battle against her enemies.

    "Arrggh! Focus Se Lang! Focus! At this rate, you cannot help anybody at all!" Se Lang said to himself as he tried his best to get out of the hall of mirrors.

    --------

    "Who do you think you are?! Trying to cheat my boyfriend!" The ck silhouette continued to kick the tied-up Jia Ying. However, instead of replying, she continued to suffer quietly under the torrent of blows. "Huh, I think she is scared of you." The fake Se Langughed at her and even spit at her.

    "Scared? She should grovel under my feet." The fake Shi Hui continued to gloat and that was when Jia Ying realized what exactly was amiss. No matter how angry Shi Hui was, she would never talk to Jia Ying this way.

    "Se Lang my dear~! Maybe you should go get the tools I prepared previously for this kind of situation!" The ck Silhouette continued to make lovey dovey sounds and Jia Ying did not care much, since she was in too much pain. No matter how strong she was, this was the first time she received repeated beatings.

    "Shi Hui, what is Venus Four''s ultimate goal?" Jia Ying asked calmly after having spend a lot of time thinking about the situation she was in. She managed to keep her cool, despite the scare and physical punishment she was given. That also made the fake Se Lang stop in his tracks to get the tools that fake Shi Hui asked for.

    "Why do I even need to answer that, traitor?" Shi Hui said which made Jia Ying start giggling, before it increased to extremely loudugher to the point it annoyed the fake Shi Hui. "You are not Shi Hui at all." Jia Ying shouted as she tried to struggle out of the ropes.

    "Why you! How dare you use my girlfriend! I will make you suffer!" the Fake Se Lang roared as he lifted his leg to stomp on Jia Ying again.

    "I dare you." Jia Ying heard Se Lang''s voice again but its tone was different. It was tired, scared but angry.

    "Se Lang!" Jia Ying shouted his name with relief in her voice. The real Se Lang rushed in and cut the two ck silhouettes with the Icesteel Scythe and both disappeared in one swoop. Se Lang immediately dropped his scythe and began trying to untie Jia Ying from the chair.

    "Wow, you sure are one tough girl." Se Langmented upon seeing the broken chair she was restrained to. The ck silhouettes had punched and kicked Jia Ying to the point that one of the chair legs gave way yet she did not give in to the torture.

    However, Jia Ying could not hold herself back as she hugged Se Lang and cried out loud. "It was painful!!!!"

 Chapter 226 Little Duckling

    <h4>Chapter 226 Little Duckling</h4>

    "It''s alright, it''s alright...I understand." Se Lang did not want to have too much physical contact with Jia Ying ever since she took the initiative to kiss him. He did not forget about it at all and it had been bothering him every time he saw Shi Hui.

    Nevertheless, Se Lang knew how it felt, being punished and tortured by your own insecurities. He lent his shoulders to Jia Ying. Just this once, to cry out her fears and to give her something to hold on to. To embrace her as an appreciation, a reassurance that she was not alone in this fight.

    Se Lang was also thankful that Jin''s dungeon instance was not as torturous as he thought it would be. If not for a sudden blinking ball of light that asionally floated around in the Hall of Mirrors, Se Lang too would have gone crazy within the mirrors despite the trail markers he had made with his own blood.

    He was unable to think rationally enough to figure a way out. The ever growing fear was his silentpanion in that quiet hall of mirrors, together with the echoes of the cries and shouts he made. However, the ball of light somehow twinkled on the trail markers and he followed it blindly. At that point, he''d rather be fighting against a physical monster or be killed in a freak ident than to be consumed by his irrationality and fears.

    Fortunately, the blinking ball of light lead him to a door. He was able to open it, only to find Jia Ying being bullied by the two silhouettes. With Jia Ying rescued, the only thing left to do was to try and help Shi Hui, who had been fighting with all her might against not one, not two, but three Gingerbread Knights.

    "Stop fighting against us, you know that we are not the bad guys. Se Lang and Jia Ying are. They are the ones who left you here all alone. They betrayed you." The voice within the abandoned house kept calling out to Shi Hui and yet she continued to struggle against these monsters.

    Not that she was able to ignore every word that the voice within the house was echoing through her mind. But she knew that there was a speck of truth in the nonsense or rumours that this particr voice was spewing, there''s no smoke without fire. Maybe, she knew that she was not good enough for Se Lang and she sometimes felt that Jia Ying might be a better girlfriend for Se Lang.

    Shi Hui was not as sporty as Jia Ying and Se Lang. Although she was able to maintain her body figure through dance, unlike those two, she did not train her body more than that. Se Lang and Jia Ying had more topics and interests inmon than Shi Hui had with Se Lang. For example, both actually liked the new pet card game and even devised strategies for each other but Shi Hui was not that interested in it. Cosmetics for her Shadowy Swan was a different thing.

    Not to mention, it was out of impulse that Shi Hui decided to go for Se Lang because she knew that if Jia Ying sprouted a goodment about a guy, she was always right on the money. Because, almost every prediction she made about guys be it good or bad, would eventuallye true. That was why she jumped the gun and started dating Se Lang.

    Although it had only been a few weeks in which she courted Se Lang, Shi Hui managed to find some very redeeming points about him. Even though dating him was just a decision made on a whim, she slowly fell in love with him. What about the first date that was mentioned? She was after all experienced in theatrics, so kissing him was not really a big deal for her aspared to Se Lang.

    As she was defending herself against the Axe wielding Gingerbread Knight in the squeezy corridor that connected to the living room of the abandoned house, ance suddenly came crashing down from the top of the ceiling and scared the shit out of her. Shi Hui managed to avoid the attack and with her Icesteel War Fans, she froze thence weapon, causing it to be stuck on the ceiling. "I didn''t know he could attack in such a manner from the second floor after I froze the room to temporarily block him froming out." Shi Hui took a quick breather but it was toote when she saw an axe flying towards her from the corner of her eye. Her War Fan was not able to block it in time and it mmed onto her right shoulder.

    She screamed in pain and that was when Se Lang and Jia Ying managed to find the door connecting to the living room that Shi Hui was currently in, from the Hall of Mirrors. Unlike Se Lang, Jia Ying remained calm when navigating the Hall of Mirrors and the trail markers did wonders, allowing them to find the second exit.

    However, they were not in time to save Shi Hui as the Gingerbread Knight with the Chocte Cookie Shield bashed her to the ground and stabbed her once before turning to face Se Lang and Jia Ying. The horror on the cultivators'' face turned to anger immediately as Jia Ying''s chi burst and filled the room with her own version of death and destruction.

    Even without saying a single weapon art out, she dashed to the Gingerbread Knight that stabbed Shi Hui with lightning speed. However, that was also the spot where thence was stuck but Jia Ying was not wary of it until the ceiling suddenly gave way and Jia Ying was nearly doomed to be crushed by the fallingnce and the Gingerbread Knight wielding it.

    "Careful!" Se Lang grabbed Jia Ying and pulled her out of the area before the ceiling crashed onto her. The Lance Gingerbread Knight did not hesitate to pull a quick counter attack with hisnce, but Se Lang managed to defend the attack with his Icesteel Scythe de.

    Jia Ying shoved Se Lang away even though she was saved by him and proceeded to engage the Lance Knight. "You are not worthy to wield a spear, Peasant!!" The Lance Gingerbread Knight shouted as he charged forward in that narrow corridor. "Try me, you piece of moldy bread." Jia Ying sneered as she charged in again without shouting any weapon art. It was either him or Jia Ying that would emerge victorious within the next few second, was what Se Lang thought but no.

    Each of them were exchanging blows so furiously that Se Lang had to step back to give Jia Ying some space. There was no way for him to even support Jia Ying in this tiny connecting room and he hoped that Jia Ying could end up victorious.

    He thought that Jia Ying did not have any weapon art that would suit this particr situation or that she was too angry to even shout it out. The thing was, Jia Ying did not even need to do that as she had already trained her mind, body and soul to the point that the weapon was a part of her. Hence, executing basic weapon arts without shouting was a piece of cake to her.

    "See... What have I told you?" The voice continued to linger in Shi Hui''s head as she started to lose consciousness from the pain of the axe stuck in her shoulder and from the sword stab in addition to the exhaustion and fatigue she .u.mted fighting against three knights.

    "Look, if you want to exact vengeance and keep Se Lang for yourself, do not hesitate. I am here to help." A barely visible silhouette of Pyro Jack came into her vision, yet the other two cultivators did not see it because they were focused on thence vs spear fight in the narrow corridor.

    "Just take this. Taste it. Chew it a little and maybe swallow it." Pyro Jack took out a rainbow-colored popcorn and pushed it into her mouth without much resistance. "You will be reborn, little duckling. Be the Swan that conquers everyone else." Pyro Jack knelt down just to whisper thesest words into her ear, after which she could not help but chew on it with tears rolling down her eyes.

 Chapter 227 Two Girls, One Guy

    <h4>Chapter 227 Two Girls, One Guy</h4>

    "An opening!" Jia Ying thought to herself as she saw a slight change in movement in thence attack patterns and she immediately used it to her advantage. "Intermediate Spear Art! The Puzzled Spear of the Stag!" Jia Ying finally used an intermediate weapon art as she proceeded to push her spear straight into the Gingerbread Knight''s armour.

    The Gingerbread Knight thought it was an opening from her and decided to press forth for the attack. Yet, the moment he took a step forward, the spear that was within his reach suddenly zigzagged and punctured his forearms instead of his body. Like a snake, the spear continued to bounce and pierced into the knight''s arms which subsequently entered the side of his armour.

    There was no blood but instead a yellowish liquid oozing out of his neck. However, at that moment, Jia Ying was equally surprised that thence knight still managed to dish out an attack, which would have stabbed her side of the abdomen, were it not for the quick reflex she gained from the adrenaline rush of fighting.

    "Eww, is that butter?" The knight finally fell to the ground only to reveal the living room where Se Lang and Jia Ying saw two Gingerbread Knights oozing the same kind of butterish blood on the floor. The sword Gingerbread Knight had his head decapitated with a candy axe while the axe Gingerbread Knight was stabbed a dozen times with Shi Hui still repeating the action when Jia Ying saw such a brutal scene.

    "Shi Hui! I am d you are fine! I thought you were really injured by the attack just now!" Jia Ying tried to jump over the deadnce Gingerbread Knight and wanted to go closer to Shi Hui. Jia Ying knew that Shi Hui was an illusionist cultivator, so maybe the previous attack caused damage to her decoy rather than to her.

    For all that worry, Jia Ying guessed that she should have known that her friend was not easily beaten and happily walked towards her until suddenly, the same sword that Shi Hui was stabbing the Gingerbread Knight with flew towards her. Jia Ying was caught off guard by that attack and was not able to dodge in time! The sword stabbed through her right arm and the impact was enough to knock her backwards. Se Lang was just behind her and he caught her from falling.

    "Shi Hui! What is wrong with you?!" Se Lang saw what Shi Hui did and shouted at her. Shi Hui''s emotionless expression turned into a sorrowful and gloomy one. The chi within the area gradually became a personification of hatred and darkness within one''s heart which disheartened Jia Ying and Se Lang.

    "Is she another illusion? No she seemed to be the real one just earlier. Could it be, that she got corrupted or something?" Jia Ying raised her spear up the moment Shi Hui released that amount of chi towards them. "I have no idea but I think, this is also a test for both of us and for her." Se Lang took out his pole stick and it turned it into half, making it be a set of double batons.

    Both Se Lang and Deng Long had learnt how to use each other''s weapon because there might be situations which demanded them to use their partner''s weapon if one was incapacitated or if their own weapon broke down. However, both of them only learnt the basics and just a weapon art or two.

    "Let me take her down, I think I can incapacitate her, without injuring her." Se Lang stepped forward and figured this was the best time to use the dual batons since they were mainly non-lethal in nature. Jia Ying agreed and stepped back temporarily for Se Lang to confront his corrupted girlfriend.

    Se Lang finally noticed that her eyes began to glow, and even her skin had a tint of rainbow colour, which was getting brighter by the second. He realised it could only be the workings of Pyro Jack as he remembered how his popcorn caused the Deep Ones to turn rainbow in colour while instilling a tank full of rage within them.

    "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping Jia Ying rather than me? What did she do to deserve this, but not me?" Shi Hui shrieked out the reason why she was so angry at Se Lang and she swiped her Icesteel War Fan, causing a breeze of ice to be blown towards him.

    Se Lang tried to protect himself with the dual baton and shouted the basic weapon art of the Wobbling W.o.m.bat Style that had the power to defend oneself from elemental attacks. Unfortunately, he was a Wacky Wolf cultivator so when he used the style from the Wobbling W.o.m.bat Style, the resistance effects were further cut down to a quarter.

    Nevertheless, it was better than nothing and Se Lang pulled through the attack as he walked slowly towards Shi Hui. Se Lang was not dodging the attack nor did he n to retaliate. This however made Shi Hui rather nervous. Was her attack not enough of a warning? She decided to infuse even more chi into the next attack and swung both of her war fans at Se Lang.

    On the other hand, Se Lang did contemted whether he should fight all out against Shi Hui and knock her out cold but see how she could produce ice and illusions at the same time, it would not end well for him if he had a protracted fight against her. Besides, Se Lang felt that he had reached his chi limit in this dungeon. However, seeing Shi Hui was obviously being manipted by Pyro Jack, he hoped that she could be pacified by his honest actions.

    The Icesteel fans produced arge strong gust and this time around, the attack was strong enough to freeze his hands, causing him to have mild frostbites on his fingers, yet Se Lang pressed on forward. "WHY ARE YOU NOT ATTACKING ME?! ARE YOU NOT DENYING WHAT I HAD SAID!?" Shi Hui shouted with all her might. Meanwhile the enhanced chi releaser allowed her to ce even more chi into her War Fans and even without moving her weapons, the entire house turned into ice. It was part ice, part illusion and Se Lang was barely able to move from the sudden cold.

    Jia Ying, on the other hand, realised that if she did not do anything, Se Lang and herself would freeze to death. Hence, she decided to use her basic weapon art with the chi of her Sanguine Stag to burst forth and push Se Lang right in front of Shi Hui. On the contrary, Shi Hui did not expect that and her entire body became slightly weak from the eruption of chi, causing her to be unable to react against Jia Ying''s surprise move.

    Se Lang took this opportunity and grabbed both girls into his arms and ced the two close to his cold chest. If Shi Hui wanted to retaliate, she would have done so, but in the arms of her lover, she could not help but start to tear up. Jia Ying also grabbed onto Shi Hui as Se Lang wrapped his frozen hands around the both of them.

    "I do not matter as much as both of you matter to each other." Se Lang softly whispered to Shi Hui and Jia Ying. "However, I''ve begun to appreciate the fact that both of you love me in your own ways. But if I am the one who caused the rift between the both of you, I should disappear from both of your lives." Se Lang said unwillingly. He did not wish to break apart the close friendship the two girls shared.

    Upon hearing Se Lang''s voice and reply, the rainbow popcorn''s effect somehow started to lose its effect and Shi Hui began to calm down a lot more.

    "So, I plead you Shi Hui, return to normal, be the girl that I began to like. And Jia Ying, I thank you for your love towards me, no matter how you tried to hide it. I appreciate it a lot but I can only love one." Se Lang said as the two girls looked at each other before ncing at Se Lang simultaneously. Se Lang did not expect two beautifully cute girls could have such starry eyes.

    "Well..." Shi Hui hesitated for a while before she turned to look at Jia Ying again. "From the beginning, I would not mind sharing... Just that..." Shi Hui whispered as she winked at Jia Ying and they giggled right in front of Se Lang.

    "What?" Se Lang tried to release his grip but the girls in turn held onto each of his arms into their bosoms instead.

    "Just that I needed Jia Ying''s approval first."

    "Just that I needed Shi Hui''s approval first."

    The two said at the same time and sniggered at each other''s ridiculous replies.

    "Wait! Wait!" Se Lang tried to struggle away from the two of them, but it was useless. Jia Ying''s strength rivalled his own and Shi Hui was not weak either. What did he suddenly get himself into?! Se Lang was very, very confused.

    "Well, there is actually a sort of pact behind this...arrangement. I do not kno-" Before Shi Hui could finish her sentence, arge ''thud'' sound came from behind them.

    "Congrattions my lovebirds! It seemed that we have achieved a very favourable oue in the end!" Pyro Jack pped loudly as he sat on arge wooden trunk. The trio suddenly went into a battle stance no matter how rxed they were a second ago.

    "Calm down! Calm down! I am here to present you your rewards for conquering your fears!" Pyro Jack raised his hand up as he snapped his fingers, causing the wooden trunk to open. Indeed, the trunk was filled with a mixture of bronze, silver and a few gold panda medals that the cultivators could not help but be awed at.

    Subsequently, an announcement was broadcasted stating that the dungeon instance waspleted. In the next moment, they were all teleported to the Recovery Instance with Milk and a few Panda nurses on standby. The trunk was also by their side and it was real, not another illusion of Pyro Jack as they feared, so the trio could finally rx.

    "I am here to check on your psychological status and your health. Please have a nice long rest while I check on you guys before proceeding back to- oh. Hahaha, guess they were really tired from the instance." Milk saw that the three cultivators could not help but lean back on a wall of the recovery instance with the two girls holding on to Se Lang, falling asleep by his side.

    "Those three." Milk smiled as she took a picture with her magic powers and decided to give them a proper sleeping spell before the Panda nurses separated them and monitored their vitals.

 Chapter 228 One Guy, Two Girls

    <h4>Chapter 228 One Guy, Two Girls</h4>

    "You are finally awake." Jia Ying smiled at Se Lang as he woke up from his seemingly long slumber. His head felt groggy and all muscles throughout his entire body were aching madly.

    "Hmm, you were out for about two weeks or so." Shi Hui replied as sheid her head right beside Jia Ying''s left arm while peeling an apple without breaking the skin up. Se Lang sat up immediately regardless of the pain and stared at both girls in shock.

    "What! No way!" Se Lang rubbed his eyes and wanted to check his watch only to find it gone. Jia Ying pointed at the cab right beside the bed and he speedily grabbed it to look at the clock. Se Lang eventually sighed, only to find out that he got pranked by those two. Two weeks? More like two dungeon instance hours.

    "You should have taken a look at his face. It was priceless." Shi Hui giggled and Jia Ying undoubtedly agreed, even regretting that they had not used used a hidden camera for Se Lang''s surprised look. Shi Hui did not tease him anymore as she passed the perfectly peeled apple to Se Lang. It was then, that Se Lang took a look around his surroundings and asked where he was. It was clean, quiet and private, unlike the previous time he was there. Se Lang previously felt like he was in some emergency medical military tent with panda nurses running all around the area to aid the recovering cultivators.

    Sure, it had its benefits being in such an open recovery area. It helped passing time more easily by listening to the woes of the cultivators that failed Jin''s dungeons. But sometimes you really just wanted to rest after the entire instance, some peace and quiet would be much appreciated.

    "You are in the private suite of the Recovery Instance." Milk came in just in time to answer his question. "Boss Jin had requested that the people who entered the extra stage of the Halloween Instance would be ced in this newly created private suite, so that you guys can recover properly." Milk added as she took the clipboard from the end of Se Lang''s bed to check his vitals that were taken minutes ago by the panda nurses before he woke up.

    After having already exined to Shi Hui and Jia Ying about the extra instance in the Halloween Stage, it was now Se Lang''s turn. Milk described how she gave the three of them extensive check ups when theypleted the dungeon instance.

    "Se Lang, seems like you and your two friends have overexerted your chi limits in this particr instance so much that all three of you copsed the moment you reached this Recovery Instance." Milkmented as she put down the clipboard and did a routine check on his vitals via a simple magical spell called ''Scan''. Like all magics it was ssified the same way as techniques and therefore had basic, intermediate, advanced, epic andstly legendary levels. Milk''s scan ability was rated as Legendary and it allowed her to check Se Lang''s conditionprehensively to the point, it even pointed out suggestions what needed to be done to assist him. By right she should not be able to ess any Legendary spell as she did, since her grade was pegged to Jin''s cultivation grade. However Yun unlocked this particr ability of Milk the moment she took over as the overall in charge for the Recovery Instance. With such an ability at her disposal, everyone was surprised, at how urate her diagnosis were. Some were not even aware why they had the problems they did, until Milk pointed it out.

    Of course, there were warnings such as to take note of sugar levels to prevent the development of diabetes, but Milk ignored all those and focused more on the recovery of his body. "While, I am not really a doctor per say, I rmend that you three take a break from dungeon instances for at least a week to properly recover from the overexertion. Especially you Se Lang. I know, that you will definitely use your chi points during work. If possible, I would suggest paperwork so that your chi points have the time to recover and develop properly in the future." Milk gave her advice to Se Lang and he nodded his head.

    Se Lang knew his limits since he was nearly grasped by the hands of death because he previously ignored Milk''s advice after a dungeon run with Deng Long where they fought for hours inside the dungeon instance.

    While notmon, Se Lang developed chi poisoning in the body due to the excessive usage of chi and he had to go to the hospital for a few days to recover. He regretted his decision not to listen to Milk, since he thought she was there to scold him.

    When Se Lang came by to Jin''s store for another run, just mere days being discharged from the hospital, Milkter noticed there were residues of chi poisoning at that time. She immediately forbade Jin to sell Se Lang any Dungeon tickets, until Se Lang''s body could expel them first. That was why See Lang bitterly acknowledge Milk advice and decided to rest for good this time round.

    Before Milk left the private suite, she gave each of them a chi recovery potion free of charge to use before they sleep in the real world in order to stimte the recovery of their chi points.

    "So...Shi Hui, about the dungeon. I have something to tell you." Se Lang felt a bit weird trying to confess to Shi Hui about the kiss Jia Ying gave him, but Shi Hui looked at him nkly. "Jia Ying has already told me everything. There is nothing to worry about." Shi Hui replied without any care.

    "But I am sorry I allowed Jia Ying to-"

    "Did we not say? I do not mind sharing you with Jia Ying. Jia Ying also said that she would be looking forward to be under your care." Shi Hui looked at Jia Ying upon using her name and she nodded vehemently.

    "No...wait, are you serious? I thought..." Before Se Lang could finish his sentence again, Jia Ying interrupted him.

    "Venus Four once made a pact with much consideration. If any of us really liked anyone at the same time and felt that he was really worth fighting for, not only each of the girls will give blessings to each other, we decided not to be tied down with the concept of monogamy." Jia Ying smiled as she grabbed Shi Hui''s hand.

    "Because, we love each other a lot. A hell lot, to the point we do not mind not being straight." Shi Hui said honestly to Se Lang which confounded him for a while. "However, since we both happen to like you...well actually, Jia Ying liked you first, but I do find your traits desirable too! So..." Shi Hui winked at Se Lang as she started to climb up into Se Lang''s bed.

    Jia Ying did not lose out to Shi Hui and did the same thing as well. Now Se Lang had both girls, each at the side of his bed cuddling right beside him. He felt totally weird. "Am I dreaming or is this real?" Se Lang said out loud only to be pinched by the two of them at each side of his cheeks.

    "Ow! Okay okay I guess this is real then, not an illusion made by Pyro Jack." Se Lang admitted and pulled the two girls towards him even more. He could feel the warmth from the two girls and stared at the ceiling for a moment.

    "Are you sure, both of you are okay with this?" Se Lang said with a grinning smile on his face.

    "I cannot be any happier to share my love with my best friend and my boyfriend." Shi Hui said without any hesitation and Jia Ying took the initiative to gently kiss Shi Hui andter Se Lang before lying down again.

    "I hope I will not disappoint you two...and guess more overtime work for me to support the two of you." Se Lang could not wait to see the Deng Long''s face if he told him. Deng Long will definitely not believe him. On second thought, Se Lang decided to keep this a secret until Deng Long figured it out himself. That would actually be way more fun.

    The three of themter shared a quiet time resting as they cuddled up to each other.

 Chapter 229 Blueprints

    <h4>Chapter 229 Blueprints</h4>

    "Miss, I hope you understand that we will be closing in half an hour''s time. Are you sure you would still like to order a cup of Vani Milkshake?" Shen Si Fang, the owner of Lele cafиж asked the rather attractivedy which was holding a heavy suitcase.

    "Yes please, I am sure my friend will be here any minute now...he said he is around the corner." Qiu Yue delightfully smiled at Si Fang as she sat at the corner while waiting for the milkshake. While Si Fang was making the vani milkshake for thedy, he could not help but notice how demure her attire was, thereby making her even more alluring with that pretty face of hers.

    That white blouse with a cute frill design at the neck area and a simple office skirt that revealed her figure. Si Fang must have thought that whoever was the boyfriend for this chick must be a lucky bastard.

    The door chime rang as someone opened the door and broke Si Fang''s attention off of her, only to realise it was just Jin from the outrageous looking Dungeons and Pandas store. Well, he did actually help Lele cafиж to a certain extent. Thanks to his new revamped design of the coupon booklet, it allowed Si Fang to get a record number of customers in October. Yet, his customer base was steadily growing even though barely half a month had passed.

    Aspared to the ruckus Jin had made previously, Si Fang was actually quite grateful to the new shop owner in the streets. Not to mention, thetest revamp of Jin''s store made the entire ce even more peaceful, allowing Si Fang to have some peace and quiet as before. "Hi Jin, are you hungry or something? You do not usuallye at this timing."

    "Ah! Boss Si Fang, no I am looking for a friend so get me a Vani Milkshake, it''s for my friend...Oh." Jin then realised that Qiu Yue was already sitting inside Lele cafиж and staring at him. "If that''s the case, your friend had already ordered a Vani Milkshake." Si Fang then noticed the corrtion and spoke up.

    "Then put it under my tab. I will pay for herter." Jin thanked Si Fang and sat opposite of Qiu Yue. Meanwhile, Qiu Yue was rather surprised by the side conversation between Si Fang and Jin. This was not really the Jin that she remembered. He was more reserved, keeping to himself. Perhaps, Jin worked part-time in here before.

    "Evening, Qiu Yue." Jin may not look like it, but he was actually nervous to see his ex-girlfriend, on top of her being even more beautiful than before.

    "Here you go Miss, enjoy." Si Fang ced the milkshake on the table and walked off, leaving the two alone.

    "Well, I guess thank you for the milkshake Jin. Didn''t expect you still remember that I always liked to order this kind of drink." Qiu Yue was blunt as she took a sip and proceeded to open the heavy suitcase that she was carrying around.

    "As requested, a few samples of building ns and blueprints from uni days, and one or two unrestricted blueprints from work." Qiu Yue brought it out for Jin to see after he had weirdly requested it from her out of the blue, roughly about a week ago.

    "Thank you, they will be useful for research. If you have any more, I will definitely appreciate them." Jin said as he opened one of the blueprint samples and studied it for a while. "Hmm, it really feels like an eternity since Ist touched this kind of stuff..." Jin thought to himself and Qiu Yue gazed at Jin''s perplexed look. It had been ages since Qiu Yue saw this kind of expression which made her remember why she fell for him.

    "Erm...if you do not mind, would you give some expert advice on city building if I literally start from scratch?" Jin asked Qiu Yue and she gave him a rather puzzled look.

    "Why are you asking for this? Are you in some construction industry or nning development board? Even so, I doubt that our cities have any ce for you to start from scratch...unless you are looking to develop rural areas or looking at undeveloped parts of Africa or the Middle East deserts..." Qiu Yue eyed at Jin suspiciously since his request was indeed a weird one then realised something.

    "Or...are you making an indie game of some sort? I remember you said you wanted to try dabbling in programming so that you can strike out on your own too. Aside from that dungeon supplier dream that you had I mean." Qiu Yue remembered how Jin wasted his life on games and on big dreams, without caring about his cultivation or his studies too much. That was one of the major reasons why Qiu Yue decided to leave Jin, because no matter how hard she tried to push him, he did not really want to take the first step, making her frustrated and at some point helpless.

    "I...erm would like to continue with that Dungeon Supplier job and also not break the promise we had when we broke up..." Jin could not keep proper eye contact with Qiu Yue because he momentarily did not know how to rephrase his words in his reply to Qiu Yue.

    "Well, if you are aiming to be a dungeon supplier, you should do something like the one down the street. I heard that that dungeon supplier store had one of the most exciting and thrilling dungeons. They even have some dungeon instance rting to cards. My friend went there once, and showed me pictures of it." Qiu Yue did not mean to sound demeaning to Jin but she really hoped that Jin would do something about his life.

    "So you remember about that promise too." Jin could not help but feel a bit of ache in his heart when he found out that Qiu Yue still remembered their promise.

    "I..." Qiu Yue did not deny that she had hoped Jin would buck up after he graduated, find a good job and subsequentlye to find her and prove her wrong. That was the promise he made to her as she decided to break up with him. He was after all a good boyfriend, but she felt that he would be a bad husband at that point in time.

    That could not be helped, her parents did not really approve of their rtionship since Jin was such an underachiever while Qiu Yue was currently on a fast job track to the top in the Ministry of National Development.

    "Yes, I hoped that you would keep your promise. I too figured your stubbornness for your dream job and to spur you up, I chose this ce so that we could look at that dungeon supplier store for you to have some inspiration. Still, I apologise that I camete. My boss requested a few things that I need to do before I could leave." Qiu Yue was being sincere to Jin and he could feel it.

    Jin did not know whether tough or to show her the results of his ''hard work'' (since it was still considered cheating with the System''s powers). "Wait, wait let me get the facts straight. You asked me out here because you want to show me this particr Dungeon Supplier store?"

    "Mmhm, I really wanted to try their card or pet dungeon that they have. I did not get the exact details from my friend but it looked really cute. I wonder how my Red Panda will look like! Besides, that store is all about Pandas right? If I do not take a look at it while I am here, it will truly be a shame!" Qiu Yue excitedly spoke about the store and only at the moment, Jin remembered that Qiu Yue was a Red Panda Cultivator.

    "How silly of me..." Jin thought to himself and he could not help but sniggered.

    "What are youughing at?" Qiu Yue saw Jin secretly smiling to himself.

    "Oh no, it''s just that, I cannot help but remember how excited you always get when ites to dungeons," Jin replied.

    "Why of course! If not, why would I be smitten by your big dream of being a dungeon supplier! You provided me with such false hope back then. I could not believe it! Pay me back my youth in that dungeon supplier store!" Qiu Yue grinned as she thought this could be a payback.

    "Finish your milkshake, let''s go visit that dungeon supplier store and you give me yourments on it." Jin smiled once more as he realised that he was wearing a singlet with a hoodie this time round since he had to change out from his Pand costume just to see Qiu Yue.

    "Maybe I can do some secret investigation about her thoughts on the dungeon." Jin thought to himself as he saw Qiu Yue desperately trying to quickly slurp her milkshake.

 Chapter 230 Panda Billboard

    <h4>Chapter 230 Panda Billboard</h4>

    "Thank you Boss Si Fang!" Jin said as he waved goodbye to Si Fang and thanked him for not saying anything out of the blue to Qiu Yue. Jin believed Si Fang most probably had eavesdropped on their conversation especially since their table was near the cash counter where Si Fang was, doing his ounting for the day.

    "What is that little boy ying at?" Si Fang smiled at himself as he could imagine the shock his ''friend'' would have when she will realise that Jin was the Boss of that dungeon supplier store she was admiring.

    As Qiu Yue walked out, she awed and even squealed at therge panda billboard. With theing of Halloween, the Panda on the billboard wore a witch hat and all the weapons it had been hoarding were now in a cauldron. Qiu Yue could not help but take a picture of therge panda billboard sign.

    "Hmm, the picture I took seems different from the one my friend sent me." Qiu Yue wondered out loud and checked her friend''s image on MeChat and confirmed that it was entirely different. Jin just continued to keep quiet and let her ramble on.

    "Wow, do you think it is because Halloween ising? You think that was why they decided to put up something different?" Qiu Yue was smiling from one ear to another and Jin could only pretend to nod his head hesitantly.

    "Do you want me to take a picture of you with the billboard?" Jin asked and Qiu Yue earnestly nodded her head. Jin focused the camera app on her phone and took a few decent shots for her. "Looks good. Not bad, maybe you have a future in photography too!" Qiu Yue teased him before they continued walking towards the shop.

    In actual fact, she did contemte if Jin would want to take a picture with her, but she was afraid she would be sending the wrong signals to him. She felt that he needed to grow out of his naivety for being a dungeon supplier. It was not wrong to dream, but Jin might not be up to the task. After all the things he had studied and strived for werepletely different from being a dungeon supplier.

    Sometimes, Qiu Yue also felt that it was partially her fault that Jin said that he wanted to be a dungeon supplier since she really liked battles and cultivation more than anything.

    Even though she was a beautiful gorgeous lookingdy, she had unknowingly earned the nickname of Lady Battle Freak in university and not many girls would like to be friends with her. Even the boys were not particrly attracted to a girl who only wanted to battle. That was also a big reason why at the time she was able to click with Jin, she could not have been any happier.

    There was a time when Qiu Yue admired Jin''s hardworking attitude and the idea of him bing a dungeon supplier was not far fetched at all. Unfortunately, things changed when Jin faced mounting pressure from school work while at the same time trying to learn to be a dungeon supplier. In addition, realising the expectations of other people, especially from his girlfriend, made Jin break down one day. He decided toze around and not care about life. He eventually just went with the flow of life, which made Qiu Yue very disappointed.

    At that point of time, he could not care about realising the dream that both Qiu Yue and he had shared. Him being the dungeon supplier, while Qiu Yue bing his helper. Her role would have been to test out the dungeons herself. She would have been able to do what she always wanted by going to battles, to help experiment, to test out whether the monsters would be a challenge for customers and improve Jin''s dungeons.

    Eventually, Qiu Yue also gave up trying to help Jin and decided to walk the path that her parents expected her to. It was not what Qiu Yue really wanted, but she guessed she could use the break from the somewhat demoralising rtionship and do something useful. Qiu Yue subsequently got scouted into the Ministry of National Development when she was just a Year 3 University student and started her job a year ahead of Jin, who went through the standard university programme.

    Of course, after Jin finally realised he had to do something about his life, he asked Qiu Yue for a second chance. She was not stupid enough to just give Jin a second chance since Jin needed to learn this life lesson himself. Therefore, Qiu Yue asked Jin to promise her that he would seed in life through his own means then she would consider getting back with him.

    Jin, on the other hand, did not forget that promise but previously thought it was impossible to win her back. It''s true that in the present, Jin might have some interest in Zhen Qing but when he found out that they did not share many of his interest, unlike him and Qiu Yue, Jin could not help but feel that it was a lost cause. Ultimately, Jin''s heart was unable to steer away from Qiu Yue and it only became more apparent when he finally met her once more.

    Separately, as the years went by, Qiu Yue was still fascinated by dungeon suppliers, but needless to say, her hectic schedules only made her desire for dungeons and the yearning for battle continue to grow ever strong in her heart. For Qiu Yue to finally be able to go into a dungeon supplier store with Jin reminded her of the old days.

    "Say, you still have not told me why you wanted the blueprints and what exactly it is that you are working on." Qiu Yue asked upon remembering that Jin had not given a proper answer yet.

    "Well, you haven''t given me any chance to say a single thing since the two of us met in that shop," Jin replied, only to realise that Qiu Yue was again distracted by the battle cutscenes shown on the big screen near the Dungeons and Panda store. She also noticed a shop sign and decided to insert her chi into the shop sign.

    "Ah... so there are people who really do insert their chi into the signboards." Jin mumbled to himself, which Qiu Yue happened to hear. However, even before she could answer, she was washed away by a tidal wave of strong emotions emanated from the shop sign itself. "Woah! The boss of this dungeon supplier store is not an easy person as I thought! Even King''s Monster''s signage cannotpare to the aura the store sign was producing." Qiu Yue was amazed even before she entered the shop andter replied to Jin''s answer.

    "It''s the cultivator''s way of checking whether the shop is really worthy to go into. Some want a real challenge rather than just for leisure. I can feel a strong aura of an immense challenge from the signboard, but yet at the same time, it gave me the impression that nothing was impossible." Qiu Yue was feeling pumped up.

    "Weird, when I insert my chi into the signboard, all I feel is a peaceful aura." Jin shrugged his shoulders a little and Qiu Yue decided to defend this dungeon supplier store.

    "Yea, I initially felt a peaceful aura as well, but I think I overlooked it because I felt that I was searching for something more exciting. It was then, I guess, that the signage responded to me differently, when it felt my expectations were being underwhelmed by the peaceful aura and it presented me with this challenge aura." Qiu Yuemented and excitedly entered the shop.

    "What?! Where is the shop?" Qiu Yue eximed when she suddenly felt she got cheated by the shop''s exterior. Jin, who could not help but smirk, now wore the hood over his head and quietly entered the shop to see an angry Qiu Yue folding her arms while looking at her phone to see if the ce had been moved out.

    "I think you should look at the walls, there seem to be posters with some instructions on them," Jin said as he surveyed his surroundings. Thankfully there was no one around at the moment so he could continue his charade with Qiu Yue.

    "Install the app?" Qiu Yue continued to read the instructions while Jin pretended to install Pandamonium in his phone. He then walked towards Qiu Yue and helped her speed up the process before anyone came in and recognised him.

    "I see, I see. This is an interesting concept. So, I tap my phone over here?" Qiu Yue asked Jin.

    "I think so. Give it a try!" Jin tried to say it with much conviction but Qiu Yue did not believe the instructions. How would tapping her phone allow her to enter the ''real'' shop as advertised on the poster on the wall?

    "Alright, alright, I will give it a try first." Jin figured it would be good to enter first so he could have a first-hand experience seeing Qiu Yue astonished look the moment she teleported into the Shop Level One instance.

    "I could have some fun," Jin thought to himself as he tapped his phone and teleported away.

 Chapter 231 Bewildermen

    <h4>Chapter 231 Bewildermen</h4>

    As Jin was the first one to enter the Shop Level One instance, the first thing he did was to ask Peppers for a favour. He wanted her to cast a spell of anonymity upon him. Jin had requested Peppers beforehand. He contacted her via his betor message function, to standby at the ''entrance'' of the shop instance.

    Peppers did not question it and was getting ready to fulfil Jin''s request the moment he entered the shop. Jin felt strange after getting cast with the spell of anonymity. He felt as if he was not quite himself,parable to wearing a panda costume, but instead of cotton the feeling it was more like neoprene.

    Nevertheless, the spell of anonymity allowed Jin to stroll around the Shop Level One instance without anyone being able to find out his identity. Unless someone came real close to him or took his hoodie down, his secret should be safe. However, the spell also included Qiu Yue, which is why Jin had Peppers prepare another spell.

    Qiu Yue quickly followed suit, but unbeknownst to her, when she entered the shop instance, Peppers had already cast the spell of Immense rity on Qiu Yue as requested. Immense rity allowed the user to peel through the spell of anonymity. "Who is she?" Peppers asked telepathically but Jin replied that he would tell her more at ater time.

    Yun''s interest got piqued by all the secrecy but Jin kind of spoilt the whole facade by telling her truthfully that it was his ex-girlfriend and that he wanted to sort of y a small prank. "She does not know that I am the boss of this store. Mind ying along?"

    "Sure, why not?" Yun spoke in Jin''s thoughts and began to walk towards Qiu Yue.

    Meanwhile, Qiu Yue was in an absolute daze which was a perfectly normal reaction for first timers, that entered Jin''s shop. Even he himself never failed to be amused by the customer''s reaction. Of course, seeing Qiu Yue reaction was even more pleasurable as she looked at him and barely managed to stop herself from squealing. She jumped on the spot and held onto Jin''s hand involuntarily as she felt extremely excited by the entire ce.

    "This is amazing!!! Is this the shop!? Why does the ambience of this ce feel so different from other dungeon supplier stores?!" Qiu Yue was bewildered by the current setup of the entire shop instance and Jin did not have the chance to say a word. Meanwhile, ady with slick curves in a redtex suit with a cat tail walked towards Qiu Yue. Thetter was astonished and overwhelmed by the courage of thatdy wearing that costume.

    "Hi there, I am Yun, one of the employees working here in Dungeons and Pandas. Judging by your reaction, this seems to be your first time here, Miss?" Yun took off the cat mask she was wearing and Qiu Yue, who was rather confident in her looks, felt that in terms of beauty, Yun was an 11/10.

    "Hi... I erm do not know where to even start." Qiu Yue spoke honestly, as she gazed at the ceiling for a moment, admiring the fantastic stained ss design. She knew that the person, who made this stain ss had some engineering background because there was no way for ayman to create such an impressive design, especially considering the sheer size of it. With Qiu Yue still daydreaming, Jin, in turn, came to the rescue and helped Qiu Yue by continuing the conversation with Yun. "Any dungeon you would rmend? My friend here was looking for one of your dungeons in particr... Now what was it called again? ... pet dungeon instance?" Jin perfectly yed the part of the innocent fool by simply repeating Qiu Yue''s words from earlier.

    "Ah, yes the pet dungeon! My friend rmended me to get a pet! But before that, can I ask you to rify one thing? Is this really a dungeon instance? I mean, I saw the dungeon instance port, but I was hesitant until my friend Jin said to just tap it via the instructions." Qiu Yue asked and Yun smiled as she nodded her head.

    "Yes, the boss of this store had utilised thetest prototype dimensional instance technology and modified this entire instance into a service instance. Unlike a dungeon instance, there are no monster threats in this area and people gather here for various purposes. One of them is to watch the dungeons in action. If you look around you can obviously see multiple auditoriums. We even have announcers narrating the fights."

    "The upper floor in this particr instance contains the Pet Battle Card Vending Machine which allows you to get your very own pet as well as a ce to grab some snacks and rx." Yun professionally exined the workings of the Shop Level One instance the same way she would to any other customers.

    Suddenly, there were people roaring and shouting from one of the auditoriums behind her. Qiu Yue could not help but turn her head around in curiosity to look at what seemed to be two cultivators battling in a random arena. Following her instincts she walked towards the edge of the centre of Shop Level One Instance to see the entiremotion.

    "Looks like Bin Yong, the Bombardier Beetle cultivator is going up against the dreaded Royal Boar Knight Sir Hamlet. Ahhh! What is Shi Zuo, the Mad Monkey cultivator plotting?!" Mr Patsu, the penguin announcer continued to hype up the scene as his fellow announcer, Bear Cub One, injected a few wittyments every now and then. The crowd continued to cheer from their seats and Qiu Yue could not believe her eyes. The burning desire for battle in her heart was itching for a go.

    "Jinny! Come and see the battle! This is crazy!" Qiu Yue could not contain her excitement and slipped her tongue as she called him by his former nickname. Jin felt a little nostalgic and happy, but knew that she was just in her own world, not caring for anything except what was in front of her.

    "Is this some recorded battle, erm Ms Yun?" Jin asked Yun to prompt her into exining more about the store to Qiu Yue. Surprisingly, Yun was not annoyed and was rather amodating to assist Jin. She went over the basics of each of the avable dungeons, then told Qiu Yue about the ce and the reason for these auditoriums.

    "So how about we try the same random dungeon that those two guys are taking? Will our dungeon instance be broadcast as well?" Qiu Yue''s blood was pumping furiously, as she awaited the answer from Yun. Even Yun had not seen anyone as enthusiastic about the dungeons as her.

    "Yes, the moment you two are participating in a dungeon, there is a chance for both of you to be broadcast, as long as you two perform well in the dungeon instance. Especially since we have dozens of dungeon instances going at the same time." Yun exined to Qiu Yue.

    With the change of the shop into a dimensional instance, Jin had relocated the dimensional stations and opened additional ones near each auditorium instead of in those halls. This allowed more cultivators to enter the dungeon instances, increasing his shop sales and at the same time curbing the waiting time for the cultivators. It also had the benefit of not annoying or disturbing the immersion of the auditoriums that were being hyped up by the announcers.

    "Alright! Let''s do this, Jin! We shall try that dungeon instance those two were doing!" Qiu Yue did not even peruse the menu that Yun took out and wanted to have some action immediately. "Are you sure you want me to enter the dungeon with you?" Jin teased her as he remembered that he had not shown his cultivation status to anyone but Yun and his betors. No one else knew how much stronger he had bepared to just a couple of weeks ago.

    "Ah... true. I remember that you did not really choose any cultivation method when we were studying..." Qiu Yue suddenly became a bit embarrassed that she tried to drag the quasi cultivation-less Jin into battle.

    "But I really want to try it..." Qiu Yue paused for a while before she continued her sentence. "How about you take this as part of your training! I will protect you. Hehehe!" Qiu Yue raised her arm and flexed her muscles to show off.

    "If that''s the case, how about I pay for your dungeon entrance? That way, I won''t feel bad tagging along with you." Jin proposed to pay for her dungeon ticket and her eyes were beaming with delight.

    "Hold onto your words, Jinny! Let Big Sis Red Panda show you a few tricks! Maybe you might be able to pick up the Red Panda cultivation too and we can do more difficult dungeons!" Qiu Yue smiled with joy as Jin paid for the tickets and Yun directed them to the dimensional stations.

    As Jin followed behind the ted girl to the dimensional stations, he was genuinely grinning from one ear to the other. It was a refreshing kind of joy, as if some kind of heavy burden has been lifted. He felt like a young teenager again, totally free of worries and just there in the moment having fun with his friend. This feeling...somehow he was unable to recall thest time he felt like this.

    "Looks like Jin likes this girl and perhaps even more than Zhen Qing," Yun thought to herself since she did not have any idea that Jin was serious about going back with his ex.

 Chapter 232 Red Panda

    <h4>Chapter 232 Red Panda</h4>

    "Jin, please remember that if the hoodes off, the spell of anonymity will dissipate. Especially when you are fighting in that dungeon, don''t forget it could be broadcast onto the public." Peppers reminded Jin before he went into the random battle arena dungeon instance, but he messaged back that he took note about these effects.

    Jin had fun teasing Qiu Yue for the moment, but he was also considering whether he should outright tell Qiu Yue about him owning this shop. It was because she was the only one in university that knew him inside out. The other few people, who knew him that way were only his deceased grandfather Ming or his old high school friends. However, Qiu Yue had more recent contact with him than his high school friends so bluffing them would have been easier.

    On the other hand, it would be harder for Qiu Yue to be beguiled aspared to hiding the fact from her. She knew exactly what the strength and weakness of Jin were. If he told Qiu Yue that he was the one who build this particr shop, she would haveughed her head off for cracking such a joke or be very angry at Jin for lying to her.

    Hence, if he wanted Qiu Yue to really know that he himself was the shop owner, he either had to tell the truth soon or make the System wipe her memory about today. However, Jin had wished to have someone at his side. Someone he could be able to discuss his issues with, aside from his betors or Yun. He was thinking, that it would help, having a third party with a less biased opinion influencing his decisions and allowed him to view his issues from another perspective.

    That was why Jin was somewhat desperate to put Zhen Qing into contact with the System even though he tried doing it step by step. After all if he were to simply tell her about the System she would probably think him as crazy.

    By allowing her to be exposed to the wonders of the System gradually, Jin would have someone to talk to about the System. Although he first needed to be sure, that after all the time apart he could still trust Zhen Qing enough to believe him and to keep this secret of his to herself.

    At the same time, Qiu Yue was potentially the perfect candidate for Jin to expose the System to. She loved dungeons to the point that Jin thought she was insane but her love and her obsession were also the few reasons which influenced Jin into wanting to be a dungeon supplier. In the past he had hoped to be able to make dungeons, which would lead people to love them with the same degree as Qiu Yue.

    If Jin managed to get Qiu Yue on board with this dungeon supplier dream, it would be a huge boon to him emotionally, else Jin would continue to strive the way he had been doing all this while. Perhaps, Jin could find someone simr in the future...or perhaps, he just could not let go of his past.

    Regardless, earning Qiu Yue''s trust again and gaining her back as his friend would still be a major hurdle to ovee. Especially with Jin''s time being somewhat limited when he had many issues at hand to deal with. However, Jin nned to do what he could at the moment and just hope for the best.

    "I guess I will just keep the hood on as long as possible. Yun, please tell Mr Patsu and Bear Cub one not to broadcast our fight. It would be kind of troublesome if I got exposed." Jin told Yun telepathically without getting a reply back. At that moment he became preupied by Qiu Yue''s fascination of the dungeon port, the miniature panda storage and how advanced this store was to use an app to keep track of the cultivators'' progress.

    "Looks like there are even more functions! A forum? Reward box? Wow!" Qiu Yue was also attracted to the pandas on the screen but she frowned when she could not see any red pandas in it. "Jin, let''s make a petition to the boss of this ce and ask him or her to ce some red pandas in the Pandamonium app. I am sure they will be an instant hit!" Qiu Yue proudly suggested her Red Pandas, but Jin just continued to smile at how ted she was.

    "Alright, alright. Come, let''s get going, I''d like to see whether the Red Panda Mistress is worthy of being called Shifu." Jin joked a bit after imagining the scene of a fatzy panda bowing to a little red panda.

    "Please, I will knock the monsters down senseless, so that they will have no other choice but to grovel at my feet!" Qiu Yue replied cheerfully.

    "So much confidence as usual, even though you tend to...nevermind... Let''s get going!" Jin was reminded what a battle freak she was, but there was one small problem. Usually, she was also the first one who got defeated in dungeons. It happened so many times that she garnered another weird nickname from the dungeon suppliers that she visited.

    Good Loser Lady Battle Freak.

    No matter how many dungeons she tried, her win lose percentage ratio was skewed more towards thetter. The only redeeming factor was that she did not let her failures stop her from having fun and always wished to try again. It actually made the dungeon suppliers like her since they were basically earning money from her but they also adored her for her courage and spirit.

    Her frequent failure was all due to the Red Panda Style not exactly being meant for fighting. Notice how the Red Panda Style that Qiu Yue had was just called ''Red Panda'' Style? Unlike other cultivation Styles which usually consisted of an animal with a prefix? It was because there was no proper cultivation for the Red Panda Style.

    Its cultivation was meant as a base for other cultivations especially when a person needed help with his or her cultivation of chi points. That was why it was said that the Red Panda Style was just meant for cuteness when you portrayed your cultivation and nothing else. It was also not the most ideal cultivation base to aim for, unless the cultivation that the cultivators were aiming for were of the Ursidae (The scientific family names for bears) cultivations such as the ck Bear, Pr Bear or Roon.

    The same situation also applied for certain cultivators in Jin''s shop. For example the Bombardier Beetle Style that Bin Yong had been using. But unlike Qiu Yue''s red panda, Bombardier beetles in nature had specific traits such as their chemical cannon hidden in its abdomen to ward off predators. Such a special trait of that insect helped enhance the cultivation style of the Bombardier beetle. At the same time, Bin Yong had also been experimenting on how to enhance the Bombardier beetle cultivation and found that the sword and shield was a good weapon choice for him. The use of the right weaponsplimented the affinity towards the Bombardier beetle cultivation. It would not be too surprising if in the near future, he would manage to add a prefix to the cultivation and he himself could be a grandmaster in the Bombardier beetle cultivation.

    Yet, Qiu Yue did not advance above the Red Panda cultivation as she solely believed that there was a certain cultivation style that the Red Pandas could soar through. A cultivation style that had yet to be explored despite many grandmasters and researchers having tried to create one, but failing. Granted, since there was no true grandmaster in the cultivation of the Red Panda style, Qiu Yue''s im that people had yet to find a proper red panda cultivation method was valid, simr to Bin Yong''s bombardier beetle cultivation.

    This reasoning was why she took the losses she incurred as just another step to improve the Red Panda Style, even though the hole to her wallet was enormous. s, her current workload did not allow Qiu Yue to have a favourable training schedule as she would like. Hence, being able to fight in this dungeon would be a boon to her.

    Both Jin and Qiu Yue got teleported into the random battle arena dungeon instance and theynded to a scene where Qiu Yue was floating slightly. She then realised that her surroundings were full of blue and puffy clouds. A few steps sidewards and Qiu Yue already noticed the edge of the arena. "We are on a floating stone tform?" Qiu Yue asked as she took out her weapons and peeked over the edge of the tform to see more clouds.

    "Seems like it!" Jin said while taking out Bam in Katana Form as he smirked at Qiu Yue''s main weapon.

    "Oh! Looks like you are one step closer to bing a Red Panda Cultivator!" Qiu Yue brandished her own katana out from her scabbard.

    "Are you sure you can fight in that attire?" Jin asked with a bit of concern, when he realised that she was still in her office skirt which Qiu Yue also just became aware of.

    "Ahh! It''s okay! Maybe the s.e.x appeal might lower the guard of the monster!" Qiu Yue sticked her tongue out as she tied her scabbard onto her waist and took out an essory chopstick to neaten her hair into a bun quickly.

    "I do not think that will work against me, you know." Two cat likedies climbed up from the edge of the tform while arge looking eagle flew away from the tform.

    "Gah, Meomi and Nyanmi." Jin scratched his neck a bit before he unsheathed his katana too.

 Chapter 233 Brand New Cats

    <h4>Chapter 233 Brand New Cats</h4>

    "This will be rather troublesome." Jin thought to himself when he noticed that on the first stage his opponents would be the two werecats. The reason why he felt that way was because he had recently upgraded the equipment for most of the werebeasts.

    Jin felt that the Bank Heist Raid dungeon instance was a little too easy after cultivators spent weeks analysing the usible patterns of the werebeast attacks. It was after all the first dungeon that Jin had created so the battle scenarios weremendable but not flexible enough aspared to the Goblin Forest Dungeon or the Music Theatre Dungeon.

    Thetter two dungeon instances had the advantage of using wide andplex terrains such as forests and jungles so Jin''s monsters could be unpredictable and the cultivators could only take note of the possible ws of the monsters, rather than making use of the terrain to their advantage.

    The same could not be said about the Bank Heist Raid dungeon instance. Mainly because the cultivators could bring along someone with cultivation specializing in long-range attacks, such as Jing Ru, and as long as they managed to get hold of a good sniping tform, the cultivators would have some form of advantage against the monsters.

    In terms of dungeon design, the cultivators liked the Bank Heist Raid because of its structure, but felt that once they learnt theyout, it was not much of a challenge at all. Hence, Jin decided to increase the difficulty by removing all the current equipment the werebeast had and gave them better and unique ones.

    The werecats for example, were given weapons to help counter cultivators specialised in long, mid and short range.

    Gun Knuckles and Sniper Whip.

    Jin was inspired by Yem and Mer''s choices of weapons and used the Dungeon Maker to create these two weapons for Nyanmi and Meomi. He initially wanted both of them to be proficient in those two weapons, but eventually decided against that. Having such a versatile weapon each already increased the werecat''sbat proficiency by two fold.

    Meomi did not say much when theynded on the arena tform and charged in with her Gun Knuckles towards Qiu Yue. Yet Qiu Yue did not flinch at the iing strike of the werecat and faced her head on. Her knuckles shed with Qiu Yue''s Katana, but with a click by Meomi caused the knuckles to ignite a miniature explosion which knocked Qiu Yue''s Katana away, forcing Qiu Yue to be wide open.

    Meomi smirked as she went in for the strike with her other hand but Qiu Yue was quick enough to evade and block the iing attack with her scabbard.

    "Not Bad." Meomi whispered close to Qiu Yue as she jumped back to create some distance but Meomi was not done with her attack as she used her tail as a whip and pped Qiu Yue with it before distancing herself away from Qiu Yue.

    "Ahh, stupid cat!" Qiu Yue rubbed the bruise on her face before she stood her ground and tore the side of her skirt so that it did not restrict her movement. Now was not the time to care about decency. Now it was either she lives or that cat.

    Meanwhile, Nyanmi was holding a wooden looking rifle with a medium sized scope as she gave an opening shot to Jin which he managed to evade effortlessly. He knew that Nyanmi was proficient in using long ranged weapons and a whip but she was not sufficientlypetent in using the all new sniper whip.

    The way the sniper whip worked was that it looked like an ordinary bolt action wooden rifle that required ammunition to be ced into the barrel before shooting though it lost the capability to automatically insert an ammo cartridge. But when the enemy came close, parts of the rifle would dismantle on the spot, connecting through a strong string of metal and nylon wires through the magic input by Nyanmi and the rifle would be turned into a whip with various parts that could be used to attack at any distance.

    Not to mention, the wooden rifle itself could be used as a bat in close rangebat. Hence, if Nyanmi attained sufficient proficiency in it, the ideal way of using the sniper whip would be to whip the enemy a few times, let it return to a normal rifle, quickly load a bullet in it and subsequently fire upon distraction.

    Thankfully for the current arena, Nyanmi still needed time to get the hang of her new weapon so she was using one function at a time. This gave Jin the opportunity to continue looking weak as Qiu Yue fought against Meomi.

    This was also a brilliant time to train his Perfectly Normal Parry sh to a higher level since the attacks of an experienced whip user were more dangerous than three swordsmen fighting Jin. Hence, with his powers self suppressed for training, Jin entered the fray trying his best to counter against Nyanmi.

    "Don''t go easy on me!" Jin sent a voice transmission to Nyanmi in case she thought that she would be giving Jin a chance to survive while he was pretending.

    "Haha, dream on Master, you still owe a debt of pain for previously hurting my beloved onee-sama!" Nyanmi returned her voice transmission to her master and pressed on with her attack.

    Separately, as the battle raged on, Yun decided not to listen to Jin and purposely turned on his random arena battle dungeon instance in the auditorium hall with the fewest number of people in it. "Let''s see if you can live up to your name as a boss." Yun said to herself as she continued to entertain the other customers in the shop instance.

    Somehow, that unwritten challenge by Yun was picked up by the System and it issued an urgent mission to Jin. However, since Jin was fighting, the System decided to ry the message through Nyanmi instead but with a twist.

    "Master, the big boss System said that it has an urgent mission for you." Nyanmi said via a voice transmission and Jin was surprised. "But you have to defeat me first to get that information."

    "What?" Jin was so surprised, that he got distracted by the message and Nyanmi managed to strike a curve whip back attack on Jin, leaving behind a slightly broken hoodie and a wound.

    "But, I do not like the System too much either. If not for you master, I would have stayedfortably within the System''s premise, although thanks to you I got to meet onee-sama. So, here''s a tip. I will say it would be wise to continue to suppress your cultivation until you defeat me." Nyanmi winked at Jin who was reeling in from the pain, but she did not hesitate to shoot at Jin when the sniper whip changed back to a normal rifle.

    "Shit!" Jin raised his Bam Katana up and with some luck on his side, the Perfectly Normal Parry sh activated, cutting the bullet that was flying towards him into two. "I do not know what the System is ying at right now, when all I want is just to have some simple fun with Qiu Yue. If that''s the case then so be it." Jin thought to himself and pulled down his hoodie to concentrate better on his fight against Nyanmi.

 Chapter 234 Analysis

    <h4>Chapter 234 Analysis</h4>

    Previously, Auditorium Six had just been showing a group of cultivators running the Qixi Festival dungeon instance and not many were that interested since the story was more or less fixed to the theme. Despite the System''s effort to showcase its ability to create a dungeon instance, it was not as shy or flexible as Jin''s dungeons so the novelty of Qixi wore off when regr customers got used to it.

    However, a random arena battle was suddenly being shown and some people started to get interested for Auditorium Six. The main appeal of that mode was that monsters of any dungeon instance could appear to fight against the cultivators. It was a learning tform for many which made a number of customers chase after such dungeon runs to learn more about the monsters.

    Especially the Nettoflix alike subscription based video app tform, that Jin created, also dubbed Pandaflix by his customers.

    What made Auditorium Six even more crowded was that a gorgeous female cultivator was fighting alongside a hooded male against the werecats. Unlike in a fight featuring a member of the Elite Pandawans, which was the way the regrs such as Bu Dong, Bin Yong, Xiong Da etc. had been dubbed, the werecats were a menace for everyone else and troublesome to fight against.

    This became notably obvious when Jin had increased the difficulty for the Bank Heist Raid by providing the werejackals and werecats with new equipment. Jin thought that it was easy enough for most customers but he had forgotten that the customers whoined were the minority while the majority still had had trouble fighting against them.

    Some even abandoned the idea of splitting up the team to confront the werejackals and werecats separately. Hence, they took on other strategies such as concentrating on fighting indoors, especially in corridors without any windows. This helped them eliminate the werejackals, without the werecat snipers being able to provide support. Others purposely conducted a crossfire fight against the werecat snipers from the bank to the apartment building they were in.

    Overall, Jin was quite happy to see such scenarios taking ce aspared to previous fights. The reason being that the cultivators were more active in finding alternative solutions to triumph over the monsters with their new equipment.

    Hence, Jin''s dungeons were not just all about brawns but brains were involved as well, allowing the cultivators to experience a full blown experience against these intelligent monsters. It was also a joy for him to see many people posting their achievements on the forum in the Pandamonium App, and start theorycrafting on how to beat the dungeon instance, after the increase in difficulty.

    Jin sometimes wondered if he could conduct military or police exercises, to improve teamwork and operations. It could definitely be part of a venture that might earn him big bucks if done right.

    "Hey, isn''t that Boss Jin?" A customer who was casually watching the random arena battle fight in the Auditorium Six suddenly shouted out after Jin had pulled his broken hood down to concentrate on the fight against Nyanmi. The sudden shouting spurred the customers to scrutinise a bit and some began to wonder if it was really true or if it was just someone simr in appearance.

    A customer near the back of the auditorium jumped up and ran to the Bar Ind to check for Pand Jin but there was no sign of him. The customer immediately came back to tell the rest and the announcers, who were busy at another auditorium were distracted by it.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems that we have received some exciting news, that our very own Boss is fighting in a random arena battle with a friend of his! The broadcast of the dungeon run is currently in Auditorium Six!" Mr Patsu confirmed the existence of his Boss in battle and announced the news.

    Every single customer in the five other auditoriums immediately jumped up from their seats just to gather towards Auditorium Six to see Boss Jin in action. "Is it really Boss Jin? Is it really Boss Jin!?!?!" Some of the customers even ran up to the upper floors of the Shop Level One instance to have a better view of the dungeon run in Auditorium Six.

    "Why is Boss Jin running a dungeon without telling us?" A customer questioned curiously.

    "I too did not notice it was him, and thought it was just a pretty girl and her cultivator friend in the hoodie! I did not expect that guy to be Boss Jin!" Another customer replied.

    "I wonder what Boss Jin''s current grade and powers are!" A female customer said excitedly.

    "Hmm, but Boss Jin seems to have a bit of difficulty against the werecat Nyanmi." An astute customer who was assessing the battlefieldmented.

    "But I remember him defeating Lai Fu, the owner of the General Store Fresh Price, on the streets once!" An old time customer shouted upon hearing thements.

    "He is suppressing his abilities." A fairly middle aged man spoke which made everyone go silent. Unsurprisingly, it was none other than Mr Know-It-All sitting on a corner of the sofa with his notebook and his bottle of homemade Oolong Tea. Every customer who has been to Jin''s store a few times knew of him. His battle guides in the Pandamonium forums made him noticeably famous in Dungeons and Pandas.

    Mr Know-It-All''s words of advice were gold and many used his guides to win against the dungeon instances, but of course he did put a disimer that he could only provide an overview on what to expect. Especially in the Bank Heist Raid where the werejackals and werecats were given brand new equipment, changing the entire game n that Mr Know-It-All previously suggested.

    "Why do you think so Master Know-It-All?" A customer respectfully asked.

    "I have seen his abilities in action before, so a monster like Nyanmi should not pose any threat against him. Not even with her new weapon and especially not since she seemed tock the experience in using it, which I found it to be unbelievably real. I am guessing he is suppressing his abilities, presumably because of either of two possible scenarios:

    One, he is training himself up against a new unconventional weapon like Nyanmi''s Sniper Whip. At least that was the name which was revealed to me by Boss Jin. She has the capability to create a defensive bubble if an enemy gets too close. It also provides long attacking arcs, which a katana user will definitely have difficulty entering. Not to mention her rifle mode also poses a big problem towards a close range user. Therefore, Jin could probably be using her as a training tool like how you cultivatorse here not just to have fun but also to train." Mr Know-It-All exined his analysis, not minding the nickname used by others to refer to him.

    "Two, he does not wish to show himself as someone overly powerful, so that his friend could have a chance of fighting an opponent or Boss Jin is hiding something that he does not wish to reveal to his friend. However, for thetter reason, I think I may be overthinking it a little too much. It most probably is option one." Mr Know-It-All further rified his stance and everyone somehow agreed with his opinion and continued watching Jin fight.

    "Still, I must say, that friend of his is putting up a good fight against Meomi and her gun knuckles." A customer shifted the conversation and many continued to agreed.

    "Indeed, her fighting style is a bit crude, probably because she had not fought for quite some time, but it shows that she has .u.mted plenty of experience from running dungeons in the past." Mr Know-It-Allmented and many nodded their heads.

    "ARGGHHH this is so irritating!" Qiu Yue shouted as she barely missed once more against Meomi, with the werecat gracefully dodging the attack. Meomi then aimed her gun knuckle at Qiu Yue and fired another st of miniature explosion to cause Qiu Yue to lower her guard.

    But Qiu Yue was not that gullible as she had already learnt the attack pattern of Meomi. Instead of dodging the knuckle explosive, Qiu Yue forcefully took the hit and charged towards Meomi, who had lowered her defenses due to pride. "Katana Art! sh of the Red Panda!" A red streak of light passed through Meomi as the onlookers saw Qiu Yue sh past her.

    A direct hit was scored and Meomi was injured. However, instead of fighting to the brutal end, Meomi stopped and pped. "You have passed." Qiu Yue looked at her a bit surprised, as she breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. What seemed to be a short battle for Meomi was actually the longest battle for Qiu Yue.

    The only thing that made her fight to her hardest was because she had noticed Jin was also fighting with all his might against the other werecat. How could she lose to a person with no noticeable cultivation? Throughout the entire fight, Qiu Yue could only sense her own chi but not Jin''s. He was not even pushing out any chi but using just his skills as a fighter to pit himself against the ferocious werecat.

    "Why are you looking so worried? Do you want to help him?" Meomi threw her hands up into the air, showing that she would not attack anymore, as she approached Qiu Yue.

    "I would like to. No, I would really love to join in on the fun. But I know that if I help him out, he would never figure out his own life." Qiu Yue said with some guilt in her voice as she continued to look at Jin struggling against the werecat.

    "Don''t worry too much, he will make it. He is after all our benefactor." Meomi walked away and jumped off the floating tform as she replied to Qiu Yue which made her confused.

    "Huh? Benefactor?" Qiu Yue suddenly heard a loud sh that temporarily made her forget what she was thinking as she turned her head to focus on the battle.

 Chapter 235 Monsters With Sentience

    <h4>Chapter 235 Monsters With Sentience</h4>

    "Huh, why did the werecat, that red panda cultivator was fighting with, just withdraw herself away from the battlefield?" A customer who was watching did not understand what was going on.

    "Ah, because the monsters in the random arena battle are not just about elimination, sometimes it will be simply a test of skills. Unless you encountered a monster, that was dead on fighting you to theirst breath." Bin Yong who just came out of his random arena battle dungeon instance joined the crowd.

    "Why would that be the case?" The customer continued to ask, not noticing Bin Yong''s presence that much.

    "It is most likely due to the difficulty scale. The monsters might be too strong to kill for the cultivators that challenged them. Hence, a test of skill would most likely suffice." Bin Yong presented his take on the rules.

    "Then why is it not the case for those story themed dungeons?" The customer asked even more questions which stumped Bin Yong.

    "Let me exin that with whatever limited knowledge I have." Mr Know-It-All happened to overhear the questions. "What I can deduce is that most of the monsters in Jin''s dungeons were intelligently modified by the core servers which handle the dimensional instances."

    "Not sure about you, but I am sure Bin Yong felt that fighting the monsters in the random arena battle dungeon instance was totally different from fighting them in the story themed dungeons?" Mr Know-It-All asked which Bin Yong instantly confirmed.

    "Yes! It felt as if the monsters were more real in the random arena battles. It was as if they were just acting their part in the story themed dungeons. But out there in the random arena battles, they seem to use their true actual strength. This makes the fight harder, but at the same time, the rewards from the Random Arena battles are also more enticing." Bing Yong exined.

    "Mmhmm, I am only privy to certain things about dimensional core servers. I have friends, who are more informed, but all my contacts did tell me one sure thing. That almost every dungeon supplier in the world could not replicate what Jin is doing right now because of the high technical difficulty in maintaining the input of data."

    "That does not seem to answer my question..." The customer got even more confused.

    "What I am trying to say is, Boss Jin might have employed a different method of maintaining the servers. Either by himself, which I would deem unlikely from my observations or by a group of highly specialised experts. That creation and maintenance of servers might be the reason why the Artificial Intelligence differs so much from other dungeon suppliers. So the projection of these creatures might feel really real to the point that one might feel that they are holding back, as if they were testing you." Mr Know-It-All tried to exin without going into too many technical details. (cough cough, at least he tried!)

    "Ehhhhh..." The customer did not know how to reply.

    "I think what he meant is Jin''s dungeons have always been special. Do not question how things work, just take it as it is and enjoy the dungeons and random arena battles. Take them as real monsters with sentience if it pleases you, even though we all know that they are all just artificial intelligence." Shi Zuo interjected his opinions into the conversation, putting Mr Know-It-All answers into simpler terms.

    "Real monsters with sentience...Hmm..." For the first time in Jin''s store, Mr Know-It-All experienced that some random guy''s opinion could be considered as a valid exnation. However, after taking several factors into ount, he felt that it was not possible and returned to watching the show.

    Jin was struggling a bit. He had the ability to blow Nyanmi away with just his Grade 5 powers or by utilising the skills he recently obtained from the spiritual union. However, her words bothered him and he decided that he should y out the entire thing more carefully.

    He did not care much about the hoodie since he did request Yun not to put his dungeon instance up on air to the auditorium and bringing down the hoodie was essential in having a proper view of the entire battlefield.

    Jin was d that Qiu Yue managed to pass her fight and this also allowed Jin to properly focus on the task at hand without having the need to worry about her.

    It was rather annoying for the System to ce an urgent mission which Jin had no details about. He did not know what kind of shadowy objectives the System had in mind but one thing was for sure. Even without the System''s meddling, Jin would have wanted to test himself while not revealing his cultivation or skill to Qiu Yue as much as possible.

    After much thought, he felt that he should just keep his powers quiet from Qiu Yue and lose the battle if he needed to. Nevertheless, Jin still had his own pride to take hold of, especially towards Qiu Yue. He wanted her to know that he was worthy to at least be her friend again.

    Nyanmi who thought that she had the upper hand in the battle started to be more aggressive and new patterns of attack emerged from her sniper wh.i.p.s.

    Jin cautiously entered into her attacking range and tried to charge in based on the attack pattern he learnt before but the tricks under Nyanmi''s sleeves were too potent, that he had to step back.

    "Ahh... I did not expect a whip user to be this efficient in attacking and defending." A customer saw how difficult it was for Jin to enter into Nyanmi''s defensive bubble.

    "If that is the case, guess I should utilise my old techniques that Ming had taught before!" Jin thought to himself as he took out Boo in Wakizashi form.

    "What is the use of another de?" Nyanmi taunted Jin, who couldn''t care less. At this point in the battle, Jin judged the attacks once more and entered into Nyanmi''s range the moment the sniper whip retracted back into a rifle.

    "This is a gamble!" Jin thought to himself as he rushed towards Nyanmi.

    "Foolish master." Nyanmi shot with her Sniper Whip rifle mode towards Jin but the bullet was deflected with style.

    "Yes, the Perfectly Normal Parry sh worked!" Jin was delighted his gamble had paid off , but little did he know that there was actually another bulleting its way.

    "I double tapped. You are not the only one who gambled." Nyanmiughed in Jin''s head. Even Qiu Yue only managed to catch the glimpse of another bullet trailing right behind the first bullet.

    That split second felt like a year to Jin as his senses tightened up and he felt that something clicked...something screeched within his heart. Jin realised it was something simr to the time when he used the ck Fire and White Ice attack.

    But this time around, it was different, he felt that another ability had activated, which caused his pupils in his eyes to change into a three inversed triangle shape. Simr to a Sierpinski triangle, the triangles multiplied within his retina and he was able to sharply see the speed, direction and trajectory of the bullet.

    "ng!" The bullet was miraculously deflected with his wakizashi! Yet, Jin was still charging towards Nyanmi who was stunned by the sudden change of events. How did Jin manage to parry this surprise bullet, and he even did it this fast! Even the Perfectly Normal Parry sh could not have activated twice in a row!

    Nyanmi hurried to swing her sniper whip, but it was toote as Jin''s wakizashi reached towards Nyanmi''s throat and the katana was directed at her torso.

    "Tell me the objectives of the System." Jin went close to Nyanmi and the werecat purred.

    "Master, the System wants you to invite your friend into the system as an advisor for the Dungeon City Fortress," Nyami whispered into his ears andter nibbled it too.

 Chapter 236 A Mothers Concern

    <h4>Chapter 236 A Mother''s Concern</h4>

    "How did Boss Jin do that!?!" A customer shouted after experiencing a bout of silence for a few seconds when Jin executed the parry sh and deflected two bullets at once. Yet, there was no sign of cultivation shown above him, indicating that this was his base strength without the aid of any cultivation. The entire crowd was stunned by the whole performance.

    "Now I can safely say that Boss Jin deserves to be the boss of this dungeon supplier store." Bin Yongmented, and many people started to agree. To be a true dungeon supplier not only require shop management and technical skills, but they also had to have the strength and skills to create those monsters so their customers could adequately train.

    While it was true that the definition of a dungeon supplier in the modern context had been diluted due to the aid of technology, with this feat, Jin had convinced them that he did not just rely on superior technical support as predicted by Mr Know-It-All. It proved to his fellow customers that he was entirely worthy of the title of dungeon supplier.

    Even Mr Know-It-All who repeatedly saw how Jin fought for the past month or so was surprised that his base foundation was this strong. If Mr Know-It-All knew that Jin had been bathing in unique herbal medicinal baths prepared by the System almost every day to strengthen his body, fighting in life and death situations just to collect monsters and had a system to aid him, Mr Know-It-All would have trashed his section of notebook away.

    But he did not. So many began to feel that this particr dungeon supplier had more to offer in theing future. And they were not wrong.

    ----------------

    "Check your phone during the interval," Nyanmi said to Jin as she pretended to strike Jin with a surprise blow, but Jin cut her into pieces even before she could move another muscle. Her body eventually disappeared, and Jin quickly checked on his phone.

    "Expose part of the System to your friend, Qiu Yue, especially the Dungeon City Fortress. Get her to work for you as an employee. Rewards: Tier 2 Betor Network." Jin was surprised when he saw the word Network. "Grandpa Ming did mention something about the System''s Network before." He thought.

    "Secondary Objective: Complete this random arena battle without revealing your true cultivation strength. Others are watching. Optional Rewards: Radiant Red Panda in the Umbral Snow Cultivation Manual." The system stated clearly that this was an impromptu urgent mission to bepleted, but before Jin could react, Qiu Yue came behind him and patted his shoulder hard.

    "Wow! That was amazing! How did you even do that?" Qiu Yue was pleasantly surprised as she thought that Jin would need help from her after she defeated the werecat. Nheless, it was still rather taxing for her because it had been some time since she had participated in any dungeon.

    "Oh, yeaбнhahahaбн Hmm? It looks like you have a rather bad wound." Jin took out a towel from his storage watch and tried to wipe the dirt away from her wound to distract her from her question. "Ouchie! I did not expect that it would hurt so much." Qiu Yue gave a small cry which made Jin stop for a while and walk around.

    "What are you doing?" Qiu Yue asked, but Jin ignored her for a moment until it seemed that he found something. "I saw something shiny just now when I was fighting, so I returned to that area to make sure. I believe it is some sort of potion." Jin made up an excuse as he returned to Qiu Yue with arge bottle of chi and health regeneration potion. He offered it to Qiu Yue, and she gulped it down as if she had just returned from a desert.

    Jin had a few of such bottles in case of emergencies like Milk not being around to heal him. He initially thought of just using the potions that the random arena battle provided at the end of every round. However, he figured that Qiu Yue should be in tip-top shape if he wants toplete the secondary objective. It would be pretty hard not to reveal his strength in addition topleting this particr random arena.

    Suddenly, a treasure chest dropped from the skies and the lid opened wide in front of them. There were definitely some potions in it, but none as significant or as potent as the one Jin was holding. In addition to that, there were the bronze panda medals which Qiu Yue was fascinated by, and all thank the design.

    "Woooo! Pandas! They are so cute! I am loving this dungeon supplier store more and more." Qiu Yue said with excitement before they felt that the floating tform they were on started to rumble through the skies.

    At that point, Jin and Qiu Yue saw another floating tform, that was two times bigger than theirs, which was on a direct crash course towards them. Jin held onto Qiu Yue''s hand after absorbing the chest of panda medals into his storage watch.

    "Why is he holding my hand so tightly!?" Qiu Yue panicked inside. Meanwhile, Jin was thinking of something entirely different.

    "What does the System mean by ''Others are watching''? Could it be that Yun did not listen to me and is currently broadcasting the entire random arena battle run onto the auditoriums? Or did it simply refer to Qiu Yue and Meomi watching me? No, that can''t be it. If it were thetter, the System would not have said it with such ambiguity. So my best guess is that it''s the former. Damn... that mother of mine likes to sneak into my thoughtsбн"

    "Yes, I am sneaking while I can. I cannot believe you made a deal with the System to cut me off once you havepleted the business partnership with that Tiger Princess Yang Ling."

    "Even if you are my mother, you are just a figment, a property of the System," Jin spoke ruthlessly in his thoughts. "This particr mission made it even more obvious. I always thought that you were an ally of mine, but time and time again, you proved me wrong." Jin prepared to jump onto the iing floating tform as he argued telepathically with Yun.

    "But I am doing this for your good! This Qiu Yue seems to be a better wife material than Zhen Qing could ever be!" Yun pouted in the shop instance as she spoke her thoughts to Jin.

    "I appreciate that thought, but she made her decision years ago. I will not deny I still have some feelings for her but do not do this kind of meddling ever again in the future. I respect her. Please do not think of her as some tool." Jin was undeniably angry, and Qiu Yue could feel that the chi surrounding Jin was somewhat unstable as theynded perfectly onto the second floating tform.

    "What is happening to Jin? Why is he so angry?" Qiu Yue was a little scared since she knew that Jin does not usually get that frustrated for no reason.

    "Anger does not suit you." Moloch sped his hands together as he sat on a stone throne at the edge of the floating tform with his legs folded.

    "This is interesting." Jin let go of Qiu Yue''s hand when he realised he was grasping her hand too tightly. "Sorry, Qiu Yue, I was a bit upied with some thoughts. Are you okay?" Qiu Yue who wanted to be angry at Jin became apprehensive after noticing his sudden change of attitude and the chi that surrounded him.

    From something unstable and suffocating, his aura changed suddenly and was now filled with confidence yet calming at the same time. At that time, Qiu Yue could not help but notice that this kind of feeling was very simr to the experience she felt when she inserted her aura into the signboard.

    "Could it beбн? NoбнI don''t think soбн it should be just a coincidence." Qiu Yue shook her doubts for the moment and concentrated on the battle in front of them.

 Chapter 237 Battle Of Wits

    <h4>Chapter 237 Battle Of Wits</h4>

    Moloch looked at Jin and Qiu Yue as they prepared their battle stances against him. Heughed at the sight of the two of them and shook his head. "My, my! Aren''t the two of you feisty! I am not here to fight." Moloch said as he winked at Jin.

    "Waitбнdoes Moloch already know that the System wants Qiu Yue to be part of the store?" Jin thought about it and figured that the System really wanted to know and test Qiu Yue''s capabilities. To check if she was really worth being exposed to the System based on Yun''s request.

    Jin was conflicted inside, he wanted Qiu Yue to both seed and fail. If she were to seed, he would have someone to share the real sess of this dungeon supplier store with, be it as a friend or possibly even a lover once more. (But that was just a passing thought, not his main agenda especially when he had the urgent mission in mind.)

    If Qiu Yue were to fail, it would prove to the System, that it had made a bad choice trusting Yun. The System might even recede the recent urgent mission that it had issued, although that had never happened before. Qiu Yue''s failure would also allow Jin an opportunity to criticise the System for hastily making a decision based on Yun''s request.

    "Then what do you want us to do? Fight against other monsters? Your minions perhaps? Before fighting against you?" Jin made it sound generic, but he knew that Moloch was a Lord, so he had power over the minotaurs Jin had captured.

    "Nope. It''s a battle of wits that I propose. I wouldpete against either one of you. If either of you two manages to pass my test, I will let you both proceed further to the third stage." Moloch smirked as he first looked at Qiu Yue. "So this is the one that the System wants me to test?" Moloch thought to himself as he pointed at Qiu Yue who was still confused at the whole situation but stepped forward.

    "A battle of wits? Choosing me is the right choice because Jin always needed to copy my notes after the lectures." Qiu Yue teased Jin as she bumped his shoulder while giggling. Jin reluctantly admitted that she was correct and allowed her to proceed forward.

    "What are you testing me on?" Qiu Yue sheathed her katana and folded her arms as she stared intently at the man puppet with the Moloch plushie on it.

    "There is no need for any rush. Have a seat." Moloch pped his hands, and a stone chair was effortlessly formed out of the ground of the floating tform.

    "I have never seen that monster beforeбн" Bin Yong said as he saw how the situation unfolded and for the first time, there was proper crystal clear audioing from the movie screens, which stunned the entire crowd. Usually, there were a few clips of audio to emphasise certain scenes, but this seemed like a live run of the entire random arena.

    "Same for me. Looks like Boss Jin has a few monster designs he has yet to introduce to the public." Mr Know-It-Allmented when he saw the man whose face was covered by a cow plushie. He knew that it was one of Boss Jin''s design, despite how it looked simr to a human. Mainly because Jin had already shown some kind of fondness for metahumans such as Nu Lang, the cowherd boy, and Qi Er, the Magpie Queen from the Qixi Festival and he dubbed them as monsters despite them looking just like humans. It was true that they could be categorised as monsters because Mr Know-It-All knew that there were no such humans with this kind of powers in the world. Even if they existed at one point in time, nowadays they would be some kind of urban myth, only appearing as a tale or legend. But if they livedбн then they did out of the public''s sight.

    Even the announcers kept quiet and proceeded to watch the scene on the cinematic screen as the banter continued between Qiu Yue and Moloch.

    "The scenario is like this; Imagine that you are a Queen, with lots of power in your hands. The ability to terraform your terrain with a flick of a finger or build a wall within minutes. But your town is currently under attack by an army of demons. Demons with terrifying powers and overwhelming numbers." Moloch exined as he pulled out a miniature town made out of stone from the ground of the floating tform and pushed it near to Qiu Yue.

    "I am going to present you a few scenarios to test your wits against overwhelming odds. Tell me how you are going to defend yourself from this kind of scenarios. And while I did say that you have unlimited power in your hand, it was just figuratively speaking." Moloch urged Qiu Yue to sit down while Jin stood behind her to look at the ''war room'' discussion that was taking ce.

    "Whenever you introduce something, this floating tform is going to utilise its magical powers to emte it. However, if it is deemed as ridiculous, the move that you rmend would not be realised and your turn will be skipped to mine." Moloch briefly exined the rules of engagement.

    "Any more information?" Qiu Yue felt that she was at a disadvantage, but Moloch did not reply at all.

    "I am starting soon," Moloch took a deep breath before describing the scenario. "Your entourage is passing by this particrly small town, and its militia stands at less than 200 men. You were having an afternoon tea with the lord of the townбнhmm, something like a royal visit. However, during your tea session, your scouts crashed into the throne room and reported that a demon army is marching towards this particr town, less than a day away. What do you do?" Moloch purposely posted a vague scenario to test her.

    As Qiu Yue listened into the scenario, she felt that she was being pulled into a magical world as the floating tform suddenly shifted, the atmosphere around here was turning into something more exquisite.

    Next thing she realised, Qiu Yue was sitting on afortable sofa chair, and the discussion that she was having with Moloch became so much different. The entire floating tform changed its look to an interior of a royal discussion hall with Moloch on the other side of a long table capable of seating twenty people. Qiu Yue even had a crown on her head, although her appearance did not change a single bit. Jin was standing beside Moloch and kept quiet for the moment while Qiu Yue became fascinated with the beautiful luxury interior of the royal discussion hall.

    Right in front of them was a map and the miniature stone town was right in the centre of the map. Various miniatures started to appear on the map, and both Qiu Yue and Jin could see that they were representing Qui Yue''s Militia and the Demon Army.

    "Soбнwhat do you do?" Moloch, who dressed suitably well for high nobility meeting, was sittingfortably on the side of the long table and posed the question again to Qiu Yue.

    Separately, the question that Moloch posted seemed to have started a heated discussion in the auditorium, especially in the crowd of customers. "I would put up walls, create a defensive parameter to defend myself." One of the customers said.

    "I would retreat since I only have 200 troops at my disposal. Perhaps, move to another town and gather more troops." Another customer started to voice out her own opinion.

    Even Mr Know-It-All had his own personal thoughts about some possible tactics, but he reserved it to himself since the question was too vague and theck of information was not helping him at all. Besides, Mr Know-It-All was part of the audience, so he acted like one.

    "You did say I can do anything to protect my people, as long as the suggestions I rmend are not over the top ridiculous, right?" Qiu Yue smiled as she got up from her seat at the edge of the long table and walked towards the middle of the table.

    Moloch nodded his head and extended his hands up. "Please."

    "Alright then." Qiu Yue started to observe the entirety of the map, thinking and fiddling with the miniatures but the current instance alone immediately began amotion within the crowd.

 Chapter 238 Battle Of Wits - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 238 Battle Of Wits - Part 2</h4>

    "Firstly, what''s the approximate size of the demon army? Do they have any special troops, such as magic users, flying troops etc.?" Qiu Yue asked as she looked at the table and started to gauge the distance between the demon army and the town.

    Believe it or not, Qiu Yue was an avid shogi and Chinese chess yer though she dabbled in English chess once in a while. Not to mention, she was forced to y with Jin whenever he needed an extra pair of hands for his tactical war games. Many times when they were ying against each other, Jin would lose rather terribly, because his tactics were too predictable. Build a sufficient force and attack with overwhelming might.

    It was a viable strategy but also very easy to defeat if hindered during the process of building a sufficient force. That was how Qiu Yue won by usually harassing him in the beginning until he was unable to resist the harassment and finally lost.

    Moloch was pleasantly surprised that Qiu Yue did not just give a straight answer immediately and therefore decided to indulge her with some answers. "The demon army consists of a monster troop which is roughly 4000 men strong. Each demon is capable of killing 10 well-trained guards. Needless to say, a single demon could easily annihte a vige ofmoners. There are no magic users, no flying demons, all ground troops." Moloch spoke, and this caused a heated discussion among the crowd.

    "There is no way an army of only 200 men, especially a simple militia group, will be able to defeat those monsters." One of the customers shook his head, and some even affirmed that a tactical retreat out of the town would be the best strategy for this particr battle.

    "What is the technological age of this town? Do they have gunpowder or are we just dealing with the demons with pitchforks and hatchets? Do I have any magical users at my disposal?" Qiu Yue asked even before Jin had the opportunity to say anything.

    "Gunpowder...Hmmm. What is that?" Moloch asked with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

    "If that''s the case. With my powers, I would like to have all 200 men equipped with a reloading rifle each." Qiu Yue made voiced hermand and the table suddenly glowed. The miniature that represented Qiu Yue''s forces changed their shape. From a sword wielding knight to a rifleman with pieces of armour to protect himself from fatal ws.

    "That is your move? The Demon Army has decided to move forward with bated breath. They seem eager to taste fresh meat and have advanced twice as fast as your scouts predicted." Moloch spoke hismand for his demon army.

    "Judging from the distance, you seem to have at least 3 turns left, before the demon army wille into contact with your troops," Moloch remarked. "That is if you manage to divert or hinder my army. Else, you will only be left with one single turn before contact."

    "Guns... What a great idea! This way the army will be able to attack from a distance." A customer said in defence of Qiu Yue.

    "But numbers still y a big and important part. There is really no way she can defend the town with just 200 militia, especially considering what cow plushie guy had said, that one demon is enough to tear down the whole vige." Another customer refuted and reasoned it would be better to retreat.

    "Can I join in and help Qiu Yue?" Jin could not just stand in a corner seeing how dirty the game was made by Moloch.

    "Are you sure? Do you really wish to join the battle? I can allow that, but the difficulty will have to be adjusted in the following scenario and would, therefore, end up being more difficult." Moloch warned Jin what would happen if he wanted to interfere, but Qiu Yue looked at Jin with confidence.

    "It''s okay, I can defeat him I think." Qiu Yue turned back to the map that was on the table and shouted towards Moloch.

    "Raise the entirend around the town as if it was a mountainous area, if not at the very least, a hill." Qiu Yue gave hermand and surprisingly, the town map''sndscape shifted. The town broke into different parts on a mountainous area. This caused severe obstacles which would definitely hinder the movement of the demon army. Some of the crowd members wowed at the decision Qiu Yue had made and had not expected the instance to allow it to happen.

    "Hmm, it will hinder the demons... Maybe just a turn or two, if they decide to rush upwards, ignoring the mountainous route. May even cause some casualties, although I doubt that it would be an issue to the hungry demon horde." Mr Know-It-All tried to deduce Moloch''s next move, but contrary to his predictions, Moloch told the army to slow down and take the mountainous route up to the town area.

    "Is Moloch giving Qiu Yue a chance?" Jin had thought up of a simr scenario as Mr Know-It-All, and even if he could think that up, surely Qiu Yue had anticipated that too. On second thought, Jin felt that since Qiu Yue had learnt that she could terraform the mountains, it would not be wise to hastily climb up the mountain.

    "Before I continue, can I ask if I can keep my n a secret? Exposing it out in the open kind of defeats the purpose of having a n to win against you." Qiu Yue asked before making her turn. Moloch replied by saying "If you have a n in mind, how about you simply interject it during mymand, and we will see how the instance responds to this."

    "But what if the instance find hermand ridiculous and does not n to execute it?" Jin argued back, pointing out the w of this method that Moloch had suggested.

    "You are right... So how about this... If the interjection during mymand is invalid, I shall allow you to revise that particrmand. However, you are only given 15 seconds to issue a newmand in case the request was deemed invalid. When the time is up, even if you have issued no newmands, I will resumemand, and your n of ambush or intervention will simply be denied. Agreeable?" Moloch slouched back upon answering Jin''s concerns.

    Qiu Yue nodded her head and continued with hermanding turn. "I terraform the plot ofnd surrounding the town, causing a rise of a mountain which causes the town to be split into 3 tiers. With the coordination of the militiamen and the citizens, they will withdraw from the first and lowest tier of the town and evacuate to the second tier of the town." The moment Qiu Yue gave her word, the map burst out a physical form of a mountain on the table, and the town split into three different parts.

    Executing the second part of hermand caused the bustling town at the base of the mountain to be quiet, and there were miniatures of riflemen and citizens climbing up the physically real mountain.

    Meanwhile, everyone was still amazed by the magic of the dungeon instance and the cinematic power of the magic eye that captured whatever was happening, making it a fantastic show to watch and entertaining the masses in Auditorium Six.

    "My move. Upon seeing the town, I sent a division of hunter demons to rush in and upy the base of the mountain to check if it is worthy for the rest of the army to get some rest while scavenging for any food sources or survivors around the area. You definitely would have left something behind." Moloch knew that Qiu Yue had a n to evacuate the ce.

    However, Qiu Yue did not intervene with Moloch''s n, and the division of hunter demons found nothing but an abundant source of leftover livestock and food. Moloch suddenly became very cautious. "Why did she not do anything when I sent the better part of my demon army into the town? Did she really just n to evacuate the area?"

    Moloch could not sense any hostility from Qiu Yue nor did the rest of the crowd including Jin. They could not figure what she was nning or if she was even nning anything at all?

    However, Mr Know-It-All grinned when he thought about Qiu Yue''s actions and Moloch''s smooth takeover of the ce. "This girl... Boss Jin, it would seem that you have a terribly intelligent yet crafty individual by your side..."

 Chapter 239 Battle Of Wits - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 239 Battle Of Wits - Part 3</h4>

    "With my powers, I will now build walls at certain points of the mountainous route towards the second part of the town as the demons are resting for the night." Qiu Yue said as she continued to observed the map.

    Stone, mud and other makeshift materials arose from the mountainous route, blocking the way to the second part of the town. Miniature riflemen were shuffled around until it was visible that they were stationed at the different wall checkpoints for guard duty.

    Moloch continued hismand of asking the demons to rest for the night before resuming their march to ughter the riflemen in the morning. Seeing as the humans were sitting ducks and there was sufficient food for the rest of the army the morale of the demons would be at an all time high in the morning. Yet, Moloch still could not shake the feeling, that something was definitely not right.

    Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd were criticising how ipetent Qiu Yue seemed to be. "Why did she abandon the town without any resistance? She could have made the citizens fight for theirnd." A customer said, and many held a simr opinion like his.

    "Hahaha, she does not know anything about tactics at all." Another customer ridiculed when Qiu Yue made such an unpopr move. "Not fit to be a Queen at all! Why won''t that monster let Boss Jin y? I am sure he would overturn the situation with just 200 men!" Another customer said out of spite seeing how this battle might make Boss Jin lose against the random arena battle.

    "Maybe, she needed more time to erect the walls for protection? Besides, the mountainous route will narrow down the path of assault from the demon army. I think she is doing that to control the battlefield?" Bin Yong tried to reason as he returned to the crowded auditorium with an onigiri in his hand.

    "We will see..." Mr Know-It-All thought to himself and smirked as Molochmanded his troops to rest and feast for the night.

    "My turn?" Qiu Yue''s blood was pumping crazily as she continued to keep a straight face even though her n was sailing smoothly. Moloch had ended his turn since he wanted his army to be in their best condition for their attack on the following day. He guessed that even a preemptive ambush in the middle of the night would not deal that much damage to him.

    "The second part of the town is at a suitable angle from the mountain to bombard the first part of the town. We willmence bombardment by daybreak. Based on the town size, I assume we have been able to create 15 cannons?" Qiu Yue tried her luck as she gave hermand. She knew that cannons in a deste town were an expensive militarymodity and she had already prepared a backup n in case the magical map would not allow her to have such items on hand.

    However, to her delight, themand went through.

    A few of the miniature riflemen transformed into artillery members, capable of operating the cannons. The artillery teams with the help of civilians slogged throughout the night to move thoserge cannons into their respective positions. The miniature civilians even helped to carry the cannon balls as the artillerymen made calctions on where to attack.

    "I see, that''s a rather good strategy. My turn then. Since I am not supposed to be wary of the developments, I shall continue with my previousmand by making the demons march upon daybreak." Moloch smiled at Qiu Yue as he ended his turn.

    "Fire the cannons." Qiu Yue''smand was simple as well, but the effect was devastating. What sounded like a cork popping out of a wine bottle, the cannons ''roared'' in unison andid fire on the town at the base of the mountain. The Demons did not know what wasing and many were caught in the bombardment fire.

    "Oh my god, did she n that? I guess that''s better than what I had predicted..." A customer voiced his opinion while the rest who were against her tried toe up with better excuses. "15 cannons will not do much damage to a demon army of 4000. Even if she couldmand precise strikes and wither down the number by half, she still has to face the surviving 2000 demons." A disgruntled customer argued back.

    Moloch expected that to happen andmanded his troops to rally by running towards the edge of the town that was closest to the mountainous route towards the second town level. However, he had noticed that not all cannons were being fully utilised. Moloch did not care too much and continued hismand. What he did not expect were the followingmands which Qiu Yue gave.

    "Two cannons have not been fired precisely for this moment. Near the edge of the town lies the town''s warehouses and they have been filled with mmable materials such as oil and wood. The two cannons that I have saved from bombarding the town will now proceed to attack the warehouses." Qiu Yue said, and the artillery team that manned those cannons immediately fired into the direction of the warehouses.

    The whole ce was immediately ignited by the cannon fire, causing more damage and casualties to the demon army. The demon army''s morale went down, especially considering they were retreating from an artillery bombardment early in the morning after rest.

    As if that was not enough, the fire that started at the edge of the town began to spread throughout the rest of it. Moloch quicklymanded all his troops to break out of the fire and rush through the mountainous route.

    That was when Qiu Yue smiled as if it was all part of her n. "The town has prepared oil barrels at strategic points and the civilians have been ordered to throw whatever mmable items they possessed all around their house before they evacuated. The fire at the edge of the town will eventually engulf the entire ce. Your demons will not have much of a chance."

    "You do realise, that I can say that you would not know much about my demons and they could have resistance against fire?" Moloch started to be slightly irritated at the losses he was incurring. A big chunk of his army was gone and he had yet to kill a single human.

    "That does not matter. Your demons still need to breathe, and they are not undead. The immense smoke from engulfing the entire town will reduce your air supply, and my bombardment will continue." Qiu Yue stared fiercely at Moloch.

    "Does not matter... My demons, I order you to run. Run until you see the first human and Imand you to annihte them." Moloch shouted, now leaned forward to give themand aspared to previously where he just slouchedzily.

    Even Jin was slightly afraid of Qiu Yue when she got serious. She might simply be an average diligent cultivator, but her brilliant mind for tactics was not shown to many. That was also a big reason why the Ministry of National Development recruited her for her wits.

    "Does not matter? Well, let me intervene and show you why it SHOULD matter to you." Qiu Yue banged her two hands on the map before she gave hermand. "The food and water that your demons had been enjoying had been lined with slow inducing poison which I asked the militia to insert as the civilians have evacuated from the first tier of the town. Even if your demons have resistance to fire? Surely they can''t also possess a resistance to poison at the same time, right? That would be rather unfair for an army."

    Upon themand of intervention, the demons that were running up the mountainous route started to slow down significantly and were now showing signs of vomiting. Eventually, they lied on the ground gasping for air.

    "..." Moloch did not give any furthermand after that as he was forced to watch many of his demons die under artillery fire, suffocation or food poisoning. Even the crowd, who was previously against Qiu Yue began to keep quiet as they did not know how to react after this reversal of events.

    Mr Know-It-All, who was grinning all the way picked up his phone to check something. "So...I was right, this girl is...Hahaha!! Boss Jin, you are even more interesting than I thought!" Mr Know-It-All contemted, as he turned off the screen on his phone and continued to watch the random arena battle with a renewed interest for Qiu Yue.

 Chapter 240 Third Stage

    <h4>Chapter 240 Third Stage</h4>

    "My defeat. Aplete and utter defeat." Moloch slumped back on his throne and waved his hand, causing all the projected illusions of the royal interior to disappear, and they returned to the floating tform scene. Jin, who was standing at the side the entire time, did not make a sound.

    "That was exciting!" The customers ced their worries to rest upon thepletion of the match and began to discuss the unconventional tactics of Qiu Yue. Each and every move on her part was based on logic, but they felt that she had not shown everything to the unknown man with a plushie which many had yet to see in a dungeon.

    "So did we win this round?" Qiu Yue gave a peace symbol with her right hand as part of the victory pose to Jin, and he could not help but nod innocently. He figured he should not say anything special and go with the flow for the moment by letting Qiu Yue bask in the glory of victory.

    Qiu Yue seemed very satisfied with the way things were going... But not Jin. He felt that there was an underlying agenda by the System if it wanted Qiu Yue to be part of his store. To tell the truth, he was currently torn by the desire to have her in his team and opposing the System''s request. Since this was the first time the System gave him a recruitment mission, Jin was wary. While it was most likely beneficial to his dream, at the same time, it would mean that the System also got one step closer to whatever it wanted to achieve in the end.

    As Qiu Yue was having her battle with Moloch, Jin managed to calm down and began pondering if he could negotiate with the System to not let Qiu Yue be exposed to the System. For the past week or so when Jin was going through the System''s mission of getting 5000 general sales, he had also been contemting about his life. The current stage of life where he was with the System.

    How the System affected him, how it spurred him to great heights and the sess he had right now. Jin was no doubt grateful for the System bestowing power and wealth to him. It allowed him to break the cycle of sloth and monotony, but it came with a price that he nearly had to pay. By killing people to be efficient. It would have meant losing part of his humanity for the fastest way to gain in the smallest amount of time. Truly something only someone without emotions would even consider under normal circ.u.mstances. However, the System was not exactly something one could define as ''normal''.

    Jin had vowed to Yun that he would search for an alternative solution. To avoid this killing method, that the System tried to make him implement it. His solution so far was, that he would work harder in the store to achieve his current dream. But as Jin was being swept away by tides of tasks and the daily handling of the job, he began to perceive the System and the work he was doing as a chore and nearly lost sight of his initial goal.

    However, seeing Qiu Yue again had made him recall why he wanted to be a dungeon supplier in the first ce. This match with Moloch even allowed Jin to gain some reprise and rity on the whole situation again.

    It was not a simple decision for Jin to make. The request of this System would ultimately affect Qiu Yue''s career, life and possibly result in her being chained down by the System. While people might envy Jin for his excellent dungeons and possible wealth, in actuality Jin did not earn as much as they perceived. Sure, it was still a reasonable amount, but the System has always been the one controlling his finances, the work he was doing, and now it wanted to control the people he was interacting with.

    Jin always thought that he was fine being a prisoner of the System, but after that incident, he wanted to change. Nevertheless, no matter how he tried to rebel against the System, he was still a cog of this big machine. ...and there was also that smallzy part of him that even liked not having to think for himself and simply going with the flow.

    This was especially true with the new urgent mission. If Jin did notplete this particr mission, he would not receive thiswork that Ming was talking about. This specific reward however, made Jin have some suspicions that the figment of Ming could also be part of the System''s n. Either that or the System had managed to catch wind of his thoughts about the Betor''s Network.

    Regardless, Jin felt that he could not continue living this kind of life, not when Qiu Yue was being dragged into it. "Looks like I need to have a proper one on one conversation with the System. This cannot go on any further. I will not allow Qiu Yue to also be chained down by the System." Jin said to himself.

    "Jin? Jinny!" Qiu Yue snapped her fingers right in front of Jin which startled him and caused him to shout as a reflex.

    "Hahaha, what''s wrong, why are you in a daze?" Qiu Yue asked as she pointed at the treasure chest that Moloch presented upon defeat. "Look what he gave us, I wonder what''s in that chest!"

    "I was thinking about how amazing you were. Wait, I thought Moloch wanted to have a few more rounds?" Jin was puzzled as he noticed the treasure on the ground.

    "No, it was aplete defeat for me. Hence, I am willing to allow you two to move to the next stage. However, the next stage is somewhat different. The two of you will be split apart, the test of one''s true strength."

    Moloch wanted to do an additional round and pit the odds against her since he wanted to regain his pride as a Demon Lord but he eventually stayed his hand. There was no use fighting against someone who potentially be an ally in the future ording to what he had heard from the System. Besides, the System wanted to have a benchmark test and Moloch did what was told. However, now he had a goal to attain aside from building the new city fortress, to have a proper rematch with Qiu Yue.

    Moloch sighed at the thought of the rematch and waved his hand once more which suddenly made Jin and Qiu Yue be separated by a divide in the floating tform.

    As the sizeable floating tform turned into two smaller ones, Jin''s tform was suddenly engulfed within a dome of darkness while Qiu Yue''s floating tform was still intact. Even the customers were shocked by the change of events.

    "I did not know the random arena was this challenging." A customermented as the crowd saw the drastic change.

    "Same here, I did not expect a random arena battle to be this unique." Another customer said.

    "This is the first time for me to see a battle of wits too. I had been in quite a few random arena battles myself, but I have yet to see this particr monster." Bin Yong gave his own opinion after he heard the customer''s reply.

    "Master Know-It-All?" Shi Zuo politely asked for his opinion.

    "Nope. I believe I have observed more random arenas battles than any cultivators here, but this is also a first for me." Mr Know-it-All answered.

    "Well, I guess it is, after all, a random arena battle. I heard the stages of the dungeon instance were created based on your level." One of the customers replied.

    "Does that mean the dungeon instance purposely chose something to test Boss Jin and his friend? And now it even decided to split the two of them, to properly test their true strength? If that is the case, it seems Boss Jin would be in a different match based on power level." Another customer deduced upon seeing the change in the battlefield.

    "Well, I would prefer to see Jin''s match rather than that girl''s, even though she was really brilliant in the previous match." The customer got excited to find out who Jin''s opponent would be.

    "Will it be another new monster that Boss Jin has yet to release out to the public?" Mr Know-It-All rubbed his chin in anticipation.

    The screen then turned towards the dome of darkness, but instead of faces, the customers could only envision two silhouettes and there was no audible audio this time around. However, it was not the same for Jin as he could see everything within the dome. He was not aware that the darkness was impairing the vision of the magic eye and there was only one particr entity capable of doing that.

    "Yawnnnnnnnn." A silhouette with a redtex suit magically appeared out of nowhere as Jin was looking around to search for enemies.

    "No way..." Jin gripped his katana even harder as he saw his opponent walking closer to him.

    "You want to have a proper talk with the System right? Let''s talk honestly as we dance with our des." Yun swung her gigantic two-handed cleaver in front of Jin.

 Chapter 241 The Truth

    <h4>Chapter 241 The Truth</h4>

    "So you are my opponent for today?" Jin asked as he brought up his Katana up and readied his battle stance.

    "You are always so outraged against the System, even though it tries to help you... Even though I try my best for your sake. So this is your chance. Fight me, talk to me and tell me honestly what exactly is your problem with the System!" Yun dashed through with a straight charge. No schemes, no tricks.

    Jin was a little hesitant to tell the truth, even though he was indeed angry with the System. "What? Too sissy to even voice out your worries? I am still able to hear your thoughts, you know!" Yun mmed her cleaver towards Jin''s Katana and the impact caused dust to fly about tens of metres away.

    Jin did not imagine that Yun had such high strength and he nearly lost his footing shing head on with Yun. With a knee kick, Yun pushed Jin away and started to m her cleaver once more at Jin.

    "Why?! Can''t you speak? Am I proving to be too difficult of an opponent for you?" Yun''s eyes were glowing with rage as Jin dodged the attack and the cleaver smashed the ground, causing the cleaver to be stuck.

    But Yun was not done, she raised her hand up and summoned a spherical ball of ck mes and directed it towards Jin. Jin had no chance but to be torched alive by the ck mes and he yelled in pain.

    "Is that not ck fire? How is Yun able to use a Panda Spiritual Union skill? Or was it just a generic skill?" Jin was unable to figure it out but thankfully, he managed to tolerate the burn as the mes subsequently died out.

    However, this did not stop Yun from attacking as Jin saw the edge of the cleavering towards his torso area. If not for the Perfectly Normal Parry sh, he would have been cut into two. Yun continued her barrage of attacks while Jin did not even have the chance to take a breather.

    "Still not speaking? How about this?" Yun released her cleaver and went towards Jin barehanded. Yet Jin did not dare to retaliate using his Katana. His hesitation proved to be his downfall. In the next moment, Yun sent out an impactful punch that caused him to vomit some blood and stomach acid.

    "Oh my god! Is Boss Jin getting wrecked?" A customer wondered out loud, as he could only make out the silhouettes with the rest still being covered by the dome of darkness.

    "Are you willing to speak now? Do you need any more persuasion?" Yun followed up with a kick towards Jin''s stomach to force him to spit out his thoughts.

    "FINE! I ADMIT IT! I AM ANGRY AT THE SYSTEM! I AM ANGRY AT YOU!" Jin finally broke his silence as he endured the kick from Yun''s heels. Yun finally stopped and allowed him to speak.

    "I have always been following the System''smands, and the System had been forcing me to do things which I found outrageous! I did not mind doing this kind of stuff previously but after that incident, I could not bring myself to trust the System!" Jin shouted from the bottom of his heart as he tried to stand up.

    "I still have no clue about what the end goal of the System is. How CAN I be sure whether it is helping me because it wants to help me or because it is trying to fulfil some hidden agenda! I am sick of being kept in the dark like how the others treated me when I was young! They told me to follow their orders, without questioning anything! Told me not to ask about how you died! How Dad died! Can you imagine being told as a little kid, that you would never again be able to see your parents? That even though resurrection is possible, it would not work in your case, that there was NO WAY of resurrecting them!!! Telling me to simply ept that fact and not to stick my nose in other people''s business!" Jin cried as he spoke his heart out.

    "I feel troubled. I feel irritated, worried that I cannot trust anybody! What absolute loyalty?! You guys seem to be more loyal to the System rather than me! Even though I tried my best to gain respect from all the other monsters! I built houses for them, I made the houses especially in a way so that they could feel at home. I tried to listen to their problems! I tried what I could! I am so busy ALL THE TIME! I haven''t even had the time to simply rx, y any kind of game, meet up with some friends or anything of that sort. Ever since I started this whole business! I am so tired of it!" Jin raised his sword and tried to hit Yun back, but she dodged it as if it was perfectly normal.

    It was at that moment that she held Jin and pped him in the face. She struck him so hard that he fell to the ground again. At that moment, the cinematic magic eye diverted its attention to Qiu Yue and her opponents, the three goblins.

    "The System is your inheritance from your grandfather, your great grandfather and the generations before that. The System is your prophecy to fulfil. To rebuild and continue the Royal Zodiac Panda Bloodline." Yun said as Jin was lying on the floor, stunned.

    "What do you even mean...?" Jin did not know how to reply. He was in so much pain that he was unable toprehend what he had heard when Yun told him the truth.

    "You are technically thest descendant of the Royal Zodiac Panda Bloodline. I did not wish to tell you anything previously because I was afraid you would be arrogant. That you would end up unting your powers, your title. I wanted to keep quiet until I knew that you were ready."

    "Did Grandpa Ming know about it?" Jin tried to stand up, but Yun kicked him down again.

    "Stay down! And listen with your head low! You do not deserve to know the truth! Always kicking a fuss, being so immature about things. Why can''t you see things at a wider perspective!" Yun shouted at Jin as he held onto his torso.

    "Then if I am thest descendant, why did Grandpa Ming not rebuild the Bloodline! Why did you not rebuild the bloodline?" Jin managed to ask, and Yun folded her arms.

    "Because of some idiot, who tried to be a smartass, challenging the twelve zodiacs even though he was not ready. The System subsequently punished my dad by refusing him its powers and reversed time to make sure that no one would know about it." Yun answered.

    "The System is that powerful? To even reverse time?!" Jin continued to wallow at the ground for being this distrusting against the System.

    "Yes, and I was killed before I ever had the chance to inherit the System''s powers. Eventually, the responsibility has been passed on to you," Yun exined as she paced around Jin.

    "Do you know... the identity of your killer...?" Jin swallowed his saliva before asking it.

    "Thest remaining family retainer of the Banned Emperor." Yun said without any doubts.

    "So, the System...took your soul?" Jin slowly folded his arms and legs into a grovelling position.

    "Mine and the ones from our ancestors. The former members of the Royal Panda Zodiac Sect, excluding Ming." Yun replied as she approved of Jin''s change in attitude.

    "But I have never heard of this particr Zodiac before..." Jin lowered his head as he spoke.

    "Well, it is not surprising... It could even be considered ssified information of the highest grade. It is only known by the Royal Panda Zodiac. All traces of it have been erased in coboration with the Jade Emperor." Yun sighed and shook her head before she started to walk away.

    "Complete your mission at hand, and we shall talk more in private." Yun walked away as she snapped her finger and disappeared while Jin realised that the dome of darkness was removed.

    Jin then noticed that Qiu Yue was struggling terribly against the three goblins. With the floating tform that he was on heading straight towards them. He braced himself for impact as he moved at top speed and shouted at Qiu Yue.

    "Qiu Yue! DO A HIGH JUMP!" He kept waving his hand up into the air to exaggerate his intentions.

 Chapter 242 Saving The Damsel

    <h4>Chapter 242 Saving The Damsel</h4>

    The two floating tforms united once again as they crashed into each other. The impact caused the goblins to lose their bnce and fall down, while Qiu Yue did as Jin instructed and ended up unaffected by the collision.

    The crash did not hurt Jin, though he couldn''t help but fly forward due to the momentum. He used that opportunity to initiate his Panda Rolling which allowed him to dive and evade the crushing impact, making him head straight into the group of goblins. Thankfully, he utilised less than 20% of panda rolling to move closer towards the goblins, and Qiu Yue did not manage to see his skill in action.

    The injuries he incurred by Yun''s moves were still causing Jin a fair amount of pain, but he had no time to heal them, so he gritted his teeth and tried toplete this mission as soon as possible. He was still trying to grasp all the information he just learnt. It was impossible that the System or Yun woulde out with such an explicit lie merely to bluff him.

    So if she was telling the truth, Jin had to buck up, since it would no longer be purely about being the best dungeon supplier rather it would go above that with his end goal changing to the revival of his bloodline. The System must be projecting a grand outline when he thought about it as he fought with the goblins.

    The Tiger Princess Yang Ling, the meeting at the zoo with Ku Wai. It all started to make some sense as to what the System was plotting.

    "WOAH!" Ripcaller tried to plunge his two daggers into Jin ruthlessly but Jin barely managed to evade it. "Master, I do not think this is the perfect time to think about other stuff." Ripcaller, the dagger goblin sent a voice transmission to warn him about his diverted attention.

    "I will not go easy on you the next strike." Ripcaller smiled as he stepped backwards and unravelled his short bow to set loose an arrow towards Jin''s direction.

    "Argh, the pain!" Jin wanted to dodge the second time but the pain from Yun''s punishment caused him to stagger, and it was imminent that the arrow would strike him. If he could only move his body sideways to prevent a direct hit from the arrow...Jin closed his eyes as he struggled to move his body.

    "ng!"

    The arrowhead was deflected at the nick of time, all thanks to Qiu Yue blocking it by stretching her hand out with her katana. It was a haphazard move which she did not have any confidence that it will help Jin. But Lady Luck was by her side. At closer inspection, Qiu Yue also realised that the arrow was coated with poison which made her saving grace even more vital to save Jin.

    "What happened to you?!" Qiu Yue stood in front of her damsel in distress as she saw Jin''s severe wounds while he clutched onto his stomach.

    "As you could see, I got beaten up pretty badly." Jin let out a slight smile and thanked his white knight with shining katana.

    "Well, looks like you managed to hold your ground. I thought I was a goner if you did note and interrupt the battle." Qiu Yue faced her katana towards the three goblins as they tried to nk and surround the two of them.

    "Any bright ideas?" Jin asked Qiu Yue for her opinion since she assumed that Jin was a styleless cultivator.

    "The dagger goblin is the most dangerous out of those three. The sword goblin had some fancy swordy which I think I can win if I concentrate on him. But the spear goblin was brutally disruptive. Seeing your condition, I think it would be best to surrender and retain our honour." Qiu Yue suggested.

    "Retain our honour? What are you some white knight in shining armour?" Jin could not believe she thought of herself in that way.

    "Hehe, my damsel. I would rather keep you to myself than have the goblins grab you away." Qiu Yue yed along before she helped Jin to stand up.

    "I will try my best to distract and keep the spear goblin and dagger goblin''s attention to me. Heavy DPS on the sword goblin and save me." Jin decided to y a little more aggressive despite his wounds, and Qiu Yue was rather impressed by his dauntless guts.

    "He did change a bit." Qiu Yue thought to herself before she nodded her head. "Have a good dance, mydy." Qiu Yue continued to y a fool with Jin which caused him to roll his eyes.

    Although he was known as a styleless cultivator by Qiu Yue, she knew that he had a few tricks under his sleeves. That was because Jin had once shown her that he could learn various techniques from other styles without learning the base cultivation. So he was going to take advantage of that information and used his skills as subtle as possible.

    "Hey daggers and spear boy, your opponent is me." Jin beckoned them toe towards him while Qiu Yue charged towards shreaver, the sword goblin.

    "Your death, your choosing." Piercestriker, the spear goblin said proudly as he ran towards Jin while twirling his spear from one hand to the other. Meanwhile, Ripcaller was shooting arrows as fire support to prevent Jin from moving close, allowing Piercestriker to gain momentum for his Deep Thrust skill.

    Jin held onto his katana and focused on his iing opponent. His eyes once again glowed with inverted triangles, and his focus was extremely sharp. He could feel the wind, the goblin''s muscle movement and the direction where his spear was going to strike despite the distraction twirling of his spear.

    "One hit! That is all I need!" Jin lowered his knees and steadied himself for the evade and parry with the perfectly normal parry sh that he was keeping.

    During the fight with Werecat Nyanmi, Jin began to realise that the Perfectly Normal Parry sh was not random at all. It was based on various factors, and although he could not exin it well, he felt like it was a game of precision.

    "Aim your sword at the right spot against the iing weapon strike and deal the blow against the weapon so that you can deflect at the right time, the skill will trigger." Jin tried to recall the steps he took.

    With the help of his Inverse Eyes, that was what he called it at the moment; he could somehow pinpoint the right ce and time for his sword to sh with Piercestriker''s spear strike, allowing Jin''s perfectly normal parry sh skill to trigger. True enough, the ability activated and Jin deflected the spearhead and slid his sword along the pole of the goblin''s spear and straight to his right upper chest.

    The goblin shouted in pain but struggled madly as he tried to bite Jin back. Amon tactic Jin already knew it would deploy based on various runs he watched. Hence, instead of Piercestriker''s teeth that sunk into Jin''s flesh, Jin''s wakizashi was the one the spear goblin ate, and blood was oozing nonstop.

    Jin did a proper cut through the neck when he removed the wakizashi out of the spear goblin''s mouth and pushed him away. He pointed his katana towards Ripcaller and provoked him. Jin was thankful that his pain was numbed by the rush of adrenaline he had upon using Inverse Eyes.

    "You are next." Jin breathed deeply while trying to hide his pain, though it was very obvious to Ripcaller.

    "Don''t make meugh." Ripcaller rubbed his two des together to make an irritating scratching noise before he dashed towards Jin.

 Chapter 243 The Damsel to the Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 243 The Damsel to the Rescue</h4>

    "What do you think the odds of them passing thest stage of the arena are?" Bin Yong asked Shi Zuo for his honest opinion.

    "Not sure, Boss Jin seems to have been injured badly by the previous fight. Considering that he is still barely alive means that he was fighting a boss we might have difficulty encountering." Shi Zuo deduced, and Bin Yong pondered for a moment.

    "The beatings he took was so drastic, and he should have just used his cultivation to take it down instead of continuing to hold back." Bin Yong replied, but Shi Zuo shook his head when Ripcaller took no mercy in charging head on against Jin who was battered down by his previous wounds.

    "Perhaps he did utilise his cultivation, and that was when the camera turned away. Or maybe he was earnestly testing himself out against the monsters. Perhaps, Jin does not really want his customers or other people to know his true cultivation." Shi Zuo suggested as he saw Jin struggle against Ripcaller, the dagger goblin.

    "Why would he even do that? Have we not seen that his cultivation grade was at Grade 3st month when he was fighting against the very same goblins?" Bin Yong continued to survey Jin''s desperate actions against Ripcaller as their des shed against each other.

    "Don''t you remember how Jin fought rather easily against those goblins? I figured that Boss was hiding his actual ability to showcase how strong the goblins had be." Shi Zuo responded.

    "Are you saying the AI that controls the goblins is improving day by day, battle by battle?" Bin Yong took a step back to analyse and realised what he said contained some truth. He remembered not being able to use the same tactic repeatedly against the same group of monsters.

    "Yeah, remember how we fought against Sir Bacon in the past and how we fought him in the very same random arena about a week ago? His actions were less predictable, and he managed to break our technique. We barely scraped through thest fight." Shi Zuo was praising how much potential Jin''s monster AIs had, though he did not know the fact that his monsters were all real.

    "Even so, Jin is fighting handicapped with a restriction of his abilities on top of his wounds. I think if he can win this round, it would be a pyrrhic victory." Shi Zuo said as the urge of wanting to go into the battlefield to help him was strong for some reason.

    The battle ensued for both Qiu Yue and Jin, and each of their individual contest of strength felt like it had a reached stalemate. Both sides were waiting for each other to make a mistake so that they can clinch victory over the other.

    Qiushed her katana at shreaver, the sword goblin, yet the sword goblin had kept his trump card for this particr moment. He stepped back and imitated Bu Dong''s Angry Ape style sword art which almost everyone in the auditorium recognised.

    Some could not believe the goblin was able to perform such an act but they realised they were the ones who were wrong. shreaver''s attack went through and Qiu Yue who underestimated the sword goblin paid the price of a severe sh wound at her stomach.

    "Urgh!" Qiu Yue deflected another blow before she fell to the ground with her wound overflowing with blood to the point that her innards were exposed. She was trying her best not to aggravate the wound, but shreaver''s relentless attacks did not give her any time to even drink a potion.

    However, even in this situation, she did not wish to call for Jin''s help since it might make Jin lose his focus in battle.

    "Ah...in the end, I am still the useless one in dungeons." Qiu Yue thought to herself as her hands started to feel weak, unable even to block another blow against the sword goblin.

    "It''s the end." The goblin exerted out a fair amount of chi, and an amalgamation of half goblin, half angry looking ape silhouette appeared above it.

    "Angry Gob-Ape Pronounces Its Superiority!" The goblin shouted which attracted the attention of Jin.

    "That little bastard! How dare he use that skill!" Jin realised what was going on and gritted his teeth as he executed a panda rolling without care of being stabbed in the back by Ripcaller to save Qiu Yue.

    He tolerated the pain and knew full well that the dagger was poisoned but this was not the time to overthink. He had to save Qiu Yue or else his mission would fail, and Yun might not reveal to him the entire truth.

    shreaver noticed that Boss Jin wasing and decided to aim his attack at him instead of the dying Red Panda cultivator. Jin, on the other hand, tried to utilise the Inverse Eyes ability once more, but to his dismay, it was not activating so he jumped out from his Panda Rolling and held his sword backwards.

    Jin pounced forward and utilised Lazy Panda Swipe without thinking too much to deflect the blow against shreaver copied sword art.

    As Jin shed swords with the goblins, the Pandas silhouettes came out, but it was too brief that the customers were unable to count how many pandas were in the skies. One thing was for sure. There was a sufficient amount in the sky to let the customers be in awe even for just a moment.

    The Lazy Panda Swipe sted shreaver out of the floating tform, and Ripcaller tried to save his friend. However, he too had underestimated the power of Jin''s Lazy Panda Swipe at maximum power, and he was being pushed out of the floating tform too, causing a very lucky win for Jin.

    Qiu Yue was fainting out from the excessive loss of blood, and she did not manage to see the battle that was happening right in front of her. Jin quickly ran towards her and aided her up. "You are stronger than I expected you to beбнWhat have you been hiding Jin?" Qiu Yue was gasping for air as she held onto her wounded stomach. Her clothes were entirely stained with blood, and her consciousness was beginning to fade away.

    "Shh..drink this potion. Sip it. Swallow it. Do not stop drinking." Jin said his instructions in steps because he knew being hasty would not help the current situation. Although he knew that this was just a dungeon, he simply did not want her to fade away at that moment. There was still a lingering attachment of wanting to save her no matter what.

    Qiu Yue followed Jin''s instructions and tried her best to sip it. The bleeding stopped momentarily, and Jin proceeded to give her a stronger chi potion topensate for the loss of health and chi.

    "Why did you want to save meбн? Isn''t this just a dungeon?" Qiu Yue managed to stabilise when the potion''s effect kicked in after a few minutes.

    "I cannot bear to see you die. Be it in a dungeon or in real life." Jin scratched his head innocently. It was at that time the magic eye closed up in the random arena, and the System had already reced Auditorium Six''s screen with another dungeon run.

    "To have the damsel rescue the shining white knight. How embarrassing this is for such a turn in events." Qiu Yue said as she had the strength to ce her hands on her face to hide her blush from Jin. "This nostalgic warmth of his arms. I really did miss this." Qiu Yue thought to herself maybe she could just rx in his embrace for a moment.

    In the meantime, the customers who were watching in the auditorium were discussing what they had exactly seen in the random arena instance. "I think I saw at least four pandas." A customer said as he confidently raised four fingers.

    "I will say six." Bin Yong gave his own opinion though others began to disagree. Some even tried to look into the Pandaflix for the yback, but to their surprise, it was not in any of the streams at all.

    "Sorry guys! The video would not be up unless Boss Jin allowed it. Till then, we will be heading to Auditorium Four to check out the PvE Card Battle that is happening as we speak!" Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One quickly squeezed through a small vent that connects every auditorium, so that they do not have to fight against the crowd to get out of the hall.

 Chapter 244 Quality Time

    <h4>Chapter 244 Quality Time</h4>

    Jin took the treasure with him as he helped Qiu Yue up before the random arena battle instance teleported them back to the shop instance. It was at this moment, people started to crowd around Jin with no respect of proximity, which baffled poor Jin.

    "Boss! Boss! What is your true cultivation!?!"

    "Boss! How did you manage to attain such a high foundation base without revealing your cultivation?!"

    "Boss! That guy with the puppet plushie on his head. Who is that? Is it a new monster for a future dungeon you have yet to reveal?!"

    Many questions surfaced, and Jin finally connected the dots to the System''s mission message. "Others were watching. I get it now..." Jin thought to himself. Separately, Qiu Yue was astounded by the crowd and did not know how to react as the customers started to crowd around Jin and her.

    "Wait...What?! Jin is the Boss of this particr dungeon supplier store?" Qiu Yue asked tantly, yet no one answered her directly and instead everyone was focusing all their attention on Jin.

    "Guys, guys break it up! Let''s give the Boss a bit of a rest. You all saw how tough this instance has been for both of them." Yun shouted in her eye catching redtex suit, as she stood on the bar counter and pped her hands to shift the mob''s attention to her.

    "Come on! Boss at least tell us about your cultivation. Just answer this question." A customer pleaded him.

    "Okay. Just one question and I will leave. My cultivation is Panda." Jin roared and grabbed Qiu Yue, who was still perplexed at what was happening to the other part of the shop instance and together they fled the area.

    "Damn it, why did you ask such a silly question!" Another customer criticised the previous customer for asking such a stupid question before the crowd slowly started to disperse.

    "I wanted to ask about his cultivation grade...I guess I was too nervous." The customer frowned, but his friend cheered him up by buying him a Panda Soda.

    Jin and Qiu Yue were back at the store with the registration machines, and he asked Qiu Yue to follow him to the third floor where it was pleasant and tranquil. Even Qiu Yue was dumbfounded by the look of the Zen Gallery. She was then offered a can of Bamboo Juice by Jin to drink.

    He sat beside her and began to ponder how to untangle this whole mess which either Yun or the System made. He could foresee being bombarded with more questions by the customers the next chance they would get, but at the very least it did help him to add some credibility to his subsequent exnation.

    "Erm, yes. As you might have probably figured out, the boss of this dungeon supplier store would be me. I am currently a dungeon supplier." Jin took out his wallet and showed Qiu Yue his certification, which she held onto with her hands trembling.

    "I cannot believe it... You are really doing what you have been aiming for." Qiu Yue spoke to herself and looked Jin in the eyes. "You are walking the dream that you have wanted to walk, without being held down by the chains of society." Qiu Yue''s voice quivered, and tears started to flow down her cheeks.

    "Wait, wait, why are you crying!" Jin panicked a little as he tried to nce around if anyone was looking at them. He started to scavenge through his storage watch to see if he had any tissues or towels that he could lend Qiu Yue, but his clumsiness made Qiu Yueugh a bit.

    "Oh my gosh, you are still the same." Qiu Yue had already taken a piece of tissue out from her own storage ring and wiped the tears away.

    "I have never wanted to lie to you or anything. I just wanted to show you the work I have put in for this dungeon supplier store. I''d also like to know your thoughts on it without any bias." Jin replied.

    "How did you even create all of this? I mean, you should not possibly have a dungeon supplier certificate unless you went through a five year course in Dungeon Catching..." Qiu Yue could not put the pieces together.

    "Ehh...I..." Jin did not know whether this was the right time to confess about the System andplete the main objective of the mission.

    "No, I am sorry. I didn''t mean to degrade you or anything! Don''t be mistaken. I am very happy for you. I just... no... I mean, congrattions!" Qiu Yue was somewhat hesitant with her words, and she started to have some feelings of regret for not sticking through with Jin.

    "I have something to tell you. And only you. Do you mind staying with me, until I close the shop? I will tell you the whole story at that time." Jin went close to her ears and pretended to whisper, but he was sending her a close range voice transmission because he did not wish for anybody to eavesdrop. Unlike the standard voice transmission, close range voice transmissions could not be captured, decrypted or leaked by any other means.

    Seeing how Jin was using close range voice transmission, Qiu Yue believed he had a pretty important secret that he was not able to tell just anybody. She nodded her head and forced a smile at Jin.

    "Alright, if that''s the case, do you mind me apanying you around the store? I can show you where you could get your very own pet!" Jin told Qiu Yue, which instantly resulted in her mood perking up.

    "Come follow me!" Jin beckoned Qiu Yue as he exined the ndmarks'' of his store, starting with the Zen gallery andter to the second floor. "Let me buy you one of these first," Jin said to Qiu Yue when he introduced her to the Loot Box machine and got her a few packs of cosmetic items.

    "You sure? I can pay for it too you know. After all, you are running a business here." Qiu Yue remembered that Jin had already paid the tickets for the random arena battle dungeon instance and also the Vani Milkshake at Lele Cafe. "Oh, now it also makes sense how Jin knows the boss of Lele cafиж." A random thought came to her mind.

    "It''s okay, treat it as my apology for hiding the truth from you," Jin argued, and Qiu Yue shook her head.

    "Actually, when I think about it, even if you had told me the truth, I would not have believed you. If not for the things that I saw myself and heard how everyone called you Boss, I doubt I would have thought of you being the Boss. Although now thinking back on it you do match the description from my friend..." Qiu Yue deduced as she thought back how things fell into ce so conveniently. "Still... Thank you, Jin."

    Afterwards, both of them returned to the shop instance, and Jin brought her to the Pet Battle Card Vending Machine where Jin assisted her in getting her very own Digital Pet. For this, Jin told Qiu Yue, that she had to pay for it herself because the pet was hers to own and the machine needed her information from the Pandamonium app as verification. Hence, the payment was also linked to her Pandamonium ount.

    "Oh my! This is a Red Panda!!!" Qiu Yue could not believe her eyes as she held onto the newly born pet that appeared right in front of her. The feeling of the Red Panda was so real that she could not help but hug it real tight until the Red Panda squeaked a little. Qiu Yue released her grip to take another look but this time around, the red panda slipped through her hands and ran up her arms to her shoulders. Itter wrapped itself around her, and Qiu Yue took the chance to rub her face against its face.

    "Jin, this invention of yours, is like the best thing ever! I can own a Red Panda now!" Qiu Yue then asked Jin to take a few pictures of her and the Red Panda together. They also unveiled the several packs of cosmetic items together and passed the time until the shop officially closed.

    "Qiu Yue. Come with me." Jin asked her when he confirmed everyone had left the shop including Zhen Qing. Jin had decided toplete the mission as stated by the System and get the full story from his mother once he was done.

 Chapter 245 Second in Command

    <h4>Chapter 245 Second in Command</h4>

    "What is this ce?" Qiu Yue asked as she saw a white room with just a table at the centre of it all. Was this another dungeon instance or some sort of istion room which Jin wanted to speak to her about?

    "I do have something to tell you and it''s about this dungeon supplier store that I am working at." Jin snapped his fingers, and two chairs appeared right in front of them.

    "What? How did you do that?!" Qiu Yue was astonished by the sudden appearance of the two chairs, but Jin continued with his exnation as if nothing out of the ordinary happened and gestured her to have a seat first.

    "You know me. You know the norms, the practices on how to be a Dungeon Supplier since you searched for information on it for me back then. So I am not going to lie to you." Jin said with a serious look on his face. Qiu Yue was a little scared when Jin became earnest. Did he go through some underhanded means to get the ownership of this store? Or worse, did he kill someone to be this store''s owner? No, that cannot be, she has never even heard of a dungeon supplier store in Tiangong Shopping District until recently.

    "Please do not ask how I got it, but I happened to attain a special...entity, that helped me with the creation of the store." Jin tried to exin what has happened to him but Qiu Yue still looked clueless.

    "You know how the main characters in those light fantasy novels have special powers?" Jin tried another angle of approach, and Qiu Yue nodded her head.

    "My situation is somewhat simr to that. Somehow, I''ve attained a system to help me." Jin backed his words with another snap of his fingers, causing the previous group of goblins, that they fought against, to appear right in front of them. Qiu Yue did not know what to say upon seeing the goblins kneeling right in front of him.

    "Wait...Wait a minute. Are you saying, you attained some special powers, and you used it to create a shop?" Qiu Yue was dumbfounded for a moment before she asked Jin.

    "Well, sort of. It is less me bing all powerful, but more like if I had a genie of some sort, that could grant wishes. Although there are also limitations to that. Try to imagine it as something simr to your previous battle, with Moloch. Though I doubt I can ask for anything I want for free, unlike the powers ofmand you wield in battle. It is sort of a ''give and take'' situation with the system for whatever I want to do. Remember those blueprints I asked you for? It was actually for one of the dungeon instances I would like to create." Jin exined but he tried to keep it simple for now. Telling her there is a whole different world besides theirs would just freak her out even more.

    "Well, that is how it would seem to my customers. But in actual fact, I am creating more than just a dungeon instance. I am creating an entire city from scratch. A living, breathing city. That is why I need your help, now more than ever." Jin stood up and bowed as he asked Qiu Yue directly. He knew that beating around the bush would not help when dealing with her and she would definitely have more questions to ask. It would be best to strike now in a conversation.

    "I... I..." Qiu Yue was extremely confused. Her ex-boyfriend, who just admitted to having one of those "systems" you only read about, now asked for her help in creating an entire city? How could she even do that? What about supplies? Is it not just an illusory instance? If it is an illusory instance, why would he need it to be this realistic?

    "I need some time to think about it, and I have a lot of questions running through my mind." Qiu Yue replied, but Jin nodded his head and told her not to worry.

    "Firstly, why me?" Qiu Yue asked.

    "Because you know me the best. You know my goals of being a dungeon supplier. In return, I will give you a decent wage and a Red Panda cultivation courtesy of the aforementioned System. This should also prove to you that the System exists, and I am not crazy. Unless you think I somehow managed to find a perfect Red Panda Cultivation Manual. Besides, weren''t you the one, who once said that if I ever be a dungeon supplier, you would be my second-in-charge?" Jin answered with a blush on his face.

    "But, but, but! Erm, I meant purely business, if you reject or have any doubts about it, I do not mind you not taking up the job. However, it will cause me some problems if you refuse my offer." Jin hastily added before continuing bluntly.

    "What do you mean?" Qiu Yue tilted her head a bit and folded her arms as she questioned him.

    "You are currently the only real person that knows about my situation." Jin answered with his head down.

    "So what? Are you going to eliminate me? Are you going to brainwash me if I refuse?" Qiu Yue asked with a strict tone.

    "Technically, it would not be me but the System. But to answer your question, yes, it would most likely want to erase your memories of this whole conversation, unless I manage to recruit you. But I vow that I am not going to let it do that and will take full responsibility for any consequences in introducing this System to you. I have asked you out of my own volition, and you have the right to refuse and walk away from this without any consequences." Jin now looked straight at her eyes as he spoke.

    "I see," Qiu Yue replied with a nod. She has known Jin long enough time to be able to differentiate if Jin was telling the truth or not. It came as a shock to her, but Qiu Yue started to make some sense of things. For example, the uniqueness of the dungeon aspared to those by the previous suppliers that she had participated before, and the fantastic store that Jin currently had.

    "Then second question: How much are you willing to pay me if I choose to work here? I mean, you are headhunting me so I would like a higher sry than my current job." Qiu Yue decided to tease Jin a bit.

    "100,000 Yuan per month. (Close to 15,000 USD!) Allowance and lodging shall be given if needed. Overtime given too." Jin gave a high offer immediately even though he was still earning peanuts from the System. Besides, the System wanted her to help him, might as well take this opportunity to take advantage of the System''s vague mission objectives.

    Qiu Yue had her eyes wide open as she was shocked by the sry offered by Jin. She was earning roughly 24,000 Yuan (approximately 3,500USD) including overtime, and she thought that with a new shop like Jin''s, she would probably be offered lower. Qiu Yue intended to bargain a little before shrugging it off as a sort of big favour given to Jin but never in her life would she have thought she would be earning this much.

    "Don''t believe me?" Jin snapped his fingers, and a suitcase appeared right in front of her. Heter opened the suitcase and showed the wads of cash in his possession. At a closer inspection, Qiu Yue noticed the notes were in hundreds, and she even looked within the stack of cash to check whether or not the notes were all the same. Not a prank where the first note was in US dors and the rest of the stack of notes were of a different denomination. "If you ept this job offer now, I will present to you this suitcase as a bonus."

    "I..." Qiu Yue had no idea on how to reply to Jin''s offer. It looked as if he was desperate but at the same time, she knew that he was genuine about the proposal.

    "But you do not even know my talents other than some discussion through chat. Why are you so certain about hiring me?" Qiu Yue presented a logical question towards Jin, but heughed it off.

    "Are you kidding me? A quick search online and I could find multiple publications by you and your team in those reputable journals. There is no way I am making a mistake in getting you into my store. Besides, I still remember how you loved to analyse dungeons and theposition of dungeon monsters back when we were still dating. You are a damn good pick for my store." Jin said with such passion about his confidence in her that it somewhat moved Qiu Yue.

    "Alright, for you, Jin. I will do it. I will ept your job offer, and shall be your second-inmand." Qiu Yue nodded her head, and she could see Jin getting excited.

    "But, you have to give me some time to quit my job as well as doing my responsibility to handle the project I am working to other people." Qiu Yue said.

    "No problem, but it will be best if you-" Jin remembered that his Dungeon City Fortress had a deadline of three months before the Dungeon Core''s shields came down.

    "No worries, I wille and help you for theing weekend. Besides, I need to ''get'' some information from my workce to help to build your ''city''. But you have to fill me in with the details! " Qiu Yue winked at Jin as he offered to call a cab for her.

 Chapter 246 A Proper Conversation - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 246 A Proper Conversation - Part 1</h4>

    "Now, we can have a proper talk. But first... You have sessfullypleted your mission." Yun congratted as she drank her ck Ivory Coffee at the bar ind counter when Jin returned to the Shop Level One instance after hailing a cab for Qiu Yue. Yun also ced a cup of ck Ivory Coffee in front of Jin as he sat beside her.

    "You must have many questions in your mind. Speak freely." Yun told him, but it was easier said than done for Jin. There were so many questions on his mind that he did not even know what to ask first. While he was spending his time with Qiu Yue, he was also trying to sort through the questions, and his mind was ever wandering. If Qiu Yue''s focus had not been on the new Red Panda Pet that she was holding, she would have noticed how very distracted Jin was.

    "Iбн want to know more about this revival of bloodline issue. And why did you want me to be a dungeon supplier? Did you lie to me when you said that I needed to be the number one dungeon supplier? Was it only a means to an end?" Jin drank his coffee as he gathered the courage to ask this burning question on his mind.

    "I believe Zeru has told you about the Twelve Zodiacs'' fight against the Banned Emperor?" Yun questioned him, and Jin nodded his head.

    "He did not give you the full story." Yun took another sip of coffee before she swung her barstool to face Jin.

    "From the wisdom of our forefathers that coexisted with the System, this story may seem like an exaggeration from our part, but it is nheless the truth. The Twelve Zodiacs were nothingpared to our Panda n when they were plotting against the Banned Emperor." Yun started her story, and Jin listened to it intently.

    "The Panda n that aided the rebellion owned stores, simr to what you were doing right now. We were the ones that provided sanctuary for the twelve other cultivators along with their nmates to meet with the Jade Prince. We were the ones who provided them with training, weapons, armour and intelligence on the Banned Emperor''s movement. After all, the Panda n operated bars, weaponsmiths, restaurants and had ess to many other establishments. We have been a conglomerate, that secretly raised funds against the Banned Emperor''s ruling." Yun exined.

    "During the battle against the Banned Emperor, we supported them with resources such as potions, restrictive barriers and food for the twelve cultivators to fight against the Banned Emperor for twelve days and nights. That was not allбн Remember how the Jade Prince did not arrive until the twelfth night? When the Banned Emperor was upied with the Zodiac cultivators, the Jade Prince, along with his subjects, raided the pce and performed the coup d''ижtat. Of course, we were the ones who coordinated the entire operation and supplied the manpower with the necessary items."

    "Eventually, when the rebellion ended, the Jade Prince was crowned as Emperor and rewarded the twelve cultivators and their ns by appointing them as the Royal Zodiacs." That was when Yun paused for a moment.

    "But not us." Yun shook her head.

    "He knew that he owed the greatest debt to the Panda n. In fact, without the Panda Conglomerate, the rebellion he nned for would have never seen the light of day, nore to fruition, having been crushed in its infancy. He was grateful, but at the same time wary. Concerned that if they were capable of bringing down the Banned Emperor, they could also usurp the newly crowned Jade Emperor."

    "The Jade Emperor had other nsбн He summoned all of the Panda n Elders to convene for a secret meeting in the royal pce after the coronation. He asked them toe alone, without their other n members, with the excuse of that meeting being too important to be leaked."

    "Before continuing, have you heard the legend, that whenever an Emperor was crowned, they would have a wish that could be granted by the heavens and hell?" Yun asked as she took a breather by drinking another sip of coffee. "Yes, it has been passed down inter generations, considered folklore along with the Jade Emperor and the Zodiacsбн" Jin replied.

    "As you can imagine, it is more than just a legend. The Jade Emperor shared his honest thoughts with the Panda n Elders. He expressed his gratitude to them for helping him throughout the entire course of rebellion." Yun interrupted and continued her exnation.

    "Of course, the Panda n Elders lowered their heads and said that they would serve the Emperor that kind of bullshit swearing-in ceremony stuff. But the Jade Emperor was still not at ease, so he decided to use the one wish the Heavens granted him on the Panda n."

    "He dered that by the heaven''s decree the Panda n would be granted the title Zeroth of the Royal Zodiacs, meaning that it woulde first before the Twelve Zodiacs. The Panda n was no doubt delighted and honoured when they heard that they earned such a favour from the Jade Emperor. They believed that the reason they were not invited to the coronation ceremony was that the Jade Emperor wished to employ their services in secret, something simr to shadow agents."

    "But at that moment when the Jade Emperor announced the title, he had one condition. He would only allow one Panda Family in the n to survive. He reasoned that the rest would be ''absorbed'' and be the ''Will of the Heavens'' to subsequently aid the one and only Panda n Elder."

    "The Panda n Elders were in a dilemma, and some had the suspicion that the Jade Emperor just needed an excuse to remove them entirely. No one knew what this ''Will of Heavens'' was and they requested that they needed some time to discuss in private. The Jade Emperor allowed it and left them to their own devices."

    "However, he was already executing his n as he walked out of the room," Yun said with a little bitterness.

    "All of the Panda Elders in that room were forcibly removed through the Jade Emperor''s wish. The twelve Royal Zodiacs ns proceeded to kill the remaining prominent panda n members andbelled them as part of the retainer families of the Banned Emperor."

    "What the Jade Emperor did not know was that the Panda n Elders were shrewd enough to keep an Elder out of his sight at all times, even before the rebellion started. They figured that the Jade Emperor might turn out to be a threat to them when he requested for that secret meeting and needed to keep a high potential elder out of the loop to protect their n roots and revive it if needed. As history has shown, their foresight was proved correct."

    "So unknown to the Jade Emperor, the wish that he had made solely to kill off the entire Panda n came true. Either because of his wish, or maybe as apromise to appease the Panda n Elders. Whatever the case, the so called ''Will of the Heavens'' became the System, and thest remaining Panda n Elder inherited it." Yun stopped for a moment to drink her coffee.

    "Utilising the knowledge of the Panda n, the System became a business oriented entity that empowered the subsequent generations of the remaining Panda n members. However, only one single member was able to wield such powers. Even within the remaining Panda n Elder''s family, there was internal strife once they found out the true powers of the System and everyone fought against their n members and siblings, to be the sessor. It was only in recent generations that it became more of an inheritance thing."

    "Wait, so doesn''t that mean that there are other Panda n members out there?" Jin questioned.

    "Yes but you alone are a direct descendant. Additionally, your bloodline is the purest of them all. The Panda Bloodline that flows in the others is thin, resulting in them holding different cultivations, a different surname, being from a different family. Yet, the System refuses to tell me who they are and if there are others who inherited the System." Yun replied.

    "Wait, did you not say that I am the only one that inherited it?" Jin was slightly confused.

    "Well, that is only half true. You have inherited the Main System. There are other Sub-Systems out there, meaning other Panda n remnants, who were considered worthy by the System have been granted minor System abilities to aid them in their journey to revive the Panda n bloodline." Yun rified.

    "Soбн" Jin realised something.

    "Yes, if the System determines that you are ultimately not worthy of its time and resources, it might migrate out of you and proceed to other inheritors if necessary. I don''t wish to unsettle you, but in the long history of the Panda n remnants it would not be the first time that was to happen." Yun said bluntly.

 Chapter 247 A Proper Conversation - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 247 A Proper Conversation - Part 2</h4>

    "I am not the only oneбн" Jin did not know how to react. He has been given a chance to prove himself again and again, but he defied the System at every turn ever since the incident. Looking back at it, a cold shiver ran down Jin''s spine at the realisation, that he could have lost everything, at any moment. Yun was considerate enough to give Jin some time to reflect before continuing her exnation.

    "What happened to Grandpa Ming? You said that there were other Panda n remnants around. Why did Grandpa Ming still have ess to the inheritance of the System even though the System denied him? Should it not have transferred over to someone else?"

    "Simple answer. There were no worthy ones to be transferred over during his generation. All were equally useless. Even Zeru''s Master was a failure in the end. It seemed that his work would go down the drain." Yun answered.

    "Wait, what do you mean? Zeru''s Master Tou Ma was a Panda n Remnant?" Jin was shocked at the discovery of the new fact. Did Zeru know all along that Jin was a Panda n Descendent? Was that the real reason why Zeru called him Master and not the System''s enforced blind loyalty to Jin?"

    "Yes, but Tou Ma did some senseless stuff when he realised he was able to utilise the powers of the Sub System in his hands. He nearly caused an economic crash in the shadows before the Royal Zodiac Snake n managed to find Tou Ma and stopped him from doing so." Yun described.

    "Initially, he did it for the good of the people, but after Zeru''s retirement, Tou Ma''s ethics and morals went spiralling down. Eventually, the System withdrew its Sub System from Tou Ma before the Royal Zodiac Snake n interrogated him. Confidential reports that were secretly obtained at ater time by other Panda n Remnants have shown that the Royal Zodiac Snake n could not get any information from him even after continuous torture. However, it was also reported that Tou Ma was silently removed and it was announced to the public that he had died due to cardiac arrest. Most people still don''t know the real truth, which is why he was still hailed as a public hero." Yun exined and Jin could not believe what he heard.

    "All this maniption of seemingly public informationбн" Jin knew that these kind of practices were amon thing in the country politics but hearing it first-hand made him realise how lucky he was, protected in his own bubble offort.

    "The way the inheritance of the Main System has usually been handled, was for someone close to you, most often your rtives or guardians, to be summoned as your mentor. However, in your situation, this was not possible. Ming himself has been emunicated, and I have been killed before I got the chance to learn about these things. My soul was damaged so badly that I do not even remember your existence or even giving birth to you. The System recreated me after that incident. To me, your existence has been as if I was introduced to a previously unknown rtive. As if one day I was simply told, that the person in front of me has blood rtions with me and that I should treat him like family. Hence, I am not too sorry for mistreating you. Because I really do not see you as my kid even if I have tried to act that way. You were not wrong to call me ''a figment, a property of the System''. In the end, I am just a facilitator to oversee you." Yun finally admitted it in all honesty, the cruel truth.

    "But I do not deny that I do feel that guiding you have awoken my maternal instincts at times. It''s just thatбнI simply do not know how to help you since I did not go through any of this System thing. Everything was bombarded onto me, and even I am just learning the ropes." Yun used this chance to stand up and stepped aside from the bar stool.

    "I am sorry, let us restart this rtionship between you, me and the System. I shall not pretend to be your mother. Please treat me as your elder sister of some sort. If you feel ufortable, maybe senior will be fine." Yun sincerely bowed right in front of Jin.

    Jin looked at Yun who was still bowing and waiting for Jin''s response. He stood up and bowed down too. "I am sorry for making so much trouble, Yun. I will reflect on my attitude and will earnestly try to work with the System from now on." Jin promised with his head down.

    Yun quietly stood upright and looked at Jin before she opened her mouth. "I erm.. I am sorry that I did not inform you about this earlier too. The System was too wary after Ming''s failure, and I was instructed not to say anything until now." Yun sat down again and drank her remaining coffee.

    "What exactly did Ming do?" Jin asked, but Yun shook her head.

    "I am not permitted to go into the details. You might learn about that in the future when the System trusts you more." Yun replied as she went into the bar ind and refilled her coffee. She also took out a box of cheesecake and opened it to share with Jin. That was when Jin remembered about Qiu Yue when he saw the picture of a Red Panda ying in the snow printed on the cheesecake box.

    "Why did you want me to recruit Qiu Yue? Did the System know about her? Or was it merely because she had the cultivation of the Red Panda?" Jin thanked Yun for the cheesecake and used a fork to cut the edge of the cheesecake to eat.

    "To put it bluntly, you cannot hide anything from the System. She is a talented woman who has the potential capability to help out in the Dungeon City Fortress. The System thinks that if it cannot reign or revive the Panda Bloodline in this country, or perhaps this world, the Dungeon City Fortress can be used as a backup n. It is considering to bestow her a Sub-System to help you out. Therefore, she will be a Betor at your service." Yun munched on the cheesecake as she exined to Jin.

    "Speaking of that, what exactly is a Tier 2 Betor Networkбн?" Jin asked when she mentioned Betor.

    "The ability for you to govern- *cough* I mean manage people bestowed with Sub Systems. We still call them ''betor'' because they are considered warriors fighting for you, only on another front aside from the battlefield. Also, that chef you brought in? Zhen Qing. The System has also been highly considering to bestow upon her a Sub System rted to cooking."

    "Why her?" Jin was curious. He initially wanted to help her because of her excellent food and some personal interest in her before Qiu Yue came back into his life.

    "Her emotional cooking. The System tried hard to replicate that, but it was unable to do so. True, her cooking could not match with the System''s knowledge of food, but as amoner, she was still able to portray the emotion in her cooking. The System has a Sub System that could help her further that ability into something more effective." Yun was now talking properly with Jin, cooperating with him and discussing how they could work things out together. Perhaps, the concept of being an emotionless overseer limited to survey Jin''s progress did not suit her after all.

    "That is why I need you to take the initiative to push her more. I believe she is at the edge of creating something good, but it seems that she has encountered something like a chef''s block? If there is such a term. In any case, the System and I shall issue another mission to you." Yun prodded Jin to look into his phone.

    "Get Zhen Qing to create the first main dish for the Dungeons and Panda''s restaurant. Reward: ''Perfectible Penguin Ruling the Kitchen Hell'' Cultivation Style." The System notified Jin via his phone once more, and Jin nodded his head at Yun.

    "Penguin? Not Panda?" Jin was surprised, although Zhen Qing did say that she wanted a penguin cultivation, but for a System that based itself on a Panda Bloodline to hand out manuals for other cultivation styles, he did not understand the rationale.

    "Yes, Penguin. Remember how I said the Panda n was a conglomerate of stores and businesses? That was because people with various cultivations came together, united by amon cause and decided to serve the Panda n instead. Their influence was one of thergest and if not for the Jade Emperor''s rise in power and quick subduing of the Panda n''s higher echelons, we might have been the ones to control the economy of this country." Yun replied.

    "Therefore, the System had umted sufficient knowledge to create top notch cultivation manuals suitable for anybody. Not only that, the System rewards sub Systems based on meritocracy and as a potential candidate to carry out ''the will of the heavens'' if the direct descendent fails. All in all, they do not care about short term goals. If the System needs to wait for 100 years or even 1000 years for a person suited for the revival of the Panda n should their direct descendent fails, then so be it."

    "But right now, you are still around, and the Dantian Core Resurrection made the job easier for the System to resurrect if necessary. Well, unless you are killed by the Banned Emperor retainers like what had happened to me, that will be entirely a different issue. I will exin to you more once you get to increase your cultivation. And I really need you to get stronger. Do not ck off in your training or cultivation. For the moment, do not think much and not anger the System unnecessarily." Yun took a breather from exining and finished thest piece of the cheesecake. It looked like Yun did not want to talk about her death yet and Jin also needed time to reflect on what was said that night.

    "Looks like I really need to n my schedule properly. Many things are piling up." Jin noted the mission in his notes and promised himself to try andplete as soon as possible, as he brought the cups and te into the dishwasher before he locked the shop for the day.

    "But firstбнI need to cultivate." Jin decided not to think about it at this moment as he entered the Hot Spring Instance for his medical herbal bath. "Oh yeah, I also need to remember to recreate this hot spring instance for my cultivation purpose."

 Chapter 248 A Heart-to-Heart Talk - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 248 A Heart-to-Heart Talk - Part 1</h4>

    Jinid in the hot spring pool, but this time round, he was sitting right beside the maple tree. Unlikest time, he had learned his lesson and no longer merelyy at the edge of the pool for the penguins to pull him up. Right now, he had purposely brought some carabiners, long pieces of climbing rope and a climbing harness which he bought in one of the stores in Tiangong Shopping District as he strapped himself up before sitting down in the pool.

    "Master, it might not be as effective if you are not totally naked." Mr Patsu reminded him loudly, but it also understood Jin''s intention when he brought the harness and carabiners.

    "I understand, but you know safety first, right? What is the use of effectiveness if I drown in my sludge? I promise to redesign the hot spring instance in the future." Jin thanked Mr Patsu for his concerns as he aided the Penguins to set up the ropes with the aid of the maple tree.

    "Is it just me or is the maple tree getting bigger each time I enter?" Jin thought to himself before ignoring the tree and sitting in the water with his cultivation pose, and he eventually reached the state of tranquillity.

    The imagery in his mind changed to the same scene of bamboo trees, but it was slightly different than usual. There was now a wooden cabin in the middle of the bamboo forest. Jin figured Ming would be there and walked towards it.

    "Gramps! You there?!" Jin shouted, but there was no response. Instead, he felt a weird tingling sensation as the bamboo leaves fluttered when there was no wind in the area.

    *CLANG*

    "Good, your senses improvedбнHmm?! Did you unlock a particr Eye technique?" Ming came out from his hiding area as he shed swords with Jin, who had activated the Inverse Eyes technique to have a clearer picture of his surroundings. Jin was thankful it worked when he needed it.

    "Not sure what to call it when it appeared. I just call it the Inverse Eye technique now. Is there a proper name to it?" Jin loosened his sword arm, but surprisingly Ming did not allow him to let his guard down.

    "Did I tell you to stop defending?" Ming questioned him loudly as he struck forward with his sword.

    "I promised that I would train you and you need to get stronger fast. It seems that you have already been given the truth from the System so I shall not hold back either." Ming was so furiously attacking Jin that his Inverse Eyes could not keep up.

    "Your defence technique is admirable, but your attack is sorelycking. You have been relying on Zeru''s Perfectly Normal Parry sh too much. As you can see, I too can parry." Ming said as he counter parried Jin''s Perfectly Normal Parry sh with Jin having no chance of defending himself as he received the attack.

    Oddly enough, there was no blood oozing out, but the pain from the sh could be felt. Even with the Inverse Eyes, he could not see any openings in Ming''s attacks. It was as if Ming knew every weak spot of his. That was when he noticed that Ming was using Inverse Eyes as well. That realisation, however, gave Ming the perfect opportunity to take advantage of Jin''s pause and he plunged his sword into Jin''s stomach.

    "Distraction! How can you afford to be distracted during a battle!" Ming took out the sword from Jin''s body, who fell over and was lying in pain once again.

    "Your ws. Easily distracted. Poor defence. Poor attack. You rely too much on abilities. Your strength? None. How are you going to live up and protect the name of the Panda n?" Ming shouted as he folded his arms and listed all of Jin''s bad points.

    "Iбн" Jin was in too much pain that he could not reply Ming.

    "Well, at least your naming sense is better than mine I guess." Ming scratched his beard as he extended his hand to help Jin up.

    "Naming sense?" Jin ced his shoulders around Ming and was assisted into the wooden cabin.

    "I called this eye technique Triangle EyesбнHahaha! But Inverse Eyes sounds so much better." Ming helped Jin onto a chair and threw him a wet towel near the sink.

    "In any case, instead of training, I think you want to know more about my banishment from the System right? Since my dear daughter and that big lofty System will not spell it out." Ming smiled as he poured a cup of drink which eluded a particr scent of aroma and passed it to Jin.

    "You have to earn it from me. Learn the Panda Spiritual Union skills while increasing your cultivation grade. I believe Zeru did say that increasing your cultivation grade will unlock the so-called chains on the Spiritual Union skills." Ming said as he sipped his drink.

    "I am assuming that you are hearing and seeing what I am doing?" Jin ced his hands on his face as he learnt that all his family members including the long dead ones were all serial stalkers. Perhaps that was how they could have garnered intelligence against the Banned Emperor too. It was a terrifying thought to be born in a family of stalkers.

    "Hahaha! No no no. I will not know anything until you arrive here. The moment youбнerm, check into this ce. I have ess to your memories, which reminds meбн I have been meaning to ask a crucial questionбн" Ming leaned forward.

    "That chef girl is a hottie, and so is that Red Panda though I feel she is more of a cutie instead. Which would you go for? Or are you waiting for the opportunity to strike both? I mean knocking up both girls means that you increase your probability of keeping the Panda n alive too." Ming''s eyebrows perked up, and Jinughed bitterly.

    "At this rate, I think I will go for abstinenceбн" Jin said with a dead tone.

    "Still, concerning looks, you have not found the one that suits your taste yet." Ming ced his hands on his chin and voiced a slight thought.

    "Oh, yea... I forgotбн you said that my taste for girls was simr to yours in your letter before you passed away." Jin did not know how to advance this particr conversation. Jin felt that he would rather be in pain than to continue this part of the discussion.

    "Haha anyways, I was just teasing you. I am not like the System. If I essed each and every memory of yours, I would go nuts trying to process it. Remember that I was in the military? I am able to extract specific information, the ones that I need to know to improve your training. Besides, the information ermбнkind of presents itself the moment you enter this ce. You are dying to improve, dying to know something. This made such specific information extraction rtively easy although it is still tiring to keep on extracting it from your subconscious."

    "That is why that will also be one point of your agenda when youe to this ceбнHmm, we should name this ce too." Ming leaned back as he rocked his chair and thought about what he should name this ce where Ming and Jin met.

    "Agenda? This ce?" Jin was confused.

    "Guarding your subconscious. In the event you are taken or kidnapped, you need to train your subconscious to protect yourself. You know, in case they dive into your brain to extract information like how I did it just now. Especially when you have so many ws already. I bet you would be easily kidnapped. Bwahahhaha!" Mingughed as he stood up.

    "Come with me. I shall bring you to a more secure ce to teach you the basics." Ming stood up and went to his bed to press a button, revealing a small hatch at the bottom of his bed. He lifted his bed like a piece of paper and opened the hatch door.

    "Get in."

 Chapter 249 A Heart-to-Heart Talk - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 249 A Heart-to-Heart Talk - Part 2</h4>

    Jin carefully stepped down thedder through the hatch shaft, but all that awaited him wasplete darkness. Ming followed behind and somehow managed to find the switch to the lights in this basement underneath the cabin. It was basically an empty room with only two chairs at the centre. There was a light bulb in the middle of the room which provided sufficient illumination.

    "Is it that vital to learn how to protect my subconscious? Should it really be a higher prioritypared to you teaching me how to defend myself?" Jin tried to affirm the rationale behind Ming''stest action.

    "You don''t use your brain that much, do you? Care to go over what happened earlier in your store when you came out of the random arena dungeon instance?" Ming scoffed at Jin as he sat down in one chair.

    "Customers started to ask what my cultivation grade was. ErmбнI figured it''s either the System or Yun, who started the live stream of the dungeon instance run in the auditorium." Jin could not figure what Ming was getting at.

    "Analyse it more. Why would Yun or the System want the audience to see your fight and Red Panda Cutie? Why did she not listen to yourmand?" Ming asked.

    "I honestly have no ideaбн I could only list out the disadvantage or maybe to create an obstacle for the mission to progress?" Jin answered cluelessly.

    "Stop thinking that Yun is out there to harm you. You already know the truth that she is your ally. She would not do something that random just to spite you. Think harder." Ming now folded his arms and looked sternly at Jin.

    "To provide entertainment for the audience? To show that I am apetent dungeon supplier?" Jin tried to guess.

    "You are nearly there. Why would the System want to show the audience that you are apetent dungeon supplier, but not allow you to reveal your cultivation?" Ming tried to probe further.

    "Ehhбн So that the audience would respect me for showing restraint towards myself?"

    "No." Ming shook his head lightly.

    "I don''t know the answerбн" Jin honestly wanted to give up.

    "Because there are enemies in the midst of your audience." Ming looked him straight in the eyes.

    "Enemiesбн?" Jin started to think of the advantages of showing the audience.

    "Yes, the world is not as friendly as you think it is. There are enemies hidden in your backyard. People who are jealous of your sess. They should probably be thinking something along the lines of: ''How can this pathetic no-name dungeon supplier suddenly create a store that had instant fame in no time? All through word of mouth?'' " Ming crossed one of his legs, and he spoke to Jin.

    "By showing a constant restraint of my strength against insurmountable odds, it indirectly portrays that I am a person who does not back down from fights." Jin started to analyse andment on the System''s decision.

    "Yes, and thatst part where you identally, but yet briefly showed your cultivation off to the audience was a perfect taunt to fuck them off. To send out the message to not mess with you." Ming did not bite his words when he gave his praise.

    "That also means that the threats you will handle in the future are going to be the bigger fishes. They will not send out their small pawns to disturb you. Well...I guess they might. But I am preparing you for the big ones. The ones that can potentially mess you up." Ming exined.

    "I shall give you a titbit бк the Royal Zodiac Snake n. They are experts in regards to information extraction from the mind. Extractiones along with torture. The way I extracted information from you is what I have learned from a good buddy of mine who came from the Royal Zodiac Snake n. If I dare brag, he is a direct descendant of the Snake n too." Ming smiled evily as he thought about the past.

    "Too bad, I was unable to kill him since I do not have the System." Ming sighed before looking at Jin.

    "I will eventually have to kill, don''t I? To get revenge and revive the Panda Bloodline. Is that why the System wanted me to kill people in the Dungeon World? Even though I said I would not kill anyone for resources." Jin asked with a solemn look in his face.

    "Kid. I am not here to dictate what you can or cannot do." Ming took out a cigar from his pocket and lit a fire.

    "By all means, befriend the Royal Zodiacs. Regain fame for the Panda n once again by acting diplomatically. Make them respect the promised title ''Zeroth of the Royal Zodiacs'' or kill every one of them. I do not care."

    "All I care about is that you are my grandson. Eat, sleep, live. Love and fuck. That is all I ask of you. To enjoy yourself. Life is short no matter how long someone can live. I have learnt that no matter how others force their expectations on you, you are the captain of your heart. Live for yourself." Ming said as he blew the smoke away from Jin.

    "But to live life to the fullest, you need to learn how to protect yourself, your employees and in the future, your own family. Therefore, I am teaching you the ways to defend yourself so you can enjoy yourself to the fullest extent." Ming was genuinely concerned for Jin.

    "Gramps, sometimes I feel that you are not honest about yourself when you were alive." Jin broke out a small smile at Ming.

    "Bwahahaha!! That is true. It looks like only when someone is dead, that you can only wish that you appreciated your own family more." Mingughed loudly.

    "Isn''t that for the living to say and not the dead?" Jin sniggered at his remark.

    "Bahh, you always apply cold water to the burned area. Did I use the inte meme correctly?" Ming rolled his eyes seeing Jinugh crazily.

    "That is beside the point. We shall start with the training soon." Ming pped his fingers and suddenly Jin''s hands and feet were chained up to the chair.

    "Stay in this darkness for a month. Do not worry, time here is elerated, a month in this room is just five minutes in the real world. Good luck! Try not to turn insane." Ming stood up and walked away slowly.

    "Oh, one more thing. Should you try anything funny like breaking out of the chains? More restraints will appear to lock you up. And there is no giving up since I do not permit that." Ming started to climb up thedder.

    "What happened to allowing me to enjoy life to the fullest?" Jin said as a rebuttal.

    "One cannot enjoy and appreciate life thoroughly without experiencing the suffering of life," Ming replied as he climbed out of the basement and closed the hatch. When he closed it, the lights were immediately cut off.

    "Solitary confinement huh. Guess, it is a good time for me to reflect on my own actions and what I can do better." Jin thought to himself. "Not to mention, what to do once I get out of here." Jin shook his head at the issues he needed to address.

    "Maybe I can do something in the dark like cultivating myself?" Jin tried, but because he was all chained up, he could not get into a proper stance to start cultivation. "Urgh, It is not possible." Jin tried to shake his hands and feet, but soon enough, he felt that more chains started to grab him and tied him even more tightly on the chair.

    "Shit! Is it that sensitive?" Jin could only rely on his sense of touch and sound to hear the chains crawling up to him.

    It was at that moment he felt a sense of dижjид vuбн

 Chapter 250 Total Darkness

    <h4>Chapter 250 Total Darkness</h4>

    "Isn''t this the same situation as that dream that I had before?" Jin thought to himself and tried to stay calm. It would not help to get even more agitated, and he would only end up mped down by more chains if he moved too much.

    "Wait, wait, wait. This is not the same as that dream. There is no inscription charm or any lighting. It is just pure darkness." Jin spoke to himself as he tried to regte his breathing. He roughly knew the effects of total darkness when ced intoplete istion.

    Humans were not meant to stay in total darkness, and it was considered a torture technique during wartime. The sensory deprivation and theck of light would cause the body''s natural cycle and circadian rhythm to go haywire. Also, theck of interaction could make a person lose their mind mainly because humans could never stay idle for long. Their desire to be busy was in their innate nature, which cannot be fought against. Jin remembered about how he read how people would prefer to have pain as a stimulus than not doing anything and lived in boredom.

    Therefore, Jin roughly figured out Ming''s objective for chaining him up in the dark. If total darkness could make someone lose their mind, it was also the best way to temper one''s mind, that was under the condition that Jin would survive the one month of darkness.

    At this point, Jin decided to reflect on what he had learnt so far about the System, about Yun and his interactions with Ming. Previously he never had the time to sit down properly and think about this kind of things, so he started to consolidate the information he had gathered from all three of them.

    At the very least, he was finally certain, that all three were not going to harm him in any wayбн at least not any time soon. However, he did find it ironic that the System denied Ming, but Ming was still around within him to guide him. Nevertheless, he did wonder why the System did not say anything about Ming especially when Jin''s unfiltered thoughts could always be heard by Yun.

    Maybe the System automatically removed Ming from their listening logs since it hated him so much for failing. Jin also wondered why Ming would want to do something so stupid but then again Jin started to realised he was dumb not to trust the System too. "Hahaha, the pot calling the kettle ck rings so true in this situation!" Jin sighed as he spoke to himself.

    Although the goal was still not entirely clear for him, especially the part about the revival of the Panda Bloodline. He wondered what exactly it has got to do with being the number one dungeon supplier. Perhaps, there might be some corrtion since Yun said that the old Panda n strived on stores previously.

    It did make him wonder what the previous Panda n descendants with the System had done. Did they create stores as well? Judging from his own situation and how Jin was not living the high life, did it mean they all failed? Yun also said there was a case where the Panda n Remnant took over the System to carry out its will. Did the Remnant fail in the end too? Or was it merely because the Royal Zodiacs impeded both the direct descendants and the remnants? Or was it because of their ipetence like how Jin used to be in the beginning? Could it beziness was some sort of Panda n curse passed down in the family?

    Jin could not figure it out and decided put aside the issue at hand for a moment as he pondered what to create for Yang Ling, the Tiger Princess to fulfil his part of the deal. He figured that if she was making such equipment as the previously shown prototype, she must have connections with key military personnel. That would mean, that he could gain money from getting contracts with the military as well. After all the military budget in countries was always high. However, that was in the past, and now it seemed riskier than ever especially after he had learned about the truth since the Zodiacs governed the army and the police.

    The more he thought about it, the more he realised that the Zodiacs were the ones that took the entire country as their backyard yground. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer while the middle ss continued to slog their lives away.

    "When the timees to sh with them, then I will settle." Jin started to begin feeling sleepy after all that random thinking. "But for now, time to go to sleep."

    It was funny how Jin felt so tired considering he was in a part of his subconscious and yet, he decided not to think too much about that and went to sleep. He knew that he should not presume and rest sufficiently.

    Meanwhile, in the Hot Springs service instance, Jin was producing a lot of sludge at a high speed which startled the penguins. Even Mr Muddles, their friendly neighbourhood sludge remover, who improved himself could not stop the current situation. The sludge was in such arge quantity, that it overflowed from the hot spring pool to the surrounding areas.

    The Penguins decided to take refuge on the top of the cabin roof with the help of Mr Muddles as they helplessly watched Jin hanging on the top of the Maple Tree still in his cultivation stance and he continued to produce sludge from his entire body.

    It was the first time they saw the production of sludgeing out of him since it was usually muddled by the hot spring pool water. Now the sludge was so thick and ck that the amount Jin produced began to overflow out of the facility and over the mountain''s edge. If one could see from afar, they would assume that it was some volcano mountain slowly spewing ck stuff out of its peak.

    "What is happening to Boss?" Mr Patsu was slightly worried, but he could not do anything. He was considering if he should call the Big Boss System for help but seeing that Jin was still hanging along the Maple tree due to his climbing harness, Mr Patsu continued to oversee the situation. Mr Patsu was after all instructed not to disturb Jin''s cultivation unless his life was in mortal danger.

    --------------

    "Argh!" Jin suddenly woke up when he heard footsteps in the area. He instinctively tried to look around but to no avail. He figured he was just imaging stuff. Jin did feel that he had slept for a long time, but he knew that the change in the natural cycle was bluffing him. Without anything providing him with some sense of time, it was impossible to tell whether he slept for a whole day or for a mere 10 minutes.

    "There I heard it again!" Jin thought to himself nowpletely sure that he heard very light footstepsing his way. Jin tried to shake that thought away. Perhaps he was overthinking in his head.

    "You are not wrong. I am indeed walking towards you." A charming voice was speaking all around him.

    "You desire apanion to talk to, don''t you?" The voice continued.

    "Am I that weak to start hearing voices in my mind so soon?" Jin thought to himself and decided not to say anything.

    "Maintaining your silence huh? Don''t believe that I exist?" The voice stopped for a while, and suddenly he heard a click sound. Jin recognised that sound, and it was distinct enough to know what it was.

    "A gun?" Jin judged in his thoughts and continued to stay mute. If he ever talked back to that voice, he assumed, that would be the point when went insane from talking to thin air, to nothing. The next moment, Jin sensed an object pressing on his forehead. It was cold, hard and definitely felt like steel.

    "Still not talking? Pretending to be tough?" The voice spoke, and suddenly Jin felt a shove on his forehead, the metal barrel was pressing forward and leaving a mark on Jin''s forehead, yet Jin decided not to say a thing.

    "I could be hallucinating" Jin wondered to himself as he maintained his silence.

    "I am not done with you. I will be back the moment you let your guard down. Hmph." The steps were loud, but they were moving away from Jin.

    "Please do note backбн" Jin said to himself as his voice echoed throughout the entire room.

 Chapter 251 Darkness Within

    <h4>Chapter 251 Darkness Within</h4>

    Once again, the footsteps became louder. Jin had heard those footsteps for more time than he bothered to count. Each time it approached Jin, it would point the barrel at Jin''s head. "All you have to do is speak, and I will disappear from your life." That low pitched voice said the same thing yet again.

    Jin did not know whether he should give up or if he should ept the voice''s proposal, he had been hearing the same thing for hours...for days maybe even weeks.

    "Everyone carries a shadow." The voice spoke as it slowly paced around Jin and this time around, he ced the gun at the back of Jin''s head.

    "The less the shadow is embodied in the individual''s life..." The voice paused his sentence and Jin could feel its presence lurking right beside his ear. Jin did not dare to move since any drastic movement would result in colder harder chains tying him up even tighter than before.

    "The cker and denser it will be." The voice was so close to his left ear that he could hear the person breathing. Did he merely imagine stuff? Or was that really a person in this total darkness? Jin was sure that the room had been empty when the lights went off.

    "I am willing to bet that your thoughts are just as dark..." The voice moved away from him yet again, and he heard a spinning sound. This was the first time he overheard that. That mechanical spinning sound made it feel like that person...or thing was holding a revolver.

    "If not darker." It was at that point the revolving cylinder stopped, and pieces of metal dropped on the floor.

    "No fun at all." The voiceined. "Why don''t you and I y a new game?" The voice was now projected at his right ear.

    "But my time is up so till then!" The voice once again faded away as Jin heard that ''person'' having thrown his gun on the floor.

    Jin waited for a while after counting up to a minute in his mind before he sighed out loud. His willpower was fading. Each time the voice visited it got harder to resist and each time it returned it approached him even closer. Jin felt himself being charmed to say something. Only through sheer determination did he manage to resist that urge up until now.

    Perhaps, Jin was already bleeding in his mouth as there were times he could feel that his tongue wanted to move involuntarily and he stopped it from talking. Was there no way out of this situation he was in?

    This whole situation made Jin be aware of how much he missed seeing his monsters, his betors, Qiu Yue, Zhen Qing, Yun and even Ming. He never imagined, that at one point in time he could feel so alone without any of them around. All he desired was to see them just one more time before he was taken over by this madness. Jin could feel the insanity slowly infecting his thoughts and trying to fit itself into every crevice of his mind.

    "Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?" The voice suddenly came out of nowhere which scared the hell out of the brooding Jin, so much that he cried out in surprise.

    "AHAHAHAHHAHAHA YOU SPOKE! YOU SPOKE!!!" The voice was so exhrated that Jin could hear him jumping up and down, celebrating the fact that Jin finally opened his mouth.

    "Brilliant! Just god awful brilliant!" The voice eximed as it went towards Jin once again.

    "Come, talk to me. I know you can hear me now. I know you can speak now. Come talk to me!!!" The voicemanded in an ecstatic tone.

    "If you don''t talk, I am just going to stay here with you for all eternity." The voice goaded Jin.

    "F.U.C.K! FINE! SCREW THIS! I WILL TALK!!!!!!" Jin shouted, but at that moment a metal piece covered his mouth. It was the same metal barrel that he felt through the time he was in total darkness.

    Jin had enough, he bit the barrel to the side of his mouth and focused his eyes to the top as if he was trying to look the person at his face. "Shoot then. I am not afraid. I have had enough of you babbling! If you want to shoot me, just shoot!"

    "Woooo so angry! So much anger and hatred within you." The voice expressed joyfully as it pushed the hammer down.

    "How about it... Let''s y Russian roulette? You answer a question honestly, I will put the gun on my head and push the trigger. You answer me with a lie, and I will shoot you instead. I have one bullet in here." The voice exined as it once again spun the gun cylinder with the barrel in Jin''s mouth.

    "Do you want to return to your old life? Where you walk blindly through life till death? Wherever fate brings you, you follow it obediently? Yes or no." The voice asked.

    Jin refused to answer.

    "Not answering? You are willing to risk your chance of survival in my hands?" The voice questioned as it took out the barrel from Jin''s mouth and mmed the handle of the revolver on Jin''s head as it aimed once again at him. This time around, the barrel was pointed at Jin''s right eye.

    "No matter the odds, the game is rigged." Jin imed as he spit his saliva at the person who was holding the gun.

    "Clever. So clever." The touch of the barrel suddenly disappeared from his eye, and a sh of light appeared abruptly. It was too blinding for Jin, making him unable to even take notice of what the shape of that ''person'' was. His eyes were simply too used to the darkness.

    All of a sudden, Jin felt pain in his thigh. As if something was biting him, trapping him, and eating Jin''s life away bit by bit. He started to feel something like ws scratching his leg and he could not move an inch apart.

    "Next Question. If Qiu Yue and Zhen Qing were in the same position as you right now and you had the power to save one of them, who would you choose to save?" The voice demanded another answer as he turned the revolver''s cylinder once more.

    "Both."

    "Honest answer, but invalid." Another sh of light appeared, and Jin could feel another creature biting his torso. Right now, he could roughly feel two canine-like beings chewing away on his flesh, and all he could do was shout in pain. His tears were rolling down continuously, and Jin kept shouting until he was drowning in his own echoes. Jin''s body involuntarily moved from the constant gnawing resulting in more chains appearing and squeezing at the wounds that were inflicted by the mysterious ''person''.

    "Tell me, what has this period of darkness taught you? So I can end your life... Then you will not hear from me anymore. I did promise you that after all." The voice yawned as he said that. It was as if he had his fill of fun with Jin.

    "This darkness?!" Jin nearly lost his voice from all the screaming, but he began to feel faint from the supposed loss of blood, but at that moment, he felt like he could see a glimpse of the room. Everything that was within that room. He noticed two foxes were biting through his flesh, the multiple bloodless chains on his body and a silhouette of a man wiping his revolver.

    "What else?" The man inquired as he now pointed the gun at Jin''s head. Jin knew that he could only defy the man one more time before he was shot in the head. That man was not joking anymore. Jin could see the killing intent in his eyes, his body and in his gun.

    "Thanks to this darkness, it showed me the beauty of light!" Jin answered as he tried to rock the chair despite the two ck foxes biting him with the little mobility he had left.

    "Hmm... haha... HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The manughed as he ced his left hand on his forehead.

    "After this much pain and suffering, you still think that you have learned a lesson from this?" His face now turned serious and he looked at Jin. Despite the teary eyes, Jin could recognize the movement of his finger.

    "Now!" Jin thought to himself as he rocked the chair backwards, causing it to topple slightly. Before Jin hit his head on the floor the chains started appearing and stabilizing the fall. Nevertheless, the shift in height resulted in the bullet only scraping the scalp of Jin''s head.

    "HAHAHAHAHAHAH!! Excellent! Excellent!!" The man started pping.

    Suddenly, Jin saw that the two foxes stopped biting him and returned to the man''s side. "It seems my new master is at least worthy of my slightest attention." The man walked towards Jin with heavier footsteps now as he knelt right beside Jin and ced his hands on the chains.

    "Master. I am your newest Betor at your service. Please pardon my way of testing you. Name''s Kraft." The man solemnly bowed his head before he ripped apart the chains trapping Jin. Because of his previous action, Jin and the chair both toppled over, but he did not care.

    Jin was finally freed from the chair and like a newborn baby, he moved his arms and legs within the darkness of the area, trying to get a feel of the ce.

    "At the very least, you have somehow unlocked the Dark Sight from your so-called Inverse Eyes." Kraft said as he helped Jin up and aided him to sit on the chair.

    "Now, let us talk for real. Master." Kraft took the second chair that was left behind by Ming and sat opposite of Jin who was busy rubbing his tears away with the hoodie that he was still wearing.

 Chapter 252 Kraf

    <h4>Chapter 252 Kraf</h4>

    Jin took the time to calm down as he watched how the foxes interacted with Kraft. That was when he realised something. Wasn''t the System not supposed to know about the existence of this ce? The subconscious? How was a Betor able toe into this ''realm''?

    "Because I am not part of the System and yet at the same time I am part of the System too." Kraft rified as he looked at Jin. The two ck foxes even stared at Jin which caused Jin''s hair to stand up.

    "I can hear your thoughts in this ce because I am in your subconscious. You must learn how to control your thoughts." Kraft exined as he whistled once and the two ck foxes turned into bullets.

    "Let me introduce myself properly. I am Kraft, a Betor in service of Ming. When the System abandoned Ming, I was unable to return to it because I was still in a contract with Ming to teach him how to protect his subconscious. Therefore, I had no other ce to go other than staying in his subconscious...until you came into the picture." Kraft continued his story.

    "Initially, I''ve always cursed Ming for abandoning me in his subconscious. And since he was no longer in contact with the System, I was not able to do much. Each day, I hoped to get out of this prison mind. However, he proved me wrong." Kraft gave a knowing smile towards Jin.

    "When he was in the military, this guy from the so called Royal Zodiac Snake n wanted to teach Ming a lesson for messing with him during training. So he actually offered himself to teach Ming a little about infiltration and information extraction. However, his true intention was to corrupt Ming''s brain, and turn Ming into hisckey."

    "Never has he expected that there was a betor inside Ming''s mind, dying for some action after all the years of imprisonment. Oh, I had fun. So much fun bullying that Royal Snake Zodiac. During that time I managed to learn how to use his own tricks against him, and suddenly he became best buddies with Ming. What a joke. Ming thought that he was some sort of super genius, a prodigy in information extraction, that it was all because of his efforts. Nope, it was I." Kraft took credit for everything.

    "Here is a secret which he may not tell you. He used to be part of the special forces for some time before he became a desk jockey doing all that boring paperwork. That is if I remember correctly. But those days were fun since the job required information extraction and the mental torture of another person. After all that time I finally got another chance to use my skills, and that sort of excitement continued every day until he was bound to the desk. I think his codename used to be Fox."

    "At one point, I went ahead to take a decent break since it was boring doing nothing in his mind and when I woke up from my slumber, I noticed that he was already dead! The fortunate thing was, that he was already in contact with you! A real System user! You who had a System, a way out for me, I could not help but be excited. My heart was pumping furiously after such a prolonged time. Of course, I knew that I had to y this carefully. Had to be careful not to identally torture you to death. Otherwise it would have been back to square one for me once again."

    "You know the story from then on." Kraft twirled the bullets in his hands before he slotted them into the revolver.

    "The two ck foxes you just saw were Tsu and Kai. They are a part of my skulk of foxes, but those two are my best. And I guess you have noticed. They turned to bullets. When I shoot them out, they can transform back to their main form as Fox Demons."

    "So I am assuming you have six foxes under yourmand?" Jin asked since he knew the revolver could only hold six bullets.

    "Mmm. I should have a total of nine, but I am stuck with six though Tsu and Kai interact with me more than the other fox demons. For some particr reason, they seem to be rather attracted to me. I think the System prevented my full powers from being unleashed when me and Ming first met."

    "You mean there should be a way to upgrade the current power of my betors?" Jin was surprised there was such a thing. He thought that their powers were locked because of Jin''s grade.

    "The System no longer binds me so I can say this kind of stuff. From what I know based on your understanding, I guess it is fine to tell you about it. Your cultivation restricts their powers, but the System currently locks their skills." Kraft said.

    "Sounds like some troublesome roleying game..." Jin shook his head.

    "It is part of the System''s decision to prevent the User from being overpowered. Otherwise you could unnecessarily be exposed by the members of the public. So they stay locked, until it judges that the User was capable of handling himself." Kraft clicked and unclicked his hammer.

    "However, as much as I would like to leave this realm of darkness, especially when a System User is finally around me, I fear that I am starting to like this ce." Kraft smiled as he pped once. Suddenly the walls inside the room grew spikes and started to move towards Jin. However, Jin was confident that Kraft would not hurt him.

    "No one has better mind maniption techniques than me. That is also why the System is unable to read subtle thoughts about Ming from you. Because I am stopping that sort of information from getting out, under themands of Ming." Kraft stopped the walls the moment the spikes slightly pressed onto Jin''s body. Yet, during that period of time, Jin did not move a single inch. Jin''s confidence towards Kraft made thetter grin. It looked like Jin was not scared of Kraft anymore.

    "But you said that he did not know you existed in him." Jin continued to query Kraft as if it was the norm.

    "Yeah, that''s what I said. I was surprised to learn that I did not fade away along with that old man''s physical body. So I decided to confront Ming, but apparently, he had been aware, that I was sleeping inside him. Also, Ming said that the System left him a particrly ancient technique to transfer the System into your body."

    "He said it was because of me, a forgotten link to the System that he was able to modify that technique to transfer part of his will and soul within your subconscious when the System was being moved into you." Jin realised Kraft was talking about that old encryption letter that he had found alongside with Ming''s note. He did not know that Ming was so well versed with modifying techniques.

    "Guess, Old Gramps is smarter than he let on." Jin thought to himself. "But why would Gramps want to enter my subconscious?"

    "You are his one and only grandson." Kraft did not say anything else butter changed the topic back to his story. "We subsequently talked about the old days. This whole meeting between us, was also part of his n. Ming just need to leave you here in the bas.e.m.e.nt."

    "I see..." Jin tried to gather his thoughts about the turn of events.

    "You did okay... For a beginner. I will teach you more when we have the time, but it seems like you are a very busy person for azy cultivator." Kraft sniggered.

    "Also, I think sooner orter the System might bestow you another Betor with mind maniption techniques. Perhaps then, I might gain a friend, who will appreciate this darkness with me. So here is the contract I wish to forge with you, my new master." Kraft adjusted his coat and pushed his chair closer to Jin.

    "Let me be part of your darkness. In return, I will demolish any, who try to enter your mind." Kraft extended his hand to shake with Jin, who did not hesitate to return the handshake. Suddenly Jin felt the darkness around him was warm rather than the cold, creepy feeling he used to sense in the past... Jin did not remember how long he was in there.

    "Ahhh, the contract with a System user, now I can feel my powers being refreshed once again!" Kraft thought to himself. Instead of being bound by the System and getting his powers from it, Kraft was now obtaining his energy and powers from Jin''s subconscious mind. There was always a loophole in the workings of the System and Kraft did not hesitate to exploit it for his own use.

    "Wait, if what you said is true...I did ask the System for a reward about having some adaptable immunity towards maniption and Psionic Magic. Could that be a Betor too? Or is that an innate ability?" Jin asked Kraft if he had any idea.

    "Who knows?" Kraft shrugged his shoulders before he suddenly disappeared, but his voice lingered. "But remember that within the darkness, you will always have an ally...if you keep him entertained."

 Chapter 253 Jump in Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 253 Jump in Cultivation</h4>

    Kraft had fully disappeared. Jin could no longer feel another presence. Only then did Jin realise, that he had been unable to view Kraft''s face. He had been able to recognize his silhouette, wearing a trench coat, but his facial features could not be distinguished even with his Dark Sight. It was as if he was purposely hiding to prevent anyone from seeing him.

    While Jin was still busy pondering about Kraft''s appearance, he suddenly heard the hatch opening. "Seems like you have finally met with Kraft. That took longer than expected, but still better than nothing." Ming opened the hatch ajar before he threw a burning re in there.

    "This will help you limatise your eyes to light before youe out. Otherwise the light will be too bright for your eyes." Ming said as he walked away from the ce. "Come up when you are ready."

    It took Jin some time, but slowly he climbed out of the bas.e.m.e.nt to find himself back in the same old cabin. He felt like he was in there for ages. "Have a cup of drink." Ming offered the same drink he had to Jin, and he took it after thanking him. After some time, he realised that his entire shirt and hoodie had been torn to shreds from the chains and fox bites.

    "Guess it was real..." He took off his clothes and was astonished to find out that a side of his torso was suddenly tainted with mysterious looking tattoos. It looked like a small ck fox had imprinted itself onto his body.

    "Hey look! We have matching tattoos now! Looks like we are fam now." Ming pulled up his shirt andughed heartily while showing Jin the side of his torso with the exact same small ck fox tattoo. "This is the proof that you have a contract with Kraft but no need to worry. The tattoo won''t appear in your real life."

    "Anyways, it''s more or less time for you to get back. You were in there for more than four months." Ming said which caused Jin to be surprised.

    "WHAT?! Didn''t you say you would only cage me for a single month?!" Jin suddenly shouted at the top of his voice.

    "Woah Woah, calm down. The whole idea was for you toe into contact with Kraft. I did not know that you would need much more time than I did. Guess I should add that to your ws. Not aspetent as me." Ming said it out loud as if he was making a mental note. Jin could not help but sigh and swallowed the rest of the cup of drink.

    "But well done. Perhaps it''s not entirely your fault. I mean it has been ages since thest time Kraft has had some action. Maybe that was why he wanted to y with you some more. Can''t say that I agree on the way he yed with you, but what matters for me is the oue. You got the contract. Now, off you go." Ming gestured with his hand to shoo Jin off, and a st of wind appeared out of nowhere, causing Jin to magically return to his conscious state.

    "AHHHHHHHH!" Jin woke up to see that his face was the only thing above the sludge. Everything else was filled with ck, and the sludge was trying to consume him. He tried to pull himself upwards out of the muck but realised he was stuck. The only thing he could do was to exit the hot spring instance forcibly.

    "What the hell exactly happened?" Jin jumped from one instance and returned another. The Shop Level One Instance. Mr Patsu suddenly appeared and grabbed onto Jin, crying and begging for forgiveness. "Sorry, Boss! There was no way we could help you..." Mr Patsu told Jin the whole story, who realised he could have killed himself if he had stayed a bit longer in that subconscious realm he was in.

    "We tried our best to help you, but there was nothing we could do. We even called Big Boss System, but for some reason, Yun was not able to help you at all either. She said that the only way to help you was for you toe out of the cultivation stance." Mr Patsu wiped his tears away.

    "What exactly happened, Jin? Howe you could be so deep into your cultivation that you have forgotten your existence? Even the System was not able to barge in and rescue you? That was unusual for a cultivator to be this deep into a trance." Yun was rather fl.u.s.tered when she saw Jin alive again.

    She could not help but hug him and physically checked his body.

    "System, analyse his body," Yunmanded the System from her phone, and in seconds, rays of lights appeared from nowhere and started to detail any possible problem on Jin.

    "Nothing out of the ordinary. No problems discovered. The only difference: The deep trance resulted in the cultivation having increased his Grade to 7. A considerable jump of grade was not expected. Analysis: Cultivation Manual might have been more suited for User than expected. Considering that the truth was revealed to him, enlightenment phase along with the hidden help from the Zoo Pandas and the Random Arena might be the probable cause for User to jump in Grade from 5 to 7. User has exceeded System''s expectation. System shall reward User ordingly." The System spoke out, and suddenly a treasure box came flying from the sky, crashing through the Halloween stained ss ceiling and onto the floor.

    "Do not worry. Repairs will be made in an instant. The dramatic effect of reward for coolness factor." The System said before its voice disappeared from Yun''s phone.

    "Ehh, Congrats?" Yun did not know how to react in the current situation, and Jin thanked her before he opened the treasure chest box. "Hmmm." Jin took a look inside and noticed there were not many items in it.

    He noticed there was an old ragged looking red covered manual with a thumb drive tied to it and realised that was the reward for Qiu Yue. The Cultivation Manual Radiant Red Panda in the Umbral Snow. "Hey, this isn''t a reward for me."

    "I guess the System waszy and packaged it with your reward? Hahahha!" Yun giggled at Jin''s pouty face for being bluffed. "Come on. There are other things in there too, right?"

    Jin ced the manual in his storage watch and noticed there were three technique cubes in it. He remembered receiving the very same technique cube when Zeru gave it to him to learn the Perfectly Normal Parry sh technique. When he held onto the technique cubes, he discovered some small fine print at the edge of the cubes.

    "ck Panda Fire Basic Mastery....White Panda Ice Basic Mastery....Pandaromic Eyes aka Inverse Eyes Basic Mastery.... Oh? So the eye techniques do have a name." Jin then looked at Yun with a suspicious look.

    "Why did you not tell me that these techniques exist? I thought I had to find and learn how to control the spiritual union skills myself despite me being able to unlock them!" Jin questioned Yun.

    "Annnnnd did you use the ck Panda Fire on me when you were fighting against me??" Jin asked once more after he remembered the existence of the ck fire. Yun did not reply but gave an excuse instead.

    "Ahhhh, suddenly I feel that my eyebags are too bigggg! And my eyes are so heavy! I need to sleep now. Bye~!" Yun suddenly disappeared and he was left alone with the treasure chest box.

    "Yun requested those items for you. They are considered as part of your manual. If you have read thest few chapters of it, they were categorised as Epic Arts of your cultivation manual." The System spoke through his phone.

    "Ah, now that you mention it, I do remember reading about it briefly before...no wonder it felt so familiar," Jin replied as he used the technique cubes on himself. Each time he pressed the cube, it felt like a can of glittering dust was being sprayed at him. Jin suddenly experienced variety of colour overwhelming his sight and felt a little high from the inhtion of the glittering dust.

    "The Pandaromic Eyes or as you termed them Inverse Eyes, have been categorized as Legendary Arts of your manual. Previously, only the basic description of these advanced techniques have been revealed in your manual. It has been deemed harmful for the User to try them out, before reaching the required cultivation grade. It was a coincidence that they were part of your Spiritual Union skills. System can provide the basic mastery since it was defined as part of your cultivation manual. System is unable to give you full mastery since they are categorised as Epic and Legendary Arts."

    "What exactly does basic mastery mean? To will it freely?" Jin did not have to focus as much to activate his Inverse Eyes.

    "Interesting. User''s Inverse Eyes is 25%pleted even though the basic mastery should only allow you to freely will it." The System noted.

    "What do you mean?" Jin asked as he picked his phone out.

    "Your Inverse Eyes have Dark Sight. It was not part of the basic mastery. System can only conclude it was from the spiritual union skills." The System analysed.

    "Oh, perhaps. Hahaha, lucky me, I guess!" Jin had a cold sweat, but he now knew that Kraft was not lying. He was defending the information Jin had obtained from the subconscious realm. Although Jin did wonder why Ming and Kraft would want to be kept hidden. Especially Kraft, when he had nothing to lose to be in contact with the System.

    "Maybe, he just wants to see how much can he pit against the System." Jin wondered to himself.

    "Maybe..." Kraft whispered in his mind as Jin could hear him snigger.

 Chapter 254 Not My Faul

    <h4>Chapter 254 Not My Faul</h4>

    "OEIIII!!!! Zhen Qing, give me some money!!!" Zheng Hui, Zhen Qing''s father, was banging on her door repeatedly. "I know you are back. I know you have the money!!!" Zheng Hui shouted through the roof, and Zhen Qing tried her best to hide in her room.

    "Please, Zhen Qing! Please, my daughter, I need the money or the debt collectors wille and find me." Zheng Hui finally ceased his banging and slid his back along the door as if he was really desperate this time round.

    "I gave you money two weeks ago!! GO AWAY!" Zhen Qing could not handle the pressure her father was giving her and retorted back. She was thankful that she bought a new lock and installed it in time before her father noticed it. Else, her door would have been broken minutes ago.

    "Lies! I know that you have a new job right now! I can see that you are happier than before! Not only that, you don''t have any ingredients stocked anymore! Are you doing what I asked you to do? Which establishment are you working at?!" Zheng Hui questioned Zhen Qing as he banged on the door once again before taking a big sip from his liquor bottle.

    "Tell me. I shall inform them about our plight and ask for an advance payment." Zheng Hui''s speech started to slur. "All you have to do is to work hard for me. Work hard and repay your debt of sins to meбн."

    "I AM NOT WORKING AT THAT KIND OF DEROGATORY PLACES!" Zhen Qing shouted back before she hid under her nkets.

    "THEN WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GETTING YOUR MONEY FROM?!" Zheng Hui used his leg to kick the door. It was apparent that the old lock on the door disintegrated from the kick. It was also not the first one, to suffer such fate.

    "Why youбн HOW DARE YOU INSTALL A NEW LOCK? Are you filled with distrust towards your very own father?! Your father that brought you into this life? Who has been sheltering you in this ce? Running away from the Yakuzas?! For covering for YOUR MISTAKES that CAUSED your mother''s death?!" Zheng Hui got so mad that he kicked the door with even more force and it visibly trembled under his strength.

    "It''s not my faultбнIt''s really not my faultбн" Zhen Qing teared as she curled into a ball and suffered under the noise until her father decided to stagger back to the living room.

    "Do not think this is the endбн" Zheng Hui tapped a few buttons on his phone before he sent a message to his debtor before he eventually fell asleep drunk on the sofa in front of the TV.

    "This can''t go onбнI really cannot stay here any longerбнDo you think he can help me?" Zhen Qing thoughts were in a mess as she cuddled with a broken penguin plushie that was given by her mother when she was little. It was thest memento she had of her and a constant reminder of her old life. It was also one of the few things she managed to take with her. She cried miserably until her body was not able to take it any longer and made her rest.

    ---------------

    "What?! You want to resign from the job?" Qiu Yue''s superior Shao Wai was stunned early in the morning when Qiu Yue ced the letter of resignation on his table. Qiu Yue was determined to a cause and nodded her head firmly.

    Shao Wai knew that expression in her eyes from the few years of working with her. He took off his sses and rubbed his temples. "Why are you quitting? Whichpany poached you? How much are they offering?"

    "There isn''t anypany that came to poach me. It is of my own volition that I wished to resign. I would like to pursue my dream with a friend of mine." Qiu Yue told Shao Wai frankly seeing how they both were rather familiar with each other''s attitude.

    "You do know that the new multinational project that we have recently managed to acquire was mostly because they were inspired by your pitch? They wanted you to be the overall in charge of this project since they realize how talented you are and they are sure that you will get the job done well. What am I going to tell the director when you are leaving us in a lurch?" Shao Wai tried to coerce her into a guilt trap, hoping that would make her stay.

    "Besides, Qiu Yue, I can guarantee you that your promotion will be secured by the end of the year and the track to my seat, heck! The director''s seat is not far from now! In just a few more years, you will definitely have that. Also, are you forfeiting that 13th month performance bonus you have worked so hard for? In a month or so, are you sure you are making the right decision and won''t regret it?" Shao Wai continued to try and hook her but he did not know that Qiu Yue was unfazed by his allure of fake promises.

    "Sir, no one is indispensable in apany. You can always find someone better to take over as the project head." Qiu Yue said it so bluntly that it made Shao Wai fumble with his words.

    "Are you sure? You will lose every progress you have made till now. The only thing you have is experience which is worth nothing more than peanuts in this dog eat dog world." Shao Wai now tried to threaten her, but Qiu Yue was adamant.

    "I understand." Qiu Yue did not say much. She had imagined that after working so long together, her superior would have been more understanding. Guess he was using her just like everyone else in the public ministry. "Lazy assholes, always wanting other people to do their work while they hog on all the glory. I am not a stupid woman who will allow you to manipte me any longer." Qiu Yue thought to herself as she remained ignorant of Shao Wai''s grumblings.

    "Fine, if you are this adamant. It will be your loss. I will pass this to the Human Resource Departmentter in the afternoon." Shao Wai believed perhaps he could dy the resignation for at least a week or two by saying he had forgotten about it. During that time, Qiu Yue might possibly change her mind.

    "It''s okay, Sir. I have already sent them my notice in advance. This is simply a courtesy letter to inform you. I will be leaving by the end of the month. Please pardon my intrusion." Qiu Yue said before she started to leave his office.

    "Wait. Qiu Yue." Shao Wai stood up trying to stop her.

    "At least, onest dinner before you go? My treat." Shao Wai asked politely but the look on his face. It''s one that Qiu Yue could not stand.

    "Get away from me, you creepy cheating husband." Qiu Yue thought to herself but she forced a smile out. "It''s fine. I do not need that. Please pardon me. I have some work to clear before I leave the ministry."

    __________

    Jin took a power nap for an hour, resting on the couch in one of the Auditoriums. He did not know it would be thisfortable to lie down on it.

    "The System does pamper my customersбн" Jin walked up to the Bar Ind to get a cup of water before he saw Zhen Qing, who came earlier than usual into the Shop Instance.

    Jin immediately realized that Zhen Qing was not her usual self, in fact, she looked more tired than usual. Not only that, she was carrying a piece of mini luggage with her as she immediately bowed in front of Jin. The beak of some sort of bird-like plushie could be seen sticking out from the luggage.

    "Boss JinбнI apologise for requesting something that I refused previously. But can I ask you for a favour?" Her eyes were red with tears on the verge of dripping.

 Chapter 255 Real Name

    <h4>Chapter 255 Real Name</h4>

    "What happened?" Jin was confused. Was he still in a dream state? This was the first time he saw Zhen Qing being so powerless, so helpless.

    "I''m aware that I refused your offer for lodging previously but is it okay if I request it now?" Zhen Qing asked as her tears started to drop.

    "It''s alright, Zhen Qing. Everything is gonna be fine." Jin replied to her, but immediately send a mental SOS to Yun for help. "I have no experience with handling this kind of situation. Help me! Please, Yun, I''m begging of you!"

    "What are you talking about? It''s 5:30 in the morning. I am still sleeping..." Yun grumbled in his thoughts before she cut off allmunications, resulting in Jin having to handle the situation all by himself.

    Jin panicked for a while and decided to try to help her calm down in whatever way he could. "Here have a hot cup of coffee. You look terr- You look like you might need one." Jin bit his tongue trying to be sensitive as he took out the saucer while waiting for the coffee machine to start and make the coffee.

    "Do you want to discuss what has happened?" Jin subsequently took out a few onigiris for Zhen Qing to fill her tummy along with the coffee.

    "I will pay for the..." Zhen Qing hectically tried to search for her wallet in her backpack, but Jin stopped her.

    "There is no need for that. Just eat in peace." Jin retorted to change the subject since he was more or less aware of Zhen Qing''s personality. He knew that she was not the kind of person to share her thoughts with everyone. She was more of a reserveddy despite her hotshot temper in the kitchen.

    At the same time, Jin pretended to be a bit busy by checking around the Panda Port counter and his phone. There was no need for him to clean the ce at all but he pretended to finish the cleaning, to allow some time to gather his thoughts. Afterwards, he returned to Zhen Qing hoping that she had calmed down a little and started to ask what had happened.

    "Can I ask why you would need the lodging? That is if you arefortable to speak about it. I can provide a listening ear." Jin offered Zhen Qing, though she seemed a little reluctant to say anything. He could see her internally debating whether to share it with him.

    Zhen Qing did not believe Jin had the power to change any of her current circumstances. However, there was an inkling of hope in her heart. Wishing that Jin might be able to get her out of this situation. After all, ever since she joined his dungeon supplier store, this young store owner in front of her has always managed to exceed her expectation of him. At the beginning, she had thought this shop was bound to fail in due time. Who could me her? With Jin providing dungeons at such provocative prices and branching out to different kind of services instead of focusing on one specialisation.

    Therefore, Zhen Qing thought that she could probably earn a quick buck before her boss would go bankrupt for not following alongmon business logic of a new shop owner. But the longer Zhen Qing stayed in this shop, the more she started to unconsciously develop a sense of belonging. Ever since the time she was fired from the restaurant she was working wholeheartedly for, there was always a part of her that felt empty.

    "I..." Zhen Qing fumbled her words a little before she plucked the courage to finally get it off her chest.

    "I need the lodging to escape my father''s constant harassment for money." Zhen Qing said.

    "Oh...erm okay. I can arrange some lodging for you." Jin nned to let Zhen Qing stay in his house, the one that was minutes away from the store. He currently did not have much use for that house. No one was living in that house aside from Yun. asionally, Jin might use that house as a ce to rest. Otherwise, it was left empty. Most of the time, Jin would be in the hot spring instance cultivating himself.

    "I will stay at most for a week or so. Maybe until the sryes in, then I will leave. Of course, you can deduct a part of my sry for the lodging expenses. I do not mind that." Zhen Qing was quick to defend herself, giving reassurances making Jin feel that it was all courtesy. He had a hunch that it was not something so simple, and that there was something more significant behind that, something he should not interfere in unnecessarily.

    However, the System and Yun did issue a mission to help with Zhen Qing''s chef''s block. What if the current situation she was in was the main problem that caused Zhen Qing to have a chef''s block? Besides, from the limited information Jin had gathered, Zhen Qing was probably going to merely give the money she had earned to her father and the cycle would continue. It felt as if Zhen Qing was always running away from her actual problem.

    Then it struck Jin that Zhen Qing was simr to him. Jin had also been trying to escape his problems by going with the flow of things. Maybe the System had nned this mission but it was too much of a coincidence. This father issue might be a deeply seeded predicament. But one thing for sure, if it affected Zhen Qing''s chef block, it was part of his mission.

    "Time to help her." Jin decided for himself.

    "I would like to know the full story if possible. And if your fatheres to harass you again, I will not hesitate to call the cops to protect you." Jin said bluntly already expecting that Zhen Qing would most likely either refuse the lodging or ask Jin not to call the police.

    "I will quit if that happens." Zhen Qing immediately replied in a straight face. It was no threat. It was a statement.

    "What?" Jin was a little shocked by the speed of her answer and the seriousness behind it.

    "If he harasses you, please don''t call the police. I shall simply quit and not cause any more trouble for you." Zhen Qing rified. She could not find any other lodging on such short notice because she had no other rtives nor friends she could rely upon in Shenzhen. Neither did she have the money to pay for any lodging in this part of the city. That was why she decided to bet everything on Jin''s kindness.

    "Then, all the more reason for me to stick my nose in. I will help you as long as it is within my power and influence." Jin tried to act as if he had connections when he had practically none. However, this should make Zhen Qing open up a little, or that was what Jin hoped.

    "I... have not been telling you anything about my past before. Because I was sure if you were to know it, you probably would not have hired me. " Zhen Qing muttered in a soft voice, without daring to look into Jin''s eyes. "I am not from here. I was not even born here."

    "I...actually ran away from the Yakuza. Because of a thing I did in the past... My mother ended up paying the price for it... She paid with her life to save me." Zhen Qing exined on the verge of even more tears. It was apparent these were memories haunting her daily.

    In the meantime, Jin did not hesitate to refill another hot coffee for her.

    "Even my real name is not Zhen Qing." Zhen Qing added after sipping on her drink and taking some time to calm herself once more. This confession made Jin furrow his eyebrows. Yet, he was in for another surprise. At that moment, Zhen Qing, who was wearing a hoodie with a beanie inside, slowly unveiled it.

    After which, Zhen Qing slowly removed her beanie that revealed long dark blonde hair as if it was her natural colour. It was entirely different from the look that she portrayed when she was in the shop.

    "My real name is Lynn Arisato. One of the chefs involved in the Last Supper Scandal in Japan. The one who helped to plot the death of six major Yakuza Bosses through a grand g dinner." Zhen Qing- wait no, Lynn said in a form of deration.

 Chapter 256 Trap

    <h4>Chapter 256 Trap</h4>

    Jin did not know how to react to this revtion, but he slowly shook his head. "No, I am really sorry. This is the first time I have even heard about this Last Supper Scandal. Would you care to borate?" Jin asked Zhen Qing kindly.

    Zhen Qing smiled for a bit before continuing. "Suffice to say, that scandal is the reason why my father...and I had decided toe here. No one exactly knew our faces. On the other hand, I think it''s probably for the best that you do not know too much about my history. The less you know, the less trouble you will be in." Zhen Qing''s hands continued to tremble as she tried to hide them under the table.

    "This is not helping. Kraft, any chance you could extract information from her? I would like to know what exactly happened." Jin asked his all new Betor for some advice.

    "Do you think I am some god? That I can just extract information at the snap of my finger?" If Jin could see Kraft right now, he would definitely be rolling his eyes at Jin''s ridiculous request.

    "Well, if you kiss her. I might have the chance to jump into her subconscious." Kraft suggested, but Jin refused adamantly.

    "I am not so stupid to fall for these tricks. If all you need is close contact or a scare to drop their guard, there are other ways, no need for a kiss." Jin was now the one rolling his eyes.

    "Damn, here I thought you would be like. ''Yes, Kraft! For Lynn, I will do it. I will do anything to save this poor sheep. This pitiful soul.''" Kraft tried to be dramatic, but it was annoying Jin even more.

    "Forget it. I will simply try and use the to search for anything rted to this Last Supper Scandal." Jin shook his head and looked up to Zhen Qing. "Zhen Qing? I assume you still want to be called that way to prevent any suspicion, right?" Jin asked Zhen Qing, and she nodded her head.

    "Follow me then. I will bring you to your temporary lodging." Jin said as Zhen Qing offered to wash the cup and saucer before leaving, but he told her it was a small matter. Within minutes, Jin showed Zhen Qing his house, and she could not believe that the lodging would be this grand. Zhen Qing assumed she would be staying in some hostel or a more broken down apartment, yet never dreamed of such a lovely terrace house.

    Jin opened the gates and subsequently the door to his house. "This is the key to my hous- erm I mean the lodging. Yun is currently the only other upant in this area. You can use the guest room if you like. You are free to use anything you want, but do not make the ce too messy. Do not bring any other visitors into the house unless you have my approval." Jin made his statement clear. Zhen Qing had no qualms obliging, seeing as most of these rules were justmon decency.

    "Yawnnnn, is that Zhen Qing?" Yun was in her singlet and shorts as she walked down the stairs from the second floor. "What happened to her?"

    "She needed some ce to stay, so I allowed her to stay here for now."

    "You brought a girl into your house? Rather bold I might say." Yun said it out so bluntly that Zhen Qing panicked. "Are you nning to revive the Panda Bloodline through her? I did not expect such quick action from you. I probably have misjudged you, Jin." Yun spoke in Jin''s thoughts, but all he could do was blush a little and refuse to acknowledge the usation.

    "Am I intruding?" Zhen Qing asked frantically as she could not understand the rtionship between Yun and Jin. Was she bing the third wheel?

    "No no, do not listen to her nonsense. Although this is my house, I am only staying here momentarily. Most of the time, I will be in my store for ehhh cultivation and creation of dungeons. So don''t mind me, you are not intruding." Jin tried to correct the situation that Yun created and went on to show Zhen Qing where the guest room was.

    "I am sorry there isn''t much food in the fridge. I did mention to you previously that if you needed food, you have my permission to take some from the store''s kitchen instance. Consider it one of the perks for being an uing chef for the store." Jin smiled at Zhen Qing as she ced her luggage down.

    "I shall give you some time to unpack. If you need anything, just holler for Yun since I will be returning to the store." Jin told her, before he went out of the house.

    "So, you are not as stupid as I thought you were." Kraft sneered as he could learn the thoughts of Jin plotting for something else. "Yea, I mean that guy''s stalking skill is rated zero out of ten. Of course, I would have picked up something this simple."

    "I am not judging you or anything. Honest! Cross my heart." Kraft sniggered, and Jin continued to walk back to the store. It was at that point of time, a person, who was not only poorly dressed, but also with his breath reeking of alcohol, came towards Jin.

    "My good man, I see that you are keeping my daughter for your own personal benefit. I am her father, and I cannot endorse this kind of behaviour." Zheng Huiined with one clear intention in mind. ckmail for money.

    "What do you want? How do I even know if you are her father?" Jin immediately understood why Zhen Qing would want to run away from this kind of father. Zheng Hui did not hesitate to take his wallet and presented a torn and tattered piece of a family photo with a slightly younger version of Zhen Qing inside. There was another person on that photo, but due to the horrible condition, Jin was unable to see it clearly.

    "How about a fee to assure this worried father? I mean, you are staying at this wonderful terrace house, surely you have the money as rpense for a father''s heartache, being unable to see his daughter?" Zheng Hui tried to sweet talk his way to Jin, who clearly was not buying it.

    "You know, I could extract some information from him if you just knock him out and bring him to the dungeon maker." Kraft suggested torturing to get what Jin wanted. "I believe the System would find that to be the most effective and efficient way of getting the information."

    "It''s fine Kraft. Stay your...gun." Jin then smiled at Zheng Hui and turned the question around. "Well, Father, how about we have a good breakfast and you can exin to me the situation that revolves around you and your daughter?"

    "What? She even admitted that to you? That bitc-...I mean she seems to trust you a great deal it would seem. But I guess you only know one side of the story and not the whole truth, right?! Sure! Let''s go for a meal, and I will tell you everything!" Zheng Hui replied, but before Jin could agree to that proposal, Zheng Hui''s phone rang loudly.

    "Ah shit, do you mind if I take this call?" Zheng Hui pardoned himself and started to whisper. "Listen I know I said I would pay today. But I have found a good sweet target and quite gullible too. I am very sure of it. If you manage to kidnap him, I believe his father or family will be able to pay lots for his ransom. You will clear my debt this way, right?"

    "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just make sure you bring him to that restaurant so we can do that." The person on the line sounds irritated as he ended the call abruptly.

    "Ahh, Big Boss! My bad, my bad." Zheng Hui startedughing at Jin as he ced his hands over his shoulders. "How about I choose the ce for us to share a meal? I will make sure it is not only yummy, but pretty affordable as well!" Zheng Hui smiled with his bad breath.

    "Ooooh fun!" Kraft could sense something was amiss. "Your definition of fun is somewhat unsettling. It''s obviously a trap." Jin said in his thoughts and smiled back at Zhen Qing''s father.

    "That is what makes it so fun." Kraft rubbed his hands together as he started to prep himself in Jin''s mind. In the meantime, Jin had already sent a message to Yun telepathically about the situation and told her to track him if needed.

    "A, you will be fine. Sometimes, you overthink it too much. I shall try to see if I can get Zhen Qing to open up." Yun said, but Jin was slightly worried even though he was not showing it in front of Zheng Hui when he followed him to his car.

    "Sometimes, Yun knows how to put up a death g scene."

 Chapter 257 Zheng Hui

    <h4>Chapter 257 Zheng Hui</h4>

    "By the way, my name is Hui. Nice to meet you Mrбн?" Zheng Hui tried to make conversation but Jin seemed to be absorbed looking into his phone. Jin was typing in the Pandamonium chat with Lee An and Xue Ping, the police inspectors he made friends with when he got them to help out with Xiong Da.

    "Surname''s Xie," Jin said with a slightly ignorant andzy tone to show one''s arrogance, which did not fail to piss off Zheng Hui. "You little brat, just wait a little while longer, and I will make youe down from your high horse." Zheng Hui thought to himself, but smiled on the outside and tried to keep the dialogue going with some small talk.

    "How long have you known Zhen Qing? How did she catch your attention? I mean she was just a street cook not too long ago. How many times did you do it?" Zheng Hui asked a variety of questions even trying to address Jin''s ego, but it was like talking to a brick wall.

    "Okay, understood. I do not know what you are nning, but you are putting yourself in a dangerous position." Xue Ping replied fast in the Pandamonium private chat.

    "It''s for a friend, Zhen Qing, the chef that made the ck Pepper Pork Buns. I ask that you do me this simple favour. Please? In return, I will give you some tickets to the brand new instance when ites out. I know it might be a false rm, but can you have someone look after Zhen Qing at this address I am going to send to you as a precaution?"

    "You do know that you are somewhat bribing a police inspector. I could catch you for that." Lee An managed to type something in. Maybe, Xue Ping had alerted her husband about it.

    "Hahaha, then let me run away first. You can catch me with this location tracking ping that I am going to send you." Jin sent a devious panda emoji in his reply along with a tracker designed by the System to track Jin down. Eventually, Jin also answered one of Zheng Hui''s questions after sessfully sending Lee An the specialised tracker app.

    "Long enough to know she is special," Jin replied. Zheng Hui thought this was a good time to hook him for more. If that Mr Xie had some feelings for her, asking the debtors to catch his no good, useless daughter that doesn''t want to give him allowance would be a good idea to ask for even more ransom from this arrogant young man.

    "Double kidnapping and my debts will not only be cleared, but I will even have some cash to party afterwards." Zheng Hui smiled to himself as he already imagined himself gambling and drinking more alcohol. In the end, he would still me Zhen Qing for all the loss he made.

    "You still have yet to tell me what exactly happened to Zhen Qing." Jin folded his arms as he acted all proud gazing outside the window of the van Zheng Hui was driving.

    "How much did she tell you?" Zheng Hui was agitated just remembering that particr incident, but the ride to the restaurant which the debtors assigned was far. He might as well vent his anger out.

    "Enough to understand." Jin tried to be vague and continued acting the part of a young noble master. He looked annoyed for getting another questioned back instead of receiving an answer. However, he noticed something peculiar. Even her father referred to her as Zhen Qing rather than Lynn.

    "Fine. I will give the short version, so the story at my side isplete. That way, you canpare it yourself. Zhen Qing was an assistant chef for the Tsukemen Grandmaster Mimasaka Sensei. They were in this secret yet grand G Dinner for the meeting of some VIPs. Onlyter did I find out that those VIPs were Yakuza Heads. Apparently, she was one of the few culprits that poisoned the Yakuzas. But the thing was, they did not die on the spot. No. Almost every Yakuza Head who ate the food died exactly 24 hourster." Zheng Hui said in a loud voice which Jin listened intently despite his involuntary yawning.

    "It was called an operation by the police. That''s what she said to me. Merely told me I didn''t need to worry too much. They would nevere and find us. But what bullshit. The next few days, I heard rumours from the neighbours that they, the Yakuzas, were hunting down chefs in the vicinity. I panicked and quickly asked my wife and Zhen Qing to pack up."

    "Yet, Zhen Qing fucking had the gall to continue telling me not to worry. That we would just need to go to the police. However, even before we had the chance to reach the police, the yakuza grabbed us from the streets and brought us to the town''s nearby seaport. They hung us from the cranes and left us to hang there for a while. Later, they... THEY FUCKING DROPPED US INTO THE SEA!" Zheng Hui could not help but bang his hands on the steering wheel, and the van horned rather loudly. He did not care and continued to drive.

    "My wife could not swim, and she drowned because of it. Zhen Qing and I managed to break out of the bindings in time. Yet when we got out of the sea port, the Yakuza were still waiting for us. They did not intend to let us off that easily. They brought contracts with them and forced us to sign them. Right there, right in front of them. With guns pointing at our heads, making us sign them with our own blood."

    "100 Million Yen! (Approximately 900K USD) HOW AM I GOING TO PAY 100 FUCKING MILLION YEN? And that was for each of us. So 200 million Yen in total. We were in total debt, even had to sell the house. Guess what? It was not even close to cover everything. We begged them to let us off, but the Yakuza simply replied that if we did not oblige to the contract, they were going to take Zhen Qing away and sell her to the brothels. Oh, don''t forget the exorbitant interest rate those gangsters charged."

    "And in hindsight, you probably regret you did not do that." Kraft sneered in Jin''s thoughts.

    "I had a friend who was a hobbyist fisherman. After getting money from a loan shark, I managed to pay him enough, that he was willing to risk it. He helped us to escape the Yakuza for a hefty price and here we are."

    "Meh, he is telling the truth. From his perspective that is." Kraft informed Jin.

    "How do you know?" Jin asked, and Kraft sighed.

    "He came into contact with you while he wrapped his arms around you right? That was sufficient contact for me to have one of my foxes infiltrate his nervous system and go to the memory area of the brain like the amygd, hippocampus h h h." Kraft exined.

    "So all you need is just close contact..." Jin finally got to know how to use Kraft.

    "Please, he can be considered barely conscious. Still rather intoxicated fromst night''s drinks. Definitely, one of the easiest targets for me to break in. Heck, it is a wonder how he can drive so smoothly in that state. Must have plenty of experience in that regard." Kraft analysed.

    "Big Brother Xie, how about passing some pity money to me? Maybe I can pay back my debts that way?" Zheng Hui giggled a little as he tried to ask for some money directly.

    "Why are you having difficulty paying them when you already ran away from them?" Jin questioned.

    "I uhh, I found out that, I can return- I mean we can return to Japan. See, there is a guy here that knows the Yakuza explicitly. He said that as long as I fulfil the contract, we would be able to return to Japan. He said he has a high enough standing to ignore the interest." Zheng Hui started to lie so obviously, that even Jin could figure it out without Kraft''s analysis.

    "Oooo that''s good to know. Why would he do such a thing? Won''t collecting the interest be more beneficial to him?" Jin questioned.

    "Ahh, Brother Xie, You have underestimated me. I am able to make friends with all kinds of people. I befriended him before I knew his true identity. When he told me who he really was, I confided all my woes to him and that is why he is doing that for me!" Zheng Hui answered.

    "He said the contract money would be used to increase his standing and by doing that he will be able to remove that contract from us! It looks like we found a silver lining within all this mess after all! I mean, if Big Brother can help us, I can make sure Zhen Qing will be able to express to you how very very grateful she is going to be. Get my drift? You can surprise her with this kindness of your heart." Now Zheng Hui sounded a little more believable this time round, but still too fake in Jin''s eyes.

    "Perhaps, I could prepare to make some arrangements since it seems that your story tallied with Zhen Qing''s. A slight variation no doubt but I can understand through the difference in viewpoint. How can I meet this friend of yours? I could try to work out a contract with him." Jin lied. Luckily, he had Kraft to figure out whether what the father had said was the truth.

    "Oh! You are just in luck, Big Brother Xie. He is actually the owner of the restaurant. He should be there today. I can bring you directly to his office! You can talk to him there!" Zheng Hui gleefully suggested as he saw the exit of the highway.

    "This idiot will never know what ising." Jin thought to himself.

    "This idiot will never know what ising." Zheng Hui thought to himself.

 Chapter 258 Wanhua Distric

    <h4>Chapter 258 Wanhua Distric</h4>

    "We have reached it." Zheng Hui said as he parked his van on the side of the street. Jin looked out of the window to check the surroundings. What surprised Jin was not that they travelled far away from Tiangong Shopping district but the ce they were at. It was no deserted valley or some abandoned warehouse.

    "Wanhua District," Jin said to himself as he looked at the map app he had on his phone. It was roughly an hour ride to this area, meaning it will take Lee An or Xue Ping some time to arrive.

    Even if they were to reach here, it does not exactly mean that he would have sufficient backup if things go awry. Still, he believed he was strong enough to fight against the threats of everyday life at Grade 7.

    Not to mention obtaining the knowledge to utilise Panda ck Fire and Panda White Ice would definitely be an increase in offensive powers aside from his sword attacks and basic Astral Panda skills.

    The area where Zheng Hui brought Jin was still reasonably quiet. There was moderate human activity going on the streets that Jin began to wonder how was Zheng Hui going to kidnap him?

    Through drugging the food he was consuming with sleeping pills? Using overwhelming strength? He was not able to think of a suitable and viable way that Zheng Hui could use to kidnap him so openly in public.

    "Come, Mr Xie. It''s this ce, the fourth floor." Zheng Hui beckoned to Jin who looked like some tourist that got lost.

    "This ce''s braised duck is one of the most delicious I ever ate. That is also why I am brought you here!" Zheng Hui tried to exaggerate, and Jin pretended to saw through his fake sincerity.

    "You wanted me to pay for the meal, right?" Jin said in an annoyed tone as they were waiting for the elevator.

    "Ahh, Mr Xie you said it yourself, I did not say anything at all! Pardon me for being a little more hungry today!" Zheng Huiughed with his eyes closed as he thought how gullible this little rich boy is. If Zhen Qing was more cooperative, they could have sucked more money together from this guy, and he might even be more forgiving towards his daughter.

    "Too bad, she was going to keep him for herself so that she can escape from me? No way!" Zheng Hui thought to himself as he pressed the fourth floor button when the elevator arrived.

    The elevator opened and thedy greeter weed both of them into the restaurant. It was there and then that Zheng Hui faced turned from scheming look to pure shock.

    "Big...BrotherбнOng!! Why are- I mean it is a surprise to see you here!" Zheng Hui had cold sweat dripping down his back as Jin saw a well dressed individual sitting at the centre table of the restaurant with a plethora of poorly dressed gangsters standing right behind him. The chains and rings on his hands with a pair of sunsses at the top of his head indicated some measure of wealth. Not to mention the food he was eating looked rather sumptuous. Jinter noticed that there were even gangsters sitting at the other end of the table which was coincidentally where the fire escape was.

    Jin looked back and saw the two gangsters folding their arms, gesturing and prompting them to move forward. There was no way out of this situation no matter how you see it. "Ahh.. the overwhelming strength and quantity to the point that you have to listen and do whatever they say. So that is possible after all." For some reason, Jin was taking notes for his future instances in his brain.

    "You are one weird System User." Kraft giggled at Jin''scking awareness to the overall situation. Did he really think he would get out of there scot free?

    "This, your friend?" Jin could see Zheng Hui was as stunned as a marble statue in a museum, and he slowly nodded his head. "Yes, this is the Brother I was talking about. I was just erm rather overwhelmed by the weing party. Aha haha haha!" Zheng Hui did not know what to say. His debt was not even that big that his ''friend'' would bring such arge entourage with him.

    "Brother Hui! It looks like you are hungry. Have a seat. Do not mind my goons. They are here to oversee my special VIP. He is in the toilet at the moment." Ong said as he picked up a piece of savoury duck meat with braised skin and dipped it in soy sauce before cing it in his mouth.

    Zheng Hui slowly walked forward with Jin following behind him and thinking of ways to get out of this situation. No doubt every one of the solutions seemed to be brute force since that was the onlynguage these gangsters will ever speak.

    At that moment, someone came out from the toilet, and as he was wiping his hand with a disposable hand towel, he looked towards Jin''s direction and shouted. "Oh?! Isn''t that Brother Zheng Hui! It''s had been a long time!" The man in a white suit and colourful shirt walked towards Zheng Hui.

    "Yamazaki sama!?" Zheng Hui immediately fell to his knees, trembling and prostrating when the man in the white suit came towards them.

    "A Japanese name? Couldn''t it be such a coincidence that it''s a Yakuza right?" Jin thought himself and hoped for the best.

    "I had been looking for you all this time. If not for Brother Ong here to tell me that you owe him some money while I was having a friendly drink with him, I would not have known that you have fled all the way to Shenzhen. It looks like fate cannot separate you and me in any way."

    Yamazaki sat down beside Ong and poured a ss for him.

    "For you, my friend." He toasted with Ong before drinking the alcohol in one gulp. Yamazaki then looked at Jin rather curiously.

    "So, you are the target that Hui brought?" Yamazaki asked Jin who managed to remain somewhat still for the past five minutes.

    "Yes, Yamazaki sama I brought him ording to Brother Ong. I hoped thatбн" Yamazaki banged the table hard, and Zheng Hui immediately kept his mouth shut.

    "DID I SAY YOU CAN TALK?" Yamazaki shouted at him, and Zheng Hui continued to put his head down on the floor. "I screwed upбн" Zheng Hui said to himself.

    "You." Ong''s turn to point at Jin.

    "I am feeling rather generous today. Get out of my sight. Leave this guy to us. He wanted to kidnap you anyways, so we are going to teach him some manners." Ong said, and that was when his phone started to ring.

    "Hm, then what are you waiting for? Just get her. Our guest wants the family to be reunited." Ong spoke loudly on his phone.

    "Yeah, yeah, yeah bye. Hey you. That girl is in your house right? Don''t mind we break in, take some stuff and the girl and we will not disturb your life anymore. You cool with that? Okay, deal done." Ong pointed at Jin after he hung up the phone and ate another piece of braised duck.

    "Iбн" Jin was speechless at how gentlemanly this gangster was. It looked like their real objective was indeed Zheng Hui and Zhen Qing.

    "You have no say. Now get out of my sight. You are spoiling my food and entertainment." Ong tilted his head a little to signal to his goons. The group sitting behind Ong immediately stood up, adjusted their shirts and walked menacingly towards Jin.

 Chapter 259 Thats The Spiri

    <h4>Chapter 259 That''s The Spiri</h4>

    "PLEASE! GIVE ME SOME TIME! I will get your payment for you!" Zheng Hui cried as he was knocking his head on the floor.

    "Hahaha, your life is mine no matter what. You have no way to repay me. I am just going to punish you, torture you, and maybe experiment on you. But your daughter on the other hand. Heh." Yamazaki grabbed his chopsticks and started eating the braised duck.

    Zheng Hui panicked and decided to stand up and grab a fork on the table, trying to rush at Yamazaki. The goons that were going for Jin stopped Zheng Hui without any effort and kicked him down to the floor once more.

    "Hahahaha! You think that you can take my life? How about this? If I get defeated, I will rip up your contract and clear your entire debt!" Yamazaki spat at Zheng Hui as the goons continued to kick him while he was down.

    "Jin, looks like there is a group of people trying to break into your house. They are currently climbing over the house''s fence. I have snuck Zhen Qing in the basement for safety." Yun sent her thoughts.

    "Can you keep her safe? I believe you are strong enough to stop them." Jin could not tolerate the current scene, but he needed some time to talk to Yun, so he had no choice but to watch Zheng Hui suffer.

    "I cannot show my powers in front of them. I can get Zeru out, but even he could not stop other gangstersing for Zhen Qing. I can sense more were stationed nearby in case things go awry. Zhen Qing did not even want to exin to me what was happening." Yun said as she summoned Zeru out. He knew what to do and went to confront the gangsters that were trying to climb over the fence.

    "I have asked for police help. Hopefully, they wille in time. Stay safe, Yun." Jin said in his thoughts before he took a breath in and wanted to say something in defence of Zheng Hui, but Kraft interrupted him.

    "You sure, Master? While I admire your courage, would saving him do you any good? Not that I condone this kind of knightly rescue. I''d love to get into a fight, but he is a scumbag that isn''t worth saving. Let alone lift a finger." Kraft asked.

    "I am not going to save him because I am kind or whatever bullshit. That asshole Ong is ruining my house as we speak. Not to mention, he is going to kidnap my employee. Anyone who dares to attack my friends or employees will suffer my wrath." Jin affirmed his stance to Kraft.

    "Hahahahaha! Well, here''s an option for you. I coulde out of your mind to assist you, but that will guarantee the System will know about my existence."

    "Though I am starting to suspect that the System might already have known about my presence and just chose to ignore it, or you can continue to keep me hidden," Kraft said as he stretched his hands in Jin''s mind.

    "I will use you when necessary. Will it be a problem if the System knows about you?" Jin continued to look onto Zheng Hui''s beating without any care.

    "Not really, I just want to mess both you and the System." Kraft shrugged his shoulders as he sat on a chair and shook his legs.

    "I will give you something to mess with when we are done here." Jin''s thoughts ran through Kraft''s mind, and Kraftughed hysterically.

    "HAHAHAHA, you want to take the Yakuza down? That''s awfully brave of you. BUT I LIKE IT. BRING IT ON. Bring him to his knees, and I will cook his brain into a tender, juicy steak. I will get him to spew every single secret." Kraft suddenly disappeared and gave Jin the full attention he needed to fight.

    The goons had their fill of beating Zheng Hui and now walked towards Jin.

    "You had your fun watching? Now scram off!" The goons shouted at Jin, but he was unfazed by the yelling.

    "Okay." Jin nodded as he took out his Bam and Boo in Dual Batons form and immediately knocked a few of the goons away in quick session before he dashed towards Zheng Hui and carried him.

    "Oh? Another idiot is trying to get to be a hero. Brother Ong, the entertainment you provide is rather satisfying." Yamazaki sniggered as he saw Jin running towards the window.

    "Indeed, I did not expect the morning to be that enjoyable. I assure you that the afternoon''s massage wouldplete you." Ong said as he poured some alcohol into Yamazaki''s ss.

    "I am looking forward to that." Yamazaki raised his ss and drank in one gulp.

    "By the way, how about a friendly bet? I think he will jump off the window. I feel he is the kind that is quiet and yet insane." Ong said as he ced 500 Yuan on the table.

    "I say he would, but it''s no fun that if I had gone with the flow. I will bet the reverse." Yamazaki took out some spare change in his pocket and ced it on the table that was equivalent to roughly 5000 Yuan and ced it on the table.

    "What are you doing?! Angering the Ruby Rat Triad and the Yakuza!" Zheng Hui could not wrap his head around this gullible boy''s actions. There was a way where he could have just quietly walked off, why would he want to put himself in such a precarious situation.

    "I am not doing it for you, and I do want you to see through your despicable actions and live through the consequences of making your daughter suffer instead of supporting her. However, that is not for me to judge. But for your daughter." Jin turned and mmed therge ss window causing several other panels to break as well.

    "But what are you doing! There is no way down! We are on the fourth floor!" Zheng Hui cried, and he tried to struggle, but Jin''s grip was stronger than expected. He did not expect this boy to have such immense strength. Now that Zheng Hui thought about it, Jin could have been a cultivator.

    "What are you goons waiting for? You think he would jump? GO!" Ong provoked his enemy while at the same timemanded his goons to capture them. Meanwhile, the goons hesitated upon hearing their leader''smands. Even though some had cultivation, gravity was still a foe not to be trifled with easily if they fall from the fourth floor.

    "If you are noting, then I am going," Jin said without hesitation as he stepped back while grabbing on the struggling Zheng Hui.

    "Don''t you dare let my personal entertainment go to waste or let him die. I want Hui to suffer for killing my boss. NOW GO!" Yamazaki''s shout was filled with terrifying chi that made the goons feel that death by falling was a better choice than by his hands.

    One of the gangsters ran towards Jin with a machete he took out from his storage ring, but the movements were predictable, and Jin effortlessly evaded the attack and kicked him down. It was, however, the second gangster that rushed in when Jin was not able to control his strength that caused the gangster to fall out of the fourth floor.

    "Oops." Jin thought to himself as he heard the gangster fell.

    The gangster screamed before heid t on the floor. Whereas the bystanders who were looking at Jin after he broke the ss started a considerablemotion when the gangster fell from the fourth floor. Jin took a quick look and saw that the person was still alive, breathing, just probably with lots of broken bones.

    "Who''s next?" Jin shouted at the gangsters, and he secretly changed his baton into a Katana by cing it back into his storage watch. He could not let the others see that he could change his weapon on the fly.

    The goons who initially did not dare to dance with death became enraged and fearful to see one of their brothers falling off the edge. They did not expect that boy who felt ingenuous was a devil in disguise. Meanwhile, Zheng Hui could not help but trembled at the side of the restaurant as he saw the bystanders talking and screaming below the streets.

    "Ahh, screw this! Let''s go as a group!" It seemed that one of the gangsters with higher seniority rallied the gang and decided to move as a whole to pin down Jin.

    "That''s the spirit." Jin grinned as he tightened his grip on his katana.

 Chapter 260 Code T Ra

    <h4>Chapter 260 Code T Ra</h4>

    "What is with thatmotion?" Lee An parked his car at the side and got off the car to take a look. That was when he saw a man falling off from a building. He looked around and saw that the bystanders were taking videos and pictures of the whole scene.

    Lee An looked up to see someone familiar at the edge of the fourth floor fighting against a group of gangsters. "What is happening?" Lee An said out loud, but no one care for him as the bystanders were cheering on the fight.

    Lee An could not help but try to call the police for backup. "Hello, 119. Wanhua District Station Operator here, what is the emergency?"

    "This is Inspector Lee An from the Tiangong District Station. Badge Number 0928X. There is currently a major fight breaking out at 19th Wanhua Street. I want to request for backup due to the situation."

    "Inspector Lee An, are you injured, or actively in the fight?" The Operator asked which seemed like a bizarre question, but Lee An answered.

    "No, I am neither. I am witnessing a fight breaking out." Lee An replied as he saw another guy fell from the fourth floor.

    "Inspector Lee An. I am sorry to say that we will not be providing any police support at 19th Wanhua Street for today. I suggest you do not be involved with the fight. We will not be liable for any injuries you incurred. This is the first andst warning I am giving you. It is Code T Rat."

    "What?! Code T Rat?! Fuck you!" Lee An cancelled the call and knew what that meant. "Damn! This is the Ruby Rat Triad territory?" Lee An thought to himself. Code T Rat meant that the triad of the Royal Zodiac Rat had full control of the street and rmended police not to interfere. The only one that was able to overwrite this is the military which was co-owned by all twelve Zodiacs ns since they were the government. Unless there was a majority overrule, the military would not act on streets owned by the various Triads of the Royal Zodiac.

    In short, this street he was currently in was awless state, owned solely by the Ruby Rat Triad. Whatever they say is thew. There was no other way that Jin could get out of there alive, and Lee An could not provide any solid backup. He could only pray that Jin would be okay.

    Jin knew that he was facing gangsters, simr to the ones he fought in Shenzhen Zoo. He was merciless against them because these triad members dealt with drugs, prostitution and probably things against thew. The fact that there were no police till now would mean one thing. Jin figured he stepped into territory belonging to them or that was what Inspector Lee and Xue Ping talked about before as part of a casual discussion in the shop.

    *p p p*

    "I say, you do provide some decent entertainment." Yamazaki pped his hand as heughed it out.

    "Tell me, brat. Why are you doing this? Did you not know that he was going to kidnap you and put you under our care? Or are you one of those people with some high fucking sense of justice?" Yamazaki asked.

    "Not really. You just said that if I can defeat you, you will remove his debt. Removing his debt meant that his daughter would be free too. I care for his daughter since she is my employee. Hence." Jin said as he smashed his hilt on a gangster''s head before shing his chest.

    "Ah, I see. Now that makes sense. But did you not hear from Brother Ong? That girl should have already been kidnapped right, Ong?" Yamazaki looked Ong, and he took out his phone to make a call in loudspeaker mode.

    "Hello, where''s the-" Ong tried to call, but all he heard was shouting.

    "Boss! I am sorry I couldn''t call back! We tried to intrude that guy''s house as instructed, but there is this bodyguard of his that fiercely protects the house! Not to mention, we heard police sirensing! We tried to surround him, but he beat the shit out of us!"

    "Then why did you not report this earlier?" Ong suddenly wanted to turn off loudspeaker mode, but Yamazaki was looking at him sternly.

    "That bodyguard tied us upбнhe epted your call to ry this message." Suddenly, Ong heard another voice speaking on the phone.

    "She''s safe and sound. Go wild, Boss." Zeru said it clearly in loudspeaker mode before he hung up.

    "Looks like your daughter is safe and sound. Brother Hui." Yamazaki''s face turned sour as he stared with murderous intent.

    "Who are you exactly?" Brother Ong stood up in a fit of anger.

    "Just a rather protective boss." Jin grabbed Zheng Hui, and suddenly he took the initiative to jump out of the restaurant, off the fourth floor.

    "Your debut, Peppers," Jin said as he pointed his smartphone towards the restaurant''s window.

    "Boss, you are the best." Peppers'' wooden staff appeared out of the smartphone, and she did not hesitate to cast an explosion aimed at the restaurant.

    *BADABOOM!*

    A huge bomb-like bang on the fourth floor went off that hugely panicked everyone in the vicinity as they started to take cover from the explosion. At that moment, Jin utilised Panda Rolling that enabled him tond rather safely onto the streets. That was the time when he saw inspector Lee An with his jaws opened wide at both the explosion and at Jin.

    "Inspector!" Jin shouted as he carried the feeble Zheng Hui to him and Inspector Lee An quickly ran towards him to help.

    "Boss, are you okay? Is this the guy?" Inspector Lee An was extremely confused by the current situation.

    "Things got overlyplicated, but right now, I am saving this guy." Jin assisted Zheng Hui into Lee An''s car, and suddenly he heard a loud defying roar from above. Jin looked up as he saw two well toned figures standing at the edge of the burning restaurant. Their eyes were menacing and directed all of their murderous intent towards Jin and Jin alone.

    "Get out of this ce now, Inspector Lee. I will buy you some time." Jin said, but Lee An was not moving an inch. How could he leave a civilian in a lurch?

    "EVERYONE ASSEMBLE!" Ong projected his voice with immense chi as he tore the burnt clothes away, revealing a body tattoo of numerous rats running all over his body. It looked as if the rats were consuming his entire body. On the other hand, Yamazaki''s body revealed arge tattoo of the god Bishamonten holding multiple spears.

    At that moment, everyone in Wanhua Street suddenly started to close their windows and shop shutters but out came gangsters from the various shophouses. A gangster did not meant anything but when a shit ton of gangsters came together, the chi they portrayed was in unison. A ginormous Ruby Rat silhouette appeared right above them to scare their enemies before going into the fight.

    "You fucking mess with the wrong people." Ong spat his saliva as he ced his hands in his pockets and signalled the assistant gang leaders with just an upwards nod of his head and they started to take their weapons out.

    "Does the deal still stand? Defeating you will remove all debts of the family of Lynn Arisato." Jin calmly said towards the overly bulging figures with the restaurant fire continued burning behind him.

    "That is if you can pass through them," Yamazaki said as he eyed at Ong. With just a hand signal from Ong, the gangsters started to charge towards Jin.

    "Inspector GO NOW!" Jin shouted as he repeatedly banged on Lee An''s car to hurry up.

    "But! What about you!" Lee An started his engine as quickly as he could with Zheng Hui cowering at the backseats.

    "I will be fine." Jin gave a casual salute with his two fingers at Inspector Lee as he reluctantly drove away.

    "I will be back Boss. I will be back with support. Just hang in there." Inspector Lee did not know why but he felt that he could trust Jin to be telling the truth when Jin said otherwise.

    "Peppers, Zeru, Milk andбнKraft. Time to work." Jin smirked as he brandished his katana out with style at the overwhelming crowd rushing towards him.

 Chapter 261 Catching Rats

    <h4>Chapter 261 Catching Rats</h4>

    "What had happened to Boss''s Shop?" Xiong Da who just came back from a two week long holiday with his new found girlfriend Ruo Ying realised that there was a drastic change to Jin''s shop. The only thing that remained the same was that the queue was ever long.

    "Hey, Xiong Da! You are back!" Luo Bo, the cultivator for the Illusive Rabbit Style who was queuing up with Jia Le, the cultivator for the Breathtaking Bellflower Style, saw him holding on to bags of various sizes.

    "Luo Bo! Jia Le! A nice coincidence! Here, take this, a souvenir from Belgium. Whether you share it with Bin Yong and Shi Zuo that is a matter I will close my eyes to." Xiong Da passed each of them a bag full of premium Belgium choctes, all beautifully wrapped.

    "Wow, Thanks Xiong Da! How was the trip with Ruo Ying? I am more interested in that! Cannot believe you immediately flew away to a faraway ce to spend some quality time with her." Jia Le thanked Xiong Da as she admired the wrapped box.

    "Oh, She and I had some good heart to heart talk and did some sightseeing along with some couple activities. I have yet to thank all of you properly for helping me to get back Ruo Ying." Xiong Da replied.

    "Oh ho ho ho~! Xiong Da no longer a Wizard?" Luo Bo smirked at Xiong Da, but he could not help butughed awkwardly and nodded his head.

    "She decided to release all of my ''magical energy'' for thest night of our trip. Saying that it would be a memory tost for a long time." Xiong Da blushed, but some of the customers who were waiting could not help to eavesdrop part of the conversation. Some even cheered at Xiong Da''s sess before Luo Bo rolled her eyes and said. "Please spare us the details. I would rather be dungeoneering."

    "Speaking of dungeoneering, what exactly happened to the shop?" Xiong Da knew that Boss Jin liked to change things, but this time around, it seemed way over the top. Both Luo Bo and Jia Le exined over the course of waiting, but for some reason, they could not help but notice something was wrong.

    "Weird, Boss should have opened his shop about this time, if not earlier than this." Luo Bo checked her watch.

    "Hey, Bo Bo, look it''s Yun and Zhen Qing." Jia Le noticed the two of them trying to rush themselves to the shop.

    "Hi guys, sorry for the wait." Yun started to open the shop and figured that Jin should be fine on his own. Zhen Qing, on the other hand, would be safer in the store aspared to leaving her in Jin''s house.

    "What happened? It is not usual for you guys to be thiste. Did something happen to Jin?" Xiong Da could not help but be a little suspicious. He felt hiswyer''s hunch tingling.

    "Woah, new hair colour Zhen Qing. That looks really natural on you." Luo Bo could not help but change the subject, brushing off the concern that Xiong Da had.

    "Thank youбн Erm, we are sorry for opening the store thiste." Zhen Qing bowed.

    "Nah, it is fine. At least it''s not like you were simr to some other restaurants or stores that closed their shops for no particr reason. I remember there was this infamous food store for its egg fried rice said that it closed its store because it''s international reporter''s day." Luo Bo epted the apology but could not wait to get into the store and show Xiong Da her new pet.

    Suddenly, many ck armoured vans came from all corners of Tiangong District in one swoop, and one of them did an emergency stop just right outside of the dungeon shop. The van side door was opened abruptly, and three masked men came out to grab onto Zhen Qing.

    Everyone including Yun who was opening the door was shocked by the confusion and brusque manner of this daylight kidnapping. The one who was petrified by this was Zhen Qing as she was being pinned down with a knife at her throat as the kidnappers tied her up and subsequently threw a sack over her head.

    The other ck armour vans immediately threw smoke grenades on the floor, and all the vans drove off in different directions.

    "Shit!" Yun cursed and looked at the crowd. "I am sorry, we are closing for the day," Yun said which most of the customers understood the meaning of that. They too were stunned by that, but it did not seem to faze Xiong Da.

    "Luo Bo, Jia Le and Yun. To my car!" Xiong Da sprinted forward to the parking lot nearby with Luo Bo and Jia Le. "Do you know what to do, Hippo? We could not track all of the vans down!" Luo Bo sat in front while Jia Le at the back. They were not going to let this injustice down.

    "The only thing I was proud when I was young was my sense of smell, and Zhen Qing has a very peculiar scent." Xiong started the engine before he was being beaten by Luo Bo.

    "What scent, you disgusting pervert!" Luo Bo said as she beat Xiong Da''s arm.

    "Ouch! No, it''s not what you think it is! She is a chef, and I believe for some reason or another she had a distinct, high quality scent of raw ingredients on her. I think she interacted sufficiently with Jin''s high quality food items that I could distinguish her by scent." Xiong Da drove his car in front of the Dungeons and Pandas before he picked up Yun.

    "Yun, any idea who kidnapped Zhen Qing? That was no ordinary kidnapping manoeuvre." Xiong Da stepped on the gas and followed the scent of Zhen Qing while Luo Bo took note of the map app to guide Xiong Da.

    "I will call Big Sis Xue Ping about this." Jia Le said as she searched Inspector Xue Ping''s user on the Pandamonium chat group.

    "Damn it, if only Zhen Qing was bestowed with the sub System, I would not have to go through this much trouble trying to track her down," Yun said as she tried tomunicate with the System to see if they could locate her. Yun also decided not to tell Jin at the moment since he already had his te full of gangsters thest theymunicated via thought.

    The System understood Yun''s plight and bestowed her a potion in her storage ring. Yun took a quick look at the potion and realised what it was. She immediately took it out of the storage ring and opened the potion''s safety seal cap. "Xiong Da, open your mouth, I am going to pour a potion in your mouth. I do not care if it is disgusting or not, but you better drink every drop of it." Yun leaned forward and fed Xiong Da the potion.

    Xiong Da suddenly felt that the scent of Zhen Qing grew stronger and he thought he could sense a faint trace of chi along with the scent. He decided to follow that overtake the red light and cut to the left of the road to follow the scent.

    "What kind of potion is this! I can sense Zhen Qing''s faint chi signature." Xiong Da asked as he sped up the car even though the red light camera shed and captured his number te.

    "A potion mainly to enhance the five senses. If Zhen Qing was a cultivator, it would be easier to trace her scent. All we can do now is to rely on you." Yun said that she had an inkling what had happened but will be exinedter. "All I can deduce is that it''s the Ruby Rat Triad members who kidnapped her."

    "Xiong Da! Xue Ping said to do what you must to find Zhen Qing. She will remove any red light tickets on your behalf. She said she was going to sortie after getting some information from Lee An." Jia Le just ended her call with Xue Ping as she now buckled on her safety belt as a precaution.

    "Well, that''s rather pleasant to hear. Let''s catch some rats." Xiong Da stepped on the eleration pedal and continued to chase after the scent.

 Chapter 262 No Mercy

    <h4>Chapter 262 No Mercy</h4>

    As the myriad of gangsters came from all directions to attack Jin, he did not let himself be surrounded. Instead, Jin went straight for the big and the bad. Why bother with the goons when their purpose was to wither you down? Just deal with the root of the problem and cut down the head of the venomous snake. Or in this case, rat.

    Of course, Jin was only able to do that because he had the backup of his teammates. Seeing so many gangsters once again affirmed Jin''s belief that they were in the rats'' territory. This meant that the police would not interfere in thiswless zone, so anything goes.

    "Free for All! That is what I love the most!" Peppers, who was in her pyjamas suit stood at the rooftop of a shop house since the moment she was summoned by Jin. After getting permission she twirled her magical staff and aimed at the crowd below her. As much as she loved explosions, she did not wish to cause unnecessary coteral damage, which would merely serve to furtherplicate things once the issue blows over.

    "It''s not really my style of magic but here goes! Explosive Beam Pir!" Peppers shouted as a beam of fiery light appeared from the skies, striking down on the streets below. The radius wasrge enough to decimate tens of gangsters, and it did not stop there. The beam of intensely concentrated energy trailed down the road burning and consuming anything in its path.

    The gangsters were shocked by the existence of a Western magical arts practitioner in the midst of battle. Not only that judging by the impressive spell she was a high level one at that too, participating in this battle. "Do not underestimate us!" One of the Ruby Rat Triad members shouted, apparently one of higher seniority and cultivation grade.

    He jumped up to the rooftop in one go and decided to aim his kick at the girl in pyjamas. Peppers braced herself for the impact by putting her staff right in front of her. Suddenly, she felt arge familiar hand holding onto her shoulder as if to tell her to move backwards.

    *BANG*

    The shot went through the head of the Ruby Rat Triad member and his head was detached in an instant. It reappeared, now being carried around in the mouth of a ck fox that had an intricate hand painted ornate mask at the side of its face. The headless body dropped from mid air and onto the side of the roof. The man with the trench coat walked towards it and kicked it down, horrifying the gangsters that were still reeling from the previous magical attack.

    "Aren''t you..." Peppers, who now recognized the familiar looking trench coat slowly went into tears. "Stupid guy! Baka! You big idiot!" Peppers dropped her staff, running towards Kraft and hugged him tightly.

    "Woah woah! Easy there, little girl." Kraft smiled gently for once as Peppers wrapped her arms around his waist and he removed his stained scarlet red glove to rub her head.

    "Where have you been?! The System said you were gone forever!" Peppers pouted at the unexpected reunion.

    "Just a long nap, that''s all." Kraftughed when suddenly a massive bang sounded from the door leading to the rooftop. The gangsters knocked the door down and saw their target. Anyone who was not indoors would be considered as an enemy and be killed.

    *BOOOM*

    "Did you have to do that Peppers?" Kraft smirked at the hot mess left at the site of the broken door.

    "How dare they interrupt my reunion with you!" Peppers stuck out her tongue at Kraft as he continued to pat her head.

    "It is nice to see you again Kraft." Milk appeared at the same ce where Peppers first emerged, but Milk was in full battle gear, unlike pyjamas girl.

    "Milky~, you are as bouncy as ever." Kraft smiled back, and Milk shook her head. "You haven''t changed a bit. As lewd as ever."

    "Kraft." Zeru materialised right after Milk and acknowledged Kraft''s presence.

    "Zeru." Kraft nodded his head slightly as he took the chance to summon back Tsu the ck fox back into his revolver.

    "Let''s go save our master''s ass once again!" Peppers shouted as she released herself from Kraft, picking up the staff and looked at the ongoing two versus one battle at the other side of the street. However she realised that first they would need to clear the neighbouring shophouse roofs, which were now filled with angry gangsters. They started to jump over to the roof that Betors were on, trying to surround them.

    "Show them no mercy, kill them all!" The Triad vice leader shouted, and the gangsters rushed in with all might, unknowingly to their deaths too.

    "No Mercy?" Kraft''s gentle expression changed to the fanatic one he always showed Jin as he took out a triple-barreled, triple-cylindered revolver ornamented with detailed golden fox designs. The moment Peppers saw it, she could not help but giggle.

    "Kraft really took out ''No Mercy'' to show it to them." Peppers thought to herself, and it looked like both Milk and Zeru understood the reference. They could not help but smirk at the pun intended by Kraft and decided to step back to let Kraft show off.

    "Wow, youzy bastards, leaving me all the work." Kraft grinned evilly. With a transcendent sleight of hand, almost impossible to see with the n.a.k.e.d eye, he transferred three bullets from his old revolver to his new one.

    As the gangsters charged towards the group, Kraft pressed the trigger on No Mercy as he bellowed the name of his bullet. "Show me your true form, Itori!" The gun fired and the bullet whizzed through the air. Suddenly, a colossal white furred fox with red line markings on its entire body manifested in front of Kraft. With a swipe, the whole row of gangsters vanished right in front of the betors as she charged forward and bit the Triad assistant leader.

    Surprisingly, he was fast enough to hold onto the mouth of the Fox Demon Itori, but his efforts were futile. Within a second, Itori shot out a breath of white fire, evaporating him into dust.

    "These...These people are not ...are иC THEY ARE MONSTERSSSS!!!!" One of the surviving gangsters cried out as he broke down and peed on his pants as his legs were rooted to the ground when Itori moved towards him and stomped him with her paw.

    A whistle was heard and Itori suddenly disappeared. The white demon fox returned to Kraft as a bullet. The remaining gangsters could not help but try to run away at the horrifying foes in front of them.

    "That was rather amazing to see no matter how many times you show it." Peppers pped as Kraft gave a grin and a theatrical bow in return.

    "I think I should offer Master Jin a bit of help. He has held himself well fighting two foes that are stronger than him." Milk felt pumped up as she started to jump around on the spot a bit, preparing to do a long jump.

    "Bwahaha! Milk is finally going to show the path of the body to Jin?" Kraft teased, realizing, why Milk was in her battle monk attire instead of her usual priest attire.

    "Hmph! Do not twist my Grandmaster''s teachings into dirty stuff, you imbecile fox." Milk expressed her annoyance at Kraft as she took a few steps back before she did a short run and leaped to the opposing side of the street.

    -------

    "This is interesting. So much data to be taken in. No wonder Boss Jin can create such wonderful dungeons. It looks like I worried for nothing for today." Mr Know-It-All spoke as he looked through the binocrs. He was currently stationed at a rented room in one of the apartments looking across 19th Wanhua street with ady in punk rock clothes ying her portable handheld console on the sofa.

    "So, I do not need to mobilise for today?" The girl with aquamarine colour hair asked Mr Know-It-All, and he shook his head.

 Chapter 263 Yamazaki

    <h4>Chapter 263 Yamazaki</h4>

    Jin''s katana smashed with Ong''s steel bar mace, but it was a mere distraction for Yamazaki to strike at Jin with his katana too. "Huh!! You think you can beat Bishamonten''s Katana Art of Fighting? Do not make meugh, Faker!" Yamazaki''s attack connected with Ong''s bar mace attack and shed at Jin.

    Fortunately, Jin''s spirit watch turned into the moveable living armour, and it blocked the attack from being fatal but the attack was strong enough for him to feel that there was a crack in his left ulna bone. Jin gritted his teeth in pain as he summoned a spike of white ice from his forearm and aimed it at Yamazaki.

    However, instead of dodging, Yamazaki released his aura and a silhouette of Bishamonten with eight orange spiritual orbs floating right around the silhouette. He struck back at the ice spike but it gave Jin some space to back off from the two triad leaders.

    Ong revealed his cultivation as the Seventh Grade Ruby Rat Cultivation, but Jin felt that his seventh grade powers were a notch higher than Ong''s despite the fact that Jin just entered the realm of Seventh Grade not too long ago. ording to previous conversations with Ming, whenever Jin cultivated, the spiritual union of the multiple pandas had deepened the depth of his cultivation grade.

    Ming revealed that Jin''s cultivation strength level would always be at least half a grade better than the current grade that he was in. For example, if he was a Grade 7 on paper, his strength would reflect a Grade 7 Peak. Initially, Jin was sceptical when the System said he was a Grade 7 because of what Ming had said. He thought that when the System was measuring his strength and he would just be at Grade 6 Peak. Yet, when he summoned his cultivation out, it was there sevenzy pandas rolling around above his head.

    "So, what Ming said was really true after all." The results of him being a Grade 7 did not sink in until he fought against Ong and Yamazaki.

    However, Jin felt that he had underestimated his enemies this time around as Yamazaki was definitely stronger than him. In Japan, the Seven Fortune Gods (Shichi Fukujin) ns were the ones that ruled the country, simr to how the Twelve Royal Zodiac ns ruled China. From the way Yamazaki fought and shown his cultivation had proven that he was from the Bishamonten n. One of the fiercest, if not the strongest in terms of fighting power in Japan.

    Resembling the Royal Zodiac ns having the Triads to do their dirty work and to earn more money, the Seven Fortune Gods ns had the Yakuza to control the people if necessary. Bishamonten n was no doubt the most robust Yakuza family in Japan, and people learnt to fear yet respect their authority at the same time.

    When Yamazaki portrayed his Bishamonten with eight orbs floating around him, Jin knew that each orb was equivalent to one cultivation grade hence Yamazaki was a Grade Eight Bishamonten cultivator in Jin''s eyes.

    When Jin stepped back to distance himself from Yamazaki, Ong''s cultivation red up, and in a blink of an eye, Jin realised Ong disappeared right in front of his face. "Ruby Rat Style, Hidden Ambush of the Rat!" Ong shouted as his figure emerged from behind Jin and decided to smash Jin with his bar mace.

    "No, you don''t." Ong suddenly felt a forceful impact on his face, and he was sent flying into the ashes of the restaurant.

    "Ooooh, a flying Kickbined with a long jump. Must be rather painful especially on the face. I wonder if he would be disfigured from that." Peppers took out a bag of ch.i.p.s and started munching on it. Sheter offered it to Kraft, and he wasn''t courteous with the amount he took at one go.

    "Kraft!" Peppers pouted.

    "You didn''t have your breakfast. I am helping your body." Kraft held a handful of ch.i.p.s and started eating one by one.

    "I shall clean up the remnants." Zeru ignored the two of them and started working by free falling from the roof to the streets.

    "Milk?!" Jin was surprised at Milk''s new battle outfit. She had a ck hard knuckles gauntlets, and her knees and elbows were padded with armour. Her outfit was still simr to the priest outfit but s.e.xier and more revealing- Wait, Jin meant ease of movement.

    "I''ll take this one. You can handle Mr Japanese over there." Milk winked at Jin, and he sighed.

    "Well, at least it''s better than two versus one. Okay, Mr Japanese it is then." Jin charged forward and attacked Yamazaki, and without a doubt, Yamazaki parried his attack but the Perfectly Normal Parry sh activated, and Jin finally managed to inflict a cut wound on Yamazaki after the prolonged fight.

    "It looks like without Ong, you are nothing but a support cultivator with big muscles." Jin sneered at Yamazaki which caused him to rage and release his chi without any suppression. The chi was strong enough that it killed off the remaining mes that were still burning in the restaurant.

    "YOU will taste the wrath of Bishamonten himself!" Yamazaki''s eyes turned blood red as his muscles showed veins protruding out as if it was waiting to burst. Disciples of Bishamonten n will always learn a distinctive trait of Bishamonten when they reached a specific grade. Usually, from Grade 6 onwards, these disciples will have to master this ordinary, yet unique skill only to the n of Bishamonten called Inner Rage. By releasing the inner reserves of chi in oneself, it would excite one''s chi points to give a person an increase in strength and attack power. The only downside is that there is a time limit to it, but Yamazaki reckoned he could kill off Jin in that amount of time.

    Yamazaki locked swords with Jin once again, but this time he used his empty hand to punch Jin at the side. As Jin was caught off guard by it, Yamazaki twisted his sword and prepared to perform forward pierce attack.

    "Advanced Katana Art! Bishamonten Pierces the Skies!" Yamazaki shouted at the top of his voice.

    Jin''s entire body suddenly trembled as if it knew that he would be in trouble if he were not able to stop Yamazaki''s attack. "White Panda Ice!" Jin thought to himself as he tried to create a concentrated block of ice on his entire left hand and used it to block the pierce.

    "It is USELESS!" Yamazaki grinned widely as he thought to himself when he saw Jin''s hand was being formed with the ice. Yamazaki''s katana indeed went through Jin''s forearms and even the ice, causing him to feel pain pulsating through his entire body. One of the living armour managed to reach Jin''s heart on time, but the tip of the katana broke it into many pieces.

    "F.u.c.k." Jin closed his eyes and opened his mouth to scream...a st of ck and white beam out. With Yamazaki''s sword locked into Jin''s ice and hand, Yamazaki either has to withstand theplete st of Panda Yawning or let go of his katana but still received some of the damage due to his proximity with Jin.

    Nevertheless, Yamazaki chose the former because of pride, and that was his downfall. He tolerated the st beam of the ck and white chi energy, but he did not know that it was not over. Jin took the chance for the White Panda Ice to spread onto the katana and ultimately to his hands.

    With Yamazaki being locked in ce, Jin now unleashed his ck Panda Fire specifically only on Yamazaki''s head as Jin continued to spread the ice through Yamazaki''s torso and his legs. Yamazaki tried to struggle, but the Inner Rage caused him to be vulnerable to attacks.

    "ARRGGGGGHHHH" Yamazaki cried out in pain as his head was burning, unable to breathe and he felt he was being pinned down by the ice.

    "I am not stopping just yet. I do not know how to pierce the skies, but I know how to pierce you." Jin took the opportunity for the Panda White Ice to permeate through the skin.

    "YAMAZAKI!" Ong realised what was happening, but Milk''s repeating offensive blows fully upied him. Ruby Rat Style is well known for manoeuvres, but the constant assault left Ong busy defending himself. "You Rat, where else should you be looking." Milk gave three sessive blows to his chest the moment he was distracted, and it caused Ong to spit blood out.

    It was apparent that the blows caused Ong''s chest muscle and bones to be indented and Milk did the favour of breaking it by first sending a roundhouse kick to the head, causing Ong to be concussed and followed by a turning kick to the same ce she delivered her triple blows.

    As if it was premeditated, the sternum bone cracked in a way that a piece of it flew into the heart because of the impact, causing Ong to bleed internally and die from it.

    "Are you going to admit defeat and leave Lynn Arisato''s family alone?!" Jin shouted at the burning head of Yamazaki, and he nodded in advance. Jin let go of the Yamazaki, and he was left standing because of the ice that froze his legs upright. The ck fire subsided, and Yamazaki was able to breathe although the skin on his face were all burnt.

    "What assurances can I have?" Jin ced his katana at Yamazaki''s neck, even pushing till it bleeds slightly.

    "If you kill me. HAHAHAHHAHAHHA!" Yamazakiughed loudly which pissed Jin off.

    "If you kill me, the Bishamonten n wille after you for sure. If you do not kill me, the Bishamonten n and I WILL COME FOR YOU. We do not forget our debts." Yamazaki shouted at Jin at the top of his voice. Jin was at the edge of killing him, but that was when Kraft materialised right in front of him.

    "Don''t worry. Leave this to me. You did well for now." Kraft smiled at Jin as this was the first time Jin saw Kraft''s rugged and hardy expression on his face. Kraft suddenly disappeared and Yamazaki who wasughing unexpectedly stopped as if he had a brain dead gaze in his eyes.

    At the same time. Milk helped Jin out from the White Panda Ice that he was stuck with Yamazaki. She even slowly pulled the katana out of his left hand and began chanting healing spells on it. "My particr outfit lowers my healing capability so just bear with the pain." Milk said after she finished the incantation of an intermediate healing spell.

    In the meantime, when all these were unfolding, Jin suddenly heard multiple police sirens in the background.

 Chapter 264 Little Penguin

    <h4>Chapter 264 Little Penguin</h4>

    As the van ride was bumpy and the men were shouting at each other, Zhen Qing was thrown to a corner of the van, with her hands tied and a bup sack over her head. She could not fathom how a simple plea of help had be the second worst mistake she made in her entire life.

    Earlier in the day when Zeru disappeared to assist Jin, Deng Long and Se Lang came to apprehend the gang members that tried to break into Jin''s house. Yun went ahead into the bas.e.m.e.nt and checked on Zhen Qing, wondering if she was still okay.

    "I knew it. I knew I should not have asked Jin for help. I should have just given money to my father..." Zhen Qing thought as she hid herself in the bas.e.m.e.nt holding a metal bat.

    "Zhen Qing or erm Lynn, I aming in. It is Yun." Yun turned on the lights in the bas.e.m.e.nt and walked towards Zhen Qing who was weeping once again.

    "I am sorry, Yun, to bring you this much trouble..." Zhen Qing looked at her with watery eyes. She was so vulnerable that Yun could not help but hugged her gently.

    "It''s alright. It is alright. Do not worry my dear. We will take care of you." Yun said as she patted Zhen Qing''s back.

    "Why would you take care of me? I am a burden. I am nothing but a ma for trouble." Zhen Qing continued to cry, and she tried to push her away but Yun did not let go of her. it was obvious she was in pain yet felt guilty at the same time.

    "Didn''t Jin promise he would help you out?" Yun tried to cover for Jin, but instead of reassuring her it merely brought up more questions from Zhen Qing.

    "Why would he do that? Although Iined about the food he currently serves, it was actually one of the best things I ever tasted. I could not reach that kind of level even with the ingredients he provided me. He should just get himself a new and better chef. One who does not trouble you. Please Yun! Just ask him to leave me alone." Zhen Qing buried her face into Yun''s shoulders and hugged her even tighter.

    Despite what she said, her heart could not deny the truth. The truth of having fun in Jin''s shop. The little acts of care and concern that Jin showed her when she was too busy or too tired. The intense research she buried herself in the kitchen instance to explore the next uing main dish for Jin. The approval of Jin''s customers when she served her brand new revised ck Pepper Pork Buns to them.

    Their happiness, in turn, gave her the motivation to continue to work hard. Yet, because of all this, she did not want to let go of this job but at the same time, wished not to burden them with her troubles.

    "Jin cares about you. He sees the potential in you. I see the potential in you. Right now, you are chained down by your past. Jin is now helping you with a certain aspect of that, but in turn, you have to help yourself to get up too." Yun said to her as she looked into Zhen Qing''s eyes.

    "Now get up, wipe your tears. Forget this nonsense about abandoning you. As far as I''m concerned, you are one of us. We are going to the store, since you will be safer there with the other cultivators as witnesses. Besides, the store must continue to operate, right?" Yun smiled at Zhen Qing as she rubbed her tears away and nodded lightly.

    "But before we get going, here, Lynn." Yun took out a beautiful looking piece of stud earring from her storage ring. It looked like a drop of crystal blue tear from afar, but on closer inspection, it had the shape of a baby penguin with its adorable eyes and cute short beak.

    Zhen Qing did not expect to receive such a beautiful gift from Yun, much less a penguin. "I remember you told Jin that you wanted a penguin cultivation. So he and I thought of making this for you. This earring will serve as a charm to protect you. Do not hesitate to call for help by pressing gently on it and focus your heart to it. Help wille." Yun exined as she assisted Zhen Qing to put the stud earring on.

    "I did not expect Jin to remember such...detail." Zhen Qing felt like she wanted to cry again as she followed Yun out but this was not the time for it.

    ---------

    A sudden jerk in the van caused Zhen Qing to return back to her current situation as she was forcibly being carried around by her kidnappers. Zhen Qing smelled the scent of the forest as she got out of the Van. There were many voices but only after listening for a while did she realise there were not just Chinese voices.

    "Japanese?" Zhen Qing thought to herself as she tried to listen more intently and true enough, some phrases were indeed in japanese. The kidnappers subsequently shoved her onto a sofa and took the sack off her head.

    Zhen Qing suddenly saw bright lights being shone at her and she could not discern what was in front of her clearly. She heard footsteps moving towards her until a familiar silhouette towered over her.

    "It''s been a long time. Lynn." The voice spoke, and Zhen Qing could not believe her ears.

    "Mimasaka Sensei...?" Zhen Qing looked up and tried to focus, despite her impaired vision. She noticed the surroundings in the room was all dark, but she could feel the presence of other people lurking around even though Mimasaka Sensei was the only one standing right in front of her.

    Mimasaka Sensei. The one and only chef she had acknowledged as Sensei, the very master that taught her every nook and cranny she got to know about the kitchen. The same master, who taught her the importance of imparting their feelings in their food... and also the one she risked her life for to help orchestrate the Last Supper Scandal.

    "Indeed, I am." Mimasaka said as he folded his arms.

    "Why are you here? How are you here? Why am I being kidnapped by you?!" Zhen Qing could not connect anything together. It did not make any sense at all.

    "I am here to clean up my mess, but I would like to have a word with you first." Mimasaka Sensei replied.

    "What are you talking about? I have served the Daikokuten n with everything I have. I did what was told by you. What do you mean by cleaning up your mess..." It was at that point in time, Zhen Qing realised something. As if her brain finally found the missing puzzle after all this while.

    "I am your...scapegoat?" Zhen Qing lowered her head as she said it and Mimasaka replied with a yes.

    "Why...Why...WHY?" Zhen Qing still could not wrap her head through the fact that was presented to her.

    "AFTER EVERYTHING I HAVE DONE FOR YOU? EVERYTHING! My love for cooking, my passion for cooking. MY LOVE FOR YOU! Was everything just a big joke to you... Just a way to manipte me to do your bidding?!" Zhen Qing screamed at the top of her voice that from the shadows, a gangster came out wanting to shut her mouth but Mimasaka stopped him.

    "WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" Zhen Qing was filled with an intense rage as she struggled against the ropes.

    "I did love you. Loved you as my child first. Later as my lover. I swear to you that those feelings were genuine and had nothing to do with what cameter. You are the one and only one that truly understands me. Understands my work, my passion, my ambitions. But I need you to give me your love once more. I ask that you sacrifice yourself toplete me. So that I can present your Dantian core to my boss as evidence."

    "Your boss...? The head of Daikokuten n?" Zhen Qing finally realised something.

    "So your entire goal is after all theplete control of Japan''s Association of Master Chefs." Zhen Qing eyes turned dull for a moment to think how stupid she was having loved her master once for his ambitions.

    "I will remember you for life. My darling little Penguin." Mimasaka took out a gun and ced it at her head.

 Chapter 265 Mimasaka

    <h4>Chapter 265 Mimasaka</h4>

    "Penguinбн" As she was about to give up all hope and let Mimasaka Sensei take her life, she remembered that very word.

    "You will always be my baby penguin, my daughter. The outside world may be tough like the seas but remember that you have the ability to conquer it. To swim in there dauntlessly and eventually find a mate that you will love for life. But for now, sleep tight in my embrace." The words of her mother shbacked in her mind as Zhen Qing curled herself up despite being tied up.

    Mimasaka gave a sigh before he clicked the safety button off from his gun. He gave a slight pause and prepared to half squeeze his trigger. After all, he did love her once. It would be heartless of him to kill Lynn just like that.

    But that was all the time Zhen Qing needed to touch the penguin stud earring that Yun gave her.

    "Goodbye." Mimasaka closed his eyes as he squeezed his trigger a few times. A quick death is better than a slow dying one. The same concept that he applied to all of his freshest livestock by giving them a swift end.

    However, when Mimasaka opened his eyes, he was shocked to see that there was another body right in front of him. "Whatбн?" Mimasaka could not believe his eyes, but at that moment, arge bang came from the side of the building as the doors were broken down.

    "ZHEN QING! WHERE ARE YOU!" Xiong Da shouted while holding his two handed war club. A threatening vibe oozed out of his body until he saw Mimasaka and his gangsters at the end of the darkened warehouse.

    "Let me brighten it up for you." Luo Bo offered as she shot re arrows at the roof of the warehouse that suddenly illuminated the entire ce. The re arrows sparkled a while before it lit brightly, allowing Xiong Da to see the site properly. It was a good thing she had bought an assortment of arrows from Jin''s store previously. She assumed each and every arrow would have its use, it''s just a matter of when.

    "Kill them!" Mimasaka who was distracted by Xiong Da gave the order before looking back at the sofa, only to find both the body he had shot, as well as Lynn, were gone. Mimasaka was frustrated and decided to make a break out of this ce as soon as possible. In the meantime, his goons were carrying decent firearms and wielded rather destructive magic, courtesy of the Daikokuten n.

    Xiong Da nned to charge all the way from one end of the warehouse to the other, but he was not indestructible nor immune to all physical and magical attacks. Suddenly, a vine barrier appeared in front of him, and it was moving along with him. He then felt that his waist was a little tighter than usual.

    "Heh heh, sorry to use you as the moving shield." Jia Le smiled as she cast a vine barrier with its roots attached to Xiong Da''s belly instead of the ground so Xiong Da could still move and receive protection from the barrier.

    "It''s fine, in fact, it''s a brilliant idea." Given Xiong Da''s size, Luo Bo and Jia Le were able to hide behind him easily as he moved towards the goons with the vine barrier attached to him. Separately, Luo Bo also took this chance to counter attack with her arrows and managed to bring some enemies down before they shed head on.

    Zhen Qing still could not believe it as she was being carried out of the battle scene. "Jinбн!?" Zhen Qing spoke out with disbelief as Jin smashed the warehouse''s covered window ss panels with the help of a Lazy Panda Swipe and brought her out of the warehouse.

    "Argh, so one of them did get to me." Jin peered over his side to see a bullet lodged into it. The living armour was only able to block three shots as they were not fast enough to block the fourth one. Jin then remembered thest living armour took the blow of Yamazaki''s katana art. "Well at the very least, the remaining pieces of that living armour were absorbed by the others, making them slightly stronger. But still, ouchбн" Jin thought to himself.

    "How did you suddenly appear?" Zhen Qing still could not believe that Jin was there to protect her when she needed him the most.

    "Didn''t you call me?" Jin smiled as he pointed at the earring and Zhen Qing suddenly felt her heart skipped a beat, but there was no time to admire Jin when Mimasaka jumped over the broken window panel too and faced Jin.

    "I do not know what kind of mysterious arts you used, but it does not change the odds of her surviving." Mimasaka said as he unloaded the entire pistol magazine at Jin which Jin easily deflected each and every one of them with the help of Inverse Eyes.

    "Huh, so you are a cultivator. Then so be it." Mimasaka unveiled his cultivation, and the god Daikokuten appeared with eight orbs circling the silhouette of an old man carrying arge mallet and an oversized sack.

    "Eight orbs..." Jin suddenly felt the pressure building up again after the intense fight with Yamazaki, but he still did not give in to Mimasaka as he had an employee to protect. Even Zhen Qing was stunned by Mimasaka''s cultivation as she did not expect him to be this strong at all.

    Mimasaka took out arge spat and brandished it in front of Jin who nearly found it funny until Zhen Qing shouted at him. "Do not underestimate his spat as a weapon! The Daikokuten n is known to use kitchen utensils as weapons. They are, after all, the n that uses food as weapons! His speciality is Seafood Tsukemen. He has the ability to bring out the power of Sea creatures against you."

    "Thank you for the warning." Jin immediately toughened his fighting stance as he prepared to face Mimasaka head on.

    "Master, let me do it instead." Zeru whispered to him like a ghost and did not take no as an answer. Mimasaka assumed he had the upper hand in this fight despite the leak of information from Lynn, but when he wanted to charge towards the injured Jin, he felt that his body was heavy all of a sudden.

    "Huh?" Mimasaka wondered, without realising why he was falling to the ground even before he started the fight. It was at that moment, he saw the entirety of his body before him. For some reason, his body was upside down and a person was standing right behind it. One momentter, his vision went nk. Mimasaka''s head went rolling down the hill beside the warehouse and into a flowing river.

    Zhen Qing could not take the shock and started to vomit. Seeing this, Jin tried to calm her down and took out a bottle of water from his storage watch to let her drink. Zeru immediately disposed of the body away from Zhen Qing''s sight.

    "Ermбнthank you, Zeru?" Jin did not know how to react, and it was the first time, Zeru took the initiative to eliminate his enemy for him rather than weakening it for him to defeat.

    "No, Master, I am sorry. It was my fault. I noticed one of the bystanders was filled with evil intent, but that was not part of the group of gangsters I caught. So I let him get away. I should have eliminated all threats, and this sort of harm would not havee to Lady Lynn. Please forgive me too, Lady Lynn." Zeru knelt as he bowed down to ask for forgiveness.

    "No worries, Zeru. I thank you for saving me time and time again." Zhen Qing shook her head as she wiped her mouth with a towel from Jin.

    It was at that time the police sirens red loudly once again.

 Chapter 266 Police Interrogation

    <h4>Chapter 266 Police Interrogation</h4>

    "Seriously, what were you guys thinking?" Inspector Xue Ping shook her head as she took the statement of Jin. He told her everything from the start of the day to where she readily handcuffed him without any resistance.

    However, Jin did not speak the whole truth, especially the death of Mimasaka by Zeru''s hands. Jin had taken the initiative to tell Zeru to hide himself and took the me for killing Mimasaka by himself, stating that it was all in self-defence. Zhen Qing did not know why would Jin do that but agree to side and coordinated her story with Jin too when she was being interrogated by Inspector Lee An in a separate room.

    "So you are saying that you were teleported by a portal spell to protect Zhen Qing from the shots? Zhen Qing called you for help via the earring?" Xue Ping asked to rify Jin''s statements.

    "Yes, Yun and I managed to obtain an essory to allow such teleportation travel. Unfortunately, it''s a one time use." Jin said as Yun told him the details in his thoughts.

    "Why did she not want to call you earlier to help her when she got kidnapped? Yet it was such a coincidence that she called you mere moments you were done with the battle at Wanhua Street?" Xue Ping pressed for more answers to rify her

    "I...cannot exin this kind of coincidence but somehow, it happened." Jin did not realise the timing of his teleportation was this convenient too until Xue Ping pointed out.

    "It''s fine. I just wanted to know since Inspector Lee reported he saw you, but you suddenly disappeared before he was able to ask you more about the rampage caused in Wanhua District. I was trying to connect the dots." Xue Ping told Jin as she continued to write down in case notes about what Jin had said. "Okay, that is all I need to know, yourwyer will settle the rest." Xue Ping said as she packed her notes into a file and walked off from the interrogation room.

    Out went Xue Ping, and in came Xiong Da. "Hi, Boss." Xiong Da grinned as he walked into the room and loosened his tie a little. "I really did not expect you to be mywyer..." Jin said casually.

    "Your words hurt me, Boss. I cannot believe I took this pro bono." Xiong Da gave a sorrowful face at Jin which made himugh.

    "Okay okay I lied, I was half expecting you. But thank you foring to assist me and helping Yun get the bad guys. Are Luo Bo and Jia Le okay?" Jinughed a little before he got serious. He felt bad that he unknowingly dragged some of his regr customers into a matter that should not be their fault in any way.

    "They are fine. I asked a rather good friend of mine who is specialised in this kind of matters to clear my name and theirs. That is why I am able to aid your case. Besides, I did say if you ever need help, I will not hesitate to help you, right?" Xiong Da smiled at Jin.

    "So, how bad is my case? How many years of jail time am I looking at? Do I even have a bail?" Jin asked with a tinge of regret in his tone. He knew that he went a bit too far with his actions. He and his betors almost massacred the entire Wanhua Street''s worth of gangsters. Of course, that was an exaggeration on his part as subsequent reports from Xue Ping stated that a number of gangsters were severely injured, many were near the brink of death, but they could survive. The rest was written off as unfortunate losses by the Ruby Rat triad, but Jin had taken the me and honour for killing a few well known gangsters which the public police had been trying damn hard to do so.

    The funny thing was, Inspector Lee used this particr chance to order a SWAT team sortie in suspicion of drug trafficking as a cover to try and help Jin out. However, when they reached their destination, the Special Police Force teams came to find out that they were there to clean up the mess that Jin made. Despite the change in circumstances, Inspector Lee still utilised this chance to raid the entire street and found sufficient evidence to justify Jin''s rescue. In short, Jin indirectly helped the police to bring down a lot of bad people but was not publicly recognised by thew.

    "You want the good news or the bad news?" Xiong Da asked as he took out his notes to double confirm some of the information.

    "Either is fine." Jin did not think much about it.

    "Okay, the bad news. You have killed one of the high ranking lieutenants of the Ruby Rat Triad. They will definitelye for you no matter what, but because you were stationed in Tiangong District, the odds of them attacking you there is rather low unless it''s a deration of a duel to settle things. That is if you are released. If you are in prison...hahaha, that is another story altogether." Xiong Da said sternly.

    "The good news?" Jin was hoping for a silver lining.

    "You are to be released after paying a bail, which has already been settled for you by yours truly." Xiong Da smiled.

    "That good? Like, I do not have any manughter charges or whatsoever?" Jin was somewhat surprised by the good news.

    "Because there were people willing to vouch for you. Mainly Inspector Lee, who was on siteter on. But the real defining factor is..." Xiong Da leaned back and smiled.

    "Honestly, I did not expect them to pull so many strings for you. Seriously, without them, you could still be in jail for a very very long time despite your contributions. Even with my help to defend your case in court, the least you would have had to do in jail was still about two years. My own personal estimate. How do you even know them?" Xiong Da asked with a curious look.

    "Stop keeping me in the dark!" Jin said as he had no idea who pulled what strings.

    "Tiangong District Guardian Grandma Yuan and Royal Zodiac Tiger Sect Family''s Third Daughter Yang Ling. They came almost knowingly the moment you entered the Police station for interrogation." Xiong Da said with a smirk on his face.

    "I did not know Boss is such a yer. Getting the connection of a District Guardian is understandable but a direct descendant of the Royal Zodiac Tiger family? That is just ... wow. Seriously, the help I can render is not muchpared to those two big shots. Remember to thank them properly." Xiong Da said as he continued to check the paperwork for Jin.

    "But surprisingly, the enemies that you took down had a ratherrge bounty on their heads, including the Japanese Yakuza, Yamazaki. That was also why Grandma Yuan and Yang Ling were able to pull strings quite easily for you too. Not to mention Inspector Lee''s effort. I believe they had benefits to gain from this incident." Xiong Da deduced.

    "I see." Jin pondered a little. He understood why Yang Ling would help him. She had the leverage to gain from this situation that Jin was in. However, Grandma Yuan? That was something he would need to investigate.

    "In any case, just stay here for a while longer, I assure you will be out once I am done with the paperwork. I too know a few guys in this police department that may help to speed things up." Xiong Da packed the papers in one file and prepared to leave the interrogation room.

    "Thanks again, Xiong Da. Appreciate your help." Jin bowed his head even though he was cuffed to the table.

    "No worries Boss. Make more dungeons okay?" Xiong Da gave a wink before he left.

    In less than an hour, Inspector Xue Ping entered again and unlocked the cuffs on Jin. "How is your injury at the side? Is it better now?" Xue Ping asked about the gun wound and the fresh scars on his left hand.

    "Not too bad, I can manage." Jin thanked her for uncuffing him, but Xue Ping was not done.

    "Please do not do this again, leave this to the police next time. Although I must admit if you were not there in time for Zhen Qing, it might be toote for her. That, I must apologise for the incapability of the police." Xue Ping sincerely apologised to Jin which he pardoned her almost immediately.

    "You are forgetting the part where I was going to be kidnapped in awless street." Jin sniggered.

    "You! You were in awless street and you can be considered lucky that you were able to survive in there. Else, I do not know how to help you." Xue Ping purposely poked at Jin''s gun wound and made him yell in pain.

    "But you saved a lot of people thanks to that drug bust which Inspector Lee took the chance to do. However and most importantly, you saved your employee. I am proud to know the dungeon supplier that I patronise is good natured and cares for his employees." Xue Pingplimented him as she guided Jin out of the police station.

    "In any case, I hope you do not find yourself to be in this situation again." Xue Ping said as she casually saluted to Jin for his services rendered.

    "Well, there is still the matter of the Ruby Rat Triad. I think there might be a chance I aming back here sooner than I thought." Jin half-joked to her as he shrugged his shoulders.

    "Stupid. Call us. We will aid you in whatever way we can." Xue Ping karate-chopped Jin''s head upon her casual salute pose and said goodbye to him. Jin turned and saw two cars waiting for him. Each with their distinct figure in it.

    "This is one option I never anticipated. Not even in romance visual novels." Jinughed bitterly as he saw Yang Ling and Grandma Yuan in each of their cars.

 Chapter 267 Favours

    <h4>Chapter 267 Favours</h4>

    "Perhaps, I should thank Grandma Yuan first." Jin thought to himself and walked towards Grandma Yuan''s car. Her face did not look particrly pleased with Jin. He could hear that the engine started the moment Jin walked towards the vehicle.

    "Thank you, Grandma Yuan. I heard that you -" Before Jin could finish his sentence, Grandma Yuan lifted her hand to stop him from saying any more.

    "Do not give me any bullshit. Clear your shop for two hours from 10 am to 12 pm. Two weeks from now. I will be there with a couple of friends." Grandma Yuan rolled the car side window up and signalled her driver to start driving, leaving Jin behind.

    "Okay, guess I do not have any say in that nor can I reject it." Jin had an awkward smile before he walked towards Yang Ling''s car and the reaction he received from her was slightly more pleasant.

    "Come in." Yang Ling smiled gently at Jin, and he entered the car willingly. Only then did he realise that he forgot to wait for Zhen Qing. Seemingly as if Yang Ling had read his mind, she informed him that Zhen Qing was required to stay in the station for a while longer to assist the police with some investigation. "If you want, I can send you back first andter have my guards send her home."

    "It''s okay, I do not mind waiting for her, but before anything else, I heard that you aided me in my release. You have my sincere gratitude, Yang Ling." Jin thanked Yang Ling, but instead of replying, she simply passed him a ck folder and asked him to open it up in a bit. Suddenly, Jin could see that she started to cast a few spells and the entire cabin of hers was covered with a sort magical barrier which Jin could temporarily feel after she cast it.

    Ku Wai, who was still at her side started to paste a few rather expensive looking charms on the car doors. "Please, pass me your phone for a while." Ku Wai requested politely and Jin handed it to him, only to notice that he had ced the phone in a rather heavy looking box. Yang Ling and Ku Wai had put their phones in that box too, andter Ku Wai closed it. After which, Ku Wai pressed a button in the car and Jin could feel a kind of force that pulled and pushed him around for a while.

    "It''s a small burst EMP, also designed by Princess." Ku Wai felt proud upon exining this invention of hers.

    "We could never be careful enough. You can now take a look at the folder." Yang Ling looked dead serious.

    "The Ruby Rat is targeting you. What you experienced was not a random incident." Yang Ling moved closer to Jin to borate on the contents inside the ck folder.

    "This..." Jin saw photographs of a person trying to break into his shop, but his efforts were futile because the lock was System-made. He was given the assurances that no one could break it.

    "This guy is known in the underworld as the Door Wizard. He can unlock any door for a price but this is the first time he had so much trouble trying to open a door. Your shop''s door." Yang Ling said as Jin took a look at the next photograph and saw that he was carrying arge,plicated modern drill. However, the picture was somewhat blurry.

    "That was his most recent attempt against your shop. The picture is this blurry most likely because of the fact that he had utilised a one time inscription scroll that produced an illusion,bined with minor invisibility. We managed to take this picture when the spell effects had expired. He realised the spell effect was gone and he used another scroll to get away." Yang Ling exined to Jin about the photograph.

    "Based on my contacts, they assume that the device he was using was a customised high quality door breaker, used by some of the special forces in the world. However, the picture was too blurry, so that was only a conjecture. Look at the next photograph." Yang Ling prodded him.

    "Oh god..." Jin looked at the next photograph and saw that this Door Wizard was brutally chopped up into parts and left in a trash bag.

    "Sources are sure that the Ruby Rat Triad hired him, and by the Triad Boss no less. This is because his fees are exorbitant, not everyone has the kind of influence and money to hire him." Yang Ling said in a depressing tone.

    "Then Zhen Qing..." Jin looked at her, and she nodded her head.

    "Her father was targeted by Ruby Rat Triad. They might have been trying this angle the moment they found out that Lynn''s father was apulsive gambling addict in case this Door Wizard is not able to break in? I guess?" Yang Ling was notpletely sure too as she passed him another folder to preview the contents.

    "You even know her real name?" Jin was surprised by her information gathering as he looked through the photographs and transcript of Lynn''s father and the Ruby Rat gangsters.

    "It was part of the results of the investigations, or else, I would not have known her real name too." Yang Ling organised her side of items.

    "I did not offend them in any way. Why would they target me?" Jin was confused by their objective.

    "You are in the entertainment industry right? I mean, you are providing fun and cultivation training." Yang Ling asked.

    "Well, yes, what does that have to do with me? I mind my own business." Jin still could not see the link and Yang Ling sighed.

    "King''s Monster. Thergest and the most sessful dungeon supplier store in Shenzhen. One of the main sponsors or you could technically say their boss. It''s the Ruby Rat''s Triad leader." Yang Ling exined.

    "I still...oh...okay, wait a minute. So he wants to snuff out thepetition? But there are other dungeon suppliers too. Why would he be so obsessed with me?" Jin asked.

    "Didn''t you know? Within a month, King''s Monsters'' revenue dropped by five percent? That was an unprecedented loss. A fresh new face in the dungeon supplier industry, by right would not have made such a dent in their revenue. But you did." Yang Ling said as she showed him the statistics of King''s Monsters profit on paper.

    "Five percent? That was enough for me to be a threat to them?" Jin then realised that five per cent they were talking about was hundreds of thousands of Yuan. "Did we really earn that much in the first month?" Jin tried tomunicate with Yun, and surprisingly it went through.

    "Yea, more than three hundred thousand Yuan in revenue. (~40,000 USD)" Yun said, and suddenly Yang Ling noticed that something was amiss.

    "Hmm, we have to keep our conversation short, looks like there was a disruption in my barrier despite all the preparation I have made." Yang Ling said, and Jin realised it could be hismunication with Yun that appears that way.

    "The point I am driving towards is this. Join us, the Royal Zodiac Tiger n. My contacts informed me what you did in Wanhua district, and I myself had known about your talent. We can protect you from any imminent threats from the Royal Zodiac Rat n." Yang Ling finally showed her true colours. Jin knew that all this information gathering would have cost a lot and releasing him from jail was for Jin to repay the debt to Yang Ling.

    However, Jin deduced that if not for the interference of Grandma Yuan, he would more or less not be in this position where he was being requested to join, but instead forced to join. "Looks like I owe Grandma Yuan more than I can repay." Jin thought to himself.

    Jin looked at Yang Ling in her eyes and shook his head adamantly. "I am sorry. I do not think I can join your n. I like to be free from associating with the Royal Zodiacs. However, I will not forget your kindness, and I shall repay my gratitude in another way. Please, tell me the details of the dungeon that you wish to make. It will be free of charge."

    Yang Ling sighed upon hearing Jin''s answer. "I somehow expected that you would reject my request. Well, I guess that''s what propelled people like you and your store to the point you even had customers willing to risk their life for you. Not to mention, you had that one heck of awyer at your side."

    "Xiong Da? I thought he said you were the one who pulled the strings." Jin was a little perplexed.

    "Me? Pulling strings? Hahaha, he is selling himself short." Yang Ling took the entire ck folder and threw them in the box where they kept their phones. Ku Wai helped to retrieve those phones before he threw some oil in there and lit a fire.

    "I will send you details of the dungeon that I want via mail. I will send you the decryption code via Ku Wai when you receive the package. Thank you Jin, for being alive." Yang Ling smiled before she released all the magical barriers and let Jin off the car to wait for Zhen Qing to be released.

    Suddenly, two notifications appeared. One was to notify that he hadpleted Zhen Qing''s mission and the other informing about a new mission on his phone logs. Jin was not surprised that it was phrased that way. "Haha, looks like someone wants to take revenge badly."

    "Long term mission: Eliminate thergestpetition in Shenzhen to be one step closer to be the Number One Dungeon Supplier."

 Chapter 268 Beginning Of A Reconciliation

    <h4>Chapter 268 Beginning Of A Reconciliation</h4>

    Jin waited at a nearby cafиж for a long time before Zhen Qing was released. The time was however was well spent as he managed to read up on his Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation manual while waiting for her.

    Zhen Qing saw Jin''s message when she was released and belongings returned. Jinter offered to buy some coffee the moment she arrived and gave her time to rest before she started to talk.

    "I am sorry for the trouble that I had caused." Zhen Qing lowered her head as she whispered her apology.

    "Hmm? No worries. Most importantly, you are safe. That is all I care about. You have been through a lot today. I believed you must be famished. Do you want to eat anything? My treat." Jin passed the cafиж''s menu to her to let her choose.

    "No, no, I should be treating you, for all the help you have rendered!" Zhen Qing was frantic and wanted to return the favour.

    "It is... Alright, if you insist. I will have a turkey bacon sandwich with fries then." Jin said as they ordered the food and had a quiet dinner. Jin knew that Zhen Qing had many things in her head that she needed to think about and not to mention she was exhausted from the whole ordeal. Even Zhen Qing was relieved that Jin kept quiet and enjoyed the peaceful dinner. In return, Jin had called a cab for Zhen Qing and paid for her ride home.

    While waiting for the cab, Jin suddenly broke the silence between them. "I know this is a bit too much but, would like you to stay at my lodging andplete the main dish that you were preparing for the past week or so? This way, you have less travelling to do and you can be more focused. While I could not guarantee your safety previously, I promise this time will be different. Not to mention, it...will also give some time for your dad to adjust." Jin cited these reasons as excuses to keep an eye on her especially after the warning that Yang Ling had given to him.

    "For my father to adjust?" Zhen Qing was a little perplexed by that sentence, but the cab arrived disrupting their conversation.

    "You will understand when you get home." Jin pondered for a while before deciding not to say too much.

    "...I will consider it." Zhen Qing did not question him any further and took the cab.

    When Zhen Qing got home, she saw her father sitting on the sofa anxiously waiting for her. "Zhen Qing!" Zheng Hui was delighted to see his daughter was still fine and dandy. However, Zhen Qing did not say a word and walked straight to her room. However, her father got up and caught her.

    "Lynn! Wait!" For the first time since the incident, Zheng Hui said Zhen Qing''s real name. This gave some pause to Zhen Qing, and she reluctantly listened to her father''s plea.

    "What do you want?" Zhen Qing said with a tone of disgust. Only then, did she realise Zheng Hui was in tears as he knelt begging for forgiveness.

    "For the wrong things, I did to you, for ming your mother''s death onto you. For treating you like an item in exchange for debt. For hating my daughter instead of supporting her. I am sorry for all of it. The whole time I was waiting for you...I have been thinking of all the horrible things I did to you. " His eyes were shifting before he dared to look at Zhen Qing''s eyes.

    "Your Boss, Jin had made me realise that there is still some kindness in this world. Not that he was willing to save a damned soul like me, but for taking you under his care. I had forgotten all of this and realised how terrible I am as a father." Zheng Hui said.

    "I know that your mother''s death was not your fault at all. Jin had briefly exined to me what happened with you and Mimasaka Sensei. I am sorry, I did not trust you." Zheng Hui said with regret.

    "I hope I am not asking too much, but I hope you can find it in your heart, that you could forgive my ignorant ways one final time. I will leave this ce tomorrow and strive to work hard till I die if I have to. That is my only way from breaking the current reprise I am in as a redemption for the sins I hadmitted." Her father wept as he said those words.

    Zhen Qing was speechless. This was not the first time he was doing this apology act, but it was doubtful it would be hisst. However, she finally felt a feeling of guilt and remorseing from him unlike the times when he did it to beg for more money.

    "Will you consider epting my apology? Just this onest time?" Zheng Hui asked as he ced his head on the floor.

    "I will not forgive you until you show me some results." Zhen Qing answered in a firm tone.

    "But I will be the one who will leave this ce tomorrow. Not to worry, I will continue to pay the rent for this ce. What I ask of you is to get up and start finding proper work." Zhen Qing eyes were also teary when she said this.

    Her father did not say anything much but nodded his head as he rubbed his tears away and went to his room. Zhen Qing, on the other hand, started packing the rest of her items and prepared to leave the house by the next morning. She had decided to ept Jin''s offer and finish the main dish recipe first.

    ----

    The rm rang, Zhen Qing woke up only to smell a scent of cooked eggs. She tidied her bed before leaving her room, just to see a te filled with bread, eggs and bacon alongside with a cup of milk. "Lynn. Before you go, I was hoping to have onest breakfast with you." Zheng Hui was formally dressed this time around with an apron on. Zhen Qing guessed this was his way of repenting and decided to apany him for breakfast.

    Onlyter during breakfast, did she realise that he had been searching for a job at night when he was in his room. Not just that, it was apparent that the house was cleaner thanst night.

    When Zhen Qing fell asleep, Zheng Hui continued to stay awake to clear the entire house of his mess. All those extra food trash, empty alcohol bottles, beer cans and the likes of it. He felt that if he wanted to start anew, he should start from within.

    "It was just a part time job interview at Lele cafиж to get things started so...here I am. Apparently, your Boss, Jin, helped me out to have an interview with that ce when I asked him for a favourst night." Zheng Hui said as he ate the eggs only to find it rather nd.

    "Gah, the eggs you cook, are 100 times better than this urgh, I am sorry Lynn." Zheng Hui apologized as he covered the nd taste with lots of salt and pepper.

    "Haha, it did take me some time to master how to cook an excellent te of scrambled egg too. Well don''t worry, I hope you eventually have some training to make a proper scrambled egg in Lele. I heard the boss cooks some pretty good breakfast set." Zhen Qing finally smiled towards her father for the first time as she finished the breakfast despite the poor cooking sense of her father. She then saw her father had the urge to smoke as he took out a cigarette from his pack andter realised Zhen Qing was staring at him.

    "I promise Lynn, I will start over again...but this one...erm give me some more time." Heughed bitterly as he ced the cigarette back in the pack and into his pocket.

    "In any case, you should be going soon. Good luck with your interview, Dad." Zhen Qing said as she offered to help to clean the tes before she leaves.

    "Thank you, Lynn. I hope all the best with you and Boss Jin." Zheng Hui teased Zhen Qing and started to rush for the work interview.

    "Baka Oyaji." Zhen Qing blushed a bit and smiled non-stop as she cleaned up the tes.

 Chapter 269 Terrace House

    <h4>Chapter 269 Terrace House</h4>

    Jin returned to his houseter in the night after the dinner with Zhen Qing and saw the mess made by the gangsters and Zeru when they fought. "I cannot expect nor me Yun for not clearing this up too." Jin thought to himself, and Yun came out from her room, feeling extremely sleepy.

    "Urgh, today was totally draining." Yun had just woken up from a nap after she returned home from the police station. "Argh, sorry Jin. I was too tired to clear any mess right now." Yun scratched her head of messy bed hair.

    "I was thinkingбнis it possible to make this house System owned too? That way we could have the lodging for our employees connected to the store." Jin started to pick up the cushions on the floor, patted them a little before putting them back on the sofa.

    "I do not see why there should be a problem with that?" Yun yawned as she walked down the stairs.

    "Really? That''s great. I was thinking of renovating this whole ce so there would be a ce for you, Zhen Qing, Milk and the other betors. Perhaps, Qiu Yue tooбн" Jin was contemting out loud and wondered if he could connect the house to the instances, like the Sanctum of Worlds.

    "Like I''ve already said, the System is more or less capable of creating anything given the resources." Yun checked the refrigerator and saw there was really not much left in there. "Wellбнgiven that this was my house tooбн I also did think about renovating this ce. The sludge in the toilet back then cost too much in real life." Yun grumbled.

    "Ahahaha, you did not get the System to remove it? I thought you were the one who ced the signs there to tell me not to enter as a joke." Jin did not know that Yun indeed called for professional plumbing services to remove the sludge in the toilet.

    "Bleargh. This is my gift to you. Consider it a good job gift for taking care of Lynn''splicated problem unknowingly. The System has its ns and presents for Lynn once the mission is officiallypleted, but that does not mean you do not deserve something good." Yun pped her hands, and suddenly Jin felt a familiar force of magical energy pulsating through him, just like the one he felt in Yang Ling''s car when she cast a barrier.

    As if he was in some Larry Potter''s movie, he suddenly saw the items and furnitures in his terrace house shapeshifting into something new.

    Some of them were flying around, and Jin even saw that his house grew a few new rooms out. "Oh woah woah." Jin could now feel that his floor was widening and the paint job of this decades old interior was like a new lease of life.

    In less than 5 minutes, the whole old creaky terrace house underwent a brand new renovation and Jin was digging its original design. "Minimalistic to cater for many." Jin said as he praised Yun''s refurbishing it into a contemporary home.

    The walls were marble white. The windows were broad andrge with ck panels. The sofa was the same high quality as the ones used in Shop Level One instance and the coffee tables were cube blocks of wood to give contrast to the white and ck concept. The flooring was exceptional, and it was simr to the bamboo flooring on the third floor gallery in the store which offers a cooling effect especially during the summer.

    "I just used some of the excess materials that were lying around in the System." Yun grinned as she took a seat on the sofa. "I always wanted to give a Loft Moderne Style to the house, well that was my n when I had a house of my own with my boyfriend."

    With a snap of her finger, the cup of ck Ivory coffee appeared in her hands, and she started to enjoy it under the all new 24 hour air conditioner that was installed throughout the house. "Ahhh sofortable. Oh, and now the fridge has the same contents as the Kitchen Instance. Just imagine what you want to eat or drink, you can get it. Brilliant, is it not?"

    Jin sat down and appreciated the new look for a moment before he could sense quite a bit of fatigue setting in. He felt like he wanted to bath and just go to sleep, but there was also a little excitement and desire to see what was in the other rooms. So he first checked the second floor to find that new rooms being ''carved'' out from the old house.

    It was undeniable that one could figure out which room was whose based on the designs of the doors. For Pepper''s quarters, he saw many stickers of anime characters of mages on her door. He knocked on the door and Peppers opened the door.

    "Oh Master? How did youe into this dimension?" Peppers was surprised to see Jin, and he exined the situation to her. She peeked out of her room and was amazed by Jin''s new house. "Oh my god! Does that mean Milk and others are here too?" Peppers had an evil smile as she went into her room to take something beforeing out of her room. Before Jin could have a proper look into Pepper''s room, Peppers quickly closed it up and locked it with a touch of magic.

    "No, you cannot see the room of the demonic sage! Your eyes will burn!" Peppers made up an excuse as she carried arge piece of paper with strange symbols on it. She quietly slipped it under Milk''s door, which was depicted with a small and simple cross and a customised que of her name on the door.

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAA! PEPPPERS!" Milk''s intense screaming could be heard from the corridor as she opened the door with smashed up spider. What Jin did not expect was that Milk was in her red lingerie and he could not help but notice her bouncy boobs which made him blush and eventually look away. Meanwhile, Peppers was giggling andughing while rolling on the floor.

    "Why is Master here?!" Milk asked as she quickly grabbed onto Peppers and held her close to hide her delicate figure. (But Peppers was not enough to cover her voluptuous figureбн)

    "I uhh.." Jin could not help but take another quick peek before he turned away and exined to Milk about it. It was then that he suddenly felt two cushions on his back withбнa child''s head near his butt.

    "Masterrrrrrrrбн.Have you finally revealed your true desire?" Milk copied Nyanmi''s nibbling of his ear, and unsurprisingly, Jin''sher regions were lighted up, all ready to depart to the next station.

    "YOU DAMN HORNY PRIESTESS, LET ME OUT OF THISбн.SQUEEZE!" Peppers shouted as she was squashed by Milk and Jin.

    "Oh, the embodiment of Aphrodite. That perfect S-shaped curve and those thick thighs. I will spare no effort to assist you with that Milk." Kraft giggled as he stood at his door with his hands semi folded while rubbing his chin, observing the entire scene.

    "YOU PERVERT!" Milk''s face turned extremely red when she saw Kraft, and she picked up Peppers and threw her at Kraft like a high speed baseball.

    "UWAHHHH!" Peppers'' entire body hit Kraft''s head, and both of them fell to the ground.

    "Hmmph! My body is for Master and Master only!" She quickly ran back into her room but gave a wink at Jin before she closed the door.

    "What did I get myself into?" Jin rubbed his cold sweat away as he noticed Yun calmly eating arge cup of ice cream while watching TV on the first floor.

 Chapter 270 Evon

    <h4>Chapter 270 Evon</h4>

    "Boss,e here for a second." Kraft helped Peppers up before he gestured Jin to approach him. Jin did seem a little reluctant to listen to Kraft after what had just happened, though he continued to move forward.

    Peppers still wanted to ask Jin some questions, but suddenly, both Kraft and Jin were gone from her sight.

    "EH? Where did...argh, Kraft!" Peppers knew that Kraft took Jin away to do something.

    Kraft opened his door, and Jin suddenly recognised the scene. The two chairs, that hanging light bulb and the empty bas.e.m.e.nt, simr to what Jin had gone through not too long ago. "Is this a replica?" Jin questioned, but Kraft immediately asked him to get in before the door was shut tight.

    "Yes and no. Since the System became aware of my presence, I made it a point to tell it to create a sort of bridge...a gateway. What you see right here is the amplified version of your subconscious. Can you feel it, you should be hearing two sounds at the same time?" Kraft snapped with his right hand in the room that Jin was in, but at the same time, Kraft was also snapping with his left hand in Jin''s mind.

    "This is pure mind f.u.c.kery." Jin felt really weird listening to the snapping of the fingers projecting from his mind, yet different from what he was seeing in front of him right now.

    "Exactly. I purposely made this room here just for you. While it seems like a normal fourth room to you, the rest are unable to see it at all. In fact, even when I opened this door, I had stopped the visual information of that scene from everyone''s sight, including the System''s." Kraft exined as he twirled one of his bullets.

    "The System, despite knowing your attitude, allows you to do that?" Jin was surprised the all controlling System was not able to handle this crafty individual.

    "Cannot me me for being the best counterintelligence agent the System had ever invited. Even now, the System is trying out all sorts of methods to break the barriers that I have created, but I regrly patch them up with new algorithmic patterns. You can imagine it as an overall symbiotic rtionship. If not for me, the System would still be a crippling old piece of junk that could not break Yang Ling''s customised psycho thought barrier that you had experienced earlier in the afternoon. And boy, I hardly praise anyone, but she''s good. Took me a full four seconds to get through." Kraft shrugged.

    "Granted it still needs some work not to get detected." Kraft admitted while fiddling with additional bullets. The proficiency witnessed by Jin made Kraft look more like a magician rather than an ordinary marksman. (As ordinary as a marksman specialised in counterintelligence can be.)

    "Anyways, I am here not just to train you, but to provide you with sensitive information whenever needed. Unlike the times when I talk in your head, by having a physical room, I am able to let you examine the evidence I have collected. This way you do not have to go through that tedious process of entering a deep cultivation trance. Especially since yours seems to have a nasty side effect, which can be life threatening. That also gives Ming more time to train you in other aspects." Kraft exined as he started to scratch the wall with his bullet.

    A simple " "sign was drawn on the wall, and suddenly the empty walls of the room were filled with papers, photographs, redacted ssified doc.u.ments, memos and post-it notes. Kraft sat down on the chair and rocked his chair backwards.

    "This is all the information I had extracted before I changed ...eh. Tweaked his ...erm, mindset about Lynn." Kraft did not know how to phrase it in a politically correct term.

    "Just tell me what you mean. You know that you do not have to beat around the bush with me." Jin said before Kraft sighed happily and said it proper. "I f.u.c.k.i.e.d him up real good before I set him straight. Made damn sure that he should not harass Lynn ever again. You can ask Lynn how effective my reeducation was when you see her. After all, she did encounter him in the police station. But now we should concentrate on the Rats. Look at the information before you, consider it carefully and give me your deductions based on what you have known alreadybined with this new intel."

    Jin nodded his head and started reading, but he quickly realised that if he was to read this much, it would take him ages. "Does... Is time affected here too?"

    "No, time passes at the same pace in this world, unlike when you are in your subconscious." Kraft shook his head.

    "Subconscious...?" Jin suddenly had an idea. Hadn''t Kraft said that this was meant to be a training ce? Didn''t that also imply he could start ''training'' now by utilising his inner self to check the notes and doc.u.ments?

    "Oh? You managed to grasp the concept rather well. Alright. I will help you with that since you figured it out. This is also a kind of training that I want you to go through." Kraft smiled as he pointed his usual silver revolver at Jin.

    "Do not move. It might hurt a bit but still not that bad. Evon, get out and help Jin." Kraft pressed the trigger.

    *BANG*

    A champagne pink coloured fox climbed onto Jin''s head rather than biting him. She ced her paw on his head before she disappeared. Jin''s head became heavy initially before he started to feel his mouth getting a bit dry while his pupils erged for a second. Jin realised that it felt like his brain was being stimted after Evon tapped her paw on him. For a moment, it seemed as if the room would start to spin.

    "Evon''s ability is a bit special. Her bites and scratches will cause you to go high as if you were on drugs...on loads of drugs. Basically, her bite induces the effects of a plethora of drugsbined. What you experience now is a controlled version where she just allows you to receive the positive effect of a stimnt that enhances your cognitive ability. The speed of messages and signals travelling between your brain and body is being multiplied." Kraft said, but he could already see Jin working through the various notes and doc.u.ments.

    His subconscious was left open, vulnerable when Jin was working both in and out of his mental state to get the maximum brainpower and juice cranking. However, Kraft was not worried one bit because Jin was under his care.

    Meanwhile, Jin was getting the full picture. The Last Supper Scandal was not just some grand assassination of the Yakuza bosses. The matter was moreplicated than that. Yet at the same time, the motivation behind it could be described as nearly ironically simple. The Royal Zodiac Rat in coboration with the Royal Zodiac Snake had been concocting the specific poison that was used by the Daikokuten n to assassinate the Yakuza bosses. That way, it would loosen the grip of the Bishamonten''s Yakuzas foothold just enough for the younger generation like Yamazaki and his superiors to rise and take control.

    This was because the old bosses had been keeping the peace and prohibited petty squabbles between the ns which impeded the subordinates from rising through the ranks. The younger generation felt that if things kept going that way, their time at the top would nevere. This anxiety was further strengthened since the Yakuza Bosses would be blessed with prolonged longevity by their own gods if they reached a certain number of orbs (aka grades) before they get too old to advance. That Grand G Dinner was to celebrate the birthday of Bishamonten''s Yakuza head and it was rumoured that he was going to reach the required orbs within the next few weeks.

    It was the best chance for the younger generation to act, hence they used people like Zhen Qing and Mimasaka Sensei to do the job. What they did not know was that Royal Zodiac Rat intended to use this as a deal to expand outward into Japan. Notably, the Ruby Rat Triad under the Royal Zodiac Rat, who wished to expand their entertainment business like King''s Monster dungeon supplier chain outlets and casinos into Japan.

    ording to Jin''s deduction, it seemed that the Ruby Rat Triad had limited sess in previous instances. The older generations were not fond of China taking a share of the pie and ced heavy restrictions on the Triad''s enterprises, which resulted in stagnation and losses for their Japan branches. Under such circ.u.mstances, the Royal Zodiac Rats were more than happy to struck a deal. Once the new Yakuza bosses held reign, they were to terminate the restrictions.

    "So, the Ruby Rat Triad is trying to tighten its finances a bit more especially within these few months, and apparently they came to the conclusion that I am hurting their finances." Jin concluded as he closed his eyes for a while and rubbed his temples. The pressure from the stimnt was hurting him.

    "Yes, not just that. The Ruby Rat Triad had sent spies over to your shop on multiple asions ording to Ong''s conversation with Yamazaki. They saw the capability of your shop, although they do not know it''s the System working. What they do know is that it''s a technology that no one had ever seen before. That was one... if not the major reason why they were targeting you." Kraft rified as he pped and the room became empty again.

    "What a headache. I expected rivals. Just not this kind." Jin sighed at the scale of this nned attack.

 Chapter 271 Resurrection of Ong

    <h4>Chapter 271 Resurrection of Ong</h4>

    "But Sir, the evidence speaks for itself! Why are you letting this high ranking gangster be resurrected! Do you know how many crimes he hasmitted? We should thank that little kid for stopping him, but no! You even wanted to incarcerate him longer if not for the higher management. With all due respect, I have to ask you. Are you in cahoots with Ruby Rat? Why are you doing this?!" Inspector Lee An mmed the desk of his District Police Captain, Mao Pai Huo and demanded answers.

    "ENOUGH! You should know where you stand Inspector Lee! Get out or suffer the consequences yourself! Do not expect me to protect you in the future!" Pai Huo did not reply any of his questions but shouted at Lee An instead.

    "I have no regrets. You have never protected any of us before." Lee An turned his back as he bluntly replied to Pai Huo and mmed his office door on his way out, only to watch a small entourage of ck suits walking towards his District Captain''s office as he passed through the corridor.

    Lee An then caught a glimpse of Wo De Tian, the Ruby Rat Triad Leader himself, tantly walking into the police station. De Tian caught Lee An''s controlled expression and smirked at him before the ck suits of his opened the door to the District Captain office for him and he entered.

    The District Police Captain himself stood up and closed the blinds in his office and locked the door. "Mr Wo, I believe this isn''t the best time for you toe in. Especially when your group is in the midst of an investigation." Pai Huo sat down as he advised De Tian, who did not give a single shit, as he ced his legs on Pai Huo''s table. It looked like De Tian was the one in control, not Pai Huo in this particr office and thetter could not say a single thing.

    "Why is that kid not in your custody?" De Tian lit a cigar in the office and blew it at Pai Huo''s face.

    "The Royal Zodiac Tiger and the Tiangong District Guardian pulled favours from the higher management. It was not within my control." Pai Huo was not intimidated by De Tian but neither did he stop De Tian''s behaviour.

    "Tsk, the Tigers." De Tian was obviously furious, but he could not do anything since it was beyond his sphere of influence. He maybe the head of the Triad, but only a Royal Zodiac could deal with another Royal Zodiac. De Tian would need to report it to his own superiors if he wanted to override the Tiger''s favours but this will indicate weakness on his side and he would never do that.

    "So? Where''s Ong now? Have you resurrected him yet?" De Tian changing the topic, and Pai Huo sighed before he got up.

    "Follow me." Pai Huo instructed as he opened the door and the rest of the entourage followed him to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the police station where one of the resurrection ritual stations was being maintained. The other police officers saw the entourage going to the bas.e.m.e.nt and focused on their own work, knowing that going against them was courting death. Hence they restrained themselves just to save their own skins.

    "Sir, as per request, it arrived not too long ago." A senior police technician showed Captain Pai Huo the Dantian core that was retrieved by the Criminal Forensic Labs and their Clean-Up Crew. Pai Huo then asked the Ruby Rat Triad Leader to confirm the existence.

    De Tian casually observed the Dantian Core by inserting some chi into it and felt the familiar aura of his gangster Ong oozing out of the Dantian core. "No mistake, the aura is without a doubt his. Proceed with the resurrection then." De Tianmanded by Pai Huo refused to do so immediately.

    "Pay the bail and the resurrection fee first, before I allow him to be resurrected." Pai Huo demanded, and it was done with a cleary authoritative tone.

    "Huh? Did I hear wrongly?" De Tian looked at Pai Huo once more, and this time De Tian unleashed his chi presence to everyone at the bas.e.m.e.nt. Suddenly, every police officer, not just the bas.e.m.e.nt but the whole police station felt a dull ck aura that was extremely heavy. Even inspector Lee who was at the third floor of the police station experienced a choking sensation. Strangely, Inspector Lee and Inspector Xue Ping were handling it better than the rest of the police inspectors and officers, who soon fell to the ground trembling, with some even showing signs of having fits. The training in the instances from Jin''s dungeons had paid off, allowing them to resist strong, intense auras better.

    The only one who was able to withstand the intense aura was Pai Huo himself which made De Tian smirk and stop releasing his aura. "Is that all you''ve got?" Pai Huo dared to ask, even though he knew that his supposed self confidence was only a facade. His legs were about to give way if he moved an inch in any direction. Had De Tian not stopped the emission of his intense ck aura, he might have lost control of his body.

    Separately, the rest of the policemen in the police station were panicking, trying to aid those who could not handle the intense aura. Some had to perform emergency CPR due to sudden cardiac arrest, others vomited horribly, and many were unable to maintain their bnce. Inspector Xue Ping and Lee An now understood the meaning of that aura emission. It was to give a clear message to the police here not to f.u.c.k with the Ruby Rat.

    "Very good. At the very least you are still capable of acting as a police captain." De Tian looked backwards, and with an upward nod, one of the ck suits came forward and threw three suitcases in front of him.

    "I hate to do the paperwork. Keep the change and go resurrect Ong." De Tian ordered as he looked for a ce to sit outside the Resurrection Ritual Department and started to browse his phone.

    "Then what about the rest of your Ruby Rats?" Pai Huo inquired as he followed him out.

    "Let their Dantian core rot in the burning cauldrons of ''Justice'' for being so ipetent. Hahahaha!" De Tian answered as he waved his hand to signal Police Captain Pai Huo to start doing his job.

    "Sir..." The senior police technician trembled as Pai Huo went back into the Resurrection Ritual department.

    "I understand. You do not wish to give in to this kind of evil, but this world is bigger than we are. Concentrate on doing your job, and you will live another day." Pai Huo understood the technician''s helplessness. He too conceded to the frustration of Inspector Lee who had been earnestly fighting crime.

    "But Sir!" The senior police technician tried to voice his opinion butter realised it was useless. Pai Huo also sighed at his inability to do anything much, but then an idea struck him.

    "Lee, while I cannot stop the resurrection but there is something we can do as workers of Justice." Pai Huo thought to himself as he gave a set of instructions to the senior police technician.

    "Sir, you sure? I mean he paid for the full resurrection. If you mangle the settings of the ritual, it might screw up the resurrection process... and Chief is on leave." The technician swallowed his saliva.

    "That is the only way we can keep tabs on them if necessary. This is an order. I shall take full responsibility if anything happens." Pai Huo instructed.

    "We will get it done." The senior technician called his other team members, and they started cracking on initialising the Resurrection Ritual station.

    A ritual circle would be automatically drawn by the Resurrection Ritual station as technology hade to the point where its precision was unmatched. And precision was needed because the ritual must not go wrong at all cost or else the dantian core might break.

    In order to prevent the dantian core from breaking while preserving its integrity and recreating the human body at the same time, top quality grade precious metals, herbs and meat were used to substitute the regrowth of a human body.

    The reason to preserve the dantian core was also because memories of the mind were sealed within it as well as the overall structure of the person being resurrected. Despite the use of substitute materials, the dantian core will also transmute those materials into human flesh and bone.

    Like a data backup server, the dantian core can only update once every 24 hours, anything that happened within the past 24 hours before the victim died would be considered null. That memory of the dantian core included the condition of the person. Assuming the person is all healthy but fell into a dangerous situation that caused them to lose their lives, as long as 24 hours ago the person was still in tip top condition, they could still be resurrected.

    Inspired by this rule, the Royal Zodiac Rat and Snake managed to create a poison that worked precisely at 24 hours and 1 minuteter to cause the death of the Yakuza Bosses. How those two ns managed to make it work with that precision or built it was another story.

    Aside from that, the dantian core would not break in any circ.u.mstances unless it was exposed to the resurrection ritual. They even tried using a nuclear bomb as a test, and the dantian core survived the st. Until the death of Yun, the dantian cores were known to be indestructible. Only then did the government and police learn that there was a method to destroy it after all.

    However, resurrection has always been a stringent procedure, since its inception. If the core ever disintegrated during the ritual process, the memory of the person would be impaired, or it will affect the condition of the body.

    That was why it required top quality precious metals to preserve the dantian core while the herbs and meat are used to grow the body back. In the meantime, a massive amount of electricity would be converted as a substitute for magical/chi energy to keep the ritual going. Back in the days when there were no such resurrection ritual stations, many cultivators nearly lost their lives or had their cultivation crippled while performing the resurrection process.

    Also, this was not meant to say that partial resurrection was not possible. There were ck market resurrection rituals boasting low prices, but the results of the resurrected would result in either severe memory impairment, crippled body or loss in cultivation.

    Despite the delicate procedure in recreating Ong''s body, the senior police technician inserted an additional catalyst as requested by Pai Huo. An inscribed listening crystal which was produced on the spot by the other police technicians who made sure that the dimensions and properties were right before cing it along with Ong''s regrowth.

    Pai Huo saw that the crystal was safely infused into the body and the entire Resurrection Ritual department managed to keep the numbers of the Ritual station within its parameters, and Ong was recreated, even with the rat tattoos intact.

    Once the ritual waspleted, the floating Ong shook his head a bit before sitting up from the couch he was being recreated from.

    "Where am I....? Where is this...?" Ong asked as his head was all fuzzy before he suddenly felt his hands were pulled back behind him and handcuffed.

    "You are under arrest, Ong for the possession of drugs and other illegal substances." Pai Huo personally cuffed him and the other police technicians assisted in carrying the confused newly resurrected Ong to a temporary holding cell.

    "What are you doing?!" De Tian was shocked when he saw Pai Huo bringing Ong away.

    "You said you hate to do the paperwork. The police department will do the paperwork for you. But you have to wait till we are done. Only then, will we be able to release him." Pai Huo exined as he pushed Ong forward.

    "You!" De Tian got up mad, but he held back his fury.

    "Don''t ''you'' me. We are after all still the police." Pai Huo for once managed to look down at De Tian and returned to his office while calling Inspector Xue Ping and Lee An in.

    "Sir?" Both of them heard some rumours of themotion as they went into Pai Huo''s office. De Tian apparently left in a frenzy. His wrath visibly showing on his face without Ong.

    "You two are very interested in helping that Dungeon Supplier kid, right? Against that Ruby Rat Asshat, he is going to need every help he can get! I can only buy you that much time to interrogate that criminal. While the paperwork is being done in ordance with our protocols. Go." Pai Huo gave his orders.

    Both Xue Ping and Lee An could not help but gain a bit more respect for their captain and saluted right in front of him. "Sir, Yes Sir!"

    "Oh and before you two leave. There was some erm money lying around the bas.e.m.e.nt when De Tian paid his bills. Take that money and do something good for the police station. I won''t say no to extra budget for equipment and training." Pai Huo smirked as he continued to do his paperwork.

    "I will not let this kind of sc.u.m control me."

 Chapter 272 First Main Dish

    <h4>Chapter 272 First Main Dish</h4>

    Jin had an excellent sleep after his talk with Kraft in his all new king size bed. An upgrade from the single bed which he used to have trouble sleeping in especially considering he did not change the mattress ever since he was young.

    Despite all the heavy revtion from Yang Ling and Kraft, Jin decided to get on with life. No use worrying too much at the moment when he had plenty of other things to take care of. Jin opened his cupboard to find that all of his clothes were already ironed and packed nicely. This was a total changepared to living alone when the cab was always in a mess.

    "Wow, that renovation idea turned into the best quality of life improvement I have ever had." Jin now understood the taste and power of convenience бнofziness.

    By the time Jin reached the store, the System had notified him that Zhen Qing was already in the kitchen hard at work. "Oh yes System, where is the reward forpleting the mission? The manual for Zhen Qing''s cultivation." Jin asked, and the System immediately dropped another chest box from the ss ceiling again.

    "As previously requested, this time with less dramatic effects." The System in his phone spoke.

    "You know you could just erm materialise the manual in front of me," Jin suggested awkwardly to the System.

    "That would be too anticlimactic. The audience will not like it." The System stated.

    "What audience?" Jin was slightly confused, but there was no reply. Jin shook his head and opened the treasure box. He found the exact same thing he saw with Qiu Yue''s manual, but this time, the colour of the manual was grey in colour. For some reason, it was also less torn and tattered than Qiu Yue''s reward. There was a USB attached to the manual too.

    That was not all. In it, he also saw a letter and found it somewhat familiar. "What is this for?" Jin asked the System, hoping for it to reply back once more.

    "Pass it to Lynn Arisato. Afterwards, the same thing will happen to her, as it did for you when you got your letter." The System described.

    "Wait, you mean you really want her to obtain the Sub System? I thought you wanted to wait for her to produce results." Jin questioned the System''s hastiness.

    "She already did." The moment the Systempleted its sentence, Zhen Qing came out of the kitchen with a bowl on a tray.

    "Ah Boss! I was expecting you! Have you already eaten? If not, are you willing to try this out?" Zhen Qing was smiling delightfully, and Jin could not get enough of that.

    "I prepared the main dish. This is not exactly the final product, but I need some opinions. Please do tell me your thoughts on it. Like how do you feel when you eat it." Zhen Qing requested as she ced the tray right in front of Jin. The food was rather in looking, a little underwhelming regarding aesthetics, but Jin knew it would be a mistake to underestimate Zhen Qing''s food.

    "Ramen?" Jin queried, and she nodded her head.

    "This is something I created previously when I was a chef back in Japan. I had been researching for some time on what kind of ingredients to use, but today I figured, I should just try it with my gut feeling. бнBut of course! It is definitely not a haphazardly made product! I put in some thought into the ingredients and -" Before Zhen Qing could justify herself, Jin stopped her.

    "It''s okay. I believe in your food." Jin took one more good look at the ramen that was right in front of him.

    The soup stock was in, if not to the point it looked crystal clear. There were three thick pieces of Cha Shu (Pork Belly) at the side of the noodles, and some sliced scallions scattered in the soup. Jin picked up the chopsticks at the front of the tray and brought up the noodles out from the soup.

    He could see that the thin straight noodles were surrendering itself, begging to be ced into his mouth as it eludes the aroma of freshness of the broth. Jin tried to blow to cool it down a bit, but he could not wait any longer as his parotids were producing saliva each time he eyed the ramen.

    "Hmm!"

    The noodles rampaged through his mouth as he felt like his mouth was being intruded by it. Jin was wrong. It was not the noodles that surrendered to his mouth. It was the other way around. His mouth was now dying to have more of it as Jin tried to slurp the noodles up.

    However, humans'' greed grew the moment they experienced desire. No matter how restrained one was, there are times people fall into an uncontroble state. Jin was no exception. He was greedy in trying to cover his mouth full of the noodles as the taste was impable. Jin begrudgingly bit the unending noodles from the bowl that he slurped from and stopped it from going into his mouth. It would be a waste if he regurgitated with his mouth filled to the brim. Hence, Jin concentrated on chewing the noodles and swallowed them quickly, just wanting to get another bite out of it.

    Despite the urge for another rush of noodles into his mouth, he controlled himself. Jin decided to try the soup that he had a taste of it when the noodles touched his lips. Jin took a scoop of the soup, and the light salty fragrance drew Jinpletely in, and he unknowingly sipped it slowly.

    At first contact, the soup seemed nothing different from that of water. But in just a few moments as Jin swallowed it, there was no explosion of vour, no soaring of palettes like other soups that he drank. There was just onlyбн

    Bliss.

    "HomeбнIt felt like home." Jin whispered as he felt an agglomeration of warm feelings gathering in his stomach. At that point of time, Zhen Qing sat right beside him and stared at Jin as he enjoyedбнhe appreciated the food she cooked.

    "I can now clearly understand what you mean by emotions cooking," Jin said as he chewed on the thick piece of chashu. The saltiness of the pork bellyplemented the crystal clear broth and surprisingly did not ruin the transparent, clean image the entire ramen was exhibiting. Jin eventually gobbled down the whole bowl of ramen and drank the soup only to feel extremely satisfied.

    Zhen Qing giggled at Jin''s expression the moment he was done eating. "Hahaha! You looked like you haven''t eaten for days." Zhen Qing said.

    "Looks like it but Zhen Qing- " Jin wanted to say something but Zhen Qing interrupted.

    "Please call me Lynn. I do not wish to hide behind that fake name again." Lynn had a look of resolve in her eyes, and Jin respected that.

    "Lynn. It was simply amazing. I am not very good with words. I cannot describe how fantastic your food is. I am really speechless. It is hard to believe that you said this is not exactly your final product." Jin replied to Lynn.

    "It''s okay, your expression said it all when you were eating." Lynn giggled once more as she looked Jin in the eyes. "Thank you, Jin. For believing in me when I felt that the whole world was against me. When not even I dared to believe in myself." Lynn stepped back and bowed 90 degrees forward.

    "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. I will be in your care. Please treat me well." Lynn said as she bent forward with gratitude.

 Chapter 273 Sub System

    <h4>Chapter 273 Sub System</h4>

    "What is this ramen made of?" Jin asked. Lynn yfully ced her finger on her lips while grinning widely. "It''s a secret." However, after having fun seeing Jin frowning, she subsequently answered the question.

    "The soup broth was made from only Red Snapper Bones. It''s a rather delicate shio (salted) soup ramen making it both light and sweet. But I did remove the blood and offal rather carefully from the red snapper before stewing them for roughly 27 hours."

    "27 hours? Oh, you used the timepression cooker." Jin realised that Lynn did it in the store''s kitchen instance.

    "The red snappers that were used in this soup were really top quality. I had to struggle to get it out when it was swimming inside the cab. Seriously Jin, if the inspectors ever saw the state of your kitchen, they would definitely be closing your store down."

    "Meh. It is a dimensional instance. They would never figure if it was real or not. That way, they would not be able to find anything at all. Hahahaha!" Jinughed as he wiped his mouth after finishing the delicious bowl of Chashu Ramen.

    "You are indeed mysterious, Jin." Lynn smiled, and Jin could feel that Lynn had finally opened up and became more friendly with him.

    "Speaking of mysterious, I have a letter for you." Jin passed the letter to her and requested her to open it.

    "Is it my retrenchment letter?" Lynn inquired casually although there was indeed some traces of fear in her voice, fearing that it was true.

    "Nah, nothing of that sorts. In fact, it could be considered a promotion letter. Just that...erm brace yourself." Jin took a step backwards and replied.

    Lynn was curious but opened the letter as instructed. Suddenly, she felt a jolt of pain pulsating through her entire body. Lynn felt extremely exposed all of a sudden even though her clothes were all intact. The pain got stronger, but Lynn tried to endure it as warned by Jin but she still looked at him for help.

    Nheless, Jin was simply standing there, not assisting her in any way at all. "What have you done Jin!?" Lynn screamed as she tried to reach him, but he was not responding at all.

    "I am sorry, but you have to endure this pain." Jin could only continue to look at Lynn struggling against the unspeakable pain that went through her.

    After what felt like an eternity to Lynn, the pain finally stopped. She continued lying t on the floor for a while before Jin went forward and poked at her shoulders.

    "Are you alright?" Jin asked.

    "Do I look alright? What have you done to me? Better yet WHY??? And what is this now??!!" Lynn felt something was moving in her body as she stood up with the assistance of Jin.

    "System, is her integrationplete?" Jin took out the phone and asked.

    "Yes, 100%plete. System has also integrated the 1st grade of Perfectible Penguin Ruling The Kitchen Hell Cultivation into her body." The System spoke through his phone.

    "Hello, Lynn Arisato. Please pass your phone to Jin." The System echoed, and Lynn''s head was in a mess. It was filled with feelings of anger, pain, relief, and a lot of confusion.

    "What is happening? Who is that on the line?" Lynn was perplexed and started to be afraid. Did Jin betray her? Who is this System person?

    "Look Lynn. Calm down. I will exin everything to you in a moment. Though first I would like you to pass me your phone. That should help you understand what is going on." Jin tried to calm her down. Lynn hesitated at first after what had just happened, but she decided to trust Jin for now as she passed her phone to him.

    It was an old flip phone which Lynn had been using for years. Not to mention, it was bought by both her parents as a birthday present. However, when she passed it to Jin, the flip phone suddenly changed its shape right in front of her eyes. As if it was some transmutation magic that was happening.

    It was sleeker, cker, and even had touchscreen functions on Lynn''s screen despite still being a flip phone. The buttons that were partially faulty due to wear and tear became usable again. There was even a mini analogue stick that enabled her to choose things quite easily on her phone.

    "Here''s your new phone. I now officially wee you to the System." Jin said as he began to tell Lynn the rough gist of his shop''s true identity. Things started to make more sense for Lynn. Especially the Kitchen instance and many other things.

    Jin even introduced the Betors properly to her, such as Milk, Peppers and Zeru. "Lady Lynn, we meet again." Zeru bowed a little.

    "So you are all Jin''s helpers and guards at the same time?" Lynn tried toprehend the amount of information that was being passed to her within this short amount of time. It was then that Yun appeared too and reintroduced herself to Lynn.

    "Ohh..so you are like a sister to Jin that he never knew he had?" Lynn asked, and Yun nodded. Both Jin and Yun decided on the spot that it would be terribly awkward to let Lynn know about Jin''s true rtionship with Yun. Sister was a good cover story for Lynn and the subsequent Sub System Users like Qiu Yue.

    "If you need any help, do not hesitate to ask. As for your powers...ehh System?" Jin really had no idea what was going to be Lynn''s Sub System''s powers. He only remembered that Yun mentioned, it would help Lynn with her cooking, but she never shared the details with him. So he passed the baton to the System for it to exin to Lynn. At that moment, Lynn''s phone powered up, and the System spoke to her through that phone.

    "Under normal circumstances, the System will only be talking to the User through text. Unless the System is positive that its position would not bepromised by talking through the speakers." The System stated.

    "Check your phone. There should be a weird looking app that you have never seen before." Yun who was the System''s mouthpiece instructed Lynn.

    "This panda looking app? Pandamonium?" Lynn asked, and Yun sniggered as she shook her head.

    "No, no. In your case it is the penguin looking one." Yun corrected her, as she could not believe Lynn could be this stupid cute. Lynn managed to find it and read the App''s name. ''Penguin''s Food Bazaar''

    "Before you activate the app, let''s go into the Kitchen Instance." Yun held onto the other two''s cors and activated the System''s teleportation into the Kitchen Instance since they were in the Shop Level One Instance.

    Lynn stabilised herself a bit before she flipped open her handphone and activated the Penguin''s Food Bazaar App. Within moments, multiple penguins suddenly came out of her phone. Their sudden arrival frightened Lynn so much, that she dropped her phone on to the floor. However, that did not seem to stop the penguins from appearing out of her phone.

    Jin looked at the penguins and felt they were rather familiar. It was then he realised the models were exactly the same as the penguins he saw in the Hot Spring Instance. But there was something different with the penguins. Their eyes were like pure ck beads which felt moreical in nature aspared to the penguins in the hot spring which mimicked the real life penguins. Not only that, the penguins that were summoned were all wearing an apron. Some of the penguins were also holding chopping knives, spats, a wok and other tools rted to the kitchen.

    "This is your personal Penguin Crew Lynn. They are rather professional, or so I heard, and you can train them in whatever way you like for they are all under yourmand. As you can see from their kitchen tools, they all have their own preferences, so you may keep that in mind when you assign them in the kitchen. I would advise you to get familiar with them. Unlike humans, these penguins pledge absolute loyalty to you and do the job as you ordered them. That way, you can not only utilise the kitchen instance to the fullest capability but start preparing orders for the restaurant instance which Jin promised you." Yun looked at Jin as he was staring and patting one of the penguins which were being friendly with him. It then urred to him that Yun was talking about him.

    "Eh?" Jin paused for a while to process the words that Yun had said.

    "EHHHHHHHHHHH?! Ow!" Yun hit him on the head for not following through with the act.

    "Go do it now then! Create the Restaurant instance!" Yun ordered in Jin''s thoughts, and that made Jin somewhat reluctant.

    "But I have yet to earn any dungeon dors recentlyбнI will be touching on my reserves if I do thatбн" Jin grumbled in his mind.

    "So you want Lynn to underperform?" Yun gave an annoyed look at Jin, and he somewhat reluctantly agreed with some hesitation. After all, Jin understood that you had to spend money to earn even more.

    "Boss, you don''t have to do that nowбн" Lynn realised the silent tension between them and tried to mediate them, but Jin shook his head.

    "It''s okay, I will go and design it. I shall release the restaurant instance by evening at thetest." Jin said but waster interrupted by Yun.

    "Evening it is then. But I have a major job for you. Because of the new restaurant we are building, the current existing menu will be served in that restaurant instance. Quick bites are also managed by these penguins of yours now. The entire food department of Dungeons and Pandas is now at yourmand, Lynn." Yun ced her hands on Lynn''s shoulders as if a substantial amount of responsibility was given to her.

    "I will do my best." Still, Lynn was unfazed by the influx of work and new powers she obtained as she folded her sleeves and weed the challenge given to her by Yun openly.

 Chapter 274 Original System

    <h4>Chapter 274 Original System</h4>

    With little time to spare, Jin quickly returned to the Dungeon Maker and started to prepare the Restaurant instance. It was not a big deal connecting the instances especially when the shop is now a dimensional instance, but he did miss the days where he could visibly see a noticeable upgrade to his shop whenever he added a new instance.

    "Not to worry. When youplete this month''s sales mission, you will get your other 0.5 level. After which you are able to integrate with the other few floors." Yun said in his thoughts beforeing into the Dungeon Maker.

    "I''ve never seen Lynn this happy since the day she stepped into the store. What kind of magic did you pull?" Yun asked Jin casually as he prepared the System Interface to create the Restaurant Service Instance.

    "I didn''t do much. My betor did most of the job." Jin replied as he remembered how he used Kraft to influence both Lynn''s father and Yamazaki.

    "That betor Kraft? Well, I honestly did not expect you to obtain a betor from the Original System." Yun said.

    "Original System?" This was the first time Jin heard of this.

    "The first batch of betors to be exact. The System improved over time, and as generations passed by, it recruited potential betors through the years too. For example, the System did not have the power to traverse through other worlds until recently due to a contribution of a certain betor. We use the term Original System Betors as to establish and recognise the efforts of the first batch of betors for surviving the assaults from the Jade Emperor." Yun exined.

    "This means that older betors tend to have more experience under their belt than newer betors like Peppers and Milk. They have acquired stronger abilities from past encounters. However, the System does not give the User ess to every Betor. Neither do I have the reason for the System not doing so." Yun reinforced her exnation.

    "Kraft is that old?" It was then Jin felt an evil stare through his subconscious, ready to tear him apart.

    "...Sorry I was out of line. I apologise." Jin quickly begged for forgiveness in his thoughts, but Kraft did not reply back. At the very least, the stare was gone.

    "Also, where did you find Kraft? Thest I heard was that he disappeared alongside Ming and I have not received any notification from the System that you were acquainted with Kraft." Yun questioned Jin.

    "I had no idea, when I was cultivating, he suddenly appeared. That deep trance thing, you remember?" Jin tried to y dumb while telling half truths.

    "Huhбнmaybe Ming''s efforts whilepiling your new manual had some traces of Kraft in it. Maybe he felt your existence with the System, which made him reappear." Yun epted it without question.

    "Did it happen with other betors in the past? So this is nothing too unusual?" Jin probed Yun for some more information.

    "Yeah, I guess. These betors, especially from the Original System batch are a bunch of picky individuals though most of them still contributed greatly to the current System. For example, most of the methods used by the System in regards to mind maniption are Kraft''s designs if I remember correctly. In any case, I suppose I should tell you the powers of the Sub System that Lynn possesses. To be honest, I would rather let you discover it yourself." Yun was a bit hesitant, and Jin waited patiently for her answer.

    "But I guess telling you now would be equally beneficial too. Maybe, then you might do a better job creating the new restaurant service instance." Yun sighed a bit as she ced her hand on the interface of the Dungeon Maker and something else started up instead of Jin''s Dungeon Making Interface.

    "But I am still not giving her any clue. She will need to experiment with her powers herself. This was the instruction the System gave me which I have no qualms obeying." Yun added as she released her hand after the interfacepleted. It appeared to be a replica of the Penguin Food Bazaar app that Lynn had in her flip phone.

    "Although the current kitchen instance boasts a variety of food, they are after all, types of food which can be found in this world. What the Penguin Food Bazaar app allows her to do, is to purchase a variety of food foreign to this world. In short, from other dimensions." Yun said.

    "Oh yeah...you did say that the onigiri, curry rice and other food unlocked from the System was from other worlds." Jin had nearly forgotten about that fact.

    "So what she has now is ess to ingredients that were used in those food items that were unlocked previously from your store. The Bazaar penguins know the food recipes hence it is not an issue. They can create those food items at any time. But with Lynn''s emotion cooking and all new sub system...hmm hmm hahaha." Yun initially smirked before she began tough.

    "What? why?" Jin was a bit confused by Yun''s sudden hystericalugh.

    "She can now imbue food with power, giving them all sorts of boosts. That is the ability of her sub system." Yun answered, and Jin was in a shock.

    "You mean...her food can improve a person''s stats? Isn''t that OP cheating in real life?!" Jin eximed at the thought of it.

    "Hahaha! No, not yet. Her powers have not reached that kind of standard yet and are currently far from it. Right now, her ability simply allows you, your cultivators and even your monsters to have a temporary increase in stats for a short period of time." Yun replied.

    "Oh gosh, does that mean I can create even more crazy dungeons?" Jin''s mind started to race, with all the possibilities. It may be time to call Qiu Yue, for some brainstorming.

    "More like your monsters do not have to hold back and will be able to fight with their best," Yun answered with a smile of confidence.

    "Hmm yeah, that is true. They sometimes have to hold their attacks back so much that they make it too easy for cultivators." Jin remembered that was one of the mainints he received when he visited his monsters for a weekly ''town council'' meeting. Shortly after conquering Moloch''s Dungeon Core, Jin introduced those meetings, where he met with representatives of his monsters and asked if they had any issues with their current homes, workload etc. Theyined that the cultivators were too weak and they could have killed them in one stroke. Only a bunch of them managed to keep up with their attacks, and those cultivators were usually the first few to clear the dungeons.

    "Think of it this way. They are learning control." Yun tried to look at this problem from another perspective.

    "True, but this will dull their fighting capabilities, and they may eventually underestimate the future opponents." Jin rebutted.

    "That is true too. Then I guess Lynn better buck up and serve up good food with terrific stats boosting!" Yun nodded her head and started to leave Jin to his work on the Restaurant Instance. Yun also told Jin that she would open the store up first and help him look after it until he was done with the new service instance.

    "Hmm. Should I impose a fee for the Restaurant Instance or notбн" Jin contemted hard and long, but there were no concepts that seemed original. He even searched the web on the Dungeon Maker Interface for some time before he began constructing the necessary drafts, but it was to no avail.

    "Maybe, I should take a train to a nearby food bazaar and have some real life inspirationбн" Suddenly, an idea emerged when he thought about the Food Bazaar and he began looking at the web for design references.

    "Hehe, looks like this could be a decent idea after all! I can even impose a nice fee if done correctly!" Jin fiddled with the interface as he zoned out, creating the all new restaurant service instance.

 Chapter 275 Restaurant Service Instance

    <h4>Chapter 275 Restaurant Service Instance</h4>

    "Wow, Yun, I admire your tenacity. I did not expect you to open the shop this quickly after yesterday''s incident." Luo Bo greeted Yun as she entered the Shop Level One instance. "Not to mention that you guys are even opening up a new Restaurant Service Instance in the evening aspensation. I am honestly impressed." Jin and the System had posted an announcement in the Pandamonium that a brand new service instance would be introduced in the evening and apologised for the shop closure on the previous day.

    "Well, same goes to you. I could not believe you were that daring to fight against those Japanese cultivators." Yunplimented Luo Bo''s guts and thanked her for help rendered.

    "Meh, I''ve been through worse when I was younger. Those thugs were tough but not scary. Besides, I finally get to use some of those arrows that I bought from the basement shop. I did not know of its usefulness until that day. I was also equally surprised Jia Le could make her barrier spell work that way too. Perhaps our group should utilise her even more." Luo Bo grinned as she said.

    "Anyways, what time is this Restaurant Service Instance opening? I am starving." Luo Boined, since she did not feel like doing any dungeoneering at the moment. The other customers were the same. Many were waiting for the new service instance to appear. If the quality of food turns out to be simr to what they had eaten in the shop up until now, they would love to see what kind of food would be served in this new Restaurant Instance.

    "Only you alone? What about the others?" Yun wondered since usually Luo Bo came in with her boyfriend or as a whole group.

    "Don''t worry, they wouldn''t miss it. You know, with something as popr as your shop. Especially when you made that announcement, they had decided to send me as the representative to book the ce in advance. We are giving this service instance a try, simr to the Pandas Muscles and Fishing Instance. Although Shi Zhuo did not like the fishing instance as much as I did, I had funughing at him failing, and it was pretty memorable." Luo Bo replied with glee on her face.

    "To each their own. But trust me everyone will want to try out this new service instance. I would advise you guys, to prepare more money in the future because this Restaurant Instance might change how things work around here." Yun said with a smirk of confidence.

    "Oh? Then what about the Panda Credits? Are they not usable anymore? I mean I understand if you are going to focus on the restaurant, but it is also a pity that you have almost nothing on the menu in the Bar Ind at the moment except for onigiris and drinks. Even the Triple cheese pizza is gone." Luo Bomented.

    "There will be the possibility to order some quick bites in the Restaurant Instance. However, you are not the one only who gave such feedback. Others shared the same opinion as you. We will definitely look into it and prepare to serve more varieties of quick bites at this Bar Ind in the future. But for today, we don''t want you guys to spoil your appetite, so we are only serving onigiris and drinks here." Yun apologised to Lu Bo, who shook her head.

    "With regards to your Panda Credits, we will be exchanging them to Panda Medals as a sign of gratitude for staying and choosing Dungeons and Pandas as your preferred Dungeon Supplier. Besides, judging from the gathered feedback, we feel that multiple currencies simply seem to confuse most customers, especially the new ones. Therefore, we have decided, that it is in the best interest to reduce the number of items to keep track of." Yun exined.

    "Not true, your Pandamonium App is so well made that it tracks almost everything easily. I mean it even has integration with the major apps such as MeChat, which makes it really convenient for me to not switch any apps around. I appreciate this kind of convenience." Luo Bo defended which some other customers overheard and they agreed to it too.

    "But not to worry though, we will be handing out digital food coupons in exchange for the Panda Credits every time you choose to buy dungeon tickets from us. But if you wish to purchase additional food, I am afraid you will need to pay with money because of the ingredients used." Yun had been informed of the changes by Jin in advance before the opening of the Restaurant Service Instance.

    "Nah, it''s okay. I find it hard to believe that you have been charging almost nothing for your fantastic food. Though I do believe there will be some criticism from the public. At least those who like to eat will be able to eat as much as they want now and it will probably make people buy more of it in the future if they have the option. Also, I assume the people that are presently here are looking forward to the opening of the Restaurant Instance and are also not bothered too much about theck of variety of food currently being served. Please keep up the good work Yun and Jinбн." Luo Bo replied back with a gentle smile, only to realise that Jin was missing.

    "Speaking of which, where is Jin? Is he hiding in some Pandrac castle putting on his odd panda costume? Or is he consuming the blood of the damsel he rescued?" Luo Bo remembered she was startled to see Jin with Zhen Qing at the warehouse. It was only until Yun exined to her that Zhen Qing had a one time teleportation earring.

    "Do you mean Qiu Yue?" Bin Yong teleported in just now, when he partially overheard the conversation between Luo Bo and Yun.

    "Bin Bin! Who is this Qiu Yue!? I was talking about Zhen Qing." Luo Bo came up to her long time friend and gave him a friendly hug from the back.

    "Ahhh, Luo Bo! You do not get sick of this, do you?" Bin Yong was a bit conscious as usual, but he wasn''t as bothered as before after he got together with his now girlfriend. Jia Le, who was at his side did not mind her too much since she knew Luo Bo''s behaviour.

    "You are our one and only Bin Bin. A blood brother to us." Luo Bo smiled as she pulled his ear. "Now, who is this Qiu Yue person? Quickly tell me, else I am totally shipping Boss and Zhen Qing to be together." Luo Bo teased.

    "Ahhhhhh! Boss was fighting in a random battle arena match the other day. He was with this girl called Qiu Yue. I managed to take a picture of it with my phone because I was amazed by that girl''s match with this new monster we have never met before." Bin Yong hurried to answer. To rescue his ear, he took out his phone and showed it to Luo Bo.

    "Ah! This is the first time I have heard of this! Why did you not tell me about this sooner!" This time, Jia Le pouted and pulled on Bin Yong''s other ear. "I would like to see this pretty girl of Boss too."

    "Heh heh, looks like Boss is a bit of a yer eh!" Luo Bo yfully twisted Bin Yong''s ear which made him feel even more miserable than when she heard Jia Leining.

    "I honestly think Jin is just too good natured." Yun knew that Jin did not think that way for both of these girls, but Luo Bo was a troublemaker til the end.

    "Oh? Yun, do you have the hots for Jin too?" Luo Bo gave a cheeky smile before she noticed a metal round tray flying towards her and hitting her on the head before Bin Yong could grab it in time. If it were other customers, they would probably file aint.

    "Don''t be nonsensical." Yun sneered, and Luo Bo repeatedly apologised to Yun before the group saw Jin teleporting into the shop instance, appearing in his silly Pandrac costume.

    "The reveal is nigh!" Jin flipped his cape, and the entire shop instance had its lights turned off. The customers suddenly saw multiple spotlights flying all over the shop instance, and rolling drum noises were heard, increasing everyone''s level of excitement.

    Jin with the help of Peppers from his phone shot a st of fireworks in the direction of the north west, where most of the service instances were located, right beside Auditorium Five and Six. The spotlights immediately shined at one particr spot and the drum rolls ended with a gong of a cymbal.

    "Behold! The Restaurant Train of Delicacy Service instance!" Pandrac Jin shouted and dered the new opening of a new service instance.

    "Too dramatic. System will take note for future reference of this." The System said in Jin''s thoughts as he helped to usher the excited customers into the new restaurant instance.

    "Lynn, customers areing in, and they seem as hungry as a pack of wolves." Jin informed her in his mind, which took Lynn by surprise, before she naturally replied back with the aid of the System.

    "Understood, Boss." A straightforward reply to Jin, but when Lynn turned back to look at her penguins, she jumped up on the kitchen table and pped her hands to ask for attention. (It''s unhygienic, but the kitchen instance made everything sterile, including her shoes.) All the penguins stopped what they were doing and gazed at her.

    "Peggies! Time to show these customers that Lynn''s Peggies can outmatch those pandas!!" Lynn roared and the penguins squeaked in unison!

 Chapter 276 Restaurant Train of Delicacy

    <h4>Chapter 276 Restaurant Train of Delicacy</h4>

    "You are sote!" Luo Bo moped as she saw Shi Zuo panting heavily after he teleported into the Shop Instance.

    "So sorry! There was a sudden serverwork problem in thepany and they needed me to check it out because the guy who was in charge was on leave." Shi Zuo ced his hand on his head as he apologised for his tardiness.

    "Hmm true, there had been some majorwork disruptions recently. I heard the other animationpany had so many problems with their servers that they decided to do it the old fashion way. Tapes." Bin Yongmented.

    "Meh, probably should make a properint to the telco servers." Luo Bo grunted, but she immediately pulled Shi Zuo towards the new Restaurant Train of Delicacy Service Instance. Bin Yong and Jia Le could not help butugh as Shi Zuo was being pulled by his girlfriend like a child dragging its favourite nket around the room.

    The four entered through the instance dimension and found themselves on a train tform. To everyone''s surprise, the train station they were in was very simple. It was just a train tform with no roofs, no gates and nothing interesting surrounding except for grasnd as far as the eyes could see.

    But on this simple looking train tform, the group could see that many were already waiting at the tform for the train to arrive. In the meantime, there was a penguin wearing a train attendant hat walking around, asking if anyone wanted any premium tickets.

    "Do we need a ticket to board the train?" Bin Yong squatted to ask the Penguin Train Attendant when it wobbled towards them.

    "Nope, getting on board the train is free, but you will have to pay for the food, unless you have a food coupon with you." The Penguin Train Attendant answered.

    "Great, the four of us received digital food coupons after purchasing the Bank Raid story dungeon instance." Luo Bo shed her coupon on her phone as evidence.

    "Thank you for purchasing our dungeon instance! The choices of food remain the same for now, but if you''d like to upgrade your experience in the Restaurant Train of Delicacy, we would sincerely rmend you to get the premium tickets." The Penguin Train Attendant replied to them.

    "What does the premium ticket entails?" Jia Le asked.

    "Let''s find out then." Shi Zuo preferred to experience it for himself, so he showed the Penguin Train Attendant his phone wallet, and asked for four tickets.

    "That will be 1100 Yuan (~160 USD) in total. I will reiterate, this does not include any meals at all. Do you understand?" The Penguin Train Attendant started to print the tickets out as soon as Shi Zuo ced his phone on the portable payment terminal.

    "My treat, guys, foringte." Shi Zuo said as the Penguin Train Attendant beckoned another Penguin Train Attendant to escort them right to the further end of the train tform. It appeared that the premium tickets entitled them to a shorter queuing line.

    "I wonder if it works like a first ss train ticket." Jia Le suggested, but the guys shrugged. "You can never know in Boss Jin''s instances." Bin Yong replied, and the customers that were waiting with them started to specte what kind of services they would experience thanks to the premium ticket.

    "HOOOOOOOOOONNNNNK!"

    From a distance, the crowd started to see the silhouette of a training towards them and the Penguin Train Attendants were asking everyone to form up nicely. "Everyone will have a good spot regardless if you are first orst in line! Please queue up orderly!!" One of the Penguin Train Attendants with a loud hailer did his best to handle the anxious crowd.

    As the train got nearer, everyone had their mouths wide open. It was no ordinary train nor was it some bullet train from the future. Calling the lotive train the customers saw colossal in length was an understatement when it stopped at the tform. The boiler of the steam lotive thundered as it puffed out a variable intensity of smoke. Thankfully, the smoke had more of an aesthetic purpose instead of an actual byproduct from using coal.

    "Now I understand why the train tform is this simple. There is no way a standard train tform could handle such a mammoth-like train." Luo Bo took out her phone to snap some pictures, but it was near impossible to take the full picture even in panoramic mode.

    "Okay! Everyone listen up! The Train is going to leave in 5 minutes! Customers who wish to board the train, please board safely." The Penguin Train attendant with the loud hailer shouted, and everyone could not help but be excited.

    When the group went into the premium portion of the train, they were amazed by the interior decor of the ce. It emitted a luxurious and prestigious feeling, despite having a train carriage design around it, with a table amodating up to four people. However, because of the enormous size of the train, it did not feel cramped at all. Especially when the walkway was about the size of a threene road. To emphasize on the premium experience, there were high enough partitions between each table that it did not intrude the privacy of the groups.

    Jia Le noticed that further down the carriage, there were tables that could amodate groups of up to ten people. "No wonder the train is this big." Jia Le waspletely amazed as she took a picture as a reference for her future works.

    There were crystal wall sconces on the train walls, chandeliers on the ceilings and the windows wererge and slightly convex so the customers could have a better view outside. What they were surprised by was that those windows were not obvious from the outside. The group thought that they must have overlooked it because they were so caught up with the size of the train.

    The seats were pleasantlyfortable, and it felt like they were made out of premium leather. Even the antique looking wooden tables were rock solid and had a vintage feel to them. Not to mention, the silverware right in front was exquisite. The intricate designs of penguins on the silverware forks and chopsticks while the pandas on spoons and knives caused both girls to snap pictures non stop. However, their favourite would be the tes as each of them had a small red panda imprint at the edges and every te was of a different design.

    "This is amazing. It''s like living the high roller life." Shi Zuo had already started to feel that the money he paid to enter this restaurant was worth it. Suddenly, he noticed some saxophone music ying in the background, and he looked around to see where the speakers were. Only then did he realise that there was a band of penguins at the centre of the walkway ying instruments. The funny thing was the band was ying on a giantzy panda that was strolling along the walkway.

    "I wonder how the drummer can y when the equipment is constantly on the move." Bin Yong thought out loud, and Luo Boughed and replied a word. "Talent."

    "I would believe you more if you said it''s Jin''s ''trade secret''." Bin Yong rolled his eyes. In the meantime, two penguins appeared, sliding on their bellies, in front of them. Both wearing butler-looking suits. One asked the group what they would like to eat. The other penguin was offering them a sort of herbal tea which they had never seen in Jin''s store before. The drinks were served in some delicate Chinese cups with exquisite floral designs and lustrous golden edges. (Not to mention multiple urrences of small red and normal pandas hid among those floral designs upon closer inspection.)

    The group then noticed that there was no menu until the penguin waiters exined that the menu was already disyed on their phones via the Pandamonium app and all they had to do was to choose something to order from it.

    "Ahaha, I thought it would be some crazy restaurant menu. In the end, it''s just the items that we have ordered at the Bar Ind before." Shi Zuo said as he tried the tea. It was a bit sweet but still clear enough to cleanse their ptes before the meal. "Hmm this tea is still a pleasant surprise."

    "Ah, Monsieur. You are sorely mistaken, the food cooked by our Head Chef Lynn and her assistant chefs are slightly different from what you have eaten before." The penguin waiter talked with a slight French ent which the girls found cute. "And do not worry, more food choices would be made avable in the future." The penguin waiter said while striking a pose with his notepad and pen ready to take their orders.

    "I will have this ramen then. This is the first time I saw this ramen on the menu." Jia Le decided, and the rest followed suit as well.

    "I understand, so four orders of Ramen Chashu dans un Bouillon de Vivaneau Rouge, one order of Jus de Bambou, two orders of Soda Panda and one order of Cafиж Ivoire Noir. Is that correct?" The penguin waiter repeated their orders and the group slowly nodded their head as if to acknowledge the weird French they were listening to, since the menu in the Pandamonium App only stated Chashu ramen, bamboo juice, panda soda and ck ivory coffee.

    "Bien, your orders will arrive shortly." The penguin waiter bowed as it left the area and coincidentally, the train started to move.

 Chapter 277 Chashu Ramen in Red Snapper Broth

    <h4> Chapter 277 Chashu Ramen in Red Snapper Broth</h4>

    The train was visibly moving, yet the customers in the Restaurant Train of Delicacy were unable to feel even the slightest bit of motion at all. There were sounds of the wheels rolling along the rail tracks, but the carriage was perfectly still as if it was simply floating along.

    As the group of four were talking randomly about their day jobs, a penguin waiter with a bulter suit came by and interrupted their conversation. "First, Mesdames et Messieurs. Let me thank you for choosing to ride with us in the Premium Carriage of the Restaurant Train of Delicacy. We would like to inform you that we do have certain features to make your wait more enjoyable." The Penguin waiter said as he pressed a button beside the table and a t projection screen appeared at the middle of the table.

    "Since the four of you have not only attempted but alsopleted the Bank Heist dungeon instance before, we would like to provide you with this 3D map of the bank heist dungeon. On it, you can n out your moves and the estimated enemy response would be simted in this projection screen. You can also rey any of your previous dungeon runs of the Bank Heist for reference and make a revision on what to expect." The Penguin waiter exined.

    "Oh?! I do remember hearing of this feature back when the store just opened. However, it was renovated into that tranquil gallery on the third floor before I ever had the chance to use it. Can we use this feature to also watch other people''s dungeon runs instead while waiting for our food?" Bin Yong was rather excited to see the return of this particr feature of the dungeon store.

    "Thank you, Monsieur, for remembering such a feature of the Dungeon Supplier. To answer your question, yes you are able to not only watch current dungeons runs, but also listen to thementary for those being projected. You are also able to review previous dungeon runs by other teams. You will have ess to all the videos as provided in our streaming service. Should you change your mind, you can simply change the channel to simte any possible runs in the future too. It was just that this humble waiter did not know that you had prior knowledge of this feature. Please pardon me, Monsieur." The Penguin bowed.

    "In any case, if you do not wish to watch or revise any runs, you can also just enjoy the scenery during this train ride which I believe should be a treat to see, especially for the first time." The Penguin waitermented.

    "Where is this train heading? Do we need to wait for the train to stop before we can exit this instance?" Jia Le asked, and the penguin waiter shook his head cutely.

    "No, Mademoiselle. You can exit the instance at any time. Just inform one of our penguins, and we will escort you to the exit. For your former question, we will first be heading to the ''Northern ds''. If luck has it, we might be able to see some Aurora lights in the process too. When that happens, we will open the roof for better viewing." The Penguin waiter told them and the group became excited.

    "Even if it is not real, this will be a treat to watch!" Luo Bo was excited as she could not believe, that she would not need to go all the way to Europe to look at those Aurora lights.

    "Now I understand why Yun said we might being here on a regr basis." Luo Bo said to the group, and the others agreed to.

    "The best has yet toe Mademoiselle. Your dishes will arrive shortly. Let me get your drinks first." The Penguin waiter bowed once again, and in a matter of minutes, another simr looking penguin waiter came and served them their drinks.

    Bin Yong was the first to receive his Panda Soda. He immediately noticed that it was no longer served in a can but arrived already poured into a ss. He took a straw and drank it, only to realise there was a slight differencepared to the ones he previously had.

    "This taste...!" Bin Yong couldn''t control himself and quickly drank another mouthful. "This is slightly sourer than before but I''ve felt as if something in me was churning. As if my chi vital points felt more refreshed than ever."

    Shi Zuo thought Bin Yong was exaggerating as he drank his coffee only to realise the fatigue that he had .u.mted for the past few days was lifted from him. "I feel more energetic than ever...! The spirit energy in this drink is at least two times more than before!" Shi Zuo determined, and the Penguin waiter grinned with his beak.

    "Yes, the food here contains more spiritual energy than before mainly because of the newly awakened skills of our new chef." The same old penguin waiter, who took their orders in the beginning came with a tray on top of his head.

    "The level of skill required to bnce four bowls of soup and noodles and not dropping a single drop of soup on the tray..." Jia Le was amazed by the ability of the Penguin Waiter.

    The ramen, which was served was not exactly the same as Jin had previously. This time, it was served with twice the amount of Chashu slices. There was arge piece of nori seaweed at the side and a mix of chopped up scallion and green onions at the centre of chashu ramen bowl. Upon closer inspection, a few pieces of Menma (bamboo shoots) and half a soft boiled Tamago (egg) was hidden behind therge piece of nori.

    "The smell of this ramen..." Bin Yong had to control his saliva and his urge to dig in. He felt like there was a monster underneath him, lurking behind a cage and staring at the food as if there was an enticing prey right in front of it. But he barely managed to control that craving until the penguin waiter served everyone''s ramen. But like a beast, who had not eaten for several days, Bin Yong started feasting on the noodles even before the waiter said: "Please enjoy."

    However it was not just him, the rest immediately started ravaging the bowl of chashu ramen, and it was not a beautiful sight to behold at all. The juicy meat of the thick pork belly slice. The clear yet vourful soup broth. The crunchy chunk of bamboo shoot and not to mention the well seasoned soft boiled tamago in the soup base.

    People said that if you were able to talk during a meal, it meant that the food was not tasty enough for you to concentrate on eating. Although it was not especially quiet with sounds of firm noodles slurping into their wet mouths, no words were being spoken for the next few minutes.

    "Oh my god. This is definitely the best ramen I have ever eaten in my entire life." Luo Bo took the opportunity to rest for a moment after she gobbled her noodles and drank her bamboo juice to ease the swallowing.

    "This is the first time I''ve ever finished such arge bowl of noodles...I do not feel any regret gaining some weight from it." Jia Le let out a small burp with her hand covering her mouth for manner''s sake, but Shi Zuo was doing the exact opposite, letting out a loud burp that echoed through the cabin.

    The group had a shortugh until they suddenly could feel their dantian churning the spirit energy that was absorbed by eating and felt slightly restless. It was then, that the penguin waiter came by again and asked for their feedback on the food. They had nothing but non-stop praises to offer, although all of them did agree that something was amiss.

    "Ah. Maybe you should take a look at your statistics in the Pandamonium page." The Penguin Waiter suggested, and they did as instructed. All of them were astonished to see a boost in their stats, especially in the strength portion. There were some discrepancies because of the different drinks they had taken, but both Bin Yong and Jia Le had the same stat increase because they ordered the same items.

    "What! You mean this food will boost our strength as such?" Shi Zuo identally screamed at the top of his voice as he only ever heard of such legendary food being sold by an exclusive cultivation guild organised by a select few people. Some say that even the Royal Zodiacs members needed an invitation to interact with that particr guild.

    "Hahahaha, there is no way my food is that phenomenal." Lynnughed as she walked towards them before she took off her chef''s hat and bowed towards Luo Bo and Jia Le. "Please, let me treat you guys to this meal as a token of gratitude." Even the penguin waiter beside them bowed with her.

    "Your food? But didn''t the penguin waiter say that the head chef was called Lynn?" Luo Bo was rather stunned as she did not expect Lynn to be such an extraordinary chef.

    "Well about that...My real name is Lynn Arisato." Lynn was trying to clear everything up, yet before she could continue, Shi Zuo, who was trying to finish the final bits of his coffee at the same time, almost coughed out the contents in his mouth.

    "EHHHHH?! YOU are THAT Lynn Arisato? The Prodigal Devil Chef that was caught up with the Last Supper Scandal?! Oh my god, you really do look like her!" Shi Zuo shouted again before Luo Bo bashed him on his head to calm him down. The rest of the group did not know who that Lynn exactly was supposed to be.

    "Ahaha, that''s because I am her. Although I would not call myself Prodigal Devil Chef. But yes, I am that Lynn. Boss Jin gave me an opportunity to rise back up to the cooking scene. However I hope that you can keep this information to yourself. I do not want too cause any more trouble for Boss Jin." Lynn said in a rather gentle tone which Luo Bo''s sixth sense began to suspect things.

    "Do not worry Zhen- Lynn. We will alwayse and protect you if need be." Jia Le smiled as she reassured Lynn.

    "Anyways, if you are done with your food, you can enjoy the train ride for a while more, or you can also start doing your dungeon raids. The stat boost is only temporary, it should probablyst for an Earth hour or so. So you should still have plenty of time to rx in the train or you can grind in the dungeons." Lynn bowed once again before she departed whilemanding her little penguins.

 Chapter 278 Urgent Reques

    <h4>Chapter 278 Urgent Reques</h4>

    People were insanely interested for the opening of the new Restaurant Train of Delicacy Instance. Unlike the fishing and hot spring instances, that were self contained instances catered around individuals or small groups, the Restaurant Train of Delicacy instance was one single instance simr to the Panda Muscles service instance but on arger scale.

    In terms of size, the Restaurant Train of Delicacy instance was easily the biggest one Jin had ever made. This was because it required the train to move over several hundreds, if not thousands of miles of scenery before they could return to that same particr train tform. At the moment, there was only the Northern d scenery, but he nned to add many more sights and sceneries in the future if this instance bes as popr as expected.

    One would ask how frequent the trains would arrive since there was only one single train tform in service. Jin had solved that problem by having a fifteen minute interval for each train toe. Meanwhile, the penguin waiters and train attendants used a teleportation device to teleport themselves from the train section, to other trains, to the kitchen instance or even back to the train tform when necessary. That was also how customers were able to leave the train in the middle of the trip.

    Hence, concerning customer convenience, Jin had it all sorted out. Nevertheless, because of that, he needed to create a sufficiently robust railway system so that the trains would not sh with each other. Thankfully, his university had covered some basics of engineering in regards to transportation, and he used whatever limited knowledge he had including the search in the to create this particr service instance.

    All in all, he was delighted with his creation as he was manning the Bar Ind which was now practically empty due to the introduction of the Restaurant Instance. However, as Jin was rxing for the day, he did discover a familiar face as he was casually watching the auditoriums that were on air.

    "Boss Jin. I know that Princess said to wait for a letter toe. But due to certain pressing issues, the original n has been changed. She hopes that you could create a dungeon as soon as possible in ordance with this particr request. I can be a test subject for the dungeon if you need a person to test it out. Princess hopes that it could bepleted by tomorrow morning before 8 am if possible." Ku Wai came with a letter and a encrypted USB.

    "This is a bit too abrupt..." Jin was fatigued from rushing the Restaurant Service Instance out, but he did promise Yang Ling he would make her a dungeon for free. Especially considering recent events, it was hard for him to t out deny the sudden request.

    "I think you might understand more if you read the letter." Ku Wai urged Jin to open it up.

    The letter was to the point. Yang Ling wanted an obstacle course that would test the upper limits of the Gearbox technology that she had created. At the same time it would be used as a showcase for the higher echelon members of the national military and various high value military merchants and vendors.

    "What? So does that mean she is nning to bring those VIPs to my ce at 9 am tomorrow?" Jin stared at Ku Wai nkly, who simply nodded.

    "I am sorry. We understand that this is very imposing, but apparently, she has received reports that someone else might want to cut a deal with the military with another prototype that used her data. If that happens before she could present it to the VIPs, it will look as if she was copying their designs. Hence, Princess decided to bring forward the presentation."

    "Wait what? Another prototype that used her data?" Jin was confused.

    "Yes, a highly trained cultivator disguised as a researcher broke into ourbs and stole our newest prototype and data without erasing it. You might be shocked at that, but this happens a lot among the Royal Zodiac sciencebs. What was different is that this prototype is under Yang Ling''s personalb. Ab that as far as reports would suggest, should not have been operated out in the open. That was why we could not file any police report. Not to mention, Princess''s finances had also been rather tight too because of this prototype."

    "So you are nning to woo the contracts of these military vendors with your old equipment before the new prototype surfaces into the public?" Jin summarized. Again Ku Wai nodded.

    "The data all gone?" Jin inquired, but this time Ku Wai shook his head in silence.

    "The data had only been copied. There was no virus, no malware or anything that locks or destroys the information. In our opinion it''s weird especially since if you are apetitor, logically speaking you should definitely do what it takes to cripple someone else."Ku Wai replied.

    "Makes sense." Jin remembered that the Ruby Rat was somewhat doing that to him as well.

    "Well, if I have a direct line to Yang Ling, perhaps I could learn more about what she wants. This request is rather too vague." But before Jin could say any more, Ku Wai passed him a wireless earpiece.

    "He- He- Hello, Jin can you hear me?" Yang Ling tried to say some things in his mind, but she encountered severe interference.

    "Hmmm, this is a genuine piece of art." Kraft acknowledged the design of the wireless headpiece before he allowed Yang Ling''smunication to get through into Jin''s thoughts.

    "What is it?" Jin asked. Kraft was praising that earpiece he was wearing. ording to him it acted as a catalyst to facilitate extended range telepathy with a customised encryption protocols which he never saw before until now.

    "I hope you will choose to make Yang Ling into a betor in the future. I would love to converse with her more. Her art in making these counterintelligence products is tingling my brain juices." Kraft said to Jin, before he also started to listen to what Yang Ling had to say.

    "I suppose Ku Wai gave you the gist of it? Look, I understand this might be a tall order, but I hope you can pull this off. I am also not asking you to do this for free at all. You will bepensated for your efforts." Yang Ling spoke in his thoughts.

    "No need, I do owe you one, and I n to keep my word." Jin nodded at Ku Wai to indicate that he was already talking to Yang Ling which allowed him to step back for a moment.

    "But if it is possible, I would like the details of the prototype data that you still have. That is if you trust me. This will allow me to analyse and see what kind of obstacle course or test trial dungeon I can make for you." Jin said with the purest intention, but Yang Ling was still a bit doubtful.

    "Haiz, alright. I guess there should not be any harm presenting you with the prototype blueprint. But I expect you to delete it afterwards. Seriously, scrub your database of this particr prototype data once you are done. I spent years creating this, and if not for the circ.u.mstances I would not even share it. I have to admit that I am ufortable giving this to you." Yang Ling tone was filled with regrets.

    "May I know how to ess it?" Jin asked, and Yang Ling gave a peal of slightughter.

    "It is actually already on the USB drive that was encrypted. The password is ''Panda'' in order to have Master Jin ess to the files in the USB drive. Yang Ling answered.

    "Thank you, is that what you had in mind when you passed me that USB drive?" Jin asked.

    "Not really. The original n was to just show you some reference videos and dessified doc.u.ments on what we had tested on the Gearbox previously. So that you would have some idea how it works." Yang Ling replied.

    "You have my word. I will get cracking now." Jin said as he returned the earpiece to Ku Wai. Jin was aware that Yang Ling sent Ku Wai to help, but he suspected that Ku Wai was also here to collect information. No matter how much a muscle head he actually was.

    "Ku Wai. You can return back home. Come back by 6.30am in the morning." Jin told him, but Ku Wai was a little reluctant to leave just like that without doing anything.

    "Well, if you want to stay, at least buy some dungeon ticket and start training. If I can defeat you, it means you are not strong enough to protect your Princess." Jin said bluntly to Ku Wai. Although it hurts him, Ku Wai knew that was the truth and decided to do some personal training as rmended by Jin.

    "Yun, I need you to look after the store. However before that... by any chance do you know any ce to get some high grade metals." Jin entered the Dungeon Maker before he sent a telepathy message to Yun.

    "Sure. I can represent you in the store. But High Grade Metal wise...heh, you should probably call Moloch. His team of Battle Maids, that went scouting in the Dungeon World, actually found something that might be the solution to your current predicament." Yun answered before teleporting into Shop Level One Instance and substituted Jin.

 Chapter 279 Results of Scouting Mission

    <h4>Chapter 279 Results of Scouting Mission</h4>

    "Have they perhaps already found a defunct Dungeon Core?" Jin was surprised as he headed down to the Dungeon Maker to meet with Moloch. "What''s the status with your battle maids?" Jin asked with a mix of excitement and urgency. It was then, that the female minotaur Sebastia in her butler outfit appeared, right in front of Moloch.

    "Master and Lord Moloch. We have scoured the area and found the location of a defunct Dungeon Core. As expected, it is hidden in the midst of a derelict dungeon looking facility. However, even as defunct as it was supposed to be, we quickly realised why no one wanted to grab that defunct core from that facility."

    "Because it is filled with evil looking robots and also loaded with traps?" Jin took a wild guess, as he knew that the defunct dungeon core was a necessary item in the foundations of the city''s shield barrier. However, that was not the top priority right now. He had three months to be able to get that defunct dungeon core working with the shield barrier. Right now what he truly needed, were high grade metals. He wished to have the System recreate Yang Ling''s gearbox prototype.

    It was not his intention to sell the prototype. Instead he wanted to use it as a kind gesture for Yang Ling for helping him get rid of the police charges. After all, he was able to escape killing a foreigner, which could have incurred international disputes if not handled properly. (Even though he shouldered the me for Zeru.)

    But with his dungeon dors at an all time low, due to the money just being used to create the Restaurant Train of Delicacy, he was unable to purchase the high grade metals from the Dungeon Maker. So he hoped to get his hands on these metals, before he tries to request the Dungeon Maker to build it for him.

    Yun said that this particr scouting mission was able to allow him to acquire high grade metals for Yang Ling''s prototype and enough to sell for a profit to fund the trial dungeon that Yang Ling wanted. Hence, Jin figured it could also act as a form of tribute, a working partnership with Yang Ling thuspleting his System''s mission. Therefore, killing three birds with one stone by obtaining the metals, the Defunct dungeon core andpleting the System''s mission.

    "Master, by any chance you have some sort of irvoyance ability? You are partly correct. There were strange looking robots that are protecting the facility which houses the defunct dungeon core. Fortunately, there were no traps, but the robots were strong. Even with our upgraded new weapons given by you, Master, we only managed to take one robot down." Sebastia reported.

    "Did you happen to take the remains of the enemy robot with you? It would be great to have a look at what kind of robots we are facing against." Jin asked, and Sebastiamanded Yem and Mer to bring out the robot remnant into the Dungeon Maker, of course with the help of the System teleporting it to them.

    "You guys are amazing to able to keep most of the robot parts intact." Jin saw the robot and was shocked at how human like the structure was. Even Sebastia said that the robot movement was analogous to humans. The metal face it had was banal and of a single expression which looked like those AI robot shows that Jin saw in the past. The major and minor joints were exposed with the rest of the parts covered with a singr metal sheet that was tough enough to handlebat. Oddly enough, the design was so polished that it seem no melding was done to it.

    Only after a moment did the System announce its analysis for him. "The remnants indicate that the underlying anatomical structure is human. The dungeon core seems to have malfunctioned and most likely swallowed the dead adventurers, who happened to be in the vicinity. Bybining humans and inorganic parts, the defunct dungeon core created its own guardians to protect itself."

    "Ehhh shouldn''t a defunct dungeon core not be functional? I mean that is literally what a defunct dungeon core should mean, right?" Jin was confused by the System''s analysis.

    "It is not functioning right, Master. I believe that is what the System is implying. A dungeon core should be responsive to its master, but my deduction after the analysis of the System is that its master was on the brink of death. Thus to be able to sustain his master''s life it turned him into a robot. However, without a living, thinking master to properly control it, it went out of control and kept ''eating'' other adventurers. бн Or maybe the master purposely gave thatmand to the dungeon core." Moloch shrugged as he gave his own opinion.

    "Does that mean if we defeat or capture the humanoid robots, they are able to resurrect back to their original state? I meant their own flesh and body since those adventurer''s erm...souls are trapped within." Jin asked with some curiosity.

    "Positive. Capturing these empty humanoid robots for personal dungeon purposes is also highly advised. However, that will require the User to spend additional souls to reactivate them. Do note that some humanoid robots costs may be more expensive than others. System has detected that the humanoid robot had an innate ss." The System answered and Jin fumbled yet again.

    "ss? As in adventurer ss?" Jin inquired. Sebastia seemed to remember something.

    "Ah yes, this particr humanoid robot was very powerful ande to think of it, we did encounter a Lord Knight that exhibited the same kind of attack patterns we had encountered with this humanoid robot." Sebastia replied.

    "Affirmative. Lord Knight ss sigil has been detected within the Humanoid Robot." The System noted. At which point Moloch started to exin that the adventurers had many various sses or jobs they could pursue to be stronger. "The Lord Knight ss was something simr to a veteran swordsman, and some even did a forced resurrection ritual while alive to be even more powerful. The adventurers called it reincarnation. Some of the abilities would be transferred over to their new life." Moloch added.

    "I see. Yun did say that the adventurers would have a variety of jobs since I encountered the four adventurers back then, but I did not know it could be thisplex. If that is the case, I guess we better prepare first before we get into the dungeon facility." Jin concluded as he remembered that he had yet to pick up the upgraded cards for raising his rank twice in a row.

    Unlike the minotaurs, who relied mostly on brute strength and some magic attacks, Jin and his monsters would be fighting against opponents that had adventurer sses. If a Lord Knight ss adventurer could perish within this defunct facility, it meant that there would be stronger humanoid robots in the facility waiting for them.

    "System, do I have ess to all my monsters when I enter this particr dungeon facility? Thest time you allowed me to do so, but you did say you would restrict me in the future." Jin asked as he assembled the entire monster horde into the dungeon maker and requested their help in choosing their desired upgrade cards.

    "Based on the assumed threat level of a Lord Knight ss and above, System permits the use of all monsters. In return, pleaseplete the urgent mission issued to your phone." The System stated and Jin quickly looked at his phone.

    "Capture every single humanoid robot and bring the defunct Dungeon Core back.

    Rewards: Specialised fertilisers for the growth of the Living Armour nts."

    "Oh? Specialised fertilisers? Which one?" Jin was beaten by Gold, who was the primary caretaker of the Living armour nts.

    "500 grams of dung from the Seven Oceans Phoenix." The System stated, and Gold''s mouth opened wide. "You must be kidding. That monster''s natural dung instantly creates ponds in the hottest desert. It is literally a miracle pill. This is more than just a dung fertiliser. Boss. No matter what you do, you better equip us Jacks with shit loads of good stuff. We are going to bring that facility down and capture every single robot." Gold announced, and the Jacks cheered.

    "Huh! You think you puny werejackals can bring down these robots? Boss, no need to spend your cash or upgrade cards on them. Simply equip us with the best upgrade cards, we will not only capture every single robot, but do so in record time." Mer casually sneered, and Yemughed as if it was a good bargain.

    "Oh? Have you already forgotten how we trashed your ass back then?" Grey came up from the group of werejackals and gave Yem a challenging look.

    "Yeah, by grouping up against us. Try fighting me solo." Yem smashed his fist together. It was clear that he was looking for a chance to get revenge and the crowd started to get heated.

    "Alright stop it! I have an idea." Jin pped to stop themotion from escting even further. Every monster quickly lowered their voice and turned their attention to Jin.

    "Sebastia, Yem and Mer, what is the estimated number of robots in the facility?" Jin asked. They were unable to count them beforehand, but judging by the size of the facility they estimated, that there could be hundreds in there.

    "I understand. Then let''s make this a friendly contest between the monsters. Every robot will yield 1 point, but each death in your team will cost your team 10 points. Your team will receive an upgrade card each time you umte ten points." Jin suggested, and the monsters suddenly got pumped up.

    "Won''t there be a loophole?" Sandy who was at the side of the Dungeon Maker instance raised her hand and asked.

    "Rewards will be on a progressive track. For example, once you earn 10 points, your team gets a card. But if you lose a member, your team is back to zero again. So, when you reach 10 points again, you won''t be receiving any additional upgrade cards. The next one will only be unlocked when your team reaches 20 points. I hope that is clear enough." Jin exined, and many of the monsters understood.

    "Obviously the Minotaurs and Jacks have a team of their own. Other monsters who wish to participate can either join them or create a brand new team. You can even participate solo but if you die too many times, I probably will have to ask you to sit it out. I don''t have that much dungeon dors left for resurrection. Besides, I need dungeon dors for other items." Jin bitterlyughed, but the monsters appreciated Jin''s honesty.

    "Can we join too? Can we create a betors team?" Peppers came out from nowhere and asked, but Jin shook his head. "If possible, I want you guys to be observers. If the robots they encounter turn out to be too difficult and clearly beyond their ability, assist them." Jin then turned to the monster crowd and added a few more rules.

    "Every time the betors have to rescue you, that team will be deducted 5 points. Should you, however, find a way to defeat it, even if it is by teaming up, each team being able to do so will receive 10 points." Jin said and everyone found the rules simple enough and were agreeable to it.

    "Alright then let''s GET BUSY!" Jin banged the table, and everyone roared as the System prepared arge enough portal for them to be teleported to the dungeon facility in the Dungeon World.

 Chapter 280 Tact Tweak

    <h4>Chapter 280 Tact Tweak</h4>

    "Aren''t youing, Master Jin?" Zeru asked, but Jin was contemting. Now that he had a contest going on and had already asked the betors to take note of them, he was thinking whether he should participate actively or take on the role of a tactical leader.

    If there were going to be fights against King Baal when the Dungeon City Fortress is up, he would need to employ several squad leaders to maintain order. It got him thinking after Qiu Yue fought against Moloch in a simr tactical battle kind of situation.

    "Moloch, minding here for a while. Zeru too." Jin called them over to the Dungeon Maker interface. While everyone else was preparing their gears and organising their teams, he wanted to make use of their expertise, since one was a Lord who had experienced governing, and the other was a natural born fighter.

    "I would like your opinions on a tacticalmanding. Should I go into the fray with the others or should I stay at the back andmand?" Jin asked, but both of his followers almost immediately answered in unison: "Go into the fray."

    "Wow, I was not expecting that." Jin initially thought they would have differing opinions, but in the end, they gave the same answer at lightning speed.

    "You do not have the traits to be amander. You are just a master. While I praise you for being somewhat benevolent, this also makes you not fit to be a tactical leader. You would be too concerned about your troops'' safety. You are unlikely to send them on risky missions, thereby not allowing them to push their limits. Though I must admit, you are sometimes rather creative when ced in a tight situation." Zeru gave Jin his analysis.

    "I concur. You are at best a squad leader, but not a tacticalmander. Just take this particr contest you created as an example. It''s not a bad event, and it would increase thepetitiveness and camaraderie of your minions, but the result is left wanting. Othermanders would not only do what you did but singled out several key individuals to specifically lead the teams to battle. Maybe one or two will gather even more intelligence before charging into to unknown territory. But these are my own opinions. I had lead teams and served undermand many times but I had yet to find that perfect someone who has thebination of charismatic leadership and selfless care for their troops and ruthless tactics." Molochmented.

    "I do not think I have that kind of capacity in me," Jin admitted bitterly and Molochughed.

    "Each and everyone has their own strength and weakness. It is even better that you know your own inability than pretending you can do such a thing." Molochforted Jin.

    "Anyways, upgrade cards should be given more thought. Especially when I see you distribute the kind of weapons to your minions. You want them to be well rounded more than being specialised in one particr trait. It''s not a bad thing, but you have to understand that specialisation gives you the edge. It''s how you put the edges together in a way and make them work as a team, that gives them a chance for your minions'' potential to shine." Moloch exined further.

    "Not everyone has a ir for everything. Not everyone has a System in their possession." Moloch''s word was sharp and to the point, but Jin understood and acknowledged it.

    "But that does not mean you cannot learn," Moloch added as he walked towards the System''s interface. "Do you have the thing I asked you to prepare?"

    "That will relinquish 5% of your rights of the Dungeon City Fortress to the System. Do you ept this?" The System asked, and Moloch nodded his head.

    "I can see that the System is not really as bad as it was made it out to be. I do not mind relinquishing 5% of my rights." Moloch replied, and the System immediately created a portable looking whiteboard.

    "Here! I was originally nning to give this to Qiu Yue when she joined you. But I figured if you can y with this first, you might have some understanding about the specs and perhaps even some ideas about how to enhance it further when the timees. I call it the Tactical Tweaker or Tact Tweak. I used to have powers that were simr to the functions of Tact Tweak when I served under King Baal. That was before he became ignorant, arrogant and many other things... especially when he got possessive with his wealth." Moloch passed the Tact Tweak whiteboard to Jin.

    "How does this work?" Jin looked around it but realised there was no button or whatsoever. Moloch asked Jin to insert some chi in it. Suddenly the board lit up. It showed the current stats of the teams that were being formed. As Jin explored the functions, it went down to individual stats.

    The difference was that the Tact Tweak showed various rmendations on what to equip on a monster based on their stats. It was an enhanced version of the monster app that he had. It also showed whether thebination of teams between the monsters was ideal. There were some rather controversialbinations, and Jin knew that this was based on the System''s efficiency paradigm. Of course, if Jin followed the System''s rmendation, it would theoretically bring out the best from his minions.

    But in reality, monsters did not work that way. Only robots that were detailed to the point would. Surprisingly, the System rmended mixing the werejackals and Minotaurs together as a team in Tact Tweak. Jin knew, that the contest was to show thepetitive side of things, but if he did not handle this correctly, it might create a wedge between the two groups of minions.

    "All the more reason, why you should go into the fray," Kraft spoke out of the blue. "You will be the one acting as the bridge for these two races. From what I saw, I can only agree with those two. You are not fit to be a tacticalmander because you have to act as their master. You have the important task as the one and only person that who rules them. To unite them."

    "This Tact Tweak has another function. I asked the System to design it in a way, that seems to prove useful for yourpetition. It allows you to give the teams upgrade cards on the go and lets you edit the cards they once held. It is a function created with you in mind which I hope you can subsequently passed it to Qiu Yue." Moloch said as he showed Jin how it was being done since he and the System created this Tact Tweak.

    Moloch ced the portable whiteboard on the floor, and the interface that was initially the size of the portable whiteboard became two timesrger and subsequently three times bigger. The interface started to resemble the interface of the one in the dungeon maker. It even projected the cards that Jin currently had in his possession.

    With a swipe of a short bow equipment card, it provided an analysis of the short bow, indicating a summary of the materials it was made from and even rmended the following monsters that would be suited for this particr equipment card. There was also a section on potential rmendations for monsters, who were not apt for this card yet. It indicated, that after some training the monsters would have the chance to be proficient with it.

    "This is really interesting. It''s a real shame, that I cannot fully explore the functions at the moment since I am short on time. Especially with Yang Ling''s deadline. But I can at least use this to reward the upgrade equipment cards to the monsters on the fly as the contest proceeds." Jin figured, and both Moloch and Zeru agreed.

    "Without further ado, let''s go to battle. Sebastia, lead the way." Jinmanded, and the System immediately created a portalrge enough for various people to go in.

    As the monsters were teleporting in, Jin checked the Tact Tweak and saw that various teams were being created for the contest. The werejackals and werecats formed one group, they called themselves Team Jacks. All of the minotaurs and even Niu Lang joined together to form Team Mino. Sandy the Sand Witch, Zhi Nu the Battle Weaver, Ke Mi the Zither Mistress, Que Er the Magpie Queen formed a group together and called themselves Team Enlightened, the band group name that was used in Music Theatre Instance.

    Thest group that wanted to enter was surprisingly the zombies. Jin found it weird that a zombie came forward to dere its name and when he checked the zombie''s name, it was actually Derek who proposed it. "Did the ''I am the Alpha'' Card triggering him twice in a row enhance his intelligence a little?" Jin wondered as he tried out the I am the Alpha enhancement card once again.

    Not to his surprise, the Zombie Derek was chosen once again, but this time round, the System noted something. "User, The card ''I am the Alpha'' has been destroyed. System would bepensating you with a new card." The Tact Tweak immediately revealed the new card that the System repaid. Now Jin was shocked. The enhancement card became a brand new monster card.

    Ghoul Half Lord.

    Jin looked towards Derek''s direction and saw that his features changed, it became slightly more humane (and more hair!), but his clothes were more westernised and formal. "Master Jin. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to rise to the asion to serve you even more." Derek said as he knelt down and all the zombies that were behind him clumsily knelt too.

 Chapter 281 Monster Evolution

    <h4>Chapter 281 Monster Evolution</h4>

    Jin looked at the new monster card and back at Derek once more. He clearly did not expect the evolution of a monster happening right in front of him. "Is Derek''s... erm... form permanent or temporary?" Jin asked the System.

    "Permanent. Variant DNA changes happened as a result of the repeated use of the enhancement card." The System noted, and Jin got excited. If Derek as a regr zombie could evolve, would that not imply other monsters had the chance to do so, too? Jin anxiously asked the System, and it returned a positive reply.

    "While rare in their natural habitat, it is possible for monsters to evolve under the System''s premise. Only one creature out of a million has the chance to experience such a change in the wilderness. Even then certain conditions such as stress, environment and genes y a vital part in the evolution in the wild." The System stated.

    "So do I have to find more enhancement cards?" Jin asked, thinking that was the prerequisite for the monsters to evolve under the System rule.

    "Negative. User simply needs to push the monsters to their limit. The System has checked every monster in the User''s care, and haspiled a file of those who are close to breaking into the next evolution phase." The System then released a list full of Jin''s monsters names right in front of him on his all new Tact Tweet. Jin casually scrolled through and checked the bottom of the list to find out that even normal zombies had an experience bar that could potentially cause them to evolve.

    "Are these the experiences each individual monster .u.mted through fighting in the dungeons with the cultivators too?" Jin questioned. The System gave a happy emoji icon holding a pair of fireworks and said nothing else.

    "Wow, so in a way, my customers are training my monsters to the next level. Wait does that mean in those story themes, they would change appearance too? Won''t that... erm affect my dungeon instances experience?"

    "Positive. User, please adjust your dungeons once the monsters have evolved. System does have the ability to retain old Story Instance Themes. Simr to the previous Easy, Medium, Hard difficulty. It is User''s choice in determining whether this is necessary." The System stated.

    "Damn! That means more work for me. Oh well, I guess that''s a good thing too. At least this way, the story instance theme would not feel too stagnant, especially for old customers." Jin thought to himself before he noticed that even the zombies started to move out into the portal, lead by Ghoul Half Lord Derek.

    Jin checked once more on Yun, to reassure that she was okay to handle the shop. After all, this could take a while toplete. However Yun simply gave him the go ahead again.. "There is no need to worry too much Jin. Especially now that the Shop is within an instance. Even if those Royal Rats decide toe to cause trouble, they will simply be toyed with, no matter their Grade. You have more important things to take care of. Shoo shoo, goplete your mission," Yun answered in his thoughts as he sighed and entered the portal.

    When he arrived, he realised that the facility was actually in ruins. Rubble were lying all around with broken weathered pirs and damaged stairs. Only with guidance from Sebastia and the other battle maids that the group could find the underground entrance of the facility ruin. "Maybe that is why the dungeon core is defunct." Jin assumed after seeing the sight of the wear and tear by the environment before he returned to the area where he was teleported alongside with the monsters.

    He did not have much information since he trusted the Minotaur Battle Maids to do their scouting jobs. In the meantime, the several monster groups were chattering noisily, talking about their tactics, about their weapons and what rewards they were hoping for. Then, a loud resounding shout came from the side of the ruins.

    "You there! Identify yourself at once! Are you one of the monster sympathisers or are you a monster in disguise?!?!" A loud booming voice echoed throughout the area, and Jin noticed that arge group of adventurers wasing towards them, all ready to ughter his monsters if given the chance. He then remembered that this was the dungeon world after all. It shouldn''t be a surprise to have an encounter with adventurers.

    "System, what are their power levels or grade equivalent?" Jin asked immediately as he wanted to know if it is wise to retreat or fight with them. But if possible, he would want to stay his ground because he does not have any time to waste. Worse case scenario, these adventurers might grab the defunct core. Best case scenario, they would be additional fodder for Jin to clear up. If that was the case, he might as well clear them up right now since reports from Sebastia indicated that the humanoid robots were apparently stronger than the living adventurer.

    "Power levels ranging from 50 to 90, where each grade is equivalent to 10 power levels. The majority of them are around Grade 5 to Grade 6. System has scanned only a few individuals at Grade 9." The System stated as it showed the statistics on the Tact Tweet. There were slightly more than one hundred adventurers present, indicating that they were preparing for a major raid.

    "Wow, this Tact Tweet is amazing. It even shows the location of each adventurer. Hmm, I don''t have that much time to deal with their questions. I kinda doubt that cooperation is still on the table, after seeing me with that many monsters. Moloch had previously told me that summoning so many monsters at once would be impossible for any normal summoner. I guess we will have to stay here and defend ourselves. Looks like I will go for a fight." Jin quickly judged, as the adventurer group got even closer.

    "You! Answer me right now, or I will personally bring you down!" The booming voice continues.

    "System, you sure that if those adventurers die, they will get resurrected?" Jin, ignoring the adventurer group wanted to make sure that he would not need to hold back. The System gave a positive reply: "Their resurrection process is much easier and lessplicatedpared to your world''s resurrection process. If an adventurer dies, said adventurer resurrects at the nearest church for a respectable sum of dungeon dors."

    "The System rmends killing the adventurers. Killing them yields you dungeon dors and possible equipment." System continued to babble.

    "Heh, because in legal terms, this could be counted as self-defense, right?" Jin cracked a joke as he took out Bam in Katana form.

    "System will provide the necessary anonymity tools." A half panda mask appeared right in front of Jin. To his surprise, the rest of his betors also wore various but simr panda masks. He noticed that his and Zeru''s mask was 90% ck, before it went white at the edge of it, whereas for Milk and Peppers, the colours were swapped. Passing him as they stepped forward in front of him, Jin was also able to see a cross, a me, and a sword sort of essory attached to the side of the half panda masks.

    "Wouldn''t want ending up with a bounty now, would we?" The only one who had a different mask was Kraft when he appeared at Jin''s side. The mask looked to be the counterpart to the same mask he saw Tsu, one of the ck foxes, wear. That ck ornate fox mask with golden edges.

    Suddenly, there was a thought that went through his head. "Master, the Deep Ones and I can keep them upied. We refrained from fighting against these...metallic objects because they were not worthy. These adventurers on the other hand...Heh heh... they should make a great sacrifice to this Great Shadow Dagen." Mr Derpy talked in his head.

    "Oh? So you are saying you can deal with this all by yourself? Are you that confident?" Jin was already suspecting that Mr Derpy was the kind of monster that loved to steal the spotlight. Unfortunately his fighting style was very expensive, if not controlled.

    "Well, to be honest, not really. But we are dying to have some good proper fight. Not just against some human looking robots. We crave for humans, and my minions are bloodthirsty. So in return for not participating in thatpetition, I demand we shall have the right to keep the equipment of the adventurers for ourselves!" Mr Derpy ordered in a low voice in Jin''s thoughts.

    Jin scratched his head and sighed upon remembering that the Deep Ones were more of a chaotic nature. He recalled how terrifying the Deep Ones were and could not say no. Besides, it would affect hispetition, if he needed to split thepeting forces before they even had the chance to go inside. Not to mention, Mr Derpy''s ''orders'' lightened his load on upgrading cards since they were limited in quantity.

    "Kraft, mind looking after them?" Jin asked, and Kraft nodded his head as he locked and loaded his revolver. "Can''t say no to a bit of bloodshed, can I?" Kraft''s smirk looked a little evil, but it also made Jin assured that he would get the job done.

    "Ripcaller, Piercestriker and shreaver. Make sure no one runs away without feeling the wrath of a store manager." The three goblins who were well trained in ambushes acknowledged Jin and immediately ran off into the ruins.

    "As for the rest of you! I hereby dere, that thepetition starts now!" Jin shouted and the unison of monster roars and shouts momentarily terrified the army of adventurers.

 Chapter 282 The Unexpected Assaul

    <h4>Chapter 282 The Unexpected Assaul</h4>

    Hark, the leader of the adventurer raid group, shuddered at the booming sounds of the monsters. He initially thought that the monsters would be charging towards them, so he immediately ordered for the entire raid group to deploy a defensive stance against them.

    Little did they know that the monsters were charging... away from them. Quickly Jin and the others'' silhouettes disappeared into the facility ruins. Only then did Hark realise that merely a lone figure was left behind in front of the entrance. At a closer look, he recognised that it was a strange guy in a trench coat, who hid his face behind a weird looking essory. It was some unfamiliar oriental looking half fox mask. There was no ss nor adventurer ever who would wear such an outfit, making him more suspicious about the other one''s identity as a monster sympathiser or possibly some kind of cult member.

    "Judging from the rampage and size of the monster horde, that other guy was guiding them inside the ruins. It seems that the rumours of monster sympathisers bing more rampant and daring are true." Hark thought to himself before he swallowed his saliva. He could not allow their morale to fall, so with a roar he dered in front of his raid guild: "In the name of our guild, the Hocus Pocus, I, Hark, Leader of Hocus Pocus and a Lord Knight ss, demand your immediate surrender. You are to be taken away and face a fair trial to be judged by the goddess of Justice herself!"

    "What is your objective bying to these ruins?" Kraft yawnedzily as he stretched his arms. Nevertheless the adventurers thought that he was doing some sort of magic casting and decided to be on guard. Only when he finished his yawn did they realise that they were being a bit too cautious.

    "I wish to ask you the same question, vile fiend. What does your kind wish to do within those ruins? Also consider this yourst warning. I order you to stand down at once or else we will show you no mercy!" Hark banged his shield twice. It was enough of a sign for the experienced adventurers to understand that he wanted the fox masked guy to be surrounded, leaving him with no escape route.

    "Well, didn''t your mother teach you not to answer a question with another question? How rude!" Kraft stayed where he was, casually observing his would be captors. He distinguished different sses of adventurers that surfaced when they were surrounding him.

    "Ooh. Clerics, archers, monks, battle smiths, rogues, assassins! There are even second tier and third tier adventurer sses in this mix match. How wonderful!" Kraft sounded pleased, as if he was a child who was taken to a store to buy a new toy.

    "So you still refuse to give up? Are you courting death?!" Hark shouted and ordered the adventurers to close up even further. Some of the wizards, sages and veteran mages were already preparing to cast their spells against him.

    "Hey, System. Do you wish to strike a deal?" Kraft asked nonchntly.

    "I know Jin does not wish to utilise them as resources, even though it was rmended by yours truly. And I just know how much you hate to waste precious resources.~ But I think I have an alternate method able to satisfy both positions to get some good stuff. I mean, they areing at us like willing sheep for ughter! It would be rude for us to not take advantage of their generosity!" Kraft grinned.

    "What is your suggestion?" The System asked in a rather polite manner in Kraft''s head.

    "Who are you talking to!" Hark questioned Kraft as the fox mask guy was alone, standing there talking to himself. This person made him worried for some reason. He was clearly surrounded, but he did not panic. It seemed like that fox guy was not taking them seriously at all and for some odd reason, he even started talking to himself.

    "Identify the best person of each ss in this ragtag group of adventurers, and I will personally have a little session with them. I shall extract their skills and experience, providing you with their info. This should be enough to allow you to make copies of them, turning them into worthy NPCs for Jin to use in dungeons. Besides, I have improved my technique. They will probably only end up suffering from some amnesia after their resurrection. And of course, there is no reason for any of them to leave with their memories of us intact." Kraft said as he remembered the first time when he forcibly tried to extract the skills and experience from someone. The result was a mess, and instead of a person it would be more correct to call it an empty husk created by the System. They suffered, before they ultimately died a horrible death.

    Over the decades, Kraft managed to hone his craft and especially the stint with Ming allowed him to tweak his methods. It was always a pleasure to think back to that encounter. He had to admit those little Royal Zodiac Snakes were truly creative with their techniques. However their resistance towards their own techniques was verycking in his opinion. And now he was looking forward to have a little bit more fun with those guinea pigs before him.

    "The new method proposed has been deemed worthy, and should correspond to the wishes of the current User since it does not vite previous uses. System epts the method. Your reward?" The System asked.

    "Nothing much. I simply wish for you to give me back one of those three problem children. Make it the youngest one... that should be just about right." Kraft answered, after a bit of consideration, as he continued to ignore Hark''s petty orders once again.

    "F.u.c.k it! He isn''t listening at all." Hark was losing his patience. He drew his sword, which in turn signalled the others to do the same too.

    "Maybe he is pretending to be insane so that we will not take him seriously?" A knight ss adventurer close to Hark gave him his opinion.

    "Attack him now! Make sure not to kill him! Our reward will be higher if we capture him alive. Especially seeing that he is a monster sympathiser of such arge group. The Judges will have their way to interrogate him!" Hark shouted as he raised his sword up to the sky. His sword turned glowing white before the heavens howled and brought upon the swords of imprisonments to pierce Kraft onto the ground.

    "Affirmative. Do note that it might not listen to you even after these many years." The System readily agreed, and Kraftughed when the swords of imprisonment rained down towards him.

    "It''s fine. I will unleash it for Jin to handle." Kraft''sughter got even sicker as the swords of imprisonments stabbed through his body and his other extremities. "Deerrppyy!!! Can you and your fishes bepetent enough to kidnap those people?" Kraft shouted while stillughing hysterically.

    "This guy is mad!!" A wizard eximed as he released a curse. The debuff should reduce Kraft''s vitality and mana pool, but it seemed that there was no effect. Even the ''unshakeable'' swords of imprisonments seemed to simply go through him.

    "Who do you think we are?!?!?! How dare youpare us to some lowly creatures. Let me show you the true power of this Shadow Dagen, mortal!!!" Mr Derpy bellowed as his colossal figure overshadowed the sun. Yet the raid guild mistook it for some thunder magic, being cast by the fox masked prisoner. However they saw no magical presenceing from him nor any magic circles disying the activation of the thunder magic.

    "Must be the weather in this area." A barbarian ss adventurer snorted, but the astrologist, a ss that used the weather and stars to summon her magic, disagreed:

    "No, this is definitely some sort of sorcery or forbidden witchery! I never felt such stifling magical presence!" Even her weapon globe became fuzzy.

    Thunder crackled despite the sparse clouds and the entire area instantly received a gradual but heavy pouring of rain...

    Rain of blood.

    It was no normal blood, but a highly corrosive blood. Many quickly used their shields to cover themselves the moment they got burned by it. Some of the magic users hastily ced barriers, but the bloody rain was eating through the defensive barrier causing the mages to burn their mana like paper to a kindled me just to protect their guildmates.

    "Let the real downpour begin." Derpy smiled as he showed his face to the adventurers and opened his mouth wide. It was vast enough for Deep Ones hiding inside him to once again plunge themselves towards the adventurers on the ground.

    However, unlikest time, where it was such a mess that Jin scolded them for wasting his money, Derpy and the Deep Ones had been training this move for quite some time. The Skyfall strikes were like coordinated dives against the horrified adventurers. Those adventurers had seen all manner of monsters but Derpy...as he bellowed his almighty presence by dering himself as the Bloodied Elder God of the Deep Seas Lord Dagen, was of a different sort of horror.

    Plenty panicked as the Deep Ones killed many in the first wave of attack, yet they also made use of this shock and awe tactic to injure and kidnap those adventurers that had been identified by the System. Kraft did not dally any longer. His figure disappeared from the swords of imprisonment and he reappeared behind the adventurers, where he shot the first bullet out of his revolver. It was none other than Evon, the druggy fox at full offensive.

    Hark had no idea about what was happening, as the pink champagne coloured fox bit his neck before jumping to another target that was identified by the System. Hark''s eyes rolled up as he foamed from his mouth and wet his pants. The mighty Lord Knight just went down to his knees, shaking and trembling at the mercy of the drugs induced by the bite. Kraft grabbed him by his hair, not allowing him to fall down. The next moment, ck chains appeared from within his trenchcoat.

    The chains subsequently wrapped around Hark and swallowed him whole, making the fierce leader disappear to nothingness. The other adventurers were too absorbed with struggling against the Deep Ones, who continued raining down on them, that they did not notice how their strongest man vanished in the midst of chaos.

    Kraft licked his lips as he slowly walked towards his next victim.

 Chapter 283 Underground Facility

    <h4>Chapter 283 Underground Facility</h4>

    The underground facility was rather well intact, despite the dested look from the outside, The stone walls were filled with green moss and cobwebs, but the corridor hallway was rather long and extensive. Not to mention there were writings, pictures and murals on the wall, which indicated that thisplex was not just a dungeon nor was it a simple facility.

    If given time, Jin would probably ask the System to take some of it down to decipher the texts and pictures, but he was in a rush to get the defunct core. Less than a few minutes into the ruins, Jin and the others were weed by a group of humanoid looking robots. The monsters did not hesitate, and rushed forward to intercept the enemies.

    The monsters struck first and many of the robots toppled effortlessly. Heads were torn, legs were bitten and torsos were tossed as if it was some ck Friday sale. Even Sebastia and the rest of the battle maids were doing pretty well themselves.

    "I thought you said they were difficult to kill?" Jin managed to catch up with Sebastia and asked as he shed down another humanoid robot warrior. He discovered that most of the humanoid robots were simr to what Sebastia had brought back for him as a specimen.

    Expressionless.

    The major difference was the armour and weapons they were wearing. A low level humanoid robot could be recognized by the attire it was wearing. The minotaurs were able to effortlessly differentiate them in a second, but Jin perceived them as too simr to each other, to make out clear differences. After all he was not from this world.

    "These are just fodders. It is simr to when you fought against us, we used cannon fodder to waste your strength and resources before we sent in the big guys. It also gives the enemy a pretty good picture of what he is up against, since we have to use some of our abilities!" Sebastia exined as she chopped the humanoid robot archer into two with her bare hands and the shockwave impact destroyed another that was behind the robot.

    It was at this moment the facility ruins had a fork and Sebastia informed Jin that the dungeon core''s wave signature wasing from the left. However, Jin saw that Sandy, the Sand Witch, and the rest of the enlightened group stepped forward. "We are not very interested in the dungeonpetition so we will be fighting on our own with the goal to train ourselves. If we find anything worthy, we will ask the System to retrieve it for you, Master." Sandy who was the appointed leader for the Enlightened group excused themselves as they took the other path. Then they were also followed by Derek the Half Lord and his zombie army. In the meantime, Gold, Yem and Mer rushed to the left fork knocking out numerous weak humanoid looking robot, leading their own groups forward.

    "A, Master, you sure we cannot participate? I want to blow some stuff up." Peppers grumbled as she had to follow the Werejackals. "Yeah Boss, I do not see any pointing down here full force. I''d rather be treating some patients than babysitting these brainless cows." Milkined.

    "Zeru did notin when he went with the Enlightened group and the Zombie horde." Jin tried to retort, but the girls only rolled their eyes in boredom. It was not as if the betors were hard at work counting how many metallic bodies their respective group were racking, especially since the System was doing it all for them. Hence, it was not unfair to call it a waste of time for the betors to babysit the monsters. Yet Jin who had been through various encounters in these recent weeks, learned not to underestimate the situation.

    Well, it was true that Milk could quicken the pace of recovery of his cultivators back in the store. Peppers could also rather use the time to further prepare the basicyout for the city building so that when Qiu Yue arrives to help, it could speed up the entire process. But Jin felt that this dungeon would not be so convenient to have the defunct dungeon core exposed for them to take. If it were so easy then there would have been no need for Sebastia to ask for helpбн and they had yet to encounter any powerful enemies.

    Suddenly, the ground started to shake and even the monsters who were enjoying rampaging against those helpless robot guards stopped what they were doing and stayed on high alert.

    "I guess I did not bring you guys for nothing." Jin giggled as half of the walkway crumbled right in front of them without the weight of the soil above to bury them. An enormous sized robotic looking knight with a broken set of armour rose from the depths of darkness where the walkway crumbled.

    It was so mammoth-like that it upied more than six times the size of the extensive underground walkway they were in, scaring most monsters and Jin except for Peppers.

    "Maniption of space time in the works. There is no way this thing could exist without the maniption of space time and perhaps gravity too, especially when the ground above did not fall. Besides, everything that surrounds us now and beyond is a pitch of pure ck darkness while we could still see the enemy so clearly." Peppers concluded as Jin could now see fear staining her eyes yet excitement dancing on her lips.

    Furthermore, the walkway that they were standing on shook, which made bits and pieces of the walkway fall into the abyssal darkness, causing Jin and his monsters to run. The rest who could not catch up with the speed of the disappearing walkway fell through the cracks. Yet, the only one not running away, was none other than Peppers.

    "DO NOT RUN! Those who are falling, image yourself on stable ground!" Peppers shouted, and the minotaurs and werejackals who were falling endlessly into the abyss thought of the ground they desired and poof! A solid transparent ground appeared which intercepted their fall. They were so happy that they kissed the invisible block of ''soil'' underneath them.

    "This room or corridor or whatever the monsters called it, uses your fear to simte your thoughts into what is happening around you!" Peppers screamed as she pointed her trusty wooden staff in front of the Titan looking Knight with glowing red eyes on it.

    "You fear that the walkway will crumble, that is why the dungeon made it true for you! Ask for thy ground and thou shall receive!" Peppers eximed, and the monsters who grasped the concept immediately stopped running and thought of the ground. The abrupt solution that Peppers gave worked wonderfully and many began to try to assist the others up, both minotaurs and werejackals.

    "Ha ha ha! Looks like someone managed to understand the magic of this dungeon doom!" A low booming voice echoed in the darkness. "But no matter how you think about me, this mechanised titan knight will bring all of you to meet your maker!" The voice proimed as the knight materialised a two handed sword, way more prominent than the colossal knight himself and attempted to cleave the entire ck dimension into two.

    Many tried to dodge it by running or thinking of falling once more. However, there was a deafening sound of shinging and interrupting the Titan Knight''s cleave. At closer look it was none other than Jin himself.

    A tiny size human with his unbreakable katana held on against the attack of the Titan Knight. It was a great feat that Jin did not realise he was able to achieve, until he utilised what Peppers said by thinking he could do it.

    But belief was the only source Jin could rely on, as he struggled against the sphemously gigantic sword. Tens, if not hundreds of humanoid looking robots, now no longer dressed in any adventurer garb nor looking like another adventurer, crawled out of the crevices of the gigantic sword like spiders and moved to intercept Jin.

    "Master! Hang in there!" Peppers cried as she chanted some in weird soundingnguage, that made no sense to Jin. She swung her staff in the direction of Jin and the next instant, a series of explosions was seen on the sword itself. From afar it looked as if there was some colourful fireworks parade as the explosions were controlled and in session.

    "What are you two groups waiting for?! AATTAAAACKK!!" Milk screamed at the top of her lungs towards the Werejackals and Minotaurs as she released a golden God''s Punch directed towards the face of the Titan Knight, giving it a dose of its own medicine.

 Chapter 284 Team Mino/Jacks

    <h4>Chapter 284 Team Mino/Jacks</h4>

    Under themands of Milk, the first to strike was Team Mino, who took the chance to jump onto the mountainous piece of metal and faced off against those humanoid crawling robots. Mer was the first to initiate the attack by summoning arge chunk of ice, that he had to control with his pair of hands.

    As it grewrger, the humanoid robots detected that it was a threat, so they quickly moved to intercept Mer before he did serious damage to the robots themselves or the Titan Knight''s de. "Do not let our maid and saviour of our souls be interrupted!" One of the Fanatic Minotaurs shouted, and many of the fellow Fanatic Minotaurs smashed their chest as a sign of pride before charging towards the iing crawler robots to block them.

    The fanatic minotaurs were crazy strong on their own, due to their simple focus on just attacking without any regard for defense. And in this particr dungeon with faith, fear and belief being amplified, their strength increased by many folds. Those minotaurs easily grabbed the crawler robots and tore them into two as if they were opening a pack of potato ch.i.p.s... only in this case,puter ch.i.p.s popped out of those crawler robots.

    With sufficient distraction, Mer conjured a harpoon of ice that was the size of a submarine, which terrified the Titan Knight as he aimed it towards the hand holding the immense metal de. But instead of Mer shooting it, Sebastia dashed towards the bottom tip of the ice harpoon before leaping up and sending a flying kick at it.

    Although it was just a sound of a soft thud from the flying kick, the kic power was more than sufficient to propel the ice harpoon towards the Titan Knight''s hand as it speedily whizzed into it before the Titan Knight could retaliate.

    With the assistance of Sebastia, the ice harpoon pierced through the hand as it continuously spun like a drill, causing it to prate into the circuits of the Titan Knight and making the titan de to drop into abyssal darkness.

    Meanwhile, the werejackals were fighting toe to toe against those remnant robot crawlers that fell out from the plummeting titan de. They did not have crazy magic like Mer nor overwhelming one sided strength like Sebastia, but they had superb coordination and agility. Two werejackals could decimate the crawlers at twice the speedpared to two minotaurs, but what if you multiplied the werejackals by two? They could take down twenty of those crawlers in less than twenty seconds.

    Not only that, the werejackals had been training with Grey and all of them learnt how to use a simple fireball attack. Through constant training, Grey realised that being in human form made them more attuned to magic aspared to their werejackal form. Hence, they added switching forms to their daily training regiment, bing so proficient in it that they became able to do it on the fly. This particr ability was not demonstrated in dungeon instances because Jin did not script it that way. It was an ability they discovered on their own.

    With such transformation ability, the Jacks regrly switched forms during this robot crawler fight, and if one presented to an audience, one would have thought that they were doing a theatrical performance as the fight looked like one huge choreographed dance.

    Despite the internal conflict the werejackals and minotaurs were having, when it came down to a fight, differences were ced aside and they fought alongside each other. Sure, they were definitely some grudge killing like Yem counting how many humanoid robots he shot down out loud, but he was evenly matched by Yellow who was aggressively biting the metallic necks of those humanoid robots. After all, they knew it was just a friendlypetition until the stakes got higher when the Titan Knight''s eyes started to glow, and a low booming voice continued to echo throughout the entire ''room''.

    Jin noticed something was off, especially when the glow got redder. "Shit! Do not tell me it is gonna shootser beams out of its eyes!" Jin had that terrible feeling as he could now sense magical energy being absorbed through that pair of eyes.

    "EVERYONE RETREAT NOW!" Jin shouted as he used all his might to summon a monstrous wall of white ice in front of him.

    "PEPPERS!" That one word was an acknowledgement for the great Fiery Demonic Queen Sage to support Jin, but he did not realise that Peppers'' ability was over the top fantastic. Jin initially thought that Peppers would only be reinforcing his shield against the attack and he could maybe save a few of his monsters from annihtion from theser eye beam of supposed death.

    But what Peppers did, was cast a gravity well strong enough to pull everything except for the Titan Knight towards her, including the remaining robot crawlers. That being said, she did not care as her priority was only to save as manyrades as possible. Thankfully Peppers did what she needed to do and nobodyined. Aside from the weird pulling of the stomach, they all got out scot free. A little difort was a low price to cheat death.

    The eyes released not just a beam of hot scorching ray of annihtion, but everything it hits explodes along the way, which made Peppers slightly...okay rather jealous. It was because the explosion was not just a kaboom in simple terms. It was a pa ta pa ta boooooom!

    "HOW DOES HE SHOOT BEAMS THAT EXPLODES THAT WAY!?!?! JIN!!!! I WANT THAT!!! I want that explosion spell!!! I also want beams that can shoot explosions too!!!" Peppers'' eyes turned starry as she was admiring the explosions. Although Jin and Milk knew that her priorities right now were somewhat wrong, but they could not fault her for that, since both were aware of her passion for explosions.

    The barrier or "The Great White Ice Wall of China" as Jin now dubbed it casually, was being continuously bombarded by explosions as the Titan Knight focused all its energy at that particr direction. Jin used the source of belief to think that it could hold the energy beam, but there was doubt growing in his heart too which caused cracks to appear in the white ice wall. And in terms of strength, the eye energy beams were indeed stronger and deadlier than his wall of ice.

    Milk tried to supplement Jin with chi as she converted her magical mana into chi energy for Jin to use, but it was not enough. Suddenly Milk remembered that Peppers had an inexhaustible supply of Mana which she was entitled to by the System. "OEI Peps! Quicklye here and help Jin out!" Milk shouted, but Peppers who understood what was going to happen was quite reluctant.

    "Please, can''t we do something else? I don''t want to do that again... I might even vomit rainbows once more!" Peppers whined at such an inappropriate timing though truth be told, her vomiting of rainbows was a significant drawback to her. The overly excessive mana discharge strained her body''s mana circuity extremely causing her to overload and momentarily experience multiple organ failures at once. If not for the fact that she was a Betor, she would have died a long time ago.

    "I have a n, do not worry." Milk''s eyes were determined and resolute, and Peppers decided to trust her on it. She quickly stepped forward and Milk grabbed onto Peppers. She then felt a feeling simr to an essence drain spell where she could feel her mana moving away from her. It was gradual, and subsequently, the drain was getting stronger and stronger. Yet at the same time, Peppers could also feel her body being restored too.

    It was then that she understood that Milk was acting as a conduit. She absorbed Pepper''s mana into her body and Milk converted it into chi energy for Jin to use. At the same time, Milk was also using part of that mana to cast healing spells on Peppers preventing the body from overloading. Peppers did not realise Milk was that capable, especially when acting as such a conduit brought forth a high level of strain to her own body too.

    "Do not give me that look Peps. I am after all trained in the mind and body. Leave it to me." Milk winked at her as for the first time Peppers felt that Milk was like a reliable elder sister. "Master, use the excess mana I am transferring via Milk to stop thosesers! I refuse to believe that it can sustain such arge attack for very long." Peppers shouted as she hugged Milk tightly which made Jin smirk.

    "It''s rare that I get to see you this pumped up. I shall do as you bid Peppers." Jin gave a one sided grin, as he channelled his new found chi energy through the The Great White Ice Wall of China.

 Chapter 285 Spiral Box

    <h4>Chapter 285 Spiral Box</h4>

    With Peppers'' mana turned to chi, courtesy of Milk, Jin concentrated and ced all he had into the The Great White Ice Wall of China. The Titan Knight noticed that from the crevices of the icy wall, things started to emerge. After a while, tentacle looking ice tendrils slowly grew from the ice bricks and immediately flew towards the eyes of the Titan Knight. Their purpose was not to just to prate but also to mislead and confuse the knight as the tendrils moved in various angles and directions to damage the eyes.

    The Titan Knight did retaliate by trying to burn them down with itsser eye beams, but by doing so, it also allowed Jin''s Great White Ice Wall of China to be reconstructed again with Peppers'' mana.

    While the Titan Knight was distracted, Jin created a thin faint line of ice, simr to a small silk thread crawling towards the Titan Knight. Of course, Jin could not see through the great ice wall he had created. It had been with the aid of Grey''s magic, who conjured a single demonic eye that overlooked the Great Ice Wall.

    "How did you even do that?" Jin asked as he was trying to get used to controlling the single demonic eye floating quietly above the Great Ice Wall.

    "I''ve used this particr magic for scouting and to overlook our fields back in the farming world. I had to use it on a daily basis, so that eye spell became a part of me... which also allowed me to continue guarding the area even when asleep. That is how I oversee my other werejackals in this current battle as well." Grey said proudly as he showed the demonic eye above him to Jin.

    "I was thinking... Do you think it is possible it canbine with my magic?" Jin asked. Grey''s reply was that they could only try to find out.

    Only through the demonic eye did Jin realise that the Titan Knight in front of them did not have a lower body. It only had a chest armour with various wires and metal parts protruding out at the bottom of its torso.

    Perhaps the sudden emergence of it caused everyone to focus on the fierce attacks it made more than its figure. That was also why Jin was trying to get that thin thread of ice into it.

    The ever growing thin ice thread made its way to the bottom of the torso and quietly climbed up the rugged set of armour. The demonic eye that was floating above the Great Ice Wall disappeared as Grey chanted it''s magic, with a slight variation in the chanting hoping that it would allow it tobine with Jin''s current ice magic. To the surprise of both of them, it worked and the thread that was moving around inside the rugged set of armour sprouted a small demonic eye near the tip of the thread. The eye allowed Jin to navigate theplex set of ch.i.p.sets and metal while leaving deposits of ice cubes with a small twist while multitasking the tendrils.

    Jin''s new knowledge and understanding of Panda ck Fire and Panda White Ice increased after reading the cultivation manual when waiting for Lynn to be released from the police station. He learnt how tobine the Panda White Ice with ck Fire and having the appropriate proportions of each magic, the ck Fire could be ignited within the White Ice cube, causing an explosion.

    To achieve that, Jin needed to channel andpress a hell lot of chi energy of the ck Fire within the confines of the White Ice. Given time, the ck Fire would manifest within the White Ice cube, and subsequently absorb the chi of White Ice.

    The moment the ck Firepletely absorbed the White Ice cube, it would explode. The Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation manual called this particr technique the "Ying Yang Compression Spiral Box". With ''unlimited'' chi energy Jin dared to create this technique on the fly even though it was his first time doing so. The ice threads continued to move forward and upward depositing these spiral boxes in the Titan Knight as it was busy fighting against the tentacle ice tendrils.

    In the meantime, there was another fight going on behind the great Wall since Peppers'' gravity well brought the remaining crawlers towards her before the Titan Knight shot out itsser beam of supposed death.

    What Team Mino and Team Jacks did not realise was that crashing those robot crawlers was not aplishing anything even though the System was continually capturing them after defeating them. Jin''s previous upgrade of his capturing method allowed all of the humanoid robots and robot crawlers to be obtained the moment they were defeated. Yet, there was still no end in sight as the numbers of robot crawlers were not diminishing even though it was apparent the Titan Knight was not producing any extra.

    Werejackal Brown subsequently noticed it was too strange and decided to revert into full werejackal form instead of constantly switching forms as they had been doing for the past 10 minutes to see if there was anything that they had been missing.

    In full werejackal form, his senses were heightened and coincidentally, he became aware of a silhouette that seemed invisible to the n.a.k.e.d eye. It blended quite well within the abyssal darkness around them, but Brown quickly took that chance to take a hatchet axe he was equipped with and threw it at that direction.

    *Clunk*

    The sound reverberation from the hatchet axe was slow, but it was apparent that the axe disappeared too even when Brown focused in that direction. "There must be something there, I am sure of it!" Since Brown managed to confirm its existence and was not hallucinating, he now switched his form back to half-human, ready to cast fireball as trained by Grey. However, that ''something'' felt the axe hit and responded ordingly as Brown casts his fireball.

    "...into a mass of fiery hope! Fireball!" Brown shouted but before the sphere of burning mass could leave his hand, it was cut into two by some invisible force which, in turn, sliced Brown''s arm away too.

    Brown was momentarily in a shock, but sufficient battle experience made him return to werejackal form immediately as he leapt backwards before he saw a robot looking arachnide out from the abyssal depths removing its invisibility cloak function.

    "Aha ha ha...Guess I made it really angry." Brown noticed that its axe hatchet was stuck onto one of its robotic eyes as it screamed loudly with mechanical sounds. Right below the body of the robotic arachnid, even more robot crawlers were falling out of it as if the robotic arachnid was giving birth to many newborn spiderlings.

    The scream from the robotic mother arachnid made the little robot crawlers even more aggressive which upset the current war of attrition between minotaurs and werejackals.

    "Shit!" Jin noticed the change but he was too upied with the Titan Knight. The betors could not move a single inch too as they were currently acting as the mana to chi conduit for Jin. "Team Mino and Team Jacks! WORK TOGETHER! Fall back! Form a defensive parameter with minotaurs in front!"

    "System! Summon Moloch out here now!" Jin ordered and within a second, Moloch appeared right in front of Jin holding on to the Tact Tweak.

    "You read my mind Moloch." Jin gave a faint smile as he continued to concentrate with the Great Ice Wall and depositing miniature spiral boxes in the Titan Knight.

    Moloch pulled out a chair with magic and sat down holding the Tact Tweak. "Team Mino and Team Jacks. I will be your interimmander. FIRM UP!"

 Chapter 286 Torture

    <h4>Chapter 286 Torture</h4>

    "15...16 hmmm a total of 18 sses only? Did I underestimate this raid group?" Kraft counted the number of highly talented adventurers that he and the Deep Ones had captured based on the System''s rmendation.

    The battlefield was a bloody mess. A literal bloody mess. The Deep Ones spared no mercy to any adventurer in the raid group. The sudden strike and awe were very effective for breaking the adventurers'' standard group formations, and many of the Deep Ones managed to kill before going down.

    This was naturally because of Mr Derpy. His enchantments benefitted the Deep Ones greatly, such as drastically changing the sandy terrain to a muddy one that allowed his minions to maneuver fast with their webbed feet but dampened the adventurer''s movement. The Deep Ones even offered captured adventurers as tributes on a makeshift altar, which allowed Mr Derpy to further enhance the Deep Ones with magical buffs to their strength and endurance stats.

    He even cast wide area of effect curses that were unblockable by the mages and clerics as his magic came from another world. The priest and clerics could not demystify and purify any of the mass curses due to eitherck of time,ck of experience, or maybeck of arms. (Since the Deep Ones loved arms as snacks.) The longer this Elder God stayed in the skies to govern the battlefield, the more despair the adventurers were showing which indirectly powered Mr Derpy even further.

    "Despair! You pieces of breathing flesh, who lived only by hope will now die by despair!" Mr Derpy''s voice thundered, and some adventurers who were at the backlines started to run away from the current battlefield. "Hahaha oh Derpy, you do have some cheesy lines, but there is indeed some truth to it." Kraftughed while holding on to his belly.

    "Especially when despair is like a drug. It lulls the mind into a state of indifference that you can do nothing to prevent it." Kraft said as hemanded Evon back before shooting it at another hunter adventurer on the hand. The hunter suddenly dropped his bow and started foaming while shaking his head violently which allowed the Deep Ones to pierce him easily.

    "What kind of bullshit is this!?!?! This is not what was written on the bounty board!" A mage adventurer started to run alongside an assassin ss adventurer, an advanced thief ss via the borders of the ruins. The assassin did not say anything to hispanion, but immediately stopped the mage adventurer from running the moment he sensed killing intent.

    An arrow flew forward, but the assassin managed to parry it with his katar before retaliating by throwing a poison knife towards that same direction. The mage adventurer decided to help too, but before she could cast her magic fully, she suddenly felt a stab from behind her when the assassin was upied.

    The assassin looked back and saw a spear poking out of the mage''s garb and through the centre of her chest, barely missing the heart, courtesy of Piercestriker. shreaver did not waste any time by instantly cutting the mage''s head off with his sword as the goblins knew that mages with their heads attached were troubling foes. They babbled out too much magic back in the Goblin World causing mass destruction, hence removing the head was the most effective way to stop a mage from chanting.

    The Assassin then realised that there were at least three goblin foes he had to fight against, but he did not know that these three goblins were not the same goblins from this world. Him underestimating them brought forth his downfall as he sped forward, doing a kill and dash technique he learnt as an assassin.

    Unfortunately, both shreaver and Piercestriker blocked the katar attacks, and Piercestriker even tripped the assassin with his spear, causing him to fall embarrassingly. With the assassin''s back facing them, Ripcaller simply shot two arrows simultaneously onto the assassin''s neck, crippling him instantly. The other two goblins did not hesitate to plunge their weapons repeatedly into his body before dragging him and the mage''s body away from that site.

    Meanwhile, Ripcaller hid himself near a series of tall but broken pirs and used a cape doused with wet sand and mud to camouge himself while looking out for any stragglers. That assassin was the tenth adventurer they managed to catch for looting purposes. It looked like the cultivator fights inplex forest terrain in Goblin Forest Instance taught them a lot in terms of ambushing.

    As the battlefield started to get quieter, Kraft entered into the replicated room of Jin''s consciousness in Jin''s Terrace House with the eighteen adventurers he had caught. (The room did erge by itself as more adventurers were being brought in!) The adventurers were tied down with chains at a corner of the room and with a p by Kraft, a bloodied wooden table appeared in the middle of the room. He first dragged Hark the Lord Knight and leader of Hocus Pocus to the table.

    Hark tried his very best to struggle but the chains became even tighter as he struggled, not to mention, he was not able to cast any instant spell as his magic powers was not working.

    "Sorry mate for disappointing you." Kraft still had his mask on as he effortlessly lifted Hark onto the bloodied wooden table. The chains that were binding Hark released and realigned themselves causing Hark to be tied to the table.

    "Ah, I missed this table. So many memories..." Kraft had a gentle smile on him as he slid his fingers along the rough edges of the table, before he opened one of its cabs. It was a small metal hammer with a wooden shaft, which he used to knock at Hark''s armour.

    The armour immediately came off, leaving Hark in his undergarment and the armour reassembled itself at the side of the room being hanged up on a mannequin. His belt came off too and with it, a bag of holding. These items were the Dungeon World''s version of something like Jin''s storage ring.

    Kraft opened it with his magical hammer, and he looked inside of the bag. "Wow. So much money. and rare, unique loots too. Hey, did you guys know that your boss is hoarding all the good stuff for himself?" Kraft casually took out a few items, which made Hark squeal under the chains that were covering his mouth.

    "Did you say I can have it? How nice of you!" Kraft''s delighted expression caught Hark off guard for a moment before he suddenly heard three loud bangs. For some reason, he did not feel any pain... only to see the same pink champagne coloured fox licking his face. While Hark was unable to understand what exactly Kraft was doing to him, the adventurers at the corner were horrified, petrified and stupefied. Two ck foxes were essentially biting and chewing away at their leader''s innards, and he was not screaming at all. In the contrary, his face seemed to suggest that he was somehow enjoying this treatment.

    Tsu and Kai were feasting not only on his intestines, but also absorbing the magical energy of the Hocus Pocus leader. Kraft let them enjoy their meal, until they stopped for a moment to look up to him. At this point, there was nothing stopping him from extracting every memory of Hark''s life. Kraft took out a three pin skull fixation device and attached it to the table before drilling holes to hold on to Hark''s head. Hark was not feeling anything, in fact, he was feeling extremely high from all of Evon''s licking. In the meantime, Kraft took a syringe that had a very long needle and slowly inserted into his head, gathering some fluid while chanting away foreign words that the adventurers at the side did not understand, making them even more afraid.

    Upon having reached 666 ml of fluid, Kraft stopped, discarded the needle in a bin beside the table and ced the syringe with a stopper on it in a suitcase that had a foam filling for 17 other syringes. The foxes stopped what they were doing and came down from the table while the chains gradually wrapped Hark up before teleporting him elsewhere. He would return him back to the dungeon world, but no one ever said anything about the "where".

    "So...Who''s next?" Kraft ced his hands at the back with a peaceful amiable smile towards the seventeen other adventurers, many whom had started to cry, beg and even piss on the floor from witnessing Hark''s procedure.

    "What has been seen cannot be unseen... well it could be forgotten. Depending on how much you wish to cooperate it could be over quicker or slower. Whatever the case, I assure you it is painless... at least for me~heh heh!" Kraft had waited some time before adding to hisst sentence. He enjoyed the look on their faces. Giving some hope only to turn it to despair... He casually grabbed hold on the chains of a female hunter like he was choosing apples in the supermarket and the procedure started all over again.

 Chapter 287 Robot Arachnid

    <h4>Chapter 287 Robot Arachnid</h4>

    Moloch''s man puppet''s head drooped down. Instead, the minotaur puppet, who was alwayszy, stood up and sat on the back of the man puppet''s head. The man puppet automatically raised his two hands with the Tact Tweak on it towards his head, and Moloch started analysing the urgent situation that Jin ordered him to resolve. In the meantime, Jin continued to focus his attack against the Titan Knight who still repeatedly shot the tendrils.

    "Fanatic Minotaurs! Shield up and set the outer defensive parameter!" Molochmanded and immediately set a series of tower shield upgrade cards out. Tens of shields magically emerged and dropped right in front of the fanatic Minotaurs to grab. However, instead of using them to defend against blows when setting the defensive parameter, the fanatics used them as if they were blunt weapons by bashing or smashing the robot crawlers while the rest retreated to form a defensive formation.

    It was not that the minotaurs or werejackals learnt or performed any drills for these defensive formations, but it was the unique ability of Tact Tweak. It influenced the monsters that were registered in the System and gave them the ability to followmands through a single swipe or a tap of a finger (or in Moloch''s case, cotton hoofs.) and therefore allowedplex formations to be followed unless the monsters themselves expressed strongly opinionated thoughts against themands. Such ideas would pop up like a message as a consideration at the side of Tact Tweak screen. But for now, Moloch found that the ''defence in depth'' defensive tactic was the best he could adopt since both Team Mino and Team Jacks were caught off guard by the Robotic Arachnid.

    Next, Moloch gave two sentry gun upgrade cards to the cowboy Minotaurs. Hemanded two fanatic minotaurs to act as the tower support while the cowboy Minotaurs stood on them and ced the bipod of the sentry gun on their head and horns. Once stable, they immediately fired at the far reaching robot crawlers and with the support of the Fanatic minotaurs, it felt like the cowboy minotaurs were on live chariot running around shooting at the robot crawlers. However, Moloch explicitly stated not to attack or provoke the Robotic Arachnid as much as possible because her patterns of attack were still unknown. It might be too much trouble for the groups that were still rallying against the onught of robot crawlers.

    After ordering his cowboys, he turned to the werejackals and gave them the upgrade card Firestorm. Although the werejackals were not exactly mages, a collective group chant and their knowledge of fireball from Grey made them the next best candidate aside from Peppers who was on site.

    Grey took the lead by starting the chanting, which created a magical circle rotating around him. The rest of the werejackals followed by stepping into the circle reciting parts of the chant topliment the chant made by Grey. Moloch figured that if he could make the Minotaurs buy enough time for the werejackals to cast their magic, it should provide sufficient devastating powers against the robotic arachnid instead of using his Trump card.

    Molochter controlled his battle maids to protect the werejackals where most were in their half human form summoning the reinforced mass firestorm spell. Half human half werejackal gave them a stronger sense of concentration which they did conjure the spell circle splendidly. But the robot crawlers were able to detect sizeable magical presence from them right away.

    Not able to even touch or interrupt the magical chanting due to the constant defending of Team Mino, the robot crawlersmunally sent an SOS to their Robotic Arachnid. The motherly arachnid did not hesitate to act upon receiving their plea and sounds as creaking and parts turning were heard at the top of her robotic body.

    Moloch used the binocrs function on the Tact Tweak to monitor mother arachnid''s location and he sensed movement from it. "Shit! Are thoseбнunchers? The ones that fire magical explosive javelins from a long distance simr to someone I knew?" Moloch did learn that humans and even some advanced monster species had developed some form of projectile technology that shared the same characteristic of a missile but something faster than that. The thought of those missiles made him panic though it was not shown on his stoic plushie face.

    He quickly called upon Niu Lang via the Tact Tweak. Niu Lang was holding a makeshift shield and sickle,plimentary of the werejackals, as he received his orders. (Niu Lang helped them out at times in their farms in their own home instance.) The boy smiled widely and with a blow of his magical horn, Mechataur materialised right in front of him before it grabbed Niu Lang to put him into his cockpit.

    Even though the Mechataur was still rather damaged after the fight against the Dungeon Core''s Guardian in the previous battle, it managed to recover with the help of Niu Lang. He had been diligently reading on the blueprints of the Mechataur and assisted in the repairs of Mechataur with whatever daily metal that the System provided it as free food. It was not perfect, hell it was not passable in Mechataur''s eyes, but it could sense the passion Niu Lang the Cowherd had when he did the emergency repairs. (Separately, Mechataur did have fond memories of him and Zhi Nu working passionately. It remembered waking up and seeing Niu Lang asking Zhi Nu the Battle Weaver to use her celestial strings to prop Mechataur''s legs up so that he could adjust the soles. Niu Lang could have just asked Mechataur to lie down but he was too embarrassed.)

    The Mechataur started up with Niu Lang''s special horn, and without hesitation, it also began to creak as his shoulder tes opened up. As expected the Robotic Arachnid fired those explosive javelins that were simr to pulses of light and the Mechataur''s retaliation missile fire could not intercept all of them in time, causing injury to the defensive formation that Moloch tried to set up.

    However, those retaliation missiles killed more than half of the robot crawlers but could not deal a scratch to the Robotic Arachnid. After the smoke was lifted, it revealed an energy barrier projected around the mother arachnid to protect itself. Many of the minotaurs, especially the battle maids were injured by the barrage of explosive javelins, notwithstanding the werejackals. It was all thanks to Mer who created an overarching ice barrier to protect the werejackals, but the damage was injuring his mana circuits as he tried to repair the ice barrier from the explosive javelins. Even Mechataur tried its best to shield the ice barrier, but no doubt only managed to block a hit or two.

    "...And thus, the skyless dark night shall pelt down the fury of our hearts!" Grey finished chanting as he pointed upwards. With mana burning visible from his eyes, Grey''s index finger was lowered to the direction of the Robot Arachnid.

    "FIRESTORM!!!" The mass of werejackals echoed so loudly that even the Titan Knight could have heard it. The magic circle disappeared from beneath them, and a few werejackals went on their knees panting.

    A spiralling vortex of space maniption was opening above the robotic arachnid and an orangey red dusty cloud came into existence. In no time, it began sprouting a ball of fire which the robotic arachnid defended with easeбн at first. The ball of fire was not the only one of its kind, and moreets of burning mes rained down upon him. They multiplied as time went by to the point that the robotic arachnid started to pour more resources into the energy barrier and had to reduce the number of robot crawlersing out.

    However, it was not the end. Moloch knew that this was the opportunity he was looking for. "Mechataur do a full heavy arms st, unleash everything!" Molochmanded, but Mechataur was somewhat hesitant. Due to the damage, it was afraid it would be broken to the point of no repair.

    "Trust in Lord Moloch, in Master Jin and me. I will make sure to bring you back every time you fall my buddy." Niu Lang said as he gripped onto the controls tightly.

    "Heh, you better upgrade me well." The Mechataur sneered as itmunicated back to Niu Lang via its electronic systems. The Mechataur struggled to remove the limit breaker as it forced open all the weaponry slots it had and it stared at the Robotic Arachnid intensely.

    "FIRE AWAY!" Both Mechataur and Niu Lang shouted simultaneously as beams of energy, rotating Gatling guns and dozens of missiles flew to the direction of the Robotic Arachnid. Being unable to move from the bombardment of the firestorm, the Robotic Arachnid senses went over the top crazy as it first saw the energy beams melting the barrier causing holes in it.

    Thus making it impossible for the Arachnid to cover it in time as many missiles prated through the barrier and eventually, the continuous explosions damaged the Arachnid feeble metal body. The Firestorm finally broke through and burned the entire spider body before it disappeared into oblivion. (Well, technically the System caught it. Teehee!)

 Chapter 288 Titan Knigh

    <h4>Chapter 288 Titan Knigh</h4>

    With the Robotic Arachnid destroyed, each and every robot crawler stopped working. At the same time, the Titan Knight also ran out of juice and stopped shooting hisser beams. Jin made use of this opportunity he had been struggling for by forcing all ice tendrils to pierce the mechanical eyes and into the mainframe of the Titan Knight''s head. The Titan Knight bellowed as it tried to break the ice tendrils apart.

    Jin finally let go of the Great Ice Wall he had maintained for quite some time. Exhausted, he fell to the ground along with Milk and Peppers. "Why does it feel like this scene is so familiar?" Jin experienced a dижjид vu going through him, but he couldn''t care less with his fatigue hitting him hard on his head.

    Separately, Moloch looked at the Titan Knight, who was furious at the loss of his creation and tried to ''float'' towards the group of monsters that caused all this mess. Though it could no longer see them, he had other sensors making him able to perceive their location.

    Moloch demanded everyone to sit down and to enjoy the show. Both Team Mino and Team Jacks were unaware what exactly was going on, but they listened to Moloch without question. In the meantime, Molochmanded Sebastia and Yem to look after Jin and his betors.

    Sebastia, being the overall head of battle maids, had learned basic healing skills, though she could see that Jin, Peppers and especially Milk were all drained mentally rather than having physical wounds. She tried to cast a few healing spells but it was to no avail. It did however make sure that those 3 were still conscious and wouldn''t faint in the middle of the battle.

    The Titan Knight could notpute why the group of monsters was not running away from him at all. Shouldn''t they run in the face of such perilous danger? Perhaps they finallyprehended that it was futile defying it. The logic cycle in the Titan''s brain did not care and continued to press forward in an attempt to annihte the entire group.

    However, as it tried to raise its arm, there was a loud explosive noiseing from within the Titan Knight. In an instant, the exploding noise was of a sessive nature, of which some were visible for the group of monsters to see. The explosion of ck fire was burning brightly especially through the crevices of the titan''s broken armour, causing it to be exposed for the monsters to exploit. Yet Moloch did not give any order, so the monsters just kept quiet and rested as they watched the titan fall to pieces.

    The arm joints of the Titan Knight were thoroughly broken from the hidden explosives, and its cont system could not keep up with so many fire incidents. The inability to cope with the fire enabled it to spread wildly throughout the entire body. The sword arm that it attempted to raise fell endlessly into the dark abyss as the pieces were brought down by the spread of fire.

    The ck Titan Knight roared but it could not do anything else since the robot crawlers were killed and its eyes have been pierced. There were other offensive tricks up its sleeve, but Jin had deposited a sufficient amount of spiral boxes inside of the Titan Knight to cripple it to the point of no return.

    "If I might say, this is a 4 out of 10." Peppers blurted out, as she was lying down on Sebastia''s leg. Jin who was unfortunately on Yem''s manly (and flurry not fluffy, mind you)p pillow felt disappointed.

    "But it''s the destruction that counts, isn''t it? I ced a lot of effort into it!" Jin tried to win back some more points from Peppers'' critical review of his explosions.

    "Forget it Master. Peppers'' deduction is based on superficial results. I could feel the amount of concentration and effort when I channelled the chi energy into you." Milk sneered while her eyes were still closed, lying on the ground. No male minotaur dared to touch her because...of them being reasonably sensitive to her...erm...body.

    "Why you stupid two mountain full of fats, my results are definitely not superficial!" Peppers pouted as she tried to get up from Sebastia''sp to kick Milk who was still lying on the ground. Yet Milk did not care, since she was too tired, as well as the fact that the force behind Peppers'' attack was more for show.

    As the Titan Knight subsequently disappeared (also captured by the System), it brought the abyssal darkness to a stop, causing the two groups to p and cheer at their victory. Some of the werejackals were thanking the minotaurs for protecting them as they cast the fireball. The minotaurs were a bit too prideful though they knew when apliment should be given. If not for the werejackals impactful firestorm, they might still be swatting spiders. Some of the werejackals also went to console Niu Lang since Mechataur shut down after unleashing a full attack against the spider matriarch. Mechataur went into standby mode, and Niu Lang knew it would stay a scrap of metal until he fixed his friend. Others continued to congratte for a job well done. Even Grey was one of them, as he walked towards Sebastia with his hand extended out.

    "It was a decent fight." Grey said with a bit of blush as he looked away into the distance, but Sebastia, who had forcefully returned Peppers to herp, returned the handshake. "It was a so-so fight. Could''ve been better if you cast faster." Sebastia taunted Grey and surprisingly he swallowed it well, took that as advice to improve better. Eventually, the walkway which initially crumbled down into the abyss returned back to normal, and the whole ce was empty with the group''sughter until they heard footsteps from afar.

    Even though both the minotaurs and werejackals were tired from the previous fight, they would do anything to protect their current master. ws up, horns to the front and yet... surprisingly it was actually Sandy and the rest of Team Enlightened, alongside the zombies.

    Jin realised they all wereughing happily as if they had had a good time fighting together, making the minotaurs and werejackals slightly curious about what had happened. Surely nothing could trump the defeat of something like the titanic knight? Upon closer inspection, Jin discovered that Zeru was holding on to a rtivelyrge colourful snail shell...?

    "What are you holding there, Zeru?" Jin asked, a bit confused and Zeruughed as he ced the shell down from his shoulders.

    "It is a long story but...I think this could potentially be the defunct dungeon core and its master." Zeru replied as he inserted his hand into the shell, pulling out a slug which seemingly was entangled with wires. Some of those may even have fused with it.

    "Okay! Okay! Don''t pull me any more or I will die!!" The slug begged for forgiveness, but Zeru did not y along with him and tore off one of his wires, which caused him to wail in pain.

    "I am sorry! I am sorry for creating trouble for you and your friends!" The slug continued to cry and tears of diamonds dropped from his tear ducts. The voice sounded a bit familiar, though Moloch was unable to recall where he heard it exactly.

    "What kind of monster is this?" Jin asked and Moloch who took a closer look and realised it was something he saw before.

    "Wait...aren''t you Duke Wolte? The once rumoured "Destroyer of Worlds"? ...Well, towns actually, the demons loved to spread terribly bad rumours. I thought King Baal ordered yourplete and utter annihtion? How did you even managed to be in here?" Moloch looked at the greenish looking slug with mutted teeth around his rounded lips. The neon green slug demon who heard the word Wolte immediately looked up at the puppet.

    "Viscount Moloch? Why...wait what are YOU doing here?! How dare you insult me when you yourself have been reduced to an ugly looking plushie! No that''s beside the point! Are you nning to take me down under the orders of King Baal! I will not stand down in this cas-ow ow ow ow!" Zeru threatened to pull more of its wires out of Wolte.

    "It looks like this one has a story to tell too." Molochughed as Jin felt another wave of Dижjид vuing through him once more.

 Chapter 289 Crown of Beyond Depravity

    <h4>Chapter 289 Crown of Beyond Depravity</h4>

    Moloch exined his own situation to Duke Wolte, who listened under the mercy of Zeru. Only afterwards did Wolte rx himself enough to look at Jin with a perplexed expression with his limited slug face muscles.

    "So to sum it up: You are now working for that human from another dimension over there?" Wolte slurred as he spoke.

    "I know why you would be sceptical, but looking back, I have to admit, that this kind of rtionship has been rather mutually beneficial. If anyone stands a chance of defeating King Baal, I think Jin here has more of a fighting chancepared to any other demon or adventurer I have known." Moloch rified before looking at him.

    "What has actually happened to you, Duke Wolte? I don''t remember you being a slug at all." Moloch stifled hisugh, and the slug seemed somewhat depressed.

    "As you might have guessed, it all started when King Baal became obsessed. But it was not due to his wealth nor his power. It was because of the Crown of Beyond Depravity." Wolte replied, and only Moloch and his minotaurs understood what that was.

    Seeing the confused faces of all other people, especially Moloch''s new master Jin, Wolte decided to exin a bit on that: "It is an item made from a defunct Dungeon Core mixed with multiple rare high grade metals, which high ranking cksmiths had to sacrifice their lives for to create that crown. But that crown was mostly harmless, simply increasing his powers without any known side effects. That is until Marquis Kiva, the Ravenous Lord Demon of Hunger presented him an ancient gem he found in the depths of his deste family tomb. It was meant to be a tribute. A simple show of loyalty as well as a nice finishing touch for the crown." Wolte continued.

    "Shortly after he received that gem it changed him. It started consuming King Baal''s logic and harness his greed. It increased his possessiveness in regards to material items,nd and power. Before I rebelled, some whispered, that King Baal was secretly creating an army of loyal subjects capable of using the massive power he is currently wielding." Wolte looked even more depressed than before. Even though he was to be executed, it seemed the slug was genuinely concerned for his King.

    "As a loyal subject, I was naturally worried. But when I voiced my opinion and suggested that the crown should be adequately examined as a precautionary measure King Baal refused adamantly. At the time Marquis Kiva was on site. That cowardly bastard even advised the King to be careful against dissidents. King Baal in return agreed and wanted to issue a royal decree concerning the execution of disloyal people the very next day. Marquis Kiva had even dared to object to this, trying to influence the King into issuing it that very day. Unable to challenge the authority of the King, I challenged Marquis Kiva to a duel. After all that silver glibed oversized chicken was only mighty with his words, so I thought I could crush him with my overwhelming strength. Who would have known he was crafty enough, to turn my words around making it seem as if I were challenging King Baal. I unwillingly fought against King Baal. ... we both know, that he should have stood no chance against me. It should have been impossible since I was his High General. I was also the one who taught him how to fight. But this time was different. The king had granted me the honour to spar with him many times, so I was familiar with his strength and his power was unbelievable. Two? Three? Heck maybe even five times stronger than me at that moment." Wolte grumbled andined about the past, but the rest just listened to it like a bedtime story.

    "So erm...want to join up with us?" Moloch who had nearly fallen asleep from the ramblings, had nearly forgotten about their objective.

    "You have not answered my question yet! How exactly did you find me? I have been exiled as a st mercy'' as he called it. But officially I should been pronounced dead!" Wolte snarled. He had wanted to fight against King Baal in his own way. Wolte found this defunct core by chance when he was running away from the demons that were chasing after him. He did not know, whether the King had changed his mind, or if that damn bird was behind it, but it mattered little. Duke Wolte never realised that this particr dungeon core was partially defunt. When presented with the chance he immediately epted, turning him into the new master, allowing him to recreate a dungeon fortress of his own.

    In return, the core became a part Wolte. Unfortunately it made him into the slug before them. Nevertheless the dungeon core delivered, what it had promised. Through it Wolte was able to raise an army of his own. He used the bodies of the adventurers and monsters, using their essences as power to function his very own robot ve army. He hoped that one day he would be able to properly rebel against King Baal. If possible he wished to wake him up from the control of Marquis Kiva.

    "It may sound dumb, but it was purely coincidental. My maids found this ce that supposedly had a defunct core. That is why we came here. Also I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Kiva is no longer merely a Marquis. That fat raven head had recently been promoted. He is now an Archduke and the personal aide to King Baal himself." Moloch gave Wolte thetest information he had received, before he decided to change sides to Jin.

    "That much is no big surprise. Oh well, I mean, you defeated my entire army of robot ves, hence I am technically under the mercy of you, human." Wolte stared at Jin, who identally fell asleep from exhaustion.

    "OEI YOU PATHE-Ow ow ow ow ow" Zeru once again pulled the reins to control Wolte when he wanted to insult the human.

    "It will be painless and it will guarantee you joining us." Zeru gave him a small warning, before he plunged his wooden sword into Wolte without any hesitation. The defunct core disappeared along with Wolte and the dungeon ruins ceased to exist. The once broken ruins became even more bare, with the ruins chambers changing into an empty underground tunnel made out of rock and soil.

    "Do you want me to wake Jin up?" Milk asked Zeru who was after all considered as Jin''s master.

    "Let''s bring him to the dungeon maker. I believe the System has a sleeping capsule that can allow him to sleep all he wants." Zeru suggested, until Kraft came into the picture.

    "Or we could let him sleep until morning. I have a very nice room in mind." Kraft smirked, but his suggestion was met with frowns from betors and monsters except for Zeru.

    "Hmm. That could actually be good practice for him." Zeru thought for a while before giving his opinion, knowing Kraft''s craftiness.

    "Oh? So you approve of the High Intensity Mode by the System?" Kraft was surprised that Zeru cordially agreed to his haphazard n since he actually meant it as a half-joke.

    "Yes, it might be the pushing factor for him to go up another Grade up quickly. It might be painful but if he can finish the dungeon in that mode, he can master his techniques faster. With the Zodiac Ratsing into the picture, its best to push him towards the realm of Grade 10 as soon as possible so he can properly utilise your training of the subconscious." Zeru concluded and Kraftughed.

    "I thought I was evil... but you Zeru. You are the monster here. Never thought being a teacher to someone would make you show so much ''love'' for your disciple. Fine I will dly prepare the ''room''." Kraftmented and bowed as he left abruptly once more.

    "What is this high intensity mode you guys were talking about?" Peppers had not heard of it before neither did Milk. Zeru opened a portal courtesy of Yun and allowed the monsters to return to rest first, leaving the two betors behind.

    "The System has a mode that duplicates yourself into two, three and many more. But all in all, they are but a part of you." Zeru said as he opened another portal that brought them back to the terrace house with Jin in Milk''s arms while Peppers held on to Bam in Katana form.

    "Hahaha, That sounds like one of the techniques like that show currently airing on TV, Maruto." Peppersughed as she copied the pose Maruto always did when he summoned his clones out.

    "You are not wrong nor entirely right. The System duplicates him into multiple copies, allowing him to do tasks separately, but all of those copies are also part of him. If you damage or say, amputate his right hand off, all of his copies will have the sensation of him losing his arms. The more copies he has, the more emotions, pain and pleasure are going to be multiplied." Zeru said which somehow made Milk show a repulsive look.

    "Urgh, imagine if he abused it and used it to create a circle of ymates." Milk exined her repulsiveness to Peppers and Zeru.

    "I would not be surprised if he did that, after all the System ultimately needs him to reproduce so the Panda n can survive. However, I would also be not surprised if he does not." Zeru somehow had a rather high confidence that Jin was not a yer. In fact he was more afraid, that Jin would not take any action at all.

    "If given the chance and opportunity, you think he would not do it?" Milk rolled her eyes as she grabbed onto the sleeping Jin a little harder as Peppers opened the door to Jin''s room.

    "Actual proliferation of User not allowed during high intensity mode. Substandard proliferation from copies is also not permitted." System argued, and it made the betors giggle a little before Milk ced him in his bed after casting a disinfect and clean spell on him. (Milk also gave him a bedtime kiss on the forehead, whichter Peppers had to drag her out by the ear because she was giving Jin one too many bedtime kisses.)

 Chapter 290 High Intensity Mode

    <h4>Chapter 290 High Intensity Mode</h4>

    "GAHHH! WHAT TIME IS IT!!!!" Jin, who was slowly waking up from his peaceful sleep, grabbed the phone from his pocket and looked at the time. Only to shockingly realise that it was already 6am. Only half an hour left, before Ku Wai would show up in the shop.

    "Oh my god! Why am I still asleep?! Why didn''t anyone force me to wake up?! Arggghhh! No time! No time at all!!" Jin quickly got up from his bed even though his muscles were telling him to stay in bed for longer. There was nobody to me but himself for falling into exhaustion.

    However, Jin could not break the habit of basic hygiene and cleanliness for the morning, so he did his business in the toilet while brushing his teeth and talking to the System all at the same time. "System mmm how long can you uuuuu force the time dtion in the Dungeon Maker?"

    "5 hours and at most 6 hours given your current grade." The System stated and Jin did the mental calction in his brain of the average amount of time he needed to create the dungeon in time and still think that it was not enough time even if he barely made it for the 8am deadline.

    Jin could technically give Yang Ling the Tiger Princess a substandard work since it was free. However, after further consideration, Jin felt that Yang Ling was pinning all her hopes on him to clinch this particr project. To be honest, it was not his problem whether she could win the hearts and minds of those military nutheads, but Yang Ling did help him with the police issue. If she had such power, it would be in his best interest to let her keep or improve her influence, especially when going against the Ruby Rats.

    "System, any other way to increase the time dtion? I really need more time!" Jin sshed his face with water to rinse the soap and remnant toothpaste foam away.

    "High Intensity Mode." The System spoke through his phone and Jin had no idea what was that at all.

    "How much more time can I have with high intensity mode?" Jin did not probe the System further about the high intensity mode since he was running out of time. Thank goodness with the revamp of the Terrace House, he could teleport anytime into his shop.

    "The duration depends on the User''s ability to stay focused. You can go up to 50 hours. Exceeding 60 hours is highly inadvisable even you were able to hold on. Should the User experience too much of a bacsh System may be forced to expel him for safety reasons." System replied, and Jin did not hesitate to ept it as he entered the Dungeon Maker.

    "Turn it on!" Jin ordered and without further ado, the System immediately struck a lightning bolt out of nowhere on him. Not once. Not twice. But EIGHT times. Jin gritted his teeth as he handled each lightning bolt with maximum tolerance. The first strike wasn''t so bad but the second and subsequent ones were getting so painful he nearly felt like puking and felt that he was slowly losing his mind.

    When the lightning bolts stopped, Jin realised that his consciousness was a mess as if he was seeing multiple things at the same time. Only then he saw other copies of himself with Krafting forward from the side.

    "This is the ability of high intensity mode. Each copy here is also part of you, and yet you can do separate things if you put your head to it." Kraft snapped his finger and Jin suddenly remembered the basic subconscious training that Kraft had induced into him. Jin imagined himself into the subconscious room, that empty ck room with two chairs and a hanging lightbulb. With his own original self in his subconscious, he sat down and started to separate his orders on what to do.

    The Dungeon Maker helped to facilitate the other eight copies of Jin and created the exact same interfaces which allowed all nine Jins to work simultaneously on the project. The original Jin had no time to give names or whatsoever so he just named his clones, Jin 2, Jin 3 and so on.

    "Jin 2, start by creating the basicyout of the dungeon. Jin 3, check the prices of the materials in the Dungeon Maker resources. Jin 4, analyse the stats of the robots, but start with the ones that look as human as possible, I want to use them in the dungeons. Jin 5, check the for basic obstacle courses, Olympic training regimes, military fitness test and so forth. Jin 6, contact Patsu and Bear Cub One, their task is going to be to keep Ku Wai busy andter reach out to the Three Headed Bear from the Panda Weapon Store. Jin 7, assist Jin 6 by processing the blueprints from Yang Ling''s USB. Jin 8 prepare the production of the prototype that Yang Ling passed to me erm us...ah, whatever. Jin 9 keep track of our dungeon dors. I want a full report of our costs and earnings, especially how much we can salvage and act ordingly. Same deal asst time, bargain the shit out with the System when it sells them to the ck market." Original Jinmanded via the subconscious room. He himself decided to stay in the dungeon maker where he would assist Jin 2 in the creation of the dungeon.

    But before that, Original Jin had decided to make matters simpler for his subconscious controlling and things to proceed faster by creating number tags for each Jin. Like ser yers, he ced a sticker tag behind every Jin and made things lessplicated for his original subconscious.

    As the work started, Original Jin felt his skull numbing away, the separate tasks that he needed to do with nine other Jins were probably utilising near to 100% of his brain power or so he thought.

    "You are currently utilising only 34% of your total brain power. Cultivation Grade has an effect on how much User''s brain can process as cultivation works simr to magic. With more Chi points opened, brain processing is higher but unfortunately proven that it is lesser than the way of magic." System stated, and Jin heard it as a passing remark since he was too busy adjusting theyout that Jin 2 created.

    "System, how much have we received from the entire raid?" Jin 9 asked. Before he got an answer he got interrupted by Kraft holding on to a haversack filled with bags of holding from the interrogation room. Behind him was Itori carrying an evenrger knapsack that was full of various weapon and armour sets. The bag of holdings were each stained with different amounts of blood. Yet those were no different from what the System had obtained when the Deep Ones came by to pass all the loot they found from the battlefield. The Goblins also passed the items they robbed from the adventurers to the System.

    Nheless, it was not an issue since the contents of those bag of holdings were still intact. Kraft also stated that all the equipment would be sent to the Panda General store for cleaning and counting as the System provided a rough list of items brought back to Jin 9. They hauled everything they could steal and salvage before letting most of the adventurers die from their wounds.

    Jin 9 could only bitterlyugh at the pitiful situation those humans had to go through. He could imagine those Deep Ones pulling boots, gloves and maybe tearing pieces of armour from those adventurers before killing them. Jin 9 initially thought that the Deep Ones were only going to critically wound the enemies and leave them be while parading themselves under the glory of their Lord Derpy. He was pleasantly surprised that Derpy ordered them to salvage all the equipment on them for him to sell.

    "There should be more than enough in here for you to go wild with your creation. I wish you fun, as I have some other things to attend to." Kraft said as he waved goodbye to Jin 9. Just before hepletely disappeared his head turned around: "I nearly forgot. Zeru expects you to fully finished creating the dungeon. Try not to get crazy in here ...and don''t you go talking to strange voices."

 Chapter 291 Hu Yuan Ba

    <h4>Chapter 291 Hu Yuan Ba</h4>

    "Mr Ku Wai, I see that you have arrived sooner than expected." Mr Patsu was there to entertain him early in the morning when Ku Wai entered the shop instance.

    "Is Boss Jin around?" Ku Wai asked the penguin politely, but Mr Patsu shook his head.

    "I can only assure you that Boss Jin is doing his best to create the trial dungeon with his maximum effort. This is after all, an urgent request, so Boss Jin needs more time than usual to craft it out." Mr Patsu replied.

    "Really? Is it possible to look for him? I mean dungeon making always requires a subject to try out the dungeon before releasing it. I do not mind entering the partial product to familiarise myself with the dungeon. That way I may be able to perform better for the demonstration." Ku Wai requested, but Mr Patsu bowed down and apologised.

    "I am sorry, honourable Ku Wai. I am afraid I cannot do that. Boss Jin instructed me, that at all times no one is to disturb him during the process of dungeon making. He would onlye out when he considers it done and when he is satisfied with the result. To him, it is like a piece of painting. When he has the inspiration to draw something, he wants to keep to himself. You know as they always say, inspiration is just one step away from insanity. I think he does not want people to see how terrible he looks when he is creating it." Mr Patsu lied through his beak, but Ku Wai somehow understood.

    "Ahh, I get it. So he is simr to princess. Whenever she has an idea to test out, she will just lock herself up in the study room and work non stop until she has found a usible solution. Her face after she get out from her study roomбн Priceless. Those ck bags under her eyes, messed up hair but with the expression of tion on her mouth. Although I wish she would take more care of her body." Ku Wai answered as he sat down near the Bar Ind.

    Meanwhile, Bear Cub One brought out Chef Roro to serve Ku Wai as there was no one else able to tend to him at this hour. Yun was deadbeat from handling the store and so was Lynn after a day of satisfying work in the restaurant instance. Yun did bring Lynn back to Jin''s home and offered her a room, that was already created for her by the System on the first floor.

    As time passed, Ku Wai began to get a little bit agitated even though he went into his cultivation stance, while waiting for Boss Jin to appear. But Ku Wai knew how geniuses worked, so he ced his trust on Boss Jin, just this once since he was helpless anyways.

    ------

    "Dad, you sure you want toe with me?" Yang Ling asked with a slightly terrified tone in her voice as she was sitting behind the car.

    "What''s wrong? You are making a deal with some military chumps that I know personally. You know, me being there could probably even help you a little." Hu Yuan Ba, the father of Yang Ling was personally driving her to Jin''s location.

    "Youбнnever gave any attention to me at all and suddenly you do. In fact, you somehow became surprisingly friendly. I apologise for the rudeness, but I do not know what you are plotting, Father." Yang Ling said with her head down. Back when she was younger and not handicapped by her loss of cultivation, she was more rebellious. Her promising talent surpassed her brothers, but Yuan Ba did not acknowledge her at the least bit.

    "Let''s just sayбнI am curious what you can do with an outdated prototype. Are you able to change the minds of the military people without your use of Psionic Magic? I believe they already know of your abilities and came prepared for it too." Yuan Ba said as he made a turn through the traffic.

    "You knew?" Yang Ling started to create hypotheses on the fly. Was he the one who stole it? Impossible. He was less of a sneaky kind, and if he were to do it, he might have asked someone more proficient in taking it. Even so, where did that information leak out from? At the moment, only Ku Wai and her knew about this informationбнand well Jin too. But Jin would definitely have no contact with Yuan Ba. All possible theories but all she can say she was the only one to be med for creating these circumstances.

    "Not talking? Then, let me do the talking. Yes, as you might have conjectured, I am the one who stole it. A tiger must know how to stalk and kill its prey silently. I tend not to show that side to any of you guys since it''s a trick I learnt by myself." Yuan Ba answered her conundrum and yet she continued to keep her silence for a while before speaking.

    "So you want me to fail?" Yang Ling questioned bluntly and Yuan Ba snorted.

    "Let''s say it''s an added challenge. After all, you did manipte the finances of the Triad for your own personal use. I am not saying it''s wrong or anything and I am still earning a decent sum of tribute from them. It''s just that you know, that money belongs to me. So technically, I own the item even though I ''stole'' it from you." Yuan Ba pointed out and Yang Ling was in no position for rebuttal.

    She had indeed been taking from the coffers of the Three Eyed Tiger Triad since her father allowed Yang Ling to manage that portion of his business. As the Ruby Rat Triad handled the casinos and entertainment industry in Shenzhen, The Three Eyed Triad had their hands in the shipping and trading industry. Porting of near illegal items were their speciality and it included merchandise such as collector''s items, medicine, research data, exotic cars and so on.

    Yang Ling revolutionised the Three Eyed Tiger Triad since they had the muscle and guts to prevent things from going wary and she had the connections from being one of the Twelve Royal Zodiac Family to enable such near illegal trades to happen. The money she brought in through her trades was thousands of times better than what the triad had been doing for the past decades.

    Yuan Ba saw her potential and initially let her rein the Triad a while longer. However, with time having passed there was still no change to the sum of tribute he had received. After some investigation, he had found out, that the excess money was used to further his daughter''s research and development. So as a lesson for secretly taking the money he should be receiving, Yuan Ba had decided to steal from her. Not to mention, Yuan Ba also scheduled another meeting with the military top brass right after hers in the same dungeon shop she was going for.

    Yuan Ba was going to make Yang Ling learn her lesson for stealing and underestimating her own father, he would let her have a taste of her own medicine. But ultimately, even a tiger wouldn''t eat its own cubs. Everything Yuan Ba was doing was for her sake, to prepare her against anything, even if she had to hate him for it. In fact, he was nning to use this as a test of her candidacy to be the sessor of the Royal Zodiac Tiger. Yuan Ba''s own father used to do such tests to him and his siblings, which lead to him hating his own father. But only after he had taken over the position as Head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger did Yuan Ba realise, that each and every painful lesson was done in order to shape him into a great leader.

    He initially thought to change their ways, intending to be kinder towards his own children. Unfortunately, he started to see signs of Yang Ling''s elder brothers getting spoilt through the safe and luxurious environment they were ced in. Only Yang Ling had shown guts, brains and perseverance through adversity. This mindset was exactly why Yuan Ba found her worthy to be the next head. Nevertheless, without her cultivation and being handicapped it was hard for him to appoint her. She has to prove that she was worthy, otherwise her obvious weakness would only result in internal strife. Yuan Ba could only hope that such a trial like this would toughen her up more.

    "So if I can convince them in some way or another despite the obstacles you ced?" Yang Ling asked, now with burning anger in her eyes.

    "I will let you do as you please. I will continue to overlook the extra you make from your operation and will be contented with the tribute I have been receiving." Yuan Ba reached the ce. In front of them, was in his opinion, a hideous looking Panda billboard. "What kind of dungeon supplier shop is this?" Yuan Ba felt like he was being insulted by the big billboard and decided to challenge it.

    Only to find himselfбн bbergasted.

 Chapter 292 Exhausted Jin

    <h4>Chapter 292 Exhausted Jin</h4>

    "What kind of signboard is this?!" Yuan Ba was left gasping for air after sending his intimidating chi into the signboard. Instead of submitting or even breaking, the signboard had fought back with an even stronger aura of challenge that choked Yuan Ba. For a Grade 17 Royal Zodiac Tiger cultivator, nothing had been able to scare him nor challenge his authority in recent years, until now.

    "Is it that big of a deal?" Yang Ling came down from the car herself and wheeled towards the panting Yuan Ba, whose slightly frightened eyes gave away his disturbed mindset before reverting to his almighty prideful look.

    "You seem to underestimate the owner. Neither King''s Monster nor the select few dungeon suppliers that we contracted with, possess a signboard capable of challenging me to this extent. Who exactly is this dungeon supplier?" Yuan Ba was questioning Yang Ling with authority. She even detected faint traces of fear in his eyes. How was his daughter able to meet up with this dungeon supplier with such a signboard. бн and a far better question was, how did their local family intelligence services fail to take note of someone so capable up until now.

    "He''s a бнan acquaintance." Yang Ling decided not to reveal too much. She knew that even if she didn''t say it right now, it was only a matter of time until her father gathered the information via his own means. As for now, it may be better to leave Jin''s background as a mystery to her old man.

    "Let''s hope the dungeon part will be able to bring out the best of the Gearbox technologyбн" Yang Ling silently prayed as several ck SUVs appeared before her. Most of them were the various military procurement representatives and vendors that arrived right on time.

    The representatives were then exchanging greetings with Yuan Ba and ignored herpletely, even though they should havee to watch hertest prototype. The only exception was the person, who was running to them from the train station and wiping his sweat away the moment he reached.

    "Ah, sorry Miss Hu. I''d like to apologise for being 1 minute and 39 secondste." A slightly plump guy by the name of Ke Loong was trying to catch his breath. He was one of the CEOs of a young uing startup responsible for creating innovation in dungeon making technology. He was making millions by the day with his patents in the dungeon making technology. Recently, Ke Loong had decided to enter the military side of the business. Yang Ling called him in as a favour since he was always busy setting up his IPO for hispany but to her surprise, he agreed almost immediately the moment he heard that she was going to Dungeons and Pandas for the demonstration.

    "It is okay. There are still a few vendors that have yet to appear as well. But for now, let''s not keep waiting out here. We can simply wait inside for them." Yang Ling suggested to the whole group. Ku Wai was already waiting at the side of the door to assist them in entering the dungeon supplier store.

    "Ahhh, so this is what Brother Know rmended, interesting set..HUH!." Ke Loong was thinking to himself after taking in the outside of the building, until he entered the store and was taken aback. It was practically empty with merely a few machines that had panda decorations on it.

    "What nonsense is this?! Are you trying to make fun of us, Miss Hu!!!" One of the military vendor representatives shouted seeing there was no reception and the ce did not look like a dungeon supplier store at all.

    "What is going on, Ku Wai? Yang Ling?" Yuan Ba demanded an exnation which Ku Wai promptly provided. He even demonstrated step by step what everyone had to do, before disappearing.

    Everyone was at a loss for words.

    "HUH?! SHOP INSTANCE?! Quick, let me try it out!" Ke Loong was the first to imitate Ku Wai''s action and the result left him even more astonished! What more was Brother Know keeping a secret from him? How could he not share this miraculous thing with him at all, except for those cards things! Ke Loong''s expression and excitement made the military representatives speechless and they decided to go with the flow. They all knew about him and hoped that during this demonstration by Yang Ling, they would have a chance to get acquainted with him. It was all part of Yang Ling''s grand scheme. Although even she had not foreseen how badly the others wanted to get to know him.

    When they entered the store instance, Ke Loong screamed once again with his hands trying to pull his hair out. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!!?!?!?!"

    "Is this so out of the ordinary? Is this not just a shop instance? It''s nice and all but why are you so surprised?" One of the military representatives questioned.

    "Can''t you get it?! This is a top notch instance! You have light illumination, ray tracing from the stained ss ceiling, not to mention the borate interior decorations! So lifelike! An instance this size is basically impossible without tens of supeputer running at once! Even my servers can never replicate something like this! OH MY GOD! WHY IS THAT PENGUIN MOVING TO US!"

    "Erm, I am one of the announcers here. My name is Mr Patsu and I have been asked to escort you, since this should be the first time for most of you inside our Shop Instance. Our Boss is doing the finishing touches to the dungeon, so I would like to ask you to follow me to have a seat upstairs first." Mr Patsu replied politely and Ke Loong went nuts again.

    "HOW! HOW! HOW! We have been trying to create artificial intelligence for ages now, and it is only able to reply to simplemands like how Mooogle Home does it... but this penguinбн it is not just acting like a penguin, but also able toprehend speech and answer ordingly. It must have been designed with a highly advanced artificial intelligence attached to it! OH MY GOD, WHO IS THE BOSS OF THIS PLACE!" Ke Loong picked up the penguin and started to shake madly at it. When Mr Patsu expressed emotions of choking and slight fainting, Ke Loong got even crazier and screamed at a higher pitch.

    "Are you sure you want to get acquainted with him?" The vendors started to whisper among each other.

    "entric people bring the most moh in. Let''s just go along and try to get on his good side for now." Another vendor whispered back.

    "EhhбнThat would be me." Jin finally appeared from the Bar Ind with a white long sleeve shirt and a ck tie over his neck. He looked extremely exhausted and the heavy ck bags on his eyes indicate that he hadcked sleep for some days, even though yesterday he seemed fine.

    "Do you have the dungeon ready?!" Yang Ling telepathically gave him a message, and he replied with just a slight nod in her direction.

    "I am sorry that I was unable to greet you as soon as you entered. Mr Patsu should have exined the reason for it, but once again let me hereby personally apologise for it. Now I am sure that everyone here is extremely busy, so I shall not keep you waiting here. Since this is not exactly the best ce for a proper dungeon viewing, please follow me." Jin seemed very professionalбн until he began to tie his tie and walked towards a door with a separate instance. He purposely created a temporary instance, simr to a meeting room as opposed to an auditorium, since he was aware that military people preferred an orderly and tidy environment, and especially not the Halloween theme they were having.

    Ke Loong was once again impressed, but this time around, he was behaving prim and proper. The moment Jin came into the scene though it was apparent Ke Loong was screaming once again in his heart. "I must associate with him and get some information if at all possible. And most importantly I need to know, who is the one supplying him with all these technologies!"

    While the rest entered the new instance, Jin held the door for them. It was sad to say, that Yuan Ba was the first to enter, followed by the military vendors, leaving Yang Ling as thest to join, giving her no respect, despite the fact that she was the daughter of the Royal Zodiac Tiger family. Jin gave a slight frown, but Yang Ling just shook her head.

    "It''s fine, I am the one asking for their presence." Yang Ling sent a telepathic message once again, but this time round, Jin stopped her. "Before you enter the room. I have something to show you." Jin said as he asked Mr Patsu toe over and whispered something to his ear.

    "Call some of the penguin waiters over from the Restaurant Train of Delicacy. Get them to serve some of the coffee and onigiri." Jin ordered before thinking to himself that he should get Lynn or the System to make some hot chocte or tea so there would be variety of beverages for their selection.

    While Mr Patsu was keeping the guest busy, Jin closed the door behind them and beckoned Ku Wai and Yang Ling to follow him to a non restricted part of the Dungeon Maker which he allocated via another door which he prepared beforehand too.

    Behind closed doors, Yang Ling began to show her concern to Jin. "Are you okay? I am sorry for imposing you such a daunting task. If not for the circumstances I would have given you ample time, but my situation is unfortunate as it is..."

    "Yeah, Boss Jin, you had me worried there. If not for your penguin informing me that you were nearpletion, I''d thought you had already bailed on Princess. In which case I, of course, would have had to hunt you down for revenge." Ku Wai said jokingly.

    "You will need to grow stronger first, Ku Wai. You cannot defeat me, yet." Jin answered as if stating a fact, which made Ku Wai grit his teeth. After all it was the truth, since he himself couldn''t beat Ong from the Ruby Rat Triad. Much less a Japanese Yakuza who was at Grade 8. And ording to their information, Jin had not just beaten one but two of those foreign cultivators. It made him shudder, when thinking back on his duel with him not too long ago. It seemed that Jin had been hiding his true cultivation from him and Yang Ling.

    In the meantime, Jin lifted and dropped arge suitcase on the table in front of them. "Don''t use that piece of crap, that you''ve been nning to demonstrate. A dungeon is not all that I have prepared for you today." Jin told her, as he unclicked the locks from the rectangr suitcase and revealed an upper half torso exosuit of the gearbox prototype.

    Yang Ling almost fell from her chair and her mouth was left wide open. She looked at the exhausted Jin, not knowing what to say to him. She would be lying if at that moment she did not have a skip in her heart. Jin scratched his head before revealing the entirety of the gearbox prototype.

    "I managed to get your new gearbox prototype up, but instead of Ku Wai... Yang Ling, I want you to wear it and show those prideful assholes, who is the boss around here!" Jin said with a proud yet tired tone.

    "But I cannot walk or runбнwon''t Ku Wai be a better candidate?" Yang Ling appreciated the gesture from Jin, but he was not done yet as he lifted another suitcase and ced it on the long table. As he opened it, Yang Ling was shocked. So shocked that she put her hands on her mouth and tears started to flow down her cheeks uncontrobly.

    "Jinбн" Yang Ling could not say any more upon seeing the new product on the table.

    "Wear it. Do not ask how I managed to configure it for your legs, but with this, you should be able to walk again." Jin exined with a weary smile on his face before he had to yawn.

 Chapter 293 Gearbox V3

    <h4>Chapter 293 Gearbox V3</h4>

    Ku Wai, who was wearing the old Gearbox upper exosuit, entered the room with Jin and the military vendors were chatting incessantly whether this was a good idea to purchase. The bulky design was not exactly viable based on the specification sheet that was given by Yang Ling way before the presentation.

    The military vendors were only here to give her the respect she deserved as a direct family member of the Royal Zodiac Tiger. They initially thought, it would be a waste of time, except for the opportunity to meet Ke Loong, until Yuan Ba came along as well.

    "How were the refreshments?" Jin asked casually and many agreed it was only savoury and filling for the stomach. Nothing else, especially when it was given the perception of just some free refreshments. "Guess I could not expect much from a bunch of people, who only appreciate expensive looking food." Jin thought to himself as he was aware that these sort of vendors were always given the best of the best food frompanies that were trying to lick their boots. In any case, it was a good thing the System still produced these products even without the aid of Lynn, the new Chef in his store. The only disadvantage was that it was not as impressive as Lynn''s new ability for enhancing attributes.

    "So where is the presenter? We don''t have much time to spare. I purposely woke up early to travel all the way to Shenzhen just for this." One of the vendors grumbled and Jin told them to follow him. With another door inside the meeting room, they were all teleported to another dungeon instance. Ke Loong in his head was still trying to figure out how it could be possible to connect so many instances in one go. Yet the moment he entered the next instance, his mind was once again blown away by the monstrosity he was being shown.

    It was a stadium, no doubt, but the thing was, Jin had replicated the entirety of the Beijing National Stadium that once hosted the Olympics. The sheer size of replication made Ke Loong''s feet wobbled like foam in the middle of the stadium that the door brought them to.

    "This is the Trial Stadium. Whatever kind of test you want to do, the Stadium will provide the necessary testing ground." Jin said.

    "We will do the standard military test." One of the military vendors said as he called one of his aides forward. "My aide will be acting as the standard of the test." The vendor added, but suddenly Yuan Ba interrupted the aide froming through.

    "No, that is unnecessary. I shall be the standard for the test." Yuan Ba dered as his grand stature terrified even the aide himself. Yuan Ba walked towards Ku Wai, who was used to Yuan Ba''s presence and bowed towards him with respect and grace.

    "Sir Yuan Ba, I must apologise, but I am not the one who will be demonstrating the gearbox technology." Ku Wai confessed with his head still lowered. "Princes- Yang Ling is the one doing the honours." The moment Ku Wai finished his sentence, he could sense the ominosity from Yuan Ba.

    "Do not fuck with me." Yuan Ba spoke in a slow manner tone as he positioned himself closer to Ku Wai.

    "He did not." A female voice loudly echoed through the national stadium as they saw a wheelchair bound person rolling in through the west gate of the national stadium. It was indeed none other than Yang Ling herself. However, her whole attire had changed. She was initially wearing a sleeveless office dress, but now she was wearing a tracksuit with a nket covering her legs.

    As she came closer, Yuan Ba was frustrated believing Yang Ling was so desperate, that she wanted to pull some sort of prank in front of the military vendors, as ast effort of petty revenge. "Are you making fun of me? Are you making fun of the Royal Zodiac Tiger''s namesake?!" Yuan Ba shouted but before he could say any more, Yang Ling removed the nket from her legs, and it revealed a slick of metal attachments running along her legs, sticking on top of her ck sports tights.

    Yang Ling removed her tracksuit and she was only wearing a singlet and sports undergarment along with more metal attachments running along her back, shoulders and arms. The design of this prototype was not the same as the one that Yang Ling gave Jin. Jin used her data and asked the System to analyse the design to purposely remove all the unnecessary circuits making it more efficient.

    Considering that the System hade in contact with Yang Ling through her use of the dungeon via the Music Theatre Instance, it had her sizes, weight and height. Hence, allowing it to be custom made for Yang Ling alone.

    Not just that, the Three Headed Bear in the Weapon Store had created an attachment inscription that allowed her to wear it with ease aspared to the prototype. The Three Headed Bear used the high grade metals that were obtained from the Dungeon World, mainly from that facility ruins. The crawlers were all surprisingly made of steel, copper and a mythical metal, Mithril. Though there were only traces of it in each crawler, the bear had enough of a stock and managed to melt it sufficiently to be used as ting for the Gearbox (Jin''s Modified Prototype Version) which Yang Ling just called it Gearbox V3.

    Yuan Ba had not imagined, that Yang Ling was keeping such a secret to herself, making her look weak and desperate, when she actually had such a trump card in her hands all along. He suddenly felt stupid falling for her ns. Yet, Yuan Ba also smirked at the fact that his little girl had grown all up.

    However, the best had yet toe.

    Even before Yuan Ba had a chance to question it, Yang Ling lifted up the footholds of the wheelchair and ced her legs on the grass. "Yang Ling what are you doing?" Yuan Ba could not reckon the next moment when Yang Ling held onto her wheelchair handles and she pulled herself up, to stand upright.

    Her father was at a loss of words, seeing Yang Ling able to stand with graceбн taking the first step towards him, and the second then thirdбн Yuan Ba became so moved, that he uncontrobly teared in front of Yang Ling. "бнYou really can walk again?" He asked her as Yang Ling continued to take her steps slowly but more and more confidently towards her father, who had let down his guard and raised his arms worrying that his little girl could fall over at each step.

    "Come. My little tiger cub. Come." Yuan Ba whispered softly. He had already lost hope, that there would evere a day he would be able to see his little darling to walk again. The Royal Zodiac Head Doctor exined, that the loss of cultivation lead to the loss of the usage of her legs after the ident. Even under the angry desperate threats of Yuan Ba, the doctor was mncholic, but he told the father, that these injuries would be permanent and no spell nor cultivation manuals could help her.

    It all had happened when Yang Ling went on an overseas school trip, where she was caught in a bus ident. She had been cultivating on the ride and was fully immersed in it. She had been on a bottleneck for some time, and wanted to push through it, to surprise her father with her new Grade before they arrived back. The crash had happened moments before her breakthrough and one of the metal bars got bent pushing right through her spinal cord.

    Her cultivation became a saving grace for her, as her breakthrough came just in time to increase her vitality enough to let her barely survive. However, it also became a burden. The metal rod happened to burst one of the major chi points, causing the chi cultivation breakthrough to result as a bacsh, which prevented the metal bar from going in any further. The bacsh unfortunately also fused part of the metal bar inside her, blocking the chi point recovery.

    Yuan Ba tried uncountable other alternative methods to get her back on her feet again, but through the years, the more he tried, the more dejected he became and thus at one point he had simply given up. Only Yang Ling had never given up, hoping that through the Gearbox technology, the use of artificial chi and mana circuits that she would ultimately be able to walk and use her cultivation once more.

    But right now, seeing her father suddenly so vulnerable, Yang Ling could not help wanting to hug him back бнAlthough in the end she did not.

    Instead, she walked past him, towards the military vendors and presented the new Gearbox exosuit to them. Yang Ling had denied the embrace of her father, even though she had wished for this warm premise on multiple asions throughout the years. Even though she knew better, she still somewhat med him for pushing her to attend that overseas trip.

    "It''s not time yet. I have to stay strong and appearpetent in front of those vendors. Do not show your weak side to him!" Yang Ling assured herself, as she ended up remembering the better days, when her father was used to be kind, joyous and fun to be with, before he became cold hearted the moment she lost her legs and cultivation.

    Even though Yang Ling could see, feel and understand that her father was trying his best to cure her, she knew it was incurable. In addition, Yuan Ba always seemed like he did it grudgingly as if it was a pain for him to help her. However little did she know that Yuan Ba was doing all this, because he too could not allow himself to show weakness as the Head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger.

    Yuan Ba sighed, but had a slight smile on his face even though his tears still flowed down for a while longer. Luckily his back was showing to the vendors, so before he turned around he wiped them away with one swipe and told Yang Ling, "1500m sprint with no cultivation. Show me what your Gearbox can achieve."

 Chapter 294 Race Demonstration

    <h4>Chapter 294 Race Demonstration</h4>

    The vendors followed behind as both Yang Ling and Yuan Ba went to the tracks. Even though Yang Ling had not been running for years, the Gearbox V3 was aiding her perfectly and she was relieved, that she had no trouble moving. Her gait analysis was full marks. Bnce and fine motor movements were allpensated by the gearbox technology, which was impossible with the current standard of assistive technology for the disabled.

    All the vendors could already envision the possibility of helping disabled soldiers back to the field. Furthermore, if the specs were correct, it would also allow soldiers to carry heavy loads of equipment much morefortable. This would definitely aid scouts or special forces missions when the numbers to operate were small, and the amount of equipment needed was many.

    Yang Ling stretched her legs a little and for the first time in many years, she could finally feel the pulling strain of her calf muscles. It was just a pulling sensation, but she was feeling gratitude to Jin, who somehow was able to have the Gearbox modified for her legs.

    Jin walked towards them and held a re gun with him. "To make things more fun- erm challenging, I have used the data of Usane Bolt in this particr robot that will be participating with both of you." Jin exined as a part of the tracks behind them opened to reveal a roboting out of the underground. Ke Loong giggled a little as he saw the robot was a generically looking humanoid in structure, but its face was pasted paper printed with Usane Bolt''s picture on it.

    "You sure his face will not disappear when he runs? The tape seems flimsy" The vendorsmented sarcastically though most vendors enjoyed this little gimmick Jin was showing them. At the edge of the national stadium there was a giant TV, which began to show the statistics table that was still nk, but it was apparent there were sensors and monitors to keep track of the three runners'' speed and timing.

    Yuan Ba took his position and so did Yang Ling. As she touched the ground, she remembered the days in school when she was in the Track and Field. "Ahбнno wonder Ku Wai continued to call me princess till this day." Yang Ling recollected the days where she was the undefeated champion and was thereby hailed as the "Track Princess". No one dared to defy her words due to her authority and most importantly her skills. (Though it could also have been due to Ku Wai''s scary face being in the vicinity)

    "1500m sprint run without cultivation. Contestants Readyбн Get setбн.GO!" Jin shot a real re out from his re gun and the runners sped off. As it was a 1500m sprint, both Yuan Ba and Yang Ling jumped off from their position and assumed their running stance. It was fast at first, but they both stabilised their speed at around 700-800 metres before dashing off at maximum speed in thest 400 metres. The humanoid robot that pretended to be Usane Bolt assumed at an average speed based on the analysis of his past Olympic sprint timing. It was initially ahead of the two Royal Zodiac Tigers, but the Tigers caught up in no time.

    While the vendors were praising the two tigers, Ke Loong was the only one obsessed with the humanoid robot that Jin put up. No one had ever replicated a realistic humanoid robot much less a human in the dungeon instance so urately before, mainly because of the physics involved in it. Using monsters from imagination was more essible since the movement could be big, slow and irregr.

    However, the humanoid robot that was being shown was not running stiffly but in a regr way just like a human. Even the chest inhtion and exhtion were captured perfectly. Ke Loong practised the Hovering Hawk Cultivation, allowing him to have precise and enhanced vision. That was why he always had the eye for details.

    At thest 10m, Yuan Ba exerted his very best, but Yang Ling was clearly just a few centimetres away from him. In the end, the results were real close, only 0.5 seconds difference between Yang Ling and Yuan Ba. Fake Usane Bolt was 0.3 seconds away from Yang Ling because Jin was just using it as a constant factor in an experiment. The speed variation between Yang Ling and Yuan Ba was more or less the same while fake Usane Bolt had a constant average speed.

    Even with an enhanced body without having used his cultivation, Yuan Ba could clearly see the benefits of the Gearbox V3, and he had to admit that it was apparently an engineering marvel. However, for Yang Ling, she was panting her lungs out. It was years since she did such a run, despite the fact that she still exercises on a regr basis practising her arms and torso even though she was wheelchair bound. Yang Ling also went for weekly canoeing whenever possible to train her stamina. If not for those training, Yang Ling believed even with Gearbox V3. She could not have nearly beaten her father.

    The vendors were amazed by the Gearbox technology, and one of them questioned the price. "With such a technology, how much are you charging per person. Would it be expensive to procure? Price is, after all, a very decisive factor."

    "I am not going to lie. This gearbox prototype is not for sale as it is of a developmental build. The ones you will be receiving would be of a manufactured series where its specs would not be as great as this, but concerning price point, I believe it would be worth the money." Yang Ling answered with some half truths since she recalled that Jin explicitly stated, that this prototype was for her and her alone. She was pinning on the hope that her customised prototype that Jin created, could woo the vendors into getting a few pieces first. Once they were satisfied with it or after feedback, she would then mass produce for global sales.

    "I have personally seen her manufactured product and to be honest, I am more astounded by the specs of the developmental build. If her developmental build could reach this stage, I believe the manufactured product would see revisions before actual mass production. I do rmend getting at least one to try it out yourself." Yuan Ba had decided to support Yang Ling in her endeavour by chipping in his own opinion which definitely swayed the decisions of the vendors. This move was indeed unexpected by Yang Ling as she thought that her father was here to betray her since he dered it so openly in the morning.

    "If you like further demonstrations, do not hesitate to ask. The Dungeon Supplier here will provide the necessary tests. Or else, you could also take a look at Ku Wai''s Gearbox that he was wearing and test it out yourself. While it may be an older version, its manufacturing moulds are ready and can be assembled anytime for shipping and deployment. Prices can be negotiated after this demonstration presentation in private." Yang Ling said with confidence as she sent a quick nce at Jin.

    "If that''s the case, I will be making my move first." Yuan Ba replied as he could see the looks of the vendors. They would definitely want to see more of this product, even if most should have decided to invest into it already. "Good Luck, Yang Ling." Yuan Ba sent a close range voice transmission as he walked passed her when she was engaging in some small talk with the vendors.

    Yang Ling struggled in her heart whether she should just thank him. "Argh. Just do it!" Yang Ling thought to herself as Yuan Ba was here after all, opening his heart after seeing her walk and aiding her recently.

    "Papa!" She turned her head around to call out to him which made Yuan Ba turn his head instinctively. How long had it been since she called out to him so informally?

    *BANG!*

    Blood was ejected out from the side of his throat, and Yang Ling could see an opening from his neck. Yuan Ba was caught off guard since he was emotionally vulnerable and had his cultivation sealed for the race with Yang Ling

    "PAPA!!!" Yang Ling raced herself towards her father as someone wasughing hysterically. Meanwhile, the sound of shot originated from the group military vendors and all of them immediately took into a defensive stance and faced towards the person who fired the shot.

    "DEATH TO THE ZODIACS!" One of the military aides shouted as he revealed his cultivation with a somewhat intense ck aura. The vendors, who were of decent cultivation grades did not hesitate to fight against him, but suddenly ck chains were wrapped around them as a ritual circle materialised right in under them.

    Jin was shocked by the sudden assassin attack but sufficient enough experience allowed him to move decisively. He summoned his Katana from his storage watch and shouted out loud to the System in the dungeon instance without any care. "Bring MILK IN NOW!"

 Chapter 295 Assassin! - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 295 Assassin! - Part 1</h4>

    "User, substances of Dantian corruption detected in Hu Yuan Ba''s body. If Yuan Ba is not rescued, he will die permanently. Proceed with utmost caution against the assassin!" System dered. Jin wanted to rush into the battlefield but got blocked off by the ck ritual circle, which had summoned chains and captured the military vendors and Ku Wai.

    "The ritual seems to involve forbidden blood magic. System has denied you ess towards the area involving the ritual circle to prevent you from being absorbed into it." The System stated in a calm manner

    "THEN! System can you interrupt the ritual circle???!!" Jin did not care about the resources needed. If Jin could not stop this terror attack from happening, it would most probably absorb Ku Wai and the military vendors as its sacrifice. It would ultimately make a bad dent to his reputation as a dungeon supplier, but most importantly he needed to save Ku Wai.

    "Not possible without casualties. The probability of sess has been significantly reduced after the forbidden blood magic ritual had surpassed phase two. Regrettably, System analysed that this ritual had catalysts prepared beforehand to push the blood magic ritual to the final phase in the shortest time possible. Forcefully interrupting the blood magic ritual is possible but participants would undoubtedly die from the bacsh of the ritual disruption." The System stated.

    "Ixel, Ixa, Itori." Kraft who had emerged from the far edge of the National Stadium stood tall and proud as he ced three bullets into his special triple barrier revolver, No Mercy. "This is my present for you, Jin, for being such a nice gentleman towards a beautiful crippled girlбнand bringing in a toy for me to y with once all this is done. Oi System, this is how things are done. Watch and learn." Kraft had a smirk on the side of his face as he pulled the trigger.

    The three bullets came out at the same time. Once they travelled midway, three foxes overshadowed the entire national stadium as if some Kaiju were rampaging the area. The assassin saw the three foxes in white, orange and reding towards him before they suddenly transformed yet again, this time into orbs.

    The three coloured orbs started to revolve around the ritual circle. Faster and faster they spun around it, until it appeared as one giant halo in the sky. The ritual circle started to lose itsyers of magic. Slowly but surely theyers disappeared and more and more of the vendors were released from the ck chains that were holding them down. However, it was apparent that they were sapped dry of chi and were at the brink of fainting. If slightly more time had passed, the consequences would have been dire.

    In the meantime, Milk was on the scene the moment Jin shouted for her, casting healing magic of Legendary level, that was unlocked by the System, solely for the treatment of Yuan Ba with Yang Ling desperately holding on to his hand.

    "It''s my fault! It is my fault! I am sorry Papa! I shouldn''t I have called out to you!" Yang Ling''s tears stained her face so severely that the mascara makeup she put on previously was all over the ce.

    "No, Mdm. It''s your calling out to him that had saved him. The shot would have aimed for a direct hit to his spinal cord, causing him to die almost instantly, but your action made him react just in time for him to turn his neck, preventing such a tragedy. " Milk had actually been behind the scenes as instructed by Jin to standby even though it was still so early in the morning. (Milk and Peppers nheless got reprimanded by Yun for sleeping inte.) It was after all a big business deal that he was taking part with, he needed the act to proceed safely but never in his life had he foreseen there would be an assassination that was happening right in front of him.

    "Savants! Rescue the victims!" Jin called out to the humanoid robots which he had aptly named as ''Savants''. Reason being, those humanoid robots were powered by gems that were courtesy of Kraft. He said that he had managed to steal the skills and experience of some of the more powerful adventurers and condensed their skills into gems. How the gems came to be was a story that Jin did not ponder to ask as he was pressing for time to get the dungeonpleted. (But *cough* the rest of us know how it did happen. *cough*)

    The Savants swoop in to rescue the victims without fail as the three orbs swirled rapidly around the assassin who was still doing the forbidden blood ritual at the verystyer of the magic circle. However, instead of breaking, the assassin managed to absorb all the chi power he had gathered from the victims and looked at Jin.

    "I do not know who you are, but now you must die. He must unquestionably die and everyone else in this dungeon instance, too!" The assassin dered, but Jin could not identify him at all since there was a ck shroud permanently covering his face.

    "For the Face! For my Liege!" The assassin dashed forward and locked swords with Jin. Unlike previous opponents Jin had fought against, the sh with the assassin had his entire arm shaking. It was not due to fear but the sheer power he was wielding. This was unlike the Titan Knight, where faith and belief fueled this particr person without a dungeon manipting such sources of feelings.

    One wrong step and it would be the end of Jin, when he remembered that this assassin had substances that could corrupt the Dantian. If he was not wrong, that was simr to what had happened to Yun. "Banned Emperor?!!" Jin shouted trying to distract the assassin, which he managed with limited sess, giving Jin the opportunity to throw in a sucker punch infused with ck Fire into it.

    The punch burned the assassin''s torso momentarily but within moments, it was recovered when a ck shroud covered around it.

    "You sphemer! How dare you utter that name with disgust! But most importantly for a measly no name dungeon supplier, how dare you say even that name without any reverence!" The Assassin bellowed as he cast a purple Lightning bolt from his hand and shot it out towards Jin. With the experience from the Titan Knight, Jin summoned a white ice shield that managed to both blocked and deflected the attack partially.

    Yet, all of that was just a distraction for the assassin to move to Jin''s side. "Lazy Panda Swipe!" With the ice shield still on his left hand, Jin''s attack caused the white ice buckler to shatter the assassin''s right arm that was holding a dagger but the assassin was not done.

    *BANG!*

    Another shot came and the assassin had a grin in his looks. Unfortunately, he did not realise, that Jin had living armour tes running around him with one of them managing to block it with ease, though at a terrible cost. Unlike the attack that Yamazaki made, this particr living armour te broke into pieces and fell off from Jin. It seemed that the bullet the assassin used had corrupted the living armour, causing it to be unusable. The others wisely avoided absorbing the corrupted pieces.

    "Fuck this is some serious shit!" Jin thought as he opened his mouth and fired a beam of Panda Yawning, burning the handgun and assassin''s hand along with it. Without doubt, the assassin had no other choice than to fall back to recover. The ck shroud that was hovering around the torso extended itself towards his hand.

    Instead of a hand growing back, some sort of phantasmal force recreated the look of a hand even though it was void ck in colour. "How dare youбн" The assassin sounded furious as he raised his phantasmal hand up and showed off his cultivation of dirty ck aura revealing ten ominous shadows, that were each sitting on a thronelike chair, which ultimatelybined into onerge shadow. This made the shadow seem even more real, with the throne gaining an imposing aura. That darkness then raised its arms as if pointing towards Jin.

    "Bodacious Banned Emperor Style. Death to all traitors of the country. For the Face! " The shroud was removed from the assassin''s face and it revealed a face, that Jin could never forget.

 Chapter 296 Assassin -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 296 Assassin -Part 2</h4>

    The face of the assassin was grim. Half of it was his original face, but the other half was somewhat infused with a monster. Jin did not recognise it, the only association he had, was that it looked as if it was some alien monster from outer space. Half of his teeth were degraded into canine fangs and his nose was partially gone. There was also no skin covering it, revealing facial muscles with maggot like insects crawling in and out of it.

    This was also the first time he witnessed someone showing off their cultivation silhouettes and thenbining them into one. It was believed, that those who manage tobine their cultivation silhouettes into one giant shape showed depth and understanding of their cultivation, granting them powers untouched by the manuals. Some even rumoured that only cultivation grandmasters, who wrote the manuals, had the ability tobine ten silhouettes into one giant silhouette and purposely left it unwritten so the cultivators who followed the manual needed to seek wisdom and enlightenment about their cultivation style. They did it in the hopes of future generation finding their own ways to improve the manuals, which could lead to overall improvements for that particr style.

    Others even hypothesized that a Grade 10 with abined giant silhouette could potentially have the strength of a Grade 15, something simr to the effects of a spiritual union, but on a higher level. If the weakened victims had not been evacuated in time by the Savants, they would have been killed right on the spot through the ck aura the assassin was emanating.

    "Why are you that scared? I can make sure you will never be afraid ever again!" The assassin finished his words as he disappeared right in front of Jin. Only to reappear behind him and headed towards Yang Ling, Yuan Ba and Milk.

    "You bastard! A healer will never allow her patients to be harmed!" Milk quickly cast a healing over time spell on the stabilised Yuan Ba and intercepted the assassin with her enormous book. Jin wanted to rush over, only to see Zeru diving in and recing Milk''s position.

    This time, Jin could see that Zeru was holding his punches, defending only when necessary. Yang Ling tried to use her Psionic Magic, but she suddenly vomited before being able to attack. "Hahahah! This monster incarnate infusion was meant specifically to go against you, little girl!" The assassin smiled as he stepped backwards when Zeru tried to retaliate back.

    "He is good." Zerumented, which made Jin shudder at the fact, that the assassin was indeed a capable one, if he even garnered Zeru''s praise.

    "System Lock the Dungeon down, prevent any possible escape for the assassin!" Jinmanded in his head and the System replied it had already done so ages ago. "Savants! Limiters unlocked, go full power against the assassin!" Jinmanded as he took out the Tact Tweak and hastily unlocked the skills for 18 Savants present in the dungeon instance.

    Within seconds, the Savants who were robot looking in nature, started to regrow flesh, visible to everyone, around their bodies as if they were imitating to be humans. Jin, who had prepared his copies to decode the weapons and armour his monsters had salvaged from the dungeon world into cards, swiped the equipment cards into their respective savant sses.

    This allowed the Savants who just gained flesh, to re-equip the armour and weapons on the spot. Most of the Savants looked like the adventurers Kraft had encountered with the difference that their faces were all covered with full Panda Masks. It was a solution by Jin to reduce resources needed to recreate facial expressions in robots during the dungeon making phase. Kraft was also delighted that Jin did that unwittingly, since he did not wish for Jin to see Hark once again in real flesh. After all, if he did, it could spoil his future sessions.

    "What can a few robots do?" The assassin sneered after analysing his enemies as he raised his hand and a purple lightning bolt appeared once again at the tip of his fingers. With one throw, the lightning bolt stormed its way through the air towards one the Savants who finished equipping itself.

    But the assassin''s luck seemed to go downhill from then on, as the lightning was caught by a Sage Savant who had the ability to reflect spells back. However, the Sage Savant had more under her sleeves. The reflected spell doubled in quality and quantity, which made it too fast for the assassin, who threw it at near full strength to evade.

    Next a Priest Savant cast a Holy Blinding Light spell, which worked simr to a shbang, and a Warlock Savant summoned tentacles from the ground to grab hold of the assassin, who tried to regain awareness of his surrounding.

    The purple lightning struck the assassin, but he was not so weak to fall from just one attack as he sliced the tentacles away and punched the ground, causing ck spikes to emerge at the Savants. Most, if not all of the Savants evaded this counterattack, with the Assassin ss Savant making use of the spikes as movement boosters to sh head on with the enemy assassin.

    "Heh, alright, guess this is a challenge after all!" The enemy assassin took out another dagger with his phantasmic hand, and both started to exchange and evade blows as if it was a dance of death. And how could the dance not be apanied by music? A Bard Savant yed his music with his battle guitar which slowed the movement of the enemy assassin, allowing the Assassin Savant to get a few stabs into him before he decided to fall back.

    The stabs were crucial since they were not just coated with pure poison but with a viral solution. Assuming the assassin would be able to escape the System''s lockdown (which he shouldn''t''), the virus would eventually kill him if they were not be able to (The virus take at least months to incubate, so it was ast resort)

    Once the Assassin Savant was out of the way, the Wizard Savant summoned an icebergrge enough just a few centimetres away from the enemy assassin''s head, yet the assassin was still capable of utilising a fast escape movement due to his advanced techniques.

    "Fuck this shit. Epic Dagger Art. The Banned Decree of Death!" The assassin shouted as he suddenly burst into tremendous speed which Jin could not catch with his naked eye as he turned into an arrow of ckness. The Banned Decree of Death was abination of a movement skill and a decapitation technique fused together. Like tag, the enemy assassin had used this skill when he reached Grade 10 to annihte multiple enemies even though they were far apart from each other. The first the assassin aimed for was to no ones surprise the one who was controlling the battlefield. Jin.

    Thankfully, Jin had already set up his own defences beforehand. The moment the enemy assassin whirled and spun into the five metre radius of Jin, he had to deal with the magical barrier that Jin had cedбнcourtesy of Peppers.

    "Boom you bastard." Peppers, who was at the audience seat still dressed in Red Panda Pyjamas eating her bag of potato chipsmented. Instead of blocking, the barrier that Peppers had cast was of an offensive nature rather than defensive. When the enemy assassin pierced through the firstyer of magic barrier, like reactive armour ting on a tank, an explosive was given off causing damage to the enemy assassin.

    Sadly, the assassin did not pierce just one barrier because of his speed, but four of them, with each consecutive explosions being even deadlier than the previous one, which finally caused the assassin to drop on the floor.

    Without a sound, the Lord Knight Savant had unleashed the swords of imprisonment from the skies of the dungeon instance and onto the assassin himself. The Warlock Savant then summoned more tentacles to wrap him up, cursing the assassin to debuff him even more.

    Ke Loong, the military vendors and Yang Ling, who saw the battle scene were all terrified of this particr Dungeon Supplier. Though at the same time they were even more amazed by the powers he held in this dungeon instance, making them nearly forget about the reason from them being here, the Gearbox demonstration.

 Chapter 297 Dantian Poison Corruption

    <h4>Chapter 297 Dantian Poison Corruption</h4>

    Once the battle subsided, the Priest Savant was tending to the wounds of the military vendors, while Milk was fully focused on trying to help Yuan Ba. Subsequently the System let in Panda Nurses from the recovery instance that were individually attending to the injured.

    "Why don''t you just let them die? Isn''t it more efficient that way?" Yang Ling wondered out loud as Ke Loong coincidentally walked towards Jin and Milk.

    "I agree with her. This should simply make him unconscious and while it would take quite a fair bit of time to recover, it should be far more efficient. So why can''t you just make us exit the dungeon instance? Won''t these wounds not take effect when we do that?" Ke Loong chimed in with his expertise.

    "These aren''t ordinary woundsбн" Yuan Ba coughed as he spoke with his eyes closed in pain. Milk calmed him down even further with another spell as she tried to stabilise him a little more after she got some help from the Head Nurse Panda.

    "You might be infected with the dantian corruption poison. Have you already noticed, that your wounds are not really healing?" Jin questioned Yuan Ba, who opened his eyes to reveal his shock. "You seem to know a bit about this, even though it''s a well guarded secret. Who exactly are you?"

    Jin did not say a single word nor pretend to deny the fact that he knew, but he continued to lock down the dungeon, only providing ess to the recovery instance as the nurse pandas aided the casualties. After some of the vendors stabilised enough he would move them over.

    "How bad is Yuan Ba''s situation?" Jin asked Milk as she wiped her sweat off. "It''s no good. Whatever else was in that poison, it was designed specifically to target cultivators with high cultivation grade. The higher the cultivation, the more potent the poison bes. That poison is integrated with the dantian corruption poison too, so it is tough for me to keep him alive." Milk shook her head in dismay. "What about the rest?" Jin was getting concerned if the others were being corrupted by the same concoction of poison.

    "The rest only suffered from slight corruption poison, and most of the Panda Nurses managed to iste the toxin since it was of little quantity. But like I said, it only had been separated, not dispelled from the body. They are currently being held on bay in the chi points near the lymph nodes in the thighs."

    "So tell me honestly, How much longer do I have?" Yuan Ba somehow resigned to his fate, but Milk was not giving him up at all. "You better struggle. It has been a very long time since I had to sweat so much to heal anyone other than my Master. Don''t you dare waste my effort!" Milk retorted with anger.

    "What is this dantian corruption poison? Someone, please answer me." Yang Ling could not take it that she has been ignored once again.

    "My mother passed away from this before." Jin rified, which caused Yuan Ba to look at Jin closely. "You are the grandson of General Ming?" Yuan Ba could not believe the coincidence in life as Jin nodded his head. "To think I''d owe Ming and now his grandson my life. Now I understand a bit." He gave a sigh, which irritated Milk as she demanded him to stop moving.

    "Then can this be cured?" Yang Ling asked hopefully. Even though she could not forgive her Dad previously, she was now holding his hands tightly.

    "There is no cure for this. The Royal Zodiacs had been researching this strain of poison for the longest time, but we have no con-*cough**cough* conclusive evidence for an antidote. The strain is too unique and the poison we had gathered from that incident, was too small of an amount for in depth data collection- *cough* *cough* " Yuan Ba continued coughing once again before Milk cast a silence spell on him.

    "I said. Do. NOT. Talk. Anymore. You are wasting my effort each time you talk. Use telepathic messaging instead." Milk ordered Yuan Ba do so and he obediently obliged.

    "Where can I find the research data for this dantian corruption poison? Shouldn''t there be at least an antidote for this cultivation killer poison? Everything you can show us, will increase your chances and it should make it easier on you, Milkбн right?." Jin addressed all three of them at the same time as the System had already begun analysing the poison that was isted in other victims.

    "Unfortunately no, the poisons are deeply integrated with each other. I believe if you bring in only the antidote for the cultivation killer, it would be meaningless, or in the worst case it might even aggravate the situation." Milk replied in harsh tone after having scolded Yuan Ba.

    "Well, unless you can truly iste it in the human body." Peppers who was at the scene suddenly had an idea while pointing to her chest.

    "What do you mean?" Jin had no patience entertaining Peppers, but he tried to calm himself down. Getting angry at someone wanting to help would help no one.

    "Remember how in the first movie of Iron Woman she had shrapnel in her body and she used the electromaic reactor to stop the shrapnel from going into her heart? Same concept." Peppers exined.

    "So you want to build a sort of prison core to keep the poison from staining the dantian and keeping it isted in one area?" Jin questioned to confirm her hypothesis.

    "Something like that and we could take the time to slowly research for the cure when the poison had been properly isted. Think it''s possible?" Peppers looked towards Milk which was now showing a worried face.

    "Urgh I hate to admit it but this brat might be onto something. But where can we find the expertise of creating such a prison core? You need knowledge in engineering and chi circuits anatomy well enough to create a customised item like this. Not to mention you would have to make it efficient in size..." Milk said with a bit of obvious hinting to Jin.

    "I will do it. I have sufficient knowledge in chi circuitry and the gearbox technology development had aponent simr to that istion core. I could modify thatponent''s blueprint from the USB that I lent Jin. " Yang Ling raised her hand as if she was in some ssroom to volunteer herself.

    "Well, I did predict she would make a good addition to the store." Kraft suddenly injected his thoughts to Jin putting him in a bad dilemma. He initially only nned to have Qiu Yue and Lynn be exposed to the System. Definitely not Yang Ling with her ties to the Royal Zodiac Tiger. After all rising to the top, should inevitable make him have to take them down at one point in the future.

    "You must have some sort of contact that deals with design machinery and manufacturing , right? If not, how were you able to create something this fast within the span of one night?" Yang Ling, who was grateful, previously did not bother to ask Jin how he attained the prototype Gearbox V3 within a night because it was his own secret. But right now, she was not just curious, but desperately needed someone with such high talent able to quickly construct some machinery with to save her father.

    "I honestly do not think it''s a good idea." Jin identally said it out loud, which annoyed Yang Ling. "It can be considered my fault that caused my father to be in his current situation. But you not letting me do something that can potentially save my father''s life is inexcusable. If you desire money, I can throw fucking millions at you right now with a click of a finger. Just tell me who you contacted, I promise I won''t bother you in the future nor your contact." Yang Ling pleaded with her tears at the brink of dropping.

    "Iбнam sorry. I could not let yo- Oof!" Jin got hit at his sacred treasures with a knee kick from the Gearbox V3 exosuit.

    "I am not asking, I am demanding." Yang Ling shouted furiously, but before she could make another kick, suddenly not one, not two, but each and every single one of the nurse pandas that were in the room had appeared near her. All of them were holding des pointing towards her with Zeru''s wooden sword at the edge of her throat. Not just them but even Milk who was caring for her father stopped as she pointed her hands like a knife towards his injured throat.

    "If you dare to make another move against Jin, we will kill you regardless of your status in society." Zeru''s tone was not a single bit courteous while Jin slowly stood up from the attack.

    "Iбн" Yang Ling stopped, what she was doing and realised that she was just a little tiger cub in a park full of monsters.

    "Stop. Release her." Jin ordered as he beckoned Yang Ling to follow him to the Dungeon Maker. "Do not make me regret this." Jin mumbled.

 Chapter 298 Poison Isolation Core

    <h4>Chapter 298 Poison Istion Core</h4>

    "Computer, initialise the Dungeon Maker system." Jin pretended as if the System was some sort of AI. Though it technically could be considered suchбн just more omnipotent than the one Yang Ling should know about.

    The System understood what Jin was ying at and changed the way it titled itself to "Computer" to tag along with Jin''s n. The usual futuristic interfaces appeared right in front of him and Yang Ling, which left thetter amazed even though she had just been held at knifepoint only a few minutes ago.

    "Is this more, than just a dungeon instance?" Yang Ling wondered, but as she tried the interface, she realised how easy it was it for her to design a blueprint of the Poison Istion Core (which she aptly named after creating a basicyout of it) for her father.

    Unlike Jin, who was granted ess to all sorts of metals, most that were not even known in this world, the System made sure that she only had ess to the earthly materials such as steel, iron, copper etc. for her design. The System even aided her in calcting the efficiency of the design and Yang Ling instantly understood based on her knowledge that thisputer AI was the best assistive technology she had ever encountered.

    "I have obtained the copies of your father''s body scan, his current chi circuits and the routes that the poison had been moving so far, as well as the routes it will most likely move to next." Jin told her as he swiped his interface sending all the information over. Yang Ling was yet again bewildered by the powers of this particr technology that Jin was wielding.

    "Howбнdid you obtain this artificial intelligence? No.... Could you please introduce me to whoever was able to design it?" Yang Ling tried to strike a conversation, but Jin ignored her.

    "Concentrate! We do not have any time to waste. Milk is getting more and more exhausted from treating your father-" Jin replied with a slightly condescending tone hoping that Yang Ling would not get any ideas from working with the System.

    "If you want, I can alter their memories." Kraft sniggered as he was observing the whole thing unfold.

    "No need. I want her to be in my debt. I cannot let her be suspicious of mind maniption. Besides, isn''t she a master in that field too?" Jin replied, but Kraftughed heartily instead.

    "All the more fun it will be." Kraft answered before returning into his darknessбнworking on the prisoner Jin just caught for him.

    "Well, well, well. It looks like you are finally awake? No?" Kraft had left the enemy assassin by the name of Ban De on his favourite bloodied table. "To think I''d get to use you again so soon. Oh Jin, you ARE spoiling me so much~. At this rate, you''ll probably be the best master I ever served since decades, with Ming in second ce of course." Kraft smiled as he once again slid his fingers lovingly along the bloodied table and slowly on the partially naked assassin.

    "You will not break me." Ban De said with confidence. "I have been through sufficient interrogations and came out alive."

    "Of course I am not going to break you. Silly boy." Kraft took out a scalpel from the drawer of bloodied table and pointed at his abdomen. He poked repeatedly at the same point until blood slowly started oozing out of him. Oddly enough Ban De screamed as the pain he was expecting was noting from the same ce he was seeing. It felt like thousands of des were poking at one point. Each time he was about to pinpoint where the pain originated, it seemed to jump to another random ce. He was so distracted by this new experience that he did not notice that four foxes had surrounded him, one at each of his extremities. Evon, Ixel, Ixa and Tsu.

    "Rx, after all I won''t kill you~. No, Death is a luxury you will wish you could obtain, but it will forever stay outside your reach. I am going to dismantle you. It will be a slow process, with extreme prejudice. It will be bone by bone. Organ by organ. Piece by piece. I guarantee you will be surprised just how much a human body can withstand, before breaking -" Kraft stopped for a moment and thought.

    "However, your kind does not deserve such preferential treatment, no. Not at all, Servant of the Banned Emperor. I just remembered the authorities from your world would be taking you in. How about I do them a favour and let them get to know you much easily?" Kraft frowned at the word he had spoken as he moved his scalpel to another point and did the exact same thing again. And again. And again. The more Ban De became distracted from the ecstasy of pain, the easier for Kai, the second ck fox of Kraft, to get into the depths of his brain and retrieve information.

    ------------------

    "I''vepleted the design, but the resourceposition is not easy to find in Shenzhen. I might need to contact some foreignpanies to bring in the materials. The quickest will still be at least three full days. I can port them with some strings, so I was hoping if Milk cou-" Jin stopped Yang Ling from continuing.

    "You can go back to your father, he needs you right now. Let me deal with the resources part." Jin finished his sentence as he shook his head in dismay while a Panda Nurse was waiting at the door to escort Yang Ling back to her father.

    "Oh Jin Jin, why are you so cold to her?" Yun who suddenly appeared out of nowhere asked Jin as he started the manufacturing of the Poison Istion Core.

    "Shouldn''t it be considered the System''s wish? Wanting to take revenge against the rest of the Zodiac families? Since they also yed a major role in the downfall of our ancestors..." Jin asked, while still being a bit irritated due to theck of sleep he had been tolerating. The adrenaline rush had long since passed after the fight, and he felt that he could topple any second again.

    "User is not wrong. Revenge against the Zodiac families is a high priority in order to earn our rightful ce back, but converting them to our cause is a different issue. The more capable workforce we obtain, the easier the restoration of the Panda n is going to be. A possibility of using her as a spy is high." System concluded, but Jin shook his head.

    "To be honest I have no idea how you are going to upset the entire political system that was deeply root in our lives for the Panda n to resurface and im our supposed glory. Also right now, I am just a dungeon supplier, not a general or a tacticalmander as Moloch had pointed out not too long ago. Do not give me this kind of infiltration nonsense." Jin replied.

    "The System will reveil its n when time is riped. " The System stated and Yun interrupted Jin.

    "Back in the days, shop managers often lead a double life. During the day they were a friendly helper, but at night they were important members of secret organisations or at least managers of such organisations. There were some that were guild leaders too. Just saying, you know since you own a shop that is primarily used for training a group of cultivators." Yun hinted with a wink.

    "Ha ha ha, very funny. As if I had time for that." Jin yawned as the System had already started 3D printing the Poison Istion Core out for usage.

    "The repercussions of showing Yang Ling the System...Sigh, I really don''t know what to expect in the future." Jin thought about it. What would have happened if he had introduced Yang Ling formally to the System? On second thought, was gifting her a customised Gearbox exosuit a good idea? As his head hurts from all the thinking, he thought to himself that only time could tell.

    "By the way, does Yuan Ba know you? He said he knew gramps." Jin casually asked Yun since he had to wait for the 3D printing to be done.

    "Nope, never seen him in my life, nor did I know him before the incident-" Yun answered as she fiddled around the dungeon maker interface a little.

    "Will anyone in the past ever recognise you?" Jin had that thought when Yun answered him.

    "Highly unlikely. Besides I did not even reveal my real name to you, even though I am supposed to be your mother." Yun replied, and it suddenly made Jin realised that "Yun" was supposed to be his Ming''s nickname for his mother. But somehow he was unable to remember his mother''s real name.

    "Aren''t you ..waitбнa minuteбн Why do I feel that there is a gap in my memory?" Jin felt like his brain was ying tricks with him.

    "It''s a skill that Kraft taught the System, whichter on, it taught me along with some other abilities. I have the ability to erase my past so that everyone who knew me is unable to recall specific pieces of information. It''s like an instinctive reaction when I see that particr person. The downside, if you want to call it that, is that I do not remember that person either. It''s a two way trade off thing though its a good thing to me in my opinion. Sometimes being too hung up with the past could make things difficult." Yun justified herself as she idled around, waiting for the 3D printing to bepleted.

    Jin had his own thoughts about the magic Yun had for herself but he figured it could be beneficial especially when people like Yuan Ba could possibly interlink Yun''s resurrection to Jin''s System. "Speaking of that, I do need a cover story and alibi eventually. Yuan Ba or Yang Ling would probably order people to research more about me and my otherpanions." Jin said as he yawned once more.

    After fifteen minutes, the System had finished 3D printing the first Poison Istion Core which Jin decided to use on Yuan Ba and obtain more tangible results before returning to the System and optimising it even further before giving it to the other victims.

    "Let''s hope this works as intended." Jin sighed as he picked up the core and walked towards the recovery instance with the aid of the System.

 Chapter 299 Consen

    <h4>Chapter 299 Consen</h4>

    As Jin entered the recovery instance, the military vendors were making a ruckus after they had stabilised. Most of theints were directed towards the South China Military Coalition vendor, Si Gou Li. Before Jin attended to them, he asked Peppers to prepare the procedure for the integration of the Poison Istion Core with Milk as the Panda Nurses assisted Yuan Ba for the impromptu surgical process.

    Gou Li was the one who brought the assassin Ban De with him to this particr unknown dungeon supplier they had never heard of before. If they had not survived the attack, Jin''s reputation would''ve forever been tarnished. Military organisations might have concluded that it was a conspiracy between Yang Ling, the unknown dungeon supplier and Gou Li to assassinate their representatives and the head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger in which case the organisations would spare no effort in crushing Jin and Yang Ling.

    However, since the military vendors were all rescued, including Gou Li, they were extremely grateful for Jin''s assistance. They also assumed that this dungeon supplier contact was some sort of secret force belonging to the Royal Zodiac Tigers, which allowed Yuan Ba toe in without any guards nor other protection.

    "For thest time, I am as surprised as all of you. Before today I never had any idea that he had such a background. For God''s sake he had been aiding me for over ten years and I ced my life in his hands, trusted that I would do the same for him too. I honestly was unaware, that he could have attempted to assassinate Yuan Ba." Gou Li tried to justify himself and no doubt most of the military vendors believed that he was not linked. Yet they needed to ce their fears and mes onto someone at the moment, so for most of them he became the natural scapegoat. "Don''t worry Gou Li. The investigators will probably dig out the truth and that will prove your innocence once and for all. Speaking of which what happened to the assassinбнBoss..?" One of the vendors who saw Jin looking at themotion asked.

    "Name''s Jin. He messed with me in my own dungeon and tried to kill me too. ording to me working as a licenced Dungeon Supplier, I have the rights to detain any cultivator on my property, who has attempted criminal activities, until the police arrive. The police had been contacted, and they should be arriving soon. Though thews and regtions do not state that I can only detain himбнif you get my drift. Besides, he even attempted to assassinate the military personnel. So it might be the case, that the local police had to contact the military police toe in and that will take some extra time." Jin informed them in a fairly serious tone with some hinting of his own ir of punishment which caused the vendors allughed.

    "Hahaha Son, I have seen crazy stuff before, capable of all sorts of things, but you? I saw your dungeon and your manifestation of monsters for myself. Only a dungeon supplier with highly in depth knowledge and tons of experience could produce such high quality monsters. Plus, you showed us you got balls, I like that in a brat." Thete 60''s bearded vendor passed his name card to Jin, and most other vendors started to do the same too. Jin took a look at the name card he first received and it was Hou Fei.

    "If you could ever create a military exercise of such a grand scale, no doubt our troops would benefit in the long run and I would be very happy to do business with you." Hou Fei offered, echoed by many other vendors.

    "But that would mean I need specifications of tanks, artilleries, nes, ships etc... would you be providing that?" Jin asked and Hou Feiughed. "The details can be discussed if you ever ept our invitation to create such arge scale exercise." Hou Fei''sughter abruptly stopped, as he received a telepathic message from Yuan Ba.

    "бнYou are General Ming''s grandson?" Hou Fei was extraordinarily shocked and the news surprised the other vendors too, before they all took a step back and saluted at Jin to correctly thank him for his rescue. Jin was quite speechless. He did not know Ming had such a wide sphere of influence in the military. But then again Ming had clearly separated his work and private life, except for someints here and some boasts there.

    "I was directly under Ming''smand before he went to be a glorified desk jockey. Now I can see the resemnce of craziness between him and you. I see. I see. This will be interesting indeed. You know what? Forget myst sentence for offering you a contract, I am now demanding it." Hou Fei looks had turned to an old scheming fox. It takes one to know one, but Jin had been around Kraft''s cunning face long enough to know that Hou Fei was nning something big.

    "We can discuss itter. Don''t worry I won''t disappear. After all I am aware you could simply evoke an obscure military use that can summon citizens'' help in time of peace if I do not help you out. Ming used to talk about the experiences he had with that use. But I have to attend to Yuan Ba first." Jin said nonchntly to break away from Hou Fei before he got caught into an even bigger shitstorm when he was already in multiple ones. "Go on ahead, rescuing him will no doubt bring you some favourable ''gifts'' in the future." Hou Fei replied and most of the vendors unknowingly nodded their head in unison.

    -------------

    Yang Ling was taken back by Jin''s quick response in getting the Poison Istion Core ready. In fact it was WAY too fast, that she could not wrap her mind to the truth. However, the result was genuine, she had checked the core that was on her hand and the design was 100% the one she herself had envisioned mere minutes ago. Jin used the dtion of time in the Dungeon Maker as an excuse, but even without psionic powers, he could see that she was certainly not buying it. Jin was definitely hiding something but not willing to share with her.

    "I guess I will have to probe him in the futureбн if he still allows it." Yang Ling regretfully thought to herself what an valuable ally she could have obtained, if she did not act on impulse and stupidly aimed directly for his sacred treasures, that caused the irk of hispanions. Even now Yang Ling could feel, that her treatment had turned noticeably colder. In the meantime, Yuan Ba was signing consent forms for the impromptu surgeries to indemnify Jin and his friends from anything that could happen during the operation.

    "You sure you really want us to do it? With your status, you should have ess to highly reputable surgeons and hospital care, instead of under the care of erm dungeon manifested panda nurses and a fake priest with a child mage to do your surgery." Jin tried to confirm Yuan Ba''s decision to do this surgery by non medical trained staff, though he knew that with the System aiding them, anything is possible.

    "What are you talking about? I know enough to see that Miss Milk here has the knowledge of High Saint Priest. Who else would be able to cast the ''Saviour of Angels'' Immortal Star Restoration'' healing skill, one of the few top tiers spell in the world? As if that was not rare enough, I doubt more than a handful of experts would be able to still cast Celestial Star Rejuvenation on top of that without fainting from it? And out of those I doubt more than one or two would have been able to keep me stable for so long. I am already in the hands of an expert. Yang Ling, I had no idea you made such friends, but you should definitely treasure themбн whatever the oue." Yuan Ba sent a mass telepathic message to the people around him but only the extended one to Yang Ling.

    "Oh this reckless Tiger knows his stuff, I am impressed." Milk sniggered at the direction of clueless Yang Ling since she did not know Milk was that capable.

    "Maybe that''s why he is keeping his silence towards you." Peppersughed loudly before Jin ced his hand at her mouth.

    "If that is the case, we have received your consent. We will be doing the Poison Istion Core surgical procedure so that others might receive the same treatment if done correctly. I must apologise that you have to be the first. As you said yourself Milk might be some top rate (fake) priest, but even she had reached her limits taking care of you." Jin said as he asked the Panda Nurses to push Yuan Ba into the surgical procedure room.

 Chapter 300 Surgery

    <h4>Chapter 300 Surgery</h4>

    Jin was no doctor, so he had nothing to contribute by staying in the surgical theatre of the recovery instance when the Panda Nurses pushed Yuan Ba into the room. It was also the first time Milk and the Panda Nurses were using it. This was because previously there was no situation that required the surgical theatre. Most injuries'' recovery was aided by the System and the Panda Nurses. Milk was just hanging around to elerate the recovery process every now and then. Though, just as Yun before her, she primarily acted as a mediator or counsellor..

    However, this time was different. She would be utilizing her surgical skills which she had not been using for years, if not decades ever since she was epted by the System. "So Milk was a doctor before? I thought she was a Priest ss with a Monk subss? I am confused." Jin asked the System in his head to rify as he and Yang Ling entered the upper floors of the surgical theatre to witness the surgery without bing a hindrance.

    "Milk''s history is fairly umon. She was born into a family of high nobility, famous for being doctors in their era. Her parents were ruthless in teaching her the skills to be a doctor, yet she was more of a rebellious person. Something simr to User when User first started. It was through a certain incident, that Milk had encountered a religious heretic, from whom she learnt her skills as a priest and as a battle monk." The System stated.

    "Religious Heretic? Wow, I kinda always pictured Milk as some girl who came to hate god after a long time in the church, due to her behaviour. I did not expect her to be learning from a heretic out of the bat." Jin was somewhat astonished by Milk''s backstory.

    "Don''t you know, that in history the winners decide the ''truth''? Therefore it should not surprise you, that she was branded a ''Religious Heretic''. Milk''s master was a World''s Scion, a Saviour. The crowning glory of her civilisation, who offered them hope and light. The Perfection in mind, body and grace. It was to Milk''s dismay that her master eventually ''betrayed'' the entire civilisation... ultimately being forced to step up against the one, she may even have worshipped or seen as a part of her family. Though, in her master''s words, it was just another lesson for Milk to learn." Kraft interjected his own opinions.

    "Okay...It seems like Milk had a rough past too. Wait, you seem to be praising her too much. Do you like her?" Jin thought to tease the old fox.

    "Why not? Her b.r.e.a.s.ts and body looked so deliciously voluptuous. Do not tell me you do not like those. Otherwise, I would begin to worry whether the System might have chosen the wrong person to entrust itself for the revival of the Panda n." Kraft started to doubt Jin''s preference since he had not made a move on any of the girls that were around him.

    "What are you talking about! I...am just picky!" Jin blushed a bit and felt a bit awkward, but Yang Ling did not notice a single bit since she was concentrating her efforts observing the preparation of the surgical procedure. Wishing there was more she could do, to help.

    "Besides, it''s not just her. All of the betors here have their own story to tell. Even me! Hahahaha!" Jin listened to Kraft and it felt that for the first time Kraft''s usualugh hid a tinge of vulnerability to him.

    "Yea yea, you must be some guy, who happened to take care of a baby fox, that he found injured right at the side of the road. You took him with you, nursing him back to health, only for an incident to happen. And when the situation seemed hopeless, the fox eventually decided to repay you back in a way that you did not expect." Jin tried to get back at Kraft, who oddly enough kept quiet.

    "In any case, I got some information from the assassin Ban De. He was rather tight lipped, but he will loosen up given time. I will report back once it is done." Kraft told him as he disappeared from Jin''s thoughts and the surgical procedure happened to be starting soon.

    It was simr to a standard procedure in the real world with a few Panda nurses and two ''surgeons'' mainly Peppers and Milk. Milk passed the responsibility of holding the container to a senior Panda Nurse as she aided Peppers with the surgery.

    "So do you want to put the Istion Core near the chest simr to Iron Woman? Afterall, the danzhong (middle dantian) point is located at the centre of the chest." Peppers asked as she picked up the circr core to observe its shape. Yang Ling told Peppers how the Istion Core should work in theory, but she had no idea if it would really work as nned in reality. It was only through the AIputer simtion that Jin kept assuring her that it could be trusted, the only evidence for this particr istion core could work.

    "Yea, the AIputer simtion can be trusted." Peppers echoed at Jin when Yang Ling told her about it but there was a tinge of sarcasm that Yang Ling was not sure if it was intended or not.

    "ording to the chi circuits the Computer provided, his dantian core solidified in the pelvic region. So if we want to ce the istion core, technically we should put it near there so that the Qihai (lower dantian) point would not be affected especially considering my observation that the poison corruption tends to flow to the solidified dantian core naturally." Milk was still conscious about avoiding saying the System''s name as those in the viewing room could hear the conversation held in the operating theatre.

    "Hahaha! Can you imagine whenever he goes to the toilet or wishes to have s.e.x, there will be this circr metal thing blocking his view? Oh, such sadness." Peppers let out bluntly, which incurred Milk''s wrath. She headbutted her, since her gloves were sterile. Afterwards, she calmed down a little before giving her decision.

    "Alternatively, I can ce it at the Mingmen point which is around his Lumbar spine, primarily L3, L4 area. Besides, there were indications of a herniated disc at that location and his chi circuits have shown a high activity in the Mingmen point. It indicates that Yuan Ba is suppressing the pain of his slipped disc. I can perform a discectomy and insert this Poison Istion Core as a disk with titanium casing cover too. Worst case scenario, I can do a spinal fusion, but it would immobilise him quite a fair bit. That way, no one would suspect that he would have the- " Milk exined her options to her team, though Yang Ling interrupted them:

    "Please, no spinal fusion. He is the head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Family, immobilising him is equivalent to crippling his power and control. I believe he''d rather die than to live this way." Yang Ling said in a desperate tone through the operating theatre speaker.

    "Fine, fine, whatever princess. Peppers, I need you to utilise my Scan skill. I need vision to operate this. Real time camera, X Ray images and chi circuits fusion scans. Jin, if possible turn the time dtion up in this particr dungeon instance. I am afraid it will be a long surgery. I believe if the other military vendors stay in quarantine too long, people will start to get suspicious. Not to mention this VIP." Milk was aware based on experience that if someone of high ranking was missing for too long, it would create a hassle for many people.

    "Nurses, get the necessary equipment from the storage room." Milk was taking control of the current situation like a head doctor as the Panda nurses flipped the knocked out Yuan Ba to a prone position.

    With two snaps of her finger, the panda nurses rushed to get the equipment with massive robotic arms used for industrial welding but these one were used for precision cutting of the skin and removal of the herniated part of the spinal disk.

    The surgery started and the timer on the wallmenced as the panda nurses had their own jobs to do. Monitoring the vitals of the patient, rotating to control the corruption poison, wiping the sweat from Milk''s face as she remotely controlled the multiple arm machine to cut and remove part of the disk. With only one surgeon operating, the multiple arm machine was a godsend as it was also partially powered and operated by the System.

    The System would guide Milk to a certain extent. It held the flesh of the body and spine apart, along with the vessels if necessary as she carried out the heavier workload. Separately, Peppers was focused on continuously casting the legendary skill, Scan. Once, it was easy to obtain the information for that particr moment of time but because Milk required real time imagery, a tremendous amount of mana was needed to cast the Scan over and over from different perspectives.

    But because of the recent extended usage of mana especially after the fight against the Titan Knight, her mana tolerance was much higher than before. Hence, this was not as bad as it would be. Besides, there was a Panda Nurse right beside Peppers who monitored her vitals too and cast healing spells on her if needed.

    The surgery was proceeding smoothly which assured Jin so he dismissed himself from the operating theatre viewing room as he had other things that needed to be taken care of.

 Chapter 301 MSS Authorities

    <h4>Chapter 301 MSS Authorities</h4>

    When Jin returned to the recovery instance to calm the quarantined military vendors once more, Yun informed him in his thoughts that the police were here.

    "Ahhh, Jin what have you done this time around?" Inspector Lee An whined as he entered the premise of the shop instance with Se Lang and Deng Long. Usually, for police calls, it would just be Se Lang, who would take the call as the policeman on duty, so it was rather odd that Lee An was with him.

    "Hey! I swear this time is differentбн" Jin then found out, that Lee An''s visit was merely a coincidence. He had been around the corner on his way to work and Se Lang wanted to offer him a quick one minute ride to the police station noticing how tired he was. Who could have predicted that as soon as Lee An had entered the car, there was a police radio call? Lee An decided to tag along because they heard the emergency call was a breach of security concerning Dungeons and Pandas.

    Jin offered the tired inspector and policemen some coffee (which they ''reluctantly'' took) and exined the situation to them. All three almost spit out their coffee simultaneously when they heard the word "assassin". Their shock only increased once they also heard "Royal Zodiac". Afterwards, he brought the police to the confined area of the military vendors with the System''s permission to enter the recovery instance, where they took their statements down.

    "Thank you, System. I was afraid you would never allow us to re-enter the recovery instance." Jin sent his thought.

    "This was a unique situation, and the condition of the patients are stable. The shop was closed too, and there is no apparent breach of confidentiality for this current situation." The System stated and only then did Jin understand how the System was protecting the identities of the patients by not allowing any random customers to enter the recovery instance for curiosity sake.

    "Yeaбн I guess we should call the Military Police in. An assassination attempt on someone from a direct family of the Royal Zodiac would be plenty big on itself. It even targeting the headбн that is totally out of our jurisdiction." Lee An shook his head, hardly believing that such a thing could happen in thisidback shopping district.

    "I''ve already contacted someone I know from the MSS (Ministry of State Security), they will be here soon. The Boss is just following protocol by calling the police in first." Hou Fei informed them.

    "By the way, where is Tiger Lord Yuan Ba?" Inspector Lee asked as he looked around the recovery instance unable to find him. "Is he in a separate room? Are his injuries that severe?"

    "''Tiger Lord''? Oh shit." Jin finally realised that since the beginning he had been forgetting to address Yuan Ba with his formal title.

    "Oh? Were you not close with Tiger Lord Yuan Ba? I assumed you knew him well enough, judging by the way you called him so informally?" Hou Fei had been paying special attention, ever since he learnt that Jin was Ming''s grandson.

    "Yea, I did not know him before today..." Jin admitted rather awkwardly, but Hou Feiughed.

    "I do not think he minds. Especially since you and yourpanions ultimately rescued him and-"

    "And even saved my life." Yuan Ba entered the room slightly awake in a wheelchair before the others turned their attention to him. There were bandages and a neck support because of the wound, though Milk''s magic would make sure that the injuries disappeared within a day. Milk was able to close the neck wound without too much trouble thanks to the corruption poison getting transferred and contained within the poison istion core after the surgical process.

    "The surgery was a sess?" Jin was fairly surprised it was already done. The System told him that the time dtion for the surgery was extended because the betors were able to take the strain better than him. In the meantime, Yang Ling, who was walking with the help of Gearbox V3 came over.

    "Urgh so tired." Milk yawned as she walked towards a bed and crashed almost immediately. The nurses did not lose any time and closed the curtains around her, reassuring Jin that she was just exhausted. "Ehбнwhat about the rest of the military vendors?" Jin wondered, and the senior Panda Nurse told him that Peppers was already collecting the data from the surgical operation. She would proceed to create a miniature version that could be injected, without requiring any surgery to contain those minor poison corruption within the military vendors.

    "Well, that is good news. There will be much to do once the MSS arrives." Hou Fei pointed out with a sigh of relief. Eventually, the authorities from the MSS arrived and noted down the same statement as the police did earlier, leaving shortly before the store''s opening hours. During that amount of time, Peppers and the Panda Nurses had injected the modified version of the Poison Istion Core into the vendors. Their versions looked like a golden thumbtack pin secured on the side of the upper arm,pared to Yuan Ba''srge disk.

    "The amount of corruption poison is minimal. Possibly because it merely acted as a catalyst to break their chi cirction a little in order to absorb their chi powers. This should have allowed the assassin to create the monster face on him. Kraft concluded that the monster face was to make him immune to the terrifying Psionic magic that Yang Ling possessed. And that was all the information I have received from Kraft so far." Peppers told Jin in a telepathic message. Jin guessed he would rather keep that information to himself than to tell the MSS authorities about it.

    Still, the MSS authorities did not just rule out Jin as a possible conspirator and questioned him thoroughly, even though Yuan Ba and Hou Fei provided their assurance to them. Thankfully with Kraft around, the MSS authorities "low levelled" psionic abilities did not affect Jin at all. Kraft even manipted the information intake slightly to make the MSS authorities believe, that while Jin was hiding something, that it was only concerning some of his store''s trade secrets, but nothing regarding or connecting him to the assassin.

    When asked for the assassin, Jin brought the authorities to a room where Kraft had already prepared a wrapped up present for them to pick up. "Got to make it look like he struggled in the tentacles, plus those bigger injuries? Just coteral damage from the fight. No one will know." Kraft who was beside Jin briefed him, as the authorities picked it up.

    After the military vendors and the MSS authorities exited through the back door, Hou Fei stayed back, while Yuan Ba was still in the recovery instance resting. "So what information did you get?" Hou Fei asked when no one else was around, yet Jin continued to feint ignorance.

    "Sigh. Anyone ever tells you, that you can be too careful. Well, given the situation I can understand, but what about this? Will this change your mind?" Hou Fei raised his arm and opened his palm. In no time, an emblem magically appeared on his hand, which caused Jin to be on his guard until Yun patted him on his shoulder to signal him to stand down.

    "Jin, he is an ally of Ming...and ours," Yun exined as she raised her arm and repeated the same thing like Hou Fei. Her hand was shining with the same symbol, that had made Jin confused at Yun''s actions until she took a breath before she said it to his face.

    "He is a Panda n Remnant."

 Chapter 302 A Tigers Hear

    <h4>Chapter 302 A Tiger''s Hear</h4>

    Jin stared deep into Hou Fei''s eyes upon hearing Yun''s exnation making the middle aged man feel rather ufortable. "бнOkay. For some reason, Boss Jin here is starting to give me the creeps."

    "Don''t fret the small stuff. I believe he is just too tired after having used the main System''s high intensity mode for the very first time. So please excuse the somewhat odd behaviour of our young master." Yun exined so nonchntly to Hou Fei.

    "Aaargh I don''t even know anymoreбн Should I even be surprised at this string of coincidences at this point or should I simply ept that the System is secretly bringing people together to trouble my life even further?!" Jinined out loud, which incurred the System''s response.

    "The System does not have such a unique capability to bring the Panda n Remnants together. It is through a series of probabilities that brought Hou Fei to meet with the Original Panda n member today. The System would dly ept to have such unique, omnipotent capability as part of its powers. It would indeed make life much easier." The System replied as if it was a matter of fact which made Hou Feiughed.

    "Well, I can see that our young master here may need some rest after the whole incident. But now that I have connected back to the main System, I have to say it does feel great to be back." Hou Fei suddenly felt more refreshed than ever, swinging his arms around. "It feels as if I had lived in the woods for so long, only toe back to the city for a proper tels signal on my phone. Hahaha! I wille backter in the evening when the young master is all better." Hou Fei left his contacts with Yun as he could see Jin was not interested in entertaining him at this moment.

    "I know this is the umpteen time I''ve said this and my current behaviour is not fitting to as a Boss at allбн but I am really fucking tired. It''s so bad I think I''ll be able to sleep standing right with my eyes left open now...." Jin grumbled to Yun even though he had a slight boost of coffee when he drank with Se Lang and the others earlier.

    "Go talk to Yang Ling and Tiger Lord Yuan Ba first. Perhaps after that, I will get Zeru to bring you to the System''s sleeping capsule in the Dungeon Maker. You still have many things to aplish judging from your initial n in the morning before things go rather awry. I will attend the shop for you." Yun gave Jin arge pat on the back and pushed him into the recovery instance once more to see Ku Wai standing at the side of a private room.

    He opened the door for Jin to see Yang Ling and Yuan Ba talking rather amicably with each other. "Sorry to disturb you, Sir Tiger Lord. How are you feeling right now?" Jin asked politely addressing him with the proper title, after getting reminded by Hou Fei.

    "And here I thought, you weren''t one to pay someone the proper respect, Boss Jin?" Yuan Ba''s tone was already filled with power again, despite him justing out from the surgery.

    "I... apologise. I did not know my ce." Jin bowed sincerely, but that actually made him want to prostrate too, since the floor seemed so enticing to ce his head onбнto rest his eyes for just a moment or two.

    "Hahaha! I am just kidding, Boss Jin. It is I, who should thank you. Judging from what Yang Ling had told me, it seems that the Royal Zodiac Tiger family owes you more than just simple favour. Instead it should be considered us owing you a tremendous debt." Yuan Ba smiled genuinely towards Jin.

    "I would not dare. I''ve just been my doing job as her business partner." Jin tried to rephrase himself as he did not want to earn too much favouritism from the Tigers even though in terms of power in China, they were considered the third strongest household of all the Zodiac family. The Royal Zodiac Horse household was currently leading first in China concerning influence and money, while the Royal Zodiac Dragon came in second ce since it held onto the greatest might in regards to military strength. The Royal Zodiac Tiger Household only had partial control of the military though the majority of the police force was under them. Who knows what would happen to Jin if the enemies of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Household knew that he sided with them?

    "You are too humble. Do you want my little girl? She is great looking, has the brains for mechanical marvel and isn''t crippled anymore! Just give her a few months of training under me, and she will be in top shape! Who knows maybe you could even be the first husband of the future Royal Zodiac Tiger household." Yuan Ba was advertising his daughter shamelessly to Jin, which made Yang Ling use her strength from the Gearbox V3 punching his shoulder.

    "Papa! Jin would not do that! And what do you mean first husband?! Are you keeping other women from Mama?" Yang Ling now pulled her father''s ear and twisted it causing him to whimper.

    "Ow ow ow, no my little Tigress. I am just expressing that you are that wonderful, all the men should bow down to you!" Yuan Ba tried to soothe his daughter''s expression before she calmed down a bit.

    "Hmmph." Yang Ling let her father go, threw some quick nces at Jin, before she stood up and walked towards him. Only to suddenly prostrate in front of him.

    "Huh! What are you doing? Get up! Get up!" Jin quickly tried to pull her up by the shoulders, but the gearbox V3 had been designed too wlessly. Unless Jin utilised his cultivation, there was no way to pull her up forcefully. Besides her father was around and Jin did not want to do anything stupid. To him, he felt that it was too much trouble.

    "I am really honestly truly sorry. After all the help you rendered for me. You even created a miracle and allowed me to walk again. Yet I even demanded more from youбн I continued making requests from you so selfishly and even kicked your ermбнballs. Please forgive this childish behaviour that I exhibited. I do not dare to hope for it, but I wish that we can do businessбн again." Yang Ling apologised while Yuan Ba kept quiet to discern Jin''s expression. Jin could clearly see the look in his eyes, fiercely waiting for an answer like a tiger stalking in the bushes.

    Jin sighed at the mess that he was in and gave his reply. "There surely will be a possibility in doing business againбн but in a more favourable situation. My store will be opening soon, so Sir, if you wish to leave discreetly, give the Panda Nurses a call. They will inform me and I shall assist you out of this ce." Jin did not outright forgive Yang Ling''s impulsive action. Not just because he was still angered by it, but also because he worried, that it would create a poor image to Yuan Ba''s impression of him, if all was simply forgiven.

    "Good. I like your reply. This is what a boss should do. Not to mount under other people''s pressure and making their own decisions." Yuan Ba nodded his head as he got up from the bed. "I can nurse my wound at home, yourpanion Milk and the panda nurses did a fantastic job. It felt as if I was being cared for by the world''s top hospital even though this is just a dungeon supplier store. I am thoroughly amazed and impressed by your dungeon and services." Yuan Ba praised as he took out the patient scrubs he was wearing and wore his shirt before he followed Jin to the back of his store along with Ku Wai and Yang Ling.

    "Do you like him? I''ve never see you kneel to a man like this. Heck, I''ve never even seen you speak this politely to a guy before. Even when you are in the wrong, you will bite back at that person until you realise it was your mistake or you made him think that it was his mistake instead." Yuan Ba questioned his daughter as he rxed in the passenger seat while Ku Wai started up the car.

    "Yes, it''s sad to admit it but I totally agree with Lord Yuan Ba''s observation." Ku Wai interjected his thoughts and Yang Ling covered her face with her hands.

    "I cannot help itбнmy heart would just go wild." Yang Ling thought to herself but did not say a word at all. Yuan Ba noticed her expression and sighed but at the same time sniggered too.

    "So a Panda managed to steal the heart of a Tiger. What has this worlde to?" Yuan Ba pondered out loud which made Ku Wai smirk while driving them back.

 Chapter 303 Sleeping Capsule

    <h4>Chapter 303 Sleeping Capsule</h4>

    Just as Yun had promised, Zeru apanied Jin towards the sleep capsule. Strangely enough it was located in a part of the Dungeon Maker Jin had been unaware that it even existed. (Well, he did not know because it was not meant to be found.)

    "This sleeping capsulepresses time and will allow you to get 12 hours of sleep within a single hour." Zeru tried to exin it to his already non-responsive Panda Young Master, who had jumped into the capsule without hesitation after hearing the word ''sleep''.

    Zeru shook his head as he took his wooden sword out almost immediately to strike Jin. Yet even unconsciously, Jin was still fast enough to react by creating a thin icicle of white panda ice ready to fight even though his eyes were closed.

    "Impressive, you not only attempted to defend yourself given your state, but also were ready to go on the offensive. It seems the high intensity mode and Kraft''s subconscious mind training are finally showing their results. You certainly made progress in creating an astral force that controls and pushes your body to the limit, even though you may not realise it, yet." Zeru was fairly satisfied with the results as he ced his wooden sword away and assisted his master''s body in the capsule to change into the proper cultivation stance.

    "Don''t you mean a backup Jin?" Kraft walked in as he poked Jin''s face repeatedly, without any sign of resistance.

    "The Neen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation was meant to be this way from the start. A sentient astral phantom created by his subconscious dominating his body when the main consciousness falls asleep. In this way, Master Jin can utilise it in battle in case he ever faints for any reason. For daily tasks...haha, we should do things one step at a time." Zeru justified it to Kraft while pressing on some buttons on the sleeping capsule.

    The sleeping capsule did not only elerate time, but it also acted as a sort of massage chair where the System analysed Jin''s chi circuitry, pinpointing the weak points, created due to clotted chi areas. Afterwards the System assisted in reducing the clotted chi areas by inserting artificially produced pure chi energy via electricity. Thus the body responded by creating even more ck sludge and the System purged them on a regr basis when Jin was inside the capsule.

    "Oh man, the ck sludge...It is even muddier than before." Kraft shook his head upon looking at it, as if he disapproved of the production of the sludge.

    "The dirtier it is, the better for the creation of the sentient astral phantom." Zeru grinned as he observed Jin producing it an even faster rate than before.

    "I guess the System is not letting go of this particr by product, too?" Kraft asked, and the System replied with an acknowledgement.

    "The sludge that was collected since day he stepped into the hot spring instance was filled with impurities. It contains valuable research to create Souls. The analysis of past sludges have proven that User is capable of creating high quality souls as long as his cultivation soars. Past Users were not able to do that. Most likely reason with 87.9% certainty was the outdated cultivation manual."

    "In the end, you still treat your one and only User as a research subject. But oh well, at least Ming did leave a pretty good present for Jin and you, System." Kraft could not argue that the System was doing it for its own survival.

    "Previous User Ming was and continues to be ssified as an utter disgrace to the Panda n for facing the Zodiacs far too soon. It resulted in the need for using the desperate ''Time Reversal''. However in case previous User Ming''s cultivation manual turns out to be the key to eventually create the necessary high quality souls for the production, his name will be cleared." The System replied, with a strange hint of reluctance towards the end.

    "Then I am guessing you want to use the high quality souls for the purpose of replicating some certain individuals... Please tell me you don''t really consider resurrecting that bastard." Kraft was getting annoyed all of a sudden when he was thinking out loud. Zeru felt that he was out of the loop, since his time with the System couldn''t be considered as longpared to Kraft.

    "If necessary and if it will ensure the survival of the Panda n, the System will do so. However as always the current User will have to make the choice to decide whether the resurrection of that particr individual shall be considered vital in the long term resurrection of the Panda n." The System answered.

    "We both know what kind of choices you usually give. Those can barely even be called as such!" Kraft waved his hand with a disgruntled manner and looked at the sleeping Jin.

    "The System will promise to give the User a real choice as it acknowledges Original System Betor Kraft has certain grievances with that individual. The System does not wish to lose another valuable Betor." The System had begun to learn the technique of bargaining from Jin''s repeated haggling with it when they were interacting with the ck Market. (Oh Jin, he has no idea the monster he helped creating.)

    "I shall be the judge of that, when the timees. Zeru, I will be going off first. It''s no fun to bully the Young Master with no reaction. Luckily I know exactly, how to find him." Kraft coolly disappeared uponmenting and true enough, Jin was already in another reality talking to Ming when Kraft entered into his subconsciousness.

    "Ah Kraft, I heard you had some fun ording to Jin." Ming smiled as he poured a cup of hot drink for Kraft to savour.

    "Meh, not the most fun I had in awhile, but it indeed brought some memories back." Kraft shrugged his shoulders lightly and slowly sipped the hot drink as he listened in to the conversation between Jin and Ming.

    "Ah yes, Gramps. Who is Hou Fei? He suddenly showed up and said he was a Panda n Remnant and began to ask me to share information with him." Jin felt particrly curious about the Panda n Remnant which appeared out of nowhere.

    "Oh? Hou Fei? I do remember him and he truly is a Panda n Remnant. He worked under me before the System turned back time. He is one of the only few people that the System allowed to retain their memories from before." Ming replied while rubbing his stubbled chin.

    "One of the few people? So there are more Panda n Remnants out there, which came in contact with you previously, other than Hou Fei?" Jin had no idea that some people still knew anything about Ming''s real past.

    "Oh, I did not think about that. There should probably be some more. Unfortunately the System never told me who those people were, who kept their memories. However to my knowledge, there seemed to be other people who were unrted to the System that were saved too. " Ming''s eyes were up looking at the cabin''s ceiling as if he was thinking of the past.

    "Why those people then?" Jin felt that the fewer people know about this time reversal thing, the better since it was on a whole other levelpared to the dtion andpression of time, which most Dungeon Suppliers had ess to. The cultivation knowledge and technology for it may not be very widely known, but at least it was already epted by society.

    "I too don''t have any idea, since the System refused to interact with me ever since the time reversal. I can only deduce that the System was not totally heartless to leave me at a lurch and left some people that I had known to turn to, in case I needed help, once I lost my contact with the System. And most, if not all of those people that retained their memories were privy of the knowledge that I had a System with me." Ming replied.

    "You told your friends about your System powers? Why?!" Jin was rather shocked since he was trying to keep it under wraps as much as possible.

    "It''s too odd to wield its powers on a daily basis and not allowing them to know. They would have figure it out sooner orter. So one day I simply decided it would be for the best to confess, before the secret could create a wedge between us. I still remember how mad the System was with my selfish action. Besides, it''s also something you have to consider and face in the future. What if the System did not entirely erase the memories of everyone? Especially the enemies, the Zodiacs?" Ming questioned Jin who did not know how to answer.

    "Love and peace sounds nice, sure. That would be the most ideal oue, but not everyone will think that way. Especially power hungry people. After all, would you be willing to bow to somebody else, because of a promise given to an ancestor of somebody else? Those people have grown used to the power they wield, and your existence, will make them regard you as only someone who wants to steal their piece of the cake." Ming exined.

    "Do you believe, that they might have found or developed a technique to absorb or transfer the System away from me?" Jin started to get a little afraid.

    "Only time will tell. But from my interaction with Kraft in the past few minutes I have confirmed that I am still unable to share what has actually happened before the Time Reversal. Anyway enough with this whole conspiracy talk. Instead, shall we duel? I''d like to see your abilities in action." Ming sniggered as he spoke hisst sentence with him mming the table, breaking it into two and charging straight towards Jin with no further warning.

 Chapter 304 Mens Talk

    <h4>Chapter 304 Men''s Talk</h4>

    Two hours had passed when Jin finally woke up and left the sleeping capsule. He felt refreshed, re-energised and vignt. The battle with Ming in his head had allowed him to learn more about his skills. After all, some of the things mentioned in the cultivation manual could not be taught by reading and had to be experienced.

    "Finally awake?" Zeru had been sitting around cross legged, waiting for Jin toe out of the sleeping capsule. Greeted by Zeru, who passed him a towel, Jin looked down on himself to realise that his clothes were drenched in the ck sludge.

    "Has the System removed the ck sludge, while I was sleeping?" Jin queried. Zeru nodded and also took this opportunity to exin what the ck sludge was capable of. He figured Jin should know the truth about the byproduct of his cultivation. Information which the System had withheld previously.

    Surprisingly, Jin was rather open minded about the System keeping secrets. Had it been the him from just a few weeks ago, he would have surelyined. Instead he merely asked the System: "So how exactly does the quality of souls differ between the ones we buy from the market?"

    "The Interworld Market only allows the trade of standard souls which have been carefully selected ording to the regtions set by the Interworld Market Committee. ording to those regtions the sale of High Quality souls is considered illegal. At one point in time before this regtion, the market had been swamped due to necromancers performing taboo rituals in order to sell them. This nearly lead to a market crash. Nowadays not even the ck market offers them anymore. Those high quality souls can be used to resurrect a person back properly, provided the right conditions and materials."

    "Interworld Market? You mean there is an entityrger than you?" Jin asked with his brows furrowed.

    "Negative, the Interworld Market is not an entity. They are governed by a group of Grand Arch Wizards. That market is unaware about the real existence of the System. Most mistake the System for a highly functioning AI used to hide the real identity for someone behind it. However the System consists of the collective will of various elders and generations of Panda n Members. Should the User die without managing to resurrect the Panda n, his Soul will also be absorbed into the collective as long as doing so will enhance the chances of achieving the goal."

    "So System, do you need more of this ck sludge for your research?" Jin switched his topic to prevent even more confusion.

    "The System has collected arge enough sample of the sludge. Before User reaches another Grade another sample is not necessarily required." The System replied and Jin nodded in response.

    "Then you will have to wait. I have plenty of other things to do." Jin excused himself as he exercised his neck a little before heading to the bathroom in his Terrace House. The System had been nice enough to create a portal for him.

    After he got naked, he noticed that his skin was glittering with specks of gold and ck, but within seconds, the specks disappeared. "System, what are these specks of gold and ck?"

    "Those are the starting signs from a formation of a sentient astral form." The System answered. Jin was once again astonished. He had read about it in the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation manual. He understood, that he could cultivate an astral form, but he thought it would take a long while for him to reach such a level. It was supposed to be a form from a supposed non-physical realm of existence in which the physical human body was said to have a counterpart. The requirement was for him to be in control of his subconscious, which Kraft had been emphasising in order to create that astral form.

    "Hmm, if a sentient astral form has already started toe into existence, does that mean Kraft''s subconscious training is paying off?" Jin thought to himself as he soaked himself in a gigantic tub of hot spring water mixed with medicinal herbs, courtesy of the System.

    "Mmhmm, though part of the credit also belongs to the usage of the high intensity mode." Kraft''s voice suddenly sounded beside him. Without him noticing Kraft had immersed himself into the water while he continued to be fully naked.

    "UWAAAA! CAN YOU NOT SCARE ME JUST LIKE THAT!?" Jin momentarily tried to cover his sacred treasures in embarrassment with his hands.

    "Not bad, potentially above average size, hard to tell since it''s all shrivelled up. I have a trick to erge it further if you wish to learn it for yourбнbedtime activities." Kraftughed loudly, as he snapped his fingers. The next moment all his foxes went into the bath with Jin. For the first time, Jin saw Tsu, Kai, Ixa, Ixel, Itori and Evon in the bath quietly enjoying the hot spring medicinal bath. Some were swimming around in the water, others just soaked happilyбн and for some reason one of them seemed embarrassed and turned around not looking at the naked Jin.

    "I refuse!" Jin crossed his hands, before he took out a small towel hanging by the side covering his secret treasure before he returned to the bath. For some odd reason he felt a cooling sensation pulsating around him despite him being in a hot bath tub.

    "The System rmends User to use the high intensity mode more often, so that you can utilise the sleep capsule." The System spoke in the bathroom which made Jin nervous, getting the feeling that he was not as alone as he had wished.

    "Why do I have to use the high intensity mode before using the sleeping capsule? Can''t I just use the sleeping capsule any time I want? Would it be possible to remodel the hot spring mountain instance into something simr to the sleeping capsule? That way, the ck sludge would not overflow and I would not need to worry that much." Jin asked the System while patting Ixa, who had swam over.

    "A certain level of tiredness must be achieved before the sleeping capsule can be utilised." The System replied with a short answer.

    "Otherwise the pure chi injection of the sleeping capsule will kill you. Unless your chi circuits are clotted up that capsule may as well be a torture chamber. When you are burdened with fatigue, your circuits are blocked with residual bad and broken chi, and that is one way to use the sleeping capsule." Zeru was the next person who joined Jin in the bathroom. Jin was slightly jealous seeing how extremely toned Zeru''s muscles were. More so than Kraft''s. But in terms of battle scars, both of them wereparable.

    "Its like oxygen. Too pure a substance and it will kill you because your blood cells cannot carry them away." Kraft unted his knowledge of umon torture techniques. "So simr to chi circuits, the System''s artificially pure chi would overload your chi circuits if you just go inside without truly needing it. If it was 100% natural pure chi, that would be a different story since the human producing it could suit it for the body."

    "Well, what if I continue to use the hot spring instance?" Jinid back to a more rxed position.

    "The effectiveness of the Emerald Mountain hot spring instance has been reduced due to your grade. While it is possible to buy more high quality herbs from the ck market the cost-effect-ratio is suboptimal. User not rmended to use it for cultivation purposes." The System replied as it automatically injected hot spring water into the tub to rece the current pool.

    Jin made use of the quiet time and engaged in some small talk with Kraft and Zeru. Primarily they talked about how his progress was going, and what he should do to improve himself. After a bit of silence Zeru proposed more topics to entertain people which waster overshadowed by Kraft. Never did Jin realised that both the males were such a talkative duo given the right time and atmosphete.

    "Won''t it be great if we have some plum wine?" Zeru suggested on the fly which the System immediately granted and they enjoyed a cup or two. Jin did not drink much since he knew he needed to workter.

    During their deep conversation Jin realised that Zeru had a lotus flower at the side of his thigh. Zeru noticed Jin looking at it and he sighed.

    "It''s a memory of a loved one. She tattooed it for me with traditional ink and blessed it with her eternal love. No matter the battle scars on my body, this lotus tattoo is my Achilles heel. I will never let anyone scar this area." Zeru said solemnly. This confession caused Kraft to be somewhat sentimental.

    He turned his back and showed Jin a battle scar that transversed along the entire spine. "At one point, probably not too far off, the System will undoubtedly ask your permission to resurrect some certain individuals as higher NPCs beings. The ones that can make decision on their own and will demand authority and respect no matter what. Even though I hate most of them, I need to admit, but they will certainly be useful. If you wish their help, I will somehow tolerate it. All I ask is that you do not re-summon this one particr person. Panda Lord Zhou Lin." Kraft said in disgust, with a murderous look after spouting the name.

    "This nice little reminder was given to me by him. He had already been resurrected once before. A Panda n Chosen had received it as a mission from the System. Well without going into too much detail, this turned out to be one if not the biggest mistake the Original System has ever made. The Panda n Chosen waster forcefully stripped of her status and the ownership of the System went to Zhou Lin as he fought against the Jade Emperor and hisckeys." Kraft exined.

    "The Three Kingdom Civil Wars in your books were all because of him. He started the precursor wars to weaken the nation as a whole so that he could swoop the entire nation for himself. He almost won in the shadows until I rebelled against him. Rebelled against my own master since I knew the loopholes against the original System." Kraftid back staring at the ceiling and sip his sake as one of the foxes came to console him.

    "Nine other betors rebelled against himбн I am the only survivor of that coup d''etat. Even though me surviving was also a stroke of luck. As you might have guessed, their spirits are currently manifested within these little darlings before you. In short, you are technicallymanding Zeru, Peppers, Milk, me and six other original betors, though they are unable to remember too much of their past life. Most of them only retained their abilities" Kraft went on and before Jin could even ask about the other three, Kraft was already ahead of him.

    "For my earlier work the System has promised to reward me one of thest three foxes that it had previously withheld. Since those three are ssified as ''troublemakers'' the System needs your permission to release them." Kraft finished his story, when Jin suddenly realised something.

    "OIII System! You not only owe Kraft something, but you also owe me A HECK OF A LOT of rewards! Time to pay up!" Jin stood up and shouted with anticipation.

 Chapter 305 Pei

    <h4>Chapter 305 Pei</h4>

    "The Oceanic Phoenix Dung has already been delivered to the Jacks with dramatic effect flying from the sky." The System stated and Jin pity the Jacks.

    "Please tell me you didnt just flung dung into their backyard." Jin said with some awkwardness.

    "Negative. the dung that can be used to elerate the growth of the Living Armour is extremely valuable. It had been secured properly before sending the reward to them. ording to their expertise it will not be long until they fully grow." The System replied which gave Jin an ease of mind.

    "Your Secondary Optional Objective of reaching general sales to 5000 people by the end of November is still in progression, though System estimates User''spletion with a 93.6% certainty. As for the Partnership Mission, it has beenpleted beyond the System''s expectations. Transferring Pei and Kiyu into the possession of Original System Betor Kraft." The System stated once more and arge box magically flew from the ceiling and into the bathtub, causing a big ssh that pushed all the foxes out of the tub since they could not hold on to the sides of the tub.

    Jin and the others slowly waddled near the box while the System replenished the hot spring water and it revealed two shiny bullets in the crate. The bullets vibrated for a moment before flying onto Kraft''s hand. "What? I thought only one fox would be released? бн System what are you ying at?" Kraft was slightly confused by the System''s rewards and then it struck Jin.

    "OhбнI did ask the System to grant me the ability to defy psionic abilities so that the System could not read my mindбнperhaps one of your released foxes is able to do that?" Jin asked as he went towards to Kraft while holding on his small towel to have a look at the bullets. They were crafted with an intricate design as if the bullets were meant to be an ornament, rather than used in battle.

    Kraft thought about Jin''s reply and nodded before a rare smile surfaced on his face. He seemed to insert some energy into the bullets causing one royal purple fox and one pure pink fox out from his hand. The pink fox looked at Kraft for a while before turning her head towards Jin.

    "Are you the new master?" Pei, the pink fox, spoke into Jin''s mind, which surprised him but he replied with a nod to keep his cool.

    "Brilliant. Keep me away from that disgusting devilman." The fox gracefully walked on water as if she was a celestial being. The other foxes who already gave way by being out of the tub, allowed Pei to gently lie on Jin''sp when he sat down while she kept ignoring Kraft the whole time. Meanwhile, Kiyu was ted upon seeing Kraft and was extremely jumpy, causing a lot of sshes within the tub.

    "This is a nice surprise. I thought Jin would need to convince her somehow to share her powers with him. But to think, that she would so easily ept anyone over me. Seriously just how much does she hate me..." Kraft had his mind upied by Pei even though Kiyu was another one of the three foxes, who had been sealed and was now creating some havoc to get his attention. After Kiyu saw that Kraft seemed to be in a world of his own, she jumped onto his head and pounced on it. She did not stop until he carefully hugged her and whispered into her ear: "See, I did promise you guys, that I would get you back. I am sorry, that it took me so longбн"

    Zeru who was at the sideline patted Tsu and Kai while Pei became the attention for Jin. Kraft''s attention had also fully shifted to his freed fox. Jin felt a sort of tranquil peace that he had not felt for a very long time the moment Pei rested herself onto hisp. In response, he slowly stroked Pei''s fur. This made her also start to feel a sort of bond towards him. For some unknown reason, she felt as if she had found some long lost rtive, even though she had never even seen him before.

    "Come to think of itбнif I remember correctly, Pei could be considered a distant Panda n member. She should have married into the n at one point. She passed on and was turned into a Betor at the request of the System. Could it be those two are somehow rted?" Kraft thought to himself as he unknowingly let Kiyu bite his fingers.

    "Maybe that''s why she feels sofortable being with Jin? Too bad her soul was so badly damaged from the coup d''ижtat on Zhou Lin." Kraft having noticed their somewhat intimate interaction thought to himself.

    Suddenly an idea appeared in his mind. If the System could resurrect that certain bastard, could it maybe help these damaged soulsбн Perhaps Jin could revive all of his foxes into proper betors if the ck sludge research went well. But even if it was possible, would that really be what his formerrades would wish forбн

    "I guess I should keep this as an idea for now." Kraft smiled as he began to leave the hot spring tub along with Zeru. The foxes stayed for a while to rx a bit more. Usually they had to stay inside their bullets, so this was a rare opportunity to stretch their legs, before they returned to Kraft''s side with the exception of Pei.

    -----------

    "Boss, we did receive the dung and boy it is massive!" Gold, the leader of Jacks sent a text and picture to Jin which caused him tough as he was browsing his phone a little in the tub. (All hail waterproofed Zamzung phones although technically it had been modified by the system.)

    "Yea, the living armour ntsбнThat is definitely one thing I have to explore urgently. If not for that piece of living armour, who saved my ass against the dantian poison corruption, I would not be here taking a bath so casually." Jin thought to himself as he began to walk out of the tub.

    As he was taking a shower to clean off the herbal medicinal bath he was in, he realised someone else was still around. "Is this another one of Kraft''s illusionsбн?" Jin bitterlyughed at himself as he saw a naked teenage girl with a fluffy pink tail showering herself. Her body was petite, and her long neon pink hair was slightly curled at the edges.

    "Hmm?" For some reason, Pei who had been a fox just minutes ago suddenly became a fox girl and was not afraid of Jin at all.

    "Sorryбн I didn''t mean to stare. It''s just the first time I saw erm one of Kraft''s foxes turn into a humanoid form." Jin mumbled an apology as he quickly turned his head around and continued to wash his hair. He had been totally oblivious to the fact that Kraft had any female foxes in his skulk.

    "Rx. Even though I have just been released, I am not that desperate to go for you. Besides, I had a husband before. Even though my memories of him are somewhat hazy, my love for him will never cease." Pei said as she continued to wash her hair and subsequently her tail in peace.

    "System had decided to test out the results of the ck Sludge with ex-Betor Pei, now known as Fox Bullet Pei. She has agreed to participate in the experiment as a method to try and break out of Kraft''s fox bullet form, even though it constitutes a risk of her soul being corrupted while outside the protective formation of the bullet." The System noted and it had already caught on Kraft''s idea on using the ck sludge soul research.

    "So could you tell me a bit more about that guy? What is this Zhou Lin made out of that he was powerful enough to destroy nine betors?" Jin asked casually. He only blinked before he found himself at the mercy of Pei''s ws aiming at his carotid artery.

    "Never ever speak of his name so lightly. He is a monster equivalent or maybe worse than the Banned Emperor. All he cared about was power. Fucking hypocritesбн to think that we were crazy enough to all worship him as the Saviour of the Panda n when he was resurrected." Pei released her ws and walked back to her showering area.

    "Soбн You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself be the viin." Jin tried to calm the tense situation between Pei and him, but all he heard was a sneer. He started to guess, why exactly those three could have been deemed ''troublemaker'' if this was the way they interacted. Though it was probably his own fault speaking of such a forbidden topic in front of her.

    "The System will admit that it has erred by using a tabooed high quality soul to resurrect Zhou Lin. Please ept the apologies from the System. Therefore it was decided to use its results from the ck Sludge Soul research topensate for your loss. System hopes to have an amicable rtionship between System, the User and betors." The System replied to Pei who kept her silence.

    However, Jin could clearly feel the aura of death emitting from her and decided to quickly wash up before exiting the terrace house. Shortly after, Pei turned back into her fox form, but now it became as small as the digital pets that Jin''s customers had following them around.

    "Well guess, I can always im that this an exclusive pet of mine, even though it seems strange seeing me with anything but a Pandaбн" Jin thought out loud as he went out of the house. Listening to him Pei simply changed her form into a blessing bracelet with pinkish orbs right beside the tattered storage watch he was wearing.

    "Wowбнto think you can do more than just change your size and appearance. Thank you for changing your form just to suit my everyday life. So I guess this means you are fulfilling your duty of protecting me wherever I go." Jinughed as he could feel the bracelet suddenly glow, perhaps a response to his words.

    "I will not let another Panda n Member fall for the System''s stupid tricks. No one should ever be dumb enough to resurrect Zhou Lin ever again." Pei told him in his mind before she kept quiet for a long time. Jin felt that the System, Kraft and Pei were not precisely speaking their mind about this whole Zhou Lin issue. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to ask them about it, without risking any serious harm to himself.

    "No matter how I see it, the Panda n just has too many skeletons in its closet. Since they aren''t willing to share any of it, I shall not care about anything and continue with my business. As long as I don''t ept the resurrection all should be fine." Jin tried to think positively as he reached his shop.

 Chapter 306 Sea Mesh CEO

    <h4>Chapter 306 Sea Mesh CEO</h4>

    "Boss JINNNNN!" Ke Loong was practically jumping him the moment he found out Jin came into the shop. Jin tried to push Ke Loong away, who was about to give him a bear hug.

    "Boss, I am very sorry for my friend''s awkward behaviour. I hope you can forgive his enthusiasm." Mr Know-It-All smiled at Jin''s arrival.

    "Oh? I didn''t know that he was a friend of yours. You somehow seem very relieved to see me..." Jin said, before he figured out the reason. With his absence, it was on Mr Know-It-All to entertain his friend all this time while Jin was recuperating.

    "Erm... Yeah. He told me what had happened in the morning. I am impressed and very thankful, that you managed to resolve that situation on your own. Don''t worry, I won''t share this information with anybody else." Mr Know-It-All resumed his smile as Ke Loong stabilised himself and returned into being a grown man. He took out his business card and presented it to Jin.

    "Though I was at the presentation this morning, I am not a military vendor, but primarily a Dungeon Supplier Technologist." Ke Loong officially introduced himself with Mr Know-It-All interjecting and stating that Ke Loong was the CEO for apany called Sea Mesh.

    "Sea Mesh...? I think I heard about it during my school graduation..." Jin took out his phone to search the name on the and realised that it was the up anding Dungeon Supplier Techpany to provide cutting edge technology infused with lesser cultivation techniques. They aimed to encourage more people to be dungeon suppliers so that mankind as a whole could enjoy cultivation as a sport rather than a necessity to have a morefortable life. (Kraft felt pitiful that the cultivation which was used as a means of survival became so trivial in the modern world.)

    "I read about your ''Remote Portal'' theory in university and loved the concept. It is admirable how you tried to connect people from other regions and even overseas to local dungeon suppliers'' instances. Something like beaming into a virtual reality. Only that your team managed to turn this concept from science fiction show into reality. I still remember being in awe about it when I saw the video of your prototype working on a human." Jin shook Ke Loong''s hand as a sign of respect. He brought the two over to the Bar Ind for a cup of coffee on the house.

    "Yes, thank you for your praise. It''s a shame it never went beyond the prototype stage. Shortly after that video was released the investors stopped funding it, since it consumed too much electricity for something to be considered convenient. But at the very least we managed to confirm that the remote portal device really works. If only it became widespread... we even nned to go one step further to integrate them into a Mass Portal Transportation which would have definitely caused quite an uproar with the airline and shipping industries." Ke Loong spoke of his ns in a more serious tone with a lot of regret.

    "With the improvement of technology, can''t the high ranking Western Wizards create a mass portal spell? They already have a working portal spell at Rank 16 and those above should be even more powerful." Jin was not ignorant of such modern theory and dismissed traditional methods. Not to mention, Jin had ess to the System, which already had a way to do that plus portaling him out to other worlds.

    "Those wizards kept emphasising that such spells should not be messed around with too much. Especially when ites to space time continuum and quantum physics. Can''t really say that they are wrong either. There were cases of wizards messing up the space time continuum, who caused some weird monsters to appear. It was a good thing that those monsters could be killed quick enough, before anything worse happened. Just imagine if they had flourished in our world." Ke Loong shuddered at the thought of it.

    "And as expected of Boss Jin, your knowledge about this subject did not disappoint. I have been waiting here for you, because I would like to request your help with improving the Remote Portal Technology. We know that you are just a dungeon supplier and not some brilliant technologist since we had your background checked before approaching you." Ke Loong admitted in an honest way, but he purposely left out Mr Know-It-All''s role in that investigation.

    "However the incident this morning changed my perspective of you. You havepanions and contacts who might be able to help usplete this ''Remote Portal'' Project. Of course we willpensate everyone involved, even you just for referring them, generously. I can even help promote your shop or how about letting ''Dungeons and Pandas'' be the first dungeon supplier to have ess to the Remote Portal Technology. ...Or even make it be the exclusive shop to have it. Plus the money from the patent of this Remote Portal and possibly the sales of the-" Jin stopped Ke Loong from talking anymore.

    "I am sorry, but my contacts and I are not interested." Jin stated in a firm but apologetic tone.

    "Why? The amount of money you could get is immeasurable. And what about the fame? Don''t you wish for future generation to learn your name, in helping develop such a thing? Mypany is currently going through an IPO, there are many eyes looki-" This time Ke Loong was stopped by Mr Know-It-All, who simply shook his head at his talking friend.

    "One of mypanions has already been working on a simr prototype for quite a while. It should not be too long now, before mypanion willplete the work and make it ready for production. However I also have a counterproposal for you. How about you work for me instead?" Jin offered as he stared into Ke Loong''s eyes with determination eager to win this argument. Mr Know-It-All could onlyugh at the absurdity of the situation. A local small time dungeon supplier asking a CEO to work for him... who else but Boss Jin would ever dare to propose something like that.

    "Well, once Jin is set on something, he is sure to get it. I doubt you canpete with hispanion''s products." Mr Know-It-All injected.

    "How can you be sure his product -I mean hispanion''s product will even work? You know how many brilliant scientists it took just to get the prototype running. Did you n this out with him? Are you doing this topete against me? You are nothing but just a measly little- Ow!" Ke Loong got knocked at the head by Mr Know-It-All.

    "How many times do I need to remind you? Do not let sess go over your head. Remember what I told you? If you wish to make a deal with Boss Jin, you will have to learn to swallow your pride." Mr Know-It-All repeated the advice he gave his friend some time ago. Ke Loong looked down and he nodded with some understanding. Jin found that both of them might actually be more than friends from the way they acted.

    "System wishes to ask User who thispanion is. There are no entries of User having friends possessing such high levels of knowledge in regards to such a technology?" The System asked, to which Jin could only sigh.

    "It''s you, you dummy." Jin sent his thought back, and a silence overcame the conversation in his head even though it was noisy outside.

    "Let''s change the question, why would you want to create a Remote Portal? And why not let yourpanion meet Ke Loong and let him or her decide for themselves? Is yourpanion really that trustworthy of your judgement?" Mr Know-It-All was shooting Jin down mercilessly.

    "My goals go into the same direction as Ke Loong''s ambition, to spread my love for dungeons instances and cultivation to other parts of the world. For now I may be considered a small time Dungeon Supplier, but I believe I have something unique to offer, and would love to share it with the world... provided theye here. I also have some other ns for my customers down the road." Jin answered ambiguously.

    "Hmm? Do you n to create an exclusive guild here?" Mr Know-It-All casually asked and Jin merely shrugged his shoulders, but his expression was evident for both of them to see.

    "Well as for the trustworthiness of mypanion. Everything you see before you was created thanks to my friend." Jin spread his hands and show them that this entire shop instance was made by the System. "Does mypanion really fully hundred percent trust me? Not really but mypanion fully respects whatever decision I make."

    "So you are not even going to tell us a gender, huh." Mr Know-It-All smirked and patted Ke Loong''s back. "Go for it. I will rmend going in this deal blindly. Trust me. That''s the fun of Dungeons and Pandas. From what I know, you will gain more than you may lose." Mr Know-It-All said as he left the bar ind and proceeded to watch the fights.

    "Well...if Brother Know trusts you to such a high degree... Fine. I wille again tomorrow with my secretary and all relevant personnel to get the pre-contract agreement deal finalised." Ke Loong remarked before he finished his cup of coffee.

    "I will see if mywyer is avable tomorrow." Jin thanked Ke Loong for his confidence.

    "Lawyer?" Ke Loong panicked a little. Why would Jin need awyer for just a simple deal?

    "Ahh, he will be around just to make sure I am not getting cheated. I am rather bad at reading deals." Jin used his inexperience as a reason and Ke Loong had to agree with him. The fact that Jin''s shop was barely two months old indicated that he was indeed not too familiar with these kinds of agreements. Had he known, that thewyer Jin would bring was Xiong Da, he would not have stayed so calm.

    "Damn, even your coffee is great. I will definitely be back! But before I leave, I still need to get myself more of those Digital Pet Cards! Hehehe!" Ke Loong slid down from his seat and hurriedly moved to the second floor.

    "So erm yea System... I want to create Remote Portals. I noticed we have quite a substantial amount of resource left after setting aside the budget for the Deep Ones Dungeon. Arghh, but I also have to remodify the National Stadium instance first for the evening''s release of that dungeon instance." Jin grumbled as he quickly returned to the Dungeon Maker and booted up the National Stadium Instance.

    "Preparation will be made ording to your wishes, User." The System noted, but Jin was already using high intensity modemanding three copies of Jins and was too busy to hear it.

 Chapter 307 High School Students

    <h4>Chapter 307 High School Students</h4>

    "I am sorry! I am sorry!" Bu Dong, the Angry Ape cultivator, was rushing towards the entrance of the shop where a group of people were waiting for him.

    "Well, I didn''t expect anything else from you. You are always thest one to arrive at meetings." Yue Han, the Blind Bat cultivator,ughed as he looked at his phone. It was 15 minutes past 7 pm and they were supposed to meet at 7 pm.

    "At least he is not aste as he was for school this morning. Nearly skipped the whole of first period." Xing Li, a ssmate of Bu Dong chimed in and grinned widely at Yue Han as she re-tied her ponytail right beside of Bu Dong.

    "Now that we are all here, let''s get going. Bu Dong, you treating again? Hahaha!" Kong Xian, the Towering Tortoise cultivator,ughed loudly.

    "How about we get something to eat first?" Katerine, an exchange student suggested, while rubbing her stomach. She got assigned to same ss as Bu Dong and the others.

    "You Europeans always get hungry that easily." Xing Li teased, not wanting to admit that she was hungry too. She and her stomach were d for Katerine''s honesty and she envied the other girl who could eat so much while keeping her slender dark yet s.e.xy figure.

    "Technically, I am from... eh, whatever you guys never bother to remember anyway. Let''s just grab a bite. I don''t even care what kind of food. Does this panda shop serve anything delicious?" Katerine figured her German mixed with African blood lineage did not really matter since Xing Li was just making herment as a sweeping statement.

    "Yeah it does and not just any ordinary kind of food. I can promise you, it has the best food you can ever find in this district." Yue Han was full of confidence answering her as if it was a statement of truth and both Bu Dong and Kong Xian nodded in agreement.

    "Isn''t this just a dungeon supplier? How could the food be good?" Xing Li furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the big panda billboard that was glowing with various colours in the evening light.

    "Just trust us guys on this. You will be pleasantly surprised. We can have dinner here first then try out the new dungeon that Boss Jin released not too long ago." Bu Dong told her as he taught Xing Li how to enter the shop while Yue Han assisted Katerine. As they entered the shop, the two girls were amazed by the interior decor of the area. The Halloween Theme was spot on for the month of October.

    "Oh yeah I forgot to ask, but you do have a cultivation style or erm magic ability, right?" Yue Han asked Katerine and she nodded her head while opening her palms out. Without a word, fire sparked out from her palms and two small orbs were floating around her hand.

    "Fire Shaman, Rank 2. What are your cultivations?" Katerine asked curiously, and the boys did not hesitate, wanting to show off a little. Three tortoise silhouette appeared from Kong Xian while both Yue Han and Bu Dong had four silhouettes of their bats and apes, respectively. However, it was apparent that Bu Dong''s cultivation silhouettes were better defined.

    Xing Li and Katerine were mesmerised and baffled by their cultivation silhouettes. "How do you all have such high grades?! I remember, that I broke through to Grade 2 even before Yue Han justst year!" Xing Li covered her mouth in awe.

    "It''s all thanks to this ce. This dungeon supplier trained us this way. As long as you put in the effort, you can definitely reach a higher cultivation too." Bu Dong smiled at Xing Li and she nodded in excitement at what this ce could potentially offer.

    The group entered the Restaurant Train of Delicacy, and the girls were once again overwhelmed with the scenery and the penguin butlers, but it was also the first time the group as a whole tried the ramen.

    "Holy shit! What kind of noodle is this!" Kong Xian who did Kendo as a sport was an avid ramen lover. "THIS IS THE BOMB! I never tasted such good ramen in Shenzhen before nor in Japan!"

    "Oui Monsieur. Our Chef Lynn is indeed amazing. We shall forward your praises to her. Please do enjoy your meals." The Penguin waiter said as he went ahead to entertain other customers. The group had a fantastic time eating the ramen in red snapper broth.

    "Man, I thought that it was just for promotion, but turns out it is true... the ramen really buffed my stats up." Yue Han was surprised at this realisation. Yet he could feel his chi having increased, and his pandamonium stat screen also indicated the truth of this situation. The rest of the group all were pumped up, ready to go for a dungeon. However, the girls decided to go to the loo, before they would exit the train. As soon as the girls were out of sight, the boys huddled together to talk.

    "So, any progress with Xing Li? I will try to stall Katerer, so Xing Li does not stick to her as much as she usually does. This should give you time to be together with her." Yue Han asked Bu Dong who fancied her.

    "I don''t know. She doesn''t seem to be receptive to my questions or talks." Bu Dong felt a little depressed about this situation.

    "I am sorry to break the bubble, but it is because she likes Yue Han more than you." Kong Xian stated as he leaned back to drink his bamboo juice.

    "EHHH?" Yue Han was utterly surprised by Kong Xian''s analysis and he shook his head and hands vehemently. "That''s impossible. She never liked me to begin with and had it out for me ever since we went to middle school. She always picked on me to do things for her..."

    "No, I agree with Kong Xian. Maybe because I was too focused on her I hadn''t noticed? She seemed to be more responsive to your jabs than to mine." Bu Dongid back a bit and sighed.

    "What? No. No. No. This whole night hanging was supposed to be your opportunity to get closer to her. I am in no way as capable as you!" Yue Han still could not wrap around the fact that Xing Li could not just like him, but even more than that. Especially that she would prefer someone like him over Bu Dong.

    "Sometimes, love is blind." Kong Xian patted Bu Dong on the back. "So change of ns? Want to get them together for your bro''s sake?"

    "ARGGHHHH! MA YUE HAN!" Bu Dong shouted in agony, which made everyone actually turned around to look at them for a moment before they returned to eating. One of the penguin waiters came to ask them to lower their voice since they were not in a premium seating of the train.

    "Ma Yue Han. I am sad, devastated and feel like shit right now. But be honest with yourself. Have you ever had any feelings for Xing Li?" Bu Dong kept his voice down and talked seriously to Yue Han.

    "I eh..." Yue Han did not know what to say. Should he admit that he did fancy her and break Bu Dong''s heart any further? "I-I do not have any interest in Xing Li."

    "He is lying." Kong Xian once again sipped his bamboo juice in peace and Bu Dong sighed once again.

    "Yea...he is definitely lying." Bu Dong said as he pointed upwards and Yue Han saw where he was looking. It was his bat cultivation, a single bat silhouette flying around.

    "Whenever you lie, a part of your cultivation will appear for some reason. I am disappointed in you." Bu Dong said shaking his head, as he ced his hand on his temple.

    "I-I am sorry, I just did not want to make you feel sad anymore." Yue Han tried to salvage the situation... it was not very effective.

    "Kong Xian. Be my new bro." Bu Dong ignored Yue Han''s excuse, but Kong Xian immeditaly refused without a second though: "I don''t need a bro... and I already have a girlfriend."

    Bu Dong''s he could only bitterly cry at Kong Xian''s rejection. He then stood up and walked towards Yue Han and held him by his neck and started to mock punch Yue Han''s head.

    "Then you better make sure you use this chance properly, you stupid bat!"

    -----------------------

    "So? How''s your progress with Yue Han?" Katerine asked Xing Li when they were alone in the toilets. Xing Li was gurgling her mouth before she coughed out the water upon hearing Katerine''s question.

    "What are you talking about?" Xing Li took a dry towel paper to wipe her mouth and began to touch up her makeup.

    "Seems rather obvious to me since the day I came into your ss. If you want, I can move myself away from him and you can have more interaction with him." Katerine offered.

    "No, it''s okay. We... the two of us aren''t like that. He is just an old ssmate from middle school. Nothing more." Xing Li closed her makeup and instinctively picked up her perfume bottle, but upon the conversation, she quietly put it back in her handbag.

    "It''s alright, go ahead and use it. Don''t think too much and go with the flow for now." Katerine grinned as she went outside and saw themotion the boys were making from afar.

    "Oooh. So Yue Han knows about it too. If she does not want to admit that she likes him, then it''s time to make some trouble. After all, what''s the fun of an exchange program if there are no memories about it?" Katerine smiled at herself as she waited for Xing Li toe back.

 Chapter 308 Shaolin Football Instance

    <h4>Chapter 308 Shaolin Football Instance</h4>

    With all of them being toughened up by the Chashu Ramen in Red Snapper Broth, Bu Dong''s group exited the Restaurant Train of Delicacy to the main shop lobby and bought the tickets to the new dungeon that Jin released earlier in the evening.

    "Where is Boss Jin?" Bu Dong asked Yun who was at the Bar Ind and a penguin waiter who helped serve drinks.

    "Apparently he is making some prototype contraption to present to a business dealer tomorrow. More new things to y with! Hahahaha!" Yun informed them as she curled her hair up at the side and all the boys and girls were smitten by her beauty.

    "Man, the boss sure has a good taste to hire such a beautiful employee like you." Katerine did not hold back her praises for Yun which made her giggle.

    "Enjoy your new dungeon!" Yun told them as she busied herself by entertaining the next customer.

    "What does this dungeon entail?" Xing Li decided to ask Yue Han, but he was suddenly distracted by Katerine''s squeal at the auditoriums showing off the dungeon fights.

    "Are we going to fight and they are gonna broadcast us?!" Katerine pulled Yue Han''s hand away from Xing Li and he unhesitatingly blushed at her initiative.

    "Ermбнthat''s the Bank Heist Raid. We are going for the Shaolin Football Instance. Only the best instances are being shown but chances of us being broadcast is high because of Bu Dong." Yue Han managed to answer with a little stutter. Bu Dong noticed that Xing Li was a bit frustrated by Katerine''s move and decided to attempt to bring Katerine away from Yue Han.

    "Katerine,e here. Let me show you how to enter the instance." Bu Dong beckoned for her, but she was absorbed in her own world, pulling Yue Han wherever she went and ultimately ignored Bu Dong. Xing Li did not care much and decided to enter the instance first. Yue Han eventually saw Bu Dong signalling him and he pulled Katerine with him to the Dungeon instance entrance machine.

    Bu Dong managed to teach Katerine and she went in second. There was sufficient timeg to speak a sentence or two and Bu Dong decided to discipline Yue Han. "Don''t get over your head! Katerine is leaving us in less than a week''s time. Since when were you a yboy, thinking you can have both her and Xing Li?!"

    "What are you talking about, I never even dreamt of something like that?!" Yue Han tried to defend himself, though suddenly they all heard a bat screech. Yue Han sighed. "Look, I just enjoyed myself for a moment. This is the first time in my life I feel wanted okay?! I did not think I ever could be so popr all of a sudden!"

    "Popr my ass!" Bu Dong sneered and Kong Xianughed as he entered the instance to give some more time for the two good brothers to settle their differences. "Fine, you know what? If you don''t want to use the chance to get with Xing Li, I will just use it myself. Don''t me me for stealing her under your nose!" Bu Dong tried to intimidate Yue Han and it seemed to be working.

    "бнTry me!" Yue Han tried to put up a brave front in front of Bu Dongбн but it was not working. Bu Dong had been using the Angry Ape cultivation for years causing Bu Dong not to be afraid of the little scare the bat tried to give him.

    "Just get in already." Bu Dong scanned their tickets and pushed Yue Han in before getting in himself.

    ----------

    When the group entered, they found themselves in a locker room with a Panda figure entering, mming the door and blowing his whistle. "LISTEN UP! This is the preliminary tryout round! We Pandaz are fortunate enough to get a chance to participate in the uing Inter World Football Cup. Either you blow your chance now, or you pull up your socks and get a win for the Pandaz!" Coach Panda Hui shouted. (Well at least that was the name the sticker said, which was badly pasted onto his shirt.)

    "We are going to fight with just five people?" Bu Dong asked and he was given the death stare by Panda Hui.

    "Problem?" Panda Hui asked, and Bu Dong did not say anything else. "Good. Change into the jerseys. Be d, your opponents this time around are just mere robots." Panda Hui banged the door and left the locker room.

    "Wow, that kind of attitude really reminds me of my coach at my old school," Katerinemented as she saw a locker with her name on it. She opened it to find a ck and white spots shirt with matching shorts inside. Giggling at the absurdity of the shirt Katerine went to thedies bathroom to change.

    "What sports is this going to be? Regr football? I am going to suck at it." Xing Liined as she naturally turned to Yue Han for assurance. "Nah, if we know one thing about Boss Jin, it''s that he wouldn''t be so kind as to present us with some simple football game." Yue Han patted her back and went to change.

    The five subsequently walked onto the field and realised that they stood at what looked like a carbon copy of the Beijing National Stadium and began to be in awe at the sheer size of it. Even walking on it resulted in them being filled with pride, as if they were now the ones who wouldpete at the Olympics. At this point, the widescreen TV of the stadium showed the empty result board of Pandaz VS Roboz.

    "Can''t Jin think of a shier name?" Kong Xian shook his head at Jin''s poor naming sense. Not one momentter, they got called over by Coach Hui, sitting at the bench.

    "Look, newbies. This is your chance to spread your glory into the Inter World Football Cup. All you have to do is focus and defeat your opponents." Coach Hui instructed them so vaguely that Bu Dong did not hesitate to put his hand up to ask how to y the game.

    "What? You guys do not know how to y the game?" Coach Hui furrowed his eyebrows before he fiddled around his shirt pocket to wear his sses. "Holy Moly. You guysбнare notбн" Coach Hui realised that the people in front of him were not his men at all.

    "What happened to all of my men? My yers?" Coach Hui shouted loudly only for a Panda from the sideline to shout; "WE QUIT YOU LOSER COACH! NO BAMBOO MEANS NO PLAYERS!!!" The Panda booed at him onest time before he ran out of the stadium.

    "No! If you all quit, how can I бнhow can the Pandazpete in the Inter World Football Cup?!" Coach Hui sat down and started to scratch his head with his two paws. Xing Li then went beside the Coach andforted him.

    "Erm, we can help I guess?" Xing Li rubbed his head a little, and suddenly he stood up with fire in his eyes which scared Xing Li and the rest of the group. It became apparent that he had yed the sympathy card to cheat the group even though it was obvious for the entire team..

    "THAT IS WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR! ALRIGHT! Here are the basics!" Coach Hui seemed to radiate his burning passion and started to teach them how to y.

    "Two Guardians are standing at the back of the goal posts. Each team will be defending the opposing team''s guardian. You will do so to prevent the opposing team from reaching their own guardian. Your goal in this Inter World Football Cup is to get the magical balls, which will spawn on the centre of the field at the start of the round and to feed your guardian with them. The more magical balls you are able to deliver to your guardian, the stronger your guardian will get." Coach Hui exined as he entered the field and simted the area before the actual game started.

    "At the end of each round, the two guardians will power up so the one with more magical strength will win when they sh in the end. That is why I said numbers do not matter. It is mostly about teamwork." Coach Hui exined.

    "How do we fight for the magical balls?" Kong Xian questioned and Coach Hui smiled as he was getting to the juicy part.

    "Fight and kill your enemy. When an enemy shes with you, it will trigger a one on one fight for 30 seconds. The field referee will raise an energy barrier to let you guys brawl it out until the time is up. If there is no winner for the ball, it bes a free for all. Of course, you can pass the magical ball before you sh but whether the ball gets intercepted or not, that is another issue. The field will always have three magical balls for the first two rounds. Should ite to the final round, only one magical golden ball worth four points will be on the field. That one alone is sufficient to turn the tide of battles, and the fight for it is always a free-for-all. In other words, it depends on all of you." Coach Hui finished his description of the game.

    "Will we die if we lose the fight?" Yue Han was a little afraid for losing two members early in the round, mainly Xing Li and Katerine. He wanted them to have fun but it would not be fun if the group lost them in the first round.

    "Nah, when you are close to death, you will be automatically withdrawn by the field referee and the Panda Nurses will give you a standard recovery spell. After about 5 minutes, you will be allowed to enter into the fray again...that is if there is even time for you to enter." Coach Hui pointed at the Panda Nurse who looked like a somewhat shady doctor, as they could see him smoking a cigar at the side of the bench.

    "The only time you will get eliminated for good is in thest fifteen minutes when the stakes are raised. That means as soon as the magical golden ball appears, it is all or nothing. So till then, do your best! But first, say hello to our little friend!" Coach Hui grinned widely at them as he introduced the Guardian of Team Pandaz at the end of the field. No doubt. It was a Panda to represent the Team Pandaz and it growled loudly to show its ferocity to the newly joined team members.

    A Gigantic Pandaji. (Actually, it was just big ass giant panda wearing a Godji suit with its fluffy face poking out at the neck area.)

 Chapter 309 Pandaz vs Roboz

    <h4>Chapter 309 Pandaz vs Roboz</h4>

    "Holy Moly! This is our Guardian? A Panda wearing a Godji suit?!" Yue Han shouted with surprise but he got whacked by Coach Hui for being so loud.

    "Be more respectful to your Guardian! Okay, I know it would be best if you guys had a dry run, but we don''t have any time. I trust that you all are more than capable in understanding the rules since there are three Pandawans in the group." Coach Hui stated as he performed an ''O'' with his arms to the field referee sitting at the side of the stadium digging his nose.

    Upon closer inspection, it was a rather big bulky guy who was carrying a motorcycle helmet with him. The field referee threw his nose dirt with his pinky finger and wore the helmet... for protection? (Or maybe as a fashion statement?) But then a whistle blow was heard from him, supposedly from under his helmet. Bu Dong''s group could see a group systematically walking out of the gates like robots. With every step, they started to be more and more human, which left all three boys in awe.

    "Wow, I am seriously impressed. This is the most animated dungeon instance I have ever been to. Even the ones back at home either had no story or some bad excuses which amounted to simple monster killing. So what''s a Pandawan?" Katerine asked Kong Xian who was right beside her.

    "That is the beauty of Boss Jin''s dungeons. We were also kind of fed up with standard dungeons that were offered by other dungeon suppliers. Oh and we yed enough dungeon instances that we somehow earned the title ''Pandawan'' from the Dungeon NPCs. It is also stated in our Pandamonium Stat screen." Kong Xian opened the app and showed it to her.

    "Woah, you guys have yed more than 30 dungeons?" Xing Li was also curious as she took a look.

    "Nah, those are just the number of times Kong Xian entered Boss Jin''s dungeons. I have more dungeons under my belt. Although I have not tried all of them since most of the time was Bu Dong treating us. We usually just follow him." Yue Han confessed and the girls were amazed by Bu Dong''s generosity.

    "Erm, I just have some spare cash with meбнthat is all." Bu Dong tried to sound humble but failed so badly with the guys teasing him even more. The girls subsequently joined in and Bu Dong got rather embarrassed by it. Yet to the boys, they all appreciated Bu Dong for being honest.

    "Alright, alright. Enough chatter. Have a look at your opponent. It''s Team Roboz." Coach Hui folded his arms as the coach of Team Roboz came closer. For a moment, interim members of Team Pandaz could not see who Coach Hui was referring to until they heard some slimy sound from the ground.

    It was none other than Lord Wolte who decided to y along with Jin''s dungeons to personally get a feel of what Moloch had been talking to him about. The naked slug without the defunct core dragged itself towards Coach Hui. His tempo was rather quickly contrary to his form. (And yeap, the defunct core had been taken away by Moloch but that is for another story!)

    "So you''re only down to five people for your team? That is pandathetic Hui. Oh wait, did I make a bad panda pun. BURNNN~!" Lord Wolte said as he used his small little slug tendrils to push his coach cap down a little while smirking. However, there was only silence in the field. No one else found it funny, even his own team members did not y along to force augh.

    Lord Wolte awkwardly recovered and began to speak, "I will do the same and send in only five of my best as a sign to pity you, Hui." Wolte walked away andmanded five Savants to enter the fray. As the rest went to the side bench and the Motorcycle Helmet Referee told the yers to take their position as indicated on the shining beacons on the field.

    "Xing Li, I understand that your Henotic Hedgehog Style is a kind of support cultivati- WOAH! What''s that for?!" Bu Dong''s reflexes were fast enough to dodge a boomeranging from Xing Li. The boomerangter returned to Xing Li''s hand, making Bu Dong aware that there were sharp edges at each side of the boomerang. Xing Li was wearing a sort of armoured glove which she used to hold the weapon in her hand.

    "I can fight too." Xing Li stated as her eyes were determined to go all out. That was when Yue Han whispered to Bu Dong.

    "Erm, Xing Li is a trained gymnastic despite her cultivation style. In fact, the Hedgehog style makes her even more aggressive- WOAH! WHY ME TOO!?" Yue Han barely dodged after lowering his guard while talking to Bu Dong.

    "Because you talk too much. Let him find out how good I can be. Don''t you look down on me, even though I am just a Grade 2." Xing Li smiled confidently at Yue Han which made him slightly uneasy but he still struggled a smile out for her.

    "Alright then, Yue Han, you hold the backline with Katerine. Wait, ermбн I should go behind and hold the line with Katerine. Both of you and Kong Xian go to the middle." Bu Dong realised that he almost separated Yue Han and Xing Li due to his own desire to be with her.

    "That does not make sense. You are a Grade 4 Peak. You should go to the frontline and grab the ball from the opponents as fast as possible." Katerine disagreed with Bu Dong''s decision.

    "Actually, Bu Dong''s n does make sense. We need someone strong for defence too, so that the... Savants is it? Ah yes, the Savants will have a hard time going to their- WOW THEIR GUARDIAN!" Kong Xian was taken aback when the Titan Knight, which Jin and the others had painstakingly fought against, was revealed to be the Roboz''s guardian.

    "Oh my lord. That is one crazy big ass robot. And here I thought our Pandaji was alreadyrge enough." Katerinemented.

    "SIZE DOES NOT MATTER!" Coach Hui shouted at them to get into their positions quickly, otherwise, the game would not be able to start. "Total of three rounds. 15 minutes each round. Follow what Ape Dong suggested. Sissy Han, Crazy Shit Li and Monk Xian at the front. Fire Girl and Ape Dong at the back!" The group looked at Coach Hui, all with a peculiar look when he finished giving his orders.

    "Please Coach, don''t use those names. бн such an awful naming sense." Bu Dongined and the others agreed.

    "It felt like Jin was controlling the coach and gave us terrible nicknames on purpose." Yue Han added and the Coach Hui was somewhat angry and he pped to hurry them up. Heter changed back to their normal names. The frontliners went to the centre of the field facing three Savants while three magical balls the size of a basketball mysteriously appeared right in front of them.

    "Ready? Fight!" The Motorcycle Helmet Referee blew its whistle once more and the shes happened simultaneously. Kong Xian locked his des with the Lord Knight Savant and a magical barrier appeared right in front of them. Fortunately for him, Katerine being a Fire Shaman had cast various buffs to her teammates seconds before the whistle went off.

    Kong Xian''s two handed sword lit up like a bonfire and the food strength buff that he got eating from the Chashu Ramen allowed him to go toe to toe with the Lord Knight Savant. In the meantime, Xing Li was paired against an Assassin Savant and simr to Kong Xian, she had the same burning fire buff as she shed with the Assassin Savant.

    As for Yue Han, Bu Dong did not know whether tough or cry when he saw Yue Han''s opponent, the Warlock Savant, summoned his Otherworld minion. Coincidentally it had a striking resemnce to the zombie abomination, which Yue Had fought against, during the Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance. Just that it looked meaner, bigger and possessed even more hands like a Thousand Arm Buddha. The Otherworld Abomination swallowed the magical ball with its back mouth and engaged the fight with Yue Han.

    "Why do I always get the shittiest enemy!? And of all monsters, THAT THING AGAIN!!!" Yue Han grumbled as he went forward with his burning one handed sword with a renewed vengeance against the Otherworld Abomination.

 Chapter 310 Cultivators Vs Cultivators

    <h4>Chapter 310 Cultivators Vs Cultivators</h4>

    As the sh was happening, the group''s instance was being broadcast in Auditorium Three. Most customers knew about Bu Dong and his reputation as a first clear dungeoneer and they began to call others to watch him and his group. All were also eager to check out how the new dungeon would develop.

    "Looks to me like a pretty straightforward dungeon." A male customermented on the dungeon that Bu Dong was participating.

    "I think so too, the price of the ticket can also be considered to be on the cheaper side." Another customer agreed with the male customer.

    "I might be overthinking this, but don''t you think it could be set up for future cultivator versus cultivator matches? I mean those robots or Savants look very real to me." A bespectacled female customer spected as she analysed the dungeon instance.

    "For guessing correctly, Five Bronze Medals have been awarded to thedy at the end of the stairs of Auditorium Three!" Mr Patsu announced a surprise reward. A small box came parachuted above her head with the rewards. She was a bit shocked since it was just a passing remark. However it was the confirmation of the observation that caused a big ruckus from the customers at Auditorium Three.

    "Does that mean we might have an internal tournament against each other in the future?!" An older customer was excited to see cultivators pit against each other. Usually, it was based on a need to fight basis and police had to oversee the duels. Otherwise, those cultivators would fight in underground arenas that were illegal to the public. Mixed martial arts or other fighting sports were regted to make sure no cultivation was allowed at all.

    "Ahh, so Boss Jin is releasing this dungeon as a tryout? A tutorial for cultivators who might want to participate in future cultivator versus cultivator fights? Well, that is an original way to introduce such a concept. I love the idea to make it a game rather than an outright fight too." Another customer voiced his opinion.

    "It is illegal for dungeon suppliers to promote cultivator versus cultivator directly, so his way should be a nice little loophole. However, I believe some dungeon suppliers have tried doing something simr, but they were not very sessful because the matchmaking was terrible. And that is only in the cases of the technology working... I recall reading that some smaller dungeon suppliers were not even able to handle it, causing cultivators to be ejected the very moment they shed with each other. Nevertheless, if it''s Boss Jin, I believe he can do it." Mr Know-it-All who was sitting at his favourite spot gave his expertise, and many agreed.

    "Man! Then I got to learn how this dungeon game really work. I got some colleagues who would love to let off some steam against our superiors!" A male customer joked, though many could sympathize. While not all had the same motivation, others could feel the urge topete with others, and the crowd got even more pumped up than usual.

    As the Inter World Football game continued on, the first round came to a close. Bu Dong and group lost severely for the first round, securing only one magical ball for their guardian. Yue Han had no chance to impress the girls and was instead beaten to a pulp by the Warlock and his Otherworld Abomination.

    "HOW IS THIS FOOTBALL!?!?" Yue Han shouted in agony as he could not believe he was trounced by the Warlock.

    "To be honest, Boss Jin would like the audience to give their input on the game and hopes that they coulde up with a more suitable name for the sport." Mr Patsu admitted upon hearing Yue Han''s cries of help and everyone allughed as they they were trying toe up with a suitable name on their own.

    "Oh, please present your suggestions into the Pandamonium App. There is an open survey option on the front page of the app!" Bear Cub One, the secondary announcer added on.

    -------

    As there was an interval between the rounds, Coach Hui gathered the rest up in the locker room andmented on the tactics that were used by the group. "You guys are too segregated. No one is helping each other at all. Zero teamwork. Even an unlearned spectator wouldugh at you for performing so terribly."

    "How can we have teamwork when we are stuck in the energy barrier with an enemy, forced to fight them one on one?" Bu Dong questioned angrily.

    "Remember how that Assassin Savant retreated the moment Xing Li stole the magical energy ball from him? Great work, by the way, Pandastic movement. Ah yes, the energy barrier disappeared, right? It was because he was willing to forfeit the magical ball. That means when you no longer have the will to fight for it, the energy barrier will break. But that also allows you to use this move tactically." Coach Hui exined.

    "Ah...at that time the Lancer Savant came in and contended me for the ball. With my stamina spent fighting against the Assassin Savant, the Lancer Savant who had the range advantage against me managed to defeat me and won the magical ball." Xing Li analysed as she sighed.

    "Yes, and when Bu Dong tried to sh with the Lancer Savant, the Assassin Savant slipped in and entered the battle against Bu Dong, giving the Lancer Savant a chance to press forward to his own Guardian." Coach Hui continued.

    "I was in too much of a shock the moment the Lancer Savant shed with me as I was not prepared to fight against a melee opponent." Katerine stuck her tongue out to apologise to the group since her death was the fastest among all of them.

    "Then in Kong Xian''s case, he was able to withstand the battle against the Lord Knight but as soon as the 30 seconds were over, it became a free for all, allowing the Archer Savant to enter into the fray. Because of the blunder you all made, three of you were down for the count, leaving Kong Xian alone to fend for himself. Defensive character against defensive character was the right choice, but when a ranged attackeres in... there was no way Kong Xian was going to win." Coach Hui concluded as he folded his arms.

    "Ahhh...we blundered so much." Kong Xian apologised in his own way.

    "Hmm, surprisingly, the MVP for this round was Yue Han. His shadow form allowed him to slip through the cracks of the Otherworld Abomination''s defence, bypassing the Warlock Savant''s notice and delivering the magical ball to our Pandaji. It''s a pity the Warlock Savant found your presence afterwards, cursing you so badly that you could not move away, allowing the Otherworld Abomination to beat you senselessly." Coach Hui shook his head.

    "I think we all know where we went wrong and with one match, we more or less learnt a little about the opponent." Bu Dong tried to defend his group since he was afraid that they would be more depressed with Coach Hui''sints.

    "Question, what if two of us went for one particr magical ball? Will it be a two versus one?" Kong Xian asked as he was thinking if he should pair up with a ranged attacker like Katerine, a Fire Shaman.

    "Yes, if you manage to do that, it would be a two versus two in an enclosed area, and any other Savant could join in at will. Not sure how to exin this well. Erm...it can only ur if both of you move towards the ball at about the same time. Not in instances like ''Ah! I should join him!'' That kind of excuse. To y it safe, both of you must be within at least 5 metres of the energy ball for the two versus two to ur." Coach Hui said which made Kong Xian light up and he shared his intent to partner up with Katerine.

    Meanwhile, Katerine was already bent on winning, forgetting her previous ns of causing some mischief between Xing Li and Yue Han. This dungeon instance way more exciting than creating discord between friends.

    Fortunately, this did give an opportunity for Yue Han and Xing Li tomunicate and discuss their technique and tactics together. Bu Dong also felt that they should partner together since they knew each other strength and weakness reasonably well. "Guess, I will continue to stay as the defence."

    "Judging from your discussion, you both are aiming for two balls rather than getting all three energy balls?" Coach Hui rubbed his stubble.

    "Get these two energy balls, achieve at least a tie in terms of energy balls against Roboz for the second round andter go all out for thest golden ball." Bu Dong cusped his hand together in a thinking pose.

    "I see, so you guys are already considering the end goal. I like this simple and straightforward strategy. Good luck." Coach Hui said as they heard a ringing bell, indicating the start of the second round.

 Chapter 311 Round Two - Part One

    <h4>Chapter 311 Round Two - Part One</h4>

    Both Pandaz and Roboz took their position for the second round in a simr fashion as the first one with Yue Han, Xing Li and Kong Xian at the front line. However, while their position was somewhat different, the Savants simply stuck to their initial formation.

    Kong Xian once again was faced to battle it out with the Lord Knight Savant while Yue Han stood before the Assassin Savant. This time around Xing Li decided to handle the Warlock Savant. When the referee blew his whistle under his motorcycle helmet, something radical happened. Xing Li feinted her movements and actually went to assist Yue Han against the Assassin Savant.

    Bu Dong used his cultivation to dash towards Kong Xian the moment the whistle blew, but as Bu Dong was beside Kong Xian, Katerine used her Shamanic powers to do a body swap. Katerine had given Bu Dong a ritual doll in advance, which was used as a catalyst to swap position with the one holding it, allowing her to pair up with Kong Xian. Unfortunately it was a one time use.

    As the body swap was sessful, Bu Dong now ran towards the Warlock''s Otherworld Minion shing with it the moment the minion managed to grab the ball without any resistance. "Take this, you stupid monster!" Bu Dong shouted as he mmed his sword hard against the abomination, causing it to be knocked back into the energy barrier. The Otherworld Minion looked down on himself to see that it was being burned as well.

    Bu Dong realised this would be the best time to inflict more damage. With his opponent being knocked down he hurried towards it. Suddenly, he noticed a bad smelling from another ritual doll he was carrying at the side of his waist. The doll had shrivelled up. He then looked up towards the Warlock, who had been casting his curses, yet seemingly out of nowhere the Warlock went into mes momentarily, causing it to lose its connection with his Otherworld Minion instantly.

    "Hah! A curse for a curse. Way to go, Katerine! Your Shamanic powers might be the thing to turn the tides for this round!" Bu Dong praised Katerine but she was too upied with the fight against thebined might of the Lord Knight Savant and Archer Savant.

    As they had nned to win this round by concentrating on going two-two-one, Katerine had given all of them some support before the start of the match. She had a number of ritual dolls ready in her storage ring and decided to enchant a few of them as a counter curse management seeing that there was a Warlock Savant within the group.

    Of course, being just a Grade 2 Fire Shaman, she did not have the capability to counter all of the curses, and could only do so indirectly. Therefore, she asked Yue Han what kind of effects he felt when he was fighting the Warlock and his minion. Via his exnation, Katerine figured the Warlock was using a sort of movement slowing curse to reduce Yue Han''s ability to evade. So she created a specific counter curse that blocked the movement slowing curse and burned the one casting it. In this case, the Warlock.

    Bu Dong did not hesitate to use his Intermediate Sword Art, Lacerate in the zing Edge of the Angry Ape on the Otherworld Minion. His sword burned even brighter and arger radius of me was ignited along his sword especially with the initial buff of Burning Weapons from Katerine''s magic at the start of the match. "Die, Abomination!" Bu Dong shouted as he cut off all the arms with two shes before he followed it up, by stabbing the unresponsive minion causing mes to blow out from the back of the Minion''s mouth.

    Bu Dong was not done yet, he immediately withdrew his sword from the Minion''s body and threw it at the Warlock who had just recovered from the sudden burning. The sword struck his shoulder and surprisingly, it allowed Bu Dong to teleport to that direction, allowing him to sh the Warlock through the chest.

    "WOAH! Is that the Advanced Sword Art, sh Sword?! Bu Dong managed to do it with a Grade 4?!" A customer eximed as the crowd cheered loudly.

    "No, I think that is his own cultivation technique. There is no way a Grade 4 can learn the sh Sword, Advanced Sword Art. I remember the Angry Ape Cultivation Style having something simr to a sh Sword technique but with a shorter distance and with more requirements." Another customer added to the discussion.

    "Indeed, the Intermediate Sword Art, Sword Throw of the Angry Ape allows one to teleport to another opponent. However, the requirement for that is to have killed an opponent beforehand. It is meant to keep the bo'', the tempo of the battle, flowing. If Bu Dong did not manage to kill the opponent beforehand, the Sword throw technique would just be an ordinary sword being thrown at the opponent." Mr Know-It-All exined to them and as usual some of the crowd acknowledged hisment.

    "Hahaha! Sounds like some game skill." A customer joked as they continued to anticipate the next move of Bu Dong as he trashed the Warlock.

    However, to the high schooler''s surprise, the warlock had his own tricks under his sleeve as he held on to him. At that point, Bu Dong suddenly felt his vitality being drained from his body and the hold of the Warlock bing stronger by the second.

    "Shit! This must be some life drain skill?!" Bu Dong realised his predicament toote. He also saw that it did more than just weaken him. The Warlock decided to release him from his grip, but at that point his left arm has already started turning into stone. Having yed enough games, Bu Dong knew that it was some sort of petrification skill that could turn him into stone. Hence, he took the most drastic action he ever took in his life.

    He cut his left arm away.

    The crowd was petrified with horror by the drastic action that Bu Dong took. Some of the female cultivators even held close to their partners upon seeing blood rapidly flowing out of Bu Dong''s arm. Even Yun who was tending to the Bar Ind was surprised by Bu Dong''s action when she caught a glimpse of the auditorium. "That guy sure has guts," Yun said with approval and the crowd did give him sympathy and bravery points in their hearts.

    He quickly used his chi to forcefully block the gushing of blood as he rubbed his teary eyes away. Suddenly the blood around him started to rise and turned into a stream of fire which then sprung forward to burn the Warlock once more. He looked back to see that Kong Xian was rushing from behind to prevent the revived Otherworld Abomination from backstabbing Bu Dong.

    It seemed that while Bu Dong was busy dealing with his petrification status, the Warlock made use of the time to resummon his minion. It was unclear if it was the same or a 90% simr looking Otherworld Abomination, but no one really cared about that. Seeing their injured friend, both Kong Xian and Katerine decided to disengage with the Lord Knight and Archer Savant duo to save their ssmate. With another glimpse, Bu Dong realised Yue Han went ahead to keep the Lord Knight and Archer Savant upied for a while as Xing Li alone was dealing with the Lancer and Assassin Savants.

    The moment Katerine confirmed that the Warlock was in mes, she ad hoc joined Yue Han and provided a decoy me doll to deal with the Archer Savant as she regained her positioning and energy.

    Bu Dong did not hesitate to use his Personal Technique, the Angry Ape Pronounces Its Superiority as he unconsciously dashed to save Xing Li from impending doom from the dual attack of the Assassin and Lancer Savans.

    It was at that particr moment that Xing Li released her own technique with her Boomerang which wowed the crowd and the ''hero'' rushing to her rescue.

 Chapter 312 Round Two - Part Two

    <h4>Chapter 312 Round Two - Part Two</h4>

    "Boomerang Art, Body Swapping Attack of the Henotic Hedgehog!" Xing Li threw out her boomerang. This allowed her to swap ces on the fly, causing the Lancer Savant to miss his attack. The weapon continued to fly towards the back of the Assassin Savant providing Xing Li with the perfect opportunity to attack, when she appeared behind him. She grabbed the boomerang mid flight and immediately used it to hopefully take out the assassin.

    With the Lancer Savant attacking nothing but air, Bu Dong was able to crash into it. However, the Lancer Savant was quick enough to block partially, so that Bu Dong''s attack was only somewhat effective, mostly making the Lancer Savant flinch.

    The Assassin Savant got sessfully hit... only to transform into a decoy log. Instantly the real one appeared at the back of Xing Li. As she had paid attention to his attacks from thest round, the high schooler was prepared for such a thing to happen and did not hesitate to do a back roundhouse kick with her gymnastic skills while throwing her boomerang upwards. She initiated her Body Swapping Attack, thereby evading the daggers which the Assassin Savant was aiming at her vitals.

    The fight between Assassin Savant and Xing Li had gotten so intense to the point that the Magic Eye Camera provided many angles showing off the stylish blocks and evasive maneuvers and counterattacks between the two. Unfortunately, theck of experience on Xing Li''s revealed an opening which the Assassin didn''t hesitate take advantage of. A poisoned dagger flew and struck her foot, causing the poison to spread out in Xing Li, slowing her down significantly. Furthermore he followed it up by initiating the ''Culling Strike'' skill to bring her down mercilessly, but then a shadow appeared in between them.

    *ng~!*

    Sparks flew crazily when the edge of the Assassin Savant''s dagger struck onto steel. Yue Han was able to block the attack with his shadow form before he grabbed Xing Li by the torso. Suddenly the shadow form turned into a gigantic shadow Bat which flew past the Assassin Savant and Lancer Savant who was still battling against Bu Dong aggressively. Coach Hui looked at his stopwatch and noticed that thirty Seconds had passed since the start of the fight against the Assassin. Yue Han''s timing was perfect, and allowed him to grab Xing Li to take her away.

    He managed to bring her to the edge of the battlefield as he tore open the first button of her shirt. Xing Li could not help but stifle a scream when Yue Han covered her mouth with his left hand while pushing her head to the side.

    "I am sorry, you can scold or beat meter for this." Yue Han whispered under his breath as he went ahead to bite her neck. Suddenly, the four bats screeched loudly above Yue Han, indicating that a technique was being used. It was none other than one of the signature skills of the Bat''s style, the Blood Drain of the Blind Bat. While the technique had the ability to reduce the health and vitality of his enemies and provide Yue Han with a bonus, there was an alternate use of the Blood Drain of the Blind Bat.

    It was to fuse the Blind Bat''s cultivator blood with another cultivator. In this case, Yue Han was using it to lighten the poison that Xing Li was afflicted by. However, as he was doing it, Xing Li could not help but blush as her heart beat became extremely fast because of Yue Han''s close proximity to her. Not to mention, the idental physical touch as Yue Han grabbed her tightly to remove the poisoned blood from her body.

    The Assassin Savant was unwilling to let them get away without finishing them off. Rushing over towards the defenceless couple he suddenly encountered a new enemy, because Kong Xian had used his taunting skills, courtesy of the Towering Tortoise Style. This changed the mindset of the Assassin Savant who feltpelled to drop everything and kill Kong Xian. "Don''t you f.u.c.k.i.n.g dare to go near that couple!" Kong Xian shouted at the Assassin Savant only encouraging thetter to hurry over.

    However, the Assassin Savant also noticed that the high schooler was already panting. In actuality the Towering Tortoise was already at a disadvantage against the Otherworld Minion alone. A wicked smile appeared on the Assassin''s face as he understood what would happen once he joined in on the fight. It would spell the end of the annoying Tank of Team Pandaz.

    Yet before the Assassin Savant could do anything about it, another meddlesome thing happened. Once again the boomerang came flying towards him. The Assassin Savant deflected it with ease into the air but what he did not expect were two bodies suddenly appearing right beside the boomerang.

    "RIDER KICKKKKK!!!" Xing Li and Yue Han shouted at the same time to pay tribute to the masked riders they watched together when they were young. The Assassin Savant was caught off guard and not only got bashed by the two cultivators kicking it to the ground he also dropped the energy ball.

    Yue Han quickly picked it up and Xing Li threw her boomerang to teleport the both of them to the Pandaji Guardian to feed him the magical energy ball. However, afterwards a quick nce at the scoreboard made them realise that Katerine''s portrait was crossed out. At that point, the Lord Knight proceeded to send their energy ball towards the Titan Knight while the Archer Savant began assisting the Lancer Savant.

    "Shit! I totally forget about her!" Yue Han wanted to assist his friends, but the poison, despite only absorbing a small and weakened amount, had started to take effect on him. Fortunately his grade was higher than Xing Li''s so the effects were lighter on him. On the other side Xing Li nearly fell to the ground though Yue Han managed to grab her in time.

    Internally, she felt conflicted. She was happy that Yue Han was right beside her but also angry that he was so selfish to save her and abandon the team. But ultimately, all she wanted to do was stay in the moment and continue to lie in his embrace. "Stupid. Why did you have to save me? Now the whole team will me you." Xing Li whispered as she began to sweat from the poison.

    "Well, at least we finally fulfilled our promise and we have done the Rider Kick in a dungeon. Heh." Yue Han rubbed his nose as if he aplished something great.

    And to him it was.

    It was a dumb middle school promise. The two of them had casually dered to be the Hero and Heroine of the town they were protecting. The 8th grade syndrome. A condition where people believe they have superpowers when they were in the Manga school club together. However whereas Yue Han continued to remember that flimsy promise, Xing Li had moved on with her life and even started looking down at Yue Han for being so childish.

    Only in High school where Yue Han met up with Bu Dong did he continue to increase his cultivation and managed to be the superhero that Xing Li once envied. Slowly but surely, she fell in love with him even though he was still clumsy and oftentimes a coward. Yet today, she saw a new side of Yue Han being so heroic. Something which she never thought possible in the past.

    In the meantime, Bu Dong had no choice but to try and go over his limits in order to keep the Lancer Savant on the defensive, hoping to clear the Lancer Savant before the Archer Savant severely assaulted him with a bombardment of arrows. He was too busy to pay attention to the time they spent fighting, when suddenly felt tentacles which were grabbing his legs. Only then did he notice that Kong Xian had already fallen in battle.

    "Ah oh well, at least those two reconciled their feelings in some way or another..." Bu Dong sighed but smiled at the end... as the Lancer pierced his body and the Archer ced an arrow right between his eyebrows. The crowd saw the brutal annihtion and realised that this particr dungeon instance was not easy... not a single bit.

    Not just that, The Titan Knight finished absorbing the remaining energy ball from the members of Team Roboz and summoned his gigantic sword. He proceeded to cleanly cleave the Pandaji who was still charging his energy st into two. The dungeon instance was over despite Yue Han and Xing Li still surviving.

    As they got back to the auditorium, some of the crowd thanked the group for the exciting exchange of blows despite their loss. However, the dungeon instance was not a waste as Mr Patsu, the penguin announcer stated that each ball they gave Pandaji allowed them to earn five bronze medal each as a constion prize for ying.

    "Ahhh...what a waste, I thought we could manage a tie from that and try to win thest round. Sorry, I was not strong enough. But I gotta admit, this was a gratifying experience. It''s a shame we don''t have such a brilliant Dungeon Supplier..." Katerine sighed at the group and the entire group shook their head.

    "Nah, it happens. Don''t worr-ow ow ow ow" Yue Han was trying to console Katerine but got grabbed by Kong Xian and Bu Dong punched Yue Han continuously. "Yea, yea, don''t worry my ass! It''s my money you dumbass! I treated you guys so you could y your best and win!" Bu Dong kept punching Yue Han relentlessly and was not letting up. Xing Li smiled at the guys'' yfulness but told Bu Dong to stop after a while. Yue Han thought Xing Li was there to rescue him.

    Oh, how wrong he was...

    "I think he needs more endurance training. Besides, I remember a certain someone telling me, that I could beat him up for biting me on the neck without my permission." Xing Li kicked him in the torso with all her might as they could see the two hedgehogsing out.

    "What is with- Ooofff!" Yue Han did not know whether Xing Li really liked him or was just toying with him. The othersughed as they unleashed the punishment to Yue Han for breaking the nned formation. (Although in the end, Bu Dong did give him a potion from the Panda General Store to recover.)

 Chapter 313 Oath Swearing

    <h4>Chapter 313 Oath Swearing</h4>

    Frustrated, Jin came out of the dungeon maker room after trying to design the remote portal based on what he had seen and what he knew. Turns out, it was not as easy as making the Gearbox device mainly because the blueprints and information had already been provided to Jin and the System. Through analysing the product, the System could simply rece inefficient circuit routes and increase the output.

    Unfortunately Invention was another thing altogether. Theoretically, Jin could use the System''s portal ability and call it the prototype to impress Ke Loong. However such a method would pose a drastic problem when it was time to mass produce it. Sure, Jin could say that because of the patent, he could solely produce the item and not let others touching it all.

    Even if Jin tried his utmost to try and hide the inner workings of the portal, he was aware, that there was no way to stop some pesky busybodies, who wished to try and copy the prototype design by reverse engineering it. (Because as an engineering student, he did that plenty of times with products that he liked. Tinkering such items was the only way to curb his curiosity.)

    Jin could ce anti tampering steps into the Remote Portal Device, but should only be a matter of time until people would start to get suspicious of Jin''s anti tampering methods. As long as nobody was able to break through such an iron defense, eventually they would believe he was using some sort of magic unknown to the world. Yet even worse... if someone really does manage to break through the anti tampering methods he or she would gain ess to the System''s knowledge about portal making. Ultimately, this was without a doubt a double edged sword situation and repercussions were dire if not handled properly.

    "This time around, I think I may have shot myself in the foot..." Jin scratched his head as he went out to get a bit of fresh air. Surprisingly at thiste hour, when it was already to to close his shop, he saw Yun sitting there, together with Hou Fei.

    "Ah Young Master, you are finally free. I was starting to worry that I had to wait the whole night." Hou Fei addressed him as he sipped his cup of ck Ivory Coffee. "Good thing Yun was so nice to keep this old manpany. I''ve heard the basics from Yun about your adventures so far as well as your goal and the System''s. Indeed, your actions are quite admirable... To be a dungeon supplier is a good way to achieve it, and also provides a very good cover to gainrades on the sly."

    "...How would he react, if he knew that it had nothing to do with the revival of the Panda n?" Jin thought to himself, but he just smiled at Hou Fei. There was no reason to correct him, he only hoped Yun left out the part about his rtionship with the System. "So, what brings you here? It must be pretty urgent, if someone of your standing would even be willing to wait the whole night for me?" Jin asked Hou Fei with sheer curiosity.

    "Of course, in fact it is very important. I am here to renew my Oath to the Young Master. Thest Oath I took was with Ming. If you recall, he was mymander when I was merely a recruit in the army. I had no idea I was even a Panda Remnant, until a few yearster." Hou Fei told him while they walked towards the the Restaurant Train of Delicacy for ate meal. It just so happened that Lynn was assisting the penguins to clean the train interior a little, although her peggies demanded her to have a rest.

    "Lynn, this is Hou Fei. Remember what I told you about the Panda n? Turns out he''s one of the remnants. I was hoping to have a chat with him here since there is some food...plus I am famished." Jin rubbed his stomach only to produce sounds which were indicative of hunger.

    "Hahaha, What do you two wish to eat? I can prepare it for you guys!" Lynn asked with a gentle smile.

    "Lynn, we will simply take the leftovers. Honestly you can go back home and rest. You have worked really hard for the past few days ever since this restaurant instance was opened." Jin said with a bit of concern in his voice, but Lynn refused as she lifted her arms and flexed it a little.

    "After I got the Penguin cultivation, I never feel as tired as before. For some reason, my work in the kitchen seems to even boost my cultivation, too. Haha!" Lynn giggled as three penguins silhouettes were shown right above her head dancing around happily.

    "Wow, in less than a few days you jumped grade?" Jin eximed and even Hou Fei was impressed by Lynn''s dedication after hearing Jin''s exnation. "If that is the case, I shall not be humble and get the most expensive dish on the menu." Hou Fei said as a show of support for Lynn''s hard work.

    "I will get erm...the curry rice." Jin just wanted some hot quick food. However, Jin was in for a pleasant surprise, as he had been unaware that Lynn even modified the Tonkatsu curry rice which enriched the vour of the curry. Lynn noted down their orders and told them to give her a bit of time to prepare the dishes. In the meantime, they decided to talk some more.

    "For your oath thing, is there a ceremony or just reciting?" Jin asked since he did not know how the Remnants worked. Not too long ago, he was oblivious to "Panda n", "Remnants", "Sub-System" and things of that nature.

    "Yea, just reciting the oath will be fine. Back then Ming asked me to do it during the mission. I was super shocked when I got in contact with the System for the first time. The pain was excruciating and worse still because we were in a mission, I had to tolerate it with the utmost silence. I would love to tell you that I valiantly endured it, but as a rookie you can probably imagine, that instead I screamed. This lead to the enemies finding us but we managed to annihte them." Despite Hou Fei being rather old, him talking about the memories of the past made him smile like a young kid again.

    "Oh, then erm feel free to just recite it then. Or do you need me to ask for your allegiance first? Maybe some rification of what I need you to do?" Jin asked to which Hou Fei shook his head yet again.

    "After what I heard from Yun and the limited interaction I had with your customers while waiting, you are likeable enough. Plus I have seen what you did in the assassination attempt against Yang Ling''s dad. Your power considering your age and your time with the System is remarkable." Hou Fei picked up his hand and the insignia Jin saw previously appeared and glowed.

    What Hou Fei recited was rather long and to a point, quite cryptic too. Jin managed to decipher the first part since he understood how the Pandas swore to secrecy back then while preparing to fight against the Banned Emperor and his retainers. When the oath was done Jin suddenly felt his hand burn and looking down, he found the same particr insignia now glowing on him.

    It was a Panda Head which at the same time looked like a ck and white magical ritual circle. Yun informed Jin in his head that only when someone swore allegiance to his lord, would the insignia emerge again.

    "So does that mean, Lynn does not count? Even though she was granted a Sub-System?" Jin asked Yun in his thoughts. Yun rified that Lynn was not part of the Panda n at the moment, but rather more of a coborator. Jin had to officiate her into the n through a proper ceremony unlike Hou Fei who was merely renewing his oath. After all since he was a Panda Remnant, he was already part of the n.

    "So do you need me to tell you more about me and what I do? If not, what are your current ns and how should I fit into them? Oh? The food is here!" Hou Fei smiled as he suddenly whiffed a salty fragrance in the air which nearly made him start to drool.

    "For now, I''d love to have more information about the Banned Emperor since you guys have custody of him. I n to get myself to a higher grade so that I can protect myself. I can''t always be so lucky, to have my friends around protecting me. Short term goal wise, I guess it''s to get this store up and running, maybe make it more famous so I have more money to n for bigger things and have a better cover. They always say ''Famous people get away with stuff'', right?" Jin listed his ns, as he munched on his curry rice and Hou Fei nodded.

    "Indeed, famous people always get away with stuff. After all the victor gets to change history." Hou Fei added before he slurped his noodles.

    "But yeah, I would also like to know about your abilities and what you do in detail. Perhaps I can achieve more with your help." Jin tried to keep it short in order to enjoy Lynn''s food Lynn. The vour was indeed enriched. He even felt some chi circting in his body, even though he was not cultivating it.

    "Yes. Let me get to that- *slurps* After I- *Slurps* Mmmmm Finish this bowl of noodles." Hou Fei face showed immense delight while chewing on his food.

 Chapter 314 Future Goals

    <h4>Chapter 314 Future Goals</h4>

    "Actually, on second thought, I''d like to observe some more of what Young Master can do before I reveal anything to you." Hou Fei wiped his mouth after the sumptuous meal. Perhaps it was the hunger that was talking previously and now that he was filled with a full stomach, he was able to think more rationally.

    "Huh. I knew it was not going to be that easy. Oh well, in stories, both old and new ones, the elders would also want to see and test the protagonist to see if he was worthy." Jin shrugged as he chewed thest bit of his Tonkatsu curry rice.

    "Hahaha, you think you are a protagonist of a story?" Hou Fei ced his arms on the back of the chair as heid back.

    "Nah, I doubt it. I might have a System which might make me seem like a protagonist, but in actual fact, I am just a tiny little person with slightly more powers than the average crowd. There are other worlds out there where there are heroes a hundred times stronger than me. I can consider myself lucky, that we live in a modern world, otherwise I''d probably explore the world, only for enemies to always appear, who just so happen to be right at my power level. But this is reality, if I had encountered that Assassin anywhere but in my dungeon, I''d most likely be dead." Jin sniggered, before he got serious towards the end.

    "Hmm hmm. It''s good to see that Young Master is somewhat humble as he acknowledges the power he wields." Hou Fei wanted to smoke a cigarette, but subsequently remembered he was in the presence of Jin. "Is it okay if I..erm?" Hou Fei asked but Jin shook his head.

    "I''d rather you not. Sorry and thank you." Jin wanted to be still respectful to his senior even though Hou Fei called him the young master. Hou Fei did acknowledge his young master''s wish, put the cigarette back into the box and continued to talk.

    "While I continue to observe you, do not hesitate to call me if you need any help. And by the way, I was serious about you conducting the exercises for the military. This will give me a perfect excuse to give you ess to records for military equipment, maybe I can even manage to reveal some of our experimental stuff. I believe the System and you might find this very useful in the long run." Hou Fei said as he asked the penguin waiter for a cup of coffee to temporarily curb his addiction for tobo.

    "I see, if I run some military exercises, I''ll get money and ess to military equipment which might be vital for fighting against King Baal in the dungeon world," Jin pondered, but Hou Fei who overheard his mumbling wondered what the hell he was talking about.

    "King Baal? Wait...a minute. Yun and you are serious about other worlds existing?" Hou Fei furrowed his eyebrows and became serious as he leaned forward to look at Jin.

    "Oh oops...should I not have said it?" Jin asked the System.

    "Negative. It is better for him to know about your ns. Transparency with your n members is vital formunication." The System replied, and Jin rolled his eyes as if he could not believe what the System said after what it did to him. After which he sighed.

    He had to admit that in retrospect, it was partially his fault for not taking the initiative, too.

    Then he turned to Hou Fei and Jin exined to in detail how he got the Dungeon City Fortress. And the more Hou Fei learned about it, the more he was thoroughly amazed by Jin''s actions. It would appear, that Yun had deliberately left out some parts when she had informed him prior.

    "You know, you seriously don''t need topete with the twelve zodiacs. I mean if you can own a city in that foreign world, is there even still the need for that? From the looks of it, if you can bring our modern technology into that city, you might very well be the most profitable and famous person in that world if done correctly." Hou Fei voiced his thoughts as the were going wild with all the possibilities.

    "In that case, all the more reason for your dungeon shop to allow the military exercise. With the favourable debt of the Zodiac Tigers under your belt, you can never know what kind of resources you can get. y the cards right and you might have people and resources on your side!" Hou Fei was extremely excited about how this would go.

    "I have done plenty of military administration and organisation. I do not mind chipping in as an advisor. Who knows? Maybe I can get the title of Defence Minister." Hou Feiughed for a while before he continued. "It''s a jest... although part of me was serious about it."

    "That might actually be a good idea. If Qiu Yue can look after the civilian building aspect of the city, you could take care of the military organisation and defences and Moloch can deal with the politics. Oh yea there''s Wolte too...Honestly, I am not too sure what to think of him. Hmm. What do you think about this, System?" Jin folded his arms and started to think of the possibility.

    "Does User not intend to take revenge against the Banned Emperor, who killed your parents? Does User not wish to follow the mission of his ancestors, to revive the Panda n in China and im its rightful ce? What about being the Number One Dungeon Supplier in this World? The Dungeon City Fortress was meant to be a backup as we do not know how strong that King Baal is in reality. User might not be well equipped to fight the Supreme Being in another world. What if he is untouchable and manages to raze all the work User did? Will it all be for nought?" The System questioned.

    "Erm to the Banned Emperor question, No. Too troublesome. I just got Kraft to get information out of him because I think he likes this kind of stuff. Also can''t hurt to see if we can find anything useful to protect ourselves or buy a favor or two if the information would be good enough. In any case, might as well make him be happy once in a while." Jin answered and suddenly he felt a chill down his spine, but it was not as cold as the usual ones.

    "Revival of Panda n question. Also a no. No matter how I thought about it, I find it too crazy. You basically wish for the upheaval of the twelve zodiac ns. It might have worked in your time, or some centuries before this time, but currently they are too deeply rooted in the society. Not to mention how hard it would be, even if I somehow manage to do it, this would basically put me above all others powerwise in China and unless I eradicate everyone against us, the survivors would try to take me down. I do not wish for that kind of future, too troublesome."

    "Number One Dungeon Supplier? Why affect only this world? If the Remote Portal can really work. I am not aiming for just this world. I am aiming to incorporate the other worlds in other universes too. Of course, there are kinks that need to be ironed out. For example if we are introducing it to other worlds that do not have resurrection in ce like ours or the Dungeon World. However using our city as a base for resupplies and the town itself will be a fantastic way to provide a whole new experience to our customers."

    "And for yourst question...I do not have confidence but I wish to try. If we really can defeat King Baal, it might bring even more glory and trade to our city. Not to mention, we have monsters from other worlds. With their powersbined, I do not believe we cannot do it. Besides, Moloch did say that I am a supreme summoner h-hahaha." Jin proudly answered. The System quietly listened and analysed it for quite some time.

    "I guess you are thoroughly beaten by Jin for the first time System," Kraftmented as he appeared in front of Hou Fei which shocked thetter.

    "Sir Kraft?! ...You are alive?!" Hou Fei sounded very surprised, his lips trembling with trepidation, but Kraft ignored him for a moment as he was waiting for the System''s reply.

    "Indeed, User provided feedback which the System did not consider due to its adamant attitude towards its past goal of having revenge against the Zodiacs. System did not realise that the original goal of reviving the Panda n'' glory was well assimted into the revenge goal, that it long became the primary objective of the System. System will need to spend more time to reevaluate its priorities. However, the long term mission still stands. The Ruby Rat Triad poses a threat to Jin''s business in the long run. It will be best to eliminate this particr pest problem." The System replied which Jin acknowledged.

    "I could never forgive how they tried to manipte Lynn. For the safety of my colleagues. Yes, that will not change." Jin nodded his head, yet he also started to be disturbed by Hou Fei''s 180 degree change in behaviour towards Kraft.

    "Kraft, did you scare him when the assassin struck in the morning?" Jin asked as he could not remember Kraft staying too long aside from his foxes stopping the ritual.

    "Nope didn''t do anything to him this morning. However I did tell you how Ming and I kind of bullied a Royal Zodiac Snake fellow, didn''t I?" Kraft pointed at him with his thumb and smiled a bit too innocently.

 Chapter 315 Heavenly Five Elements Tribulation

    <h4>Chapter 315 Heavenly Five Elements Tribtion</h4>

    Jin stared at Kraft for a moment to see if he was joking about it, but there were no signs of him letting it off as just another one of his pranks or illusions.

    "Well, don''t get me wrong, he will be loyal to you. His oath guarantees it. There is no way that he will break that oath unless he wants to suffer the Heavenly Five Elements Tribtion." Kraft said as he backed up Hou Fei''s credibility to Jin.

    "What? Heavenly Five Elements Tribtion? That thing is also real? бн well, that should probably not surprise me anymore." Jin scoffed at it when he was younger, thinking it was just some made up stuff in the past to promote honour and loyalty in the folklore. When someone betrayed their n, the person breaking the oath would immediately be subjected to the Heavenly Five Elements Tribtion on the spot judged by the Heavens themselves.

    If their ''betrayal'' was just, all they had to do was to bear with the pain of Earthly veins seeping into their body, Fire burning their lungs, Water filling their stomach, Lightning electrocuting their brains and Metal rotting their skin. If the person could bear with the pain, which the majority obviously was unable to, they would not be chased after by their n members because they had passed the trials by the Heavens.

    Should other n members still feel dissatisfied and decide to attack the member who betrayed the n, they''d have to undergo the same tribtion trial by the heavens in order to be allowed to chase after them. If one thought carefully, this was an apparent loophole to be exploited, but that was how thew of natures was made by the forefathers of cultivations. Some even believed that the forefathers ced such a loophole on purpose, so unusual cases like people seeking justice could still be reprised by it. However, the tribtion itself was sufficient to cause enough deterrent against most people from switching their ns like changing sweaters.

    "Sorry, I still don''t get it. If what Kraft said is true and you are Royal Zodiac Snakeбнthen how can you be a Panda n Remnant?" Jin was slightly confused. Maybe the fatigue and a full stomach was setting in so that he could not think well enough.

    "The n had been decimated and scattered all around the ce. I am honestly not surprised if the Remnants mixed in with other ns to increase their numbers. After all, there was no way to differentiate someone as a Panda, unless they were one of the prominent direct descendants and you can guess that nobody would admit to being from a family which was to be executed. Even I gotta admit it must have been painful to hide right under the noses of our enemies, and executioners. Hoping one day the n will rise up again." Kraft was the one to provide the answer and Hou Fei nodded his head.

    "I could technically be counted as being one of the direct descendants of the Snakes. At least my mother was one of the children of the Snake Lord at the time. However she was the 6th daughter, therefore her value to the family was not too big. When my father got engaged with her she got assigned some attendants to create another sub family. That was how I was born. All this while, I thought that I was a true Royal Zodiac Snake member until Ming and Kraf-"

    "Let''s not use such a flowerynguage. I was frustrated, that I got caged in, and got a perfect chance to let some steam off. At the same time, I found out the secret, which even he was unaware off. Ming became like the mediator once he found out his true lineage leading to the Panda n. Hahaha!" Kraftughed heartily as he interrupted Hou Fei''s exnation and remembered the days he tortured Hou Fei.

    "Sigh, if not for Kraft''sбнdeliberate bullying, I may not have found out about my proper lineage and that I partially came from the Pandas and not just the Snakes." Hou Fei replied with a bitter smile.

    "Then why do you still choose to be part of the Panda n? Aspared to a member of the Royal Zodiac Snakes? I mean, you even if you are ''only'' considered part of the sub families. That is more or less the best position to beбн Ooooh. No wonder you wanted me to go for the peaceful solution." Jin was really curious about Hou Fei''s decision to be a Panda n Remnant until he seemingly figured out Hou Fei''s goal since the beginning of the conversation.

    "Yea. Me being part of the Royal Zodiac Snake n was one of the reasons why I proposed you grow in the Dungeon City Fortress instead. But don''t get me wrong, it wasn''t the main reason at all. Sure, I am not exactly abandoning my identity of being a Royal Zodiac Snake yet my lineage allows me to serve two ns at once. However, with my standing, I am not allowed to hold any true position of power for the Snakes. The rest of my Royal Zodiac Snake n family obviously does not know about my half lineage. Even my wife has no clue about it. However, fortunately, the n has no rule which makes its members admit to their allegiance unless they have been granted an official seat of power of course." Hou Fei exined.

    "That is why I can still do whatever I like until now and they assume I am doing it all for the sake of the Royal Zodiac Snake." Hou Fei felt a little proud saying it out loud.

    "Waitбнso you want to be part of the Panda n Remnantбн because you can be a double agent?" Jin sounded confused with Hou Fei''s rationale.

    "That is the wish, if not the unsaid goal of every Royal Zodiac Snake n member. We learn the art of deception and assassination since we are young, yet most of us do not get a chance to practice it truly in real life. Many still use it for office politics to backstab some people and rise through the ranks. But that could only be considered as child''s y." Hou Feiughed as he said that.

    "Well, I suppose some people might really be double agents for our country overseas, though generally sub families do not get such privileges. Besides, they all think that my father was just some minor cultivator that was adamant about practicing a Panda cultivation. No one seemed to suspect that the cultivation he practised was the long lost one and that included me." Hou Fei added, but he could see Kraft''s eyes gleaming at him with excitement as if he was ready to pounce to im the credit for allowing him to see the ''light''.

    "Okay, I guess I can trust you for now." Jin told him, though he felt that there was a more significant underlying reason why he decided to side with the Panda n as a Remnant until Kraft pricked his bubble of curiosity.

    "His father was domestically abused by the Royal Zodiac Snake n. His childhood memories showed that he himself was also bullied. However, most of that was the usual stuff between the younger generation. His treatment overall had been better since his mother was of pure blood. Nevertheless from what I learned Hou Feng could never forgive them for ultimately treating him as a toy to y with. From what Ming told me after Hou Fei found out that he was part of the lost Royal Panda n he started to have doubts that maybe the Snakes had suspected his father''s true lineage after all this time. Unless he seeded even today, he should be trying to collect evidence and proof to avenge the injustice towards his father. But judging from how he is now with theck of activity in the Panda n since Ming was emunicated PLUS the time reversal... I am not entirely sure how he is coping with the whole situation." Kraft exined in Jin''s head.

    "Don''t you always intervene and casually look into other people''s heads? Why not do it for Hou Fei? Isn''t that your expertise?" Jin asked quietly as he made small talk with Hou Fei at the side.

    "Have you forgotten what the Snakes execl at? My prefered working methods are not exactly used on the sly. No matter what, he is ultimately a Royal Zodiac Snake n member. If I ever try to casually break into him, he would definitely know about it and that would only serve to create mistrust between you and him. Why lose a potential ally right at the beginning? There is currently no reason to do so at the moment. Besides it''s way more fun to see if he ever betrays you or serves you with utmost loyalty just as how he did for Ming." Kraft stated while giving Jin a look as if that much should have been obvious.

    "I see, then I shall take your words into consideration and put my trust into him." Jin pondered for a moment even though he was not showing it which earned him some rather rare praise from Kraft himself.

    "You are improving at the use of separating the thoughts of your subconscious and the actions of your consciousness. Keep it up. The Astral Phantom might be within reach of a year if you continue to do this." Kraft patted Jin''s back as he disappeared once again.

    "Oh my god. How did Kraft survive from the encounter with Ming?" Hou Fei released a breath of relief.

    "You knew about what happened that caused the System to create the time reversal?" Jin asked with anticipation.

    "The System did not tell you about it? Ming when he was alive never said anything to you?" Hou Fei asked with some disbelief. Jin shook his head casually and pretended not to care too much, but his heart desired for that information.

    "ThenбнI will not tell you, too. Perhaps, it''s not the time for you to know. Besides, it is not as important as the future." Hou Fei discussed a few more things with Jin before they both returned to their respective homes to prepare for the next day.

 Chapter 316 Completing The Checklis

    <h4>Chapter 316: Completing The Checklist</h4>

    Throughout the next few days Jin met up with Ke Loong for several meetings and was apanied by Xiong Da. It was to discuss the finer details in regards to the Remote Portal Device deal. There were many red tapes as Jin had expected but Xiong Da cleared them for him with ease and in advance too. Most of the paperwork were handled by Xiong Da and his new assistant and girlfriend, Ruo Ying.

    Obviously, Ke Loong knew of Xiong Da and his reputation and cursed at Mr Know-It-All for bluffing him to go in the deal blindly. He was basically ripped off by his friend and this duo in front of him, but ultimately he reluctantly agreed to all conditions even when his personnel advised their CEO against it. However, it was because of the presence of Mr Know-It-All in thest and final meeting, Ke Loong epted the Remote Portal Device deal.

    "You will not regret it. Trust me, Bro." Mr Know-It-All patted Ke Loong''s back as he could clearly see that his old friends was basically holding back his tears back. "If I lose out in the deal, you better repay me all the money you owe me since school days!" Ke Loong snapped at Mr Know for a while before returning to thepany with his personnel.

    Hence with both Mr Know It All and Xiong Da''s help, Jin managed to clinch a good deal and that even included the desperately needed data of the remote portal Jin wished to create. With the data, the System could now work its magic to analyse it and attempt- no, manage to produce a Remote Device Portal that had little to do with the System''s own special powers.

    On the other hand, the Shaolin Football Instance proved to be a hit after Bu Dong''s debut against the Roboz. Many tried their own luck, wishing to be the first to defeat Team Roboz but till now no one was able to. There were a few instances, when teams managed to tie the Savants and advance on to Round 3, but it was as if there was a difficulty notch that was automatically turned to make sure that the teams lost at the veryst minute.

    Some of the dungeon goers began to suspect that foul y was being performed and it was impossible to defeat it. Many began to dub it as the gold standard of dungeons in Jin''s dungeon instances based on the number of goals being thrown into the Pandaji.

    However, only Mr Know-It-All seemed to be able to recognise the effects of the Shaolin Football Instance. Even though the people lost to that particr dungeon, Mr Know noticed that the cultivators who tried the Shaolin Football dungeon instance had a higher survival rate in other previous dungeon instances because they were more alert and aware of their surroundings.

    "Overall teamwork has been raised at least by five percent. No wonder, Jin called it the Shaolin Football Instance, it was like a paid session at the Shaolin Temple. Be defeated and learn your mistakes from it. Hahaha, if only Jin had tutorials for cultivation again like how he had Miss Milk and Miss Peppers." Mr Know-It-All mumbled casually to himself while noting something down, so focused with his work, that he did not notice Jining up beside him.

    "Well, how about you do it? You have been in my shop for the longest time ever. The customers trust your expertise, thanks to yourments in the auditoriums as well as your top voted dungeon guides." Jin was wiping his sweat as he was wearing just a singlet from the Halloween Pandrac costume. It was a good thing that he could finally take it off within the next few days.

    "Hahaha, that is a fascinating proposal. I can no doubt pass you the data of the cultivators that I took note of, but I have a feeling that you might have more detailed data than me." Mr Know smirked as he said that.

    "Why would you say that? I am just the owner of this shop." Jin was trying to keep his poker face, but judging by the others reaction, he was doing a poor job of it.

    "You surely jest. I have seen Team Roboz defeating people almost immediately when they tried to use the same tactics again. It was not that obvious for the other instances, but in the Shaolin Football Instance, it was as if you are training your customers to think more." Mr Know shared his assumptions as he ced his notebook down for a moment. "People are saying that you purposely priced it low, so that they can learn. And I would tend to agree, especially when you count the number of medals you can win if youpare it with a proper story theme instance. What exactly is your objective?"

    "To prepare them for somethingrger. Something grander. Something more exciting." Jin tried to hide the details. Mr Know did not bother to ask too much since he preferred to be surprised by this dungeon supplier in front of him. And so far Jin had yet to disappoint.

    "I shall look forward to it then. I will think about your offer and will let you know, after I''ve decided." Mr Know told him before he went back to watch the cinematic right in front of him. Jin thanked him and did not bother him anymore.

    "Hmm, me being a teacher, again? Will I be still qualified to be that?" Mr Know whispered to himself as he thought of the past before taking a sip his favorite tea and concentrating on the screen and his notes.

    As Jin gave the Pandrac suit over to one of the Red Pandas to clean it, he was also thinking of the meeting that Grandma Yuan talked about. He did receive an official reminder earlier in the day from Sheng Si Fang, the owner of Lele Cafиж and themittee leader of the Tiangong Shopping District.

    "If even Si Fang does not know what Grandma Yuan expects of me, then how should I oblige her wishes..." Jin scratched his head a bit as he looked up on the tasks to do on his phone. For the past few days, he had been busy settling a few affairs.

    First things first was the Sanctum of Worlds, the home instance for his various monsters. Simr to Mr Derpy and his Deep Ones before they got their deep sea alike home instance, Wolte and the other Savants stayed at the guest rooms waiting for Jin to act. To his surprise, Wolte just asked him for a peaceful house and nothing too fancy. In turn, and more as a jest, he created a standard 1950s western suburban neighbourhood for Wolte and the Savants on the fly.

    Shocking him even more was the fact, that they immediately fell in love with the simplicity and tranquillity of the neighbourhood. Even the Savants who were loyal to his every action when asked for their opinions, they immediately had requested getting one of the houses to call their own. Jin subsequently noticed that they seemed to have their own quirks and even some semnce of personalities within each of them. As if they were humans in a robot suit then it suddenly struck him.

    "Wait...if Kraft can put Pei into a fox bullet, can he...those Savants?" Jin shuddered at the thought, but he was not afraid to ask Kraft since he had to be clear where they originated from. Continuing the list of surprises, Kraft did not even try to deny Jin''s assumptions.

    However before Jin could even start to get angry, Kraft only asked him:

    "What exactly are you unhappy about? Those Savants do possess a lot of the memories of those adventurer who were captured by me and the Derpies. However those adventurers, apart from suffering from mild amnesia for a couple of days, they have not been killed, and not only will they forget what I did to them, they will even have false memories imnted in them. This in turn will make them fabricate a fake story, so that your identity in the Dungeon World will be safe. All of them have been teleported outside. Also can you argue about the Savants efficiency, seeing how they dealt with the assassin? The way I see it, I not only honored your wishes, I also increased your strength directly by providing you with a loyal troop of your own, and I even indirectly increased your assets by getting one of my foxes as a nice bonus." The old crafty fox give Jin a giant smile.

    After standing there with an open mouth for a couple of seconds, Jin thought about his betors words, before he sighed out loud: "I cannot believe that you were able to find a loophole in those orders." Jin shook his head and Kraft could only shrug his shoulders.

    "Well, that is how a counter intelligence agent should work. I mean I could have erased their personalities as well, but you do not seem to be someone, who would want something like that to happen." Kraft smiled gently and walked away. However, the reasoning from Kraft made Jin feel at ease and Jin eded the Savant''s requests.

    The next thing Jin did was perfecting the Deep One dungeon instance. He had been dying this dungeon for a long time and Mr Derpy wasining why Lord Wolte was able to get an instance before him. Jin exined that it was mainly because of one thing.

    Budget.

    "If you need more treasure, release us into some world. We terrorise it and get the loot for you. What is so difficult about that?" Mr Derpy was still angry at Jin giving Lord Wolte preferential treatment.

    "Oh Derpy, you do not understand this. I need my customers to be stronger so that your Deep Ones can rip them apart with more joy. If they are all weak and useless, is that even worthy of praise? Besides, would the mighty Deep Ones lower themselves to do something like suppress their strength and be defeated by some peasants? I want them to be free and wild. To fight to their death with satisfaction." Jin tried to talk to Mr Derpy in his nguage of chaos and violence''.

    "Hmph. You better make sure the dungeon instance is worthy of our presence. Or else, I will make sure you suffer the wrath of Lor- Wait, Master where are you going? I am not done talkin-!" Jin closed the instance door in front of Mr Derpy as he entered the Jack''s Mansion, where the werejackals were living.

    "Time to check on my living armour nts," Jin rubbed his hand in anticipation, as he ticked another task off the to-do list.

 Chapter 317 Living Armour Plants

    <h4>Chapter 317: Living Armour nts</h4>

    Jin entered the Jacks'' mansion and he could see the results of their daily cultivation of thend. (What pun. :< ) Gold happened to be at the side of the field sitting down and taking a break when he saw Jin entering their instance. He stood up and waved at Jin to wee him to their home instance.

    "Wow, these crops have grown quite a lot since Ist saw them." Jin noticed that potatoes, cabbage and even wheat were growing in the home instance. If he had note here regrly, it might have been more of a shock to Jin.

    "Hahaha, it''s all thanks to Shu. That damned old treant kept uprooting the soil and scolding us for not cing the fertiliser correctly. Sometimes, he''d even whip us for overlooking to water a single nt. Let''s not even start about us having to work the whole time. We are like, you cannot me us for missing one day since this home instance does not have any rain at all." Jin was impressed by Gold''s smooth way ofining. As he got the drift of what Gold wanted from him, he promised to ask the System to help them out.

    "That''s why I like you, Master." Goldughed heartily as he patted Jin''s back hard.

    "Despite theirining, they never ever thanked me for putting them into shape." Shu who was at the back of the field shouted at Jin. Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress, giggled at the side of Shu as she continued to y the music for the Jacks who were hard at work and the nts to grow. The Great White Snakeyzily at her side and enjoyed the music.

    "WHAT TRAINING?!?! You call shooting your leaves at us, that could easily cut us into two, while we are ploughing the field TRAINING?! It''s more like torture. You damn---" Yellow who stood up was barely visible from the height of the wheat nts retorted loudly. At that point, Shu already shot a leaf upward and down towards Yellow without destroying the crops. Getting used to this treatment Yellow had to dodge with care as not to spoil the nts... otherwise he would get an even harsher treatment from Gold teaming up with Shu for destroying the carefully nurtured crops.

    "Any moreints?" Shu grinned evilly with his limited expression and Yellow decided to keep quiet for now.

    "So, I guess you are here for the Living Armour nts?" Gold beckoned Jin to follow him towards Shu where the living armour nts were being raised.

    "Aside from that, what are you going to do with all these crops? We produce way more than what we need to self sustain ourselves, though I believe the System has a stockpile of food on its own." Jin asked as he walked behind Gold.

    "Hmm hmm hmm. If you do not know, then wait for a another week. With Lynn as your chef, I guarantee you that our products will make it possible for her to create a heavenly feast. Trust me, it will be something you won''t forget!" Gold was gleaming with confidence.

    When they reached towards Shu, Jin noticed that there were wooden statues with some sort of rocks holding onto the wooden figures. Gold rified that Shu was training the living armour to form as early as possible. With Ke Mi''s music which promoted growth, the living armour nts who had initially been at the bottom of these wooden statues had learnt to grow and cover the statues.

    The statues were not stationary too as they were formed with Shu''s roots. Hence, the statues changed their pose slowly on a weekly basis and the living armour learnt to cover vital areas of the human being.

    "I had no idea these living armour nts could learn too..." Jin looked as he wanted to caress the young living armour gently. However, Gold immediately pulled Jin away and so did Shu who abruptly grew the statue higher up. Even Ke Mi had her strings prepared to be cast in between Jin and the young living armour pieces.

    "Wait, what, huh?!" Jin was stunned for a moment. Gold sighed in relief since nothing happened, before exining to Jin that they reacted this way since he still had the old living armour attached to him. Any closer and it would be chaos.

    "Why? I thought the living armour pieces would assist each other?" Jin asked and both Shu and Gold shook their heads. (or branches)

    "Your current living armour will only dominate the young living armour pieces. They will demand the younger ones to fuse with them. It might seem like a good thing but in actual fact it isn''t." Gold told him while assisting Jin up from the floor. He also pulled him some steps away from the wooden statues.

    "The old ones cannot grow any more, but they can strengthen itself by fusing together. Meanwhile, the younger ones have still a lot of potential which we can expand even more than it is right now. If you interfere with the process, you are wasting your living armour pieces." Gold concluded.

    "Oh...so you guys want quantity right now instead of quality..." Jin realised and apologised.

    "Yeah, we are hoping to proliferate them more. That way we can train them when they are still young to make full use of their potential. Also we might even be able to create more than just one living armour suit if we seed. And that is where the Oceanic Phoenix Dunges into y." Gold said with Lynn and Qiu Yue in mind, but ultimately, Gold estimated that he could only produce one more suit by maximising the growth rate of the living armour.

    "I see. So that probably means, that you want me get even more of each item which you requested previously? Those erm horn, tails and hoofs of the demons. Oh and the eyes of the transforming spider." Jin took out his phone to check the details of the requests.

    "Hoofs and Eyes should be easier since they... well...eyese in pairs as do hoofs...you get my drift. For the tails and horns, maybe not as easy. The horns have to be above a certain age, so that might make it harder. But the most important ones would most probably be the eyes. Try not to damage them too much during battle. The purer and more wholesome the item is, the stronger the quality."

    "I shall remind you, that I will not be helping you in this expedition, since this is part of your training. The one I assigned you some time ago" Zeru who now appeared in a simr fashion like Kraft said to Jin.

    "Sorry Master, I did not expect myself to dy that long!" Jin apologized respectfully and Zeru nodded his head epting it.

    "No matter. While I did say I am not helping you, it is still my responsibility to oversee you. I have something for you." Zeru informed his student as he passed a tied up scroll to Jin.

    "Hahaha, he figured Master Jin does not have that much time to do the scouting, so he and my fellow Jacks did that for you during our spare time. After all, those oversized cows are not the only ones who are good at gathering intel." Gold boasted about their capabilities, while at the same time exposing Zeru''s kind intentions.

    "Thanks, Zeru. Appreciate the help." Jin opened the scroll and saw ink styled pictures of the demons and their coordinate location in the Farming World. Jin then tried asking Peppers about these demons since she was the resident walking encyclopedia endorsed by the System.

    For the first time he got to enjoy the sight of Peppers wearing a pair ofrge rimmed spectacles and looking at the scroll provided by Zeru. "Hmm. I remember a little about these obscure demons. But if you ask me, I''d advise you to fight against the Lightning Goat Demon first. No doubt, he is the strongest amongst all of them, but I do recall his coat and horns being valuable. Those can be refined into equipment, so he has his uses aside from his hoofs. That said equipment can in turn be used against the Water Snake Demon, allowing you to fight it with ease. After which, rinse and repeat. Use the Water Snake Demon''s parts against the Burning Lion Demon. Only then, you should fight the Transforming Spider. It might not be the strongest, but its transformation ability make it the trickiest to fight."

    Peppers was suggesting, as she pushed her sses up while also drawing circles on the scroll with pencil, marking the probable weak points of the demons.

    "Can this much really be called ''remembering a little''? Peppers is like a strategy guide against these demons!" Gold was amazed by Peppers'' knowledge.

    "Alright. Let me get this straight, Zeru. I have to fight one on one against them, correct?" Jin asked as a form of confirmation.

    "Yes, but you are allowed to bring any item that you want against them. However no monsters allowed." Zeru replied. Thanks to Peppers ''How to exterminate Demons for Dummies Guide'' Jin decided to take a trip to his omnipotent Dungeon Maker to get some equipment up and ready.

    "Now I feel like an adventurer, preparing for a fight at the expense of my life." Jin thought.

    "User is not allowed to die, Betor Zeru will step in if something goes awry." System gave a negative reply to Jin''s thoughts at which he sniggered a bit.

 Chapter 318 Lightning Goat Demon

    <h4>Chapter 318 Lightning Goat Demon</h4>

    Beyond the horizon the morning sun was slowly rising. There was not much time left before the Lightning Goat Demon would wake up. Jin was teleported into a mountainous area of the Farming World and surveyed the surrounding area.

    ording to the ink style painting that Zeru drew, he knew that the Lightning Goat Demon was white with bluish curvy patterns on its body. The designs were simr to those tribal tattoos that were sold in tattoo shops.

    Suddenly his phone beeped indicating that there was a signal about 500 metres away from Jin. He quickly took out a camouge ghillie suit and hid in it. Afterwards he took out his binocrs to take a look at the Lightning Goat Demon.

    "Okay, seems like it hasn''t woken up yet. I have to prepare something to catch its attention." Jin checked his phone which had a list of items that were kept in his storage watch. If only they were in a forest... Jin would have lots of experiences setting up traps after seeing how the goblins did it. However, this was a mountainous area. The only thing that set him apart from the Lightning Goat Demon was merely distance and the unconscious state of thetter.

    The area was dangerous and the map which the System provided showed that there were no caverns or any other signs of proper even ground. The only thing there that he could take advantage of was the steppe below the mountains area. However, Jin remembered what Peppers said.

    "The Lightning Goat Demon has an ability to call upon the skies for a bolt of lightning. The only sign showing this attack ising is the slight movement of grass at the spot it would target the lightning strike. Unfortunately, ording to Zeru, the steppe seems to be mostly covered in a thickyer of snow. Unless there would be a windstorm or you can get rid of it somehow I''d advise against fighting him there. Of course if you can notice the slight snow movement before the lightning strikes then kudos to you. You can avoid the lightning attack." Peppers exined to Jin.

    "Do not forget that the Demons can go into a ''Rage Mode''. Well Gold described it as a power up, but this term should be more familiar to you. It''s that phenomenon which the beast demons enter when they are critically injured."

    "Mmmhmm I am interested to see how you are going to fare, Boss. Peppers told you that even professionals need a whole team to defeat this goatie. For you to attack it alone is indeed courting death." Kraft teased in his mind.

    "I just hope I prepared enough..." Jin started to move and set up his equipment along the mountainous ridges. Not long after, Jin decided that food would be sufficient to get its attention after it awoke from its slumber. These beast demons all shared a love for meat especially the Lightning Goat Demon living in the mountainous area where it''s a luxury. Not to mention, the meat was of top quality from the System''s stockpile. How could they resist such good food?

    Jin prepped the campfire at the centre of the steppes and cooked therge piece of sulent meat on top of the fire, allowing it to roast. He did not forget to put some seasoning which was prepared by Lynn in a packet as it spread it along the meat. Then he ced a dummy sleeping bag while he hid himself in the snow foxhole he created almost instantly with his magic.

    To create that foxhole, Jin first seeped his ice into the ground and once it reached a certain depth, he expanded his ice magic to surround the soil like a cube. After which, he inserted more chi into the base of the cube and allowed it to expand upwards, creating a perfect cube foxhole for him to hide in. The rest of the soil that was dug out was spread around the campfire to show there was some digging around the ice covered steppes.

    The aroma eventually travelled into the Lightning Goat Demon''s nose and attracted its attention immediately. With a slight stretch, the Lightning Goat Demon leapt from the mountain and onto the steppes within five steps which kind of distraught Jin a little. "If the demon has that kind of jumping strength, my prepared equipment and traps might not be enough!" Jin started to worry, but he continued to remain as still as possible.

    The Lightning Goat Demon saw the campfire, but was cautious since there was ack of activity. The camping ce had possibly a human inside the sleeping bag with its meat being roasted. As if there was some intelligence to the Lightning Goat Demon, it gave a sneered expression before howling into the skies.

    "Who ever it is that dares to hunt me down,e out now! I may show you mercy by killing you instantly! Otherwise don''t me me for being rude!" The Lightning Goat Demon shouted with an audiblenguage which was tranted by the System to Jin''s head.

    Jin sighed and guessed that even if he fired the first shot, there would not be any difference despite the initiative of battle. Jin came out of the foxhole with his bamboo rifle on his right hand up high.

    "Hmph. Where are your otherrades?" The Lightning Goat Demon bellowed.

    "No one else. Only me. I have decided to hunt you all alone." Jin said as he ced his bamboo rifle down slowly.

    "I do not believe you." The Goat Demon replied.

    "I can only offer you these words of truth. If you do not believe it, then there is nothing else I can do." Jin shrugged.

    "Human I am unsure whether you are brave, confident or in stupid?! Don''t you know, that hunting me is already courting death?! But you are the first one in centuries to try doing it alone!" The Lightning Goat Demon had sniffed and mmed its hooves on the ground causing lightning to destroy the surroundings of the campfire and in turn all the traps around it were destroyed in an instant. It then proceeded forward to the sweet smelling meat.

    "Hmm. No poison at all. Are you that dumb to feed Keyrin, the King of the Aucbec Hills, such great quality meat without any poison in it?" The Lightning Goat Demon who dered himself as Keyrin snatched the roasted meat from the campfire and ate it in peace while still keeping an eye at Jin.

    "Ehh, cannot go into battle with an empty stomach?" Jin tried to joke, but Keyrin did not bother with him. "Peppers, did you somehow FORGET to tell me I was going against a friggin King?!"

    "He probably dered himself as King since there shouldn''t be that many Lightning Goat Demons around. He is probably the strongest of the bunch, so he is acting arrogant." Peppers answered, as she was still studying her books on city building and design in her room.

    "You might be right... But you did not tell me that the stripes glowed rainbow when he shoots his lightning bolts!" Jin replied as the description of attacks were not the same as what Peppers had taught.

    "Glowed rainbow...? Wait...a minute..." Peppers stopped her reading and jumped off her bed. She opened her bookcase shelf and took a book at random even though it was still a book on Monsters in the Farming World.

    "Oh...erm yea...I have good news and bad news. Bad news is, I guess you are most likely fighting a real King ss. It''s a rare variant of Lightning Goat Demon. The strongest andst known record was one Lightning Goat Demon named Keyrin. Records show that he had decimated an entire capital before by making it rain bolts of lightning continuously for weeks to show its fury against that nation''s hunters that killed his wife. It was the only Lightning Goat Demon that dared to attack cities. Other Lightning Goats mostly keep to their habitat and at most might attack a settlement, if it lies to close to their home. Because of that, it is now ssified as Thunder Ram Demon, King ss. " Peppers recited what was on the book to Jin.

    "Erm...question Mr Keyrin. Sorry to interrupt your meal time. Are you the same Keyrin that destroyed a capital city before?" Jin asked as he internally cursed Zeru for giving him the strongest opponent for a while. He was aware that his master wanted strong opponents that would push him to his limit, but isn''t this much a little over the top.

    "Probably. Don''t remember though, destroyed too many cities to keep track!" Keyrin spoke as he ripped apart the meat to munch on it. When it was done eating, it shook its head a little where Jin could see sparks flying around it.

    "Do you want some water to clear your throat?" Jin asked courteously as he took out a bucket and poured the spring water he used in his shop to serve customers with for Keyrin.

    "For a person who wants to kill me, you are awfully humble. You are strange, Human." Keyrin walked towards the bucket and drank the water without a care.

    "I am satisfied. Because you fed me well, I will reward you with a swift death." Keyrin announced as it walked backwards and gave Jin and it some distance.

    "Speak of your name, Strange Human, I shall also honor you with trying to remember it. Then let''s begin the hunt." Keyrin shouted at which Jin sighed.

    "Xie Jin, Neen Astral Lazy Panda Style, Dungeon Supplier." Jin bowed as he picked his bamboo rifle up.

    "Keyrin, King of Aucbec Hills." The Thunder Ram Demon proimed while a st of thunder and lightning shed across the skies.

    "I am so screwed." Jin thought to himself.

 Chapter 319 Thunder Ram Demon

    <h4>Chapter 319 Thunder Ram Demon</h4>

    "BAMMM!" The bullet flew out of the Bamboo rifle that Jin was holding, but even at optimum speed, the bullet could not make a dent on the scales of the Thunder Ram Demon, Keyrin. In the meantime, Keyrin stood there and fired a st of lightning at Jin from the skies.

    Jin barely managed to see the fluttering of snow in time before he took a step back. However, the lightning strike was impactful enough to send Jin flying a few metres away. Meanwhile he transformed his bamboo rifle into a bamboo shield and surrounded it with multipleyers of ice.

    Without a surprise, another lightning struck at the ce where Jinnded from the knockback impact, but the White Ice made of pure chi did not allow electricity to pass through it. "Holy shit, all hail science. Never would have guessed that it pays to remember something from school."Jin was sweating madly after blocking the electrical attack.

    He was taught that Ice was a poor conductor of electricity since it was the salt ions that made water a good conductor of electricity. However, if water with no impurities was present, ice frozen from pure water would not conduct electricity at all. That was exactly the principle he used with his White Ice techniques. His chi that made White Ice did not have any impurities in it at all hence, protecting him from the attack. Nevertheless, the impact of the lightning strike still caused some physical damage to Jin.

    "Hmmph, at the very least, this is not as bad as I thought it would be." Jin huffed and puffed as he dodged the next lightning attack while also using the shield coated with barriers of ice for cover.

    "What? My strikes are not affecting him at all?" Keyrin was curious what kind of artefact his newest challenger was holding that could stop his strikes. "If one strike is not enough, then several more will do the job!" Keyrin announced his attack as he gathered energy on his curved horns and shot the lightning bolts towards Jin.

    "White Ice Petal Barrier!" Jin shouted even though he was moving forward with his enchanted bamboo shield up against the bolts of lightning. Jin figured that since the steppe was covered with snow, he should use the surrounding to his advantage.

    It''s true that the snow in the surroundings was not pure like his ice, which might only partially block the lightning attacks but impure ice barriers were still barriers and using the natural element did not expend his chi as quickly as arge area pure white ice enchantment barrier.

    The snow around him began to flow up and became petals of ice fused with a tiny bit of white ice chi essences and when the lightning pierced through the barrier of petals, the strength of the bolt was lessened significantly which was easy for the primary White Ice Petal Barrier to block.

    Jin was finally close enough to attack Keyrin especially when he was the only one on the defensive for such a long time, but Keyrin simply stood there and continued to fire his thunderbolt to counter against Jin.

    "Panda Yawning!" Jin opened his mouth to fire arge Ying Yang Beam towards Keyrin and he shot a quick strike of lightning bolt from his horns in return. The interaction of Panda Yawning Beam and the sh of lightning caused arge amount of snow to flutter up to the sky creating a temporary snow screen for Jin.

    However, the Thunder Ram Demon was a beast. Slight movements in the air were sufficient for it to detect the presence of an iing target. "There you are!" Keyrin snorted as he stamped his hooves and thunderous wave blew the snow away while his horns fired a bolt of lightning at the direction Keyrin detected movement.

    Only when the snow dust dispersed, Keyrin then realised that it was just a decoy from the campfire. The fake sleeping bag was burnt into crisp, but Jin was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, explosions urred right beneath him as a st of ckish fire engulfed Keyrin. It was apressed spiral box which Jin threw right before the snow dust surrounded inserted them.

    At that moment, Keyrin heard a boom from the top of his head and when he looked up, an iron cannonball rapidly fell onto him, causing him to fall to the ground. Jin had made boots capable of boosting him into the air, out of range of the snow dust screen and released a mini parachute that allowed him to float in the air for a while. After which, he changed his bamboo rifle into a bamboo cannon and fired his first shot.

    Now that he knew Keyrin was down for a while, he did not hesitate to activate the equipment he had prepared beforehand. From his waist, he took out a detonator and pressed on it immediately. The automated cannons which Jin had set up previously immediately booted up and fired their rounds onto Keyrin which they registered with infrared imaging.

    The steppes were suddenly filled with multiple artillery explosions that echoed throughout the mountainous area, scaring all other life forms in the area to get the hell out of the steppes. The impact of the explosion was immense enough to knock Jin away in his parachute from the steppes.

    "Nopeбнhe is not captured." Jin looked at his phone and noticed that there was no notification and the automated cannons were running dry of ammunition. Jin managed tond normally on a mountainous area as he quickly reloaded his bamboo cannon while waiting to see the devastation that his multiple cannons did.

    Suddenly, a swift shadow burst out of the burning fields and choking smokes towards Jin at a quick speed. It was none other than Keyrin, but his skin was turned to all ck with no white at all. "JINNNNNNNNN!" Keyrin roared as he dashed towards Jin with no regards of his life.

    "Holy shit, please do not tell me that''s rage mode!" Jin was not able to conjure the white ice barrier in time nor change his bamboo cannon into the bamboo shield again.

    *BAM!*

    Keyrin mmed onto Jin''s torso so hard that he threw out blood and could feel several of his rib bones breaking. Even his cultivation that increased the strength of his body could not prevent such a thing from happening.

    It was the first time Jin felt immense pain causing him to go numb through his entire body. Keyrin was not hesitant to call upon a lightning strike onto the fallen Jin. Not once, not twice but multiple times.

    The lightning fell and struck Jin''s body continuously causing severe shock and pain. His skin was burning. His eyes felt dry even, and his muscles were not working. "I will strike until you burnt to crisp. Trust me, I will follow through my word."

    "User, just imagine you are going through the Heavenly Five Element Tribtion." The System offered some console to Jin.

    "NOT HELPING!!!!!" Jin shouted as he tried to stand up but each time he does, he was brought down by another lightning strike.

    "Not like this is going to work out wellбн.FUKKKK!" Jin struggled as he pressed the trigger on his cannon that caused an explosion right in front of him. It made him fly but at the same time it literally cost him him a leg since the cannon was aimed downwards.

    Keyrin did not expect that and cause ag in themand of his lightning strike. However, that brief moment was all Jin needed to execute his backup n.

    "GEARBOX!"

 Chapter 320 Jins Gearbox

    <h4>Chapter 320 Jin''s Gearbox</h4>

    The Gearbox system that Jin created for Yang Ling was still saved within the database of the System. Since he had some time to himself in the past few days, Jin had made use of the time to modify it a little more, making it more durable by using higher quality metals. Jin also added more offensive and defensive options that enhanced the current schematic of Yang Ling''s prototype Gearbox suit.

    A few simple looking boxes flew out from his living armour storage watch and immediately got attached to him. The first box fastened itself to his back, before expanding its metal pieces out from the box, strengthening his back, allowing him to fall to the steppes at ease.

    The following boxes attached to his arms and what was left of his legs. Because of the adrenaline he experienced, there was not much pain due to the sudden loss of his leg and the gearbox that attached to it numbed it even more with a mixture of anaesthesia provided by the System.

    In the previous full body gearbox prototype, the loss of legs or arms would impede the functions of the full body gearbox since it was meant to enhance the features of the existing extremities. Yet, Jin suspected that the fight against the Thunder Ram Demon would be a tough one and he already considered the worst case scenario. (In fact, he asked the System to calcte the possible consequences of this battle against a Lightning Goat Demon. The prognosis was not very cheerful.)

    Hence, he had added modifications for the new gearbox and it enabled him to ''grow new arms and legs'' if necessary. The extended metal tings of the gearbox shaped itself to the size of Jin''s feet and modelled itself ordingly to ensure the mobility for Jin.

    The Thunder Ram Demon Keyrin scoffed at Jin''s attempt of revival. "Don''t you get that your struggling is futile? Or are you simply enjoying the pain? All that you do is only prolonging your suffering. Do you think some metallic linings across your whole body can help you in any way? You are simply courting death." Keyrin did not hesitate to stomp towards Jin as he stabilised himself the moment hended.

    "Hmph, you do not know the extent of my abilities yet."Jin smirked as he noticed that an opportunity finally arose. This was the perfect chance to execute his new ability. The Thunder Ram Demon did not him give any quarters by charging its horns with electricity, making the attack more potent than before.

    "Epic Sword Art, Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda." All seven pandas of Jin''s cultivation appeared right above of him roaring excitedly. This was the first real technique that Ming had ever taught Jin in his sub consciousness. That''s right. He never learnt any proper Basic Sword Style nor Intermediate Sword Style because there were no restrictions in the depth or width of the techniques he could learn. That was the beauty of the Neen Lazy Astral Panda Style. (not to mention Bam and Boo could shapeshift)

    However, there was a penalty to be incurred when Jin executed a technique above his current grade. Hence, even though Jin could theoretically learn a Legendary Sword Style but its powers would be diminished to his current level. Not only would it decrease in power, it would take a toll on his body. The higher the discrepancy the more he would suffer.

    Therefore, Jin decided to learn a technique which would not toll the body too much. By equipping the Gearbox system onto his body, he was able to take the strain of an Epic Sword Art without much hassle or restriction.

    With a side stroke from his sword, a gust of wind was summoned right in front of Keyrin who did not see iting. Yet the moment he entered the area, he was entrapped by the sudden upheaval of wind. No matter how fast Keyrin tried to run or dash in his lightning form, he was still being spiraled around by the wind. Only then did he notice that there were ice petals mixed within the strong cyclone and he remained stuck in the eye of the cyclone.

    "Heh, an impromptu technique modification to stop your lightning from going through the harsh winds." Jin exined as he took a breather for a moment.

    "If I cannot go through, then I will go up!" Keyrin shouted as he prepared himself to jump. Suddenly, multiple shadows of bamboo swords were seen at the top of him and before he could evade them, the swords were falling at tremendous speeds.

    Keyrin immediately summoned a lightning storm barrier to surround him in order to negate the falling swords. Just then he felt a cut going through his torso area. More cuts and stabs followed as he roared in pain and anger.

    Trying to stop the bleeding he noticed that the swords were magically enchanted with White Ice too. Keyrin who was still in Rage Mode called upon a burst of lightning strike onto himself in order to heal him by absorbing the elemental power. Yet suddenly the shadowy swords that on the ground that just pierced through him vibrated at the power of electricity.

    "Boom, bitch! Oh, wait. You are a guy. Nevermind." Jin cheered a little as he saw his n working even better than expected. Those shadowy swords were not just enchanted with White Ice. They werepressed spiral boxes that were shaped into swords which he prepared in advance. They could be triggered remotely by a sudden surge of chi or energy.

    In this case, it was the lightning strike that triggered the spiral ''swords'' and a series of ck fire explosion was seen emanating out of the ongoing cyclone. Jin hoped that would kill or at the very least incapacitate him, because he was nearly out of tricks to use. He initially wanted to hold the spiral swords and use them at close range, but he got a sudden inspiration and decided tobine it with his Epic Sword Art.

    As the explosions subsided, Keyrin was still standing at the centre of it all. Jin did not know what else could he do but he prepared his arms for two simultaneous Lazy Swipe in case Keyrin dashed towards him once more.

    "Jin. You proved yourself worthy! Even though it was a short fight, you have bested me. I had underestimated you in battle multiple times and even though I am standing, it is through sheer will. My life is now within your hands. I ask of you, what do you need from me? Are you seeking my heart in the hopes of gaining eternal youth? Are you willing to bind me down to a demon''s pact? Or do you simply desire taking my head as a war trophy?!" Keyrin emphasized his words with power even though he was near defeat. His fate was no longer his own, but at least he wished to keep his pride as a King.

    "Oh? Can you heart really provide eternal youth? Nah, I do not need that nor the pact. I also don''t want to end your life, I merely require one of your hooves. It is to strengthen my armour." Jin answered bluntly and Keyrin stared nkly at Jin.

    "Wait...you want my hoof for your armour? That''s it?" Keyrin was puzzled. Throughout his life he had been ambushed many times, and whenever he cared enough to ask those adventurers what they''d hoped to achieve the answers varied. Some wanted revenge, others fame, some pretended to it for justice while hoping for his treasures. Yet this adventurer right in front of him had been strange since the start of their encounter. Even though he could have taken much more things from Keyrin, he would be satisfied with exchanging a life threatening battle for a hoof... for his armour. This was quite an insult to Keyrin himself.

    "You must be kidding me. I can offer you something more than this. A magical ability? A rare Artefact? Please at least take something else!" Keyrin was practically begging Jin to rob him, but the young man shook his head.

    "Well if you insist... Maybe a part of your horn and some of your skin?" Jin could not understand why Keyrin was insisting on parting with a stronger item. Was it a challenge hidden for him behind the prize that Jin did not know about?

    "Why are you insisting on my body parts? I am offering you something more precious than my body part!" Keyrin was a little frustrated trying to offer a reward for his defeat.

    "Because my monsters asked me to? They said your body parts were useful in the uing fight against the Water Snake Demon and perhaps, the Burning Lion Demon. I have no idea what other artefacts might be good against them." Jin shrugged his shoulder as he conversed with the Thunder Ram Demon.

    "Against the Water Snake Demon? And the Burning Lion Demon? What is your goal?! Do you wish to be chased after by the beasts demon all over the world?!" Keyrin suddenly went into a battle stance again.

    "Wait wait wait! It''s not what you think!!! I also only require some pieces of those few demons and nothing more. It''s all to create a suit of living armour with those parts!" Jin dered his intention with honesty as he knew there was no way to fight one on one against Keyrin in his current state.

    "Living armour? How did you manage to find those precious items? Why would you want such a sacred thing to be mixed with items associated with evil? Your intention does not make any sense at all!" Keyrin was not yet convinced as he charged up a lightning bolt on his horns.

    "That was what my monsters told me. They said, it would provide a good set of armour against my enemies, that''s all, I swear!" Jin guessed if he was about to be zapped to death, he might as well do it with style.

    "You keep talking about your ''monsters'', who are they?!" Keyrin halted his thunderbolt and gave Jin onest chance.

    "Gold, the leader of the Jacks?" Jin answered honestly and quickly which made Keyrin startled for a while.

    "Gold...? The leader of Jacks? The one who used to be the ''Grand Schr of the East'', before he was infected by the therianthropy virus?" Keyrin released his charge into the air, dismissing any animosity against Jin.

 Chapter 321 Scholar of the Compass

    <h4>Chapter 321 Schr of the Compass</h4>

    "This is a quite surprise. I never expected to see the mighty undefeated Keyrin would ever put down his battle stance for a talk." Gold appeared after being given approval by the System. Strangely Gold looked nothing like his usual appearance. He was in his human form but wearing clothes that Jin had never seen before. A silver half mantle hanging on his shoulders and underneath it was an adequately ironed ck uniform that simply screamed ''high noble ss'' from afar. Right beside Gold was Grey dressed in simr fashion, but in his case instead of a silver mantle, it was just a simple white shoulder mantle.

    "Hmph. Well, same to you. I never even expected to see you again at all, much less alive nor in one piece! But judging from yourбнacquaintance? You were dying to see me dead!!!" Keyrin sneered as he heavily blew some air out of his nostrils.

    "I did not purposely send him after you. It''s just that I underestimated my Master''s reckl-бн Master''s capability to choose the most powerful of all lightning goat demons. But even if he had told you, that I was the one sending him, I doubt you would have chosen to simply let it go, which would have ended up in a battle regardless. Anyways now you know how powerful Master Jin is." Gold sniggered a little which made Keyrin even more furious.

    "That is because you lied to us! To the entirety of Beast Demons!!!" Keyrin shouted as they could suddenly hear thunder looming from a distance.

    "This was never my intention, and you should know that. I became a victim in all this mess, the same as you. I mean, just LOOK at me!! In the end, I got the virus affecting me!!!" Goldined as he transformed his human hands into a jackal''s ws.

    "Fine, I admit that at least you did not turn into them. Sigh, it''s unthinkable that the Schrs of the North and South decided to-" Suddenly Keyrin''s ears moved instinctively and so did the noses of both Gold and Grey.

    "CRAP! I cannot believe that they could track us in less than a few minutes. This is more serious than I thought." Gold quickly turned to Jin and requested to bring Keyrin back to their Home Instance where it was safer for them.

    "System, is that allowed? To bring an external monster not under my control into my dungeon instances." Jin asked the System, but to the Thunder Ram Demon, that strange human was simply talking to himself.

    "ess denied! System does not allow anyone, nor external beings, to disrupt the instances'' ecosystem. Since User does not have a secured encrypted guest hall or prison, there are only two options. Either capture the monster or talk it out over here." The System was unwilling topromise.

    "Quick! Master, I do not want them to discover my presence and Keyrin''s if at all possible!" Gold hurried Jin along. It was a rare sight to see the usuallyposed Gold so flustered. After their short exchange, Jin could already guess, that Keyrin would not let himself be captured willingly. Because of the Thunder Ram Demon''s prideful attitude and arrogant behaviour, there was only one way left.

    "Zeru, cut him down immediately," Jinmanded and within a second while Keyrin was still internalising Jin''s words, he suddenly felt ckness surrounding him. Thest thing he saw was ck flower petals floating right in front of him. In an instant, the almighty Keyrin fell to the ground with his head separated from his torso.

    "That is not the best way to go, but better than the alternative. Let''s get going quickly." Gold requested for a portal from the System and they immediately disappeared, followed by the corpse, just before a shadowy figure was able to reach the destination.

    "Hmmm. The blood of the Thunder Ram Demonбн" The figure tasted the blood a little and sniffed the air. "Heh. So someone really killed it... Not to mention, the scent of the Schr of the East has appeared again after all this time. Also the scent of that particr person. Interestingбн we can rejoice, at the very least it''s one annoying King ss demon gone." The figure mumbled as he ran away to report to the most recent activity to his superiors.

    In the Jacks'' Mansion, Keyrin was ''reborn'' once again, but was frustrated and at the same time shocked that he could die from a single strike. He may have been weakened, but that power would have done him in, regardlessбн "I DEMAND TO SEE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE! WHO HERE DARED TO CUT ME DOWN?!?!" Keyrin was so furious that he did not even question his second chance on life, only wishing to discharge a burst of lightning in the mansion of the Jacksбн but with a simplemand of Jin to stand down, he was forced to kneel, unable to disobey it at all. The enmity in his eyes was visibly disappearing from Keyrin.

    "Wow, the System is really a terrifying thing. To be able to calm such a kingly beast so fast, making him obey a singlemand..." Gold gulped down. He was aware of the effects of the loyalty enforced by the System, but in his case, he had agreed willingly when given the chance. This, in turn, allowed him not to feel too weighed down by it, since he did not dare to push the extent of the System''s limits, yet Keyrin''s sudden transformation frightened him.

    "What have you done to me, strange huбн Jin?!" Keyrin was annoyed that he obediently answered to Jin''smands, even though he did not wish for it.

    "Well judging by Gold''s reaction, I guess I have saved your butt!"

    Jin had learned from his interactions with the monsters a bit of each of their backstories. In the case of his werebeasts, the Farming World had experienced a viral gue, which pesticides were unable to stop. It caused the crops to grow deformities. Unsurprisingly farmers, who made up arge majority of the poption, were baffled by these strange phenomenons as their crops were their only livelihood.

    However, the gue did not just deform the crops. As time went by, those crops that were just discarded and not burnt, grew something out of it. Rat Demons. (Yeah, even Jin was bothered by it too. He could not believe Rats haunted him at every step.)

    The Rat Demons were sentient in nature as they grew out from the crops. Since the Farming World literally grew anything and everything from the soil, those Rat Demons inherited the properties from the crops they came from. Farmers that were growing weapons and armour from thend were afflicted with the worst oue. Most were killed by the very own things they nted themselves, which the rats grew from their bodies. Those who were not killed got turned into ves for the ever learning pests.

    Eventually, the Rat Demons went so far to create a small underground kingdom for themselves, which turned into a sufficient cause for organisations to band together and dismantle them. But instead of this turning into a happy end, this was just where the misunderstandings started. Most assumed that the majority of the Beast Demons sided with the Rat Demons. After all, it was known that they had made pacts with arge number of Beast Demons. Humans using their trusty method of ''Kill first, askter'' started their extermination of the Rat Demons as well as the Beast Demons.

    Keyrin''s wife was also one of the unfortunate victims. She was killed because of these circumstances, making him unleash thunder and storms on the capital where the hunters resided. That was when the Schrs of the Compass whichprised of the North, South, East and West came together to calm the people down and tried to negotiate peace between the Beast Demons that were not affected and the organisations.

    However, the Schrs of the East and West did not know that North and South had decided to band together and were already working with the Rat Demons. An internal battle ensued at the Tower of Compass which resulted in the death of the Schr of the West. Gold, as the Schr of the East, managed to run away with his life but was infected by the Rat Demon''s curse. A curse which would ultimately turn him into a Rat Demon too. Left without any other options, he took a gamble and used a high level mitigation spell in the hopes of avoiding his fate. The result was somewhat unexpected. While it did prevent him from bing a rat, it turned into a different afflictionбн Therianthropy. That was how Gold became a werejackal.

    Seeing his method work, he looked for others suffering from the curse and also changed them into werejackals and werecats. Everything was preferable over bing a rat.

    "Soбнerm... I knew this is a bit out of the blue butбнShould I even interfere with your world or your country''s problem?" Jin asked when Keyrin was discussing with Gold.

    "If it were anybody else asking it, I would answer that they shouldn''tбн but you have the power of the System. You may be able to help us if you wish. After all, we cannot deny, that the Farming World is our home. I should tell you that getting rid of them, will probably also be in your own interest. If the Rat Demon Kingdom continues to reign further, markets and business centres of the Farming World will disappear. Who knows what will be of the Farming World. And unless I am wrong, the System is also buying a lot of the food from the Farming World. Price intion will not rest well with the System''s stinginess." Gold answered, trying to convince his master.

    "Many innocent Beast Demons have already been killed. The hatred between normal Humans and Beast Demons will get even more intense, that much is for sure!" Keyrin added.

    "But I am just a simple Dungeon Supplierбн" Jin yawned a little as he looked at his new legs. As soon as he entered his own territory, the System and Milk had already been present and immediately started the process to regrow his limbs back.

    "User, what if the System tells you that assisting Gold, the werejackals, werecats and the Beast Demon Keyrin, will allow you to gain significant rewards?" The System seemingly had some bait prepared for him.

    "Well, the rewards should better be VERY enticing. I mean we have sort of agreed not to take drastic measures in the worldsбн yet here you want me to do something which is no less world revolutionary than uprooting the Twelve Zodiacs! Even so, this is their world, not ours. I have no obligation to go in and ughter uncountable hordes of Rat Demons. I don''t even want to capture and breed those things." Jin saw them as expenses rather than proper monsters.

    "System would like to propose that those Rat Demons, capable of thought, to work under the service of the Dungeon City Fortress. Instead of under User''s care, they would fall under the System''s obligation." The System offered Jin.

    "бнIs that my reward?" Jin asked bluntly like an innocent kid.

    "No, there is a separate reward. Capturing them as workers as only something which both sides can profit from. After all, the System needs workers to create the buildings for User''s purposes as soon as possible. Preferably the moment Qiu Yue enters the picture officially." The System was reeling the bait in.

    "What is the reward then?" Jin now got slightly interested.

    "Evolution of the Werejackals. Evolution of the Werecats. Evolution of the Beast Demons excluding the Rat Demons that User captures. Five kilogrammes of Oceanic Phoenix Dung. Complete Prototype Blueprint of User''s Remote Device andstly one additional Level in your Dungeon Supplier Rank, which will bring User''s Rank up to 4. System also wishes to congratte User who haspleted the previous Mission objective as of this afternoon 1337Hrs." The System stated. (Apparently, the bait the System has prepared was top ss)

    "Oh my god." Jin wanted to pull his hair at the number of rewards the System was offering.

 Chapter 322 Town Council Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 322 Town Council Meeting</h4>

    "What if I am still adamant about not doing this particr mission?" Jin asked hoping to spite the System a bit. Although mixed in it was maybe a wish of trying to get even a bit more of the usually stingy System. Nevertheless, it did not change the fact, that such a mission was outside the usual scale.

    "In that case System willбн not force the User. Ultimately, it does not matter. There are other routes in acquiring our workers for the Dungeon City Fortress. It just so happened that this would have been the one route that had the highest probability of getting the Dungeon City Fortress up and working for User and the System within the three months. System also took into consideration User''s character, who might want to help out his monster''s situation." The System was being so kind for the very first time that Jin was rather taken aback.

    "Wait, System are you sure you not affected by some virus? Any fever? Do you maybe need some medicine?" Jin asked as he suddenly got hit by a metal safe falling from the sky. When Jin opened it, there was nothing inside, yet his head still hurt from it.

    "For dramatic effect in reply of your sarcasm." System noted which made Jin and Goldughed heartily when they realised the System was most likely only portraying its version of embarrassment. Even Zeru had to pull out a genuine grin once in a while.

    "Alright, alright. I will probably end up doing it. Besides, we already got the Shield Barrier working with the defunct core, right? I agree we should start working on the Dungeon City Fortress as soon as possible too. Barren Land is not productivend." Jinplied with the System.

    "Moloch and the System have installed it without a hitch. Your spoil of war this time was even better than expected. The shield protecting the Dungeon City Fortress can now nullify any World ss magic for up to five times before its effectiveness is reduced." The System stated.

    As it turned out the ''defunct core'' which they took from Wolte was not exactly ''defunct''. It acknowledged Lord Wolte as the master for the dungeon and hence it was still partially working. This made the core an even more valuable item for the System to utilise since it had the usual magical property of a dungeon core.

    "I am delighted to hear that, Master. Even so, fighting the Rat Demons will be everything but easy. Their underground kingdom is widespread and no one knows if there are other outposts of the rats out there. We need to get rid of them once and for all, else they will reappear and wreak havoc once more." Gold deduced.

    "Stop right there. Since we are taking this mission, I think it is time to convene for a town council meeting." Jin smiled as he said that. This was because in the Sanctum of Worlds, he had created a specific Home Instance that allowed all the monsters to gather and he made sure that the ce could also amodate future monsters. It was an extensivelyrge field simr to a live music concert ce. Jin already considered throwing a party once in a while for the monsters and this particr Live Music concert area also worked as a gathering ce for the dungeon monsters to reside and listen and maybe throw in ideas if needed.

    The System summoned all of the monsters into the live music concert ce and provided seating arrangements for each and every types of monster. Except for Mr Derpy. (Joking, he did have a seat and a ridiculouslyrge one to boot. Some of the Deep Ones also had the honour to even sit on him.)

    "We are gathered here because of a mission that the System had issued," Jin exined the story of the Rat Demons and how they were going to be rat exterminators for the next few days or perhaps weeks.

    "There are some things I''d like to know though. Is the Virus gue still in effect? Because if it is, it would be an endless cycle of kill and rebirth against the Rat Demons." Mr Derpy asked. Though his face made it hard to say, the monsters were not sure if he asked it out of concern or was looking forward to an opportunity of enjoying a continuous literal bloodbath.

    "No need to worry about that. I and a friend of mine, the Schr of the West have ensured that the gue has stopped spreading. However, I do not know the current situation whether the Rat Demons managed to find a way to reproduce that particr strain of Virus gue." Gold answered.

    "In that case what Jin said holds true. As long as we do not know how extensive the Rat Demon Kingdom is, it will be a futile way of settling things." Shu voiced his opinion.

    "You won''t have to worry about that. The foxes and I will work overtime to get the pieces of intelligence mapped out. Also, I have a few tricks under my sleeve which I can utilise to track down any possible remnants." Kraft replied to Shu''s concerns. The anticipation to his future fun made him grin so wide, that he could be mistaken for a Cheshire Cat.

    "The penguins and I do not mind assisting in the food supplies and encampments. Leave the logistics to us. However, I do wish to fight in the frontlines if possible. I shall show you, that I don''t need to get rescued by you all the time, Jin!" Lynn smiled as she announced it out loud with determination which the penguins cheered her on. Everyone agreed that Lynn should go out to get some battle experience, which made Jin reluctantly agree to it.

    "Fine! Fine! I will bring her out! You penguins better take care of her too in the field! Or else I will make fried penguins wings out of all of you!" Jin said and the penguins were horrified by Jin''s drastic reply. Lynn even closed one of the penguin''s ears when he said that. The monsters, on the other hand, drooled a little thinking about fried penguin wings as they wondered if it tasted the same as chicken wings.

    "In terms ofmunications, my Magpies can handle it easily so leave that to me. They are capable of sending messages from the depths of hell to the highest pirs of heavens." Que Er, the Magpie Queen, raised her hand out and offered her expertise for the whole group.

    "Well that is all good and dandy, but you seem to have overlooked a problem. They are a KINGDOM. So, in short, we need manpower first to get dedicated manpower for our dungeon city fortress? Sounds rather contradicting." Molochmentedzily as he raised his puppet''s hand.

    "I think it''s more like we need to getpetent manpower to circumvent the situation." Sandy, the Sand Witch, rebutted against Moloch. There were further ramblings under the stage that Jin was on and people were discussing what was the best way to defeat the monsters until one of the goblins raised his hand.

    "Ahem! If everybody would listen to me if I could speak." Ripcaller, the Dagger Goblin requested and Jin demanded everyone to be silent for a moment. The crowd immediately kept quiet and listened intently to Ripcaller.

    "If you need manpower, we have the perfect ce for you in mind. We three can request for more goblins toe in our service. If we are lucky, we might gather a whole army too. All we need is a force that is somewhat expendable like the Zombies, no offence to Ghoul Half Lord Derek. -- and a sizeable force to perform proper specialised tasks like the goblin army. As long as we are able to obtain the army, the division ofbour would be easier while dedicating a strike force against the main bosses of the Rat Demon Kingdom, we should be able to dismantle them systematically!" Ripcaller exined.

    "And why should they listen to you? Don''t tell me that you were secretly some sort of goblin royalty all along, that we did not know about. Does your birthright allow you to loyallymand a goblin army?" Yellow sniggered as if Jin had managed to catch some high ss nobility goblins in the Goblin World.

    "Ahahahah. We could only wish for that to be true. No we are not that prestigious. However, all three of us ARE sons of various fairly renowned Goblin Generals in the Goblin Kingdom we hail from. When Master Jin captured us, we were forced to go out for our very first live battle practice as a group. It was because we were very sheltered from living the good lives. We had been rather truant and decided to stray from the main battlefield. That was when we encountered Master Jin." Piercestriker confessed. It was the first time the goblin trio shared their story with anyone.

    "Ohбнermбн" Jin was slightly speechless from the amount of embarrassment he had when he heard the goblins situation. However, the goblins stopped him from saying anything further.

    "No, it was a good thing that Master Jin captured us. We were rather disobedient, and we did not tell Master Jin anything because the System was the one that controlled us crazily. Everyone here knows that the System had not been the friendliest of a host at first, but seeing how Master Jin grew up within these past weeks and even managed to let the System evolve into a kinder entity, we are d to be a part of this ragtag group. Not to mention the amount of training we get here is so much more than what we would have ever gotten in our old world." shreaver added out loud and some even nodded their head. Most of the monsters'' lives had improved tremendously ever since living under Jin''s care despite the loyalty oath that they were required to pledge to.

    "Who knows, our current strength might even match the heroes of the past." Piercestriker boasted a bit at such a possibility.

    "Won''t it be weird if you guys suddenly appear again? I mean with you being gone, won''t they think you died? Or worse, marked you as deserters?" Jin questioned as he guessed that this would mean yet another detour he had to make. Sometimes it seemed as if the whole world was keen on preventing him from being a simple Dungeon Supplier, who could just enjoy making dungeons for his customersбн

    "System will increase the rewards ordingly. Should User decide to get help from the goblins the following rewards can be arranged: Evolution of the Goblin Trio and Mr Oink. Other Rewards pending, based on results and humanoids captured." The System added.

    "We shall deal with the situation when we arrived. First, we need to know what happened to our kingdom in the meantime, since there were bordering tensions between our goblin kingdom with some other kingdoms. At best, nothing. At worst, an ongoing war against the others." Ripcaller stated logically.

    "Oh gosh, I fear that by returning I will just make things worse." Jin shook his head as this was what happened when he came back to the Farming World to get those monster parts. Instead of a simple fetch quest, he had somehow unlocked the hidden SSS-ss "Topple the Worlds" Quest...

    "How about this, you return with the Goblin Trio and monitor the situation first? We can formte other ns in the meantime in case the goblin army reinforcement does not work out." Grey suggested and a number of the monsters agreed.

    "Alright, tomorrow okay? We will scout the area, find your daddies and determine if it is worthwhile to get that goblin army." Jinpromised and the Goblin Trio nodded their heads as they excitedly returned back to their home instance and so did the rest of the monsters.

    "I guess they missed their parents, too," Jin pondered as he could not help but think of Mingбн and somehow his thoughts changed to Yun too even though she was out there tending the shop.

 Chapter 323 Dungeon Supplier Rank 3

    <h4>Chapter 323 Dungeon Supplier Rank 3</h4>

    For the rest of the evening, Jin tended to his shop and woke up earlier than usual. He needed to prepare the items and equipment for the trip to the Goblin World. Ripcaller said that the Goblin Kingdom was called the Gob Gob Kingdom, named after a mighty ancestor.

    The Gob Gob Kingdom was one of the more advanced and highly popted Goblin Kingdoms in the Goblin World. Some even said that their military was the most advanced and highly sought after to enter by many various smaller kingdoms.

    "So, we are going into the Capital straight away? Didn''t you tell me that humans were the enemies of the Goblins." Jin asked the goblins and they nodded in unison.

    "Well, we could bring you in as a ve?" shreaver suggested casually but did not mean any offence to his Master.

    "I''d prefer not being a ve and get a harsh treatment. Hmmm... What about the half panda mask that I once used in the Dungeon World. Could that hide my presence as a human?" Jin asked the System and it gave an affirmative reply.

    "It can be arranged. All the System requires is to insert a dispersing presence magic onto the mask. You would be able to walk into the capital with near zero awareness." The System stated and Jin was confused.

    "You mean I can just walk in and people would treat me as just a mere somebody?" Jin tried to confirm.

    "Indeed. However if the mask is taken off, your presence will be noticed by everyone immediately. Consequences will be for you to handle. System advises not to bump into anybody and keep your distance!" The System replied as it magically popped the half panda mask right in front of Jin to hold on to. It looked the same as before, expect for a slight shining effect, which was barely noticeable.

    "I do not feelfortable doing this," Jin admitted with a sigh as he looked at the Goblin Trio. Strikereaver then stepped forward and told Jin that he didn''t need to force himself today against his wish. "It might be a dangerous mission to undertake so we understand your concerns." Piercestriker said, but Jin knew that a day dyed also meant one extra day without knowing how their home was.

    "Alright, let''s do it tonight. That way I still have this day to think if I forgot to make something, which could end up helpful. Anyways I hoped that you guys still know your way around." Jin asked and they all nodded their head until shreaver suddenly blurted, "That is if the capital is still around when we get there." The other two goblins immediately knocked shreaver''s head as if what he''d said was a taboo.

    The shop was as busy as ever but everything went smoothly throughout the day. Jin also began to hype the next dungeon instance that would finally feature the Deep Ones. Unlike all the other dungeons that were announced at short notice, Jin decided to change his strategy and tried to promote the uing dungeon.

    With the earlypletion of the October mission, his dungeon supplier rank had finally turned from Level 2.5 to Level 3 giving Jin the ability to renovate his shop even further. And he did not waste the opportunity immediately opting for some changes both in the shop instance and outside of the shop. The first thing was to remove the ugly empty first floor of the shop in reality. He had changed the interior of the first, second and third floor to something simr to the Zen gallery. Open space with fresh green bamboos inviting both new and old customers to enjoy a sort of serenity that they desired after a day of hard work.

    As the recovery instance and other service instances were already integrated with the shop instance, the second floor was renovated into something more of a ce to rx and enjoy a quiet time where people could take a break from the shop instance or the real world. Benches and chairs were ced around the room, and there was even a bookshelf filled with random books and manuals.

    Jin had requested Peppers to randomise the books, manuals, magazines and novels that were avable in there once a week and even allowed cultivators and customers to rent or buy books from there with the use of their Pandamonium App. It turned out, it was very well received by certain groups who just wanted some peace and quiet. Unsurprisingly Jin had ced an anti-theft system in ce for the books, but there was currently no one who would be so stupid to do that especially in a shop filled with cultivators.

    In addition to that, Jin also rmended cultivators to donate their own books here for recycling purposes. Any books sold to Jin would bepensated with a few Panda Medals and maybe that was also why people received the whole mini library idea quite well that Jin converted the third floor simr to the second.

    As for the first floor, Jin had ced posters of the promotional Deep One Dungeon and short clips of it at the front of the dungeon. He even changed the billboard with a few creeping octopus tentaclesing out from the Halloween themed Panda.

    As for the October Mission, the System did promise a restaurant instance as a reward but Jin had already created one in advance for Lynn. Hence, the System had decided to enhance the Restaurant Train of Delicacy Instance by introducing more recipes, menus and exotic food parts from the Farming World to Lynn.

    Jin pouted when he learnt that he was short changed for the effort he put in but Lynn patted him on the back while teasing him at the same time. "You sure it is your dungeons that brings you the customers? I have a nagging feeling it is more because of my cooking." Lynn''s cute face did indeed melt Jin''s anger as he sighed and gave her a pass.

    ------------

    Evening came and Jin asked Yun to take over his role to take care of the shop while he made ast check alongside the Goblin Trio. With the results and analysis Jin received from fighting Keyrin, he had managed to improve the Gearbox even more and prepared partial Gearbox parts for the goblins for this particr trip. The new Gearboxes turned into equipment cards and Jin equipped a Right Arm Gearbox Gauntlet for shreaver, Left Arm Gearbox Gauntlet for Piercestriker and Legs Gearbox boots for Ripcaller.

    Why prepare so much when Jin could summon people in need? The main reason was that Jin would be considered an enemy as the Goblin World had no concept of something like a summoner like the Dungeon World had. So him materialising monsters out of nowhere would only serve to make him stand out and he did not want to risk too many red gs for the Goblin Trio. It would be best to be simple yet versatile enough to act on any situation.

    Hence, the System teleported them into an alleyway of the Gob Gob Kingdom. To their relief they found that everything was still quiet and orderly.

    "Let us go to a pub to get some information. We will then know about the current situation before we proceed in searching for our families." Ripcaller suggested.

    "Why can''t we just go straight to your family?" Jin asked as he adjusted his half Panda Mask.

    "Heh, because Ripcaller''s family owns almost every pub in the Gob Gob Kingdom. By contacting the bartender there, it is effectively telling Ripcaller''s family that he is alive. They will then spread that information to our families too." Piercestriker exined as they brought a hood out when they walked out of the alleyway. Jin did the same to minimise his presence. Additionally he had used one of Kraft''s looted treasure from the Dungeon World. The Silent Cape.

    "Feels like a medieval world to me," Jin pondered as clouds started to shadow the moon and drizzles of rain tinkled into the Capital City of Gob Gob Kingdom while he and the goblins quietly moved from one street to another.

 Chapter 324 Goblin Pub

    <h4>Chapter 324 Goblin Pub</h4>

    The rain was getting heavier and there was no shelter apart from their flimsy capes and hoods. Jin followed closely behind the three goblins as they paced themselves not to be found, kept hidden in the shadows when necessary.

    From what Jin was told on the way, the Gob Gob Kingdom usually had a curfew at night with guards walking around. Unless you had an official pass or a work permit for the goblins that were required to work in the night, you were not allowed to walk around thatte.

    However, Goblin Pubs still function at night. As long as they stayed within the pubs during the night there would be no problems.

    Hence, going into a Goblin Pub was a measure of skill and wits trying and hoping that you do not get caught. It''s a subtle way to promote subterfuge and training the goblin guards on duty too. Initially, the goblin citizens found it ridiculous until some official blurted out the reason during a Pub crawl, stating that the King wanted to encourage the goblin citizens not to forget their skills and hone their awareness despite the peace they were having.

    The word spread and the curfew became an exercise for the Goblin Guards to spar in the night and the goblin citizens to practice their hiding abilities. Hence, the punishment for breaking the curfew was not severe nor kept in the records unless intentions to do malicious harm was found.

    Initially, the goblins nned to get caught so that they could be brought into the castle almost immediately. This n was quickly abandoned as Jin was with them and his treatment would be different. It was also a gamble since the guards might not necessarily recognise them, after all they did not know how much time had past after Jin captured them. Therefore, they decided to just find a nearby Goblin Pub while avoiding the guards.

    As Jin followed the goblins, he noticed that he could learn a lot from them up close instead of just watching the goblins in action from the monitors. The timing to move, the ces to hide and the coordination between the three of them were fantastic. They might not be exactly the strongest in terms of firepower in his assortment of creatures, but in Jin''s opinion, the goblins had the best teamwork coordination of all his monsters, though the Jacks came in as a close second ce.

    After hiding and almost encountering some extra vignt goblin guards, the trio and Jin found their way to the nearest Goblin Pub where they were weed with open arms. The pub was boisterous with goblins chugging down rum and ale as if there was no tomorrow.

    Ripcaller went towards the bartender and threw a gold coin on the table. The busy bartender who did not give a shit because of the ruckus happening in the pub suddenly shifted his attention to the gold coin. He picked it up and bit the coin to test its ''authenticity'' before looking at Ripcaller.

    "Hmm, you may order four drinks from the secret menu." The Bartender said as he gave a quick nce at Ripcaller.

    "No, I want information. The Night had dawn before the Sun turned ck." Ripcaller cited the secret passphrase that was unique to his family which the Bartender furrowed his eyebrow for a moment and sighed. It seemed it was an old passphrase, but it still checked out.

    "Come with me. OEI YOU! PICK UP THE SLACK!" The Bartender shouted at one of his assistants as he beckoned the rest to follow him upstairs. Jin was rather surprised that there were multiple floors to the pub, but the higher you went, the quieter it got.

    "The pubs also serve as a ce of resting. You have your own names for such things... Hotels? Inns?" Piercestriker tried to use more modern words to describe the Goblin Pubs for Jin to understand since he was the tourist after all.

    On the fifth floor, where the Bartender reached a particr room, the group stepped into the hall of his office as the Bartender sat at the desk but asked Jin outside for now. They knew he had the dispersing presence aura from his magical half panda mask and the silent cape, but it would be better if the Bartender did not know his exact identity. Jin agreed and he stayed outside while asking the System to open telepathicmunications with the goblins inside the room.

    "User can listen to what your monsters are listening. System can activate the particr ability if User wishes to." The System offered and Jin nodded his head in silence. There was some fuzzy noise at first but eventually, he could clearly hear what the Goblin Trio were hearing.

    "Give me a moment as I set up themunication stone." The Bartender told them as he fiddled with some of the contraptions on his desk with a blue gem at the centre of it all. Eventually, it glowed and the Bartender eyed Ripcaller. "Speak of your business, Lost son of the Dagger General."

    "So you know who I am." The goblin lowered his hood and the Bartender sighed as he confirmed Ripcaller''s identity.

    "Of course. It was a big thing for the sons of three famous generals to disappear out of nowhere. Goblin scouts were sent to the site and they only found traces of dead guards, fighting and human footprints. However, there were no other footprints from the vicinity at all. While evidence was inconclusive, the scouts figured that a magical portal had to be used, which would indicate that a human mage of high talent still exists during the reign of the Gob Gob Kingdom." The Bartender spoke as he looked at the other two hooded goblins who subsequently let their hoods down too.

    "Heh. So the sons of Spear General and Sword General are still with you... Care to exin?" The Bartender asked as if there''s a juicy story waiting to be squeezed from a customer. This kind of information could be sold for a pretty penny.

    "Now is not the time, what is the year and time? Did anything drastic happen while we were gone? More importantly did our disappearance cause anything with our neighbours?" Ripcaller asked in a solemn manner which led the Bartender to rub his stubble.

    "I do not remember hearing gossips and rumours of the son of Dagger General to be this...calm." Bartender took another look, but the appearance of the goblin did match the wanted poster. He resumed checking themunication stone while he continued to babble. Apparently, the goblins were gone for more than a year. The only reason the goblins could infer was that time was in fact rtive between worlds just as Jin had guessed and warned them beforehand.

    "Various secret missions were sent to scout the human towns after your disappearance but there was no news. Secret contacts also said that there was no kidnapping of any high ranked goblin nobles and so the Generals were desperate and conducted ''exercises'' around the borders to the Gob Gob Kingdom. In actual fact, those were search parties in disguise to look for pockets of human resistance since they could not make a big deal of their sons being gone. It would have been a political disaster. Eventually, conclusive evidence from goblin sages noted that there were no traces of magic being used during the fight. You three were just suddenly gone from the world." The Bartender exined as he now became very curious about how the three of them re-emerged again.

    "Eventually, the generals gave up publicly. But behind the shadows, they continued to have us contracted to work with them. They suspected that internal politics were involved, so they had goblins check on the high ranking individuals. asionally the generals also send out quests to search for the ''missing goblins'' and paid us in advance should you ever appear in Pubs...like now." The Bartender opened his drawer and showed them the contracts.

    "Other than that, I can provide you with a magical portal to the castle since the magical scroll came along with the contract. But be careful how you contact your parents, the Orcs are in the King''s castle tonight. You know how we cannot show weakness to the Orcs, even parental care." The Bartender warned them as he wilfully summoned a portal.

    "The Orcs? I thought the Orcs were enemies?" shreaver remembered his lessons on history about how they had once been ves under the Orcs, but the humans and Orcs fought furiously before the goblins learnt how to take advantage of the situation and defeated both of them.

    "Heh, how would I know? All I heard was that they are here for a courtesy visit." The Bartender shrugged his shoulders.

    "Why don''t we make our way to the castle ourselves instead of using the port-? ...Oh." Piercestriker initially thought of Jin who was not here in the room to take the portal but then they had forgotten how omnipotent their master was.

    "Where does the portal exactly lead to?" Ripcaller asked and the Bartender replied stating it was the usual ce. Only Ripcaller understood that as there was a mini Pub in the bas.e.m.e.nts of the Castle for goblin guards to rx too.

    "Let''s get going. For some reason, I had a bad hunch that the Orcs are trouble." shreaver had his hood up once more and took a breathe before walking into the Portal. Unknown to them, what the Goblin Trio were about to do with Jin would forever stay in the records of their history.

 Chapter 325 Starfire

    <h4>Chapter 325 Starfire</h4>

    The System made it possible for Jin to join his Goblin Trio''s teleportation. Immediately all four came out of the portal, making it look like he was one of the few allowed into the Castle. However, when they arrived, it was not the scene of drunks talking nor merry noises of the underground pub which weed them. The ground was filled with bloodied corpses of goblins, and three cloaked figures were fighting against the seeminglyst surviving goblin who was barely left standing from the blows. It became clear that the goblin was left alive not out of its own strength but to to be toyed with...

    With a glimpse, shreaver noticed it was someone familiar to him. He did not hesitate for even a moment and jumped directly into the fray against the three figures shouting:

    "Starfire! Perform a Thunder Skip out now!"

    Before he got to finish his sentence, Starfire got stabbed in the stomach. She seemed barely conscious, but the familiar voice made her react to themand as she snapped her fingers. Her magical ring contained the stored spell Thunder Skip, a movement skill sting a thunderp in front of her opponent while she magically moved backwards. The spell activated and allowed her to gain some distance from her opponents without the need for chanting at all.

    Jin caught her just in time. Due to her heavy injuries she was unable tond properly and the stab in the stomach was about to finish her off. He immediately took out a chi potion. Through experience they had found out that those were surprisingly suitable for consumption by the goblins after the System had given them some as an experiment. "Drink this. Trust us. We are here to help." Jin told her with his half Panda Mask on. (How can you not trust a Panda? :) )

    With her life hanging on a thread and the assurance of a familiar voice from seconds ago, Starfire listened and she sipped the bottle of sweet nectar. shreaver advanced forward catching the three cloaked figures off guard as he shouted a taunting war cry which he had mimicked from Kong Xian, the Towering Tortoise Cultivator. shreaver also hoped that some Castle Guards would enter and intervene with the fight.

    The hoods from their cloaks flew off from the impact of the shout and revealed them as ck Orcs. One male who was armoured under the hood and two females with one holding a staff and the other with short sword and a dagger. The Goblin Trio immediately identified them based on the weapons and armour they were equipped with.

    The male was most likely some sort of Orc Knight with high defensive capabilities whereas the female orc with the staff had to be a magician of some sort. Most Orcs that were magicians were ones who dealt with ck magic, but because she had yet to show any abilities, they could only find out. The remaining one was definitely a thief or an assassin Orc with a slender figure.

    "Too bad for you, the entire castle is in a lockdown fighting. Don''t think that your loud shouting will attract any aid for you. In fact, it might attract more of my kind against you! Hahahahah!" The male Orc Knight sneered andughed.

    .

    "The Orc Knight is mine." shreaver eyes were burning as he pulled out his cultivation from the depths of his body. Seven goblin-ish silhouettes were shown each mixed with various animals. ording to the System, the goblins were one of the most versatile of all monsters Jin had ever captured too, managing to not only learn skills off of the cultivators they were fighting but even going beyond that merging them with their own abilities.

    Other monsters were also doing the same such as Ke Mi who learnt how to create more snakes phantoms after the fight with the high school student who used his flute to summon his Weasel. (It''s unfortunate he did not appear ever again after his defeat.) The Savants also learnt the most from the cultivators and merged a lot of their skills with the cultivators in order to fight them toe to toe.

    However, the System found it very odd that the goblins were able to cultivate simrly to Jin and other cultivators but it was the first time the System saw goblins were able to master various animalistic styles into their cultivation, unlike humans who could only learn one form. Unless cultivators were very talented, humans could at most practice two styles. And even in such rare cases, those usually belonged to the same family of styles.

    "Pfft, what are you some Animal Shaman holding a sword?" The Orc Knight swung his sword backwards and attempted to smash shreaver with its overwhelming might. Or so he thought. shreaver held onto the Orc Knight''s two handed sword with his two fingers as if it was just a piece of paper. Even Jin shook his head at the scene, seeing how shreaver was filled with angerpared to the other two who were fighting without their cultivation on.

    "I guess this female goblin means a lot to shreaver." Jin looked at Starfire to see if the chi potion was making any progress to her wounds.

    "What! How can a goblin hold onto my greatsword!" The Orc Knight was visibly fl.u.s.tered as he tried to pull his weapon, but it was to no avail. He quickly abandoned his primary weapon and to draw the short sword from his waist as a counter. Yet, before he could even swing his weapon, his arm was cut off at the blink of an eye. shreaver had let go of the greatsword and shed his lower limbs away, causing the Orc Knight to fall sideways from the low sweep. Seemingly not wishing to dirty his own weapon the goblin picked the greatsword up again as he pierced it through the Orc Knight''s thick armour and into his abdomen area. The Orc Knight could not make a single noise as the pain numbed his voice while he bled to death slowly.

    Ripcaller, on the other hand, did short work with the female Orc Assassin. The Goblin Assassin wanted to ''y'' a little more with his prey, but he decided to save his energy since the Orc Knight said that the castle was overrun by them, the ck Orcs. Shocking enough, Piercestriker decided to immobilise the Orc magician by knocking her out.

    "Master, do you mind asking Sir Kraft to do his wonders? It would be best if we gain some more intel from the Orcs. The mages are usually the most respected ones and should have the most information about the whole situation since there aren''t many Orc Mages that the Orc Kingdom can afford. We could get the other part of the current situation from Starfire." Piercestriker suggested and before Jin could have a say, Kraft appeared right almost immediately as he picked up the ck Orc with his hand crushing onto her skull.

    "Well I shall skip the fun, since time is of the essence, I suppose. Don''t me me what happens to her afterwards." Kraft had a serious look as he squeezed his hand even harder so that the head began to deform from his grasp. The Orc Mage suddenly woke up from her unconsciousness state since the pain was getting unbearable and tried to fight back. She ignited her hands with fire, hoping to burn Kraft alive while screaming vilely from the excruciating pain.

    "No use, I''ve been through things far worse than this soft, warm me you are holding," Kraft did not even flinch as he pressed on her head yet harder. Blood was oozing out of her nostrils and ears while some sort of ck smoke was seen emitting out of the top of her head. Not long after, the Orc did not retaliate and her hands turned lifeless.

    "In short, the Orcs had been nning for this massacre and takeover of the upper hierarchy of the Gob Gob Kingdom for years. Not just this kingdom. All the other goblin kingdoms should simultaneously be struck tonight. All the upper hierarchy goblins will be gonee tomorrow. It''s a Do or Die kind of act. They wish to destabilise the kingdoms before following it up with an ambush attack against all kingdoms. The Orcs of every colour иCI do not know what that really means, but I guess the collective groups of Orcs decided to war against the Goblins." Kraft let go of the skull and swiped his hands together to remove some leftover dust. (Still, the System did capture the three Orcs too. Though thest one turned ''special''.)

    "The takeover of this castle is still in the first few phases ording to her most recent memories. She and some other mages have set up a magical barrier some minutes ago. No one will be able to go in nor out. I guess that means the goblins in here should be setting up a final defence line to protect the King of Gob Gob. We might manage to save your King if we hurry." Kraft added while shreaver returned to take care of Starfire.

    "How did we manage to get in then if the magic barrier was up?" Jin asked casually as he passed another bottle of chi potion to shreaver.

    "We used Leyline magic to connect our portals with different pubs. Something different from the usual magic that we are using....Hmm, maybe that is why they decided to ughter the goblins here so there is truly no escape nor entry. How could they know about the portal system...Shit there must be insiders." Ripcaller guessed.

    "Well, if the mage''s memories were true. They must have a lot of insiders." Piercestrikermented as he looked around the dead goblins.

    "Crap, so that means the King might not necessarily be safe even in the final defence line," Ripcaller said as he checked for any usable items left by the Orc Assassin after she was captured by the System.

    "It''s true...it''s really you!" Starfire immediately hugged shreaver when she recognised him. "Where did you go? How do you have such immense power coursing through you?" Starfire had so many questions, but shreaver stopped her.

    "I will tell you more once we have the time. Right now, we must stop the orcs and traitor goblins from killing your father." shreaver told Starfire.

    "Welp...I guess we came in at the most opportune of times. System, you sure you aren''t nning all this in advance." Jin sent a thought to the System.

    "Would User believe the System, when being told, that this is just a happy little ident?" The System replied with a question and Jin could only sigh at it. There were more pressing matters to settle than to contemte the coincidence of fate.

 Chapter 326 Half Panda Mask Guy

    <h4>Chapter 326 Half Panda Mask Guy</h4>

    The Goblin Pub was located in the bas.e.m.e.nt, specifically, three floors below the ground floor of the castle. There were two ways out from the Goblin Pub. However, one of these would lead to the outer gardens which were nowhere near the Reception Halls nor the Throne Hall, unless one had a gadget that allowed them to fly and sneak in through there.

    And that was exactly what Ripcaller was suggesting until he realised something important. "Wait...if the magic portal was up just minutes ago and wasn''t affected by the Leyline magic...then how did Master enter so nonchntly with us? Does it mean his portal magic was able to intervene against the magic barrier?" They all looked at Jin with the exception of Starfire who thought that the person in the half Panda Mask was a nobody.

    "What? You want me to teleport you guys into the Throne Hall? Ehh, System can you do that?" Jin asked as if he was talking to himself again while holding onto a metal piece that shined, though Starfire just thought the Half Panda Mask guy was weird. He also seemed ratherrge for a Goblin. Did he maybe have Hobgoblin Ancestry.

    "Negative, System does not have the coordinates to the Throne Hall. System was able to teleport the User to the goblins because the portal they were using had specific coordinates. Copying those coordinates was as easy as making pie." The System answered through the phone speakers which rmed Starfire.

    "Rx, Starfire." shreaverforted her and asked Master Jin once more. "What about teleporting us up to the roof? Or drop us from the skies? It is definitely easier and faster to ess the rooftoppared to climbing up the stairs, fighting Orcs throughout the ce. The faster we get to our Liege, the safer he will be." shreaver gave his opinion and the System gave an affirmative reply almost immediately.

    "Ehh so I guess I will be fighting the Orcs as a distraction while you four proceed from the roof. But won''t the goblin guards be mistaking me for an intruder and fight against me as well?" Before any of the goblins could reply, the System butted in.

    "User, the female goblin cannot be teleported. She is not a monster under User''s care." The System stated it bluntly which made Starfire furious.

    "How dare this metal thing call me a monster!" Starfire was just about to cast a fire magic spell on it but shreaver stopped her in time.

    "Starfire! Princess! Please calm down. Master is a monster summoner, just like in the legends! He иC" Before shreaver could add more, Starfire became even more furious.

    "Master?! That Half Panda Mask Guy owns you? What happened to the Proud shreaver? Has the son of the Sword General stooped so low as to sign under some very contract?!" The way this conversation was going was not at all how the Goblin Trio imagined it. Starfire currently had an even deeper misunderstanding than before. Jin went forward and pped her on her face which stunned everybody for a moment.

    "I do not care who you are. I don''t know how you are used to handling things, but this whole thing is everything but normal. All I know is that we here saved your life and I expect you to repay that favour by shutting the hell up. This is not the time to quarrel. Every second spent here is a valuable second your King or should I say father is in danger. Stop behaving like a spoilt goblin!" Jin lectured her firmly before he turned to his own Goblins and started giving them orders.

    "Ripcaller, Piercestriker and shreaver, you three strike from the skies. You, Starfire was it? Follow me. Mr Hot, Ms Cold, Que Er. Come to me." Jinmanded as the System began teleporting the three goblins into the sky.

    "Princess, stay strong and trust him as we trust him with our lives," shreaver managed to say with the rest nodding their heads before the bodies were digitised and disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, Mr Hot, Ms Cold and Que Er appeared right in front of Jin. Que Er, The Magpie Queen, had a half Magpie mask on her face instead of the Panda Mask, courtesy of the System.

    Starfire squealed a little when she saw two uniquely shaped ants and a female looking humanoid kneeling in front of the Half Panda Mask guy. She tried to see if the female was a human but somehow no matter how she focused, it was blurred out.

    "Mr Hot, Ms Cold. Assist the Goblin Trio. The exit is there. You can climb up the walls to get to them. Kill any Orcs along the way. Que Er, send a Magpie with them formunication purposes and assist me in protecting thisdy Goblin." Jin ordered the three and the ants to set out immediately.

    "Excuse me, Princess Starfire, what are you waiting for? Lead the way. You should know all kinds of secret passages and so on. Bring me there via the fastest route." Jinmanded and Starfire grumbled at him before heading for the stairs.

    "Who does he think he is? Does he think he has the ability to fight off these monstrous Orcs all by himself?" Starfire flew up the stairs with her hover spell and was not giving any quarters for the Panda Mask Guy to catch up. Yet, she was unconsciously hoping to scout ahead and eliminate the Orcs by surprise if possible to show that she was strong on her own.

    What she did not expect was that The Panda Mask Guy was able to catch up by sprinting and jumping along the walls. "Can''t you hurry up? We already spent far too much time discussing things just now!" Jinined as he moved ahead of her. Starfire became somewhat frustrated and continued to pour more mana into her hover spell to receive a speed boost.

    Within less than a minute, they reached the main courtyard of the castle where the Princess saw the goblin guards losing a fight they were entirely unprepared for. The guards were still wearing the ceremonial uniforms for the Orc Ambassador visit instead of real armour. As a result they were at a significant disadvantage against the iing Orc fighters who were armed to the teeth.

    With the city still at peace and no alerts being sent out to the military camps, Jin figured that the Orcs must have most likely used something like the Trojan Horse technique from ancient Greeks before the fight started. That was also why most goblins were fully unprepared and died from the surprise attack.

    "Que Er!" Jin shouted as he brandished his sword out and charged forward with a Lazy Panda Swipe ready. The Orc fighter that saw Jining forth, thinking it was just a puny nobody humanoid, raised his axe up high to smash Jin into bits. Boy, how wrong he was.

    "BOOM!"

    The Lazy Panda Swipe did not just kill the clueless Orc fighter. Its strength was so terrifying that the orc fighter exploded from the raw kic force with blood sshing all over itsrades and a shockwave ensued that caused many of the Orc Fighters to disperse before reaching to the demoralised goblin guards.

    "REGROUP!" Starfire shouted with an amplified voice filled with mana. The goblins who heard the call immediately made their way towards their princess. Separately, Que Er summoned her Magpies to the battle. Her followers magically appeared on the trees and bushes of the Main Courtyard awaiting themands from the Queen Magpie herself.

    With a gentle swing of Que Er''s arm, all the Magpies immediately flew up to the sky which distracted the Orcs even more while Jin swung another Lazy Panda Swipe on to the group of the Orcs. Upon witnessing this, Starfire realised how wrong she was for doubting the strength of the person who the three Goblin Generals'' Sons had decided to call Master.

    "Could it really be, that they were not forced to sign a contract? So does that mean they are following him out of their own free will... Maybe...he is really truly a hidden master rather than a ve that I initially thought..." Starfire mumbled to herself as she saw Jin sting a few more Orcs away. They flew to the walls of the castle, remaining as permanent decorations for the interior stone walls.

    "Starfire, here." Que Er called her as she ced a Blue Magpie on Princess Starfire''s shoulder. "This should help you with your Mana regeneration and consumption." The blue Magpie chirped and it immediately gave the female goblin mage sufficient power to summon a shield barrier that prevented further entry to the Orcs. It gave the goblins time to retreat to her side and regroup while Jin bullied the Orc Fighters.

    In the meantime, the Goblin Trio was facing another challenge of their own. They initially managed to surprise the Orcs that used the roof as a vantage point to kill goblin guards from afar and to alert the situation to theirmanders. Most were killed except for one Orc who pped before appearing out of the shadows from the tower door beside the roof.

    "So...the missing children of the Three Gob Gob Generals returned to their mothend and fell from the skies like heroes of the past." An Orc covered in heavy ck armour narrated sarcastically as he wore his helmet on and swung his signature halberd.

    "That armour...that halberd...The ck Orc''s Lord General Nubwort..." shreaver went into a defensive stance immediately.

    "The ck Disaster." Piercestriker swung his spear in a simr fashion and aimed it at the ck Orc General upon mentioning his nickname.

 Chapter 327 The Black Disaster

    <h4>Chapter 327 The ck Disaster</h4>

    "Guess my reputation precedes me!" The ck Disaster dashed towards Piercestriker as he was the closest one at the front. The two spearsmen (or erm spear-Orc and spear-Goblin) collided with each other, both matching the others attacking speed.

    Piercestriker went for a strike towards the shoulders of the ck Disaster, but the ck Orc Lord General slipped in a downward chop forcing Piercestriker to evade, making his attack too weak to do any damage to the other''s armour.

    Unlike the ck Disaster who was not only fully armoured but was even further enhanced through magical runes shining through from his body, all Jin''s goblins had was protective leather. The quality of it may have been higher than any run-of-the-mill leather armour, however it was no match to their enemy''s armor. Yet, Jin didn''t leave his monsters in a totally vulnerable situation. Those leather armours had various inscriptions applied to them. They were mainly of a supportive nature such as an increase in speed and agility.

    Jin initially wanted them to be fast. Hit Fast, Kill Fast and Run Fast was the idea for this particr mission. He knew that there was bound to be trouble, but he never expected that they would encounter a surprise ambush by one of the strongest of the Orc Race so soon ording to the the goblins.

    "Shit, I should not have used my cultivation powers..." shreaver regretted using them earlier on, thinking that it was vital to save Princess Starfire. At the same time, it allowed him to demonstrate how powerful he had be. A vital difference between the goblin and the human cultivators were that the goblins could not use their maximum cultivation powers more than once a day. They could still use the skills they learnt, but the power of the supposed technique wouldn''t be the same. Perhaps, that was the tradeoff for being so versatile aspared to humans learning only one particr style.

    "Do not me yourself. If I were in your position, I would have done the same. Besides, you have never been the strongest amongst all of us and Princess knew that. Can''t be helped that you wanted to show off to impress and express your love for her." Ripcaller teased as he remained vignt and noticed something iing from the side of the walls. Even shreaver got distracted and wanted to strike at that thing until they all identified it as a magpie flying upwards.

    "Master Jin has sent us as reinforcements. Mr Hot and Ms Cold at your disposal!" The Magpie transmitted her message to the two of them.

    "GO! I will keep him busy!" Piercestriker yelled as he fell back to take a breather. He did not turn his head back nor allow himself to be distracted by the arrival of Mr Hot and Ms Cold because... he couldn''t afford to.

    "Hmm, Youngling you do show promise but you are at least a decade too early to be my match. You''re overestimating yourself, thinking that you can handle me!" Nubwort spoke through his helmet with a muffled voice.

    "Heh, I have yet to show you some tricks which I picked up after my disappearance. You could say that I have gone through some training especially for you!" Piercestriker kept his spear steady while keeping his breathing in pace.

    "Very well. Let''s go shreaver." Ripcaller understood that there was a history between the ck Disaster and Piercestriker''s family. shreaver unhooked his Gearbox gauntlet and it turned back into a box which he threw towards Piercestriker. "Bro. Right Arm. Raise it up." Piercestriker raised his hand while his eyes were still onto the ck Disaster''s Halberd. shreaver''s Gearbox hit Piercestriker''s right arm and immediately attached itself to him.

    "Don''t you dare get defeated. We expect to see him captured by the System!" shreaver tried to motivate his friend as he sat on Mr Hot while Ripcaller was on Ms Cold. The Ants crawled over the castle walls once more, heading downwards and towards the tall windows of the Throne Hall.

    "Ready?" The ck Disaster asked in a reasonably impatient tone.

    "Didn''t know you were the kind to be nice enough to wait." Piercestriker sidestepped before dashing.

    "Well I do have my moments. After all, this will be thest time your friends will see you in one piece. But don''t worry they will join you soon enough!" Suddenly, fire emerged from a rune on his Halberd that coursed through the entire weapon. Subsequently, his gauntlets were also on fire. Yet, Nobwurt wielded it without any fear even though the intense burning temperature should be hurting his hands.

    Nobwurt was used to it. He was cursed with the inability to feel anything. His sensory nerves were dysfunctional and only in battle could he be able to feel his heart beating, urging him for more ughter. He earnt his name from massacring dozens if not hundreds of foes during the war in one night. Thus, rumours spread like wildfire and he got recognised and feared as a natural disaster.

    This particr natural disaster struck Piercestriker''s family when they least expected it. Piercestriker, his older brother and his father were the only ones that survived the onught of the ck Disaster. The trio of father and sons had decided to go for a mountain hike while the rest of the n was in arge but rtively modest wooden cabin in the nearby forest at the borders of Gob Gob Kingdom. Unfortunately, Nubwort was feeling bored that particr day and went on a hunt to hurt some animals. Following his prey, he identally ended up in that exact forest.

    Then, he helped himself to the delicious tter presented to him on a shiny te. The ck Disaster effortlessly killed the entirety of the Piercestriker''s family the moment they picked up arms to defend themselves against the Orc. The fight was ultimately one sided, but the thrill of fighting the trained goblins of the Spear General made him go wild into a blood frenzy and he ended up killing each and every one of them cleanly.

    That was right. Nobwort did not inflict any wounds to any of them, instead they all shared the same fate. A decapitation with his halberd the very moment they had an opening, presenting him with the chance to execute. When the Spear General of Gob Gob Kingdom returned with his sons, they all swore revenge against the one responsible. Eventually, they discovered that the culprit was Nubwort when a few dayster a condolence letter had arrived written in blood by the Orc. The insanity caused by that letter was head numbing for the older brother who decided to duel with Nubwort as proposed in the letter.

    Piercestriker was knocked unconscious on the day of the fight by his own father and the King forbade the Spear General to make a move, effectively cing him under house arrest. The older brother was the only one who answered the call of battle and he was defeated in under ten seconds. His body was given back, yet without his head on it. Instead, the servants and soldiers passed on that it was burnt into ashes by the ck Disaster himself.

    Even nowadays, Piercestriker regretted that he did not send his brother off and was unable to assist him against the ck Disaster. He was aware that even if he went, he would have been more of a liability, and he would have most likely returned just as his brother. Nevertheless, the guilt for failing to follow him apanied him every day.

    "This time, I will take revenge for my entire family!" Piercestriker shouted as he released his cultivation, simr to shreaver seven goblin-ish silhouettes merged with various animals were shown above him.

    "What is this? Some monkey show? If you want to be fancy, I shall apany you." The ck Disaster activated more of his runes and the me on his halberd spread onto his arms and to his torso. Now the me turned slightly ck but not as dark like Master Jin''s version and it was colder rather than hot.

    There and then, Piercestriker started to distinguish some faces of goblins seemingly screaming theirst death throes from the mes burning the armour and he realised that they looked like the n members that he lost. "My Halberd holds the souls of the departed. The cleaner the kill, the more powerful the boost I get in return. This is why I aim for a clean head execution. Since you are out for revenge you will soon reunite with your loved ones! Now I shall use the powers of the souls of your departed family against you! How does it feel to be cursed by your lost ones?!" Nubwort smirked as he aimed his halberd at Piercestriker.

    "I will release you all. I promise. I have trained all this while just for this opportunity!" Piercestriker eyes burnt with revenge and endless fury from his heart which fuelled his cultivation even more.

    Both of them released a mighty warcry as they once again shed with each other releasing their most powerful techniques.

    ---------------

    The goblin captain who was barely alive was brought towards Starfire and she treated his wounds with multiple cure light wounds spell which allowed him to at least breath normally for now. There were internal injuries which Starfire was unable to heal because she was not a full fledged healer. She knew a few easy to learn healing spells for first aid purposes.

    Even her shield barrier was supposedly a simple protective spell which usually does not have the power to prevent the entry of the Orcs. It was with the power of the blue magpie on her shoulder that it was enhanced multiple times to the point where it only allowed her allies to enter.

    "What kind of little bird familiar is this to contain so much mana in it? What kind of secret master did the three of them encounter?" Starfire was still in awe by Jin''s powers and hispanions as she saw ck mes spewing out of his hand to incinerate the opponents.

    "What are you waiting for? Get going to the Throne Hall quick! I will follow behind!" Jin shouted as he lifted up his Silent Cape to the side like a mage in style. Starfire acknowledged andmanded the goblin guard remnants to follow her into the inner corridors that will eventually lead them to the Throne Hall.

    On his left hand, Jin conjured a ball of white ice engulfed in ck mes and threw it up to the sky. After which, he immediately changed his Bam and Boo into a two handed Warhammer. This was the first time he used such a form of his Bam and Boo since Jin always loved the slicing power and versatility of the katana.

    With the Panda Rolling technique, he managed to jump up high and fast enough to be slightly above the white ice ball of ck mes into the sky. Some of the Orcs tried to retaliate by throwing nearby rubble and shooting arrows at Jin but he was too high for those to reach him. "Boom Bitches! Arghh I forgot that these orcs fighters are males." Jin rolled his eyes a little as he mmed the Warhammer onto the white ice ball.

    A sound simr to a volcanic eruption pierced the ears of the orcs when the Warhammer mmed onto the white ice ball. It shattered on impact, causing dozens of pieces of white shard infused with ck mes to rain on them. Some of the orcs tried to take cover under their shields and bucklers, but they did not know that when the ice shards came into contact with their shields or body armour, it would explode once more.

    Thus, it was like a rain of explosions falling upon them and none could hide unless they ran out of the courtyard. However, the shards did not just fall on them but onto the walls of the castle too, causing it to drop rubbles andrge pieces of debris onto the orcs.

    "Oops... Guess I went a bit overboard with this new concept." Jin was being kept afloat by the numerous magpies flying right beside him. It was with their help that the technique Jin performed was amplified many times over, increasing the destructive power of the white ice ball in ck mes.

    "User, that skill is unique enough to be specially named if you wish." The System noted.

    "I cannot be bothered at this moment," Jin said as the magpies gently dropped him down while the area was still being burnt with ck mes and orcs were being torched alive. (And eventually kidnapped by the System *cough* captured *cough*.)

    "Let''s get going," Jin said to the tens of magpies and they followed willingly behind him like a swarm waiting to devour the next orc group.

    ------------

    The ck Disaster feinted his halberd strike to the head and aimed for the groin of Piercestriker instead of the legs because he was shorter than a normal orc. Yet, Piercestriker managed to parry the strike towards his groin area with the pole of his spear and immediately aimed for Nubwort''s head.

    However, that was also a feint which Nubwort did not hesitate to try and block mainly because the angle the spear wasing in from Piercestriker''s small build would allow it to aim for the small opening Nubwort has in his helmet. The defensive block gave Piercestriker a chance and opportunity to go for a lower torso strike instead especially when his gearbox gauntlets gave him more control over his spear.

    Nevertheless, Piercestriker did not wish to give Nubwort a chance to parry so he aimed slightly lower nearly to his groin and lower limbs as another feint so that he could aim for the torso area where it seems that his armour was the thinnest. "Hmmph. Double feint. I am not stupid." The ck Disaster thought to himself as he could foresee the movement of Piercestriker''s spear from the years of experiencing fighting life and death situations.

    Nubwort pretended to go for the feint though he was prepared to parry the torso strike when Piercestriker went for it. Piercestriker thought the feint was sessful, but Nubwort parried effortlessly which heter switched to the offensive and went for a thrust to Piercestriker''s chest, mainly for the heart.

    Piercestriker sensed the immense bloodl.u.s.t from the ck Disaster and quickly went for the defensive especially when the halberd can sh if it is unable to strike. Piercestriker had to be wary of the possible angles of attack which Nubwort can employ, but there was no time and instinct kicked in by redirecting the halberd with his spear to the left and out of range of his body.

    "Caught you," Nubwort whispered as he used the redirection of his halberd as momentum to go for a head blow with a high strike. If Ripcaller was here, the opening caused by the redirection of spears between them was sorge that he could quickly slip in three arrows.

    "Shit!" Piercestriker panicked a little and he quickly raised his spear up to block the attack. Unfortunately, he did not know that the sh from the halberd was infused with magical energy that it nearly broke his spear into two.

    Piercestriker quickly fell back and took a nce at the condition of his spear. "Boss will be so mad that I nearly broke his equipment. Maybe not as mad as the System." He smirked to himself as he released the Gearbox on his left arm and ced it on the spear. The gearbox parts immediately wrapped itself around the simple looking spear and its appearance changed drastically. Parts of the Gearbox reinforced the nearly broken part of the pole of the spear and several metallic edges were maically hovering around the spear.

    "Hahaha, I did not expect this at all!" Piercestriker looked at the all new Gearbox enforced spear and looked at Nubwort. "I do not have much strength left, might as well use the full extent of my cultivation." Piercestriker thought to himself as he burst out all of the chi he had been containing within him.

    One prominent silhouette that appeared so shiny above him was the Stag Silhouette. Piercestriker had learnt the most from Jia Ying the Sanguine Stag Cultivator. "I will be borrowing one of your techniques Big Sister." Piercestriker always regarded Jia Ying as a mentor when ites to spear techniques. Her tenacity for perfection in her spear techniques made him respect her deeply. Not to mention, she even gave pointers casually to Piercestriker when it came to duelling between each other during the Goblin Forest Instance or the Random Arena Instance. Whenever he improved, Jia Ying would already be five steps ahead of him.

    In short, the two of them continuously improved despite being just a monster and cultivator in a dungeon instance.

    "Heh, tired already? That is not unexpected. In fact, for a goblin, yousted quite long." Nubwort''s burning armour had a fatigue effect on his enemies and the scorching temperatures made it unbearable for extended fights against the ck Disaster. Upon seeing that the little goblin was pinning his hopes for thest strike, Nubwort decided to entertain him too by absorbing all of the spectral dark mes into his spear.

    "The Puzzled Spear of the Stag!!!" Piercestriker shouted as he charged towards Nubwort with all his might and the ck Disaster responded the same.

    "Shouting some bombastic names of skills like amateurs," Nubwort smirked as he could clearly see it was just a straight thrust. Even though there was some sort of magical energy that he never saw before, the ck Disaster believed that it could not beat his magic devouring Halberd.

    Suddenly, the Gearbox Spear turned its thrust like a lightning wrapping around a conductor, causing multiple spears to branch out from the main spear and stabbed through the armour of the ck Disaster. In the meantime, Piercestriker used his empty left hand to forcefully block the iing halberd with whatever Chi he had left in his body.

    The pain of Piercestriker''s muscles ripping out from the straight halberd attack and bones splintered out of his arms were killing him in the inside, but there was a glistening smile on his face. His Gearbox Spear struck true. One of the branches of the Gearbox spear managed to prate the helmet and through his neck. There were other parts of the Gearbox spear hitting all the other vital organs of the ck Disaster and only blood could see sipping out of his armour.

    In less than a minute, the towering ck armour fell down and subsequently disappeared into thin air just like the other ck orcs that were killed by the Goblin Trio. What was left was a mystic rune that was kept in a pouch.

    "Mom...Brother...I won against it..." Piercestriker teared up as he suddenly felt a void dwelling in his heart yet at the same time a sense of aplishment.

 Chapter 328 Throne Hall

    <h4>Chapter 328 Throne Hall</h4>

    The Wyrm Ants Mr Hot and Ms Cold brought shreaver and Ripcaller towards a window that was connected to the Throne Hall and they both could outright see that the room was filled with an intense sense of urgency.

    There had been a mutiny. However, none of them had suspected that the traitors would even include the whole of the Goblin Royal Guards including their Leader, who had been treated like a son by King Sol. Spears and swords were directed towards the King and merely the Three Generals were left still protecting their Liege in the Throne Room.

    "You threeбнwhy do you still risk your life to protect this worthless life of mine?" King Sol had thrown the rune-filled scabbard on the floor and his sword was up high alongside his trusty Three Generals as they were being cornered at the steps of the throne. Even though grey hair and age had gotten the best of him, his skills as a renowned fighter could not be underestimated as he did what he preached to the masses. Even at his advanced age, he had never once neglected his training in the slightest.

    "Heh. ''Worthless life''? Please your Majesty, after all the days of your past glory you still call it that? Then what shall the three of us say? Besides, you think we will allow you to die that easily? You still owe us a beer from thest practice fight." dios, the Sword Goblin General joked. At the same time, he tore out his stiff ceremonial armour and swung with the Greatsword while exposing the fearsome tattoos and battle scars he had umted throughout his life. His muscles were still bustling out of his body and for a fairly old goblin, he could hold his weight against five Orc Warrior Captains at their peak. Most of the dead Orc bodies that scattered on the floor were his contribution. Those were the ones the traitorous Royal Guards had sneaked into the Throne Hall through the secret passage.

    "It seems that our King is too lofty. I bet he still thinks of us as the grunts he could beat up so easily in the past. Let''s remind him why we earned our titles as Generals." Igni, the Dagger Goblin General, unfolded his partial blindfold to reveal a bloodied eye. Despite the fact that the other eye was permanently damaged by battles in the past. Igni was nicknamed the One Eye Assassin before he obtained the title of Dagger Goblin General for killing many Orc sympathisers during the Goblin Rebellion against the Orcs. He brandished his old daggers which were rumoured to have evolved into weapons with sentience.

    "Hahaha, If we don''t protect you my Liege, Queen Moonshine would never forgive us in the afterlife." Argent, the youngest of the three Goblin Generals and most versatile in the ways of the spear, chimed in as he knocked on his shoulder with his prized experimental magical pistol while pointing his customised one handed spear to the mutiny guards. The unique thing about his weapon was that it could gather magic from the surroundings to use it as a projectile. In an era with cold weapons, this gave him an edge more times than he could count. He regarded it as a sacred treasure he had salvaged after fighting against one of the Orc Head Researchers who had experimented on ves to develop those prototype magical weapons. Yet, Argent''s fighting potential does not lie in the pistol but inbination with the spear that he was carrying.

    "To think that the whole regiment of Royal Guards would be the ones to betray us all. This is inexcusable. Have you all forgotten your pride? I still remember each and every one of you, and how delighted you were when I personally picked you out for this position!!! What have the Orcs enticed you with? Gold? Women?" King Sol shouted to the captains of the Royal Goblin Guards. A lot of them looked down, the guilt clearly written on their faces.

    "They promised us protection and salvation from the ck Disaster and the Red Hurricane! Us and our families..." Their Leader replied as he grimly held his sword towards his King, the one he had sworn to protect. What he did not dare to say were also the conditions that King Sol suggested. An awful lot of money and women for their lustful desires.

    "You think that we are unable to defeat those famous ck Orc Generals, so you decided to betray us? Have you forgotten how hard your parents, your brothers and your fellowrades-in-arms once fought against the Orcs to gain this independence? Are you not even willing to die for your own freedom? Instead, you''d rather cower under the feet of an Orc which might eventually kill you after you are done being useful?!" Argent cursed at them for their cowardice and knew the terrible acts Orcs had done to the past goblin sympathisers.

    "You cannot me them... The Three Generals and their King is a good tale for the history books. But every tale will have to end someday. So just ept the fall that you are about to experience." The wind whispered to all that were in the Throne Hall and a ck Orc began to materialise right in between both fronts while the distortion in the surroundings got stronger.

    "But you are right. I have no use for cowards." The ck Orc smiled as his entire figure fully emerged from the winds and space distortion. An exquisite grey cape was floating around the ck Orc, but unlike most Orcs, he fashioned a set of bright red leather armour at the sight of which all Royal Guards trembled in fear.

    It was none other than the Red Hurricane.

    "Bleargh, I always knew the guards were useless. Too much good life in the castle. Those who are good at fighting belong on the frontline, and not at the back to growzy." dios spit a mix of blood and saliva at the floor as he tightened the grip on his Greatsword.

    "We have been living peacefully with the Orcs for decades. We even aided you ck Orcs to reconstruct your kingdom. What made you want to invade us once more?!" King Sol mmed his sword on the ground to make his stand against the Red Hurricane.

    "Does it even matter at this point? бн Fine, if you wish to know a reason: Because you are too soft! Taking pity on your enemies when you should have wiped them out. Don''t worry. My wind will carry you in cold embrace and make sure that you will never wake up again." He snapped his fingers and the captains around him were all struck by cones of air cyclones that appeared at his will. Only their Leader could barely withhold it. The remaining Royal Goblin Guards were paralysed by the horror of their captains being shred into pieces by a mere snap of the Red Hurricane''s finger.

    "This is madness! This is nothing like what you had promised us! We allowed you to the castle and you said that you would protect us!" One of the goblin royal guards shouted, but before he could say more, he felt something hovering around his throat. In an instant, a cut shed through his throat and blood involuntarily sprayed all around his fellow Royal Guards. This was more than what his fellow guards could handle, they dropped their weapons and quickly knelt at the horrendous power that the Red Hurricane was wielding while a vague greenish shadow was seen hovering above him.

    "The Avatar of Garuda. I did not expect them to summon the Shaitan Queen of Wind." King Sol thought as he recognised the green shadow while mumbling a few words which generated a multyer magic barrier in front of his Three Generals. The barrier shone brightly with rich magical energy, one of the few spells used previously against the Shaitan Nobles.

    "To think they are back again." Argent felt agitated upon witnessing the Avatar of Garuda which the Red Hurricane was, appeared once more. He wanted to rush in but Argent knew that the Avatars of Shaitan nobles were not to be underestimated.

    "The Orcs have always been in contact with the Shaitan Kings and Queens! The Avatars of the Queen of Ice, Shiva! The Lord of Thunder, Syldra! And the Prince of Fire, Ifrit are currently conquering the other Goblin Kingdoms as we speak. Soon thisnd! This nation! Nay! This world will belong to the Orcs and we shall reign supreme against those who oppose us!" The Red Hurricane bellowed.

    Yet, before he could relish the taste of his speech, the side windows broke and a massive continuous st of fire and ice were hurled towards the Red Hurricane which he blocked with some difficulty. He had not expected this surprise attack and the fact that those were intertwined elemental attacks did not make it any easier for him. Two shadowy figures made their way through the defences by escaping his line of sight and headed towards him.

    Ripcaller did not hesitate to boost his speed with the Gearbox boots that he was wearing and managed to stab the Red Hurricane on his right shoulder while shreaver slipped in a cut to his lower left leg. Nevertheless, the Red Hurricane sted des of air towards them. Fortunately, the two goblins with ample experience of fast melee attacks could vaguely see the magical des, allowing them to dodge them better than those dead useless Royal Guard captains.

    "Ripcaller?! shreaver?!" The two fathers who caught a glimpse of their sons were baffled and delighted that they were still alive. The goblin sons then retreated into the barrier of King Sol to escape the continuous onught of air de attacks by the Red Hurricane.

    "Heh, even the Avatar of Garuda can bleed. What is there to be afraid of?" shreaver proimed as he sped his hands and arms with his father, dios. His father did not care about their circumstances. He was just happy that his lost son had finally returned now and hugged shreaver tightly. "Aw man! My boy! Where have you been!?" dios asked with tears nearly emerging out from his tear duct.

    "Father." Ripcaller knelt down on one leg in front of his father. Instead of acknowledging this with his usual nod, Igni pulled his son up and grabbed him close to his side. "Wee back. I know you will be fine." Igni said in a low and proud voice as he had just watched his son managing to injure the Red Hurricane.

    Argent could not help but notice that his son was not with the two of them and assumed the worst until Ripcaller affirmed him. "Uncle Argent. Worry not. He is alive and wellбнhe may even have done you proud!"

    "What do you mea-?" Before the Spear General could hear more of the circumstances that his son was in, there was a sudden banging at the Throne Hall door which was barred from within.

    "Hahahaha! Looks like your pathetic goblins cannot even stop the might of our ck Orc fighters!" Red Hurricane decided to help his fellow orcs, who were restlessly banging the door by releasing a violent st of wind towards the haphazard barricade ced behind the Throne Hall doors. The metal obstacles were scattered everywhere which allowed the group who was banging the door to finally get through.

    The heavy white double metal doors ornated with golden designs were suddenly smashed wide open by the group behind and the Red Hurricane was a little shocked when the people knocking on it were not his predicted reinforcement.

    At that moment, Argent took the opportunity to fire his magical pistol towards the Red Hurricane, while the dagger wielding father and son sprinted into action, attempting to bring the Avatar of Garuda down in one shot.

    The Red Hurricane was undoubtedly distracted by the arrival of Jin, Starfire and the group of battle weary goblin guards that allowed him to be shot by Argent. Unfortunately, Igni and Ripcaller were unable to get close enough to the Avatar of Garuda as it seemed that there was a self preserving wind barrier that repelled the melee strikes.

    The Red Hurricane was surprised since he had even enforced his own wind barrier after the two goblin sons had managed to wound him. However, he did not expect Argent''s magic bullet to go through the wind barrier when it was supposed to repel both melee and projectile attacks. The mighty Orc General seemed a bit flustered about those unforeseen new circumstances, whereas the Goblin General smiled.

    With the Orc Researcher dead no one except for Argent knew about this type of weapon. Argent''s magical pistol absorbed the surroundings to create the bullet that he fired. At the current point of time, the surrounding had been infused with King Sol''s magic due to the barrier and hence the pistol quietly absorbed King Sol''s magical essence from the barrier he created.

    King Sol''s magic was specifically meant as a countermeasure against the Shaitan''s elemental magic which the Orcs worshipped. That was the sole and primary reason why the goblins had been able to rebel during the war against the Orcs and Humans. With the aid of Sol who happened to be bestowed with the magic of Light, he and hisrades were able to go against the weakened Orcs.

    With a high magical calibre packed bullet, it easily managed to pierce the Wind Barrier that the Red Hurricane created. Unfortunately, the Dagger General''s family was not having as easy of a time and failed to prate that barrier.

    Meanwhile, Jin feared that the Throne Hall would be in the same situation as the rest of the castle that he had traversed. He assumed the King would be some useless old goblin that was ruling themunity. Never had he even considered that the King that was standing right in front of him had the presence of a ruler.

    "Ahhбнso there is really a coup d''etat." Jin noticed the goblins that were kneeling with their heads on the floor and stopped Starfire frommanding those traitors into the safety of her erged energy barrier.

    "They could just be scared! I mean that''s the Red Hurricane! He is feared to be wielding tremendous wind magic in the Orc Kingdom! Some even say that he is a Chosen of the Wind Queen!" Starfire replied and Jin shook his head on how innocent and na?ve her way of thinking was. After all their King was being attacked while they were not doing their one and only duty.

    "No! They betrayed the King!" dios shouted as he charged towards the Red Hurricane with his Greatsword in front of him, blocking the direct air des that were being thrown towards him. shreaver stayed close behind his father as they could not just stand hiding behind the shiny shield barrier that King Sol had created. Starfire was left speechless and decided to maintain her barrier while keeping the front door upied. The goblin guards that were with her fortified themselves in hopes to deter the Red Hurricane while the other half of the guards protected the rear against any remnant Orc Fighters that were toe this way.

    "It is fruitless!" Red Hurricane expended more of his energy by creating a stronger, more defined series of air des with a few more incantations added to the spell and sent them flying towards dios.

    The air des mmed onto the Greatsword which caused the old goblin to flinch a little before he could move forward again. That kind of reaction caused the Red Hurricane to make some quick minor adjustments to the incantations and the air de was able to create sufficient impact to knock back the unwieldy dios.

    "Kid! Stay behind me! Do not move out! It''s too dangerous!" dios warned his child and shreaver obliged for now. There were times to disobey to be a hero, but there were also times thatmon sense should prevail against those impulsive thoughts.

    Jin roughly understood the situation that they were in and he decided to enter the fray as reckless as ever. "Wind against Wind, let''s see who will emerge the winner! Epic Sword Art, Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda!" Jin shouted as the seven panda silhouettes appeared right above his head.

    Red Hurricane noticed the arrival of another pest which was about to throw his life away meaningless. "Maggot, wait your turn. I have other better things to kill first!" The Red Hurricane immediately turned his left arm towards the weird half panda masked guy and cast the reinforced air de from his hands. Suddenly, the air de was dispersed by an abrupt wind entering into Red Hurricane''s proximity.

    "What the hell?!" The ck Orc then noticed how his wind barrier was being dispersed too and realised that the wind that was blowing around him was moving in an anticlockwise direction which cancelled out his wind barrier that was being blown in a clockwise manner.

    "Sheesh!" The Red Hurricane mmed his fist downwards ignoring the pain of the bullet wound he had received on his chest, and a more massive cyclone appeared around him to protect the ck Orc as he stayed in the eye of his hurricane.

    "Guess that guy is the real deal." Jin bitterlyughed as he noticed his cyclone was being cancelled out quickly from the one that Red Hurricane created.

    Yet instead of attacking, the Red Hurricane decided to throw a punch to the left of the Throne Hall. Immense wind magic ensued in that particr direction, destroying the granite stone walls of the Throne Hall.

    "Consider yourself lucky. You might be safe for now, but not when daybreakes!" The Red Hurricane had decided to retreat for now. Given the circumstances, their initial n seemed to have failed. There was another Wind User that tried to fight against him and King Sol''s magic still working strong till this day. "Those bastards! I will get them for feeding me the wrong information. I dare them to say that King Sol''s magic was not working once more!" The Red Hurricane mumbled to himself as he cursed his fellow avatarrades.

    At that point, King Sol released his magic and he fell to the ground panting for breath. The Sword General ordered the guards under the temporarymand of Starfire to apprehend the traitors in the Throne Hall.

    Starfire in the meantime quickly went to her father''s side and aided him to what was left of the throne. "Father! You promised me that you would not use ''that'' magic. Why did you still use it?! You know about the consequences. Venerable Blue Bird, do you mind assisting my father?" Starfire humbly asked the blue magpie on her shoulder to aid her father and it did not hesitate to do so. After all, Jin asked Que Er to do the same too.

    With the improved mana generation provided by the Magpie, the King''s breathing lightened, and he rested on the throne while the Three Generals took their leave to search for other Orc Fighter Remnants in the castle. "Take my Magpies with you. They will assist, not only inmunication." The half masked Magpie Lady told dios and he readily epted her help seeing how the blue magpie was able to save King Sol. However not all the Generals took the active search for Orcs as Argent, the Spear General decided to head towards the rooftop of the castle to find his son after he heard from Ripcaller and shreaver that he was fighting against the ck Disaster.

    "You idiot! You better not die on me!" Argent was nning to scold his son as he sprinted his way up towards the Rooftop nearly breaking the limit of his weathered body and heart. There he saw Piercestriker standing with a broken arm and his spear aiming towards the sky.

    "What in the King''s name is thatбн" Argent could hardly make out various blinding lights in the sky in the middle of a moonless night.

    "Enemies. Father. But don''t worry they will suffer the same fate as the ck Disaster" Piercestriker turned his head and grinned when he saw his father surprised look and swung his spear down.

 Chapter 329 Airship Carrier

    <h4>Chapter 329 Airship Carrier</h4>

    Piercestriker called Jin via the magpie messenger to spread the word about the various lights that were shining in the night sky. Many were unable to identify those lights, not even King Sol and his generals who experienced the most in their lifetimes. Though the same did not hold true for Jin who himself was equally surprised.

    "It''s hard to believe that a supposed medieval world had such things around." Jin scratched his head while looking through the binocrs he had prepared with his scouting pack before he entered the Goblin World.

    "Have you seen anything like this before, benefactor? What are those exactly?" King Sol asked since he knew nothing about this particr half panda mask guy except for the fact that he was able to fight toe to toe with the Red Hurricane and seemingly aided the rally with his daughter Starfire, which earned Jin some brownie points and the king''s respect.

    "I''ve not personally seen them, so I can only deduce from the (fantasy) books I read, but they are like slow moving sh.i.p.s that swim along in the air. If I remember correctly, they were dubbed as airship carriers. Those lights are used to convey signals so that the airship carriers do not crash each other and some are just headlights to see what lies ahead of them." Jin answered as he himself was keeping pointers. Maybe he could create an airship carrier instance for his cultivators.

    "Airship carriers? Erm so like sh.i.p.s in the air which carry troops?" dios did not know all that sophisticated stuff and asked bluntly.

    "Yea, I might be wrong but they could be carrying hundreds if not thousands of soldiers in there. Not to mention, the sh.i.p.s might have cannons that could st from the skies and onto the towns. I doubt you guys have anything that stops things thate from the air, now do you?" Jin questioned without much hope, which King Sol and his two generals shook their heads.

    "Then what the Red Hurricane said before he left is true. They are bringing the invasion to us despite our kindness to their race!" Starfire felt irritated for being so helpless.

    "Master, we know that you did note here initially to protect the kingdom, but we beg of you are you able to help my father, my liege and the Gob Gob Kingdom against the Orc Invasion." Ripcaller and shreaver knelt down in front of the half mask panda guy which shocked their fathers.

    "Eh.... Let''s reconvene and have a proper talk elsewhere. Those airship carriers take time toe. But if I were you I''d get your goblin armies to prepare for war." Jin suggested and King Sol agreed at once. Hemanded his two generals to send word to prepare for war while they reconvened in a smaller meeting room which they temporarily set up as their war room.

    In the meantime, Piercestriker had his broken arm fixed by some goblin healers and with the help of the major chi potions that they brought from Jin''s world. The three goblin sons then briefly exined to their fathers a story which they all coborated to make sure Jin was not wrongly implicated. Jin also properly introduced himself to King Sol and the Three Generals by taking his half panda mask away.

    "All...this while I thought that you were humanoid, but not a human at all." Starfire felt ridiculed that she sided with the humans. It''s not that she had any real enmity against the humans, but reports of human resistances killing goblins just made her feel that humans and goblins could never coexist together. Sure they might have trading agreements and diplomatic rtionsh.i.p.s but it was all a fa?ade for business since the humans in their world had too much pride.

    "So...in short Master Jin rescued the three of you from those human kidnappers that used some sort of flying creature to capture all of you?" Argent, the Spear General summed up the story which made sense to him. After all there was no magic presence in the area and the goblin sons disappeared way too quickly. The three Generals had considered the possibility of a human using a flying creature but not many were able to master those creatures of flightpared to monsters and humanoids. It would also exin why no party asked for a ransom to release their sons.

    "Yes, and even though he let us off, we realised that he was a master of some secret arts. We begged him to teach us more and even though he warned us that there was a pact that had to be made, we did it unwi- *cough* willingly." shreaver coughed as he remembered to tweak his words a little. Jin had released some sort of bitterugh when he nearly heard it, hoping to cover it as well.

    "They exaggerate my greatness. I am just a ...unique summoner." Jin figured he should tell the primary basis of his powers or else they would get shocked by the number of summons he would have to call if they really needed his help against the Orc Invasion. For now it seemed best to pretend he was from their world as it should make cooperation easier than to outright tell them, he came from a different world.

    "I am sorry to interrupt but I like to know. What kind of summoner would have such powers?! He is clearly not a summoner at all when I saw him fight recently. His strength might be equivalent to Uncle dios. He is hiding something." Starfire interjected and she exined what she saw in the courtyard. Now it was the three generals'' turn to be rather impressed with how Jin was able to defeat that many orc fighters in such a short and seemingly simple fashion.

    "But you did see him summoning the ants and the Magpie Queen out of nowhere, didn''t you?" shreaver added and Starfire stopped her tracks for a while.

    "I erm...yes I forgot about that." Starfire kept quiet for now as King Sol cleared his throat.

    "shreaver, Piercestriker and Ripcaller. Do you three vow that he is on our side and not some spy or mole for either the Humans nor the Orcs?" King Sol asked and the three immediately dropped to their knees and shouted in unison. "Yes, your Majesty! We entrust our lives to Master Jin as much as we served it to you." The goblins swore which made the Generals somewhat baffled. They still remembered that their sons never acted this decisively before.

    The fact that their return had brought surprise from one to another made it mind numbing for the Generals and their king. To see Ripcaller and shreaverpetently suppressing the Red Hurricane was already a feat on its own, but the ck Disaster who got killed by Piercestriker alone was a piece of news to be celebrated for days or even weeks. Heck, he might even be hailed as a new Hero for the goblins. All these helped King Sol decide to take the gambit and to trust Jin for now with a condition.

    "I am asking for your services Summoner. We can discuss paymentter." King Sol requested with utmost sincerity... when he caught Jin identally yawning, who suddenly stopped the moment he heard King Sol make his plea.

    "Eh? Wait. Wait a minute. You wish to hire me?" Jin was fairly shocked when he heard that. He had thought the King would be demanding him to do it aspensation for taking the goblin sons away without any permission. Jin thought that kings would self centred and selfish. That Goblin King was nothing like he had expected.

    "Yes. We are not allies in any way, but you shall be handsomely rewarded for your services. Not to mention, we have yet to reward you for rescuing these three goblins and training them. To see them this powerful... I can vaguely feel their auras just by standing near them proves that you must have exhausted quite a number of good tonics, equipment and training for them." King Sol replied.

    "However, I am forced to ask that you and your other humanrades continue to wear your half masks since I do not wish our goblin army to mistake us having allied with the humans. I am sure you can understand, how that would implicate morale. Once we survive this we canter reveal your identity, if you so wish." King Sol added which Jin did not agree with immediately.

    "I will get back to you. Let me get out of this room for five minutes." Jin answered as he walked out of the War Room.

    "Eh? I thought your master was willing to help us?" Argent whispered to his son and Piercestriker could only shrug his shoulders.

    "Master can be sometimes hard to read since he''s actually a secluded guy. You thought that he was willing to help but he might think it''s not worth the hassle. Convincing him could be the hardest part. We will try to persuade him a little." shreaver tried to justify it as he beckoned the other two to follow their master out of the room.

    "Do we really need his help?" Starfire asked even though she could not deny that Jin was strong.

    "You saw how he chased away the Red Hurricane and the death of the ck Disaster only came to be because Piercestriker trained under him. That makes it evident he is not only a skilled warrior but also teacher. Do you think his allies will be that much worse? And...that blue bird which you said it was under themand of the half mask magpiedy. He summoned her right?" King Sol asked his daughter, and she reluctantly nodded.

    "That little small bird not only provides me with mana but I can feel that somehow my magic lines in the body have been partially mended too. Never in my life would I have considered such a thing possible. I thought that my magic lines would remain impaired since it was written in stone that once the lines are broken, it will stay broken. Yet that little blue bird enabled me to mend some of my magic lines back and I do not feel as weak as before. Nothing like in my prime, yet I can feel myself improving. If he can summon such powerful beings to his side that perform such miracles...this might be the chance to shorten this Orc Invasion and protect our kingdom from ruin." King Sol exined and the three generals could only smirk at their King''s foresight. Starfire did not think that far and was embarrassed that she solely focused on the superficial.

    "User, you have put yourself further into deeper shit. ording to prior thought analysis, this should be your way to express your current situation, is that correct?" System added and Jin felt annoyed as he went out of the war room.

    "Why are all the worlds at war? I don''t really want to interfere that much with this world." Jinined to the phone as he saw the three goblin sonsing out of the war room and closing the door behind them properly.

    "War is inevitable in every world. User is just lucky that the current country User is residing in is not involved in any major armed conflict. Had Usere in anyter, this could have been more peaceful, but with a 96.7% probability it would be Orc Territory. Does User wish to leave?" System questioned Jin.

    "We plead that you aid our kingdom Master." The three goblins knelt once more and Jin ced his palm on his face as he leaned on the side of the wall. He sighed as he took out a bottle of spring water to drink from his storage watch and pour some on his face to freshen himself up. "Let get back to the war room to discuss further. I am not agreeing to anything yet."

    The King was discussing some minor issues with the Generals and their trustedckeys in the war room as Jin entered again after a short break. They stopped their conversation and all heads were turned to Jin.

    "Here is my opinion. From what I gathered from you guys, the Orcs are also attacking other goblin kingdoms, right? If all of the kingdoms are suffering the same pattern of attack they are bound to be overtaken by tomorrow. That means the odds are stacked against your kingdom and people. You all will be pinned down eventually by refugees running from those kingdoms and the Orcs might join an alliance with the humans you all hate to finish you off." Jin did not mince his words and the generals, unfortunately, agreed on what Jin had mentioned.

    "What I am about to doter before daybreak would only dy the inevitability. Sure I might save some goblins while sparing some time for you guys to fire up your smiths and boost your conscription to prepare for war but that does not change the fact that you guys would be forced into entering war again. And this time it will be basically you against the world."

    "But what else can we do instead of preparing for war? From what we can deduce from the ''airship carriers'' , they might have found some lost technology from the depths of the earth. There is no way they are stopping for a diplomatic resolution when they have the upper hand in terms of weaponry and technology." General Igni concluded which suddenly struck Jin.

    "Didn''t Hou Fei, our fellow Panda n Remnant promise that he could provide me blueprints for military incursions if I agree to create arge field exercise for the military?" Jin thought back and suddenly broke intoughter which irked the goblins in the room.

    "Hahahahah! Just when I thought we would be in a terrible situation." Jin stoppedughing as he sent a thought to the System. "You better reward me well for participating in this war. I know you are thinking of cheesing me off the equation if I agree willingly. Plus I can foresee the kind of results you might be able to take advantage of as long as this goes well."

    "User is learning to be shrewd. System approves of User''s growth and awareness of business deals. System agrees in setting a proper reward list for User''s efforts." The System stated as it created a new mission objective for Jin.

    "Mission objective for the Month of November: Defeat/Capture the Orcs and their Shaitan representatives. Even better if User manages to capture the Shaitan Nobles themselves. Use whatever means possible. Budget allocated for the Orc-Goblin War: 10 million Dungeon Dors. Rewards: Pending (varied based on return on investment). Time Limit: End of November. Additional rewards will be given if Userpletes the mission within ten days." The message popped up on his phone while the others thought that he was holding on some magical artefact. Jin could not help but feel astonished and surprised by the System''s generosity.

    "I see, if I can end the war as soon as possible, more time can be allocated for the Rat demons....System are you willing to also take in the Orcs as your servants?" Jin furiously typed his message on his phone to pretend he was busy. Besides, the others did not know the basis of phone etiquette, so he shouldn''t bother about it either.

    "Most definitely. The Orcs that you captured previously in the ambush were analysed. They are more than capable of doing manual work and are good for construction and defence. If User wishes to use them for dungeons, do go ahead. Rat Demons are applicable too." The System replied.

    "Now we are talking. Time to get this war done and over with." Jin grinned to himself as he sent his message to the System and looked at the others.

    "Yes, I am willing to help. You say payment can be discussedter right?" Jin asked directly to King Sol and he nodded his head with affirmation.

    "I will be very expensive. You sure you can afford it?" Jin tried to tease the King since he was by no means afflicted to their system.

    "Imprudence! Our Kingdom was titled as the busiest trading centre among nations and we have the highest trading profit in this world. The Orcs and Humans have no choice but to trade with us if they wish to do business with other goblin kingdoms!" Starfire argued meaning that gold was not a shortage.

    "I might not want just money....but we will discuss thatter. Now let''s talk how we stop those airship carriers." Jin shifted the topic to their forces and the Generals obliged him asmanded by their King to share as much information as they could with him.

    "...So we could have flying goblin units, which are goblins piloting wyverns, get close to the airship and interrupt their forces while we assemble our forces. The assassination squads can be flown with the flying units since the wyverns can carry an additional two more goblins, but optimally we fly with just one goblin on them since it will affect the mobility of the wyverns." Igni formted the attack ns.

    "I can assist and coordinate the artillery goblin squad and ask the goblin engineers to tweak their artillery settings to the maximum length so that we might just be able to hit the airship carrier before theynd," Argent spoke out.

    "The alert had been sent to the entire kingdom. Draft conscriptions of our citizens are currently underway as we speak while the old and young are being gathered to evacuate to the outskirts of the next town in case our capital falls. I will see to it that each abled body male goblin will join in the fight. If the female goblins wish to help, they would be weed for logistic purposes." dios stated, and King Sol nodded at the n.

    "If all fails, we will deal with it via City Defence n C with formation number 27 in ce," Igni added and the other generals andckeys agreed after some thought.

    "I will assist too. My magic lines are sufficient for me to shoot a high level ''Light Lance'' but I am hoping Master Jin might be able to provide that little blue bird for me again." King Sol chime in, but dios and Starfire disagreed almost immediately.

    "Your Majesty, if you use such a high level of magic, your body might not be able to take it. You know those Light magic break your magic lines!" dios argued and the other generals were also notfortable with him joining the action.

    "Heh, if you let me ''convert'' him, he could be basically immortal." Jin thought to himself and felt that could be the most practical way for them to survive. "Although that also means he is sure to be very expensive in terms of souls." Jin knew he was in the monster catching business with the System so he inadvertently tried to guess the number of souls he might need to reincarnate him. Yet, something inside him told him that there might be better ways to do this. King Sol might eventuallye into Jin''smand but not like that. If he forced him it would only result in more distrust and that was one thing he did not advocate amongst his monsters.

    The King was quiet for a while and gripped on his chair before slowly epting the fact that he was needed to lead the nation and not fight alongside with hisrades. "Alright, but that does not mean I am not joining you. Even if I shall not directly fight in it, at least my presence will help morale." King Sol told them and the others just nodded their heads to appease him since they knew that he had already foregone something. By rejecting him outrightly would just incur...dissatisfaction to be unable to serve the nation he built with his own hands. Other than that, the generals felt the ns they proposed were a good idea except for Jin.

    "I do not agree with all of the ns you all made," Jin shed in with his own opinion as he banged his hand on the table. King Sol gave Jin a curious yet slightly angry look. He might be a respected master for his arts but totally not agreeing with something that the Three Generals nned with their foresight which was .u.mted through many years of battles and experience was an insult to him and his buddies. However, before King Sol could interject, Jin had already begunying out his ns for them.

    "Just listen to me first! Judging from the number of lights, we know there are quite a few of theming your way and we do not know what unknown horrors it contains. Your wyvern unit might not even go near it if what you said is true about the lost technology that they discover. You have already witnessed, that there were traitors within you ranks. Even if your wyvern unit was supposed to be a secret force, we should expect the enemy to know about them so you can be sure, that there are counter measures in ce. Also, they might just be waiting to go in range for them to shoot a st of magical energy at your kingdom and eradicate itpletely away from the map. Therefore I rmend you to let me handle those things." Jin shared his brutal truth.

    "You can enter the airship carrier all by yourself? Even if you do and there are multiple airship carriers as you deduced, won''t there be too many Orcs for you to handle on your own?" Starfire asked with much annoyance for the disrespect of Generals and towards her father.

    "Did you forgot? I am a fairly unique summoner. Just consider me a one man army. Leave those things me. I assure you they will not reach here. While it is not my ce to say anything else, I suggest you focus on informing the other towns and viges in your kingdom to evacuate into your capital city. Start your production for defending your borders. Setting up defences and traps, gathering of resources, upping your weapons and training of new goblins into your ranks. You should know best what to do!"

    "You are so confident that the airship carriers will note close to our capital at all?" King Sol furrowed his eyebrow as he had a tinge of disbelief in his tone.

    "Who do you think I am? Let me prove to you, that I will be worth each and every cent!" Jin smirked as he wore his half panda mask and walked out of the war room with confidence. Meanwhile, the three goblins smiled at their Master''s spirit.

    "Heh, looks like we get to fight again," Ripcaller seemed happy as he stood up, nodded at his father as a sign of goodbye and walked out of the room.

    "Master can be so dense to social situations. Please forgive him." Piercestriker tried to excuse Jin''s behavior, but before he was able to go, his father stopped him.

    "You sure you are going? Your wounds, have they recovered properly?" Argent asked with concern as he was the only child left for him.

    "Don''t worry. Master''s potions are out of this world good, maybe even a hundred times better than the ones we produce." Piercestriker affirmed his father and left the room.

    "I guess you are going too?" dios asked shreaver, and he nodded his head.

    "Master needs us." shreaver held his head high as he said that and his father saw a resolute face which dios never imagined his son would ever have. It felt as if just yesterday he had to teach the little grunt how to hold a weapon properly, and now he''d go to help defend the Kingdom.

    "Son, you changed...for the better." dios patted shreaver and let him go. With ast fleating nce at Starfire he followed the other two.

    "Feels like the old days doesn''t it?" King Sol mentioned with a slight grin on his face.

    "Heh, I can admit I am jealous of their youth," Igni replied and the other two generals agreed. If not for their administrative work, they could be shing and hacking their enemies down.

    "Let''s entrust the future in them...and their Master Jin...or we can do so along with them if we hurry." King Sol announced solemnly as he began to change the ns ording to what Jin had proposed.

 Chapter 330 Orc King Hamu

    <h4>Chapter 330 Orc King Hamu</h4>

    The torch flickered in the Throne Hall of the Orcs as Red Hurricane appeared right in front of his King, who was attending to his other subjects. Red Hurricane was thest of the Four Avatars of Shaitans to return.

    As he materialised, the Red Hurricane already had a knee on the floor to pay the proper respect to his King in front of him. "Where is the head of King Sol?" Orc King Hamu demanded the moment he felt the presence of the Avatar of Garuda.

    "Sir, there were...someplications." Red Hurricane did not know how to properly phrase it nicely to excuse his failing. It was then King Hamu did a simple gesture and his Right Hand Oku stepped forward and threw the heads of the other kings right in front of Red Hurricane.

    "Where is the head of King Sol?" King Hamu repeated once more, though this time his voice indicated that there would be no third time asking. The Avatar of Ifrit, Prince of Fire, Green Inferno,ughed at Red Hurricane, who was squirming at the question, for a job poorly done.

    "Was it not you who boasted that getting the head of King Sol would be as easy as plucking a gr.a.p.e from the gr.a.p.evard? I also remember someone promising to be the first to arrive! My my ho-" Green Inferno added sarcastically but he was immediately stopped by King Hamu with a simple nce.

    "King Sol was still able to perform his cursed Light Magic and an intense one at that when we fought against each other. The missing goblin sons of the Three Generals had returned for no reason and were somehow powerful enough to even manage to wound me. Also there was a humanoid with a half mask of a white bear with ck spots who seemed to have no presence but was able to counter the winds of Garuda. The Orc forces that were fighting against the goblins appeared to have been decimated as I briefly scouted around the castle before I returned back here." Red Hurricane reported with his head down.

    His breathing and heartbeat was slightly elevated as he was aware what King Hamu does to ipetent orcs. The Red Hurricane could only hope that his status as being the chosen Avatar of Garuda would be enough to be forgiven. Thinking about it he was the Avatar of Garuda, no matter of the failures, he should be kept alive aspared to when he was just a minor orc. His breathing started to stabilize at this train of thought.

    "EXCUSES!!! You were beaten up by some kids and a lowly human? What kind of Humanoid stands a chance against a Chosen Shaitan Avatar? Whatever the case, you let some stupid masked guy halt your unstoppable winds, I am embarrassed to be known as your equal... To imagine such failure brought upon yourself. I can already foresee the other Shaitan noblesughing at Queen Garuda upon hearing that her Avatar being so useless in battle. Next time, do not boast." Yellow Ice, the Avatar of Shiva, Queen of Ice, scoffed at Red Hurricane.

    "The information I received was not at all urate. Your Majesty, Please reconsid-" Suddenly, a giant two handed sword was thrown towards Red Hurricane. Yet again his preserving wind barrier was not able to block an attack this day. All that the Avatar of Garuda could feel was darkness seeping into his vision and subsequently, he coughed out blood from the attack. He then remembered that the Shaitan Nobles were susceptible to both Light and Dark magic. Sure, the orc mages may have dabbled with dark magic but not even the Archmages should be able to circ.u.mvent his barrier that easily. There was only one entity who could bestow others with such a power but no one has ever managed to contact the True Messenger of Shaitans, Diabolos.

    "....My Lord...You...You have managed to contact it?" The Red Hurricane do not doubt the might of his King but he had once thought with the Avatar of Garuda, the Red Hurricane might be able to overtake the throne with the other Avatars of Shaitan Nobles.

    "You are too noisy." King Hamu sneered as a ckish shadow appeared right beside him. Energy shaped as a ck orb appeared at the tip of King Hamu''s index finger and gradually, the Red Hurricane felt his powers waning away.

    He quickly realised that the powers of Garuda were being transferred into that particr ck orb. No doubt it was the power of the Messenger of Shaitan. It had the ability to take away the powers of an Avatar and choose someone more suitable for the job. But who could be more suitable then the person wielding the power of Diabolos?

    King Hamu then turned his palm to hold onto the floating ck orb immersed with the energies of Garuda and he pushed it into his chest piece. He knew that an Orc could only hold the Avatar of a single Shaitan no matter how strong willed they were. It was not about the strain on the body nor a fight of willpower but rather the required pact between the Shaitan Noble and the Orc who initiated it. And even though those Nobles were working together, the idea of sharing was nowhere on their mind.

    The body of the Orc who was chosen as the most worthy after a bloody offering henceforth belonged to that particr Shaitan Noble and no other magic could break the pact among the Shaitans. However this also meant that should they perish, their patron would get ahold of them. And as the powers of Garuda were being grabbed away by King Hamu, Red Hurricane was required to sacrifice his entire body to the Shaitan Queen of Wind. True enough, a green swirling portal appeared right in front of the injured Red Hurricane and beyond the portal was none other than Garuda staring at him.

    "Please!! Exalted Queen! One...more chanc-" The portal was sufficient for Garuda''s enormous finger w to slip in as she poked Red Hurricane. Particles of his spirit were visibly absorbed by Garuda''s finger w as it ledged onto Red Hurricane. He yelled with intense agony yet no one was able nor willing to help him in his demise. But the other Avatars of Shaitan burnt that image into their mind. They thought that King Hamu would be too timid to do anything overly drastic against the Avatars of Shaitan but they were proven wrong. Who would have imagine King Hamu, who gained the power of a Shaitan through despicable but simr means, would not be sympathetic to the painful efforts of the various Orc cults to create the four Avatars and destroy a powerhouse of their army that easily.

    Once Garuda had finished absorbing Red Hurricane''s soul, her finger w pointed at the orb containing her powers that King Hamu was holding at his hands. It was obvious that she wanted it back. "Mighty Queen of the Winds, I offer you those goblin heads on the floor. They are still fresh from the decapitation and each of them had been blessed with Light Magic by that Usurper Sol." Orc King Hamu negotiated and the finger w did not hesitate to absorb the imbued souls those goblin heads had into her finger.

    "Ten days. Return them to me after the dawn of ten or I shall consume half of your kingdom''s poption." Garuda dered as if it was as simple as breathing for her, before she retracted her hand and the green swirling portal disappeared into thin air. Without the spirit, the body of Red Hurricane became just an empty husk. His expression of horror and betrayal was still intact despite being dead. However, King Hamu felt there was still a use for it even though it was just another material for the worms to feast on.

    "Put it out and send the message that the goblins killed the Avatar of Garuda. I believe those who preach, pray and follow the cult of Garuda will wish to retaliate with stronger force. Oh, and also tell them Garuda chose me as a temporary substitute." Orc King Hamu ordered Oku as he ced the power of Garuda on his armour. Normally the King''s armour was supposed to be enchanted with the most advanced runes made of magic gems, but strangely this one seemed simple, as if prepared for just such an asion. Since there were no other conflicting runes transcribed onto the armour, the power of Garuda enhanced the armour with enchantments of wind. Now King Hamu was not only the Avatar of Diabolos, he had the power of Garuda''s Wind Magic at his disposal thanks to his armour.

    "Excellent idea, your Excellency. Especially considering the Cult of Garuda controls most of the Orc Flying Forces. Doing so will make them fiercely loyal to you." Oku praised his liege as he personally picked up the dead corpse of Red Hurricane and began to make preparations for the official announcement. Separately, the other Avatars of Shaitan Nobles came forward and knelt down awaiting the orders of their King.

    "Green Fire, Yellow Ice and Purple Thunder. You''ve done well. Rest now and consume as much as you want. Gold, food or woman. Take your pick. Ask my servants and they will fulfill your wishes. I will call upon you when I need you." King Hamu dismissed them.

    Yellow Ice and Purple Thunder stood up and prepared to leave but Green Fire could not help but ask: "Why are we not allowed to fight now? The airship carriers may bring the elite of our Orcs into various Goblin kingdoms but the newest development from Gob Gob Kingdom may prove to be a threat. Should we not attack them now, before they have the time to consolidate their power?"

    King Hamu simply stared at Green Fire for a moment and repeated his order once more.

    "Dismissed."

    Green Fire did not say anything else as he had seen the potential repercussion of displeasing the King and fell back with the other two Avatars.

    "What about you two? Don''t you guys want to avenge Red Hurricane? He was punished because of that Gob Gob Kingdom! And my intuition tells me that things are not going to be as simple as we had thought." Green Fire questioned hispatriots once they were out of the Throne Hall of the Orcs.

    "I thought you hated him?" Purple Thunder was surprised by the other one''s wish for revenge.

    "I did, but losing arade no matter how obnoxious he was, is still a ...waste. Just think about how many Orc lives were just for him and will be consumed to choose his sessor." Green Fire did not want to show his concern out too forwardly.

    "Then make sure we do not fail our mission in the future if you feel it is a waste." Purple Thunder replied as he snorted and walked towards the outer courtyard.

    He quickly found a servant, who immediately went on his knees after seeing the purple leather robe. Though all Mages wore robes, only the Avatars were allowed to dye them into their respective colours. After making sure the servant understood his desires, he went to his own quarters.

    "Are you that certain we will be able toe out alive seeing how Red Hurricane was taken away that easily?" Yellow Ice had his own thoughts and walked quietly to the direction of his room thinking that his King might had other ns in mind.

    --------------------

    "So Master, are you just going to fly to the airship carriers with your portal?" shreaver had begun to like those teleporting magic, creating chaos from above like there was no tomorrow. He did not expect that the ambush through the skies made their job so much simpler and more effective.

    "Stupid, did you forget that Master needs coordinates to portal there?" Piercestriker gently used his spear to knock on shreaver''s head and he could not rebut.

    "Master, are you intending to use my Magpie birds to carry you there?" Que Er, the Magpie Queen queried since her magpies were capable of creating a bridge between the Mortal Earth and the Immortal Heavens in her old world before she was recruited into the System.

    "I actually thought of that...but it is not menacing nor impressive enough. I want the Orcs to fear the goblins so that the survivors if any, might spread rumours and ultimately bring the wrath of the entire army to Gob Gob Kingdom. That way, other goblin kingdoms should not suffer as much. Firepower wise, you can leave it to me." Jin answered as he stared at the bright lights from afar. It was clear that they were getting brighter and nearer aspared to an hour ago.

    In the meantime, Sword General dios and Starfire arrived on the roof and exined the situation to Jin and his minions. Apparently, the Goblin King did not want to allow Jin to fight the battle alone when it was their kingdom in danger. (The Generals just want some revenge too.) "Under themands of our King, we are to follow you into battle." Sword General dios took out the worn out warhorn which he kept at his waist and Jin noticed it resembled a Viking Horn in Jin''s world.

    With a deep breath in, General dios blew the warhorn and within a short span of time, there was a reply from a distant warhorn which Jin and the others saw a battalion of flying monstersing towards the direction of the castle. The moonless night made their figures even more terrifying to behold.

    "The 38th Flying Goblin Battalion, Dashing Wyverns. They are the unit directly under Spear General Argent." Starfire introduced it as she was once again amazed by the magnificent looking flying reptilian creatures with two legs and an armoured barbed tail as they came closer with magically powernterns at their sides to illuminate their presence. Without any hands on the wyverns, the goblins controlling the Wyverns glided around the castle before hovering above General dios to show their professional expertise in controlling it with their mind to mind connection.

    It was then the three goblin sons saw that Igni and Argent were alreadymanding their very own unique wyverns which seemed much older, badder and fiercer with General dios'' wyvernnding at the edge of the castle walls for him to jump onto.

    "I assume you areing too?" Jin asked Starfire to which she looked away with some dissatisfaction before blowing her own whistle that summoned a white but smaller and younger looking Wyvern to the castle roof. By utilising some magic, she jumped on her own pet Wyvern with ease and waited for Jin and the others to react.

    "So, do you all need a ride?" General dios chortled seeing how the ''almighty'' master that their goblin sons were praising stuck at the roof tops.

    "It''s alright, I have my own ride!" Jin tightened his half panda mask casually took out his phone as if he was making a call. "Eh, Derpy, your debut, now." Jin ced a hand in front of his mouth, making it appear as if he mumbled something underneath, when in fact he simply yawned a little as he scratched his head a bit.

    The other minions of his were already giggling as the head of a terrifying fish with numerous teeth appeared out of nowhere in the moonless night. The creature of that magnitude nearly scared the shit out of the wyverns who had never seen such catastrophic size. Its presence alone was able to shake the nerves of steel of the Goblins flying the wyverns and the wyverns themselves could have pissed themselves while flying. (some of them did and not just that)

    The only wyverns that were able to stay rtively calm were the slightly bigger ones who belonged to the Three Generals. One could only assume that they had seen horrors equivalent to this or something worse than that. Either way, those Wyverns were battle hardened to the point they were not afraid of Mr Derpy.

    Que Er assisted Jin by allowing the birds to provide a bridge from the castle roof to the top of Mr Derpy''s head. She understood that by doing so it would only deepen the image of Jin being a mysterious being that needed to be feared since he had the control of not just an enormous monster at his fingertips but even nature had to listen to him to a certain extent. No doubt the other Goblins Wyvern Riders that were on scene were in shock and awe at the existence of such a mysterious figure which even made the Three Generals d that they were in the same team for now.

    This scene did not entirely escape the sight of King Sol as he was in the outer courtyards assessing the damage and personally passing a few Royal Decrees. Those would be announced by goblin envoys as suggested by Jin and would among other things immediately start producing more weapons and gather more food stock.

    "I read the legends about summoners, but those seemed not as imposing as that Human. He is a ''Unique Summoner'' for sure." King Sol smirked a little as if tofort himself that his generals would be in good hands, he quickly proceeded to settle other national matters.

    At the top of Mr Derpy, Jin summoned his newest monster, Keyrin. Instead of the usual happy face, the mighty beast simply looked at him with some annoyance. "Who do you need me to kill?" The Thunder Ram Demon questioned. He was unable to hurt Jin, but that would mean that someone else had to taste his fury. Jin simply pointed at the edge of the mountain.

    "Those mechanical sh.i.p.s. Strike them down with all your might. Release your- FUWAHH!" Jin was suddenly grabbed from behind by Peppers who knocked his head with her staff. (Did Kraft teach the other Betors his patented ''appear behind Jin'' move?)

    "BAKA BAKA BAKA! WHY DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME!" Peppers did not let go of her staff as she kept mming it on her master without fear of retaliation. Even if Jin wanted to stop her and deny her her fill of explosions, she was already about to do so even without his permission.

    "This is how you do it Master! BOOM BITCHESSSSSSSS!" Peppers yelled as she was still pushing Jin down onto the Mr Derpy''s head (How could he retaliate against the fury of a Fiery Demonic Sage Queen?) and collected a massive amount of energy into the wooden staff that she was holding. It was to the point that the space and time were visibly distorting right in front of Jin, which made him kind of panic a little.

    "DERPY! FULL SPEED AHEAD! Bring us as close as possible to the sh.i.p.s! I do not want Peppers to miss that magic st at all cost!" Jin screamed at the top of his voice while he kept beating Derpy''s head, telling him to move as soon as possible.

    Mr Derpy grinned so evilly that his teeth were showing as he immediately swam through the air like a fish flowing along a high speed river current. He literally took Jin''smand word for word which made Jin regret wording his order in that way due to panic. It was so fast that Peppers nearly flew away and Jin had to hold on to her legs. No doubt she was a little fl.u.s.tered by his touch but it was nothingpared to the excitement of making sure to turn such an enormous flying metal being into one of her colourful explosions.

    In the meantime, the 38th Dashing Wyvern with the Three Generals were in a conundrum. Should they...follow this ''uniquely'' entric summoner or stay behind and watch how things unfold? "So ermmm...General? Should we chase after them?" The Dashing Wyvern Goblin Captain asked and before Spear General Argent could say a word...They heard an extremely loud explosion, before the nightly sky was illuminated like a firework. Every goblin diverted their eyes and could not believe what they saw.

    From afar, the goblins flying their Wyverns could see an airship carrier being hit and currently being burnt into crisp with a mushroom shaped smokeing from the middle of the airship carrier. Additionally, Mr Derpy was unable to stop in time so he decided to simply open his mouth and half of another airship carrier disappeared inside of him. Proving he deserved his name, he derped and choked himself, causing him to vomit loads of acid onto the airship carrier''s engines at the side of the ship.

    The engines melted in an instant and the airship carrier was unable to function properly. Mr Derpy then pulled the entire airship carrier out of its mouth but in the end merely decided to put it into his mouth bit by bit. He ate the entire airship like a bag of potato ch.i.p.s and even grabbed a bunch of orcs that were on board like a handful of ch.i.p.s before throwing it into his mouth. Some of the Orcs tried to shoot crossbow arrows or even hurl magic at it but either Mr Derpy did not notice, or he was simply enjoying the extra vour. Despair grew deep for the Orcs and they either jump off the flying tform that was about to be eaten by this unknown creature of disproportionate size and die by free fall suicide.

    "I totally...did not expect this to go this well." Jin admitted as he piggy backed Peppers after she ignited the previous airship carrier. Watching thest bit of it vanish from sight, Jin took a look around. He had counted a total of three airship carriers but the first two which already went down were seemingly smaller versions of the third one at the back.

    As if to take revenge for killing his ''siblings'', the third airship carrier fired a beam of intense magical energy at Mr Derpy. It was... very very ineffective. Therge monster seemed to take it in through his mouth as if someone was spraying water into his mouth.

    "I am speechless. Master Jin is too...unique." General dios''s jaw stayed open the entire time since the explosion first started. Even Starfire was starting to worry about saying those hatefulments towards Jin in the beginning. Hopefully he was not one to hold grudges.

    "Hahaha! It looks like our sons have indeed chosen a great master!" Igni smiled widely. His two long time friends could not even remember when thest time was that Igni had such a stupid grin on his face.

    "System, how goes the capture of those Orcs?" Jin asked as he continued to stabilise himself while holding onto Peppers on his back.

    "Approximately 45% capture rate. Many were killed by coteral damage of the surrounding equipment in the airship carriers. In short, of the four out of ten Orcs that were being absorbed into the System, only 4.5 Orcs were deemed useable. The rest were already dead upon arrival in the System''s grasp and the System could only dispose them. Resurrecting and controlling them is not worth the resources." The System replied and Jin could onlyugh bitterly. He had nearly forgotten that the System was still a calctive entity. It was not that he could not pity the Orcs but there was no time for any pity. In war, survive first. Emotionster.

    "Que Er, make a bridge towards the third airship carrier. Let''s take some high ranking Orcs in for Kraft to interrogate." Jin requested as he pressed a button on his phone which created a portal that lead to Pepper''s room. Then he gently ced Peppers on the bed before patting her for a job well done and returned to the head of Mr Derpy.

    By then, the bridge of magpies was already ced in front of him and Jin began to run towards the third airship carrier.

 Chapter 331 A Talk with Pei

    <h4>Chapter 331 A Talk with Pei</h4>

    Badbog, the Admiral of the biggestst airship carrier witnessed the unspeakable. He had to pinch himself to test whether or not he was dreaming the horrors before him. An unexinable massive creature which appeared to have manifested out of nowhere just as though it was one of the honourable Shaitan Avatars, destroyed one of their shipsбн by eating it up whereas the other one got blown into thousands of pieces and was falling to the ground because it was unable to stabilise itself. It was definite that the orcs in that airship carrier would not survive at all as he could even feel the trembling effects caused by the impact of the explosion within themand deck.

    "How could this lost technology be so frail?! I cannot believe that! We managed to do the unthinkable to transport hundreds if not thousands of Orcs through this wondrous flying piece of metal to restore the glory of our Orc Kingdoms and yet we are not even able to see their cursed capital?!!" Badbog banged on hisfy leather chair as he cursed the loss of two airship carriers and the orcs that were in the Command Deck were equally shocked by the sudden turn of events.

    "I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT! We are not going to be defeated by this monstrosity that sided with the goblins! ALL CANNONS! AIM AT THE MONSTER!" Badbogmanded while pointing at Mr Derpy.

    Unfortunately for him, the Command Deck was exposed at the top of the airship carrier and a certain Thunder Ram Demon still had to work off some aggression as it gracefully leapt onto the deck of the airship carrier. Keyrin blew his nostrils and summoned multiple concentrated lightning strikes towards the Command Deck and the intense electrical discharges directly obliterated almost every Orc present as it pierced through the reinforced windows of the deck. Blue streaks of shes exploded the entiremand deck, causing even the roof to break open.

    The mechanical systems were fried nearly immediately and the Orcs who were wearing metal armour were charred instantaneously. There were a lucky one or two who managed to get down under the control consoles, but the continuous strikes electrocuted them nheless. No one was spared in the Command Deck and those strikes of lightning continued to pierce through the metal flooring of the Command Deck.

    "Damn and here I thought Kraft could interrogate them," Jin said with a hint of regret as he watched the lightning strikes thundering down the skies without a care in the world.

    "Technically, since they were killed by Keyrin, some of those orcs should be converted by the System. If you wait a while, the System should finish granting them the absolute loyalty trait without my help." Kraft shrugged his shoulders andter he yawned once more at the boredom he was experiencing.

    Separately, the Orcs from inside, decked in full armour and armed with various melee and ranged weapons had waited for the attack to die down. Once no more strikes were heard they rushed out to the top deck to see that there were only a white goat monster and two humanoids with their half mask left.

    "Capture them! Anyone who does so will be handsomely rewarded by the King, I assur-"

    The captain was struck by lightning and the Orcs who saw that got even madder. They shouted with fury and charged towards them.

    Jin wanted to make a move but from behind him streams of yellowish orange mes were being shot down onto the top deck of the airship carrier. The Dashing Wyverns had already made their arrival as grand as they could with organised formations, taking turns to burn the enemies that were on the deck. The ranged Orcs tried to shoot down the wyverns but Jin did not give them any quarters to breathe.

    A st of Panda Yawning surprised the group of Orc Archers who had concentrated on to the wyverns and that strange attack caused more confusion to the ones who had no space to move about on the limited space deck especially with the fire spreading all over the decks. Their tactics and mission briefing only detailed that they would be ambushing the Goblin Kingdom where there would be debris cover and terrain for the Orcs to take advantage. Unfortunately, they were being ughtered left and right by staying in the open on the top deck while being picked by the Flying Goblin Battalion and Keyrin shooting lightning bolts from its horns. (Keyrin knew he might cause coteral damage to the wyverns if he summoned lightning from the skies.)

    Starfire stayed further back to assist the Dashing Wyverns by boosting their magical powers so that they were able to shoot mes of higher quality that had more poof and pow which made the fire burning on the top deck to be more destructive.

    As time went by, some of the Orcs decided to parachute prematurely out of the top deck in hopes of surviving the massacre on the bridge. Perhaps that way, they could get their revenge by killing a few goblin civilians.

    Oh, how na?ve those pea brained orcs were.

    While the Orcs thought that the Dashing Wyverns were busy focusing on the top deck, they did not realise that there was a sole goblin who was killing the ones who jumped off the airship carrier. It was none other than Ripcaller with his powered Gearbox boots as Jin gave him the ability to jump in the air to stay afloat while performing his kills from one parachuting Orc to another. He used the Orcs as tforms to execute the air jumps, allowing him to bo'' his kills easily.

    Meanwhile, both shreaver and Piercestriker used their gloves to attach themselves onto each side of the ship as if the Gearbox gloves had some sticky glue mechanism. With their other hand free, they took out a magically auto reloading crossbow each which Jin endowed them during the equipment phase before they embarked on the mission to get in contact with their fathers when all this journey was meant to be as simple as to request an army from them.

    They used those magical crossbows and shot their falling enemies without any prejudice, ripping through the orcs defences like paper since they were powerless with their parachutes open, making them perfect target practices. It was near impossible to escape especially when the goblins had a seemingly unlimited amount of arrows in their crossbows.

    In due time, the damage done by Keyrin and the Dashing Wyvern unit had taken its toll on the airship carrier and it also began to destabilise and sink to the bottomбнwell to the ground. At that time the three goblins were informed by the magpies flying alongside them that they needed to evacuate from the sides of the ship before they too were crashed to the ground by the sinking airship carrier.

    As thend beneath the airship carrier was a mixture of forest and jungles, the Three Generals had decided not to pursue any Orc survivors andmended the 38th Flying Goblin Battalion for a job well done.

    "Heh, we did almost nothing. The credit should go to those masked humanoids." The Captain of the Dashing Wyverns said and most of them agreed and cheered for Jin who was currently on Mr Derpy checking out his Tact Tweak, the mobilemand console that Moloch had created for him.

    "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is not over at all. My sources indicate that more enemies are marching downwards from the North. However, it should take some time for them toe here. Perhaps a few days or maybe up to a week? I am not exactly very familiar with the terrain here." Jin told them as he studied the map on his Tact Tweak that was generated by the System. He then beckoned the Three Generals toe to him for a more detailed analysis.

    The Three Generals manoeuvred their own Wyverns on top of Mr Derpy, though their mounts did so grudgingly. Mr Derpy just sneered not caring for them and continued to simply stare at the falling air carrier, wondering if he should take a bite out of it. Once theynded, they jumped off and hurried to Jin, who expanded his tact tweak map to a holographic 3D image. This kind of magic surprised the Generals but they immediately had a good gauge on the current situation.

    "Assuming they know the terrain, and judging by their prior preparation there is no reason not to do so, they are probably nning to go through the mountains as it is a natural shortcut. Perhaps we can set up a temporary militia to slow the army down if we set out by today." General Argent voiced his opinion to the other Generals.

    "I assume you wish to go by air with your wyverns battalion?" dios asked and Argent nodded.

    "Igni, your Assassins Guild, can they prepare some traps along the way?" dios turned to the other and Igni replied positively.

    "I can set the traps up before the militia arrives," Igni said as he excused himself and called his Wyvern tond on Mr Derpy for him to ride on.

    "Master, may I follow my father?" Ripcaller gathered his courage to request some free time and Jin simply rubbed Ripcaller''s hair to tell him to be careful. Ripcaller was delighted even though he did not overly express it and went to his father.

    "With you around? I might actually feel more secure. Good job on killing the deserters. The way you handled it was superb. Maybe I should make you teach the Vice-Guildmaster some tricks!" Igni praised him without any reservations which made Ripcaller''s day.

    "Can we also stay?" Piercestriker asked and shreaver was right behind too.

    "What are you talking about? The whole reason foring here was because I wanted you guys to see your family, right? So why would I separate you so soon? Now off you go. Go! Shoo! The System and I have a few things to do back in my own world. So take your time to spend with your family. Report to me if there is anything you cannot handle on your own." Jin instructed and the two goblins quickly rushed to their own fathers.

    "If that is the case, I will return to the capital to organise the defence withбнmy son." dios bid his friend Argent goodbye as he escorted Starfire and shreaver back to the capital.

    "Now then, it''s time for me to return to my Dungeon Maker!" Jin stretched a little before he looked at the destruction he and his teammates inadvertently created.

    "User, do not worry. Reconstruction efforts simply mean more work for the goblins, indirectly creating a source of ie for other races too. Once this is done, we can even help them out by lending out some workforceбн at a reasonable price, of course." Systemforted Jin in its ownбнpeculiar way.

    Jin did not argue with the System for war was cruel. He might have won the battle but the war was far from over. Every other orc who''d soone to hear of this goblin victory would be vying to kill the goblins ten times over. They might even take revenge on the goblins that were currently held prisoner by them. Most likely the Orcs could use this as a perfect excuse to start a genocide and killing even more goblins. Whatever the case, the casualties toe should be far more than today.

    "Hahaha! And here I was naive enough to have such delusions that I''d have the ability to end this war as soon as possible for the orcs and the goblins. If anything my interruption should serve to escte things only further." Jin mocked himself after realising what was yet toe as he entered the Dungeon Maker but it was obvious he had doubts despite all the battles he went through and seeing people going against him. This was the first time, he would be taking the initiative by going to war, an event that he had actively decided to participate in. To him, he was starting to feel that it may be really necessary to end this war with even more bloodshed.

    "As terrible as war might be, this is the order of nature no matter which world you would be in. It should be a universal rule, that the strong desire to dominate the weak. Of course, there could also always be some strange ones, who may be good minded people like you who would want to protect the weak. Yet, it is hypocritical no matter which side you are on. Get used to it or you will be bogged down by unnecessary feelings. There is no such thing as equality in the eyes of nature." Mr Derpy who happened to enter the dungeon maker understood his master''s expression with one look.

    For a fragment of a god who seemed to be blundering in everything he does, he was very aware of his master''s mood. Mr Derpy went closer and opened his mouth to unroll his tongue. There was a tablet that was glowing with a particrly dark energy and Mr Derpy advised Jin not to touch it with his bare hands.

    "Let this be an example. I am able to withstand it since I am more powerful than this particr tablet. Found this while I was chewing things out. The System wished me to give this to you, in exchange for some yummy Orcs." Mr Derpy exined and suddenly Pei, one of Kraft''s foxes and ex-Betor who stayed at Jin''s side as a blessing bracelet appeared before Jin.

    "That big fish is right." Pei who was now wearing a whitish pink kimono said as she took a look at the tablet by walking around it for a moment before she took out a wooden stick which looked like a broken wand and tapped the tablet with it. The dark energy that was emitting from the tablet immediately created a barrier as if to protect itself.

    "After living for so long and experiencing enough what life had offered to me, all I can say is this. All beings that are given life are also burdened with karma and responsibility for how they treat life." Pei seemed to be trying to break the energy barrier of the tablet with her broken wand but there was no reaction from the dark energy tablet and it seemed to be buzzing while being afloat.

    "They sayбнall life is equal, but doesn''t anyone consider how much the life of others is consumed to keep themselves alive? Just think about your eating habits. For every piece of meat you eat, it means an animal had to die. For every animal that died, other nts or species were killed in the process too." There seemed to be a response from the tablet finally but the energy barrier was not waning.

    "Sure, I may be generalising it as a broad perspective. Yet, I am not looking down on life nor do I think that meaningless killing is a good thing, but at the same time I am not pretending to be a saint, who advocates against violence." Pei continued as she stepped back from the tablet for a moment. The reason Pei was saying all this out was that she could read Jin''s mind and emotions while providing him with mental defence against external sources of psychological or mental attacks. However, an external mental defence would be useless if the own mentality of her Master were to break himself even before the others could break him.

    "You are here because you and your ancestors fought and stood atop a mountain of other lives, just like the other Royal Zodiac ns and even the people who are living right now. That is the karma that all living things must bear. That is why you have to live for the sake of all the lives which were sacrificed along the way and that is the responsibility that all living things must bear." Pei looked eye to eye at Jin when she spoke before Pei turned her attention back to the tablet.

    "If you want to take the easy way out and think of shutting yourself to prevent yourself from seeing the horrors of war yourself then I suggest you abandon the System and resume your previous life before you take on more responsibility. Especially now that you are a Minion master, handling the lives of not one, not two but hundreds of minions." Pei did not mince her words as she finally got the knack to release the energy barrier of the tablet.

    Jin kept quiet and processed Pei''s ''lecture'' as she continued to break the energy barrier down of the tablet. It was a lot to take in but somehow her advice answered some of his internal predicament and indirectly strengthened his resolve. "I am not handling just myself but a number of monsters that I do care for and call them as friends..." Jin thought to himself and remembered back to the first time he went into the Dungeon World as he tightened the grasp of his fists.

    "No, I am not likest time. I am and will continue to take responsibility for the actions like what Pei said." Jin was not hesitant as before as he now epted the actions he took. Unlikest time where all he thought about was his the survival of his own shop and wanted to keep the powers of the System. Selfish reasons. A material want rather than need.

    However, now it was different. The invisible burdens of leading the Panda n, of taking good care of his monsters and his shop''s employees. Jin now held the responsibility for more than himself and developed the need to protect, raise and nurture his n remnants, employees and monsters. They might seem heavy but he figured if he took it one step at a time with his preciousrades, they should be able to achieve wonders.

    These thoughts also made Jin remember the beginning days when all he had were the goblins and he had to hold the fort at the shop register. It did seem like such a long time ago ever since Yun took the responsibility of being the face of the ce as it gave him the opportunity to venture to other tasks, which seem to pop out one after the other.

    "You are right, Pei. I should not start to doubt myself and end this war as soon as possible to the best of my ability." As Jin steeled his resolve, a sharp sound was suddenly produced by the tablet. Words started to appear out of the tablet yet it was anguage neither Jin nor the minions in the dungeon maker could make sense out of.

    "It appears to be Ancient Oguage, User has Orcs at your disposal." The System replied and immediately referred Jin to his phone and selected the rumoured ck Disaster Nubwort in his glossary of minions.

    "I guess I shall try summoning this." Jin who had wanted to call out Piercestriker, decided to refrain from disturbing his reunion with General Argent and summoned the fearless Orc General in the Dungeon Maker.

    Nubwort appeared in front of Jin who had already taken his mask off. He assumed that Jin was an enemy and nearly wanted to ughter the human but was stopped before he could point his halberd at Jin. It was at that point a rush of information was beingmunicated from the System and into Nubwort who quietened down and knelt in front of Jin.

    "So in a way, I am alive again but at the mercy of a human from another world? In return, I have received a blessing of immortality?" The ck Disaster tried to make sense of it, with his head held up high towards Jin.

    "Yes. I was the one who trained the disappeared goblin sons. So I hope this should give you an idea of what you can expect if you wish to defy me. But I am not heartless, in fact, you can be sure you will receive enough opportunities to enjoy your bloodlust in theing days and months." Jin said as he leaned forward, unafraid of the Orc General. He knew he had to act somewhat tough but not to the point of boasting.

    "Hmph. We will see about thatбнMaster...Jin. What do you ask of me?" Nubwort seemed to treat him with the same contempt as Keyrin, as asked and Jin pointed at the floating tablet whose words were still visible on the tablet. The Orc General stood up and previewed the tablet for a moment.

    "The menaces that lurked under us must not be released.

    Lest upon the innocents the beasts begin to feast.

    Until the menaces have all been banished from this world,

    Our people would be forever shackled by fear, never knowing mirth.

    Fear not, for the Light иC"

    "The rest of the tablet readings is ineligible. From the looks of it, it was recently worn out due to corrosive damage which caused the dark energy within the tablet to flow out." Nubwort guessed and Jin inadvertently turned his gaze at Mr Derpy who decided to slowly ''ssh'' his way out of the Dungeon Maker.

    "Never mind, what do you make out of the readable part, Nubwort?" Jin asked and Nubwort who had some idea of what the Orc King Hamu was doing, told his master everything he knew because of the loyalty oath that he had been ''blessed'' by the System.

    Jin was surprised how much information he found out from Nubwort about the Shaitan Nobles including that one Orc King Hamu was possessing a Shaitan noble who was known as the True Messenger of Shaitans, Diabolos. "Diabolos was gifted by the ancient lost gods themselves the responsibility to pass out powers to bnce the world. However, he abused his authority by umting all elemental magic from all life and transferred the elemental powers into specific nobles that decided to make full use of his potential while bribing him with wealth and notions of more power." Nubwort exined with the knowledge of a previous follower of Diabolos himself. That was also how he could receive the enchanted Halberd that stole souls and transferred them to his ck armour. Jin checked the stats on his phone and noticed that the armour and halberd were shrouded with ck graphical effects as if the System was ying a prank on him.

    "No User, the System was unable to identify the ability of the Halberd and armour due to certain restrictions or perhaps due to the pact imposed by said monsters to not learn the true name of the equipment." The System stated and Nubwort nodded his head.

    "Even though you are my master from today onwards, I do not believe in you enough to unleash the true names of my equipment. However, considering the powers you are wielding and seeing how the son of Spear General Argent was trained to such a high level. I believe knowing the True Name would not change much for you." The ck Disaster snorted as he disappeared into the emptiness of the Dungeon Maker.

    "True Names? You mean there are some weapons that have a name on them and give them some magical effect?" Jin casually asked Pei who was still around in her foxish human form.

    "Remember how Kraft has No Mercy and you yourself wielding Bam and Boo? Those are names provided by master cksmiths or craftsman of transcendent level capabilities. It might not look much to you but knowing the True Names such as Bam and Boo brings you closer to your weapons and allowed you to change them into any other weapons." Pei exined as she looked at the broken wand she was holding and smiled.

    "Other users who do not know the names of Bam or Boo could only wield them as simple weapons. Just like how humans have names to influence others, you know the names of Bam and Boo which makes the weapons feel closer and have more affinity towards you. That is why you should feel much morefortable using them instead of any other weapons. Just try it out, to see how much difference it would make." Pei added.

    "I seeбнin any case, we still do not know what this tablet is used for. Is it just a message, maybe a warning or could there be something more to it?" Jin asked Pei and she just shrugged her body and turned back into a simple looking blessing bracelet on Jin''s wrist.

    "System, continue to analyse this. I am going to make a call to Hou Fei and tell him about this war thing. Also, fire up the dungeon maker console. I thinkбнwe are going to have a surprise real time event for our customers before the release of the Deep Ones'' Dungeon." Jin smirked to himself as he dialled up the number for Hou Fei.

 Chapter 332 Hou Feis Blueprints

    <h4>Chapter 332 Hou Fei''s Blueprints</h4>

    Hou Fei woke up in the middle of the night to pick up the ringing phone that was lying right beside his bed. He got used to receiving midnight calls since his work involved coboration with overseas partners. Nheless, he was still mildly surprised when he saw the number on his phone.

    "Yes, Young Master?" Hou Fei sat up slowly while reaching out for a ss of water at the bedside cab he had ced earlier to drink after waking up for just such an asion.

    "You sound so slee- Oh! Shit, I didn''t realise what time it was at all. I am sorry to have woken you up." Jin seemed to be fumbling from the other side of the conversation.

    "No worries Young Master, I am used to it. What is the problem?" Hou Fei felt like going back to sleep since the situation did not seem to be too urgent if Jin''s nightly call wasn''t even on purpose. Most likely Jin had been too busy creating something that he did not even take a look at his clock before remembering about Hou Fei. That or he went to some other world travelling. The Panda n Remnant still had trouble believing such a thing to be not only possible but seemingly easy to achieve via the System.

    "I have decided to cooperate with you. However, I need military blueprints as soon as possible. If you have them now, I can get the System to open a portal for you. I promise to do the military wide exercise you have mentioned as soon as things on my end have been cleared. You wouldn''t be wrong to call it a matter of life and death." Jin exined and Hou Fei was quickly shocked more awake.

    "What exactly happened?" He asked with concern since Jin was initially apprehensive in creating therge scale military exercise. For him to change his mind so soon, something out of the ordinary must have happened.

    "Long story short, I currently am at war with an Orc Race that seemingly not only has the power to dominate the entire world. Their world to be exact, not ours and they are in the midst of doing exactly that. They live in what we would probably describe as a medieval world, yet their might consists of ''lost technology'', which you can think of as modern technology. On their side are representatives of awfully strong magical gods that should be equivalent to a Grade 15 and above Western Magic users and also shit tons of muscleheads." Jin was already splitting himself into a few of him with the High Intensity Mode by the System and started preparing the new real time live event that would be happening.

    "I seeбн? Erm okay, you hold the line for a while. Let me see what I have on hand." Hou Fei slowly got out of his bed and turned on his desktop which booted within seconds. While he was searching for his work files which he had secretly taken for reference and ''research'' purposes, Hou Fei asked Jin what exactly the other one wanted.

    "How about a C130 military cargo transport aircraft? Or Military Airships, those balloon ones? Or an aircraft carrier. I was thinking ofbining the capabilities of a floating balloon airship and aircraft carrier together. If not, something simr to a C130 blueprint would be great." Jin said while he continued to assist another Jin who was creating the background story scenarios by choosing which costume would be nice for histest Panda guides in the dungeon instances into the control console.

    "Ah, you are lucky. I have the basic 1960s C130 transport blueprint on myputer sadly it''s not thetest super Hercules version, hope that is fine with you." Hou Fei wore and pushed up his round rimmed sses for farsightedness to search for the blueprint file.

    "Well, beggars can''t be choosers. I do not mind as long as I have the basic schematics. The System should be able to iron out the bad parts of the ne. I am also looking for military defences perhaps something like automated turrets and the likes to be mounted on a wall?" Jin did not know what to look for since he never imagined participating in arge scale war, not to mention one in a foreign world.

    "You think this is some sort of game where you can have weird automated Gatling gun turrets and missile turrets? Our particr modern world does not have such things developed yet because it would be suicidal and Friend or Foe recognition would be a pain in the ass to create. Not to mention just think of the repercussions if anything would go wrong with that, or somebody hacked into itбн If you want, I''d rmend installing some machine gun emcements and bunkers and perhaps some surface-to-air missile turrets." Hou Fei scoffed at Jin for being ignorant and Jin did not know how to reply back.

    "I erm sorry. Did not mean it that way, I always thought our military technology epasses almost everything." Jin tried to salvage the situation.

    "Sigh, my bad too. Perhaps I was merely jealous that there is so much excitement at your side since this old man is no longer suited to participate in abat situation." Hou Fei admitted honestly which he himself felt odd opening up to a person he just met regardless of status.

    "I might have an idea, how you can actively help out. Perhaps take charge of teaching the goblins how to use the machine guns and where to ce the bunkers." Jin offered which made Hou Fei jump at that particr idea. Anything would be better than to merely sit at the sidelines.

    "What''s thepensation?" Hou Fei tried to y the money card to see if he could squeeze any benefits from his young master although he was willing to do it for free.

    "Eh, how about we consider it as a test to see if you are reallypetent enough and have the foresight in leading our territory as the potential future defence ministry?" Jin did have at least 10 million dungeon dors worth of budget at his disposal and he could convert them to Chinese Yuan or USD to pay Hou Fei. But like a businessman, he tried to keep cost low if possible unless Hou Fei insisted on marypensation.

    "Heh, you are as stingy as Ming. Can you believe that your grandpa made us, his subordinates, pay for the drinks, instead of the other way around? But okay, let''s do it your way. But once I be the defence minister, I expect to be showered with lots of money." Hou Fei sniggered as he downloaded a few more blueprints he thought would be helpful for the survival of a particr goblin kingdom he had no further knowledge about. As sly as he was, most of the blueprints were old military tech which he had obtained through favours all for hobby''s sake. "Who knew, collecting patented old military tech blueprints that were once locked under manyyers of security, would end up bing handy for my new master?" Hou Fei was excited as he changed his nightwear for a proper shirt and shorts.

    It was unfortunate he was unable to obtain thetest high tech blueprints that potentially could give the extra edge to any modern countries. With his connections, Hou Fei might be able to obtain them from various military tech producers for a hefty price but he did not. Mainly because they were too expensive and did not have the feeling of uniqueness which the old blueprints had. Most of the new military tech was influenced by those old designs and modified via it. They did not feel special at all and thetest revolutionary ones were so heavily guarded that his connections might not be able to even touch it. Trying to do so, would most likely even be regarded as an act of betrayal against the respective country.

    The portal appeared right in front of him after sending Jin a message that he was ready. He entered it only to be astounded by the many other Jin''s who were working in the Dungeon Maker. One Jin came over to the bbergasted older man to exin to him that time was of the essence and they needed to hurry. The time dtion in the Dungeon Maker would reduce the rtive time lost in Goblin World aspared to if he was in his real world. "Ah... A year for a month. Did not expect that kind of disparity of time to be that huge. No wonder you had me see you work in such aбнgroup setting." Hou Fei said as he passed the USB thumb drive to the Jin in front of him.

    Jin fired a separate console in the Dungeon Maker and pulled the data out of the USB thumb drive. He noticed there were not only the C130 blueprints but equipment blueprints from the past wars, especially from the World War 2 Era.

    "I figured you needed some of this." Hou Fei smiled as he exined the various blueprints. There was the infamous M1 Garand semi automatic rifle, the M2 Browning .50 calibre heavy machine gun, the German Pak 38 50mm anti tank gun, the 4x4 Command Reconnaissance utility trucks or Jeeps in short, the M2A1 Howitzer artillery gun, andstly, the German k 88m anti aircraft gun.

    "Not that I amining but how the hell did you get those schematics?" Jin asked and Hou Fei only winked at him once.

    "I will leave you to your work. Just tell me when your goblins need their training." Hou Fei told him, and was on his way out but before he could leave, Jin stopped him.

    "You can teach them now if you want." Jin pressed a few buttons and asked Hou Fei to proceed to the door East of the Dungeon Maker. Hou Fei did not ask much and opened the door to see that tens of M1 Garand rifles were already fully assembled and left on therge extended table while two M2 Browning HMG were in the middle of being produced.

    Hou Fei''s jaws dropped and Jin did not bother with him. "How did you do it so fast?! Wait no it''s the powers of the System. That is seriously one handy thing to possess." Hou Fei picked one up to get the feel of the rifle and he felt it was more robust than the one he carried before.

    "Remnant Hou Fei, the materials in the blueprints were reced with stronger ones and the design has been tweaked to reduce mishaps and loading problems for the guns. The rest of the blueprints that were given have already been analysed and tweaks are underway to ensure sturdiness and maximised firepower." The System stated as it magically extended the room and inserted a shooting range for Hou Fei to try out.

    He wore the earplugs that were provided on the table and inserted a cartridge of bullets into the all new M1 Garand Rifle. The feel of the rifle was fantastic and he could even smell the original finishing of a sturdy solid wood. "Inhaleбн.*BANG*" Hou Fei fired the shots until he heard the traditional metal cling sound of the clip that flew out of the rifle. It was very satisfying with only a minor knockback unlike the original rifle and the firepower seemedparable to the mainstream modern guns.

    "Come to think of it, why did you not simply ask the System to make those weapons for you? I believe there should be rifles out there in the Weapon Store that could help to assist the goblins too." Yun who brought a tray of ck Ivory coffee into the Dungeon Maker and passed it to Jin as well as Hou Fei.

    "I checked before, the Weapon Store does sell guns and explosives but the cost of buying them in mass bulk was far more expensive than me having the blueprint and buying the tons of materials to create them. I don''t know why though." The Jin near Hou Fei answered Yun after thanking her for the cup of coffee. The other Jins also thanked her as she approached each one of them.

    "User, Rank 4 of Dungeon Supplier Level reduces the duty tax rate to zero, allowing you to buy from the System at cost price plus misceneous expenses rted to your purchase. The duty tax was to prevent potential Users from abusing the System''s supply stocks. While secondary, the System made use of the duty tax surplus to achieve other misceneous objectives. This reduction of duty tax includes subsequent purchases of any materials including medicinal bath materials andpleted products." System noted and both Yun and Jin nodded their head in acknowledgement.

    "Ehhhhhh! So does that mean my blueprints are essentially useless?" Hou Fei came out of the shooting range and felt embarrassed that he felt proud assisting his new young master but the System rebutted.

    "Negative, your blueprints mean the System and User are able to create our very own products and are also able to market them to finance the store. The Gearbox blueprints which User had obtained and produced are selling like hotcakes in other worlds. System also utilised User''s negotiating skills to sell at exorbitant prices." System stated as another Jin who was at the far end corner of the Dungeon Maker stuck out his tongue in embarrassment.

    "Of course, we did not sell the perfect version but the one with a few ws and some with less obvious defects which did not create safety issues though. After all, if we sell the perfect version, they would note back for more in the future. The ck Market is rather fun." Another Jin boasted and the main Jin shook his head. He could not believe his own personality was equally shrewd like the System and he med Kraft for making him this way. (A certain foxy guy had to sneeze out of nowhere.)

    "Now I also understand how the System managed to be so generous to provide you 10 million dungeon dors as your budget." Yun who was looking at her phone realised that the Gearboxes were sold for at least 2-3 million dungeon dors each. More if there were personal modifications and everything was sold in the ck market.

    "Don''t you ever worry those products that you sell will eventuallye to haunt you?" Hou Fei was speaking from experience and Jin could sense that. Another Jin shook his head and revealed that all the products created by the System had a miniature inscription embedded into them. It was something simr to a kill switch and Jin had been told that it was initially made by previous members of the Panda n to test for authenticity of products since they were from a family of businessmen and traders and it turned out, that he was not the first arms dealer by a long shot.

    The System even seemed to boast that the inscription had been improved many times over and had yet to disappoint. Some people who decided to break the inscription would unknowingly disintegrate with the product. However it was clearly written at the bottom of the invoice to not tamper with it, even though the part of disintegration came with a fine and slightly invisible print.

    "So evil. Young Master, you are so clever in this business sense that I am loving it!!!!" Hou Fei went straight to Another Jin and hugged him tightly which made that Jin slightly ufortable, whereas the other Jins were grinning happily that it was not them. "Oh, don''t you worry or anything. I have a wife too. Unfortunately, I don''t see her that often, she is just verymitted to her job." Hou Fei rubbed Another Jin''s head and asked the Original Jin where he should be going next.

    "That''s not the point! Anyways, Que Er, apany him would you? System please provide him with a Half Mask with the same properties as my own. Ghoul Half Lord Derek, mind if you lend me some of your zombies for moving the equipment?" Jin asked the Magpie Queen along with Ghoul Half Lord who appeared in front of him to acknowledge his orders. The Magpie Queen Que Er opened the portal to the Goblin Castle courtesy of the System while Half Lord Derekmanded his zombies to carry the equipment.

    "Ah yes, Master Jin, I have something to report if you do not mind me interrupting you. I merely request your presence at our Home Instance for five to ten minutes." Ghoul Half Lord Derek asked and Jin stopped for a while and decided to give him the full attention despite his busyness. With so many Jins working on the other necessities, he should be able to free up that short amount of time.

    "I have managed to practice some necromancy arts in my free time and have managed to create this. It was through the recent disposal of Orc Remains that I found the use of the necromancy arts. I have managed to request the System grant me those before it could properly dispose the remains away. We believe it could be of use, now that I have finallypleted my first creation." Derek exined and the theme park lights shone at Derek''s creation. (The zombies operating the lights were very proud of their actions.)

    Not surprisingly, it turned out to be an Orc Zombie, created from various parts of the Orcs that the System managed to salvage. What was surprising though was that the usually stingy System had granted Ghoul Half Lord Derek ess to a limited amount of souls which it had manufactured as a result of the ck waste Jin had produced from his cultivation.

    The Orc Zombie was wless from afar but upon closer inspection, Jin could see the pieces had been sewn together and he looked at Ghoul Half Lord Derek. "Ahem. Erm. Yes, as you might have seen, Lady Zhi Nu, the immortal weaver, did help with my creation." Derek coughed loudly as he said that and Jin could see Zhi Nuing out from her hiding with Niu Lang right beside her.

    "WellбнDerek gave us permission to use his theme park home instance for our datesбн" Zhi Nu said blushingly while Niu Lang mentioned that the zombies also assisted him in repairing Mechataur by moving the heavy parts. "So that is why we as a couple decided to help Derek out with his experiment. And I''d say it turned out to be a pretty good job!" Zhi Nu giggled as she saw Derek''s finished product and was delighted that it was working.

    "Ahah hah haaaaбн.I guess we now have our own in-house Victor Frankenstein." Jin smiled. Derek told Jin about his proposals for future experiments like inserting weapons and making them learn some basic fighting. He borated that the souls made from the ck goo were rather effective, allowing them to gain some intelligence. He even proposed to include some of the Savants in their experiments who may have experience in this regard. (Not as samples but forparison sake.)

    Ghoul Half Lord Derek also reported that his zombies that were being used in the Great Wall of China Instance were gradually improving too although the process was slowerpared to the experiments he was doing. The zombies managed to learn to move faster and some hit harder. Some even managed to learn how to throw things or hurl their magic for the elemental zombies instead of just biting to discharge their elemental powers.

    Jin who was fascinated by the improvements told them that if they needed a dedicated area like aboratory for recreating more monsters, all they had to do was to ask. Both Zhi Nu and Derek were excited and Jin looked at Niu Lang. "Don''t worry, I also have ns to create a Mechanical Bay Area so that you can finally house Mechataur properly instead of just the basement of your house with Zhi Nu." Jin patted his shoulders and took his leave.

    "Now it''s time to concentrate on creating this particr live event!" Jin was very encouraged as he finished thest bit of coffee and continued with his work.

    -----------------------

    Xiong Da woke up upon hearing the rm clock ring beside his bed. "Urghhhhбнfour more minutesбн.it''s a Saturday god damn it." Xiong Da grumbled as he put the pillow over his head.

    "Dear! Wake up! Didn''t you promise Bin Yong and others to go to Jin''s store?" Ruo Ying who was already awake turned off his rm clock for him and pushed him around to wake him up.

    Xiong Da opened one of his eyes and saw Ruo Ying dressed in hisrge oversized shirt because she stayed overnight at his ce and decided to grab her into his arms. "You don''t know what time I went to sleepst nightбн." Xiong Da mumbled the rest of the sentence and rolled her to his bed as he quietly cuddled her. Ruo Ying made a small squeal the moment he pulled her close but she enjoyed the warm embrace of this hippo. The touch of his toned arms and chest muscles mixed with that bouncy bulge he had on his stomach made her somewhat crazy in love with him physically.

    She did not know what would happen if Xiong Da did not persist in training himself up and he said it was all thanks to that Dungeon Supplier in Tiangong Shopping District. "You! Don''t think you can escape my wrath for sleeping sote! I had been waiting for your returnst night until I fell asleep!" Ruo Ying pinched his nose and he opened his mouth to breath and continue his sleep. It was clear that Xiong Da had no intention of staying awake.

    "What about this!" Ruo Ying moved herself closer to Xiong''s face and ced her mouth directly to his, and they began to kiss slowly. However, at the same time Ruo Ying did not stop pinching his nose, though Xiong Da who had the stamina simr to a hippo managed to make out with her for about a minute before he finally gave in and opened his eyes.

    "That is torture, Darling." Xiong Da frowned as he sat properly on his bed and he looked into Ruo Ying''s beautiful eyes.

    "Can''t help it. You are stuck with an Egret for life once she has chosen you." Ruo Ying''s sweet talk made Xiong Da really happy as he grabbed her closer once more and hugged her gently.

    "Let''s prepare to leave shall we?" Xiong Da stretched his arms on the bed while Ruo Ying kissed him before going into the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast for the two of them. Xiong Da went to pick up his towel for a shower before receiving a notification from his phone.

    It was different from other notifications as Xiong Da purposely changed the ringtone of the Pandamonium App notifications. He always had an interest in what wasing out, and so he went back to his bedside cab to reach for his phone.

    "бнReal time live event?" Xiong Da squinted his eyes a little and began reading what was on the event. "Holy shit! Boss Jin, you might have outdone yourself once more." Xiong Da got pumped up and went for a quick shower.

    "Ruo Ying! Doing toasted bread will be fine! We should head to Boss Jin''s shop as soon as possible or just let me take over with the cooking while you get in the shower!" Xiong Da appeared as he wore somethingfortable and forbat purposes. Clothes that he bought from Jin''s store. He could not deny that it was extremelyfy and had his size too while providing temporary and permanent inscription slots. It was a bargain.

    "Why? What''s the rush?" Ruo Ying wanted to make scrambled eggs before Xiong Da took over.

    "Boss Jin is hosting a limited time event that provides rewards and the best thing. It is dirt cheap and yet the rewards are super enticing. I think this is the first farmable event!" Xiong Da carried his girlfriend into the shower and brought her towel and the set of clothes she wanted to wear into the bathroom.

    "Is this that big of a deal? Don''t other Dungeon Suppliers also host such things, every now and then?" Ruo Ying knew that Xiong Da was once crazy with dungeons instances, but this was over the top. He never acted this rushed before.

    "Yes, but this is Jin''s Store we are talking about!! There is this limited item which WE NEED to get!" Xiong Da showed Ruo Ying and she too became excited jumping up and down while squealing in front of him. "It''s thatrge fluffy Panda Plushie that cuddles you with warmth or cools you down!" Ruo Ying now understood why Xiong Da was so excited. It was the one that was made avable during the lottery along with the coupon booklet and Ruo Ying had been eyeing that gift for some time.

    The coupon booklet was a sess and every shop in Tiangong district benefitted from Jin''s generosity, but yet no one was able to get therge fluffy panda Plushie because not too many customers understood the mechanics of the lottery that Jin created or was ignorant of it. Ruo Ying tried a few coupons as a way to thank Jin for helping her Hippo but she was not able to get any of the better prizes and subsequently due to her new job, she nearly forgot about it.

    Ruo Ying did not care about therge plushie initially until Jin showed her the Plushie in its entirety when she asked about itter on. In an instant, she fell in love with it and Xiong Da whispered to her that maybe he could ask his contacts to create something simr. Jin managed to hear it with his acute hearing senses and yfully told them that the plushie was not as simple as how it looked. He told them to check it out for themselves.

    That was when Ruo Ying personally went to hug it. The plushie automatically cuddled her up and she felt sofortable as if she was in a luxurious bed and nearly fell asleep after being cuddled up for a while. It was a personal warmer in the winter and cooler during summer. Xiong Da decided to try it too and then the plushie expanded and amodated both Xiong Da and Ruo Ying which shocked them. That was when they both fell in love with it. And that was even before Jin told them, that it could get asrge as being used as a sofa.

    However, the coupon booklet event was already near its end when they found out about this first prize and there were not many tickets left despite having so many prizes in the lottery pool. Xiong Da, no doubt with his purchasing powers, tried all the coupons he could obtain but there was no sight of the Cuddling Panda Plushie бнuntil now. Ruo Ying saluted at Xiong Da as she closed the bathroom doors quickly and proceeded to shower while Xiong Da cooked up a quick breakfast.

    Jin not only decided to put all the figurines he created from the System and thatrge Panda Plushie into this limited time event. But he also produced some goblin themed earth elemental weapons that can be purchased with points. Yes! Upon participating in this particr goblin real time event, the customers would be able to umte points to get those items. That was why he had purposely priced the event dirt cheap at about 60 Yuan (~9USD) aspared to his usual dungeons. He even made a package of 550 Yuan (~82 USD) for ten dungeon tries for those who wished to collect them.

    Some might say this was still expensive but Jin also allowed his customers to use their existing Panda Medals to buy the dungeon at 10 Panda Bronze Medals or 1 Silver Panda Medal. Not to mention this particr goblin real time event would still give out medals, points and potentially loot at the end of their dungeon.

    "So how does the dungeon work this time around?" Ruo Ying changed to herbat clothes which were equally stylish courtesy of Xiong Da who previously spent loads on Jin''s shop which allowed him to umte a ton of Panda medals.

    "Not sure, the notification says we have to go to Boss Jin''s shop to find out more details." Xiong Da passed the bacon and fried omelette egg squeezed into two pieces of toast bread to Ruo Ying. She ate the food while Xiong Da helped Ruo Ying dry her hair with the hairdryer.

    "Oho ho, looks like Bin Yong is scrambling too." Ruo Ying giggled as she chewed her food and showed Xiong Da the texts in the Pandamonium group chat.

    "We must beat him to it!!" Xiong Da dered which Ruo Ying fully agreed as they quickly left the house the moment she finished her te of food and left it in the dishwasher. Daily chores could wait.

    The Panda Plushie would not.

 Chapter 333 Goblin War Raid Even

    <h4>Chapter 333 Goblin War Raid Even</h4>

    "XIONG DA! HOW DARE YOU!" Bin Yong entered the shop instance and ran to the elevated floor of the Level One Shop Instance panting as he saw Xiong Da already holding onto tens of dungeon tickets and food waiting for them. Xiong Da specifically asked the penguins from the Restaurant Train of Delicacy to deliver the tes of curry rice to the second floor. Ruo Ying was already chewing on a few pieces of voured onigiri while stealing some scoops of curry from her boyfriend.

    "What? Who asked you to be so slow? Come earlier next time! Hahahaha!" Xiong Daughed as he ced the tickets on the table and Bin Yong reluctantly took them. Shi Zuo was the next to enter and found out that Bin Yong failed. Yes, they initially wanted to repay Xiong Da for the previous treats of dungeon instances by buying the tickets for Xiong Da and his girlfriend this time around but Xiong Da had beaten them once again.

    Xiong Da promised that whenever possible, he would treat Bin Yong''s group to dungeons because of the huge favour they had done for him in getting Ruo Ying. Bin Yong had thought Xiong Da was joking and dly epted the idea. As a matter of fact, Xiong Da took his promise very seriously...

    However, Bin Yong and Shi Zuo could not let this generosity continue for long. Once or twice would be fine yet Xiong Da treated them for almost all the dungeons whenever they met up with him and they felt that they would be losing face if they could not treat Xiong Da back once in a while. It was a Chinese man''s matter of pride to Shi Zuo and Bin Yong since they were not shameless enough to take the tickets for free on a regr basis.

    Ironically, Xiong Da felt that it was a decent game to y with them. If they arrived earlier than Xiong Da, he would dly receive their treat. But as long as he was earlier, Xiong Da would be buying the dungeon tickets. "The score should be 6-1 already. Please try again." Ruo Ying teased Bin Yong as she munched on the pork cutlet soaked with curry sauce.

    "You must be kidding me, you guys live just a few stations away from here. We''ve already tried toe as early as possible!" Shi Zuo grumbled as he sat down and thanked Xiong Da grudgingly for the food. Xiong Da sniggered and continued to eat his curry rice since the breakfast he made earlier was not enough for him.

    "Where are Luo Bo and Jia Le?" Ruo Ying asked since they would usually be together with the guys.

    "They had some work to clear for the uing animation project we got assigned to. That is why they would be ratherte." Shi Zuo answered and Bin Yong added that if they were still ying by then, the two girls would join them.

    "Pity, I bought extra curry rice for them too. Guess I will be taking them. It''s a waste not to finish such good delicacy." Xiong Da helped himself to it but it incurred the wrath of Ruo Ying.

    "You better work your ass offter!" Ruo Ying took the opportunity to bite another delicious scoop of curry even though she kept saying she was conscious of her weight.

    "But isn''t this the perfect opportunity for Ruo Ying to practice? The girls always make things less serious for her." Shi Zuo suggested as he knew his girlfriend always like to steal the spotlight.

    "Hmm, I guess that would mean we can focus on training Ruo Ying." Xiong Da looked at her and she gave a slight nod but she was not forgiving him for eating that much early in the morning.

    Xiong Da asked Ruo Ying for the app as he wanted to check her current physical status and equipment. Speaking about the stuff she carried, Ruo Ying''s weapon was simr to that of the Werecats Nyanmi and Meomi. But instead of whips, Ruo Ying used heavy duty chains as her primary choice of weapon. To everyone''s surprise, the Esthetical Egret Style focused a lot on arm strength to perform her attacks with grace. Not to mention, there was something that Xiong Da really liked about a beautifuldy swinging chains all along her opponent. There was a time they decided to duel with Xiong Da suppressing his cultivation. In the end two out of three battles, he was unable to win against Ruo Ying''s graceful style. (Or perhaps Xiong Da was too enthralled by her beauty.)

    They discussed a little on what had been going on in their lives but it was a brief discussion since Xiong Da and Ruo Ying had their objectives set for the Large Panda Plushie. They quickly went to the instance stations which were continuously packed with people, but then they realised the event had yet to start officially.

    "Do not worry about the dimensional instance machines! Please let the others who wish to do other dungeons use them first!" Mr Patsu stood near the dimensional instance machine and shouted at the top of his voice even though it was not necessary when the sound system in the shop instance was surround sound to begin with.

    "What do you mean? Did you not say it''s a limited time event? If we do not use the dimensional instance machine, how do we teleport there?" A customer who was standing at the very front shouted back, feeling a little frustrated at the fact he was allowing others to go through.

    "Because it does not matter." Jin who came out from nowhere was wearing a brand new costume. Arge Panda head with a helmet on while his outfit carried a full battle gear that consisted of abat vest, arge backpack (which had nothing inside!) along with misceneous items that made it appear as if Jin was so overly prepared that it encumbered him, making him useless in a fight. But it was just a costume and costumes was meant to exaggerate.

    He took off the Panda Head like how he did for Pandrac and addressed the masses. "As long as you have a ticket, you can now scan it with your Pandamonium App QR code capture and be teleported from anywhere within the shop instancepound. So you can do that from the Hot Spring instance, from the Restaurant Train Instance, from the Panda Muscle Instance, so on and so forth! This method is currently only implemented for the Goblin War Raid Instance. The rest of the other dungeon instances will follow within the next couple of days after we receive sufficient data from the servers to make it possible." Jin shouted as he looked at the time and day on the digital clock in the shop instance.

    "Ah crap, I have to change the interior decor to suit the November Mission." Jin ced a mental note to remove the Halloween decoration soon or else it would not fit the mood. Other than that, there were more questionsing from the floor when Jin spoke about the Goblin War Raid Instance. The customers were fighting to get an answer from Jin but they were doing that to pass the time for the event to start.

    "Why is this one called a Raid instance? How is it different from your other Dungeons?" A customer asked and Jin smirked at the iing question. He instantly took out his phone and messaged the System to pull out a map of the goblin world, which was mostly centralised at the Gob Gob Kingdom. The map instantly turned into 3D and appeared at the top of the audience on an angle for better viewing to arge crowd.

    "This will be your battlefield. As some of you might have read in the mail I sent via the Pandamonium app, we will be fighting against Orcs while siding with the goblins. All cultivators will be inserted into the battlefield like special forces to stop pockets of the Orc invasion andpleting various objectives." Jin exined and everyone immediately became very excited. This was the first time a dungeon supplier created arge scale battle for everyone. Even big names like King''s Monster could never do it. If Ke Loong were here, he would be pulling his hair our once more. (No doubt, Mr Know it All would notify him about the change of events in Jin''s store.)

    "The Dimensional Instance will teleport you to a certain location which will, in turn, send you wherever Orcs are bound to appear nning on attacking the goblins. So you might have missions like save the Goblin Vigers, Protect the Goblin Vige, Stop the Orc Escorts, Ambush the Orcs, so on and so forth. For now the events are rted to defensive manoeuvres. If the response for this Goblin War Raid Event is good, we might host offensive missions in the future." Jin borated and people started to discuss among themselves.

    "Once your objective ispleted, you will earn a number of Raid points which can be exchanged for items. The Event Redemption Counter to collect loot is right over there. There will be Pandas to assist you in exchanging your points for items, medals and every other thing avable." Jin added while pointing at the corner with a door that stated ''Event Redemption Counter''. He purposely made a room filled with babyish Panda AIs to aid the collection at the counter. As a nice little bonus, seeing all those Pandas should motivate a lot of his customers to aim for the Legendary Panda Plushie. (Which Jin created a few more to cater and entice the masses upon seeing Xiong Da''s and Ruo Ying''s reaction previously.)

    Some other customers had more questions but Jin interrupted them by saying that more will be revealed when they enter the instance in a minute''s time. Everyone including Xiong Da and the others had their hearts pumping since it seemed like this could turn out to be thergest event yet. While they were unaware how much Jin had to put in to make this work, Jin felt this was the fastest way to end the Goblin War and the only way to not just protect the goblin borders but ensure the orcs were being pushed back to their own regions.

    People were taking live videos describing how excited they were and posting them in the socialwork services and some were taking pictures of their preparations for the Goblin War Raid instances, indirectly promoting Jin''s shop even more. The clock ticked to 12 pm and each and every of the customers'' Pandamonium App was lit up, giving them ess to the Raid Event.

    "THE EVENT STARTS NOW!!" Jin shouted at the top of his voice and even shot a firework from his fake grenadeuncher to announce the start of the event. Everyone who had their tickets was immediately beamed off to the Goblin World with the help of the System. This is where the magic began, and also where half of the budget of his 10 million dungeon dors was being spent on.

    Xiong Da, Ruo Ying, Bin Yong and Shi Zuo found themselves in arge cargo ne setting, having been teleported with many other cultivators. From the looks of it, it seemed like a military cargo ne which they saw in movies and the sound of propellers made their heart start pumping faster. Usually, such a setting would mean that they would be jumping off the ne, so would they have to do the same?!

    In any case, the group also realised that each of them had been equipped with a half mask based on their cultivation. Xiong Da had a half Hippo mask with teeth protruding out, Ruo Ying was wearing a white Egret half Mask with the beak angled downwards. Bin Yong had a half mask of the body of a beetle and though it looked like it blocked his vision, it was nothing like that. He could perfectly see through it and Shi Zuo had aical monkey mask on instead of those serious ones like Ruo Ying''s and Bin Yong''s.

    "Comrades! Captain Hei will debrief you on the things to do! Have a seat at the side of the ne!" Arge muscr Panda shouted and hisbat vest had Bai written on his left chest tag. Bin Yong and Shi Zuo had yed enough of Jin''s dungeons to notice that the Pandas that instructed them were usually Hei, Bai, and Hui. All they did was wear different outfits for different dungeon instances. In a way, it gave the cultivators a sense of familiarity with the muscr three leader pandas.

    When the group began to sit down, a holographic map appeared right beneath their legs, on the floor of the ne. It was simr to the map that Jin had shown but it was more detailed than the one in the Shop instance. The map was zoomed in to a region and it was concentrated to the size of a vige. There were many various beeping colour markers on the holographic which the Captains told them that they represented different things.

    Greens were goblin military soldiers regardless of ranks hence allies. Whites were the innocents and civilians while the approaching reds were the enemies. Greys were somerger creatures, which should best be avoided, as they could turn hostile. Captain Hei also said that the cultivators were marked as Purples.

    "For the team that will be participating, you will be protecting the vige from apany of Orcs attempting to pige the vige of their food stocks, wealth and manpower. We can not allow that. There are currently ten goblin militia defending the vige behind the flimsy wooden walls but as you can see from the map, their enemies outnumber them ten to one. We would like to even the ying field a little so I am sending one team into that area. Who wants to do the honours?" Captain Hei asked and almost everyone put their hands up.

    "Heh, Pandawan Xiong Da, your group is far too seasoned to take this." Captain Baimented and the two Panda Captains decided to choose another team. At that time a monster appeared from the direction of the cockpit. Most cultivators quickly recognised him as one of the Werejackals, to which everyone almost took their weapons out as part of an instinctive reaction.

    "Woah! Woah! Woah!" Werejackal Grey expected the reaction as predicted by Jin but he did not think it would be this fierce.

    "Put your weapons down! We told you, you would be hunting Orcs! Does he look anything like an Orc?!" The two Panda Captainsmanded and everyone slowly lowered their weapons.

    "Is he not the enemy?" A male Deer masked cultivator asked while cing his weapon back to his storage ring.

    "Nope, all the monsters you had encountered in Jin''s dungeons will now serve as your guide andpanions for this battle in case anything goes awry." Captain Bai replied as he formally introduced Grey which allowed everyone to rx.

    "Nice to meet you, I will be apanying Teamбн Alpha was it? Ah you! I remember you. You killed me with that fancy sword style!" Grey recognised the Deer masked cultivator and they did some small talk before the Panda Captains interrupted them.

    "Attention Team Alpha. Each of you wear this ring before you go down. Do not worry. The ring will fit all sizes." Hei started to pass the rings to Team Alpha and everyone examined the ring before putting it on.

    "This particr ring has multiple purposes. One, it will calcte the number of kills you''ve attained and the participation points for stronger orcs. Two, it will teleport you back to the shop instance when you are done. Three, it will also teleport you back when it senses that you are in critical danger, and most likely save you from a fatal blow. When it does that, it will also be game over for you. Points will then be calcted regardless if youplete the objective or not." Captain Hei exined.

    "Meanwhile, I will be there to assist in your fight too if necessary. I will not interfere for most of the fight but take it as I am the support if things go south. Else, I will be assisting the vigers to safety." Grey said and the five cultivators in Team Alpha acknowledged.

    "Alright, we will be reaching our destination soon. The rest of you listen up! Strap on to your seats! Team Alpha! See that tform over there? Move to there immediately!" Captain Baimanded and everyone followed the Panda Captain''s orders.

    The five cultivators with Grey stood on an elevated tform which subsequently lit up red boxes under their feet. The red boxes blinked for five seconds and the cultivators within the red boxes on the elevated tform moved downwards. All of a sudden, a seat appear on each of the cultivator red boxes and pilot like seatbelts were blinking at the side, asking the cultivators to strap them on. However, the only one that did not follow was Grey. He held on to the tform bar and even ordered the cultivators to strap tight.

    Xiong Da and others who were at the side of the ne wondered why the strictness and then there were shing lights and ring sounds that indicated the opening the ne''s cargo ramp. "HOLY SHIT! ARE THOSE ALL C130s?!" Shi Zuo was shouting as he could not hear himself when the cargo ramp was fully opened to see multiple C130 nes flying in unison from the rear. The other cultivators were in awe by the authenticity of the whole dungeon experience, (If only they knew how real everything wasбн) that they did not realise the lights in the C130 turned from red to green.

    "GO GO GO GO!" Panda Captain Bai shouted while waving his hand and the tform in front of them was being slingshotted like a rock on a catapult out of the ne. That was when the others saw that the tform was flying with its own jet boosters at the back like those flying cars in the cartoon Jetsons less the awfullyrge spherical ss covering it. Grey was enjoying the wind as he manoeuvred the floating tform to their destination. Team Alpha experienced a huge scare at the start but their fears turned into enjoyment as the floating tform brought them closer to the vige. That was when the C130 cargo ramp closed up and the holographic map appeared once more. The Panda Captains showed the remaining cultivators on board the other missions avable.

    At that point, Captain Hei gave out the rest of the rings as they were deciding which mission to choose. While the Panda Captains had covered most of the capabilities of this simple looking metal ring, it would be doing more than what was exined, hiding the true abilities of the ring.

    That ring allowed the System to monitor the condition of all the cultivators in this particr world, making it a sort of monitoring and tracking device. It also made it possible for the System to determine if more reinforcements were needed to enter that particr region. However, that was not the main reason for having those rings. It was to ultimately alert Jin if the Avatars of Shaitan would be appearing on the battlefield. That was when Jin and his betors would enter into the fray to fight against them. Who knows, maybe the other cultivators could finally see Jin in real action.

    Not only that, whatever monster the cultivators killed, the ring will enable them to be captured through the System''s powers. It might look like the orcs disappearing from the ''instance'' after dying and it would serve to reduce suspicion for the cultivators that were participating in it. In short, they would be doing Jin''s work while paying Jin to do it. Ingenious idea thought up by one of the Jins in High Intensity Mode and the System was more than happy to implement it.

    This ''Raid'' instance had been given the go ahead by King Sol and whatever advisors he had left after the ambush in the Goblin Castle. By using Ripcaller''s family connections to the Assassin Guild Network (mainly due to the fact that almost every vige had an inn or pub), the goblin citizens were being informed that humanoids in half masks alongside various monsters would being down to protect the vige and towns whenever possible.

    This gave the vigers and goblin citizens a certain awareness that they would be protected by these humanoids. However, not every goblin believed it since pubs were always filled with rumours. Hence, Jin partnered with King Sol and Que Er to send out Royal Decrees informing the goblin citizens of the current situation and the ''Raid'' instance solution that Jin proposed to reinforce the message sent by the Assassin guildwork.

    Information transmission was a problem in such medieval ages and that was where the Magpie Queen stepped in. Que Er utilised her magical magpies to deliver the messages which travelled at the speed of the fastest bird on earth, the Peregrine Falcon at 386 km/h (240 mph) to deliver those messages. The town criers who recognised the Royal Decrees announced it to the vigers they were in and thus most of the news was spread within half a day. Many of the vige and town''s militia had sufficient time to set up defences and every goblin took the initiative to prepare for war such as harvesting the food stock and conscription.

    Initially, King Sol was stunned by the help that Jin was providing and the arrival of Hou Fei was a more than wee surprise. The Panda Remnant got Sword General dios to assemble the best marksmen in the army and taught them how to use the weapons. General dios always wanted to have a magical projectile weapon simr to what General Argent was carrying but he felt it was too far fetched since they killed the Head researcher and his assistants during the Goblin Rebellion.

    The goblins had been unable to retrieve any important information because the Head Researcher managed to initiate a self destruct sequence before his death. However, with Hou Fei entering the picture, the goblin marksmen were able to get the hang of the new weapons quickly. He even taught them the basis of reloading the right way. (Some of the goblins nearly had their thumbs dislocated because of the impact of the reloading mechanism of the M1 Garand rifle. However, the System already tried to modify the weird reloading design and it was less painful than Hou Fei remembered.)

    Firing requires ammunition and those and more rifles wereter brought in by the zombies in batches. Meanwhile, the defending goblins were practising all day and night firing the guns. Hou Fei even introduced paintball exercise to make them learn to fight against each other, and of course, the highest scorer had the entitlement to operate the M2 Browning heavy machine gun. The marksmen goblins turned fanatical the moment they saw the heavy machine gun in action and every one of them vowed to be the best.

    "More wille in, your Majesty. In no time, your goblin kingdom should turn out to be the most advanced kingdom in this world, all thanks to my young master." Hou Fei bowed with courtly etiquette, something he learnt during his stint in the Royal Zodiac Snake family.

    -------

    "Alright, Xiong Da! Finally, I found a mission worthy of your team. Don''t worry. In terms of points, you will definitely get more than you''d expect. We saved the best forst. Let''s just say it''s a special for our regr customers." Captain Bai winked his eye and Xiong Da finally released a big sigh.

    "About time! I thought you guys purposely ignored us." Xiong Dained half seriously as he still did not let go of the ultimate goal of getting the Big Panda Plushie. Even Ruo Ying and the rest were getting restless. As Panda Hei was about to exin the mission, there was a portal appearing and two familiar figures came out of it, panting madly.

    "Why did you two not tell us that this was a special event?!?!" Luo Bo with her Rabbit half mask smacked both Bin Yong and Shi Zuo''s head and she demanded Jia Le to follow suit. Jia Le did not dare to beat Shi Zuo''s head but instead gave double the punishment to Bin Yong after adjusting her bellflower mask. (Shi Zuo went tofort Bin Yong afterwards.)

    "Looks like this will be a fun group to enter with." Zhi Nu, the Immortal Weaver came from the direction of the C130 cockpit and introduced herself to be the support monster of the group. Jia Le waved happily towards Zhi Nu, seeing a familiar monster which Bin Yong and her had encountered and sided with. Their interaction was cut short by Panda Hei who gave a brief summary of what was happening to Luo Bo and Jia Le.

    "Your objective, Team Hippo is to assist and hold the frontlines for half a day if possible. The elite goblin flying unit, Dashing Wyverns will be theremanded by one of their famous Goblin Generals in the kingdom alongside with Piercestriker. Although you should know him as our very own ''Spear Goblin''." Captain Bai exined and everyone who yed enough of Jin''s dungeon could never forget that little spear goblin.

    "The Goblins and you need to stall the invading Orc army for the main goblin army to arrive in about half a day to the bordering town of Gob Gob Bu. Onlypetent Pandawans will be allowed in this main fight because of the danger it poses as well as the strategic value the town possesses. More Pandawans should most likely arriveter as reinforcement but your group will be first to enter and assist with the fight." Captain Bai added as he beckoned them toe to him as he showed them an unopened crate.

    "Just for you guys. Pick your poison." Captain Bai used a crowbar nearby and pried open the crate revealing a series of temporary offensive, defensive and support inscriptions and high quality chi potions which would have cost them tens of Panda medals. "Courtesy from our boss. Part of the reason why you guys are thest team and we could not let the other customers see this. It''d seem totally unfair to them. Regardless, choose fast. ETA five minutes." Captain Bai sniggered and Team Hippo quickly chose their inscriptions and potions. Because Xiong Da had worked with Bin Yong and the others, he roughly knew the team dynamics of the group and rmended certain inscriptions to specific individuals of the team.

    While this was going on, Captain Hei took a sledgehammer and crashed it into a lock of arge metal crate which caught the group''s attention. The reveal of the contents in the metal crate was equally amazing but Luo Bo who was a frequent buyer noticed that they were stock products from the Weapon shop.

    "Yes, Luo Bo. If you wish to restock your arrows, you can do so here. The price is the same as the Weapons Store but the range of items are limited. Boss Jin felt this selection would be best unless you have any specific requests, we can bring it inter during your fight." Captain Hei told her and added that onlypetent Pandawans in limited events were allowed to have this feature.

    "I see, I will get some of these arrows and would like to request the following." Luo Bo took out her phone and started browsing her notes. It turned out she had detailed the kind of arrows in various dungeon scenarios. She had also predicted that Boss Jin would be doing arge scale scenario and had prepared ordingly with the stock in the Weapons Store. (She browsed the various stores Jin had in her Pandamonium app when she was bored, especially the Armour Store where they sold almost every other apparel in the.)

    "Ah, I understand. Sure I will add them to the airdrop supply crate if you guys can survive for at least an hour or two." Captain Hei noted the purchase and the transaction were all done with the Pandamonium app. Even Jia Le bought certain special kunais and slotted it into her side leg pocket. The rest were quite satisfied with the current weaponry they were carrying.

    "Alright ETA 1 minute. Get to the tform, hurry hurry!" Captain Bai banged on the side of the ne and the standard ring sounds of the ne''s rm system went off. The members of Team Hippo assembled themselves on the next elevated tform that appeared from the floor of the ne.

    "Let''s kick some Orc butt." Xiong Da was eager to start as he adjusted his belt.

    "Ass, you mean." Luo Bo corrected him as she saw the cargo ramp opening from the C130 ne.

    "Language!" Zhi Nu shouted, which Luo Bo conveniently ignored because of the awe of the high skies and the wind that was blowing towards her. The tform was shot out of the C130 ne and towards the valley town of Gob Gob Bu.

 Chapter 334 Orc Scout Party

    <h4>Chapter 334 Orc Scout Party</h4>

    "General Argent, look up there!" One of the Wyvern Riders was wiping his sweat as he pointed to the where they saw a floating tform being dropped by arge metallic bird. Everyone stopped their digging for a moment and watched it drop down towards them. The goblin riders were elite warriors, yet not one of them thought that this dirty manual work of digging shell scrapes was beneath them, since they all understood how important it was for the uing battle. It was not intended for them but for the iing goblin army which might have some use to it.

    One might ask what a smallpany of 50 goblins could do to contribute to the uing battle? Why were they wasting their strength for shell scrapes which were equivalent to graves? The answer was to present some sort of goblin military force presence when there was none to begin with against the iing Orc army. To show that the goblins were at least prepared in their defences and not to be underestimated by the Orcs. Yet at the same time, showing weakness while holding on to the surprise element of the flying units. This should give Orcs the perception the goblins could be crushed easily causing them to be more reckless and careless when the goblins actually had a trick under their sleeves.

    The Dashing Wyverns and the iing cultivators were at least 400-500 metres away from the bordering town of Gob Gob Bu and the militia in that area had already started evacuating the innocents away from the fight. The militia was alsomanded by General Argent to shored up defences by creating the makeshift barricades in the town in case the Dashing Wyverns could not dy the Orcs.

    The wyverns, those flying lizards were on standby at least 50 metres away based on the mind to mind connection that they had with their riders. It was part of General Argent''s n to use the wyverns as a surprise element against the orcs but whenever the riders needed the Wyverns to swoop in, it would be possible to connect to them from such a distance.

    General Argent also dropped his shovel and looked up as the floating tform slowed down. Simr to Jin, these humanoids were wearing the masks of animals. Most jumped off the floating metallic tform except for one who was standing at the side holding a bar. Her clothes closely resembled the style of the eastern goblins and she was wearing a full pure white maskpared to the others. Argent was aware that they were humans ording to Jin but he kept the promise of hiding the fact that such reinforcements assisted the goblins.

    Piercestriker ced his shovel down in the earth and greeted the cultivators and proceeded to chat with them. His father watched the son, who did not seem to care that those were humans and Argent realised that his son most likely had seen more than what this world had to offer. (He did not know Piercestriker travelled to more than one world.)

    "Master Jin brought you guys to the front line?" Piercestriker asked while Zhi Nu requested him for his spear as he conversed with the cultivators.

    "Yeah, Mission briefing said that the orcs might being soon. We assume it''s the scouting group that is ahead of the main Orc Army." Xiong Da replied while surveying the surrounding valleys. It was definitely a good spot for the orcs to nk them if they caught on fast else it was definitely a viable spot for the goblin army to hide and ambush orcs. This particr valley seemed to be a double edged sword.

    "There seem to be two scouts per team approaching on each side of the cliffs. The rest of the scouting party are approaching from the centre." Shi Zuo took out his phone to check the map of the current region via the Pandamonium app.

    "The usual I guess? Bin Bin and Jia Jia as a team to the left, me andzy monkey Shi Zuo will be moving to the right." Luo Bo suggested and they agreed to leave Xiong Da, a heavy hitter, at the centre with Ruo Ying.

    "It''d best to not let them see the wyverns this early. We want to appear weak in our defences, so that we can surprise themter on." Argent shared his opinion with Team Hippo and they nodded their heads in acknowledgment.

    "We will try our best to deter and if possible kill them." Bin Yong said as he started to sprint forth to the left.

    "Do you need me to follow any of them, Father?" Piercestriker asked and he shook his head.

    "You can defend the frontline with us for now. We will be ready to intercept at a moment''s notice." Argent patted his son''s back while Zhi Nu had been making some adjustments to Piercestriker''s spear returned it to him.

    "Master Jin noticed that your spear was in poor condition after the fight against the ck Disaster. He requested me toe here to repair it. Master Jin wanted me to give this to you, too. " Zhi Nu said as she passed a shorter one handed spear to the son of the Spear General. She had temporarily repaired the spear by weaving her strings on the damaged areas of the spear. (Especially the area which was nearly broken by the halberd strike by Nubwort, the ck Disaster.)

    Her strings were as tough, if not stronger than modern metalpositions, sewn at the damaged area of the spear. She was able to do it skilfully due to much umted experience in that regard. Zhi Nu had been utilising this skill to repair the metal armour tes of Mechataur and hence its armour ting was able to withstand the repeated attacks of the mechanical spider it fought in the Dungeon World. However, even Jin was surprised that she could weave metal as easy as weaving cloth, her potential was deemed limitless by doing that and he wondered if her metal weaving could be infused into clothes, strengthening them while still remaining flexible enough.

    The spear that Piercestriker received seemed to have a mechanicalponent to it and upon closer inspection, it looked like a duplicate form of the Gearbox enhanced spear that Piercestriker haphazardly put together during the fight against the ck Disaster. The System had copied the data of the fight and already ced it into production. However to facilitate prolong use, it made it slightly lighter and shorter aspared to the current one that Piercestriker was holding. "As a spare." Zhi Nu said but in actual fact, the System was rewarding Piercestriker for a job well done.

    The gearbox spear could be shortened to the length of a baton and Piercestriker ced it at his waist as a backup weapon while he heard rumbling noises from afar. "Get into position!" General Argent told his goblins as he too hid himself except for the two masked humanoids.

    "Ahhh these humans!" Argent thought to himself as he assisted the goblins with sheets of camouge that they obtained from the bordering town of Gob Gob Bu.

    "It''s okay, we will be the decoy. Besides, I need to exercise some steam off from work." Xiong Da told the concerned general. Argent nodded his head reluctantly since they did not follow the ns and hid under the sheet of camouge while pointing his gun towards the front. The rest of thepany had their crossbows lock and loaded, ready to fire at a moment notice.

    The Orc scouting party was travelling at a fast speed on their war boars to see tworge humanoid figures at the centre of the road. The party immediately assumed those two were travellers. "A bulky male and a slender female with chains on her hands ahead. Probably a ve. What should we do Leader?" One of the scout orcs asked their leader for their next actions while slowing their war boars a little.

    "Heh, what else? Kill the man, grab the girl and enjoy a little break before announcing our arrival to the town of Gob Gob Bu. We have been travelling without entertainment for a long time." The leader answered as he licked his lips looking at the slender but well toned legs and butt from afar.

    "Urgh, somehow I can feel an extremely lecherous vibe from the orcs." Ruo Ying shivered a little and Xiong Da sniggered. She knew how others had looked at her with Xiong Da and talked behind their back. She could even sense those prying eyes looking at her body without any reserve which made her feel very ufortable. Previously when she was with Ji Ao rarely anyone dared to look at her that way. After all it was known that her criminal then boyfriend crippled those who did. Xiong Da was not the type to resort to such means.

    However, Xiong Da gave her personal coaching with regards to confidence by assisting her with her cultivation style on a daily basis after their honeymoon. Due to the busy work schedule both of them shared, they did not necessarily take part in Jin''s dungeons but the both of them made an effort to train and exercise at least an hour each day together.

    This made Ruo Ying able to face others with more confidence. Not to mention she was reassured through these training that she had a rather fierce bodyguard with her all the time. He might not look the part, but she had witnessed the capabilities of her enraged Hippo.

    "Hmph! How dare they try to ogle and feast on my girl''s image." Xiong Da turned his snigger to a smirk as he fetched his warclub from his storage ring and swung it over his shoulder. "War Club Art, Hippo Ground Pounding Smash!" Xiong Da roared as his chi was released from his body and was felt by almost every goblin hiding. They never felt such strong magical aura from what seemed to be a warrior. (Mainly because Jin had yet to reveal his own chi aura to them in the previous fight.)

    "Darling I cannot let you do all the work. Chain Art, Void Strike of The Egret!" Ruo Ying said with a smile on her face. The chains on her hands unrolled and unlike Xiong Da who was waiting for the Orcs toe closer, Ruo Ying''s Void Strike enabled the chains to extend magically at fast speeds, striking the legs of the unlucky war boars. This caused the front few orcs to fall forward while most of the remaining scouting party managed to manoeuvre their war boars in time to prevent a direct crash. The Orcs flew forward from the crash. They entered the range of Xiong Da''s war club and with a simple descend, their bodies were utterly crushed under the weight of the weapon. Bloody and bone fragments scatter around the surroundings and Xiong Da shook his war club to remove the excess remains that stuck to his weapon.

    The Orcs on the war boars immediately surrounded them after what had happened and they gave out a war cry as if to avenge their fallenrades. But it was actually a signal to the nearby scouts at the cliffs to provide support. Unfortunately, there was no response and Xiong Da could onlyugh loudly when his phone started to ring. There was apparently a voice chat in the Pandamonium App which he did not know until now when he picked up to answer the phone.

    "Left All Clear." Bing Yong whispered into the phone as he kept his presence hidden to the scouting party in the centre of the valley.

    "Right Clear too. Bash away Hippo." Luo Bo was still used to calling them by their code names for anonymity sake when she joined in the group voice chat. The Orc Scout Leader realised that someone or something had silenced their men on the cliffs. However it did not matter at the moment. Right now, he felt insulted that he was bested by some fat adventurer with his ve chained girl.

    "Let me - erm no let me punish them. Hippo." Ruo Ying mmed her chains down and her Hippo stepped aside to enjoy the uing showcase of her skills (Technically he couldn''t really move anywhere else since they surrounded them.)

    "If that ve girl wants to fight us then so be it. Show her what us mighty Orcs can really do!" The leader of the Orc scouting party shouted and ordered the front two orcs to charge towards her.

    "Maybe, you should not tell me which Orc is moving towards me. Makes the thing a little less of a challenge that way." Ruo Ying rolled her chains up to her arms while making sure it was tightened and waited for the two orcs on war boars to charge with their spears pointing at her.

    "It is all about the timing!" Ruo Ying immediately used her two open palms to intercept the iing spears. Her Esthetical Egret Style allowed her to elegantly move between the two spears while hermand of chi enabled the chains to wrap the spear poles like a snake. By intercepting the spears, she made use of the iing kic force and Ruo Ying leaped into the air to prevent herself from colliding with the war boars. The chains that wrapped around the spears held on tight, causing the spears following the direction of Ruo Ying''s leap.

    The orcs who were holding on their spears tightly found their hands being pushed upwards because of the sudden entrapment by the chains of Ruo Ying. After which, the change in momentum made the orcs fall backwards but the war boars were still charging on towards Xiong Da who used the war clubs to m them to one side.

    The scout leader did not stay idle not wanting to see hisrades die in front of him. He stood on his war boar and leapt towards Ruo Ying but she pulled on the chains that were still being wrapped with the spear while using her leg to push the arm of the orc away from the spear.

    Like a whip, she unleashed the chains with the spear wrapped around towards the leaping Orc scout leader and used her chi to untangle the spear, granting the spear freedom to approach the enemy with no mercy.

    "You underestimate me!" The Orc Scout Leader deflected the iing spear and the subsequent one which Ruo Ying threwter. However, this broke his leaping charge and he was on equal ground with Ruo Ying.

    "Let''s see how you deal with melee attacks!" The Orc Scout Leader purposely threw his sword to her as a distraction while rushing in to attack at close range, disabling the chain''s potential.

    "Have you not learnt yet?" Ruo Ying now focused her chi again and this time she activated the temporary inscription she chose during the mission debriefing in the C130 ne. The temporary inscription enabled her to have more control with her chains, making it straight and work like batons with which she clobbered the unarmed orc.

    Yet, the orc did not flinch and pushed forward attempting to throw a jab to her abdomen area. If not for her Egret Style, she would have been unable to evade it properly. That made her realise that he might have some physical resistance with his tough skin. The Orc Scout Leader grinned quietly as he increased the pressure by throwing even more punches towards Ruo Ying.

    "Stepping in." Xiong Da sent a voice transmission to Ruo Ying as he felt this was not the time to suffer any wounds for Ruo Ying if they were to stay here for half a day. Ruo Ying acknowledged the intention and hurled her chains towards Xiong Da''s war club. He then pulled her in time before a punch could connect yet at that moment, the lethal force of the blow left a deep scratch at her shoulder.

    "This Humanoids only look tough, they still blee-" A sudden impact was felt at his side as the Orc Scout Leader was trying to boast. Nheless, he managed to block in barely in time and understood that the bird masked girl used the change of momentum to throw the war club at him. The throw was not that painful and it was still tolerable by his high physical resistance until the Fat guy disappeared.

    In actual fact, he sped himself up fast with chi and grabbed onto his war club to finish the job. "This is what you deserve for injuring my girl!" The bloodlust eminating out from Xiong Da was intense as he grappled the Orc Scout Leader with his bare hands to the ground and slugged the war club into his face. The Orc Scout leader managed to cover with his hands. Hoping that his metal gloves would protect him, but the impact made him quickly regret it. His arms were broken beyond repair and his metal ted gloves were bent along with his bones.

    The other remaining Scout Orcs rushed towards Xiong Da as they attempted to save their Orc Leader but three of the Scout Orcs were killed almost in an instant before Xiong Da or Ruo Ying could touch them. A Kunai, an arrow and a magical shot which dissipated the entire head away had done them in. After which a volley of arrows suddenly shot out from the ''ground'', making sure the rest of scouting party were killed except for one. The remaining Orc was not killed but strung up by Zhi Nu before the attack began.

    "Looks like our goblin allies and friends backed us up." Xiong Da smiled while he returned his full attention to the Orc Scout Leader and mmed his war club into its face.

    Seeing that the situation calmed down, the goblins hade out of the camouge sheets and looked at the captured Orc scout that they spared. General Argent thenmanded his goblins to put the Orc Remains on stakes and ced them at the front as a sign of provocation and warning. (Apparently, the System noted the situation from the monitoring rings the cultivators were wearing and had not processed the bodies for capture yet. In the worst case scenario, the System would just ignore those corpse as there were many more to choose from.)

    The Orc who was tied like he was spider food began to squirm when Xiong Da approached him along with the still freshly bloodied war club. "Tell us more about you guys. The size of your force? Who is leading you? And how much time until the main force arrives! Any unfavourable answer will lead this club to a particr extremity of your body." Xiong Da threatened him while pointing to his legs and arms.

    "I will say! I will say!" The Orc was surprisingly easy to break but considering what he had seen, he''d rather live than be subjected to such cruelty. "The Thunder Army is being led by the Exalted Avatar of Syldra, the Purple Thunder. All our superiors have been equipped with thunder rted equipment." He figured that confessing to these goblins and humanoids who were rumoured to be kind was his best choice to keep his life. Despite their threats they would surely let their prisoners live after getting the information. Besides, what could they possibly do in the short time until the main force arrives.. Their destiny would be to die in the hands of the Thunder Army.

    "Anything else?" Xiong Da asked and the Orc swore that he was just a cog in the Orc machinery and knew nothing more. General Argent wanted his men to perform some quick interrogation techniques but Ruo Ying stopped them.

    "It is fine. Let him go." Xiong Da said as he looked at General Argent and they unwilling let him off. The Orc thanked them openly but secretly cursed them at the bottom of his heart as he took his war boar and started to run away.

    "Luo Bo, finish him." The Pandamonium App Voice Chat was still on and Xiong Da used his phone like a walkie talkie.

    "Was waiting for you to say that." Luo Bo took a special arrow she had bought previously and aimed at the back of the running Orc. Despite the speed the War Boar was going, Luo Bo''s Illusive Rabbit style gave her the intuition to predict how much pull was needed to shoot a precise shot.

    "The main army is about 1km away and the speed the war boar is travellingбнI''d say set it at 175 seconds." Shi Zuo was at her side doing some rough calctions via the Pandamonium Map App.

    "Okay, Timer set. Shooting." Luo Bo adjusted certain parts of the arrow andter increased the position of her current bow angle higher so that she could achieve a longer range and nock her bow with the special arrow before loosing it. The arrow was slung over the cliffs and it pierced the war boar, causing it to grunt and huff. The escaping Orcughed at his fortune while steadying his war boar and continued to run towards the main orc army.

    "Luo Bo, did you just miss?" Xiong Da who entrusted Luo Bo for doing her job, was shocked that she was not able to kill the Orc Scout before it got away. Heck this was the first time he had ever seen her miss her target so far.

    "Ahh, young Pandawan, you have no sense of war tactics." Luo Bo teased him over the voice chat and that was when Jia Le got worked up.

    "Rabbit! Did you use that arrow?!" Jia Le asked over her phone with amazement and Luo Bo could onlyugh.

    "Indeed! It was exactly one of the scenarios we talked about during lunch break!" Luo Bo guffawed and Shi Zuo shook his head in dismay.

    "Why do I continue to fall for this girl." He thought to himself as he exined the entire thing to the rest of the confused group until they finally understood what Luo Bo had done.

    "Oh my, you are one terrifying archer." Ruo Ying meant that as apliment and Luo Bo took it as such although the others understood the underlying meaning.

    "In any case, your group has sessfully allowed us not to sustain any causalities and showed some of your abilities. I am thoroughly impressed and no doubt therades of the Panda Master, if I get the animal correctly. My son told me otherwise." General Argent praised with some relief in his tone.

    "However if it really is the Thunder Army we will have to fight then these shell scrapes are for naught. Unfortunately my Dashing Wyverns have the worstpatibility fighting against magical thunder units. I was assuming we would be against the Wind Army since the Avatar of Garuda would surely wish for revenge." Argent was talking but only the goblins understood what he meant and not the cultivators.

    "What is this avatar thing?" Xiong Da asked and General Argent remembered that theserades might not know about it too, so he exined them as High ranking generals like him with mighty magical powers. Meanwhile, the rest of the cultivators regrouped to the centre of the valley too.

    "If you are unable to fight against the iing army, do we need to retreat to the border town since they have fortifications?" Bin Yong suggested and General Argent agreed that would be a good choice.

    "Technically, the n was to dy them as much as possible. If the Thunder Army reaches the border town, well the result is stillбн" Argent began discussing certain ns with his captain and the cultivators while he sent out a Wyvern messenger to check how far their own reinforcement army was. The Dashing Wyverns had pledged to fight to the death but Argent felt uneasy. If possible, he did not wish to waste this particrly elitepany of his. They had been with him for years and the potential for them in the uing campaign was vast.

    "I have already notified Master Jin about the current developments, he said that he would send more reinforcements on our way as well and he has prepared some surprises бнoh wow that was fast." Zhi Nu was informing the cultivators when they heard a C130 ne flying low to drop something off. It was a fairlyrge supply crate and most of them had to make way for the crate tond properly on the ground.

    Once itnded, they removed the parachute as quickly as possible and noticed that there was a note stuck at the side of the crate. "Have fun with this! This is the first one ever field in this raid dungeon and you guys have the opportunity to be the pioneers of using it. Very user friendly to use, the controls are rather automated once you get the hang of it. I made sure that even a goblin can pilot it with sufficient training! DO NOT LET THE ORCS HAVE IT or I will personally deduct all your points! Or maybe panda medals иC Jin."

    "What is it inside that made him so agitat- WOOOOW!" Bin Yong went mad when the crate automatically opened from all sides once they removed the note.

    Inside it was a M4 Sherman Tank from the World War 2 Era.

    Team Hippo never thought they would ever be driving something like this at all. At best they assumed if there was one in the field, it most likely be an NPC. "Holy shit! We are going to drive and fight in that?! This might really change the course of the battleбнwait a minute this is made of metal right?! Aren''t we gonna be fried like roasted meat when the Thunder Army uses their -" Bin Yong hyped the thing and subsequently got dejected because of the Thunder Army. Yet, he got interrupted by Zhi Nu, saying that Master Jin had already taken that into ount.

    "Look here." Zhi Nu pressed on the metal ting and an inscription glowed all over the tank in blue. That feeling the aura emitted and the design of the inscription was no doubt the exact same resemnce of a thunder resistance inscription. Just a lotrger in size.

    However, what amused the group more was the side of the metal ting. It had stickers of cartoonish animals of their style. The egret, monkey and rabbit were standing on the hippo while at the side of the hippo, there was a bellflower and a beetle holding on it. A very innocent looking sticker on a fearsome war machine.

    "What is this metal thing? Some lost technology simr to those flying metal birds?" The goblin captain of the Dashing Wyvern asked with curiosity and some fear of the unknown.

    "This." Xiong Da mmed his hand on the metal ting and it made an echoing sound. "This baby right here will dy the iing Thunder Army that you are so scared of." Xiong Da smiled as he began formting a quick battle n with the Dashing Wyvern Captain and General Argent. The rest explored the functions of the M4 Sherman Tank, which they dubbed the ''Mastodon."

    Separately, the Orc Scout that was rushing back to the main army was delighted that the Goblin and humanoids were stupid enough to let him leave. He purposely left the arrow on the war boar to show that he did not desert his unit and that he was injured. Fleeing while healthy was a war crime, but falling back after receiving an injury was still honorable.

    The closer he got to the main army, the more he tried to look injured and scared. "LET ME THROUGH! I HAVE IMPORTANT INTEL!" The Orc scout shouted to announce as he was the sole survivor. The frontlines marching broke their formation slightly to allow the scout to run past them and to theirmander.

    "What exactly happened?! Where is your entire group?" A higher ranking officer was shouting his questions even before the Orc Scout could stop his war boar and get off it.

    "Sir, I am afraid I have bad things to rep-." The Scout Orc pretend to pant a bit even though he was on the war boar all along.

    "Obviously! Your entire group is missing! Stop wasting my time!" The officer shouted back at the Orc Scout and it was visible the rest of the orcs were busybody as they tried to inch closer to listen to the conversation while still being in formation. The other Orc officers noticed it ordered them to stay in formation while approached the Orc Scout to listen to what he got to say.

    "There was little goblin presence but иC" The Orc Scout got down from his war boar and identally broke the arrow that was on the War Boar. All of a sudden, there was a loud booming explosion that took out the officers and the Orc Scout along with the Orcs around them. The rest stood there were horrified. Was there a long range fire magician around the corner?! The Orc magicians immediately started their sensor magic while the frontline orcs immediately went into a fighting stance.

    Most of the normal orcs involved in the explosion became pieces and one or two heavily armour orcs survived the st. All of the high ranking officers wore armour with magical defence which was able to withstand the st but a number of them still lost arms or legs from the sudden bombing. The Orc Healers hurried but the initial confusion caused dy resulting a few officers to die from the loss of blood especially from the legs. This explosion had indeed crippled the chain ofmand of the advancing Thunder Army.

    Luo Bo initially just wanted the orc scout to explode near the main army to create chaos. If she were to find out that her explosion killed multiple high ranking officers all at once which would cause the main Thunder Army to dy their advance, she would be boasting to the group for months toe.

 Chapter 335 Qiu Yues Return

    <h4>Chapter 335 Qiu Yue''s Return</h4>

    Jin was in the Dungeon Maker continuing to monitor the fights via arge interactive map console that showed what was happening to regions at the border and in Gob Gob Kingdom. His monsters were spread as much as possible with every team being apanied so that he could obtain a better grasp of the situation. They were his proxies keeping an eye on the cultivators to make sure they did not harbour stupid ideas like looting the area or hitting innocent goblins, while at the same time capable of providing additional firepower for the cultivators.

    Things were looking good at the moment. He noticed the Orcs so far had employed raiding and piging tactics where the Orc Lower Command sent in a few orcs to attack the viges and run away with whatever they could carry. It brought fear to the citizens in the vige, reducing their morale and resources. Sometimes, the Orcs would even set the towns on fire to increase the property damage. Luckily with Jin officially joining and assigning the cultivators, they could prevent such things from repeating too much.

    Yet, no matter how Jin viewed the current situation, the main concern was the iing army from the north while most of the others were pockets of orc raiders meant to cause trouble while stocking up on resources for the main army. It was also meant to divert attention away from the main crux of the problem (The army from the north), but it seemed that the Generals and Jin noticed that and had begun preparations for that.

    General dios had been pushing their advance goblin army to the hardest to reach the northern valleys and felt relieved and contended that he had Jin and his rades'' to handle the Orc Raiders.

    However, Jin''s assignments involving the protection of the viges and other missions were expensive in terms of upkeep. Yet, so far it did not manage to match the cost for the ck market''s remote space satellite. Thankfully the high tech piece hade as a bargain due to the sales of the Gearboxes which allowed them to forge certain connections with other worlds. Peppers had helped calcte the ideal position for the System to ce the remote space satellite which provided them with full coverage of the current situation. This, in turn, helped them with the sortie that involved dozens of C130 military nes flying unhindered.

    Well, mostly. There were a couple instances of flying monsters who interfered with the C130s. Fortunately, there had been cultivators able to engage with those flying creatures at the top of the C130s misinterpreting those attacks as part of the ''raid'' event. Afterwards, Jin quickly asked the System to remodel the existing C130s and to equip them with M2 Browning machine gun (Not the best for anti air guns avable but budget constraints... The k guns were too big to be ced on the ne.) Hence, there were new missions created for such cases.

    However, Jin was also at a loss despite the wide of surveince that he had running right now. He was able to start and propel the war up but he needed some advice on how to continue. Right now, they could continue defending for some time but the war could not be won this way especially when they had too many enemies on many fronts to oust them.

    What about the continuation of food production? Jin could do something with the help of the System by buying food from the Interdimensional Market. However, to supply for the whole country, he could sustain that for a week at most. Any more than that and he would be out of budget. What was worse if the Market would suspect shortage and increase its food prices ordingly. He desperately neededpetent advice on how to proceed though he already had three people in mind. Ming, Moloch and Qiu Yue.

    Moloch had proven to Jin that he had the expertise inmanding an army during the Ruined Dungeon where they managed to rope Slug Wolte into his team. But had he really gone through a full scale war from the start to the end? Jin remembered that Moloch said he was just Lord and nothing more.

    "I have a suspicion on why you have called me here. Before you ask. No can do. This is way beyond me. Best I can do is help you out if you give me some fortification defence scenarios. That way you can focus on other tasks at hand." Moloch had appeared in the Dungeon Maker upon the System''s summoning.

    "You sure you can handle it? Thest time I remember I kind of defeated you." Jin kindly reminded him about the Minotaur Fortress in the Dungeon World.

    "What bullshit?! I was merely curious about you. That''s the only reason. If I really wanted you gone, I would have been more aggressive and revealed my entire hand to you." Moloch looked at the map before he disappeared. "Call me if you have a castle to defend." Jin sighed and reviewed his other candidates. Ming and Qiu Yue.

    Jin initially considered Hou Fei too, but given a choice, between Hou Fei and Ming, Jin would definitely ask his grandfather for advice. He was after all promoted to a General in his time. On the other hand, Hou Fei had experiences in a unit and not as an overseer of every aspect of the military. Nevertheless, his choice leaned more towards Ming but there was no way to contact him unless he entered into a trance with his cultivation. Perhaps, Jin could ask for general overall advice since Ming would not be able to react to any significant changes in real time.

    "Actually, if you need to speak to him, I can assist you with that. In fact, I can lend him my eyes and he can see through them." Kraft offered. "But I can only keep that up for a while since this is rather power consuming. So at most, it canst up to ten minutes per day. No more than that. And that''s without mentioning the bad feeling of having to let that geezer upy my mind." Kraft added and Jin guessed it could prove useful, but more of a ''in a pinch'' kind of situation- All that was left was Qiu Yue.

    Qiu Yue was the most brilliant game tactician he hade to know. When he thought back on their time together, she was always seemed to enjoy those 4X strategy games whichprised of running a kingdom. The objectives of creating the kingdom mostly relied on four aspects. Explore, Expand, Exploit and Exterminate'' (4X) and she had been a genius in all aspects.

    For Qiu Yue the games proved to be a kind of rxation as well as a brain teaser. She had fought against not just him but even defeated a lot of top tier yers online. At that time she had even garnered a small following and was dubbed as the Princess of 4X in the forums and streamers (Although, there was a star yer that she could never beat.). This inadvertently made Jin fall for her even harder especially when he had found out that Qiu Yue had not yed any of these kinds of games until she met him. (Guess, that means she''s a natural talent for it.)

    Unfortunately after university, her work was far too important and left her with little to no time to y these kinds of games and until recently Jin never met up or heard of her in the forums since then. At the moment Jin very much wished to contact her but he had promised that he would allow her to finish her previous job beforeing here. "But it''s a Saturdayбнdoes she thinkбнNevermind." Jin thought to himself and hesitated for a bit of time, but it was just a convenient excuse he thought up to try to call her.

    "Even so, this is not a game, its a real war. Calling her in would not help much...I think?" Jin tried to reason to himself logically but then his hands and hearts somehow did not follow what his mind was thinking and began typing in Mechat. Before he knew it, he had already typed a long message and he was contemting to press the send button. Suddenly, a notification appeared on the dungeon console which made him look up but also caused him to press the send button identally.

    "Hmm, so Team Hippo requires some assistanceбнand this new information... Maybe I should send in the customised M4 Sherman Tank which Hou Fei gave me the blueprints this morning as an experiment." Jin thought to himself and got so engrossed with the current situation at hand that he had forgotten about the message he typed. (Lies! He tried to ignore it as much as possible.)

    Jin pressed a few buttons on the Dungeon Maker control console and a modification screen appeared. He intentionally added a heavy duty thunder resistance inscription, meant to be able tost against anything under Grade 10 Thunder magical attack throughout the whole tank. He then noticed half a million dungeon dors was reduced from his current electronic wallet.

    "Hope that will be worth it," Jin muttered as he called for the nearest C130 to transport the M4, making it more realistic and impactful than just teleporting it into the battlefield. Out of the blue, his phone was ringing and he was contemting ignoring it only to realise that the number was none other than Qiu Yue. "Shit did I identally press the send button?" Jin panicked but on the other hand, he did not want to miss this opportunity.

    "What''s the situation now? Jin, you cannot send me such a bomb and leave things with that! You did not answer any of my messages after you sent that message!" Qiu Yue asked with a hurried voice as if she was panting on the phone.

    "I urgh. Erm. A lot of small skirmishes which seem to be handledбн Oh and also the main Orc army is uhh engaging soon I think?" Jin fumbled in his conversation before he took a deep breath and tried to sort his thought, before he asked properly. "Where are you now? Do you have some time to help out? I can simply teleport you to my ce as long as there is no one around you." Jin offered bluntly.

    "What?!?! You should have told me sooner! I was running with my heels on!! Hold on, let me go to a more secluded area." Qiu Yue responded while Jin asked if the System could trace where Qiu Yue was.

    "ording to the call tracing, it appears that Qiu Yue''s currently located in the Shenzhen International Airport." The System stated and shortly after Qiu Yue gave the go ahead to get to him. Jin requested the System to teleport her. In mere seconds Qiu Yue appeared flustered with herrge luggage beside her.

    "You were going for a business trip?" Jin asked with a bit of embarrassment as she was dressed very formally. Qiu Yue was still catching her breath as she took her coat and ced it over the chair while unbuttoning a few buttons on her sleeves and chest to release the heat from running. Her heels too as she unzipped her luggage to take a pair of sneakers out.

    From her coat, she took out a band to tie her hair while taking her sses from her handbag. However, while she was doing all these, she was already studying therge map that was in front of Jin. (Meanwhile, Jin was staring at her nonstop since her beauty was unmatched as before.)

    "Tell me the details; everything you know." Qiu Yue did not answer the first question and got to the more pressing topic immediately. Jin told her whatever he knew and since she was a bit of a geek herself, she roughly understood the concept of the Avatars of Shaitan and the whole Orc and Goblin war.

    "Seriously, your thinking and habits did not change. You always do band aid stuff, trying to fix all the small stuff that you forget about the big overall picture. Give me some paper and pen." Qiu Yue requested but instead Jin handed her an electronic pen and interfaces appeared in front of her. She was honestly shocked but continued to do what was necessary.

    "Is it possible to erge the map? If so how much can we zoom in?" Jin then briefly exined to her how to use it. Within minutes she got the hang of it and she even started to post notes, only to realise that there was an AI in the background assisting her, which Jin referred to it as the System. Something she almost forgot after Jin confessed to her about the truth of this ce.

    Surprisingly, the System was willing to aid her, despite the fact that she had yet to endure the initiation ceremony which both Lynn and Jin had gone through. But then again most of the requests she had made were for information sake and nothing too special.

    "So era wise, they are still using swords and shields with some magical creatures and some magic users tooбнbut you introduced certain modern technology into the world too right?" Qiu Yue asked for affirmation.

    "Yeah, just a few basic stuff because it costs money to build them. The C130s were already taking up much of my budget but I am able to recuperate by selling certain products I have at hand. Luckily, their world has something which they call ''lost technology'', think of it as remnants of the usual highly advanced race which has perished. So they think of our stuff as just that. I''d appreciate it, if we don''t reveal that wee from another World yet." Jin told her and asked the System to list his current budget and other assets.

    "Oh my god. This is so exciting and frustrating!" Qiu Yue thought to herself as Jin was coaching her, telling her what kind of expertise he had on hand. However, Jin kept iterating that this was the real world. They might have ess to powers as if they were gods, but ultimately lives were at stake.

    "Hmph! Don''t worry we should be able to win this though I might not be able to achieve a wless victory. Do you mind sending me to see the King? I have a few things I want to discuss with him." Qiu Yue asked and Jin reluctantly agreed. He understood that she needed information about the diplomatic status around his kingdom, the current production of his food, his conscription and the total number of goblins. Without sufficient information, she could not proceed to assist the Goblin Kingdom efficiently.

    "I can but I am a bit upied here. I cannot leave this ce here to see the- " Kraft suddenly appeared right beside him which made Qiu Yue panic for a bit. "Woah woah, calm down there cutie. I am one of Jin''s hmmбнyou could say, agents." Kraft extended his hand and introduced himself.

    "Master, go ahead and meet the King, I can handle things here. Despite how I look, I too can handle ''band aid'' situations here since I did somemanding before when I wasбнyounger. So go with Lady Qiu Yue. A familiar face would bring confidence and trust for King Sol, which both shoulde in handy if you wish to collect information." Kraft said while sending a telepathic message to Pei on Jin''s wrist.

    "If needed, take the information from the nobles forcefully. We do not have time to waste on a stupid long war." Kraft ordered but even without eyes he could feel that Pei gave him annoyed look.

    "I know what to do. You don''t have to tell me." Pei surprisingly agreed to it. She might despise Kraft but considering the fact she had been through enough wars in her lifetime, Pei knew it was vital to get sufficient information to make proper judgements.

    The System then created a portal for the ex couple to meet King Sol who coincidentally was in a meeting with his advisers. Qiu Yue reached out to her face only to notice that there was some mask over her spectacles and asked Jin what it was. Instead of telling her, he got his phone out and took a photo for her to see. She inadvertently was unable to contain her liking for the Red Pandas on her mask and was astounded by the high details. Unfortunately, the two of them were interrupted by a short abrupt cough and remembered what they were here to do.

    "Sorry for the poor disy of etiquette, King Sol. This here is my trusted second-inmand, Qiu. She is here today to assist and win the war with the utmost confidence. I have already done my part in dispatching various mercenaries aiding your viges and towns. Now I will need something in return. Information and of course the talk of payment." Jin said and suddenly there was an uproar in the whole meeting room.

    "Your Majesty! Are you really intend on sharing vital privy information with this humanoid?! How could you let him dispatch his mercenaries all over Gob Gob Kingdom?! Where is the pride of our race? Have you considered how these humanoids might be in cahoots against us? Wasn''t he the one who asked you to increase food production and taxes? Our people are suffering because of that! " Various advisors expressed their disagreements vehemently. Yet, King Sol kept quiet until all of them who were behaving so rowdy settled down enough to realise that he was not interested in working with a disorganised group of advisors.

    "Doneining?" King Sol asked with much authority in his voice as he emitted a strong aura presence of both warmth and power. His body was in much a better condition after Jin provided him with a specialised treatment from Que Er, the Magpie Queen. Her blue magpies assisted him in recovering the magic lines he had previously lost. That coupled with a generous supplement of high quality chi potions and King Sol felt that he owed his remaining life to Jin. The rest of the advisors were surprised by the sudden change in King Sol''s attitude and kept their silence.

    "By your sacred oath to me. You are to cooperate withбнQiu the half masked girl with whatever information she requires. And by the vested powers in me, I hereby assign Master Jin the post of Special Royal Advisor. With Qiu as his second in charge, she is to be treated as the Assistant Special Royal Advisor. So in terms of rank, they are both above each and every one of you. Hence, it should even be an honor for you to listen to them, no matter their race!" King Solmanded with a stern voice and no one dared to defy him. After all, most of the current advisers had been appointed by him not too long ago. Most of their superiors or predecessors had died from the ambush attack and it was obvious that the humanoid had a hand in saving the king.

    "However, if you lot have any severe disagreement with them. Do not hesitate to approach me. Now, Qiu. Ask away." King Sol gave the stage to Qiu Yue and Jin. Qiu Yue took centre stage and immediately demanded many answers from the board of advisors.

    "How much gold are you producing at the moment? What is our food stockpile like? How are the citizens coping with the news of war? Are there any state or erm kingdom controlled movements of the food supply? Where are the troops stationed presently? Is there any research being done currently to improve the lives of the citizens or the troops? How''s the trading market look like after the war has started? Any levies imposed?..." Qiu Yue shot out her questions like bullets from a heavy machine gun and each answer begot either silence from the new advisors due tock of knowledge or more questions.

    The board of advisors were being ughtered left and right by Qiu Yue which even made King Sol embarrassed that he was not doing a good enough job. The secretaries of each advisor at the side of them were panicking as they wrote down all their shoring, whereas the goblin advisors got more afraid of thisdy. In the end, they all realised that their entire economy was hanging on to a fine thin string.

    "This is worse than I thought." Qiu Yue who had national building knowledge was shaking her head badly and the advisors were thoroughly spent. Even the secretaries were panting from writing. This was the most intense ''bout'' of Qiu Yue, which Jin had witnessed. A lot of stuff went somewhat over his head, and he was d that she was on his side.

    "Jin, can I have a word with you?" Qiu Yue excused herself out of the meeting room, with the advisors being more than happy to let this woman go. Their workload had increased for the foreseeable future.

    "This is bad. Very bad. Look, I know that you asked me for my expertise because you think I can handle this just like a video game. But this is nothing like a game at all. After all games don''t usually have you deal with all the stuff surrounding a war, at most only on a surface level, but here we not only have to win a war, we also need to help a Kingdom sustain through it. And to be frank, the goblins are going to crash hard if the war is prolonged for too long. Even I myself have trouble calcting just how long we canst if we stretched the provisions out but it does not look too good at all. This is real life, there will be unforeseen disruptions and my ns can still go awry. Shame you cannot just input a chea-бнwait." Qiu Yue just remembered something very important.

    This might be real life but the person in front of her was like a Video Game Developer. All the tools and solutions to everything could be created with the person right in front of her. Jin kind of figured where this was going to head and ced his hands on her shoulders.

    "Are you sure you are ready for this? I thought you said that you needed toplete some things as part of your responsibility before you officially joined me here? Aftering here I am sure you understand the gravity of the situation, and I do not wish to push you into it. That being said, I''d love for you to join of course..." Jin questioned and Qiu Yue bitterlyughed as soon as she returned to reality. She asked if there was a private ce to talk and so Jin informed the King that they would need a short break first to discuss some details. The King immediately obliged and told the advisors to convene in half an hour time. Meanwhile, Jin and Qiu Yue went into one of the guest rooms and they started to talk.

    "Well I nned to join, but someplications arose. You seeбнlong story short. I was tricked by my boss. I told him that I wanted to quit, but he does not ept no for an answer. He even somehow managed to suppress my letter of resignation. Worst of all he kept advancing on me like a lecherous man and I''ve been refusing him RATHER politely. This time round, he forced me to go on a business trip to sign some papers for a new project. The thing is if I do that, I am obligated to see through the new project which I''ll be unable to leave without many national repercussions. Not only that he is also forcing me emotionally because this project''s earnings will directly affect my colleagues'' bonus and that was his way to ensure that I''ll stay." Qiu Yue exined with some frustration.

    "Also I am pretty sure that he is plotting his own devious ns to continue his lecherous advances. But no worries I have been training really hard with my cultivation! In fact, I turned grade 3 after that fight in your dungeon instance. The spirit power in me was swelling so much, I got a brand new red panda silhouette! I did not have too much time to study that cultivation manual which you send me, but from briefly taking a look I can tell that whoever designed it, was a genius!" She smiled very gently at Jin when she said that and proudly showed her cultivation off.

    "So I was really hesitant to head for the business trip especially when my colleagues'' bonus was at risk. But when I was at the airport dragging my feet for the flight, you messaged asking for help. I do not know why but it felt like an olive branch to me which I desperately wanted to hold on to." Qiu Yue confessed as she took out her red panda half mask and fiddled with it but Jin immediately went forward and hugged her tightly.

    Qiu Yue could not help but feel relieved and the unexinable void that she had been experiencing for the past few weeks was filled with warmth. She could never think logically after the Arena Battle where they both challenged themselves against overwhelming odds. (Well, Jin did suppress his cultivation.)

    Her heart raced without any reserve as Jin reassured her with that hug. "I am sorry for being slow at things. For not appreciating you. I am sorry for not being there when you feel so helpless. I had been thinking about you all this while but circumstances as a System User had provided me with enough excuses to keep you off my mind." Jin released his hug and talked straight to her.

    "But I do hope that everything gets better once you team up this with hot manly Panda right in front of you." Jin let go of her and looked her in the eye while grinning widely. Qiu Yue stared at him nkly. After which sheughed andughed.

    Qiu Yue found it so ridiculous and did not know whether she deserved this brand new Jin that was in front of her. Sure, it was her wish that after their mutual break up for him to focus on their individual lives. Somehow, it came true as if somebody (or something) else entered his body and made him so honest and forward looking. So hardworking and somewhat dependent. The previous Jin would not even be able to say such things to her nor provide her with this sense of security she was experiencing right now. She did not expect him to change this much and yet here she was being the same old her. Now sheughed so hard that she began to tear up.

    "Wha wait, Don''t cry please. I erm -" Jin flustered, trying to find tissue paper around andter he tried to search his storage watch only to find a camouge scarf for her to use. Qiu Yue chuckled andughed even more at his silliness before she wiped her tears away.

    "In my opinionбнI suggest you still quit. Sure your colleagues will badmouth for spoiling their bonus... But, right now. I need you more than ever. I can go with you to the HR to settle your termination of the contract, I can even pay them severance money. For that lecherous boss.., tell me his name, let me see if I can do any magic to make him disappear -ow!" Jin was hit by Qiu Yue hard on the head with her mask.

    "Baka Jin!" Qiu Yue blushed for a moment and Jin could clearly see her face was all red. "Didn''t I already miss that business trip for you? That is equivalent to ditching my job for you."

    "Oh yea, that''s trueбн Ahaha. I think I was too caught up with. -Ow! Why did you hit me again?" Jin asked and Qiu Yue pouted and looked to the side with her face smiling from cheek to cheek.

    Suddenly, there was a knock on the door when a goblin guard asked if there was anything they wished to eat for refreshments. Jin stood up hiding Qiu Yue who had her mask off and answered that they did not require anything.

    "Guess we should get back to topic. I remember you saying that the System can trade with some sort of Interworld Market and you have C130 cargo nes for transport. I think with that we should be able to help sort this economy out." Qiu Yue ced her mask back and took her phone out which she had written the important points down.

    "User, do you wish to grant the prepared Sub System to Candidate Qiu Yue so that she might be able to help you achieve more?" the System asked directly.

    "What can exactly can the Sub System do?" Jin asked in turn while seeing Qiu Yue busy browsing her notes.

    "Her Sub System will specialise in what she does best. Empire Building." The System stated and Jin brows furrowed.

    "I do not understand. What does that even mean? Can you be more specific?" Jin was really confused.

    "She has a natural ability in regards to empire building. She will be able to directly influence and control economy markets, research and construction. For example, you were previously a buyer in the ck Market and in recent days, you are a supplier. However, in Candidate Qiu Yue''s case, she can be an investor in the ck market even without much of an ounting background because the Sub System will g it out in case she goes wrong. Her abilities will help you not only umte funds, but also allocate them in the required ces, so that User can go back and concentrate on his own strong points. While User is also capable of doing things simr to Candidate Qiu Yue, the System for User is more catered towards Monster caring, summoning and frontline business." The System exined.

    "Hence, if User purchases any stocks in the future as such, it would be handled by her. However, her main ability would be an Empire Builder. She could influence hypothetical rat demons or orcs to work day and night without losing sleep nor destroying their health to build. Higher tier materials could be purchased in bulk and Research could be done quicker with a dedicated team of (captured) researchers under the aid of the Sub System instead of just the System analysing it. At the moment, all the System can do is to note the possible ws. The System cannot innovate unless prompted to. However, for Candidate Qiu Yue, even without the right people at the start, the Sub System would propose possible ideas allowing her to innovate. Something simr to what User has done with the M4 Sherman tank." The System added.

    "Soбн.you are saying you are taking some of my secondary work away and she will have ess to the more advanced features? because she has the knack for it?" Jin summed it up and the System replied positively.

    "Yes, hence a Sub System. Not a separate system. Simr to Sub System User Lynn, the System always had the cooking features but User did not utilise them at all. While User was and is still able to make use of it, without the necessary aptitude the results will always be inferior to someone who is granted a Sub System." The System borated.

    "Also, the System noticed that User''s shop had slowed down in terms of development after User was overloaded with secondary work. System is not suggesting User to stop all secondary work, but it is advisable for the workload to be shared. User can then concentrate on catching more monsters and build more interesting instances." The System exined which made Jin rather surprised for the System''s concern.

    "Alright, I will ask her about it," Jin said as he got up after a guard came to inform them that it was about time to convene again. The System however had something it withheld from Jin when it proposed the idea of granting the Sub System to Qiu Yue since there was no such thing as free lunch in the world after all.

 Chapter 336 Northern War Theatre - Part One

    <h4>Chapter 336 Northern War Theatre - Part One</h4>

    "Guard, do you mind giving us a bit more time? Please do not open the door if you hear any sudden weird sounds!" Jin asked the Guard and he slowly nodded his head in acknowledgement. Qiu Yue gave Jin an odd look and suddenly instinctively covered her body with her hands.

    "Jin...I know you just cheered me up and I have yet to answer you back properly... Are you misunderstanding my silence as an acknowledgement? Also don''t you think you are taking this a bit too fast?" Qiu Yue asked to rify and Jin gave back a nk stare before he started tough.

    "What? You think I wanted to have s.e.x with you right here and now?" Jin''sughter filled the room after he realised the guest room did have a bed it the corner. Nevertheless that sentence unconsciously made him stare at her body and hisher regions immediately growled for attention. "Ahhh so Master has his needs too." Pei chuckled in his mind and he started to feel very embarrassed at his body''s betrayal, before he sighed.

    "Uhooo. Am I no longer attractive enough for Jin? Are there other women in your life that you might consider prettier than me?" Qiu Yue who got the message from his bodynguage, began to tease him even though she still continued to cover her chest area. Jin enjoyed her being back to the way she usually behaved but he was also aware that this was not the time to fool around.

    "You... Sigh, never mind. Just a fair warning but getting a System might not be as easy as you think it is. I fear that you will cry in pain that is why I send him away. So please let me hear your decision. Would you still like to join me...and be part of the System officially?" Jin asked.

    Qiu Yue pondered for a minute before asking a few questions of her own. "What kind of System''s features will be avable to me? I assume that I would not have exactly the same powers like you since that should be a conflict of interest for the System?"

    Surprisingly the one to answer her wasn''t Jin, but the System using Jin''s phone speaker.

    "Affirmative, Candidate Qiu Yue. Your powers are not going to be as versatile as the User''s. So it would not be wrong to call them lesser. As a tradeoff your powers are more specialised and in that regard you will have ess to more advanced features." The System replied.

    "Your powers have been dubbed ''Empire Building''. Something simr to the 4X kind of games you have been ying. You''ll have control of the economy of the new city that we are intending to build from scratch. You''ll be able to research all you want, build what you want, basically you will have control over every aspect of it. Well technically I do have a say in things too... Anyways, that has been the n all along since day one. The System and I had discussed your joining and it has analysed your aptitude through whatever kind of test it made you go through that particr day when you were fighting with me." Jin exined to her while sitting right beside her.

    "User is correct. System has determined your aptitude is exceptionally high in terms of city management and therefore ideal for building an empire. System will provide the necessary tools for Candidate Qiu Yue to create a city for User and his monsters. However, System would like to ce an emphasis that reviving this particr goblin economy for war and their future will have a great impact on the features unlocked from the start when you obtain the Sub System from Jin." The System stated coldly.

    "Wow, Jin. So helping you win this war is just a giant test in the eyes of the System? " Qiu Yue was really surprised at first but soon she came to enjoy this prospect. After learning of their situation, she wished to help the goblins regardless. But this being a test... well it has been far too long since she was able to enjoy a good challenge. She was already more than fed up with those red tapes at work and numerous projects. At first it made her feel good since she was leading the team but subsequently, she could feel that the other colleagues were just throwing their responsibilities at her since she was the youngest.

    While she still felt bad for potentially robbing her colleagues of their bonus, most of her guilt for leaving was centered on one particr work colleague. Her supervisor, Yi San. The woman in herte 20s was spending most of her time in the office, and it was rare not to see her working overtime. The poor woman needed to raise enough money for her two year old kid''s upbringing while at the same time paying off expenses owed to the hospital that was incurred by herte husband who passed on fromte stage brain tumour. Despite her current condition, she had an assertive behaviour befitting of a supervisor yet still presented a kind disposition. Qiu Yue always felt that her supervisor was more genuine than the rest of the her selfish colleagues she had to endure working with.

    There were many times Yi San covered Qiu Yue''s mistakes as her own without asking for any repayments nor did she berate the younger woman for it. Instead she actively gave her advice on how to avoid those mistakes in the future. There were also times when Qiu Yue overheard her supervisor promoting her to be in charge ofrger projects instead of smaller ones, emphasising that she was the talent they needed to groom but the Boss kept thinking that she was not ready for that yet.

    Qiu Yue managed to persuade Yi San to apany her out for dinner once as repayment of gratitude. While there Qiu Yue asked why Yi San seemed to have such a high opinion of her. Her supervisor answered, that she saw her work and that had a natural talent for it. She also was impressed with Qiu Yue''s determination of seeing things through. After a bit of silence she also shared that Qiu Yue reminded of her of a very close friend she once had but lost contact with.

    "I am sorry Qiu Yue, I was not informed about this test until just now when the System spoke." Jin told Qiu Yue honestly and looked mad towards the phone. The System seemingly aware of Jin''s stare exined to him that it was to check whether she wasmitted to aiding Jin rather than just utilising Jin for his powers. To the System, a past rtionship did not justify automatic assurance to a Sub System.

    "But you did not do the same for Lynn!" Jin sent his thoughts and the System replied that Lynn had already pledged her allegiance to him after he managed to save her from that particr ordeal. It was no brainer for the System to take her in as a Sub User.

    "If I do this test...and manage toplete it... Am I allowed to have a selfish request?" Qiu Yue asked in a gentle tone and Jin asked what it was.

    "Could I have my colleague join us to assist me...in this building empire thing? She has more experience in the Ministry of National Development and definitely can prove herself to be of valuable assistance. All I want is to have her get out of that toxic environment and still be able to care for her kid." Qiu Yue pleaded Jin which he hesitated for a while more.

    "What is her name?" Jin asked and the System was already one step ahead, preparing to do all the necessary background checks needed. (Do not ask how the System was able to do that! It could even create a genuine dungeon supplier license for Jin back when he first started.) Qiu Yue provided the name which the System responded that it would consider granting the request depending on the test''s results.

    Qiu Yue readily agreed and Jin apologised in advance. "Sorry, I really thought the System was willing to gift you the Sub System immediately so you can have an easier time handling this particr situation, especially when I was the one to ask you for help."

    "No worries, this is the kind of challenge which I relish when I first joined the Ministry but it never came true. Most of the projects were mere improvements which did not provide any long term benefits while some of the projects were because of connections. While I understand that it''s fairly normal in allpanies or organisations, your transparency and full trust in me - which I still think is somewhat na?ve and foolish of you - nevertheless it provides me with the greatest appreciation I had received for a long time." Qiu Yue answered as she stood up and walked towards the door.

    "So shall we get the ball rolling?" Qiu Yue softly smiled at Jin as she adjusted her half Red Panda mask.

    ------------------

    "GET AWAY FROM THE BALL OF LIGHTNING!" Xiong Da shouted as he smashed the skulls of two orcs right in front of him while he saw a magical ball of blue lightning being sent out from an Orc Mage. The Wyvern Riders were notified and immediately performed evasive manoeuvres to dodge out of the way. However, the ball of lightning seemed to have some sort of magical tracing ability and it tried to chase one of the Wyvern Riders.

    No doubt the goblin rider pushed his wyvern to the limit by flying upwards before turning and spiralling the wyvern downwards towards the advancing Orc Army. The Lightning Ball eventually lost its magical tracing trait and it shot down, doing coteral damage to its own fellow Orc warriors. (due to the movements of Wyvern rider) The Wyvern and its rider did not stop there. Although the goblin controlled the fine movements of his mount as it flew down, the flying beast blew fire from its mouth, incinerating a few orcs before lifting into the skies again while skilfully avoiding multiple arrow shots.

    The wind draft prevented the arrows from hurting the Wyvern but a few did manage to pierce through its scales. But what are a few arrows? They were the Dashing Wyverns for goodness sake! They were the elite flying force of General Argent! Sadly, war being war, there were some unlucky Wyvern riders that got shot down, some were lucky shots by the archers, others were because the mages struck them down mercilessly.

    In the meantime, the M4 Sherman Tank was at the centre of the valley indiscriminately firing its machine gun courtesy of Luo Bo while Jia Le drove the tank forward and backward to prevent the Orcs'' bodies from mounting up in just one area by pushing them away. It was also to ensure they remained dead by driving the tank over them.

    Shi Zuo, on the other hand, was looking via his binocrs and identifying vital targets for Bin Yong to aim and shoot. What vital targets one might ask? The Orc Mages and groups of archers which might pose a threat to the Dashing Wyverns. Dwindle their numbers and the Dashing Wyverns would provide stronger air support which would cause discord in the Orc Army ranks especially when they were stuck in the middle of the valley. It proved very effective against ranks of orc archers but the mages were still able to withstand the attack unless it was an armour piercing round. (Which Bin Yong tried once to see the effects against the energy barriers the mages ced. It was very effective.)

    The M4 Sherman tank shooting also gave the Orcs a slight scare initially but once they observed that metal box for a while, they quickly identified it as the biggest threat of all. The officers ordered their men to bring it down by hook or by crook. In the meantime, Ruo Ying was teaming up with Zhi Nu to hold the left side of the valley while General Argent and his son Piercestriker stood their ground on the right.

    The remaining Orc Officers had studied theyout of the valley beforeing into the region and it was no surprise that they were going to do it with overwhelming force since this was just the start of the campaign. This was especially true when they had lost about a quarter of their officers from the surprise explosion initially. All they could do now was to advance into the Valley town of Gob Gob Bu and wait for the main bulk of the Thunder Army.

    Yes, that''s right. The Orc scout did not exactly give the goblins and cultivators the entire information. (Who would in their right mind?) The iing force was just the spearhead army of the Thunder Army. The main force was on route with their own war machines and armoured infantry which had ten times the fire power than the current army that they were fighting. Those war machines the orcs had found came from a deserted ind far in the sea where they excavated a treasure trove of lost technology years ago.

    Orc King Hamu had ordered those lost technologies to be examined, studied and replicated. Of course the originals were transported once able harnessed to attempt and overthrow the entire goblin nations. Without finding this particr ind of mysteries, Orc King Hamu would not have gone to unite the entire orc nobilities in secret and would not have nned out this particr domination n. Even Goblin and Human Spies had been unable to detect any traces of his grand ambitions.

    "When we get out of here, I will have to thank Jin personally. If not for this simple control interface, I doubt I could even load a tank shell in my life ever, much less be able to fire it!" Bin Yong thought to himself as he wiped his sweat away. He was carrying a HE shell and inserted it into a capsule where the capsule automatically brought the shell forward into the barrel of the tank. After which, all he had to do was to move the turret so that the main gun pointed towards the enemy.

    This was all done easily without any training because the interface was simr to a handphone game. He held the sides of the control console and the turret moved to where he controlled it to be. After which, he clicked on the specific coordinate on the interface and the main gun automatically adjusted itself to the angle required to shoot that particr distance.

    "FIRING!" Bin Yong shouted when he pushed a button down. The tank roared as it shot the shell out of the barrier, heading towards a battalion of Orc Archers. The shell flew and managed to hit one of the orcs, prating a hole through its stomach before exploding into shell fragments and damaging the area it impacted on.

    The entire battalion of Orc Archers was burned to death by the explosion fire yet Orcs did not care about their dead. They only cared about advancing and many of the Orc Warriors still sped through the fire thinking it was just a trial by fire simr to the fire blown by the Wyverns. Unfortunately they did not know that the fire from the HE shell was burning more than a hundred degrees Celsius, causing them to charge meaninglessly to their death.

    The driving was just easy for Jia Le since the controls were simr to a modern car with a manual gearbox and control stick. Meanwhile Luo Bo kept firing indiscriminately until she found out that the machine gun could overheat and needed to be reloaded from time to time. Not being content with waiting around she got out of her seat and changed to her bow and arrows. "Oh my god, be careful out there!" Shi Zuo warned her as she squeezed herself out of the c.o.c.kpit while Shi Zuo had to stop observing for a while to allow her out of the tank.

    "Ahh, the smell of stained air. Terrible but weirdly invigorating." Luo Bo eyes'' turned green as she activated one of the Illusive Rabbit''s techniques that made her have wide sight and keen sight the moment she locked onto a target. She charged her bow by inserting chi into it and released a singr arrow that caused shock waves all around her. As she was at the tank tform, her vision and angle of attacking the orcs were higher and more advantageous.

    The charged arrow flew through the masses knocking back and injuring many of the Orcs and yet the front lines was unable to advance towards her as much as they wanted with Xiong Da defending the tank.

    While it might be seen as a standstill, only half an hour had passed. The orcs had suffered casualties, yet without a doubt they were gaining traction as the cultivators were starting to get tired and ammunition was getting spent. There were times Jia Le crossed seats to the machine gun emcement and shot to her heart''s content, covering Xiong Da''s back while Luo Bo cleared targets that wereing towards the tank from the side. There were times Luo Bo was not able to cover in time which made Shi Zuo appear out of the tank to sh them away.

    Xiong Da was also noting out of this unscathed. As the defender he received punches, blunt weapon blows, shes to his body due to his size and even suffered from spears piercing him. He usually tried to defend his vital areas like his neck and joints but other than that, it was painful no doubt. Regardless, all Xiong Da needed to do was smash all those away, create some space buffer and take in his chi potions that were stored in his storage ring whenever he was free. That was the one and only way to survive the current onught. (It was mostly due to the fact that his past training with Zeru paid off, granting him a higher tolerance to pain.)

    Separately, Ruo Ying and Zhi Nu were tangling their enemies to their death. Due to the nature of their weapons, it felt like they were conducting some forbidden ritual war dance as their strings and chains cut, bruised and even sent orcs flying down the cliffside. Fortunately this battle gave Ruo Ying the opportunity to learn a few tricks from Zhi Nu and she even managed to copy and execute them wlessly.

    "Keep up, Egret. I am performing the Heavenly Dance of Migrating Birds. You should be able to perform the movements and adjust it for your style." Zhi Nu threw a needle into an Orc''s head as it pierced through the temple and into the brain whileing out and strung it up to the side of the mountains. Ruo Ying roughly saw the control of chi of her needle and strings and she kept a mental note about it.

    In the meantime, Spear General Argent was witnessing how Piercestriker managed to beat the rumoured undefeatable Orc General ck Disaster. His strikes were fierce, filled with strength and the intent to kill. There was no hesitation in his stabs, and his forms were pure. The footwork and calction of the distance was not something that could be learnt within a year of disappearance, there must be something that Master Jin had done to increase hispetency with the spear drastically. He shuddered at the thoughts of what kind of hellish life and death training his son must have endured. (If only he knew how often Piercestriker did end up dying...)

    Piercestriker had not been listening to Zhi Nu and did not avoid using the Gearbox Spear that the System granted as a spare. After all what use was a weapon if not being used. If one did not familiarise with their own weapons, how could they gain affinity with it? The weight of the spear, the length of the spear, the power it can withstand. All these had to be experienced if Piercestriker wished to be the best spear goblin. Hence, he started to dual wield both of his spears and used them to ughter the orcs.

    Deflect. Parry. Pierce. Repeat.

    The current enemies proved to be the ideal targets to practice with as they only had brute strength and not much finesse due to theck of space the cliffside provided. Hence, both spear goblin experts took turns going into the fray and out, practising their teamwork at the same time.

    Shi Zuo killed yet another orc and kicked him away when he suddenly heard a loud sound from afar. With little to no time to focus himself, he ignored it and continued tobat the other orcs surrounding the tank. Bin Yong was the one who managed to make out the source of the sound through his own screen and screamed to the team. "GUYS LOOK OUT! Over the horizon!!!" Bin Yong quickly looked through his ammunition and grabbed an armour piercing shell from the tank storage and plunged it into the capsule.

    Thetest enemies were simply huge. Five times the size of ordinary Orcs, they were carrying a makeshift catapult behind their backs. Enved goblins chained up to the back of therge orcs preparing the ammunition to be loaded onto the catapult. "Shit! Those are Catapult Ogres!" The Captain of the Dashing Wyvern shouted as he took out his war horn to sound the order for retreat and the rest of the Wyvern Riders hurried to pull back. General Argent heard it and whistled for his own wyvern to appear.

    "Son! Fall back now! There is no way we can handle the Catapult Ogres out in the open. If it shoots gr.a.p.eshots at our Wyverns we are done for!" General Argent took out his pistol and shot at the Orcs trying to stop them while his son got on the Wyvern. Piercestriker believed he had proven himself enough to his father and was not as stubborn as to stay in the battlefield and fight a meaningless battle.

    "We need to help Egret and Weaver with the retreat too." Piercestriker was concerned about his currentrades. Argent simply smiled and told his son that the Vice Captain should already be collecting them. He had been ordered to do so and by controlling a spare wyvern from a fallen goblin rider he''d meet up with them.

    "BOOM!" The M4 Sherman Tank screamed once more in battle and its shell spiralled towards the closest Catapult Ogre. However, the orc mages were aware of the strategic value of those Ogres who doubled as their siege weapons and made sure to protect them. If they did not defend them well, the fight against the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu would be even more difficult and might cause a dy in the War n created by the military advisors under Orc King Hamu. Hence, they focused their entire mana consumption on creating a defensive barrier.

    Unfortunately, they still underestimated the prating power of the AP shell and the wide energy barriers were broken in an instant. Nevertheless their efforts managed to deflect the path of the shell enough allowing the Catapult Ogre to only got shot in its right arm. The impact also made him fall and his weight crushed both the makeshift catapult and the enved goblins that were forced to operate it.

    "Ignore the goblins, healers concentrate on aiding that ogre now! The rest! Shoot your gr.a.p.eshot at those pesky wyverns!! Mages those of you low on mana get back and rotate with a new batch. All of you are to enhance your shield with the offensive thunder runes!" An officer shouted hismands as the orcs listened loyally. The Orc mages smirked as they realised what the officer was talking about. The initial n had been to surprise the goblins with these precious thunder runes once they got to the capital, but they were more than happy to use it now. By enchanting their shields with offensive thunder runes their barriers could shoot out lightning strikes which should interfere with the iing projectile.

    "FIRING!" Bin Yong did not let up as he did not hesitate to use up the remaining AP shells. There were not many HE shells left and he wanted to keep them for other scenarios. Besides the Armour Piercing shells were most effective in taking outrge targets.

    Right now, the AP shell flew without a care towards the enchanted lightning shields that the Orc Mages exhausted every thunder rune they could find in their belongings. True enough the lightning strikes emitting out of therge wide shield impacted against the iing shell that it diverted the shell from its original path and killed a few random orcs instead. (It did not explode because most armour piercing shells do not have any explosives in them.)

    "Shit! That shield managed to stop the shell targeting the ogre!" Bin Yongined and Shi Zuo suggested that now would be a good time to fall back. However, Xiong Da refused despite suffering the most injuries.

    "Hippo, do not be this stubborn. Even Zhi Nu and Ruo Ying are falling back!" Shi Zuo mmed his Giant Axe which he did not usually use against an orc that tried to backstab Xiong Da. After which, he pointed at the wyvern carrying the two girls that were heading towards the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu to Xiong Da.

    "Then all the more reason to stay. I refuse to move away but I require your help, Jia Le, Luo Bo." Xiong Da punched one of the Orcs while grabbing one by the head and threw it towards Shi Zuo''srge axe de. The Orc split into half while Shi Zuo was maintaining his posture with therge axe. Xiong Da then picked up therge axe as if it was not a big deal and dual wielded it with his war club.

    Jia Le stopped her machine gun and came out of the tank after Bin Yong attempted another shot at the Ogres who seemed to be ready to fire back. "Looks like gr.a.p.eshot ammunition from the many pieces in the catapult''s bucket. I am guessing you want us to stop those from hitting the wyverns." Luo Bo who had the best far sight out of the whole group clearly saw those enved goblins chained to the makeshift catapults, loading various metal balls as the payload lumped into the catapult''s bucket.

    "Yeah. I cannot do that. Perhaps only you and Jia Le can stop those things from flying towards the Wyverns." Xiong Da cleaved the iing three orcs into two halves as if they were a neverending wave.

    "By right, gr.a.p.eshots cannot travel far due to uracy issues. But seeing how this is a magical world, this might not necessarily be true here. I think we need to be creative in our fights too." Jia Le took out a kunai and threw it into an orc''s neck who wanted to nk them at the side of the tank. The orc''s artery was hit and pressurised red blood spilled on the tank''s ting.

    "FIRE!" The orc officer shouted itsmand seeing how the metal box failed tounch another attack against them. The ogres regained their confidence and pulled a lever right beside them to release the catapult''s payload. Even the officer looked thrilled as he saw the wyverns flying away and thinking that this would be the end of them. After which they could concentrate against the metal box and finish off those humanoids who sided with the goblins.

    Now, the result was something the Orc officer did not expect. The payload flew and just as suspected it was enchanted to shoot far against the wyverns that had wrecked havoc amongst their group but...the gr.a.p.eshot had been aimed towards the advancing orcs. Since it came from the behind them, the orcs had not even considered the possibility of friendly fire.

    The enved goblins all cheered at the deaths of many armoured orcs which surprised the group of cultivators from afar since they were preparing to deal the gr.a.p.eshot attacks. "Our lives for many lives of the Orcs! It was worth it!! We shall not submit! We''ve rebelled once! We will rebel again!" One of the enved goblins shouted before its head exploded like a balloon by the orc officer controlling them. Subsequently each and every enved goblin was killed and the makeshift catapults were unmanned behind those Ogres.

    "F.u.c.k! To think those goblins dare to die despite knowing their families were just right under our des!" The officer smashed his fist into a nearbyrge rock in anger. He then told the Ogres to remove the catapults from their backs so that the Orcs can control them. (The weight of the makeshift catapult as well as three orcs in light armour was enough to enc.u.mber the ogre into not being able to move. Hence the use of those ve goblins.)

    "That was really a change of situation I did not foresee." Shi Zuo stabbed the iing Orc with a random weapon he picked up on the ground.

    "Does not change the fact that-" Suddenly, they were interrupted by a C130 flying right above them while multiple flying tforms flew out of the ne''s end carrying a crate. Reinforcements has finally arrived and just as promised those were no simple cultivators.

    "Geez. To think that they sent a police duo and some high school kids to help us out. Come on Boss Jin, you could have sent out a squad of Panda Warriors from the Great Wall of China!" Luo Bo loaded three arrows on her bow and shot them out consecutively against archer Orcs that were trying their luck at the cliffside now that it was not defended by anybody.

    "Well, I am sorry that I am just a policeman!" Se Lang, the Wacky Wolf Cultivator shouted back as he jumped out of the flying tform before itnded and managed to decapitate a few orcs. Bu Dong the Angry Ape cultivator, had already activated his intermediate sword art and dashed into the fray without care while Kong Xian the Towering Tortoise Cultivator let out his taunting warcry which made the orcs divert their attention towards their group. Only Deng Long stayed on the the flying tform until itnded and opened the crate that came with it showing it off to the rest.

    Of course they were also apanied by a Dungeon Monster and it was none other than Sandy, the Sand Witch. Her one small movement caused walls of sand, dirt and mud to block the view of the orcs that upied the side valleys. "This way you have no chance of attacking this tank from the sides." Sandy smirked as she created projectiles made out of sand andunched them towards the orc army while she created a sand wall at the front to reduce the flow of the orcs advancing for the moment.

    "Panda Hei ordered us to reinforce you guys. Part of our mission was also to deliver the supplies to you guys...WHAT! WHY DO YOU HAVE A TANK?!" Deng Long only noticed that when Bin Yong shot a shell out once more before the sand wall came out in front of him. Deng Long also found out that the crate was filled with tank ammunitions and fuel alongside potions, kunais and more arrows when he opened it.

    "Long story. Refill with us, I will tell you more." Shi Zuo said as he threw two potions towards Xiong Da which he drank all at once before throwing them aside and started to push the box full of ammunition towards the tank for easier transfer. The other two guys assisted Xiong Da by bringing the crate closer and refilling the tank while the rest of the cultivators did their best to prevent the orcs froming closer.

 Chapter 337 Northern War Theatre - Part Two

    <h4>Chapter 337 Northern War Theatre - Part Two</h4>

    Once the M4 Sherman tank was fully filled with ammunition and fuel, everyone got on it. Some sat at the side of the tank while Jia Le began to make a three point turn and drive towards the Valley town of Gob Gob Bu. Bin Yong wiped his sweat away from assisting the refilling of the ammunition and turned the main turret of the tank towards their back in case some orcs came forth.

    "Do not worry, I did more than just construct a sand wall. I added a few deep quicksand pit right beside it, so even if they manage to break through that sand wall it will take them a lot of time to catch up. They will lose a good number of orcs before they will be able to proceed." Sandy reassured Bin Yong over the open c.o.c.kpit as she swirled a barrier of sand around the tank to cover any possible arrows attacks from afar.

    Nearly everyone in the first wave was deadbeat tired. Xiong Da was covered in scars which both Se Lang and Deng Long assisted in applying some basic first aid for him while Xiong Da continued to chug down the freshly arrived bottles of chi to recover. Kraft who stepped in as the overallmander understood that Xiong Da needed much more chi potions, but there was a limit to how much he could stretch the generosity of the System. As the ones defending the front, they were allowed to receive preferential treatment, but ultimately the System possessed the mindset of a business manager. If the cultivators needed more resources, they would be more than wee to purchase them from the shop to be delivered in the next supply drop.

    Kraft then asked the System to notify the first wave responders via the Pandamonium App that after their break, they would be going through the second round of the raid event, requiring the use of a new entry ticket. If they had any qualms, they could teleport back to the Shop instance within the next five minutes and their new entry ticket would be refunded. However, they all agreed and pressed the continue button as they proceed towards the next destination.

    Not just them, most of the cultivators approved of this ''do you wish to continue?'' process and some even bought additional electronic tickets via the Pandamonium App while they were still in the Goblin World to be able to stay longer and collect even more points. It was a new function in the App update by Jin when he created this Raid Event so it would not break the experience of the living goblin world but also reminded them that this was after all a ''dungeon instance''.

    Jin wished to motivate the cultivators to stay around and therefore implemented a great incentive for them to do so. As long as the customers survived through continuous runs, their points would .u.mte with a multiplier factor. In the second round, the cultivators would receive 1.2x more points than usual (rounded up) and 1.4x points in the third round, so on and so forth. However, the monitoring rings that Panda Captain Hei made them wear would also signal the System to pull them out if it realised that the fatigue .u.mted in a cultivator was too high.

    Bin Yong now slouched on the chair inside the tank relieved that they appeared not to be in trouble for now, while Luo Bo was checking out if there were any updates of points on the Pandamonium App since she had already decided to continue to the second round. "Hm?! Howe I have the highest points amongst all of us? I did not really kill that many..." Luo Bo was shocked when she saw the points score among the team.

    Luo Bo thought that Xiong Da would be in the lead but instead became second while Bin Yong was third. The others who were curious also picked up their phones to take a look and it was true, Luo Bo''s score was miles away from the rest, even though she did not remember killing as much.

    "I roughly heard from Master Jin that the points are based on the types of orcs that you kill. Higher ranks should yield higher points. Perhaps you identally killed a top brass officer?" Sandy offered her opinion and the team could only congratte Luo Bo for having a lucky shot or two. (They never learned it was the explosion of the Orc Scout that happened.)

    "We are reaching soon!" Jia Le shouted from the front of the tank and those who were sitting at the top of the tank saw the iing fort walls of the Valley town of Gob Gob Bu. It was at that moment, Se Lang noticed that there were long metal barrels poking out on the top of the walls of Gob Gob Bu and the walls got taller the closer they got to it. With the irond gates slowly opening to wee them, the cultivators felt a sense of excitement they could not exin. It felt unreal that the raid instance was so realistic. Deng Longter noticed a group of goblins holding familiar looking gun models from afar as well as another unfamiliar face who wore a distinct half mask simr to his fat looking w.o.m.bat half mask or Se Lang''s slick grey wolf half mask. He did not hesitate to check the Pandamonium App''s Stat page which indicated that person as an ally.

    "Fei?" Deng Long read out the name from the Pandamonium App and it got the group curious too since they saw himmanding tens of goblins who were actively reloading their bullets into rifles and checking theirbat vests to ensure they had sufficient ammunition. Hou Fei heard his name and was delighted to finally see ''humanoids'' arriving into the scene. Hou Fei was equally surprised that Jin had managed to obtain and customised the Sherman Tank blueprint in a short period of time and deployed it almost immediately for the cultivators to use when he asked his contact to pass it to Jin via email. But then again, he underestimated Jin''s High Intensity Mode and the System.

    Also, Hou Fei was nearly unsure about Jin and Kraft''s n upon hearing it from the two Panda Captain NPCs when he was on board the C130. This was because he had been in this Goblin World for days, intensely training the select few for the war, when it only had been a matter of hours back in their own world. But he figured it was work he dly do if it could make him one step closer to be the Defence Minister in the new Dungeon Fortress City.

    "Ah! Wee cultivators. Allow me to properly introduce myself. I''m Hou Fei. You could say I am a helper for Master Jin rather than a customer of his." Hou Fei held onto his half snake mask and bowed. Since all the cultivators hade in with an NPC to support, they were a little wary at this new helper of Jin especially one they had never seen before. Even Xiong Da and Bu Dong did not really recognise this particr helper even though they were by far the oldest regr customers of the store.

    "Yea, he is with the Master, I can vouch for him. Do not worry, he is not going to betray us or anything." Sandy chimed in after she made sand float stylishly around her face as a cover so that the goblins did not suspect her as a human too. The cultivators lowered their guard upon hearing Sandy''s reassurance and they began listening to Hou Fei.

    "I am responsible for building up a modern attack force for these goblins and teach them how to use the *cough* lost tech that Master Jin has in his collection." Hou Fei told them and the cultivators grinned at the attempt in keeping to the story of this particr raid event. "Hence, you can say I am somewhat the proxy for Captain ehhh Hei and Bai." Hou Fei took up his phone as if to check if he was following the script correctly. Who could me him since it was an impromptu decision by Kraft to airlift Hou Fei, the unit of Marksmen trained in the M1 Garand Rifles and a new unit that trained in using the German Pak 38 50mm anti tank guns to assist the cultivators.

    The anti tank guns were of decent size and had been transported via the C130s. It was easy enough for the goblins to operate aspared other gun emcements like the k guns or artillery guns. They were simr to cannons they had operated but provided more range, lessplications and most importantly, more firepower! It was difficult to get the anti tanks up the top of those fort walls but the wyverns who managed to return from the first wave of attack, assisted the goblins in setting them up.

    General Argent came by and saluted Hou Fei while apologising to Team Hippo for abandoning the area ahead of time even though it was part of the n they had agreed on from the start. Xiong Da shook his head and said a good general knew when to retreat and when to advance. He also notified him about what had actually happened to those makeshift catapults. General Argent listened with some disbelief but felt proud that those goblins never lost their pride after being captured by the Orcs.

    "Their sacrifice shall not be in vain. We will do our best to protect this valley town." General Argent swore solemnly before Hou Fei interrupted him.

    "Not be an asshole or something but you do know that we are in a valley right? Technically, we could nt explosives at the top of those cliff sides and rocks wille tumbling down against the main bulk of the Orc Army." Hou Fei pointed at the mountainous areas and exined how it could be thest ditch attempt to stop the Orcs froming by sting the two mountains and cover of this Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu with an avnche. General Argent listened to that and pondered for a while.

    "I get where you areing from. Why surrender the town when you can destroy the town alongside the enemies at the same time? Hence, denying them leftover resources in the town and a fort town with natural terrain advantages. It is very tempting but there is actually some significance to this ce." General Argent sighed.

    "This was where General dios was born. At the same time this was also the ce where our ideas of rebellion started, thereby holding a significant cultural value to us. The Orcs crushing us here would prove to be a morale booster for them too. So dios is bringing the best of the best goblin warriors to here as soon as possible. Sentimental values aside, this ce also holds the only chokepoint preventing the Orcs from spreading like wildfire. If we can stop the Orcs froming through here, we should be able to hinder the entire Northern Invasion of the Orcs." General Argent stated and Hou Fei took out his phone and checked the map.

    "But can''t the Orcs simply cross over via sh.i.p.s from the West? Although that should take a longer time I presume." Hou Fei studied the map and General Argent did not deny that possibility.

    "They can. That is also why General Igni is preparing a special squad of goblins to infiltrate into the Orc''s territory and attempt to link the leylines from their country to ours before the orcs get the chance to block us from doing so. Should we seed, it would allow us to send an assassination squad against the Orc King Hamu and end this nonsense." General Argent answered while revealing it to the cultivators too. (Of course, not in such open space, they had entered the High Command Tent to speak of such sensitive information!)

    "I see, no wonder you are sharing this information with therades of Master Jin." Hou Fei rubbed his stubble as he eyed the cultivators in front of him. The cultivators would make an ideal strike force, worst case they could try to overwhelm the enemy with numbers. "But I think Young Master Jin would prefer personally going in with his trusted betors rather than these people. Oh well, maybe they could go in to support him. We will see..." Hou Fei thought to himself when suddenly a loud nging sound rmed them. A messenger also hurried into the tent and delivered a report to the General, which he quickly studied, before shaking his head and sighing.

    "While this might sound like an excuse, I regret to inform you that this message informs me that the Goblin Army has reached an impasse and requires more time toe here. An ace unit will rush here as soon as they can but I fear the rest will not be fast enough for the next wave." General Argent picked up his spear from the side of the High Command tent and wore his battle helmet.

    "What actually happened? Did the Orcs manage to bypass us and attack them?" Hou Fei asked as he walked out with the General, so did the others.

    "The escaping civilians from this town have blocked the one and only road with their belongings. We have warned the civilians to take only what was necessary with them, but it seems they ignored us. After somebody took more than they should have, others followed suit, and currently their wagons are blocking the way. Both the army and civilians have topromise to make some space for each of them to go through. Plus this is a valley area. The road leading here is steep which makes transporting items slightly difficult." General Argent gave some specific orders to an officer after he exined it to Hou Fei and the others.

    The Dashing Wyverns and their goblins were currently banned from flying by General Argent and they rested at the back of the valley town. They were being treated by the Town''s healers to the best of their abilities and if General Argent needed them in action, they better be in tip top shape.

    In the meantime, the Town Militia had set up their defensive parameters with the precious time earned from the cultivators and deaths of some of the Dashing Wyverns. Despite it being makeshift, barricades had been set up in 50 metres intervals away from the front gates. The n was to fight as much as possible near the Town''s Fort walls but as soon as they would start to get overwhelmed, they would pull back to each defensiveyer the militia had set up.

    The front fort walls were currently manned by simple militia bowmen, elite marksmen with their new M1 Garand rifles and the anti tank guns that served as cannons. The rest of the militia continued to strengthen the barricade supporting the front gates while the Cultivators had parked their M4 Sherman tank about 25 metres away from the front gate.

    The tank would act as the buffer against the iing orcs and allow the goblins to fall back too should the walls were overtaken. The only cultivators and monsters participating at the top of the fort walls were Luo Bo, Sandy, Zhi Nu and Jia Le. The rest of the cultivators would be on standby, conserving their strength until the Orcs started to siege on the fort walls.

    However, not everyone wanted to stay idle, especially Xiong Da. "Is there anything else we can do instead of just waiting around?" He asked Hou Fei who seemed to be the one inmand of the cultivators. Hou Fei thought for a while then realised he did have some task which requires their help. He leaned forward to Xiong Da and whispered to him.

    "The goblins assume that the orcs will move in a straight line and focus on their barricades. The thing is, I noticed there seemed to be many loopholes in their defences. Well it is not exactly their fault, since the main cause is the houses. I suggest cing explosives in those houses in case the orcs decide to ambush us from there. While I respect their cultural appreciation, we are at war, and sacrificing houses to kill off some orcs and potentially lessen our casualties is a fine trade to me. If they would be mad at us, I shall take responsibility. Right over there, you should be able to see arge red striped crate. Get your friends or acquaintances to ce the C4s in those houses." Hou Fei whispered and Xiong Da agreed readily. Some coteral damage to the houses was inevitable if they had such a small force against a tide of Orcish Sea.

    "What about the detonators?" Xiong Da asked and Hou Fei smiled widely.

    "Do not worry, I have control over all those explosives right through this tablet here." Hou Fei smacked his backpack while holding onto a customised Barret M82 0.5 calibre sniper rifle. He had been a sniper by trade before he turned into a military vendor. He figured it was a good time to catch up with his sniping skills against these orcs and aid with the fight too.

    "Hahaha, all this for a request of an army. Jin better be wellpensated for this. Now to make sure that we will still have an army to help us outter..." Hou Fei thought to himself as he went up to the tallest building he could find. The cathedral bell tower was perfect as he could oversee up to 900 metres from there.

    At the same time, Xiong Da called the others to assist him in allocating the explosives. Noticing the movement of the group of humanoids, Spear General Argent came over to ask what were they doing. Xiong Da announced that they were going around to make sure no other goblins were hiding within the houses by banging house to house. Yet, General Argent was not so stupid to simply believe them, especially since he could see that Xiong Da was carrying rectangr parcels and so did the other cultivators.

    "You guys...I sense that you all are plotting something more than that... but you have already proven yourself trustworthy. As long as you sweep the area properly and ensure that there are no civilians around, I shall pretend not to have noticed whatever else you might be doing. We do not wish any innocents to be killed in this meaningless war." General Argent walked away while he hurried the militias.

    Xiong Da and the others did not hesitate to throw as many explosives as they could split equally into their storage rings and began to search every house while cing the explosives right at the doors and exits they could find. They figured if they were to destroy something, might as well be the openings, at least then the interior of the house could still remain more or less intact.

    Meanwhile, Luo Bo, Sandy and Jia Le looked over the horizon and saw that there was not much daylight left. With the mountains blocking the sunset, it would get darker soon. Unlike in a lot of fantasy books, these goblins did not have the sight to see in the dark. Thankfully, Luo Bo, after learning that it might drag longer than a day before the start of their mission, she had purchased specialised arrows to be supplied in the previous ammo crate simr to the re arrows she had used in the warehouse when they tried to save Lynn from the Yakuza.

    After having been dyed by the sand wall, it appeared that the Orcs finally managed to get through, as their silhouettes started to appear in huge numbers. It seemed that the Orcs were relentless as if they were rushing for something but the moment they saw that the walls were in sight, they went into their practiced siege formations.

    The frontline warriors ced whatever shields they were carrying in front of them. The lines behind the front held their shields at the top of their heads in an angled position to prevent arrows from damaging them too. The remaining archers that survived the first wave began to nock their arrows while the Ogres who were carrying the Catapults started to ce them on the ground for the Orcs to use them.

    "Cannons! Aim towards their siege weapons! Bowmen, nock! Marksmen, on my mark!" General Argent walked along the fort walls as he gave hismands. The cultivators began to ready their weapons too including Sandy who was preparing a spell to subdue the frontlines. If not for the terrain being sand and rocks all around, she probably could not unleash her full potential. Perhaps, that was why Kraft had decided to send her.

    "OOOOOOWWWWWOOOOOOO." A loud long warhorn sound sounded from the back of the Orc Army lines and signalled themencement of the siege against the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu.

    "FIRE!!!!!" The highest ranking Orc officers shouted simultaneously once the warhorn echoed throughout the mountains. Rocks doused in a special concoction of oil were lit before the Orcs fired their catapults towards the fort walls. The Orcs began to stomp their legs as they walked towards the fort walls. Orc Mages started to cast supportive spells to aid the warriors in the frontlines making them more resistant to magic and projectile attacks.

    Separately, a small group of high ranking mages was summoning a spawn of the Thunder Serpent Syldra to aid the Orc Army especially when they knew that there would be those pesky humanoids helping the goblins. That was definitely one oddity factor that they did not ount for at the start of the war. Still they believed they had the firepower to damage and take over the fort.

    As the fiery rocks were fired towards the fort walls, Zhi Nu who was at the side of the fort walls threw her threads that were as tough as steel, wrapping those rocks and slowing them down to a point where she could control them. The fire was not strong enough to melt the immortal''s strings and she lobbed the rocks at the warriors upon releasing the immortal strings.

    Sad to say, the Orc mages had anticipated such a possibility of retaliation and cast out bursts of lightning targeting the rocks. The lobbed rocks disintegrated into debris in mid air which did not affect the iing Orc frontline formation a single bit simplynding on their shields. Arrows were being released by the Orc Archers, also doused in fire but Sandy managed to summon a Sand Shield Sentinel Spirit which was tasked with protecting the fort wall.

    Like its name, the Sand Shield Sentinel Spirit was a giant being made out of sand and possessed some sort of sentience. It carried eight particrrge shields that aided the fort walls in defending the goblins and defended the cultivators from the rain of arrows. Even the goblins were in awe as the Sand Shield Sentinel Spirit appeared right in front of them, providing them with the confidence that they could defend this small Valley Town.

    "Marksmen, fire when your targets are in range! Bowmen keep suppressing them with your attacks! Cannons fire away!" General Argent shouted and the German Pak 50mm anti tank guns produced a raging booming sound that was equivalent to the sounds of the thunder striking. Some of the goblins even had to close their ears when anti tank guns were fired.

    All of the shells that were being sent out into the midst of the Orc''s army were highly explosive in nature and the Orc Mages tasked with defending nearly broke down from the strain of maintaining the shield barriers because of the consecutive sts that the anti tank guns had sent out. They vomited out blood but continued to maintain the barrier only to realise it was futile when hearing another round of booming echoing through the valley. Those Orcs did not expect the goblins would have such heavy consistent firepower at their disposal.

    That metal box was a beast on its own, having imed a majority of the casualties, but the Orc army had assumed that was the only thing to fear throughout this particr leg of the campaign. Fortunately in the previous battle, they managed to found out how to deflect the metal box''s attacks, so they were insured that it was only a matter of time until the metal box could be beaten.

    However here, there were even more new types of attacks, which had never before appeared. To the Orc''s best knowledge they were aware that humanoid factions out there had secretly found and horded lost technolgy. Though only a small handful could learn how to operate it, Orc King Hamu purposely sought out these humanoids and enved them to make them replicate or utilise the lost technology he found.

    So the orc officers that were observing the battle believed that the intense firepower must have belonged to the humanoids or the Goblins had somehow found a way too to replicate lost technology alongside with the humanoids which the Orc Intelligence was not able to pick up. (Well, of course they could not pick it up, they never knew the existence of Jin, teehee!)

    The wide shield barriers finally shattered after the second volley of high explosive shells drained the mages dry. Many died on the spot after exhausting the mana lines in their body. This allowed the bow goblins to be slightly more effective and both Jia Le and Luo Bo could start attacking too. However, it was not yet their turn to shine.

    The Goblin Marksmen fired their very first fuside of bullets onto the orc warriors in the frontline. They listened to Hou Fei''s instructions and aimed the Orc''s heads or vital regions while ignoring the shields that were blocking it. "Those metal shields do not stand a chance against these babies right here." Hou Fei had told them in their training exercise as he demonstrated by firing a few shots through the thickest shield they made. The bullets pierced the sheet of metal easily and travelled further than the goblins expected.

    With such knowledge, the goblins scored dozens of confirmed kills, practicing Hou Fei''s preaching of one shot one kill. "Each bullet is equivalent to a gold coin. Imagine each click you press, one gold coin of your kingdom disappears. Painful isn''t it? So make every bullet count for you! Use the kingdom''s coffers to not only suppress but eliminate the enemy!!!" Hou Fei lied to them but his bluff had been very effective. The goblin marksmen made sure they used them efficiently. (If Jin knew how Hou Fei sessfully bluffed the goblins operating the Anti Tank Guns about the cost of each shell, he would have a heart attack too. That military vendor was not to be underestimated with his powers with words.)

    Yet, the orcs behind the fallen frontline did not start to panic, instead they picked up the bodies of the dead and turned them into meat shields to protect themselves from further attacks. "Wow, these orcs, they...are that heartless... To use theirrades'' body as protection." Jia Le could not bear her eyes at such sight as she threw a kunai towards an Orc who used that tactic. The Kunai she threw was enchanted with one of Jia Le''s cultivation techniques, causing multiple vines to appear from the weapon to whip and sh orcs in its radius of attack.

    To the orcs, it looked as if the dead orc were used as a catalyst where vines appeared to attack them, which made the orcs that survived the attack to stab the dead orc''s body repeatedly, ensuring the vines would not emerge once more.

    In the meantime, Luo Bo unleashed her intermediate Bow Art technique, Charge Tornado Puncture of the Rabbit to mess up the frontlines. The tornado wind knocked and slited orcs up but it did not lower their morale a single bit as they remained as organised as ever moving towards the front gates.

    "The way these orcs are moving...I know this sort of magic..." General Argent saw how mindless yet determined those orcs were acting. "I cannot believe they''ve continued to use this kind of taboo magic!" He mmed his fist at the fort walls as hemanded the anti tanks to continue to aim at the catapults.

    "Colonel Ayse, the runes you''ve distributed to the orc warriors are working splendidly! They are fearlessly moving towards the fort walls!" One of the Orc officers knelt in front of the female Orc who was dressed in a dirtied white coat riding on a war wolf.

    "Of course, they are based on the products from the previous Head Researcher. I have improved them, so their usefulness is a given. Have you started to activate the lost technology artefacts just as I instructed you to do?" Ayse asked as she pushed her sses while grinning at the possible turn of events.

    "Yes, we are in the midst of doing so. They are being covered by our mages using illusion magic as we activate them. So far the Goblins seem eager to destroy our catapults, so they must assume, those are the biggest threat so the artefacts would be ready in no time. We have also received reports indicating that the one leading them is supposedly the Spear General of King Sol." The officer reported before Ayse dismissed him.

    "Heh, to think I might be able to meet one of the famous Three Generals in person. And it''s the Spear General of all people. This must be fate. Guess it''s a good thing I parted away from the main army to oversee this foreseen mess. Father, I hope you are watching me, today might just be the day for your revenge." Ayse smirked while overseeing the entire battle from the back of the valley.

 Chapter 338 Rite of Battle

    <h4>Chapter 338 Rite of Battle</h4>

    "What are you guys thinking?!" Qiu Yue mmed on the table which frightened the advisors once more. "Oh my god, I really cannot believe it." She lowered her head in disappointment and shook her head. This was definitely harder than she had anticipated.

    "What seems to be the problem, Qiu?" King Sol asked in a gentle tone rather than an imposing one and hoped that he did not offend her in any way. However, Qiu Yue ignored him and sat down right beside him and started to write her own notes while the advisors could only keep quiet staring at her in silence as they heard the sound of intense scribbling.

    "I understand that a lot of your advisors are freshly recruited, but they should have been around to see how to work this job. I can''t believe you need me to point out all your ws. It''s as if you are on thin ice without even realising it and slowing. Let me point it out for you. You have approximately three months worth of dry food stockpile ording to the poption that you quoted me. Your coffers might be high currently, but considering the fact that the orcs have crippled every other goblin kingdom, you are left with only the humans to trade with." Qiu Yue stood up to grab the region map that was ced on the far right of the table.

    "Your rtionship with the humans has always been shaky to be blunt. Assuming they even ARE willing to aid you in trading, you might gain an additional two months of dry food stockpiled ording to the amount of food that they had been trading with you for years. Also, you can be damn sure, that they are going to skyrocket the prices they are going to charge you. After all, they should clearly understand, that you will be forced to pay up." Qiu Yue walked towards the Economy advisor''s secretary and requested for the notes that the poor goblin had been taking down.

    "Resource wise, King Sol has had the foresight to found the kingdom in a location with rich forest and mines, so we are mostly self sufficient in terms of metal works and construction. Food and manpower, however, are an issue." Qiu Yue took a marker out from her storage ring and started to jolt some figures on her palm.

    "At the very least, you enforced the conscriptionw strictly. This way we can call up military reserves anytime but it also leaves the kingdom with the old, the woman and children if we are not careful." Qiu Yue now requested the military advisor''s secretary to surrender his portion of notes.

    "Unfortunately you guys did not phase out old equipment nor introduce new equipment to your soldiers in a long while. Most of your resources were diverted into tangible products which are beneficial for trading purposes, allowing the kingdom to amass arge amount of wealth. I am not saying it''s not wrong, but a quick nce over the numbers of your ount books reveals that there are obvious signs of maniptions indicating massive corruptions done by your predecessors. From what it looks like, Your Majesty, it seems you''ve been aware of this, is that correct? " Qiu Yue diverted the question towards King Sol.

    "I..yes. It hase to my attentionбн I, however, would like to iterat-" Qiu Yue stopped him and shook her head.

    "You are surprisingly honest, Your Majesty. The ounts are pristine clean on your end. I think I roughly get the situation and what sort of predicament it could have possibly lead to if you had openly addressed those corruptions." Qiu Yue remembered Jin informed her that King Sol had been in poor health almost all the time and was sure the advisors had been taking advantage of that. If not for the fact that the Three Generals were his friends, the corrupted advisors would have likely tried to overthrow King Sol in a military coup themselves.

    "However, that does not change the fact that your previous advisors were corrupted. Military Advisor, I suggest ordering a raid in their premise as soon as possible to retrieve records of their financial assets and seize any valuables kept in those advisors'' houses." Qiu Yue wanted to recover as much gold for the war funds of the Kingdom.

    "This is sphemous! Those families are currently mourning their dead and you want us to be the bad guys and raid their house for the sake of gold? Why must I listen to you?! You are just a female humanoid scolding us and barking orders at us! You did not give us a speck of respect at all!" The Military Advisor shouted in retaliation and Qiu Yue smirked that this is now going as what she nned. (The goblins were mainly a male dominated race, hence they looked down on Qiu Yue.)

    "Even though your King had asked you to cooperate, you are still disobeying? Do you really think if we were spies, that we would point out all your faults for you?!?!... Fine. I do understand your reluctance to follow orders of someone you have just met. Let me prove to you, that I have every right to be here, and tomand you. I heard from the castle guards that you have an ancient rite of battle if things do not get resolved, right? The one who loses will have to obey all wishes. So how about this? Why don''t you all fight me? That''s right. Each and every one of you can attack me in one go. My condition: Listen to every fucking order I give. If I lose, I won''t force you to ransack those houses, instead, Jin here will provide one million gold coins to the kingdom and we will stopining about a single thing." Qiu Yue pointed at Jin and the System gave an estimation to Jin.

    "User, one million gold coins is equivalent to a hundred thousand dungeon dors. " Jin smiled weakly and nodded his head in agreement to Qiu Yue''s n.

    "Heh! One million gold coins? That is pathetic and not even worth our time." The Economy Advisor snorted as he wanted to increase the bet of the ancient rite of battle. How could they lose? She was after all a humanoid with a slender figure. There was no way she had experience in fighting and she probably would make an excuse to let Master Jin fight against them.

    "Alright, Fifty million gold coins. Jin here will not help at me all. Heck, let us turn up the difficulty. I will be fighting with one hand tied to my back, and I have to defeat every one of you. In return, all your ministries shall belong to me if all of you lose. What about it?" Qiu suggested but at this time, she and Jin did not know that Pei was already secretly using her Psycho cognitive abilities to influence the advisors, making them more rash than usual.

    Yet the goblins were not stupid. They demanded Qiu Yue to show the money before they participated in the ancient rite of battle. This was because this rite was not just a promise to be made between either the goblins, orcs or the humans. It was simr to a magical binding contract between the two parties in order to settle their disagreement.

    Qiu Yue looked at Jin and he sighed heavily and asked the group to meet at the throne hall since there would be no way to show the coins. In the meantime, Jin asked the System to convert the dungeon dors into gold coins. "Can I change them back to Dungeon dorster again?" Jin asked and the System replied positively, though it would be based on the market conversion rate with transaction fees added. Jin suddenly felt his heart tighten as he slowly epted the fact that he needed to part with the money he earnt to the System.

    When the goblin advisors along with King Sol reached the throne hall, Jin was pullingrge suitcases out of his storage watch like some magic trick while Qiu Yue assisted in opening the suitcases one at a time. The goblin advisors'' face turned white when they saw the mountains of gold coins neatly stacked in each suitcase and their mouth even drooled a bit from this sight. King Sol noticed the desires of his advisors and shook his head. He could only trust that Jin and Qiu would be able to set the goblins mindset right.

    The freshly recruited goblin advisors had not seen the humanoids in action and they only heard stories of the male humanoid Jin''s prowess in the art of fighting. They eventually came to an agreement amongst themselves and agreed to participate in the ancient rite of battle asking King Sol to initiate the contract. ording to their risk assessment, they felt that if they ganged up against Qiu Yue, she should not be able to stand a chance at all.

    However, they did not know that Pei was the one riling up their emotions of greed for the money in front of them nor that she was the one fanning their anger for enduring all the insults Qiu Yue had been hurling at them for the past hours. Their goblin pride had been insulted. They were appointed goblin advisors after all! Respective leaders of a specialised ministry for the glorious Goblin Kingdom! Not just mere nobodies that could simply be lectured by someone else!

    Jin started to notice that his bracelet was glowing slightly understanding that Pei must be doing something, though he decided not to interfere since fifty million gold coins were at stake. As long as the advisors were to fight against Qiu Yue, everything else should be smooth sailing.

    "Then I shall initiate the following. You goblin advisors of mine will be fighting against Qiu in a free for allbat. Should Qiu win, she will be granted full ess and confidence of each ministry, your future fate as advisors will also depend on her judgements. Her orders will be absolute! However should she lose, she will surrender fifty million gold to the treasury of Gob Gob Kingdom." King Sol stated as he cast a magic circle on the floor with the ring glowing red.

    "Step in to confirm these conditions for the contract for this Rite of Battle." King Sol invited them. Both parties willingly stepped forward to affirm the participants. "I hereby proim to act as the arbiter for the contract and dere it valid to be resolved by the end of the day." King Sol finished and the magic circle slowly faded away. The goblin advisors saw that there was a red triangle being embedded on the palms of their hand as well as Qiu Yue''s.

    The advisors smirked as they decided to battle at the Castle''s Outer Courtyard in an hour''s time. The secretaries needed to return to their houses to gather their weapon, armours and other misceneous equipment. At that point, the advisors had distanced themselves from the humanoids and started discussing how they could best coordinate with each other to take down Qiu Yue. All had been trained in military thanks to thepulsory conscriptionw and some were even old buddies during their stint in the army. Therefore their discussion got sidetracked every now and then while reminiscing about the old days only to return to the kind of possibilities they might encounter fighting against her. Some assumed she had magic on her side to even the odds, while others felt she must be in possession of skills with area of effect that would make her confident against arge group of goblins.

    Meanwhile, Jin returned all the suitcases into his storage ring and requested King Sol to lend them the guest room for Qiu Yue to rest before the duel which he granted immediately. The same guard brought them to the guest room they used and showed a thumbs up to Jin as if he was approving of his actions. What actions? Only the guard might know.

    "Aaaaaghhh!!!" Qiu Yue screamed her frustration into the pillow before she finally rxed on the bed heaving a sigh offort. "Sorry, I should have discussed this before proposing such a thing. Did I push it too far?" Qiu Yue gave a "pity this cute red panda" kind of face which instantly melted Jin''s heart.

    "I doubt so. After all you are just trying to help them, but they still disapprove. History taught us that logistics is an internal war we have to deal with consistently. No proper supply routes and the armies starve, no proper nning and we will be failing in our operations. We would lose this war before we know it." Jin reassured Qiu Yue as he sat on arge cushion chair and leaned his head at the side of therge chair.

    "There were too many factors that werecking in thebat service support. They have no discipline in this particr nning phrase and everyone is pushing responsibilities left right and centre. Honestly they kind of remind me of the Ministry. Even the way they ignore my expertiseбн They have no idea how much work is needed in transporting their personnel, and there are currently no ns of any forward bases. Medical support is also sorelycking and much more- ARGGHHHH" Qiu Yue took her half mask out and messed her hair up before she rxed once more on the bed.

    "So you simply decided to bet against the goblins so you could obtain total control." Jin smiled at the cuteness of Qiu Yue''s pouting on the bed.

    "I know I can be a control freak at times, but I cannot think of anything else to circumvent this situation." Qiu Yue ces the pillow on her face as she takes a rest.

    "Distance is not a factor at the moment since we are defending. However, there is a limit to defending. The resources here like I said previously will not support us in the long run since we do not have that many farms. Besides, the advisors also pointed out that winter ising. If three month of food surplus is the best they cane up for the winter, we will be dead in our tracks." Qiu Yue continued to grumble to Jin.

    "You are thinking too much right now. For now, you just stay calm and win this particr battle. Or else we will lose the upper hand in negotiations." Jin then beckoned to Qiu Yue as she required her own battle strategy for the uing duel too.

    He and Qiu Yue reviewed her current abilities which was not much to begin with since she had always busy with work. Jin did pass her the manual that the System bestowed to him as a reward, the Radiant Red Panda in the Umbral Snow, but she did not have the time to read it properly. Even the small part she skimmed over was not making much sense at all. Theplexity and in depth instructions clearly showed off the expertise of whoever wrote it, but without understanding it, it might as well have been written in anothernguage.

    "Candidate Qiu Yue requires to have the System imbued for her to integrate the cultivation manual. It was a safety measure created by the System to prevent misuse or abuse of the manual by other potential threats." The System noted and Qiu Yue could only shrug her shoulders.

    "I think, the only way for you to win in this short amount of time is to have superior equipment than them. If they needed their secretaries to fetch their personal armour, it can only mean that those weapons and armour must be enchanted. I also overheard that they might have some magic prepared to restrain you." Jin warned Qiu Yue and started to suggest some equipment.

    "I have asked King Sol about the rite of battle. Apparently, this triangle symbol works as a sort of resurrection spell that is granted upon those undergoing the rite of battle бк it seems simr to our resurrection methods but more of a magical nature. Therefore, the advisors will be going all out on you for sure. Luckily for us we have the best weapons supplier one could ask for." Jin was happy to be able to help out as he was more experienced inbat.

    Qie Yue was aware that she wascking experience in that battle department and decided to leave it to Jin "Rmend away. I will take whatever you say." Qiu Yue smiled sweetly as she stared into Jin''s honest eyes for a while as he rambled away in his own self talk.

    "I guess, you can change into this set of clothes. Stats wise, it provides more flexibility and allows you to hide things too." Jin passed her a singlet with shorts, along with a long coat simr to what Kraft was wearing. The unique thing about the long coat was that it could insert more temporary inscriptionspared to other sets of clothing. (Not to mention the jacket has a permanent cooling inscription which Qiu Yue would like very much.) The singlet and cargo shorts were her staple kind of fashion when she was with Jin back then and he simply chose the colours she preferred. Navy Blue and ck.

    Qiu Yue dly picked those up and demanded Jin to turn around as she changed. However, Jin could not be bothered as he was currently in a world of his own choosing a suitable katana for her to use in the Weapon Store category in the Pandamonium App. Even those clothing that he arranged for her were from the Armour Store category. He hardly had to pay much since they were pretty cheap stock items.

    "Hmm. This katana seems decent. It has the chance to freeze the opponents the more the user hits with it." Jin said and took consideration of future customisations for that particr sword in conjunction with her brand new cultivation manual which seemed to deal with the ice element. The next thing he picked up was a pair of Uzi submachine guns from the weapon shop.

    Those submachine guns were simr to machine pistols that fired at high speeds and they would be effective against a close encounter. Jin received reports from Hou Fei that the improved modified M1 Garand rifles were great against their thin sheets of armour. Jin guessed Qiu Yue could start the fight with one and used the other as a spare. He purposely chose those and bought extended magazines so that there would be no reloading required whatsoever since there was no time to train her. All she had to do was remove the safety and squeeze the guns dry.

    "Now I understand why you asked me to wear this particr singlet. I remember seeing such clothing made to be sh resistant during an exhibition I happened to be attending. Ker, was it? But why these shorts?! Won''t I be vulnerable to attacks to my legs? Do you think the concept of bikini armour really applies in this world?" Qiu Yue asked with some annoyance as she was going for battle, not for a walk on the beach and Jinughed.

    "Well, it does suit you stylishly with that long ck coat. " He teased Qiu Yue who pouted before she said she was changing once more. It was a good thing she had some spare clothes in her storage ring. However, Jin stopped her and told her the real reason behind it.

    "Wait, Qiu Yue, I was just joking. Here it''s because of this." From his storage watch, Jin took out a pair of worn metal boots. They were none other than the old gearbox boots that he used before. Jin kept the newer version with improved features for himself, the one he created once more after the battle with Keyrin, the Thunder Ram Demon. After all, there was no way to sell the old ones unless he refurbished it. (No one in the ck market wished to buy a product full of scratches and damaged armour. It was equally troublesome to repurpose the usable armour ting just to sell. It was not worth the effort and price.)

    "It should improve your footwork and serve as armour for your legs. It''s equipment of mine which I used in battle, so I can personally guarantee that it is quite efficient." Jin asked Qiu Yue to try it who in turn asked Jin to assist her in putting them on.

    "Heh, I suddenly feel like Cindere." Qiu Yue grinned widely while she thought to herself as Jin gently pushed the gearbox boots up for her and pressed a button at the side. The gearbox boots analysed her leg''s form and gradually wrapped around it. Once done, Qiu Yue stood up and walked around the guest room to test them out. "I guess they are not as bad as I thought it would be." Qiu Yue praised as she tried to jump around a little and kicked a few times to test her flexibility. She could feel some strain at the start but like an artificial intelligence robot that learnt how to adapt, the gearbox tweaked the output and Qiu Yue starting to feel so natural as if she was barefoot, though morefortable after a while.

    "Alright, now it''s time to choose some temporary inscriptions." Jin announced which gave both of them some bonding time while discussing what needed to be chosen.

    An hourter, they assembled to the Outer courtyards where there was a training ground for the royal soldiers to train. The goblin advisors and Qiu Yue had decided to use that as a ce of battle and King Sol was around to attend to it. However before he allowed both parties to resolve their differences, the King shared some information with Jin about the current situation in the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu and notified him that the goblins and some of Jin''srades had engaged once with the orcs before retreating.

    Jin pretended to acknowledge the fact as if it was the first time he heard about it but Jin had been given constant updates from Kraft. Thanks to his surveince Jin was even better informed about it, and the situation was actually even more dire than what King Sol had heard but he trusted Kraft would be able to handle it on his own.

    "Heh, Master. You are giving me too much control over something you should be doing on your own. You sure it''s a good idea to give me so much power? I could always try to abuse this opportunity to usurp you." Kraft chuckled softly.

    "If you were not responsible and loyal, you would not have stayed with Ming for that long or me. I think... With your strength, you could''ve easily overpowered me and taken over the System for yourself. Especially when a lot of the upgrades were because of you. I am sure you know enough loopholes of the System but you did not exploit them. So, I trust that even though things might get chaotic on the battlefieldбн to you, it should simply further your fun. I trust that you can get the job done. Besides, these chaotic things those are the same things which will make the cultivators remember about this ''raid instance'', right?" Jin replied and Kraft cackled in amusement.

    "You are now talking mynguage! Andбнthank you Master. I am d to have met people like Ming and you." Kraft replied sincerely to Jin before he abruptly cut offmunications and Jin concentrated on observing the battle in front of him.

    The goblin advisors were decked out in excessively expensive gear. Magical runes were shining brightly on their armour, well polished swords, spears and ornaments like golden chains running along their customised helmet. If Qiu Yue were to find out they were in on the corruption, she would not be surprised either. However, with a nce Jin could gauge that a number of them had not worn them for a long time. Perhaps, the desk bound jobs in the ministries made themcentбн or perhaps that was what he wished to be the case for the uing fight. Regardless, Jin made sure Qiu Yue was equally well equipped since this was a bet too heavy to fool around.

    King Sol gave a p and the goblins immediately went into their previously discussed formation. Obviously, the one with the biggest shield stood in front and the rest had their swords and spears pointing outwards. In the meantime, Qiu Yue was putting up a front while folding her arms but in actual fact, she was holding on to the pair of uzi machine guns at the sides. The long ck coat was covering those weapons so well, the goblins were smirking being sure it was going to be an easy victory.

    "She does not have that wooden stick they called M1 Rifles with her. You know, the one that Snake masked Humanoid was training our troops with before they were flown away in the bellies of the giant metal bird." An advisor at the centre of the formation was whispering to the military advisor.

    "That is great. That means our defender has a higher chance of survival. This should give us the opportunity to fight against her. I propose we go for n G, instead of being defensive. Let''s go for a swift attack the moment King Sol deres the start of the battle." The military advisor suggested and most agreed except for one. The Magic Advisor was afraid that Qiu had a different sort of weapon which could shoot something simr to the M1 rifles. He insisted on putting up a barrier just in case.

    "Don''t be a wuss. We need you to support us with the strongest magic you can summon while not destroying the castle!" the Military advisor continued to argue in a whispering tone but clouded with worry the Magic Advisor was not following his lead. Truthfully Pei was still subtlety influencing all the others with her magic except for the Magic Advisor. Pei had concluded that the Magic Advisor who was tuned with the art of magic seemed to have a higher resistance towards mind control magic techniques. Instead of using more of her energy to influence him, she decided not to bother with him. This in turn would help prevent any suspicion of foul y from Jin''s side.

    "I will let the group herd thinking settle that magic advisor." Pei thought to herself while she maintained her magic in bracelet form. True enough, their petty bickering began to annoy King Sol who was witnessing everything at the sidelines.

    "Ready. Get set." King Sol activated a magic circle under them to activate the so called resurrection spell which would work as long as they stayed in that circle while performing the rite of battle.

    "Go." King Sol mmed his scabbard on the ground tomence the start of battle.

    The goblins were unhesitant to charge forward in a triangle formation to which Qiu Yue brandished her two Uzi submachine guns and fired indiscriminately at them. *CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK* The frontlines fell instantly. So fast that it shocked the advisors who were behind. However, it was toote to do anything about it, as they were the next to be killed by the spray of bullets. There had been no chance for them to even activate their magical runes at all for they clearly underestimated their opponent and the unstable emotions did not allow them to think correctly.

    Qiu Yue stopped for a while and jumped up to have a higher vantage point as she emptied whatever little amount was left in her extended magazines. The only one that managed to survive the relentless onught was the Magic Advisor who had defied the military advisor and created a personal magical barrier shield for himself. Qiu Yue smiled as she threw the submachine guns to scare him further before she rushed in with a flying kick powered by the gearbox boots.

    Jinughed as it was that infamous ''Rider Kick'' that they had already performed during the arena too. Only the King was troubled by the almost instantaneous kill. He was aware that Jin should not be underestimated, but this was simply overwhelmingly disgraceful for the goblins. He heaved heavily, simply d they were their allies. If they had sided with the Orcs, King Sol shuddered at that train of thought.

    "User. The goblin advisors have been captured into the System. They will definitely be loyal without a fault." The System stated after the battle had been concluded with Qiu Yue''s kick crushing the shield barrier. The surprised Magic Advisor''s was subsequently killed with a stab through the heart.

    "Eh? I thought only my weapons, betors and monsters were able to capture the goblins?" Jin was pleasantly surprised by the sudden change of situation. That would mean he could safely trust the goblin advisors to do their job. Now there was not even a need to worry should there be a way to revert the so call contract by the rite of battle.

    "The System understood that the items you were purchasing would be given to Candidate Qiu Yue. System had taken the liberty to inject the capture module code into those weapons. Should Candidate Qiu Yue continue to use those weapons, the code will remain valid." The System stated and Jin smiled.

    "Let the rite of battle resurrect them. That way we won''t even need to spend souls on them." Jin said and the System acknowledged while at the same time, it was analysing and processing the resurrection magic that was being used on the captured goblin advisors. There was a chance this type of magic could help in developing the System''s very own ck Goo Souls.

    King Sol came down from the stage he had been overseeing the battle from and shook Qiu''s hand. "Congrattions. The advisors will have to listen to you now. Should they try to disobey they would have to suffer the punishment of death due to the use contract in the rite of battle." King Sol smiled bitterly but now believed more than ever that Jin and hisrades would be the ones able to save them from this certain impending doom.

    "I was not expecting such a win from this group..." Qiu Yue grinned widely when suddenly a loud explosion echoed within the capital city not too far from the castle.

    "User, Satellite images show orc raiders attacking the capital. Judging from the tight security from the borders, it could indicate they used an underground passage of some sort to reach into the middle of the captital city." System surmised causing Jin to frown at the attack before calling Qiu Yue to follow him.

    "King Sol, we will deal with that Orc menace!" Jin said as he grabbed Qiu Yue who was slightly stunned by that explosion from afar, but the grab jolted her back to reality.

    "When we are back, I want all the relevant documents that we had been talking about in the previous meeting to be on the table!" Qiu Yue shouted towards the King while Jin was pulling her hand to hurry her up.

 Chapter 339 Extra - Ladies Nigh

    <h4>Chapter 339 Extra - Ladies Nigh</h4>

    "Yun, are you really okay with just handling the store?" Milk asked Yun when she closed the shop for the day. The shop instance was empty with nearly no one around while Jin was busying doing up his gadgets and dungeons.

    "Meh, it''s not that bad. I am part of the System and so when Jin asked me for my help to do so, I would do it for him." Yun replied as she took a cup of ck ivory coffee to drink and asked if Milk wants one. She took up Yun''s offer and looked around Jin''s shop instance.

    "It''s so much different from before. Remember the days when it was really just a small shop." Milk said as if it was something very nostalgic and Yunughed at the absurdity of the exaggeration Milk gave before putting the saucer and cup of hot coffee down in front of her.

    "Girl! It''s barely a month had passed since Jin opened this shop." Yun blew her hot coffee to cool it down faster.

    "Does not feel like a month at all. All theary travel kind of spoil my sense of time." Milk put her hand near Yun''s coffee to cast a minor spell that was consisted of a small wind breeze. Yun thanked her for it was the right temperature when she sipped on it.

    "Oh yes! I did not imagine you to be that strong when you fought against Jin." Milk was surprised by the moves Yun had done when she saw her fought with Jin in the random arena and Yun can only smirk at herment.

    "Mind your own business, Milk." Yun said as she checked her watch and felt it was not the time to sleep yet. "You want toe with me and walk around the shopping district? There are some night activities we can partake. It feels too early to sleep." Yun said and suddenly a few monsters started to appear in the shop instance as they always do when the Master Jin was not around.

    "Lady Boss! I want to walk around the ce too! I heard there is this ce where you can sing your hearts out!" Zhi Nu came out from the Sanctum of Worlds.

    "Oh Karaoke? I guess we can try that. They should be open till early morning. Let me check if we need to make any reservations." Yun took out her phone to check the site.

    "Then, let me join too." Que Er the Magpie Queen appeared in front Yun as a magpie before she turned to her human form. Not only her, Nyanmi and Meomi, the werecat sisters also came out from their instance too. Surprisingly, Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress was interested in this particr karaoke activity. If it can increase her exposure to music, she would not hesitate to join.

    "Count me in." Sandy emerged from a pile of soil near an artificial tree and Yunughed. "So this is a girl''s night out? Well, why not?! But first! Clothes! Youdies need more fashion taste!" Yun said and pointed especially to Que Er and Zhi Nu who were still in their traditional Chinese garb.

    Yun pped her hand and everyone was teleported to the Armoury store where hundreds or maybe thousands of clothes were being sold. The Red Pandas attendants immediately came towards Yun and asked if there was anything they could do.

    "Get them suitable modern clothes, those without inscriptions. We just want a night out." Yun smiled gently at the red pandas which they bow in respect before they scattered out in search for the right clothes for the monsters.

    Milk chose something rather modest for her body size. A green chiffon blouse and ck long pants. Sandy actually took something more casual, just simple shorts and long sleeve shirt with a panda cartoon graphic.

    The werecats despite always in their werecat forms had changed into humans just for this asion. Their long turquoise and light purple silky hair were of something to envy as it was natural rather than dyed. Of course, because of their hair colour and style, they decided to wear something a little more loud. ck leather jackets with short leather skirts and broken stockings. The cats purposely matched with each other for the asion.

    In the meantime, the immortal girls took a simplistic approach to their dressing. Que Er wore a cardigan with a white shirt and ck pants while Zhi Nu wore a long dress with a duster sweater. For Ke Mi, Yun personally chose a light pink one piece dress and assisted her wearing it.

    "Don''t worry Ke Mi, when we reach there, I will create a portal for you toe in. Great White Snake, you better transport her carefully! Do not dirty that dress!" Yun said and the Great White Snake beside Ke Mi stuck its tongue out in acknowledgement.

    "Actually, if you use this pair of magical boots, she should be able to walk normally." Shu suddenly appeared in the armour store and held onto a box. "The only bad thing is that there will be roots wrapping around her legs and she cannot run with it because the roots would be heavily strained and break. But with that dress, Ke Mi can hide those hideous roots. Maybe when Jinplete that Gearbox, it could serve as a recement for Ke Mi''s legs too."

    Ke Mi extended her hands out while showing an "I want this now!" expression as she desperately wanted to go out with the female monsters. Shu grinned widely as he ced the shoebox right beside her and she picked it up to use it immediately. Thedies were all cheering for Ke Mi as she took her first step up and walked around in the new boots. She did not know it was that simple to stand up with it.

    Yet, it was an extremely magical moment for Ke Mi.

    Yun, on the other hand, had no sense of appreciation for such magical moments and hurried the entire group. "Time is not waiting for anybody! Be quick or we will miss out the reservation!"

    The girls quickly went out of the armoury store and subsequently out of the shop instance for the very first time. If not for Yun, they might never see what the outside world looks like. Even though Ke Mi could walk, Sandy took the initiative to piggyback Ke Mi as the girls ran excitedly around the shopping district to see the various shops. She did not want the little girl to miss out or anything. Although a number of shops were closed since it was already past midnight, the products behind the ss panels excited them.

    It was then Yun beckoned them to go into the Karaoke store where she had reserved arge room. (all expenses were forwarded to the System''s user. Keke!) They ordered many tasty quick bites, and alcohol for the olderdies while the younger ones like Ke Mi and Sandy had soft drinks.

    Yun then introduced them to how the karaoke system worked and began to sing a song as part of the demonstration. Sheter yed a few modern and ssic songs with singers covering the lyrics too so that they knew how the tune would go. It took some time for the monsters to get used to it but within an hour, they managed to get the hang of it and started to repeat some songs they tried for the first time.

    The cats simr to their attire loved rock music while the immortaldies preferred music videos that suited the traditional Chinese music. Sandy and Ke Mi loved the modern songs but since Ke Mi could not sing, she summoned out her Zither and yed along with Sandy and the apanying music. Milk somehow knew some songs from the radio shest heard when Jin and the Betors went to the Zoo and she had been singing those songs too. Nheless, most of them would try to sing along with any song even though it was unfamiliar. The camaraderie between thedies for that night was extraordinary.

    Even when they were not singing, they would be ying some simple games that involved drinking. For example, if any of the girls went off tune, Milk and Yun would drink a cup of beer and they would see who canst longer than the other.

    All in all, they had their fun on their very firstdies night.

 Chapter 340 Terror Attack in the Capital

    <h4>Chapter 340 Terror Attack in the Capital</h4>

    As they descended down the castle stairs, Jin took the opportunity to open a portal. The System had set the destination at the roof of the house where the explosion originated from. Unlike previously where the System was unable to portal Jin or the goblins to where they wanted, the satellite it had deployed allowed coordinates to be input almost instantaneously for the portal to appear.

    The only problem with this particr satellite was that it could only handle the region of Kingdom Gob Gob, mainly because Jin had bargained for the cheapest one out there. There were no other functions other than observing for the System and its energy charge was approximately two months or so. Once its fuel had been used up, it would cease to work any longer, bing probably the first space junk in this Goblin world or it would fall back to the when it happened to be in its geo-orbit. Otherwise Jin would have used the satellite to find the Orc main kingdom and immediately teleported right there to stop this stupid war. (The other satellites even with just the basic modules would cost ten times more than this stripped down bare boned version of a satellite.)

    Jin grabbed Qiu Yue tightly to prevent her falling off the house when they came out of the portal. Thankfully the roof managed to bear the impact of Jin and Qiu Yue when they arrived on the scene. This gave them a clear vantage point of the area and it was evident that the Orc Raiders were killing wantonly, doing as much damage as possible.

    Jin found a suitable target and jumped down into a ''death from above'' kind of attack, surprising the Orcs. To his own surprise he noticed Qiu Yue doing the same on to the Orc Raider right beside his.

    The Orc Raider Captain saw these humanoids and immediately realised they were a threat. He vaguely remembered hearing chatters and rumours from the various orc raiding groups in a secured magical telmunication channel bestowed by the Orc Researchers. Those orc raider messages were broadcast throughout the goblin region within a day. Some of the orc raiders did not care and those who did, were already dead. (Courtesy of the cultivators from Jin''s shop.) The captain thought it was a ploy by the goblins to scare the Orc raiders. But the goblins did not know all these raids which looked like random encounters were all a coordinated plot.

    Hence, instead of ordering his men to defeat the humanoids, the Orc Raider Captainmanded them to scatter around and do as much damage as possible. "I will deal with them myself." The Orc Raider Captain said as he brandished hisrge axe and mmed it on the ground, shattering bricks on the road.

    "Shit, most of the monsters in my possession are held up with the cultivators. There is no way I can chase all of them down even with the help of the System''s navigation --...Wait a minute." Jin realised that there was someone else who could help out. "Qiu Yue, keep him busy for a moment. I will be right back!" Jin had no time to waste and chase down one of the Orc Raiders while dialling his phone.

    "You are just going to leave me behind?!!!" Qiu Yue screamed after Jin who was already running far behind her.

    "You can do it! Trust in yourself! Show them the might of the Red Panda!" Jin said as he dashed forth into the streets.

    "Oh my god, I should have listened to Jin and kept one Uzi submachine as a spare." Qiu Yue felt a little terrified by the size of the Orc Raider Captain who was more than happy to finish off the female humanoid first. He rushed forward while dragging his giant axe along the ground, breaking more of the brick road. Qiu Yue immediately went into her battle stance, preparing to parry if needed.

    "Hello? Lynn! I need you and your Penguin Crew to help us out! Several Orcs Raiders are attacking the capital of Gob Gob Kingdom. I need you guys to track them down and if possible to defeat them. The System will assist in finding them!" Jin hurried to exin the situation as he finally caught up with one raider as he threw Boo forward, injuring the Orc Raider''s back.

    "Some of the Raiders are mounted on wolves. It might prove a little difficult for the Penguins to catch them." The System interjected the conversation between Jin and Lynn.

    "Heh, You are underestimating my Peggies! Do not worry Jin. We will prove the System wrong." Lynn put the phone down as she picked up her Wok Chuan (Chinese Spat) anddle. She subsequently knocked the two of them together constantly to get the attention of the penguins in the kitchen.

    "Listen! Boss Jin needs help tracking some runaway Orc Raiders! To the Kitchen Armoury! Activate the skeleton crew on duty. Let''s kill these Orc Raiders and get back to work!" Lynn shouted as she took out her chef hat. The Penguins hailed Lynn and almost half of the penguins in the kitchen rushed to a room right beside the Kitchen.

    The room lit up and an assortment of knives, cutters, choppers and even sickles were attached on the wall and the penguins immediately picked up their choice of weapons. Meanwhile, a penguin mmed the floor tile. It was used to press a button on the floor, causing the tiles on the floor and ceiling to flip. More weapons and essories like esoteric scrolls, shurikens, chains, extendable staff were revealed.

    That''s right. The Penguins were more than simple cooks. In fact aside from being top notch helpers for the Restaurant Instance, they were also ninja trainees and Lynn was their Queen Ninja or so they dubbed her. It was a hidden function that Lynn discovered in the first few days of obtaining the Sub System. She realised that her cultivation was simr to a Ninja or Assassin as the cultivation manual, Perfectible Penguin Ruling the Kitchen Hell, was more about the use of culinary tools to kill if necessary. What better way to earn the trust of an assassination target than the allure of yummy food. Providing one with a perfect excuse to study a target up close.

    Yet the training involved was all about the kitchen. The art of bncing tes, the need to dash quickly and serve the orders in time. The endurance to cook as much quality food as possible. The strict detailed instructions in recipes. The correct timing to throw a speck of salt. The use of chi and harnessing it to prepare the dishes. All this while still remaining courteous to the customers. It was a delicate and yet arduous set of tasks for the penguins. But what Jin did not see was that during all this hectic work as cooks and waiters, they were simultaneously training their ability to fight.

    The penguins would duel with each other by throwing dirty tes for clean tes or when serving the food. All this while ensuring the food presentation would still be exquisite for the customers. Not a single drop of soup was allowed to be on the floor. The cooks would parry each others'' Wok Chuan and even used the Woks as a shields while ensuring the food cooking was still intact. The amount of dexterity to perform such finesse was absurd, but the penguins and Lynn had managed to get it.

    In the meantime, the asional failures did not mean the food was entirely wasted. The Sub System ensured all the food waste to be recycled. After all that food still contained spirit energy because of Lynn''s Sub System ability. Hence they were reprocessed into fertilisers for the living armour nts. (The Living Armour nts always looked forward to this since they were fertilisers that was filled with chi energy but unfortunately in recent days, it was getting lesser.)

    The Penguins took their weapons and put them in their ck storage scarves and wore ck bandanas that covered their eyes. The Sub System initially wanted the penguins to hold those weapons in a bag but Lynn insisted on the scarf part. Contrary to a certain Panda miser, she did not mind paying more for a bit of style and flexibility. (Yeah, Unlike humans, a fanny pack would only interfere with penguin''s short body.) Besides, ever since the Restaurant Train of Delicacy instance opened up, a huge chunk of the profit the instance generated went to Lynn instead of Jin. This in turn allowed Lynn to purchase and experiment with newer ingredients as well as upgrade her beloved peggies.

    "Ready?" Lynn also changed to her all new ninja attire which consisted of a full leather suit, simr to a motorcycle suit for aerodynamic purposes. Its material was very sturdy and seemed to consist of a material simr but sturdier than Ker. She fashioned a few pieces of ck painted armour on her kneecaps and elbows while equipping a lower torso armour piece made of the same material making it stab resistant. She also donned a ck scarf and a ck penguin half mask on her face.

    "GYOI!" The ninja trainee penguins shouted in unison while kneeling halfway.

    "Your will, your pleasure, huh?" Lynn smiled when the ninjas gave their reply in an old formal Japanese way of agreement. She kindly asked the Sub System tomunicate with the Main System and it opened multiple portals all around the kitchen. The penguins immediately took ''flight'' into the respective gateways. (More like jumping with their flippers open. Lynn found them too cute to remain serious.)

    One of the Orc Raider that Jin was chasing took the opportunity to throw an oil filled bottle on fire into the buildings but Jin was fast enough to use Panda Rolling to cut it into two. However, by intercepting that particr Molotov, the Orc Raider managed to further the distance by a few metres from him, forcing Jin to keep running once more.

    "Darn it! Even Panda Rolling has its limits. Maybe I should also get myself a mount. Riding into the battle on top of a Panda would be..." Jin puffed as his thoughts went wild for a moment, while he tried to catch up with the Orc Raider again. The Orc Raider smirked as it prepared to throw another Molotov c.o.c.ktail but suddenly a magical portal appeared which made him instinctively throw it into that portal.

    A shadowy humanoid figure came out catching the flying Molotov and shoved it on top of the orcs head. At the same time she used the hidden de under her hand that stabbed through his mouth. Not stopping at that, a hidden de under her boot appeared and it was directly used to puncture the running wolf. With a twirl and a kick, the hidden de under the boot punctured a vital nerve of the wolf, causing it to topple along with its owner.

    Lynn jumped off and kneeled in front of a stunned Jin while the goblins around the scene immediately hid in the surrounding houses or took behind cover. "Master Jin, your chef at your service." She solemnly said and Jin could not help butugh andpliment for a job well done.

    "So that''s what you''ve been hiding all this time, isn''t it? No wonder you refused my invitation for training when I asked you." Jin was surprised as he had not noticed how much Lynn had been growing in both power and maturity.

    She blushed a little but ultimately gave a wide grin towards Jin before she stood up. "I figured I could never catch up to you. But if I stay as your shadow, perhaps..." Lynn turned her back and stared at the struggling Orc Raider that was bleeding to death while the fire was spreading out on the rest of his body.

    "I can always be at your side no matter the circ.u.mstances." She thought to herself while walking towards the Orc and ended his struggling. Lynn looked towards the dying wolf and asked the Sub System to capture it for her.

    Jin was no longer the only one who was able to capture creatures, though Lynn''s capturing skills worked slightly different. If it was bestial in nature, Lynn was able to capture them to harvest themter as cooking materials. Her Sub System would preserve it with utmost ability and could even copy it''s genes and anatomy for reconstruction at a set price.

    However, the monsters which the Sub System recreated for food purposes did not possess a soul in them. Instead of being ssified as a creature, it was more urate to describe them as just a sack of meat and bones. The capturing also created a problem of its own. Once the monster fell under Lynn''s domain, Jin would not be able to use said monster for his own dungeons unless he went out to capture another such creature. To avoid fighting over these monsters Jin and Lynn had decided to implement a ''firste'' rule, since it could develop into grey point of contention for the living monsters.

    Yet behind the sidelines, the System and Sub System had discussed to use the ck Goo Souls with parts of the lifeless creatures for experiments especially since Half Ghoul Lord Derek had started developing some expertise for it. (They dared to proceed forward because Jin had given the go ahead to do so. An abomination is after all a whole new type living of creature.) It seems they were ying God in religious terms but to the System, the ex Panda Elders had indeed been bestowed powers simr to god in a limited way. To avoid anything unforeseeable, Kraft''s foxes were monitoring such experiments very carefully. The crafty fox did not wish to relive an incident like with the ex Panda Lord Zhou Lin.

    Jin looked at his own phone with the System''s map on it. The red targets were indeed disappearing one by one, courtesy of the penguin ninja trainees. Jin had a breather before he beckoned Lynn to follow him back to Qiu Yue.

    Meanwhile the poor young woman finally realised how weak she truly was during the time she had to endure against the Orc Raider Captain though the Orc Raider Captain himself was surprised at her sturdiness. He had thrown a few punches which had proved to be very deadly against many of the Goblin Guards but against this particr humanoid, they appeared ineffective.

    "Ineffective my ass, I still feel the bloody impact." Qie Yue as if she could read the orc''s thought through his mildly troubled expression, was d that Jin had provided her with the temporary inscription. Not to mention her upgraded outfit too, otherwise she would have probably died already. Her new weapon also proved to be a boon. Qiu Yue was using her sword to block the blows. With the nature of the ice elemental katana, it activated whenever it struck something. In this case, it was the Orc Raider Captain''s fist, which started to be numb.

    "In this case..." The Orc Raider Captain started to take her more seriously and picked up his axe to furiously m it down on Qiu Yue while she was panting for breath.

    "F.u.c.k!" Qiu Yue quickly tried to block with her sword but the blow was so strong that it broke the ice elemental katana into two. She felt memories suddenly shing past her. The steel axe de even broke the defence inscription that was desperately trying to negate the damage... but it was not robust to withstand it.

    However, at that point, a separate inscription activated and Qiu Yue got teleported out of the way, preventing the axe from splitting her into two. It had been an emergency teleport inscription fused with the defence inscription which Jin designated as ast ditch technique in case the defence inscription failed Qiu Yue. Nheless, she was not out of danger yet. The teleportation only put her ten metres away from the Orc Raider Captain.

    "Heh. I''ve heard of such humanoids, the experienced orc raiders said that they were strong, powerful and ruthless against our kind. But look what we have here? You are like a rat who scampers away at the sign of danger. So pathetic." The Orc Raider Captain paced himself a little before taking a big leap towards Qiu Yue.

    "You think I am going to die just like that!?" Qiu Yue had no time to activate her storage ring to take out a spare sword. She just had to survive both the insults and the iing attacks while waiting for Jin to appear again. Her eyes were a bit teary, her heart was beating like crazy but the sense of danger did not dull her battle senses. Even though it was just once, she remembered the odds Jin and her overcame in the battle arena.

    As the adrenaline was rushing through her and time seemed to slow down, her brain was trying to think of a way to get out, when she realised she still had Jin''s old gearbox boots. As if the boots were reading her mind, they actively moved her legs upwards as the Orc swung his axe towards her once more.

    Qiu Yue could feel the impact of the axe attack even more since she no longer had the temporary defence inscription protecting her. Her spine was strained, and her legs were trembling from the attack. Yet, the gearbox boots were able to withstand the attack and did not break like the ice elemental sword.

    "I might have a chance!" Qiu Yue used her might to push the axe sideways with her legs and got up with a jump before gaining some distance away from the Orc Raider Captain. The Orc did not give any quarters as he rushed forward with all his strength. That was when Qiu Yue used her gearbox boots to boost ahead as well.

    With speed at her side, she managed to dodge the iing vertical sh and she knee strike the Orc Raider Captain to the upper right chest before utilising the momentum in her to kick his face. Sadly, the Orc Raider Captain had enough experience in battle and seemed to have anticipated this kind attack and attempted to grab her.

    "Don''t you dare you filthy orc!" In an instant, the Orc''s Right arm was severed, and Jin grabbed Qiu Yue from behind before twisting and spinning to deliver another sh to his left arm. Before both of his arms managed to reach the ground, two hidden des were plunged into the sides of his neck and Lynn used her strength to sh it out of his nape.

    "You okay?" Jin panted as holding Qiu Yue in his arms once again. Qiu Yue was also breathing crazily not just from the exhaustion but her heart was jumping all over the ce. She thought she was a goner when Qiu Yue saw the evil smirk on the Orc''s face.

    "You Stupid! So slow! So ...Waaaaaaaa" Qiu Yue softly punched Jin a few times before she took the initiative to grab on Jin and cried quietly. Lynn saw that and sympathised with her. If she were in that same situation as Qiu Yue, she would be equally scared too.

    In the meantime, Pei took the liberty to take the memories of the orc before his brain was totally dead from the loss of blood. "Hmm. Boss. The situation might be worse than we thought."

    "Speak freely, Pei." Jin sent the voice transmission to Pei while asking Lynn to take care of Qiu Yue for a moment. He proceeded near the dead Orc Raider Captain and began to search his belongings.

    He then saw a machine like artefact and ording to his memories from what Pei described, it''s a Lost Technology Artefact. The other orc raiders that ran away were trying their best to portray this whole thing as a suicide terror raid. But in actual fact, they were nning to nt these machine like artefacts to transport troops from the Orc territory directly into the capital.

    "The Thunder Army from the north is a ruse, forcing us to bring the best of our goblin army there. The Orc King Hamu was nning to bring the fight into the capital all along. The Kingyer Ambush and the ship carriers were their initial n, hoping to get rid of all the kings simultaneously and catch the unarmed goblins as ves once more. Since that was no longer an option, they decided to bring their armies forward. They showed off their flying lost technology so that none of us will even thought about theming from underground. Little did we know that this was their backup n and everything was a calcted ruse. They purposely sent more raiders for this attack to scatter and activate the lost artefacts." Pei deciphered the Orc Raider Captain''s memories.

    "Lynn, send the word out to your penguins to retrieve all these lost tech artefacts. System, analyse these. Perhaps they will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I have an idea which might allow us to encounter the Orc King Hamu faster than we thought." Jin ordered and Lynnplied. The System immediately took the item into its possession and began to analyse the part of the artefact.

    "I''m leaving Qiu Yue to you, Jin. I will assist my penguins in finding the lost artefacts." Lynn nodded her head before she suddenly ran and disappeared into the alleys of the house and asked the Sub System to reverse analyse the paths those dead orcs had taken. They would then be able to get an approximate location where the lost artefacts could have been ced in case the penguin ninjas did not find them on the Orc''s belongings. However, she was doing all this to deflect herself from thinking too much about Jin and Qiu Yue since she had decided just to assist Jin from the sidelines. (for now.)

    "Sub User Lynn should be more assertive. System has confirmed to Sub System that those two are not a pair yet. Sub User Lynn should not give up." Sub System tried to console Lynn, while giving her advice, but got not reply.

    "I will get the military advisor to assist in the search for the lost tech artefacts." Qiu Yue steadied herself as they too went into an alley before teleporting back to the castle to prevent ciivilian goblin eyes staring at them wildly.

    "Are you sure you are okay? I can do the exnation for you while you rest a little?" Jin replied with concern.

    "It is fine. We went through worse, right...?" Qiu Yue tried to crack a joke as she dusted her coat a bit before proceeding to the meeting room of the area, yet Jin insisted on apanying her.

    "Is everything alright and under control? My guards have yet to give me an update." King Sol had even taken off his coat and was assisting the advisors preparing the doc.u.ments.

    "There is a new development which gravely concerned us. This was not a simple terror raid as we expected it to be." Jin exined the situation to the entire group of advisors and King Sol. Afterwards Qiu Yue ordered the military advisor to help out Lynn with searching.

    "Where the hell did they get those artefacts from?" King Sol pondered before shaking his head.

    "Your Majesty, should we send the word out now or continue to suppress the news of the attack?" Home Affairs advisor asked which resulted in Qiu Yue interjecting with her own opinion.

    "Do not say anything directly about the Lost Artefacts. However do inform the public that if they discover any suspicious packages or sightings of orcs, they are to report the location of those to the guards immediately." Qiu Yue went on to exin it would be more beneficial to pretend those being possible dangerous magical contraptions left behind by the Orc Raiders.

    "I understand, I will proceed to tell my department to distribute the news." Home Affairs told the secretary and they continued to look at the doc.u.ments. Jin, on the other hand, decided to return to the Dungeon Maker and left the care of the government advisors for Qiu Yue to handle.

    "Kraft, anything major?" Jin returned and Kraftzily looked at the screens.

    "Nah, just arge megaser cannon that fired through the gates of the Valley Town Gob Gob Bu, allowing the Orcs the chance to go in. Peppers would probably give it something like a 3/10. Oh, and those Orcs were enchanted with some kind of No Pain or High Endurance magic spell. They are rushing forward with no fear nor regard for their own safety. Some of them were marching forward with missing hands or bleeding torsos. Pretty sure I even saw one crawling on with his guts leaking out. So you know, the usual." Kraft leaned back and munched on some potato ch.i.p.s near the console.

    "So in other words...everything is under control?" Jin smiled bitterly as he looked at all these screens.

    "Meh, you can say that. Surprisingly almost all your regr customers were free enough to join this particr fight. You seem to have gathered a pretty loyal mercenary troop of your own, The Pandawans. Your enemies will shake in fear after hearing that mighty name. Hahah." Kraft pointed and Jin could see the list of Pandawans that had entered the Raid Instance. It was no longer simply Se Lang the Wacky Wolf, Deng Long the W.o.m.bling W.o.m.bat Style, Bu Dong the Angry Ape and Kong Xian the Towering Tortoise that had entered right before the second wave had started.

    Yue Han the Blind Bat, Yue Wen the Healing Maiden, Jia Ying the Sanguine Stag, Shi Hui the Shadowy Swan and Jing Ru the Gunning Giraffe had seemingly entered the fray as well during his absence. It was bing a significant battle with that many cultivators in one particr region.

    Kraft had even allocated some cultivators to assist with the citizens moving away from Gob Gob Bu so that the rest of the goblin army could enter. He purposely gave out a bunch of extra raid points to those cultivators and even promised to send them to other missions for free. Jin was surprised that Kraft was able to think of something so kind and meaningful.

    "You doubt my sincerity after all this time?! Your thoughts truly hurt me!" Kraft gave a fake annoyed face, but Jin ignored the theatrics and simply created a chair from the Dungeon Maker to look over the situation with Kraft.

    "You sure about this? Too many cooks spoil the broth you know." Kraft asked as he figured Jin''s intention.

    "Two heads are still better than one," Jin replied as he extended his hands out for some ch.i.p.s.

    "I can do that in your head too." Kraft smiled and summoned out a new bag of ch.i.p.s instead.

    "Argh, spare me. I only got like six hours of sleep from the sleeping capsule. I still feel like crap alright." Jinined before he started to discuss what to do with the lost artefacts.

    "Heh, do you really want to hear my opinion? Your eyes already tell me that you have thought up a crazy n of your own, don''t you?" Kraft smirked and Jinughed.

    "It''s unrealistic to be honest. I was hoping we could put the artefacts on top of the volcano and expect a whole lot of orcs to teleport in there. However I fear, this will only work once. Since chances are that they are going to teleport in batches. So if the first batch does not respond, they will probably not send more afterwards." Jin revealed his idea.

    "So what? Just build a fake city on top of the volcano. Pretend to struggle there for a while, until no more reinforcement arrives and then let the volcano do the rest." Kraft took thest few ch.i.p.s and threw them in his mouth.

    "So shall we call it Operation Pompeii?" Jin suggested and Kraft liked that idea as they nodded spiritedly together.

 Chapter 341 Northern War Theatre - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 341 Northern War Theatre - Part 3</h4>

    Neither the cultivators nor the goblins expected it. They thought everything was going to be just fine. The anti tank cannons had managed to shoot down the catapults, rendering them useless. The marksmen repeatedly fired their M1 Garand Rifles and managed to scored more kills than they ever had in their entire military career. Some of the marksmen had to shout at others to pass them some ammo since they managed to nearly burn through it despite the supposed cost. Even Jia Le, the Breathtaking Bellflower, and Luo Bo, the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator, shot out uncountable kunais and arrows until their hands hurt.

    Yet, roughly half an hour into the battle, the Orcs in the front line had managed to reach the fort walls using whatever means possible or necessary to head towards their destination. Shields, dead Orcs, leftover pieces of armour. It seemed like a mostly one sided massacre; nevertheless, the overwhelming numbers gave them the sole advantage especially when they were pitting against a small number of goblins. At this time Spear General Argent started to notice a noticeable change in the siege formation. There were no Orcs who attempted to break down the front doors at all as if they were actively avoiding that ce. This should not be the case since it was the weakest link of the defence fortification.

    Instead, the Orcs were attempting to climb up the walls which were fifteen metres tall and they were doing it hastily. Each unit was carrying adder with them for that exact purpose. The first few orcs died under arrow and gun fire and eventually became the foundation for their ricketydders. Some of the stronger or more agile Orcs used sickles and ws to climb up the walls instead. Others were sessful in reaching the top and started distracting the marksmen from the regr orcs allowing more of thedders to be ced. (Of course, those orcs were taken care of immediately.)

    There were two castle towers at the side of Gob Gob Bu fort walls and the goblin militia that was not manning the fort walls as bowmen were responsible for transporting hot oil to be thrown over the walls. Because goblins were small in size, it was rtively difficult to throw those heavy pots of oil over alone. Luckily with the help of either Sandy the Sand Witch and Zhi Nu the Immortal Weaver who were at each side of the castle towers, the goblins managed to do so without getting scald by the hot oil pot.

    Those orcs that were climbing up the siegedders, however, could not avoid that. They had their skin melted off entirely and some of the less lucky Orcs had the hot oil running down along their throats, causing them to suffocate and die. Still, that was not the only purpose of the hot oil. The goblin militia bowmen lit up their arrows and shot the areas where they poured the hot oil. Some even just threw their burning arrows or empty quivers doused in oil and fire to burn the makeshift wooden siegedders. Regardless, the orcs were not deterred at all by these horrors. It seemed as if the effects of the taboo magic that Spear General Argent had seen during the days of Goblin Rebellion was even more potent this time around. However, he did not have a clear look at the Orcs themselves to verify it.

    "Damn it, they were branded taboo for a reason! How can they care so little for the life of their soldiers, those cold hearted bastards!" General Argent swore in a fit of anger. Overseeing the battle, he finally felt something was off when he identally noticed that there was a gap gotrger in the orc siege formation. Never one to doubt his instincts he moved towards Luo Bo and asked if she could fire a few of her re arrows towards the end of the mountain valley.

    Luo Bo did not hesitate and shot the chi enhanced re arrow breaking the looming darkness of theing night. This particr re arrow was somewhat special in that it released little res periodically at every ten metre interval which provided General Argent with the vision he needed. True enough, the siege formation was split into two with the middle emptied just as suspected. As Argent was waiting for view at the end of the trail, the re arrow disappeared when it was reaching the other side of the valley instead of burning brightly.

    "Shit! They are using illusion magic! Whatever they are hiding can''t be good!" General Argent immediatelymanded the anti tank guns to shoot at what seemed to be the end of the valley and called out the militia to raise their shields up. Even Sandy''s Sand Shield Sentinel Spirit went into full defensive mode.

    However, before the anti tank gunners could pull off the next volley of explosive attacks, arge energy beam silently ripped through the optical illusion that was well covered in darkness and a ray of intensely bright light sted through the centre of the valley. It instantly destroyed the fort gates and the subsequent makeshift barricades that had been created by the goblin militia.

    The st was strong enough to decimate and burn almost everything in its path, creating a hole not just through the fort wall but reaching the other end of the town as well. The M4 Sherman tank which was stationed at the 25 metres away from the fort walls took a hit too.

    Fortunately, the Grade 10 thunder resistance inscription managed to protect the electronics and ammunition in the tank, but it was obviously more than the inscription could have handled alone before fading away along with the additional metal sheets ting of the tank. The tank was only able to survive due to the help of Sandy''s Sand Shield Sentinel Spirit that had focused all eight shields and ced them as ayered defence absorbing part of the ray or else the beam would have eliminated not just the fort gates, but probably the entire town and whoever was inside it too.

    "Tsk, I did not expect that foreign magical summon of theirs to be that strong. Even though it seems to be on the verge of disappearing, this is uneptable!" Colonel Ayse was disappointed at the result of the attack as she looked through her binocrs at a distance. She did not hesitate to order her war wolf to devour the Orc officer in charge right in front of her for showing such poor results. Yet, she was equally excited. Her gut was telling her the Spear General must have survived if they had such a summon to protect the city. And if he did, that would meant she had the opportunity to y him with her own hands.

    "Shame it''s a one time use, but its output is something that we can improve on." Colonel Ayse ordered one of her orc guards to get the caged humanoid responsible for researching these artefacts to write the details down before she continued to feast her eyes on the town.

    In the meantime, Spear General Argent was the first to recover from the intense shockwave emitted from the energy ray attack. He looked at the portion of the wall that had the fort gates disappearpletely. Rubble were littered all around the remaining sides of the fort and the goblins tried their best to recover from the shock too.

    However, the Orcs were not giving them any quarters and had rushed forward through the opening while others continued to climb up any surviving makeshiftdders to the top of the fort walls. The victorious orc war cries lowered the morale of the goblins but it was not enough to break their spirit. The goblin marksmen reloaded their rifles and continued to shoot from the sides of the remnants of the fort wall, using whatever vantage point they still possessed.

    The first thing the Orcs ran for was actually the metal box. They did not care if the energy ray attack destroyed it or not. The Orcs had witnessed its capabilities and would capture it for their own use and reverse engineered it if possible. The cultivators that were scouting around the houses recovered from the st shockwaves and tried their best to return to the M4 Sherman Tank as soon as possible to provide support.

    Bin Yong rushed to the open space and was horrified by the destruction brought by the enemy''s siege attack. The ground was still scorching from the attack and everything in its path was burning. There was even one or two goblins militia being burnt into half while trying to avoid the attack. But what caught his attention was the orcs that were climbing up to the tank''s cockpit.

    Sad to say, those poor orcs did not know that Hou Fei was still in the cathedral tower sniping down at those who attempted to loot the M4 Sherman tank. The orcs that reached the cockpit and tried to open it with brute force were first in priority to be shot in the torso. (He knew a bullet of that calibre from the Barret Sniper Rifle would kill them almost instantly, besides time was of an essence. It was better to hit something than a miss because he wanted a confirmed kill via a headshot.) Blood and body parts were sttered all around the tank. Even though it did not deter them, their numbers were dwindling, giving Bin Yong ample time to rush towards the Tank.

    Another reason their numbers were limited was because Zhi Nu. Her position was away from the fort gate giving her more time to assess the situation aspared to the goblins attempting to recover from the st. She took the opportunity to ''decorate'' the opening between the fort walls with her lovely deadly steel threads.

    Such intricate decoration proved to be quite deadly for many of the Orcs Calvary. Their onlyrgepany of Orc Boar Calvary had waited for the fort gates to be broken and the town to be defenceless. They believed it was that golden opportunity to dash down the middlene with overwhelming speed and power to upy the town as soon as the gates were brought down.

    Hence, the war boars rushed in. Unfortunately, due to the poor visibility with theing darkness of night, they were unable to see those thin steel threads clearly. As expected, they were sliced into pieces by their own speed and momentum. Although the calvary subsequently noticed it, their speed rush made it difficult to stop in time, causing various idents before the calvary behind finally realised there was something wrong at the front. The remaining calvaryter notified the Orc infantries about the steel threads after and tried to cut them down but it proved to be difficult to pass through. Many were stuck which provided the goblin marksmen with perfect stationary targets.

    That does not mean the goblins were recovering from the change of situation. With the Sand Shield Sentinel Spirit removed from the equation of the fort defence, the goblins were exposed to arrow fire and magical attacks and it also meant that they could no longer proactively continue to suppress the orcs, giving the Orcs the chance to climb up the fort walls too.

    Bin Yong managed to activate his tank and Shi Zuo caught up to take the driver''s seat. "Fuck! Will that beam thing happen again?" Bin Yong tried to zoom into the bigser cannon that was smoking at the end of the valley. If not for the infrared and night vision options, Bin Yong would not have been able to see it.

    "Just concentrate on the defence first! Such big assser cannons definitely have either high cool down or a one time use. Let''s just hope it''s thetter for now! Implementing such a weapon in this Raid Instance, I can''t be sure if this is madness or genius." Shi Zuo did not give a damn as he decided to push forward close to the steel threaded opening and Bin Yong took the chance to fire towards what he could see from the limited vision.

    "Time to earn our points." Xiong Da said as he climbed up the fort walls along with the other melee cultivators like Bu Dong, Kong Xian, Deng Long, Ruo Ying and Se Lang. They smashed and shed the orcs down and decided to take the offensive by jumping over the walls and force their way through.

    The Orcs officers were not expecting a strike force from a defensive battle because that would be stupid to risk your already small numbered forces for an attack against arge army. But because of that mindset, Xiong Da and the others had a good time taking some revenge against the Orcs that killed some of the goblins.

    Xiong Da being the leading vanguard of the group rushed in with his War Club and the Great Axe which he borrowed from Shi Zuo. In possession of two great weapons, he smashed and bashed his way through the siege formation, running as much as possible creating space for the other cultivators to fight too. (He was afraid he would identally hit one of the cultivators especially when his instinct was to kill everything on sight. )

    Despite the attack by the humanoids, the orc frontline officers themselves were not to be underestimated. Their body size wasrger than the regr orcs and they had activated their magical armours and weapons, making them strong opponents for the cultivators. They personally engaged with the cultivators and challenged them to a duel. (Needless to say, the other Orcs did not care, they would steal the kill if it means earning glory and rank from their higher ups.)

    If one were to scrutinise the fights, they could see that almost every Pandawan was engaging with at least one Orc officer while fighting against their orc''s rank and file. It was basically a free for all match against the cultivators. Fortunately, they were outnumbered but not outpowered.

    Each of them pushed their limits to the max, activating the most powerful techniques they had mastered till then and did their best against the Orcs. Nobody had the mindset that this was just another dungeon instance. The fights felt too real to even think of taking a step back and hoping the difficulty would be lowered for them.

    They could feel their hearts beating crazily when their weapons shed with the Orcs. Bu Dong, the Angry Ape Cultivator even tried out new fresh techniques, hoping to drive his cultivation to the limit and achieve a higher grade. Kong Xian pulled taunting cry techniques against the Orc rank and file to cover Bu Dong''s back while he tangoed along with the orc officers. Before this raid event, those high school brothers had continuously entered the Shaolin Football Arena for experience and they grew closer with better teamwork. (Sadly, the Savants remained unbeaten.)

    "If only that traitor Yue Han was here." Bu Dongined as he remembered Yue Han saying he woulde as soon as possible after his date with Xing Li, the Hedgehog Cultivator.

    "Just let him enjoy himself. They haven''t seen each other for days because of his girlfriend''s part time job. Don''t worry you will always have a ce in his heart." Kong Xian teased Bu Dong while asking him to be understanding as he cleaved a few orcs into half.

    But the battles were not focused on just them as the objectives of each side did not change. Orcs that were not upied with the cultivators tried their best to seize the town asmanded. The goblins on the fort walls were desperately keeping their wits together, fighting to ensure the orcs did not take over the chokepoints resulting a constant exchange of bullets, arrows and magic bolts causing damage to both the fort walls and orcs army.

    Just when the cultivators'' assistance started to turn the gears of war into a battle of attrition, that was also when the representatives of their army send in their specialities. Colonel Aysemanded the Ogres to be sent out for battle instead of them just lying around doing nothing. Those Ogres were hastily outfitted with heavy makeshift armour on the spot and ordered to destroy the fort walls.

    If the lost artefactser cannon was unable to do the job, old fashion brute strength should finish it. The Ogres charged into the scene and did not care about their orc rades'' since mind control techniques had crippled their intelligence. In the meantime, the veteran Orc mages who were summoning the spawn of their Shaitan Noble Syldra finally seeded.

    Though the ritual consumed the lives of the orc mages, they dly sacrificed themselves for the Shaitan Noble of Thunder. The spawn was smaller in size than their revered Thunder Serpent, which was aptly named as the Storm Viper by their followers. Like its name suggested, it cast supportive lightning magic to the Ogres and they started to move out at thrice the speed towards the fort walls. (Those Ogres were a bunch of creatures that did not like to move much. Three times the speed was equivalent to the speed of the charging war boars which was alreadymendable. Most mages'' high level supportive movement magic would not be able to achieve twice the Ogre''s speed.)

    Colonel Ayse who became the highest ranked officer of this particr frontier army after they lost their initial chain ofmand from Luo Bo'' attack, could not care less about the lives of these orcs which were trampled by the moving Ogres. As long as the walls were brought down, the fallen would receive their desired honour and that was all it matters.

    She kept pointing at her personal pocket watch to the second most senior orc officer in the army who was in charge after his senior officer got eaten by Colonel Ayse''s war wolf for being terribly ''ipetent''. "What are you wasting time for? Waiting for the Sun toe up? Quick, get the walls down with the Ogres! We are expected to wee our General inside the city! I will ensure that you suffer a fate worse than your predecessor if we dally around! " Colonel Ayse bellowed impatiently. The Orc Officer could only bite his lip and nodded at his head reluctantly before scolding his own subordinates for not assisting the ogres that were rushing ahead.

    At the same time General Argent hadmanded his own Wyvern to appear which became the signal for the rest of the Dashing Wyverns to enter this messy War Theatre. The Wyverns were initially responsible for thinning the advancing forces once they took care of the range units. But with the Ogres advancing faster than they expected, General Argent hadmanded his goblin riders to aim for them first.

    Even Piercestriker joined the Dashing Wyverns too as he had taken over one of the surviving wyverns that recently lost its rider. Piercestriker thought it would be difficult to ride a wyvern tamed by another goblin rider, but the mind to mind connection connected almost instantly. It was as if the Wyvern had known him before and seen Piercestriker proving his worth. Regardless, the other riders even congratted Piercestriker briefly during their uneasy rest time but they knew they had to heal up before going into battle again.

    That was their n until anotherrge metal bird appeared within the sights of General Argent when he ordered his Dashing Wyvern unit to enter the fray. However, unlike previously where therge metal bird took off after dropping a few of Master Jin''srades. This time around, the metal bird flew very close to the ground and the Pandawans inside were shooting the attached machine guns freely at the backlines of the Orc army, wreaking havoc amongst the remaining Archer and Mage units of the Orc army.

    The most prominent figure in the C130 ne was standing at the edge of the ne when it opened its cargo doors. "Looks like they really do need help. Pandawans, when the ne does another pass along the valley, get ready to jump." Zeru folded his arms observing the situation while the ''third wave'' of cultivators came in as reported by Kraft to Jin. Kraft initially wanted to send Peppers in but Jin had decided to use Zeru instead.

    Jin''s rationale was that he wanted Peppers to work with another Jin to prep for Operation Pompeii but Original Jin only sent out one Another Jin to work with Peppers because he was too tired to split anymore for the day. Peppers didin about not being able to dispense some pent up stress on the Orcs but Jin assured her that if she did this operation well, she should be able to create a scene that could possibly be remembered for the ages.

    "I will hold you to that! I am not going to care about the budget at all!" Peppers stuck her tongue at Jin as she worked friendly with the Another Jin.

    "How does that even work?! I am that Jin too! It''s as if he is another entityбн" Jin shook his head as he saw them chatting so lively.

    "Maybe the Other You has a personality that Peppers cannot resist despite it being controlled by your subconscious. It seems you have the potential to be quite thedies man..." Kraft rubbed salt on Jin''s wounds before returning to focus on the screen.

    As the ne began to make its second descent, the orc army''s ranged support was too thined out to even make a dent against it. Yue Han, the Blind Bat Cultivator, saw his mates and jumped when the ne made its descent. The aircraft was flying so low that Yue Han could execute his shadow sword and movement techniques with style and assist Bu Dong who was fighting against two Orc officers at once.

    "Sorry that the hero iste!" Yue Han smirked at the two as he did anding pose but instead of them being delighted, Kong Xian and Bu Dong actually found the time to push Yue Han down to the floor and kicked him a few times.

    "Hero my ass! We are eating dirt and arrows while you have fun with Xing Li!" Bu Dong still had some residue feelings for her, the Hedgehog cultivator and he was throwing his punches of jealousy to Yue Han.

    "I am just following what Leader is doing. Hehe!" Kong Xian kicked lightly whereas Bu Dong was more serious while still deflecting the blow from the remaining Orc Officer who thought Bu Dong lowered his guard.

    "Come on you guys, give him a break." Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator, arrived via the floating tform from the C130 ne and healed all three of them as Jing Ru the Gunning Giraffe cultivator covered their backs from the usual Orc Rank and file. Meanwhile, her friends Jia Ying and Shi Hui assisted Se Lang and Deng Long.

    "BLEARGH! I AM THE FOURTH WHEEL AGAIN!" Deng Long shouted in agony as he smacked an orc with his baton repeatedly that its bleeding nose was ttened.

    "Ohe on, bro. I did not expect them toe." Se Lang tried to smoothe his police partner''s feelings but the two girls had to make it worse for him.

    "But Big Brother Se Lang, if you do not fight with usбнWe might fight against each other for you and only you~!" Shi Hui, the Shadowy Swan Cultivator, sexily dance towards Se Lang and creating a sort of hypnosis dance that made the Orcs dizzy which Jia Ying, the Sanguine Stag cultivator, took the opportunity to clear them off with her spear techniques.

    "My dear Shi Hui, I do not need to fight for him, he is already mine." Jia Ying winked confidently at Se Lang making him speechless and Shi Hui pouting.

    "I get it! I GET IT!" Deng Long kicked one of the Orcs away and continue to fight through the orcs all by himself.

    "Bro!" Se Lang was slightly hesitant since he really did promise Deng Long he would y this raid event with him even when his two girlfriends asked for his presence. That was when Shi Hui and Jia Ying finally broke intoughter at Se Lang''s helplessness.

    "Go Wolfie, we knew that you promised him but we did not expect to be in the same battlefield. Have fun with him." Shi Hui smiled and pped his sturdy back hard, indirectly casting a support boost on him that increased his agility a little more than usual. "Shall we get back to our training? We cannot lose out to our boyfriend." Shi Hui said and Jia Ying smirked and nodded her head.

    In the meantime, Zeru was busy upying himself defeating the ogres with no techniques. Just mere brute strength against those blobs of meat and metal. All he did was to jump to their faces and a seemingly gentle hit with Zeru''s wooden sword made the Ogres fell. Some of the Ogres got more aggressive after seeing their fellow kind killed, but they were the ones who got it worse from Zeru. Their faces were cut into two, spilling blood, saliva and contents of the brain out all over the battlefield. One Ogre even went into a raging fit when his head was separated from him.

    This gave General Argent some breathing space as he and his Dashing Wyvern unit decided to head towards the Lost Tech Laser cannon, hoping to destroy it before it could fire once more. (They did not know it was defunct after that attack.) If not, the Storm Viper would be their other target.

    However, when he got closer, a thin beam of purple electrical energy was released towards him and General Argent barely evaded it. That was when he noticed a bunch of heavily armed orc guards, that was distinct from the rest of the orc army or its officers.

    "That uniform!" Argent''s blood boiled as he could see a particr female Orc was smiling at him hysterically and with a snap of her finger, the Storm Viper who was standing around nonchntly immediately slid up in the air towards them.

    "Wyverns! Spread out and go with nking formation against the Storm Viper! I will deal with themander personally!" General Argent shouted as he charged in.

    "Hahahhaha! ARGENT! It is nice to see you again ''Brother''! Adopted son of the Head Researcher Vox! Of all the people he treasured! You were the one that betrayed him so badly and still holds on to his treasured gun!" Colonel Aysemanded her guards to attack Argent as he came down striking one of them.

    "AYSE!!!!!" Argent roared as he and his wyvern swooped down towards the Colonel and her guards.

 Chapter 342 Northern War Theatre - Final

    <h4>Chapter 342 Northern War Theatre - Final</h4>

    Argent dodged yet another energyser attack from Ayse as he jumped off his wyvern and pierced one of her guards with his spear. "You dare to say I was the one who betrayed him!? You were the one who nted that wicked idea into Father''s head and the previous King''s! You forced us to kill each other!!!" Argent shouted back as he did a spinning like attack with his spear before distancing himself away from the guards.

    Separately, the Dashing Wyverns were finally given the opportunity to show off their teamwork against the Storm Viper who tried to attack them in the air. Despite being able to fly, the creature who preferndbat, shot numerous thunder bolts out of its mouth to force them back on the ground. Yet the wyvern''s air to airbat was unparalleled and they had an easy time dodging those thunder bolts because of the six degrees of freedom in mid air. Launching attacks of their own the Dashing Wyverns split up. One half distracted the Storm Viper by letting out multiple breaths of fire while the other half had the goblin riders nose dive from above before retreating thereby slowly .u.mting damage to its lengthy body.

    Yet the proud Spawn of Syldra, would not ept going down like this. It stopped with the thunderbolts and started to emit electrical charges out of its body to protect itself instead. Unfortunately those lightning attacks were not as effective as the Storm Viper had expected them to be. Goblin healers had made use of their resting time to cast magic that gave them higher lightning resistance. The goblins also had gone through the Town''s alchemical stores and gathered bags of magical powders that reduced the effectiveness of static discharge around them after having learnt that their enemy would be the Lightning Army.

    This allowed the Dashing Wyverns to act bolder in their attacks and try eliminate the Storm Viper before it could potentially inflict serious damage to the entire unit.

    When all of this was going on one goblin stood out from the rest. Piercestriker flew up vertically high with his new wyvern as if they were going tounch a death strike from the skies yet that was when something miraculous happened. Piercestriker body started glowing alongside the Wyvern while he felt the chi within him rotating around him entrically.

    "User, Goblin Piercestriker seems to have fulfilled the criteria to be entering a stage of evolution. This evolution is outside of the nned one which was promised as a reward. Do you wish to allow it, so that System shall provide aid to speed it up?" The System noted and Jin who was looking at the overall battle was shocked at the content of the sudden message.

    "Erm, go ahead I guess?" Jin moved his console to look at Piercestriker and his stats popped up too. The console immediately updated a new page of stats and an updated card picture for his Tact Tweaker.

    "The Goblin seems to have managed to develop a unusually high affinity with the Wyvern it was currently riding. Such evolutions are considered symbiotic evolutions, a subtype of side evolution rather than a step up evolution. Betor Peppers has left a note for you in case of such situations arising. System is now ying back her exnation: ''Think of side evolutions as unlocking and changing hidden ss instead of a step up evolution which is more like a ss advancement'' ." The System yed the recording of Peppers voice and exined it further which lead Jin to understanding that it was more like a Goblin version 1.5 than a totally new form.

    "Ah, you scared me back there. I thought for a moment that he would change into some sort of winged flying goblin after making friends with a surviving wyvern from the Dashing Wyverns. " Jin sounded relieved after he saw the new stats of the new ''goblin'' form.

    "Negative. Only through a step up evolution will there be such cases of major changes, whereas a symbiotic evolution will strengthen both parties and enable them to improve their teamwork. Side evolutions are moremonly encountered in the wild, though they are still rare. The changes may happen instantly after the requirements are met. User''s monsters only require the proper equipment, other new minion or certain skills. All it takes is the right click. System will help out in speeding up the process and enable the monsters to get in peak condition in such situations." The System noted, stating that Piercestriker''s name to be changed to WyrStriker.

    Wyrstriker experienced some minor body changes as the side evolution urred. He became aware that he no longer required the saddle which was burdening the Wyvern with more weight. Instead, his body could automatically create a kind of mechanism that allowed him to stick to the Wvyern.

    Piercestriker did not understand how this happened but he guessed he would find outter. Upon reaching higher altitudes, the Wyvern did a backflip and dropped into a free fall towards the Storm Viper. Being pushed back for a while, the Storm Viper was attempting to gather her energy to annihte the pesky wyverns flying around it even at the cost of its own life. But before it could do so, a spear pierced through its head at Mach speed. Wyrstriker did not stop there, he continued to push his old spear into the snake''s body and headed for the duel against Argent and the guards.

    General Argent being a seasoned Wyvern rider could roughly sense the change in the air and decided to ruse the guards by skitting around to fight against them. The guards thought the General was fighting defensively and decided to go offensive as predicted by Argent himself. Even Ayse''s war wolf mount participated with the collective offensive. "Hmph, Dad sure has a keen sense." Wyrstriker lowered his body to increase the aerodynamics, hoping to achieve terminal velocity and raised his spear that was filled with chi with the snake on the front.

    "Because he had been through many battles, although I feel that you had your own fill too." The Wyvern who previously only answered through its emotions via the mind to mind connection, was now seemingly able tomunicate via his thoughts to Wyrstriker.

    Wyrstriker was initially shocked by it when his new mount suddenly introduced himself as Iwen. It was the ability of a Wyvern Knight, which was the current new ss Wyrstriker attained. Even in the whole Dashing Wyvern unit, there was only one that achieved the same and unsurprisingly it was General Argent himself.

    During the descent, Iwen also shed his old brownish red skin for bright red scales and prepared to ignite the gas he produce from his mouth to incinerate some of the orc guards.

    As expected, the corpse of the Storm Viper fell towards them and impacted and electrocuted the Orcs to a certain degree. (The Storm Viper was .u.mting discharge before it was stabbed by Wyrstriker.) Seeing how the impact killed almost every guard in sight, Iwen withheld his attack. Heter turned his body and glided towards Colonel Ayse and shot out multiple fireballs at it.

    "Heh, it seems our reports were wrong. You have another rather fiesty Wyvern Knight in your possession." Colonel Ayse blocked the fireball attacks with her multyer barrier, though the outermostyer went down which irritated the female Orc. Wyrstiker controlled Iwen to glide straight towards her until the veryst minute before he used the momentum to spin around and smack the shield with his tail destroying even moreyers. Not letting up, Wyrstriker himself jumped out to strike her with his old spear... only to get bounced back. Changing his spears he took some distance before charging towards Ayse once more.

    "So cute. I like hard working goblins. But I love them even more when they are dead." Colonel Ayse raised her other hand up and conjured a fireball of her own version. It was purplish in colour and it crackled, only to see that it was imbued with lightning element. General Argent understood what kind of attack that was and wished to aid his child but he was too far.

    "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The Spear General shouted as he threw his own spear in the hopes of distracting Ayse even just a little bit. He even went so far to shoot repeatedly at her barrier with theser gun he was holding till it overheated but to no avail. This was because her gravely injured war wolf mount sprung out to protect its own master for onest time. Most of theser gun shots were block by the wolf''s body but Argent''s spear pierced through him cleanly with immense force that it was able to impact strongly against the shield barrier Ayse created. Unfortunately, the Lightning Fireball flew out of her hand and headed right towards Wyrstriker as she ignored and the subsequentser gun shots and spear attack from Argent.

    But Wyrstriker simply smiled.

    He pushed his gearbox spear forward and suddenly his spear spread out like an umbre which allowed him to block the particr fireball. More so, he was able to absorb part of the energy of the fireball and stored it within his spear as he continued his charge. The dust and explosion from the lightning fireball gave Wyrstriker some cover as he diverted his movement a little and jumped out from the left. Ayse was pleasantly surprised that the kid goblin survived and created the same initial barrier once more.

    "Have a taste of your own medicine." Wyrstriker smiled as he plunged the gearbox spear into the barrier and released the absorbed energy. An even louder explosion urred. Ayse unable to see through the smoke realised that there was something foreign in her stomach. Wyrstriker had utilised his old spear, doused with wyvern poison from Iwen''s tail spike.

    "What?!" Colonel Ayse was so shocked that for a moment she was unable toprehend that she was pierced. Being a schr shecked much in battle experience, limited to the theoretical knowledge about it, yet she always assumed that her multyer barrier would be able to hold against any attack just as it did against the Orc Generals. Especially when her mana was not expended as since it was powers bestowed by Shaitan Noble of Thunder Syldra. She simply stood there with a hand on the spear not believing the situation.

    That was when Argent walked towards her after picking up his spear that was now glowing in white light. Ayse started to realise that she hadpletely forgotten that Argent''s weapons were imbued with the power of light which could nullify the Shaitan''s magic and that included her multiyered barrier.

    "F.u.c.k!" Ayse coughed out blood as she knelt on the ground with the bitter realisation that she had underestimated the Father and Wyvern Knight duo. General Argent was not ashamed for his son ''stealing'' the glory for putting down a high ranking Orc. However, before General Argent could get any words out from her mouth, Wyrstriker stabbed his gearbox spear into her heart and the old spear into her neck to ensure she died quickly from it.

    "Ahh...I actually wanted to ask some questions..." Argent thought his son was out for blood taking care of such a high ranking officer but Wyrstriker shook his head.

    "Master Jin will have his ways getting your request fulfilled this way. Please don''t question why. Instead I have questions for you, Father. I''m sure you can see the slight transformation which have ured to me. Who exactly is that Wyvern? Why did it feel so familiar when I initiated the mind to mind connection with him?" Wyrstriker brandished his gearbox spear as he noticed other orc officers and orc rank and file heading towards them.

    In actual fact, they were trying to retreat after seeing Colonel Ayse''s demise. When Ayse died, the taboo magic cast upon them faded away almost immediately and the orcs all were able to see that they were stuck in in a losing situation after their leader was cut down. Regardless, some did not give up without a fight though most retreated back hoping to rejoin the main Thunder army again.

    "Half of these Wyverns that my goblin riders are using were found by both you and your brother? Don''t you remember?" General Argent cleared the Orcs that were charging towards them before their Wyverns flew in upon being called and brought them out of their retreat path.

    Some timeter they rendezvoused at the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu and during the flight back, they talked about the past. Wyrstriker learned that it was the nest of eggs that his brother had discovered one day. The next day he aided his elder sibling to move them to the house, hoping to have a good delicious meal of fried eggs.

    It was their mother who noticed that those eggs were heavier and shaped slightly different from the usual ones. Consulting with their father, Argent assumed that what they found out had to be abandoned Wyvern eggs. Without being near the right temperature they were unable hatch. After learning that inside were those majestic creatures both brothers immediately asked their parents to keep them. Hence, Wyrstriker''s brother and him took great care of the eggs until the first hatched and Argent delivered it as well as the rest to the Royal Pet Farm.

    "So in other words, Iwen must have been the first one to hatch. Seeing as you and your brother were around at the time he must have imprinted on you and was more than happy to finally see you again. ... Although it''s a littlete, congrattions on getting the form of a Wyvern Knight. The scriptures of the olden days used to tell us that it is a form of blessing from the Gods for worthy goblins, it is a kind of new life starting, so... Any title or name you wish to be bestowed upon or would you prefer to continue to use the name of Piercestriker." General Argent pat Wyrstriker on his back when they reached the ground.

    "Wyrstriker. Master Jin decided on that name long ago. He had trained us in the hopes of achieving this kind of breakthrough but we seemed to havecked something, which is why he had taken us out. " Wyrstriker lied as he knew it was the System that came out with the name since it informed about it when the evolution happened. Nheless, if Wyrstriker wished to change his name, all he had to do was to ask Jin.

    The cultivators were finally able to rx as the Orcs were retreating. Many sustained wounds but they were not as major as they thought they could be. Zerumended their efforts before mass teleporting them to the Recovery Instance for check up and healing. In the meantime, Hou Fei came down from the Cathedral Tower and talked to Zeru about a few things, hoping to get some update from Jin. Zeru was happy to scratch that itch or curiousity and gave Hou Fei the rough version of what his Master was nning.

    "Huh...Operation Pompeii?" Hou Fei was surprised by the new updates. Meanwhile the goblin militia handled their wounded and gathered their fallen. Separately, the remaining Anti Tank users and goblin marksmen came to report to Hou Fei who told them he could not be any prouder. They nearly used up all their ammunition and scored tens if not hundreds of confirmed hits. It was unfortunate that a number of Anti Tank Guns were busted by the Super Laser Beam attack but it was to be expected during the war. Even the now abandoned M4 Sherman Tank took much of beating defending the weak point of the broken fort walls. Hou Feiter dismissed them as he and Zeru discussed more about Jin''s new development.

    "I shall overlook the area for a while longer and report to Jin when necessary. You can return to the recovery instance and enjoy some good sleep. A private room was allocated for you with shower and afterwards you can enjoy a fresh hot meal. The time dtion in that room matches with this particr world so you can rest easy." Zeru said and Hou Fei agreed wholeheartedly as he passed a tablet that controlled the detonation of explosives to Zeru before leaving.

    Afterwards Zeru went forward to General Argent who was passing orders to his subordinates. "Master Jin would like to have a talk with you. General Argent." Zeru opened a portal requesting General Argent to enter as soon as possible.

    "As much as I''d like to entertain Master Jin''s request especially after he sent such a major assistance to the operations here, I can''t abandon my men." General Argent shook his head reluctantly until he heard sounds of howlinging from the other side of the town.

    General dios, shreaver and the best response unit dios could muster entered the town before the main army officially arrive.

    "Bro, it is nice to see you well and alive." dios came down from his personal wolf mount as he surveyed the surroundings.

    "You are indeed a sight for sore eyes." Argent kindly asked Zeru to wait for a while as he summarised the events to dios. Sword General dios could not help but pat Argent on his back for a good job well done.

    "If King Sol hears of this, you and the rest of the goblins here will most definitely receive a medal for your efforts. We will conduct a proper military funeral for the dead once this is over." dios looked at the dark moonless night once more.

    "Please, as if I need another medal." Argent grumbled as he thought back at the award ceremonies being so boring that he regretted being forced to attend them.

    "In any case, you do not have to worry, I am here to supervise." dios dered proudly while Zeru also reassured Argent that he would be staying watch too.

    Argent sighed as he adjusted his battered armour before stepping forward into the portal.

 Chapter 343 The Interrogation...?

    <h4>Chapter 343 The Interrogation...?</h4>

    Spear General Argent entered a dark room. Amp with a dim light was all he could make out at first.

    Just after getting used to his environment he heard some muffled noises from afar. He followed the sounds only to find Colonel Ayse all tied up, but alive and kicking while Master Jin and someone unfamiliar in a long trench coat were sitting at her side. The unknown person seemed to be enjoying the rest of a meal before turning his attention towards the goblin. "She is all yours to interrogate. If you fail to learn anything from her, it will be my turn to have some fun." Kraft said as he plucked the debris between his teeth with a toothpick.

    "Sorry for thete introductions, this is Kraft. He is my erm personal...erm... He is a specialist who helps convince people to reveal their secrets." Jin put it nicely and Kraft could only grin. "Rest assured. Both of us haven''t done anything to her. You two seem to have history so we will leave you to yourselves before we interfere." Jin finished his sentence and asked Kraft to disappear into the darkness with him.

    Argent understood that they were establishing some kind of good cop bad cop scenario so that Ayse would confess what the Orc race was nning. He dragged the chair Jin had been sitting on over and faced Colonel Ayse who only had her hands cuffed at the back of the seat.

    "10 minutes. That is all you are getting." Kraft threw the toothpick on the ground and with a snap of his fingers both figures disappeared into the darkness. Argent thought that the dimness of the light was ying a trick in his mind but he got into business quickly.

    "You seem strangelyfortable being chained down. I had always hoped to meet you under different circumstancesбн So how does it feel to be on the other side for once?" General Argent removed the tape over Ayse''s mouth as he tried to start the conversation.

    "What does it matter to you? Let''s skip the bullshit and get to the point. So speak up. This may be thest time we see each other Brother." Ayse begrudgingly acknowledged Argent''s existence for now. He was thest person she wanted gloating over her, yet she was in no position to do anything about it.

    "Fine let''s get right down to it. Is Orc King Hamu suffering from the same thing as what Father did to the previous Orc King?" Argent asked bluntly and Ayse smirked.

    "Heh, you still acknowledge him as Father even after what you did to him, huh?" Ayse stared at General Argent for a moment before continuing to speak. She was after allmanded by Jin to answer truthfully to Argent. After being ''baptised'' by the System she was loyal towards him but under normal circumstances, important secrets could still be withheld from Jin. Simr to the conditions that Nubwort, ck Disaster described, until Jin proves himself worthy he would not reveal muchбн Although, a small bite from Evon, one of Kraft''s foxes, made nonpliance no longer an issue which Jin usually tried to avoid unless it''s urgent.

    "Yes, but I used a different mixture. Orc King Hamu always enjoyed his pork soup to be served first before every dinner. All I had to do was to nt a mole inside his Royal Kitchen and continuously feed him ''that'' drug." Ayse emphasised thest word which made Argent rage inside.

    "The dosage was small but the effects started to be apparent after a month or two. I doubt he ever even considered the possibility he could fall into the same shithole as the previous Orc King." Ayseughed as she revealed that.

    Argent knew one thing was for sure, Ayse''s insanity knew no bounds and she inherited it from their ''father''. Because of her distorted way of thinking and immense knowledge as a young researcher, she was hailed a genius creating all sort of gadgets and devices. To date, she might have created more inventions to improve the military force and indirectly affect the Orc poption than anyone else, even trumping the previous Head Researcher after his demise.

    Ayse was also the one who managed to decipher the lost tech map; a task which her father failed in his lifetime. This aplishment lead to the Orcs discovering the mysterious ind which was filled with old lost tech. She was also the one who suggested to capture the humanoids to operate the lost tech as well as the one who aided Orc King Hamu to contract the Messenger of Shaitan, Diabolos.

    "So you are the mastermind after allбн Why did you not learn from Father''s mistakesбн You saw where such a path lead to, didn''t you?" Argent asked with a sad tone which ironically pissed Ayse off.

    "Please, my methods should be considered less crudepared to Father''s. He personally shafted the idea into the previous Orc King''s mind! I could never do that do our Saviour and King, Hamu!" Ayse was being sarcastic and making a fool out of Argent.

    "Although, I must admit following Father''s legacy was indeed thrilling. We were all wrong about him. Everyone thinking he was a monster in person, was just too blind to understand him. If only you could have seen his research notes and secretly kept papers. That knowledge was out of this world! In retrospect, he was a saint. Such a pity that you had to kill him." Ayseined with disdain.

    "What else could I have done? Just wait at the sidelines and let him sacrifice the whole race of goblins so that you could have pursued some fake immortality? Please! That whole n was just madness!" Argent got up from the chair and pulled Ayse''s cor towards him as he shouted.

    "Oh, Brother. Seeing you act all protective for the inferior race is amusing. But you know what is even more amusing? Knowing that the hypocrite in front of me also not only ordered but even took part in the deaths of his brethren so many times until he felt guilty about it. My only regret is that I did not notice this weakness of yours soon enough. Otherwise, I wou---" Ayseughed out loud.

    "Enough!!!! What is the current n of Orc King Hamu?" Argent demanded and Ayse rolled her eyes.

    "Why should I tell you? I am done for anyway. No reason to give you this satisfaction. So what are you going to do know, General Argent? Do you believe you could force me to tell you by beating it out of me? Maybe take revenge before I get the chance to tell the whole world that you had tortured hundreds of goblins all back then as well?" Ayse taunted with the truth against which Argent could not fight back.

    "This is just painful to my eyes. Not even five minutes in and you fell into her pace. That''s it, let me take over Mr Goblin. Time is of the essence after all." Kraft yawned as he grabbed Ayse by the throat with the chair attached and threw her to the wall. The chair broke from the impact and Ayse coughed for breath.

    "We will deal with this ourselves. You can go back now." Kraft dismissed him as he opened a portal for Argent. The middle aged goblin grasped his own fist tightly and walked towards Ayse instead and punched her. Once. Twice. Three times. Many times.

    He beat, mmed and punched until his knuckles were filled with blood. He did not care if it was his blood oring from Ayse, he was punching until Ayse was knocked out. Argent then walked towards the portal with no remorse. Kraft did not seem to care about the goblin''s fit of rage and just waited before he pped lightly and escorted him out.

    "What was that all about?" Jin asked as he resurfaced from the darkness and into the slightly dimmed area.

    "I probed his memory after he entered my domain. Young Argent had rescued Ayse when she was just a tiny little baby orc. There had been some terror attack by some rebellious goblins. As a simple servant back then he had been tasked to look through the rubble for possible survivors. He found her screaming in a burning house and did what he could just to rescue her. Apparently, the Head Researcher was there at the time who witnessed the whole thing. Impressed with not just his bravery but his quick wittedness to grab a bunch of draft research papers which the Head Researcher so happened to be working on, he tasked Argent to bring her up. Especially since he had other more important assignments to do. The Head Researcher granted him the status as the personal servant for Ayse which elevated his rank to be the same as an Orc citizen." Kraft exined as he picked up the female orc who was disfigured by the attack.

    "Growing up this little young Orc kept close to Argent despite being surrounded by other excellent Orc guards. Their rtionship became very cordial and Ayse regarded Argent as her brother despite their different races. The Head Researcher became interested in observing their strange rtionship and figured if Argent learnt how to fight, read and stuff like that, Ayse would naturally try to copy him so too. She did and they eventually uncovered her talent for researching things, which lead the Head Researcher to invest more resources in her. In turn, he also elevated Argent''s status even more and allowed him to stay as Ayse''s personal servant. However, Argent was also made to perform personal tasks for him too. As you might guess it involved torturing and killing his own kind. Well, that is where the tragedy started. Little Ayse witnessed this and started to develop a superiorityplex. Some boring stuff happened in between and in the end when the Rebellion happened Argent was forced to kill his own adoptive father. " Kraft summarised it for Jin.

    "Ohбнso Ayse did this kind of taunting is to break the bond with Argent?" Jin asked as he pushed the chi regeneration potion into Ayse''s mouth.

    "My best guess is that she could not forgive Argent for killing her father, but you would need to ask her yourself for her side of things," Kraft answered as heid back on the chair and waited for Ayse to regain full consciousness.

    "I hope you had a nice little nap darling. But now that you are up it''s time to tell us what we want to know. So what''s the Orc King''s n?" Kraft yawnedzily. There was no reason for him to enter her mind to search for the answer.

    "He will personally enter the capital kingdom of Gob Gob in 15 days alongside the avatars empowered by the Shaitan Noble," Ayse said without any hesitation in her voice.

    "15 days?" Jin queried as he thought the King would do a swift strike, simr to what he has done with the Kingyer Ambush

    "He is waiting for the full red moon phase, that is when his Shaitan powers will be at their peak. At the same time, every offering the Avatars present to the Shaitan Nobles at that time will be rewarded handsomely. If you are wondering where are they going to enter from the North or West, you would be sorely mistaken." Ayse warned with a serious face and the duo giggled together before taking out the lost tech artefact Jin had found on the Orc Raider Captain.

    "How didбнoh wow." Ayse realised what was happening and chuckled too. It seemed that she was captured by either a fairly capable person or a person with heaven defying luck.

    "Then I guess that settles the Capital Kingdom part. You could now control where he would be teleported. Though I would not celebrate too soon. He always has a backup n if things do not seem to be ording to n. Also, you can be damn sure, that the King is not going in first but should best." Ayse said as she calmed down.

    Jin then exined his operation to Ayse and she could not help butugh loudly till her stomach hurt. "Are you freaking serious?! Here I thought that the one to enve me would be boring, but you are just crazy. However, I really do like the sound of that n. And that will definitely should not make him suspicious. That is at least what I think. But beware he is not alone. Diabolos and the other Shaitan Nobles should not be underestimated. I doubt simply dropping him in a volcano will be the end of it."

    "Let that be our problem. Just let us know if there are any goodrge volcano ces around?" Kraft asked since the orc researcher might have stumbled on geographical knowledge or perhaps detailed maps of the regions.

    "It so happened that I know of a disced ind that would fit those criteria," Ayse replied and Kraft did not hesitate to scoop that information out of her head and transmit it to the System.

    The System then projected the information to a floating digital screen in front of them and Ayse verified the location. Both Jin and Kraft agreed it looked very suitable for the Operation but before they wrapped up the entire conversation, Jin asked Ayse of something important.

    "Wanna y spy?" Jin asked politely which both Kraft and Ayse grinned widely.

    ---------------

    Once Sword General dios finished supervising the area, he went around town and ahead to the top of the fort walls to overlook the destruction that was left by both parties. The bodies were many and the distinct smell of blood was obvious.

    Heter ordered a group of militia to go outside to collect any usable swords, axes, spears, shields and arrows. Even pieces of armour and helmet would be great but were ced lower in priority. The orcs might have carried weaponsrger than what a usual goblin would hold but the salvaging was to reuse and recycle. The metal collected could still be melted down and those arrows that were left untouched could be used against the orcs. This would also prevent the possibility of Orcs taking them up and made them even more deadly.

    In the meantime, shreaver was looking at Wyrstriker''s new form and his wyvern. "Wow, I did not expect you to evolve faster than Ripcaller. I always thought he was the superior oneбн" shreaver tried to pat Iwen but the red wyvern seemed to proud to allow that and even gave him an annoyed look.

    "Who knows maybe Ripcaller already evolved?" Wyrstriker wanted to be humble but at the same time, he unknowingly hurt shreaver''s feelings. Noticing this he tried to salvage the conversation by consoling him. "Anyways didn''t the System promise we would evolve no matter what when we finished this so called war thing?"

    "True thatбнoh yes talking about the war thing. I discussed with my Pops about loaning a goblin army to be used for helping with the Rat Demon eradication. He said it would definitely be an honour for a part of the army to serve under Master Jin. My Pops himself told me that he wanted to experience Master Jin''s training." shreaver boasted to Wyrstriker who became surprised.

    "You told him about the Rat Demon eradication part?" Wyrstriker questioned.

    "Nah, I just told him Master Jin might ask for Pops to loan an army once this particr war is over. He agreed to it immediately. Didn''t even have to tell him what it would be for." shreaver replied.

    "And now after seeing first hand how the young Piercestriker turned into a magnificent Wyvern Knight and earning himself a personal title, I feel even morepelled to go along with Master Jin. Whatever he needs us to do, I am sure it would definitely push my limit even more." General dios had identally overheard their conversation and decided to chime in after entering their tent.

    "Son, you better buck up or Princess Starfire may fall for Wyrstriker instead. Hahahahah!" dios gave his son arge pat before extending his hand to congratte Wyrstriker on his advancement to Wyvern Knight.

    "Pops!" shreaver blushed a little. Suddenly a portal appeared beside them and Spear General Argent came in with his fist bloodied. dios saw that and quickly shouted for a healer to attend to Argent.

    Argent exined what had exactly happened and both Wyrstriker and shreaver revealed a little more about Master Jin''s unique summoning skills which surprised their fathers. Jin allowed them that so they could reveal such an ability but limited it to their fathers and no one else. The two generals were left distraught for a while before a guard rushed in alerting them that the main goblin army finally arrived.

    "Looks like more work hands has arrived. I shall go out give some orders. You three have a rest first. You have earned it. Unless something major happens I''d say enjoy it." dios said as he went out of the Command Tent and started to organise the iing military reinforcements.

    In the meantime, Zeru overlooked the entire town from the cathedral tower Hou Fei was using. He picked up a few used gun shells and twiddled them around his fingers as he passed time.

    "What are you thinking?" Yun came out from a portal that was situated right beside him. She carried a tray containing two drinking cups and a bottle of sake from the Hot Springs instance.

    "Lady Yun, it''s a pleasant surprise to see you here." Zeru wanted to kneel in front of her but Yun stopped him.

    "The cultivators were pouring in non stop ever since the start of this Gobin Raid Event. Many new customers too after they heard about the price. Thank the System for the shop instance which has the ability to expand indefinitely, otherwise there would be a giant queue outside. That itself would be another headache to settle." Yun ced somerge ice cubes into the drinking ss cup and opened the bottle of sake to pour.

    "It is good to hear that the business is booming for Master Jin." Zeru thanked Yun as he epted the cup from her and sipped it slowly.

    "In any case, I''ve asked Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One to tend to the store for a while. I am only ''human'' and also need a break every now and then." Yun poured herself a cup as well and began drinking hers while leaning on a pir at the top of the cathedral tower.

    "How is his progression?" Yun asked Zeru since she knew he was always observing Jin silently at the side lines.

    "Not fantastic, but he is my first student so it could be partially my fault for not guiding him properly. Though I suspect that he has another master teaching him things too which is why I pulled myself back and let him decide who he wishes to follow." Zeru shook his ss and the ice in it settled down.

    "Heh, Jin thinks he can hide it but it was obvious once he started fighting. The System is aware that Kraft is helping him to hide something from us, but chooses to ignore that matter since that master you talked about is putting positive changes into Jin." Yun revealed as she sat opposite of Zeru in a rather provocative manner. Zeru did not care about Yun''s sitting posture and stared at her intently.

    Yun somehow enjoyed the attention she gave was being reciprocated she smiled unabashedly as she consumed her cup of alcohol. "I know what you want. Well nothing like a little exercise." Yun whispered across the tower and Zeru smirked.

    Both of them slowly ced their cups down simultaneously as they leaped towards each other with their weapons out and shed in the night with all their might.

 Chapter 344 Winding Down

    <h4>Chapter 344 Winding Down</h4>

    Two wooden swords shed against each other with such force that the goblins thought there was another attack iing. Panic spreads across the majority of goblin army, who have not seen such a sight and they picked their arms up. But when Sword General dios noticed the silhouettes of the two humanoids above, he calmed the goblins down saying it was nothing to worry about although he warned them not to interfere in any way.

    Some of the resting goblins continued with their business while others who saw such humanoids before came over to watch the fight as if it was some sort of martial arts contest. Yun was wearing a full white in mask with no holes at all when she started the fight with Zeru while Zeru''s one quarter mask was covered with a lotus petal design. However, from the inside, she could see everything as if the mask was not really there.

    One would wonder why would Yun spar with Zeru? That was actually way before Jin had his first training session that they had been sparring in secret.

    There were multiple reasons for their little bouts. One was to make sure Yun was capable of fighting if the need for that arises. Two was to keep Zeru in fighting form and three was merely to kill some time and release stress. Yun being part of the System had copied Zeru''s fighting style and allowed Zeru to somewhat spar against himself. Surprisingly, this initially resulted in a very quick defeat for Zeru when they first fought against each other. Instead of feeling down, Zeru was more than happy with the result that he immediately asked Yun to spar with him whenever she was free.

    Zeru hoped that he could learn about the ws of his own techniques and improve them ordingly as no one in the real world or in his past life had managed to defeat him nor copied his style. Mainly because he created this series of techniques from his own experience and kept to himself.

    The System even went beyond Zeru''s initial request and gave Yun ess to the amalgamation of all the martial arts, experience and techniques acquired by the System so far in its lifetime. This made it hard for Zeru to predict what he was up against as Yun''s style could change daily while sometimes staying the same just to throw him off. Unfortunately, this was only a temporary power up and once it was over she only had her own style to back herself up in order to fight.

    It was due to the fact that each time Yun essed such information from the System, it would take precious resources away from the System, mainly Souls. That was because those experiences and techniques were the embodiment of other cultivators'' memories. There was no way to replicate its actual technique through just sending said information to Yun''s brainбн normally.

    Thanks to her special constitution as a being created by the System when it extracted her spirit from the broken Dantian, her Soul was "iplete". For that reason, it was possible to assimte other souls to fill that gap andplete itself. The System made use of this by coding the information into a particr soul and sending it to her for use and experience those souls for oneself. After a set amount of time, the soul would devour the "foreign" soul as it was not part of it. Yun had asked the System if there was a way to make it permanent but the answer was that by sending arger part of a foreign soul would create the risk of her being taken over or simply go crazy by too many different experiences. It assured her that through coting more data via Zeru''s sparring, there might be a way to prevent, ovee or maybe exceed that.

    For this reason, Yun was more than happy to amodate Zeru with his training as she enjoyed trying out the new techniques. Hence, the techniques that Yun used when she fought with Jin in the random arena with therge cleaver was not her own but came from another cultivator whose fighting style was noted down by the System. In a way, this was also thest resort the System had in ce to protect Jin in case of any catastrophic incidents such as fighting against a Grade 19 cultivator. However, if there was ever a Grade 20 cultivator who was trying to kill Jin, the System was unsure how much it could help Jin out as its records only included the entry for one particr Grade 19.

    Former Panda Lord Zhou Lin.

    Despite that, Yun was able to copy Zeru''s moves was because Zeru worked enough for Jin to earn a partial soul fragment a day as his daily reward. (Yeah, betors were given daily pay too, Heh.) Therefore, Zeru always paid for Yun a set number of souls to copy his techniques and sometimes more to incorporate other techniques for him to train himself up or else he would not be in shape. Other betors had their benefits too. Peppers were given partial soul fragments to recover her body or used them to buy books. Milk used those partial soul fragments to strengthen her magic while Kraft refused the soul fragments but instead bargained with the System for things whenever he needed them. (the System gave in to the bargain because he had done too much for the System defencespared to the other betors.)

    The fight was proceeding like the ones before it. While both fighters seemed to be evenly matched at a point, Yun managed to push her advance mainly because she was so familiar with his fighting style unlike him who had to adapt at the fly. Till this day Zeru had not seen Yun utilising her own cultivation technique as if she wanted to hide it from Jin or even Zeru for some reason or another.

    The two wooden swords shed one final time and the impact from the swords even made the heavy cathedral bell rang out once. After the gong, Yun called it off. She wiped her sweat off while adjusting her business skirt. "As always I find it incredible how you manage to fight at this level with your skirt on and still show off your style in coolness." Zeruplimented her as Yun opened a button from her shirt to release some heat.

    "Its a subtle way to distract male fighters and made them think I do not have the mobility." Yun winked as she cleaned up the tray and disappeared into a portal without saying another word.

    "She is as elusive as ever. Oh Yun, how do you manage to appear so close at times and so mysterious and distant as if you were someone else at others. I wonder what Jin would say if he knew..." Zeru sighed before he smiled and looked up into the sky. He took a good look at the foreign ck sky before he resumed to keep watch at the corner of the tower after a satisfying workout. The rest of the goblins pped for such a show before they returned to their work. Even Sword General dios learnt a bit or two from their fight.

    "Heh, loaning an army you say Master Jin? You yourself already have that many One Man Army in your possession." dios reflected while he patrolled the area to ensure the goblins were doing their job recreating the defences.

    --------------------

    Xiong Da was lying in a private ward recovering peacefully in his sleep with light snores escaping him. At the same time in the same ward as him, Ruo Ying had just woken up in a separate bed. She stared at the ceiling confused for quite some time before realising where she was. Then her mind reyed all that she had gone through in thest hours (even though in their world not too much time has passed) only to be aware how many times she could have died in that particr dungeon instance. It was hard to believe anyone could create something like that.

    The monsters felt too realistic, their screams of horror when theirrades went down. The victorious war cries of the orcs during theser cannon attack. The heat emanated from thatser cannon even when she was tens of metres away from it. Her mind briefly wandered and as if it was just nearby, she could still hear the far-off ringing noise of the anti tank cannons and the sounds of the marksmen shooting their rifles. She did not know why but it made her heart uneasy and her body started producing adrenaline. Only what seemed like a few seconds on, there was a light knock at the door.

    "Miss Ruo Ying, we noticed your heart rate and blood pressure elevated to an abnormally high level in a short period of time. Do you feel alright? Is anything hurting or does something feel strange to you?" A panda nurse came in to check on Ruo Ying and she did not know how to respond.

    "I think I am alright. I do not know. It''s just me thinking back at what we just experienced. I am unsure if it was fear or excitement. Whenever I think back about the horrific orc and goblin deaths, I consider myself lucky that I am to still alive here through my own sweat and bloodбнI feel ecstatic and the same time scared. Is it stupid of me to think that way?" Ruo Ying told the Panda Nurse about how she was feeling.

    "It is alright you are not the first one to feel that way. You just need to remember. This is just a dungeon instance. However, Boss Jin has made precautions in such cases as yours. We have a specialist who can help you to cope if the memories are too burdensome but it requires some more time and you would not be discharged that soon." The Panda Nurse offered. "Else, we can let you see a counsellor and talk about this. Remember, all you experience might feel real but it''s just a dungeon instance."

    "Give her some time to rest, I had those thoughts at the start too but after I got over the fact that all this was just a dungeon instance, my mind seemed to rx. Boss Jin aims for perfection, though I have to admit that he may have taken it a bit too far." Milk came into the private ward, lying so tantly that it somehow convinced Ruo Ying.

    Unknown to the cultivators while they were rxing in the recovery instance, the foxes of Kraft were making their rounds to reduce such possible cases of PTSD or general anxiety disorders one might feel after the raid instance. After all, it was a real world that they had joined and not a controlled environment.

    However, for veteran customers of Boss Jin, the past dungeons they experienced had already triggered both cebo and nocebo effects of the cultivator and conditioned them to think that everything was not real. It was mainly for new cultivators where it might trigger the effects of anxiety orders. With the new Goblin Raid Event, gossips and rumours were making their rounds that you can experience a true fight. Of course, some of the gossips were more extreme, stating that everything was possible with the Dungeon Store as long as Boss Jin was behind it and he actually listened to the requests of his customers.

    Jin too heard about such rumours and he himself would love to keep it that way by exposing them sufficiently just for a fight and not too much to learn about the whole grand scheme of stuff. It was indeed a dangerous move by him but he felt that with the current state of dungeon suppliers being just an entertainment venture rather than something to train the mind, body and ultimately the improvement of oneself. If possible, he would like to return to the roots of being a Dungeon Supplier.

    Despite it being an unorthodox move, Jin had the System in ce to regte his customers properly. With the System being somewhat omniscience and omnipotent when it came to the well being of innocent third parties, it was there to ensure incidents did not happen at all cost. (Customers always first right?) Worste to worst, a memory wipe would suffice though Jin does not like that a single bit and that would be thest resort.

    Milk personally went to check on Ruo Ying and at the same time apply a calming spell on her to let her rx. Ruo Ying was finally able toy down peacefully but at that moment, she did not realise that there was a ck fox in her peripheral vision. When she blinked and turned to confirm what she saw, it disappeared. She thought she was seeing things as Milk reassured once again before allowing her to sleep peacefully. Milk smiled and walked out of the private ward to check on the others.

    Bu Dong and his other high school mates who were allocated in another private ward were not resting aspared to the first wave of cultivators. They were excitedly discussing what had happened in the Raid Event. Of course, Bu Dong was still trash talking about Yue Han but he did not care much since Yue Han knew it was Bu Dong way of showing concern to him.

    "Thatbination is not that bad huh?" Kong Xian talked how proud he was to showcase a new attack during the counter offensive which he used after Bu Dong unleashed an intermediate sword technique. Yue Han was curious and all three of them gathered at Bu Dong''s bed as they watched the rey which was exclusive to the raid members.

    While the System did not have any ''magic eye'' simr to its own dungeon instances per se, it was already monitoring the goblin world''s battlefield in its own way, hence allowing the rey for Bu Dong and the others to watch. (The System was in control of its own dungeon instances, any rey was easy to capture.) Therefore, the goblin raid event footage was more expensive than normal because the monitoring footage was not cheap to process. Those who had subscribed to the ''Nettoflix'' of Jin''s dungeon reys had to pay 20 Yuan more to get the footage which Bu Dong dly did so.

    "Oh wow, Kong Xian, I did not know the Towering Tortoise had such an attack." Yue Han wasplimenting him. The high school kids continued watching the rey though they somehow made a ruckus everytime the footage showed some crazy stunt made by one of them. That was when the Panda Nurse had to step in and asked them to keep quiet and made them to go back to their beds to rest like little kids. They initially obeyed but when the Panda Nurse closed the doors, they all scurried back to Bu Dong''s bed to continue watching.

    Meanwhile, Luo Bo signed a waiver form for early discharge as she wanted to see the rewards in the redemption store. "You sure, you do not wish to stay here longer to rest? The time dtion here would be more beneficial for you to rest right now, allowing you to save more time in the real world." The Panda Nurse asked to reconfirm her decision.

    "I want to go check out the store, with these much points there is definitely something to buy!" Luo Bo noticed that her normal clothes were already washed and dried when she changed from her ward gown. Shi Zuo was awake but he was lying downzing in the bed and told Luo Bo to have fun while Bu Dong and Jia Le were peacefully asleeped in their own beds.

    "If there is anything nice, do take a picture for me to see. Don''t go overboard with your purchase." Shi Zuo said sluggishly as he waved goodbye to Luo Bo.

    "Heh, if there is anything pretty, it will be mine." Luo Bo stuck her tongue out to Shi Zuo as the Panda Nurse escorted her out of the recovery instance.

 Chapter 345 Event Redemption Counter

    <h4>Chapter 345 Event Redemption Counter</h4>

    "You must be kidding meбн" Luo Bo''s jaw dropped when she entered the Event Redemption Counter. She was expecting something simr to an Arcade Redemption Counter when she entered the instance but it was more simr to the Armoury store only with more essories and misceneous items in stock. The products were lined up neatly and the variety was extensive. Wall paintings, T-shirts, mugs, figurines, plushies, snacks, keychains and many more.

    Luo Bo was initially taken aback by the many sizes of graphical monster paintings when she entered. Some were hanging from the ceiling and rest were on the top part of the wall. All of them were seemingly in top quality and it was so real that they could jump out of the picture. Some were imprinted on metal, others were canvas portraits. There were solo pictures as well asbinations of various monsters in those pictures. For example, Shu the Sakura Tree Treant together with Ke Mi ying with her beloved zither while her Great White Snake was lying nearby listening in peace. It did brought about a sense of serenity from within when one looked at it attentively.

    The Event Redemption Counter also offered various dungeon monster figurines that were so detailed that it put famous toy productionpanies to shame. Luo Bo saw two dynamic fighting poses of the Werecats, Nyami and Meomi in their sleek sexy outfits. The werejackals in their half transformation with fire sparkling on their hands captured in a cool victory stance. Luo Bo could still remember the first time she got beaten after underestimating them. That was exact same pose they had used to celebrate beating her. (Along with some victory quotes, she could not remember.)

    "Judging from the production value, they must cost at least over a 1000 Yuan (150USD). But damnбнI wouldn''t be surprised if they actually could sell for 2500 Yuan (372USD). Maybe even more to passionate collectors." Luo Bo analysed the figurine in the disy boxes.

    Working in an animationpany she had dealt with her fair share of designs for many anime figurines. This had provided her with the expertise to notice the quality of stic and the details estimating their worth.

    "бнnot to mention scrappersбнhmm but Boss Jin is not ''that'' famous right?" Luo Bo briefly entertained the thought of gathering all these figurines as a personal collection. However she quickly abandoned the idea of doing thatбн at least alone. The sheer volume was just too much, but maybe she could convince her friends to help her . After all they could serve as a wonderful work inspiration. She did not know who Jin had contracted as there there no obvious toypany stamps nor any artist signature to it. Browsing through them, there was one that caught her eye and made her start to drool a bit.

    It was possibly thergest, mostprehensive and likely also one of the most expensive set that was avable to be redeemed. "Oh my god how long did Jin n this for?! I did not expect this to be on sale and they have her as well!" Luo Bo squealed on the inside at the figurines on disy in a ss box. She took out her phone to take pictures of it.

    It was the notorious Team Savant.

    Although it''s not the entire eighteen, the set featured the initial five which had be famous after crushing Bu Dong''s team. Up until now Jin had kept some of the Savants a secret from his cultivators. Some of the sses were hidden for future surprises or maybe Jin wanted to sell them as part of a second series. The ones that featured in the redemption counter were truly branded into the brain of every cultivator who had tried to beat the Shaolin Football instance.

    Hence the current team on disy included the Lord Knight, Lancer, Archer, Assassin and Warlock. Despite the fact that they were the ones most often encountered, Luo Bo remembered Mr Know-It-All stating that they were not necessarily always together. However, she only cared for one model at this moment, the Archer Savant.

    Luo Bo grinned with joy as she took pictures of it and was excited just for the Archer Savant alone because she herself was an archer. When she first joined the Shaolin Football Instance, Luo Bo had sulked after being beaten, even though it seemed that a win was so close at first. However after watching the rey of her loss she paid extra close attention to the Savant Archer. After a couple more matches she analyzed the footage and tried to copy what she saw. Luo Bo learnt quite a number of tricks this way from her, especially skills that did not involve any particr techniques at all. For example, when to optimally shoot a scatter shot, how much she needed to nock and turn her body to release a spin shot which could curve slightly so that an enemy would not notice until it was toote. It was surprising how perfect the Archer Savant managed to disy her skills.

    However, the disy model in the ss box seemed to indicate that it was the whole team that was to be sold rather than merely the archer on her own. Nevertheless Luo Bo decided to just ask one of the Panda Attendants whether if the archer figurine could be redeemed by itself.

    "Hmmбнtechnically they are supposed to be sold in a set, but let me check something real quick and get back to you." The baby Panda attendant replied with an adorable smile before it went under the ss box disy which had a red cloth covering the legs of the table. It seemed to be sniffing around for something for a while, but then started to move backwards. It was pulling a box out from underneath the ss box disy and lo and behold. It was a solo Savant Archer figurine.

    "Here you go!" The baby panda gave a childish smile which could make every humans go ''a'' for it.

    The Panda attendant wanted to stand up to give Luo Bo her Savant Archer figurine box but because of its clumsiness, it fell down before it could stand up although the Panda was aware enough to grab on to the box tightly preventing the figurine box to suffer any damage at all. Luo Bo nearly had her heart skip when the Panda fell but more so for the box. She was relieved when everything was okay.

    "You okay there little buddy?" Luo Bo squatted to assist the little Panda attendant as she rubbed the fur of the panda. Naturally, the Panda attendant responded with a slight growl and Luo Bo could not take it anymore. Giving in to her urges she picked the Panda attendant up to pet and got a slight yawn in return. Thankfully, unlike normal animals, Jin''s Pandas had a natural perfume smell instead of stench wild animals which made Luo Bo cuddle it even more.

    "Misss! Your box!!!" The Panda wanted to get away but Luo Bo was not giving him any chances. Suddenly, she heard a loud stomp from the entrance of the Event Redemption Counter and it was none other than Xiong Da who was panting loudly.

    "Brother Xiong Da! Why do you look so flustered?!" Luo Bo carried the Panda attendant to show how cute it was but Xiong Da hurried to the Panda attendant as if he was carrying some sort of life and death message for it.

    "Where is that Panda plushie?! Thatrge one! Fluffy one!" Xiong Da eximed and the Panda Attendant calmly pointed it to the left hand corner and Xiong Da beingrge and tall in stature immediately saw what he wanted to see. Relieved that it was still there he picked up the Panda from Luo Bo and oddly thanked her for her assistance before he rushed quickly to that ce as per the baby Panda Attendant''s direction. On his way to the plushie, Xiong Da did not care if he bumped into people (he did say sorry though!) but as he reached therge Panda plushie, he saw the price and nearly vomited.

    "Panda, if Ibine the Raid points with my girlfriend''s, is it possible to get that particr plushie?" Xiong Da purposely took Ruo Ying''s phone when she was sleeping and turned on her Pandamonium app in case if he did not have enough points and hoped to use her points together if it''s possible.

    "Sir, your request is unusual but not impossible. We are here to providepromise and satisfaction whenever possible. Please ce your phones on my paw here to redeem your XXXL Panda plushie." The Panda Attendant who was in Xiong Da''s arm raised its paw out.

    Xiong Da did not hesitate to ce his and Ruo Ying''s phone on its paw and the transaction was done immediately. Xiong Da could see that Ruo Yong''s ount only have four Raid points left while his waspletely empty.

    "Congrattions on being the first to receive this XXXL Panda Plushie!" The Panda pped its paw as the Panda plushie which was hanging on the wall suddenly dropped down and smashed into Xiong Da''s face.

    Instead of being angry, Xiong Da was overwhelmed by a heavenly cushion offort from the soft embrace of the cuddle from the XXXL Panda plushie. Luo Bo was curious about what was happening and sniggered when she saw Xiong Da being sofortable with the Panda plushie.

    "I did not expect arge and mature guy like you to enjoy a Panda plushie this much!" Luo Bo said as she held on to the box though she had yet to make her payment of raid points.

    "I will not argue with you on this Luo Bo. Just give it a try and everything should make sense to you." Xiong Da let go of hisrge new toy for a while and the Panda Plushie returned to its previous normal size. Luo Bo was a little apprehensive at first but she guessed there should not be any harm in trying it outбн

    She was dead wrong.

    The plushie embraced her like a baby in her mother''s bosoms. Luo Bo suddenly felt whatever fatigue she''d gathered from the battles in the Goblin Raid Event was lifted from her. She could not remember when thest time was she had enjoyed such homely feeling. Even when she was deeply in love with Shi Zuo, this warmthбнThis softnessбнThisfort. She never felt anything this impactful before.

    "Okay that is enough." Xiong Da smirked as he pulled Luo Bo out of the XXXL Panda Plushie and she felt she was being pulled out with a rough awakening.

    "NOooOOooooo!!" Luo Bo cried out because she wanted more cuddle time with it. After looking wronged at Xiong Da she shifted her attention the poor Panda Attendant who got scared because of her eyes burning with desire. In the meantime, other cultivators were starting to gather as they noticed the more well known cultivators in Jin''s shop were fighting over a product.

    "I want that thing now!!" Luo Bo demanded and the Panda attendant shook its head.

    "I am sorry Miss, your ount does not have enough points to purchase this." The Panda attendant said regrettably.

    "What if I remove this particr archer figurine away from the cart. I should have enough right?" Luo Bo''s heart was getting a little agitated and the Panda attendant regrettably shook its head again.

    "You are still missing over a thousand points." The Panda answered and Luo Bo felt like flipping a table.

    "Can I pay with medals instead?" Luo Bo asked with a bit of agitation in her voice as if she was really desperate and there were some other cultivators who began to try out the Panda Plushie that was for redemption too which got on her nerves. Unfortunately the Panda apologised and she could only sigh in regret.

    "Why Xiong Da! Why did you have to show me this!!!" Luo Bo felt she would have prefered staying ignorant about this particr plushie especially after she found out more of its functions. Frustrated, she ced the Archer Figurine box back and started to call Shi Zuo. However, he was not picking up his phone and she knew that there was no way to return back to the recovery instance from the shop instance since it was a one way exit.

    "Arggh! That does it! I will go do another goblin raid!" Fuelled by the rage, desire and the need to own one, she bought the ten ticket package and pointed at the Panda. "You better keep one for me, or I will rip you into two!"

    "Miss please refrain from threatening us, we are here to help you. I am afraid I cannot reserve any items, its against the store''s policy no matter how veteran you are in this store." The Panda gathered the courage to deny her request and Luo Bo went off in a fit of anger.

    She teleported away and found herself in the same scene of the C130 where she saw Captain Bai and Hei. "Oh, you are back so quickly. Are you waiting for your other team members or joining oth-" Luo Bo suddenly banged the red button on the C130 without the permission of the Panda Captains.

    "Give me a mission to kill those orcs. I will do it solo." Luo Bo said with eyes of murderous lust to which the Captains reluctantly obliged and gave her the same monitoring ring which she had returned to one of the Panda nurses.

    "I shall be yourpanion." Ady walked out with a slight robotic voice and to her surprise Luo Bo saw it was none other than the Archer Savant. At least, her luck seemed to turn around.

    "There are raiders chasing after a goblin merchant caravan, you can- Sighбнcouldn''t you at least listen to the briefing?" Panda Captain Bai shook his head as Luo Bo and the Archer Savant jumped out of the C130 together while scaring the cultivators that were waiting for their turn to sortie.

    "Do not worry, she is a veteran. Maybe someday, you can be as daring as her." Captain Bai assured them as he continued the briefing with the others while Captain Hei closed the cargo door of the C130.

    "Target on sight. Fire a few, I willter assist you with yournding." The Archer Savant was cold in her words but calctive in her actions, a feature which Luo Bo secretly admired.

    "Let''s rain some arrows on these orcs." Luo Bo smirked as she activated her far sight and nocked her bow- She aimed with the intent to kill.

    All for the XXXL Panda Plushie!!!

    ---------------------

    Jin was experiencing an overwhelming sess with his new Dungeon Raid Event. Many people tweeted, shared in the social media and continued the event for the next few days. Various dungeon supplier reviewers had began to take notice of this particr shop because of the hype it was producing even though it did not have a social media ount. Most was spread through the word of mouth and it was surprisingly effective.

    The new customers were speechless when they first joined the shop instance and the crowd it could handle despite it being just a storefront from the outside. Sure, there were some people loitering around outside Jin''s shop but the newbies did not expect it to be this grand when they were teleported in. Jin''s store really was a hidden gem, if one could overlook the outrageous prices inparison to others.

    Luckily the Dungeon Raid Event was so cheap that newbies managed to get their first taste and some of them found the prices of the other Dungeons eptable given the dungeons''plexity and high details.

    Jin had also changed the interior decorations for the month of November again to something more goblinish in nature to reflect the Goblin War. He took inspirations from the towns of Gob Gob Kingdom and the interioryout of the tavern he visited.

    Jin even made Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One wear green goblin ears and have a goblin mask at the side of their face. The restaurant train instance was also remodelled to the scenery of the Goblin World after the System had gathered sufficient information from the satellite. As the days went by, the redemption store was not only stocked with Jin''s merchandises but it even introduced local Goblin products which Qiu Yue had traded. Of course, most of the products were repackaged with more of the modern context while retaining the authenticity of the goblin theme.

    For example, the beer was sealed in mini kegs with modern stic sealings to prevent people thinking it was not airtight. The local delicacies like goblin cookies were repacked with a more colourful packaging which helped attract the sight of females. Qiu Yue introduced those modern packaging styles to the Goblin Trade Ministry and to their surprise, it also became quite a boon for their own markets too. (Qiu Yue did charge them a little more for all this cosmetic packaging which earned her and Jin quite a nifty profit as well.)

    Of course, with customers sharing such a wonderful event, it did not take long for thepetitors to take notice of it. Ruby Rats owned Dungeon supplier store, King''s Monsterunched a simrly major campaign called the ''King''s Advance'' to attract people. It even bundled it with major discounts to their dungeon instances for a limited time only. Being the current market leader in the region it unsurprisingly attracted quite a crowd, butpared to Jin''s store, it did not retain many customers willing to try the event again. Once seemed to be enough for most of the customers.

    The whole event helped gave amercial boost to the Tiangong shopping district and some took the chance to offer discounts to attract more people to dine or buy items when they visited Jin''s dungeon supplier store. While it was true that Jin''s store did offer food that was off the charts, a number of customers simply preferred to have a cheaper food alternative. Some of the shopping district shops just adapted and started to offer cheaper alternatives of equipment for the new customers. Clothing shops coborated with inscribers and sold cheaper defensive options after they themselves tried samples from Jin''s store. A new weapon store was built not far from the dungeon supplier store and it was shockingly popr amongst the newbies. Even Shen Si Fang, the owner of Lele cafиж had created a goblin themed breakfast.

    Jin really did not expect such a response from the Shopping District, but he was happy that others also profited. While he wished to rx there was one thing on his mind which he did not know what to expect from. "I know that you said, that your memories are hazy and iplete, but do you by chance remember anything about her? From what I was told Grandma Yuan has been around for ages. Surely you and Ming must have met or at least heard anything about her." Jin asked Yun as she tended to the stores.

    "No sorry, nothinges to mind, which could help you. All I know is that she as a Guardian and that she could be considered just as influential as the Royal Zodiacs around these parts. You just have to be rxed and yet attentive to her needs." Yun tried to calm the anxious Jin down while she prepared an announcement signage ready to be ced outside of the shop just for Grandma Yuan''s arrival.

    "Besides, she got you out of jail. You owe her that much." Yun proceeded to tell the customers that there would be an early closure for some maintenance purpose and almost everyone jeered at that.

    "Yeah right, my ''servers'' needed rest too and I have ced the announcement since a day ago so no one should be able toin. Those who wish to dungeon, you have five more minutes to enter an instance. The Raid Instance is closed for now and the rest of you, please get your asses out of here." Yun said to Jin before announcing the closure of the shop through the speaker system. Mr Patsu and Bear Cub er tried to salvage the ruthless announcement though many knew that when Yun was rough, she meant business. Hence, many obliged and decided to call it off for a day.

    All except for Jin who felt the pressure mounting up and for once that time was passing way too slowly.

 Chapter 346 The Wait for Grandma

    <h4>Chapter 346 The Wait for Grandma</h4>

    As Jin was waiting for Grandma Yuan, he was looking through the details for Operation Pompeii. The preparation was hectic but it seemed to be progressing very smoothly. The other Jins via the High Intensity Mode in the past few days had managed to obtain the materials for makeshift buildings that were used as props for Hollywood movies and such. For the more important buildings which were the ones most likely to be rushed through by the Orcs, those were purchased as customised prefabrications.

    The fifteen goblin days seems little but were precious providing Jin ample time despite the time dtion. Peppers had even found the time to cast magic to remodel those makeshift buildings to imitate the ones from the the goblin town. The more perfect the fake buildings were, they could be disguised it off as the real one, right?

    While the System had provided the Other Jins and Peppers with the exact city designyout via the satellite images, Kraft had made his way to the deste ind to check its conditions and most importantly whether the volcano was truly inactive as described by Colonel Ayse. His favorite weapon, No Mercy, worked as a sort of power booster allowing his foxes to turnrge enough to be mistaken for Kaiju Monsters. They proceeded to take take turns to ''fly'' him there as fast as possible to scout and make his own observations about the ind. (Technically, the foxes ran, leapt and jumped but to those goblins, it looked like they were flying monsters. Some goblin mothers used them as an excuse for their kids to behave otherwise the giant foxes woulde get them in their sleep. )

    "Not that bad I guess... as long as we cover the top of the inactive volcano with a piece ofnd or some floating ind, we really could pull the disguise off with very high walls. They should never know...well actually they might find out if some of them could fly. Damn I guess some of them CAN fly...maybe I could borrow that dungeon core responsible for powering up the shield barrier from Moloch and Sluggy Wolte. Perhaps we could even turn it into a sort of giant mosquito trap. As soon as they fly away far enough... ZAP." Kraft thought to himself before asking the System how much would it cause to make such a thing happen.

    "Exorbitantly expensive. However recreating the energy for short, one time use is feasible and sufficiently cheap. As long as Original Betor Kraft keeps up the appearance of a permanent barrier it should be possible to fool them." The System noted and Kraft being a big softie for crazy ns had asked the System to make him four of those "toys". "That will be equivalent to one year worth of soul fragments, but since Original Betor Kraft had not been collecting his soul fragments for decades. System shall write it off as misceneous expenses."

    "Good System." Kraft smiled as he pped to open a portal and returned back to the Dungeon Maker.

    At the same time, the exact city designyout coupled with the old city ns from the Goblin Home Ministry were also used elsewhere. Initially, the Other Jins had ambitious ns to include theplicated yet poorly designed sewers in the fake city. Later they decided to abandon them because of theck of time. Instead they talked the System to purposely create a part of it to throw off the orcs who wanted to use the Sewers as a direct route to the Ministry Office. (That was also one of the possible targets that Colonel Ayse had suggested to hit to the King previously.)

    The System also marked out where the ninja penguins had found the lost tech artefacts as well as the possible ces where the orcs could have nned to ce them, hence giving an idea of the Orc''s train of thought. Peppers used this to possibly deduce the locations they were targeting. Once they analysed the possible routes, Peppers suggested the kind of traps to be ced there. (Although Kraft also chimed in with his own crafty suggestions...well because he''s a counter intelligence agent!)

    Separately, The Orc-Goblin War was still proceeding with the goblins putting up a fierce defence in the North. They even sent out assault parties apanied by cultivators against the Thunder Orc Army who had not expected that much damage to be inflicted from the goblins.

    Within theing days, there was indeed a diversioning from the West where the Ice Orc Fleet travelled via their sh.i.p.s just as Colonel Ayse''s intel had warned them about. The Ice Orcs thought they easily could pull up to the shore and quickly take control over the Western Region with their almighty sea fleet that was equipped with sturdy iron sh.i.p.s they replicated from the Lost Tech Ind.

    The Ice Orc Fleet would be more daring in the diversion attack. It was especially so as they were apanied by the Wind Orc Army''s airship carriers. This time around, the Wind Orc Army were equipped withrger guns and sturdier materials. Both armies being confident of their army, they sailed and flew to the Western region of the goblin territory for the diversion attack.

    If a normal human or goblin in the waters saw such a scene, they would feel like a terrifying nightmarish menace wasing to take over thends of Gob Gob Kingdom.

    Fortunately, the Goblins had some tricks under their sleeves now, courtesy of Jin. ording to the Orc ns, the Orc raiders were supposed to pige, raid and cause discord to the remote goblin viges while collecting resources. They would then proceed to store those supplies for either the Thunder Orc Army or the Orc Ice Fleet to utilise.

    However, with Jin''s interference, most of the Orc Raiders were killed and the resources were retrieved back. The vigers were safely evacuated and their militia was reorganised with the supervision of Qiu Yue and the workings of Defence Ministry. She worked them like ves and not just the Defence Ministry but the rest of the other Ministries too. However, for the survival of their kingdom, they would endure this hardship. (Not to mention the bet they lost to her.)

    Even though the war was still ongoing, the pedals of economy was moving fast and steadfast despite theck of manpower after the conscription. Trades with other towns and races were still ongoing and the markets were reorganised to support the war effort. There were even cases where the goblin kids helped out with thebour if necessary due tock of manpower. (They were not enforced but strongly encouraged.)

    Diplomatic wise, the goblins had managed to convince the humans that if thest remaining goblin kingdom were to fall, there was a very high likelihood that the Humans might be next. King Sol and his diplomatic agents (alongside with Qiu Yue!) had initially asked for a simple alliance. They did not ask for much as they understood asking the humans to cooperate with them in the War against the Orcs was impossible. They never shared a big connection and it would be impossible to ovee the historical differences in a small amount of time. All they ask was just simple aid supplies or at worse discuss to keep the trading alive if possible.

    Qiu Yue knew humans were beings driven by selfish emotions no matter which era or world they were in. They would ally with the winning side if they knew what was best for them. Therefore, she purposely asked some goblins trained with the M1 Garand Rifles to follow the diplomatic convoy. She even purposely drove the battered M4 Sherman tank after it was repaired and refurbished by Jin into the territories of the Human Kingdom to show the goblin''s supposed might. Following the idea of Hou Fei, they even made three additional "tanks" from the System which looked the same but had no functions aside from being able to drive forward. The n was for the main tank to fire off its canons and the others to be a disy of strength. Later weapons could either be added or it could be sold back to the System.

    A show of strength was exactly what they needed from the goblins. It would warn the Humans not to do anything stupid like trying to assassinate the King during the diplomatic convoy part...which some hired mercenaries really did rather openly in the streets of the Human Capital. The goblin riflemen shot them down mercilessly before they coulde anywhere near the King nor inflict any serious damage. This superior show of force flipped the idea of the goblins being weak upside down and even made the humans start to fear their neighbours. Yet, Qiu Yue felt this was a sufficient portrayal of power to show that the goblins coulde in peace but mess with them? They would not show mercy too.

    The Human King eventually received the message of what happened from his advisors. (Needlessly to say, his various spies who monitored the war from afar.) He promised to send aid in order to curry favour with King Sol who was now beaming with vitality contrary to his past self. In short, Qiu Yue had managed to secure better trade ties and even aid supplies for the Goblin Kingdom, earning her brownie points from the System.

    Additionally, with the early warning system in ce because of the constant satellite footage, the goblins were able to sortie in time against the Orc Ice Fleet. Spear General Argent took charge of the western defences with a costal army of his own while Sword General dios held the fort in the Valley Town Gob Gob Bu. Dagger General Igni was still in a secret high risk mission to connect the leylines with his son, Ripcaller and a team of highly ranked goblin assassins. This way even if Operation Pompeii should fail, the assassination team would turn into their backup n. It was a no brainer for Jin to sent his Assassin Savant to assist the group that was a huge boon to their offensive operations.

    Unsurprisingly, the original Western coastal defence by the goblins was weak. However the goblins who were now trained to use artillery and k guns by Hou Fei were stationed right where the Ice Orc Fleet and the Wind Orc Army would arrive. Shu, the Sakura Tree Treant finally made his appearance since he had been unable to fit in a C130 nor to follow cultivators along them through missions. (Imagine arge tree trying to squeeze itself out of the C130 ne and begin free falling with the cultivators...The customers would probably be scared of the tree crushing them into pieces before they could evennd properly.)

    For the Western Coastal defences, Shu along with Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress had created makeshift wooden walls as temporary defences. How did they do it? Simple, grabbing a few of Shu''s branches or alternatively some wooded logs provided by the goblins from the surrounding forest. Shu first nted them down near the beach and used its magic to grow them. Ke Mi, on the other hand, who had been cultivating the living armour nts day in and day out learnt the tunes on how to elerate the growth of the nts.

    Compared to the living armour nts which were very picky in terms of food consumption or even the type of music being yed to stimte their growth, the ergement of these branches and tree logs were like child''s y to Ke Mi. With just a short musical tune, the nts and trees reacted to the chi in the music Ke Mi yed and the magic provided by Shu, growing up to form a strong defensiveyer of wall along the coast.

    Taking lessons from the World War Two''s infamous Normandynding, Jin had purposely asked Sandy to increase thend mass along the beach so that the sh.i.p.s would note close to the beach at all, forcing them tond far from the beachhead at least an additional 500 metres away from the actually shoreline. More M4 Browning machine guns were made avable and deploying prefabricated bunkers, they basically shored up their defences in the western coastal region. The goblins practiced day in and night on how to minimise the time to reload, how to shoot effectively and assisted in cing explosives in the beachhead. When the Ice Orc Fleetes, the Western Coastal Defence would be more ready to receive them.

    However, ording to Colonel Ayse, the diversion would only begin on the day of the Red Full Moon. In a coordinated effort from the three armies, the Ice Orc Fleet would attack the West, the entire Thunder Orc Army would push forward through the North to their best capability while the Fire Orc Army would enter the cities via the Lost Artefact portals. In the meantime, The Wind Orc Air Force would serve as the backup since they were currently under the directmand of Orc King Hamu himself. The Fire Orc Army would burn a portion of the city down to let the Wind Orc Air Force to enter with their giant Mothership.

    Jin let out a sigh of relief. If not for his employees, the work of his monsters, betors as well as customers, this war could never be won by the goblin''s alone. "Heh, if I were you I would not celebrate just yet. You know I hate to be the voice of reason, but don''t you think you overestimate yourself a bit? You may have the System, but do you think your Grade 7 powers would allow you to defeat the Orc King Hamu single handedly?" Kraft asked with a bit of ...concern.

    "Well, I have you and Zeru. I do not have to be that scared about that." Jin giggled and Kraft sighed, reminding him not to forget his training.

    It was at that moment, there was a teleportation into the shop instance and Jin somehow felt the pressure in the shop instance increasing in an instance.

    Grandma Yuan had arrived.

    The staggering aura was very familiar since he felt it before. It was hard to forget this familiar pressure, though with a cultivation of Grade 7 under his belt, he was able to withstand it a lot betterpared when he was just a Grade 3. "Hmph. I see that you must have been training rather rigorously since the first time we met. Last time I did not notice it, but your progress is really something" Grandma Yuan walked in. Only after a few of her steps did Jin notice, that she was not alone but that there was ady attendant assisting right beside her.

    "Grandma Yuan." Jin acknowledged her presence and wanted to assist her but she declined as she walked towards the bar counter. Thedy attendant helped her up the barstool and Grandma Yuan turned towards thedy attendant.

    "Get the things in." Grandma Yuan ordered herdy attendant and she immediately acknowledged. Yun politely asked if she wanted to drink anything but it seemed that Grandma Yuan was annoyed when Yun was the one questioning her. She gave out arge sigh before she answered that she wished for some tea.

    "Grandma Yuan, if you do not mind, I will be the one to brew it for you. Any specifics?" Lynn was also around as Jin had informed her about their special guest''s arrival. After all, Lynn got out of jail because of her help too.

    "Hmm. Hoji Tea." Grandma Yuan replied which surprised Lynn that she asked for a Japanese specific type of tea instead of a chinese one. However as a professional, she did not spent too much time overthinking it and amodated the request.

    In the meantime, thedy attendant returned with other attendants behind her. They were all carryingrge metal boxes sealed with charms and all. All were carefully brought forward and ced on the counter while Grandma Yuan did not say a single word until Lynn came back with what she had requested.

    "Hmm. The roast of the tea leaves is so so. The tea''s temperature is sufficiently hot." Grandma Yuan took a whiff before giving her opinion. Then she sipped a little and put it back on the table. "Not too bad. The chi in the teaposition could be better managed. You are fl.u.s.tered because of my presence aren''t you?" Grandma Yuan asked Lynn while she took a handkerchief out to wipe her mouth.

    Lynn embarrassingly nodded her head and Grandma Yuan beckoned her toe nearer. She picked up Lynn''s hand and caressed it a little. "Hmm...I see, you relied too much on your dorsal area because of the way you fight. You need to learn to channel the chi from your palm to your fingers more delicately like this." Grandma Yuan circted her chi along her fingertips and Lynn could understand what she meant.

    "This way, not only can you perform more delicate tasks in your cooking, preparing tea but also in your fighting." Grandma Yuan smiled at Lynn which was a first and Lynn hastily thanked her for her guidance.

    In the meantime, the assortment of stacked metal boxes had stopped and they upied the entire central area of the shop instance. Grandma Yuan then dismissed the attendants and asked herdy attendant to onlye back when she called for her. Thedy attendant which came in first, seemingly the leader of them acknowledged it with a bow and left the area. With only Jin, Yun and Lynn left in the picture, Grandma Yuan finally faced Jin and started talking to him. However the first thing toe out of her mouth, shocked them all.

    "So...Jin. How has the System been treating you?" Grandma Yuan asked bluntly while staring very seriously at Jin. The Grandma knew all along.

 Chapter 347 Grandma Yuans Revelation

    <h4>Chapter 347 Grandma Yuan''s Revtion</h4>

    Jin was at a loss not knowing how to respond to Grandma Yuan''s question. After what felt like an eternity to Jin her expression slowly changed into a smirk while she waited. At the same time Jin tried to figure out how she had learned about his most important secret. Did he mess up at some point? Was it Yun who told told her? Or was she a past user herself?

    "The User has been progressing fairly well despite an initial rocky progress. Current ssified activities may even lead to a new breakthrough if User gets lucky." Suddenly it was the System who broke the silence through the speakers of the shop instance. For a moment the expression on Grandma Yuan seemed to change. Sighing once again she feltforted after the System replied to her since Jin seemed to be too stunned to even utter a single word.

    "So exactly what Grade is he at?" Grandma Yuan asked and the System replied ordingly.

    "HmmбнSeven. A little better than what I had expected, but still lower than the ideal scenario." Grandma Yuanmented while she continued to drink her Hoji tea.

    "System wishes to point out the fact that User has managed to achieve Spiritual Union early on during the Zoo visit." The System added and Grandma Yuanughed at that. She still remembered how she coaxed Jin into that near impossible fight back then.

    "I see. I see. That''s good to hear. That exins how he managed to reach Grade 7 in such a short time. It will prove as a good excuse for whoever tries to find out more about him. Achieving Spiritual Union early does wonders to one''s cultivation. However too many shortcuts and it will be a bad thing if his foundation turns weak because of this." Grandma Yuan continued to talk to the System.

    "Lady Yuan. Do not worry. I have personally ensured he does not neglect his training even while he attends to his shop." Zeru had appeared in front of Grandma Yuan and chimed in.

    "Kei- hmmбнZeru." Grandma Yuan stopped herself before she finished. Zeru bowed at the calling of his name and appreciated that Grandma Yuan managed to control herself by not saying out his true name although the others were too restless to take notice of it. Grandma Yuan seemed to know a lot more than she was letting on.

    "It''s been a while." Grandma Yuan tone was more kind and gentler than before. Zeru could only smile back while maintaining his quarter bow before he stepped back via a portal and let the living humans resume their conversation.

    "Did Grandpa Ming tell you about the erm....?" Jin finally seemed to have collected himself enough to function and tried to politely ask Grandma Yuan with a conscious effort but all he received was a serious gaze back.

    "I doubt Ming would have brought it up to since Yun was gone, but I was the one who instructed Yun in her cultivation arts. I had been unaware of the System or really anything surrounding the Panda n. Only after I gained his trust did Ming reveal his secret to me. I feel it was the same for that little chef girl you have with you right now." Grandma Yuan narrated to Jin as she put her tea cup down. Again she was not really acknowledging his presence and instead she stared at Yun with an expression of disgust.

    The System proceeded to inform Jin that Grandma Yuan was once a Sub System User simr to Lynn. Jin assumed that could be why her memories were not entirely taken away when the System turned back time on Ming.

    Yun, on the other hand, did not back down and kept her head high in front of Grandma Yuan. She had no recollections at all to verify the reality of the story. However, she roughly guessed that Grandma Yuan''s story was very possibly true. And if she was to assume that the old Guardan was her teacher it would certainly exin her cultivation...which was based on the Griffins too. That was partially the reason why Yun had refused to use her cultivation to prevent Jin from having any misunderstanding.

    "To see this abomination standing right in front of me. I really cannot take it." Grandma Yuan swore and the System could only give a logical exnation. Using Yun''s image at the start allowed the System to save resources in case things did not work out. Economically speaking, the broken soul was cheap to "fix" and it had been one of thest request of Ming to "resurrect" her. Objectively, it appeared to be the most ideal solution rather than cing an entirely new soul or utilising a veteran Panda n member''s soul which cost a lot to be a tutor for Jin. Someone who had familial ties to Jin was ultimately the best candidate to introduce him to the System (Though we know Yun was not exactly the best teacher.)

    "To hell with you, System!!!" Grandma Yuan did not mince her words which kind of scared Jin and Lynn. Her rage briefly disyed her cultivation though it was too short for Jin to count the number of Griffins, before she just as quickly calmed down again. Then she finally shifted her eyes on to Jin, who immediately got goosebumps, before Grandma Yuan started to exined the full tragedy of the real Yun to Jin.

    "You deserve to know it. You are after all, her child. And I doubt that cheapskate System would share this with you, otherwise you would not have been so surprised to see me act this way." Grandma Yuan took a big sip and her face revealed a deep sorrow recollecting her thoughts about the incident back then. It felt like she reopened arge wound she had tried her best to close a long time ago.

    Grandma Yuan started at the time of the incident. The day had already started very weirdly for the now old woman. A photo of herself training with Yun and Ming in the background had fallen from the shelf and there was arge crack around Yun and Ming. Not being one who usually believed in superstitions she had nevertheless warned Ming to be careful on that day.

    Then nothing happened... until she was notified by Ming about that particr incident. She had rushed over but when she arrived at the site where the Banned Emperor assassins killed Yun and her husband, she uncontrobly vomited despite being a veteran who had killed and seen people die to the point of getting used to it. However, the shock of seeing someone very close to her die had hit her far more serious than she expected.

    The scene was not just bloody with Yun''s body ripped into pieces. The walls of the alley were vandalised with their internal organs. They were mutted so badly that the only way they were able to identify her so fast were the unique swords Grandma Yuan bestowed to her and her husband. Yet, it did not seem like it was an instant assassination.

    There were signs of an intense fight and when the scene was reconstructed by police investigators and herself, there were shreds of evidence of ritual magic having been used to ensure that they would stay trapped and forced to fight to the death. Whether it was the victim''s doing to prevent the assassin''s escape or vice versa, the oue was ultimately not favourable to Yun and her husband.

    Grandma Yuan was unsure because the Griffin Style had a trap technique Yun could have utilised, but Yuan also knew that it was too dangerous to use it at her current Grade. Then again, there were also signs of other magical sources that were utilised to trap them too.

    Whoever was behind this had to have nned this for a very long time and had made ample preparations. Being the Guardian for Tiangong District, Grandma Yuan simply could not let this injustice go by and she had spend arge amount of time afterwards chasing this incident. Only in recent years did she finally decide to stop since the trail went too cold. ?She emphasised the word assassins since the media did say the police managed to apprehend a culprit. That was after the time reversal, but she exined more about the events leading to the time reversal.

    "Ming, however, did not think the same. He was convinced that the Banned Emperor assassins were employed by the Royal Zodiacs themselves." Grandma Yuan said in a depressed tone. "He knew about the history of the Panda n and the Royal Zodiacs involvement. Whoever was behind this had either really convinced them or simply nted a lot of evidence pointing in that direction. There was a particr trace of a special technique in the crime scene that was unique only to the Royal Zodiac Bulls. Ming managed to acquire that info from a trusted informer from the Royal Snake Zodiac. What made things worse was that this information was made to disappear as to not indiscriminate the Royal Zodiacs. After finding that out, Ming snapped and that was why he was also brash enough to announce his intention to tear down the Royal Zodiacs." Grandma Yuan exined. For the first time the powerful woman''s fingers were trembling around the cup, who seemed to be near the point of shattering.

    "Yet, I kept trying to reason with him. I kept emphasising to him that it was impossible since the Banned Emperor assassins would never work with the Royal Zodiacs or that the assassins should be unaware of the existence of the dying Royal Zodiac Panda n. However, he could not listen or he simply did not wish to. The loss of his precious daughter made him irrational. In the end, I do not know if he was aware of it or if he simply needed someone to vent his frustrations..." Grandma Yuan said before pausing for a moment.

    "For the rest of the story, you can let that crafty fox fill you in." She slowly turned her head to the side and looked at Kraft who was sitting in one of the couches in the auditorium waving at her.

    "Your senses did not dull after such a long time. Have you missed me, Birdy?" Kraft grinned one sided as he stood up from the couch and slowly walked towards Grandma Yuan with his hands in his pockets.

    "I was pretty sure that you had apanied Ming in the Afterlife, you ancient Monster." Grandma Yuan turned the barstool and stomped her walking stick on the ground. Arge golden Griffin silhouette appeared from the bottom of her stick screeching at Kraft and subsequently charging towards him at full speed.

    Kraft took out his No Mercy and used it. Itori the white fox erged herself and challenged the Griffin. The two beasts fought furiously for a few seconds with ws shing at each other, beaks and fangs biting one another before they distanced themselves andter disappearing as chi particles at the behest of their owners.

    "Impressive, your edge is as sharp as ever. A shame how cruel time can be." Kraft pped lightly.

    "Hmph. Not all of us can cheat the wheel of time like you. You are just as unpleasant as I remember thest time I saw you." Grandma Yuan noted before she let out a slight grin to Kraft as an acknowledgement.

    Jin did not realise the incident back then was that dire. Kraft had preferred Ming to tell Jin but he decided to follow suit since Grandma Yuan already initiated it. "What she said is true. Yuan did try to stop Ming and warned him that he should do things rationally. Rushing in with little evidence in hand would not help bring Yun back to life at all. In fact, it would be suicidal. However, Mingбн ?was unlike you. He did not have a shop to ponder over nor any other remaining attachments, all he had been doing up until that point wasбн" Kraft stopped for a while as he sat beside Grandma Yuan and red at Jin seriously.

    "Train. Practice. Strengthen his cultivation like all past cultivators who stopped at nothing to reach the best of his abilities. The System at that time did not stop him and continued to feed him with more power via missions. All for the sake of potentially reviving the Glory of the Panda n one day. Imagine this. When you have been enduring all this training day in day out without having any outlet to vent, do you know what happens? There will be this itch." Kraft said.

    "At first the itch will only be barely there. Kinda like a craving for something. It can appear and be gone the next moment. However, without ever satisfying the craving it will only get stronger every day. At some point the itch will irritate not just your skin, but the fibres of your muscles andter the itch will gradually move towards your heart. But Ming was a very logical man. He was able to control that urge to sumb to that itchбн.until the death of his daughter." Kraft pointed out.

    "I am not the one who should give you all these details but yea. He lost pretty badly against thebined strength of the Royal Zodiacs. Afterwards they did not bother and left him to bleed to deathбн except for one. Thest one whispered in Ming''s ear that all that was left to do was to crush his Dantian core. That was when the previous System realised Ming could be right. Only the Banned Emperor disciples were able to perform such an action. "

    "At that instant, the System purposely reverted time but doing something like that cost it dearly. It was forced to use a plethora of valuable resources. The time change was not only aimed at reverting the undoing of Ming, but also should have changed the perception of everyone involved with him. Your grandpa cried out why the System was unwilling to revert to the point at which Yun was not killed yet. The System at the time answered if it did that all its resources would be gone and the System would most likely cease to exist. Self preservation continues to be its utmost importance. It was regrettable. Another loss of a potential panda n member that could exact revenge. However there was already a potential sessor. Yun had already given birth to you, Jin and the System did not deem it necessary to endanger itself any further. Instead, the resources could be better used to foster you." Kraft added and the rest could only listen and not respond for a while. Yun just kept her silence when Kraft gave them the full story. All of this.

    "I guessбнto the Systemбнa huge number of Panda n members had already sacrificed themselves before. What is one more to its cause." Jin spelled out the ugly truth and Grandma Yuan could only sigh out once more. At that point, she really looked more like a weak olddy instead of a powerful Guardian.

    "So System, why did you change your mind of exacting revenge and allow me to do things at my own pace?" Jin asked loudly.

    "User should be aware of the collective entities in the System. After the newest informations regarding the Banned Emperor it decided to reevaluate its strategy. The System did not lose sight of its objective to exact revenge against the Banned Emperor or the Jade Emperor''s Royal Zodiac subjects. The System''s collective entities had decided that User had a major potential to grow the Panda n to its former glory by fulfilling User''s dream. Money is Power. Hence, the System felt that gathering power was necessary to prevent such an incident like with Ming again." The System stated.

    "Also, even if User does not wish to pursue the objectives of exacting revenge, the System does not mind. After calcting the probability, the subjects of Banned Emperoring for User is high enough to warrant deeming their defeat as a second main objective." The System said and Kraftughed.

    "Hahahahahaha! In other words you are saying Jin is simply a ma for trouble?" Kraft continued tough loudly which indirectly offended Jin a bit.

    "Using past events as the sample size, the probability of User getting into trouble are forecast as high to very high. Possibility peaking in the 95th percentile." The System replied and the rest of the group could not help and agreed. Even Grandma Yuan chuckled at that fact while Lynn nodded her head unhesitatingly too.

    "Fineeeeeee!" Jin pouted for a while before Grandma Yuan got back to business. From her storage ring, she took out a piece of paper and dialled her phone to call for thedy attendant that was previously helping her.

    "Bring him in." Grandma Yuan ordered and almost in an instant, a familiar figure appeared in front of them. It was none other than Xiong Da in a very formal suit with tie and high ss leather shoes.

    "Good Evening, Grandma Yuan." Xiong Da greeted Grandma Yuan as he ced his suitcase in front of Jin. "I assume the rest here are the witnesses to this?" Xiong Da asked formally as he saw Yun and Lynn in the crowd too. (Kraft had already disappeared when he appeared)

    "Yes, proceed." Grandma Yuan said and Xiong Da then faced Jin.

    "I am the Lawyer enforcing the will of yourte grandfather, Xie Ming. It was previously a case of my colleague but he decided to retire early. So it was really a mere coincidence when I saw your name in one of his cases." Xiong Da smiled at Jin as he took a few more pieces of paper out.

    "Under the will, he requested that more of his inheritance properties would be given out to you as soon as you prove yourself worthy. What he did not state to you in your version of hisst will was that the person judging you in terms of your worthiness was actually the one right in front of you. Grandma Yuan." Xiong Da pointed out.

    "I approve of him. He is somewhat worthy. Cut to the chase, you can transfer the content to him now." ?Grandma Yuan hurried him up in a stern voice. Xiong Da did not dare to mess with her. However, he said that it was his responsibility to let both parties understand the papers they were signing. Thankfully, Xiong Da was brief enough that he did not test Grandma Yuan''s patience. They then proceeded to sign a few documents regarding the release of inheritance property.

    "If you are done, please leave us. Thank you for your assistance." Grandma Yuan said abruptly when it was obvious that the papers were done.

    "I will pass you the paymentter, Xiong Da." Jin said and Xiong Da gave the ''okay sign'' before he hastily made his way out of the instance.

    "Now, in order to not waste any of your or my time. The boxes are there for you to explore. As a safety measure only cultivators of the Griffin Style can open those boxes. I believe they will prove valuable to your shopбнand I am sure that is also what Ming would believe." ?Grandma Yuan slowly got down from the barstool and took a look of the shop instance for herself. Then she walked back to the bar counter and ced a name card down.

    "Prepare a Zoo instance if you get my drift. Those NPCs will not be able to teach your customers much. Call this number for my head attendant to assist you in this but remember only I know about the System." Grandma Yuan said but before she truly left the ce, she stopped a final time and looked at Lynn.

    "Girl, I look forward toing back and enjoying your next cup." Grandma Yuan remarked as she teleported out of the shop instance.

 Chapter 348 Unboxing

    <h4>Chapter 348 Unboxing</h4>

    When Grandma Yuan finally left the shop instance, Jin took a breather andposed himself before looking at therge stacks of metal boxes. Yun was already walking towards the boxes, not particrly caring what Grandma Yuan said previously about her. Her only concern now was Jin''s growth and that was all it matters.

    Yun did not feel the urge to explore her past after finding out the truth from Grandma Yuan though she did feel a little troubled. Regardless, Yun did not feel so conflicted that she felt that something must be done to rectify the problem. Perhaps when the System recreated her, it made her be that way so that she would not be burden by the past, else she could not exin otherwise. Or was she always that heartless when she was alive?

    In any case, she scanned the boxes and realised that there were progressive grades attached to the sealing charms on the metal boxes of various sizes. She also noticed that the seal was purposely made for her particr version of Griffin style; not any Griffin style cultivator would be able to open the box. Upon closer examination, Yun roughly figured Grandma Yuan motive of putting the seals. She made it so that the unboxing procedure could only be done when Jin reached a certain Grade. That was when Yun would also be pegged to that grade to unveil the contents of the box too.

    Hence, with Jin''s increase in grade, Grandma Yuan believed that would allow Yun to reveal the contents of the sealed metal boxes proportionate to his growth since she knew how the System worked. However, Grandma Yuan did not take ount that Yun''s affliction was more towards the System then her being Jin''s ''servant''. So, Grandma Yuan''s intention to give the entire batch of metal boxes to Jin could be circumvented by Yun if she wanted to open everything.

    After pondering whether to either open all the boxes using the System''s powers or release the boxes to Jin whenever she felt the time was right, she finally decided to just follow Grandma Yuan''s way of doing things. Yun mumbled a few words before cing her hand at the Grade 1 metal box and the sealing charm burnt into a crisp in an instant. Jin helped himself to opening the chest and found that therge metal box was brimming withбнbooks.

    Cultivation Manuals of various animals were in that box and all of which seem to be unique to their own. Jin estimated there would be at least a hundred of these manuals in there. "To be exact, there are currently 1028 manuals in the metal box. All of which are themon types of cultivation which most modern cultivators used. There were no duplicate copies in the box at all." The System stated.

    When Yun opened the subsequent boxes, the contents were simr. It was all books, books and more books so she decided to stop at the metal box with the Grade 6 sealing charm since the box''s size does not seem to look like it would contain books.

    The System noted that the cultivation manuals that the first five metal boxes contained, covered almost 80% of the cultivators seen in the shop. Despite the variations in certain styles, the System had already begun analysing those manuals and putting them in its database.

    "Don''t you have your set of own cultivation manuals in your database? I mean you did kind of gave Qiu Yue and Lynn their own special manuals." Jin asked wondering if all these manuals were really necessary or was it just Ming''s old collection.

    "The cultivation manuals that the System stored in its database were from the period of the Jade Emperor era. The Panda n had a monopoly in the education sector and it managed to control the sales of cultivation manuals really well. The System would like to note that due to the rebellion against the Banned Emperor, the Panda n estimated to have obtained at least 90% of the cultivation manual in that particr era with the efforts of the previous houses before they became the subjects of the Jade Emperor." The System reported.

    "With this set of collection in hand, the System is able to update its database, corrte it to the old cultivation manual and deduce the possible divergences of various old cultivation manual that lead to the creation of the modern cultivation manual. In addition, the collection of data from the cultivators in the dungeon instances had presented the shortfalls as well as the advantages of the particr style they were using. The System will take its time topile all of the data and use it to create better manuals. In short, the System believes that it could finally open up the teaching instance User had desired Peppers to do so. User may do it in conjunction with the zoo instance that former Sub System User Yuan had suggested." The System stated and Jin could feel that it was very satisfied with the collection of the cultivation manuals despite the fact that it despised the person who painstakingly collected them.

    "I had totally forgotten about that part of asking Peppers to do it." Jin casually opened one of the manuals to take a look. Some of the older manuals had hundreds of pages while others were tattered and torn but Jin realised many of the newer looking ones were thinner and more concise. He wondered if Ming had gone through all these manual to create the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation manual.

    "He did. Well, not all entirely all of them but a number of them, yes." Kraft appeared and took one manual from the Grade 3 box. He then showed Jin a particr page of the Henotic Hedgehog Cultivation Style. Jin picked it up to have a closer lookбнthen he realised the technique on that page was simr to his Panda Rolling technique but the steps were much simpler.

    "He was still a cultivator after the System abandoned him. When Ming was not working, he would take the time to create the particr cultivation manual you had been using." Kraft tossed the book back into the metal box which made a portal open right in front of him.

    Peppers suddenly came out of the portal like a person who had not seen food in his life for a very long time. "I SMELL BOOKS!" Peppers shouted as she ran to the Grade 5 metal box of books and stared at them for a while. "Oh wow. I did not expect your inheritance to be like this at all! I thought it would just be some old armour and lots of money. But look at this! These crates are filled with so much sweat and blood of the cultivation masters!!! Their life''s work all summarised into pages of papers! Master, I will not be courteous!!" She cast a magic spell that levitated the five metal boxes and with a snap, they all disappear.

    "Don''t go overboard reading that you will not be able toplete the preparations of Operation Pompeii in time!!" Jin shouted at her but before Peppers could even reply, she disappeared into thin air. "Systemбнplease do remind herбн" Jin said as he knew there was not much time left to the Red Moon Night.

    "Do you wish to look into the contents of thest two boxes or you want me to do it another day?" Yun asked since she saw him preupied but Jin nodded his head. Judging from the rectangr size of the metal box, he did not expect the contents to be any much different. Perhaps, it was some ancient scroll that contained the knowledge or some picture painting that would teleport them into another dimension but when Jin looked at it closely, he was surprised.

    Two unique looking swords with their pommels carved with a griffin head. The crossguard was ornated with wings and the grip wasyered with silver for one and gold for the other. Thenget of the sword had ws grabbing on the fuller part of the de. The scabbard''s locket and chape matched with the colours of the hilt with a simple ck finishing. There was a note at the side and Jin can recognise that it was Ming''s handwriting.

    "Grandma Yuan might not like it but pass it to your supposed mother. It belonged to her and will forever be hers." Ming wrote. Yun picked it up and remove the silver griffin sword out of its scabbard. Somehow, the sword glowed when Yun raised it up to have a closer look.

    "The sword seems to remember meбнeven when I have no recollection about it." Yun said as she put it back into the scabbard and took the other out of the metal box. As she peered at the golden sword, water involuntarily umted into a droplet and suddenly escape out of her tear ducts. Yun did not understand why even when she had no memories of the golden sword, her tears kept flowing out as if it was pent up for a very long time. There was an indiscernible bond that was exposed from the depths of her heart when she held on to the golden sword.

    Jin saw the scene and kept quiet for a while. He figured that was the sword his father used based on what Grandma Yuan said and Jin could also feel that his heart been tugged by the sword too.

    "Whyбнwhyбнwhy I cannot remember anything about you and yet you made me feel this way!" Yun cried out loud as if she could see an apparition of the loved one she lost. At that moment, her true cultivation style appeared and silver griffins silhouettes hovered over her as if to try andfort her.

    Kraft was the only one who dared to walk towards her and ce a hand on her shoulders and the griffins silhouettes disappeared immediately. "Keep that sword close to your heart. It proved that you were truly alive once before the System recreated the new you. No matter what, look forward to the growth of your ''son'' and hope that when we ever get close to those Banned Emperor bastards, use that sword to cut them down." Kraftforted her in his own way before he walked away.

    "Do not worry. I will cut them down if I have to lose this life again." Yun kept that thought to herself as she wiped her tears away and took out a belt that appeared to have a ceholder for her swords. Yun then excused herself for a moment and asked Jin to open thest box himself since she already released the seal.

    Jin nodded his head and did not say much, leaving her to her own devices. Lynn who was at the side lines came towards Jin and asked if he was okay. "I did lose my mom before so I might have an inkling how you might feel. If you need anything, do not hesitate toe to me." Lynn said before she left for the kitchen service instance, leaving Jin alone with thest unsealed box among the many sealed ones.

    The box looked simr to the first five but the lid of the box was heavier than the others. Jin managed to open it but instead of books or weapons, there was actually nothing inside other than a metal crest in it. A Panda head shaped crest. Jin believed it was something special so he slowly picked it up. Yet, there was no sign of it being activated, and no matter how Jin looked at it, the crest felt and resembled a simple normal essory to him.

    Jin tried to insert some chi inside but nothing happened too so he decided to ask the System about it which the System had no affirmative response to it. The System had no idea what the metal crest was supposed to do too and Jin guessed perhaps only time will tell. However, as he put the Panda head crest into his storage watch, the Panda''s dull looking eyes somehow blinked once before it was teleported into the storage area. (which Jin did not notice at all.)

    Jin then called out his zombies to carry the rest of the sealed boxes into the basement of his terrace house since there was sufficient space to put it. After which, he entered the Dungeon Maker and prepared to oversee the rest of the preparations for Operation Pompeii and the situation in the North and Western region of Gob Gob Kingdom.

    However, before Jin could do anything major, there was a beep in the control console and it was apparently a call from Ripcaller who was with the team of assassins with Dagger General Igni. He said that they had finally found a deste vige where past goblins had stayed before. They were going to set the leyline configuration in that vige so it would operate as the initial waypoint to the Orc''s kingdom for other monsters, goblins or even cultivators toe in if needed. Ripcaller also asked Jin if he wanted to watch the leyline configuration so he might use it for his own purposes.

    On the contrary, Jin declined but offered them to enter a room created by the Dungeon Maker when they were done creating the leyline portal settings. He had prepared the System to create technique cubes, those small metal looking Rubik cubes which Zeru once gave Jin to acquire knowledge almost instantly. Jin wished to do the same to the goblins with regards to certain modern assassination methods for the goblins.

    That way, the assassination team would have better chance of performing the mission. Jin initially wanted to do the same for those goblin marksmen or those operating the heavy war guns but he felt that if he let Hou Fei teach, maybe he could save on those resources and perhaps Hou Fei can teach them a personal trick or two. (Which he was so sessful in imparting those skills or perhaps the goblins learn things fast.)

    Ripcaller acknowledged his master''s instructions and ended the call while Dagger General Igni prepared the ingredients for the ritual in the basement of the broken tavern building. "Son, I need you to keep guard with the other goblin assassins. When I start this ritual, there are certain things to take note."

    "Monsters that usually kept to themselves might appear so you have to guard me against them. I must not be interrupted or else the leyline connection would not only break but cause an earthquake in this region too. However, if I am not wrong, there should not be any significantly dangerous monsters here that would pose a threat to this team. My men reported none living in the current vicinity from a quick sweep. Perhaps the Orc scouts or cavalry might appear but I believe the men and you can handle them."

    "Who cares about an earthquake in the Orc region? If Father''s life is in mortal danger, I will not hesitate to break you out of this trance." Ripcaller replied but Igni should his head.

    "It''s not just an earthquake. The leyline provides magic to every being mother nature had created. What I am trying to do is to open a path within the leyline so we can move along the leyline like blood flowing from the heart to another organ. If I mess up, this leyline opening will cause magic to flow out like a broken water pipe and it will have a disastrous effect on the surroundings. When we have the time, I might teach you how to do it, for now just keep guard." General Igni said and he dismissed him as he prepared himself for the ritual.

    Ripcaller sometimes would like his father to take less risk especially with rituals like this. They could have asked a Tavern Master to apany them since they could do the same ritual as him but Ripcaller''s father felt that the smaller the team, the faster one could move. It already took them more than two weeks to reach the Orc maind but managed to be left undetected by patrolling orcs.

    Ripcaller learnt a lot from his father in terms of tracking, survival training and sneaking but he too showed his capabilities whenever possible. His father, Igni, was not a man that dished out praises easily but Ripcaller did manage to perceive certain actions throughout the expedition which showed that he was proud of Ripcaller.

    Previously, General Igni used to not let Ripcaller perform a lot of tasks, asserting that he was ipetent or too young for it. But seeing how Ripcaller fought against the orcs and fighting against Red Hurricane, the Avatar of Garuda, made him realised that Ripcaller was no longer a kid. That was also why Igni had permitted him toe for this major assassination mission and that gesture alone had proved that Igni trusted his son more than usual. Or perhaps, he just wanted to spend a bit more time with his long lost son.

    Ripcaller closed the somewhat broken door of the Tavern''s basement and climbed up the stairs to the first floor with the assassin goblins resting for a moment. He passed down his father''s orders to his currentrades and they nodded their heads except for Assassin Savant leaning on the entrance door of the broken down tavern.

    "Savant, did you get the message?" Ripcaller not knowing his true name, called him Savant instead since he was the only one there at the moment.

    Suddenly, the Assassin Savant who usually the mostposed of all of them, lowered his centre of gravity and had his hand at his waist, readied to wield his weapon out to strike. The other assassin goblins who saw that immediately picked their gear up and went to cover almost immediately. They trust the guts of the Assassin Savant who had helped them to detect quite a number of possible incursions. Without Savant, they might have shed with orcs and lose a few goblins unnecessarily.

    However, instead of something or someone charging into the broken tavern there was a p. "My King said he sensed rats entering our country and sent me out to this deserted ce. Why don''t you juste out and y with me. Chop chop, let''s hurry. I have something more important to do than to be a pest exterminator." A fog of ck smoke began to spread throughout the deserted vige in a controlled manner and with a snap of finger, the smoke was ignited into a burst of green mes.

    Everything was burning except for the tavern and the empty grounds outside it. Green Fire, the Avatar of Ifrit did that to flush those pesky goblins out of their hiding hole.

 Chapter 349 Green Fire

    <h4>Chapter 349 Green Fire</h4>

    The assassin goblins knew that this was a trap. If the Avatar of Ifrit, Green Fire wanted to finish them in one shot, he would have sted the tavern to kingdome. Yet, he did not. It could probably meant two things. One, Green Fire wished to bring in prisoners so that he could interrogate them. Two, he really just wanted to unt his powers so much that he could ''toy'' with the goblins.

    Break them? Burn them? Why not both at the same time? He was after all granted all this power and he did not have any chance to use them until now due to the restraining order by Orc King Hamu himself. Now that his King allowed him to vent some stress, why should he not?

    Of course, Ripcaller also believed it was thetter especially since he saw how Green Fire set everything in mes. He deduced that there was a high chance the orc of fire came here alone with no backup. No sane orc would burn the surroundings with hisrades or fellow soldiers beside himбнunless they were as crazy as him.

    "Your orders?" one of the assassins asked Ripcaller as he was appointed as the interim leader by General Igni before he performed the ritual. The General could have chosen his veterans to lead the team but the goblin assassins had a tradition of letting the young ones to lead so they could feel the pressure of leadership. (Or perhaps, feel the pain of sending one to their possible death.) ?But if things really went south, the most veteran in the group that would take things over. Seeing how things were going, the most veteran assassin in the group, Daga, was on the verge of taking over themand of the team if Ripcaller was not able to do something quick.

    Thankfully, Ripcaller was able toposed himself fast since he had always been the one to lead the goblins Piercestriker and shreaver in dungeon instances. He made amand to the goblins to hold their position in the tavern because he did not want to meaninglessly sent the goblin assassins to their unwanted death against an enemy which they knew was too great a risk for them right now.

    If Ripcaller wished to set an example, he should be the first to fight against Green Fire since escaping was not an option and protecting General Igni was the priority. As unfortunate as it might be, Dagger General Igni did note out from the basement when the ruckus happened. That meant that the ritual should have already started in the basement with all themotion that was happening on the first floor and Ripcaller would be unable to rely on his father to fight against this fearsome Orc pyromanic.

    "Should I inform Master Jin about this?" Ripcaller thought to himself since the reveal of Jin or other monstersing into the picture might alert and raise the suspicion of the Avatar of Ifrit. He might do the same as Red Hurricane and escape whenever possible. If he did managed to escape and report the news to his King, there might be consequences he could not fathom. Would it dy the operation that they were preparing or would it quicken the attack by the Orc armies.

    Maybe the King might even call off the operation they were doing although Colonel Ayse somehow had return to the Kingdom to observe his movements based on her new master''s decision and ensured King Hamu did not do anything drastic which would jeopardise Jin''s n that was set in motion. No doubt, She had to do some exining upon losing the superser cannon artefact. However, the King did not pass on any heavy handed punishment like the way he did against Red Hurricane.

    Hamu knew that he needed her to oversee the ongoing scientific research plus her past contributions of all the inventions she created made it unworthy to punish her. A short one day jail term was given as a warning and that was all. Besides, she was not a soldier in the first ce but a researcher. Her rank was a formality so the orcs have to do her bidding when she needed the manpower.

    Ripcaller became indecisive especially when he saw Green Fire appeared to be sick of waiting for an answer and wanted to take the initiative. If the goblins were not moving, the orc might as well burn the tavern down right now and forced them out of there if there were any left. But before Ripcaller could make anothermand, Assassin Savant shot a shuriken he kept in his belt pouch to test the response of Green Fire. Yet, even before the shuriken could evene close to the Orc, the shuriken seem to slowed down upon striking onto something and melted, approximately three to five metres away from Green Fire.

    "He has some sort of offensive shield barrier." Assassin Savant whispered to Ripcaller who was at the opposing side of the front door hiding. The surprise projectile did not faze Green Fire and he scratched his head out of boredom.

    "Ahhh, looks like the goblins are not stupid enough to just charge towards me. I thought I could melt a few rats first to even out you knowбнthe ying field. Though it seems that you guys are either cautious enough or too scared to fight with me directly. Well, if you do not dare to face me, I will make you face me." ?Green Fire taunted sarcastically as he walked closer towards the Tavern and everything around him started to roast from the high temperature his magical aura was emanating to frighten the goblins even more and the surroundings were subsequently burnt into ck ashes.

    Even the footsteps he left behind, they produced a trail of ck ashen ground and a foul burnt smell. "He is really fooling around while having the intent to kill us. We should take the opportunity to distract him from the main team." Ripcaller said to Assassin Savant which they decided to be the decoys for the assassin goblins hiding. The goblin assassins stayed put with their des ready because they knew full well that one should not show its entire hand until they achieved a significant advantage in a fight. ?At the same time, they looked through their arsenal and the tavern to see if there was anything they could increase their odds of survival.

    As Green Fire approached the porch of the broken tavern, he suddenly saw two cloaked figures jumping out of the broken windows from each side of the door and continued to flung metal projectiles at him. "Finally some action! And is that guy the one who Red Hurriance said he had difficulty with?" Green Fire mistaken the Assassin Savant for Jin and threw a forceful stream of fire at the Savant.

    It made the Savant retreated even further from the tavern''s porch as he performed a fewplicated hand movements as if to summon something.

    "Ninpou, Suiton no Jutsu." ?The Savant whispered and even though his mouth was covered with a fabric veil, a jet stream of magical water gusher out from his mouth to counter the onught of mes. Green Fire suddenly felt ted that these pesky goblins were able to ally with someone of talent. He might be able to vent his frustrations with more force since killing them at one go was not fun at all. Hence, Green Fire quickly focused his energies towards the Assassin Savant and raised his arms to hurled arge ball of greenish fire to the Assassin Savant that managed counter his previous fire attack.

    "Try extinguishing this. I will like to see that." Green Fireughed hysterically when he released therge fireball. (Though if Kraft would to hear hisughter, he probably criticised the act. Maybe a score of -1/10.)

    "Doton no Jutsu." The Assassin Savant whispered while performing various hand signs with one hand. Instead of the Assassin Savant fighting against the ball of fire or blocking it entirely, the ground suddenly grabbed him and pulled him deep into the safety of Mother Gaia''s embrace. Savant did it in the nick of time when the gigantic fireball wasing close so that it had the impression he got hit by the fireball after countering the stream of fire.

    As the ground exploded from impact of fireball, Ripcaller knew that the Savant had his tricks of his own so he took the opportunity to enter the blind side of Green Fire to strike from above. He purposely used the powers of the Gearbox boots to produce a counter heat shield and hoped that his body would not be burnt in the process of entering the fire barrier.

    The sky dive strike was something he copied from Master Jin and Qiu Yue when they did the Rider Kick in the random arena. It was rather spectacr and filled with so much pow wow that he hoped to do the same against Green Fire too. (It was unfortunate that he did not understand he should only do that at thest part of the fight, and not used it as a opener for a fight.)

    The strike was supposed to be quick but the impact against the fire barrier made a loud sound which startled the Avatar of Ifrit. Though Green Fire had his focus at the humanoid looking assassin figure, he knew that was a goblin who would attack but he just did not expect the goblin to challenge the fire barrier head on.

    When Ripcaller made contact with the invisible fire barrier, he could sense the immense heat from his boots but the counter energy the boots produced allowed Ripcaller to pierced through the fire barrier and entered Green Fire''s proximity without being inflicted too much damage on himself. Ripcaller then realised once he got through the supposed fire barrier, his skin was not burning at all and he immediately became more aggressive with his attacks.

    Ripcaller initially thought he probably would have a window of opportunity thatsted for a second or two before he had to leave. But with the new discovery that Ripcaller was not going to be burnt to death staying within the barrier, he aimed to kill Green Fire.

    "Hahahah! I like crazy goblins! They are even more fun to kill! Let me tell you a secret since you were able to pass through it. Oh wait. Nope! I am not stupid to tell you my tricks!" Green Fire turned his attention to Ripcaller thinking the fireball attack should hinder if not kill the humanoid.

    "If that''s the case, let me deduce. It''s more like a fiery cage rather thanyers of magic protecting you," ?Ripcaller replied as he attempted to stab Green Fire with his daggers.

    "But in this cage, I am the warden. You are the prisoner! You have no chance of defeating me!" Green Fire smashed the ground with his fist, causing bits and pieces of earth to fly all about which Ripcaller had to used his daggers to deflect those projectiles and it slowed him down for the subsequent dagger stabbing, allowing Green Fire to escape the critical distance from the dagger''s range. The Orc then utilised his magic to make the rocks fly towards him as he made his body temperature to rise in order to melt and mend those rocks together.

    Ripcaller then realised Green Fire was making an improvised molten rock armour from the ground. Green Fire did not hesitate to test out his new armour by breaking a part of it and threw the molten rock fragment at Ripcaller.

    The goblin was able to evade in time but that was just a distraction by Green Fire as he dashed towards him with hands burning with intense green mes. He wanted to m the goblin into the ground, shaping Ripcaller and mould him to goblin paste from his burning corpse.

    Suddenly, multiple y hands emerged out of the ground blocking Green Fire''s inevitable palm strike. It gave Ripcaller some breathing space to move away just in time for the hiding Assassin Savant to release his next move.

    "Hyoton no Jutsu." The ground split open revealing the Assassin Savant with his hand signs already performed. A giant drill spike of ice spun from the crevices of the broken ground when Green Fire seeded in decimating the earthly hand models in an instant. Because of his current posture after defeating the y hands, Green Fire was not able to evade in time and the Ice drill pushed him into the sky and making him hit his own invisible fire cage barrier that was meant to injure his opponents and not him.

    A part of the cage broke from the force, simr to what Ripcaller had done and it burnt the back of Green Fire''s molten rock armour while the ice drill had nearly prated a hole through the front of molten rock armour. It was close but close did not cut it when you want to take the chance to finish your enemy in one strike. That was the goal of all assassins and sadly Savant did not take ount of the molten armour and therefore the drill was not deep enough to injure him.

    Green Fire coughed for a moment but to an assassin, a moment was golden enough for Ripcaller to pressed on for an attack as he boosted towards Green Fire with his gearbox boots while making sure he was as close to the drill as possible in order not to get hit by the now visible fire cage barrier.

    Green Fire instinctively used his arms to block and that saved his head from a savage cut from Ripcaller''s boosted jump attack. He shouted at the loss of his arms and his eyes turned from greenish jade to burning ruby red.

    "I shall let you taste what the mes of hell truly feels lik-" The sentence was cut off when a breeze of fresh air whiffed passed Green Fire. The silhouettes of five goblins instantly appeared flying in the skies. Green Fire was not cut into two but ten pieces. ?His head, torso, upper arms, legs were sliced and diced by the veteran goblin assassins.

    They were all carrying weapons imbued by the power of Light magic, courtesy of King Sol for just this expedition. The weapons immediately broke into pieces upon use but fret not, they have spares in their bags after all.

    "You did the hard part, we just cleaned it up nicely for you." Daga said as the five assassinsnded down together all at the same time, as if the attack was synchronised to the very second. Ripcaller who was hanging at the tip of the ice drill spike smiled.

    However, the surroundings that was burning began cease and instead smoke gathered in the sky and a vague silhouette of Ifrit appeared right in front of Ripcaller. "The fight was not interesting at all. That useless piece of garbage did not even sate my hunger for battle." Ifrit''s silhouette that was mixed with smoke and green mes echoed throughout the quiet night.

    "But you." The smoky silhouette moved closer to Ripcaller as he picked up his dagger in a defensive stance while the rest of the assassins was in a dilemma. Their spare imbued weapons were left in the tavern and their normal steel weapons could never win against the Shaitan Noble. Should they abandon Ripcaller in the scene alone and collect their weapons to have the chance to finish the remnants of persistent Shaitan Noble of Fire or stayed to watch things unfold. Daga eventually decided on thetter as his guts dictated even though logic defied it.

    "I have a premonition that if I stick with you, my appetite might be quenched even though you are justmentable meagre goblin." The Silhouette then spun around Ripcaller to ''check'' him out.

    "Quench your appetite? Please, I can even make you so bloated by offering you all the fights you desire if you follow me. That is the promise my Master had given me and he had yet to disappoint me ever since I met him. The opponents I met just get stronger each time we meet again." Ripcaller decided to take a gamble and said in a mockery tone. He realised that the Shaitan Noble was in a negotiating mood.

    "Hah! Your aura though as pitiful it can be, proved that you are telling the truth aspared to those other old pansies who are hiding in the darkness. Very well. I shall make an exception just this once and bestow you a small portion of my powers. If you can deal with my trial of mes, then I will let you be my interim Avatar until I find a more suitable one!" The silhouette boomed his voice as he distanced himself a little more before he flew into Ripcaller''s body.

    Ripcaller screamed at the sudden surge of power coursing through his veins. His body temperature started to rise so much that it melted the tip of the ice drill and made him fall to the ground. The ground gave way too because the fire itself burned it into ash. The rest of the goblins stepped back as they have no idea how to help him.

    "If he can ovee this trial himself... he might be able to..." Daga whsipered solemnly. This was the first time he saw the Shaitan Noble possessing with a goblin and as excruciating it was to see Ripcaller suffered, he told the rest to get the imbued weapons of light...in case Ripcaller failed the trial of ascendancy.

    Suddenly, a notification appeared on Jin''s screen as he was focusing on other stuff in the Dungeon Maker. "User, Ripcaller the dagger goblin is proceeding with an unintended step up evolution without your permission. Do you wish to allow it? Or do you wish to assist with the step up evolution?"

 Chapter 350 Step Up Evolution Ripcaller

    <h4>Chapter 350 Step Up Evolution Ripcaller</h4>

    "Step up evolution not a side evolution? Are you sure? And why is it happening at such random timing? Did Ripcaller got some magic powers from the leylines?" Jin stopped what he was doing and looked towards the console which now showed the stats interface of the dagger goblin Ripcaller. He noticed that his body vitals were deteriorating while attempting the evolution. Even if he is not a doctor, it was obvious enough with the ring signs given by the System.

    "Negative, the goblin is attempting to unite its spirit with the Shaitan Noble of Fire, Ifrit." The System stated the reason behind the sudden drop of his vitals. Jin was shocked due to that particr information since thest he heard from Ripcaller was that they were going to initiate the leyline ritual, not unite with a Shaitan Noble. The System said it does not have the time to exin at the moment and demanded Jin to make a decision immediately.

    "Of course, assist him." Jin did not hesitate for his reply. If his goblin could obtain one of the powers of the Shaitan, it might significantly influence their operation''s preparations although he also wondered how Orc King Hamu would react to that particr fact they might lose an Avatar of Shaitan. As of yet, he did not know what was happening and told the System to do whatever it takes to assist him.

    "Understood. Peppers and Milk to the scene immediately. Do User wish to be there to ensure your betors'' presence would not startle the goblins assassins?" The System asked as it had the coordinates to the dagger goblin and was able to teleport Jin to that location.

    "Please do so. I do not want an unnecessary fight among my betors and the Goblin Assassins to happen when Ripcaller''s life is in danger." Jin replied and in an instant, he was teleported to the scene alongside Peppers and Milk who had their very own customised half panda masks. Daga was surprised at first but he immediately recognised Jin in his half Panda mask and knelt in front of him. He knew that as a master, Jin must be anxious for his young goblin and respected that about him but he asked Jin to not do a thing.

    "Venerable Jin, please do not do anything that can disturb the current situation. Ripcaller has to ovee this trial by himself or else the Shaitan Noble would not acknowledge him." Daga said with his head down and Jin knew that it could possibly be rted to their tradition.

    Ripcaller was in desperate pain and he could feel the fire eating him up inside out but even with his blurry vision, he saw the silhouette of his Master Jin right in front of him. "Ah, damn...I made Master worried for me." Ripcaller thought since he prided himself as a cool dependable goblin among the trio. "Then all the more I should not let him worry..." Ripcaller took a deep breath and shouted out.

    "COME IFRIT IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?"

    Ifrit who was already in the midst of possessing the goblin body for his own use,ughed at Ripcaller''s desperate attempt to taunt him. "You might regret what you had said." While Ripcaller was unable to see it, he could feel that Ifrit was smiling behind the scenes and in an instant, the greenish me that was engulfing him becamerger, fiercer and more aggressive. The green mes also turned blue andter bright orange in colour as if to show the intensity of fire energy being pumped into Ripcaller. The rest had to fall back at least a few metres away to prevent themselves from being caught by the mes. Ripcaller trembled and fell to the ground because of the weighted mes but he gritted his teeth and tried to stand up. Yet, each time he tried to stand, the fire got heavier as if pushing to resist his will.

    "I have my own tricks too!" Ripcaller shouted as he raised his hand out, making a triangle hand sign andter intecing his fingers together. He remembered precisely how Assassin Savant did the first Jutsu. Suiton no Jutsu, a technique that released the element of water at his disposal. "SUITON NO JUTSU!" The burning goblin utilised all the chi he could garner, opening every pore of his skin to release the chi which eventually turned into the form of a magical mist which was not extinguished by the mes of Ifrit. Instead, the Mist enveloped around the burning goblin and created a bubble of water that caged him up with the mes.

    Ripcaller was able to do this because the goblin could copy any particr skill technique they found worthy and used it for themselves. However, that would reserve one goblin grade worth of power. (Imagine the goblin silhouette being upied to do such a technique. That was why their silhouettes were always filled with various styles when they portrayed their ''cultivation''.) Simr to how Piecestriker had copied Jia Ying, the Stag cultivator''s skills, Ripcaller did the same copying the Assassin Savant''s technique but its powers were depending on which grade he allocated it. At the moment he ced it at the highest tier of Grade 7.

    "Why are you doing this act of futility?" Ifrit asked and Ripcaller only had one simple reason. To drown himself in his own water bubble if he ever failed the trial of fire so he could deny Ifrit what he wanted. He remembered his father telling him how the orcs became the Avatars of Shaitan.

    If one failed the trial of said element, their soul would leave the body and the Shaitan Noble would consume its body while its soul would manifest as magic power. However, the nobles would only consume if the body was still alive the moment the soul leaves the body. It was the sweet spot which all Shaitan nobles desired.

    Even if it failed to be consumed, the Noble would possess the body and that was when the Assassinse to y with their imbued weapons. Ripcaller was sure that the System could replicate his body and soul with the data backed up in its servers. He would rather be killed by his mates then have his body being eaten inside out by Ifrit. Especially when he heard rumours of orcs being ''resurrected'' as puppets for the Noble''s use if both their souls and bodies were consumed by the Nobles. If that was true, the Nobles might gain a Ripcaller clone and he knew he could be deadly in an onught against normal goblins.

    Therefore, Ripcaller would kill himself the moment he failed the trial of fire, making him lost his soul but not his body to Ifrit.

    He knew that the said purpose for this particr trial of ascendancy was a lie and all the orcs knew about that too. It was basically a ritual to sacrifice one''s soul to the Shaitan Noble''s consumption. Only if one''s soul were sturdy enough not to be moved by the trials of the Shaitan Noble, they would be rewarded with the noble''s powers to enhance and strengthen their souls even more.

    Also if the chosen orcs ever die, the nobles themselves would have a more luxurious experience eating their souls using the bodies as a gateway to consume them and be stronger. Red Hurricane and Green Fire were exceptions. The Light Magic from King Sol and Dark Magic from King Hamu had prevented the Avatars'' souls from being eaten, hence breaking the cycle the nobles created between themselves and the said Avatar. Yet many orcs attempted to do that as they felt the benefits outweigh their miserable lives. (And also because the desire of wielding powers held prestige in their society.) That was why Garuda and Ifrit appeared pissed when their Avatars died since they had put in quite a lot of effort nurturing their ''livestock''.

    "You think I cannot burn out this tiny bubble of yours?" Ifrit said and poured more fire energy into Ripcaller''s soul, hoping to break him even further. But it was a first for Ifrit to discharge in this much fire energy into a soul. Most Orcs'' soul no matter how determined they were, would have burnt out long ago from it and yet this little goblin here was still resisting and even talking back against Ifrit.

    The Orcs at least have more respect for him than this little green guy here. What Ifrit did not know was that Ripcaller''s soul was tempered tens, hundreds or even thousands of times by the System and the cultivator''s use of dungeon instances. Ripcaller had been resurrected so many times that he did not know if his soul was broken beyond repair but one thing is for sure. He would not go down against this trial of fire without a fight.

    Therefore the more fire energy that Ifrit threw in, the more he started to feel it''s a lost cause and guessed he should let the goblin pass the ritual. Besides, he noticed that the water bubble was revolving quickly around Ripcaller, extinguishing the excessive fire energy that was emanated out of him. This was all possible because of the System. Even though Jin was not allowed to touch or assist Ripcaller on the scene itself, it did not mean that he was not able to utilise the System to aid him. After all, why risk the chance of letting his soul be burnt to death by the Shaitan noble? Souls were expensive, and the budget was somewhat tight!

    Jin would rather spend it on something more cheap and viable like inserting more chi into Ripcaller via the System, ensuring that the dagger goblin was able to ovee the trial. The chi was in turn, used to power up his revolving water bubble, dispersing the fire energy which Ripcaller could not handle.

    In the end, Ifrit realised there was indeed something more to this goblin than he had hoped to toy around with. He stopped the channelling of fire energy into Ripcaller''s soul to burn him but instead now to cure him. The fire turned bluish instead of the usual bright orange, and suddenly Ripcaller felt a calming wave of peace throughout his body.

    "You have proven yourself more than worthy." A portal suddenly appeared and Ripcaller was able to peer through what was inside the portal entrance. Ifrit waszily sitting at his throne with a foot on the seat. From his hair, Ifrit picked something up and flicked it towards Ripcaller. It was an orb that was glowing dull when Ripcaller caught it with his own hands.

    "This. This is something that I did not even give to those power hungry orcs. Put it close to you and you will understand. You better keep your promise. I look forward to being sated with difficult fights." Ifrit swiped his left armzily and the portal began to close slowly. Only then, a dagger and a bow were being flung out of the portal as if Ifrit was throwing some leftovers into the trash. Ripcaller''s hands were reserved with carrying the precious looking orb that the weapons were being left on the ground. He also felt it was the right time to pick them up as it was apparent to see the weapons were burning the ground.

    Ripcaller decided to use the orb first and as he ced it close to his chest, a sudden eruption ofva came out from the orb, engulfing Ripcaller like an octopus wrapping around a ball. The System then notified that Ripcaller was going through his step up evolution. Theva cooled down and there were signs of cracking seen on Ripcaller''sva coated body. More cracks appeared and it seemed like he was struggling toe out of theva coat but as time goes by, it did not seem like he was having much trouble with it at all. Theyer ofva disintegrated and Jin saw that Ripcaller skin was now brownish red in colour and to his surprise, slightly taller too. (Probably just a goblin head taller.)

    Other than that, his features still looked the same but ahhh...abilities wise. Jin quickly took out his Tact Tweak and checked Ripcaller out. The System now called him me Ripper, but his official title was . Not to mention, his ability stats were off the charts, at least twice for most parameters, if not three times for his specialised areas like dexterity. Previously, me Ripper had a chiponent but now, it turned to a category called Shaitan Chi. Instead of him being just an Avatar of Ifrit, a mere container to hold a fraction of Ifrit''s power, me Ripper had fused a part of Ifrit in him. That orb was, unfortunately, Ifrit''s dandruff and nheless still part of Ifrit. (Perhaps, he did not dare to wash his hair with water being a Noble of Fire...Teehee~!)

    me Ripper picked up the burning weapons on the ground and it felt veryfortable to hold and felt as if he was proficient with it for a very long time.

    Daga and the rest of the goblin assassins cheered as they have obtained a battle advantage with a goblin that possessed the powers of a Shaitan Noble. He could probably be the first Shaitan Noble that the goblins ever had. Jin was then curious about King Sol himself. "Hasn''t King Sol been bestowed with Shaitan power abilities too? I mean he can cut and kill off powers of a Shaitan Noble." Daga heard it andughed.

    "No way King Sol is an Avatar of Shaitan Noble. King Sol was born with it. It was only during the rebellion, something happened that allowed him to awaken those powers of light in him. Surely, if it were not for him, we would not have proceeded with the rebellion." Daga exined.

    "In any case, it looks like we came here for nothing. At the very least, I get to see a step up evolution in progress." Peppers yawned while Milk looked slightly agitated at the mess that was left behind. Everything all charred and left a very bad foul burnt smell.

    "Let''s get back. We do not have time to lose and I need to inform Ayse about this so she can think of ways to make the Orc King stay on track for the operations, else we prepared everything for nought." Jin said and the System opened a portal for him and his betors.

    "We will exin the rest to Dagger General and shall liaise with Ripcaller if he has any opinions of this oue that we achieved," Daga said as they returned to the tavern and guarded for the rest of the day until Ignipleted his ritual.

 Chapter 351 Green Fires Disappearance

    <h4>Chapter 351 Green Fire''s Disappearance</h4>

    "Your Majesty, it seems that Green Fire is still missing. Do you mind if we speak more about this in private?" Oku, the Right Hand of Orc King Hamu, requested as he saw Colonel Ayse beside the King, with her giving him an informal shoulder massage in his private quarters.

    "Do not mind her, I trust her more than enough with the matters at hand. Maybe she might be able to give an opinion on the current situation too." Orc King Hamu said and smiled at Colonel Ayse which his Right Hand rarely saw him doing so. He sighed inwardly and reported his findings to Orc King Hamu about Green Fire.

    "We had investigated on the tip that you had given on Green Fire and it does appear that the ce had some form of fighting take ce and arge amount of Shaitan Noble''s magic was detected in that ce. Upon further investigation, our team found that there were other viges that were burnt down too and traces of Shaitan magic energy were present. There was no witness to question as the vige were either deserted, burnt to ashes or maybe the potential witnesses ran away from the scene." Oku took a out a piece of paper from a folder and presented his findings to his King

    "The investigation team can only deduce two scenarios. One, he is still chasing these...''goblins'' Your Majesty had foreseen with your Avatar''s powers. Two, he did not have enough ...fun and decided to rampage around the area. However, we could not understand his rationale of abandoning the current assault which we had been nning for ages. The investigation team can only hope that he will return at the nick of time." Oku ended his summary report to Orc King when it was just 12 hours away from their imminent assault against the goblins'' capital.

    In the meantime, Colonel Ayse wasughing so badly inside her. She knew exactly what had happened after Jin had updated her about it. Hence, she had formed a counter n to make sure the King does not suspect Green Fire death. Ayse had asked Jin to ry the message to me Ripper to burn down deserted viges and leave obvious trails since he had the power of Ifrit with him. The Orc investigation team would not suspect that it was me Ripper who had done it since there was no update on the death of Green Fire. (The goblin assassins also took the chance to teach Ripcaller what kind of evidence would be subtle and more believable for the investigation teams. Although Daga told him that if something was too obvious, the investigation team might overthink it.)

    "I suggest we dy the assault since there might also be a chance that Green Fire had allied with the goblins Your Majesty had predicted. That would be the only possibility I coulde out with if we are being rational here. Maybe, he might want to overtake the throne and will do it when you are vulnerable. And because of this possibility, we need to shore up the defences or change our assault date to prevent the mission being leaked out to the Gob Gob Kingdom." The Right Hand suggested and Colonel Ayse disyed her displeasure.

    "Do you have any idea what you are talking about?" Colonel Ayse stopped the massage and folded her arms towards the kneeling Right Hand to question him.

    "If it''s a possible unexpected attack on my King''s life, I will do what it takes to protect him." The Right Hand spoke. After which, Ayse too knelt down in front of King Hamu and spoke defensively.

    "Your Majesty, I ask that you refrain from listening to him and reconsider the attack. He is speaking of conspiracy of the highest level and is being very ridiculous at that too, an Avatar of a Shaitan Noble betraying you for the goblins? What will the goblins give him in return? A bloodied throne that he had to fight not just Your Majesty alone but two other Avatars??" Ayse voiced out her objections.

    "Also, what can the goblins do even if they have the information here? It will take a messenger bird more than 10 hours to reach Gob Gob Kingdom from here. Magical channels like ours? As if those goblins are as smart as our researchers here." Ayse bragged to the King that there was virtually no way they would get the message.

    "Maybe they captured one of the Orc Raider Captains and forced him to use it. Your Majesty, you cannot discount any possible leaks." Oku said hastily to counter Ayse''s argument.

    "Alright, let''s say they did and by some fortunate mishap, allowed them to learn about this magical channel, how much can the leak benefit them? You already receive official spy reports that the majority of the goblin forces had already split themselves between the West and North, leaving the capital lightly defended. That amount of time is not enough to even sortie a cavalry battalion back in time." Ayse rebutted.

    "Spear Goblin General Argent has a unit of superior wyverns under hismand which he can fly back in a moment''s notice." Oku tried to throw back his punches but he realised it was stupid of him to even suggest that one. Even if the wyverns returned from the north, they were only a bunchful. By saying that, it was like insulting the colossal Orc army to be so useless that they could be broken by apany of wyverns. Orc King Hamu who was observing the argument gave a serious stare at Oku for implying that his orc army was weak.

    "Oh, give me a break on the leak part. You are worrying too much. Besides, Green Fire is weak towards the Avatar of Shiva which he will be stupid to fight head on. From the looks of the evidence you described, it might just be more of an A.W.O.L (absent without official leave) case or Green Fire could be ying truant since Ifrit had always desired for battle because of his nature. He could be venting some magical powers which had been stored in him for a long time since Your Majesty did not allow any outlet for the Avatars." Colonel Ayse retorted and Orc King Hamu had a long pause which made Ayse be braver with her words.

    "Let''s just say your Right Hand is correct, which I highly doubt it, I humbly suggest we pressed on with the attack. The war supplies of the two armies, the Orc Ice Fleet and the Thunder Orc Army would not be sufficient for a return trip. If we do not follow the time table, we might have logistical problems since we are the invading Army if we were ever to withdraw. That was the reason why you assigned Orc Raiders to plunder the supplies right? So why waste the lives and efforts of your subjects that had prepared so much. Also, my researchers had reported to me that the Red Moon tonight is going to produce the highest amount of energy ever recorded. It will be a shame not to utilise that energy." Colonel Ayse was talking and she could see that Orc King Hamu was being influenced by her words more.

    "I have to thank the foxes for the ointment which I used to massage the Orc King. He seemed to bepelled to answer positively to me more than usual." Colonel Ayse thought before she took another breath and said her ns out.

    "Hence, I propose something else. Instead of releasing your army in phases, attack all at once. Send in the Orcs like a blob of massive destruction into their city. I can also release the prototype Orc Walkersбнerm those Tin Cans which Your Majesty loved when you saw them." Colonel Ayse said and was interrupted by King Hamu.

    "Yes, those Tin Cans were magnificent looking. If you do bring them in, our firepower will greatly increase." King Hamu nodded his head in agreement.

    "But Your Majesty, if you do that and we do not gauge the defences of the goblin army, we might suffer a defeat simr to the one that Colonel had in the North before she shamelessly came back empty-handed and ask for forgiveness." The Right Hand Oku disputed with some bitterness in his voice.

    "I did not finish my proposal." Colonel Ayse stared murderously at the Right Hand but being a trained Orc warrior, he was not afraid at all. "That is why, I suggest you send in the Avatars of Syldra and Shiva to the capital instead of teleporting them to the North and West which your Right Hand had suggested in the past few days."

    "You are insane! What kind of n are you suggesting? That will reduce the firepower in the North and West. Your Majesty, we should take precaution not to lose that many orcs even though it is just a distraction tactic." The Right Hand retorted.

    "My King, your objective is to kill King Sol and with the disappearance of Green Fire, I am suggesting that not just the Avatars, but Your Majesty as well, enter the fray with your Orc forces for the Capital Attack. That way, you have an overwhelming strength to crush them in one swoop. Whatever trickery they might have will be useless when you absorb the powers of the Full Red Moon. Besides, your Right Hand is not having any faith in the Ice Fleet and Thunder Army." Ayse smiled with an ever slight evil grin towards Oku. She could see in the expression of King Hamu and she knew she was going to win this.

    "I would like to ask the Right Hand, are there any reports of the Thunder Army, who had been suffering significant losses, asking for more reinforcements? Have they retreated any more than just tactical ones?" Colonel Ayse said with spite towards the Right Hand and he was dumbfounded for a moment which made her press on with her agenda.

    "With my upgraded inventions that had been dispatched for their use, I believe the two military forces are more than capable to provide more than just a distraction. I highly rmend this particr n my King." Ayse had her head down as she requested.

    "Ayse, stand up. It seems that your proposal was simr to what I had in mind when I heard of the disappearance of Green Fire. To hear that my top researcher had the same thoughts made me reassured that overwhelming strength is the way to go. To show that fake king the might of our Orc Race. That we are their masters." Orc King Hamu said in a solemn voice and turned his attention to his Right Hand, Oku.

    "Oku, you had concerns but these puny concerns only make you look weak." King Hamu flicked his hand and a st of dark energy made his Right Hand fly across the room. "Amend the assault operations ording to her proposal. Inform the Avatars,manders and the chain ofmand that we are proceeding when the sun sets. Tell them explicitly I expect no failures." King Hamu stood up and made his way to his personal armoury room. However, the ointment Ayse used did affect his mood and Orc King Hamu decided to rx with thepany of a few virgin female orcs fresh from the neighbouring viges first before proceeding towards the armoury room.

    "Ooof! If only you can go in now and strike their king." Qiu Yue was viewing from the console with Jin as she dried her hair with a towel. Because of the long strenuous hours reforming the goblin ministries, she did not really have the time to go back to her home. Hence, she decided to take a bath in Jin''s terrace house which the System had designed.

    There were extra rooms in ce and Jin had already created one with Qiu Yue in mind previously. Her parents did not call since they thought she was in an overseas business trip, (though technically she was indeed in another foreign country.) but her boss called her multiple times to ask for an exnation but the number he was calling from was not a local one. (She picked up once to say she quit the moment she heard it''s her boss'' voice and never again did she answer any calls from her phone.)

    Only then she realised...the boss had secretly booked a flight to their contractors'' region...so he could have the opportunity to ''bump'' into her. Qiu Yue finally able to see the link why her boss was so persistent in making her go for this particr trippared to the others. She previously asked Jin if the System could trace the call and Jin was equally surprised the effort her Boss put in to stalk her.

    "It''s okay, you are safe here. I will make sure...he will have his just desserts." Jin reassured her and Qiu Yue said she wanted to be there to see the process. Jin could onlyugh bitterly for now, although he really did ask the System to track him and made sure he did note close to her in the future. Kraft, on the other hand, rmended something more effective. "We can have him assassinated you know. The country he is currently in made it a very easy excuse to have an unfortunate ident happen."

    "System agrees with Original Betor Kraft. System would provide the resources for free for this mission. Protecting User''s potential Sub System User is of utmost priority " The System stated which made Jin surprised and wonder why but right now his focus was on Operation Pompeii.

    "Well, the king is VERY vulnerable right now." Qiu Yue finally blocked the number when it was the umpteenth time phone call she was receiving from her boss and looked at the console. The King was upied with indulging himself in women and such a scene made her more than furious as it also reminded her about her boss too. Although, she understood that the Orc King was lecherous and they did not adhere to the same moral values as humans but torturing the Orc women after he had his fill? Not eptable in her books, not a single bit.

    "Sigh...you know it''s not the brightest idea and you fully know well why." Jin closed his eyes for a while since he too could not take the imagery being showed by the System. (Ayse purposely ced secret cameras in his quarters and all around the castle to learn more about the castle.)

    Besides, Qiu Yue was the one who refrained Jin and his monsters from assassinating the King. With Colonel Ayse now a spy for Jin, he technically had ess to the Orc''s main castle but the System refused to portal the goblin assassins unless they decided to be Jin''s property. Jin asked whether it would make a difference if he paid for the resources to use the portal services but the System still refused adamantly on that. That did not stop Jin having ideas of sending his own monsters to attack the King. Yet Qiu Yue stopped him because the possible implications of having their King yed would only fuel the Orc''s cause even further and it might prolong the war instead of stopping it.

    On the other hand, if Operation Pompeii goes somewhat ording to n, the casualty lost in the long run was more eptable for both orcs and goblins alike. They hoped to force the king down to surrender and if possible, brainwash the King with Kraft''s ability rather than killing him outright.

    "But boy, that was really a close call. If not for Ayse''s offensive argumentбн" Jin had a sigh of relief as he looked at the time. It was early Tuesday morning and people definitely had to go to work. Yet, if the cultivators were able to assist in the Western and Northern defences, it would greatly improve the chances of the goblin''s survival while Jin, his betors and some top monsters would be on standby against the Orc King Hamu and his elite subjects.

    "If that''s the case, I shall make it more enticing for the customers then." Jin opened up the Pandamonium page via the Dungeon Maker console and wrote the following.

    "Emergency Raid Event! X5 points!! Shop opens now till the event ispleted! That is right, the shop opens now! First ticket entrance of the day is free for every cultivator! Take this opportunity to get as many points as possible and earn those great rewards!" An announcement was being sent out early in the morning and every monster had started to prepare themselves for the Operation Pompeii and to aid the defence of the goblins.

 Chapter 352 Veteran Police

    <h4>Chapter 352 Veteran Police</h4>

    "Dad...howe you are up so early? The sun is not even up.." The sleepy Jing Ru asked. After she was awoken by the constant minor noises from the living room, she found her stepfather Ren Wei adjusting his air rifle weapons.

    "Oh, Jing Ruбн I am sorry that I woke you up. Well, it''s a bit embarrassing to say this but I am going to the Dungeon Supplier store fromst time for some fun. A few of my old police force friends from Tiangong District station informed me that they were wanting to participate in this raid event thing you had been talking about." Ren Wei hesitated for a while before saying the reason behind it.

    "Haha. I have been told the police captain has granted the entire police station some alternate budget to improve their cultivation. Since there are no other requirements apart from the money being used for cultivation purposes, they invited me to go along with them." Ren Wei honestly told Jing Ru though that did not help with her confusion.

    "Still it''s 3 am in the night. Can''t this wait until the morning? Why are you preparing so early?" Jing Ru yawned a little as she looked at the clock. Ren Wei embarrassingly picked up his phone and showed her thetest announcement that Jin had ced early in the morning. He told her how he thought it was a hoax notification, something to hype up the ongoing raid event. However, one of his police pals who was on night duty in the area got curious and tried to enter the store only to find it really was open. Their initial thought was that maybe, the infamous Boss Jin had forgotten to lock the front door of the shop, so they decided to try and enter the instance. To their surprise, it was really open and immediately after that, he announced it on the Pandamonium Chat with photo proof.

    "So erm, yea. Again, I am sorry to wake you up. You can go back to sleep now. I''ll just finish my weapon adjustment at Jin''s ce. The weapon store there is fantastic. Even providing free workstations to let cultivators like us adjust our weapons. I am d you took me with you that time." Ren Wei said and Jing Ru shook her head.

    "Nope. There is no way I will go back to sleep after that announcement. You are sooo not going without me. Give me a minute...erm let''s make it five minutes to freshen up. My gear is already in ce, I will just change and we can go together." Jing Ru answered back as she quickly headed to the bathroom. In the meantime, Ren Wei smiled to himself while he continued adjusting his weapons a little more while waiting for her.

    "That little girl...Dear, she is growing up all fine and dandy. Rest easy. You do not have to worry about us at all." Ren Wei whispered to himself as he checked the number of magazine clips he was carrying. Jing Ru who had already participated in the Goblin Raid Event had raved to Ren Wei about how realistic the whole experience was. She needed to be careful emptying her air gun clips to avoid hitting friendlies while at the same time ensuring her own survival against the orc onught.

    It was nerve wracking for her as it was really outside herfort zone being forced to fight at close proximities against the orcs. Jing Ru even told Ren Wei how his Gun-Fu( a mixture of kung fu martial arts and the use of guns) came pretty handy during the fight in the Northern Region. For a while now she had been including more and more short range weapons like pistols, sub machine guns in her practice rounds and even managed to increase the speed for her reloading while carrying a battle vest and small backpack.

    Although her storage ring was capable of amodating all the required items, there was still a need to mentally search the items before she could retrieve them. Wearing a battle vest, on the other hand, gave her immediate ess to her magazine clips or just a short reach to the next holster so that she could react fast enough. Ren Wei did help her customise her vest since he had the first hand experience on what was the direst thing to carry around. It had been initially awkward for her, but she was getting the hang of it with training.

    "Alright, I am done." Jing Ru was ready before the five minutes were up. She came out dressed inbat cargo pants and a simple ck tight shirt allowing smooth movement. Ren Wei was taken aback for a moment after seeing her since her features resembled her mother more and more but quickly told her to check her battle vest and backpack onest time as he threw the weapons into his own storage ring.

    "I wonder what''s the rush for Boss Jin. This is the first time he''s hosted such a time limited kind of event. Why do you think he''s offering such high rewards at such a weird timing? On a weekday Tuesday." Jing Ru was voicing her thoughts as she ced her items at the back of the car alongside her father''s long sling bag.

    "Maybe, he''s checking out how many people are insane enough to y his dungeons in the middle of the night? I honestly do not know." Ren Wei started up his car and began to drive towards Tiangong district.

    "Heh, Dad. You have no idea how insane some of the people really are for his dungeons. For example another regr of his, a Rabbit Style cultivator who I met, Luo Bo. She seemed hellbent to obtain a particr prize, what was itбн ehh somerge panda plushie. Apparently, it was limited in stock and it was sold out moments before Luo Bo returned with sufficient points in her ount. " Jing Ru said as she put on her seat belt.

    I can still picture her rushing in with her full cultivation on disy to the counter only to be rejected. She even made a huge fuss to Yun, demanding more of those panda plushies to be sold. Yun refused Luo Bo and she cried publicly in front of her iming it''s unfair of Jin to make such limited quantities." Jing Ru described the scene she witnessed after she got out of the recovery instance on the day shepleted that Northern Fort Defence mission of hers.

    "So did Boss Jin intervene or something? I mean that sounds like she was creating a great ruckus..." Ren Wei waster interrupted when he saw the opportunity to turn right before the green light arrow blinked.

    "Yea, he did. Boss Jin said he would add more of those plushies in and of different sizes too. Though not because of her crying but because what happened next. After she saw that Yun would not budge she demanded a duel against the person who managed to buy one of the first panda plushies. Remember Xiong Da?" Jing Ru asked and Ren Wei had a slight inkling who that was. He remembered Jing Ru showing him a picture of him and he was supposed to be some top notchwyer of some sort.

    "Xiong Da refused even though I think he had the ability to win the match. I guess he did not want to push his luck in losing his gigantic plushie too." Jing Ru exined and Ren Wei furrowed his eyebrows.

    "Xiong Da bought that plushie? Did he n to gift it to his wife or something?" Ren Wei asked while he went to the highway.

    "I too guessed it''s for his girlfriend, but from their interaction, maybe she will be his wife soon hahah! However, he seemed to enter some form of ecstasy whenever he held onto that plushie. Wanting to know the reason why we asked to give it a try, only for him to vehemently refuse it. He even stated he would never allow anyone else to touch it again. He imed it was for the ''greater good'' to avoid turning someone else into a maniac. It seems he was convinced if we touch it, we would be another Luo Boing after him, begging him to release the plushie." Jing Ruughed.

    "Well, if we have the chance, we could take a look at that rumoured plushie in the redemption store." Ren Wei suggested but Jing Ruughed.

    "If Jin has indeed ordered some more, I''d love to." Jing Ru said as she yawned a little.

    "Get some rest first. I will wake you up againter. By the way, I just realised but don''t you have to attend your sses today?" Ren Wei had been so focused on the journey that he had totally forgotten about her university.

    "Nah, I have no sses on Tuesday, so I am okay. I will take a snooze first then." Jing Ru closed her eyes and lowered the seat.

    ---------------

    "Oh hey, Ah Ren. You finally arrived." Abdul Lian Fa, a My with Chinese descent hailed to him as he saw Ren Wei with a pretty girl alongside him. He was slightly plump in size due to age, but his erged shoulders and biceps gave away his past as a former muscle builder.

    "Abdul! It''s been a long time, how''s the station been treating you? By the way, this is my daughter. She said she wanted to join the battle with me. I hope you don''t mind." Ren Wei hugged Abdul before introducing Jing Ru to him.

    "Ah...so this is that rumoured beautiful daughter of yours... Nice to finally meet you. Ah Ren was always talking so highly of you." Abdul smiled as he extended his hand and Jing Ru returned the handshake. "Not that bad I guess, nothing changed even after you transferred out. Gupta ising too. He was just getting the ''training cash'' from the station and is on his way right now." Abdul answered the former question as they just finished their evening shift for the day. As policeman, being awake at irregr hours was normal for them. Thankfully having a cultivation helped out in that regard.

    "Seriously? I still find it hard to believe when you say THAT Captain Mao would be giving you guys a budget to train so luxuriously. I mean I love it here, but there is no arguing that Dungeons and Panda is an expensive ce." Ren Weimented and Abdulughed and became a little gloom.

    "Gupta and Iбн We бнhmm." Abdul seemed flustered as if he did not wish to say it out in front of Jing Ru and decided to switch to private transmission. Jing Ru understood the silence and imed that she would be entering the Weapon Store to check out a few things first. Ren Wei apologised and thanked her for being considerate. However, Abdul still chose to tell him via close range transmission.

    "The Ruby Rat Triad Boss, he came to the police station roughly a few weeks back. His presence alone nearly killed us all. There were not many that could withstand such pressure from his aura presence. A bunch even cked out cold." Abdul exined the past situation that happened in the Tiangong District Police Station.

    "The Boss wanted to pay some hush money for Captain Mao since he had connections with the Royal Zodiac Rat themselves. The money was just a sort of token of appreciation. Usually, we know that useless captain would simply ept the money and keep this under the rut. However, on that day something seemed to click within him, and for some reason he decided to change." Abdul then opened his phone and showed Ren Wei the picture of the gangster Ong.

    "Not only did he keep this imprisoned high level gangster under Wo De Tian for the maximum amount of time, forcing the Ruby Rat Triad Boss to wait, he also decided to give out the hush money for training. I guess he felt some justice needed to be doneбнNo idea whates over him, but I hope he doesn''t change his mind soon. Still a shock for a lot of us when we saw the change of heart in Captain Mao." Abdul told him as he folded his arms andter pointed to the signage.

    "Inspectors Lee An and Xue Ping, that detectives couple, remember?" Abdul asked casually and Ren Wei nodded his head.

    "They were the ones who suggested this ce here for training. No matter what, be it just regr gym training, they imed it was best toe here and they would whip us into shape. ording to them, the Dungeon Instances here are supposed to increase cultivationбн To be honest, this is my first timeing here. So no idea how much I can believe their ims. However, seeing that they were the only ones who were to withstand the aura pressure with no significant injuries even though their cultivation grade was lower than mine, I began to believe them." Abdul disclosed to Ren Wei.

    "That is why if not for that coincidental shop opening in the night after the work shift and you agreeing to it, I probably would have headed back home and rest," Abdul remarked and Ren Wei understood him.

    "I guess having a new child must be hard on you. Thanks for calling me out. It is great to meet up with you guys again." Ren Wei sympathised and Abdul gave a slightly jealous face.

    "Well, yeah. I did not have a young adult as my daughter when my wife gave birth." Abdul remarked sarcastically. Ren Weiughed awkwardly and that was when they saw a motorbike blinking its headlights at them. Riding on it was Gupta. A tall rather handsome Indian that came to China to work as a policeman, on his way to be a detective. (Mainly because he had a schrship awarded by the Police Academy.) The most prominent feature of his handsome looks was that his skin was fair to the point that he was even fairer than Abdul and could easily pass off as a tanned Chinese.

    These three friends had graduated from the same batch when they were in the Police Academy, simr to how Se Lang and Deng Long had met. Sadly after working a long enough to get a higher position, their ce of work separated. Both Abdul and Gupta were veteran police and in a way, held the supervising positions in Tiangong District Police Station but had different job scopes.

    Abdul went towards more of the education and operations job track while Gupta went for the standard promotion track to be an investigator. Even though they all held the same rank, Ren Wei had a better initial prospect than both of them because of his exceptional skills as a police sniper. But who knows what would happen in the future?

    "Yo Ren Wei, been a long time." Gupta hugged Ren Wei and they entered the store looking for Ren Wei''s stepdaughter. When Jing Ru saw her stepfather, she quickly beckoned him toe over. Ren Wei quickly introduced Gupta to his daughter and they exchanged greetings. After which, Jing Ru returned to the topic she wanted to discuss.

    "As I was preparing my weapons, the Three Headed Bear shouted at me and threw me the same particr model of rifle that I was using. It seems Boss Jin will announce itter but he is allowing us to use live ammunition for our weapons! However, it''s only possible to be used in his instances and nothing more." Jing Ru was happy that her previous suggestion to Boss Jin about the use of live ammunition had been epted and already incorporated since she argued other dungeon suppliers had such a feature.

    All three were shocked and wondered if this was a smart move by Boss Jin. "I do not think you should worry. The restrictions seemed to be very strict, stricter than other dungeon suppliers. I briefly saw the live ammunition article in the revised FAQ section of the Pandamonium App. For exampleбн" Jing Ru took the real design of the Winterwolf rifle that she was using and loaded a magazine full of live ammunition. Even as she visibly tried hard, she was unable to turn the safety off.

    But as soon as they entered the mini firing range which the Weapon Store provided to test guns out, the safety could be easily turned on and off allowing her to shoot. "I don''t know how he did it, but it feels like there is an artificial intelligence installed to the rifle. The FAQ stated that the rifle would not allow me to shoot another cultivator. They even provided a video of a person spraying his bullets but when it came close to a friendly, the rifle stopped firing in time before it could do any harm to the person." Jing Ru exined and the three policemen were very surprised.

    "Boss Jin does not allow those rifles to leave the shop instance too. If you ever hold on to the replicates of rifles, you will be automatically teleported back to this area after the end of dungeon instance y. Trying to exit the weapon store without returning the weapons back to us, or try to smuggle any parts away will result in a heavy penalty. Repeated offences may turn into being banished from the store and reported to the police. After returning those rifles free of your support modules or attachment then you are cleared to go back." The Three Headed Bear standing tall looked at the group and said his piece. (Even the policemen were slightly frightened by its low booming voice.)

    "If you are worried about the live ammunitionбнI can only say Boss Jin limits it to certain people who are allowed to use it." The cute Red Panda attendant took over the exnation.

    "After you register into the servers, we are privy to certain information like your nature of work. We then verify it in the back end and check with the official data record by the government servers as per the allowed regtions of being a Dungeon Supplier store." The Red Panda exined.

    Since we got the clearance for this not too long ago, our registration got moreplicated. Though, we did all the necessary checks for all current clients. At the plus side, this makes it easy for neers with security rted jobs are allowed to exchange for live ammunition rounds immediately."

    "Ah, no wonder Abdul and Gupta had trouble registering in the first ce for the Pandamonium App. The machine at the storefront was asking so many questions that they started to feel their privacy was getting vited." Ren Wei sighed as he remembered he did not have to struggle that much previously.

    "All questions asked were in ordance to the Dungeon Supplier regtions, you can check it out in the official government regted website for more information if you wish. Also, because you are police, more checks were needed to verify and give you clearance." The Red Panda replied.

    "Then what about Jing Ru? Why does she have clearance to use live ammunition?" Abdul asked since he wanted to know if there were any exceptions.

    "As for Pandawan Jing Ru, her record is squeaky clean and Boss Jin vouched for her to use those live ammunition. Should she get into any trouble in the future with live ammunition outside of this store, the government officials will have all rights to pin Boss Jin as a possible aplice." The Red Panda answered and Jing Ru learned that Jin was doing so much for her.

    "Then ermбнperhaps I should return this rifle back." Jing Ru suddenly felt her gun was too heavy with such responsibilities tied to it.

    "Your choice. We do suggest using live ammunition for the purpose of cultivation training though. Most gun cultivators have their cultivation restricted because they eitherck a proper gun to train or the experience with it. As you are in a Dungeon Supplier store and Boss Jin foresees great potential in you, he decided to entrust you this responsibility. If you feel you are not ready, we are not forcing you, and your clearance will also stay even if you decide not to make use of it." The Red Panda exined thoroughly which Ren Wei and his pals unfortunately knew that was true.

    Many people took up on gun rted cultivation because it felt cool, but the strict regtions made it hard for them to progress in their cultivation. Hence, that many people also dropped gun rted cultivation and opted for other cultivation styles or they left it at a low level.

    "I see, then I shall not disappoint him." Jing Ru said as she looked at the Winterwolf rifle she was carrying. The policemen took out their weapons and they were surprised the Three Headed Bear was able to perform a direct exchange of the guns they had. Even Ren Wei''s customised air rifle was avable to exchange for the real model, though Ren Wei purposely made it as authentic as possible for the air rifle. All of them took some time to gear up and the neers even took the chance to preview the weapons this ce was selling.

    "By any chance do you have a Dragunov sniper rifle?" Abdul whispered to the Red Panda. In her characteristic cute way, she informed Abdul that those were avable. Gupta took a look and thought it was a good idea too. They then asked what was the mode of payment and realised they could only buy them with Panda medals.

    "For the duration of the Raid Event, we are rewarding raid points for aplished missions andbat achievements. While we do sell special prizes which can only be exchanged for those points, we also offer the possibility of exchanging them for medals too if you wish." The Red Panda informed Abdul and Gupta and they both nodded in agreement. They had decided to get an uing birthday present for Ren Wei.

    Little did they know Jing Ru was having the very same idea too.

 Chapter 353 Cross

    <h4>Chapter 353 Cross</h4>

    "You must be fucking kidding me! The King wants us to apany him into the capital just because Green Fire is missing? What the hell? What about my troops?!" Purple Thunder banged on the marble table. Purplish thunder sparks flew around as the table broke into pieces, dirtying the floor.

    "That is not my decision. I am just rying the orders from the King." Oku showed a troubled face as he leaned on the wall of the meeting room, rubbing his temple. He had already predicted that the Avatars of Syldra and Shiva would not be happy about the change of ns.

    "The King''s decision is absolute." Yellow Ice said reluctantly as he rescued his drink before Purple Thunder destroyed the table right beside them.

    "Screw you. Your fleet has yet to suffer a real setback in this whole campaign. Do note crying to me when the goblins beat the crap of your army." Purple Thunder retorted back angrily. "I refuse to obey the orders of the King. Oku, you have a way to contact the Orc mages in the Thunder Army, right? Make them prepare a portal for me. I am going to assist my army no matter what."

    "But, that would be going directly against the King''s or-" Oku was suddenly interrupted by Purple Thunder grabbing onto Oku''s shirt and bringing it up towards Purple Thunder''s face. His fists were emitting a short miniature burst of lightning and Oku could feel his body to go a little numb despite hisrge stature.

    "No! Fucking!! Buts!!! My army is suffering from significant losses because I am not there to guide them. And WHY?!?! Because I am forced to stay in this stupid castle! Just to make it seem as if we have the advantage through the element of surprise? Don''t piss me off. Since when have we Orcs became as expendable as goblins? Fuck him and his royal orders!!!" Purple Thunder threw Oku to the wall and it cracked a little though his act did little to faze the Right Hand of the King. Purple Thunder''s breaths were heavy and he was pacing around the room angrily until he remembered something.

    "You owe me one... or have you already forgotten, Oku? I am responsible for you bing his Right Hand. What do you think would happen if his Majesty finds out more about that ''incident''." Purple Thunder threatened Oku by pointing his finger at his face. After a couple of seconds of staring into each other''s eyes, the Right Hand sighed.

    "Do as you wish. However, we are even after this." Oku held onto Purple Thunder''s arm and politely pushed them away.

    "You better keep that damn mouth shut. Yellow Ice. Oku, just report to that useless king that I had already left the scene before the orders reached me. That should buy you someбнI don''t know forgiveness points from the King? That is if he still has his heart." Purple Thunder took his double edged two handed axe that was leaning on the wall and followed Oku to contact the Orc mages. But not before he mmed the door of the meeting room.

    "You think I want my men to die meaningless? The King is insane and all of us in the loop can see it. In hindsight, he should have stopped after the ''failed'' Kingyer Ambush. So what if we did not get them all? Just upying the other regions would have already boosted our economy at least two fold in the long run." Yellow Ice thought to himself. Unlike the other Avatars, Yellow Ice was a learned man. He knew how to fight and he knew what was stupid and what was right.

    Not to mention, he was the previous spymaster for the King before he was cut down by Hamu. To think that he had upheaved the former Mad King to have a crazier one sitting on the throne. Judging from the current situation, Yellow Ice really felt that the war they were currently fighting was a very stupid one which they could not back out in time.

    Even if they were to win it by following the new orders, it would be by sacrificing a majority of their main armies. The ratio of orcs to goblin death was already so skewed against them that Yellow Ice believed the orcs should have stopped after the attack at the Northern Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu had been pushed back even if they still think they had a chance after the Kingyer Ambush.

    "If only those humanoids were not presentбнI''ve never seen nor read about them before. And those humanoids we captured had no knowledge of a race that wears weird animals as half masks. Even assuming they''re tribal by nature, the surviving orcs reported that they were ruthless, strong and powerful. " Yellow Ice finished his drink and ced it by the broken remains of the marble table.

    "How can it be possible for them to have hidden so long if they are so mighty? Some of the orc survivors even reported that those humanoids fought evenly in a one on one duel against our seasoned Orc Officer who has years of battle experience under their belt. Something doesn''t feel right about this whole war." Yellow Ice continued his thoughts as he walked out of the room and stared at the garden from the balcony.

    "It feels as if the humanoids purposely sided with the weak goblins against the Orcs. Meanwhile, reports also show that the humans continue to abstain from interfering with the battleбн" Yellow Ice remembered the reports of the human spies who decided to work for the orcs. Those greedy creatures did not care for their race as long as their pockets would fill up.

    "Technology wise, the goblins should be inferiorбнbut ever since the Kingyer Ambush, the spies reported a significant increase of lost tech artefacts being used. There is no way they could have hidden these things and they were not even the same tech that we found on that ind." Yellow Ice saw a few orcs saluting at him from afar when they caught a glimpse of him. He nodded back in acknowledgement.

    "Wooden sticks that shot out fire which worked simr torge cannons, metal carriages that required no mounts to drag them, slick cannons that were more effective than thergest cannons that we were using. They seem even more advanced than what we painstakingly buildбн" Yellow Ice sighed.

    "Waitбнthe Kingyer Ambush. Didn''t Red Hurricane me a half masked humanoid who assisted the goblins, for his failures? Yes, I remember now and he said that man appeared at the same time with the three generals'' goblins! " Yellow Ice felt he might have the missing link for this particr war.

    "The goblin sons who were supposedly kidnapped by the humans was with that masked humanoid... So it should be safe to assume that the sons somehow are the reason for that alliance now..." Yellow Ice suddenly had an epiphany and hurried to his office from the meeting quarters he was in.

    He quickly ruffled through the archive reports he had kept and realised he was right. "Cross. Come out. I know you are here right now." Yellow Ice echoed in his empty room and suddenly a goblin shadow emerged from the corner.

    "Yes, Sir Yellow Ice." The one eyed goblin knelt in front of him as Yellow Ice continued to go through the report.

    "You were at the scene when it happened, am I correct? You reported failing in assassinating the three goblin generals'' sons yourself." Yellow Ice remembered how the Orcs had purposely brainwashed and trained a group of goblins to be their spies and made them carried out a specific assassination.

    The assassination of Piercestriker, shreaver and Ripcaller.

    It was meant to take ce a dayter when the sons of the Three Generals attended the training war games exercise for the very first time. It was supposed to look like an ident.

    But the orc affiliated goblins purposely made friends with the duty guards so they could exchange guard duties if required. The guards werex with their security protocol and the treacherous goblins managed to substitute them. They felt that if they could push the timetable up, the faster they could escape from the exercise and not be suspected by other goblins.

    The ''guard'' goblins pretended to know the training exercise area well and told the sons there was a giant cliff with a deepke as they were asking if there was anything more exciting to do than the exercise they were undergoing. The goblin generals'' sons realised they could do some cliff diving and the trio happily bribed the guards to take them there which they readily agreed.

    Everything was in ce, The orcs were also happy that opportunity presented themselves early and quickened the assassination timetable. The ident was ready to take ce as they went off course during a break towards the direction of the cliff sides.

    Cross''s teammates personally distracted the other guards on duty which Cross thought it was proceeding better than expectedбнuntil a human entered the woods out of nowhere and killed the goblin general''s sons. And just as quick as he appeared he was gone the next moment. Unfortunately the same was true for the corpses of the goblins.

    Cross was at a dilemma. There were no bodies to show and he could not report empty handed to the Orcs who were waiting at the cliffside for the corpses. Neither could he return to the goblins and exin why they left the safe zone. Even if they were to believe him that a human killed the goblins, he would have most likely been found out as a spy. A short whileter hispatriots came to the scene seeing Cross stunned.

    He tried to exin it to his teammates and they ultimately decided to try to reason with the orcs. The Orcs, however, were unable to enter the scene to verify anything as the goblin mages could discover their tracks. To avoid exposing everybody, the Orcs decided to provide Cross with an alibiбн by killing Cross''s teammates and merely leaving Cross alive. (After all, to the orcs, they were expendable)

    Afterwards, the orcs cleared their tracks as much as possible and asked an Orc mage to teleport the dead bodies to the ce where Cross encountered the human. Meanwhile, they brought Cross back alive to deliver the message to their King. Unfortunately only Yellow Ice being a seasoned spymaster felt he was telling the truth despite all the usation and evidence being pinned on him.

    As the King was about to order his execution, Yellow Ice interfered stating he had methods to make Cross tell the truth. The enraged King Hamu was sane enough to listen to the Avatar. Yellow Ice suggested casting an old spell from the Orc Royals to learn about the truth of the matter. He reminded King Hamu that there was such a spell, but the King did not remember the specifics too well.

    Instead of looking it up and going through it the correct way, the impatient Orc King simply gorged out an eyeball from Cross and initiated the All Seeing magic spell. Although the imagery was blurred, possibly due to the incorrect steps taken to cast the spell, there was no doubt that in the shown memories of Cross that there was a human silhouette killing the goblin sons.

    Hence, Cross was spared.

    The Goblin managed to survive the ordeal and thanked Yellow Ice for beliving in him. Yellow Ice then decided to take him in as his guard as a spur of the moment decision. Till then, Cross quietly served Yellow Ice thankful for saving his lifeбнin some way or another.

    "What if I were to tell youбнa humanoid was seen with the reappearance of the three sons that you thought were dead, being stronger than before. What would your conjunction be?" Yellow Ice asked Cross.

    "I''d not have any idea at all how that would be possible. Humans would definitely not side with the goblinsбн And I clearly saw the goblin sons died in front of my eyes." Cross replied with his head down.

    "But its true right? You heard reports of the goblin sons resurfaced again. Perhaps, they were not exactly dead when they were taken. Perhaps, the goblins knew about the assassination all along and decided to make a fool out of the assassins by allying with humanoids?" Yellow Ice said and Cross was dumbfounded for a moment.

    "That, I jest. But what if I were to tell you, I wish to be the next Orc King. Would you be interested in serving me as my Right Hand?" Yellow Ice asked with a smirk in his face. Cross hesitated for a while, but he guessed Yellow Ice knew about his unsurprising hatred against the King after what he did.

    "If you want me to kill the King, I will dly do so. At the very least, I can know that I died trying." Cross answered and Yellow Iceughed.

    "Oh my. Such violent tendencies! I might have to report you, Cross for being so disloyal to the throne. Or perhaps I should deal the blow myself!" Yellow Ice walked towards his office doors to close it and cast an acoustic barrier on his office. Cross had his hand at the crossbow grip and trigger in case Yellow Ice was not joking at all.

    "Joking aside there is one thing in your statement that you have to amend, Cross. WE will kill the King together. After everything, it should not be too hard to convince the Orcs, that the son has followed in the footsteps of his deranged father." Yellow Ice smiled as he remembered the face of the Mad King since he served the previous king before. Even if Hamu did not show the same outward signs as his predecessor, his actions were questionable enough. And everyone should understand how someone like that needed to be put down like a sick dog if the Orc Kingdom wished to survive long term.

    And If Yellow Ice were to profit at the end, who was he to say no to that?

    -----------------------

    "Holy shit!" Abdul nearly scared himself to bits when he was teleported into a ne with the others. Gupta and Ren Wei were equally terrified but their expression was more controlled than Abdul''s.

    "Morning there, little Giraffe. Apanying your father this time?" Captain Bai saw Jing Ru who was secretly sniggering at the older folks and passed her four rings. She knew what the rings were supposed to do and gave a summary to the policemen.

    "Since we will need to work as a team, mind telling me about your cultivation styles and your weapons?" Jing Ru asked and Abdul was the first to answer.

    "Rakish Rhino." Abdul said as he brought out a six barrel rotary Gatling machine gun also widely known as the minigun. It was being apanied by a metallic backpack from his storage ring which made Jing Ru''s jaw drop. "Ahahaha! This is not really my main weapon, but this is what I always used when we went out for dungeon supplier runs back when we were younger. They made me the tank of the group if you get what I mean."

    Jing Ru then noticed Abdul''s naturalrge build. Even without his hobby as a bodybuilder, the towering stature made him a natural choice for a tank. Of course, it also helped carry that massive firepower around.

    "Exculpatory Elephant. But my weapon is not as crazy as Abdul''s." Gupta took out his weapon and it was a Mossberg 900 series Shotgun with a few customised modules attached to it. Notably, a customised fast reloading mechanism and a long round tube magazine extension underneath the shotgun barrel. There was a shotgun shell holder at the buttstock too. He even ced a customised bay at the tip of the shotgun extension tube which he had further enhanced with strength inscriptions to withstand impact so that his magazine extension will not break.

    "I was honestly amazed that the store was able to replicate my little toy with the customised modules attached so fast, even after I told them it would be difficult to remove. It did not even take them a whole minute after they took the whole gun for inspection. I had already prepared myself to switch for my old modules on the air shotgun which would be a hassle." Gupta eximed as he looked at the live ammunition model.

    "Only to suddenly get the gun thrown at me. The exact same replica with live ammunition. Even the inscriptions were all there. This shop''s reputation for providing top notch quality care for the customers really is justified." Gupta boasted with glee.

    "Boss Jin does care for his customers and caters to our needs. For example, this shirt, pants and even boots were from his shop, and they were all inscribed with at least a Grade 3 defence inscription." Jing Ru bragged as she twirled around like a little girl for Gupta to see.

    "Looks like you are very familiar with his shop. I am just happy that I was able to buy the live ammunition with cash and not medals. With no bullets to shoot, I''d have been forced to use my weapon as a giant club, hahaha!" Abdul joked as the System had allowed the neers to buy the live ammunition with real life cash.

    The amodation for the weapons exchange was something Another Jin had suggested and was dly epted by the System. Mainly because the ideas behind some of those customised designs were great to copy.

    "You may be surprised but Jing Ru is actually a veteran in his dungeon store. My little girl scored a few First Clear runs before. So if she ever gives you an order, you better listen!" Ren Wei bragged with a chuckle and his two brothers saluted to Jing Ru. "Mdm, Yes, Mdm!"

    Jing Ru giggled a bit then realised Gupta''s belt was filled with shotgun shells and even a side waist te that carried customised stick loaders which she had seen being used in air riflepetitions before for fast reloadings. Gupta noticed her look and asked if she knew about any of this.

    "Ahбнa fellow air rifle enthusiast, and here I thought Ren Wei trained you on guns because it was easier for him to do so." Guptamented which made Ren Wei threw a loaded magazine clip at his head.

    "Nahhh! Dad''s not that mean. He allowed me to choose what I want. Besides, he''s a very good teacher even if his attendance at home maybecking." Jing Ru teased her father a bit as she picked up the loaded magazine and threw it back at Ren Wei. All he could do was catch it and not me her. Gupta secretly whispered a ''Nice job! to her while Ren Wei was not looking.

    "Okay, fellow cultivators. Enough talk for now. The party is beginning. This is your current mission and it will continue to take up every ticket you own until the event is over. If you wish to stop anytime before your current ticket expires, just hit the exit button in your Pandamonium app." Captain Bai said briefly and everyone understood before he showed them the Gob Gob Kingdom map.

    "Usually, we would send neers to the Northern Region but seeing that you are apanied by a Pandawan it would be a less than ideal choice for Jing Ru. So in your case, we''ve decided to send you lot to the Western Region where she is sorely needed. It is also because we deemed that your cultivation grade is high enough, so we are entrusting you guys to be able to fend of yourself." Captain Bai exined as he zoomed in the area.

    "We do not have too much intel about the orcs but what little we learned makes us believe that they will be attacking anytime now. Maybe by the time this ne fly over the battlefield, it would have already started. If not, I''d advise you to take your time to survey the surroundings and take the best spot to secure the defence of the area. " Captain Bai advised.

    "Oh my god, looks like an old school coastal defence kind of scenario. Feels like Normandy." Gupta took a look at the console screen andmented.

    "You are not wrong, Boss Jin and the goblins had created a simr scenario and took Normandy as inspiration. The goal was to allow you guys to tide over the attacks. Of course, with fewer problems than the Germans were facing. Our back is quite secured ording to Intel but do not be surprised if Orcse from behind too. Anything can happen." Captain Bai smirked as he warned them.

    "Also just for this scenario, we have added some more option after some feedback. If you need extra ammunition or resources, dial up the emergency call button via the Pandamonium App. You can phone call or video call, your choice. The red Pandas NPCs will be answering you. As I notice some of you do not have medals, the raid points that you earn along the way can be used to purchase additional resources. If youck the required points, it will be on real cash credit until the end of the raid. " Captain Bai said but he suddenly came nearer to the group and his voice became more gentle.

    "However, because this is a rtive fair business, we have capped the credit to 700 Yuan (Approx 100 USD). You can put in more cash if you want but a voice authorisation with a double confirmation is required. Once you agree you''ll be allowed to buy more resources or even guns if needed." Captain Bai gave a wide smile before he stepped back and changed into his angry look again.

    "That''s rather friendly," Gupta noted. He purposely took out 3000 Yuan (Approx 450 USD) from the alternate police budget for this particr raid and felt that it might not even be enough. "Oh well, that Triad Boss did ''sponsor'' us with suitcases loads of moneyбнshould not be a problem." He remembered the detective couple emphasised that there was no need to be stingy when it came to training at Dungeons and Pandas. As long as they remembered to get a receipt which was weird to Gupta since it''s always the other way around. However, the freedom to make purchases without having to fill out tons of forms was a wee change.

    "Heh, maybe they are trying to catch some corrupt cops." Abdul casually remarked when Gupta exined to him previously when he showed him the cash.

    "In any case, we are arriving soon. I am sorry, Pandawan Jing Ru. If you''re wondering, the monsters who usually act as guardians won''t be able to participate in the battle. But no worries, some are already on standby in the Western Region. They will act as the cultivators'' proxies if needed." Captain Bai remarked which only Jing Ru understood.

    "Alright! Saddle up! Thending pod''s over there!" Captain Bai ordered as he pushed the red big button at the side of the ne and the cargo backdoor began to open. The Veteran Police Squad had secured their seatbelts and was ready to leave the ne.

 Chapter 354 The Western Diversion - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 354 The Western Diversion - Part 1</h4>

    As anothernding pod arrived at the beach of the Western Coastal town of Gob Gob Si, the police squad with their half masks noticed the area was bustling with activities from the goblin and cultivators. Ren Wei could not help but smile at Jing Ru''s cutesy half giraffe mask while Jing Ruplimented how adorable his muskrat mask was.

    "Gah, so mushy...but I am curious to see how I look like too. Can you take a photo of my mask?" Gupta asked Abdul, who was wearing a mask with the rhino horn poking out at his nose area. Surprisingly it did not deter his vision nor did he himself felt the weight of the mask wearing him down.

    "Hahahha, you looked terrible with the elephant mask on. Like a follower of some hidden cult of Ganesha." Abdul took the photo of Gupta''s half mask, though it appeared more like a full mask with the elephant''s ears at the side, short tusks near his cheek area and his nose in a vertical upright ''S'' hose shape.

    "h! At least I hope it will scare the orcs a little." Gupta replied as he saw the photo in which he posed with his shotgun.

    "You just better make sure not to scare our goblin allies with your look. It would be a shame if they identally stab the elephant." Abdul teased his colleague while he adjusted his metal box bag. The sound of his ammunition shells hitting each other provided him with a sense of security.

    Jing Ru was slightly shocked herself. Unlike the previous time when she only fought with a few dozen goblins together in the Northern Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu, what she saw now in Gob Gob Si was their number having increased that epassed hundreds if not, possibly thousands.

    She felt that Jin really seemed to have gone all out in his missions for the Goblin Raid. The town had been evacuated and it was obvious that the entire ce had been cleanly stripped of civilians as it became the designated war zone for the goblins. Barricades were ced at strategic areas and emergency supplies such as arrows and medical aid were being stocked at certain checkpoints.

    What seemed to be the members of the goblin backline logistics were running around carrying boxes to Shu and Ke Mi''s newly created fort walls. ?Be it ammunition, arrows, barrels of oils or food rations, not a single goblin waszing around. The squad even noticed some of the goblins were carrying modernised weapons like the M1 Garand while others were clinging on to crossbows, bows etc.

    Rows and columns of goblin fighters armed with swords, spears and shields were organised right behind the fort walls but instead of being readily active, they were sparring with each other. Not rigorously but warming their bodies up for the fight toe. At the same time, somemanders were discussing strategies with each other alongside with the prominent Spear General Argent and internalising the various backup ns. Yet what Ren Wei noticed was that there were tens of cultivators standing at the edge of the ledge who seemed to be intently listening to them as well.

    Ren Wei being a sniper had already spotted numerous vantage points being upied by various marksmen, both cultivators and goblins. To his surprise, he believed some of the cultivators were from the Tiangong Police Station as they nodded at him or at Abdul and Gupta as a sign of acknowledgment.

    In the meantime, some of the spacious vantage points were upied by artillery or k gun emcements. There were even machine guns emcement being ced at blind spots. From Ren Wei''s experience, themander who coordinated this definitely knew his stuff really well. Only an experiencedmander or fellow trained sniper would have made arrangements for those spots. In his own opinion, he doubted that Boss Jin could have been able to create such a scene alone. He would need a person advising him, most likely someone experienced in the military or someone possessing a vast knowledge regarding military operations to create such a detailed dungeon instance. Once this was over, he would love to thank whoever helped Boss Jin to create some form of realism in the dungeon instance which was severelycking in many other dungeon suppliers and if possible get to know the person better.

    As they were all the humanoids employed by Master Jin, the goblin military leaders were not bothered by their intrusion and allowed them to listen in and walk around the area as long as they did not interrupt the operations. Most of the cultivators were just busybodies and they left the goblins alone once their curiosity was sated.

    Simr to those cultivators, Ren Wei and the others did not know where to go at first so they explored the town and subsequently the fort walls. Gupta being a sucker for weapons saw that the walls were lined up with Pak 38 anti tank cannons. What surprised him even more was that the ammunition right beside it, were mixed for various types of scenarios. There were incendiary, high explosive, armour prating and anti infantry fragmentation shells. (All clearlybeled in both goblin which he assumed and Chinesenguage). He could not wait to find out if those were the real deal and hopefully be able to also fire at least once. (Just to have the feel and thrill of it!)

    Suddenly, a little blue magpie appeared andnded on Jing Ru''s shoulders. "Greetings, I am Magpie No. 039, I will be the onemunicating with you all. My responsibilities include updating you on where to go, and suggest locations which might need help ording to the military leaders." Magpie No. 039 introduced itself. It chirped while instructing the squad about its objectives.

    "I will also be handling your personal private transmissions within the team as well as any possible SOS from other cultivators and vice versa. ?Your private transmissions will be encrypted by me and send via thought to every one of you. It will be very hectic when the battle starts and it will be in your best interest to ensure my survival since I am your source ofmunication between everyone. In case I am taken out, you are advised to either continue your objective and wait an amount of time until I get resummoned or join with another squad in case you wish to proceed on." ?The Magpie No. 039 chirped once more while expanding its wings a bit, adjusting itself to befortable on Jing Ru''s shoulder.

    She did not feel any pain from its ws mainly because the magpie perched itself on the strap of her backpack. Suddenly, the sirens went off as the lighthouse tower at the northern side of Gob Gob Si began to sign light beams towards the town. The police who were trained in morse code roughly got the message and they checked their weapons and their armoured vest one final time.

    "Any ce that needs our immediate attention or should we simply enjoy the show first?" Gupta asked Magpie No. 039 as he understood that it would be stupid for cultivators to rush into the shore. ?That would be suicideбнunless he dared to y and dance around on a tightrope with the reaper of death.

    "ording to how you phrased your question...Nope. Currently no ces require your aid. You can watch the ''show'' first. The primary line of defence will be handled by the goblins. If the Orcs manage to get past the attacks and reach the shore, which they will, then it will be your debut. Long range cultivators can do what they like. Remember to always have sufficient ammunition and order more if you need them." Magpie No.39 answered which prompted Ren Wei to beckon Jing Ru to follow him.

    "We will keep in contact." Ren Wei said to Abdul and Gupta as the father and daughter ran towards a decent vantage point which he saw was not yet upied. Meanwhile, Gupta and Abdul jumped on top of one of the taller buildings since they saw other cultivators doing it. The roof was not yet taken and provided both of them with a clear view of what was going to happen.

    "Chips?" Abdul asked as he was searching his storage ring.

    "Nice. You got those with sea salt ck pepper vour?" Gupta asked and Abdul nodded his head. He took them out and passed it to Gupta while he searched for his his own prefered vour. BBQ sauce. They opened their bags of chips and began to watch the whole scene unfold.

    -------

    The Ice Orc Fleet Admiral had received notice that their suprememander, the Avatar of Shiva, Yellow Ice, would not be joining them. As the highest ranking officer, it was decided that he would need to take matters into his own hands. "It''s about time for the battle! Sail forth!!!" The Admiral gave themand and a loud ring sound echoed throughout the quiet colossal fleet, which it had been acting as a mobile blockade against other sources of possible aid to the goblins.

    With one sound, the fleet immediately powered up their engines and the orcs were barking orders to no end. Their wait for that signal was finally over. Their ships powered by a magic lost tech engine began to move forward despite the weather threatening to drop a ravaging storm at them. The Admiral hoped tond before the rain started since it might hamper the movement of their troops. It seemed that Mother Nature were not keen on making their invasion easy for them.

    If it were up to him, he would have attacked much sooner with the evening sun shining at them since they were at the western region. But because their primary objective was to serve as a diversion attack, they were forced to dy and to striketer in the evening so as to coincide with the rise of the Full Red Moon. Which was why the weather and the environment had became a disadvantage to the orcs. Yet, the King''s orders were absolute as theirmander would say if he was here, so they were left with no other option but to make do with what they had.

    -------

    The anti tank cannons were all prepped with high explosive shells first which could travel the furthest range. Once the Ice Orc Fleet would enter the range of about 10 km, they were ready to start the counterattack. They were not necessarily aiming to kill them but rather to suppress fire and decrease the orcs'' morale with consistent shooting. In the meantime, the real hitters were the artillery guns which their goblin spotters were already prepping and verifying the exact coordinates for the Arty guns to fire before the ships could move another inch forward.

    All of them were trained by Hou Fei in an intensive ssroom setting created by Jin. They were left with him in a room which had a long time dtion. Nevertheless, theirck of time made it a horrible time to force them to study as if their life depended on it. Apparently, more and more goblins wanted to quit by killing themselves towards the end. Yet Hou Fei''s background as Royal Snake Zodiac Cultivator allowed him to have ways to ''provide'' them with ''sufficient'' amount of sanity to stay in that gruesome ssroom of his.

    "Fire whenever ready." Their magpies chirped simultaneously at the Goblin spotters and they gave the signal to fire which caused a barrage of soundsing from the peaceful western coast. The airships piloted by the Wind Orc Air Force saw the mini shlightsing from the western region and warned the Ice Orc Fleet about it. However, it was a little toote when the shells hit a few of their warships and some already caught on fire because of the initiative attack.

    A few of the smaller ships broke immediately from the fires. The goblin spotters wanted to hit those first since their mobility was the highest in the seas and selecting them for the first volley seemed to be the most appropriate target. The bigger ships were of course therger threat but they could be dealt at ater time with the subsequent volleys.

    The orcs on the smaller assault ships had to abandon ship before the fire consumed them. It''s either that or they would be stuck in the ship and be killed by the burning debris. If not that, the other possibility was to be stuck in overflooded blocked cabins and that was no better.

    What they did not expect were the things that lurked in the seaбн The Deep Ones were impatiently waiting to get some action ever since the Ice Orc Fleet arrived in the Western Waters. They finally had the chance to kill stuff especially when they were not even allowed to assist as guardians for the cultivators because they were next in line to be featured in Jin''s store. However, because of the rather sudden appearance of the raid event, they were overshadowed yet again. And unfortunately for Derpy and his gang, Jin decided to focus all of his efforts to this raid event instead.

    Yet, Jin had deployed them when he learned about the Ice Orc Fleet. After getting notified the Deep Ones were ted that they finally would be able to get some blood in their hands as they were itching for a fight for a long time. However, Jin did not give them the orders to assault the warships directly. Else, they might taken everything for themselves and the goblins prepared for naught. (Most importantly, the cultivators would not have their fair share of battle. And that would be bad for business.)

    So, Jin only allowed them to kill orcs who abandoned ship or those who dropped into the sea. Whether the orcs put up a struggle or not was another matter. To make up for all those restrictions Jin did allow them to attack the orcs once they decided to retreat. Only Mr Derpy was forbidden to do anything except to support his entourage. Of course, he was initially furious at this order. Fortunately, Jinter convinced him that waiting until the end would guarantee that he could imprint his image as the mighty Shadow Dagen in the hearts of the cultivators. The image of himself rising from the Depth and annihting those massive warships who were retreating did wonders to pacify Mr Derpy. Watching his army have fun, he secretly prayed for the Fleet to quickly retreat since his jaws were starting to feel itchy.

    Some Deep Ones were even toying with their prey before the orcs were teared into pieces. They stood no chance against their predators who were extremely versatile in the waters. They were not called Terrors of the Deep for fun. The rest killed them in one shot before dragging them deeper into the sea and eating them up. Yet, they were careful about not destroying most of the armour or weapons.

    Despite their appearance, they were conscientious scavengers. Whatever metal or leather pieces th orcs were equipped with, they would strip the orc clean before eating them up and nicely stack those pieces to offer them as tribute to Jin once again.

    It did not take long for the fellow Orc sailors to realise something was amiss when not a single orc managed to surface from the water. Some even shone bright light magic into the sea and onlyter found out that there were sea monsters eating up theirpanions. Something so vicious and rampant never happened before which they quickly reported to their higher ups. The leaders could only deduce their usage of lost tech might have attracted these monsters of the deep sea.

    This situation alone presented the Ice Orc Admiral a certain dilemma and he needed to make a decision fast since the goblin artillery bombardment was not going to stop for them to think. On one hand, he should be giving the orders to aid the orcs in need, on the other hand, he felt it was a waste of resources trying to aid them. By now it was almost certain that they were dead but abandoning them without at least attempting to help would be equally cruel and demoralising for the sailors.

    It was not a decision he could make off hand. After struggling with his conscience, he decided to follow logic and issued orders to press forth with full engines ahead while telling his orcs to prepare the long range cannons for a counter attack. The orc leaders had no choice but to follow themand of their admiral. In order to fire at them, the warships had to turn their gun ports to fire. This in turn, made the artillery spotters grinn as the immobile nked target meant less chance to miss.

    The massive warships finally turned and fired their cannons whenever as soon as they felt they were in the correct angle and range which caused those behind the fort walls to brace themselves for the attack before they retaliated back with the anti tank cannon fire.

    In the meantime, the medium ships acting as troop transports started transferring the main bulk of the orcs troops from the massive warships to their end. By using the other side of their warships as cover to transfer troops, it would ensure the troops transfer be protected while the warships fired their cannons on the other side. After which, the medium ships charged together through the seas hoping to reach before they got hit by the goblin''s cannon fire.

    ---

    "Woah, I can even feel the shockwaves from here." Abdul praised the realism of this experience as he held onto the ledge when he felt the cannon shots hitting the fort wall.

    "No kidding, and it looks like the battle''s just barely began and I already feel my adrenaline pumping." Gupta agreed as he finished his chips. Both of them were highly anticipating for the orcs to enter the shore so that they could get into action.

 Chapter 355 The Western Diversion - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 355 The Western Diversion - Part 2</h4>

    As the medium transport ships tried their best to charge to the shoreline, their captains suddenly realised they hit shore rather early. They had previously estimated that they wouldnd at most a hundred metres away, yet the distance now spanned multiple hundreds of meters. There was no way the ship could proceed any further no matter how much the ship tried to push its engine. Turning back now was also no longer viable so the captains immediately opened the tforms, forcing the first wave of Ice Orcs to charge with their shields up.

    That was when the carnage really started. The goblins slowly ced their guns closer to the edge of the fort walls, out of the bunkers and aimed at the various blobs of orcs. With a click, their safety switch were turned off. With a nock, their arrows were ready to take flight. And with just a word from Spear General Argent, the projectiles soared through the beach head and brought down the orcs so easily that it felt like a joke.

    As the Ice Orc Admiral saw the medium transport ships being stuck, he was outright stunned. The Ice Orc Admiral took a telescope from his navigator to take a closer look at the shoreline. Indeed it was reimed further into the sea. "How is that possible?! It should still be high tide now! ?Why are the ships stuck so far away from the shoreline?? I do not remember the Western Coast having any high shores at all. What use is all our intel and our spies if they cannot even report how the goblin must have ced obstacles in the vicinity?!"

    "Curses!!! First unknown monsters in the sea, then fort walls that seem impervious to our standard cannon attacks. Their seige defence weapons hitting so urately on our boats and now an extension of the shorelines. Since when are those goblins so sly and resourceful!" The Ice Orc Admiral crushed the telescope in his hand with anger and went forward while taking a scroll out of his trench coat.

    "I did not expect to use this so early in the battle. I hope Yellow Ice will not fault me for this but if I hesitate, any further ourpanions will die meaninglessly." The Ice Orc Admiral unrolled the expensive looking scroll and chanted loudly, causing wide magical circles to appear underneath three of the massive warships of the Ice Orc Fleet.

    "Shiva, I beseech you, Bring these warships that are fully devoted to you back to the ground. Transport them as you see fit! Allow us to offer you those goblin lives as sacrifices! Tidal Ice Waves of Shiva! " The Ice Orc Admiral''s booming voice echoed and the wide magical circles glowed an ethereal blue.

    Suddenly, from the surface of the water, the first warship was slowly beginning to rise. Higher and higher, riding a giant tidal wave of ice and into the skies. The other two were quickly following suit. Yet instead of the wave moving straight towards the fort walls, two of the tidal waves curved sideways, one on each side allowing the orcs on those two warships to fire their cannons from their gun ports from the sky as the tidal wave steadily left a trail of frozen ice from the sea.

    The remaining warship pushed through the center, making it the priority target for all the goblin''s cannon fire. The tidal wave did helped to block the attacks but soon after, it was destroyed by the immense fire. The tidal ice wave broke and dropped the warship into the midst of the shoreline. Yet, this magical spell allowed the warship to be significantly nearer to the beach head, probably at least 50 metres away from the fort walls. It provided not just cover for the orcs from the transport ship, but a fighting chance against the goblin''s seemingly imprable fortress defence.

    The goblins did not expect this and most were already forced to take cover while the goblins manning the k guns finally had some work to do since the Wind Orc Air Force had yet to make their moves. However since their ammunition was designed to take down the Orc''s aircraft it proved to be not as ideal against the massive warships on a flying tidal ice wave.

    At the same time the Orcs in those warships cheered at the sudden reversal. Morale had been at an all time low after all those setbacks they suffered. Themotion allowed the orcs dashing through the shoreline to have some breather since the bombardment had to stop in order for the goblins to brace themselves from the enemy''s cannon fire.

    But this did not faze Ren Weiбн and surprisingly Jing Ru too. The two daughter and father unceasingly aimed their shots from their upied vantage point and fired at the iing orcs. In the grand scheme of things those they took down would not change the tide of battle, but every shot counted. Something which was emphasised by the raid points they umted so long as they did not miss.

    "Ah, thatst shot went through the shoulder, pace yourself. Do not rush the firing. Take an extra second to make sure one hit is all you need." Ren Wei decided to be the spotter cum sniper for Jing Ru who was not ustomed to using a sniper rifle which fired real live ammunition. If Jing Ru was not able to cleanly kill a target, he would fire the second shot to ensure his death. The feeling of the gun''s recoil, the reloading and the smell of gunpowder was a fresh new experience to her. Ren Wei was happy for the opportunity to not only spend time with her but teach her more about his line of work.

    In the meantime, the tidal ice waves finally crashed at the two ends of the Coastal Town of Gob Gob Si while the ships were still intact and had their gun ports facing the town. The Orcs had no mercy in releasing all of their cannons discriminately at the town.

    Meanwhile the goblins were doing their best to push their anti tank cannons and a few of the artillery guns so that they could reposition themselves to destroy the imminent threat. Ice Orc warriors took the opportunity to charge down towards the town itself.

    Argent was not prepared for the orcs possessing such a terrifying spell in their disposal andmanded regiments of spear goblins and sword goblins to fight against the threat within the town.

    However, the cultivators were already one step ahead of him, responding to the fight when they saw the direction the tidal waves were heading. Unlike the goblins who regarded this as a real war, the cultivators all thought that this was an instance and the spell was simply a shy entrance for the Orcs designed to allow them to invade the beach, so that they could finally fight them off.

    Gupta and Abdul were no exception as they ran towards the eastern side of the town to aid the cultivators and goblin warriors. However, because of the numerous vantage points being upied, marksmen and machine gun teams were already deterring the Ice Orcs as the two pushed through to the centre of a town square.

    As Abdul entered one of the mini town squares where he saw the Ice Orcs were beginning to split themselves up to cover various ces, he stopped to ready his weapon. ?"I will focus center!!" Abdul shouted as he was already half pressing his minigun, allowing the barrels to rotate. The moment he had his footing, he released a hail of bullets towards the iing Ice Orcs who had yet to split up.

    Meanwhile, Gupta followed close to those who had entered the city, crushing into some of them by using a basic Exculpatory Elephant charging dash technique. As those Ice Orc warriors flew to the sky due to the knockback of the charging dash, Gupta took out his shotgun and fired at them in rapid session. The pellets easily went through their metal armour and pieces of their faces were being blown off by the shotgun shots.

    From his storage ring on his right hand, he took out three shotgun dragon breath shells with his left hand and did a quick defensive reload by using the buttstock of the shotgun to dislocate a jaw of an iing Ice Orc. He managed to load a single dragon breath shell in after he fired the remaining normal shot in his gun chamber, instantly killing the orc with the dislocated jaw.

    Gupta turned as he used his shotgun to parry an iing sword attack and pushed the shotgun barrel towards the orc''s stomach before pressing the trigger down. "BANG!" It caused a tremendous st of fire to be emitted out of the shotgun with sparks of fire piercing the orc''s body and burning the orcs behind him too.

    "Oops, I guess I inserted too much chi into the dragon breath shell when I reloaded itбн Thank god the inscriptions on the shotgun can handle the impact." ?Gupta grinned widely while covering his face with his hand in case the fire st recoiled and hit him but he was d to see it worked too well.

    Meanwhile the remaining Ice Orcs tried to take cover when the quick barrage of fire from Abdul mowed down the escaping Ice Orcs. Even the Ice Orc Mages magical barrier could not withstand a second of it. Breaking almost in an instant. His firing rate was so impressive that few got the opportunity to use the building as cover. The only way for the Ice Orcs to survive had been to quickly leap themselves towards the ground so that they would not be in the line of fire. Abdul stopped his minigun and charged forward, using his brightly red glowing barrel as a club.

    The Ice Orc warriors assumed that the humanoid emptied his projectiles so they stood up and ran towards him. Not to mention, those who ran away from the divergent path began to return when they heard the loud sounds from the mini square city and upon seeing the destruction the humanoids created, they bolted towards him to finish him off quickly.

    Abdulughed heartily as he smashed his minigun into the stomach of an orc like a rhino using his horns to pierce his target. Then he pressed on the trigger and bullets punctured the Orc''s abdomen. Abdul did the same for his iing targets. Smashing his minigun, using his backpack as a shield or a blunt weapon to knock the orcs down before pressing the trigger, releasing a small burst of bullets.

    "Now this is a real workout!" Abdul was so happy about the realism that he did not even notice when he received a few cuts from the orcs because of his size. Compared to Gupta who was slightly more agile and whose Gun-fu felt way more polished, Abdul''s rough fight was more feral in nature. ?Yet, both managed to do their job until the goblins arrived to reinforce them. That was when both started to restrain their shots a little more to prevent friendly fire. (Even though the System was supposed to prevent such cases but after having to look out for their allies all their career it was hard to break such a habit, especially for policemen.)

    In the meantime, with the anti tank cannons at the side being upied by the two warships, it allowed the Ice Orcsing from the Beach head had slightly more breathing space. Still they did not know of a certain monster in the vicinity who was maintaining the fort walls.

    Shu, The Sakura Tree Treant.

    It had rooted itself at the centre of the fort walls with Ke Mi the Zither Mistress by his side. Unsurprisingly the Great White Snake was nearby, hanging around the Treant. The Ice Orcs warships from the sea tried to burn down the ''improvised'' wooden fort walls but no matter how much they attacked them, they would neither budge nor would they burn.

    That was because the ancient Treant was constantly mending it while the Zither Mistress ensured a constant magic barrier was being maintained. For the same reason the fire was not burning the fort walls down at all.

    Before the Ice Orc managed toe close to the fort walls, Shu would have already sensed their presence and attempted to stab them with his tree roots. With the fort walls being an extension of him, the orcs were killed within and instant and the magical tree roots would proceed to drag them to the wallбн not just as nutrients but also meat shield to cover the holes of the fort wall.

    It was a brutal sight for the Ice Orcs to see their dyingrades being merged with the living fort wall but they tried their best to overwhelm it as much as they could. True enough, Shu did not have the mental capacity to kill hundreds of orcs trying to climb the wall. Luckily there was no need for him to do so alone.

    As part of the living fort wall, Shu was able to make crevicesrge enough for the Great White Snake to pass through before closing the crevice again. This allowed the snake to slide within the fort walls and swallow the orcs. Sometimes it would grab a bunch with its tail and bring it into the city for the spear goblins to do their job. Other times, it would use its tail and smack the orcs away and into the range of the marksmen.

    Ke Mi continued to y her Zither the whole time. Only when certain Ice Orcs managed to cross over the Living Fort walls and appeared right in front of her, would she pluck a string, causing an off tune to ur. That would also be thest tone for the poor orcs, as she was creating a deadly sonic shockwave that sliced those orc in half. Other times, when too many Orcs came over, she''d just a swipe off many of her Zither strings to produce a gust of strong wind knocking the Ice Orcs away before she resumed her job.

    Separately, the Wind Orc Air Force finally made their move. To counter them, Wyrstriker came into y. What could a single goblin with a wyvern do? Not much right? That was certainly the mentality of the Orc Captains in the colossal airships that once threatened the skies of the capital of Gob Gob Kingdom. Wyrstriker did not forget about them and he prepared ordingly. Together with Jin they had a surprise in store.

    Jin had specially crafted a storage ring for Wyrstriker since it was one of the few monsters that had the ability tomand the chi within them and was thus able to use it. The storage ring contained hundreds of rocket propelled grenades. RPGs. ?Wyrstriker had purposely handed out three sticks to each of the Wyvern Riders who were still at least a mile away from him as he had decided to initiate the attack and allow the Dashing Wyverns under Spear General''s Argentmand to follow up.

    Since he was to only one able to resurrect, he had taken the initiative to start the battle against the airship carriers. Iwen, Wrystriker''s Wyvern wasughing hysterically as he noticed the arrows, mages and evenser cannons facing towards him. ?"Do you really wish to court death that desperately?" Iwen asked as he flew steadily towards the first airship carrier.

    "Death has visited me countless times. To me, she is already an old friend." ?Wyrstriker replied as he took out the first RPG.

    "Bear with me. It''s going to be my first time meeting her." Iwen eyes narrowed as Wyrstriker poured some chi into the wyvern, boosting its speed significantly andmencing their suicidal attack together. Arrows flew,sers from lost tech cannons were being shot and wind des were flung at Wyrstriker and sadly Iwen was not agile enough to avoid those aiming at vital ces before Wyrstriker shot the rocket propelled grenade towards the carrier. ?A lost techser cannon burnt both the rider and wyvern alongside with the RPG he was holding. The Dashing Wyverns felt it was bound to happened and sigh...until they saw the emergence of Wyrstriker from high above.

    The surprise came when Iwen opened his eyes and notice he was being thrown into the battefield again and he quickly readjusted himself to the orientation of the airship carrier. "Death did not feel as bad as I thought...still, it hurts though. Is this the power of Master Jin?" Iwen said as he felt his strength renewed and Wyrstiker smirked quietly. He had to thank the System for resurrecting them more or less in ce to avoid suspicion.

    The explosions were small from the RPGs but when Wyrstriker realised he could use it to potentially disable the engines they danced within the stormy skies against the projectiles aiming for them. Within minutes, the first airship engines were disabled through their intensive air acrobatic techniques, causing it to turn unstable by the continuous attack from Wyrstriker alone. Only then did the Dashing Wyverns came into the picture and proceed to bring the airship carrier down from the skies.

    That was when Wyrstriker noticed there were some creatures flying towards them at rather fast speed too, seeminglying from another airship. "Shit! Orc Gargoyles!" Wyrstriker read about them in books but they did not seen one until now.

    "Cool yourself down! They are enemies that we fought at a constant basis! " Iwen calmed his rider as he transmitted memories of the Dashing Wyverns fighting against these monsters. Wyrstriker recollected himself and shot a RPG at the Orc Gargoyles which they evaded rather easily. (Although Wyrstiker was aiming at the airship carrier behind them instead.) He then took out his spear and lunged himself forward ready for a dogfight.

 Chapter 356 The Northern Diversion

    <h4>Chapter 356 The Northern Diversion</h4>

    The horns red so loudly that it could be heard throughout the valleys. shreaver was looking nervously back to the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu. It was hard to imagine that this beautiful sight would turn into a battlefield in no time at all. The Thunder Orcs would start their attack soon.

    Even though it''s supposed to be a mere "Diversion" as reported by Jin, it was clear that no side could afford to pull their punches. The broken gate had been reced by a permanent fort wall with thebined effort of Shu and Sandy before the Treant left for the Coastal Town of Gob Gob Si. The Sand Witch remained to aid with the defences of the town. This time around they had prepared more than just her sand sentinel to oversee the walls.

    Goblin Mages, Engineers, Another Jin and Niu Lang, the Cowherd hade together and the result of this very first coboration between the members of different races resulted in ''Sand Golems''.

    Another Jin had purchasedrge hamster ball looking spheres through the System''s market channel as the core of the pilot unit. Being an experienced Mecha pilot, Niu Lang had suggested some specifics to be ced in by the goblin engineers. For example, the type of seats, the pedals to drive the golem, the pulleys to control the movements, buttons and flip switches alongside with headlights and venttions.

    The Goblin Mages under Sandy''s lead had managed to procurerge piles of sand and rock from the valley''s old mines and fuse it around therge ''Hamster Ball''. The rocks from the valleys were mixed with a sort of dense mineral, unqiue to this particr valley which acted as a sort of natural armour and was shaped into the core skeleton for the Sand Golem. The sand and soil were processed over and over with the subsequent help of Goblin mages to ensure that it would be as hard as possible. Finally Another Jin used a secret ingredient for these Sand Golems.

    Reanimation magical charms, which were aptly named the ''Frankenstein Activators''. (A byproduct of Half Ghoul Lord Derek''s inventions)

    Niu Lang with his ample experience as the pilot of Mechataur had been the perfect candidate to test out the first prototypes of the Sand Golem. He was rather happy with the result, especially after the activators aided with the smoothness movement of the golems, though the speed was still an issue.

    Also, when the visiting werejackals saw the project in the northern region while aiding the cultivators in the past few goblin days, they queried about their project too. Grey became especially interested in it since he had already assisted in the research of the reanimation charms and had developed an interest in creating new things. Gathering a bunch of Jacks, they asked Another Jin to allow them to assist and used some earth strengthening magic unique to the werejackals as the final touch.

    Surprisingly one more person got involved in their creation. Colonel Ayse proved herself to not only be a wonderful hidden spy agent for Jin but also a hidden treasure trove full of experience. The young Orc Lady secretly took the time to review the Sand Golems and criticised numerous points before she made suggestions how to improve them in the future. (Since thetest war operation was too near to make any major changes.)

    Nevertheless she did praise their effort. After all, it was rather ingenious how Another Jin and the rest of the gang managed to create a mechanised walker within such a short amount of time without ess to the Lost Tech blueprints.

    Eventually, the Sand Golems became operational with very little mechanical materials and more of the natural ones, making it easy to rece on the battlefield. Goblin mages would be the ones to do the heavy lifting such as providing the mana for the Sand Golem to move. So long therge hamster ball core was still intact they could keep on fighting. Ayse deduced that their expendability and prolonged durability could be the winning point that might let them triumph over the ''Tin Cans'' she had designed for the Orc Army.

    A few carefully selected Goblins (mostly based on their size to fit into the hamster ball) were the ones privileged to test them out a few days before the start of the Northern Diversion.

    Upon seeing the finished products of the mass produced Sand Golems, Niu Lang could not take it anymore and decided to renamed the Sand Golems into ''Sandroku Golems'' to make them sound cooler. (The name change became an overwhelming sess. Most of the goblins loved it. They even took some leftover paint they managed to salvage from the town area and painted decals on their Sandroku Golems to customise them further.) Even, dios got a teeny weeny bit jealous of those golem pilots. Unfortunately because of his size, he was unable to ride one of them. shreaver did joke that all his father needed to do was to make a request to Jin and he might create one on the condition he''d join him.

    With the addition of ten Sandroku Golems, the goblins were able to extend their defence line to the outskirts of the valley town where they could utilise the side cliffs to nk the Thunder Orc Army before they reached the Fort Walls of the valley town. Each Sandroku Golem was carrying a makeshift artillery gun which the engineers managed to wire to their backs. It turned them into portable artillery which could respond to any threat as soon as possible.

    The only drawback was the limited ammo that they were carrying. Hence, the Sword General dios would be the deciding factor when or where to use it and inform them through their apanying magpies. Not to mention, those Sandroku Golems held rock solid shields andparativelyrge melee weapons. They waited patiently at side of the cliffs were the several anti tank cannons had also been ced with the help of Sandy.

    When Jin opened the ''instance'' to the public, most of the newer cultivators were teleported to the northern valley and unlike Spear General Argent, Sword General dios was ordered by Jin tomand the cultivators directly. He apologised that these fewrades of his did not see much of the battlepared to the ones that had been selected to assist the Coastal Town of Gob Gob Si.

    dios roughly understood the underlying reason behind Jin''s decision. The Coastal Town was guarded heavily and had more goblins manning the area, the distance the goblin army had to cover wasrge. Assigning Argent with fresh recruits would only worsen the Spear General''s headache in coordinating the defence. On the other hand in this Valley Fort, the enemies could onlye from one particr direction, it was a do or die situation. Either they''d survive as one, or fail as one.

    Hence, dios dly took the newerrades under his wing andmanded them strictly. It was a surprise not one had any qualms about following dios who was thought to be a high ranking NPC. Unknown to him, not too long ago the cultivators had learnt that it was a bad idea to go against the NPCs. One of the cultivator who was a Grade 4 and a regr at King''s Monster wanted to skip all the introduction and simply want to start killing some Orcs. After he was refused, he decided to challenge Captain Bai to a duel, which theter epted immediately.

    The moment the duel started, the cultivator tried to attack Captain Bai yet the Panda evaded each strike easily. No extra movement and always with just enough distance to avoid the sh. The cultivator then tried using his strongest techniqueбн but failed miserably when Bai just walked to him and smashed his paw on the cultivator''s face. Only stters of blood were left and the headless body was teleported out of the instance. After he had awoken, Jin refunded the money with a stern look and warned him not toe back anymore if he did not wish to follow the rules of the dungeon instances.

    The other cultivators who witnessed that incident, spread it like wildfire in forums and it instantly became part of the "Things to know before entering Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas" guide on the inte. Hence, the cultivators followed dios strict to the letter whenever he gave out any order via the magpies.

    "Go, enjoy yourselves. The frontline troops are arriving soon." dios send the cultivators off when he heard the ring horns of the Thunder Orc Army. At the same time, he had begun to give orders to the goblins staying at the cliff tomence their attacks the moment they saw the Thunder Orc Army. If Jin''s intel proved to be correct, it should turn into an easy battle with all their counter measures in ce.

    dios stood on the fort walls as he saw the humanoids mowing the orcs down. Yet the Orcs seemed more determined than the ones he had seen in recent days. As if they were not just putting their lives down for the attack but there was a certain kind of craze which only fanatics had. Then dios noticed something else.

    Each and everyone of their weapons emitted sparks of thunder.

    He remembered that the Thunder Orc Mages were supposed to be severely decimated by the failed initial invasion. By all means the frontline orcs should not have such strong thunder imbued powers in their weapons. If not for the humanoids acting as the vanguards, his own goblins would have been killed in battle almost instantly. Yet, the humanoids were also visibly struggling against the ferocious attacks the Orcs were putting in.

    "If we assume that they have not hidden any more Orc Mages, which should be impossible without anyone noticingбнThen that could only mean one thingбн Sandroku 004 do you have any visual on any powerful orcs in the vicinity?!" dios grabbed on the magpie and shouted his orders into the poor little bird.

    However, there was no reply.

    "Sandroku 005! Respond! 006! Any of the golems respond NOW!!!" The only answer he got was more silence which dios had started to fear for the worse. Unless there was someone somehow had the capability to jam their signal (which ording to Jin was impossible) it would mean someone must have defeated the enhanced golems. And whoever or whatever that was doing it had not been taken ount into any part of their ns.

    But before dios could spend more time pondering about it, suddenly arge purple lightning bolt ran across the valley and struck the fort walls. Sandy who was on the fort wall tried to block the attack but she only managed to deflect its might partially because of the sudden strike. The purple lightning bolt not only caused Sandy to lose her left arm, it destroyed a portion of the fort walls too.

    "Purple Thunder!" dios shouted to warn the rest of the army about the arrival of the Avatar of Syldra as he tried to help Sandy up. The Sand Witch refused as she tried to collect sand, dust and dirt from the debris of the destroyed wall to cover the wound she had suffered. In the next instant, another lightning bolt shed towards the fort wall. dios had expected another attack and used therge two handed sword from his back to block.

    The sword glowed with immense light, creating a magical light barrier which protected dios, Sandy and a few of the goblins manning the fort wall from the imminent attack. Purple Thunder did not hesitate to run towards dios ignoring the humanoids which the Orcs were pushing them back. But even before Purple Thunder reach the fort walls, shreaver intercepted him in the valleys.

    "I am your opponent!" shreaver roared as he released a sh of chi towards the Avatar of Syldra. Purple Thunder smirked and evaded that almost immediately while countering shreaver with a ''slow'' ball of lightning. (To Purple Thunder, certain lightning spells were considered slow in his eyes.) The ball of lightning electrocuted shreaver but it gave dios enough time to enter the scene.

    Despite carrying a greatsword, dios'' actions were swift and precise enough to make Purple Thunder think twice about not evading properly. The orc himself took out his own greatsword. It was a sight to behold as the dark purplish sparks seemed to challenge the white shine of the goblin''s sword. Against the Greatsword of Light, it was nothing but a distraction for Purple Thunder to waste time for him to prep his spells. But as long as Purple Thunder managed to bring dios down, the goblin army would be less of a threat. The two started to exchange blows though they seemed to be somewhat equal. The slightest mistake could prove fatal for either side.

    "Don''t you dare forget about me!" shreaver entered the fray exactly when Purple Thunder had finally managed to force dios into revealing an opening. He felt annoyed that this brat dared to disturb him and so he decided to change the trajectory of his attack towards shreaver. A simple palm strike enchanted with his electrical powers shed towards shreaver''s face. The goblin was unable to evade nor block in time.

    "ARRRRRGHH!!!!" The intensity of the electricity burned half of shreaver''s face away in a moment and it made dios stagger a little when he saw his son in such a dire condition. Purple Thunder himself became surprised as he had expected a counter attack. Wanting to make use of the situation he retracted his hand and prepared another lightning palm strike.

    "Father!!" shreaver did his best to ovee the immense pain he was experiencing momentarily through sheer willpower and gave it his all to stab Purple Thunder with all his power. As Purple Thunder had already written off the goblin and he did not was expect that attack and was unable to evade in time. The Avatar of Syldra cursed as he redirected the attacking palm strike to block or at least mitigate the sword stab.

    The sword was evaporating due the heat produced from the lightning palm strike but not before shreaver injured one of Purple Thunder''s main casting hands. However, the bacsh from the lightning palm strike burnt not just the sword but shreaver''s hands too, melting them right in front of him. This time, dios did not hesitate and made use of the opportunity his son had provided to sh his greatsword at the preupied Purple Thunder.

    Trying to turn around, the Orc managed to mitigate the attack partially by using his greatsword yet the fury of dios broke Purple Thunder''s greatsword cleanly into two as he sunk his weapon into Purple Thunder''s body. The Avatar of Syldra coughed blood. He was unable to scream as blood had already entered his lungs from the cut. He looked up to the Sword General and his mouth turned into a sick smile.

    If Purple Thunder couldn''t kill the Sword General with his bare hands, then he would suicide with whatever powers he had contained in himself.

    "Get away!!!" Sandy managed to cry out. In her still sorry state, she used her magic to pull dios and shreaver away from the scene with sand. In that same time the Avatar was pumping himself up to explode, the pilots of two heavily damaged Sandroku Golem jumped down from the cliffs. The Golems were no longer able to fight but it was enough to move. Theynded and leaped towards Purple Thunder, piling on top of him.

    "Sandy Big Sis! Do what you need to do!!!" One of the goblin pilots who was bleeding profusely inside the Sandroku golem 007 shouted to her while pinning Purple Thunder down with the Greatsword of Light still stuck in him. Sandroku Golem 002 picked up 007''s towering shield and mmed down two of their shields on the living orc bomb that was primed to set off anytime. Sandy knew immediately what they were doing and quickly used whatever magic she could summon to surround Sandroku 002 , 007 and Purple Thunder withinyers of sand, rock and soil.

    "System! More magic! NOW!!!" Sandy shouted and the System immediatelypiled as she could see a glimmer of light being emitted out of the ''prison'' of sand she had haphazardly created. Peppers was immediately summoned and a cylindrical barrier was ced around the sand prison which Sandy created before it broke down. The living bomb then exploded and both orcs and cultivators saw streaks of lightning running along the cylindrical magic barrier and up to the sky.

    "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STARING AT! CONTINUE TO ATTACK! DON''T LET THEIR SACRIFICE BE IN VAIN!!!" dios roared and both the goblins and cultivators gave shouted in unison as they pressed on with their attack against the shocked Orcs.

 Chapter 357 Extra - Niu Lang And Robots

    <h4>Chapter 357 Extra - Niu Lang And Robots</h4>

    Niu Lang dropped his towel as he was trying to fix a part of the broken Mechataur. After some time doing his best, he slowly epted that he was not going to finish reviving him anytime soon. Ever since the battle against the Robotic Spider had taken a toll on Mechataur''s parts, his giant metal friend had remained dormant. Surprisingly before the towel fell to the ground it had been caught.

    "Master Jin, how long have you been here? What can I do for you?" Niu Lang closed a panel on Mechataur''s shoulder and came down slowly via adder. Jin passed the towel back to the sweaty Niu Lang and gave him a takeaway cup full of the ck Ivory Coffee alongside a stack of brochures.

    Jin wished to offer his help by recreating spare parts or even buy parts off the System''s ck market as a thank you for Niu Lang''s efforts and their sacrifice in the Dungeon World fighting against the robotic spider and the Titan Knight. He knew that if not for Niu Lang the Cowherd, he would possibly have had a much harder time defeating the Titan Knight.

    However, Niu Lang refused Jin''s offer outright. "If I cannot rebuild Mechataur with my own efforts, I have no right to call Mechataur my own mech." Niu Lang said as he shook his head at Jin.

    "But isn''t rebuilding it yourself with the parts I am going to buy for you the exact same thing?" Jin scratched his head as he thought it was obvious enough if Niu Lang wished to rebuild Mechataur as soon as possible.

    "I don''t really know how to exin this but buying manufactured parts and inserting it into him feels like I''d kind of betray his soul. It''s like, after you learned my cow had an ident and was no longer able to provide milk, you had decided to give me a few gallons of milk, and perhaps a new calf in the hopes that my cow would recover better with it." Niu Lang tried to get his point across yet all it did was confuse Jin even more.

    "But Mechataur is a robot. He can be reced with a few new parts. Plus the new parts can even improve his performance. You probably just need to rece parts of the core engine and such." Jin replied but quickly realised his arguments were not going to assist in the conversation in any way. Hence, Jin decided to twist his words a little in hopes that Niu Lang could ept his generosity.

    "Alright. How about this? You just apany to shop for parts? I will pay. Heck, if you feel guilty about it, you can take a loan from me first." Jin suggested and Niu Lang hesitated for a while before agreeing.

    "But before you bring me to buy the parts, may I request something?" Niu Lang asked and went inside before he showed him a crumpled pamphlet which Zhi Nu found lying with a few magazines left by customers in the shop. Ever since reading that pamphlet, he took great care of it and was kept safe in his tools cab. Jin took a look at it and tried his best notugh out (ultimately he failed). Niu Lang had no idea what Jin wasughing about.

    "Is this too difficult a request? I just wished to purchase it to have some ideas how these specific robots were working. To get a better idea how to help Mechataur recover. If it''s not possible maybe we could take a peak at their designs. I assume since they having them on sale we could buy one or more of these robots as a backup. Perhaps we could also dismantle the robot and бнuse some of the parts for Mechataur too!" Niu Lang shared his ideas with a lot of enthusiasm.

    "Did you not say that would be like buying gallons of milk and a new calf for your injured cow?" Jin returned his quote to Niu Lang and this time he got rebutted with an ''amazing'' reason.

    "If Mechataur would be able to possess parts of these almighty robots that I am seeing in this pamphlet, I am certain he would not mind it at all. You did say Mechataur is a robot and his parts do have wear and tear. A living cow does not, they will just die from a severe injury. But that does not mean they do not have the chance to impart their delicious meat and bountiful amounts of milk for us to savour and inspire us to raise a better cow." Niu Lang remarked.

    To this reasoning Jin could only figuratively tip a hat in his favour.

    "I concede. Get changed, I will bring you to see those amazing robots." Jin said and Niu Lang eyes were starry wide. He quickly went to the Armoury Store to change while Jin waited for him at the spacious basement of his house where he kept Mechataur.

    "System, is Mechataur hibernating? Dead? Or is he unable to function because of theck of certain parts?" Jin touched Mechataur''s giant feet and asked the System.

    "Is User asking the System a philosophical question or does he wish a report of Mechataur''s status?" The System asked bluntly and Jin sighed before rifiyng it was thetter.

    "Mechataur''s heat sinks are not functioning as per his initial design. His core engine was partially fried but could be still useable with a recement of certain parts. Cowherd Niu Lang had been diligently trying his best to fix Mechataur ever since the fight till now. As a result, its capability to function had increased roughly 6%. However, without new parts, Mechataur''s operating capability would only reach a cap of 35% in the most optimal circumstances." System stated and Jin sighed once more.

    "Chinese. Please." Jin asked which the System retorted that it was already replying in Chinese which made Jin feel like knocking his head on Mechataur''s feet. Since when has his System seemingly started to enjoy bickering with him.

    "In in simpleymannguage. Please." Jin stated with a dead tone and the Systemplied.

    "It is possible for Mechataur toe online without new parts. In such a case he would be limited to walking and couldmunicate back to Niu Lang. However it wouldck any capabilities of fighting. " The System analyzed.

    At that moment, a portal appeared and Jin banged his head on Mechataur''s feet upon seeing the dress up for Niu Lang. "Master, did I wear something wrong?" Niu Lang wondered as he was in a full ck ninja robe with his face wrapped with ck cloth too.

    "May I ask why you decided to choose this particr outfit?" Jin face''s was attached to Mechataur''s metal feet (thankfully it was thoroughly washed by Niu Lang already) and he slurred his question towards Niu Lang.

    "You provided me with the opportunity to see these majestic robots, and I had the feeling we might not buy them. So I figured we might be able to steal one of them away. Mr Kraft advised me that this would be the ideal outfit for that. Is that not correct?" Niu Lang answered innocently. Jin was beginning to get a headache as he summoned Kraft out who appeared sitting on Mechataur''s feet and exined what else had he been teaching Niu Lang behind Jin''s back.

    "He''s a pretty quick learner, isn''t he?" Kraft praised Niu Lang and Jin rolled his eyes. With his face still attached to Mechataur''s feet, he demanded Kraft to stop messing around and if he was so bored he should teach other people correctly. Kraft reluctantly nodded his head and brought Niu Lang to the armoury store again.

    In no time, Niu Lang came back wearing a full formal suit with a fedora hat and Jin was wondering if Niu Lang was doing all these on purpose or if he was really that na?ve. Sometimes he asked himself whether Zhi Nu, the immortal weaver liked him for his child like innocence.

    "Kraft asked me to wear this to pretend to be an influential rich man so they would show me those robots whenever I ask them. If it''s not possible with the help of this disguise, we might still be able to steal one right under their noses." Niu Lang repeated how Kraft ''corrected'' him and Jin decided to take things in his own hands.

    Jin took out Niu Lang''s coat, changed his shoes to something less formal and allowed him to keep his Fedora hat and suit vest on him. Jin did aid Niu Lang to fold his sleeves up and when Zhi Nu wasing down to the basement to see what was the reason for thismotion, she was surprised that Niu Lang could be that suave.

    "Dear~! You look like one of those advertisement models in the magazines!" Zhi Nu came over and she inspected him from top to bottom. She seemed very pleased with this change as she never saw this particr side of Niu Lang. Jin informed her that they would be going for some shopping and would be back shortly.

    Niu Lang went out with Jin to Tiangong Shopping District and realisedбнthe ce to buy the robots was nearer than expected. (Not to mention, a number of girls were eyeing andmenting loudly at that cute stylish guy walking with Jin which started to annoy him a bit too. That was why he chose a shop nearby.)

    "Oh my god! That is the Angel Goddam! The one that was advertised on the pamphlet! Why is it so much smaller than I expected? Are they being made by creatures smaller than us?" Niu Lang asked with his own deduction.

    "What are you gawking at there for? Come in and have a closer look." Jin smirked at Niu Lang''s innocence and beckoned him to enter the shop. Niu Lang was instantly being blown away by the hundreds of robot models that were on sale. Multiple boxes stacked from the floor to the ceiling and each of them was waiting to be bought and assembled by an interested customer.

    "Oh, Boss Jin? To what do I owe the pleasure?" The owner who was reading a particr mechaic saw a customer arriving in.

    "Hi there, He Rong. I brought a friend here to buy some of your models. Don''t mind me loitering here for some time. I think he is quite the mecha enthusia-" Jin got interrupted by a shout which startled the toy model shop owner, He Rong too.

    " I WANT ONE OF EVERYTHING!" Niu Lang eximed loudly which spoilt his cool looking image immediately. He Rong''s jaws dropped a bit before he jokingly asked Jin if that was true because that would be doing a great service for him.

    "If you really did that, I can give you a 15% discount on the whole bill." He Rong offered and Jin went forward to him.

    "If I really did that, give me 35% discount on the whole bill." Jin replied with confidence. He was sure that he had the ability to buy one of everything in the shop.

    "20% discount." He Rong shook his index finger and pointed out he was already doing a disservice to his most loyal customers if he gave out a 20% discount to someone who did not share their love for the craft.

    "30% discount and I will alwayse back for newer models." Jin straighten his back and folded his arms while showing three fingers out.

    "25% discount as well as a discount when I patronise your Shop. I''ve heard wonderful things about your Fishing Instance from Lai Fu. That is my final offer for a fellow shop owner. Anything more would be cutting into my base cost, which I cannot do." He Rong made his ''ultimatum'' yet Jin was aware the other party was clearly bluffing since some of the models were inly overpriced.

    However Jin''s intention had been to go for the 25% discount all along. He Rong being a business owner himself had already figured out his objective as well. Since both wanted the same he at least tried to gain a bit of a bonus by getting a discount when repaying the favor. The bargaining was more of a formality that needed to be done.

    "Mast- erm Jin, you sure I can have one of everything? I don''t wish to trouble you that much..." Niu Lang sounded unsure, but the excitement in his eyes clearly revealed his hope of getting them all. He Rong had hardly seen such enthusiasm in a very long time. Perhaps, his own passion had died down after he had to change his way of thinking ensuring the survival of his shop.

    "Yeah, go grab them!" Jin came over to pat his head like a big little child and his shoulders before he sent a close range transmission. "But with certain conditions attached. Learn the parts of these robot models and try to create new designs for me or at least think up suitable parts which could prove useful for in Mechataur." Niu Lang epted almost immediately upon hearing the conditions.

    "It will be deducted from your pay as you promised." Jin said out loud and suddenly Niu Lang''s face turned from an ted young boy to a depressed old man. "I am just joking, go get them." Jin smiled after teasing Niu Lang who had limited to pick up the ones he liked most for now. He Rong was unaware of the rtionship between them but enjoyed their interaction. He decided to loan Jin a storage ringrge enough to store one of every model avable.

    "Thank you for your business. Pleasee again! And your friend is always wee to take in my shop!"

 Chapter 358 Operation Red Moon

    <h4>Chapter 358 Operation Red Moon</h4>

    The Fire Orc Army was in an uneasy state with the change of ns when the new orders out were given out by the respective orc officers. Theirmander, Green Fire''s absence and the rumours that he had derelict his duty made everyone wondered if he was doing the right thing to run away from this crazy n of their King.

    Some believed Green Fire was killed, but there were still reports of random abandoned viges that were incinerated were due to his handicraft. Though Fire Orc Mages did have the capability to summon such fiery ferocity, their magic only contained a slight trace of Shaitan powers in them. Thus, the investigation team had no reason to doubt any Fire Orc Mages as suspects due to the high amount and intensity of Shaitan powers being detected in those charred ruins.

    This was because how the Fire Orc mages worked their magic was by syphoning residue mana from the Shaitan ne in order to cast their spells. Since they belonged to Fire Orc tribes, they were more tuned to absorbing the residue mana of Ifrit to cast their magic, which was why their magic was fire based. But unlike the Avatar of Ifrit, Green Fire''s source of power was directly from Ifrit himself and hence possessed arge amount of Shaitan powers.

    Then one might ask what was the difference between the powers of Fire Orc mages and Green Fire''s? The destruction it caused. To put it simply, an Avatar of Ifrit casting a fireball had the same destruction capability to a team of Fire Orc mages casting Firestorm. The intensity might vary depending on the amount of mana ced, but that was the whole gist of it. That was why the avatars of the Shaitan Nobles were ced asmanders of various armies because of their destructive power.

    Therefore, being desperate to know the whereabouts of theirmander before the start of the most massive operation in orc''s history, the Fire Orc Mages did try to scry for Green Fire''s location by asking Ifrit about the whereabouts of his Avatar. Unfortunately, Ifrit did not entertain them and only said his powers were still alive in that world.

    That was because Ifrit was amused by the workings of his new descendant, me Ripper. The newly appointed goblin was doing what he could to confuse the Orc investigation team as instructed by Colonel Ayse via Jin. The hide and seek somehow gave the spectating Ifrit a bit of thrill seeing his new descendent ying the fool against the orcs searching for Green Fire.

    This was in lieu with the work the team of goblin assassins lead by Dagger General Ignis. While meripper was distracting the orcs, Ignis had been activating multiple waypoint locations across the Orc maind. He was shocked when he learnt that his son managed to achieve the powers of Ifrit but because time was essential since the death of Green Fire, Ignis promised to give a surprise to his son when everything was over.

    The Dagger General also utilised me Ripper''s magic to burn down any evidence they could have left while hiding the waypoints in in sight. (Most of the waypoints were in the basements of taverns and the orcs did not bother to see through the entire wreckage of each vige.) With more waypoints activated, the goblin assassins increasingly used them to perform assassination missions in order to weaken and mislead the orcs and their investigation team.

    Not just that, they had been stealing from the supplies bases which were poorly guarded and yet resource rich for their own use бк food supplies, gold, natural resources etc. After which, me Ripper utilised the waypoints to return to the capital and gifted everything to the Capital. Ignis attributed theck of security in these supply bases due to the full focus on their current operation which made stealing so much simpler.

    Simr to Wyrstriker, Jin wanted to give me Ripper a storage ring but because he was the descendant and chosen avatar, Ifrit had given him abilities to transfer items to the Shaitan ne where he could keep an unlimited amount of items, which was more advantageous than a storage ring could handle. However, whether that power could be used in Jin''s world or other worlds, me Ripper had no idea.

    With the increased waypoints being activated once again in those old abandoned viges, it was now possible to bring in an army to fight against the King in his own backyard if they wanted to. All they need now was just the right time to strike back against the Orcs.

    --------

    Orc King Hamu had finally arrived at the most extensive base which so happened to be located farthest to the Orc Capital where the bulk of the Fire Orc Army was currently stationed. Along with him was Yellow Ice, his Right Hand man, Oku and Colonel Ayse in a more distinct officer uniform than her usual researcher coat. Colonel Ayse immediately started her work bymanding the humanoid ve researchers to start up the lost tech artefact portals which numbered to the dozens.

    The n was to storm the capital by force while the Northern and Western Diversion diverted the bulk of the goblin army''s attention. After a fewments from the researchers, Colonel Ayse concluded that most of the lost tech artefacts were still functioning and proudly stated that they were able to proceed to phase two of the Red Moon Operation.

    But when the humanoid ves were booting up the lost tech artefact portals, Ayse purposely asked them to attach a new piece of equipment on the main generator that was powering the lost tech portal devices. Right Hand Oku found it weird and asked what was that equipment for.

    "It''s to increase the output of the portals, making it easier for multiple Fire Orcs warriors to rush in as quickly as possible, taking full advantage of the element of surprise. It''s an invention I spent countless nights creating." Colonel Ayse said with grace as King Hamu walked towards them. Oku found it a little fishy especially since most of the equipment had gone through a quality check to ensure everything operated smoothly.

    "By adding something at the veryst minute will only increase the risk of our Fire Orc troops, will it not? Isn''t this something you should not do at such a critical stage of the Red Moon Operation?" Oku demanded an answer which Colonel Ayse had something at the tip of her tongue to counter him, but King Hamu stopped her. Contrary to Oku''s expectation, King Hamu instead praised her for a job well done.

    "But Your Majesty!" Oku wanted to reason, and he was ignored by the King once more. Seeing the entiremotion, the humanoid ves immediately acknowledged Colonel Ayse''s newmand and began to attach thetest piece of contraption on the power generator.

    The generator whizzed for a while before moving faster than normal and suddenly the entry portals that appeared certainly became two times bigger. It meant more troops could enter the other side once the coordinates had been found by the lost tech linking device. As of now, the entry portals were still red in colour indicating that the lost artefacts that were ced had not been synced up yet.

    With the aid of a linking device that the humanoid ve researchers were busy dabbling with, it would capture the signal of the lost tech exit portal artefacts and provide the coordinates for the entry portals. It would then synchronise with the exit portals and the entry portals turn blue, indicating that the Fire Orc Army could finally charge into the Goblin''s capital. Hence while everyone was waiting for the portals, King Hamu began giving a speech as he stood on a podium that was specially prepared for him for this asion.

    "Gentlemen, you might have heard of rumours or unofficial reports of yourmander, the Avatar of Ifrit being missing for days. Rest assured. Appropriate investigations would be carried out before we pass any judgement. In recement of yourmander, I will be taking over his role and of Red Hurricane''s too," King Hamu said with a voice being amplified by magic. When he officially announced him taking over, there were disgruntled whispers in the crowd before the respective orc leaders on the ground demanded silence from their troops.

    "Yes, I will be the interimmander for both the Fire Orc Army and remaining of the Wind Orc Army which would be arriving shortly." The King spoke as he unleashed his Shaitan powers in front of the Fire Orcs to see. The onlynguage orcs ever knew was Power. That was why when a giant silhouette of Diabolos appeared right above King Hamu''s shoulders with his six wings all spread out, the Fire Orc Army went entirely mute.

    Not just that, a slight faint silhouette of Garuda also appeared underneath the wings of Diabolos too and everyone who was at the base realised that their King was blessed with the powers of two Shaitan Nobles. A feat no Orc had ever done before nor heard before.

    Yet they did not know that was the ability of Diabolos, the Shaitan Messenger. As long King Hamu had absorbed the powers of other Shaitan Nobles once, Diabolos would be able to replicate an extent of the absorbed powers. "Hmmph! Ayse''s suggestion was right after all. By absorbing Red Hurricane Shaitan''s powers, I imposed a stronger aura than ever before." King Hamu nearly had a grin escaping his expressionless face as he continued to talk to the masses.

    "I understand some might be unsatisfied with the current arrangement but because of themencement of our mostplex operation in our entire Orc history, the Red Moon Operation, there can be no room for mistakes. We must improvise if we need to. Else, weeks or even months of training and preparation would be for nought." King Hamu said.

    "This operation would determine not just the fate of our kingdom, but to show those inferior beings a lesson they would never forget. A mark of history that would be ingrained deeply into their books and race forever!" Hamu said in such a deathly tone that every orc felt something was choking their necks and it was not going away anytime soon. Even Ayse who was behind the scenes had that particr sensation and realised that it was the doing of Diabolos under the influence of the ascension of the Red Moon.

    Yellow Ice was able to withstand the ''suffocation'' because he had the protection of Shiva with him. This particr move which King Hamu did, reinforced Yellow Ice''s motivations to kill the king even if it felt like a lost cause. Nevertheless, Yellow Ice was a cynic as he kept thinking when would be the most optimal to attack him. Perhaps when Sol, the Goblin King managed to weakened Hamu?

    "Hahaha, but that''s the best case scenario. There is no way fate would be that kind to a betrayerбн" Yellow Ice thought to himself as he checked on Cross which he had hid within his shadows, a unique magical skill Yellow Ice taught Cross considering he was the previously the Royal Spymaster.

    The portals finally turned blue, just right before the full peak of the Red Moon. The Orc King smiled as he had waited for this moment for a very long time. All these desires for power went way back when Hamu remembered how he overheard that his insane father was going to sacrifice him in order to retrieve a fragment of Diabolos. It prompted Hamu to kill his own father to achieve a simr result but instead of a fragment of Diabolos, he received the acknowledgement of Diabolos. At that moment, he realised he was going to achieve greatness. With the aid of Colonel Ayse, he managed to find the lost tech ind because of the prophecy given by Diabolos and that was when the gears of war started all over again.

    "Charge." The King gave just one single order which made the entire Fire Orc fire army to move instantly. The suffocation the orcs suffered was not only a show of power but amand leash to make sure no one would have the idea of abandoning this twisted cause of his. Ayse had an inkling what it was as she had the sensation to move too, but she was able to resist themand of King Hamu. Sheter figured that its powers were iparable to the ''leash'' the System had ced her in.

    King Hamu, on the other hand, was quite surprised that Yellow Ice, Ayse and Oku were still sane despite themand leash spell he had ced on all the orcs and humanoid ves. "Yellow Ice, I had nothing to say to you but for the other two? " King Hamu said with a tinge of sarcasm which Oku replied he was able to resist because of his absolute duty was to protect the King.

    "I am probably too upied with other things to bemanded especially when my ves are all gone now." Ayse casually gave an excuse and pretended to take a look at the machines that were operating before she had her back turned towards King Hamu and smiled.

    The attachment she previously asked the humanoids ve researchers to ced on the power generators was not any simple device. It was something created by the System after it had analysed the lost tech artefacts thoroughly.

    The System had disguised the unique attachment into a portal enhancer while hiding the actual functions of the device. Its primary purpose was to decrypt the real coordinates of the lost portals artefacts and masked them. Even though it was attached to the power generator, the attachment was able to transmit its signal and adjust the linking device ordingly. Since they were ves, the humanoids operating the linking device and power generator were fearful for their lives and would do what it takes to prevent any mishaps from happening.

    Hence, they took great pains to sift through the many lost tech artefacts given to the orc raiders. When the linking device disyed a different coordinate that was not close to the actual coordinates of the capital, the ve researchers would ignore those lost tech portal artefacts. But what if all the lost artefacts were to show foreign coordinates? They would then have to report to their higher ups including Ayse in consideration for n B which was a mass transportation spell.

    Initially, if such an incident were to ur and it would, mainly because the lost tech artefacts were already transported to the Volcano Ind for Operation Pompeii by Jin and his monsters, Ayse wanted to resolve it by herself and did not want any help. However, Jin felt that it would still be too dangerous since it might lead to further suspicions. If there were factors that were within their abilities to control, they would do their best to achieve so that their operation would have a lesser possibility of any hups.

    Hence, with the System''s attachment, all the lost artefacts ''properly'' indicated the coordinates were close to the Goblin capital in the linking device. There was no reason for the humanoid ves to suspect any foul y since they were probably the only ones aside from Ayse who could decipher them.

    However, with the Diabolo''smand leash, those humanoid ves had already blindly proceeded into the battlefield without the ability to properly verify the coordinates. This was a lucky break for Ayse while she continued to pretend to observe the readings on the linking device to ensure everything was working as per ''usual''.

    Seeing how Ayse was handling the portal device with ease, King Hamu sighed a breath of relief. He did not expect themand leash''s spell to be widespread and affected the humanoid ves too. His only possible exnation was the power he obtained from the ascension of the Red Moon.

    Even by just standing at the podium, he could already feel power seeping into him as the Red Moon glowed brightly. Hence, he decided to have a seat at the makeshift throne that was prepared on the podium for him while he casually enjoyed examining his orcs obediently marching forward into the portals. "We shall capture the Goblin Capital and make King Sol bleed." King Hamu thought to himself but then Diabolos softly whispered him a reminder.

    "Do not forget that King Sol is mine to partake." Diabolos said in a deep voice which King Hamu sneered a little before remembering the bargain he did with Diabolos. He could only agree with a nod since he was still at the mercy of Diabolos. But deep under, he was also hatching a n to overturn the Diabolos in him and obtain the power of light for himself.

    "This world would eventually be mine to conquer." King Hamu disillusioned himself once more while he bided his time to enter the Goblin Capital.

 Chapter 359 Operation Pompeii

    <h4>Chapter 359 Operation Pompeii</h4>

    Under the influence of themand leash, the Fire Orcs stormed through the portals and into the capital city of the Gob Gob Kingdom. While they expected little resistance due to the constant curfew the city was under, the streets werepletely empty. Not even a guard was around to entertain them.

    The Fire Orcs leaders were initially at a loss but they maintained theirposure and proceeded to split up to hit their real targets. The Ministry Offices and the Gob Gob Castle. While slightly unreliable, the groups were dispatched depending on the cement of artefacts. Some of the portals were even ced in the sewers, abandoned houses, alleys while others were in the open squares of the capital or even roofs of certain buildings. There were some unforeseen incidents due to the cement of the artefacts but most of the Fire Orcs were able to arrive safely to the capital.

    A part of the Fire Orcs was assigned cleaning up duty. They would enter the civilians'' houses one by one, room to room and ughter any goblins they saw. However, the more they searched the capital, they more uneasy the orcs began to feel. Before the war there had been some orcs who had been to the goblin''s capital for either business, as part of a military guard or merely because of personal reasons, so there was no doubt that they had teleported correctly to the city. However, the ces were so void of life that it did not resemble the signs of the busy capital they had experienced. Even in a time of war, it was eerily quiet and unnatural.

    In the meantime, the humanoid ve researchers who had unexpectedly got mixed in and entered the portal under the influence of themand leash spell slowly realised what they had done. Confused, they looked at each other and quickly copied the Orcs by pretending to look around for goblins. For now, all they hoped was to find a ce to hide from both sides and waited for everything to blow over. They believed the goblins would assume them as the invaders and retaliate against them, but the Orcs would not tolerate their cowardice, not caring for theirck ofbat training.

    After one of the Orc groups raided a tavern to find only music been yed in the background without any goblins in sight, not even the bartender, they could only confirm that something was up. A ghost town was currently the most appropriate term to describe the entire scene. The Fire Orc Squad Leaders ryed their findings back to their higher ups, who eventually forwarded it to Colonel Ayse.

    Without the humanoid researchers, she was the only one to pick up their messages and Colonel Ayse promptly took the opportunity to inform Orc King Hamu that a massive battle had ensued in the capital. The goblins were naturally taken by surprise and the orcs were progressing well. Sitting on his throne, King Hamu restlessly shook his legs due to a mixture of both boredom and anxiety. He understood that he would need to umte his powers to follow the operation ns but he was itching for battle the longer he sat on his throne.

    ording to their ns, when the Fire Orc leaders secured a portion of the capital, a unit would be responsible for setting up the same lost tech portal artefact that had teleported them to the capital. The only difference was that the portal size would be ten timesrger than the regr ones so that Wind Orcs'' Airships would be able to go through. They were confident that with the size of the portals that they saw initially (courtesy of Colonel Ayse''s portal enhancer), the Wind Orc Air Force which had just arrived, would be able to enter quickly to reinforce and decimate whatever resistance that was left in the ce.

    "Proceed with Phase Three as soon as possible. Crush them with our burning might." King Hamu ordered Colonel Ayse to ry that order to the Fire Orc Leaders in the field. At that moment, Right Hand Oku wished to stop the King from being too rash. His instincts were telling him that something was not right, but he realised it was toote. He knew that Hamu would not listen without any definitive proof, but even then his expression said it all.

    "As youmand, Your Majesty." Ayse bowed once and sent down the details for the Fire Orc leaders tomence with Phase Three of the Red Moon Operation. The leaders naturally were confused and demanded verification. Without their Commander Green Fire around and this strange situation they were hesitant, yet Colonel Ayse simply noted that it was the interimmander''s orders so they unwillingly obeyed. The portal was set up in no time.

    At the same time, some of the Fire Orcs had been ordered to find the entrance of the fort walls surrounding the capital to verify the situation. They knew that just beyond the walls, there were supposed to be some outlying towns and perhaps the goblins had gotten wind of the portals and evacuated the area. However, the warriors were unable to find a stairway or an opening that could enter the fort walls. They instead asked for assistance from the Fire Orc mages.

    The Fire Orc mages cast ''Levitation'' and ''High Jump'' on the orc warriors in order for them to overlook the walls. Simr to the capital that they were in, the towns were still there and some of the buildings had their lights on. Yet in a nce, they could see that it was just as empty as the capital. The warriors slowly levitated down to give their report. What they did not know was that the sight was an illusion created by Kraft and they would have known the truth if they attempt to exit out of the fort walls.

    Simultaneously, the Ministry Office appeared deserted after they kicked the doors into the main hall, but the Fire Orc leaders took no chance and decided to search through the building thoroughly. "If they evacuated, they must have left in a hurry. Look at everything and see if there is any evidence left about their whereabouts. Their ns or whatsoever!" One of the Fire Orc leaders ordered as he called for more troops to search the ce. Again, the result was disappointing.

    After a while, they found one ce that did seem to be inhabited. Guarded by a heavy duty magical barrier was the Gob Gob Castle. The Fire Orc leader who reached there immediately reported it via their secured magical channel and they deduced someone managed to leak the Red Moon operations ns to the goblins who conducted a mass evacuation. A huge smile appeared on their faces, relieved that the rats seemed to have simply hidden in their giant rathole. This would make things easy for them.

    "Tell all our troops to gather there to assist the teams at the castle and ministry office. Get those orc mages to cast siege breaker spells. Use the Tin Cans if needed. A number of them are equipped withser projectiles that should significantly harm the barriers." Aysemanded in a hurried tone as a show for King Hamu to overhear.

    The news did put a smile on him as he watched the colossal portal appearing in front of the Wind Orc Air Force as the situation in the capital developed. King Hamu stood up and released a silhouette of Diabolos to perform the very same ritual he had done to the Fire Orc army. Once that was done, he oversaw the Wind Orc Air Force frenziedly entered the portal.

    When the Wind Orc Air Force entered the skies above the Gob Gob Capital, they noticed something unusual. Their altitude meter readings were abnormal. It was a drastic change from the readings they had before they were teleported. Most of the Orc navigators assumed it was due to the portal spell since such an urrence happened before during their test runs. A number of their sensitive equipment went haywired from the portal jumps and even though they tried to inste and improve them, the sensitive equipment was bound to have a few mishaps. Nevertheless, this was the time for action and not spections.

    The airship carriers immediately proceeded towards the Gob Gob Castle. From afar they saw the goblins'' magic barrier shing as a result of the onught of theirrades'' attack. As there was no retaliation fire, the Orcs took their time to prepare the necessary siege weapons to fire all at onceбнuntil they saw a little masked humanoid girling out of the castle roof and standing on the edge of a parapet.

    "The Air force has arrived. Shall we start our dance or should we wait for the big boss?" Peppers asked while she walked and tried to maintain her bnce along the parapet.

    "Yea, let''s start the show. Ayse already gave some juicymentary on how the Orcs were valiantly killed. If the Orc King enters the portal and finds out he was being lied to, he might be suspicious. Let''s not disappoint his expectations." Kraft answered her question as Jin smirked while he finished gearing himself up in the Dungeon Maker. Peppers acknowledged themand and pointed her staff upwards.

    It glowed momentarily before shooting out a firework out of the sky with the Full Red Moon in the background. (A rather beautiful side if one ignored what came next.) The orcs were momentarily distracted by therge firework and assumed it was a desperate signal for help.

    But to Jin''s monsters andpanions, this was the sign for themencement of Operation Pompeii.

    Foul rotten hands forcefully popped up from the ground all around the capital and subsequently their heads and bodies. The various zombies under themand of Half Ghoul Lord Derek hadid the perfect trap by inserting themselves right under the ground before the portals had appeared. They utilised the element of surprise fully when Peppers distracted most of the Orcs with the firework.

    The rotten hands grabbed onto the orc''s legs and some of the zombies did not hesitate to bite them. The zombies infected the surprised orcs with poison with their bites or discharged elemental damage by some of the more powerful zombies that were enchanted by the enhancement card, Elementary Element Roulette, manned by Jin via the Tact Tweaker.

    The Orcs panicked and tried to kill the zombies, but for every zombie killed, three more arose from the ground to rece theirrade. In the same time, a loud and deafening explosion was heard from the Ministry Office. Some of the orcs could even feel the shockwave from afar, stunning them further and giving the zombies more opportunity to kill their enemies.

    "Building Demolished." Hou Fei grinned when he overlooked the intensified explosion that happened at the Ministry Office. The building was not just burning, it had already fallen to pieces due to its weak infrastructure. This was because the building was only a cheap prefab model of the real Ministry Office. And since it was a prefab, Hou Fei had already sneaked in a number of C4 explosives within the fake walls, making it extremely satisfying to see his work up in mes.

    "6/10. It''s too controlled but the timing was great, so I shall elevate it to a 6.5 ." Peppersmented in their very own secured channel via the System as she came down from the parapet and walked towards the middle of the roof garden. Everything was ready as Peppers ced her staff at the centre of the ritual circle and began to pump transmit magical powers via the circle into the volcano, priming it to erupt.

    "Heh, you better give us a spectacr one. All of us will be rating the eruption." Hou Fei retorted as he grabbed his tablet. The System already noted the buildings Hou Fei had rigged in the capital while giving him a live update of the number of orcs still left within the buildings. As soon as enough Orcs were inside the st area, he would proceed to blow them up.

    At the same time, Zeru, Milk and Lynn were already on the move against the three newly arrived airship carriers. As betors carrying the title of a One Man Army, Zeru and Milk in her Monk outfit entered individual airship carriers to clean the ship crew up by themselves. To motivate themselves they had made a friendly bet and were alsopeting on how many they could clear within a minute.

    "66, 67бн time is almost up. 73...74," Zeru said as his wooden sword sliced down most of the Orcs with style. Many had their necks fractured, ribs broken or skull smashed too. The Wind Orcs were unprepared for the sudden ambush right within their own cabins. His high speed manoeuvres gave him the illusion of air steps as he used the tight corridors to perform jumps, skips and even speed running via the ceiling to past through the bulky orcs he killed along with the cabins. If there were any door that was blocking his way, all he had to do was to cut it up with his technique.

    "56, 59бнNOT FAIR! You went in by the control hub first!" Milkined as she threw a kick that did not just knock the heavy metal door down but also proceeded to kill an unlucky orc. Her fist blows were as lethal as Zeru''s wooden sword. Sufficient enough to crack the Orc''s skull or ribs. Yet unlike Zeru, Milk entered the engine room through the backdoor ording to the blueprint provided by Ayse herself a few days back. Both of the warriors had studied them carefully before inserting themselves into the airship carriers. They needed the carriers to be struck down as quickly as possible since Jin did not really have any flying monsters that could rival these flying metal machines. (He did make a mental note to search for good flying monsters if possible in the Farming World when it was his turn to invade.) Jin was afraid that if the airship carriers had sufficient time to prepare after teleportation, they would have been manning multiple lethal turrets covering both air andnd defence simultaneously which could potentially disrupt the flow of sess for Jin and his monsters.

    Therefore, Milk aimed for the engine room first as she ''God Punch''-ed the engine before she dashed to the other rooms crushing any resistance she encountered. The engine malfunctioned from Milk''s attack and it was sufficient overload the other generators along with the main engine. So despite theck of kills on her side, Milk was technically the first to bring down an airship carrier.

    Unlike the two betors, Lynn was apanied by her ninja penguins who skillfully entered through venttors and air ducts while she simr to Zeru, started her killing spree via the control hub. "Kill the ones who are the brains of the ship and the entire ''eco system'' can be brought down in a jiffy." Lynn thought to herself as she cut down the few orc navigators and their ship crew before she faced off against the airship''s captain.

    The three ninja penguins that apanied her via the control hub took the initiative to attack the Wind Orc Captain but he was no pushover. (Unfortunately for Zeru, the moment he performed one of his technique, his Wind Orc Captain was cut into pieces before he could even touch Zeru.) The Wind Orc Captain took out a lost techser pistol and started to shoot at Lynn who had the instinct to move away immediately.

    But because the Wind Orc Captain ignored the penguins, thinking they were less of a threat, he was chained up by the three penguins immediately after shooting Lynn. The ninja penguins had their daggers attached to a chain, so they impaled him before wrapping the chains around him. Their knives were further coated with a numbing concoction which caused the Wind Orc Captain to lose his strength momentarily. That gave Lynn the opportunity to strike the killing blow at his nape. "Good job Peggies." Lynn gave a high five to each of the penguins and proceeded to find the engine room which was designated as the meeting points for the other penguins too.

    With the destruction of Wind Orc Air Force at hand, Colonel Ayse twisted the Orc Leaders'' word on the frontlines to King Hamu, finally allowing him to carry out Phase 4 of the Orc''s Red Moon Operation.

    The Arrival of Orc King Hamu into the battlefield.

 Chapter 360 Extra - An Unlikely Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 360 Extra - An Unlikely Alliance</h4>

    "My Lord, where are you going?" Cross asked Yellow Ice. The Avatar of Shiva was ordered to rest and remain on standby with just one day to the Red Moon Operation. Purple Thunder had already abandoned his post yet Orc King Hamu had decided not take any action against him. It would onlypromise their mission to try and punish him now. In the best scenario, the Avatar of Syldra would help the Thunder Army finish off those pesky humanoids. And if he didбн he could always be punished afterwards. If he was unable toбн well then the goblins and humanoids would have at least taken care of the intended punishment.

    "Our operation does not allow us to dy it. He will be judged in front of the collective will of the Shaitans who will decide whether he lives or dies for betraying the King." Oku preciously reported to the respective agencies responsible for handling the operation logistics and informed them not to send any more additional help to the Thunder Orc Army.

    "Cross, stay and observe the situation in the capital. My predictions were correct as my magical charms have picked up a vige that''s being burnt by Green Fire. I want to have a talk with him before he escapes our sight again." Yellow Ice instructed Cross. Surprisingly the normally loyal goblin disobeyed his direct order and told Yellow Ice to follow him instead.

    "If you simply rush out of the castle like this, you will be spotted and Oku will be immediately notified. I can show you a route that is barely used at this time." Cross armed himself with his trusty crossbow and lead Yellow Ice out of the capital. Once away from the prying eyes of the guards, Yellow Ice used his magic to summon a boar out of ice and used it to travel to the burning vige.

    However, when he reached thereбн The vige had already been burnt down to ashes. It was devoid of life. Nevertheless, Yellow Ice decided to take a look at the surrounding and check which direction Green Fire might have escaped to. Suddenly Cross took out his crossbow and warned his Lord.

    "Five. Sixбнat least eight nearby hiding their presence!"

    "Heh, you are too na?ve, Cross. There are ten. The first six were the only ones showing their presence to hide the presence of the other four. The next two pretended to slip up, so that it would appear, that we have noticed the hidden threats. This should allow thest two to remain hidden. Unless I am mistaken, it should be Dagger General Igni! Why not show yourself? I''d love to wee our foreign guests!" Yellow Ice eximed loudly before addressing the presences. They could hardly be med for the former Spy Master managed to see through their efforts. Upon hearing that the enemy had discovered all ten without taking any action to directly confront them, Dagger General Igni decided to take the gamble.

    "It''s rare for one of you Avatars toe practically alone and unarmed..." Ignimented as he came out of the bushes.

    "It''s even rarer for you to step into ournd at all, Igni. Usually we used to meet in the human''s territory." Yellow Ice replied as he came down from the Ice Boar and extended his hands to shake with Ignis. It had been quite a while the two spymasters had met.

    "So I presume Green Fire is dead." Yellow Ice sighed as he asked Cross to unload his crossbow as a sign of goodwill. (Only the crossbow, it did not mean he would not be able to retaliate back in other ways.)

    "Indeed Green Fire has been killed, but the Avatar of Ifrit still lives on. In fact, Ifrit now has blessed us with a ''descendant''." Igni said as he called me Ripper toe out from beneath the charred ruins of the vige. Being an Avatar himself, Yellow Ice quickly recognised the aura surrounding me Ripper and confirmed that he was indeed an Avatar of Ifrit. Though his aura did feel different. He was unsure if this was because it was the very first time a goblin has be an Avatar or if it had something to do why he had been called a ''Descendant''? That was for him to find out during their barter of information.

    "So the goblins have finally obtained an Avatar of a Shaitan Noble and it''s your child no less. Congrattions to you, Igni." Yellow Ice still remembered the faces of every important goblin. The slight proud look from the Dagger General had also not escaped the notice of Yellow Ice.

    "Cross?" me Ripper vaguely recognised the goblin beside Yellow Ice and called out to him. Even with the changes to his outward appearances, he too was able to identify the other almost immediately.

    "So you do remember me. I am бнsomewhat honoured." Cross bowed a little as a sign of courtesy to the new Avatar of Ifrit.

    "How could I forget you? You were one of us, fighting so desperately together before we got separated. We even set goals together to change the system. Don''t you remember?" me Ripper replied with a bit of mncholy in his tone.

    "But after all I didбн" Cross thought to himself as he gripped on his crossbow.

    "Oh, your allegiance with the orcs? The three of us had kinda figured out about it. Remember the one time when the drill sergeant conducted those surprise drill and made some of us takeps in the middle of the night? While you were away we found one of the letters and thought it was a love letter, so we read it, wanting to tease you with it. Even when we learned your identities, the ideals we talked together were genuine and wholly believed that you would change. If you ever needed help back then, we would dly amodate you." me Ripper said and Cross suddenly felt disconcerted.

    "You remembered all thoseбнtrash- that idealistic bull crap that we spouted about goblins, orcs and humans living in harmony and working together?" Cross asked in a fit and me Ripper nodded his head.

    "It is in the works, believe it or not. Despite what is currently happening in our world, my existence here is proof that change can happen. Trust me!" me Ripper unclenched his fist and a ball of red hot fire burned brightly. Yellow Ice immediately understood the significance behind this action. As an Avatar of a Shaitan Noble their existence was special and they were venerated by others. However everyone of them was only too aware of the price they would have to pay for it. Though they were granted immense powers it also destined them to be the sweet juicy sacrifice for their patron to feast on.

    The abilities the Avatars obtained were usually not even the purest form of the Shaitan''s powers. Therefore his Ice was yellowish in colour instead of pure white or blue, Purple Thunder''s powers were dark purple rather than whitish blue whereas Red Hurricane had a slight red energy to his wind rather than a greenish transparent colour. Simrly Green Fire''s fire had been green unlike the pure red hot me Ripper was holding on to. There were times they might be able to unleash the pure powers, but that also indicated that the Avatars were desperate and sacrificed part of their souls in exchange to use them. Yet me Ripper was able to wield it so casually. This only confirmed it, that being a ''descendant'' seemed to be something unique and a superior form to himself as an Avatar.

    "Just look at me. Has there ever been a case in which a non-orc has be an Avatar? So if someone like me can be an Avatar of Ifrit, we can change other things too. Our ideas might have been idealistic but they were definitely not trash at all. My master can make ite true." me Ripper spoke with conviction and at that point, Cross felt that there was finally a glimmer of light in the darkness he had been living.

    "Reunion aside, I believe your purpose here is to assassinate the King. If so you should finish it by tonight otherwise would will leaving for the Fire Orc''s base." Yellow Ice shared his piece of information while he tilted his head to relieve his stiff neck. Whether they believed him or not was for them to decide.

    "That will not be necessary. We are actually the backup n if things do not proceed smoothly and the Orc King decides to retreat back to the castle." Dagger General Igni stated bluntly as he bent his knees a bit to move them. This surprised the entire team of assassins. Revealing such vital information to the enemy? What was the General thinking? Or was he trying to use the real information as a bluff?

    "I see. So, we are in business?" Yellow Ice asked as he pulled out a coin from his pouch. Cross noticed that the coin had a goblin picture with two small diamonds in the ce the eyes were supposed to be.

    "Very much. How are you going to do this?" Respetively Igni took out a coin from his pouch. It was simr in appearance, but instead it had an orc with two small ruby eyes on it. They both exchanged the coins and Yellow Ice began to mount his ice boar.

    "Aloneбнwell maybe with this guy with me." Yellow Ice answered and beckoned for Cross to enter his shadow once again.

    "I shall forward the necessary information to you," Igni said as he too started to order the assassins to disperse.

    As Yellow Ice rode back, Cross was naturally curious what this was about. "We have made a temporary alliance with the Goblins. The ones you have to kill have now be the ones you have to protect." Yellow Ice exined as he hastened the ice boar. Cross remained quiet for now as he reminisced the days of the past and wondered what made Ripcaller must have encountered to turn so brave in the present.

    "So those movements were simply signals?" me Ripper asked as they teleported to another waypoint. Igni did not say much until they teleported to another safer ce.

    "Let''s just say the history between Yellow Ice and I isn''t so simpleбнwe actually go way back. There will be time for you to learn about itter, after we survive the ordeal." Igni answered as he took the goblin coin out and asked me Ripper to light a small me up. Meanwhile, he started to scribble some things on a piece of paper and held the coin above the me. Igni then ced the parchment on the coin. There was a weird ghastly aura that was emanated out of the coin before one of the diamonds turned ck and seemingly consumed the item above it.

    "He will receive the information. Alright, let''s get moving. The sun ising up." Igni said as they proceed to hit another supplies base before dawn break.

    Separately, Yellow Ice utilised Cross''s entry and returned to the office with no suspicion... or so he thought. The Investigation team that day was secretly lead by Oku. The warrior had been blessed with Shaitan powers, a secret only known by him and King Hamu who made the pact with him. He noticed that there were two different Shaitan powers in the vicinity and a quick verification from Diabolos made him perceive that those belonged to Green Fire and Yellow Ice. Not receiving any report from thetter he could only assume that they conspired together against the throne.

    Oku figured there were rats scouring around the King and he had expected it to be either the returned Ayse or the Avatars. "You might not appreciate it, Your Majesty, but I will do whatever is needed to protect you. No rats shall be allowed to live after tomorrow!"

 Chapter 361 The Arrival of King Hamu

    <h4>Chapter 361 The Arrival of King Hamu</h4>

    The Orcs were perplexed by the sudden onught of monsters. Instead of goblins, they were suddenly defending against a surprise ambush of undead rising from the ground. Moreover, this was just the beginning as Jin had made it a free for all for his monsters to attack. (Some joked that there was hiddenpetition to see which monster or group of monsters could get the most kills and the System would reward them.)

    At the same time, the werejackals and werecats had taken the fight to the orcs who were still in the sewers. Their speed and asional spell casting made short work of the brutish orcs. Minotaurs of various sses, the Fanatics, Maids and Cowboys shed head on with the Fire Orcs warriors in the open city squares who weed the challenge. Jin had yet to introduce them formally into any dungeons so this fight was a great opportunity for them to exercise out all the frustrations they had for some time.

    The emergence of reinforcement also provided some breather for the zombies. Half Ghoul Lord Derek also summoned histest creation onto the battlefield. The Orc abominations, or as he liked to call them ''Zomorks''. Unfortunately, Jin was unhappy with the rebranding of the entire ss of orc zombie abominations although his suggestion to refer to them as ''Orc Zombs'' was just as bad.

    In any case, the Zomorks/Orc Zombs were truly frightening for the orcs to battle. As they were made from various parts of orcs, Half Ghoul Derek purposely strengthened their muscles by at least two fold bybining it with the tissue samples from other races. To the normal Orc Warriors, this alone would prove to be a challenge. However, that was not the end. Because there was nothing to limiting Half Ghoul Lord Derek to the normal anatomy of their original race, Half Ghoul Derek experimented by introducing many styles. Three armed, Four armed, Six Legged, Two Head, Double Full Upper (Both front and back) and many other variations which made the bravest of orcs shook in fear when they encountered such abominations.

    "At this rate, Half Ghoul Derek could potentially turn out to be as crazy as Ayse. Maybe we should limit his creativity a bit, or at least make sure he does not overdo it." Jin overlooked the battlefield and also got some shivers looking at the Orc Zombs as he asked Kraft to help tighten his flexible body armour a little.

    Kraft dly helped as he was the one that pointed out that Jin had to go into battle in style. Since he represented the ''masked humanoids'' side, he would have to work on his image and do more than the usual shirt and pants he always had been wearing. Jin reluctantly agreed although truth be told, it was more because it was King Hamu they were going to be dealing with and being a mere Grade 7, Jin was starting to have doubts if he was ready to face him. The more armour he got on him, the safer he started to feel.

    -----------

    Therefore he had purposely created Another Jin tasking him to spend his time researching rightbinations of inscriptions to be used for the operation ahead. When Qiu Yue heard about it, she could not help but decided to chip in. "I believe he''d like this shirt!" Qiu Yue said when picking up one of the only grey shirts from of the whole selection.

    "Nah, the cutting on the shoulders would make it a bit hard to move during battle. I did try it." Another Jin said as he dismissed the shirt he chose.

    "But Jin will like the design!" Qiu Yue replied back with a pout on her face which Another Jin could not deny. For her own sanity, she treated Another Jin as an entirely different person even though Another Jin and Jin were technically the same person altogether. Another Jin could not resist her cuteness but at the same timeughed bitterly when she said that.

    "Sure, he would like the design. After all, I also really do like the design. Nevertheless, it is no good in battle!" Another Jin tried to make Qiu Yue see the fact that they were the same person but she was not making any effort to correct it.

    "Then let''s simply adjust it. Your adorable Red Pandas can do that, right?" The moment Qiu Yue mentioned ''red pandas'' they came scurrying and surrounded her. It appeared they liked to be around Qiu Yue instinctively.

    "Yes, we shall rework it so that it will be practical,fortable while still to your liking too." Red Panda licked their paws as it looked at Another Jin which he reluctantly nodded his head and followed the Red Panda into the fitting room.

    -----------

    "I would not worry about that. There''s a fine line between genius and insanity. Also, if Derek really became as insane as Ayse, you would still have a potentially brilliant head researcher for Qiu Yueбн there is no need for you to worry. My foxes will periodically oversee the experiments and they would inform me about any changes in his mentality. That is if I bother to reply you back, heh." Kraft teased Jin at first, but noticing the other''s nervousness he quickly joked about it.

    Jin''s body armour was finally adjusted to hisfort and the temporary inscriptions were in ce which he thanked Kraft for his help. But without Jin noticing, Kraft had sneakily ced a bullet of his between the straps of the body armour. "Take care of this little guy, he is interesting and responsible enough to be our master." Kraft sent his thought to the bullet as he patted Jin''s shoulder to confirm that he was done.

    Jinter wore the grey shirt Qiu Yue selected for him over the armour which fitted really nicely mainly because the shirt wasrge enough to vest like armour. (And it did make Jin more manly than scrawny.)

    -----------

    Meanwhile, the firefight at the Gob Gob castle became increasingly intense when the Orc''s Mechanised Walkers or aptly named Tin Cans came into the picture. But unlike the Northern Diversion where they have the Sandroku Golems to defend against the Tin Cans, there was none here. Hence, Jin had finally released something which he kept for hidden for a long period of time. He finally felt it was the proper time to use them.

    The Robotic Arachnid and its robot crawlers.

    It was initially under the possession of Duke Wolte, but thezy slug decided to seat this battle out. After his core had been taken away by the System to power up the shield barrier in the Dungeon City Fortress, he argued that unless Jin provided him with another suitable method to power up, he would not assist in any fight. Jin did not particrly care much since he did not have that much information on him in the first ce.

    In addition, Lord Moloch rmended the same to Jin. It was no use patronising Duke Wolte. Had he not turned into a slug, he would be quite the powerhouse, but currently there was no time to search for a way around that. However, even in his feeble form, his military advice proved to be very useful. He was more than happy providing his expertise during the construction of the fort walls of the Western Coastal town of Gob Gob Si after Moloch had ''convinced'' him. (Technically he was just bored, and was starting to feel bad for not doing too much) "Well, at the very least he is also contributing in some way in the Shaolin Instance, helping to provide some deadpanedy relief for the cultivators," Jin mentioned to Lord Moloch after he talked with Lord Wolte.

    Besides, what better way to kill a Tin can then with another robot ss? The Robotic Arachnid appeared out the muddy moats of the castle when the Fire Orcs were happily dishing out their projectiles against the dense magical barrier protecting the castle. The orcs were initially shocked when the legs of the Robotic Arachnid crept out like tentacles right in front of them.

    The horrid mass of metal spikes immediately pierced some of the Tin Cans that were at the main gates of the castle and started absorbing its power source. They started to became immobile the longer the spike stuck onto them. It then proceeded to emerge out of the water to show its true form to the Fire Orcs. To further their shock, it immediately opened its belly and the same robot crawlers that had gued Jin and his monsters were harassing the orcs.

    With the System providing them with a better supply of power than the half broken dungeon core, the robot crawlers turned even deadlier than before. Their speed could not be outmatched by these ''slow'' moving orcs so they aimed for the siege weapons first. In addition, the System had enhanced the Arachnid and her crawlers with thetest batch of metal which had a specification slightly inferior to the metal that was used for the M4 Sherman Tank. (They had to earn their keep to get better metalposition and this battle was one way to do so.)

    The des on their ws were able to pierce most of the orc''s armour easily and the power up also included the ability to shootser projectiles too, although the strength of thesers could definitely be improved. In less than five minutes, they had destroyed the joints of the siege weapons, rendering most of them useless. The Orcs that were trained to kill humans and goblins, were not skilful enough to destroy these crawlers and suffered considerable losses.

    However, that was all about to change when Orc King Hamu entered the capital via the same portal which the Wind Orc Air Force utilised.

    Unfortunately, his wee was not as grand as it should have been when an airship carrier was crashing towards the location he was being teleported to. King Hamu smiled as he finally had something to unleash his stored powers at. With a raise of his hand, A silhouette of Diabolos'' hand appeared, stopping the burning airship carrier crashing towards Hamu. All he needed was a squeeze of his palm and suddenly a ck orb of energy enveloped the entire airship carrier, devouring it in a matter of seconds.

    The ck orb of energy turned into a spear like projectile with a twist of his finger and soon, dark red magical energy with green wind energy was seen spiralling around the projectile. No doubt, it was aimed at the dense barrier that had so far reflected and absorbed every single siege attack the Orcs had thrown at it.

    "BANG!" Hou Fei''s surprise sniper shot still echoed in King Hamu''s ears as he felt the projectile biting into him, squeezing his flesh from the inside. However, the power of Garuda on his armour aided him and automatically pulled the bullet out without him having to move a muscle. He observed that piece of metal that pierced him andmanded the Winds of Garuda to crush the shell into dust. Despite the slight bleeding, King Hamu was able to quickly recover thanks to his powers peaking during the red moon.

    In spite of that, he was annoyed that someone was honourless enough to target him when he was preupied. King Hamu conjured a spear out of energy and looked towards Hou Fei after Diabolos pointed to him where it came from. Hou Fei did not flinch and instead shamelessly shot another bullet at him again.

    "Insolent!" King Hamu shouted as he threw the energised spear projectile at Hou Fei without any regards to the orcs that found the whereabouts of the shot and rushed to engage the enemy.

    "Any time now System!!!" Hou Fei yelled as he fired one final shot towards King Hamu before the System created a portal on the floor, allowing gravity to do the work. Hou Fei freefall into the Dungeon Maker and sadly no one was there to catch him. Thankfully, his body still remembered the training from his youth. Hou Fei automatically curled up while holding his beloved rifle as he mmed on the floor. (Separately, the building he was on exploded from the energised spear attack and took the surrounding few blocks out too, eliminating dozens of orcs and some of Jin''s monsters with it.)

    "Oof! You could have given me a betternding spot." Hou Fei groaned with pain as he slowly got up. "I am not as young as I was, to suffer this kind of shit." Hou Fei exhaled loudly from the pain while using his rifle as a support to stand up. He then gave an ''okay'' sign to Jin which made the both grinned widely.

    Out of the three bullets that Hou Fei shot, two managed to hit King Hamu. The first was at his chest area and the other was his left shoulder which King Hamu did not evade as the energised spear projectile blocked his peripheral vision. Naturally, King Hamu cursed as the winds of Garuda took the bullet out of his left shoulder again but he did not know that the shots that fired were not just simple copper bullets filled with gunpowder.

    Those bullets were specially made by Hou Fei whose n was well known for their research on poisons. How well would it work on a being belonging to a different race? Only time could tell. Still, he believed it should worked well enough. As this should be the first time the Orc King encountered this kind of weapon projectile which moved faster than an arrow but slower than theser projectiles, the group would believe he would ignore the wound he received.

    Besides, Hamu would not be expecting it since he had the winds of Garuda imbued into his armour but this shot could only be prepared and factored into the operation because Ayse leaked the news about the demise of Red Hurricane. (Kraft really did a good job getting all the information he could get, in a rather friendly way, since she was already cooperative.) If not for their ample preparations, the shots would not have been able to counter the winds of Garuda.

    Starting to get a little suspicious about the extent of Garuda''s powers, King Hamu decided to deal with the high level magical barrier up close instead of remaining a possible stationary target for other goblins or humanoids to attack him. Unlike the newly acquired powers of the Shaitan Noble of Wind, the powers granted to him by Diabolos have already be a part of him and he trusted them wholeheartedly.

    s, that itself was another trap waiting to be sprung by Jin and the others.

    The moment Orc King Hamu got close enough to the magical barrier, the barrier instantly disappeared and transferred itself to surround Orc King Hamu, trapping him within the dense magical barrier. Peppers who was channelling her magic into the ritual, was smiling at herself as it happened and felt that the orcs were simply too predictable. (No, Peppers, you are just too sly.)

    The moment King Hamu became a stationary target in the air yet again, he noticed a line of weird looking animal or perhaps bizarre looking monsters on the roof parapet, looking at him as if they want a piece of him. They were none other than the werejackals and the werecats holding onto various weapons that were glowing with light. Those weapons had been emzoned by Goblin King Sol himself who did not mind the work since he was brimming with vitality all thanks to Jin.

    Right Hand Oku and Yellow Ice who managed to catch up with King Hamu saw the scene at the castle and decided to aid their King in his defence. However, that sentiment only applied to Right Hand Oku as Yellow Ice sent Cross out of his shadow to shoot a bolt from his crossbow. Oku blocked it almost immediately with his gauntlet and sneered at Yellow Ice.

    "I knew I smell something fishy ever since Ayse began to propose the n. Whether you are in cahoots or not, that is irrelevant at this point. Your current actions have betrayed you." Oku raised his hand and the same ck energy orb appeared, floating above his armoured hand. "Unfortunately for you, the King has prepared backup ns to ensure that all traitors would be dealt with extreme prejudice."

    The ck Orb vibrated and the Fire Orcs that were gathered outside the castle immediately had a ck hand mark visible on their necks. Oku had been bestowed with a certain degree of powers from King Hamu himself. One of them was themand over the leashes he had created. With just a point from Oku, the Fire Orcs blindly charged towards Yellow Ice.

    "Go, do what you must in order to let the goblin allies win." Yellow Ice ordered as he stomped his feet and an ice hand emerged from the ground, grabbing Cross and throwing him towards Oku who was trying to run towards Hamu.

    "бнAnd make me King." Yellow Ice smirked as he could finally vent his frustrations on the orcs. A fog of mist had already started to materialise around the possessed Fire Orcs.

    "I will not fail you, My King!!!" Cross already reloaded his crossbow and held his dagger under the crossbow while maintaining his aim at Oku as he flew towards the Right Hand.

 Chapter 362 Reverse Aegis

    <h4>Chapter 362 Reverse Aegis</h4>

    Cross''s shot pierced Oku''s back who was too focused dashing towards the castle where the werejackals were about to pounce onto Orc King Hamu. The Right Hand tried to ignore the pain from the shot but it cleared his head enough to realise that even if he tried his best to head towards the castle, the werejackals would have ample time to strike King Hamu regardless of his efforts.

    Instead, what he should be doing was to get rid of this goblin who was in cahoots with that traitorous Yellow Ice and find a way to aid King Hamu without sacrificing himself. However, this realisation came a bitte. Cross crashed into him using his shoulder while holding his dagger sidewards, allowing him to impale Oku''s torso. Familiar with the weak spots of the Orcish armours, the goblin made use of the sides which were vulnerable to stabs.

    Instead of screaming in pain, Oku redirected that anger he had by grabbing onto Cross'' head and smashing him to the ground while withdrawing his axe from his waist. Cross was ironically doing a simr thing before he momentarily lost consciousness from the blow that was bound to happen. Except he was holding on to a vial of an alchemical concoction instead which he threw at the Orc.

    The vial broke into pieces injuring Oku''s face. Yet this was not the worst part. The alchemical concoction was a form of liquid ice, courtesy of the Avatar of Shiva. The liquid went into Oku''s eyes, nose and part of it entered into his mouth too. Within seconds after direct contact, the liquid froze and expanded rapidly. The drying of the ice caused extreme pain to his eyes, nose and mouth, which caused his breathing to be more and more of an issue. Though Cross was unable to follow up immediately, he earnt the time needed to regain consciousness when Oku was incapacitated from the liquid ice concoction.

    Cross crawled towards Oku, grabbed the plunged dagger on Oku''s side and continuously tried to stab Oku with it despite the constant dizziness he was still experiencing. As his judgement was still impaired, his attempts focused on the vulnerable spot of the struggling Orc. Only until Cross felt he was stable enough that that he decided to change his dagger''s point to the neck region. But before Cross could follow through with his strike, Oku attempted to step backwards to distance himself from Cross. Yet, the goblin was nimble enough to hold onto him which caused Oku to change his approach and started punching the goblin until the goblin let go of it. (He tried to kick too but missed terribly because he was unable to see properly from the ice)

    Using the time that Cross was hindered by his wounds, Oku tried to remove the ice by breaking it with his bare hands. Unable to progress much this way he decided to pull it off to the degree that he felt his skin was being torn away as well. As soon as Oku could somewhat see again, he tried to summon the very same ck orb that he used to control the fire orcs, only for a crossbow bolt to pierce his hand. Cross was not willing to give Oku any breathing space. His challenging gaze made it clear that he would not allow Oku to do as he pleased, even while the goblin was panting on the ground, seemingly badly injured.

    Oku raged at this nuisance of a goblin as he plucked the bolt out, walked towards the goblin and attempted to kick him into the moat. The goblin attempted to shoot one more time, but the bolt did not prate his front armour at all. Oku smirked and lift his leg up. Only to notice at that moment that his right leg had suddenly gone missing. Reced by it was a robot crawler that was staring at him intently.

    The crawler made no effort to jumped onto his face and plunged its ded legs into the back of Oku''s head and neck area just as if it was trying to hug him. Blood gushed out of his neck and he could no longer feel the squeeze from the robot crawler since his head was going numb. He tried to pull it out with all his might but it seemed meaningless. Slowly, but surely he knew that this was the end of him. Meanwhile, Cross was being assisted by two robot crawlers which dragged him further towards the castle for some emergency treatment.

    Simultaneously, the werejackals and werecats had already begun their assault at the imprisoned King Hamu who had a difficult time trying to break the magical barrier. How could he have known that it was tailored especially for him. Peppers had been working overtime behind the scenes to create such a spell. The spell was designed to work simr to a puzzle egg. This was why the magical barrier could be broken apart from the castle and refit back again, entrapping King Hamu in an enclosed space. In addition, the magic barrier became nearly imprable since the surface area it covered had lessened when it trapped King Hamu.

    But, it was the intricacies of the magic spell that truly made it shine. For it to work, the barrier had to absorb all kinds of magic and even kic energy to power itself up else it ceased to exist after a set duration. (Therefore, Peppers who had unlimited mana was needed to constantly insert magic power at the barrier to ''eat'' while waiting for the Orcs to appear.) So while it seemed that it had a high magical power consumption to maintain the barrier, Pepper''s calction had paid off when the Orc Army had tried to ovee it with extensive use of fire spells and consistent siege attacks.

    And currently Orc King Hamu was doing his best to break the barrier by dishing out high level spells or using extreme brute strength. But because of the nature of the barrier, as long as his attacks were constantly feeding it with energy, he should remain trapped. (Which Jinplimented Peppers for making sufficient preparation against the Orc King.)

    Moreover, the barrier utilised a crystal which Peppers asked Goblin King Sol to insert his magic into. (So that the Goblin King did not have to be on the scene to power the magic barrier.) This light magic filled crystal waster used as a catalyst to cast this magic barrier. Usually, people would add a catalyst to increase the resistance of their magical barrier, but Peppers did it other way around.

    Inserting a catalyst would in fact disable the ability of her magical barrier to absorb that particr element. In this case, any attack imbued with the light element would be able to pass through easily. Therefore, Peppers aptly named this particr barrier spell the ''Reverse Aegis''. A nod of acknowledgement to the legendary shield which Zeus and Athena used which Peppers got her inspiration from for creating the barrier spell.

    The werejackals proceeded to attack King Hamu and their magically infused des crossed the Reverse Aegis with ease and injured the Orc King. One strike was nothing but as the group struck ceaselessly without any resistance to King Hamu, he was bound to incur some injury.

    King Hamu did try to retaliate back but all of his ck energy from Diabolos was absorbed so easily into the Reverse Aegis that it became a waste of time. Little did he know that all he''d have to do was endure for a time. Still after his multiple fruitless attempts, the barrier was still going strong and the werejackals and werecats made a lot of progress wearing him down without suffering a single injury in return. It felt as if it was a cheat although Peppers would argue against that.

    "Heh! If not for Ayse''s sample of the dark energy and the winds of Garuda from the King''s medical examination, I would not have been able to create this in such a short term, making it so easy for you guys! I put in a loooot of effort!" Peppersint in the secured System Channel which made Jinughed and he promised he wouldpensate her with her very own XXXL Panda Plushie or whatever else kind of custom Plushie she wished for.

    "You are not making progress. At this rate, you will be useless to me!" Diabolos bellowed in a fit of anger.

    "How about you give it a try?!" King Hamu mmed his fist on the barrier yet there was still no reaction. Everything he did was useless, and even his ability to protect himself with Diabolos Energy got absorbed.

    "Pathetic." Diabolos forcefully took a big part of King Hamu''s soul without permission and the dark energy that King Hamu became even darker than ck. Even looking at the energy felt as if the void was staring at back at him and wanted him to apany the darkness in the bottomless abyss. At that point, his whole body shivered for a moment and it released an extensive amount of energy that the barrier was unable to cope with it.

    Diabolos had utilised the Red Moon powers King Hamu had absorbed for himself along with his own powers to break out of the barrier. Diabolos managed had overwhelmed the absorption of magical energy to a degree that it was unable to handle the load causing Reverse Aegis to shatter. Hamu did not like it a single bit, since he was nning to use the Red Moon powers as one of the ns to break out from Diabolo''s pact. But at that point of time, it was paramount that he survives.

    Therefore with the barrier broken, that was when King Hamu began his revenge against the werehumans. Yellow was the first one he grabbed as the Werejackal Vice Leader pounced towards him despite knowing that the Reverse Aegis spell expired. All the Orc King had to do was to point his finger at Yellow and he immediately disappeared in a mist of darkness, dropping the sword of light to the ground. The other werejackals immediately became wary of him. However it was toote, with a quick snap of his fingers, small dark projectiles appeared above Hamu and went towards them.

    "Just a bit more! Try to get his attention for just a while longer. All we need to do is to pin him down long enough to make sure the volcano hits him! Best case would be to push him into the volcano when it erupts!" Peppers was unable to help theirpanions as she had to remain in ce in the ritual circle as her mana transfer was nearpletion to awaken the volcano.

    "Easier said than done!" Grey retorted back as the werejackals started to pace around the King Hamu who was floating above them. The werecats took the initiative by unleashing their gun whips. Sadly, even more dark energy orbs emerged around him to strike the werejackals and werecats. Though they tried to evade, the projectiles seemed hellbent to take revenge for their master and the new ones followed through if the initial ones missed. Some managed to evade thempletely, others were not that lucky but they covered the werecats to allow them to catch him momentarily.

    That was when strings and chains started to pull him down. Zhi Nu, the Immortal weaver as well as the Ninja Penguins arrived on the scene in the nick of time to assist the surviving werecats. "You think these puny strings and chains will stop me?!!" King Hamu shouted as he curled up a little in order to let Diabolos wings forcibly emerge out of his back. The more King Hamu lost his soul to Diabolos, the more Diabolos took control of this physical body and changed him to his likening to y.

    "Burn us now along with it! That''s your best bet!" Zhi Nu said in the System Channel which Peppers would not hesitate to do. While cruel, she knew every second they tried to pin him down counted and they would use anything, any factor that could produce the highest percentage of sess probability for the operation to seed. Self sacrifice for the greater good was not an issue to those monsters.

    "You will be unable to stop him if he grows out all six wings." An odd voice echoed at the crowd of monsters and penguins trying to pin him down. At that instant, a gigantic pir of yellowish ice fell from the heavens and mmed onto King Hamu. Despite that, King Hamu summoned an energy force field in an attempt to push the pir upwards and away from him.

    "YELLOW ICE! HOW DARE YOU!" King Hamu shouted in agony as he felt the weight of the ice pir on him. Zhi Nu did not hesitate to pull out even more strings from her sleeves and tightly secure the pir to the ground. However, Yellow Ice was not done. With one hand busy controlling the pir, he took a deep breath while using another hand to materialise shards of ice and use them to pierce King Hamu''s hands, wings, and legs.

    "As the former spymaster of the Orcs, I hereby deem you unworthy to rule the country any further. Your reign has plunged us into an era of chaos and has cost us the lives of hundreds and thousands of orcs. Therefore you are not only exiled, but deserve the highest punishment. Enjoy your stay with Diabolos!" Yellow Ice yelled while putting a brave front. (However, he could feel that his legs were already shaking and hands quivering from the extensive use of his ice magic.)

    "ALMOST READY!!!" Peppers shouted at the top of her voice and suddenly tens and dozens of portals appeared, allowing the rest of the monsters to escape. Yellow Ice did not know what was happening but he guessed it was to defeat the remaining Fire Orcs in the capital and most importantly, King Hamu.

    "Heh, so I was right. Betrayers ultimately never have a good ending." Yellow Ice regretted it a bit as his legs nearly gave out from the strenuous use of magic. However, Cross with bandages all around him appeared right beside him and supported his Lord.

    "My King, we will see this through together." Cross said solemnly and suddenly Yellow Ice''s heart was filled with a gradual warmth to see his first and final loyal subject.

    "Do not worry. Every ending is simply a new beginning." Zhi Nu smiled at both Yellow Ice and Cross as if there was a hidden meaning to her words. Despite her portal opening right beside her, Zhi Nu refused to enter it and decided to stay back to ensure the strings were held together.

    "Go, my fairdy. I will make sure this King will receive his deserved fate." Yellow Ice told her as he gritted his teeth to summon another two ice pirs diagonally and smashed it towards the force field that King Hamu was maintaining.

    "I shall take on your offer. Just remember my words. We will definitely meet again." Zhi Nu tied additional strings to the two pir of ices and tightened them before she stepped into the portal. That was when Yellow Ice could feel that the temperature was getting hotter and the floor was rumbling.

    What the orcs did not know was that the entire (fake) capital city was built on top of arge inactive volcano. Within moments, the ground underneath the orcs broke andva began spewing out of it, starting from the crevices that the zombies made when they crawled out of the ground.

    "You think this kind of pathetic magic will hold me down!!!!" King Hamu screamed but now his voice was mixed with another entity, Diabolos.

    "If it does not, I will make sure it will!!" Jin shouted back from nowhere. The skies seemed to part as the infamous half body Titan knight emerged appear from a portal more colossal than any before it, scaring every single entity on top of the volcano city. The Titan pushed the ice ''blocks'' down even more until it prated through the force field and froze the wings of Diabolos.

    After which, the Titan Knight grabbed onto King Hamu and smashed him down even further, into the boiling magma to ensure that he was boiled to death. That was also the trigger for the volcano to explode but the Titan Knight made sure it shoved King Hamu as deep as possible before being teleported away by Jin. (He would have such a big headache if the Titan Knight died. The cost to rece him was truly astronomical.)

    At the same time, Jin was watching via Tact Tweak from afar on arge fox provided by Kraft, as the volcano ind met its demise. Unfortunately, Jin highly doubted this was it. After all, what kind of Big Boss did not have a second phase?

    But for now, heid back to witness an explosion that Peppers would probably rate a 10.5/10.

 Chapter 363 Diabolos

    <h4>Chapter 363 Diabolos</h4>

    The volcano continued to erupt, consuming the entire town at the top of the mountain andter spewingva over the crater. The ash cloud from the crater was immenselyrge that it hid the Red Moon from in sight. In the meantime, Jin asked Itori, the white fox he was riding on to stay on guard for King Hamu.

    However, there was no sign of himing out of theva at all. The System then stated that it did not detect the presence of Diabolos Shatian powers anywhere in the volcano. "Did we capture King Hamu?" Jin was curious if the System was hiding the fact it captured the Orc King and wanted to make a joke out of it.

    "Negative. The volcano and the operation did, however, capture a total of 1323 Fire Orcs which consist of warriors, archers, spearmen, axemen and mages. 46 Humanoid researchers were captured too. Upon references from Peppers and taxonomy sources from the Goblins, the humanoids are a subgenre race of the Wood Elves that had essentially mated with the Lost Dwarves. For User''s information, the orcs called derogatory terms such as Fey Mongrels to them. The usible reason why these Elvish Dwarves are able to operate the lost tech systems is that they have a faint trace of the bloodline from the lost dwarves which is needed to power up the lost tech system." The System noted to Jin.

    "That is a surprise. I was thinking how we could get the researcher v- erm I mean these Elvish Dwarves in be in our servitude." Jin said while his half mask transformed into a full mask panda. It was to filter away the ashes in the air because of the ash cloud.

    "Avatar of Shiva, Yellow Ice, and his goblin subject, Cross which me Ripper informed us had been captured too by the volcano eruption User and others had initiated. Scans still showed no sign of the Orc King within the vicinity." The System stated. Jin adjusted the Tact Tweak and sent a message to me Ripper to check whether they had any signs on the King returning back to either the Fire Orc base of the castle. Unfortunately, they reported that there was no sign of him.

    Jin decided to wait for a little while more while he browsed the Tact Tweak even further. Before the annihtion of the entire fake capital, he gave the robot crawlers and the Robotic Arachnid a secondary task. It was to salvage usable parts from the Orc Mechanised Walkers if it was possible during theirbat. Through the Tact Tweak, it seemed that they managed to recover quite a few of them before the volcano took the rest out. The integrity of the Tin Cans varied, but the crawlers were able to get one intact.

    "Does User wishes to begin analysis of the Lost Tech Mechanised Walker and the blueprints Orc Researcher Ayse to determine if there are any substitutes avable in the market to rece the parts for these walkers? It could possibly be useful as reference for the repairs of Mechataur." The System asked and Jinmanded it to put it in the backburner for now.

    "I have a bad feeling about this, System. Enhance the detection of the satellite as much as possible in case he decided to target the real capital." Jin said which the System quickly put it into ce.

    "User. The satellite indicated no Shaitan rted activity in the goblin region. Separately, an update report for the Northern and Western Diversion is avable if User wishes to preview it." The System stated which Jin guessed there would not be any harm doing so and allowed the System to carry on.

    "For the Western Diversion. The Ice Orc Sea Fleet is currently in a standstill with Spear General Argent''s army. Predicative analytics indicated that the counter attack would most be initiated by the cultivators themselves with the aid of the goblins within the next hour or so." The System replied.

    "In the Northern Region, both the cultivators and the goblin army had been pushing the weakened Thunder Orcs back following the defeat of their Commander Purple Thunder. Three Sandroku Golems were fixed in the heat of the battlefield by the goblin mages since their pilots were not severely injured. Damage reports of the golems will be sent back for further investigation and evaluation too. shreaver who was badly injured in the battle against Purple Thunder had his vitals stabilised. Unfortunately, he was not killed in battle, and System is unable to resurrect him to return his full fighting form." The System further added.

    "Will he be okay in the long run?" Jin said as he saw the condition shreaver suffered. Third degree burns all around his body, both arms amputated, his left ear was erased from the lightning strike and parts of his skull broke into pieces.

    "Affirmative. One of the rewards for aiding this war is the evolution of the goblins. As one of them had alreadypleted Step Up Evolution, more resources can be ced into the other two to force their genes for a Step Up Evolution. However, the System predicts that shreaver might not need additional resources as he had met the sufficient requirements for a Step Up Evolution." The Systemmented but Jin did not understand the process.

    "Sufficient stress in the genes and experience umted, yed a major part in a Step Up Evolution. What shreaver needs now is a trigger. Simr to what Half Ghoul Lord Derek experienced, the Enhancement card "I am the Alpha" was both the stress and trigger factor for him. That is why he was able to evolve." The System remarked.

    "I seeбнso erm any luck on finding King Hamu?" Jin worriedly asked although the System said there was no indication of him.

    "Maybe he is in hiding?" Kraft materialised sitting beside Jin on Itori as he proceeded to exin his reason.

    "By now, if the System did not consume them and there is no further detection of Diabolo''s Shaitan powers anywhere around here, I can only conclude he ran away. It is either Diabolos had fully taken control of King Hamu''s body and teleported away via his Shaitan ne or King Hamu was still strong enough to portal out of danger." Kraft deduced from what he had seen so far during the operation when he was in the Dungeon Maker.

    "You mean he retreated for now since the conditions are not favourable for him?" Jin asked for a confirmation.

    "That is my only deduction since we knew the Shaitans have ess to another dimensional ne. If King Hamu waspletely controlled by Diabolos, he could simply do that. Besides, we are not sure if Diabolos already ate King Hamu or that Shaitan Messenger nned to use his body for other nefarious acts." Kraft said his piece as he admired the beauty of the live volcano.

    "Moreover, we do not have the ability to scan the entire goblin world in detail since we only have a CHEAP satellite working. Regardless, we covered most of the locations. Both the Orc and Goblin Capital, his military base and the locations of the Northern and Western armies." Kraft said casually as he braced himself for another volcano explosion that wasing and the two guys could feel the shockwaves impacting them.

    Jin was naturally distressed if it was King Hamu that cause the volcano attack when they were talking about him, but the System said it was just the volcano.

    "Peppers ensured that the ind itself would be flooded withva. She is not wrong at all!! This is way beyond expectations!!" Kraft did not seem to worry a single thing as he whistled, seeing how cool it was for waves ofva to be oozing out and over the volcano crater nonstop.

    "ISLAND! YES, ISLAND!!!" Jin suddenly thought of something that they did not cover at all. "Ayse, didn''t you say you guys found an ind full of lost tech? Right? Do you still have the coordinates?" Jin hurriedly asked in the secured System channel which Ayse promptly replied. Once Jin received the coordinates, he hurried the fox to move as fast as possible.

    "You bettER HOLD ONNNNN!!!" Kraft''s warning was toote since Itori had already begun sprinting over the ocean waters and towards the coordinates of the Lost Tech Ind.

    -----------------

    "To push me into thevaбн.to humiliate us at every turnбн.Who did those humanoids and monsters think they are!!!" Diabolos shouted as he tried to m on therge metal door, but the punch was so faint that it barely made any noise. Despite all the setbacks, he had finallypleted his objective of consuming King Hamu''s soul and taking over his body for his own selfish reason.

    But Diabolos felt extremely weak.

    It was not meant to go this way. He initially wanted to overtake King Hamu''s body when the Orc King was brimming with Red Moon energy. That was because the energy that was emanated from the Red Moon aligned to his darkness element. As long as King Hamu became a container, a vessel filled with dark energy, he would be able to enter the body and control it easily.

    But right now, he was drained out of Red Moon energy. This particr body was so battered up that it was in no position to fight against the humanoids. The body had also taken a lot of damage from the cursed Light magic which slowed its recovery since it hindered Diabolos'' dark energy to flow correctly.

    "Heh, too bad for them, I had purposely kept this ce as a backup, my final gambit for this kind of situation. I never thought it would be necessaryбн Just wait for me to get better, to get what''sing to you..." Diabolos murmured while he dragged his feet and broken wings along the metal floors inside the desertedboratory on the Lost Tech Ind. King Hamu, under the influence of Diabolos, had previously demanded the humanoid researchers to recreate a recovery capsule when they were searching for other blueprints.

    The recovery capsule was a one time use equipment and the materials to replicate the fluid was extremely expensive, using only the rarest materials hunted down by the Avatars and veteran hunter gatherers. And for its quality, it was extremely potent. Just bathed in that miracle liquid for less than an hour, all the damage a body had incurred would be removed, like it never happened before.

    But this battered body of his was taking too much time and effort to move that it felt like ages walking towards the recovery capsule. Diabolos became too feeble after taking over King Hamu''s body. Not because of the possession but because he used by his remaining energy to shield and teleport this body from theva to the Lost Tech Ind. He even had to destroy the magical barrier that was protecting the ind since only King Hamu knew the exact passphrase to enter without any harm.

    "I will make sure...that I will find these monstersбнthese humanoidsбнand mostly importantly Sol!" Diabolos growled under his heavy breaths as he tried to activate the console for the recovery capsule. As he was about to open the capsule, Diabolos suddenly felt that his stomach was feeling rather queasy and his legs gave out almost immediately.

    He started to gag from the pain and subsequently vomited but only blood was sttered all over the floor. Not just any healthy red orc blood, the blood Diabolos vomited on the floor was dull ck. Lamentably, Diabolos heard heavy footsteps from afar, which made him feared the worst.

    The white fox entered the ind with ease as it bashed through the metal doors of theboratory and followed the pieces of feathers that were dropped from the wings of Diabolos. ( along with some blood stains) Just a sniff from the feathers, Itori knew where to find King Hamu. But first, She shrank smaller so that Jin would not hit the ceiling because of her size andter went after the trail of scent left behind by the feathers.

    Not long, Jin and Itori found King Hamu lying on the metal floor with an activated capsule right beside him. The stench in the room was obscenely strong and supposedly it was from the King Hamu himself. "Ah I see, Hou Fei''s poison had started to work. I guess it took that long because it made sure to impair the dantian of the cultivator so that it could no longer produce any chi to supplement the body." Kraft saw the effects and walked towards Diabolos armed with his No Mercy.

    "But because this guy did not practice any cultivation nor had any chi,not to mention we have no idea how their magic circuits worked, I guessed the poison took some time to act." Kraft frowned a little, considering he did not know what to expect from the poison on an orc. (Kraft then realised he should have asked Hou Fei to coborate with him first and test on certain subjects before attempting this method. Although Kraft guessed they were both too busy to worry about this.)

    "But we still decided to give it a try right? It might have been a long shot to hope it would work and hinder the Orc King but looks like it did even better than expected." Jin said, and at that point of time, pitch ck moonflowers began to abruptly grow from the pores of King Hamu''s body, oozing more blood from the flowers themselves.

    Later, Kraft quoted from Hou Fei that the flowers were usually the representation of their ''chi'' and it was the body''s way of expelling the poison and bad blood out from the pores of the skin. Through deduction, they figured that the expulsion of the toxins produced the flowers, and Kraft said that by the time the body defence mechanism kicked in to save itself, it was already toote.

    "What is...happening to this bodyбнcursesбн This is *COUGH* the wrongбн*COUGH* time to enter a body..." Diabolos questioned as his vision turned foggy and he could not utilise any dark energy in him at all. He felt his mana reserves empty which was supposed to be impossible. He had totally no idea what was going on.

    For once, He was powerless.

    Kraft did not hesitate as he raised his No Mercy revolver at King Hamu and shot all three bullets at Diabolos, causing the body to be limp immediately, putting up zero struggle. Jin slowly walked towards the body and saw that even though it was King Hamu''s body, the features on his face was clearly not his.

    "User, Diabolos has been captured. However, he had been sealed and will be under System''s supervision until User reached higher grades. This is not a form of punishment, but merely the System''s precaution. The entity is a being with powers unimaginable and the System believed its current loyalty enforcement orders might prove to be inadequate against it. System would keep the entity in stasis and not treat its wounds until analysis of its powers is satisfactory." The System noted and Jin realised this was the first time the System feltбнscared.

    "Are you saying its powers could possibly be higher than Grade 19? Or maybe an equivalent to the legendary Grade 20?" Jin was a little excited but the System denied his fantasies.

    "His powers are estimated to be an equivalent grade level 15 or 16. Without further analysis, System is unable to know its true extent of Diabolos'' powers. It is the first time the System encountered and captured such a powerful creature. The System will require some time to make sure the loyalty enforcement order works while rmends User to level up to ensure that User is capable of making full use of its powers." The Systemmented before it turned quiet once again.

    "Then I guessбнMissionpleteбн?" Jin awkwardly cheered at this rather anticlimactic ending which Kraft sniggered a little before looking at the capsule right in front of it.

    "Let''s look through our ''rewards''?" Kraft said as he asked System to summon out Ayse for a better exnation of the items in this particrb they were in.

 Chapter 364 Lost Tech Products

    <h4>Chapter 364 Lost Tech Products</h4>

    Ayse stretched a little after appearing as sheint how small the guest room was in the Sanctum of Worlds instance. "AhahaбнI think there is an influx of monsters that we did not expect at all. At this rate, I think it is vital we get the Dungeon City Fortress up as soon as possible." Jin said while his eyes wandered around at theplexity of theboratory he was in. It felt futuristic enough with the weird interior design of theb but still held an impression that it was archaic.

    "Do you still wish to proceed with the war against the Rat Demon Army considering we somehow fulfilled our objectives by getting a decent amount of monsters from this campaign," Kraft asked as he attempted to fiddle with the consoles of activated capsule a little, but Ayseter restrained him.

    "We might be more equipped to fight against the Rat Demons with the aid of the goblins too but I still think it will not be anytime soon. It''s best to reevaluate what had happened in this campaign and improve on it first before we jump into another war. Right now, we are on the defensive and it was already a pain in the ass to coordinate everything. Besides, The Deep Ones Dungeon is not up yet and I believed I had dragged that long enough." Jin said as Ayse turned on the secondary lights in the area to let her master have a better look at the Lost tech products she and her team had invented. Jin also took this opportunity to look around theb.

    "DO! NOT! TOUCH! ANY! THING!" Ayse shouted at Kraft who had itchy fingers and allowed them tomit the crime of annoying Ayse once more. She also hoped that her warnings could be heard by Jin too. She then proceeded to activate arge screen and demanded the two to sit in front of it at a fit of anger. (Theyplied immediately even though Jin had the right to walk around.)

    "Oof! I cannot believe they actually hide all my initial creations here. I thought they all went to waste after I showed it to Hamu. But ARGH!!!!! Its all in a mess!" Ayse scratched and messed up her short hair but the guys did not understand as everything seem to be ced very neatly.

    "Wrong order! That X Projectile-23 should be ced together with the Power Condenser, not beside the Shield Dtor!" Ayse was whining while carrying her inventions around and putting them ording to her logic. Meanwhile, the screen in front Jin and Kraft started to sh pictures of various lost tech products as if it was some presentation slide. Even though Ayse was busy cleaning up theb, she babbled her exnation on the Lost Tech products on it. But it was so fluent and well covered that the twods believed she might have probably given the same speech before.

    But only Jin was interested in the presentation and took notes with regards to the Lost Tech products. Kraft got bored the moment he sat down and asked Jin for the Tact Tweak. "Might as well aid the Northern and Western Diversion." Kraft thought as he started fiddling with the options in the Tact Tweak.

    ---------

    "Abdul! Suppressive Fire! Two o''clock!" Ren Wei shouted when the group was taking cover at a piece of ship wreckage near the beachhead. Abdul unleashed his cultivation, the Rakish Rhino, to increase his defences as he went to the open and started firing at Orcs without a care for his life. Gupta charged ahead without hesitation and loaded five chi enhanced Dragonbreath shells into his shotgun. They were aiming for the crashed airship carrier that the goblin wyvern riders took down initially.

    Despite the crash, many of the Wind Orcs survived and the resistance from the Wind Orcs was strong enough to warrant a counter offensive to reduce their numbers. Spear General Argent utilised the cultivators'' magpies to inform them that the goblin armies were preupied with the Ice Orcs in the city so they requested for more aid at the front. Hence, Ren Wei and his group of police mates were the first few that responded to the call.

    "Intermediate Shotgun Technique! Gushing Showers of the Elephant!" Gupta held his weapon firmly on his waist as shots of Dragonbreath turn into a continuous spray of fire which burnt any Orc that exited from the crash site. Jing Ru and Ren Wei threw a few fragmentation grenades to increase the damage caused. After which, they went to the sides of the ship and fired their grapple gun upwards. They nned to clear the airship carrier cabins starting from the top while Gupta and Abdul would be entering from the bottom of the crashed airship.

    However, the moment some of the Orcs saw the grapple gun hooks and attempted to destroy it, they encounter shots of sniper fire from afar. Ren Wei had previously contacted with other police cultivators via the magpiemunication system (which he found to be rather cute and useful.) When the father daughter duo managed to climb up to starboard of the ship, they found a series of dead bodies courtesy of the other snipers. Ren Wei thanked them via the magpies and proceeded to clear the rest with Jing Ru.

    Separately, Shu and Ke Mi were only able to handle that many orcs at the fort walls despite the counter offensive to hinder the orc''s assault. But this time around, the Orcs found out that using fire and highly mmable explosives against Shu''s fort wall was somewhat effective. It might not incur much damage for Shu because of Ke Mi''s magical barrier but it drastically slowed Shu''s roots'' reactions and thus the active defences on the wall were reduced.

    Once in a while, Shu was able to unleash hundreds of deadly sakura petals that sliced any orcs down the moment the petal had contact with them. But he required some time to be able to regrow those petals again which time was a luxury he could not afford in this battle. "We need more hands!!!" Shu bellowed in anger as he swiped a line of orcs away from the fort walls.

    Suddenly as if the System heard his prayers, the werejackals, werecats, his beloved praying Mantis and the family of Wyrm ants entered the fray killing the orcs that were trying to overwhelm the anti tank cannon teams. "Hey stupid tree, cannot handle these muscleheads by yourself?" Yellow, who was revived by the System mocked Shu.

    "Ah, frigging dogs always barking, barking and barking. Go bite something every once in a while!" Shu nagged but it finally felt more rx for a breather with the arrival of the monsters he can trust.

    Separately, in the Northern Diversion, the Thunder Orcs had already fought to the point that they decided to retreat from the official goblin territorial line. Sword General dios stopped the rest from chasing and onlymanded his troops to release projectiles at them.

    Other than that, the remaining Sandroku Golems fired their artillery shells freely at the enemy to ensure that the Thunder Orcs were retreating for real. General diosmanded a unit to stay on sight on the goblin territorial line as overwatch while the rest went around the battlefield to ensure that the Thunder Orcs remained dead. He wanted no prisoners to be left alive.

    After which, dios quickly rode back to the camp to check on his son, shreaver who was being treated continuously by the Goblin Healers. shreaver heard his father''s familiar footsteps and looked up to expect him. "I did good, did I?" shreaver whispered when he saw his father entering the medical tent.

    "You fool. Why risk your life so eagerly to save mine?" dios sat beside him and patted his head. dios felt powerless in this current situation. If there were anything he could do to bring his son back to the way he is, he would not hesitate to do so, even consulting with the orcs themselves for that too. That was how desperate dios felt at that point of time and the despair could only grow even stronger.

    "Heh, you do not have to worry. Master Jin had his way to return me to my original self." shreaver reassured him but the goblin healers were shaking their heads with a deep frown in their looks.

    dios understood what it meant. shreaver''s vitals might be stable for now, but the Shaitan Thunder corruption was eating him up. The healers deduced that Purple Thunder had prepared his magic spells and enchanted them with a curse before the fight. They noticed there was a dark energy coursing through shreaver''s body and there was no way to remove it. dios believed that attack was for him so that the goblins would lose not just any general but one that was revered by the masses.

    dios, however, continued to retain a smile in front of shreaver until Milk with her customised half panda Mask asked for permission to enter the tent. "Good evening General dios, on behalf of Master Jin, I will be taking over his care." Milk was dressed in her priestess clothes when she appeared in front of them.

    "But the- Give me a minute. I will be back." dios exited the tent and asked if his son could truly be saved. Milk gave a soft smile and nodded her head.

    "Do not worry General dios, in fact, you might find your sonбнmore powerful than before. Take this as a trial he had to ovee his physical body limits." Milk replied but dios was confused. He was not in the mood to think things but because she was ady, dios tried to talk as calmly as he could even though he was fuming ording to his bodynguage.

    "Are you going to experiment on him or something so that he can be better?? If it is, I rather he die than to suffer through some weird experiment," dios replied which Milk slowly shook her head.

    "It is not an experiment, but a tried and true process. Besides, has Master Jin ever fail you before? Did you not once said that he was the goblin''s saviour?" Milk rebutted and dios kept his silence for a while.

    "I trust you on that, or else I made sure I will die trying to kill the whole lot of you," dios answered Milk with a slight tone of distrust in his voice. But it was the truth, Master Jin had been a major boon on the goblin race itself in the past recent days. If not for him, the orcs would have conquered the entire goblin race, and their next line of action would definitely be killing the old and enved almost every one of them. By then, death would be a mercy they craved so badly for.

    "You worry too much. General dios, everything will go just fine." Milk smiled once again before entering the medical tent and brought shreaver away via a portal from the goblin healers. dios knew that there were other things to take care in the battlefield so he decided to use that as an excuse to not think about shreaver.

    ----------

    "Uwah! Why did you throw that thing at me!" Kraft let out a girly scream which made Jinughed a little during the presentation.

    "Because you did not listen to a single word I said!" Ayseined as she pointed at Kraft while holding on to another spiked ball. The spike ball which missed Kraft earlier, destroyed the chair that Kraft was sitting by instantly increasing the length of the spikes.

    "Do not hold back Ayse, continue on. Just do not destroy any other tech products in here." Jin gave Ayse the permission to throw another spiked ball which she dly did so.

    "TRAITOR!!!" Kraft said to Jin as he proceeded to hide behind Itori who was sleeping at the side of the room, but she turned into a bullet immediately. "WHY YOU! ANOTHER TRAITOR!" Kraft cursed at Itori as he barely managed to dodge against another spiked ball. He did not realised that Ayse was that good in throwing items.

    Meanwhile, Jin was already reviewing the tech products in theb. He figured there were some that were extremely useful. Such as the recovery capsule that was first introduced to Jin. The System replied, indicating to them that those ingredients found by the orc hunter gatherers could be easily bought over through the System''s market. It broke down the required concoction and the ingredients from the System''s market was able to replicate its authenticity to a near 100%.

    The System added that after using the replicated concoction, the remaining wounds were just derma rted. Jin figured he could use that after utilising the High Intensity Mode Capsule or if mechanically possible,bine the both of them and it would have be capable of performing two functions.

    The other products that caught his eye were the Lost Tech Material Recycler and the Lost Tech Counterfeiter. The Lost Tech Material Recycler was the ''dream came true'' for an evergreen world. Even when the System heard of its uses, it immediately wanted to analyse it and use it for its own purpose.

    How does the Lost Tech Material Recycler work? Ayse said that they can start by inserting an unwanted item, which will break down the bonds of the object into sheets, orbs or even blocks of material resources. Yes, The recycler broke the item into specific resources and both Jin and the System felt that his machine had unlimited potential. For example, by putting a piece of ss into the Lost Tech Material Recycler, the device would chunk out blocks of sand, limestone and sodium oxide and calcium carbonate in separate casings.

    To the orcs, they did not know that they possessed such a gem in their facility. Even Ayse thought that it was such a useless product that the Orcs created from the Lost Tech blueprints. But to the System who has the database of almost every material avable in the world, found this Material Recycler was the most exciting item it ever found. The only bad thing was that it took a long time to break the materials down to their basepounds. (But that was not an issue for the System who can willfully control timepression and dtion in instances.)

    Additionally, Jin could understand where the System wasing. If they could recycle the junk in their world, they would be able to obtain resources at a very cheap price or perhaps free. Even he started to think if he should have a selling option. By buying items that people did not want, they might have the chance to change the world. Jin believed that a system could be thought up to ensure that he would be earning more money buying useless items from the public.

    The next was the Lost Tech Counterfeiter which was kept in a cage. Believe it or not, the product looked like a bear with arge bobbling head, but it was indeed a lost tech product. (Apparently, the Lost Dwarves liked bears.) Ayse said that was how the blueprints could be recreated. ce a certain blueprint beside the Lost Tech Counterfeiter andmand it to scan the blueprint before it starts to construct the entire product out inside its belly. Depending on the size of the product, it will expand and when it was done, the bear will sit straight up and split open itself for thepleted product.

    Either that or ce the item in front of the Bobbling Bear that the user wished to recreate and it would do so. However, because it does not know theposition of the item, the items it produced would be inferior. Jin realised it was something simr to the System''s way of producing certain items.

    However, there was a catch to that procedure. Jin had to insert dungeon dors to the System to produce the item. For this particr Lost Tech Counterfeiter, all he needed was either a blueprint or the item on hand.

    However, it seemed to be defying thews of physics. Every action must have a reaction. Jin could not believe the Counterfeiter machine was so powerful out that it was able to produce something without any ''actions'' to the reaction. Only through further probing from Ayse that he learnt that it needed ''food'' to work. "Any food?" Jin asked Ayse who was panting trying to chase after Kraft in the room but subsequently gave up.

    "Anything. Be it organic or inorganic, the bear did not care. That was why we just throw our junk into the counterfeiter and it eats like an ever hungry baby. When we needed something built, all we need to do was ask it to scan the blueprints and it will start building. That was why we were able to build our army arsenal so quickly." Ayse said as she asked Jin to replicate something as an example.

    Jin decided to give a problematic specimen for it to try on as he pulled out a piece of the living armour on him and let the counterfeiter scanned it.

    Redsers appeared out of the bear looking machine as it paced around the piece of living armour to scan it. The counterfeiter even picked it up rather delicately despite itsrge ''paws'' to see the bottom of the item. Then, it left the piece of living armour alone and stayed at the corner of a cage while a digital timer appeared on top of its head to indicate how much time it needed to operate.

    "99 hours?" Jin eximed and guessed it could only know the resultter and decided to bring the Bobbling Bear back into the Dungeon Maker along with the recovery capsule and the material recycler. Other than that, the rest of the lost tech products were pretty average in terms of practical use but the System still wanted to take it back and analysis it, so Jin ordered his crawlers and zombies to assist with the carrying.

    Even though Operation Pompeii was done, the time that passed in the real world was barely an hour. Thus it posed a problem for Jin''s announcement and the current goblin war theme in November. Therefore, Jin figured that he needed to extend the event for a longer period of time so that the cultivators would be able to have their fun while earning back profit to cover the exorbitant amount of expenses he acquired through this operation.

    "System, do you have sufficient data to replicate goblins as NPCs and the scenes of the Western Coastal Town and Northern Valley Town? Because we are going to put those orcs we captured to work before more cultivators enter our shopter in the morning." Jin said as he requested for a portal to the Dungeon Maker.

    "System had been running through various possible scenarios from the data collected and concluded it is more than sufficient. System had released another two million dungeon dors as a loan to User''s ount to recreate the instances." The System stated and Jin smirked.

    It was time to create the reenactment of these scenes as proper dungeon instances.

 Chapter 365 The Surprise for Ren Wei

    <h4>Chapter 365 The Surprise for Ren Wei</h4>

    "Ohhhh my gosh! I burnt through like twenty over odd medals worth of ammunition!" Jing Ru eximed as the police squad returned to the Panda Weaponry after their time was up. While slightly regretful, it was Ren Wei''s decision to stop when their mission of clearing the crashed airship carrier waspleted.

    The Pandamonium App asked if they wanted ''One More'' try, but Ren Wei figured that their ammunition was all spent, the squad was tired enough, and he also noticed more cultivators were entering the fray to rece others. Hence, he decided to call it off which the team unanimously agreed to it.

    "It was a really superb workout. I haven''t felt such an adrenaline rush for a long time." Ren Wei praised the experience to the others as he returned the real gun and got his air gun model back at the side counter. The Three Headed Bear noticed a puncture in Ren Wei''s rifle before asking him to leave and stared at him coldly for a while.

    "Heh, sorry about that. Needed to use it to defend myself from a surprise spear strike when I was turning the corner. Must say, the craftsmanship is supreme, it still works despite the puncture." Ren Wei smiled innocently as he replied while trying topliment the other party to calm him down. The Three Headed Bear snorted back as he ced his air gun down and asked for Abdul who was standing behind him toe forward for his gun exchange.

    "If you want to experience a real adrenaline rush, you can alwayse back patrolling with us. I guarantee you will get such a feeling at least once every week." Gupta teased Ren Wei a bit when he returned his gun back.

    "Anyways, I am hungry, shall we go eat? I heard the Restaurant Train of Delicacy serves some great food." Ren Wei asked but the three of them retorted all at the same time that they wanted to look around the weapon shop for a while. Ren Wei then decided to stay for a bit, but Jing Ru conveniently gave him an excuse.

    "How about you go ahead and book a table for us first? I will being after you in a moment. Just some replenishment of some ammunition that''s all!" Jing Ru suggested as she pushed Ren Wei out of the Panda Weaponry and quickly ran to the counter.

    "I believe I should have enough raid points and medals for the gift I reserved. Do you mind taking it out?" Jing Ru asked hastily. Seeing her actions, both Abdul and Gupta realised that Jing Ru had reminded them about the same goal they had in mind; Getting a gift for her father.

    "Big Bear, my man. Could you give us our gift as well? If possible, subtract the points from both our ounts." Abdul asked which caused the Three Headed Bear to simultaneously bring out the exact same gun model for the both of them, the Dragunov Sniper Rifle.

    Jing Ru stared at the uncles, who looked back at the same time. The realisation that they had the same idea suddenly made all three of them chuckle andughed together. "Well, Young Miss could you let us uncles purchase the gift for your dad? We don''t mind it being a present from all three of us. " Gupta offered since the two policemen assumed they would rarely have the chance toe together and y that much in the near future.

    "I cannot allow you all to pay for everything. How about this? We share equally for this rifle and perhaps we also buy him a 5 Gold Panda Medal Voucher so he can purchase customisations or ammo in the future?" Jing Ru suggested which Gupta and Abdul believed it was a good idea.

    "Here is your gun. For the rest of the transaction, go to the Red Pandas." The Three Headed Bear kept one of the sniper rifles and left the side counter to continue hammering his stuff on his anvil. Jing Ru then approached the Red Panda to inform her about their transaction. As always the cute animal dly assisted them with their request. They even provided a sleek modern looking rifle suitcase to keep the air gun version of the Dragunov Sniper Rifle.

    "Do you think they sell any birthday cakes in this ce?" Abdul asked, but Gupta had no idea while Jing was busy doing the transaction for them.

    "We do have cheesecakes! They are sold in the Restaurant Train of Delicacy Service Instance." The Red Pandas offered their advice which made Jing Ru became wildly excited. She hadpletely forgotten about its existence for a moment.

    "Oh yes!! How could I forget about THAT cheesecake! I still remember that sweetness in my mouth. Does the general store sells any candles or anything?" Jing Ru humbly asked which the Red Panda said that it could ry their request to the penguins.

    "Alright, if Ren Wei''s girl vouches that the cheesecake is that good then we simply have to go for it. A little dessert before breakfast should not be a problem, heh!" Abdulmented. The Red Panda asked if they would like the casing also to be wrapped up.

    "Do we need to pay extra?" Jing Ru asked as she checked her remaining raid points and medals.

    "You do not have to. It''s on the house. We will bring it to you and your father. Enjoy yourselves!" The Red Panda replied courteously as it yfully grabbed the rifle casing and asked the other red pandas for help to wrap everything up and get things ready.

    "We will pay for the cheesecake then, and it''s been a while since west met. Let us at least do those honours. You can surprise him with the gift." Gupta offered as they proceeded to the Restaurant Train Instance to see Ren Wei waving at them. While waiting, he had already ordered some drinks for them.

    "I was unsure know what you guys would like to drink here, so I just ordered coffee for you two. For you, my princess, I knew exactly what you would like. Here''s your favourite Bamboo Juice." Ren Wei beamed with delight as he saw Jing Ru gleefully epted the drink.

    Suddenly, all the lights in the train were dimmed, and a light drum rolling was heard in the background before an announcement was being made. "Ladies and Gentlemen, if you do not mind joining, let us put our hands together to wish a happy birthday for the pleasant gentlemen and loving father, Mr Ren Wei at Table 49." The penguin spoke with a microphone on an elevated stage. It was none other than Mr Patsu making his personal appearance for Ren Wei.

    Ren Wei immediately blushed and put his head down as the train''s spotlights were focused on him. The cultivators who were having their breakfast in the morning had unanimously pped for him upon Mr Patsu''s request and the penguin waiters pushed a clothed trolley full of cheesecake with candles on it. There was even the penguin band that yed a birthday song with an apanying singer that the cultivators sang along with.

    Meanwhile, the other three rascals were happily giggling at the side seeing Ren Wei embarrassingly blow the candles out from the cake. "Hey! You did not make any wish at all!" Jing Ru pouted a little but she knew they had already embarrassed her father enough.

    The lights came back on and the penguins did a magic trick for Ren Wei to see. From underneath the small tray they somehow managed to pull out a big long rectangr box all neatly wrapped. Ren Wei was amazed by it and thanked the penguins for it as he was not expecting any birthday presents or celebrations but just wanted to spend time with his daughter and his buddies. Yet, the penguin waiter corrected him, informing him that it was a gift from the three right beside him. Ren Wei could not contain his excitement picked up the long bulky gift he received and took a good look especially when he noticed that the wrapper had cartoonish muskrats running around chasing one and other.

    "What is it?" Ren Wei became curious about the contents of the beautifully packaged gift when all three decided to remain silent about it. (They were actually trying their best not tough or giggle.)

    "Well, there is only one way to find out. Open it and you will see!" Abdul could not take it andughed before he shamelessly tried a piece of the cheesecake.

    "HOLY SHI-! What kind of heavenly cheesecake is this?" Abdul could not help to interrupt Ren Wei''s unwrapping but it did make Ren Weiugh out as he had a simr (though not so vocal) reaction after enjoying the same cheesecake with Jing Ru before. He had never forgotten that taste. Gupta, on the other hand, had had the decency to wait until Ren Wei was done unwrapping before he partook that fluffy, bouncy cheesecake on the table.

    "You must be kidding me! You guys bought this for me?!!" Ren Wei was at a loss of words after finding out the contents of the box. It was a brand new Dragunov Sniper air rifle which cost quite a fair bit on the market because of theck of avability. Still, he could not fathom how the three banded together to buy this for him.

    "To be honest, we didn''t n to share the gift. We happened to choose the exact gifts for you in Jin''s shop. So we added a bit extra. Recheck the box. There should be one more present in there." Jing Ru admitted that she had been nning to buy one since a month ago.

    "No wonder you two rascals were going crazy killing the orcs like there was no tomorrow when both of you are usually more tactical in your approach." Ren Wei finally figured why the two had been acting so strangely in the Raid instance. He noticed an envelope near the air gun rifle. Inside contained the five Gold Panda Medals Voucher which had a QR Code to link it up to his Pandamonium ount.

    "hhh if we had known beforehand that we were going to share the cost with your daughter here, I wouldn''t have worked my ass off like crazy after my night duty." Abdul sneered a little before he picked up another slice of the heavenly cheesecake to eat.

    "Hey who is the birthday boy here?!" Ren Wei quickly grabbed one to eat before Gupta and Jing Ru snatched them all. The four of them had a great time chatting with each other about the encounters they had in the raid instance before they decided to return back for the day.

    "Hey, Abdul, Gupta. Thanksбнfor recognising Jing Ru as my daughter." Ren Wei said personally to his two pals when Jing Ru went to start up the car for him.

    "She seems like a fine, dandy youngss," Gupta said in a weird fake European ent, but he returned to his normal serious self when Ren Wei sighed at him. "It''s great that everything seems to be working out for you. Happy Birthday, buddy." Gupta gave a hug which Abdul followed suit.

    "Be sure to visit us once in a while in Tiangong rather than sucking up to people''s ass in Central." Abdul patted Ren Wei''s back and went off. Jing Ru coincidentally came around the corner with his car and got down to wave goodbye to the uncles too.

    "It was fun training with you. Did not expect those two uncles to be this funny too." Jing Ru mentioned as she yawned a little when she got into the car but noticed a serious expression on Ren Wei''s face. It was as if he wanted to say something very important when he entered the car. She kept quiet and allowed Ren Wei some time to ask the question, although she roughly knew where it was going.

    "I ermбн Isбнit okay if we go visit your mom''s grave?" Ren Wei asked and Jing Ru stared at him for a while andter nodded a bit.

    "I am sure Mom will be delighted." Jing Ru smiled tenderly as she pulled the chair back to rest. "Wake me up when бнOH SHIT, WHEN DID YOU?!" Jing Ru was shocked as she just noticed an item so flurry behind the back seats.

    "Well erm, I thought you would like it since you were rambling about it earlier in the morning. I was lucky that they just restocked. Sorry, I was not able to get the XXXL size because of theck of points, but I hope XXL will do-" Suddenly, Jing Ru hugged Ren Wei and gave him a friendly kiss at his cheek.

    "Thanks, Dad!" Jing Ru said as she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and crawled towards the back seats hugging the XXL panda plushie. She immediately understood why Luo Bo was so crazy about it and why Xiong Da was so protective. Before she knew it, Jing Ru fell asleep.

    "That little girlбн" Ren Wei could not help but grabbed his phone out and took a picture of his daughter. Jing Ru''s innocent smile reminded Ren Wei of her mother when she was younger. "Thank you Xing Ruбн foring into my life." Ren Wei whispered as he began to drive to visit Jing Ru''s mother''s grave.

 Chapter 366 Western Diversion Dungeon Instance

    <h4>Chapter 366 Western Diversion Dungeon Instance</h4>

    Despite thete night announcement, Jin was surprised to see that a decent number of cultivators still managed toe to visit his shop for the Goblin Raid Instance. He decided to make a rare appearance at the shopfront while several of his Another Jins were hard at work recreating the western diversion, northern diversion and one hidden instance, the attack of the goblin capital for the entirety of the Raid Instance Event in his shop.

    Speaking of the western diversion, Mr Derpy finally got to enjoy some fun the moment he noticed that the ships were moving backwards. He had been staring at them for the longest time ever waiting for any changes. As soon as they retreated and crossed the imaginary line set by Jin during the operation preparations, Mr Derpy did not hesitate.

    The other Deep Ones immediately gave way to their Shadow Lord as heunched himself out of the water and made a deep wailing sound that frightened the already demoralised orcs before crashing back into the deep oceans with arge, loud ssh. The waves from the ssh impacted the medium ships so terribly that some even capsized from it, allowing the Deep Ones to selfishly snatched their prey from one another.

    Mr Derpy after having made his grand entrance, swam underneath a warship and bit through the ship''s keel, the bottom most structure holding the hull, causing seawater to gush into the hole rapidly. It also gave the Deep Ones the opportunity to enter and rampage through sinking warship. As for the rest of the warships...One after another they suffered the same fate as the first one, which Mr Derpy gave absolutely no chills for making him so long to act.

    The cultivators that were fighting on the ships had been encouraged by the magpies to escape but many continued to press on, believing it was only part of the plot for the raid dungeon instance they were participating. The cultivators took it as some time trial, killing as many as possible before the warship sunk to the bottom of the sea. Hence, many of the cultivators died from drowning though most did not mind a single bit when they returned to the recovery instance.

    Some thought there should be a way out which no one had figured out yet, just as always with other Jin''s dungeons. (They probably read too much into the situation.) Still, that data gave the Another Jins the idea to implement it into the real Western Diversion dungeon instance.

    Of course, there would be a hidden way to fly out of the whole mess if they could find it in time. If some drowned trying to find out, they could probably purchase more tickets to search for the answer. Another Jins were already contemting whether they should add hidden achievements for bragging rights.

    Eventually, the orcs in the Western Diversion and Northern Diversion had fully retreated and the goblin armies began cleaning up the battlefield. Some of the Ice Orcs had decided to surrender in the Western Coastal Town of Gob Gob Si but the majority of them fought to the death. Jin''s monsters did onest sweep around the area before they teleported away, leaving the goblins to do what needed to be done.

    With the scenes of battle clearing up in the Goblin World, Jin encountered a problem he had not have time to n for before. Technically, the defeat of Orc King Hamu allowed him to proim this official event to be over and tell everyone to go home. But that felt like a very bad idea especially after his sudden announcement in the middle of the night.

    It also felt unreasonable towards those cultivators who had joined the battlefield mere minutes before the battle was over, only for them to get teleported back. Jin announced to the cultivators that he found a critical technical issue which could result in a server failure. So as an apology, Jinpensated all who had joined toote with an apology pack worth five bronze panda medals.

    Even though Another Jins were not fully ready yet, Jin also opened another portal to the real dungeon instance for all who wished to participate after receiving the apology pack. However, the cultivators did not know that this particr dungeon instance was not aplete instance because of the time constraint Jin had encountered. A couple of unlucky Another Jins were simultaneously building the dungeon instance of the Western Diversion scenario as it went live for the cultivators.

    Panda Captains Bai and Hei dragged the start of the instance out as long as they could by giving the cultivators a surprise event, stating that the there were reports of Wind Orcs attempting to infiltrate into the Western Coastal Town via the hills at the side. This particr event was supposed to be one of the many pre-sequel events that Another Jins decided to incorporate but for this particr instance, it was a fixed event. That way, Another Jins had some more time to create what was needed for the eventual battle.

    But unlike the Goblin World which they had no control over, Another Jins purposely enhanced the Goblin Raids Dungeon instances in many ways. Firstly,munications. Instead of magpies, they made use of the mini pets that most of the cultivators had and those became the new messengers formunication purposes. If one did not have a mini pet they could purchase one for a slightly lower price during this event. If not, a magpie would be apanying them in ce of their pets.

    Second, He realised the orcs...were caught in such a bad predicament that they were unable to fight back, making it such an unfair fight. Now that it was no longer a matter of real life and death, he decided to even the odds. So firstly, he removed all the monsters that aided the goblins and changed it to solely a goblins vs orcs battle. Instead of lost tech warships, he purposely used models from thete 1800s and early 1900s. Wooden frigates powered by steam engines (which were way cheaperpared to recreating the lost tech) and the System matched the speed and strength of the lost tech warships which they had collected the data from.

    For the airship carriers, Another Jins had decided to copy the idea of aircraft carriers from the past, mainly the HMS Argus, a British aircraft carrier. As HMS Argus was converted from an ocean liner to an aircraft carrier, Another Jins decided to do the same. Because Jin was an engineering student before, he still had a user ount giving him ess to the university database (He did not clean his browser and cookies!!) and it allowed him to get ess to look at the blueprints for ocean liners.

    On a separate note, Kraft asked if Jin wished to hack into the database and get ess to all the information in case his user ount ever expired. "You sure you can do this without being detected? I do not want police toe knocking at my doorstep." Jin was slightly wary.

    "Technically, you already have the Police Heads under your fingertips. Even if you were caught, you could get off with it." Kraft reminded him that the Royal Zodiac Tiger''s Head, Yuan Ba and his daughter, Yang Ling, owed them a favour though they could probably use that for something grander.

    "But in all seriousness, yeah I can do that in a jiffy with the help of the System. Their database is third rate and my judgement tells me, there had already been a few silent hacks in there. So as soon as we find a backdoor they left, we can just use it and subsequently, the me would fall on whoever ced it there."

    "I had no idea you are able to do cyber hacking, aren''t you a relic from the past?" Jin mocked Kraft only to get whacked on the head by Tsu and Kai. The two ck foxes had appeared out of nowhere and each stood at both sides of his shoulders.

    "A betor got to update himself too, else what use would he have to his Master? Besides, did you forget I am in the counterintelligence business?" Kraft sniggered as he enjoyed Jin struggling against Tsu and Kai. "Haven''t you ever wondered how you managed to get your dungeon supplier license? Take a wild guess who made it so that the System was capable of such a feat."

    "But can you hack like erm the ck market or something like the FBI equivalent?" Jin was curious about Kraft''s extent.

    "Maybe." Kraft grinned evilly as he took the opportunity to fiddle with the database that Jin logged into. Suddenly just like in those science fiction and spy thriller shows, dozens of windows appeared in front of theptop screen. And all Kraft did was ce his palm right above the keyboard without touching a single key at all for the hacking process to initiate.

    Jin was taken aback by Kraft''s abilities until a small pop up came out which stated the following: "Copy All? Yes or No?" Kraft then pressed ''Y'' on the keyboard and the screen immediately buzzed with activity.

    "Done. Must say, there is a lot of information in your university database, all sorts of stuff. From politics to geography. Peppers will go mad happy deciphering all the raw data." Kraft stretched his hands and walked away. Looking back after some steps, he snapped his fingers for Tsu and Kai to disappear again. Jin was happy to no longer suffer their joint attack and passed the Ocean Liner blueprint data to Another Jin to work on as they recreated the aircraft carrier and added giant sized turbines to make them fly.

    Of course, theoretically in the real world, adding giant size turbines that would magically let a 50,000 over tons float in the air would never happen at all. But because this was a dungeon instance, certain physicsws could simply be altered. This was one of the exceptions that Another Jin was willing to make and provide the new cultivators with another tform to fight against the orcs.

    Third thing on his agenda. All of the goblins were reced with NPCs because he and Qiu Yue had not negotiated the terms thoroughly with the Goblin King for the army. Hence, the System utilised the data of the three goblin generals'' sons when they were first captured. Back then, the goblins only had mediocre to above average attributes aspared to now. Hence, the system copied the data and made hundreds of copies for Another Jins to popte the Western Coastal Town Area. (Of course, Jin had to use the money the system loaned him to pay for the goblin NPCs. Nothing was free.)

    They had ced Wyrstriker as the overall goblinmander for the Western Coastal town in the hopes that Wyrstriker would get better understanding what his father, Spear General Argent, was going through for the battles.

    Lastly, the System had deduced it would be optimal to provide various modern tactics that the Orcs could take to fight against the goblin NPCs and the cultivators. Hence, it rmended the different ns to the Ice and Wind Orcs that were captured and advised their leaders to choose what they liked the most against the cultivators. Unless specified, the System decided to give them free rein over theirmands.

    The captured Orcs had no choice but to obey, courtesy of the Loyalty Enforcement Orders that the System put them under. However, no Orc would say no to a good fight. (And most definitely a much fairer fight against the cultivators and goblin NPCs.)

    Separately, Jin and Yun were doing customer support and damage control after he put up the noticete at night. He saw Xiong Da rushing into the shop instance after his tedious work in the office and giving him a strange re. Jin kindly exined that he just wanted to check the response of his customers and had seemingly underestimated the response.

    "Enticing us with a free ticket and x5 points, but imposing a requirement that one had toe as soon as possible? This is more like a threat than a favourable deal for the consumers! Have you really not seen thising?! Aaargggh, I don''t have time to argue, I need to make full use of it. FOR THE (NEXT) PLUSHIE!!!!" Xiong Da stormed off after saying his piece.

    He hastily entered the raid instance which the Another Jins were patching it up live. Jin really did not expect that it would be that popr to open at night. Since his only desire was to protect as many goblins as possible with the aid of the cultivators while he dealt with the mastermind behind this whole meaningless war. But Jin believed it was because of their increase in grade over the months that less sleep was no longer much of a concern for the cultivators.

    "Perhaps, I should review my opening hours. Essentially I can employ more than one double to take care of the ce if I want to." Jin thought to himself and the System approved of such a method.

    "User, please do take note that you are not able to leave behind Another Jin in the shop when you go away from the shop. Your alternate personality will disappear after the distance between yourselves reach a certain threshold. It could also potentially damage your psych up if you forcibly break it." The System, on the other hand, also encouraged him to train more since it should be possible to achieve what he wanted when he was able to create his astral phantom.

    "Okay, noted. How is shreaver doing? Are we going to use the recovery capsule on him?" Jin asked in his mind as he greeted another customer into his shop.

    "Milk is currently taking care of that. He does not necessarily need the recovery capsule and System had already ced him in his home instance in the Sanctum of Worlds for him to advance his evolution. Does User wish to partake in the process?" System asked and Jin answered that he needed one more minute.

    ----------

    "Man, you are too riled up, calm down Wyrstriker." me Ripper tried to calm his friend down, who had been pacing around nonstop, while he sat at the side of the bench outside their simple goblin hut. They were both waiting while Milk was attending to shreaver.

    "How can you remain so still? Why can''t Master Jin just kill shreaver and revive him? That would make things much simpler. Heck I''d do i-" Wyrstriker replied but before he could say anything else, Iwen his wyvern used his wing to knock on Wyrstriker''s head.

    "Be patient! Sit!" Iwenmanded and Wyrstiker grumbled a little before he sat down asmanded by his wyvern. That was when Jin entered their sanctum and hurried into the goblin hut. Wyrstriker took that as an excuse to stand up again and followed Jin into the hut. me Ripper sighed a little before entering the hut too.

    "So System, what do I have to do?" Jin asked. Through the loudspeaker of his phone, the System told him that there was a new card in Jin''s Tact Tweak. With a little bit of fumbling to search for it, Jin found the card and it materialised at the top of the Tact Tweak''s screen.

    "Goblin Evolution Trigger." Jin read the title on the card and there was a strand of rainbowish DNA as the picture of the card with a goblin silhouette in it. As easy as it sounded, Jin ced the card on the panting shreaver and suddenly, a light shone all around shreaver.

    "Step back, everyone." Milkmanded and the restplied.

    The shine grew so bright that all of them had to use their arms and hands to cover part of their eyes while peeking through in hopes to see what was happening. Within five seconds, they heard a loud thud of a footstep and out came shreaver.

    "Dread Reaver." Jin saw the new name of shreaver that was posted on the Tact Tweak as a suit of ck armour came out of the light. Dread Reaver was taller than Jin and he featured a dark purplish cape as well as a two handed great broadsword. The great sword was simple looking, and it only had a handle tied in bandages with no crossguard nor pommel attached to it. What''s scary was the width of the Great sword''s de width. It was at least two goblins head wide, roughly 45-50 centimetres wide and approximately 1.5 metres long. If not for Dread Reaver''s height, he might be dragging it around.

    His full body armour had bloodied edges at every edgy part of the armour and there was no single part of his body being exposed. Even the armour that covered the joints were made of a kind of metal which Jin could not figure out but it appeared extremely flexible, simr to tactical fabric. There was also an imprinted insignia of a lightning bolt prating a goblin skull at the back of his helmet.

    Speaking about his helmet, it had the design for only his right ear. The left side of the helmet did not have any which made it look like he was some one horned devil.

    Dread Reaver clenched his fists a little. It was a strange feeling after losing them for a few hours as he looked at his new self. He tried to pull his helmet out but it seemed like the armour was restricting him to do so. After a few attempts, he realised the only way was to pull his helmet simrly to taking a hood off. The helmet then retracted itself to the back of his neck and they finally saw his face.

    The side that was burnt by Purple Thunder''s bolt remained charred but his wounds were healed and left with one ear. Dread Reaver took the opportunity to kneel down and thank Jin for giving him new powers.

    "It''s all your own effort, Dread Reaver. Thank you for enduring everything. I hope to be able to continue working with youбнand wish that Starfire will still love you as you are now." Jin gave his blessings to Dread Reaver.

    "Hahahaбн Starfire, I do wonder how she will react and think of me when she sees me like this." Dread Reaver gave a light soft smile but Jin could feel some bittersweet vibes from it too. Meanwhile, me Ripper and Wyrstriker were amazed by the transformation shreaver went through and came over to congratte him as well.

    "How did he be this absurdly strong?" Wyrstriker asked out loud as he admired Dread Reaver''s aura.

    "He danced with Death for so long that Death must have finally begun to take an interest in him and granted him exclusive powers to represent her. Still cannot believe that shreaver is such a yboy to court both Death and Starfire at the same time." me Ripper believed that was the only logical exnation for Dread Reaver''s current ss.

    The Death Knight.

 Chapter 367 The Knights Moun

    <h4>Chapter 367 The Knight''s Moun</h4>

    "Master, I hoped I had not worry you too much." Dread Reaver apologised before he turned to another direction and whistled loudly. A familiar rumbling noise came from afar and Jin noticed it was none other than Mr Oink. Despite the change in his appearance, Mr Oink seemed to recognise Dread Reaver and snorted happily at him.

    "System, if you do not mind." Dread Reaver was just pretending to be courteous as he did not wait for the System''s acknowledgement and ced his hand at the docile Mr Oink. Slightly dark, purplish energy flowed out from Dread Reaver''s gauntlet at Mr Oink who started to glow after being hit by the wave of darkness.

    "Mr Oink is currently undergoing a variant Step Up Evolution which was not intended by the System." The System calmly informed Jin who remembered that Mr Oink was also due for the evolution process because of the rewards forpleting the Goblin War mission. "If User wishes to stop the evolution, User has to answer within the next five seconds." The System stated but Jin trusted in Dread Reaver''s judgement.

    Mr Oink snorted onest time before an orb of darknesspletely enveloped him. At that moment, Dread Reaver was holding onto the very same Enhancement card that the System had given Jin to evolve him, only that it was now titled ''Eight Legged Mountain Boar

    Evolution Trigger''. He fiddled with the card in his hands for a while as he stepped forward and threw the card into the orb. Everyone in the vicinity waited anxiously before Mr Oink stomped its feet to break the orb that was surrounding him.

    As it shattered, Jin saw the new form of Mr Oink. He was encased with armour from head to tail. The very same bloodied edge ck armour that Dread Reaver was wearing. But his hoofs were on fire, burning dark purplish in colour. That was not all, at the sides of Mr Oink was a smaller sized piglet, whichrgely resembled Mr Oink''s second form. The piglet was sitting in a floating sidecar chained onto Mr Oink and it was manning an auto repeating crossbow. Simr to Mr Oink and Dread Reaver''s armour style, Little Mister Piggy was fashioning a fancy grey edgy helmet with Dread Reaver''s insignia. He had no apanying suit although his side car was rather well armoured.

    "Oinkmobile." The System reflected Mr Oink''s name on Jin''s Tact Tweak which made Jin burst intoughter.

    "You are messing with me, aren''t you?" Jin asked and the System stated that it was not joking. Jin could only ept that fact and walked towards the Oinkmobile to admire him for a while. Oinkmobile snorted deeply as Jin ruffled his fur (the armour was partially retractable, same as with Dread Reaver) and congratted him for evolving. The armoured boar oinked happily after receiving some scratches andter went over to acknowledge Dread Reaver. (And hopefully, get more scratchies.)

    "You are still letting us ride him though, right?" Wrystriker tried to ease the atmosphere a bit.

    "Only if you let me ride your grand Wyvern." Dread Reaver replied chuckling. He raised his hands up and gave a bro hug to Wyrstriker and then did the same with me Ripper.

    "Gosh, I was worried your personality might have changed after you evolved," Wyrstriker admitted a bit embarrassed as he gawked at the fearsome armour that Dread Reaver was wearing.

    "Do you think your own Step Up Evolution will be as cool as ours?" me Ripper teased Wyrstriker a bit, only for thetter to refute him and did the same to me Ripper for still wearing nothing but his leather armour and cloak that was given by Jin at the start of the mission. This made his imposing figure look somewhat cheap.

    Jin gave them some time to ''argue'' amongst themselves before Wyrstriker came forward for his turn. He was a little unsure what was going to happen and for some reason, he felt pressured fearing he could not meet the expectations of Jin after he evolved.

    "Do not worry, Wyrstriker. Each one of you possesses their own strengths. Never doubt your powers which you trained so hard to obtain. Remember how you were able to defeat Nubwort, when just some months ago бнwell that is for me, technically a year for you ording to King Sol. Anyways, just two months ago, you never expected that you could fight against the ck Disaster all by yourself. So have faith in yourself!" Jin encouraged him as he took out the Goblin Evolution Trigger enhancement card in front of Wyrstriker.

    "But if you feel that you are not ready yet, we can always do this another day." Jin could see there was still some hesitation left in Wyrstriker''s eyes and in his bodynguage. The two other goblins also tried to encourage him and told him that they did not expect to be able to evolve into their present forms. But in the end, Wyrstriker decided to postpone the evolution.

    "I am not ready Master, I am sorry. I feel that I should learn more about myself and Iwen first before we go for the evolution." Wyrstiker knew that his skills was on par with the other two but there was something in his heart that made him feel that it was not the time yet.

    "No worries. You have sessfully changed into your side evolution not too long ago. Whenever you feel that you want to go ahead, just tell me. Besides, ording to the System''s criteria, you are set to evolve with the help of the trigger card so time should not be an issue. Who knows maybe postponing it could help turn you even stronger than the other two." Jin said and decided to leave first and gave them some space to talk about their experiences.

    "User could have simply force evolved Wyrstriker, his advanced form will prove formidable in future battles and provide a higher difficulty for your customers too. System had noted an overall increase in grades from the cultivators that frequently patronised the shop. The number of regr customers should only rise, which will be a problem if User does not update his monsters. Wyrstriker might eventually prove too easy for the cultivators in the near future. If System might add, there are no recorded cases of a monster waiting to evolve into an even more powerful form. It is against the rules of Mother Nature''s survival of the fittest." The System seeminglyined about Jin''s actions as he entered the dungeon maker to overlook the progress of Another Jins.

    "No recorded cases does not mean that it''s impossible, correct? Even if it turns out to be the case, I feel he needed to be ready emotionally since it is, after all, a triggered evolution which is also against the rules of Mother Nature. " Jin rebutted the System

    "And speaking of the instances, I know that I''ve asked before but I just need one more confirmation now that they have evolved. The Goblin Forest instance, can it still feature the previous goblins form or do we need to change it to the new forms the goblins currently have?" Jin asked with concern.

    "The System shall repeat it for the 7th time. The data of the goblins had been analysed thoroughly. The substituted goblin NPCs can emte their behaviour with 97.8% probability of sess. Unless someone has encountered them dozens of times, no one should be able to tell the difference. Additionally just as User has previously suggested, System had implemented the new mode and named it New Game+. After a cultivator has beaten the initial instance, they will be able to choose this mode, which should prove to be more of a challenge." The System replied.

    "I see, alright. Then use the same storyline for now, I will make the necessary changes to the plot for the New Game+ levelster. For now, our topmost priority is thepletion of the Western Diversion before more cultivatorse in." Jin sat down and immediately coordinated with Another Jins to get the Western Diversion Dungeon Instance starting.

    --------

    Qiu Yue rxed on the bed in the room Jin had graciously provided. After the battle operation was done, her work wasn''t. Far from it. She had to coordinate the resources with the goblins in order to ensure that it everything they needed was being sent off to the Western Coast and Northern Valley on time. Should she fail, the armies would starve orck medical supplies.

    But one thing was for sure. Despite the hectic schedule she created in lieu with Operation Pompeii, she never had had such an opportunity tomand whole ministries and it felt very rewarding for her. "So by following Jin, I can expect myself doing more of this in the future, huh?" Qiu Yue stared at the ceiling for some time before there was a knock on the door.

    "It''s me, Lynn, I brought you some food. Thought you would be hungry around this time." Lynn said from behind the door. With an unexpected quickness, Qiu Yue opened the door to let her in. There had been some touch and go moments with her, but the two young women hadn''t had the chance to really interact nor talk to each other either. Qiu Yue guessed Lynn just wanted to know more about the new upant in the house.

    "Wow, piping hot noodles! Thank you, Lynn. That''s exactly what I needed at the moment. Do you wish toe in?" Qiu Yue decided to let her in since this was the opportunity to understand why Jin chose her to be part of the System too.

    Lynn, on the other hand, was checking out the room that Qiu Yue was in. There was not much stuff yet, most noticeably her luggage bag at the side of the bed. Aside from that, everything which had already been ced was rather neat and tidy. Even the clothes that she washed were all hanged up at the closet.

    "I asked the System to inform me when you''d return to your room since I saw how you were rushing around in the terrace house with your eyes half open for the past few days. I figured providing you a bowl of hot food would relieve some of your stress." Lynn had already prepared a good excuse reason to check her out.

    Though she did not have time to interact much with Lynn, Qiu Yue''s intuition told her that Lynn appeared the kind who would not talk that much. Hence, if Lynn was making such an effort to interact with Qiu Yueбн there could only be two possibilities for that. Either she was really that concerned about herбн or Jin.

    "Heh heh, so you want to get to know your opponent, huh?" Qiu Yue immediately assumed thetter to be case, as she happily indulged herself in the hot noodles.

    "What? No no no." Lynn panicked a little upon hearing such a direct statement from Qiu Yue yet her bodynguage was in obvious. Eyes diverting, cheeks slightly blushed, stiffened shoulders and a slightly high pitch. Qiu Yue guessed she was not the only one enamoured by Jin. She had known about his charm, especially now with how much he changedpared when he was in uni.

    "I am just teasing you! Were you the one to cook this? The food''s amazing. My stomach feels extremely content from the warmth of the soup and the noodles are absolutely delicious. I want another bowl, but I think I need to take note of my weight." Qiu Yue praised Lynn as she grabbed a rubber band from the side of the table in her room and began to tie her hair up so she could eat without it getting in the way.

    "Yes, I did. I''m d it suits your liking. If you have any request, I''d be more than happy to make you something in the future, too." Lynn replied directly and with shifting eyes, she plucked her courage up and asked. "Erm, you seem to have some history with Jin. How did the two of you meet?"

    "We''ve known each other since our university days. We were ssmates back then. But he sure has changed a lot. You know, he was not this responsible thest time I met him." Qiu Yue decided to keep her past rtionship with Jin a secret for now.

    "But still as awkward as now whenever he asks somebody for favour?" Lynn asked and Qiu Yue nodded her head furiously. Both girlsughed at his behaviour. "Somehow, he always seems to feel guilty about asking somebody for help. I think it might have something with how his grandfather brought him up. You ehh, know that he does not have any parents, right?" Qiu Yue continued the conversation.

    "Yeah. Well, I guess there''s Yun. Supposedly she''s his mother, but she does not have any recollections on Jin or ever giving birth to him, though." Lynn blurted out and Qiu Yue was visibly surprised about that fact. She always thought Yun was just another NPC or Betor under Jin''smand.

    "AnywaysбнI am actually here for another reason." Lynn decided to cut to the chase which Qiu Yue had not considered this girl to be this impatient. In fact usually, Lynn wouldn''t be that way but she was very nervous about her interaction with Qiu Yue, mostly because of the reason she wished to speak with her privately.

    "Are you very sure that you want to aid Jin in his journey? Supporting him all the way? Because once you gain a Sub System of your own, you can never go back to your ordinary life. Your life will be pretty much be tied to Jin''s in the future if you ept." Lynn asked with utmost seriousness. Qiu Yue was a bit baffled as she assumed Lynn was there to ask if Qiu Yue wanted to be with Jin.

    "I erm..I guess so." Qiu Yue replied haphazardly after being caught off guard. Out of nowhere, Lynn''s facial expression changed drastically.

    "DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME JOKE?!" Lynn who had pledged her eternal loyalty to Jin, who was willing to give her all for Jin got riled up by the weak answer from Qiu Yue that she banged her table. This was something that would change the life of Qiu Yue forever without any chance to revert everything, yet the other party did not seem to care for it and took such a decision so lightly.

    The soup from the noodle bowl even spilt around the table a little. Seeing the result of her own outburst, Lynn quickly regretted it. She realised she was in the wrong and returned to her meek expression.

    "Sorry. I am truly... I spoke out of ce. I erm was not thinking straight. It''s jus-" Lynn apologised and took out some tissue from her storage ring and cleaned the area up a little.

    "No. You don''t need to apologise. Jin is indeed giving his very best and it is obvious that you are highlymitted to his cause to the very end. You were just looking out for him and making sure, that I shared your resolve. I do not know what has happened between the both of you for you to act in this way this but rest assured. If I thought of this as a joke, I would not have quit my job and put a single effort for Jin at all. I believe wholeheartedly that he can do great things. No. He will aplish great things that can change this district, the country and perhaps even the world." Qiu Yue stood up and talked down at Lynn.

    "And you can be very damn well sure, I will be by his side when he reaches for the top. Because he is mine." Qiu Yue stated in a calm and yet somewhat threatening tone. That was when Lynn smirked as she curled her hair behind her right ear and stared intently at Qiu Yue.

    "I shall wee the challenge," Lynn replied with just as much confidence. Usually, she was only this confident when in the kitchen, but somehow she had found the courage when it involved Jin. Qiu Yue grinned as she knew from that day onwards, she would be great friends (and rivals) with Lynn.

 Chapter 368 Aftermath of Operation Pompeii

    <h4>Chapter 368 Aftermath of Operation Pompeii</h4>

    After the sessful Operation Pompeii, Jin and Qiu Yue had been rather busy tying loose ends up. Another Jins with the help of Original Jin had managed to create all three raid dungeon instances for the cultivators that would be ongoing throughout the entire month of November.

    Each of the instances was meant to cater to various levels of cultivators. The Northern Diversion Scenario was dered as the ce for new cultivators to try out the entire raid instance experience. The Western Diversion Scenario was more catered towards the veteran cultivators, though it was open to any cultivators that had participated in the Northern Diversion for at least five times.

    Jin purposely set such arbitrary requirements to allow the new cultivators to get ustomed to following orders, so that they wouldn''t get overwhelmed by the ambushes of the more aggressive Orcs which the System now controlled. The Western Diversion scenario had been restructured and it was possible to be invaded from any directions.

    After Jin had watched the rey of how the Ice Orc Admiral advanced their ships, he ordered those Ice Orcs to use that Ice Wave spell in every encounter in the dungeon instances. (It gave the Orcs a hell lot of fun doing so too!) Sometimes, the warships would ram and smash through the fort walls directly while at other times, they encircled the town first, bombarding the ce andnd from the sides. There were even asional instances in which theynded at the back of the town, which caused much havoc to the cultivators.

    The amount of money the raid instances earned Jin was way more than he ever could have anticipated. Even the System seemed a bit surprised, when it announced to Jin, that half his loan had already been paid back. (If not for the Shop instance able to expand indefinitely, it would had been extremely packed.)

    One of the major factors for this appeared to be the rtively cheap entry fee for the event, enticing people to rey it a few more times. (The rewards they could earn, certainly also helped). But it was also the fact that Jin had decided to keep his shop open 24 hours.

    The demographics for the night was primarily skewed towards office workers who came to vent their frustrations after their overtime. A lot of them appreciate that there was still a ce opened for supper, which catered such fantastic food that satisfied both office men anddies. (though some ask for alcohol and Jin said he would consider.) After patronising the Restaurant Train of Delicacy instance, many would then head for the raid event. Even if they did not, the amount of money they spent in the Restaurant Instance was awfully much.

    Separately, there was surprisingly an increased number of policemen participating in his dungeons throughout the day. It was only recently that Jin found out the actual reason from Gupta who came back a few times with some of his other police mates.

    Their ''budget'' turned out to originate from the Ruby Rats who hade to collect some of their resurrected members which the police then used for training purposes. Upon learning this, Jin was more than happy to ept the cash from hispetitor. He even told Gupta to tell their superiors if they wished to mass order any equipment from him, Jin was willing to make them an offer they wouldn''t be able to resist.

    One more demographic that surprised Jin came in the early wee hours of the morning before he switched shifts with Yun.

    Senior Citizens.

    The grandmothers and grandfathers aged 60 to even 80 years old had also been interested in testing out the dungeon instances, but his usual rates were too expensive. Not to mention, it was too crowded for their liking.

    When news reached them that Jin had changed the opening hours and thetest raid instance was cheap enough, they figured it was the best opportunity to enter. After experiencing an instance or two, some even dered that they would bring their friends along to the instance instead of their usual morning workout if Jin continued to open at these times.

    Some of the older generations of cultivators even made Jin dumbfounded when they exhibited their skills in the dungeons. The System was extremely interested because those cultivations were not found in the books that Ming rewarded Jin. Not to mention, their attacks were inherently stronger than most of the modern cultivators in the same grade.

    Through a few conversations, Jin also learned more about his newest clients and found out why the majority of the older generations did not wish to mingle with the younger folks. They were simply a little embarrassed to enter the instances, because of the mockery some had received in other dungeon supplier stores.

    However, Jin reassured them that such a thing would not repeat itself in his shop, as everyone should have the opportunity to cultivate regardless of age. If an incident such as that would to ur, he would personally see to that matter. The old folksughed it off and thanked the young boss for his assistance.

    On a different note, Jin purposely made into thest instance as a special hidden instance that could only be bought with 500 raid points. When he was finished with it, he sent out a notification that a "mysterious instance" has appeared after the Orcs had been beaten back for the 14,605 times.

    The notification vaguely talked about an ambush of the Orcs and the Goblin Deities were angry with all the bloodshed. More was revealed when the cultivators obtained the hidden instance through the redemption store as the city contained obscure snippets of lore for those who were interested (Peppers had a lot of fun, writing it down and Jin even introduced the concept of yer''s achievement in the Pandamonium App due to this.)

    The Hidden Instance was also a wild sess. Jin created the instance by cing the cultivators randomly in the midst of an ambush by the Fire Orcs and forced them to react instantly. Some even died nearly as soon as they entered (though anyone who got that unlucky in the first 15 minutes, got revived, after a cooldown, and got a second chance).

    After the first day, the Hidden Instance was renamed as "Siege of the Goblin City" and Jin purposely listed the characteristics of the instance in the redemption counter to make sure that the cultivators had an informed choice before redeeming it.

    Simr to what had happened, the city was located at the top of the volcano and the cultivators had to race against time to take down as many Fire Orcs as possible. But unlike the real Operation Pompeii, Jin and the System purposely ced bothbat and nonbat goblin NPCs into the situation. He wanted to simte the liveliness in the city aspared to what had actually happened during the Operation.

    Hence, in addition to taking down the Fire Orcs, raid points would be rewarded for saving the nonbat goblins by escorting them to their ships that were docked right beside the sea. This also gave the Fire Orcs more freedom in the way they attacked the cultivators since it was no longer restricted to just the city but the ind as a whole.

    Speaking of Orcs, the Orcs tribes of Wind, Ice, Thunder and Fire had not only learnt the truth but had also been given the time to let it sink into their skulls. Some were initially furious, others were relieved but most were just delighted to resurrect and get a second chance to fight again.

    Many relished in the fight against the cultivators and with enough bouts, some of the orcs started to get used to the cultivators'' way of fighting and developed ways to cope with it. The more they fought, the more the orcs were starting to prove to be a challenge. And because it was a raid instance, the cultivators had to quickly formte tactics on the spot to ovee the everlearning orcs'' ferocity and tenacity.

    However, Jin noticed that most of the cultivators were not very sessful mainly due to their prideful nature as a veteran cultivator. Without amander, the cultivators treated the instance more like Jin''s usual instances, in which they could act alone.

    To deal with such problems, Jin made use of his NPCs. After the infamous match, his NPCs, especially Captain Bai and Hei, had earned respect and fear of his customers. The presence of those two captains quickly defused any situation the ragtag teams of cultivators had and ensured that they spent more time killing orcs as a group rather than squabbling.

    -------

    While Jin was upied handling the stuff back in his shop, Qiu Yue was busy settling the negotiations with the Goblin King. The main demand did not change and it was to provide Jin with an army. However, before the negotiations could start, Qiu Yue had a lengthy discussion with Jin about what the demand was. What he truly wanted from the goblins since the request ''just an Army'' was pretty vague.

    Initially, Jin even wanted to pull back from the request. After all, he had already acquired more than enough Orcs to make an army of his own, but Qiu Yue did not allow him to. She emphasised it would be dishonouring an agreement and they could not appear too generous, especially if they wanted future dealings with the Goblins. It could potentially set a bad precedent for further negotiations.

    Sumbing to the pressure from Qiu Yue, Jin finally narrowed it down and asked for a tri joint force to join him. They did not necessarily need to be elites, but all should be at least skilled enough in the field of air, sea andndbat.

    He figured that he had enough capable leaders and officers from the various Orc tribes so if the two races could join together and share ideas, they might have an even better chance against the demon rat army in the Farming World. Therefore, Qiu Yue had been pressing King Sol for a Joint Force army consisting of Air, Sea and Land troops to be requisitioned.

    Unsurprisingly, King Sol agreed and even offered Sword General dios to apany them but Qiu Yue refused. "All we want is a Tri Joint Army. We do not need one of your generals to apany us." Qiu Yue replied as they were discussing the terms and conditions for her to draft a legal contract out. (With some outside help from Xiong Da when Jin had the chance to meet him. Of course, Kraft did some slight mind altering magic on him after seeing the goblin contract.)

    "Why not? dios was itching to go. In fact, he volunteered to be deployed under Jin." King Sol asked with some concern but Qiu Yue gave him a straightforward reason.

    "I- We want to further develop the skill set of the Generals'' sons. As you might have heard, the trio had managed to makerge contributions to the war and eventually pushed themselves to evolve into a Wyvern Knight, a descendant of Ifrit, and a Death Knight respectively. They may possess a lot of fighting capabilities but in terms of leadership? There are lots to learn. We consider it to be possibly detrimental if they simply learn from their fathers. By providing them with no assistance, they would have the chance to grow individually and to be leaders with unique traits of their own." Qiu Yue replied.

    "... That''s fairly reasonable. I shall inform dios and the others about your decision. However your other requestбн I am unsure what to say..." King Sol was a bit hesitant since Qiu Yue''s second demand was to take the entirety of his goblin ministry advisors with her. That was way more than he could afford.

    The majority of them had taken to their job not too long ago, and this was already considering that they were the helpers and secretaries of their predecessors. Since the Ministry advisors were the pirs of their structure, without them, their economy might drop into a standstill if not worse. Qiu Yue wanted them because all of them were already under the System''s influence. Jin and Qiu Yue could certainly just grab them and leave the goblin society in a lurch, but that would go against both of their principles.

    Hence, Qiu Yue sweetened the deal by offering King Sol a time frame. She would give each of them some time to train a new batch of goblins to be their recement. She would even help them with the teaching to avoid the ''discrepancies'' she had encountered since the time she helped. This way, they would be loyal to King Sol and not as corrupt as their predecessors.

    King Sol agreed under the presumption that only those advisors agreeing with the idea to be ''taken away'' to be allowed to go. He thought the condition was absurd but what he found even more absurd was that not a single one had any qualms about following Qiu Yue.

    Each and everyone agreed to it wholeheartedly despite the administrative torture Qiu Yue put them through. Some of the ministers had already begun writing their list of candidates for selection. Needless to say, Qiu Yue would have a screening of her own for picking their recements, mainly because she wanted the Kingdom of Gob Gob to be not just a business contract but an ally to be counted on in the future. (as well as a trading partner.) Seeing his ministers having no objection to Qiu Yue''s decision, King Sol reluctantly agreed to it. While still a bit unhappy about it, ultimately the goblins did owe them a rather hefty favour.

    "Now I have my own set of cab ministers which will be useful for building the Dungeon City Fortress up." Qiu Yue smiled as she witnessed King Sol signing the agreement.

 Chapter 369 The New Orc King

    <h4>Chapter 369 The New Orc King</h4>

    Apart from the Tri Joint Force agreement, Qiu Yue also negotiated for a few additional trading agreements to make use of King Sol''s previously promised ''nk cheque''.

    There was no written agreement on what exactly would be given to Jin if he sessfully repelled the Orcs. Tasked by the System, she designed the contracts to be vastly in Jin''s favour. He, however, did intervene as Jin saw the deals would be so absurdly favoured towards them and asked her not to go too far. If they squeezed King Solpletely dry, then it would merely ruin their beneficial rtionship.

    Only with Jin''s feedback did Qiu Yue admit that she might have gone a bit overboard. If it were just one particr deal in their favour, it would not be too much of a problem, but she nearly made a mistake to present them all to their benefit. She felt somewhat awful and decided not to take that much advantage of the poor Goblin King.

    Besides, it was not King Sol''s fault for giving her that much leeway with the contracts. There had not been much of choice for King Sol back when the orcs invaded. The goblin kingdom had suddenly been forced into a state of emergency following the Kingyer Ambush. Despair was soaring high and spreading like wildfire when news spread that their kingdom being the only remaining goblin capital left to stand against Orcs. King Sol foresaw the potential losses and was very desperate for any helping hand after he found out about the sessful Kingyer Ambush in the other Kingdoms. Hence, with Jin''s deal being the only one on the table, King Sol could not say no.

    The revised trade agreements were mostly fair to both sides and covered a few key items, one of which was manpower. Qiu Yue sorely needed skilled workers and professionals for the uing construction of the Dungeon City Fortress. That was her main priority. Even though she and Jin had an engineering background, they needed the expertise of those who could overlook and guide the building process. They were unable to do that themselves especially for all the projects that were nned.

    A good city builder must have the awareness,prehension and the insight to create not just a five year, but also a ten year and even a twenty year mastern. He needed to ensure that there was sufficient space to expand, to modernise and ultimately to automate. Sure, Qiu Yue had gathered some knowledge on such subjects during her stint in her previous line of work but hers was more focused on developing the existing modern infrastructures. As a result, she was unsure on how to start from scratch.

    Therefore, she asked King Sol if she could initiate a recruitment drive. Engineers, mages, scientists, craftsman and all other sorts of professions would be weed to be interviewed by her. Initially, King Sol was wondering why she would require all these workers.

    To him, the humanoids seemed more than capable of creating items which were way more advanced than whatever they coulde up with. Nevertheless, Qiu Yue created a somewhat usible excuse, stating that her race liked to collect information from other races to build up from that knowledge and find ways to incorporate and improve their own technology.

    King Sol was a little sceptical about it but eventually, he started considering it as a sort of future investment. By loaning out their expertise out to Qiu Yue, the goblins could potentially return with the humanoids knowledge which should prove useful in their own future too. Even though he was immediately sold as soon as Qiu Yue offered an exchange of information (as long as they were not deemed confidential), he continued to be wary against this cute little Red Panda Masked Humanoid. But his love for the kingdom never waned and if these exchange of information could help to secure the modernisation of the Goblin Kingdom, he would naturally do it in a heartbeat.

    Nevertheless, after already being ''scammed'' once by Qiu Yue in the initial agreement, King Sol had be a little wiser and asked her to set a loan duration. Qiu Yue decided on a three year period. The time flow between their own world and the Goblin''s was different. To Qiu Yue and Jin, it would only be a mere six months which she felt was already cutting it too short.

    However, it was not precisely a lose win situation for the Goblin Kingdom. Through the help of the System, Qiu Yue managed to haggle for that terriblyrge lump sum of gold they showed the King and the other advisors previously in their bet aspensation for loaning their expertise. Not just that, those professionals who would be loaned out to Jin, would have the opportunity to bring families and loved ones along with them. That way, those skilled workers would feel less homesick and not be worried about their loved ones.

    King Sol thought that it was a decent deal, considering he was currently in need of gold. It was to cover the sunk costs incurred from the ever hungry war chest, which was depleted after mobilising the army to defend against the orcs. King Sol also required the funds to rebuild the Western Coastal Town of Gob Gob Si, the Northern Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu, the viges that were raided and take care of the refugees he took in that escaped from the Orc conquered regions.

    Those orc conquered regions also became an important point of negotiation. Qiu Yue and Jin offered to step in to mediate mainly because they had acquired the former spymaster of the Orc Kingdom, Yellow Ice.

    Ever since Yellow Ice and Cross resurrected from the dead, they knew what they wished to do. As soon as they got the chance, they asked for Jin and begged him for a pardon to remove the Enforcement Loyalty Orders by the System.

    Unfortunately, the System did not allow any monsters to be released back into the ''wild'' and stated that if Jin wished to allow them to leave, they could. However, if he ever needed their help, Yellow Ice and Cross would be teleported immediately to his side, without prior warning nor need for consent. Jin exined that he would try not to make use of this too much but that that would be the onlypromise he could give in the matter and the duo epted.

    Yet, even after the plea to return to their kingdom, the former spymaster was forced to stay in the Dungeon Maker until Jin and Qiu Yue gave their own opinions on the current situation between the goblins and the orcs as well as their expectations on how Yellow Ice should proceed once returned home.

    "Giving back the regions we took, that I understand and those kinds of arrangements can be made. But creating trade between the Goblins and Orcs? That is a tall order you wish for us to achieve." Yellow Ice grumbled as he looked through the documents. (The System had printed them out in the goblinnguage for Yellow Ice to read. As a Spymaster, he had to be proficient in all the majornguages of their world.)

    "We are not expecting you to implement those immediately. Have a few stand offs, some scuffles between the goblin nation if you need to. Then convince the public that the goblins are willing to hold a talk. Start with the essential items like food, some natural resources etc. After that, we could talk about more specific resources or even luxury goods trading. Else, there is always the possibility of a goblin uprising against the Orcs and there is nothing much you can do to prevent it." Jin stated as a matter of fact.

    "All things considered, the goblins technically repelled all of your attacks. The majority of your troops have perished, three of your kingdom''s avatars died and your King has disappeared, missing in action. We could make the goblins push for more demands rather than staying neutral since they were the winning party in this war. I heard rumours that even the Humans had decided to side more towards the goblins after rumours of the Orc King''s disappearance. I have news that those humans already began distancing themselves from Orc rted activities. Unless something were to change, it does not bode well for the Orcs." Qiu Yue decided to use the stick since Jin had prepared the carrot.

    "Considering I am under yourmand and have no way to disagree, you two make a very valid point." Yellow Ice was being sarcastic and he knew what they were expecting from him. They wished to have him crowned as the new Orc King. He certainly had credentials to be one. He was the King''s former royal spymaster, a trusted figure in the Orc Military, a respected figure between the Orc Nobles and advisors, andstly not to mention the only remaining Avatar of the Shaitans.

    Sure, the avatars could be chosen again by the various tribes but Yellow Ice had already proven himself as someone the Orcs could trust. Besides, he still had the support of the remnants of the Ice Orc Sea Fleet under hismand which would no doubt provide him support for the throne should he wish to ascend.

    "My Liege, this is the best and perfect opportunity for you to restructure the kingdom. There might still be differences between the Goblins and Orcs but at least, we are one step closer into this arduous journey of unification." Cross whispered as he knelt to acknowledge his new King.

    Aside from that, Yellow Ice indeed had no option to say no to his ascension as the new King after his own Shaitan Noble, Shiva also came to speak to him personally after he resurrected.

    After being enraged for some time that she was unable to taste the flesh of her dear Avatar once he died, she became extremely delighted that he somehow came back to life. Moreover, Yellow Ice was also supplying her with a sort of new energy source. That magical energy even managed to stem her constant craving.

    The source no doubt came from the System after it analysed me Ripper''s energy signature. It modified the energy signature to suit Yellow Ice and provided him with an ample and yet at the same time restricted supply as an experiment suggested by Kraft and it worked wonders.

    Shiva had promptly decided to nurture Yellow Ice further and turned him into her descendant. In a way, he performed a side evolution. His appearance did not change much, but his body physique was more tone than before. (It even shined like a diamond under sunlight too!) The most important thing was that he was henceforth able to wield the bluish white ice energy instead of his usual yellowish ice energy. And as the new descendant, Shiva had granted a new name upon her new child.

    Frost Echo, The Prince of Icy Wrath.

    With the blessing of Shiva, Frost Echo returned to the Orc Kingdom before anarchy took ce. With an (Icy) Iron Fist, Frost Echo promptly restored the powers and established a bnce among the nobles and surviving military leaders. With the knowledge of serving under two kings, the Prince of Icy Wrath had begun to settle existing internal issues that had been guing the kingdom for a long time. Only when he believed results were achieved then he would introduce his reforms and enact his real master''s requests so that both the Orc and Goblin Kingdom could prosper.

    Cross initially wanted to remain as the shadow of his new King, an assassin that would do whatever had to be done without implicating his King, but Frost Echo denied him such a position. Instead, Cross was appointed to be Frost Echo''s right hand man.

    Despite the initial disagreements from many orcs, Cross was able to walk the fine line of threatening Orc nobles and convincing them to work for the new King. Only then did some of the leaders begin to respect Cross for his abilities. This allowed both to realise how they had indeed taken a step into what they had dreamed of, the start of a kingdom that could coexist.

    But of course, behind the new Orc King were the real decision makers. Frost Echo had to rely on the System''s resources to remedy the current issues to make the general Orc poption as well as Shiva happy. The System, in turn, made Qiu Yue responsible for everything that Frost Echo requested.

    At first, Qiu Yue was unhappy with the System''s decision since she already had much on her te to handle. But she slowly came to enjoy the power she wielded as Qiu Yue realised she was now responsible for the two new developing kingdoms.

    And it did not take long for Qiu Yue to start making ns on how to use her new toys in the most efficient way. (Frightening little red panda user!)

 Chapter 370 Midnight Gathering

    <h4>Chapter 370 Midnight Gathering</h4>

    The System was extremely satisfied with the overall oue of Jin''s intervention in the Goblin World. Not only did it gain a puppet King for the Orc Kingdom but it also established a significantly beneficial rtionship with the Goblin Kingdoms.

    Therefore, after the negotiations were done, it finally kept its word and allowed Jin to give Qiu Yue the rights to be a Sub System User. "About damn time I''d say, she did so much work for us." Jin criticised as he was slouching in his home''s couch watching some online action movie while enjoying some snacks he bought from the Tiangong District. The rest of the betors, along with Yun and Lynn were apanying him as he had decided to call for an informal meeting beforehand. (The shop was currently handled by Another Jin and the announcers.)

    "Do you think she will like eating all this junk food? I could make better ones." Lynn asked as she happily munched on some crispy chicken voured popcorn.

    "If she does not like any of these snacks, I volunteer to clean this up for her. My stomach craves for such food!" Peppers gleed while slurping on arge cup of coke.

    "She will like them... that is if she has not changed her taste sinc- HEY PEPPERS! NO!" Jin stopped Peppers from grabbing more than what was allocated for her. That was when the System teleported a slightly weary Qiu Yue over from the Goblin World to the living room where everyone else was waiting for her.

    "Erm? What''s the asion?" Qiu Yue was famished from all the talks and the spread of food on the table was already calling out to her, luring her body like a snake being charmed by the sound of a pungi. As soon as Jin gave her an empty te and asked her to grab a bite, she did not hesitate a single bit at all and immediately dug in. Regrettably, Yun did not allowed Qiu Yue to do so as she grabbed her by her cor and dragged Qiu Yue to the kitchen to wash her hands.

    "Hand hygiene. Who knows what kind of viruses you brought back from the goblin world?" Yun said as she watched Qiu Yue washed her hands thoroughly first before permitting her to run back to the table. This time Qiu Yue grabbed two pieces of chicken wing without dy.

    "Erm...okay. A few things to celebrate but mainly, it''s to officially congratte you for getting the job done and earning the approval of the System. Today you have the chance to be a Sub System User. I wanted to throw a party for Lynn back then too..but-" Jin looked over at Lynn the moment he mentioned it.

    "But I rejected him outright. I thought it was not necessary after all the time I''ve worked for him." Lynn was blunt and harsh which made Jin feel embarrassed on the spot.

    "Ah! I still remember that rejection. Jin was depressed for the whole day." Milk had decided to add fuel to the fire as she unabashedly took a few takoyaki balls and gobbled them all at once.

    "Oh...no wonder he desperately wanted to train with me on that day. I was wondering why his strikes were so unusually weak." Zeru added nonchntly while he nabbed a few onion rings from the snack buffet on the coffee table.

    "He even failed to close the fridge door when he came back from work. If not for the System regting the electricity, we will be incurring a few hundreds of Yuan on the bills for neglect." Yun mentioned while chewing on arge slice of teriyaki chicken chop.

    "Such a shame. Jin even had a fanciful speech prepared for the asion. Our Master here has spent a lot of time in front of the mirror going through it. Well, time to use it now, Jin!" Kraft sniggered as he fed his foxes the Xiao Long Baos (Soup dumplings with pork meat fillings). Meanwhile, Jin was starting to resemble a tomato from all the embarrassment of thebined mental attack.

    "Well, here I am, and I am not going to reject this amount of goodness. Ohhh! Cheese fries! And it''s still piping hot!! Those are my favourites!!!" Qiu Yue grabbed a few with her bare hands as she opened her mouth like a hippo and ced that bunch of fries into her mouth without any reserve. (Jin found it especially cute that her behaviour had remained the same.)

    "Anyways...yeah, this is also a way to thank all of you guys for helping me this much with this whole unexpected war." Jin smiled as he looked at each one of them in turn with an open heart of gratitude.

    "System does not require thanks and is unable to process any kind of food. Any other form ofpensation?" The System asked and everyone burst intoughter.

    "NO WAY!! You gained the most out of the whole situation. YOU should be the one treating everyone!" Jinined and the System projected a sad Emoticon on the TV screen before it sent a message to Qiu Yue''s phone.

    The message of eptance to be a Sub System User.

    Jin then proceeded to warn Qiu Yue what to expect from epting it and asked if she wanted to do it first before enjoying the rest of the food or after their meal. Qiu Yue immediately agreed to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Thinking too much into it would not help much with the situation either. Hence, she tapped to agree on her phone and suddenly her phone floated and shot a beam of intense light towards the top of her head.

    Instead of the excruciating pain Lynn had suffered, Qiu Yue suddenly found herself resisting an invisible heavy burden that pushed her down to the ground, as if it was trying to tten her. She tried to bear with it with her by disying her current cultivation but it was useless. Within five short seconds, she fell to her knees and subsequently she was lying on the ground gasping for air. Yet the others could only look, they were unable to do anything to help her.

    Nobody was able to interfere with the trial of a Sub System User. What seemed like seconds for Jin and the others felt like an eternity as Qiu Yue tried to withstand the invisible force tying her down to the ground. Yet after some time, just as easy as it came, it also disappeared that abruptly. The System gave the notification to Jin that the Sub System had been inserted into Qiu Yue and he could see that she was already sweating buckets on the floor from the trial.

    "Good thing, you did it immediately, else you might have vomited all this tasty food. Rx a bit and enjoy it now." Yun tried tofort her as she and Lynn assisted Qie Yue up. Milk passed her a few pieces of tissues to wipe her sweat away and aided her to remove her jacket.

    "Suddenly, I feel like Queen." Qiu Yue said and everyoneughed and stopped being too concerned for her, while they continued to enjoy their buffet that wasid out at the coffee table. Only Jin was still kind enough to offer her a cup of root beer and advised her to cool down some more.

    After the snacking, they decided to stay around at the request of Jin as he pulled out a deck of cards and they began to y Texas Poker on the dining table since there were still leftovers on the coffee table. With a tap on the phone by Yun, the dining table immediately turned into a poker tableid with premium speed felt and tens of chips appeared on the table. The feltyout gave an authentic ying surface and it helped to reduce the poker chip bouncing and those messy pots. Since they were ying for fun, Yun gave each of them a particr set of chips.

    As Lynn was not too familiar with the game, Kraft decided to assist her with it. Pei eventually came out of the blessing bracelet and sat down beside Jin, though he was the only one who could see her aside from Kraft.

    "I cannot project my full powers in the bracelet form. This is to protect all of you from that devilman''s mind games. Otherwise, none of you will ever win." Pei exined as she fiddled with her fox tail a little. As Jin rarely sees Pei in her true form, he noticed that she now wore the traditional Korean Hanbok.

    "Pei probably liked those traditional clothes in general huh..." Jin thought to himself as she had been appearing in various oriental sets when she was in her true form. Meanwhile, Kraft got a little disappointed upon Pei''s cruel usation and in order to prevent any disagreement, he volunteered to be the card dealer after he taught Lynn the basics with the aid of others by giving her a dry run.

    However, before the game officially started, Moloch appeared in front of them with his puppet human in a formal casino suit. He stood right beside Kraft. "The System notified me that you guys are ying a card game. I shall be the dealer instead since I''m a good to honest card mechanicpared to this crafty old fox here." Moloch''s puppet immediately grabbed up the cards away from Kraft and threw them into a bin.

    An unopened box of cards appeared magically from Moloch''s puppet hand and he took the cards out to shuffle them. The various shuffles Moloch did was so quick yet stylish which it looked so amazing that the crowd pped as he gave the cards out.

    Despite being ostracised, Kraft decided to stay for a couple game just for the fun of it. Even if he was denied ying some mind games behind the scenes, he was still going to get his petty revenge back on the entire crowd. Unsurprisingly it didn''t took long for Kraft to win a game or two because of the bluffs he made despite Moloch''s attempt to rig the game against him.

    While he was unable to mess with anyone directly, Kraft was able to pick up the subtle bodynguage from the other yers. That was just the start! Upon learning their behaviours, all he needed was to insert a few of his own little psychological games and that was sufficient to upset the entire bnce of the group. If the group were some high rollers strangers, they would have ordered Kraft to be killed after the game was done. It was that frustrating.

    "Hahahah! Another win for me! Oh man, you guys should really train on your poker face. Especially Master. You are too easy to read." Kraftughed heartily as he finally decided to stay at the sidelines to watch over the rest of the games before he spoiled the fun that Jin had wanted to provide for the whole gang.

    As the games went on, the chips began not to matter much, so Yun decided to make this into a more challenging game. "A chip for a ss of alcohol. Who is in for it? Whatever''s your poison, I will provide." Yun suggested and that was when everyone became excited. Even Peppers who was technically underage was given Chu-Hai, a sort of Japanese alcoholic beverage diluted with carbonated water so that she could have the feel of being drunk.

    "Who will be paying for all these premium drinks?" The System spoke out from Yun''s phone and everyone simultaneously pointed at Jin, who was already sighing in despair when the System opened its mouth.

    "Fine, fine. But then everyone has to get drunk or else they are not allowed to sleep! No rity spells!" Jin said with his eyes at Milk and Peppers. Both of them epted willingly and they began ying with such bets.

    On the other hand, being a card mechanic, Moloch had decided to spare Jin from drinking too much alcohol. After all, the shop needed someone to care for it. (Although on hindsight, Moloch had severely underestimated Yun''s capacity to handle liquor.) Should the Original Jin pass out, the Another Jin''s would also disappear.

    Therefore, he purposely made the card dealing look random but it was calcted to ensure Jin was still alive and sober. The longer the games go on, the rest of the betors and Sub System Users, aside from Yun, were getting more and more drunk that the drinks counter could be empty before sunrise.

    "Hah! Four Kings!!! All of you drink and bow to the majestic prowess of this Fiery Demonic Sage Queen!" Peppers showed her hand as she matched with the dealer''s cards and everyone was growling except for one. Lynn quietly put her hand of cards down and gave Peppers a peace symbol and a wide smile.

    "HAHAHAHAH! FOUR ACES!" Milk wasughing hysterically at Peppers as she pushed five cups of low alcoholic content beverage to Peppers and demanded her to drink. Peppers cried foul y at Lynn''s beginner''s luck but Milk had already begun forcing the drink into that poor little kid. Kraft could not help and chuckled as he began recording these moments with the aid of the System via one of his foxes.

    "This is what a family should be. This is what the previous Panda n masters had always aspired to have. Jin, never ever lose this. I only hope that you will have more time in the future to enjoy moments like this. Especially when trouble always has a way to find the System''s User..." Kraft solemnly thought to himself as he beamed with a broad grin, watching Peppers seizing the opportunity to drown Milk with her own alcoholic beverage in the next round.

 Chapter 371 Empire Building Sub System

    <h4>Chapter 371 Empire Building Sub System</h4>

    "You drunk yet?" Jin asked Qiu Yue who was sitting at the side of the couch fiddling with her phone when he individually aided the rest back to their respective rooms.

    "I picked my poison well. Have you forgotten that between us, I was the who could hold my liquor, you were always the one I had to take care of." Qiu Yue teased Jin as she already had taken a cup of ck Ivory coffee from the kitchen''s coffee maker. (Yun had purposely ced one there as she found it irritating to keep going back to the store to have one made.)

    "That was a long time agoбн How''s the interface so far? Are you getting familiar with it?" Jin was a bit embarrassed as he tried to change the subject. He asked as he sat on the floor, eating the leftovers. He was surprised they were still piping hot and then remembered Yun saying something about the coffee table having a time stasis function courtesy of the System.

    It paused the physical and chemical process that was ongoing on the coffee table until the food left the area. That was also why all of their food stored within the cabs were never rotten or spoilt. Lynn also used that particr function to prepare cooked food in advance and kept it in their kitchen storage when there were lesser customers. She also used it to evaluate her penguin disciples when Lynn was not around to examine their food.

    "Very simpleбнvery intuitive. It is really as easy as ying aputer game. Just that I did not expect it to be something like augmented reality. Can you see it?" Qiu Yue was reading the manual given by the Empire Building Sub System from her revamped phone by the System. As she pressed a particr app in her phone, the System screens would pop up for Qiu Yue to preview. Jin and the others who were affected by the System would be able to recognise what Qiu Yue was doing. However, everyone else like King Sol, all he would see was Qiu Yue making weird hand gestures in the air as if she was practising casting some magical spells while holding on to a thin metallic block of an artefact.

    "Hahaha, and apparently, it is giving me a lump sum of dungeon dors as a bonus which is not affiliated to your ount although I also have ess to that one. I must say, you are not a very thrifty person at all aspared to the person I knew you as back then." Qiu Yue told Jin as she swiped her augmented screen towards Jin for him to see.

    "Well, business and real life are different, you know. At the very least, I am still getting a small- *cough* ahem, VERY SMMMMALLLLL cut out of every dungeon instance I sold, and they are all in the bank." Jin purposely emphasised the pathetic sales percentage he was given by the System back when he first started the shop. It never increased but the business ounts checked out in case of any audits. He figured there had to be some ex Panda n member who could do such brilliant bookkeeping under the System''s care.

    "User will have a major increase in percentage when he reaches Dungeon Supplier Rank 4, up to 5% of the cut." The System noted and Jin wondered if it was a coincidence of the System improving his quality of life whenever he brought up a particr issue.

    "Do you actually have a n on the benefits I get from ranking up or do you implement whatever I say as the improvement for the ranking?" Jin wanted to know and the System acknowledged his reply.

    "Indeed, some of the ranks'' rewards are based on User''s desires andints as a way to improve the User''s rtionship with the System. This is because the System amodates differently for each and every user it encounters. System must have a flexible ranking system to fit the user''s situation and especially since he is contributing to it. However, System has fixed milestones pegged to certain ranks as a default reward. The rest of the ranking system is based on the User''s needs. If you wish to change your rewards, do not hesitate to ask and the System shall implement it when fulfilling the requirement." The System stated and Jin for the first time realised that was how it was being done.

    "So, do I enjoy such benefits as well?" Qiu Yue asked and the System answered that the Sub Systems worked differently from the Main System. Whenever Jin levelled up, the rest would too but the rewards were more or less narrowed for the Sub System Users. For Lynn, it would be unlocking various cuisine recipes or food materials. Qiu Yue would have the opportunity to unlock certain quality of life functions that would make her Empire Building smoother.

    "Oh well, that is better than nothing. Anyways, Jin,e and take a look what Peppers has prepared beforehand. It was preloaded into the Sub System before I acquired it. Apparently, it is also one of the rewards that the System bestowed to me for doing such a seemingly excellent (ording to the System''s rating) job in managing the Goblin Orc rtions and the War." Qiu Yue said with a hint of pride as she beckoned Jin to the couch while she grabbed her cup of coffee from the table. "It had analysed what Peppers created and used Mooogle Maps along with other famous GPS apps to give me a model predicting of how the city will turn out to be in the future."

    "Then isn''t Peppers initial work is for nought?" Jin examined at the map carefully on the console while Qiu Yue sneakily cuddled Jin up as she sipped her coffee. Jin was concentrating on the map so much, he did not even notice it since Qiu Yue was also exining to him the details of the city model map.

    "No I wouldn''t say that. What Peppers did was to allocate the regions like industry, agriculture, housing and surprisingly even tourism into the city model. The Sub System then added roads, transportation, the electrical and sewage system into it based on the hundreds of cities it analysed. It even rmended a swap of few regions but also stated the advantages of Pepper''s decision and left it to us to decide how we wish to proceed." Qiu Yue pointed out while holding her cup and Jin instinctively pulled Qiu Yue closer as if it was the old times. (She snuggled a bit tighter when given the opportunity!)

    "I see, then what about defence wise? I mean we will be facing strong oppression from that particr dungeon''s world demon army. Don''t we at least need walls or anything?" Jin asked to see if there was a difference in opinion with Qiu Yue.

    "Hmm, Modern cities do not have walls, and I think putting a wall up would not make too much of a difference if what you previously mentioned before is true. Besides, we already have a magical barrier to protect us from those crazy ass earth shattering spells. And why make the city a stronghold fortress when we can make each and every building THE stronghold. Get my drift? Capeesh?" Qiu Yue wasughing when she said that and Jin realised he had not even considered that at all. He had been wanting to construct a city akin to old medieval ways rather than modern ones even though his city was meant to be modernised.

    "That is awesome but I have some more questions. For one, I thought you said you are going to hire some building nning experts to alleviate the city building problem?" Jin asked and Qiu Yue replied that she initially did not know what to expect from the Sub System.

    "I was actually waiting to take a look at the Sub System first before I start the hiring process. The recruitment drive is not done yet so my final choices can still differ a little. Hmm, maybe I just hire a small team as perhaps consultant? I do not know how much help they can offer but I believe no matter what, their experience should be helpful. Additionally, we let them take this back home as valuable lessons. We can umte more favours that way." Qiu Yue deduced and Jin began to remember why he chose this girl for the job. Decisive, kind hearted and yet a little sly.

    "But aside from Peppers and the System''s input, don''t you also have any input of your own?" Jin asked.

    "Hmm, Regions wise I have no qualms and they make perfect sense. In fact, what they did, might actually bring out the optimal growth for city. I am more concerned about the cost of building the cities. The Sub System did allow me to have a look at the markets and buy things at the basic prices. I mean, we do have ess to discounts and stuff by buying a lot so we should be able to get by with the money I received on my ount. But I am also looking for alternatives." Qiu Yue exined and showed her Empire ount to Jin. "Not to mention, one of the other rewards from the System was actually an Investments ModeбнI erm bought the Orcs and Goblin''s Central Banks through a little bit of negotiation between King Sol and the new Orc King Frost Echo."

    "Holy shit. And considering their economy is still pretty immature, you stand to earn lots if you apply even the simplest concepts such as bonds and mortgages into their banking systemбнwell if they did not have such a concept in the first ce." Jin became so excited about the current issue and his amazement at her feats that Qiu Yue felt it oozing out of Jin. She felt rather aroused and wondered if it was the exotic alcohol that yed a part even though she still felt sober.

    "Oh no, I want him so badly nowбн" Qiu Yue thought as she yfully pushed herself closer to Jin and touched his abdomen. She was surprised to feel the results of his training. No more bby tummy like he had back in university and even his arms were well toned. "I checked, they do not have such concepts and if I implement them, I can definitely earn back a decent sum." Qiu Yue leaned her head on Jin.

    "Sleepy? Looks like the coffee isn''t working on you. We can continue this tomorrow if you want." Jin asked as he could feel the heaviness of her head on his right arm. Qiu Yue gently shook her head.

    "I just want to be right beside you. Let meбнhold you a while longer." She pushed herself even closer to Jin and whispered into his ears. Knowing he was vulnerable and there was no one in the living room, Qiu Yue went ahead and nibbled on his ears before looking right into his eyes.

    Jin was not that oblivious and knew what was going on. He went on to grab Qiu Yue by the waist and brought her onto hisps. Their breathing became heavier but soon after it was synchronised. The stare between the two were intense and without any word, Qiu Yue''s face inched towards Jin''s with every second passed.

    "MASTER! MASTER! MASTER!!!!!" Mr Patsu suddenly barged in from a portal on the side of the living room and ran in with bated breath. Jin turned his head to hear what was themotion but Qiu Yue was extremely annoyed by the change of circumstances. She was not giving up even though Jin released his hands from her and quickly hugged Jin tightly while showing a pouty face at the iing penguin NPC. However, Mr Patsu did not care for anything else but the news he was about to ry.

    "There is an emergency! A group of gangsters has entered our shop! They are trashing the ce for no reason! Another Jin told them to stop and instead, they assaulted him! He is currently holding them off but because you are split up, his powers are limited! Some of the cultivators tried to help but he told them not to interfere." Mr Patsu was panting heavily after he spoke and quickly turned on the TV. The System immediately switched the channel to the CCTVs. "16 in total and they are not low grades at all. At least Grade 4 or 5!" Mr Patsu eximed.

    "User, while unfortunate, given the situation you are required to return to the shop. Wear the Panda Mask and find a way to merge back with Another Jin. Do you require further assistance from the betors?" The System asked as it opened a portal.

    "I will help you with this, let the others rest." Pei appeared visible to all from the blessing bracelet and whistled as she put on her Fox Mask. Tsu and Kai responded to her call and stood right beside her waiting for hermands. As Jin got up from the sofa while apologising to Qiu Yue, she stopped him forcefully.

    "You two. Stay. I will be the one go. It would be awkward if your real identity is identally revealed by the gangsters." Qiu Yue said as she took her katana out and her Red Panda Mask.

    "But your grade, it''s too dangerous to -" Jin wanted to stop her, but Qiu Yue ced a finger at his mouth before he could finish his sentence.

    "Let me show off a little to my new Boss. You won''t believe how strong I can be with this all New Sub System." Qiu Yue said as she picked up Jin''s phone. "You will support me right, System? Since it''s within the premise in the name of self defence." Qiu Yuemented as she walked towards to the portal.

    "As a showcase, the System shall provide the appropriate funds for Sub User Qiu Yue to impress User." The System replied openly before switching to a private transmission. "Aspensation for interrupting a potential mating session, Sub User is permitted to go all out. The System will bear all costs incurred." Qiu Yue heard the System and grinned widely with her eyebrows furrowed with anger under the Red Panda Mask as she threw Jin''s phone back at him.

    "Well, expect this to get expensive. Because I have plentiful amount of frustration to vent on these goons to ''coincidentally'' disturb my happy time." Qiu Yue replied as she walked into the portal.

 Chapter 372 Money is Power

    <h4>Chapter 372 Money is Power</h4>

    "Why are you just defending? Scared to take on the whole lot of us? Huh!!?" The Ruby Rat gangster taunted as he mmed his war hammer hard on Another Jin''s sword. If not for the sturdiness and quality of his sword, Bam, Another Jin would have suffered the blow directly.

    He had been trying to defuse the situation when they first entered as calm as he could be. But those Ruby Rat gangsters were ying real rough. Kicking chairs down, whacking the machines with their weapons and trying to turn over the couches yet Another Jin did not make any move at all. What he did was instruct the other cultivators to remain calm and not make a move against them. Besides, he already called the police via the System''smunication channel and the police dispatcher notified him that they would reach in ten.

    Unfortunately, Another Jin was unaware that the Ruby Rats had blockaded off the Tiangong Shopping District''s main roads leading to Jin''s store. Even if the police managed to handle them, it would still take some time to reach Jin''s store. In a way, it was a reasonably small yet organised operation controlled by theckeys of Ong, one of the Ruby Rat''s leaders who finally received bail toe out.

    The cultivators who were currently in Jin''s store were extremely furious by the gangsters'' acts of vandalism and wanted to retaliate. However, many of them understood that if they went against such a big crowd, they might not only get injured but also suffer some unnecessary trouble afterwards.

    They believed that was why Boss Jin was the only one that remained silent andposed even when the gangsters began to wreck the area. One of them even had the audacity to pee at the couch. Some of the cultivators tried to shout back at the Ruby Rat gangsters for their ruthless tactics but the gangsters warned them to shut up, else they would regret it. Yet, one of the cultivators'' words were so spiteful that the gangsters figured why they should tolerate these much insults, what more could go wrong with assaulting the customers?

    Besides, they also wanted Jin to react so they could have the excuse to attack him all at once. These acts of vandalism were indeed a statement against Jin, but the Ruby Rats would typically not be stupid enough to attack the bystanders without any reasons. They would be humiliated among the various triads for being so effeminate to initiate the attack on innocents. What''s more, was that the cultivators themselves were filming everything. If the Ruby Rats were to attack the innocents indiscriminately, they would lose all face if a video of them doing so got leaked out.

    "Stop. You can do what you want to the store, but don''t you ever dare hurt my customers." Another Jin moved forward to protect the low level cultivator who said those spiteful words and stared at the gangster intently. "Don''t expect any mercy if you do!"

    "Hahahaha! Oh no, we have angered the mighty Boss! I am scared! Mercy! Oh Mercy!" Theckey dramatised his actions before he attempted to sucker punch Another Jin who managed to block it easily. The cultivators saw that and felt offended as they drew their weapons for Jin.

    "Stop! Do not engage them. Step backwards. Otherwise, I will prohibit anyone who interferes, from entering this shop." Another Jin ordered and the cultivators reluctantlyplied but still had their weapons at the ready.

    The gangster attempted to punch him once more but Another Jin kept evading with ease. Seeing that one was not enough, more of theckeys entered the fray and fought against him. Another Jin noticed that even though the attacks themselves were crude, the coordination between them was there. They knew how to fight as a team. But no matter the case, Another Jin remained on the defensive and refused to throw blows unless it was needed to protect himself.

    "System, is ''five more minutes'' seriously that long?" Another Jinined as the gangsters began to use techniques against him and if the police did not reach in time, Jin probably needed to disturb the Original Jin.

    "It''s past nine minutes. The police seem to be caught up with some other incident." The System replied.

    "Shit, call Jin. I cannot handle this alone." Another Jin said as he caught a de with his two bare hands and attempted to throw the sword away.

    --------------

    A few bullets whizzed through the air as Another Jin managed to climb over the bar in time to avoid them. "System, are they all focused on me?" He took a deep breather as he could hear the reloading sound of a pistol with live ammunition.

    "Yes, as nned, activating barrier to enclose them so the customers won''t get injured." The System reported and replied that the Original Jin was noting.

    "What?! Why? Is he asleep or something?!" Another Jin reactively lowered his head when he heard guns firing at him once more before two shadows climbed over the bar in order to surprise ambush the unfortunate Another Jin.

    Suddenly, a portal appeared right in front of Another Jin and it surprised the two gangsters. A scabbard flew across to the right, stunning the gangster while a katana was thrown towards the gangster on the left. The scabbard hit the gangster on his throat causing him to grasp for air but the other was being stabbed into his abdomen. Qiu Yue jumped towards the one on the right and grabbed the sword''s hilt. She then turned the handle and pulled it out effortlessly from his stomach.

    "Yo, thanks for holding on. Jin managed to get in touch with ehh Detective Xue Ping. She said we could use any force necessary to subdue the gangsters and will handle the aftermath as soon as she arrives on to the scene. Of course, she instructed us, to limit ourselves to minimal casualties if possible." Qiu Yue informed him with her Red Panda Mask on and Another Jin noticed she was wearing the same armoured clothes she had on for the Goblin Bet. "IF possible." Qiu Yue reiterated.

    "Who is this fucking maskeddy? You too wussy to fight yourself? Does the mighty Boss Jin need a girl to fight for him?" The Ruby Rat Leader, Yang scoffed at the hiding Boss.

    "More like, he cannot be bothered to fight with garbage like you. Haven''t you noticed? All he did was just ying the fool to buy time for the police toe. " Qiu Yue shouted loudly as she beheaded the choking gangster with a stroke. (So much for minimal casualtiesбн )

    "Well, where''s your precious police when you need them?" Yang countered in a condescending tone while signalling the other gangsters who were controlling their anger to attack after witnessing theirrades being cut down by that Red Panda Masked Girl.

    "No need. I am the sheriff of the day in this store." Qiu Yue leapt over the bar counter with ease and moved towards the gangster mob. The ongoing scene stupefied Another Jin. He knew that Qiu Yue was going to duel with the gangsters to the death but luckily they would no longer face any repercussion as Detective Xue Ping authorised it. However, he did not remember Qiu Yue being this agile nor powerful enough to cut down two Grade four cultivators without breaking a sweat.

    "It''s one of the rewards bestowed to her. Using Money to exchange for a temporary boost of attributes. In User''s terms, she could be ssified as a ''Pay to Win'' cultivator." The System exined to Another Jin who was looking at the whole scene with bewilderment. The System also further borated that Qiu Yue had boosted her body limits to the maximum by paying the System to power her up. She even bought certain traits such as acrobatics and a set of martial arts techniques to deal with these goons.

    "So she literally has the power of money in her handsбнhow much did she spent?" Another Jin saw how she effortlessly dispatched another three Grade 4 gangsters to theherworld by beheading them in two shes. Not a single blood was spilt from the body until the heads hit the floor and human fountains of blood slightly terrified the remaining gangsters.

    "''Craploads''. Those attribute boosts and traits are, however limited and temporary. Limited as in the amount of attributes points were capped to a certain value due to the constraint of her body and cultivation. Sub User Qiu Yue''s maximum limit is currently at Grade 9. By the end of the hour, she will return to normal and the strain of the increase in attributes will kick in. System has already informed Original Jin to take care of her as she will potentially experience extensive muscr pains throughout her body for pushing it to the limit in an instant without prior training." The System stated that Qiu Yue had decided to go all out to test the capabilities to the highest power ceiling avable.

    Despite being afraid, the crowd who were behind the force barrier cheered for the Red Panda masked girl which they had never seen before in the store. Regardless, it brought them satisfaction that the gangsters were punished the old fashion way. Two gangsters revealed their Grade Six cultivations in an attempt to intimidate her but Qiu Yue did not give two hoots about them. She efficiently sent them to the afterlife even before they had the chance to use any attack.

    At this point, Yang became intimidated and panic stricken by her intervention. No one had informed them, that this Store had someone like her guarding it. That Red Panda masked girl must be some powerful sword user and certainly more trainedpared to them. At the very least, she should be a Grade Ten to ughter them without a hitch.

    He immediately went to his knees to beg for forgiveness and the rest who were still alive joined him to prostrate in front of her. Qiu Yue, on the contrary stomped her feet at Yang''s head. "Huh? I thought someone was acting so high and mighty. Now tell me, why should I stop my policing?" Qiu Yue said as she ''gently'' pressed her other boot down until the floor began to crack at the pressure. Yang nearly peed himself, as this time would be his head rolling along the floor if he did not give a satisfying answer.

    "The Ruby Rat Boss! De Tian! He wanted us to teach the Boss here a lesson for messing with us. If we could kill him, he assured us that we would be rich! We did not expect such an amazing martial expert such as your esteemed self to be under the employment of Jinбнno I mean Big Boss Jin!!" Yang answered hastily as he attempted to curry favour to Qiu Yue, hoping she would spare his life with the praises he made.

    But as quick as he could correct his form of address for Jin, he saw Qiu Yue''s katana stabbed through the ground with only one centimetre away from him. Any nearer, Yang would have lost his nose.

    "Our main objective was to simply harass him! That is all! We have gone overboard! PLEASE! We will reflect on our mistakes! Please release us, and we will promise not to bother the Great Almighty Lady Boss ever again!" Yang cried out loud. He knew that he just needed to turn her attention towards him a bit longer. Once she dropped her guard, his fellowckeys would perform a team sneak attack on her. Amon tactic they practice throughout the years.

    "Heh, I could let you leave. But the thing isбнyou not only sessfully harassed us. You destroyed properties worth thousands of Yuan, vandalised my workce, attempted to assault our valued customers. In a way, it prevented my Boss from earning his ie, which indirectly affects my bonus too. Additionally, you offended me verbally too, so being the Sheriff of the day. I think the judgement should pretty clear." Qiu Yue said as she lifted her fist and was about to kill him with a single punch until the police entered the scene.

    "Stop! This is the police! We will take over from here. Any further action will be taken as obstruction of the police!" Detective Xue Ping hurriedly entered the shop with Gupta, Abdul and Deng Long only to be halted by some invisible force. Another Jin then pulled the force barrier down and the policemen began to cuff the rest of the gangsters who were obedient enough to not struggle against it. Xue Ping saw the carnage that was left over and was relieved that she at least seeded to reach before everyone present was killed.

    Qiu Yue held her fist and mmed it on the ground to scare Yang once again before she walked back towards the Bar. "I leave the rest to you then. Good Luck, my dear Imposter Jin!" Qiu Yue said as she left with a portal even though Xue Ping kept telling her to not run away.

    "Your employee?" Xue Ping asked as she demanded the entire ount of the incident. Another Jinplied and gave the necessary details as well as the CCTV details from his bar counter.

    "For that Red Panda Girlбнshe is like a fixer of some sort. I am afraid you have to catch her yourself if you want information. Otherwise, I am taking the responsibility of her being my champion for the ''duel'' that you authorised." Another Jin replied.

    After taking the ounts of everyone, Jin''s story corresponded with the other testimonies and the customers even told the police they were willing to be his witnesses if needed. Other cops began to arrive and they took the gangsters back to the police station. Another Jin apologised to the customers for the inconvenience and provided them each with a one gold panda medal as apensation package. Most were ted and thanked Jin before they went to the various shop instances to do some stress relief shopping. (To his surprise, many were not distraught by the killings as he had expected but he did affirm them that if they needed any psychological help, do not hesitate to ask the police or him.)

    After the entire incident, Xue Ping was the only one who stayed back as she put her badge down on the table and she discussed what had really happened with Another Jin.

    "As a friend, I have some bad news for you. I am afraid it is something I can only inform you about without taking any action about it."

 Chapter 373 Police Partnership

    <h4>Chapter 373 Police Partnership</h4>

    "In that case, I suppose it would be appropriate to discuss it in a more private ce. Our new High ss Option in the Restaurant Instance should be the perfect ce." Another Jin suggested as he informed the System to contact Original Jin to meet Xue Ping.

    After Operation Pompeii, Lynn had created another train car to amodate more private or special asions. She had received feedback that some of the cultivators were willing to pay extra for a morefortable, luxurious and intimate setting. Jin had casually reviewed the proposal and gave her the go ahead, though he emphasised that the service instance was ultimately hers to take control.

    Xue Ping acknowledged and headed in first as Another Jin excused himself, stating that he needed to tend to a few things. However, the moment she entered, Xue Ping already saw Original Jin waiting for her as if he had been doing that for a very long time. "I erm...weren''t you just..erm..nevermind." Xue Ping guessed he just teleported to the ce while she had to wait a while for the train to arrive at the tform.

    "Would you like something to drink? It''s on the house since you helped us resolve that previous ruckus." Jin asked as he ced the menu in front of her. Meanwhile, he took a closer look into the interior decoration of the ce. It did feel grand with what Lynn had done to the ce.

    She created a couple of rooms within the train car, each with its own national theme. The one they currently stayed in featured a Traditional Japanese Theme (Washitsu). The traditional Koto (Zither) and Shamisen (Three string instrument) were being yed in the background contributed to the feeling of serene tranquillity within the tatami room.

    The sliding doors were there to cover the view of the train and at the opposing side, to allow waiters to enter and serve them. Even the penguins'' outfits fit the theme room they served as they saw a penguin with a kimono wearing a traditional hair ornament (Kanzashi) entering from the side. It was truly a testament to all the effort Lynn put into designing it.

    "I will get the usual, ck Ivory with additional milk and sugar. Thanks." Xue Ping answered and the penguin bowed to acknowledge the order before waddling away. Xue Ping sighed before looking at Jin who was already enjoying a cup of hot Japanese tea. "The harassment was just the start. From what we heard, Ruby Rat Boss, Wo De Tian had appointed Ong to be the one overlooking these erm ''activities'' ording to our sources."

    "...Wait, Ong? Wasn''t he killed back then...?" Only when Jin saw the expression on Xue Ping''s face did he realise what had happened. "His boss paid to resurrect him? That Ong is such a big shot for the boss to be concerned about him?" Jin was baffled as he had no explicit knowledge of the Ruby Rats'' organisational hierarchy nor what position Ong exactly had. All he knew was that he had been a pain in the ass to fight against and would be harder in the future.

    Like video game viins, they would only get stronger with their hatred and desire for revenge. Either that or he was bound to have his boss, or Big Brother trying to take revenge for him, the next time they met. Jin could already see Ongughing at him the moment they meet again. (That typical an eye for an eye, ''I will return my debt'' kind of scenario was already ying through Jin''s head.)

    "Yes, and it''s not just that. Your sudden sales tactics in recent days not only plummeted their sales but even managed to affect their stocks to a certain extent." Xue Ping said as she showed Jin the Ruby Rat''s entertainment industry stocks.

    "Wait, this is a bit too far fetched. To be frank, I am just one small dungeon supplier store. While I may be sessful on an individual level, King''s Monster is a franchise. There should be no way their stocks can plummet just because we got some new customers!" Jin rebutted. Luckily as things might have gotten heated up, the penguin waitress entered to bring in Xue Ping''s order which allowed Jin to calm down a bit.

    "True, it is not you that their shares dropped drastically. It is indirectly because of you. Take a look at this article here." Xue Ping swiped her phone to the right, seemingly prepared for Jin''s reply. He read the article with an intense focus which he then found out it was regarding Sea Mesh and their cooperation.

    Thepany whose CEO he made a deal with to create the remote portal device had made an official deration. In the article, it was reported that by the end of the year, they would be developing a prototype of a Dungeon Instance Remote Portal Device in exclusive partnership with Dungeons and Pandas. Suffice to say, various major dungeon suppliers had been vying for a partnership spot with Sea Mesh for a very long time.

    Some had even offered millions of Yuan for their research budgets but yet, none had managed to secure that spot... Until Dungeons and Pandas that is. A newly opened startup supplier store in Tiangong Shopping District which was rumoured to boast many exceptionally high quality and realistic dungeons. The article stated that many cultivators who went once, never bother to enter another dungeon supplier store again.

    "Oh my god, so Ke Loong advertised my shop as he fits... Maybe he genuinely had good intentions despite what is happening because of it." Jin had been unaware that his partnership with Ke Loong would be this impactful so soon.

    "Take a look at where that article appeared. People''s Daily Newspaper. They are also the ones to publish the infamous Cultivation Monthly. And it seems congrattions are in order. Your store received a full six page coverage in theirtest issue." Xue Ping took out a copy of it and showed it to Jin.

    He noticed that his Panda billboard was at the corner of the front page. When he briefly went through it, the reporter was very detailed and had information on almost every instance avable before the Goblin Raid instances. There were even pictures taken of familiar Pandawans fighting on the Big Screen of his shop instances. The reporter never failed to mention about the service instances like the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring, Panda Muscles and the Reservoir of Deep Fishing too. He even told the readers to watch out for more updates on this supplier.

    "You stole the spotlight from any other store. I am sure you roughly understand now why De Tian is doing this to you and where this conversation is heading? While you may have been an annoyance before, you have suddenly be more than a thorn by his side. And someone of his stature will do anything in his position to crush you before you develop into even more of a threat to his business." Xue Ping exined, with a tone of sadness.

    "The police will naturally try our best to do what we can in order to prevent chaos and havoc in the district, but we fear things like today may repeat. Even worse, they might escte to the point where a street war could ur. We do not want such a catastrophe to happen, nor do we wish this kind of infamous reputation to blemish our district. And since you are in this district, you are partially responsible for this incident." Xue Pingmented. Jin did not like the way the conversation was going one bit. It was as if there was a particr motive behind those words.

    "I am obviously oblivious to all this. Heck, I did not even know where that reporter got all his information from. I am simply trying to make a living here. Would you be so kind as to exin what you are implying?" Jin decided to act innocent and see what Xue Ping was getting at. She sighed and took out a stack of papers from her storage ring, before passing them over. Jin took a quick nce at the papers and mmed them on the table.

    "NEVER! This is out of the question!" Jin summoned his Panda ck fire at his fingertips and burnt that stack of papers right in front of her. Even as the fire burnt thest bit of the documents, Jin continued to hold on to it and crushed the reminding ashes in front of her. "I will NOT sell my shop to the Ruby Rats. If you are colluding with them, I ask you to pick up your badge, take your coffee and kindly leave. You are still wee to join us for dungeons but this conversation is over." Jin answered in a stern voice and he threw the ashes to the side as if to indicate he would do anything to protect this particr shop with his life.

    Xue Ping smirked at the dedication and determination against the Ruby Rat Triad. "We figured as much. Then how about this?" Xue Ping took another stack of papers and ced it on the table. "Please. At least take a closer look at this before you even consider about burning it. I had to offer you the easiest solution, even though it would have been a surprise if you had actually epted." Xue Ping pleaded to Jin and he could see that her hands were slightly shaking when she ced the papers down.

    Despite his anger, he decided to give Xue Ping onest chance as he looked at the new set of papers. He read through it once, but since a lot of it was written in legal terms, he would need Xiong Da to help him not overlook anything. "This isбн?" Jin was a lot more interested in this particr contract.

    "In short, you will allow us to officially conduct police training in your dungeons. In exchange for your services, you will be one of our authorised training partners and enjoy every advantage, which includes" Xue Ping pointed at her badge, half indicating that he could potentially be approved for the use of lethal action in the name of self defence.

    "бнif you get my drift. We will also definitely pay a certain mary sum from our budget but do not expect a lot of profit. However, in returnбн" Xue Ping smiled and let Jin figure out part of the benefits.

    "In return, you will have policemen stationed here. If any gangsters decide to trash this ce again, we will have the right to protect ourselves without any major consequences?" Jin tried to guess, but Xue Pingughed heartily.

    "Well, not quite, but something like that. At the very least, the police will be able to respond in time. Should they mess with our fellow officers, we have valid reasons to take action against not just the goons but the Ruby Rat Triad as a whole, giving us the possible jurisdiction to stomp their building." Xue Pingmented and this suddenly gave Jin a bright idea.

    "Sayбнthis Tiangong shopping districtбнit is not owned by any Triad or Royal Zodiac ns, right?" Jin asked and Xue Ping furrowed her eyebrows at where his question was going.

    "While the Royal Zodiac Tigers partially own this particr region of Shenzhen, the Tiangong District itself is directly under Grandma Yuan''s protection. In a way, she has some district influence that may overrule the local police once in a while unless Central Police Station decides to step in. If you are wondering, the Ruby Rats operate under their own influence circle, so do not even think of venturing into their territory. The police there works for them too. Have you forgotten yourst stint? Please don''t make us arrest you again. If you are apprehended again, it won''t be as easy as paying your bail. I am sure they have made preparations to detain you a lot longer if not worse." Xue Ping warned him, but she answered Jin more than he needed to know and he thanked her for the information.

    "Would you minding back soon? Let me go through this with Xiong Da and I will get back to youбн say in about two days? Don''t be surprised if there are changes or disagreements with the contract. " Jin said as he extended his hand towards Xue Ping.

    "We understand, I will liaise with the HR department and ourwyer. I shall apany her two dayster to assess any changes to the contract. See you then. Oh and eh about the damageбнthose Ruby Rats gangsters had done a lot, but I am afraid there is not much we can do. Of course, we will fine the remaining culprits heavily. However, if we are unable to collect bail from the gang members, which is very likely given the nature of the gang, we won''t be able to aid you with those damages. You can try with the city council and maybe have them assess you for the amount ofpensation. Alternatively, if you have insuranceбн" Xue Ping said but Jin stopped her. She sighed a little before she returned the handshake.

    "I will handle that. It''s a small matter. Have a good morning detective. Thank you foring in the middle of the night." Jin said and asked the penguins to teleport her out directly to the main entrance in order for her to avoid Another Jin.

    "A contract with the army and now the police. I had always wondered how to best contact them. But it seems like the Ruby Rat managed to help me out, without them knowing it. And If I y things correctlyбн I might be able to earn some unexpected allies and reinforcements for my Dungeon City Fortress." Jin thought to himself.

    "And of course, more money. System must warn User, the budget indicated by the contract from the police is rather whimsical. System advises User to push for more profit." The Systemined.

    "Sometimes, it''s not just about the money. Sometimesбнit''s more about the rtions we can gain from this partnership." Jin replied as he continued to read the details of the contract and messaged Xiong Da with regards to it.

    "Speaking of rtions, I need to ask Qiu Yue when we can expect the Goblin army to be up and running," Jin noted mentally as he wondered how Qiu Yue was faring after the fight.

    "User probably needs to give Sub System User Qiu Yue a day or two to rest after her power up. System also estimates the goblins require a simr amount of time to prepare everything. After time conversion that is. Given their situation, it could also take longer. User can consider putting up the Deep One Dungeons in the meantime to increase revenue." The System suggested and Jin acknowledged the idea.

    "We have won a war not too long ago, yet not much seems to have changed. The work is never ending." Jin bitterlyughed to himself.

 Chapter 374 That Insidious Boss

    <h4>Chapter 374 That Insidious Boss</h4>

    "Feeling better?" Yun came into Qiu Yue''s room to check on her condition now that Another Jin held the fort for her at the storefront. Many of the customers were sulking that Jin was back since Yun was a matured beauty to behold.

    Another Jin warned them not to have any funny ideas, her ''husband'' was one that should not be trifled with. One of the customers even teased Another Jin whether she was attached to him and he threw a ''lucky panda paw'' (one of the possible items to redeem. Naturally not made from real pandas) at the customer, making them allugh when the customer got a paw mark all over his face.

    "Nope. I wish. Still feeling very bad and sore. The System could have warned me before hand instead of telling me after I applied the attribute boost." Qiu Yue answered even though she had difficulty talking as it meant inhaling and exhaling more rapidly, causing her muscles to contract and expand more which worsened the pain.

    It was to a point she felt eating was such a chore that she rather starve. Milk had to cast a low level modified paralysation spell so her nerves would be numb, allowing her to chew and drink food normally. By using her broken soul, Yun also learnt that spell temporarily from the System and took over Milk''s job who was supposed to manage the Recovery Instanceter in the morning. (Currently still sleeping soundly from all the drinks Pepper forced into her after attending to Qiu Yue with a major headache.)

    "Here, try to get up. The food was made by Lynn with much love. Oh and if you need a hangover concoction, just hook her up via the System Channel. I found it very sweet to drink and made my head clear even though I did not need it. " Yun said as she took a letter out her storage ring and ced it on the tray.

    "She also asked me to hand you this envelope. It''s from her too." Yun said as she cast the low level paralysation spell slightly below her neck area before assisting her to get up in an upright position. "You know, you could just order medicine from the System, morphine and stuff would probably solve your aching problems," Yun suggested as she pushed a bed tray to her side and sat beside her to aid her with the feeding. Qiu Yue shook her head and reminded Yun that she still had alcohol content in her body, taking those medications might cause even more side effects.

    "And I can roughly guess the contents. You can leave it closed, I will open it up when I am much better." Qiu Yue replied with many regrets as she opened her mouth slowly due to the pain she had despite the paralysation spell. Yun inserted a scoop of congee into her mouth and Qiu Yue slowly chewed it. "There''s actually a faint fragrance of cinnamon in the porridge and it tasted good too. At this rate, I am probably gonna owe her a lot more for providing me food."

    "That is your own problem to settle. But at the very least you also now know what are the consequences of straining yourself to the limit. Better to experiment with it now during peacetime instead of using it in a dire situation and be more of a burden to Jin. If I am not wrong, the cultivation manual which Jin gave you previously should have something to do with this particr boost too. You can give it a look again while you are resting. With the Sub System, you should be able to read it now without a problem." Yun replied as she blew the spoon filled with hot congee to cool it down.

    "Now that you mention it. I remember something about boosting up attributes and it kind of make sense thinking back. You are right, I should go take a look when I have the chance...but for now, just let me ck." Qiu Yue answeredzily as she swallowed the mouthful of congee.

    "And remember to call your parents. They have been leaving you missed calls and messages for the past hour or so. Sorry that I peeked into it a little on the lock screen. They seemed worried that you skipped work or something." Yun apologised but spoke with concern even though her role as the mother was not exactly fulfilled for Jin.

    "Ah yea...I still have to deal with my shitty boss...Can I get Jin to handle him? бн Or perhaps Kraft?" Qiu Yue looked up and saw the date on the digital clock. It would be roughly another day or two before her Boss should fly back ording to the flight ns arranged by thepany. "I think he is still there. Otherwise, he would have probably bothered my parents by now."

    "You are correct. He is still there." Kraft appeared out of nowhere as usual. "And judging from his credit card bill transactions, he has been quite busy ...entertaining himself. I wonder what his wife might say if she would find out."

    "Heh, I doubt his wife is that daring because... he is the sole breadwinner and she is not exactly the most vocal kind of person. Even if she knew, she''d probably try to tolerate it. Actually, I kinda pity her a little for choosing that no good bastard." Qiu Yuemented as Yun stuffed another scoop into her mouth.

    "Then how about we provide her with some happiness so she does not need to stay miserable for any longer. What shall it be? Instant Death? Or Scandal?" Kraft sat at the end of her bed as he swiped out an augmented reality screen in front of him to check a few things on her boss, Shao Wai.

    "From what I see, he has at the very least multiple trust ounts and insurances to his wife''s name. I presume he is also doing this to avoid tax and judging from the records, it should be more than enough to get his housewife to live off the insurance money until she reaches 60. With a bit of investment and without an over the top luxurious lifestyle, she could have enough for the rest of her life. That is, of course, IF he dies. Scandal, on the other hand...I truly wonder if she is going to y the role of a ''supporting wife'' and be willing to ''overlook her husband''s unfortunatepse in judgement'' or have enough guts to break up and demand alimony from him." Kraft said as his eyes were stuck to the screen.

    "Though I can safely say, death will be much better. His ''good image'' will live on, she will be pitied to lose such a ''loving and caring husband'' and the wife can move on with arge sum of money in her hands." Kraft concluded which made Yun frown at him.

    "Are you doing this behind Jin''s back? Do you have his approval?" Yun asked as she shoved another scoop of porridge into Qiu Yue''s mouth before she could make a sound.

    "Technically speaking, we betors serve both Sub System Users and System Users. It is not wrong to fulfil Qiu Yue''s wishes if she has any. That''s all I am saying." Kraft shrugged his shoulders and gave a pretentious smile at Yun.

    "You, on the other hand, are basically Jin''s personal guardian and not the Sub System Users so I can understand why you would be concerned about his permission," Kraft remarked. "But rest assured, it can be done quietly and none of it will backfire at Jin at all, if you are that concerned."

    "Yeah, I might be serving Jin but I have my own agendas too." Qiu Yue chimed in after she chewed her food.

    "That does not mean...nevermind. But if it backfires, I am holding Qiu Yue responsible. If the System can abandon Ming, stripping a Sub Users of their powers will definitely not be a problem." Yun warned Qiu Yue indirectly as she spoke to Kraft about the matter.

    "Guess, that means that we will rid the world of a scumbag soon. Alright, Yun off you go, even I can handle feeding. I am sure your customers will be happy seeing you instead of our master greeting me. Let me discuss the details with her." Kraft suggested as he opened the augmented virtual screen in front of Qiu Yue and took over the feeding from Yun.

    When a sly little red panda and a devious old foxe together, the amount of vile, wicked ideas was too many to count from. They began by tracing by his movements and if there was any sort of routine he took despite the nature of his trip.

    Qiu Yue also chipped in and told Kraft about the past experiences she had with him so that he might have a better understanding of Shao Wai. Jin might have tickled his bones with the extensive military operation, but this particr escapade finally scratched a few itches he had for some time.

    Within the next few minutes, more information about Shao Wai popped up at the tip of Kraft''s finger, all thanks to his hacking ability. They found out that he was going to a private yacht party to vent some steam after he clinched the final deal with his contractors. (Supposedly, Qiu Yue''s job.)

    "So you wish to finish him off before he reaches the party, during the party or after the party?" Kraft gave options for Qiu Yue to choose and she decided the first one.

    "Let''s give him the loving, hardworking husband image. A scandal and murder do not bore well for the wife." Qiu Yue chose without any hesitation.

    "An ident then." Kraft began to run a fewputations on the augmented reality screen and while waiting, he asked Qiu Yue onest time.

    "Are you sure? You will be taking a life away."

    "I just killed several gangsters without prejudice, what''s another and one who is a greedy, hypocritical pervert? Just do it." Qiu Yue replied with affirmation.

    "Very well, I will spare you the details, but it would be done soon. He would no longer bother you or his wife. Now eat your congee." Kraft asked one of his fox Evon to enter the room. Its presence alone made Qiu Yue went into a daze as she chewed food. She no longer felt any pain aspared to the low level paralysation spell.

    Kraft surprisingly continued to feed Qiu Yue until the bowl was squeaky clean. "Oh and eh, let''s just say someone made an anonymous donation to the colleague, Yi San, you spoke of to Jin. She should not have any problems supporting her child for the next few years." He then cleared up the ce and let Qiu Yue rest properly.

 Chapter 375 An Adventure with Ming?

    <h4>Chapter 375 An Adventure with Ming?</h4>

    Come afternoon, Another Jin was reced by Yun for her work shift. After Jin reunited and became whole again, he decided to take the time to meditate and cultivate instead of preparing the Deep One Dungeon as suggested by the System.

    All the preparations for the war and store enhancements had made him neglect his cultivation for far too long. If not for the lucky break he had for not fighting with Orc King Hamu and his Avatar of Shaitan, Diabolos, Jin might have incurred injuries which would have hampered and slowed the progress of creating the Goblin Raid instances.

    Right now, he figured it would be best if he managed to increase his grade, especially with the iing threat of Ruby Rats looming around. Sure, he had the betors by his side to assist him in an emergency but his betors were also pegged to his grade.

    While they seemed to be a lot more powerful than what a regr Grade 7 should be, it would be best if he could increase his own strength and not have to depend on others to fight for him. Also, although the System asionally allowed the betors to ovee the fundamental barrier of grade limits, he was not sure if there were any consequences to it if he went overboard.

    Jin did ask the System with regards to that, but the System gave him such a vague answer, that Jin figured either the System did not know or never dared to venture that far before. In any case, Jin had created a room in the Dungeon Maker that simted the sleeping capsule, just bigger and wider so that Jin could be in a cultivation stance rather than being squeezed inside the capsule.

    Instead of a tight capsule, Jin now has a room with the ability to absorb all the sludge he produced during his cultivation. That way, he would not bother the penguins in the Hot Spring Instance nor destroy his house with the massive sludge output. (However, he did miss the Hot Spring medicinal bath, it was very refreshing.)

    Another capability Jin wished to utilise was the extreme time dtion he experienced in the sleeping capsule. It was a little expensive getting the room up (The System seemed quite happy to increase Jin''s loan yet again.) but Jin figured it was worth the price. Spending money to improve was by no means a bad idea. Nevertheless, he bargained with the System as usual for a lower price since it would receive the sludge byproducts from Jin for its own research purposes. (Though Jin believed the System had already taken into ount of Jin''s consistent bargaining.)

    "Wake me up by force if there is a need. Otherwise, I trust the Sub System Users and Yun to handle the store for now," Jin instructed the System as he had already assigned Yun to hand over the police contract with the possible amendments to Xiong Da. It also included a note, that Jin would have time to go over it in the evening with thewyer, which he estimated to be some time after he exits his cultivation mode.

    When Jin entered into his cultivation stance, he was abruptly forced into his subconscious state and Ming was already there waiting for at the side of the cabin with an item in hand. "What are you staring at me for? Let''s go!" Ming told him as he threw the backpack towards Jin.

    "Wait, what are we doing?" Jin asked as he caught the backpack and nearly fell from doing so. Despite its rtively small size, it was rather heavy. Ming warned Jin not to open it for now.

    "Why, we are off to an adventure. You could say a little grandfather and grandson adventure. Your state of subconsciousness has expanded quite a lot recently with your vigorous use of splitting yourself into many mini Jins." Ming beckoned Jin to follow him immediately.

    "Many Jins, you mean." Jin retorted but got hit by Ming''s scabbard. (The loving ''fist'' of a grandpa)

    "Bleargh, you are mini to me no matter how big you have grown." Ming scoffed before he cleared his throat and exined to Jin what exactly was happening. "I have created ...you could say my very own dungeon instance in your expanded state of mind which I must say I am quite proud of the end product! Hahahah!" Ming shamelessly praised himself.

    "But ites with many restrictions attached. Firstly, during your stay here, you are unable to use your cultivation powers nor techniques rting to your cultivation powers. You will be relying solely on your skill to fight and your current strength. This is to test not only your body and endurance but also your wits. I have my own set of monsters and trust me. You will die to them. Many times. Many many times!" Mingughed loudly as he finished thest sentence.

    "But if I die in my own subconscious state, doesn''t that mean I will d- Ow!" Jin got hit by the scabbard once more.

    "I am not done talking, stop interrupting," Ming said as they began to walk down the mudded forest road.

    "Unlike fictional books where you dying in your subconscious state would leave you brain dead, you dying here is nothing. Think of it as normal Dungeon Instance if you wish. You dying for real would help nobody, and heck you think I would be that kind of stupid to do that? I rather die than being that stupid...but I am also too handsome to die yet againбнHahahaha!" Grandpa was getting so absurd that Jin began to feel that his eyes were rolling to the back of his skull.

    "Anyways! Since I am the one controlling this particr ''instance'' you are rtively safe. BUT! You will still feel the pain of death. We wouldn''t want to let you becent if dying had no consequence. Let''s try the first leg of the journey first and see how you fare." Ming exined and even though Jin had the fear of his scabbard hitting his head again, he decided to speak up.

    "How did you know that I wanted to train with you even though I had no ways of contacting you? I mean, I haven''t been here for a long time, and I didn''t make my intentions known to Kraft. This was really a rather impromptu decision on my end." Jin asked and Ming sniggered.

    "I am your grandfather, you remember? The one who bloody raised you up for nearly 20 over years. Of course, I had the intuition that you wanted a good solid training the next time you entered. Your state of mind expanding at such a rapid pace only proved that you were busy training in other ways." Ming exined while he took out his hiking stick from nowhere.

    "And that stupid fox is withholding the asional IMPORTANT tidbits of information from me again! I swear he does that on purpose just to get back at me. How can anyone be so petty only for getting locked up for a while? " Ming rambled on as if he had never talked to someone for ages.

    "Besides, I actually have nothing better to do after that crafty fox went away with you. So I decided to spend my time creating this adventure ne in your state of the subconscious so that I can train you up and show you that your grandfather is not that bad of a Dungeon Supplier himself. Heh! Maybe you can copy some ideas and monsters from this and use it as your own! What a great gift, right? Hahahahaha!" Mingughter echoed through the bamboo forest.

    "Create monsters of my own? Can the System even do that? I thought it was all about capturing monsters?" Jin was surprised and really wondered if he could do such a thing.

    "Why not? Where do you think modern dungeon suppliers got their monsters from?" Ming stopped and looked Jin in the eyes.

    "From imagination," Jin answered without thinking about it.

    "Correct. Where better ce to get a monster but from your subconscious state? Unlike you, Traditional Dungeon Suppliers do not have a System, so they use their imagination and experience to create and enhance their monsters up. Sure, live monsters are definitely better subjects since they have a will of their own, but imaginary monsters aren''t necessarily that bad. " Ming suddenly became wise towards Jin.

    "They were the ones that can bring awe and fear to the ones facing them. With the System''s consistent collection of data from the monsters in the past months, I believe it has the capability to create a monster of its own. Will it be perfect? Who knows. One thing is for sure. Unlike real monsters who can restrain themselves, the system''s own monsters will try their best to always meet or even ovee the expectations of your cultivators." Ming continued to walk and chat with Jin.

    "Oh...sounds like the NPCs and even those robot Savants. They are driven with some sort of artificial intelligence." Jin said as he enjoyed the scenery of the bamboo forest down the hill.

    "I heard you also received my rewards?" Ming asked and Jin nodded. "Ah, that will aid the System in utilising the ws of an individual cultivator''s style when controlling that monster." Jin heard that and realised that Ming''s intention was not to teach the cultivators directly but rather giving the manuals so the System takes advantage of their cultivation style''s inherent weakness. Crush them mercilessly and they will have toe back for more to beat it. Subsequently, they could earn bragging rights from it. That meant extra moh. Jin''s thinking was the other way round, get beaten up so they can learn and improve on their style''s weakness. But eventually, its all for the extra moh, just different approach. However, he felt that his grandfather had a point.

    "I had never thought of that before. You are such a genius." Jin praised his grandfather as theyughed together.

    "In the meantime, I heard rumours that someone created some major military defensive operation from a crafty little fox. Care to tell me more?" Ming asked and Jin immediately recounted the grand scheme of things for him. Ming did ask a few questions butrgely it was Jin exining the whole operation in detail.

    He even boasted to Ming about the way his monsters created the defences and such. Ming remained quiet as he kept a mental note of all the ws in Jin''s exnations. It was a bad habit as a General but he figured if Jin was going to fight against an army again, he might need those tips. For now, he listened to his grandson ramble about how proud he was for his monsters, betors and even the Panda Remnant he met.

    It had been a long time since he had shared a close heart to heart talk with his grandson.

 Chapter 376 The White Monster

    <h4>Chapter 376 The White Monster</h4>

    "Hahaha so you managed to meet up with Hou Fei? How is that rascal doing?" Ming asked as he pulled up Jin before he got swept away by a fast rapids river. They had travelled through the first portion of the vast bamboo forest where the clear path became a rocky one, and eventually, they reached a rapid river crossing.

    With no cultivation powers at his disposal, Jin was not able to safely jump across the wide river nor perform the glorious water walking technique through his chi powers. Jin had to sink himself into the river and use his scabbard as support when needed while resisting the rapids with all his might so that he would not fall and flow along with the current.

    Even if he did, he used his scabbard to get a foothold against the riverbed and continued trying. The odd thing was, the river did not seem to end as far he could see. Ming confirmed that it was indeed never ending and told Jin he could attempt swimming as long as he did not mind getting hit by the rocks along the way. However, Jin was already doing so badly at the start, Ming feared that he would die an idental death in the river but thankfully Jin managed to cross it with only some minor injuries.

    "He...is ...doing ...huff fine." Jin answered his worried looking grandfather as he tried to catch his breath the moment he came out of the water.

    "Watch out not to lose your backpack or sword. Otherwise, you practically guarantee your demise. " Ming warned Jin before they continued walking. Jin had not felt so powerless for a very long time. He remembered the days he was struggling with Ming''s training, but this was way more intense than anything he ever remembered. Even though he did not show it, the hike was starting to take a toll on his body. Especially the small yet heavy backpack was bing more and more of a burden. Jin hoped whatever was inside was worth it.

    "We are reaching our camp soon. So hurry up, I want to reach it before the sun sets." Ming decided not to waste his energy talking and gave Jin the breather he needed as they continue to enter the other part of the bamboo forest.

    After what seemed like hours to Jin, they finally reached the designated camp spot where there were already two sets of camping equipment prepared at the side of a bamboo tree. Ming passed one to him and told him to set the basha tent up.

    Jin roughly remembered how and got onto it as Ming prepared the campfire and food for the two of them. He was previously talking to Ming so vividly that he had forgotten that this was part of the training process, so he decided to keep quiet and make the tent as instructed even if he was still half dead from the river crossing. Using the camping equipment, Ming began to boil some water and used it to heat up the packet rations that came with the camping set.

    Eventually, Jinpleted setting up the Basha tent and went towards the campfire for his dinner.

    "Tiring, isn''t it? Without your cultivation powers." Ming asked as he passed the packet ration all heated up for Jin to eat. He checked the rationbels and realised it was ...macaroni with meat and vegetable fillings in the packet. Jin reluctantly opened it and ate, but it somehow tasted good even though he clearly remembered it being terrible.

    "Tiredness and hunger can make any food taste great," Ming lectured his grandson after seeing his surprised expression, while he also chewed on his packet ration. At this point, Jin asked if there is an objective to this particr leg of the journey.

    "Oh, don''t you worry that much. When ites, ites. Just be carefree for now and rest up." Ming answered with a gleeful tone which made Jin extremely suspicious of his expression. Not to mention, his anxiety was hitting maximum values.

    "You mean it coulde anytime?" Jin asked as he gobbled his entire ration packet in case he would jinx himself for saying it out loud. True enough, Jin suddenly heard a growling from the back which made Jin stop all his movements and slowly reach for his sheath at the side of him.

    "Well, what do you know? What impable timing." Ming sniggered as a shadow immediately pounced towards Jin sitting location, but Jin was able to safely use the scabbard to block the bite from the monster right in front of him.

    White, furry, blue eyes and with a veryrge angry mouth. That was the first thing Jin saw as he tried to identify the white monstrosity which then it finally clicked what creature Jin was facing.

    It looked exactly like the mythical White Tiger of the West from the legends. (╬ў╖╜░╫╗в Xi Fang Bai Hu/Byakko). The moment Jin removed his scabbard away from the White Tiger''s jaws, he spat out the macaroni that he had still been chewing into the tiger''s mouth and somehow it managed to choke the tiger momentarily, allowing Jin to kick himself away from the White Tiger. (He wished his kick was strong enough to knock the White Tiger of the West away)

    "What the shit?!" Jin eximed as he swallowed the rest of his food down and even calmly took his sk that was hanging at his waist and drank it.

    "You do not look as surprised as I had imagined of the tiger. Should now really be the time for you to enjoy your food?" Mingined as heid back and decided to watch the show from a tree branch.

    "What can I say, I kind of expected that from you. Besides, better to die without an empty stomach." Jin joked as the White Tiger prowled around the prey which had angered him. Jin honestly did not know what to do about this situation. He read books about the White Tiger of the West and the praises of magnificent strength and prowess it possessed. How could a human with no cultivation powers suppose to beat a monster of such legend? "I think even at Grade 7, the chances of surviving this without my betors would be low." Jin thought to himself as he gripped onto his katana hard.

    "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this earlier, but one of the restrictions forbids you to change your weapons. Bam is in permanent Katana form and Boo in your wakizashi form. But that should be about it. Good luck with your new friend." Mingmented as the White Tiger noticed the distraction in Jin''s face (Hope and optimism had begun leaving his body) and went to charge it with its ws at the front. Jin tried to evade at the veryst second before he -

    Yeah, Jin died. The tiger got him.

    With just a single charge, the tiger''s paws literally swiped away Jin''s head before he could make a move, causing it to roll beside the fire pit. Jin was not used to his new body without cultivation, nor did he have ess to his Inverse Eyes that would allow him to predict the movement of the White Tiger correctly.

    "Oh well, I kinda expected him to die the moment White Tiger appeared. At least he did exceed my expectations a little bit." Ming grinned as he snapped his fingers, causing the entire scene to change right in front of their eyes.

    "UWWWOOOO!!" Jin suffered a violent shake from his consciousness and realised he was being swept away along the river with Ming strolling along the side.

    "Good wake up call?" Ming shouted to ask Jin who was struggling to swim across the river. Jin did not say a word and tried his best to get out of the river as he once did and Ming offered his hand once more to pull him out.

    "What are the chances of me killing the White Tiger?" Jin panted for air as hey down at the side of the river and Ming sat beside him forpany.

    "Honestly? None. I mean you can always hope for it to have a sudden heart attack, but otherwise 10/10 times it will decimate you in a direct confrontation. But you can figure it out, can''t you? I mean right now, you kind of know where it appears." Ming tried to console him.

    "Will ite for me no matter what?" Jin asked as all he had was a nk in his mind.

    "Who knows? I just leave it to you. Oh and no matter what, do not open that backpack. I will be waiting for you on the other end of the bamboo forest." Ming reminded him as he continued to stroll through the forest.

    "Fuck...that means I will have to fight it at least a few times to learn the tiger''s attack pattern. And I don''t even know if he has any magical abilities." Jin cursed as he thought to himself how impossible this task is.

    "Just a tip as an exchange for telling me the juicy story about your recent life activities. The forest is your ally if you know how to use it. Cheers!" Ming had decided to help him out a bit via a private long range transmission before he became uncontactable. Jin sighed as he stood up and looked at the immense bamboo forest right in front of him.

    Jin tried to summon his chi from within to confirm that he really did not have any cultivation ability within him. True enough, he felt nothing was happening. Even when he tried to cultivate, no chi was being circted around him.

    "Guess that means I have to fight one on one against this monster of Legend." Jin sighed as he went into the bamboo forest with his backpack. He knew the chance of him dying in the second round was extremely high since nothing much has changed but he needed to seek for any advantages and check the surroundings as Ming suggested before the White Tiger finds him once more.

    "If Ming was being cryptic, he could mean that was when the tiger will appear but if he was tant with his clues...then that was quite a useless clue." Jin thought to himself as he took out his shirt to squeeze whatever water remained in there so it would be morefortable to run around with it.

    He assumed both the worst and the best. By being optimistic and if Jin was not mistaken, he probably had a few more hours before the White Tiger would appear to hunt him down. Perhaps, he might never encounter the White Tiger until he is ready to fight! But one thing was for sure. Hiding would not give him any advantage at all since he was now a vulnerable prey instead of the venerable hunter. The worst? The tiger can appear at any time, anywhere. But as he ventured around the bamboo forest for half an hour, Jin realised something stupid.

    He did not know where he was going as he was blindly walking around without any usefulndmarks. That was when he tried to crack his brain to remember what Ming had taught him about woond survival. He figured that was what Ming wanted him to do in the first ce.

    Setting up Basha tent, hiking through the forest and now leaving him alone in the bamboo forest with just his sword and that damned backpack. Jin had been surrounded with tremendous help ever since he received the System and while he did have close encounters with various monsters or even enemies in the real world, there was not much of a real threat with the System protecting him.

    Jin guessed Ming wanted him to fend for himself so that Jin could push himself to the limit. It was definitely not impossible to defeat the White Tiger just...a matter of how (but also when).

    "ARGGGHH! No matter how I think, I still cannot see myself defeating the beast!!" Jin shouted out loud while scratching his head after brainstorming for some time. A few birds flew away from the sudden anger outburst he made.

    Very soon afterwards, he heard some rumbling noises from afar. Only then did Jin realise how much he fucked up. So, he quickly climbed up thergest bamboo he could find and as high as his strength permitted, hoping the White Tiger would not sniff him out that soon after his blunder. But as ''promising'' as the n sounded, the bamboo bent and broke from his weight causing Jin to suffer a terrible fall. That was when he heard a low growl emanating from behind him.

    Jin scanned the area in a panicked state as he struggled after biting his tongue in order to tolerate the pain from fall. (Else he would be giving away his location away from shouting once more.) But it was toote when he felt something sticky dropping on to him.

    As if the tiger had the intelligence of a human, Jin could swear it smirked at him before aiming for Jin''s neck. The prey had lost its consciousness once more.

 Chapter 377 The White Monster - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 377 The White Monster - Part 2</h4>

    Jin received an unpleasant awakening by the sshing of water on his face though this time, he also hit a boulder sieve which allowed him to stop being carried further down the river. Jin got up and observed the surroundings to make sure it was the right part of the bamboo forest he was moving to. (There was no more Ming to beckon him forward.)

    Jin sighed as he knew he''d have to go through the entire process all over again. In the meantime, he carefully touched his neck since there was still the lingering edgy pain from the White Tiger''s bite. The more he traced his neck along with the pain, Jin believed that he could feel some indentations being left at his throat. However, it was just the phantom pain he was experiencing from his past death.

    "Urgh, I''m certain it''s purposely aiming for my head. Now it feels all sore." Jin grumbled as he looked at the bamboo forest with fear instilled into him. "I need to make some progress or else, this nightmare will only repeat over and over," Jin told himself as he sliced arge bamboo down.

    There were no marks or signs to indicate where he went and he needed something to mark whether he had been at a location before. Hence, Jin cut the bamboo into pieces. He found some long leaf bushes and a bunch of bright, colourful flowers.

    After which he tied the bamboo ''cups'' to hold a flower or two and ced it on bamboo branch nodes around his height. That way Jin would know if he was going in circles. If he deviated from a straight path, he would change the colour of the flower. Sadly, he was not able to ce any items in his backpack.

    Though Ming repeatedly told him not to open it up, curiosity made his fingers feel rather itchy, but the backpack would not budge under any circumstances. After trying for five minutes, Jin gave up the attempt and used his shirt as a temporary knapsack to hold the marking items. There were some inconveniences, but Jin managed to handle it well enough...until he found something out of the norm.

    From a nce, it appeared he had encountered an abandoned Chinese temple inside the forest. Jin knew there was a chance the White Tiger might be in there, but he had to find out for sure. If there were any useful items inside or if Jin could create an advantage using this particr Chinese temple, it would be foolish to ignore it.

    He ced the items he was using as markers down, wore his shirt and carried his backpack around in case of thieves. Jin read enough books with stupid protagonists who suddenly found the items they were supposed to deliver stolen only because they did not pay enough attention or simply left them in someone else''s care. However, Jin could sympathise with them because he also found it very tempting to leave the backpack alone for a short while so that he could survey the area and be faster and stealthier at the same time.

    He first went around the temple, checking for any openings to avoid entering from the front door and noticed some broken windows and even holes in the walls. Vines, nts and insects were also plentiful indicating the temple had been abandoned for quite a long time.

    The metal, presumably copper, used for the temple''s pir supports turned rusty and had a greenish mould, but otherwise, it looked sturdy enough. He had feared entering the temple may have been a trap and he had no desire to experience being crushed under it. If it was on the verge of copsing, he wanted to take the time to notice it. Before long, he found an unlocked backdoor and decided to enter with his wakizashi unsheathed. (He wanted to bring Bam out but holding the long katana indoors for close quarters defence might not be very feasible.)

    The door creaked loudly due to the rusty hinges so Jin opened it only enough for him to enter and he purposely kept the door open by putting a rock he found near the temple grounds. The appliances and the design of the room revealed that Jin entered the kitchen. The first thing he did was to look for any potential kitchen equipment such as knives being left around.

    He figured it would be better to have more weapons on him in case he needed them. To his surprise, he found choppers, knives, cutting boards, pots and even useable tes. He tried checking the containers in the kitchen too, but most of them were filled with rodents which did give him quite a scare when opening them.

    However, there was one thing that made him very happy. At first, he was unsure, but the smell of it was very familiar. So he decided to take a spoonful and ce it in a pan. After which, he went back to the temple grounds to find a few dry sticks to practice the bushcraft Ming taught him. It took him some time to get it right and the dry sticks eventually lit up. That was when he poured the liquid on to the burning fire.

    "Yes!!" Jin raised his fist up as a sign of achievement. The fire burned brighter and fiercer from the liquid. Jin had miraculously found a container urn full of cooking oil. Now, this was a game changer. With this, he could try to turn the temple grounds into a hunting ground. Jin got extremely excited about the increased prospect of him surviving the White Tiger''s onught, but he reminded himself to remain calm and continued to check on the rest of the temple to make sure it was indeed free from any other predators.

    "This temple is huge! It does not look that big from the outside even after scouting the outside perimeters for a round!" Jin was curious if this was some magic at work since he got the perception that it was small from the outside, but it appeared far more spacious on the inside. When he reached the main hall, a giant statue greeted him. Jin was relieved to find no one there but Bodhisattva himself.

    He took some time admiring the dusty broken statue before bowing three times as an apology in advance. "I am sorry Venerable Buddha. I desperately want to survive this time around." Jin ced his hands together and offered a small prayer of gratitude. After which, he went to scavenge the cabs in the main hall to find anything that could be used against the White Tiger.

    "Candles...matchsticks! This will be very useful. Okay, incense paper...joss sticks..." Jin spoke to himself as he found a bountiful amount of prayer supplies in the cabs. They were naturally dusty and the offering papers had already turned yellow, but they were definitely still usable. What was even more delightful was that he found more bottles of oil.

    He was thankful they used those to fuel the oil pot for followers to lit their joss sticks. After which, he checked the other rooms in the temple and incidentally found a bunk room which he had no qualms raiding. There was not much except for books, a few miniature statues for meditation purposes, a few sets of praying beads and even sets of monk clothes in different sizes.

    "Nothing much...wait...if there are books...Perhaps I can find something useful on the White Tiger!" Jin suddenly got an epiphany and decided it should be worth it to spend some time to check if there were any books on such a legendary monster.

    He was not expecting much but if what Ming said was true, that the forest might be his ally, the temple should have something to do pertaining to that issue. Besides, who in the right mind would put a temple in the middle of a bamboo forest for no reason? For the serenity of the mind with a White Tiger as its hunting grounds? Impossible.

    Unfortunately, the more Jin searched for such a book, the more reality disappointed him...until he identally fiddled with a cupboard in the bunk room when he found a part of a folded monk''s attire stuck to it. Jin tried to pull on it but to no avail.

    He became slightly suspicious.

    Therefore, he took his wakizashi and ced it at the corner where the attire got stuck and used what little strength he had to rip it open. To his surprise, he found a ssic revolver with six ruby jewel coated bullets. Even more peculiar was that the revolver had an insignia of the Yin Yang circle on the handle. Jin picked it up and inspected the barrel cylinder to find another six more of those jewel looking bullets in it.

    Jin felt reassured that this temple was indeed the ally he was looking for. He first unloaded the revolver and checked whether its trigger and hammer of the revolver were still in working condition.

    *Click Click*

    Those sounds seemed heavenly to jin''s ears after he pressed on the trigger. He hastily loaded up the bullets and stuffed them behind his pants. Thankfully, his backpack at the very least had visible side pockets which he used to ce the remaining Ruby bullets for the time being. After which, he closed the door of the bunk and ransacked the entire ce. He was not going to leave any stone unturned before he moved on.

    It was hard work and Jin''s haul was amazing. He found a second revolver only this one was filled with Aquamarine jewel bullets instead as well as a priest staff. He initially thought it was just an ordinary priest staff which it turned out to be something simr to a sword cane. A Sword Staff perhaps? Jin tried to pull it when he saw the staff consisted of attachments. The good thing was that the sword was still in good condition and it could prove useful.

    What was more surprising was the book he managed to find hidden under rolls of bed sheets as it was exactly the thing he had been wishing for when he first saw the revolver. It was a Demon Exorcist Manual. Jin looked at the book with whatever little sunlight left shining through the bunk room. After some quick flipping, he got stuck on a page depicting an image of a familiar looking enemy. The whole section was dedicated to the White Tiger of the West. To these ''monks'' the White Tiger was just another Demon instead of a legendary monster.

    Most legends were created from some form of truth and in their eyes, the White Tiger was merely another sort of demon instead of the legendary protector Jin knew him as. It would prove very useful since it listed the potential weakness of the White Tiger.

    The words in the manual were cursive and in traditional form, making it hard for Jin to decipher the entire text in a nce. But he learned that the White Tiger hated fire and the Ruby Jewel coated bullets that he had found were being referred to as Origin Ruby Fire Bullets in the book. Jin truly struck gold with all that persistent raiding. The manual said that the Ruby Fire bullets were extremely effective against the White Tiger. However, it was rmended to use the bullets wisely since a White Tiger could temporarily raise its resistance after repeated attacks.

    "So...use fire until he bes immune to fire and after which utilise the ruby jewel bullets and it should be a near instant kill." Jin thought to himself as he flipped through the books and saw that the Azure Dragon of the East (Ц|╖╜╟р¤И Dong Fang Qing Long/Seiryuu), the Vermillion Phoenix of the South (─╧╖╜╓ь╚╕ Nan Fang Zhu Que/ Suzaku) and the ck Turtle of the North (▒▒╖╜╨■╬ф Bei Fang Xuan Wu/Genbu) were listed in the book too. He decided to keep the book for future references in a Demon Exorcist sling bag which he had scavenged and was filled with various tools like apass, a water sk etc. He also found a belt with a holster that allowed him to keep the revolver, which made it easier to carry it around.

    "Now, time to prepare some traps for that stupid oversized cat!" Jin rubbed his nose in anticipation as he carried the pieces of equipment to the main temple hall.

 Chapter 378 White Monster - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 378 White Monster - Part 3</h4>

    It took Jin hours as he strained his eyes and body to prepare everything under cover of darkness. As he ced the traps, he already nned for the next trap should one failed or the other was skipped.

    Jin did not rummage through the abandoned temple for fun, and with the experience of a Dungeon Maker, the generation and execution of ideas was smooth which lead him to believe that he was sessful creating the traps to the best of his abilities. However, all this could not have been done if not for the partial moonlight shining through the forest to illuminate the ce, else Jin doubted he could do anything until the next day.

    He was not very sure if he was going to make it through this particr ''life'', but at the very least, he had marked the locations from the entrance of the bamboo forest via the river and remembered specifdmarks to reach this particr temple again.

    Though one thing was still uncertain. Jin had no idea, if his death would result in elements of the forest being reset through something like a Time Reversal or if things would continue as if he was going through Reincarnation. There were pros and cons for both possibilities and Jin would only learn this if he could somehow survive this particr round against the White Tiger.

    The former would be a hassle since he would have to find the particr temple again. All his previous work with marking the route would be pointless. If Ming was extra mean, he could even make the temple move to a different ce each time he died since this was his ''dungeon instance''.

    Jin hoped that at the very least, the items would not be shuffled around so that he could be more efficient in searching and preparing the traps again. Meanwhile, thetter of reincarnation meant that whatever damage he inflicted onto the White Tiger, stayed on the White Tiger. That way, the Tiger could potentially be worn out from all injuries, permitting Jin to go for a smooth final kill strike.

    But that was assuming the White Tiger did not have any regeneration trait. The bad thing about reincarnation was also that the items and traps would have been used against the White Tiger and it might be hard for Jin to find those items again in this deste bamboo forest. Even worse was the possibility if the White Tiger was intelligent enough to remember his tricks and forcing Jin to invent new traps every time he fought against the White Beast.

    Therefore, Jin could only pray that he manages to kill the White Tiger without dying so that he would not need to worry any of those unnecessary random thoughts. Right now, all of those did not matter. Tired and hungry from all the preparation Jin, the only constion he could give himself was that he was still ''alive'' for so long and that the White Tiger had not found him yet.

    "It will be stupid to fight in the darkness." Jin thought to himself as he went back to the Temple''s bunk room and barricaded both the door and windows with bed frames before using the chance to sleep somewhat peacefully so he could recover from the fatigue he rued.

    When Jin woke up the next day, he slowly removed the bed frame and tactfully checked his surroundings before heading to the Temple backyard. He remembered seeing a well when he was scouting and required some water after being thirsty the entire night.

    Along the way, Jin plucked a few leaves from the bamboo trees that contained droplets of morning dew so that he could suck on it to quench his thirst temporarily. After which, he reached the backyard only to find the well in poor shabby condition. The well''s handle was broken and the rope rotten with the passage of time. Jin sighed as he took a pebble and threw it down the well to check if there were any sounds of water since he was unable to determine the depth of the well.

    If not, it would be a waste of effort trying to reach the bottom only to find out that there was nothing. Conservation of his strength was his utmost priority before the fight against the White Tiger of the West.

    To his expectations, the pebble hit rock bottom without a single sound of water sshing as he heard the pebble rolled and echoed back loudly. No doubt, Jin cursed a little.

    However, a part of him felt like exploring that well too since he now knew this temple was not an ordinary one at all. But on second thought, Jin should focus getting ready to fight the White Tiger before his body got any weaker. "Perhaps, I can escape into this well, if things take a turn for the worse." Jinughed at himself before surveying the area, desperate to quench his thirst.

    Only then, it struck him. There was actually water all around him since he was after all in a BAMBOO forest. Jin had nearly forgotten about that as he quickly went towards a bunch of bamboo trees and cut them at the side.

    Without question, water was slowly dripping down in abundance that Jin brought it up above his mouth and drank it greedily. After a tree or two, he saw a few ripe bamboo shoots for the picking. "Better to go in with a stomach filled than a hungry one," Jin told himself again happily as he dug them out from the soil, rubbed the dirt away and proceeded to eat them raw.

    It was a little hard to bite and chew through the raw, fresh shoots so he used his Wakizashi to cut them into smaller pieces and had an easier time eating while enjoying the scenery for the moment. Jin remembered how terribly busy he was for the past few weeks and appreciated this gentle pace even though he was still on a constant lookout for the White Tiger.

    Upon finishing onest bamboo shoot, Jin grabbed another bamboo tree and drank it posthaste since he needed more water to clean his pte due to his eating habits. But if other people were to notice Jin''s way of eating in the forest, they might say that he was on his way to bing a true ''Panda'' cultivator.

    Wiping his mouth from all the juicy bamboo water and crunchy bamboo shoots, Jin felt a lot more energised to fight against the White Tiger. Yet before that, he double checked the traps and familiarised himself with the temple grounds once more by practising where the traps were. (It would be a shame if Jin died by his very own trap.)

    When he felt he was ready, the weather suddenly turned for the worse almost immediately, as if the forest itself wanted Jin to lose. Dark clouds covered the skies, and a heavy gale blew through the forest and the abandoned temple. Still, Jin did not hesitate as he went to the abandoned temple and took a small portable gong, whacking it as hard as he could in the open temple grounds.

    The sound of the gong echoed throughout the forest and in no time, the White Tiger appeared with a hunger that only consuming Jin could satiate it. He gulped his saliva in as he moved towards the gong which was now attached in front of Jin''s chest, acting as an improvised armour. After which, Jin lighted up the stick he used to whack the gong. It was wrapped with straps of cloth and doused in oil in advance which startled the White Tiger a little.

    *GONNGG* GONNGG* Jin hit the gong with his burning, hot wooden stick while holding his katana on the other hand. "Come! What are you waiting for, you oversized cat?! Let''s get this over and done with! At the end of this one of us will have a meal for the nightбн and I shall enjoy some juicy thigh meat!" Jin shouted, provoking the White Tiger to the best of his ability.

    Needless to say, the White Tiger of the West took the bait and went forward. However, being the king of the forest, the White Tiger had no previous experience nor encountered the sort of traps that Jin made.

    Multiple small depressions were dug around the temple grounds, simr to a porthole on the road which he spent all night creating with the tools he found in the temple hall. Within those depressions, he carved sharp bamboo stakes and stuck them in there. After which, he used therge prayer papers to cover the small depressions and masked it with some dirt and soil. Jin purposely left a small colourful edge of the prayer paper to remind and mark that there was a trap there.

    Tigers did not have the colour vision like humans so he was betting on the same applying for the White Tiger of the West. True enough, as the tiger was charging forward, it identally stepped into a depression and the stakes pierced him. Jin who had seen thising was already taking advantage of the White Tiger''s stumble to attack it.

    However, unlike its paws, the fur of the White Tiger was simr to strands of metal. Bam in Katana form did not break nor slice the creature, causing it to only sh with the strands but hence Jin''s sh did not connect.

    Despite that, Jin was quick to react as he had prepared for something like this to happen. After all the White Tiger of the West was infamous for possessing and wielding the element of Metal, one of the Five basic Elements noted in China. That was why the Demon Monk Exorcists'' manual rmended Fire as the oveing element against the White Tiger.

    Jin whacked the gong on his chest as hard as he could, momentarily stunning the White Tiger, allowing him a second try by piercing the tiger with his Katana. What''s more was that Jin had purposely heated his katana under the influence of oil and charcoal stones he had found in the Temple kitchen oven.

    While he was checking on his traps, Jin began heated his katana in thebination of oil and charcoal stones so that it could potentially be able to inflict some damage with the element of fire (Heat) before it cooled back to normal room temperature.

    The White Tiger growled in pain and used his body to perform a slight twirl to m against Jin with it, spiralling him towards the temple doors which was more than tens of metres away. Instead of running towards his prey, the White Tiger removed his paw away from the trap and performed a very terrifying leap towards Jin in order to avoid the other possible traps on the ground.

    Jin tried to recover as fast as he could, but the pain was almost paralysing him from doing anything. "Ah, if only I could just die, this would all be over..." Part of Jin felt that way, but the other half of him knew that it would never end unless he quit his state of meditation and never cultivate again. Fortunately, the tiger mmed him at towards a favourable ce, where Jin was right beside a trap trigger. Hence, he took his wakizashi out and pointed at the direction of the leaping tiger.

    The White Tiger did not care about a single de edge pointed at it. It was after all the embodiment of metal. Its metallic steel fur would no doubt block the attack and the White Tiger would make sure that he chewed on the bones of this insolent prey till they break into many pieces.

    "Heh, sucker. This is the hardest trap I have for you in store." Jin smiled as his mmed his wakizashi down as hard as he could on the trigger rope, causing the trap to activate. With no time to run away from the impending pounce, Jin hoped that the trap would do the trick.

    And it did.

    A Buddhist prayer urn filled with incense ashes swung from within the temple and smashed onto the white tiger as it was about to strike Jin. The Urn broke into pieces upon contact which caused the tiger to be knocked down and the ashes created a cloud of billowing smoke, allowing the powdery residue of incense sticks to hide Jin''s next move as he took the chanceбн to run into the temple the moment he noticed the tiger fell to the ground.

    The tiger tried to growl but it coughed from the inhtion of incense ash. Not to mention the foreign object that hit it gave it a very terrible headache in return. The White Tiger took some time to recover from the daze and naturally moved back to get away from the ash cloud that irritated its breathing and vision.

    But what the tiger did not expect was that the wooden steps leading to the temple door were booby trapped too. Jin had noticed the shoddy condition of the wooden temple steps after years of abandonment but still decided to utilise the temple as much as he and time could permit.

    He ced more of those sharpened bamboo stakes and stuck them deep to the ground with much difficulty. (as he had to ensure that the steps did not look like it was being meddled by him since Jin was not sure how smart the White Tiger was.)

    In the attempt to tamper the wooden steps, Jin guessed that he did the trap to the point that it looked like a normal hand pressure was sufficient to break it. To make things even moreplicated, he poured some oil on the wooden steps to make sure they were slippery enough. The trap was not designed to kill but to hinder the White Tiger''s movement while Jin prepared the next uing trap in the main temple. (But if it did kill the tiger, that would definitely be a bonus.)

    Without question, the tiger who visually handicapped from the incense ashes and driven by instinct, made it fall into that trap which it could have normally avoided given its acute perception. The wooden tforms broke upon the White Tiger''s backward steps, and some of the bamboo stakes managed to partially pierce into the tibial muscles of the hind legs.

    "Time for Phase 2бн" Jin covered his face with a wrapped cloth that was hanging on his neck so he would not inhale the ashes and used all his strength to close the front temple doors and locked it with arge wooden security bar.

 Chapter 379 White Monster - Final

    <h4>Chapter 379 White Monster - Final</h4>

    There was no mistake, the White Tiger of the West was undeniably furious. It let out an angry roar that made Jin shivered all over. The slope did not injure it as much as Jin had hoped, but it did plenty considering that the tiger would be agitated. When he heard it banging on the doors, he prayed that everything in the next few minutes would go as nned.

    The wooden security bar cracked after its first strike and Jin could feel the murderous gaze through the slight opening it created. Right now, it was no longer merely about acquiring some food. The White Tiger was going to kill him to quench its frustration that a tiny existence had not only dared to fight against it but was even able to injure the supreme being, the undisrupted ruler of this serene bamboo forest.

    In the meantime, his adrenaline rush was short lived. Unlike when he had cultivation, the injuries Jin incurred from the knockback began to hurt. However, Jin knew he had to bear with the excruciating pain even though he felt that his lower back could give out at any moment if he continued to fight against the white monster.

    "Heh, it''s toote for regrets. It''s kill or be killed again." Jin repeated this phrase in his head like a mantra. It helped to reduce his anxiety and to keep himself sane by reminding himself why he was still enduring in this fight. The Tiger''s gaze disappeared but within a sh, the entire door splintered open. Once again, Jin saw the majestic figure that stood at the gates of the once sacred ground.

    The White Tiger roared once more as a challenge, only this time Jin stood unwavering, holding his wakizashi pointing at his enemy with foolish courage and a lotus ssmpntern burning quietly on his hand. The white beast found the smell of the temple hall a little unsettling but it cared more about the prey in front of it. As long as he had the opportunity to strike a proper swipe against his cunning prey, he did not mind the wounds inflicted nor this particr disturbing unnatural ce of rotten wood, broken stones and rusty metal.

    Learning from the mistakes of the past, the tiger did not charge immediately nor decided to pounce. Instead, it began to prowl around the great hall even though Jin remained at the centre of the hall armed with that puny metal poking stick and a small glowing spark. The White Tiger was naturally afraid of the fire yet at the same time fascinated with it. Because whenever there was a twinkle of burning light, it meant that food was around.

    But even so, it felt that Jin needed to try harder to scare it with a more substantial source of fire. Not only that, the White Tiger being an intelligent sentient being, it was looking out for those weird surprises this nasty prey had prepared. However, it seemed unable to find any kind of trap.

    The only thing it noticed was that the ground was covered with some sort of liquid, but his prey was standing there a little soaked as well so the White Tiger believed there should not be any harm about it. Yet, it did not stop lurking. The White Tiger of the West wanted to instil fear to that weird monkey looking prey and at the same time, trying to adapt itself to the injuries it incurred.

    Yes, unfortunately, the weird monkey''s long metal stick was still stuck in his lower right shoulder de. It was a little painful to move about but the White Tiger did not bother too much for now since it had no means to remove it. Additionally, the injury it received recently from falling into the steps was not drastic enough to hinder its movement. But unlike other creatures who would cower soon after receiving such injuries, the White Tiger relished in the hunt for such a troublesome creature.

    Seeing that the White Tiger was taking its time, Jin also understood what it was doing. Psychologically speaking, it was wearing Jin out from the constant vignce. Jin also noticed that the White''s movements appeared a bit clumsy at first probably due to the injuries it had sufferedбн until the recent round of prowling where its movements seemed more fluid. But a half intelligent monster was easier to trick than a simple one.

    Knowing that right beside his feet was the Priest Staff with a sword de hidden inside, Jin purposely threw his wakizashi at the White Tiger, aiming to provoke him. But before doing so, he changed into a crouching position so that Jin had a more natural reach towards the Priest Staff. The White Tiger dodged it immediately and went for the counter attack just as Jin suspected. That was when he used the staff to block the tiger''s advance with one hand.

    Needlessly to say, the block was futile as the tiger had its mouth chewing at the staff and injuring Jin''s left hand. However, he did not panic and instead Jin took the chance to thrash the lotus ssmp at the White Tiger''s face. The oil sttered all around its face and the ss pieces forced the tiger to close its eyes. Jin then pulled the sword de from the side of the staff and used whatever strength he had left to plunge it in the throat area.

    Aspared to the Katana Jin used previously, the sword from the Priest staff slid into the Tiger''s neck quite smoothly, without any resistance. The White Tiger in retaliation bit at Jin''s hand which he was using to block with the priest staff and tore it off immediately.

    "ARGFGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH, FUUU- " Jin attempted to convert all the pain he was experiencing and focused it as strength to drag the priest sword closer to him, leading to an open wound at the Tiger''s throat. (Too bad, it did not hit the vital arteries)

    This attack forced the White Tiger to fall back a little before Jin had the chance to stab it again with the Priest Sword de. But it indirectly gave Jin the needed space to move backwards a little too to grab onto a rope which he prepared beforehand. Jin, with his head starting to get heavy, from the loss of his left arm (especially with the substantial amount of blood loss), pulled the rope, resulting one of the temple''s burning torch stands to drop onto the floor.

    The burning torch was the ignition tool to set alight the entire main hall since Jin had consciously soaked the pirs, ground and even himself to be on fire. Stupid idea but Jin had to risk everything. For an intelligent being like the White Tiger, Jin could not risk making it think that the whole hall was a trap. (although, he still felt a little weird that the tiger was able to walk normally on a ground filled with oil while Jin had to jump, slide and wiggle with his injuries through the oil soaked ground to reach the centre of the temple hall to use his trap.)

    The fire spread wildly in all directions and like a circus show, everything turned into mes almost immediately. The Tiger now staggered by the wound on the throat was trapped in the burning temple halls. It figured this was thest ditch attempt by the monkey and grinned. The stupid monkey would surely die from anger if it knew that as long as it tolerated the fire long enough, it would be only the monkey dying, not him.

    Hence, the tiger decided to walk towards the monkey despite the burning hall. As long as the White Tiger had a meal, it would have the opportunity to recover its wounds sufficiently before the fire could finish him off. Jin, on the other hand, was not moving anymore as he felt exceptionally frail. His arm torn off, probably a few broken rib bones and the fire was quicklying towards them.

    "Ahбнits really do or die now. C''mon kittyбнquick...do your move." Jin whispered with a very faint breath as he tried to keep himself conscious to the best of his abilities.

    The White Tiger moved towards Jin with relief while he observed the monkey not being able to do anything else but to bleed to his demise quietly. Part of him wanted to keep its distance in case the crafty monkey had somest surprise, yet the situation and its own pride as the king of the region did not allow him to watch a prey die like that. Especially when it made him sustained that many injuries.

    Because of the wound at its neck, the White Tiger did not have the strength to bite. So it decided to go for the most tender, delicate part of his prey, the abdominal area. Hence, the White Tiger used its paw to move the gong Jin was using as an improvised armour away from his abdominal area. But as it to pull the gong away to feast on the dying prey''s stomach, it realised that Jin''s hand was hiding beneath the cymbal with a short, curved metal stick.

    "BANG BANG BANG!" The rounds were mercilessly fired from the revolver Jin had found. "I was hoping to do the fire resistance bit first as rmended by the manual, then follow up with the Origin Ruby Fire bullets. But with the circumstances at hand, let''s just hope that it will be enough or the reverse order is also fine." The bullets went through the White Tiger''s neck area, the mandible and its torso. With every bullet that exited out of the tiger''s body, a jet stream of fire followed out of the White Tiger''s body.

    The White tiger immediately fell onto Jin''s body, which he yelled in pain yet again. But he did not believe this White tiger will die just like that.

    Jin moved his hand around to ensure that the revolver''s barrel was aiming at the Tiger''s body before he fired another two more shots. Another two jetstreams of fire flew out of the body once more and Jin could see the eyes of the White Tiger dropped a tear of regret before it slowly turned lifeless.

    He did it.

    Jin finally killed the White Tiger, but he was stuck under the spiritless corpse of the beast and had no strength to pull himself through. "Ahhh..I guess I will try again next time round." Jin smiled to himself as he pulled the gun out between the beast corpse and his body. He then took a breather before putting it at his head. Thest bullet was for himself since he''d rather die a quick death rather than a slow suffocating one in this fiery pit.

    "I hope the mes do you well, White Tiger. You have been a pain in the ass and a st too." Jin muttered as he took the courage to pull the trigger on the revolver. "BANG!" A Jetstream of mes appeared from the other side of his skull.

    бнAnd he came back awake to the Dungeon Maker''s cultivation room with the sludge not being sucked in by the system but whirling around him. Even while a little surprised, he returned back to the real world from the meditation as he felt an extraordinary amount of chi being circted around him via the sludge. That was when he looked down to realise that his body was more toned than ever and his chi circuits felt very refreshed.

    "Congrattions User, you have advanced to Grade 8 in less than a day. Although total timepression achieved within this cultivation room was approximately three months." The System stated and was especially delighted with Jin''s new progression.

    "White Tiger of the West huhбнmaybeбнjust maybe I can make you more than just a figment of my imagination. I look forward to you paying off the arm you took from me." Jin thought to himself as hey down on the ground with relief after the constant exasperation.

 Chapter 380 Black Sludge

    <h4>Chapter 380 ck Sludge</h4>

    "Eh Systemбнwhy are you not absorbing the sludge? I thought it is important for your research?" Jin asked as he saw a vast amount of sludge swirling above him.

    "The System has already umted more than 600 litres of sludge from the User''s body. It could be considered a miracle that User is still alive and well. What puzzles the System is your ability to produce sludge. Generally, Cultivation removes impurities from the body, but the User''s ability to do so is somehow fundamentally different. The exact reason for this is still being investigated." The System stated as Yun entered with a Grade 8 Reward Box at themand the System, only to be frightened by the swirling sludge above her.

    "System why are you not sucking this sludge away?" Yun asked in a slightly disgusted tone. She still vividly remembered how much trouble this sludge gave her back when Jin cultivated in his house before it was controlled by the System. Even the plumbers she had called, was overwhelmed by the massive amount of sludge which clogged the house''s utilities. They had to return to their workshop to bring some heavy duty equipment in order to remove the sludge.

    "System is unable to. System tried to vacuum the sludge but it continues to swirl above User ever since User had achieved Grade 8." The System replied promptly and thanked Yun foring quickly. "A likely reason based on what the System had analysed was due to the excessively high amount of User''s chi stored in the sludge. Previous samples did not have such property." The System added which made Jin curious.

    "Chi in the sludge?" Jin reiterated. If what the System was telling is true, there should be a way for him to interact with the sludge. He promptly tried out if he couldmand the swirling sludge in front of him. True enough, at his behest, the ck sludge turned into a rotating sphere around Jin''s fingertips.

    ...Just a very big...massive, vastlyrge sphere.

    "Huh, I did not think this would actually work. It somehow feels like it''s reacting to me naturally." Jin remarked and the System stated that it was not mentioned within Jin''s cultivation manual. There was no exnation for why Jin seemed to be able to control his sludge. It was something out of the norm, and at this point, both the System and Jin could only suspect that the spiritual union had something to do with it.

    "But wait, he had been producing this sludge thing ever since he started cultivating the Neen Astral Lazy Panda form. I honestly do not think it has something to do with the spiritual union part... Well, maybe not entirely." Yunmented and the System paused for a while before concurring.

    "Well there is nothing to gain from wondering where it came from, we should focus more and what it is able to do. Shouldn''t we start with some experiments to find out more about it?" Colonel Ayse appeared out of the blue and closely watched Jin holding onto the sphere.

    Without a proper ce to run thebs, Jin and Qiu Yue had temporarily ced Ayse and the Humanoid Researchers in one of the rooms of the Dungeon Maker instead of the World of Sanctum instance. There were experiments and sensitive equipment that required the interference of the System to prevent anything from going awry. Her knowledge for the past war operations was much appreciated and the results encouraged Jin to value her highly. Even the Cultivation room had received some minor input from Ayse allowing the System to improve the suction of the sludge.

    "Ermбнthat sounds reasonable. I hope you don''t n to try anything life threatening." Jin replied as he subconsciously thought of the White Tiger of the West when he mentioned ''life threatening''. Suddenly the sludge sphere at the tips of his fingers started to restructure themselves and in the blink of an eye turned into the shape of tiger. The sludge even had a step further and changed its colour from ck to white in order to portray Jin''s image of the White Tiger of the West.

    "Woah woah woah?! What was that? HOW did you do that? Quick, tell me everything you just did, so that we can record and investigate this properly." Ayse''s desire to study Jin''s new ability red up.

    Meanwhile, Yun continued to be surprised to see a live white tiger appear out of nowhere. Not caring for all the eyes on it, the tiger started licking its paws. When it turned its head towards Jin, it quietly lowered its stance and seemingly bowed towards him. Jin was also shocked as the tiger did all of these actions by its own volition. He slowly tried to touch the fur.

    "The furбнthe menacing blue eyes... even its sizeбнit''s all the same," Jin whispered to himself, and the girls looked at him curiously as they also tried to touch the docile white tiger that was in front of them. Unlike its affection to Jin, the White Tiger did not seem to enjoy thedies'' touch a single bit. After it tolerating for a few strokes, the White Tiger got up and distanced itself from the girls.

    "What do you mean ''the same''? Have you seen this Tiger before?" Yun had caught what he said and asked Jin about it.

    "Yeah, fiction books hahaha. I guess I identally thought about it." Jin replied with a half truth as he decided to try something else. Just as before, the white tiger''s silhouette began to change, turning into a human. The figure was none other than Yun. But in contrast with the beast, the details on the Yun look alike sludge were not as implicit as the White Tiger.

    "Hmmmбнfrom what I can deduce, just a mere inference." Ayse looked as she began to touch the Yun look alike sludge form. "This sludge bends at the will of the user and is probably using the userбнerm I''m starting to sound like the System. Jin, I mean. Anyways. It seems to use Jin''s memories to replicate what Jin had seen. From what I deduced from his answer, it also seems to have the same ''feel''. That''s two of the five senses down. We do not know if the sludge could replicate what Jin had heard, tasted or smelled before. Maybe, it''s not just the five senses and perhaps a sixth sense could be at y too? Who knows? "

    "That is why this Yun although imperfect, looks more or less like her but бнyou see here Jin? It''s too hard." Ayse demonstrated while squeezing the shoulders of the sludge in Yun form. Ayse then picked Jin''s hand, pushed it towards Yun''s shoulders andter guided his hand down to her waist. She even assisted him to squeeze it. "Feel, how soft and bby is it?" Ayse teased Yun.

    Almost immediately, the chest and waist of the sludge in Yun form took shape and Ayse nodded her head with glee. Her deductions were correct but it left Jin very embarrassed though Yun was indifferent to his actions. "You just had to let her do that?" Yun red at him momentarily and Jin quickly apologised, which made Ayseugh hysterically.

    "Now, I wonder how resistant this particr sludge is. Looks will not matter if it does not prove to be durable in a fight. Let''s test it out!" Ayse asked the System for a blunt club and it obliged. She swiftly gave a good swing towards the sludge and it blocked almost instantly. From its hands, it formed arge cleaver and proceeded to attack the unprepared Ayse бнuntil Jin controlled it to stop without any words or actions but by involuntarily wishing for her to stay unharmed. Picking up on this, the Yun Sludge Clone redirected her attack to avoid fatal injury.

    "Ow ow ow. Guess that''s another mystery solved. You can control it without the need for words or hand signals. It should be like a perfect servant for you." Ayse concluded as Yun walked towards her and healed her abdominal wounds inflicted by the sludge.

    "Even the fighting style is exactly what I saw Yun executed," Jin said out loud as he walked closer to the sludge. It turned back to a rotary sphere but he also noticed that the chi within it had reduced. "I wonder if I can produce more of this?" Jin went into half of his cultivation stance, a standing posture to recover his chi even faster from his main dantian.

    True enough, his upper chest began to sweat out a small amount of sludge and it joined the rotary sphere. Jin was amazed by it and tried to keep it in his storage ring, which worked perfectly. "Do you mind giving me a part of it to studyter, Master?" Ayse now all fit from Yun''s healing asked Jin.

    "No, I don''t mind. Whether it listens to you or not is another thing. But I believe there is a lot of potential in this new power. I hope you don''t minding up with a list of experiments or questions so I can try to learn more about it based on your possible theories?" Jin asked as he gave Ayse the first official task for the researchers of the ''Dungeon Lab''. He also provided her with a sample after filling some in a container.

    "It will definitely keep me and my team a little upied. Besides we are getting a little frustrated from only having to redesign the Sandroku Golems. This will be a good brainteaser for the team. I will study your sludgeter, to see if I can find other uses." Ayse exined. A sudden thought urred to Jin. Something very important too.

    "Do you mind spending some time looking at Mechataur, too? Maybe find some way to coborate with Niu Lang, the pilot, and get Mechataur up and running again." Jin ordered Ayse.

    "More mechs? You think I am what? A Mech designer?" Ayse asked reluctantly as she folded her hands. She seemed way more interested in researching the sludgepared to the robots.

    "Mech designer? With your explicit knowledge of lost tech, it would be more urate to refer to you as an inventor of mass killing weapons. I can only safely entrust the task to such a genius as yourself to aplish this crucially vital task!" Jin tried to praise her and though it seemed a bit over the top towards the end, Ayse surprisingly took the hook, line and sinker. She happily went off and told Jin not to forget about building a properb for her and her ''ves''. (Jin did make sure that the Elves received equal treatment as Ayse although she always seemed to ''conveniently'' forget that they were now standing on the same tform together.)

    "Anywaysбнit seems we dragged the topic a little, here is your reward box for Grade 8." Yun presented it to him as she had already removed the Griffin seal from the box. Jin opened it up and became bbergasted from the revtion of the box''s contents.

    "These areбн" Jin picked them up and held them in his hands. It was the exact colour and design of what he had used in his state of subconsciousness. The Origin Ruby Fire bullets. There was no revolver but rather a Colt 1911 pistol with the very same Ying Yang sign. Jin noticed that a manual was in it too, along with a few maps.

    "бнYour grandfather was a Monster yer, but to be more particrly, a demon exorcist." Yun borated as she knelt down and looked over the contents. Jin promptly looked at Yun at dismay. Did she suddenly regain her memories?

    "Ohбнcard." Jin got all worked up for nothing when he realised she was reading it from a card which came from none other than Grandma Yuan. Yun passed the card to him and informed him that he should contact Grandma Yuan soon as stated on the card when Yun consolidated the contents of this box for Jin.

    "But aren''t monsters more or less controlled in the wild by the army??" Jin asked and the System stated that monsters and demons were different.

    "How are they different? Aren''t demons just a sub category of monsters? Like the demon rats that we are going to fight against." Jin asked as he looked at the manuals and maps.

    "I think it is best to look for Grandma Yuan for the answers. She would provide you in the right direction. Besides, you need to look for her for a few things regarding the Rats too right?" Yun intervened and Jin remembered.

    "But before you get going, Xiong Da arrived not too long ago. I passed him the stuff but he thinks it would be better if you meet him for some rification about the police contract. He is currently in the redemption store and It looks like he isn''t running away anytime soon." Yun said as she reminded him to upgrade the monster''s equipment now that he is of a higher Grade.

    "Come to think of itбн Fighting the White Tiger of the West is a stress relieverpared to the piling amount of work that I have!" Jin thought to himself as he asked Yun to notify Xiong Da that he would meet up with him soon.

    But first Jin was dying to get into the shower.

 Chapter 381 Lynns Business Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 381 Lynn''s Business Meeting</h4>

    For once, Lynn was in her office in the Restaurant Train of Delicacy. Jin had created it for her in advance when designing that particr instance. At that point, he did not know that the kitchen instance could be expanded to suit the Sub System User''s needs.

    And when Lynn found out that there was a train car dedicated just for her... she thought it was a waste of space and resources. But in recent times, Lynn came around to appreciate it a lot more.

    It allowed Lynn to concentrate solely on her work and provided her with a working space away from the kitchen. It was a great ce to rx and gather her thoughts, especially when sometimes she could not feel at ease upon hearing the penguinsmunicating in a crazy ruckus without her as the Chef handling them.

    Lynn was initially ufortable to leave them on their own but as the time went by, she realised there were instances when she had overlooked a few steps due to the increasing amount of orders which the penguins immediately corrected her about it.

    That was when she began to see that the ''mess'' the penguins were in, was actually an organised one. Even though she did not fullyprehend why they were so messy in their routine, the food they created was still up to her standard. That was especially true when those penguins came from the Sub System.

    But slowly, she came to the conclusion that the penguins NPCs, who had been helping out, were behaving in such a way in order to optimise the workflow within the kitchen. It prevented any wastage of resources as per Lynn''s instructions and that included idle time. (They were clearly not humans!)

    The training of her ninja disciples, cooking dishes in advance, having a minimum amount of food stock prepared in case of a flood of customers with the opening of the Raid Event and not to mention her personal ninja training had made her almost as busy as Jin in her own unique way.

    Within a month after receiving the Sub System, Lynn had experienced her own cultivation grade to increase at a soaring pace to the point she attained Grade 5 Peak. Even the Sub System was delighted by the quick advancement and showered her with rewards such as refurnishing her office train car with a mini kitchen in order to experiment on things. And because the train car space was limited by width, those equipment were ''storage friendly'' courtesy of the Sub System.

    The Food Sub System had given her equipment in modules so that she could plug and y certain kitchen equipment together. When she advanced to Grade 5 after the major goblin operations, the Sub System bestowed her a new train car right beside her office and it included a fully functional kitchen, simr to the kitchen instance that was being used by the ninja penguins. Needless to say, the kitchen train car had plug and y modules too and she could finally cook what she liked without disturbing the ecosystem of the kitchen.

    For example, if she needed more space to test on various broths, she could keep herrge cab oven via the Sub System and ce more cooking stoves in lieu of space. Of course, her experimental cooking now could only be contained within this particr train car. Jin promised that once they had set up the Dungeon City Fortress, he would create a cookingb for her so she could perform tests on all kinds of other things. After all, science did have a significant impact on the cooking industry.

    On the flipside, her office was now filled with books with regards to cooking such as the science of good cooking. Some of it came from the customers that sold their books in the library section on the second and third floor of the store. Among those, some exined things like how fermentation worked, the various ways of achieving different umami (savoury taste) and many more. There were also cooking manuals and recently, the cooking books she bought from the Goblin World for her to peruse. (Fortunately, the Sub System could trante them in the blink of an eye.)

    However, what she was most interested in was the Farming World. At the moment, she worked rather closely with the werejackals and werecats since their home instance had be an experimental ground for her food. She had long ago noticed that the tomatoes the werejackals grew were so much juicier than the one she got from the Sub System''s food market.

    After that recognition of the Farming World products, her heart desired for more results. She triedparing the result by getting her own world''s tomato seeds, the ones from the Sub System food market and werejackal''s food products and let them all be grown via the Werehumans method.

    The Sub System''s tomatoes were superior to the ones sold in the food market after being grown by the Werehumans and the same was true for the ones from her world. Yet, no matter how well they tended to the crops, those two products could not beat the original tomato taste from the Farming World.

    Still, the taste of a raw ingredient was just one aspect of cooking. It did not mean that the other two were in any way inferior especially after they were enhanced via the Werejackal''s farming methods. As a cook, she knew not to ignore any ingredients. No matter what food she was given, Lynn had to find a way to bring out the most potential of those raw ingredients. That was her ultimate goal.

    If Jin managed to invade the Farming world and eradicate the mess their inhabitants were in, there might be a chance that Lynn would have ess to Farming World''s more exotic products. If possible, she even wished to own somend there, to grow more food and maybe even try to crossbreed some of them to improve it further.

    That was one of the reasons why she had been so eager to lend her support during the Town Hall council meeting back when Jin asked for help to go to war. ( And she wished to personally support Jin too.) Unfortunately, the Sub System food market did not have any ess to the Farming World products, which was why she was all the more delighted to help Jin out.

    Initially, she did not understand why the Farming World had decreased the sales of their goods until they stopped outright. She also regretted not having to purchase more of their products when she still had the chance though back then. (Though the reason she could not buy more was that Lynn''s profit margin was too meagre aspared to recent times.)

    Lynn thought that the products had been too exclusive due to their amazing taste so that the Sub System was unable to purchase it. Only after Jin informed them in the meeting about the circumstances of the Farming world did she learn that inhabitants were already trying their best to be self sufficient against the Demon Rats upation that they just did not have any extra to sell.

    Ever since Jin had announced that they would not be attacking the Demon Rats anytime soon, Lynn was a tad disappointed but she had plenty other things in mind. Firstly, an update to her food menu. After this particr goblin raid event, Lynn realised that moremunication was needed to liaise with Jin on the subject. Therefore, she decided to initiate a business meetup with Jin. (That and to make sure Qiu Yue was not hogging onto Jin 24 hours a day.)

    Lynn was thinking of producing a special theme menu that would only be avable during the duration of a particr theme. Only once in a while would they reintroduce the theme again for nostalgia sake. Jin loved the idea, but he felt it was not feasible in the long run.

    "It would ce too much stress on you. I want your food to be of the highest quality and cost somewhat reasonable prices since the focus here is after all the dungeons. That is also why the System and I worked out a deal to make the Sub System sell your ingredients at 85% of the selling price. The other 15% will be absorbed by me. I was nning to do the same with the Fishing instance but the System stated that good sushi had to be priced well for them to be recognised." Jin replied when Lynn introduced that concept to him in her office.

    "I agree, the sushi and even the Chef''s cutting techniques is top notch. There''s only one other restaurant that I can think of at the top of my head which could beat Chef Roro''s sushi making skills. Even the quality of fish that we have would not be a match to them." Lynn told him as Jin took a look at her office.

    "That amazing eh? We should go there sometime to bring back a few dishes for Chef Roro to taste. I''m sure it won''t hurt if he gets a chance topare so he could work harder in the future." Jin jest as he thought back the time when he purchased Chef Roro. He was one of the top tier chefs offered by the System and his wage was equally of a top tier value too. Any more than that would cost him more than a bomb and even the System would not be willing to loan that kind of amount out for him unless his turnover was in the millions.

    "Aaaanyways, affordability is just one factor. The most important thing is for you to not stress out about this ''theme'' thing. What I''d suggest is that we introduce those goblin themes within your restaurant train cars and even make the penguins wear side goblin masks. Something simr to the high ss premium train cars where the penguins are in kimonos etc but of a lower budget. After all, it is an instance, changing some furniture and interior decor in a moment''s notice won''t be an issue at all." Jin proposed as he took his phone out and showed a few pictures of the products he sold in the redemption counter as references for Lynn.

    "Ahhбнyou know I am not that great with art and designбнthe best I could make was that high ss premium car." Lynn implied that this should be a job for Jin with all the awesome looking dungeons and interior deco designs.

    "Nonsense, you are underestimating yourself too much. Thest time I checked your high ss premium car, the backdrop, the music and even the little scenery ornaments synchronised well with each other that it gave the rxing ambience I yearn at times." Jinplimented Lynn and she felt proud that her work was recognised.

    "Hmmбн.instead of figurines and such, we can use this opportunity to open a small souvenir store at the train station to sell goblin themed tableware, tes, bowls, even saucers! Oh, and we can''t forget essories like kitchen mas, aprons, supermarket tote bags etc. This way, the customers won''t be so bored while waiting for the trains too." Jin added and Lynn was amazed by the business ideas he had.

    "Ah! But, But!" Jin suddenly went to the edge of his seat with leaned towards the table, closer to Lynn. "Bread! We can make themed bread! Like those bread with toasted symbols or pictures. Ah, what''s it called again... it''s at the tip of my tongue but I cannot remember how they are called." Jin looked up as he was trying hard to recall.

    "You mean Artisan bread stencilling?" Lynn asked with a grin, seeing how cute Jin could be at times and he typed Lynn''s answer in his phone.

    "Ahh, I guess so! Something simr to that. Or donuts! Or erm cupcakes!" Jin started to babble whatever ideas he could think of and Lynn filtered through them and realised that most were actually viable. If they tasted decent and were priced fairly cheap, those goblin themed bread could be sold at a daily basis. Besides, her penguins needed more of a challenge. They were already producing the food faster than Lynn could have imagined especially after she taught them all she knew.

    This themed bread would indeed be a challenge for them to take up. She was already looking forward to letting the penguins design ande up the type of baked goods to be sold.

    And by directlypeting against each other, to see who could sell the most, the champion could learn something about Lynn''s personal knowledge on bread.

    Besides, Lynn had sold her own ck pepper pork buns for a living for the past year or so which meant baked goods were within her speciality. "I wonder if it would be a hit..." Lynn imagined a crowd rushing over for the freshly baked bread and perhaps duelling it out just for thest piece of bread. (Ohбнon hindsight, she really could predict the future rather well!)

    "That way, you do not need to worry that much about those heavy themes...like erm ''Burning Volcano City Ramen!'' that kind of theme heavy products. If the baked goods sell well, we can continue for perhaps a few more months before phasing them out." Jin added and Lynn loved the prospects of having an essory store and a bakery in the restaurant train instance.

    "I will get cracking on the bread part but I need you to do me a favour and get those goblin designs up for me to choose from." Lynn became a little yful with her words and Jin giggled as he nodded wilfully. He hardly saw her this rxed and yet enthusiastic at the same time. (She also did not want Jin to know that she nned to get her penguins to design too and wondered which one would the customers like the best.)

    "It will be up in a jiffy since I have the imposter Jins to do the job! But first, Xiong Da gave me a ton of things to consider before I can meet up with you again." Jinughed as he pulled up the suitcase right by his side.

    "Hmm maybeбн in a few hours, you can look forward to some French toast apanied by a cup of ck Ivory Coffee." Lynn chuckled and sent him off. "бнand perhaps with some love in it too." She curled her hair at the side of her ear as she walked towards the experimental kitchen train car to test out the new ideas she had in her head.

 Chapter 382 Police Partnership Finalised

    <h4>Chapter 382 Police Partnership Finalised</h4>

    Jin had many things on his te so he decided to take things a bit slowly for the rest of November considering that he had sessfullypleted the monthly mission portion from the System. (That is assuming that the gangsters did not harass him that much.) First on the list was the police partnership contract.

    With the new partnership deal with the Tiangong District Police Station and only them (he did not trust the other departments), they had made Dungeons and Panda their official training partner for at least a year. ording to the contract, everyw enforcement officer, including their admin personnel, would have certain privileges when going into the dungeons in Jin''s store.

    The most apparent perk was a major discount on the dungeons. Every one of them would receive a credit budget of 3500 Yuan (500USD) the moment they registered with Dungeons and Pandas. The System naturally checked their records with the police''s database, but the policemen themselves did not know it.

    The HR personnel had technically only provided him with a list of names approved for by their captain. Jin, on the other hand, did not trust the police HR personnel with this list of approved names, mainly because a piece of paper could be forged while the central police database records were something that could be trusted. (Even though it was apparently not hackproof since the System had gained ess to it, but it was way better than just a simple piece of paper.)

    Nevertheless, with the threat of the Banned Emperor and the Ruby Rats, the System made sure the information in the police database was reliable by cross referencing with the police''s payroll records. Sure, it could not catch molesing into the dungeon that way, but at the very least, the System was able to inform him about a fake record that was recently altered into the database and provide a substantial level of security checks before allowing the policeman to train in Jin''s dungeons.

    Ever since the assassination attempt by the Banned Emperorckeys against the Head of the Royal Tiger Zodiac, Hu Yuan Ba, the System had asked Kraft to increase the security checks against the customers who entered Jin''s store.

    The customers did not need to be checked in person. After they entered their data into the registration machine to gain ess to the functions of Jin''s store, most of the customers forgot about it. But in the background, the System would ensure that every customer''s data was being processed, verified and identified any possible threats. To date, it had made a potential threat list that was being constantly revised and updated based on the actions, facial expressions and even conversations the customers had while inside ''Dungeons and Pandas''.

    It might seem scary, but considering that they were within the belly of a beast, they had no choice to be subjected to the System''s constant vignt monitoring. With Jin being thest known Royal Panda descendant, the System would take no chances in regards to protecting him even though it did not show it out openly.

    One might ask what about the reincarnation process? If the System thought that the threat was simr to the Ruby Rats, the System would have prefered to let Jin handle it by himself as such an opportunity would allow him to gain experience fighting them, oveing the odds and only assist him when it was needed. If Jin ever died, the System had sufficient top tier quality materials for an in-house reincarnation process.

    However, the System could not say the same about the Banned Emperor assassins. With their knowledge on how to destroy the dantian with a forbidden technique, the System would spare no cost to ensure the survivability of Jin. That was why, even when it was 99.77% sure that it was Ming who was helping Jin in some way, it would be best for Jin to have a mentor that was once mercilessly hunted down by the Twelve Royal Zodiacs.

    After the System saw the items and weapons rted to the Demon Exorcists in the Grade 8 reward box, the System learned from Jin''s expression that he knew something about the Demon Exorcists even though they were supposed to be a secret organisation to begin with. Unbeknown to Jin and Yun, the System had recruited Grandma Yuan as a Sub System user back then not because she was just a mere instructor to Yun, but more importantly, she came from a long line of Demon Exorcists and was the perfect instructor for Yun. (since she was supposedly the next in line to inherit the System.)

    Back to the topic of the Police Partnership. Aside from the credit wallet budget of 3500 Yuan, each time they cleared a dungeon, the System or rather, Jin''s store would not only reward them medals but a one time increment of 100 Yuan (15 USD) towards their next month budget of Pandamonium Credits. Yes, registering would give them 3500 Yuan at the start and each month thereafter would allow them to receive a base credit of 3500 Yuan. It was a minor incentive for the policemen who managed to work hard to clear the dungeon.

    However, the amount in that wallet would not be addictive but rather reced. Let''s say Deng Long did not participate in any dungeons, for November, his credit of 3500 Yuan would be brought forward to the month of December. Assuming he spent 3000 Yuan worth of credits and cleared three dungeons for December, he would be receiving 3800 Yuan worth of credits for January. Naturally if Deng Long decided to go the extra mile and he decided to fork out his own money to y the dungeons while clearing fifteen dungeon instances, he would be receiving a total of 5000 Yuan for the following month.

    It was an idea that Jin thought about since the one proposed by their HR personnel was stiff and inflexible. They had wished to control the money like how they had been doing for the past month or so with the Ruby Rat Triad''s money. Nheless, they admitted it was a hassle for them too since the system for that was already in ce.

    However, the HR personnel loved Jin''s idea and model for it and calcted that it was still within the upper limits of their budget for training. After Jin offered them the juicy perk that his ''team'' would do all the ounts and transactions for the police, HR personnel felt it was worth the upper ceiling of the training budget if they had one less troublesome task to do, considering the fact that the policemen were actively taking money endlessly from the coffers.

    Apart from the discount, the HR personnel ultimately went ahead with the deal mainly because Jin did offer them something which they could not resist, just as he had promised Gupta. Jin was willing to sell them weapons such as pistols, taser guns, batons as well as ammunition and even armour at a price that the finance and ounting personnel in the HR department could not believe. (This would have been impossible if Hou Fei did not personally provide them with samples of those equipment in the first ce to replicate them.)

    The price that Jin was selling was even less than the discounted price from their approved manufacturers. He might be just a dungeon supplier, but the System had manipted the records with the help of Kraft to get the license with the least amount of restrictions. Going beyond that, Kraft had also issued Jin licenses which included the sales of food, alcohol, weapons and many more. Of course, such a license permit would prove to be expensive except Jin''s turnover in the near future would be sufficient to pay the next year''s reregistration.

    Hence, after several in house testing and the permission from the central police station to procure weapons from their soon to be exclusive training partner, the deal was done. Technically speaking, it was not possible for a district size police station to procure such items since they were not a major district. That was also despite the revised threat assessment by Tiangong''s Police Captain, Mao Pai Huo, that they had justification to buy such equipment.

    But what Pai Huo did not know was that behind the scenes, Yang Ling, the daughter of the Royal Tiger Zodiac n caught wind of such news with regards to Jin''s actions and gave the green light for Tiangong District Police Station to procure them. With Royal Zodiac Tiger family as the major ''shareholder'' of the Police and key protectors of certain regions in Shenzhen, she backed the words of the Police Captain. (Perhaps, Jin did think about such a thing in advance? He couldn''t, rightбнcould he?)

    With these two sweet perks of the deal, the police also upheld their bargain by erecting a temporary police post in one of the vacant stores so the policemen in Tiangong district had one additional post to report to during their patrols. This increased the patrols in the shopping district and ensured that they could conduct a rapid response to Jin''s store if the Ruby Rats ever dared to disturb them again.

    One additional perk from the deal was that Jin was allowed to use lethal force without consequence should he judge that he or his customers were in mortal danger. Of course, there needed to be video evidence which should not be a problem within the shop instance but the police also took this chance to procure more security cameras to monitor the shopping district. The Police Captain used an overarching excuse that the shopping district needed additional monitoring which immediately received the approval from the Central police headquarters.

    It was quite a win win situation for both parties since one could enforce order better while the other was guaranteed more profiting in. With the police contract approved, that was one thing that could be removed from the checklist. Only because of this, Hou Fei began to bug him for the military contract too since he rendered his services personally and in a business sense.

    "Though I hate to admit it, considering your rtions with the Royal Zodiac Tigers, business wise it would be better if you team up with Yang Ling. That way, you will have a better chance to secure a Royal Zodiac initiated military exercise rather than a normal military exercise. It will definitely yield you more cash in return. Of course, if put me in the scene and you can be rest assured to have the Snake and Tiger Royal Zodiac ''working'' together." Hou Fei remarked during a night visit to Jin''s store.

    "I thought you said you do not have such clout to do so?" Jin was refining the final details of the Deep One Dungeon which he nned to release in thetter half of November.

    "Yang Ling''s family has an army and a triad under theirmand. I may perhaps have certain contactsбнwell more like many contacts to make things happen, but initiating arge scale army exercise that can bring in lots of moh? I wish. You can expect to earn 10x more from Yang Ling''s family than from me." Hou Fei replied dejectedly.

    "A, and here I thought I could perhaps initiate a Tiger Army Division vs Snake Army Division exercise." Jin pretended to sound disappointment and chuckled after that.

    "I personally would rmend you do monster extermination exercises since those things do happen even right now. You might not have heard about this but a freak monster horde was recently exterminated in the southwestern part of Russia. There were some casualties due to theg of response time, but the observers mostly med the inadequacies of the military for handling the situation." Hou Fei informed him as he searched for the article for Jin to read.

    "Heh, I will consider, but you know I have many things to do nowadays, right? The setting up of the Dungeon City Fortress is a top most priority since we do not really have that much time left in the automated dungeon barrier. About 2 months or so?"

    "To be exact 57 days." The System replied and Jin could only sigh louder.

    "So yea, the police is simple enough, I do not have to create any new additional instance for them. The army, on the other handбн I mean it would be interesting since it could strengthen my own forces indirectly but I have been thinking how to." Jin admitted.

    "Modern warfare? You will probably need your troops to be familiar with modern war tactics since your Dungeon City Fortress would be that way. Perhaps copy a random city and use it to simte the Monster Horde?" Hou Fei was throwing his ideas around.

    "Hmm, that''s a simple and realistic idea, the officers might like and it should be simple to n. But how the horde moves is a different issue and those army nut heads have to think on their feet to defend against them. On the other hand, my horde gets to experience modern defence tactics which could be used for the defence of my Dungeon City Fortressбн" Jin stopped fiddling the console and considered Hou Fei''s proposal more seriously.

    "Alright, but let me at least get the basic infrastructure up first, then we further discuss about the military exercise contract." Jin conceded and Hou Fei gave the okay sign and left him for Panda Muscles. (Since he was considered ''staff'' he benefited from free training)

    "Now...time to finish this crazy dungeon. I cannot wait to see how the cultivators will react to this!" Jin whispered to himself with glee.

    "Do not forget to visit Grandma Yuan else System will issue it as an impromptu mission with penalties involved" The System stated and Jin unwittingly nodded his head as he ced all his focus onpleting the Deep One Dungeon.

 Chapter 383 Premiere of the Deep Ones Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 383 Premiere of the Deep Ones Dungeon</h4>

    "Finally, some bro time together." Shi Zuo said as he ced his shoulders over Bin Yong. It was an unusually peculiar sight to watch the two interact since Shi Zuo was practically dragging Bin Yong into Jin''s store. It was now thetter half of November as well as the opening premiere of the long anticipated Deep Ones Dungeon.

    The Goblin Raid Events were still ongoing, but Jin figured he could make use of the hype while providing new experiences for the veteran cultivators and regr customers who consistently supported him.

    On a separate note, Jin recently found out that the Chinese government had created an initiative to keep their citizens fit. Every month starting in November, the government would credit 150 Yuan (20USD) for redemption in their citizen''s personal electronic wallets or bank ounts should they have umted five hours or more in sports rted activities.

    There were incremental rewards such as supermarket discounts too, but they were harder to earn if the citizens went the extra mile. All of these activities could be monitored through a particr health app in Mechat to promote fitness and wellness. That included participating in authorised and licensed sportsplexes or gyms.

    Naturally, Jin was included in the list of authorised healthplexes with the aid of the System and the cultivators were ted to find out that his store was selected for such an initiative. ording to the System and Kraft, people were willing to pay more in order to earn something for free and this was one such instance.

    That was also why Jin coincided the start of the government''s initiative with the opening of the Deep Ones Dungeon instance. (Actually, it was a day after. Jin needed to make sure he indeed had ess to the government''s incentive.) Another reason was that the government was willing to reimburse 3000 Yuan (434USD) to any authorised sports shop that had a minimum amount of 5000 sports rted sales umted from their customers. That included the sales of the dungeon instance tickets since cultivation was considered the epitome of sports. Rigorous training and the increase in grade would eventually lead to a better, healthier lifestyle...or at least that was what the researchers imed.

    When Jin heard about the 5000 sports sales, he was wondering if the System was secretly preparing Jin for this particr initiative by the government since its previous mission in October sounded very simr to what the government deployed. "Could it be that the System is as simple minded as humans?" Jin wondered to himself when he saw the crowd rushing in for the premiere of the Deep Ones Dungeon instance.

    "System would like to make it clear that it was just a coincidence that the previous mission was simr to the government''s initiative." The System stated as it activated a screen console above Jin with a countdown timer.

    "Yeah, I definitely believe you. Trust me, you are the best. Praise be to the Almighty Benevolent Spendthrift System!" Jin did not hold back his sarcasm. In the meantime, he looked at his much anticipated dungeons goers and prepared a short speech with regards to the Deep Ones Dungeon to hype and excite them up a little more before the timer hits zero.

    Fortunately for Jin, there were many spections about the Deep Ones after a few cultivators saw some of them during the first Western Diversion instance (well to Jin and his monsters, the real goblin battle). The rumours stated that those cultivators saw ferocious, deep sea monsters ughtering orcs the moment they left the boat. It was a terrifying scene and hence, people anticipated that this particr dungeon would be something simr.

    Jin neither denied nor confirmed the rumours. Some people believed that those cultivators were privileged enough to enjoy a sneak peek preview of the Deep Ones by Jin, a sly advertising tactic in the cultivators'' opinion to spread the gossip for his future dungeon instance.

    Despite their opinions, the rumour spreading was indeed useful even though Jin had not purposely nned it this way beforehand. All he wanted was for the Deep Ones to vent some of their frustrations for waiting for their turn to shine (especially Derpy with his grand entrance). However, he decided to let the rumours spread since it was creating hype way more efficiently than the System expectedpared to their own banners and trailers.

    Jin also considered to continue implementing this sort of preview for future dungeons, just a small cameo of the monsters in the next dungeon as a sneak peek. But he had to do it in a way which would require the dungeon goers to have a keen eye to catch such cameos in the middle of a dungeon. (nor did Jin forget the future creation of the secret Gentlebear instance which he neglected it for some time.) It was not an easy feat but he did incorporate what he wanted to do for the next dungeon in the Deep Ones Dungeons.

    "Firstly, thank you and wee to the opening premiere of the Deep Ones Dungeon Instance. As you guys have heard, there had been sightings of the Deep Ones in the Goblin Raid dungeon. However, nothing else was shown to you guys and those rumours did not reveal much about the current plot of the dungeon. I presume the anticipation must be killing you guys by now??" Jin asked and the crowd cheered in unison.

    "Alright, alright I will give you a hint. Instead of (just) senseless fighting, your objective this time will be to meet with a certain NPC and from there you might learn the true meaning of terror through the dungeon." Jin spoke with a somewhat evil grin and everyone kept quiet for a moment to digest what he was saying before he continued "..or that''s what I hope you will feel. I''m sure some of the Pandawans out there will casually crash the dungeon and walk out unscathed." Jin sighed heavily and a few started to chuckle. They were none other than Shi Zuo and Bin Yong.

    "Does it involve swimming? I do not really know how to swim." One of the cultivators raised their hand and asked which made some of the other cultivatorsugh.

    "Erm...well, technically we can all walk on water, right? Just a matter of duration. But no worries, I had nned a little on that aspect so you will be able to clear this dungeon without the need to swim. Of course, you are free to do so, if you wishбн at your own risk, of course." Jin answered and many started to whisper. They interpreted it both ways. Most believed that the dungeon scenario was onnd, probably a coastal town since the name Deep Ones from Lovecraftian stories struck fear and despair in the stories via seaports and coastal towns.

    Others believed the plot would have something to do with arge ship where people would meet each other and decide to do something about the ongoing monster horde that gued the ship. In this case, it would definitely be the Deep Ones. Jin managed to eavesdrop and smirked when he heard the cultivators'' ideas.

    "Good ideas which I''d all considered about when I created them but so far it seems that they will find their expectations subverted." Jin thought to himself as Mr Patsu came to interrupt Jin with the continuation of the countdown. Bear Cub One followed him while wearing a fluffy shark headgear which further strengthened the ship story theorised by the cultivators. Jin smiled as he stepped down from the bar counter, which he was using as a temporary stage to address the others. Perhaps he really should create an event space to announce this kind of stuff.

    "4...3...2...1!!!" Mr Patsu mmed a big red button on an augmented virtual console and suddenly, shadow figures of the Deep Ones emerged from the corners of the medieval goblin themes and the cultivators could see that the shop interior decor seemed to head for a dark turn.

    Then the lights began to sh to simte the horrors of a ckout along with the sounds of lightning and thunder booming in the background. The cultivators could see the seemingly peaceful medieval goblin theme feel of the shop turn into an atmosphere of the eerie western 80''s era. It had some resemnce simr to the previous Halloween gothic theme but with grimmer colours.

    Suddenly the entire shop instance went totally dark, and the cultivators all pretended to scream for participation sake (though there were some that really screamed, men included.) Lo and behold, the corners of the auditoriums and the walls were now filled with dark, grotesque tentacles moving around asionally to scare the cultivators in conjunction with the medieval goblin theme that was still around.

    It was to emte the sense of fear that would patiently wait for the customers. To make the customers feel somewhat afraid yet at the same time obsessively curious about it. Some of the male cultivators jokingly warned that if the females got too close to the tentacles on the wall, they would be grabbed by them, inciting a few sexual innuendos.

    "No worries, my tentacles are equal to all genders." Jin smiled wickedly. The just teaseddy cultivators took that opportunity to push their male counterparts towards the wall. True enough, the ck tentacles on the wall wrapped around them for a few seconds before releasing them away. The male cultivators seemed like they were already scarred for life as thedy cultivators had their fill of fun bullying them.

    Separately, the cultivators also noticed the design of the bar was sombre green. A closer look at the bar counter and seats revealed that they all had some sort of Lovecraftian design to them. It was rather exquisite and some who were fans of such horror genre began to ask where to buy such items. "It''s all custom made by my suppliers, in short, Trade Secret. " Jin smiled gently this time round, and it had been ages since those customers especially the regr ones to hear such a phrase.

    "Alright, what are we waiting for? Come on. Let''s go, bro." Shi Zuo grabbed Bin Yong, who was already scared shitless by the opening ceremony. He was not surprised and deeply empathised with the girls, Luo Bo and Jia Le who did not want to try the new dungeon and let the guys try it out first to hear about their experience before attempting the dungeon instance.

    "We''ve been through the Halloween event and survived through that. You even yed it three times, remember?" Shi Zuo was trying to encourage his buddy.

    "BECAUSE! You guys were not free at all THREE asions. I had to bring each of you individually into that dungeon instance! And I have no idea how, but Boss Jin had designed it in such a way that I got scared every time I entered it. I still get shivers whenever I think about that stupid Pumpkin Face. " Bin Yong replied with exasperation in his voice when he remembered the sinister Pyro Jack.

    "Okay, chill man. Let''s do this first before our temporary attribute buff from the restaurant instance expires." Shi Zuo said as he took his phone out to find the dungeon ticket option in the Pandamonium App. As usual, a tech savvy guy like Shi Zuo was amazed by the developers of the app for pushing out new updates this quickly.

    Just as Jin had promised, everybody was now able to be teleported from the shop instance or any other particr service instance they were at to the dungeon they wished to y. There were even lobbies which helped people with matchmaking or create their own party beforehand to y the dungeons. This update by the System was to facilitate even less queuing time than before and to test out the true ability of the matchmaking technology the System had been coting data ever since day one.

    Of course, those who created a party of their own would not be subjected to any matchmaking and the difficulty of the dungeon instance would be adjusted ordingly unless at the request by the lobby maker. With higher difficulty came better rewards. Simr to other dungeons, Jin continued to give out Panda medals via the stages theypleted but this particr Deep Ones dungeon was slightly different.

    He gave the System free rein to judge how much medals were to be given based on the cultivator''s progress. It was a new sort of predictive model which Qiu Yue rmended and wanted to see if the System could amodate such an adaptive reward model.

    There was a set of defined criteria (of course not revealed to the cultivators, who would have to try and figure them out) but depending on the cultivator''s approach of ying, the System would give the amount of panda medals ordingly.

    Last but not least, the Pandamonium app could also synchronise the data it received to the Mechat''s health app so that the cultivators would be able to redeem their sports and wellness rewards from the government''s initiative.

    Hence, Shi Zuo did not bother about Bin Yong''s wailing antics and forcefully registered him into his lobby via his phone app. And within an instant, they were teleported.

    бнInto a derelict room, strapped to a chair. Both arms and legs were wrapped tightly around the chair, and even their torsos were tightly bound.

    "Where are WE??!?!?!?!?!?!!" Bin Yong shouted in panic as his echo reverberated within the entire room.

 Chapter 384 Black Suits

    <h4>Chapter 384 ck Suits</h4>

    The ceiling lights were dangling as if they were about to fall onto them anytime. The muddled mirror right in front of them made things worse as it allowed them to see the state of condition they were currently in. Shi Zuo tried to struggle and look around if there was anything they could use to get themselves out.

    "Bro, this whole thing just doesn''t sit right with me... Can''t I just use the emergency escape from this ce? They will refund us, right?" Bin Yong trembled but Shi Zuo demanded him to calm down.

    "Look, this is just the start, and we are still able to talk to each other. Boss Jin may have ced us in this situation, but so far, none of his instances has ever been unfair or impossible to solve. It''s just that our storage rings and even our phones are not within our possession. " Shi Zuo tried to calm Bin Yong down

    "Besides we are Pandawans, do you want that Hippo to tease us because we failed a new instance in record time? So let''s take a deep breath, simmer down and try to find something in this room to break out." Shi Zuo managed to convince Bin Yong at the mention of Xiong Da.

    Suddenly, they heard some footstepsing towards them, and from the sounds of it, very rushed ones. Eventually, it seemed whoever it was making those footsteps made some attempts to open the door, but it was to no avail. If the door was locked even from the outside, that possibly means help. After a little pause, aplete silence enveloped the entire situation the Pandawans were in, and the next thing they heard was some static noises before the door was forced opened violently.

    It was aбн. They could not believe their eyes. The fact that both Shi Zuo and Bin Yong were still in shock because of the thing they saw broke all expectations of the dungeon. It was a teenage girl dressed in full panda pyjamas with a full panda mask who entered their ''prison cell''.

    "Your mission, should you choose to ept it; Find Captain Hei in 34th Street, Exit A of Penn Station." The pyjamas girl announced as she pulled off the restrains with all her might from Shi Zuo, helping him to be free. He did not hesitate to save his buddy, but while both of them were preupied with removing the restrains that they did not see pyjamas girl with the full panda mask vanishing. Both were a bit baffled but figured this was just part of the instance''s setting.

    Shi Zuo took a quick peek out of the room and noticed that there were no guards, nor any strict security measures in ce or anything of that sort. When he felt it was safe enough, he beckoned Bin Yong to follow right behind him. As of now, they were feeling extremely vulnerable without ess to any weapons. (Though they kind of forgot that they themselves were living weapons). For some reason, they decided to be cautious and stealthily tried to find a way out without making any noise.

    No matter how hard they looked, there were no signs of enemies. It appeared as if they were locked up in some abandoned building the more they searched the vicinity. "Looks like a recently moved office to me. Not much dust, some leftover documents in the trash, a few broken tables and some vandalismбнin some weird old English. Hmm, thou...shall, urgh I cannot read the whole thing. It looked cryptic to me." Shi Zuo whispered to Bin Yong as he quietly opened a door, which finally revealed a glimpse of the outside world to them instead of just closed rooms, walkways and corridors.

    "Maybe because we are just awfully bad at English?" Bin Yong rebutted and they chuckled a little before stepping forward.

    Both kept their silence for a moment as they could not believe their eyes the moment they saw what was beyond the windows. Bellowing thunderstorms, along with the heavy rainfall, made it almost difficult to see what was afar. But there was one thing that hit a raw nerve for both of them as they saw andmark that should be familiar to almost everyone in the world.

    "The Empire State Building." Bin Yong walked closer to the window to have a better look at it. At the spur of the moment, Shi Zuo quickly realised why that turned out to be a terrible idea. True enough, Bing Yong also saw what was beneath it- a guy in dark sunsses among the crowd in the streets that seemingly made eye contact with him.

    That guy in the ck suit suddenly stood up from his seat and began to ce his hand at his ear, as if he wasmunicating with someone while keeping a close eye at Bin Yong.

    Shi Zuo saw what was going on and quickly pulled Bin Yong back. "Shit. I think I have figured, what is going on here. This is not a simple dungeon instance where we just rush in to fight and kill the boss. We are not the pursuers here, we are the escapees!" Shi Zuo exined as he started to look for exits in the current level they were in.

    "Remember what the girl said? Your mission if you choose to ept? Didn''t that sound very familiar to you?" Shi Zuo finally found an exit to a staircase and beckoned Bin Yong to follow him. This was his turn to shine finally. Unless he was mistaken, this particr dungeon was designed to be some spy action thriller kind of instance, and it was making his heart pump a hell of lot faster. He had always wanted to try this kind of agent type of dungeon instances.

    There had been some dungeon suppliers that boasted offering this kind of spy thriller dungeons and till now, he had yet to experience something worthwhile. But this dungeon instance by Jin, he knew, noбн He trusted Jin to provide him with a full blown spy agent experience. He did not know what exactly would be in store for them in this current dungeon and did not care even if they were supposed to be the terrorists that would destroy New York or some handsome team of spies that saves the day.

    All Shi Zuo had in mind right now was to survive first and get to 34th Street as soon as possible to find Captain Hei to get the next piece of information. "Now I get what Boss Jin meant by terror!!" Shi Zuo thought to himself grinning when suddenly a door swung open with one of the guys in ck suits.

    Shi Zuo did not hesitate to kick the door back and ordered Bin Yong to jump and m at the door as he continued to run down the stairs swiftly. Bin Yong obliged and once again hindered the movement of the guy in the ck suit.

    Albeit their little stunt, three more ck suits were rushing towards them when they reached the first floor, and Shi Zuo immediately engaged them in hand to handbat. While Bin Yong had yet to find out the truth about this instance, he saw his friend jump in to engage with three enemies.

    He could no longer remain passive since this was after all a dungeon instance. If he had been so fearful, Bin Yong should have just left at the start. Therefore, Bin Yong hurried towards Shi Zuo to help him out since he would take a frontal fight every day of the week over this instance, where they had no knowledge of what exactly was happening.

    The ck Suits put up a good fight but what theycked was teamwork, something which Shi Zuo and Bin Yong excelled in, and with thebined efforts of both their attacks, Shi Zuo managed to knock out two ck suits while Bin Yong was handling thest.

    However, in their euphoria of handling the ones in front of them, they seemed to have forgotten about the one that was chasing them from behind. Shi Zuo only noticed him when he pounced towards Bin Yong. At the spur of the moment, he did not hesitate to charge and rushed up to block the ck suit guy from side ambushing his friend.

    Unlike the other three, this ck suit was armed with a dagger, but before he could use it, Shi Zuo smashed his hand onto the railings, making him drop the knife as it bounced down to the ground near Bin Yong.

    Though hurt, the surviving ck suit of the trio continued to struggle against Bin Yong and what followed was an intense bout of hand to handbatбн.until he who had been losing against Bing Yong, had withdrawn a few steps away from him.

    He threw his sunsses away and the instant Bin Yong saw his aberrant set of ghoulish yellow eyes. That exposиж instantly made Bin Yong reach for the dropped dagger for self defence. In retaliation, the ck Suit hissed at him and opened his mouth to reveal his unnaturally long tongue. Soon his jaws expanded, allowing more and more teeth to grow out as it became visibly sharper, longer and deadlier. Bin Yong realised those ck Suits had to be the Deep Ones in disguise.

    "That Boss Jin is getting creepier!" Bin Yong rapidly dashed into the transforming Deep One, hoping to kill him before he fully transformed. Unfortunately, the Deep One was not as vulnerable as Bin Yong had expected. With his already grown out tail, he not only parried Bin Yong''s de but even counterattacked with a piercing stab.

    Instinctively, Bin Yong raised his left arm, but without his familiar shield, he had nothing to block the iing attack, causing him to be injured by the tail jab. Nheless, with sufficient experience in dungeons, Bin Yong had used that attack as an opportunity to strike the fish''s head. Straight into this eye socket.

    "Bombardier Beetle Style, Bombardment Counterattack!" An outburst of smoke emerged from the dagger, causing searing pain to the Deep One as well as giving Bin Yong the chance to pierce into where he hoped would be his heart. "Ramming st of the Beetle!!" Bin Yong shouted as he prated the tough skinyer of the Deep One and greenish brown blood slowly flowed out of the Deep One''s body. Bin Yong always use that as a shield technique which he figured this was an equally good opportunity to test out the impact with other weapons.

    "Bro! Dagger!! QUICK!" Shi Zuo''s opponent was beginning to change its form too and the only weapon they had ess to was the dagger. However, Shi Zuo was not willing to simply wait for the Deep One to transform as he continued to throw punches furiously as if he had entered into some blood rage while he waited for Bin Yong''s reinforcement.

    "Switch!" Bin Yong shouted and Shi Zuo gave it onest kick that made his enemy fly backwards while Bin Yong jumped up from the first floor to thending of the half turn stairs and tried the same finishing move against the transforming Deep One.

    But unlike the previous Deep One, it seemed that Bin Yong had missed the vital part, which hepensated by punching the Deep One once at the head. That sucker punch gave him the momentum to swing his right fist to the hilt of the still stuck dagger, finally causing a fatal blow to the Deep One.

    He did not hesitate to pull the dagger out as he looked at Shi Zuond safely on the other two unconscious ck Suits. Bin Yong then threw the dagger at Shi Zuo. They both understood it was foolish to take chances and it was better to finish the job before those two woke up.

    However, Shi Zuo did notply immediately. Instead, he began to strip the two ck suits down. "What are you doing?" Bin Yong asked as he hurried down the stairs before Shi Zuo told him to quickly strip the other ck Suit.

    "We need to check if they are carrying anything else to improve our chances of surviving like wiretaps,munication wires, phones or wallets." Shi Zuo exined as he checked every pocket the ck Suits had.

    True enough, they found another dagger as well as a storage ring which contained an iron sword, a small buckler and two iron hatchets. They were not their original weapons, but at the very least those were weapons that they were proficient in. Shi Zuo took the hatchets while Bin Yong equipped the buckler. Thankfully, the items came with a back holster, which allowed them to ce their weapons at their back.

    Only then did Shi Zuo notice that it was a bad idea. They needed to blend in the crowd to reach 34th Street and not to stick out like a sore thumb. So he took one of the ck suit''s outer jacket and tied the sleeves around his waist while he forcefully wore the holster at his waist. That way the outer jacket hid the hatchets.

    Seeing how Shi Zuo did it, Bin Yong ced his new loot back in the storage ring and copied it by hiding the daggers at his waist with the holster too. "Ready?" Shi Zuo asked, to which Bin Yong nodded as they proceed to slit the throats of the two unconscious ck Suits.

    After which, both cultivators cautious opened the door before exiting to the streets. Their experience of the dungeon instance had barely begun.

 Chapter 385 Grand Central Terminal Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 385 Grand Central Terminal Part 1</h4>

    The two Pandawans tried to hide in the crowd, but no matter where they went, Bin Yong kept on having this irrational fear lingering on him that someone was watching them. It felt like they were looking over their every move and only waiting for the right moment to strike.

    Perhaps it was just the pouring rain and constant thundering of the clouds that made Bin Yong feel so insecure since they were the only guys without an umbre among the crowd? In a way, that made them stand out amongst the soulless crowd who continued with their daily lives.

    Despite the fact they looked indifferent, the crowd''s attention would asionally shift their focus on the Pandawans briefly before they returned to their meaninglessly daily routine. That alone reinforced that anxiety Bin Yong was sensing. Meanwhile, Shi Zuo was looking for directions to reach 34th Street. Fortunately, simplified maps were ced at the bus station near them.

    "If I am not wrong, thest street sign I saw should mean we are somewhere here, near 42nd Street. The Grand Central terminal station should be there and just a few blocks ahead." Shi Zuo figured that if they could find a subway station, they could use it to travel to Penn Station. After all, Boss Jin made the dungeon instance in a modern setting, so there should be some trains prepared in a modern day replicated version of New York Cityбн right?

    "Good, the longer we are out in the open, the more we risk getting caught, again. I do not see any agents around, but who knows with Boss Jin. Maybe he made the first ones into in obvious agents, just so that he could trick us. For all we know, one of these people could turn any minute now." Bin Yong said while looking around nervously. His behaviour started to be anything but natural. Several bystanders slowed their pace as they stared disapprovingly at him.

    "Dude, you are doing it again. Why are you getting so worked up ever since the beginning of the dungeon? This is not like you at all." Shi Zuo pulled his friend towards him and took big steps to distance themselves from the crowd while whispering to his friend.

    "Have you not read about the Deep Ones before?" Bin Yong asked, and Shi Zuo shook his head sluggishly under the pouring rain.

    "I only briefly read a summary about them on the. They are just minion monsters in some cosmic horror genre. So, what about them? We already killed a few of them, and we can always kill some more. Have a little bit of faith in your abilities." Shi Zuo tried to encourage his friend in a rxed way as he plotted out the road in his mind to reach the Grand Central Terminal. Bin Yong sighed after he realised why Shi Zuo was taking this so calm. It made sense for him being a tech guy who loved action and spies not to be well versed in the lore of the Lovecraftian stories.

    However, Bin Yong had adored those stories in his youth, which he still loved to read during his pastime. As an aspiring animator back then, they inspired a dark period of his drawings phrase and allowed Bin Yong to grow out of his slump to the point he was nearly fanatical about it. Yet, it was a phrase of learning and growing, which eventually lead him to his desired graphical art direction. He did use some for his portfolio, and the interviewers were impressed by the various art style he could develop.

    To his knowledge, no one had evere close to create the image of the perfect Deep Ones. Sure, there were vague descriptions of such monsters in the Lovecraftian books, and he had seen at a lot of attempts trying to give them form, but it was not until recently when he had killed them during their transformation that he experienced this indescribable anxious feeling his heart was secretly harbouring.

    It was also apparent that it was not even their final form yet but those eyes which Bin Yong had stared into summoned an indisputable pull of trepidation stirring within him. If he could choose sides, he would instead prefer being on their good graces than against them. The fate of those going against the dark powers rarely if ever ended up positively.

    "So, you are aware of the greatness of Lord Dagenбн" A whisper caressed Bin Yong''s ears as he was watching out for Shi Zuo, who did not appear to have heard the voice.

    "LordбнDagen?" Bin Yong was a little confused when he heard that particr name, especially since it came out of nowhere all of a sudden. He did some research as a refresher beforeing to Jin''s dungeon and even read some of the articles about the Deep Ones that the cultivators encountered in the Pandamonium forum pages. But none of it rang a bell, as he only knew of the name Dagon instead of Dagen. Then again, perhaps Boss Jin purposely renamed it to possibly throw the cultivators off track.

    "So, you are aware of the greatness of Lord Dagen?" The whisper got a little louder and Bin Yong looked towards Shi Zuo to look out for any change of expression and actions upon hearing that whisper again.

    "You are chosen. Not him. Come to 34th Street, Exit B of Penn Station to learn the real truth." The familiar whisper continued to creep around his brain non stop, and it lingered for a little longer before he managed to get a grip on himself.

    "Lord DagonбнLord Dagenбн" Bin Yong was lost in his thought as he repeated the name a few times. Dagon was a long standing word associated with fish in Canaanitenguage, leading to the interpretation as a Fish God. However, modern records indicated that word to have been used for grain. Thus, Lovecraft could have used the mistaken myth of the fish god as the object of worship for the Deep Ones in his story. Yet, there were arguments stating Dagon was just an analogy in his novel, for the Deep Ones truly worshipped the Great Old One, Cthulhu.

    "Hello?бн Snap out of your daze. We need to move quickly before some of your feared Deep Ones really do catch up." Shi Zuo snapped his fingers a few times in front of Bin Yong and at the third snap, Bin Yong awoke from his train of thoughts.

    "Roughly three blocks down and then a left, afterwards we should be able to get a glimpse of New York City''s crown jewelndmark." Shi Zuo informed him as he quietly ''borrowed'' two umbres that were conveniently left near a stand beside a general convenience store, hoping to truly blend within the crowd.

    In less than a few minutes, the duo reached the Grand Central Terminal. Only there was no one else going towards the station at all. It was quite a contrast, the inside of the terminal station beingpletely emptypared to the busy, bustling crowd walking in the rain.

    "Not good, this is definitely a trap. We shoul-" Suddenly therge doors behind them closed shut without any warning. The two tried to open it almost immediately, but it was not budging a single bit. Shi Zuo quickly took his hatchet out and tried to hack at the door knobs to open it. But no matter how much strength he put into it, the door frame around the knob was too thick to pierce through. It was to the point that the handle for the hatchet broke with Shi Zuo''s eighth attempt, and the hatchet de remained lodged on the door itself.

    "I think you should stop trying. We havepany." Bin Yong warned him as there were a more than just a couple of ck Suits staring at them from the second floor of the grand central terminal. Intensifying the moment, the Pandawans heard thunder shing from outside as the two Pandawans helplessly watched the scene of the ck suits fully transforming themselves to the rumoured Deep Ones.

    What they did not know was that this was not the real Grand Central Terminal. None of them had ever gone to New York before so they were unaware that the real Grand Central Terminal did not have a pure all wooden front door. (They were mainly vintage doors with 3x3 ss panels.)

    Jin did not make this dungeon instance as straightforward as the previous dungeons. He wanted his customers to actively look for clues rather than simply rushing in blindly against the monsters. Sure, they could do that, but that would mostly ensure that they would have an unnecessarily harder time trying toplete his dungeons (if they survived).

    Jin wanted to make sure that everyone had a fulfilling experience and hoped to do more of this in the future rather than giving the cultivators just some monsters to fight. If someone''s sole desire was to contend and test their cultivation, they could have gone for the random monster arena instances he set up previously.

    The ''correct'' approach, at least the way he designed it, would have been to start by collecting some information on their situation. Jin did not expect his customers to have some prior knowledge to be able toplete an instance, so anyone could learn what was necessary by exploring more of the city of this particr dungeon instance such as the general stores or even the abandoned building that they were teleported to at the start of the dungeon instance. (Granted that the location of the abandoned building slightly differed with every new instance to provide a fresh new perspective to the dungeon instance.)

    There would be magazines around the stands to show the picture of the real Grand Central Terminal. Also, there was a torn page with regards to that in the abandoned building that they were searching around for enemies previously. Unfortunately, they had not paid too much attention to it.

    Should they have realised that it was the fake station and walked further down instead of entering, the real station would have been just a corner turn away with no Deep Ones lurking in there awaiting them. They would have been able to take the ride to Penn Station and find Captain Hei to proceed with the instance.

    The tens of fish eyes were stalking their new prey, but they were unlike the Deep Ones Jin used to have. The cultivators who had caught glimpses of the Deep Ones previously in the Goblin Western Diversion would be equally shocked. These slicker and stronger Deep Ones still possessed webbed hands, feet and fish heads but now they featured a spiked spine instead of arge fin behind their back coupled with a deadly killer tail.

    Jin had used the upgrade cards from hisplimentary reward by the System upon reaching Grade 8 to ''mutate'' the fellow Deep Ones to gain this new look. Initially, they had looked intimidating in the sea but bby onnd with all the gills and fish scales. But since Jin wanted to do an infested city scenario, he had made sure that the newly mutated Deep Ones not only looked equally scary on both terrains but were also decently agile onnd too.

    Instead of transforming all of them to fit this instance, he only made 50 go through that mutation to test them out since he did not have the time let them experiment on any monsters. (Perhaps, he should create an in-house arena to let the monsters duel with each other.) In the meantime, with the help of Shadow Dagen''s magical powers as well as the System''s, Jin enabled a few of the Deep Ones to wield some wicked, unholy oceanic magic. Therefore, the rain and thunder were not something he had designed but came as a result of the work of the Deep Ones'' magical rituals. (This in turn, saved some money recreating the background from Jin''s point of view.)

    A Deep One undoubtedly leapt to the centre of the Grand Central Terminal main concourse, at the top of the iconic clock. If the cultivators were aware that that brass clock was valued at 20 million USD in real life, they might suffer a heartache seeing the ws of the Deep ching itself into the opal ss.

    "Sacrificesssssssssss!!!" The Deep One on the clock roared as it wielded a long, broken and rotten wooden staff (with some seaweed hanging onto it) and pointed to the sky. The clouds grew even gloomier from what the duo was seeing and suddenly, the ss attached to the ceilings broke and out gushed three magical waterfalls flooding the concourse with water.

    The water that was pouring in quickly reaching knee deep and hindered the movements of Shi Zuo and Bin Yong who began to run the moment they saw a few Deep Ones jumping down from the second floor to the first while others were standing in wait. The Deep Ones, on the other hand, loved the iing waterfall as it quickened their pace since (their webbed feet were not ideal on such smooth floors of the main concourse).

    "We have to move to higher ground. With the waterfall, escaping underground will only make things worse." Shi Zuo said as he focused his chi towards his feet, allowing him to walk on water the moment he jumped out.

    "To the roof, then?" Bin Yong suggested and Shi Zuo agreed as he evaded an iing attack from a Deep One and pierced the broken shaft of the hatchet into the Deep One''s eye socket and hacked it from the back.

    They had a short term n, but survival seemed nigh impossible when the odds of overwhelming numbers andck of proper equipment were clearly stacked against them.

 Chapter 386 Grand Central Terminal Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 386 Grand Central Terminal Part 2</h4>

    At first, they were happy since it seemed the Deep Ones wished for a one on one match as merely two of them had taken the initiative to attack out of the few that jumped from the second floor. The rest were either standing on the 2nd floor observing the fight or lurking at the sides of the main concourse, guarding the exits in case they decided to run away.

    Judging from how quickly they died previously, the Pandawan Duo figured it would be simple to kill them before they executed their ns of escaping. They want to show that they were not the ones to be messed with either. (Besides, if all they do is to escape, what fun would it be for a dungeon instance?) While the Deep Ones slowly made their way towards Shi Zuo and Bin Yong, they were already looking out for possible climbing spots to use in order to reach the roof as fast as possible. Maybe those pirs at the side of the Grand Central Terminal, the side stairs or perhaps a single full charge through the main concourse while evading the rest of the Deep Ones.

    Their strategy was to kill the Deep Ones once they found what they were looking for, and if circumstances did not allow them to be together, at the very least run separately to reach the broken roof windows. That way, they would at least not be at such a disadvantage than they were currently in since the swamp like situation benefited the Deep Ones more than the cultivators. Knowing not to fight someone in their advantageous element was basic Fighting 101. (But sometimes, cultivators wished to confront against such high odds, hoping to surmount them for the sense of achievement.)

    Considering that the waterfall was consistently pouring water into the main concourse and rising. Shi Zuo felt it was strange that the water level was able to raise since there should be multiple exits in the Grand Terminal main hall that lead to the numerous subway tforms. "Unless...could it be that the subway tforms have already been flooded...?" Shi Zuo thought to himself. This made him even more assured that they should escape upwards instead of downwards. (Welp, they did not know that this was all a trap, and the real subway tforms were not there at all.)

    However, as soon as they engaged with the Deep Ones, they noticed that they had been sorely mistaken. The Deep Ones'' movements were fluid, and their w strikes, kicks and even tail jabs were damningly urate. If not for the mini buckler Bin Yong had on him, he would have suffered multiple injuries to his left arm once again. (The previous bleeding had been closed off with chi and applying a makeshift bandage out of the ck Suit''s clothes)

    Yet, it seemed that the mini buckler would notst much longer since there were no enchanments on it to withstand such violent abuse from the Deep One attacks. Bin Yong really wished he had his durable shield right about now, which had been imbued with multiple middle grade defensive inscriptions which he had invested time and money on.

    "Darn it! Stupid fish head, if only I had my personal weapons with me!" Bin Yong cursed under a heavy breath as he estimated that the shield could take at most four more hits before it breaks. In the meantime, while his sword strikes were true, they were not strong enough to inflict sufficient damage against the Deep One''s natural armoured scales.

    The Deep One even began tough at how pathetic Bin Yong''s struggle was,

    angering him further to the point he felt focusing all his chi into the makeshift sword so that he could do a proper stab. He figured that he could continue fighting since he had the two knives as a recement if the sword broke.

    At the same time, Bin Yong tried to refrain from doing that since it would not be ideal for him because of the difference in the weapon''s attribute. He would not be familiar with the short reach of the dagger nor was he well versed handling a dagger. Bin Yong could wield it like a short sword, but he would not be fully utilising what a knife could offer.

    Shi Zuo was not faring any better as he could feel that his hatchet could not stand the strain of his attacks nor the impact against the armoured scales of his own Deep One. It was bound to break within the next few strikes if he was not careful. That was why he was attacking with not just his weapon but with his fists and kicks too. Simultaneously, he tried to find any possible soft spots with his meleebat so that he could plunge his axe de into it.

    "Hahahaha, uselesss Pandawaannsssss." The Deep Mageughed as he pped with his two webbed hands at the amusement they provided. There and then, the Deep Mage brought his beloved staff towards him and plucked out what seemed to be two rings. "Catch Ringsssss~!" He shouted as he threw the rings up high towards the direction of Bin Yong and Shi Zuo. The rings immediately glittered and the two cultivators could recognise the chi that was being emanated out by the rings. They were none other than their very own storage rings that had been missing since the start of this instance.

    Still, though their Leader was helping them to even out the odds, that did not mean the Deep Ones in front of them would be kind enough to simply wait until they were ready. They immediately became even more aggressive, preventing them from catching their rings.

    However, Shi Zuo had already predicted such an oue as he threw his hatchet with whatever strength he could summon towards his own opponent to distract him briefly. The hatchet broke into pieces upon contact due to the immense rush of chi that was transferred into it, cuasing the Deep One to flinch badly. Shi Zuo took that opportunity to rush tackle Bin Yong''s Deep One so that his teammate had the window of chance to reach for his own storage ring.

    "I will not disappoint you!" Bin Yong shouted as he jumped forward to insert a quick, nasty knee strike at the face of flinched Deep One, giving Shi Zuo more time to keep the other one pinned down. He realised that Shi Zuo was potentially sacrificing himself so that he could reach for his storage ring.

    Moving forward, he was about to grab the storage ring before it dropped into the flooded floors of the main concourse, but it was at that point of time that something very strange urred. The Deep Ones they were fighting as well as Shi Zuo and even the Deep Mage had stopped movingpletely, seemingly frozen in time. "Have youprehended the greatness of Lord Dagen?" That particr whisper came back to haunt Bin Yong. "Abandon your fellow friend. Climb to the roof and reach 34th Street, Exit B of Penn Station. The Truth is awaiting you."

    "I will not abandon him!" Bin Yong tried to scream with all his might though there was no sounding from his mouth at all, nor were his muscles moving to produce those sounds.

    "Denial is merely a minor obstacle in the process to the road of enlightenment and ultimately, the Blessing of Lord Dagen." The whispers gently rubbed and enveloped Bin Yong''s mind once more before the time stasis released everyone in the Grand Central main concourse.

    His body continued what it was doing, but the sudden control of his body made him miss the falling ring. Quickly following to where it fell, he used his chi to pull the storage ring towards him. (If not for the short proximity range for the chi to work on the storage ring, Shi Zuo wouldn''t have tried to sacrifice himself to let Bin Yong retrieve his.)

    The moment the storage ring slipped into Bin Yong''s fingers, four spare swords furiously fuelled with chi flew out of his storage ring as projectiles and targeted the free Deep One.

    Needless to say, the Deep One defended with ease, but it allowed Shi Zuo to stop struggling with the Deep One underneath him and quickly get out of the way. Bin Yong immediately threw a spare axe to his friend from his storage ring. The four good friends including Jia Le and Luo Bo always knew that there mighte a time when their own storage ring might go missing or not work, hence each of them always kept a few spare weapons for their teammates.

    "Finally, a decent weapon." Shi Zuo poured his chi into the axe. While it might not be thetest, strongest and lightest axe he bought, it was something he had used before to great effect. This axe was none other than the one he got from the Bank Heist instance. A rare drop which allowed the Three Headed Bear in the Weapons Armoury to create an Ice Elemental Weapon, before Jin had changed the way he handed out rewards.

    Shi Zuo grinned when he realised that the Ice Elemental Axe could be surprisingly effective in this particr stage. He poured a lot more chi in and mmed it into the flooded concourse as the Deep One who deflected the sword projectiles continued rush towards him.

    "Axe Art... SCREW THIS GODDAMN FISH ATTACKKKK!!!" Shi Zuo shouted out tantly as the ice elemental axe unleashed a cascade of icy cier spikes at the Deep One, piercing its natural armoured scales. The chi ice spikes were strong enough to prate through the body and out of its back. Greenish foul blood leaked out of the Deep One as it tried to struggle one final time.

    The Deep One portrayed its savagery by breaking the ice spikes with its ...fish mouth. It opened its mouth widely and crunched on the tip of the ice spike despite the wound it had. When the Deep One got free, it released an enthralling scream of wrath to the Deep Ones who were watching before throwing itself again at Shi Zuo.

    "Just die already!" Shi Zuo whirled his axe haphazardly and gave a swing to the abdominal wound the Deep One had, severing it into half the moment the fish monster got into range.

    Bin Yong also had an easy time killing his target with a few precise strikes with his improved gear. In their happiness, both had forgotten about their escape n as the Deep Mage snapped his finger once more. This time four Deep Ones moved into action against the Pandawan Duo.

    As they cracked their webbed knuckles, the Deep Ones on the second floors threw forked tridents at them to even the odds against the well-equipped cultivators. It then struck both of them that this was not going to end any time soon.

    Hope was in limited supply and running out fast.

 Chapter 387 The Eventual Loss

    <h4>Chapter 387 The Eventual Loss</h4>

    A rtivelyrge number of spectators in Auditorium Number Three was watching the intense fight between the Deep Ones and the Pandawans. Usually, when there were Pandawans participating in the dungeons, the System would focus the movie screens on their dungeon instance, which lead to them being quite famous in Jin''s shop.

    As long as they put up a good fight, it really did not matter if they lost the instance because people were using them as a metric to gauge how hard a dungeon could be. And this particr Deep One Dungeon was showing them no mercy at all. Unlike the Shaolin Football Dungeon instance where many of the cultivators fought against the (even now) unbeatable Savants, thistest addition, while not as brutal, kept sending waves of increasingly more and more dangerous Deep Ones against Bin Yong and Shi Zuo especially with them armed with a trident.

    On that side note, the Deep Ones were all trained with basic spear proficiency aspared to them previously brandishing their weapons crudely when Jin caught them in the Fishing World. It was all thanks to Wyrstriker, the Wyvern Goblin Knight who tirelessly trained them while Jin prepared the Deep One training instance. Wyrstriker could not believe the regimental training he used to hate would be implemented by him to ensure the teaching of Deep Ones was orderly. It was no doubt the fastest way to teach them the ways of the spear in a short span of time.

    The fight against four Deep Ones had been still beatable with some nonstandard attacks, but that was never the end of it. The Deep Mage creepilyughed as it snapped its fingers and sent double that number against the two cultivators. Thankfully, Shi Zuo had managed to find his storage ring during the battle against the four Deep Ones which he found it by chance when the ring glittered under the water in response to the chi his was emitting. The fight then escted rather quickly from that point on and it was apparent how the difficulty level went up a notch with each Pandawan having to beat at least four on their own.

    Bin Yong and Shi Zuo had been forced to use a number of intermediate battle techniques that were usually kept in reserve to use in Middle Boss fights because of the amount of chi it expends. Before they knew it, the duo had unconsciously used up the gathered chi that was needed to let them walk on water in their fights. That forced them to fight unknowingly in knee deep waters, pushing their dexterity limit to the next level. But in Jin''s eyes, pushing their self imposed limit was the few viable ways to further their cultivation.

    Unlike Xiong Da, who could endure hits because of his unique cultivation, Shi Zuo was more of an all out offensive cultivator. To him, offence was indeed his best defence. Even the spectators and viewers who had subscribed to Pandaflix, Jins very own dungeon instance streaming, were baffled to learn that Shi Zuo had not fully utilised his Mad Monkey Cultivation until this particr dungeon instance.

    It was a brand new sight to watch him jumping around out of the waters on to the lower tforms and pirs to maintain his agility and attack them from tricky angles to counter the Deep Ones'' home field advantage. It was exhausting for Shi Zuo which was why he did not use it as often as he should. (Though the System was pleased with the new data input.)

    While the Deep Ones managed to block his wild attacks with their spears and armoured spike tails, all eight were subsequently defeated with Bin Yong making use of their distraction thanks to his Bombardier Beetle Style. Needless to say, the Deep Mage simply snapped his fingers yet again and now Sixteen Deep Ones stepped forward.

    It was definitely going nowhere for both of them. At first, they thought the Deep Ones would be willing to let them go after demonstrating their strength against them. But as the duels went by and with their numbers increasing with each fight, it was evident that the Deep Ones were merely toying with the two Pandawans.

    Instead of continuing to fight them, they tried to resume their n to run away and climb up to the roof. Unfortunately, it became futile after the Deep Mage managed to slip a few spells of his own to thwart their initial ns. Redirecting the continuous waterfall like a water hydro pump, he sshed them off the walls. Not willing to give up, they tried again.

    Bin Yong eventually managed to evade the initial few water spells and climbed to the reach the windows grills by the walls of the Grand Central Terminal. The Deep Mage then used a charged water orb spell as a sort of deviation when the real spell was an elusive binding rope made out of water. The rope pulled Bin Yong towards the 2nd floor by mming him right to the ground.

    To his surprise, the Deep Ones did not finish him off despite the injury he incurred, which allowed them to do so rather effortlessly. Instead, they dragged him to the railings and pushed him back down into the main concourse area again. They seemed keen on continuing their match and thus not granting him an easy death.

    Eventually, Shi Zuo was confident that the only way out was for one of the two parties to perish. At this point, they honestly considered giving up to returnter with a new strategy since they believed that the pattern of this particr deathtrap would not change and only be harder the more they killed. As if the Deep Mage could feel theircking resolve, it sniggered and threw a tied up rucksack he conjured at them. Both Bin Yong and Shi Zuo were cautious when they saw the rucksack, but the Deep Mage demanded them to open it.

    At that point, they guessed that they were fully at the mercy of the Deep Mage and Bin Yong did not hesitate to open it. Initially, they were shocked with a face of disbelief when they saw the contents of the bag. Only at a closer inspection, did they realise they had been scammed. "What the?! All these panda medals are broken!" Bin Yong took two pieces out and showed it to the Deep Mage.

    Now, the still spectating Deep Onesughed eerily with their lowly muffled vocal cords that sounded more like a tortured goat struggling to scream than a burst of properughter. "Fooolisssshhh Meatssssss. Gather threeeee piecesssss." The Deep Mage sped his hands together to signal that they could bebined and Bin Yong did what was told. To their surprise, three broken pieces of Panda Medals did be a whole. And judging from the bag of mixed fragments, there would be at least 20 to 30 Bronze Panda Medals in there.

    "Fightttt with my breathennnssss. More Medaaalllssss" Deep Mage exined and it was to keep them even longer in the dungeon instance.

    "SoбнI presume we are not going anywhere until we defeat that Magical Deep One." Shi Zuo was taking a breather, since the sixteen Deep Ones remained on standby ever since their escape attempts, as he peeked into the rucksack once more.

    "Seems that way, but if we dare to attack that Magical Deep One, we might incur the wrath of every Deep One in this Grand Central Terminal. The only proper way appears to be to survive the waves until it''s his turn." Bin Yong remarked as he could see that it would not end soon.

    "I don''t think I have enough chi potions for them all. I also doubt they are going to be nice enough to give us breaks to consume them except during those intervals when he snapped his fingers." Shi Zuo checked his storage ring and confirmed that his inventory of chi potions was still untouched

    "And so, I assume this is where hopelessness and dreade into y?" Shi Zuo chugged one chi potion before the Deep Mage signalled to the waiting sixteen Deep Ones to attack them.

    "It does not have to be that way. You can be spared, if you believe in the greatness of Lord Dagen, clueless one." Bin Yong heard that whisper when it abruptly entered his head as he prepared to defend himself from the Deep Ones.

    "You and only you have been deemed worthy." The whisper continued, but Bin Yong gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the deafening chatter that spoke to him continuously in his head. It was as if he was trying to pass a sanity check while fighting against the Deep Ones.

    However, the spectators did not know that Bin Yong was tormented by the unnatural mutters. They assumed the wounds from the previous battles hindered him. Contrary to Shi Zuo''s cultivation, Bin Yong was an all rounder that did not excel in any attributes. His strength, defence and agility were above average. Though his Bombardier Beetle Style made him fight more defensively, his techniques could be used as an offensive tactic against his opponents.

    Even though Bin Yong had experienced fighting arge group of monsters during the Goblin Raid Event, taking on tens of Orcs by himself, this was a different type of monsters. The Deep Ones had stronger scaled armour, and their arsenal of natural weapons such as teeth, tails and ws along with the proficiency to hold spear arms. Not to mention, they were even more ruthless and bloodthirsty than the Orcs who would whatever it takes to kill their opponent.

    Maybe because they had this particr feral instinct which made them behave differently from aparatively disciplined mind like the Orcs. Therefore, having sixteen Deep Ones attacking at the same time was apletely different scenario against the ones he encountered. Even the spectators were having a hard time imagining themselves trying to fight against one, much alone sixteen.

    Sadly, their defeat was ensured when an exhausted Bin Yong identally missed a block, and a Deep One wed his neck open, causing him to die from the massive instant loss of blood. No longer dividing their forces, they focused their attention on Shi Zuo, who had managed to take down three.

    As thest survivor, Shi Zuo could only go all out to kill as many as possible before the Deep Onespletely overwhelmed him. Though he fought valiantly, his luck came to an end when a Deep One who quietly hid under the shallow waters, sneak attacked him from the back and pierced straight through his heart.

    When the Pandawans awoke back in the recovery instance, they could not help but feel a little dejected but a few of the other cultivators who had been watching the Deep One dungeon via their phones, consoled them that they were probably the first who had managed to reach sixteen Deep Ones. In the meantime, Bin Yong took a bottle of water and sshed his face a little.

    He still had some shivers after the entire dungeon run and was torn between being sad for losing, and happy for it being over. A Panda Nurse beckoned him to follow her into a room. Milk was there waiting for him with a spell ready. "Those whispers are nasty, aren''t they?" Milk asked after Bin Yong took a seat at the side of her desk. She turned on her torchlight to check his eye pupil movements and systematically measured his blood pressure.

    "It was somewhat irritating butбнI must say, it was indeed alluring. I couldin that I had trouble resisting it and fighting at the same time, but I think this is pretty much par for the course in a dungeon with this theme. In my opinion, I feel that we haven''t even seen half of the dungeon yet." Bin Yong sighed as Milk had already begun casting her magic on him to remove the effects of the dungeons.

    "Indeed, you guys were just too focused on reaching your objective. It seems you know a bit about Lovecraft?" She asked as she implemented the spell ''Calming rity'' on Bin Yong.

    "Actually quite a lot, and I''m sure Jin really took a lot of inspiration from there. When I saw the Empire State Building, I noticed a gigantic fishбнsnake like shadow wrapping itself around it. I think I managed to have eye contact with it before I saw the first ck Suit guy and after that Shi Zuo pushed me away from the window. Oh, and I did not say this to Shi Zuo in case he got all worked up." Bin Yong told her.

    "I shouldn''t be saying this, but consider this a Pandawan special privilege. You are right. You have yet to see half of the dungeon. From what I saw, you guys were not even 10% close to thepletion of the dungeon. Come on, don''t look so gloom, others fared far worse than you." Milk tried to cheer him up as she took his blood pressure once more and asked if she could take a blood sample for research purposes after the dungeon instance. It goes without saying, Bin Yong was wee to reject such a test if he found it too invasive.

    Bin Yong eventually agreed and in exchange Milk revealed a hint about the dungeon instance. "Remember what Boss Jin told you guys before the start of this instance? It''s not all about fighting. You should take the time to appreciate the little things which flesh out the instance. You can share this piece of information with other people if you want. But I am sure you still want your first clear."

    Bin Yong nodded and asked if two people were enough for this Deep One dungeon instance. "That, I really cannot say. The dungeon will scale its difficulty with the number of people. Knowing Jin, it should probably be possible to beat it solo if you know how. But just think back at every dungeon instance you sessfullypleted so far. How many members did your ideal group include?" Milk winked at him as she wore herb coat with a vial of Bin Yong''s blood in her hands. The Panda nurse subsequently took charge and showed Bin Yong his bed to rest.

    "Soбн it seems this is less a James Bond kind of spy movie dungeon instance even though it seems like one at first nce, but more of a detective thriller, making us search for clues." Bin Yong thought to himself as he felt his head being all cleared up.

    "This is not the end, Boss Jin. I бнno we willplete it." Bin Yong felt the need to rise to the challenge. First, he would make some preparations to be ready this time as he sent an SMS to Jia Le and Luo Bo inviting them to join them in the evening.

 Chapter 388 Escape City

    <h4>Chapter 388 Escape City</h4>

    "What''s up with Bin Yong? He seems more pumped up than you?" Jia Le asked Shi Zuo as she sat beside Bin Yong who had entered a world of his own, scribbling down something in the Restaurant Instance seemingly unaware of their presence.

    The moment she had finished her work, Jia Le had rushed over at the request of her boyfriend. Simr to Bin Yong, she had been busy doing overtime all week long to get her workload done and be able to leave earlier today. (Just that Bin Yong had taken the day off with Shi Zuo while Jia Le and Luo Bo continued with their day work.)

    "He''s been like this the whole day. He refuses to believe that the Deep One arena is the correct way to progress even when everyone else appears to end up in the same predicament as us, just in different locations." Shi Zuo informed Jia Le, as they had watched others try their luck in the newest dungeon instance. Some were fighting at other famous ces like the Madison Square Garden, Central Park, the Theatre District and even at the Statue of Liberty.

    Yet, Bin Yong was still clinging on to Milk''s words and hoped that the others had not been told about it. It was only a matter of time that someone else would get the first clear. So far they were luck as it seemed that they are the only Pandawans who had appeared.

    "Thank goodness, Bu Dong and the rest of the high schoolers are on an excursion this week, The Venus Four probably having their semester exams and Xiong Da has some other matters to attend to, or else he could have possibly figure out the instance in a jiffy." Bin Yong thought to himself as he watched a few more Deep Ones dungeon instance streams to see if he could catch anything before attempting with the entire group.

    "All I know is that I am starving." Luo Bo cried out loud and shouted for a penguin to serve her. She had followed Jia Le reluctantly even though she did not want to fight those scary looking Deep Ones, but she decided toe since Bin Yong rarely asked for favours. Besides, Shi Zuo would probably be the one paying for her too and that itself was already a plus.

    The entire group enjoyed some Tonkatsu curry rice together and no matter how many times they ate Lynn''s food, it seemed that it was getting tastier and more fragrant. People usually say about how tasty the first time was when they reminisced the days they ate that good full portion of delicious food, but for those in the Restaurant Train of Delicacy, the food continued to get better every time they visited it.

    After a hearty meal and a short talk on what to expect, Bin Yong decided to say his piece. "Guys, this is privy information which I got from Milk." He leaned closer and the rest followed suit. "We need to search for clues in this dungeon. Just as Boss Jin warned us at the start, we should not think of this as a ''Search and annihte every single monster you see'' mission. The best case scenario might probably be that we entirely avoid having to fight any monsters until thest boss or so." Bin Yong then showed his close knitted group the notes he made while waiting for their arrival. There was not much to go about, but he eventually guessed about the Grand Central Terminal trap correctly.

    "The doors are different aspared to the real Grand Terminal station,e and have a look." Bin Yong utilised the virtual screen consoles that were avable to them in the Restaurant instance. He showed them screenshots of certain individual streams. "See here, they spawned right beside the Grand Terminal Station and it is extremely crowded aspared to the one we had entered. See the doors here too."Bin Yong pointed it out.

    "I am no architect, but one thing we know about Boss Jin is that he is rather particr about details. I do not think this is a coincidence. Look over here there are other examples of stuff not being ''correct''." He showed how the iconic gates to Central Park and even the base of the Statue of liberty was off. He even scrutinised background in the video of the team fighting at the Statue of Liberty.

    "If I am not mistaken, there''s another statue right over there and of the right sizepared to this one here. I think the bad heavy fog and rain pour made it hard to see. If not for the image to be of high resolution, I could not have found that original statue." Bin Yong indirectly praised Jin''s Magic Eye technology. At the very least, he knew that what he was paying for Pandaflix was indeed high definition.

    "I guess, it isn''t truly a spy kind of dungeon instance thenбн" Shi Zuo rubbed his stubble while frowning, showing some disappointment, but he did enjoy the thrill from the ck Suits.

    "Maybe when we are stronger, this could be a spy action thriller instance, but the fact is that we aren''t able to y it this way for now. We should go about it the smart way, I guess." Bin Yong suggested and he told them about the experience he had.

    "Ignore the whispers?" Jia Le asked and wondered if she had such willpower to withstand it. She too had read up on Lovecraftian lore and understood how alluring those murmuring whispers were. The protagonists were disillusioned by them, and after a while, it made them go insane. If this was any other Dungeon Supplier, it was nothing to worry about, but Jin had already proven in the Halloween Instance, that he had the means to make their fears be a reality.

    "So бнdoes this not mean that this dungeon instance is literally like a giant escape room?"Jia Le asked by chance, and Bin Yong looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed. That was when Shi Zuo was suddenly reminded about something they had overlooked.

    "Bro, don''t you remember thatбнweird English quote we found in the abandoned building? And we never found our phones in the end."Shi Zuo asked and suddenly Bin Yong ced his palm on his temple.

    "Goshбнyou are right. Looking back we really didn''t pay too much attention and missed out on a bunch of stuff." Bin Yong grumbled, and they finally had adjusted themselves with the right mindset going into the Deep Ones dungeon instance. Still, he could not believe it. It was amazing that Jin had created a virtual New York City, only for it to be potentially a giant escape room. For what it was worth, the wait for the release of this dungeon was indeed justified.

    "Alright then, Please remember those escape games tips I gave you guys before." Luo Bo reminded them and the entire group quickly looked a final time through their chat conversations. Dungeons were just one thing they shared together as a group. The two couples had tried various other activities together since they found each other to be ratherpatible.

    Even Jia Le, who was a rather new member of their clique, managed to quickly blend in and get to know some of the quirks the gang had. For example, Luo Bo, who was theziest among them, had the most influence on the guys. But with Jia Le joining the group, it reced Bin Yong''s previous craze for Luo Bo and the group dynamics was slightly more bnced. (Though there were times, Luo Bo pouted that things did not always go her way anymore.)

    "As usual, I propose Shi Zuo as the team leader since Bin Yong always overanalyses things too much." Luo Bo said and even Bin Yong agreed to that. "Bin Yong as the vice leader since he ALWAYS overanalyses things too much, so that there will be someone to watch our backs if we are missing out on things."

    "You know, you don''t have to say it twice, right?" Bin Yong frowned but Jia Le patted his head.

    "Too bad, it''s the truth." Jia Le whispered barely audible, reinforcing Luo Bo''s statement before the group entered the Deep One dungeon instance via their updated Pandamonium app.

    As if given a second chance, they were teleported into the exact same derelict room with that muddled ss facing right in front of them. The four were tied up and instead of struggling, they began to carefully examine the room while waiting for the little Panda Pyjamas girl to appear.

    She did not make them wait long, almost immediately entering by breaking open the door. Not panicking, the group slowly observed what the Panda Pyjamas girl did. "Your mission, should you choose to ept it; Find Captain Hei in 34th Street, Exit A of Penn Stati-"

    "We ept." The whole group said in unison despite the fact that they were still tied to the chairs which kind of shocked the little girl for a moment. Then, she stepped back while moving her panda mask a little to reveal that cute smile she was hiding. From her pocket, she took out a phone and ced it on the floor.

    "Your first objective is to reach Grand Central Terminal. I will call you if you manage to reach there correctly and safely." This time instead of pulling the straps out of the chairs for them, she disappeared after cing the phone on the floor. However, what she said corresponded to Bin Yong''s doubts.

    " She said ''Correctly''. So bro, your theory might be right after all." Shi Zuo was finally convinced by Bin Yong''s way of thinking.

    "Our cultivation is still active right?" Jia Le asked as she struggled a little after the disappearance of the little girl right in front of her eyes.

    "It should be, it was not blocked thest time I remembered. Just that, we did not think of using it immediately." Bin Yong answered and it assured Jia Le as sheid back and began casting a cultivation technique. Soon enough, there were vines growing from the bottom of her chair with razor sharp leaves, which at the behest of Jia Le, cut open the straps for her. Afterwards, she assisted the others in getting free.

    "Now this is something different. Shi Zuo picked it up as he examined the phone. The first thing that he saw was the battery lifespan. Not only was it blinking at 10%, but it was also none other than Bin Yong''s phone... who had the lousiest battery life among the four of them. Mainly because he refused to change his phone after eight odd years since he imed that it was still working fine for him.

    "Seriously, if we lose because your battery dies out early, I am so dragging you to the Hua Wee store in the shopping district and get you a new recement immediately.'' Shi Zuo cursed a little as he knew that Bin Yong''s phone booted up real slow. The power button was slightly faulty and turning it off might prove to be a nuisance and eventually consume more battery than it should.

    "After getting a new phone for you, I will take your old phone and smash it into bits. I will make sure I crash and burn every singleponent." Shi Zuo sighed as he looked at the worn out phone before leaving it with Bin Yong.

    "I am guessing that it is also a sort of timer for us toplete this mission."Jia Le chimed in as she was examining around the room once more. Luo Bo was already flipping the torture chairs upside down to see if there were any clues at all.

    True enough, they found a tattered handbook stained with blood, hidden inside the chair''s broken cushion. Luo Bo was just trying her luck by poking her finger into those small cushion holes to see if she managed to feel anything. For a clue to be found so quickly, she became excited that she bounced around a little while Bin Yong was looking through the contents of the tattered handbook.

    "From the looks of it, theseбнare something like coded cyphers, I think." Bin Yong browsed through the contents for a while before giving it to Shi Zuo.(They would never guess that Boss Jin was well versed in cypher coding, and all credits were given to his grandfather teaching him that.)

    "Yeah, and all written in tortured human blood I presume? Hahahha!" Shi Zuo was not helping the situation at all with his awfully coldment. They checked the other torture chairs just in case before heading out of the room.

    However, Jia Le turned around again as if to make sure she did not miss out anything else in the room. "Escape Room, huh? More like Escape City." Jia Le mumbled to herself to which the System secretly awarded the group ten panda medals to their current dungeon score for being the first group to correctly guess the true name and nature of this particr dungeon.

 Chapter 389 Speculations

    <h4>Chapter 389 Spections</h4>

    "Oh, hey look. Bin Yong''s team is trying out the dungeon once more, and this time the audio is clearer than usual for some reason. Usually, there would be some background music apanying it." One of the viewers who recently failed the Deep Ones Dungeon Instance saw Bin Yong and friends on the screen. With the introduction of Pandaflix, the System had also been implementing ways to improve the stream, especially to a generation of cultivators who could not sit still and watch stuff for long.

    Hence, it had ced background music and the music selection surprisingly came from Ke Mi. Somehow, the System found out that she had the ir to choose the kind of music for certain dungeon themes. All it had to do was to expose her to all the avable music and she would pick ones that would suit the dungeon. Not to mention, Ke Mi could alter the music tune in her head, inadvertently creating a new set of music for the System to have copyright free music. Jin listened to it and suggested that aption of such music could sell in the future.

    While the viewer and the following group that gathered around her upon hearing Bin Yong''s name had failed the Deep One dungeon instance multiple times, they were not too unhappy about it. The main reason for this was the surprisingly high amount of Panda Medals that was being rewarded, which Boss Jin had been quite stingy since the opening of his dungeon supplier store. One of the cultivators had posted a thread on the Pandamonium Forum to check how much medals one would be able to obtain in this recent dungeon.

    Many had stated that even without going that far in, the amount of medals they earned had been twice, or even three times morepared to the amount given in the previous dungeon. Some also wondered if it was a bug that allowed them to earn that many Panda Medals.

    However, Jin personally gave a brief statement in the forums (his ount was Panda verified) that there was no issue with the amount of panda medals being awarded. In fact, he revealed that there would be a revision of Panda Medals for all dungeons by the end of the month, which would be officially announced in due time.

    Mr Know-It-All who was in the loop of every news of Jin made a few simple spections on the current behaviour for Jin''s increased rewards for the currency. ording to him, the most likely andmon scenario would be more weapons and/or inscriptionsing in, since the ones he currently sold were kind of general and basic despite the supreme quality.

    Inscriptions like attack, defence or support Inscription were pretty standard such that the customers could buy them in other ces, though getting from those from Jin''s store should not be a waste. If they followed the trend of his other additional inventory, they were guaranteed to be at least slightly stronger than the average inscriptions produced from outsiders.

    There was a collective term for such inscriptions that were better than average inscriptions of the same grade and the public dubbed these kinds of inscriptions as a plus. For example, Attack Plus Grade One inscription. Though some swore that Jin''s inscriptions were a notch better than the Plus versions that they even want to nickname them as Panda+ for the fun of it. (Perhaps it might be true in the future.)

    Furthermore, Mr Know-It-All spected that Jin was going to bring in more very specific, distinct inscription stocks that would definitely improve the dungeon experience of the cultivators as well as aiding them with passing the dungeon even more efficiently. For example, Fire Element Attack Enchantment inscription which provides fire elemental damage for a short burst of time or Water Element Defence Inscriptions where the user would have better resistance against water spells or attacks.

    He even deduced there was a possibility of ''species killer'' kind of equipment. Some of the cultivators asked in the thread what those were and Mr Know-It-All briefly exined that those inscriptions could probably be more effective against certain monsters. For example, ''Orc Killer'' Inscriptions.

    Those inscriptions would prove to be very useful against the Orcs in the Goblin Raid Dungeons, making it easier for the cultivators to pit against the orcs if they had a hard time, or simply wished to feel more like a god of war on the battlefield.

    However, that particr inscription would be useless and not effective at all against any other kind of monster. Mr Know-It-All mentioned that those inscriptions had existed in the past mainly tobat monsters attacking cities. But since the monsters in a monster horde wave tended to vary by species, it was decided to be more useful to use general inscriptions than highly specific ones. He added that nowadays it should be rare to even find a particr ''Species Killer'' kind of inscription on the market. Most were probably gathering dust in the showroom of weapon collectors.

    One of the cultivators posted his own theory stating that it could be the first signs of an uing general intion in prices since more and more people began to participate in the dungeons. He believed Boss Jin wished to inte the prices of his goods after his removal of Panda Credits in favour of only using Panda Medals.

    Therefore, he had increased the number of Panda Medals to give the illusion that the store would not be ripping the customers off. Even though he admitted removing the Panda Credits was a decent move to avoid confusing neers, he felt the prices for the food items were rather hefty since they could either be bought with money or Panda Medals.

    Whereas, Panda Credits was something like an extra bonus for people to utilise to buy their food. Despite his theory sounding rather logical and some found it appealing, others argued back that the new tickets all came with food vouchers for any main dish of their choice. Other than that, they had to top up, which they found that particr reward method to be better. Especially since some remembered that the main dishes could be more expensive with Panda Credits.

    The older customers continued to argue that the credits had depended on the number of tickets they bought and reintroducing that system would have made those delicious dishes inessible. With the lure of food and dungeon at the same time, they felt it was already worth the price especially since they could not get to enjoy such heavenly taste anywhere else.

    It was both a pity and wonder that such mind blowing food was found in this oddly unique dungeon supplier shop and not in proper restaurants. It''s indeed a wonder since people agreed such luxurious heaven defying dishes were avable to them either before (to buff themselves) or after a dungeon instance (to recover after a good fight), making it an excellentbination of both.

    Some even praised that they felt healthier and stronger after tasting Jin''s food, as if it was a health supplementary tonic that tasted incredibly delicious. Xiong Da once mentioned that if this ce would allow delivery, he would stop cooking and simply buy from this ce twenty four seven. Of course, Jin adamantly refused, stating that the quality of the food also depended on how fresh the food was being served from the kitchen. By providing a delivery service, it would reduce the quality of the food.

    No doubt Xiong Da pouted, stating that he was willing to throw craploads of money at Boss Jin who seemingly did not want it at all. "What kind of business owner does not want more cash?! You sure, you are Chinese?!" Xiong Da eximed and everyone beside him shared the same sentiment.

    Yet, he was also relieved that Boss Jin did notpromise on quality, which was why he and many others continued toe back to this dungeon supplier store. However, Jin mysteriously pointed out that in the future, they may drastically change the way they did things. When pressed any further, Xiong Da only received the two infamous words "Trade Secret" from Jin''s mouth.

    Another of Mr Know-It-All''s deductions was that Jin was going to experiment in some future instance that could involve big stuff. Literally big stuff. "If he can have Pandawans drive tanks in dungeons, there may be no limit to what else he can build in the future. Going one step further should the demand be high enough he could potentially sell off the rights to own cars, tanks and other items. It might be only real inside the store of particr dungeon supplier, but god be damned if I can ever fly around in my private spaceship or build a luxurious mansion of my own. One day, it may be a better alternative to someone''s dreaded reality."

    Upon posting that, many cultivators liked his post so much that it quickly became the hottest topic of the day. Still, he warned others that those were all spections, and one could only dream that Jin could create such things. Some admitted that they would not mind staying in a beautiful instancepared to the cramped housing they had to live in.

    Others theorised that if Jin was building housing estates, the government could potentially see him as a potential cash cow and invest in him more. All these posts made Jinughed as a few things they stated could potentially be true if the Dungeon Fortress City turns out the way he nned to.

    Even the System was starting to calcte the possibility of cultivators staying permanently and aiding Jin by earning dungeon dors in the Dungeon World which would provide more profit for the System. And the System desired money, for money was power. To a point, that it could even consider that revenge against the Zodiacs was a secondary objective.

    If Jin managed to carve a city in the dungeon world, the profit would be immensely high. At the moment, it would be correct to say that the store did not earn as much cash from the cultivators as the System wanted to.

    On the other hand, the money flow from the Gearbox armour sales, courtesy of the unknowing Yang Ling, was in the millions. Without it, it would have been quite challenging to help fund Jin''s mini war all the way. Sure, they could potentially sell more of those gearbox armour but eventually, someone would intervene by copying those ideas and producing even better ones.

    That was the sad reality of thepetitive market. The only way to curb that was to limit the number of stocks avable and sell it sparingly to various worlds, but the System was unwilling to do so. Hence, the long term solution was to get the Dungeon Fortress City up and running so that it could generate profits that outmatch profits of the short term sales of the Gearboxes.

    That was when Another Jin''s negotiating came in very handy. He was getting more and more proficient in it thanks to all the other trades he made. His rude and rowdy way of hard bargaining was something certain worlds had never encountered before, and it was to the point that they had to bend over just to receive the goods and hand over the money.

    It went without saying that a certain fox, Kiyu, greatly aided him behind the scenes at themand of Kraft''s instructions by influencing Jin''s words with some magical power. (When asked by Jin why it was not detected by those high level mages, Kraft said it was something like a natural ability to Kiyu.)

    This proved to Another Jin that words themselves indeed had power in them. Judging by the reaction of the royal purple fox, she enjoyed watching those lowly ''worms'' sumb to Jin''s negotiation prowess. Witnessing the power of Kiyu firsthand after her debut, he also rmended Qiu Yue to use her if she ever needed to get a deal from Goblin King Sol and Orc King Frost Echo. Yet, it was in obvious, she was already excellent at pulling those two''s strings without the help of one of Kraft''s foxes.

    The spectators who were discussing amongst themselves how far the Pandawans would make it this round had begun to notice that Bin Yong''s group was still not moving out to fight against Deep Ones but rather searching for things. They were already shocked when the little panda masked girl they all had encountered changed her actions the moment they replied to her.

    Come to think of it, almost all of the cultivators thought it was already an order, not a question nor a request. None had tried answering her, thinking she was merely part of the setting, so it was quite the discovery learning she would hand them a possibly important clue for the dungeon instance.

    Not any less important seemed to be the existence of that tattered handbook for the viewers. Some even began to try and guess the contents of the book when briefly shown by the Magic Eye of the dungeon instance.

    Mr Know-It-All, who was at the scene in his favourite spot, suddenly found himself justifying the group''s sess when some people began to loudly use Boss Jin of having purposely given the Pandawans a head start or a possible clue.

    "I doubt Boss Jin would y favourites. Bin Yong and Shi Zuo might have discovered the true intention of the dungeon instances themselves. They are not the only ones, as I myself had begun to suspect that this dungeon is not what it seemed to be after watching various attempts by many cultivators." Mr Know-It-All further proved his point, by posting a few screenshots in the Pandamonium forum on the differences in the architecture of the famousndmarks andpared them in various dungeons.

    "As I am sure we can all agree, Boss Jin takes pride in his work by being meticulous with even the smallest details. Like thement of cold morning air blowing in our face during the goblin forest instances or the dusty remnants of an explosion in the Goblin Raid Dungeons. These ''errors'' are totally out of the normal, and it leads me to believe those Pandawans might have figured out the dungeon instance they were in. That should be why they are searching for more clues aspared to the previous time when they went in blind." Mr Know-it-All remarked.

    With just a simple analysis of Mr Know-It-All, the entire mood of the crowd changed. Jin, who was at the sidelines, was amazed by the power of knowledge and influence that Mr Know-It-All wielded. It was not a joke.

    Even without going into any instance, his observation and knowledge in the dungeon instances on the forums made him as famous as the Pandawans in his shop, if not more. Also, for some reason, Jin realised that he had yet to introduce himself formally to Jin (or anyone else). While he did fill in his personal data when making an ount to enter the shop instance, it would have been rude for Jin to snoop around, if the other party did not wish for it.

    However, Jin was equally surprised to learn that not even his long time friend from Sea Mesh called him by his true name. Upon this realisation, Jin began to doubt the validity of the contact information he had filled in even though it was just a random thought. While it was no crime to enter a fake name to register for an ount in the Pandamonium app, it would not have been that much of a problem in the past aspared to now.

    One should not forget that the System had upgraded their security some time ago and was checking everyone''s real identity with a proper, thorough ID check via the nation''s registry. The thing is, Mr Know-it-all''s personal ID information checked out. "Maybe that could be a possible valid reason why he never enters my dungeons since revealing their cultivation speaks volumes of his identity. That could also be the exnation of why he refused to help me when I casually asked about the tutoring matter." Jin thought to himself.

    In any case, Jin kept that at the back burner, since there was no problem with Mr Know-It-All so far and quietly focused on Bin Yong''s instance. He smirked a little as he saw how that little bit of information from Milk had motivated them to change their strategy and look for alternate ways. "A little bit of ying cheat, but they are famous enough in my store to have some influence on the crowd. If they would know any better, I might have to pay them for advertising my dungeons instead of them paying me." Jin sniggered.

 Chapter 390 Solving as a Team

    <h4>Chapter 390 Solving as a Team</h4>

    Their search was proving to be the correct choice of action. The group found lots of hidden messages and possible clues that could potentially help them in this dungeon instance. They also avoided going outside nor look out of the windows to try and avoid being influenced by those whispers.

    As the leader, Shi Zuo coborated with everyone and had suggested to bring all the evidence back to the ''torture'' room as fast as possible since they were racing against a timer.

    Unlike the other dungeon instances where their phone battery power did not deplete and could be used infinitely to check on the maps and stuff, Bin Yong''s handphone was indeed running out of battery. With each percentage decrease, it made Shi Zuo feel that he grown 10 years old for being so stressed out.

    Hence, he had demanded Bin Yong to turn off all possible apps to reduce the amount of battery the phone was consuming. They did not know if it would help and they could only pray for the best. That was until Luo Bo found a dusty old handphone battery lying in one of the abandoned office desks.

    Shi Zuo then remembered Bin Yong''s phone was so old that they would actually work with recement batteries, unlike the newer ones the rest of them had which did not have a recement cover to remove the battery pack. Still, he did not want to risk removing the battery since it would mean powering up the old phone again unless it was absolutely necessary. With the way this dungeon instance was clearly not pulling its punches, he''d rather find out when the battery died out. (or hoped not to find anything at all.)

    Back in the torture room, theyid out all the clues they had found. Luo Bo had brought in a few weird looking pamphlets. She arranged them in the same pattern she had found them, in case that was of importance. Bin Yong went back to the room where they had found the cryptic looking quote the first time and noted it down by using the random scraps of pen and paper around the ce.

    Meanwhile, Jia Le had searched the entire building and found out that there was a door that was sealed shut with a weirdbination lock. She tried to utilise her cultivation, but the door would not even budge a single inch. In fact, it felt like the door itself was defending itself from the blow.

    True enough, Jin used the exact same kind of door that was previously used to block away potential intruders from the shop''s basement for the dungeon instance. But instead of Grade 19, he used a Grade 15 door since he yet to encounter anyone of that level around the area. (It was highly unlikely that the Tiger Lord would visit him) Even if there was a Grade 15 cultivator that coincidentally entered Jin''s store, the System would automatically swap the door for the Grade 19 one. (well, that''s not to say if a Grade 19 or 20 cultivatores in, then Jin guessed he would probably allow him to destroy a normal door as a bonus for being that high level.)

    Talking about the basement door, the store''s basement was cordoned off from the public since the shop instance handled all the entrances to everything from service instances to shopping instances. The library on the second and third floor was surprisingly popr since some students used that area as a studying corner while others used it to grab a bit of snooze time before going back to the shopping district. (Some guys even used that ce as a ce to pass the time to wait for their girlfriends in the shopping district.)

    Jin did not care about those two parts of the store for now as his shop instance was sufficient to cater to almost every need he has. Even the mini garden park previously used by Lynn and the other cultivators while waiting for their turns became a gathering ce for some people. (Mostly the elderlies before they enter the shop for their dungeon instances early in the morning).

    On a separate note, Jia Le did find an interesting fragment piece that was glowing...eerily dark. She was a little afraid to hold on to it and decided to take a trashcan which she nonchntly emptied the contents on the floor and used it to hold the fragment emanating such dark energy. When the rest of the group saw it, they too got wary andmended Jia Le on such an innovative idea. Who knew what might happen to her if she held on to the fragment without any care.

    "So, remember, think simple. Most escape rooms are meant to be solvable. If we overanalyse it too much, it might backfire on us. But Bin Yong, go ahead and overanalyse stuff" Luo Bo emphasised thest part which made Bin Yong rolled his eyes in annoyance before they gathered together to look through the clues.

    "I tried to decipher the cypher. It might fall into one of two categories, but I am willing to bet it is a prime number to alphabets decryption kind of code." Shi Zuo told them as he was used to having this kind of puzzles and probably the best analytical mind among the four of them. (Even though they said Bin Yong overanalysed things too much, as a tech guy he fulfilled the clichиж of loving the crack puzzles.)

    "Why would you say that? I do not see any numbers at all? Its all dots, curves and lines along with cursive alphabets. Are you sure you are not overanalysing it?" Bin Yong asked with a little sarcasm in it as he borrowed the tattered handbook to flip through.

    "Well you are not wrong, my dear Watson. That was what I thought as well...until I saw this." Shi Zuo took out a piece of folded paper and as he unfolded it, there were scribbles of numbers and a few weird patterns. Bin Yong looked through it a bit confused at first before he understood that it seemed to correspond the odd patterns to the numbers.

    He then noticed there was actually a page that has seemingly been purposely removed from the tattered book. Shi Zuo added it was not that hard to find, but if he had not seen a few of those bloodied patterns on that tattered handbook, he would have thought that it was merely just scribbles too.

    "Hmm, but the quote that we found, it still does not make any sense nor fulfil any of that cypher code. I copied every single word and even the way it was written and where it was written to make sure we do not overlook any patterns." Bin Yong said. "The only clue I can make out from this entire quote is the possible missing letters, but I can''t make any heads or tails from it." Bin Yong sighed.

    "What are the letters that are missing?" Luo Bo asked and Bin Yong said it was Y, H and A.

    "Coincidentally, those were the words there seemed to be missing in these three pamphlets as well." Luo Bo had noticed a possible corrtion as she showed the rest. It was a picture of a lottery draw to the holiday vacation to the city of Las Vegas. However, the word Y was deliberately missing from the word ''city'' from the first pamphlet and so was the ''A'' in Vegas in the second. "Win a Ooliday trip." Luo Bo purposely emphasised the missing H in the word Holiday in the third.

    "Perhaps, write those letters in that particr cursive writing on the pamphlet as per the quotes?" Jia Le suggested and they just gave it a try. To their surprise, it did work as the three pieces of advertisement suddenly glowed. The glowing caused lines and dots to appear on the paper throughout the picture, turning it bloody red which made Luo Bo scream a little before the glow faded away.

    "Now, this is something to look forward to." Shi Zuo tried to use the cypher code to decrypt the lines and what he got was 4-7-9 which correspond to D, G and I ording to the alphabetical list.

    "D-G-I? Dig? Gid?" Jia Le tried solving it out loud. "Are we looking for some ce to dig? or is it abination with Y-H-A? I see no pattern at all." Jia Le was getting even more confused than before.

    "What if we turn it back to numbers? You said you saw a lock, right? is it a numberbination lock or alphabetical lock?" Bin Yong asked and Jia Le shook her head.

    "It was neither, it''s more of a key kind of thing, and somehow I think it has something to do with this particr fragment here." Jia Le replied and then Luo Bo emphasised the group that they needed to think simple.

    "Let''s just do what the clue seems to provide us with. Dig. Well, we can only dig at the bottom of the ground I presume? I am sure Boss Jin is not that evil to make us dig every corner we can findбн right?" Luo Bo asked and everyone agreed.

    So far, it was either their luck or them epting the mission, but they had not encountered any Deep Ones, and they hoped it stayed that way since they have to weapons with them. Not to mention, with four cultivators in the dungeon, it also meant that the difficulty level of the dungeon by dishing out more Deep Ones or stronger fish men.

    They collectively went to the basement of the abandoned building without a hitch which was incidentally a carpark with a rusted old broken car at the center of it all. Other than that, there was only solid, concrete ground everywhere, making it impossible to dig with their bare hands. Unless...Yeah, everyone who was at the carpark thought the same.

    To remove that damn busted car away.

    True enough, beneath the car was a pile of moveable rubble and soil which Shi Zuo and Bin Yong had the honours of digging whatever possible clue up, since their girlfriends refused to help. (Poor guys...) After a few minutes of digging, Shi Zuo noticed there was a glimpse of something metallic which prompted them to uncover the contents even more aggressively to reach it.

    It was some lockbox with a weird keyhole to it. When shown to Luo Bo and Jia Le, they both were at a loss of what kind of lockbox it was supposed to beбнuntil Jia Le incidentallypared it with the fragment that was left in the trashcan.

    "Say, does anyone want to risk holding the fragment and try to insert it into this keyhole? Somehow I feel that it might fit in quite nicely." Jia Lemented and everyone looked at each other for a while.

    "Erm, let''s search insides of the car first. Perhaps there are some safety gloves or maybe some thick cloth or something that might help us avoid holding it directly." Bin Yong gave a reasonable rationale and they started rummaging the broken down vehicle.

    "Hey, I found a wire here, looks like something Bin Yong could use! Does the car have a USB port to jack it in?" Luo Bo managed to pull the backseats open and squeezed through to check the trunk of the car. Meanwhile, Shi Zuo could not help but watch his girlfriend''s butt poking out of the car seats.

    "Oh, Baby, you are so hot." Shi Zuo remarked bluntly.

    "Of course! I''ve known that for a long time. Still thanks for noticing, my darling monkey." Luo Bo teased her boyfriend a bit as she pulled her arms back and handed Shi Zuo the USB cable.

    "Hey, quit flirting in the middle of the mission. A Dungeon Instance is not the right ce for that." Bin Yong said a bit annoyed as he checked the phone''s battery. It was starting to get dangerously low at 5% before he passed it over to Shi Zuo.

    "That''s not what I heard, dear Bin Bin. Weren''t you and Jia Le all touchy in the Dungeon Heist Instance when all of us were stuck in that lift, and it broke down of all a sudden?!" Luo Bo refuted hisints and Bin Yong immediately kept quiet. Clearly, he still felt very guilty about that seeing how Jia Le was quite vulnerable during that dungeon instance since it was barely their second dungeon out together at that point of time. (Oddly, they did not me Boss Jin for it.)

    "Hey, look! It''s charging! This is fantastic!" Shi Zuo shouted in delight when suddenly they heard growlsing from the dark isted corners of the underground carpark. It was undeniable that Shi Zuo''s excitement awoke the feral Deep Ones.

    "I guess we are on the right track if there are Deep Ones not disguising themselves as those ck Suits." Bin Yong said as he cracked his knuckles but Jia Le tapped him on his shoulders while she stepped forward.

    "I diligently watched your dungeon stream during the afternoon lunch break. I suggest you to take the back seat and watch. Without your weapons, I believed I am way better than you." Jia Le sniggered a little as she summoned her cultivation with ease.

    Silhouettes of five Bellflowers bloomed so wildly and vividly above her head that a scene of the wind blowing the purple petals into the far end could be seen.

    It was definitely a breathtaking sight.

 Chapter 391 Extra - Ke Mis New Job

    <h4>Chapter 391 Extra - Ke Mi''s New Job</h4>

    Ever since the Ladies Night that was filled withughter and karaoke, Zither Mistress Ke Mi had been wondering about all other new kinds of music this particr world had yet to offer her.

    She had been ying around with some of the tunes she still remembered from the karaoke with her zither and had been changing them bit by bit each night for days until she finally not only recreated but even improved the entire song in her mind.

    The day she yed it to the living armour nts, they became so enthralled by the new music that they collectively grew 0.2cmrger in length, width and thickness. It might not sound much but their usual growth with Ke Mi''s constant music therapy roughly measured between 0.02cm to 0.03cm a day which on its own was already a big step uppared to their feral brethren in the wilds. Under normal conditions living armour nts took years or even decades to grow that sturdy armour te defence that could defend against modern day bullets.

    It was so record breaking that the werejackals had decided to celebrate this asion by personally cooking Ke Mi''s favourite dishes for dinner. They were usually toozy to cook and ate most of their food raw even though they possessed some decent cooking skills courtesy of Lynn.

    After the young chef had started asking the were-humans to help her grow out some food to experiment, Lynn, in turn, taught them a few simple dishes they would be able to prepare. After all, they were Jin''s familiars so there was no harm sharing some of her cooking knowledge with them. (If it were other strangers or even rtives, she would not even bat an eye to their request.)

    The monsters never really had the chance to taste the yummy food Lynn provided in her Restaurant Instance, mainly due to the costly ingredients and Lynn''s tight control of the flow of ingredients to ensure maximum profit. Additionally, the System already provided all monsters with basic food. After Jin had introduced a bonus system, monsters who worked extra hard could exchange their bonus to get yummier food or improvements to their home instance. Still, those improved food quality provided by the System could neverpete with the fantastic taste Lynn had casually cooked up for the monsters.

    Ke Mi, unfortunately, missed the chance to taste it when Lynn had taught them the basics of cooking. While it was nothing tooplicated, it was sufficient for the were-humans to enjoy a change of pallet, with their own cooked food every now and then instead of the usual raw meat, fruits and vegetables that the System provided. That was also why they preferred nting their own harvest and trade them amongst the monsters for more points, food, or even favours. (When the Digital Pet Cards came out, they also used their food to trade for cards with the monsters or used their harvest as a betting item.)

    Although the visiting ninja penguin helped out today by covering most of the heavy cooking, the werecats skillfully assisted with the minor cooking such as ensuring the boiling of the stew, the timing of barbecued meat. Meanwhile, the werejackals helped with the pre-preparation, such as peeling the potatoes, ensuring the rice was washed, cutting of the vegetables etc.

    At the same time, Ke Mi was brought into the mansion with the help of the Great White Snake after her day''s work and was surprised to see Jin sitting at the side of the massive dining table. Apparently, the were-humans reported to the System about the sudden growth and Jin got wind of it. She never expected her ever busy master would make time to pay her a visit.

    "How have you been Ke Mi?" Jin smiled at her, which warmed her old tiny heart as she prostrated right in front of him with grace and courtesy.

    "I doing fine. Thanks Master." Ke Mi now spoke Jin''snguage, albeit a little broken with the aid of Shu''s Teaching. Usually, the System would trante the monster''snguage for Jin and vice versa, but Ke Mi was an exception.

    Ke Mi had remained uneducated for many decades. Her only friends had been the Great White Snake and the Wyrm Ants, none of which spoke anynguage, so that she onlymunicated with them via her Zither. She always assumed that it was just something that those other humans had and a demi human like her did not. Neither did she know that she even had the capacity and capability to learn speech.

    "I heard that you did some remix of your zither music, that enabled the living armour to grow way more than expected?" Jin asked politely and Ke Mi nodded her head vehemently. "When Master away, Yun brings us out, sing!" Ke Mi''s smile was awfully cute and Jin was happy that she enjoyed her time with Yun and the other monsters. A slightly hungover Yun had told him in the morning, that they had a Ladies Night, and Jin had made a mental note, to encourage such behaviours more often in the future and allow all his monsters to enjoy some entertainment.

    "Food is here!! Ah WOAH, Master! I did not expect you to also be here." Gold looked quite different with an apron, carrying tes of food. (the quantity of food on those big tes were overwhelming!) Jin greeted the Werejackal Leader as he went forward and helped him with the dishes since Gold became a little unsteady the moment he saw Jin waiting in the dining hall.

    "Be careful, there! All these are the hard work of everyone in the kitchen." Jin teased Gold, who finally collected himself before he immediately shouted back towards the kitchen.

    "HEY GUYS, YOU BETTER BE BE QUICK! MASTER IS HERE!"

    There was a unison of howls of agreement, and the kitchen quickly became more bustling than before. In no time, more food was served and the other werejackals, as well as the werecats, came out to greet Jin.

    "Master, here sit and join us for dinnerбнit would be our pleasure. We just hope that the food is to your liking." Gold said with a bow and pointed Jin towards the end of the table where Gold usually sat during dinner time.

    "No way, I am the guest, you are the head of this mansion in this home instance. You should sit there no matter what." Jin refused Gold''s offer.

    "Then at least be our guest of honour today and sit at my right?" Gold counteroffered immediately which Jin had no reason to refuse. With all the food sitting on the table, the ninja penguin came out and paid their respects to their queen''s master.

    "Master, please do enjoy the food but I apologise in advance if the food is not up to your liking. We were unaware that you would be visiting today. Else, we would have informed Queen Lynn and used top tier quality ingredients for tonight''s dinner. If need be, I shall perform hara-kiri to apologise for preparing food that''s not pleasing to our Queen''s Master." Ninja Penguin Kido said solemnly to which Jin bitterlyughed.

    "Hey! What do you mean about not having top tier quality ingredients? Are you implying our farm does NOT produce top tier quality ingredients?!" Yellow got a bit irritated by the way the Ninja Penguin spoke, but Grey whacked his head once to simmer him down.

    "Please, I can rest assured that you guys always do your best in cooking no matter the ingredients. Besides, didn''t Lynn praise the ingredients here so much that she even regretted that you guys did not have ess to a bigger farming instance?" Jin did his best calming both sides as he sat beside Gold. He initially nned to enter the instance for a short while, just to praise Ke Mi and did not expect himself to get involved in the daily lives of his minions. Still, a change in pace once in a while would be a good bonding session as well.

    Thankfully, they acted quite naturally, despite their master''s presence, especially the werecats who had already begun digging in the food, famished from all the cooking. Though Gold disapproved of their attitude, he allowed the rest to partake in their feast after Jin took the first serving himself. He even asked Kido their ninja penguin chef to join in since there was empty seat among the dining table. That was also when his monsters started to talk with him about a few things.

    Some asked about their master''s progress, while others took the chance to unt the achievements they had against some of the cultivators, especially the Pandawans. Even though Jin had a pile of workload to clear, he decided to stay after dinner to listen to their stories and also offered some advice. Grey reported the status of their homegrown farming and provided ideas on how things could improve given a few additional tools. (He shrewingly hoped to override the bonus system and get his Master''s approval so that they could save on the points.)

    Jin listened carefully and told Grey that those things seemed valid and he would see to it as soon as possible, especially if it could potentially aid Lynn''s growth of home ingredients. However, he was more concerned about one thing бк the future.

    "The future? You mean expanding this home instance?" Gold asked and Jin shook his head.

    "No beyond that. I have big ns for you guys. How does bing leading agriculture industry in the future when the Dungeon Fortress City is up sound to you? I was unsure if you would like being the minister of agriculture, but at least the boss for the industry, are you up for it?" Jin asked as he was offered some grape juice. (Or maybe it''s wine? Jin could not taste the difference. It was intoxicatingly sweet. )

    "I can consider it if I will have ess to the Farming World''s workforce and soil. I cannot trust any other soil than my home world''s." Gold said hesitantly and the rest of his vice leaders agreed, though it seems to Jin that he was hinting something else.

    "That should be possible, though for some reason I seem to be having trouble essing the market in the Farming World." Jin was willing to ept his conditions, though first, he would need to figure out how to get ess again.

    "Should we tell him about the Demon Rat invasion?" Grey whispered politely in Gold''s ear.

    "No, at least not now. We should not burden Master unnecessarily when he has other stuff to doбнalthough I did inform Betor Zeru about the topic. He assured me that he might be able to convince Jin to aid us, but it would take some time."

    "Oh, is that is why Brown went away earlier this week with Zeru?" Grey questioned in a whisper and Gold nodded his head.

    "Is there something I need to know about?" Jin asked as he saw them eyeing him consistently while whispering amongst themselves.

    "No no, nothing Boss. You enjoy yourself while we clean up the area. Some of us still need to make thest round check to ensure that all the nts are properly watered and fertilised." Gold got up and thanked his master foring to visit before he left.

    In the meantime, Ke Mi was enjoying the fresh orange juice which Werecat Nyanmi had made for her. Finally, with the were-humans gone, he had a proper one to one alone time, to converse Ke Mi before she returned to her own home instance.

    "Say Ke Mi, are you interested in making some more music tracks?" Jin asked as he got nearer to Ke Mi. "I was thinking about exposing you to more music, that way you could experiment with even more genres, maybe even creating a music style of your own?" Jin asked and Ke Mi had a long pause as if she was seriously contemting.

    "Of course, it would not bepletely for free. I''ll need you to help with our dungeons. Our Pandaflix erm ...those moving pictures Shu showed you before, the one that lets people watched themselves or others go through the dungeons." Jin said and Ke Mi vaguely recalled what her master was talking about.

    "Yea, so far we''re only streaming the pictures and the live feed audio. If you could produce music to apany their adventures, like how you created the music remix from this morning, it would not just benefit the living armour nts but also help me out a whole lot. I would also love to share your music with a lot of other people." Jin borated as he wanted to provide her with a more meaningful task than tending to the Living Armour nts.

    He knew how hard and perhaps depressing it could be for a person of her talents to be stuck in here and y their music for the benefit of his nts (though all the inhabitants also enjoyed listening to it, while working) even though they were considered to be very valuable. If she could ept the task, it would bring Pandaflix to the next level, not to mention that it would definitely save him and the System the cost of buying copyrighted music.

    "But Ke Mi not know how to pro- pro- Prodew moosick." Ke Mi tried to articte and it came out all weird. Jin giggled at how adorable Ke Mi was and patted her head gently. For that moment, he had forgotten that she was older than him by more than a century.

    "Do not worry about that, Mind following me? I''ll show you how it''s done." Jin replied and the System prepared a portal for her and the Great White Snake, who had rested underneath her. To her surprise, they were back at her home instance, but she quickly discovered that there was a new second floor to her house.

    The Great White Snake with Ke Mi on its back slithered the way up to the second floor. It had a modern look from the inside with various musical equipment waiting to be used, though everything had looked nicely from the outside with the traditional Chinese courtyard as her home instance. (Not to mention, those instruments were top of the line although they were cheaply bought by the System via its market. Jin nevertheless did some bargaining as well.)

    While the list of instruments might not be exhaustive and mainstream, Jin however figured that with his current budget, it should be sufficient for Ke Mi to y around. When he bes richer, he would consider getting more variants.

    Jin then took out a unique pair of sleek looking headphones prepared by the System for Ke Mi to wear. Suddenly, her vision seemed to change and she saw copy silhouettes of her holding on to the various music equipment like the guitar, piano etc.

    "This is actually one of the music modules which the System had kept aside since it was useless to me. Before today, I had no idea the System even had such functions, but apparently, it can create phantoms of whoever has those headphones to y an instrument." Jin exined as he asked Ke Mi to try it out. He did not bother to exin the advanced stuff because he knew the System would automatically record the songs she produced or teach Ke Mi certain functions when necessary.

    With just her mind, she managed tomand a silhouette to y some tunes on the guitar. It was the same for the piano. As she began to realise that she had now had ess to a plethora of musical instruments at her fingertips, Ke Mi was having a giant smile on her face. She tried to y two instruments simultaneously, and it worked perfectly fine. Meanwhile, Jin watched there with his mouth open.

    "WowбнI previously failed to operate two instruments at the same time. She makes it look so simple." Jin thought to himself.

    "User is not as experienced in multitasking as a 200 hundred year old Demi Human. System had detected that Ke Mi possessed lightning fast task splitting abilities in the past when she fought against the user. Else she could not have controlled the Great White Snake and the Ant Wyrms movements together with just her Zither."

    "Guess, we really underestimated her ability. Damn, then I should not have bought that Y-tunes and Spotific music premium ount. Oh well, at least those songs in their database could give her some inspirations." Jin sighed as he could see Ke Mi was sucked into this brand new world of hers.

    "Who knows, maybe someday she could produce some significant tracks that will wow the world with her music. I am sure her parents will look proudly over her, from above." Shu, the Sakura Tree Treant said while peering into the 2nd floor from the outside courtyard.

    "I would love for that to happen for her too.." Jin was d she had found her speciality and left her alone to enjoy her brand new toys.

 Chapter 392 Breathtaking Bellflower Style

    <h4>Chapter 392 Breathtaking Bellflower Style</h4>

    Unlike Bin Yong, Shi Zuo or even Luo Bo''s animal cultivation styles that were passed down from previous generations as a part of the family heirlooms, Jia Le''s cultivation style was indeed a rtively modern one. And it was not a pure eastern cultivation per se. The Breathtaking Bellflower was in substance, a fusion between Eastern Cultivation and Western Magic.

    Western Magic usually worked best through magic circuits. Nevertheless, it did not necessarily require them nor did its spells need to be rewritten to be used with Eastern Cultivation since the concept of Mana and Chi had a few simrities.

    As long as the cultivation style maintained the workings of the Western Magic used, it could provide the cultivator with the means to utilise their chi to cast those spells. With the East employing the five basic elements theory of Fire, Water, Earth, Metal and Wood, it already shared some resemnce to certain aspects of Western Magic.

    This made it easy for certain atypical cultivations to adopt the practices of Western Magic. In turn, these eastern cultivation methods lightened up the practitioners'' stress load in casting those spells aspared to pure Western Magic.

    The advantages of such practitioners using Eastern Cultivation to cast ''western spells'' were in the ease of casting and the flexibility of the chi techniques. A particr technique could be executed in dozens of ways as long as the cultivators were familiar with the procedure and had the know-how at the back of their head. (Like shooting a fire st from the leg, from the hand, or even from the mouth.) Additionally, Eastern Cultivation excelled in the speed for their casting, and with a bit of practice, they could learn to regte the power output of their spells.

    However, this did not mean that it was necessarily superior to Western Magic. They were clearly structured to the point of being described as ''rigid'' by many mages. Though this rigidity resulted in longer cast times, overall they were guaranteed to be stronger. Fortunately, there were ways to circumvent this limitation.

    For Western Magic Practitioners, the preparations of spells before a battle was vital. If done correctly, the Spellcasters could cast their spells almost instantly, and the only limit was the maximum amount of spells which could be stored ording to their Magic Level. Nowadays a majority of people also referred to the Magic Levels as Magic Grades, since the public hoped it would be homogenous with Eastern Cultivation.

    Jia Le''s parents had decided to embrace Western Magic fully and were Magic Practitioners to break the tradition in their families. However, the young Jia Le was heavily influenced by her grandma, who was her primary caretaker and an Eastern cultivator. Not wishing to choose one side, she eventually adopted both East and West styles and learnt a fusion style topromise. (Fortunately for her, an uncanny affinity for the Earth Element was prevalent in the family, making it easy for her to use her current cultivation.)

    The feral Deep Ones were neither as patient nor as understanding as the ones both Bin Yong and Shi Zuo had fought against. Not waiting for the team to discuss their strategy, the Deep Ones went on the offensive. Jia Le told her teammates that she would take the lead, but the rest readied themselves by enhancing their fists and legs with chi, just in case the shit hits the fan.

    They may not have ess to their weapons, but learning from the guys'' mistakes from the dinner chat, they had used some advanced defensive inscriptions before they got teleported. The Pandawan group were relieved it was still on them upon verification when they teleported into the Deep Ones dungeon instance.

    The grand appearance of the five bellflowers floating above Jia Le turned her into Enemy #1 for every feral Deep Ones. They had their eyes on the pretty, flowery smelling meat which they tried to swarm. Because of the dig site near Jia Le, it enabled her to effortlessly use her earthly cultivation powers without her weapon as a conduit to channel her attacks.

    Moreover, her weapons were only secondary as she had grown up training with her parents to use her cultivation powers without the need for any tools. (Although having her weapon with her would definitely increase her offensive capabilities by at least a fold.)

    Out from the soil, Jia Le summoned tworge thorny vines. Two Deep Ones got pierced through their abdomens and subsequently were used asrge projectiles against their brethren. The thorny vines then swiped across the carpark to prevent any Deep Ones froming too close, even partially destroying a few of the pirs that could potentially be the ones that held the abandoned building intact.

    Yet, Jia Le was unable to care at that point of time. It''s either that, which caused the splinter rubbles to kill a few of the iing Deep Ones, or risked those aggressive fish men to rush towards the group. She''d rather take her chances with the former.

    However, some of the Deep Ones managed to dodge the projectiles, demonstrating how agile they could be, as they were driven by the hunger for such strong, healthy prey. That did not mean Jia Le was defenceless. The Deep Ones saw a small little bellflower emerged from the cracks of the concrete in front of Jia Le. They did not bother about it as they continued to charge forward.

    Worst (andst) mistake of their life.

    That small little bellflower glowed with chi supplied by Jia Le, and within a second, it sted out an energy beam that took out multiple feral Deep Ones in one shot before the petals of the bellflower got scattered into the air.

    The surviving Deep Ones who managed to avoid the beam turned berserk at the loss of theirrades. In retaliation, they screamed an annoying tone of a tortured goat which staggered the human cultivators by forcing them to close their ears. They thought they finally had gotten an opportunity to attack their meaty preys, but the bellflowers petals in the air remained afloat in the air.

    Jia Le was still controlling them and merely waiting for the Deep Ones to take action bying nearer. As soon as they did, the scattered petals created links with beams of energy towards each other in order to form a sort of energy. The feral Deep Ones had been toote to stop or change their course, causing them to be turned into Sashimi by the energised.

    "Intermediate Bellflower Technique #57 and #32, Bellflower Petal Beam and Scattered Bellflower Petal Beam Net." Jia Le turned towards the group with a V-sign. They could see that she was already sweating from expanding such arge amount of chi to kill off that many feral Deep Ones in less than the span of thirty seconds.

    "Do you think we are all in the clear?" Bin Yong asked and Luo Bo immediately turned on her Dark Sight to check if there were any more lurking at the dark.

    "I don''t seem to spot anything else aside from dead bodies. High chance we are on the clear." Luo Bo answered as she patted Jia Le on the back for a good job. Jia Le pushed her hair sideways and sat down to take a breather.

    "I don''t mean to make you any more tired but would you mind putting up one of those Flower Beams on standby? I don''t want to find out those feral Deep Ones pretend to be dead, just toe and pounce on us when we let our guards down." Shi Zuo requested which Jia Le happily obliged.

    She quickly summoned a Bellfower out of the cracked ground once more andter when into cultivation stance so that she could recover some chi while the others took their time to examine the box.

    "Nope, other than that USB wire, I don''t see anything that can be used to pick that fragment up safely." Shi Zuo sighed and then Bin Yong had a crazy idea.

    "Ermбнwhat about using the Dead One''s flesh while we protect our hands with chi? That way it would corrupt the Dead One if it is a menace. That way, we can safely and quickly let go, knowing that there''s still a chi barrier protecting us. Therefore, we can prevent anything from happening to us if there is any reaction." Bin Yong suggested, and the other two believed it was a decent crazy idea.

    "Good pun there." Shi Zuo chuckled a little while agreeing to Bin Yong''s idea.

    "Who would like to do the honours?" Luo Bo asked. It was clear from her tone that she was not going anywhere near those Deep Ones.

    "I volunteer as a leader. My Mad Monkey Style allows me to dodge quickly and can make my bare hands grow some chi ws as a reactionary defence if the Deep One turns out to be ying dead. Meanwhile, check if we have any WiFi reception in this ce, I want to find out if the Pandamonium Map app would be able to differentiate a fake Grand Central Terminal and a real one." Shi Zuo told the rest as he went closer to the Deep One.

    To ensure that it was really, truly dead, Shi Zuo plunged his chi formed hand w into the Deep One''s body and grabbed at what seemed to be the heart. He then pulled it out and threw it far away from the Deep One before dragging his entire body away from the other corpses and from the car too in case something freaky happened to him. (Like a corpse explosion, who knows?)

    By distancing himself a bit from the group, he could make sure that if anything happened, it would not affect the rest of the team members. The constant need to y it safe was starting to get to them. They had no idea if they were just over analysing things or if they needed to expect anything as bad as a sudden explosion from the box too. Following Bin Yong suggestion, Shi Zuo first threw the fragment out of the trashcan and observed it a little. He noticed that its form did seem to suggest that it would be the perfect match to the lockbox.

    Hence, he carefully enhanced his hand with a chi barrier to protect himself and then used the dead Deep One''s webbed hand to hold it. It was quite tricky since the webbed hand was somewhat slimy, making it slippery for Shi Zuo to make delicate movements with it. Eventually, he managed to grab hold of the fragment using the deadweight''s hand and pushed it into the lockbox.

    Within an instant, a specific whirling noise was produced from the lockbox and it automatically unlocked itself, showing off a bountiful miracle in it. Even the spectators were at the edge of their seats when they saw the lockbox slowly open. In the end, they cheered loudly for the miraculous treasure within that small little metal can.

    "Holy shit, we did it!!! This was totally worth it." Shi Zuo cheered as he let go of the deadweight''s arm and took a breather.

    "What did you find in there? Anything useful?" Luo Bo asked across the carpark as she told him that Bin Yong found the coordinates to what should be the real Grand Central Terminal.

    "I found hope." Shi Zuo smiled at them peacefully as he shook the lockbox up high, but both Luo Bo and Bin Yong''s face turned blue upon seeing his expression. He was not the only one to move.

    His shadow changed form. It started to be longer and wider, before bing corporeal and taking on the silhouette of thatrge snake shadow which Bin Yong had seen on top of the Empire State Building.

    Right behind Shi Zuo, the creature''s eyes in the darkest of shadows were glowing brightly and literally grinning from ear to ear.

 Chapter 393 Storage Ring

    <h4>Chapter 393 Storage Ring</h4>

    "Babe watch out!" Luo Bo shouted as she stepped forward, only to be manhandled by Bin Yong in order to prevent her from doing anything rash. Shi Zuo turned only to see the monstrosity of the ever growing whale like looking shadow opening its mouth in an attempt to swallow him whole. Even the spectators instantly grasped at the cinematic with the dramatic jaw dropping music on cue.

    Paralysed with terror, feeling just like a mouse in front of a snake, Shi Zuo identally dropped the unsealed lockbox to the ground. The contents spilt out of the box, revealing a number of essories and among them was his own storage ring. Unknown to Shi Zuo, the storage ring reacted through the chi resonanceing off of from his w hand, causing it to transform immediately.

    This in turn, activated a special skill which not only illuminated their area with bright shining light but also managed to forcefully dispel the illusion of Shadow Dagen. The shadow slowly but surely bellowed in pleasurable sadisticughter in response as it tried to maintain its form.

    "Next Time!!!!!" The gloomy threat from the Shadow of the Fish God''s voice echoed throughout the empty car park before it fully dissipated into the corners of the carpark. After a couple of seconds of silence, they breathed out a sigh of relief, as it appeared they were safe for now even though they knew the security of nothingness was just an illusion. Still, they will grab every chance of it.

    Luo Bo elbowed Bin Yong to the face, who was still holding on to her. As soon as he had released her, she ran over towards her still terrified boyfriend. "Ahhhбнnow I understand бн*Gulp* What bro meantбн*pants* about terror." Shi Zuo still trembling from the sight of Shadow Dagen had tearsing from his eyes and even his pants were slightly wet.

    "Shhhбнshhh it''s okay. This is nothingpared to what we had to ovee in the Halloween Instance. Everything''s going to be okay. It''s gonna be alright. I am here now." Luo Bo hugged him, whispering in his ear, as she tried her best to console him.

    Meanwhile, Bin Yong stayed close to Jia Le, who seemed to be finishing her chi recovery in her cultivation stance. He did not want to leave her behind and allow Shadow Dagen another opportunity to catch them unaware individually again. Though he could have woke her up, she was not in any imminent danger, and it would be better for her to recover her chi to bebat ready.

    Having calmed her boyfriend somewhat, Luo Bo turned her head to check the essories thaty spilt on the ground. She realised those appeared to be their missing storage rings except for one. The still shining ring appeared to be burning hot. Yet for some reason, she was unafraid of it. Even more peculiar, it exuded a sense of familiarity. Even while consoling her mate, she began concentrating on it and sensed an extent of Shi Zuo''s chi signatureing from it.

    Since this dungeon instance was always surprising them, Luo Bo ignored the glowing ring for now and picked up her ring to wear it. After everything, it would be great to have ess to their prepared items as well as their weapons.

    Using her chi ess the ring, Luo Bo got a bottle of water for her boyfriend to calm down, but at that moment in time, the ring she was holding began to change with a simr glow to it. From a modest, pinkish silver design, it suddenly possessed a rabbit head insignia with pinkish ruby jewels as its eyes. Upon closer inspection, not only a rabbit head got added, but a bow and arrow sign right below it as well. It was frankly beautiful, a perfect depiction of her cultivation style and favourite weapon.

    Looking back at the other ring, she identified a monkey with its mouth open. The monkey''s eyes were emerald green, while above it was two hatchets crossing each other. Lost in her thoughts, she only remembered about the bottle of water she was going to take, when she heard Shi Zuo taking a deep breath.

    She hurriedly took the bottle out and assisted Shi Zuo with drinking it. That was when she realised she felt something inside her was a little different. She felt braver, yet nothing had changed about their situation. This kind of bravery was somewhat simr to the time she had used the blue stone of courage she got from ying the Loot Box machine (A must have item, to conquer the Halloween Instance, ording to some people). The only reasonable exnation she coulde up with was the transformed ring being the cause for this.

    Trusting her intuition, she picked up Shi Zuo''s transformed ring and put it on him. He eventually managed to catch his breath, and his thoughts became more lucid. Turning to his girlfriend, he reciprocated her hug, which made her let out a sigh of relief.

    "Did you all see what I saw?" One of the male spectators pointed at the scene at which Luo Bo''s ring also transformed and the rest nodded in response. "What kind of rings are those?! Hey, Boss Jin I also want such a cool customised ring. Are you selling those rings, too?"

    "Nope, those rings are not for sale. If you want one, then you have to earn them." Jin answered with a grin.

    "Are you seriously gonna give each of us a ring?" A female cultivator had trouble believing such a thing. Just looking at the very cute rabbit insignia, made one understand that it was anything but cheap. Even if those Jewels were fake, just the operation of inscribing an insignia into a storage ring (without thetter losing its function) was usually only something very rich people could afford.

    "Yes, anyone can get a personalised ring ording to their cultivation and fighting style. Feel free to share this and also one of the rewards possibly include getting a discount for a custom weapon set just bypleting a particr section of the Deep Ones dungeon instance, or should I say... Escape City Dungeon Instance." Jin finally revealed the true name of the Deep Ones dungeon to the entire group who were watching. There was no need to make a special announcement for this information because it would definitely be passed around with Mr Know-It-All in the crowd.

    "Soбнthey were right. It really is a kind of Escape Room instance. I was of half expecting you to do that for the Gentlebear Instance and not this soon." Mr Know-It-All replied to Jin''s big reveal.

    "Nothing is stopping me from doing something like that with the Gentlebear Instance. I had to start from somewhere to see if it works well with the crowd. Hahaha. This time around, the cultivators canplete it the Escape room way or brute force. Just that Brute Force also requires some finesse and brains as well, perhaps not as much as the former. After all, it''s a story dungeon instance." Jin answered back and his intentions wowed everyone.

    "But won''t streaming this Escape City instance kind of ruin the whole point? Haven''t you just revealed everything to all of us who were watching this? Now everyone here would know what to do toplete this part of the instance." Another male cultivator asked. While he himself did not particrly mind, he was sure that others would have preferred finding out on their own. Be that as it may, Jin shook his head and was about to say something.

    "Hahhaa, bro! Do you really think Boss Jin is that stupid to show his whole hand that easily when he is charging us this much? I bet you, he has at least few dozen more of these puzzles should we ever try it out again. Who knows, maybe he is even going to remove this path until people start to forget." The male cultivator got pat on his back by his friend as he answered his concerns. Almost everyone on the floor agreed with that line of that, making Jin not having to add anything else.

    "Since you all appeared to be interested in the rings, let me share a little tidbit. Some of you might have already noticed by the behaviour of the Pandawans, but those rings do more than just look pretty. One of the prizes from the loot box vending machine, you know, the one used to sell tickets to the Halloween and Qixi instances. Oh, which I have to add! It is currently pending another new dungeon in-" Jin paused for a while, be it on purpose or idental, he returned to his main subject though the cultivators who heard it and felt it was exclusive information but did not dare to interrupt.

    "It had been blue stones of courage and white stones of calming. I have added the same functions as basic inscription properties into the transformed cosmetic skin for the storage rings and they should be a permanent effect." Before Jin was done with his exnation there suddenly was a shout from the crowd.

    "Wait! COSMETIC SKIN?! You were able to achieve that too! And did you say PERMANENT?!" That shout came from none other than Sea Mesh CEO, who had been trying to stay undercover, but his quirk made him spoil his disguise. Even Mr Know-It-All started to giggle at the sight of Ke Loong quickly adjusting his fake beard as well as his ck sunsses.

    "Cosmetic Skin?" To the younger cultivators, it sounded like a vaguelymon gaming term, and one asked the poorly disguised man what the deal was with that. His presence had been noted, but since he was harmlessly watching with the rest, they thought of him as just a cosyer rather than hiding his identity. (After all, there are too many weird people in the world which the society had to tolerate.)

    "While moremonly known as ''Cosmetic Inscription'', the proper term is decorative enhancement inscription. The reason why it''s such a big deal is that it should be impossible to create them, much less mass produce these inscriptions. While simple in theory, in praxis they turn out to be not very practical nor functional. This is because of how inscriptions work. " Ke Loong coughed a little, realising his voice was his original one before he tried to change the tone a little.

    "Inscriptions utilised the chi for them to stay active. Hence, the decorative aspect is only as temporary as the amount of chi you ced in it. It is something simr to a disguise just more aesthetically pleasing." Ke Loong exined as he smiled while pushing his sses up. (Some of the cultivators began to think Boss Jin should make him a better disguise upon hearing it.)

    "However, there are too many disadvantages to it. As aforementioned, they require a constant supply of chi. The second one would be upying an inscription slot. But considering that storage rings do not usually have inscription slots attached to them, so unless he chang иC"

    "No, I did not change the structure of the rings. It is too much effort transferring the storage data and I would need their chi signature to be able do so. Way more troublesome than personalising the ring''s design. While contradictory yes, I made it such that the inscription was added into their storage rings even though there are no inscription slots attached to it." Jin told the customers as he pointed back to the screen.

    "But right now, the main focus should be the ongoing dungeon instance." Jin said hoping to leave the topic as it is. He did not expect Ke Loong to be in here to be so knowledgable about the cosmetic inscriptions. (Seems like his disguise somewhat worked!) And he hoped that the cultivators who were currently way more interested in this Cosmetic Inscription to return their attention to what was happening since more was yet to be revealed.

    "Holy shit. And there goes one more possible IP (intellectual property) to him. Why couldn''t we have figured out how he does it." Ke Loong ced his two hands at his head. He was aware of the impacts of cosmetic inscriptions. If Jin could incorporate such a concept on rings, he would eventually be able to do it on clothes, other essories and even weapons. While it might sound a tad ridiculous, it would be highly likely people would spend money to acquire these kinds of cosmetic items since they would definitely be cheaper than buying the real stuff, it would not clutter any space and not to mention size free.

    One thing was for sure, Jin had struck gold with this invention.

    Unaware of themotion outside, Luo Bo handed Bin Yong and Jia Le their own rings. All of them checked their inventory after the transformation of the ring, but nothing seemed to be missing. "I wonder if these designs are permanent. It would be a shame to lose it. I''d pay to be able to keep it." Jia Le wondered as she admired her ring.

    "Ohбн?! Thisбн" Jia Le squint her eyes a little as the ring design triggered her memories.

    "...This could be it. Guys, I think we found the passkey for the door I was mentioning earlier." Jia Le blurted out. "It''s our newly formed rings. I remember seeing the imprint of my flower, but the rest were too detailed to make out the design. Not 100% sure, but I honestly think this should be it." Jia Lemented andter cleared her doubts as she spoke.

    "Then what are we waiting for, let''s go. Don''t forget about your phone Bin Bin!" Luo Bo reminded him as she helped Shi Zuo stand up and going up the stairs. She was not going to leave him alone by himself even if it''s just a few metres away, not in this particr dungeon.

    Bin Yong unplugged the phone and guessed 36% was better than nothing. He was surprised it charged that fast for a broken down car. Perhaps, Boss Jin did not want them to wait around for the phone to be charged in a realistic time frame.

    The entire group took their weapons out as well as a few potions to hang them by their waist in case their storage rings were ever gone again. (This dungeon made them rather paranoid!) After ensuring that they were well equipped, they climbed up to the 6th floor where the locked door was waiting. True enough, the lock was designed to be unsealed with their four new rings.

    There was a unique t click sound that triggered the unlocking mechanism which subsequently made their rings fall off from the lock. Bin Yong then took the initiative to open the door only to find four pendants kept in a ss box like some museum centrepiece. Everyone else stepped back as Luo Bo took an arrow and shot the ss in case of anyser or trap triggering. To their surprise, nothing happened. Still, they did not wish to take any more chance as Luo Bo took out a special arrow coated with ferret maic metal. (Don''t ask how but the weapons store sold it!)

    The arrow picked up the four pendants rather easily and Luo Bo managed to get the arrow back since it was tied to a hiking rope. "I will give it a try." Luo Bo told the group as she felt that she should be the one to show Shi Zuo that she was willing to take a risk for the group too even though she was equally afraid.

    "No, it''s okay, dear. I am fine now. You can let me do иC" Luo Bo ignored Shi Zuo''s rambling and put on the pendant. In an instant, her appearance changed into that of a ck suit. White blouse, ck short skirt and coat, brown stockings and a ratherfortable pair of dress shoes. Luo Bo wowed herself as she realised her hair was all tied and bun up rather nicely too. She did not know why she was dressed so formally until Bin Yong and Shi Zuo told her that it was a disguise by the Deep Ones.

    The rest wore the pendants and all of them turned into the ck Suits too. "I see, so by getting these suits, we might reduce the probability of being stalked by the rest of the Deep Ones." Shi Zuo said as he adjusted his ck sunsses. Little did they know that this was the cosmetic inscription that Ke Loong had been raving about.

    The CEO became even more fervent at seeing Boss Jin''s new shop item in action. It was a genius move of him to introduce a new product via a dungeon instance.

    "Just like in your spy movies. Let''s hide in in sight" Bin Yong encouraged his buddy as they prepared to move to the Penn Station Exit A to meet Captain Hei with the aid of their new disguise.

 Chapter 394 Cosmetic Inscription

    <h4>Chapter 394 Cosmetic Inscription</h4>

    Ke Loong, who initially thought that Boss Jin achieving the Cosmetic Inscriptions on the rings was already an understatement achievement of the year, became nearly insane when he saw the Cosmetic Inscription being utilised as a full costume.

    That was because he thought of reverse engineering Jin''s concept by paying a few veteran cultivators to y the dungeon and get that particr Cosmetic Inscription for research. That way, he might discover a way of creating a clothing based cosmetic inscription before Boss Jin did and perhaps sell it country wide.

    Yet, this young guy in this store packed with incredible inventions had once again beaten him and hispany to it. Ke Loong could not take it anymore and decided to push Jin about it even though Mr Know-It-All advised him not to.

    "Jin, I would like to have a sample of that Cosmetic Inscription. Just tell me the price." Ke Loong went straight to the point and Jin furrowed his eyebrows at him.

    "Not interested," Jin said as his attention went back to the Pandawan''s dungeon instance.

    "How about just lending it to me for a while? I just want to see how it feels (and maybe figure out how this works). After that, I will return it to you. Promise!" Ke Loong begged as he was desperate to experience this one of a kind item. As he had seen their own failed cosmetic inscriptions before, Ke Loong was very intrigued with how Jin''s inscriptions differed from theirs.

    Jin sort of implied that the cosmetic inscriptions, he created did not need a constant input of chi. That was also evident when he saw the footage of Bin Yong and the rest using their rings, especially when they took their rings off while the cosmetic inscriptions stayed intact.

    He came up with two deductions. One was that the inscription consumed very little chi to be activated and maintained, hence it mightst for a fixed amount of time before it needed to be charged with chi again. Another possibility, which was far more intriguing, was that no chi was ever required aside from the activation phase though perhaps, there should also be a kind of switch to remove the cosmetic appearance of the inscription.

    "Not interested. It''s a Trade Secret. If you want it, you will have to attempt the dungeon just like any other customer." Jin replied with an indifferent expression but deep inside, he was hoping he wasn''t going too far.

    Jin knew that Ke Loong could be pushed around if he wanted something desperately enough though the opposite was true too. If Ke Loong despised something, he would do his best to make sure the process or item to be fixed or scraped away. Jin did not want Ke Loong to be a business rival nor did he want Ke Loong to see that he was easy pickings allured by the greed of affluence. All he wanted was Ke Loong to respect him and see him equally as possible lifetime business partners.

    That was seen during the negotiation of the Portal Device when Ke Loong was willing to take uncalcted risks to obtain something that he wants. While his advisors warned him otherwise, Ke Loong would not budge because he believed that the portal device would make thepany prosper. So far, as a practical visionary, he had been right on the spot, especially when hispany stocks were still soaring high up to this day.

    "C''mon, just name your price. I''m sure I can make it worthwhile for you, Boss Jin!" Ke Loong was sounding absolutely desperate. Just when Jin was about to give way for Ke Loong, he decided to remain staunch in his stance the moment he saw Mr Know-It-Alling to aid his old buddy.

    "Please don''t push him anymore, Boss. I am sure, you two can work something out. He has already bent his back over for you in the portal device deal. You won''t regret giving your business partner some leeway." Mr Know-It-All tried to be the mediator and Ke Loong went all puppy eyes for over his buddy aiding him so much. Jin pretended to sigh and asked Ke Loong to follow him into the meeting room, which once housed the ''Tiger Princess'' Yang Ling''s guests when they were participating in the demonstration of the Gearbox device.

    Jin then closed the door shut and called Kraft to enter about a minuteter in case Ke Loong had some other tricks under his sleeves. After all, Jin knew his limits when it came to negotiations. (But bargaining? Jin believed that he could win over Ke Loong with his pants down!)

    After a short exnation, Jin took out a sample ring and the same pendant that was awarded to the Pandawans the Escape City Dungeon Instance. Ke Loong hastily picked up the ring up and inserted some chi. As expected, the ring turned into a fashionable storage ring with a Hawk insignia on it. Ke Loong was extremely delighted but noticed that there was neither a shining light nor a weapons insignia on it.

    "Well, you caught me. Truth be told, we prepare the inscriptions for the cultivators beforehand. The shining light is only to make it look more spectacr and giving the illusion that there was some magic involved. Through the Pandamonium App data, our specialists pulled their info and create the inscription for the rings." Jin had prepared such a story for his cultivators since he could not explicitly revealed the true identity of the maker for these rings, the System.

    "This is the fastest we can create, hence there were no weapon designs on it. Besides, you''ve yet to participate in any of my dungeons, so my employees do not have sufficient data on you." Jin exined and Ke Loong realised that was the possible reason why Jin had acted so disinterested!

    He needed to stall for time for his inscribing specialists to create Ke Loong''s cosmetic item in advance. Ke Loong was happy to learn that Jin had no such intentions to refuse him from the beginning, while at the same time being a bit embarrassed thinking back on how he had acted.

    "Oh, Boss, you are too nice and cool. Making a cosmetic inscription on the fly for me. If possible, I''d be interested in meeting your inscribing specialists. You know get to know them and personally thank them." Ke Loong said as he examined the new Hawk insignia ring, checking the edges and admiring the fine details on it. Although he reinforced in no manner that he wants to steal his employees right under Jin''s nose.

    After which he tried the pendant and, in an instant, his original clothes were overwritten by the ck Suit. It was extremelyfortable and not to mention it fit perfectly. As a CEO, Ke Loong needed decent suits to impress his clients and other investors. When he wore the ck Suit Cosmetic Inscription that was on the pendant, he immediately realised that the quality was top notch and the dimensions were perfect, seemingly as if it had been custom made for him.

    "This is simply unbelievable. Well, a little scary too. You seem to have more than just my three sizes. As I am in this information gathering field too, I know that superior data collection is damningly vital, but it is also all about implementation too. In my opinion, your secret employees have done more than a wonderful job. Now I might take my words back for I am so tempted to find and poach them away from you." Ke Loong spoke honestly since he knew, that Jin more than just a one time business partner.

    If there were no significant problems between the two of them, he could foresee them creating the next big thing in the next five to ten years. Jin would not only revolutionise the dungeon supplier industry but many other fields too. Then he and Ke Loong could possibly be the ones leading the industry. All Jin needed now was just proper funding and exposure which Ke Loong could both provide. Thanks to that particr advantage, he was going to make Jin shine properly. (Well, and ultimately hispany too.)

    "Hahah, too bad for you. Even if you find them, I already signed them on to a contract of very which they can never break. Hahaha! At least, I provide them with sufficient entertainment, decent housing and food." Jin joking said in his current situation, filled with half truths and Ke Loongughed along heartily.

    "Boss Jin, you sure know how to crack jokes! Entertainment, housing and food? I bet you are simply housing them in some dungeon instance! Hahahah!" Ke Loong replied.

    "Even if that were the case, I am sure you saw how nice my dungeon instances can be. Hahaha. But you can be assured that I pay them well enough, in fact so much so that I could go bankrupt anytime if I do not manage my finances properly. That was why the absurd contract for the portal device." Jin mixed his lies with some truth to the point that Ke Loong bought it.

    "I must say, that''s a daring move. Youngsters these days will never do something like you did. They are too protected by their little bubble. I truly respect that about you." Ke Loongmented as he took off the pendant and noticed he returned back to the original clothes. After which, he experimented by putting the pendant back on and off. It was slightly hrious for Jin because he had done the exact same thing when he obtained that technology from the System.

    Aye, the System had decided to assist Jin to boost his sales by unlocking this Cosmetic Inscription option after he reached Grade 8. It was a reward that Jin did not expect and even starting to wonder if the System had changed its ways.

    Though his praising thoughts did notst long after the System exined that it was part of the rewards for thepletion of the secondary objective for his Goblin War Mission. The System also stated that there were more pending rewards that would be unlocked once Jin required them. "Dyed gratification is always better than instant gratification", or that''s how the System replied when Jin asked about those rewards.

    "By the way, how is the portal device going? Please tell me it''s doing okay." Ke Loong asked since he had invested a lot in promoting the prototype, which made his stocks soar so much that he too was scared of the repercussions of not being able to deliver.

    "Ah, about that. Could youe back in a few days time? I will send your secretary a text as soon as my employees have done thest few checks for the working prototype. I''m sure you can understand, how we have to make sure that everything is perfect." Jin offered and Ke Loong shook his head.

    "Just call me directly. Sometimes, my secretary does not know the importance of secrecy. Her mouth should be marked as dangerous." Ke Loong opened a QR code to his MeChat for Jin to scan so that they could exchange details.

    "If the portal device works well, I will not hesitate to make you my official dungeon supplier partner." Ke Loong said as he was about to walk out of the room, only to be stopped by Kraft.

    "I appreciate that gesture you are making for my Boss, but please return the ring. I do not recall my Boss Jin ever letting you keep it, just because it has a hawk insignia on it." Kraft said while wearing a half fox mask as a disguise...which somehow did not bother Ke Loong but rather terrified him a little. (just as the fact, that he had not noticed Kraft evering through the door)

    "Ahahaha! I am so so sorry!" Ke Loong hastily took out the ring and ced it back on the table next to the pendant. "I really assumed that Boss Jin was giving that to me since it has a hawk insignia on it."

    "No, Ke Loong, just take the ring. I too must apologise that I did not inform my staff to let you have it." Jin hurried his steps, grabbed the ring and ced it back into his hands.

    "Oh no, no. I really cannot keep it. I am content just seeing it, and trying out your pendant. People fought hard for that reward, and I cannot just take it like that. It was my fault for putting you into that situation!" Ke Loong tried to y the typical ''refusing the gift so I do not owe you, but if you insist. I will take it'' method.

    "Okay, I wouldn''t want to burden you. I shall keep it then." Jin said and Ke Loong was slightly appalled that Jin did not follow the usual protocol in such a situation.

    "Ah, must be because he is still young and does not know the ways of business making. But still, I cannot offend him that much. I guess, he is aware that he does have the higher ground in terms of negotiation this time." Ke Loong thought to himself and decided to let it go for now. But then he realised that would be stupid of him. So he decided to try his luck for a counter offer.

    "What about this? You give me the ring when I make you my official business partner? Until then how about I sell those cosmetic inscriptions out for you too?" Ke Loong tried topromise.

    "Hmmm...How about this? Instead of selling, you give me designs of outfits that could be popr to recreate? In return, I give you a 25% profit for the sales of those cosmetic inscriptions. Both you and I know this could be rather big money." Now Jin was in his element, bargaining for something.

    "35%. A trial period of 3 months and if the overall sales are promising, we can go for an extension." Ke Loong was quick witted enough to reply.

    "30%. You can liaise with popr high tier brands to make more money out of it. As long as you can get them to allow it, my team will be able to recreate and refit their designs into it." Jin suggested and it was Ke Loong''s turn to sigh.

    "33%, since it will be on me to procure the rights for the brands. You drive a hard bargain that even I cannot refuse when I think of such a possibility." Ke Loong remarked as Jin handed the ring as a sign of affirmation.

    "Should not be too much of an expense for you since its just three months," Jin said as he shrugged his shoulders a little.

    "True, but my brand name would be affected. People would be like...since when have they gone into clothes designs?!" Ke Loong answered before he smiled a little.

    "Still, when I think about it, it is about dungeons too...Maybe I can open a sidepany to deal with this kind of stuff as an experiment too." Ke Loong then thought about it as he thanked Jin for the cosmetic ring. As he turned around, to his surprise Kraft had disappeared just as unnoticed as his earlier appearance. One more nce at Jin, who just gave him a mysterious smile, and Ke Loong hurried out.

    His heart was pounding fast at the prospect of being able to find out the properties of Jin''s ring. Rumours had it that all his researchers and engineers had worked overtime to figure out this brand new cosmetic inscription. (They were that enthusiastic about it.)

 Chapter 395 Escape City Second Phase

    <h4>Chapter 395 Escape City Second Phase</h4>

    While Jin had been busy discussing business with Ke Loong, the Pandawans had sessfully navigated through the crowd with the help of the Pandamonium App''s navigation map system. On their way, they indeed passed a fake Grand Central Terminal, which the navigation system had utterly ignored.

    When the two guys looked at it closely, they noticed the doors changed to a metallic door design with ss windows. Shi Zuo felt a little foolish for his past mistake even though it was the first time seeing the Grand Central Terminal.

    As they were disguised as the ck Suits, none of the crowd bothered them. It was uneventfulpared to Bin Yong and Shi Zuo''s earlier adventure when they got harassed by all the endless staring. Yet there was still something that bothered Bin Yong.

    The Whispers.

    Ever since he saw that prodigious ck phantom that had formed from Shi Zuo''s shadow, he also heard the echoing of the whispers again. Despite it happening again, they were not as severe as the first run which Bin Yong believed it had something to do with the transformed rings or the pendants that they were wearing. But since it was muffled down, Bin Yong ignored most of the murmuring throughout the whole walk.

    The rain continued to pour and the group had to make stops under some shelters to check the map since Bin Yong''s phone was not waterproof. They did not wish to risk the water screwing up his phone, which Shi Zuoined about repeatedly. (Though Bin Yong swore he would throw his phone at Shi Zuo and bet it could still work. )

    It came as a pleasant surprise but, the suits were surprisingly waterproof and so were the shirts and blouses. The only thing that got wet was the exposed parts of their bodies, which was not much of an issue for the boys, though it was a little irritating for the girls. They instead prefer to stay dry, but the guys insisted that breaking the character of the ''ck Suits'' might be doing more harm. "Just bear with it a little longer." Shi Zuo pleaded and the girls grudgingly agreed to it.

    Within fifteen minutes, they managed to reach the real Grand Central Terminal, which was bustling with people. However, there was no little girl in pyjamas in sight, no matter how hard they tried to spot her. "Come to think of it, we don''t know how to contact her." Shi Zuo said as he was observing the ocean of people running for their station terminals or busy shopping (or pretending to shop in Bin Yong''s view) in this icondmark.

    "Maybe, she might have left her contact on your phone?" Jia Le suggested and Bin Yong quickly picked up to check. Suddenly, his phone buzzed on its own. He promptly answered the phone, and it was none other than the voice of the pyjama girl.

    "Helloбн.? Hello!!? Hi There! Sorry, reception''s a little poor because of the ce I am in. Took you longer than expected to reach the Grand Terminal but hey at least you reached it. Anyways, it is unfortunate that I am unable to meet you in person. The Deep Ones have found me so I suppose you have to take the train to Penn Station yourself. Remember Exit A! You will find that conspicuous Panda sitting down near the corner reading his newspaper!" The girl spoke so fast that Bin Yong had no chance to interrupt her before she dropped the call on him.

    At that point, the Pandamonium Map App immediately showed an updated route, including the trains that they should be taking to Penn Station. "Do you think we have to buy tickets to ride the trains? I don''t think our MeChats wallets can work for Jin''s dungeons! Hahah!" Luo Bo cracked a joke as she began to look for the exit that they should be heading towards.\

    "That will be a major rip off if Jin made such a petty, realistic move. I think I paid more than enough to y this dungeon." Shi Zuo said, and even the spectators seemed to be agreeing to what he said. (Jin did unknowingly sneezed at that point while he was talking to Ke Loong.)

    "Eh, I think we should think about moving faster rather than worry about the tickets." Jia Le nudged Shi Zuo as they suddenly saw every individual in the Grand Central Terminal stop in their tracks and turn their heads towards them the same moment the Pyjamas girl dropped the call on Bin Yong.

    "I guess, we are officially in Phase 2 of the dungeon." Shi Zuo readied his weapon and removed the disguise pendant in case it got damaged in any way. He was also afraid the defence inscriptions might not work with the ck Suit Cosmetic Inscription Pendant was on. (An ungrounded worry, as theyter would learn)

    "SIX MINUTES!" Bin Yong shouted as he saw the app indicate the train at Grand Central Subway Station would be leaving soon. "We need to find the Train tform 7!" Bin Yong shouted once more to get the attention of the crowd as they all began to transform into Deep Ones. He ran the other way while signalling the others to take the exit that leads to the subway stations.

    "I am starting to have no doubts that this dungeon instance is really named Escape CITY! HOW DOES BOSS EXPECT US TO RUN AWAY FROM THESE MANY DEEP ONES?!!" Luo Bo shouted in panic and frustration as she nocked her bow and pointed it 45 degrees towards the Terminal''s ceiling. It was an explosion arrow simr to the one she used against Orc Scout previously but this time packed with a lot more power in it. By inserting as much chi as she could safely infuse into the arrow, Luo Bo hoped that it would be potent enough for the ceilings to be destroyed.

    "Here goes nothing! Loose!" Luo Bo released her bowstring with all her might that she was pushed back by her own draw. Surprisingly, her inscription on her bow activated as she saw a magical red circle appearing at the front of her arrow when she shot it out. The arrow went through the magical ring and bright yellow sparks spiralled around it as a stylish effect to indicate the arrow was enhanced by the inscription activation.

    Luo Bo saw and clenched her fist towards her face as if it was a sign of victory. It was a fire based inscription that caused her arrow to deal out a set amount of explosive damage at a random chance. She mainly used that inscription to make her opponents flinch or knockback since the explosion the inscription caused, was rather minor. Thus that was sufficient enough to give her an opportunity to either run from the enemy or slip in a second arrow shot to end their lives.

    This time round, it was different. As she was using an explosive arrow, the explosive damage from the inscription multiplied with her maximised chi infused explosive arrow, and it was bound to make a massive explosion. To Luo Bo, it felt like time had slowed down when she saw the moment the arrow make contact with the ceiling.

    *BADABOOM!*

    The arrow explosion was substantial enough for the impact waves to destroy the surrounding ss windows and the entire ceiling began to copse at the stationary Deep Ones who were still in the midst of transforming from their human disguises to their real forms.

    "Oh gosh! What are you waiting for? A stray rubble to hit your head?!" Shi Zuo grabbed Luo Bo by her hand who was staring in awe by her own work and the couple jumped to the 1st floor as they headed to the basement where the subway station was located.

    "Guess, we aren''t paying for the tickets!" Jia Le leapt over the ticket gate machine and threw a kunai on the floor, packed with two spells worth of vine wall barriers. Should the first vine wall barrier''s integrity drop to less than 50%, the second vine wall barrier would emerge from the kunai.

    It was a nifty trick she learnt from her Western Magicians parents where spells could be ced like a simple straightforward programming code. (On a separate note, her grandma grudgingly acknowledged that was one aspect of Western Magic which Eastern Cultivation could not copy. Her motherughed and hugged Jia Le''s grandma who seemed toe to terms with her own magician status through Jia Le. )

    "Wait, where is Bin Yong?!" Luo Bo asked as she ran ahead with Shi Zuo and Jia Le was right behind her.

    "He said he is taking the other exit route from outside the Grand Central Terminal and into the Grand Central Subway Station as a distraction and to learn how terrible the situation is outside." Jia Le replied as she ran side by side the other two.

    "Why is he always taking this kind of unnecessary risks. That Bin Bin!" Luo Bo shook her fist in anger when suddenly a fully transformed Deep One came out from the corner armed with a spear. Shi Zuo was ready for that as he threw his axe towards the fish man.

    The Deep One was able to parry the axe but did not realise that there was a chain attached to it, causing it to wrap around the Deep One''s spear. Shi Zuo smiled as he saw the Deep One''s bewilderment and clicked on a trigger which emitted a bolt of electricity to pass through the chains and the axe. It subsequently shocked the Deep One which allowed Shi Zuo to move in closer with a spare offhand axe and shed its head off.

    This new sort of weapon was something he and the Three Headed Bear had coborated together while Bin Yong was busy taking notes the whole afternoon. It was a one of the reward options purchasable with Goblin Raid Points.

    Cultivators would buy a ticket to spend a set amount of time with the Three Headed Bear to craft a weapon together. It became such a big hit that there was a schedule that needed to be followed due to the number of people trying it out. Amodating his customers, Jin quickly added the possibility to book a timing in the Pandamonium App. If the cultivator missed their turn, it would be a free for all for that particr time slot which Shi Zuo luckily managed to sneak in during a missed cultivator''s time slot.

    The Three Headed Bear just gave a stern look at thete cultivator who had been dyed by traffic and he obediently chose another time slot (his ticket got refunded as it was not used up and thankfully, he did not need to wait for long).

    Within that time slot, Shi Zuo had purposely crafted a weapon that should prove to be very effective against the Deep Ones. His only regret was that the inscription choices were rather general and the lightning inscription the shop was selling was as ''weak'' as the one Luo Bo used. (Though, it was really useful in earlier dungeons, just not in the more advanced dungeons.)

    Therefore, he decided to make a lightning based weapon with a multiplier effect along with the axe he was using. Unlike Luo Bo''s and Se Lang''s inscription, which were based on chance, Shi Zuo decided to take a t lightning based inscription damage which was less powerful than the random chance inscription, but he figured he would make up for it with his speed

    Bin Yong had noticed the new weapon of his friend, when he came back boasting about it. Still, his friend did not seem very impressed at the time and teased Shi Zuo if he got duped by the number games which Boss Jin had ced on all the weapons when Bin Yong queried. "You do know in real life, there are no floating calcble HP bars above our heads right? Those numbers are worth jackshit."

    "But what if Boss Jin somehow managed to make it calcble? Like those wuxia novels where we can have 10,000 elephant powers and our weapon provide us another 5000 elephant powers!" Shi Zuo countered and Bin Yong shook his head.

    "I know you love your numbers, but don''t you think that is a bit unrealistic?" Bin Yong remarked though Shi Zuo honestly believed that Boss Jin had revealed those numbers on their Pandamonium Stat page for a reason. He might doubt any other person but Boss Jin had proven to him that nothing in this shop instance nor in the Pandamonium app was there without a reason.

    Be it an experimental feature or a quality of life update, there was always something that Shi Zuo looked forward to whenever Jin implemented any changes. Everytime that happened he got even more inspired to do the same for his IT security job. In a way, he secretly idolised Boss Jin''s technological edge and would love to talk with whoever was responsible.

    "Whatever those numbers are based off, at the very least his inscription works wonders." Shi Zuo looked before him. The Deep One was totally fried and when the head was cut off, Shi Zuo retracted the axe back and proceeded forward with the rest.

    That surprise attack made them even more vignt than ever as they took the stairs down to tform 7.

 Chapter 396 Subway Station - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 396 Subway Station - Part 1</h4>

    Bin Yong rushed out of the Grand Terminal Station while cutting down any fish men that were in the midst of transforming. If not for his ''sacrifice'', the entire mob of Deep Ones would have chased after his friends through the subway exit.

    At the very least, the menacing crowd of Deep Ones had their attention divided into two but Bin Yong had to deal with the situation carefully and yet aggressively fast before all the Deep Ones had taken on their final form.

    "You made the right choice splitting yourself away from the group. Come join us." Suddenly the whispering was louder than before. But beyond that sentence, a series of mutters were overheard by Jin and he could barely hear the fish men talking to each other.

    "Join us... !" Join us brrrrrotherrr!" "Kneel before the great Lord and be saved!" "You will gain powers you never have before!" "Be one with us!" The Deep Ones babbled all around him as they approached him slowly as Bin Yong finally reckoned they were in deep shit considering the situation where all the passers-by were indeed Deep Ones too.

    He took a quick peek on his phone to confirm the location of the other entry to the subway station that was outside of the Grand Central Terminal. "5 minutes walk?! Make that a 1 minute run!" Bin Yong gritted his teeth to prevent himself from being influenced by the fishes'' nonsenses as he kept his sword at the back of his waist and ced his buckler in the front while holding it with two hands.

    "Intermediate Shield Art, Defending Wall of the Bombardier Beetle!" Bin Yong shouted as he inserted his chi into his shield. The buckler instantly energised by his chi, created a blue floating orb right in front of him, which expanded into the silhouette of arge blue triangr kite shield.

    Acting like a secondary chi barrier, the blue triangle shield barrier bashed through the Deep Ones that were blocking his way, causing Bin Yong''s enemies to be knocked to the side or even toppling over from the direct shield charge. This enabled Bin Yong to charge through the horde of Fish Men in a straight line without much difficulty.

    However, the barrier still had its limits, which became apparent with the Deep one''s overwhelming numbers. Whenever it hit a Deep One, a part of the barrier seemed to be chipped away by the attack. It was even more significant when knocking over the transforming Deep Ones, but it was entirely another issue when faced with a Deep One who was prepared to counter the Bombardier Beetle Cultivator.

    As the Deep One in front of him charged with two spears pointing forward towards Bin Yong, it smashed into him with tremendous impact and nearly managed to slow him down significantly to the point that the other Deep Ones could pile on him.

    "Intermediate Bombardier Beetle Style, Bombardment Counterattack!" Bin Yong shouted as he shook the spears away by mming his shield to the ground, causing a st of gas made from his chi to spread outwards from the shield impact. The gas irritated the Deep Ones'' eyes and lungs so badly that they staggered. The ones closest to him suffered the worst, with their eyes melting and their fins and lungs dissolving upon absorbing the gas.

    Naturally, his own attack did not affect Bin Yong in any way, but he rarely used this particr technique as it had the risk of injuring his own teammates. However, he developed it since he felt that it might be useful in certain situations, and this particr scenario proved him right. With the Deep Ones immobilised by the hot toxic gas, Bin Yong reused his Defending Wall of the Bombardier Beetle to shield himself and charged his way to the entrance to the Grand Terminal Subway Station.

    Instead of climbing down the stairs, he decided to jump across it since he still had the Defending Wall technique activated. "Woohooo!!! This is why I adore Boss Jin''s dungeons, I can do crazy stuff like this!" Bin Yong shouted as he felt ted, especially when he fell on an unsuspecting Deep One.

    The energised barrier incidentally became a secondary barrier against other threats Bin Yong was facing with the Deep One stuck to the barrier, blocking most of the other hits he could potentially encounter. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs, he thanked the sttered Deep One who had acted as a buffer and jumped over the ticketing gate machine. Within a minute, he saw the rest of his team on the opposite side of the tform with the train arriving on scene at the nick of time.

    "Come! You need to hurry!" Shi Zuo called to his friend as the train towards Penn Station seemed to be ready to leave slightly earlier than nned and without the cultivators despite stopping at the station''s tform. Therefore, Shi Zuo did not wait for the door to open as he smashed the side windows with his axe and entered via it, proceeding to kill a few Deep Ones that were initially in the train waiting to assault them. (How courteous of them to be this patient even though they were such savage beasts.)

    It escted into a ughter inside the train carriage as the Deep Ones holding their spears stood no chance defeating the Mad Monkey Cultivator who skillfully dodged their attacks and shed (and electrocuted) his way through the crowd. By the time he was done, Jia Le and Luo Bo had forced the doors opened. Shi Zuo then bowed and greeted the twodies who wereing aboard. "Wee to the Pr Express. Today''s menu; there is a selection of the finest fish for you to choose from."

    "If the North Pole has any Deep Ones lurking, I will be removing that from my bucket list." Luo Bo said jokingly as she stabbed the ground with her arrow along with Jia Le''s kunai further in front. They both smirked at each other as they quickly boarded the starting train while Bin Yong used his buckler to smash through a set of doors and rolled into the train carriage. He tried to wave at his friends but a Deep One took that as an opportunity to strike when his guard was down.

    Fortunately, Bin Yong''s reflexes were swift enough to block a direct w strike, and his shield was definitely holding out better than the one he had in the previous dungeon run. Nevertheless, the Deep One was not stopping as it kept wing in rage, attempting to destroy the shield that Bin Yong was holding on to his dear life without the chance to retaliate. Jia Le assisted him by throwing a Kunai at it, but the Deep One saw thating metres away, allowing it to deflect the attack.

    However, this was all that was required as the Kunai released a spell on contact which caused vines to wrap the Deep One all over, keeping him in a bind as the vines slowly absorbed the Deep One''s essence until it turned into a shrivelled fish. (There were even signs of an after struggle )

    The vines eventually bloomed into a beautiful white bellflower that released a sweet scent of fresh flowers, which also helped rejuvenate the entire party while the train started to pick up speed. "It''s a kind of chi transfer spell technique. By using the life of a living being, it absorbs and transforms it into chi to be released to the surroundings." Jia Le grinned as she felt refreshed.

    "That is pure wicked." Bin Yong was amazed that Jia Le had this kind of technique under her sleeves.

    "Well, if you just let me fight more by myself, I could prove to you that I am more than just a supporter or sub attacker." Jia Leughed as she flicked Bin Yong''s forehead hard. "That is for doing things so selfishly even though it was for the sake of the group. Don''t you know how worried I was? And don''t you dare tell me that this is just a dungeon instance. I do not want you to develop such a habit if something like this really happens in real life." Jia Le reprimanded Bin Yong and he quickly apologised.

    "If you still do not get it, she wants you to take her along when you do such dangerous things. Stupid. She really cares about you." Shi Zuo released a heavy sigh as he rxed back at the corner of the train bench while the train moved.

    "D''a. But Bin Bin did a good job, right? Without him, we would have been swarmed by many fish heads and perhaps be part of them. Bloop~! Bloop~!" Luo Bomented while she refilled her arrow belt from her new storage ring. Suddenly, they felt a series of rumbles emitting from behind them. Jia Le and Luo Bo looked at one another, each with a knowing grin on their faces.

    Their previous kunai and arrow cement had been part of abination spell they created together. Jia Le, who specialised in Earth chi techniques, enabled her kunais to release a massive load of razor sharp spiky vines that would protrude out of the ground to grab the Deep Ones who tried to chase after the train. To enhance her slow moving from the kunai release, they were propelled by Luo Bo''s wind chi infused arrow. Upon grabbing an enemy, the vines would not just strangle and hurled the Deep around, but cause them to be more than just a simple projectile, damaging the basement integrity of the area as well as the masses of Deep Ones who tried to squeeze through the tunnel to chase after the train.

    Soon enough, the vines were cut down by the amassing horde of Deep Ones, but thatbination attack resulted in dozens of dead Deep Ones. (Or Dead Ones as Bin Yong punned them to be.) Though they tried to catch them, the train was undoubtedly faster than themбн until a Deep Mage decided to summon a tidal wave to assist the Deep Ones on the ground to even up the disadvantage.

    The wave wiped the entire station clean as it carried the numerous Deep Ones through the tunnel. Bin Yong, who was at the lookout from behind the train, noticed that the rumbling had stopped and instead, an increasingly loud sound of water gushing to catch up to them. Luo Bo who had perceptive hearing immediately rushed to Shi Zuo, who had gone to the front, as fast as she could. (Meanwhile, Shi Zuo was slightly baffled to learn that the train was driver-less because he''d assumed a Deep One was piloting it.)

    "DO NOT STOP! Do not stop at the next station! Push the train to our destination forward!" Luo Bo screamed as Jia Le immediately went to the back to check on the situation too.

    "There is no escape..." Bin Yong''s legs turned to jelly upon seeing a glimpse of the iing Tidal Wave through the tunnel.

    "Not when I am around." Jia Le drank two chi potions consecutively as she held onto a bunch of Kunais. "You are owing me more than just a work shift recement." Jia Le smiled at Bin Yong before she prepared her kunais to throw towards the impending doom of Deep Ones.

 Chapter 397 Subway Station - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 397 Subway Station - Part 2</h4>

    Jia Le had initially wanted to throw her kunais towards them until Bin Yong had asked her what spell she nned to use. She had hesitated a little since their situation was not exactly the perfect time for questions.

    Ultimately, she decided to humour her boyfriend and quickly exined that it would create various standing pirs to block the wave. Upon hearing this, Bin Yong advised her to tweak the spell a little to make them appear diagonally. (All she needed to do was to change the angle at which her kunai was thrown.)

    The moment those kunais hit the floor, pirs of stone and vines came out in a diagonal towards the Tidal Wave of Deep Ones. As the force of the tidal wave couldn''t be stopped, countless Deep Ones crashed into the pirs of stone. Some suffered a head on collision resulting in death, others, while slightly luckier, still ended up severely injured. Unfortunately, their sheer number did not seem to have decreased by much.

    When she witnessed the effects of the diagonal Vine Stone Pirs at work, she was surprised at its effectiveness. Looking at Bin Yong, her boyfriend exined to her that one of his past works involved scenes of a sea town. He did some research to be able to illustrate the sea waves sshing against the piers, and some of that past experience stuck with him till now.

    To effectively stop a wave, irregr structures needed to be erected to change the uniform arrival time of the impending tidal energy. "Especially when turbulence itself is a form of energy. I had to get some of my science friends to verify it for me and they even dly performed an experiment in theirbs for me to video record so I can draw and animate those waves the way I needed to." Bin Yong told her proudly though Jia Le was still focusing on throwing her kunais to impede the tidal wave of Deep Ones.

    While Jia Le and Bin Yong were dealing with the problem at the back (well mostly Jia Le), Shi Zuo was figuring out how to override the autonomous driving system so it wouldn''t stop at the next station. There was not much time left especially with the subway station appearing in sight.

    "Fuck fuck fuck fuckkkkk!!!!!" Shi Zuo was banging on every button possible and somehow through somebination, the train finally listened to his wishes and quickly increased the speed, pressing forward and away from the Deep Ones.

    "You sure we can skip every stop?! I remember seeing Bin Yong''s map app. It showed that we would need to get off to transfer to another train in order to reach Penn Station?!" Luo Bo asked and Shi Zuo panicked a little.

    "What?! I was not informed of that! Quickly get the information from Bin Yong or else we might be screwed!" Shi Zuo shouted and Luo Bo knocked his head.

    "You don''t have to shout at me! I am right beside you!" Luo Bo replied as she ran towards Bin Yong, but they did not pay attention, missing the fact, that as they passed through the station, a few Deep Ones from Bryant Park Station tform took the risk and sessfully jumped onto the train.

    "Shit! AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Luo Bo realised Bin Yong could be too far to listen to her and the Deep Ones would only hinder her. Since time was of the essence and to get his attention, she thought that shouting was the fastest way to get through him.

    So she did, focusing her wind chi into her voice, her shout became so loud, that it pierced and damaged the hearing ability of the Deep Ones, causing them to be temporarily confused. But, because of that stunt it managed to reach Bin Yong who heard the SOS for help and rushed towards her.

    At the same time, Luo Bo was furiously releasing her arrows as fast as she could to upy the Deep Ones, who had boarded the train and focused their attention on her. Without anyone else in between, her ranged fights would soon turn into a closed quarters fight.

    "Argh! Once this is over, I better learn some more closebat acrobatics in the future! Maybe my sis could help me with that - WOAH!" Luo Bo dodged in time and threw any strayed thoughts away since it nearly kill her by ident.

    "Hurry up, Bin Bin!" Luo Bo thought to herself as she was currently forced to use her arrow as a parrying stick to defend herself from the attack.

    Fortunately, she always had a de arrow as a spare for emergency closebat quarters. When she first saw it being sold, she thought it was ridiculous. Why would anybody want to shoot a sword like arrow and then she realised it was designed for closebat defence first and shooting it at that close range for maximum damage second.

    Bin Yong finally arrived traversing through multiple carriages, charging in between the doors without any care and when Luo Bo saw him, she shouted at him. "How many stops before we transfer trains?!!"

    "From Grand Central? Two! We passed one, right? We need to get out at the next one! Time Square Station!" Bin Yong mmed the Deep One that was harassing Luo Bo.

    "Shit! If only we had that little blue magpie with us like during the Goblin Raid War. It was super useful! Argh!! I have to inform Shi Zuo! You get Jia Jia! We might be reaching soon!" Luo Bo high kicked the Deep One which Bin Yong pinned down and shot the de arrow into its chest.

    "Roger!!!" Bin Yong quickly turned and ran back as fast as he could while Luo Bo did the same, though she was more like a ghost with her legs imbued with the chi powers of wind.

    "It''s the next station-" Before Luo Bo could say anything else, Shi Zuo was already up from his seat and grabbed her by the waist before exiting the driver''s carriage. "Oof!" Luo Bo did not expect her boyfriend to be so heavy handed with his grab, but she could see that Shi Zuo was stressed.

    "The next train is still at the station! We will collide in no time!" Shi Zuo exined as he ran towards the back as fast as possible. "It''s either we die by train crash or a tidal wave in a tunnel!" Shi Zuo huffed and puffed as they saw Bin Yong and Jia Le running towards them from afar.

    "TRAIN CRASHING! OUT OUT OUT! WE ONLY HAVE A SPLIT SECOND!" Shi Zuo shouted at the top of his voice while he and Luo Bo rendezvoused with the other couple. True enough, they suddenly felt the train''s impact, but they had no time to stop and watch, as they threw themselves out of the train the moment they caught a glimpse of the tform.

    "BAMMM!!" "WHOOSH!!"

    The Pandawan groupbat rolled on the tform only to continue running for their lives towards the exit before the iing tidal wave would swallow them up. There was no other choice, Bin Yong was still exhausted, but had to use it here or they would potentially lose this dungeon instance, even after going through so much trouble to reach here.

    "Guys! Hold onto me! Tight!" Bin Yong shouted as he rushed forward ahead of the group and lifted his shield up.

    "Advanced Shield Art!" Bin Yong spoke it out and the whole group turned their heads towards him with sudden anticipation while grabbing onto Bin Yong''s shoulders. "Jet Stream Bombardier st!" Bin Yong shouted and his buckler turned red hot in an instant. After hearing the name of the technique, the other three did not just hold onto his shoulders but instinctively grab anywhere they could.

    The buckler erged into arge ted tower size shield, and within a second, as the name implied, two streams of hot air burst out from the edges of the shield that caused them to move at tremendous speed, destroying anything in their path. Thanks to that technique, the entire Pandawan group destroyed pirs, railings, ticket gate machines, benches and so on but they eventually managed to get out of the station before it got flooded by the tidal wave.

    However, Bin Yong was totally spent and he was unable to move the moment his technique expired. As they had reached the subway entrance, Shi Zuo held his axe tightly and surveyed the new rotten situation they were thrust into. There were still voices of Deep Ones echoing from the exit they just came out from. It was not looking good when one of their teammates could not move at all.

    Suddenly, an oversized caped figure appeared in front of them with a weapon attached to arge fuel tank. "Been waiting on you." The figure pulled his hood to reveal that he was none other than Captain Hei. All of them were stunned and at the same time, relieved. Weren''t they supposed to meet him at Penn Station?

    "This is the limit for your group. None of you is in any condition to deal with what''s beyond. Do try again next time and get a true clear. Boss Jin purposely made this dungeon difficult, so don''t be too harsh on yourself. It was designed to test your situation awareness and ability." Captain Heimented with a smirk on his face.

    " You will be rewarded duly." Captain Hei words were already like gold dropping from the skies to the exhausted group.

    "But first, a little bit of entertainment for you to enjoy before Pyjamas Girl here teleports you back along with your rewards." Captain Hei remarked as the Pyjamas Girl in the full Panda Mask appeared once more. At the same time, he turned the knob on his weapon, and a fiery burst of mes emerged from his methrower. The arriving Deep Ones stood no chance against his mes of fury, and while Captain Hei handled them, Pyjamas Girl took the opportunity to debrief the Pandawans.

    "Hey yo! Just to assure you guys, you did great handling the situation after the phone call ended, so do not worry too much! Oh and the train station was just one possible meeting point. There are also other ways to reach Penn Station, take your time to figure it out. That''s the fun and challenge of this dungeon!" The girl said as she magically conjured arge chest and ced it right in front of them.

    "Now tadas~!" A small clear sign appeared but it was not the usual ''Dungeon Cleared'' announcement. The Pandawans heaved a sigh of relief as they were teleported to the Recovery Instance.

    "How was it so far?" Milk personally saw to them in one of the exclusive VIP recovery rooms. There were some minor signs of chi poisoning due to the extensive use of techniques. That was also the reason why the System had cut short their dungeon experience since it would be detrimental for them to push themselves beyond their personal limits.

    Milk told them to rest for a while as she would handle each one of the Pandawans'' conditions but overall, it was a decent win for them. Though they were eager to open the rewards chest, they figured a nice proper rest in the recovery instance''s beds was more of a priority.

    "Job well done. Have a good rest." Milk said when she turned the lights off for the group after administering some medicine and sleeping spells.

 Chapter 398 Kiyu

    <h4>Chapter 398 Kiyu</h4>

    "It always feels so refreshing to wake up after a dungeon instance, my body feels lighter and less sluggishpared to everyday life." Woken up by the rm in the recovery instance, Luo Bo yawned and stretched a little as she praised the dungeon instance they just went through.

    "Yes but I just want to sleep a little while longer, do we have to get out of this resting area now?" Jia Le said to Bin Yong as she ced her head into the pillow.

    "I must say, they always feel much morefortable than my bed. I wondered if the bed is some kind of premium quality brand." Bin Yong asked. "But yea, I do feel more refresh than normal."

    "In my opinion, it has to be the rumoured spiritual powers of the monsters we received upon killing them in the instance. How else would our cultivation advance as fast as бнthis." Shi Zuo, who was on the bed beside her, smirked as he went into his cultivation stance and portrayed his cultivation out front. The five highly defined monkey silhouettes were all pping excitedly as if to wee a brand new ymate.

    The rest of the group watched the show from their own bedside as the monkey silhouettes circled round above Shi Zuo''s head. As they danced, a glow appeared within their circle and out came a brand new monkey. He had finally surpassed the pinnacle of Grade Five Peak and entered the new stage, joining up with Bin Yong in the realm of Grade 6.

    Everyone pped and congratted him for reaching the special milestone in the cultivation race. Upon entering this Grade, his body would be able to withstand the bacsh of using Advanced Techniques.

    Thankfully, they were in a private room in the recovery instance instead of the main hall where the bulk of the cultivators were. Else it was unlikely that they would have enjoyed such a decent rest. While being widely known had its perks, it was truly exhausting at times. It was mainly because of all the unwanted attention, especially when someone''s grade increased. Not to mention the noise level would have been incessantly loud.

    They guessed it was the perk of being a Pandawan and the group appreciated it a lot to be able to stay in a private room. Still, Jin took the feedback about that recovery instance very seriously. The reason why he had ced the beds in the main hall of the recovery instance like a gigantic makeshift military tent was that it was easier for the System to oversee the monitoring of the patient''s vitals with a nce. (Though it was also primarily due tock of budget when he first started out.)

    But things would be changing. The goblin raid event had provided him with a steep increase in sales and a growing customer base, which allowed Jin to start nning to renovate the recovery instance. He no longer needed to worry about making every cent, since he knew that having a decently priced instance was able to bring in a constant amount of cash flow. Still, he found it hard to believe and was surprised that the sales already broke even merely a day before the Escape City Dungeon Instance was released.

    Jin hence contemted whether he should extend the duration of the Goblin Raid Event for just two or three more months, especially when the school''s winter holidays coincided into the months of January and February for China. In that case, the students might be another lucrative source of ie to his shop since the Raid''s entrance were cheap enough. Jin just needed to ensure that the poprity of the Goblin Raid events was still popr and the way to do so was mainly by spreading it through word of mouth or via social tforms.

    Word of mouth? Absolutely no problem at all. The cultivators here did an excellent job for him, but there were times that the customers questioned Jin why does he not have a social media ount to spread the word.

    Boss Jin did contemte on making a social tform ount for some time now since it would no doubt aid in boosting his shop''s poprity a little more. (Though it would no doubt also be liable to part of the inte that received criticism too) But once more, he figured it was too much effort considering that he had a lot on his te until Kraft stepped in.

    "You shouldn''t forget that there is no need for you to do everything by yourself. Why not ask Kiyu? She used to be a popr erm... Celebrity. Yes celebrity seems to be the most fitting term. You can ask her to aid you in that aspect" Kraft proposed.

    Upon hearing her name, Kiyu suddenly came out from her bullet in a dash of purple streak and eventually ended up sitting on Kraft''s head like a pedestal in her fox form. (Strangely enough, it made Kraft appear more regal this way.)

    "You can put it that way, I was a rather famous entertainer in the past, going from one theatre to another before the System found me worthy to be part of it. I was not per se from the Panda n, but my ancestors did have connections to them before, so I had heard a rumour or two of their hidden capabilities." Kiyu said as she licked her paws.

    "And from what I saw, the personalities of your moderators, Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One, they were probably created by the System who had used past data of my behaviour as a temte." Kiyu stretched out a paw, which quickly turned into a peace sign as she started to transform into human form right in front of Jin in the Dungeon Maker.

    Jin was baffled as this was the first time he saw her do so. He had assumed Pei was the only one in the System to be able to perform such a feat, but it seems he was mistaken. Were they meant to be Fox People or they appeared as Fox like humans under Kraft''smand?

    Her royal purple fur had turned into hair that was slightly ck and purplish as it continued to flow out of her changing fox body. She ended up with exceptionally long flowing hair with straight bangs covering her forehead that reached down to her waist, coincidentally covering up her exposed chest while she still hung on to Kraft''s head.

    Her dimples were clearly visible when she grinned from one corner to another and her eyes were wide for a Chinese descent. Kiyu''s skin was pearly white, but it exuded a sense of tenderness and a yearning to touch it. Her body was perfectly slender and yet at the same time broad, where it needed to be, which made one wonder how one could maintain such faultless proportions.

    Jin was in speechless as he felt more bewitched by her than Milk or any other girl he had ever known. His expression had been so brilliant, that Kraft could not help himself but secretly record it. Something which he would often tease Jin in the future about while avoiding any possibility of it leaking. (Even Kraft was worried about what Qiu Yue or Lynn would do to him if they learned that he was responsible for this encounter.)

    "So do you have any doubts about her being the perfect person to lead your social tforms?" Kraft smirked a little before snapping his finger to cast a rity spell to clear Jin''s mind.

    "Iбн Iбн" It was as if Jin just woke up from some hypnotisation spell and he quickly threw a shirt and shorts out of his storage ring for Kiyu to wear while he turned around.

    "Oooo, Master''s shirt. I bet not many enjoyed such an opportunity. I shall cherish it." Kiyu said and dly wore the shirt and shorts behind Kraft before showing herself once more. Her fox ears and tail gave her the looks of a beautiful cosyer though she hid it promptly unlike Pei who showed it out tantly to Jin.

    "So where were we? Oh yes, you just need to say the word and I can create the social tform ounts for you. Kiyu could help manage them for you and since she is one of my foxes, a bit of knowledge and ability transfer is not an issue. Any objections?" Kraft proposed.

    "Social tform ACCOUNTS?" Jin eximed and Kraft was wondering if he said anything wrong.

    "Why yes? Not just a Mechat ount but Doban, MeiBo and even western media ounts too. I assume we are going to go for a western audience in the future, right? Might as well make those Farcebook, Pinstagram and Tweeter ounts to make the Westerners a bit jealous that we are having all these awesome dungeon instances. Who knows, some of them might even travel all the way here to try it out. And putting Kiyu in charge will make that far more likely than you''d imagine." Kraft chuckled as Kiyu blew a kiss over at Jin.

    If not for Kraft''s previous spell, Jin would have fallen yet again for Kiyu''s charms. He assumed it was her strong powers, which made her into ''troublemaker'' and wondered if the entertainer bit was just a cover, but he decided not to probe any further. Jin sighed when realising that there was still one final fox under the care of the System. If those two were already a handful, he worried about thest.

    "Alright, let''s do it. I would love to see what she''s capable of. Kiyu, are you up for it? I believe it will be a different set of challenges, influencing the new modern generation?" Jin asked and Kiyu snickered at hisment.

    "No matter the era, two things will always stay important for anyбнentertainment tform. Looks and Charisma. Humans are driven by instinct, no matter how logical or бнhow cultivated they believe themselves to be. Trust meбнerm us. We can nail this down, and this way Kraft won''t be so bored looking over your shoulders all the time. It could give you some breathing space too." Kiyu winked as if she was doing a favour for Jin.

    "You remember how deadly her charming magic could be in her fox form for negotiations right? Wait till you see what she''s capable in this form." Kraft smiled as he ced his face closer to the bracelet Jin was wearing.

    "Pei, increase your master''s psychological defence against Kiyu''s magic to the limitter. That should prove a decent challenge for you since Young Master is still young andбнimpressionable. " Kraft sniggered before he left together with Kiyu (in Jin''s clothes).

    "User, Pandawan Shi Zuo has reached Grade 6 as expected from the Escape City Dungeon Instance. Pandawan Luo Bo and Jia Le are estimated to be reaching the limits of Grade 5 Peak soon. A few more Dungeon runs should allow them to cross the threshold." The System stated as Jin returned to his work in the Dungeon Maker after Bin Yong and the others finished their dungeon instance.

    "I see. How did they fare? Did anything happen outside your predictions?" Jin asked as he began to analyse some of the new techniques the group had used in their adventure.

    "Everything was within the upper limits of the System''s analytical prediction model. Does User wish to give them a clear status? The cultivators managed to perfectly clear the first part of the dungeon." The System asked and Jin shook his head.

    "Nah, it''s not a true clear. They would have failed if they were not rescued in the end. But I believe you''ve increased their rewards ordingly, right? If not, I might give them some additional concessions." Jin replied as he brought up the reward page to see what the System gave out since he was curious about the amount of rewards given the System''s own metrics.

    "670 Panda Medals in total. Eh, guess it''s more than decent. Be a little stricter for the rest of the cultivators. We want to avoid them starting to feel that we are giving the medals a bit too freely." Jinmented, and the System acknowledged it in an instant. After which, he brought up his to do checklist, which the System had visualised for him. It was a nice little feature since he wouldn''t forget anything this way and even asked the System to remind him periodically.

    "Hahah, so many things to do. With only ten days left, it''s best I prepare the December instance as soon as possible andter revamp of the recovery instance. Please put it on the list, System. Are there any particr mission for December?" Jin asked while he fiddled with the dungeon consoles.

    "Does User really wish to start fulfilling the monthly mission criteria for the December now? Activating a monthly mission before the start of that month will lead to better rewards, but at the same time prove to be more challenging than usual since User will have more time toplete it before the deadline." The System warned him, yet Jin confirmed choice once more.

    "Ermбн Guess I''ll have to try it at some point anyway. Worst case, I will handle consequences after that!" Jin somehow felt more ballsy than ever willing to face the challenge and he wondered if it was due to Kiyu''s magical charms.

    "Very well. System has confirmed that User initiated December''s mission. Primary mission objective: Create an instance (Dungeon/Service) with 10,000 sales has increased to 15,000 sales. Additional primary mission objectives: Complete the foundations of the Dungeon City Fortress." The System stated and it was not the end.

    "Please be reminded that the Dungeon Core assisted shield defence will end by the 7th of January. Secondary Mission Objective: Revamp the Recovery Instance and have an End User Approval of at least 4.7 stars out of five." The System stated and Jin''s jaw dropped.

    Before he started anything, he pped himself once and began to rush out for the next particr instance until the System spoke up once more. "Secondary Mission Objective Number 2: Complete the Restaurant Train of Delicacy''s service instance upgrade."

    "YOU ARE KILLING ME!" Jin shouted in retaliation.

    "It was the User''s own choice to ignore the warning. Therefore, User just shot himself in the foot. Do not forget your promise with CEO Ke Loong and please also remember to meet up with Grandma Yuan." System stated with a manner of glee in its tone.

    "Yes, DAD!" Jin replied in a sarcastic tone.

 Chapter 399 Heavenly Pillar of Measuring

    <h4>Chapter 399 Heavenly Pir of Measuring</h4>

    During the next few days, the Escape City Dungeon Instance proved to be the most frequented dungeon instance, mainly because of the amount of medals it was giving out. Some believed in Mr Know-It-All''s spections, but the majority had begun to realise that the sudden generosity of Jin had another reason, which everyone concurred upon trying the dungeon instance at least once.

    There was a need to upgrade.

    Most of the cultivators'' gear was pitiful to begin with. Only a fraction of his customers possessed some sort of family heirlooms, which proved to be very valuable and not to mention strong against the Deep Ones. (Yet even with family heirlooms, those snobbish cultivators were not up to par in terms of skills. Regardless, the System analysed those weapons thoroughly for future references.)

    Therefore many used this chance to upgrade their gear to better cope with the high intensity they felt in that particr dungeon instance. As a result, the once quiet sub forum for threads regarding weapons and armours became quite popr.

    There were some die hard fans which were seemingly even more enthusiastic than Mr Know-It-All (or perhaps he just influenced them?) who had gathered a plethora of data from the weapons store and listed them on the forums.

    The thread was so long that Jin as the administrator had decided to help them tidy the information up by changing it into something more like a glossary page with a well versed search option and interface. (Well, mostly it was the work of the System. Though it did not add any additional information, it beautified and also simplified the data entry process for future weapons.)

    With that thread being stickied to the top by Jin, those die hard fans discussed, theorised and helped others by rmending a few weapons based on their statistics page, as if it was some MMORPG weapon list. Some even rmended the type of weapons and inscriptions that could be useful for each particr dungeon.

    For example, they rmended fire based inscriptions for the Great Wall of China instance since the zombies were slightly weaker to fire or inscriptions that could enhance the area of attack for the Goblin Raid Events.

    Unsurprisingly some doubted the validity of the list, iming that the weapons were more or less the same and the stats that were introduced by Jin were just a facade. Yet, many still followed it diligently since a guide was better than none.

    Eventually, some cultivators even went the extra mile and started to experiment with the weapons. One of them tried out the Western Diversion Instance with a pathetic Grade 1 Iron Sword which allegedly had a physical attack stat of 10 before switching it out with a Grade 4 Iron Sword to test if it indeed had an attack stat of 40.

    To his surprise, he reported that it did seem to make some difference. However, there were still some critics stating that there was no proper way to test it after all, it could have just been a cebo effect. This heated discussion continued for a while until Jin decided to y along with their whines and ced a couple of Heavenly Pirs of Measuring into Panda Muscles Instance.

    Those pirs were officially acknowledged as the international standard for measuring strength as they were made from a raw material rumoured to of the Grade 19 standard, if not Grade 20. (But many assumed the former since Grade 20 was akin to celestial like materials.)

    Because of the material''s sturdiness, they could be used to measure the strength of a cultivator and/or the strength of a weapon. In the past, people used to involve a cultivator well versed in the Earthly Elements to calcte and measure the strength used against these Heavenly Pir of Measuring.

    However, thanks to modern technology, this became unnecessary. A built in monitor had been invented to measure the strength, speed and chi power of a cultivator in absolute numbers and its estimates were so much urate than the old ways.

    Separately, the System derived the stats of the cultivators before the introduction of the Heavenly Pirs of Measuring through a simr method. But instead of such pirs, the System measured the cultivator''s stats through the monitoring of their physical body vitals and activities after every dungeon.

    Considering all those monsters that the cultivators were battling were not real per se but somewhat ''clones'' created by the System, it wasn''t a problem to calcte their strength when fighting them and update any progress ordingly. In the end, it was able to make a verifiable judgement which could be as close or even as urate as the results of the Heavenly Pirs of Measuring.

    When the cultivators tried to pit their strength against the pirs, the numbers were simr enough, if not the same as what was shown on the Pandamonium App. After trying it for themselves, the sceptics finally believed that those numbers in their Pandamonium actually meant something useful. Never in their lives would they know that those numbers were in fact results derived from the rarely seen Heavenly Pirs and not just gibberish information meant to entertain the customers.

    This was because the cost of a Heavenly Pir of Measuring and as the name implied, was astronomical in nature. Therefore, it (the price) made the pirs somewhat of a prestige object usually only found in Dungeon Supplier stores exclusive for wealthy patrons or in the main dungeon store of a dungeon supplier franchise like King''s Monster. (Yeah, they have one.)

    Even in those cases, it was the norm to be charged a hefty premium for each use. But in Jin''s case, he somehow managed to procure not one but five of them! (Albeit significantly smaller than the standard sizes. 1.5 metres tall instead of the conventional 5 metres.)

    It made the cultivators wondered and spected what kind of backing Jin had, in order to get these expensive pirs. But when asked, he merely replied with his usual "Trade Secret~!". Not only that, Jin was still charging them the same price to enter the Panda Muscles instance and as a result, it made that particr service instance very popr again.

    Cultivators were all queuing up to try them, to the point that they saw the need to implement a rule limiting each cultivator to at most five minutes with the pir. Within that time limit, the cultivators could test out all the various skills or weapons they wished to know. (If anyone was seen deliberately overstepping the time limit, Zeru was there to intervene with some ''heavenly punishment''.)

    Just as Jin had hoped, Mr Know-It-All had gone to the forums and revealed that the first part of the Escape City Dungeon Instance had been a giant Escape Room scenario. While he could not predict which escape room scenarios were being used after Bin Yong''s dungeon screening, (which was also the only time the Shop ever showed the first phase of the Escape City Dungeon Instance in full), he provided simple tips like how Luo Bo had done for her group.

    They were general but epassed the concept of Escape Rooms, allowing many more cultivators to solve them. Anyone who managed to enter Phase 2 without resorting to the Brute Force way ended up earning a minor achievement in the Pandamonium App too. (Meanwhile, Jin started to consider if he should peg a few bonuses like panda medals, unlockable goodies for the Forums, like exclusive emotes or such to those achievements to make them more worthwhile.)

    The Shop Instance nevertheless continued to broadcast the Escape City Dungeon Instance in the auditoriums once the cultivators reached the second phase so the other customers could preview it and motivate them to reach that far. (But also learn from the mistakes of others.)

    To the collective cultivator''s knowledge, there were indeed multiple ways to try and pass Phase 2. Especially when there were various starting locations and the pyjamas girl would ask the groups of cultivators to meet her at different locations.

    That itself gave the dungeon multiplebinations to clear and it seemed that many cultivators preferred this somewhat open ended kind of dungeons over the previous instances where it was limited to just one particr ce.

    However, others criticised that this way the story became too vague and broad unlike Qixi or the Bank Heist. But overall, there seemed to be a consensus, that the majority of the cultivators appreciated the significant increase in challenge and...medals. (Wait till Jin released Goblin Forest Instance v2.0 with the new evolved goblin sses!)

    Jin took all the feedback and criticisms as openly as he could. He was after all, just a dungeon supplier trying to make everyone happy even though he was aware that there were bound to be disagreements. Surprisingly, Yun consoled him by pointing out that there were too many other things he could be doing rather than focus on theiners.

    "Do what you need to do, and leech as much money from them as you can. That is the main objective." Yun said with a smile and Jinughed at her practicality.

    -------

    "System, how''s the progress of the portal device after incorporating Ayse''s knowledge of their lost technology?" Jin asked as that was one of the primary tasks given to the Elfish Researchers and Ayse to handle. He promised Ke Loong that the prototype portal device would bepleted within a few days and he would keep to that agreement.

    "Based on their design, improvements have been made for thetest prototype. It no longer uses any lost techponents. In exchange, it had been fully reced with raw and synthetic materials obtainable in this world. While still functional, this change has resulted in a few major ws." The System stated and Jin nodded waiting for it to exin further.

    "One, the output portal does not strictly follow the input coordinates. There is a deviation of at least three to ten degrees. The substituted raw materials seem tock some properties the original ones had. As a result, the traveller might be teleported up to 50 metres away from the supposed coordinates. " The System began exining as Jin briefly looked at the schematics, hoping he could still understand if given his background as an engineering student.

    "Two, the current electrical input is toorge for the concept to be portable. Barring those ws, safety through portal travelling is not an issue. There were no instances of portal breakage as long as the specifications were met. Strict adherence to the design specifications are required to ensure the continued safety of the traveller." The System stated as an Elfish researcher took the initiative to demonstrate it within the Northern Diversion instance as that was one of therger few instances Jin had made. (Of course, there were no orcs invading them, hehe)

    The researcher was trying to teleport from the town using the device made by the System to the said destination that was at the far end of the valley. Jin was d when he noticed the portal device interface was straightforward too. It even used the Pandamonium Map App though Jin wondered if they could use any maps charted from his world like from the mini apps of MeChat.

    The System then stated that for security reasons, it had only integrated the function via the Pandamonium for now. Jin acknowledged the reasoning andter suggested that it would be good if they maintained it this way. Perhaps he''d have to talk to Ke Loong about using that app. But long term wise, it might pose a problem since Ke Loong''s engineers and researchers would probably wish to upgrade it in the future.

    "User does not need to worry. The cosmetic inscriptions do not just apply on clothes and rings, but also on any other medium. That is why System also feels the need to point out that the main reason for unlocking the cosmetic inscriptions was for User''s monsters to be able to disguise themselves as normal human beings. " The System stated and Jin was stunned for a moment.

    "Using it, Ayse and the Elfish researchers can learn more from this world''s engineers while the System will be able toplement their knowledge ordingly. That way, the humans would not need to touch the System''s apps since User''s researchers would do the job. Which is why, Ke Loong will have a version of the portal device to y around with, but the changes he wishes to implement will be done by Ayse''s team" The Systemmented at Jin''s dilemma on long term cooperation.

    "However, that specific cosmetic inscription technology must not be sold. It would be too dangerous in the wrong hands." The System remarked, which Jinpletely agreed with, as he watched the elf researcher being teleported to the end and back again.

    There was nothing wrong with him, aside from having missed the mark by 3 meters on the first try, but everything was still intact. Jin guessed they should be able to improve it further with time, but it was ready to show off to Ke Loong to hold up his part of the bargain.

    With the coboration between his researchers and Ke Loong''s engineers, he hoped that they could soon announce the very first portable portal device so that his cultivators can enter his shop wherever and whenever. (Of course, Ke Loong had more ns than just a portable portal device.)

 Chapter 400 Prototype Portal Device

    <h4>Chapter 400 Prototype Portal Device</h4>

    Ke Loong was as excited as a kid about to see his beloved superhero. Even though his driver could see that Ke Loong was sitting patiently at the back of his car, he was too distracted with the news of the new Prototype Portal Device Jin gave him less than an hour ago.

    He was initially scheduled to see a new, potential business client that boasted his new software to be revolutionary, iming to be the next possible MeChat app. Of course, Ke Loong did not expect much upon seeing the draft proposal, but it was a favour he decided to do for the finance minister''s aide to see if there were any talented developers to keep the app industrypetitive.

    However, one minute into the interview, Jin called and Ke Loong knew straight away that the prototype portal device was ready. He answered the call and Jin indeed met his expectations. "Come quick. I am busyter in the evening."

    If his secretary ever picked up such a phone call, she would have dismissed it immediately given her attitude and possibly stating that Jin had no manners at all. That was why Ke Loong insisted Jin to call him instead since he knew Jin had a no nonsense attitude.

    "Be right there." Ke Loong got up from his chair and answered promptly, which made the app developer very speechless.

    "Wait, I have not even star-" Ke Loong stopped him then sat down and scribbled something down on his notepad before tearing a page away to give the developer.

    "Go to this ce. Observe, learn and triumph his app programming. If you are able to do that, then I permit you to knock on my door again." Ke Loong gave the developer Jin''s dungeon supplier address and packed his stuff.

    "But...is this not a dungeon supplier store?" The developer was stunned momentarily when he was given such a random address. He was expecting something more like an address to a softwarepany.

    "Exactly." Ke Loong believed that If Jin did not boast his all rounded Pandamonium app as the potential business rival against MeChat, this developer had no rights to say so either. Thus, he went off and asked his secretary to clear the mess up in his office while he called his chief engineer to meet him at Jin''s ce.

    ---------

    Upon postponing all the many tasks a man of his position was expected to fulfil. All he could do was to wait for his Pipi ChuXing* driver to reach Jin''s address and couldn''t care less about all that boring paperwork waiting for him.

    The anticipation for wanting to see the portal device at work had made him feel like time was passing way too slowly. True, there were portal scrolls out on the market created by high grade mages, which allowed anybody to go anywhere and anytime. However, their supply has always been limited and controlled very strictly to ensure maximum profit. Besides, the materials used were umon and only a handful of professional mages were trusted enough to be privy of such knowledge to craft them.

    Many western governments also cited the potential threat of using such portals for fear of terrorism and assassination attacks and justified the strict control over portal scrolls. Ke Loong''s country, on the other hand, did not care about those excuses, when it was an open secret that they just wanted to monopolise those scrolls.

    The ability to copy and subsequently innovate in order to be one step ahead of others was always the goal for every inventor and entrepreneur. As long as it was something revolutionary or had the potential to earn big money, the Chinese did not care about any consequences.

    Only results mattered.

    Ke Loong was pinning his hopes on Jin to seed in his part of the bargain for there was a huge amount of political clout and money riding on this. If the western governments wished for their method to remain exclusive, the Eastern Governments would just have to create their very own version.

    Even before the speedy car could manage at aplete halt, Ke Loong was already too anxious to get out. If not for his Hovering Hawk cultivation, he would have fallen to the ground and suffered at least a few scraps to the knee and elbows.

    "BOSSSSSS I AM HEREEEEE!!!!" As quick as he could enter Jin''s shop, Ke Loong shouted loudly with his terrible disguise on again. (Some of the cultivators had begun to nickname him Mr Potato Head for the terrible fake moustache and a round ck hat whenever he entered Jin''s shop.)

    "Ah, Mr Ke Loong. This way, please." Bear Cub One was the one weing him, but Ke Loong stopped Bear Cub One for just one moment.

    "I have a few more associates that will be arriving here soon, though I would love to check the portal device first! Please lead them to us when they arrive." Ke Loong said excitedly as he then hurried Bear Cub One to bring him to the assumed testing grounds.

    When he arrived, he noticed it was the very same stadium that Jin used to host Yang Ling''s gearbox prototype demonstration. He felt chillsing over him, remembering the Banned Emperor assassination attempt and was thankful that Jin was there to help not just him but everyone in that instance.

    Was it merely the only ce for a demonstration or was this a power y by Jin to remind Ke Loong how they met. "Aww, this cunning fellow! I''m starting to like him more and more." Ke Loong thought to himself.

    Meanwhile, Jin was already there talking to a few of the Elfish researchers and Ayse, who now looked like a human with beautiful lush red hair and a sharp, slender face. All thanks to the cosmetic inscription that the System used on her.

    She could easily pass as a killer model and surely would be one of the most beautiful women Jin had ever encountered. Still, he could not help but feel that her beauty paled inparison to Kiyu. It seemed tock something, but he could not pinpoint it. Perhaps, the foxy minx really did have some innate abilities that made her so enchanting.

    The elves had turned to humans as well. They retained their near perfect features less their pointy ears. Even Ayse was shocked at first upon seeing them, since she never knew they could be that magnificent looking.

    "You know, ording to the System, they could look like this on their own, if only they had been given proper nutrition while under your care?" Jin asked and Ayseughed bitterly.

    She admitted that her former ves had shown proved theirpetency inpleting this particr project of Jin''s. She had indeed started to show some respect for them and even treating them on equal footing as her previous Orcrades. (If her father would learn of this, he''d surely turned in his grave.)

    "BOSSSSSS I AM HEERREEEEEEE!" Ke Loong shouted again from afar the field and Jin could not help but sigh a little.

    "You are early." Jin replied back while he asked his ''employees'' to start booting up the machine to prepare the demonstration.

    "Wow. If your employees are half aspetent as they are good looking, then I have no doubts about today''s sess. Are you some kind of perfectionist?" Ke Loong asked as he nearly drooled at Ayse when she flipped her red hair. "In any case, I would love to see the portal device in action before my chief engineer and his team of goons arrive." Ke Loong revealed with much anticipation.

    "You sure, you do not want want to wait for your chief engineer and his goons to take a look at it before testing it out? Are you that confident that it will work?" Jinmented and Ke Loongughed heartily.

    "I''m willing to bet a panda that either you or your staff have already tried it. Otherwise, there''s no way you would even dare to let me on here. I fully believe that your work ethics are on the moral high ground." Ke Loong praised Jin as he looked over the fairlyrge circr metal device with various pipes and ports connecting to it. If anything, it looked more steampunk than futuristic modern.

    "Thank you for your trust. So, we have prepared to showcase two variants. One is a portal device without an active exit gate. You input the coordinates, and it will teleport you there. The other is a portal device that is linked to another portal device, acting as an exit gate, which is a safer, but a costlier option. I assume you wished to try out thetter." Jin looked at Ke Loong who ironically asked to try out the former instead.

    "Let''s keep the best forst. Surprise me with the first." Ke Loong replied, and Jin informed the Sea Mesh CEO about all the ws of the portal device by repeating what the System had told him. Ke Loong still insisted on trying the portal device without an exit gate.

    Jin shrugged his shoulders a little before telling one of the elfish researchers to teleport him to the far end of the stadium where the goal post was while Ke Loong stood ready at the device tform.

    "Anyst words?" Jin smirked as he asked, which made Ke Loong turn his head suddenly towards him. However, it was toote to say anything since Jin had already activated the portal device.

    A blue light shone onto Ke Loong with him screaming his lungs out as he experienced an oddly weird feeling while being transmitted like bits of data and within a second, he disappeared, teleporting right beside the goal post. Ke Loong took a bit of time to calm down when he noticed the change in the environment. (He touched himself all over and checked whether all his body parts still remained intact.)

    "It...worked...IT WORKED!!!!" Ke Loong yelled in celebration mode. " IT FUCKING WORKS HAHAHAHAHAHA" Ke Loong began to run back towards Jin to congratte him for this sessful trial test. Coincidentally that was also when his team of engineers came in.

    Looking at their superior behaving like aplete fool, they stood there with a perplexed look on their faces, before they got noticed. "Hey Bo Ze!!!! IT WORKS!! This dungeon supplier and his researchers beat you to it! Suck it!!! You owe me an exclusive dinner with your cousin at Shangri La! WOOHOOOOO!!!!" Ke Loong still in some kind of ''happy shock'', could not believe it as he shouted at his chief engineer Bo Ze.

    "I wait -what??" Bo Ze was still so confused by the entire scene which Ke Loong dragged him to the portal and asked Jin to fire it up once more. However, unlike Ke Loong, Bo Ze was having a head full of reservations with this portal device, especially when there were no known credentials for the dungeon supplier nor the researchers in this field. They were total nobodies to him. "No! Ke Loong! Don''t UWAHHHHH~!" Jin did not care and amodated his business partner''s request.

    This time, Ke Loong and Bo Ze were teleported together to a couple of meters behind the goal post, and the CEO keptughing like a mad man. The first one could have been a fluke, but this proved that the concept worked.

    "SEE! Bo Ze! He''s done it! He really did it! You tasted it first hand!" Ke Loong felt so happy that Jin''s prototype portal invention surpassed all their expectations. To him, it was already a sess being able to teleport one human at such a distance, as long as it worked all the time, but Jin had one upped himself once more since his prototype was already able to teleport at least two people.

    He couldn''t wait to try out the other version if this was supposed to be the inferior one. With his CEO continuing to behave totally out of the norm, Bo Ze tried to rationalise what just happened. Even after experiencing it for himself, he couldn''t believe it. "A mechanical device that managed to simte the wonders of magic?" Bo Ze mumbled to himself.

    "Magic is just a type of technology we haven''t figure out yet. Everything can be exined with reason. (The Western Mages would surely kill him for such sphemy) Nothing is impossible!" Ke Loong boasted as he subsequently introduced Jin to his chief engineer.

    "I''ve looked through your credentials, and I hope you can forgive my doubting you. I''ve believed you were just another run off the mill engineer, who somehow bamboozled Ke Loong." Bo Ze apologised genuinely and Jin chuckled bitterly.

    "It''s alright. You aren''t exactly wrong, I myself am just a run off the mill engineer. The credits due should be given to my employees who shared the same vision as me when I started to be a dungeon supplier to make people''s life better."

    "Ayse''s the name." The red haired brte took the initiative to step into the conversation and introduce herself but Bo Ze was struck mindless by her beauty.

    "Erm, I uh *cough* Nice to meet you, I am Bo Ze, Sea Mesh Chief Engineer." Bo Ze subsequently introduced the rest of his team to Ayse before she did the same for her Elfish researchers. They began to start talking about the concept and theories behind it and used terms which both Ke Loong and Jin could barely catch up with.

    Granted Jin actually knew most of them, but their application talk on quantum physics just gave him the usual headache and made him realise this was one of the partial reasons why he''d rather be the number one dungeon supplier than the world''s best engineer.

    Eventually, Ayse demonstrated the variant with the exit gate and exined how two portal devices make the travel safer and more urate. (An idea by Ayse when she asked the System whether having two portal devices would improve the uracy of the teleportation. Jin med himself for not thinking about it himself, especially since he''d watched a series with such a concept when he was younger.)

    "Now since the techies are talking their own stuff, let''s talk business, Jin."

    Ke Loong said which Jin subsequently offered to talk over a nice warm meal which Ke Loong promptly agreed with. No negotiations could have gone better with Lynn''s delicious food by the table. Jin brought his guest to the exclusive premium part of the Restaurant Train of Delicacy instance and Ke Loong adored the authentic Japanese looking interior design.

    "I love it, it feels tranquil, the music''s at the perfect volume and the scent aroma makes one feel rxed. I''m really considering bringing my clients to your shop''s restaurant instance for future negotiations. I''ve tasted the food, and to be frank, your chef could fight with those overly arrogant five star restaurants and besides, which businessman doesn''t want some secret eating ce of their own?" Ke Loong rambled while Jin had ordered the food for both of them and the penguins began making the tea at the side. (A simple tea ceremony as a part of the gesture by Jin since Ke Loong could be considered a VVIP guest.) Even the way those penguins served the Japanese Tea made Ke Loong intrigued.

    "Anyways, where are we? Oh yeah. You held up your side of the bargain, and now it''s my turn. When do you want the devices to be up for sale?" Ke Loong asked as he thanked the penguin NPC for serving him while he took in the scent of the freshly brewed green tea.

    "To be honest, I would prefer your engineers to take a look at it and coborate with my employees for a while longer. Ideally, I''d want it to be portable before we started selling them." Jin answered, stating his desires.

    "Oh my friend, you really are a perfectionist. There''s no need to be humble. What you''ve just shown us on its own is revolutionary. Besides, the world isn''t ready for portable reusable portal devices. Too many possible scenarios of countries threatening us would arise." Ke Loong took a sip of the green tea and felt refreshed almost instantly.

    "Just imagine us having a battalion of such special forces, able to teleport anytime, anywhere, ready to strike. It would no doubt be terrifying, and those Western countries wouldn''t like to entertain such ideas. In fact, this kind of technology, if you manage to aplish it, would better be kept a secret." Ke Loong, who was more experienced in business and politics, told Jin about this.

    "Anyway, let''s focus on the main issue, instead of that! Can you even imagine how much money we''ll be able to earn?! If your two portal devices method truly works regardless of size, getting charged extra for cargo will be a problem of the past! Granted it will cause a lot of people to be out of jobs, but that''s the sad reality with the progress of technology. Still, it would save a shit lot on transportation. Heck, we can probably market it as truly environmentally friendly, if you consider lesser ne trips for cargos. And here I am just talking about shipping and transportation of goods. What about travel? That would be another avenue we can improve on. Well, of course, we are going to keep this all to ourselves and make our country an even more modern society!" Ke Loong rambled with the possibilities.

    "I shall leave that part in your capable hands. All I really want is my future customers to have an easier time teleporting to my shop instance. In fact, it would be ideal if my Dungeon Supplier Store will have the exclusive rights to get customers this way." Jin knew the implications of having the portal technology being spread region wide and hopefully country wide... If he dared to dream bigger, worldwide.

    "I know, I know. You can leave that to me. I''ve figured you would be more worried about your shop. That is why my nning team had been tasked to distinguish a few majorly popr spots to put your portal device throughout the country. ces like Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and even Hong Kong! If we ce it in a good spot and advertise it well, your shop instance will be more than a hit in no time. It won''t be long that this small store in the corner of Shenzhen will just be a fleeting memory!" Ke Loong replied.

    "Look, my friend. If you let me expand to these fields, I let you in with the share of profit too. That way you have more money to create whatever dungeons you want and maybe be an affluent figure in no time! Not to mention, you have the backing of the Royal Zodiac Tiger. There is no way this n can fail if we time it nicely and execute it wlessly."

    "Pei, are there any signs that I am bewitched or enthralled by any spells? Because I feel that his sales pitch is just too perfect." Jin sent his thoughts to Pei.

    "Not that I''m aware of. No magic nor chi powers are being emitted. He is being rather honest with you despite the wonderful sales pitch...or that is how I feel. He really wants you to seed, and by doing all that was mentioned, he is willing to do most of the heavy lifting while you''ll be reaping most the rewards." Pei replied as she based her opinion on the many bargaining talks she''d apanied Another Jin to protected him from any psychic magic.

    "I guess he believed that you and your monsters worked your asses off to make the portal device happen. Plus, you were rmended by Mr Know-it-all. That is why he was willing to take such steps with you." Pei added for Jin to consider.

    "I see. Because it really seems to be the most perfect sales pitch I''ve ever heard. It felt too good to be true... Damn it, if I only Qiu Yue was around, right now." Jin presented some small talk as the food came, and they started to dig in. Ke Loong was keeping quiet, giving Jin some time for his proposition to sink in. If he pushed too much, he worried it could have an adverse effect.

    "Actually, I am overhearing the conversation together with Lynn." Qiu Yue suddenly talked to Jin via his thoughts. At that moment, he was d that the System was with him. "The System wanted me to be around to calm you down because it knows that you aren''t fit for negotiations as long as they aren''t pure bargaining, but I''d feel too awkward to join you midway. " Qiu Yue replied as she was browsing at Lynn''s office.

    "But don''t you worry, we are in Lynn''s office and hearing the entire conversation, we even have video footage. If there''s anything worrisome, I''ll warn you. Damn Lynn, you mind making one extra set of that curry rice Jin''s having?" Qiu Yue said as she sat at the office watching the whole scene as Lynn told her penguins to prepare two sets.

    "In my opinion, this is possibly one of those life changing opportunities knocking at your door. His proposal is rather valid and I can see money rolling in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of yuan. It will be able to boost our financial ount by craploads. Besides, the contract with him is still valid. It''s a good thing you let Xiong Da change some of the statements, or else he would have done all these possible expansions without your acknowledgement." Qiu Yue examined from afar.

    It was a pity she could not be in the conversation with him, but this was purely a Boss to another Boss kind of decision. She could only give herments to Jin as any interference would show weakness in negotiations to the other party.

    "Trust what your heart wants. Don''t doubt the future. No matter the consequences, we will be behind you, Boss." Lynn gave her own opinion with conviction and Jin took his colleagues'' word seriously.

    "No input from you, System?" Jinughed at Ke Loong''s small talk while he asked for thest opinion.

    "System has determined that User should have own his stand and decision long ready." System stated, and Jin smiled as he looked at Ke Loong. He ced his utensils down and raised his hand towards the Sea Mesh CEO.

    "Don''t worry, we will take this a step at a time and have somepromise if need be. But one thing is for sure. You will not regret this one bit. " Ke Loong grinned as he returned the handshake.

    From that day onwards, Jin''s reputation would no longer be isted within Tiangong District.

 Chapter 401 Topping the Priority Lis

    <h4>Chapter 401 Topping the Priority Lis</h4>

    After the informal dealings in the Restaurant Train Instance, Ayse reported back to Jin in the Dungeon Maker, informing him about the improvement ideas from Sea Mesh''s team of engineers, especially their Chief, Bo Ze. They were thoroughly impressed with the novel concept and asked permission toe over in the following days to analyse and study the prototypes further.

    "He was quite an easy person to charm. I hadn''t expected these cosmetic inscriptions to have such hidden perks, though it will take a bit more time to get used to them, especially this form." Ayse said as she tried it out on Jin but to no avail. (Pei was making sure of that although the System iterated to Jin that no such ''perks'' were added into the inscriptions).

    "Great job. Their demands shouldn''t be too much of a problem. I did emphasise that the development of the portal device would be facilitated within our premises since we have all the equipment and know-how. While they can work out there, I am going to build up ab instance, but until it''splete, you''ll be temporarily housed in the Sanctum of Worlds Instance. That way, you can also get the other monsters to assist you in the experiment more easily." Jin told them, which made the elfish researchers and Ayse perked up.

    "You mean I won''t have to sleep on that cramped little makeshift bed in your Dungeon Maker anymore?! Good Heavens!" Ayse eximed in delight, whereas the elfish researchers had their jaws wide open. They couldn''t believe what Ayse had just said, considering she had a king sized bed all to herself in the Dungeon Maker. How much more luxurious would she want her bed to be?

    "You guys will be moved to the real deal after the Dungeon City Fortress is up and running properly. Though I understand that shifting of equipment, research data into a new ce might be a pain in the ass. Until then I hope you can tolerate staying holed up in a sort of makeshift Home Lab." Jin replied.

    "Meh, if the Home Lab is good enough, we can use it as a primary site and a secondaryb in the Dungeon City Fortress. Sometimes, splitting the researchers might potentially increase our efficiency. Also, if I remember correctly, the Home Lab can be improved further right?" Ayse questioned and Jin nodded his head.

    "How long do you think the creation of the Dungeon city fortress will take?" One of the elves asked.

    "To be honest... I don''t really know. Especially since I intend toy out the foundations of the city first ording to the city ns Qiu Yue made and reinforce our defences as soon as possible. The deadline for the Dungeon Core powered shield will be down on the 7th of January. So we have a bit over a month." Jin replied with an upied thought on his face.

    "We will have to see how fast the Goblins and Orcs can set things up. Though I doubt Moloch''s ex-King, Baal, will have his full army ready to march on us by that day, a certain basic defence perimeter should be up and ready to deter other sorts of mishaps like...I don''t know, Adventurers raiding? Piging from nearby monsters?" Jin said casually, only for Moloch to appear right beside him, responding to the call of the System.

    "Master, you shouldn''t focus on just random adventurers and monsters attacking you. Your priority should be on other towns and cities, who might take the chance to eat up your resources and take it for their own use since your Dungeon Core will have fully evolved into a City Core by the end of the deadline. Most new Dungeon City Fortresses don''t stand a chance against armies from veteran cities. Worst case scenario? Your city core could be taken and used as an enhancement material for other existing city cores. As a result, your city would cease to exist." Moloch stated matter of factly, with Jin stared back at him with a nk face.

    "...So when were you nning on revealing this little caveat? Better yet, why didn''t you tell me all of this at the start? Or at any point until now?" Jin asked with his gaze piercing through Moloch, causing him to stutter a bit.

    "Errrrrrrr...you seemed rather busy...?" Moloch tried toe up with a good excuse, which only served to make Ayseugh out so hard she nearly got a stomach ache. The elves (wisely) decided not to get involved as they slowly crept to one side of the room. (Out of view, but not out of hearing range.)

    "Okay, erm that is rather valid. But still...you know. This kind of information is ...How shall I put it nicely? Vital? Crucial?" Jin answered with a heavy bit of sarcasm. Moloch, seemingly not in as much trouble as he''d feared, shrugged his man puppet''s shoulders.

    "I figured you woulde up with a solution on your own. When I saw how you and the others handled the goblin war, it wasбн Marvellous. Even Lord Wolte secretly praised your spectacr performance in handling the intervention. If you hadn''t shown me that my Master could produce this kind of results, I would have honestly worried for you. I''d rather not you bing another one of those cursed people who break their promises." Molochmented as he took a card out to fiddle with. The card picture changes whenever Moloch flipped the card with just one hand.

    "But then again, even if you lost this plot ofnd, I reckon you could always create more instances to amodate us. So I did not worry too much at all." Moloch replied and Jin did not know whether to reprimand him or thank him for his praises.

    "Nevermind, I will figure something out as soon as possible. In the future I hereby ORDER you tell me those vital things beforehand." Jin realised that the situation was more crucial than he thought it would be. Perhaps, it was a blessing in disguise that the System made it part of the mission objectives.

    Jin initially nned to concentrate on the new Christmas themed instance for December after he was done with the Portal Device, but it looked like the ns for the Dungeon City Defence had jumped up in his priority list.

    "I have to contact Qiu Yue on this and maybe negotiate for the goblin army as part of the primary workers andter the defences for the Dungeon City before I use them in the Farming World. The Demon Rats will have to wait...." Jin said out loud and the other monsters around could only nod their heads in reply since they were not involved in this decision making.

    Realising that sudden awkward situation Jin ced them into, he quickly dismissed them except for Moloch and requested him to follow Jin to find Gold, the Werejackal Leader so he could exin the overall situation.

    ----------

    "Ah, Master! yOU AreE HereEE TODay! Annnd yoU BrouGHt a FRiend! ComE, COme, jOIn me for a DRiiinnnkkk~!!!" Yellow greeted Jin in an oddly drunk state. Gold and Grey immediately rushed over and apologised for the rudeness of Yellow.

    "We''re testing out the traditional rice sake procedure that Lynn asked us about and he had volunteered to be our guinea pig as soon as he''d heard about it." Gold defended his subordinates which Jin did not mind.

    He was more surprised about Lynn''s secrecy since this was the first time he had heard about it. The atmosphere among the werejackals once more had turned for the worse as Jin''s face immediately revealed his underlying meaning. Though Lynn did not exactly insist on them keeping it a secret, it was clear to all that Jin''s unexpected visit had ruined what was supposed to be a surprise.

    "Gold, you free to discuss a few things?" Jin asked, trying to move past this incident for he trusted Lynn to update him when the time is right. Gold quickly left Yellow in Grey''s care as they proceeded into his private office in the mansion.

    To Jin''s astonishment, the office was immacte, and to the point, he sensed some obsessivepressive behaviour at work. The books and cupboards were all well categorised. There were no messes of paper lying on the desk, and parcels were tidied to one corner of the room. Compared to the other parts of the mansion, which were staffed by the rotating werejackals for cleaning, this room felt too sterile for Jin''s liking.

    "Please Master, have a seat and Lord Moloch too." Gold said, but the two guests looked at each other as if they were a little too worried to sit on Gold''s pristine clean chairs.

    "As I was saying Gold, I need to talk to you on a certain issue." Jin took a small leap of faith to sit on that oddly cleaned chair then continued to ramble on the situation he was currently facing which Gold eventually understood the overall picture.

    "I see... while it is indeed regrettable that you are unable to help at this point of time, I understood the situation in your hands. If I were you, I would not even have bothered to answer my ...ermmmm minions. Therefore, thank you for breaking the news to me personally." Gold said with a tinge of sadness lingering in his eyes.

    Jin felt it was a little unfair to the werejackals. He had gone ahead to conduct a town hall meeting and even agreed to embark on a journey with the goal of getting a goblin army to help their world. But right now, he wasn''t able to keep his promise for Gold. Jin honestly felt terrible about it so he decided topromise, by continuing at a smaller scale.

    "Please don''t misunderstand me. I am not saying that we are going to leave those Demon Rats unchecked. For now, how about we start by sending a small scouting team to check on them? I prefer getting a better picture of the situation in the Farming World before I take any concrete action." Jin folded his legs and leaned his body to the side of the armchair.

    "Master, I appreciate that, but you really do not have to do that." Gold answered. He then awfully bad since it became obvious to Gold that Jin became obligated because he was guilt tripped into it, and refused him adamantly. Nevertheless, Jin had made up his mind and continued to ramble on.

    "As far as we know, the Demon Rats had established widely unlike the Orcs who were starting to invade the goblins, and they had been oppressive ording to your information. If possible, I want to know if any resistance groups are against them or better, a rebel haven where we could assist them in the shadows before we officially enter the scene. I want to avoid getting dragged into the midst of something like a coup d''ижtat as soon as I arrive there." Jin suggested as he remembered the day he identally entered into a Kingyer''s Ambush while his insistence immediately put a bitter smile on Gold''s face knowing that his Master still cared to keep his promises.

    "Pick your best sniffer or stalker for this mission. Ideally, it should be someone who knows the region pretty well, not necessarily your vice leaders since they are needed to keepw and order among your other werejackals. I will task Moloch to send one of his own battle maids as well as me Ripper. I bet he''s itching to go on another mission." Jin ordered and immediately turned to Moloch who had already opted to send his best, Sebastia, for this mission as a gesture from the Minotaurs.

    "If that is the case, I will go. I should fit all of your criteria. Besides, I would like to check on somebody while we are there." Meomi who had secretly been hiding behind the shadows of the cupboard, spoke out which startled both Jin and Moloch though not Gold.

    "From your expressions, I guess you agree that she is a fitting candidate for the scouting team!" Gold unexpectedlyughed out loud as he turned to Meomi "If Boss Jin allows it, you have my blessing. Please go ahead. Also, I hope you find your people are still well." Gold said in a solemn way, and the werecat walked out from the main room as if she owned the office.

    "Then that settles it! A three man team, your job is to scout the area, gather information, see if there are any potential allies out there, like a resistance force and most importantly report back on a biweekly basis." Jin said while he pped his hands once as issues were being resolved.

    "If there is a need to save someone, try to rescue as many as you safely can, even if it''s a whole vige. If the opportunity presents itself, feel free to do some sabotage, I leave it to your discretion Gold. I appoint you as the teammander for this particr mission." Jin said which made Gold slightly appalled.

    "No, Master, I am not very good at it. I think other monsters like Grey might be a better fit. I am just a leader because of my previous title." Gold felt this responsibility was befitting of hisbat vice leaders.

    "All the more you should learn, should you not Schr? If you need their help, just ask them, I see no harm in that. Not to mention, you are well versed in the matters of the Farming World, more so than any of us there. I will also allow the System to teleport you guys wherever and whenever you need to. Utilise its portal capabilities to the fullest." Jin retorted Gold''s argument.

    "Lastly, I want absolute surprise when we attack them, DO NOT make them aware of our presence. Disguise, fake it out, blend in. I do not care what methods you use. Never let them know we areing to strike them with an army. Spread your purpose only to the people you trust." Jin instructed, and Gold proudly epted the mission.

    "If I might add, we should designate an area for the teleportation. A secure room with a fake environment if that is possible. It would be a disaster if some of those rats if they are sneaky as Gold ims them to be, manages to slip into our portals." Moloch suggested which the System concurred instantly.

    "Demon Lord Moloch''s advice appears to be the best course of action. A countermeasure room will be set up, to catch any rats. It may be in User''s interest to take some prisoners to study them. Experiments on them would be performed mercilessly given the nature of their species." System spoke through Jin''s phone and Gold''s eyes turned menacing.

    "System, you better keep your word. They don''t deserve any mercy. Their kind wiped out countless towns and viges because of their greed. I expect nothing but the best information about them so we can not just track every single one of them but kill them all." Gold uttered in a deadly tone.

    "System willply with the Schr of the East, Werejackal Gold''s request to the fullest." The System replied as Jin thanked Gold for his assistance. After a short inspection of the fields and the progress of the Living Armor nts, he messaged Qiu Yue to learn her whereabouts. After an hour, the System finally informed him that she was busy in the Goblin World, interviewing the goblin professionals for the Dungeon City Fortress. (At the very least Jin had spent the time surveying the progression of the captured orc army too.)

    "Guess I should drop by, to view the selection of candidates since I need to speak with her in order to proceed with the foundation building." Jin thought to himself as he looked at his watch to take note of the timing.

    Somehow, he felt that time became more and more of a luxuriousmodity he had to spend wisely in theing days.

 Chapter 402 Too Conventional

    <h4>Chapter 402 Too Conventional</h4>

    "Next, please." Qiu Yue yawned in between the interviews of the professional goblins. It was not going as smoothly as she''d expected.

    "Maybe I have too many expectations on them..." Qiu Yue thought to herself when another goblin craftsman came to showcase his work.

    "Mdy, we feel that your selection is a little too strict. We barely managed to find anyone to your liking." The Goblin Finance Advisor whispered to her. He, together with the other two goblin advisors sat on the panel of judges (though their votes were not as important as Qiu Yue''s). So far, the number of approved goblins could be counted on one hand.

    "But I feel it''s not like I am asking for anything impossible. The only requirement was to produce a list of their work experiences. Anyone in their line of business should have at least some sort of notable achievements. Present some sample of what they created or have a letter of rmendation." Qiu Yue remarked casually.

    It was not her that was cruel, but her Sub System that had been secretly rating each of the goblin professionals and most ended up on the lower side of the scale.

    At the same time, it also filtered out anybody who lied about their resume or achievements. Qiu Yue didn''t know how it was able to do that. Her best theory was that the Sub System had been cross referencing some raw data it had received from the various goblin advisors about a few days back when they were touring around the various bureaus.

    Suddenly, a portal appeared during one of the interview intervals and out came none other than Jin himself. Qiu Yue immediately understood it had to be something urgent enough to warrant an extended break between the numerous interviews.

    The advisors agreed upon seeing Jin, who still held the title of Special Royal Advisor, and decided to break for half an hour. "I''m sorry to disappoint. In the end, there were only a few that stood out, and even they weren''t as fantastic as I hoped. A magical y...craftsman, a stone mason- Oh, we surprisingly found a weaponsmith and her cousin, a runesmith." Qiu Yue noted.

    "However, that was the one who stood out among the most. If I am not mistaken, the goblin runesmiths are something simr to our inscribers. Instead of paper charms that would merge with our weapons or bodies, they ce their magic into rocks and metals and imbue these runes into the weapon or use those stones directly." Qiu Yue exined while drinking the bitter tea the Goblins provided.

    "If I had known that she was one of the few exceptional ones, I''d have asked her for more details. We had limited the interviews to a maximum of 5 minutes per goblin, but I will definitely get back to her soon... After I finish looking through this next batch of goblins." Qiu Yuemented which Jin acknowledged.

    He loved her hardworking nature and appreciated that she was doing her best. After her report, Jin told her about the purpose of him rushing here and the dire circumstances that were revealed by Moloch.

    "I see, in that case, we will have to hurry with our ns. Have you already made a decision which of thoseyouts you''d like to choose to implement the city foundations? We can work out some more, each with their own pros and cons." Qiu Yue asked as she took out her phone, ready to show Jin the various city temtes they have added.

    "The first one we''ve shown you is the most bnced, but if you have any special preference, like focusing on industry or agriculture, we have some prepared. All of the cityyouts use up the same amount of allocatednd, so that won''t be a problem." Before Qiu Yue could pass her phone to Jin, he suddenly refused and asked the System a very simple question right in front of her.

    "System, since you are partially the owner of the Dungeon City Fortress, is there any limit how high we are able to build the city up or how low we are allowed to go?" Jin asked. Qiu Yue noticed that Jin had a certain glint in his eyes, which could only mean he hade up with another one of his weird crazy ideas.

    "Please wait..." The System remained silent for about ten seconds before it replied to Jin once again. "There are no height restrictions if User wishes to build skyscrapers, there won''t be any problems. The same holds true if User wishes to dig deep." The System replied.

    "It will be impossible to reach anything like the core of the, but there is nothing preventing User to go as low as technologically possible. Nevertheless, certain restrictions still apply. Most notably, the allotted acres ofnd by the Dungeon Core cannot be extended. If User has nned to build an underground Kingdom, he won''t be able to stretch it out beyond his own confines of the allocatednd." The System replied.

    "Thank you, but that was not what I had in mind. Again, are youpletely, 100% sure that as long as we remain within our borders, there is no sort of depth restrictions?" Jin asked for an affirmation, and the System replied affirmatively. Jin quickly turned around at Qiu Yue as his face turned wide in glee.

    "That...is a rather terrifying expression. You briefly looked like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wondend." Qiu Yue''s shoulders stiffened and Jin''s grin got longer and wider as if to prove her point. "Alright, Mr Cat, colour me curious. What exactly do you have in mind?" Qiu Yue asked as she offered him a seat at the table.

    "Nah, I think it''s best to return to the Dungeon Maker for this. It should be easier if I illustrate it to you." Jin sniggered as the System created a portal for them. Upon reaching the Dungeon Maker, he used a pen provided by the System. (Though he called it Creator Pen or sometimes the Doraemon Pen since it reminded him of the blue cat robot that brought changes and wonders to his human friend''s world.)

    A virtual whiteboard console came out, and he began to draw out what he had envisioned for his new city. All along the System, Qiu Yue and even Moloch had only ever nned about what kind of city they should build to achieve the highest productivity, highest efficiency while ensuring that they would be able to defend themselves from external threats.

    Jin had been wrecking his brains every now and again to think how best to ovee this nd idea. That was why he created the Escape City Dungeon Instance to have a feel how City Building felt. Because it was a dungeon instance, the System was giving Jin all the tips and reminders on creating the city instance.

    But the more he build the Escape City Dungeon Instance, the more unsatisfied he felt. There was something missing and the novelty of a modern city was boring to him. He saw how mature cities like London tried to incorperate futuristic modern buildings in their old and traditionalndscape. It felt foreign, surreal,but somewhat dull too. However, as Jin enjoyed a break after the release of the Escape City Dungeon Instance, a small idea had been grown out of his mind.

    He was happy that he could use New York as a temte for his Dungeon City, even though this somewhat limited his imagination. However, why shouldn''t he create something as fun as the dungeon instance for the Dungeon City Fortress? Who exactly stated that they had to follow a certain standard for their city? Wasn''t the Dungeon World full of unexinable magic, monsters and mysterious beings living in it? Wouldn''t a city defying all norms add to that charm?

    "It''s like we were being too constrained by the fact that we want to follow the best examples from this world. But you''ve seen how the goblins still can go on with their lives in their unique slow medieval world setting. Yet without their expertise and our help, we wouldn''t have created something as unimaginable like the Sandroku golems." Jin started his pitch as he continued to draw the cityyout for Qiu Yue to see.

    "We have a freaking Fiery Demonic Queen Sage, a Legendary Battle Saint, the Strongest Swordsman in our century, an Original Betor with the powers of nineбн,well currently eight other former betors under hismand and the most versatile family heirloom backing me up. Let''s not forget a Red Panda Cutie and a Sweet Penguin Ninja Queen Chef. So why are we limiting ourselves by being so conventional in our thinking?" Jin asked rhetorically as Qiu Yue finally saw the outline of the city Jin was painting.

    "You must be kidding me." Qiu Yue ced her hands on her head as she pulled her hair backwards in disbelief. Now she understood why Jin would need the Dungeon Maker toy the concept out for her. This thing before her would be impossible by any modern standards. "I think I might fall in love with you again. You never cease to amaze me." Qiu Yue blurted out loud and Jinughed. (Although the System took Qiu Yue''s statement very seriously)

    Qiu Yue went closer as she observed Jin''s drawings on the three dimensional whiteboard. Theyout slowly came to life with the Creator Pen with each stroke from Jin. To her surprise, the Empire Building Sub System was already analysing and imposing its results and marked the most ideal locations for various buildings, colour coded by industry on theyout itself.

    At the very end of the rough draft, both the System and Empire Building Sub System concluded that it was indeed feasible to create this magical city Jin made. Qiu Yue took some time to have a good look before exhaling a deep breath out. The threshold between Insanity and Genius only differed by a hair''s length.

    "The city will be broken up into many various floating tforms, each tform will be split into modules of their own ording to their designated purposes." Jin began to exin his concept. "That way, we can concentrate on each module separately while splitting up the city tforms based on how much percentage we wish to allocate them for their purpose," Jin added and Qiu Yue became very excited.

    "But our previous city models were based on trade,mercial businesses, agriculture, scientific research and military. There was no focus on residential areas, so we were nning to incorporate housing in every sector like shophouses or underground ts. With your new model, there seems to be nothing left for residential housing." Qiu Yue felt the need to point it out, though she suspected the bottom part of theyout was the answer. And she was correct, as Jin pointed aser from the Creator Pen at the bottom of the drafted n.

    "That is where we will build our Underwater Sea City Raptбн Pand-Antis. Its main purpose is going to be for residential use. Without any depth limit, we will be able to amodate a quasi unlimited number of people. It should also prove to be much better than living underground. With an underwater sea city, we can also utilise inscriptions or perhapsбнrunes? To make people able to breathe underwater. That way they wouldn''t even feel too ustrophobic as well. " Jin replied as he expanded the 3Dyout.

    "Besides, I think we all prefer fishes swimming around out apartments than insects crawling in it right?" Jin giggled as he imagined arge whale hovering above the sea apartments.

    "So basically you have a floating sky city for work purposes and a residential underwater sea city for this concept?" Qiu Yue tried to confirm Jin''s ambition for the Dungeon City Fortress.

    "Yeap! The floating city tforms can be equipped with cannons and fortress like defences even though we said we did not need them initially. This way, we already drive our enemies to divide their forces. Not only will they have to handle the sky city tform, but they also have to watch out from our retribution from below. " Jin pointed at the entrances and showed how they could disrupt an iing invasion almost immediately.

    And that also means the invading army requires not only sky force but an equally good underwater sea fleet to be able to attack our cities. The nature of our cities alone should hopefully discourage most enemies from trying to assault us directly." Jin exined proudly and Qiu Yue was unable to find any fault with this n.

    "And see here, all those statue models at the entrances of the ''dungeon''? When you told me about your magical y craftsman, it reminded me of THAT Qing Emperor''s tomb where he had those battalions of y soldiers as part of his grave. What if we were to replicate that idea? But on a muchrger MAGICAL scale." Jin started to smirk in evil delight and Qiu Yue understood where he wasing from.

    "So thousands of receable magical y soldiers that could be activated in a moments notice when the invading army will mistakenly assume it''s just part of the dungeon''s interior dижcor? Oh! Oh! That is interesting!! Hey! How aboutбнsay we put a gigantic y Chinese dragon here trying to take off and surround itself around the floating cities too? You know, the big crazy ass one from Dragoonball Y." Qiu Yue suggested.

    "That is fantasticбнand let''s make it look like it is trying to fight withбнhehehe Pandaji near the seashores!" Jin added and Qiu Yue was tingling with excitement at the kind of ideas they could think for their defences.

    "I am not waiting, I am going back there and employ as many magical y craftsmen, masons etc... I will also get the goblin army as soon as possible from the King too." Qiu Yue said as she asked the System to create a portal to return to the Goblin World.

    "But what about loyalty issues and such?" Jin brought up a valid question which Qiu Yue winked at him.

    "Don''t worry about that. Look forward to a bunch of eager goblin workers." Qiu Yue''s show of confidence relieved Jin as he now entered the guest instance of the Sanctum of Worlds where he had been keeping the Orcs.

    It was time for the Orcs to earn their pay and ce.

 Chapter 403 Goblin Craftsmen

    <h4>Chapter 403 Goblin Craftsmen</h4>

    It was a long and tiring day for Qiu Yue after the brief meeting with Jin. Previously, it had been a drag for her to choose the candidates but with a clearer picture and that ludicrous city concept from Jin, she felt that she needed to do more to meet her new boss''s expectations.

    To the candidates, it was an equally exhausting process as those who Qiu Yue had approved from the first round of interviews were asked to stay back while the others rejected left. Still, they weren''t going back empty handed. Qiu Yue heard from the advisors that there were many who travelled far and wide just for this particr five minute interview with her.

    Hence, she promised that their efforts were not wasted as there was apensation of varying degrees ranging from 1 silver coin to 5 gold coins depending on how the interviewee performed during Qiu Yue''s bombardment of questions.

    There had been some who had just been trying their luck with their mundane job skill set. Those, together with those had been lying, were given a single silver coin. The ones who took the time to travel and genuinely wanted to seed for the interview even though they did not make the cut werepensated ordingly. (Granted, Qiu Yue could''ve been even more lenient on the criteria, but she already closed an eye for a few goblin candidates and her budget set by the Empire Building Sub System was limited.)

    Once the interviews were officially over, the epted candidates from the first rounds of selection were gathered in front of Qiu Yue in the Throne Hall. There was sufficient space for the entire group to enter quickly and instantly became mesmerised with the grand hall of their beloved King.

    King Sol was also present and personally thanked them for volunteering and passing the strict requirement of the Humanoid Qiu Yue. He gave them an encouraging speech before Qiu Yue took charge of the subsequent session.

    "Each one of you is worthy to be considered a great craftsman in your line of work. But, I do not wish for you to becent yet. Being epted by me and the panel of goblin advisors was just part of the entire process. We will have each of you be tested in your area of expertise to get a clearer picture of your capabilities." Qiu Yue exined and there were murmurs going around in the crowd of goblins. Most of them had never been through such a rigorous process of selection, and some might already have some doubts about this being a scam if not for the King backing Qiu Yue.

    "As for now, please enjoy yourselves. You will be served with food by the King''s finest chef as well as providing you with a ce to stay for the night in the Royal Castle. However, I must warn you that it might be a little cramped with so many of you. Rest properly and maybe ease up on the alcohol for tonight. Tomorrow there will be a test at a different location and we want you in your best conditions." Qiu Yue exined as she put down a stack of papers on the table beside her.

    "Should you decide to stay for the test after the feast, you will need to fill up this particr form and ink it with your own blood. This will serve as oath which will ensure that whatever you see and experience in tomorrow''s test remains a secret." Qiu Yue''s tone became serious.

    "If you ever breached the contract, you will be struck down by lightning. Trust me, you do not wish to test them. Therefore I advise against revealing any information to parties not involved in this. Should you fail tomorrow''s uing test, you will bepensated 10 gold coins as an appreciation for your participation." Qiu Yue told the goblin crowd as she enjoyed watching them show a plethora of emotions on their faces. She waited for a while to let that information settle and let them mutter to themselves.

    "For those of you who shall pass, I assure you 10 gold coins is just a bare fraction of what you will end up earning and you all have the opportunity to bring your family members with you. You and your family will be fully rewarded for the years of hard skilledbour you''ll be working with us. At the very least, three years of good hardbour before you are able to return to this Goblin Kingdom. Take your time, think it over during the feast and sign the document before you go to sleep."

    "For those who had doubts about the contracts and wish not to take part in tomorrow''s test, you may stay for the feast and collect ten gold coins from me too before you depart. It is a thank you gesture for making this far into the capital and passing my first round of interview." Qiu Yue concluded what she had to say and bowed in appreciation.

    "Oh and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. I am happy to entertain any questions." Qiu Yue smiled as she carried therge stack of contract papers and proceeded to the corner of the throne hall. These contract papers were the key essential items that would bind the goblins to the Empire Building Sub System temporarily.

    As soon as they signed with their blood, the Sub System would enact the Loyalty Enforcement Orders on to the goblin unknowingly. However, it would only stay active for the period stated in the contract.

    At the end of the contract term, they would have to make a choice. They could receive an extension of the contract, agree to willingly submit themselves to a Permanent Loyalty Enforcement Order or they could choose to return.

    Should they go with thetter option, their memories of selected events would bepletely erased, and their memories would be modified to ount for the time dtion. Kraft would make sure that there would be no possibility of anything leaking.

    The contract itself also offered some benefits to the goblins and their families. The System would be liable to help heal any injuries, they might have had or they incurred during construction, as well as being obligated to resurrect them in extreme cases. Hence they were treated simr to the contracted rental monsters like the Boar Knights, without having to fight for him.

    The skilled goblin craftsmen heeded Qiu Yue''s speech and feasted on the King''s buffet, courtesy by Lynn too. Especially when she provided a great number of the raw materials for the feast and even offered some of her more experienced penguin chefs to aid the Goblin royal chefs.

    It was also an excellent chance for Lynn and the penguins to learn some of the more exquisite Goblin Cuisine since the Royal Goblin Chefs were supposedly the best in the Kingdom. There were some methods which Lynn vehemently disagreed with, but there were also many subtle arts of cooking that she was able to catch on, all thanks to the Cooking Sub System she possessed.

    Learning their recipes in just one nce? Catching a possible w in their recipe? That was just a few of her secret abilities granted by the Cooking Sub System and Lynn fully utilise it to her advantage.

    When the feast was over, Qiu Yue was surprised that nearly every goblin craftsmen had decided to pick up the offer except for a few extremely sceptical ones.

    The reason was that many of the goblin craftsmen had seen other humanoidsing to protect not just the goblins, but also their families and their hometowns too when the Orcs invaded. And unlike the humans they had encountered in their lives, these half masked humanoids had offered aid to more than just their viges and towns.

    All of them had heard how their King was saved by a humanoid who had rescued and cared for the three generals'' sons after they disappeared about a year ago. In addition, they selflessly aided the defence against the Orcs at multiple asions at the frontlines, inadvertently saving numerous goblin soldiers at the cost of their own.

    Furthermore, what attracted them the most was their technology. When they saw the humanoids came flying to their rescue in those loud, metal giant bird monsters, they were frankly amazed by it.

    Some of the goblins even mentioned about the Sandroku golems that had been used to parade the Capital town as a show of strength and cooperation when they celebrated the retreat of the Orcs.

    Also, a few of these craftsmen personally experienced being rescued by the Humanoids and their fellow monster allies and felt they were indebted to them. All in all, they knew that if they were to join this... work contract with the Humanoids, the craftsmen had the undeniable feeling that it would further their proficiency in their field of craft expertise.

    This notion had been reinforced by the strict selection criteria and the intelligent straightforward questions that were asked by the Lady Humanoid. Not to mention the secretive nature which Qiu Yue had allured them all into believing that the project they might be doing was more than meets the eye.

    No artisan in their right mind could have forgone such an opportunity to y an active part in something so historic. Besides, being rewarded with a Royal feast in the Throne Hall? It clearly showed the rtionship between the humanoids and the Royalty, and it was already tantly loud. The majority was immediately sold as soon as they heard that their families and loved ones could join them for the project.

    On a separate note, Qiu Yue was very delighted that this had been such a major sess. She had lowered her expectations and would have been happy with an eptance rate of 45%.

    That was because she had essentially made a death threat to the goblins who signed the contract. However, the number of goblins epting the agreement begged to differ. "Oh Jin, this city project will be a st to do." Qiu Yue thought to herself while handling the paperwork individually for every goblin. (Her Empire Building Sub System needed her to be the one to validate the contracts to ensure that the Loyalty Enforcement Orders was working.)

    --------

    Jin came into the guest room of the Sanctum of Worlds and requested the System to call out for Nubwort, the infamous Orc General known as the ck Disaster.

    Compared to the other Orc Generals or officers he and the other cultivators assisted in catching, none of them could bepared against Nubwort. He had earned enough reputation to be respected among all of the various Orc Armies, including the aggressive Fire Orcs and the all loyal Thunder Orcs. And yet, he was now bending the knee to Jin through the power of the System.

    "Yes, Master? To what do I owe the honour of your presence?" Nubwort was currently in a much better mood aspared to when he was first captured by the System.

    Ever since he realised that Jin was only expecting one thing of him, which involved killing any cultivator that came upon him in the Secret Raid Instance, he was contended. In fact, he was very much enjoying living the life of a Battle Orc. Seeing that his fellow orcs were not mistreated in any way, but instead being encouraged to fight to their fullest, Nubwort began to see a new light on Jin.

    "How are the Orcs doing?" Jin asked as he was slightly worried about the amodation of the guest rooms. The Sanctum of Worlds'' guest instance hadn''t really been designed to hold that many creatures at a time. The idea was always for the guest room to be a temporary solution until he could build a Home Instance to his monster''s liking.

    "It''s not that bad. True it''s a bit cramped, but it could be worse. All prefer this over being chained down and behind bars. The food was decent too." Nubwort stood up and looked at Jin''s expression for a while. "I suspect you are not here just to ask about our well being. So, what can we do for you, Master?"

    "You are sharp. Call the rest of the Orcs for a Town hall meeting. And I mean every single Orc." Jin ordered as the System teleported him to the Concert Hall instance where he used to host a Town Hall meeting.

    While waiting for the orcs to assemble, Jin began to prepare the presentation materials to showcase his city concept to the Orcs. He needed them to know what he was going to do since they would be instrumental in building the dungeon city fortress up from scratch.

    If it was a dungeon instance, Jin wouldn''t have asked anyone for help but this was ''real life''. There was a need for some extensive heavy lifting in the construction department and the Orcs were suited for this, even though Jin could have asked Peppers to use magic on that front.

    However, he wanted to use her for other things, mainly the levitation of the tforms to create the floating cities and magical quakes that wererge enough to prate the ground to form a crater valley deep enough for the creation of the underwater Pand-Antis.

    As he was waiting for the Orcs to arrive, the number of orcs the System had captured totalled in the thousands, and it was breathtaking to see all of them lined up systematically in an orderly fashion to await his announcements.

    "Oh boy, now I kind of understand why Orc King Hamu was so obsessed with power. This is бнthis is too overwhelming for me. To be able tomand all of these orcs with just one word. One sentence." Jin whispered to himself as he saw the various generals going forth to report to Nubwort that all the orcs were present and had been ounted for.

    "Then get used to it, or User won''t be able to get the job done both at present and in the future." The System prompted as it caused a podium to emerge out the elevated stage tform.

    Jin took a deep breath and stepped forward to the podium the System had prepared for Jin to address the Orcs on the situation at hand.

 Chapter 404 Orc Builders

    <h4>Chapter 404 Orc Builders</h4>

    "Erm, Hi. I am going to make this a little informal, so you may stand at ease. If you want to, please feel free to have a seat. All you got to do is listen to what I have to say for the next five minutes or so." Jin started off by telling them to rxбн though none of them did as the Orcs remained in full attention. It made him slightly nervous when he looked down at therge number of orcs having their eyes focused on his every little move.

    "Okay, I will be straightforward with you guys. I have gathered all of you here to inform you about our future ns. We are building a city from scratch and I need you orcs as the pioneer builders for this particr city." Jin said and instead of the expected questions or anxiety on their faces, the orcs were somehow ted...? Jin couldn''t understand why but he decided to go with the mood here.

    "Also, we are going to make you guys work full force 24 hours, of course in rotation." Jin continued and the Orcs got even more hyped up. Some were cheering like crazy and Jin felt like he needed an exnation from anyone on their behaviour. Was it the Loyalty Enforcement Orders at work? Or was he missing something crucial?

    Fortunately, Ayse was around as well when Jin did tell Nubwort to bring every orc to the town hall. She had voluntarily allowed the System to search through her memories and asked the System to transmit it to JIn since the Hall was too noisy for him to notice her. (Even though the System already had ess to being with.)

    Answering Jin''s confusion, the System stated that construction was in the blood of the Orcs and it was even a delegated honour for them, like a rite of passage when they were a teenager.

    True, they loved to kill, destroy and conquer... because they wanted to build more stuff. That''s one of the reasons why they were so obsessed with the Lost Technology artefacts because it gave them the opportunity to create something so extraordinary, making their ancestors proud.

    "I always thought that it was the dwarves who loved building, not the orcs." Jin thought and the System replied that the fantasy tropes their world used, were after all fantasy and not facts.

    However, it did add that his orcs possessed a few genes and possible traits that hinted at them having the dwarves bloodline. The System borated, that to put it simply, goblins, orcs and elves were all distant descendants of the dwarves in that particr world which Jin had visited.

    Jin found it an oddly weird coincidence but decided to ept it. He couldn''t help but wonder if some of those fantasy authors hadn''t been World Travelers, for the lore of these worlds to be so identically close. Or perhaps there was some hidden proof for the existence of these sub races in Jin''s world historical timeline of monsters and magic.

    "In any case, more details will be given in the next 48 hours or so. You will all be working closely with some of my other monsters and even goblins. Please try to get along." Thatst line suddenly made everyone stop in their tracks for a moment. Goblins? Orcs working with Goblins? They all stared at Jin, not sure if they heard correctly, to which he nodded his head.

    "Yeah, goblins. The Goblin Kingdom is sending me a battalion of troops to help with the city building as well as a group of craftsman. I expect you guys to get along well. In case you don''t, you will be ordered toply, even if you hate the goblins to the core." Jin warned the Orcs.

    However, I''d prefer not forcing you that way. I don''t pretend to understand why you have a feud with them, and frankly I don''t really care. If you are working under me, you better jolly well try to work together, eat together and sleep together. They are now to be treated the same as yourrade in arms, and I expect no less from those goblins. Should any of you disobey the orders repeatedly by causing the System to enact the Loyalty Enforcement Orders on you, I will make sure that the guilty be ced in solitary confinement with meagre food and be re-educated by Kraft himself." Jin was giving no quarters for the Orcs to make up any excuses. His word was irond, and the Orcs knew that from day one.

    "You also know how Kraft loves to have more candidates for his experiments. So I repeat, do not force my hand to do such a thing. Other than that, you all will be provided with a supply of delicious hot piping food courtesy of Lynn, our Head Chef. Yes, you are hearing right, three meals a day, every day. You will be able to eat what she and her penguin chefs cook. (with meat being back on the menu)." The Orcs suddenly cheered up again upon hearing that they do not have to eat the standard food that the System provided on a daily basis.

    "Apart from that, you guys will also bepensated with System points, on top of the ones you gain from fighting. I''d advise you to save some up for future purposes such as buying a house in the new city or having ess to better facilities or equipment in your future Home Instance." Jin revealed to entice the Orcs even though he technically did not need to do any of this.

    Jin wanted to treat them as humanely as possible while meeting the mission''s deadline set by the System. That was the only few ways he could think of bncing the carrot and the stick (Since death was not an issue to them.)

    "Master, if our future home instance can fit us all, why would we need to buy a house of our own in the new city? Can''t we just live in the Home Instance?" An Ice Orc Officer brought up a valid point.

    "Yes, you can, but do note that the home instance for you orcs will be shared among all of you. Space wise it might be limited so you might want to save up the points to buy a house of your own. Or feel free to collectively put it in a pool and upgrade the home instance. Else, you can also use those points to purchase some items made in the Dungeon City Fortress in the future." Jin answered and everyone got all excited again.

    "Oh Yes, speaking about craftsman, are any of you good at certain professions?" Jin suddenly thought about it and decided to ask the crowd. If there were thousands of orc soldiers, chances are there might be a couple few who could have worked in a skilled profession before bing a soldier.

    Ayse had previously informed Jin that the Orcs had to draft people from towns and viges to boost their military manpower. To his utter shock, nearly everyone in the crowd raised their hand up and they all had some sort of profession.

    Questioning Nubwort, he learned that all the Orcs required to be battle ready and thus, military training was a module for them in schools since young (A fact not in Ayse memories, as she had been taught personally under the Former Head Researcher). That was why all of them had a working profession since being a soldier was second nature to all of them.

    "System, please consolidate the skilled professions and send the list to Qiu Yue, I''m sure she might find it useful," Jin asked as he dismissed all Orcs except for Nubwort, who had a few questions of his own.

    "Is it really necessary to work with the Goblins?" The ck Disaster asked. He could not help but treat them as his lesser, even though he was beaten by Piercestriker.

    It also did not help a bit, that most of hispatriots thought the same. The Orc schools had heavily emphasised that in the majority of their glorious history, Goblins used to be their ves. A fact only strengthened by the perception that most goblins Orcs came in contact with, were the ves of other orcs. In his opinion, it would just reduce the efficiency of the work the Orcs could do if the Goblins interfered with them.

    "How about giving them a chance to prove that they are not as useless as you might think? While I would like the city to be built overnight, it is impossible. Hence, every hand avable is useful in meeting the deadline." Jin replied and Nubwort could only sigh at his master''s direct orders.

    "Alright. Just one chance. Any screw up and I ask you to allow us to end the cooperation. Let us orcs work in different ces and you will be able to see our superiority be the results." Nubwort was giving no space for negotiations even though he knew that his new master could overwrite his decisions.

    "Then what happens if the screw ups happen at your side?" Jin folded his arms and challenged him. Nubwort scoffed at it and told him that orcs didn''t make mistakes.

    "Yea right, in that case, you guys wouldn''t be here serving me." Jin remarked and the ck Disaster kept his silence for once.

    "Fine, if бнand a very big IF. If we screw up, I will ensure that the others will give them an additional chance in cooperating with us should they inevitably make a mistake. Happy now?" Nubwort snorted and walked away back to his guest instance.

    "Orcs and their pride issues." Jin shook his head as he headed towards the Terrace House where he believed Peppers to be. He needed her to start terraforming thend in the Dungeon City Fortress as soon as possible to get everything ready.

    "Peppers, you in there?" Jin knocked on her door, and there were a bit of shing noises heard from behind the door. "You okay in there?!" Jin asked once more, ready to break down the door to help her. Suddenly, she opened the door and Jin was surprised that she was not in usual pyjamas.

    "Master, I am all ready to work!" Peppers was in her full battle gear that he had never seen before. As well as multiplerge vials of life potions created by Milk to allow for fast recovery against the body strains she was bound to suffer after using arge amount of Mana.

    Apparently, the new battle gear she acquired was from all the fragments she earnt on a daily basis and figured it would help her to cast efficiently and quickly, causing less strain on her body.

    "бнHow did you know that I was looking for you?" Jin asked and Peppers pointed at his phone.

    "To ensure a quick start for the terraforming, System has informed Betor Peppers in advance. It should be noted, however, that she ended up ditching her previous assignment of researching the manual cultivations as fast a student hearing the school bell." The System took the initiative for the first time in a long while.

    Jin was astonished but delighted to know that the actions taken meant that the System approved of Jin''s city concept. It tattling on Peppers was met with just a slight grin.

    In no time, Jin and Peppers reached the massive empty plot ofnd which the dungeon core provided for the construction of the Dungeon City Fortress. Moloch apanied them since he was partially the owner of this City Fortress after all.

    "Just wondering, where exactly is the core? All I see is emptynd with no one in sight except for your minotaurs camping right here." Jin wondered as the Cosying Minotaurs all greeted him the moment he arrived.

    "Ah, that." Lord Moloch showed Jin a deck of opened cards, and with a flip of his hand, the cards turned into a miniature version of the dungeon core Jin remembered seeing as he made the System and Moloch activate it.

    "As one of the Lords, I was able to carry this with me before the Dungeon City Fortress began its construction. Since you seem ready, we will need to put the core in a centralised ce to provide ''life'' to the city." Moloch exined.

    "Like erm electricity and water supplies?" Jin asked and Moloch shook his head and his finger at his master.

    "Most importantly, resources. Raw Materials and the likes. Sure, it could produce water from the core itself, perhaps electricity too, though I think we will need to tinkle with it a little to make it understand the concept of electricity. In this Dungeon World, it does not necessarily have what Master''s World had. While we do have the concept, it is more so catered to turn enemies into ashes." Moloch said.

    " ''Understand the concept?'' You mean like the System, the Dungeon Core can learn stuff too?" Jin asked as this revtion opened up a lot more possibilities.

    "Affirmative, System had already inserted information vital to our cityyout as well as the concept of basic modern necessities. The core will need time to modify its materials and uses based on the concepts System had inserted. In the meantime, Betor Peppers can start with the Terraforming procedure." System stated but Peppers was already gathering magic in her hands, transferring them into her wooden staff.

    "I will take some time to do this in order to modte the amount of Mana passing through me, but you should be able to see visible results very soon. Do not worry, I won''t kill ourselves, I am pretty sure of it." Peppers smirked as she smashed her wooden staff into the ground.

    Instantly, the ground started to crack and the Minotaurs who were camping in the area had begun evacuating the camping grounds, taking what was necessary and running towards Moloch while looking at the miracles the Demonic Sage Queen was doing.

    "Feed the ground with savage intent and not even Mother Nature will be able to hold it back." Peppers ced her hands on the staff and called out her spell name out loud.

    "EARTHHHHHH SHATTTTTERRRRR - *cough cough* QUAKE!" Peppers screamed a little too loud that it strained her throat

    "You sure we won''t die?!?!!" Moloch had serious doubts about Peppers'' vouch and Jin could only cross his fingers when they were all been shaken violently by the ground under them.

 Chapter 405 Workings of the Dungeon Core

    <h4>Chapter 405 Workings of the Dungeon Core</h4>

    For the next few hours, Peppers managed to crack the floor bed of the ''Dungeon'' they were in and proceeded to levitate each piece ofnd into mid air. The System was detailed in its instructions, telling Peppers how much Mana to use in order to crack open the ground. This was done so that the amount ofnd allocated for a tform corresponded to the percentage ofnd each industry would be granted to utilise efficiently, ording to Qiu Yue''s Empire Building Sub System.

    Peppers then cast a permanent levitation spell on each tform that regrly consumed mana from the user or the surrounding. After Peppers would leave the Dungeon World, the Dungeon Core would be part of the surrounding which needed to provide the mana.

    With the System as a partial owner of the Dungeon Core, it would have to ensure that the Mana dispensed by the Dungeon Core was regted properly into the tforms to keep them afloat and also to avoid them leeching the mana off each other.

    Even Moloch was once again amazed by the System''s capability since the Dungeon Core was moreplicated than it appeared. "Our most experienced Demon Sages in this world could never handle this kind of calctions like the System in order to make the Dungeon Core work as they please, Moloch told Jin as it surveyed how Peppers conscientiously worked her magic unlike when she was in battle.

    "Really? I guess that''s the System for youбн But to be honest, when you previously said something about the resources and how it''s simr to the System, I kind of just blindly nodded my head." Jin shrugged, hoping Moloch could give a better exnation.

    "The Dungeon Core may look like a holy grail granting anyone whatever they want to for theirnd. But it''s not as simple as what you might think. Most masters of a Dungeon Core will just stick to the initial input options provided by the core and create their town fortress or cities fortress that way. " Moloch pointed at the active Dungeon Core that was rotating right in front of them since the System dealing it without touching the spherical metallic ball.

    "The Dungeon Core needs input, A LOOOOT of precise inputs to create something specific and ensure it works the way you want it to. The moreplicated you want it to be, the more precise you will have to code it. Think of it as a softwarenguage builder like ehh... C++ programming, if I used that term correctly. You have to type in certain codes for the Dungeon Core to work the way you want it to." Moloch started to exin when he scratched his puppet head

    "But us Demons, or as the System ssified us as Dungeon Demons since you have encountered like demons from the Farming World, Demons in your world....anyways, I digress. We Dungeon Demonspared to other monster races in this Dungeon World have a better edge since the codes required were based on anguage that was nearly lost in the annals of history. "

    "I said ''nearly'' because it still exists in secrecy. We''ve termed it as the Core Language. If one is privileged enough to have learnt the Core Language, he would be highly sought after by various high ss Dungeon Demons. King Baal has gotten a hold of one and paid him wealthily for the knowledge he held. That was also how Baal was able to create a near imprable Metropolis fortress." Moloch continued while they both watched Peppers levitating a humongous tform to the far end of the dungeon.

    "So with the knowledge of thenguage, King Baal didn''t rely on the input options but rather inserted the code directly into the Dungeon Core. Thus fully making use of his dungeon core. However, that was just one way of using the Dungeon Core. " Moloch said, and as if the Dungeon Core knew what he wanted to say, it revealed a series of codes to Jin. But the omnipotent System was already typing and rearranging the numbers on the Dungeon Core with no physical input.

    "As you can see, another way would be that the Dungeon Core reveals an analogue code puzzle filled with numbers. If you manage to decrypt it, the Dungeon Core listens to whatevermand you have requested. For example, in this case, levitate that tform for eternity." Moloch said, and Jin was curious if there was anything more to that.

    "It cannot be that simple right? There must be some diminishing returns or something?" Jin questioned when he observed the code being cracked by the System.

    "Hahaha, not diminishing returns but increasing difficulty. The first code will be simple to crack. Once you have given it a wish of any magnitude, the Dungeon Core processes the request and reveals another analogue code puzzle with a difficulty based on the magnitude of the mostplex wish you''ve ever made." Moloch answered.

    "I do not know how it scales its difficulty, but there were some Lords and Kings who used this method to jumpstart their cities by giving them a mountain of dungeon dors to start building. Some other lords were more conservative and used this particr method more wisely like an emergency wish...say a group of army suddenly attacks the vige and the Lord could use this wish to summon a big giant guardian monster to defend them." Moloch exined and Jin was nodding his head in silence.

    "So I was very sceptical when your System decided to use that method to get the Dungeon Core to do things...until I saw how easily it broke the code in a blink of an eye. Those harder puzzles were nothing to it, whereas such codes took High Wizards ages to crack simrly difficult ones, especially after such a high price." Moloch said while mentally recounting the the rumours and reports he read about them.

    "Now that I look at it, I wonder how many wishes the Dungeon Core will grant before it will say enough is enough." Moloch sighed in amazement when he saw the System crack yet another code, and wishing for the huge ass tform at the ceilings of the dungeon to be permanently levitating.

    "If the core does not have any limit, our city might be unbeatable. Surely, there must be some criteria barring certain circumstances? No? Oh and System, why did you not just wish to build the city for us?" Jin asked and Moloch shook his head.

    "I''d have said that there are none just some time agoбн except, that we have already tried, wishing for your city to be built ording to your specification, only for it to reveal that a wish of this magnitude is not possible without much more input. " Moloch sighed and the System on his phone acknowledged.

    "There were also too many uncertainties in your currentyout, which were prone for errors. While System previously stated that it is feasible, it was a gross understatement. Specific areas still needed User''s or Sub System User Qiu Yue input for the System and Empire Building Sub System to proceed." The System reported.

    "So congrattions, you have managed to uncover something that we all thought that every wish is possible. Not counting that, King Baal used his own wish to reverse the tide in a crucial battle in his Metropolis Fortress against an alliance of ''the goody holy knights and mages''. And up till now, no one was able to unlock the analogue puzzle his dungeon core had presented to grant another. " Moloch offhand mentioned it to Jin about the potential of the Dungeon Core.

    "To this day, there''s a reward of 1 billion dungeon dors for the grab if someone managed to unlock that puzzle," Moloch remarked. Jin was quiet for a moment while his brain was thinking up something very... shady.

    "Let''s just say...what if we were to disguise ourselves andplete the puzzle to earn the reward, do you thin-" Moloch used his deck of cards to p Jin. He knew what Jin was thinking the moment his master proposed the idea.

    "Only the Lord in control of a Dungeon Core can use the option no matter the circumstances. You might earn yourself 1 billion dors, but there is no way you can cheat him of his money and use the wish for yourself. That is even if you found a way to make the System into a partial lord. " Moloch stated until Wolte, who was hiding among the Minotaurs suddenly voiced out.

    "But what if youbined a fragment of your own Dungeon Core with the existing Dungeon Core? That way, it might be possible to make the existing Dungeon Core assume you were one of its Lords. And guess what? We do have fragments of a Dungeon Core." Lord Wolte, The Slug suggested, which made Moloch furrowed his brows hard.

    "What do you think Moloch? Can it work?" Jin was amazed that an old timer Dungeon Demon could give such a daring proposal.

    "Not sure. Something as crazy as that hasn''t really been tried out before. Do you remember what I told before? Dungeon Cores are generally functional or non functional. What Wolte is suggesting is to bring his own functional Dungeon Core near King Baal''s Dungeon Core, then use it so that the living core can merge with his core in order to get our Lord''s authentication signature in." Moloch seemed annoyed when he exined the possible rationale.

    "However, if you were to assume it could work, as you want it to, you would have about 15 seconds, to crack the code and make a wish. Anythingter and Wolte''s Core Fragment would cease to be. Then we would only ensure that King Baal ends up with a slightly strengthened Dungeon Core, giving him even more power aside from cracking his code."

    "So, it works. That is all I needed to hear. And that does not sound so hard." Jin shrugged his shoulders as if fighting for his life was a daily affair to him which made Wolteughed loudly.

    "Son, I like your way of thinking. I approve of you. Take my dungeon core to that bastard King. Teach him who''s boss." Wolte said and the Minotaurs at the side snickered at his overconfidence while Moloch rolled his eyes upwards. Jin was partially joking with Moloch, but he could see that the chubby minotaur puppet was taking Wolte''s and Jin''s words very seriously.

    "...I may have a way to make that happen but once he knows about our presence and intention, he''s bound to invade us. And I mean full force. He won''t be pulling any punches." Moloch said as he portrayed a depressed smile on his minotaur plushie.

    "We will do it if we get our bearings together by 7th Jan next year," Jin replied and for some reason, Wolte seemed a little disappointed even though he finally had a say in things for a long time.

    "I''m d that I survived but I don''t wish to remain in this form any longer. Without the Dungeon Core I feel as terribly useless. If only I could have my old body back..." Wolte said out loud even though everyone seemed to be ignoring him.

    However, Jin already had a n for the Slug after he saw his stats on Wolte''s attribute statistical page. Though his physical stats were near rock bottom, his mental strength capacity or the ''Will'' Attribute was tremendously high and the System stated that it was the most likely reason how he managed to use a half broken functional Dungeon Core for his own use.

    "Perhaps, I could make him a metal body...something like a HulkBuster. Then we could literally turn him into a Metal Slug. Hahahha!" Jin thought to himself while Peppers seemed to be doing the finishing touches.

    She had lifted almost 95% of thend in the Dungeon and created a crevice that was more than 3000 metres deep. However, Jin wanted an even deeper valley like crater so that he could build the foundation for the Pand-Altantis. "Ideally at least 10,000 metres deep," Jin told Peppers who was taking a breather from all the work she had none.

    "Ehh...then you want me to fill the entire ce with water once I create a deeper depth?" Peppers asked as she took her pointyrge hat down to fan herself while replenishing her vitality with Milk''s very own concoction of power vitality drinks.

    "Not really. I mean, since the crevice is still empty, it will be easier to descend and construct the foundations of the city before filling the entire ce with water. Besides, any falling incident won''t harm the monsters since they are immortal. Oh wait, those goblins that Qiu Yue recruit might die." Jin suddenly felt perplexed upon realising a possible problem.

    "User doesn''t have to worry. Those who have been contracted to be under the Loyalty Enforcement Orders are protected by the System. The System will resurrect any monsters regardless of the extent of the fall. Should the System fail in resurrecting said monster, System will create a clone and rece the clone with the memories of the deceased monster." System said in a very cold tone.

    Surprisingly Jin epted such countermeasures, as he believed the System would have already taken precautions. Hence, if such unfortunate events were to ur, it would be just poor luck.

    As if the System willed it, Qiu Yue came to Jin with a sunken look in her face. "You look like you haven''t slept for ages." Jin joked but she ced her head on his chest, nearly falling asleep at the touch of his warm chest. She then looked up and saw that the floating tforms were already ready. Jin then remembered that the time difference between Goblin World and the Dungeon World was moving at two different paces.

    "You are fast, I did not expect you to get the floatingnd tforms ready this quickly." Qiu Yue said as she pushed herself away from Jin and took her phone out. With a tap of a button, 3D holograms of steel bars and ropes were seen connecting from where they were standing to a particr floatingnd tform.

    "Emi, you can start doing your job now." She yawned as she called out to her Empire Building Sub System, which she had nicknamed forziness sake. In no time, two System portals appeared with Orcs and goblinsing out from each. The goblin soldiers-turned-workers, had some slight reservations but weren''t as terrified as the craftsmen in the presence of the Orcs.

    Due to the Loyalty Enforcement Orders, both the Goblins and Orcs just kept their mouth shut and started the work as to how the Empire Building Sub System hadmanded them to do. Tools and raw materials magically appeared for them, courtesy of the Sub System when they reached the 3D holograms.

    Apparently, it was the blueprint which the Sub System had already prepared and all the monsters had to do was to blindly follow the blueprint indicated by the Sub System. It was fast, efficient and not to mention precise. If a nut or screw was not ced properly, the Sub System would individually alert the monsters to tighten or loosen them.

    Within less than half an hour due to the plicated rtionship between the two goblin and orc races, they managed to create a temporarily wide sky bridge towards arge floating tform. Qiu Yue asked for a piggy ride which Jin saw no reason to refuse and carried her to the tform.

    She did the same thing again, but this time, they started constructing buildings and it seemed like it was for agriculture purposes when Jin saw 3D holograms of a tractor and a farmhouse.

    "Your Sub System can build gadgets too?" Jin asked though Qiu Yue waszily nodding her head and began snoozing the moment she confirmed that the buildings were set in ce.

    This time round, Jin saw that the Minotaurs were also mobilised by the Empire Building Sub System. There were various building and construction tools he had not seen before, turned up from thin air, courtesy of the Sub System too.

    "Alright, I guess you did your part well. Thank you, I will bring you back to your bed you little red panda cutie." Jin smiled gently as he saw his monsters were all beginning to work on the task which the Sub System had given them.

    "I will overlook the building process for a little while after I bring her back," Jin said to Moloch, leaving him in charge to make sure that the three monster races yed nice with each other.

    This was the beginning of the infamous Dungeon City Fortress that would subsequently be known throughout the Dungeon World.

 Chapter 406 Extra - Goblin Negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 406 Extra - Goblin Negotiation</h4>

    "Argghh Lady Qiu Yue. You are really putting me on the spot hereбн You are simply asking too much from me!!!" King Sol sounded unusually annoyed while shaking his head vehemently towards her. While she had already acquired the Tri-force army ording to Jin''s preferences, Qiu Yue wanted to impress her boss by getting more on top than what she had contracted before.

    "But this is still reasonable, right? I know this hasn''t been written in the contracts, so how about you consider this as personal loaning?!" Qiu Yue replied while she sat at the very same meeting room she had used to recruit the craftsmen. The Three Goblin Generals, two of their sons and some of the advisors were also present for the additional negotiations, yet King Sol was in a pinch since it appeared as everyone else in the room was in cahoots with Qiu Yue.

    "Hahahah Lady Qiu Yue, you are just too crafty. Thank goodness, you are dealing with our King, else I would have given in a long time ago!" Sword General diosughed loudly, and even Dagger General Igni smirked at Qiu Yue''s proposal.

    "Look here, Lady Qiu Yue. We are not trying to deny the truth of you had done us more than just favour, which will be remembered in future history books. I have already made preparations for that army you need, heck I''ve even added 5% more than what you have asked so that you are in possession almost all of our very few butpetent elites to serve you. My three Generals here can vouch for that. This is proof that you deserved our gratitude of the highest form." King Sol sighed and leaned his body forward and reminded Qiu Yue about them having made all kinds of concessions in their previous dealings.

    "I understand that which is why I am not asking for an army - "

    "- You are asking half of the goblin mage AND the entirety of ourbat engineers battalion to be loaned for a year!" The King mmed his fist in a fit of anger for it was really an unreasonable no, absurd request even by the Humanoids.

    It was one thing to loan out all their elites as the Humans should be too scared for a while to try and take any sort of action given the show of military might in the previous war.

    However the same could not necessarily be said, if spies would to inform their human neighbours that nearly the entirety of the Goblin Kingdom''s military had mysteriously left. Qiu Yue then realised that she seemed to hit a raw nerve and kept silent for a while as the King simmered down.

    "How about this? We will ask if any of the goblin mages andbat engineers want to join Master Jin, granted they are given perks that will be significantly better than the ones the craftsmen have received?" Dread Reaver who had been quiet up to this point of the conversation, had decided to back her up.

    "Maybe it is time that you reveal to us a bit more about, why you would want that many mages and engineers? What exactly is Master Jin plotting?" Spear General Argent asked with curiosity ever since the day the Humanoids asked for craftsmen that were obviously inferior to the Humanoids'' technology

    "He is building a brand new city and he needs as many experienced professionals as possible." Wyrstriker decided to chime in but he was only telling them the partial truth since he had not yet been informed about the changes in their newly formed floating/undersea city.

    The whole reason why Qiu Yue currently asked forbat engineers and mages was for the construction of more Sandroku Golems which could be used to elerate the building process especially for therger buildings as well as delving into the deep valley crater to construct Jin''s Pand-Antis.

    This was because the deeper they had to venture into the valley, the hotter it would be. Even though the System can consistently revive dead monsters, it would be too impractical to do so just because they died from heat strokes. Considering Peppers had ''dug'' much closer to the Dungeon World''s core, it would be better to be safe than sorry and protect the monster workers.

    To counteract this, Jin could fill up the deep valley crater with water but that would lead them to handle the pressures of deep water construction. The System had already calcted the cost and find that constructing more Sandroku Golems were more cost effective.

    Alternatively, they had considered fighting against the immense heat with a system of constant venttion with cold icy winds while mining tunnels around the crater. Regardless any option they chose, the mages and engineers were still needed to make as many Sandroku Golems customised for construction as possible.

    Ayse and the Elfish researchers had already improved the initial Sandroku design as assigned by Jin and they could have asked the System to build it. However, that would incur huge unnecessary costspared to getting the Goblin Mages and Engineers to build them since all they had to do was to follow the blueprints.

    The new Sandroku golems are now modr in nature, allowing it to fit parts for construction like drills, scoopers, wers etc. It can also be refitted within a span of 15 minutes with battle modules so that they are all battle ready, making them extremely versatile. But because of the modr nature of the golem, it was not as tough as the first generation of battle golems. (But at least, the new one has cockpit air conditioning!)

    Therefore, it was Qiu Yue''s job and responsibility to make sure that Jin had sufficient money to build his new empire and then some for the future too by saving money on operational costs. But in a rush to catch up with Jin, she unwisely showed less tact with her current negotiations. After dealing with King Sol, so much over thest few weeks, she had not taken into ount, that even the most patient creature could reach their limits at some point.

    "Still, that does not warrant using our civilian and military engineers or mages? What do you think we are? Some rental store?" King Sol said with a tone of controlled anger. He wasn''t too proud for having lost his temper for a moment. In fact he knew, that Qiu Yue had always been quite fair in their negotiations, not taking too much advantage of them having saved his country and waited for her to exin herself.

    "бнI shall borate more." Qiu Yue understood she was in the wrong and knew that she needed to mend the rtionship by giving them the full picture. When the Goblin King and his general heard the concept, they could barely believe it. After Qiu Yue, showed them the images of their blueprints, all of them apuded it. That mysterious Jin kept surprising them over and over. For him to have such an ambition to create a floating city as well as an underwater one, it clearly showed to the Goblin King how much power that young man was wielding.

    From the previous war, he had hundreds if not thousands of humanoid followers willing to aid to his cause. He also possessed mighty firepower that held back the Orcs and their infamous Lost Tech artefacts. Lets not forget him having seemingly unlimited other sentient monsters that werepletely foreign to the Goblins. Not to mention giving them hundred of thousands of gold as part of the contract immediately up front? All this served to remind them that the Goblins should not even think of fighting against a person like Jin.

    Loaning all their elites as their ''ultimate gratitude''? Suddenly King Sol thought it wasughable that he thought of it that way. Even if they gave away the entire kingdom to Master Jin, he would think that was nothing to him. Qiu Yue hadn''t realised that her simple exnation became an efficient way of threatening-erm persauding the King and his Generals.

    "Thus, in return, those Sandroku Golems your mages and engineers are going to construct will be sold to you all at half the price we are selling at the end of our City Building." Qiu Yue finished her pitch and King Sol furrowed his eyebrows.

    "I understand your concept now. But why are we paying so much when we are loaning you the manpower?" King Sol asked his tone being more cid than earlier.

    "Because we have already improved the designs of the initial Sandroku Golems and we are going to buy all the raw materials from your goblin suppliers. We will need to earn something back or else Jin might not have enough money to build his city." Qiu Yue answered. King Sol considered her answer for a while before he suddenly smiled a little.

    "You have convinced me. I permit you to loan 60% of our mages and engineers to build the Sandroku Golems. The Kingdom will even pay for all the raw materials you need. In return, we ask for the selling price of the Golems to be at 10%, if possible at 5%." King Sol offered as he could not imagine how much those improved machinesбн Those work of wonders he saw briefly during the Celebratory Parade would cost at full price.

    "6%. That is the cost needed to cover maintenance and the payment for my other workforce. As you should be aware, some of the materials needed can only be provided by us." Qiu Yue was a bit surprised that King Sol became so friendly, but she was willing to take his offer up.

    They had taken enough advantage of him already, so it should prove beneficial to make them this concession as a show of goodwill, for future negotiations. (As what Jin always emphasised to her.) The Sub System had already calcted to total amount they needed for magic fuel and other expenses, and hence the 6% of the original selling price would be 150,000 Goblin Gold.

    King Sol agreed since the gold used to spend on the local goblin suppliers would give the Royalty some exclusive loyalty benefits in the future too. It could also be seen as an injection of funds to potentially aid these suppliers as a tactic to recover the sluggish economy after the war.

    Qiu Yue instantly created the contract documents on the spot upon hearing the King''s agreement. The Sub System had provided her with a suitcase that had an inbuilt printer andptop (as well as other things!) that allowed her to change and amend any prepared contracts on the fly. After which, she gave it to the King to sign. (The King was amazed that the Humanoids had such advanced printing technology. The goblins had to use mages to write that fast.)

    However, this contract was unlike the previous ones when she made only King Sol sign it. Thanks to the introduction of the Empire Building Sub System, she was able to make anyone who signed a contract with her to be subjected to the Loyalty Enforcement Orders.

    Therefore she decided to make sure that the Three Generals signed it as well. It was not too hard to convince them, as they were all in charge of the mage battalion. (King Sol did not want to give a general too much power by taking charge of the most offensive battalion in their arsenal.)

    As all four of them signed the contract, they did not know that there was a small subtext which stated that the Sub System could enforce it into a permanent Loyalty Enforcement Orders.

    It was an underhanded trick and Qiu Yue felt bad initially for making use of their trust this way, but she wanted the four goblins to eventually be exposed to the System so that this good hearted King and his three Generals would continue to rule the Goblin Kingdom with their citizens in mind for a very long time. (It also was a great way to keep tabs on them. because Qiu Yue unknowingly preferred to have them under her control, just like how she quietly controlled the Orc King Frost Echo.)

    "Congrattions Sub System User Qiu Yue. You havepleted the optional Mission by gaining control over 2 Kingdoms now." The Sub System told her and granted her a crapload of gold forpleting a side mission. Qiu Yue casually opened her phone to check her ount to verify the amount given.

    "I initially wanted to use this gold to finance the Sandroku Golems. I will have to thank King Sol''s change of heart, which provided us with some extra allowance to y around for Jin''s new city. Thanks, Emi!" Qiu Yue smiled as she thought to herself while King Sol assumed that she was doing so because of the signed contract.

    javascript:;

    "As stated, I will return the mages and engineers back as soon as possible. Also as a sign of gratitude, I will send over one free Sandroku Golem Mk.2 for your other mages andbat engineers to study it. Who knows? Maybe they might find something that the assigned goblins could not?" Qiu Yue giggled and so did King Sol who imagined the prospect of having a mechanical army to deter his neighbours.

 Chapter 407 Goblin Runesmith

    <h4>Chapter 407 Goblin Runesmith</h4>

    It was a rocky start, but somehow, the Orcs managed to keep their temper in check as they worked alongside the goblins. The Goblins were surprisingly agile and useful when it came to more delicate tasks such as fixing the lights or electrical wiring, all dictated by the Empire Building Sub System. Oh and speaking of the Goblinsбн

    A few hours ago, the iing goblin army who would be aiding in Jin with the construction of the city, were briefed by Dread Reaver and Wyrstriker on the ''System''. They exined that Jin had employed a wide area magic that would allowmands and instructions to be given within their head. All they had to do was just to follow the orders from the voice in them.

    The goblins soldiers who also went through the signing of the contracts thought they knew what to expect until they reached Dungeon City Fortress and noticed two things that made their brains go haywire.

    Large floatingnd tforms above their heads and Orcs. Lots of Military Orcs.

    Some of the soldiers kept their wits as they had been warned beforehand, that there would be other races helping with the construction and only ced their hand on their weapon should they need it. However, the goblin footmen, especially the younger ones unsheathed their weapons instantly and were ready to fight at the word of the sons of Goblin Generals... until Wyrstriker came forward and shook hands with the ck Disaster. It was almost impossible and in their eyes, it felt like it was betrayal until Nubwort threw a wrench at them:

    "What you puny green noses looking at? Get to work for Master Jin!" The ck Disaster shouted and the Goblins were stunned.

    "This is one secret we had withheld from you guys, but until you saw it with your own eyes, you wouldn''t have believed it. Master Jin had graciously healed those orcs and now they are in his debt. They shouldn''t do anything stupid such as attacking you guys. But if they do, you will be protected by us and Master Jin''s miracle magic." Dread Reaver reassured the goblin soldiers and the craftsmen who came inst.

    "Oh, but if you wish to spar against them, there will be a time for that too, trust me, heh." Dread Reaver added before he left.

    On a separate note, the goblin mages andbat engineers had yet to be selected by their battalionmanders and the contracts weren''t prepared yet. Why? Because Qiu Yue was busy sleeping in her room (with time dtion on to match the Goblin World) after spending nearly a day signing each individual contract of the goblin soldiers.

    Thus, they were projected to arrive at least a dayter in the Dungeon World before they started working on the new customised Sandroku Golems for use in the construction of the Pand-Altantis. Right now, the entire workforce concentrated on creating the foundations for the floating industrial cities which was proceeding rather smoothly.

    The work was so simple as stated by the Goblin Generals'' sons. It was basically so idiot proof that the soldiers had no qualm following it to the dot. The monsters only needed to keep up with the orders the Empire Building Sub System had created to build the city up from scratch.

    Through logical analysis and based on proven theories, the buildings built by the System would be nothing short but superior. It was made to withstand a certain degree of damage and would be easy to rebuild again, should the need arise. As what it does as always, Modr building. Divide the heavy workload into various small tasks and conquer them individually.

    This particr System ensured the least amount of dissent and increased the teamwork between the Orcs and Goblins, as both races had differing opinions on how to ''properly'' build things.

    The Orcs preferred big bombastic kind of architecture whereas the goblins preferred to save and cut costs on building materials. For the Orcs, only the honourable ones were allowed to design or even build, so they used the opportunity to ensure that their building would be extravagant as a testimony of their abilities, and for future generations to try and improve on it.

    The goblins, being smaller inparison and more pragmatic due to their nature, did not need a lot of space. While there was a minority who considered it a challenge to design houses as minimalistic as possible, the majority would notin about building to have some extra room. The two extremes were forced to change their views when the Empire Building Sub System ordered them to do things the Sub System way, and it was refreshing for both races.

    Despite the aforementioned (enforced) teamwork, scuffles between the Orcs and Goblins did happen, but they were quickly broken up by the Minotaurs before any serious damage could be done. The Minotaurs wererger than the Orcs and had more strength than an average Orc soldier which made them ideal to intervene on the behest of their Lord Moloch. (Somehow the cosy they were wearing made them even more menacing then they should be. The Orcs did not know how to argue or fight against them.)

    Although the Orcs could have overpowered the Minotaurs given their massive numbers, they were previously informed by their officers and generals that Nubwort himself would take strict action against any Orc who initiated the scuffles with the goblins. (He knew how prone young hotblooded orcs were quick to anger. Nubwort did not want to lose face by losing his Master''s bet. The looming threat of Kraft was also quite effective)

    Hence, when the Minotaurs broke them up, the Orcs were immediately asked to leave the vicinity and work elsewhere to cool off. Unlike the orcs, the goblins were informed by the Goblin General''s sons not to create any trouble at any circumstances with the promise of bonuses such as more gold or a custom made weapon/armour at the end of their work.

    It was a valuable learning point for the system to see that the Orcs were more receptive to punishment while the goblins preferred the carrot to the stick.

    The craftsman, on the other hand, were not subjected to the strictmands of the Sub System. Instead, they were given general tasks to do ording to what they specialised in. For example, the magical y craftsmen were each given the order to create a sample y soldier for the Sub System to analyse. The best work would also be awarded an additional mary incentive.

    It did not take long before the craftsmen informed Moloch of the quantity and the raw materials as well as the tools required. Because they did not have a proper ce to create their products, the goblin soldiers and the minotaurs assisted them in building a few makeshift workces to start working.

    However, not all were satisfied with this particr arrangement. Jesta, a reputable Goblin Runesmith, demanded that she and her cousin Hespesta, a Weaponsmith, had a proper workce to create their products. "I was made to believe that the Half Masked Humanoids have the best technology and you want me to work in the dirt?!" Jestained so much that even Moloch gave up calming her down and requested for Jin''s intervention.

    Jin, who was in the midst of preparing to design the upgrade of the Recovery instance was interrupted by the System, and came in to see two angry goblins pouting. His mood was not the best, especially when he had felt a sudden inspiration on what to do for the Recovery instance, only for him to lose his thoughts at the interruption.

    However, it was also on his behalf that the System was instructed to refrain from using the Enforcement Loyalty Order except for emergency situations. From what he knew, the two craftsmen (Actually it was mainly Jesta) were unhappy that they had seemingly been cheated by Qiu Yue and demanded a suitable andfortable workce or else she and Hespesta would not perform anything that Jin''s magic instructed them to do so.

    Jin felt a migraineing up almost immediately when he heard it. He clearly understood that it was important how he handled this. He needed to y this cool. If he allowed those two haughty goblin craftsmen to get their way, others would want simr treatment too. But he also knew that Qiu Yue and the Sub System had chosen the best goblin craftsmen in the kingdom and they weren''t wrong to ask for the best equipment to maintain the quality of products they create or excel even further.

    "You are right, all you have is makeshift workshops. Is there anything wrong with that?" Jin, who had entered without his mask, as he saw no reason to continue the farce in the Dungeon World, had decided on the way he would intervene.

    "Who the hell are you?! I wish to speak to Jin and not some human trash serving under him." Jesta snapped at Jin, only increasing the odds of his iing migraine.

    "I am nobody just like you in this ce," Jin answered as calmly as he could while folding his arms. He stared her straight into her eyes while emitting his chi encapsting the two. She and Hespesta immediately fell to their knees and started to cough a little before Jin released the pressure.

    "If you want to y with his toys, you will first need to prove that you can make do with these makeshift workshops." Jin purposely said it out loud for the other craftsmen to hear.

    "Haven''t we proven ourselves enough in Lady Qiu Yue''s examination? Why do we need to prove ourselves yet again?" Jesta replied with a shout though Hespesta was trying her best to calm her cousin down. They were in another foreignnd, who knows how far away from home and the Orcs around them were giving them ugly stares of disgust.

    "Prove? You call those examinations proof that you are worthy? Don''t make meugh. All you have proven is that you are worthy of our interest. Don''t forget it is US giving YOU the chance to learn OUR technology. " Jin was getting irritated even though he knew it might potentially make the situation worse.

    "You have the chance to acquire the knowledge you would think its impossible!!" Jin stated tantly. While he did not like ying the arrogant bad guy, he figured that it would be better, in the long run, to prevent them from getting ahead of themselves.

    He snapped his fingers twice, and a piece of inscription charm appeared in his hands. "Tell me, can you even make something this with your runes, Ms Runesmith?" He picked up a stick which a nearby Magical ys craftsman had just made and pped the inscription charm on to it.

    After which, Jin walked a few metres away from them and ensured that there was no one in front of him. In less than a second, he activated the inscription charm with his chi. Suddenly a burst of fire engulfed the stick without burning Jin''s hand in any way. Jin turned his head to make sure that Jesta was seeing the result of that and he was quite amused at her shocked expression.

    Previously, Jin had asked his three goblins to tell him more about Runesmiths and they confirmed that they were simr to inscribers in every way except for the medium they used, which in turn resulted in one particr aspect that separated them from the inscribers. The runes could be activated by anyone, even a goblin baby. Since no chi was involved, even a non-cultivator from Jin''s world could use it.

    Instead of chi, it used the magic that was within the rune itself so it was not wrong to consider a rune something simr to a magic battery. The task of the Runesmith was to create a rune and its corresponding magic he or she wished to insert.

    With more proficiency, a Runesmith could ensure a higher quality of magic within the rune or an increasing number of uses in it. Naturally, the most proficient Runesmiths were able to ensure both. Jesta was one of the geniuses belonging to the particr category. She was hailed as one of the Kingdom''s finest and able to insert any Grade four equivalent magic into a basic rune.

    This exceptional ability clearly put her on top of other runesmiths. The knowledge and expertise to create runes of that power weren''t secret so all it came down to was ability. It was easy to imbue an elemental type into a Rune corresponding to Grade one magic, but even the ablest could at most execute a Grade two magic on a basic rune.

    If they wished to make a more powerful Grade three or four, those runesmiths would need higher quality stones or minerals which were hard to find in their world (but exceedinglymon in the System''s market)

    Jesta did not know how exactly Jin performed his show though she realised straight away that it was simr to her runes just that it was in paper form. She could sense a bit of foreign magical energy or some kind of energy transfer into the paper that was already embedded as symbols on the y stick before the burst of fire appeared.

    "You think this is it?" Jin asked after he had given her time to analyse what he had done. He mmed the y stick down to the ground, and an immenselyrge fire st was emitted out of the y stick which scared the hell out of the goblins behind Jin, thinking that the fire st was going to backfire at them.

    "If you are smart enough, you will get what I mean." Jin came out of the fire, without suffering any injuries as he threw the y stick to her and she looked over the symbols on the y stick, still glowing for a while before they went out.

    It was a direct challenge from this human and a show of power to signal the others not to mess with them especially not to harbour any intentions against the human in front of them, thinking that he could be taken advantage of. However, Jin was not going to leave without giving them something to ponder about.

    "We do not expect things to be done fast from you craftsmen. We understand items of quality take time to make. But for now, we want to see what you are capable of, without ess to rare or high tier products. Show us decent results as ordered by the voice in your head, and you might just earn yourself a brand new luxury workshop and a wealth of knowledge that you''d never have the chance to touch upon otherwise." Jin saw that other goblins and orcs were looking at him from above the floating tforms and he nodded at them too.

    "That includes all of you out there! If you think that you deserve better treatment, prove it through your actions!" Jin stopped and looked around him once again since it was addressed to all of them. As if a switch had been flipped, all the goblin craftsmen began to work with that goal in mind. Even Jesta kept her peace and decided to work as instructed...for now.

    In the meantime, Nubwort and the Orcs had witnessed Jin''s show of strength and they respected the way he managed the situation. It proved once more that Jin stood above them all.

    "Heh, that kid. He understood how to handle both Orcs and Goblins at the same time." Nubwort thought to himself before he continued to ''urge'' his fellow orcrades to pick up the pace.

 Chapter 408 Revised Layout of the Recovery Instance

    <h4>Chapter 408 Revised Layout of the Recovery Instance</h4>

    "It is rare for you to be that angry at a monster, especially a new one иC wait why the sad face?!" Pei asked via the bracelet as she observed the attitude of her master.

    "... That one time use of Fire st Inscription was worth at least 500 Yuan. бн I just spent 500 Yuan trying to show off. Uhhooooo" Jin eximed while feeling terrible. He thought it would feel good showing off and boasting about the System''s inscriptions to the new subcontracted monsters, but right now he felt regret.

    "It is all User''s fault for being so careless and choosing the wrong inscription." System stated as it knew that Jin had wanted to choose a cheaper inscription, the Burning sh inscription.

    "It is not my fault! I was too angry that I snapped my finger twice okay!" Jin understood where it went wrong after he released the Fire st inscription charm only to realise it was the wrong inscription. However, it was toote to stop, and he had to keep up the act to ensure that the monsters were terrified and understood their own standing.

    "Hahahahah! At the very least, you made them acknowledge your seniority in this ce. However. I still don''t get why you haven''t told her that you are the Master of this ce? The System would have taken care of the Enforcement Loyalty Orders the moment they doubted you." Pei asked.

    "Eh really?" Jin got embarrassed as he hadn''t even considered that option. It could be that he was too immersed with the building of the recovery instance and got irritated when interrupted that he had forgotten about it.

    "Don''t give me that ''eh Really'' reply!" Pei came out of her bracelet and knocked Jin''s forehead with arge paper fan.

    "Ouch! What?! Ow! Where did you get a Paper Fan out of nowhere? You think this is some pedy? Ow!" Jin said while feeling wronged as he tried to defend himself with his arms blocking the iing attacks. Pei had initially wanted to only hit him once, but she suddenly felt it was therapeutic, even fun doing so andughed along too.

    "Anyways, those are deserved hits for being such a lousy designer when ites to the recovery instance," Pei exined as she took another look at the current blueprint of the System Console in the Dungeon Maker which Jin had left halfway. "Imagine what would have happened if you used this to revamp the Recovery Instance...Oh wait, you might not know about the consequences since you do not have any experience in it. Anyways, the old System designed instance had a much betteryout." Pei stated, and Jin noticed that she was in another traditional costume, a silky, neon blue Mongolian dress.

    "What are you looking at?" Pei squinted her eyes when she casually looked back to see Jin scanning her entire body. She instinctively took therge paper fan and whacked Jin''s head so fast that he did not see iting.

    "Urghhбн Sorry, it''s my first time seeing someone wearing a Mongolian costume. By any chance is your choice of weapon thatrge Paper Fan?" Jinmented, and the paper fan flew towards him and instantly hit the bullseye (his forehead).

    "Just something a prop that I used on a daily basis when I was alive. That''s all." Pei giggled and she observed theyout thoroughly once more. "I was a surgical doctor by trade. A real doctor, unlike that fraud Milk who uses magical spells to heal people. And if you are wondering, yes, I have been keeping myself updated with thetest knowledge. Peppers isn''t the only one who has ess to the hijacked data from your school''s database. While I can''t stand that fox guy, even I have to admit he''s capable of keeping the database updated." Pei said with some annoyance, but promptly smiling to herself as she remembered the times she sneaked out to gather a few research articles in while Jin was busy creating his dungeon instances.

    "Some of the information was quite appalling, to say the least, but they made much sense," Pei exined as she sat down with her legs crossed and swiped the digital console of the Dungeon Maker.

    "You are a doctor? I thought you were just good at psychological defence?" Jin uttered as he was beckoned by Pei to sit beside her.

    "Learnt that as part of my job. The System was kind enough to provide me with sufficient practice inside that blessing bracelet." Pei said while she ced her hand on the table to support herzy chin.

    "WaitбнWhat?!" Jin identally shouted and Pei''s eyeszily looked at his direction.

    "You heard me. The entire blessing bracelet is like a surgical room for me to practice my surgical skills. Granted it started out as nothing but a storage ring, but I told the System to renovate the contents inside. So I eventually got a space for myself to cut a few zombies up for practice." Pei said.

    "Wait, what did you think I do in there? That I''d stare at you constantly for the entirety of your life? Waiting patiently for a moment to catch someone who tries to perform a psychological attack or use some mind magic? Dream on." Pei said as she took Jin''s Creator Pen and circled the ws of his new recovery instance design.

    "Wellбнermбн No, I was thinking that you more of a hacker of sorts, something simr to Kraft?" Jin answered without thinking and he was given a violent (death) stare for mentioning that name, but that was better than being whacked on the head by her. (Since the paper fan was beside him and not her. His forehead still hurts.)

    "Anyways, here. Here. And Here. This is bad floor designs. I know you want your patients *cough* I mean cultivators to be at the crux of the care flow but if you ce your nurse station here. They will have to run from one end to the other to take care of your cultivators. Expending of portals to travel will only incur unnecessary costs." Pei pointed out as Jin kept quiet to listen.

    "You should ce your storage rooms at the centre since this is not a real hospital. That way, your panda nurses can restock if there is a need. Also, you need about two cleaners per level too. For one thing, it will be faster than assigning your Panda Nurses to do that whenever they are free. Besides, it would indirectly degrade the image of your Panda Nurses as well as their perception of nurses in the real world. They are lifesavers, not servants." Pei exined.

    "At least it''s great that you have nned to include one more surgical rooms. It seems the assassination incident made you wary. But your surgical theatres are ill equipped." Pei berated him and started to create a list of items that Jin needed to buy from the System Market. Things like gloves, masks, gowns, extra sterile apparatus including a sterilising oven etc.

    "Oh my godбнI didn''t expect it to be THAT expensive. A surgical couch cost at least 340k Yuan (44K USD)?! You must be kidding me!" Jin browsed the System''s market and could not believe it.

    "Trust me, the items sold at the System''s market are already waaay cheaper than those medical vendors out there ripping hospitals up." Pei added as she continued to ramble on that Jin also needed to add an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for follow ups after extensive surgery. She did not rmend an intermediate care ward because the surgical room and the ICU were for extreme cases which should not happen too often in Jin''s ce.

    "Oh eh and upgrade your Panda Nurses. Like how you did for certain other NPCs like the Sushi Chef Roro. That way, your Panda Nurses won''t just be some idiot servers. That shoulde in handy if there is every a surgical procedure, you''ll have nurses who will be able to deal with emergencies." Pei added and Jin''s heart was about to break even more after seeing the total cost for going through Pei''s revisions.

    "Systemбнdo I need to follow Pei''s rmend- Ouch!" Jin got whacked by Pei before he could finish his sentence.

    "Do you really want to have a repeat of that Banned Emperor Assassination all over again? Do you think Milk''s powers are limitless?" Pei rebutted as she folded her arms angrily.

    "Huh? What do you mean? She can cure wounds and stuff, right?" Jin replied and Pei sighed at her hardest. It seemed as if she had enough of her stubborn master, for now. Seeing the frustration of Pei, the System instead took over, exining why Pei was angry.

    "Healing Magic is not the same as surgical procedures. While Betor Milk had sessfully managed to do that surgery, it was through the System''s and Peppers help that it was possible. If all three possible Dantian sites had been affected, Milk would not have been able to remove it at all unlike Former Betor Pei." System said and Jin nodded his head confused.

    "You are not answering what he wants to hear, System." Pei sighed again, feeling the urge to show arge enough paper fan at the System if situation permits.

    "Healing Magic fastens the process of recovery, such as wounds healing. It assists the body by removing insignificant foreign body objects like a small bullet with a cure wounds spell. But what do you think happens, when say...a spear is stuck in you? I hope you don''t need for me to exin how a basic ''cure wounds'' won''t help much, right?" Pei asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "It would only stop the bleeding, and more basic ''cure wounds'' spells would need to be cast to close the wound even further. That is kind of how Chi Potions work too, right?" Jin remembered the time he had to chuck a potion to recover his chi so that the wound would stop hurting.

    "Yes and no. Those chi potions made your chi generation more potent by unblocking clotted chi points, allowing you to create more chi and thus assist you to stop the bleeding. But can ''cure wounds'' or chi potions able to help you with a chopped off hand?" Pei asked once again, and Jin shook his head, saying that he cannot grow a new hand out.

    "Exactly, that is where surgery and medical skillse in. Healing magic prompts the growth of your cells to replicate faster or in a way, enhances your body''s healing mechanism. You can say it is some sort of time eleration magic or hell, a mixed bag of time eleration and deceleration magic." Pei exined.

    "Fine, maybe Milk has spells that allow shit tons of time eleration for you to regrow your hand back but not every healer in the world had powers like her, and they would surely be downright expensive," Pei said her alternate thoughts for a second before returning to her exposition.

    "Unlike true time eleration magic, healing magic''s time eleration portion is only focused on one particr spot, the wound. The spell also aids in numbing the pain though that particrponent is currently argued by many scientists that it could be the rush of adrenaline with the aid of time eleration magic. Still, that is debatable." Pei said as she leaned backwards in Jin''s chair.

    "And I can guess what you are about to ask. What about those even higher level spells? Or even the rumoured almighty magical spell able to bring one back from the dead? You do know why it has to be cast almost instantly - okay at least a difference of five to ten minutes - or else it won''t work? Two words." Pei asked as she pointed two fingers out.

    "Time Reversalбн?" Jin blurted out before Pei, and she smirked as if Jin had been listening and learning as she nodded her head in delight.

    "Correct. That so called ''resurrection spell'' literally brings a person back to a state before they died. But do not confuse that with the resurrection with the Dantian core since it must be within the time limit to work. The longest I read is about 30 minutes? And contrary to the Dantian method, there are no worries about anything going wrong in the process provided one has the knowledge as well as a shit load of mana required to cast it. Something limited to those high grade ...very high grade spell users."

    "бнNo wonder my professor said that the Dantian resurrection was something like a quantum jump made easy. EhбнEasy as in feasible and reproducible." Jinmented out loud though Pei was not well versed with the modern world''s physics.

    "Ehh..okay. Anyways, that is healing magic exined in simple science terms. Even though those mages always im that magic could never be exined by science, hah. So yeah while healing magic does have its uses, it also suffers from limitations. It is possible to produce ''miracles'' as proven by Milk, but would you rather hope to recreate a miracle, or be able to reproduce something 10/10 times through tried and proven methods?" Pei admitted with a bit of annoyance.

    "Then howe you did note to assist me when the assassination happened? Oh yeaбнI think the System and Kraft had not released you to me yet when it happened, no wonder Milk had toбнOw!" Jin got hit on the head again with thatrge fan which suddenly appeared in her hands again and he kept his silence.

    "System deemed that the impromptu surgery with Milk and Peppers has a 98% confidence level it would seed without the aid of Pei back then. Should the Head of Royal Zodiac Tiger die, the System had also determined that User have sufficient witness to prove his innocence. User had also attempted to aid the ailing Head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger which had already increased his chance of being judged innocent. Furthermore, if the Head dies, it aligned with the previous objective of revenge which the System had temporarily ceased for now." The System exined its rationale, and there was a slight pause in the conversation before Pei changed the topic.

    "Anyways, I will write down more of those ws of your recovery instance. You concentrate on settling the few things that I pointed out. I will prioritise what you need more urgently for the surgical theatre so you won''t have to worry about your budget too much." Pei added as she continued to draw big red circles on theyout with Jin''s creator pen as if a teacher correcting her student''s mistakes.

    "Don''t worry User. System willpensate adequately when Userpletes the Recovery Instance objective." The System replied but Jin still did not believe the System when ites to rewards.

    "Please don''t do that. Don''t give me hope." Jin said as he took another spare Creator Pen provided by the System and started working on the pointers Pei gave him.

 Chapter 409 Farming Worlds Scouting Team

    <h4>Chapter 409 Farming World''s Scouting Team</h4>

    "Weapons Checked? Armour Checked? Light res?" me Ripper asked Meomi the WereCat and Sebastia the Minotaur Butler on their equipment status in the Werejackal''s home instance.

    They were assigned by Jin and Gold to scout the Farming World and report the severity of the Demon Rats infestation or as the Werejackals dubbed them: ''Farm Rats''. If needed, they would assist the existing rebel forces and perform guerri missions with them.

    But for now, their main objective was reconnaissance. Secrecy was of the utmost importance. me Ripper had been appointed as the leader for the team of three, and though he wasn''t the most familiar with the Farm World, the goblin undoubtedly had the most experience as well as the most power amongst them all. As his first action, the assassin had asked the System to provide them with a few sets of cosmetic inscriptions to blend in.

    It wouldn''t be a problem for Meomi since she could switch to a human form but the horns on Sebastia and me Ripper being all goblinish red would immediately attract attention. (The half masks were an option, but as soon as they discovered even once, everyone would be on the lookout for masked individuals.)

    However, me Ripper wasn''t taking any chances for the group and asked that Meomi to put on a new face too. Oddly enough...she took an inscription that made her look like a bald guy and demanded the rest of the team to call her baldy for the duration of the mission. Both me Ripper and Sebastia were speechless and they did not know what the werecat was ying.

    "Onee-sama! You forgot this!" Nyanmi shouted to Meomi as the team was finalising the checklist for the group. Meomi looked shocked and refused since what Nyanmi presented was her very own Sniper Whip, a personalised weapon given by Jin.

    "No way, I cannot allow you to loan me your weapon. Master Jin created that for you to use. What are you going to do without it?" Meomi asked and Nyanmi shrugged her shoulders nonchntly.

    "I can ask the System to make me a recement one, right? The most I have to do is to spend some points. Even if it were unwilling, I would use my default sniper rifle or the whip Jin had previously equipped me with those upgrade battle cards. Don''t you worry too much about me. You need it more than me in that god awful Farming World." Nyanmi retorted and pushed the Sniper Whip back at her.

    Both werecats could have asked the System to create a new Sniper Whip for Meomi, but that would also mean that they would also need to recalibrate it for her own use. Moreover, they would need to spend system points for the recalibration, plus all the mods they had added into the existing Sniper Whip, such as a faster reloading magazine, longer barrel for range and more rapid transformation mechanism for the whip.

    Buying a weapon from the System would always result in getting a basic one. In the first ce, it would have been Jin''s responsibility to equip his monsters, but he was consistently being swarmed with more work that he needed an alternate way of dealing this particr matter.

    Thus, he had asked the System to make an exception and start awarding his monster''s with System Points, which they could use to pay for any mods along with other personal calibrations. It was because Jin felt that his minions would know what they needed, and the monsters appreciated the extra freedom, being able to buy what they wanted.

    It had proven to make them work harder and pose more of a challenge to the cultivators. However, Jin would still personally give the battle upgrade cards to them since they were considered as new equipment and battle skills.

    Unfortunately, this process would have taken time and points, both of which they did not have much to spare at the moment. "Alright, in return, you take my right Gun Knuckle. That way, you can surprise the cultivators doing the Bank Heist Instance or the Random Arena Instance." Meomi insisted as she shoved her personal weapon to that little cat sister of hers. They were not blood rted as Nyanmi had been loaned andter bought by the System, but it was the closest rtive she had among these rowdy werejackals.

    "Heh, I bet those cultivators will be confused once more about which werecat is which." Nyanmi giggled and hugged Meomi before me Ripper announced that they were departing. Gold had already assigned them a ce to start their investigation, and that was the very same mountains where Jin had fought against Keyrin.

    The System had informed them that it had noticed the presence of a single Farm Rat spying on Jin when he had disappeared. It wanted them to learn if that was a scouting Farm Rat or just a stray one.

    The difference? A scouting Farm Rat meant that there could be an outpost of the Farm Rats in the vicinity of the mountains. Gold had determined that it was spacious enough for Jin and the others to set up a rebel base there since it was considerably secluded. "Oh, and while you are at it, try to confirm the location of the other three monsters that Jin has yet to fight for the upgrading of his Living Armour Suit. But that is wayyyyy secondary."

    "If that''s the case, I suggest you guys follow this route....here and here..." Grey had suggested in a meeting with me Ripper before their departure. Nevertheless, the goblin was not very satisfied with the route indicated by Grey even though it seemed like it was the shortest way through. Simrly, Meomi also stressed the change in terrain andndscape would be an arduous trek.

    "Worst case scenario, you guys can teleport out, I guess?" Gold reminded them since Jin did mention to use the System''s portal magic to the maximum. "Besides, the System has finally budged and allowed the teleportation of ''foreign objects'' since we have prepared a secure area for them to be teleported into."

    "Still, I feel it''s for the best if we use the long way instead. In that case, we can resupply our food supplies and gather some information in the smaller viges before we reach our destinations. Portaling will create a disturbance in the atmosphere. The change in magic ley lines in the background can be picked up." me Ripper said. After he became the Avatar of Ifrit, he was able to sense these things whenever a portal appeared.

    "I shouldn''t have to worry about such a possibility that much. The Farming World does not have that many magespared to what you World has. The search for talented individuals with magical powers had always been quite a tenuous search, even for us Schrs of the Compass. While it''s not that rare for the inhabitants to havee in contact with a form of magic, being able to wield them as they please? That is another issue entirely. From what we had learned in the past, the Farm Rats have no such capability." Goldmented, but me Ripper shook his head.

    "As you have said, that is the knowledge of the past. I do not dare to assume. Take me as a prime example. Would anyone have ever even considered that someone like me would manage to gain the approval of Ifrit? Nope, absolutely not. I was content with the knowledge that I would gain the chance to evolve into a Hobgoblin. But here I am, happy for fate to have had other ns for me." me Ripper said as he presented himself to make a point.

    "So, we are not taking any chances until we learn the true capability of the Farm Rats. That also means unless it is an absolute emergency, we will try to avoid using portals." me Ripper iterated which his members readily agreed with him.

    "I concur with that approach. If the Farm Rats can hide in a clear open day, we have to be better than them and not provide them with opportunities to predict where we are or what is happening." Sebastia, who had gone through various scouting missions for Moloch, remarked to the scouting team''s debriefing.

    "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s go." Meomi was all serious, but she did not add anything else since the route that me Ripper was going for coincided with her personal objectives as well. Both Gold and Jin did not object to it as they trusted her not to take any rash actions when the timees.

    ------------

    The System teleported them without a hitch, and they were at the very same ce where there were still some faint tracks of the leftover burnt marks all over the teau even though most of it were already covered by the daily snowing.

    Incidentally, all of them were simultaneously searching where the sun was at the same time and with just a nod. me Ripper took out a piece of chalk from his storage ring and marked the side of a nearby stone to indicate that this was their starting point.

    The entire party all had a basic storage ring courtesy of the System so that the monsters wouldn''t be hindered by weight as they travelled. (They were the very same rings used by Sebastia and the other Minotaur Battle Maid scouts when they were searching for the broken core. The System had transferred the rights to Meomi and me Ripper.)

    While they had all unanimously agreed on the direction to walk, Meomi stopped their tracks when they had barely begun. She ced her nose closer to the ground and subsequently crouching as if to have a better sniff.

    "I smell them. It''s not strong, but I smell them." Meomi, now disguised as a bald man, picked up the presence of a few Farm Rats. "Hmmm... They are leaving their tracks too obviously. Definitely, not seasoned scouts." Meomi said as she(he?!) pointed at the direction where it wasing from.

    Sebastia, who disguised herself as a short haired athletic female adventurer, first cast a shadow hiding spell to reduce their presence upon hearing Meomi''s findings. me Ripper currently appeared as a teenage boy allowed Meomi to take the lead since she discovered the source. Perhaps, Gold''s prediction about the Farm Rats was correct, and he hoped that the magic portal had not caused too big of a disturbance that it had already alerted the rats.

    Within a few minutes, Meomi discovered that it was not just a few rats but at least a battalion of them and they seemed to be training themselves here near the snowy mountains. "Odd...I remember Keyrin telling us that there should be no- Oh... Keyrin is not around anymore." Meomi pped her bald head and made sure it was covered properly or else the reflection of her shiny new head would attract unwanted attention. However, her ws were instinctively at the ready until Sebastia told her to calm down.

    "Don''t be hasty. Remember we are here to scout. Any divergence from our mission objective, especially this early in the mission will make everything we wish to do futile." Sebastia reminded Meomi about the consequences of her actions, and she took heed reluctantly by withdrawing her ws.

    "To be honest, this could be a great opportunity to see how the Farm Rats function since we have no idea what to expect from them." me Ripper suggested as he took out a binocr from the storage ring as well as a notebook and a pen.

    "I see. Observing their actions and tactics, learning their chain ofmand, their routine as a rat. It''s a good idea." Sebastia whispered as she too continued to observe the battalion.

    "For me, I just want to kill theirmander and key personnel if possible." Meomi should have thanked Nyanmi for not allowing her to refuse taking the Sniper Whip out forbat.

    "I think I can do you one better since you want them dead so much. Why don''t we ask the System to call out Keyrin to wipe them all out, once they are nearly done with this training exercise of theirs. That way, even if they end up learning that their camp has been wiped out, they will be looking for Keyrin instead of us." me Ripper offered as he watched over the rats. He was surprised at the performance of the Farm Rats. They were disciplined enough to train, had created tents and had also started building some barrows from the looks of it.

    "Hmm, fine. I''d prefer being the one to do it, but as long as they are dead... Anyways, I shall be scouting the rats in my own way. Three is a crowd here and even if we have the height advantage now, who knows if they haven''t deployed any veteran scouts in the vicinity. We don''t want to end up as the mantis who was unaware of the oriole behind." Meomi said which me Ripper hesitantly agreed to her ns.

    Separately, Sebastia readily sympathised with both of them. She knew that one was doing his job based on strict orders while the other was dying to get some form of revenge against the ones who apparently killed someone dear to her.

    It was not an easy job for me Ripper, but he had to keep her in check. Too lenient and she might blow this particr mission right at the start. Too strict and it might turn into a case of insubordination. Since he wasn''t Jin, he had no way to enforce any orders and it could eventually lead the entire team into trouble.

    But for Meomi, this was more than an act of pure revenge. Ever since she had heard that Jin was going to assist the Werejackals against the Farm Rats, she had been training tirelessly all day and night and even to the point that she would volunteer to be selected for the Random Arena Instance.

    Instead of a clone, she would personally join the Arena Instance, and because of that, the System rewarded her with additional points. She then used those points to increase her dexterity and spent the remaining ones to modify her Gun Knuckle further.

    She even tried learning basic magic from Grey, but unfortunately, shecked the talent. However, Grey admitted there was some sort of weird magic in her which he was unable to identify. The only thing he could do was help Meomi course that magical source into usable magic energy, thus allowing her to conjure sufficient magic energy to activate an inscription charm.

    Upon learning the skill, Meomi proceeded in advancing her Gun Knuckles by adding inscriptions in it since there was no way to wear any decent fitting armour given the nature of her shapeshifting ability. Nheless, it did not mean she could not wear essories filled with inscription charms, and she got a tail ring and a pair of earrings with the points she had umted.

    Meomi repeatedly pushed her limits to the point where Nyanmi would exchange some of her own saved up System points for recovery potions or healing spells so that Meomi could save hers. If given a chance, the System would have evolved her long before the goblins did. (But because of the System''s nature when ites to rewards, it would withhold such evolution trigger card from Jin until he aplished more tasks to spur him on.)

    If all Meomi needed was just the trigger for the evolution, she figured that she should either train even harder to evolve naturally or get Jin''s attention. But ultimately, it was Jin''s decision when to evolve a monster if it required the trigger.

    Otherwise, it all depended on the monster''s own initiative to show to Jin that it was worthy of an evolution. Reason for that was Jin had discerned that an evolved monster required more resources from the System, which indirectly impacted Jin''s money flow. It was not apparent until recently with the newly evolved goblins.

    They needed more quality food to satisfy their hungerpared to when the monsters were first captured, and the System would only provide the least required amount of food necessary for survival. Any more would be on Jin''s expense, which he could see a potential significant uptake if all of his monsters were to evolve.

    That was also why she decided to volunteer herself for this scouting mission so that Jin would notice her. (The System did assist her by notifying her about this possible lead for the mission, which was the reason she had been hiding in Gold''s office even before the conversation started.)

    If there was someone who wished so badly to annihte the entire race of the Farm Rats, it was none other than Meomi. She would not stop until she achieved her objective.

    All rats must die.

 Chapter 410 Magical Clay Craftsmen

    <h4>Chapter 410 Magical y Craftsmen</h4>

    As the days went by, December was just around the corner. Jin and his monsters had been working their damndest to keep up the pace so that he could fulfil the mission objectives. So far, me Ripper and his scouting team were able to avoid any encounter with the Farm rats.

    Despite what Meomi said, she figured a bit of patience would not harm her current objective. But she took the time to learn and had already memorised the dynamic patrol patterns those farm rats had employed.

    On a separate note, the Dungeon City Fortress had gone through a lot of changes since the first day. Some smaller buildings on the first tform werepleted, while therger ones had started to take form. Moloch did warn Jin that adventurers and other monsters could visit their city at any point, so he had instructed the Dungeon Core to deny entry to anyone outside their territory. He wanted to ensure that what they were building, would remain a secret until the fortress was functioning properly.

    With the current timeline, Moloch felt that they could only open the dungeon ''doors'' at the end of 7th Jan. He also started to see why Jin loved to ''surprise'' others as even the minotaurs, orcs and goblins who were the ones building this magnificent city, were staring at it with bewilderment at the end of each day.

    The toons of Goblin mages andbat engineers eventually arrived on the morning of the second day on time for the start of construction, only to be astounded by the sheer size of the city Jin was building.

    As instructed by Qiu Yue and the Sub System, the goblin mages andbat engineers were given a small workshop to start building the Sandroku Golems under the supervision of none other than Ayse herself. The craftsmen no doubt got a bit jealous but when they saw the work of marvel being created, most of them kept silent.

    Those goblin engineers and mages were fast workers and had hands small enough to manage the delicate work but Head Orc Researcher Ayse had also employed some of the Orcs to do the heavy lifting rather than make the mages waste their powers lifting the metal body pieces.

    It did not take long for the orcs to be intrigued, desiring to build their own version. Ayse had already prepared a special blueprint for them the moment she heard Jin and Qiu Yue discussed the worst case scenario of King Sol unable to loan them any more goblins.

    Even though such a scenario did not happen and there were currently more than enough goblins to create the Sandroku Golems, Ayse already predicted that the orcs would love to try and build one. It was to prove that they were in no way inferior to the goblins. Hence, Ayse carefully picked several quick handed orcs to handle the delicate stuff while some of therger sized ones and a few mages did the heavier lifting of the Golem armour tings.

    The orcs, who were building their own version of Sandroku golems were indirectlypeting against the goblin made Sandroku Golems despite the fact that they were working for the same master. Ayse purposely allowed both races to work away from each other as she could sympathise with her fellow orcs'' distaste for goblins. (Well...not exactly far away from each other since the workshops were just opposite one another.)

    If not for her having worked alongside the selfish researchers, changing her narrow view of the world, she too may have looked down on the goblins. (Granted, she did not expect other worlds existed.) So while the orcs and goblins were forbidden to fight directly, surely there was nothing wrong with a bit of friendly to prove who was superior between the two through the Sandroku Golems.

    So Ayse decided why not? It meant that more golems would be ready, at an earlier time frame and if sessful, orcs could even participate in creating the foundation of Pand-Antis rather than just the goblins. She also knew howpetitions might have a chance to create some friendly rivalry between the races to interact, so they break away from the stereotypes that were deeply embedded in them.

    Interestingly enough, the orcs and goblins had their own ideas about further improving the revised version of the Sandroku Golems. Although some revisions were t out rejected by Ayse, she ended up epting a few and allowed them to test it on the next golem they were building.

    However, that was under the condition that if the revised golem did not work, they had to salvage the golem and build the approved model. Not to mention paying for any parts that would unsalvageable like fried machine chips orponents that broke down during the experimentation.

    Oddly, not one of them disagreed with this. Despite the consequences, both races were willing to risk it all to prove who was the better one at building. The goblin engineers seemed to have an advantage at first since some of them were the ones who previously worked on the first generation models in the Northern Valley but the few selected Orcs had experience with building Lost Tech artefacts.

    Apparently, those orcs came from engineering teams which were outsourced by the Military Research Department during the war since Ayse could not be bothered to handle everything herself. She had to focus on the more critical military inventions like the lost tech portal device. Thus, Ayse was also interested how those Orcs would fare against the goblins.

    Therefore, it became a mini arms race to see who could build the most versatile Sandroku Golem for both construction andbat use.

    -------------

    At the same time, the craftsmen had worked in unison to make batches of various y soldiers all in different shapes and sizes. Jespa, the Goblin Runesmith, had created a magical rune that allowed the y soldiers to be activated with just a mindmand while her cousin Hespeta and some other Weaponsmiths began crafting weapons for them. Since they were ultimately expendable, quantity preceded quality.

    Many of the magical y craftsmen worked tirelessly day and night, rotating amongst themselves to create as many shapes and forms as their imagination would allow. Until now, there had been no request to create a specific sort of y soldier model with a standard mould and tool because the System wanted as much data as possible on their magical y.

    It may look like mashed up y, simr to the ones used for children to y with, but it was the forming of the mud y by the craftsman that gave them their unique quality. It would seem like an easy task from an outsider''s perspective since all they did was smash it together at first nce, but it wasn''t particrly straightforward.

    Simr to drawing, the magical y craftsman would first imagine a basic structure and the form in their mind. While mashing it together, they would insert their mana into it and make sure that the y mixed evenly with high quality spring water.

    That lump of y in their hands would then slowly change its form without the goblin touching it at all. It was all through the maniption of the prepared mana. The bare bone structure could then be created within ten minutes.

    The next step was to recreate the bodily features of the moulded y.

    Unsurprisingly nearly all of their soldiers took on the forms of Orcs, Goblins or Ogres. After all, those were the creatures the craftsmen were most familiar with and had sufficient inspiration right in front of them. However, some of the more creative talented craftsmen who were bored making orcs and goblins had started to deviate from this. (Besides, it allowed them to break their general perception of the world they had been living in.)

    There were some Humans, Masked Humanoids though the majority were in the image of the Minotaurs since they were in in sight. Suffice to say, the first iteration looked barely anything like Moloch''s servants, but it did provide the System with some feedback and the idea of letting Jin''s Monsters model for future versions.

    Thest step was to add minute details to the y soldier such as broken nails, an uneven set of teeth, skin folds at the neck and joints etc. ording to the craftsmen, having more distinct details on the y soldiers would increase the durability of the magical y models, thus also more alive and vivid once animated.

    But unlike the y soldiers, Jespa''s runes had to be carefully created. Her runes were essentially the heart, and therger y soldiers such as the lifesize y Ogres would have at least two runes inside of them.

    Having two runes not only made those giant y monsters harder to kill, it would also give the perception that the y Ogres were invincible. Be that as it may, in truth, destroying one rune can slow the y Orges down considerable. Regardless, the y soldiers would be nothing more than glorified decorations without her runes.

    Her work was of the utmost importance, which was why Jespa had not been too happy with her current predicament. She could not believe that she had been asked for hundreds if not thousands of her runes only to be ced into non living y soldiers. Jespa initially thought the weird voice that instructed her was joking, but when she saw the magical y craftsmen hastily building tens of dozens of those y monsters, she realised it was not a joke at all.

    "I can only make 3 of those runes a day. Any more and I won''t be able to guarantee the quality as fatigue might be a factor. I won''t jeopardise my Runesmith oath to provide only the best just because you want arge amount of quantity in a short amount of time." Jespa tried to shirk that responsibility by talking her way out of the task at hand as sheined to Moloch, after making sure that strange Human was not about to appear again.

    She was hoping they would pass this tedious, monotonous job to some other runesmith. Unfortunately for her, Qiu Yue had not hired any other runesmiths since they were rare to find in the first ce, much less a proficient one.

    Moloch had been given full authority by Jin to handle any other disputes. In view of the previous incident, Moloch had been strictly told not to bother Jin anymore, unless it was a REAL emergency. Since calling his master was out of the question, Moloch decided to take a gamble since the System was watching after him too.

    "Then why not switch to a lesser version of the rune, so that you can create more of them? You sure you are even up to the task for greater things?" Moloch folded his arms as he confronted the pompous runesmith.

    "Now what do you even mean by that? There is only one rune capable of animating those y things! Do you even know how hard it is to create one?" Jespa defended herself while taking out a sample rune of Animate Dead from her haversack. It was one of the many runes that she had carried with her to the capital to show Qiu Yue and the other goblin advisors her work for the interview.

    "That is exactly what I mean. Can you really just produce ONE type of Animate Dead? Master Jin already has a shit load of zombie monsters that can do much more than just moving around. How about you show us something we cannot do ourselves!" Moloch tried to taunt Jespa, who only appeared confused on what it was he wanted.

    "Sigh. Have you never triedbining your Animate Dead with another spell? Something likeбнI don''t know. An Increase Attack Power Rune or something of that sort? That way you''d get Animate Dead with a Power Up." Moloch suggested and Jespa scoffed at his idea.

    "Combining two insignias into one rune? Are you mad?! This is only possible in those legends used to motivate aspiring Runesmiths. Even the most proficient Runesmith that I''ve ever known, my own master could never do that." Jespa stated matter of factly as she shook her head.

    "Then I suggest you better pack your bags and leave. Have you already forgotten what you''ve been told? Only those who can push their limit by showing what they can do with what little they have right now will be rewarded with a better workshop and a better lifestyle." Moloch recounted Jin''s words.

    "If you are not interested in furthering yourself, then there is no ce for you to be here. It is a shame, but we will be better off, finding someone less talented and teaching them. Someone who won''t give up so easily, before even trying to find ways to do what she''s asked to do." Moloch was stern and it struck a raw nerve for Jespa.

    "бнWait...Its just that... I don''t have the materials and tools!... I mean, I may have the basic tools and can try with them, but the materials needed forbining two runes would be high tier and extremely rare to fi-" Jespa suddenly stopped in her tracks when Moloch used a card trick to reveal a specific material to Jespa.

    "You mean like this the one?" Moloch asked, and itpletely shocked her wits away.

    "бнYes. How did you even manage toбн" Jespa was lost for words. Even thought this was the first time she saw mithril it matched what she saw and read upon recognising the rumoured metal of legends immediately and Moloch just pointed his thumb backwards.

    "There''s a shitload where that came from. If you need to recover your mana, all you had to do was ask. I have this little birdy for you. It will do the job." Moloch said as a blue magpie came out from his vanishing card tricks with another sleight of hand.

    "So, stopining and start giving me results. Since you''vee here, all you did wasin. Just take a look around you. All but you are busy with the tasks we assigned. All of them were given the bare necessities, but they all just made do with them." Moloch said as he folded his man puppet hands.

    "Give me all thebinations possible with Animate Dead. I do not care how you do it. I expect all the runes to have something special aside from allowing those figures to move. Consider it a punishment for trying to act all stuck up in front of our master earlier." Moloch said decisively and Jespa''s face turned white and became dumbfounded upon learning it was Jin. She then recalled and remembered that the orcs who were grumbling, kept their silence when he came into the picture.

    "That.. *gulp* thatбнthat Human was the Special Royal Advisor Jin? I thought he was a humanoidбн?" Jespa could hardly articte her words correctly but Moloch managed to catch wind of it.

    "He may be human, but he is anything but ordinary. I can assure you that." Moloch replied as he spread his arms wide as if to portray that all this that Jespa was seeing now around her was all Jin''s effort.

    "And that stockpile of mithril? He prepared it especially for you when he learnt that you were supposed to be the most capable runesmith." Moloch turned his back and started to move away from her.

    "Therefore, don''t you dare disappoint our master. He might have given you a second chance with that terrible attitude, but the rest of us don''t." Moloch eyes turned pitch dark, and Jespa knew better than to mess around.

 Chapter 411 Luxury Recovery Instance

    <h4>Chapter 411 Luxury Recovery Instance</h4>

    "...So this is it, huh?" Jin looked at his watch and saw that the clock struck midnight. It was officially December. Throughout the past week, Jin alongside many other Another Jins had tirelessly worked to create not only the Christmas Instance as well as the revamped Recovery Instance with the help of Pei.

    The fox doctordy had corrected a lot of ring mistakes that Jin had made and pushed him to do better until the result turned out to be something simr to a Luxury Hospital Hotel. Yeap! No more of those crudemon area bedding which did not provide any privacy for the cultivators to rest properly nor the uneasiness to be bunked alongside strangers.

    For the new Recovery Instance, everyone would be ced together ording to the party they had created in the waiting lobby area unless of course, they had opted for the random party member option.

    Trust and privacy issues were important to Jin, and it was even more essential, for his female cultivators who wouldn''t like being ced together with some random male cultivators.

    Jin wished to avoid an incident where the males would start to harass, or (Panda) God forbid, take advantage of the females when it should be a ce of resting. Even though such an incident hasn''t ured, Jin needed the trust of his customers.

    With him expanding his business in the near future all thanks to CEO Ke Loong, the possibility of going global was high. It also meant that there would definitely be people with ill intentions guaranteed to appear to harm Jin or his customers. It was best to set things proper even before such situations could happen.

    Sure, the System always had its eyes pried open for such offenders, but why take the risk? Thus, it would be for the most ideal to make the individual randoms be bunked into single room beds and let them chat with theirst party through the Pandamonium App if they wished tomunicate again.

    The rooms in the recovery instance were all furnished to have a grandeur look. Since space was not an issue for Jin, he designed them in such a way that it looked like a hotel suite room with hospital facilities and had Panda Nurses on call 24/7.

    Besides, the customers had paid premium ticket prices to y his dungeons. Jin could at least make the finishing experience even more memorable so that they would yearn toe to his shop again.

    What''s more, he even reintroduced the snack vending machines which a number of cultivators had been bugging him about ever since he had repurposed the existing second and third floor of the shophouse into a library.

    However, the most impressive thing he had done was to connect the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance to every ward. Should one choose to rx in it afterwards, the price was discounted by 10% as a show of appreciation for using Jin''s dungeons.

    "When you told me that you wanted to make it into a luxury experience, I didn''t expect you would go all out choosing different themes for different levels," Pei said as she shook her head looking at the revamped Recovery Instance while wearing a Victorian Dress.

    "Well I don''t deserve all the credit, I got my inspiration from you. Hahaha." Jin grinned when he pointed at the dress Pei was currently wearing.

    "Whatever," Pei smirked away from Jin''s sight as she toured one of the levels of the Luxury Recovery Instance where the interior decor was based on Greek and Roman architecture. The ssical luxury theme of the ce eluded grandness with a twist of modern interior design.

    The scheme colour of the decor was mostly white as it featured elements like tall pirs and marble tiles. He did not forget to include a bit of his own touches through Roman Statues but in Panda Forms. (As well as a parody painting on the ceiling of the main hallway featuring one of Michngelo''s paintings, the Creation of Adam with a man touching a Panda God''s finger.)

    "Oh this is good. Awfully brilliant! But I feel like itcks something... Do you mind adding a fox at the corner? You know, the one to sin them all." Kraft chuckled as he came out from nowhere to admire the painting. Jin rolled his eyes at his betor''s request. Even Pei found the idea revolting.

    "Since you are here, mind telling me how the social media thing is going? I had no time to check though I saw an email notification asking me to subscribe to a newsletter." Jin asked Kraft since he had noticed ''Bubbling Social Media Director'' in addition to Bodyguard, Most Awesome Original Betor, Ultimate Fox Lover, Cyber Hacker, Counter Intelligence Agent on the list of titles on Kraft''s attribute page when Jinst saw his update.

    "Kiyu is having fun creating those publicity images and advertisements. For now, she is going to stick to a few pictures and a general video introducing your shop. Don''t worry. We have contacted some more popr users to further spread the word. The best part after having watched the video, not a single one asked for payment in return so that it won''t cost you a penny! Or erm Yuan or Dungeon Dors- Gah! Whatever suits your boat." Kraft answered as he took out a phone gifted by the System to allow him to keep track of these social media activities.

    He showed Jin the video Kiyu created, which started very ordinarily, showing a glimpse of the various Instances and a few footages of cultivators fighting. However, as soon as she appeared in the video to showcase the Shop Instance, Jin felt a little absorbed watching it. If not for Pei right beside him, he would probably be bewitched yet again.

    "Oooh looks like Kiyu''s power may have grown againбн or are you just cking off, Pei?" Kraft teased seeing how Jin tried to fight back, but Pei gave an annoyed look in return.

    "I suppose...there should be some feedback already?" Jin asked, and Kraft showed the statistics of the video uploaded by those popr users as well as their own channel.

    At first, Kiyu''s MeiBo channel was sluggish, but the day Kraft gave out the video to be shared around, her channel instantly boomed with thousands of unique IP addresses, indicating there were people, not bots, following her channel.

    Thements were the typical prising sort ranging from ''That girl is effing hot.'' to ''That store must be desperate to hire such a hottie to promote, but maybe I will give it a try.'' Still, one fact was for sure, Kiyu attracted both genders, although it was apparent that the majority belonged to the male side.

    "Hehe, as long as there are publicity results. I will take them." Jin smiled at the number of views the channel attracted. "Not to belittle her, but did she honestly make that on her own? I find it somewhat hard to picture her as a person who would like to do video editing and such." Jin asked and suddenly he sensed another presence behind his back.

    Kiyu''s arms came forward and grabbed Jin while slowly caressing his body. She was more aggressive than Milk could ever be, but he was secretly enjoying it, even more than the previous time until he felt a sudden pang of sexual hungriness possessing him. Pei noticed that and immediately cast a spell with word enchantments for the first time, returning her master''s sanity.

    Jin came back to his senses and kindly asked Kiyu to get off of him despite the obvious fun she was deriving from her master''s futile resistance. "Got a taste of my abilities?" Kiyu asked, and Jin reluctantly nodded his head.

    "Simr to video editing, it''s not something I excelled in immediately, even though I had a talent for it. But anything can be learned and trained. The video you''ve seen is merely thetest iteration. It''s something that I worked my ass off, so it hurts my feelings to hear you have doubts." Kiyu yfully bit Jin''s ear and gave him a light cheek kiss before leaving his side.

    "Thankfully, the System interface is user friendly enough that a bumpkin like me was able to quickly get the hang of it. Kraft would provide a few naughty tips every once in a while. Hehe!" Kiyu exined as she flicked her hair to the side. Jin did not want to know what kind of ''tips'' Kraft had given Kiyu, but as long as it managed to bring more customers in and is not borderline offensive, he did not care. (He just did not want any possible investigators querying him about the content he was responsible for.)

    "Alright, I''m sorry for having doubted you. Please keep up the good work. I believe I informed Kraft about the Christmas Instance a few days ago. Have you managed to prepare anything for it? Personally, I would like to have the Instance released as soon as possible since it''s already December." Jin said as he changed the topic.

    "You do know, you can just send me the details directly, right?" Kiyu replied but Jin shook his head.

    "Kiyu, you are the most attractive and seductive person I''ve ever met. I''m pretty sure I would embarrass myself going crazy over you, if not for Pei. It''s best I go via Kraft. The lesser evil." Jin told her the truth, and Kiyu pretended to act very disappointedly by going down on her knees while holding her hands close to her chest.

    "You hurt me so badly, Master. I work my hardest to be rewarded by you, yet you shun me so unfairly. Uh huuu uh huuuu~!" Kiyu cried her crocodile tears, which Pei told Jin to ignore acting.

    "Boo, Pei you are no fun at all." Kiyu stuck her tongue out in retaliation as she stood up, adjusting her bright pink tight fit dress which showed her figure prominently.

    "In all seriousness, please send me the details directly in the future. The video for the Christmas Instance is done. You can take a look, and if you approve of it, we will upload it immediately." Kiyu said with a straight face.

    "Okay...but you did not require my permission for the previous one, so go ahead with this one too. I trust you can provide solid content for the public to view and bring me a fortune." Jin praised her and Kiyu''s expression perked up.

    "You...sure?" Kiyu did not expect her master to be this supportive of her work. Kraft looked at her and nodded his head too. He still remembered how previous System Users had viewed her as merely an object of desire and not a treasured betor. (Ming was not one of them since he had not had the chance toe into contact with the locked up ''troublemakers''.)

    "Be honest, did you let me y with Jin''s emotions so that you can show me that he might be a cut different from our former masters?" Kiyu sent her thoughts only to the two betors beside her.

    "How is he different? Still just as lecherous as every other man." Pei secretly smiled back at them. "But I have to admit that at least he makes an effort to resistpared to the rest of the masters we''ve encountered before...and he is receptive to feedback. He can improve if he moves in the right direction."

    "That is why the System was willing to release the two of you to me as part of his reward. Even though the System does not show it, it had begun to trust Jin more... Or at least it''s willing to take a high risk bet with him." Kraft replied via his thoughts while Jin was busy fiddling with his phone.

    "h, the System is as shady as ever if you ask me. Trust is a luxuriousmodity to it." Pei said as Kiyu came over and hugged her. "Do your job well and don''t tease him that much."

    Pei gently rubbed her head before Kiyu returned to her newly created room in Jin''s Terrace House to publish the video of the Christmas Instance that would be releasedter in the afternoon.

 Chapter 412 Gathering at Lele Caf├й

    <h4>Chapter 412 Gathering at Lele Cafиж</h4>

    "Hey, did not expect you to be here too." Bu Dong greeted Yue Wen, Yue Han''s elder sister, who was waiting for the other members of the Venus Four in Lele Cafиж.

    "Shouldn''t that be my line? Why are you here? Don''t you have exams right now? Yue Han told me that he had to study for onest paper." Yue Wen asked in an interrogating voice when she suddenly felt a shift of chi presence in the vicinity and a deep sense of guilt in the surrounding. She quickly turned her head and saw Yue Han trying to creep away from the scene after he went to the toilet.

    "Ma Yue Han! Where do you think you are going?!" Yue Wen asked, and Yue Han guessed he was busted. The stern look from his sister immediately revealed that if Yue Han did not tell the truth, he would be in even bigger trouble.

    He might run, but he could not hide forever since they were living under the same roof. Either way, being reprimanded now by her would be better than letting their parents know about it.

    "Didn''t you tell us just this morning that you had one more exam on Tuesday?" Yue Wen folded her arms and stared at Yue Han even though his eyes shifted to the ground.

    "Yeah... I did." Yue Han confessed without feeling too guilty. "But it''s just a series of multiple choice questions! And I know that subject by heart already. That''s why -"

    "That''s why you decided to y with Bu Dong? So are you going to take responsibility if he fails his exam just because you can excel at it?" Yue Wen questioned, but Bu Dong decided to intervene on Yue Han''s behalf.

    "Actually...my exam subjects are over. I took different subjects from Yue Han this year, and I''m willing to bet my life that he is really good with Physics. It shouldn''t be a problem for him to pass with flying colours even if-"

    "You shush!" Yue Wen interrupted him in an angry tone before she breathed out a sigh and calmed herself down a bit. She noticed that the customers in Lele Cafиж were looking at them with bated breath. Even Shen Si Fang had decided to remain at the sidelines for now.

    Never mess with ady when she''s angry.

    "Fine. However, I expect you to ace that exam! Also, you two are joining me for Jin''s new instance." Yue Wen took the opportunity to ckmail Yue Han, which made Bu Dong acknowledged what a crafty girl she was.

    "Don''t you have Shi Hui and Jia Ying...Oh..." Yue Han saw from a distance the two aforementioned girls with Se Lang and Deng Long. "I see...okay. I get what you mean now." Yue Han mumbled which Bu Dong agreed reluctantly to it.

    "It''s okay. We''ll have Jing Ru with us too. She ising to join us a bitter, hopefully not toote that we miss the opening of the new instance. In any case, the group dynamics are even out a little since you two excelled in close range." Yue Wen said as she grabbed Yue Han and screwed his head with her knuckle.

    "You are joining me no matter what, else I will tell mom that you lied about going to the library!" Yue Wen''s ckmail worked perfectly fine.

    "Ow. But Ow ow ow!" Yue Han could have tried to overpowered his sister when Yue Wen grappled him, but he decided to give it a rest since it was his fault in the first ce. "But technically Jin does have a library! So I was sorta telling the truth!" Yue Han argued back making his sister stopped in her tracks and unknowinglyughed.

    "Hahahah! Okay, that''s true." Yue Wen replied and let her younger brother off the hook for now as her two female friends and the policemen came in to greet her.

    "Ahh...guess it may be a good idea teaming up with her." Bu Dong told his best friend as he showed him the chat message he had just received.

    "Why? I cannot believe that Kong Xian abandoned us for real? I thought we had agreed on today!" Yue Hanined as he had informed his girlfriend, Xing Li, that he would be ying with the guys on the weekend.

    Kong Xian, Bu Dong and Yue Han had agreed toe together and check out the Christmas Instance on the day it would be released. If he had known Kong Xian would abandon them for his girlfriend, Yue Han would have also gone ahead and had a study date with Xing Li instead of ying with Bu Dong. Not to mention, he wouldn''t have had to lie and be caught by his elder sister.

    "Then you should have no qualms teaming up with me and Jing Ru, right?" Yue Wen had overheard her brotherined and Bu Dong nodded his head.

    "Why not? It''s not like we aren''t friends or anything." Bu Dong changed his tone a hundred and eighty degrees after he found out Kong Xian abandoned them. Besides, what he said was true.

    Bu Dong had been best pals with Yue Han for so long, his family kind of treated him as one of theirs. Because of that the Venus Four also knew Bu Dong for most of his life and treated him like their own younger brother. (Even though they sometimes shamelessly took advantage of his kindness and money.)

    "Have you guys seen the video that Jin''s new promoter made for the new Christmas Instance?" Se Lang who sat down at the table next to them asked as he swiped out his phone to show the rest and they all nodded their heads aggressively.

    Kiyu was in a little Santa Helper suit when she promoted the instance showing vague snapshots of the Christmas Instance, but they were not sure if the costume made her sexy or it was of her own doing.

    "Yeah I did! She is so beautiful. So hot." Shi Hui couldn''t help saying what was on everyone''s mind with her face turning very bubbly though Jia Ying sent a death stare at Se Lang for showing the video.

    "What did I do wrong? I just- Ow!" Se Lang felt a sudden paining from his feet and noticed that Jia Ying was stepping on it hard and her eyes were emanating a wave of murderous energy which even Deng Long could feel.

    "Just apologise!" Deng Long sent a private chi transmission to Se Lang which he quickly did and his buddy did a follow up to save his ass... Or so he thought.

    "Oh yeah, girls. Se Lang is treating us for the new Christmas Instance." Deng Long said which Yue Wen thanked Se Lang immediately upon hearing it from the opposing table.

    "WAAIT?! I didn''t-" Se Lang wanted to protest Deng Long''s sneak attack, but the girls were already giggling across the tables with Bu Dong and Yue Han seemingly having disapproving looks for his actions.

    "Why are you just treating the girls? Come on, treat the students too!" Yue Han said back, and that was when Shen Si Fang came to take their orders since as they were all seated.

    "You might as well treat the entire cafиж since everyone heard you." Si Fang teased while waiting for their orders and Se Lang became embarrassed to the point he wished to dig a hole to hide his face.

    "He might be able to do that. Recently, he earned an award with cash incentive for catching a group of Ruby Rat gangsters trying to gang up on him." Deng Long boasted about Se Lang''s endeavours that thetter was left speechless.

    "Oh is it the one where he single handedly beat them up for resisting arrest and attempting to harm a police officer with lethal weapons?" Shi Hui asked and Deng Long nodded his head. The people in the cafe were murmuring about his exploits and saying how the Ruby Rats were bing a nuisance.

    "Hahaha, don''t tease that man anymore. But thank you for making this street a lot safer. More and more Ruby Rats have been loitering around the shopping district that it made people feel unsafe." Si Fang sighed.

    "Boss Shen, you should train yourself up at Jin''s store since you are situated so close to him. If the Ruby Rats ever dare to disturb the cafe, you can at least defend your store." Yue Wen, who was also a frequent patron of Lele Cafиж, encouraged him with some concern.

    "Ahahah, I''m afraid I don''t have a great aptitude for much cultivation training." Shen Si Fang replied with a tinge of regret in him, but suddenly all seven of the cultivators were fiercely encouraging him to give it a try.

    "Trust me. I thought I was useless and was already content that my cultivation let me stay awake at night slightly longer. But look at me. I even managed to reach Grade 4 all thanks to Jin''s dungeons!" Yue Han said proudly.

    "Yeah, that little kid now canst longer in the night, burning more midnight oil ying video games with Bu Dong instead of studying." Yue Wen rolled her eyes as she remembered how she was awoken all of a sudden because Yue Han screaming out of the blue after winning an online game match.

    "You should at least try the random arena instance. That particr instance will match you with a monster suited to current grade, and you can start training from there. " Shi Hui suggested as that was how she trained her skills up every once in a while if she was not with Se Lang or the rest of the Venus Four. "Plus it''s on the cheaper side of the types of instances he offers."

    "Alternatively, you can attempt the Goblin Raid Event. I heard that Jin is nning to extend it up till Feb next year. There are all sorts of prizes to be earned, and the ticket price is quite reasonable. Even those grandmas and grandpas from the Morning Taichi Group have joined in." Se Lang proposed other options to Si Fang.

    "Oh ho. I heard it''s best not to mess with those old folks. They may not look like it, but they pack quite a punch against those orcs when bunched together. If I am not wrong, even the Ruby Rat gangsters have begun to be wary of them." Deng Long remembered overhearing some Grannys boasting how they enjoyed the dungeon run during his morning patrol.

    "Heh, who knows? Maybe this Christmas Instance might have something easy for beginners to test it out. Especially after the release of the Escape City Dungeon Instance that featured the Deep Ones." Bu Dong chimed in which Ying concurred.

    "Yeah, seems like Jin has a tendency to release a rtively easy content or service instance and a hard content alternatively to continue to attract people. Unless he decided to spice it up for thising Christmas Instance." Jia Ying added.

    "Hahah, you guys. While I thank you all for your concern, are you all going to order something?" Si Fang asked, and they began to order some drinks to pass the time while waiting for Jing Ru. There was still an hour before the opening, and the two groups needed some space to sort out the equipment they recently bought.

    However, for Shen Si Fang, he had been thinking long and hard whether to join the crowd too. He did not want to remain helpless if those rowdy Ruby Rat gangsters decided to show up one day and trash his ce.

    The police had sent an updated memo to the Shopping Districtmittee to be wary against the Ruby Rats since there were increased reports of these gangsters illegally gathering around the shopping district.

    Fortunately, the police too, had stepped up their patrols since it was nearing the festive period. With Jin giving them new police equipment and inscriptions, the police were better equipped to handle the Ruby Rats. In addition, the police increased the number of training they had via Jin''s dungeons and many had advanced their cultivation grades in less than a month.

    There were policemen whose cultivation had stayed stagnant for years finally managed to reach a new cultivation grade all thanks to Jin''s tough dungeons. Each neer to the store was pleasantly surprised how reinvigorated they felt after trying his shop out, and the advancement of their colleagues prompted them all to improve continuously.

    Even Lai Fu, the general store boss of Fresh Price began to say positive stuff about Jin''s store after Jin kept his promise of providing him with a darn good experience in the Reservoir of Deep Fishing Service Instance.

    Being a rather impatient person for such an opportunity to fish for free, Lai Fu was not able to wait any longer when he found out that his old fishing pals were not able tomit. So, he decided to invite the shoppingmittee members in order not to waste the one time chance even though there was no time expiration on this particr favour.

    Thus, the first experience of Jin''s store, which Si Fang received was more than fantastic. It was memorable.

    "PerhapsбнI should ask Lai Fu to apany me to try out the dungeons." Si Fang wondered as he admitted feeling a bit envious of the bunch of cultivatorsughing and talking about what to expect for this particr new Christmas Instance. He had watched the promotional video with Kiyu in it and somehow that video made his heart itch to try it out.

    "Hi guys! Sorry I amte!" Jing Ru greeted them as she waved goodbye to her father, who had given her a lift to Jin''s store.

    "Ahh, Jing Ru! I heard that your Dad brought you to try out some real monster hunting at the city''s outskirts!!" Shi Hui asked and Jing Ru nodded her head as she took her phone out and showed a picture of what she had killed to everyone

    "Thisбнisn''t this a One Winged Wolf? That''s like a Grade 5 monster!" Yue Han eximed excitedly as the phone was being passed around and everyone was praising her.

    "Wow, a clean headshot." Se Lang praised her and Deng Long who was at his side agreed.

    "Yeah, surprisingly, it''s not as hard as I thought it would be. Somehow, the monsters I killed paled inparison to Jin''s. Still, it''s rather concerning that such a high level monster was sighted in the area." Jing Ru replied.

    "Hmm, I''ve heard of an increase in the number of reports of monster sightings, but they are still within the errors of margins ording to my buddy from the Border Guards." Deng Long tried to talk down the situation.

    "I gotta say I envy you a bit. I wish I had a father to give me an opportunity to try monster hunting as a licensed Monster yer."

    "Aww please, as I said, they were really nothingpared to Jin''s monsters. Anyways, let''s get going!" Jing Ru replied, and the whole gang of Pandawans bid goodbye to Si Fang.

    Meanwhile, some of the customers were chatting whether to try out the Christmas Instance as advertised loudly by the cultivators and Si Fang could see that Dungeons and Pandas was bing a big deal to the localmunity.

    "Yeahбнperhaps I should give it a try soon." Si Fang pondered before he sent out a message asking his othermittee members if they were interested in joining in after opening shop hours.

 Chapter 413 Business Owners

    <h4>Chapter 413 Business Owners</h4>

    "Soбнyou are finally nning to try one of Boss Jin''s instances?" He Rong, the shop owner for toy models, Toyz Contention, came into the now empty shop of Lele Cafиж to find Shen Si Fang looking through his storage ring.

    He saw Lai Fu, the Owner of the general goods store, Fresh Price, and Ke Ru, the franchise store manager of the shopping district''s Wacdonalds sitting at a corner having a coffee break together.

    "You came too?" Ke Ru giggled a little, but her wrinkles were visible. With time, age had started to catch up on her. Luckily, the spiritual powers gained through killing the monsters in Jin''s dungeons on the asional visits made it easy for her to maintain her cultivation and thus better skinplexion.

    That was why in recent times all the grannies would smiling wide with glee. And people wondered why some girls in Jin''s store were battle maniacs. Most would say that it was to maintain their beauty, although Jin offering those beautiful clothes with inscription slots made the battle ''addiction'' worse.

    "It''s been quite a while since you picked up your weapon. But I thought you said you would not do so unless you retired from your cafиж?" Lai Fu asked, and Si Fangughed bitterly.

    "Ohe on, you know exactly what happened that time when I picked my weapon, right?" Si Fang sighed upon mentioning the past. "Don''t you think you should give me some credit for the courage of wanting to pick up my sword again?"

    "How could anyone forget? Aaaahhh, those were the days... You were so eager and nervous to prove yourself that you tripped and stabbed He Rong in the butt." Ke Ruughed as she reminisced how the four of them went dungeoneering in the past before they became individual shop owners.

    "And then the monster ambushed you, and I had to fight with a broken sword stuck in my butt just to protect your ass." He Rong shook his head, but to Si Fang, it was extremely embarrassing because he had wanted to impress a girl that he liked a lot.

    And she was none other than the shop attendant in the dungeon store. He had boasted to her that she should watch his performanceбн unfortunately, she did. He became aughing stock that he did not patronise any dungeon supplier ever since, until Jin''s arrival.

    "I wonder what happened to that store attendant girl." Lai Fu wondered out loud as he offered a sit to He Rong.

    "Last I heard, she was going out with this hunky high cultivation grade dude. Ah, don''t you worry Si Fang. Your wife is so much better than that girl. Speaking of which, did you tell her you were going out for a dungeon instance?" He Rong replied to the group while asking Si Fang for a free coffee.

    "She did not believe me until I showed her the electronic ticket I bought from Boss Jin''s store. Surprisingly, she was very supportive about me trying the Christmas Instance." Si Fang said as he kept his sword in his storage ring once again.

    "Huh, I heard that the new Christmas Instance is unlike the rest of Boss Jin''s dungeon instances from my regrs. They tried it just now and informed me that it was fascinating. I''ve asked them for more details, but they replied it would be best to take a look at it myself." Lai Fu shrugged his shoulders.

    "Yeah, even that Niu Lang who works for Boss Jin, did not want to tell me any details at all. Even when I promised him more discounts in exchange, he remained tight lipped about it." He Rong shared as he remembered that fellow toy model enthusiast who kept asking for more and more tools as well as advice on how to build them properly.

    "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s get going. I want to go back home after the instance to dry my clothes." Ke Ru said, but He Rong had yet to have his coffee. Si Fang outright denied He Rong and they all walked towards Jin''s store.

    ------------------------

    "No way!" the four middle aged business owners were stunned when they entered the shop instance. The interior dижcor had turned into a Christmas theme. 3D holographic snow was falling from the ceiling andter disappearing the moment it dropped on the ground.

    There were piles of real pure snow at the corners of the auditorium that did not get dirty from touching it, which gave people the chance to y with it. (Which Jin found many of them to be very childish since all of them unhesitatingly throw those snowballs at his big headed panda costume.)

    However, the most striking feature was the gigantic Grand Fir tree that was over 50 metres tall filled with multiple decorations from big bulky socks, toys, artificial candies to mini stuffed toy pandas trying their best climb the top.

    Speaking of the top, there''s a panda with angel wings and halo holding onto a star and once every while, it would shimmer with a bright light that caused the entire Grand Fir tree to emit a noticeable rainbow aura around it.

    "IT''S NOW!" Someone shouted and suddenly everyone who had been minding their own business in the store immediately perked up.

    "Why are they rushing towards us?" Lai Fu, who was admiring the tree, looked at the iing horde of cultivators.

    "I think it''s not to us but this!!" Si Fang pointed at the side of him and indicated the tree was glowing with an immense aura. Suddenly his phone vibrated and so did the entire groups of cultivators. He realised that everyone in the vicinity of the tree had picked up their phones, all cheering.

    Ke Ru took out her phone and saw a notification from the Pandamonium App, which automatically got updated when entering Jin''s store. "Oh! It''s a lottery wheel!" Ke Ru eximed which prompted the rest to check their phones carefully.

    The lottery wheel had various chances to win bronze, silver and gold panda medals but the odds were smaller for the silver and gold medals. For the first spin, Ke Ru managed to get five silver medals while the rest got 15 bronze medals. When they asked around, a nearby customer told them that every time the tree shimmered with a rainbow aura, they had to be near the tree to receive this free lottery wheel chance.

    "However, it happens randomly, and there does not seem to be any specific intervals. Sometimes it can take two hours, other times even just 1 minute apart! I think Boss Jin did this to prevent anyone from ''loitering'' at this ce just for free goodies." The male customer exined.

    "There may also be a limit on how many times you can get it too, per day that is. I read that five is the maximum from certain users on the forum, but I''ve yet to confirm it personally since this was just my fourth time." Another male customer said and the store owners nodded their head in acknowledgement.

    "That is not like Jin to give precious medals out like candies." Lai Fu who had confronted Jin before knew that this was not his characteristic.

    "Hahah, you will understand when you enter the Christmas Instance." A Santa Panda''s muffled voice came from behind them.

    "Oh, Boss Jin!" The owners said in unison when the Santa Panda took off hisrge bulky panda head to reveal Jin. (Actually, it''s Another Jin manning the store.)

    "I am pleasantly surprised that you guys are here." Another Jin greeted them back in a happy tone and He Rong told him about their situation.

    "So...yea erm that''s why we haven''t tried any dungeon instances together for a very long time." He Rong exined the non embarrassing version to Jin, stating that they were budding cultivators before they became business owners and did not have the time to cultivate at all. But with Jin''s dungeon opening all day round, they thought it was not too hard squeezing in some time to get a bit of a workout.

    "Yeah, we are nning to train so we can guard our personal establishments and not let those rowdy Ruby Rats make us look like clowns." Ke Ru said even though the risk of her getting injured should technically be lesser, especially with many of the cultivators who passed by Jin''s store, would certainly patronise Wacdonalds every once in a while. But it was true that it would not hurt bringing their cultivation grades up to defend themselves from possible attacks.

    "Thus, we would like to try the Christmas Instance as advertised in your promotional video." Lai Fu replied which made Jin ponder for a while.

    "To be honest, the Christmas Instance is not exactly the best ce to start proper training. It''s more like a service instance rather than serious dungeon instance. Though that may change somewhat in theing days." Jin revealed with a bit of mystery, and Si Fang face turned white.

    "But...I''ve already bought the electronic ticket from the Pandamonium App..." Si Fang seemed down and the rest of his fellow store owners began tough at his terrible luck.

    "Seriously, the only times you''ve had good luck was with finding your wife and the cafe. You really cannot be doing anything else." He Rongughed as he pped Si Fang''s back tofort him.

    "Okay, actually with your current grades, I suppose you can use the new instance as a method of training your cultivation too. Though in Lai Fu''s case, who is STILL a Grade 4 cultivator, it would probably be more of a fun experience for him." Jin revised his exnation upon looking at their grades via the System''s Pandamonium App. (The System could portray the stats of a cultivator in the dungeon for Jin to examine if hemands, but Jin guess the phone was more natural than staring at someone for a long time.)

    Jin also purposely mentioned Lai Fu''s name to make him a little guilty since that General Store Owner had decided to take up the Reservoir of Deep Fishing Instance free tickets and never return to patronise a second time. It made Jin slightly bitter. Yet it seems that his reply had no impact on the General Store Owner one bit.

    "However, in the future, when I add in a special feature for that instance, I assure you that everyone will be able to use that service instance as a part of their training regime," Jin replied as he took down the rest of the Panda Costume that he was wearing in front of them.

    "If you want, I can escort you guys there and provide several rmendations to train your cultivation," Jin added.

    "Sure, why not?" Lai Fu took him up on the offer and Jin proceeded to teach the store owners how to use Pandamonium App. Ke Ru remembered the mere basics since she did a dungeon or two before, but it did not hurt to have an impromptu tutorial as a refresher from Boss Jin.

    While he did not have to do any of this, he found it could potentially be beneficial to stay on the good side of the shopping districtmittee. Nevertheless, he did not give any business discounts to them, and they knew it was not personal, just the job.

    "Don''t we need to be in a party or something?" Si Fang asked remembering how the Pandawans in the morning were talking about team strategies and stuff.

    "Hahah! You will understand when you enter the instance." Jin smiled as hemanded the System telepathically to teleport them into the Christmas Instance.

    "Oh. My. God." "What is THIS?!?!" Lai Fu shouted, and the rest of his group were shocked too. "You created all of this?!" Lai Fu could not believe his eyes and Jin nodded his head proudly while he saw their stunned faces like all the other customers that first came into the instance.

    "Hi! Wee to WunderPanda! A Winter Wondend Theme Park to cater to every cultivators'' desires and fulfilling their wildest imagination!" A Panda Mascot came out from the front gates to greet them cheerfully.

 Chapter 414 WunderPanda Theme Park Instance

    <h4>Chapter 414 WunderPanda Theme Park Instance</h4>

    WunderPanda!

    Jin had this inspiration ever since he used the broken theme park for the zombies'' home instance. Every single monster loved the theme park (including Derpy before he was no longer allowed) despite its terrible working conditions.

    Therefore, Jin decided to reward his monsters for their hard work (especially with the whole war) with a tremendous Service Instance to provide them with another ce to rest, rx and enjoy. But as he was designing it, he suddenly thought why make it exclusive to his monsters?

    Why not open it to the public as well?

    This way, Jin could recuperate some losses from building this instance as well as ensure future profits if it turned out to be viable. His customers might even like meeting the monsters they fought in person and perhaps take pictures with them too.

    Giving the monsters some fame and joy would definitely be an excellent way to foster a rtionship between them and the cultivators. However, Jin felt that a need to cramp in a little more than usual for this particr service instance mainly because he was aware that only a fraction of his customer base used his other services instances on a regr basis. His primary source of ie undoubtedly originated from his Dungeon Instances.

    Jin had considered decreasing the prices of the service instances to induce more people to try it out and hopefully keep using them, but the System begged to differ otherwise. The price was meant to keep the service instance exclusive (except for Panda Muscles Instance) as the System did use top notch materials to create the particr instances (even though they were considered ''scraps/trash'' where it purchased them).

    Jin thought that it was unusual for the System to disagree to something that could bring in more customers. He was even more surprised to learn that it did not mind the losses as it was thinking more of the long term where other wealthy cultivators, especially the higher grades, were to join Jin''s store.

    "You sure we can even attract such people to our stores?" Jin once looked at the statistics of the customers who entered his store. They were mainly Grade 1''s and Grade 2''s. Only with time and persistent training from the cultivators who loved the ce did their grades went up. That was evident with the Pandawans.

    "About fifty percent or more high grade cultivators are wealthy enough to pay for such a price. In fact, every other world runs on the same principle. Wealth brings power. Power brings prestige. Prestige brings wealth. " The System stated tantly.

    "Right now, User has nothing in his name, but the System has the power to assist User to increase his prestige, thus bringing User more money. Other users will eventually notice your store. System rmends preparing some VIP features to make it even more expensive, as those people like to feel a cut above the rest." The System stated unwilling topromise on the prices unless Jin could convince it.

    For example, that 10% discount on the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring service instance was a decent move by Jin, though it had already touched on the System''s limit of what it would allow.

    So in order not topromise on quality and price, Jin decided to use another kind of business model and hence that became the perfect time to implement the theme park idea. They were going to sell them rtively cheap entry tickets and then burn the customer''s pocket linings with the rides and merchandise which were avable in the theme park. Aside from that, it was not all the theme park could offer.

    WunderPanda was not going to be just an ordinary theme park but a theme park cum Cultivation Zoo.

    Jin initially wanted to mix the live zoo animals and the theme park together but quickly realised that it would be better to give the zoo animals the feeling of a natural habitat which would make them happier. Happier and freer animals would enable them to portray their individual skills. Thus, while the instance right now was mainly about WunderPanda, Jin had ced the zoo right opposite of the theme park, so the cultivators have to make a choice which to visit in the future.

    The idea of implementing a Cultivation Zoo Instance as a standalone service instance had been in his to do list, but because of the System''s constant reminders to visit Grandma Yuan, he got partially influenced by the System.

    Thus, Jin decided to include the zoo portion as part of the theme park instance even though he had yet to contact Grandma Yuan''s assistant. He was nning to visit Grandma Yuan anyway and learn more about the Demon Exorcist matter. Therefore, he might as well discuss both issues at the same time. (True enough, the System now ced visiting Grandma Yuan as a priority task.)

    On a separate note, Jin had already prepared a number of selected natural habitats for the animals to live in, especially a bamboo forest mountain habitat for the pandas. (His assuming he would be getting one!) Jin could never forget the pandas he met in the zoo, especially Xin after forging that spiritual union. Though for now, a signpost and construction barriers was ced opposite the theme park entrance that stated the following: ''Currently under construction. Opening soon in 1st quarter of the New Year!''

    "This ce is fantastic." Si Fang praised as he walked alongside the store owners to check out the WunderPanda theme park. The pathways were filled with both cultivators and even some of the monsters which he had seen advertised outside Jin''s store.

    As expected by Jin, most of the cultivators initially thought that they were some NPC mascots which were masquerading as the monsters which they fought with like the werejackals. However when the monsters startedmenting on the cultivators when they were taking pictures together, the cultivators realised that they were like the monsters they had fought.

    Some of the monsters even remembered the cultivators that gave them a hard time and to the customers, they could not believe they are interacting with such a highly advanced AI for an NPC. (They would never guess that the monsters were real, but the more perceptive ones thought otherwise.)

    Through further observations, the store owners realised that each ride had a theme corresponding to a type of monster previously encountered in the Dungeon Instances. Even the previous themed dungeons, the Halloween Instance and the Qixi Festival had their own attractions.

    The Panda Mascots at the front of the theme park handed out a WunderPanda map brochure which showed all the currently avable rides and every one of them was contemting which one to try first. "There''s the Goblin Waterlog ride, going through the depths of the jungle and subsequently through a waterfall," Jin suggested as he pointed at the map andter raised his hand to show where the ride was. The store owners saw a cliff far ahead with a steep waterfall and people screaming their lungs out.

    "It''s not a game station that can be used for training, but I assured you the view from the top, and the thrill you get is -Oh erm...Yea."Jin then stopped and realised that the middle aged adults might not necessarily want to take a thrilling ride.

    "The Zither Mistress String Obstacle Course seems exciting judging by the description." He Rong said as he told the gang that it was more of a game to earn panda medals than a ride. The cultivators would have to try reaching the other end, a rtively short distance of around 400 metres in the shortest amount of time possible.

    As a matter of course, there were a lot of obstacles ced in their way, and they needed to avoid every string created by the Zither Mistress, Ke Mi. The System had assigned a clone to do the job, but Ke Mi was allowed to personally entertain them if she wished.

    Since it was the first opening day of the Theme Park Instance, Ke Mi had decided to be on the set to experience it herself. Jin briefly told them that it was a timed race, and every string they got hit by would increase the timing by 5 seconds. As long as they stayed under a certain time limit, panda medals would be awarded making for a fun form of training too. If a team of people participated, they could enter as a ry and possibly earn more panda medals as a group.

    "What about this? Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge?" Si Fang asked, and Jin answered it was something simr to rock climbing but instead of a cliff, he had to climb up the Ancient Treant Shu and grab a prize ticket that was hanging off its branches.

    "Technically, it does not matter how long you take, as long as you do not fall and trust me, Shu will definitely make things difficult. But there is also timer for the morepetitive cultivators to have their names in the board of rankings." Jin said with confidence. He added that this was also a game and like the rest, it would cost five panda medals each round for the first three rounds of the day.

    If they wished to retry more than three rounds, it would cost them more panda medals as a multiplier would be added into the cost, else they could alternatively spend some real cash for doing so (which was slightly expensive.) Now everyone understood why Jin had revamped the amount of panda medals given.

    It was not just for new equipment but to spend for this theme park as well since there were rewards of three unique sets of cosmetic inscriptions that could be earnt by ying the games and rides here.

    Jin purposely created the games to make training more exciting and fun, but for those hardcore trainees, the Panda Muscles instance was also avable within the WunderPanda, and they did not have to pay a single cent extra. Some might think it''s a bargain, but the System and Jin knew it was just the illusion of choice.

    If a gym goer wished to visit Panda Muscles, it was cheap enough for them to enter but if they thought entering the Theme Park while also enjoying Panda Muscles would be a better deal for their money, by all means. Jin would love to have more money in his pockets.

    In fact, the Panda Muscles in the WunderPanda was designed to be outdoors, so the ones training were visible for others, which could result in some feeling motivated to join in. Even the System closed an eye over this situation despite its irond rule of needing to pay for every instance since the WunderPanda entry ticket was already an added barrier of entry which the cultivators foolishly paid for if their sole purpose was to enjoy both WunderPanda and Panda Muscles.

    That way, it also made Panda Muscles instance livelier with the added crowd from the theme park instance, but Jin did not stop juicing people for their need for privacy. Cultivators who wished to have a quieter time, they could add half the price of the ticket to move to a quieter instance with fewer people or pay an additional cost of a ticket to get an instance with the entire gym all to themselves. To the System, it was merely mirroring the service as it has always done for other dungeon instances. Thus, it''s a quick buck for Jin.

    "Let''s just try the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge." Ke Ru and the rest of the store owners decided to go with Shen Si Fang''s decision since they had to start somewhere. Anyways, they had all the time in the world to try all the other ridester.

    -------

    "Eh yo Boss Jin, you know. I think it''s better we erm...try the Zither Mistress String Obstacle Race." Si Fang chickened out the moment he saw howrge the Sakura tree was. Initially, he had no idea because it was out of his sight, and he thought that the brochure map was exaggerating the size of it through the pictures.

    Si Fang was aware that some theme parks would try to entice people by erging certain rides on the map to make them stand out. That''s how he had felt until Jin led them to a ce with a row of elevators being used near the edge of a cliff, though he did not go near the edge of the cliff. (Fun fact! The waterfall log ride was further up on another cliff higher than the one they were at.)

    The moment they took the ss elevator, they saw the immersive view of a gigantic blooming tree filled with Sakura Blossoms and Shu''s petals were filling the air with its magnificent presence. With a nce, Si Fang could see that there were some cultivators trying out the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge running up the tree trunk.

    Unfortunately, it was not as easy as running up a in smooth wall. The trunk grew branches to both assist the cultivators in climbing as well as hindering other cultivators by blocking their ascend. There were even times the lovely Sakura petals would fly like a razor towards the ascending cultivator without any hesitation.

    A misstep would undoubtedly cause the cultivator to fall. If the cultivator were lucky enough, he would be able to grab on to Shu''s tree bark and suffer some scraps on his skin. If he wasn''t then, the cultivator immediately arrived at the bottom of the trunk where Pandas attendants wearing a magical cape as part of their attire stopped from the cultivators stting into pieces with gravity magic. (Courtesy of Peppers!)

    The Panda attendants with those magical capes called themselves the Wunder Pandits.

    Some of the Wunder Pandits were even parodies of different superheroes. There was one with a giant ''WP'' on the middle of his chest, one with a belt full of gadgets, one with a giant shield and many more flying around to assist with some of the rides which required more attendants. Jin wanted to make this ce feel magical, and what could be more magical than flying pandas? He also reckoned it would be more efficient and cost effectivepared to creating more NPCs. (Plus it''s more shy too!)

    The store owners reached the bottom of the trunk where there''s an ongoing queue and it was probably the only service instance where the cultivators had to wait a while for their turn. However, the line served another purpose.

    Anticipation and Anxiety.

    Shen Si Fang was filled with thetter but with the addition of dread. If it''s not for his fellow friendly store owners'' persistence, he would have returned home and enjoyed beingzy on his couch while watching TV.

    "Nope, once you picked up that sword, you are bound to use again." Lai Fu chuckled with a sly smile.

    "What did I get intoбн." Si Fang thought to himself as his friends literally dragged him into the queue.

 Chapter 415 Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 415 Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge</h4>

    Even though Jin was the master of the store, he acted as one of the cultivators waiting for his turn. Some immediately recognised Jin in the queue but ignored him to mind their own business and continued chatting with their friends etc.

    Else, it was just a few random questions from the bystanders since some recognised Lai Fu, Si Fang, Jin and even Ke Ru when they were in the queue but nothing too drastic. (The only people capable of recognising He Rong would be toy model enthusiasts, so he was fine with not being known.)

    Yet, Jin did not stop the bystanders because it distracted Si Fang for a while from the real problem of trying out the Sakura Treant Climbing challenge which worked wonderfully well. Si Fang did not know it was his turn until the Wunder Pandit asked for payment to enter the challenge.

    That was also when the store owners could see Si Fang challenging to climb away from the queue fence in order to escape the artificial ordeal which his friends had put him into. "Oh no, you are not going anywhere else!" Lai Fu grabbed him even without summoning his cultivation while Ke Ru took his phone and tapped it at the payment scanner.

    Since they did not have that many medals, they used real cash to pay for it, and Si Fang epted his fate as his friends had alreadypleted the payment for him. Might as well get it over and done with. "There is no way at all, that I can somehowplete this." Si Fang thought to himself with such low confidence, but his friends were not giving up on him since they knew that he attributed his ipetency to the years of inactivity.

    "We will do what we can. Maybe Boss Jin could show us how it''s done? That might give Si Fang a confidence booster." He Rong proposed and many of the cultivators nearby spontaneously approved of hisment by cheering and encouraging both Jin and Si Fang to get to it. The crowd also wanted to know the cultivation prowess of this dungeon supplier. For him to create such incredible crazy dungeons, he should be as great as these Wunder Pandits flying around.

    "No, I can''t really fly at all. You guys are expecting too much from me!" Jin replied slightly embarrassed while chuckling at the ridiculousments the nearby cultivators gave. But the moment, this small little crowd started to cheer Boss Jin''s name, everyone in the vicinity began to take notice, and the attention towards Jin only grewrger. "I guess I better demonstrate quickly before they attract an evenrger crowd." Jin thought to himself as he took out Bam, his katana.

    "Oh ho ho, do not think I will go easy on you Master just because tens of people are watching you," Shu warned him through his telepathy as the treant suddenly grow a lotrger than before to deal with Jin as the new challenger.

    "This is impossible even as a group attempting this challenge together~!" Si Fang trembled as he voiced his concern and got even more scared to the point that he nearly ck out.

    "Hahaha, please don''t worry. The Wunder Pandits are just adjusting the difficulty to my level." Jinughed as he stretched his arms a little while ensuring Bam was sheathed properly.

    "Yes, Sir. Do not be rmed. We will adjust the challenge for youter on. This is merely for the demonstration of our Boss." The Wunder Pandits assured Si Fang and his group of friends.

    "You watching this?" Kraft asked as he was overlooking the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge from the cliff above while pretending to sip on an ice cold drink he bought in the WunderPanda theme park. The two ck foxes sitting on the wide metal railings nodded their heads as they had their eyes on a few cultivators who were closely observing Jin''s every action since the time he had entered.

    "Considering the numerous times that we have beaten the Ruby Rats, they are practically counting death to enter our dungeon instances. And you! You so readily allowed them toe in." Kraft said with annoyance at a particr entity,

    "As long as they pay money, System won''t refuse them. System trusts the capabilities of those protecting User. Besides, User has also been alerted of their appearance too." The System stated.

    "Oddly enough, they are not the only ones watching Jin." Kiyu had a hoodie on so that her presence would be hidden from other cultivators.

    "To think the Three Eyed Tigers are concerned about him too." Kraft took his phone out and within seconds, the System transmitted the video feed of the other gangsters into his phone to have a better look at them.

    "System did not mention Yang Ling''s triad members to User as System felt it was not necessary to do so. Original Betor Kraft may be interested to know that the third daughter of the Royal Zodiac Tiger is in the instance as well." System said as it switched the video feed to Yang Ling who was trying out the Zither Mistress Obstacle Course.

    "Huh, Tiger girl turned even prettier with her hair longer, and she managed to hide her gearbox rather nicely in that long elegant pleated grey skirt of hers." Kraft praised her which made the foxes and Kiyu curious to learn more. She quickly turned into a fox while no one was looking to have a peek at Kraft''s phone.

    "Aww yeah, she is definitely Jin''s type but doesn''t he have Qiu Yue already?" Kiyu asked, and both the ck foxes Tsu and Kai shook their heads simultaneously.

    "You have much more to learn than just seducing a guy, though you could say Jin''s heart is more like a girl''s rather than a staunch straightforward young man. He''s definitely part of the strawberry generation no matter how you look at it, we kind of have to beat him up to toughen his stance. But for now..." Kraft answered as he tilted his head at the crowd''s loud cheering which could be heard even from the cliff that was hundreds of metres above.

    With the help of the System, Shu had erged itself even further to the point of surpassing the height of the cliff that was supposed to keep the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge a surprise secret for the first timers.

    Jin began sprinting towards the tree to gain some momentum the second those cute Wunder Pandits rang a gong at the side of the queue. When he was near the Tree, he focused his chi in his shoes and shot himself as high as he could, barely touching the tree trunk.

    Nearly fifty metres before he felt that his speed was slowing down considerably, he grabbed on the tree bark to get a proper bearing for a moment. After which, Jin propelled himself upwards, only to encounter arge piece of rock growing out of Shu''s trunk.

    Was he going to hit head on? No. Instead, he focused some chi on his hands, and attempted to grab the rock, using it as a support. However, he did not realise it would be so smooth until his hands slipped further up and Jin''s body knocked onto the rock, causing him to fall.

    Was that it? Nope.

    Jin quickly recovered and repositioned himself facing the ground while using his Epic Sword Art, Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda. He did not call out its name and used as little chi as possible to activate it so that his cultivation grade would not appear.

    Thus, it made the strength of cyclone weak. Still, it was enough to create sufficient uplift for Jin to push upwards and head towards the rock again. (Should he fully unleash the epic art, he believed that he would fly up at least a few hundred metres.)

    Now that he knew about the rock surface being so smooth, he increased the amount of chi on his hands to improve the grip to grab onto it. Afterwards, he pulled himself up with just one hand since he was holding his Bam Katana with the other, and the cultivators watching were pping for him.

    "You are not nning on making this easy for me, are you?" Jin sent a chi voice transmission to the Treant which it responded to with a rain of sakura petals falling towards him.

    "I can make it even harder if that''s what you want," Shu replied with a gigle in his chi transmission and the rock Jin was standing on seemed to be shaking. He immediately realised that Shu was purposely messing with him, so Jin took a quick leap at a 45 degree angle towards a branch that seemed to be within reach. Meanwhile, the cultivators at the bottom were all watching with anticipation, hoping that he could reach that particr branch.

    Although Shu was ying mean, it was not to that degree of unfairness. Hence, the branch remained as it was and Jin managed to grab it before bncing himself at the top of the branch. Suddenly, Jin could feel a slight change in the atmosphere and dodged in time as he saw a de sliding a few centimetres vertically away from him. It was none other than Shu''s (Giant) Praying Mantis pet.

    Not a moment of rest after barely dodging the attack, the Praying Mantis used its other front leg to sh at Jin which he parried using his scabbard. Without much space on the top of a three metre long branch, Jin had to either defeat the pet or ascend as quickly as possible to grab a prize before the allocated time was up.

    "Sorry, Mantis. I am going to be a little ruthless." Jin mumbled as he took out Boo from his storage ring him as well to dual wield against the double ded legs. It was a furious flurry of blows, and the branch they were standing on shook violently. It could give way if one of the shes hit the branch.

    It didn''t take long until the Mantis could not keep up with Jin, leaving an opening which Jin made use of to shoot a beam of Panda Yawning while portraying three pandas silhouettes above him. Jin kept himself in check to ensure that he did not use too much power so that the people monitoring him would be misinformed.

    Nevertheless, a Grade 3 Panda Yawning chi beam was ''sufficient'' to decapitate the Mantis and Jin did not hesitate to jump up again instead of climbing the tree like what other cultivators should do.

    While it was not obvious, Shu assisted with his pet''s decapitation with falling sakura petals since it was not entirely visible from the angle and height which the Ruby Rats were watching from. He knew that his master was keeping his powers in check the moment he slipped from the rock.

    "Hmm, I cannot confirm his cultivation grade, but he used some weird air cyclone technique which seemed weak as fuck and the same chi beam he had used against Lai Fu." A Ruby Rat member monitoring Jin was rying his information via a wireless Bluetooth receiver which Kraft and the System intercepted easily.

    "He must be hiding his cultivation, but in most circumstances, this kind of people will show their true powers because who doesn''t like to show off? Have all eyes remain at him." The person at the receiving end replied before cutting abruptly.

    "But...he is already done..." The Ruby Rat mumbled as Jin had reached the closest price ticket he could find and picked it up. After which, he performed a free fall, and it became the Wunder Pandits turn to shine as they flew up and grabbed their master down. Everyone cheered again apanied with a tremendous amount of apuse.

    "There was no wasted movement at all." Lai Fu said as he evaluated Jin''s climb. "But it was boring. Even the fight against me that time was more exciting."

    "Yeah, I was expecting some crazy show of skills too." Ke Ru nodded her head in agreement.

    "Hey, it''s not my fault you did not expect me to shoot a beam of chi from my mouth that time! I was just showing you the attraction. I never nned to entertain you with some crazy technique y." Jin rebutted, but they did not care because now it was Si Fang''s turn to act.

    "I can do it. I can do it." Si Fang tried to calm himself down by repeating those words of encouragement like a mantra. He still remembered Jin back when he first came into Tiangong Shopping District, all clueless and naive. Si Fang thought a young entrepreneur like him would notst more than three months with the declining business atmosphere the district had.

    However, Jin kept on pressing and even though he had some special ''trade secrets'', it was obviously due to his perseverance that he managed to get where he was right now and not by escaping reality. He even changed how Tiangong Shopping District felt like. Definitely more lively than before. Si Fang would not lie that the increased number of customers he was getting would all attributed because of Jin.

    "Don''t worry. This is why we are doing this as a team." Lai Fu said as he patted his friend''s back and revealed his two handed great sword.

    "You better not fall, I want a portion of that prize ticket too." He Rong unsheathed his own sword.

    "At the very least, the tree grew back to normal." Ke Ru smiled as she brandished her sword too. Out of the four of them, only Lai Fu was the odd one out because the other three store owners were once fellow disciples from the same cultivation training ''school'', teaching the Hunting Hog Style.

    It started out as a university side module that Si Fang, He Rong and Ke Ru happened to take together as students. Due to the overwhelming work, the three of them who were in the same project group decided to learn cultivation from a grandmaster who was giving out free lessons.

    Their grandmaster, like other cultivation grandmasters had cooperated with the university to provide a basic course for the students and nned to teach them more about his self created style if they were willing to be his students. It was simr to the Cultivation zoo where various grandmasters tried to gain students but in a more formal setting via the university module.

    Si Fang''s grandmaster initially gained a lot of students'' interest for showing a unique ability, and he was delighted by the overwhelming response.

    Thus, he borrowed a barren temple ground to teach those willing to push themselves. The grandmaster hoped that they would spread the word of his Hunting Hog style among the many famous styles out there that were somewhat rted to the Royal Zodiacs Styles.

    Sadly, the only students he ever had were those three that were genuinely interested in his Hunting Hog Style.

    "Hesitate no more Si Fang! Go for it! Amand from your Senior in cultivation!" Ke Ru shouted at Si Fang as the bell gong rang once more to signify the start of the challenge.

 Chapter 416 Extra - Goblin Waterlog Ride

    <h4>Chapter 416 Extra - Goblin Waterlog Ride</h4>

    "WOOOOW! IT''S A THEME PARK!!! HAHAHAHA!" Yue Han cried out loud as the group of eight entered the instance along with the massive crowd who waited for the opening of the Christmas Instance.

    "To think we were so worked up for nothing. Guess you were right." Yue Wen yfully punched Jia Ying on her shoulder for guessing correctly and she returned a smile.

    "I am willing to bet that Boss Jin has something else in store for this theme park. If it''s like the Raid events, there will be something that will entice people toe for this." Bu Dong was sure, and the Wunder Pandit weing the Pandawans acknowledged that Jin had prepared three Cosmetic Inscriptions that could be earned in this WunderPanda theme park instance and they were all stated in the brochure.

    "In order to earn one of them we will need toplete all the rides. The other cosmetic inscription can be earnt by defeating the gold standard of the following game stations as stated below..." Jing Ru read the thing and noticed that there were a number of game stations like the Zither Mistress String Obstacle Course and the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge.

    "Thest cosmetic inscription can be earnt by participating in Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars and win a total of five matches." Se Lang read out and they agreed that it sounded like the most exciting ride of all time.

    "Hmmm, they don''t state what those cosmetic inscriptions will look like. Guess, it''s a mystery until someone manages to get one." Deng Long added and Shi Hui noticed that there''s an achievement for gathering all three cosmetic inscriptions.

    "Look! Title: WunderPandarian. Win at least three cosmetic inscriptions in the WunderPanda. Reward: 1 Gold Panda Medal! This is amazing, Boss Jin finally added in achievements that give out freebies too!" Shi Hui said excitedly but Jing Ru shook her head.

    "I doubt so. The 1 Gold Panda Medals seems more like a nice gesture. Who knows how much you''ll be spending unless you excel at every game station from the start." Jing Ru pointed out, and it appeared that multiple simr discussions were happening to everyone around them as well. All of them seemed like they were experienced enough to know what to expect from Jin''s store.

    Some rushed in blind to try stuff out immediately, but a number of them were slowly studying the map that was given by the Wunder Pandits. There was a minority that thought there''s more than meets the eye, especially after the lesson Boss Jin had given everyone through the Escape City Dungeon Instance. (Although the Wunder Pandits assured them that there''s nothing too sinister involved in this instance.)

    "How about we try out all the rides and games first? I doubt anyone will get everything on the first day and it should be best if we experience them all before we start making ns on how to beat the gold standard." Yue Wen suggested and everyone nodded their heads in unison since they had already paid for the entry ticket, they should just try everything and at least get the first cosmetic inscription reward.

    "But that''s like 1...2...4...there are more than 10 rides here!" Se Lang counted yet no one seemed to care too much. It was after all simr to a dungeon instance where time was slowed down. They could probably finish all the rides and be back home before midnight even though it''s already 12.30pm in the afternoon. Besides, it was a good bonding session among the Pandawans and a nice change of pacepared to the times they have to constantly fight for their lives.

    "Shall we go to the nearest ride? Or go chronologically by the type of instances Boss Jin had created?" Yue Han asked, and they all preferred thetter. Thus, the first stop became the Goblin Waterlog ride. All of them raced to the higher cliffside to reach the ride''s location. To their surprise, it was still rtively empty and they believed it was because of the shortcut they took.

    Instead of running up the path of the hill, Bu Dong tried to be creative as he jumped and climbed the cliff so they could be the first few to reach the ride location. Subsequently, a few other cultivators tried following them but realised it seemed harder than it looked and many ended up being stuck hanging at the side of the rock wall. Hence, the Wunder Pandits came to rescue and ced them back to the ground instead of the location they intended to reach.

    The Pandits told them that it takes more than just strength and stamina to reach the top, and the Pandawans were able to adapt to the situation quickly to reach the top. Unless one decided to study the patterns of the rock formation, it would be difficult to do it on the fly with a low grade cultivation. The cultivators saw that some of the Pandawans utilised their cultivation techniques to reach the top of the cliff and quietly decided to aim to be aspetent as them.

    However, those who had walked the longer path were rewarded with a street full of merchandise stores up the hill that the cultivators could purchase. The stores were selling monster rted products and even mini bites such as Goblin Cookies. It was none other than Chef Lynn''s trusty penguins that exclusively made all of those snacks.

    That being said, there were not just the stores at the hill, but at every ride, all of them selling products rted to the particr ride. For example, "Ghastly" Grilled Boneless Fish on a stick near the Deep One''s Pirate Ship ride as well as the Deep One Taiyaki. Originally, a Japanese fish shaped cake with fillings such as red bean, cheese or chocte but now moulded with the shape of a Deep One.

    Jin adopted the exact same model from theme parks since he knew that queues might be irritatingly slow, and these overly priced food merchandises fulfilled the cultivator''s craving while waiting for their turns. He could have utilised the electronic queuing system he used before, but that would defeat the feeling of anticipation for a ride. Besides, this allowed him to create a fast track queue to burn more of his customers'' wallets.

    The eight Pandawans finally got their turn to ride the Goblin Waterlog in less than five minutes, but before the start of the Goblin Waterlog ride, the Wunder Pandits pasted a temporary waterproof inscription on their body. This was to allow them to get wet and enjoy the ride while not worrying about their clothes bing damp after that. The log ride carried four people maximum, and they all could see that unlike a regr water log ride, the water trail that they were in, was flowing rapidly.

    If not for the iron chains holding the log coaster, the coaster would have disappeared into the depths of the forest right in front of them. This was also the first time that they had to wear safety harnesses for a waterlog ride, and it could indicate one thing that was waiting for the Pandawans.

    Fun.

    "You guys ready?!!" The Wunder Pandits asked and the first group consisting of Shi Hui, Se Lang, Deng Long and Jia Ying shouted in excitement. The Wunder Pandits magically released those strained iron chains binding the coaster and in an instant, the ravaging river trail shoved the Pandawans into deep depths of the forest ahead of them.

    Bu Dong and others could hear the constant screaming from Shi Hui and Jia Ying and asionally a high pitched tone either from Se Lang or Deng Long. They made it sound so thrilling that Bu Dong and his group could not wait for the Wunder Pandits to release the chains on their log coaster.

    "Your wish shall be granted." One of the Wunder Pandits said proudly. With a click, off the log coaster went, violently carried by the water trail. The waterlog ride had multiple turns and twists as well as various paths which eventually allowed Bu Dong''s Log Coaster to see Se Lang''s Log coaster for a moment before the two water trails split apart once again.

    None of them could do anything but enjoy the ride fully with water sshing non stop on their faces and hands. Now they realised why those Wunder Pandits had to insert those temporary waterproof inscription charms or else they would not just get slightly drenched but soaking wet!

    There was even one point where there was a 360 degree spin for Bu Dong''s gang and water drifting for Se Lang''s group. During the ride, there were some glimpses of the goblins fighting against boar knights. They were just additional extras that enhanced the experience especially for the slightly ''slower'' parts of the ride.

    However, the finale was indeed kept for the best where the log coaster slowed down when they got out of the forest to reveal the broad view of the entire WundaPanda Theme Park Instance for a few moments before the great waterfall.

    Shi Hui and Jia Ying could not resist and screamed at the top of their voice which even the guys took part shouting as well when the log was at the edge of the waterfall. All of them then held their breath and waited for the vertical fall бк that slight creak of the wood structure of the log coaster.

    "KYAAAAAAAAA!"

    The fall was both scary and thrilling at the same time, but the Pandawans knew that this was merely considered a normal ride in Jin''s dungeon instance. There should be nothing to worry about with regards to safety and thus they let go of their fears and screamed until their lungs shrivelled from theck of air.

    The log coaster dived deeply into theke before merging out of it and the cultivators felt refreshed. The nearby cultivators who saw the drop from the waterfall had mixed feelings until they saw how delighted the Pandawans were.

    It was indeed one hell of a ride.

 Chapter 417 Si Fangs Attemp

    <h4>Chapter 417 Si Fang''s Attemp</h4>

    "Now!" He Rong shouted as he grabbed Si Fang''s hand and used himself to throw his senior upwards. They had barely passed a quarter of the vertical tree climb when Shu began disrupting the group of four store owners that challenged it.

    He Rong was stuck in a growing number of vines that appeared suddenly from the tree trunk. The only thing he could remember was that he stepped on something slightly slippery and all of a sudden, the vines grabbed him as if it was about to devour him. The only thing he could do now was to assist his other teammates.

    The Sakura Treant had also summoned his pet Praying Mantis to attack the group though Lai Fu stayed back, intercepting it early on so the other three could continue their ascend. Unlike the fight against Jin, the Praying Mantis merely upset their tempo and did not aim exclusively at Lai Fu''s vitals.

    The general store owner initially thought he would be a goner when he recalled the brief fight the mantis had with Jin, but after some exchanges of blows (des?), he assumed that the Wunder Pandits did adjust its difficulty for their group.

    Si Fang then grasped the chance that He Rong assisted him with in order to grab a branch sprouting from the side of the trunk. Ke Ru was the only one that was still able to move in pace with Si Fang until Lai Fu shouted at them to be careful. The Pet Praying Mantis had used a feint to disengage him and was chasing after them.

    "Not so fast, you nasty insect!" Lai Fu concentrated the chi in his arm andunched his two handed sword towards the Praying Mantis which the mantis noticed barely in time to dodge it. While it did not do any damage to it, it made the mantis stopped at its track, buying more time for his two friends. He Rong tried to do the same though, but the Praying Mantis was able to deflect that one attack with style.

    Feeling breathless quickly from the climbing, Si Fang knew that he was very out of shape. Even Ke Ru had better stamina than him (Especially as a floor manager who had to run about operating at the frontlines of Wacdonald.) "Ke Ru, when we reach the next branch, I will boost you up and deter the mantis!" He sent a telepathy chi message to her to conserve his stamina.

    Ke Ru acknowledged his help and when both cultivators ran and jumped again to grab onto arge branch, Si Fang quickly shifted himself to Shu''s trunk. Meanwhile, Ke Ru ran to the other end of the branch before sprinting towards Si Fang. As she was running, the Cafe Boss mentally prepared himself to boost Ke Ru further upwards especially when his senior activated her Hunting Hog cultivation, and two hog silhouettes appeared above her.

    "You are not THINKING OF--?!!!" Si Fang shouted while closing his eyes the instant Ke Ru began charging at him. All he could do was to hope that his hands would not be trampled so badly by the Hunting Hog Charge. Ke Ru utilised all her powers into her legs and stepped onto Si Fang''s sped hands while he boosted her as far as he could.

    Even though his hands were hurting, he unsheathed his sword and prepared to intercept the Praying Mantis. But as luck would have it for him, he peered over the branch a little too far, causing him to lose bnce and fall.

    The only thing he could think was to change the trajectory of his fall to at least hinder the Praying Mantis. Howeverбн things did go as he had imagined. The Praying Mantis dodged his fall quickly without losing a beat and even giggled at him before flying upwards. (That Mantis giggled! Such evil mantis!)

    "I GOT IT!" Ke Ru grabbed onto a prize ticket, and Shu whacked his Praying Mantis for wasting too much time being distracted. The groupughed a little except for Si Fang who nearly had a heart attack for falling from such a height. The Wunder Pandits rescued him in time and eventually the others whoter crowded around Ke Ru to see the prize ticket.

    "Four Bottles of Spiritual Essence and 20 Panda Medals. Boss Jin, what is this Spiritual Essence?" He Rong asked and Jin told them not to ask and just redeem it at the corner where there was a small redemption cart which had a tree growing from the side of its cart.

    The Wunder Pandit gave them the bottles and told them to drink it immediately so that they could recycle the bottle. Hence, the store owners did what was asked of them, and suddenly, their bodies turned burning hot except for Si Fang''s.

    It was so abrupt that Lai Fu, He Rong and Ke Ru immediately went into their cultivation stance and started to cultivated right beside the redemption cart. They could feel their entire body pulsating with spiritual energy and their chi points were clot free. Jin looked at Si Fang who felt left out and asked how was his body feeling.

    "Nothing at all. There was a tingly warm feeling after drinking it, but other than that, I do not feel anything special." Si Fang said regretfully and he could see that his friends were all pumping hot with chi in them.

    In less than a minute, two of them advanced their cultivation. A set of three Hunting Hog silhouettes snorting above He Rong and Ke Ru''s head while Lai Fu had three sharply defined shark fin''s silhouettes hovering at the top of his head until a shark jumped up to show its shiny jaws before returning back into the ''sea'' of chi.

    He Rong and Ke Ru advanced to Grade Two while Lai Fu finally reached the peak of Grade 4, not stagnating at a measly Grade 4.

    "What is this?! Some miracle drug? A potion of advancement cultivation grade?!" Lai Fu eximed loudly, which attracted the attention of other cultivators and the seasoned onesughed mildly.

    "No no, it is a bottle of stored spiritual essence. Killing monsters in my dungeons usually allows your body to absorb some spiritual powers from it, unlike other dungeons suppliers. I have somehow managed to convert these spiritual powers into drinkable essences." Jin said and their mouth opened wide in disbelief.

    "It''s not something new, trust me. The traditional Dungeon Suppliers have done it before. I am merely able to replicate itбн at a higher quantity." Jin smiled as they all pped in approval.

    "However, the quality of the store essence is not that prominent, especially at higher cultivation grades. At higher levels, it feels more like a power drink, granting the ability to keep their chi moving, something like how Si Fang had described when he drank it." Jin said, and the rest had shifted their attention towards Si Fang.

    "It''s most effective at lower cultivation grades. Though I should add that it is supposed to be used as a supplement and not to increase one''s grades. You know, the whole deal about proper foundation of cultivating and stuff." Jin went on but the group''s attention maintained at Si Fang.

    "Are you keeping any secret from us, Junior?" Ke Ru folded her arms and stared at Si Fang. He panicked a while before adamantly denying.

    "I бнIбнnever did any cultivation training since that incident. I swear! I''ve no idea why the drink was ineffective on me!" Si Fang said which made Jinughed.

    "I am sorry that I teased you. Such instances may happen for some people who have deviated from an established cultivation path. For example, Xiong Da, one of our Pandawans, his cultivation threshold is crazy high. He was a basic Grade 4 when Ist saw him but his powers could rival a Grade 5P, heck maybe a Grade 6 too." Jin pondered as he examined at Si Fang from top to toe.

    "Maybe Boss Si Fang might have identally cultivated the Hunting Hog cultivation slightly different from what he was taught. His cultivation may have turned into a variant one without him realising, especially if he has not actively done any cultivation for some while." Jin inferred, but in actual fact, he had already taken a look at the statistical page and found that it was not called the Hunting Hog style anymore.

    Instead, it was the Haunting Hog Style.

    This may also exin why he himself always seemed to have such unlucky streaks even though it boosted his teammates'' luck. After all, the prize ticket that they received was considered as one of the rare higher tier prizes that one could earn from the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge.

    Jin also noticed during the previous fight that Si Fang''s silhouettes was more of a spectral formpared to the Hunting Hogs his fellow cultivators disyed. However, for the time being, Jin decided to keep quiet about it and let the group figure out themselves or else he might be in trouble if Si Fang''s team keep winning those high tier prizes.

    "Aww, its alright Senior. You will get there and with more training with us, you might be able to figure out your cultivation style." He Rong patted his Senior''s back.

    "Figure what out? Isn''t he cultivating the same as us? Maybe he has too many clotted chi points for the essence to work properly." Ke Ru jokingly said.

    As they wereughing at Si Fang''s demise, suddenly the entire WunderPanda theme park wentpletely dark. The Wunder Pandits who were working, stopped all the rides and brought the cultivators who were enjoying the rides back to safety. Even the monsters who were patronising the park assisted and everyone was wondering what was happening.

    "Boss Jin, is something wrong with the dungeon instance?" Lai Fu asked and Jin shook his head as he pointed his finger upwards. From afar, everyone could vaguely recognise the jingling sounds that wereing from the skies.

    "Ho Ho Ho Ho~!" The deep booming voice reverberated throughout the entire WunderPanda Theme Park, but it sounded more ominous than the usual ones the cultivators were used to. It was then that the cultivators saw the guest monsters taking out their weapons and smirking at one another which prompted them to follow suit.

    The reindeers eventually came into sight, pulling the sledge and the figure on it. Wunder Pandits then shone a beam of bright light on him whenever he passed over them revealing that Santa us was not the kind Santa they all seemed to expect. His eyes were glowing eerily blue in colour, and his beard seemed sinisterly alive. Even his reindeers looked demonised with broken horns and scaly patches on their fur.

    Santa the Fallen subsequently conjured and threw a snowballrge enough to bury the Wunder Pandits making their light source to disappear until the next one would shine some light on him, repeating the cycle. There were sounds of horrors by the cultivators when they saw what the rotten santa did to the Wunder Pandits.

    In addition, possessed clockwork toy soldiers crawled out of the snowball armed with swords, spears, guns and other assortments of weapons. Weirdly enough, they looked more like Spartans than traditional clockwork toy soldiers although they still retained their toy like appearances with stic joints and moulded eight packs.

    The Toy Spartans immediately went into formation, and it was obvious that they were protecting the snowball from being destroyed. After throwing the snowballs, Santa the Fallen repeated that creepy Ho Ho Ho tune before shouting at the cultivators and monsters in the WunderPanda Theme park.

    "I have checked my list twice. All of you Naughty children! No presents for any of you!" Santa The Fallen said as he continued to ride in circles, enjoying the scenery from above.

    "EMERGENCY EVENT! SAVE WUNDERPANDA FROM SANTA!" Everyone''s Pandamonium Apps were beeping like crazy as if to demand the cultivators to ept the event. Those who did not want to participate in the event would be transported into another WunderPanda Theme Park instance where the event was not being held.

    For those who had epted, the cultivators were all secretly sniggering along with Jin''s monsters as they faced the Toy Spartans.

    Time to earn more Panda Medals! (and perhaps other secret rewards!)

 Chapter 418 Extra: Zither Mistress String Obstacle Course

    <h4>Chapter 418 Extra: Zither Mistress String Obstacle Course</h4>

    "Arrgh! I only got 1 Silver Panda Medal from it." Yue Han grumbled after redeeming his prize from the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge. Even though he had climbed the highest among the group with his Blinding Bat Cultivation, he got one of the lousier prizespared to the rest.

    "Aww, don''tin, you had the easiest time reaching the item as opposed to the rest of us. Shall we do the Zither Mistress String Obstacle Course or Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars next?" Bu Dong asked as he took a marker out and crossed out the Sakura Treant Climbing Challenge from the WunderPanda Theme Park Map.

    "Last I checked on the Pandamonium App, Supa Robot Wars has a queue with a waiting time of 1Hrs 30Minsбнthat is unless you decide to go the fast track route of paying 1 Silver Panda Medal or at the very least 25Yuan (~4USD) to bypass the crowd." Jing Ru said as she checked the app.

    The Pandamonium App had a section for the WunderPanda Instance where it dedicated real time tracking of the queue and estimated waiting time for all of the users. This was to allow users to have a better gauge of the time spent in this theme park as well as determine if they should try something else while waiting.

    "Let''s just do the Zither Mistress String Obstacle course first since our objective is to y at least all the games and rides." Yue Wenmented and everyone, as usual, began sprinting towards the Zither Mistress game station. It was not too far away and when they reached, they noticed that the game station had a fast moving queue.

    While waiting, the Wunder Pandits manning the station, gave an overall view of how the game worked since the obstacle course was not evident until they entered the building with arge statue of Ke Mi ying her beloved Zither and the Great White Snake right beside her.

    "This is somewhat simr to those Ninja Warrior obstacle course with a slight twist. You are toplete the course in the shortest time possible while avoiding the Zither Mistress'' string attacks. There will be blunt arrowheads attached to the strings so you can either avoid the strings entirely or destroy the string by deflecting the blunt arrowhead away from your path." The attending Wunder Pandit said to the group.

    "Should you touch the string, it will stick on you momentarily before fading away causing you to suffer an additional 5 seconds penalty to your timing each time. If you try to cut it once the blunt arrowhead hits the ground, it will also incur an additional 2 seconds to your timing." The Wunder Pandit added as he brought them to oversee the obstacle course through a wide ss panel from the first floor. The obstacle course in the basement spanned around 400 metres. The Pandawan group could see multiple people attempting it to the best of their abilities with Ke Mi at the centre of the entire course on a tower watch post, acting like an overseer for the entire obstacle course.

    Her music was as enchanting as ever as it lifted the spirits of the cultivators attempting the obstacle course. However, the fast tempo also meant that the appearance of the stringed arrowheads was numerous until she changed to a slower song.

    "This is clearly the same as a bard in those video and board games." Deng Long could feel his whole body rx as his mind swayed a little with the music of the zither but it was a different story for the cultivators in the obstacle course. Their movements suddenly became sluggish and it did not help that the stringed arrowheads were still travelling at the same speed.

    "Clearly a disadvantage to the ones participating." Se Lang understood why this obstacle course was brilliant for training. One might try to cheat by using their cultivation against these static obstacles, but Boss Jin had added in the unpredictable nature of those strings as well as music that would affect the body''s performance. It was clear that those were used to hinder cultivators who could jump high or customers with speed based cultivation.

    "It''s our turn, what are we waiting for?" Bu Dong said as the obstacle course was cleared in no time and the eight of them entered the fray. The Zither Mistress immediately recognised them when Shi Hui shouted to her and she even did a musical opening which invigorated the group before the Wunder Pandits started the timer.

    "Looks like Ke Mi is not giving us any chance at all." Jia Yingughed bitterly as her body was filled with adrenaline. They knew that kind gesture was a double edge sword for things toe in the obstacle course.

    "We can only hope to meet her expectations." Se Lang said and then the Wunder Pandits did the same thing as for every start of a game station. The ringing of a Bell Gong. This obstacle course could only easily fit five people at the same time without bing hindrances to each other, so the Pandawan group raced in batches with the first four consisting of Se Lang, Deng Long, Shi Hui and Jia Ying. Only a minuteter would the Wunder Pandits ring the gong once again to let the following group move.

    The first obstacle was a low wall, and sure enough, stringed arrowheads arose from the ground which caused Se Lang and Deng Long to lose their momentum as they prepared for the jump over the low wall. However, the girls with higher perception did better than the guys.

    Shi Hui gracefully evaded the strings while Jia Ying performed a somersault to maintain her speed while deflecting the arrowhead. The Sanguine Stag cultivatornded on the top of the low wall via her somersault before she crouched to kick herself forward through to the next pitstop, Stepping Stones on water.

    For that particr section of the obstacle course, they knew it was not that simple since the Pandawan group had seen people fumbling with that. This was because the stringed arrowheads that appeared from the depths of the pond could be misinterpreted due to the reflection of the water''s image.

    Not only that, some of the stones were fake so that if one were to step on it, they would fall into the water, making them waste their time. Some of the cultivators initially thought to ovee all these obstacles by just running of water. However, because of the chi used to maintain their water walking, it attracted one nasty individual.

    The Great White Snake.

    The Pandawans had seen that the cultivators had to defeat the Great White Snake to a certain degree or else it would keep harassing and not just the ones who used chi to water walk but everyone that was participating in the obstacle course. Thus that alone would cause the entire group to lose some time.

    Thankfully, Jin wasn''t too evil and those who managed to ward off the snake would get a small token prize regardless of the timing the cultivators achieved. Count it as an additional hidden objective that could bepleted running the obstacle course.

    Thus, Jia Ying flew forth in great speed while making sure to deflect any arrowheadsing her way but halfway through the stepping stone section, the Great White Snake appeared at the detection of the use of her chi. She somehow expected that as she was already storing one of her techniques in retaliation of this ambush.

    "Intermediate Spear Art! The Puzzled Spear of the Stag!" Jia Ying shouted as she zoomed straight towards the snake with its mouth wide open and fangs pointing at the Sanguine Stag cultivator. At the veryst moment, the spear suddenly changed its direction, pulling Jia Ying along with her and stabbed the snake at the side. She then slid along the snake''s body andter water walked across the remaining part of the section.

    Shi Hui, who was right behind Jia Ying, thought the snake was defeated and happily used her chi to water walk (actually, she was sprinting). What she did not foresee was another Great White Snake appearing out of the water which caused her to pause in order to evade the snake strike and reluctantly use one of her techniques.

    "Intermediate War Fan Art! Pulsate Freezing of the Swan!" Shi Hui shouted as she swung her fans around, causing the water around to freeze instantly. The frozen pond made it difficult for the great white snake to move about as part of its body was iced by her technique. It was also at that moment, Deng Long ran past her while thanking her for making it easy for him to just use the stepping stones.

    "That is why I did not want to use that technique!" Shi Hui pouted and suddenly she felt a grab from her legs. Se Lang had carried her up and skated through the ice, by creating chi focused des on his shoes.

    "I am helping you since you are helping me." Se Lang said which made Shi Hui give him a light gentle kiss in return on his chest. Because of the skates, they were speeding faster than Deng Long who relied solely on jumping over the stepping stones since the ice was too slippery to dash over. Furthermore, he was afraid that another Great White Snake would appear if he used his chi though Shi Hui told Se Lang not to worry about it.

    Unlike how the cold weather worked their ice on ponds, she believed her intermediate art had frozen the water underneath them too. She told Se Lang to skate at full speed ahead to catch up with that traitor Jia Ying.

    The next section was a hundred metres away after a fifty metre turn with skewed boards. Jia Ying tried to rush her way through ignoring all the skewed boards but regretfully realised that if she did not step on a skewed board, she would be restrained by a massive load of strings.

    Those strings would then pull her all the way to the first skewed board and only when she stepped on the board with two feet, the strings would immediately disappear, and she could proceed on. (There was no additional penalty aspared to getting hit by a stringed arrowhead except it was a waste of time.)

    Se Lang, who was previously second after leaving Shi Hui behind when they crossed the frozen pond, saw what had happened and performed ordingly on therge skewed boards. He also said goodbye to Jia Ying after she got pulled back from reaching the end of the turn for not touching the skewed boards. Shi Hui also caught up and stuck her tongue out at Jia Ying before attempting to catch up with Se Lang.

    Thest section was a series of wall panels with windows to jump over. It was a matter of luck since out of the three windows on a wall panel, two would lead them to a pit of mud. Se Lang thought he had briefly memorised where the pit of mud would be when he was observing from the first floor but when he first jumped through the Number 2 window of the first wall panel, he struck mud.

    Not to mention, Ke Mi was ying her music with more intensity, and Se Lang had to both avoid the stringed arrowheads as well as attempting to get out of the mud. Shi Hui shamelessly used the same window and stepped onto Se Lang''s head ''lightly'' to avoid the mud pit.

    However, Se Lang was not so kind epting to act as a literal stepping stone, not even for one of his girlfriends and allow her to get ahead of him. The Wacky Wolf cultivator''s hand was free from mud and thus quick enough to grab onto Shi Hui''s leg. He pulled her with chi enhanced force, causing the Shadowy Swan Cultivator to fall face t on the mud pit.

    "SE LANG!!!" Shi Hui, who managed to catch a breather after emerging her face out of the mud, shouted his name in anger. Jia Ying, unfortunately, chose the wrong one as well and fell into the mud pit too. Thus leaving Deng Long to select the correct one for the first wall panel.

    But there were still two more wall panels before the finishing line and Ke Mi was not letting any of them win so easily as she now yed a piece of calming music, causing the four to feel sluggish and lethargic.

    To the Zither Mistress'' wonderment, that was also where Deng Long shone.

    Because of his Wobbling Wombat cultivation, his resistance against elements and even to Ke Mi''s music increased temporarily the more he was exposed to it, and so unless Ke Mi directly targeted just him, the music she was ying now had little effect on him.

    Unsurprisingly, he reached the finishing line first followed by Se Lang, Jia Ying andstly Shi Hui. (Apparently, the two girls fought at the third wall panel which allowed Se Lang to sneakily cross through.)

    The Wunder Pandits congratted them as they held onto a wand and swivelled it around the cultivators. All the mud and other stains were removed from their clothes and body in a jiffy. Even girls'' hair was back to the original form.

    Being the first in the course, Deng Long got his prize of 1 bottle of spiritual essence and 2 Silver Panda medals as well as a QR code to obtain five Zither Mistress Ke Mi''s orchestral music songs for free. (Others could have bought it for 50 Yuan (~8USD) in the merchandise store right beside the obstacle course.)

    Second ce was awarded fifteen Bronze Panda Medals, third cing eight bronze medals and thest only had three bronze medals. However, what made Jia Ying and Shi Hui happy was the spinning of a physical lottery wheel for killing the Great White Snake. They both were lucky enough to win an additional one silver medal via the lottery, which inadvertently making Se Lang pout with (slight) jealously.

    "Ke Mi''s music, huh... I might give it a try back home. Her tunes were indeed rather calming to listen to."Little did Deng Long knew that Ke Mi''s orchestral music would soon be his daily ritual before sleeping.

    Shortly after Se Lang''s grouppleted the race, it was the other group''s turn, and it did not take long before they heard Yue Wen screaming at Bu Dong and Yue Han.

 Chapter 419 WunderPandas Christmas Even

    <h4>Chapter 419 WunderPanda''s Christmas Even</h4>

    It was initially a chaotic mess as the Toy Spartans assaulted not just the cultivators but the monsters as well. Even though this was supposed to be a ce for the monsters to rx, Jin intentionally made this ce for training alongside the cultivators to learn their tricks.

    The System had a lot of information on the cultivators based on the manuals Ming passed on to Jin as one of his rewards for achieving his cultivation grade. This information was supplemented from the daily input from the cultivators fighting in dungeons too, but it was never enough. The System also wanted information on how the monsters could cooperate with the cultivators.

    During the Goblin Raid Events, existing or veteran cultivators had exhibited unrecorded arts and techniques when fighting cooperatively with the monsters which surpassed the expectations of the System. Given the familiarity of the monsters by the cultivators, there was one incident where a cultivator performed abination technique with Mr Hot and Father Hot, the two fire wyrm ants and annihted a squadron of orcs by themselves.

    Usually, those orc squadrons needed at least a group of four to five cultivators with Grades varying from three to four to defeat or at the very least suppress them entirely. However, for that particr incident, he was only a Grade 3 cultivator, and the fire wyrm ants were pegged to his power level too.

    It was a simr situation to the Mentoring system which involved Milk and Peppers briefly before Jin scrapped that particr option from the store. Regrettably, it was unlikely to return since the betors had more significant responsibilities at the present and possibly in the future too.

    Thebination attack incident, therefore, gave Jin and the System an idea. Instead of reviving the mentor system, the monsters could rece such a system and be more like trusted allies to the cultivators.

    By assisting the cultivators through real fights, the potential growth was predicted to be higher than just fighting with random cultivators. This could also allow the monsters to expand their knowledge and increase their expertise too.

    Thus, this theme park wide event instance of fighting Santa the Fallen was to gather even more information about such possible techniques and potentialbination with cultivators. If the data were useful, then Jin would make them as unlockable monster partners for the cultivators to fight with rather than partnering mere randoms.

    After a while, both the monsters and cultivators had a good time trashing the toy Spartans even though they were a tough bunch to handle. The System adjusted its difficulty level of each location depending on the number of cultivators and their average grade. The number of Toy Spartans being spawned were also based on the cultivators and the monsters in the vicinity.

    asionally, both the cultivators and monsters would face against an extremely tough Toy Spartan which were levels beyond the difficulty level of the adjusted toy Spartans. This was, in fact, a fixed match since the Betors would enter as surprise guests to weaken the Toy ''Captain'' Spartan for the cultivators to kill.

    However, not all of the cultivators could work happily with all the monsters. Some still had some prejudice against them, especially after fighting against the Deep Ones which was why Jin purposely made the Toy Spartans and Deep Ones'' fights even fiercer, to show that the cultivators should not just judge a monster by its appearance.

    Speaking of cultivators, Si Fang and gang joined with some nearby cultivators including the spying Ruby Rats and the watchful Three Eyed Tigers to fight against the toy Spartans. Jin had expected the Ruby Rats to do something underhanded, but surprisingly, they joined in with the fight and seemed to take it seriously.

    "If that''s the caseбн" Jin silently jumped to Shu to have a better view up there, as well as purposely vanishing from the fight. He took out his Tact Tweak and began to have some fun. This time round, Jin was not using them to control the monsters but the Toy Spartans. He purposely spawned some ''Elites'' equipped with slightly tougher armour and better weapons to aim for the Ruby Rats.

    "Let''s see what kind of skills you''re hiding." Jin thought while he made the Toy Spartans move towards them. As the Ruby Rats hardly entered Jin''s store for dungeons but more for observation purposes, both the System and Jin were curious about the Rats'' techniques. Jin might have fought against the Rats while trying to rescue Lynn, but the System did not have much observation ability outside the store. Therefore, the System did not bother Jin when he deliberately changed the System''s default levels for the event.

    "Do you think they will defer much from the current Rat Cultivation Manuals we have?" Jin asked the System as he sent a telepathic message via the Tact Tweak to move the monsters. Only four were on scene. One werejackal and three other Orcs who were on break from construction. He did not count Shu and the Mantis since they were currently part of the rides. Also, that rascal tree was toozy to move his ass to do anything else than bullying people.

    "Currently, most of the attacks they executed were rtively standard and corresponded to the ones found in the many Rat Cultivation Manuals we have." Just as the System finished speaking, the Ruby Rat gangsters did something out of the norm.

    They gathered their chi and fired a ruby coloured energy attack. When the attack hit the Toy Spartan, crystal like particles formed around the Toy Spartan and it grew slowly as if it was some infection. That eventually caused one of the Toy Spartan fighting against the Ruby Rats to lose one of its arms mobility due to the crystallisation.

    "What kind of attack is that?" Jin asked as he took the Tact Tweak and enabled the rey view mode.

    "It appears to be an intermediate immobilising technique inspired by Western Magics, the Crystallisation spell to imprison something or someone and the gue Spell for infection purposes." The System stated as it fervently collected data on the new attack. It seemed that they did not send a low levelckey for undercover work but a capable one. Jinmanded the Toy Spartan to cut that hand off before the ruby crystal particles continued to spread throughout its body.

    "Is there any way to stop that chi technique from spreading to other parts of the body other than amputating?" Jin asked as he subtlety directed a bunch of Toy Spartans towards Si Fang''s group and made them move away from the Ruby Rats. After which, he sent another modified Toy Spartan to the Ruby Rats.

    "System cannot determine the type of infection used to spread the crystal particles. It does not permeate nor prate the body but rather expands and crawls over the body to immobilise it. System needs more time to analyse and understand the attack." The System said, and it made Jin worried. If capable Ruby Rat cultivators could do this on a whim, he cannot imagine what other kind of techniques they might have up their sleeves. He had yet to see what other high level cultivators were capable of.

    "Perhaps, I was really too lucky fighting against Ong. Or maybe he just underestimated me to bother using such underhanded techniques." Jin thought to himself when he suddenly saw two cultivators shouting at each other.

    "Oh shit, it''s the Three Eyed Tigers. They recognised those Ruby Rats?" Jin asked the System, but he got no answer. Without any hesitation, what seemed to be the leader from each side of the group suddenly charged at one another. Jin knew such a thing might happen at WunderPanda Instance, but he had nned only to allow such brawls in the Cultivation Zoo.

    Besides, Jin didn''t expect a brawl to happen so quickly in the theme park. But as ordance with his countermeasures, a wide enough circr barrier was erected between the both of them in the midst of a Theme Park Event. The barrier subsequently pushed monsters, the toy Spartans and cultivators away from the area. Eventually, blue and white police looking lines appeared, wrapping around the circr barrier as if to discourage people froming close.

    This gave the Three Eyed Tiger and Ruby Rat triad members some ''breathing'' space to settle their differences as the chaos outside the barrier continued on. The remaining members from both triads were suddenly flooded with the Toy Spartans and had no time to bicker properly.

    "There it is again! That red ruby chi!" Jin eximed in his thoughts as he saw the Ruby Rat team leader now using a kick enchanted with that Red Ruby Chi against the Three Eyed Tiger. In response, the Three Eyed Tiger evaded the attack, only for Jin to realise that a spiritual Eye was at the top of the Tiger Triad member''s forehead.

    "Excellent data." The System spoke as if in happiness when the two continued their bout. In the meantime, some parts of the park instance had gotten rid of the Toy Spartans. The cultivators proceed to free the Wunder Pandit from the snowball attack that it suffered by digging them out of the snow pile and pulling them out.

    The Wunder Pandits soon after stood up and did its job by shining a bright light at Santa the Fallen whenever he came near the cleared regions again. Somehow, the bright light caused him to panic and wallowed in pain whenever the light touched him as if it was burning him up. The dark night atmosphere became slightly brighter with each revived Wunder Pandit doing their best to shine their light at Santa the Fallen.

    In due time, almost all of the Wunder Pandits were revived from the terrible clutches of the cold, snowy burial and consistently shone their light at Santa. Eventually, he knew that it was time to get away before he and his reindeers were killed by the Wunder Pandits.

    The Santa gave itsst ''Ho Ho Ho'' before finally escaping back to the far end of the instance andter disappearing in thin air.

    At the very end of the event, the cultivators who participated were rewarded with Panda Medals, ranging from 1 bronze medal to 1 gold medal depending on the amount of participation. The monsters were also given additional System points to aid in their recovery as well as to improve themselves. (Alternatively, use those system points for recreational activities like more rides and games!)

    Those cultivators who had been defeated were sent to the Luxury Recovery Instance for observation. The only difference was that they were allowed to return to WunderPanda Theme Park for free once.

    Any defeats following the first would require the cultivators to buy a new ticket to re-enter the WunderPanda should they desire. This applied to any defeats they suffered during their stay in WunderPanda, including duels.

    Speaking of duels, the duel between the two triad team leaders had been ongoing even after the end of the event. It attracted many people as it became the first cultivator versus cultivator match that happened in Jin''s store.

    It was then the Wunder Pandit came to exin that a Cultivation Zoo was in the works for the WunderPanda instance thus they were permitted to duel. However, the duel required both parties to be willing since it would go on until one was defeated or surrendered. Should one refuse and the other cultivator proceed to beat him up, that cultivator would be subjected to disciplinary actions as per the standards of Cultivation Zoo rules.

    Seeing that the Ruby Rat Triad Team Leader was being put into the spotlight, he voluntarily surrendered the duel before any further developments could ur or else news of him would put the undercover team leader in the cross eyes of his Ruby Rat Boss, Wo De Tian.

    "That is one way to snuff the rats out from hiding, I guess." Jin giggled a little before appearing behind Si Fang and tapping on his shoulder, scaring him for a moment.

    "Where have you been?!" He Rong asked and Jin replied that it was the first ever live event in the theme park, so he needed to leave the scene to ensure that it proceeded smoothly.

    "Heh, it did not proceed that smoothly for Si Fang, hahahaha!" Lai Fu said as he exined what other unfortunate things that had happened to him when Jin was away even though they did not knew that the Dungeon Supplier was on the lookout the entire time.

 Chapter 420 Extra: Star Cross Heavy Industry

    <h4>Chapter 420 Extra: Star Cross Heavy Industry</h4>

    "The queue for Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars has lessened, do you guys wish to give it a try?" Bu Dong asked, but they could see the girls'' reluctance when he mentioned that ride. They were not that interested in that ridepared to the guys.

    Yue Wen and Jing Ru had fewer qualms about it as they were only ying it and trying it out for the experience. They also want to try to get that cosmetic inscription which would only be unlocked if they yed all of the rides. Yue Wen believed it was just some robots fighting together and managed to convince Jia Ying and Shi Hui after a bit of discussion to try it out together.

    "Alright. I guess you are right. We have to try out all the rides and games at least once to get that one cosmetic inscription. Might as well get it over with as a group." Shi Hui shrugged her shoulders as they decided topromise and go as a group for the ride. (Jin would be so happy if he heard that the lure of a bonus cosmetic inscription worked for them.)

    "Still I am a little ticked off that Boss Jin is doing something more for the guys than for thedies." She added as they chatted and strolled leisurely to the Super Robot Wars'' Station. (Compared to the past few times of rushing, they already had their fill of excitement.)

    "I guess it''s because it''s a theme park, there will definitely be more action based rides to cater for the guys. Plus Boss Jin a guy himself." Jia Ying remarked as they saw a glimpse of a gigantic robot statue in a crouching pose with its beam rifle pointing outwards.

    asionally, the robot statue would move its arms and head while dry ice vented out like a series of explosions happening behind the robot statue. For the guys, they wereughing at the robot because they knew that what Jin was showing should be pretty close to copyright infringement if not for therge Panda Head and a slightly different design on the blue and red chest te of the robot.

    However, as they approached the ride station, they noticed that there was no visible queue outside aspared to other rides, but the queue waiting time was still active. They were wondering whether it was a glitch or something as they entered the game facility.

    Unlike other game stations, this particr game facility looked more like apany reception desk. The interior was entirely coated with a modern porcin white walls. The pany''s'' name was in ck and yellow as a contrasting feature of the interior decor.

    The reception desk was curved with no edges around it and had a very futuristic feel to it. Even the Wunder Pandits that were manning the front desk were dressed simr to those space military clerks seen in Star Trek or other science fiction movies. They were decked in navy blue outer coats with insignias on the side of their shoulders as well as a cool looking mic for receiving calls.

    "Hi there! As one of the representatives of Star Cross Heavy Industries, which will be providing the robots for your battles, let me officially wee you to Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars Game Station!" The Wunder Pandit greeted the Pandawans as if they had entered a legitimate office of apany that supplied the robots for their y. The guys believed it was some kind of mini storyline that Jin had created to facilitate this particr game ride.

    "If you wish to join our trial runs and participate as test pilots, please step forward and fill in a straightforward registration form. After which, we will require you to pay a minimum sum of one Silver Panda Medal if you agree with what''s written in the registration form for a formal testing pilot license." The Wunder Pandit acting as the receptionist exined as sheid out the forms and pens in front of the reception desk.

    Bu Dong took a look at the form and realised what they needed to fill in was somewhat akin to a disimer form that the ride might cost more than a silver panda medal and by agreeing to y this ride, they would create an ount to hold details about the robots that they were ying.

    As it could be a continuous ride that could be yed over and over again, the Pandamonium App would keep and maintain the necessary data for reference. Separately, they could pay an additional one silver panda medal to get a physical license printed out as a souvenir. Should they increase in rank, the cultivators could alwayse back and have their physical license updated with no additional charges.

    The guys were instantly amazed by the disimer form as it hinted that they might keep their progress for ying this particr game station. "Just wondering, will I always have to pay the entry ticket into Wunder Panda? What if I just want to y solely this game in the future?" Bu Dong asked as he knew that it could potentially be something that he would like despite the high cost.

    "Should you wish only to y Supa Robot Wars and some other game stations that have your progress saved, you will need to show the license from your Pandamonium App at the side counter of WunderPanda''s entrance. But do take note, ying this particr game station will always require you to pay one silver panda medal first or at least 70 Yuan (10USD)." The Wunder Pandits answered, and suddenly the Pandawans were curious about what other games that have saved progress.

    "The Pet Card Arena Instance has been revamped and ced under the WunderPanda Theme Park team''s care, so that is one of them. The other would be the Orc''s Spinning de Tops." The Wunder Pandits stated. Yue Han took out his brochure map and checked where the other two game stations were.

    "Ehhh! So expensive! 70 Yuan for just a robot game? I would rather spend that money refining my card deck for my pet." Yue Han eximed, and the Wunder Pandit giggled as if the very same reaction had already happened from other cultivators.

    "Perhaps you should give it a try first before you make up your mind." Wunder Pandit said as she collected all the disimer forms. However, for now, Deng Long and Bu Dong were the only ones who had decided to pay an additional silver panda medal for the physical license. The Wunder Pandit told them that they would be able to collect those licenses after the game.

    "Everything seems to be in order. Please follow me." The Wunder Pandit got off her seat and walked to a corner of the porcin white wall beside the reception desk. The Pandit ced her paw on the wall, and a virtual interface appeared as if to verify her identity. After which, it opened up a portal which she directed the Pandawans into it.

    "Okay. Now I understand why it cost 70 Yuan for just a game." Yue Han took his words back as he was in awe by the scale of the Mecha hangar that they were teleported into. Eight of the Humanoid looking Mechas were facing each other in that enormous Mecha Hanger, and the details in the background were very realistic.

    The group saw pandas in maintenance outfits were doing some final checks to ensure the Mechas were operational. Some were moving parts like an entire robotic arm from one end to another while others were checking stocks.

    What seems like the boss of the engineering and maintenance crew came towards the Wunder Pandit and looked at the Pandawans. "These few are our new recruits? I''m Man Man, the Head for EMC (Engineering and Maintenance Crew)." The rugged looking Panda said as he folded his arms.

    "You will not be using any customised stuff until you prove to me that you can at least pilot these pieces of beauty." Man Man announced with pride. However, Deng Long thought otherwise and whispered to Se Lang that they looked like the most basic of mechas.

    "HUHHHHH? Do I hear someints from a newbie before he could even take his first step?." Man Man looked at the two, and Deng Long quickly went into attention alongside Se Lang. "Do you think it''s that easy to pilot that thing?" Man Man stared long and hard at Deng Long.

    "Sir No Sir!" Deng Long shouted in return and the EMC Bossughed.

    "WRONG! Yes, you heard right, it is easy to pilot that fucking beautiful piece of metal!" Man Man replied as he beckoned the group to follow him. "But to master itбн hehe, that is another issue entirely." The group had a closer look at the Humanoid Mechas which were currently very in looking. It was as if they were made with the lowest amount of budget.

    Man Man did not care what they thought and started assigning the Mechas #1-#8 to the Pandawans. But before they could even drive these Mechas, the Wunder Pandit brought them to an office where they would receive their pilot suits. (To their surprise, it was actually a cosmetic inscription!)

    "I understand that all of you have attempted the Escape City Dungeon Instance and achieved the Cosmetic Inscription Amulet?" The Wunder Pandit asked which everyone acknowledged and took them out as proof.

    "Brilliant, this amulet is somewhat special because it can contain up to 100 outfit based cosmetic inscriptions. In order to change the current one, use your Pandamonium App and select the cosmetic inscription you wish to wear." The Wunder Pandit informed them and everyone took out their phones.

    "By now, you should have received the notification that a cosmetic inscription has been gifted to you. Select that particr cosmetic inscription and the pandemonium app will tell you what inscription sign to draw in mid air with your chi." The Receptionist Pandit demonstrated and everyone followed. Their amulets glowed momentarily as if to acknowledge the change in cosmetic inscriptions and with a bit of chi activation, the Pandawans managed to activate their new cosmetic inscriptions in an instance.

    "That was simple enough." Bu Dong eximed as he checked out his new outfit as well as the others. They looked like safety G suits which fighter pilots wore for intensebats.

    "Huh? They even have oxygen masks. Oh my gosh, are we going to fight in the skies too?" Yue Han suddenly became very excited and the Wunder Pandit left it to the iing Panda in a full formal ck military suit.

    "Name''s Furi." The Military Panda bellowed through the office and everyone stood in attention even though they were not military trained at all. They all noticed his ck patch on his right eye as he paced himself around the group.

    "Smells too fresh. You sure this batch of recruits can even make it? Mari?" Furi snorted while he mmed the office table right in front of them and suddenly a map appeared right in front of them. The Receptionist Pandit, Mari knew what the militarymander wanted and went out of the office for a while.

    "Your objectives, Smellies. It is to ride the Mechas and destroy 40 stationary wooden targets and two moving targets. That is all. Nothing else. Do not do anything extra. Go. NOW." Furimanded and the entire group ran out of the office with Mari standing around a bunch of numbered suitcases.

    "Take them. They are your keys to pilot the Humanoid Mechas." Mari rified and everyone quickly grabbed one and ran to their assigned Mecha. As the cockpit was at the chest area, the Pandawans jumped from the ground floor and to the cockpits instead of taking the stairs that were provided for them.

    But for the EMC crew, they did not care as long as the pilot could enter the cockpit. Man Man started to sound the rm, indicating that the Mechas were beginning to sortie. The EMC crew membersmenced unplug electrical cables from the Mechas and gave a very brief introduction of the cockpit to each of the trainee pilots. Some of the crew began moving certain items away to ensure there was no obstruction to the robots'' sortie.

    The scene was a major mess with the EMC crew shouting at each other in the background, but the cultivators managed to stay focused and learn the essential things such as booting the Mecha up with the key that was packed within the suitcase that Mari gave them.

    "Starting up." A female voice was heard for the male''s cockpit while vice versa for the females. Somehow, they felt this was more than just a game as everything looked too real to them бк even the controls.

    "LET''S GO PEOPLE!" Bu Dong was the most excited out of the whole group as he tried moving the controls. However, the Mechas immediately went into auto pilot mode the moment they booted up and it made sense to Bu Dong even though he became instantly disappointed he did not get to pilot the robot on the go.

    "I do not need you Smellies destroy my hanger because of your ipetence. Auto Pilot Mode will be activated until all of you are out of my Hangar Bay." Furi snorted as he sat beside Mari in a jeep before driving forth to the allocated training ground.

 Chapter 421 Hot Ice Caf├й

    <h4>Chapter 421 Hot Ice Cafиж</h4>

    "So do you guys still want to try any other rides?" Jin asked, but Lai Fu and the rest believed they had had their fill for the day even. Though they only had the chance to enjoy one ride, that particr WunderPanda event afterwards really tired them out.

    Si Fang needed to catch a break from all thatmotions and his fellow business store owners also needed some time to familiarise themselves with their boost in cultivation.

    "Very well, pleasee back again." Jin waved them goodbye, only to see a familiar face from the corner of his eye, standing in a shaded area. She bowed slightly when he turned to her and tilted her head sidewards, beckoning him toe to talk to her. Jin nodded in reply and walked towards her with Ku Wai as her bodyguard standing nearby.

    "Hi Jin, it''s been a long time." Yang Ling greeted him in a friendly manner when he got closer. "Shall we find somewhere more private to speak?"

    "I know of a ce, follow me," Jin replied as he brought her to Hot Ice Cafиж, a coffee shop staffed by penguins alongside the wyrm ants, where they sold beverages and simple snacks like Chilling Cold Ice Cream with Sizzling Hot Waffles. Anything that had to do with abination of Ice and Heat, the menu had it all.

    Their best seller though was undoubtedly their exceptional coffee. Instead of selling ck Ivory coffee which already had a unique taste to it, Lynn had taught her Peggies how to make other sorts to provide some variety, and Hot Ice Cafиж chose to offer its customers the Blue Mountain Coffee which was extremely well bnced in vour with a mild acidity to it.

    The only downside was the coffee beans, which were quite expensive even on the System''s market. Fortunately, not too long ago the System found a way to circumvent it.

    After Lynn''s budding experiments with the Jacks started to show some results, the System had assigned Ayse to assist the Chef in any way she could think of. The Orc Researcher herself did not really have any experience in that field.

    Fortuitously, the research team happened to have one elf researcher who was adept with farming and the cultivation of food products. So, Ayse had tasked Melis, the Food Experimentation specialist, to spearhead the research on food science so Lynn would be able to better refine her products.

    Melis started experimenting with monster faeces since they were all natural fertilisers ever since she found out about the Phoenix Dung, providing a lot of nutrients to aid the Living Armour''s growth. Furthermore, through some mix and match as well as a pinch of awfully good luck, Melis discovered that the Wyrm Ant faeces werepatible for growing Blue Mountain Beans.

    Especially the younger generation''s manure had traces of an element that was vital for fertilising coffee beans in general. The System literally threw additional funding for Melis to have a proper understanding of how it worked and Vo~! This way they managed to circumvent the middle man in the System market and grew Blue Mountain Beans which were better than those bought from the market. (Most importantly, faster growth too!)

    Needless to say, the price of that coffee was more expensive than the ck Ivory even though thetter was supposed to be the most expensive coffee in their world which Jin was selling at merely a fraction of its price. It was because only true coffee connoisseurs like Xiong Da would understand and appreciate the true vour and authenticity of it.

    Jin had also tagged the ck Ivory Coffee as ck Coffee from the start to misconstrue people''s conception. He couldn''t let people know that he was selling the ck Ivory Coffee Beans at such a cheap price, as that would have only led to people calling him a fraud, particrly when he just started out.

    Besides, its unique taste was not to everyone''s liking, so it was not as popr as other drinks butpared to his reputation now and his drive for quality, the Blue Mountain Coffee could readily be sold with a steeper price tag. (The modern cultivators would always pay goodn money for quality coffee.)

    Anybody who''s a coffee addict loved it very much after just tasting it. (Even Melis herself began to grow her own stash for the researchers and her personal use.) Thus, it was priced at 103 Yuan (~15USD) per cup. It was a premium drink, and the Customers who bought it never regretted a single bit бк even more so when it was brewed with Mr Hot''s mes, and the penguins'' inner chi.

    On a separate note, Hot Ice Cafиж, the store in WunderPanda was on the premium side in terms of prices; thus the interior design was more spacious and partitioned too. Simr to the rides, customers needed to queue outside to try out the coffee and snacks which were all under Chef Lynn''s control instead of the System.

    She had been extremely busy pulling a couple of all nighters these past few days to prepare everything after Jin approached her the moment he had thought up the concept of the Christmas instance. This instance literally allowed her to showcase all her creativity as well as creating a chain of food stores/carts that were manned by the morepetent peggies themselves.

    "Ooh, I adore the interior design of the ce! ssy!" Yang Ling said as she took a picture of the dining hall. It was an 80''s kind of diner car theme experience Hot Ice Cafиж was presenting, and the partitions were well decorated with pictures from the 20th century including images of Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe''s infamous flying dress scene. "Ku Wai, mind stepping aside for the moment?" Yang Ling asked her bodyguard when she sat down with Jin.

    "But Miss, I cannot- "

    "You can and you will. Jin is strong enough to protect me. Besides, I believe I am at one of the safest ces in the whole region. Go get a coffee, you desperately need it. Jin, please help me put his bill on my tab." Yang Lingmanded and Ku Wai had no chance to rebut. He quietly epted his mistress'' orders with reluctance.

    "Wow, I think he must be scarred for life ever since that assassination incident," Jin mentioned as he ordered two Blue Mountain iced coffee and a Sizzling Hot Waffles with Ice Cream which surprised Yang Ling quite a fair bit.

    "Why, what''s wrong? You don''t drink coffee?" Jin asked the moment he returned the menu to Mr Hot, the Fire Wyrm Ant who personally attended to them.

    "No! Erm...I erm..." Yang Ling was suddenly at a loss for words when she realised that she was now all alone with Jin. "...I just did not expect you to order food."

    "You are asking for a chat, I figured it would be nice to have some food as well. Besides, it''s just waffles." Jin replied and far from the store was Kraft and Kiyu peeking via the System''s footage. His Original Betor sighed at how thick headed Jin could sometimes be, but Kiyu did not understand what was wrong.

    "The tiger girl likes him a lot, simr to how Lynn likes him," Kraftmented and Kiyu looked at him with a weird face, since she had been released not too long ago, and did not have too much time to familiarise herself with Jin and his ''girls''.

    "Are you serious? Don''t you mean Qiu Yue?" Kiyu questioned and Kraft sighed once more.

    "Not really. Despite all her physical touches and initiative towards Jin, Qiu Yue appears to want to grow and be something like Jin right now. A new uing powerhouse. She admires him, but at the same time she''s jealous that Lynn has taken quite a fancy for him." Kraft exined and Kiyu nodded in acknowledgement. "You could say she is going through the ''I am an independent woman'' phase right now."

    No one could hide any motives from this particr Betor, especially when he had personally sworn to protect Jin even without the System making him do so. "I also believe Jin is quite aware of Qiu Yue''s temperament and her slightly touchy tendency. Hernguage of appreciation. That''s the reason why he doesn''t respond to her that much."

    "What about that incident when he and Qiu Yue were interrupted by the Ruby Rats attacks?" Kiyu asked and Kraft smirked with a grin.

    "You should know what kind of needs young girls and boys have..." It did not take much for Kiyu to understand that meaning and she finallyprehended why Pei called Jin a lecher.

    "Oh well, at least he did fend off Milk''s advances..." Kiyu meekly tried to defend her master, but she could feel that Pei would scornfully snicker at her remark.

    "Well, I''d consider Milk more of a tease. But maybe that might change in the future. Regardless, aside from Qiu Yue, both Lynn and Yang Ling have clearly shown an interest in him. Jin did quite a number on both of them, even if he may not have intended it. " Kraft exined while zooming into the System''s footage.

    "Saving Lynn from being betrayed is one thing. Jin also sacrificed and assisted her reconciliation with her father. But on top of that, he has granted her a Sub System, and she has powers others can only dream off." Kraft remembered how fun it was to see Jin''s panicked face.

    "Saving Yang Ling''s Dad, herself, helping with her deal and giving her back the ability to walk. Even Jin schemingly knew that they are going to want to repay his kindness. Just not the way he thought it would be. Quite a shame our master has the heart of a maiden and will only choose one." Kraftughed to himself.

    "Anyways, we shouldn''t intervene in his love life and let him do his own choices and mistakes. Though we both know, that the System expects him to sire an heir sooner rather thanter..." Kraft borated to keep his long timepanion up to date when suddenly the phone he was holding spoke back in retaliation.

    "Many Heirs." The System corrected the original betor and made the two of themugh hysterically.

    "Looks like the System does not care who he ends up with as long as Jin reproduces." Kiyu was still giggling as she leaned casually on Kraft to watch the interaction between Jin and Yang Ling.

    "So, what brings you here? It''s rare for you toe here unannounced." Jin treated her to the coffee and waffles as a friendly gesture. He knew that there was a high probability she would bring up the matter of the military army exercises which he and Hou Fei had discussed previously. However, Yang Ling was perceiving the friendly gesture as something else entirely, especially when she had been treated coldly by him on several asions. This was the first time he had openly offered her a treat even though she knew what Jin was thinking about. Yet, she could not help but think that maybe, just maybe that Jin might have developed some interest in her.

    "Just wondering how my father''s saviour is doing. Ever since that attack, he has been actively erm... in a covert manner trying to find the other assassins, and if possible, the organisation as well." Yang Ling whispered as Jin was serving her a piece of waffle.

    "You do not think it''s a solitary attack? And don''t mention it, it was my duty to try my best to save him. How''s your father''s recovery by the way?" Jin asked as he had his hunch about a secret organisation too. The System did hint about it, but it had not many details to follow. To the System, Jin''s business growth was more important right now since Jin started to reach what the System regarded as a ''decent'' cultivation level and not to mention, sufficient bodyguards around him.

    "Nope, for someone to infiltrate so deeply into a military vendorpany with their clearance showing no records of such possible activities...it''s a bit concerning." Yang Ling replied as she savoured the sizzling hot waffles that were melting in her mouth with the blueberry ice cream.

    "Oh yes, I did hear that you have signed a contract with the local police station to protect yourself from the Ruby Rats." Yang Ling showed some concern to Jin, and he immediately thanked her.

    "Mmhmm. I too have heard that you yed a part in me getting some business from them too. The sales of both lethal and non lethal weapons have drastically increased for the month of November. It would give my supplier...some confidence to push higher tier goods to me." Jin revealed and Yang Ling suddenly realised that maybe she could help.

    "Do you need me to assist you in any way? I am sure the supplier would be even friendlier to you if they know you have the backing of the Royal Tiger Zodiac family. I owe you at least that much. Especially after you helped me extensively with the sales of the Gearboxes. They have proven to be a hit and are selling like hotcakes. Although a lot of them...preferred the one you custom made for me." Yang Ling admitted in a slightly yful tone.

    "Hahaha, I bet they do. But I''m sorry I cannot help you with that since the gearbox I made was somewhat special. I had a good reason to assemble it just for you. Besides, some rare materials in it are nearly unobtainable through regr methods." Jin tried to deflect any possible custom made orders from this world. At this point, he believed he had done enough for her.

    Yang Ling, on the other hand, felt her heart beating quickly. Good reason? Just for her? Nearly unobtainable? Was Jin very concerned of her well being from the start? But why was he acting so cold towards her? To y cool? To y tough? There were so many questions in her mind after Jin''s reply, and she could not keep her head levelled.

    "Ahhhhhhhh, I noticed too when I tried to reverse engineer the gearbox you gave me instead of the improved blueprint versions that you sent me. Oh well. Still, it''s a pity because those customers were willing to buy that gearbox version for five times the price." Yang Ling sighed as she made an excuse up though it nearly made Jin spit out the coffee he was drinking to the point he was coughing.

    Yang Ling reacted quickly by leaning forward to pet his back and taking a piece of tissue by the table. She did not know why she was acting like this and feeling very flustered too, but Yang Ling decided to press on with her actions.

    While Jin was preupied with the fact that her customers were willing to pay five times the price, he could see how fast she had adapted with the new gearbox that was under her half dress.

    There was no standing issues nor sensory feedback issues such that her movements were so natural with it. Jin felt like boasting that the gearbox he made on the fly was nearly wless. "What? Why are you looking at me like you are stunned about it?" Yang Ling asked with a little blush on her face.

    "No, I just saw how seamless you are walking right now aspared to uhh a month ago?" Jin replied while thanking her for the tissue paper. From afar, the two of them looked very natural with each other that Kraft and Kiyu were having fun filming them secretly.

    "Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, I would like to talk about the military deal." Yang Ling who was all smiles and giggles became serious when it came to business. (but she cannot deny her pounding heart and this was the only way to distract herself for now before he noticed something else.)

    In the meantime, Jin was at all ears and made sure that the System covered the partition they were in properly before they initiated the conversation.

 Chapter 422 Year 430, Ording Town

    <h4>Chapter 422 Year 430, Ording Town</h4>

    "The Farm Rats finally are resting for the day," Sebastian said as she changed shifts with me Ripper. While Jin was busy creating the WunderPanda instance and now discussing business with Yang Ling, it had been days since the scouting team had been on the lookout against this particr battalion of Farm Rats.

    There were several close calls of being spotted, but the vanishing presence spell that Sebastia used was proven to be effective, those farm rats thought it was some stray animal that was staring at them. Some of the rats attempted to catch it for supper, but it did not know where it disappeared to.

    However, it was only me Ripper and Sebastian that were rotating. Ever since the first day, Meomi never returned to their sight as if she was doing her own scouting within the forest that was situated beside the temporary camp the rats made. me Ripper did not know what to do with Meomi with her disobeying his orders right at the start, but he noticed that there was no sudden upstart of activity by the Farm Rats.

    That indicated that she was stealthy enough not to be caught or raise any attention against the Rats or maybe she might have run away from the team and the Demon Rat battalion which they were supposed to be watching.

    "Anything out of the unusual?" me Ripper asked via a secured System Channel which they had used during the fight against the Orc King Hamu. The best part of a secured transmission channel by the System?

    No sound was involved, making perfect for a long range (more like interworld range!) and encryptedmunication while having zero risks of getting caught. This way, they could make contact with Gold and passed the information to him even though he is back in the home instance.

    Gold and the rest of the werejackals would then piece all the information together and decipher the tactics of the Farm Rats from afar. me Ripper also hoped that Meomi was listening in so that whenever she needed help, he would at least know.

    "Nothing, as noted for the past days, they have zero mages at all. All they have been pulling out were something akin to steampunk technology. I see machinery, enhanced armour suits and weapons, cannons and even tanks." Sebastia said as she passed a book which me Ripper and her had been writing in about the behaviours of the Farm Rat.

    "Maybe their Mages were not in this particr battalion?" Gold who knew the timing of their shift changes, came ''online'' and chipped in his opinion. The way he phrased it, the tone made me Ripper felt like he was sure that a mage was to be expected... Or at least for a certain somebody to appear.

    "I honestly do not think so. There was another battalion that came in around the forest earlier this morning. They brought in heavy weaponry that could rival the technology that we gave the Goblins. I saw a bunch of rats flying in some machinery with wings and des simr to the C130 nes but of a much smaller scale." Sebastia said with some concern as she climbed further into the mountain ranges to hide herself to rest.

    "Its called a helicopter based on Jin''s current modern technology standard. I cross referenced the image you took with the System''s help. Perhaps to the other folks in the Farming World they were considered as magicians when you have this kind of technological edge against them." Gold said , and again it made me Ripper suspect there was something more than in Gold''s words.

    "Considering that they were not just training here but extracting some sort of fuel or energy source at this mountain range as spoken previously, they might find this as a ce of importance. That is why they decided to bring in more security in to ensure the safety of their mining operation." me Ripper spoke in return via the channel.

    "In my opinion, if we wish to strike this ce, its best to do it tonight when the first battalion is working on restocking food and equipment. Their guard would be down." me Ripper said, but Gold disagreed immediately, Two monsters against two battalions of Steampunk Mechanised Demon Rats? Even adding Keyrin the Thunder Ram Demon would not be sufficient to bnce the equation.

    "Litoride." An unfamiliar voice in the secured channel came about and everyone was surprised that Meomi had decided to speak. "They are using Litoride as the fuel source for their equipment."

    "Shit, are you serious?" Gold suddenly sounded very troubled by the new fact that was presented to him.

    "Is it some rare fuel or something?" me Ripper asked as he continued to observed the Farm Rats.

    "More than rareбнThat is like ore from the Farming World''s Life Stream veins. I do not know how to exin it but Jin once akin it simr to the chi circuits of the world when I casually talked about it with him once. If they extract too much Litoride from the world, the Farming world might die." Gold exined.

    "You know it''s not just that. Year 430, Ording Town." Meomi said with controlled anger in her tone.

    "бнYou are right." Gold suddenly gave a sorrowful reply. He knew what happened in Ording Town and why Meomi mentioned that. It was her hometown and Year 430 was when the Schrs of the Compass officially recognised and recorded the threat of the Farm Rats.

    The Ording Town was famous for the Litoride extraction. While Gold said that extracting it heavily might injure the Farming World, small amounts of mining would be beneficial to the world too. The Compass Schrs found out that if the Farming World possessed too much of Litoride in its lifestream veins, the excess Litoride would swell inside of world''s core causing major natural disasters to happen or unusual changes to the crops.

    Thus, the Compass Schrs had also discovered a way to extract the liquid Litoride from the Life Steam of the world and made them into solid ore for transportation and storage purposes.

    But in Year 430, the miners found something more than just Litoride liquid. Within the buckets of Litoride, they found a ck crystallised ore in it. It was the first time they saw such an abnormality in their years of mining, so they had contacted the Compass Schrs as a precaution.

    They were none other than the Schrs of the North and South, whichter Gold uncovered that they could be the ones who instigated this entire Demon Rat infestation to this world after he and Schr of the West fought with them. That was because the crystallised ore the miners had found contained the origin of the viral gue.

    The Original Virus of the Demon gue.

    Gold did not have the exact details since he was not at the scene, but it was reported to him that the virus killed half of the poption in that area immediately, changing them into demon rats. The rest were infected or partially infected, making them carriers of the gue. The Schr of the West was the first toe up with a high level Mitigation Spell and she had assisted with the recovery of gue victims. However, she initally did not share the information with the other Schrs.

    Because she knew that this gue outbreak seemed too artificial.

    It was until when Gold, the Schr of the East back then, came to her rescue against the Schr of the North and South, confirmed her suspicions. The aftermath of the battle was obvious with the traitorous Schrs enhanced by the original virus. Hence that was also how West gave Gold the details of her mitigation spell through a book.

    Ever since then, Gold was running around aiding other fellow Farmers before he created the Jacks as a disguise for his rescue operations. Why? Because the people had be their ves with the Farm Rats in order to stay in their good books and not be killed by the Demon gue.

    Originally, the Demon gue could only affect corps, but the traitor Schrs had managed to weaponise it to infect humans. That was in theory, though in reality, such lethal weapon was in limited quantities. However, widespread misinformation of the Ording Town incident ingrained the surviving Farmers to fear the Demon Rats.

    Thus, a bandit/rebel cover for the Jacks made it easy for them to steal and grab resources while preparing a sort of resistance group up and running in the Farming World... until Jin intervened and inadvertently grabbed them for himself.

    When Jin learnt of this, he felt incredibly guilty, but Gold told Jin not to worry because he had passed that mitigation spell information to other living remaining mages he could trust. The group that Jin caught was just a small portion of the Jacks, and it had so happened he managed to get the Leader and a few vice leaders along.

    "So yeaбнMeomi was one of the original survivors of Ording Town which the Schr of the West had managed to rescue." Gold said in the chat after a long exnation. me Ripper and Sebastia could probably guess Meomi''s true intention ofing into this Scouting Team upon learning her past through Gold''s recount of events.

    "You talked too much, Gold," Meomi replied in the channel with a strong hissing tone.

    "бнI believe It is necessary for them to know your identity so you can work better with them." Goldmented, but he did not know that he exining the details to me Ripper and Sebastia would eventually backfire against him.

    "You should call Keyrin in soon," Meomi said as she finally revealed herself from the shadows and aimed her Sniper Whip on a target she had been eyeing for a very long time.

    The overallmander of Demon Rat Battalions.

    He had been dded in a full suit of steampunk armour the entire time they were observing, and this was the first time he finally took his suit out for some maintenance. From all the observations the scouting team had made in the past days, it was undeniable that he was the overallmanding and his suit armour made him stand out even more.

    Meomi initially wanted to stay obedient and tolerant as sincerely requested by me Ripper but thest conversation they were having in the secured channel minutes ago made her blood boil continuously and reignited her purpose once again.

    Right now, her feral instincts had taken over her, and she had only one objective in mind. "KILL KILL KILL THE FARM RATS." Meomi readjusted her aim at the tired looking ratmander as his steampunk suit automatically open the chest armourpartment and subsequently the helmet attachment. She took a deep breath with her finger half pressing the trigger, ready to fire anytime.

    Although the Farm Rats did not notice a thing yet, me Ripper finally got a glimpse of her location the moment she made her movement of taking out of her Sniper Whip rifle. "Shit shit shit shit, She is for real! Sebastia prepare for battle!" me Ripper said as he held on to the notebook he was writing tightly.

    *BANG!*

    The deafening noise of a shot echoed throughout the dark forest causing all the Farm Rats to turn at that direction, missing the scene of theirmander still stuck in the process of stripping his armour, being shot in the head.

    *BANG!*

    Another shot was heard and now direct to his heart. The surrounding rats around theirmander finally saw the horrifying scene of theirmander''s corpse explode right in front of them. Meomi had used an explosive shot to make sure that theirmander remained dead.

    "CHARGEEEEEEE!" The Demon Rat''s Second in Command shouted, causing everyone to drop what they were doing and ran for the forest.

    "Come now. The cat is hungry for some y." Meomi licked her lips as she saw the horde of Demon Ratsing to her.

 Chapter 423 Meomis Fury

    <h4>Chapter 423 Meomi''s Fury</h4>

    "Don''t make a move!" Gold shouted at me Ripper and Sebastia through the System Channel, making them to stop at their tracks. "Meomi had decided to do this without your co-operation, and you should respect her for that."

    "But isn''t she?!" me Ripper controlled his anger and frustration for a while, andter silence ensued. He knew from the random arena instance fights that Meomi had been trying hard by herself, struggling with various cultivators and sometimes against two cultivators herself.

    In a one to one fight against the Demon Rats, she wouldpletely annihte them, but this is not even a group but a horde of them! Not to mention, all of the rats were carrying steampunk enhancements on themselves. Also, the rank and file were equipped with basic weapon and armour equipment enhancement that would boost their strength.

    Gold also said that these Demon Rats were born from crops ranging from food to even weapons. How could Meomi possibly fight against all of them without their help? Was Gold really going to call forth Keyrin to finish the entire two battalions of Demon Rats rushing against her? There was also the issue of the forest where she shot her Sniper Whip Rifle from.

    Keyrin, the Thunder Ram Demon could not possibly summon a thunderstorm that pierces the lush forest''s emergentyer of the canopy to fight and support her. No matter thebination, me Ripper could not think of any way that Meomi could emerge this from all this.

    "Our Lady fired the first shot!! Attack now!!" A sudden high pitch squealing was heard the top of the forest and suddenly multiple, if not dozens or maybe up to a hundred pairs of eyes shone through the ckness of the woods. All of them were gazing fiercely against the horde of Demon Rats and tens of arrow shots flew abruptly across the forest.

    The surprise attack caused the demon rats to halt their advance for a while and Meomi took that as an advantage to attack the first few of the Demon rats. With just one swipe, the rats in front of her turned into mince rat meat. The rain of arrows did not cease, though none of it hindered Meomi''s furious charge of attacking the Demon Rats.

    Some of the Farm Rats immediately went into formation and brought their guns out to shoot where the arrows wereing from, but they felt like they were shooting at some shadow of the forest. "Hahaha, they think those metal projectiles of theirs could hit us." A tiny low pitch voice cheerfully said as the rain of arrows came from another direction which the Demon Rats did not expect.

    As the rats were frantically shooting and shouting into emptiness, Meomi continued her onught systematically. With each kill she performed, the rats felt that she was more confident in her attacks as well as stronger and faster.

    They were not wrong.

    Because of her efforts and constant pestering, Jin had decided to give her a few extra upgrade cards when he turned Grade 8. One of which was called Catzerker Fury. Each time she killed an opponent, she would have a slight boost in stats momentarily. The boost was an addictive effect and it continued to add up until a maximum stack of 20.

    Unless the System was seeing things, it observed that Meomi had long exceeded the 20 stacks of Catzerker Fury, hitting almost 40 stacks and counting with each additional rat she kills. It was a unique phenomenon that the System could only believe that the werecat was pushing the limits of the upgrade card herself. The drive to decimate the Demon Rat race was driving her more than expected.

    "System will not be surprised if werecat Meomi voluntarily evolved without any trigger." The System reanalysed Meomi growth as it continued to observe her reckless fighting.

    With her increased stats from Catzerker Fury, her regeneration rate increased too. However, she still had to endure the constant pain inflicted from the Demon Rat''s stabbing, shots and shes that she received from all sides of her body. As long as it was not a vital wound, she continued to fight with heightened ferocity. That was why she was thankful that her increased regeneration abilities of the werecat were able to keep up with her battle tempo.

    Seeing how the Demon Rats fell quickly from the attacks of the merciless werecat, they decided to bring the big guns out. (The ones that did not require much time to activate.) A mobile steampunk tank like cannon mounted on a modified Demon Rat who was two times taller than Meomi.

    Like all of the steampunk enhancements, this mounted tank cannon was heavily reliant on Litorde ore as its ammo. The bullet was charged with Litoride, and the explosion radius was at least ten metres ording to me Ripper''s observation and calction.

    If she was the only visible target, take her out first. It did not matter to the rats if there were some friendly fire. To them, more can be created with mere crops by their saviours, the Schrs of the North and South, so that was not an issue. After which, they could proceed to remove the hindrances in the forest and burn the entire forest if required.

    A Demon Rat loaded the bullet into the mounted cannon and tapped on the Ogre sized Demon Rat to fire. However, instead of shooting to the intended target, the shell exploded right in its face, causing the demon rat on its shoulder to suffer the backfire, eventually dying from it.

    Meomi knew it was aiming at her , so she already had thrown her Sniper Whip forth, causing it to wrap around the cannon and crushing the barrel. Therefore it was unable to fire as intended when the Ogre Demon Rat pulled the trigger.

    However, the backfired explosion was not enough to kill it, merely allowing it to suffer third degree burns throughout its body. Even the arrows seemed like they were just poking him. Meomi, who was busy fending off a continuous attack against the Demon Rats, knew that she was obliged to take that Ogre Rat down as soon as possible so she can take a proper breather.

    Thus, she summoned out her Gun knuckle and equipped it on her left hand. The modified gun knuckle wrapped around her hand simr to a power gauntlet,parable to what Xue Ping, the Prancing Puma cultivator had used.

    Using a storage inscription charm, Meomi summoned an attachment for her gun knuckle, and a rocket booster attachment appeared on it. Doing what a rocket booster should do, the gun knuckle roared extremely loudly, violently pulling Meomi along with it towards the Ogre Demon Rat.

    The Ogre Demon Rat was not stupid enough to let it get punched by Meomi, so it raised its arms out like an ''X'' cross to block the attack. However, Meomi smirked at such foolishness. With a pulse of slight magic coursing through her veins and into the storage inscription charm of the gun knuckle, the rocket booster disappeared, and now a spinning drill attachment was on the gun knuckle.

    Meomi pressed on the knuckle''s trigger, causing the drill to spin with high power while she delivered a barrage of bullets at the Ogre Demon Rat. The drill contacted with the burnt arms of the Demon Rat and it pierced through it effortlessly. Meomi thought it would be an easy killбнuntil she noticed it slightlyte.

    The Ogre Demon Rat originated orбнmutated from a Venus Flytrap crop nt. Therefore, its mouth grewrger in size, waiting to snap at the delicious iing werecat. "Heh, I am a werecat remember? My senses already told me you had something up your sleeves." Meomi made an excuse as her tail ring glowed and suddenly she was able to evade in midair, avoiding the snap of the Flytrap mouth of that demon rat.

    After which, Meomi readjusted her sniper whip as well as changing the mode of the rifle into one of the modifications her dear fellow werecat had installed previously.

    A methrower.

    Not just any ordinary methrower but a me breathing device capable of the savagery equivalent to Mr Hot''s wyrm mes and its sheer volume which it spits the fire was nearly the same as two breaths of Wyrm Ant Father Hot. After Meomi evaded above the mutated Venus Flytrap mouth, a click from the rifle produced the mes of destruction to flush the life out of the Ogre Demon Rat as well as the surrounding rats.

    "Woah! Lady Meomi had such an interesting device!" Another cheerful squeak was heard from the above the trees as if they was being encouraged by Meomi''s actions to press on harder. True enough, the arrow shower did not stop and was even more urate.

    At this time, some of the Demon Rats were scuffling back to base, hoping to sortie in their different steampunk machinery so they could take on the ambush they encountered in the forest. But someone was not giving them any chance while Meomi fought at the frontlines.

    "Do not think you can escape alive from desecrating my home with your filthy presence." Keyrin stood majestically at the top of the cliff with storms brewing above him, and coincidentally he appeared just a few metres away from me Ripper. In his fury, multiple blue orbs swiftly appeared in front of the Demon Rats and their pieces of machinery. As they were entranced by blue orbs, several bursts of lightning struck their camp base, damaging the steampunk machines in one go.

    It caused the Litoride in those steampunk machines, those tanks and helicopters to explode, causing multiple fires to spread throughout the camp base. Being an Avatar of Fire, me Ripper could not standby idly when he saw that he was able to help out without making too much of a presence.

    He whispered a minor enchantment which caused the mes to be under his control temporarily and moved them at will, burning anything mmable. Thus, allowing the fire to grow stronger as well as ensuring that the rats die within the mes and smoke too.

    But me Ripper had another objective. He made sure the mes did not burn themander tent down, and that was when Sebastia made her move. She knew that there would be vital information and went ahead to see if there was anything worthy to retrieve.

    In the heat of the moment, the Demon Rats did not notice the quiet female minotaur maid passing through all of them while gathering any possible critical information. Of course, there were asional Demon Rats that seemed to enter into the tent for safety, but they were killed immediately by her unusual technique of coin tossing. (Seems like Moloch was not the only one who was good with ''magic'' tricks.)

    "I threw all the documents I can find in the storage ring," Sebastia said as she made her way out of the tent and fled into the darkness of the cliffs, allowing Keyrin to unleash his rage full force at the base camp for defiling his home territory.

    The Farm Rats realising that this was a coordinated attack of some sort had decided to retreat tactically to inform of such powerful rebels existing to other battalions. Else, at least report that Keyrin was not dead at all. With the numbers, some had decided to split the angry rat mob fighting against Meomi into several groups to increase the chance of survival.

    However, Meomi did not let them offбнor to be more specific, herckeys. While those Demon Rats were attempting to escape, several figures jumped off the forest canopy and hunted the retreating Farm Rats. me Ripper took a closer look at them with his binocrs and realised thatбнthey have a rather small build.

    Despite those small builds, the figures aimed precisely at the Demon Rat''s vital points, killing them mostly with just one blow.

    "Mousefolk or weremouse. They preferred the former as it sounded less stupid." Gold said as he appeared right beside me Ripper. Not just him but the entire group of Werejackals appeared via the portals.

    "Hmmm let''s just say they are the subjects of Lord of Ording Town which my dear departed friend had once saved. If I say that Meomi was the daughter of the dead Lord, things should make more sense to you." Gold nodded his head lightly, and the werejackals behind him jumped into action, including Nyanmi.

    "Since they have no magic, we better make sure all of them die so that they cannot report anything out there. I am counting on you, Demonic Sage Queen, Peppers." Gold said as he jumped down, transforming into his werejackal form midway to fight against the Demon Rats.

    "I am surprised you ept to help us." me Ripper knew how superior the Betors were and they were in no way answerable to the monsters that Jin had captured. "бнunless Master Jin sent you here to aid us."

    "Nah, I owe this little schr a small favour for something he did for me. That''s all." Peppers said as she plunged her staff onto the top of the cliff and initialised her area wide search magic.

    "No rat will run from my prying eyes of magic, be it under or above ground." Peppers said as she smirked wildly.

 Chapter 424 Extra: Shooting Targets

    <h4>Chapter 424 Extra: Shooting Targets</h4>

    The Basic Mechas were dubbed as Core Units for being extremely bare bones. Aside from a few thin sheets of metal ting, the Core Units were a joke if they would have been sent out for fighting. Hence, what the Pandawans were going through was just an introductory course to piloting to give them a sense of how the robot driving felt like.

    The reason why they could get straight into action right now was that they were basically still in tutorial mode. After passing the tutorial, would they be subjected to the waiting time as indicated by the Pandamonium App.

    However, that too was an artificial timer meant to waste the cultivators'' time and to create hype. It would be rather sad if Niu Lang had put in so much effort making all these robots and no one would like to y.

    But to date, at least 60 cultivators were ying simultaneously which could rival the number of cultivators ying the Pet Card Arena and the Orcs Spinning Top des. The System also noted that there were already some cultivators obsessed with the current game, clocking almost 3 hours real time in without any signs of stopping. (The park was barely opened for 4 hours in real time.)

    When the Core Units were in autopilot mode in order to get out of the Hangar Bay, virtual consoles were booted up to disy instructions to the cultivators as a part of the tutorial. There were visual guides and cues in the entire cockpit showing what the controls were for and the cultivators took whatever time they have to learn as much as possible.

    Stepping on a pedal to drive the engine like a car elerator, flicking a few buttons to activate a radar map in front of them or switching to infrared vision. There were even levers and buttons to control the movements of the hands. Moreover, the helmet they were wearing was directly connected to the camera feed that was being shown via the Core Unit''s head.

    But right now all of the Mecha robots were in autopilot mode. All those control and button mashings were for nought. The Pandawans could only use that time to familiarise what was presented in the cockpit.

    It wasn''t until all eight Core Units reached arge desert field like terrain that the autopilot came off. That was when there were minor cues to tell the cultivators what to do which allowed them to start moving the robot as they wished.

    In less than a minute, Shi Hui became the first robot casualty when she moved her Core Unit''s right leg too far front, causing the robot to lose its bnce and fall right into the dunes of the desert. "How the hell do you even control this!!!!" She screamed while frantically pushing all the controls.

    Not only her, but the rest were having difficulties bncing their robots except for Bu Dong and Deng Long who seem to have more ''gamer'' sense than the rest.

    "You useless smellies, look at the left corner of the control panel, there is an assisted AI movement, turn that on." Furi grumbled in the inte of all the pilot''s cockpit when he saw the situation from afar in his jeep. Mari was his personal assistant, and current driver while at the same time, evaluating the rest of the Pandawans.

    The cultivators immediately turned on the Assisted AI Movement mode and their performance instantly improved. Some of them even tried to jump around or sprint around until Furi spoke to them through the inte once more.

    "Smellies, the targets will be up in 20 seconds. They could be anywhere within this desert terrain so unlock your weapons. The Core Units are all equipped with a basic sidearm pistol. If you''d like a challenge feel fre-"

    "just shoot down all the targets. Highest score gets secret prize from me." Mari interjected, and the inte was immediately jammed with all sorts of chatter. Jia Ying was excited and asked if it was some sort of chi infused potion or some secret equipment? Separately, Deng Long believed that the prize had something to do with this Supa Robot Wars game which everyone boo-ed at him simultaneously.

    In the meantime, Bu Dong sent out a voice prompt to the cockpit AI which had been ying the tutorial for him asking where he should press to unlock the pistol.

    "Move your Mecha''s right arm and hover it around the right upper thigh of the robot. There will be a prompt appearing right in front of you, allowing you to unlock it and retrieve the sidearm pistol." The AI instructed. For the rest except for Deng Long, a voicemand was all that was needed to retrieve the pistol since they had the Assisted AI Movement mode turned on already.

    "That movement mode might be useful now, but it will definitely hinder you if you n to y long term." Deng Long constantly reminded himself as he tried his best to do what the AI cockpit told him to since he was moving the robot manually. However,pared to Bu Dong, Deng Long had more difficulties controlling the more delicate movements though he seemed to be getting the hang of it.

    Twenty seconds had passed as the group fiddled around with their pistol and the stationary wooden target boards appeared right in front of them. Without much difficulty, they had taken down their first targets, but the next wave of stationary wooden targets was now miles away from them. Although it took a few more shots than the first one, it was still manageable for everyone.

    The third wave of stationary targets became a challenge when it appeared at random ces and even further from them. Se Lang knew that its pistol had an effective range as he briefly went through the weapon specifications which were pulled out from the AI cockpit database while waiting for the time to pass.

    Hence, Se Lang moved closer to the target before firing his shots and hit them within two shots. Meanwhile, other Pandawans like Yue Wen used two whole magazine clip trying to shoot the wooden target down because she was not used to the range. Herck of knowledge in that regard also prohibited her from fully utilising it.

    Jing Ru, on the other hand, was simr to Se Lang but instead of moving forward, she made her robot prone and fired from a distance. She did some quick mental calctions with the aid of the AI cockpit and managed to get her first shot to hit the target despite using a pistol.

    That gave her brownie points in the eyes of the System- erm, Mari and Furi. "As expected from someone who was trained by a Police Sniper. She made used of the AI cockpit to assist her for giving her a good shot." Furi grinned at Mari

    "She even took ount of the wind speed which their current AI had yet to implement it into the hit probability rate. She would definitely seed as a heavy arms support ." Mari nodded her head in agreement with Furi.

    Bu Dong was amazed that the bullets were not unlimited like in games, the cockpit featured some realism by showing him how much ammo he had left in his gauntlets where the pistol magazines were stored. There was no recharge of bullets unless there were ammo crates around which he assumed none were given since he did not see any around the desert terrain.

    His notion got reinforced when Yue Han identally spent them all by spraying the pistol bullets just to hit a particr target, leaving him empty. Bu Dong decided to be nice to his friend and threw Yue Han a magazine. "This is the only one I am sparing you! I haven''t much left myself!"

    When Bu Dong threw the pistol magazine at Yue Han, the fourth wave of stationary targets coincidentally appeared as well as something else. "Didn''t you say this is just a training mission!" Jia Ying continued to shoot the stationary targets as she saw two Core Units simr to theirs emerge from the dunes of the desert. They were painted in solid red, making it very easy for the cultivators to spot them.

    "I did tell you to kill some moving targets, right? So, stopining and destroy those Core Units! The stationary targets are now optional!" Furi scoffed as he folded his arms and watched the scenes unfold.

 Chapter 425 Extra: Enemy Core Units

    <h4>Chapter 425 Extra: Enemy Core Units</h4>

    "Fear not! We have eight Core Units here! There are only two enemy Core Units!" Deng Long said to rally the Pandawans who were felt slightly cheated by Commander Furi. But at the sidelines, Mari was already giggling if they believed that was all the Pandawans were going to encounter.

    Jia Ying was the first to rush towards the enemy Core Unit. She knew that her aim was terrible even with the aid of the Assisted AI Movement so what about a melee brawl? Perhaps her knowledge in meleebat could aid her in bringing down the enemy Mecha down.

    "Ahhh!! Stupid! If you rush in, how am I going to shoot the enemy!" Yue Wen said as she refrained from attacking. Even Jing Ru, who was a sharpshooter, was shaking her head at Jia Ying single minded selfishness in attacking solo. Since she was blocking the way, there were only two ways.

    To join her in a closebat fight or stay out of the way until the coast was clear.

    Choosing the former, Se Lang started pushing his robot forth towards the second Core Unit while searching the inventory of his Core Unit for any other weapons. He found that there was abat knife attachment hidden under the armour chest te. He announced it to all of the Pandawans and took it out by hovering his robot arm over his right chest te. However, Jia Ying was already engaging the enemy Core Unit with her fist.

    She was a spear user, but her Grandmaster taught her to a few basic moves regarding fist and leg strikes toplement the openings a spear user could potentially show whenever she missed her targets. Thus, Jia Ying used what she learnt and apply it for this particr fight. But...the robot was just too slow in responding in a close quarter fight especially with Assisted AI mode on.

    The enemy Core Unit was not as easy they thought it would be. It managed to dodge the opening blow that Jia Ying had thrown and activated a jetpack booster to ram against her. The other Pandawans saw that and frantically search for a booster option in their cockpit too.

    "No, you smellies had nothing attached than a gun and a knife. Do not bother to try finding." Commander Furi shouted as he picked his nose and removed a booger that was stuck in it with a flick.

    "At the very least, I have a clear shot." Jing Ru said as she fired her pistol when Jia Ying was mmed to the ground by the charging enemy Core Unit. The Core Unit took a hit from Jing Ru, but it only damaged its left arm considering the AI use it to block the attack. Unlike living beings, the robots had no pain in them so that precise shot was nothing unless Jing Ru aimed for the cockpit.

    "Shit." Jing Ru said to herself as she thought she could kill one of the enemy Core Units before unloading the empty magazine on her pistol. Her right Mecha''s wrist flipped open to reveal a pistol magazinepartment.

    She still had four more clipspared to the rest who were hovering between one or at most two magazine clips left. Some like Shi Hui and Yue Han were dangerously low on ammo too, but Jing Ru also knew that they did not expect a ''mini'' game in WunderPanda would be that overlyplicated.

    It was challenging which dawn upon Jing Ru that she was beginning to like it as much as Bu Dong and Deng Long. Unfortunately, to the rest, they find it extremely hard to cope, and it also reminded them how powerless they were when they first started out cultivation.

    "Too much of a grim reminder of how unfair this world could be." Jia Ying sighed as the enemy core unit took out a metal stick from its waist which eventually powered up to be an energy sword. With just one plunge of the sword into the cockpit area, Jia Ying''s Core Unit lost power immediately.

    "Reckless behaviour but it cannot be helped. She does not have the essential items to help her survive." Furi said while looking from the battle from afar.

    "Her spear?" Mari asked and Furiid in silence.

    "Her determination to win. All the unknown factors had made her lose confidence in herself." Furi said, and Mari wrote it down as part of the evaluation. "бнand yeah, I guess you could say, her spear too."

    "Shit, this is serious, they can easily take down our core units just because it had attachments and fancy gadgets." Yue Wen said as she warned Se Lang not to be as reckless as Jia Ying. However, it was toote. She could see Se Lang was enraged, shooting his pistol at the other enemy Core Unit relentlessly.

    Simr to the previous enemy core unit, the one Se Lang was facing had a portable shield that deflected a few of the shots. The shots that got through was inconsequential, and the enemy even fired back several rounds against Se Lang. Thankfully, none hit the chest area where the cockpit lied within.

    Se Lang could see that damage was taken to his shoulder and his chest too. There were armour integrity values indicated on the console screen of the cockpit, showing how much damage the armour could suffer before its integrity waspromised, exposing the internal circuity of the robot. But knowing all this was futile when all Se Lang wanted was to annihte this particr threat as soon as possible.

    When his pistol clip was empty, he flipped the pistol around and held the barrel, whipping the butt of the pistol at the enemy Core Unit which it, in turn, blocked with its shield. However, the impact from the charging Se Lang caused the shielded arm to be torn off.

    Apparently, from Furi''s point of view, the shoulder joint of the enemy Core Unit was already critically wounded by one of Se Lang''s shot when he was running towards the enemy Core Unit. The pistol whip did the rest of the work, causing the enemy Core Unit to lost an arm. Se Lang did not stop there as he pulled thebat dagger from his chest te and sh at the area where the cockpit would be.

    Sadly, the sh was shallow, revealing the crust of the cockpit module. Se Lang believed a subsequent prating stab would finish the job, but the enemy Core Unit was not going to stay there being defenceless. It headbutted Se Lang''s Core Unit, causing it to flinch and became unstable. It then reached out a submachine rifle from its back and aimed at Se Lang''s Core Unit chest.

    The enemy Core Unit fired ruthlessly at point nk towards the chest of the core unit, destroying any remaining armour te it had before breaking the circuitry in the chest. Without a doubt, the Core Unit fell to the ground with the cockpit all destroyed too.

    As if the enemy Core Unit was basking at the glory for destroying Se Lang''s Mecha, the other Pandawans fired shots in retaliation. Yet, all those shots were just a distraction for the actual killer to prepare her move.

    Jing Ru recalcted her trajectory and aimed her shot towards the enemy Core Unit. The distraction was enough for the enemy Core Unit to turn its back at Jing Ru, allowing her bullet to prate the enemy core unit frame from the back and destroying the AI cockpit.

    The rest cheered momentarily, but there was still the issue of the one that had killed Jia Ying''s Core Unit. At that point, Bu Dong and Deng Long who had gotten used of the controls decided to team up together to fight against the remaining core unit.

    Simr to Jing Ru, Bu Dong realised there was an aim assist in the AI Cockpit system, and he utilised it to the maximum. "Aim at those joints!" Bu Dong said to the AI Cockpit system which the AI proceed to predict the hit probability of those joint parts. It also adjusted and increased the likelihood of its analysis the more Bu Dong moved closer to thest Enemy Core Unit.

    However, unlike Jing Ru, who did some manual calctions to append the hit rate probability, Bu Dong relied only on the AI assist. Hence, some of his shots missed because of the moving robot frame. Deng Long, on the other hand, kept his pistol back in the Mecha''s holster to conserve his bullets and charged in with hisbat knife.

    Unlike Jia Ying fighting bare fisted, Deng Long knew how to handle a knife since the fighting style had some consistency with his dual batons techniques. He was also getting used to the robot movements and fighting close quarters would not be a problem aspared to Jia Ying who usually fought with some distance between her enemy due to the range of her spear.

    The Enemy Core Unit did not stay stationary upon Bu Dong''s firing and instead used its Jet boosters to evade the attacks while maintaining its distance away from Deng Long. However, it was not long before the fuel in the jet boosters were used entirely, giving the Wobbling Wombat cultivator a chance to catch up.

    Therefore, it fired up its energy sword and decided to eliminate Deng Long first. "While I know I can evade, this heavy piece of junk is just too slow! I rather count my blessing surviving the attack then rely on it to dodge!" Deng Longined as he maintained his charge forward while cing its left arm ahead to block the attack first.

    The AIputed that the energy sword was sufficient to destroy the left arm of his Core Unit and a high chance of prating the armour tes to reach Deng Long''s cockpit. So, it proceeded with the attack with Deng Long blocking the attack as deduced.

    Nheless, Deng Long was not going to let the enemy Core Unit to kill him that easily. He mmed his brakes, causing him to ce all the strain of the momentum and weight of his Core Unit on the left leg to crouch. The left leg sunk deeper into the sandy terrain causing the entire Core Unit to dip in height.

    This caused the energy sword attack only to have sufficient power to sh the left arm away and not able to prate the chest te since the angle of attack was disced by Deng Long''s shrewd movements.

    That was when Deng Long initiated the attack at the Core Unit''s cockpit by attempting to stab hisbat knife into it. The AI responded by putting its arms forth to block the attack, but its arm joints were partially damaged by Bu Dong. The stopping power of the enemy Core Unit was severely hindered and was being overwhelmed by Deng Long''s Core Unit, allowing him to push the knife through the arms.

    Given that the Deng Long''s Core Unit had sunk deeper into the desert terrain, he was able to strike at the weakness of the armour te that was protecting the cockpit. Through a low angle, Deng Long slipped the knife into the inferior crevices of the armour te and stabbed through the enemy Core Unit, rendering it immobile.

    It was a hard earned victory for the Pandawans in the end.

    Deng Long was sweating and panting crazily at the adrenaline rush he was feeling after the fight had ended. He could not believe that robot piloting could be this thrilling. Commander Furi sent a short message that the mission had concluded, telling the cultivators to rest in the cockpit for those who were unable to move.

    He was specifically talking to Deng Long who was stuck in the sand. For Se Lang and Jia Ying, they had been teleported away by Commander Furi (aka the System) before the enemy Core Unit ravaged their cockpit with their attacks. They were now sitting in the jeep behind Furi and Mari as they saw the rest of the fight unfold. "You guys won''t be that lucky next time if you ever y Supa Robot Wars again," Furi said as he ordered Mari to drive back to base.

    For the rest, a voice activation by Furi allowed the Core Units to enter back into autopilot mode as they walked back to base. A statistics summary tab was shown along the way back to the base to let the cultivators see how well (or badly) they had done for this mini game.

    There was even a best action scene rey, best shot rey and Furi''s ''That''s a dumbass stupid thing to do'' of the day rey too. (Thankfully, Jia Ying was not in the cockpit to see that, but some of the Pandawans were giggling at it.

    Else, themunication channel was open, and they talked about their experience of the mini game while resting in the cockpit during the autopilot mode.

    "Erm...guys, anyone going to rescue me? I am still stuck! Guys! Help!" Deng Long groaned loudly through his inte for being the one to be ignored again.

 Chapter 426 Extra: Hangar Control

    <h4>Chapter 426 Extra: Hangar Control</h4>

    Deng Long finally returned to the base Hangar after the EMC crew (Engineering and Maintenance) had managed to pull his Core Unit out of the desert with the aid of multiple quad rotors helicopters and transported it back via air.

    Only then did he find the group still in their Combat G suits resting and eating delicious looking Western food from one of the stalls in the Hangar''s canteen. They were manned by a penguin chef too! But on closer inspection, it seemed as if that one penguin chef was manning all the stalls in the Hangar''s Canteen. (They could see him running from one stall to another to cook the food and very agile at it too.)

    "Ah Deng Long, I already ordered for you. Mushroom Chicken Chop Burger...ehh but your fries seem to have been seized by Furi." Se Lang informed him as Furi entered proudly behind him with a packet of fries on his paws and acknowledged the entire group''s presence.

    "Continue eating. It will be a casual debrief." Furi said as he shamelessly consumed Deng Long''s fries. "What are you looking at Smelly?"

    "Se Lang told me that packet you are holding belongs to me...?" Deng Long did not speak in an using manner in case Se Lang yed a prank on him, but Furi who was enjoying his fries did not look pissed at all. Instead, he was delighted that Deng Long mentioned it.

    "So? You want them back? Do you prefer to pay for the transport expenses for carrying your Core Unit from the desert and back to Hangar instead?" Furi threatened Deng Long with a lofty stare while thetter looked at him nkly, speechless.

    "Then, you should be d I am just taking these instead of your burger." Furi looked him dead in the eyes while grabbing more fries from the packet to stuff into his mouth.

    "Nope, nope. It''s my treat." Deng Long replied in an unwilling tone before he sat down with the rest of the group to enjoy his burger before Furi changed his mind. The food that the entire group received wereplimentary with the ticket they had paid before entering this particr game.

    After thest of the fries vanished into his mouth, Furi started tomence the debrief. At the same time, Mari came in holding a suitcase, and the Pandawans knew it had something to do with the debrief. All of them had their eyes at Furi to give him the attention he needed while munching away their food.

    "All of you seeded inpleting the tutorial mission. You are now promoted toбн ''Still a Smelly''."

    *Cough* "What he meant to say. Every one of you has now reached the Rank of Private as ordance to Star Cross Heavy Industries standards." Mari interjected as she opened the suitcase. Inside were eight formation badge patches with a picture of half a Panda Head and half a robot head. The robot head resembled the Core Units they used.

    "From this point on, all of you are official Test Pilots for the Star Cross Heavy Industries!" Furimanded Shi Hui, who was the nearest person to him toe forward.

    "Congrats." Furi shook her hand and pped his paw on the right side of her shoulder. The Shadowy Swan cultivator gave a little groan at the pain of the p but noticed that Furi had ced a formation badge patch on it.

    "...For reaching the rank of Private. NEXT! " Furimented and did the same for the rest of them. The other Pandas in the EMC crew and administration staff observed them for a while before continuing to return to their own business in the canteen. After the informal ceremony was done, the Pandawans continued to partake their food as Furi left Mari to exin the rest of the debrief since he had more pressing matters to attend.

    "This is the most important part of the debrief, so listen carefully. You all have been rewarded Star Cross Points for thepletion of your mission. While Master Jin did once say that less is more, he felt a need for this game station to have its own currencies. Previously, the Pandamonium App wallet only showed the amount of Panda Medals you had acquired, but this had changed." Mari said as she turned the suitcase she was carrying into a virtual console as picture presentation was the easiest to understand.

    "We temporarily added Raid Points to retest the market''s reaction to it and it returned with positive results. Therefore, we figured this is the right time to introduce currencies to the three major games that we have in WunderPanda. The Pet Card Arena, The Orc''s Spinning Top des, and Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars." Mari exined as the rest took their phone out to check the wallet.

    As usual, with every new dungeon or service instance, there would be an upgrade to the Pandamonium App. The Pandawans knew the update for this service instance was one of thergest ones due to the update size when they were waiting for the release of WunderPanda instance. (Thank goodness for free and fast wifi in Jin''s instances.)

    The cultivators noticed the three new currencies, as stated by Mari. Card Points, Spinning Points and Star Cross Points as well as a symbol next to them, which turned out to be a currency converter. For example, converting Panda Medals into a certain number of Star Cross Points. When Bu Dong tried pressing on it, he was brought into a new screen where there was something like a graphical data to show the fluctuations of the amount of conversion.

    "It''s a bit of a demand and supply kind of thing," Mari informed them, stating that if a lot of people tried to convert Panda Medals into Star Cross Points, the amount of Star Cross Points they get in return would be reduced drastically.

    Should the masses, however, do the opposite at such a time, by converting Star Cross Points Points into Panda Medals, they would receive a significantly higher amount of Panda Medals. As if that was not enough, Jin had ced ''measures'' to let the cultivators spend more money to obtain more points in the various games but never Panda Medals.

    They had to earn those medals as they remained the main currency. Jin cleverly did not implement a method to convert Card Points into Spinning Points, or anything of the sort.If they want other points, they have to buy them or use Panda Medals for their source of conversion (It''s all a ploy to earn more money by Jin!!)

    "You all have received 10,000 Star Cross Points forpleting the objectives. Jing Ru and Deng Long have received an extra 5000 Robot Points for killing the two Core Units." Mari said, and the group immediately chattered among themselves loudly.

    "See! I told you they would get rewarded for destroying those two enemy core units!" Se Lang grumbled with a bit of regret in his voice. It was apparent Jia Ying and Bu Dong were also quite unsatisfied with the results.

    "Yeah yeah, fine! You win your bet." Yue Wen reluctantly took out a five yuan change and mmed it on Se Lang''s hand. Seeing how themotion interrupted her debriefing, Mari cleared her throat loudly to get the attention of the rest again.

    "Now, if you are done chatting, follow me. I will send you to Man Man, the Head of EMC. He will tell you more about how you can customise your Core Units." Mari said, and that immediately made Bu Dong and Deng Long extremely excited. They were the first to stand up to follow Mari and Deng Long brought his food along since there was no much time to eat.

    Man Man was directing a few of his crew members at the centre of Hangar when he was interrupted by Mari and the group of newly promoted privates. He sighed momentarily before he thanked Mari for the handover.

    "Alright chumps. See that central block of concrete hanging at the top of the hangar? We are going there. AND NO JUMPING!" Man Man shouted before any of them had any wise ideas to jump up to their new destination. They quietly followed Man Man up the elevator reaching the central block, which was dubbed the Hangar Control where the EMC Bosster introduced it as an area for the pilots to redesign their core units.

    He booted theputers in front of them via a central terminal and the concrete walls around them retracted upwards, revealing a continuous ss panel that showed the workings of the hangar around them. It gave them a good clear view of their Core Units from Hangar Control aspared to them looking upwards from the ground up.

    "The interface for reconstructing your Core Units is simple and intuitive. The AI that you encountered in the Core Unit''s cockpit is the same as the one that will assist you in designing your robots." Man Man exined while giving them a short tour of the stuff they have in the Hangar Control. But both Bu Dong and Deng Long had already dashed to their individual work stations and ced their phones as instructed by the terminal workstation.

    Instantly, a rotating hologram of their Core Unit was visualised in colour with various options for them to select. Since both of them were sitting side by side, Man Man used them as an example. He asked the rest to gather round and used Bu Dong''s terminal as the teaching console.

    "You can see here. We have a few parts for you to change into for free. Call it a free service for reaching the rank of Private. There is no way you can win any battles if you just use the Core Unit. Now that you have reached Private rank, the queuing times affect you guys as well. The previous mission was instant for you guys because it was a tutorial." Man Man said as he clicked on a console option and it revealed the parts avable for them to choose.

    There were only a few parts unlocked, but Man Man told them that there were daily and weekly missions which allowed the cultivators to earn more Star Cross Points as well as a chance to get new parts for free. "Call it part of the reward. You clear a mess for us, we supply a fresh new part for free." Man Man exined.

    "Does that mean if my right arm is destroyed, I have to buy a new part again?" Deng Long asked, and Man Manughed loudly.

    "We are not that evil, we will repair the part for you for free, but should you wish to sortie out fast, you will need to either pay us Star Cross Points to expedite the repairs or use an entirely new arm as we repair that old arm." Man Man said as he leaned its body on Bu Dong''s chair when he exined the intricacies of the Supa Robot Wars.

    "Speaking about sortie, the AI will guide you but standard ammunition would be provided for your missions. Should you wish to purchase nonstandard ammunition like incendiary rounds, there will be cost of that too. I can only say that the higher your rank, there will be discounts for repairs, parts and anything that cost Star Cross Points." Man Man added in his exnation to show that Supa Robot Wars had many hidden mechanics to be discovered.

    "Alternatively, you are allowed to sortie without the arm, but you will be impaired offensively. I am not saying you cannot do that, but it is not rmended to do that. And before any of you have that crazy thought, there are no achievements coupled with going out with less than 100%. Unless you want to brag about you being crazy and stupid enough to fight with only one arm, I guess then, by all means. Go fucking ahead." Man Man answered Deng Long and showed them that there were durability levels on each particr part.

    "Let''s assume that your unit got obliterated by the enemy and you''re left with nothing. We can replicate the entire unit again for a fee. Consider it something like your resurrection procedure in your world and it might not be cheap depending on the type of parts you were using. Worst case, we do offer some level of ...''amodations'', especially for you Pandawans."

    "Can you also use a new Core Unit and start over again instead?" Bu Dong interjected his thoughts aloud and Man Man nodded his head.

    "This is not a very fantasy based game like the Pet Card Arena. This is meant for serious gamers, and a certain level of realism is applied to ensure that Newtonian Physics remained relevant. Although here''s a tip since you guys are cultivators. You can get out of your cockpit and make a ruckus to destroy the enemy robot. Use that information however you like. It''s free of charge." Man Man chuckled with a low voice and let them be for a while.

    "I guess this is not my type of game at all." Shi Hui shrugged her shoulders and sadly, Jia Ying nodded in agreement. Yue Han thought it was a lot of fun and something he could get immersed by it butmented that the cost was immensely prohibitive.

    "Ah, cost. Yes. Technically, you can y this game by just spending the ticket price with your Panda medals because you will receive a Gacha box each time you buy a ticket. That Gacha box will give you two parts of various rarity. That means you have a chance to obtain a rare part which will help you." Man Man added.

    "The ticket also allows you to y three missions before you need to get another ticket to continue ying. Unless, you wish to get the premium ticketбн" Man Man seemed to be whistling when he said that to attract both attention and ire from the entire group.

    "And there will be limited event missions like cooperative raids and perhaps even battle royales for this. Of course, those have yet to be implemented in the game. Consider this as version 1.0 " Mari who happened to enter the Hangar Control to hand over the physical license which Bu Dong and Deng Long applied for at the start of the game.

    It was a rather sleek looking green metallic card with their rank imprinted as well as the squad they were currently in.

    Squad #167.

    "Even if you cultivators decide never to y Supa Robot Wars ever again, the Squad number is a way to say thank you for being part of Star Cross Heavy Industries. You all will always be remembered as Squad #167." Mari smiled at them. Out of the blue, Jing Ru decided to get a physical license too, and so did Yue Han.

    "I suppose you will be sponsoring some of the game tickets if you want me to carry you." Jing Ru tapped on Bu Dong''s shoulder and winked at him. He sighed and smiled gently, which prompted Deng Long to look at him shamelessly.

    "Dare to prey on a kid to finance your gaming addictions? You are a police officer, you should be better than that!" Se Lang folded his arms and stared at Deng Long.

    "ARGGGH FINE! I guess that means more overtime!" Deng Long sighed as he pressed on a button that caused a series of ss walls to rise up, surrounding his terminal workstation. "Now Please! Excuse me! Let me enjoy my robot making!"

    With that being said, Jing Ru and Yue Han joined them at the terminal workstations while the remaining four decided to leave the area and try out the other rides.

 Chapter 427 Mousefolk

    <h4>Chapter 427 Mousefolk</h4>

    As Jin''s monsters mobbed up the Demon Rat horde with their surprise attack, there were a few casualties on their side. Mainly the Mousefolk as they tried to assassinate the retreating Demon Rats.

    While those sentient looking mice were nimble and agile, most of them could not handle more than a hit or two from the enhanced demon rats with their steampunk technology. However, it was also thanks to their small build, providing them with great speed and agility that allowed them to crawl to their weak points, their tails. (Most of them were only thirty centimetres tall!)

    Cutting a demon rat''s tail was simr to cutting the carotid artery of a human being. sh that part away, and the farm rats would go into a nervous breakdown which eventually paralysed them, making them unable to breathe. Thus, they would die from suffocating.

    It was a newly made discovery, which the mousefolk had paid for to learn about it with a lot of blood. They didn''t have the time to share this with Meomi yet, though seeing how she was able to kill them without cutting their tails off proved that their Lady had be even more formidable than thest time they had seen her.

    "All the rats are ounted for. None survived, but I will move further into the forest to make sure that they are all truly dead." Peppers reported her findings to the secured System channel before flying on her magical wooden staff to the centre of the forest. With a flick of her finger, Shu appeared at a small clearing which she asked the Ancient Treant to enhance her search magic.

    Shu acknowledged themands of the Demonic Sage Queen as he dug his roots deep into the forest grounds and connected them with the trees in the vicinity. After which, he let Peppers plunge her magic stuff into him via one of his branches. In an instant, the forest lit up with a light greenish aura.

    "Huh, so my hunch was right, there are some sneaky rats too. Guess the information about Demon Rats possessing certain attributes of crops or animals is really true." Peppers scribbled something down in her own notebook before she found a signal moving slowly, trying to avoid any detection.

    But too bad for that rat.

    With Peppers connected into the forest''s work'', masking their presence did nothing to avoid her search magic. Every step any animal or living creature made were all known to Peppers with her enhanced magic.

    "Kraft, I need to borrow a few foxes from you." Peppers typed on the new phone she just bought with the System points. (It had a cosmetic magical staff key chain and an anti dust plug as a shape of a hat in the audio jack. Without saying, her phone cover had a picture of her new favourite anime character from Konnosoba.)

    "That will be 15 System points!" Kraft gave a sly looking emoticon with a "Just Joking!" sticker before he sent out Ixel, Ixa, Itori to Peppers when he felt a phantom burning sensation behind his ears in the WundaPanda Theme Park. The three foxes popped out in front of Peppers and immediately knew their objective. They ran like quieter than a shadow through the forest in search of their prey.

    "Instead of System Points, I can only offer you a toy. Get as much information from it as you can. Have fun~!

    Speaking of captured Demon Rats, the System was initially happy to receive more minions to assist with the construction of the Dungeon City Fortress. It already made some calctions as to what task they would be assigned first. But to the System''s dismay, it''s n encountered an unexpected error.

    The Demon Rats did not spawn back as living breathing monsters... but instead as the original item that was once mutated by the viral gue.

    Hence, the System received an assortment of crops, weapons, armour, nts, or animals and other weird junk. And the list continued to increase the more Jin''s monsters killed them. (The ones assassinated or shot by the Mousefolk remained as dead Demon Rats.)

    If it could only sigh at the disappointment for the anticipation of the war it had harboured, the System would have already done so. (It briefly even calcted whether to discourage Jin from participating in a full scale war against the Demon Rats) However, the death of those Demon Rats was essential to reopen the Farming World markets up again for trade. Lynn also needed crops from it, and for its future expansion. Thus, it was still a war with merits to fight

    On a separate note, the werejackals gathered the injured mousefolk and began assisting them with whatever treatment they could manage without the help of Peppers or Milk. There were some crops they grew, which had healing properties and were useful for increasing the regeneration factor of the werehumans. (Since the mousefolk were therianthropic in nature.)

    In the meantime, me Ripper had decided to scout a little more. Peppers informed them that the coast was clear, yet he did not feel safe at all and had that premonition that someone might be watching them. Besides, it was a good time to practice what his father had taught him during the trip to the Orc capital.

    Most of his time had been spent listening while waiting to initiate their backup n of assassinating Orc King Hamu, which never came to be. (The portals they had used were currently used by Frost Echo the current Orc King for travel and trade between the orcs and goblins.)

    Meomi subsequently met up with Gold who wasmanding the rest of the werejackals to salvage any possible equipment that was not burnt to be analysed by the researchers or Grey who was now the overall in charge of equipment and tactics for the werejackal.

    That responsibility was previously on Gold, but he decided to release some of his duties to the vice leaders so that he could focus more time doing research on the therianthropy spell his friend had left behind. Despite Gold''s orders, Grey had decided that the equipment should be sent to the researchers for an initial assessment before he tinkered with it. Gold eventually agreed with him and told his vice leader to proceed with the n.

    Meanwhile, for Gold, he imparted his responsibilities away to have more time for himself. Gold wanted to find out if the therianthropy spell could be improved to entirely iste the viral gue or perhaps even kill the gue and reverse the effects of partially infected beings.

    Unfortunately, it was hard to do purely in theory. The fact that theposition of the spell was a mess to begin with, did not help at all. The Schr of the West seemed to have done it in a haste, unless, there was some underlying meaning to that messyposition which Gold had yet to discover.

    "I am sorry, Gold." Meomi apologised as she knelt in front of him instead of being all high and haughty. "I''ve disobeyed orders to get in touch with my subjects." She admitted her wrong doings with her head down. Upon seeing that scene, the other mousefolk who were in the vicinity knelt immediately too to ask for forgiveness their Lady.

    "How did you even get in touch with them? I thought there were at least 15 days worth of travelling иC Wait a minute, did you use the System''s portals?" Gold furrowed his eyebrows, and she nodded her head lightly.

    "Jin said to use the System''s portals as much as possible. When me Ripper and Sebastia concluded that there was no sight of any magical users, I immediately opened a portal to that ce." She replied.

    "But there is one thing I do not understand. Even if you have the System''s portal to transport them, how did you know where to open the portal? Don''t you need details like the map coordinates? We do not even have a proper map of the Farming world for our debriefing."

    "Remember when Brown was previously scouting for the demons you suggested Jin y? I asked for a favour from Betor Zeru to give me the coordinates of that ce when he went scouting with Brown." Meomi replied. The ce they were mentioning was nicknamed the Ording''s Sanctuary. It was one of the ces which the Jacks were in control of but simr to the name, it was mainly filled with victims from the Ording Town incident.

    "Great Master Zeru trained us hard for this very day, Lord Schr." Poppy, one of the vice leaders thatmanded the Mousefolk warriors suddenly spoke out which made Gold and Meomi surprised. Seeing the look of the Lord Schr Gold and Lady Meomi, he grinned a little before exining.

    "It was very sudden, Great Master Zeru came to visit Ording''s Sanctuary saying he was with Sir Brown," Poppy said as he unsheathed his weapon, presenting his katana and there was a Z imprinted on the crossguard. It was something that does not exist in this world and Poppy showed it to them to prove he were not lying. Gold and Meomi for once, did not even doubt him the moment Poppy said the word Zeru.

    "He said that a day wille where we might need to fight aside our Lady. We had been worried that the Lady died fighting against the Demon Rats after she disappeared with the Lord Schr who asked for her assistance. So, we did not believe him until he used some magical screen to show us Lady fighting against living humans as part of her training." Poppy exined.

    "When we saw our Lady train herself toe back to us, how could we, as her subjects, not do the same? From that day on, we learned from Great Master Zeru at least an hour each day on a daily basis before he left us alone to train ourselves. Sometimes, he would even bring stockpile of food and weapons as an act of encouragement for seeing improvements in our training." Poppy added which allowed Gold to understand why the mousefolk were that capable of annihting the Demon Rats. (He knew that most of them were just miners and civilians at the start.)

    "I seeбнno wonder." A tear uncontrobly rolled down from her eyes as she now understood why Zeru out of the blue had told her to search for her hometown people the moment she joined the scouting team. "Soбнit was for this reason. I did not know there was so much going on behind the scenes. Thank you all for your efforts." Meomi said as she stood up and gave a noble bow as courteous as she could towards the mousefolk.

    "There is no need to thank us! We are your subjects and will always be your subjects. Ever since the day you rescued and protected us from the relentless attacks of the Demon Rats with Lady Schr of the West." Poppy graciously lowered his head once more to give his gratitude.

    "Okay enough of all the mushy stuff." Brown interrupted the moment and told the abled body Mousefolk to aid the werejackals to pick up any usable items possible from the dead Demon Rats. Even though a number of the farm rats disappeared into the System''s inventory, they left behind the steampunk enhancement armour and weapons all over the ces.

    If there was one thing that could be reused, it was definitely the equipment which Gold and the rest of Jin''s minion knew that the System would find a way to make them reusable again. (or perhaps make them even stronger.)

    "Let me help out too." Meomi said in a gentle voice as she assisted along with the mousefolk and caught up with them about what had been happening when she went ''missing''.

 Chapter 428 General Xie

    <h4>Chapter 428 General Xie</h4>

    Even though the partition was covered with the System''s protection, the unknowing Yang Ling was paranoid enough to ce some of her self designed inscription charms to make sure that no one else was listening to their conversation.

    Jin could not recognise any of them, but Kraft including Pei easily prated through the inscription''s abilities. The counterintelligence agent identified them to be mainly strengthened Illusion and Veiling charms to prevent the Jin and Yang Ling from being spied on.

    "I heard from a little snake that you''re considering the idea to conduct military exercises." Yang Ling said as she stirred her coffee a little before taking a sip. The mild acidity and rich coffee vour from the Blue Mountain beans permeated her taste buds and almost immediately giving her a feeling of instant rush.

    "Don''t you mean old hagged snake?" Jin questioned her with a slight chuckle which made her giggled along as well.

    "Yes, yes that''s the one. Still, I cannot believe you have been able to get in touch with someone directly from the Royal Zodiac Snake family." Yang Lingmented.

    "Oh? He is part of the Royal Zodiac Snake family? You mean like you? I didn''t know that. No wonder that snake kept avoiding me and told me to get the information from you instead." Jin initially wanted toment with a tinge of sarcasm, but he realised acting ignorant might lead to some information which he might not be privy about otherwise.

    And he was right.

    "Yea well erm no not exactly, his father had married one of the daughters of the main Snake family. Sigh...let''s just put it this way. Their rtions are a tad moreplicated than the rest of the Royal Zodiac family. The important point is, you have built up a rtionship with one of the big shots from the Royal Zodiac Snake n. And if you are wondering, the way he talked about you when he was discussing matters with me, I could sense it was not on the level of mere acquaintances... Neither was it a face value friendship. There was more to it than that." Yang Ling exined while trying to deduce his exact rtionship with Hou Fei in her head.

    "Oh I forgot, you can read minds," Jin said while he yfully tried to cover his head with his hands as if to signal that he was trying his best to protect himself from being read telepathically.

    "Nah, his subtle bodynguage gave it away. Whenever he talked about you, he had a small smile on his face. Hmmm, kind of like a grandpa boasting about his favourite grandchild. Even though it''s near impossible to find stuff out from someone that important from their n, I also don''t seem to be able to read youбн" Yang Ling then paused for a while and stared at Jin.

    "But I''d love to get into your head." Yang Ling replied with a slightly sexual inclination in her tone, seeing how rxed Jin had bepared to thest few meetings. She was genuinely enjoying her time right now, even though she always put a straight face when ites to business dealings.

    There was something about Jin that made her put her guard down. She was aware that it was dangerous in the long run, yet Yang Ling couldn''t contain herself.

    "Well, well, well! If you cannot read my mind, then it looks like my evil mastern can proceed without any hitches!" Jin yed along with Yang Ling as he took another scoop of ice cream and waffles. "Seriously, how big is he a shot in that n? Hou Fei purposely did not reveal too much to me when I spoke to him about the military exercises. He only mentioned that he could make it happen after I have your permission. That sly old snake!"

    "Perhaps, he just wanted to keep this as a surprise. Fine, I can tell you, but you didn''t hear it from me okay?" Yang Ling felt it was okay to trust Jin. No, she wanted Jin to trust her more. More than that. She wanted Jin to know that she could be trusted.

    Yang Ling desired to have the same closeness as how she perceived Hou Fei. She yearned for that badly. Given her circumstances, especially the current political clout that Yang Ling wields, she was not able to find anyone trustworthy. She would be lying if she said that she was able to trust her bodyguard Ku Waipletely.

    But Jin was an exception.

    Jin had done the impossible for her. He had protected her, aided her, as well as giving her a second chance to walk again when she herself had already abandoned that fantasy.

    Yang Ling understood the odds when she created the Gearbox. Even the most optimistic prognosis from her engineers revealed that without some miracle improvement to the Gearbox, it would be impossible topletely give her a 100% range of movements such as bending, crouching or kicking.

    But the miracle happened. Jin somehow managed to improve on the design in an incredibly short amount of time and most importantly, Yang Ling was able to walk again. Even better, she was able to run and jump after getting used to it.

    "You sure no strings attached?" Jin questioned her with an evil grin, but he could see a quick change in Yang Ling''s expression. She was solemn before showing a wide smile towards him.

    "No strings attached. It''s just general information of the Royal Zodiac ns. You may acquire it from any ck market information broker, but in our inner circles, it''s just considered gossip." Yang Ling answered before continuing.

    "He has served under Xie Ming, one of the few but very aplished generals I had ever known. However, General Xie was never publicly acknowledged or given the recognition that he''d deserve for his deeds because he was not affiliated with any of the Royal Zodiac ns. It''s a shame our country is as biased as that, but that''s the reality." Yang Ling went on, which made Jin very surprised. He tried his best to keep his emotions under the wraps as he continued to listen to what the tiger princess had to say.

    "Though General Xie was not recognised publicly, at the peak of his career, Xie held major influences over nearly every possible corner of military politics because of his prowess and renowned wisdom in tactics. You could say the modern Chinese military wouldn''t be in its current state if not for him." Yang Ling recalled whatever information she had in her head.

    "If you remember the history text on counterterrorism that we were taught in high school? He was the one that led the infamous 666th Special Forces into Somalia to thwarted the attempted hijacking of two Iranian tankers and one Chinese war frigate. It was a prettyplex situation which resulted in zero casualties except for many dead terrorists." Yang Ling gave an example about General Xie''s heroics.

    "But they did not mention his name in the textbooks. Instead, they cited the Dragons and Horses." Jin vaguely remembered what she was talking about.

    "Exactly, he gave them the credit which allowed them to be terrific friends with the Iranians after that incident. Russian literally became VERY VERY good buddies with us." Yang Ling stressed a lot on thest part.

    "Because of that and many other achievements, General wielded his arge influence in the military that he was able to overrule the decisions of the other ''less military oriented'' Zodiac families, and he often made use of this. Sometimes it even appeared as if he did it arbitrarily, just to mess with them, but there were always ''good reasons'' which lead to his ideas being incorporated most of the time instead." Yang Ling continued and she noticed that Jin was listening very intently to her conversation. With him at all ears, she continued her story to keep his attention.

    "Eventually General Xie retired for personal matters. I heard rumours that it was because he could not tolerate the ipetence in our police and military counterparts, including the intelligence agencies for the death of his daughter. Nastier rumours im that investigation had been slowed down intentionally by those he had butted heads with..."

    "So when General Xie retired, Hou Fei, which had been considered his most trusted aide, was asked to take up his mantle. To the surprise of everyone he actually refused the offer, stating that he shared the same sentiments as General Xie, even going so far as to express the wish to follow him in retirement. Naturally, the Chinese Military could not take the blow of losing two of their mostpetent high level military officials. Through some negotiations, most likely directly with the Main Branch n of the Royal Snake Zodiac, they ultimately decided topromise and promoted Hou Fei by making him a General in title, while also allowing him to conduct his personal business."

    "And his personal business of selling weapons is all thanks to his military influence?" Jin questioned which Yang Ling nodded with acknowledgement.

    "Most importantly to this day, he has retained the title of Major General. Therefore, he technically has control of a few military bases, which are very loyal to him because of his stint with General Xie. While his position inside the n is fairlyplicated, he is the one enabling the Snakes to have a major say in military matters despite the clout the Dragons and Horses had. " Yang Lingmented, and Jin grinned widely.

    "Looks like I have some dirt on him and can perhaps y that to my advantage instead of him controlling me. Hahahah!" Jinughed as Yang Ling could not help wondering on a particr issue.

    "Soбнis that mysteriously supplier you haveбнHou Fei?" Yang Ling questioned in a very formal and courteously tone. Jin stared at her eyes seriously for a moment while swallowing his saliva in as if to pretend that he had been caught until Jin broke into another bout ofughter. He then told her that it was not the case. Some purchases did came from Hou Fei''s weaponspany, but not everything.

    For Yang Ling, it was a different matter entirely. That momentous stare felt like an eternity to the tiger princess. It made her desire for Jin grow to the point that she felt like confessing to him there and then. As she felt powerless trying to keep her urges together, Jin was the one that broke the tension with his bout ofughter, and she secretly thanked him for saving her sanity.

    "What''s going on with me? Why did Iбн" Yang Ling had those thoughts in her head but little did she know that it was the System as well as some nudging from Kraft himself. Yang Ling might be a high level psychic, except she did not expect her opponent to be way beyond her grade.

    "Krafty, didn''t you just say to let the youngsters do their own thing? You seem to have learned some new tricks while I was away. How did you do that? Subtle hypnotic suggestions? " Kiyu guessed as she noticed the sudden changes Yang Ling exhibited.

    It was slightly exaggerated with her expressions and bodynguage, but their dear Master Jin really was too dense to even notice though Kraft knew he cared more for his grandfather''s history than anything else. (But Kraft still felt proud that Ming''s achievements were still recognised in history. Not to mention, he had much to y in that aspect. Fun times for him.)

    "Her inscriptions prevent things froming in and information from going out. It''s a good idea, with only one slight problem. What if whoever is spying, is already there? Too bad, she did not take the time to check out where she was. Every partition seating area has an air freshener which can be used as a catalyst if you have ess to it. "Kraft staredzily at Kiyu for a moment before he continued.

    "The System offered me a deal. My ''suggestions'' coupled with some of Evon''s pheromones, to make a person of the opposite sex appear more likeableбн in exchange for the right to visit our friend. I''m guessing you want to tag along?" Kraft then answered with a slow big grin as he enjoyed the show every bit.

    "In any case, we seem to have gotten off-topic. Let''s resume what you came for." Jin said as he pushed the dishes aside while he took out a few pieces of drafts he had already done beforehand. "Ah sorry. Seems the blueprint draft is a little too big for the table." Jin was a bit embarrassed as he fiddled to rotate the draft. As he moved the bluprint, Jin slowly realised, that it would be hard for her to see upside down, but seeing him stop in his tracks, it made Yang Ling take the initiative.

    "It''s okay. I can just go over to your side and it will be easier for you to exin." She said with confidence, but inside her slender body, her heart was beating crazily.

    "So you see, I was nning to have the Zodiac Tiger pit against the Zodiac Snake Army in this particr terrain. That way we can do some Urban Warfare training as well as monster horde attacks simtionsбн.." Jin rumbled on as he enthusiastically pointed and exined his ideas to Yang Ling, who sat right beside him. (Whenever he looked down to point at something she tried to take advantage of the moment to inch her butt closer to him.)

    "But what if we want to simte a surprise attack from external forces. How fast they react etc?" Yang Ling had her body turned towards him as she involuntarily curled her hair behind the ears.

    "It will be tough to simte that since bases and cities are quite far away from each other. The response team will generally be from the police first. And I''m not sure if I can create a dungeon instance that far reaching." Jin sighed as Yang Ling yfully pouted.

    "I received a few reports from my n mates that the Goblin Raid Event you did in the beginning was able to do that! Don''t you dare trick me!" Yang Ling used him as she yfully jabbed Jin''s shoulder which heughed bitterly in response.

    "That one wasn''t a dungeon. It''s a freaking new world!!" Jin shouted in his thoughts as he had a bit of cold sweat. He was trying his best to impress her, but the more he present to Yang Ling, the more she felt unsatisfied with his answers. It felt like she expected things beyond what he presented.

    "While I love how everyone thinks, that I can do anything, let me tell you a little secret. You know, how the current Goblin Raid Instance, is more akin to my standard dungeon, unlike how it was in the beginning? Truth is, some things happened, and we are currently unable to use that giant instance for the things that you want. To be more honest, it was more like a fluke of luck, that I even managed to do as I did in the first ce. I will look into it." Jin tried to defend himself, but at the back of his mind, he wondered if he could do the same for the offensive against Demon Rats.

    "But in the meantime, this is the proposal. You can take it back for further study. I''ve already sent a piece of the drafted blueprints to Hou Fei." Jin concluded, giving her some half truths, hoping that there were no qualms to it.

    "Mhmm, will definitely look into it but in return, you have to do something with me." Yang Ling decided to use the situation to her advantage.

    "If it is within my powers, I will do it." Jin was beginning to feel there was some cold sweat rolling down his back.

    "This is a theme park, right? Bring me to y a game or a ride, then I will consider your proposal." Yang Ling answered and Jin suddenly felt burdened that he had to continue entertaining hisбнinvestor. Meanwhile, both Kraft and Kiyu cheered when they heard Yang Ling practically asking Jin out for a date. Their yelling attracted a few unwanted stares before they cowered back to what they were doing.

    "I love where this is going. The pheromones may be one thing, but she has guts!" Kiyu praised as she now began to cheer for her secretly. Separately, Jin was wrecking his head to think of a suitable and then he realisedбн there was one station which might be able to impress her as well as help her rehabilitation.

    "Alright deal, I will bring you there now." Jin decided as he used his Pandamonium App to pay the bill they incurred in the Hot Ice Cafиж, but before Jin could do anything else, Yang Ling was already pulling his hand out of his seat.

    "C''mon what are you waiting for?" Yang Ling portrayed the friendliest and most beautiful smile which Jin had ever seen on her. (Kraft definitely took a picture! That sneaky fox!)

 Chapter 429 Orcs Spinning Tops Blade

    <h4>Chapter 429 Orc''s Spinning Tops de</h4>

    "But before we leaveбнis there any way to do so without Ku Wai finding out?" Yang Ling asked as she peeked out of the partition walls momentarily to see if the coast was clear. Jin guessed that she just wanted to enjoy some personal freedom.

    "Could you let go of my hand first?" Jin asked politely, which made Yang Ling quite disappointed. Perhaps she took things a bit too far and quickly released his hand while apologising to him.

    "No, I... appreciate your gesture. Guess having a date every once in a while can''t be considered a bad thing." Jin stated bluntly causing her cheeks suddenly flushed with redness. "But I need both hands to configure a few things with my phone to make sure we can get away without your guards seeing us."

    "бнI... YouбнD..D..date?" Yang Ling never expected Jin to reciprocate her feelings that quickly. She merely grabbed his hand based on her impulse and now she was unsure on what to do next. Should she reject his perception even though it was true?

    "It''s not? I am sorry, but when ites to romance, I can be quite dense (two spying foxes would 100% agree)." Jin replied while checking his phone. If not for Pei scolding him privately like a mad fox the moment Yang Ling took his hand for not noticing the visible signs, Jin would have overlooked that Yang Ling was trying her best to hit on him.

    Truth be told... he found it annoying when he realised it. There were so many things to do at the moment which made Jin feel that this was really not the right time to dabble with romance. However, his current predicament reminded him of something his grandpa Ming once said. A particr quote that rang true for him and had forever stayed on Jin''s mind.

    ~There is no such thing as ''What If''s''. It''s either you missed the opportunity or you grabbed it by the throat and move on to the future.~

    "At least you notice it." Yang Ling voice became meek as she shyly stared at Jin''s eyes, and they were filled with determination that made him understand that she was not joking at all. He thought that she was fooling around, but right now, he did not need a psychic to tell him that her feelings were genuine.

    "Man, why does she have to do this to me?" Jin scratched his head a little as he continued to double check on Ku Wai via the System. "System, please make a holograph of us chatting with each other so in case hees up to us, he won''t have to worry." Jin addressed it in his thoughts, and in a blink of an eye, it was like he saw his own reflection. (He guessed the System would do what it takes to make sure Jin get a baby out from somewhere...)

    "Ah, clever. A decoy and it''s even speaking the same lines that we said just now." Yang Ling became all excited seeing that Jin was prepared for such a situation. Maybe, he secretly wanted to go on such dates too himself!

    "Though my hair is not that straight." She teased him a little for creating the hologram. Jin knew that she was joking except he felt a tinge of annoyance because the System did create an exact replica of her.

    "Yeah, hopefully, I can fix that hair problem in the future," Jin responded back with a forced smile as he summoned a portal within the partition walls. Without further ado, he took the lead to grab her hand and pulled her into the portal as quickly as possible in order to avoid suspicion. (Although he knew that the System and Yang Ling inscription charms would have prevented any possible view from outside.)

    "Oh my! Is that the portal that Ke Loong was talking about?!" Yang Ling asked with enthusiasm when she came out from the other side of the portal and Jin gave her a peculiar look of astonishment.

    "It''s the same teleportation that can be done from an instance to another instance, not to mention within the same instance. It''s part of my admin rights." Jin said which Yang Ling giggled in response.

    "Exactly! I hear only a select few can perform such a feat easily even with technology. Less said about the amateurs out there." Yang Ling readily acknowledged that for a young age, Jin waspetent in the art of Dungeon Dimensions.

    "Hahahaha! You think too highly of me!" Jin continued to hold her hand and brought her to the ce he had in mind. "System, please inform me of this kind of stuff in the futureбнI will not be able to answer true, erm...authentic dungeon suppliers if they ask me such a question about portals." Jin reminded the System.

    "System will provide you answers should such an asion arise again." The System assured Jin as he proceeded to the game station where Yang Ling should feel excited watching and perhaps, she might even join in.

    "Orcs'' Spinning Tops de?" Yang Ling looked at the building for a moment. There were two orc statues at the top of the building as if they were preparing to throw their spinning tops in into a small arena. She thought Jin would be more romantic and bring her to the Qixi Festival theme ride that Yang Ling saw when she came to spy on the dungeon supplier.

    "Ehhh, we can spectate the matches that are happening right now. I doubt you will have seen something quite like it. If it''s not to your liking, you may choose our next destination. I will allow it." Jin could sense her dislike the moment she spoke out.

    "Alright." Yang Ling smiled back and decided to give it a try since Jin purposely brought her here. His promise of letting her choose where to go next also helped make her happy again. That meant a longer date too! (Ku Wai will cry if he knew that she was missing for a long time.)

    The Orc Spinning Tops de was indeed more than what it seemed at first. When Yang Ling first entered the building, it was a storefront selling various spinning top de parts that came in many designs. What''s more was that the store was bustling with people browsing and buying the top''s pieces, causing the two of them to squeeze in order to reach the store''s exit furthermore to the Spinning top game entrance. Meanwhile, Jin wondered if it was the first day effect or whether it was really that popr to the cultivators.

    This was because Jin usually had a storefront right beside the building like he had done for the Pet Card Arena. But he was worried that this game would not be as popr since it was not as shy as the other two. So to boost the number of people surveying it, Jin had chosen to merge the store with the game''s building. Never did he imagine that it would be so crowded to the point people had to queue outside of the store with Wunder Pandits guiding them to pay for their goods. The System even had to employ a few additional Wunder Pandits as mobile cashiers to deal with the long queue.

    "Compared to the Card Pet Arena and Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars, the Orc''s Spinning Top des so far has garnered the highest poprity. Likewise, System admits that it did not expect such a phenomenon to happen."

    "Ehhh perhaps we have underestimated the nostalgia factor. It should have been a childhood game for most of us? I used that idea when I saw the Orcs did the same thing during their downtime." Jin conjured his reasons which the System still found it hard to ept.

    "Its fine, all that matters that we hope the poprity maintains," Jin said to the System in his mind as he saw Yang Ling peer through the entrance doors to see an entire stadium of cultivators ying the spinning top des.

    "Hi, it will be two Panda Silver to enter the Spinning Top de Indoor Stadium. It''s a one-time fee and you can revisit us whenever you want within 24 hours of paying the fee. You two seem to be neers. If you would like to purchase a Spinning Top de starter set, that will be an additional three Panda Silvers." The Wunder Pandit guarding the Indoor Stadium entrance reception informed to Yang Ling. She paid for the ticket and the starter set almost instantly. Jin was surprised as he was sure she would use cash to pay instead of medals.

    "Don''t forget, I was the first one to correctly finish your Musical Theatre Instance. I got the first clear rewards even though I was not stated on the wall of fame." Yang Ling pouted for a while befor grinning as she waved her handphone at him.

    "Thank you for patronage. Now please pick a ball from this box." The Wunder Pandit acknowledged her payment and took a lottery box out with numbered balls in it. Yang Ling proceeded to put her hand into the lottery box and started to fiddle the balls around before she decided to pick one up.

    "Number 27." The Wunder Pandit confirmed the number by showing it to the Tiger Princess before he showed her the piece of the brochure that listed the things that could be won from the lottery box.

    "You have received a Standard Spinning Top with an elerated spinning pull charger." The Wunder Pandit presented two small boxes to Yang Ling. As stated, it was a basic spinning top in one of the boxes and the other had a picture of a pull charger. She immediately gave a nk look at Jin and that expression was easy to understand. She had no idea what to do with it.

    "Hahah don''t you worry. I can help you with this. For now, let''s watch the matches that are happening." Jin smiled as the Wunder Pandit subsequently opened the doors to the indoor stadium for them to enter. It was rather gigantic, and if Yang Ling was not mistaken, it should be asrge as the Bejing Stadium that they had once experimented with their Gearbox.

    But unlike the Beijing Stadium, this particr indoor stadium had been partitioned into tens of areas to allocatepetitive Spinning Top matches. That way hundreds of cultivators got the chance to y simultaneously while the people in the spectator''s stands waited for their turn.

    When both Jin and Yang Ling randomly took a seat in the spectator''s stand, she began to observe the surroundings of the indoor stadium. The first thing that attracted her attention was a small sized tablet looking TV at the front of her seat. It allowed her to choose one of the live matches to watch. There was also a set of four disy screens at the hanging at the centre of the indoor stadium which reyed the highlights of fascinating matches.

    They noticed that some of the cultivators were just here to enjoy the matches, while others were either learning or waiting their turn. Jin told her that there was even an open concept workshop that allowed cultivators to refine or rebuild their Spinning Tops. "If the parts were too damaged, they have to rece them and that is also a ce for them to test their spinning tops. There areputer AI''s to calcte and measure each Spinning Top strength, speed and durability if the cultivators needed more information."

    Yang Ling acknowledged Jin''s exnation, but what they were most interested was apparently the centre stage, the one Jin told Yang Ling to be the Champion''s Arena.

    "I''ve designed it in such a way that a reigning champion stays in that ring as long as possible," Jinmented and Yang Ling realised that it was something simr to the King of the Hill.

    "Yeap, befitting to that name, that cultivator who stays at the top has topete with everypetitor thates forth to challenge him. Beating the reigning champion will yield you a number of Spinning points and some panda medals ording to the number of matches he stayed on." Jin exined.

    "So that entrance ticket that I bought, do I still need to pay more to y or something?" Yang Ling asked as a Wunder Pandit came to them, offering to sell beverages and snacks. Jin decided to get a small packet of chips while Yang Ling asked for a beer. (He chose to pay for the snacks on their first date and not because of Yang Ling''s question.)

    "Nah, paying that two silver is all that''s needed. You can y here as long as you want if you got the spinning topsбнbut if you want to ce betsбнthat is another story." Jin answered as he pointed to the betting section on the King of the Hill game. All they had to do was to ess the tablet right in front of them to notify the System how much they were willing to bet for either the king or the challenger.

    "No wonder they''re so many people here, hoping to earn a quick buck." Yang Ling concluded as they can see old folks came just to try their luck. "Somehow, with this WunderPanda theme park, you managed to create a mini ecosystem for your Panda Medals to be circted around."

    "Hmm, maybe that is why it is so poprбн Maybe I should copy the concept for Pet Card Instance when I start the mini tournaments." Jin mumbled to himself and Yang Ling was able to catch wind of it.

    "Hahaha, always thinking about how to earn more money even on a supposed date. You truly have the workings of a true businessman." Yang Ling giggled.

    "Heh, anyways a challenger ising. You might understand why this is not your regr spinning top game." Jin said as he brought the two tablets in front of him nearer. The two tablets connected together and became a wider screen for both Yang Ling and Jin to watch. The spectators nearby did not know they could do that and began to imitate that trick.

    It subsequently spread throughout the spectator stands in the indoor stadium awaiting the match of the day бк reigning champion Se Lang who had been holding his title for six matches and challenger Xiong Da.

    "Did not expect to see my Pandawanspete against each other on the very first day." Jin sniggered to himself.

    "It should be a fairly interesting match to watch."

 Chapter 430 The Wolf And The Hippo

    <h4>Chapter 430 The Wolf And The Hippo</h4>

    "Hippo, I thought you''re busy working your ass off for some new case?" Se Lang taunted his new challenger seeing how he had been able to hold the fort for six consecutive times.

    "My little Egret told me that I had to put someone in ce. Some arrogant wolf thinking that he could sit at the throne sofortably because he had a taste of power. That is why I decided toe." Xiong Da took his formal coat out and rolled his sleeves up. He meant business fighting against the reigning champion.

    To gain the right to be a challenger, you had to win at least three consecutive matches against anyone in the indoor stadium of Orc''s Spinning Top des. Only then would you be ced in a queue to fight against the champion along with other challengers. However, each challenger had the right to ask for a duel against someone before him in the queue time, to get their ce.

    Xiong Da was previously Number 44 in line to fight against Se Lang, but he did not wish to wait that long. For every new challenger that Se Lang fought, the participants in the queue were allowed to challenge someone to get the queue number except for the first three in line. Therefore, Xiong Da instantly confronted against the one in position four.

    That particr cultivator was cursing his luck madly for being pushed back at the back of the line since he had lost so terribly against Xiong Da in the issued challenge.

    When the crowd realised that two Pandawans were fighting against each other, everyone became more interested in the fight. They knew the Pandawans as sort of mini celebrities in Jin''s dungeon and were bound to show a decent fight of the tops. Some of the cultivators even began to be envious of such status and decided to strive hard to get that status in Jin''s dungeons.

    How does one do that? Previously, it was based on the first clears, but the System made the requirements simpler and at the same time harder for cultivators striving to be a Pandawan. Clear every single dungeon avable to gain such a status.

    So to be a Pandawan, the cultivators have to clear all the dungeons up to thetest dungeon instance which now is the Escape City Dungeon with all the Deep Ones. Even the current Pandawans had difficulties clearing it properly.

    Those who did only received a partial clear but should any cultivators able win every dungeon and also receive a partial clear from the Deep One Dungeon before Jin released a new dungeon instance, they would attain the Pandawan Status.

    Otherwise, the alternative avable would be to fully aplish the Deep One Dungeon instance objectives and obtain a true first clear aspared to the other Pandawans.

    Back to the Champion Arena for the Spinning Top des, the Orc referees had issued the clearance that their spinning tops had no illegal modifications and were constructed using the store''s original pieces. Jin intentionally made thatpulsory because he knew that as a kid, he himself had illegally added ball bearings inside his spinning top to make themst longer in a fight.

    Of course, the spinning tops could be modified to such a standard in Jin''s new Spinning Top game because each spinning top consisted of a topyer, a weighted disc and a performance base tip. The store also sold a variety of weighted discs which included mini ball bearings to increase the durability of the spin and maintaining bnce.

    They were the more defensive types, and there were offensives builds which enabled the topyer to have a thinyer of steel coated on the spinning top''s top. That allowed the spinning top to hit even harder and cause damage to the opponent''s top.

    While all these spinning top modifications were vital for the arena battle, the most criticalponent was the control of those tops via the cultivator''s chi. After the Supa Robot Wars, Se Lang had decided to participate in the Spinning Top game while the rest tried other rides and he realised his cultivation style had given life to his spinning top.

    "Both of you ready?!" the Orc referees asked simultaneously after they returned the Pandawans their customised tops.

    "LETS SPIN!" Se Lang and Xiong Da shouted together as they released the pulling string from their top charger which caused their spinning tops to fly furiously into the Spinning Top Arena in front of them.

    Se Lang immediately inserted his chi into his spinning top the moment it entered the arena, and the in white top quickly turned colour into a ck menacing looking top. A wolf silhouette appeared right above the spinning top, as he controlled it to charge towards Xiong Da''s spinning top.

    Meanwhile, Xiong Da let his spinning topnd properly into the arena first before infusing a small amount of his chi into the top. Unlike Se Lang''s spinning top, Xiong Da''s did not show any silhouette above his top yet. It was because thewyer had already analysed the policeman''s fighting strategy while waiting. Charge in fast and kill his opponent as swiftly as possible before he could even counter attack.

    The Wacky Wolf cultivation was all about that one shot kills which Se Lang portrayed very clearly in his spinning top attacks. He also understood by looking at his opponent''s top that Xiong Da had strong defence and endurance. Therefore Se Lang had inserted two times more chi than against other spinning tops he had faced.

    "Moon Divide of the Wacky Wolf!" Se Lang shouted an intermediate Art Technique but instead of applying it on himself, he visualised it on his spinning top. Xiong Da might be buff and tough, but Se Lang had more experience fighting with spinning tops than him. The reigning champion believed that those four previous yers were just too weak against Xiong Da but was it the case?

    The Wacky Wolf Top spun in high speed before it suddenly jumped upwards instead of crashing straight into Hungry Hippo Top. Like a scythe slicing things into half, Se Lang''s spinning top turned 90 degrees upon reaching a certain height and mmed its top''s des straight to the stationary but sturdy top of Xiong Da.

    "Se Lang, you have much to learn." Xiong Da flicked his finger which released a burst of chi into the Hungry Hippo Top. His spinning top hopped a little and discharged a shockwave around it which caused the Wacky Wolf Top to divert its striking path, barely missing the Hungry Hippo Top.

    Everyone who was watching it cheered intensely loud and even Yang Ling wowed at the trick that Xiong Da performed. The strike caused the Wacky Wolf to hit the arena''s floor, but Xiong Da seemed to have forgotten something vital.

    Se Lang was the WACKY Wolf cultivator.

    He took advantage of the iing bounce and redirect his chi that made his spinning top change direction, aiming towards Hungry Hippo Top.

    *CLANG!*

    Sparks flew brightly in the air when the two spinning tops shed against each other, and that was when the Hungry Hippo Top revealed its silhouette. It might not have the speed and agility but power and defence? The Hungry Hippo Top clearly knew who would emerge as champion.

    Wacky Wolf Top got deflected once more which Se Lang quickly threw in some Chi to maintain its speed and bnce before it got out of hand. Xiong Da saw the panicked face on Se Lang and started to smirk.

    "Well, well, well. Did someone say he want to obliterate me? But all I can see is a shaky spinning top from afar." Xiong Da boasted in a proud, egoistic tone.

    "Let''s see who truly has thestugh!" Se Lang shouted as he used something else. "Racing Bloody Top Inscription! Activate!" Se Lang had been unsure whether he stood a chance to win against Xiong Da so he decided to prepare something against him with the winnings he had gained in the past six matches to buy an inscription charm for his spinning top via his phone.

    "What?! You can insert an inscription on your Top?!" Yang Ling couldn''t believe her eyes. They were full with enthusiasm as Jin nodded with a smile. She could clearly understand why Jin brought her here. Even without the use of her Gearbox, she could participate freely by using her powers and techniques on her very own Top, acting as a proxy for her fights.

    However to Jin, this was less of a game. Sure it was a supreme way of controlling their chi output to the point that if the cultivators could manage it well with their chi, it could be a backup ranged weapon which was easy to carry around. He was actually selling them another lethal weapon in the form of the spinning tops though that was for the cultivators to realise. And the most amazing thing? It was a weapon that required little to no training to use.

    Hou Fei had seen the spinning tops and realised how potent it could be as an assassination weapon. He asked for a few of them when Jin showed him the game as Hou Fei said he knew of someone who might be able to bring out the potential of those spinning tops. If it works out, the sly snake might introduce that somebody to him.

    The Racing Bloody inscription on the Wacky Wolf Top made its spin faster and more deadly. Each time it shed with Hungry Hippo Top, the sparks were furiously bright as it caused damage to the Hippo Top. Simr to bleeding, Xiong Da''s spinning topyers were breaking apart from its attack.

    If Xiong Da did not do anything soon, it would cause his top to lose all of its attack power and the only way to win would be through brute show of chi which both were willing to expend it all to turn it into a battle of attrition.

    Despite that inscription, Xiong Da decided to go to the offensive through a different method which would eventually make Se Lang open his jaws wide in disbelief. "Muscle Bursting of the Hungry Hippo!!!" Xiong Da shouted as the spectators nearby could see Xiong Da''s arms visibly bulge up.

    Same as Xiong Da, the Hungry Hippo Top suddenly increased in size and height, expanding sidewards while shredding and spinning the damaged parts away. The All new Hungry Hippo Top was at least 2.5 times the size of Se Lang''s spinning top. Even everyone in spectator stands was speechless by the turn of events.

    "How is that possible!?!" Se Lang questioned as he saw Xiong Da control his Top to chase after Wacky Wolf Top. With itsrge size, hitting the smooth speedy Top was not an issue, and within a moment, Se Lang''s top was smacked out of the arena before the Hungry Hippo Top returned back to normal.

    "Whew, that Top part sure was expensive but damned, it''s worth it!" Xiong Da answered him as he raised his right finger, which he rubbed his thumb and index finger to indicate one thing to Se Lang.

    ''Money.''

    Se Lang cursed under his breath. Nevertheless, he had managed to stay as the champion for six rounds, the amount of Spinning Points and the panda medals he earnt was multiplied by six times too. Xiong Da did receive a hefty amount of Spinning points too for toppling the champion down, but he had achieved what he came here to do. He did not wish to continue standing in as the champion after that match.

    "That means the #1 and #2 challengers in the queue will have the opportunity to fight for the crown, are you sure of that?" The Orc Referee asked Xiong Da to confirm his choice then suddenly a loud high pitch voice was heard from afar.

    "Xiong Da! I wish to challenge you!!!" Yang Ling shouted, and though many people did not recognise her, Xiong Da very well knew who the Tiger Princess was. He also saw Jin sitting beside her and started to p andugh all by himself.

    "Interesting, I like your attitude, youngdy! For you, I shall wait for four rounds! If you are not here by the fourth round, I will take my leave!" Xiong Da decided to entertain the Tiger Princess a little and make a bit of a drama here. (Besides who does not like any drama and it advertently shook the betting stations which made the System equally happy too.)

    "How about we increase the thrills a little more? If I win, you join me for the Deep One Dungeon and help me achieve a first clear? I n to be a Pandawan just like you!" Yang Ling announced, and Jin suddenly had a premonition that he was about to be dragged into something terrible.

    "It''s okay! I can just give you your status as Pandawan. Remember, you actually snatched a first clear before!" Jin loudly whispered as if to stop her from making a ruckus. They were, after all, trying to hide the fact that they were away from their bodyguard. If she made such a statement, wasn''t she basically asking for trouble?

    "I agree, however in case I defeat you, Boss Jin will have to join me for the Deep One Dungeon! If I am feeling magnanimous, I could even let you join in too!" Xiong Da cunningly stated his demands, and that was Jin felt like he was about to lose it. Xiong Da had been dying to learn how Jin fights for the longest time ever. Unfortunately, the dungeon supplier clearly did not want the world to know about his powers.

    "Deal!" Yang Ling shouted with a thumbs up.

    "No!" Jin stood up with crossed arms to refuse, but Xiong Da shook his index finger at him as if it was to tell the dungeon supplier that he was toote. (Jin swore he could feel someoneughing at him while holding his sides at the back of his head.)

    "Oh godбн you better win Yang Ling." Jin sighed heavily and Yang Ling smiled with a naughty expression on her.

    "Hmm but I feel it wouldn''t be such a bad idea to follow Xiong Da''s lead and force you toe too. бн Luckily for you, I am hell bent on winning that monster hippo." Yang Ling teased him at first as she unboxed her spinning top.

    "This Tiger wants some tender fresh hippo meat." Yang Ling smirked as she walked down the spectator stand to the multiple mini arenas set up around the indoor stadium.

 Chapter 431 Ording Sanctuary

    <h4>Chapter 431 Ording Sanctuary</h4>

    After hours of sweeping the area, the Werejackals had gathered up of all the enhancements of the Steam Tech as the Mousefolk called them. The Steam Tech was then brought back into their home instance where Jin''s zombies would move it over to Ayse and the Elfish researchers every few hours to analyse. (The Zombies needed time to ...do things.)

    When most of the injured Mousefolk had their conditions stabilised, they asked the System to transport all of them back to the Ording Sanctuary. Keyrin, on the other hand, decided to stay in his home territory for a while longer, stating that as the King of the mountains in these areas, he should be able to do something to repair the damage done by the Rats and his own attacks.

    "Lord Schr, if you do not mindбн" Keyrin asked with his front legs kneeling in front of Gold, a begging gesture which no one expected from the proud, majestic ram.

    But he had his reasons.

    To the others, this ce may just be a battleground and not as important as one would like toe here ever so often. But to Keyrin, it''s been his home for decades and his ex wife''s burial ground. He might not be able to reverse all the damage done, but he was willing to do what he could to help thend recover.

    Gold nodded solemnly as he walked to Keyrin''s right nk and took out a magical brush. He began to ink Keyrin''s body with a few magical ult symbols that acted as a sort of converter for his magic. For the time those symbols were active, his usual lightning magic would change to earth based nature energy and regrow thend as well as covering the Litoride extraction site.

    Keyrin thanked Gold tremendously and proceeded with the recovery process while Gold was thest to enter the portal to Ording Sanctuary. Upon entering, the Mousefolk started to gather around Lady Meomi for returning victorious against the Demon Rats. Some of the warriors who participated in the skirmish used the opportunity to boast about Lady Meomi and her daring exploits against the Demon Rats.

    Especially the tale of taking down the Ogre Demon Rat by herself.

    Everyone in Ording Sanctuary also warmly weed the Werejackals to their humble abode which was situated in arge hollow underground cave. The miners of Ording Town used to extract the Litoride from this cave itself, so there were tunnels as well as secondary caves that wererge enough for these humans turned mousefolk to live in.

    It was slightly squeezy given the number of people being teleported back to Ording Santuarcy, but the main cave was still spacious enough to allow such a gathering to ur. me Ripper and Sebastia were surprised that Meomi was very well received in the Sanctuary considering she always had been known for her cold, aloof attitude.

    While Poppy the vice leader for the Sanctuarymanded the mousefolk to care for the injured, his brother Pippy, brought Gold, Grey and the entire scouting team to their makeshift military quarters within the caves. The rest of the werejackals and even Nyanmi had decided to make themselves useful by assisting the mousefolk with any problems that they had.

    "Lady Meomi, to be honest, I assumed Grandmaster Zeru was preparing us for the worst when he said that he was going to train us. Like ast wish that you had asked of Grandmaster Zeru. To see you in the flesh, the entire town has been delighted that you''re still alive." Pippy told her as he bowed to Meomi as a sign of respect.

    "Heh, if Pippy knew how many times I died, he would be devastated." Meomi faked a smile back to Pippy to cover her thoughts.

    "Indeed, when you went missing, we only thought of the inevitable since there were such rumours of Demon Rats having a way to make people talk their secrets out. " Pippy said as he loosened his cored shirt beneath his mini armour chest te.

    "So we had prepared for the worst. Stockpiled food, trained the people how to escape should the Demon Rats attack us until Grandmaster Zeru graced us with his presence." Poppy entered the makeshift quarters made out of improvised materials.

    "Still, to see our Lord''s little daughter handle herself in a fight against the horde of those bastard Demon Rats, I could only cry tears of joy out." Pippy was ted as he and his brother Poppy had once been the knights serving for the Lord of Ording Town and had watched her grow up from a rascal to a youngdy before the disaster struck. If not for Zeru''s interference, they might be the only ones capable of ensuring the security of this secret hidden haven from the Demon Rats.

    "Due to ermбнspecial circumstances, Gold and I went to meet a бнlegendary grandmaster. One that even Grandmaster Zeru has acknowledged as a master." Meomi tried to tell their story but quickly tapped Gold on his back while he was drinking a cup of hot tea.

    "It''s your turn to exin! I do not know how to lie!" Meomi practically begged Gold in the secured System Channel, and the rest on the table had a slight smirk on their face as if to see what story Gold could conjure out of the blue.

    "Eh hahahah! Yea, at the time there was an error with ourmunication. We thought that someone had stolen the seeds of the Living Armour nts, but it turned out to be that Zeru''s master was just interested in acquiring them. We had offered to cultivate it for him in exchange for his help." Gold nearly bit on his tongue while trying to think of an excuse.

    "However, he first wanted to meet up with us leaders to make a final decision, which is why I asked my cousin Silver to get Meomi for me, saying it was urgent. I feared that he could have changed his mind at any moment, so we had to hurry. By the way, how is Silver?" Gold gave them some half truths about the things which happened, hoping they would not ask for more details and at the same time, he tried to change the topic.

    "Silver? We hadn''t met him nor any of your Jacks after that day when he came to state that you required Lady Meomi''s help. It was weeks or monthster that Brown came along with Grandmaster Zeru." Poppy said.

    "You never got in contact with Silver after that? Why is that? The Jacks should have periodically appeared to give out the standard aid package to all of the Sanctuaries?" Grey was concerned too since Silver was a good friend of his and the protocol to send aid packages was to keep tabs on the Sanctuaries still around, to make sure they were not yet invaded by the Demon Rats.

    Unlessбн

    Gold could see Grey''s distressed look and pressed the Mousefolk Knights for additional information. They, unfortunately, had nothing else to add. They had been scraping by with the food they had gathered from the surroundings and stayed strict to their sanctuaries.

    Because of their petite sizes, the mousefolk needed a lot less foodpared to other werehumans. Therefore, the aid package that the Jacks provided them was just a bonus to them. (Not to mention the asional additional food supplies by Grandmaster Zeru after they met.)

    "With or without the aid package, we could still survive with the amount of food we gather. We assume Silver had decided to prioritise the aid for other werehumans since such cases happened before." Poppy suggested as Pippy went to take the manifest of thest aid package sent to them.

    "We do note out of the caves that often, so in terms of time, I am afraid to admit we have lost track of time without the dates on the aid packages or the time keepers. You also know how we perceive time differently when we turn into werehumans and live in caves." Pippy apologised for they could not give a proper timeline to Gold.

    "Time Keeper?" Sebastia asked, which Grey exined that it was simr to a town crier who would spread the news as well as inform the twon poption about important dates and kept the time. They were merely animated pieces of wood.

    The Schrs and their underlings did the maintenance for these time keepers. Most of the mousefolk were not as educated as to the nobles. Hence they relied on these time keepers to keep track of their activities.

    Silver had been an apprentice simr to Grey to Gold so apart from being a deliveryman, he would maintain the time keepers. Without the appearance of any Jacks to charge it up, the magic that was powering the time keeper eventually wore off.

    "We might be able to backtrack a little. Do you remember the approximate period the time keeper lost its magic? Was it before the appearance of Grandmaster Zeru?" Gold asked which made Poppy and Pippy scratch their heads in agony.

    "I guessбнso?" Poppy could not confirm it at all and neither could Pippy.

    "A rough estimate would be at least a few months since Silver is gone." Gold did the maths in his brain before spouting it out. "Brown did tell me the dates when he brought Betor Zeru to scout for the monstersбн.though the best way to confirm is to travel to one of the towns to learn the exact dates." Gold added as he looked at the scouting team.

    "My werejackals will continue to aid the mousefolk here so Meomi, rest assured your people will be taken care of. We will stick to the old n by returning to Keyrin''s home and start your scouting from there." Gold started to give hismands to them.

    "Keyrin will stay at the mountains to see if any additional Demon Rats return to check on theirrades. With Keyrin stationed there, it also gives an alibi for the destruction done by the Meomi and the Mousefolk. They should not suspect any foul y by us at the moment." Gold exined his amendments to the ns.

    "If possible, I''d like to aid Lady Meomi in her quest." Poppy immediately volunteered, and Pippy chimed in his opinion too.

    "As much as I''d like to be with my loyal servants, I will have to decline and ask you to stay here and continue to practice your skills. Through the aid of our new master, which Gold will exin in time, you all will have a busy time ahead." Meomi respectfully declined while staring at Gold.

    "What do you mean exactly?" Pippy asked, but Poppy was giggling which eventually turned in a series of loudughter.

    "Are you saying that we are going to have more surprises for the Demon Rats?" Poppy asked with a smile of confidence on him. Meomi nodded her head gently, and Poppy continued tough uproariously before he got out of his seat and knelt in front of his Lady again.

    "As youmand!" Poppy shouted with pride and happiness mixed into one. Pippy immediately got to his knees and knelt behind his brother. "We will do as told by Lord Schr Gold and be prepared to sortie whenever needed! Knight Poppy at your service!" Poppy repledged to Meomi his oath of loyalty to her again.

    Pippy did the same thing which incidentally caused Meomi to have tears well up in her eyes again. "Damn, second time in the day." She thought to herself.

    Nevertheless, she held them in as much as she could while acknowledging their oaths. me Ripper could see that Meomi cared much about her subjects and realised that she had a lot of history that she had yet to reveal.

    However, one thing was for sure.

    She was willing to go any length to defeat the Demon Rats and return the peace they had in their world. Knowing her objectives, me Ripper had decided to do whatever he can to make sure they get their homes back.

 Chapter 432 Appointed Monsters

    <h4>Chapter 432 Appointed Monsters</h4>

    The scouting team returned to the mountains and noticed that within a few short hours that they were away, Keyrin had already cleaned up the mess at the demon rat''s base camp. With the magic converter, the Thunder Ram Demon made sure that there was no scent, no tracks and no trails of the Demon Rats at all.

    Should a Demon Rat ever return to scout the area, they would only find the forest and mountains as it is (Perhaps more lush than ever.) Even the cave which the Demon Rats mined was covered naturally with rock formations matching the surrounding walls. Keyrin also ensured that all the tunnels that were excavated had been covered too.

    "Brilliant job." Sebastia praised the Thunder Ram Demon resting at the side of the cliff overseeing the forest. Keyrin snorted and mumbled a few words that allowed him to cast a spell on them. Magical particles surrounded the scouting team momentarily, and they could feel their steps were lighter than usual.

    "It''s a light footed spell." Meomi noticed as she jumped about to test her bnce, and it did not impact her body at all. She deduced she could move faster in it, especially the scouting gear the team had brought.

    "The spell willst for a few days, sufficient for you to reach the next town in less than a day. You will sorely need it considering you already spent so much time here surveying the Farm Rats." Keyrin said as he looked away and mumbled. "бнand as a thank you."

    "Heh, the haughty, majestic Thunder Ram Demon is also capable of thanking people." me Ripper thought to himself and grinned as he saw another side of a monster he could not have seen when they were in Jin''s home instances.

    "Now, be gone! I need some rest before I prowl the area for these Farm Rats." Keyrin neighed and peacefully closed his eyes. The scouting team did not hesitate any further and began to travel with Meomi in front since she had knowledge of the locations ahead.

    Separately, Gold was in Ording Sanctuary to check on the conditions that the mousefolk were living in. It was utterly deste and to call it a Sanctuary was somewhat of a stretch. However, the mousefolk were resilient in their ways. They had managed to grow a few crops that did not need sunlight and surprisingly, they had stumbled upon an underground source of water that aided them to stay in hiding for long periods of time.

    But all this was about to change with Gold now in charge. Because of Jin''s permission to aid the fellow ''resistance'' groups, the System had given a very limited ess of Qiu Yue''s and Lynn''s subsystem modules to Gold. (Of course, whatever he does will be tracked by the System and notified to the respective Sub System Users as well as Jin.)

    Unlike the Goblin General''s sons, Gold had already proven that he was capable in leading the werejackals by ensuring there was a hierarchy in ce to maintain order. Jin also felt that he should not be micromanaging too much of the monster''s aspects.

    He might be the user of the System that supposedly controls every aspect of the things he built, but it would be the death of him if he really did that. Even if he could achieve Astral Form and be capable of leaving the Another Jins behind to oversee the projects and do the work for him, there would still be an endless amount of tasks to handle. Kraft wasn''t wrong when he told Jin that there was no need for him to do everything by himself.

    That was also why Lynn used her Sub System to have her penguins not just do the cooking but also train new penguins whenever the Sub System deemed it fit to reward her with new ones.

    Not only that, with the emergence of WunderPanda Theme park, the more experienced penguins had taken more roles such as managing various cafes as well as handling the administration for anything rted to the matters of cooking.

    Simrly, Qiu Yue had also subcontracted the Minotaurs to be her overseers for the construction of the Dungeon City Fortress. It happened that those cosying minotaurs were outstanding mediators between the goblins and orcs, which resulted in the overall construction process to be faster and smoother.

    So far, the agriculture sector had already beenpleted, equipped with modern aqueducts and processing factories. While some of the Orcs had already nted a few crops, native as well as foreign ording to the System''s choices, both Shu, the Ancient Treant and Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress had also been tasked toe on a regr basis to get the crops up fast.

    This was more of a massive scale and endeavour aspared to the farm the Werejackals had done. However, this particr agriculture floating tform sector could not have been aplished so sessfully if not for the System using the data it had gathered by analysing the Werejackals.

    They were indeed the specialists when it came to farming.

    Food Experimentation Specialist Melis had also cooperated with the Werejackals to learn more about the quality of the food grown. Other than the penguins, Melis was currently the only one to have been subcontracted by Lynn to be allowed to use the Cooking Sub System.

    She had been using the Sub System modules to check the overall health of the crops, and how long they needed to be matured for harvesting. While the Werejackals already had some proven farming methods, Melis was granted a fairlyrge patch of field in Agriculture Sector One to test out other possible fertilisers as well for any other experiments she was going to conduct.

    In addition, the Orcs and Goblins hadmenced rearing animals for meat processing along with the production of other materials which the animals provided like fur or eggs. And because the System had the power to manipte time, the animal farms had been ced in Agriculture Sector Two, a separate floating tform that was strictly regted by the System and Lynn.

    Lynn knew that raising livestock was a different issuepared to growing nts. Animals needed way more time to mature, and they required extra care such as food supplies etc. At the moment, she was rearing livestock that was native to their world such as chickens, pigs, ducks and cows to test out the time maniption powers of Agriculture Sector Two. The animals were also allowed to roam and breed freely since the meatбнare the tastiest in the wild free ranged ones.

    The System had already geotagged each and every individual animal in Sector 2 and monitored their health and progress while elerating the time in there. Should there be any signs of disease or sickness (which there should not be any after the strict vetting by the System), Lynn could assign the penguins to take them out of the Sector before it was allowed to spread. Otherwise, the penguins would only enter to bring the matured livestock out for ughtering. (given the Peggies'' skills, their deaths would be swift and merciful.)

    On a separate note, when Qiu Yue was away negotiating economic and political deals with the Goblins and Orcs, Moloch became her second in charge. He made sure the minotaurs did their own part in the construction efforts while mediating if needed. Thankfully, it seemed that squabbles were getting less and less frequent the more those two races came together and worked alongside each other.

    Moloch even got them to work hand in hand (albeit grudgingly at first) with the improvements on the Sandroku golems and had already begun working in teams on a 24 hour shift to create and reinforce the foundation of the Pand-Antic City. (However, they stillpeted in regards to which Team managed to do the most in a day)

    To Moloch, it was just business as usual, but if Orc King Frost Echo and Goblin King Sol were to see this, it would be a historic moment for both races.

    In the meantime, the researchers were swarmed with more work to study the Steam Tech that the Demon Rats had used. The designs were not asplicated as the Lost Tech which the Orcs had used, but it was the inconsistency of the armour and weapon enhancement that pissed off Ayse.

    "THERE IS NO ORDER IN THEIR CREATION! They merely p some pieces of metal together and use the enhancements with any disregard for their lives!" Ayse shouted as she looked at the horrid mess of technology those Demon Rats were making. She could not find anymon basis in their designs, which she found it annoying to a certain extent. Even the Steam Tech tanks Gold had taken were not of the same dimensions or within a margin of errors.

    "It will indeed be a headache to categorise them." One of the Elfish Researchers said. "At least we have the System with us to sort the items." The Researcher was pointing out the Savants who had decided to ''volunteer'' to sort the problem Gold threw them.

    The Savants might be of various adventurer sses from the outside and their limited personalities did not suit to be research assistants but being Savants, they could all be further programmed by the System''s AI.

    The System believed that those Savants would make good helpers for the researchers who were currently short handed. If those savants could pick up cultivator''s skills based on the System''s AI programming, they should also be able to quickly pick up the instructions and rationale of the researchers. The System believed by allowing them to experience research procedures rather than installing it in them that it would allow them to create their very own artificial intelligence functions.

    It''s like seeing mini Systems grow; an experiment by the System to see if an AI with limited capabilities was able to thrive and perform. The researchers would also use this chance to oversee if they could create more of this kind of Savants without the invasive procedure Kraft had performed. If this was sessful, Jin could easily create an army of sentient soldiers (to take over the world?) but for now, categorising the Steam Tech was the number on priority.

    Back to Gold, with the permissions he received from the System, he had asked for some prefabricated houses to be put into the caves of Ording Sanctuary, creating furniture and giving the mousefolk a better ce to rest. However, all this was not free, and someone had to pay for it.

    Fortunately for Gold, the Farm Rats he killed were all ''reincarnated'' items, and thus they were natural resources that could be used to pay for the costs in a certain way. The System had made use of the Lost Tech that Jin had looted from the Mysterious Ind.

    The Lost Tech Material Recycler and Lost Tech Counterfeiter.

    Jin had recreated the piece of living armour sessfully after 99 hours with the lost Tech Counterfeiter or Mr Bobbling Bear as Ayse had named it. Since it was the System, it was able to quickly sort through the useful and useless items that the Farm Rats had been reincarnated into.

    Afterwards, the System inserted useless junk from the Farm Rats and gave it to the counterfeiter machine as food to create the prefabricated houses for the Mousefolk. With such ingenious products at its disposal, this was also why it did not allow Ayse to throw the Steam Tech away. Even a useless item had its uses.

    Whenever Mr Bobbling Bear was not in use by the System, the System would ce it in Lynn''s kitchen to let Mr Bobbling Bear eat whatever mishaps made in the kitchen. It was in recement to the incinerator that the System once used for the kitchen and it proved to be very useful.

    Because of the constant waste from the kitchen, this time round the prefabricated house and furniture that System had created were all free. and within a short time limit too. (Poor Living Armour nts no longer receiving scraps anymore from the kitchen.)

    As for the Lost Tech Material Recycler, the researchers had thrown a few badly damaged Steam Tech enhancements into it to see what was thrown out. To their surprise, the rumoured Litoride was also extracted by the Material Recycler.

    Ayse was more interested in that than categorising the items, and so she had decided to appoint herself and a few other lucky researchers to study on theposition of the Litoride. The rest of the researchers grumbled and tookfort that the Savants were there to make their jobs slightly easier.

    The Mousefolk were filled with delight and felt immensely indebted to Lord Schr Gold. "This is so that you guys can rest properly. Insufficient rest means a drop in quality of your training. Right now, every bit of that training is needed to make sure that you all can defeat the rats." Gold told them, and the mousefolk swore on the previous Lord''s name that they would do whatever it takes to win against the Demon Rats.

    "A Sanctuary with less than a hundred peopleбнaspared to the thousands бнif not hundred of thousands of Demon RatsбнI wonder if Master Jin can pull off such a miracle." Gold thought to himself.

 Chapter 433 Yang Lings Preparation

    <h4>Chapter 433 Yang Ling''s Preparation</h4>

    *Beep Beep Beeep!!!*

    "Winner, Yang Ling!" The Orc Referee announced the conclusion of the match between her and a random cultivator. Her first win might have been a fluke to others spectating her, but it no longer seemed to be the case when she also won the following one in under 30 seconds.

    "You might actually be a natural at this." Jinughed bitterly at Yang Ling, who was pleased with the results. Unlike the vast majority of his current customers, Yang Ling had magical grades at advanced levels (which she was trying to keep a secret from Jin, but it was impossible under the all seeing System) as well as the previous cultivation that her father had taught her.

    With Jin''s modified gearbox equipped, she was able to stabilise herself in a modified cultivation stance for the past month since Yang Lingst saw him. Thus, it allowed her to start cultivating her Royal Zodiac Tiger Style once again. It might not look much to other people, but to her, it meant everything as it allowed her to start to regain her former life once more.

    Not just her, even the Tiger n doctors regarded this miraculous recovery progress as a fantastic sign. Though she only recovered to the level of Grade Two of her Royal Zodiac Tiger Style, there were signs that her chi circuits along with her active mana circuits were used in conjunction to bypass the damaged nerves in the cauda equina region.

    The doctors also said that she was the few umon cultivators able to utilise both mana and chi circuits due to her special circumstances. (since most cultivators could only use either one circuit.) They advise her that if done right, she might potentially be the powerhouse that the Royal Zodiac Tiger family had been looking for.

    Yang Ling took the information with a pinch of salt, especially when the very same doctors were previously filled with disdain after they knew that she was incapable of cultivation many years back. "That injury was a blessing in disguise, my ass..." She said to herself as she smiled back at them for providing such an optimistic diagnosis.

    However, the information from the doctors also meant that slowly, but surely, she was able to walk small steps without the aid of Jin''s modified gearbox. Yet, as per Yang Ling''s request, the Tiger n doctors did not reveal such optimistic information to her father, Hu Yuan Ba. It might be the secret trump card that she could keep in case people like the Banned Emperor Assassins were to target her or her family again.

    This particr spinning top game, on the other hand, seemed to be an excellent opportunity to allow her to use both chi and mana circuits at once, practising andpensating each of the circuits in her body to regte her power. As magic had no animal or monster forms, she could use the excuse of portraying her tiger silhouette via her psychic abilities, but in actual fact, it was a disguise for utilising her tiger cultivation.

    Even though the majority of the crowd did not realise her true identity since the Tiger Princess rarely made her appearance aspared to her older brothers, she still had to be cautious in utilising her chi cultivation. The Royal Zodiac bloodlines made her particrly unique, enabling those who were sensitive to chi able to seek them out easily.

    Thankfully, Yang Ling''s high grade magical powers still overshadowed the chi energy that was given out and everyone in the vicinity believed she was a magical user that appeared to be close to Boss Jin since he was there to apany her.

    The match highlights immediately disyed her fights against the other two yers that had been defeated and the Orc Announcer had wonderfully showcased her fight to the rest along with the King of the Hill event that was ongoing.

    Xiong Da had also mercilessly crushed one opponent, but he took his sweet time since he was utilising a defensive route with his spinning top to provide Yang Ling with the opportunity to challenge him. By the time he initiated the fight against his second challenger, Yang Ling was already midway fighting against her third one.

    But unlike Se Lang or Xiong Da, Yang Ling''s spinning top fights were just inбнnormal for some reason. Even though she could have portrayed the tiger silhouette with some of her magical powers, she decided to keep it hidden from the others for now.

    From the spectator''s point of view, her control of the spinning top was top notched and based on thementary by the Orc announcers during the highlights, they had acknowledged that her magical powers gave her the leverage to control her spinning top to the strictest level. They believed that the finesse of her spinning top in addition to the elerated charger she received in the lottery was the key to winning thest two matches.

    True enough, her top spun rapidly in slightly lowered angle, allowing it to hit the enemy''s base of the top, causing it to topple almost immediately even with the opposing cultivator''s continuous infusion of chi into the top.

    "Winner, Yang Ling! You are now qualified to challenge the King of the Hill event!" the Orc Referee overseeing the third match said to her.

    "Look at the Spinning Points you''ve received. You should use some time to buy a few parts to modify it before the Xiong Da challenges the next cultivator." Jin advised Yang Ling as he wanted her to win very badly. He had no intention to participate in the Escape City Dungeon instance because he knew exactly where the routes to take were to reach the end goal.

    That was one of the reasons why he did not wish to participate since he was not willing to reveal the secrets to the masses. If he won the Escape City Dungeon Instance, it could be considered cheating.

    But if he purposely lost the dungeon instance, his dungeon supplierpetitors such as the Ruby Rat owned King''s Monster would surely start to spread rumours criticising how weak the dungeon supplier had be, making others lose faith in his dungeon designs. They wouldment on how Jin was too greedy in creating a dungeon that could not be beaten, and it was one of the ways to trick the cultivator''s money.

    On the other hand, if he won, spies like the Ruby Rat Triad members would be able to gauge and determined his strength from the dungeon run. Although it was not indicative of his true strength since it did not include the System, the lesser information they had about him, the better for Jin. In the modern day, seeding on espionage runs meant that half of the battle had already been won.

    Alternatively, he could have a close door dungeon run with Yang Ling and Xiong Da, but they had already announced it in front of the public without thinking of the consequences for him. (Perhaps they did not care to think at the heighten limits of their adrenaline.) That was why Jin was going to aid Yang Ling as partial as he could.

    "But the queue at the store will be very long. I don''t think I even have the time to shop properly or make payment at the cashier." Yang Ling rolled her eyes as she joined the queue for the King of the Hill event.

    "There is a list of nicely catalogued items in the Pandamonium App which you can check it out. If you wish to buy anything, I can get it for you instantly." Jin offered to aid Yang Ling with the navigation to the online store in Pandamonium App.

    In the meantime, he was thinking if he should add voice activatedmands to make searching of options even easier since the app was getting more and more extensive with every update. "With a price on top of it, so there will be no favouritism involved," Jin said, hoping to entice Yang Ling.

    "What are you talking about, you helping me to get the items, is already considered favouritism. So, no. I do not need your help, but I honestly appreciate the gesture." Yang Ling said as she went close to Jin''s face and yfully pressed on his nose. The rest of the cultivators saw the public affection from Yang Ling to Boss Jin and begun to have spections about their rtionship with each other.

    "Stopбн stop it. The rest seem to be watching." Jin frantically mumbled when he saw the other cultivators looking at him with an oddly approving look.

    "Looks like they acknowledged our presence." Yang Ling said to him with a gentle smile. She initially wanted to take the opportunity to wrap her hand over Jin''s shoulders, but in the end, she stopped her teasing after herment.

    Despite her desperate urges, Yang Ling remembered that they were not as close as they should be. She should be lucky that Jin was not too adverse with her sudden advances.

    She also did not understand why she became so daring as if somethingбнSome kind of desire was brought forth within her and had ovee Yang Ling to made her perform things that were out of the norm. Yang Ling got control on herself eventually and did not dare to do anything further so as she knew the misunderstandings in bodynguage might pose a problem to him and her down in the future.

    If Jin had not been a target of the Banned Emperor''s subjects for the botched assassination, this particr gesture that Yang Ling had made publicly may have repercussions for Jin. She could only hope that no such people were monitoring at them for the moment. Lynn''s kidnapping was a perfect example that had urred to Jin, and Yang Ling inherently believed that she must train harder before she could even be near Jin.

    "As you wish, my princess," Jin said when Yang Ling''s expression turned for the worse after shemented on them. He did not know what was going through in her mind, but it seems to Jin that Yang Ling did not want his help any further. "Perhaps she wanted to prove herself?"

    "But at the very least, take this or else you might not be even able to scratch Xiong Da''s spinning top based on the specs of your spinning top." Jin said as he grabbed Yang Ling''s hand and ced a weighted disc on her hand.

    "It will give you a slight edge in the battle. I assure you can find the same weighted disc at the store too." Jin said and Yang Ling hesitantly epted his gift. The part that was given to Yang Ling was of a higher grade that could be paid with the current Spinning points she received winning the first three matches.

    Despite her initial stance, Yang Ling felt a slightfort that Jin was persistent to aid her. She too had some lingering doubts that she could win Xiong Da although the tiger princess was too proud to show it out. Besides, it''s been a long time since Yang Ling relished for a challenge, so it''s a win win situation for her. (even though it''s a lose lose scenario for Jin.)

    However what Yang Ling did not know was that even though the weighted disc had the same exact attributes as stated by Jin in the Pandamonium Online Store, it had functions hidden from the main analysis page on her Pandamonum App. The System also knew the risk that Jin was exposed to, and decided to aid him once for free.

    The weighted disc was imbued with an auto rotating inscription charm as well as an invisible charm to make sure the inscription activations could not be seen with the naked eye or be felt by chi or magic unless deliberately searched. It was also a one time use inscription that would be activated by the System automatically. That means after this particr battle with Xiong Da, those two inscriptions would disappear.

    With the System as the grand overseer of the entire King of the Hill event, it would not allow Jin to be under unnecessary exposure to the public too, so the Orc Referees were given the signal to cheat the checking of the Yang Ling''s item. It was slightly despicable but an essential move.

    The one time use of those inscriptions also meant that no trace of evidence could be found if Xiong Da would to query. Besides that, the System had prepared to coordinate video filming of the magic eye to look the other way so as to prevent any possible evidence from leaking.

    It did an extensive search around thepound to ensure that no search magic was being cast by any cultivators at the same time. Everything had already been prenned by the System to ensure that the cheat would move as ording to n.

    Jin might want to be an honest businessman when he first started out, but businesses around him will never be legitimate. Sometimes, cunning schemes and shrewd thinking were the only ways to ensure he remained honest for most of the time.

 Chapter 434 Immovable Pillar of The Hippo

    <h4>Chapter 434 Immovable Pir of The Hippo</h4>

    The moment Xiong Da finished fighting his opponent, Yang Ling had already begun challenging the challenger in the fourth position. However, instead of fighting her, the cultivator graciously gave her the ce and daringly asked the ones in line if they could move back once.

    Oddly enough, the entire crowd was willing to do just that. Even the first in line had decided to give up his ce to let Yang Ling enter the arena before him. Xiong Da had said he would only wait for four matches for her, so there was no way Yang Ling could have done that. Especially since by the time Xiong Da reached his fourth match, she would have at best be one of the first three in line no matter how fast she battled against others.

    However, what Xiong Da meant in his context, was that he was willing to wait for Yang Ling to be a challenger for the King of the Hill event. So, by the time he withstood his fourth match, she should be in the queue.

    Only afterwards did he realise that he was not clear when stating his demands when he saw the crowd moved backwards for Yang Ling. (So much for awyer!) Luckily the other cultivators thought simr to Yang Ling, and when Xiong Da saw how the cultivators gave up their ce without fighting, he immediately understood why.

    They all wished to see him shing with a capable challenger. One that potentially had a chance to beat him down from his high horse.

    "Works for me too, This way I don''t have to fight that long against ipetentpetitors." Xiong Da sniggered to himself without saying out loud. (He knew better than to say that out loud offending many people! After all, if it were not for Jin''s intervention for his cultivation training, he would also be one of them!)

    Yang Ling stepped up on the stage and gave the Orc Referees her modified spinning top. She had already equipped the weighted disc that Jin gave her minutes ago as disassembling and reassembling parts of the spinning top was quick and easy to perform. Unless Yang Ling decided to use customised parts akin to the cultivators experimenting in the workshop at the far end of the indoor stadium, there was no need to worry about her spinning top''s structural integrity.

    As instructed by the System, the Orcs ignored the weighted disc''s hidden functions and showed the ''normal'' statistics on screen for the rest of the spectators to view. While it may not be that interesting or relevant for average viewers, it was a way to offer the gamblers in the indoor stadium more insight and the probability(and therefore the payout) of winning based on the Spinning Top alone without the consideration of the cultivator''s control of it.

    It was also to prove that the spinning tops were ''clean'' from illegal modifications and that the game was transparent enough for the gamblers to bet. Usually, there would be betting behind the scenes or bookies that defined the state of the game. However, the gamblers had Jin''s dungeon instance as a sign of trust that everything would be clean. (Just not for this particr match!)

    In the previous matches, it was easy for the gamblers to bet on Xiong Da to win some panda medals since it was fairly obvious who was to win. Nevertheless betting the minimum of one Silver Medal and getting one additional Bronze Medal guaranteed, was by no means a bad deal. A number of ''wealthy'' cultivators bet the maximum of 10 Gold Medals every time for a decent payout.

    However, for this particr match, the odds between the reigning champion and challenger were staggering high. Many continued to bet on Xiong Da, but given the ster record of defeating cultivator''s spinning tops in less than 30 seconds, Yang Ling had given reignited the gambler''s spirit and some risk to bet all in on her.

    If she were to win, the gamblers would literally strike goldбн \Gold panda medals. This caused a few of them to cheer for her loudly when the Orc Referees asked if they were prepared to fight. In the meantime, the System took this asion to suggest for Jin to create a gambling instance for high rollers only. Jin kept quiet when the System requested about it and decided not to give an answer for the moment.

    Right now, it was all about Yang Ling and Xiong Da.

    "Let''s SPIN!" Xiong Da shouted which Yang Ling embarrassingly followed along with the tagline. That momentous embarrassment did not linger long as her spinning Top went into the arena. Xiong Da was still following the same tactic he had utilised in the past four matches, and if not for the Orcs swapping the spinning top arena for a new one in every match, the arena would have been filled with cracks by Xiong Da''s constant shockwaves.

    Instead of attacking directly like Se Lang or like the rest of the cultivators who tried to aim for Hungry Hippo Top''s performance tip, Yang Ling had a different approach. She controlled her spinning top to spin around the arena continuously to gain more momentum.

    "No matter how fast you can go, you will not be able to gain enough traction to move an immovable pir of heaven." Xiong Da boasted as he flicked his fingers once again to maintain his momentum.

    "Because none of them knew how to topple a pir properly. To do that, you just have to aim for the top." Yang Ling replied as she infused both mana and chi into her spinning top, causing a tiger head silhouette to appear above her spinning top.

    "Any idea what tiger cultivation that is?" A spectator asked another stranger and judging by the murmurs most of the indoor stadium was wondering the same thing. Few had seen a tiger cultivation style simr to that. Even those who were practising tiger styles did not know about it except for a handfulбн one of which just happened to enter the indoor stadium.

    "ARGGHHH!!! Princessss!" Ku Wai almost had fits when he saw an ad hoc advertisement of the match between Yang Ling and Xiong Da being televised on TV in Ice Hot Cafиж. He nearly threw out his third cup of coffee while waiting impatiently for the negotiations to end in the other partitioned dining area.

    "Please don''t be her! Please just be a lookalike!" Ku Wai mumbled to himself as he decided to check on her personally... only to learn that all the desperate knocking and kicking of the barrier did not alert them in any way. Ku Wai was just about to use his cultivation to blow the barrier off until Mr Hot, the Fire Wyrm Ant personally came to inform him (with bodynguage) that they were not there at all.

    Ku Wai quickly gathered the rest of the bodyguards and headed to the Orc Spinning Top des game. As one''s bad luck could go, it was on the other side of the WunderPanda Theme Park. Ku Wai and the bodyguards became determined to run as fast as they could with the aid of their cultivation which nearly scared the bystanders to death when they saw a stampede of tiger silhouettes running across the theme park.

    However, Ku Wai''s voice was drowned in the midst of all the cheering in the indoor stadium since nearly everyone in that ''room'' had ced their items down to watch the match to see if Yang Ling could really defeat the immovable pir of hippo heaven.

    The Tiger Spinning Top had gained enough momentum rotating around the arena, and Yang Ling tried to attack Hungry Hippo Top by utilising one of the most basic cultivation techniques which basically all tiger styles used. "Pouncing Tiger Strike!" Yang Lingmanded her Tiger Spinning Top to pounce on top of the Hungry Hippo Top.

    Xiong Da smirked at that futile attempt when he saw the Tiger Spinning Top jumping towards his spinning top. "And here I thought you had some surprise in store...You wasted enough of my time! Muscle Bursting of the Hungry Hippo!" Xiong Da sighed as he decided to erge his Hungry Hippo Top to prevent Yang Ling''s Pouncing Tiger Strike from hitting precisely.

    He knew that there had to be a reason why Yang Ling waited for some time while gathering speed to hit him. While he was fighting against other cultivators, Xiong Da took the time to watch the short highlights that Yang Ling was in. That was also why he decided to take the defensive route so there was sufficient time for him to digest her tactics.

    It might seem like it was a fluke for her to win the matches, but Xiong Da had eyes keen enough to see that she was essentially aiming at the weak points of the opponents'' spinning top.

    Combined with the angle of the semi bowl shape of the arena as well as her perfect control of the top, it had allowed her to do one precise strike that eliminated her opponent when they were in position. If Se Lang''s one shot kill was like a st of fire from a deadly fireball, Yang Ling''s one shot kill was akin to an arrow with a fatal piercing tip.

    That was why he decided not to move around in the arena, and stay in the centre where it would be difficult for her to aim his performance tip. Xiong Da was very confident until her words struck him when she lectured him that others did not know how to topple a pir.

    Initially, he thought she was just taunting him since the topyer of his spinning tops had des that would deflect her attack. But then he realised that she could mean attacking literally from the top of the ''pir'' by using her performance tip to pierce through the immovable Hungry Hippo Top.

    With Yang Ling''s supreme controlling skills which allowed her to execute precision attacks, he was not risking a single thing. Thus, Xiong Da used his technique, Muscle Bursting of the Hungry Hippo to throw her top''s strike off.

    That was when Yang Ling started to grin widely. "Oh Hippo, you just fall into my trap~!" Yang Ling said as she flicked her hand to insert more mana into the Spinning Top and suddenly the Tiger Spinning Top turned away in mid air from striking the top of Hungry Hippo Top. Instead, it moved sidewards and subsequently scratched the Hungry Hippo Top at the side.

    With itsrge size, the Tiger Spinning Top moved around the Hungry Hippo Top like skilled chef peeling the skin of an apple in one go, rotating around it doing as much damage as it could. Yang Ling had deduced that with the strength of her top, she could at least inflict some damage to slow it down.

    However, she did not include the presence of the auto rotating inscription charm. The moment Tiger Spinning Top was moving like a whirling snake around Xiong Da''s spinning top, the System had activated the hidden auto rotating inscription charm which allowed Yang Ling''s Tiger Spinning Top to maintain its spin rotations and momentum despite its specs.

    Hence, the supposed scratches to weaken the erged Hungry Hippo Top became shes that caused sufficient damage to the performance base, making it vulnerable for one final strike.

    Xiong Da panicked at the sudden turn of events and attempted to use his Grand m Fissure to break the ground of the arena, making it uneven for Tiger Spinning Top to even attack properly.

    "Too slow!" Yang Ling shouted as she infused as much chi she could garner along with mana, causing the Tiger Spinning Top to elerate and perform an intermediate technique, ''Ambush of the Sleeping Tiger''.

    The spinning Tiger Top reached its maximum speed in an instant without gathering any momentum and mmed itself into Hungry Hippo''s bottom of the damaged performance base, causing the tip to break from the weight of Muscle Burst mode.

    "None could have expected it. The mighty Hippo Pir has been toppled!" The Orc announcer shouted and everyone who saw the attack screamed in excitement as the scene was being reyed a few times in various angle on the indoor''s stadium''s live feed. (Sadly, not the other half of the betting audience.)

    Yang Ling was exhrated that she jumped around in happiness before involuntarily hugging Jin who was right beside him. "We won!!" Yang Ling shouted with delight.

    In the meantime, Jin could only feel as if his soul had nearly been crushed by the weight of Xiong Da''s toppled Spinning Top. He had not seen what it was, but he was sure that his System somehow intervened just now. Yet he was not mad at it, as he guessed that otherwise Xiong Da could have indeed withstood that attack and proceeded to eliminate her.

    "I am sorry, my friend. It is for my safety." Jin apologised with some guilt in his heart as Xiong Da walked around the arena to congratte Yang Ling for defeating him.

    "That was an unexpected move, Princess." Xiong Da whispered thest part with more emphasis so that only the three of them could hear it, to prevent others from realising who she was.

    "Thank you for the thrilling fun! I''m sure we will have more in the future!" Yang Ling returned the handshake and reminded Xiong Da to hold on to his bargain.

 Chapter 435 A Deals A Deal

    <h4>Chapter 435 A Deal''s A Deal</h4>

    "Princess!!! You cannot just run away like that!!" Ku Wai became arge softie in front of Yang Ling. The chief bodyguard would have also given Jin a death threat for potentially bringing her into harm''s way, but he knew that the dungeon supplier was way stronger than him. Whatever Ku Wai had to say to him would be invalid unless he proved himself to be more powerful than Jin.

    "Breathe Ku Wai! Rx! Like I said, Jin''s with me. Besides, that was the most fun time I had in a very long time." Yang Ling said as she smiled sweetly towards the dungeon supplier. Like Xiong Da had initially nned to, she forfeited her King''s status after the match and the rest in queue continued on with their Spinning Top games.

    "Of course, Princess'' match was no doubt fascinating to watch," Ku Wai could feel the passion in herst attack through therge screens in the indoor stadium. It seemed that the spinning top was able to portray her long lost cultivation skills, and he assumed that to be the reason why Yang Ling felt so happy.

    Because of their long history, the Royal Zodiac Styles had be the basis of every other cultivation that followed their style. Hence, every modern tiger cultivation out there had its roots from the Royal Zodiac Style. If Yang Ling ever wanted to be the most powerful tiger cultivator, she would have to master the Royal Zodiac Style.

    It was no surprise that the Royal Zodiac Styles did not have any prefix on their style. It mainly focused on a lot of foundation skills, making it easy to quickly learn skills from other tiger cultivations. While every cultivation style does have its own foundation, the Royal Zodiac Styles were so rigorous that its foundation learning stages even continued into the high grade stages contain Epic and also Legendary techniques for a simple, straightforward move.

    The other Royal Zodiac Styles were no different in this aspect and the families took pride in their children for mastering the foundation stages. Some of the descendants had to take up to 20 years to master the foundational knowledge before they were allowed to call themselves an official part of a Royal Zodiac family.

    It was remarkably stringent that mastering it practically guaranteed most of the Zodiac n members to turn into arrogant pricks thinking themselves as superior beings. Jin was lucky enough to meet Yang Ling and Hou Fei that were more civil minded in their manners and probably because of their history.

    "It just so happened I am able to mimic them with my magic powers, Ku Wai. Don''t be so excited that I can ever achieve my old cultivation back." Yang Ling said but to Jin, he furrowed his eyebrows at her.

    "Didn''t she produce chi throughout the whole match?" Jin thought to himself, and the System affirmed his suspicion.

    "For User to be able to sense her chi under the guise of magical powers, it seems that your chi interpretation is up to expectations. System is pleasantly surprised." System stated and Jin scratched his head a little. He had no idea how he was able to sniff out her chi powers from her magical power.

    "I don''t remember learning any skills that would allow me to do so. Also, the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas manual shouldn''t have anything that would allow me to sense chi that well. " Jin replied to which the System''s only possible exnation was that it could have been one of the effects of the Spiritual Union and the creation of the Astral Form which were not detailed in the cultivation manual.

    "Ehhhh, then what''s the use of a cultivation manual when it doesn''t tell you what to do?" Jinined to himself.

    "Then perhaps you should ask the one to have designed the manual. System shall help as long as it will result in the User prospering." The System nonchntly stated, letting the cat out of the bag and surprising Jin.

    He nodded in agreement as he thought it''s about time for the System and Ming to reconcile. It didn''te as too much of a shock that it managed to figured that Jin''s tremendous improvement and Kraft''s reemergence was all because of Ming.

    Fortunately, the System was previously more concerned about getting money from customers than vastly improving Jin, allowing Ming to do what he wants increase Jin''sbat efficiency.

    "Jin, Jin! Why are you spacing out?" Yang Ling called his name a few times and he only responded when she snapped her fingers in front of him.

    "Uh, no. Sorry I was just thinking about something important." Jin apologised, and Yang Ling folded her arms in front of him.

    "Well, I can forgive you for bringing me to this ce. That military exercise thing is a deal. I will coordinate with Hou Fei since you and him seem to contact each other more often than the two of us. In the meantime, I''ll see if I can influence my father to include some important police members into the exercise as well." Yang Ling said to him as they walked away from her bodyguards.

    She told them that she needed a bit more time to discuss a few things. Although Ku Wai and the rest of the bodyguards didn''t fully trust Yang Ling after that incident, they were willing to allow some distance as long as she remained in their eyesight

    "Oh? Howe?" Jin was curious about the sudden change of decision.

    "That monster horde you talked aboutбнI remembered reading it in the papers recently. For some reason, monster activity has peaked up in recent months. The border guards also mentioned about it in some sections of the weekly internal security debrief report to my father. I consider it can''t hurt to prepare the police and military troops for such an event. That way, the response should be faster." Yang Ling answered in a serious tone.

    "And If it were up to me, I''d suggest using monsters. Maybe something that numbered in the thousands instead of a singlerge giant monster to mimic like those monster hordes. Some that could invade underground, above ground and fast enough to overwhelm the response team. That way, it will show those arrogant generals that they need to revise their tacticsбн Oh I''m not referring to Hou Fei, but the bulk of our Tiger Generals." Yang Ling continued and had a terrifying look at her face as if she wanted revenge against someone in particr.

    "Sureбн Well, that is if I manage to produce arge enough ying field to mimic a real life monster... hordeбн." Suddenly a bout of inspiration appeared in his head, a very mind blowing inspiration which made him tremble with trepidation.

    "What''s wrong?" Yang Ling could see that Jin suddenly turned fidgety and felt very distant, she became anxious when Jin grabbed her by the shoulders, hugged andter shook her violently. Even the bodyguards became wary of Jin''s unspeakable actions when they saw Jin shaking Yang Ling like a toy doll.

    "You are brilliant. You are so brilliant! Thank you!" Jin said while rubbing her head gently as thanks for the inspiration. "You just helped me solve a conundrum that I had for weeks! Sorry, I got to go first. If anything message me!" Jin said as he hastily took out his phone and opened his Mechat QR code for her.

    Yang Ling was in state of hysteria, her heart nearly stopped beating after Jin hugged her andplimented her. All she could do was nod her head until Jin took his phone out for her. She quickly broke out of her trance and eagerly searched for her phone.

    "Woah woah, take your time! Hahha!" Jin said to Yang Ling as she almost dropped her phone because of her sudden frantic behaviour. However, deep inside him, he was dying to go into the Dungeon Maker. She eventually managed to exchange numbers with him and he opened a portal to leave the area.

    "One more thing- Ahh, he went off already." Yang Ling decided she would ask him in chatter now that she had his number in her phone.

    "Looks like Princess has a thing for that Dungeon Supplier." One of the bodyguards said to Ku Wai, and he nodded his head with pride.

    "That Dungeon Supplier should be proud that our princess chose him." Ku Wai acknowledged his fellow bodyguard''s guess as they gave her a bit of space before returning tor her side.

    Meanwhile. Kraft being on the sidelines could only giggle at the development of the entire situation. Even if Jin did not have a strong feeling for her, the Betor had gained some brownie points from the System by ''aiding'' a girl in being more honest about her own feelings. (Poor Jin, even in love, the System would like to interfere for him.)

    ---------------

    "System!" Jin entered the Dungeon Maker and started to call out for it. "Why do you still say it''s impossible to create a ying field asrge as what Yang Ling had proposed?"

    "It is possible but not at User''s current Dungeon Supplier Rank. User is only allowed to do so after he reaches Dungeon Supplier Rank 5. Additionally, to maintain such arge scale dungeon will require something simr to a Dungeon Core." The System replied, which did not deter Jin at all.

    "Howe you need a Dungeon Core? Can''t we just add moreputers and servers to do it like every other dungeon suppliers do? I kinda thought you were omnipotent enough to aplish such a feat." Jin asked.

    "System is able to do it. However, given the specifications that User desires, it is not possible to maintain other Instances. Just the power usage and processing required, as User would put it, is higher than the entirety of the currently in use Store. Unfortunately, the Supeputers of this World would crack under this kind of pressure." The System stated in its exnation.

    "Instead of additionalputers and servers, System needs higher-tier materials for an upgrade. Dungeon Cores can serve such a purpose. However, given User''s nature, extracting a Dungeon Core from the Dungeon World will not sit well with User." The System assumed based on past actions of Jin and concluded.

    "бн Is it because we are essentially cutting the lifeforce of the dungeon out by forcibly removing the Dungeon Core away?" Jin deduced based on the System''s words.

    "Precisely. Should User aplish such a feat, it will have dire consequences for the inhabitants in that area even though User will get what he wants. ording to predictive analysis, the resurrected monsters will have no ce to go. Hence, they will 1) Rampage against surface cities in the Dungeon World 2) Disrupt the ecosystem of another Dungeon or 3) Transform into a Harbinger."

    "Harbinger?" Jin quickly questioned as it sounded extremely ominous while he checked the condition to remind himself how to receive the prior Dungeon Supplier Rank 4. It was still to aid the Farming World and annihte the Farm Rats. However, he noticed that the Mission Reward changed a little. Since they had alreadypleted the Portal prototype in advance, it now listed a ''mystery reward''.

    "A Harbinger is simr to a monster leader of hordes from your world. They are extremely mighty in nature and require thousands of trained veteran adventurers to take it down. In the history of Dungeon World, such an incident happened twice ording to the records System has ess to." The System brought it out on the Dungeon Maker screen for Jin to preview.

    "The first time a group of high level adventurers supposedly set out to rid the world of evil by trying to destroy the dungeons. The second time, by having a precedent a group of fanatics harbouring ill will to the human poption forcibly destroyed a Dungeon Core. Both Harbingers that appeared gued the Dungeon World for years toe before eventually getting suppressed and sealed." More pictures of the destruction were detailed in the Dungeon Maker console.

    "The historical records agree that it should be because of the hatred from the loss of habitat that caused the monsters to go into a frenzy, transforming them into Harbingers. Millions of countless lives were lost. Astonishingly, none could resurrect after being killed. Some theorised that it was because the loss of the Dungeon Core caused thew of natures to change. Meanwhile, several other opinions argued that the Harbingers act as the bnce the Dungeon World needs with its overcrowding poption." The System stated.

    "Wow, let''s hope it does not happen again. If those from the Dungeon World were unable to resurrect, I do not wish to experiment if our monsters could survive such an event." Jin said, and suddenly Pei appeared out of the bracelet and used herrge paper fan to hit Jin on his head.

    "Can you NOT create death gs for us unnecessarily!" Pei screamed in a fit of anger in her Red Indian traditional outfit before returning back into her bracelet.

    However, she was also angry with the System for not being entirely honest with Jin. It knew a lot about the harbingers because of someone. Someone who was desperate to resurrect the Panda n again.

    "бнOuch. Anyways, if Dungeon Cores are not an option, what do we need to find?" Jin asked as he leaned back on his chair and twirled his Creator Pen around.

    "User has to obtain a brain of a living mechanical titan." System answered.

 Chapter 436 Mecha World

    <h4>Chapter 436 Mecha World</h4>

    "What?! Brain of a mechanical titan? Where do I even find such a thing? Dungeon World?" Jin was a little surprised and asked the System for more information.

    "No, You''ll have to get it from another World." System answered. Immediately Jin started to have some bad premonitions.

    "Wait, please don''t tell me we have to go to the Mecha World." Jin sighed as he was sure that that would be exactly the case. As he shared his memories with the Another Jin who done face to (Panda) face trading with various worlds, he also shared their dislike about that particr world.

    This was more or less impossible because those from the Mecha World were all a bunch of calctive heartless sons of beetches. He had a difficult time selling that one piece of Gearbox to one of the buyers. Eventually, they finally reached an agreement at the point that they would receive the money for it and also buy that piece of satellite junk he used for the Goblin World.

    However, the buyer almost backed away atst moment from the deal stating that their ''Papa'' disapproved of the sales when it saw Jin being a fully organic form. Thankfully, Kiyu managed to make the buyer stay for the transaction, but she had to work harder than usual to achieve the desired results because it was a part cyborg and part organic monster.

    Thankfully Kraft did lend a hand at the request of his ''child'' and used his hacking abilities that enabled Kiyu to momentarily overwrite the logical circuits in the buyer. If not for Kiyu and Kraftbination, Jin probably would not be able to purchase the satellite for the observation in the Goblin World.

    "Unfortunately, Yes. The Mecha World. System had been buying parts from the Mecha World behind the scenes to upgrade its capacity. That is also where the money went User had earned so far. Without upgrades from them, the System will not be able to keep up with future progress." The System stated.

    "Ehhhhhhhhhh?!!! I thought the System had always been omnipotent that it did not need hardware upgrades or anything of those sorts!" Jin stood up and was extremely surprised when he heard the details from the System.

    "Does that mean that you are also ever growing and evolving?" Jin asked as it seemed like this was the first time the System had openly acknowledged its weakness to Jin.

    "Indeed, however, the use of time reversal forбнex User Ming had forced System to drastically deplete its own resources, cripple its finances and obliterated the hardware. Without current User''s aid, the System would have been stuck at 3.4% capacity of its original powers in the best case scenario. The more likely scenario would have been for the capacity to deteriorate even further." The System acknowledged Jin''s business saving maintaining its existence.

    "No wonder, you always need money in return for any favourбн" Jin said to himself. "Then what''s your current threshold you are at?"

    "At the moment, 12.8% of System''s peak powers." The System replied.

    "What? So when Ming had you at 100%, that time reversal killed your resources that much?" Jin asked.

    "Negative. At the time ex User Ming had received the System, the maximum capacity peaked at 25.9%. It had been depleting ever since the start of the System. There were only two instances where the System received growth in its powers. During the period when Panda Lord Zhou Lin was revived and current User." The System stated.

    Jin now started to realise why the System had been merciless back when he first started out. It should be because of multiple reasons. First of all, it was dying.

    Not only was it dying since the very start but because of his Grandpa''s actions, the System had been as this close to Death as ever before. Though it acted logically in most instances, Jin would not have been surprised if it somewhat med Jin, who had been unaware of it all and did not conform to what the System needed at the time.

    This, in turn, should have lead to the second reason, making it desperate at the very least use thest of its powers to achieve the ancestors'' desire to defeat the twelve Zodiac families. Finding it unlikely that the weak and naive Jin would be able to achieve its goal, the System had even gone to the length of somewhat brainwashing Jin in hopes of making him kill live subjects in the Dungeon World so that it could regain its powers to finish its objective in the future.

    However, with Jin''s current bout of hard work and effort, the System was finally able to regain a portion of its original power, allowing it to put its revenge mission on hold. But should Jin manage to let the System restore all of its original powers, revenge was considered as a petty issue in its eyes.

    "So what is this mechanical brain thingy? What''s the estimated amount of your original powers that it can restore?"

    "Conservatively numbers state that it can increase System''sputative capabilities by an additional 5%. The brain, as stated has toe from a living Mechanical Titan. System has been following the state of the Mecha World for quite some time since System was on the lookout for discounts on their products whenever possible." The System replied, and Jin ced his palm at his forehead. He knew that the System''s spendthrift attitude knew no bounds. But even when ites to upgrading its own self?

    Unbelievable.

    "бнSystem will send the info to Yun. You can get more details from her." Suddenly the System had decided not to say what had happened in the Mecha World and delegated Yun to do the job instead.

    "Why her? Can''t you just tell me straight in the face?" Jin asked, but there was no response from the System at all.

    "Because our venerated ancestors always need to save theirбнface when ites to things that they had messed up. It could have put all the me solely on you, but the System unanimously decided that it''s both their fault and yours." Yun suddenly appeared from a portal as she held onto a stack of papers to read.

    "Why? ...What? I don''t understand? I just wanted to know if therge dungeon was possible or not as I had nned. If not, I was thinking about using separate dungeon instances instead. For example, the military bases in one particr instance and they can be connected with other dungeon instances as if to simte onerge dungeon instance instead." Jin was confused until the System suddenly responded to the particr proposal.

    "That idea is feasible. System had underestimated User, assuming User wished to be able to do that in one go. In that case, the Mechanical Brain to increase the System capabilities is of utmost importance to get the Extensive Dungeon Instance up." The System stated quickly as if it did not proofread of what it spoke.

    "... System, if you wanted me to get you something, you could have just asбн erm, I meant you could have issued a Mission for me... If that is the case, I have another idea to correspond with what Yang Ling had requested, but now you made me feel worried that I should know about this ''mistake the System and I made collectively''." Jin said with a troubled face.

    "Sigh, let''s hear your idea first. Then we can talk about the trouble thats brewing behind the scenes. Else, you might not be able to think straight afterwards." Yun suggested as she sat down beside Jin.

    No matter how she looked at him, most of the time, he still seemed like a little kid that just wanted attention. Every now and then he had moments when he resembled an independent young man. Something deep inside her wanted Jin to stay the way as he is, but at the same time, she also hoped that he would mature a little faster.

    Thankfully, all these business negotiations with Xiong Da, Hou Fei, Ke Loong made him a bit more adult than he first started. He was getting there, but Yun knew sometimes, he would just release his tantrums at the System or his betors.

    "Ah, alright then. I was thinking of this. Why not do the same as with the Goblin World? We have two tasks to handle, and if webine them, it will sort itself out. Why not provoke the Demon Rats and attack our mock city setup? Then we will let the police and military clear them up. Given the nature of the Demon Rats, it''s unlikely for them to show mercy against our forces." Jin described it excitedly.

    "This way, we can cut their forces by a huge margin and proceed to attack their territories and exterminate the rest region by region. I was also thinking of making the cultivators to join in as well, like the events we made." Jin suggested and Kraft entered nodding his head.

    "You know you can count on me, whenever you try to put together something as entertainingly crazy as this. However, have you considered how we lure the Demon Rats in en masse? They will find out something is up when they enter into a portal. Not to mention they can U-turn back and return to their homeworld if they sense it''s a trap." Kraft tried to point out the weak points of the n.

    "Trueбн that''s assuming we are letting them run along the mock cities with the portal opening along the roads of the cities. But what if we make them rain down the mock cities instead? It will scare the police and kill some Demon Rats as well as making the situation extremely difficult for the police response team to handle." Jin put forward another of his idea.

    "Okay, that solves the U-turn problem then what about the lure?" Kraft asked although he had an inkling what the lure would be. Unfortunately, Jin did not.

    "Using Farm Demons like Keyrin. Those demons that Gold suggested for Jin to hunt for their parts are apparently all Elder Demons that lived for hundreds of years. His apprentice Grey once told me that those Elder Demons managed to fend the rats off their territory and killing hundreds of them in the process. " Zeru entered into the picture of discussion.

    "Because beneath their homes are rich sources of Litoride that are used to power their Steam Tech," Zeru exined, and Jin was absolutely clueless what he was talking about. "Hmph, when you are having your fun in the WunderPanda, a number of things happened. Gold will give you a debriefingter, they just shed with the Farm Rats at Keyrin''s home territory and emerged victoriously. As ordered, they made sure no rat was left alive."

    "And the System regrets to inform User that the Demon Rats cannot be captured." The System told Jin how the Demon Rats were reincarnated into raw materials which made Jinugh bitterly at the information.

    "Oh my godбнbut I guess, this n is still feasible? Such a shame about us not getting thousands of Demon Rats, otherwise..." Jin asked the betors around him. However, only the System replied back.

    "It would potentially be more immersive if User manages to get the mechanical brain first for the military and police forces. However, should the nned military exercises need to be expedited, the System approved of User''s alternate n." The System stated, and both Betors nodded their head.

    "Alright, sorry to break the happy bubble but there still is the issue that the System... was unable to tell Jin (personally)." Yun intervened and told the rest if they wish to stay to hear the things, she would not mind a single bit.

    "Since funding the goblin war was not cheap and wecked the funds, Jin decided to sell the prototype Gearbox to various worlds at ultra high prices but also in limited quantities. Because of the System ''s bias choice of trading in the Mecha World''s market, it had not vetted the buyer before selling the productбн even though our dear System was always careful in the past." Yun started to address the issue to Jin while not wasting the opportunity to get some jabs into the System.

    "In defence, the System did vet the иC"

    "System Shhh! You allowed me to say it on your behalf, so keep quiet." Yun ced her index finger at her mouth to indicate the System to shut the hell up before she cleared her throat and continued on.

    "The System did not vet the buyer sufficiently thorough because of theck of multithread capacity to process the entire vetting procedure while they were in the midst of preparing for the war." Yun had decided to give the System a chance toe clean itself.

    "However, that lead to a sessful deal, which now indirectly caused a great threat to the Mecha World. ording to ck market information brokers, the buyer was from an elitist cult group which used the prototype as a sample to build an erged version of it for their Mecha frames. So even if we destroy the original prototype with our failsafe method, it would be useless."

    "Please don''t tell me that that prototype leads to the productions of robots like Gomdem. And instead of saving the world, they are destroying it?" Jin said it out loud, and Yun shrugged a right shoulder while nodding her head.

    "That''s more or less the gist of it. World Domination... as per usual." Yun replied.

    "Hahahahah! So, you are saying our dear little master''s sale had inadvertently caused chaos to their world? Oh boy. Jin you shall be remembered in the future as the ancestor who has sold weapons starting an intergctic war..." Kraftughed so badly at the situation at hand.

    "At this rate, we might as well call ourselves the Protectors of the Gxy or World, going everywhere to solve each and different world''s problem. And they all originate from this tiny little shop on Earth. Oh, the irony of a fantasy light novel." Kraft couldn''t help but add more salt to injury as he continued to chuckle at the absurdity at it.

    "Are they..erm the Mecha World in very much in trouble?" Jin did feel a little guilty when Yunid it out that way. She was right, he could not think straight after hearing the news.

    "At the moment not really. But don''t me yourself too much over it. It was bound to happen for their world sooner orter, ording to predictive analysis. We just kindaбнerm elerated the process for the bad guys. Also, unlike the worlds you been to, Earth''s time move roughly three times faster than theirsбнif it brings you any constion that you actually have more time in your hands." Yun tried her best tofort Jin, hoping he would not me himself too much.

    "In my opinion, you had done well in past cases. The Goblin sons were a fateful coincidence that leads us to protect the bnce in the Goblin World. " Zeru also consoled Jin.

    "And if we did not remove Gold from the equation in the Farming World, the fate of that Farming World might have been sealed. We would not be able to procure any more luxury food products from their world''s market." He added on while patting on his disciple''s shoulder.

    "Now I am beginning to feel letting Niu Lang creating that Supa Robot Wars was a blessing in disguise." Jin sighed.

    "He would say it''s the Heavens that ordained it. Good luck pal." Kraft patted on Jin''s shoulders and left Jin to his own devices for now.

 Chapter 437 Revising The Store

    <h4>Chapter 437 Revising The Store</h4>

    For the next few days, The WunderPanda Theme Park received more news coverage by Kiyu after Jin had lifted the information embargo for the service instance. As expected her video channel was bombarded by thousands of hits within the first day.

    The video coverage by Kiyu had also broadcasted on the Pandaflix as well as the front page of the Pandamonium App, for those cultivators who had patronised Jin''s store before. The System had noticed there was a drastic increase in the one time customersing back for the service instance.

    Because they wereing back after a long time, Jin had implemented a wee back gift by letting them receive appropriate benefits like a booster pack for those who had yed the Pet Card Arena or a 1 Silver Panda Medal, whichever they wished to choose.

    The online video had also garnered a lot of attention and the people influenced by the video coverage wereing in flocks, making WunderPanda theme park the most popr instance, with Goblin Raid Eventsing at a close second. That wasn''t to say that the other dungeon instances were left untouched.

    A number of the cultivators came because they heard that dungeon instances were real and intense, unlike other dungeon suppliers. They were no doubt extremely satisfied by the challenge, and many were hoping to join the ranks of Pandawan status because of the fame and recognition that they were as strong as them.

    Separately, Yang Ling had a few things to take care of because it was the end of the year and told Jin that Xiong Da and her would liaise among themselves to challenge the Escape City dungeon instance as promised. They were confident that none could defeat the Escape City dungeon instance as of yet.

    The cultivators also noticed the newly revamped Luxury Recovery Instance. Many gave feedback to the Panda Nurses that it was a remarkablyfortable experience, much better than the real hospitals. The Panda Nurses could only chuckle and emphasised that this was not a hospital at all. Some even kid about driving here if they ever injured themselves, just for the care and concern of the Panda Nurses.

    The decision to insert the hotspring instance option in every ward was a fantastic idea. A number of them were lured into the 10% discount and the ease of having the option right beside them. And because the wards are either solo or with friends, many tend to take up this opportunity after battling. The Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance had seen more than a 100% turnover just within a couple of days aspared to a month ago.

    In addition to the luxury rooms they were warded in, there was also a gathering area on the first floor of the luxury recovery instance where every cultivator had ess to. It was a lobby kind of space where the cultivators came together to discuss or merely chit chat about the experiences they had.

    However, not everyone would be willing to do that since city people were not like people from small towns and viges. They rather prefer to keep to themselves. That was why Jin had included something extra to incentivise them to mingle in the lobby.

    It was by changing his loot distribution yet again. Jin no longer made treasure chest pop up at random times or at the end of the dungeon. Instead, everyone would be teleported to the Luxury Recovery Instance lobby to retrieve their treasure from their assigned lockers. (The assigned lockers were also for the cultivators to keep their belongings if they had any.)

    Should they win any prizes that were more than a gold Panda Medal, a ticket was given to them, and they could retrieve it at the Redemption Counter. This was to ensure no stealing of loot although the System had made sure such an act was impossible. Because all of the loot was already tagged to specific cultivators.

    It was the act of going to the redemption counter, that thrill which made it look like the cultivators got something great. Jin had read about hyping the excitement for customers and creating addiction, and this was one of the ways that will entice people toe back again.

    Even the lobby halls that Jin once made for cultivators to gather party members had all been connected to the first floor of the Luxury Recovery Instance so that the main shop instance would not be as crowded as it was.

    However, those who were not injured were forbidden to visit the levels with wards unless they wished to meet a friend of theirs. Their pals would need to acknowledge and permit their arrival before they were allowed to ride the elevator to meet their fellow cultivators. Otherwise, all the gathering activities were done in the lobby.

    All of these were to amodate the increasing number of cultivators that were flooding into Jin''s store. What initially seems to be arge and spacious ce in the shop instance had be a ce for cultivators to wait for their friends before moving into the Lobby area of the Luxury Recovery Instance.

    Lynn also had ns to expand her Restaurant Instance and the first thing was to actually incorporate one of Jin''s service instances, the Reservoir of Deep Fishing instance. She felt that by cing the fishing together with the restaurant, it could boost the sales of that particr service instance since it had Chef Roro to cut up the perfect sushi.

    She reasoned that not many would know the existence of that service instance, and the price was off putting for the majority of the people. Jin then exined the System''s rationale to keep the price hefty but Lynn argued that he should relook at it while keeping the System''s wishes in mind.

    "What do you mean?" Jin asked, and Lynn giggled a little when he was talking to her in the dining area of the terrace house. (Come to think of it, Jin does not really have an office to himself nor does Qiu Yue.)

    "Let them fish for free, the first set of bait and fishing rods are free. The subsequent baits will require payment but allow them fish for as long as they want. However, have a bear cub NPC to apany them and use the bear cub to promote the fish they caught. This way, the fishermen won''t be bored and have apanion with them while fishing. If they manage to catch a fish, the bear cub could tell them that they can either release the fish or buy it for sushi, bbq or maybe as a meal in the restaurant." Lynn exined her idea.

    "I believe this will improve the odds of the fishing experience and eventually there will be people who would want to buy the fish," Lynn added and suddenly it raised a question in Jin''s head.

    "Hmm, System is there a way for the Lost Tech Counterfeiter to бнerm counterfeit a living fish or do you need to use souls with it to recreate the fish? I find that there is some kind of weird loophole here." Jin questioned and Lynn was surprised that Jin could even think of that.

    "Negative, the System had tried counterfeiting a living being and had been unable to achieve the same result. The counterfeiter might use the living being as a design blueprint, but the result is more simr to a dead item. System even tried inserting a soul in, but the body rejected the soul entirely." The System replied and Jin guessed that the System had its own procedure in making those clones out while maintaining both the spirit, soul and information that it once had.

    The System was after all a byproduct from the Will of the Heavens.

    "Oh well, I was just asking, since I thought it could duplicate a one to one for almost everything." Jin sighed and he told Lynn to go ahead with that particr idea since the fishing instance only had a handful of customers.

    Maybe he could add a fishing tournament or something in the future. But for now, if Lynn could revitalise the instance, that would be an excellent idea and a possible boost to their ie.

    "System, please transfer Lynn the rights to the fishing instance and allow her to merge the instance with her restaurant instance," Jin ordered the System and it did what it was told upon seeing the marketing potential Lynn had proposed.

    In the meantime, Peppers after hearing some ruckus decided toe down to see who was around. "Ah! Master, you''vee at the right time!" Peppers greeted Jin as she told him to stay where he was. She rushed back up her room to get a few items down.

    "What''s this?" Jin asked as Peppersid a suitcase down right in front of him. She smirked a little before opening it up for him to see.

    "This isбн how did you do it?" Jin was surprised as Peppers giggled and shited the suitcase for Lynn to see, making her awe in amazement.

    It was none other than the Living Armour tes. Zither Mistress Ke Mi had informed Peppers that a few of them had reached a decent size so she decided to pluck one out for Jin to see the results. However, because she had to tend to the crops in Agriculture Sector One, she had handed it over to Peppers instead.

    Peppers, on the other hand, had decided to feed it with some precious stones she bought off the System to mimic Ke Mi and suddenly the living armour te had started to glow and emit a rainbow shine off its te. Peppers told Jin that the stones it ate were infused with an exceeding amount of energy which she had inserted before they could explode.

    As the living armour te consumed the stones, it grewrger to a point it was a wide and vast looking te. One which would have taken centuries for it to grow into such a size. And somehow it transformed its shape into a belt when Jin touched it with his chi. Peppers quickly picked it up before the living armour ted belt wanted more of Jin''s chi and ced it in the suitcase.

    "I do not understand much about it, but I figured that this particr living armour te eats whatever it can to grow, and it still seems hungry for more. You''re lucky I''m here as it seems to be attracted to the highest quantity of chi or mana in the vicinity. Else even Lynn would not be able to remove it from you." Peppers warned Jin not to activate his chi in front of it.

    "That could actually be a very effective weapon against certain types of enemies or even high level grades." Jin deduced and Peppers agreed with him wholeheartedly.

    "Which is why I am going to experiment with it a little more and see if other tes respond the same as this te. At least to my knowledge, this is a very abnormal behaviour for a living armour te. The Jacks also have never heard of a precedent for such a case." Peppers responded. (she was hoping to turn this mistake of itchy fingers into a blessing in disguise.)

    "But it brings a lot of possibilities if you think about it. Like chi or mana absorbing armour te. Those attacks would render partially ineffective to Jin, protecting him even more." Lynn said that this te could be unique enough.

    "Heh! Sounds like my Reverse Aegis barrier spell, absorbing all kind of magic to keep itself alive." Peppers chuckled and realisedбнthat could be the key from absorbing Jin''s chi if Jin were to use it.

    "Oh my god, talking with you guys is one of the best things that happened to me this week! Unless it''s an emergency, don''t call on me. I have ideas to try out!!!" Peppers squeaked with delight and brought the suitcase up with her.

    "She totally looks like you when you have your bouts of inspiration." Lynnughed as she continued drinking her Blue Mountain coffee.

    "Wouldn''t it be ironic if she was my kid from the future?" Jin uttered casually and Lynn nearly choked from drinking her coffee.

    "Please, don''t make meugh when I am drinking," Lynn warned Jin and they both chuckled a little.

    "By the way, Lynn. I am sorry if you were keeping this a secret but ermбн I stumbled upon some sake thest time I visited the Werejackals. However, I did not see it on any menu yet, including the ones in WunderPanda theme park. Is that a new drink for the restaurant?" Jin asked since he did have ns to create a bar instance in the future too.

    "Oh, I ermбн I am nning to create a barбнfor the expansion of my Restaurant instance." Lynn guessed there was no harm revealing her whole hand since Jin already found out part of it. "As you can imagine, they will be serving only the best and if there is one item on the menu, then so be it. As long as the sake wine can meet the expectation of the people, I am happy to serve that."

    "But as of right now, it is still in the nning phase. I have asked Melis to try them ...but unfortunately, she gets intoxicated rather quickly. That''s why I asked the Jacks before you met them. Thus, I need more time before I can perfect the sake for sale." Lynn exined.

    "Ohбнso the bar expansion and the fishing бнare they like stops for people to alight from?" Jin wondered to which Lynn nodded in excitement. She did not expect Jin to guess her ns that quickly. Like Jin and Qiu Yue, Lynn wanted to expand on her sphere of influence in the store too, and only by showing that she had the capability to do it then she believed she was worthy to be in this store.

    "I see, I see. Please! Keep it up! Like I said that instance is your very own wondend aside from the WunderPanda that is. Hahah! Do continue with the good work!" Jin encouraged her before he received a call that he had to answer.

    "I will, Jin. I will." Lynn quietly stared at his back as he moved to the backyard to answer his call.

 Chapter 438 Burnt Temple

    <h4>Chapter 438 Burnt Temple</h4>

    "Grandma Yuan is ready to see you. Be prepared, it won''t be a short visit. She has cleared her schedule especially for you. Oh and wear that Panda Pin if you understand what I mean." The assistant on the phone informed him, and Jin immediately took off his stuff and told Yun to look after the shop. He hailed a cab via his phone app to reach the destination the assistant had given him.

    "Sir, the ce you are going, you sure that is the correct address?" The taxi driver asked casually.

    "That is what my colleague told me, why? Is there anything wrong with the address I gave you?" Jin who was sitting at the back seat, stared out the windows for once, instead of consistently looking at his phone.

    "Hmm, it''s just that I assumed you were one of the few rtives of the victims wanting to pay your respects to the ce. Guess I was wrong, sorry to disturb you, Sir." The veteran taxi driver answered and his reasoning made Jin curious.

    "No, it''s okay. What actually happened in that area?" Jin pressed for an answer.

    "I think it was about 23 years ago? A fire, arge enormous one that consumed the entire temple during the Qing Ming Festival. A sizeable number of people was there to give thanks to their forefathers." The taxi driver started.

    "But what remained a mystery was how the fire was able to spread so fast that it killed that many nearly in an instant. The government was short of calling it a terrorist attack given how most of the people who died there were pretty decent cultivators at least Grade two and above." He made a turn and into the expressway.

    "Oh yea, tomon folks, Grade 2 cultivators were the norm of lifeбнaspared to my cultivators." Jin thought to himself as he continued to listen to the taxi driver.

    "However, that''s the government and national news. You and I both know that the government would always keep things under wraps. I had a friend whose rtive died in the fire too, and he depicted a different story ording to his rtive whoter sumbed to the injuries and passed on."

    "His rtive supposedly shared that there was a man, with literally monstrous chi. He had hornsing out from his shoulders and even a tail. He came barging into the temple and immediately started ughtering the people in there. It was not just mass murder but a massacre at that. The cultivators came together to fight against it, but it was no use at all." The taxi driver went to the thirdne and drove a little faster since the traffic was smooth.

    "It might sound delusional but the rtive even on his deathbed kept emphasising the word demon, demon, demon. The recount he gave stated that there were a few cultivators who managed to fight that ''demon''. But the demon eventually gave onest push by ending its life with a st." He narrated with exaggeration which made Jin give him a weird look.

    It seemed such a coincidence that the taxi driver talked to him about Demons when he was about to see Grandma Yuan about the request on Demon Exorcists. So he decided to try his luck and ask with regards to it.

    "I am sorry to sound rude. It''s just that for a rtive that had sumbed to injuries, your friend seemed to be able to get a lot of information about the incident." Jin said as courteously as he can while questioning the cab driver.

    "Heh, what do I know, it''s only a story. I am merely telling you to pass the time. Besides, you gotta admit it''s a rather decent story from a friend." The driver replied in a joking manner.

    "I am more concerned about the loopholes in that. Like Demons." Jin said while staring intently at the rear mirror to see the expression of his eyes. That moment when their eyes connected, Jin swiftly understood that the taxi driver knew something which he did not know.

    The taxi driver immediately drove faster, seemingly with little to no regard to his life. "What is your motive for going to the abandoned temple." The driver asked as he continued to step onto the pedal.

    "That is none of your business," Jin said as he prepared himself by diverting his chi into his left hand. He was ready to m the side door open when he deemed fit to escape even though he knew the car had already reached 110km/hr. "I will probably be going to escape with more than just bruises on myself." He prepared himself mentally.

    "You do not seem to understand the current situation. Even if you manage to get out of this car, you will die no matter what." The taxi driver lowered his voice and warned Jin. "I shall ask again. What is your motive for going to the abandoned temple?"

    "Likewise, you do not seem to care about your life." Jin wasn''t nning on revealing anything no matter what. He was confident that he was able to get out of it with just a few bruises. "System, I hope you are ready for a portal escape."

    Upon Jin''s reply, the taxi driver smirked and pressed on the pedal even harder, elerating to the maximum limit of the speedometer. Jin could also feel that the car was shaking from the top speed it was going. However, he suddenly felt his chi in his left hand dissipate as well.

    "What?" Jin could not fathom what was happening. He tried to muster the chi back into his left hand, but it was not working. The System was also not responding to him while he tried to turn on his phone. None of it was working, and now he started to panic as he pulled the car''s handle.

    "It''s locked, don''t bother." The taxi driver said in a dark, ominous tone. Even the seatbelt was unwilling to budge; instead, it was strapping him tightly to the point he was severely immobilised by it. Jin could see from the front that the driver was evading as many cars as possible until he reached an overhead passing before the taxi driver made a sharp right turn.

    The taxi smashed into road barrier that protected the pedestrian crossing but the speed that it was going, allowed the car to break it easily and it went off the road. All Jin could see was a valley which he was going to smashed into. The taxi driverughed as the car flipped in midair and there was nothing Jin could do.

    He was powerless without his chi, without his system.

    All he could do was to wait for the impending crash to happen.

    --------

    Jin gasped for air as he opened his eyes wide, and the taxi driver in front of him turned his head. "You okay back there Sir?." The middle aged rugged looking uncle asked as he returned and concentrated what was right in front of him. Jin held on to his for a while and nodded a little in response.

    "Looks like you had a bad dream, you were sleeping soundly just now. We should be arriving soon." The driver interrupted and continued his driving.

    The dungeon supplier looked around him and quickly checked his chi gathering abilities as well as his phone. His chi was gathering smoothly, the phone was not locked and Jin asked the System for a quick update. "Did anything happen to me just now?"

    "You had been in a deep state of sleep for 67 minutes until a minute ago, your heart rate and brain activity spiked, and you woke up immediately. Other than that, there was nothing unusual. No interference of any sort." The System reported.

    "How did I fall asleep? I don''t believe I was that tired or anything." Jin asked but the System only stated the time he slept.

    "Is something wrong? Your vitals are all over the ce." Pei asked via the bracelet in a worried voice for once.

    "IбнI do not know. Perhaps I just had a very bad dream." Jin said as he noticed that the taxi was driving into an isted side road.

    "Hmm, the GPS said it should be a few hundred metres ahead. Do you know where are you going, Sir?" The driver asked as he looked unsure where he was going but continued to follow the GPS.

    "Honestly, I am not sure. My colleague told me its a temple or something?" Jin still remembered the details of the dream and see if it matches with the ''real life'' version.

    "Really? Well, this is my first timeing here. I have no idea what- ohбнyou are right. There''s a temple." The taxi went up to the slope and saw the standard Guardian Lion statues that were guarding the temple main gates.

    "Looks awfully run down and broken though." The uncle gave his own assessment of the ce. "and burnt too."

    "Well, yeah. My colleague just told me toe here. You can stop further up front." Jin said as he prepared his payment to the taxi driver.

    "Hmm, if you need a ride back within an hour or so, do not hesitate to message me via the app, I believe I should be nearby taking a break. Else, I will be going back after that." The uncle hoped that he could earn Jin''s business again since it was quite a far trip from where he was. The money would be good.

    "You do not have to. We will send him back." A well dressed young man in his twenties said when he overheard the conversation between Jin and taxi driver as he opened the gates of the temple.

    "Ah, alright then. Have a nice day, Sir." Even though the driver was irritated by the arrogance of that well dressed person, he was still courteous to Jin and bid him goodbye.

    "Go in, don''t waste any more time." A separate attendant from thedy Jin saw at his store had spoken to him as he snobbishly told Jin to enter. "Do not expect us to give you any preferential treatment just because you are acquainted with Grandma Yuan." He said out loud as he closed the temple main gates with just a push.

    Jin noticed that aside from the front temple gates, the temple structure was simr to his dream when he fought with the White Tiger of the West, except that its exterior was badly burned. And like those shounen anime he watched, there were a few teenagers spread out around the central courtyard sitting and observing his every move.

    Grandma Yuan was at the centre of them all as she sat on a rathervish looking chair in the middle of the courtyard.

    "You got the message, that means you are finally a Grade 8?" Grandma Yuan asked rhetorically and the other teens sniggered at her sentence.

    "Just a Grade 8? So old and yet so ipetent." One of the boys in a fancy suit was looking at his phone.

    "Stop it! There''s probably a reason why Grandma Yuan chose him." The girl with ited hair from afar waved at Jin as she replied to the boy.

    "Have more respect to Grandma Yuan who is in front of you!" The supposed attendant in a well dressed suit shouted at the two teens while there was thestdy with long hair sitting on a tree branch who did not bother to respond.

    "Yes, Grandma Yuan. What is the meaning of this?" Jin asked and the others chuckled again. Grandma Yuan smacked her stick once and suddenly everyone kept quiet.

    "I am afraid I have to test you first before I can reveal any information." Grandma Yuan replied as she nodded her head once and the four cultivators around him immediately went ahead to ambush Jin.

    "Survive for 30 seconds and we shall talk more."

 Chapter 439 Thirty Seconds

    <h4>Chapter 439 Thirty Seconds</h4>

    There was no time for any argument. The moment Grandma Yuan dered that Jin had to survive, it turned into the longest 30 seconds that Jin would ever feel in his lifetime.

    "Rong! Coming forth!" The boy who appeared to be in histe teens shouted as he portrayed his cultivation with five Ox silhouettes above him. However, what Jin could see was that they were not ordinary Oxen at all.

    "Demons!" Jin expressed his shock as he saw the Ox Demon had four protruding horns, tworge and two small. The body of the Ox Demon was covered with massive thick strands of hair as if one had just woken up from bed. Underneath that gigantic hair like fur, it had hooves that were simr to a bird''s ws, as if it was used to catch humans.

    "That is right, I wield the cultivation style of Ox Demon, Ao Ye!" Rong shouted as he summoned out arge hammer from his storage ring and prepared to m it at Jin mercilessly. However, the dungeon supplier was quick enough to dodge it, clinging on to an inch of his life, but that was also when the next challenger came in to strike him. It was the girl who had been talking to Rong before Grandma Yuan issued the challenge.

    "Lian. Striking from behind!" The girl with ited hair announced her name as she revealed a cultivation of six fox silhouettes above her. This was the most familiar demon that Jin recognised almost immediately, the Nine Tailed Fox Demon.

    "Very interesting. Not many people can handle the constant trickery of the Nine Tailed Fox Demon. You have to watch her out the most, she will not show you her best attacks until the end." Kraft whispered in Jin''s head even though that was insufficient to distract him.

    Jin whipped out Bam, in katana form and tried to stop her w attack from inflicting any damage. Even though he knew that he should have blocked the attack just now with the back of his scabbard, he somehow could feel a shing sensation on his body. Jin could not verify if he were bleeding as there was no time to, especially when the next demon cultivator came towards him.

    "Su Zhen. On your left." A whip secretly wrapped around him while Jin was still busy blocking Lian''s attack. This particr cultivator portrayed onerge white snake silhouette above her. He roughly knew that arge silhouette meant that the cultivator had at least ten grades on them, and even had attained spiritual union. But did she really attain a spiritual union with a white snake demon or with white snakes in particr? Jin did not know and had no time to think and could only react.

    He swiftly cut off the whip upon making a body flipping twirl via Panda Rolling with Bam. However, upon cutting, the broken white whip on Jin''s right hand turned into a snake trying to crawl up his arm, as if looking to bite his neck.

    Thus, Jin quickly released a burst of his ck Panda Fire which thoroughly burnt the snake, revealing his one of his trump cards to the demon exorcist trainees. Su Zhen gave a visible ''tsk'' as she retracted her whip. In a few short seconds, the whip regained its original shape.

    "Interesting. A type of fire that can actually destroy Su Zhen''s snake whip. That I have to give credit. However, you shall now die by my sword. Lein! Meet your match!" Lein shouted at Jin as he jumped in the air, and the clouds turned partially dark for a moment as a sh of lightning imbued his sword. Simr to Su Zhen, arge silhouette of a Qilin, a unicorn like demon came out above Lein''s head.

    "Intermediate Sword Technique, Thunderp of the Qilin!" Lein shouted as he struck his sword down hard and fast at Jin.

    "Panda Rolling!" Jin was unable topletely dodge out of the way in time judging from the amount of area damage that particr technique Lein was using might have. However, he needed to use Panda Rolling to at least get into a position to defend himself. "Note to self, get a fast reacting defensive skill!" Jin thought to himself. Jin assumed that there was no need to use White Panda Ice despite of the grade that Lein was in.

    The lightning infused sword shed into Jin''s katana and the impact made the surrounding ground caved in. "What the hell?!!" Jin thought to himself as he was sure that a Grade 10 shouldn''t be as strong as what Jin was experiencing. Was the power gap that high from a Grade 8 to 10? Even so, Jin had fought grades higher than himself, and he attained spiritual union which was why Jin did not expect the disparity in strength to be so unequal.

    Lein gave a wide smirk as if he wished to execute another technique, but it appeared that Jin had more battle experience than Lein, allowing the dungeon supplier to open his mouth and shoot a beam of chi energy from it.

    Lein had to swirl his body to the side to dodge it and his teammate Rong covered his nk by initiating a hammer swing straight to Jin''s chest. Because Jin was too focus on bringing down Lein, he did not see Ronging, causing him to eat the m of the hammer. Su Zhen then took the opportunity to grab Jin by the neck with her whip while Lian dashed in for the final blow.

    "Stop." Grandma Yuan said as she banged her stick on the ground again, and Jin was centimetres from death. "29.6 seconds to immobilise him and reach for the kill. You kids have more to learn." The bespectacled female assistant in office wear who Jin had previously seem and made contact with was right beside Grandma Yuan and spoke out loud to the teens.

    "If it takes you this long to kill him, you all better practice more." Grandma Yuan berated them as shemanded Su Zhen to release the whip. "As for you, Jin. You failed to uphold our bargain."

    "How the hell, did I know that I will be-"

    "NO EXCUSES!" Grandma Yuan shouted with chi infused into it, which caused the rest of the teens to immediately kneel in front of Grandma Yuan with their heads lowered. "If you do not wish history to repeat itself. You better learn to be much stronger!. And why are you holding your punches back? You think that just because they are kids and probably lower in rank than you, that you can afford to go easy on them?! You saw how two of them had higher grades than you!"

    "But Iбн" Jin was speechless as he stood right in front of Grandma Yuan.

    "No Buts. I understand why you do not wish to use ''that'' in front of them. Still, does that mean your self defence ability is this weak? What if they were indeed the very same assassins that came to your shop? All your work would have gone down the drain!" Grandma Yuan scolded Jin.

    "I am sorry." Jin had no other words to say.

    "ire. Bring this guy into the Istion Ward. Jin. I will only give you one more chance to redeem yourself. Three Days. No one will disturb you. In three days, you will duel with all of my students once more in a one on one match. Either you kill them all, or you receive zero help from me." Grandma Yuan stated as she nodded her head towards ire, thedy secretary right beside her.

    ire understood what needed to be done and told Jin to follow her. With a slight push, she opened what seemed to be a hefty iron door which Jin was amazed at her strength. There was no revtion of her cultivation to Jin, and as he walked past the gates, he also tried to casually push the other side door with his usual strength.

    It did not budge a single bit.

    He sighed at the discovery of these group of people and quietly followed ire behind. In the meantime, he did feel some sort of dижjид vuing from the temple interior dижcor. While it was not precisely the same, the temple that Ming created in his dreams, had many simrities to it... if not the exact same designs.

    There was silence throughout the entire walk as ire brought him underground, and it was several floors below where he eventually noticed a sort of trapdoor at the edge of the basement room. ire mumbled some words which he did not recognise, but they caused the trap doors to open for it to reveal a room void of light.

    "Jump in, it is approximately 50 metres deep. There are no stairs, no food or water and only a small hole at the right end for you to relieve yourself. Theбнerm stench might be a bit strong, but you will get used to it immediately." ire said as she took a re from her storage ring, lit it up and threw it into the Istion Ward

    "Exactly three days from the moment I close this door. That is the time when I wille to retrieve you. While I will usually say that this is yourst chance to back out. You have that ''thing'' with you. Whether you choose to keep yourself confined or escape from this ce, its none of my business." ire seemed to be aware that Jin had the System with him.

    "In the istion room, there is a sensory inscription charm. It will activate to send us a signal when it senses that you are not in there. Should that happen for whatever reason, we will assume that you forfeit your right to speak with Grandma Yuan to learn about the matters of the Demon Exorcists." ire exined as she ryed the wishes of her boss.

    "Till then, as I said, whatever you do inside the istion ward is none of my business." ire reiterated and waited for Jin''s reply.

    "I understand." Jin realised Grandma Yuan was at least prepared to counter Jin''s way of escaping and therefore decided to go into the istion ward of his own free will. ire banged the door shut even before Jin reached the bottom of the lit re.

    "I guess it''s time to formte my own strategy against those demon exorcists traineesбн heck they might even be the real demon exorcists." Jin thought as he quickly went into the cultivation stance to recover the wounds he had.

    ------

    After Jin left the courtyard, Grandma Yuan stared at the four teens that were still kneeling down in front of her. They heard the entire conversation and knew that they had to fight with this Jin once again. And this time not only would it be one on one, but he would also be prepared.

    "As for you kids. If any of you lose, you will be resurrected. However, anyone who loses, no matter if Jin defeats all of you or not, will have to work under him until you paid off your debts to me before you can kneel before me again. Like I said, fight to the death or no more teachings from me!" Grandma Yuan announced her orders to them out of the blue, and the teens immediately spoke out rackets of rejections.

    "Why?! He is just a nobody! It was a fluke that he could dodge and block our attacks! You saw how we managed to get him in the end!" Su Zhen tried to refute and the others chimed in as well.

    "Silence! I told you guys to bring him down in 20 seconds. You all took 9.6 seconds more because you severely underestimated him. How many times have I told you not to waste time talking with the enemy?! бн Three dayster will also be your only chance for redemption." Grandma Yuan said. The teens understood how strict Grandma Yuan was and reluctantly nodded their heads as they began to leave the temple ground to go to their respective training areas except for Lein. Grandma Yuan told him to stay for a private conversation.

    "Did you see his intent to kill when he shot you that beam of chi energy?" Grandma Yuan asked Lein, who was all proud and arrogant in front of the disciples, suddenly trembled badly and nodded his head.

    "The others have yet to experience it first hand because he was still holding back his abilities but when he sensed that his life was in danger from your attack, that intent to surviveбнthat intent to kill. Now, do you understand that this is what you will feel if you ever go out to fight real demons?" Grandma Yuan became slightly gentle in front of Lein despite her strict demeanour.

    "Three dayster, you will notice that his intent to kill and survive will still be the sameбн Perhaps even more terrifying. If you think you have seen it all from your training, you are sorely mistaken. You might have the skill and talent, but if you cannot ovee that fear of striking him down for good, I suggest you drop out of training." Grandma Yuan warned Lein.

    "You can pass that message to the others, though I doubt they will understand until they experience it during the heat of battle." Grandma Yuan added before dismissing Lein. ire returned by the time she finished lecturing Lein, and she was enjoying the calming tea that was ced right beside her.

    "HmmбнI still think Jin''s girl brewed a better tea." Grandma Yuan said casually which ire apologised immediately. "Nah, it''s fine. Do not me yourself, she is a natural. That''s all."

    "I seeбнso are you really going to make them fight to the death?" ire asked as a sort of concern. She herself had undergone a simr trial. It was the norm for Demon Exorcists to have to go through a selection process that included death. The teens had learned about this when they first picked up the mantle as apprentices, but whether it got into their heads was a different issue.

    "Perhapsбнbut you know, Jin is a dungeon supplier and with the System too. So..." Grandma Yuan did not finish her sentence. ire chuckled.

    "You''ve changed. Perhaps for the better, Madamбн" ire bluntly stated her thoughts.

    "You cheeky fellow. Since when you can talk back to me like this. Haha!" Grandma Yuan said as she closed the lid to the teacup she was drinking reminiscing a little on Lynn''s brewed tea. But when ire assisted her, Grandma Yuan snapped out of it and they returned back to Tiangong District for the time being.

 Chapter 440 Flirting for Information

    <h4>Chapter 440 Flirting for Information</h4>

    "Thank goodness the mousefolk still had some currency with them." Meomi said in her bald headed disguise as they passed through the Demon Rat checkpoint and into the middle sized town called Uote.

    "Heh, it was free anyway, why bother negotiating with them, me Ripper?" Sebastia asked as she yed with the coin they ''paid'' to the guards that had the Demon Rats scrutinising them from afar.

    "I totally forgot that you were well versed with coin tricksбн" me Ripper sighed as they surveyed the bleak condition the town was in.

    Ever since the Demon Rats infested the entire northern region, they had maintained the strictest restriction in that area since that was where the so called home base was. The Farm Rats did attempt to spread further down to the rest of thend, but the main issue was the ocean. They were unable to cross the bodies of water, and the northern military, or what was left in the Farming World had fiercely protected the remaining port towns.

    So, unless the Schr of the North and South had decided to personally bring the viral demon gue infestation to the other parts of the world, this was thest known spot where Gold, the previous Schr of the East had seen the gue.

    This was precisely why Gold sorely needed information. He wanted to know if the Demon Rats had control outside of the northern region. If there were, it would seem even more disastrous than he could imagine, and it would potentially change how Jin should confront the situation.

    "You seem to like the bald disguise a lot? Does it remind you of someone?" Sebastia asked as they managed to check into an Inn to stay for the night. The scouting team had been on the road for two days straight with their light footed spell before they reached Town Uote. By the time they arrived, it was already in the evening.гм

    "Yes. My father." Meomi did not mince her words as she unpacked her items in the small room they rented. (Which, of course, was being paid with the same coins that ''magically'' found itself again in Sebastia''s hands.)

    "I see, I shall not probe any further then," Sebastia said as she also began to change out into her properbat gear.

    "Rendezvous in 30 minutes at the top of the town''s clocktower when the sun is down. Get food if you need to and if possible some information." me Ripper instructed as he was already draped in an all ck attire. With just a quick peek out of the window, he disappeared like the wind.

    "I will be off too." Meomi subsequently followed me Ripper''s way of exiting the room and disappeared even before Sebastia could deliver a reply.

    "Guess, I am the only one using the old fashion way of collecting information." Sebastia took some perfume out from her backpack and sprayed it all around her. She also adjusted herbat gear to make sure her ''erogenous'' areas were well endowed.

    With her new disguise from the cosmetic inscription as well as a magical ring of truth which Peppers imbued to get information easily, she believed things would go well. However, the ring only had a fixed amount of charges in it, and hopefully, Sebastia was able to get the information without using it.)

    The inn had a bar that served food and beer on the first floor too, as such she decided to try her luck getting information first. "Urgh, the atmosphere seems to be the same no even in other worlds." Sebastia thought the moment she got down from her room to the first floor. Every guy in that bar turned to see the badass beauty they caught a glimpse of when they initially entered the inn.

    Even the innkeeper was staring at her and prolonged the checking in procedure just to talk to her. That was also why Sebastia had decided to try to get the information from them. She might not be as convincing as Kiyu, but she believed decades of experience with Lord Moloch would prove to be sufficient. (What''s a few decades to a demonised Minotaur in the Dungeon World?)

    "Jackpot." Sebastia smiled to herself when she was all along in the bar, already enjoying the free drinks from the lecherous bartender when a rugged, tough looking guy talked up towards her. All that in less than 10 minutes.

    "You seem alone, young miss. That bald guy and little kid your family?" The stranger asked though Sebastia continued to pay more attention to her drink than him.

    "Clients. I am here to chill out." Sebastia answered eventually as she took a sip from her drink. However, she also performed the sipping as sexual as could be, arousing the tough guy to get his utmost attention.

    "Hmm, maybe I can assist you in your chilling out. That is if you get my drift." The stranger came closer to her as if to check her out even more. He could clearly see her sensuous volume of fats staring at him back right at his face, and the stranger was trying his best to control himself in front of the crowd.

    "Perhaps. That is if you can answer my question. If you can satisfy my curiosityбн maybe I won''t mind thepany." Sebastia yed the ''hard to get'' part rather smoothly, and it already made the stranger swallowing his saliva.

    "What do you wish to know?" The tough guy went even closer, caressing her arms.

    "What is the status of the Demon Rats around this area? Are they very active? Have they invaded the seaports or spread to the other regions?" She asked directly to the point and suddenly the tough guy became not so tough. He quickly covered her and whisper to her ears. It was not a sign of flirting, but he was genuinely terrified.

    "Why are you asking all these questions? You should know anyone could be a spy. They are putting out generous rewards for anyone asking too much. If their coborators catch you asking these kinds of stuff, they will imprison you for interrogation!" The stranger replied in a fairly panicked tone.

    Demon Rats. These two words were enough for his libido to hit rock bottom. Even the bartender who had been eavesdropping quickly moved away from her for his own sake.

    "Sounds even worse than I thoughtбн" Sebastia thought to herself before she put up a smile. "I just need to know for my client. That bald guy needs to travel to the southern area to reunite with his family. He wants to know which seaport is still safe to travel. I also heard they would need to stop either at the East or West region before they proceed further down."

    "AhбнI thought you were one of the resistance members." The stranger said in a concerned manner when he realised the motive of Sebastia. "Recently, there had been too many raids on the outskirts of Uote. The rebels were conducting ambushes against the rats. The Jacks, I believe. Or what''s left of them anyway."

    "Heh, those Jacks? Aren''t they a miserable bunch of people, trying their best to thwart the peace that you guys have in town? "Sebastia was trying her luck to see if any of the resistance members were in the bar. She was also scanning around the crowd when she spoke ill of it.

    It was killing two birds with one stone by announcing her opinion out loud. Those that hated the rats would not be able to say anything much or at least pretend to not hear it. At that moment, she was also surveying the crowd of those who were looking for the very same people that she was looking for as well. The coborators.

    Sebastia did not know how deeply rooted the coborators were with the Demon Rats. The illusion of peace in this town was too fragile and fake. Everyone was just going on with their own lives as per normal while living in the fear of the Demon Rats.

    "You have not answered my question." Sebastia now took the initiative to whisper at the stranger''s ear and bit it lightly after she noted that there was a possibility for both coborators and the rebels to be in the very same bar.

    "FromбнFromбнwhat I know, theбнerm they could not pass through the defences at the major seaports and decided to stay ind conquering the entire Northern Region for themselves. They seem pretty satisfied with it." The tough guy said, and Sebastia furrowed her eyebrows as if she was in disbelief.

    "Why are they just satisfied with the Northern region?" Sebastia questioned as she took her shot of booze.

    "The northern region was supposedly the leading exporter of agriculture because of its rich and fertilends for crops. Taking the farms away and you basically starve nearly half the of the world who relied on the food supplies." the stranger said and Sebastia asked how reliable was his information.

    "No shit, serious. I work as a sailor and am currently on home leave. If your client needs a boat ride, I can ask my captain to provide you with a space to travel to the south. There was no such news of бнthem invading yet." The sailor confessed, and Sebastia knew it was true.

    The magical ring of truth needed to be in contact with the person to know that they were stating the fact, or at least what they seemed to know. Which was why Sebastia decided to act yful and bit on his ear to let the ring work its magic.

    In the meantime, she could deduce why the Demon Rats were satisfied with maintaining the northern region. If what the sailor said was true, by starving half the world would mean that the other regions would be fighting among themselves for food supplies.

    If that was true, the Demon Rats could have bid their time to attack them while they are at the weakest. Sebastia could not fathom that they would able to think of such a n unless there was someone more intelligent leading them.

    "Well, the night is still young, I''m going to walk around a little. Perhaps I will visit youter in the nightбнwhen it''s less crowded." Sebastia teased him before she gave her coin to the bartender. "Extra, to keep both of your lips wet." Sebastia winked and the bartender poured a cup for both the sailor and himself to steady their nerves. (Little did he knew the coin was gone the moment he kept it.)

    "I got to meet up with me Ripper and Meomi to see what they know." Sebastia thought to herself as she walked out of the inn and went via the back alley since the clocktower was behind the inn. However, not even five minutester, there were multiple footsteps behind her. The minotaur maid did not expect actions of either the rebels or coborators to be that fast.

    She did what every person who was being followed would do. Walk faster and then run until she found herself in a dead end. The mob were panting trying to get her but seeing how they finally surrounded her, they took out their hidden weapons like knives, daggers and even wooden clubs,

    "We heard that you saying bad things about the Jacks and asking about the whereabouts of the Demon Rats. What are you exactly nning? To spread more of the gue? To be a coborator? Who is your client?" A person with strands of silver hair came forward among the mobs. "We do not tolerate those who support the Demon Rats."

    "Sigh, just when I thought I can give someone a good thrashing," Sebastia said, and she stared down the entire group with a menacing aura. While it seemed apparent that they were the rebel group, especially the one right in front of her, she needed further verification to prove that they could be trusted.

    "I know where Gold is. Heard that he is not in a very good shape. My bald headed client seemed to have had fun bullying him at times." Sebastia smirked as she spoke half the truth out.

    Suddenly, the eyes of the guy in Silver Hair grew wide, and he tore his cloak away in anger. The growling sound got louder and louder. The rest followed suit and Sebastia licked her lips.

    "Oh, thy thank our Lord and Almighty System for being kind and benevolent. I shall guide the helpless to your arms." Sebastia prayed as she stretched and readied her palms against them.

 Chapter 441 Silver Mage

    <h4>Chapter 441 Silver Mage</h4>

    "You should pray to your lord that you will be granted a swift death if you do not tell us where Gold is!" The silver haired leader had already transformed into a silver furred werejackal, probably corrting to the name that he has.

    "Funny, he mentioned a Silver before. Seeing you are a silverish werejackal...Am I correct in assuming you are that Silver?" Sebastia was confident upon having fought against Gold and his other werejackals that the werejackals in front of her would be no match.

    She did not even bother using her coin speciality and raised her palms out, asking them toe at her as a taunt. "Perhaps, I should bring you to my client too."

    Needless to say, the entire group of werejackals took the bait rather quickly after hearing Gold''s name. Sebastia did not need to provoke them any further to harm her. Defeating them and thereby be under the System''s control, would definitely aid to serve her purpose. Besides, it saved Sebastia fewer exnations and a quick reunion with his cousin, Gold would do the job.

    "I must say, you guys definitely know your basic tactics forbat." Sebastia was still standing at ease seeing the werejackals attacking from all angles since this was a dead end with blocks of buildings surrounding them and her being at the centre.

    Silver dashed straight like an arrow while the other werejackals pounced up, moved to the sides and even tagged behind him to initiate a follow up attack. Two werejackals also ran a bigger round so that they could strike from the back of Sebastia, making sure that she had no ce to run.

    But she did not need to run at all.

    Her martial techniques had gone up several levels after she studied the various ways of cultivations manuals which used Wing Chun as a base. Sebastia might not have any chi to practice such techniques, but that did not mean that her inner demon powers were unable to help her achieve something simr. With the aid of the System as well as Betor Zeru''s instruction in learning how chi works, Sebastia had adapted the chi techniques into her demon abilities, allowing her to simte the chi techniques as her demon powers.

    Lord Moloch had tested her strength and deduced that it should be strong enough to be called a demon ability too. Thus, Sebastia had named those modified Wing Chun techniques as ''Martial Arts of the Demonic Minotaur''. "While I wish topliment you more, I do not hope that those praises will go over your head. There are plenty of martial skills that could surpass the ones you created." Moloch stated as a matter of fact.

    "Do not worry, I will notx in my training and continue to improve these martial arts skills as we level up together with Master Jin. But most importantly, I will not let you down." Sebastia told Moloch straight to his face.

    "Aww. Don''t you make me blush. Silly."

    Sebastia still vividly recalled the scene and Moloch''s reply in her head as Silver rushed towards her. To her, even if she received a scratch from him, it would not do much harm at all, but that would hurt her pride being the strongest Minotaur Maid for Moloch.

    Thus, she deflected the straight thrust of his w strike with her hand and swung him to the side, hitting another werejackal. In the next few seconds, all she did was brushing the werejackals off one by one as if they were flies desperately fluttering around her. (To be honest, even flies provide more challenge than these clumsy werejackals.)

    "Sad to say that your basic tactics cannot help you if you can''t evennd a hit on your opponent. Please try again." Sebastia once again provoked the werejackals and Silver, citing that she had not warmed up from all the attacks.

    "You are asking for it. We were trying to be nice to you." Silver panted angrily as he sped his hands together. The other werejackals knew what he was doing and proceed to distract Sebastia.

    гм

    "Sebastia, what is taking you so long? It''s past the allocated meeting time." Meomi asked in the secured channel. She heard some loud sounds from the south where the Inn was located and noticed that a few Demon Rat Guards had been alerted to it.

    "I''m a bit busy. You could say I''m preparing a special present for Gold." She replied while smacking a werejackal hard onto the floor that the contents of his skull leaked out. The others growl and howled at her upon seeing it, making Silver even angrier.

    "We hear distant sounds from the direction of the Inn. I assume that''s you and it seems you will have additionalpany very soon." me Ripper informed her as he took out his notebook and jotted down what he had observed the Demon Rats doing in the town. He believed that those rats were hierarchical in nature. Instead of personal power, ranks yed a part since he saw some weaker ratsmanding big hulky ones.

    "That means either someone is pulling the strings or they are sentient with some level of intelligence. The steampunk technology they put together also indicated they might have rats smart enough to create inventions." me Ripper discussed his findings with Meomi at the clocktower.

    "I don''t remember Gold, your knights or even you mentioning something like that before. Did they showcase such behaviour when those rats invaded your town?" me Ripper asked while he also observed the reactions of the townsfolk seeing the guards.

    "No. They did not have Steam Tech at the time. The Demon Rats were not a single bit organised. Just crazy monster rats biting anything that moved. I thought that it was only that particr battalion would have those Steam Techs, but it seems things have changed a lot after Master Jin captured us." Meomi quietly watched the movements of the rats from the top of the clocktower too. The same kind of rats they saw in the battalion fight, were rushing in doves to Sebastia.

    In the meantime, Sliver had finished powering up his magical energy to infuse it into the shape of a sphere, the standard kind of energy bolt or ball in this case. (At the very least, it''s glittering with silver energy.) The werejackals knew what was at stake and risked their lives to hold on to Sebestia.

    "Now taste the fury of the Silver Mage!" Silver announced as he had strained his lifeforce to create this silver ball of magical rage.

    "Really? That is all Gold taught you? He must be either too busy to teach you properly or thinks that you do not have a single shred of talent to do it properly." Sebastia continued to harass Silver even though she was ''pinned'' by the werejackals

    "At least we know that you would not be surviving to tell him your opinion!!" Silver said as he ran towards the Minotaur Maid with every ounce of strength he had.

    "What a joke. Enough ying around. The Rats areing." Sebastia was still calm and serene despite the situation.

    "I do not give a damn!" Silver smashed the energy ball into Sebastia''s chest armour as the energy engulfed her upper half of the body. The Werejackals were doing their best to hold her despite the heat they experienced from the energy st.

    "Hmm, no doubt that you guys are serious about Gold and have the will too," Sebastia said out loud. "But at this rate, you will not be a help to him. More of a burden. Time to end this." Just a twitch of her muscles and she was able to break free from the werejackals'' hold.

    "Demonic Minotaur Martial Art. Drawing The Full Moon, Dividing The Watermelon!" Sebastia shouted as she moved her arms as if she drew a full round circle with her arms, throwing all the werejackals into mid air and with a sh from her hand. All of them including Silver were cut in half.

    Fountains of blood spilt all over the back alley, as if it was raining body parts from the sky. Silver could barelyprehend the situation and only realised that he had messed up fighting with this formidable opponent.

    "No wonderбнGold was captured by her clientбн" Silver saw the hordes of Demon Rats running into the scene as he breathed hisst breath and fell from Sebastia''s Demonic Minotaur Martial Arts.

    "What happened here?" The Demon Rat Guards used a human coborator as their mouthpiece to ry their messages.

    "Just killing a few rebels. You can have a look for yourself, just that the parts are everywhere." Sebastia raised her hand up in innocence. The human coborator walked right up to the dead werejackals and confirmed what the beautifuldy saying was true.

    "It checks out. It''s the Silver Mage and his rebel mates." The human coborator said out loud to the Demon Rat in charge of the horde behind it. The rat then chattered his teeth, which seems like only the Human coborator understood what it was saying.

    "The Captain of the Uote Demon Guards says that you did good. Strong and Beautiful. What kind of reward do you want?" The human coborator asked in lieu of the captain. Suddenly, Sebastia had a wondrous n in mind which would make their work in finding the resistance so much easier.

    "I want information on the rebels. I want to kill them all for you. And, of course, I want to know what you are talking, not indirectly talking to this pile of shithead." Sebastia demanded, and the Demon Rat Captain looked like it was deep in thought for a moment. Then it beckoned at the annoyed human coborator by snapping its fingers.

    "Yes, Captain? What do you-" A clean cut to his neck was performed the next moment, making his head roll down like a basketball. Blood spewed spontaneously which made the rats at the back of the captain giggling in delight. It looked like they also had had enough of that boot licking human coborator.

    The Demon Rat Captain then picked a transmitter from the ears of the dead human coborator and carefully passed it to Sebastia. She shook it a little to remove any scattered blood before blowing and putting it on her ear.

    "Can you understand me now?" The Demon Rat Captain asked which she nodded her head firmly.

    "You did good. You say you want to kill more rebels? I give you a chance. Intelligence said that Silver Mage was nning to meet a resistance group to pass them the Jacks'' aid package. We found out that they will meet them at the outskirts of Uote Town, right beside the windmill." The Captain gave the information out freely.

    "Hmph, why kill all when you can leave one alive to know where their hideout is?" Sebastia smiled wackily, and the Demon Rat Captain was stunned momentarily beforeughing. The others behind follow suit too.

    "You good! You good! I''m starting to like you! If you can do what you are assigned to do, kill all, leave one. We will give you lots of rewards. Good food, Good men. Good money." The Demon Rat Captain speech became more monotonous aspared to the first speech.

    "I smell some trace of magic before heughed. Felt like deathбнperhaps necromancy magic." Meomi said as she already turned into her werecat form ready to attack the Demon Rats until Sebastia offered herself to kill more rebels.

    "System, can you aid us to trace the magic source?" me Ripper asked and suddenly Meomi rubbed her nose.

    "Follow me, I think the System just enhanced my sense of smell." The werecat said as she climbed down the building and followed the trace as much as she could.

    "I will continue with their n since it is beneficial for us to have information too." Sebastia spoke in the secured channel before talking back to the Demon Rats. "Those rewards do not entice me. Let''s just say I want to be the best Rebel Hunter you''ve ever seen. What do you think of that?"

    "Hahahaha! You good! I like you more and more! You kill rebels, I will introduce you to more Captains! They love Rebel Hunting too!" The Demon Rat Captain answered with augh and Sebastia smiled with glee.

    "Then what are we waiting for? Get one of your rats to show me the way! I will ambush them instead!" Sebastian replied which made one of the Demon Rats, apparently a scout, lead the way to the rumoured meeting ce in advance.

    "Those rats, they won''t even know what hit them." Sebastia licked her lips again as she trailed behind the fast moving Demon Rat Scout.

 Chapter 442 Isolation Ward

    <h4>Chapter 442 Istion Ward</h4>

    The lit re which ire threw in eventually went out, and it became evident that there were no other ways to get in or out except the door Jin had used to enter this ce. Aside from being dark and damp, he noticed a lot of battle marks on the walls.

    All the dents, cuts and bits of broken wall on the side of the corners were indicative that he was not the first upant in this Istion Ward ever. "So ehh kinda like solitary confinement for like three days?"

    "Not very solitary when you have the System with you if you ask me." Pei came out as she snapped her fingers out and lit the entire istion ward with a bright warm light. "Now, this is a story that people could have failed to see." Pei paced herself a little while she noticed the pictographs on the wall. Kraft appeared as well and with his phone started taking a video of the entire ce.

    "Looks like a lot of history that had been going on in this room," Kraftmented and sawбнa very peculiar picture at the upper side of a wall.

    "Heh, I kind of figured that he would appear here."

    "Hmph, just the picture alone is enough to spoil my mood the moment I saw that face." Pei spat at the wall even though her saliva spit was too far away from that picture. "You are lucky I can control myself aspared tost time." She returned into the bracelet without any warning.

    "Who''s he?" Jin asked as he walked up to have a closer look.

    "The one person none of the foxes will ever forget." Kraft sighed as he stopped the video and kept his phone. "Panda Lord Zhou Lin."

    "EX! Jin is now our Master!" Pei shouted via her bracelet with much hatred still brewing inside her.

    "He''s a Demon Exorcist too?" Jin could only fathom that much from the pictographs.

    "On the contrary. He is the one all Demon Exorcists were after. You know, like the Last Boss kind of thing? Not every one that held the System is kind and benevolent... or aszy as a certain someone was at the start." Kraft said as if it was a dark history for the System and the betors.

    "Care to exin more?" Jin asked as he continued to look at the pictographs around Zhou Lin''s panel.

    "Do you really think now is the right time for a history lesson?" Kraft folded his arm and asked.

    "бнYou are right, I was distracted for a little. Every second should count." Jin replied, but even though he was willing to train, he had no idea how to start. As one of the few capable of reading his mind, Kraft sighed and shook his lowered head.

    "Seriously, buck up, dude. What happens if therees a time, we won''t be able to look after and protect you? What happens if we should cease to exist or even worse everyone will be against you? While friends and allies are great and stuff, in the end, the one person you will be able to count on at all times, is yourself." Kraft''s feedback to Jin made thetter start to ponder, and the former gave him onest chance to think for himself before he gave his aid.

    Jin dide up with a few ways, but he wasn''t sure how effective any of those methods would aid him. Still, he would just give it a try since Jin was guessing that Grandma Yuan''s reason for cing him in istion was so that he could train with his System without the other demon exorcist trainees peeking at him. He also believed it also ensured that he spent the time training rather than worrying about the shop.

    "If that is the caseбн" Jin searched in his storage for one particr item. The item that might potentially support him since the System was unable able to help Jin with him being far away from his home base.

    Therge sphere of sludge.

    "Ah, good. I was thinking of that too." Kraft sniggered evilly before continuing. "So what do you n to do with it?"

    "You saw it yourself. One of them is a Nine Tail Fox... You are a Fox бнmaster, tamerбн.collectorбн I don''t exactly know. All I know you are a betor with foxes! You got to know something about the Nine Tail Fox Demon." Jin said before realising that he was asking for a request. "I figured if I can against a demon, I might understand how their fighting patterns would be."

    "бнPlease help, Kraft." Jin bowed a little to show some respect to him.

    "HmmбнThat attitude, I don''t dislike it." Kraft replied as he summoned Ixel, Itori and Ixa, His three main battle offensive foxes. "Combine with the sludge and fight with Jin. There''s no need to hold back too much. I''ll ask Milk to ce a near death barrier for him so he will not have to die and waste resources resurrecting."

    "Aye Aye! I heard my name." Milk appeared asmanded by the Original Betor of the System. "Sorry Jin, but you will end up in lots of pain. But pain is good for you to grow, okay? After everything is over, I shall let you sleep on myp." Milk winked at Jin as she cast an Epic Level spell called Critical Survival Barrier.

    As the name suggested, it would allow Jin to survive even the most severe of hits by the three foxes. It was simr to a video game cheat where the yer would forever have 1hp no matter how much damage was doneбнor until the barrier protecting it disappears.

    "Do you really think it''s a good idea for the sludge to consume your foxes?" Jin asked in a worried tone.

    "A, like I say. Think about yourself right now." Kraft tilted his head towards the sludge and Jin could see that the three foxes had already merged with the sludge, producing a Three Tailed Fox Demon.

    гм

    "From my analysis, even though she possessed a Grade 6 Nine Tailed Fox Demon cultivation above her, her true strength isn''t even on par to a true One Tailed Fox Demon no matter her appearances. Yet, her skills and techniques seem to be genuinelying a Nine Tailed Fox Demon." Kraft exined.

    "So, if you can survive against this Three Tailed Demon, you should be able to defeat her pretty easily." Kraft whistled upon finishing what he had to say, and the Three Tailed Demon shot a projectile of dark looking energy beam at Jin, simr to Panda Yawning. It was lucky that Jin was able to dodge in time and saw that the wall was already burning from the beam attack.

    The Three Tailed Demon did not give any quarter and already zoomed past Jin as he was distracted by the burning aftermath of the beam attack, causing him to be shed at the stomach. If not for the living armour tes activated in time, he would already have an open belly, spilling the guts out for everyone to see.

    "Ahh, I forgot that you have those living armour tes. Shall I keep them for you?" Kraft asked courteously, but Jin hesitated about giving up his only type of armour. Since he did not respond immediately, Kraft snapped his finger once. At that point, Pei''s bracelet began to glow, attracting the Living Armour tes towards it, and that was also the time she absorbed all the tes into her bracelet.

    "We''ll return them to you after the three days. Like Milk said, for now, you have to suffer." Pei told him via his thoughts.

    "Grandma Yuan already said it. Use everything in your disposal! Well, except for those tes. But I know that you have a habit of keeping a trump card in case an opportunity arises from nowhere. However, life does not work like that! You already experienced it first hand how the pathetic kids ambushed you!" Kraftmented from the side as the Three Tailed Fox Demon swiped Jin to the ceiling of the Istion ward with just a tail swipe.

    "Sure, you don''t use the System. That one should be left as your ultimate trump card. And since that''s the case, use more of your other skills! Or else you are disrespecting the enemy and putting yourself in unnecessary danger!" Zeru suddenly appeared and scolded his disciple as the Three Tailed Fox Demon jumped and smashed its head when Jin barely recovered from hitting the ceiling.

    "Fuck!!!" Jin coughed out blood from the attack and quickly used Panda Yawning to his best ability, hoping to hit the Three Tailed Fox Demon. However, the beam needed time to charge and with the pain he was filling, he was unable to focus his beam out. The Three Tailed Fox Demon smirked as it used its hind legs to kick Jin who was still in midair into the side of the walls.

    However, this time Jin struggled through and used Panda Rolling to get out of harm''s way. Still, he could see that the Three Tailed Fox Demon floating in mid air, licking its paw. To the sludge infused fox, this was not a battle at all.

    Jin now understood what his master meant as he took Bam out and switched it to a bow. The fox demon was not stupid as it quickly dashed towards Jin to prevent him from even nocking the bow. "Panda Swipe!" Instead of nocking the bow, Jin waited for the fox toe close enough for him to unleash his Panda Swipe.

    Unfortunately, instead of the intended effect, the Three Tailed Fox Demon only flinched from the attack which surprised Jin as well. Thankfully the flinch was enough of a distraction. Jin was able to switch his tactics quick enough by transforming the bow into an axe and shed it forward.

    It barely scratched the fox at all.

    Still, it gave Jin sufficient space to back away to take out his other weapon, Boo. The fox recovered from the attack and his three tails began to grow longer. Like living tentacles, the tails willingly moved to attack Jin from afar while the Fox Demon shot out an energy beam to strike the distracted Panda Cultivator.

    "...They are still just ying with him. Why does it feel like all the monsters he encountered were too underwhelming for him to practice." Kraft criticised as he looked at the fight from a corner with Zeru.

    "I assumed that upon reaching Grade 8, he would have improved his skills or techniques. Looks like he did not have much at all except for the whirlwind attack Ming taught him." Zerumented to see how pathetic Jin was struggling against the Three Tailed Fox Demon.

    "Meh, can''t be helped. He was left out of the loop for most of his life. Then he focused more on his business in recent days and neglected his training. Not everyone is as diligent as yourself, training every day and night relentlessly. Give that kid a break." Kraft countered as the demon bit Jin on his left hand while he tried to defend himself.

    "A break? Coming from you? Looks like you are the one that turned soft. Not me." Zeru smiled and somehow that irritated Kraft, making him stare at Zeru intently.

    "You want to fight? Do you think I won''t be able to destroy you without those three kids at my side? Maybe it''s time to remind you what I can do on my own..." There was a tinge of murderous vibeing from Kraft, and Zeru ignored him to defuse the situation.

    Another sh from the fox demon disfigured Jin''s face almost immediately but it also gave Jin the opportunity to m his Boo in shield form at the fox demon.

    "ck Panda Fire!" Jin shouted, and from the shield, a smallpartment opened, spewing out a surge of fire at the Three Tailed Fox Demon, causing it to burn. Somehow, Jin was feeling the adrenaline rush as blood continued to leak from his hand and face. The pain of the attacks was scorching, but there was no time to stop.

    Unfortunately, it''s precisely due to Milk''s Critical Survival barrier that the Three Tailed Fox Demon''s attack would not stop until Kraft said so. Hence, its either Jin obliterate it or suffered relentless attacks for 3 days straight before Milk could heal him up.

    "I mustбнpress onбн ck Panda Fire!" Jin continued to spew the ck Panda Fire, but the Fox Demon was smart enough to jump backwards and shot a beam of energy to counter the ck fire from the shield. "White Panda Ice!'' Jin shouted as he imaged his chi to be near the Fox Demon and allowed it to materialise the Ice right beside his opponent.

    This was the first time he was trying this and had no idea it could work. Usually, the ice would appear from him since the chi flowed out from him. This time, because of his residue chi being rampant in this istion ward, Jin tried to send more chi towards the leftover chi and hoped that through imaging his chi that way, the Ice shards would appear to strike the Fox Demon.

    It was a concept by the Western Mages since they already had concentrated mana or memorised spells which allowed them to store their mana before abat fight. However, Jin was an Eastern cultivator and he could only try to replicate it. He never knew how sessful it would be until now and one thing was for sure.

    The White Panda Ice shard projectiles did materialise.

 Chapter 443 Silvers Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 443 Silver''s Reunion</h4>

    "Where am I?" Silver woke up with the rest of his gang members in a veryfortable room setting. However, that feeling was shaken off the moment he saw an unusual decor architecture and modern looking machines with tubes all sticking onto him as if he and the other werejackals were being experimented on.

    "Awake? Feeling okay?" A bear looking humanoid was talking to Silver, and it was wearing some sort of white working suit, looking at a wooden board filled with papers. A piece of metal was in her paw, which she used to tap on it in a rhythm.

    Silver was unsure how to react in this situation. The one in front of him did not appear dangerous, but the tubes on his body made him want to resort to violence. Yet it all changed when he heard a snort beside his bed.

    "...Gold?" Silver saw his cousin Gold in his human form, dressed in clothes that were modest and convenient. Gold stood up and flicked Silver''s forehead.

    "You little rascal. Always so strong headed when you are supposed to lead by example." Gold scolded him. He folded his arms and told him to rx. "Those Pandas are just monitoring your vitals and checking if everything is alright for you. Consider this a sort of hospital." Gold said out loud for the others who were waking up or already awake.

    All of the werejackals immediately acknowledged his presence with a loud shout.

    "How do I know if you are not just pretending to be the Gold that we know?!" Silver still did not believe the person right in front of him was the real deal.

    "How? Simple. When you were just 17, you went behind Brown''s back and dated his sister. After all, not too long prior to that, you swore a supposed oath that you would be disfigured for life if you started dating her." Gold said it out, and his cousin kept quiet for a while before Gold turned and pointed to a random Werejackal.

    "You. I am sorry I can''t recall your name, but you assisted me in the Grand Library on the night of a half moon. I wanted to ditch work to see an opera y without people knowing, but you found me out. In the end, we made a deal. In exchange for your silence, I was to personally give you a one time lesson on basic magic.

    "Lord Schr! You remembered!" The mentioned werejackal immediately went to his knees on the bed and bowed his head down.

    "And you. Argh, I hate to say this, but I did tell you that your Mother was smoking hot for her age. You even proposed to let me bang her if I let you ess to the inner Archives of the Grand Library. You son of a-"

    "Lord Schr! Please! No more!!" Instead of bowing with respect, it was more like the werejackal was bowing for forgiveness.

    "You want me to go on? I still have some dirt on the rest of them." Gold looked into the round and saw everyone practically begging him not to go on. Finally, he transformed himself into the werejackal that they all uniquely recognised.

    "Okay, okay! I get it now! We believe you! But there are so many questions in my head! How did we survive that attack? I remember seeing all of us getting dissectedбн What exactly is this ce? That long hair battlebatdy told us you were being tortured by her client! Everything just doesn''t add up!" Silver looked very confused, and Goldughed before returning to his Human form.

    "Then there is much for me to tell you. But first, let me clear one thing up. None of you survived that attack. All of you were minced into pieces by her, Minotaur Maid Sebastia." Gold said as he told them to get changed the moment the Panda Nurses gave them the go ahead.

    He left the portal open to the Werejackals'' Home Instance. Slowly and surely, the werejackals entered through the portal entrance and saw a whole new sight where Gold was in as he sat on therge sofa. The fabulous mansions as well as other fellow werejackals that Silver presumed to be missing or worse, gone forever.

    "Silver!" Grey saw Silver entering through the portal and went to hug him once.

    "What is all this? I heard you disappeared with Gold after I was tasked to get Meomi to aid in some important business?" Silver was d to see his buddy again.

    "Ahhh...Seems like Gold has yet to exin everything. Have a seat, I will get you something to drink." Grey replied as Brown was at the second level of the mansion shouting at Silver''s name as loud as he can.

    "YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU!!!" Brown jumped and threw a flying kick to Silver''s face. Initially, Silver thought he could evade the attack, but in a split second of realisation, he saw how fast Brown had be and was unable to dodge in time, receiving the kick in full.

    "How did you even hear what Gold said?!" Silver held on to his abdomen as Brown was still staring him straight in the face.

    "Wait, what did Gold say? I was just joking around." Brown looked at Gold innocently, and his leader only gave a shrug in reply.

    "What DID Gold say?!" Brown pulled Silver up with anger.

    "Chill! Calm down, Brown. I was just following with your joke!" Silver realising what was happening, tried to adapt as fast as possible. However, he could already feel more than beads of sweat running down his spine. If those were just prank punches, that meant Brown got stronger since thest time Silver saw him. In that case, it would mean real trouble if he got serious.

    "Oh. Dayum. Sorry, Bro. Wee to your new life." Brown said as he bro hugged Silver (maybe a little too hard) and told him the same thing. To let Gold exin everything.

    The remaining werejackals discharged by the Panda Nurses minutester were now sitting in the living room of a spectacr mansion. A sight they never saw in their lives.

    "First things first. I shall repeat this to get in your thick skulls. All of us in this room have died at least once." Gold said to clear that white elephant out of the room. "You guys have been killed by Sebastia who was ten times, if not maybe a hundred times stronger than all of you."

    "But instead of death, you have been given a second chance in life. It might sound ridiculous but you are now all immortal." Gold gave them a second to let it sink into them.

    "However, nothing in lifees free. We all have to serve someone that has a higher calling than the rest of us. You all have been resurrected to serve our new Master, Jin. He possesses a ...cosmic entity which pretty much defies the rules of magic or science." Gold continued on by telling them how the first batch of Werejackals were killed and a summary of the events they had gone through.гм

    After which, he brought the werejackals out and showed him the crops they had been making and exined to them that Jin was now working hand in hand with Gold along with the other werejackals to try and win back the Farming World. Or at least, annihte the Demon Rats.

    "So...Sebastia killed us to save us?" Silver asked for a confirmation.

    "Pretty much. Thest I heard was that she was going to kill the rebels that you were supposed to meet at the outskirts of Uote Town. She should probably be on her way there as we speak." Gold answered and suddenly Silver''s eyes were wide open.

    "No, no. You cannot do that! She will be facing very dangerous rebels!" Silver tried to exin when he found out how fucked up Sebastia would be.

    "What are you talking about? You saw how fast and easy she killed all of you. You do not have to worry." Gold countered.

    "No, Cuz, YOU do not understand! Because of the constant raiding by the rats, the Jacks were nearly decimated. Since I was the highest rank after your disappearance, I had to do something about itбн You remember the contact you gave us before you left us for good for this Jin person?" Silver asked to see if it jolts his memories,

    "What?! You contacted the Eastern Region''s Dark Temrs? How stupid can you get?! I thought I told you not to mess with them. I gave you that particr contact only to send them the scroll of Therianthropy Mitigation Spell in return for some aid packages." Gold was furious at Silver''s actions.

    "If not for the basic right of every inhabitant of our world NOT to turn into a Demon Rat, I''d have never wanted to deal with them! They are just as bad as the Demon Rats, looking to conquer the Northern Region."

    "What choice did I still have?! Since the Eastern Region Dark Temrs wanted to help us eradicate the rats, I considered it to be a win win situation for us! Besides, I''d rather have the Dark Temrs rule us by taking our wealth away than our freedom which the rats did!" Silver retaliated back.

    "Was it... that dire?" Gold calmed down and decided to give Silver some room to exin the current situation.

    "Ever since you left for that night, it was as if the Demon Rats knew exactly that you were away. They stormed the ce with at least four battalions of troops. They brought heavy machinery, waiting outside to kill us all, burn us all. If not for the secret tunnel and escape route that you had created in advance we would have all perished." Silver recalled the painful memories.

    "Still, I barely managed to save a fourth of us. Afterwards, it only got worse. We were constantly raided resulting in further deaths. бн Orange was killed and she is noting back like I do!" Silver banged his fist at Gold''s chest in anger upon reminiscing the past. "Yet, you are here...growing your crops...trying to perfect your magic...serving some master!"

    "...No words can -"

    "THEN SHUT UP!!" Silver turned his fist into an uppercut attack but that blow did not even make Gold flinch a single bit. "Fuck! At least look injured!"

    "As a leader of the Jacks, I cannot show weakness to anybody." Gold said, but he grabbed onto Silver and moved him closer to his chest. "At the very least, cry and mourn while you can, right now, for the pastrades that served us well."

    Silver quietly teared in Gold''s embrace, and the other werejackals also kept their silence for these few moments. Gold knew that the Dark Temrs should not be trifled with when he was alive in the Farming world.

    The Dark Temrs were a cult of knights that had literally fallen from grace. Lords that did not pay their knights enough, the Dark Temrs killed them. Lords who mistreated their knights as well as their citizens, the Dark Temrs killed them.

    They believed they were the true wielder of justice, doing what was needed to be done for they were the judge and executioner of everything unjust in their eyes. That was why the infestation of the Demon Rats made them the prime target for the Dark Temrs. They were the epitome of injustice and they would do anything to remove themбн but of course, for a price.

    Gold dealt with them before because they were the only few who dared to practice the dark arts. Thus, as a Schr of the East, it was his responsibility to remain impartial to all, as long as they contributed their knowledge to the Grand Library.

    Ironically this was also why the Dark Temrs favoured the Schrs of the Compass, for they saw the value of their knowledge more important than morals and ethics which themon folk judged them for. When Gold shared the mitigation spell with them to research and to see if their dark arts could be of any aid, they were extremely ted. They knew that the Schr of the East would understand their ''justice'' in the dark arts they wielded.

    And now with nowhere else to go, Silver and the remnants of Jacks were forced to seek help from the Dark Temrs to ask for assistance in rounding up the remaining resistance they had. But after Sebastia killed Silver and took his ce to meet the vicemander of the Dark Temrs, he was afraid that she was no match for him despite her demonstration of powers on the werejackal.

    "That is exactly why! You should inform that- erm Lady!" Silver warned Gold. "You know how they even have contracts with Demons to perform their dark arts."

    Goldughed at both at Silver''s plea and current plight. "I am surprised how you are willing to help a person that just killed you."

    "Ehh, she let us learn the truth of your disappearance and also reunited usбн even if the process, ording to you, could have been more peaceful." Silver said as he and the other werejackals agreed.

    "Then you do not have to worry. Instead, you should n how you are going to exin the situation to the vicemander of the Dark Temrs when he reaches here." Gold smirked at the situation that was about to go down.

    "For Sebastia is a being that the demons of our world should be afraid of." Gold said proudly in front of them.

    "I think." Except for thest part, which he quietly whispered in his head.

 Chapter 444 Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 444 Awakening</h4>

    The white ice spears shot through the air and into the sludge body, causing the Three Tailed Fox Demon to let out a piercing scream. After which, its movement got even more erratic and aggressive too. The three tails acted independently from the main fox body, making Jin feel like he was fighting four enemies at once.

    It became even more challenging when the tails shot their own energy power beams at Jin. He was unable to block them entirely even when he transformed Boo into a bamboo shield.

    Block the attack to the chest? The fox demon would aim at his legs instead. If not for the Critical Survival Barrier, Jin would have lost his arms and legs many times over. (Not to mention his head too.)

    Thus, Jin tried to replicate the same trick with the White Panda Ice Spears since he was no longer able to move as quickly as in the beginning. However, the Three Tailed Fox Demon was smart enough to learn from its mistakes and destroyed the formation of the White Panda Ice Spears before Jin could even hurl it.

    "Cast faster, distract it or surprise it with something new. Else it will know that you are creating those shards. Remember, if you cannot beat a Three Tailed Fox, do not even think about defeating a Nine Tailed variant." Kraft lectured as he was still leaning on the side of the Istion Ward with Zeru.

    "How do I cast faster when it does not allow me to cast in the first ce!" Jin thought to himself as he got smacked by the fox''s paw on his shoulder, causing him to drop his guard because of the impact. That was when the fox demon went for a bite to Jin''s head.

    "Fuck it!" Jin used all his might and smashed his bloodied forehead onto Fox Demon''s mandible before it could go for the crunch of Jin''s skull. Surprisingly, that unremarkable move caused the demon to fall back momentarily to fix its crooked jaw, giving Jin the breather that he needed to recover.

    "Too hardworking." He suddenly heard a distant voice in his head. Was he hallucinating from the head bash? Did he lose too much blood?

    "Bezier." The voice emerged again, and Jin could vaguely focus on it or the battle in front of him.

    "Be aszy as a Panda. That is your cultivation." The voice was louder this time round, and Jin realised it was Ming''s. It took him a while to remember those were the things he said about his cultivation when he was training with his grandfather during the adventure trip that they took...and before he encountered the White Tiger of the West.

    "The Astral Panda Cultivation is meant to be cultivation forzy people. Your yawn produces an energy beam, and your swipe generates a tremendous force at once. The Epic Art that I taught you was also a demonstration ofziness. Other cultivation styles need to be shy and insert even more chi to reproduce the amount of destructive power in your Epic Art, the Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda. But all you needed was a swing of your hand to create that with a bit of imagination." Ming had exined.

    "So the same goes for your White Panda Ice and ck Panda Fire. They were also taken from other cultivations, and I had simplified its activation just for you. The Cultivation Manual did not exin much because it was supposed to be that straightforward. So stop thinking that much and let your body take over the fight."

    "Trust in the cultivation that I painfully designed for you both in manual and in person. Remember the number of grades that you reached was not by chance but by hard work. Combine your imagination with your powers, and they will be your skills."

    "For you are the Lazy Astral Panda Cultivator."

    Jin panted as his body slid down with the wall as his support. "Gramps, why are you lecturing me in shbacks? Hahahaha." Jin whispered to himself as he continued to catch his breath though the fox demon was not done with the fight yet.

    "Since I cannot move my body a single bit, I shall listen to your advice. Be aszy as possible." Jin said out loud, and it made Kraft and Zeru worried for a moment when the Three Tailed Fox Demon charged towards him.

    "Is this the end? Jin seems to be incapacitated from all the attacks." Zeru worried as he could only feel Jin''s chi aura in a mess instead of him concentrating to make a barrier.

    "Looks like it... I will stop the foxes before they can deal any life threatening damage to Jin. At least it should be a valuable lesson for that kid too." Kraft said as he prepared to halt the berserk Three Tailed Fox Demon. Just when the two betors thought it was the end, suddenly the fox demon who was a few centimetres away from Jin was being stopped from mauling him. The demon was then slowly being pushed away from Jin.

    гм

    "What is that?" Zeru saw that the massive chi aura seemed to produce some sort of silhouette in front of Jin. "бнa Panda..?"

    "Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jinughed when he finallyprehend the truth about the teachings of the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Cultivation. The Panda silhouette in front of Jin was carrying Boo in shield form, protecting Jin from the attack.

    Both of his betors were awestruck that they also began tough at the true awakening of Jin''s cultivation. "With his mind concentrated, purified and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to create a mind-made body." Zeru preached out a short modified quote from a Buddhist manuscript, Sama??aph Sutta: the Fruits of the Contemtive Life.

    "What bullshit are you spouting? It''s obviously his mind switched off! Toozy that it attained the state of not giving a single fuck which in turn subsequently inclined him to create a mind-made body!!" Kraft gave his depicted version of Jin''s awakening of his Astral Panda Cultivation.

    Simr to what Jin did previously, the Panda Silhouette smashed the shield to the Three Tailed Fox Demon''s head but instead of shooting mes from the shield, the Panda Silhouette blew mes from its mouth.

    However, this time around, the ck Panda Fire were more intense than the one that Jin had produced. The mes were so widespread that it drowned the Three Tailed Fox Demon in it.

    The moment the Astral Panda stopped its fire breathing, it let out a sneeze and caused an impactful knockback to the fox demon, smashing it into the opposite side of the Istion Ward.

    With its job done, the Astral Panda in front of Jin dissipated. In exchange, two Astral Pandas now emerged at the sides of injured fox demon with two stakes made out of White Panda Ice that were at least 2 metres in diameter and 10 metres in length.

    Even Kraft had to close an eye to see the glory(and gory) of the two Astral Pandas mming the ice stakes into the sludge body with a coordinated tempo to it. The fox demon growled in pain before its sounds slowly became a whimper. Arge amount of sludge was also spilt all over the ground, and there was barely anything left

    "Alright boys and girls, you did enough. Come back to me now." Kraft ordered his three foxes as the spirit forms of Ixa, Ixel and Itori floated towards Kraft and hovered around him momentarily before they disappeared right in front of him.

    Jin was still panting but not as much as he had when he took his breather. Both Zeru and Kraft went towards him, pping with tion. "Well done, well done. Looks like Ming''s efforts paid off."

    "Now we can start the training for real with your Astral Pandas," Zeru said as he took his wooden sword out and started warming up while Kraft called for Pei and Milk to look at his wounds.

    "You can''t be serious! Forcing him into training with this much damage on him? Do you want to cripple him for life?!" Pei examined the body and realised that the wounds were very severe. She estimated that the bones in his extremities were all broken, not to mention 8 broken ribs, 2 of which were crushed into nonexistence.

    In addition, there was internal bleeding in all of his organs and blood was rushing into his punctured lungs, which was why he could not stop panting. The reason he was not dead yet was because of the Critical Survival Barrier, which Milk had reinforced while casting her other healing spells.

    "He does not have much time left to train should he need a guarantee against the four Demon Cultivators. If Grandma Yuan decides to break her promise and add that ire into the fray or even join in personally, he won''t be able to handle it" Kraft said as he clearly did not trust that old grandma. (their distrust for each other was mutual).

    "Her attitude towards us might never change for the reasons in the past, but there is one thing I am sure of. She always keeps her promise. When she said four fights, it means four fights. Right now, Jin needs urgent intervention. It''s already a miracle that he can survive your No Mercy Trio. Also! You should have held them back even more. How could you allow them to go berserk?!" Pei argued with some scorn under her breath.

    When she was in the bracelet, she realised that Jin had already pushed past his physical threshold and was solely relying on his will and abnormal chi generation to hold on to the fight. However, she was equally surprised that Jin managed to awaken his cultivation''s true powers rather than relying on the ones he had obtained through training.

    "Enough talk, I should be able to slow the time down with some temporal maniption spells, but I cannot do it as well as the System. I will do as much as I can." Peppers appeared despite her recent discovery of the unusual living armour te since she was concerned for her master.

    "Fine, get him up as soon as possible. You might think Zeru and I are heartless, but we both agree that this is the only way to make him learn that he has yet to see the world. We cannot shelter him forever. I''d rather him hate me than have a repeat of-" Kraft wanted to continue until he heard a loud shriek from the girls.

    "SHUT YOUR DAMN TRAP!" Pei screamed so loud that everyone felt like their ears were going to burst. (If Jin''s ears hadn''t been bleeding already, they probably would right now.) Pei called upon Peppers to first expand the storage bracelet into a dungeon like instance to create a pocket dimension in the Istion Ward. Something like triggering a dimensional ne onto a current ne. Some say it''s akin to merging two different spaces into one.

    This was because Pei feared that the sensory inscription charm that was in the Istion Ward would trigger if Jin disappeared entirely into the storage bracelet for treatment even though he would still be technically present in the ward.

    Thus, Peppers not only had to expand the storage bracelet into a makeshift operating theatre, but she even called some of the Panda Nurses from the Luxury Recovery instance into this merged dimensional space. As advised by Pei, Jin had previously upgraded all the Panda Nurses with all the necessary knowledge to cope with an emergency as well a Head Panda Nurse that knew everything literally. (It cost him a bomb, but Pei made him do it.)

    While all the fuss was happening in this makeshift operating theatre, Jin was technically not in mortal danger. With sufficient rest and consistent healing from Milk, he would recover. It was because of the time limit that Kraft artificially imposed on him to be ready for the next battle, Pei had decided to step in to quicken the process.

    "I have stopped all the internal bleeding in the organs. Also, all broken bones and bone pieces were removed. Those that had punctured any of the organs were discarded too." Milk said as she wiped the sweat off her while Pei quickly gowned up into her scrubs.

    "The temporal maniption spells are ready, I will cast them the moment you start cutting him." Peppers said to the entire group.

    "Then let''s begin. Since we are recing the bones, we might as well add in a few inscription charms to his new bone parts to ensure people like a certain DEVILMAN, and potentially Zeru does not make me perform this kind of emergency operation on a daily basis." Pei said while staring at the two who were watching at the sides as usual.

    "Hey, look at the bright side, didn''t you always im that you could create an ultimate ma-!" But before Kraft could say anything else, Zeru already took a masking tape out from nowhere and pped it on to the fox''s mouth.

    "Don''t make things worse. We need Jin to be ready as soon as possible." Zeru spoke with a firm objective. For some reason, Kraft noticed that Zeru suddenly felt pumped to teach his master(and disciple) a few tricks.

 Chapter 445 Resistance Groups

    <h4>Chapter 445 Resistance Groups</h4>

    "You think those Dark Temrs will be able to put up a fight?" Meomi asked on the secured channel. She and me Ripper had decided to do something else after they received intelligence from Gold (Well, actually Silver) that the Dark Temrs were not the only ones that woulde to the meeting ce.

    Despite how Silver had acted emotionallyбнunstable towards Sebastia and Gold, he had still been a capable leader in his own way. Tonight''s meetup was supposedly one of the few meetings that Silver had arranged to get aid and manpower from various groups of power in order to rebuild the resistance group.

    Besides, the meeting ces were near where the scouting team was located. Their initial tracking of the scent of Necromancy magic brought them to an isted derelict hut near a swamp area, but the tracks to whoever was casting it was wiped clean. Without any further evidence, they would proceed to the next task of initiating the meetup.

    "h hahah! I would love to be defeated by the Demons from another world. I can''t wait to see how strong they arepared to me." Sebastia answered while she simultaneously listened to the random chatters those Demon Rats were talking about. The entire unit of Rat Demons was walking through the town of Uote as if owning the ce.

    It was a show of power for those who would dare to mess with the Rats. Sebastia noticed that their promation was loud and strong since they just past a group of beheaded rebels being hung at the checkpoints and the Central Square as a grim reminder that the people in Uote Town were indeed under the control of the Demon Rats.

    "If we can capture the rebels, we may gain information on how to get into the Eastern Region. He he he." The Demon Rat Captain was talking proudly about the possible achievements, and it seemed to Sebastia they knew in advance who the rebels were supposed to be.

    "So it was a ruse for the Dark Temrs toe in?" Gold asked Silver who reminded him that because they were the most prominent group to enter the Northern Region, there was already word of them the moment they stepped on to the Ports of the Northern Region.

    The Dark Temrs could not hide themselves as well as the other groups that were nning to aid the Jacks. The spies from the Southern Star Organisation were already masters of disguise, and the adventurers from Western Skies Guild despite being an odd bunch, were mere adventurers. Each was sending a representative team from their respective regions to meet Silver.

    Also, the information that the sailor in the Inn''s bar had shared with Sebastia was true. The South, West and Eastern Regions were not infected with Demon Rats yet and had their borders ced in the highest security alert after they learned about the situation of the Northern Region.

    Checks at the ports were extremely strict with all ships were being manually searched with the help of at least one able bodied apprentice from the Schrs of the Compass.

    Unfortunately, because of the Schr of the North and South''s betrayal, there were no leaders left who could be taking charge over the organisation. The apprentices had to scatter and return to their original lives until some new trustworthy Schrs would appear to lead them again.

    As it was an unprecedented event for all the Schrs to go missing simultaneously, no one really knew what to do except to wait for the uing election to choose a new batch of Schrs. It could only be done during the time for the peak of the Sr Eclipse, and even though it was drawing near, there were no preparations for it since usually the Compass Schrs were the one who settled them.

    Besides, the only ones capable to appoint new Schrs were the Heavenly Four Windmills of the Farming World. They were existences simr to the Shaitan Nobles, but without any ambition of reigning supreme. Those willing to serve as their representatives had to pass a trial set by the Heavenly Four Windmills. ''Knowledge is the only truth, everything else is irrelevant.'' Or so it was written in stone in every Windmill that was situated in each region.

    At this point of time, the Schrs of the North and South had lost their respective blessing for betraying their post by siding with the Demon Rats when they caused the death of the Schr of the West. The West Heavenly Windmill was precisely empty because of that incident.

    As for the Eastern Heavenly Windmill, there were signs of a vacant post however the Windmill was still moving, though incredibly slowly, unlike the other three Heavenly Windmills which had stoppedpletely. It was said that no wind or storm would move the des of the Heavenly Windmill except for the life force from the Schr of the Compass that had been appointed. Thus, some believed that Gold was alive or at least his presence was masked, waiting for the right time to emerge again.

    "Do the Dark Temrs know about your plot?" Gold asked Silver as he brought thetter to his office and Silverid all the information he had onto Gold''s map.

    "Not exactly. I was nning to lure the Demon Rats to our meeting ce with the Dark Temrs based on the information that I had leaked out to the coborators in various Inns. So that the information would reach those Demon Rats." Silver continued to cross out the hideouts that had already been destroyed by Demon Rat Raids on Gold''s map.

    "I wanted the Demon Rats to ambush us so that the Dark Temrs and the Jacks would fight as a team. You were the one to teach me, that the bonds made in a life and death battle were the strongestбн even if its an artificially created situation. That would have also shown them the severity of the situation in the Northern Region. I was hoping that they would send in more manpower from the East to us." Silver also updated any other misceneous information such as the information brokers Gold used to handle, both dead and living ones on the map.

    What had started out as a mostly empty map quickly changed into an borate one under Silver''s scribble. He was no doubt a capable interim leader after Gold had disappeared. Something the Lord Schr was extremely proud of.

    "But since there is a change of ns with you still living and your master''s odd necromancy powers, it should be for the best to kill those Dark Temrs and proceed to negotiate with the Western Skies and Southern Stars." Silver stated his own opinion.

    "More money and power grubbers, in my opinion. The Western Skies had been wanting a piece of the Northern Region for the longest time. This is a treasure trove full of monsters and resources waiting to be mined! wellбн erm if the Demon Rats did not get to them first that is." Gold replied to Silver.

    "But out of all of the Southern Entities and organisations why the Southern Stars? You know that the Compass hated them. Even the South Compass Schr had battled them on a few asions because of their merciless killings."

    "That is exactly why. That assassin organisation was what wecked to spy and get more information out of those Rats. Besides, they are masters at killing essential targets before we proceed to the main culprits. The ex Schrs of the North and South." Silver banged the table and gave his reasoning to Gold.

    "... and what did they want in return?" Gold sighed as he knew that the assassin organisation would not be so benevolent in nature.

    "50% cut of all the loot we would find." Silver replied

    "What about the Western Skies?" Gold felt that Silver was about to say something stupid.

    "50% cut of all the loot we would find and a im to one of the regions." Silver replied with a straight face.

    "...The Dark Temrs?" Gold hoped that Silver was not as stupid as he was thinking.

    "...50% cut of all the loot we would find as well as a piece ofnd, to call them lord."

    "DID YOU FORGET HOW TO COUNT?! AND HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAN DO ALL THOSE?!" Gold could not stand the absurdity of the deal that Silver was cutting them. "We are neither dukes nor viscounts that could grant anybody and just like that either!"

    "Ehhhh, I already tried to haggle with them, but all of them refused to lift a finger without getting at least half of the loot. (Incidentally, they yet to be unaware of the other groups.) I figured we could just try and undercut them when they meet. Besides, the losses they bound to incur would have been huge too. " Silver tried to reason his way out.гм

    "It would be wrong not topensate them sufficiently. In any case, it''s the loot that we find, not future profits and earnings. I have stored all the sealed deeds of our pact into this hideout here." Silver drew a new circle on a particr mountain which seemed to resemble the one near Keyrin''s home.

    "Huh...let''s see how things go. Worst case scenario, me Ripper and Meomi will kill them." Gold said to Silver. The leader of the Jacks appreciate how Silver tried to take things into his own hands, but it might have made things messierбн

    Still it was not like he could be mad at him. Noone could have expected their current situation with Jin. At the same timeбн Assassins, adventurers (They are actually mercenaries, but they preferred to call themselves adventurers to make it sound nicer.) and rogue knights, it would take more than a miracle to make all of them work together... unless of course, if a cosmic entity was to interfere.

    ----------

    Sebastia was waiting all alone at the appointed meeting ce which the Rats had clearly deduced where the werejackals were initially going to meet. However, instead of assisting their assant, they were more than a few hundred metres away from the scene.

    The Demon Rat Captain wasn''t stupid for he had mobilised all the Rat Guards under hismand and covered every possible route that they could run away from. Not only that, he had already sent runners to inform the nearby towns which were also under control by the Demon Rats. Even the reports of the past movements by the Dark Temrs had already been recorded by the Demon Rat Scouts.

    "You sure that Battle Lady can be trusted?" One of the Demon Rats questioned the Demon Rat Captain.

    "Perhapsбн We know she useful. You saw her face when presented more targets to kill? Science Team verified that Silver Mage was real. His signature energy left in the area. If she can kill resistance, why not let her?" The Demon Rat Captain cackled, as he looked through a piece of contraption that resembled a telescope. However, there were tubes around the telescope, being powered by Litoride allowing him to zoom as close as he liked.

    Sebastia got bored without anybody showing up and was about to sit down near a tree. But it seemed that she was not given a break when a sword de crept beneath her mandible and its edge pointed upwards.

    "Move, and you shall die. Speak with your hands. What is the code for the meeting." The voice was muffled yet enough got through his helmet.

    "I do not know." Sebastia was quick enough to evade the de and bit it with her teeth, biting into the metal de as if it was some biscuit. The Dark Temr who was trying to threaten her stepped backwards and that was when tens of footsteps were heard throughout the entire area. Hispanions were hidden in the broken windmill observing Sebastia from the moment she stepped into the area.

    "Then there is nothing to be said. DIE!" The temr with the broken sword send the signal for all the Dark Temrs to attack and at the same time, he sent a st of dark energy towards Sebastia.

    "Hohoho, This battledy kept to her promise." the Demon Rat Captain was excited to see that they might potentially obtain a killing machine that would do the bidding of the Demon Rats.

    Using her martial arts, Sebastia deflected the ball of dark energy with only her palms. "Come on. Show me what you got!" Sebastia taunted while in a rxed,posed stance yet ready to take on any Dark Temrs.

    An arrow flew towards her, and when she tried to deflect it, the projectile changed position and managed to escape her left palm. Luckily, that was not enough to faze the Minotaur Maid as she grabbed it with her teeth once again. Her eyes were beaming with excitement and there was no saying if she enjoyed it a lot.

    That was also when two Dark Temrs charged her, attempting to bash her with their shields and subsequently stab Sebastia with swords energised with dark energy. Even if they failed, the other Dark Temrs waiting at the side were already conjuring their dark arts to fight against her.

    True enough, Sebastia stopped the magically enhanced shield charges with her bare hands and the Dark Temrs also missed their sword stab strikes. "Demonic Minotaur Martial Arts, The Noodles That Skips the Mouth and into Stomach." Her palms were ced onto the shield and her demonic energy vibrated through the shields sting the two Dark Temrs into oblivion.

    Call it a warning shot for the others to think that she would be easy to be dealt with.

    "Formation Zulu. Make sure her corpse disappears from the face of the world." The Dark Temr Leadermanded in a stern voice upon seeing the pool of blood and metal pieces in front of Sebastia.

 Chapter 446 Emergency Surgery - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 446 ''Emergency'' Surgery - Part 1</h4>

    "Suction," Pei called as she entered a state of total focus to deal with the impromptu surgery. The Head Panda Nurse became her first assistant, and she precisely followed each instruction Pei gave her.

    As soon as Pei removed the final pieces of debris with the suction, Milk was already in the midst of preparing the inscription charms with the aid of their very own General Store NPC.

    His personality turned him into somewhat of a hermit who focused solely on his passion. Previously when Jin required anything from the General Store, it had always been the red panda assistants who provided it for him. Nowadays, he would just ask the System to create whatever he needed when he was in the Dungeon Maker.

    "Octofussy. I am d you are able to be here." Milk said as she was already sweating buckets from preparing the charms without the inscriptions and needing to heal Jin''s minor wounds previously. This was because the charms she was preparing were special. Generally, the kinds which could be ced on a weapon or armour would be impossible to use on Jin. But as Jin had proven with his cosmetic inscription, there was one type which could theoretically be ced onto anything.

    Slotless inscriptions.

    Milk had to ensure that the charms would not harm the human body else that might affect the chi circuits in his body and in the worst case put an end to his cultivation. However, with his body currently all broken, his chi circuits were in a mess but also provide the best opportunity to ce the inscription in too.

    After that, the messy chi circuit problem could also be effortlessly resolved by Pei which she was currently doing at the moment. Additionally, if Milk sustained her healing procedure during his post surgical recovery, the chi circuits would return to normal in no time.

    There were however other problems to consider too. Instead of the standard permanent inscription charm that required constant activation of chi, a slot to activate and that might mess up the chi circuits, Milk had been ''fitting'' the current charm with a sort of dispel magic to prevent the chi circuits from coagting towards the inscription charm.

    There was no doubt the System was assisting her in this too, providing the form of the slotless charm into a piece of rectangr paper which was roughly 5cmx25cm in size.

    "If there is any way to serve the master, I will *sneeze* try my best to aid him. *sneeze*" Octofussy said as the System had already begun providing the grandeur greenish grey octopus head humanoid with the tools to create the most crucial inscription charm.

    "Please do." Milk stood up after finishing infusing the paper with holy magic to create the inscription that would dispel small amount of chi away to prevent the chi circuits to grow towards it. But at the same time, a strong, steady amount of chi flowing near it would enable the inscription charm to work.

    "Towel to wipe your sweat away. After which, please wear the disposable scrubs." One of the Panda Nurse was already one step ahead of Milk. Peppers also went towards the exhausted priest, transferring some of her Mana into her. At the same time, Peppers also gave her the anti fatigue concoction potion Milk made for the Sage Queen.

    "Thanks, little pepper." Milk hugged Peppers nearly suffocating her between her chest, which could have potentially caused chaos to the whole operation.

    "Your chest is as dangerous as always. You do know that if I faint, the temporal maniption spell will break." Peppers pushed her damndest away from Milk in order to get a breather.

    "I am just facilitating the quickening of the mana transfer." Milk rubbed her head a bit and messed up her hair.

    "I do not want your stinky sweat all over me, you fake priestess!" Peppersined until they heard a rough cough from Pei.

    "Stop ying a fool and start focusing. Peppers, if you are that free, grab a scrub and facilitate some mana into Jin''s body via his brain. It should nourish his spirit and keep it in ce with the body when we start recreating his body. And Milk get those udders here as soon as possible. I need some recovery magic to be cast to quicken the process. Nurse, Tweezer." Peimanded the two of them.

    "Shouldn''t he need more chi instead?" Peppers questioned as the Panda Nurse quickly took a scrub for her to wear over her current clothes.

    "Body and Soul concept. Yes, he should be taking in chi instead, but I have slowed his chi generation from his dantian significantly. This will make his brain thirst for any source of energy. Besides, Milk had been using so many healing spells on him, his brain has feasted on an overload of mana which also serves to help us maintain his spiritual form intact at the moment." Pei answered as she asked for a cutter to fully remove a partial broken bone that stuck on it.

    "Got it. On my way." Peppers understood exactly what Pei was talking about as she positioned herself towards Jin''s head and recast the temporal maniption before she started transferring mana into his brain.

    The Body and Soul Concept had been a traditional way of thinking by the doctors of the past. The body was not just a husk for the soul to live in. Without the soul, the body would be nothing but a piece of meat. Without the body, the soul would linger on the earthly ne. By maintaining the link of the spirit to the body, the soul would not be influenced by the surrounding chi, which could potentially corrupt the spirit''s essence.

    Modern doctors did not believe in such a concept. Instead, they ced their faith in magic and science, which had proven their worth time and time again. Ironically, they had unknowingly been using the Body and Soul concept in their treatment methods even though it was just a minor portion of it.

    Only those doctors who were more sensitive spiritually, truly believed in the Body and Soul concept and had published papers to prove its extent in current treatment methods. Yet most medical professionals still regarded them as nothing more than an interesting theory. Still refusing to believe what they cannot see or exin.

    "Alright, the spirit form is stable, I can take more drastic actions. Thanks, Peppers. Milk, use a barrier spell on the following points to reduce the impact of the melding affects the other organs. Nurse, prepared 10 of blood for immediate transfusion in case shit happens." Pei was blunt, but her orders were straight to the point. Usually, the head surgeons did not exin much because there were too many things in their head.

    But not for Pei. She had been the life saviour of the Panda n for many generations and honed her craft both in the medical field and in the battlefield. If one were to ask her to do an emergency surgery in a warring trench, she would do it without even questioning it. Her brain worked more like a supeputer thinking multiple steps ahead while processing the overall situation and ounting for of any kinds of mishaps that could happen to the point of percentages.

    What Kraft had said to her wasn''t a lie. The more new masters she had served, the more she had yed with the idea of creating a ''perfect'' Master. For most, this would have been merely a thought experiment, yet Pei had the ability to make it happen.

    Ever since she got to know Jin, and had been with Jin for the countless hours as his protective guardian against mental assaults, she secretly analysed his body structure to identify his physical ws. When Jin who had already proven to her that he possessed the potential to lead the Panda n back to its former glory, he became the perfect candidate for an ''upgrade''.

    All humans were born unequal. During this surgery, it reconfirms all the analysis that Pei had found and she was already in the midst of preparing to turn Jin into the Ultimate Master. It was a major boon for her that he finally awakened the true form of the Lazy Astral Panda cultivation. Furthermore, it would be an insult to say that Pei had not prepared the materials in advance for such an ident should happen to her master.

    The surgeon had only hoped that she would get to use the materials eventually, but she did not expect for this scenario to arrive this quick when she coincidentally managed to collect everything that she needed about a day ago. (Sometimes, she wondered if that nasty fox had a hand in this.) Those materials to recreate Jin did cost a fortune but the System was convinced to lessen purchasing cost for what she needed since their goal coincided with each other.гм

    Meanwhile, Octofussy, the General Store NPC was getting a hand from Milk to create a high level regeneration charm as well. What Milk did not know was that Octofussy had already decided to pay a major price of his own to aid his master the moment he learned that it would be a long term permanent inscription charm on Jin.

    Unlike the red panda assistants and the Panda Nurses, Octofussy, Chef Roro, and the Three Headed Bear in the Weapon stores were more simr to betors in terms of power, though still a level lower than them. The System''s official ssification put them as Enhanced NPCs because they were made from unique souls which the System had managed to obtain via the ck market.

    Recently Jin had been pumping more resources into all of his NPCs since he was nning to push them out as possible helpers in theing future. Witnessing the positive effect on the Panda Nurses, he felt it was a worthwhile investment to upgrade the NPCs.

    What he did not know was that improving the Enhanced NPCs had allowed them to retrieve abilities their former self had once possessed (or in System''s words, they had levelled up and unlocked more proficiency levels). Thus ever since Octofussy was upgraded, he had been practising to create new inscriptions for the uing reveal of the next batch of inscriptions. (Something that Mr Know It All had spected and mentioned before in the forums)

    Nevertheless, Octofussy believed that if Master Jin were to learn about his contribution with regards to the charm, he might get upgraded further, allowing him to create even moreplex inscriptions which he loved. Thus, he had decided to use a signature inscription which Octofussy nned to keep for his own so called "Ultimate Inscription Series!" in his General Store.

    ''Otherworld Parasite God'' was the suffix that he wished to add into the inscription, making it the ''Rapid Regeneration of the Otherworld Parasite God''.

    For higher level inscriptions, inserting suffix and prefixes into the charms would allow the inscription charm to perform more unique as well as varied effects. For example, a fire inscription charm was a general usage charm that could be used in weapons and armour.

    Therefore, a ''Burning Fire of the Sharp'' inscription charm would not work on armour, only on weapons. It will provide twice the power as well as sharpening the weapon that was equipped on, making it harder to be blunt.

    However, adding prefix and suffix depended on the enhancement material too. Thus, in order to create that signature inscription, Octofussy had to cut off one of his tentacles from his head and used it as a catalyst for the inscription.

    Painful? It was more than that. He had just sacrificed a tentacle which would take him at least a decade to regrow since it was one of the primary tentacles Octofussy had (Using healing magic to regrow it would only result in him losing a decade of his life). He temporarily stopped the bleeding by using another tentacle on the back of his head to apply pressure. After which, he used the blood from the tentacle he plucked out as ink to write the inscription charm.

    Everyone in that pocket dimensional instance was working their hardest to recreate the new Jin until Kraft sneaked into the picture. "Just here to inform you, that half an hour ha-"

    "SHUT UP!!!" Everyone, including the Panda Nurses, screamed simultaneously at Kraft.

 Chapter 447 Dinner Time

    <h4>Chapter 447 Dinner Time</h4>

    "Where''s Jin? Wasn''t he the one toe up with the idea to always eat dinner together no matter how busy we all get?" Qiu Yue asked as she packed her items that were scattered all over the table for Lynn to ce the dishes she had just cooked.

    Ever since Qiu Yue had joined the gang as a Sub System User, Jin had decided to impose a rule to the Sub System Users.

    To always eat together like a family.

    Jin''s rationale was that it was an informal way to discuss the things that happened over the day as well as a daily meeting to know what was going on with the other two. He also used that opportunity to exin any future changes he was nning for the store to the other two Sub System Users so they could give him some feedback.

    Often times he would ask the betors to join just for the fun of it or when there were certain things that he needed their advice on. Thus, the dining table had never been as empty as today ever since he implemented that rule. Not to mention, Lynn was always cooking something new for them as part of her training. It was basically a fantastic treat before returning back to work in the evening.

    "Oh, Yun told me that he left a message saying that he would be away for some secret training and won''t be able toe back for a few days." Lynn answered as she took the lid off for the stew to cool down.

    "So, it''s just us, huh? Well, that''s a first. Itadakimasu!" Qiu Yue said as she thanked Lynn for cooking in her nativenguage and quickly dug into her food.

    "Unless I''m mistaken today should have been the day you returned to your office, right?" Lynn asked, happy to see Qiu Yue enjoying the food she cooked.

    "Yeap, I did. I needed to go to the Ministry to free up my office space and ''fulfil my contractual obligations''. Well, that''s the official reason." Qiu Yue exined that she needed to pay thepensation for breaking her contract she was serving. While she thought she was liable for some otherpensation, her supervisor, Yi San, had been able to step in and help her.

    -------------

    Unlike the past, with that lecherous boss of hers disappearing out of nowhere, Qiu Yue''s supervisor had been appointed as the interim boss to lead the team. Entering her former workce, she found her supervisor in the middle of a stack of papers. She knocked on the door and entered to pass a cheque with the amount she owed the Ministry.

    "Be sure toe and visit me at Tiangong District, whenever you are free!" Qiu Yue told Yi San who seemed to be way happier than ever despite the increased workload.

    "Wait, you are working for that Dungeon Supplier in the Tiangong District?!" Yi San asked with a bewildered expression.

    "Is there a problem?"

    "No, no. Definitely not! I just always pictured that when you get headhunted, it would be to join some other privatepany. It surprised me that you get employed for the Dungeons and Pandas! Though maybe it shouldn''t surprise me that much." Her supervisor stopped her worked and decided to apany Qiu Yue to her table.

    "I vaguely remember a night out when a certain someone told me about her ex boyfriend, who always wanted to be a dungeon supplier. Wasn''t that your initial n then? Congrattions on fulfilling it. I heard that it is currently the most popr and most trending dungeon supplier to go to for cultivation training!" Yi San as if she wished to try one of such instances one day.

    "You should! Come visit us and see for yourself. I''m sure I can make Jin give you some sort of employee and friend''s discount. Maybe you can even bring your kid in the future. Hahaha, it''s supposed to be a secret, but we have some ns to teach kids the way of cultivation at a young age. You know how that it''s currently very popr for parents to train their kids to learn some cultivation style so they can study longer and harder for exams." Qiu Yue gossiped a bit with Yi San about one of the possible future developments for the Dungeons and Pandas.

    "Hahah, then all the more you have to work hard. I read in the news that it was getting more and more difficult to get the Education Licence for Cultivation from the government after there had been scams of such cultivation teachers, causing the kids to corrupt..ermm no erm.. break their dantian early?" Yi San said as she helped Qiu Yue to pack her stuff. A trait which no boss would ever do and the employees around her respected her for that.

    "OhбнI did remember reading something on the news about that. Because they had yet to cultivate to Grade 1, their dantian broke, and they becamemoners that could die from any incident without any possibility of resurrection. For some reason, they cannot learn magic too." Qiu Yue recalled the news Yi San was talking about.

    "Yeah, fortunately, such an incident was discovered early and the guy was put in jail for ruining the future cultivation path of five children. They are actually even worse off thanmoners. As amoner, you may not have a talent for cultivation, but all of them did and lost it to a fraud. Since then, the government is extremely cautious about handing out that education license." Yi San replied while opening another cardboard box for Qiu Yue''s belongings.

    "I bet you can imagine and empathise the concerns of the parent''s kids." Qiu Yue remarked.

    "I read in various forums that the parents were so heartbroken and worried for their kids that they sued the government for being so irresponsible, and the government quickly caved in, and providing them with a hefty sum of insurance that their kids'' health would be covered for life. Some even called it hush money to stop such news from circting." Yi San noticed that Qiu Yue still kept a keychain which she had given her when she first started work.

    "Baahh! It''s not as if right now that when people die, they are resurrected immediately. The process is getting more and more expensive to the point that the government now just keeps a hold of the dantian of the dead until the rtivese and either pay for the treatment or sign a waiver form to crush the dantian, ensuring that the dead would never be able to return ever again." Qiu Yue said as she folded her arms being a little mad about it.

    "Effectively they are making it so that eventually only the rich will be allowed to resurrect."

    "There is no choice, it''s the only way to maintain the bnce. At least, for now, they don''t n on abandoning the guaranteed resurrection of any victims in criminal cases. However, resurrecting everyone who ever dies wouldn''t be too good too. Else there will be too many still living, straining the''s resources." Yi San stopped for a while too and conversed with Qiu Yue. Even though she had a pile of work, she figured spending a bit more time with her former coworker would be a better alternative than trying to conquer the never ending work amount.

    "Besides, this had been the natural course of life for ages before the inception of resurrection. It made the world a liveable cepared to what we had learnt in history. It has already shown that it does not allow us humans to live that long as we could previously since we lived till most 100ish. And that is assuming we have the cultivation to suppress cancer and other diseases. Also just imagine feeding billions of people with the majority older than that because we decided to be a pacifist with the advent of modernisation." Yi San continued.

    "No, no, no. Just think about the logistical workload, new Boss. Development in the urban area would be a major headache for you." Qiu Yueughed upon saying it which made Yi San roll her eyes.

    The Red Panda Cultivator finally finished packing her stuff after another 10-20 minutes, and she returned back to her home to have lunch with her parents and spending some time with them.

    -------------

    "However, there is something that is bothering me." Qiu Yue said as she picked a piece of omelette mixed with meat and egg. "That broken dantian incident. I''m afraid it may be something like Yun''s case."

    "You mean that whoever was responsible had something to do with the Banned Emperor Assassination which Jin told us about?" Lynn asked as she munched on her food whilefortably talking to Qiu Yue.

    Food and familiarity had made Lynn and Qiu Yue be less hostile towards each other. They even began to share ideas to help each other work out. (Maybe they might have forgotten the challenge they tried to make someone solely theirs.) (On second thought, Nope! Highly doubt so!)

    "Yeah. People might think its an isted case but given that the incident was less than six months ago, in addition to the attempted assassination which was kept a secret by everyone involvedбнI think there might be more to it." Qiu Yue deduced as she identally let out a small burp.

    "But it''s not like we can do anything about it. The most we can do is aid Jin and hope that the Banned Emperor thing might blow over. I mean they had threatened to take down the Royal Zodiac Tiger n''s Head. Surely the Royal Zodiac ns will do something about it. "

    "You mean like them torturing the assassin to get as much information from him?" Qiu Yue asked and Lynn gave a disgusted facial expression.

    "Speaking of torture, I remembered Kraft did boast that he managed to get some information from that assassin, but he refused to reveal anything, not even to Jin." Qiu Yue quietly snatched thest piece of pork from the delicious stew.

    "You got him to talk it to you?" Lynn assumed Kraft and Qiu Yue had to be close since her thetter had been brutally honest to admit that she had asked the former to permanently get rid of her boss in front of the whole table.

    Jin was not too pleased, but he figured if it made Qiu Yue feel safe and as long as it was untraceable, he was willing to close an eye to the situation. The crafty fox meanwhile had continued to casually enjoy the food, as if that whole situation had nothing to do with him.

    "Nah, he was extremely tight lipped about it. He said it was not time for Jin to meddle with this kind of stuff yet. Being so serious for a second and the very next moment, he proceeds to bully Jin again." Qiu Yue shook her head when she recalled the scene.

    "Actually, I was thinking more of likeбнerm we should do our own training too." Lynn proposed to Qiu Yue when she meant how to aid Jin.

    "Hahaha how? We spar against each other? Wellбн That would be interesting." Qiu Yue said after a bit of hesitation as she wiped her mouth and also thanked Lynn for the food once more. She then proceeded to take a can of beer for both her and Lynn.

    "Nah, something more productive. Want to go бнfood hunting?" Lynn asked after taking a gulp of beer. She was nervous when she suggested that idea to Qiu Yue.

    "I think that would make me more fat. Do you n to make Jin yours, by making me round? No thanks." Qiu Yue made a frown after drinking a sip of her beer.

    гм

    "Hahaha, sorry I did not make myself clear. I meant monster hunting. Getting their tasty parts as food for my restaurant''s cooking." Lynn rified herself.

    "Oh? Which world? Goblin World or the Farming World?" Qiu Yue seemed to be more interested in the monster hunting aspect. Besides, she had been feeling a bit guilty that Lynn was always the one cooking the dishes for the three of them. If this monster hunting could assist her and thereby alleviate some of that guilt, Qiu Yue would be more than happy to lend a hand.

    "None of those. It''s a world which Jin hasn''t visited yet." Lynn was proud to say it out loud since the Sub System had allowed her to travel alone when it rmended that ce to her.

    "You had my curiosity, but now you have my full attention!" Qiu Yue leaned forward to hear more juicy details.

    "Giant World. As the name depicts, the creatures there are all gigantic in size!" Lynn shared with a wide smile on her face. "Although there are varying sizes of giants, there was one that I saw which could feed thousands of people."

    "Wait wait wait! The one you saw?! You went in there yourself?!" Qiu Yue could not believe it when Lynn nodded her head in reply.

    "It was for a quest by the Cooking Sub System. Coincidentally it''s also the ce my penguinse from there. Oddly enough, they seem to be the only species that do not grow to the size of giants." Lynn cheerfully remarked as she remembered visiting a vige full of Peggies thest time she visited the ce. "I have another quest that I received so I was wondering if you would like toe along, that way we can practice and perhaps surprise Jin too."

    "Not a bad idea at all! So we go there, hunt some monsters, get food andplete your quest?" Qiu Yue confirmed the stuff that needed to be done.

    "Yup! But don''t you dare even thinking of conquering the Penguin Vige! I want them to live freely!" Lynn warned Qiu Yue about her odd obsession of collecting kingdoms under her belt.

    "Damn, you caught me. Fine, Fine! I promise I will leave your Penguin Vige alone. But if there are other viges out there like that, don''t me me for trying!" Qiu Yue said as she helped Lynn pick the dishes up and bring them to the kitchen''s dishwasher.

    "So meet you in 10 minutes at the backyard?" Lynn asked but Qiu Yue disagreed with it.

    "In an hour''s time. I need to delegate some work to Moloch and oversee some construction tasks before I can leave in peace." Qiu Yue replied and Lynn agreed to it. "Oh, but drag me out if I take more than an hour. Sometimes, I just lose track of time."

    "I get that feeling all the time." Lynn gave an okay sign to her and clear the rest of the dishes.

 Chapter 448 Dark Templars

    <h4>Chapter 448 Dark Temrs</h4>

    "Your whatever formation won''t make any difference," Sebastia said as she faced her enemies as confident as she was since the start of the battle. Instead of throwing dark energy bolts or relentlessly throwing their lives away, the Dark Temrs seem to act more cautiously in attacking and had taken positions around Sebastia.

    Standing at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o''clock of Sebastia, with a pair of Dark Temrs facing the Minotaur Maid, they began to chant words that were foreign even to the System''s trantion abilities to make sense of. One of each pair swiftly knelt down as they cut their wrist simultaneously and ensuing that Sebastia did not interrupt the wrist cutting action, the other Dark Temrs stepped forward to protect their partners.

    Surprisingly, Sebastia did nothing to disturb them at all, which made the dark temrs to feel a sense of uneasiness as well as anticipation. The chanting stopped as the Dark Temrs kneeling down stood up and threw the blood they collected within the grasp of their hand and threw it at their partners who were protecting them.

    гм

    "Now you shall fear the Dark Temr''s true powers." The one who initially gave the orders spoke. On closer inspection, Sebastia observed that his armour design was more intricate than the others and assumed that he was the leader for this small squad of Dark Temrs.

    A dark reddish circle appeared above the four temrs who had been tainted with their partner''s blood as it shone a malevolent, dim red light on them. Sebastia continued to idle around and gave them time to show their full form.

    "We have contact with demons beyond your understanding, and since you are out to kill us, I can only assume you either killed the Silver Mage or the Silver Mage betrayed us. Tell us your objective, and we promise to make it a swift end!" The leader attempted to reason it out with Sebastia seeing that she remained calm the whole time. Either she had gonepletely mad or she had some trump card that she was not showing, allowing her to beбн overconfident of her abilities.

    "Yeap, I do not understand them. From what I see, there are no visible changes to you lot at all. You sure you are already done? That was not just a magic trick?" Sebastia taunted them once more. Unlike their leader, the Dark Temr standing behind Sebastia was pissed at her for sorely underestimating them. He proceeded to dash towards the Minotaur with his brand new powers. A pair of bat wings which grew to full size the moment it emerged out of the dark temr''s scape.

    Thinking that he could ambush and cleanly lob the head of that arrogant battledy in front of him, he smiled at that the iing result and prepared his sword at the ready.

    "Oh, it really is a magic trick. You grew wings." Sebastia was still talking when the winged dark temr slid to the other side with a broken sword and one less wing. Blood spewed out at a tremendous rate from his back, making the Dark Temr screamed out in agony. Meanwhile, Sebastian looked at the trembling batwing and sniffed at it for a moment.

    "Sure, it does smell a bit different from the usual, I wonder if it will make a difference. Guess there''s only one way to find out." Sebastia bit off a chunk from the batwing, and all of the Dark Temrs went into a defensive stance. However, not everyone was asposed and steady. The sight before them resulted in one of the Dark Temr removing their helmet and vomiting from the disgust of the scene.

    "Hmm, it sure tastes a little more exotic and the same time familiar, but this wing does help a bit. Thanks, I can feel my muscles in me moved, guess the quick ejection of the wings can be considered as an ability." Sebastia bit another chunk off before throwing it down on the floor.

    "Next?" Instead of a stance, she ced her hands at the back and stood at ease.

    "Who are you!?!" The leader finally knew for sure that the being in front of him was not a mere human neither was she a practitioner of any arts he was familiar with. "How did you manage to outrun the speed of the demon?!"

    "You call that a demon? Hahahahah!! HAHAHAHAHAH!! I think you meant a human borrowing a pathetic portion of its power." Sebastia wasughing with her guard down. The dark temrs on her left and right charged in, both with the same kind of enhancement. A borrowed arm of a demon.

    Their right and left demonic fists were erged, reaching a size almost bigger than themselves as they hurled it towards Sebastia with the palms open. It was as if they nned to squash her between both palms but Sebastia dodged it with grace by bending backwards and continued tough.

    However, the Dark Temrs were not done, as they mmed into each other palms, it caused a shockwave that made Sebastia lose her footing and fall to the ground.

    Next, the two palms inteced with each other and as if the arms had the will of their own, neglected the weight and bnce of the Dark Temrs and mmed its sped hands onto Sebastia. A powerful impact rippled through the area, causing even the broken farming windmill to break further into pieces.

    Amidst the smoke, the Dark Temrs thought they did it until they heard the continuousughter right in front of them and then noticed their arms were also ripped off, causing them to be in the same situation as the dark temr with a missing wing.

    "You are more dangerous than a demonбн" The leader mumbled as he saw two of his subordinates drop like flies in front of him while Sebastia threw the two ripped arms into the dark temr who had thest enhancement. However, that dark temr managed to escape the throw and proceeded with unbridled speed towards the horrifying Battle Lady.

    Unlike the wings and arms, thest dark temr, who was stained with blood enchantments, was blessed with the hind legs of the contracted demon that moved at the speed of sound. Yet, no matter how fast he tried to hit, Sebastia was blocking all of his attacks and she was smiling quietly while deflecting all of them.

    "You know, even though you are attacking this fast, hitting high, hitting low and at different directions, you made yourselfden full with openings. It is an admirable attempt but at the same time, pitiful. " Sebastia sighed as she used her hands and legs to block the attacks but never once attack back despite her analysis.

    "Don''t mind me, I am just curious to see how long your heart canst before it gives way. By the way, you are one kick off from the previous three seconds, buck up, or I will kill you." Sebastiained and the dark temr threw in all he could. He might have the speed, but he did not have the brute arm force of the contracted demon which possessed his squadmates. Still, he believed that even if he had it, there was no way to defeat this real demon.

    Soon, Sebastia got bored of it since it was apparent he was slowing down more and more. Thus, she grabbed his two legs and lifted him up before smashing him to the ground, tearing his two legs away from his body. The dark temr immediately fainted from the impact and subsequently died from the immense blood loss.

    Meanwhile, Sebastia noticed that the five who cut their wrist were already chanting at the side of their leader. She even saw that the sacrificial knives were now at their throats. "Hmm, so they are willing to sacrifice themselves to further the cause of their leader. As what my Lord would say."

    "Admirably stupid."

    This time, Sebastia did not stay idle, but instead of rushing forward, she took out a coin out and shoot it at them.

    The coin immediately split into and five instantly pierced through the heads of the chanters despite having their helmets on to protect them. Sebastia did not want to waste the number of potential workforce because of some meaningless suicide. If they wished to die, they might as well die for Master Jin.

    "Now, the only one that''s left is you, why don''t you tell me what you know?" Sebastia asked as the Dark Temr instinctively went into defensive stance. At the same time, the minotaur maid could see that he was trembling in his boots even though he was still willing to look death in its face.

    "Your body''s expression alone reveals to me that you have seen enough fighting tost your lifetime. Though my presence should be telling every fibre of your body to run, you endured to stay. Heh, I like your courage, little one." Sebastia praised as she strolled slowly towards him and his sword immediately glowed with dark energy.

    "Good Good Goood!!! You did well, Lady!" The Demon Rat Captain began toe to the scene from afar, and Sebastia felt irritated that the Demon Rats chose toe forward at such impable timing. If he were just an underling, the Minotaur Maid would not care about the Demon Rats capturing him. However, based on the short interaction with his squad, he should have a sizeable influence in his cult.

    Therefore, Sebastia swiftly flicked a coin into the Leader''s helmet and it slipped through the visor without the Demon Rats noticing. "We will capture this bad bad temr!" The Demon Rat Captain ordered his rank and file to surround the dark temr. He knew that the leader would struggle, killing a few rats before sumbing to their capture.

    However, instead of killing the rats, his glowing dark sword was lifted towards his neck, and a clean cut was done by himself to avoid being captured. The Demon Rats wanted to stop him, but it was toote since he also engulfed himself with the glowing dark energy, causing him to explode and wipe a few out a few demon rats off this.

    "Pffft, Dark Temrs, always entric. Does not matter, job done. " The Demon Rat Captain raised his hand to shake with Sebastia. "You prove yourself strong. Good ally for rats. We approve your request. You can kill more rebels!!!" The Demon Rat Captain said as they provided a carriage for Sebastia to sit in.

    "But first good food, good rest then tomorrow start killing more rebels okay?!" The Demon Rat Captain added as he went into the carriage with Sebastia epted the offer. "You do not need to rest at that pathetic inn, we have a grand room for you to sleep!"

    "That''s the way! But one condition, if you want me to kill rebels, I will do them myself. No Demon Rats can interfere. However, you can bring demon rat scouts to check the ce once I am done with it. Fair?" Sebastia asked before she got into the carriage.

    "Fair? Sounds excellent!" The Demon Rat Captain nodded as he pped the side of the carriage and it was pulled by bigger and seemingly dumber Demon Rats back into Town Uote.

 Chapter 449 Another Dream

    <h4>Chapter 449 Another Dream</h4>

    Jin had a rough awakening. He could only remember that he was beaten badly by the Three Tailed Demon Fox. However, when he woke up, he was all alone in the istion ward but withrge fat candles lit at the corners of the room.

    "System? Kraft, Zeru, Pei?"

    Yet he got no answer.

    "Shit, where am I this time?"

    At the centre of it all, he saw a kid''s outline trying his best to practice his skills, but it was not going well at all. Jin immediately took a nce at the istion ward and realised that the damage done by Three Tailed Fox Demon was not there. In fact, most of the wall and floor was still intact. Even the pictographs were not as faded as before.

    Immediately he knew that he had to be in some dream or some alternate dimension and tried to see if there was anything around to beat himself up so he could wake up. Yet, his storage watch was not working a single bit.

    "It''s no use. Nothing works in here. I guess that man trapped both you and me here. To fight to the death!" The kid who was practising stopped and said to Jin.

    "Oh urm, I am sorry. Who is that man who threw you in here?" Jin guessed he would just y along with this dream. He could always try to run into a wall, but for now, he was somewhat curious to see where this was going. Still, he reminded himself to remember all of this wasn''t real.

    However, there was something that he was mistaken. As that kid approached him, he realised that it was a girl. With an unpracticed and a rather slow swing, she ced a sword at his throat.

    "I do not know, he kidnapped and threw me here. All I know is I saw a crescent moon on his forehead. I happened to see when I tried to bite his hand. If not for his long hair, I might not be able to see it." The little kid had beautiful blue hair flowing to her chest, yet her speech seemed a tad broken.

    "He said that I have to kill all inside room. Else I turn into a demon." Her hands were trembling with the sword, and her eyes were teary. The kid''s voice, however, was the opposite. Filled with determination toplete the job as tasked, it was as if she had been through some sort of event that scarred her life.

    Jin did not know what or who this crescent moon tattooed man was, but to kidnap a kid and telling the kid to kill a random person, he had to be totally insane. "Do you think that you can kill me with that sword?" Jin knew that this was most likely just a dream, but at the same time, he could not help but pity the little girl.

    "What is your name?" Jin gently pushed the sword away, but the moment he did that, she decided to swing the sword at him. Jin was able to catch it with ease since he could see the trajectory of it (He would have been unable to face his master if he lost against an untrained kid.)

    Jin grabbed onto the sword and pulled it out of the little girl''s hands, which caused her to step back. Her eyes were filled with harmful intent as if she had wronged, yet still resolute to get out of the situation in any way possible.

    "Tell me your name, and I shall give you another chance of killing me." Jin tried to coax this little kid in his dream.

    "бнRyuli." The girl breathed anxiously as she realised she lost the advantage the moment he caught the sword from her hands.

    "Oh? Erm okay, hi there Ryuli." Jin was definitely sure that it did not sound very Chinese at all, not even given the context that they should be in the same Istion Ward. Nevertheless, he did not care that much about the name but more about why she was here.

    The blue haired girl ignored his greeting and extended her hand out, indicating that she wanted the de back as promised by Jin. Jin sighed as he knew that he had to keep his bargain; otherwise, he was sure she would not even speak to him anymore. He ced the sword on the floor and slid it towards her, which she took the opportunity to run towards him to grab the sliding sword.

    "Hmm, for a kid, her instinct for a battle seems to be remarkable," Jin remembered the talk with Qiu Yue when he shared that he wanted to build a sort of tuition centre to cultivate children and in a way possibly act as a childcare centre too.

    Ryuli''s breathing was chaotic as she tried to swing her sword towards Jin though he dodged it quite easily. Jin also checked if he could activate his chi since in the previous dream he was not able to. "Hmm, but for me to have two lucid dreams in one day, that''s definitely more than just a coincidence."

    The chi checked out, but even though he could dodge Ryuli''s attack with ease, he could feel that his internal organs and bones were cracking within him. "Could it be a side effect from the fight with the Three Tailed Fox Demon?" Jin pondered while he finally had had enough and snatched the sword away from her again.

    Only this time around, it seemed Ryuli was more clear headed and felt more determined to fight back as she ran away... Reaching for her school bag. (Jin inserted chi into his eyes to activate the infrared vision and saw her trip a few times before reaching for her school bag.)

    There and then she came back with a kid umbre and held it in front of Jin. She was not going to fall for the same trick again and took upon the umbre to defend and attack Jin if needed. "You sure you want to fight me with that umbre?"

    "Uncle can have the sword! I will defend myself with this!" Ryuli said, and Jin could see that she was putting up a strong front. There were some bleeding scrapes on her knees and despite the pain, she believed she needed to defeat the person right in front of her. Only then Jin vaguely remembered what she said.

    "Why did you say that you had to kill me in order not to be a demon?" Jin asked as he tried to use chi to influence the kid''s mood. A trick that he learned from Pei during his break time.

    She said it would be useless against humans since cultivators had some basic form of mind guard with the chi around them. The higher the grade, the stronger the guard against chi influence.

    But right now, the kid in front of him was not a cultivator as he sensed nothing from her. She was just amoner. Influencing her with chi was literally child''s y.

    "Becauseбнbecause mamaбн*sniff* Papa бнbecame demon. Papa ate Mama. Burnt the temple. But Ryuli confused. Papa never eat me. He made all others bleed. Ate anyone who came in his way. Papa used mes to burn people. Many many people in order to protect me." Ryuli suddenly broke down under the influence of the chi as her words were almost incoherent.

    "The manбнwho brought me here, killed my papa. He said that I might be a demon. Threw me here. He also said that *sniff* kill anything here and survive, I will not be a demon." Ryuli rubbed her eyes and held on to her umbre.

    "But can you defeat me at your current state?" Jin squatted down to be on her eye level and asked her the question seriously. She knew it was not possible, but she did not dare to give the answer that Jin wanted to hear.

    If Jin was not mistaken, that crescent moon man was putting her to starve to death and gave her the illusion that if she can escape from here, she would not be a demon. Even if she did be a demon, the istion ward would be able to prevent that from happening.

    "Solitary confinement will drive the girl insane the moment those candles die out. Making her go insane, fighting her inner demons andter starve to deathбнwhat a cruel way to dieбн" Jin pitied the girl upon hearing the story.

    "How about this? I will teach you about cultivation? That way, maybe you can defeat me and not be a demon?" Jin proposed as he ced the sword down to show that he was sincere and not intent on hurting here.

    "Why would uncle want to do that? Teach me cultivation, so I kill you? You are strangeбн make no sense at all?" Ryuli was confused whereas Jin was confounded.

    "Let''s just say, I want a fairer fight." Jin kicked the sword towards her and despite the heaviness, she carried it one handed and with the umbre on the other hand.

    "Now look at this." Ever since Jin saw those Astral Pandas, he had been wanting to try that again. He only hoped those Pandas could still appear even though they were just in a dream. Lucky for him, it did work, and a big fat panda appeared in front of her.

    The little blue hair girl was dumbstruck by the cute fat panda. Some instinctpelled her to go forward to touch it, but she managed to remain vignt. "Hahahah! You are right to be aware of it despite its cuteness." Jin praised as he could see that the little girl was wary of it. "And that is cultivation."

    "I know what cultivation is! I am not stupid!" Ryuli replied back and tried her best to summon some chi out even though she had yet to break the barrier of awakening the chi circuits. Sometimes, kids could be gifted with the ability to break that barrier naturally. More often however they got to be forcibly awakened. (Only if their aptitude for cultivation was positive and reached a particr mark).

    The chi circuits were like those science experiments, all they needed was just a jolt of chi from their family members or perhaps a grandmaster that was willing to pass their secrets down. That way, the dantian would be activated and use that chi as a basis.

    The System had warned Jin that if he nned to open a teaching hall for kids, all of them had to be awakened first and it emphasised that under no circumstances should Jin or his Sub System Users be the ones to give their chi to kids.

    Of course, upon hearing this, the first thing Jin asked was for the reason why. Yun, who was around, exined that their unique cultivations and being in contact with the System made them exclusive. "It will have severe consequences to a kid aspared to an adult," Yun said as she reminded Jin about the first time he came in contact with the System.

    Only then did he realise the process was simr to him having his chi circuits being awoken by his Grandfather. Just that the System''s jolt of ''chi'' had been way more painful than he could ever remember. "Okay, I understand. I shall never to do that to any kid." Jin promised, and Yun told him that if he ever wished to awaken amoner, to get her instead. She could predict the aptitude with the System and adjust the chi output while ensuring it would be a normal jolt.

    But this time round, it''s just a dream, right? He could y the Devil''s Advocate for all he cared.

    "So how about it? I help you gain your cultivation, and in return, you give me a fair fight? But I have to warn you, the activation of your chi circuits will be extremely painful. It will be okay if you refuse it. Instead, I can teach you some basic sword skills." Jin offered as if to tease her.

    "I will do it." Ryuli said without hesitation.

    "Wow, are you sure? That response was really fast. Don''t you want to think about it for a moment, at least? I assure you the pain will be 10 times, if not 100 times more painful than that pain you are experiencing with your knee scrapes." Jin warned Ryuli.гм

    "But Papa said if someone gives a lending hand in your darkest time, take it. No matter how evil the other person was. Take it. Move forward. Kill evil if need to." Ryuli replied, and Jin felt that was a very mature response for a little girl. He could not help but feel encouraged by it too.

    "Very well, take a seat near the candle and face the wall," Jin instructed her because he realised that he needed to have some skin contact at Ryuli''s back to activate the dantian. He did not want to be seen as a child pervert so he asked her to sit near the candle.

    But to his surprise, she removed her shirt but carefully covered her front as if she knew the procedure of how the chi transfer will work. "Guessбнthat makes my job even easier if she vaguely knows how it goes." Jin thought to himself.

    "Mama and Papaбнtried for meбнthey cannot activate the chi circuits. That is why wee to the temple and ask for help." Ryuli said out loud to calm herself down.

    Jin then recalled that temples usually have a grandmaster or at least a monk healer that knows how to unblock chi points. Something simr acupuncture, but for chi points. Her parents probably brought her to the temple to seek help.

    Still, to feel that the dream was in a way continuous from the previous one, was too much a coincidence. He guessed he should tell the System about it and see if it or any of the betors knew anything.

    "Hmmбн" Other than that Jin did not know to respond to the little girl''s reply but decided to remain confident that he knew what he was doing. "If you think it''s painful, scream. Scream out loud until you lose your voice. Do not hold it in." Jin told Ryuli, and she frighteningly nodded her head.

    "Here goesбн" With the chi of the Lazy Astral Pandas surrounding his hand, Jin gently pressed it onto her.

    бнonly for her screams to fill the room consistently.

 Chapter 450 Ryuli

    <h4>Chapter 450 Ryuli</h4>

    At first, Ryuli was controlling herself when Jin ced his palms at her back, but the moment he sent a small amount of chi into her little tiny body, she felt like death had visited her. The horrid screams from her petite stature frightened Jin, but he was aware that breaking the procedure halfway could have dire consequences.

    He did not understand why all this felt so real when he was lucid dreaming, but the fact remained that there was no System around and his storage ring and phone were not working indicated that this was unquestionably a dream. He pressed on with his chi transferring and told Ryuli to bear with it a little longer.

    The little girl shouted until she was unable to breathe anymore. Ryuli could hear her heart pounding, felt her blood circting and pulsating through her entire body and yet at the same time felt that her whole body was numb.

    The only thing she could see was darkness with a fickle of light from the edge of her vision. The only thing that kept conscious was Jin''s constant yelling that it will be over soon and she held onto that stranger''s lingering voice to as long as she can...until she cked out.

    -------

    "You awake?" Jin asked as he saw Ryuli open her eyes while she lied on his knees. To Jin, it felt like it had been an eternity after Ryuli cked out. By then, he started noticing that the chi circuit within her had begun to flow after the chi transfer was done.

    However, instead of leaving it as it was, Jin took the extra mile and regted the chi within her runty body. He did not understand why, but he could somehow feel the chi pulsating through her body as like it was his very own. All he could do was to make sure the chi flow into every part of the circuit so that there was no blocked or missed points. Or that was how Ming had done for that for mini Jin when he was younger.

    Ming had briefly exined that the opening of chi points in a child''s body was the most vital. Should a family member or grandmaster miss a chi point opening during the first cirction of the chi after the transference, it might lower the future potential of the child. Hence, Jin was making sure that it passed through all of the points by ensuring his chi travelled through her whole body.

    But even as he tried to do so, Jin could only rely on vague memory to ensure that he covered all the parts. This was because he was using himself as a reference to circte the chi in Ryuli''s body when he cultivated.

    Jin ced her in the same sitting position that he usually was in and aided the cirction of the chi based on his experience. It was easy because the chi that was in Ryuli''s body was his, but he subsequently noticed that Ryuli was also starting to produce the same type of sludge that Jin gave out when he cultivated.

    "Ah...?" Jin was equally confused but guessed if it was a dream, it only made sense that there was no sense in the things he saw. Surprisingly, he was able to control her sludge too with his chi as well. So he did just that to prevent the sludge from consuming the nearby candle.гм

    After circting his chi a few times through her body, he could rest easy that at least a main bulk of her chi points had been opened. Jin understood why this was usually done either by a grandmaster or under the tutge of a professional. But this was the best he could have done, and itforted him the chi within her was not rampant but as quiet as a motionlesske.

    "Umm..." The little girl woke up realising that mean uncle who had nearly killed her just now, was staring right in front of her face, and she quickly rolled away to her best of her ability.

    "You are cute when you sleep you know? You should maintain your cuteness when you fight." Jin felt an urge to tease her even more as he walked away from her weapons which were ced near the candle. Suddenly, he realised he was starting to imitate Kraft a little too much for his own liking. "Urgh, that sly old fox is such a bad influence."

    Ryuli did not care what that uncle mumbled to himself as she ran to pick up the umbre and sword to protect herself from that lying uncle. "You said it was painful! You did not say it was death!!!"

    "If you think that is death, you have to rethink the sacrifice your Papa went through," Jin replied as he now had themand of the sludge that came from her body. Jin also called out an Astral Panda to light the ce up with his ck Fire so it would be more visible for Jin and Ryuli.

    "Right now, you will be fighting with this sludge monster which I am controlling. Defeat it, and then you can fight me." Jin instructed as he made the sludge into a panda.

    Following the orders of Jin, the sludge panda immediately screeched at Ryuli and she was already taken aback by it. "Okay, maybe I should drop the difficulty level to another notch," Jin noted to himself as he made the Sludge Panda sitzily at one corner.

    "Okay now attack it," Jin told Ryuli except she was too scared to do so.

    "Perhaps, having a tuition centre might be harder than I thought. I should reconsider the options of getting one..." The dungeon supplier decided to try something else instead.

    "What happened to your determination and will that you had previously when you fight against me?" Jin recalled and used Ryuli as the subject of motivation.

    "The Panda too cute; I do not want to hurt it. I am afraid it hurts me too." Ryuli replied so innocently that Jin did not know what to do.

    "I... oh my god. Okay, the panda is fake. You saw the ball of sludge, right? I made the panda from it just now. The panda is that sludge. So do not worry, hit with all your strength for now. I promise it will not hurt you." Jin tried to reason with that kid, and she unwillingly nodded her head.

    With a straight forward charge with her umbre and sword, she attacked thezy sludge panda at the corner, but it had no effect on him. No matter how she shed or stab, it did not make a dent because Jin had solidified the sludge to the panda''s form, allowing it to be tough on the exterior.

    "That''s it! Keep hitting the Panda! You are not putting enough strength to it. You are a Grade Zero cultivator! How are you going to kill me when I am a higher grade than you?!" Jin encouraged her as he tried to analyse the fighting patterns of the little girl.

    Ryuli might not have any tricks or techniques at her disposal, but Jin seemed to have had the feeling that she might have the potential because of her attitude. Usually, kids these days would give up after a short period of time when they realise their efforts could not achieve any results but not her.

    She initially tried to attack at different angles to see if it made any difference. There was even once she climbed up onto the Panda''s leg to try and poke her sword into the Panda''s eye, but the sludge panda simply picked her up and put her down.

    Yet, Ryuli did not give up.

    Instead, the little girl went for the easiest method. Continuously hit something until it had an effect on it. A stab from her kid umbre, and subsequently a sh from the sword that was left by the crescent moon man. Rinse and repeat. Each blow might be minute, but she was trying her best to make a dent onto thezing panda.

    That was when Jin decided to help her. "Your breathing is too shallow! Concentrate on taking a deep breath before hitting it!" Jin shouted at her and Ryuli followed it to the letter.

    "Next, you are not bending your knees enough. Your centre of gravity is not stable! Lower your knees, concentrate on your breathing!" Jin instructed as he showed Ryuli how it was done by demonstrating it onto a nearby wall.

    He took a deep breath, concentrating on the energy to put in his punch and lowered his knees. Subsequently, he mmed his palms onto the wall and he could feel the entire Istion Ward shook momentarily only to notice that he had created a palm indentation on the wall too. "Oh shit, I think I over dramatised it for her."

    Nheless, that was what Ryuli needed to see. She took a deep breath in and lowered her knees a little before stabbing the Panda with her kid umbre. The sludge Panda opened its eyes and looked at her for a while. It before snorted and gone back to sleep. Ryuli was pleasantly surprised that it worked and she began to do the same for the next few rounds until she could feel that something was swelling inside of her.

    It was her own chi.

    "Yes, continue, do not stop! I can see your own chi appearing right now!" Jin prompted her to continue, and she was also aware of the changes that were taking ce in her body. Unknowingly, she was able to stab the Sludge Panda with an infused strike which caused the Panda to open his two eyeszily. In retaliation, the panda flicked its fat chubby paws at Ryuli and she was knocked back a few metres away.

    "Good, now you finally have the attention of the panda! But first rest up a bit! We can continue after a short break." Jin praised her as he opened the school bag to notice there was no food nor water in it. She had no way of surviving for more than three days of dehydration unless...she cultivated to stay alive.

    There were instances where some cultivators had cultivated over decades in Istion with no food or water, but that was because their cultivation style had allowed them to do so. Most cultivation styles would not be that efficient in reducing the amount of food intake or water intake to zero. He could only imagine how long she could stay in this ce before her bodily needs overcame her.

    Jin then proceeded to teach her his way of cultivating since the Lazy Astral Pandas required almost no food and water if they were stuck in cultivation for a long period of time. It did not take long for her to get the hang of it and went into a trance.

    However, this was just a temporary solution.

    The only way was to ensure someone would help her get out of this Istion Ward...wait, no. Was Jin not in a dream? Why was he so concerned about this little girl''s wellbeing when it should be merely a dream? If Jin was in a dream, could he not think of something and go all the way out to create an exit for her? At least, there''s a happy ending if he suddenly faded out from a dream.

    Therefore, while Ryuli was deep in her cultivating stance, Jin looked at the Istion Ward''s only opening at the top which was currently shut tight. If that crescent moon guy had left her to die and the story of the burnt temple was true, he would have to destroy the opening of this istion ward and bring this little girl out of it himself.

    Jin recalled the sludge panda and when it was a sphere of rotating sludge, he threw it to the locked door to see if there was any inscription charms or protective charms that might be used to prevent anyone from unlocking the Istion Ward.

    True enough, the moment he threw the sludge towards it, a sort of protective energy wrapped around the locked door. "If it was that easy, it would not be fun." Jin murmured to himself as he recalled the sludge. Once again, he condensed it with as much chi as possible.

    "So. In my possession is some little kid''s sludge and some ''magical '' powers. I do not know how powerful that charm is and doing this conservatively might in fact backfire." Jin thought to himself.

    "Hmm..maybe change the sludge into a spear, and use the White Panda ice as a coating. Throw the spear with bamboo cyclone or the wind energy I had harnessed. After that, utilise ck Panda Fire to burn the protective energies since its the most destructive force I have at the moment....Should I use Panda Yawning or will that be overkill?" Jin thought to himself how to get it done.

    In the meantime, the dungeon supplier called out three astral panda forms out to test his theory out. One harnessing the power of the wind from his Epic Art, Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda while the other two were gathering as much ck Panda Fire energy and White Panda Ice energy together. It was taxing for Jin, but he seemed to be able to get the hang of it quickly. (It''s a dream after all, right?)

    With the sludge now condensed into a spear, Jin asked the pandas to nowbined the ck Fire Panda and White Panda Ice energies into the spear.

    "And now the finishing touch." Jin gathered whatever chi he had left and thrown it up with the aid of wind energy which thest Astral Panda had gathered.

    The spear boomed from Jin''s hand as it spiralled crazily towards the locked door and shed against the protective charm. The White Panda Ice gave the spear an extra prating power while the wind energy increased the velocity and thus the strength.

    While the spear pierces the charm, the ck Panda Fire in it consumed the protective charm wildly. The moment it prated through protective charm, the ck Panda Fire ignited the condensed sludge spear instantly when the White Panda Ice coating melted away, causing it to explode and shook the entire Istion Ward.

    Jin realised that upon doing that, random debris was falling down on to the almost forgotten Ryuli. He quickly ran to her side and covered her while using his body to prevent any rocks from hitting Ryuli. The Panda cultivator, however, was not stupid and used whatever remaining chi for Panda Yawning against the smaller rocks but arge part of the ceiling broke and fell onto him.

    "There is no way, I am going to let you die after making you suffer to be a cultivator!" Jin said as he withstood the impact of the debris and held it with his bare hands. Slowly but surely, he managed to at least move it away from the cultivating Ryuli.

    Sadly, that was also when he began to lose his consciousness when he sessfully moved the impacted debris away from the little girl.

    Everything in his vision started to fade away, and all he saw was the bright wide opening from above. A silhouette of a man...no a few others were looking at the destruction of the istion ward from the top.

    "The girl still survives!" A voice echoed through the istion.

    "She did all this by herself? She did not possess any demon blood like her father right?" The sounds had also began to get softer but Jin tried his best to listen.

    "Doubt so, However its like what you said! Her chi awakened as you said she would. But I think -" Unforunately, all Jin could hear subsequently were just murmurs and everything faded into ck.

 Chapter 451 Emergency Surgery - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 451 ''Emergency'' Surgery - Part 2</h4>

    "Why is Jin''s pulse suddenly going all haywire again?" Peppers wondered as she tried to maintain the mana output in Jin''s body. They had reached a critical period during the surgery where his brain was consuming more mana than he should be able to produce on his own.

    Peppers could only keep up with it to maintain his link between the body and spirit but when she decided to reported that anomaly to Pei, Jin''s vitals went off the charts.

    "Peppers, maintain the brain''s mana consumption, we mustn''t allow the spirit to leave the body at all cost especially during the infusion of the inscription charm. " Pei ordered while hastily asked for a surgical stapler.

    "Milk, proceed with the final chanting for insertion of the inscription charm as soon as possible, we need to close his body up. Nurse, get the AED machine in case of sudden cardiac arrest." Pei calmly gave her orders to the people on this medical battlefield.

    The repairs to his body were done. Pei had already inserted the recement parts for his bones and the inscription charm was attached to his sternum. Milk was starting the final chanting to make sure that it could remain in his body forever regardless of any severe attack in the future.

    At the same time, the Panda Nurses were running around in that pocket dimension to prepare the worst case scenario. She acted calm, but Pei still did not have any idea what was really happening to him even with the help of the System. In her centuries of healing, the sudden spike in his charts was extremely abnormal.

    "Au Voir Lait, Greg Gi A Hi!!" Milk barelypleted the final chanting, before Pei sutured up the body. She had ensured that the inscription charm was meticulously fused in line with the body and it was also thanks to Octofussy who had rushed out the Rapid Regeneration of the Otherworld Parasite God Inscription charm for them.

    Pei did the final touches quicker than any surgeon would be able to perform and told the Senior Panda Nurse who was handling the anaesthesia to dial down the amount as smooth as she could while the rest of the Panda Nurses cleared the remaining procedures of the surgery such as ensuring the surgical scar was bandaged properly.

    "We have done everything in our power. Now only time can tell." Pei sighed as she fell to the ground, lying on it dead tired. Milk did the same but not Peppers who seemed unconvinced that Jin''s spirit was stable. She decided to take a risk and increase the amount of Mana output she produced, and suddenly eight panda silhouettes appeared above him.

    "Whew, Jin, you scared me back there." Peppers fell to the ground as well, unable to move a single inch but she had one more thing to do. Increase the speed of the temporal maniption to hasten Jin''s recovery. What seemed to be just five minutes, was pushed forward to five hours in that pocket dimension which allowed Jin to open his eyes as well as giving the entire surgical team to have some rest lying immobile on the ground.

    "Where am I?" Jin asked as he saw bright lights shining onto him as he was still on the rough surgical bed.

    "Sorry master, we cannot get you a hospital bed nor teleport you to the Luxury Instance, else we will risk you getting dismissed by Grandma Yuan." Pei answered as shey on Milk''s thigh.

    "Master, you are a pain in the ass. I was so excited discovering the properties of the magical living armour te, and here you are getting ughtered by a Three Tailed Fox Demon fused with your own sludge." Peppersined while enjoying the other thigh of Milk.

    "It''s d to see you all well and healthy." Milk genuinely cared for Jin, but she suddenly got a knock from Peppers Staff to her mandible and a hit from Pei''s paper fan to the head.

    "OEI! YOU TWO!" Milk shouted, and Pei disappeared into Jin''s bracelet while Peppers returned into her room post haste. Milk''s temper finally simmered down as she got up and gave Jin another healing spell to fasten the recovery.

    "We have made a few adjustments to you while you were out cold." Pei started exining as she now was back in herfy zone. "I have removed your broken bones and reced them with bones from a more robust creature which have a simr body structure as humans in the wild."

    "Eh? What?" Jin was surprised, but Pei did not allow him to continue.

    "I have merged some monster muscle fibres into you as well, so you should be able to surpass human capabilities even without using too much chi."

    "Wait, WHY did you-"

    "Milk and Octofussy have produced a one of a kind inscription charm especially for you to make sure that whatever injuries you suffer in the future, will heal almost as instant as snapping a finger. We also ensured that it''spatible with your body." Pei interrupted Jin once again.

    "WHAT?! How can you-"

    "The only thing I regret is not fiddling with your brain, else I would have been able to increase your mental capacity and up your physic defences too, so I wouldn''t have to work too hard all the time."

    "STOP! PEI! STOP!" Jin finally shouted but realised the pain in his abdomen was stopping him from saying anything else. Pei was finally done talking and waited for Jin to catch his breath and ask what he wanted.

    "I did not give you permission to do any of those to me! How could you?" Jin was overwhelmed by Pei for receiving such drastic news. They actually turned him into a бн''monster''. (Which seemed to be the most fitting phrase.)

    "You lost your rights, the moment you signed up with the System." Pei stuck her tongue out. "After your ''training'' you were as good as crippled. It would have taken you months maybe years to fully heal from that. I did what I could to help you recover and saw the chance to help you survive in this cruel world out there. And this is the thanks I get?!"

    "No! I did not mean that way, I mean...sigh... Thank you Pei. I''ve seen the shagged faces on all the betors, including you when I woke up. I believe it was stressful for you and the rest of the surgical team. I am grateful for your actions. It''s just well erm...I will just have to get used to my new body, I guess?" Jin apologised and Pei could sense that those were wordsing from his heart.

    "Hmmph! I will forgive you this once!" Pei replied with a bit of arrogance. She couldn''t be too mad at him. The foxdy had ess to his thoughts, so she understood how he felt. And he had every right to feel wronged.

    After all, they did just perform a highlyplicated surgery and turned him into something which wasn''t 100% human anymore without any consent, even if it was all for his own sake. Focusing her attention on him she asked a very peculiar question.

    "I was not able to make the connection during the surgery but now thinking about it, you seem to have reacted just as earlier. Your vitals spiked in a simr way as when you had the bad dream during the taxi trip. Was that it? Did you have bad dreams again? " Pei questioned.

    "Yeah, you can call it a bad dreamбн I guess? I don''t know and felt unsure about that. It seemed too real to be a dream. As if what I saw, actually happened." Jin replied while he stayed idle on the bed.

    "Heh, don''t think too much into it. Sometimes the ancestors in the System might identally form a link with you, resulting in you catching a glimpse of their memories, causing you to have such dreams. " Pei deduced that his spirit might have contacted something in this Istion Ward, which she could sensed it was filled with past horrors and lingering essence of past souls. That was also why she emphasised to Peppers to keep Jin''s mental spirit intact.

    "Or sometimes, it''s just your imagination running wild. You know the kind of dream, where you get the feeling that you fall and jump out of bed? Whatever it was you probably shouldn''t worry too much about it." Pei consoled Jin as she and the System could not understand what had happened. "But just to be sure. Do you still remember anything about your dreams? What it was about, what you saw or what you did maybe?"

    "Ehh...blue hair? Does any of our ancestors or past Users have blue hair?" Jin asked, and the System instantly gave a quick No. Jin then figured it could not hurt to give Ryuli''s name out and see if the System could cross reference to anybody in the national database system which had that name.

    "No, a two tier cross reference check brought up a negative search for the person you called Ryuli. Simr pronunciations were also used without any matching results." The System stated, and Jin was a tad disappointed.

    "Guess, it was really just a dream," Jin mumbled. Suddenly he remembered about the palm imprint, he made on the wall. Jin was able to get up from the surgical bed and started to feel the inscription within him already working its charms.

    The sense of pain lessened more and more until disappearingpletely and Pei started to second guess if it was the right choice to give him such an immortal level inscription. Still, that had been Octofussy''s choice, not hers.

    "Where are you going Jin?" Pei asked as he walked out to the western wall of Istion ward and ignited his ck Panda Fire to illuminate the ce up even further. It was useless, the walls were already cracked and dented from past attacks, and the battle with the Three Tailed Fox Demon just made the ce even worse.

    On a separate note, the System had not beenpletely frank with Jin. There had indeed been a match for the name Ryuli, but no picture was found in the database. Instead, a high level tier SSS executive clearance was required to ess the file.

    The attempt to search for this person had resulted in an alert being sent out informing the officials that someone was looking at something that should be top secret.

    Kraft, who had been bored because everyone shunned him, had checked out what the System was doing at the same time. Seeing what was happening, he managed to respond by retracing the alert to an isted remote router that was off the grid.

    "Wow, this Master really pulls out some pretty unpleasant sucker punches every once in a while." Kraft quickly went into action and began to analyse the ping and the data it was sending, it was unfortunate, but the ping had already reached the router in record time preventing him from intercepting it properly.

    Hence, he did the only thing possible for him before the signal went through all his other proxy servers. The sly old fox changed the location of the IP address and med the search on a criminal who he randomly found in the police database that had almost the same data address as what the ping was sending with the help of the System.

    It was merely a difference of just a digit, and that was all it took to keep whoever was managing this highly sophisticated database to be unable to trace it back to the dungeon supplier''s store. "Looks like I''ve been too inactive for some time. It may be time to upgrade my cyber skills." Kraft spoke as he (metaphorically) eyed the System.

    "You know what I am getting at, don''t you? Or do you need me to spell it out?"

    "Original Betor Kraft, by releasing thest of the ex betors to you, you are entirely liable for the future consequences of such an action. Are youpletely sure? At your current strength, you will not be able to handle them as you used to." The System warned Kraft in a serious tone. (As serious as a bodiless entity sounding like aputer could be)

    "You saw how advanced that piece of technology was. The speed it reached wasn''t normal and seemed better than any supeputer. I haven''t seen such advanced tech in ages. Unless you release him, we won''t know whether the existence of this Ryuli is a threat to Jin or a potential ally." Kraft tried to contend with the System to get thest ex betor out.

    "If we don''t do anything to cover our tracks quickly, the people out there might eventually learn that we have meddled with their database. It will only be a matter of time, for them to realise that our sacrificialmb isn''t the one they are after. " Kraft argued while writing additional codes to their existing firewall.

    "Let''s not put Jin in unnecessary trouble, well erm... any more unnecessary trouble that is... at least we should be able to control this one to a certain extent rather than having government agents which might consist of Royal Zodiac ns toe after us." Kraft hoped he managed to persuade the System.

    "Agreed. Changing Original Betor''s previously won visitation rights to a temporary loan of that person. Limited to this period when User is still confined to the Istion Ward. Return him after usage. The deal will remain as it is, for User''s safety." The System replied and Kraft agreed.

    "At least you areing out for your cage for a bit," Kraft replied with a wide grin.гм

    Meanwhile, Zeru appeared right in front of Jin and threw his Bam back at him. "It''s time to train, no time to waste. I have been waiting for your Astral Form awakening to teach you the things that you need. And thank you Pei, you have my sincere gratitude for providing Jin with an immortal body. I can finally teach him the full extent of my abilities." Zeru said as he brandished his usual wooden sword in front of Jin.

    With a soft wooden click, a red metallic sword was unveiled from inside the wooden one. It looked like Zeru had been fighting with his sword undrawn the whole time.

    "Lotus Sword Saint, Thousand Lotus of Hell Cultivation Style. Zeru. Coming forth." Zeru finally revealed his true cultivation name as he dashed towards Jin with pure murder intent.

 Chapter 452 Magpies And Gold

    <h4>Chapter 452 Magpies And Gold</h4>

    While Jin was battling in the Istion Ward, the Farming World was getting heated up with the intervention of his monsters. The Dark Temrs who were killed by Sebastia eventually met up with the Silver Mage as they were acquainted with each other.

    Silver exined that Sebastia was killing them to gain favour with the Demon Rats while secretly allowing the resistance members to meet up by resurrecting them for her own master. The Dark Temr Leader who went by the name of Zieg also realised there was a higher power at work and came to understand that Sebastia was a demon herself, just that she was from another world.

    "I know, I was also shocked to learn that there were other worlds out there apart from ours." Gold came to greet Zieg who immediately knelt upon seeing the Lord Schr of the East.

    "Lord Schr Gold! It is an honour to meet again! We feared the worst when we saw that the Heavenly Windmill had slowed down to a crawl. However a few weeks ago, we received reports that for a slight moment it turned just like in the past. We all hoped that you were still around, still fighting for dear life. To see you all healthy brings me great joy!" Zieg spoke with tion.

    "Same to you and thank you for listening to my little cousin. Sorry about the killing. Perhaps it will appease you, knowing that at the very least you and your squad will be able to experiment with your dark arts to the fullest without needing to worry about losing your life." Gold jested, and Ziegughed with him

    "Yes, yes! However it''s already our honour to learn that it was a demon who bested us instead of a regr human. Maybe, we shall worship her and get her to be in a covenant with us." Zieg suggested, and the other temrs also agreed.

    "Ermбнyou might be surprised that even a ''minion'' or you could call them footsoldier, in their standards, can beat your Dark Temrs the same way Sebastia did." Gold while patting Zieg on his shoulders tofort him.гм

    "Anyways, we have understood the situation, and since you granted my entire squad immortality, we shall henceforth be in your debt. Thosends and loot issue do not matterpared to this absolute precious gift that was bestowed upon us. We will be at your disposal. Do you need us to share our headquarter''s location so that Lady Sebastia may proceed to bless our brethren with this very same gift?" Zieg asked politely as he wanted to share this great piece of news with his other Dark Temrs.

    "Ehh, Silver what did you tell them exactly?" Gold brought Silver one side and queried him.

    "Basically the same that you told me, you did say that this master of yours is busy, so that is why he put you in charge right?" Silver whispered back and Gold shook his head.

    "We ALL serve for that Master you speak so lowly of." Gold emphasised that Jin was their ultimate ruler of them all.

    "But right now the master is not here, so you ARE the one in charge." Silver could notprehend why Gold could not understand the absence ofmand.

    "Whatever, I will exin to them properly." Gold returned to the Dark Temrs and told them that their immortality was not without any conditions and listing what he and Jin''s other monsters were doing. Zieg looked at him andughed, stating that it was a small price to pay.

    "You provide us with worthy opponents to fight and kill. Not to mention space for us to research our dark arts? You sure it''s still a fair trade for our new master? Given these conditions, I say, we shall set out post haste to massacre my remaining brethren, so that I can bring them into this ce!" Zieg seemed a little too eager to ughter his people.

    "Well, yes but don''t you think that they have a right of choice to choose whether to die for you or not? Or whether your Commander has a say in things? After all, if I am remembered correctly, he was still in charge." Gold questioned his moral ethics and his position as the vicemander of the Dark Temrs

    "About that, my father Sieg had decided to allow me to hold the reins of the Dark Temr''s organisation." Zieg refused to call his group as a cult. "Thus they now all sworn their fealty to me at the price of their own life. If I demand that they die by my sword, they shall. Those who do not will be killed regardless, as you said, this was a high level secret that cannot be passed around like cheap booze." Zieg countered, and Gold nodded slowly at the poor analogy.

    In the meantime, me Ripper and Meomi had met up with their individual organisations, and they were sessful in their exchange. The Western Skies Guild was easily influenced by me Ripper''s introduction of goldбнand something else.

    "More bags of gold if you join our resistance. We have retrieved this from the rats so you can definitely see more if you kill those bastards. And Captain? Try to learn not to discriminate against people." me Ripper lectured as he had proven not to be trifled with by initiating a duel of confidence against their captain.

    All of the adventurersughed hysterically at first, seeing their captain who was nearly twice as tall and older was challenged by the small innocent boy that they were ''negotiating'' with.

    The oue, however, had stopped theirughter. Especially the moment me Ripper took his dagger out. The captain who was swinging his de as if he was performing some swordy, already had the dagger by his throat before he could do anything else.

    Any movement from that poor fellow would have cost his life. Usually, me Ripper would let things go but that captain had insulted him so much that he decided to y a prank on him.

    By ripping his pants off.

    The rest of his adventurer crew could not help but giggle at the choice of underwear their captain was wearing, but that embarrassment also proved that me Ripper could take his life away and it would not cost him any effort.

    "That was a terrible lie, that gold came from the System and from my coffers!" Goldined to me Ripper once he reported the transaction to him even though the dagger goblin told Gold that it was a small price to pay.

    "Stupid small boy! You will get your just punishment!" The Captain of the Western Skies Guild grumbled, but the rest of the adventurers told him off. He of all people should have learned his lesson not to underestimate people.

    "We will contact you again on where to strike. Take this little bird. It will tell you where to go next. Till then, stay frostyбнand windy, especially you, Mr Pink Kisses." me Ripper giggled as he threw a magpie at them formunication purposes.

    --------

    In a separate location, Meomi met up with the spies from the Southern Stars Organisation and a person from the opposing side was nearly shocked to see the face of the Lord of Ording Town to be meeting them.

    "Sire, I thought you were dead?" Ady with masked scarf came forward to speak, but she was held by another agent, who was supposedly the leader for the negotiation group.

    "State who you are. We have received evidence that Lord of Ording Town was dead." The leader demanded while brandishing his sword out.

    "The Lord may have died, but before you stands the New Lady of Ording Town. I can still recognise your voice, sweet little Nightingale." Meomi said as she disabled the bald figure disguise that she was wearing and showed her human form to Nightingale.

    "Mistress Meomi?!" Nightingale ignored her leader''s actions and went towards Meomi trusting her fully. The rest of the Southern Stars agents continued to watch them with their guard up since they did not trust any contacts until their leader told them to stand down.

    "I heard you disappeared with Lord Schr Gold when he asked for your help?" Nightingale questioned as she pressed onto Meomi''s neck as if to check something.

    "Touch all you want, only you know the secret," Meomi whispered as she rxed herself and let Nightingale to caress her neck.

    "She''s real. I can vouch for it." Nightingale said to the others, and the leader decided to give them some space.

    "Since she was your past acquaintance, you conduct the negotiations. I have faith in you. The rest, fall back for now. Keep a sharp eye for any Demon Rats." The leader ordered his agents, and they all proceeded to their assigned duties.

    "They have so much faith in you?" Meomi asked with a tinge of sarcasm which made Nightingale lightly punch Meomi on her shoulder.

    "Hey! So rude! They trust me because I worked hard, alright?! Before you stands the vice leader for this negotiation team! Especially since I grew up here." Nightingale became more friendly and casual in her tone. "And with you."

    "Thank goodness, we sent you to the Southern Stars for your spy training even though we northerners hate the tricks the southerners always use. At least you were one of the only few from Ording Town that escaped the Demon Rats outbreak." Meomi hugged Nightingale by the waist as they both swayed their bodies together in delight.

    It had been a long time for the two of them meet up with each other. One was supposedly just an ordinary maid while the other a noble''s daughter. However, Lord Ording had a criteria for his team of maids. To be sufficiently strong during a fight because the Lords of small towns could only have that many knights under their disposal. In fact, only three were assigned to that small little town in the north.

    Poppy, Pippy and their father, Porke had been the only three knights under Lord of Ording. However, the brotherly knights'' father and mentor perished during the outbreak as he and Lord of Ording defended the town for the rest of the Townsfolk.

    Meanwhile, the maids and knights assisted with the escape of the townfolks, causing many of those maids to lose their lives protecting them against the Demon Rats. This was because they were assigned to protect the back of the crowd as Poppy and Pippy were guarding the front. Thus, all of the maids of Ording Town perished, except for Nightingale who was a year older than Meomi, stayed with the Southern Stars for training.

    Not many Northern Region Lords had such amicable rtion with the Southern Stars, and those who had were only a handful since rtions were strained due to a past war between the both of them. However, the Lord of Ording had been one with friendlier rtions to the Southern Stars because he assisted to smuggle some Litoride for the Southern Stars as well as supplies that had proven to aid the spy organisation greatly.

    Thus, they took in all of the Lord''s maids as a sign of gratitude towards him (Some of those maids would also spy on the Lord, keeping him in check). This was also one of the reasons why out of all the organisations, the Southern Stars was the only one from the South who had decided to help the North. (in return for riches.)

    "I did felt regret that I was not able to do anything for our Lord." Nightingale admitted, but at the same time, she also thanked him selfishly for sending her away from the town when the outbreak happened. Meomi appreciated her honest thoughts and subsequently started to discuss with her what the Southern Stars cpi?d provide for the resistance.

    Through their conversation, both Nightingale and Meomi had noticed that they had changed rather drastically, in both appearance and the view of the situation. Nightingale was thinking about the benefits for her organisation since she had been graciously taken in by the Southern Stars after the Demon Rat outbreak. Meomi was thinking about the eradication of the Demon Rats and reinstatingw and order again.

    "Do you wish to be Queen of the Northern Region?" The short haired assassin asked, and Meomiughed at that question.

    "Assuming I could make such a choice? No. I have a master that I am grateful for having given me the opportunity to do some good in thisnd. After all of this is over, depending on the calls of the people, I will assist with the redevelopment and build the Northern Region up again. Else, i will follow where my master goes. I believe it''s simr to how your Spymaster treats your organisationбн I hope." Meomi answered, and Nightingale was able to rte her feelings to a certain extent though she was very curious who this master was that she talked about.

    "He''s just a human, to be honest. Alright, maybe that is a bit too far fetched right now. You could say he''s a martial arts master, eh ...hmmm that''s also not too fitting a description..." Meomi could not fully exin what Jin was unless her sister figure Nightingale sees it for herself.

    "You know what? Just work with us for a while, and you might get to see him. We are currently running reconnaissance for him and gauging the amount of resistance this region has to offer before he makes a move."

    "Sounds more like a general or tactician rather than a martial arts master," Nightingale replied, and Meomi felt that was also not the right way to call him that too. "In any case, I agree to your terms of negotiation. You provide us with bags of gold for now, and anything that we find, we will split half."

    "One more thing. I do not wish to surprise you, but you have the right to know since the region is small enough for you to eventually bump into each other anyway. The Western Skies Guild is working for us too."

    "Oh huh...that''s fine. If there is nopetition, it would not be fun anyways." The way Nightingale took it so casually seemed to indicate that she already knew that the Western Skies Guild were being called in too.

    "Hahaha, I guess nothing can escape the ears of the Southern Stars. But let me introduce you something that might improve your way ofmunicating." Meomi offered as a portal opened and four blue Magpiesnded on her shoulder before the portal closed up again. Nightingale was bewildered by the sudden show of magic though Meomi iterated that portal belonged to her master as she was merely borrowing it.

    "Enough of that, this is more important. This birds can allow you tomunicate far range. We will loan you these four birds to assist in your reconnaissance of the area. All we ask is to give us the most likely locations of the various major bases of the Demon Rats be it overground or underground." Meomi demanded and told her how the birds worked.

    Nightingale called her leader who was nearby through a series of sound signals, and when they both tried it, they were immediately amazed by these magical birds.

    "How...where can we get more of these birds?! We are willing to negotiate more for this!" The leader asked excitedly, but Meomi said they belonged to a colleague of hers. She could only loan the birds to them for a period of time, unless they managed to prove worthy like the Goblin King Sol and Orc King Frost Echo who used it to keep in contact with Master Jin or Qiu Yue.

    "I see, then we will do our best not to fail you," Nightingale promised on their behalf to Meomi as they made their way with the four magpies and a bag of gold.

 Chapter 453 Demon Origins

    <h4>Chapter 453 Demon Origins</h4>

    "Demons, huh? I guess I can help you with that." Gold wondered as he looked through the mansion windows and saw somebody that could use a push in life even though he was literally an immortal.

    It was none other than Lord Wolte.

    The depressed slug now aided the Werejackals by killing some very annoying pests that had invaded the home instance. There had not been any such pest initially, but the System introduced it and isted it to part of the crops the werejackals were growing because the crops ironically needed the pests to survive.

    The more the pest bit and feasted on the crops, the more resilient the seeds of the said crops would be. However, there was a limit to how much damage the pest could do to these unique crops before it was considered destroyed. A bnce had to be struck, so Lord Wolte was sent in as the pest terminator, killing the pests that were already out of control.

    With its slug''s body who was able to emit the same fragrance as the crops, the insectoid pests assumed that Lord Wolte was part of crops and got attracted to it. This allowed the System to bring in a higher and varied number of insects to test the limit of the unique crops to the point even Lord Wolte found it to be staggering. This was so that the System could grow one valuable resource.

    Oil.

    When the oil nt matured, the roots of the oil crops would secrete oil into the underground where they had already ced an oil deposit (the size of a tanker) to catch that ck gold. In the beginning, it would only be able to secrete 1ml of oil, but the seeds that bloomed afterwards allowed it to emit an exponentially increasing amount.

    The cycle continued until the current iteration of seeds could secrete 1 litre of oil per week. Lord Wolte had been eating those insectoid pests to make sure that the crops would not die from being bitten and the werejackals encouraged him further by thanking him for making such an important contribution to the ecosystem.

    Initially, he had been quite excited to finally be part of something bigger, but in recent days, he wished that he could do more than just eating pests since the System had already created a few clones of him to do the same thing when the oil fields got wider andrger.

    However, the real reason why he was so disappointed was because he did not even have a ride to his name in the WunderPanda Theme Park. Even the Minotaurs who weren''t featured yet in the dungeon instances received a mechanical bull rodeo ride in the Theme Park and Jin was selling soft toy versions of Moloch puppets as the prize. He couldn''t get any sadder that Moloch received more attention than him.

    Still, Lord Wolte did not know how much of a help he would be when he gave the System a breakdown analysis of how his body worked for it to create simr clones like him. The market for oil was tremendous, especially in Jin''s world.

    The System did not need it because it was omnipotent enough to power itself up. (Though it would be more efficient if it had the mechanical brain to increase its processing speed.) Nheless, the System was thinking long term and considered extending the werejackal''s farming instance to incorporaterger oil fields, else a multi storey oil producing farm.

    In terms of expenses, it would definitely help Jin too especially when he and Qiu Yue needed the extra dungeon dors to get the Dungeon Fortress City going. The System had already calcted their expenses for just the first year and noted that if they could sell the oil, it would benefit them greatly. The prognosis might look decent for the future, but first, they have to survive that critical sapling stage of city building thus every extra dor counts.

    "Yo, Lord Wolte. How''s the pest extermination going?" Gold came down with a group of (armoured) entourage with him behind as he asked Lord Wolte about his well being.

    "Eh, could be better, you know. If I positioned myself from Section 1.2 and mowed down the pest from that point, I might have been a few minutes faster than yesterday." Lord Wolte answered as he looked somewhat intrigued at the armour fellows behind him.

    "Ah yea, I have some good news for you. These are the new batch of monste- *cough* humans that came in and it just so happens that they''re practitioners of the dark arts." Before Gold could say anything else, Lord Wolte''s expression immediately perked up a lot.

    "Practitioners of Dark Arts? So which demon do you worship? Baal? Diablos? Mephisto?" Lord Wolte wanted to share his own personal knowledge since he had been lonely and feeling useless for some time. Gold guessed it was the right move to push these Dark Temrs on to him.

    "Actually, we do not know the name of the demon that we worship because he hasn''t given us any name," Zieg confessed with a bit of embarrassment.

    "Hahaha! it''s actually moremon than you might think! These kind of demons usually try to act all high and mighty, but in fact, they are just little brats who feel happy that some humans happened to be summoning them out. Or maybe, they think that you are ipetent enough to know its name. Come now, let me see-" Lord Wolte was suddenly pulled back by Gold for a moment. (Gold used his magical powers to do so since it''s quite impossible to do that physically.)

    "Wolte! They are from a different world! Theirs might not even be the same demons that you are familiar with." Gold whispered to Wolte.

    "What?! I don''t think it really differs that much between worlds. Demons are arrogant pricks that want to be acknowledged." Wolte proimed with certainty before mumbling a few words which Gold needed to strain his ears to catch them. "...even myself..."

    "Regardless! I would like to see the kind of demons they summon." Wolte told Gold as he waited for them to start the process. Needless to say, they did the same chants as when they tried to surround Sebastia, but this time it was a vastly longer incantation since they were not in a hurry.

    After all this time they were asking their contracted demon toe out. The circle that the dark temrs formed turned purplish and then red, whichter shone quite brightly to reveal the emergence of the demon the Dark Temrs had made a pact with.

    Horns rose up from the summoning ritual, and that was when Wolte immediately called out the name of demon even before the demon had fully descended.

    "Baphomet!!!" Lord Wolte shouted just half way through the summoning, Baphomet was in shock hearing his name spoken so clearly when he knew that he had not once given a name out to any dark arts practitioner at all.

    "Wolte?!?!!?" Baphomet roared in return, just as surprised.

    "EHH??!" Gold was speechless when Baphomet also appeared to know Lord Wolte''s name when he even barely got out of the circle. "What the hell?!"

    "Hell it is." Lord Wolte chuckled as he waited for an old friend of his to be summoned fully. The Dark Temrs did not know that their benefactor was friends with this particr slug tending the fields.

    "I ...just can''t even...." Gold had wrapped his mind hard on the matter, and unless there was some ritual or spell that could transcend worlds, there should be no way the two demons should know each other''s existence less being friends.

    "Hahahah! That look on your face is priceless!! Hahahahah!" Wolteughed as he asked Gold if he could contact Yun in any way.

    "What''s the matter?" Yun came by to see a number of new faces, most of which she was aware of. She was briefly informed by the System, except for the demon that was standing in the farms. Upon closer inspection, System had notified that the demon''s existence was permissible in the instance.

    "Huh...even the demon they summoned is also partially taken into possession by the System already. No wonder the System allowed it to be here with strict supervision." Yun thought to herself as she noticed the processing capabilities of the System was third in priority in this particr instance at this moment. The first was still Jin who partially recovered and the second was working with Kraft to get more information about Ryuli.

    "I just needed to ask you a simple question. Do the names of demons like Diablos, Baal and Mephisto exist in Master Jin''s World?" Lord Wolte asked, and she nodded her head, which only served to make Gold question everything around him even more.

    "Oh, I think I understand why Gold may be confused. I doubt you''d know this. The existence of the demons are both separate and at the same time singr in their entities." Yun exined as she inadvertently looked at the progress of Oil Crops.

    "It might be a bit too much to take in, but the Demons can basically exist in various worlds; however, their souls can only exist in one ce at one time. Think of them as having possible recement bodies in every world that know about their existence though the moment that particr world wants to summon it, they need to sacrifice an equal or greater number of souls or resources like blood etc to have that entity to exist in their world."

    "So you are saying demons are in a way some sort of immortals too? They can pop up in any world they want?" Gold questioned, and Yun nodded her way.

    "Putting it very simple, the answer is yes. However, there are still conditions to be fulfilled. For example, Wolte''s and Moloch''s King, Baal currently exists in the Dungeon World. He has a major presence in the Dungeon World, and if someone would wish to summon him in another world, the sacrifice required should be massive, like a metropolis or equivalent for the soul to move to another ce." Yun tried to exin the best as she can to the schr.

    "But if the demons were killed, their souls would lie in wait in a dimensional ne or that was what I was told until someone decides to summon them. For more information, you may want to ask Wolte or Moloch themselves." Yun exined.

    "Is there no way to stop them from being summoned ever again?" Gold asked and Yun shook her head.

    "There always exists a bnce of good and evil. Somehow, someone in a time unknown to us, created these demons to ensure such forces would remain indefinitely bnced. For our side, Moloch and Wolte belong to the System. Someone would have to sacrifice something simr to the worth of this ever growing System or more to retrieve back one of the two. Only then could they break the Enforcement Loyalty Orders from the System." Yun cited examples to him to understand better.

    "However, do note that the System is also a by product of the Will of the Heavens. Meaning, unless some guy in the heavenly ne decides to sacrifice a part of heaven to get Moloch and Wolte, it''s most likely they would not be able to obtain them" Yun concluded her exnation to Gold which he appreciated deeply.

    гм

    "So erm bro, it''s been a long time. That girl is smoking hot though." Baphomet and Wolte were talking to each other at the sidelines while Yun gave an impromptu lecture on how the demons worked.

    "Heh, you better not mess with her. Thest time I tried to look underneath her, woohoo~! I got killed ten times before she let me off." Wolte cautioned Baphomet.

    "So, bro, how have you been? Guess your death in the Dungeon World wasn''t the worst thing to have happened to you. I mean you seem to do pretty swell, now that you have some fun with your little dark arts practitioner group to give you resources and stuff." Wolte sounded a little jealous, but Baphomet understood what he meant.

    "Yeah, they''ve given me shit loads of items, especially this thing they call Litoride. Yo man, that''s the bomb! You should give it a try once in a while. But you know what brother? I will not leave a fellow brother of mine in a wreck, especially after what Baal did to use. " Bahpomet attempted to carry Wolte up with his batwings.

    "I''ve currently only taken the pact with this particr squad, they still have a hell lot of nubs back in their headquarters. I can introduce some of them to hook you up. That way, you can regain some strength and followers too." Baphomet generously offered to Wolte.

    "You sure you to give your precious resources to this old man? Don''t you want to have them for yourself?" Wolte asked.

    "Hell yeah, I want them to myself brah. But you''ve always looked out for me and even helped me to take a hit against Baal before I''ve gone apeshit and stuff. So take them as thanks." Baphomet took out something simr to a cigar made out of Litoride and smoked it.

    "Heck! Even I might even repledge my allegiance to you again. You were like the coolest leader ever, although a bit talkative and punny but damn~! You treated your men well. I''d love to serve under you again." Baphomet revealed as he knelt in front of Lord Wolte once more.

    "You that solid? Bro, you do not know how much your gift means to me." Wolte said with visible tears sweating out from his skin.

    "Yeah man! *clears throat* I Baphomet, hereby swear to be under the service of Duke Wolte. May this pledge be ever binding till our souls disintegrate!" Baphomet swore and, in that instant, Wolte himself was oozing with brightness.

    Suddenly Yun got alerted that an evolution was triggered in front of them. As Jin was still unconscious at that particr point from surgery with the Sub System Users already away in the Giant World, Yun was the highest authority.

    So being the only one that was able to substitute Jin for an answer, she nodded her head. "Go ahead, Jin would want his monsters to evolve anyways."

    "Very well. Initiating Wolte''s evolution." The System stated as it allowed the evolution procedure to proceed smoothly.

 Chapter 454 Monster Bones

    <h4>Chapter 454 Monster Bones</h4>

    It took Zeru less than a microsecond to unleash his sword. Before Jin could finish blinking, his master had already inflicted him with hundreds of superficial cuts on his flesh, from head to toe at a distance. The cuts were too numerous to be counted, and Jin staggered instantly.

    "Hey! I just healed him! Can you be a bit more gentle?!" Pei shouted through the System Channel at Zeru though he shook his head in defiance.

    "In a fight, not giving your all is not just a sign of disrespect towards your opponent, it may also be the one mistake that might reverse the tide of battle," Zeru replied, giving Jin barely enough time to close his wounds with the aid of Octofussy''s Rapid Regeneration of the Otherworld Parasite God.

    Regrettably, there was no free meal in the world. Jin could feel a tingling sensation whenever his flesh wounds healed. It was as if a worm crawled over his wounds to treat them.

    One alone would be unpleasant enough, yet that feeling was multiplied by over a hundred. He instantly felt vited even though his wounds were closing up. Jin had learnt his mistake from the past battle, and instead of moving, he summoned out two Astral Pandas each equipped with a shield.

    They were none other than Bam (Tower Shield form) and Boo (Wide Buckler shield form).

    "How are you going to fight me without your weapons?" Zeru asked as he produced a swing in the air, causing a flurry of white lotus petals to fly towards Jin. The two Astral Pandas stood staunchly in front of Jin and handled the attacks while he prepared his counterattack by summoning his ck Panda Fire.

    "Forgoing the path of a swordsman, and facing me as a magician?" Zeru questioned directly beside Jin as the white lotus petals flew beyond the Astral Pandas. With a swift chop from Zeru after teleporting to Jin, the hand that Jin was charging his ck Panda Fire dropped to the ground. (More work for Pei if not for the Rapid Regeneration, this time he felt his whole hand grew from worms.)

    Jin shouted in pain, but a kick from Zeru to his throat silenced that scream and knocked him away. His Astral Pandas disappeared the moment Jin lost his concentration, causing Bam and Boo to drop to the floor.

    "While you are not wrong to stop a strong attack with the Astral Pandas, you seem to have forgotten that I have speed and strength on my side. Distance is not a problem at all, so you cannot hide from me. How long can you prevent me from attacking you should be your most and only relevant concern." Zeru lectured as he strolled towards Jin. He could see the insane regeneration inscription already working its magic to reproduce another hand for Jin.

    "His chi regeneration is truly abnormal, else he would not have been able to activate that rapid regeneration inscription that many times." Zeru thought to himself. "So what if you grow another hand? All I have to do is to cut it down."

    "Is cutting me all you are capable of?" Jin finally regained his voice as he ced his other hand away from Zeru''s sight since he was leaning on the wall.

    "Do I need anything else? Whatever tricks you do, it doesn''t matter. In the face of superior speed and strength, they are meaningless." Zeru moved forth as if he was floating on air, but that was also when Jin had finished his preparations.

    Learning from the experience he earnt from the Three Tailed Fox Demon, Jin used the wall as a base to grow spikes of White Panda Ice towards Zeru. Despite his efforts, none of those White Panda Ice spikes mattered to Zeru as he dodged every single of them gracefully.

    Whenever it looked as if the ice spike was about to hit his master, Jin ended up missing Zeru by a fraction of a centimetre. All the near misses pretend to frustrate Jin since it was not the main trick, for Jin was trying to fight just as Zeru had described... A magician.

    Since Zeru was moving like the wind, Jin would have to slow the wind down. Each missed ice spike exploded behind his master into hundreds of ice shards and towards him. Jin did not care about the coteral damage to himself as he trusted in his own fast regeneration inscription even if it felt like he was being skinned alive. There was no other choice if Jin hoped to win against Zeru.

    Zeru noticed the forming of the multiple ice shards behind him, and he twirled once in mid air, creating lotus petals to appear destroying most of the ice shards. He thought that Jin would be using those as a way to attack him.

    "Barely a decent move, but I hope there''s more to it." Jin did not reply and instead shot a scatter beam of Panda Yawning for the first time. He figured if he could shoot onerge beam, how about splitting the beam into several parts?

    Only in the future would Jin eventually learn that all it took was to move his tongue up and down as if he was ulting a Red Indian war cry and his beam was scattered. For now, he just opened mouth really wide and tried screaming and stopping to let them move erratically. (which worked perfectly fine but more of a hassle.

    Due to the distance and taking the divergence of the scatter beams into ount, there were only a few chi energy beams that targeted Zeru''s position. However, what his master did not know was that Jin''s scatter beam was not meant for him at all.

    It was the scattered, floating ice shards that remained in the air. As the beams travelled towards the ice shards, they deflected the beam like a diamond shining bright under an intense source of light. Some of the shards even refracted the Panda Yawning rays, causing more of the beams scattered to the other ice shards that were not destroyed by the Zeru''s whirlwind of lotus petals.гм

    Zeru was unaware about what was happening behind him as he went forward to slice down a fragile sheet of White Panda Ice shield which Jin conjured haphazardly to protect himself at the veryst second. Yet, Zeru was merciless in tearing thatst form of defence away from Jin to show that he was serious in defeating his disciple.

    "Your White Panda Ice shield appears way too slow. If you were 0.5 seconds faster, your White Panda Ice Shield could have reduced the blow of the attack and not be a piece of paper for me to cut." Zeru said as he had already vertically shed and plunged his sword into Jin''s chest.

    If not for the monster bones that Pei had just merged with Jin, his entire rib cage would have been cut. Nevertheless, even the monster bones didn''t manage to handle the severity of Zeru''s sh unscathed. The cut broke a number of the bones, just not thorough enough to be called a clean cut. (It would have if not for the iplete ice shield)

    Yet that ice shield was also part of Jin''s impromptu n. The moment it got sliced into two, the broken ice shield pieces angled themselves and went ahead to attack Zeru with Jin''s maniption of chi. It was enough distraction for the major backstab waiting behind him.

    Jin had been slow with his casting as he had moved the ice shards with chi alongside the aid of his Panda Vision, Inverse Eyes (or as Ming called them Pandaromic Eyes). Like a targeting system, the eyes allowed Jin to clearly see the path where the ice shards must be ced to umte sufficient power in the beams to rejoin as one again and hit Zeru''s back.

    When Jin felt it was the right movement, he did not hesitate to redirect the towards his master. The energy beam was concentrated enough that it punctured a hole through Zeru''s shoulder while he fought off the broken ice sheets. However, Jin did not know that Zeru deliberately took the damage as he had figured it was enough for now, thus receiving the blow to call off the match.

    Still, he did not get the full picture until the moment he saw Jin''s eyes bleeding along with the broken pieces of ice shards behind him. Only then he realised how Jin performed the counterattack.

    Zeru slowly stepped back and sheathed his sword again while he granted Jin time to recover. His disciple might have an abnormal production of chi, but there was a limit for anything. He was still a Grade 8, and his injured eyes proved that his overconsumption of chi was taking a toll on his body.

    Once more the Rapid Regeneration inscription kicked in, but Jin could feel that squirmy feeling getting worse this time. It was as if the worms had grown to the size of snakes, and he screamed, unable to stop his body''s own regeneration.

    In the meantime, Pei felt like a revtion hit her about what Zeru was doing. "Are you doing this because of the side effects of the monster materials merging with his body?" Pei wanted a rification to see if she really did miss a step in the recovery process.

    Zeru nodded his head with delight. Pei finally understood why Zeru needed to attack Jin the moment he was somewhatbat ready. "The monster bones you used had a will remaining from the monster it came from. If Jin''s chi and body did not overpower them in the first ce, the monster gics could have potentially possessed Jin''s body." Zeru answered as he brought Jin''s face closer and looked through Jin''s eyes.

    "Good, the signs are gone. It seems to be breaking down and Jin managed to reforge himself again. This time round, his body won." Zeru said as he ced his master back down and went over to pick up Bam and Boo for Jin.

    "What bones did you use? I thought you were going to improve me and not making me fight an entity for control over my body..." Jin finally had a breather to ask.

    "Bones of a Vampire." Pei and Zeru answered at the same time, and Jin now understood why Pei said the monster had the same body structure as a human body.

    "Technically, I had nned to make the System purchase the bones of a Vampire Duke for you. Unfortunately, such a high ranking creature is impossible to purchase legally, and the ck market prices are astronomical. Let''s not even start with a Vampire Prince or a True Ancestor. A Vampire Marquis, however, was exactly perfect for budget purposes and the bones are as hard as metal." Pei answered via the bracelet.

    "The wounds inflicted was to awaken the vampire gics in the bone marrow. The inscription should be the one eating all the vampiric genes up so you would not be consumed by it." Zeru shook his bloodied shoulder a bit before the System healed him automatically.

    "Heh, so I might have be a vampire. That would be great for Halloween, but so bad for business otherwise. Still, this rapid regeneration is eerily creepy. I don''t think I will ever get used to the feel of worms squirming around me." Jin answered as he was feeling better.

    "A small price to pay for such an excellent inscription. Besides, you saw how your chi output was not able to cover the regeneration process after two severe hits." Zeru was also testing out Jin''s regeneration capabilities.

    "Now that you learn your limits and how awfully slow you are to even use your sword, it is time to give you proper training with the remaining time you are in here and remember. You do not much time left." From Zeru''s pocket, he threw a few lotus petals around the istion ward, causing it to float mid air.

    "I want you to manipte your chi and control your body to jump onto these petals without making them move more than 2cm away from their original spot. It''s to increase your maniption of chi so that you can call out your fire and ice energy as fast as your mind can think." Zeru said as he gave a demonstration by jumping onto a lotus petal making it appear as if he was floating on it.

    "I notice that you were also able to harness wind energy. Use that to aid you too. But always remember not to move the floating petal more than two centimetres away from its original spot or else I will cut you down." Zeru instructed him as he drew his wooden sword towards Jin.

    Jin understood and gave it a whirl at the training exercise, but any without warning, Zeru already send a whirlwind of cuts towards Jin for breaking the rules. "Don''t worry, I can do this all day until they open the istion ward. Besides, my arms needed some exercise too."

    "What if I do notplete the test by the time the ward opens up?" Jin asked which caused Zeru to send another whirlwind to him, prompting Jin to dodge barely in time.

    "Don''t ever consider the option of failing. Be headstrong and convince yourself that whatever you try will seed. However, considering this isn''t really something to be learned in a brief period of time, you will have to continue the training after you have defeated the four demon exorcist trainees. That is if you fail." Zeru twirled his sword while telling Jin to get up as soon as possible.

    "In short, you are not getting back to the shop until you learn how to control your chi properly without using your Pandaromic Eyes," Zeru said as he deduced Jin''s eyes were bleeding because he was using his Panda Vision to manipte his chi down to exact and detailed movements of the ice shards in order to create the concentrated beam. Such precision had its price and Zeru preferred his student not to take any short cuts.

    "What are you staring at me for? You are a hundred years too young to fall for me. Plus, I do not swing that way. My wife is the ''bestest''." Zeru shot another whirlwind at Jin to make him get back to training.

 Chapter 455 Rex

    <h4>Chapter 455 Rex</h4>

    "Rex, it''s time for you toe out." Kraft was in the deepest level of the Dungeon Maker with the System''s supervision as he unlocked the veryst fox which the System had kept.

    Aside from Pei who was currently making sure of Jin''s condition in his fight against Zeru, the rest of the foxes were present to witness the unlocking of Rex''s cell box.

    Its outer form was very simr to a giant and very advanced levelplicated Rubik''s cube. Numerousbinations were unlocked, including Legendary Grade sealing inscription charms to prevent him froming out.

    Pepper''s task to discover the properties of the magical living armour te was interrupted once more, as the System needed her to remove the previously added custom made barrier, the Reverse Aegis. It had been a perfect addition to Rex''s holding cell since its property to absorb almost every type of energy in order to maintain its barrier form was a boon for the berserk fox.

    After analysing its usefulness in the fight against Orc King Hamu, the System had asked this little girl betor to incorporate the Reverse Aegis, thereby freeing up 0.5% of its maximum processing capabilities needed to hold onto Rex.

    The three ex betors who were marked as troublemakers by the System, each had a reason why they were deemed as such. Kiyu had always been hailed as the goddess of natural beauty. With a charm which she painstakingly trained, Kiyu could make ANY male fell head over heels for her in minutes, resulting in major headaches for previous Users.

    Pei has been at odds with the System for a very long time, and had regarded Kraft as her personal jailer. Furthermore, because of their shared history, to this day, she had not forgiven him and kept regarding him as the Devilman.

    Andstly, there was Rex. An ex betor dangerous to the point that the System needed more than a single leash to stop him from doing the one thing he craved to.

    Rampage.

    ----------------------гм

    The desire to destroy everything in his path had not always been inside Rex. Originally, he had been a human just like all the other ex betors. He had lived a long and in his own regards, a happy life as the one and only right hand man for Zhou Lin.

    Together with the Jade Prince, Panda Lord Zhou Lin hadmandeered his enterprise to aid the Twelve ns at the time to the best of their abilities to vanquish the Banned Emperor''s reign. He and Rex had ovee countless trials to unite the business world of both Eastern and even the Western regions.

    The Western Magic Kingdoms back then had been very fearful of the Eastern expansion, but Rex had been able to make it happen because of his origin. He had been adopted at a young age by Panda Lord Zhou Lin during one of the many revolutions in the Western Magic Kingdoms, yet nothing could hide the fact that he had been a westerner by blood.

    (Regardless of the purpose, Zhou Lin had the foresight to raise a Westerner within his n.)

    Surprised by his discovery that Rex could control both Magic and Eastern Cultivation, Zhou Lin personally tutored Rex, making him on par with Zhou Lin''s bodyguards at the tender age of 12 years old. Treating him like a son, Zhou Lin further inculcated values and business decision making into Rex.

    Despite the protests of the various Panda Elders stating that as the Panda Lord, he should focus more on his blood rted sons who would one day take over his seat in the future, Zhou Lin openly ignored them.

    In fact, Zhou Lin had never been one to show favouritism to those who were not capable, even if those happened to be his own children. Thus, he preached meritocracy as the indicator for those who wished to get the seat of the Panda n''s Head.

    Without a doubt, his sons had been jealous towards their adopted brother but time and time again their plots to remove Rex had been in vain because of his knowledge, insight and mere prowess. He could be considered a near perfect human in all regards... except for one distinct weakness.

    Their father, Zhou Lin.

    Thus, fostered by their hatred towards Rex, and clouded by their own ambitions of bing the next Panda n Head, Zhou Lin''s sons decided on the most viinous n that any child could evere up with.

    Patricideбн followed by fratricide. Even Yun as the spokesperson of the System for Jin had never been informed about the whole truth for one of the darkest chapters in the Panda n''s history.

    The children of the Panda Lord had coborated with the Jade Prince to allow him to remove their father, Rex and any respected Panda Elders opposing their own rule in return for a 50% share of profits after they had won against the Banned Emperor.

    It had not been too hard convincing the Jade Prince to do so, as it was obvious to anyone that he feared the Panda Lord Zhou Lin as a potential threat to his ''rightful'' rule. The Panda Lord had been the one that gathered all the ns to his banner so that the Jade Prince would not be implicated in the long run. If such a man could dispose of one ruler, why should he stop at two?

    After gathering of all these power and the vast sums of money in his disposal, the only thing hecked was prestige, which Zhou Lin could buy if he were smart enough. Despite the many pledges to the heavens by Zhou Lin with the Heavenly Five Elements Tribtion as part of the oath, the Jade Prince was constantly worried due to his inferiorityplex.

    So the Jade Prince agreed to the Panda Lord''s children terms when they came to him. Yet unbeknownst to them, he had something far more sinister in mind. After coborating for a long time with the Panda n, the Jade Prince had already been aware that the sons were rather useless, and understood why Zhou Lin would prefer to choose Rex as his sessor who was their exact opposite.

    The Jade Prince could already foresee that with the removal of the respected Elders, all their businesses would eventually be devoured by otherpetitors given their ipetence. While the profit of 50% seemed alluring at first sight, who was to say, they would be content with that amount and not plot against the Jade Prince to backstab him at some point in the future?

    If they could do that to family, what little concern would they have for the lives of others in exchange for money? Hence, the Jade Prince decided to put his real trust into the Twelve ns. He would remove the elders as requested by the children since it was part of the unbreakable oath when the Jade Prince asked for Panda n''s help. (Both parties agreed to make the oath vague, so there could be leeway with any request done)

    Afterwards, the Twelve ns would dismantle the Panda n and absorb and divide their financial assets as their own. The rest of the Panda n members were to be branded as traitors.

    Initially, the Twelve Zodiac n leaders had been very uneasy with such a decision as Panda Lord Zhou Lin had been extremely generous to them. Only because of Zhou Lin, their ns rose to fame and betraying that man would be a disfavour to him.

    Knowing how the n leaders felt, the Jade Prince used underhanded methods to instil distrust, caused discord within the leaders and even had some of them reced by their more ambitious n members. After all the Jade Prince did dabble with a few Western Arts when the Banned Emperor had sent him off as an envoy to the Western Kingdoms. The magical scrolls of influence he bought, enabled his proposition to be more readily epted by the leaders in exchange for the promise of wealth, power andnd.

    Following the betrayal of?the Jade Prince, the System came into existence and was inherited by the final Panda Elder, who had been hidden in case the Jade Prince would betray them just as he ended up doing.

    Understanding their overall situation from the System, he ordered the rest of the n members and his allies to hide amongst the poption as best as they could. For those from the main family, it was no easy task since many were found and killed on the spot.

    He also told their other branches and outer families to integrate into the twelve ns if needed. As for the Panda Elder himself, he knew that he needed time to make preparations for a potentialeback.

    The System allowed him to grant a part of its own powers upon the various branch heads within Panda n with the goal of passing it down as an inheritance for future generations. It was to raise warriors to lead their revolution, thus creating the first iteration of what was called Sub System Users, who wouldter be the first Betors when they passed on.

    Unfortunately, the n of this Panda Elder only bore fruit a couple of decadester after he had already relinquished the role of the System User to a new generation. Only then, the new (Panda) Chosen called upon her allies to gather so they could begin their counterattack.

    She felt that waiting any longer would result in a further constion of power by the Jade Emperor and his Royal Zodiac ns, just as they were promised by the then Jade Prince.

    Answering her call were the most promising members of the young generation of n Head candidates who had staunchly allied with the Panda n despite the emperor''s deration to brand all Pandas as traitors. The following were some of the Sub System Users which the Panda Chosen was being apanied with.

    Pei of the Crane n.

    Kiyu of the Butterfly n.

    Evon of the Frog n.

    Tsu and Kai of the Wolf n.

    Itori, Ixel and Ixa of the Grizzly Bear n.

    All of them gathered at the behest of the Panda n''s Chosen with their rank and file, as they were all aware that the power they wielded partly came from the ''one'' behind her. From what they were told, disobeying the Panda Chosen meant losing a huge chunk of the power they had gained so far.

    However there was one more candidate that did not stand out in the open, but orchestrated most of what had to be done from the shadows

    Kraft of the long lost Fox n.

    He had obtained the powers by previous Panda Elder through an incident of opportune. The Panda Elder used it as a chance to revive the fox n who had bravely fought beside the Panda n through the years. He was the one who had influenced the new Panda Chosen to convene with the rest and came up with the intricate n of attack.

    The general idea was that they were to infiltrate their enemies'' camps and learn every detail of the Jade Emperor''s activities. If needed, blend into the daily routines of the Jade Pce.

    Be it a chef, cleaner or prostitute. Everyone was clear of their objective. Only then, the rest could ambush them under the guise of the forgotten Fox n.

    Coincidentally, the Fox n was also one which Panda Lord Zhou Lin used to have close ties to, since his paternal grandmother hailed from them. Unfortunately, the Chosen did not care as much for that bond, but not for thest surviving member of the n. (He had other ns in mind.)

    The whole n was to eventually destroy the Twelve ns and have the Panda n start anew again with no dirt on their name and with everything else getting pinned onto the foxes. But to Kraft, that was how the Fox n should regain its reputation as the n of trickery and deception.

    During the constant skirmishes, the spies had learned that the Jade Emperor had constructed a tomb in which he housed the remains of the Panda Lord and his only filial (adopted) son Rex. (For the emperor''s trophy sake.) With the System issuing a mission the Panda Chosen could not ignore, the Foxes were forced to infiltrate the pce and recover these remains.

    But not without heavy losses.

    A forbidden ritual initiated by the System sacrificed the lives of many rank and file including the Chosen''s very own two children, allowing them to revive Panda Lord Zhou Lin.

    The betrayed former Panda Head swore revenge against the Twelve Royal Zodiac ns and promised to use whatever he needed to do to bring them down. Together with Panda Lord Zhou Lin once more, Rex was revived in order to handle the main objective of removing the Twelve Royal Zodiac ns. Thus, Rex became the very first one to be deployed as an official betor under the System.

    Panda Lord Zhou Lin did keep his promise of revenge. He had done many things which on the surface appeared as if they all were in the best interest of the Panda n, but the justice that Zhou Lin served was suffering to both themon folks and Royal Zodiac ns.

    Yet his hunger for power only seemed to grow more and more. Eventually, he even usurped the authority over the System from the Panda Chosen who had resurrected him, turning her into a useless rank and file cultivator.

    Rex was furious about what his father''s wrongdoings, and felt unjustified of what he had been contributing to. The repeating acts of terrors by Panda Lord Zhou Lin had made Rex doubt whether this was the very same person he had decided to apany into the very depths of hell. Still, he followed him with a heavy heart knowing that Zhou Lin had a reason for all this.

    Eventually, it had reached the point that the Panda Lord''s actions could no longer be overlooked. It happened when Zhou Lin had personally executed some Panda n Remnants. They, who were ordered by the previous Panda Elder to hide by marrying into the Twelve Royal Zodiac n had been branded by Zhou Lin as traitors.

    All the Sub System Users had agreed to rebel against him.

    Ironically, Rex had been the first one to get killed by Zhou Lin even though he had been the only one who had refused to join their side. Unfortunately, when the System had been the one to inform Zhou Lin about the Sub System Users'' transgression, the Panda Lord first severed the head of his loyal right hand.

    This particr action had in turn sparked the internal coup d''ижtat against Zhou Lin. What was now only known to Kraft and the System; when the coup happened, the Sub System User''s overall Grade had dropped for some reason.

    However, the System actually yed on both sides of the coin. While it could have stripped the Sub System users of nearly all their powers, the System had decided against it. Instead, it treated the whole infighting as something akin to a test for the Panda Lord.

    In case Zhou Lin was unable to deal with his own faction then it meant that he was not strong enough to remove the Twelve Royal Zodiac ns. In such a case the System nned to wait for however long it would take to find someone suitable. However, if Zhou Lin managed to remove Kraft, it would listen and grant Zhou Linplete ess of all its abilities no matter the cost to itself.

    Against all the System''s expectations Kraft managed to revive Rex with the help of Pei. By performing what wouldter be improved as the standard of resurrection, the drive that kept the betrayed aide alive was seeking justice from his injustice. (Resurrection was not avable until muchter when thews of nature were changed.)

    In the end, it was not Kraft but rather Rex that enabled the rebellion to go smoothly. His burning rage became the backbone of the Sub System Users to defeat Zhou Lin aside from the weak points that he suffered.

    But it was no easy battle. All of the Sub System Users were eventually killed andter revived by Pei into betors. When the Panda Lord knew that it was Pei who managed to restore them as betors, she became his one and only prime target.

    Tsu and Kai who protected her fiercely were maimed by him. And regrettably, they were just the first two on the list of her dead guardians. Eventually when Pei was killed, the remaining betors thought all was lost if not for an emergency backup n by Kraft who had unwillingly allied with the Demon Exorcists. Otherwise, Pei could not have been resurrected as a betor for Kraft too.

    However, Rex was proven to be more dangerous than Kraft anticipated. When Zhou Lin was defeated after permanently losing all their Sub System Users turned betors, only Kraft and Rex remained.

    Sadly, Rex was not satisfied just seeing the corpse of what was once the man he regarded as his father. To make sure that there would never be a repeat of such a case, he decided to consume Zhou Lin''s dantian. "AFTER EVERYTHING I DONE? ALL THE TROUBLE AND HARDSHIP WE HAD BEEN TOGETHER? THIS IS HOW YOU TREATED ME?!!" Rex managed to eat half of Zhou Lin''s dantian before Kraft stopped the man who had be like a brother to him.

    Lamentably, that was also when Rex had killed Kraft who tried to stop him. But with his dying breath, Kraft used the remaining of hismanding power he had over Rex after his resurrection to change him into a fox and sealed him.

    At that point in time, the System ced Kraft in a time stasis and offered him a deal. Thetter could swear allegiance to it, in exchange for resurrection as a betor with immense power, including a limited ability to bring back those who had died simr to Rex.

    Kraft ultimately agreed, yet unfortunately without Pei, he was unable to resurrect his formerrades as humans, and could only provide them the forms of foxes. The Original System made sure to cage Rex up before he could do any further damage to the world and to the dantian of the Panda Lord.

    To the System, the ex Panda Lord was still a valuable subject for the future.

    -----

    "I hope your anger has quelled over the centuries, Rex." Kraft greeted him with a sad smile. Surprisingly Rex did simmer down after that long period of inactivity, especially when he finally got a chance to vent his anger towards Peppers'' Reverse Aegis (It had helped a ton)

    "If those old pencil pushers allow you to take me out temporarily, that means it''s something important. Speak and then leave me alone." Rex sent fiery chi out when he spoke. Kiyu quickly hid behind Kraft while Ixa, Ixel and Itori came forward defending Kraft from that attack.

    "I guess hearing you call me Little Brother once more, is too much to ask... Please lend me your powers, I need you to increase my abilities so that I can track something down for the current User of the System. I hope therees a day when I can get you to meet him. You should like him. It appears he is a bit like the one you really referred to as Father." Kraft exined and Rex was a bit surprised at this information.

    He looked at the rest of the foxes, who unanimously agreed that the User was not unlike the Panda Lord Zhou Lin in legends but of his memories.

    "Hmph, Ten minutes, after that, I am returning to my cage," Rex replied and Kraft was delighted.

    "Ten is a miraculous amount. Thank you! Big Brother..."

 Chapter 456 Updates From The Store

    <h4>Chapter 456 Updates From The Store</h4>

    "Three days? You kidding me, right? It felt like three years!" Jin eximed as he was perpetually filled with bruises and wounds on his body. For thest two days odd after his surgery (further enhanced to nearly one week, thanks to Peppers'' Temporal Maniption magic), Jin had been furiously practising the lotus floating technique.

    Worse, Zeru had been upping the difficulty whenever he felt that Jin was getting the hang of it. He threw whirlwind attacks, vast swarms of petals, and even directly attacking him whenever he tried to jump on the piece of lotus.

    However, Jin discovered a nasty neat trick by oveing the trials. All those chi control training with the Wind Energy which Zeru forced him to do, allowed him to unlock the Green Panda Wind power within him. Jin found it ironic that he wasn''t able to control it from the start but had to reverse engineer his Epic Art to understand how to utilise the wind energy from the Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda.

    That enabled him to create a Wind Astral Panda to infuse into his own body, giving him the agility and chi maniption he sorely needed to float in the air and control his movements in three dimensions.

    The Systemter noted that his Green Panda Wind movements were simr to the cultivation of the Space Hummingbird Cultivation Style. "The simrities of chi control surpass 80%. System rmends User to read the manual to further improve his chi control movements."

    "As if I have the time to read right now," Jinined while lying on the smashed up floor finally enjoying his first rest since the whole ordeal, at least for his little a while.

    Zeru had decided he waspetent enough to pass the test though he''d preferred for Jin to practice more so he would have been guaranteed to pass with flying colours. However, Zeru also knew that ire would open the door to Jin in ten minutes or so ording to the System''s timer, thus giving him time to recuperatepletely for the fight.

    "And even if I did, I sure as heck would not bother reading that. Instead please give me some updates regarding what''s happening at the store, the scouting mission or other things that I should be aware of." Jin asked as he closed his eyes just for a moment. He did not realise that sleeping on the floor could be such a blessing.

    "The Store is still well managed by Yun. WunderPanda Theme Park Instance remains to be the most popr of all instances and the highest grossing instance ever since its inception. The Restaurant Instance still remains the toughestpetitor with Lynn''s inclusion of the Reservoir of Deep Fishing Instance as part of the stops in the Restaurant Instance." The System began its debriefing to Jin.

    "There has been an increase of 5000% in regards to catches and the number of customers buying the various fishes for food increased by 300%. The most popr order was to stew it instead of eating it raw. Thus, the business model that Lynn introduced has been working well and it''s be a popr spot for friends and co-workers to rx. System has also upgraded Bear Cub NPCs with ''yful attitudes'' for free to prompt customers and guilt trip them into buying more fish."

    5000% might look like a lot, but Jin knew that it was because the original number of catches in the past month was way too terrible. (Hint: it was in single digits.)

    "Secondary News. A unit of 15 Dark Arts Practitioners was first captured with the aid of Minotaur Maid Sebastia. Fifty additional Dark Arts Practitioners wereter captured by the Leader of the Dark Arts Practitioners. This had иC"

    "Wait, what? Dark Art practitioners? I thought they were supposed to do reconnaissance and/or fight Demon Rats? Are they rted to the Demon Rats? Have we found the ones responsible who were manipting them yet?" Jin threw a series of questions, and if the System had been Zeru, it would have thrown more shes to shut him up.

    "Minotaur Maid Sebastia has proven quite resourceful by infiltrating into the ranks of the Demon Rats. She previously captured the cousin of Werejackal Leader Gold, Silver, nicknamed the Silver Mage, alongside his subordinates. They had been the remnants of the rebel group known as the Jacks and Sebastia gained the trust of Demon Rats by eliminating them." The Systemter summarised the list of events to Jin, and he was pleasantly surprised by the development by his monsters.

    "Yeah, I should trust them more so I can focus on bigger things." Jin smiled as he thought that when the System interrupted him with more news. "Lord Wolte has evolved immediately after he gained a demon worshipper, who happened to be the patron of the Dark Art practitioners."

    "Huh? But thest I saw him, he had no evolution trigger or meeting any criteria to evolve. Is that even normal? Or was that Demon Worshipper so powerful it caused Lord Wolte to evolve based on its presence? No wait let me guess, because of the practitioners?" Jin asked and Peppers interrupted him when the System had enough of this babbling User.

    "Demons and Gods are different from normal monsters. They need worshippers to increase their powers and based on Moloch''s past tale about Wolte, it seems that he just needed worshippers to get back some of his original powers. The evolution shouldn''t be because he met the criteria, but rather his power level was way more than the current threshold the System had set, thus identifying it as an evolution. Am I right System?" The System acknowledged the suspicion firmly.

    "Ohбнbut can he also meet criteria for evolution?"

    "Yeap, definitely. Although I think the worshippers part will be most crucial to him." Peppers assumed, and the System presented pictures of the new evolved Lord Wolte.

    "What is this? A tank? How is this an evolution? He merely бнwait a minute. These spotlights? ARE THOSE EYES?!?!" Jin sat up to take a closer look at Wolte''s new form.

    It was definitely some sort of tank which he did not recognise, but the thing was he had eyes, a mouth and even a white moustache being merged at the front of the tank. "Do you have a video of him moving around?" Jin curiously asked, and the System presented one as requested.

    "Holy wonkers! This is бн HAHAHHAHA oh my god!" Jin noticed how the threads on the tank were like his hands and legs. He was able to move them at various directions albeit slightly restricted, but he was in full control of the tank. Lord Wolte was literally an anthropomorphic talking vehicle.

    "Lord Wolte, in his free time had studied various forms of military vehicles, most likely to find a way to be more useful to User, despite his previouslycking strength." The System finally took an active role to exin.гм

    "His current form, he nicknamed the ''Slug Tank'' is his most basic forms ording to him. This indicates that there is a lot more room for evolution should he be able to obtain more followers. However, as of now, he isbat ready and has been equipped with slightly more advanced armaments than the Sherman Tank User had possessed." The System exined which Jin thanked it for the heads up.

    "Third News, Sub System Users Qiu Yue and Lynn have been deployed to the Giant World toplete a mission issued by the Cooking Sub System. User was not informed earlier because it has been their unanimous decision to train themselves up." The System reported and told Jin that the mission was to find the missing Penguin Chieftain as they were not back from their monthly pilgrimage to the Altar of Giants yet.

    "The Giant World? Oh, the one where insects can be as big as the size of an Ogre from the Goblin World?"

    "Affirmative, the one User had also used the same analogy on the cats from that world, stating that they would be the same size as an Ogre." The System replied and Jin rolled his eyes.

    "What can I say? They are really all at the size of an Ogre! Only some were a bitrger!" Jin argued as he remembered Lynn and the penguins bringing back a dead Boar looking monster which was the size of an Ogre before cutting it up to use its bones and meat for the ramen broth. (The number of customers that visited the Restaurant instances required such a size to feed their hungry stomachs consistently despite the Sub System''s cloning ability of ''raw'' materials)

    "Alright, leave the two alone unless they signal for our help, but please do monitor them close enough. Call me overprotective, but I don''t trust them enough to be on their own yet. Their cultivation grades are too low forfort." Jin ordered the System while he looked at the reports of the ongoing construction for Pand-Antis.

    "Under the supervision of Demon Lord Moloch, the Orcs and Goblins havepleted Phase One for the foundation of the Undersea City Pand-Antis. A few Sandroku Golems were damaged due to the constant work, but revisions of those golems are already underway to ensure such mishaps won''t happen again." The System noted as it continued with its report with regards to the Floating City

    "Progress has been significantly smooth for the Floating City. Agriculture Sector One''s crops are at 110% growth with the aid of Ancient Treant Shu and Zither Mistress Ke Mi. Agriculture Sector Two livestock have increased to two fold with controlled temporal maniption. Industrial Sector One has recently beenpleted and awaiting your choices to select what kind of industry User is looking at next."

    "I want a factory dedicated to improve and produce more of these Sandroku Golems so that the Orcs and Goblins working on it have a better workshop environment. Allocate half the industral factory space to Niu Lang and the Robot Crawlers." Jinmanded as he exined his rationale.

    "If we are going to invade or protect the Mecha World, we better start producing our own Mechas. But make sure to prioritise the repairs of Mechataur to get it up and running before anything else." Jin said as he had already spent a generous amount of money on Niu Lang to increase his knowledge on Mechatronics via the System. The profit returns were visible from the mini game that Niu Lang created, but it was still not sufficient to cover the costs yet.

    "If need be, outsource help from the goblins and Orcs who had been working on the Sandroku Golems. We need as many people on deck for this. Heck maybe get Lord Wolte since he potentially might have some knowledge on robots too. Else get him to get some tanks or nes. Continue building Industrial Sector Two as per Qiu Yue''s n." Jin continued to swipe the boring statistics that the System showed, and that was also when he heard a lock unlocking from the top.

    "You cane out now," ire informed him as she fully opened the door. Jin closed his eyes for a while to get used to the outside sun before he jumped out effortlessly with no help from his new Green Panda Wind energy.

    "We have verified your existence within the Istion Ward for the past 72 hours. You may now challenge the four demon exorcist trainees. However, I will suggest using your System to teleport you back home and have a change of clothes." ire said as she distanced herself a bit from him with an irk of disgust on her face.

    Jin looked at himself and finally noticed the amount of bloodstains he received not only on his tattered clothing but all over his skin, making it all dark red. If he hadn''t known any better, Jin would have thought that he had drowned himself in a sea of blood.

    "I shall inform Grandma Yuan that you are in dire need of a bath. I am sure she can spare you another 15 minutes. Meet you above ground soon." ire walked away, evidently covering her nose, which made Jin wonder if it was that bad of a smell.

    "Trust me, if not for the bracelet being a dimension of its own, I would have already run far away from you." Pei agreed with ire entirely, and the System had already opened a portal for Jin to a private Emerald Mountains Hot Spring Instance.

    "Oh my god, Master! You smell worse than a rotten fish." Mr Patsuined as he saw his Mastering back for a bath but criticised his body odour.

    "THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW!! Mr Patsu, prepare the most fragrant bath soap you can find and put it into the hot spring instance!" Jin ordered as he hastily took his clothes off.

    "Sire, this is a hot spring, not a bubble bath. Besides, the soap bath would not remove the odour from you. We need to manually scrub your entire body to make sure the stains are washed off." Mr Patsu tried to reason with Jin but he was already butt naked.

    "Then what are you waiting for? Scrub away! I only have 15 minutes in real life! Get it done as soon as possible and soak the hot spring with medicinal herbs! I want to dip a little before I go for the fight!" Despite the demands, the penguins in the hot spring instance were pumped up to serve their master to the fullest.

    "And somebody! Get me a bowl of cold soba noodles! I am literally starving!" Jin yelled as he tolerated the penguins intense scrubbing starting from his feet.

 Chapter 457 Selecting a Location

    <h4>Chapter 457 Selecting a Location</h4>

    Upon returning to the burnt temple location, ire and Grandma Yuan were actually waiting for Jin at the stairs of the underground basement. "Seems like you had more than a good bath," ire mentioned as she thoroughly scanned Jin''s body to the point he felt a bit vited from her staring.

    "Am Ite?" Jin asked as he looked at his storage watch, which indicated he should have a minute to spare.

    "No, but I''d like to request something from you." Grandma Yuan answered as she nodded at ire as if to signal for her part. ire brought out a suitcase from her storage ring and opened it right in front of Jin. It was not filled with cash but bars of gold right in front of him.

    "I refuse if you want me to lose the fight intentionally. Also please don''t tell me to go easy on them, because I literally went through hell inside the istion ward." Jin was quick to refuse what he assumed Grandma Yuan was here before she could say anything.

    "Hahahah! I can imagine. The sensory inscription does not exactly operate the same way as a CCTV, but it was able to track the moments in that Istion Ward. Truth be told, I''d call it a miracle that you managed to survive after all the crazy things that happened inside that Istion Ward." Grandma Yuanughed before she shook her head.

    "No, I am not asking you to do anything of that sort. My words are promises. You shall fight one on one against my students and I sincerely expect you to not pull your punches. However, I never specified the location so that''s the part I would like to ask for your help." Grandma Yuan rified, and Jin started to realise where this conversation was heading to.

    "I see. Even with this amount of money, the materials for resurrection might not cover all four of them and considering they are all fairly high grades, it would be all the more expensive." Jin pondered out loud and ire seemed offended by this.

    "Grandma Yuan is rich enough, she does not need your pity!" ire rebutted before Grandma Yuan stopped her.

    "ire, stop it. It''s true I might have that kind of wealth but would be stupid to waste it for such fights when it can be used for far more important matters like funding a certain store''s expenses. Am I right?" Grandma Yuan was sly enough to change the topic.

    ire initially approved when Grandma Yuan had proposed that idea, but after a while, she disillusioned herself that cultivators having a tremendous advantage in life especially Jin, who possessed the System, would be more prideful in nature. She figured Grandma Yuan lowering her tone and proud stance was to please Jin in order for him to get the request eded.

    "Sure, no problem. What kind ofndscape do you want the dungeon?" Jin agreed almost immediately, which stunned ire for a moment.

    "You... are not bargaining or anything?" ire tried to rify her doubts about Jin, and he shook his head.

    "Nope, that gold amount is more than enough for a dungeon instance. Besides, Grandma Yuan has been treating me rather nice ever since I met her despite her tsundere demeanour." Jin blurted the truth bluntly and Grandma Yuanughed.

    "Hmmph! Cheeky brat watch your words!" Grandma Yuan smirked and walked away, ordering ire to follow her. "A simple arena will be fine and get the portal ready when Ie back here."

    "She means in five!" ire said.

    "Aye Grandma, five is more than enough." Jin acknowledged as he returned back to the Dungeon Maker and whipped up a dungeon instance as instructed by Grandma Yuan. However, he decided to make it a bit more fanciful despite her instructions to be simple.

    The terrain was endless with a few slopes and hills, but the ground was filled with water, simr to the Grand Central experience that Bin Yong and the rest had been in. The water was only ankle level and to avoid the endless pool of water, one had to make for the hills. Jin also did that to give himself a slight disadvantage, especially for the fight against Lein''s since he was an electric user.

    "Why does User wish to give a slight handicap to himself?" The System asked and Jin brought up an important point. Trust.

    "The moment they enter the portal, the demon exorcist trainees might discerned that its a dungeon instance if everything is in my favour. While they do not know that I might have the System, seeing an obvious advantage that Lein can utilise should be sufficient to gain their trust." Jin replied.

    "Will it?" The System shot the question back at Jin, and he was unable to answer for a moment.

    "In any case, I did not do that just for the obvious disadvantage part. I am genuinely afraid of the Demon Snake Cultivator and the Nine Tailed Fox Demon. The shallow water should provide me with sufficient clues to know where they areing from." Jin exined his rationale and once again the System rebutted his ims.

    "The Demon Snake Cultivator and the Nine Tailed Fox Demons are highly likely to use the small hills as cover and as a tform to jump on User. System rmends User to not be stupid and give himself unnecessary disadvantages." The System stated, and it made sense when Jin considered the System''s opinions.

    After all, it did witness the thirty seconds fight till the end and had probably formed some analytical report given the trainee''s performance. Moreover, the System should benefit the most from analysing them in the dungeon instance.

    "Fine, fine. Give me a nice scenery then. Maybe the beach or something." Jin passed the task over, and immediately the System recreated the entire dungeon instance to show a neverending skyline of the sea in the beyond and the beach he requested.

    But as for the sandy beach part, it was spacious up to a 100 metres wide before a high cliff blocked the entire view. "Tall cliffs on on side and the ocean on the other side with an endless beach strip. Seems pretty enough and it gives the challengers options to choose whether they want to fight at the sandy beach, sky or sea. I ept this instance." Jin smiled weakly at the System''s design.

    "Of course, System will never manufacture inferior products." The System boasted itself in front of Jin, and he sighed with a light smile once more.

    Jin reappeared back at the temple hall in time and saw ire escorting the trainees as well as Grandma Yuan into the area. "You could have just waited here, Grandma Yuan." Jin mentioned with a little concern since she did not have to walk out to get her students. She seemed to be quite soft on the inside when it came to her students.

    "Mind your own matters. Have you selected the location already?" Grandma Yuan questioned.

    "Heh! He better selects one that will give him an advantage or else it might be too boring for us in a one to one fight. Am I right guys?" Rong, the Ox Demon Cultivator sniggered as he looked down upon Jin.

    How much difference could three days of training really make? It''s not like he could have improved in grade, right? Besides, he heard that Jin had remained in the Istion Ward the whole time. With no light, food or supplies, one could only cultivate within that room.

    Unlike him, the demon exorcist trainees returned to their respective Royal Zodiac ns to train under the closest scrutiny. Yes, all four of them hailed from various Royal Zodiac ns, and they happened to have an affinity with the variant Zodiac animals which prompted them to learn these Demon Cultivations.

    Each n not only had a Main Family and Branch Families but there would always be another House rted to the Royal Zodiac n family made up of either Monster yers or Demon Exorcists. This had been mandated by the Jade Emperor when he first started up to counter against the ever ongoing monster hordes that gued the earth.

    Hence, these minor Houses within the Royal ns were called the Extermination Houses. There was even a joint organisation that handled these minor Houses to coordinate joint monster extermination efforts in the country.

    Grandma Yuan happened to be Shenzhen''s best and was also ranked amongst the world''s top 100 most experienced demon exorcist instructors. For this reason, despite her little known post as the Tiangong District Guardian, she carried significant influence in Shenzhen. It was at her own request that she maintained the title as the District Guardian due to personal reasons.

    Rong was from the Royal Zodiac Ox n. Su Zhen hailed from the Royal Zodiac Snake n while Lian cultivating the Nine Tailed Fox Demon cultivation style came from the Royal Zodiac Dog n. Lastly, Lein who practised the QIlin Demon Cultivation Style was from the prestigious Royal Zodiac Horse n.

    Within the past three days, they had not received any instructions from Grandma Yuan. Hence, they sought out their n''s own instructors to spar and consumed food that had high spiritual powers to rejuvenate their spiritual cultivation and body. Other fellow n mates had alsoe to assist them with their training so they could practice what Grandma Yuan and their parents had taught.

    Aspared to Jin, they had been living the heavenly life while Jin had been in the hellish pits of a closed, isted ward battling for his life continuously without any stop.

    Not to mention, the cold soba noodles in the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance had been the first meal he got to enjoy in these three days (actually a week, counting in the time dtion). And let''s not forget about his emergency surgery though it proved to be an upgrade he sorely needed.

    When they reached the other end of the portal, all six of them, including Grandma Yuan was taken aback by the beautiful sun setting in the horizon. They found themselves inside a cave inside the cliffside, wide enough for everyone to line up at the opening to watch the sunset. The temperature was cooling enough so that one could snuggle in bed just to enjoy the sea breeze.

    "This is an isted, disclosed ce that I found. We can fight along the beach below and to the sea if any one of you wants to do that." Jin pretended to state that this paradise looking ce was found by him even though there was a high chance they knew it was a dungeon instance.

    "Amazing ce! Which part of China is this ce located at?" Lian asked as she tried to turn on her GPS to check, but there was no signal at all.

    "Don''t bother looking, this ce is isted enough to have our battles uninterrupted," Jin answered as he asked who would be the one to face him first.

    Rong raised his hand up immediately and Jin wasn''t too surprised, especially when he had taken the initiative to attack him before the others had had the chance. "So, is he the typical ''let me fight them all'' kind of person?" Jin wondered as he dly let Rong entered the Beach first.

    "Ox Demon Cultivator Rong has reached Grade 5 Peak aspared to the first time you battled with him. The System will continue to collect information with regards to these Demon Style Cultivators." The System noted and Jin nodded his head, but before he left for the battlefield, Jin asked Grandma Yuan if she needed a chair to watch over the battle.

    "Heh! Imprudent fool! I already brought my own chair." Grandma Yuan coughed as ire took out the very same majestic looking chair from her storage ring she had used to oversee the 30 seconds battle. She even prepared a teacup and ced it at the side of the chair.

    "Now, don''t act all concerned about me. This isn''t anything like the previous you, and I despise being treated like an old weakly grandma by a greenhorn. So stop sucking up to me, it won''t bring you any extra merit points." Grandma Yuan attacked Jin with her stinging words.

    Jin, in return, shrugged his shoulder and took a rope and a modern pulley system out from his storage ring and tied it at the side of the cave. (Jin had actually made it beforehand when the System created this ce for him.)

    The dungeon supplier then slowly descended down the cliff, making Rong waited impatiently for him. "Oei, slowpoke! Can you hurry up?! Dragging out your demise will not help you any further! Just get down fast, and we can start the fight or else I wille after you immediately!"

    "Huh? Me? No, I''m just actually being helpful enough to make sure the rope is strong enough to withstand your corpse after I kill you. After all, Grandma Yuan needs to see the evidence that you died. Besides, you know you cannot do that. It is a sacred part of the rite of the duel to wait for the person to acknowledge your duelling request, else it won''t be valid." Jin lectured as he finally climbed down from the cliff.

    "Who the hell invented such rules? I never heard of such rules from my instructors at all?" Rong sounded unsure of the truthfulness of Jin''s words as he folded his arms.

    "Me. I invented those rules like just now." Jin smirked shamelessly handed a peace sign at Rong and made him mad on the spot. "And your instructors? Grandma Yuan is not the only one teaching you? Do you need more than one person to exin to you how to hit and kick and such?" Jin taunted him as he took out Bam and Boo in katana and Wakizashi form and tied them at the side of his waist with a makeshift holster.

    "You piece of rotten scum! I have no more words for you!" Rong took out a well ornated two handed hammer that had two bull horns at the cheek of it. With a pull and push trigger on the Hammer''s stick, it seemed like the chi from Rong''s body got inserted into the Bull Horned Hammer, and continuous steam was venting out of the hammer.гм

    "Begin!" Grandma Yuan voice echoed in that quiet beach which Rong took the initiative.

 Chapter 458 Giant World

    <h4>Chapter 458 Giant World</h4>

    "Urghhh I never knew that trekking would be such a pain in the ass. Can''t we just use our cultivation? Or ask the System to teleport us somece nearer?" Qiu Yueined as she followed behind Lynn. If this were just an exploration mission to the Altar of Giants in the Giant World, Lynn would have personally beaten Qiu Yue for having such a talkative mouth.

    The trek was not treacherous or anything of that sort. Still, it was obscenely long because of the number of kilometres they had to cover (If they had been giant size, this would not have been such a problem). There were a few Penguins apanying them including Kido who was like a shadow following Lynn wherever she went.

    He became a personal bodyguard after she found out that he was more well versed in Ninjutsupared to the rest of the penguins. His cooking skills were also top notch, and as it turned out, he was also ranked as the best candidate to have been selected by the Sub System.

    However, not all were as incredible as him. The rest of the penguins were only morepetent in Ninjutsu?rather than cooking. Hence, Lynn allowed them to focus more on thebatponent and used them as servers.

    "We should be reaching a checkpoint soon. There is sort of a caveбнerm, I mean crevice between the walls." One of the penguins told Lynn and Qiu Yue, which made thetter slightly relieved. The penguins were not slowing them a single bit. Instead, their ninjutsu training had made them even more agile than Qiu Yue. The cultivators who had been to the Restaurant Instance would know that each waddle they took could be equivalent to six of theirs.

    "Remember that we are here for training while searching for clues to fulfil our mission to find the chieftain." Lynn reminded the Red Panda Lady as she informed her about the Penguin Chieftain, Skitter and the rest of the elder penguin council having used the same track they were covering right now. If they had used cultivation to speed up their way to the Altar of Giants, they could have potentially missed any clues left behind.

    Qiu Yue did argue a valid point that they should use their cultivation to move to the Altar of Giants as soon as possible since they might potentially be trapped there. Kido shook his head and denounced that particr n because of a few things. One of it was that they had already missed the deadline to return from their pilgrimage.

    Should anything have happened to them at the Altar of Giants, they would have been dead by now. Therefore, the penguins back at the vige had already epted the Council of Elders, including Chieftain Skitter, might have been killed or worse, eaten. Hence, what the penguins needed to find was actually a unique item that had been carried by Chieftain Skitter.

    The Totem of Atem.

    Kido mentioned that this particr small totem had allowed the penguins to survive and thrive because it shrunk them permanently into small sizes. In the Giant World, thergest always won and the original sized penguins had definitely not been among those who could bepetitors in this cruel world, but a mere survivor in this giant eat giant world.

    The area which they had established their vige was deep within one of the crevices of the broken Cathedral that lead them to the main Altar of the Giants. Yes, they were located not too far off from the Altar itself because the Penguin Chieftain needed to periodically repower the totem of Atem to immunise the penguin hatchlings from the Giantification Genes.

    "You mean Atom?" Qiu Yue figured that made more sense but Kido and the other Penguins simultaneously corrected her, that it was ''Atem'' and even spelt it out for Qiu Yue. "Alright! Alright, no need to be so agitated about it."

    "Hahaha, it happened to me too. That totem to them is a sacred item like how a statue of Buddha is to a religious person." Lynn giggled and consoled Qiu Yue as they were reaching a broken part of the wall that connected the room they were into another.

    "Still, this is just crazy, do these Cathedral ruins have a history or something? A look at the stained ss windows, I can already imagine there must be some sort of civilisation that lived in this ce." Qiu Yue looked upwards and saw a gleam of light shone down through the giant piece of a cracked window. Qiu Yue realised that if she were standing at the spot where the sun had shone through the window, it would have felt like in a desert walking through that particr area.

    "Surely there is some sort of history behind it all, but we do not have the luxury to find out at the moment," Lynn answered as Qiu Yue could hear the penguins taking out their weapons. It was a Giant Boar Ratrger than the size of an Ogre staring at them in the intersection of the broken off wall. To the great vermin, it was staring at delicious looking food looking to be eaten up.

    "Penguins ready?" Lynn asked as part of her habit. Even if it looked like a rat, the System would still categorise it as a consumable when it''s killed because the meat itself had nutritional value to it and most importantly all those who tried it could only describe it as such.

    Absolutely Tasty.

    Lynn had killed a few of the same Boar Rats before and even used them as part of the ingredients for her more top selling dishes. Yet the customers thought it was merely pork meat, since it was named as such in the menu. Even Jin assumed it was a gigantic boar when Lynn captured it back then. (At the time Jin had been looking through the porthole window, Lynn and the penguins were already slicing the boar rat up.)

    Qiu Yue fumbled as she took her katana out, but by the time she did that, Lynn and the penguins had already charged in and blinded the Boar Rat by stabbing their kunai into the eyes of the Boar Rat. It caused the vermin to screech while stomping its feet and shaking its body to prevent the penguins and Lynn to perform any follow up attack.

    "Qiu Yue,e and join in the fun!" Lynn offered as she stepped back to the direction of Qiu Yue. The cultivator of the ''Radiant Red Panda in the Umbral Snow'' Style thanked Lynn for giving her a chance in the battle. She took a deep breath and stepped forth with her chi all gathered within her sword.гм

    A cold breeze of air flowed through the intersection of the broken wall when Qiu Yue raised her sword to amodate her offensive stance. "Katana Arts! Snowy Dance of the Red Panda. Act 1!" Qiu Yue shouted as her sword turned pristine white and dashed forth to release the chi in her sword. The energised sh released a wind of snowkes, causing the Boar Rat movements to be slowed down significantly.

    That was when the penguins took the opportunity to rush in and deal an all out attack by stabbing and shing the Boar Rat''s legs and tail, causing it to stumble and eventually tumble to the ground for Lynn to deal the finishing blow. A straight cut under the neck released the Boar Rat''s suffering instantly, and the Boar Rat was immediately sent back to the System for cleaning.

    "Another cooking material to be used!" Lynn wiped her one handed sword with a cloth which was hanging at the side of her waist before sheathing it back into the scabbard. "Hehe, It''s a habit. I am a bit particr about cleanliness, even with my sword." Lynn exined a bit embarrassed as she saw Qiu Yue giving her a strange look.

    "Yea, I think both Jin, and I learned that the hard way after thest time we went into your kitchen to share with you some snacks we bought from Tiangong district. You''ve been shouting at us as if there was no tomorrow." Qiu Yue easily epted Lynn''s apology.

    "The Penguins also gave us a death stare. Only afterwards did we realise that you were in the process of washing the kitchen up for the day. " Qiu Yue giggled, and Lynn automatically apologised for her Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour when ites to cleanliness.

    "Sub System User Lynn, Sub System has found a piece of possible evidence when processing the Boar Rat for freezing purposes. Sub System was able to retrieve a particr piece of essory that was stuck in the fur of the Boar Rat." The Cooking Sub System stated and teleported an amulet ne essory into Lynn''s hands.

    She quickly passed it to the penguins for verification and Kido noticed that it belonged to Colwaski, one of the Council Elders that followed Chieftain Skitter for the pilgrimage. "He is basically the overall genius in the Penguin Vige. Without him, we would not have survived this long. All the items he managed to salvage or create are vital for our survival." Kido exined.

    "So do you think it''s a coincidence that he left it with a Boar Rat or was there some purpose to it? Sub System, any conclusive evidence that Elder Colwaski could have been eaten by the Boar Rat?" Lynn asked, and the Sub System conclusion came out negative. Even if there were any signs, it could have long been digested.

    "We are far from over. We have yet to reach the Altar of Giants as you guys stated. At least we know there are some physical remnants of him lying around which meant we are on the right track." Qiu Yue tried to encourage Lynn and the penguins beside her.

    "You are right. We should rest up and continue onter. Sub System, please analyse this to check if there is any possible hidden message in there." Lynn requested since Kido did state that Colwaski was the Overmind in the vige, he might have left some valuable clue behind. However, the Sub System informed her that it would take a few minutes since the System was currently running at near full capacity.

    "Howe?" Qiu Yue asked as she opened her Sub System via her phone and checked that everything was fine at her end.

    "Jin is currently fighting against a Demon Cultivator or as they call themselves the Demon Exorcist Trainees. System is currently analysing the information being collected in real time." The Sub System answered, but the Sub System users were unaware that the System was at full capacity because of Kraft. He was pushing the System to the max into working something valuable after he was done hacking with the aid of Rex boosting his abilities.

    "Shall we watch Jin''s fight while we take a breather?" Qiu Yue asked Lynn, and she agreed wholeheartedly.

    "We hardly see Jin fight earnestly, maybe we too will get an idea on how he performs so we can perhaps train collectively in the future too," Lynn suggested, but in actual fact, she just wanted to fight side by side with Jin. Even though it had been a brief experience, she missed the adrenaline rush when Jin had been by her side fighting against the Orcs in that make believe goblin capital they had created.

    The Sub System obliged to their request since it would upy them for a while as it could dy the process to identify the object which required the main System''s aid.

    "Oh my god, it''s true. An Ox looking Demon silhouette above that guy''s head. I don''t recognise that demon though." Qiu Yuemented but neither did Lynn couldprehend since she was only acquainted with Japanese Mythology and Lore.

    "Ao Ye. A demon that seemingly originated from the folktales of China''s western regions. The System does not currently have much information on it either. Only that Ao Ye is rumoured to consume humans and collect their bones for keepsake." The Empire Building Sub System revealed to Qiu Yue, and they saw how aggressive that Ox Demon Cultivator''s attacks were. The attacks had immense strength behind them, and his footwork was precise, but for some reason, Jin just kept dodging without any retaliation.

    "What is that fellow doing? Tiring that guy out?" Qiu Yue seemed frustrated watching the match, and Lynn begged to differ.

    "If I am not wrong, you should look closer at Jin''s eyes. He seems to be actually trying to learn the footwork of that demon cultivator while avoiding the steps."

    "What for? Jin could just st him out in the sky if he wanted toбнpretty sure he could." Qiu Yue replied back, though she whispered thest more. Still, that was the moment when Jin finally did something to break out of the monotony. He used his shoe to pick some sand up and threw it at the Ox Demon Cultivator to distract him.

    After which, Jin lowered himself as he aimed for the legs instead and suddenly from under the shadow of the Ox Demon Cultivator, a silhouette of Ao Ye appeared from Rong''s legs as if to try and bite Jin off.

    However, Jin was able to evade the silhouette and stood up properly with no loss of bnce. It was Rong''s fighting technique that allowed him to concentrate his chi into his legs, making them fight independently in case Rong''s upper body got immobilised.

    "I see, so the rumours of the Royal Zodiac Ox cultivators taking pride in their legs more than the Royal Zodiac Horses were true. For you to able to gather enough chi to summon a silhouette above your leg, it is truly a wonder." Jin praised his opponent as he took a step back.

    "Hmph, you should be proud to have made it appear. That is why no matter how much you dodge, you won''t be able to pass through my imprable defences of the Ox Demon Leg Techniques. Simr to how Ao Ye hides his legs in hisrge fur like body hair, you will not see my leg attacksing!! And that includes my hammer attacks." Rong announced with pride as he had mastered the foundation techniques of the Royal Zodiac Ox n before bing a Demon Exorcist trainee.

    "Then it''s all the more interesting." Jin beckoned Rong to attack him.

 Chapter 459 Abyss Web

    <h4>Chapter 459 Abyss Web</h4>

    "Whew! it''s finally done!" Kraft heaved a heavy sigh as he pressed the ''simte'' button in the Dungeon Maker to let the software he created run in the background while he stretched his body a little. Rex'' ability boost had proved to be of a significant help for Kraft as he and the System enabled the Original Betor to prate the Deep Web and into the Dark Web of the inte. This was because in order to gain ess into the restricted cyber database which the Chinese government had ced, Kraft first needed to gain some knowledge about thetest possible ways to hack.

    Usually, traversing into the Dark Web was like going into a deep shaft mine without a canary to check for possible signs of poisoning in the atmosphere. However, Kraft had the skills to do that with his eyes closed though this time around, he was not there to merely poke around the Dark Web. Instead, the sly old fox had something more sinister in mind. He was going to infiltrate the lowest depths of the Dark Web or as hackers nicknamed it, the Abyss Web.

    Ironically, it was Kraft who ced the groundwork for that before sending out a challenge on the Dark Web for other elitepetent hackers to try and crack the code. All those who read about the challenge determined to use this opportunity to join in the fun. It took roughly about three years before Kraft''s code was broken.

    The top hacker who did that managed to find out the hidden objective of Kraft and remodified it to be a forum for the best of the best hackers. (He gained the infamous title of Conqueror of Fox Wall by aplishing this feat.)

    However, when the hackers cracked his code, Kraft was already staying within Ming,ying domain. That was also when the world wide web was just an expansion from a small group of governmental users, especially from the various defence departments in the world which Kraft took an active part in it. That was the reason why Kraft, who was knowledgeable in counter intelligence was among the first few to dabble into it and helped expand the project.

    It happened when the System User back then had the foresight to infiltrate into the intelligence and defence departments of the Chinese government to gain an advantage over the Twelve Royal Zodiac ns. Kraft, at the time had been sessful in cing a monitoring device of sorts on the ns. It proved to be very vital in information collecting since the User and System coted plenty of data on the Zodiac ns which they would had never known in the past.

    He even managed to marginalise a victim (as what he had done recently) for the crimes of monitoring the Twelve Royal Zodiac ns. The User did learn about it and eventually assisted inpensating that particr family by matchmaking the victim''s son to a daughter of the Royal Zodiac Snake n. (Of course, behind the scenes.)

    And that victim was none other than Hou Fei''s father.

    Kraft had been like a hidden guardian angel for him because it was the User''smand to take care of the victim''s son and subsequent family members until they were able to stand on their own. So, Ming having met Hou Fei in the army was no mere coincidence, but it was something Kraft had orchestrated behind the scenes.

    Unfortunately, after the time reversal incident, Kraft had not been able to actively ess the because of the need to conserve his energy to assist Ming whenever he felt like it. There was also a personal reason why the original betor decided to follow Ming rather than stay enclosed within the System who had entered a full dormant state after the time reversal.

    Kraft had been afraid the System would repeat the same mistake it did in choosing a person that had intents and actions simr to the Panda Lord Zhou Lin. Ever since Kraft re-joined the System, he made sure to gather sufficient resources under his name in case of such a worst case scenario.

    While the System was aware of Kraft''s doings, it did not stop him because the Original System''s judgement had been wed at a time when it had been at its peak. Thus, the current System knew that depending on the circumstances, it might have to resort to such an option once more.

    Also, despite the System''s pledge to enhance its logical thought process, Kraft inherently knew that the System''s processing capability was being reduced with every User it blessed. The fact that, up till now, only two Users managed to help it recover some of its power proved that most Users it chose had never been very sessful at all.гм

    Some squandered them away by wanting to be the top cultivator in the world, which most often lead to their own demise along the way while others preferred to just live their livesfortably without too manyplications.

    The System had been desperate for a decent User for a long time until it met Ming. Jin''s grandfather ought to be the candidate with the most potential within his generation. It was precisely what the System had been looking for despite his equivalent (foolish?) desires to be the best cultivator in the world.

    Hence, the System had decided to invest everything it had onto Ming, giving him the best training resources possible and aiding his quest to reach Grade 20. However, problematic issues arose when the Banned Emperor assassin killed his daughter, which ultimately broke his will and thoughts, causing him to do suicidal things.

    Therefore, the System decided to abandon Ming in order to conserve whatever process capability it had left after the time reversal, and that was when Kraft jumped into Ming. Kraft could have assisted a Sub System User like Grandma Yuan, but he decided to do something to amend his past regrets.

    Kraft med himself for retrieving remains of the Panda Lord and Rex at the cost of the many lives of his dear friends andrades including his fiancижe. He felt that it had been partially his fault to have let Panda Lord Zhou Lin rampage on his path of destruction. That and the desire of empty revenge for the multiple deaths of the Panda n Remnants back when Panda Lord Zhou Lin had been the User for the System.

    So, when the time reversal happened, Kraft guided Ming when no one else could. Jin''s grandfather had been depressed and suicidal thoughts made him believe ending his life would solve everything.

    Fortunately, he decided against it, as there was still a little Jin to take care of.

    Nevertheless, it felt like a living hell seeing everyone around him proceed as per usual. Hou Fei and Grandma Yuan did show some concern, but Ming always acted strong in front of them. That resulted in them not knowing what was urring inside of him and they even thought that he had turned over a new leaf.

    However, Kraft knew what was happening and stay with him, encourage him (albeit in the form of a little sarcastic subconscious) and aided him to pull through.

    Ming realised and understood where he had gone wrong and taught Jin whatever he could despite how busy he could be at times. In the meantime, his career skyrocketed with the aid of Kraft and Hou Fei supporting him.

    There had been times that Grandma Yuan did pull a string or two secretly for Ming to rise to the top and he was extremely grateful for it even though both of them did not show it to each other.

    ------

    "The malware works with a 100% sess rate in the simtion. Original Betor Kraft''s assistance to dive into the Abyss Web has proven to be very insightful." The System thanked Kraft for breaking into the Abyss Web and getting all the information including the various types of malwares and hacks for the System to analyse.

    Kraft was able to infiltrate into the Abyss Web due to a hidden backdoor he ced in his code when he allowed the others to crack it open. After all, when inviting all sorts of folk into one''s house, why not have a second pair of keys in case he needed one?

    "Duh, you definitely have to thank me. I had to iste all those malware codes to prevent them from infecting you when you were analysing them. But the most valuable yer is no doubt Rex. There were two! Two secret deep root malware codes which I could not have detected without Rex''s ability boost." Kraft emphasised as he remembered how merciless the System had been when it ced Rex back into solitary confinement via that odd Rubik''s cube prison when the ten minutes was up.

    "...System has taken Original Betor Kraft advice into ount. System shall provide better food for Rex aspensation."

    "You better make sure to take note of that!" Kraft said as he nced through the simtion results of the malware that had undergone the test run. With the knowledge he snatched from the Abyss Web, the System and him had been toiling through the hours to perfect the malware they were going to insert into the National Database.

    Like every infamous malware ever made, the System and Kraft named the malware virus - ''Foxy''. What was special about Foxy was that the System injected a part of its artificial intelligence coding into Foxy''s code structure.

    Still, Kraft made a plethora of contingency ns ensuring that the System''s code would disintegrate if someone managed to try and iste and analyse the code structure of Foxy.

    Other than that, the malware was loaded with all thetest weapons of mass cyber destruction. Like an assassin, it''s able to blend itself into its surrounding, preventing others from detecting it and smart enough to gather any information it could grab.

    After which, it would lie in wait, analysing the target''s structure until there was a loophole for Foxy to exploit. It might take time for the Foxy malware to work, but it was guaranteed to breach through any firewall silently on Earth.

    However, Kraft needed to enter as soon as possible since the security administrators probably had already detected the breach in their database when the System had queried about Ryuli. The Chinese government might not be able to patch the loophole immediately, but they would get it done as soon as possible, best case scenario they would have about four to five days. (In addition, it was to wait for the hacker to act again so they can confirm their catch.) That was also why Kraft and System worked to the bone to smuggle in their malware before that window of opportunity would be gone forever.

    "Now, let''s get this baby fox to work," Kraft spoke as the System queried about Ryuli once more, sending another alert out. Kraft had previously instructed Tsu and Kai to track down that particr cybercriminal which he shifted the me to and happily learned that he had not been caught yet.

    So, Kraft was going to use the same trick. Besides after a bit of research, the counter intelligence agent had found out that the criminal was working for an underground syndicate that dealt with human trafficking. The crafty fox believed he would do the world a favour by ensuring someone like him would rot behind bars as soon as possible and not just stay on the watchlist.

    This time around Kraft managed to iste the alert ping within one of the System''s own virtual routers for which he already simted the settings of the government''s internal database on to it. Hence, there was no way it coulde back to haunt Jin.

    When the ping was isted, Kraft injected the malware code into the ping, while also changing the digit of the IP address, borately switching several international routers'' address so as to ''mask'' the address of the criminal he wished to incriminate. After which, he released the alert back into the wild and waited for time to pass.

    But it did not take long for a returned ping by the malware who was connected to the System to respond. "Holy smithereens. What the hell is this!?!" Kraft saw what was inside the hidden national database when Foxy sent a sneak preview of the list of data that were inside there.

    Of course, there was the usual scandalous information about the politicians, among the royal Zodiac ns as well as a certain terror crime watchlist etc. But what made Kraft surprised when he should be immune to all these issues after living for hundreds of years was that there was a file listed ''Surviving Panda n Members'' as well as "Possible Rtives to Fox n." Both of which were an interest to Kraft for particr reasons of the past.

    "Damn it, we cannotmand Foxy to gather what we desire, we just have to wait until the informationes in." Kraft regretted not designing it, but a remote control option had a risk of being detected. Meanwhile, he also analysed the firewall which the hidden national database was using.

    It was out of the world and ording to the knowledge he acquired from Abyss Web, it seemed that it was even more advanced than what Israel, Germany and US were using for their database protectionbined. If those western countries were tp describe their defences as an imprable firewall, China was literally using the Great Wall of Fire. Kraft sighed when he also noticed that the sneak preview list had an existing watchlist for the Banned Emperor Assassins.

    "At the very least, they are not oblivious to their existence." Kraft knew that all he needed to do was wait even though it was the most excruciating thing he could do right now.

    "I guess I could watch Jin''s fight while waiting for the time to pass so, so slowly." Kraft sat down and leaned back in the Dungeon Maker to enjoy the fights.

    "Still, I am interested in the Nine Tailed Fox Demon Cultivator. It''s time for a well deserved break anyway. Shall we find out how the foxes of this generation fare?" Kraft invited hispanions over, and the System teleported a penguin carrying a te of tonkatsu curry rice for Kraft and the others to partake. (Evon grabbed two pieces before Kraft even had a taste of it!)

 Chapter 460 Pandaromic Eyes 2.0

    <h4>Chapter 460 Pandaromic Eyes 2.0</h4>

    A shockwave st travelled throughout the beach as Rong, the Ox Demon Cultivator mmed his two handed Bull Horned hammer on to the ground. When the impacted sand finally settled to the ground, Rong was still panting from his continuous attacks. Jin gracefully dodged the attack and struck towards his legs once more.

    Rong partially blocked the attack, no longer having the same stamina he had at the start of the fight. "Are you fucking messing with me? Why are you always aiming my legs?!" Rongined when Jin took a few steps back, still feeling refreshed. The battle was taking so long that the sun had already set and was reced with a waning crescent moon shining its best to keep the ce lit up.

    "Ehh, isn''t that because that''s your weak point?" Jin asked back, and Rong was speechless for a moment. He had no idea how he knew it as he had tried to cover it up as much as he could.

    "What the fuck do you even mean?" Rong faintly tried to bluff his way out of the usation as he tightened his grip on his bull horned hammer and charged forward once more.

    "How did Jin knew that was his legs were the weakest part?" Lian asked and Grandma Yuan was gracious enough to speak the answer out.

    "It is because Rong ovepensates his weakness. See how Rong gets flustered the moment Jin tries to aim for the legs? This kind of bodynguage, as well as the strong retaliation attacks from him, proves that he can''t afford to let himself get injured there. In other words, it''s exactly where Jin should aim for. Now, most people would do the opposite the moment they see that there are no openings for his legs." Grandma Yuan exined.

    "Also, notice how his hammer swings are not as swift when ites to defending his lower part of the body? It is an inherent weakness of the hammer techniques due to the shift in weight to block the attack. Which is why most hammer cultivators would have learned how to push their opponents away and strike them back. Unfortunately for him, Jin isn''t one to be pushed around, and he is capable enough to avoid any attacks."

    "But you have to give credit to Rong, he had been practising his Ox Leg techniques for the longest time and continues to do so after he picked up the Ox Demon cultivators." Lian chimed in defence of her teammate.

    "Still, you saw how Jin always attacks the left leg instead of the right whenever he got the chance?" Grandma Yuan rified, but apparently, her disciples had not noticed that details.

    "Fools! I believed Jin saw a slight difference in movement with his left leg instead of his right. Rong might have practised a lot of his Ox Leg techniques, but he predominantly uses it on his right side rather than left which causes that foot to react slower" Grandma Yuan scolded them reiterating her point to underestimate Jin.

    "Still, it looks like he is withholding his punches against Rong as if he knows that we were going to analyse them and use it against him." Su Zhen said as she was the only one who had her eyes affixed on Jin''s movement.

    While the interaction between her fight against him was short, it was enough to know that he seemed more agile than thest time they met. Visibly agile and less panicky. Was it because he was prepared to fight them this time aspared to the previous surprise ambush? She would not know until Su Zhen fought with Jin one on one.

    "He could be, but does he really need to?" ire fired the question back at Su Zhen which broke her gaze on Jin.

    "Yeah, Rong is already bearing the burden of the sword shes on his legs," Lian replied to the group on behalf of Su Zhen. "With his leg injured, Rong cannot fully expend his Ox Demon powers as much as he wanted to. The fear that Jin would attack him again at the same spot limits his options against Jin. Rong might be a frontline fighter, but he requires support to distract the enemy so he could unleash his dynamic, powerful attacks."

    "Indeed." ire agreed as she eyed at Lian, who was itching to go down to help him. They were, after all a pair when it came to training, each of them covering for the other''s shorings, providing an almost perfect offence.

    If it was not Jin who fought against them in the 30 seconds trial, the Demon Exorcist trainees were sure to have gotten a victory within the first five seconds.

    "Last but not least, his full body ted armour only covers his shins," ire added as Rong was the only one in full armour amongst the Demon Exorcist Trainees although he only affixed ted armour parts which did not affect his overall movement.

    "His inscription was working, and leg strikes prevented a number of hits before it got serious." Su Zhenmented as Jin suddenly changed his stance.

    Not caring for those watching him and their talk, Jin had not only been dodging to taunt Rong. Instead, he had been using this fight to get more used to his upgraded Pandaromic Eyes ability ever since he was able to control his chi to a certain degree.

    Jin was finally able to link it up with the System and use it like a digital disy which the System showed the potential weakness that Rong had. In his defence, Grandma Yuan never stated that he wasn''t allowed to use the System to the fullest potential.гм

    The Pandaromic Eyes 2.0 made everything look very game like him. He could see an estimated percentage of Rong''s health in a bar, which made he doubt the analysis that the System gave him.

    "Are you sure this is urate? Thest time I used this Pandaromic Eyes feature on Zeru, all you gave me was a ''??????'' question marks all over his so called health bar!" Jinined to System while he was fighting with Rong.

    That was another reason why Jin had not fought to the best of his ability. It was not because he was hiding his skill, but arguing with the System. "System has collected over thousands of cultivator''s data to provide such an estimate, so User could gauge how much damage is needed to defeat Ox Demon Cultivator Rong." The System replied back.

    "Then why are there times his so called health bar increases when he is obviously not taking any health potions or anything of the sort? He was just recharging his chi!" Jin pointed out as he parried the hammer blow while looking extremely focused when he was actually very annoyed by the System.

    "As Betor Peppers would put it, ''because this is reality, not some sort of video game. Unlike in the virtual world, no one can fight at 100% top strength while only having 1% of his HP remained''. Chi is a factor that has to be taken into ount as it helps reduce bleeding, enhances body recovery in a short burst as well as expending energy output." System stated its rationale to Jin.

    "System originally wanted to ce a chi/stamina bar factor right underneath the health bar but decided otherwise. This was because chi can be affected by an individual''s willpower. Therefore, System cannot properly estimate a chi bar."

    "Hence, System decided to include the chi factor into the health bar algorithm, to represent a more urate indication of a cultivator''s health. Through the constant use of Pandaromic Eyes, System believes that it could push out products simr to that to the store''s cultivators."

    "Oh please, if you wish to push it out, you would already have done so. Aside of that, you can also control each and every minion, and if you want them dead after a certain hit, you could make it happen." Jin added as he made an irritated sound in front of Rong as if it was just too bothersome to fight with Rong.

    "What the fuck is wrong with this person? This was supposed to be a fight to the deathбн why does it feel like I have interrupted him mid-thought? If he is feeling irritated, why can''t he just finish me off quickly?" Rong thought as he panted heavily and began to feel the pressure on his left knees and ankle.

    After seeing that it seemed impracticable for him to continue, Rong had wanted to withdraw from the fight. No matter what, he wanted to escape the sensation of death, but remembered boasting those big bombastic words of his to Jin.

    If he withdrew from the fight, it would be guaranteed that the others would remember him as a coward, including his opponent. Or maybe Grandma Yuan would personally cut him down since she already dered that there was could be one person to be left alive.

    "That is actually a very good idea, User. By introducing health bars to the monsters, System could artificially control the amount of health a minion can have. Upon reaching the threshold, System can then teleport the minion away as if it disappeared into nothingness. While in actual fact, the minion is still alive. Thus, it will save a significant cost in the long run." The System sounded excited upon hearing Jin''s proposal.

    "But your initial cost will be quite troublesome if you have to invent like some sses or contact lenses for them to see through." Jin avoided another iing hammer strike from the exhausted Rong. Because of the heavy st impact that he made, Rong was stuck in mid air due to the momentum he made, but Jin was not bound by any since he had the Green Panda Wind energy infused within him.

    With a slight push, Jin was able to slip through the sandy impact and sh at both of his legs. Blood was visible with Rong unable to block in time and he fell to the ground in pain. Jin did not waste any time and finished him off with a sh to the neck. The others saw how effortlessly Jin killed Rong, but none of them noticed the Green Panda Wind Energy he utilised because of the sand fall from the impact.

    Except for Grandma Yuan.

    "Looks like he is able to mask his technique with Rong''s attack. For him to control his chi to such a level aspared to just a few days ago, there''s no doubt he had been trained hard by Master Zeru." Grandma Yuan thought as she continued to drink her tea.

    Meanwhile, the rest scorned Jin for killing Rong so mercilessly while at the same time trembled at the fact that Grandma Yuan had been deadly serious about this being a fight to the death.

    Though they could afford the resurrection given their family status, death was still something unknown to them, and it was definitely something no one would want to experience. They had heard rumours how resurrection could go wrong, or be damaging to the spiritual soul and hence reducing the cultivation grade.

    Some extreme gossips even imed that it might render the cultivator handicapped from chi production because of the dantian dysfunction after the resurrection.

    "Ah! How about reusing the masks that we made the cultivators wear during the Goblin Raid? Maybe we could add a cosmetic lens enabling the cultivators to see each other''s grades, by showcasing the data from their ount. You should be able to cut cost if you proceed that way. Well, if you want, we can try and make the cultivators pay for an upgrade at a small fee to offset some of the costs. The new masks can be produced via the Lost Tech Counterfeiter if needed." Jin suggested while looking coldly towards the sea. To the other Demon Exorcist trainees, they believed that he was looking down of them.

    In the meantime, Lian came down to retrieve the body of her close friend while tearing a little at the fact that Rong was killed just like that. She knew that he would be resurrected, but still, such a sight wasn''t easy to behold. "You did wellбнyou did wellбн" Lian sobbed as she repeated those words. Angered by Jin''s indifference, Lein had decided to be the next opponent.

    "Lian, you recover yourposure first. I shall defeat this nobody before he dares toy another finger on either you or Su Zhen." Lein announced, but the White Snake Demon Cultivator jumped into the fray with her weapon already out.

    "I want to fight him too." Su Zhen words were direct and cold.

    "Like I said, one on one fight!" Grandma Yuan spoke with an uncaring tone. She knew such a scene was bound to happen after seeing one of theirrades killed. Yet, the two Demon Exorcist trainees would not budge at all.

    "Sigh, they have so much more to learn than just revenge for theirrades." Grandma murmured her troubles at ire and she nodded her head quietly. She remembered how blinded she was by the same thoughts during her training.

    "No, he is mine!" Lian argued as she was filled with rage. Her portrayal of the Nine Tailed Fox Demon silhouettes was burning brightly above her head as she moved towards him.

    "Actually, how about we change the rules a bit. I fight against all three of them." Jin suggested as he stretched his arms to loosen the ache in his waist.

    "You sure about this? бн Alright then, the deal still stands so don''t me afterwards if you lose. But if you win, I shall throw in a little something for yourбнkindness. Other than that, Proceed." Grandma Yuan started the match verbally. ire shook at her head for their rashness but believed it was a still a good indicator to see if Jin had truly improved from his stay in the istion ward.

    "Then let me end his life in this instant." Lian did not hesitate as three tails appeared right behind her. Jin noticed that her rage for revenge had nearly consumed her entirely, and her control was seem very limited that it could breakdown anytime. Lein and Su Zhen immediately knew that Lian would not be ying around when her tails had appeared, therefore giving way to her make the first move.

    "So, I guess its Round Two?" Jin smirked at himself for the deja vu he experienced when he saw those three tails waving radiantly right behind Lian.

 Chapter 461 Combat Magus

    <h4>Chapter 461 Combat Magus</h4>

    This time around, Jin did not get distracted as he was fighting not one Demon Exorcist trainee but three of them. As it seemed that the trainees had not figured out that they were inside a dungeon instance yet, the System had withheld the teleportation of Rong''s body for a long while until ire came down to pick it up.

    Lian did not want to get distracted by Rong''s body and was relieved after ire had taken it towards Grandma Yuan. However, the moment ire returned to the Grandma Yuan''s side, the System initialised the body, transferring it to the Recovery Instance.

    In the meantime, Jin and Lian shed with each other furiously. He knew that her attacks could prate his de after experiencing it first hand in the 30 seconds trial. But what if Jin had two weapons out? Jin held Boo in on the reverse so that he was able to manoeuvre the wakizashi morefortably in hopes of defending the prating w attack.

    *ng!*

    Jin saw a slight spark as his wakizashi deflected a heavy push of strength from Lian''s w attack. While he was ted that his theory worked, it made Lian extremely annoyed by the fact that he was able to defend it so smoothly this time around. But in terms of speed, she believed she had the upper hand and with the aid of her two teammates, should he even think of surviving the next strike?

    "Su Zhen! Lein!" Lian shouted for the two''s assistance as she took a step back and charged her chi up. Even though she wasn''t the one that usually gave the orders out to the group, the other two obliged as they shared the pain of losing arade. However, it seemed to be hurting Lian more than the other two.

    Su Zhen, the White Snake Demon Cultivator threw out her whip at Jin, but just likest time, he was able to estimate the length of the whip and dodged it by initiating a Panda Roll. Thanks to Pandaromic Eyes 2.0, he knew the estimated distance he needed to move away.

    "Damn! You are barely wrong!" Jin thought to himself and the System as he could sense the whip''s end turning into a snake mouth attempting to bite him.

    "Still User had evaded the whip part." The System argued back as it rmended evoking White Panda Ice magic to prevent the Lein''s follow up attack. Jin already had the chi ready as his body immediately enveloped itself with ayer of thin but effectively strong ice of armour.

    Unlike the previous time, he had no difficulty getting the chi out due to ack of time. This current evocation of the White Panda Ice Armour was lightning fast. Zeru had been drilling the process of chi control into him, forcing him to be more nimble and faster.

    While he was imaging the shape of the particr magic he wished to cast, Jin needed to roughly gauge how much chi was required as well as the direction of how the chi should be transferred out of his body.

    For example, the White Panda Ice Armour. He imagined himself to be in a full suit armour while portraying the chi out from his entire body instead of iting from his hands. Therefore, the trick quickened the process while the imaging of the armour allowed the chi to materialise itself.

    "Intermediate Sword Arts, Thunderp of the Qilin!" Lein used the same technique only this time Jin blocked the attack wlessly with no damage to himself.

    "Ice Prison Transference!" The moment Jin blocked the electrifying strike, he dropped his wakizashi and pushed himself forward to grab onto Lein''s hand, and the ice crept- no. Raced from Jin''s body and onto Lein''s arm. His sword immediately lost all electrical charge, and Lein was taken aback by this odd skill that his opponent used. The ice swiftly enveloped the entire right arm while the ice armour on Jin''s body lessened.

    "As long as you have your imagination with you. Anything is possible with your magi- *Cough* chi abilities." Jin remembered Zeru''s words during his training, and he had been using it prominently in battle.

    To the spectators such as Qiu Yue and Lynn, it was a side of Jin which they did not see, and they were envious that he was able to perform such chi abilities. Even the Penguins climbed on the girl''s head or shamelessly squeezed themselves through their chest to watch the match.

    "AhhбнMing, I can practically hear you boasting about your grandson already. For you tobine western magic and eastern cultivations to the highest degree and use Jin as your experiment to perform Maqi. You are one heck of a crazy geniusбн I am d I decided to follow you." Kraft grinned as he saw Jin seamlessly used his newfound Maqi abilities on the terrified Qilin Demon Cultivator.

    Maqi.

    It was a term coined by Ming after he happened to discover a way to convert chi for magic purposes. (Chi can be pronounced as ''Qi'' too.) He had taken the concept from modern cultivators like Jia Le, who had fused Eastern Cultivation and Western Magic to use the Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivation style thus allowing her to cast earth magic with chi.

    This allowed Jia Le''s to create those magic spells out and like Jin, imaging yed an important part. However, her cultivation only utilised the concept of chi.

    For Jin, his Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation always emphasised on the being, how Jin had to be one with the spirit and body. To know thyself, he must go within thyself. The whole basis of his cultivation was based on the symbolism of a circumpunct; an ancient sign made of a circle with a point at its centre.

    Ancient writings and historical records believed that the circumpunct was the most original aspect of God and that it also represented the consciousness of man. The dot in the middle of the circle represented a person''s origin, while the ring symbolised life experiences through one''s soul. Hence, the Astralponent of the cultivation style.

    And which animal had the most obvious symbol of a circumpunct in them? It was none other than the Pandas. With the connection to the Heavens via the System, and Jin being a product of circumstances, the Neen Lazy Astral Panda cultivation had been the perfectplement for Ming''s grandson.

    That was why Ming also named it with the prefix ''Lazy''. For only when one waszy, they would question and ponder how they could improve their life so they canze around even more. That was what Jin had been doing every single day despite his busy schedule.

    How could he improve the lives of his team and monsters while making their life easier? How could he serve his customers better and more efficient? Jin might not have achieved enlightenment, but he did make an effort towards his own path of altruism. (Even though he was a businessman in nature.)

    By attempting to knowing oneself and improving oneself spiritually, mentally and physically, Jin had unlocked the way how to use his cultivation correctly. But in technical terms, the most important aspect for him to utilise Maqi was the spiritual union with the Pandas.

    Because of that fateful encounter, it enabled his cultivation to tap into the mana circuits without him knowing and it was the merging of the mana circuits and chi circuits that produced the by products of sludge.

    The problem was that as Jin attained a higher grade, it also meant that his mana and chi circuits were merged to the point that they were either strengthening the circuits or even start growing new routes to amodate and increase his Maqi output.

    Thus, he produced even more sludge that contained not only by products from the merging process but Maqi infused in it to allow him to move them at his own will.

    So, Jin was not simply a cultivator nor a mage, but a true blue Combat Magus. The perfect (well, almost in Ming''s theory) fusion of Eastern cultivation and Western Magic, akin to the Yin and Yang circle.

    гм

    -------

    "Lein, get away!" Lian burst herself like a bullet towards Jin when she saw what was happening to her fellowrade. Su Zhen also assisted by trying to grab Lein by his waist via whip to pull him back.

    "Not fast enough. Ice Prison Crush!" Jin grinned as he tightened his hand''s grip the moment he lost contact with Lein. The Ice armour encasing Lein''s entire arm tightened to the point that the White Panda Ice cut it off from his body. Lein screamed in agony from the intense pain and blood that was gushing out at a rapid pace.

    Su Zhen quickly removed her outer shirt and wrapped it around the wound the moment she got a hold of him. She even cut apart her whip so that the snake that transformed from it could be used as a sort ofpression to stop the blood from flowing.

    In the meantime, Lian''s ws grewrger to the point it would impossible to evade via normal means, but Jin was anything but ordinary. Without a word, an Astral Pandas appeared grabbing on to the wakizashi that had dropped on the floor and transformed it into a huge enough shield to cover Jin. Simultaneously, the dungeon supplier had already gathered enough ck Panda Fire Energy as he mmed it into the ground.

    A st of ck Fire erupted beneath Lian as she tried to force her attack down against the defending Astral Panda. "AHHHHHH!!!!!" Lian screamed as she felt her skin being burnt from the attack. Even the high fire resistance inscription she had obtained from Royal Zodiac n was unable to withstand it.

    "I am not done yet," Jin ordered the Astral panda to jump up and m her down while she was still in shock from the eruption attack. The moment the shield hit her, spikes emerged from the front of the shield piercing her through.

    Yet Jin did not stop at that. He utilised Green Panda Wind energy to reinforce the impact from above. Lian had barely been able to survive the piercing shield charge, but the Wind Energy reinforced the destructiveness of the fire. There was nothing left but ashes and his Boo in shield form.

    Lein saw the entire process and trembled in fear even though Su Zhen was trying her best to calm him down. "Stop moving or else the bleeding will only get worse!!"

    "But it is no use! That guy! That guy is worse than a demon!" Lein screamed until Su Zhen pped him to keep his sanity steady. Su Zhen looked back at the direction of Jin but realised he was already gone only for the next moment to feel the edge on her neck.

    "Sorry." Jin uttered after he shed her neck off, leaving Lein all terrified with random thoughts. "How could a Grade 10 cultivator be killed so quickly by a Grade 8 cultivator? Is he really just a Grade 8 cultivator? Did he hide his true strength in ourst encounter?" Lein thoughts were spoken out loud, and Grandma Yuan replied for him.

    "Jin is indeed a Grade 8 cultivator." Those words sounded like a lie to Lein as he saw Jin''s katanaing at him with ck Panda Fire.

    "How is this possible? Where did we go wrong? It was a three against one fight! " Lein could notprehend that he was going to die. Throughout his life, he had felt like the main protagonist. Sure there had been hardships, but up until this point, Lein always overcame them. People around him even boasted that he might be the rare ''once every century'' prodigy of the Extermination unit in the Royal Zodiac Horse n.

    Nevertheless, right now, his life was controlled by this supposed Demon Exorcist trainee candidate. Lein could not fantom the power gap as his eyes were desperate for an answer even though it was blurry from all the tears that had fallen.

    The next moment darkness enveloped him.

    "There is one way. Practice more andбнerm be humble." Jin shed Lein''s head away in one stroke to end any further suffering.

 Chapter 462 Lynns Ride

    <h4>Chapter 462 Lynn''s Ride</h4>

    "бнWas Jin always that powerful? I know we fought with him a few times, but I''ve hardly seen him do any of that kind of magic skills out in the open with us!" Qiu Yue had her mouth wide open in disbelief when the Sub System stopped the broadcast.

    "I honestly never seen him so ruthless and act so skilled at all. But that first match?? Yeah, I kind of expect Jin to perform such a strategy. Buying time, learning his opponent and striking when he believed it was the right time." Lynn uttered as they were sitting waiting for the results of the amulet from the Sub System.

    "However, thatst match. I am totally speechless at the speed he was moving and strength he wields."

    "Is that why he refused to show his cultivation out in the open? Like that previous time, he had been so reluctant to get out there and remove the Ruby Rat gangsters. I''m sure any other cultivator who has that kind of strength would like to do that in a jiffy and to show off who''s boss." Qiu Yue remarked while she took out a bottle of water from her storage ring and after taking a sip, she shared it with Lynn and the penguins.

    "Perhaps? Maybe he is keen on keeping his real strength hidden so his rivals such as the Ruby Rat Triad gang members will underestimate him in case they decide to do something more drastic." Lynn deduced as she also took out a few packets of biscuits to feed the penguins.

    "Speaking of them, they''ve hardly bothered us after Tiangong District Police stationed their policemen and increased their regr patrols by two fold." Qiu Yue checked the progress of the construction of the Dungeon Fortress City as a force of habit.

    "Hahah! Yes I know. Instead, the policemen and the Ruby Rats had beening to my restaurant way too often forfort. The System and Jin don''t seem to n to prohibit them froming in, as long as they behave themselves. Some even asked if there were any ns to sell the theme park food as a side menu." Lynn shared with Qie Yue. There were times she wondered if the Triads and Police would ever fight in her restaurant.

    "Are you going to do that?" Qiu Yue turned in order to get a piece of biscuit from her too.

    "Probably not, it spoils the restaurant feelingбнimagine eating Churros in there. It бнI don''t really knowбнkind of feels weird, doesn''t it?"

    "Not to me, I like those churros. They''re awfully crunching, piping hot and sugary sweet! Way better than this biscuit that''s for sure. Speaking of that, why did you not bring some of the cooked food with you? Actually, why are we not teleporting back for a rest beforeing back here?" Qiu Yue asked as she munched on the biscuit.

    "Becauseбнwe have our answer ready from the Sub System." Lynn showed the results of the Amulet from her phone to Qiu Yue.

    "Sub System has located a probable signal that matches the frequency of energy the amulet emits. However, Sub System is unable to pinpoint the exact location and can only guide Sub System Users to the vicinity of that particr point."

    "So, something like a tracking device? It seems like it''s still moving." Qiu Yue noted as she looked at the phone screen closely.

    "Please hurry, the signal is already weak enough. Anymore waiting and Sub System might not be able to track it down." The Sub System warned the Sub System Users that they were at least hundreds of kilometres away and the signal was almost too weak to be traced down.

    "Judging from the distance, even activating our cultivation will be a hassle to travel that far. Shame Jin doesn''t really have any minions that are well versed with long distance." Qiu Yue talked to herself out loud.

    "Ah! Wyrstrker has a wyvern butбнurgh it might be too small for the both of us to ride. Or maybe Mr Oink! But urgh, I remembered how he moved too much forfort and the seats were... urgh." Qiu Yue said to herself as she checked thest bits of her construction tabs on her phone.

    "Lynn, how about asking Jin to get us one of those Jeep that he -Woah!" Qiu Yue was surprised by sudden booming sound that was right beside her, and when she looked up, there was a slick looking motorcycle rumbling its engines in front of her.

    Its twin turbo engines were bursting exhaust out of its vents and Lynn threw a helmet at Qiu Yue while she took out her scratch resistant jacket to wear.

    "You are riding this?!?" Qiu Yue asked the obvious question as she had difficulty wearing her helmet. Penguin Kido asked her to squat and assisted her with the helmet by hitting it hard on her head while the other penguins had their own minibat cycles as well.

    The motorcycles were all due to Hou Fei. When he was reviewing the armaments with Jin in the terrace house dining table, Lynn happened to hear how they needed vehicles for the uing Demon Rat Wars, especially since they had lots of ground to cover.

    Because of the sessful Goblin War, the System had rewarded Jin with a huge sum of budget for the Demon Rat War and the constant profit that was flowing in allowed him to review the type of armaments they could use.

    That was also the time when Lynn considered getting her ownbat cycle and if possible for her penguins too. Hou Fei''s eyes lighted up the moment he heardbat cycles and smirked at Jin.

    The boss understood that expression and decided to provide Lynn with a budget to purchase them. After all, the ninjas could make use of the bike''s high mobility, and Lynn hardly requested things from him.

    "I never dreamed of being able to find a fellow motorcyclist enthusiast in this store!" Hou Fei sounded ted as he immediately brought out a magazine and a suitcase along with it from his storage ring. The magazine detailed various famous bikes that were on sale and when Lynn was previewing them, Hou Fei opened his suitcase and showed the modified blueprints of such bikes for the use ofbat.

    "You are intending to use military gear parts on a civilian motorcycle?" Lynn asked and Hou Fei smile got even wider.

    "You did say you want abat cycle right? If you do not include engines made especially from the military, how fast do you think you could go?" Hou Fei reasoned, and she guessed he was right.

    "The System should be able to fix it up for you once I confirm the delivery. Plus, I heard from Jin that you guys have some Lost Tech machine that allowed you to do wonders such as copying a whole item. So I will acquire two of the motorcycles and stuff them with as many items as possible. Don''t worry, one of them will be rescaled to your penguin''s size."

    "Will that affect the output of the engine?" Lynn was worried, and Hou Fei patted her on her shoulder.

    "Fear not. When ites to motorcycles, and military weapons. Nothing is impossible for this old snake." Hou Fei had indeed aplished the seemingly impossible by delivering the motorcycles in two days time as well as a few crates of military gear to be fitted into thebat cycle.

    Niu Lang, their new in house mechanic, along with the robot crawlers began to fix it up for Lynn, and the rescaled version waster ced in the counterfeiter for production.

    "You can ride a bike?! Damn it you are too cool! How did you even get one in the first ce?" Qiu Yue asked after Kido fixed her helmet.

    "Long story short Hou Fei is living up to his name as a weapons dealer! Come on, grab onto me. We have a lot of catching up to do." Lynn signalled Qiu Yue to get behind her and after which she hand signalled the other penguins on thebat cycles. The booming engines from thebat cycles suddenly turned silent, and it was apparently a feature that the Niu Lang added especially when he believed the Ninjas needed stealth riding.

    It was a high level anti sound inscription charm which he got from Octofussy and ced them onto the roaring V13 turbo twin engines. When all the engines went silent (Even though they were still shaking violently!), Lynn gave the okay sign to move, and Qiu Yue grabbed on to Lynn''s waist tightly.

    Thebat cycles went from 0 to 110km/hr in 3 seconds, and if the people riding them were not cultivators, they probably would have flown off or broken their arms from the inertia drag alone. Not only that, thebat cycles were versatile enough to traverse on any terrain because of the custom made wheels which Hou Fei obtained as well as the multi-tiered suspensions.

    However, there was more to it than just speed, and while Lynn hoped she did not have to use them, she was equally eager to show off to Qiu Yue. (Even though right now, the red panda cultivator seemed like she was hanging onto dear life from the high speed ride. (or grabbing!)

    ---------------------гм

    "Original Betor Kraft, another wave of information was sent in by Malware Foxy. On a side note, the government has finally taken action regarding the scapegoat criminal." The System reported, and Kraft used his newly acquired knowledge to search for the CCTVs that were linked near the criminal''s location.

    "ck suits, ck spectacles and armour civilian vehicles. Seems like they are taking this seriously." Kraft spoke to himself. The ck suit agents were not pulling any punches, in fact, they were severely brutal towards the criminal, and a look at their tactics had shown Kraft that they were highly skilled. "Looks like Grade 10 and above."

    Kraft had made sure the hacker involved in human trafficking was implicated as nned. Before the agents had arrived, he had left a little present on his privateputer. By cing a few headings which Malware Foxy had given him during the first wave of information, they would have sufficient reason to suspect him and have him investigated. Unless they were ipetent, the investigation should then lead to the human trafficking case and thwart the whole syndicate''s operations.

    "What a nice feeling to do something pleasant for the society." Kraft smiled to himself, making sure he had left no tracks behind and then proceeded to open the new package by Foxy. More incriminating things about the politicians and their party as well as dirt on various well known individuals whose worth was well over the billions of Yuan.

    However, there was still no information on the Panda n list, Banned Emperor or this Ryuli which Jin had mentioned. If not for the fact that Kraft wanted to y safe, he would not have chosen this method. Instead, he would brute force against the database and find the information and then get out. Unfortunately, that would put his master''s store reputation at stake and the System highly rmended the alternative.

    "Urghh!! So bored and Jin''s battle was way too fast! Can''t believe I had any expectation for that fox girl. Such a disappointment!" Kraftined to the System. He weighed his options on what to do to relieve his boredom.

    He could go and pester Jin, but that would mean he would have to see old hagged Birdy again. However, Yuan and Jin seemed to be discussing something important, and he guessed he could eavesdrop on them. Else, he could either wait once again for Foxy to send another batch of information or wear his fox mask and openly disturb some of the cultivators in the WunderPanda Theme Park.

    "Maybe harass some of those Rats or Tigers." Kraft thought to himself as he twirled his chair around in boredom.

    "If Original Betor Kraft has nothing else to do, System will rmend Kraft to assist Minotaur Maid Sebastia in her scouting mission as ordered by User." System suggested.

    "Why? What''s wrong with her? I thought she had things under control?" Kraft guessed doing some more practical work would be a good enough distraction for him, so he agreed. "In return, I expect you to notify me as soon as the next batch of informationes in. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING WITHOUT ME!" Kraft warned the System as it teleported him to Sebastia.

    "Ah?! Betor Kraft? To what do I owe the honour of you being here?" Sebastia asked without being embarrassed when she had to remove the cosmetic inscription and was currently in the midst of changing her clothes after a quick shower.

    "Hmm, nice body." Kraft praised and Sebastia shyly thanked him for hispliment. "The System assessed that you require some help for your future ns."

    "Oh? The System noticed it? And here I thought I had to improvise a little. But with you here, it should make things easier." Sebastia said as she tied her hair up away from her curved horns at the side.

    "Of course! Who do you think I am?" Kraft smirked evily as he folded his arms to pose a little. "So, what''s the matter? The System did not specify anything to me."

    "The Demon Rat Captain of Uote Town is nning to bring me along to the capital which is currently heavily guarded. I might be a decent scout, but I cannot possibly search or map the whole area on my own. I did ask if I could bring a close friend with me, citing the reason that both of ''us'' never see the capital before."

    "me Ripper was ordered by Gold to search for the remaining Elder Demons as well as the hideouts that Silver had marked for him. As for Meomiбн I am unsure what she will do when she encounters those high ranking rats."

    "That Rat Captain allowed you to do that? I thought Demon Rats are inflexible bunch of people." Kraft chuckled.

    "''Your friend, my friend''. Urgh" Sebastia had tried to copy the Demon Rat Captain tone as she activated her cosmetic inscription once again. "So yeah, I need someone to map the area and thought the System could provide me with some assistance. I had considered having another Minotaur to apany me, and at some point, change into my real form to map the area. Of course, this could have run the risk of them noticing my current form disappearing and getting suspicious."

    "Sure, why not? I have time to spare, and besides, you''ve asked the right people." Kraft replied and each and every fox under his disposal appeared all around the room as if they had been already watching her from the beginning of the conversation. (Of course, except for Pei and Rex.) They all simultaneously nodded their heads in unison and it did creep Sebastia a little.

    "Oh yea, also great job on improvisation, I totally did not expect you to choose the bloody route of killing the resistance to gain the rats'' trust," Kraft noted amused as he looked out of the window of the pathetic small inn room.

    "Aren''t you going to put on the cosmetic inscription?" Sebastia asked as she heard a knock at the door and went to answer it.

    "Why should I?" Kraft''s face had already changed shape and featured a scar right beside his cheek. "I am after all THE counter intelligence agent."

 Chapter 463 Team Leader

    <h4>Chapter 463 Team Leader</h4>

    "Where am I?" Lein slowly opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. He then felt something soft and furry touching his hand, only to see a panda wearing a nurse uniform readjusting his vitals. Unable to cope with such a strange sight, he got shocked and attempted to move away from it.

    "Hahaha! You''ve got the same reaction as Su Zhen when she woke up." Rong eximed as Lein noticed that he was sitting on the opposite side of his bed and found out that his arm was back with him again.

    "How did Iбн? Have we been resurrected? How much time has past? Also, where is this ce?" Lein asked as he saw the other three Demon Exorcist trainees being wide awake rxing on their own beds. He was baffled why it looked like they were in a hospital instead of a Revival Chamber.

    "You are currently in our Luxury Recovery Instance, a ce designed for recovering after going through a dungeon instance. You have slept for around 5 minutes after having been defeated." The Panda Nurse exined as she asked if he felt any particr pain on his body.

    "Luxury Recovery Instance? Dungeon Instance? Weren''t we fighting with that Jin in an isted ce?" Lein inquired.

    "Apparently that isted beach was just a dungeon instance," Rong answered as he had already asked the Panda Nurses the same questions. "I never expected a dungeon instance to feel so real."

    "Mmhmm! I can still remember the cooling sea breeze blowing at my face! There is no way that was a dungeon instance! Our n''s top dungeon supplier had never managed to reach such realism with his instances at all and he has been hailed as one of the best in the country!" Lian had trouble believing it herself. After she was done with her own medical query, she was browsing her social media ount.

    "Actually, I heard that Shenzhen had a rising dungeon supplier that everyone was raving about. People were boasting about how real the entire dungeon instances were, and an increasing amount of people were posting it in their Mechat ounts. " Su Zhen was also looking through her social media tforms for more information about the dungeon supplier they were in.

    "There were even rumours flying around that going through the dungeon would help one''s cultivation. I also remember seeing a picture showing off how amazing the post dungeon experience was and it looked exactly like this room, albeit smaller." Su Zhen said as she browsed her MeChat looking for it.

    "What''s the name of this particr dungeon supplier store?" Lein queried as he grabbed some water from the side cab.

    "Dungeon and Pandas. Given the fact that we are being served by Panda Nurses right now, I can only deduce that we are in that very same store." Su Zhen concluded.

    "Wait, so does that also mean the portal that appeared in front of us was not Grandma Yuan''s doing? I thought she was able to afford a portal scroll for that Jin to choose a location. You mean that portal brought us directly into a dungeon instance?" Rong asked out loud, and only Lian replied that she did not know. The others were busy looking at their phones.

    Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and ire opened the door for Grandma Yuan toe in. ire went after her, followed by Jin. Grandma Yuan took her time to look at the ward her trainees were housed in. In the meantime, the demon cultivators came out of their beds and stood in attention.

    "How are they?" Jin asked the Panda Nurses, and they reported nothing unusual. He thanked them kindly and they went out of the room.

    "Heh, so you treat them like real humans eh?" Grandma Yuan asked Jin upon seeing his attitude towards them.

    "They should be respected as such." Jin''s answer was short, sweet and to the point.

    "Now, I can understand why those who havee to you most often wish toe again. The post dungeon experience is indeed a refreshing way to make them feel like they are appreciated for visiting your dungeon instances." Grandma Yuan pretty much confirmed the theories of her trainees and they could not believe it.

    "Jin is a dungeon supplier?! I thought you said that Jin is just a Grade 8 cultivator that wished to be a Demon Exorcist Trainee?" Lein questioned and ire cleared her throat to signal his imprudence.

    "Would it have made any difference if you had known that he was a dungeon supplier? Does telling you that he owns a famous shop cause you to be wary of him? Each of you had ample time to find out more about him, but did anyone of you cared enough to research about him, until your defeat?" Grandma Yuan asked the entire group, and they simultaneously responded with a firm no.

    "Good, at least none of you give me any excuses for your failure. As for your mistakes." Grandma Yuan walked towards Lian who was the nearest to her.

    "Lian, why did you allow your anger to consume you when you saw that Rong was killed? I''ve warned you that the fights would only end in death and only the strongest can survive. You should have prepared for such a possibility. Knowing that he could and would be revived afterwards, why did you let it cloud your judgement?" Grandma Yuan shot her questions at Lian that it made her speechless.

    "Lein, what was that shocked expression for, when you saw him casting a magic spell on you? Why didn''t you react back in any way? Instead, you remain stunned to see that he was able to cast magic. Having a full grasp of the abilities of your enemy is a pipe dream! You have to trust in your own abilities and deal with the circumstances as they present themselves!"

    "Su Zhen, you might have been the mostposed of them all, but you still erred in your judgement. Knowing that an enemy is right in front of you, you performed first aid for yourrade, who wasn''t even critically injured." Grandma Yuan''s stare was so stern, Su Zhen could barely looked away.

    "While yourpassion may bemendable, on the battlefield, it most often leads to the result you all just experienced. Still, the biggest mistake wasn''t in helping him, but not covering your bases sufficiently. How tantly confident were you to not put up any defences or traps to protect yourself when you aided yourrades?" Grandma Yuan wanted her to recognise her own ws.

    Su Zhen looked like she wanted to retort but Grandma Yuan''s stare immediately shut her down once more.

    "You never ounted for the possibility of him having an ability that allows him to get behind your back, did you? I keep reminding you to think about the worst case scenario. You believed you had sufficient distance and Lian was covering the both of you?" Grandma Yuan asked and the White Snake Demon Cultivator slowly nodded her head.

    "Good judgement of the scenario... but too bad, Jin was not your average cultivator." Grandma Yuan concluded as she walked back towards Jin and ire.

    "бнits cheating." Rong whispered.

    "What did you say?" Grandma Yuan turned her head at Rong and dared him to repeat his words.

    "It''s cheating! This is his dungeon instance! He must have cheate- !" Rong eximed but the sudden p Grandma Yuan sent to his face stopped his words.

    "You lost. It''s as simple as that. Did you forget your n''s own lesson about losing graciously? ''To be thankful to have lived through the experience and strive to do better next time''? Just be d that this was a Dungeon Instance instead of a real death!" Grandma Yuan became very strict, and Rong looked dissatisfied and sore by the match.

    "If you want a rematch, I have no qualms about fighting you in any other dungeon supplier store. With your background, it shouldn''t be hard to find one, which has a special licence allowing for cultivator matches." Jin offered confidently. Lian excused herself and walked towards Jin while looking him in the eyes.

    "Can you swear that you haven''t cheated and used only your own powers against us?" Lian asked, and Jin instantly swore to her that such had indeed been the case.

    "I hate to admit it, but Grandma Yuan is right. Jin did not cheat when he fought." Lian sighed as she took out a miniature toy charm from her pocket. "You all should know that aside from my Nine Tailed Demon Fox cultivation, I''ve received the foundation training from my Royal Zodiac Dog n." She showed the entire group that the miniature toy charm which featured a husky dog, was looking brightly coloured and vibrant.

    "A Legendary Grade Truth inscription charm!" Only Lein was able to discern itpared to the other trainees.

    "Yes, my dad gave it to me as an insurance of sorts. He was worried that the enemy might have nned on using some underhanded method to cheat since it was a fight to the death." Lian said as she shook the miniature toy charm.

    "I had also activated the truth inscription charm along with my Keen Smell of the Watchful Dog technique to check whether he was lying or if his vitals would increase. Everything was as per normal." Lian said, and Rong quietly suffered the humiliation he brought on himself.

    "Sorry, Rongбн" Lian whispered to herself quietly. She too would have preferred to believe that he was cheating, but the truth was that Jin was way stronger than them even though he was lower in grade.

    "Now, as promised. Your oath to me when you enrolled included that you had to obey each and every deal I had made. All of you lost this particr match against Jin so, from today onwards, he will be your boss. You will work and get paid based on the sry I had drafted a few days back." Grandma Yuan announced, and ire passed them each a sheet of paper that stated the contract.

    "What? Only 10,000 Yuan(1450 USD) a month? That is even lesser than the allowance I receive?!" Lein eximed at the absurdity of the contract.

    "Yes, only 10,000 Yuan a month. You will work until you repay your debt equivalent to a resurrection fee for your current grade. And don''t even think about paying with your allowance or anything outside of your sry! Don''t worry. To make it fair, I''ve taken into ount your overall cost and split it evenly." Grandma Yuan seemed to oddly enjoy their shocked faces.

    "That''s going to take like forever! What the hell?! I''d rather undergo the Heavenly Five Element Tribtions than be stuck with him!" Rongined only to realise he angered his instructor once again.

    "Rong stop being so impatient and listen to the end! I won''t hand you over to him without giving you a chance to prove yourself and regain your freedom earlier. " Grandma stopped him from interrupting her.

    "All of you will have the possibility to reduce the debt you incurred if you canplete the future tasks I''ll create for you. For example, passing out as a Demon Exorcist will allow to reduce your debt by 1,000,000 Yuan." Grandma Yuan added, and everyone somehow perked up.

    "Heh, talking about being a Demon Exorcist, if Jin is to be epted, he will have to address us as his seniors." Lein notified the others via private transmission, and Grandma Yuan could visibly see their lips curling at the side.

    "Also, before I forget. Jin is now a Demon Exorcist and assigned as team leader of your group." Grandma Yuan said, and their faces turned green andter red with anger.

    "What! How can he just directly be a Demon Exorcist without proper training? Has he even fought with a demon before? We''ve been your disciples since our childhood, why are you showing such favouritism to this dungeon supplier?" Su Zhen who had been keeping it in all this while finally red out her concerns.

    "Oh, I fought many demons, slew them as well as monsters." Jin chimed in as he could not stand this bunch of kids. Not to mention, now Grandma Yuan wanted to ce them under his care. "Do I seriously look that carefree to her?" Jin thought to himself and sighed.

    "So if you want to prove yourselves, go fight them. Since you guys are Demon Cultivators, I might at least use you for testing the prototype of a dungeon I had been working on. You all should know that a dungeon and the monsters in them is based on the Dungeon Supplier''s experience, right?" Jin questioned, though they did not even bother responding.

    "Guess, I take that as a yes." Jin looked over, waiting for an answer from her as to whether or he could let them try the dungeon instance.гм

    "By all means. You are the team leader now." Grandma Yuan''s arrogant voice became even more haughty. ire could not help but cover her face while visibly giggling at Grandma Yuan''s reply.

    "I will join in this dungeon instance too as a precaution to avoid you all getting bullied, okay?. After all, I was your former team leader." ire volunteered, and the rest reluctantly agreed since ire had decided to join in. "However, I will not do anything unless I see him intentionally overstepping his bounds."

    "We understand. Then what if we manage to beat his dungeon instance?" Rong was still unhappy with the overall situation.

    "I will sh the debt by 50,000 Yuan. (~7200USD)" Grandma Yuan said, and they were delighted to have at least something in return.

    "However, if you fail. Half sry for the first month." Jin had already begun abusing his authority even though Grandma Yuan knew it was a prompt to push them even further.

    "A Panda Nurse wille in, and she will teach you how to install the Pandamonium App. Afterwards, just follow the instructions from the app. I will see you guyster." Jin said as he left the ward alongside Grandma Yuan and ire.

    "So since when I did be a Demon Exorcist?! Also, could you please exin what is happening? I don''t even know anything about this Demon Exorcist thing! And why did you push those kids to me? You retiring or what?!" Jin who had been calm andposed became frantic after the Panda Nurse had closed the ward''s doors behind them.

    "Hahahah! Well, I did promise you a little chat after all. Care to lead the way?" Grandma Yuanughed, and her demeanour was a bit kinder than usual. There was a load of things she could finally take off her chest.

 Chapter 464 Demon Exorcis

    <h4>Chapter 464 Demon Exorcis</h4>

    As the Demon Exorcist trainees were in good hands with the Panda Nurse, Jin had decided to bring Grandma Yuan and only her to the Dungeon Maker. The System had made an exception for the past Sub System User to enter into to a slightly less restricted area, the ce where Jin had previously undergone his cultivation training.

    But instead of the usually deste room, the System had already furnished the interior with a table and two chairs as well as a jug of water for them. In addition, that room had temporal maniption capabilities, and so it slowed the time enough for a proper conversation before the trial of the trainees would start.

    Jin poured a ss of water for the elderly woman in front of him and subsequently took out the items that he believed were rted to the Demon Exorcists.

    The Panda Emblem and the Colt Pistol which had the Ruby Origin Fire bullets.

    "So? What do you wish to know?" Grandma Yuan started their conversation as she cleared her thirst with the cup of a rather satisfying ss of spring water.

    "Everything, but let''s start with the elephant in the room. What is this whole Demon Exorcist deal? Why did you say that I am already a Demon Exorcist?" Jin asked and Grandma Yuan smirked at him ever so slightly.

    "You did fight a demon, right? And won against it too." Grandma Yuan questioned him, instead of answering as she took out a rather old looking book and ced it on the table as well.

    "That manual!?" Jin eximed, seeing the same exact manual from the time he was fighting against the White Tiger of the West. "How did you know that I killed it, and what is that manual? I''ve already seen one like it!"

    "Because a certain fox reported it to me after he met with that stifling old buffoon. Whether they liked it or not, both of them owed me a huge favour." Grandma Yuan spoke with simple hints, and Jin realised that it was not his grandfather''s scheme to make him into a Demon Exorcist but rather Grandma Yuan''s.

    "This manual is a sort of textbook relic and is mandatory to read for all Demon Exorcist Trainees. Of course, many full fledged Demon Exorcists also use it as a reminder of how to deal with certain Demons." The one in front of Jin was more explicit, more urate and even had updated text and pictures aspared to the tattered and old manual he had looked through previously.

    "So you know that Ming spiritual consciousness is somehow within me?"

    "He had nned it this way ever since he contracted his illness. Haven''t you wondered why your chi generation started to be so abnormal when it wasn''t like this at the start?" Grandma Yuan gave him another hint and it hadn''t struck him at all until now.

    The System was not the only gift he inherited from Ming, he had devoted himself wholly to improve Jin. "Now, most people would not be able to stay sane, having two spiritual forms upy one particr body. You, however, have had the System by your side, increasing your capacity and tolerance to housing another entity."

    "Then why does the System pretend to feign ignorance?" Jin asked his question loudly.

    "Because the guidance has been an overall boon to current User despite the actions previous User Ming hadmitted. System preferred not to interfere unless it had unwanted implications against User or the System." The System answered.

    Grandma Yuan just nodded as she knew that the System would use whoever and whatever to maintain its overall advantage in the field. It did not discriminate like how humans would against each other, but rather valued the abilities and capabilities of others to further its own cause.

    After another sip of water, Grandma Yuan continued: "That Panda Emblem had been awarded to Ming for his services as a monster yer by the Joint Organisation of the Demon Exorcists (JODE). Right now it''s purely ornamental, but after I cast this particr spell, it will be your emblem to signify that you have been officially decreed as a Demon Exorcist."

    "Even the blossoming flowers will eventually scatter. Who in our world is ever unchanging? In the deep mountains of karma, the demons will be exterminated." Grandma Yuan chanted the scroll right in front of her and the Panda Emblem in front of Jin shone brightly.

    "Congrattions, you are now an official Demon Exorcist, if only one of the lowest ranks. In turn, all you need to do is answer JODE''s calls whenever it is needed."гм

    "While I know it is a bit toote but ...why did you want me to be a Demon Exorcist? You should know that I can''t really move out from the shop as much as I want to." Jin said, and Grandma Yuan shook her head.

    "Ming''sst request to me had been to take care of you. I am doing it my way. To let you be a Demon Exorcist is my only way of showing my care and concern." Grandma Yuan returned the now expended scroll into her storage ring.

    "Suddenly, I feel the heavens had fallen." Jin couldn''t help himself but remark with a tinge of sarcasm at his ever increasing responsibilities. Her walking stick immediately swept under the table and cause his chair to fall sideways, taking Jin with it as well.

    "You imprudent ingrate. Is this how Ming taught you how to thank others? Perhaps I should have let Ming be the one to wash your butt and clear your shit when you were younger instead so that I could have been to one to teach you." Grandma Yuan openly revealed that she had been his caretaker as well when his parents passed away.

    "I did not know that..." Jin was probably too young to remember but he did remembered a motherly figure that entered his life someway or another. He stood up and apologise properly to her, but she shook the issue off with a wave of her hand.

    "In any case, as a Demon Exorcist, especially under me, you will have ess to details not privy to the public. Such as unique monsters'' whereabouts or humans possessed by demons. While it is our responsibility to get rid of those monsters, what happens with them afterwards is generally of no concern to the organisation." Grandma Yuan said, and Jin realised what she was getting at.

    "Not only that, because of my status, I am able to establish a branch of the Demon Exorcist Guild under your store provided that you get a license as Demon Exorcist. That way, all of that information will be for you to partake." Grandma Yuan revealed her grand scheme of ns to him.

    While in theory, he had to answer the JODE''s call to also investigate any possible clues at their behest, Grandma Yuan''s exertion of influence would enable Jin to be excused from all those minor tasks. Instead, she would promote him to the administrative side of JODE.

    "So you want me to be some sort of a guild manager responsible for managing the Demon Exorcists?" Jin was surprised that Grandma Yuan had been nning this for a long time.

    "Yes, currently they alle to me for the quests, and I am already too old for this bullcrap. Besides, with your growing reputation, the Demon Exorcists will also be able toe here and train as well with a price tag pped on it." Grandma Yuan answered with a wide smile on her face.

    "Oh...so those four Demon Exorcist trainees...are like promotional materials for others Demon Exorcists to see my capabilities?" Jin realised why he was appointed to be their team leader.

    "Something like that. Plus, I believe they will be growing better and stronger with the kind of monsters you provide for them to spar. Also, being a Demon Exorcist branch has its perks too, but I will let ire fill you in about that." Grandma Yuan replied.

    "That does not mean you can ck all the time. I still need you to asionally hunt some demons or else the Main Extermination Guild would start to question your worthiness. You don''t need me to convince you to them, you have a System to do that for me."

    "Why do I feel that you are going to make me do some impossible task," Jin asked bluntly, and sheughed at his honesty.

    "Because that will be the fastest way to rise up the ranks in the guild. Besides, Demon Exorcists do not just fight demons. We also get called up to go against monsters, although our priority remains to ughter the former."

    "But I do not have the knowledge or equipment to do so. I did not even know about their existence until Ming let me suffer at the hands of one." Jin questioned while it made Grandma Yuan furrow her eyebrows.

    "System, please exin." Grandma Yuan can''t be bothered to do a basic 101 for Jin.

    "Demon Exorcists are a subgroup of Monster yer ss which specialise in removing demons from the world. The demons User had already encountered such as Lord Moloch and Lord Wolte are in the same category as the demons you would be encountering." The System spoke and told Jin about the existence of the dimensional nes which Yun had exined to Gold. Both on Gods and Demons.

    However, Grandma Yuan expanded the fact that all lore that Jin had heard and read about was true. For example, the World Snake in the Norse mythology or even the Gods in the Roman Mythologies. They all once did live on this before vanishing or going into hiding.

    "So basically...just do what I had been doing? But this ''branch'' that you were going to make me create... wouldn''t I need to have at least the basic equipment or knowledge I can pass forth."Jin wondered as he was beginning to think about how to facilitate the other Demon Exorcists.

    "You and Ming are all the same. Lack of patience! Since you are now a Demon Exorcist, ire will provide you with the things to get you started. The Main Branch will be sending in a shipment for your System to preview. But rest assured that your current cultivation allows you to fend off demons." Grandma Yuan said as she paused a little.

    "Ming sought my help to develop the current cultivation that you''re wielding so your chi had already be potent enough to hurt a demon. And judging by your fight just now, you have somehow already mastered Fire, Wind, and Ice so you should not have that much of a problem. Although I expect you learn and master the Lightning and Earth Energy too." Grandma Yuan said to Jin.

    "Do not worry, I will ask Zeru for that. I realised how weak I was when fighting against your trainees during the 30 second trial and will not forget that experience anytime soon." Jin said while thinking about the horrors he had to face as a consequence of losing.

    "Good. And remember to continue on your cultivation with Ming. You have yet to beat all of the remaining Heavenly Beast Demons." Grandma Yuan reminder him as she stood up.

    "Do I have to fight empty handed asst time?" Jin asked as he could not fathom himself fighting against Suzaku on a one to one battle. He would definitely lose for sure.

    "Maybe?" Grandma Yuan grinned as she asked the System to teleport her back to the Luxury Recovery Instance.

    "So ...Let''s have a little chat, System. What are the prospects and possible revenue we can get being a branch of the Demon Exorcist? Should we ept it? You should know them more than me." Jin folded his arms and rest his eyes a little as hey back on his chair.

    "The Joint Organisation of Demon Exorcists had been founded decades after the System''s inception. Previously, the System would have disagreed partnering with them. However, considering the new sense of perspective gained from the interaction with current User during the past months, the System believes joining them will prove to have its benefits, especially in the mary aspect." The System stated its desire to be a part of the Demon Exorcist branch.

    "It should be noted that for secrecy''s sake, it would be best to create a service instance exclusively for the Demon Exorcists group, for they have sensitive information to be passed around all the time. They might not operate like spies, but maintaining secrecy is still considered a priority." The System added.

    "Howe? They are just monsters and demons that need to be defeated."

    "Ill willed cultivators might use the opportunity to get a head start on them and contract with the demons. Hence resulting in what past Sub System User Yuan had called demon possessed humans."

    "Aren''t the Demon Exorcist trainees the same? Like Rong, Lian and others?"

    "Negative. Their cultivation stems from manuals, although possessing said demons would enable them to have a spiritual union with them, increasing their cultivation and strength by at least two fold." The System stated that the conditions for spiritual union could be easily met if they contracted the demons.

    "However, if the demon''s powers through spiritual union aren''t controlled well, the trainees might end up bing possessed by the demons instead." System cautioned Jin to take note in the future should he have a hand in handling the trainees.

    "Considering their grade, I do wonder why Grandma Yuan still doesn''t allow them to be full fledged Demon Exorcists..." Jin stood up and went to the main hall of the dungeon maker while preparing the trial for them.

    "Because they have yet to officially defeat a real Demon. Only after a trainee has defeated a demon under the eyes of a Demon Exorcist instructor, will they be considered for promotion."

    "Oh, is that why Grandma Yuan had given me this official title? But she did not see me kill that thing in my subconsciousness."

    "The System is unable to pry into your subconsciousness and can only deduce it was a hard fought battle considering the amount of sludge User has produced previously. It can only be presumed that she has taken Original Betor''s Kraft message from previous User Ming at face value."

    "Wait... if all they need to do is to kill a demon, why don''t we provide them with a real demon to kill? You did show me in the updates that there were sightings of the demons in the Farming World, which I was supposed to get the materials from right? Why don''t we point them into that direction? Worst case scenario, they will serve as a distraction for the Farm Rats." Jin suggested as he opened up the Dungeon Maker console to find that particr update.

    "Affirmative, tracks of Transforming Spider have been identally picked up by the Ifrit''s Descendant, me Ripper on the way back to meet with Werecat Meomi. She has verified and confirmed the existence of the tracks." The System stated and gave the probable location coordinates of the area.

    "Then how about ...we field them for the test? Like how we ced the cultivators in the Goblin World?" Jin asked if the System could narrow down the probable regions where the Transforming Spider was.

    "A search and kill mission should serve as a more feasible test for the trainees. Does User wish to inform past Sub System User Yuan about it?" The System asked as it could send a transmission to the Panda Nurse to inform Grandma Yuan.

    "I will tell her after I throw them into the fray," Jin said with a smile on his face, as he made the necessary preparations for his unwilling subordinates.

 Chapter 465 Demon Exorcist Promotion Examination

    <h4>Chapter 465 Demon Exorcist Promotion Examination</h4>

    "Why is that fake exorcist taking so much time?" Rongined as they were asked to stay in the room by the Nurse Panda even though they cleared the trainees for discharge.

    "Maybe he frantically tries to make a new dungeon to overpower us." Lein proposed with some bitterness in him for failing to defeat Jin. Could he have had fared better in a one to one fight? Honestly, he would not have a clue. Unlike Jin, who had some details on his technique, Lein had no idea what to expect against that peculiar dungeon supplier.

    "Patience." Grandma Yuan, who was sitting at the side looking out the window said the word with a heavy emphasis in her voice, and they immediately kept quiet. (Surprisingly, Jin had taken the effort to create a rather beautiful, tranquil seascape right outside the window. The cool ocean breeze made Grandma Yuan appreciate the beauty of what the System could do, and she savoured a bit of it.) At that moment, Jin happened to open the ward door and two luggage suits with him.

    "Change of ns, your dungeon trial will consist of searching for a demon rather than fighting mere monsters. I had tweaked the settings a little after some discussion with Grandma Yuan." He shifted the luggage at the centre of the ward.

    "Find it and kill it without prejudice. I will be one of the observers in case things go haywire since I did say it was an untested version. Also, I heard a great deal about you guys from Grandma Yuan a few minutes ago. So treat it this seriously like a mock trial for your promotion examination." Jin ordered as he opened the two luggage suits in front of them. Inside wereid with various Panda shaped cylinders, containing an assortment of potions. From strength enhancing to health recovery. Jin told them to choose and take three each for the uing trial.

    "No thank you, we have our own potions which are definitely superior to yours, especially since they were made by the Royal Alchemists in our n." Lein refused the potions. Jin shook his head and told the trainees they could either take them or leave them alone. Both Rong and Lein had decided against it whereas Lian and Su Zhen took not only theirs but the boys'' portion as well. They probably figured Jin had his reasons to gift them those items.

    "Alright, I will be doing the briefing. You will be entering near a forested area where multiple caves were seen in the vicinity. Your objective is to find this particr demon called the Transforming Spider." Jin had taken longer than usual because he was preparing the short summary for them via a PowerPoint presentation. That was the excuse he gave, but he was performing other matters behind the scenes to make sure the cultivators can return back to Dungeons and Pandas. (Not to mention to check on the status with Yun on the shop''s operation.)

    "While its figure is shown here, do note that the name Transforming Spider means that it could transform into anything to hide itself from its predators as well as its prey. However, there is one distinct feature of the Transforming Spider." Jin showed the picture of the transforming Spider and gave explicit details as shown by the System.

    "Its gem eyes. They should glitter slightly during the brief intervals after it has transformed, but some reports have also stated it might be hard for novices to find them. So, the other thing you could check is the irregrity of the current environment. Something like Finding Waldo." Jin continued, but in his heart, he wondered if this current Transforming Spider would turn out simr to Keyrin who had evolved into a more superior species. If that turned out to be the case, it could prove a tough fight for the trainees.гм

    "So the most important thing is to stay together as a team and- " Jin was suddenly interrupted by the proud Ox Demon Cultivator.

    "Not to worry! We have Lian and Su Zhen with us. They have superior searching abilities which will be able to hunt it down. That is if your dungeon is really able to simte such minute differences." Rong belittled Jin''s dungeon making skills, but he smirked back at the Ox Demon cultivator.

    "Oh trust me, it will feel as if you had entered a whole new world," Jin reassured them (though to them it felt more like he boasted) and concluded the presentation. "There is no particr time limit from my side, but it''s best to find it as soon as possible. Else you might stumble upon someбн problems." Jin left it vague as he opened the portal right in front of them. Su Zhen went in first followed by the rest andstly ire. In the meantime, he closed the portal and revealed his true objective to Grandma Yuan.

    "Heh! Sneaky bastard. Fine. I will promote them if they manage to kill that monster. But you sure you do not need to kill it by yourself?" Grandma Yuan was satisfied by the twist since she had been wanting to promote them but hadn''t found any monsters that could match their current abilities. "Also are you sure this monster is a menace against four of thembined?"

    "More than a menace. I had checked the status of thest seen Transforming Spider and apparently the knights in the area along with their mages (the Schr of the North in Jin''s context) could only push it back to the wild. ording to Peppers, thest documented case of one being killed was centuries ago. And as for your previous question...as long as I get to hit it once, it will be mine. So, no worries about that."

    "Too convenient. The System makes it too convenient for you." Grandma Yuan shook her head, and he brought her back to the dungeon maker.

    "However, there is one more thing I need to tell you. That is not exactly an instance. It''s another world entirely." Jin said as he fiddled the controls a bit, so Grandma Yuan was able to see what was happening from the view. He had already deployed a few robot crawlers which Niu Lang had tinkered with to enhance its durability previously.

    The System then imbued those robot crawlers with the "Magic Eyes" capabilities to monitor the surroundings since it does not have the satellite capability that it had in the Goblin World.

    But Niu Lang did not just increase its durability, he also converted and equipped those robot crawlers with four helicopter propellers and rotor engine that allowed the crawlers to obtain flight capabilities. Meanwhile, the System added the anti sound inscriptions on them and move the robot copters around to view the situation for Grandma Yuan to watch.

    "A world made up from the System?" Grandma Yuan was not following him a single bit.

    "No, as in... another world from our world. A separate world." Jin tried to make it clear that it was not the System''s doing.

    "So... you mean they are searching and fighting actual demons?" Grandma Yuan furrowed her eyebrows greatly and seemed both a little disappointed and surprised at the same time. Jin could not differentiate her expression out well enough.

    "That is why I had decided to be with them, in case that the Transforming Spider was more dangerous as expected," Jin remembered how Gold mentioned to him about the Thunder Goat Demon, but instead he fought a stronger variant of it.

    In the meantime, the demon exorcist trainees were indeed teleported to the forested area which Jin had shown them. It was also getting dark with a slight emergence of a fog in the area when they teleported into the area. Su Zhen then took out two potions from her storage ring and shafted it to the guys.

    "Drink it. you will need it to survive." Su Zhen said as she opened hers out and began to drink half of it. Lein then realised that the potion that was given to them was allowed the cultivators to gain a temporary effect of the ''Cat''s Eyes''. It grants a low level dark vision for a set duration of time and that was what they need if they were to search for the Transforming Spider in the dark.

    "This is from that fake exorcist?" Rong could not believe he had to drink one of his items to survive.

    "If you wish to see in the dark. While your praise for us to be able to sniff a spider is heartwarming, this odd looking fog and the weird stench of this forest is preventing me from searching on any clues. As usual, it felt too real forfort." Lian told Rong as she forced the potion open in front of him and demanded him to drink.

    "Where do we even start? I have no idea what to do. There is no information about this Transforming Spider Demon other than the ones Jin had provided." Lian looked around with a bit of anxiety. "We were not taught of such a demon too."

    "A lot of demons that our parents encountered were unknown too. We just have to find the basic steps to find the Transforming Spider." Lein said as he started to look around for any possible clues after drinking the Cat''s Eyes potion. Any signs of cobweb,rge indentations on the ground, dead animal remains and anything that looked out of the norm.

    Separately, ire was observing their movements while searching for the Transforming Spider herself too. She was upied only until Jin came out of the portal right beside her.

    "Grandma Yuan told me to pass you this," Jin said, and ire knew what that was from a quick nce. They were the very same kind of emblems which Jin had been bestowed with. The only difference was that the emblem pins were synonymous to trainees'' ns that they were in.

    "She wants to put them up for the examination?" ire looked Jin and he nodded his head but continued to keep her out of the loop despite the fact that she knew he had a system with him.

    Jin instead lied to her that the transforming Spider that he encountered was one of the few most difficult demons he ever encountered. Even he did not know the full set of skills and managed to capture it live with the use of the System. (It will eventually be true if he did capture it alive.) ire believed him in an instant since she knew how unusual Jin had be with the use of the System.

    She remembered the days when she first scouted for Grandma Yuan, and this shop was barely out of its infant stage. Right now, it was bustling with cultivators from all walks of life.

    "I understand, I will initiate the examination for them right this instant. In return, you have to be the only observer since I am not allowed to interfere." ire replied, and Jin acknowledged that he knew his responsibilities as Grandma Yuan had told him the same too.

    "But do I have the ability to interfere if they are in trouble? Or will there be marks deducted if I entered the battle?" Jin asked.

    "You can interfere if you find that they needed help sorely or the demon happened to be way above their grades. There are indeed consequences to aiding them at their desperate time of need, especially when the demons might have an alternate form which could have caught them off guard. But erm...let''s just say the marking scheme is tooplicated." ire said as she shook her head when she kept the emblem pins in her storage ring.

    "If you help them with a ranged attack, only some points will be deducted. But if you personally made your presence known by entering into the fray, major points will be deducted. And that is just a start, the marking criteria will get even stricter with every kind of action the observer had performed to aid the examinees." ire took an electronic tablet out and passed it to Jin to preview for a while.

    "So...I guess its best not to interfere as much as possible." Jin saw how ridiculous the marking criteria was. From searching for a monster to killing the monster, and there were even points for environment preservation. (He believed there were some exorcists who more than just killing the demons with their shy skills which caused the examinationmittee to create such marking criteria up.) At the same time, Jin realised ire gone all quiet, and he noticed that she was already marking the students based on their performance till now.

    "I shouldn''t interrupt her, she looked too focused...System, any sight of that Transforming Spider?" Jin tried to perform his own way of search magic by extending his Maqi out to see if there any interference or disturbance around.

    However, the moment Jin spread his Maqi out, it seemed as if the whole forest reacted to it and he quickly retracted it. His face turned into a horrid expression upon receiving the feedback from the surroundings, but ire looked as if everything was as per normal.

    "The System had analysed the vicinity when User released his Maqi. System believed that-"

    "That the entire forest is part of the Transforming Spider..." Jin swallowed his saliva and realised he had ced the trainees and ire in a very precarious situation.

 Chapter 466 Transforming Spider - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 466 Transforming Spider - Part 1</h4>

    After a more in-depth analysis, the System had determined that the entire forest was no doubt the body of the Transforming Spider. Jin could not bear himself to spread the news out to the rest of the group here.

    "Should the Demon Exorcist Trainees wandered too long in the forest, it would eventually be eaten by the Spider." The Systemmented.

    "You mean the spider will appear to consume them?"

    "No. If the predictive analysis is true, the appearance of the forest will consume them when they are caught off guard." The System stated and warned Jin not to mess around with this particr Transforming Spider.

    "So... any damage done to the forest is equivalent to hitting the spider?" Jin asked as he changed his Bam and Boo now intobat gloves. They looked like a gauntlet made out of many small bamboo poles sewn into it. Hence it does not restrict the movement of the user at all. Unlike the usualbat gloves that Meomi or even Xue Ping, the Prancing Puma Cultivator had used, Jin was able to modte his Maqi even smoother with Boo while Bam had the ability to amplify it creates damage to a certain extent.

    "Not necessary. Based on the Magic Eye drones, the System observed that some of the forests consisted of normal trees and bushes. Should User wish to inflict damage, it had to be wide scale."

    "Then I guess it''s unfair for the cultivators to search for something hiding in in sight," Jin said as he generated his Maqi and stored them within Bam and Boo for the moment. ire noticed that Jin was being all anxious when she was documenting specific behaviours of the trainees. So, she decided to stop and calm him down.

    "Jin, you do not to be too concern of them, they should be able to take care of themse-" ire noticed his chi was awfully dense that it nearly got to her.

    "Jin? What''s wrong?" ire knew that the dungeon supplier would not do something as stupid as to kill the trainees but she felt something was off about him.

    "I am sorry but for the ''search'' part. I will be interfering for them. Send them a chi transmission to take cover." Jin said as his hands felt awfully heavy with the umtion of Maqi.

    "Jin, why are you doing this? Doing so will significantly deduct marks from them. And you were the one who proposed this." The dungeon supplier did not say anything else, and ire sighed as if she found his actions improbable. Was he so insistent of messing the examinees that much?

    "No, it''s my mistake. I did not regte the search part properly for this dungeon. I only found it out when I saw the forest. They would not be able to find it without my help." Jin apologised sincerely by giving a bow.

    "Guys, your new team leader demands all of you to take cover as quickly as possible. He would be helping you to get the demon out for you to y." ire shook her head as she announced it to all of them.

    The exorcist trainees were confused as to what was happening and listened to their ex leader''s instructions for the moment. Rong activated his cultivation, and a silhouette of a massive, hairy ox demon covered the entire group within its embrace. Meanwhile, the Astral Panda Cultivator raised his hands up and shot a st full of ck Panda Fire energy towards the sky.

    Both the exorcist trainees and ire saw the immensely powerful chi rising up to the sky. The beam of ck Panda Fire energy seems like it hit a pinnacle in the sky. Moreover, the beam energy scattered, fanned, and spread the ck Panda Fire like a geyser emerging the ground throughout the entire forest.

    "Is he copying the western magic, Fire Storm?" ire raised her defence with a spherical chi barrier as well and witness how the projectiles of fire rained down the entire forest.

    "Is he going to burn us alive?! Or just showing off? Course...if it''s both!" Before Lian could finish her words, she screeched at the iing fiery projectile that mmed onto the body of the Ox Demon Silhouette. But like an umbre shoving the raindrops off the waterproof cloth, the shield silhouette protected the trainees from the onught on projectiles.

    "Everybody still okay?" Rong said as they could see he was trying his best to defend the entire group from the indiscriminate showers of ck fire.

    "You will soon understand why," Jin shouted at ire in reply to her outstanding question. True enough, the forest itself seemed to give a horrifying scream that echoed throughout the entire area. The whole group could not believe it when the ground shook and broke down as what it seems like a big hairy pir rose from beneath them.

    Their eyes were nearly blinded by the sheer size of the pir only to be triumphed by an insectoid body emerging out from the centre of the forest. "This is no pir! It''s a freaking spider leg!" Lein shouted as hemanded Rong to pull back along with the Ox Demon Silhouette shield. The trainees then finally saw the full picture. With legs taller than a high rise building, a spherical body was the only thing that connected all the pir looking legs.

    It then finally revealed its gem like eyes not from the front or from the back but from the bottom of its spherical body. The legs then produced a fog mixed with some magic which extinguished the ck Panda Fire that was spread all around the forest.

    "Unlike previously when I captured it, I believe the spider has gotten smarter and decided to pose a challenge to our trainees by imitating itself as part of the entire forest." Jin tried to keep up with the lie for ire and told her to make it an exception so as to not penalise the trainees unnecessarily.

    " I see, as the circumstances, this ''kill'' part could take a lot of effort too. Very well, I will write an excuse report for the ''search'' portion." ire said as she told the students that this was the Transforming Spider Jin was talking about.

    "Fuck me. This is way above our level!!" Rong eximed before Su Zhen emphasised to the Ox Demon Cultivator that Jin managed to catch it, so it should be doable for them. (He did not!)

    "Damn, does that mean that Grade 8 is really way stronger than all of usbined? I do not believe it! Guys, let''s show him that we can bring this down. Size is just a matter of perspective!" Lein said as he ran towards the pir leg to show an example for the team.

    "Ahhh fuck, fuck, fuck!!!" Rong retracted his Ox Demon Silhouette shield and began swinging his hammer as hard as he can. "Intermediate Hammer Arts! Rocket Hammer of Ao Ye! " Rong continuously ced his chi into his stick while swinging it horizontally. He was spinning his hammer round and round until he had sufficient momentum and subsequently used that technique to propel himself towards the upper portion to the pir leg with his hammer ejecting an intense amount of steam to create airlift.

    "Intermediate Hammer Arts Combo! Rocket Hammer m!" Rong''s injected even more chi into his bull horned Hammer as he now changed the trajectory of where his hammer was facing before it ejected a ton of steam to create a forceful collision. Not only that, because of his consecutive use of a particr Hammer Arts'' technique, it allowed Rong to execute an Arts Combo which had an umtive effect of the techniques to be even more deadly.

    Arts Combo was different from thebination of techniques that cultivators used together as a team, mainly because it was a series of moves that create a grand move finisher. (That was how video games adapted from the cultivations.) The Arts Combo from a set of techniques allowed the cultivator to amplify their chi that was used and thus increasing the damage output.

    The only thing was that not many cultivation styles had Artsbo in their repertoire because it is straining for the cultivators that used them too. Unless one is skilled enough to fire off three to five cultivation moves in one go, most cultivators would also stray from Arts Combo and instead learn the techniques as individual attacks.

    Rong''s attack connected and smashed a part of the pir leg which made the pir leg of the Transforming Spider to tremble ever so slightly. However, the hairs on the spider''s leg retaliated by extending itself like spikes to hit Rong.

    Thankfully, Lein managed to catch up and destroyed the hair spikes with a single Thunderp technique before grabbing Rong from mid air and pulling him down to earth.

    "Appreciate that, Bud," Rong said as he took a breather from the attack as his heart pounded madly when he saw the spikesing out.

    "Be careful, this is not like those small fry demons that Grandma Yuan kept to train us." Lein, who was a Grade 10 cultivator by training diligently and gained his cultivation through several bouts of enlightenment, did not know how to proceed when they saw the hair spikes retracting back into its leg.

    "At the very least, the dent is still there. This demon is kible." Rong said while he lifted his hammer again and insert more chi.

    "Can you guys stop dashing to every problem that we see?" Su Zhen shouted at them as she and Lian finally caught up with them. "If brute force can solve everything, we would not be in this predicament in the first ce.

    "What should we do then?" Lein had decided to pass the responsibility in coordinating the team to Su Zhen.

    "Remember how Jin told us about its gem eyes? He said hit it to find its true nature." Lian said, but the two male trainees were not getting it.

    "Sigh, Su Zhen and I believed that the transforming spider had transformed into this giganticrge ...spider to scare us. Something like a defensive mechanism against other predators. If we hit the eyes, we might be on to something." Lian exined to the group.

    "However, this is just a conjecture. The transforming spider might be this big in the first ce. We do not know and do not have enough information to get by in order to make a proper judgement." Su Zhen remarked as the pir leg still stood tall and steady, not making a single move at the trainees at all.

    "I see, but how do we get up there? It is literally more than what my Rocket Hammer can offer." Rong said as he held his Bull horned hammer tightly.

    "I can aid with that, but it might do some damage to you since it is not a refined technique." Lein offered a solution by utilising one of his Lightning Dash movement skill toplement the Rocket Hammer technique. "After which, Su Zhen can use her substitution technique to rece me and Rong with her and Lian. Our little fox would then use Su Zhen as a tform to jump and attack the gem eyes."

    "Why me? Su Zhen could have done it all by herself." Lian said as she was slightly scared of heights.

    "Because you have the highest probability to attack the gem eyes if it decides to protect itself. You saw how your True Strike did wonders against Jin." Lein tried to encourage her.

    "Yeah, then in the second match, he totally could not block that," Lian said with a tinge of regret in her for not putting her best against Jin.

    "Highly likely a fluke," Rong interjected to make Lian not think about the past. "You guys remember how much she owned Lein in a one to one fight. If not for his imperfect lightning dash attack in thatst round before we fought with Jin, Lian could have won that fight." Lian stopped him before he said more and told him to focus on the issue.

    "I agree with the n, shall we execute it?" Su Zhen said, and the rest acknowledged it, all going to the centre of the spider before the Transforming Spider did anything out of the ordinary.

    However, the nearer they traversed towards the bottom of the spherical body, the fog somehow became thicker, and the stench was worse. It was to the point that the trainees felt they were being slowed down, pushed down by the fog.

    "Why can''t I move?" Lein tried his best to walk further in, but his body was not listening to him. He tried to look back but found it extremely difficult to do so. The rest of the other trainees felt the same way as well, and they soon found out their whole body was stuck within the thick fogs. Lian, on the other hand, tried to expend her chi to get her Three Tails out. (Every two grades of cultivation allowed her to get one to simte a tail out.)

    But instead of being able to move, Lian felt even more restricted and to the point of suffocation. But that also allowed them to reveal the true nature of the fog because of the chi being consumed within the area.

    It was essentially a massive collection of cobwebs that had transformed into a fog. "What the hell is this....!" Lian tried to speak, but she could feel the gossamers tightening its grasp on her.

    Su Zhen, the White Demon Snake Cultivator used her chi to release the snake that was in inhibiting in her whip so that it could chew or at least assist Lian to break out from the ''living'' cobwebs. But, simr to Lian, the moment Su Zhen used her chi, the living cobwebs aimed for her as well and the snake whip was also immobilised by it too.

    "Now I understand what was with the odd stench...and why this spider did not bother moving despite our *breathes* attempt to attack its legs," Lein said, and it looked like a desperate situation for the trainees as a whole.

    ----

    "Can I assist them now?" Jin crouched upon a branch and saw the entire group being devoured by the fog of living cobwebs.

 Chapter 467 Systems Ring

    <h4>Chapter 467 System''s Ring</h4>

    "What ns do you have in store for that boy," Grandma asked the System as she saw how Jin went into the fray and burned the magical fog away. He interfered with the impromptu examination with the permission of ire and protected the rest of the trainees with his Green Panda Wind while his ck Panda Fire burnt the living fog of cobwebs.

    "Nothing in particr. System is just maintaining what User had been doing. If past Sub System Yuan wished to enter back into the System, the System would not hesitate to grant back both enhanced mortality and powers to Yuan." The Almighty System offered Grandma Yuan seeing how she had contributed back to the System by offering Jin to be Shenzhen''s branch of the Joint Organisation of Demon Exorcists (JODE).

    "I am not doing this for you, but for that little fellow." Grandma Yuan retorted when she saw from the Magic Eye camera that the trainees proceeded with the n they hade up with.

    "As for how the System sees it, your contribution to User would be tremendous if you return back to the System. You can further your cause in helping User, especially in terms of the JODE branch which you had been suggesting." System added while it appended more information about the exorcist trainees when they performed their tricks and stunts.

    Rong had propelled himself up along with the help of Lein''s Lightning Dash movement skill. With the snake whip in Lein''s possession, both Su Zhen and Lian had switched ces with the boys when they reached the maximum height their ability could bring them with the substitution technique.

    "Hmph, don''t bluff. You have been aware of the JODE when I used my Sub System back then. There''s no difference between then and now. You can help Jin up with the knowledge you acquired previously before you disappeared from action. "Grandma Yuan tried to ignore the System when she continued to observe how Su Zhen pushed Lian even further up with the help of a Whip Arts, Raising Snake Strike. The art''s technique allowed Su Zhen to create a visible chi snake silhouette that Lian could hold onto while it extended itself up to the top.

    Lian proceeded to use the snake silhouette as a tform to bounce off and reach for the gem eyes that was below the spherical body of the Transforming Spider. She infused herself with chi again to keep the form of the Three Tail Fox Demon and extended her ws towards it.

    The Transforming Spider quickly tried to cover its eyes by releasing a wide oval shaped carapace within its body to keep the gem eyes safe from any damage. However, the spider did not know that Lian''s attack was able to prate the firstyer of defence and damaged one of the few eyes on it. The gem eye along with some gooey liquid dropped through the pierced carapace and Lian managed to catch it in time.

    In retaliation, a horrifying tune was emitted out of the spherical body and the carapace that was protecting the eyes immediately ejected out, mming straight at Lian''s face. That sudden attack rendered her to be stunned momentarily. "Oho, looks like this is not an easy fight at all." Grandma Yuan saw that when the carapace hit Lian, the three other cultivators whonded safely onnd had scrambled to save her.

    Another raising snake strike from Su Zhen was used to assist Lein along with his burst of Lightning Dash allowed him to grab the slightly stunned Lian in time before she dropped to the ground like a dead fly.

    "Question. There is a particr matter that the System had been been unable to address and deduced that past Sub System User Yuan might have more information considering your rtionship with the Royal Zodiac ns. System would like to ask if Yuan knows of this person, called Ryuli." The System suddenly spoke out of ce, and Grandma Yuan''s sudden fazed reaction made the System believed she knew something about it.

    "бнHow did you know about that?" Grandma Yuan''s eyes turned deadly, and her chi was burning brightly in the middle of the Dungeon Maker.

    "Jin said he dreamt of this person in the Istion Ward. System attempted to make some inquiries, and it had no luck as of yet." System answered, and Grandma Yuan''s wrath did not simmer with the exnation.

    "Jinбнknows about Ryuli?" Grandma Yuan thought to herself before she gripped her walking stick tight. "I assumed you attempted to hack the national database to find its information."

    "Affirmative. Should past Sub System Yuan refuse to give any clues, the System would still obtain it sooner orter." The System said as it magically issued a file for Yuan to peruse. She sat down and saw that the System had managed to have obtained partial ess to the things that should be hidden.

    "Heh. I told them already, it''s useless to ce it there. Pen and paper would still be a better form of security. They would not believe me." Grandma Yuan said with a distressed look on her. Suddenly there was a high pitch screech that made her look at the cameras to see that the form of the Transforming Spider had disintegrated. In recement, a humanoid emerged out of from the spherical body. It looked like the theory of her trainees were right.

    "So it is really not a monster but a demonбн.still what kind of demon is thatбн?" Grandma Yuan stopped reading thepiled file that the System gave her and saw a humanoid with spider legs behind its back and its face was filled with gem eyes.

    There seemed to be a slight disfigurement on her face, and it could probably be Lian''s attack that caused it as it appeared, she was missing one gem eye out of the six that she had.

    "Is past Sub System Yuan willing to share information to notify the System?" The System interrupted Yuan''s viewing, and she groaned at the System''s discovery.

    "I will not say anything until the time is right. Deduce as you will," Grandma Yuan replied, but the Dungeon Maker abruptly turned all pitch dark andter ring with red lights.

    "If you wish to treat me as an intruder, then kill me. Know that this will not further your cause in doing so or provide you anything in return. It was never my aim to help you, but only Jin." Grandma Yuan stated clearly that she only saw the System as a tool and nothing else. The red lights went ring for a very long moment before the Dungeon Maker returned back to normal.

    "Then, all the more past Sub System User Yuan is not allowed to die." The System changed its tone as it ced the very same envelope which made Jin a User in front of Yuan.

    "By epting this, you can read my mind, correct?" Yuan refused the envelope, but the System had another trick on its sleeves. It presented Grandma Yuan a ring to right in front of her, and it was encased within a box of thick ss.

    "Wear the ring. It would teleport you to the System should anything goes wary. The onlypromise System can offer before allowing you to leave the Dungeon Maker. Past Sub System User Yuan may also use this to teleport herself willingly to the Dungeon Maker." The System stated as it released the lock on the ss box.

    "I am guessing if I wore this, there would be no way to take it out ever againбнunless I die." Grandma Yuan said as she sighed when she saw the ring that was in front of her. "Bloody prickбнkeeping this here in the System''s possession even after such a long time." Grandma Yuanmented as she took the familiar looking ring up to examine before she wore it on her ring finger.

    There was a slight twitch of her finger when it happened, and she could feel a great deal of chi was kept within the ring. She rubbed and adjusted it a little before returning to the screens of the camera to see how they were doing. Since then, the System did not speak much and allowed Grandma Yuan to continue watching the proceedings of the Demon Exorcist Promotion Examination.

    ------

    "Return my eye!" The Spider Humanoid did speak while rubbing its legs at its back together, producing a high pitch creaking sound which made the trainees faltered backwards a little.

    "This is way too pretty to not keep." Lian showcased the eye right in front of the Spider Humanoid and kept it inside her storage ring, causing the Spider Humanoid to go even more insane.

    "Now this is a size I can fight!" Rong charged senselessly forward again despite repeated warnings not to do so by Lein. The Spider Humanoid did not hesitate either as it raised its hand up and transformed to the very thing that it was facing.

    "Huh!? That spider can transform into us?!" Lian said with shock as the two Rongs shing with each other.

    "I will not be outwitted and outmatched by a fake!" Rong gathered his chi and whacked his bull horned hammer at the side of the Spider Humanoid and simrly, the Transforming Spider did the same, but to the other trainee''s surprise, Rong was knockback by the Transforming Spider''s attack.

    "Why you!" Lian stepped forth to sh with the fake Rong when she saw Rong smashed to a couple of trees away from the battle. She knew if its a fake Rong, all the more it would easy for her to defeat it. However, that was also when the Transforming Spider turned into Lian and copied the same thing she was doing, and to her surprise, its agility rivalled up against her.

    "No use, we should not let it fight one on one!" Lein charged his sword with chi but Su Zhen stopped him.

    "How do you know we are fighting the fake Lian?" Su Zhen said as the speed of battle caught up and there were after images of their attacks and them evading the attacks. "Unlike Rong, we might identally injure the real Lian if we intervene in their battle."

    "UrghhбнLian! Use your three tails! I bet that stupid spider does not have it!" Lein suggested, but it seemed like his advice went into deaf ears.

    "She needs time to activate the three tails, and at the rate with the fight that they are going with, it is impossible for her to do that. Plus, she used it previously to snatch that gem eye away from the spider''s body, it would be harder to do so." Su Zhen said before she began to murmur a few words out.

    "I see, if we cannot help her directly, we can do so indirectly." Lein understood what Su Zhen was doing as he too started to gather his chi and prepared a long range technique.

    "Lian! Remember that battle against the ck Elephant? We will be doing that!" Lein shouted to the fighters, and he caught a glimpse of Lian''s eyes, acknowledging what they were saying before the fight became a blur again.

    "What are they doing? ck Elephant?" Jin asked as he returned to ire''s sight to observe the fight.

    "There was this partially mutated elephantбнpossessed by a low level demon. The trainees used that elephant as part of their training. I believe they are trying to recreate what they had used for that ck Elephant kill," ire replied while continuing to mark their performance.

    "Woah, that means they kill demons before? Then what is with this examination for?" Jin asked while moving a few trees back to have a better view.

    "No, that demon was ced by us. A few of us in JODE can summon and contract demons without too much of a consequence. Hence, it was a type of training rather than a proper kill." ire said as she noticed they were going to put their n in motion.

 Chapter 468 Transforming Spider - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 468 Transforming Spider - Part 2</h4>

    "I still do not think that they will be able to defeat it." Jin felt like going in and settle it once and for all.

    "The System had updated its analysis of the Transforming Spider. It seems that it can match the power and speed of any monster it encountered in that particr form. Should User try to fight against it, it might pose as a dangerous foe for User." The System responded.

    "Because it can copy me? But it could not copy the Astral Pandas right?" Jin asked System as he can see Lian was pulling back slowly to their ''trap''.

    "It might not be able to copy the Astral Pandas, but System had noticed that it consistently looked at Qilin Cultivator Lein and noted a few sparksing out from the Transforming Spider as if to imitate it while fighting with Nine Tail Fox Demon Cultivator Lian." The System reported that it could still possibly imitate the strength of the Astral Pandas even if it could not copy the Panda silhouetttes.

    "Soбнunless I kill it in one shot," Jin said and System cautioned that there might be a defensive mechanism in ce to prevent itself from being assassinated such as the carapace it produced when Lian tried to attack it.

    "Do note that User had used ck Panda Fire and Green Panda Wind in front of the Transforming Spider before. Should User wish to attack it, it''s best to surprise it with White Panda Ice instead." The System gave its analysis to Jin.

    "What a troublesome foe." Jin folded his arms and continued to see what the demon exorcist trainees could do.

    "The trouble would be worth it for your Living Armour upgrade. Gold did not make the wrong choice in choosing the Transforming Spider. And it seems like this particr Transforming Spider is a variant. The same as Thunder Ram Demon Keyrin." The System replied, and Jin wondered if Gold already knew that all the Elder Demons he chose were variants.

    "Just wondering, if people worship Moloch or even Elder Demon Keyrin, will they have the chance to increase their powers like how Lord Wolte did?" Jin asked as he saw Lian finally broke off from the fight and Rong, caught up with their ns, stood against it once again.

    "Affirmative, all demons have such potential when they were worshipped or had eaten/killed enough to transform into a variant." The System stated as it too was interested in this particr trap the cultivators were doing andmanded its magic eye to follow carefully.

    "Rong now!" Su Zhen said as she ced her hands on the ground.

    "Intermediate Hammer Arts! Rocket Hammer of Ao Ye!" Rong fired up his batter bull horned hammer towards the fake Lian which now turned into fake Rong when facing the Ox Demon Cultivator.

    "Intermediate White Demon Snake Technique! Hundred Snake Ambush!" Su Zhen shouted as her hands pressed deeper into the ground, causing chi snakes silhouettes to appear from the ground beneath the Transforming Spider. They all came out to strike the fake Rong when he was distracted with the real one in front of him.

    "Epic Qilin Technique! Qilin''s Thunder Implosion!" Lein shouted as he cast his chi skill onto Su Zhen''s snakes as abination attack while a bolt of lightning struck the Transforming Spider. The fake Rong endured Lein''s bolt of lightning, but that was not the main attack as the snake silhouettes that were affected by the lightning bolt started to implode.

    The chi snake silhouettes turned into a ball of energy before copsing itself and explode the energy from within. It caused considerable damage to the Transforming Spider before it was mmed by Rong''s rocket hammer technique. Without further ado, Rong continued with his Rocket Hammer Combo.

    "Intermediate Hammer Arts Combo! Rocket Hammer m!" The Transforming Spider being hit by in the gut by the hammer next suffered an explosive impact on its head by Rong. "Andstly! Intermediate Hammer Arts Combo Finisher! Rocket Hammer Earthquake!" Rong threw in all the chi that he had, and the Hammer bounced back from the Rocket Hammer m to give Rong the finisher attack.

    However, the rest was not convinced that finisher move would kill the Transforming Spider, so both Su Zhen and Lein entered the fight too. "Intermediate White Demon Snake Technique! Hundred Snake Bind!" Su Zhen threw her snake whip towards the Transforming Spider to restrict its movement while Lein jumped high up to release his follow up technique the moment Rongpleted his attack.

    The bull horned hammer dived towards the Transforming Spider and everyone could hear a rumbling noise when it hit the fake Rong, causing it to lose an arm. (It could have evaded if not for the Hundred Snake Bind.)

    "Rong, move! Epic Sword Arts! Burst Horn Strike of the Qilin!" Lein shouted as a silhouette of a Qilin epassed the whole of Lein and his sword portrayed like the horn of the Qilin. He dived in straight after the Transforming Spider lost its arm and sted the entire area with electricity.

    "Gem Eye! GIVE ME BACK!!!!" The Transforming Spider held onto Lein''s sword not with its other arm but with its spider legs attached at the back of it. That was also when Lein saw that it did not change to a fake Lein nor stayed with fake Rong.

    Instead, it went with the face of Jin.

    With its free hand, it conjured a towering inferno of fire towards the Lein and the rest of the team. However, the only difference was that it did not shot ck mes, but just the regr looking orange fire although the System measured its magical strength to be a near equivalent to the output which Jin had used to save the kids.

    "Ah ah ah, that seems like trouble," Jin said to himself as he saw the Transforming Spider now imitated himself to face the kids.

    "Hahah! Looks like the kids can finally get their revengeбнthat is if they can still stand up. I have to say, this spider demon is stupidly strong. How did you even manage to kill it and use it as your dungeon experience? It''s way too powerful for current users." iremented.

    "That is why I did mention this was a prototype dungeon that I had been messing with. I needed some бнerm tester input before I could put it out for the other cultivators to try. Or else it might be too difficult for them to handle." Jin tried to put a strong front, but he was also in a dilemma on how to defeat it.

    "The eyes are the key right?" Jin asked the System.

    "Highly likely, ording to Peppers and Gold''s text. System is unsure if the method of killing could be applicable to a variant like this." The System gave his disimer in case it does not work.

    "ire, do you still want them to continue the fight? Or should I step in and interfere?" Jin asked and ire shook her head.

    "Give them onest chance. They might not have a n, but they at least would like to put in onest ditch effort." ire knew how much the trainees could handle. Despite Su Zhen and Lein were Grade 10, they were not a true battle hardened Grade 10, which was why they had so much difficulty with fighting. Their pace was all over the ce, and it didn''t help that they did not have much battle experience.

    "The folly of being in a Royal n. I dare say those cultivation grades in most of them despite their foundation training they had is just a fa?ade. The modern workings of the world did weaken the cultivation world....but not for this guy." ire said to herself as she saw Jin, who was a Grade 8, but it felt like he had seen more battles than herself.

    "Hahaha, guess who is back to haunt us..." Rong said as he managed to activate his Ox Demon Silhouette Body Shield and tried to cover the rest of the trainees as much as he could from the inferno st. However, because of that, his entire back was burnt to the point he was unable to move. The other demon exorcist trainees received some burns, but it was not to the point they were rendered immobile.

    "I leave the rest to you three," Rong said as heid heavily on the floor gasping for air.

    "Please, I cannot move tooбн" Lian replied, but contrary to her words, she was trying her best to stand up.

    "Hahaha. Now I understand why so many in the extermination branch of JODE wanted to go into administrative after a few rounds in the wild." Lein panted as he raised his sword towards the fake Jin.

    "Must be wussies." Su Zhen summoned a chi snake silhouette to tighten a broken splinter on her left arm. It was hurting her, but at the very least, she could still move, unlike Rong who sacrificed himself the most.

    "You owe me a drink for doing your work, youzy ox," Lein said as he charged towards the fake Jin with no n in mind. However, before he can move, something was holding back, and it was no other than Jin. (the real one)

    "What do you think you are doing?!" Jin shouted at him as held onto his cor and pushed him back to the other injured ones. "Arggh, I know I should not interfere, but at the rate, you four are going, you wouldn''t be making any progress and instead be spider food again."

    "If you know that you should not interfere, why are you still here!" Lein pushed Jin away, but oddly the Transforming Spider was not attacking at all despite the internal conflict its intruders are making. In fact, it was observing the person that it had transformed to and was interested in getting more information from him.

    "User, it appears the Transforming Spider is observing you very carefully. Please act with caution." The System said after obtaining sufficient data from the previous fights against the other demon exorcists.

    "Don''t worry. I know." Jin replied to the System while he folded his arms and stared at Lein. "Because I am your team leader even though both you and I hate it," Jin said out with brutal honesty.

    ''That is why I am going to give you orders, and you follow to the letter. Or else, do not even think of killing that thing." Jin showed the rest of them the Panda Emblem that Grandma Yuan had imbued and the trainees realised they could not disobey a direct superior without facing appropriate consequences in the future.

    "The enemy is currently observing me and will not do anything rash. So now''s the time to drink up your chi potion, the one I asked you guys to bring out." Jin said he continued to stay with his arms folded.

    The trainees reluctantly drank the potion which Lian and Su Zhen distributed, and they could visibly see that Rong''s burnt wounds heal quite a fair bit too. "I did not expect the potion to take effect so quickly! This is way faster than the potions our Royal alchemists made!" Rong said as he could move a little aspared to a while ago.

    "Never discount your team members in a tough pinch. And most importantly, do not be a hero! We need yers and to work as a team, not heroes! Thest I heard was that I joined the Demon Exorcists, not the Hero''s n!" Jin said as he assisted Rong to slowly stand up while waiting for the rest of the chi potion to take effect.

    "Tell me, what do you all know about this monster so far after fighting it? Su Zhen, you go first." Jin asked while keeping tabs on the monster.

    "It can transform into any of us and copy our skills to a certain degree. Like you what you have done, to use your ck panda fire but it could only produce normal fire." Su Zhen spewed what she knew.

    "Anybody else wants to add on?" Jin looked around and saw Lian raised her hand.

    "It wants the gem eye back," Lian said and Jin asked for the gem eye from Lian.

    "User, please hold. Analysing the Transforming Spider''s Eye." The System said while Jin decided to drag a bit more time for the System to see if there is any weakness to it.

    "What other skills do you all have in your repertoire? It is likely to counter any skill you guys have unless you show it something new."

    "Not many left for me," Lein said with embarrassment since he purposely took the few most offensive skills in the Qilin Cultivation manual and practised them to perfection (or so he thought.) Rong said the same except for Su Zhen and Lian who had yet to show their offensive skills at all.

    "I see, if that is the case, you two will be the offensive, the boys will be distracting it. Lian it is up to you to kill it." Jin said as he purposely reversed their roles inbat and told them to go into position.

 Chapter 469 Transforming Spider - Final

    <h4>Chapter 469 Transforming Spider - Final</h4>

    "Jin What are you doing?! You know by interfering and giving orders, you are jeopardising the impromptu mission that you supposedly wanted them to take," ire said in a voice transmission to Jin while the rest were preparing their formation.

    "I know, I will hold responsibilityter. Right now the Transforming Spider Demon matters more." Jin replied briefly while he told Su Zhen, The White Demon Snake Cultivator to release the Hundred Snake Binds again to test the reaction of the Transforming Spider.

    "Won''t it go into mes?" Su Zhen said as she performed themand of her interim leader. The chi snake silhouettes bound the Transforming Spider again, but it was not moving nor did it release the same wave of fire attack at them.

    "So, it is really a patient and intelligent demon." Jin thought to himself as the Transforming Spider assumed that by being bound, it would be attacked by Jin''s me as a follow up move. However, Jin was not doing that at all. Instead, he asked Rong to attack with his Rocket Hammer technique again.

    "Here goes nothing!" Rong charged forth but realised his body was not as heavy as usual. Instead, there seemed something to be enchanting his body. He felt faster and lighter as the winds were with him rather than against him. The others at the back saw that there was a Green looking Panda silhouette right behind Rong, powering him.

    The Transforming Spider scoffed as it brought up its hand to block the attack. It already knew the strength and impact of the hammer so it would be easy to deflect. However, when the hammer attack connected, the Spider''s hand was splintered right in front of it into many directions. Causing blood to smear all over his hammer and himself.

    Because, instead of a blunt blow, the Green Panda Silhouette had enhanced the hammer blow into something simr to a pickaxe, thus the change of impact. The Transforming Spider released a screech as if it was not expecting that particr attack from Rong and it transformed back to Rong with a huge hammer by its side.

    However, what was interesting was that the hand that Rong had split was still bleeding and not fully recovering. That was when the others finally believed they were able to defeat it. "I only changed the tactics a little. How could it have such a big impact?" Jin queried, but he felt the pieces did not fit properly.

    "That is because of Jin''s chi. Now he had awakened to the true cultivation, His Maqi was more than enough to cause damage against the demons." Grandma Yuan said as she could hear his conversation via the Magic Eye cameras. "бнPlus he killed demons before. His body had sufficient capability to kill the demons."

    "The other demon exorcist trainees had yet killed a proper demon, their chi was not fine tuned to fight the demons. Thus, they had to fight harder than usual to make the demon bleed and be baptised by their blood."

    "Baptised by blood? User had not done anything of such sort." The System retorted, and Grandma Yuanughed.

    "It''s a figure of speech and in some way literal. Demons had a natural resistance against all sort of attacks, and thus the trainees had to use more chi than usual to pierce their resistance and physical armour. This was to produce a more solid kind of chi. For some reason, that''s the only logical method to make the trainees effective against demons. To hit harder." Grandma Yuan exined.

    "However, that is only one way of doing things and not to mention traditional too. The other way was more unorthodox and seemingly effective despite the process. Let the exorcist trainees be exposed to the demon''s blood. The blood might not have a visible effect, but to the cultivator''s chi cirction, it was a different issue. Because the demons had a tendency to thirst for the spiritual body. When the exorcists hade in contact with the demon blood, their chi cirction will react in a way which will defend the cultivator''s spiritual self from being affected by the blood."

    "A bit of it is fine, the chi can produce something like an antibody against it. How it works is simr to a vine. Thus, their chi would be effective against the demons. What Jin was doing incidentally was just quickening the process for them." Grandma Yuan remarked. "Theds have had some form of demonised chi within their blood, but this Transforming Spider was way beyond their capabilities or their bodies. That boy cheated me saying it would be a decent challenge for the kids."

    "On the other hand, if a person was literally immersed by Demon''s blood, you will see that they might go insane as if they were possessed by them. Sadly, It''s the same if someone was draped in God''s blood. That is why we subjugate both despite our names being Demon Exorcists. Gods are equally a troublesome sort for their spreading their overwhelming love and their twisted ideals of peace." Grandma Yuan went down the memoryne, remembering a case where she had to convince the parents that it was a demon that was possessing their child instead of a selfish god.

    "Rong! Holy water!" Lian shouted towards her training partner as she threw a potion of holy water right at him. Rong took it like a man as he allowed the potion bottle to smash straight at this head. (Actually, he was too tired to even catch the potion properly) The demon blood on him dissipated from the use of Holy Water and Rong felt refreshed as always.

    "Why do you need to ssh holy waterбн? A possible iing me attack?" Jin did not know what was happening until the System filled Jin on what Grandma Yuan said right after he sent amand to Lein to attack with Rong.

    "Oh, really? Then the times I am stained with the blood of fighting those demons from the dungeon world?" Jin could remember how bad it was against Moloch''s army and fortress.

    "Like what past Sub System User Yuan had said previously, your cultivation was made to prevent those and at the same time allowed you to fight them." The System replied while Jin did the same thing for Lein and supported him with a Green Wind Astral Panda.

    Lian and Su Zhen, on the other hand, were surprised by Jin''s use of chi skills. It was the first time they saw an Eastern cultivator supporting someone simr to a Western Enchanter. (Most cultivation styles were selfish in nature, rather than selfless.) It was apparent that Rong could smash the Transforming Spider''s hand into splinter was because of Jin, and they finally saw his powers at work.

    "Even the four of us could not have made much of a dent against the Transforming Spider but just one enhanced hit with Jin''s chi, we can finally make a dent. He really had beaten a demon before." Su Zhen said in a voice transmission to Lian.

    "Can''t he be manipting the dungeon so that he could be absurdly strong as the Transforming Spider?" Lian had her doubts but Su Zhen shooked her head.

    "You do know my father is a talkative but extremely knowledgeable dungeon supplier for the Royal ns. If not for my mother''s insistence for making me a Demon Exorcistбн I would have followed him." Su Zhen said as she prepared the chi skill which Jin had instructed after hearing her skill repertoire.

    "Your point?" Lian was preparing her chi while Jin had temporarily enchanted her with the ck Fire Astral Panda and Lian was steadily trying to adjust herself to attack the Transforming Spider in one shot.

    "I know exactly how a dungeon supplier works. My dad had taught me how dungeon works. It is not as easy as you think. Jin''s power is the real deal, there is no way to fake it. If possible, I would want my father to meet him and exchange pointers. I believe he would be thrilled to do so and be envious if he knew that I went to the rumoured Dungeons and Pandas for a fight." Su Zhen replied in the voice transmission as they heard Jin giving orders at them to get ready.

    In the meantime, Rong noticed his dexterity enchantment disappeared, and that was when he knew that he had to withdraw and gave Lein the priority to distract the Transforming Snake.

    "Yes Rong! Come back, drink another chi recovery potion. Your stamina is faltering and your burnt wounds might act up again." Jin beckoned to him as he used the Tact Tweak and the System to keep track of their supposed health bars. The way hemands people from the Tact Tweak suddenly gave him a sudden bout of inspiration in the midst of battle.

    "I think I thought of another nice mini game for the shopбн Ah, I should keep it for the new year when the kids are having their holidays. I could make a bit of their pocket money that way." Jin thought to himself as he told the System to remind him to keep that idea on hold.

    "Ah! You traitor! I thought we agree to hate that fake exorcist!" Lian said out loud towards Su Zhen as she boosted herself up into the sky with the aid of an additional Green Astral Panda by Jin. However, the White Demon Snake cultivator was concentrating on her timing the moment Lian shot up.

    The n to eliminate the Transforming Spider was now in motion.

    "Su Zhen! Now!" Jin said as he promptly ced the Green Wind Astral Panda he used on Rong and transferred onto Su Zhen. From a distance, she hit the whip on the floor, and a great chi snake silhouette emerged from the ground, breaking it a hole underneath it. It then slithered towards the Transforming Spider which Lein delivered onest thunderp before retreating as well.

    The Spider saw the great chi snake silhouette from afar and was already preparing to counter it by transforming back into spider form. It was something simr to the first form the exorcist trainees had fought but of a smaller scale version and highly more agile.

    The snake''s mouth was wide open, only to be stopped by the legs of the spider as it tried to spit venom into the snake''s mouth. However, it did not realise that it was just a chi form energised by Su Zhen and with the help of the Green Wind Astral Panda infusion.

    "Lian! Kick away!" Jin said as he secretly prepared ance of White Panda Ice in case their attacks would not work. Lian did what was told, and her three tails form appeared once again. Just that this time around, mes were enveloping her tails and legs. The Green Wind Astral Panda infused with Lian''s leg made her feel like the embodiment of the spirit of a me god had possessed her as the mes continued to spiral around her leg like a cyclone.

    "All of nothing!" Lian flew down, and that was when Jin also ordered Lein to give an impromptu thunderbolt discharge at the Spider. The Transforming Spider who had its eyes affixed at the snake got electrocuted and paralysed momentarily for Lian to execute the finishing attack. Her kick managed to hit the spherical body of the Transforming Spider and everything around her burst into dark ck mes.

    "Don''t get back yet! Continue to attack and make sure it''s dead! Do not let it have a chance to copy your attack!" Jin ordered loudly via chi transmission.

    "SO LOUD! You do not have to tell me what to do!!" Lian recovered her stance and continued her assault in the mes. "w Arts! Vertical Rebounding sh of the Fox!" Lian said as she ced utilised as much chi as she could garner.

    "From above!" In the heat of the moment, Rong shouted and did a Rocket Hammer m before grabbing Lian and pulled her out of the mes.

    "We are not even sure if it''s dead!" Lian shouted as if to tell Rong to put her back.

    "I rather you survive than ensuring that thing is dead! Remember what Jin said! Do not discount anyone!" Rong followed Jin''s order to rescue her as soon as he can while making sure Lian did the maximum amount of damage before leaving.

    "System, found where the eyes were located from the analysis?" Jin asked and the System gave the coordinates via his new Pandaromic Eyes. "Thanks!" Jin held onto the icence until it was bustling with chi. He believed the damage from the trainees, which were enhanced by his Maqi, was sufficient for thest act of this battle, but he wanted to be sure.

    The moment he knew that everyone was out of the way and the ck Panda Fire was still burning the Transforming Spider, Jin overcharged his White Panda Icence and threw it upwards before it angled based on the coordinates he received from the System.

    "Transforming Spider, It''s a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can get along together in the future."

 Chapter 470 The Impromptu Ambush

    <h4>Chapter 470 The Impromptu Ambush</h4>

    "So Lord Wolte is our new patron?" Zieg, themander of the Dark Temrs, said as he and the fellow dark temrs knelt down in front of Baphomet.

    "Yes, I Baphomet had sworn my allegiances towards our new liege," Baphomet said as he introduced the anthropomorphic tank to the rest of the Dark Temrs.

    "For a slug to turn into a deadly construct of death!! Now I understand why Sir Baphomet wanted to pledge its allegiance towards Lord Wolte!" Ziegmented, and every other Dark Temrs echoed the same sentiments.

    "You all humble me with your praises. I, however, believe that words should be matched with actions. I see that some of you are having doubts in your eyes despite your leader''s decision now to worship me." Lord Wolte said as he eyed at a few of the dark temrs behind Zieg.

    "Who is it!" Zieg turned its back at his followers. "Who dares to question my position ?!" His followers immediately lowered their heads and said no in unison.

    "Calm down Zieg. Calm down. Portraying authority at the right times is essential for a leader, but if you misused such power, it would only create doubts among your people. They have the right to suspect how this construct which I named myself as the Metal Slug Tank would have the same if not stronger ability than Baphomet. So, let''s put it to the test!" Lord Wolte exined to Zieg.

    "How do you propose we do so?" Baphomet, who was standing beside Wolte questioned him.

    "Easy, let''s go crush some rats." Lord Wolte said with delight.

    "Where? We are not familiar with the territory at all." Zieg replied with a lingering regret not to scout in advance before they meet up with the supposed Silver Mage.

    "Then we take Uote Town back from the hands of the Demon Rats." Silver who was lurking around hoping to speak more to Zieg, had spoken out. "Thest I heard, Sebastia had taken the Demon Rat military leaders of the Uote Town to the capital. Their guards would not stand an unexpected assault against our attacks.

    "You mean attack now? now?" Zieg questioned the validity of the n, but Lord Wolte stepped up, hearing its an excellent opportunity for him to shine.

    "Why not? Let''s get going. Don''t worry, if you die. just wake up and repeat again." Lord Wolte said, and Baphometughed at the absurdity of the situation.

    "Bro! That is so typical of you. So fearless of death even at such an old age. Very well! I Baphomet will personally join you in battle as well!" Baphomet stretched his wings and roared excitedly.

    "As expected of our new Patreon! Dark Temrs, what say you?!" Zieg roused up the battle spirit within them by mming his sword to his shield. The Dark Temrs who were apprehensive at first became emboldened when they heard that they could battle against the Demon Rats.

    "Very well, I will tell my cousin about it! I will be right back immediately!" Silver said as Metal Slug Tank began to learn the type of tactics and formations from the Dark Temrs while waiting for Silver''s reply. After all, they were not the ones capable of transporting or teleporting back to the Farming world.

    -----

    "YOU WHAT?" Gold''s eyes were wide open when he heard Silver''s proposal.

    "You did say your Master wanted you to assist the rebellion. We are just using the Dark Temrs as our diversion to see the reaction of their defences. No me will be ced at Sebastia since it could be seen as the Dark Temrs are having their revenge by attacking back against the Demon Rats." Silver tried to exin his rationale to his cousin.

    "Even if we were able to upy the town, there will be attempts to overtake it again by the Demon Rats from other towns! How foolish can you get!" Gold replied and Silver shook his finger.

    "That is where you might be wrong. We can use this as an experiment to see how the demon rats retaliate, and it would be a good data for future resistance fights." Silver state his reasons with Gold once again.

    "So you want to use the townsfolk as coteral damage? Did you think of them? Then how are we any better than those Demon Rats if we destroy their homes?!" Gold said as he mmed the table.

    "I believe...the Dark Temrs will be careful..."

    "Urgh! And you already riled them up for battle. If we say no to them, they will distrust us in the future." Gold said as he scratched his head, having to deal with a troublesome dilemma.

    "You did say your master canmand them to be obedient..." Silver whispered.

    "Does not mean that he will use it that way! Like I say, if we do that, how are we any better than...URGHH!" Gold knew the advantages of an ambush attack right now since Sebastia had reported to him they were already on the way to the capital. Plus the morning dawn had yet to arrive, causing any guard patrol to be at the most vulnerable period.

    "Let me...consult Yun first." Gold finally calmed down and sent a System Channel transmission to Yun. Upon listening to the plight they were in, the first thing Yun did was portal into their werejackal mansion and pped Silver on the face.

    "Always notify yourmanding leader before doing any actions of your own. Or you risk being court martial." Yun said, and Silver was clearly upset from that sudden p.

    "That is why I came to him and told him the n!" Silver said, and Yun folded her arms and stared at him.

    "It is because you do not have the capability to teleport. That is why you came to Gold. I am not dumb. If you were able to do so, you would not be here asking him for his help. Besides, if everyone acts like you, there will be no discipline within the organisation." Yun said, and Silver kept quiet while obviously angry for being med.

    "Yun, Mdm. Please forgive him. Despite his actions, his intentions were for the town. Silver had been trying hard to survive all these while and was thinking for the liberation of the townsfolk. He is just not mature enough to know the consequences that he had incurred." Gold tried to protect his cousin from Yun''s fury.

    "Indeed. He does not." Yun sighed once before she looked at Silver in the eye once more.

    "Thus, I am authorising this operation. Any civilian death will be on your head. You might not be able to die, which makes our punishment more than enough as a warning for your future actions." Yun said as she called out Que Er to appear in front of them. "But I will not let you die so badly. Que Er, provide them with sufficient Magpies. How they use these birds formunication is their own business."

    "Understood, Yun." Que Er who was now in thefort of modern clothes, made Silver realised that such a beauty could exist in this world. Yun nodded at Gold, giving him permission to oversee the impromptu mission before returning to run the shop for Jin.

    "Erm, don''t bother. She is at least a few thousand years older than you." Gold saw how Silver was enthralled by Que Er''s mature beauty and discourage him, so he would not have the idea of even trying. Yet, the little teenage boy continued to stare at her, causing Gold''s words to fall into deaf ears.

    "Gold, that is your cousin?" Que Er said as she instantly knew what kind of expression the little teenage boy was looking at her with.

    "Please go easy on him...he is still too na?ve despite his wits." Gold replied as he hit Silver on his head and told him to bring the Dark Temrs outside his mansion. Silver understood and ryed the message to the Dark Temrs.

    --------

    "Hahah, I kind of figured." Lord Wolte said as he already knew the kind of master he was serving. "But I did not expect them to make such a big ruckus about it. Guess its also good. Allow you to grow too."

    "I don''t think people grow by having their heads cut off." Silver was disgruntled, and yet Zieg also understood where Gold wasing from.

    "Do not worry, we are at the side of the people. After all, we seek justice for them. We will not let them be harmed during our fight." Zieg patted Silver as they walked towards the mansion.

    "Well, your justice is a bit skewed, so don''t mind me doubting you." Silver thought to himself as Zieg continued to ramble.

    "I had been suggesting some ways to let the people know that we are not here to harm themбнbut it seems that you have a better solution behind you." Lord Wolte eyed at Que Er, the Magpie Queen and bowed with his tank form a little out of respect for her.

    "At the very least, you know your manners, unlike this boy." Que Er spoke with an arrogant tone in order to dissuade Silver from ever liking her. Yet, she did not know that Sliver was starting to like her more when she revealed her enchanting voice.

    "Wolte! You better not destroy any buildings or no food from my kitchen at all!" Gold shouted at him as they approached the front gates of the Werejackal''s mansion.

    "Damage them a little?" Lord Wolte asked for somepromise, and Gold reluctantly agreed, knowing that the Metal Slug Tank wanted to rampage a little.

    "We only have that much budget from Yun to repair the area plus if any civilians got injured, she would deduct 1000 dungeon dors from our budget." Gold said as he eyed at Silver again.

    "I know! I know!" Silver gave a partial frown at the side of his face while Gold began to obtain the permission from the System to create the portal for them to enter.

    "I will be teleporting you guys to the Uote Town''s Guard Quarters. Sebastia had sent me the coordinates to that area before she left for the capital. And yes, you can destroy that building there. But I wish you do not, as you can use that to hold your grounds." Gold exined his mission objectives to the rest.

    "Ahhhh I see! Clever rascal. Holding their guard quarters and the other patrols wille to reinforce it. Hold onto the building, and we can possibly reduce the civilian casualty to none as well. Good idea." Lord Wolte said and the Dark Temrs also wholeheartedly agreed to the n.

    "Silver, before you go, wear this mask. It is to prevent you from being identified." Gold said, and Silver understood why.

    It was to remain dead.

    Else if the word had spread that the Silver Mage was still alive, there might be consequences for Sebastia. (Although he was tempted to get even at her someday.)

    "If not, what are you guys waiting for? Let''s get going! Lord Wolte, remember we are doing this all for you! You better prove yourself to be the worthy patron for those Dark Temrs!" Gold cast a wide enough portal the Metal Slug Tank to enter.

    "What are you talking about? I will seed." The newly evolved Lord Wolte was more confident than ever.

 Chapter 471 Assault at Uote Town

    <h4>Chapter 471 Assault at Uote Town</h4>

    It was roughly 4am in the night, and after their leaders had set off to the capital with Sebastia and herpanion, the Demon Rat Guards decided to take a breather in the night. The excitement had finally died down from all the running around and seeing resistance forces to be ughtered.

    "I wonder what the rush to the capital is? The Captain isn''t always thisбнassertive. He was moreidback and take credit whenever possible." Demon Rat Guard No.67 in the guard station spoke to Demon Rat Guard No. 1757, who was apanying him for a game of cards.

    "Oh. Remember further north of the capital, where the temperature turned every naked demon rat into ice within three days?" Guard No. 1757 asked as it yawned at the ever quiet of Uote Town''s Guard Quarters.

    "Yes, I do remember. There were rumours Demon Rat Battalion XII tried to enter there with newer snow gear created by Masters. They did notst long either, all of them never returned. The winter winds there are definitely cursed." Guard No. 67 said as he threw a ying card down.

    "Thing is, I heard there was a long standing squabble between the Burning Lion Demon and Water Snake Demon right over the territory there. Apparently, this time, the squabble nearly turned into a fight." Guard No. 1757 threw down another card, and it looks like he had the chance of winning the pot for tonight.

    "Ohбнso Captain want to bring that sexy Battle Lady and herpanion to defeat the two Elder Demons?" Guard No.67 ced a higher bet into the pot.

    "What?! You want to raise? Urgh, I will follow. And yes. Captain does not believe in that Battle Lady. Sarge No.98 said she stinks. You know how Sarge''s stink is more or less correct." Guard No. 1757 followed with the bet.

    "I see, I see. If that battledy is truly formidable and wants to gain favour from the two Masters as well as the Demon Rats, it''s best she defeats the Elder Demons. Even killing one will allow the other to simmer down and the Masters can quietly proceed with their n." Guard No.67 threw the cards down and showed a straight flush.

    "Fuck!." Guard No.1757 dropped his cards andid back a little. "Yeah, and if she is not geninue with her help, she could be chased after by the two Elder Demons until she dies. Did not know Captain is that cunning."

    "Nah, I think Captain received orders from Master. I caught a brief glimpse of the Masters''s magical eyes residing with Captain when Battle Lady was fighting the Dark Temrs. I think he wants to know how strong the resistance was." Guard No.67 pulled all the whole pot to himself and thought of all the food he could buy with it.

    "Hahah! Then Masters were shocked by the strength of Battle Lady! No wonder they want to invite Battle Lady to the capital." Guard No.1757 stood up for a stretch and then saw a glint outside of the gate. He picked up his weapon, wore his makeshift helmet and slowly opened the guard station''s door.

    "You going patrol? That is rare!" Guard No.67 was recounting the amount of copper he got from the game.

    "No, I saw something shiny for a moment. I guess that was my ima-" A loud metallic noise, something simr to their Steam Tech was heard from outside the gates.

    *BRRRRRRRR BRRRRR BRRRRRR*

    The Metal Slug Tank literally flew out of the portal and smash its tracks on the gates while driving at full power. The solid iron gates held by a flimsy iron chain broke into two dented gates as it turned wide open from the Lord Wolte''s aggressive charge.

    "What the hell is that?! Sound the rm!" Guard No.67 picked up his pot instinctive, but before any of them could reach to the rm which was powered by a series of Steam Tech controls, Lord Wolte had already aimed his turret at them and shot an anti personal shot. The whole guard station was painted red with the innards stuck to the walls, and Guard No.67''s coppers were scattered all around the floor.

    "Bro! that is wicked!! I want to let my little boys see you in action too!" Baphomet said as he raised his hand to draw a magical spell circle of him. There and then, he raised the magical spell circle up and from above, a scythe dropped from it.

    Baphomet held his weapon tight as he swung it once, causing three little Baphomet Juniors to appear who had the same appearance as him. Goat head with a lion''s mane as well as two hoofs and a pair of small bat wings behind.

    "Go make havoc my little juniors! Make Uncle Wolte proud and see how he fights too!" Baphomet smiled as his juniors saluted back and ran like scurrying rats towards the front doors of their Guard Quarters. Lord Wolte knew instantly that Baphomet wanted him to st the front doors and he dly did so.

    "One Shot of Wolte''s Special Door Breakering right up!" Wolte fired his turret again, and a purplish ball of fire came out from his turret and towards the main doors of the Guard Quarters. It exploded so loudly that they finally heard rm bells ringing within thepound.

    The Baphomet Juniors were delighted to see Uncle Wolte in action again that they need to prove they were in no way inferior too. The juniors jumped up to the second floor and started their massacre from the barely awoken demon rats in there.

    Shadows of the Baphomet juniors could be seen briefly from the brittleterns the Demon Rats used as their source of light, and Daddy Baphomet was cheering them on while they moved closer.

    The Dark Temrs were in strict formation behind Lord Wolte when they entered thepound and for a good reason. They were there to assist Lord Wolte defences since his mobility was slightly limited based on how fast the turret could rotate.

    Lord Wolte knew that he could have machine gun emcements at the side of his tank but he did not have sufficient worshippers under him yet. That was the whole reason for this ambush. He wanted to show his strength to the Dark Temrs to give themander and his troops enough reason to trust he was worth worshipping to.

    "Ahhh, I am finally seeing the ratsing out of theirir," Zieg said as he saw the Demon Ratsing from their sides and towards the Metal Slug Tank. He called out to the Dark Temrs to now surround Lord Wolte in a oval shape formation to protect him.

    "Don''t you worry. I have something that will hinder those pesky rats a little so they would not be too much of a trouble!" Lord Wolte said as he retracted the long barrel back into his turret. With a bit of twitching of his moustache, the anthropomorphic tank released a shorter tank barrel, but this time, there was an ignition torch right at the end of the barrel.

    "Wolte''s Special! Very Hot! methrower!" Wolte said as he spewed mes out of his turret and slowly turn his turret to burn from the left to right of the tank. The rats that were caught in the wall of mes screamed in pain, scattering the first wave and breaking their supposed formation.

    Some of the Demon Rats even died on the spot of the wall of mes. But this gave the opportunity for other rats to be fearless as some tried to jump over the Wall of fire to reach their enemies. Nevertheless, before they could reach within the 30 metres of the tank, balls of dark energy were shot out from the Dark Temrs. Specialised enchanted dark arrows also flew from the longbows of the Dark Temr Archers and to the demon rats at the backline.

    "Enough of the Very Hot! methrower!" Lord Wolte wished to try all the various weapons he had obtained from his evolution. The barrel retracted once again, and this time around, its barrel was angled as he aimed at the right of the Guard Quarters where Baphomet noticed arge Giant Demon Rat emerging from the shadows.

    "No worries that is why I am using Wolte''s Special Burst Mortar!" Lord Wolte happily announced the name of his weapon and fired a series of mortar fire towards that direction. The entire area turned into smoke from the st, and Lord Wolteughed at his fabulous powers.

    "Bro, sorry to disappoint you butбнit seems like that Giant Rat is still alive." Baphomet still sensed its presenceing forward despite it coughing from all the smoke.

    "Eh? ErmбнOhбнI used the wrong ammunition. That one only produces smoke. My bad." Lord Wolte thought to himself, but he needed to show his might towards Dark Temrs.

    "That smoke was just to slow them down like the fire wall! If they are still brave enough to walk through the smoke and fire, then I have to show them the real deal!" Lord Wolte cleared his throat and acted confident throughout.

    He quickly changed its ammunition and this time round when he fired, there were not just smoke but loud explosive vibrations that apanied it as well. "Ah! That sounds more like it. I was thinking why the shell just now had no impact despite all the smoke." Lord Wolte smiled to himself as Baphomet pped at the sessful mortar attack.

    "As expected from my Bro! To misdirect the enemy despite being in their territory! Such bold tactics!" Baphomet shouted out loud. "Looks like I cannot ck as well! Dark Temrs! Because you are Lord Wolte''s worshippers, I am giving you a taste of real demon powers!" Baphomet flexed his muscles, and a frightening demon aura eluded out of his body and the Dark Temrs absorbed it willingly.

    "Woahhhh! This is Sir Baphomet''s powers!!!" Zieg said as he put his palms out and a long beam of dark energy came out, annihting any Demon Rats in the way of his attack. The rest did the same, and everyone was shooting wicked energisedsers at the Demon Rats.

    "Hey! I cannot be outmatched by my subject! Dark Temrs now have a taste of my power too!" Lord Wolte said as he emitted his energy towards the surrounding temrs and suddenly, their dark energised beam stopped.

    Instead, something was forming right in front of them, and it looked like a thin cylinder looking metal arrow. "Say Unleash Wolte Missiles! And those projectiles in front of you will fly to your enemies!" Wolte said proudly as he continued the indiscriminate firing of his mortar.

    "Unleash Wolte Missiles!" Zieg and the rest of the Dark Temrs shouted simultaneously. Like heat seeking missiles, (Except they are not or else they would be aiming at the wall of mes) the missiles flew from their hand with a st of fireing out of the back of the jet booster.

    The Dark Temrs were surprised that it flew slow, but they were aimed at their targets with such high uracy that when it exploded, they were surprised by its effects. Lord Wolte saw their priceless faces when they saw that the dark temrs could wield the same kind of powers like the Metal Slug Tank.

    ----

    In the meantime, Silver himself was running on the rooftops carrying a cage that was covered with a cloth from within. Qu Er told him that he could only open the cage at the Central Square for the maximum effect. He was going to ry the message via the magpies that the resistance consisting of the Dark Temrs was performing a brave frontal attack against the Demon Rats and demanded the townsfolk not to be rmed. Leaving their house would not be rmended until the assault was over.

    As he ran across the rooftops, he could see the massive amount of smoke and dust rising from the Uote Guard''s Quarter. "Toote guys!" Sliver said to himself as he noticed that the patrols were running back to the guard quarters to see what was exactly happening.

    When Silver reached Central Square, he climbed up the fountain that was at the core of the square and opened the cage while he grasping for air. "Out you go birdies! Time to do your job! Damn the cage was heavy!"

    However, there were no signs of any birdsing out.

    Sliver felt it was weird since it was not as what Que Er had told him. There should at least be a bird inside as he rattled the cage previously. "Did they die or something?" Sliver tried to look into the cage since the cloth enclosed the cage from within and not outside.

    Suddenly the magpie''s cage shook violently, and suddenly tens of magpie flew out of the cage, causing Sliver to be surprised that he threw the cage down and he fell into the pool too. The cage was stuck on the fountain statue, and even more magpies of various colours flew out in all sorts of directions, spreading the information around to the civilians of Uote Town.

 Chapter 472 Looters

    <h4>Chapter 472 Looters</h4>

    The explosion at the Uote Guard Quarters had woken up the entire town. Some of the townsfolk decided to stay in bed, hoping not to get involved in whatever was happening, while others were overwhelmed with their curiosity and went out.

    However, at that moment, a flock of magpies covered the entire sky, and a number of them flew towards the curious civilians warning them to return indoors for now.

    The townsfolk did not know how to respond to this sudden change of development, but many decided to obey the magical talking birds. Unfortunately, some were insistent going outdoors. Those who did, quickly found themselves being harassed by the birds forcing them to return to their homes in order to prevent possible casualties.

    Meanwhile, the remaining Demon Rats had decided to retreat for the moment as Lord Wolte and the Dark Temrs had conquered what was left of the Uote Guard Quarters. Baphomet had summoned even more of his little juniors to scout the area to see if any pesky Demon Rats were hiding in hopes of ambushing them. At the same time, the Dark Temrs began raiding the Guard Quarters by checking their armoury, main offices andstly the storage rooms.

    "Damn those Demon Rats! They were indeed keeping the food stockpile for themselves." Zieg cursed as he opened the main doors for one of the storage rooms.

    "I will get some monsters to transfer those items back to the Mansion Storage Warehouse, we have more than enough space to keep them." Gold said in the System secured transmission channel.

    "But should we not give it to the civilians?" Silver questioned as he was still hiding above the rooftops, tracking where the remnants of the Demon Rats were going.

    "We will, but not now. Handing it out now would only cause fear. The citizens might also be branded as aplices for this particr ambush attack should we decide not to stay. We shall keep it for the time being and distribute it back to them when the time is right. The reason why we are emptying the Demon Rats'' coffers." Gold answered before he asked Half Ghoul Lord Derek for some assistance in bringing back the stockpiles of food into their Home Instance.

    Afterwards, Gold also requested Mr Derpy to get his Deep Ones to retrieve the gold and ce it in their home instance''s treasury as the Baphomet Juniors found a safe in their basement. The Deep Ones, despite their feral appearances, had a knack of finding gold and keeping it for themselves. (They even had an ounting department to have their gold being tracked.) This made them the perfect candidates to not only fill the coffers but search for more with their keen sense.

    Not long after the Deep Ones entered the scene, they managed to unearth a basement doorway which lead them to believe there was some hidden stash down below. By following a perfectly hidden stairway down to another safe, it had been behind abination lock that was as sophisticated as modern ones.

    But right now, they were looters, not thieves. Baphomet cleanly cut the safe from the side, and the Deep Ones rushed in to collect all the gold and happily brought them back into their undersea home instance. The sheer amount of treasures inside led Gold to believe that this was where the majority of the money was kept unlike the previous safe

    "The nearest neighbouring town is about 50 kilometres away, and the retreating rats have most likely already sent out their runners to get reinforcements in. We might have about two at most three hours before the first ones to respond arrive." Silver informed as he saw the vague silhouette of a demon runner rat racing towards the direction of the Youi Town.

    "Lord Wolte, what shall we do? Do we make use of the town and risk involving the townsfolk or provide a protracted battle against them right here?" Zieg asked his new found patron.

    "For now, we rest. Your Dark Temrs have not just protected me but also faced them head on in melee range. They are worthy of my praise." Lord Wolte answered, and the Commander of Dark Temrs was delighted that they did well.

    "My Lord. To me, you had already proven your worth in battle when you first crashed into the gates of the Guard Quarters, killing any enemy in sight. I sense your justice, and I believe your praise for them will only strengthen their belief in you." Zieg knelt and thanked Lord Wolte before returning to an abandoned bunker for the Dark Temrs to rest.

    Separately, Gold personally entered the Uote Guard Quarters gathering whatever important looking documents were left over by the Demon Rats. "It seems they were really caught in a bind. There was no time to raze any ssified information, everything is still intact." Gold happily thought as he helped himself to the information.

    As Gold skimmed through the Demon Rat''s intelligence reports, he was surprised by the content. They had kept track of the whereabouts of Silver, had spied on several of the resistance meetings especially on the Dark Temrs. There were also mentions of the Western Skies and Southern Stars butpared to the Dark Temr''s report, there were only snippets of information from the other two organisations. "Looks like the resistance still has hope."

    The more concerning news revolved around the Burning Lion Demon and the Water Snake Demon. "If those two are about to fight, that means..." Gold could only deduce one probable cause for their uing fight despite the report stating that it was due to territorial disputes. "Wait, that directionбн isn''t that the ce they summoned Sebastia to? Do those traitors and rats want to use her to remove the Demons away?" Gold pondered to himself.

    "... that might not be that bad...That might actually turn into an ideal situation for us! Especially when she has Betor Kraft with her too!" Gold remembered that Jin had only obtained the Horn of the Thunder Ram Demon for his living armour tes. If Sebastia and Kraft could assist their master in getting the Burning Lion Demon as well as the Water Snake Demon, all he had to worry about was the Transforming Spider which me Ripper had already found traces of.

    "Speaking of me Ripper..." Gold immediately went into the secured channel to ping for him.

    "Yes, Boss?" me Ripper replied instantly.

    "How is the situation looking at your end?" Gold had sent me Ripper ahead to Youi Town when Silver wanted to attack the Uote Guard Quarters.

    "I''ve already eliminated those inside their Guard Quarters. Quiet at first but there was a sniffer rat who managed to notice me. It was nice to be able to go loud once in a while." me Ripper grinned widely as he pped the Youi Town''s Guard Captain awake. "Information gathering wise, it''s going well. The Youi Town''s Guard Captain didn''t seem to know any more than the intelligence reports I had sent to you."

    "Any escaped Demon Rats?" Gold asked, and me Ripper proudly imed he had gotten rid of all of them.

    "Amazing work. Lord Wolte has already eliminated most of the Demon Rats here, but there''s a messenger rat on the way to you, you can kill it if you wish. Else, burn the whole ce alive and pinned it on the Dark Temrs." Gold instructed. "Oh and of course, only after all the money and other resources have been taken away. We don''t want to waste any good gold or food, do we?"

    "Derek''s zombies and Derpy''s Deepies are already working on it. I''ve opened the secret safe for them to ransack." me Ripper replied as he continued to take as many documents as he could under him.

    "Meomi, how''s the coordination with the Southern Skies Spies?" Gold asked as he looked at the remaining intelligence reports in the office.

    "We''ve located a few outposts, and they are manufacturing the Steam Tech, mining Litoride or stockpiling food and resources just as me Ripper''s update reports suggested," Meomi reported on the coordinates where the Southern Skies spies had found the outposts based on me Ripper''s past experience in raiding the Orcs.

    "But the spies guess that these are just the surface. The scouting leader believes more are hidden, and the ones we found were deliberately ced to attract attention." Meomi borated and me Ripper who was still in the chat concurred.

    "I trust your spy leader''s instinct. The coordinates you gave...there is just too many of these outposts. Maybe if we plot the points on the map, we might get an inkling of an idea where their main underground base is located." me Ripper suggested.

    "Grey, you heard that?" Gold asked on the transmission and Grey replied that he was already in the process of plotting the points.

    "Okay, continue to remain vignt. me Ripper, proceed just as you did, scout the next town and eliminate them the next night." Gold ordered, and me Ripper sighed as he called out to his brother again. "Wyr, would you kindly give me a lift? I think I might be able to reach the next ce and kill them all before dawn."

    "Man, I envy you for having such a fun job. if not for your calls, I might be stuck here transporting construction materials." Wyrstrikerined and Dread Reaver who was coincidentally beside Wyrstriker chimed in.

    "At the very least, you get called out. My de had been itching for some killing for a long time." Dread Reaver ced the bricks on his Oinkmobile.

    "Hah! Just wait your turn. I''m sure after this attack, Gold will pull everyone back from the scouting mission." me Ripper deduced as he waited at the rooftop of Youi Guard Quarters for Wyrstriker to appear as well as the report from the Derek and Derpy.

    "If that is the case, can''t you just let us fight this one?" Wyrstriker hadid the transported goods down and was ready to be teleported.

    "Gold? System?" me Ripper tried to help his sworn brothers out a little.

    "Arghh what''s up with each and every one of you, just itching for a fight?! Just go to the random arena and beat some crap out of them!" Gold prefered to keep the operation just as nned.

    "WE CAN''T!" Wyrstriker and Dread Reaver answered at the same time. "Jin forbade us from appearing before our official debut."

    "Fine! Just this once! You better make it as clean as Youi town, or this will be thest time!" Gold just sighed.

    "So if we do a good job, there will be more in the future?" Dread Reaver tried to twist Gold''s words.

    "No! I mean! Urgh!" Gold turned off his transmission with them and focused on collecting the data around him.

    "Hahaha, don''t tease him that much. He''s got a lot on his te as the leader for this mini expedition." me Ripper said as Wyrstriker teleported to him by Gold. He noticed Dreadreaver was also already on it.

    "Can you handle all three of us?" Wyrstriker asked his pet Wyvern, Iwen, but he snorted and showed his rider that it was none of his concern.

    "Come to think of it, I think its good you guys followed me." me Ripper said as he pulled out the Farming World''s map on top of Iwen''s back. (The Wyvern had a windshield that protected the goblins from the piercing winds and bacsh. Hence at its back, there was little to no wind to interfere with them.)

    The duo asked why and me Ripper pointed to the far end. "It''s a trading town, and ording to Silver''s information, the guards stationed there, are at least two to three foldrger than the surrounding towns." me Ripper remarked.

    "So, you are suggesting that those are not just mere guards, and there might me be some harder foes? Like Elites and stuff?" Dread Reaver inquired and me Ripper nodded.

    "Possible, I have yet to encounter one though." me Ripper replied, but that short conversation alone made Dread Reaver excited. All the boredom moving construction materials finally gave him the chance to put his muscles to better use.

 Chapter 473 Extra: Jespa and Hespeta

    <h4>Chapter 473 Extra: Jespa and Hespeta</h4>

    "How many have youpleted today, Jespa?" Moloch questioned as he was holding a tablet bestowed by the Empire Building Sub System to take note of the construction progress.

    "бн332 pieces of mixed Animate Dead runes," Jespa grumbled as Moloch could see her hand shaking after all the rune making.

    "Not bad, see you can do it if you put your will into it." Moloch praised somewhat sarcastically as he checked off the list to oversee Jespa''s rune making.

    "At this rate, I feel more like a contracted ve rather than a runesmithбн" Jespa grumbled softly to herself but not soft enough for Moloch not to hear. For a moment, he put down the tablet and looked at the goblindy in front of him.

    "At the very least, you had the chance to work with mithril. If you think you had enough of this ce, we can always let you return home. Else I shall ''kindly'' ask you to continue. If you stick with us, you might get the opportunity to work on something... more exciting soon." Moloch offered her the carrot and the stick, but it did not seem to work on Jespa a single bit.

    "Heh, that''s what you''ve been promising from the start, bute on, even a six year old would know at this point, that you are just bidding for time. Heck, you might be making excuses." Jespa gave her brutal feedback to Moloch. "Even my cousin, Hespesta, a master cksmith felt her hands and back aching from all the work. And for what? Mere y statues which do not appreciate her items."

    "How long will these versions of Animate Dead work?" Moloch finally decided to entertain this Runesmith since she had held up to her bargain. After days being busy creating different types, it had provided the System ample time to catalogue them and find out which type would be the best to recreate with its own NPC.

    Hence, he agreed that it was probably about time to let her do something more significant.

    "Thetest batch of pure Animate Dead Mithril Runes canst between 90-120 minutes after being activated before they would need to be recharged. The mixed Animate Dead canst roughly half the time."

    "See, you did improve, right? Optimising your efficiency in the runes and making them even more effective in a long protractedbat. Not to mention you were able to create mixed Runes. The Magical y Craftsmen had also perfected their statue making procedure, and they are now able to make more improved statues in a shorter time frame."?Moloch argued back.

    "So? Doesn''t that just mean that they had devised even more work for me? Even though I had improved, I alone can''t match the output of dozens of them." Jespa folded her arms and challenged the purpose of the contract.

    "We are not asking you to do that. If you are unable to suffer now, why should we believe in you for bigger projects? Now let me show you what we are capable of before you run that little mouth of yours again!" Moloch bragged that they were nowhere as talented as they once imed to be. He then beckoned her to call her cousin to meet Moloch at Industrial Sector 1.

    "Cuz, what are all these tall gigantic buildings?!" Hespesta was shocked to learn that the floating city had managed to hide theserge warehouse like buildings from in sight. Jespa was also shocked, even more so after they discovered a few goblins working together with the Orcs to create Sandroku Golem in an open workshop while waiting for Moloch to arrive.

    "Have you goblins gone mad? Don''t you know that the Orcs are our enemies?" Jespa used the team of Goblins and Orcs. It was one thing to work near their enemies, but it seemed preposterous to her to see them working along together. The Goblin Orcbi could onlyugh at how small minded the goblin shouting was.

    "Empty vessels make the most noise." One of the goblins ridiculed her right to her face leading to moreughter amongst his fellow goblins while the Orcs just grinned to themselves. They had learnt the long and hard way that it was impossible to win over the goblins in a verbalpetition.

    "Whyбнyouбн Just because you are making some metal boxes working together, does not mean that you -"?A sudden loud thud was heard from the Sandroku Golem and the floor broke into two as it split right towards Jespa and Hespesta.

    "You are right." The Goblin pilot inside the Sandroku Golem spoke through the speakers. "This is just some metal boxes mashed together and somehow we managed to get it to work. It''s best you leave us alone before these metal boxes identally crack your heads open."

    "Jespa! Enough! Let''s just wait for Lord Moloch somewhere else." Hespesta pulled her pompous cousin away from the scene while putting her hand over the other''s mouth.

    "Crazy goblin, right?" Moloch, who was behind the workshop doors, had observed everything.

    "Lord, why would you want that arrogant Runesmith to work with us? We''ve just gotten used to tolerating each other''s presence. She is will be the real threat to teamwork." The Goblin Pilot questioned as he came out of the cockpit.

    "Do you have a choice? You''ve tried it yourselves, and her runes obviously made a difference for your creation. You''ve dealt with the Orcs, surely you can handle one of your own kind." Moloch argued back as he told them to consider for a while as he tapped on the tablet before the crack on the floor got mended in an instant.

    "Heh, I think I''d rather bash my head on the golems than listen to that female goblin ramble nonsense." The Orc Lead said, and everyone started tough heartily.

    "Whatever helps you tolerate her." Moloch smiled from his stuff toy form and began to approach the gagged Jespa.

    "You can''t seem to keep your mouth together, can you? Think twice before you speak. First impressions matter even here. Now follow me to your potential new boss." Moloch led them to a building that was around 500 metres away and surprisingly got to enjoyed peace for a moment.

    "Niu Lang, open up!" Moloch called as he banged on the hangar bay door loudly and pressed on the side door''s bell a few times. The loud sizzling noises faded away, and there was a faint voice shouting that he wasing.

    "Sir Moloch? What are you doing here?" Niu Lang opened the side door and saw Moloch with two other goblins that he had no recollection of.

    "Who are these goblins? New workers? They do not look skilled at all.

    Their hands have yet to be seasoned with mechanics. You do know that I require someone to build the weaponry and not just two random goblins?" Niu Lang words were rather sharp that it stung Jespa, who was doing her best not to speak back, and even Hespesta.

    "No, Niu Lang, they are just prospective goblins that might be useful for the iing project. I just wanted to show them around so that they have some idea what they were aiming for." Moloch tried to phrase it nicely to Niu Lang, who was terrible with words.

    "Oh sure, why not. I always wee prospective goblins." Niu Lang changed his tune quickly and let them in to have a look. The moment the goblins entered, the stench of oil and metal entered their nostrils. Something Hespesta was familiar with but not Jespa.

    But the main thing that caught their attention the moment the stepped in was the gigantic mechanical body right in front of them.

    It was none other than Mechataur.

    With Jin paying for Niu Lang''s upgraded skills, the former cowherd had learnt how to fix his friend with the aid of the robot crawlers. Like a surgeon, Niu Lang had slowly ''dissected'' and reced every single part that was no longer functioning or burnt out from the previous battles.

    All that was left was to improve the main engine as well as some performance upgrades, and Mechataur would be as good as new again.

    "What is thisбн?! This is way more magnificent and majestic than the metal box the Goblin and Orcs were doing!" Jespa immediately fell in love with its colossal stature while Hespesta was excited to see the various parts lying around in the hangar. All the unfamiliar instruments andponents that potentially made this giant robot tick.

    "Before anything else, one more insult against my buddies in the Golem Workshop and I will kick you out personally and never allow you to step foot in here. " Niu Lang overheard the incident briefly from Moloch and stared at them intently which they realised he was serious. When they nodded their heads, his demeanour turned cheerful again.

    "This here. This piece of work is my war machine, my masterpiece and most importantly, my buddy. His name is Mechataur, and I am going to use him as the core concept for the production of other Mechas." Niu Lang briefly introduced it to the two goblins.

    While it was beautiful to look at, Jespa questioned Moloch about the meaning of this trip: "Why did you bring us here? We are just a Runesmith and a Weaponsmith. Not a mechanic or specialised craftsmen like the Goblin-Orc team or Niu Lang here."

    "Now wasn''t it you who wished to see what bigger projects we had in store? So here you go. Marvel at what you may be part of." Moloch pointed at Mechataur, and Niu Lang suddenly rejected his proposal.

    "No way! You are not letting anyone touch him!" Niu Lang opened his arms wide as if he was protecting his Mechataur from any external sources. Molochughed at how gullible Niu Lang was and told him that he was not letting them to perform anything on Mechataur at all.

    "Don''t worry no one but you will touch the inner workings of your Mechataur. Instead, I want the two goblins here to create some essories for Mechataur. Mainly its weapons." Moloch exined as he looked at Hespesta.

    "Me, you want to me to create weapons for the Mechataur?!" Hespesta felt her heart skip a little, and she hupped in happiness.

    "Precisely. While not as talkative as your cousin, I''m sure you have also wondered why we wanted you to create weapons consistently. Not only was it, to equip our y soldiers, it was also to increase your stamina and strength in preparation for bigger works. Starting tomorrow you will begin with the equipment for the Ogre y Soldiers, and we will work our way up until you can create something asrge for Mechataur" Moloch answered.

    "But I will need a furnaceбнway bigger than what I have," Hespesta stated the obvious and Molochughed and told Niu Lang to show them the way. At first, the cowherd boy did not know what he meant until he realised that Moloch was talking about the Mechanised Factory they were building.

    Niu Lang powered up his jeep (sponsored by Jin''s scraps but Niu Lang decided to repair it from scratch) It allowed faster transportation in this sizeable industrial sector where the transportation system was nonexistential at the moment.

    "Remember to allocate some budget for transportation." Moloch wrote a memo on his tablet as he sat beside Niu Lang while the two goblins sat behind. The ride was short, but the goblins were amazed that such a mode of transportation existed. The metal carriage was definitely faster than the wolves they use to ride.

    They reached another factory which was still evidently under construction, but the bare bones were up. Hespesta could see the so called Mecha Furnace where Niu Lang exined that all she had to do was wear a set of Gearbox Suit and work just as usual. The modified suit would send a signal to the machinery and imitate what she did.

    If the cksmith were to hit the iron in her small little furnace, giant extended mechanical arms, that was hanging on the ceiling with a multidirectional conveyer belt, would do the same to therge piece of metal that was allocated hundreds of metres away from here. Currently, there was a dy with the mechanical arm response, but Moloch said it would be tuned within theing weeks.

    "Basically, you have the ability to control what kind of melee weapons will be created for Mechataur and the subsequent robots." Moloch summed up her task and Niu Lang finally understood why Moloch had wanted to build this Large Mecha Furnace.

    "Prefabricated weapons from modr pieces tend to break easier. But if a real cksmith creates the weapon for the Mechas, they should be stronger, faster, and more durable. Maybe I should tell her what I want Mechataur to have. " Niu Lang thought to himself.

    "You are essentially making weapons for Giants!" Jespa was ted for her cousin but still wondered what her role would be in all of this.

    "You, Runesmith. You are responsible for creating emergency power packs for these Mechas. Your Animate Dead can also be used as a power source, letting users have control, right? We want you to create these power packs as a sort of backup battery, in case of too high a power consumption...." Moloch continued to exin, but Jespa did not understand a single word as she only heard that she could take part in thisrge project.

    "Not only that. We might need your runes to power up beam rifles and provide power as additional properties for weapons like your cousin''s creation. Of course, on arger rune." Moloch added, and the two female goblins felt excited they were finally doing something big.

    "Why did you not tell us all this in the first ce?!" Jespa asked, and Moloch smirked.

    "Because we wanted to know if you guys were at least capable of pulling your own weight before showing you the fruits of your possiblebour. Now that you know your next objectives, I expect you to finish crafting all those runes and weapons. After that it''s working with the Golem Team to create power packs and weapons for them as the experiment!" Moloch ordered, and the two craftsmen for once were happy to return to their monotonous work.

 Chapter 474 Animals for Cultivation Zoo

    <h4>Chapter 474 Animals for Cultivation Zoo</h4>

    All four demon cultivators trainees were still alive after the fight against the Transforming Spider. However, they were ordered by Jin to return to the Luxury Recovery Instance for additional medical checks and recuperate after the battle. The Panda Nurses took great care of them by providing them with chi potions and Lynn''s food.

    Additionally, with a bit of Milk''s healing magic, the recovery procedure became fast enough that the exorcist trainees barely felt any pain after a while. Still, the fatigue they incurred from the long fight caused them to feel slightly heavy headed. Jin decided to allow them to rest in the ward and asked the System to use a bit of Temporal Maniption to get them all fit as a fiddle in no time.

    Meanwhile, ire and Grandma Yuan were offered to have a meal at the Restaurant Instance. "This instance is managed by Lynn. All the food you will enjoy is made by her and her trained staff of penguin chefs." Jin exined as he led them to the high ss Japanese theme room at the front of the train car.

    "That little girl is here?" Grandma Yuan''s mood seemed to improve until she heard Jin say that Lynn had gone off for some training.

    "Never mind then, don''t bother her. It''s a pity, though. I was looking forward to getting another taste of her Hoji Tea again." Grandma Yuan sighed.

    "Your orders will be served shortly. For now, please enjoy the time with each other." The penguin server bowed after taking their order, and the three began to discuss the results of the Demon Exorcist Promotion Examination.

    "I''m sorry that I interfered in the whole exam, especially when I was the one to ask to treat it as a promotional examination for them." Jin apologised to ire and Grandma Yuan.

    "I already figured you could pull this sort of stunt out after you warned us that you had an untested dungeon." Grandma Yuan saw no reason to reveal to ire that she had just been in another world. She herself still felt that it was a bit unreal, but the existence of the System itself was everything but ordinary. The old woman drank her hot tea surprisingly realising that it was not too bad. (aspared to the tea which ire used to serve her.)

    "I understand that, but we still have to consider your involvement in the overall grading. And since you basically interfered with their exams at all relevant points, the marks they have obtained were not desirable at all." ire presented him the marks on each of the demon exorcist trainees. There were sections on teamwork, strength, weakness, how many demons killed and etcetera.

    "What? There is even a whole section onpassion?! " Jin looked at the marking criteria score and felt it was ludicrous for the examination to be filled with odd standards.

    "In our modern age, Demon Exorcists have to work on their people skills too. Especially since there are times we have to deal with family members or rtives whose loved ones were possessed by a demon. Though we have ''Exorcist'' in our name, the most risk free way, to deal with someone who has been possessed is to kill them in order to protect not only us but their family too." ire answered, and Jin was reminded of Ryuli.

    "If her story was true, she must have been suffering without any parents." Jin thought to himself before he asked the pertinent question. "Sooo...all of them failed?" Jin asked, and ire shook her head. She took out a Snake Emblem for him to see, before handing it over to Grandma Yuan.

    "Su Zhen had been the mostposed of them all. She huddled them together at times of need and managed to correctly assess the situation. Her ns, while inevitably ineffective due to having underestimated the demon''s capabilities, had resulted in the rest working together as team," ire summed it and Grandma Yuan agreed with the situation.

    "Rong was a somewhat close second for covering the teammates at the risk of his own life... but he''s still too rash and impulsive. Lian has been ced third. She has achieved high marks for her effectiveness inbat." ire continued evaluating her results, which made Jinughed.

    "So that means Lein''s thest? I thought he was also quite decent in hisbat."

    "He was, but I had to deduct his marks. It''s just as you said, there''s no need for a Hero in the Demon Exorcist''s organisation. He and Rong have both been trying to y Hero when the Transforming Spider Demon appeared. However, Rong''s Demon Cultivation allowed him to have good defensive capabilities, whereas Lein focuses more on evasion and attack. We want Demon Exorcists to work as a team, not solo. Even Monster yers are encouraged to work as a team." ire replied just as the food appeared, the aroma of the ramen and curry rice immediately made all three of them salivate.

    "Please enjoy your food." The penguin server replenished their cups with hot tea and bowed before walking away. As it was Chinese manners for the oldest at the table to eat first, Grandma Yuan took the first bite before they dug into their food.

    "This...this is ..." Grandma Yuan eyes were wide open as she hasn''t tasted anything so tasty for the past few years. The ramen was firm, and the soup was not as salty as she thought it would be.

    "I have purposely asked the penguins to give you a milder soup base. We had a number of elderlies who had given us their feedback about the taste before." Jin said, noticing her surprise.

    "That is good to hear. It is delicious. Please pass my regards to the Head Chef." Grandma Yuan said as she enjoyed her meal. Meanwhile, ire''s action no longer seemed that professional nordylike. The young woman had no idea that the restaurant would serve such amazing dishes. The tonkatsu curry rice was pure bliss as with the fluffiness of the rice, the crispy texture of the pork cutlet as well as its meaty content.

    "I am d you enjoy it. I will pass your praise to Lynn when she returns." Jin said before he too continued to slurp his noodles loudly.

    After the quiet and yet noisy meal, it was time to go over the next portion of the business. After all, Jin''s reason to visit Grandma Yuan had not been to be a Demon Exorcist, but to receive the zoo animals.

    "I''ve prepared thend and the dungeon instance for the Cultivation Zoo. Roughly 200 acres overall." Jin presented them a blueprint with the help of the System, telling them how he had managed to separate the dungeon instance into various ''nes'' so that every site would still be essible next to each other and yet big enough for the zoo animals to run wild. "I can also make morend avable since they are all within a dungeon instance."

    "Having argend is good, but what about the caretakers?" ire asked, and Jin exined to her that he nned to use NPCs or even monsters like the penguin servers to manage the entire Cultivation Zoo.

    "But your monsters and...servants do not have any knowledge about the animals right?" Grandma Yuan asked which caused Jin to pause a bit.

    "... I could ask Kraft, but I kinda doubt he would be an animal expert, even with his foxes." Jin admitted, and Grandma Yuan sighed.

    "I have some acquaintances who would be willing to be part of the new Cultivation Zoo. You can sort it out together with ire, or you can let her handle it entirely. However, you will need to pay them wages. They are not like your penguins who work for free." Grandma Yuan emphasised.

    "Hahaha...as if the System pays me a decent wage for the amount of work I am doing..." Jinined loudly before a safe magically dropped on the sky on his head. "Ow!"

    "Your wages in advance." the System said in his head as the suitcase opened...and the other two onlookers saw a stack of bills in it.

    "See?" Jin said as he waved that wad of cash in front of Grandma Yuan. "I barely have enough to pay myself....what makes you think that I can pay for other people?" Suddenly a message appeared in the form of an email to ire. The sender was apparently from Dungeons and Pandas, and she assumed it was the System that was trying tomunicate with her.

    She opened the email and saw the bnce of ounts for Dungeons and Pandas and nearly choked on her saliva. "You are kidding me! You EARN that much??!" ire couldn''t believe it and had to show it to Grandma Yuan, which even surprised her too.

    "What? From thest I saw, it was not that much at all. It was just enough to get by." Jin borrowed ire''s phone to take a look and realised why they were that shocked. The System had taken into ount the tradings Another Jin had made previously, but that cash had been budgeted for their Dungeon World Base, as well as for subsequent dungeons. It might look like he had craploads of extra cash on hand, they were all tied for future expansions, and there was set aside as emergency cash.

    "Then I guess, you can at least afford a professional Zoo team that is worthy of their talents? Yes?" Grandma Yuan asked, and Jin regretted not having Xiong Da at his side right now.

    "If it''s within a fairly reasonable amount, I''ll see what I can do. Else, no promises. They will work on a provisional contract of three months first, and I''m not obliged to answer any questions that could jeopardise the identity of the System." Jin stated his demands in a subtle way reminding Grandma Yuan that having ire know about the System was a dangerous move.

    "Do not worry. You can always just use the dungeon instance as an excuse." Grandma Yuan suggested as she listed the number of animals she was able to release to Jin.

    "Two of each? Are you serious?! Won''t Shenzhen Zoo be severely crippled by the loss of so many animals? I am no Noah''s ark, you know?" Jin saw the extensive list of animals and momentarily doubted Grandma Yuan.

    "Heh, guess you haven''t done your homework. Before you, the esteemed Demon Exorcist Chief Instructor in Shenzhen Yuan is one of the most generous donors in terms of money and animals for the Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo. Therefore, any demands she makes, they will have to follow or risk losing her support." ire happily dered in front of Grandma Yuan, and Jin was in awe with her reputation.

    "Guess being the top instructor had its perks."

    "You think all these benefitse without having to earn them?" Grandma Yuan verbally challenged him, and Jin quickly backed down.

    "If that is the case, I will prepare the habitats ording to the animals. But I have a request." Jin swallowed his saliva before asking. "Can I have at least Xin the Panda with to be in my zoo?"

    "Oh, that unusually haughty Panda? Heh. We will be more than happy to get rid of that for you to handle." Grandma Yuan said as if the animals were tokens on a board game. But ire reassured Jin that her words might be rude once in a while.

    "Thanks and onest question. Is it really okay? Won''t it bepetition for Shenzhen Zoo if I open mine?" Jin asked so innocently that it made Grandma Yuanugh loudly.

    "You think you are that capable? Wait till you make Shenzhen Zoo panic for theck of people than we can see how to handle it. Besides, I am not giving you the zoo animals for free. You have to pay for each and every of them as part of a rental to Shenzhen Zoo. It might be a more of a burden than charity." Grandma Yuan proimed as she stood up and decided to make a move.

    "No worries about that, I can bear such costs. Besides, I shall remind you of thepetition when the timees!" Jin dered as he knew that Ke Loong was going to get back to him about the production of the portals any day now. That alone would drastically change how this dungeon shop operates as well as thepetition the shop might face.

    He recalled that there was some correspondence that Ke Loong wanted to Jin to take a look at their revised Portal device whenever he had the time. Their next time would be an excellent opportunity to let his partner spread the word about his cultivation zoo.

    "Ah! I totally forgot about the kids!" Jin suddenly remembered and sent a message to ire with regards to them. In contrary, ire told him he could do whatever he wanted with the demon exorcist trainees and only informed that Grandma Yuan would return tomorrow to confer Su Zhen''s promotion.

    "Argh, looks like I''ll really have to oversee them for the near future. бн Well, I will find a use for them." Jin considered if it would be wise to show them some parts of the System or let them work on some specific dungeon instances while waiting for information about the opening of a JODE branch in his store. However, one thing was for sure.

    Now, Jin was a step closer to bigger profits. (And responsibilities.)

 Chapter 475 Unexpected Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 475 Unexpected Trouble</h4>

    When the demon cultivators woke up (yet again), Yun was there waiting beside their ward. Jin had decided to relieve his ''mother'' from shop duty since she had been up for more than three consecutive days. In exchange, he summoned his Another Jins out via the System to hold the front while noticing that it was less straining than previously expected.

    Jin believed it was probably due to the ''true awakening of his cultivation'' just like the System and Kraft had predicted in the past. The System then informed Jin that he should be able to leave the shop with the Another Jin on duty. However, there were consequences to it as it would consistently strain his chi consumption.

    "Imagine your chi producing and maintaining at 100%. Should User leave Another Jin on duty, the System will establish a connection with User and will be reserving 50% of his chi to maintain that particr Another Jin in the shop. Therefore, User will only be 50% as strong against any enemies on the outside." The System exined.

    "And there is no way to get back the 50% reserved chi without User having to return to the store and rbine with the Another Jin. In theory, it is possible to extinguish Another Jin to free up the chi, though System believes that this wille with consequences for User."

    "Please also take note that prolonged separation might cause severe headaches and possibly develop into paranoia and Dissociative Identity disorder in the long run. System rmends that unless deemed necessary, do not attempt it for long periods of time."

    "With User''s current Grade, an estimated period of 30 minutes had been established to be safe as long as User does not exceed a distance of 50 kilometres from the store. System will also prohibit User from attempting to travel to other worlds while leaving behind the Another Jin."

    "I know, I know. There is always Yun, betors or even other monsters that can substitute to take care of the shop. I do not have to run everything by myself." Jin nodded his head as he went back to the Dungeon Maker to personally take a look at all the things he had missed during his training.

    That said, he was especially interested in seeing Wolte''s Slug Tank up close as well as Gold''s enormous stack of reports. He quickly skimmed through the detailed reports as expected for the Lord Schr but also noticed that they might be taking drastic actions as part of the resistance soon.

    In the meantime, Yun had introduced herself to the demon exorcist trainees and brought them around Dungeons and Pandas for a tour. As they were going to be the shop''s newest batch of assistants, Yun introduced them to every permissible dungeon instance and service instances.

    Even though they might still dislike Jin for defeating them, they admitted that his Dungeons and Pandas had been built with much realism andбнfun. They were positively surprised at the great services during their stay in the luxury recovery instance, and when they thought that was it, Yun had shown them the Restaurant Train of Delicacy Instance.

    Rong and Lian loved the food so much that they were dying to share it with their family members back home, but Yun forbade them from doing so. "We do not allow the food to be taken outside, and at least for now we have no ns on offering a delivery service. However, you are more than wee to bring your family members here and enjoy your time together... as long as you are off the clock that is."

    Afterwards, she brought them to the Panda Muscles Instances and Emerald Mountain Hot Spring andstly the WunderPanda Theme Park Instance.

    "I can safely say that Jin is either a grandmaster at Dimension Instances or he has employees that are so much more capable than my father." Su Zhen praised as she took pictures of the various instances. (Yun did not stop her from doing so.)

    "Are we allowed to train or spar with the monsters?" Lein asked as he felt regrettable that he was not able to contribute much against the fight with the Transforming Spider and attributed it to theck of strength.

    "While the rules are not yet set in stone, Staff is allowed to visit one particr dungeon instance for free once a day. Any subsequent instances will be avable to you at a discounted rate." Yun answered as she led them to the shop instance.

    "Pfft! So stingy!" Lianined, and Yun stopped in her tracks. She folded her arms towards her and looked at her with a strict expression.

    "Don''t forget why you are here in the first ce. You have been assigned to us to work, not to y or train. We are already courteous enough to allow you to visit one dungeon instance for free each day and give you discounts after that." Yun started to reprimand the teens on their attitude.

    "During your shift, the basic rules of work still stands. Be punctual, do your allocated tasks, and you can go off for the day. Jin is not so inflexible to force you to have to work 8 hours a day to repay your debts."?Yun concluded her tour and asked them for their phones for the System to update their Pandamonium Apps to ''Temp Staff'' clearance.

    "What kind of task will we be given?" Rong asked, and Yun said that it could be mundane stuff like exining to customers how the dungeons work or assist customers in their dungeons.

    "Oh, that sounds interesting, assisting customers in their dungeons." Su Zhen replied as she continued to take pictures of the interior decor of the Winter Wondend theme as well as the humongous Christmas tree.

    "When I said assisting, I meant you could either help them or make the dungeon even harder. Of course, if the customers can withstand your attacks, it would be a bonus for them." Yun said as she pretended to update their phones via theputer near the bar.

    "However, there might be other things which Jin might ask you to do, like testing more of his prototype dungeons. I am merely giving you the gist of what to expect."

    "I think this job does not sound as bad as I thought it would beбнjust that the pay sucks," Rong said.

    "Food is good, the environment is good. And the technology used is very advanced. I do not mind either." Su Zhen remarked.

    "Then Miss Yun, what time do we need to report tomorrow? You did said that Grandma Yuan will brief us on yesterday''s performance." Lian asked respectfully as Yun returned the phones to them. They noticed that the Pandamonium App symbol had changed from a Panda peeping through from the corner of the icon into a white cored Panda with a ''Hello my name is _'' nametag on the icon app.

    "12pm sharp. I will be waiting. I have updated your Pandamonium Apps. It now includes a tab telling you how much debt you have left as well as one tab with the instruction manuals you are to read up. I expect all of you to know the contents of the manual, which is why I am giving you guys some time tomorrow to prepare. Other than that, you guys are dismissed for today." Yun concluded and shooed them off.

    -----------

    "Aww man, here I thought I could have a rest after that crazy fight with that Transforming Spider," Rong said to the group as they exited the store.

    "Do you think it''s part of the training by Grandma Yuan? And what is the connection between Grandma Yuan and Jin anyways? Three days ago was the first time I ever saw her with that dungeon supplier. First, she wanted us to kill him, and now we are to work under him..."?Lein questioned, but nobody bothered to answer.

    "All we have to do is get rid of our debts as soon as possible and regain our freedom. But I doubt we will be able toplete this task before the end of next year. We can only hope Grandma Yuan''s bonuses will help us." Lian sighed when she tried to put things into perspective.

    "Just take one step at a time." Su Zhen replied as she began to look through the features of the app.

    "Still, it''s a good thing we do not need to go through standard formal education. Can you imagine us having to work and study at the same time? I probably think I''d rather quit school and focus on training and saving the world." Rong said.

    "Heh, most people do not have the luxury to choose like that. Be thankful you are in a Royal Zodiac n." Lian teased, and suddenly a group of men stopped them in their tracks.

    "Did you say you are in a Royal Zodiac n?" The man who appeared to be their leader was smoking away in front of them.

    "And what if we say we are?" Lein stepped in to intervene when they saw the group of hooligans trying to surround them.

    "Why don''t you just surrender yourself to us? We just want to get even with that dungeon supplier over there. As long as youe with us quietly, we won''t do anything to you. We might even pay your debts!" The leader offered as he overheard the words debt and Royal Zodiac ns.

    "What shall we do? It seems they have some grudge with Jin''s store." Lian asked via a private voice transmission.

    "They are probably goons from people who are jealous of Jin''s sess. He has risen too fast for his ownfort. They must think we are just mere ns people of the Royal Zodiac ns that could be exploited easily since our kind does not usually go to amoner''s dungeon suppliers for training." Su Zhen deduced the whole situation.

    "Oh. So, these goons think that by kidnapping us, they can shift the me to Jin in some way or another?" Lein queried, to which Su Zhen nodded slightly.

    "You are kidnapping us?" Rong asked out loudly, resulting in some of the passers-by starting to look at their direction.

    "Hey hey hey! We are just inviting you to join us. It''s a simple transaction. Now don''t make it harder than it has to be!" The leader partially revealed a knife out towards them, and so did the rest of the gangs. Some even wielded iron pipes which had been hidden in their jackets. The leader was definitely very weing as it looked like an invitation they shouldn''t deny.

    "Well, we did n on getting back at Jin some way or the other. But it pissed me off these thugs think they are better than us. Let''s us just follow them and beat them up " Rong shrugged his shoulders at Lein before he sent a chi transmission at him.

    "Yeah, let''s go along for now, and we can kick some ass when they gathered us in an area," Lein said via the transmission before they all pretended to be scared and terrified by the provoking act.

    Suddenly, a police patrol appeared from nowhere and saw a glimpse of the gangster brandishing a knife at the kids. "Hey, you guys. What are you all doing to those kids?!"

    "Nothing, just having a conversation with the kids, officer. They were lost, weren''t you?" The leader smiled widely at the police officer.

    "Aren''t you too old to be telling tales? I saw you and your men threatening them with knives. Take ''em out slowly and put them on the ground." The officer demanded, and the leader became more rxed than usual.

    "Ah Sir. You must have been seeing things, we are not holding any knives or anything." The leader grinned as he raised his hands up. That was when the police officer instinctively ced his hands at his baton and immediately called for backup. The other patrol officer then asked the demon cultivators toe at his side.

    However, that was also when the gang leader suddenly struck the police officer with a cultivation technique. The very same Ruby Rat chi which could immobilise a person with red crystal growing all over the body.

    The demon cultivators who were walking towards the patrol officer immediately went to the offensive by drawing their weapons. The rest of the Ruby Rat gangsters did not hesitate and assaulted the paralysed police officer as well as the one who was too stunned to react.

    "Shit! This is not how things were supposed to go!" One of the gang members cursed as they stabbed the two police officers in broad daylight while the demon cultivators managed to defend themselves from the attack.

    "Oh? So, we have some decent cultivators instead of just some pests." The Ruby Rat gang leader said while some of the onlookers who were witnessing the exchange suddenly screamed and alerted the entire Tiangong district. Several cultivators immediately took their weapons out to defend themselves as well as their loved ones but not everyone was skilled to do so.

    Like rats in the sewers waiting for the opportunity to strike, the rest of the Ruby Rat gang members who were lurking around appeared abruptly and started to assault random people on the streets. Some were killed in cold blood without being aware of the situation because they were tending their stores or shopping

    But unlike other shopping districts, the famous Dungeon Supplier store had made this ce thrive on cultivators. Thus many were still able to put up a fight without the major assistance from the police. Yet, those cultivators were only doing so in the name of self defence and did not have the brutality the Ruby Rat gangsters showed.

    "Let''s get that dungeon supplier brat out of his hole! Continue to vandalise, destroy everything around here! Kill if they resist! This is all on you, Jin!" The Ruby Rat gang leader shouted as he understood that after killing two police patrols officers, they could no longer turn back. They might as well go all out and force Jin''s appearance to fight against them.

    "Let''s fall back to Jin''s store!" Su Zhen suggested, and everyone immediately agreed as they protected one another against the sudden onught of the Ruby Rat gang members. As much as they wanted to help others, they could only fend for themselves against the extraordinaryrge number of gangsters.

 Chapter 476 Ruby Rats Plan B

    <h4>Chapter 476 Ruby Rat''s n B</h4>

    "Boss, I have an urgent matter to report." Ong, the resurrected Ruby Rat veteran, knocked at the office''s door after he opened it to see his Boss, Wo De Tian, having a mahjong session with some of the other big wigs in the entertainment industry.

    "What? Speak!" De Tian ordered without looking up, as it was his turn to pick a mahjong tile.

    "I am afraid it is something you will want to hear personally." Ong bowed as he requested for some privacy to address the issue.

    "Hahah, you should just go, your subordinate seems extremely nervous for once." The businessmen on his right who had a long white beard advised.

    "Heh, you better not be looking at my tiles." De Tian sighed as he flipped his tiles down and got off his seat.

    "What is so important that it can''t wait?" De Tian asked when he closed his office doors and talked in the corridor outside his office. He even noticed the absence of his secretary. It seems that Ong must be very important to send her on an impromptu coffee break.

    "Our guys in Tiangong District. They''ve begun with n B without any warning." Ong revealed as he received reports that the Ruby Rat Triad gang members had had enough of the waiting game. They were initially tasked to kidnap a fairly wealthy or influential cultivator from Jin''s store and use them as coteral against him.

    It was the typical kidnap and ming game which they had employed to use against Lynn previously, but the police were not dumb and had repeatedly tried to prevent such an attempt by the gang members.

    They had always ensured that there would at least be one police patrol near Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas and the increase in police patrols had made it very difficult for the Ruby Gang to perform such a task. It had forced the triad gangsters to y cat and mouse game for a very long time, and no other tactics were avable or offered to them.

    Officially, they had decided to risk it because an opportunity to kidnap a Royal Zodiac member had presented itself, but Ong believed that one of his gang members must have snapped when he assaulted the patrol officer and killed him. However, he wisely chose to skip telling De Tian his presumption.

    "So? What is the current situation?" De Tian asked as he picked up his cigarette for a light.

    "We have seven teams, each with seven men in ce. After the esction they have been entering the nearby stores in Tiangong district, beating people up and thrashing the shops. ording to my informant, some of the passers-by managed to fend off the sudden raid and entered the Dungeon Supplier store for protection."Ong replied dutifully.

    "Since they started the fight, we might as well proceed with the rest of n B. I''ve already sent the signal to intercept any police support, but our boys are asking for more reinforcements as well. "

    "Good. Follow me." De Tian reopened the door to his office and walked straight to his guests. "Gentlemen, it looks like there is an abrupt change in ns. Remember how I told you guys, about that pesky dungeon supplier who had taken the likings of the Leading Dungeon Technology Company Sea Mesh and their CEO Ke Loong?" De Tian asked, and the three nodded their heads.

    "Well, looks like my goons have had enough of ying the waiting game and decided to attack Tiangong shopping district. I intend to burn the whole shopping district down. That pachinko incident from years ago will seem like a joke inparison. In theing days, I will need you to spread some fake news to inform people that the entire district owed us money, and we decided to redeem the entire district by ourselves."

    "But De Tian, don''t say that you have forgotten who really own that district. Can you really afford to defeat their District Guardian Yuan or at least destroy that dungeon supplier store before she intervenes? You will have to get rid off her if you n on making any serious moves." The businessmen with a white beard interjected.

    "Mu Bing, I have confidence if you three are willing to provide some of your forces, we can burn that ce down. But I require your prompt decision because my boys are currently in the process of ''renovating'' the district. And you know how artistic they can be." De Tian replied with a request on top of it.

    "So, you really are nning to build the Casino as discussed? Do you have the funds?" A slight bald businessman with a beer belly questioned.

    "Please Tang Wei, don''t insult me. We both know that your audit team has already checked my ounts. You acknowledged I have the ability to pay for that, but I don''t have the manpower after what that Jin had done back in our own district." De Tian leaned forward the mahjong table and looked away to blow his smoke away.

    "I even had to pay tribute and sent somebour to those asshole Japanese Yakuza for the loss of Yamazaki." De Tian momentarily showed off his cultivation, remembering the shame he felt, because of that damn dungeon supplier. "I need your help, but you guys know that it''s in all our interests to take down Jin and Guardian Yuan if she chooses to appear."

    "That old hag is useless. It so happened I have one group situated near that area, So, I, Mu Bing will send the Prosperous Pigs to your aid." Mu Bing sent a text, and a call ensued, asking for a confirmation. "Yes, to Tiangong district. Bring some additional firepower too, just in case."

    "Mu Bing, I thank you for being fast in your response." De Tian nodded his head with a wide smile.

    "You do not think the Royal Zodiac n families will interfere? They are after all indebted with District Guardian Yuan." Tang Wei asked as he was tapping his phone on the table with a bit of anxiety despite Mu Bing''s immediate extend of help to De Tian.

    "Hah! You do know that the Royal Zodiac does not interfere with Triad business unless it has something directly to do with them. Just give them some money, and they will look the other way. Worst case, some of ourckeys will take the fall for creating a riot. You know, the standard stuff of bureaucracy." Chen Xun, the youngest Triad Boss and also the most promising businessmen among them, had spoken as he lit a light up.

    "De Tian, you promised us a percentage of the Casino profits for the years toe. I will aid you, but it will cost you." Chen Xun grinned widely. It was a nice rare moment for him to have a certain advantage of power over his older and more powerful associate. He enjoyed a puff before stating his demand: "5% of your dungeon supplier shares as coteral in case things go south!"

    "Not just you, Chen Xun. Mu Bing, and Tang Wei, I can offer each of you 5% of my shares to as coteral. As long as you guys are willing to help me at the time of need to remove this dungeon supplier so that we can build the biggest and most luxurious Casino in Tiangong district." De Tian extended his offer to the rest of the two.

    "Very well, The Raunchy Roosters will offer their aid." Tang Wei wiped his sweat and picked his phone up and made a single call like Mu Bing.

    "So will the Deranged Dogs." Chen Xun''s text had already been sent when De Tian verbally epted the agreement. (After all, Chen Xun had previously recorded what De Tian said in his phone so there was no way, De Tian could be cheating on them.)

    "Thank you, my friends. I assure you that your investment will be worthwhile." De Tian said as he picked up his coat.

    "You are not finishing the game?" Mu Bing, the Triad Boss for Prosperous Pigs asked.

    "With such a big investment, it''s preferable that I overlook the situation myself." De Tian replied, but Ong intervened before he could wear his coat.

    "Boss, give me a chance to redeem myself. I want revenge against that brat for killing me. Last time I''ve underestimated him, but I swear to you, I won''t make such a mistake again. You have fun with the remaining game. Just await the good news." Ong pleaded as he did a quarter bow.

    "You sure you can handle him on his own turf? While I appreciate your determination, there is a lot to lose if you fail. Don''t forget he had some powerful allies when he attacked us. We still have no idea about that fox guy or the others around him." De Tian questioned Ong''s capability.

    "Boss, you have ensured the highest quality of resurrection for me. Since that day I was released from prison, I had been training day and night for this particr event. I''ve recently broken through and am itching to get revenge. Please, have a restful game. I will bring the head of Jin here for you." Ong said with conviction which made De Tian agree.

    "Alright. Go do what you need. But rememberбн this is your second chance. No one gets a third." De Tian put his coat on his office chair and returned to the mahjong table with the rest of the Triad Bosses.

    However, as Ong went out, he made a phone call to one of his otherckeys. "Watch him closely. If he is losing or called to require more reinforcement. Call me straight." Only then he ended the call and returned to his game. "Shall we?"

    "Pong." De Tian opened his tiles again and immediately four mahjong tiles were already lifted away from his main tile hands and to the side of the table. This n B might very well be the breakthrough opportunity he had been waiting for in his life.

    -------

    "Boss Jin! The gangsters are tearing up Tiangong district! They-" One of the passers-by who managed to enter Jin''s shop saw Jin gearing himself up for the fight as he wore fingerlessbat gloves and a longbat jacket filled with various defence and counter attack inscriptions.

    Even his pants were made out of Ker fibre so that some cuts could be avoided or at least lightened. Jin knew a day like this woulde after the Ruby Rat gangsters had attacked him previously, thus he had prepared the defensive safety gear in advance. However, the dungeon supplier had no idea that it would be so sudden and out of the blue.

    "I know. I am heading out." Jin had already been notified by the System of the situation when it showed him the riot outside Tiangong district from the Dungeon Maker. Not long after, he noticed that the demon exorcist trainees had teleported into the dungeon instances too.

    "Jin! Those men outside! They are assaulting people and even killed some police officers!" Lian reported as she trembled at the memory of the policeman being murdered in an instant. She wanted to tell him in more details what had happened, but she was gasping for air, and Jin looked too preupied with the whole matter.

    The four were still shocked about what had just happened to them. The demon exorcist trainees initially believed they could have fooled the gangsters and beaten them up after being underestimated by them. Yet, the trainees had never expected those gangsters to suddenly go on a rampage and even worse, being out for blood.

    "You can do either one of two things. Stay here to wait it out and maybe go speak with Milk in regards to what has happened to you and what you saw. Or follow me into the battlefield and aid the rest of the people back into the shop instance." Jin said with dead serious tone.

    "Do we need to kill themбн?" Su Zhen asked, and Jin shook his head.

    "No, just wallop them up. I don''t wish to do that either, but if the situation demands it, I will. For you guys, just help those people to retreat into here. If necessary, defend yourselves too." Jin replied as he double checked his potions.

    "Most importantly, do not get killed! You won''t help anyone by bing a casualty. If it seems you can''t win a fight, there''s nothing shameful in retreating. Those guys are gangsters, they won''t fight honourably one on one. Expect them to gang up on you and use every dirty trick in their disposal!" Jin warned as he zipped hisbat jacket and ced his Bam and Boo in a proper holster.

    "I will follow you." Su Zhen picked up her courage and after a bit of hesitation, so did the rest of the group.

    "Very well." Jin used his phone, and suddenly the two luggage suitcase from earlier appeared in front of him again. "Take all the chi potions and cramp them into your storage ring. If the civilians need any emergency aid, use the chi potions and subsequently escort the injured to the shop instance. There will be Panda Nurses on standby to take over from you all." Jin ordered them the details of their tasks.

    "Sir, yes Sir!" All four demon exorcist trainees stood at attention and acknowledged their task. Whether it was because they med themselves for this situation, or because Jin was assuming the position of team leader, they knew they had to execute the orders quickly to save as many lives as possible.

    While the trainees began stocking up on the chi potions, Jin headed out into the open first and saw that everything had turned into hell very quickly. The gangsters were beating people up in a coordinated manner, destroying properties and even set fire to some of the stores.

    He noticed that at the direction of Lele cafиж, Si Fang was trying his best to block his cafиж entrance with tables and chairs, but the gangsters had already broken his windows and went in to harass him and his customers. "This is going way overboard!" Jin thought to himself as he raised his voice as loud as he could with amplified chi.

    "Hey! I am here! I am Jin! If you have the guts, how about you try taking me on!!!"

 Chapter 477 Return of Ong

    <h4>Chapter 477 Return of Ong</h4>

    Despite Jin''s loud deration that he was there to face them, the Ruby Rat gangster paid little attention to him. Instead, they continued with their harassment and vandalism of the district. Jin then realised that he was not the only objective in the eyes of the Ruby Rats.

    "Si Fang!" With a speed boost from the Green Panda Wind, Jin instantly covered the distance between him and Lele cafe, colliding on any Ruby Rat who was in his way. The other four demon exorcist trainees followed behind him and rendered the other Ruby Rats along the way unconscious.

    "Boss Jin! Thank you foring! My customers have already informed the police, and they said they are on the way!" Si Fang, who was quivering with fear when he held onto his sword, made Jin feel both proud and disappointed at the same time.

    Proud to know that Si Fang had decided to stand up for his shop but at the same time disappointed with himself as he could have done more for the shoppingmunity right over here than just earning money from them.

    "I will try to make this right. For now, follow these cultivators to my shop. They will provide cover for?you!" Jin ordered as another Ruby Rat gangster attempted to stab him from the back. With a quick draw of his de, the gangster was mercilessly cut into two, and the rest took the opportunity to run back to Dungeons and Pandas.

    "System, what exactly has happened to trigger all of this?" Jin asked as he revealed his Pandaromic Eyes and scanned all the possible threats with the aid of the System.

    "ording to the CCTV footages that the System has control over within Tiangong District, the Demon exorcist trainees seemed to have been threatened by a group of Ruby Rat Triad members. While it at first appears to be an umon scene which was handled frequently by the patrol officers on a daily basis, the Ruby Rat members for undetermined reasons, have initiated the first blow against the officers this time." The System stated saying that there was a high chance the patrol officer was killed in action.

    "White Panda Ice Showers!" Jin shouted as he visualised multiple ice arrows up in the skies and rained down on the crowd aiming specifically on Ruby Rat members only. That was possible all thanks to the aid of his new Pandaromic Eyes. The System indicated that there was a 70% hit sess from that particr technique, causing some of the injured Ruby Rats to be mortally wounded.?The remaining 30% managed to block or evade the ice arrows.

    "People! Those who seek shelter, move to Dungeons and Pandas! I have assistants to aid you there!" Jin shouted once more with even more chi infused. The panicked crowd took the opportunity to flee when most of the Ruby Rats were injured to escape. Many tried their best to fall back while others who were capable of fighting thanks to Jin''s dungeon''s training held the line momentarily against the Ruby Rats.

    Jin then picked up Bam and Boo and transformed both of the swords into a two handed staff. He smashed the BamBoo staff on the ground and applied his Maqi into it. Using his Pandaromic Eyes once more, he was able to identify who were the civilians and amplified his Maqi into the area, buffing them with the Green Panda Wind energy.

    Buffing one to two cultivators had been manageable for Jin during the fight with the Transforming Spiders. However, this time, it was a different scenario. The passers-by numbered two dozens and counting with the aid of Pandaromic Eyes. Jin would not have been able to help everyone unless he used Bam and Boo as the amplifier. Still, he felt the burden on spending so much mana. He was sure, that if he had to quantify it, it would be at least an Advanced if not Epic Art level.

    When Jin inserted a huge portion of his Maqi into the BamBoo staff, a panda head appeared at the top of the staff which caused its mouth to open and release the Green Panda Wind energy into the atmosphere. Arge green panda silhouette emerged from the density of Maqi surrounding Jin as if it had just woken up from a nap.

    The yawn it produced spread the buff to every innocent civilian in the vicinity, and they all felt lighter that they quickly proceed to Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas. Even the cultivators who were defending the civilians from the Ruby Rats felt invigorated by the sudden burst of energy, and they took that opportunity to escape from the Ruby Rats.

    Only then did Jin noticed Lai Fu, the General Store Owner of Fresh Price and He Rong, the Toy Model Shop owner who were amongst the few cultivators covering the rear for the civilians. "Boss Jin! When I saw that big panda at the distant! I know that this light footed feeling was from you! Damn! I did not know you are that powerful!" Lai Fu praised as he ran towards Jin.

    "Thank you guys for helping the passers-by. I came out as soon as I heard the ruckus. Is there anyone else that needs help?" Jin asked as he now held his staff forward and unleash a gale of wind that pushed the Ruby Rats away from the civilians.

    "I do not think so. Ke Ru and her Wacdonalds team aided the innocents out of the district from the other end. She updated me via Mechat voice message that there seemed to be more of the fighting going on at our side than hers." He Rong informed Jin who handed him a bottle of chi potion to drink and recuperate.

    "Yeah, I heard the sirens at the other end of the district, the police should be reinforcing that part too." Lai Fu added as he assisted Jin by unleashing a Chi shark silhouette from a distance, causing some of the Ruby Rats to stagger from it.

    "I see, return to the dungeon supplier store, there will be medical aid for you guys there and round up any potential survivors along the way too." Jin walked in front of them.

    "Fine, Dungeon Supplier Jin. If you want a fight, we will be happy to provide you one!"?One of the Ruby Rat gang leaders shouted at him as he beckoned his forces to him.

    "Heh, how can we leave you alone? This is our district, after all." He Rong said as he raised his sword up, but then Lai Fu smacked his head with his two handed sword.

    "Stupid! What grade are you at? You think you can handle them?! You will only slow Jin down!" Lai Fu lectured his friend as he began to drag He Rong with him.

    "What?! And you want to leave Jin alone against these many Ruby Rat gangsters? You sure you do not want him to court death?!" He Rong replied with angst, but Lai Fu told him to look around him.

    Heplied and saw that there were gang members not just at the main street but on the roofs and alleys too. While it was not clear, Lai Fu could feel the presence of multiple gangs appearing right in front of Jin.

    "Go, retreat. I can handle this, I just have to endure until the police arrive." Jin spoke in a confident voice. Lai Fu understood and grabbed He Rong with him. While he appeared brave in appearance, his heart was trembling with horror. He did not know whether those gangs were there to aid Jin or to harm him, but there was one definite conclusion.

    He would not get out alive if he stayed with Jin.

    "I am sorry that we are unable to help you with our current strength. Boss Jin, best of luck." Lai Fu whispered while making sure that there were no other survivors within the vicinity. All that was left on the Tiangong district was Jin and the rest of the gangs.

    "System, make sure that nobody, not even the trainees, are granted ess outside until the whole situation died down. It is too dangerous when they do not havebat experience and especially now when it''s my responsibility to take care of them." Jin requested, and the System said it had already denied exit for any who had entered.

    "Looks like there is one Panda that is not going back to the zoo." A grating voice echoed from behind the Ruby Rats, and Jin saw the familiar face with that trashy sense of fashion.

    "Ongбн." Jin mumbled his name as he clenched tight on his staff.

    "You can forget about the policeing to aid you. We''ve barricaded the district with our men, and all four corners of Tiangong Shopping District have been blocked off by the various gangs. Do you like how fast we act upon you?" Ong boasted with some dramatic actions. He was unsure if it was because he had been killed by him, but he somehow felt a bit of pressure from Jin making him visibly sweat a little.

    "Various gangs?" Only after Jin released his Maqi after Lai Fu had entered the store did he notice that there were varying chi signaturesing from those surrounding him.

    "Indeed. Our bosses have deemed this ce as a prime location for our new establishment. The Prosperous Pigs, Deranged Dogs and Raunchy Roosters are here to help us evict your asses off our future property."?Ong happily announced the names of the triads out as a show for the other leaders from other triads. Each time he emphasised their name, the members of the gangs shouted out their names proudly.

    While Ong himself regarded it as stupid to give out that much information, he had to do so to appease the pride of the people who hade to help. Besides, with all that manpower, Jin was as good as a dead man walking.

    "So that means you guys will not stop with just destroying my shop. You will damage other people''s livelihoods as well?!" Jin shouted, and his reply came in the form of someone from the top spitting on him. Of course, Jin evaded it with just a step away.

    "What can you do? The police won''t be able to interfere if we apply sufficient pressure on them." Ong replied as he walked towards the brat that killed him.

    "Did you ever expect to see me again, you little punk? I''ve spent a lot of time preparing to get my revenge on you bastard." Ong stared at Jin at close proximity and even revealed his newly advanced cultivation, but Jin did not flinch a single bit. After which, Ong withdrew back slowly with and walk away with his back towards Jin.

    "But you knowбн I wouldn''t want to hog all the fun for myself. Boys, enjoy!!!" The moment he finished his sentence, the Ruby Rats charged right in front, but the gangs at the top did not step in yet.

    "Boss Chen Xun said that we are here to show strength and only to offer assistance when things are dire." One of the Deranged Dog''s leader informed the leader of the Prosperous Pigs who hade forth.

    "Heh, looks like both our bosses think alike. Why interfere in something so needless?"?The leader of Prosperous Pigs grinned. "But I wonder why the Raunchy Roosters are not here yet."

    "Isn''t the gang opposite of us at the roofs, the Raunchy Roosters?" The Deranged Dog''s leader squinted his eyes a bit and realised that there was someone holding onto what appeared to be the Raunchy Rooster''s gang leader over the roof railings.

    "Do not think the tigers are not aware of what you guys are plotting." Ku Wai wet his lips with his tongue and threw the fatally injured leader of the Raunchy Roosters across the main street and towards the opposite roof.

    The entire gang of Raunchy Roosters had been quietly subdued by the Three Eyed Tigers when Ong was talking.

 Chapter 478 Three Eyed Tiger Triads Assistance

    <h4>Chapter 478 Three Eyed Tiger Triad''s Assistance</h4>

    "Ku Wai?! Why are you here?!?Jin shouted as he was fighting against theckeys without throwing much of a punch. With these many gangs that appeared at Tiangong Shopping District, he could only hope that the Tiger Princess'' triad would be on his side and intervene.

    "Hmm... how to put it well enough. Our magnanimous princess had ced us on permanent guard duty, alongside your policemen." Ku Wai smirked as he jumped down from the roof of the shophouses and fought side by side with Jin.

    "Care to exin what''s going on exactly? Howe there are so many gangs all of a sudden in this ce? Some reunion gathering? Or did Ong tell the truth that they are nning something big here?" Jin smacked one of the gangsters with his Panda head bamboo staff that was now infused with ck Panda Fire energy.

    Because the staff was imbued with Jin''s Maqi of the ck Panda Fire energy, each time the Panda Head staff hit someone, they would be ignited by it, causing them to be burned with ckish fire. Even though Jin made sure he tried to only harm and not kill them, there were times he could not control the output, and he inadvertently created several more casualties.

    "Before I answer, you have a really cute staff with you." Ku Wai praised as he punched his way through with his bare fists. Jin rolled his eyes up momentarily and inserted more Maqi into his BamBoo staff, causing the Panda Head to open its mouth and spewed fire like methrower. Some of the Triad gangsters were in front of him were burnt to a crisp in the aftermath.

    "Well, I am sorry. I am not manly enough like you to use your bare fists!" Jin retorted as his mes got even more prominent and wider, attempting to scare the gangsters away. Meanwhile, the Deranged Dogs and Prosperous Pigs Triad had also descended to fight against the Three Eyed Tiger Triad. Without the police to maintain any order, the gangsters had been using whatever they could find in the streets as well inside the stores for cover and weapons.

    "You know how the Rats had been scurrying around the district for quite some time. What Ong said is most likely true. Our sources have stated that the Ruby Rat Boss has his eyes set on this piece ofnd for development. It''s apparently not a new thing, and it had been in consideration for some time now. But it did not seem to be an urgent priority at all until now." Ku Wai kicked away the gangster and punched another with an uppercut.

    "However, your increasing fame and presence, as well as the string of events such as the kidnapping of your employee, had made Wo De Tian reevaluate his decision and actively pursue for this district."

    "So, the other gangs'' involvement is because they are in cahoots with De Tian to redevelop thisnd here? But there is nothing much here that is worthy of any value!" Jin said while retaliating his attacks against the Ruby Rats. Even Ong, who was staring from afar, started to be a little pissed that everything was not going their way.

    "To think the Three Eyed Tigers are here to aid Jin." Ong thought to himself as he decided to make a few phone calls because of the change of developments.

    In the meantime, the Ruby Rats'' attacks got even fiercer despite their dwindling numbers.?"Then that means even if we managed to defend this ce, De Tian would continue to harass me, right?! Not to mention those behind the other gangs whose members are involved. With their members getting killed or injured, they could just use it as an excuse against me too?" Jin asked as he blocked an attack for Ku Wai.

    "Wait! Wouldn''t they have a grudge against your gang too? I mean aside from me!"

    "Hmph! You shouldn''t worry about that now. Besides, what else do you want to do? Surrender so they can peacefully ughter you? Or officially dere a Triad war against four Triads?" Ku Wai questioned Jin. "No matter how many you kill here, there will always be more of those Triad members all over the country. Killing the head off will not work. Heck even if you wipe every single one of them, the Royal Zodiacs wille after you instead!"

    "If so, why are you guys risking your lives for this ce or for me?" Jin mmed the staff through ackey''s chest, and he coughed blood out from the result of the attack.

    "Those higher up will deal with it ultimately. No matter what happens, the losing side will simply pay off the winning side, and all is good. Some of the dead members will simply be dered as bad apples and discarded. As for us helping you, there is only one reason we do that!" Ku Wai shouted since the whole ce was just damn too noisy.

    "Because the princess demands so! We serve only for our princess!" A nearby Three Eyed Tiger Triad member shouted in return, and the rest echoed along.

    "User, there are a few ways to get through this. Do you wish to listen?" The System spoke out of turn, and Jin epted.

    "A short time reversal." The System offered and Jin was shocked that the System who was always selfish had decided to propose such a method.

    "Thanks to the increased resources and processing capability that the System has acquired, the System can reverse time to the point where you spoke with Grandma Yuan while the Demon Exorcist Trainees were resting."

    "Won''t it reduce your treasured processing capacity?" Jin asked as he stepped back and aided a Three Eye Tigerckey up.

    "Definitely. At the very least, a 2% reduction in overall processing capability is to be expected. This is without tampering with the minds of all involved. Since there is no reason to twist reality, most will simply suffer feeling a major case of deja vus. However, this method could allow User to be able to find the Ruby Rat Boss and take him down before the matters blow up as much." The System replied.

    "Huh, don''t you think it will embolden them even more to attack the ce?"?Jin questioned but that slight distraction caused a Ruby Rat Triad Gang member to stab him from behind. Thankfully, the Living Armour tes were active and blocked the attack, giving Jin enough time to counterattack and finish the other party off.

    "User can call the police to reinforce the ce before you leave. System is sure that the inspectors will take you seriously. Additionally, User would have past Sub System User Yuan by his side to vouch for him." The System replied while it had already taken countermeasures into the picture.

    "It does not change the fact that the other gangs that are in cahoots with De Tian, will not only resume the ambush but possibly exact revenge too." Jin assisted the injured member to Ku Wai as his Vice Triad Leader shouted for the medic in the bloody, crowded fight of attrition in Tiangong Shopping District.

    "You can see how fervent they can be. I do not believe the gangs will stop if they know a little shop can bite against them."

    "Another possible way out is to ede to their demands. The development lease to the shopping district will be expiring next year. Even If User manages to survive their attack this time round, the business will be affected as a whole due to theck of confidence in the ce''s security."

    "Tiangong district has been hit once with a tragedy. Despite your efforts to increase the number of customers in the area, a second blow such as this will only create undesirable rumours for this particr ce." The System stated.

    "So what? You want us to surrender our stores? And the livelihood of all the other store owners in this ce? Where do you want to hide?" Jin asked the System as Jin now faced the other gangs who upped their game.

    "Where the fuck are the police?! This should be the Tiger''s and Grandma Yuan''s territory, can they seriously dy them this long?" Jin thought to himself as he was wondering if he should call his betors to assist him.

    "The Central Police Headquarters in Shenzhen have already issued a code for the Tiangong Police to not interfere with the triad gang fight. But to assist any casualties and prevent it from spreading out of the shopping district." The System had managed to pick up the police chatter via its ess to the police database.

    "With regards to User''s question, the answer is negative. You have made a presence within the Goblin and Orc kingdoms. You can emigrate there or open even a store in the Dungeon City Fortress. There are avenues to move away from Earth and be a dungeon supplier."

    "Additionally, User can use it as an opportunity to im his Dungeon is so exclusive that it is hidden and only essible through the Sea Mesh Portals. This should prevent future problems such as these." The System stated, but Jin was not satisfied.

    "Logically, what you said is true! But, I did say I want to be the Number One Dungeon Supplier! If I cannot survive this trial by fire and run away at the face of rivalry, there will be no way to be Number One!" Jin roared at the Ruby Rats and as he held at his Panda Head staff horizontally as if he was holding a cannon and shot a beam of Maqi energy simr to Panda Yawning from the staff.

    Ong saw the iing beam and quickly jumped up high to dodge the attack, but he did not know that Jin was waiting for exactly that. "ONGGGGG!" By moving his staff, the beam followed through and hit onto Ong. He could feel his skin burning from the beam of energy attack as he tried to use his chi as impromptu armour.

    When the beam attack was over, Ong fell to the ground, burnt with second degree burns. A number of the Ruby Rat Triad gang members who were within the area of attack perished almost immediately. The rest saw how dangerous Jin could be had decided to be a little more cautious while some went to aid their leader.

    "This is exactly why I said I cannot leave it to you." A ck BMW car drove in, and the window was opened with a towering figure smoking his cigarette.

    "Bossбн? How? I thought I asked for more reinforcements." Ong wondered as De Tian opened the door and cut theckey he resurrected at his neck.

    "Because I told them to inform me if you ever ask for more reinforcements. If you can be defeated twice by a mere dungeon supplier, you are of no use to me. Not even you deserve a third chance." De Tian finished him off with a single stomp and walked away from Ong''s body to face Jin. The rest of the other Ruby Rat Triad gang members stopped their fighting and made way for him.

    "Butбнall I wanted was to serve you. I did not wish to trou-" Thest thoughts of Ong was for his master even though De Tian did not appreciate it a single bit. The Ruby Rat Triad Boss showed that as much as he can provide life, he could take it away too.

    "Heh, to think this little brat proves to be more than just a nuisance. You better give us a good show for making use with you." Chen Xun, the Deranged Dog Triad Boss, demanded as he came out from the driver''s seat while the other two Triad Bosses who tagged along decided to stay within the safety of the car.

    "For the Triad Boss toe in unhindered. No wonder the Central Police does not wish to interfere. I bet Yang Ling has no choice but to protect her own policemen too." Jin deduced while Ku Wai walked towards Jin to stand beside him as a show of strength.

    "Ku Wai! Boss says not to interfere." A Three Eye Tigerckey shouted which made De Tian curled his lips from afar.

    "But it''s the princess order to protect Jin!" Ku Wai said, and the Three Eye Tigerckey passed the phone to Ku Wai. It was a short phone call with Ku Wai''s face trembling with rage and regret.

    "Sorry, Jin. Our Boss told us to withdraw from the fight. Any more and this turns into an Inter Triad War in the various provinces and states." Ku Wai clenched his fist as he said regretfully.

    "Don''t worry. I should be able to handle it somehow. All of you. Go to the shop instance if you need, there will be medical aid for all of you."?Jin offered, and Ku Wai tapped on his shoulder.

    "Don''t die. The princess forbids you to." Ku Wai mumbled.

    "Heh. Since when did I serve your princess? бн still I don''t n to disappoint her." Jin thought as he walked towards De Tian with his Panda Head Staff in his hands.

 Chapter 479 Cutthroat System

    <h4>Chapter 479 Cutthroat System</h4>

    "WHAT?! Pull out?! Sir, you can''t be serious! All we need is just your permission to enter the fray, and we can go in guns zing!!! We have multiple civilians as witnesses iming that they killed at least one officer! You saw that smoke clouding from afar. That is also on them! Why can''t we enter and help?" Xue Ping refused to ept this order from her superior as she was fully decked out inbat gear, itching to go in and help the remaining innocents.

    "That is not your prerogative nor mine. Those are direct orders from the Central Police HQ (Shenzhen''s)" Tiangong Police Captain, Mao Pai Huo instructed Xue Ping to stand down along with her fellow husband, Lee An.

    "But Sir! There are innocents inside! Stuck there! We all know that the Central Police Superintendents are being bribed and coerced to not interfere with the fight!?You yourself saw how De Tian''s entourage crashed through our police checkpoint to enter the Shopping District. The people there need our help!" Lee Ann reinforced his message to Captain Mao.

    "BUT CAN WE DO ANYTHING IN OUR CURRENT STATE?!" Captain Mao mmed his chi infused fist on the police car''s bo, causing a visible indentation. "You all experienced first hand how strong Wo De Tian was and we are nowhere near his level. Guns are useless if you are unable to even pull the trigger. Do you think I don''t want to go in and help them?" Captain Mao retorted in a stern voice.

    "You two may be capable detectives, but I am the one shouldering the responsibility of the entire fate of Tiangong station police force. Have you considered the consequences of such actions for a moment? How it may be selfish of you to drag the lives of these policemen into an undefeatable battle?!" The investigators could see that Captain Mao was holding back the rest of his anger so much that he was trembling.

    "Then, Sir. Let me go in instead." A fellow in a brown jacket and a cap entered the conversation followed by two other veteran policemen.

    "Ren Wei?!" Captain Mao was shocked to see one of the best police snipers in Shenzhen in his precinct. "What are you doing here?"

    "Just a coincidence, my daughter and I initially wanted to visit the dungeon supplier today but looks like if we do not close this up soon, there might be no dungeon supplier to enter."?Ren Wei answered as entered through the checkpoint without any interference from the other policemen and he was not taking any answers from Captain Mao.

    "Bro, What about me and Gupta?!" Abdul shouted out as his buddy left them out. Ren Wei just smiled at them and jumped over the barricade. The policemen who were guarding the barriers were in a dilemma whether to chase after Ren Wei.

    It was then Gupta realised what it was going and sent a private transmission message. Abdul heaved out a heavy breath and held onto to the policemen shoulders. "Sir! Sergeant Ren Wei may be from the Central Police Headquarters, but he did not make his intentions clear. Permission to enter the scene and chase after him for the rification!" Gupta stood in attention in front of Captain Mao, and the rest immediately understood his intentions.

    "Fine! You and Gupta enter and bring him back as soon as possible. You hear me? In one piece too! I do not want his daughter to be orphaned." Captain Mao ordered.

    "Sir, his daughter is already in universityбнsame age as your boy." Abdul said, and the others including the detectives, could not help but sniggered a bit.

    "бнWHAT are you waiting for?! Go chase after him!" Captain Mao embarrassingly looked the other way as he waved his hands off to the two policemen. They saluted, and the other police guards happily opened the barrier for them to pass through.

    "Sir. Thank you." Xue Ping whispered as she empathised the Captain''s situation.

    "What? I am just doing my job. Now the rest of you make goddamn sure those reporter vultures do note anywhere near the site."?Captain Mao ordered his men to reinforce the barriers.

    ----------

    "I suggest you surrender to me." De Tian demanded as he portrayed his cultivation by releasing his chi aura to the surrounding areas. The Ruby Rats, upon feeling the densely concentrated aura within the vicinity, knew better and immediately surrendered themselves to the ground instead of trying to resist it.

    In fact, it was too suffocating to even tolerate the dense chi that was being emitted. Even Chen Xun, the Triad Boss for the Deranged Dogs had to emit his own chi to counterbnce against the overly burdensome aura to maintain his bnce.

    "For his aura to reach up to my gangckeys at the far end... seeing them squirm might not be that bad once in a while." Chen Xun thought as he saw them struggling their hardest in an attempt to escape from the aura. Those farthest out still had the strength to crawl out of the area as far as they could, not that it helped them much. For those nearest to De Tian, they were too weak to move a single muscle. His strength was undeniable.

    The other Triad Bosses pretended to act strong against him, but whenever De Tian asked them for something they would always eventually concede orpromise to his terms because of his cultivation grade. However, the only who seemed unaffected by the aura was the opponent he was here to crush.

    Jin, the Dungeon Supplier.

    "Haven''t you showed off enough yet? Can''t you see your followers are suffering?" Jin shouted with his hands folded.

    "Looks like I underestimated you a little. I''ve to admit you intrigue me a bit, but unfortunately for you, you managed to anger me quite a bit." De Tian replied as he threw the cigarette butt towards Jin''s direction. He stopped releasing his chi aura, and the gangckeys were finally able to take a breather. However, not all were so lucky. Those too close and too weak to handle the pressure had died from it.

    "I''ve done nothing to you at all. Heck up until today, I haven''t even met you. From my perspective, you are the one that is actively hurting the people around me. You are the one that has decided for yourself to consider me a threat that should be eliminated. Do not me others for your own problems. If you cannot handle losses, then quit your job."?Jin used, not even caring for the butt which was thrown at him. He considered it beneath him to get out of the way only because De Tian wanted it.

    "Seems that despite being a Panda, you are not as useless orzy. You seem to have quite the bite. Perhaps that''s why the Tigers seem to have taken a liking to you. Let''s get down to business." De Tian said as he renewed his cigarette.

    "Seeing as how you have me surrounded, I doubt your conditions will be any more appealing than this situation, but I am willing to listen," Jin replied as he continued to stand ready with his Panda Head staff.

    "It''s easy. Join me, give me your dungeon supplier technology as well as those portal technology patent rights. In turn, you will get out scotfree, and I will make you into a very rich man." De Tian offered.

    "Sounds not as detrimental as I thought, but what if I were to decline?" Jin questioned with a firm tone.

    "I am a very generous in nature, so I shall present you with two other choices. Your second option is that I let you live, but cripple your cultivation. After you hand over what I want we will allow those you protected to get out unharmed and you will begin your new life as my ve. You should make a perfect cigarette ashtray."

    "Of course, we can always go with the initial n and turn this day into your death anniversary. You can be assured that your minisculend and property will be in good hands afterwards. " De Tian announced, and the rest of the Ruby Rats chuckled at the choices.

    "How about I give you a better suggestion?" Jin asked with a grin as he suddenly walked sidewards while tapping his staff on his shoulder.

    "What? Don''t tell me you are one of those with some sort of superheroplex? Do you seriously think you have a chance at killing me? There are three other Triad bosses with me. Not even that old hag Yuan, would stand a chance." De Tianughed at that prospect.

    "Hahaha, I advise you to be reasonable. You should ept the first choice before De Tian changes his mind." Chen Xun chimed in. "Even if you managed to defeat all four of us. There is the matter of revenge by the entire four gangs. You know we can be a very tight knitted family in cases of revenge. Especially if it concerns our good reputation."

    "I wouldn''t dream of it. We all know that with your influence, even if it would count as self defense, all of you are important enough to get resurrected ande back to haunt me. Killing you in someone else''s territory would be useless. Still, you might wanna take a look at this before you decide on what do to next." Jin typed something on his phone and then threw his phone towards De Tian. He caught it with ease and looked at the contents, which made him feel like crashing the phone.

    "Howбн? How??? WHAT DID YOU DO?! This has to be a bluff!" De Tian shouted back with anger, but before he could crash the phone, Peppers performed her favourite (party) trick of exploding the phone right out of De Tian''s hands.

    The other Ruby Rats immediately took out their weapons out as the phone flew back into Jin''s hand. "You saw correctly. Either you get out of here, or I will happily enact thews! That st was just a warning shot. I can do far worse!" Jin shouted, and De Tian used his hand to move the smoke away. He did not get out of the explosion unscathed, and Chen Xun was ready to enter the fray, but De Tian stopped him.

    "What? What''s wrong? Aren''t we supposed to finish him before that Guardian hag arrives?" Chen Xun shouted at De Tian. He was eager to get this over with. If possible, he would rather avoid fighting Grandma Yuan.

    "He bought the friggin ce. The entire goddamned Shopping District." De Tian uttered with disbelief as well.

    "Well, if you do not believe. Feel free to consult mywyer. I assume you know Xiong Da from the HHH Law Firm." Jin shook his shoulders while giving a smirked face back.

    "But you said that the ce is only up for grabs starting next year onwards!" Chen Xun retaliated back, and the news made the other two bosses in the car to chatter as well.

    "That should be the case. Unlessбнhe has the money to buy it prematurely." Tang Wei spoke out from the window. "With the new Building Law that was ced two years ago, the tenants of the district have the right to purchase it one year before the development lease on the ce has been expired at 1.5 times the amount thend was valued."

    "What bullshit! It already costs at millions of Yuan to buy at the normal rate. How would he have the money to buy it out beforehand. He is just a Dungeon Supplier!" Chen Xun cursed, and Jin''s lip curled.

    "IT IS BECAUSE I AM A DUNGEON SUPPLIER!" Jin shouted back at them. "So what are you going to do? You know what is going to happen if you fight in someone''s own territory, right?" He eyed at De Tian intently.

    "бнthe rules he set within his own territory cannot be overruled in court, and whatever casualties inflicted may not be a cause of revenge. If he manages to kill us, he may even legally get rid of our Dantians in his territory." Tang Wei spoke out, and Chen Xun banged the car''s side door.

    "This has to be bluff. De Tian. It''s impossible for that to be the case!" Chen Xun could not believe this brat in front of him would have the financial capability to perform such a deed. More importantly, how did he found out that they were eyeing for thisndбнunless it was the source was from another Triad.

    The Three Eyes Tigers.

    "You know, I''m happy to wait here. You can get your secretary to verify...

    No, better yet. Get all your secretaries, my dear Triad Bosses and check with them that I had already procured thend. Also, expect me to send you the check for the repairs for all the damage you have inflicted on my turf." Jin proimed with utmost confidence even though internally he was sweating like mad.

    There was a break in the discussion as all the Triad Bosses were indeed double checking the facts. Jin saw their faces when they received the confirmations by their secretaries, and it was indeed priceless. "System has taken a picture of all their shocked faces as it believed User would appreciate having a memento." The System notified him.

    "System, you know me, oh so well." Jin widened his smiles at the side of his mouth. He could not have done this feat without the System.

    The devious, ruthless cutthroat of a System.

 Chapter 480 Transfer of Development Lease

    <h4>Chapter 480 Transfer of Development Lease</h4>

    When the Triad Bosses showed themselves, Jin knew that big trouble was inevitable and that was when the System had rmended Jin to buy up the entire ce ording to a loophole that was found within thend''s contract.

    The System duly noted the benefits of procuring the entirend, thwarting the entire ns of what Ong revealed and what Ku Wai, the Vice Head of the Three Eyed Tigers had reported. Fortunately, all of this was possible because Jin was already a co-owner of the Tiangong Shopping District due to thend he possessed. (All thanks to Ming buying it when it was dirt cheap after the Pachinko fire.)

    Even as the Ruby Rat Triad Boss was busy showing off his aura, Jin was not bothered by it and was instead contacting the owner of the development lease. And it was none other than Grandma Yuan via the System''smunication line.

    "What do you want brat? How did you even get this number?" Grandma Yuan started scolding Jin as soon as she realised it was him. She took a look on her hand ... not even a day has passed, since she was forced to ept the ring, and she was already suffering the consequences.

    "I''m sorry for bothering you this way, but I wouldn''t ask if it wasn''t so urgent. Please listen carefully." Jin maintained his poker face at De Tian while exining his situation to Grandma Yuan.

    "Oh, so the big bosses havee to visit you personally? So what? Can''t you handle them yourself? Do you honestly need me to still wipe your butt for you?! Brat, I have vouched for you being capable enough to lead a Branch Location of JODE. If you can''t even deal with some thugs, you can forget about JODE assisting you without proving your worth. Do you want me to arrange for you to scrub the Headquarters toilets for a year, to do so?!" Grandma Yuan threatened, and Jin politely asked her to listen to his proposal first. (despite being rather annoyed by her tone at times. Perhaps she did not want to be disturbed with her phone number.)

    "I am handling it, but I still need your help. You saw my assets during our meal, right? I want to buy the entire Tiangong Shopping District from you, Tiangong District Guardian."

    "Why don''t you just defeat theбн Oh." Grandma Yuan stopped arguing and started to see Jin''s point. "Ah, I guess those rumours of the Triads wanting to change the shopping district into something more lucrative were true. So, you want to buy the entire plot for yourself? Your assets should be enough for a 50% down payment. Even so, we need awyer to-"?Grandma Yuan suddenly heard a swishing noise behind her and saw Zeru bowing towards her. She looked down at the ring once more and was even more pissed at the System apparently ''forgetting'' to mention she would be tracked by its ''gift''.

    "Xiong Da will be managing the papers. He said he can expedite the process, but he needs your signature." The Lotus Sword Saint exined as he ced the papers on the table. Jin''s signature was already on the bottom of the page.

    "How? Isn''t Jin in the battlefields?" Grandma Yuan asked as Zeru showed her where to sign the transfer of ownership of thend.

    "Let''s just say the System is not beingzy for once," Jin answered instead through the loudspeakers as Grandma Yuan began signing the papers.

    -----------

    To prevent Jin from wasting any time having to exin everything to Xiong Da, the System had sent out a message with the rough details of the situation and what he wanted from his most loyal customer.

    The Hungry Hippo Cultivator couldn''t say no to his favourite dungeon supplier. However, even the almightywyer warned that processing might be a problem and would require at the very least a working day.

    Yet, the System (posing as Jin) assured him that this would not be an issue as long as Xiong Da approved the transaction. Even before Xiong Da could agree to the matter, Milk was already at his firm''s doorstep knocking on the door with the papers ready.

    "Mr Wa, I brought Milk in." Ruo Ying, Xiong Da''s girlfriend and secretary, acted with professionalism as she brought Milk in a well dressed OL suit into the office. However, she decided to remain in the office, unlike usual circumstances where she would leave the client and Xiong Da alone.

    She sensed Milk was being tooбн sexy and sensual for Xiong Da to stay sane, although she did bring up an excuse for her behaviour as a special case to see how Xiong Da handle the situation with Milk. (She was merely jealous of Milk''s body and fashion wear.)

    "Here, the cheque and the signed papers. As well as Jin''s bnce of ounts to ensure we are not lying." Milk picked up her phone and showed an image of Jin''s bnce in his bank. It was actually the System''s which it managed to manipte and insert that amount of money without alerting the bank system. (The trip to the Abyss Web had been beneficial for the System too, not just Kraft.)

    "The rest of the evidence is here, but I need you to sign it quickly so I can get it approved soon. There is not much time left." Milk demanded as she banged the table and Xiong Da nodded his head to her intimidation.

    "Xiong Xiong, I know you trust Boss Jin, but this is clearly an abuse of your powers. You might get in trouble for this." Ruo Ying warned, and Milk shook her head.

    "Trust me, Jin has a few tricks behind his back. Xiong Da will be safe. Besides, we will need more of his services in the future. One wouldn''t exactly betray an ally needed in the future, right?" Milk reassured her, but Xiong Da did not care about the two and had already started stamping his approval on the transaction papers.

    "There! Done. You sure you can make it? It''s gettingte, and the ministry''s office is probably closing soon." Xiong Da worried for her. As Milk was just about to leave, thewyer was unable to control his curiosity. "Is it because of the gang fight that is happening at Tiangong district?"

    "Yeah, it''s because of that ridiculous, stupid fight. Don''t worry. Jin will appear victorious with this." Milk winked at him and gave a peace sign before rushing to leave the office. (To teleport back into the System.)

    "There you go System. It''s all yours. Time to do your magic." Milk said as she unclipped the staple on the papers and each of them side by side on the desk. The System immediately scanned the entire transaction deal and infiltrated into the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development''s database to tweak the name and expedite the approval.

    This was done to make sure the database had been modified to reflect thetest changes and allowed Jin to y this Trump card of his towards the Triad Bosses. The System could have personally edited the data in the database, but there were too many loopholes and Jin might be penalised if found guilty.

    However, the transaction deal only stated the transfer of the name from Grandma Yuan to Jin. Xiong Da did state that the minor details of the deal would be finalised on ater date since it was a deed that was hastily done.

    -----

    "I have to thank Xiong Da for thisбн" Jin thought as he saw the Triad Bossesing together to discuss what needed to be done.

    "Indeed, it was a major feat and a leap of faith for Xiong Da and past Sub System User Yuan to trust you. With just one disagreeing, this whole n would have fallen apart." The System stated.

    "This is impossible! I double checked merely two days ago, the deed was still under Guardian District Yuan, not Jin." De Tian was furious and stared at Jin for a while, knowing that he must have had some under the table help.

    "Was it the tiger princess? No, even she could not have such power under her. The most likely candidate would be the Royal Zodiac Tiger n Head, Yuan Ba. But why would someone like the Tiger Lord do something like that for a mere dungeon supplier?"?Mu Bing wondered out loud, but Tang Wei shook his head. He was the one most informed about the gossip of the royal families. (It was actually one of his guilty pleasures, better than any soap opera)

    "Yang Ling is not exactly close to her father, ever since her ident.?Even if they were, the amount of money involved to buy thisnd is not a joke." Tang Weimented as he wiped his sweat.

    "There''s a snowball''s chance in hell that Sea Mesh''s CEO would provide such money to that dungeon supplier. Ke Loong is a stingy person, thest time I asked him to sponsor me some stuff, he would not even oblige." De Tian chimed, and the only person who kept quiet was Chen Xun.

    "Say, even if you cannot kill him. You can make him go that way, can''t you?" Chen Xun mentioned in a devious manner.

    "What do you mean?" De Tian asked, and Chen Xun began to whisper at him.

    "A duel? Just use your tiny brain for once! Would you ept a duel in your own territory?" De Tian snorted at that idea.

    "Not if you don''t offer good coteral бн It''s fine either way with us. Either you get him to agree, or you will have to give us 5% of your shares. Don''t forget about that." Chen Xun inadvertently reminded him, but in his heart, he wasughing at how devious the n was.?De Tian thought about it for a while, and with a bit of persuasion from the other two Triad Bosses, he agreed to it with a condition.

    "Interfere with the duel. Make sure he dies." De Tian sent them a close range transmission and the smiles of the other three Triad Bosses were at their most wicked.

    This was what they were living for. Deceit and betrayal.

    "Ku Wai, I know you are still hiding around here. Come out." De Tian shouted at Jin''s direction, and the Three Eyed Tiger vice leader came out from an alley.

    "What do you want?" Ku Wai felt an ominous feeling when De Tian called him out.

    "Conduct a duel for us. I hereby challenge Jin for the ownership of the development lease of the Tiangong Shopping District. In return, I offer him the entire King Monster''s franchise AND all itsnd." De Tian announced proudly at Jin. He was sure that Jin being a businessman of a certain calibre, would understand the weight of the offer.

    "Nah, no thanks," Jin replied and waved his hand as if he was telling them to shoo off.

 Chapter 481 Enlightenment in Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 481 Enlightenment in Cultivation</h4>

    Chen Xun was muffling his giggling with his hand after he saw De Tian being rejected like a guy earnestly confessing his love. The Ruby Rat Triad Boss found himself ashamed that his challenge was so easily denied, but then he noticed something.

    Why the hell was he even doing something as stupid as to ask for a duel? Was it because it''s an honourable thing to do right in front of his Ruby Ratckeys? Or was he scared of thews? God damn it! Wasn''t he a Triad Boss? Why did he suddenly be so timid because of the change of circumstances?

    Shouldn''t this case be the most ideal? Instead of fighting against District Guardian Yuan who was around two to three grades above him, De Tian was given a heaven sent gift. A little young panda who was acting all haughty just because he had the cash to buy over thend.

    "Not only is he the new owner of Tiangong Shopping District, but he also has the financial backing... probably by his parents? Ah, who cares. I should just kill him andter demand money from whoever is backing him. YesбнThat''s right. He does not want to fight with me because that brat knows he can''t win!" De Tian began to snigger and subsequently startedughing out loud, which made Jin feel that Triad Boss had to be sick in the head. Even the Ruby Ratckeys were wondering if their boss had gone insane.

    "Kill him, extort an exorbitant amount of ransom from his parents to retrieve back his dantian! Or rtives or whoever is backing him! No, wait! I should get the ransom and the deed to thisnd as well! Heck why stop there, might as well demand a pardon in case the authorities really make things hard! Killing three birds with one stone. Oh, Jin you are my golden goose... before I cut you open!" De Tian wasughing so hysterically that his chi burst out and suddenly his cultivation?was revealed right in front of everyone.

    Ten silhouettes of reddish furred rats running above him in a circle and suddenly another rat jumped out of the ring. His aura got even more stifling, and every remaining Ruby Ratckey had to disy their cultivation in order to survive this suffocating aura that was being emitted.

    "He had a sudden enlightenment and thus an increase in grade?!" Mu Bing could not believe his eyes that De Tian managed to attain a Grade 11 in such circumstances, disying his might to everyone.

    In the meantime, the three policemen saw all this happening from a distant apartment which they managed to use with the upant''s permission. Gupta was the spotter while Ren Wei was preparing his sniper rifle. Abdul had asked the family to move to their neighbour''s house temporarily.

    While a little untrusting, the father had decided to stay behind and promised not to interfere in anything. He just wanted to make sure that they were indeed police. (and also hoped to see them in action.)

    As the policemen did not have any warrant to enter their house, they could only be grateful that they had gotten ess to his home. It was not ideal to work where there are civilians around, but regrettably, this was as good as they could achieve without any roof ess and this particr apartment had the best vantage point ording to both Gupta and Ren Wei.

    "You may stay, but I will have to confiscate your phone for a while to avoid you from filming us, sir," Abdul demanded politely and the owner of the household grudgingly passed it to them.?"Thank you, Sir."

    "How is the situation?" Abdul asked, and Gupta shook his head.

    "Not good at all. We haven''t exactly expected so many Triad Bosses to be here. Worse still, De Tian had surprisingly broken through to Grade 11. Even with Ren Wei''s at Grade 6 Peak, the additional offensive inscription we can pack in a bullet will at most only hurt him." Gupta lent Abdul his spotter binocr.

    "That is why we will only snipe when the opportunityes or when Jin needs help. At most, we may have two shots against them. The first will be a surprise, and the second bullet is the one that matters. But let''s hope we don''t have to use any." Ren Wei concluded as he was startled when watching the events. Jin appeared to be in some negotiations before De Tian revealed his cultivation.

    "Whew, that is a lot of rats. And they aren''t alone. The Triads are serious in attacking Jin and man, I really apud the dungeon supplier to have guts. I did not expect him to face all of them by himself." Abdul praised as he saw the situation was getting tense.

    "Heh, that is why his dungeons are always that realistic. Jin must have gotten through a lot in life to be standing alone so fearlessly despite at such a young age. From the looks of it, I believe he is still hiding a few trump cards against those Bosses." Ren Wei replied as he was taking out a worn hard covered suitcase with scratches from his storage ring.

    "Let''s hope it''s not ignorance.:" Abdul returned the spotting scope to his friend.

    "Want to make a bet that Jin does not need our help at all?"?Gupta suggested, and only Abdul was interested. Ren Wei decided against it as he knew this was not aughing matter.

    "Abdul, report the situation to Captain Mao and the detectives through the radio. Study this building''s structure as well in case we need to make a quick getaway with minimum disruption to the public." Ren Wei ordered as he borrowed the coffee table and a few pieces of the sofa furniture so that he could position his sniper rifle (which he ironically bought and customised at Jin''s store)

    The only difference was that he had acquired the live bullets from Tiangong police station with a bit of help from his buddies instead of Jin''s store. The owner of the house was a bit shocked, and Gupta assured him that he would bepensated for any damage to his furniture.

    ----

    "Ehh grats on the jump in cultivation?" Jin bitterly realised that all the effort he made to avoid conflict appeared to be for nought if De Tian chooses to enter into a confrontation without any regard for thew.

    "Not all futile, User. If the Ruby Rat Triad Boss decides to attack you on your grounds, you not only have the right to kill him legally, there will be no additional repercussions to you. The Royal Zodiac Rat n won''t be able to use that to execute you since he had personally initiated the fight against you, especially after you have informed him of the situation." The System reiterated.

    "I give you credit that you are not even a bit afraid of me. I am not sure whether you are foolishly brave or merely ignorant about the fact that you have no way to get out of this alive!" De Tian said as he pulled out his personal weapon, a war club simr to Xiong Da, but it seemed to be glowing with various inscriptions infused into it.

    "Is there any way to detect what inscriptions he''s using?" Jin asked the System as he lifted his Panda Head Staff and aimed it directly at his opponent. De Tian nearlyughed at how ridiculously cute Jin''s weapon was but recalled that half of his Ruby Rats were decimated by it.

    "Negative. As De Tian is not within the store, a thorough analysis is not possible." The System stated, and Jin wanted to curse how useless it was outside of the store.

    "However, a superficial level of analysis is possible. There are at least three inscriptions ording to your Pandaromic Eyes. System had already eliminated and narrowed the possible inscriptions Ruby Rat Triad Boss is using."

    "That is more like it." Jin briefly looked at the list via his Pandaromic Eyes and prepared to insert Maqi into the staff as he saw De Tian kept releasing his chi aura, trying to intimate Jin while dragging his warclub at him.

    "All our ns won''t matter if I can''t get out of this alive...Honestly, what are the odds of winning this guy? " Jin asked as he prepared to get Zeru out for help. Luckily, the ability to teleport his betors wasn''t hindered outside the store.

    "With your current grade? Roughly 30% survival rate. However, following your true awakening, User has ess to the Astral Panda forms." The System finally had the perfect opportunity to reveal Jin''s hidden Trump card .

    "Bybining your Astral Panda forms with them, you can temporarily borrow powers from Zeru, Milk and Peppers. Proper and opportune usage of the Astral Panda Betor forms should increase your chance of survival up to 75%." System rified and Jin nearly opened his jaw wide open right in front of De Tian. Instead, he quickly pretended to yawn a little. He did not expect such a feature being avable with the betors.

    "Why you brat...underestimating me through and through!"?De Tian was pissed looking at Jin yawn and decided not to hesitate anymore and rushed towards him. He dispelled his aura to be able to use it in his attacks, which gave most of his still living Ruby Rats a breather. (With his increased Grade, some more fell victim to pressure and died from the suffocation of the intense chi.)

    As the war club smashed to the ground, Jin managed to dodge backwards in time, but he did not expect an aftershock from the attack. Thus, causing him to be knocked back by the impact force. Fortunately, he used his Panda Head Staff to summon a wind barrier as well as infusing his body with an Astral Panda with the powers of Green Panda Wind to bnce himself.

    However, that was not the end, Jin also riled the surrounding dust and debris on the floor from the impact and created a temporary smokescreen to confuse his opponent so he could talk to the System for a while longer.?"So, you mean I can sorta be Zeru, Peppers or even Milk?!" Jin asked, and the System rified that Jin had the potential to inherit their abilities for 8 seconds.

    "For that 8 seconds, User can possess the powers of your betors without any potential strenuous setback to your body. You will have ess to the full extent of their abilities that have been unlocked ording to your grade. Do note that the training that you had with Zeru was an exception. Because he needed to teach you, System had boosted his powers to several grades higher than User''s current grade." The System stated as Jin found himself defending another blow from De Tian though the smokescreen did buy him a few precious seconds.

    "Not so tough, eh?" De Tian spat at the dungeon supplier, but Jin did not give De Tian another nce.

    "I do not need to be tough. I just need to be fast." Jin said out loud as hemanded the System to provide him with the powers of Zeru through his thoughts. Suddenly, Jin could feel another souling into his body, and he felt an immense amount of strength coursing through him.

    The System''s artificial infusion of Astral Panda form and Betor Zeru immediately streamed through Jin, and the dungeon supplier smirked as he transformed his Panda Head Staff into a two handed Odachi.

    He ced the two handed sword behind his back while he spewed out a Panda Yawning to distract De Tian for a moment. Within those three seconds, he felt a burst of strength through his stomach as he could feel every fibre of his muscle turning the Odachi and making one quick stroke with that massive thin de.

    "Snip, and the petal of the lotus falls," Jin whispered as his de had cleanly gone through the innards of De Tian while the Triad Boss was attempting to swing his war club upwards in order to perform one of his War Club Epic Arts.

    In De Tian''s perspective, he already predicted such the beam technique from his mouth but did not realise it was that weak when he purposely received the damage to intimidate him. However, he did not know because of that split second distraction due to his pride, De Tian was bound to lose his life.

    For that few seconds, Jin was enlightened on how Zeru''s technique worked. The technique was so бнstingy in its movement, making the strike as clean as a perfectly polished granite which allowed one to see their reflection through it.

    "I hope that brief movement was able to provide some insight into the ways of my sword," Zeru said via the System channel and Jin nodded his head as he saw half of De Tian slowly descend to the ground while the other half was left standing, spurting blood from the rest of his blood veins.

    "Yes, it did, Master. I shall learn to do it myself in the future." Jin promised as he went to De Tian''s lower body and grab the solid dantian with the aid of his Pandaromic Eyes.

 Chapter 482 Triad Boss of the Prosperous Pig

    <h4>Chapter 482 Triad Boss of the Prosperous Pig</h4>

    The other three Triad Bosses and the Ruby Ratsckeys in the vicinity saw how Jin cleanly bisected the notorious De Tian. Even as Jin came over to pick up the solidified dantian from the lower half of the body, the upper half of De Tian was still barely conscious and could not believe that the dungeon supplier annihted him within seconds of his first counterattack.

    "Anyone of you three also wants toe at me? I''ve offered all of you a peaceful solution by purchasing thend here. Yet, the Ruby Rat Boss came and attacked me on his own volition, did he not?" Jin asked with a forceful tone.

    He now had the upper hand in negotiations.

    The three other Triad Bosses were scared as they regarded this as a threat. If Jin could easily wipe out De Tian with a single stroke, that meant Jin was stronger than a Grade 11! "No wonder, Tiangong District Guardian Yuan was willing to part this small shopping district for this dungeon supplier." Mu Bing, the Triad Boss for the Prosperous Pigs as well as the most experienced one among the three of them concluded.

    "So, you also think we should make him an ally by sucking our pride up rather than make him our enemy?" Tang Wei asked as he suddenly saw an opportunity that could be struck.

    "Well, we three haven''t done anything to him. Up until now, all our boys did was stand around. And at the end of the day, we are still the Triad Bosses of our Royal Zodiac ns despite Chen Xun being the youngest and inexperienced one here." Mu Bing replied, and Chen Xun realised what was going on.

    "Just because I haven''t received my official initiation ceremony, doesn''t mean I am not taking up the duties of the previous Boss of Deranged Dogs." Chen Xunmented, and Mu Bing had decided to say out what they were all thinking.

    "So? What are you waiting for? Send away your own goons along with the Ruby Rats. I have had enough for the day." Jin ordered as he lifted his sword and ced it on his shoulders since it was rather heavy to bear, holding it with just one hand. But instead of moving away, the Triad Bosses were having an internal discussion among themselves before Mu Bing decided to personally enter the fray.

    Jin held his Odachi steady and the small portion of the Ruby Rats as well as the rest of the other gang''s goons who were already over the shock of the sudden death of Ruby Rat''s Boss, immediately went forward to protect Mu Bing. After all, Mu Bing was one of the oldest Triad Boss among the various ns and had sufficient influence despite hisck of cultivation.

    Yet, instead of fighting, Mu Bing raised his hands up from afar and asked Jin for a truce to restart the negotiation instead. "We have a new proposition that we wish to discuss."

    "I do not see much of a proposition here. What I see is a lot of chaos, made by the leftover garbage still protecting you." Jin pointed out as he held onto his sword.

    "Forgive them. They are just doing this because of my identity. After you took care of their boss, their line ofmand is disrupted. It is pretty much protocol to conform and listen to the highest ranking and most experienced ally in such a situation." Mu Bing exined as he asked all the surroundingckeys to stand down.

    The Ruby Rats obeyed and opened a passage for him to go through. Jin, on the other hand, refused to rx and instead stuck his odachi on the ground so he could pick it up at any moment of notice for another fight.

    "Hmm, Jin. Is it? I am very curious. You really aren''t easy to read. You pretended to be weak, but in fact you yourself managed to defeat a Grade 11 with your own hands so effortlessly while not even revealing your cultivation to us. And yet here you are still wary of us as if we might have the upper hand. Will it help you rx if I tell you that De Tian, was the most powerful out of all of us?" Mu Bing remarked, but Jin continued to have his guard up.

    "I see. You are indeed an experienced fighter. I know that a Dungeon Supplier has to experience a lot, to make a dungeon appear real. I heard rumours about you providing very realistic dungeons to the point of them being called lifelike. I daresay I no longer doubt your capabilities after witnessing today''s briefбнencounter." Mu Bing continued.

    "There is no need for any flowerynguage. If you wish to negotiate, do it fast. Or else get the hell out. Other people still need to clean this ce up, and I''m now forced to be the one to give out these statements which are a waste of my time when I could be attending to my business instead." Jin felt like they were buying time unlike De Tian who was straight to the point.

    "Not to mention there is a need to renovate this ce considering how much thrashing your Ruby Rats gave. By the way, you can all expect arge invoice for all the damages caused." Jin grumbled right in front of Mu Bing who heughed.

    "I see, I see. You are a businessman through and through. I am sorry to have wasted your time. As you may already know, we were indeed nning to build an entertainment venue. A Grand Casino. I was wondering if you would let us do that?" Mu Bing proposed. Jin did not even need to consider it, he just shook his head in disagreement.

    "You have yet to hear me out. I guarantee you that the profit would be more than substantial. You might even get yournd''s purchase worth within a month or two. We could even sweeten the deal and provide you with some manpower for the renovation of this ce."

    "Not interested one bit. If I wanted to build a casino, I could just create one within my dungeon instance, and it would definitely be more interesting than whatever you might have nned. " Jin said and Ku Wai who left by the side suddenly chimed in.

    "I can vouch for it. His instances are out of this world. The current state of entertainment will be considered crap if youpare it to his." Ku Wai said, and Jin smiled at hispliment.

    "Maybe that''s why the Tiger Princess wished to keep this ce alive. To send the Three Eyed Tigers to protect you is no ordinary feat I tell you." Mu Bing replied as he noticed the Three Eyed Tigers gangsters suddenly bow near an alley behind Jin.

    "Exactly. That is why any further negotiations about thisnd will be invalid. If I am not wrong, I believe I know what you are going to talk about next. Too bad for you, I am going to issue his disagreement to you instead." A bespectacled male, seemingly in his mid thirties walked in, wearing a smart casual outfit, unlike the other Triad Bosses.

    "Boss Ya Bai, it''s rare enough to see you in joint meetings and even rarer to see out in the open. If you are willing toe out of your den, then Jin must be a big deal." Mu Bingmented as he nodded to acknowledge the Three Eyed Tiger Triad Boss''s presence. Ku Wai even bowed simrly along with theckeys hemanded right in front of him.

    "Jin, what this old pig was going to propose was to make them your go to partner as a dungeon supplier. They will then strike a deal with you since you just killed the boss of the Triad''s main dungeon supplier for Shenzhen." Ya Bai exined, and Mu Bing sighed and nodded his head in agreement.

    "In return, King''s Monster will cease its operations, assets will be liquefied for you to use. Alternatively, you can expand over King Monster''s current assets and take them under your control. You will effectively be the biggest dungeon supplier in Shenzhen with the Triad''s backing. In return, they have ess to your dungeons at a low to no cost for training." Ya Bai added, and he could see Jin''s reluctance or annoyance to that particr matter.

    "They will, of course, assist in paying the operating costs and then some. Do note it is not just their triads, but the entire twelve triads who will benefit."

    "And since there are three Triad bosses here, with me as one of the senior bosses, we can also crown you the new Ruby Rat Triad Boss and the Ruby Rats here would have no choice but to follow you. Should you want to kill them all because of the crimes they havemitted, you are allowed to do so at no consequences." Mu Bing offered more in front of Ya Bai and Jin.

    "What if I said no? Seeing how you are still the Boss, I would probably still be bound by all these Triad rules. Also, I assume that would somehow make me a subordinate of the Royal Zodiac Rats, wouldn''t it? I''d prefer being my own Boss." Jin asked, and Ya Bai nodded.

    The older man also figured Jin would go that route.

    "Technically speaking, they will not be able to harm you in your own little territory should you refuse. But the moment you leave this strip of shopping space, be prepared to be killed anytime, anywhere. You don''t need me to tell you how the Triads have their ownws." Ya Baimented, and Jin shook his head.

    "Is this how you coerced other people to join your cause? Either serve or die by the swords and guns of our Triads because you spewed our blood?" Jin shouted as he reminded them again that he was not the first to attack.

    "That is why I am here to give you another alternative, Jin." Ya Bai took out a tiger emblem and showed it to everyone. "Should you ept this, you will be an honorary member of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n. If anyone harms you, they will suffer the wrath of the Royal Zodiac Tiger family themselves." Ya Bai shouted out loud and clear for everyone, including Chen Xun and Tang Wei who were at the back.

    The Triad Bosses were shocked to hear that. Honorary members were indeed treated as part of the royal family by the n themselves. They had proven themselves by aplishing an invaluable service to the family. The number of honorary members of each n, could be counted on one''s hand.

    "No strings attached at all. No answering to anyone in the ns. This is the Tiger Lord''s way of repaying his debt to you, it seems." Ya Bai announced, which reminded Jin about the favour for saving the Royal Zodiac Tiger''s Head, Hu Yuan Ba from the Banned Emperor''s assassination.

    "Needless to say, the Princess yed quite a huge role in this... including throwing a huge tantrum at Yuan Ba. It''s been a long time since I saw the Tiger Head being so powerless against his daughter. Definitely worth it toe out." Ya Bai whispered to Jin.

    "I seeбн I seeбн" Mu Bing was obviously disappointed that the revenge of the Triad''s was circumvented by this abrupt change of circumstances. Yet, he was not entirely saddened by the whole situation. "If that is the case, I will return as a businessman to you, Dungeon Supplier Jin. Please keep in mind that the only ones who attacked you were the Ruby Rats."

    "Mmm. If you are truly talking about business, then yes, I will not mind entertaining you." Jin nodded, and Mu Bing finally saw a silver lining through this incident.

    "Looks like you do not bear grudges like the Triads. That is a very promising trait."

    "Gains and losses are part and parcel of a businessman. What you lose today might very well be an opportunity to gain so much more." Jin replied, and Mu Bing bowed a little beforemanding the Prosperous Pigs and the rest of the Ruby Rats to disperse before they were caught by the police.

    Chen Xun informed the Deranged Dogs to get ready to leave as well. Tang Wei, however, had to ask Ku Wai to let go of his Raunchy Roosters, who had been ruffed up by the Tigers.

    "Well said. The next time we meet shall be on another kind of battlefield." Mu Bing nodded in agreement and Jin bid him farewell.

    "You sure about that? You know that we are Triads for a reason." Chen Xun asked Mu Bing, who was returning to the car.

    "All the more we have to be honourable. And trust me. He might not look like it, but Jin is greedier than De Tian. Both in ambition and in character." Mu Bing smiled at himself as he asked Chen Xun to get Tang Wei and him out of the area.

    While it was pleasing to know that the whole Triad business was somehow solved, there was another thing that bothered Jin.

    The current state of Tiangong Shopping District.

 Chapter 483 Four Clawed Scorpion

    <h4>Chapter 483 Four wed Scorpion</h4>

    It became a whole newndscape after Lynn and Qiu Yue managed to navigate their way out of the enormous cathedral and into the outside world. "What do you think that is? An abandoned vige? A town maybe?" Qiu Yue queried as she saw how nature had taken over the entire ce.

    "Might even be an abandoned city. Who knows? You saw how big the cathedral was from inside. Usually, you can judge a ce based on their religious infrastructures." Lynn answered. She parked her vehicle near the giant building, after making sure it was safe and went up to the roof to scout. (Thankfully, she had yet to see any giants that were asrge as the houses themselves.)

    A lot of giant herbivores were roaming the streets. The boar rat they fought had been the size of an Ogre, but these chickens and cows that were grazing the grass right in front of them were at least three times their average size. Oddly enough, their sizes varied drastically even amongst their supposed species that it made both the Sub System users wonder if there was any order in their sizing.

    "I''ve seen a Boar Rat as big as thergest Furry Cows before us. Seeing how some of the Horned Chickens appear to be bigger than some of the cows I can only assume it''s probably the longer they survive, the bigger they get." Lynn concluded as she tracked the signal from her phone once again to find Colwaski, one of the elder penguins with the Chieftain Skitter.

    The girls were unsure whether they would find any survivorsбн or solely their remains. They just knew that the longer it would take, the likelier the second scenario.

    The Giant World was indeed a ce where any creature could be a predator only to find themselves bing the prey the very next moment. Hence, the penguins decided to take another route with theirbat bikes. They believed it would be best not to disrupt any of the Horned Chicken or Furry Cows grazing at the overgrown grasnd in front of the cathedral.

    The penguins utilised a derelict open drain pipe as part of the cover from the overgrown grasnds and Lynn could see why they would use that as the main route to travel to their destination. They might catch the attention of the Horned Chicken on the surface, who would definitely love the challenge of chasing after the penguins.

    The rocky terrain would make it hard to flee from them and who knows what other creatures would await them hiding under the overgrown grass. The drainpipe inparison might be filled with running water and some debris, but thebat cycle was versatile enough to run along the water and at the side of the pipes.

    Still, things never go as nned. Despite theirbat bikes being equipped with anti acoustic inscriptions and being as silent as passing wind, they managed to attract unwanted attention. A scorpion appeared at the intersection of the drain and treated them as prey thatnded in its territory.

    The penguins informed Lynn about that arachnid being extremely tasty, if one managed to y it. Qiu Yue also noticed those penguins were riling to go against the four wed scorpions. Perhaps, they wereforted by the fact that without Lynn''s additional training, they would have already been scared to shit and be killed for food.

    Fortunately, there was indeed a glimpse of chance as the penguins were leading the front while Lynn and Qiu Yue were at the back of the bike entourage. Thus making the scorpion be surrounded despite it trying to chase after the penguins on thebat bikes.

    "My Queen, do you wish to stop so we can properly fight against the scorpion?" Kido asked via the system channel which Lynn denied his request.

    "Let''s keep moving forward. The scorpion might just be the very guardian angel we need. It could be a distraction we need in case other giants appear." Lynn replied while she slowed her bike down in order to not arouse the predator''s attention.

    "Way to go, Lynn. I did not think of that." Qiu Yue, who was holding on to her tightly, responded via the system channel since it would be stupid to be shouting and possibly create even more hassle for the group.

    "Well, it does not mean we have to risk our lives throughout the entire run. Injure the scorpion whenever possible. Refrain from using the Combat Bike functions as of yet. This is just a small frypared to what we might encounterter!" Lynn ordered.

    "Lynn! Please remember we still have the teleportation magic at our disposal, it would be stupid to not use it." Qiu Yue reminded and suggested that they could get the System to fix the bikes, or maybe ask Niu Lang to do so. Their Sub System informed them that it was certainly possible if they returned to their world, but it would cost them some dungeon dors.

    "That''s true. Qiu Yue, please inform Niu Lang about this. Tell him to get the schematics of thebat bike from the Sub System and the necessary armaments." Lynn replied, and Qiu Yue squeezed Lynn a bit tighter (albeit a little more joyful and yful and not due to fear.)

    "Yes, Mdm!" Qiu Yue agreed as she decided it to take the backseat (literally) and watch Lynn handle the situation. After all, the penguins were Lynn''s underlings, and it would be disrespectful tomand her team, especially when she was present. Even though Qiu Yue could overtake them, she also needed time to know about the penguin''s fighting capabilities. For now, the red panda cultivator was looking forward to seeing Lynn''s battle tactics.

    "So my Queen, weapons free?" Kido asked for a confirmation, and a simple yes from Lynn ignited the penguin''s bloodlust. The four wed scorpion had no idea that it was ultimately chasing its own doom.

    At the moment, the penguins had decided to run full speed through the long drain to deter and exhaust the scorpion as much as they could with their own weapons. The bike''s weapons did cost quite a bit of money ording to their fellow penguin ountants.

    Yes, Lynn had tasked a few penguin chefs to take up the ounting role, all that despite having a Sub System. To Lynn having a clear understanding of one''s own stock and predicting how much food they needed was a vital skill she wished to impart into her peggies.

    That was why Lynn had increased the number of penguins to open and create their own stores in the WunderPanda Theme Park instance. The Sub System would eventually take note of the amount of food left and money they made, but the penguins would have to do it first as part of Lynn''s training.

    She believed that a cook without a financial sense would not know the value of his kitchen. It could make one unaware of the real worth of particr food stocks and eventually lead one to abuse the kitchen with his ignorance. While the concept seemed somewhat shallow, it made the penguins learn an important lesson.

    By handling the money themselves, the penguins would grasp how much of a portion that needed to be given for it to be both profitable for the chef and beneficial to the customers. Too little a serving and the customers might get disappointed, giving too much food and the chef would make a loss. A bnce had to be struck.

    But there was another reason why the penguins had yet to initiate any attack. The Sub Cooking System possessed something simr to Milk''s legendary skill, Scan. Aside from scanning the body parts for any damage or condition problems, it also disyed the nutritional value and how simr it was to certain groups of food that Lynn would be familiar with, be it on Earth or from other worlds.

    That way, Lynn could decide whether it was worthwhile to keep it for food purposes as a whole or if just a part of it would be sufficient.

    Simr to Jin, Lynn could have killed the scorpion and allowed the Sub System to analyse its corpse afterwards, but Lynn wished to y it safe whenever possible. (Less the ones she already knew, like the Boar Rat.) At the moment, the four w scorpion was not an immediate threat since the penguins were able to outrun it, so knowing the properties of the monster would have a significant advantage in a battle.

    Most importantly, they could try and damage its non edible parts and minimise the damage on the edible ones despite the fact that the Sub System could recreate it. However, the moreplete the food stock was, the more data the Sub System could y with rather thanpromise. (After all, it was a Sub System and not the main System. In terms of omnipotency, it was a few notches less capable.)

    "Sub System shall now list the conclusion of the Scan for the User. The four wed scorpion consists of Grade 3 meat, with its texture simr to Earth''s crab meat. Caution is advised against its tail, as it contains a paralysing venom. In the case of smaller targets, like the penguins, it may be directly life threatening."

    "Its ws are agile and strong enough to grab hold of a boar rat and hold it in ce for the scorpion to jab it''s opponent multiple times guaranteeing the paralysing venom to work to its fullest potential. Combat bikes stand no chance if hit." The Sub System had finalised its scan and exined the possible weakness that the monster would have was its thin carapace.

    In addition, the Sub System indicated that there was a subtle glow on its carapace and had identified it as the heart of the scorpion. It told Lynn that hitting there with a blow through the glowing part of the shell will no doubt kill the scorpion instantly.

    "If only Jin would be as patient as you are when ites to fighting monsters. You are practically Liu Bei, preparing your moves while he is Zhang Fei rushing in blindly to defeat his enemies." Qiu Yue sighed as she too heard the Sub System''s analysis of the four wed scorpion.

    "Thanks for the praise. But what am Ipared to you? You''re Zhu Ge Liang in the making or probably a mix of Cao Cao and him." Lynn replied back, and thatpliment made Qiu Yue rather happy.

    Lynn saw the battle against Qiu Yue''s mock battle with Moloch, but she felt Moloch had been holding back quite a fair bit. Still, it was also because of that mock battle what had made Lynn decide to work harder inmanding her penguins.

    The kitchen itself was a battlefield, and she was themander in chief in that warzone. It had been easy handling a few penguins, but as the numbers grew exponentiallyrge in less than a week of the restaurant''s opening due to the influx of demand, she had been forced to change her tactics to handle the kitchen as well.

    There was no way that Lynn could handle the high request load all by herself. Even a general could not control each and every one of his soldiers. Instead, she relied on a chain ofmand. That was when the penguin cultivator began to trust her penguins and taught them what she knew so that they could do the same.

    Lynn was apprehensive at first, but as she experimented with how the Sub System worked and observed how Jin used his minions to leave them to their own devices. Lynn also chose to let go and change her way of life ordingly. Like a penguin swimming along the currents of a raging ocean to get to their destination by any means possible, Lynn did the same.

    She did not know how Qiu Yue was handling things in the construction site, but Lynn knew that when shepared with people, it was to improve herself and not to be envious of other people''s sess.

    "My Queen, we are reaching the end of the drain tunnel soon and do not have much space to manoeuvre. We, your loyal peggies, will be engaging the monster soon." Kido informed her as the other penguins began to get into formation.

    "Go ahead, give the four wed scorpion some fishy surprise," Lynn said, and Qiu Yueughed at the terrible pun. With themand, the penguins simultaneously pressed a trigger button on their bikes, and the entire bike body including the seat shifted 180 degrees while the engine and wheels continued to stay in tack.

    Thus the bikes were moving ''in reverse'' with the penguins facing the scorpion, and that was when the internalpartments of the bike were revealed. "So, they are going easy to the scorpions." Lynn deduced when she saw what internalpartments were engaged.

    After sending the Sub System''s scan information to the penguins, they had deduced to use thebat bike''s grappling hooks to hold down the monster.

    "I shall join in too then," Lynn revealed her bike''s internalpartment and shot almost simultaneously with the penguins.

    It was time to reel in a big catch for the kitchen.

 Chapter 484 Rocket Boos

    <h4>Chapter 484 Rocket Boos</h4>

    The fast approaching grappling hooks were a shock to the four w scorpion, but it managed to react fast enough to snip away at one or two. Unfortunately, due to theck of lightning reflexes, the rest of the grappling hooks managed to pierce its carapace.

    When the hooks pierced and locked themselves onto the scorpion, it screamed in pain and stopped in its tracks. However, the penguins riding the bikes did not stop and instead, they elerated even more when they were pushed back by the inertia of the falling scorpion.

    They did what they can to continue dragging the scorpion along with them there was no way the scorpion could retaliate. On a separate note, Lynn was thankful that Hou Fei''s stabilisers were working exceptionally well or else the weight of the scorpion from the fall would pull the bikes towards it instead of away from it.

    At the same time, Lynn slowed her bike before shooting her grappling hooks. They managed to pierce through the tail and sent a mild electric shock that caused the scorpion to flinch.

    After making sure it was unable to move, the penguins in the pillon seat took the chance to run across the ropes of the hooks like tightrope acrobats and went straight for the scorpion''s main body with their weapons drawn. The first thing to stab was the joints of the ws so that it would not have any chance to retaliate back.

    "Qiu Yue! Go!" Lynn turned her head andmanded at her pillon passenger.

    "ARE YOU MAD?! You want me to climb on top of a motorcycle and jump across at I don''t know how many hundred kilometres per hour hoping I can kill it in one shot?!" Qiu Yue was scared shitless and did not want to follow the instructions.

    "It''s not even a hundred kilometres per hour! Don''t exaggerate!" Lynn leaned to one side and showed her the speedometer.

    "NOOOOO!!!" Qiu Yue denied seeing it at all.

    "Fine! Then hold tight!" Lynn sighed as she broke off the grappling hook and turned her elerator handle multiple times and pressed on the pedal to change into the highest gear.

    At that moment, she also lifted her bike handles with her cultivation (despite it being extremely heavy due to the numerous hiddenpartments it had) and voice activated her bike''spartment with her helmet that was wirelessly linked to her motorcycle.

    "Rocket Boost!"

    "ROCKET WHAT?!" Qiu Yue managed to catch that in time but had no opportunity to do anything about a sudden nitro boost from the back turning into a dual rocket booster that provided them with the lift they needed to fly momentarily. While in the air, she turned herbat bike sidewards and summoned a Ninja Yari (Spear).

    "Spear Arts! Penguin Beak Pierce!" Lynn shouted the name of her Combat Art, and she threw the spear right above the scorpion''s carapace. The spear had the silhouette of a penguin diving into the scorpion, and as it hit, brownish yellow blood spilt all over the area before it was continuously dragged by the penguins.

    Meanwhile, Qiu Yue was screaming her lungs out in her helmet (thankfully the anti acoustic inscription from the inside covered it) as Lynn skilfully returned on her bike with a slide while running the elerator on so that she would be moving forward the moment she found her bnce on her bike. (Else, she would be hit by the scorpion body.)

    The rest of the penguins slowed down their advance as they were reaching near the end of the tunnel while Lynn continued to speed up towards it. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING LYNN!?! YOU WANT TO CRASH?!" Qiu Yue did not know whether to continue on this adventure with Lynn or teleport back.

    Lynn smirked within her helmet as thebat bike stopped within centimetres from the dead end of the drain tunnel, but the inertia caused Qiu Yue to knock her head on the wall (a little too hard).

    "Oops. Hehe!" Lynn chuckled as she managed to bnce herself.

    "HE HE MY ASS!" Qiu Yue took out her helmet, ced her hands on Lynn''s shoulder and squeezed it tightly. (Powered with some chi as well) Lynn shrunk her body inwards as she felt the pain vibrating through her entire body, and Qiu Yue was not letting go a single bit. She was going to let out ever inch of fear she had umted and passed it into this chef''s body.

    "Owowowowow!! Okayyyy, I''m sorry!!!" Lynn apologised for scaring herpanion as sheughed in pain and fell from herbat bike. Qiu Yue stopped with the rough treatment, but as she still felt unsatisfied by her retribution, so she proceeded to lift Lynn''s shirt a little and began tickling at her waist level.

    Lynn immediately squirmed and cried for help from the penguins. (Although they refused to enter, knowing too well not to get involved in a girl''s fight.)

    The penguins on the sidelines enjoyed the sideshow very much until the four wed scorpion, which was supposed to be dead, suddenly shot one of its ws towards Qiu Yue and Lynn at a frightening speed. There was no time for the two girls who were ying around to react ordingly to the monster''s strike.

    Fortunately, someone else did something at the same time. A spear flew down from above the crevice of the drained tunnel and stabbed through the four wed scorpion''s carapace and forced it to stop before it managed to touch either of the two girls.

    "Lady Lynn, it was the right choice to pierce the heart of the four wed scorpion, but there is one feature of it, you could not have known about it. Especially since youe from another world." A voice boomed from above and echoed throughout the drain tunnel. A silhouette jumped down from the crevice to pick up its spear.

    "The four wed scorpion has the unique trait of being able to protect its heart, by shifting it to the left underyers of muscle when it senses danger. It is possible to tell when it does so if you paid sufficient attention to it. You should have seen how the glow was slightly faint when you were aiming your stab, right?" The silhouette turned out to be a penguin.

    "Elder Perate!" Kido was delighted to see that their most seasoned hunter was alive and well.

    "Elder Perate! Thank you for saving our lives. I shall remember your guidance and do better next time." Lynn stood up and bowed gracefully for this timely rescue.

    "Heh, you are jesting! I should be the one to thank you for keeping our penguin vige alive. Just make sure not to get deceived by its feint of ying dead in the future. One careless moment may turn the predator into its prey''s next meal." Elder Perate said as it swirled its spear to remove the yellowish bloodstain.

    "Be that as it may, you are not here by chance. Am I correct in assuming the penguin vigers asked you to find Chieftain Skitter or at the very least, recover the Totem of Atem from him?" Elder Perate wondered, and the penguins and Lynn nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

    "In that case, you''vee at the right time. We can use some extra help." Elder Perate said and told them to follow him as he led the way to their chieftain.

    "As always, our genius was right on the mark." Elder Perate said as he recounted how the Elder Colwaski had broken his amulet into various pieces and ced it along the path of the cathedral hoping someone would notice it and follow their trail.

    "You were betting that I would notice it?" Lynn asked, and the elder penguinughed heartily.

    "Yes, indeed. With the Elder Council and the chieftain going missing, the vigers would eventually call upon someone who has the ability to find them. And who may be better suited than our benefactor?" Eldar Perate recounted Colwalski''s analysis and Kido agreed with him.

    "Indeed. Even us penguins who are skilled enough to conduct searches, without finding anyone within a day, we woulde to exactly that conclusion. The giants are something we cannot underestimate. For the first time, we managed to have a poption increase and many of us do not relish the idea to fight against the giants blindly. You, however, have provided us with the power to ensure our survival." Kido stated how Lynn had enabled the fights to be more manageable despite the previous encounter.

    "Trust me, I have much to learn as well." Lynn grabbed onto Qiu Yue''s arm and pointed her to the other penguins. "If you require a tactician, you probably should ask her instead."

    "Thanks, but I feel you are pretty good at leading the penguins. I am happy for the praise, but tactics also require great team leaders and capable members willing to execute it. " Qiu Yue shrugged at the possibility of her being Jin''s tactician even though there were rumours that Jin recruited her mainly for her skill tomand armies and organising the building of his city.

    The four wed scorpion was officially dead and the Sub System, who apologised to Lynn for the gross oversight, had begun to teleport to freezer. Unlike Jin, Lynn''s killing of monsters allowed the Sub System to replicate the body for consumption after an in depth analysis, much like the counterfeiter machine.

    However, that does not mean catching or killing the same monster again would not be beneficial for Lynn. The increase in the number of catches allowed the Sub System to analyse the monsters and allowed it to pick and recreate the DNA code.

    Thus, it provided the Sub System with the opportunity to replicate the exact same monster with lesser defects, and potentially a tastier food material for Lynn to utilise.

    -------

    Thebat bikes were kept by the Sub System, and the scouting party jumped out of the drain via the crevice as they followed Elder Perate to where the Chieftain was located. The teamter realised that Elder Perate had seen theming out from the cathedral with the gifts that Lynn had bestowed them when she visited the vige.

    "d to know the binocrs came in handy." Lynn smiled, and Elder Perate led them into an abandoned house through a broken sill of the main door. That was when the others managed to judge the kind of era the past upants had been living, and it was probably the early Middle Ages.

    Qiu Yue could make out an old looking fire stove at the centre of the house which had a pit designed for wood or charcoal to be burnt and a pot hanging from the top. Along with the skeletons of the fish and dried up rotten fruits as well as the clothes that were hung up on the ceilings, those items had confirmed her suspicions.

    It was also at the centre of the house that they saw the rest of the elder council who were right beside Chieftain Skitter.

    "Oh, Lady Lynn! Kido! My Warriors! And good day to you, Missбн Friend of Lynn''s I presume!" Chieftain Skitter greeted them from afar as they converged together to meet up.

    "Chieftain Skitter, it''s good to see that you are still safe. Why did you not inform the vige people that you will be away longer from the regr trip to the Altar of Giants? A heads up would not make them worry too much." Lynn said, and the rest of the elder councilughed before they apologised to them.

    "Lady Lynn. It''s because of this. I cannot reveal much to the vige people of this particr secret." Chieftain showed her the Totem of Atem, and it seemed like it was breaking apart. "You see, there once lived an oversized hamster that was somehow not affected by the giantism virus like those monsters you encountered, allowing him to retain his intelligence."

    "He was the one who created this Totem of Atem and requested me to return in ten years time to exchange it with him. Unfortunately, we are unaware of the whereabouts of the Great Hamatarou." ording to Skitter, Hamatarou was also the one who instructed them to visit the Altar of Giants to renew the blessing for the Totem of Atem, and with this year being the tenth year mark, Skitter had promised to return here.

    "We did not mean to overstay our visit with our limited resources, so Colwaksi purposely ced the broken pieces of his amulet as a trail in case we were long overdue." Chief Skitter acknowledged that they had been running out of rations if not for this fortuitous encounter with Lynn.

    "I keep telling that stupid chief to stop being so optimistic. Ten years is a long time. Hamatarou could have died or even worse, killed and eaten." Elder Colwaski reiterated. "Besides, for us to be able to live and break away from the Giantism Virus for ten years is already a blessing. We can only hope our new younglings can naturally break out from it too."

    "You knowбнwe can A) attempt to find this Hamatarou for you or B) fix this Totem of Atom-" Qiu Yue casually gave the standard few suggestions but before she could finish...

    "ATEM!" The red panda cultivator was then interrupted by every penguin and Lynn in the vicinity which they all simultaneouslyughed until they felt some rumbling noise from afar.

 Chapter 485 Hired Killer

    <h4>Chapter 485 Hired Killer</h4>

    Seeing that there was not much for them to do, Ren Wei breathed out a sigh of relief. As much as he was prepared to press the trigger to assist Jin, he was only human and was afraid of the repercussions of going against multiple triads without official police backing.

    Gupta and Abdul were also relieved that there was no need for any intervention. Should the mobs enter the apartment building to search for them, it was bound to cause unnecessary trouble and damage to the residents here too.

    Overseeing the additional negotiation and discussion after the surprising death of De Tian, the police trio continued to keep vignt and kept their Captain informed about this unforeseen turn of events.

    "Good thing Mao had the foresight to spread the police force just in case. Without De Tian, we should have no problems getting most of the Ruby Ratsckeys off the street." Abdul praised Captain Mao after thetter revealed that they were ready to intercept the dispersing gangsters.

    "Old Mao knows what he''s doing. He had been themanding leader against various riots before." Ren Wei said as he continued to watch out for possible threats that would try to deal a blow to a potentially unsuspecting Jin.

    He recalled a case where he was supposed to guard a VIP, but the assants had taken advantage of the chaos they incited to shoot the VIP. It had been a painful mistake in Ren Wei''s career, and he promised himself never to make the same mistake. His primary focus was on the rooftops, especially the area''s he would choose as a sniper himself.

    "Your intuition is as potent as always. Bearing east. Near the Wacdonald''s roof." Gupta pointed out as a potential assassin he spotted and began to move away from the window to give Ren Wei some space to move into position since the target was slightly out of the range from where he was lying on the coffee table.

    "Good thing these Triad Bosses never learn not to repeat the same trick, I guess!" Ren Wei grumbled as he rolled himself towards Gupta instead of standing up. He had already more or less adjusted his sights. He knew he might only have mere seconds before the assassin takes his first shot. Abdul assisted by pushing the coffee table to the side too so his sniper rifle would have better stability too.

    "One shot?" Gupta smirked, and the other two immediately understood what he meant as they joined his smirk.

    "Five," Abdul said.

    "Ten" Ren Wei replied as he took a deep breath in, exhaled and adjusted his sights. His Musket Muskrat cultivation shone brightly within the room, not caring for anything else as Ren Wei wanted to have just one shot. He breathed in once more and squeezed his trigger halfway.

    *BAM*

    Right when the assassin heard that familiar sound, he tried to dodge instinctively along with his rifle, but it was toote. The shot went through his neck, and his body was pushed back with the impact of the bullet. Blood sttered all over the roof of Wacdonalds.

    Ren Wei had used a technique to dy the sound of the impact, providing a feint to the enemies. Even though it was just a few microsecondster, it made a huge difference for his target.

    "Damn it!" Abdul said as he searched his pocket for some spare change and ced it on the coffee table and it was more than ten Yuan. He looked at the owner who was still terrified of the sound of the rifle and tapped his shoulders.

    "Thank you for your service to the police, Sir. Buy yourself some beer to calm your nerves." Abdul said as he pointed the hefty amount of change on the table. "Just consider this a friendly thank you for being an honest citizen. Hope we did not mess up the ce that much."

    Afterwards, he aided Gupta to clear the ce a little while Ren Wei was squatting on the balcony and checking through his spotting scope if there were any other possible assants in the area.

    "Seems clear." Ren Wei thought to himself as he and the rest went to Wacdonalds to check on the dead assassin sniper. The lifeless body was still there indicating that the sniper most likely had been working solo.

    "Let''s go, guys, we need to catch some bad guys to earn our paycheck." Ren Wei confirmed the body, and they went ahead to assist the rest of Tiangong District police to catch the Ruby Rats.

    -------

    Previously when they were on standby due to the Central Police''s orders to not interfere, Captain Mao had given into Detective Xue Ping''s and Lee An''s orders to arm the policemen in riot gear.

    They reasoned that the Central Police''s orders were simply ''not to interfere'' and allowed the fight to be spread out of the designated area. It did not mean that they could not do anything if those gangsters were out of the designated shopping district. Thus, Captain Mao had allowed all the police to suit up and wait for further instructions.

    Thus as soon as Ren Wei''s group had reported the situation where the Ruby Rats were running out of the district, the police had already manned their police checkpoints at every exit near Tiangong Shopping District even though they were mostly guarded by the veteran gangsters of various Triads.

    In the subsequent hour, Captain Mao had ordered the search and capture of any gangsters that were involved in the terrorism of Tiangong Shopping District, including those gangsters who were merely securing the area.

    All were allowed to use lethal force, and their improved weapons were no joke. Each of them was equipped with at least Grade 3 defensive inscriptions on their riot armour and helmets while their guns had the capability to shoot specialised rubber bullets that inflicted as much pain as standard issued bullets (since the gangsters were all mainly cultivators, they would survive from it).

    Tear gas was also deployed, and the policemen who had trained in Jin''s dungeons indeed fared better than most of the gangsters. Granted the gangsters were already injured and tired out from the fight against Jin and the Three Eyed Tiger Triad. Many openly surrendered while others fought to the bitter end until they were brutally captured by the police.

    Even the Triad Bosses were not just given a free ticket to pass, but Chen Xun''sbat driving allowed him to escape despite having several police riders'' attempt to chase after him. The detectives asked for more reinforcement to chase after them, but Captain Mao told them to close an eye and focus more on the goons.

    As much as they despised that order, they byed their burning desire and focused on the small fries. The detectives cursed knowing that even if they caught the Triad Bosses, it would do no good since they practically had police immunity due to their underworld influence and the Royal Zodiac''s backing. That is unless there was a very valid reason to mp them down, such as drugs. Ironically, drugs and human trafficking were considered more severe crimes which even the Royal Zodiac ns frowned over.

    -------

    Soon after, Detective Xue Ping and Lee An went to the ''terror'' scene and saw the sad state of Tiangong Shopping District. While it might be just a quaint shopping district which managed to pick up some ck due to the rise of a particr dungeon supplier store, this destruction would practically disable the operations in this ce.

    "Boss Jin! I am happy that you are still safe and sound just as the reports had stated." Xue Ping greeted Jin who was outside his store apologising for the trouble brought to all the customers that were sheltered in his shop.

    The customers, on the other hand, were grateful for the Dungeon Supplier''s aid. Mostly they were surprised thinking that he was a goner when he had decided to go out to protect them. While they were not there to witness his heroism, the injured Three Eyed Tigers were apparently a very talkative bunch and had spread the exploits of Jin to them.

    To make it worse, some had even captured Jin on video, killing De Tian with just one blow and uploading it into the. The System argued that while it could go into the and remove the clip, it would be better if Jin had more exposure especially when the Shopping District had suffered a substantial blow.

    "It would have been worse if Ku Wai and his men had not been here with me. Please do not arrest them. They are not the bad guys." Jin asked and Xue Pingughed.

    "They are still the bad guys, just less bad than others. Our resources are limited, so we will prioritise capturing the big bad ones." Xue Ping agreed, and Ku Wai smirked at that particrment.

    It was Ya Bai, the Triad Boss for the Three Eyed Tigers who ordered the group to stay with Jin as he had the foresight to predict what would potentially happen if they tried to escape. Besides, it was their princess who ordered to protect the dungeon supplier.

    "Boss Jin! Thank goodness you survived!" Lai Fu pped Jin on his back so hard that he nearly fell forward. Taking a look at Tiangong Shopping District, he could only sigh heavily. He had been there for many years, but this was the worst thing to ever happen to it. Even the Pachinko Incident seemed like a joke inparison.

    "Let''s just be thankful for our lives have been spared. Our stores may not be intact, but we can always rebuild them." He Rong chimed in as he heard from the injured Three Eyed Tiger members the story how the Ruby Rat Triad Boss wanted to buy up the whole ce cheap.

    "You are right. Only I doubt our insurance will be sufficient to cover this kind of damage." Si Fang, the owner of Lele cafиж was devastated, seeing what little remained of his cafиж after the whole affair.

    "You may not have to worry about that, Jin had already bought the whole ce up. Given his status, you can be assured that they will pay out what you are owed." Ya Bai reassured them. Though the owners did not know his true identity as he looked just like a nobody from the streets, they were more excited by the fact that Jin had bought the entire ce.

    "Yeahбнtechnically, I already paid the down payment for this ceбн" Jin did not care to exin how he got it but assured the owners that everything was going to be fine. "One thing is for sure, you do not have to worry about the state of your stores. Get the insurance money, rip thosepanies back for ripping your money." Jin teased them a bit, and the rest of the store owners who were sheltered in Jin''s store was given the same assurance as well.

    "Hmm, you did kill De Tian, and you seemed to have some form of backing to buy the whole ce down to prevent the Triad Bosses to buy this ceбн We will trust you for now." Si Fang, who was also the Tiangong shoppingmittee lead, aided Jin to calm the masses down and told them to trust the dungeon supplier.

    Besides, he was also the one who had supported them to improve their business indirectly and had now be theirndlord. They decided to trust him and return home for now. Meanwhile, Jin had other agendas since he now possessed the entire Shopping District for himself.

    But first, he had to follow detective Xue Ping and Lee An back to the police station for a full statement. "Si Fang, tell the owners not to do any reconstruction workбнI have something in mind that might prove to be a better solution." Jin asked, and Si Fang promised he would contact the rest to inform them of their newndlord''s decision.

 Chapter 486 Stores Coffers

    <h4>Chapter 486 Store''s Coffers</h4>

    It was a long haul to the police station, and most of them could not believe it when they heard the entire story from Jin. Ku Wai and Ya Bai were also ''invited'' to the police station for interrogation butpared to Jin, they left much earlier.

    "The records and videos from the Three Eyed Tigers matched with what you said. Now as for that solidified dan tian you are holding, are you willing to give it up to the police?" Detective Lee An asked, and Jin shook his head. "It is rightfully mine to keep since he had the audacity to attack me against all warning and paid the price in my territory."

    "Fair enough, we won''t pursue that, but I am just warning you that other people mighte after it. Though thews are on your side, stating that those backing him up can''t just demand it back, perhaps expect them to at least try to buy it off you." Lee An said as he packed his files up.

    "However knowing you, I doubt that you will let go of it that easily, so it should be only a matter of time until they try to acquire it by other means. It just might be easier if you put it in our hands for safekeeping." Lee An told Jin who gave him a suspicious look.

    "Sir, it is not that I do not believe in you. I do not believe in the ''impartiality'' of the justice system. For it to be controlled and sponsored by various of the ns, I can''t trust each and every one of your colleagues to be as honest as you or your wife. Some are bound to have their own agenda, and I don''t look forward to ever face a revenge seeking De Tian ." Jin replied as he recalled the vengeful look on Ong''s face which Lee An could only sigh at that response.

    "I cannot fault you for that after what has happened today. We''ve tried our best to clear up the aftermath though. Hahaha." Lee Anughed bitterly and understood where Jin wasing from. How was he supposed to exin to Jin, that the orders from Central HQ had practically ordered them to allow that havoc to happen.

    "I''m d the weapons and armours you got from me came in handy. Though I sold it to you guys in the hopes of preventing just what had happened today... In any case, I understand there were some things that you could not control, in the end, you did fulfil your part of our contract. For that, I am grateful." Jin bowed slightly and asked about the victims that were killed during the ''terror'' attack.

    "Captain Mao is currently trying to elerate the process for those victims to get the most basic resurrection. There will be some loss in cultivation, a bit of memory loss but hey, at least they wille back to life free of charge as guaranteed by the government." Lee An answered, and Jin felt more than relieved. After filling in some additional information, Lee An was done processing Jin''s statement and finally let him off.

    "Oh, and eh help me thank Ren Wei for the assist. Ask him to find me the next time he visits my store. I owe him a brand new weapon customisation voucher." Jin said before he left the police station.

    He was aware that the sudden sniper fire as the Ruby Rats dispersed came from Ren Wei since Jin caught a glimpse of his cultivation with his Pandaromic Eyes. In fact, Jin was prepared that there could be an assassin waiting for him as soon as the destruction of the district started, but he couldn''t know when he would strike.

    Nothing happened during his fight with Ong. Neither did he intervene in Jin''s duel against De Tian. Was he waiting for the Triad Bosses to leave? Or was he waiting for Jin''s guard to drop after everything was over for the moment the dungeon supplier would leave his back wide open?

    All he knew was that the assassin was biding his time to take the shot, which was why Ren Wei managed to kill him before he could make a move. Now Jin could only hope that some kind of connection would appear who the assassin worked for. (He believed it was from one of the Triad Bosses since it was way too convenient and too weak to be a Banned Emperor assassin.) But chances were slim to know the connection, and Jin just left it as it is.

    "Haha, you knew? I guess Ren Wei can''t im to have been your secret guardian angel then. I will make sure to pass your thanks to him." Lee An acknowledged and bid Jin goodbye.

    ------------

    "So, System. What shall we do with the new plot ofnd? You know I actually wanted to create one more dungeon instance before Christmas, but with all that is happening, I don''t know whether it is wise to do that anymore." Jin asked as he called for a taxi.

    "User does not have sufficient cash to renovate the Tiangong Shopping District, nor does he have any budget to make any new dungeon instances." The System stated, and Jin frowned at his phone..

    "Then what am I supposed to do? Wait for craploads of money to drop from the sky?" Jin questioned sarcastically. The System took a moment to connect Moloch into the secured telmunication channel.

    "Oh Boss? I hear you want to earn a quick buck? Why not just do what you did to us? Just invade some of the dungeons from the Dungeon World. With your current power, you may even solo clear those mid-ranked ones."

    "Funny, as I recall after I invaded you guys, you provided me with a new set of problems. The kind which only increased my daily spendings instead of alleviating them." Jin remarked, and Molochughed at that prospect.

    "Oh,e on. You should know that it requires spending money to make back even more money. Can you imagine the ie from owning a whole city?" Moloch asked via the channel.

    "Heh, but are we guaranteed to make that much money? Even if we offer unique products and services, it won''t help us, if no onees to us. Besides, even afterpleting the city, we are bound to still have a lot of cost for any future projects or just trying to pay for the upkeep of our buildings." Jin replied as he dreaded remembering the expenses on that ambitious project.

    "There, there. I admit it might not earn sufficiently for the first few years to cover the costs we incurred. And as unfortunate as it seems, we are also not in any major trading routes nor are we famous in any way as of yet. King Baal did ce us in a very secluded ce." Moloch didn''t deny the facts.

    "But I am too surprised an ''adventurer'' came to invade us at that point in time. Little did we know it would change our lives drastically."

    "Enough of the bootlicking. So which dungeon do you suggest to invade?" Jin queried as he saw his taxiing forth to pick him up,

    "I have several in my mind, but I need to double check with some of my sources first to verify. Give me a day or two to see if it''s alright."

    "User, you can also have Hungry Hippo Cultivator Xiong Da issue out the threats that you made previously to the Triad Bosses." The System advised.

    "What threats?" Jin could not exactly figure what it was that he said since it was in spite of a moment. The System reminded him that he threatened the triad bosses to send them the repair bills for the damage incurred.

    "While I''d like to do that and am probably in the position to do so, I''m sure it would just infuriate them even further. I''ve had enough of them for a lifetime. Who knows they might use this as an excuse to incite some schemes that I''ve yet to foresee. Let''s just wait for them to approach me. It seems they want to do business with me. I can always just scam them for all they are worth then the timees."

    "User''s worries may be valid, but System is unwilling to spare any extra cash until User finds some by himself."

    "That plot ofnd really did dip into our coffers, huh?" Jin wondered if that move was really the best in hindsight. He had some feelings of buyers regret, yet it was toote for him to return his purchase.

    "Yes, after the acquisition of Tiangong Shopping District, the System estimates that it has only two months worth of budget to maintain operating costs."

    "Yea, I guess everything we''ve been doing so far, are long term ns. We might need to focus a bit on short term profits."

    "Alternatively, you can get your monsters to work for some of the dungeon fortresses. Sometimes, they are hiring extra monsters to defend their ce." Moloch suggested, and Jin became very curious with this scheme asking him to borate.

    "If you think of the dungeons in our world as a store like your own, it should not surprise you that some dungeons are more popr than others. The more adventurerse to try and conquer a dungeon, the more losses on our side."

    "For us monsters, we are granted resurrection from the Dungeon Core after a certain amount of time passes. There is a limit of how many monsters can be resurrected at the same time, before the next batch. Since we don''t have a System who can just use copies of ourselves, it isn''t that rare that adventurers are ying monsters faster than we can resurrect."

    "So in cases where a dungeon''s monster resurrection timer can''t keep up with the number of adventurers, that is when monsters for hiree in. This concept also allows those monsters who lost their dungeon cores to find a new ce or those monsters living in less popr dungeons to get subcontracted."

    "While umon, certain adventurers do pick up these jobs and fight against their fellow adventurers. Eventually, they revive in their churches like any other adventures, but since in the eyes of the dungeon world, they had ''sinned'' for siding with the monsters it takes a lot longer." Moloch exined.

    "Why would other monsters from lesser known dungeons be subcontracted out? Won''t it leave their dungeon vulnerable?" Jin questioned the validity of such a method.

    "Sometimes, there are some dungeons that don''t have a single adventurer at all. There may be a number of reasons for that. For example, they could be in a ce that''s hard to reach, making it undesirable for adventures to get there; Sounds stupid and defied the meaning of adventuring but yeah."

    "Or there may be a more popr dungeon near them. It may sound all fine and dandy, but the monsters do have quotas to hit. While we do get resources for protecting the dungeon core, it actually requires adventurers to thrive. It''s something simr to your System, the dungeon core will issue out quests periodically to those monsters."

    "Eh?!" Jin could not understand why it would do that.

    "User, the Dungeon Cores utilise a simr concept as what System wished to use to trick User to kill humans permanently. However, instead of the entire Souls or Magic, the dungeon core absorbs just a part of them. In gaming terms, User can perceive them as experience points being taken away." The System interjected.

    "Ahhhh. Okay, so the Dungeon Core feeds on these things too."

    "Yeap, so when the monsters get subcontracted, the essence earnt will be taken and converted into physical vials which the subcontracted monsters can send back to their dungeons. And on top of that, dungeon dors which the dungeon core also epts as part of the resources." Moloch added.

    "But won''t the money be rather pitiful? Sounds like a part time job." Jin asked and Molochughed.

    "If you work for a top tier dungeons, part time work can pay up to a few thousand dungeons dors per raid. The longer you survive, the more cash you might earn."

    "Why am I struggling to earn yuan when I can go the dungeon world and earn so much moreбн" Jin sighed to himself.

    "Speaking of that, you can always hire monsters for work from the Dungeon World if you need extra workers or should we get invaded. Especially when Qiu Yue has the power to enact provisional contracts to monsters." Moloch remarked.

    "I could do that too since I am part of the owner of this dungeon core. That way, the System won''t have to worry about food, housing, and even paying for Souls since the monsters generally regenerate after being killed in the Dungeon World."

    "The only caveat would be that we would have to wait for them to travel from their Dungeon Core back to us. Still, it might potentially save us some money in the future." Moloch, who was still in the chat said.

    "Hmm, hiring monsters will be a secondary priority right now." Jin sent his thoughts while lying dead at the back seat of the taxi.

    "Yea, but as I said, the dungeon core will provide the monsters with their daily rations and stuff. We can also sell such food to adventurers and monsters, those that are already growing in the agriculture sector... When the city is fully open." Moloch replied.

    "That is WHEN the city opens. Right now, we need some major short term recovery. With the shopping town district in ruins, people probably will have second thoughtsing to visit us. I am guessing revenue will drop to less than half of what we''ve earned unless we get the shopping town up and running properly."

    "How are we going to do that? The city is still barely defensible from any attacks and not even up and running. If we stop construction, we might be overdue for an attack when the dungeon core''s shield drops. Also, we just concluded a war, and from the look of things, we might jump into another soon. That is more expenses, not profit." Moloch questioned Jin since he was just a store owner with no real financial backing though many people thought he had. Even the System''s coffers would go dry at some point.

    "You know you did say something about subcontracting and that we just concluded a war. I may have an idea instead of random dungeon runs. But keep me informed of those once you contacted your buddies." Jin said to Moloch as the taxi driver stopped near the police checkpoint that barred people from entering the ruined Tiangong shopping district.

    "You thinking of putting a dungeon store in the Goblin World?!?" Moloch could roughly guessed his idea but Jin did not reply a single word back. It was as if he was telling Moloch to sit back and watch him unveil his idea.

    "Boy, this is the closest I can get you. Apparently, there was some fight that had happened here, and the police condoned the area." The driver spoke out.

    "No worries, this is far enough. Thank you, Shifu!" Jin said as he got out of the taxi and personally passed the checkpoint since he was one of the store owners. However, the Tiangong District police were puzzled why he would return to his store at such ate timing.

    Because a businessman got to continue to sell things or else, he had nothing to eat.

 Chapter 487 Horned Chickens

    <h4>Chapter 487 Horned Chickens</h4>

    The rumbling did not stop, and with each passing second, it felt more and more like it was the prelude to an earthquake. Lynn and Qiu Yue wanted to teleport the rest of the penguins back to their world (of course, to the temporary holding area previously allocated for the Farm Rats.)

    Still, the Chieftain insisted on staying in this room no matter what was toe until the saviour of his vige were to appear. "Don''t be stupid, Chief!" Elder Perate berated him as he could feel that the rumbling was approaching closer.

    Suddenly, the gigantic wooden door was smashed open with such a force that it nearly made the whole team fly backwards and into the bed of charcoal and burnt wood. At the same time, arge furry figure appeared as it rolled into the house with two Horned Chicken double its size chasing behind.

    "Sir HAMATAROU!" Chieftain Skitter shouted even though the others figured that it was in vain. Surprisingly despite the oversized hamster being four times their size managed to hear him.

    "Skitter! You did arrive as promised! Your timing is great!" Hamatarou spoke as it skilfully evaded the horned chicken''s charge by rolling towards the cooking area. "Don''t worry! It''s only two of them that noticed my presence!"

    "I do not think that is the point!" Qiu Yue argued while Hamatarou took out a simr looking totem that had been hidden in his fur. He pointed it towards the two horned chickens and within an instant, the feathered horned birds gradually shrunk down to the size of the four wed scorpion.

    "Skitter! Deal with it, while I close this door before any more of those cursed birds appear in front of us. By the way, you should hurry. The shrinking is only temporary." Hamatarou turned the totem towards itself and grew half asrge as the size of the door before proceeding to close it.

    Meanwhile, the horned chickens became terrified of the newly transformed giant attempting to retreat. Too bad, Hamatarou had been able to close it in time, and the chickens were stuck with their prey turned predator.

    "You are more than enough to kill it with that size!" Qiu Yueined some more, but at that moment, Hamatarou jumped up and returned to his original size. Only now, the hamster jumped with a body enhanced ability and grabbed hold onto the edge of an open cab to watch the fight from afar.

    "Hmph! Sir Hamatarou is testing us! Colwaski, Perate. Time to show our saviour that we are capable of surviving this trial!" The Penguin Chieftain roused the battle morale up among the penguins as they were going to fight a monster they had continuously been avoiding in the past. "Lady Lynn! If you could, please handle the other one with your friend."

    "Qiu Yue, let''s get going! Kido and the rest, assist your chieftain and elders. We will kill it if possible, else distract it until you guys kill yours." Lynnmanded, and Skitter was grateful for her enthusiasm.

    "Let''s separate the two horned chickens so they will not be distracted by each other''s prey!" Qiu Yue suggested as she took out her mobile phone. Some clickster, she held onto her newly purchased RPG rocketuncher. The Empire Building Sub System had given Qiu Yue the ability to buy almost anything from Jin''s armoury stocks as well as the ck market on the go. (It gave her an advantage against Jin who needed to go into the stores to buy them.)

    "I agree!" Lynn summoned herbat bike out as well as an ornated chest and told Qiu Yue to get on the bike before firing at one of horned chicken. Qiu Yue instinctively obliged and fired her rocket propelled grenade at the horned chicken, only to realise she did not have a helmet on with her. But the moment the red panda cultivator shot the RPG rocket, Lynn had already started the engines up and began to move. Qiu Yue was in such distress that she let go of her new toy (despite it being spent) and grabbed onto Lynn tightly.

    "RIDE CAREFULLLY!!" Qiu Yue shrieked as she had one hand grabbed on Lynn''s chest and the other on her waist. The horned chicken only noticed the unknown projectile when the rocket hit it. While painful, it was sufficient to destroy it, but more than enough to piss it off. The horned chicken saw Lynn running away from it and figured that insect sized being was the one that inflicted damage to it. Thus, it began to divert away from the penguins and moved to chase after the other.

    "I see, so Skitter found himself some new allies too. Interesting."

    Hamatarou thought as he walked around the open cab and partook on the food that was left there. (His secret stash) The overgrown hamster wasn''t too worried about the time limit since the shrinking would be effective for around half an hour, and Skitter and his penguins appeared more than capable of handling it. Hamatarou''s thought was more about those new allies. He had never before seen such creatures, nor the weapons they seemed to wield.

    Meanwhile, with one less horned chicken currently chasing after Lynn, the penguins felt slightly relieved, though still on edge against the impending disaster they had to fight.

    "Kido, Perate. Aim for its eyes when it pecks down. Skitter, you are ''unfortunately'', the juiciest among us. You will have to be bait. The rest of you guyse with me after you pick up the equipment, we are going for its legs!" Colwaski, their Elder Geniusmanded the group.

    Apparently, the ornated chest was filled with the familiar weapons that the penguins had used in the service of Lynn. Smoke bombs, caltrops, shurikens, grappling hooks and several ninja scrolls were waiting in that chest. All the penguins instinctively knew what to take from that chest while Colswaki personally handed the more specialised ones to certain penguins.

    "You sure this is not revenge, Colswaki?" Chieftain Skitter asked sheepishly, and Colwaski shrugged its shoulders as he threw two ninja scroll to his boss. "Sand Drift Scroll and Fire Breathing Scroll!" Colwaski shouted and the moment Skitter picked up the two scrolls, he activated the Sand Drift Scroll immediately.

    Chieftain Skitter murmured a short quick chain of chants, and the scroll unwrapped itself, causing the long piece of paper to turn into a pile of moving sand which increased the mobility of the Chieftain. Next, he undid the seal on the Fire Breathing Scroll, but instead of chants, Skitter seeminglypressed the scroll, and like a magic trick, it disappeared.

    Therge pile of sand drifting did attract the remaining horned chicken attention, and it proceeded to catch the juicy fat penguin that was gliding on the sand. However, as it tried to peck it, Skitter managed to manoverure on the sand fast enough to evade the attacks while moving the chicken into position as ordered by Elder Colswaki so that Kido and Elder Perate could simultaneously blind the chicken.

    In the meantime, Qiu Yue wasining how selfish the hamster was despite Skitter''s insistence of it being a saviour. "If it''s really a saviour! Then why doesn''t it just make the penguins big so they can kill the chicken easily!"

    "If every mentor thinks that way, men would probably starve for not learning how to fish," Lynn replied as she noticed the horned chicken was moving closer at a much faster speed. Its beak was close to the ground as if it was ready to snap at them any moment when it had the chance.

    "Any great ideas, Ms Tactictian?" Lynn asked, and indeed Qiu Yue did have one trick under her sleeve.

    "If you can get us under the horned chicken or at least close enough, I might be able to do something about it. Just trust me on this."?Qiu Yue offered, but Lynn preferred to have an exnation rather than being kept in the dark.

    "Man, you are not fun at all! Let me be cool once in a while" Qiu Yue replied.

    "Save it for Jin, not me. So what''s the n?" Lynn questioned as she drifted her bike so that she can turn and ride towards the chicken.

    "I bought some C4 explosives. As long as we are close enough, I can throw the C4s, it should deal some damage, probably at least cripple it." Qiu Yue replied.

    "That''s a rather boring n. I was expecting more excitement from you." Lynnmented as she elerated herself towards the chicken. The chicken was a bit confused why its prey decided toe towards it, but nevertheless quite happy, that the snack decided to deliver itself into its beak.

    "You can''t me me for not being able to do anything else than holding on to your waist! Besides! I am already risking myself by throwing the bundle of C4 onto that chic- KYAAA~!" Qiu Yue stopped her exnation as Lynn was utilising her rocket boost.

    "Don''t throw, just drop it! I''ll give you the signal." Lynn instructed Qiu Yue as she did not want to take the chance of the chicken pecking it or squashing them just because Qiu Yue needed Lynn to ride slower so that she could throw it.

    "FINE!!!!" Qiu Yue prepared the bundle of C4 explosives in one hand, and the other was grabbing on to Lynn with the remote detonator. The penguin cultivator noticed how flimsy Qiu Yue''s grip was and seized the detonator from Qiu Yue when she kept hitting her with it, asking her to take it. Thus, allowing the red panda cultivator to grab onto Lynn''s waist rather tightly.

    "NOW!!!" Lynn shouted as she zoomed passed the horned chicken''s legs and Qiu Yue did what wasmanded. The Red Panda Cultivator somehow managed to drop it on the top of the chicken''s feet before holding onto Lynn as she moved off at top speed.

    The chicken had tried to peck them but had not gotten anything, as it never predicted its prey to have the ability to elerate. It had stopped and looked confused at where its prey had gone. Lynn took that opportunity to hit on the detonator the second they were at least dozens of metres away from it.

    "BABOOOOM*

    A loud explosion ensued following the detonation, and Lynn even had trouble controlling her bike despite having activating her stabilisers when the shockwave came. "What kind of C4 was that?!!" Lynn asked as she continued to outrace the explosion so that they would escape the subsequent shockwaves.

    "Inscription enhanced explosives! Meant to bring buildings down!" Qiu Yue screamed as she continued to grab hold of Lynn.

    That explosion was a sight to behold for Hamatarou as he pped while chewing on some (giant) sunflower seeds. (Not to mention Peppers would have been slightly proud for the use of explosives.) It also distracted the horned chicken, which the penguins were fighting, and they seized the window of opportunity with greed. Chieftain Skitter controlled the mobile pile of sand to rise and subsequently jumped upwards.

    The horned chicken was surprised that its prey came into its sight as it opened its mouth to bite it down. That was when Chieftain skitter made his Fire Breathing ninja scroll appear and activated it. A burst of intense fire came out from the scroll and directed it into the beak of the chicken, burning its insides, while Kido and Elder Perate finally had the chance to release their multiple shurikens into the eyes of the horned chicken. The bird screeched and panicked while Colwaski and the rest of the penguins threw their bs towards the chicken feet.

    The bs were not made with mere stones but had explosives attached to them too. (Just not as strong as the explosives Qiu Yue had used.) They knew that the Bs would not berge enough to deter the chicken, so they detonated the explosives. That act alone, caused the legs to give way, making the horned chicken to fall to the ground, which the penguins proceed to stab and injure the chicken at its vital joints. It was better to immobilise it than to attempt at a slim chance of hitting its vital points.

    Kido even grabbed a few smoke bombs with a small bag of caltrops and threw it into the chicken''s mouth as Elder Colwaski used a grappling hook to tie the beak up along with the aid of Skitter. The rest of the penguins subsquently went forth to its neck and kept stabbing at it while the horribly injured horned chicken tried to get up from the consecutive attacks by pping its wings in terror, but it was in vain.

    The penguins had already immobilised its movements. Its legs were terribly injured, and the artiction of its wings had been severed by the penguins due to their knowledge of cutting chicken meat up.

    Lynn and Qiu Yue eventually came to their aid, and with a bit of stat boost from Qiu Yue''s Sub System (by spending money), the Red Panda Cultivator managed to enter into the fray and cut its neck deep from top to bottom for its blood to spill on the floor.

    While slightly slow, the remaining horned chicken eventually died a pretty horrible death.

 Chapter 488 Hamatarou

    <h4>Chapter 488 Hamatarou</h4>

    "Well done, well done!" The hamster pped at the top cab before he rolled down his body to the table and subsequently the ground. "Did not expect those chickens to see me when I took their eggs. I thought I could grow a few chickens of my own! Hahahah!" Hamatarouughed at his own misfortune as he revealed two oversized chicken eggs from the depths of his furry body.

    "How did he keep all those things inside his body?" Qiu Yue wondered looking at Lynn as the other gave her a deadpan stare.

    "I''ve onlye to visit this world twice before. As if I would know such stuff." Lynn replied as she took the bodies of the Horned Chicken via the Sub System. She was informed that signs of Body Restructuring had been detected inside the creatures. It advised Lynn to wait until the chicken reverted to its original sizes before processing it.

    "Interesting. Are you a shaman too?" Hamatarou asked and ignored the Penguin Chieftain Skitter who was kneeling in front of him.

    "You don''t seem to be a particrly good host. I suggest you answer the person who is requesting your audience first." Lynn answered with a bit of annoyance in her words.

    "Ah! Sorry Skitter! I did not see you down there." Hamatarouughed loudly as he took out another exact copy of the Totem of Atem for them. "Just as promised you ten years ago. Here is your new and improved totem. ording to my research, I predict that with this improved one the generation after the next should hopefully not even need this. The same routine, go to the Altar of Giants to recharge its powers every once in a while."

    "Thank you, Sir Hamatarou!" Skitter expressed his gratitude as the rest of the penguins knelt and bowed in front of him as well.

    "No need to be so humble. You did earn it, especially after my impromptu task of killing the horned chickens. Now if you don''t mind, would you introduce me to your twopanions? They seem quite capable. I regret to say that I have yet to encounter any members of their species in our world." Hamatarou requested.

    "Other species? No, you are mistaken Sir Hamatarou, they aren''t from anywhere around here. Lady Lynn graced us with her presence suddenly. She is actually from another world." Skitter replied.

    "Another world? Well, I am surprised you appear to believe them so readily. I admit that I have never seen those strange vehicles they rode, nor the weapons they used. Still, that does not mean they hail from another world. This might as well be some long lost technology or magic." Hamatarou remarked as he suddenly became suspicious.

    "It is true, Sir Hamatarou." Kido took the initiative to speak. "I''ve been to their world and the others had served Lady Lynn in her quests."

    "...Hmm okay. Assume that I''m interested that I want to see that world for myself. Will you bring me along as well?" Hamatarou said in a wishy washy manner.

    "Sure, but you will have to sign a contract with us. The short version is that you will have to serve us at our times of need." Qiu Yue immediately took out a contract form and showed it to Hamatarou. The Sub System had managed to write it all in its nativenguage based on what it had learnt about the Penguins.

    As she wanted to hand it over, she noticed, that there was a bit of discrepancy in their sizes, but the hamster immediately used his own totem of Atem to turn the same size as Lynn and began to read the contract.

    "Interesting. So, I will have to go intobat against other members of your species?" Hamatarou questioned, and Qiu Yue nodded her head.

    "That is most often the case. However, it may also turn to you battling some species you have never seen before. If you have other talents to provide, we can also change the contract to something more suited for you. In return, you will experience at least our own world, and maybe others." Qiu Yue listed their demands, and Hamatarou was deep in thought.

    "Sounds like a very unfair deal." The hamster concluded, and Qiu Yue shrugged her shoulders.

    "Well, you will practically be an interworld traveller with our help. It''s not something anyone can offer you on the spot. Additionally, we will provide you with decent food, entertainment and a ce to stay. Not to mention, if you work for us, we will pay you some credit in ordance to your results to get better food and the chance to train yourself to self betterment. If that is not to your liking, we also offer knowledge you may never learn otherwise." Qiu Yue added, and Lynn could not help but cringe at her promotion of a contract.

    "Anyways if you don''t like it, it''s not like we are keeping you forever. The duration of the contract is designed for a three month provisional stay. If you like it, you can renew it or turn it into a permanent contract. " Qiu Yue was basically trying to hard sell it to the hamster. The penguins, on the other hand, shared their own experiences with the sceptical hamster.

    "Fine. I trust the penguins more than you guys. And I am really curious to see how other world looks like. You are right, such an opportunity may onlye once in a lifetime, but I am unable to leave for three months. One week. That is all the time I have before I have other matters to attend to." Hamatarou bit on his paws and was ready to use a drop of his blood to seal the contract.

    "Agreed. For starters, please tell us more about this Giant World." Qiu Yue told the System to rewrite the contract, and upon verification, the hamster sealed the deal.

    "Very well. Long story short, I am a druid. Which is also why I am able to provide these totems to the penguins. This ce is just one of the meeting ces that I had set up as a haven for the various races that wish to survive this harsh world without being affected by the Giantism Virus. Follow me." Hamatarou ordered as it grewrger once more and indicated the rest to grab onto its fur.

    The hamster opened the door with much ease since it was on par with its enhanced size, and jumped up to the roofs as soon as it was out of the house. Lynn and the others saw only a part of the entirety of the ruined city that they were in. It wasn''t until Hamatarou reached one of the watchtowers that they saw more of it.

    "When I told Skitter ten years, I was not joking. You have seen that I can control my size, but the transformation is not permanent and has its limits. Even at myrgest, the city remains vast and huge. It took me a year alone to get the totems to different races like the penguins here. After which, I had to travel using stealth to other small towns and cities to share with them."

    "So there are other sentient races as well? Why are you doing this?" Lynn asked, and apparently, others who lived far away from the penguins within this city. The turtles, walrus, crocs, frogs as well as other different penguin settlements.

    "I need all of them to get stronger so that we can eventually prepare for an exodus from this cursed city," Hamatarou said as they were jumping from one roof to another.

    "Exodus? Leave this city? Cursed? Why?" Lynn continued to ask as Qiu Yue grabbed on both her and Hamatarou''s fur.

    "The city has long since been depleted of its food stock. The giantism virus had infected almost everyone that lived in this city. While the different tribes are procuring their own food, there is only so much they can grow and survive." Hamatarou sighed.

    "I am trying to find a ce for all these people to live and thrive, a mass exodus of the most capable warriors and talented beings who will follow me to find such a sanctuary. I heard of an ind beyond the sea that should have an abundance of food and animals still on the size of the penguins. This meant that they can live there." Druid Hamatarou announced its ns to them.

    "Is that why most of the races that you savedбнare amphibious in nature?" Lynn questioned as she had noticed, that all the races he had listed could live onnd and survive in the long sea trip. Mildly surprised, the druid nodded in acknowledgement.

    "Still, depending on your ability to travel to other worlds, that might change our ns a little. Although we potentially still face another problem." Hamatarou spoke out saying that they were reaching his base soon, which was at the bottom of therge tree ahead of them. At the centre of a dested nature park.

    "To search for the other surviving races," Hamatarou spoke a few words in an unknownnguage (though it sounded like an annoyed hamster) and the tree roots opened itself up to let the hamster in.

    "While I did not tell the penguins initially, I''ve told the other races to meet me at the Altar of Giants within a few months time if I sent a continuous re of light in the night. That would also signal the start of the mass exodus." Hamatarou stated and the rest immediately understood what that meant. If the entire vige or even just a small group travelling will attract danger from the various giants in the vicincity.

    "Can''t we just search each tribe up individually? That''s what you did to meet up with them, right?" Qiu Yue asked as they finally reached the ground.

    "I remember he said that he met them via meeting ces," Kido replied and Hamatarou nodded.

    "Yes, this was to prevent any possible infiltration from another group. A group I regret having saved before." Hamatarou lit up his base, and the first thing everyone saw was an entirely horrifying body of a lizard hanging right in front of them seemingly ready to pounce.

    "The Smanders."

    Hamatarou told them how he tried teaching the smanders to shape shift бнor size shift after the Giantism Virus had hit throughout the country. However, the Smanders had used their newfound knowledge to infiltrate other viges and steal their food.

    Sadly, it did not end there. The Smanders eventually killed entire viges and burned them down so that they could use the corpses as food stock.

    The druid had been so mad that they did such an atrocious act and decided to curse them with a forbidden spell. They remained fairlyrge in size no longer able to revert to their original smaller size, allowing the other more giant monsters to prey on them. Afterwards, they had decided to hole up in the castle of the city which was up the hill.

    The city was split into three parts. The bottom of the hill once housed the peasants with the middle being for the wealthy merchants and nobles. At the top was once upied by the royalty, though it appeared to be a lifetime ago.

    "If I shoot the re spell up, the smanders will use that as the perfect opportunity to kill us as part of the revenge. I also fear they have found ways on how to tame the monsters too. This will allow them to reach the cathedral very quickly. And they are prone to attack anything in ''their'' territory." Hamatarou finished his story by giving the stone smander in front of them a disgusted look.

    This particr one had tried to kill the druid in his own home, but the druid managed to petrify it and decided to allow it to remain here as a grim reminder that the Smanders could strike him at any time.

    "That should not be a problem. Whenever you meet up with the other races, possibly teleport them to our city?" Qiu Yue suggested, and the others agreed that it seemed like a good idea too. "Besides, you signed the contract, just holler me up if you wish to transport them."

    "If it were that easy, I would have been ted the moment I heard you have the ability to teleport people. But it seems like the Smanders are doing their cleansing job seriously too. There was a tribe I was supposed to meet, but they never appeared. This was also the reason I waste for the meeting as I tried to track their vige down."

    "Same kind of destruction?" Lynn asked solemnly.

    "Worse. The Smanders massacred and decorated the ce with their entrails. They were not even interested in them as food stock because they were too small for their appetite; it seems. Their marks were all over the ce, and it felt deliberate. I''m pretty sure that they wanted me to find it that way." Hamatarou replied.

    "That is also why I readily epted your contract. I want to see your world, and see first hand whether it would be liveable for my other subjects."

    "бнOther subjects?" Lynn repeated that word, and suddenly, the two Sub System users realised.

    "бнYou were the king of this city?" Both asked at the same time which the druid hamster was silent for a while.

    "бнPrince. An exiled one."

 Chapter 489 Extra: Frontal Confrontation - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 489 Extra: Frontal Confrontation - Part 1</h4>

    It had already been a while since the Deep Ones and Zombies had so much work to do. Transporting all the foodstuff, weapons, armour and back into Gold''s home instance while the gold to the Deep One''s treasury.

    The Half Ghoul Lord Derek wished he could do something more, but for the moment, he obeyed the orders from Gold. Even Mr Derpy was a little restless seeing how much work his minions were doing. That was when Derek had begun talking to Derpy for the first time and became rather good friends. They both agreed that their minions and could do something more meaningful in the future.

    Meanwhile, the goblins reached the trading town of Wecha in no time. The sun had yet to rise, and the guards obviously were unaware of the situation in Uote and Youi town.

    Wyrstriker had ordered Iwen to circle around the city while me Ripper located the main guard quarters of Wecha. "Not a very favourable spot to hit." me Ripper said as they noticed how packed the trading town was. The location of the guard quarters made it very convenient for the rats to escape into the minor districts and slums.

    "You sure it''s a trading town? It appears more like a maximum security prison." Dread Reaver asked as he had discovered a remarkable number of humans in chains who were working even though it was the middle of the night, tolling through the goods that were transported from the various towns. Demon Rat guards were whipping the ves to make them work harder and faster, which did not make the situation any better.

    "The Demon Rats will scatter no matter what unless we trap them by burning the entire ce into bits of ashes." The Wyvern Knight added and me Ripper concurred.

    "This might prove to be a difficult war if the capital is in the same situation as what we see here. No matter how much we try to eradicate these rats, it will not matter unless the farming inhabitants decide to rise up against them as well." me Ripper replied.

    "Heh, not to mention those outposts that Meomi found? I believe the rat issue will not end for at least several years. They don''t seem to be as straightforward as the orcs." Wyrstrikermented.

    "Hmmбнthen I guess the Demon Rats here upied the previous upants of the Guard Quarters rather than building a new one like in those smaller towns." me Ripper said as he was contemting whether to hit the guard quarters and risk the possible deaths of the enved townsfolk.

    "As much as I want to destroy those rats and don''t get me wrong, I''m itching to do so, our orders, erm I mean- your orders were to help fan the fire of resistance. Don''t you think we should take another approach rather than hitting their guard quarters?" Dread Reaver asked as he shared the sentiments with me Ripper.

    "Hahaha, why think so much? This was meant as a surprise attack. We might not get an opportunity if we wait around. Just attack from the front gates." Wyrstriker answered, and even Iwen agreed to a simplistic n of his partner. "They have walls for a reason. We are attacking them because we want to kill the Demon Rats. Then clearly, we should let the Demon Ratse at us."

    "Won''t you think the Demon Rats will use the inhabitants as fodders first?" me Ripper questioned.

    "That is possible but look at it the other way, we can put them down, and they will be part of Jin''s helpers, right?" Wyrstriker argued, and the other two chuckled but shook their heads.

    "I think Master Jin only wants capable monsters. Having normal humans isn''t really part of the list for his dungeon making."

    "But even Jin and the other cultivators started out as just humans. If those humans can also train as hard as them, they could be worthy cultivators one day. It''s better than living as a ve."

    "Technicallyбнspeaking we ARE ves to the System. So I guess you are right, killing them will just put them in a nicer environment. Hahahaha!" Dread Reaver injected which the other two goblinsughed bitterly to.

    "At the very least, we were not treated as ves. Jin had proven time and time again that he wants to improve our lives and not just control them. Although there might be some things, I personally might not have agreed with, like him subjugating the Orcs at first. But, his oue is usually rational and rather realistic." me Ripper added.

    "Fine, let''s just hope we are not making a mistake by sending these ves to another master," Dreadreaver replied.

    "So, kill all on sight?" Wyrstriker asked for a confirmation.

    "Yes kill everything thates out from the front gate. We will conduct multiple raids if need be. The most important thing is not destroying any of their civilian infrastructure except for their defences. If possible, try to contain the number of civilian casualties. We can''t help it if they die, but we should still try to limit their numbers. What is the use of a liberated town if nobody was there to control it?" me Ripper said his views out.

    "Heh! If we keep attacking, it will eventually disrupt their trading post too. It might be good if we have some other monsters assaulting the trading caravans. More resources for us as well." Wyrstriker suggested as he thought of someone who was itching to have his spear scratched too.

    "Hmm, we will see how things go. Maybe, we might make a name for ourselvesбнas demons by dawn." me Ripper and all three loved the idea.

    Iwen ced the goblin trio about a few hundred metres from the front gate of Town Wecha and decided to scout from above the city to report the movements of the demon rats. The goblin trio had a System channel connection with Iwen so it would be easy tomunicate and they were mainly going to use him to destroy any ranged support the demon rats were going to use.

    "Ready?" me Ripper asked, and the other two goblins nodded their heads. The descendant of Ifrit lifted his palm up, and sparks magically appeared right above it. Slowly, those sparks revolved around its hands, and the more it spins, the more it looked like a fiery sphere.

    "Let''s go!" me Ripper held onto his arm as he shot the fiery sphere into the direction of Wecha''s town gate. It was a rather quiet release like an arrow set loose from a bow until it contacted the town''s walls.

    "BOOOOM"

    A chunk of the wall exploded from the impact, causing debris to fly around its surroundings. Some of the inhabitants that had been staying near the wall were killed directly, and unfortunately, there was no way to go around it. The Demon Rats who had been soundly asleep guarding the area was stunned by the shockwaves as it went to have a look.

    Another deafening sound was heard, but this time, me Ripper went for the watchtower. It was immediately incinerated into ashes as the fire goblin threw another ball of Ifrit''s sparkle at it. That was when the guards had begun to sound the rm.

    "ENEMY! ENEMY! BY THE FRONT GATES!" The demon rat shouted which abruptly awoke the demon rat captain in his guard quarters.

    "Resistance?!" The Wecha Demon Rat Captain asked, and the rats were scurrying to get their equipment.

    "We cannot confirm how many but they seem to be destroying the town''s defences! Its firepower is more demon like!" One of the guards answered, and the Demon Rat Captain grumbled.

    "It must be that curse! Rumour said that everywhere those Demon Rat Special Elites go, their enemy will follow suit." The Demon Rat Captainined as he went to one of the rooms and knocked hard at their doors.

    "Yawnnnn, I barely fell asleep, and now you want me to wake up again? Come back in 5 minutes." w Rat Specialist ''Quell Poletaker'' said sleepily as he unlocked the door for the Demon Rat Captain.

    "There are rumours of demons attacking our city right now. Go and vanquish them. That is why you are here right?" The Captain ordered but Quell Poletaker mmed the door right at him.

    The Demon Rat Special Elites used that excuse in every town for a ce to stay, and this was not an exception. Besides, they were just patrolling at themand of the masters, and those ''demons'' they had encountered were only part of the resistance, the apprentices of various Schrs. Hence, Poletake believed this current case was the same.

    "It''s probably just the resistance. The Dark Temrs can make use of the power of demons, but they are still just humans. Call us when you verify it." Poletaker words could be heard through the door, but the Captain punched it back hard.

    "Damn you! If they are really demons. It will be toote to do anything!" The Demon Rat Captain said, and there was no response to it. "FUCK! Guards, wake up the rest and prepare to assault this resistance or demons!"

    ------

    While me Ripper was busy hurling balls of fire that destroyed nearly half the walls, Dread Reaver was preparing his spell to patron, his Death Goddess. For every skill that he wished to execute, the Death Knight needed to umte ''souls'', be it whole or fragmented to activate his skills.

    Thus, Dread Reaver had been buying fragmented souls from the System while working at the construction site. He kept most of the souls in his sword, which acted as a conduit for his skills as well as storage purposes. But right now, there was no need to use those souls that he bought.

    Thanks to his ''Eyes of the Death God'' which was an innate ability of a Death Knight, Dread Reaver was able to discern that those stored souls were unneeded in this particr case. It was fortunate and both unfortunate that there was an abundance of unrestful souls floating around the trading town.

    Filled with the stench of unpeaceful deaths, which most were likely from the excessive punishment of ves, Dread Reaver attempted to collect as much as he could before the killing starts.

    As for Wyrstriker, he just stood right beside both of his friends and observed their performance. He took the time to equip himself with the leather armour which Jin had bestowed to them previously. Other than that, he waited patiently for the Demon Rats to appear before them.

    "Ranged support iing," Iwen warned. "But it seems the debris from the past attacks had disabled them from going up the wallsбнor what is left from it."

    "Hmmбнsome are using the civilian''s infrastructure as an elevated tform to shoot." Iwen continued, and me Ripper gave Iwen permission to kill. While it was not ideal since he did not wish to destroy any infrastructure owned by the civilians, but some coteral damage could not be avoided.

    "Understood." The Wyvern swooped down immediately and spat out a slew of acid on the Demon Rats before flying back up into the dark skies. The Wyvern understood that if he used his fire breath, it could burn the entire ce up. On the other hand, those acidic breaths would melt the Demon Rats and do minimal damage to the area.

    The Demon Rat Captain who was moving towards the frontlines, saw a frightening terror of a shadow swoop by decimating the Demon Rats while the stone walls remained on fire. It was as if Hell had descended to them.

    "Demons! They must be Demons! 1st Wecha Battalion! Charge out! 2nd Battalion, gather the human ves and use them as cannon fodder to find out their capabilities!" We need to annihte the demons before the town gets destroyed!" The Demon Rat Captain ordered as he told one of the guards to send word for the w Rat Specialist to take care of the demons.

    Soon, the goblin Trio could see the first wave of demon rats appearing from the front gates, and me Ripper waited for some time until the rest of the demon rats were out of the town to enter the fields.

    But as he was waiting, me Ripper prepared to shoot at them the very same fiery yellow sparks that conceived his spheres of fire. The Demon Rats somehow managed to deflect the sparks and thought that the demon did not have much power left.

    Thus, their battalion leader ordered them to charge forth.

    "Heh! Right into our trap." me Ripper pped once, and the sparks of fire ignited into a burst into a pir of fire, incinerating any rats that were within the radius of the pir. The Demon Rats were shocked by that attack but did not trouble them much as they continued to charge right in front of them. Death, in their opinion, were also inevitable.

    "Dread Reaver you''ve been preparing for a while, so I guess yours is an anti army attack that could wipe out at least half the battalion right?" Wyrstriker questioned seeing how brilliantly bright the Death Reaper silhouette was shining right above him.

    "Correct." Dread Reaver replied as he was reaching the limits of his weapon before he changed into a proper fighting stance.

    "Then you won''t mind if you let me practice a bit first. After all, I am not as strong as you guys." Wyrstriker said as he inserted chi into his gearbox spear.

 Chapter 490 Extra: Frontal Confrontation - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 490 Extra: Frontal Confrontation - Part 2</h4>

    Wyrstriker took his spear up and with a swirl, he threw the weapon into the army of Demon Ratsing towards them. The gearbox enhanced spear flew into the depths of the enemies'' ranks and pierced any rat unlucky enough to find itself in its way.

    However, that was not all. At the same time, Iwen attack the rats at the sides of the spear forcing them to either take their chances with the deadly weapon or his incinerating mes. Everywhere the spear moved based on Wyrstriker''s chi, Iwen seemed to be in direct synchronisation with its path of trajectory as if the spear was the GPS ping and the wyvern was the tracker that followed it.

    Wyrstriker had learnt how tomand his spear by infusing chi into it and moved it in arge circle before itnded back on his palms. The two goblin brethren gave a thumbs up for a rather solid effort for a goblin that was side evolved unlike their own step up evolution.

    "The thoughts in his brains. Urgh. Gives me the goosebumps at times." Iwenmented on how Wyrstriker loved his buddies'' praise, as their symbiotic evolution allowed each one to share their thoughts and feelings even without the need of the System, making the other two goblinsugh.

    "You should tell us what he thinks. Do we need to wallop him for any dirty thoughts about the princess." Dread Reaver asked teasingly as if he was hinting that Wyrstriker also had a crush on Starfire.

    "Heh! You can keep that princess to yourself! I have no interest in her at all since girls of nobility are the least of my concern. I might have ny nine other problems, but the princess isn''t one of them at all." Wyrstriker replied as the demon rats finally recovered from the attack and began to return back to their basic formation.

    Spears and shields at the front, with archers nocking their arrows, all enhanced with Steam Tech ready to crash the Demons standing before them. That was when Dread Reaver came forward and made his appearance by first drawing a circle with his sword around him.

    The Death Knight swiftly and aptly controlled his sword with chi that he did not even need to turn his body at all to draw the circle. The sword flew from the back and to the side, enabling him toplete the circle.

    "Now. Let me release these lost souls to get their revenge against those monstrous creatures so they can rest in peace." Dread Reaver announced as his sword glowed with a light turquoise colour.

    The arrows were let loose from the hastily formed file of archers, but it did not seem to concern any of the goblins. Dread Reaver hardly lifted his sword up, and a wave of angry like Wraiths rushed out from the circle he drew, blocking all of the arrows and subsequently flew over the demon rats'' defences annihting the file of archers.

    The frontline of Demon Rats guards did not dare to look back as they heard the pent up wrath of the demented wraiths peeling the flesh off the Demon Rat Archers. Only the rear guard started to panic as they faced the wraiths head on.

    However, the conventional weapons as well as the Steam Tech was unable to damage them at all. The attack went right from them with the wraiths recovering the very next moment. Only fire managed to hurt the apparitions or the Demon Rat leaders who had their des enhanced with litoride ore.

    "Interesting. I did not expect their Litoride to work against my wraiths. That is one thing to take note of in the future." Dread Reaver murmured to himself and wondered if the Litoride had a hidden property of holiness or elemental magic in it.

    "Hahah! Looks like I won''t have to do anything else with the damage your wraiths are doing." me Ripper folded his arms, and he watched the guards crumbled right in front of them. Dread Reaver had summoned a row of ethereal Wraith Riders, with spears and pitchforks rushing against the frontline.

    "Indeed, and thank you, my friend. It looks like the souls here are extremely delighted in partaking of the culling of the rats here." Dread Reaver smiled, but it was then that Wyvern Iwen notified them about arge mob of humans being thrown into the fray. They looked extremely ill equipped with pitchforks, spades and axe picks. Some of them were even without a weapon spurned by their ve masters whips from behind.

    "Well so much for not burdening Jin with any ves. The Demon Rats had to y dirty." Wyrstriker sighed, and me Ripper already had his mes at the ready.

    "Let me burn them up quickly to end their suffering. Seeing all these demon rats only disgust me." me Ripper was about to shoot his mes, but suddenly all three felt a different presence from usual rushing over from the gates of the Wecha Town. It felt extraordinarily aggressive and reminded them of the bloodlust the orcs had.

    "No, no, no! No more killing you demons!" A w swiped close to me Ripper, but he managed to deflect it with the dagger Ifrit bestowed upon him. "Oooh, nice ornate dagger. It will be a pleasant addition to my collection. For a demon to be able to use one, you are no simple demon. I like you already." w Specialist Quell Poletaker grinned as his ws vibrated with the use of Steam Tech, but me Ripper managed to deflect another quick blow from him.

    "me R-!" Wyrstiker was also intercepted by another Demon Rat specialist though this time, it was arge abomination rat that was the size of an Ogre with chains tied up through his mouth while another Demon Rat was controlling it at the top of its headбн.just way smaller than the other demon rats he saw before.

    "Tsk! Pesky Demon! Do not dodge!" Rider Specialist Pallet Zort Barbedcutter shouted at Wyrstriker for dodging the attack. "Damn it! Looks like I got the short straw. This one feels weak!"

    "Then stopining, and kill it before the deathly looking demon knightes after you instead!" Quell spoke as he exchanged blows with me Ripper, but in fact, the goblin was able to dodge or deflect every single one of them.

    "I''d say I am the one with the short straw." Dread Reaver snorted as he waved to his brothers and faced the iing army alone.

    "Heh! You are wee to tag in!" Wyrstriker said as he bent his body backwards to evade the punch while using his gearbox spear to pierce the abomination rat under his elbow.

    "No thanks, the souls of this ce prefer to kill those rats over there. Have fun with your new friend!" Dread Reaver smirked under his helmet as he plunged his sword into the ground and a mist began to surround both the army and him in it.

    "Tsk, looks like that dark knight looks more than trouble! Quickly finish the spear demon!" Quell ordered as he started to speed up with the aid of his Steam Tech. The rats were unable to understand the goblin trio, but they saw that Dread Reaver seemed keen on dealing with their army instead of helping the other two.

    This meant that the death knight was confident of hisrades being able to deal with them on their own, forcing the Specialists to hurry to prevent further losses. On the other hand, me Ripper felt refreshed from the battle.

    "Been a long time since I fought someone at this speed. But you are not someone I will bother to waste more than a few minutes." me Ripper said asking the System to help trante its speech to his enemy as he continued to parry his attacks.

    "Says someone who had yet to even strike once. Please! I am a Specialist! One of the chosen elite by the Great Schrs! You think I will be defeated by the likes of y-?"me Ripper finally understood his pattern of attack and cut him down by sliding his dagger under his arms and eventually up to his neck.

    It caused his right arm to be amputated and subsequently, the specialist rat was decapitated.

    "You talk too much. Should have focused more on the battle." me Ripper lectured the dead demon rat''s bodyying in front of him.

    "QUELL!" Zort saw hisrade perish surprisingly quickly and immediately attacked Quell''s body with a whip. Making use of Zort''s momentary distraction, Wyrstiker took the chance to pierce the neck of the Demon Rat.

    "Didn''t your instructors ever tell you not to be distracted during a fight?" Wyrstriker asked with glee, but the abomination Rat did not fall from the spear attack and instead grabbed the spear and pulled it out. Wyrstriker tried to pull it out of his enemies hand by applying the same amount of force, but it was useless. The abomination rat took the spear and threw it side wards and the goblin along with it.

    "Distracted? You fool! My creations are undead! You have no chance to defeat us." Zortughed at the small flying demon and believed it would crash into something and die. Never did he think that throwing Wyrstriker into the air was the worst possible option.

    Iwen managed to soften the blow of the impact of Wyrstriker''s flight with its belly before the little fellow grabbed onto his wyvern''s leg for support. "See, I told you the food you let me eat was worth it," Iwen smirked a little as it allowed his master to climb up onto him by helping him hold up his spear with its mouth.

    "Yeah, Yeah. I shall treat you to something nice once this is over. Thanks, buddy." Wyrstriker patted hispanion on the side as he got up properly and took the spear back.

    In the meantime, me Ripper was forced to contend with not one but two opponents. With that whip attack, Zort had resurrected Quell as his underling puppet andmanded it to fight against the me goblin assassin.

    "Ho, Ho! I did not expect your body to be so well articted my old friend! I guess the fresher the body and the more trained it is, the better the puppet it makes." Zortughed maniacally as he made his puppet friend attack the goblin consistently.

    "Bah! I should just overwhelm you two with my powers!" me Ripper replied, but Wyrstriker told him to dy that n.

    "That prey is mine to kill," Wyrstriker said resolutely as he was already halfway diving from the skies and down towards Zort. me Ripper deduced he would just be the distraction Wyrstriker needed to execute that dive attack so he might as well focus against the undead w specialist.

    "Too bad, you were much more useful as a sparring partner when you were alive." me Ripper said as he ignored the blow from the abomination rat and went towards the undead Quell. If it did not have a head to chop, then slice the whole damn thing into pieces.

    And slicing it to many pieces, me Ripper did.

    However, that was not all me Ripper had executed as he quickly dodged the next swipe by the abomination rat. Zort tried to control the undead Quell, who was aimlessly standing, but there was no effect at all. This distraction gave Wyrstriker all he needed to swoop down quietly from Iwen''s back and pierce the Demon Rat through its skull andter into the spine of the abomination rat.

    As the spear goblin achieved that move, Iwen managed to turn away in time from crashing into the ground and took to the skies once again. "Gosh, thank goodness this undead puppet master did not have any other abominations with it."

    "It is not exactly ying with magicбн" me Ripper said as the abomination rat fell onto Quell who was eventually dispersed into many pieces from the cuts that me Ripper did.

    "I found this attached to that dead guy. Looks like a controlling device." The dagger goblin showed it to his pal, and they could see it looked like it was a marvel of steam engineering. They picked up Zort''s weapon and noticed that the whip was made up of many of those bug likeponents, seemingly alive.

    "So that guy is not using magic but controlling him with this tiny little bug like device?" Wyrstriker asked, but me Ripper could only shrug his shoulders.

    "Could be just aponent of the Steam Tech. Let''s be safe and pass it to our dear Head Researcher Ayse. She might be able to have a glimpse of what it does." me Ripper suggested.

    "Heh, normally, we will just throw this kind of stuff down on the ground. Looks like working with Jin made us fairly paranoid as well." Wyrstriker said as he turned his head to the misty fog and heard terrified screams of both rats and humans.

    They noticed how the enemy tried to walk, run or even crawl out of the fog, but there was this invisible force that brought them back into the mist. "HHELP ME!!! I DO NOT WANT TO GOOO IN THERE!!" A human ve tried his best to hold on to a bunch of grass, but it was futile. The fog mysteriously pulled him in as they could see the ve''s fingers were plunged deep into the soil, being dragged along.

    "Seems like Dread Reaver is handling stuff very efficiently," Wyrstriker mentioned and offered to take the odd looking contraption back to Ayse. me Ripper agreed and opened a portal for him.

    They could not have known that that particr little contraption was all that was needed to turn the tide of this unending Demon Rat infestation.

 Chapter 491 Demon Rat Research Centre

    <h4>Chapter 491 Demon Rat Research Centre</h4>

    The Uote Town Guards apanied their Guard Captain, Sebastia and Kraft to the capital arriving at the break of dawn. The first thing Jin''spanions saw from afar was the encroaching tall walls made not out of brick and mortar but metal.

    "Heh heh! You guys have definitely never been to the capital before, aye? The look on first timers is priceless!" Uote Guard Captain giggled loudly. The guards at the front gates demanded passes from the carriage that carried them, but with a show of the Captain''s face, the guards immediately consented their entry without much hassle.

    "You must hold much influence for them to let us in without even inspecting the contents of the carriage." Kraft tried to make some small talk whileplimenting the captain.

    "Our masters. They are expecting us. That is why they let us through. But of course, if not for my presence, the guards would be more stringent with their checks." The Demon Rat Captain replied proudly as they saw arge group of demon rats mobilising.

    "Is this a normal sight for soldiers to mobilise this early?" Sebastia asked, and even the Demon Rat Captain wanted to pry into the matter.

    "Not unless something happened. Let me ask." The Demon Rat Captain went out of their carriage and called over one of the Demon Rats with one rank beneath his own. It was unlikely for the normal grunts to know anything besides the need to assemble. "What? An attack at Uote town?!"

    "Yes, sir! Apparently, it was a direct report from the Masters themselves when dawn broke out." The sergeant reported that not only Uote Town was affected. Even Youi and the trading town of Wecha were hit around the same timeframe. "We believe the Dark Temrs are the cause of all these attacks. We are setting out now to recapture those towns."

    "Do you need to follow them?" Kraft asked in a concerned manner although he already knew it would be pointless, as he had the reports from the System and had already informed him of the scouting teams'' progress.

    "Argh, I will bring you to meet Masters first and then I will follow the contingent." Uote Guard Captain grumbled and struggled with his choice, telling the carriage driver to hasten the speed even though the road were packed with soldiers bringing groups of ves into battle too.

    "For them to use ves and prisoners as cannon fodder shows much about their hierarchy and intelligence level." Kraft thought and pitied the System being unable to catch any of them at all. Still, the additional resources would be a weing gift too.

    Meanwhile, Sebastia noticed how the inhabitants were all living in cramped ces in order to make way for factories that were polluting the atmosphere. There were definitely more than just one or two factories responsible for all the smog and smoke covering the entire city''s sky with dark clouds.

    If anything, they were exploiting a lot of the people to work hard for them to produce those Steam Tech and the demon rats did not care about a single bit of their well being. To them, one ve or prisoner of war could easily be reced with the next. After all, the entire capital''s poption was their ything.

    Kraft had already used the opportunity when the Guard Captain left the carriage to send out his foxes for reconnaissance. They proceeded to map out the area with everything they saw reporting to him as well as the System. The System noticed that many war factories were producing not just Steam Tech, but weapons, armoury, and even vehicle parts such as the steam tanks and helicopters. All of them were powered with the very same Steam Tech.

    The System thenmanded the foxes to get more insight into these items and if possible the blueprints. However, the foxes deemed it as a secondary objectivepared to what Kraft had asked them to do.

    "Sorry, Captain. The masters do not wish to see anybody right now and asked us to pass you this instead." One of the guards at the doorstep of the castle denied their entry and gave the Uote Guard Captain a task instead. He quickly scrambled to tear the envelope open and read the contents of the letter.

    "Urgh! After all, I did for them!" The captain crashed the papers and told them to follow him instead.

    "Where are we going?" Sebastia asked with a stern tone.

    "To the main Research Centre. The Masters have allowed you and only you Battle Lady to pick a weapon and armour of your choice. They want you and yourpanion to annihte the demons in the north. The lion and the snake!"

    "Two demons? And you are just going to give me one weapon? What about mypanion?" Sebastia asked, and Kraft echoed along.

    "No! No can do! Masters say only you since you gave results! Yourrade did not do anything to earn the trust of our masters! Be d that he is able toe into the capital and see our glorious empire without doing anything!" The Uote Guard Captain vehemently refused as he told the carriage driver to move to the research centre post haste.

    "Oh,e now. It doesn''t have to be thetest model, but surely you have some older ones, that are just gathering dust? You know how strong demons are. Even our dear Battle Lady might have some difficulty fighting against two of them. You do not want her to lose, right? Having an extra weapon will no doubt prove a boon, and it is just one weapon, I am not asking for an army." Kraftmented, and somehow it gave the Guard Captain some headache.

    "Grrrrr. We will see about it when we enter the ce."

    ----------

    It did not take long, but the moment they entered the building, the temperature of the ce shot up by at least three fold. Thebourers and workers that were busy on the production line were all so hot that none wore any upper clothing. It''s either they stifled themselves to death, or they injured themselves for not wearing any safety gear. (As if the demon rats were going to give them any in the first ce.)

    At one nce, they noticed that the rats were using the ves for creating the parts for theirbat vehicles, and everyone gave them the momentous stare before returning back to work. As much as they hated the bad treatment (still better than the ves), the job paid just enough for the workers to send some money to their family.

    Sebastia despised the current work setting as she could feel how oppressive the atmosphere was. Still, she continued on with Kraft who seemed quite at home. The Uote Guard Captain brought them into a special room whose entrance was cordoned off by guards equipped with Steam Tech. It appeared to be an even more advanced version of the power suit which Sebastia saw the exmander wearing back in Keyrin''s territory.

    If the guards were wearing such amazing power suits to defend the ce, it had to be of rtive importance to the rats themselves, and there was only one way to find out. Both guards turned around in their power suit in order to lift the door open for the guest to enter.

    The bar handles were indeed at the bottom and the only way to open it was by lifting it up. However, just the two of them were not enough, and two more were called over. The four of them could only lift the twenty inch thick steel door enough to create a sufficient opening for their guests to enter.?(They had to bend over to enter but not for the Captain.)

    Once they entered, the door smashed down behind them, creating a giant noise echoing throughout the factory. What awaited them was a long spiralling staircase which took some time for them to reach their location. A spacious hall the size of two football fields and at least tall enough to ce Mechataur in there. But what intrigued them most was that the ce was filled with makeshift construction tforms.

    Stairs leading to elevated tforms with each of the tforms used to conduct various experiments. There were caged demon rats, humans and even demons of some sort at the side of the halls as well as gadgets, broken pieces of steam tech etcetera.

    "New subjects?" The cloaked figure sighed. The Captain shook his head.

    "These esteemed guests are here to choose one of your newly developed experimental weapons." Guard Captain exined before he bowed himself out of the ce. "Afterwards, you are to teleport them to the demons in the north...and eh give both of them weapons. Just make sure the Battle Lady stays alive at all cost. Give the other one something that may increase their chances."

    As if the cloaked figure understood what the rat was saying, he nodded his head and cast a teleport spell on the Guard Captain.

    "What? Why are you leaving so fast? Aren''t you supposed to guide us?" Sebastia asked with a tinge of suspicion.

    "Guide? I am a Guard Captain. Not some guide! You should be grateful that I guarantee an increased chance of safety for your life!" The demon rat said as he was teleported out via a magic circle.

    "So I am guessing you are the guinea pigs for my experiment." The cloaked figure took a look as he asked them to follow him to the back of the hall. "The Schrs probably want you dead, which is why they made an attempt to kill you via the demons."

    "The Schrs? Not the Masters?" Kraft got really curious when the cloaked figure referred to them as such.

    "Hmmбн yes, you are right. It should be Masters. It''s rare for me to receive any guest. I am usually alone with my subjects, so it''s not like I have to watch mynguage." The cloaked figure stopped momentarily before acknowledging and continued to walk forth.

    "If the ''Masters'' hate us, why don''t they kill us outright? Also aren''t you worried that after telling us all this we would just try to kill you?" The crafty fox asked though he had no intention to simply forego this opportunity to gather intel. His sixth sense was tingling, indicating that they had stumbled upon a rare opportunity.

    "Honestly, it''s not like it will make a difference. Should you choose to kill me, you will be automatically teleported to the demons anyway. If you don''t kill me, I can at least provide you with a weapon allowing you to live a little bit longer. The demons are now their pet projects. They had mutated them from two non caring demons who bothered with their own businesses into some vicious murdering machines they are today. Their lust for battle is never ending, and there is nothing I can do about it."

    "You seem to know a great deal about those demons," Kraft questioned with a hidden purpose.

    "I''ve raised them myself. It''s a pity that my beloved demons were forced to fight against each other instead of growing to fulfil their initial objective." The cloaked figure answered with a hint of pride before it turned into mncholy.

    "Let me guess. To use them as the guardians for each country?" Kraft proposed his theory, and he could hear a soft sighing from the cloaked figure.

    "How did you know that? This is something only one person should have been aware of." It was as if he knew about it all along.

    "Because your words were tied with sorrow and regrets. Judging from your exnation, those masters of yours seem to have spoilt your work, which should have been part of some grand scheme. I''ve long since wondered about those elder demons like they were meant for something greater."

    "Also, I feel it''s just too convenient for the demons to be under their control. That is unless there was some sort of link no one else knew aboutбн or somethingбн or more likely, someone was used to ckmail them." Kraft seemed to know the vague identity of this cloaked figure.

    "Things did not go that well, that''s all." The cloaked figure went to the corner of the hall, and with murmuring words flowing out of his mouth, the illusion of the corner of the hall broke, allowing them to enter.

    "You seem to be more than just some mere travellers. It would be a shame for you to die because of their scheme. Let me aid your escape at the veryst minute with my experimental ''weapons'' that I had developed." The cloaked figure offered an olive branch to the travellers and Kraft burst into a shortugh.

    "Do you think we cannot win against your demons?" Sebastia questioned with a confident tone.

    "Verily so. I suggest youe down from your high horse. No one can beat them. Manypetent warriors have tried in the past. None came back alive." The cloaked figure suddenly disyed past images of various adventurers who tried to battle against the Burning Lion and Water Snake.

    "I see, they sure are horrifying. Please do give us all the information on them. Sebastia looks like you will have a great work out forter. For now, try to learn their attacks." Kraft ordered, and Sebastia already had her notebook out making notes on their pattern of attacks.

    "What are you doing? Have I not given you a choice to live? Don''t act too rash!" The cloaked figure panicked as if he really wanted them to not fight against the demons.

    "Don''t worry. We know what we are doing." Kraft walked up to the cloaked figure and stare at him eye to eye. "Now how about you take off that pathetic disguise? I prefer talking face to face."

    "Miss Schr of the West."

 Chapter 492 Scholar of the Wes

    <h4>Chapter 492 Schr of the Wes</h4>

    Upon hearing the name ''Schr of the West'', the cloaked figure stopped all movements and shivered at the name of it. "What are you talking about? Why are you bringing up my teacher?" The cloaked figure continued to lie.

    "Oh, please. Stop pretending. You are not really good at it. Do I need to spell it out for you? Miss. Schr. Of. The. West?" Kraft had yet to encounter anyone being able to fool the old fox.

    Given his ability to read people''s mind, it was a piece of cake for him to figure out that before them stood the real Schr of West. He initially had not cared a single bit when he entered the hall with Uote''s Guard Captain.

    It was not until the cloaked figure referred to his superiors as Schrs instead of Masters.?(And he was just toozy to read people minds most of the time.) This was knowledge only a select few should be aware of. That was when he knew something was up.

    It did not take long as the first image that came out from the cloaked figure''s memory was none other than Gold himself. That was when he started ying around with her. "A shame, I should have yed this game a little longer and make you spill the answer yourself, instead of being the one to give the answer directly." Kraft was disappointed in himself, and Sebastia patted his shoulder.

    "I''m sorry, but you really are confusing me with her. Perhaps this is because I am emitting a simr magical aura as my teacher? After all, she was the one to have taught. I assume you two must be acquaintances of the Schr of the West? I regretfully inform you that my teacher has long since passed away." The cloaked figure bowed his head but did not remove his cloak away.

    "Oh? You want to continue with the game, is it? Or is it you are afraid the other two schrs will be listening in? Either way fine by me." Kraft smiled, as this meant his fun wasn''t over yet. He took a piece of inscription out and threw it up the sky. The inscription shone for a moment and suddenly broke into ckish, dull looking dust before it disappeared into nothingness.

    "What kind of magic is that?!" The cloaked figure felt a calming silence overtaking his presence and felt intrigued at the disappearing dust butter returned his attention to Kraft.

    "Hmm? So? What do you want to do now? You can reveal your identity now. I''ve already blocked all possible eavesdropping in the area." Kraft exined as he removed his own disguise right in front of her by moving his hand over his face andter folded his arms.

    "Iбн Iбнmust insist that you are really mistaking me for someone else. Besides, you should have noticed I am a guy! Not a female like the Schr of the West." The cloaked figure felt conflicted if he should believe the person right in front of him.

    "Guess, it''s better to bring someone in to verify. That should be the most optimal way of solving this impasse." Sebastia suggested to Kraft, and he nodded his head. With a snap, a portal opened, and Kraft grabbed someone''s shoulder inside the portal before he yanked out his hand.

    "Oooof! Kraft?! What are you doing?! Can''t you see I am busy arranging the intelligence that those farm rats collected?!" Gold barked with frustration at Kraft. That was when the cloaked figure froze once more, but this time it was with bewilderment as he found the notion inconceivable. (Kraft was loving that bodynguage of the cloaked figure a hell lot.)

    "You can soon return to that boring stuff. Right now, we are in one of the top secret research facilities of the Demon Rats." Kraft exined with a sly smile.

    "In the Capital?" Gold asked innocently as he nced the hall full of experiments and Kraft could see the cloaked figure''s hands trembling full of fear, anxiety andбнdelight.

    "Yeap, and apparently, they captured this person making ''him'' do all the research for them. I believe ''he'' is responsible for all the Steam Tech and other stuff that the Demon Rats have ess to right now."

    "бнI was just following orders. I could not denyбнthe mastersбн.or they would punish me. And those dear to me." The cloaked figure replied with a shaky tone and Gold sighed.

    "Don''t worry. I understand, the North and South schrs will pay for their crimes some way or another." Gold stated confidently and tapped on both of the cloaked figure''s shoulders. "Do not let the guilt swallow you. Instead, use that guilt to move you forward."

    "Sounds very familiarбн" The cloaked figure whispered in a soft enchanting tone.

    "Hahaha! It''s from a dear friend. A very, very dear friend." Gold smiled gently.

    "Does that friend matter a lot to you?" The cloaked figure asked, and Gold furrowed his eyebrows. A question posed with an intent to intrude his privacy? Gold assumed that the cloaked figure right in front of him just needed some moral support to spill his secrets out to Kraft. (Gold probably knew Kraft would like to do it the hard way but decided to give the cloaked figured a chance.)

    "AHhhh! My bad, I forgot to introduce you to our dear friend. He said he was once a student of the Schr of the West!" Kraft immediately interjected.

    "Oh?! Really?!" Gold''s eyes and brows suddenly turned very hostile, and he held onto the other''s shoulders a little longer and with slightly more force.

    "Which region? She has so many students that I don''t remember them all." He knew that the Schr of the West never had taken an apprentice at all. She was always busy and kept saying that there would never be a time to do that even in the future. Either the cloaked figure was fake, or there was more than met the eye.

    "Western Region, Town Copo. The soft cream bread there was delicious." The cloaked figure replied, and suddenly Gold''s eyes turned from aggressive to the most delicate expression he ever had. That sentence had struck him into memoryne. The one which he had the most profound impression of and no one else should know. (Until now by our dear little sneaky Kraft. (or old Kraft))

    "AhбнI remember how there was this one postman at Town Copo who was always an asshole. He once dropped his whole bag of parcels on to me." Gold said, and cloaked figure kept quiet for a while before he uttered two more words.

    "El Phi-"

    "- Konguru." Gold immediately turned the tap on the shoulders into a hug and grabbed the cloaked figure extremely hard. The three words were part of a magical passcode each other used to send encrypted letters to each other. No one, even Gold''s closest aide, knew the passcode.

    Sebastia and Kraft both smiled widely at the reunion of the two Schrs. (Unsurprisingly Kraft had waited for his moment to capture it as photo of Gold hugging the Schr of the West.)

    "Weslie. I missed you so much. Way too much. I''ve thought I had lost you forever!"

    "So have Iбнso have I." The cloaked figure''s voice turned into a female one as she returned the hug. She could feel some tears dropping on to her cloak.

    When they released themselves from a long embrace, Gold attempted to remove the cloak, but Weslie immediately backed off, not wanting him to do that.

    "Why? What is wrong?" Gold could not understand why she did not wish to reveal her face.

    "бнI did not survive the attack at the Tower of Compass. The North and South Schrsбнthey used that forbidden magic to resurrect me. ... I am not who I was anymore." Weslie said.

    "They used the Necromancy ritual infused with Demonic bones?!" Gold''s fury for the North and South doubled instantly. Weslie nodded reluctantly, but Gold insisted on looking at her once more.

    "Appearance is superficial. I care about you more than иC"

    "Then can you care about this?!" Weslie immediately released her cloak and the people around them finally understood why she was so afraid to show her true appearance.

    The upper right quadrant of her face was all bones and muscles with no skin at all, revealing her eye sockets. There was also a magical mark there which Gold assumed that was how the Schrs of the North and South had managed to keep her in check. (if not she would had teleported away long time ago.)

    Upon their shock, Weslie quickly pulled forth her cloak, but Gold stepped in and stopped her. "Don''t! I feel terrible at the sympathetic looks I get from all of you! You do not understand at all! The shame thates with this ursed mark and being unable to do anything than to crave for death every day!" Weslie shouted and Gold could feel a sharp pain in her words.

    "Then why don''t you kill yourself?" Sebastia questioned her directly, and suddenly Weslie stopped her tantrum and cried.

    "I triedбнI tried to hang myselfбнI tried to cut my wrist. Even an explosion spell! There was nothing which worked. Given time I would always revive, looking even worse than before. After I refused to work, they promised me to tell me more about this curse, even a way to remove itбн They just did so, to see me dive into the abyss of despair even more." Weslie suddenly broke down.

    "It''s a pact. The North and South schrs knew that she wouldmit suicide, so they tied her to a demon-." Gold attemping to exin the forbidden spell from memory.

    "Not just oneбнdemon." Weslie interjected with a depressed look. "Two of them."

    "The Burning Lion and the Water Snake Demon?" Kraft asked, and she nodded her head. "Is that why you said no matter what, we would not win?"

    "Yesбн the demons have been informed that my life has been bound to theirs. They know that if they die, I will die too." Weslie stated. "So even before their transformation, they started to fight till the end against anyone to ensure that they do not die. Eventually, the schrs started using them as a nice way to execute troublesome individuals or ''heroes'' that they deem as a threat."

    "But didn''t the reports say that the Burning Lion and Water Snake Demon were fighting each other? Aren''t they fighting for therge Litoride Gem in the oasis?" Gold asked, but Weslie shook her head.

    "That''s a false rumour started by the Demon Rats. To make the resistance think that they could rely on the demons to make more trouble for the Demon Rats. In the end, it''s a trap for them. They all think that by going there, they can earn an ally, but all that awaits them there is death." Weslie replied.

    "So the only way to free you from the curse would be to kill both demons?" Sebastia asked again, and with a frightened look on her eyes, she nodded her head slightly.

    "No, we cannot do that. The curse will be lifted, and she will die because of it." Gold answered Sebastia and Weslie pulled his hands.

    "If they can do that, let me. Please, let me go. To have seen you once moreбнto know you haverades willing to fight against the Demon RatsбнI am happy enough." Weslie interjected with a guilty smile and tears on her face, but Gold could clearly see she did not really want to die.

    "I do not want to be under theirmands any more too, but that does not mean I cannot fight back."

    Weslie murmured another set of magical words and the illusion on the wall broke again, and it showed a ton of new experimental weapons. "I''ve been working secretly behind their backs and used their resources to create these. I only hope your friend''s anti-eavesdropping spell still works or they will notice all of this."

    "You have my guarantee, my spell still works."?Kraft bowed and realised that the Schr of the West was very well versed with mechanics as well as spells. Goldter boasted to him that she was more than just gifted. Some people even dubbed her the rare once in a millennium kind of genius.

    "If you take some of these, it will definitely improve your chances of winning against the demons." Weslie offered, but that was when Kraft shook his head.

    "We do not need those at all," Kraft replied, and Sebastia chuckled at his response.

    "What? Whatбнare you talking about?" Weslie became even more confused as Gold seemed extremely confident about hisrade too.

    "Gold. You did well. Really well for this particr series of operations. I am d Jin managed to recruit you." Kraft said as he walked towards Gold to give him a pat on the shoulders.

    "So! As a present or should I say a reward for your services, I will be handling those two pets so you can save your girl. As for you, darling, your hidden resistance is remarkable. You deemed more than worthy of being under the service of my master" Kraft dered proudly.

    "Kraftбнyouбн terrible, glorious bastard." Gold immediately understood the underlying meaning to that as he immediately bowed with gratefulness.

    "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

 Chapter 493 East Meets Wes

    <h4>Chapter 493 East Meets Wes</h4>

    "What are you talking about?" Weslie asked in a panicked tone. "Are you crazy? Haven''t I established the fact that they could not be defeated???"

    "Oh! No worries, Weslie. Trust him, he can defeat them in a blink of an eye. Besides, our master, who was way weaker than him, managed to defeat Keyrin and Spiky." Gold answered, and Weslie was extremely confused.

    "Your Master? Defeated the Thunder Ram Demon and the Altered Transforming Spider Demon?! What is happening?" Weslie questioned, but Kraft interrupted them.

    "Gold, you know how to do that necromancy whatever shit ritual, right? You probably will have to redo it since those demons are going to die soon." Kraft as he stretched a little before he asked if Sebastia was ready. When thetter nodded, Gold asked Weslie to teleport the two of hisrades.

    "No! I am not going to, even though I have an obligation to do so!" Weslie refused, and Kraft sighed.

    "We do not have much time. Seems like Jin is stuck with something major and it''s best to take her away before more nuisances arrive. My anti eavesdropping inscription does notst that long, it''s a cheap one. You want to ask your girlfriend to hurry it up?" Kraft asked, and suddenly both schrs'' faces turned red.

    "She is not my girlfriend!"

    "He is not my boyfriend!"

    The two disagreed with Kraft simultaneously. They felt embarrassed, and it made the other twough together while averting away from each other''s gaze.

    "Look at you two! Already so synchronised! Just like an old married couple! Alright, just teleport me, and you two can enjoy your catch up chat. Gold don''t forget to take her collection with you afterwards." Kraft teased them before getting serious.

    "Please teleport me as well." Sebastia did not wish to remain as the third wheel in the following conversation.

    Gold scratched his head as he nced at Weslie''s eyes andter looked away immediately. And then he turned back and asked her to trust them. "I assure you that they will be alright. They can put things right. Soon you will be out of this ursed loop."

    Gold''s constant pleading drove Weslie into a dilemma. She initially wanted things to end for her because there was nothing more than suffering. However, long after she had already epted her fate, she was suddenly given the opportunity to finally restбн But now she hesitated.

    Especially because Gold, the one Weslie lost all chances to be reunited with, was in front of her and somehow he did not mind her to die. Still, that trickster looking guy didmand Gold to recreate a necromancy ritual. Why was Gold that desperate to remove her? She could not understand a single bit. And he was so confident that things would go alright.

    Still, did she really wish to be bonded to Gold for the rest of her life? Hell yeah. He had been nothing less of a gentleman, a loveable attitude with an inquisitive outlook. To her, she did not mind going through the river of death again just for him. But still, did Gold feel the same for her?

    Would she be a burden to Gold?

    As much as Weslie wanted to be with him, she did not know whether this was the effect of istion or if these were her true feelings.

    Sometimes, the Schr of the West felt that Gold was merely amodating her, and he admitted once that he did not do much to get her attention, as if implying that he treated her as just a friend.

    "...Fine. But I have a lot of questions, and you better be prepared to answer them! I am not willing to die for good just yet!" Weslie said as she cast a teleportation spell on both of them and left Gold and Weslie alone. (But not before Kraft released another anti eavesdropping inscription in the area.)

    "What do you wish to know?" Gold dragged two chairs in front of them and Weslie sat down.

    "You can start by telling me how you got involved with those people," Weslie demanded, and Gold started recounting their encounter with Jin and what followed after. (He had been very apt at exining this since more and more people kept asking him the very same question. At this rate, he could have written a bible on his lord and saviour, the System.)

    ------

    "Ahhh finally out of the awkward situation," Kraft spoke as he took out his trusty No Mercy revolver. His mouth turned into a wicked grin. He could not help it since every time he took out this weapon, a blood bath was imminent.

    "They have too many things to sort out. Our fight may not give them enough time for that. Both of them obviously want each other at the same time, but seem to believe that they both are just treating each other as friends." Sebastia sighed.

    "Schrs are a weird bunch of people. They should be wise, yet in some ways, they are no more mature than our ''young'' Master." Kraft said as he heard the flowing of water and cracking of fire in the distance.

    "Anyways, go enjoy some exercise first. Once you have had enough, I will enter the fray. Otherwise, it will all be over too soon."

    "Thank you, Betor Kraft. Please do give me your thoughts on my techniques as well." Sebastia bowed formerfully as the snake''s head emerged from the snowy ground.

    "Sure, why not. It will buy those clumsy schrs some time to sort their feelings. But remember. After I intervene, please keep whatever you see to yourself. I''ve not revealed my true strength to Jin yet. Just keep it as a surprise for now." Kraft said, and Sebastia promised.

    "Same goes to you System. I''m looking forward to Jin''s shocked face, so don''t you dare spoil my fun!" Sebastia added as she cracked her knuckles while the Burning Lion was seen charging from afar.

    "Well, what are you waiting for? Get working! Mr Fox does not have all day!" Kraft sniggered as the Water Snake Demon went forth towards Sebastia immediately.

    ------

    "Soбнyou were killed and resurrected?" Weslie did not expect Gold to act so rashly which he eventually admitted his own mistakes.

    "Wellбн technically no. At least not at that point in time. Please keep it to yourself, but unlike Grey, Brown, Yellow or the rest of them, I submitted to Jin, when he promised me that I would see all of them again, just by letting myself hit by his metal box (phone)."

    "Sigh. But can you fully me me? Master Jin, or more urately his hidden power, is an anomaly, that none could have foreseen. His subordinate Zeru had broken into one of our hideouts and stolen some freshly acquired Living Armour tes seeds.

    "We had to pay a hefty price to get them in the first ce and could have used the money to fund our operations for months... or at least prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. But hey! As you can see I am still alright! Fine and dandy and I achieved the impossible and the envy of all the past Schrs." Gold said with a slightly arrogant, filthy tone which made Weslieughed.

    "Immortality," Weslie said with a smile despite her cloak hiding her eyes.

    "With conditions!" Gold smiled widely before he again tried to lower her cloak down. "Don''t worry. It''s just the two of us here. " Her peaceful, delicate eyes along with that sweet looking mouth was a sight for sore eyes as Gold curled her hair behind the right ear where the flesh and bones were apparent.

    Weslie retracted her head a little and Gold apologised, thinking that without the skin, touching the muscle would have hurt her, but she shook her head furiously. After multiple suicide attempts, she felt very little at all.

    "бн.I want you to join us. To see the world we live in and many more. To meet Jin and all those whose life your spell has saved. My Master has even granted us a mansion with a farm in front of it, tended by all of us. You could finally live out the simple life a lot of people dream about." Gold said, but Weslie could see that he was struggling to say something out. It was not until he took a deep breath.

    "бнI бнI missed you. I really did. Not a day went by where I did not regret that I was unable to protect you." Gold confessed while looking straight into her eyes.

    "I always regret not able to say it as I grabbed onto your nearly cold corpse as we fled away from the Compass TowerбнI promise I will absolutely ughter the North and South Schrs for defiling your corpse." Gold then realised he might have been a little too emotional as he saw her eyes were flooded with tears. He remembered how West used herst breath to teleport Gold even further away from the scene as he had already used thest of his mana to fight against the mutiny.

    "As I thought, that my life was over at the fight, myst thought was hoping you would be safe. When I awoke once more, I was looking forward to meet you againбн but then I saw what they did to me. What they forced me to do since then..." Weslie felt those nightmarish memories were ever recurring.

    "Every time I created a new weapon, I wished that none of them would be used against you. Each and every day, my heart ached, and it grew numb by the consistent demands of North and South. I am sorry. I am so sorry! I tried to undermine them. I really tried." Tears flowed like an unending river and Gold attempted toe closer and put his shoulder around her, but she took the initiative first.

    "I will only get uglier, you know? Even if you manage to recreate that necromancy ritual! I may look worse! I might even be a different person than what you see now! You know the repercussions of re-resurrecting a dead person!" Weslie cried, and Gold sighed because it seemed like she did not remember whatever they discussed a while ago.

    "So please, let me be yours. Not because I owed you. Not because of the guilt that I have. But because I really did like you. иC No, I still do! Please let me be in your arms until the end of my life." Weslie wept.

    Gold never thought that a logic drivendy like Weslie could fall into the traps of emotions and act way beyond reason. But he understood the fearбнeven though it was just a little. Since he too had experienced death. Not once nor twice but like a frequent traveller going through the customs. All he could do now was tofort her until she experienced the System''s resurrection herself.

    "Schr Gold, System has determined that Schr Weslie won''t require the necromancy ritual. Her soul has been tightly linked to the two Elder Demons due to various circumstances. System spectes that this was done to prevent the deterioration of her skills and abilities." The System suddenly informed Gold about it.

    "Your rivals have used the highest quality of blood ritual normally performed by powerful demons. Schr of the West, Weslie''s fate is greatly intertwined with the two Elder Demons." System then provided the most optimal solution.

    "To assure a perfect capture, both Elder Demons have to be killed simultaneously, or her soul may fracture."

    "Roger that. Any relevant information from our cute malware Foxy?" Kraft overheard the conversation from the System Channel, and the System notified that there was nothing of note yet.

    "Boring!" Kraft yawned on sight as Sebastia was working out furiously.

    "Sebas, Girl! You heard the System. Just weaken, I will kill them together. Enough with the warm up, time to show off your skills, before I finish it."

    "Yes, Betor Kraft!" Sebastia smiled as she performed her Demonic Minotaur Martial Arts, Drawing the Full Moon, Dividing the Watermelon, and cutting the Water Snake''s tail away despite the watery illusion it used. The Burning Lion had already received damage through its innards with her ''Noodles that Skips The Mouth and into Stomach'' punch.

    "Okay, that is good enough." Kraft sneered as he aimed at his No Mercy at the two Elder Demons.

    ----------

    Suddenly, Weslie felt a strange feeling coursing through her whole body. She could feel her cirction system begin to fail her. Her breathing was getting worse along with it. "Gold!" Her eyes were trembling with even more tears as Gold held onto her.

    Even though he knew that she was going to be resurrected again, Gold could not help but tear at the sight of it. "Shhh ShhhбнI am at your side. Do not worry, Weslie. I am here. I am here for you. I am not going anywhere. It''s just like a short dream. And once you wake up, I will still be by your side."

    Weslie tried her best to cling on to Gold, but her strength was waning by the second, and she disliked that feeling a lot. For the second time in her life, she was fading away from her lover.

    "At the very leastбнI finally confessed my feelings for him. This time he is here for me..." She thought to herself as she could see Gold sweet talking her as if encouraging her that everything will go just fine.

    "You idiot. Thank you for giving me hope..." Weslie smiled weakly as she closed her eyes in peace and soon her flesh disintegrated, leaving just her cloaked robe and dust. However, within that robe, Gold could feel something heavy and went to dig into the robe.

    What he found was the Litoride Gem that the Elder Demon Burning Lion and Water Snake had treasured. "Hahah, those North, South bastardsбнI know you were bastards. But to go the extra mileбн to defile my gift to my love and use it the catalyst for her life. I am иC We will never forgive you."

    "But firstбнSystem suggests that Schr Gold wee his lover at Werejackal''s home instance. System has ced her in your bed. A kiss will be sufficient to wake her up."?The System notified before it automatically teleported Gold back with all the items in that basement hall.

    "Damn System. I didn''t know you were such a romantic."

 Chapter 494 New Dungeon Concep

    <h4>Chapter 494 New Dungeon Concep</h4>

    Back in the Dungeon Maker Jin would have preferred to work on his idea for a new dungeon. However, he realised that there were a number of issues that he shouldn''t be dying. One of such problems concerned the Farming World.

    There were many updates on his minions'' scouting missions, but the most intriguing thing was the reports about his newest addition of monster force - human ves.

    Jin asked the System to show him a live feed where regrettable his biggest worry turned out to be true. Among the ves, hundreds of them were ordinary humans. It was a somewhat unsettling feeling which Jin should ironically be ustomed by now.

    The dungeon supplier had already foreseen that one day they would inevitably capture some humans, but it was still bizarre acknowledging that he now literally owned the lives of hundreds of them, who were supposed to be equal to him given their country''sws.

    It was true that amongst his monsters there were those with human like appearances, like Ke Mi, Niu Lang and of course the werebeasts. Yet at least in his subconscious, he could justify that Ke Mi was multiple centuries old, which made it a bit hard to think of her as a human, and Nie Lang was given to him by the System.

    The werebeasts had initially been human, but Jin could not help but associate them as a werebeast, a different species, though if he was honest, he might admit that it was just his conscience trying to pacify itself.

    And then there were the Savants, which Kraft had ''gifted'' Jin to help and protect him. They had always been a grey area. Even though their bodies were technically robots, they still possessed their human memories. Were they really that different from humans?

    Jin kept silent for a while as he was sorting his thoughts.

    "Not the most ideal form of monsters but they are still regarded as resources." The System stated as sort of console for Jin who seemed to be deeply rooted in thought.

    "... yeah, I guess humans are monsters in the eyes of other species..." Jin sighed and finally epted the fact that the System could capture humans too. Just mulling his brain was not going to solve this problem.

    Even if he released them back to the farming world, would they want to return back as ves again? Should Jin give a choice for them to stay? And if he does that, would that make him biased against other monsters who were forced to stay under hismand?

    That was especially true when the humanoid species like the orcs and goblins too viewed the humans as monsters too. However, he was curious why ughtering the Ruby Rats did not yield him any of the cultivators or even the demon exorcist trainees, and that was where the System stepped in to reason with him.

    "It is not because they have resurrective powers, the System had programmed your weapons and powers such that they will not resurrect anybody from this Earth. Even if you use your monsters, they will not be able to capture anybody from this ce." The System exined which made Jin even more curious.

    "Treat it as a programming syntax. It will create a paradoxical loop or a potential bug in the systemmands. System had performed simtions before and had deduced it was not worth the problem to catch humans from this particr Earth."

    "However, humans from other worlds were of a different matter. Though they may look like humans, their DNA syntax varied greatly from the ones in this Earth, allowing the System to capture them. So technically speaking, those humans that you obtained were of irregrity and can be considered as out of the norm from your ''standard or average range'' of homo sapiens." The System exined, and Jin took the time to digest the information.

    Jin eventually epted the information the System had given and believed it for now until he has further concrete evidence of its word. Still, the dungeon supplier would meet with themter and decide on his future course of action. He took another look at the reviews and was delighted to find a lot of construction materials were among them. (All thanks to the hundreds of dead Demon Rats.)

    "That will definitely reduce the cost of my new idea."

    The System briefly recounted the efficiency of Wolte, the Silver Mage and Dark Temrs, and also informed that they had just captured thest two of the Elder Demons that Gold required Jin for the parts of the Living Armour tes were captured.

    "What?! Who captured the Burning Lion Demon and Water Snake Demon?"

    "Who else but yours truly?" Kraft appeared and removed his coat. "Gosh, that ce was freezing cold. Any longer in there and I''d have gotten frostbite."

    "Why did you do that?" Jin queried. "You normally won''t lift a finger for this kind of things."

    "Why you hurt me, Master! I do a good deed, and everyone treats me like I''ve gone crazy." Kraft dramatically yed the part of a wronged samaritan. Jin just watched the theatrics without entertaining him, patiently waiting for Kraft to get serious again.

    "Tssk, you are no fun. And here I brought a new present for you, one I know you will love. Our ''buy two get three'' deal included a Schr from the Farming World and guess what? She is rather adept in regards to Steam Tech!"

    "North or South Schr?" Jin was surprised at this revtion.

    "None of them. You have one more try. Maybe third time''s the charm." Kraft conjured two ceramic tes with ''X'' on it, emphasising that Jin was wrong while also asking the penguins for some warm food and a hot Blue Mountain coffee via the Dungeon Maker.

    "A new Schr? But I remember Gold telling us that the selection is still far away. There should only be four Schrs at a time, and West was killed ording to him."

    "Nah, still wrong. Well, can''t fully me you for getting wrong information with Gold not knowing any better. We found the Schr of the West. Turns out that North and South turned her into an undead by binding her soul to the two Elder Demons."

    "Oh?" Jin quickly used the Dungeon Maker to check on the stats of the Schr of the West. "Weslie, huhбн" Jin turned his console screen to Gold''s home instance to have a look at the new Schr and marvelled at how affectionate Gold was treating her.

    "Hoooohhh. Is this why you''ve been so cooperative suddenly? Didn''t know you supported their rtionship so much that you were willing to kill those demons for her." (Was this old fox, a softie after all?)

    "Hahah! Just doing a service for a colleague. Besides, we are going to turn her into our spy very soon just like we did with Ayse." Kraft exined how she was the creator of the Steam Tech and all other technology that the Demon Rats were using.

    "Wow, given her abilities, she will be instrumental in the future. Honestly, she sounds much more like a Schrpared to Gold." Jin stated bluntly, and Kraftughed hysterically.

    "Oh, that''s a good one. A good burn. Come to think of it, did Gold ever tell us what speciality he had." Kraft asked ''innocently'' before he thanked the penguins for bringing the food to him.

    "I swear if Gold tells us it''s martial arts, I will make him retire and focus just on farming. Hmm, but that''s already pretty much what he is doing most of the time, anyway." Jin said before he briefly analysed the four Elder Demons in the Dungeon Maker.

    "Should probably be something more general like farming. I guess in the Farming World, this makes him very valuable. Or else, how would he know about the living armour tes."

    "Speaking of them, did you know that the Elder Demons required for the upgrade were pretty much a pet project by the Schr of the West?" Kraft fanned the mes as he sipped his coffee slowly.

    "Ehhhh??? Don''t tell me that he was really missing her so much that he manipted me into getting her pets... I am so going to punish him if that''s the case." Jin recalled how terrible the fight was with Keyrin and not to mention that troublesome spider which apparently was called Spiky ording to the System''s revised entry.

    "Punishment? That sounds right my alley. Would love to see the reaction on Weslie''s face when you tell him."

    "You sick bastard," Jin said as he stole a piece of tonkatsu from his te.

    "Always was and always will be." Kraft agreed as he poured some of this coffee into his Tonkatsu curry rice making Jin nearly puke out the cutlet he was chewing on. "What? Coffee Curry? Never heard of it? Want to give some a try?" Kraft asked with a mischievous grin.

    "No thanksбнI''d rather trust Lynn than your version." Jin shook his head furiously, which turned out to be a mistake. With a snap of his fingers, Evon appeared jumping into Jin''s face and temporarily disabling him. (Jin probably felt that if he struggled more, Evon would use a stronger anaesthetic to numb him.)

    Not missing the chance Kraft used his chopsticks to shoot another cutlet directly into Jin''s surprised open mouth and another one in Evon''s direction as a reward for ying along. Unable to prevent it, Jin swallowed it down. It tasted better than expected, but he wouldn''t admit that to Kraft after what he did.

    Knowing better than to try and argue with Kraft he gave a deadpan stare and subsequently asked the System for details about his two Sub System Users.

    "They returned back to the terrace house not too long ago. One is in the bathroom while the other is already resting on their bed."

    "Want to see some steamy action?" Kraft teased, and Jin only gave him a death stare back in return.

    "Good. Looks like you still have some moral inclination and haven''t been infected by this perverted old fox yet." Yun suddenly appeared right behind Kraft and pulled his ear.

    "Ow ow ow! That''s painful, Yun!" Kraftined, but Yun was not letting go at all. Apparently, she had infused herself with a cultivation that бнwas good at pinching. It was some type of crab cultivation though Jin was unable to clearly identify it as the silhouette was only briefly revealed.

    "The girls are my responsibility. Try anything funny, and you two will have to answer to me." Yun warned before performing the very same disappearing act which most betors nowadays did.

    "I will get the information from them some other day. Looks like everyone had a rough day." Jin sighed, remembering he had not slept for a long time already. However, it was more vital toplete the new idea as soon as possible, so his sleep would have to wait a bit.

    "So what are you going to do?" Kraft asked with more seriousness as he continued with his food.

    "A Dungeon Cave in the Goblin World."

    "That''s a surprise. Why not putting a store there?" Kraft asked as he found it intriguing.

    "Nah, it feels too unnatural to ce a dungeon supplier store there. But! That does not mean I cannot take money from them in other ways. It will be a store but not exactly a store." Jin said as he pitched his idea to Kraft and the System.

    First things first, Jin was going to ce it at the borders between the orcs and goblins. Right smack at the middle. Then he would be using Goblin King Sol and Orc King Frost Echo to spread the news about the discovery of the new dungeon he made.

    It was going to be exactly like the traditionally styled dungeon where a party of four would enter the dungeon and kill monsters. Upon killing the monsters and surviving the traps in the dungeon, there would be a chest at the end of each dungeon floor. Not only that, clearing a level will reveal a staircase down to even more troublesome foes.

    Loot wise? The System had noted that the Demon Rats turned items were an overall boon. A lot of them were growable seeds, and Werejackal Grey had identified them as weapon nts and armour nts which could be grown within their home instance or the Floating Agriculture Sector in the Dungeon City Fortress.

    With a bit of DNA maniption, the armour and weapon nts could produce a significant variation of loot for the Goblin and Orcs to equip. That way, the Orcs would have a reason to fight while attempting to keep peace with the goblins.

    How would they do that?

    Jin had ensured that the party of four would need at least a surviving goblins and an orc or else they would be rejected out of the room. And because the Dungeon Cave was still a dimensional instance, any party that lost one party member could be kicked out of the Dungeon Cave though Jin was still theory crafting and changes would be made along the way.

    "But of course, not during a fight. That would be stupid. The party will be teleported after they finished their room back to an Altar in front of the cave. And with their treasure chest too. Depending on how far they made it, they will get only a fraction of the prizes, but we want to motivate them to try again after all."

    He believed that would at least force them toply watching each other''s back. However, Jin understood that this was just an ideal scenario, and it was questionable how sessful it would be.

    So, in order to establish a precedent and also show off such trust was possible, Jin was going to ask the Goblin King and Orc King toe together, hoping them to participate the very first dungeon crawl.

    While it could prove dangerous to any kings, the two were already under the protection of the System so even if they somehow died, they could simply be resurrected. In fact, Jin predicted that it would deepen their bond and may prove to be the start for a healthy Goblin-Orc rtionship.

    "Ok, that covers the rewards part, but you haven''t told us how exactly you will profit from this." Kraft was curious how it was going to work.

    "Nothing in this world is free. I n to add an Altar of some sort right in front of the Dungeon Cave. It will provide them with the ''blessing of safe return'' in exchange for something...which I had yet to work the kinks out."

    "Perhaps an offering of at least forty silvers. And without it, they won''t be allowed entry into the dungeon entrance. I think we canter ask for a higher price, for those who are able to conquer the first five floors." Jin answered as he began to visualise the whole concept, and Kraft nodded his head.

    "Sounds good, but just putting weapons and armours inside as rewards will limit your customer base. You should add other things like fruits, vegetables and stuff like that." Kraft replied.

    " After a war, most of the Orcs and Goblins won''t travel to the end of their borders for some adventure. They require money to buy food. Therefore, we should give them what they crave. Let''s also insert junk like stuff we get from the Demon Rats to make it rarer for tastier food materials to appear." Kraft suggested capitalising on the current situation.

    "We can use a system simr to how pachinko works. We ''give'' them stuff they won''t need in the dungeon as their rewards and repurchase it posing as merchants outside the cave. It will make them think: ''Hey! It''s worth it to enter the dungeons!''." Kraft added, and Jin''s eyes opened up.

    "A fake self driven economyбн.one that benefits us and not them," Jin whispered to himself.

    "Well, technically you can make it benefit them, but that cer! You need the money, right? Anyway, you will appear more magnanimous, if you benefit themter down the line, instead of giving them everything up front." Kraft continued his ramblings as he worked his brain juice.

    "And we can also charge portal services to controlled town areas. Heck, we can even charge them by providing some ''services''. If we reward them with a seed of some food and use ''magic'' to make it grow, they can get it cheaper than buying it upfront. We can earn back our ''losses'' know." Kraft spoke slyly but said all these were just ideas for his master to y with which Jin got even more interested.

    "I see, I seeбн I will get right to it!" Jin sounded very motivated as he fired up his Dungeon Maker to see if it was feasible. All the sudden brainstorming made Jin feel that this particr Dungeon Cave concept he created could be the next big thing in the Goblin World. All he need to do was to y it right. There would be some maniption in the back end with the two kings and Jin would need the aid of Qiu Yue to do so.

    "Oh and eh make the entrance fee cheaper. A traveller pays like a silver for like 5 days of rest in an inn." Kraft snorted when he remembered Jin wanted to charge 40 silvers for it, there would literally be no oneing at all to venture if the price was that exorbitant. Economy in the Goblin World does not work the same as the Earth his master was staying in.

    "Then, I guess I really need to make use of the Goblins that Qiu Yue had contracted for more information." Jin was thinking of the ministers especially the one versed in economics to advise on some things as well as asking the Deep Ones to start putting some value on the items he wished to ce in the dungeon chests.

    "Looks like another sleepless night!" Jin smiled to himself as he too called for a Blue Mountain coffee via the penguins.

 Chapter 495 Charity Funding

    <h4>Chapter 495 Charity Funding</h4>

    While most of the site was cordoned off by the Police, Dungeons and Panda was the only shop that was still operating in Tiangong Shopping District, and a high number of customers came in to share their sympathies on the day after the incident.

    Many of those regr customers petitioned to Jin to set up a fund for the victims, and since it was additional money for their reconstruction, he epted graciously. However, as shrewd a businessman as he was, Jin did take advantage of the situation and their kindness (to a certain extent.)

    First, he asked the System to create an impromptu page within the Pandemonium app simr to a Gofundme ount in the West. The icon for it within the Pandamonium was shaped as Panda wearing a construction cap holding onto a donation box. The System made sure to create the most innocent looking pair of eyes for the Panda to attract even more sympathy from the crowd.

    On the very top of the page, it stated that 15% of every purchase made through the site, regardless if it was from dungeons, food or items, would be used for the reconstruction efforts of the Tiangong Shopping District.

    Alternatively, they could choose to put it into a donation fund for the residents and store owners that were affected by the triad attack. After their first purchase, they would get a physical Donator Panda badge from Yun which they could wear showing off that they had helped out as well as an electronic one to show their contributions to everyone.

    To spread the news, Jin conducted a brief Q&A session together with Kiyu where he also promised that all the dealings for the funds would be transparent for all to see and a breakdown of the funds received would also be reported in real time. The customers were surprised that Jin was willing to be so open about it and they poured in their support significantly, some were even from overseas which Jin had no idea how.

    Qiu Yue''s ex superior Yi San who happened to pop by as part of the Urban Development Ministry to assess the destruction also took the time to pay them a courtesy call. Qiu Yue informed the older woman that Jin was currently busy and they spent some time with small before she introduced Jin to Yi San.

    "You have a troublesome headache ahead of you." Yi San said after exchanging some pleasantries. Though she wasn''t part of the department of the Urban Development Ministry that dealt with this,?she was called down to assess the damage as a visiting consultant since Yi San was involved in redeveloping this particr region of Tiangong District previously. Yet, with one look, she knew enough to know its a major trouble.

    "Yeah, I am doing what I can to get things going as soon as possible, especially considering this is supposed to be the time of the year where shops should be earning the most money. It is definitely a blow to all of us." Jinmented.

    "I''m sure the banks definitely make it hard for you to lend some money and only do so by devaluing thend here based on its past history. I also doubt money you can receive that way will be sufficient unless you get it from external sources." Yi San remarked, and Jin understood what that meant.

    The quickest and ''safest'' way to get the money would be to turn to the Triads and people with influence like Hou Fei, his Panda Remnant that had a decent position in the Royal Zodiac Snake n or Yang Ling, the Tiger Princess.

    Perhaps, Jin could try to coerce Grandma Yuan into giving him a bit of money, maybe as some sort of development fund from JODE since she was going to create a branch here in Shenzhen using his dungeon supplier store.

    However, given his prior history with her, he could already foresee Grandma Yuan yapping away with her constant nagging turning this into a Trial he would have to ovee by himself.

    "You are not wrong, Old Birdy is certainly that type of person. She''d rather see you suffer and wring in pain-" Kraftmented in the System Channel before hearing a loud thump sound in the background.

    "Do not listen to him, Jin! You''ve done a good dead and have taken in her former disciples. It won''t hurt to ask her." Yun replied and surprisingly sided with her old instructor.

    Yi San then gave Jin a few additional pieces of advice and her contact number if needed help in the redevelopment portion. She figured she could try and squeeze a bit of funds to help ''redecorating'' the ce since the district was also ted for major reworks previously.

    "Ehhбнlet''s just say I have someone in mind. If I contract a private constructionpany to rework the stuff and send you the bill, will you ever consider that? Perhaps pay the necessary reworks?"Jin tried his luck since he knew he should be able to match whatever criteria they needed to meet with the help of the System. Every bit of cash helps, even if it was obtained by somewhat cheating the government funds.

    "I am not exactly sure, but I can check it out for you. The most, I can repay you a given amount. Let me check if I can increase the funding at my side." Yi San as she bid Jin and Qiu Yue goodbye.

    "Thank you, Senior, for helping me a lot. I surely owe you one." Qiu Yue bowed as she walked her out to the front door.

    "No need. I received an anonymous donation right around the time that leecher went missing and you transferred jobs." Yi San replied with a cunning smile. "Take this as a repayment of the favour as well as the revenge taken."

    "But I did not do anything!" Qiu Yue tried to counter, but Yi San ced a finger at her mouth.

    "I totally agree with you. It must have been just a lucky coincidence." Yi San winked and left the area.

    "Kraft." Qiu Yue rolled her eyes, and she called out his name via the System Channel only to get an innocent bird like whistle before he disappeared into nonexistence as always.

    -------

    Later in the day, Jin met up with Xiong Da and Grandma Yuan to finalise the development lease deal of Tiangong Shopping District. Just as expected, Grandma Yuan decided not to render any help to Jin when he hinted about it as subtlety as he could.

    "I expect you to pay the full amount just as agreedбн however, we can arrange a dy for the remaining payment due in half a years time. Is that agreeable?" Grandma Yuan suggested, and the System immediately recalcted the expenses at lightning speed.

    "ording to System''s calction, User should have the budget to begin basic reconstruction with this dy." The System stated before it paused for a while. "Should the User promise toplete a Dungeon Takeover for at least one Rank 80 Dungeon Run in the Dungeon World by the end of December, System will consider releasing the funds for operating cost of a month for the furnishing of the town."

    Jin happily agreed to Grandma Yuan''s proposal, and they concluded the finer details of the lease contract. "After you clear this hurdle, I will provide you with the necessary funds for the creation of JODE branch. Do your best." Grandma Yuan left a voice transmission to Jin before exiting the room.

    With the legal documents for the lease agreement out of his way, Xiong Da remained in the client''s meeting area and asked Jin for a moment of his time. He then wrote a cheque and ced it down on the table, slowly pushing it towards him. Jin saw the cheque and turned pale from the amount Xiong Da was offering.

    "No. Xiong Da." Jin shook his head vigorously. He needed the money, but he could not ept such a massive amount of money from his most loyal customer.

    "Ahhh! Don''t hesitate to take it. Even if I don''t use it, the money is just left rotting in the bank. Might as well let it do some decent work." Xiong Da smiled.

    "This is too much. I cannot, Xiong Da. I already owe you so much for all the services you''ve provided by me. People are queuing up for you, dying to pay you just a fraction of this amount for you to agree to be their legal representative. Yet, I am using you like nobody''s business!" Jin eximed, and Xiong Daughed.

    "And yet you still dare to say it so shamelessly right in front of me!!" Xiong Da continued tough before he was serious with the donation.

    "Take it. This Shopping District had be one of my fondest memories. If not for you, I would neither be as strong nor as happy as I am currently. You did your part to save the district from the clutches of the evil triads. I can''t just sit and watch you getting punished for something that was burdened upon you. "

    "As a regr customer, I am sure you have the vision to make it rise like a phoenix from its ashes. Allow me to provide you with the means. Make it great, Jin. That is all I request! Then perhaps, I can collect that favour back from you by enjoying the dungeons first hand." Xiong Da insisted with glee on his face.

    "Very well. But I am putting this in the Pandamonium Aid page so you can track the ountability of it!" Jin agreed, and Xiong Da approved such an action.

    "With this amount of money, it will take some time for the cheque to be processed. The System is willing to forgo the previous condition and allow you to start remodelling the Tiangong Shopping District." The System said as Jin left his office with a heart unburdened.

    "I am not a saint, nor am I a businessman who does not know how to repay his debts. I will use this money to refurbish the Shopping District, but I will also continue on with the n for the Dungeon Cave. Like you said, we need to diversify a bit, and Kraft''s suggestion was decent."

    "By creating a sort of adventurer camp near the Dungeon Cave, we can take advantage of their economy in there to fuel our workhorses. In the future, I want us to be rich enough to be able to handle such an expense by ourselves." Jin made a promise to himself as he quietly teleported when he saw no CCTVs around.

    ---------

    Without wasting any more time, Jin had already asked Hou Fei for his help to contact a constructionpany to cordon the whole Tiangong Shopping District while blocking the entrance of the subway station.

    There were too many onlookers such as high rise apartments around the district overseeing the rumbles and Jin needed a total enclosure or at least sufficient enough to block the view from most apartments for the dungeon supplier to do its magic.

    The constructionpany was initially curious why they would put up only acoustic construction barriers without the start of any demolition, but a job was a job. The lead administrator tried to persuade Jin to take on their services, but he adamantly declined.

    The dungeon supplier excused himself by stating that he did not have the money as off yet. Seeing how their potential client was penniless, they could only grumble for not telling them sooner the moment they received payment for the setting up of the barriers.

    ---------

    In the meantime, the Goblin King and Orc King had already sent out the announcements about the Dungeon Cave, a ruin appearing so suddenly right in the middle of both of their borders.

    They both imed in their royal decrees that it was the result of some hidden coboration by both nations. This became the first sessful case of cooperation ever since the inception of their mending rtionship after the war.

    "A small sized adventurer base camp has been set up near the Dungeon Cave! Our allies, the half masked humanoids have shared with us, that they had simr experiences with these caves, especially from where they came." The town criers spread the news throughout the Kingdoms.

    "They require members of at least two different races to enter the cave after paying some tribute. Those who do not fulfil these criteria are rejected by the Dungeon Cave. Our glorious King and our friendly counterpart have agreed to band powers and money together and try to conquer the Dungeon Cave!"

    The Orcs were very excited about this piece of news. Finally, they would have another way to vent their frustration for losing the previous war. If this could itch their crave for a good fight, and with their new King setting the example, they would dly temporarily join forces with the goblins for the Dungeon Cave.

    On the other hand, the goblins were interested in the Dungeon Cave primarily of the relics or items that were hidden inside. They knew that such dungeons would usually have treasures of great value. The goblins did not mind working the Orcs if it helps them to earn some extra cash.

    "First few scouting runs indicate that the monsters are pegged to their dungeon floors and rewards are given after the monsters are cleared for that particr floor. A reward chest has magically appear filled with relics, weapons, armours and even fresh food stock." The town crier continued.

    "Both the Kings believed that by running that dungeon, the lives of both goblins and orcs can potentially improve as a whole. The most important thing is that even after one ever gets defeated, you will not die!" The town crier said, and many of the orcs and goblins alike scoffed at the advertising part of the decree.

    "More importantly, not only does onee out rtively unscathed depending on your progress, you still get a minor reward! A seemingly unlimited number of people could attempt the dungeon run at the same time." The town crier added, and many people despite a little sceptical about it, was equally excited by the thrills of earning treasure and weirdly enough, food. Both races also believed that since the Kings were leading them, it should be at least reliable enough to trust.

    The news spread fast, and so did the number of adventurers who wished to try their luck with this new and exotic Dungeon Cave. Unknowingly to Jin, some of the humans who had stayed in the goblin towns had also begun to spread such news to their counterparts. (Including the human spies and their diplomats.)

    "Gosh, it looks like I underestimated this world''s crave for adventure and dungeon!" Jin eximed as he teleported to the site for the adventurer''s base camp upon hearing the System''s review of the situation.

 Chapter 496 Adventurer Base Camp

    <h4>Chapter 496 Adventurer Base Camp</h4>

    The Dungeon Cave in the middle of the two borders had been conveniently ced by Jin near an abandoned town in the goblin''s regions. He believed that if there were signs of development for the base camp, the abandoned buildings would soon fill up.

    As of now the adventurer base camp was loaded with various makeshift tent stores that were at least dozens of metres away from the Dungeon Cave''s entrance. Colourfully draped linen cloth roofs were used as shelters from the weather while the first merchants hadid out items varying from weapons, armour, essories and even food.

    Nearly all of these merchants if not all, were Jin''s Orcs and Goblins that had been working on the construction of the fortress city. All chosen members had been confirmed to have a decent amount of experience in the ways of a merchant. However, for the orcs, they were obliged to wear a half mask to conceal their identity in case someone were to recognise them.

    It was a sad price to pay, having been resurrected yet being unable to tell anyone about it. Should any of their friends or rtivese to visit the Dungeon Cave, the Orcs were forced to feign ignorance.

    Nevertheless, Jin allowed them to control the prices of the wares they held, thereby helping them to reforge any bonds if they so chose. (As long as they earnt a profit at the end of the day.)

    Jin wanted to see the progress of the market driven by buying and selling his own goods. Items retrieved from the dungeon by the adventurers would be purchased at a lower price and subsequently sold at a higher tagged price. And of course, not directly selling back to the said adventurers.

    He already made the preparations so that there would be a ck market merchant that would periodicallye to buy off those goods that were sold by the adventurers for slightly more favourable rates than the merchants, to prevent any of his own merchants from stockpiling. (However, it would be mostly limited to weapons and armours).

    This was because he knew there were a plethora of major underworld gangs in the various worlds that worked away from thew and would definitely try to take a piece of the Dungeon Cave''s loot. (He learnt much from the Triads.)

    So instead of allowing some other underworld gang to prosper, why not make use of this opportunity to create his own fake underworld gang? Some of the Orcs who heard about this idea immediately volunteered.

    The System verified that those who did had underworld operational experiences, making them the best candidate to set up their own gang within the Dungeon Cave territory.

    Jin already had a particr mischievous individual in mind to be in charge of them, one he could perfectly envision as a Bandit Leader without any trouble. (It would be a perfect reward for him helping with the Elder Demons while simultaneously allow the bored Fox Fanatic to incite Chaos upon somebody else.)

    On the surface, this was still seen as a giant cooperation project between the Goblins and the Orcs. The dungeon supplier had, therefore, asked both Kings to station their staunch defenders to ensurew and order were in ce. Goblin King Sol sent Wyrstriker''s father, Argent, the Spear General and dio, the Sword General to monitor thends for at least the first few months of its inception. Meanwhile, Orc King Frost Echo, sent out Cross, the Orcs'' Spymaster for the first month.

    It had been months since the Goblins and Orcs had started traded items, slowly mending their rtionship under the watchful eyes of Spymaster Cross and Dagger General Igni. This adventurer''s base camp existence would be the best proof that both races could peacefully coexist and therefore, lots of steps were taken to ensure this would go right.

    Even though Jin could have created two Dungeon Cave Entrances or perhaps even three to include the humans, that would just have been an easy way out for this world, and nothing would have improved. Qiu Yue had also strongly encouraged her boss to make them work together.

    The Red Panda cultivator who had the two Kings under her control dipped her hands into this adventurer base camp by making the trade routes which she established between both races to create a checkpoint there.

    For now, they would be using this particr checkpoint as a ce to rest and replenish certain stocks. However, Qiu Yue hoped that if this base camp grew big enough, she could build up a trading post right there.

    Lynn had also chimed in by getting her penguins to create a makeshift spot to earn money from travellers and adventurers. Jin had already allocated arge enough space that could potentially feed hundreds in one go with huge makeshift tents for the adventurer''s to partake the food. With the giant Horned Chicken as her new meat dish, she had already whipped up a few simple but very satisfying dishes to be served in that area.

    And as Jin had created the makeshift tents for the restaurant, he realised sanitisation could be a problem. The location did not have anykes or other sources of water anywhere in the vicinity, so he asked the System to work on a proper sanitisation area for the goblins and orcs.

    That was also when (soon to be Bandit Leader?) Kraft jumped in and proposed Jin to utilise the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance.

    Jin realised that was a brilliant idea and told the System to create scrolls of portals to the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring instances which could be sold for a price by the merchants.

    On top of that, he was nning to use that particr idea to create a portal scroll to enter the Deep Reservoir Fishing Instance as well, allowing anyone to fish up food to eat. (But of course, priced at a significantly lower cost aspared to the ones they sold for his cultivators.) At that point, Jin also considered if he should instead directly integrate the Restaurant instance into the scroll since the fishing instance was already part of it.

    Operation: Dungeon Cave had to work. For the prospect of future and more importantly, immediate profit!

    --------

    Both the Goblin and Orc Kings were leading a ratherrge entourage of people who wished to fight in this particr dungeon. Thus, it might take some time for both parties to arrive, so that they could officially open the Dungeon Cave. Jin had decided to use whatever time he had to get on with the renovation of the Tiangong Shopping District.

    While waiting for the System to create a render of the newndscape for the shopping district, he focused on a few misceneous issues which may potentially allow Jin to expand in the long run.

    The first was to allow the store owners who were interested to sell some of his merchandise in the area. In short, he would be their supplier for goods to sell for certain stores, for example, the weapons, clothes as well as inscriptions.

    He already had some specifics in mind. He Rong, the owner of Toyz Connection, could sell the Spinning Tops seeing how it was a major hit ever since its inception. Lai Fu was the perfect candidate to sell some of his own produce which he would get from the Agriculture Sector. If they proved a hit, he might be able to sell them in his world and save the transaction fee that could ur while dealing in the System''s ck market.

    On a separate note, since the System had captured humans, Jin figured he might as well use them for the delivery services his customers had been pestering about for a long time now. This would ensure they would get more cash in a rtively quick time. He and Lynn had thought about it and ultimately decided to sell only the following.

    Chashu Ramen in Red Snapper Broth, the Tonkatsu Curry Rice for the main dishes. Onigiris, the Triple Cheese Pizza, Fried Oreo pie and the cheesecake for dessert. Drinks wise, Jin had made everything avable, but the only drawback was that the users could only use Pandamonium App to order them and it was not avable in other food delivery apps.

    The reason was rather obvious for him but not the customers.

    However, when the news broke out in the Pandamonium forum, everyone went batshit crazy that Jin was going to allow delivery only within 10kilometres of the vicinity (even ignoring that the prices had been jacked up 20% to cover transportation fees).

    They argued that if he allowed other food delivery services to handle, he would be able to cater to more customers and further distances. (Oh, and the sub icon within the Pandamonium app? Jin had named the food delivery service as Pandafull.)

    Yet, Jin made his stand and replied in the forums stating that this was for now just an experimental project. He wanted to ensure that the food remained at its highest quality when being delivered.

    And the dungeon supplier was not joking.

    Jin had the System to create a delivery bag that provided temporal stasis for the food which utilised the same concept as the storage areas for Lynn''s kitchen. He also enhanced it with gravitational inscriptions to ensure the food would not be rocked should the Farming Humans get into any idents like tripping or idental crushing of the bag.

    He did not trust other food delivery drivers to maintain the food in their best condition. Worse, his reputation could suffer, if some decided to try possibly cheating the customers. (There were documented cases of this) But now that he had Farming Humans, he had reliable workers after inserting a few upgrade cards he created himself.

    The customised upgrade cards were no weapons but the Pandafull Delivery Bags, detailed information about Shenzhen''s location on par with GPS as well the (most expensive one to create) and a temporary Humble Horse Cultivation Grade 1.

    In the future, they would have to learn the Cultivation themselves as it was quite costly to upkeep, but on the flipside it allowed them to move long distances on foot quickly without the need for any bikes, allowing them to take short cuts based on their ''inherent'' knowledge of the city.

    These former ves were already grateful that they had seemingly somehow survived the fight against the ''demonic'' beings at the trading town of Wecha. While it was strange that they awoke somewhere unfamiliar, most initially assumed that not much would change, trading one Master for another.

    Fortunately, they could not have been more wrong. Food was a hundred times better than the scraps of stale bread. There were a spacious bed and roof above them instead of the hard dusty ground that had awaited them each day. The Farming Humans was also afraid when the first being they encountered had been some of the Orcs who were still upying the Guest Home Instance. They thought they were going through another hellhole.

    However, they soon realised that those Orcs were far morepassionate than those Demon Rats could have ever been. Many of them showed them the ropes and even introduced them to other minions in the ce, including the infamous resistance group, Jacks from their farming world.

    Meanwhile, the announcement of this particr food service had caused Lynn''s penguins to be working overtime, busy preparing sufficient food not just for the dungeon supplier store but for the Pandafull delivery service.

    Based on the statistics of the type of food that was consumed in the Restaurant Instance for the past month, they had begun creating dozens of dishes and ced them into temporal stasis awaiting the next day when the service would go live.

    The whole endeavour was not cheap, but Jin believed the Pandafull delivery service will bring in more than sufficient profit to cover the cost which the System concurred as well.

 Chapter 497 Dungeon Cave Opening Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 497 Dungeon Cave Opening Ceremony</h4>

    "So, we meet again." Frost Echo greeted Sol, who bowed slightly in return. Hundreds of eager adventurers were awaiting the opening of the Dungeon Cave. Each one equally afraid to enter toote, fearing that others might clear out the cave within a single trip given their vast numbers at the adventurer''s base camp.

    Though the town criers and even the Kings had assured them repeatedly that the half masked humanoids promised the Cave would be filled with wonders and surprise regardless of their adventurers, it was hard to believe.

    Jin had initially proposed the first party to be led by the respective Kings, but many in their council spoke out against such an endeavour. What might be seen as the most powerful sign of cooperation would definitely threaten the minor humanoid towns as well as the humans who were staying at the side of the Goblins.

    Both sides agreed that assassins and spies from other countries would be within the adventurer camp just waiting for an opportunity to sabotage such an act should the kings enter the dungeon cave. Thus, the kings had decided to heed their council''s advice and solely be present for the opening of this Dungeon Cave.

    "No fun..." Kraft had already been looking forward to collecting some more ''volunteers'' amongst any wannabe assassins, but Jin consoled him by reminding him about his new responsibilities. He himself wasforted by the fact that the two kings preferred the event to proceed with sess rather than risk any interruptions.

    Before the opening of the Dungeon Cave, both of the Kings were given a chance to address the audience. Groups of adventurers were already specting which king would be the first to give their speech as it was basically an extension of power emphasising for all how the power bnce really was.

    However, all this spection was for nought as Jin, who had been on site as soon as the System informed him about their arrival, proposed to decide everything with ''the will of the Gods''.

    A simple coin toss would decide which king would speak first. Everyone in the vicinity disagreed with the way it was handled but also epted that it was a rather ''fair'' idea to get things done without any political implications.

    The coin tossed by Jin as a (rtively) neutral partynded with on tails, which represented the Orc King''s choice, and so Frost Echo went up the temporary podium and gave his speech to both Orcs and Goblins and the visiting Humans. It was rather short rhetoric but filled with emotions that he hoped that the Orcs could learn to cooperate alongside the goblins. He ended by using himself as an example with his life entrusted to a Goblin, their current Spymaster.

    Most of the Orcs may have been sceptical by this in the past, but the Goblins had already proven their superiority by winning the war. (And Orcs who always loved a good fight will respect the champion.) Therefore they were at least willing to give it a try, seeing how the Dungeon Cave somehow required a variety of races to enter.

    The subsequent speech by the Goblin King was more factual and reminded both races that in that cave, the only one watching their backs would be their fellowrades. "It''s like a trial of fire, to see if the bonds of Orcs, Goblins and maybe even Humans and Humanoids can be forged and tempered through the cave, giving rise to a better understanding among all our races."

    Goblin King Sol admitted that it would not be an easy task but used the examples of the Orc and Goblin merchants at the adventurer camp who came together regardless of race so they could do one job. To service the adventurers through the cave and grow rich with them. His speech was surprisingly well received, especially thatst particr line made both races simultaneously cheer because that was what they all wanted to aplish.

    At the end of these two short speeches, Jin came forward to activate the Altar right in front of them. The Panda Altar with a te right in front of it shone brightly and spoke in a strange sounding voice (Chinese) since it was governed by the System. (In fact, the whole piece ofnd between the two kingdoms had been bought by Qiu Yue for dirt cheap, giving the System control of the ce.)

    "Worthy Adventurers! Heed my warning. This cave is filled with treacherous traps and monsters! Offer a tribute if you wish to enter this perilous ce, and you will be protected by my blessing!''" Jin tranted for the confused looking adventurers.

    "From our personal experience, the tribute required consists of at least two copper coins for each adventurer before the Dungeon Cave will allow anyone entry. Upon noting that the adventurers have ced their tribute, the Panda Statue will glow slightly to see whether the tribute was genuine." Jin exined briefly how they had set it up to work.

    "Any outsiders who attempt to enter without paying any tribute will be attacked by heavenly mes without any mercy." Jin continued and warned them, leading to murmuring among themselves.

    "Do not worry, the Panda Statue and the Dungeon Cave are in a way sentient like how certain mages can speak to animals and trees. So you can be sure that you guys won''t have to risk your lives unless stated clearly."

    "Venerated Masked One, I have heard, that one does not die inside the cave, is that not true? Are there parts of the cave where death is unavoidable?" One of the Orcs asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Our race has studied this sort of Dungeon Cave back in our homnd. We have managed to ce a spell for the first ten floors ensuring that none of you may be killed as long as you do not venture further down." The half masked panda cultivator assured the masses.

    "However, we cannot guarantee anything below the tenth floor because our magic seems unable to reach deeper. Perhaps in the future, when we find a way to purify a particr floor of the Dungeon Cave without too many expenses, we will do so. Some of the materials you may find could prove quite helpful for our research." Jin created an impromptu excuse.

    While Jin could have made the dungeon participants unkible for every part of this new Dungeon experience, he figured that this could potentially create an imbnce in their societies. Seasoned adventurers might grow to the point where they could band together sparking wars.

    Both kings agreed to the idea that sometimes death was necessary for the kingdoms to maintain the bnce of power. Still, the only things that would not die were Jin''s monsters, and those were dying for fights especially the ones who had stayed in the Sanctum of Worlds for the longest time and had no other work to do.

    Even the Orcs who were working in the construction had been permitted to take turns in order to enter the dungeons and let out some frustration. On the condition that their skins ought to be tainted with other colours so they would be unrecognisable as the former orcs that dwelled in their country.

    Customised helmets were also made to protect their identity, and the System had provided them with weapons and armour which it had collected from killing Demon Rats.

    "So, beware of this dungeon, for after the tenth floor, even some of our Humanoids have been unable to make it back to the surface. It''s regrettable, but our kind is not as numerous as your two races. For the glory of exploration and the endless amount of rewards, we have opened this Dungeon Cave for the rest to enter!" Jin stopped dramatically as hisst statement resulted in a lot of cheerful apuse.

    "To help our kind learn even more about these caves, and to help you aplish this, we have prepared a dozen of counters right over there. That one will create an adventurer license card. This ordinary looking card shall give you the most important ability in that dungeon. The ability to escape at any time." Jin announced, and everyone started to chat loudly. Most had assumed they would have to climb back to the top to return from the dungeon cave, but if what Jin shared was true, it would change everything.

    "This card can act as your identification keeping track of how many floors of the dungeon you have conquered as well as the number of times it has taken you to conquer each floor. Additionally, you can use the card as magical storage for the items you receive or are rewarded inside the cave. Should you ever lose this, nobody else can open it. Even if someone dares to kill you within the cave to try and steal something from you, it will be in vain" Jin said, and everyone was delighted at that particr fact.

    "Speaking of killing! Let me be perfectly clear so that none of you sumbs to the temptation of greed. Like I said, the Dungeon Cave is sentient! Not only can it ce one party on a different first floorpared to another party, it despises the act of betrayal. Should one of you kill your own party members, the Dungeon Cave will haunt you forever! If you do not believe me, then try it! Some of those who went before you were trapped in the Dungeon Cave eternally, for their insolence." Jin warned in a dead serious tone, and both races felt that something simr might have happened with the Humanoids.

    "Then what if one of ourrades dies during a fight?" The goblin wanna be adventurer asked loudly.

    "If yourrade dies a swift death, we rmend recovering the fallen body so that he can be handled by our specialists (Panda Nurses) after your fight. The Dungeon Cave may reward such an act of benevolence in the future. For it is ever watching, ever remembering the acts of the adventurers in the cave."

    "However! If a fight proves too challenging and you feel the need to escape with the license card, then it might be advisable to do so instead. Eventually, the license card will automatically teleport the fallen to the adventurer''s guild we have set up. It''s a spell mechanism that we have put in ce to ount and set a memorial up for them. So, there is no shame in retreating, for you live another day to take your revenge in this ruthless Dungeon Cave." Jin replied.

    "Esteemed masked one, you said the card will teleport the dead, but what if someone stole that card instead?" An Orc queried, and Jin smirked at him.

    "Any of you can give it a try. Trust me, it won''t be something pleasant." Jin concluded his exnation to the masses and arge number of Orcs and Goblins had begun rushing towards the counters filled with half masked pandas humanoids to get their adventurer cards.

    They were all the farming Humans which Jin used to have the counters operational. It would feel unnatural to use Orcs and goblins for this particr case. Some of them were excited to work for their new master while others were just curious how the Orc''s world looked like based on their conversations in the Guest Instance.

    Without further ado, Jin had Adventurer 001, while the Kings received 002 and 002 as part of the ceremonial courtesy of the adventurer base camp. The next card started with 004 and the first 300 wouldter be as the ''First Generation of Adventurers''.

    "And thus begins the great Adventurer Age." Kraft who had been at the sidelines to spy on any suspicious looking characters, teased his master as he patted him on his shoulder.

    "Hopefully. I''m already happy if we can earn some money from all this fake economy." Jin sighed in his transmission to Kraft since he did not want anyone else to know what this whole scheme was about.

    Right now, the adventurers had brought some cash with them and with any luck, they would be buying the services provided in his ce. Registration to be an adventurer, food, amodation were the things Jin was trying to earn from them.

    But the most important thing was that people from all over the kingdoms would bring their goods to most likely banter, buy and sell which allowed the System to earn money. The adventurers were just the lure in Jin''s eyes.

    It''s the economy of both kingdoms, with hopefully soon even the humans and maybe some humanoids, but ultimately the purchasing power of those kingdomsbined was the deal behind this Dungeon Cave scheme. Jin might not be a business student, but he believed that this particr scheme was an excellent way to control the economy of this world.

    And if that was not enough? The Dungeon Cave would be coting data from all the adventurers, and any adventurers who died would technicallye into the possession of the System which it will dly use to increase the workforce for both the Dungeon Cave or the Dungeon Fortress City.

    No matter the oue, the System always wins!

 Chapter 498 Dungeon Cave Instance

    <h4>Chapter 498 Dungeon Cave Instance</h4>

    For the first time in history, themoners between the Goblins and Orcs reached apromise and banded together to try their luck in the Dungeon Cave. For the reward of attempting to see each other as equals, Orc King Frost Echo had personally enchanted the first ten parties with his ice magic, making their armour stronger and sturdier.

    Goblin King Sol did the same by enchanting their weapons with his Light magic, making them sharper and emitting a small shining light, allowing for an easier time in the dungeon without the need for torches.

    To the adventurer''s surprise, the first floor was brightly lit with various lighting that did not seem to originate fromnterns or torches. They saw miniscule wires along the cave tunnels and at every five to ten metres interval, there was a small bulb like object that shone brighter than any torches they had ever seen.

    Most orc viges were too poor to afford any lightings, and even in some of the smaller towns, it was a bit rare. Except for the capitals and the major towns, the orc vigers in the first party had never seen such stuff before. The goblins, on the other hand, were not as surprised with most of their cities powered by electricity.

    As they would eventually find out these lightning privileges were only avable on the first ten floors. On the eleventh floor onwards, the System was programmed to ce torches at irregr intervals. They would need to steal the torches to proceed forward or learn to bring in their own lighting source topensate for it.

    Jin had designed the whole Dungeon Cave experience simr to an MMORPG. He wanted to make things easy and approachable, providing everyone with an authentic taste for adventuring. The first ten floors were intended to act like a tutorial. The first time an adventurer cleared a level would result in a guaranteed chance of a random weapon and armour pieces that consisted of chest te, boots, helmets, gloves and perhaps shields.

    Any subsequent visit to an already cleared floor would yield lesser rewards, most often in the form of materials, but it would not be impossible for parties to try and make a living by not risking their lives.

    The first floor was filled with copies of the Wyrm Ants. The System had disabled their elemental properties for the first floor, only activating them on the second. That itself had already proven to be a challenge since the parties never seen such a monster before.

    They assumed those wyrm ants were just a variant of an Ant but most of them were dead wrong when they came charging towards them without any regards for their life. Howwever, the Wyrm Ants were not stupid and did retreat whenever it sense that it was in a trap, giving its prey a chance to chase after it too.

    Starting with the third floor onwards, Zombies began to appear as requested by Half Ghoul Lord Derek. Derek felt that his zombies were not getting much love in the Great Wall of China Instance as they used too.

    He wanted them to practice more, but after the introduction of the Raid Instance, the zombies had seemingly been forgotten by most of the cultivators. This particr dungeon was an excellent way for his zombies to gain more experiences and hopefully grow stronger in the process.

    Their progression was simr to the wyrm ants with the third floor holding regr zombies and the fourth level of the Dungeon Cave adding elemental zombies. Only unlike the wyrm ants, the adventurers would have to contend with various kinds of elements like poison, sleep, paralysis and stun aspared to the wyrm ants who had fire and frostbite.

    While some parties managed to power through the particr floor by tolerating the aliments, this notion did not hold true for all of them. Thus, they would be forced to return to the base camp where the merchants were selling antidotes and even potions against specific ailment resistances.

    The merchants knew that selling these various antidotes and ailment resistance potions would generate a rtively reasonable sum of profit at the start, but these misceneous recovery items were all needed to lead up to the sale of the more potent remedy that could increase resistance to ailments.

    An all resistant potion.

    Of course, the merchants employed by the System were not stupid. By pricing the various antidotes fairly cheaply, they could jack the price of a minor ''all resist'' potion by at least three to four times the price even though the System bought all these potions for nearly the same cost.

    Besides, the potions were selling like hotcakes when the adventurers pieced the information together at the makeshift adventurer guild headed by someone who Jin felt that she was working out of her normal scope of work.

    Zhi Nu.

    She felt wanted to contribute more towards Jin when she saw Niu Lang working hard in the Star Cross Industries. The Weaver Girl knew nuts about machines, but she had learnt a fair bit about management when she was being schooled back in her world''s Heaven''s academy. That was why Zhi Nu wanted to help Niu Lang by first establishing and learning the ropes from the beginning by being in this particr adventurer guild.

    Zhi Nu would tell the other merchants about the gathered information she overheard while handling the farming humans through the System Channel. This gave the merchants a heads up to perform their tricks as well preparing sufficient stock for sale.

    Thus, the adventurer''s guild and the Merchants had long coordinated among each other even though they were all busy handling their customers and pete'' against each other (They all had a quote to fulfil after all).

    Meanwhile, some adventures who were too poor to afford those potions had decided to fight more cautiously, and others had decided to return to take on jobs that were in the vicinity. What jobs one might ask?

    The dungeon supplier had told both Kings that he had already created an opportunity for the two races to work together. The rest was up to them, but Jin ''leisurely hinted'' that a small vige could be useful and fortunately, there was an abandoned town in the vicinity.

    Thus, the two kings had signed a royal decree and pooled money together to create the vige. Any adventurer''s who did not mind this back breakingbour could earn some additional cash by helping clear the abandoned vige and aid with the construction of it. Qiu Yue also chimed in by providing improved schematics by Jin''s researchers to improve the quality of life of the adventurers. (At a cost too)

    That was how Jin pushed his self driven economy and started to take the share of this Goblin World''s money pie to eat. With the tasty food by the (half masked) penguins, the constant avenue to earn some revenue and a possible permanent ce to stay when they built the site up, the opportunistic goblins and orcs began to see that there was hope. And it was this hope propelled them as a united front.

    In the subsequent days, the Human Kingdom had sent emissaries to visit both the Goblin Kingdom and the Orc Kingdom proposing that the Humans take part in the vige building endeavour as well. They were farsighted enough to see that the cooperation of the Goblins and Orcs could threaten their own existence if they decided to stay their hand on this particr matter.

    Frost Echo and Sol had both agreed to the human''s participation on the condition that they who hade inte invested the same amount both Kings had already paid into this vige. Unable to decline, they epted and the humans sent out their own entourage of adventurers as well as the paraphernalia support needed for the construction of the vige (Not to mention more gold.)

    As expected, budding alchemists, mages and healers had decided toe in and try to make a quick buck when they heard how the dungeons could not be coped with brute force alone.

    Unfortunately for them, the merchants who were present offered a wide variety of options so that those support adventurers who arrived eventually ended up paying for more to enhance their own supportive roles by providing their value added services to join the adventurers.

    As the days went by, some of the adventurers managed to hit Dungeon level five where Jin had ced Shu''s Praying Mantis as their first boss that they would be fighting against. There were no tunnels, no tight spaces but a spacious hall with the praying mantis munching on some meat. Jin purposely ced the Praying Mantis there as a definitive test of the adventurer''s teamwork.

    It was by no means an easy fight, but it gave many of the adventurers the feel of adrenaline with the Orcs undoubtedly excited to be fighting against such a terrifying monster.

    Eventually, after a full day had passed without any team able to defeat it, the first three adventure groups who had managed to reach that floor had met up and discussed possible ways to ovee this challenge.

    In the end, they not only seeded in defeating it, but their names had appeared under the Panda Statue as the first few parties to seed leading to the most other adventure teams following their example by making use of each race''s natural talent.

    The Orcs took pride in their sturdy build, enabling them to take and dash out a lot of beatings, so most parties had them act as the tank of the party or their offensive tank. The goblins were generally nimble due to their size, and most of them took on the role of sub attacker, by providing ranged support or surprising the enemies from behind. Lastly, the humans took the positions of support or finishers where they were either healers or mages.

    Nevertheless, there was a considerable number of exceptions, turning party matching in the adventurer guild almost a bloodbath. In these moments, Cross and dios'' security regiment came in to break the fight.

    Many of the Orcs tried to challenge the famed Sword Goblin General after the war, and those whosted for more than ten exchanges could be counted with less than one hand. Meanwhile, Cross was so agile that the battle ended even before it could start.

    This showed that the presence of security and the response of security teams was equally important even in this (rtively) small adventurer base camp. So that brought in the question of how?

    Let''s start with Qiu Yue previously pressurising the two kings to sumb to her demands by allowing her to buy thend at the middle of their borders at a very cheap price. (Jin tried to stop her, he really did, but in the end, he was powerless to stop her too.)

    So, although it was stated that the dungeon cave was in between the borders of two kingdoms and was still under their authority, thend actually belonged to the humanoids.

    With that in mind, the System had full control over that area and had ced various magic eyes to keep track of the ce. As thend owner, the Red Panda Cultivator rented the ce out to both kings at a rate that they were both satisfied paying. (Considering how much they owed her, they believed it was a reasonable thing to do while the kings seemingly forgot that they were pretty much controlled by her.)

    Thus, Cross was sent out via the System''smands to catch thosewbreakers and explicitly showed that thews of their kingdoms were applied strictly. It was not a pleasant sight, but it reminded people that while this might be a new haven, big daddies were still watching among the people.

    However, the heartening thing was that all three major races despite their differences and the usual racist remarks towards each other could still put aside their long standing grudge in just a few days to work together and fight against amon enemy.

    The kings while still cautious of the optimistic early results, were delighted to see such a scene and had pledged to aid the ce even more to ensure it would stay this way.

    Even though a whole Earth day had passed, the profits that Jin had earnt from this particr endeavour were increasing by the (Earth) hour. The dungeon supplier now hoped that more of this profit would continue to roll in theing days giving him more assurance in terms of money flow for he had started to focus more on the Tiangong Shopping District.

    "With only 12 days away from Christmas, let''s hope that I can finish in time, so there is at least a week of sales for the owners." Jin thought as he prepared a bottle of Blue Mountain Coffee right beside him. Going through all nighters was one thing, butmunication with the rest of the store owners was another nightmare he had to brace himself for.

    Though right now, he was going to build the most unique and iconic feature Shenzhen would ever have. One it would be remembered for in the future.

 Chapter 499 New Tiangong Shopping District?

    <h4>Chapter 499 New Tiangong Shopping District?</h4>

    "Hey Old Fu, did you also get the message from Boss Jin?" He Rong called Lai Fu, who was scratching his head and yawning since he had woken up only seconds before.

    "...huh? What message are you talking about? Do you know what time it is?!" Lai Fuined as he looked at the rm clock showing it was roughly 6.30am. Even his wife was mildly irritated by the early call as she turned to the other side of the bed and continued snuggling on her bolster.

    "You would have done the same in my shoes! бнSomething drastic has happened to Tiangong Shopping District. Just look outside and take a look for yourself!" He Rong hurried his friend as he could not believe his own eyes. The Toyz Connection store owner lived approximately a few blocks away the same as most of his peers from the shopping district, including Lai Fu.

    "Calm down, you are not making any sense. What exactly happened? I thought Jin was still in the midst of removing the debris so that we could renovate or rebuild our shops. You can''t mean...is it another Ruby Rat ambush?" Lai Fu sat up almost immediately and started to dress his shirt over his singlet as he rushed over to the main hall of his apartment.

    At that moment, Lai Fu was slightly stunned and nearly dropped his phone as he opened the curtains to overlook the state of Tiangong Shopping District from afar. (His apartment was on top of the hills, further away from the shopping district and nearer the edge of Tiangong District.)

    "Are my eyes ying tricks on me? Isбнis that a tree?" The Fresh Price General Store store owner rubbed his eyes a few times and pinched himself to see if he was really awake. Arge gigantic tree had appeared right smack at the centre of Tiangong Shopping District. And it was not an ordinary tree if Lai Fu could see it clear enough at kilometres away from his house.

    "That''s all you got to say?! You are kidding me, right? From my perspective, that is a HUGE ASS FUCKING TREE. Like how the hell did Boss Jin even manage to import a tree this big?!" He Rong asked rhetorically.

    Outside his apartment, some people who went out for work were pointing at the anomaly. Even though the acoustic construction barriers were still up, He Rong could see many of residents near the Tiangong Shopping District taking pictures of the enormous tree and theorising how Jin had aplished such a feat.

    From what he could overhear, some imed that he employed a group of western mages to spur the growth of this tree while some others seemed to have taken inspiration from the tale of Jack and the giant beanstalk wondering if Boss Jin had bought or created some magical beans to create this tree overnight.

    Some nastier opinions pointed out that the dungeon supplier was lucky the tree did not grow to the heavens, else it would be disrupting the air traffic in the vicinity.

    However, despite all the mindless chattering, there was no doubt that the colossal tree was as high as the apartments in the area and had be the talk of the morning.

    Some residents recalled how Jin had initially created his shop in less than a night, and people were eager to learn what kind of constructionpany could create such miracles unless it was prefabricated buildings.

    Though this rumour has long since been debunked. Some construction specialists had heard about it, hade to check Jin''s shop out in the early days. After some personal inspections (out of their own interest), they swore it was definitely not prefabricated in their eyes but solid groundwork. They could not fathom which constructionpany managed to do this overnight without the help of a crapload of western mages.

    The same thing could be said about this colossal tree right in front of them, but the gossipers believed that even those well versed in nature magic would not boast about being able to perform such a feat. To put it frankly, if there were a few who could perform such a brilliant disy of magic, the amazon forest would not be threatened in any way.

    "Ah yes, you should check your phone. Boss Jin had messaged us through the Pandamonium App asking us to meet him and gather as many, possibly all of the store owners in by today. Si Fang has already messaged and strongly emphasised to everyone toe at all cost in our Mechat Group." He Rong was d that Jin had pushed Si Fang to get all the store owners to at least verify the insurance im by yesterday.

    He believed that if Jin created such a tree amid all the damaged stores, there would be no way to verify and assess the extent of damage those Ruby Rats had done.

    "Hmm..if he is rushing, there can only be one thing..." Lai Fu pondered at his balcony as he was still in awe with the colossal tree right in front of him. "He might want us to reopen the stores by Christmas or maybe a few days before Christmas."

    "He cannot be that considerate, can he? The expenses he needs to fork out are already tremendous just to aplish the recovery of the shopping district!" He Rong could not buy that particr reason though at the same time he was hoping that it was true.

    The pending insurance coverage was adequate to get by, and this made most of the store owners resign to the fate that they would lose business for Christmas at best and at worst the Chinese New Year period as well.

    "No use wondering, we will know for sure once we meet with Boss Jin." Lai Fu replied as he started to make his own breakfast. He briefly looked through the store owner''s chat group, yet Jin himself was not included there. In fact, none of them knew his phone number or Mechat ount and realised they had beenmunicating with him exclusively via the Pandamonium App.

    The store owners who saw He Rong''s picture in the group chat were all scratching their heads at how Jin was going to handle the reconstruction of their stores. Some even worried that the newndlord was going to break the promise and kick a few shops out of the shopping district with the new sightseeing feature.

    However, Si Fang did what he could to relieve the anxiety among the store owners who reacted that way. He too understood what the owners were going through as they could foresee the colossal tree bing the future main attraction for Tiangong Shopping District.

    The shoppingmittee head could notprehend how the shops would be ced if the tree was at the centre of the district. Thus, he could only assure them that their newndlord would have their answers ready.

    Ironically not shortly after everyone had been calmed down, Jin sent out another message to store owners in the Pandamonium chat group. An ultimatum which he asked Si Fang to copy paste into their group chat.

    He demanded with the vested power as the newndlord to all store owners to attend the meeting he was set up in his Dungeons and Pandas store at 12 o''clock or else there was a high chance he would not entertain their request to remain part of the district any longer.

    True enough, not all of the store owners had arrived at the allocated meeting time at the Dungeons and Pandas, but Si Fang asked Jin to give him some time to contact them.

    The dungeon supplier was aware that some store owners had decided to close their shop permanently after the incident as they believed the shopping district had to be cursed with the episodes of the pachinko fire and now the Ruby Rat.

    However, after some convincing on Si Fang''s part, Jin eventually decided to give theters some leeway before he brought the other store owners to the meeting room instance where everyone was surprised by the atmosphere of the office environment.

    A replica model of the tree was right in front of the conference table as well as the design of theyout outside of the tree that upied the shopping district.

    "Thanks for waiting, I managed to reach all five of them, and everyone refused to enter this new phase of the Tiangong Shopping District." Si Fang entered the conference roomst with the aid of Yun.

    Three of them did not believe in Jin as the newndlord and instead assuming he was crazy to pull a stunt like that, while thest two had reached their retirement age and had decided to let their business die off with the new renovation of Tiangong Shopping District.

    "I see, then we shall get started." Jin, who looked more presentably for the asion with a set of formal shirt and pants, had begun his presentation. Only instead of a standard presentation, the dungeon supplier used the Tiangong Shopping District model right in front as the prop for discussion.

    "This will be the new phase of Tiangong Shopping District. I assume all of you have seen the giant tree right outside the store, considering it is a bit hard to miss, that will be our new mall." Jin started with a joke, earning some polite chuckles before he became more serious.

    He went forth to the middle of the conference table and removed half of the tree replica right in front of them, showing the anatomy or the intersection of what was inside the tree.

    The store owners immediately understood the purpose of that tree.

    Instead of the typical modernistic style of new malls, Jin had chosen to go for the opposite route in this concrete jungle city.

    As Jin had mentioned, the tree was indeed like a mall with a number of floors that could amodate more than the number of upants that were sitting in this room. The stores would be situated around the circumference of the tree, with the centre carved out be empty in order to insert a gigantic copper Panda statue which resembled one of the highest ranking deities in heaven, Tian Gong.

    Moremonly known as The Jade Emperor.

    Kraft found it extremely hrious that Jin had decided to use the Jade Emperor, the past nemesis of the System at the epicentre of his shopping district. However, not in the image of him directly but the very symbol of the Panda n.

    "A direct insult to him!! I am loving this district already!" Kraft was rolling on the floorughing at the sight of the copper Panda statue. It was draped in the design of royalty clothes as well as the crown in a separate instance within the Dungeon Maker as the System was continuously refining the said statue.

    Jin dubbed it the Panda Tian Gong Statue which he would use as advertisement for the district so that the panda statue would gather love and poprity from the visitors.

    It was also a subtle move to gain support for the lost Panda n and the System approved of it so much that it had decided to use the highest quality of copper and gold to create the statue. At the same time, it also employed the goblin craftsmen to refine the details, ensuring it would be lifelike despite the type of material they used. (Copper can be considered evesting, since it does not rust, and very easy to mould into shape.)

    But back to the issue at hand, the store owners realised that though numerous there was not much space in each of the individual stores with thergest not even sufficient to house He Rong''s old store. That was when Jin looked at them with disbelief.

    "Are you kidding me, guys? You all still cannot figure out why I haven''t put that much space for the storefronts? Do I need to remind you how I earn my bread and butter?" Jin asked them somewhat impatiently, and Lai Fu and the others suddenly felt very stupid, which led to a series ofughter.

    "You are not joking, right? You are for real that you are going to do that?! Because if that''s the case, I am going to send in an absurd number of requests for you to fulfil it." Lai Fu questioned Jin seriously, and the dungeon supplier returned with a smirk.

    "Trust me anything is possibleбн for a price of course." Jin smirked at him, and slowly, the store owners came to understand the ramifications of Jin''s im.

    Jin was going to make a dungeon instance for all of their stores. And each one of them could have it designed anyway they wanted. (as long as they were willing to pay for it)

    "Don''t worry I won''t nickel and dime you guys. The charity fund that I have created will be split among you guys after I sent some rpense to all the victims that were involved in the fight. I am giving it out equally to everyone, and all these funds would be ounted in the Pandamonium Charity Report. I want each one of you to start as soon as possible in this critical period of time. That was why I urged all of you guys to be here for this meeting" Jin reiterated, and the store owners understood Jin''s reasoning for not revealing everything up front.

    He only wished for those to remain who genuinely cared for the district, who attended this meeting with concern and not greed in mind.

    "There are some things that came out from my pocket, like the subsequent decorations and the Panda Tian Gong Statue. However, the rest can be seen in the report if you download the Pandamonium App." Jin stated as he opened the report right in front of them at the projected screen on the wall, detailing the approximate amount all of them would be receiving as rpense.

    He was nning to make this whole tree mall ''instance friendly'' so, Jin required all store owners to individually install a (slightly modified) Pandamonium app into their phones to fully utilise the dungeon instance making process.

    Each and every store owners were extremely excited as they were given a chance to make their dream shop a possible reality.

 Chapter 500 The Beginning of a Brand New Star

    <h4>Chapter 500 The Beginning of a Brand New Star</h4>

    Even though the amount in the charity funds appeared quite substantial at first nce, it would have to be divided between numerous victims.

    Jin knew how much a dimensional instance would cost based on the System''s requirements and the store owners currently allocated cut of the funds alone was not sufficient.

    If possible, Jin would have preferred not to use the fat cheque which Xiong Da had handed him, but in order to create the ideal version of the Tiangong Shopping District he envisioned and more importantly do so in time before the uing Christmas, he had to spend that money to earn more money.

    When Jin had offered the store owners his services for instance making, and the System had promptly jacked up the prices ordingly. This would allow him to earn some of the cash back, but he quickly asked the System to ease up with the prices for this first batch of tenants.

    Subsequent tenants wouldn''t be let off the hook merely because he would have proven that paying his prices would be worth it at that point.

    The dungeon supplier exined that the owners did not need to worry about electrical or water fees. Instead, they would be charged a standard maintenance fee each month along with the rent which he had decided to lower to 50% of the original price.

    Jin understood that losing business during a festive period was extremely devastating and offered some help to the store owners. He had sworn a pledge to aid the store owners when he was fighting against the Ruby Rats and Jin intended to keep it.

    Until they managed to get back up on their feet, he would not touch the rent pricing because if they prospered, he would prosper too. (Definitely way more than what he spends right now.)

    The store owners were very surprised that Jin was willing to lend them so much help. Those prospective tenants he had not interacted with, will wonder whether the kid even knew how to be a properndlord or if he was just too rich for his own good. Yet Lai Fu casually reminded them that it was his business sense that allowed the old Tiangong Shopping District to pick up some ck after the pachinko ident.

    That was when the store owners clearly misunderstood Jin''s kindness and probably with a tinge of shrewdness for his portrayed stupidity, and many unconsciously swore to aid his cause if things ever were to go south again.

    Jin at that point then asked this first batch of tenants to start writing or draw how they wanted their new stores to be. Even if they could create their dream store, it was the dungeon supplier who would be the one to create the instance for them.

    Thus, he needed them to urately visualise and articte what they wanted in their stores.

    It was a fairly simple procedure considering all of them were experienced business owners, and many started by listing their demands prioritising the practical stuff such as cash registers or specific appliances for the various stores like coffee makers, stoves and fridges.

    Going through their requests, Jin realised many of those things he could provide at a fraction of the costpared to buying it wholesale as well at a superior quality too. (However, he kept quiet and retained the pricing as per Earth''s market price to earn some profit. At the very least, those machines will definitely be more of a higher quality.)

    Upon ncing through the request list, there were even some things that Jin believed the System could improve. For example, it should be easy to overhaul cash registers and the need forputers to do their ounts.

    Jin felt with Kraft''s help, he could create a simplified program that could link the System''s powers to theputers that they had, allowing them to easily manage their ounts while he could keep track of the amount of money that they earnt. (For analytical purposes too. If he knew everyone was earning decently, Jin could subtly increase the maintenance fees and rent without too much of aint.)

    After receiving the wish lists of items and their own depiction of their dream stores, he sat them down in the conference room and spent some time getting to know them better. (As if he was Santa us in the room, addressing the kids about their toy wishlist.)

    Since they would all be working under his umbre, Jin did not wish for them topete against each other, but rather earn the customer''s money as a collective group. That was one of the few ways how Tiangong Shopping District could survive the harsh ''winter'' that wasing.

    To his surprise, most of the store owners had already specialised long before he opened his store and there were not much of repeat in terms of stores. Lai Fu had his General Store, selling everyday goods and other sundries, Si Fang was the only cafиж store in the shopping district. He Rong was no different, dealing toy merchandises for hobbyists while Ke Ru had the only fast food restaurant in the neighbourhood.

    Qian Qian owned a bakery, and her bread had won her several die hard fans, especially among the workers going to the subway station. Man Tang was the only karaoke entertainment owner within a five kilometre radius, and her establishment was considered the bigger few within the shopping district. She could be on par in size with Lai Fu or perhaps even more substantial than his.

    Bai Wan and Bai Xin were a pair of twins, brother and sister, who had taken the opportunity of the dungeon supplier store and revamped their stores in facilitating the sales of weapons and armoury. However, because of the Ruby Rat attack, they also suffered the most due to the triad members being raiding their ce first and had picked their store clean from the attack.

    Jin knew that their insurance was surely insufficient to cover, especially when their two connecting stores had been from their parent''s generation, and they hadn''t had much to cover such expenses. (That also gave Jin the perfect opportunity to help them.)

    Yu Xiang, handled her parents'' Chinese medicinal store before the destruction of Tiangong Shopping District but she also possessed her knowledge of western medicine and a graduate certificate in pharmacy had given her the license to operate a western pharmacy corner in the shop too.

    There were some disagreements with her parents, but ultimately, they knew that not everyone believed in Chinese medicine and their daughter''s knowledge in western medicine hopefully would augment their store''s profit and reputation.

    Unfortunately, the loss of their shop made them lose a lot of valuable medicine, and the insurance coverage was also not sufficient to cover for their losses. Yu Xiang only came because her parents were not able to make it, as they went to attempted to source for other medicinal suppliers hoping it would be cheaper.

    Thankfully, all hope was not gone for this family store nor for the Bai Twins. Jin saw a lot of potential in aiding Yu Xiang as his chi generating potions had been mainly derived from Chinese medicinal herbs and he believed she could sell his potions and potentially...improve them further.

    Thest one but definitely not the least of them all, had made quite the impression on Jin. Yong De was the store owner who owed an arcade in the shopping district. Initially, he wanted to sell all the different mini games to He Rong but seeing Yong De mentioned how he sold not just arcade and UFO machines, but even hosted card tournaments it made him the perfect person to deal with. If those two store owners worked together, there was a possibility that they could push the mini games Jin created to a higher level.

    There were others that sold food too, and Jin was not very interested in them since he had Lynn, who was clearly superior to them in terms of food. He did not wish to brag nor did he want to simply remove those choices, so he had instead decided to open a food court to cater their food. However, that did not stop him from wanting to sell ingredients to them because of Lynn''s request.

    Even the chef working under the Dungeon Supplier weed thepetition when Jin had previously discussed about aiding the store owners. Lynn imed that only throughpetition was she able to excel among others. Of course, in terms of ingredients, Jin would be selling only what could be found on Earth although they were still thoroughly enhanced in quality by Ke Mi''s and Shu''s aid in the farming aspect.

    Juicy, tastier and nutritionally more valuable than the ones Jin bought in Lai Fu''s general store, not to mention no insecticides or pesticides used at all because of the strict growing environment that the System had regted.

    It was truly the wonder vegetables that Jin would be selling at a higher cost price. But he was not stupid to sell it immediately and rather nned to give out a few as a sample for the store owners to try.

    As Jin got to know them personally while learning about their requests, the other store owners began towork with each other by brainstorming what their instances would going to be like. They were hoping that all of them had a different theme, so it would be an assortment of experiences for the customers.

    It was the food store owners that believed that they had picked the short straw among the rest of them since Jin announced that they would be ced together.

    Some were disappointed for not receiving the same treatment as the rest but that was when Lynn entered the conference room. Apanied by a few of her penguins they brought in some refreshments for the group, and it was none other than Lynn''s speciality, ck Pepper Pork Buns. Along with cans of bamboo juice, the drinks and food did perk the store owners'' mood up a little as they continued with their brainstorming session.

    That was also when Jin had a breather and decided to face the entire group of food store owners in order to address their issues. While the store owner''sints were valid, the dungeon supplier replied that he was aiming to catch the attention of the surrounding neighbourhood by providing this collective food court concept.

    "Your maintenance fees as a collective will be significantly lesser as a group, and there was a reason why I am putting you guys together. By aiming to attract arge crowd, a crowdrger than what you all were used to handle. See those penguins over there? Because you are in an instance, these penguin NPCs will be able to help you cook your food too." Jin said as he asked the penguins toe forth and let the store owners feel them.

    Some of the store owners who had never been to a dungeon supplier were shocked to see how real these penguins felt but still questioned their abilities. As if on cue, Lynn took out a portable stove from her storage ring for her peggies to demonstrate.

    The store owners knew that these mobile stoves can be used as efficiently as the ones in kitchens since many of the street vendors used them as well. Most did not remember that not too long ago, Lynn had been a street peddler selling her famous ck Pepper Pork Buns.

    Jin humbly asked the store owners to move to the side of the room while his chef brought out a mobile sink and plugged in a five litre tank of pressurised water so the penguins in the area could prepare the simplest and yet one of the most demanding dishes in Chinese cuisine.

    Egg Fried Rice.

    While Jin was amazed by Lynn''s preparedness of cooking supplies, Si Fang said that it was actually quite a standard set of items in a chef''s storage ring and the food store owners nodded their heads.

    They also had these portable stoves and sinks as an emergency backup (though not all as modern as Lynn''s) in case an appliance suddenly went faulty in their stores, or when they needed extra manpower to cook, the store owners could provide their temporary workers without using up much space.

    The penguins immediately started by first cracking the eggs smoothly, beating them up in a rather fast pace and the store owners could see that the actions were not dramatised and instead efficient.

    Lynn left and came back into the room quickly with some cooked rice that was stored in a fridge with a steady temperature of 23-24 degrees Celsius. This was because everyone in the room knows that half of the secret of making fried rice is to have the cooked rice be at an appropriate humidity. The amount of moisture locked in the rice would prove to be one of the essential properties in preparing a good quality egg fried rice.

    The penguins took the fairlyrge bowl of cold cooked rice and threw them in the wok to stir fry, ensuring that the chunks of rice were gradually separated because any chunk of rice will spoil the taste of it.

    The food store owners themselves saw how the penguins had the strength and delicacy in stir frying the rice. Only when the penguins deemed appropriate, they poured the egg mixture into the rice and did a quick stir fry.

    At that point, the store owners could see a slight amount of chi power being emitted out into the wok, and it wasing from the penguins themselves. They realised that the penguins were controlling the wok as if it was an uphill battle to get the egg liquid to slowly but surely wrap each and every grain.

    With a slight pinch of salt, and onest shake of the wok, the penguins began to ce the Egg Fried Rice on the tes while adding the final touch, chopped minute pieces of green onion on the top of the fried rice.

    "Please, enjoy." The penguins said as they could see the mouths of the store owners were salivating non stop just by the smell and sight alone. Like a horde of camels who saw a miraculous oasis at the centre of the desert, each and every the store owners shamelessly went ahead to have a taste of the fried rice only to be rendered speechless by its taste.

    These were the first time that some of the food store owners had tried the food in dungeon supplier''s store, and they could not believe that the egg fried rice could be this incredible. Si Fang was then curious why Lynn did not sell this as part of her main dishes. She was guaranteed to earn a ton from it.

    "This is due to the fact that the supplier we have contracted is still growing the supplies for the eggs and rice. To ensure they are of top quality and of sufficient quantity, they temporarily dyed their shipment." Lynn had begun advertising their ''food supplier'' to the rest of the store owners.

    While listening to the dungeon supplier''s main chef, the food store owners began to eat with more focus and realised that the rice was so much juicier and the egg that was wrapped around it made very sulent. They had no doubt that the quality of the food ys a part.

    "As we are the supplier''s exclusive customer, we can sell you a portion of our food supplies which is not cheap at all and the option of renting you our penguins as part of the food court instance to reduce your overall monthly expenses. These penguins can learn and be part of your store, so you do not have to worry about manpower." Jin pointed out the advantages and Si Fang and Ke Ru had already shown signs of wanting to rent those penguins.

    They saw how skilful those penguins were in an instant and if they would be able to serve a bigger crowd, these penguins definitely could y a pivotal role in their stores. While some did not like the idea of artificial intelligence in taking over cooking assistants, they kept quiet knowing that they were no doubt superior.

    Lai Fu then asked if he could have these penguins to help with his store as well, but Jin said those were mainly for food specialities. However, the dungeon supplier said he could rmend other monsters to serve with Lai Fu''s workload.

    "Now! That sure is helpful! Recently kids these days just want high pay, more rights and less hours. If these...NPCs is it? Yeah these monsters can help us, and we just pay a portion as part of the maintenance fee, that would be a huge help." Lai Fumented and unknowingly helped Jin to strengthen his sales pitch.

    Eventually, the food store owners were pacified that they had something unique other than the shared food court instance and decided to stay on board with Jin. Hence, Jin spent all of his time for the rest of the day in helping his tenants to shape their dream instances while the System prepared the materials needed and crunched the estimate amount they need to spend.

    A lot of them, in fact, all of them were astonished by the astronomical amount, and many felt like jumping off the ship upon seeing the numbers. Jin then reassured them that they could pay in instalments and told them that this was already the discount price and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them.

    "All of my dungeons are this expensive, if not, how do you think they can be so strangely close to reality? Because of this striking resemnce to reality, the high number of peopleing to my dungeon allowed me to earn more while maintaining if not, pushing the quality of the dungeons even further." Jinmented in front of them.

    "It takes money to earn money." Si Fang gritted his teeth as he repeated what all of them knew. He sighed but was the first to go forward and sign the contract with Jin thus setting an example.

    Jin nodded his head sincerely as a thanks for his support. The store owners saw how the most conservative and most level headed person among all of them had decided to bet everything on this chance, they all felt that they should trust Jin a little more.

    "We all will be hounding you for refunds if there''s no profit to be made!" One of the food store owners shouted, and everyoneughed at that moment. Jin subsequently promised them and reinforced that they would not regret it.

    As the meeting was finally adjoined, Jinid back at his chair in the conference room and sighed heavily. "I guess it''s a win todayбн?" he wondered to himself as he stared at the ceiling for a moment.

    This was barely the prelude of the battle. The worst had yet toe as Jin promised to get everything sorted out with all of his might in the next few days. "Time to call out the maximum number of Another Jins to start cracking with the work."

    For a new Tiangong Shopping District and a brand new start for everyone.

 Chapter 501 Extra: Lord Woltes Trial of Death

    <h4>Chapter 501 Extra: Lord Wolte''s Trial of Death</h4>

    There were no heavy machinery noises or anything of that sort in the Tiangong Shopping District. Nothing out of the ordinary except for that colossal tree in the middle of the district. Dungeons and Pandas still operated normally despite everything, and though Jin was prepared for some financial losses as the aftermath, reality turned out quite different.

    The Pandafull delivery service became an instant hit, mainly due to the fact that the food was still piping hot and tasted unusually amazing for a delivery food service. It was to the point Jin had decided to expand his merchandise a little as part of the experiment. (Also, focusing solely on the various shop instances all day long he felt himself turning insane. By doing this, it gave him a bit of a breather.)

    Instead of dispensing disposable forks, spoons and tes, he decided to be part of the environmentally friendly movement.

    He had begun selling ceramic tes and bowls with a few picture designs of his Pandas as well as other monsters such as Ke Mi, the Goblins or the Jacks. Adding to the charm, he added two extra small protrusion on the te to indicate the panda''s ears or a bowl with picture designs of pandas trying desperately to escape the bottom.

    Meanwhile, he also offered cups that depicted the Deep Ones via the shape of the handle. Naturally, Jin did not forget to take advantage of the kitchen utensils such as spoons, forks, and chopsticks. (Kraft loved his new fox designed chopsticks)

    The price point for these aesthetically beautiful upgraded utensils was adequate enough that over 90% chose to go with it. Given his sheer variety of the motifs, Jin wouldn''t be surprised if some started a collection of all these tes and cups.

    The best thing was that repeat customers could return them before they would be used for their own subsequent deliveries. Hence, the customers would have an easy way to help use fewer stics as they could indicate for no chopsticks, straws etc with an easy press of a button on the Pandafull sub-application in the Pandamonium.

    The selling of the tes itself would not pose a problem for other suppliers, but the exchange of tes for future use would have been a logistical nightmare for any food deliverypany... luckily Jin was in possession of something hispetitors would never have. The System had already booked and allocated the spaces for their repeat customers'' utensils in a separate storage instance.

    Jin had created a picture pamphlet sent out to any customer who chose to purchase any of such tes and utensils. It depicted how they could return their purchased articles on the next delivery, which would be used for the third delivery by deducting the cost of stics incurred in their sales.

    Going one step beyond that, he even promised that their food woulde in exactly the containers they had purchased and offered them to have their bowls and tes signed not only with their name but also with an insignia of their cultivation. (Additional cost unless they decided to buy aplete set of kitchen utensils.)

    The delivery service team (referring to them as Human ves still made Jin shudder) were a lot happier with the new job they had been assigned. Not only were they free from their chains, but the delivery job also provided a whole lot of perks for them. Most noteworthy was the number of System points that were rewarded.

    Each time theyplete a delivery, they would be given a set amount of points, and uponpletion of ten or more jobs, there would be a multiplier effect on the points that they received. There was even apetition ranking within their own service to see who could get the most amount of points. (Those who participated in the rankings would receive an additional perk of 100 extra system points.)

    This made them strive harder as Jin had promised them that as soon as the team collectively earnt enough points, they would be able to afford their very own Home instance within the Sanctum of Worlds. Speaking of promises, the Orcs quickly reminded Jin that they had already gathered enough points but were still waiting.

    He replied to this usation by nervouslyughing. It was this promise which leads many monsters to personally participate in extra activities such as the Wunder Panda Theme Park. Unfortunately, the dungeon supplier had simply been swarmed with tasks that he nearly forgot about it even though it was on the System''s reminder list (though low in priority).

    Meanwhile, he reemphasised and guaranteed that some of the minions could earn their very own homes in the Dungeon Fortress City and many were also pacified by Jin offering them one free visit to the Dungeon Cave for every week that their Home Instance got postponed.

    ---------------

    Separately, the Dark Temrs and Lord Wolte had decided to portal back to the East Region of the Farming World to meet up with the rest of the Dark Temr organisation as Zieg was convinced that Lord Wolte was a patron worth praying towards. The leader of the Dark Temrs purposely teleported to the middle of their headquarters, scaring his fellowrades to their wit''s end.

    The moment Zieg and the rest appeared seemingly out of thin air created some panic, but the youngmander used this opportunity to introduce Lord Wolte to hisrades and credited this to his power. The Metal Slug Tank eluded an aura of superiority onto them with Baphomet bowing at his side, creating an even stronger, darker impression of Wolte''s capabilities. Quickly all of the Dark Temrs knelt and attempted to ept Lord Wolte as their new Demon Patron.

    However, Lord Wolte knew that many, if not all of them would have doubts in their hearts at this sudden change. Unlike the Dark Temrs who had already been indoctrinated by the System, these dark temrs were merely following orders.

    Thus, Lord Wolte had demanded apulsory trial to prove their faith to him, unsurprisingly it was going to be a trial by death. And many were confused by the sudden onset of these events. "One moment you teleport in to tell us to obey, and the next you want us to die for it?!" One of the Dark Temrs could not understand the logic behind it.

    "As long as your faith is strong enough, nothing will keep you down!" Zieg caught on pretty quickly and recounted how Lord Wolte was the one who had resurrected them after a deadly ambush from the Demon Rats. "Have faith in Lord Wolte, and gain eternal life!!!"

    A number were still sceptical about the issue. Teleporting a whole squad was one thing, as many of the more experienced ones could ept such a concept, but resurrection? That was another matter entirely, and while unwilling to offend their leader, they still could not believe it until Zieg personally asked his patron to be allowed to demonstrate.

    Lord Wolte understood that Zieg was trying to show the testament of his faith towards his new Patron to his other believers, so he agreed to execute the n.

    Right in front of everyone, Lord Wolte moved himself a few metres back while Zieg slowly stripped out of his main armour while raising his arms into a weing pose. "Lord Wolte! I believe solely in you! For you are my Demon Patron!" The leader of the Dark Temrs shouted and requested Wolte to fire.

    With a loud st of fireing from his barrier, Lord Wolte purposely used an armour piercing shot which prated Zieg through the abdomen, creating a visible hole in what was once his stomach. Blood and innards were spilling all over the ground which some of the Dark Temrs regarded as sphemous. Many quickly drew their arms, wanting to defeat this buzzing metal box.

    However, the ones with the System stepped forward and demanded the rest of them to watch the entire thing to the end. Even Zieg who was poorly injured used all his strength to lift his hand and signal them to stay their de.

    Lord Wolte was willing to show off how brutal he could be to gain more respect from these batch of dark knights, so he changed from his cannon barrel to methrower and spewed mes at Zieg, lighting him up as he screamed and yelled praises for his Lord in agony.

    The rest of the Dark Temrs could only watch and see the pain which their beloved leader was going through as he somehow being able to maintain a smile before getting reduced to ashes. It was to mask the resurrection and act as a sort of symbolism where Zieg would rise from the ashes and be renewed again.

    And that was what Zieg did.

    Within the pile of burnt ash, there was nothing but silence from the crowd for a minute as they suddenly saw a slight twitching from the ashes. True enough, their Dark Temr Commander slowly moved his arms and legs and using them as the support to push himself out of the ckened dirt of his own flesh.

    The rest of the Dark Temrs were in awe of the miracle that had happened asmon sense dictated that none could be resurrected from the dead unless there was assistance by the devil himself.

    That act alone proved to his entire organisation that Lord Wolte was a genuine bona fide demon, and everyone immediately let go of the doubts in their hears. Even the hole in Zieg''s stomach was healedpletely.

    "The requirement still do not change whether you bend your knee right in front of me. If you wish to truly serve me, go through this Trial of Death! Show me that your resolve is just as strong as the one your leader showed all of you. This one simple test shall be a testament of your belief in me, and I shall answer your belief ordingly." Lord Wolte bellowed his speech to the entire organisation.

    Slowly but surely, a veteran Dark Temr managed to gather his resolve up and slowly stepped to the very same ce where Zieg had been killed as he quietly removed his armour and opened his arms. His eyes were resolute when he nodded his head firmly in before the metal vehicle looking down. The next sound the rest of the group heard was Lord Wolte engines buzzing with metal hitting against each other within him.

    Lord Wolte had already reloaded an armour prating shell and aimed his barrel at the veteran Dark Temr with no remorse. Triggering with just his will, the audience saw smoke and fireing out from his barrel once more, only to witness the sacrifice stood there headless as he fell down to the very same spot where Zieg had resurrected.

    Instead of Lord Wolte changing barrels to a methrower, he opened a side door at the front of his tank and threw a grenade at the spot, causing a mini explosion to happen. Every temr who had a shield went forward instinctively to cover their fellowrades from the st and smoke.

    Secondster, they could barely make out a shadow within the smoke as it stood there lifeless. But there was something different from this particr shadow aspared to what they remembered. The body did not blow into pieces, and most importantly, its head was still intact!

    The shadow started to move, instinctively checking his own well being, wondering if what had just happened had been just an illusion. As the smoke settled and they looked at the veteran Dark Temr all well and healthy. Everyone who witnessed this miraculous act were amazed by Lord Wolte''s power. (System merely assisted by teleporting the minion back to the same spot.)

    "I can feel a sort of different power coursing through my veins, as if I am connected to Lord Wolte himself." The veteran Dark Temr said as he raised his hands to the sky to gather dark magic energy. Usually, he needed to chant a few words of magic to activate the magic, but right now, the veteran felt that just concentrating was sufficient.

    A small yet condensed orb of dark energy could be observed as the veteran used his other hand to control the flow of magical power while maintaining the direction of his hand towards the sky.

    "Release it." Lord Woltemanded, and the veteran did as ordered. The orb of energy flew upwards into the sky, and in a split second, it exploded magnificently in mid air (3.5/10 on the Pepper scale). The sky which had initially been cloudy was cleared at once by the explosion, and the residue of the dark energy was so intense that it reduced the re from the scorching sun.

    The Dark Temrs marvelled at the results of this trial of death causing everyone still kneeling to prostrated right in front of him as if begging their new Demon Patron to be the next one to be sent to the halls of Valha.

    "Now, this will definitely bring my powers up to a notch or two. Maybe Three." The Metal Slug Tank managed to somehow portray a smile on its face which would put even a Cheshire Cat to shame.

 Chapter 502 Prelaunch

    <h4>Chapter 502 Prunch</h4>

    The rush for the dimension instance building was insanely real for Jin. In the past three days, he had been chugging chi potions and coffee to keep himself awake until his fatigue became overwhelming, forcing him to use the sleep capsule to recuperate.

    The System has been unable to directly absorb any of his sludge ever since Jin turned Grade 8. Hence, to prevent the panda cultivator from drowning himself, it had created an elevated tform for Jin''s sleeping capsule, allowing it to rise indefinitely (while raising the ceiling too) within the training room of the Dungeon Maker. After his long overdue rest, Jin had kept 90% of the umted sludge and handed the other 10% over for the System to analyse it. Hopefully, it would eventually allow the System to start their own production of high quality souls and perhaps, creating monsters of their own.

    All this time he had never stepped outside, nor was he disturbed by any outside interference. He had made preparations that if anything happened, they all could confer with Kraft for otherworldly business or Yun who continued to be the face of the shop by entertaining the customers.

    Funds were still pouring in, even more after the sudden arrival of the colossal tree outside of his shop. This was further helped by the store owners who had been asked to circte some rumours about the tree. Even Kiyu had been taking tabs of the gossip news on it and listed a number of her own favourite theories she had picked up via her Mechat and Meibo ount to a number of his customers and her online viewers.

    His regrs had believed they could not be surprised by Jin''s imaginative creation after experiencing his dungeons... but for him to use that creativity and turn it into reality was something else entirely. People were starting to wonder what kind of backing Jin could have had to be able to pull such a feat. The rumours about his backing got crazier and wilder, some even stating that he must be some illegitimate child of the Royal Zodiac Families or maybe the Western High Noble families.

    While Jin was busy finalising his instance making, the various store owners had gathered to get a glimpse of the interior of the tree with Another Jin apanying them. (Thanks to his awakened form, his Another Jins could also leave the store as long as they remained within a 50km radius, sparing him this tedious and boring task)

    Another Jin began allocating the various stores based on the System''s predictive analysis. While some insisted on bringing in a Feng Shui master to look into the ce, Another Jin vehemently refused them stating that the slots were fixed beforehand due to the dimensional instances that would be ced within the area. (A good excuse for stinginess.)

    The only thing they could feng shui would be the cement of items within the small allocated space they were given. Jin advised them that they could use the area as a promotion board where they could ce their menu. Alternatively, the space could be used for selling items on sh sales like how Lai Fu had done when he wanted to get rid of some perishables by the end of the day.

    Other than that, the store owners could only stare in awe at the gigantic Panda Statue within the tree. There was even a donation box as well as a joss-stick pot where people could pray to the Panda Tian Gong Statue. A few of the store owners found it slightly distasteful, but the majority thought otherwise.

    Pandas had always been a significant symbol of China, and with Tian Gong being the first God in the myths and legends, it seemed perfect tobine the two together. Besides, Panda in Feng Shui terms represented masculine energy as it helped protect the ''house'' it was in. In this case, the new Tree Mall that was being created.

    Not only that, the Pandas were always associated with bringing abundance and prosperity. So bybining the concept of Tian Gong and Panda together, it should be a perfect match representing Power and Prosperity. As if the statue itself was proving this point, when the store owners gathered in the vicinity of the figure, they somehow felt a sense of tranquillity by just standing right beside it.

    The System had inserted a legendary inscription made by their very own inscription master, Octofussy, which eluded a high level aura of calmness within a ten metres radius of the statue. Yet at the same time, the Panda Tian Gong Statue also emitted the perception of strength and might whenever someone gazed into it.

    Octofussy had made sure the inscription would make people felt like they were in the arms of a caring mother who knew how to kick her enemies'' ass.

    Other than that, everyone felt extremely excited as Another Jin asked them to return the next day considering their instances should be ready by then. While the dungeon supplier could provide almost everything including individual store''s equipment, the things that he could not were mainly their stocks such as sundries and food, so he informed everyone to get their suppliers coordinated as they would be running an extremely tight schedule with only one day to prepare.

    Should they need extra funds, they could contact Yun to aid them with their request, but the supplies were to be delivered first with the money being paid on the spot of the transaction.

    Some of the suppliers and store owners found this method a bit out of their protocol but considering how much Jin was taking care of the plight of the Tiangong Shopping District, they agreed to his conditions.

    ---------

    Early in the morning, several trucks arrived near the construction site and the suppliers were also astonished by the grandeur of the tree. The store owners were already sitting inside the 24 hours open Dungeon Supplier Store waiting for their goods.

    The real Jin came out of his dungeon maker with sunken eyes as big as the size of a tea bag, acknowledging the presence of his tenants. "Everything is all ready, there might still be some hups or some variation which is why I want all of you to inform me of any problems by today, so I can rectify them," Jin informed them with a slightly slurred speech which Yun in turn, quickly offered him a cup of coffee to perk himself up.

    The Dungeon Supplier took the coffee, blew a few times before chugging the whole thing as if it was water. There was not much to waste for him. Every second here stuck in his shop instance could be a second more the owners could use to settle their things. The store owners, on the other hand, found it rather bizarre how he could gain such fatigue within the span of a night.

    Especially since he was supposedly a high grade cultivator from the looks of his fight against the Triads, a person of such calibre should not be able to tire himself that quickly.

    Jin opened the gates of the construction barriers which allowed the suppliers'' trucks to enter, but even the trail towards the colossal tree seemed to have been modified wihtin the span of one night which subsequently shocked everyone who saw it.

    "Is this why Boss Jin seems so tired?! All of these were not here in the first ce! How did he do that? Was it those wondrous workers of his again?" He Rong wondered out loud as he saw how the trail towards the Tree Mall had changed so drastically.

    The path right in front of them was no longer the two way road which the Shopping District used to have. Instead, the path caved into the bottom of the tree, as if the mall itself had a basement floor.

    Meanwhile, the pedestrian paths had been upgraded with grey granite tiles which were a major improvement in terms of dижcorpared to the previous standard path of cement.

    Beside all of these tiles, the side of the pavements was decorated with spruces of bamboo trees which provided both shade and cover as if the whole district had be a park itself.

    On the other side of the pavement where the cars were moving, safety railings were ced all along the road but oveid with a long track of bushes and flowers. Cultivators could easily jump over the fences, so it was not a problem to catch their taxis, but Jin had also made a broader and longer opening for the bus stop that operated within the district so the taxis could use it to manage their pickups.

    After recovering from their shock, the suppliers quickly got into their trucks and drove them to the basement of the Tree Mall where they could see a further separation of paths with one leading to the warehouses and the other to the carpark.

    "Carpark? But back then, they did not create a carpark because of the subway train station!" Si Fang eximed, and Jin told them to look at it themselves. A number of them followed the carpark trail which was spiralling to what appeared to be at least a few basements levels.

    The cultivators could not imagine that the constructionpany that did this was able to dig so deep into the ground without disrupting the subway tunnels at all. The spiral to the carpark was also decorated with animated screens of a bamboo forest. Along the way down, some of the store owners were able to catch a nce of some of the pandas ying or climbing a tree.

    But the most extraordinary thing about this spiralling pathway to the carpark was that the driver would not have to drive his car at all. Like a conveyor belt, the car would be brought into the carpark while the driver and his passengers could enjoy the screen as the conveyor belt transports the vehicle to a slot for them to park. (Those conveyor belts had anti slip capabilities to hold the weight of a full load lorry.)

    "This ...this is revolutionaryбнI''ve never seen any car park like this." Lai Fu eximed as they saw how spacious the slots were and the rates for the parking were also very affordablepared to the central district, specifically given how advanced the car parking system was.

    Jin smirked as this was just one of the features that the System had in ce since it finally had control of thisnd. "There''s more toe," Jin replied as he beckoned them to take the lift up to the Tree Mall.

    Unlike the day before, where all they saw was just the bare interior of the tree, this time around, there were electronics all hooked up within the tree. The lightings in the entire mall were great, the elevator and esctors were responsive and most importantly the air conditioning (or heater at this period of the year) was working as intended.

    The harmony between modern technology and the wood was delicate but not impossible to achieve, and with the System, Jin managed to do just that. For example, instead of a metal frame, wood was used as the base for the esctors and elevators, cleverly hiding the circuits of it and ensuring that they wereden with a coat of fire retardant paint to ensure they do not get on fire. (To be honest, there was nothing much to be afraid of since the System was in control of it.)

    There were even pamphlets in every level as well as a navigation cum information system that was consumer friendly near each pamphlet stand. Not to mention, the navigation was voice activated as well as which the store owners had tried and proven to be rather perceptive.

    After taking in the new sights, the first store that they visited was the food court instance where a human sized Panda statue with a chef hat and a pan was standing there all happy and ready to serve.

    Jin''s customers would know that these statues would bring them into a dimensional distance by just cing their phone right towards the statue. That is, of course if they had the Pandamonium App.

    Without it, all the customers had to do was install the Pandamonium App, and they were all good to go as a guest ount would be created for them to use.

    The customers would then be able to upgrade into a personal ount within the dimensional instances, and all of them would be able to enjoy five percent off on all purchases that day, excluding on the sales that had been ced by individual store owners.

    It was an initiative to make all customers in the Tree Mall use the Pandamonium App so the System could perform its wondrous magic called data collection. After Jin finished his short demonstration on how to enter the instances, the rest of the store owners sprinted off to their own allocated shop instances and began to discover the hidden magic Jin had worked for them.

    "Impatient people..." Jin shook his head slightly and felt the need arise to go back to sleep from all the work that he had done. (The calming presence of his Panda Tian Gong Statue might have made it even worse for him.)

 Chapter 503 Pyramid Food Court & Panda Burger Instance.

    <h4>Chapter 503 Pyramid Food Court & Panda Burger Instance.</h4>

    The individual store owners were led to their very own shop dimensional instances by the instructions in the Pandamonium App, and without exception, all of them were baffled and bedazzled by it. The first to enter their store instance was the collective group of food court store owners apanied by Jin considering it was the nearest to the elevator.

    Unlike the others, they had no idea what their instance would be like. Jin had taken full control over the design of the food court instance. Though some still grumbled internally that they did not have any say in it, their rent was a group collective and therefore significantly lower, leaving little to no room to openlyin. But without any expectations to their store instance, they were left bbergasted at what was before them.

    A giant pyramid with their stalls facing outward in the current cold winter.

    One of the penguins came sliding down from the tip of the pyramid and greeted them upon hitting rock bottom (or snow bottom). It introduced them to their new stores and exined that Jin got the inspiration from the ''healthy'' food pyramid that they were all taught in school.

    The penguin iterated that the pyramid was going to be something simr to apetition kind of system. Whoever led in sales would be ced above the others. All of their stores were able to move around in a moment''s notice as demonstrated by a snap of the penguin flippers. Next, they witnessed the blocks of their stalls being shuffled from the bottom to the top.

    The fluffy little flightless bird added that everyone would start from the bottom and the moment lunch time was officially over, the stalls would begin to move to their respective ces based on the profit sales. As there were ten stores in total, there was currently no problem with the pyramid structure.

    The first would be ced at the peak, second and third on the upper level, fourth to sixth on the middle level and the rest would be at the bottom level. In the future, where there are additional stalls, Jin might ce another great pyramid or perhaps erge the current one to fit the rest.

    When the store owners heard that, they were a little disappointed as they argued some of the stores could be superior in profit to the others because of the type of food they were selling. However, Jin had ced a few certain measures to ensure that these rankings would not be permanently skewed towards just one particr criterion.

    The penguin told them that the criteria for the top spot would vary and others such as best dressed costume chef for the week, or most healthy choice for the week were also in the rotation. Each time a customer order something, there would be a short, interactive and straightforward survey to attend to while waiting for their food.

    The store owners were d that this would potentially allow each of one to get the top spot at least once. As they listened to the penguin exin everything, they noticed that while it had a winter setting, the ce felt rtively warm given the weather outside.

    It was cooling for the head and yet still lukewarm for the rest of the body. Some thought that Jin was probably only mimicking the way the weather was outside, but in actual fact, he had already maintained the temperature as well as the amount of wind in the area.

    The store owners than nced around the Great Pyramid and noticed how the seats were all made of stone, making it hard to move the chairs and tables around. (Well granted, they were all cultivators, but it was still a rtively mind gruelling task to move the tables around.)

    However, the penguin stated that there should be sufficient seats to cater to different types of people.

    For the loners who prefered to eat alone or just wanted a quick meal, Jin had ced multiple rows of single tables, and sadly they were also the furthest from the stores. For families who needed arger space or a baby seat, there were tables that amodated such setting.

    Lastly, the front few rows were reserved for the elderly. Yet, all these were just the standard amount of seats allocated. The penguin noted to them that because this was a dimensional instance, additional seats could be created in an instant for people to eat should the need arise.

    However, what set this particr instance apart from other food courts was one particr initiative which gued everyone since the advent of restaurants and their small space.

    Seat reserving.

    The second the customers entered the Food Court dimensional instance, the System would automatically reserve a seat for them and direct them there via Pandamonium. If all the standard seats were taken, the System would create more ces without the need for the store owners to do anything.

    To allow for this, the customers would have to indicate outside of the statue how many would be joining for one table. Afterwards, it would issue the customers who ''booked'' the table to have ample time to gather his or her mates for a meal.

    This was created because Jin himself hated restaurants where they requiered the full group to be present before being allowed to enter the premise. And that was despite the fact they had already book a reservation in advance. Therefore, Jin was more than happy to eliminate this particr petty trouble when given a chance.

    The only thing left was how fast the food could be churned out for the customers. Unlike the Kitchen Instance, which Lynn and her penguins had ess to, Jin was not intending to share this capability of keeping their food piping hot with the aid of temporal maniption storages. (After all, he needed to maintain an edge over hispetitors.)

    So, if the queue was long, it was all up to them on how to handle the customers. The dungeon supplier had already made sure the pyramid wasrge enough to amodate future expansions or for other prospective owners to enter into the food court instance.

    On the other hand, Jin had decided to permit each of them to rent one penguin at no cost for the rest of the month of December as a sign of goodwill. (Not precisely that good of a will since the penguins were learning their recipes etc.) Should they wished to hire part timers or rent more of the penguins, he did not mind at all since it was their own particr business.

    As the food court store owners entered their individual stores, there were already some supplies from Jin''s agriculture sector. It was merely a carton of samples for everyone to try. It didn''t cost Jin much, but it would make them consider if they wanted to purchase those expensive but high quality food supplies for their business.

    Some who had been to Lynn''s restaurant instance had quickly decided to order a week''s worth as a try out through their penguin. Meanwhile, the rest waited for the personal food suppliers to enter their instance to get in.

    Speaking about food, Ke Ru was the one that was exempted from the Food Court Shop Instance because of one particr reason. She had had the capital to buy into the Wacdonald franchise.

    Jin roughly knew that buying a major franchise name was a big headache as the big honchos usually dictated how Ke Ru would have to manage her store. That meant that the dimensional instance would also have to follow these specific Wacdonald''s guidelines.

    But Jin felt it was a waste to use a dimension instance to do something so boring. So he proposed to start Ke Ru''s very own particr fast food restaurant at 75% of the cost that she had to fork out for the franchise contract and Jin promised to provide her 75% of the profits in return as well as give her the ability to make any decision she wanted for the store.

    However, Lynn would have the final say on the quality of food that would be served since it carried the name of the Panda with it. Ke Ru wholeheartedly agreed on this condition because she had tasted how superior Lynn''s food items were. With Lynn giving her input and even create some recipes for the fast food restaurant, the new restaurant manager''s money was more or less guaranteed.

    On a separate note, Lynn was delighted she was able to create a Western food menu as the Penguin Cultivator always had had some ideas with regards to that particr cuisine. She justcked the confidence to put it in her menu because it was not up to her personal standards.

    Ke Ru, however, begged to differ even though Lynn insisted, so Ke Ru just epted the fact that it was the woes of a perfectionist.

    Luckily, there were no western food stalls in the Food Court Instance as previously the store owners in Tiangong Shopping District had recognised that Wacdonalds was more or less dominating the western food scene.

    There had been some who attempted to create such a stall in the district but ended up losing money with their prices either being too bigpared to theirpetitor, or the quality taking a hike to ensure the price point.

    Ultimately by creating this fast food restaurant instance which Ke Ru had aptly named ''Panda Burger'', it provided an avenue for Lynn to improve her western cuisine (despite it being called fast food) and the penguins were mainly responsible for most of the cooking. Ke Ru still maintained most of her past employees who were willing to enter this new phase with her.

    It was a bit costly, but with the money she was saving by foregoing to extend her contract with Wacdonalds after the loss of her store she managed, Ke Ru had the foresight to see its potential. Thus, she was willing to take a bet on this new venture. As long as the food standard was there, and the price was right, people woulde in masses.

    Thankfully, the price was more than reasonable in Panda Burger. It was slightly more expensive than her previous Wacdonalds, but the System had already predicted that the fast food mega chain would inadvertently increase their prices in theing months.

    Besides, the System was confident that the prices were decent enough, given their superior products.

    Oh and the dimensional shop instance? Since it was named Panda Burger, it was obvious that the instance was shaped as a бнBurger. Yeap, when Ke Ru first entered the instance, all she saw was a Big Fat Triple Stacked Burger House right in front of them. Ke Ru hesitated for a while before she went towards the burger house and tried to pluck out a piece of the burger bun that was at the base of the Burger House.

    Unfortunately, it did not work, and Lynn who had been in the vicinity helping her penguins to prepare the food items told her it didn''t work that way. "Wait what?! It does not work THAT way?! You mean you can actually bite a piece off that?!" Ke Ru asked, and Lynn nodded her head with a wide smile.

    "Remember how you listed that you wanted to make the Burger meal set unique? Well, there you go." Lynn took out a set of three spats coloured bronze, silver and gold. She handed the bronze one to her and asked her to ''scoop'' the bread out.

    Ke Ru did what was told, and at that moment, she indeed took a piece of the bread bun out! It was crunchy and tasty (also slightly hot). "This is a fantastic idea... and equally unhygienic. I love the idea but aren''t we just asking for the Health Inspector to take us out?" Ke Ru asked worriedly and Lynn pondered for a moment.

    "That is why we we will be limiting the areas where you can ''scoop'' them, so it will be regted by the Panda NPCs. It''s a trial to see how our citizens react. Worst case we can always exin the gimmick by this being a Dungeon Instance, I guess." Lynn answered as these spats could be redeemed via a voucher on the Pandamonium App when they approach the section where the Panda NPCs were located.

    Ke Ru reminded her not to underestimate their fellow Chinese people for being greedy and ''innovative'' when it came to free stuff which Lynn wholeheartedly agreed and said it would be a promotional trial.

    While the furniture for the customers was on the upper floors from the bread bun level, Ke Ru realised there were not many ces for people to sit. That was when Lynn told her to follow her to the highest ''mayonnaise level''. Upon reaching, they saw the top bun covering as the roof. Lynn pretended to press a few buttons on her Pandamonium App, and suddenly the top bun flew upwards.

    Somehow, a whole new level of Pork Bacon came falling from the sky! It stacked right on top of the mayonnaise level, and a staircase gradually descended right in front of them. Ke Ru was surprised by the level design and how the Burger House could amodate more customers.

    She also noticed that the Panda NPCs not only handled the spat event but were also used to distributing food on that particr floor. All the customers needed to do was to the Pandamonium App to order and then show their order number to the NPCs.

    And then Lynn showed Ke Ru the most important feature of Burger House which every level would have...

    The Exit.

    Each level was equipped with a tube slide leading the customers to eventuallynd in a gigantic ball pool where there was a Panda NPCs there as well to ensure no customers or children getting hurt within the ball pool. (As the number of levels expanded, so would the number of slides and subsequently the size of the ball pool.) And the elderlies? Reserved on the first floor as usual!

    "Jin better have those toys ready too for the happy kids'' meal!" Ke Ru mentioned jokingly to Lynn, who ryed the message to the System. It was a kid and adult friendly fast food restaurant which Ke Ru could foresee it would be a hit and she was delighted to have bet on Jin.

 Chapter 504 Offshore Sea Store/Reef Knolls Bakery/Castle Tower Cafe Instance

    <h4>Chapter 504 Offshore Sea Store/Reef Knolls Bakery/Castle Tower Cafe Instance</h4>

    Lai Fu who would be operating on the second floor of the Tiangong Tree Mall was quite satisfied with his instance. It was designed to be something simr to a kelong, an offshore tform built mostly with wood and little metal was involved.

    By using ropes or rattan, tree trunks and wooden nks were held together within a kelong, but in the dimensional shop instance, the System used something stronger to keep them together. In a way, the kelongs that Lai Fu requested was to create a scene simr to an offshore seamunity within his shop instance.

    The temperature as per Jin''s standard was just the right amount, and the sea waters were calm. asionally, there would be a wooden frigate which passed by and provided the kelong with supplies. Even the trucks of his personal suppliers came in via a wide wooden shipping tform. Lai Fu did not go for anything fanciful but something that reminded him of the sea.

    All his goods were spread out in various open concept tforms, and these tforms were clearlybelled withrge advertisement boards so the customers would know where their desired items were. For those refrigerated items, the bins and tables were filled with an automated cooling system aka a permanent cooling inscription which ensured their freshness.

    Lai Fu also half jokingly requested a spot where he could fish a little inside the shop instance, and Jin fulfilled the request by cing albacore, red snapper and the asional tuna within this Offshore Kelong Shop Instance.

    It was an excuse for him to practice his fishing and act as an impromptu activity for the customers who had the time to waste. If they managed to catch any of the three fishes, Lai Fu would give the said customer a small discount on the most expensive item they wanted to purchase. All Jin asked in return was for Lai Fu to inform them about the Fishing instance within his Dungeons and Pandas.

    That being said, it was not so easy catching those fish because Lai Fu would be able to adjust the difficulty level and the fishing rods they could use were basic ones, unless of course, someone brought in their own personal rod.

    All in all, Lai Fu''s store had been amongst the few easy ones Jin had to make. Still, the dungeon supplier did not spare any expense in creating the wooden frigate when Lai Fu listed that he wanted to use a frigate as the ''discount'' ship. The idea was that whenever the frigate reached his shore, it would offer the items he had nned to discount.

    Normally, it would require additional manpower to charter a frigate, but since this was an instance, it was not much of an issue. Jin employed the Deep Ones dressed pirates who fit right into this store instance.

    Whenever the frigate arrived, Deep Ones would pop out from the water and onto the tforms helping the frigate dock. Afterwards, they would be bringing down some of the treasure chests containing the discounted items.

    A Deep One Mage posing as the pirate captain would loudly announce that they had arrived wishing to trade their loot for doubloons with thesendlubbers as his crew was in dire need of more booze!

    Thus, Jin had designed the frigate to be a little more menacing while at the same time somewhatical. It looked deathly with the aura and ship design it was having( Basically, the ship was modelled as Derpy''s head), but Jin ced a banner at the portside stating "All Aboard the High Discount Ship!".

    "Imagine those aunties trying to literally fight the Deep Ones for more of a discount. That would be one hell of a funny scene!" Lai Fu chuckled as he called out to the Deep Ones to help unpack the items which the general suppliers had offloaded.

    ---------

    Right beside the still named ''Fresh Price General Store'' was the bakery with Qian Qian in charge. Simr to Lai Fu, the middle aged female boss with two kids did not request much for the shop instance.

    All she wanted was both modern and traditional bakery equipment which could not be found on the market. To her, it was a feat that was hard to achieve since the traditional equipment required a lot of space and they were near non existential as of this age.

    However, the Bread Lady Boss shared that she was in possession of generations-old recipes that were based on the traditional baking method all left untouched because there was no one who would make such equipment anymore.

    She firmly believed that the past held onto treasures which people might not be able to appreciate. That was why Qian Qian wanted to preserve those recipes and the knowledge to do so.

    With the new dimensional instance, the System had simply scoured its past database on how to make those traditional oven kilns. (In the past the Panda n had amassed the knowledge from a variety of talents and the experience of an entire trade conglomerate at its disposal made it an easy feat.)

    Because it was an instance, the oven kilns had been made extremelyrge and spacious enough to make a plenty amount of bread. Lynn''s experience in this field was somewhat limited, and after trying a few of Qian Qian''s past samples, she admitted that the Bakery Lady Boss was clearly superior to anything she could muster without a lot of studying.

    On the other hand, the System managed to peek at a few of those recipes and found striking resemnces to the ones it had in its database. Surprisingly those recipes were seemingly at the rank of Royal Kitchen Grade, and they were basically national treasures.

    However, the System kept quiet for now and decided to pass a proper judgement once Qian Qian revealed her whole series of traditional recipes.

    Instance wise, Qian Qian''s bakery shop was located on a hill with arge hut at the top of it. Surrounding the hut were acres worth of reef knolls filled with grown wheat nts which were something she did not ask for. Could it be that Boss Jin was seriously growing wheat in her shop instance?

    Qian Qian could only ask him the next time round she saw him, but one thing was for sure, it naturallyplemented the scenery of her bakery.

    However, that giant hut was merely the storefront where she would ce her bread for sale. Right behind it was the oven kilns and even a wheat mill. Qian Qian also was unaware whether it was really producing any wheat grains or just for aesthetic purposes.

    Continuing with the surprise, Jin had assigned her a few additional helpers aside from her own trusted employees. A couple of Orcs who knew some form of farming and traditional baking, as well as two penguins which Lynn had purposely selected for the baking learning experience.

    While he wanted to use the werejackals who had experience in farming, they were somewhat upied and decided to use the next best alternative. Besides, even though the Orcs'' experience differed from the humans ording to the System, their foundational basics on baking were quite simr. Thus the System had enriched them with its own knowledge.

    As usual, data collection was priority number one, and Jin told them those helpers were ''on the house'' while hiding his true intentions. He was sure people might suspect it but at the same time, who could not say no to free, extra work hands?

    --------

    Despite the separate instances, everyone was still helping each other out. For example, Lai Fu''s general store supplies usually stocked more than adequately for his sales as well as for the food store owners. There were times the food store owners might experience a shortage, and that was where Lai Fu sold his stocks at a ''friendly'' price.

    Even with the new instances, this thing did not change, and Jin hoped to take advantage of such inter-business rtionships too..

    Another example was Qian Qian''s bakery, which was vital for Si Fang''s cafиж because she sold cakes and desserts to Si Fang as a side business. Her cakes and pies were the bomb, and many knew that she let Si Fang sell them because she could not afford to make them on a daily basis to be countered as regr sales. However, Qian Qian believed that perhaps with the additional helpers and new experiments; things could change for the better.

    Speaking about Si Fang, his dimensional shop instance was also located on the second floor as the first floor had been assigned for the Food Court instance and the Panda Burger instance. His dimensional instance would be considered one of the more unique ones.

    His instance was essentially a castle tower.

    It made Jin remember the Candy Castle which he had built for the Halloween although the interior was not exactly designed to house a lot of customers. Nevertheless, since it was a castle tower, Jin chose to use the candy castle to save some time and effort to create the exterior portion of Si Fang''s dream instance.

    He did not expect Si Fang wanted a high ss royal treatment kind of cafиж as he thought Si Fang was more of the ''cafиж on top of arge tree branch kind'' of owner. The rxed and homely feel, and until Si Fang told Jin more about his request, he then realised that was really what he wanted.

    "Yes, I want a rxed and homely feel kind of cafиж. One that gives off the feeling of being away from everything else. That is why I want a castle tower being surrounded by a tranquilke with only a tiny weeny bridge connected the isle." Si Fang said.

    "I want the cafиж to be something like an escape from reality, away from everything else. No pompous kind of feel at all. Something like Rapunzel in the tower."

    "Si Fang, my friend. Are you okay? Do you have any fever?" His fellow cultivators Ke Ru and He Rong asked simultaneously during the brainstorming session, and Jinughed when Si Fang dered that he was serious and Jin kind of understood what he was going for.

    The Boss of Lele Cafиж wished to offer a sanctuary for his customers, allowing them to get away from all the hectic work and bedazzling attractions. So Jin did fulfil that wish of his, and although he did save time in the exterior initially, he actually ced a lot of effort in changing the interior. In hindsight, the dungeon supplier believed that it had been one of the hardest few instances he ever made.

    To make something homely and cosy was difficult because everyone had a different image and expectation of it. So the use of colourbinations was vital as well as the furniture that was ced in the castle tower could not make it appear too professional looking nor also unique. The use of warm lights, as well as the cing of the windows, was important.

    Eventually, Jin also remodified the exterior to suit the interior by modelling it simr to those airport control towers because of its open windows concept while still retaining the design of a castle. He finished this off by cing greenery within the ce and smoothing jazz background to ensure the right mood.

    Unlike the food court instance or Panda Burger, Jin did not ce anything that would increase the table limit or seating capacity because space yed an essential part in the design. The couches and benches were ced in a certain way along with a few cushions including (panda and fox) plushie toys too.

    He did inform Si Fang about the decision of limited seats, who thanked Jin to have not gone down the route of profit but instead towards tranquillity. However, that had been just a passing remark until Si Fang had truly witnessed it with his own eyes.

    As soon as Si Fang entered his shop instance, his tears umted, slowly rolled down from his eyes as he saw how much love and effort was ced into his shop instance.

 Chapter 505 Panda Arcade Store Instance

    <h4>Chapter 505 Panda Arcade Store Instance</h4>

    Jin was sitting right beside his tall and mighty Panda Tian Gong Statue, wanting nothing more than to just close his eyes and go back to sleep. Unfortunately, the System informed Jin that he had to move to the Arcade Dungeon Instance on the Third Level of the Tiangong Tree Mall and instruct Yong De, the owner of the Arcade Dungeon Instance on several things.

    He stood up sluggishly before inserting some chi on his legs and used his Green Panda Wind to jump to the third floor. Without opening his Pandemonium app, Jin merely scanned his phone over the statue of a Panda sitting down and holding an arcade joystick controller.

    There he found the anguished face of Yong De and He Rong.

    He had asked the two to coborate together for this new joint dungeon instance. This usually wouldn''t be a problem, however, Yong De and He Rong had some history with each other, and it wasn''t exactly the pleasant kind.

    Apparently, Yong De had asked He Rong to sponsor some of the card tournaments when he first started out which thetter agreed to unterally. However, Yong De''s ambition had gotten the better of him, and he had promoted the gaming card tournaments a little too widely and fiercely.

    The participation had been tremendously sessful, but because Yong De''s predicted budget for He Rong''s sponsoring had been severely underestimated, he inevitably caused He Rong to be unable to pay for his shop''s rent for three months.

    He Rong was forced to wit''s end when thendlord''s management team had insisted on him paying up or else they would demand the immediate closure of the store. Upon learning of his plight, Si Fang managed to get into contact with Grandma Yuan begging her for leniency towards He Rong especially since he had always been consistent with his payment.

    Grandma Yuan, who always left the management team to their own devices, had been unaware about the situation He Rong was in and had graciously allowed him an extended period to pay his rent.

    On the other hand, Yong De knew about He Rong''s plight but had not helped out much because he too had underestimated the prizes he gave out, causing him to pay the rent by living on just the basic necessities.

    While the Arcade owner had improved since then in terms of managing his business, He Rong had not been very happy to team up with him when Jin asked him to. The Toyz Connection store owner no doubt had prefered to do literally anything else, but Jin asked him to give the partnership another shot.

    "I roughly looked through the records you guys have given me and thanks for that by the way. He Rong, I see that your card sales have been doing rather well in the months whenever Yong De conducted these mini tournaments." Jin had pointed out as a matter of fact, and He Rong had his mouth tight for a moment.

    "I believe Yong De has been trying to make up to you and was too afraid to offend you too. But you need to make an effort to understand what he does too. I think both of you owe each other an apology and with this new shop instance, you can start things anew." Jin had said during the brainstorming session when he asked the cooperation between those two.

    Jin perceived that He Rong would not have the guts to do anything daring, and that made him rather conservative and calctive with his ounts. That was how he managed to keep a vast array of hobby rted goods while maintaining his ounts well.

    Yong De, on the other hand, was the opposite. He enjoyed being an entrepreneur and always wanted to bring in thetest fad since he yearned for both kids and adults to have fun.

    But because most of these new arcade machines were licensed by the Japanese, importing them cost a fortune which had always put his ounts near red. That was why Jin had a hunch that if these two joined forces, they could be an unformidable duo against the tides of business obstacles.

    Yong De had been more than happy to bury the hatchet by joining such a partnership. He Rong had been still reluctant but agreed to give it a try. If things did not work well, the dungeon supplier promised that he would create a brand new shop instance for both of them at no cost at all.

    -----

    As Jin entered the brand new Arcade store instance, he could already see the two owners arguing on what needed to be done. Contrary to most arcade centres where the ce was either very shy with lights and poor decoration or the opposite being mostly dark and dull, Jin had chosen a simplistic modern view for it.

    His concept took inspiration from Zamzung or Huawee store outlets with lots of space providing the items in stock the opportunity to present themselves.

    He Rong''s toy models (or what''s left of the undamaged stocks) were ced in a gallery kind of exhibition. Should the customers for something in particr, they could use the virtual hologram which Jin had installed to choose what kind of robots or toy models they wanted to buy.

    The virtual hologram module was an extension of the pilot''s modification workshop console which Niu Lang''s Supa Robot Wars mini game offered, and Jin had used it here after scanning all the models avable in He Rong''s stock. New stocks needed to be scanned once, and the System would take care of the logistic matters.

    Usually, one would not necessarily have a good idea on how the product looked like before it was assembled, and the advertising on the packaging could only make them imagine. However, imagine no further since the virtual hologram not only showed the toy model but also the history or background of the toy based on inte sources and Wikipedia.

    "Humans be ves to what they see." One of his professor''s quote during architectural design had made Jin remembered and slighty understood the vague andplex concept of aesthetics. Since then, he applied to his understanding superficially and in depth whenever possible. Hence, the creation of this virtual hologram was one of the ideas.

    He Rong was surprised that they could do that and he believed that these virtual holograms would definitely make window shopping a st for the hobbyists. Not only that, but Jin also began to sell some of his models to He Rong and of a high price too since most of the models were currently redeemable from the Goblin Raid event.

    Jin purposely asked He Rong to price it high so that it would be fair for those who worked hard to get the various toy models Jin had created previously. As for the newest XXXXL Panda plushies? Those would be under Yong De''s speciality.

    Aside from cing the three mini games instance entrances (the WunderPanda Park Entrances are still valid, these were just additional entrances) and the sales of Spinning Tops, Digital Pet ying card packs, Jin had ced a giant UFO machine that featured these oversized plushies.

    How big was that UFO machine? The cage size was as big as arge cinematic screen, and the plushies were not limited to Pandas.

    Mmhm. Pandas. Red Pandas. Penguins and a limited number of 1st edition Foxes and Snake plushies.

    Yong De could not get the meaning behind these plushies and thought that Jin was merely exaggerating especially when the price to get these plushies was equivalent to getting a Panda Burger Set Meal (which cost roughly 15-16 Yuan.) Jin could only smirk and told him to leave it there for it to do its magic.

    Other than that, Jin had revamped the fighting arcade games in one particr corner and equipped them with wide screens and a default arcade joystick controller. Should the gamers have their own personal controllers, there were terminals for them to attach the controllers as well.

    As for the other arcade games, Jin had ced them neatly and reced them with more modern controllers so they could be more responsive. (For example, the gun controllers were reced with ones that could vibrate whenever reloading and the response time was better.)

    The seats on the racing arcade games were also upgraded to quality leather ones, and it was veryfortable to sit in. The grips on the stick and wheels were better than the worn ones which Yong De had. But that was not all for the arcade games as Jin was nning to make this arcade instance one of the best instances he ever made. Yet. (He has no more money right now.)

    Jin did tell the two new co-owners that he would be directly meddling with a number of the games and in return, they would receive these new arcade games for free without having to pay for any sort of license. However, Jin would receive 50% of the profit while the rest was them to keep.

    Hence, the Arcade was handled not just by the two co-owners but by Jin too, and thus he aptly named it the Panda Arcade so people can associate the Panda brand to Jin''s Dungeon Supplier store. (At the same time, a meagre wish by the System to revive and relive the old Panda n''s roots.)

    In terms of maintaining the games, he would get the goblin engineers to take a look once in a while so that would fall under maintenance cost. Otherwise, Jin would leave the promotion of these arcade games to He Rong and Yong De for he wanted to focus more on the dungeon supplier part.

    One of the games that Jin had invented was something simr to a street fighter style game, but Jin told them not to charge any money for that particr game. That was because it would be a vition of various copyright reasons and that particr game was set in the underground basement level where it would take ce.

    At first, the He Rong was curious why Jin ced it underground, and then Yong De informed his new partner that the Triad members frequented the arcade a lot. That was why he requested Jin to create something to upy the Triads time and most importantly money.

    As for the Triad who would be protecting this particr underground fighting game was none other than the Tigers. In return, the Three-Eyed Tigers Triad would set up a small outpost here to monitor and protect the Tiangong Shopping District.

    The dungeon supplier was unaware that this under the table deal was struck between Yong De and the Three-Eyed Tiger Triad Leader, San Ya Bai, enabling the tigers to response to the previous Ruby Rat ambush that quickly. For this, it gave Jin the impression that Yong De was not a simple person to read.

    In any case, that particr (and borderline legal) game was sort of a recement of the underground arcade game matches that had been taking ce under Yong De''s basement. (It was surprisingly popr, and the money they made wasn''t that far from underground illegal street/boxing fights.) This was because they would not be using any licensed game but toy models and figurines. It wasughable, but Jin purposely made it this way to boost He Rong''s sales.

    However, this was where the magic came in. Any toy models or figurines could be used for the fight. That''s right. ANY! So those cheapskate stic toys that cost under five Yuan? It''s valid. Those miniatures that one bought from those gacha machines? Also valid. That collector version of Godzi which worth thousands of Yuan? Equally valid!

    The fighting game worked was by cing the desired toy model in front of the ''transporter'', and the System would analyse its fine details for art and assign it a set amount of arbitrary stats. Based on the quality of the figurine, including custom paint job or mods would increase the stats for the model.

    Yet, stats were just part of the equation. The System made sure that the stats would provide the yer an edge but only enough to make a minor difference. The rest was up to the yer''s skills and abilities in controlling the ''character'' that they used from the figurine.

    So, a cheapskate toy stic tiger could beat a well painted American/Japanese figurine costing hundreds of dors. However, like fighting arcade games, the oue could not be determined beforehand so the Three-Eyed Tiger Triad would be using the underground basement of this shop instance as always for betting purposes.

    While he did condone the betting act since the dungeon supplier did it in his instances too, Jin did reinforce Yong De to not keep any of the profit from them at any cost. In return, he would fall under the dungeon supplier''s protection instead.

    Meanwhile, He Rong did not exactly understand (or pretended not to understand) the concept, and he asked Jin for a demonstration in case other people were interested to y in the game. Jin nodded stating he would dly give them a demonstration.

    "But first, choose a toy model. Both of you. Let''s have a mini try out after some basic tutorial." Jin said as he purposely chose his Knight Savant figurine model that was on the shelves.

 Chapter 506 Figure Fighters

    <h4>Chapter 506 Figure Fighters</h4>

    He Rong smiled as he looked through the current toy stocks he had and queried whether unmade figurines were possible as well. Jin was stunned for a moment before as he hadn''t considered this, but the System quickly told him that it was possible.

    However stats wise, it would be of a standard attribute as per a freshly built model. The co-owner than asked if those stats could be seen in the Virtual Hologram and unfortunately Jin had not thought of adding that feature because this fighting game was designed for the underworld.

    "Nevertheless, I did ce some Virtual Hologram machines in the basement for them to choose and even ce an NPC that helps to fix these models up in a jiffy. Depending on the money they are willing to spend. It can be fixed instantly; else, it should be within an hour or two. I am nning to offer paint jobs for miniatures as well. " Jin shared as he pressed a button at the Shop instance where there was a Tiger Mascot at the side of the room.

    The Tiger Mascot lit up a little as if it was scanning Jin for a moment before the statue of the Tiger Mascot moved away, revealing the stairs to the underground fighting game arena. Yong De had chosen one of Jin''s models as well (obviously unopened like the Knight Savant Jin was holding on.) while He Rong went for a Real Grade version of Gunndam 99, Metal Build edition and brought it along with him to the basement.

    The Minimalist Modern style of the Arcade Store instance did not transit the same into the basement area. Instead, Jin made it dark and shady, apanied with lots of neon lights. Leaning more towards the Cyberpunk genre. Everything looked rather futuristic, and even the goblin engineers who were in the instance inspecting and preparing the fight machines for the trio were wearing high tech gadgets with their usual clothing.

    Some of the gadgets they wore were repurposed from the basic Gearbox suit which Yang Ling had made before. But instead of the full gearbox suit, It was broken into parts just as the Gearbox gloves and boots which the Evolved Goblins had used previously.

    However, unlike the first iteration of those gearbox armour parts, the ones these engineers used were more functional rather thanbative. The gloves featured a series of tools that would be useful for modelling purposes as a clipper, file, glue, and cement or green stuff (a sort of y that dried up quick to cover holes or create new customised parts)

    The same could be said for the one eyed visor, where the System gave instructions visually on how to tackle a particr nasty repair of a model. Initially, the System wanted the goblin craftsmen to handle these modelling issues, but then it decided to give the engineers a better understanding of the models that this undergroundmunity would build.

    So, in return, the goblin engineers could apply that inspiration or new found knowledge on future designs. Perhaps on the Sandroku Golem or probably blueprints for a new model.

    However, as Jin only allowed the Goblin Engineers to fix impromptu problems, the Goblin Craftsmen were the ones more responsible for the refurbishing of any broken toy models, and it included the customised paint jobs as well as building the model up if needed. (However, Jin did emphasise that the Goblin Engineers could join in if the model were futuristic or involved any mechanical parts.

    Who knows? Maybe the Goblin Engineers could build their own series of miniature robots in the future that could be used to fight aspared to the three dimensional game which Jin had created. (Despite it being already too real life looking.)

    The Goblin Engineers went ahead to turn the machine up, and that was where the miniature arena right in front of them started to glow. "Please choose your battlefield." Aputer voice suddenly spoke out, and Jin knew that it was none other than the System''s mimicked voice.

    However, the rest did not know any of this.

    At the same time, Jin was wondering if he should use Kiyu for the announcer''s voice. He did not think of that until he heard the monotonous System''s voice instead.

    The game would differ based on the number of yers entering the field. With three standing at the circumference of the arena, the System had determined that three yers would join the game.

    They then collectively chose the type of battlefield they would want to fight in. As Jin was the ''game master'' for this particr match, he swiped the battlefield options for them to see. But what was amazing was not the options but how the mini arena right in front of them changed ordingly with the battlefield options. They could feel the weight of the ''battlefield'' physically moving before it disappeared into mere bits of data.

    The first option was a simple empty room concept battlefield, but as Jin swiped to the right, the choice of broken forest concept was selected as the entire empty room physically moved and reced it with the broken forest concept battlefield. It was as if someone brought a new board and shove it through the arena''s ying field.

    In addition, Jin had ns to increase the number of battlefield options, including allowing customers to create their very own mini arenas. They could pay the Goblin Craftsmen to create it ording to their instructions or buy a selected number of prefabricated decorations and architectures to ce them into the mini arenas. (Yes, there is a workshop for them to do this as well within the basement.)

    While it was costly to create, they could be uploaded into the arena as an option called random concepts. Should the yers or audience liked a particr piece of concept arena, the System would subsequently add it into the weekly rotation of battlefield.

    This would allow yers to showcase their own ideas of a battlefield and whenever they were utilised, amission fee would be given to the yers and they could be credited as Panda Medals, or as cold hard cash. However, that was for the future when this game picked up traction.

    Now, the mini empty room concept battlefield would be their designated training and fighting grounds which their three figurine models would fight in. Once the battlefield had been selected, they ced the intended miniatures they wished to use at the front of the highlighted area, so the System could analyse the figures and used them for the battle.

    Anything that was on the model transporter would be teleported into the battlefield. Unfixed toy model versions would be fixed in an instant, and the System reminded Jin to ce an automatic ''fixing'' fee as part of the updateter. "Ah, you can put it for me System. ce it the same price as fixing a toy model by a craftsman."

    When the figurines were transported, both Yong De and He Rong was surprised that his Real Grade Gunndam 99 which required a few days of proper trimming and fixing of the stic parts were already created on the scene. Even Jin''s Knight Savant Model and Yong De''s Triple Goblin and Eight legged Boar figurine were out of their boxes and on the scene of the empty room arena.

    "I thought you say the model box does not need to be open?" He Rong said as he saw that the Gunndam Model box that was teleported back was filled with empty stic molds in it.

    "Mhm, I did. Sorry that I did not exin it well. Anything that is used for a fight will have to be opened. The Gunndam 99 you ced on the transporter will build for you immediately, but the fixing cost as I have spoken earlier would be added in as well." Jin apologised and told them about it.

    "Damn! I lost a few hundred Yuan just like this?" He Rong asked, and Jin replied that the amount had already been transferred into their business ounts.

    All three models.

    "Why do these models need to be opened? What if the customers want to keep it in pristine condition?" He Rong questioned Jin, and it did not ur to him until now.

    "Ah. Those toy model collectors huhбн" Jin thought for a while before telling him the rationale behind the opened toy models. "Because this game physically utilises the toy models and any damage to it will need to be fixed, we can earn a little on the repairing fees. I thought that would definitely boost our profit quite a fair bit. This wasn''t exactly designed with the collectors in mind..."

    The dungeon supplier was contemting whether he should use the counterfeiter in the process of creating the game session, but that might be unfair to those who painstakingly created their models from scratch. Even if he used the counterfeiter, the collectors would wonder if the product was real. (Even though it was totally one to one copy. Collectors had such twisted logic.)

    "How about we put a disimer? That way if the toy collectors wish to use their models forbat, they will bear their own responsibilities for the damage. Still, I too would not agree with opening collector models. Sometimes, I have asional yers that will y an extremely valuable card, but it was ced in a sealed tight reinforced stic box." Yong De suggested and He Rong did not seem very satisfied with the oue.

    "Can''t we use something simr to your dungeon instance system?? So that there is no physical contact to the models." He Rong requested, and Jin was deep in thought for a moment.

    "So, you are asking me to scrap the fixing figurines scheme and rece the physical with digital ones?" Jin asked for a confirmation, and they both nodded their heads together.

    "Fixing wise could still be of a service because there are times even experienced toy modellers make a mistake, mainly because their parts were too fragile. But other than that, it should not be a deterrent to y the game. You can still charge amission for assembling and even for painting them. That usually takes time, and I know a lot who would rather pay for it as long as the result is desirable." He Rong suggested and Jin nodded his head with a bit of some reluctance.

    He got the point from the two store owners. To Jin, the models were just a part of a money making operation for himself since the underground scene would no doubt be quite lucrative. But to Yong De and He Rong, the cards and toy models were a part of their life. It was more than just a mere hobby to them. They put in love, effort, soul and heart into this process just like how Jin did for his dungeon instances.

    "I get what you mean. I see if I can make any changes before tomorrow''s grand opening, else I will keep this ce closed until I resolve the issue." Jin said to them, and they were delighted that theirndlord was open to suggestions and rmendations. "But as for these three models, I do not think I can do anything about them."

    "Oh, it''s fine. This is a small price to paypared to the love that we have for our customer''s hobby." He Rong rubbed his nose as he looked at Jin and widened his eyebrows while showing the money sign and then putting his hand into the pocket.

    "Gosh, He Rong. It''s good to know there is still a money minded person in this room." Yong De said with some forcedughter when the other two looked at him momentarily. He Rong smirked back at Yong De and gave him a pat on the back.

    "Boss, time to teach us how to y this game? I assume that aside from the models, everything else should be the same right?" He Rong smiled back at Jin, and he chuckled a little before proceeding to teach them the basics of the game.

    The ''Figure Fighters''.

 Chapter 507 Meow Meow Karaoke Store Instance

    <h4>Chapter 507 Meow Meow Karaoke Store Instance</h4>

    After Jin taught them the basics of the ''Figure Fighters'', they had conducted a mock battle with Yong De winning, before Jin left them to their devices.

    He wanted to visit the other shop instances that were in the Tree Mall, if only to see the store owner''s reactions to his hard work.

    Man Tang, the entertainment giant in the Tiangong Tree Mall, was right beside the arcade for added entertainment value. Her shop instance had been equallyplicated but for another reason entirely. On its own, the karaoke shop instance looked like every other karaoke store Jin had even been to.

    The outside store exterior within the instance was an exact replica of what Man Tang had previously. A billboard greeted the customers featuring a cat holding onto a mike with musical notes surrounding oring out of the fat cat.

    Man Tang insisted on maintaining her billboard as that particr brand for her shop had made a small reputation for itself. She, therefore, refused to change her shop name at all.

    When Jin went inside, the interior was exactly the same as her previous shop, emphasising that she did not wish to change a single thing stating it would break her routine up.

    Ah, but what was different about this particr instance were the karaoke rooms. That was where he worked his charm and also where Jin''s problems arose. As of now, Man Tang decided to limit herself with only five rooms for each particr theme she had requested, resulting in a total of fifteen rooms. If the business continued to be as prosperous, she would consider adding more.

    Thus, Jin produced the three themes for her to use but because it was an instance within an instance, the dungeon supplier did encounter some problem. So, he decided to use the Sanctum of Worlds as the leading example since that was the closest to this particr design assuming it was already an example of Sub Instances only for the System to tell him otherwise.

    The System stated that the Sanctum of Worlds was considered as a series of interconnecting instances because the System allowed two waymunication between the monsters and they could enter via permission based requests which were loosely coded since most of the monsters had their home instances open for all to enter.

    The karaoke store instance, on the other hand, needed to be slightly different in terms of design which the interconnecting instances could not achieve.

    The first difference was that the Sub Instances were smaller and more definite in scale, which in turn would make it many times cheaper to maintain. But because of its rigidity, the System could not use it for the Sanctum of World''s concept.

    Imagine using a Sub Instance for the guest home instance where everyone had their own rooms and cabins. If Jin caught more monsters, the System would eventually have to build even more Sub Instances that would be a waste of resourcespared to infinitely expanding the guest home instance. The normal instances could also be reduced in size when not in use, making them very flexible.

    But there were also perks to Sub Instances. The most important factor was security. Only the select few guests could enter a particr Sub Instance as soon as Man Tang granted her customers the permission via her modified Pandemonium app or herputer, which was connected to the System. Only the master of the instance and a few of her trusted employees would have ess to the rooms. (In the Sanctum of Worlds, all the monsters basically had ''Master'' permission.)

    Fifteen rooms might not be much for the moment, but if she expanded in the near future, she worried that she could not possibly monitor that many rooms. Security was obviously crucial to her and using Sub Instances allowed the System to not bother too much and waste its precious resources to a particr tenant.

    Jin also believed this was vital since Man Tang said that there were unfortunate incidents of her customers nearly got raped or robbed by unsuspecting passer-bys or fellow customers of her store. Therefore, by ensuring that the rooms were locked based on the rights of the guests, it should hopefully reduce such incidents before.

    As stated previously, Jin was both busy(an excuse for being a littlezy) and too afraid to experiment too much with the Sub Instance, so the first five room he created were based on the theme of the Sanctum of Worlds'' Stadium instance where he held his town hall meetings for his monsters.

    Man Tang''s customers could use the stage as a mock tform to sing to either an empty grass field or to an audience of Farming Human clones.

    Thetter was more expensive and was limited to two of the five rooms. For the clones, they would react ordingly to the singer''s effort. They wouldn''t boo or jeer but instead try their best to encourage within the stadium Sub Instance if performance wascking.

    Likewise, if the customer were singing exceptionally well, the clones would p along with the song or even echo along with the sing along. It was to give the customers a sense of confidence while standing on stage and allow them to sing to their heart''s content.

    Some might treat it as more than just a confident booster as a minority could use it as a way to practice for real concert performances.

    A singer wannabe entering ''the Voice''petition could use this as a stage practice, or maybe a band of choir members use this as a viable tform to practice their performance. Either way, Man Tang liked the idea and was contemting to build more of these themes.

    When Jin was more confident, the next was a Cat oriented theme karaoke which was simr to a cat cafиж. The multitude of cats would be apanying the customers to sing along with the Karaoke.

    But unlike the stadium one, the sound system in this Cat theme karaoke was more mellow since cats were supposedly scared of loud noises, so it was slightly more realistic.

    However, Jin emphasised to the worried Man Tang that those cats were not the same as the real world cats, and all these were generated from the dimensional instances. Man Tang did not understand what Jin was talking about until she went into Cat theme rooms by herself.

    The cats were quite amodating to neerspared to most real cats except for a few naughty and rebellious ones added to the mix. (since a certain fox imed it would be more lifelike.) Despite how real they seemed, Man Tang could see that the cats were not afraid of the sound system at all and she even saw one yawning away with the fairly loud music sting away.

    Of course, Jin justified this with the way they had been programmed with some of the cats reacting a bit more violently to pitch or the sound level being way above the usual threshold. He even demonstrated that by giving her a real life example of shouting loudly into the mike and the cats shriek and ran into the corners of the karaoke room to hide.

    Man Tangughed at the reaction of the cats and believed it was authentic enough, and though there was one more themed room to check out, she preferred to stay with the cats a little while longer.

    "Maybe that''s why she insisted on keeping the Cat billboard." Jin thought to himself as he wondered if Man Tang was some sort of Cat Cultivator.

    While the karaoke owner was ying with the cats, Jin entered thest particr theme of the Karaoke Store Instance. It was basically a musical studio theme room where there was an electronic menu right at the centre of the room.

    Within that menu, Jin could choose any instruments he wanted to y in that room. Ranging from the piano, guitars to more orchestra based instruments such as the cello or violin. It was more of a room for people toe together to enjoy ying music or for lessons.

    Man Tang was known for allowing others to use her previous ce as a teaching ground for singing and musical lessons. While not teaching, she herself on some rare asions even yed the harp herself, causing her to earn a few fans of her own too.

    Otherwise, the room could be reconverted to a more grandiose karaoke room with a push of a button at the front of the console where the cushions were spacious, and the sound system was as good as the stadium theme.

    There was even a cab with all misceneous musical instruments along with a small stage for them to sing solo. The console would then act as the selection menu for the customers to choose their music.

    Still, it was rather umon to put musical lessons in this sort of entertainment venue, but Man Tang kept it clean and family friendly at least till 9pm where the lessons should officially end. (Though there were asions the lessons were dragged for at most an hour more.) After which, Man Tang would allow the ''rowdier'' groups of customers to enter her shop.

    She had decided to maintain this way for the uing new instance too, and the Triad members who drank and sang at her ce knew better than to misbehave. Her cultivation level was said to be at Grade 6 and rumoured to be even higher.

    That was also why Man Tang''s karaoke store was among the only few shops that were mostly left unharmed by the fight except for a few ss windows breaking. Jin was initially surprised after he heard that Man Tang had protected her customers from any of the Ruby Rat''s harm.

    When given the charity funds, Man Tang also refused the funds stating that the damage that urred was minimal and the funds should be given to someone that needed it more than her. Her regrsmonly joked that Man Tang could even win a fight against the legendary Boss Jin, but the karaoke owner had always refused to entertain their yful thoughts.

    After inspecting the Karaoke Store Instance and judging that it was more or less in the best condition for tomorrow''s opening, Jin bid his goodbye to Man Tang. However, before he left, Man Tang stopped him for a moment and passed him an envelope. "This is the payment in advance for any damage incurred in the karaoke store instance for at least the next three months."

    Jin looked into the envelope and was shocked to see a stack of notes within it. Not tens nor hundreds, they were in the thousands. (It was rare enough to see Yuan notes in the thousands since they were near non existent in the digital age of phone payment.)

    He stared at her with his eyes wide open as if to disapprove of this and knew immediately that it had something to do with something illegal. His dungeon instance might be expensive, but no matter how one destroyed something, it would not be as costly as this particr wad of cash in front of him.

    Jin believed that the cash was hush money for the activities that might happen in the night when the triad members or businessmen performed their illicit deals. What kind? He did not have enough evidence nor proof to determine. (Maybe now and in theing future, he does.)

    However, he did hear gossips and rumours from various customers in his shop when they went operationally open for twenty four hours. Jin just believed they were mere hearsays and ignored them until now when Man Tang proposed to Jin to keep the money.

    "Is it not enough?" Man Tang furrowed her eyebrows as she saw Jin''s expression. She had a hunch that he might be the righteous kind of person and might not want any of these deals to happen. However, her store was also able to weather because of this, and she would not mind leaving the Tiangong district if she was not able to allow these deals to happen.

    "...Is that why there are asional raids by the police, and yet nothing has happened to you?" Jin asked, and Man Tang who decided to be honest to her newndlord, simply nodded her head slightly though her face was nonchnt about it. Jin sighed for a moment before looking at the amount of cash in his hands while looking back at her again.

    "I understand. I will pretend that this act of transaction has never happened." Jin pushed the money back at her and bid her goodbye. Man Tang let off a slight smile and sighed as well.

    "I guess for a newndlord, he is quite a decent person in handling issues." Man Tang understood that Jin did not want to be involved in any issue of hers, nor was willing to offer any protection should anything happen. (or that was what she assumed)

    Even if he wanted a piece of that cash, he could now indirectly increase the ''maintenance fee'', and Man Tang would still have no issue to it for she wanted to continue to stay in Tiangong Shopping District as much as possible.

    "Thank you for understanding." Man Tang said behind him as she saw Jin off at the exit. It was a way of life for her, and that was how she grew up.

 Chapter 508 Chinese Medicinal Store Instance

    <h4>Chapter 508 Chinese Medicinal Store Instance</h4>

    The next ce he went to was Yu Xiang''s new medical store instance, which was on the second floor as well. The store instance was basically an old Chinese house with a courtyard at the centre, quite simr to Zither Mistress Ke Mi''s home instance. While Yu Xiang could have asked for something grander, their family was satisfied with paying what they could afford.

    Though the outside looked like a traditional Chinese home, the interior was that of a Chinese medicinal store from ancient times. The System had no trouble replicating such a request, saving Jin a lot of time which he used the prior knowledge of the System to immediately bring the store up.

    There were tens of cabs all over the store, some at double of Yu Xiang''s height but the movabledders and assist ropes hanging from the top would allow her to reach those drawers with a bit of cultivation.

    Her parents, however, felt quite at home with this kind of cab system using their chi to bnce on a few of the tiny knobs that were protruding at interval levels of the cab. (It was meant to be done that way too ording to the System.) Due to this level of finesse, which even Yu Xiang had never seen before, her parents were busy unpacking all the Chinese medicines that were kindly provided by Jin.

    Yes, Jin had decided to take over the entire medical store instance for himself as well. He not only sponsored the store instance but also gave the Yu Xiang''s family full autonomy of running the store. The only requirement was that they worked for him by selling his wares instead.

    But unlike the arcade instance which the profit earnt by the co-owners would eventually be used for various tournaments, Yu Xiang family''s earnings would bemission based on top of a decent base wage sry.

    Should the sales pick up, theirmission based revenues could eventually rival the overall sales they had made in the previous years and that was how Jin advertised it to them. The family was also kind of tired to keep worrying for the store and gave Yu Xiang to decide which she epted the deal on behalf of the family.

    Yu Xiang wondered why Jin was being so kind to her family and even suspected that he was trying to woo her. This wasn''t Jin assuming, the not so much older woman had unabashedly told him that she was not interested in Jin during their personal brainstorming session. The dungeon supplier was slightly stunned before her parents told her off and apologised to Jin about the sudden change of developments afterwards.

    They obviously did not want to offend their potential benefactor, yet Yu Xiang was adamant in her stance. She was not ready to be wed off nor was she in any rush to look for a boyfriend as she wanted to expand on her career first even if that meant that she would have to work part time jobs to keep the store afloat. However, Jin shook her suspicions off and insisted that his interest in her was purely on a business level.

    "I find it interesting. Why do you insist on staying in this store? With your capabilities, you should be well sought after by a bunch of prominent hospitals?" Jin asked Yu Xiang after her parents had negotiated the ownership details with Jin.

    "It''s a personal issue. I find it a little diforting to share it with you." Yu Xiang was still direct with Jin and not mincing any of her words at all.

    "Alright, erm... How about this? Do you mind telling me what it is you wish to achieve by staying in this small shop?" Jin asked Yu Xiang, and she looked pissed once again, clearly not buying the initial statement that Jin was not interested in her. (A certain fox wasughing at Jin being regarded as a yboy)

    "I have no need to tell you any of this at all. You just have to wait and see." Yu Xiang replied with a stern tone.

    "...Sure. Then what if I ask as a concerned SPONSOR of your store?" Jin had decided to use that particr trick even though he didn''t like to guilt trip someone. He could obviously see that she was quite irritated by it.

    "...I want my parents to recognise that Western and Chinese Medicine can coexist together. While Western heals the symptoms, the Chinese medicine helps provide nutrition for the body and has the ability to cure the root cause of most sickness. That was why I defied them and studied pharmacology while taking up a Chinese Medicine certificate." Jin was surprised that Yu Xiang revealed more than he expected as he smiled awkwardly at her answer before putting a chi potion at the centre of the table.

    "What do you think of this?" Jin asked as he opened the chi potion for her.

    "By thebel on it. It''s a chi potion. Not really a brand that I recognise. Judging by the bottle, it looks to be somewhat valuable. So most likely an (intermediate?) chi potion." Yu Xiang stated as a matter of fact which made Jin at a loss of words before Yu Xiang smirked to herself and picked the bottle up, opened it and took a sniff, subsequently tasting it. She could feel her body reinvigorated in an instant, and she had never drunk such a potent chi potion before.

    "Even the concentrated ones that I''ve tried in my Chinese Medicine Academy were not as fast acting nor as strong. What kind of materials are in it?" Yu Xiang asked curiously.

    "I believe it''s the usual. You know, Hare''s Ear Root, Chinese Angelica, Peppermint, Hawthorn berry etc." Jin was reading all these off the System''s prompt.

    "That''s impossible. If it uses the usual form, how could it be this good?" Yu Xiang asked, and Jin chuckled contemting whether to answer with his ''Trade Secret''?.

    "Well, aren''t you curious? Go research it." Jin answered before leading her downstairs. Just as promised, he had prepared a small medicalboratory for Yu Xiang to y with. And when she requested to y with it, the Chinese Medicine Girl had not realised what she was getting into.

    "You must be kidding me. You have thetest pharmacological equipment in here, and it''s the full set?!" Yu Xiang saw the machines in the basement and had not expected to receive an entire theme park to y with. "I can''t possibly do this all by myself. I will need to consult a few friends or maybe professors in this."

    "Can you vouch for them being trustworthy? Are you sure they are hardworking enough? I have more materials, and I believe I can provide a decent sry for another five of your friends." Jin rified.

    Yu Xiangughed: "You kidding me? As long as they get shelter and are decently fed, they will spend all day doing this kind of back breaking research. Also, though I might not be the best in regards to this kind of research but my thesis had some rtion with this. I believe can handle such stuff." Yu Xiang answered proudly.

    Jin nodded his head as if he already knew surprising her and Yu Xiang wondered whether that Jin must have already investigated her past background and if that was how it led him to sponsor her family''s store. She mellowed her attitude and asked where he got that particr potion from.

    And yes, Jin had looked her up via the System (after all the System had a backdoor to his university''s online database.) Her research was based on the fusion of medicine and therapy between Western and Eastern products. She even created a prototype of what could have been the ancient and forgotten spiritual core pills by using both Chinese herbs and western medicinal products.

    The spiritual core pills were rumoured to improve the dantian cirction leading to increased chi production and better enhancement of the body. For some reason, these pills had gone out of production after the dantian had been made permanent and no one was able to find any traces of its forme nor its existence ever since.

    Even in the underworld where most scared stuff was kept, sold and exchanged, there were no traces of the spiritual core pills at all.

    However, before she and her team members could reach phase three of the trial research, it seemed that she had suffered some setbacks, and there was no subsequent news about the spiritual core pills. (Phase three of modern research trials are usually meant to test if the products were fit for human consumption.)

    In addition, there were gossips and rumours that underworld organisations wanted Yu Xiang''s research, and people concluded that it was one of the reasons why her research trial was moot.

    "This chi potion? It came from the very same supplier that provided you with the Chinese herbs and some of the western medications. But he has been charging me a bit too much forforttely. I''d like to see if I can provide somepetition for himбнYou know to lower the price" Jin answered bluntly while looking at a CCTV, indirectly hinting to the System.

    He knew that the chi potions came from the Alchemist World after trading enough in the ck market. These batches of chi potions were considered as one of the most inferior of all potions in their world.

    However, they had noticed that someone was very interested in it, which led to prices slowly increasing. Jin hoped to eventually recruit one of these alchemists for his researchb team as well.

    But right now, there were too many things to take care of. And the dungeon supplier wanted to see if humans from this world could aplish the same. If so, it should also be rather interesting to see the inhabitants of Alchemist Worldpete on their products with Earth''s humans.

    "I see, but I cannot guarantee you any results." Yu Xiang tried to voice her concerns before it was toote and hoped that her sponsor was realistic enough to understand it.

    "We won''t know without you trying. Some results are better than nothing. Who knows, perhaps you and your team can make the next breakthrough. I promise that there will be sufficient funds for you guys. But that''s for the future, for now just concentrate on opening your family''s store." Jin knew not to pry too much into this.

    He couldn''t guarantee the same for a certain fox who might be very interested after learning that Yu Xiang wasn''t just a normal person. Fortunately, Kraft was currently upied, busy having fun in the Goblin World.

    "Sometimes, I wonder why our Boss keeps encountering these many girls with some tragic past or hidden history. Can''t he find someone more normal?" Pei thought. As if Jin had a sixth sense telling him that he was being badmouthed, the dungeon supplier unconsciously rubbed the bracelet rather roughly.

    "WHY! WHY ME?!" Pei shouted as she could feel her entire instance suffered a kind of earthquake, tempting her very much toe out of her bracelet to whack Jin for this.

    Yu Xiang nodded her head while she was looking around the newb that was bestowed upon her. Even though she knew that the dungeon supplier was just andlord, she felt that there was something peculiarly odd with him.

    iming to be poor yet at the same time seemingly having no problems forking out this many pharmacological equipment that had to cost millions of dors? Had he been anticipating her or was he acting poor to gain sympathy points? If it was thetter, he was not just a shrewd businessman but someone that Yu Xiang had to be wary of.

    Nevertheless, he was undoubtedly the saviour of Tiangong Shopping District, so she was somewhat uncertain whether to trust him or not.

    "Oh, and don''t worry about security in this ce, I assure you that it is as secure or even more so than thosebs you''ve worked in," Jin said as he walked out of theb basement from the Medicine Store Instance.

    "Que Er, have one of your magpies follow them whenever they are returning home. I trust her, but we don''t know about her friends yet."

    The Queen of Magpies appeared and bowed to acknowledge his request.

    "I can do that but wouldn''t it be easier for you to provide housing for them? Are you sure that you don''t want Kraft to let one of his foxes follow them?" Jin could not help it and shook his head furiously while talking to her at the corner of the Medicine Store Instance when no one was looking. He could imagine the potential horrors those scientists could go through if the foxes were bored.

    "бнI think a magpie will be better for modern world surveince. Besides, it''s for their safety instead of suspicion issues." Jin insisted that he wanted her to take over this job.

    "Very well, I shall have one of my magpies follow Yu Xiang and subsequent ones after she recruits her members." Que Er nodded her head, and for some reason, Jin could feel that she was stronger than usual since thest time he saw her face to face.

    "Soбнyou noticed? Or have you been informed by it beforehand?" Que Er smirked as she pushed up the new sses she had exchanged for System points. The Queen of Magpies exined that the Farming World Resistance had been using her magpies so frequently that she had received a lot of System points and in turn, she was making herself stronger in hopes that her magpies could be even more useful.

    "User, Queen of Magpies has reached the capabilities allowing her to undergo a Side Evolution with some help. Without help, chances exceed 90% that she can also undergo it on her own within the next 6 months" The System said, but Jin for some reason, he refused the side evolution which he was not willing to say.

    "No, Que Er. You are too valuable to us just to side evolve. Be patient and maybe all you need is a battle to have a Step Up Evolution trigger." Jin encouraged her before he began to notice that Yu Xiang was on the verge of eavesdropping them and he quickly picked his phone up and pretended to talk into it.

    "As you wish." Que Er was a tad disappointed and at the same time, felt relieved to hear those words of praise from her master. "To be usefulбнhmm." Que Er smiled gently as if she was reminiscing the past before the Queen slowly disappeared via a portal by the System.

 Chapter 509 Bais Weapon & Armour Department Instance

    <h4>Chapter 509 Bai''s Weapon & Armour Department Instance</h4>

    Contrary to the other instances, Jin was extremely confident that there would be no need for any fixes with thisst instance and it would be to the liking of the twin shopkeepers Bai Xin and Bai Wan. This was because he literally had handed them his Weapons and Armoury Instances.

    But for the two of them, this became a major headache. Bai Xin and Bai Wan would have prefered to be store owners in title, acting as mere of assistants for Jin. The dungeon supplier, however, had other ns in mind and was more than happy to delegate this task to fully concentrate on his dungeons. Begrudgingly, they were currently trying their best to memorise what items were in which section.

    Not to be too cruel, Jin did assign some Red Panda NPCs to them if they had any questions and as workers free of charge (for the rest of December at least). The minor difference between then and now was that Jin had revamped the ce a little.

    The weapon store now featured a dedicated shooting range, a ce where dummy mannequins sacrificed themselves to allow for weapon tests and most importantly private workshop spaces for people like Ren Wei who loved to customise their weapons.

    The workshop wasn''t bound to just guns. With Bai Wan taking over as the manager of the store, the Three Headed Bear no longer needed to be the one to sell weapons. Jin asked him to use this freed up time to instruct budding aspirants who wanted to be cksmiths or at least learn how to keep their weapons sharp.

    That way, Jin could get people to take cksmithing as a professional hobby... and who knows, they might produce decent weapons in the future under the guidance of the Three Headed Bear. Of course, Jin did not expect too many customers to trifle with the Master cksmith since his attitude could be at times overbearing. (or most of the time.) But unlike the research into chi potions, this was not a priority. Jin wasn''t in any dire need for some potential breakthroughs in cksmithing as he already had a damn good weapon on hand.

    Usually, the Master cksmith would ask the System to collect all the weapons that were not in use and ce it in an instance for him, which also worked as a furnace. After which, the Three Headed Bear would pick a weapon up and hammer it in the forge. The thing was, as he picked the particr weapon up, hundreds if not thousands of weapons were invisibly lifted up by an unknown force.

    When the Three Headed Bear started banging his hammer on the said weapon, one could see that the weapons that were lifted with an invisible force started to twirl around as if they were the one being reforged in the anvil too. Every turn, every hit gave the weapons a sip of brand new life.

    He had dubbed this as the ''Rain of Hammering Fire''.

    Highly effective, this particr Legendary Grade cksmith technique was only limited by the state a weapon was in. Regardless of dents, chips or blunts, the Rain of Hammering Fire fixed all of these problems, yet what was already broken could not be fixed were eventually reforged in bulk.

    The Master cksmith imed that each weapon had an innate soul to it, but whether that soul turned sentient was another issue. ording to him thetter was moremonly known as living weapons and the System cited that this particr Earth had seen its fair share of such weapons before. Unsurprisingly they were all made by Master cksmiths too.

    "The soul of a weapon responds to the Rain of Hammering Fire, for they wish to be cleansed of their own sins. Of not taking responsibility. Of betraying of their master, or justбнtheck of maintenance." The Three Headed Bear said without looking up as he continued to hammer on the weapon before him.

    "But sadly, some do not wish to obey, and most do not oblige to any being who happens to find them. They merely wanted to be free and to be more than just a weapon." The overlyrge bear shared with a tone of sadness as he ced the heated metal into the water for cooling.

    It was the first time the Master cksmith had talked to Jin using more than just a few words and grunts. Although the conversation was awkward and came out of nowhere, the dungeon supplier kept quiet, hoping to learn more.

    -----

    Yet even after a couple of minutes, the sound of the hammer hitting the anvil was all that filled the room. Regardless, that encounter was definitely an improvement as Jin reminisced about it while continuing his inspection of the private workshops and the training hall which he had ced. Because of the nature of dimensional instances and System''s infinite capacity in making them, the workshops instances became something akin to a box.

    While Jin did contemte whether to make the workshop instances as sub instances but realised that, the cksmith tools and equipment that could be bought and filled their personal workshop up. Hence it was best to put them as instances which could be called out whenever they needed to be used.

    Thus the System would pull out the data of the said personal workshop instance and the items within that particr dimension, and someone could immediately use it. It did not take up any physical space and was easy to switch these workshops around for the people who rented them.

    Meanwhile, the training hall was simr to a giant forge with tens of multiple anvils and cksmith equipment, ovens and tools etc. For a fee (be it a single session or multiple sessions), the customers could learn how to fix their weapons and create a weapon of their own.

    If the weapon were deemed passable in the Master cksmith''s eyes, Jin would allow it to be sold, and the customer could earn the profit after a deduction of 5% for operating fees. That was how the training workshop could be conducted, but the Three Headed Bear had demanded that he would teach at most 10 customers at once, with each session being at least three hours long. (Afterall, he insisted on quality, not quantity when ites to teaching.)

    In addition, he would determine if the customers were worthy enough to learn how to smith. When Jin asked if he could rx the conditions for the moment, the Master cksmith shook his head slowly and told Jin not to fuck around. The dungeon supplier was stunned for a moment beforeughing bitterly at his opportunistic greed for money.

    Jin eventually agreed and started making posters and brochures that would be given out with every purchase of a weapon. "Do you even smith?!" became the tagline on the brochures and Bai Wan liked it very much, considering trying out himself if time allowed it.

    Meanwhile, Jin was wondering about the true identity of the Three Headed Bear ever since he had created the brochure. He needed a name to spread the word and not just a mere title of Ultimate Instructor cksmith, which people deemed the words to ''be void of any weight''.

    The System did not help him in this regard since it had promised the Master cksmith that it would not reveal its true name under any circumstances. Unless the bear introduced himself to Jin, there was no other way to find out.

    Nheless, without a name to go by, Jin felt it would be hard for the customers to address him, so he personally asked if the Three Headed Bear was okay with a nickname instead. "Vulcan." The Master cksmith answered after some slight deliberation.

    "I seeбн Roman God of Fire otherwise known as the Smith God. Very fitting." Did the story of Vulcan have some link with the mysteriousness of not revealing his name or was he perhaps indeed a smith that had, in fact, worked for the Gods? Only time could tell.

    Either way, Jin was reasonably satisfied with these new changes. He watched Bai Wan do some stocktaking and learn to navigate the weapon store instance under the Red Panda''s supervision as he went over to the Armour Instance.

    Just as he had done with the weapon store instance, Jin had also slightly modified the armoury department store theme.

    A fashion runway was added to the middle of the department store where there would be a constant (small and varied) promotion on the clothes that were showcased. For this, Jin had decided to use the cosying minotaurs, but with a slight twist.

    Those minotaurs had to wear the cosmetic inscriptions to turn into pure humans or alternatively pose as cosyers with horns. It wasn''t too hard given they were already humanoid in shape and figure (though a bit hairy in their normal forms). Still, he insisted that at least a couple of them should use human appearance to showcase that ''normal'' humans would also look good in the outfits.

    As for the ''storekeeper'', Bai Xin was responsible for creating bi-weekly themes based on the clothes avable for sale. Jin didn''t mind if she wanted to rope her younger brother in for a few of the weapons that Jin was selling and encouraged the twins to experiment with the double promotion within the store.

    He believed it would create some hype and sales, especially when the storekeepers were to mix and match and sell the weapons and armours as a set.

    The cosying minotaurs no doubt gave some of their input to Bai Xin when they first met her, hoping to try out certain themes for the future. At the same time, the Bai Twins had never seen so many handsome dudes and beautifuldies of various colours converging to the dungeon supplier''s store.

    The models collectively lied telling them that Jin had hired them at separate asions for their advice for his own series of inscribed defensive gear. The young woman could not be happier, allowing them to help her and epting their opinions.

    Meanwhile, the cosying minotaurs had asked Jin if he could allow them to create their very own cosy sets. It was a wish of theirs ever since they discovered this miraculous relic called the television and cinemas.

    At the very least, they wished to create their very own cosmetic inscription costume. If Jin wanted, they were more than happy to allow him to sell it as defensive gears. (Jin quickly came to regret showing them his world''s definition of cosying when he had asked the minotaurs where they had learned how to dress up.)

    For now, the Boss told them to attract arge crowd first before he would entertain such thoughts. That alone had made them extremely ted and already provided Bai Xin with a lot of ideas which had umted ever since the day they were exposed to Japanese and Chinese animation.

    Bai Xin had never seen such enthusiasm and promised her new colleagues that she would do what she could. She revealed herself to the minotaurs as a budding seamstress and her cultivation style of the Weaving Spider that aided her in creating clothes.

    At times like this, Jin wished that Zhi Nu hadn''t have taken up the management job at the Adventurer Guild and instead worked with Bai Xin and Vulcan to create even more defensive gears with more modern designs. However, Zhi Nu surprisingly revealed to him that her weaving job was not something she enjoyed particrly, especially when it had been forced upon her ever since she learnt about the needle and thread.

    Still, the Weaver Girl was not going to leave Jin in a lurch.

    If he ever needed her to help to make a suit of his own, she would drop everything to assist him. She only wished to try and repay the gratitude she held for him in helping Niu Lang to gain a new skill and profession.

 Chapter 510 The Portrai

    <h4>Chapter 510 The Portrai</h4>

    The Figure Fighter game was the only major thing Jin would have to redesign else the store owners were more than just happy with their own instances. Some did ask for some minor tweaks to smoothen their work process before the grand opening, but nothing that would take too much out of his time. They were all was busy unpacking their supplies and preparing their own special events and discounts to wee their guests for the big day tomorrow.

    Meanwhile, Jin went off on his final round checking if the misceneous facilities in the Tiangong Tree Mall were working as intended. The toilet instances were the same ones he used for his store, ced at each level as well as inside the store instances. The only inconvenience was that the Pandamonium App was required since it was instance based, yet their high if not, perfect level of cleanliness could put other toilets in the world to shame.

    The mall''s lights were also functioning well, and the air conditioning in the area was lukewarm for the current weather. The railings and floor on every level were all custom made, especially with the railing guard. Tree-like branches were being fused with the ss on the railing while the tiles were polished quality wood with some greenery ced at the side.

    There were bins at several strategic points the System had determined to be the ces with the most amount of human traffic. Quite convenient for Jin as there was no need for cleaners, the trash would be sorted automatically (even in the various food store instances) as an effort to recycle.

    The Lost Tech Recycler was always ready to ept any trash that was given to it, and the System was not going to let any go to waste. Alternatively, it could always be given to the Lost Tech Counterfeiter as energy resource for future productions.

    Oh, and the possible litterbugs? They would receive a warning by the all seeing System via the Pandamonium App as well as an immediate deduction of five Panda medals if they had any. Further vitions would be reported to the police or to the social public department to have their well-being scores amended.

    Information ques had been ced on the ceilings to indicate where the lifts and toilets were. Jin believed he had everything covered except for onest thing. The most important facility that was situated at the highest level of the Tree Mall has been reserved solely for it.

    His new store.

    Jin figured since he was the one creating this Tree Mall, which was fundamentally unique, he might as well join in and relocate his store.

    The flooring of the top level incorporated the entire diameter of the tree and Jin had gone for an open air concept for it. It was a marvel how there was a ss dome ceiling at the top of the tree while the tree''s branches were converging to provide sufficient shade.

    If someone were to pay closer attention, they would realise that the tree branches had been grown systematically in a way which covered sufficiently to allow pockets of sunlight to enter the top level as it encroached over the reinforced ss dome.

    In addition, the top level was modelled to be simr to a bamboo forest park with patches of bamboo trees along the pathway and diverging from both sides of the paths into various ancient Chinese styled pavilions. People could either sit and chat or enjoy the tranquillity of the medium size pond with a rockyndscape right beside the pavilions.

    During the night, there would be gardenmps in the shape of Chinesenterns illuminating the path, providing the bamboo forest part with a mild glowing yellowish shine, giving off a mystical feeling with the night sky above.

    With it being one of the tallest ''buildings'' in the area, Jin believed that the visitors might find the asional star twinkling or moon glowing its soft radiance down to the bamboo forest.

    The pavilions were painted ck and gold to have a stark contrast with the bamboo forest, blending it nicely regardless of day and night. Yet, the most striking feature was the interior design architecture.

    The intricate design of pandas ying orzing around was crafted within the roofs of the multiple pavilions scattered across the bamboo forest part. One could see the pavilion was meant as a ce to have their guard down and enjoy the scenery. However, there was one particr pavilion clearly different.

    It was crafted with an artwork of ten Foxes, a Red Panda, a Penguin and a Snake altogether. While Milk, Peppers and Zeru did not have an animal cultivation style, they were portrayed within the ceiling artwork in other ways. The Giant Book which Milk used was seen along with the Red Panda and Penguin while the snake wrapped itself around a wooden staff. Pictures of lotus flowers were painted at the corners of the roof while the foxes were ying hide and seek within the flower fields.

    As for Jin''s store? It was at the centre of the Bamboo Forest Park where it was ced on an elevated sloped tform. Was it a physical shop? Nope. Was it a statue? Nope. What was standing at the centre of the elevated tform was actually a mega sized portrait of Jin wearing his Half Panda Mask, along with his retainers and monsters in it.

    The Master of the System was at the centre sleeping on the belly of a Giant Panda. Qiu Yue was on the right paw of the Giant Panda surrounded by red pandas holding various items, including a crown and a bag of gold. Lynn was on the left paw demonstrating some of her skills to her penguins, some of which were in ninja attire. Separately, Peppers was sitting cross-legged at the top of the Panda''s head reading one of her books.

    Shu, the Ancient Treant was right beside the sleeping Panda. The Great White Snake lying around Shu''s protruded roots was quietly staring at something outside the picture and acted as Ke Mi''s cushion, who was immersed in ying the Zither. Naturally, the Praying Mantis was also present blending with the giant tree itself.

    Milk and Zeru were both above Peppers on onerge branch, eyes looking towards their sleeping master while Yun was sitting alone at the other side of the branch, looking away into the far space seemingly enjoying the ''wind'' of the scenery.

    The portrait also featured the three evolved Goblins riding Mr Oink''s Death Rider Form while a Wyvern had spread his wings attempting to squeeze in. Their shadows on the ground was noticeably different as it depicted their former selves being a yful trio.

    The Wyrm Ants family had popped their heads out of the bottom of Shu spewing a minuscule amount of fire and ice as if they weremunicating with each other. Beyond Shu''s roots, Ayse and the other humanoid researchers were seen recording some experiments as they observed the Dark Temrs and Baphomet worshipping Lord Wolte in an underground cavern.

    At the left side of the portrait, Sandy had used her sand powers to create a sandcastle. Inside that sandcastle, Half Ghoul Lord Derek could be seen creating more zombies with his makeshift Frankenstein machine. In the opposite part of the sandcastle, the werejackals and werecats were taking the effort to open a vault seemingly continuing what they had attempted in the Bank Heist Instance.

    Separately, at the centre of the sandcastle, there was a spiral staircase up to the second floor. The Jack-o-Lantern was running upwards followed by some Boar Knights that connects to a long corridor which eventually led to Lord Moloch sitting on a throne with his maids and subjects bowing towards him in another room, supposedly the sandcastle''s throne hall.

    Above the sandcastle was the ck Disaster, General Nubwort standing proud with a few of his orc officers. Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by a working Mechataur who was blowing steam outwards, which somehow seemed to have ruffled the leaves of Shu.

    Meanwhile, Zhi Nu and Niu Lang were behaving like a lovey-dovey couple sharing some ice cream at the shoulders of Mechataur. At various parts of the giant robots, robot crawlers could be seen repairing it.

    The upper part of the portrait had clouds mixed with thunder revealing the silhouette of Mr Derpy and his minions were trying their hardest to cling on to him. A bit further back of the portrait was a mountainous cliff where Keyrin was standing proud and tall summoning the clouds and thunder out.

    A leg of the Transforming Spider, Spiky was shown at the side of the mountainous cliff too, as if it was too big for it to present its entire self within the portrait. The Fire Lion Demon and Water Snake were also present, still battling each other in a smallnd of tundra. The picture of them was a lot further into the background and hard to see without a closer look.

    On the other side of the picture, the Titan Knight looked outwards as if trying to protect the Tree Treant from something and the Robotic Arachnid had crawled up the Knight''s chest. The Savants that were featured in the Shaolin Instance had drawn their weapons towards a monster with a sinister ck Aura revolving around him, and it was hiding at the corner of the picture.

    That was none other than Diabolos who was still asleep within its protective barrier. Further into the background was the Fallen Santa riding his chariot of evil ready to throw more snowballs as two of his Spartan Clockwork soldiers had taken the reins for the flying deer chariot.

    As for Kraft and his foxes? They were once again hidden all over the portrait. Even the sealed up Rex could be found within the lining of the protective barriers against Diabolos.

    The System had informed Jin that it would gift him something for all his hard work it had done for the Shopping District especially since it did not formally issue a mission for him.

    Jin had not paid any heed to the System''s words as he doubted it would be something valuable, seeing as there had been no objectives toplete. That was until he saw this mega portrait right in front of him.

    The corners of the portrait were safely protected by a golden metal frame with even more Pandas on it while most of the frame consisted of high quality bamboo. Thisrge portrait was floating as if it was being levitated by a ma.

    Jin was speechless from the artwork as his eyes slowly scanned over all the tiny details of it, potentially rivalling the famous historical portraits in the London Royal Museums.

    "System will update the artwork once User has captured more monsters." The System exined that the portrait was an ever evolving piece of art and told Jin not to worry about security or potential stains to the artwork.

    Going one step beyond if someone tried to take a video or picture of it, it would suffer from photo maniption effects which would cause fuzziness on the picture or video taken, rendering the photo useless.

    As Jin was about to ask how to enter the store instance of the revised Dungeons and Pandas, he realised that the elevated slope tform had the answers, demonstrating how to do so with the QR code engraved on the slope itself.

    The dungeon supplier smiled as he took a few steps back and replied to the System with regards to the portrait.

    "System, for something so omnipotent, you missed out the most crucial detail within this whole portrait." Jin said as he heaved his breath out and when rxed, he figured out where to insert that particr detail.

    The System analysed the portrait once more and could not determine the missing link that Jin was talking about. "Please specify what System had missed out."

    The Dungeon Supplier walked towards the portrait, going through the forcefield which was set up to protect the precious portrait. Jin then ced his finger at his ''chest'' on the picture.

    "You."

    He then explicitly told the System to add his store signboard and ce in such a way as if Jin was holding the signboard tightly even though he was asleep.

    "Now the artwork isplete." Jin smiled widely as he nodded his head in approval.

 Chapter 511 Opening Ceremony - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 511 Opening Ceremony - Part 1</h4>

    "Oei, sleepyhead. Time to wake up!" The inte voice sounded like it''s from Yun as Jin felt groggy within the sleeping capsule from the forced awakening.

    "бн Five more minutes." Jin managed to grumble as he could barely move any part of his body within the ufortable capsule. He was too tired from another night''s worth of projects with what little money he was left with.

    "It''s your big day. Do you n to skip out on your own opening ceremony?" Yun asked through the inte once more, and the System proceeded with opening the capsule without waiting for Jin''s permission. The amount of ck sludge, as usual, was more than terrifying but the System had already collected today''s worth, and the rest was for Jin to keep.

    Yun could see that Jin''s head was still drooping from the heaviness of his sleep, so she personally went into the dungeon maker''s room to pick him up. With a snap of her finger, they were instantly teleported to the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance. At her beckoning, the Panda Masseur from the wooden cabin came out to carry Jin to the changing room aiding his barely awoke master in changing to something skimpier.

    But instead of a bath, the Panda Masseur brought Jin onto his massage table and started to work its panda massage magic on Jin. The System had provided the masseur with a type of essential oil which was enriched with various effects to perk Jin up and bring his energy back.

    "Master, I am starting from the back." The Panda said as he ced his paws on Jin''s scap and started to rub the fatigue out of his body. Jin, who was aware of the massage, became briefly unconscious from the pleasure of the massage and the instant rxation of his muscle made his body to go all soft.

    The Panda Masseur smiled, seeing his massage working as intended and proceeded to his lower back, subsequently his legs andter back up to his arms. At thest part, the Panda ced a warm wet towel that epassed the whole of Jin and allowed him to experience the heaviness of the towel as well as theforting warmth of it inside the air conditioned cabin.

    "Master, you are good to go for a bath." The Panda Masseur said as he removed the towel and gave him an ordinary one to cover his genitals for decency sake.

    "Gosh, I feel so much more refreshed than ever. I didn''t even realise that my shoulders were previously stiff as a piece of hardwood. They are so rxed now~. Thank you." Jin praised the other for his work as he wrapped his lower part of the body and went to shower.

    Suddenly the penguins that were manning the hot spring instance dashed into the same cubicle as Jin and pressured him to sit on a stool as they wash his entire body for him. "What are you guys doing?! I can shower myself!" Jin eximed as a penguin ced its two flippers onto Jin''s face and began rubbing it with face wash.

    "Lady Yun''s orders. She said there is not much time left before the opening ceremony. A crowd of people has already formed, and she asked us to assist you in your bathing in case you fall asleep while bathing. She is not taking any chances with you. Please pardon us for the assistance." The penguins eximed as they began to scrub Jin''s body from head to toe after not showering properly for the past few days. (Disgusting, but true.)

    After which, the penguins opened a portal which led him back to the room with his towel barely on. Yun had already prepared an appropriate set of clothes, belt and even shoes for him. "Quickly get changed. The crowd is getting anxious."

    "How big can the crowd be? It''s just the reopening of their old district. It hasn''t been that long..." Jin grumbled once more as he quickly wore his underpants with Yun looking the other way, busy with some messages on the phone. As soon as Jin was done looking decent in his new outfit, his supposed motherly figure had put a Lynn-made sandwich in his confused looking mouth.

    "Eat the sandwich, another one is on your study table if you want more. Here''s the script that has been prepared for you." Yun instructed as she helped him trim his unkempt hair. Yun somehow was able to pull off this magic trick where the hair would disappear the moment it was cut away, enabling Jin to enjoy his sandwich while he reluctantly read the script that was vetted by the System.

    "Do I really have to do this? Can''t I send out Another Jin in my stead?" Jin asked Yun as she berated him to not move his head and only his mouth.

    "No you can''t. I know you it might seem boring to you and not exactly what you want to do, but it''s your district now, and you have to ept some of the responsibilities. Also, it''s exactly because it hasn''t been that long, which caused the interest in your district to be that big. " Yun said as she lifted his hair and snipped it off.

    "Your little stunt of building a gigantic tree was one thing, which many had epted that you used some impable ''Trade Secret'' level of magic, but you basically rebuilt an entire district within a week, and that made everyone''s attention to be on you."

    "Grandma Yuan received a call from the governor of Shenzhen informing her that he was hoping to be a guest for this opening. They did not expect the ce to open so soon and they cleared their schedule just for this." Yun replied, emphasising his new duties as thendlord.

    "And it looks like it''s not just her but a few other big shots from the Demon Exorcist organisation who will being in to take a look at the ce as well. Teacher told me the big wigs were impressed by the district''s recovery and decided to personally discuss the opening of the branch headquarters for Shenzhen with you. It''s your opportunity to get a big cheque from them!" Yun added, astounding Jin with her form of address for the old woman.

    "I am actually surprised that Shenzhen does not have branch headquarters." Jin wondered aloud as he chewed on his food and awaited Yun''s reply since he''d rather listen to her rumbling than memorise the script. He figured the System would prompt Jin with the script in the case he ''forgot''.

    "There was a small outpost here that acted as the branch headquarters previously. It was led by Teacher, but as she gained renown, that outpost became a training centre cum headquarters. In recent years, she closed that training centre due to old age and only took a few bunch of kids as part of the minimum requirement to continue enjoying the perks of the Demon Exorcist organisation." Yun exined as she magically summoned an electric shaver andb and helped Jin to further trim the sides.

    "You knew quite a bitбн" Jin wanted to know if Yun could remember anything about her old past. Just a mere glimpse would be better than nothing.

    "All of those were from some past articles I read. Nothing too ssified nor from my supposed old memories. You know it wouldn''t exactly hurt you to read up things like that yourself." Yun answered understanding what Jin was hinting at as she requested Jin to lower his head a little.

    "In any case, I can only do this much for you. Whether you want to follow the script or ad-lib it, it''s all up to you. Now go out there and cut that damn red ribbon so we can start work." Yun smiled at him as she teleported Jin back to the Shop Instance, and people started to be aware that the newndlord had finally arrived.

    "Woah! Boss Jin! It''s unusual to see you wear something so smart! " Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator shouted as she waved at Jin from afar. That shout alone was enough to start the wave of congrattions to Jin for the sessful construction of the new Tiangong Tree Mall. She and the other Pandawans were queuing up too, though not as early as the rest in the crowd.

    "Alright, alright! Let him through! If you guys want to see the opening ceremony, just go to the first floor of the Mall!" Yun, who magically appeared behind Jin, looked formally with a full business suit and screamed at the customers to make way.

    The old store was still operational for a few more days at least until the end of December to make people aware of the new store in the Tree Mall before Jin would officially close it. (Well technically, he can leave the shophouse alone since he was thendlord, but the instances would be moved away to the new mall.)

    While most of the Pandawans came to lend their support, it was not their only reason foring. Jin had sent out the audit report on the charity funds on the day before and indicated that because of their donations, the Tiangong Tree Mall was able to start earlier than scheduled.

    In return for the expedited opening, Jin had thanked the loyal customers and cultivators with a special reward. Those who had donated would be given a ''donor'' status depending on the amount they had given. For those who gave less than 100 Yuan, they were given vouchers for the various stores via the Pandamonium App by Jin. The first five dungeons they decided to y for the month of December and January would be offered at a 25% discount too.

    Between 100-1000 Yuan? Jin had given them Silver Donor status, and they were given the same benefits as the Donor status, but their benefits were up to ten dungeons (depending on the contribution) woulde with 50% discount from December to February.

    There were a few who donated more than 1000 Yuan and those were bestowed with the Gold Donor Status with their next ten dungeons priced at 25% of the normal cost price no matter when they decided toe. Not only that, they were given three times the number of e-vouchers to spend in the Tiangong Tree Mall.

    As for most generous donor, whose contribution was a six-digit figure, he was given tinum Donor Status. This came with multiple benefits (including a custom Hippo & Egret Plushie), the most obvious being that anything that was purchased in the Tiangong Tree Mall would be free for life. That was none other than Xiong Da, who was also the guest of honour for the opening ceremony.

    Jin thanked all of them, but Yun pressed him to move faster out of the store instance and into reality as the first thing they saw were reporters vans and an unbelievably long queue of people that were lined up from the front and side gates of the Tree Mall. It was so damn long that the queue line was all the way to his original shophouse and beyond.

    All of them were dying to try out the new Tiangong Tree Mall which had been aggressively advertised by Kiyu in the past few days too. Neither the System nor hisrades in arms had bothered to inform him about it, as Jin was fighting the (seemingly neverending) battle of creating instances.

    "Oh my god." Jin could not believe the sight in front of him as Yun pulled his arm to take Jin back to Earth and they both used their chi to jump and sprint in mid air. The people in waiting were wowing at the sight of the two cultivators literally jumping dozens of meters at once into the air, which was a feat people recognised as a feat of highly cultivated individuals.

    As Yun and Jin moved closer to the site of the Opening Ceremony, Yun purposely twirled and pushed Jin forward while inciting her cultivation to appear. Along with Eight Panda Silhouettes, more copies of it yfully surrounded Jin via Yun''s cultivation. The Astral Panda Cultivator flew forward with tens of Pandas circling him, eventually gracefully aiding him tond on the stage tform where everyone took pictures and videos of it happening.

    The multiple panda silhouettes fused into one towering Panda figure before it gradually disappeared right above Jin. "Good Afternoon, esteemed guests and fellow friends." Jin started as he adjusted the mike on stage.

    "Wee to the new Tiangong Tree Mall."

 Chapter 512 Opening Ceremony - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 512 Opening Ceremony - Part 2</h4>

    Jin gave a short opening speech describing how the store owners were resilient despite the despicable attack by the Ruby Rats. He, however, did not openly condemn them but instead used them as the defining example of how this district had ovee adversity and grew to be better through this trial by fire.

    However, with the exception of a few select guests, Jin noticed that the majority of the audience was not too interested in this kind of long opening speech, so he decided to cut it short. At the same time, Jin signalled Yun as the moderator to get on with the ceremony.

    "Please give a big round of apuse for our dear Mayor Cheng Rui and our biggest sponsor, the guest of honour, Mister Xiong Da who has helped to kickstart the opening of the Tiangong Tree Mall to the stage," Yun announced to the audience which perked them up. (Initially, Kiyu was supposed to fulfil this role, but Kraft had suddenly called all the foxes to his side, including Pei. He did ce a failsafe within the bracelet instance to make a return if Jin ever needed her urgently.)

    The Shenzhen Mayor was the first to go up to the tform, followed by Xiong Da. The two of them came to greet Jin by shaking his hands before he took out a ball like structure. Jin then asked them to also put their hands on the ball and on the count of three, the trio simultaneously pushed the button together.

    A series of confetti poppers went off, and everyone started to p furiously, seemingly trying to elerate the ceremony, eager to discover all the wonders of this new district. Yet no one had expected that particr ball like structure to be a button to light up the entire Tree Tiangong Mall with Christmas decoration lights. While the scene could have been more magnificent at night, the lights at the moment were sufficient to attract the media''s attention.

    Soon, Jin also remotely released the locks from the ss doors and the people in front of those entrances immediately rushed in at the sight of the ss doors opening. If not for the fact that Jin had used reinforced ss, some potential idents could already have happened.

    As the crowd entered, they were immediately amazed by how spacious it looked and at the gorgeous sight of the Panda Tian Gong Statue. As prompted by the Farming Humans that were acting as guides for the opening ceremony, most of the customers had already installed the Pandamonium App. This allowed them to quickly transition into the area and the various store instances.

    The System itself had underestimated the size of the initial crowd and had applied a quick fix to the Panda Statues. Without the need to touch them, anyone within a fifteen metre radius could use their phone to teleport into the respective Store Instance.

    Everyone rushed frantically to the ces they had read up on online or via the brochures handed out to them while waiting for the opening. Kiyu and Kraft had done a fantastic job in the past few days to aggressively advertise on the Tiangong Tree Mall.

    Shots of the various instances with Kiyu trying them out first hand in the Mall Preview had piqued many people''s interest, and there were promises of wonderful door gifts or at least on the first day with many discounts to be expected.

    Ke Loong was also among one of the few honoured guests who participated in the opening ceremony and seeing how the temporary stage area was the only safe area to talk, the few guests who wished to mingle remained in that particr area.

    "Boss Jin! Sorry to hear about what has happened to the district. I''ve been away in Germany to discuss about the production of the portal. I am d to see what you did to the ce." Ke Loong greeted Jin with a hearty handshake. He ensured Jin that the portals were made of the highest quality and not topromise with the materials since human lives were at stake.

    "I see, did you manage to make any improvements with our researchers on deck?" Jin asked even though the System was updating him about the current circumstances of the portal situation.

    "Excellent! Even my Chief Engineer Bo Ze was bewildered when they showed him some of the relevant parts. Must say, you are one sneaky Boss. You allowed us to build the entire portal device, but you withheld the most important part for it to work." Ke Loong said, and Jin furrowed his eyebrows as he assumed that all the portal device were made with Earth''s material.

    "User, System had ced a failsafe part that needs toe from you first in order to regte the number of portals that could be built. The part had something to do with the Lost Tech found in Goblin World." System revealed to Jin while he wasughing at Ke Loong''s replies.

    "I thought you said that all the items would be from Earth?"

    "That particr Lost Tech is merely a key. There would have been ways to replicate it, but it was cheaper to use the original method. It''s needed to kickstart the processor in the portal device once." The System stated.

    "ording to simtions, the Lost Tech part will disappear upon use, hence making it hard to impossible to replicate it on Earth and abusing it. System understood that User had some concerns previously that he was unwilling to address during the negotiations. This was thest failsafe before they could begin the Portal Revolution in this world." The System for once was concerned for Jin and wanted him to be very sure to go ahead with it.

    "Thanks," Jin said to the System with a smile showing on to Ke Loong before he continued.

    "Ke Loong, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I fear releasing the portals might be a bit too soon formercial use." Jin continued, and Ke Loong was confused.

    "What do you mean? I have already ordered and produced over a hundred portal devices. Isn''t it a bit toote to back out now?" Ke Loong tried to remain calm and wanted to hear the reason Jin gave first before making any assumptions that he was backing out for selfish reasons.

    The implications of the portal device would significantly empower the Chinese economy and most importantly, hispany.

    "No. Please don''t misunderstand me. What I meant is that we should regte the use of the portal. Instead of allowing any Tom, Dick and Harry going to use it as if it was free." Jin replied, and Ke Loong subsequently got what he meant.

    "Something like airports security?" Ke Loong asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "While the potential crisis of a security threat will always be looming, we should do things that can reduce such risks. After experiencing it myself, I''d rather not be responsible for someone abusing it and creating another disaster like the Ruby Rat Attack." Jin rified, as the Mayor of Shenzhen came walking towards him at an inopportune time.

    "Greetings, Mr Xie. It seems like your Tree Mall is a hit." Cheng Rui said, and Ke Loong who was contemting on what Jin said nodded and took his leave for the moment. The Sea Mesh CEO told Jin he would contact him soon to discuss more pertaining to that outstanding issue in front of the Mayor.

    "Mayor...Cheng. To grace our humble little district with your presence, I consider it an honour." Jin greeted the other in a courteous way, and the Mayorughed at Jin''s attempt at ttery. Cheng Rui understood that the dungeon supplier was just throwing pleasantries at him for the sake of it, yet he acted the part too.

    "The pleasure is all mine. It is unfortunate that the government was not able to help you in time for the unfortunate incident a few days ago." Cheng Rui sent his condolences to Jin. "We will do our best to get the resurrection procedure up and running for the dead victims as soon as possible. And we were also nning to aid this particr district in terms of the rebuilding. But I believe you already beat us to it."

    "What can I say? The support for this ce was overwhelming. Although I''d like to add that additional fundings would be appreciated. You knowбн assuring the maintenance of the aesthetics won''te cheap, especially if one considers how costly the purchase alone was...." Jin would definitely not turn down extra money should the government grant him some.

    "While that is true, the public funding is not that great as well. Seeing as it has already been rebuilt, support in allocating our budget for reconstruction may be a bit hard, but we cannot leave such selfless devotion unrewarded. If the crowd remains plentiful, I will try to bring it up at our next meeting." Cheng Rui was pushing the responsibility back to the young chap right in front of him. If Jin was able to build this much, he definitely had the money to support the upkeep of this particr ce.

    "Then I suppose I will not expect any support from you," Jin stated bluntly as he thanked his time froming and moved along. Cheng Rui was shocked that Jin would just walk away from him. Did he not realise what power he held as the mayor of Shenzhen?

    "Maybe I should teach that little ignorant kid a lesson..." Cheng Rui was starting to get a bit furious at such disrespect, which he hadn''t encountered for ages. Just as he wanted to say something, he suddenly heard someone shouting Jin''s name. At a closer look, the person who was waving at him had multiple guards surrounding him.

    "Ahh! Jin! Congrattions!" The Royal Tiger Zodiac Head, Hu Yuan Ba was holding onto a mega hamper. Jin was makingrge strides towards him with the guards making way for him to pass through.

    "Mr Hu! Thank you foring to my mall''s opening ceremony! I have to admit, we have not expected your presence. Otherwise, we would have prepared the necessary amodations for someone of your standing!" Jin said in delight which he graciously received the hamper and Yuan Ba gave him a hug befitting of an Honorary Tiger n member.

    "Hahaha! Nonsense, that won''t be necessary! Just call me Yuan Ba! Or maybe Dad would be good in the near future!" Yuan Ba half joked as he ced his hand on Jin''s shoulders and gazed at the colossal tree that was right in front of him while Yang Ling who was right beside him yful punched her father for saying thest line.

    "Damn this little kid sure surprises me at every corner. Good work recovering this ce!"

    "I figure your Triad Head had briefed you what had happened?" Jin asked, and the two Royal Zodiac members nodded their head. "At least allow me to properly thank you foring to my aid when I least expected it. Without that, things might have turned out for the worse." Jin took a step back and bowed sincerely.

    "No worries! After what you did for me, or should I say us, it was the least I could do." Yuan Ba gleefully replied until Mayor Cheng Rui decided to greet the Head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n. The guards, however, did not even move an inch away, barring the mayor from entering.

    "Ah, Dad. That is the mayor of Shenzhen." Yang Ling pointed out to him, and Yuan Ba nodded his head slowly in acknowledgement.

    "I am not interested in greeting anybody else for today." Yuan Ba announced loudly, and the guards in their ck suits immediately asked the Mayor to back away.

    "Then howe that kid is able to talk to him?" Mayor Cheng Rui defied and questioned the guards.

    "Because he is one of us." The Head Guard answered in his stead in the most professional manner and told Mayor Cheng Rui to back off or face the consequences. Only then did the Shenzhen mayor realised he might have made a grave mistake for ignoring Jin a few moments ago.

    No one had informed him that this little kid who was capable of reviving a shopping district a few days after its destruction was also friends with one of the twelve Royal Zodiac n''s Head and treated like they had familial rtions too.

    "I see...I''m sorry to have interrupted the Tiger Lord." Mayor Cheng Rui nodded his head in embarrassment, and he quickly took off. He was pondering whether to swallow his pride and offer some grants to Jin to mend their rtionship, only to encounter another respectful figure.

    The guards who saw her nodded their heads in acknowledgement and immediately allowed her to enter.

    "Looks like this little tiger is still fit as a fiddle after that particr incident." Grandma Yuan greeted him, and though Yuan Ba held his head high in the face of anyone else, he quickly lowered his at the sight of her. He even sped his hands together and greeted Grandma Yuan formally. Yang Ling did much the same, but as she was still in a wheelchair (for appearance sake to potential enemies in a huge crowd), she limited it to a small bow.

    Jin was a little perplexed at the current scene, and Grandma Yuan smirked at him. "What are you so surprised about, you little brat? At my age, I have known most of the heads from the time they were still in their diapers!" Grandma Yuan emphasised thest part leading to a slight blush on Jin''s face as she told them all to be at ease.

    Only after a few exchanges did Jin realised that Yuan Ba had formerly been a student of Grandma Yuan''s as well. Not as a direct disciple but a mere student of her ss.

    "I did not know that Grandma was that famous." Jin blurted at, and a wooden stick knocked on his head before Grandma Yuan used some chi to take it back.

    "Jin, I don''t suppose you can bring Yang Ling around? I have a few things to discuss with Grandmaster Yuan." Yuan Ba suggested, and Jin nodded as he pushed Yang Ling forward.

    "So is that considered an approval from your dad to bring you out for another date?" Jin teased Yang Ling, and her face turned red almost immediately. She knew that he was joking but could not help feeling something for him. (This time Kraft was innocent.)

    "Don''t be such a tease, my Dad knows what kind of man I like. You have a long way to go." Yang Ling stuck her tongue out asfortably allowed Jin to slowly push her into the new Tiangong Tree Mall. (There were guards to aid with the movement of their VIP too but in a less forceful manner.)

 Chapter 513 Extra: Weslies Revival

    <h4>Chapter 513 Extra: Weslie''s Revival</h4>

    Gold was right beside Weslie when she woke up. The female schr was amazed by the sterile,fortable setting she found herself inpared to the slightly dark, cold and dull walls she had been trapped in for the past months. Gold grabbed onto her hand so tightly that she nearly feared her arm was going to fall off from all the numbness.

    "What is this ce?" Weslie asked as she enjoyed the beautiful seaside scenery outside the window with the winds from the ocean blowing into the room. (Were this not an instance, Jin would have trouble maintaining the building)

    "Just as I told you, the power of our new Master is unbelievable. Think of it as a part of a small world in and of itself. One he created thanks to his powers." Gold chuckled and began to tell her more about what life was like under the System, their new Master Jin and brought her up to date.

    With Gold rambling like a grandfather, the Panda Nurses interrupted them once or twice to provide some food for the Schr of the West. After the first bite, Weslie couldn''t believe it. No matter what, each bite was nothing short of it being delicious. Seeing how preupied Weslie was eating, Gold stopped with his tales and partook the meal together with her.

    It had been a long time since Weslie felt this way and appreciated every single waking moment with Gold. His details in the stories were equally juicy and sometimes very animated since Gold utilised some magic to show some of his past memories that he had gone through. Thissted until after the sun had set when one more Panda Nurse came in to check on Weslie, asking if they needed anything.

    "So...whew. That''s that." Gold said as he took a ss of water for himself by the table.

    "That''s all? I am disappointed." Weslie replied with a jab in her response and Gold nearly fell for it.

    "Hmm...I might have one more surprise story to tell for the ages toe." Gold revealed mysteriously as he asked her to close her eyes. At that moment, he used the storage ring, which Jin gifted him and pulled out a mirror he got from the previous Panda Nurses when Weslie was too busy with the food. "Okay, you can open them now but do it slowly."

    Weslie listened and opened her eyes gradually, only to see a familiar looking reflection of in front of her. She was stunned. Astonished by the current look on her face. She tried to touch the face, only for the mirror image to replicate her action before she put her hand on her own cheek. She knew that beauty wouldn''tst and Gold had imed he was willing to ept her for who she was, regardless of her looks, yet Weslie was unable toprehend the image that was portrayed in the mirror.

    Her face waspletely back to normal, there was no protrusion of the muscle nor bones or any scars or blemishes as well.

    "I...this... I erm..." Weslie was at a loss of words as she covered her mouth and tears began to fall. "Is this really me? I am a normal person...?" She asked as she too could not feel the link of the necromancy magic tied to her repeated resurrection.

    "Told ya it was a good story." Gold winked at her, and she responded with a quick hug.

    "Thank you...Thank you...for returning me to normal." Weslie whispered as she quietly sobbed on his shoulders. Gold instinctively wanted to say it was not entirely his effort, but even a romance idiot should know that it was best to keep quiet for now.

    -------------

    When Weslie had calmed down, Gold opened the door for her, and it was as if she stepped into another world. ''Wee Schr of the West!'' Arge banner was set up on the ceiling and poppers were used alongside a unison of shoutinging from the various mansion floors.

    Apparently, the System had temporarily linked a ward of the Luxury Recovery Instance with Gold''s home instance, so the moment they stepped out, they would be in Gold''s mansion.

    The numerous werejackals and a number of the Dark Temrs including the newly joined ones who had ''survived'' the trial of death and fiery destruction weed the newest addition from the Farming World into Gold''s mansion.

    They celebrated because Weslie had been one of the more popr and well received schrs among the current four in the Compass Tower. Thus, everyone was excited to see that the Schr of the West not only survived but was now on the side of ''good'' too.

    Gold had prepped them in advance via the System channel to ensure the surprise wee would go off without a hitch. He even allowed the werejackals to open the wine stashes, they had previously plundered and ask the penguins to cook up some good food all under his System''s ount. However, everyone knew how difficult it was to earn System points and because it was a joyous asion, every single Werejackal, including the new ones chimed in some form or another. Be it points or effort to set up the whole weing party.

    Meomi and the goblins even came back from their assault missions to partake in the party while sharing the information they had from all the scouting of caves and raiding of towns. Ke Mi was invited to showcase some of her musical talents which surprisingly took ce in the form of DJing.

    Many were amazed and bewildered by Ke Mi''s beauty and skill with her in traditional Chinese clothes while wearing her headphones as she rocked the house with some catchy music from Earth and a few songs of her own creation.

    The Great White snake no doubt yed a big part by aiding Ke Mi to move around the various DJ machines as they partied all night long. Weslie took some time to warm up, but after seeing how the werejackals did it, she began to loosen herself up though never once did she leave Gold''s side. (Or was Gold the clingy one?)

    ----------

    It was a crazy night filled with booze, music and decentpany until everyone dropped dead tired. In the meantime, the all seeing System also had made sure to dilute the temporal maniption of the home instance so the entire group would have sufficient time to rest and ensuring that their nts especially the delicate ones would not be affected by their party.

    Come morning, the betors and Yun visited their home instance along with a few helpers. Milk and the Panda Nurses aided each and every drunken werejackal back to their rooms while ensuring they were not overly intoxicated.

    Yun got a few Deep Ones with her and began cleaning the ce up. In the meantime, Zeru and a few sober Werejackals who had refused to drink too much had begun to pack the remaining food items that were not eaten into various packages as they would be sent over to the Ording Sanctuary for the Mousefolks.

    Zeru figured the leftover food was too good to be thrown away and considering it was still edible, it should not be wasted into the Lost Tech Recycler and be given to the Mousefolk instead. Besides, the weremice deserved some reward for practising every day and night while preparing for the inevitable fight against the Demon Rats.

    As they were nimble enough and great with ranged weapons, Zeru had taught them not only the proper way to use swords but introduced them to guns. That is right, Zeru may havee from a different time period, but he studied various different weapons, including the newer ranged one.

    While he might only know the basic Weapon Arts for guns, Zeru had a strong foundation in it for he had to learn how guns worked to counter them properly. To be ignorant of other weapons other than the one he was holding was a folly of his old master and the demise of the original Lotus n.

    Thus, the Mousefolk becamepetent in both guns and swords, making them versatile warriors and their reward for their hard work was the constant upgrading of their sanctuary even though it was a temporary one. They had better beds, easier ess to water and improved sanitation as well as a constant supply of food from the System.

    Somehow, Zeru had ced a lot of effort on the Mousefolk as if he saw something in them, but whatever it was, the System lets Zeru do as he pleased as long as he answered Jin''smand.

 Chapter 514 Extra: Weslies New Job

    <h4>Chapter 514 Extra: Weslie''s New Job</h4>

    After recovering from the party, Gold and Weslie headed to the Research Instance where Ayse and the other fellow Humanoid researchers were doing work. Gold introduced Weslie as the inventor of the Steam Technology which made Ayse incredibly furious at the sound of that.

    "YOU KNOW HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS TO SORT YOUR STUFF!!" Ayse voice boomed, but Weslie stood her ground without wavering. That was when she calmly asked the Head Researcher to show her the inventory. Even the Schr of the West was baffled by the number of parts salvaged by the System.

    But with a quick nce, Weslie understood how Ayse sorted them and realised what she had done was too inefficiently. "I see where the problem is. You are sorting base of simr designs, but that is not the underlying concept of Steam Tech. It will give you a headache considering how much the System had umted. So instead of that, sort via this particr serial number instead." Weslie said and exined that while the serial number and the designs of the Steam Tech differ, the materials used as well as the engine used were the same.

    "In that case, System is able to sort the various Steam Tech Parts for the Research Team without too much of a hassle aspared to the previous iteration of sorting." The System replied and lifted the entire warehouse worth of Steam Tech. Suddenly, everything disappeared in a blink of an eye and appeared again within a moment''s notice.

    Now, the Steam Tech parts were ced ording to their serial numbers as suggested by the inventor and Weslie showed them how the various editions of the Steam Tech items were improved. Some of the Humanoid Researchers were interested inbining the Steam Tech and the Lost Tech together so they could use it for Jin''s new Mecha if it were possible for the Mecha World.

    Surely, if Jin would to identally ''kidnap'' someone from the Mecha World, they could utilise the Mecha World''s knowledge as well and further enhance the machines. But for now, it was meant to improve the engines of Sandroku Golems or for future designs.

    In the meantime, Ayse had a few questions for the Weslie since ever since she had begun tinkering with the Steam Tech. But the first and more pertaining question was that one Steam Tech Part that the Goblins had found.

    The bug looking Steam Tech.

    Weslie took a long time to inspect it and then recalled making this particr steam tech part. "Isn''t this from one of the specialists? One of you managed to defeat a specialist?" The Schr of the West was in awe that this new Master she was serving had minions powerful enough to rival one of the elites that the North and South Schrs had to offer.

    "Indeed, not just one, but two of them." Ayse smiled as she brought out the Steam Tech items that were rted to those two Elite Demon Rats.

    "I seeбнI did some individual tweaking for them, but I produced it under a spell so I could not remember much. I can try to reverse engineer this particr Steam Tech to the best of my ability." Weslie said, and Gold felt suspicious about what she just said.

    "You were under a spell?" he asked with some concern.

    "Yea, there was a period where I refused to do under their bidding, seeing how they had so much firepower in their hands already. North and South used more of their necromancy magic to control my emotions and body, demanding me to fulfil their orders." Weslie said, and at that moment, Ayse was curious.

    "I wonderбнwhy do you two speak as if they were still revered as the Schr of the North and South? Can''t you just say their names." Ayse asked as she walked them out of the warehouse and back into the mainb.

    "For me, it simply infuriates me to use their names. That''s all." Gold said, and Weslie nodded her head in agreement. "If you wish to know. Nathan Welihelm for the North or as I called him Whinyhelm. Dous Olgret for the South. Did not expect Dous to collude with Whinyhelm. I thought he had more backbone than North." Gold felt as if he had said some taboo words and refused to speak more about them.

    Ayse somehow understood what they were going through and kept quiet until they reach the front of a locked room within the mainb.

    "I had ced whatever Gold taken from the basement of the factory to this room. While we initially wanted you to continue spying for us against Nath- The North and South Schrs, we figured it would be useless since Gold literally TOOK everything from the basement before returning back to the System." Ayseined while eyeing at the guilty werejackal.

    "Ehhhh, when Kraft and the System said to take her stuff, I did assume everything I deemed valuable and throw them in the storage ringбн" Gold replied while scratching his head.

    "Besides, when Kraft killed both the demons, they should have known that you would have defected or at least not survive since the link to keep you alive was destroyed."

    "Sorry Ayse, he can be quite dumb for a schr at times. I do not mind either way. At the very least, I can work the stuff I want in peace." Weslie replied with a relieved smile.

    "Just not this piece of junkбн" She said as she held the bug looking Steam Tech. The Schr of the West did at least promise that she would look into it and reverse engineer if possible.

    "What are you previously interested in? You seem well versed in mechatronics, and so I assumed you would want to work more with it." Ayse asked which Gold sniggled and shook his head.

    "She liked to rear animals. The Western Region of the Farming World is famous for its quality of erm...animal meat." Gold said and as if the System were eavesdropping from in sight, spoke out of hand.

    "System wished to fund Schr of the West her research should she able to increase the yield and quality of the animal products." The System said which frightened Weslie as it came out of nowhere.

    "User or in your case, Master had created a sector solely for animal rearing. Should Schr of the West able to increase the rearing capabilities of the Agriculture Sector, it would be greatly appreciated. Rewards shall be given out appropriately as well." The System added, and Weslie agreed to it without any hesitation.

    "Then I shall hurry the reverse engineering of this Steam Tech." The new girl in the block replied while turning back to Ayse and told her that if she needed any help with the Steam Tech, just holler for her.

    The System then quietly asked Weslie if she was able to continue engineer the Steam Tech for other purposes, it would increase the rewards for her as well, though it was not a priority. Weslie said that she would not rule it out entirely and get back to the System in the near future once she had familiarise herself with the new environment.

    As she bid Gold goodbye to perform her research, Ayse pulled him to the side. "So, any progress? You guys did wake up in the same bed, right? Or that was what I heard from Milk."

    "Nothing happened!... yet." Gold said in a shy tone. Ayse smirked and used her elbow to hit his arm.

    "Heh. That''s a decent enough response from you. Looking forward to seeing progress in the future. I heard that Kraft have some psychedelic drugs that might induce an increase in hormonal response. Love Potion if you are not as dumb as Weslie says. You can ask for it from him if you want to бнyou know speed things up." Ayse said with a wink before leaving him.

    "I would love to... -WAIT! I AM NOT DUMB!" Gold shouted before looking far into the ss door where Weslie was wearing a newb coat and noticed that he was staring at her. She pouted and demanded him to shoo off which he shyly waved and walked away. (Oh that jackal did blush a little too.)

    "But first, let''s end this terrible Demon Rat upation and make sure no one else will suffer like we did." Gold said to himself as he returned back to his mansion to coordinate the next stage of operations.

 Chapter 515 Extra: Hamatarous Tour

    <h4>Chapter 515 Extra: Hamatarou''s Tour</h4>

    "So this is your world?" Hamatarou hadpleted the contract with Qiu Yue and looked around the Dungeon City Fortress. He saw sentient creatures that were out of his knowledge and with odd looking shape of their faces, Hamatarou could only swear that he saw such creatures in his books of myths and lore.

    "Nope, this is another world which we had the opportunity to own thend in." Qiu Yue said as she toured the area with him, allowing him to observe their work while at the same time checking on the progress of the construction of the Pand-Antis City. Separately, Lynn had returned to the penguin vige via the System''s teleport with the Chieftain and Elders together.

    The entire vige previously signed a pact with the Sub System, so there were no issues of the Chieftain and Council of Elders to utilise the teleport ability of the System via Lynn. (After all, there were still some restrictions imposed on the penguins aspared to Jin''s minions like Gold who had full teleportation ess.)

    Even though they were under the control of the Sub System, it respected the wish of the penguin''s collective to stay in the Giant World and continue with their lives until further notice from the Sub System.

    Another reason was that the powers Lynn were initially granted by the Sub System were not strong enough to execute and move the penguins to another instance. At that point of time, the System was still wary of the new Sub System User and did much to control the amount of abilities Lynn can possess.

    But with the revtion of the System''s true identity as well as Jin''s growing power both in his purchasing capability and strength, the Sub System offered Lynn to give the penguins a ce in the Sanctum of Worlds if needed.

    The Penguin ''Queen'' now had the ability to create a simplified home instance for her minions and was in the process of doing so. However, any additional modifications required her toplete more Sub System''s quests to gain resources for her and the System to utilise.

    Qiu Yue, on the other hand, did not have any minions under her except for the minotaurs, who volunteered to be temporarily under her supervision. While she could technically influence empires at the touch of a button, the Red Panda Cultivator was in the same predicament as Lynn when she first started or maybe worse. The Empire Building Sub System did not give her much reign in their issues unless Jin allowed it.

    While it looked as if she had the fullplete control of the Dungeon City Fortress, there were manyponents or issues that were not under her purview. Many a time Qiu Yue had to ask Jin for permission to build if she believed that the new facility she thought it was useful, or she had to give her personal opinion on various issues and convince Jin to allow her to act in a certain way. It was initially frustrating to both Jin and Qiu Yue, but the Boss did console her that it would get better.

    In retrospect, the Sub System gave Lynn more control over her issues than Qiu Yue when they first started out.

    If the Cooking Sub System could not trust Lynn, the Empire Building Sub System treated Qiu Yue like an enemy until proven otherwise. For example, the construction of the Pand-Altantis City was based on the precise calction of the Sub System, and when Qiu Yue questioned a specific design of the building n despite it being perfect in theory, the Sub System was unwilling to listen until she exined it through countless simtions.

    But slowly, the Empire Building Sub System learnt that Qiu Yue was bing a valuable asset and decided to loosen its stance when ites to certain construction procedures.

    ------

    As Qiu Yue went down the makeshift construction esctor with Hamatarou, the Exiled Prince saw the construction of many high rise buildings within a vast dome shaped shelters.

    From afar, the constructions were buzzing with activities, and every worker did not have the time to stay and chat. Thus, Qiu Yue exined why they would want to build a sea city, mainly indicating that it was out of the way from the invaders.

    Hamatarou could only sigh that their technology was ten if not hundred times more advanced then what he had in his old world, especially after seeing that long slender carriage which he saw Lynn and the penguins were using. (He was in love with thebat bikes too.)

    "If my subjects were to be here, will they be guaranteed a ce called home here?" Hamatarou asked, and Qiu Yue shook her head.

    "If they were hardworking enough under the eyes of an all seeing entity and earn enough points, they could score a house here. Else, they would be working and living under my Boss instead." Qiu Yue replied as she greeted a few of the workers in their Sandroku Golems

    The new Sandroku Golems that they witnessed were revised several times. Now it was capable of working long hours in extensively strenuous construction procedures just as drilling for the building''s foundation.

    The golems were a wonderous miracle by the two races which elerated the construction of the Pand-Altantis by a few folds, way ahead than their supposed deadline set by the System.

    It was all for the sake ofpleting before the shield barrier of the Dungeon Core disappears,mencing the start of trade and immigration of both monsters and humans from the Dungeon World.

    Additionally, the Empire Building Sub System also indicated that the Orcs hadpleted Industrial Sector Two of the Floating tform City and initiated the building of a tform sector that was solely for military sorties, both offensive and defensive in nature.

    And that particr sector was designed by the Visiting Defence Advisor and fellow Panda n Remnant, Hou Fei. He knew what facilities were needed and gave the schematics required to Qiu Yue for the Empire Building Sub System to take charge.

    Other than that, Hamatarou was impressed by the scale and magnitude of the ce before Qiu Yue teleported him to the Sanctum of Worlds and showed him the various home instances. The first ce she showed was the Guest Home Instances which acted like hotels rooms and revealed to him how spacious most of them were. (The rooms were roughly about 100 square metres in size.)

    Of course, there was some bias towards Minion Leaders. For example, Nubwort, the ck Disaster and Zieg, the Dark Temr Commander were given arger apartmentpared to the rest of theirpanions. The System rewarded them due to their additional responsibilities to control their fellow rank and files and deserved a bigger apartment to show that they were of a higher position so as tomand respect.

    At this point, Hamatarou was seriously contemting to gather his surviving viges and bring them out of harm''s way before the Smanders could crush all of them.

    "Why don''t you talk to my Boss? Maybe he might be able to send out a punitive force and defeat the Smanders once and for all. Before you know it, they would be your colleagues in the future." Qiu Yue said as she subsequently brought him into WunderPanda Theme Park where people started to think Hamatarou was some costume mascot.

    "If that was a joke, it left a poor taste for me." The chubby, oversized hamster turned into a regr one whichnded on top of Qiu Yue in order to avoid the numerous visitors staring and wanting to hug him for some reason which he felt rather ufortable in doing so.

    Yet, he agreed to have talks with this Boss of hers, but she told him that he had to wait for at least a few days since Jin was busy doing his projects up.

    "Very well, I shall wait. In the meantime, I will do some scouting of the castle and see if I can grasp the situation that the Smanders are in which made them this aggressive." Hamatarou said before smelling a scent of carrot cake which caused him to salivate almost immediately.

    "бнAfter you bring me to eat this delicious smelling scent."

    "What am I to you? Your subject?" Qiu Yue picked him up and squeezed his cheeks a little. The hamster, in return, gave an adorable looking face which inadvertently caused her to do what he asked for.

 Chapter 516 Extra: Demon Rat Training Facility

    <h4>Chapter 516 Extra: Demon Rat Training Facility</h4>

    The weing party for the Schr of the West was what Meomi needed after the gruesome exploration she did in the past few days.

    Along with Nightingale and the ace team from the Southern Stars Organisation, they had found a series of underground training facilities and the memory of those facilities were deeply imprinted into her mind that she would rather keep herself drunk to erase those memories off.

    Initially, the scouting team thought they were merely warehouses or storage facilities since the various scouts observed the amount of inventory the Demon Rats brought in were numerous. Meomi thought that it was sufficient info until Nightingale stopped the werecat in her tracks to return back.

    "Why stop here when we have the ability to sneak in?" Nightingale grinned as she said that.

    "You are kidding me, right? As a werecat, I probably have better stealth than you and I have seen how guarded the ce is. If not for the mission, I would have gone ape shit against them right at this moment." Meomi said, and Nightingale giggled without a sound.

    "Looks like you did change a little." Nightingale shook her head and showed the way the Southern Stars Organisation did their missions. Without revealing much, her ex maid told Meomi to follow her until they were at least 25 metres away from the four guards in front of the cave.

    They were actively guarding the cave with a Brute Demon Rat guard in the midst of their group. (If the scouting team had not known any better, it was the same kind of guards with the power suit that was doing patrols where they kept Weslie.)

    With a whisper to the little magpie sitting on her shoulder, the information was passed to Nightingale''s team members too. The magpie somehow knew that secrecy and silence were utmost important, and thus it sent information via its long range chi transmission technique which initially surprised the members of the Southern Star Organisation.

    But after the second usage, they were used to it, which made Meomi impressed with their adaptability to the situation.

    "Go." Their Team Leader said, and Nightingale immediately threw a dart simultaneously with the rest of the team. The Demon Rats who were hit by the darts did not notice it immediately and continue to talk loudly among themselves in order to stay awake. Unfortunately for them, the effect was instantaneous as the rats felt drowsy and immediately fell to the ground asleep.

    "Nightingale, you and Meomi go in check and be out in ten. No more, no less." The Team Leader said as he and the other members appeared and took the darts out from the rats before disappearing into the shadows of the forest that was surrounding the cave.

    "Understood," Nightingale said as she dashed in immediately, followed by Meomi who did not hesitate a single bit at all. However, as they went further in, Meomi took the lead since she thought possessing dark vision would be safer for the group.

    Yet, there were instances where Nightingale was able to spot some concealed traps which Meomi nearly stepped on to. Even though the scout assassin was only following Meomi based on her other senses aside from sight, Nightingale''s past scouting experiences came in handy too. Some of the trap activations were things like a fake pir or faintly scented location.

    After one or two of those close calls, Meomi decided to be more vignt as they walked further in and found that there were even more patrols of Demon Rats.

    The duo decided not to do anything too drastic if possible, and hide until there was an opportunity for them to past through the guards. It did not take long, and eventually, they caught a glimpse of a spacious cavern where they had been hearing constant yelling and screaming.

    Upon closer and careful inspection, they found that young Demon Rats were practising vigorously on their basics in handling a weapon. All of them were given various weapons and grouped as such to perform their training.

    "At least a hundred in this cavern," Nightingale noted as the magpie appeared from within her bosoms and started to ry whatever it saw to their Team Leader. While observing from afar, Meomi also noticed that they were using ves or prisoners as training materials too.

    She saw how the prisoner was being tied up as target practice for the Demon Rats to practice their archery. And they were not a single bit merciful at all as Meomi could see the prisoners were stark naked and bleeding from all the arrow piercing.

    However, she held her anger as Meomi knew that any drastic action would jeopardise Nightingale''s safety.

    "You damned ratsбнI will get you all. I will flush you all down to hell." Meomi whispered with her fists trembling, but Nightingale tapped on her shoulders, indicating her to move back to the surface.

    As if it was mere coincidence, one of the prisoners shouted for help extremely loudly when they were leaving, and it grabbed the duo''s attention. He was being stabbed continuously to the gut by a spear rat trainee who was testing his strength.

    Meomi could not contain her fury anymore, which Nightingale quickly responded upon sensing her wrath that the scout assassin hugged her close to the chest as she whispered to calm her down. "Meomi. Not now, please."

    "Not now. Then when?" Meomi grabbed tightly on Nightingale as she turned her body abruptly while holding on to the Sniper Whip. With a silent click, a bullet came out of the rifle without any sound and flew towards one of the stctites from afar.

    The Sniper Whip had a modified silencer that was equipped with an anti acoustic inscription, perfect for a quiet shot and thankfully, the sound of the bullet hitting the stctite was muffled by the Demon Rat''s shouting.

    One might think that the bullet would not do much, but what if it was a bullet packed with explosives? Because of the anti acoustic inscription that was installed into the gun''s silencer module, the explosive was considerably quiet, but it nearly lost the inscription''s power the further it went.

    Still, that minor explosion alone was enough to break the stctite, and it fell down to the human ve that was screaming for mercy as well as the Spear Rat Trainee who was having fun poking him.

    When Nightingale turned to see it happening, the end result of Meomi''s action made the Demon Rats stopped their training to aid the victim. At that moment, Nightingale quickly grabbed Meomi and ran as fast as possible back to the cave entrance. Regrettably, the guards that were patrolling within the tunnels heard themotion too, and made their way to the cavern, causing the duo''s escape to be a lot trickier. Yet it was nothing too difficult for the scout assassin.

    Eventually, they got out safely, and the Team Leader had already prepared their horses in advance for a quick getaway. Nightingale was not entirely pleased with Meomi''s act, but knowing her for a long time, her attitude to obtain justice for her people did not change at all. It was frustrating that it nearly cost the secrecy of the mission but figured since they did not get caught, it was better to just let the matter rest.

    Despite that lucky break, Meomi was nowhere in the mood to let go until Gold specifically ordered her toe back and have a drink. He too had received images from Que Er''s magpie with regards to Meomi''s exploits and decided to use the party as an excuse to get her to rx her nerves.

    It was a temporary solution, but something that worked effectively, allowing Meomi to rest sufficiently to be ready for part two of Gold''s operations.

 Chapter 517 Forest of Marve

    <h4>Chapter 517 Forest of Marve</h4>

    The Dungeon Cave was getting more and more popr by the day. Since its inception, the number of adventurers had risen sharply, and it was just a matter of time until the 1000th card was printed. The overall progress was within the System''s expectations. (But well above Jin''s!)

    Most of the adventurers were able to reach the Praying Mantis on the fifth floor, but beating it still proved a challenge without the necessary teamwork which many were still improvising on.

    Starting with the sixth floor, the difficulty had ramped up by a notch, most notably in the form of moreplex traps like fallings and poison darts. The floor featured Boar Knights, who usually went around in groups of 3-5 decimating unprepared or weakened groups who had fallen victim to the various contraptions. (Jin was starting to think that he should formally recruit these Boar Knights for the extra manpower.)

    Even on the seventh floor, it took the leading adventurers more than a week until they eventually managed to defeat the newly introduced Boar Knights riding 6-Legged Boars on the seventh floor. Considering that the dungeon''syout was different every time they entered, some swore that those monsters had some sort of a 6th sense. The Boar Knights seemed to know exactly where the adventurers were given the times they had been stampeded to death despite a wide corridor.

    Soon, most of them believed that their fighting was noisy, especially their armour and that was precisely why the merchants had begun selling a type of magic scroll that reduced the sound of their armour. Some even bought a unique item from the merchants called ''fireworks'' where it was used as a distraction against the boar knights.

    Yet, seeing how those fireworks were actually kind of pretty, many also bought it to y with it although the merchant did warn them to be careful with it since it is highly vtile. Should any fire incidents were because of them, the adventurer guild might revoke their license.

    In part of that, Zhi Nu began to inform the System to prepare fire extinguishers and ced them in various buildings in case of fire. In the meantime, the System also ensured that the buildings in the Dungeon City Fortresspiled with fire safety standards. (Because despite Qiu Yue''s insistence on fire safetypliance, the System was strapped on cash and had quietly skipped that step until now.)

    Eventually, the leading adventurers were barely able toplete their achievement, and the Adventurer Guild made a notification via their boards.

    Apparently, someone had discovered a sort of herbal nt that emitted a scent which the Boar Knights couldn''t stand as part of the distraction tactic. It not only distract them but weakened them significantly. The most crucial detail was that the herbal nt was dropped as part of the loot by the elemental Undeads, or they could be sparsely found within the third and fourth floor.

    Thus, it didn''t take long for gathering quests to be issued out and the merchants to start selling special bottles containing the concocted solution.

    As long as one would smear their weapons with it, they were guaranteed to have an easier time contending against the monsters. All of this was, in fact, a clever plot arranged by Zhi Nu who headed the Adventurer Guild.

    With the Weaver Girl taking care of the Dungeon Cave, Kraft was free to fully concentrate on his newly promoted role as Underground Crime Boss (or Bandit Lord as Jin referred to him).

    He had initially been busy turning the Orcs with underworld experiences into full-fledged gang members ready to his bidding, most importantly teaching them about proper information gathering. To ensure this, he had made them open the favourite pastime establishment of any adventuring group.

    ''The Fox Den'' tavern became the surface Headquarters of their gang and the proving grounds for his impromptu ''followers''. After a few days, Kraft received the first reports of what they had uncovered. Amongst many unnecessary wife tales, there were some promising pieces of information.

    Rumours had it that there was an elfish settlement deep in the Forest of Marve. Though it was further below the border town of Gob Gob Bu, it was still within the Goblin Northern Region, yet no one really dared to trespass into that region.

    Hearsays mentioned that King Sol had charted up a restrictive zone within the Forest of Marve and proimed that anyone who dared enter within that particr forest would be responsible for their own safety.

    However, there were no goblins stupid enough to live anywhere near that particr area much less within the proximity radius of the forest.

    The Forest of Marve exuded an aura outside thefort zone of the quite resilient goblins who had survived even the harshest of tortures.

    Some gossips mentioned that the piging Orcs not too long ago had lost a team of highly skilled raiders attempting to shorten their distance by going through it. Regretting their actions all other teams had taken a much longer route to attack the other goblin viges

    Naturally, this had piped Kraft''s interest, and his new gang could use such a fearsome reputation. Hence he had summoned his foxes for a little excursion.

    "Hooooo. No wonder nobody wants toe near the forest at all." Kraft sniggled as he was greeted by dead dposed bodies, with bones sticking out of whatever dead flesh was left, hanging along the perimeter of the forest. It was a clear sign that nothing good was beyond this point, and only demise awaited the visitors.

    Though Kraft had no doubt he could handle everything by himself this was supposed to be a pleasant little excursion, so it was time to give the foxes an opportunity to exercise themselves once in a while.

    "Tsu, Kai," Kraft called out to his two most usedpanions. The ck foxes emerged from the sides of the trees, but instead of their usual fox forms, they were out in the open in humanoid forms.

    Tsu and Kai had been the most promising n Head candidates of the Wolf n, and as they appeared in their humanoid form, the foxes also retained a fair part of their identity. Simr to Kraft, the two Wolves were wearing their traditional Wolf Full Battle Armour in the past.

    dded with full metal te dded with Wolf designs on their spaulders, chest and even their helm with the shape of their past insignia, Kraftughed at them and told them to change to something simpler.

    "No need for full battle mode. They aren''t that dangerous. We are here to subjugate not necessarily exterminateбн unless they want us to." Kraft waved his hand and chuckled as the duo changed into something more simr to Kraft.

    Battle Leather Jackets, with a wolf insignia design at the back of it. Needless to say, a Fox insignia was seen at the Arm Patch of the jacket. Both had their ornate wolf masks (with a little fox spirit at the top) equipped,bat Boots and military grade cargo pants as well as a holster that allowed them to hold their swords, Tsu and Kai knelt right in front of Kraft, awaiting hismand.

    "Follow me," Kraft ordered as he sauntered into the forest without a single care for the warnings ced at the front. Not even five minutes into the woods, several killing intents red up as arrows were zooming straight towards the trio. Tsu and Kai defended the unflustered Kraft with ease by pping the shafts of the arrows away with their palms.

    However, there was one arrow that slipped past their defences as it came from behind them from a point which should have been a blind spot of the two guardsбн yet Kraft stopped it with just two fingers. After which he picked the arrow up and inspected it for a moment before throwing it aside.

    "Not your usual arrows and boy it sure stinks! You guys like to put poo on your arrows?" Kraft asked, but the only answer came in the form of a wide magical circle appearing right beneath them. Kraft sighed unwilling to do anything himself. "Kiyu, your debut."

    "Aye Sir~!" The royal purple furred fox emerged from within Kraft''s long jacket as she turned into her humanoid form. Her ownbat leather jacket had the insignia of a butterfly on the back, with the Fox Insignia being on her Arm Patch as well. Dressed in the very same attire as Tsu and Kai with the difference being her tight shorts andce-up longbat boots reaching up to her knees.

    Kiyu unbuckled her weapon from the holster mming the sword, still in the scabbard, on the ground, breaking the magic spell that was about to be cast. At that moment, the sudden attacks halted, and though still hidden, they could feel numerous pairs of eyes staring them.

    They appeared to be waiting for something or someone. Shortly after, a silhouette stepped forward and was still partially hidden within the trees. While it was not intending to fully revealing itself, the humanoid silhouette started to address them.

    "No human mage has ever managed to break our spell before. You may have our attention for a minute. Speak." Kraft deduced it had to be an attendant, diplomat or maybe just a person speaking their human tongue.

    The fox looked around and waited for the System to analyse thenguage the elderly silhouette used to order his people to prepare another salvo in case these strangers had malicious intents. As soon as the System confirmed that it had found anguage matching the other''s party to 96.9% uracy, the fox asked it to trante.

    "Two Words. Be Mine." Kraft demanded with a confident tone as he sent out his crushing chi aura enveloping the entirety of the forest. It was strong enough to visibly affect the leaves on the trees. They trembled under the vibration of the aura Kraft had emitted. Hispanions meanwhile were unaffected by his chi and actually enjoyed those eyes in the forest diminishing. Some who had hid behind the trees fell to the ground most likely crippled.

    "Ahhhбн my bad. It''s been a long time since I could stretch my chi. I''ve always been bad at holding bad~. Oh well, we can call over Pei to fix them upterбн Nah that takes to long, let''s elerate the process and simply hand them over to the System right now." Kraft rationalised and with a small ''hmmph'' sound and a nod, Tsu and Kai began throwing kunais at the unconscious looking elves, causing them to disappear.

    The Elderly figure had been luckier than itspanions. Still breathing shallow, he went forth to boldly intercept Tsu and Kai simultaneously.

    Kraft smiled since the charging elf had revealed he was no ordinary elf.

    It was a Drow.

 Chapter 518 Dark Elves

    <h4>Chapter 518 Dark Elves</h4>

    Drows were a subset of the small poption of elves living in the Goblin World. Dark violet-skinned with beautiful white hair, they were the only elves to worship the Moon. Their Wood Elves brethren honoured the Woods as an entity providing them with shelter and a safe home whereas the Golden Elves devoted themselves to the Sun.

    Kraft was ted since he hit the jackpot with them. They would make ideal underground members simply through their reputation alone. Rumours had it that all Drows were ''evil'' incarnate of the otherwise highly esteemed elves. He himself was aware that all these were just stereotypes used to scare unruly kids into bed and could empathise with the ostracisation they had to suffer from. Unfortunately, after a lie got repeated long enough, it had a way to be a ''truth'' in itself.

    "One thing''s for sure, they are indeed a hardy bunch of elves." Kraft smiled watching the recovering drow warriors spark into action. Every dark elf still able to move after Kraft''s menacing disy of aura, gritting their teeth and pushed forward to assist their elder in the hopes of preventing Tsu and Kai from murdering more of their members.

    Though he appreciated their valiant efforts, he had other ns for them. Kraft summoned Evon out, interrupting their feeble attempt at resistance. The Frog n member specialising in using poisons and drugs remained in his fox form as he jumped high up by stepping onto Kiyu.

    He curled his body into a ball, before stretching it to send out a burst of fog throughout his entire body. Like putting a stack of dry ice into a bucket, the greenish fog was visibly oozing out from his entire body, causing the warriors to enter a state of euphoria except for the elder who had engaged its des with Tsu.

    However, the drugged Drows were merely entering the first stage of Evon''s mysterious fog attack. Kiyu, although a bit angry at Evon for using her a stepping stool, assisted him by making use of the drug fog effects.

    She initiated one of her sacred butterfly cultivation dances, the many techniques she learnt in her n before she disappeared to assist the incriminated Panda n. After getting an estimation on her opponents'' level of strength, Kiyu proceeded to dance in herbat jacket.

    Switching to her traditional battle dance costume would have been even more effective considering it had ancient inscriptions specifically for her dances, yet she decided it was unnecessary to bring out a relic from ancient timesst used when fighting against the servants of the Jade Emperor.

    The moment the Butterfly had started her dance, a music rhythm was heard in the minds of the helpless dark elves. With a swirl and twirl, Kiyu brought out a bell tied to a satin cloth and danced gracefully in the midst of the forest. Even those Drows had been wise enough to close their eyes despite their condition, fell prey to the deathly enchanting aura as it got more and more intense the longer she danced and eventually they became fully immersed by it.

    When Kiyu sensed the majority of the Drows enthralled by her dance, she gently made the bell go round her own neck. As the satin cloth along with it gracefully touched her nape, every single Dark Elf who got absorbed into her allure got killed instantly seemingly due to a crushed neck. Blood sprayed, scattered throughout the forest grounds and one by one, the Drows dropped towards the ground, only to disappear before ever hitting it.

    The elder saw what was happening to his people, allowing Tsu to throw in a punch which he was unable to block. "Do you really think you have time to be distracted? Looks like I''ve been way too kind to you." Tsu berated the other as he cracked his fingers and leaned his toned body forward.

    "Tsu, your hairband came off." Kai pointed out as he took the initiative to hold onto his brother and assisted him with tying up his hair. "There. Much neater." Kai nodded as he gave Tsu a pat on the shoulder.

    "Thanks, Kai. It''s been ages taking on this form. I''m too used to our fox form." Tsu smiled kindly at Kai before returning to a face the Drow Elder whose face was full of anger and hatred towards these intruders. Before they could resume their fight, Kraft stepped forward and stopped both siblings from toying further with the elder.

    Seeing his people die from unknown, obscure circumstances he had never encountered before in the centuries he had lived, the Drow Elder had tried his best not to inhale too much of the surrounding fog. He had quickly tried to distance himself, and the foxes hadn''t hindered him.

    The small amount of the drugged fog he had inhaled caused him to feel light headed, and the more he distanced himself, the worse the withdrawal symptoms inside him became. The elder felt the rising need to return into the fog, despite fearing the consequences, all to get rid of the increasing pain.

    After a short while, he was already gasping for air and tried to use whatever magical energies he had to suppress the feeling. Nevertheless, he was too weak to do anything, and Kiyu walked towards him with Evon in her arms. (She had pinched the mischievous fox for its earlier action, though)

    "Nasty thing that you inhaled, right? By now, you should be craving another doseбн Hmm, but it is quickly dissipating into the air. So how about a little trade? We give you some more of that stuff, and you tell us where your vige is

    "Kiyu is as scary as ever," Tsu mumbled and Kai nodded his head in agreement. Suddenly they both felt a cold chill down their spine and continued to remain silent.

    "Why? What do you want?... Who sent you...?" The elder asked with much difficulty barely able to grasp onto his sanity.

    "No one really. I just needed some members for a new group I''ve established. Our goal? Hmmm бнlet''s not be too greedy for nowбн let''s just say I wish to lead the number one underworld gang in the Orc and Goblin Kingdoms? Humans cer." Kraft rubbed his chin as he stated his reasons.

    "Iбнdon''t *Cough cough* I don''t understand what you''re talking about. *Cough cough* then why killбн us?" The Drow Elder looked up to Kraft as he bid his time trying his best to gather his magical energy for one final counter attack. Unbeknownst to him, the umtion of magical energy had already been sensed by all the Foxes, though they pretend to not notice anything.

    "Weren''t you the ones to have attacked us first? To be honest, we don''t really need your help that much. I merely was intrigued about the rumours of this ce. Don''t worry, you soon will be seeing your friends again." Kraft shrugged his shoulders and looked away from the elder, providing him with an opening.

    Except there was a catch.

    The moment the Original Betor turned away, tens of Dark Elves appeared out of nowhere, each with a weapon pointed at one of elder''s vital spots. Any kind of sudden movement and it would be the end of the Drow Chieftain.

    "Sorry, Elder. We cannot refuse their orders." One of the Drow uttered without remorse and the rest resonated along with him.

    "бнBut I saw you guys die! *Cough cough* You disappeared into nothingness." The elder was speechless at what was happening. He thought it had to be the fog that made him hallucinate.

    "Too bad for you, it''s no illusion." Kiyu stood up and pped her hands, giving the signal for their new allies to cleanly cut off the elder''s head without a hitch.

    Suddenly, there was a hollow echo resonating throughout the whole forest. It was as if the Forest of Marve griefed the death of one of her important guardians while alerting the rest about it.

    "Too bad for the forest. My hands are feeling rather itchy after all the waiting here and there. A Bandit Lord has got to do some robbing." Kraft stretched his hands as he summoned the Drow Elder back out from nonexistence. The elder was back in prime health, and he felt way better than ever before. He never knew that he could feel this way at all.

    "Alright, enough admiring of your own body, you narcissistic elf. I know you have nice white hair and chocty ck skin. Go! Do your job, old man! Chop Chop!" Kraftmanded the Drow Elder and the resurrected Dark Elves, telling them to invade their very own forest vige. They acknowledged with a single nod and started to move in various direction while a Dark Elf guided them straight to the vige.

    What followed was not a pretty sight at all.

    "Good thing Jin''s not here to witness all of this. System remember put them all under my ount for now. We will transfer them over to Jin at ater point in time." Kraft smirked as he followed behind the crowd of murderous Dark Elves eager to enjoy the following show.

    "It''s best to get it all over at once as I can practically see our young master screaming his head off for giving me that impromptu title he thought of." Kraft evilly smiled to himself as he gave the order for the Drows to move forth.

    "It''s unfortunate, but if you desire a ''kind'' and powerful ruthless gang, you got to be brutally ruthless at the start."

 Chapter 519 Panda Miniature Keychain

    <h4>Chapter 519 Panda Miniature Keychain</h4>

    The customers fell in love with the new Tiangong Tree Mall the moment they stepped into it. The air in the mall felt fresher and had a mild scent of varying fruits. The System had utilised the essential oils used in the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance and linked it to the air diffusers throughout the Tree Mall.

    It lowered the tension of the customers significantly, making them feel rxed and less likely to rush around from one ce to another. Many were amazed by the giant Panda Tian Gong Statue, and after someone had set an example, others proceeded to also pray at the altar for good luck.

    True enough, anyone near the Panda Tian Gong Statue felt at peace thanks to Octofussy''s amazing job of creating the Legendary Tranquility Inscription. The customers did not hesitate to take a picture and did the same for all other ces of the Tree Mall as it had the feel of an amusement park. The food store instances on the first floor were eagerly awaiting the hungry mass of people, and a number of customers rushed through to be amongst the first hundred in queue.

    They were bbergasted by the Pyramid Food Court Instance''s sheer flexibility concerning the number of tables and the stores that provided the food. It was slightly more costly than before, but old patrons quickly realised that the food quality had improved by at least a fold.

    Many of the stall owners were delighted to have taken up the superior food stock from Jin''s ''supplier'' and had even ced down another order via the store management icon in their Pandamonium App. Some of their die hard customers loved their food so much that they also took the time to write up a review on the Pandamonium App, hoping to help the owners bump up their so called rankings.

    In an hour''s time, the food court owners were surprised to experience their stores in the Pyramid getting moved around just as the penguins had promised. The customers in the queue enjoyed this sight of the stores flying in mid air before going to the allocated levels of the pyramid they obtained ording to the sales.

    Most if not all of the customers uploaded the pictures and videos on to their MeChat and Meibo ounts to show off the incredible shuffling of the pyramid stalls. With all this free advertisement, Jin did not need to worry that the stalls would be suffering losses anytime soon. Even if their food were not the best, the novelty of the instance would bound to make people visit the ce.

    As for the rankings, the mixed rice store was currently upying the peak, followed by the noodle store and the vegetarian store. The chefs were undoubtedly nervous by the moving of their stores in mid air, but the assistant penguins assured them that nothing in their stall would be affected. It even suggested to make full use of the time to continue cooking so as to prepare extras for the continuous batches of customers arriving.

    The Stall Owners were also d to learn that they could buy chi potions from the Chinese Medicinal Store Instance via the store management app to aid them against their fatigue or emergency supplies from the Offshore Sea Store Instance like extra tins of cooking oil. The Pandafull Delivery Team had dedicated a guy to run around replenishing the supplies for these food stall owners and making sure that they were fully stock for the Day One craze.

    On the other hand, the Panda Burger also received its fair share of Wows. From the edible Panda Burger parts to the toys as part of the Merry Panda Meals. Ke Ru, the Store Manager for Panda Burger had shamelessly copied her former Wacdonald''s tactics and now used it for her own promotions.

    The first batch of ''toys'' avable were Panda Miniature Keychains. For the first day only, they would be giving them out as a special edition of such keychains. When the store manager asked Jin whether if there will be a rerun of these keychains, he told Ke Ru that it would be impossible to find them anywhere else unless someone decides to replicate it. Still, he said it all depends on customer feedback.

    The Day One Panda Miniature Keychains was shaped as a Panda with the Panda Burger uniform trying to fit a giant burger into its mouth by leaning backwards but failing to do so. Its eyes were furiously helpless, making the design an attraction for both adults and kids.

    Ke Ru even provided customers who bought the normal Panda Burger set meals the option to buy the keychain which was supposed to be part of the Merry Panda Meal by paying an additional five Yuan. However, as greedy as humans could be, many tried to purchase multiple keychains in one go (most likely hoping to resell themter) which obviously went against the rules set by Ke Ru.

    She only allowed one Panda Keychain per person, and because they had to use the Pandamonium App to order, the System pointed out to the cashier if a particr customer had already bought the keychain.

    It was to prevent the waste of food just for that small keychain, and allowing other people the chance to get one of these limited items. (Although ''limited'' was just a gimmick to Ke Ru since Jin promised a near infinite stock until the Panda Burger closed for the day.)

    To be fair, the System had also warned customers who had already redeemed their keychain that queuing up again after cing an order would not result in another piece. But humans were creatures with high adaptability when it came to such situationsбнonly to learn the hard way that it was futile against the almighty (cheapskate) System.

    Some customers had extra phones because of their line of work and had installed the Pandamonium twice before realising it did not work since the app was tagged to their ID, which was simr to many of the apps they used.

    At least it was worth a try, but not everyone had given up. Many customers begged in their reviews for the Panda Burger instance to allow them to buy at least one more for their next of kin or loved ones to the point that Ke Ru had to forward that message to Jin. (In fact, it was addressed to the System andter to Jin.)

    "Wow, I did not expect that. Okay, only for those who have purchased the keychain once, let''s allow the customers to get a coupon if they buy another meal. They can redeem that coupon to get it when purchasing a dungeon in Dungeons and Pandas." Jin slyly told the System as he was pushing around Yang Ling to tour the ce.

    Jin wondered to himself whether he should create a Christmas version for theing week if Day One really turned out to be a hit for those keychain miniatures. Perhaps he should do it no matter the circumstances. There would bound to be people who love to collect such items.

    Oh, the money. The sweet, sweet scent of digital money rolling into his wallet.

 Chapter 520 Rolling in the Deep Ones

    <h4>Chapter 520 Rolling in the Deep Ones</h4>

    The store reception for Lai Fu''s Offshore Sea Store was exceptionally well received by the older generation. The discounts and offers that he had assigned for the first day made all the aunties and uncles rush in like mad dogs, snatching up almost everything he had on disy.

    Thankfully, being an experienced storekeeper for many years, he had previously ordered three months worth of stock to satisfy the demand for the frenzy buying. Lai Fu knew that the first day was one of the best times to earn quick cash to recoup the losses since people always wanted new stuff and a store opening usually resulted in the most substantial amount of customers.

    Helping them out, Jin had developed a small little USB drive that could be connected to any sort of phone (as part of Lai Fu''s request list). Those USB drives would act like temporary storage rings allowing them to put the items that they wanted to buy into it since most items were enchanted with anti-storage ring to prevent looting and theft from happening.

    Either that or they could personally hand carry them on the carts provided. However, the technological advancement in recent years had made online supermarkets extremely popr, and the Offshore Sea Store was no exception in participating them.

    With the help of the System, Jin had assisted Lai Fu in creating an online mart on the Pandamonium App as well as applying to the famous supermarket delivery services apps. As Lai Fu previously subscribed to be one of the sellers in those apps as well, the System merely aided him by instantly updating the items that were left in his store to those apps. Else, he had to pay an additional premium subscription fee to do that.

    But because of the integration of the online market via Pandamonium App, users could also earn and utilise Panda Medals by doing so. In fact, every purchase in the Tiangong Tree Mall would allow them to earn Panda Medals which could indirectly be used to either obtain items in Jin''s store or used as the premium currency for his mini games and dungeons.

    During his downtime from the day before, Jin had nned a road map to revamp the usage of Panda Medals. Instead of merely using it as a sort of reward or extra currency, he was thinking of creating discount packages that utilised those medals too. Things such as free food delivery package for 10,000 Bronze Panda Medals or discount voucher package for 8,000 medals.

    While he was merely copying ideas that were already on the market, they had proven to be sessful, and Jin saw no reason why he could not get a share of the pie as well. Maybe in the future, Jin could liaise with other apps like the taxi and online market delivery to further integrate the Pandamonium App into society. Right now, he was satisfied starting small and just making sure that his Tree Mall was not only an overnight sess but a continuous one.

    Yet even though there was the online market app choice, most of the older generation prefer to go down to the stores to select their items. As long as it was not a crazy surge of people, the aunts and uncles would love to take their time in choosing their fruits and vegetables, picking the best out of the lot in the store''s bin. In addition, the physical stores sometimes provided discounts that were not avable on the online apps.

    The same was true for Lai Fu''s Instance Store. The current Day One discount was the biggest discount he had ever offered. By buying five items, one of the five cheapest items would be discounted at 99% (up to a certain price point of 100 Yuan). Hence, many people took the chance to buy the more expensive stuff all at once, mainlyprising the premium food stock from Jin''s Agriculture Sector.

    Even Lai Fu was shocked at how fast Jin''s food stock vanished, and when he queried some of his long time customers, their reasoning made perfect sense. "There was no scent of pesticide used on these at all! The colour of the vegetables is very prominent too! It has been so many years since I saw this kind of naturally grown fruits and vegetables." the collective opinions of his customers who were equally health conscious in their advanced age answered him. (Things which Lai Fu already know when he personally examined the goods too, but verification from his peers sealed the deal for him even further.)

    "Do you know that considering the quality of the products, the price you ce on it is freaking cheap? Of course, I will get a bulk of them before it gets all sold out!" His customers said frantically and went to the payment cashiers where a team of Deep Ones were manning the cashier booth.

    One scanned the items, the other two packed them up before the customer could choose between delivery to their house or self carry. Most were okay with carrying thanks to the power of the storage ring, but some did choose the delivery option, taking advantage of the Day One discounts to buy for their rtives too.

    As Lai Fu began developing a friendly rtionship with the Deep Ones, he even requested more of them via the Pandamonium App while they were still free. (He still would be charged ording to their numbers starting next month). Sure, he still had some of his old employees, but many quit after the incident, with only a few loyal enough to remain behind.

    Thus, Lai Fu ended up deploying them for all kinds of jobs. The owner used them for cashier services restocking the items and currently (maybe most importantly) for crowd control. Lai Fu believed that they were the ideal monster NPCs which were fierce enough to go against the crowd.

    There were instances where those greedy uncles and aunties were tempted to take fresh stock from their hands, (mainly because of the discounts Lai Fu had provided) which caused the Deep Ones shouted at them and even scratched them superficially as a warning.

    The customers in return demanded forpensation, but before Lai Fu could intervene in any way, the Deep Ones officially issued a duel challenges to settle the store. Should they ept and win the duel, they would get theirpensation, fair and square along with an apology.

    The ignorant older cultivators thought this was a simple fight and part of Lai Fu''s new instance, so they fought against them recklessly. (The only ones who had thestugh were the cultivators that had experienced Jin''s stores and knew what capabilities these fishes had.

    бнSo far, none had won against the mighty Deep Ones and the customers learnt the lesson not to disturb the Deep Ones during their restocking. What followed was an extremely ridiculous sight to behold. Lai Fu had never thought it possible to witness customers standing at the side, mere inches away from a Deep One, patiently waiting for him to finish restocking the items before pouncing on the goods and merchandise.

    "Each Yuan for these angry fish is worth it." Lai Fu chuckled to himself as he sat at the side of the recently arrived Discount Pirate Ship and enjoyed some fishing.

 Chapter 521 The Valiant Orc in a Baking Apron

    <h4>Chapter 521 The Valiant Orc in a Baking Apron</h4>

    Compared to Lai Fu''s rather chaotic Offshore Sea Store Instance, Qian Qian''s Reef Knolls Bakery was theplete opposite. The lines were orderly, and everyone queued to buy her bread. Aside from the few Orcs and Penguins that were aiding her with the baking procedures, Qian Qian handled the cash register.

    It was still a bakery store no matter how one looked at it, and window shoppers wouldn''t know why it was that popr until they stepped into the store instance themselves. The first thing awaiting them was the mouthwatering fragrance of fresh bread out of the oven.

    The old customers who had frequented Qian Qian''s bakery knew that she handled this store mostly by herself as a store passed down by her family throughout the generations. Her customer base wasn''t toorge, but neither was it too little.

    It was enough for a decent living, which was why when she saw therge crowd waiting to pay for the bread, she could not help but feel a little anxious. The crowd outside easily surpassed what she usually had to tend for a whole day by at least twofold.

    Luckily the presence of her orcish helpers in the area made almost everyone aware not to mess with Qian Qian''s store. However, some idiots who were too used to convenience, got pissed off by waiting and shouted for the store owner to work faster.

    Just as Qian Qian wished to apologise, one of the Orcs who was working on the next batch of bread stepped forward in her stead. "You got a problem, punk?" The Orc asked, and the customer was still daring enough to shout at the Orc for being so discourteous to the clientele.

    "Since it''s day one, I will present you with three choices. One. Shut up, apologise and silently wait your turn. Two. Turn around and leave while you still can do so yourself. Three. Stay and face my wrath. Which one would you like?" The Orc somehow appeared even more threatening in his baking apron, making those surrounding them move back a little. (Or forward to give them some space.)

    "Don''t you touch me!!! I will sue you!! I will call the police!! How dare you threaten to assault me?!" The customer was trembling, but his mouth was still rumbling off nonsense.

    "First. This is an instance. Second. I am a monster. Third. No one is here to help you right now." The Orc approached him even closer and cracked his knuckles. Scared witless, the customer fell to the ground and his hand covering his head, afraid of getting beaten up.

    "No worries, Landlord Jin hasprehensive medical care. If a few punches don''t do the trick, perhaps the experience of death might help correct your behaviour." One of the spectating cultivators interjected his opinion, and everyoneughed at his misery.

    The Orc, however, did not let it end there. He single handedly picked up the rowdy customer and lifted him by his throat. Unable to resist the customer quickly began begging for Qian Qian''s forgiveness.

    With this being the very first day and the store owner wanting things to be over she agreed to forgive him. The Orc simply dropped him on the ground, returning to his station. The unlucky soul kept quiet in the queue, trying his best to ignore the surrounding jabs at him.

    Eventually, it became known as the tale of the Valiant Orc in a Baking Apron on the Pandamonium Forums. People were pointing out that the Orcs were like knights for Qian Qian''s bakery. The rest of the day went uneventful, with the Orcs making sure that everything would go smoothly and that people were happy with their purchase of bread.

    --------

    As for the Castle Tower Cafиж Instance, Sheng Si Fang had spared no effort in ensuring the tranquillity of the area. Instead of people queuing within the store instance, the customers were queuing outside of the Castle Tower Cafиж instance entrance where there was a statue out there of a Panda drinking a cup of coffee.

    Si Fang was not willing topromise his ideal of the instance and told Jin that he was ready to forego profit to ensure the customers in his Castle Tower Cafиж were enjoying their time there. However, he too, did not allow people to hog the area.

    Amongst his former customers, students made up arge percentage. Yes, Si Fang knew that his new ce might be popr for those students wishing to do their work there, so he had asked Jin if there was any way to incorporate a space for the students to focus on their studies. There and then, Jin had already moved most of the library from the old store to the underground floor of the Castle Tower Cafиж.

    Hence, there was a vast and spacious underground library which could only be essed by the little panda statue reading at the back of the Panda drinking the coffee. It was a sort of hidden instance which allowed students and adults to enter the ce.

    For the underground library, he used the same principle as the Panda Burger Instance where more floors were added further down to amodate more students. There were basic facilities like toilets and water dispenser, but the library only had ess to a limited menu of the Castle Tower Cafиж''s, such as sandwiches and beverages.

    When ordered, the purchase would be dispensed in a specially allocated area which the students/adults had to pick up themselves. The food and drinks were ced in a vacuumed box where the students had to use their Pandamonium app to unlock the box safety mechanism to prevent theft from other people.

    Other than that, the underground library offered individual cubicles as well as an open area for discussion. Each of such a table could produce an anti sound barrier simr to the cafиж operated by the Wyrm Ants in the WunderPanda Theme Park. That way, the students'' livid discussions would not interrupt students that desired peace and quiet to study.

    Else, for Si Fang''s cafиж, the customers were thoroughly satisfied with theyout of the castle instance as well as the improved food quality that Si Fang served. So long it had something to do with food, people felt the Tree Mall was the most desirable, new ce to rely on.

    As the ambience was important, Jin suggested Ke Mi showcase her instrumental music at Si Fang''s Castle Tower Cafиж. Though Ke Mi offered to do it out of goodwill, Si Fang insisted that he paid her and even added a decent tip for every gig she performed at his ce. Since Jin had long nned for this performing stage when he created the instance, he had already included a tform for Ke Mi to y the grand piano.

    Jin initially wanted to put a Zither in there but felt that it did not fit with the current theme and chosen the grand piano instead. When Ke Mi was not ying, customers were invited to use and perform their musical talents every once in a while.

    Not to mention, for those who yed and was well received by the audience, Si Fang would present them a coupon voucher of the Tiangong Tree Mall as a sign of gratitude. Thus, the cafиж became a unique hit of its own within the Tiangong District.

 Chapter 522 Gamer Model Pack

    <h4>Chapter 522 Gamer Model Pack</h4>

    The Panda Arcade Store? Yong De and He Rong, the two co owners for the Arcade store never saw iting at all. They had been informed about Jin hosting his mini games through their store, but both had vastly underestimated the massive appeal and thus the giant fan base it would bring them.

    This was even more urate after Jin had tweaked the paying models for his mini games. The first significant change that all the mini games were free to enter. For those who had paid previously were given additional points for the amount they had spent on the game. (And it could have amounted to a crapload of points since there was no cap to the amount they paid.)

    Jin also gave the people who paid those the entry fees such as the Supa Robot Warz and Spinning Tops a special achievement badge which could never be received in the future.

    The second change was that Jin created a basic gamer model pack where the customers could choose which mini games they wanted to subscribe to, which was generally cheaper than buying individual parts.

    The Basic Gamer Model Pack cost 9 Yuan and would provide five Bronze Panda Medals worth of game currency each month as well as two ''supply packs'' depending on the chosen mini game. The Pet Card Arena subscribers received 500 Card Points and two Basic Card Packs.

    For Spinning Tops, it was 500 Spinning Points respectively as well as two temporary inscription effects (useable for up to three times), whereas Supa Robot Warz got 500 Star Cross Points and two basic parts for their core model.

    Jin also offered a Moderate Gamer Model Pack, Hardcore Gamer Model Pack and the most expensive of them all, the Extreme Gamer God Model Pack, costing 29 Yuan, 59 Yuan and 149 Yuan respectively. The amount of goodies rewarded were exponentially higher with the higher priced model. The Hardcore and Extreme Gamer God Model packs had the chance of getting rare inscriptions, cards or robot parts for each of the games.

    Additionally, the Extreme Gamer God Model Pack included priority queues and an extra 0.5% chance for getting Legendary parts or cards in their packs.

    Some mightin that this would turn it into a pay-to-win model, but Jin had ensured that the System would pair all of them up equally based on their technical scores. Jin was even considering adding gamer levels to the Pandamonium App in the future, but at the moment hecked the time to properly conceptualise it.

    The only thing that he added as of now was the achievement badges for subscribing to his Model Packs.

    His limited time had, however, been spent on improving the Pet Card Arena. Jin finally created a few additional cards that would spice up the current card scene, and ced them into the basic card packs, indicating that they were rare cards and also making them even more unique, they were holographic in nature.

    When one thought of holographic cards, they would think that the card merely shines under light. As for Jin''s kind of holographic cards, it was the literal meaning.

    For example, the Great Poison Energy Arrows rare card depicted a half masked Rabbitwoman silhouette shooting arrows filled with purplish green energy. When a cultivator inserted their chi into the card''s artwork, the arrows appeared to be jumping out of the cards and what followed was an animation of the female silhouette reloading before shooting them again.

    Basically, he was handing out holographic gif inserted into cards and the Jin ns to do that for all subsequent rares ones. If possible, he wished to update the old rare cards to this holographic design as well for consistency sake.

    He Rong and Yong De both agreed that this had to be the first time a physical card game managed to produce such beautiful effects and imed that if the card game ever got popr, it would revolutionise the way how card games would work in the future. Jin could onlyugh at such a possibility.

    First, the panda cultivator had to concentrate on improving the basic card packs to the point he was satisfied with the amount of variety before he concluded that the base game was sufficient and challenging.

    Thankfully he had received the help of Yong De who unsurprisingly was a Gaming Card Fanatic. Jin tasked him toe up with more card ideas to improve the gamey, which they couldter release in the form of expansions. (He told Yong De to not be shy and copy the game designs from other card games and modify them ordingly.)

    Only time could tell if there was something wed with the current game cards and Jin was looking forward to designing future cards to change up the ''meta'' of the gaming card scene so that they had a more concrete set of rules in case of holding tournaments.

    Speaking of which, Yong De was also responsible for drawing out a n concerning a Pet Card Tournament as well as propose the possible prizes. He Rong couldn''t help himself but teasingly remind Jin that it could backfire on him if he were serious about his partner not having to worry about a budget.

    "Go all out!" was all Jin replied to He Rong''s teasing and told Yong De to be daring with the tournament. "Ask Kiyu if you need promotion on those cards. You can find her details in the Pandamonium Forum. I will inform her to keep an eye for your message. Else, you can shoot me an email to remind me too."

    Separately, with the inscription effect packs, the Spinning Top game had begun to enter a brand new level of gamey. Performance of the tops would eventually be insufficient, and the inscriptions push the game to be even more challenging and exciting for the fans. (As well as the gamblers)

    Octofussy was delighted to put out various inscriptions in the packs as this gave him the perfect opportunity to test out his ideas for weapon and armour inscriptions while ensuring that they worked as intended so he could release them for dungeon use as well.

    Whenever he realised the inscription was too powerful or took too much chi for activation, Octofussy would tweak the inscriptions ordingly. Hence, Spinning Tops became his new favourite past time to watch the people use his products.

    As for the Supa Robot Warz, He Rong continued to source for various robot models to send to Niu Lang to tinker with thereby increasing the number of parts the game would have.

    Copying was not the issue per se. Instead, tweaking it a little to ensure that the parts were not copyrighted was what Niu Lang had to focus on. With the aid of the System, the simplest way to circumvent it was tobine two models, merge them together and see what kind of abomination he would receive from it and modify from there.

    That way, the designs of every model part was ensured to be different, and only the most astute would have the ability to differentiate what they had been initially. Still, it was sufficient to fool the majority.

    Niu Lang naturally created his very own model parts as well, and recently he had made the Zodiac Series, where the full robot models featured the various zodiac animals. However, he had yet to finalise some of the items and only teased it as a ing soon'' event for those who yed the mini game.

    Despite Jin''s mini games, the main attraction of the Arcade was the actual arcade machine games right? Jin also ced his hand in that issue and purposely made them very cheap to the point that the experienced Arcade Store Owner felt the need to intervene.

    Listening to his arguments, Jin merely asked the following questions. "Who usually frequents the arcades? Adults? Young Adults? Working Adults? Or is more teenagers? Students?"

    "Thetter..." Yong De admitted that his ce was where a number of students hung out after school too thoughtely there were not many students since their pocket money had all been spent on presents for the uing Christmas. (Which Jin felt it was a mere excuse.)

    "Yeap, there you have it. Previously, you had to put it at a high cost to ensure the games were properly utilised for their price. Now all you have to worry about is that customers are always around and not the operating costs. So we are keeping it at 1 Yuan for two tries no matter the arcade machine." Jin decided, and He Rong agreed that such a price should be extremely attractive for the kids to y and rx. Yong De shrugged his shoulders and told the boss that this was his yground, and they were simply their ''caretakers''.

    Still, there was oneponent which drew the attention of all the working adults in the arcade, which He Rong and Yong De up to this point could not understand why.

    The Giant Plushie UFO machine.

 Chapter 523 Giant Plushie UFO Machine

    <h4>Chapter 523 Giant Plushie UFO Machine</h4>

    Simr to the mini game fanbase it seemed as if the Giant Plushie UFO Machine had garnered its own cult following. The first thing that all the adult Pandawans had rushed towards was this particr plushie dispensing machine.

    At the same time, there were also murmurs by various UFO machine experts on how to tackle such a machine. It was the first time they saw such a gigantic UFO machine and the controls definitely different from the usual ones they had experienced. Thus, the UFO machine experts allowed other customers to try it first as they cross examined each other''s thoughts and opinions.

    But the cross examination seemed rather ineffective when there was one particr guy who happened to hog the one side of the machine all to himself.

    While every customer was green with envy that Xiong Da was rewarded with a customised Hippo and Egret plushie due to hisrge donation, it does not feel appropriate that he acted like a bully and refused to give up the machine after several attempts. (In fact, it''s many, many failed attempts that the crowd got bored looking.)

    "Who dares to interrupt my plushie attempts?!!!" Xiong Da shouted, which caused the bystanders to move aside and let him continue his attempts to gather more of them. If anything else, Xiong Da was happy that he now had unlimited spending power to get the plushies.

    All that Hippo Cultivator needed was time.

    However, the Pandawans like Luo Bo, the Rabbit Cultivator would not back down without a fight... which in the end escted into such a significant disturbance that He Rong had to call Jin to settle it their dispute. Yang Ling decided to tag along Jin as she had met Xiong Da before and was curious to see how Jin would mediate the fight.

    "You know, you could probably just add a new rule to ensure that everyone has to take turns trying that machine." Yang Ling suggested as they took the elevator up to the Panda Arcade Store Instance. She had asked Jin if he wanted some fries which were packed in cute Panda packaging paper bag. Jin dly took two pieces and noticed that she had already hung the new Panda Miniature Keychain at the side of her wheelchair.

    "Nah, that rule would probably turn many people off. Especially for those who really want the plushie so badly that they were willing to spend loads on it. Erm...just not Xiong Da. Although I kind of figure he would be there when I created that UFO machine." Jin said with his mouth filled with fries as they walked towards the Panda Arcade Store Instance.

    "That''s true. But what are you going to do? Let them fight it out? I don''t recall you having an instance to allow for proper cultivator versus cultivator dungeon instance." Yang Ling inquired as they entered the store to see Xiong Da and Luo Bo fighting over the controls.

    The small sized girl was doing all she could to prevent that fatty from ying while Shi Zuo, the Mad Monkey Cultivator merely stood at the sight and watched them fight like little kids.

    "Thank goodness my machines were made of good quality, or else I swear those two rascals would have dismantled it by now." Jin sighed as he told Yang Ling to give him a moment.

    "Do you require my guards?" Yang Ling offered as a sign of concern, but Jin just shook his head nonchntly.

    "What do you two think you are doing here exactly? You are both adults, yet you behave worse than children bickering over a candy! You are supposed to lead by example, Do I need to revoke your Pandawan status?" Jin berated them as he folded his hands while giving them using looks.

    "But he started it first!"

    "But she started it first!"

    Both of them yelled simultaneously, pointing fingers at each other while their partners shrugged their shoulders, not wanting to get involved. He requested the immature adults to leave the Giant Plushie UFO machine to allow the others a chance to use it.

    "Do you really want a giant plushie that bad?" Jin asked the two angsty cultivators who had stared down at each other, but eventually turned their heads towards Jin at the mention of ''plushie''.

    Both just nodded.

    "Fine, since you two are Pandawans, I am allowing you to undergo a special challenge. Luo Bo, should you win, you will get a personalised Rabbit Giant Plushie while if Xiong Da wins, he will get to choose one of those plushies up there. Deal?"

    "Why does she get a customised plushie?!" Xiong Da eximed at which point Ruo Ying finally entered the scene and pulled his ear.

    "Dear. Remember what I told you? Don''t get too greedy." Ruo Ying reminded him, and she surprisingly managed to control him very well.

    Jin could only look at her with an expression of disbelief.

    "...Honestly, if you did that earlier, everything could be solved." Jin sighed even stronger, but Shi Zuo shook his head.

    "My bunny girl would not have listened to me." Shi Zuo intervened, and Ruo Ying echoed the same sentiments. If she did that earlier, it would not have been effective at all.

    "Why do I feel that all of this was merely a big ploy by the four of you to mess with me? And to get me to issue out more giant (customised) plushies?" Jin used them loudly while putting his hand at his temple and shaking his head.

    "You were the one who initiated and suggested the solution, not us." Shi Zuo chuckled at Jin''s overthinking of the whole situation. He knew that his girlfriend was being childish and Ruo Ying agreed wholeheartedly with him.

    "Fine, fine," Jin replied as he looked at them and saw how eager they were to win against each other.

    "Follow me, all of you." He asked the two couples to follow behind Yang Ling. On the way, Xiong Da revealed to them the identity of the woman in the wheelchair. However, he was slightly confused as to why she was in a wheelchair when he remembered that Yang Ling was able to walk perfectly fine thest he saw her. Yet, his gut instincts told him that it would be rude and inappropriate to ask something like that in public, and she must have her reasons.

    When they reached the top of the Tree Mall, the cultivators felt more peaceful in their hearts than ever before to the point, the two grumbling cultivators nearly forgave each other on the spot. Yang Lingughed at Jin''s customers, seeing how spontaneous they were and was slightly envious of their friendship.

    Jin led them to the centre of the top level, where they were weed by the enormous portrait of Jin and his monsters. There were a number of people gathering right in front of it admiring the picture. Yang Ling was extremely interested in it but did not wish to disturb the crowd in front of her.

    Xiong Da, on the other hand, was shameless and loudly requested to allow the person in the wheelchair to get a better look at the portrait.

    Using her ''crippled'' status, they got close to the portrait and saw the entirety of it.

    Luo Bo tried to take a picture but was unhappy to realise it was blurred out even after a couple of tries. Shi Zuo was startled that Jin''s portrait made use of thetest censoring technology which only prominent museums utilised for artefacts and relics of great value.

    "To me, it''s one of the most valuable pieces that showed a milestone in my life," Jin revealed solemnly, and the rest silently continued to appreciate the art piece.

    While they were busy admiring the picture, Jin opened his Pandamonium app. Arge big ''Enter Store'' appeared as a banner at the top of the app. With a crowd of this size blocking the ''main entry'' of the store, the System had also modified the Pandamonium app to allow entry other than from the QR code in front of the portrait. (Did Jin mention that he also changed the QR code to include the shape of a Panda in it too?)

    Customers in the vicinity of the top level would be given directions via GPS to the centre of the park if they wished to enter Jin''s Panda and Dungeons instance. Alternatively, they could ess his store''s instance instantly by hitting therge big ''Enter Store'' button, which was revealed the moment they reach the top level of the Tree Mall.

    Thus Jin informed his customers that once they were done admiring his magnificent portrait, they could find him at his store instance.

 Chapter 524 Special Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 524 Special Challenge</h4>

    "So, what is this special challenge about?" Xiong Da asked, and Jin smiled as he instructed them to take a look at their Pandamonium App.

    "An uing instance, but right now it''s in an experimental state. Something simr to the Orc Invasion only with another type of monster. You know the usual stuff. Whoever got the highest number of kills wins the challenge." Jin answered before he told the two of them to gear up. Shi Zuo and Ruo Ying questioned if they were allowed to join in the fun as well.

    "Oh, you think this will be fun? Sure go right ahead." Jin smile turned into a smirk which made them slightly suspicious of the dungeon supplier. Still, he had agreed and sent them the invitation to the dungeon.

    At this point, Yang Ling looked Jin in the eyes and pouted cutely.

    Jin ultimately heaved out a sigh. "FineбнI will let you in as well but not your guards. It may not be fully bnced, so I do not want too many people to be in it in case of problems. You can go inside and take a look. Whether you wish to fight, is entirely up to you."

    Yang Ling agreed and asked the guards to take a break at the Restaurant Train instance by sending a 500 Yuan red packet to each of their MeChat ounts per guard. "Enjoy yourselves, you guys worked hard enough."

    "But Miss, n Leader Hu ordered us not to leave you at any cost. We will get in trouble if you-" The guard got interrupted by Yang Ling''s impable stare and they understood that she was doing it of her own volition.

    "Very good. Now please, enjoy what this ce has to offer. You might even try to increase your cultivation while waiting for me." Yang Ling expression turned friendly again. Defeated, they nodded their heads in return.

    "Shall we?" Yang Ling requested Jin to push her into Weapons Store Instance in order to ess one of the workshops in there. He was surprised that Yang Ling had secretly been visiting his store in disguise with her Triad Bodyguard, Ku Wai. The only reason why Ku Wai had not followed her this time around was because she had for ''official business'' to Jin''s opening ceremony.

    Hence, she needed to keep the act of being crippled.

    Once the System pulled her personalised workshop instance into reality, he realised that she had stored all herbat gear here. There was even a highly expensive 3D printer along with aptop in the workshop in case she needed a quick fix.

    "Seriously quite a handy feature you have. Can''t say I''ve seen many stores with, especially at your low ratesбнin fact the Royal Dungeon Supplier store I used to frequent charges exorbitant prices to rent a space there."

    "I really hope that you can expand or at least ce a portal in our Zodiac Tiger Headquarters which I am sure the people there would love it. That will show that arrogant Royal Dungeon Supplier that he is not the only freaking supplier that the Tigers can rely on." Yang Lingined with spite in her tone, and Jin bitterlyughed in reply.

    "I will see what Ke Loong and I can do." Jin went forward to assist Yang Ling and realised she was able to walk a little on her own. "This is бнa great improvement!" Jin was astonished, and Yang Ling winked at him.

    "Of course! I worked hard, you know." Yang Ling said proudly but eventually revealed that along with her extended use of the Gearbox, she had been eating rather often at Jin''s store (in disguise). The Tiger Princess spected that the abundant spiritual power from the food along with her rehabilitation aided in her speedy and yet miraculous recovery.

    "I''ve a long way ahead of me, but at least I can stand and also walk a little," Yang Ling said as she unveiled a series of suitcases from her storage ring. Seeing his guest struggled a bit on her own, Jin assisted her with the donning of her customised Gearbox.

    "Oh, did I ever thank you for making it extremely easy to fit in? If I am in a pinch, all I need is some time to put it on, and I can enter intobat immediately. Had been practising on that diligently in case of emergencies and my timing is decent now. Honestly, it''s so good that we adapted it to all other models." Yang Ling said as she put on the Gearbox.

    "Yea, I did design it with that in mind, I don''t want to imagine how helpless you might be if you are stuck in a serious predicament," Jin stated as a matter of fact instead of a matter of concern for her.

    Like donning an armour on in medieval times, he knew that speed was of the essence if she was ever in serious danger again. However, to Yang Ling, she thought otherwise and smiled widely with a bit of embarrassment on her face. (Though Jin did not see it when she expressed it.)

    Once she was outfitted with the customised gearbox suit, Yang Ling began putting small tes of flexible armour which she kept in her workshop. The Tiger Princess had already modified the Gearbox to suit them, and it was kind of like a plug and y. Jin noticed it was quite an ingenious idea and kept that in mind should he wish to produce more of those gearbox suits.

    "Do not worry, System has already input all the data, including the items she had not chosen to use this time into the System database. System will prompt User should he wish to reproduce gearbox suits for personal use or for his monsters." The System informed him within his thoughts, and he could only imagine what kind of other inventions Yang Ling''s research team had created as she stuffed several more items in a separate storage ring before telling Jin that she was ready for battle.

    When they returned back to the store instance, Xiong Da was donning his clothes with his new defensive inscription as part of his recently earned privilege rights. While the System had prevented him from abusing his special status to gift their assortment to others, thewyer had all the money in the world to purchase some new gear for Ruo Ying without batting his eye.

    Knowing that it was a special challenge (with the plushie at stake), Luo Bo did not hesitate in buying thetest items that were offered within the Weapons and Armour store instances, especially since there was the Day One mega discount in effect.

    The only one who was crying was Shi Zuo''s wallet, but he figured with Christmas around the corner, he convinced himself that it was ''okay'' to be spending a fair bit of money and decided to splurge on his new armoured clothes set. (Little did he knew that this was merely the beginning of the couple''s spending fest.)

    With all of them ready for the special challenge, Jin looked at them and brought them to the conference room instance to brief them on the new ''experimental instance''.

 Chapter 525 Special Challenge Briefing

    <h4>Chapter 525 Special Challenge Briefing</h4>

    "Your challenge will be to defeat a new type of monster called Demon Rats," Jin exined as he showed them the pictures taken by his reconnaissance teams. Demon Rat Brutes, Demon Rat Specialists with their various equipment such as the Steam Tanks and the Steam Helicopters.

    "Xiong Da and Luo Bo will be fighting against the horde of rats who havee to recapture a town that was liberated by the Werejackals. You remember those from the Bank Heist Instances?" Jin asked, and the rest nodded their heads except for Yang Ling and Ruo Ying who had neither seen nor experienced those instances before.

    It wasn''t until Xiong Da described them as the human-ish dogбнfox like creatures they saw in the WunderPanda Theme Park Instance when it clicked for them. Jin continued his briefing telling them that the Werejackals were themanding defensive team that would be protecting the town along with some knights.

    "So it''s basically the same as the goblins, just a different battlefield and probably on a harder difficulty?" Shi Zuo asked as he saw that the Demon Rats now had ess to heavy machinery to aid them, unlike Orcs, who mainly focused on manpower to overwhelm them.

    Jin nodded his head, and Luo Bomented that Jin must really hate the Ruby Rats to the point he even created a raid theme all about them. The rest chuckled at herments, yet Xiong Da agreed he would be dying to kill all those Demon Rats in ce of the Ruby Rats.

    "Aww Shucks you guys." Jin was being slightly sarcastic before continuing the briefing. "So yes, it is a new raid that will most likely rece the Goblin Raid instance in the near future. Call it something fresh or else people would be bored killing Orcs again, and again, right?"

    "Personally, I would love to join the Orcs and fight against the goblins for a change." Shi Zuo said, and the rest agreed.

    "How about making it a bit more special, like a cultivator versus cultivator kind of thing with the old Goblin Raid Instance. Where cultivators fight alongside the race they choose?" Yang Ling suggested, and Jin nodded his head at that idea.

    "Ah, I did think of that one before as well, but I hope there will be varied battlegrounds instead of just the two raid instances and the secret instances." Luo Bo replied as she had nearly memorised all the building and knew exactly where to hide in order to snipe the Orcs down.

    The Orcs did became cleverer in time and tried to ambush her, but so far they failed since the rabbit archer was very creative in her use of traps. (However, she had to give credit when they nearly caught her in a surprise.)

    Ruo Ying also added that she remembered how exciting it was to be teleported to somewhere new in the first limited phase of Goblin Raids where they could do various missions. While the current instances were vast and crazily exciting, she missed those short battle sorties and hoped Jin could bring them back.

    "Hmm. Perhaps, I really can spice things up, I will revise it when I have the time. As for the cultivator versus cultivator kind of battles, I have already filled out the necessary paperwork, but before I get issued the license I can''t implement anything of that sort. The one time with Xiong Da was only possible because the detectives agreed to look the other way." Jin took all their opinions in before he returned back to the topic.

    He was thankful that they were taking their time to talk and discuss all this because Another Jins were frantically making the presentation slides as they were speaking. Even the images when the presentation first started was by them, and yet the Pandawans before him had no clue Jin had helpers behind the scenes creating all of this in real time.

    They thought that he was merely a person who was very prepared for anything бнor had someone proficient in the use of magic like how the dungeon supplier managed to create the Giant Tree in the middle of Shenzhen overnight, getting coverage not just in local news, but to the whole country as well.

    The System had predicted that the global newswork would pick on it when it goes viral after Day One and was anticipating to collect the opinions of other newsworks.

    "Anyways there is something I haven''t mentioned yet. To make it even more unforgettable for all of you. I''ve taken into ount the feedback gathered in the Goblin Raid Instance and came up with this innovation. You guys will be testing out this brand new feature." Jin moved the presentation to the next slide with merely a word there: ''SQUADS.''

    Both he and the System had used the data of the cultivators and replicated highly intelligent human behaviour on the NPC clones they created. Not to mention, using the Farming Humans as the base of the NPCs had elerated the process.

    The System had always been keeping unique individuals that it found impossible to clone for use as followers. However, the Farming Humans was sort of an empty te, where the System could clone them as NPCs and inserted certain specific behaviour, making them behave like humans when they were not (at least in the biological sense of Jin''s world).

    They were more akin to Penguin Patsu or Bear Cub One rather than Octofussy, Vulcan or Chef Roro. To call them human was kind of the wrong category, so in order to preserve them as NPCs, the System had made the ''Squad'' mates faceless and equipped them masks that were in ordance to the Leader who would be leading them.

    For example, Xiong Da would receive a Squad full of Full Masked Hippo members. Initially, the masks would be very basic and more details would only be added as Xiong Da levels his squad up. Yes, Jin was going to proceed with the virtual gaming system that the System and him had talked about during their fight against Rong, The Demon Bull Exorcist Trainee. (This reminded him that he still had to speak to the leaders of JODE and initiate the passing out ceremony for the Demon Snake Exorcist Su Zhenter in the afternoon.)

    "Oh? So we get to receive these squads for free from you?" Shi Zuo was excited to hear that and Jin nodded his head.

    "As part of the experiment, yes. Otherwise, they will be priced rather expensively. Consider it as a possible premium feature of future instances, like how customers wished to fight alone and not with other cultivators. They can rece the team with their own NPC squad members." Jin exined and listed the various possibilities of having a squad of their own.

    "Also, this Squad highlight might potentially change how cultivators participate in Raid Events drastically. While I do not wish to brag, but you can customise how all your squad would look like to a certain extent and even choose the kind of weapons they would be equipped with."

    Jin emphasised that it was an exciting feature which he could not wait to see it being tested out.

 Chapter 526 Extra: Price Adjustments

    <h4>Chapter 526 Extra: Price Adjustments</h4>

    Jin had thought long and hard on the day before the Opening Ceremony. Since the very beginning, he knew that his exclusively high priced dungeons were not so essible for the general public. Those who yed frequently were usually the wealthier people or at least the upper middle ss people.

    For cultivators like Luo Bo and Shi Zuo, they had to work additional overtime just to y an additional one or two dungeon runs. Nevertheless, they felt like it was a sort of investment. The guaranteed increase in cultivation had allowed them to be more focused at work, and hence more of their energy could be devoted to performing their job well while some of their colleagues were desperately trying to stay sane after a straight ten hour shift.

    The university and high school students were usually unable to pay such prices unless they came from wealthy families like Bu Dong. Luckily there was a long running programme by the government to subsidise cultivation activities by up to 75% of the price as an incentive to entice students to have a better base cultivation from the start.

    The government recognised that higher cultivation grades meant that students could do better in exams and subsequently work longer hours for their futurepanies. Hence, it was like an investment for their future workforce.

    What''s more was that an increase of cultivation grade allowed the students to earn a one time cash incentive too, which was extremely useful in further upgrading their cultivation or to pay off their student loans.

    However, Shenzhen''s governmental ounting third parties were baffled at the recent receipts from a particr Dungeons and Pandas store. Initially, they assumed it was a hoax or something which they eventually filed a report the police for an investigation.

    Yet Yang Ling was able to intervene.

    Apparently, the Tiger Princess, who fiddled with everything that had money in it, predicted that sort of thing would happen to Jin and assured the government ounting third parties that it was legitimate.

    At one point, she even gave them a ''disguise'' tour of the ce without Jin being informed of this. Eventually, they had to agree that given the superb quality of the dungeons, the pricing was somewhat valid. They could only sigh that the government guidelines had beenx enough for an anomaly like Jin''s store to be epted.

    Still, Jin was notified by Yang Ling that he should consider looking into the prices or expect formal inspectors toe and audit the ce which she knew that he had a lot of "Trade Secrets'' to hide.

    Alternatively, he was more than wee to be a Royal Zodiac Dungeon Supplier which would exempt him from a lot of questions.

    This was part of the reason why Jin had decided to take another look into the prices and give a proper model of pricing so that if inspectors were to physically audit his store, there would be sufficient paperwork prepared by both the System and Jin. (However, the more apparent reason was that he wanted repeat customers from all ages and not just the rich.).

    In addition, their past analysis indicated that about nearly up to one quarter of the people who visited Dungeons and Pandas came to solely spectate and perhaps engage in the cheaper alternatives at other dungeon suppliers.

    They unsurprisingly found most of them to be disappointed that they were unable to experience the same feeling they had in Jin''s store. Still, they equally frustrated that they did not have enough cash to y any of it in his ce as well.

    Thus, the Goblin Raid Instance was a prime example that things did not have to stay that way. He had priced it rtively cheap, and in return, Jin was promptly rewarded with an influx of customers from various ages. The store got only more popr ever since the opening of the Goblin Raid Instance, leading Jin to ponder if it was truly necessary to keep those high prices as the System had dictated.

    "At this point, the System can only rmend and hopefully persuade User from not changing the prices." The System reiterated that it was looking at long term growth, where higher grade cultivators woulde in and find the price point and quality worthy just previously stated in their discussion.

    "To amodate them I wish to return back to dungeon tiers in the future. Now that we have enough variety of monsters that I feel that it should be possible to do so." Jin said, and the System requested for a more detailed exnation for rification.

    At that point, Jin merely teased the System to wait for him to develop the tier based dungeons and proceeded to adjust the cost price of his dungeons.

    Simr to his Gaming Packages, Jin had decided to revamp all the prices of the dungeons. The Goblin Raid Instance would be priced at 15 Yuan, with all dungeons previously published as well as the respective arenas costing 25 Yuan.

    Not only that, he had revitalised his two old dungeon instances and offered them on Day One as well. The first instance to be revealed was his old Goblin Forest instance where the forest was filled with traps and included his (unevolved) Goblin trio who fought alongside Mr Oink against the cultivators.

    But because Jin used the Goblin Forest for the story instance, he renamed this particr old dungeon instance as the Goblin Woods Instance.

    The other dungeon instance was where cultivators used to fight against Ke Mi''s and her pets, and it was aptly renamed as the Zither Mistress Grasnds Instance. The instance was also priced the same at 25 Yuan too. The only difference was that Jin had promoted these two dungeons as a beginner friendly instance aspared to the rest, which had a storyline in them.

    The Dungeon Supplier then included them into a series of package deals to entice people to buy more of them. However, these packages were mostly considered as promotional for the moment until Jin found the right amount of cash squeeze he could get from the customers. He had created a number of packages which would aid beginners and veterans alike.

    For example, his Basic Dungeon Party Package cost 90 Yuan, and it consisted of four dungeon tickets which could be gifted to friends or used all by one person. There were also the Veteran, Hardcore and Extreme Packages.

    Needless to say, better discounts on a higher quantity of dungeon tickets as well as additional Panda Medals. Only the Hardcore and Extreme Packages featured a pack of tickets that allowed them to obtain several free weapons and armour temporary inscription through a Gacha machine in Octofussy''s general store.

    Most of it would usually be at least Grade 3 considering the amount of money they paid, but there would be a chance to receive a Grade 5 or even above temporary inscription charms which might aid with their dungeons in the future.

    However, the store also made them sign a disimer that the use of those inscriptions outside of their store was not the store''s responsibility when they bought their packages.

    That was just the beginning of packagesбн There were even more, and Jin was nning to add a tab in the Pandamonium App called Sales Deals.

 Chapter 527 Extra: Adventuring Packages

    <h4>Chapter 527 Extra: Adventuring Packages</h4>

    As Jin was finalising the Dungeon Packages, he realised there was no reason to stop just there. He could easily pair it up with various deals in order to spice up the variety of promotional packages avable and suit people''s desire for additional discounts.

    Deals like Adventuring Foodie Package that allows the cultivators to get some grub before working out or the Jack of All Trades Adventuring Package which featured a bit of everything. From service instances to the mini games, it was a mix and match of tickets, food coupons and items in that package.

    However, the Beginner Adventuring Package that consisted of a Grade 2 weapon and armour coupon along with some potions and such was predicted to be selling like hotcakes. (And in hindsight, it did exceptionally well with the new crowd from Day One.) Not just chi potions were sold within that package but medicines simr to the ones he sold in the Goblin World too.

    By making use of the experience he had gained from designing the Dungeon Cave, Jin had asked the System to make ailments in the current dungeon design as a noticeable side effect. Effects like fire would make them feel like it was searing their skin away and freezing could potentially slow their entire body to a halt.

    Jin had also permitted the System to appoint random elemental inscription on various monsters and make those who already utilised them stronger.

    For example, Werejackals'' Vice Leader Grey loved to use fireballs, and the System amplified the effect through the dimensional instance, causing the cultivators to receive a burning effect whenever they were hit by the fireball.

    While it''s true that those who had high control of chi or had water magic can remove the fire, those of lower grades would have to purchase those anti burning potions or creams to prevent or reduce the consequences of burning. The same was true for poisons as well as other effects like causing the chi to generate slower or general paralysation.

    Hence, this allowed him to sell an Adventuring Pancreas Pack that featured these kinds of potion and included chi regeneration potions as part of the sales too.

    The dungeons were not the only thing that received price cuts, as Jin had ensured that it also affected the Service Instances. All the Service Instances were priced at 15 Yuan except for the Panda Muscles Service Instance which was priced at 5 Yuan per visit though he also offered monthly and annual membership deal for Panda Muscles Service Instance as to entice more people to use his services.

    Since the fishing instance wasbined with the Restaurant Instance, it was not affected by the 15 Yuan entry fee, but it had their prices shed to a more affordable price range in the hope that more people would be able to patronise Chef Roro''s superb sushi skills.

    Meanwhile, the food was subjective to Lynn''s way of pricing, which Jin did not object a single bit. He also gave Lynn full authority over the Pandafull delivery service when it came to food, and it allowed her to provide daily discounts depending on the System''s predictive analysis.

    Despite Jin making all these price adjustments, he suddenly understood the System''s point of view of making it expensive. When it meant long term growth, the System was anticipating a new sort of crowd as soon as the portals were up and operational.

    Foreigners.

    If Jin converted the Yuan to other currencies, it would definitely be inferior to say the Euro or US dor. Hence, Jin made it clear to the System that the prices stay as per their foreign currency. What he meant was that an American paying the dungeon would not be paying 25 Yuan, but be paying 25 USD instead.

    Jin found that this was the fairest in ordance with each cultivator or magician''s personal expenses and at that point wondered if he should open separate shop instances to amodate to a different crowd so as to avoid bias.

    That was when he realised how bloody useful Another Jins could possibly be as he could exist at various shop instances as they teleported into the shop instances. But of course, Jin would need the System to ''install'' theirnguage into his Another Jins to be able to have effectivemunication with foreigners.

    "Maybe I instead of calling them Another Jin 1 or Jin 2, I can start referring to them as America Jin, European Jin, African Jin, oh Farming Jin and Dungeon Jin. Hahahahah!" Jin joked to the System as he prepared and input the various price deals into the System for consideration.

    "It is technically possible, but System feels the need to remind User that having too many Another Jins will ultimately strain your body and chi. Thus, System has an obligation to not allow Jin to be out of the store unless all the Another Jins rbine with you should User attempt such a feat." The System spoke its concerns out, and Jin understood.

    "Anyway, no need to get ahead of ourselves. Let''s concentrate on China first before we expand outwards. Maybe before our expansion, we could get some foreigners in too." Jin shrugged his shoulders as he stretched his hands and continued to fiddle with his personal projects despite having only a few more hours before the opening ceremony.

    Considering that he was in the Dungeon Maker, time moved at a different pace that he did not feel anxious about the opening ceremony at all.

    With time currently at his side, Jin had been reading reports on the Demon Rats provided by the System and learnt that they were more widespread than they had initially thought. Although he had yet to make time to greet the new monsters that entered the System, he knew their names and what they had been doing.

    For example, Weslie the Schr of the West was reverse engineering a Steam Tech control that might possibly turn into the game changer and allow them to create the legendary tool for Operation Pied Piper, which was taken directly from the Pied Piper of Hamelin or that was what Jin thought when he read about the news.

    It would fit nicely into Jin''s scenario of creating the multi instance Military and Police exercise operations Hou Fei had talked about. He had been missing the crucial element of attracting the rats, and if he had some way to amplify that control and push all the rats into the multi instance, it would be advantageous for him.

    In the meantime, Gold had sent out his Werejackal scouts that reported tens of Demon Rat battalions and human vesing from their capital to the captured towns so the rats could ''liberate'' them from their control again.

    The Dark Temrs and Lord Wolte were then in charge of surprise attacks, causing the battalions to be dyed in their march but it was more than just a dent in their schedule. Still, every single hour counts, and that was what matters.

    Because the Dark Temrs were ying the defensive role, the Three Goblins were acting even bolder in attacking the towns ever since the incident at Town of Wecha. The news spread fast, and the Demon Rats began shoring their defences up in those controlled towns.

    But this time, the Goblin Trio brought Meomi with them as the Southern Stars Leader had criticised Meomi being an unwanted risk after what had happened.

    Thus, Meomimanded the Mousefolks while me Ripper brought the Western Skies adventurers along with them. With the Mousefolks fully contracted to the System, Meomi was not afraid of utilising them in freeing more towns.

    As for the Western Skies Adventurers, they were tasked to disrupt any supply caravans towards those rat infested towns, and in exchange, they were allowed to keep the gold they earned.

    The adventurers also tasked to spread the news, rumours and gossips that a resistance group was doing its best in liberating the towns from the rats. As the Sea Port Towns were still under the protection of whatever Northern Guards were left in the region, Gold hoped they could be spurred into action with all the positive news.

    With all these happening, Jin felt that another Raid instance was needed to assist his monsters and he needed to do something a little more drastic to increase the manpower since they had no help except the pockets rebel groups in the region.

    That was how the idea of ''Squads'' came to be.

 Chapter 528 Extra: Goal Adjustments

    <h4>Chapter 528 Extra: Goal Adjustments</h4>

    The Squad idea had been on Jin''s mind for a very long time, but there hadn''t been a right time to implement it up until now. He had discussed it with the System, and it had countered they were for not ready stating ack of resources.

    The System also wished to stop Jin from reducing the profits when he nned for the extreme reduction of prices until its predictive analysis had concluded that the profit margin in the next two months should be able to rival what they had earned in their past few months or even more.

    Unlike when he first started out, Jin no longer dealt with just dungeons. Even though they were supposed to be the bulk of the profit for the shop, the dungeon supplier had expanded sidewards so people would not find his main attraction to be exorbitantly expensive.

    From food, weapons, clothing and vulneraries, everything would be used to supplement the reduced cost of the dungeon entrance, especially since his main customers were entering the dungeons with an increased cultivation grade.

    Higher cultivation grade meant the dungeons were programmed to be harder despite the same cost of entry. While the conditions to enter the dungeons were the same, staying and thriving within the dungeon would require the cultivators tp spend more on better grade weapons, more inscriptions and perhaps even one time magical scrolls which Jin had recently added into his stores.

    In terms of food, Lynn was also preparing a road map for both her penguins and her restaurant. As she increased her cultivation grade, the Sub System began to release certain food recipes that included grade requirement.

    For example, the current dishes such as Chashu Ramen in Red Snapper Broth and Tonkatsu Curry Rice were marked as Grade 1 Food by the Sub System. It was useful in regaining chi and spiritual power from a day''s worth of work, but the attributes it granted were considered minor.

    That was why the Sub System had the Giant World in mind from the start. If they were able to tame the animals from that world and train them in such a way to have cultivation simr to the animals they had on Earth, they could start an extraterrestrial Cultivation Zoo (or Demon Cultivation Zoo) as well as getting better food quality.

    However, in that aspect, it seemed like one of Half Ghoul Lord Derek''s experiments was also going in that direction. The evolved zombie was keen on fusing food and monsters together, creating an abomination of food monster that would provide way stronger quality of food. He felt that he had been limited by his ss restriction to truly create a sentient monster after all the experiments he had done.

    So, he had decided to work backwards and began by fusing living creatures with various items. He initially thought of using mechatronics, by utilising the abundant Steam Tech parts which the System collected, but that had been beyond his expertise before Weslie entered the System.

    Hence, he decided to trybining both food and monsters together in an attempt to fuse different sort of food with body parts together. Derek''s sole purpose was the idea of augmentation, and if it worked, it would definitely bring much profit to Lynn and Jin.

    On a separate note, the Dungeon City Fortress was not all red in Jin''s financial ounts. (Well, it''s still red, just a lighter shade of red than before.) When the store owners of the Tiangong Tree Mall began to demand more of the quality food stocks from Jin, he was able to earn some money from selling the stockpile of agriculture goods the city had harvested through the use of the System''s Temporal Maniption.

    Considering that the seeds were cheap, and the effort to farm those were minimal with the aid of modified Farming Sandroku golems, the profit was tremendous. (Yeah, the Orcs managed to customise the Sandroku Golems into various sectors. Construction, Farming, Transportation etc. It had slowly turned into a core part of the Dungeon City Fortress that both Orcs and Goblins wished to own.)

    Oh, not to mention the secret oil nts that the System managed to obtain from the Farming World. What had been treated as garbage by Gold previously, became the most valuable and profitable plot ofnd that the Werejackals were sitting on.

    Instead of expanding their home instance, the System opened up a new dimensional instance and instructed the Werejackals to take great care of the oil fields. In return, the System points awarded to those guarding werejackals became extremely enticing for the farming duty rotation.

    Jin contacted Panda Remnant Hou Fei, and together with the System, they started to sell these oil barrels to variouspanies and even countries. As it turned out, that old snake had multiple connections that brought massive profit for Jin. Even Kraft apuded Hou Fei for being nearly as resourceful as him.

    Bloody or clean money, Jin did not care.

    As long as nothing could be traced back to them, Jin was satisfied. The dungeon supplier considered this to be a short term n as he believed that if he could travel to other worlds, and with the ess to an interworld ck market, there was definitely a way to import clean energy for his country to use in the future.

    If they wished to remain a step ahead in future developmentspared to other countries, Jin was able to contribute to his country. Therefore, what he was working on with Ke Loong was vital, and the portal start up must be sessful enough to skyrocket Ke Loong''spany to be a leading giant in the transportation industry. That way with money, prestige and power, they can push their ideals to the country.

    All these improvements for what?

    For the sake of bing the Number One Dungeon Supplier in his world. The portals would eventually bring him the numbers to his business. The clean energy he thought of would also reduce the energy intake his instances were using. (If one were to see his electrical bills...)

    Does Jin wants to be famous to be the Number One Dungeon Supplier? Not necessarily. All he wanted was to be number one so that he could spread his joy of dungeoneering to the world. And if in the process, Jin was able to make the world a better ce, why not?

    Despite all these new goals in mind, Jin knew that it would not be all roses and the Ruby Rat Triad was merely the first stepping stone on his way to his desired future.

    He didn''t doubt that there would be other people who would be vying his technology, for his secret methods in getting all his research up and yet he would not give up on making the world a better ce.

    The System''s previous revenge plot was pettypared to this dream that Jin had. If they could aplish it, they would possibly be remembered in history. Not as the ones who had been bested by the Jade Emperor, but as the ones who had risen from the ashes and helped guide the world to a brighter future.

    But for now, Jin would not get ahead of himself as he knew the hard effort for such grand goals was created with every step. And speaking of dungeons, the Dungeon Cave was one of his new ns when the System conversed with him previously.

    Why settle on being the Number One Dungeon Supplier on Earth when he could be the Number One Dungeon Supplier on every world he woulde to visit?

 Chapter 529 Squad Theory

    <h4>Chapter 529 Squad Theory</h4>

    "What can we do with the squads? Are we going in with mere AIs?" Xiong Da asked, and Jin shook his head.

    "Nope, they will fight based on your orders. Right now, you have ess to basicmands like charge, unite, fall back as this is still in progress. When the new experimental instancese out, there will be more advancedmands for you to use. You can tell them how you want to attack or even join another squad temporarily to boost their members." Jin answered as if Xiong Da would be able to have control a fully sentient squad of AI.

    "So how we use it efficiently totally depends on us?" Luo Bo asked, and Jin nodded.

    "Yeah, that is assuming you want to have full control of the squad. Actually, on second thought, go ahead and try those individualmands. However, if the squad does not respond in your favour, my servers will still record what''s happening, and I will take a look to rectify them in the future." Jin replied since they were here to do some debugging for the new NPCs.

    "But if those squads do not work as intended, do not me them if you lose the special challenge." Jin chuckled as he looked at the two of them who inadvertently agreed to those conditions.

    Aside from orders, Jin told them they had currently three squad personnel under them. As they levelled up their squads, the cultivators had the chance to increase the number of personnel under them, and that was why Jin had previously mentioned that they could eventually hold a battalion(s) when their squad levels were high enough.

    The Pandawans were excited over this particr new feature as they believed Jin could possibly prepare instances like inter cultivator war games and allow them to mimic grand battles. Instead of just being a small little part like in those Goblin Raid instances, they would be the grand generals leading them to victory.

    "While you cannot customise how the squad member''s faces look like, we will offer themes for the masks like Tribal Masks, Cyberpunk masks, and maybe limited theme masks though that would be for the future." Jin started to exin the features of the squads.

    "As of right now, you can buy weapons, or even give them your existing array of weapons and armour but you have to understand that the Squad is a veryplex kind of feature that I am going for because it is realistic."

    "Basically equipping a squad is simr to equipping a group of people in real life?" Xiong Da leaned forward and queried.

    "Yes! So while your squad levels limits how many squad members, you canmand, your squad personnel themselves have their very own Grades, and ording to the way you use them they can even develop basic personalities." Jin revealed more about the squads, shocking his listeners.

    "For example, if you keep using Squad Personnel 3 for scouting purposes, they will eventually get more agile than say the one you kept behind for sniping reasons, with thetter developing higher uracy stats."

    "So, if it eventually grows into a battalion, you are saying we will be managing a group of 100 odd people?" Shi Zuo felt overwhelmed all of a sudden at the thought of it.

    "If you wish to micromanage them all, yes. But because it''s still in development, things can change. For example, the battalion stats will be dependent on toons. And each of those toons will be based on the highest level squad personnel leading it."

    "Currenlty, what I envision toons are based on the main type of weapons they are using and the stats of the highest level squad personnel. If it''s is a sword toon, their entire group stats will lean towards melee strength and higher defence."

    "The Squad Personnel leading the toon will then further enhance the toon''s stats as well. By then, you should be macro managing toons and the amount of experience earnt would be spread evenly throughout the toon." Jin said, and the Pandawans had a rough idea.

    "Of course, it will also depend on my servers if such a theory could be transposed into a practical setting, else I need to set a limit. But let''s not get ahead of ourselves first. If the prototype turns out bad, that means there''s no toons or battalions in the near future." Jin put a damper on their mood, and theyughed at him to console him.

    "Knowing you Boss, you will get it to work. I look forward to those war games. Even if there are no toons or battalions, having a squad will be decent enough if I do not have Shi Zuo or Luo Bo to y with." Xiong Da stated, and Luo Bo gave a ''pfft'' sound out.

    "Don''t think that some sweet words will earn you mercy points. I intend to give it my all for a customised plushie!" Luo Bo replied in a challenge and Jin bitterlyughed at this.

    "Will I have a squad too?" Yang Ling asked as she was standing upright at the side of the room.

    "Yes, you will." Jin nodded his head, and the rest except for Xiong Da was a bit curious why the daughter of the Tiger Head who had been in a wheelchair just moments ago was suddenly able to stand.

    "She should be wearing a support aid that helps with walking. A friend of mine bought something simr from the Tigers. It had helped her tremendously and seeing how the Tiger Princess can walk with it too, confirms that the 3rd daughter of the Tiger Lord was trying to keep a low profile." Xiong Da exined to them with his current insights.

    "That is correct. Thus I hope all of you will keep quiet about this particr situation. In return, I am prepared to offer you a token of appreciation by sponsoring your squads with the weapons and armours needed." Yang Ling offered as she asked Jin to transfer their expenses to her ount.

    "That is fine by me. Do you wish for us to swear an oath of the Heavenly Five Elements Tribtion?" Shi Zuo asked, and Luo Bo smacked his head for offering something so severe as a pledge of silence.

    "I do not require something so severe and archaic. Just a promise will be fine." Yang Ling smiled coldly, and they nodded their heads slowly.

    "Well, what are we waiting for? Let''s buy stuff! Oh, wait. Boss Jin. My privilege rights are still valid for this store correct?" Xiong Da bragged indirectly, and Jin nodded his head quietly.

    "While, I might have given you the impression that it''s for life, it''s actually only until you have reached three times your donation, after that, I will need to charge you. To other people, it should most likely suffice for lifeбнbut probably not for you." Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "How much did he donate exactly?" Luo Bo asked, and Shi Zuo directed her to the Pandamonium App''s donation audit report, which was all pristine clear how much was donated. "HOLY FUCK! Shit?! You had that kind of money?! You thieving hippo of awyer! If I do not defeat you in this special challenge, I cannot be called Luo Bo!"

    "Hehe! Try me, little rabbit." Xiong Da scoffed at her as he ran out of the conference room and into the weapons and armoury instance where Luo Bo relentlessly chased after him. (Not before Shi Zuo tried to hold and calm her down.)

    "I guessбнI will just buy the weapons and armour on my phoneбн" The Egret cultivator told Shi Zuo, who was already dead beat from entertaining his energetic girlfriend.

    "Doing the same as well." Yang Ling stood at the corner of the conference room which left Shi Zuo sighing before he went after his girlfriend to stop Luo Bo from causing more of a ruckus.

    Jin smiled as he looked at his phone. "Ah, it appears Grandma Yuan is looking for me."

    "You''re not nning to join the special challenge?" Yang Ling asked, and Jin shook his head.

    "You should know that Grandma Yuan does not like waiting for others, but I might join youter. Yun will be overseeing the whole thing in the meantime." Jin answered though Yang Ling felt it was a poor excuse.

    A little disappointed, she waved him goodbye, and when he vanished from sight, she uttered.

    "Idiot Jinбн"

 Chapter 530 Extra: About the Future

    <h4>Chapter 530 Extra: About the Future</h4>

    Yun was already waiting for Xiong Da and Luo Bo at Bai Wan''s Weapon''s Store Instance where she asked them to wait a moment before rushing to buy some weapons. The two grumbled like little kids but decided to hold their little grudge as Yun demanded for their phones.

    "Please do not mind me. This squad thing is a special feature; hence, the app does not officially have it yet." Yun allowed them to take a look as she plugged a USB drive each into their phones before it asked for an instation of the modified Pandamonium App.

    With their own permission, she installed the app. The app symbol changed to a Panda in military clothes with one white stripe on its shoulders, indicating the rank of Panda Private. Yun told them the higher their squad level, the Panda Military ranks would increase too. (The picture changes as well!)

    Yun iterated that if there''s an update, the modified app would automatically get reced by the new version of the Pandamonium App. Shi Zuo who caught up to them was given the same treatment, and Yun told them briefly to follow the instructions on the app.

    "The app will show you what item slots are avable for you to outfit your guys. Do take note of the restrictions. Your Level 1 Squad will be limited to Grade 1 weapons, so don''t try outfitting them with Grade Five weapons, it won''t work. See you guys back at the conference room once you are done shopping." Yun smiled at them before returning to the conference room to update Ruo Ying and Yang Ling''s apps.

    In the meantime, Xiong Da and Luo Bo went separate ways to purchase the weapons they wanted for their squads. The Hippo Cultivator saw that he was givenmand over two guys and a girl for his team and even managed to peek at Luo Bo''s teamposition, who had two girls and one guy.

    "I seeбн" Xiong Da muttered to himself as he started his search for the strongest Grade 1 melee weapons avable. He had previously enjoyed ying RPG games when he was younger, and he knew that a bnce was needed in a fight.

    As a tank, he was able to take hits, but he required more damage dealers if he wished to kill more Demon Rats than Luo Bo. Hence, Xiong Da had taken a Grade 1 two handednce and a Grade 1 Two handed Sword.

    After which, he purchased a Grade 1 Rifle and for the final touch, some misceneous items such as grenades and Molotov cocktails.

    Considering he did not need to pay anything, he simply took the most expensive of all those weapons and went straight into the armour store where he proceeded to do the same as well. Right here, there was not much to think about at the current Grade his squad was in and Xiong Da simply took the ones with the highest defence rating without limiting mobility before returning back to the conference room.

    However, Luo Bo needed to go with different tactic than Xiong Da. She could vaguely guess that Xiong Da would focus on dealing damage since he was able to tolerate the hits given his own cultivation. Unfortunately, Luo Bo was not able to perform such a feat, and if she didn''t have a benefactor to buy the equipment for her squad, she would have simply selected the cheapest and gone into the dungeon instance.

    Yet right now, her objective was of utmost importance. With a customised Rabbit plushie at stake, she needed to inflict the most amount of damage while simultaneously preserve herself for long attrition battles.

    Shi Zuo sighed as he noticed that Luo Bo had entered into her dreaded window shopping mode, which might potentiallyst for hours. Thus, he decided to enforce his decision no matter how Luo Bo disliked it. He took two of the following.

    Grade 1 staff, sword & buckler and wand.

    After that, he grabbed three Grade 1 axes and pulled Luo Bo to the armoury store without waiting for her consent. "Wait! What are you doing! I haven''t checked everything out yet!" Luo Bo made a fuss at Shi Zuo, but he simply continued to drag his significant other to their next destination.

    "This concerns my plushie! How can you be so evil towards me? Darling!!!" Luo Bo shouted at him as she refused to budge but him being physically stronger than her, Shi Zuo picked her up and went towards the Weapon Store''s connecting statue to the Armoury Department.

    "Go, choose the outfits that you want and make it quick." Shi Zuo told Luo Bo, but thetter pouted not wishing to listen to what her boyfriend had to say.

    "Fine. If you want to act this way, then I will choose for the both of us. Don''t me me for my bad taste in fashion." Shi Zuo said with a bit of anger in him, and that was when Luo Bo noticed the anger and decided to y the concerned mate.

    "Don''t." Shi Zuo warned her to ease the grabbing of his arms as he went towards the male section.

    "Why are you acting like this?! Didn''t you say you wanted to help me get the plushie?!" Luo Bo could not understand why Shi Zuo was acting this way. Still, she was also wary of his response because he did not usually get angry this easily.

    "Because, if you n to shop like you usually do it will take ages for you to finish. I don''t care when it''s just me, who has to wait for you, but you can''t be wasting Xiong Da, Ruo Ying and the Tiger Princess''s time. As I understand the princess merely wants to try out Jin''s newest dungeons, yet I believe her kindness has a certain limit and her time should be way more valuable than ours."

    "I am not sure about you, but at this juncture, I prefer to keep my job intact rather than tofort your wants. Otherwise, I won''t be able to provide for you in the future." Shi Zuo reprimanded Luo Bo, and it struck her hard.

    The Rabbit Cultivator took a step back and nodded her head silently. "Pleaseбн choose for me. I trust your taste." Luo Bo quietly said to Shi Zuo as he noticed something was wrong with her again. Was she going to cry? Shi Zuo sighed and took a step back too and apologised to her.

    "Look, I am sorry. I know Jin is entertaining us, but we should not overextend their courtesy, okay? After this challenge is done, we can still go window shopping again, and I''ll pay for it if you find better stuff, alright?" Shi Zuo suggested which Luo Bo eventually nodded her head and hugged her partner.

    "бнyou thought of our future?" Luo Bo whispered when she was in his embrace.

    "Erm бнDuh? I have to think about the house and future expenses." Shi Zuo wondered if he said something wrong. Yet Luo Bo merely kept quiet and buried her face in his chest for a moment in happiness before stepping back and told him to choose the clothes for their squads.

    "About the future, huhбн" Luo Bo thought to herself and smiled quietly with a warm feeling inside.

 Chapter 531 Experimental Dimensional Instance

    <h4>Chapter 531 Experimental Dimensional Instance</h4>

    There was another reason why Jin wanted Yun to be the one to enter the ''experimental instance'' alongside the cultivators. It indeed would be an experiment, though not the kind his customers had expected.

    Though the System might appear almighty, Jin had noticed in his fight against the Ruby Rats that its powers did have certain limitations. For example, it could create a sheer limitless number of clones for regr minions (it wasn''t entirely free, they cost souls), but the System could only exercise such powers inside of dimensional instances and the areas it owned.

    For this reason, during the cultivators'' participation in the Goblin World, the monsters that had apanied them had all been the originals. Given the sheer number of customers, even his betors had to help out acting as guides once in a while, or the monsters cut short their interactions. After Jin had calibrated the actual Goblin Raid dimensional instances, this was no longer an issue.

    While they temporarily upied some areas in the Farming World, they were not really under their control. It meant that the System could not send its clones there unless they turned it into a dimensional instance or something simr to it.

    That''s where Yun came into y.

    Jin''s ''mother'' was not just part of the System like the betors but an embodiment of the System''s Powers. Yun was therefore used as a proxy to create an impromptu dimensional instance that should allow the Pandawans to test out their Squad features. After all, dimensional instances could be conjured by a legendary grade cultivator, but the art was ancient, which no modern cultivators would be able to perform without the aid of technology.

    Yet, what was ancient and had the likes of highly advanced technology in its possession?

    Mmmhmm! Yun with the System in her! Still, there were limits creating a dimensional instance since everyone was pegged to Jin''s grade. So, the store assistant explicitly told the Pandawans that the squads could only go so far ahead.

    After a certain distance, the Pandamonium App would beep loudly, indicating that they had reached the boundary of the impromptu dimensional instance which could also be seen through the fuzziness of the surrounding.

    "If you leave the set perimeter your squad may disappear or stay behind within the barrier that I cast! You will still be able to kill things outside of my barrier, but you will have to do so without your squad''s help!" Yun warned them, and they acknowledged it within the C130 ne which seemed like the standard mission briefing area for the Pandawans who attended previous raids.

    Shi Zuo couldn''t help but ask Yun why the squad needed to stay within the barrier and could not follow them throughout the whole raid instance.

    "Because that barrier is the server''s current limitation of creating something simr to a fused dimensional instance in order for the NPCs to work. That''s what I got from the tech guys. I do not know much beyond that." Yun feigned ignorance and Shi Zuo, who wasn''t that well versed with dimensional instances nor the corresponding technology, epted that answer and prepared to take off the ne at Yun''s discretion.

    As experimental as this instance could get, Yun had also asked them to insert and keep the previously used USB drive on their phones. Unbeknownst to them, that particr USB drive''s actual purpose was to serve as an amplifier of the temporary dimensional instance which Yun was enabling.

    The USB drive would extend the field of the dimensional instance. Wherever the cultivators went, the squads should technically still be functional as long the USB drives remained on their phones within a ten kilometres proximity of Yun.

    All this information would be gathered for Ayse and her humanoid researchers to work on a more potent and robust solution. The USB Drive Amplifier had already been one of their aplishments through the addition of Lost Tech. Fused along with the System''s modification to suit Earth''s generational phones, that USB Drive could be considered the first step in creating a portable Dimensional Instance Generator.

    If sessful, the System could manipte its powers within the pocket dimensional instances and not be effectively useless when Jin was out of his store. Not to mention, it would also provide Jin with the perfect excuse for his monsters to appear in the cultivators real life. (Even though some of the monsters like Ayse were already meddling on Earth with the use of cosmetic inscription.)

    In the meantime, the cultivators could see their assigned squad mates opposite them, equipped with the gears their team leaders had bought for them from the Weapons and Armour Store instance.

    Yang Ling wondered if they had been all in a rush to buy the clothes or whether they all thought that it was indeed the best protective clothing for the squads (there had been other models with the same defence rating).

    Almost every one of them, including her, had chosen to go with the military outfit. The only difference was the varying colour between the squads.

    бн ''Almost'' because Ruo Ying had gone for something entirely different. Unlike the rest of them, she had picked out 3 sets of Grade 1 Knight''s te armour which nobody in their right mind would wear outside a renaissance fair or perhaps on Halloween. (Maybe with the uing squad feature, it could be a hit!)

    There were perks in wearing that old fashion te armour and it was mainly their ridiculously high defensive stats and the number of inscription slots it featured, though the tradeoff was a reduction in mobility and stealth became a non option. (But who needs secrecy right now? Its all about mass annihtion!)

    Comparatively, the standard military outfit''s stats were all above average, and it included a built in offensive stat boost due to a which many other clothes did not offer at Grade 1.

    Still, it was Ruo Ying''s choice, and the cultivators checked their gear once more before Yun gave the signal to move out. From the bird''s eye view, the Pandawans noticed blobs of rats moving in unison towards the towns as mentioned by Jin.

    Only Luo Bo, whose cultivation style included enhanced vision, was able to make out exactly what was going on beneath them. She managed to catch on some action of the Demon Rats fighting against a group of knights with a... tank aiding their advance. She did not hesitate to ask Yun about that anomaly.

    "Oh, that? They are our allies. Do whatever you wish with the information. Now, go go go!" Yun ordered them to jump down with their parachutes pack on. Shi Zuo was initially concerned as there was no safetynding tform for them this time around, but before he couldin, Luo Bo already pulled him along and jumped out from the tail of the C130 ne.

    The rest of their squad followed behind them systematically, and Yun grinned at Shi Zuo''s terrified face. "Oh, don''t worry. The helmet will give you cues on when to open your chute." She said to Yang Ling as the other two had eagerly jumped off for their special challenge to kill the most number of demon rats.

 Chapter 532 Demon Exorcist Graduation Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 532 Demon Exorcist Graduation Ceremony</h4>

    "System, have they left the conference room already?" Jin had prepared his documents in the Dungeon Maker before he met up with Grandma Yuan and the other high ranking members from the Joint Organisations of Demon Exorcists (JODE).

    "Yes, it has been cleared and cleaned. User can proceed to host his guests in the room." The System answered Jin. The dungeon supplier had teleported near the group''s location in the shop instance and stood almost as stiff as a rock when Grandma Yuan brought therge entourage towards him.

    He opened up a portal and asked them to enter. Starting with the seemingly most important member, one after the other went inside the conference room instance with the Demon Exorcist trainees tagging behind the adults.

    "Ah Jin, Yang Ling isn''t with you anymore?" Yuan Ba asked with a hint of worry. They would be thest two to enter the conference room. The Tiger Lord himself was not an active member of JODE, but as the n leader of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n, he had been a long time benefactor and had been invited to join the ceremony.

    "She wished to participate in a special dungeon instance alongside some of my regrs. I sent Yun to take care of her since I needed to be here for this meeting." Jin replied courteously.

    "Hmm, that does sound like her. It should be a good chance to test out her customised attachments for the Gearbox." Yuan Ba said to himself as his eyes were averted away, thinking of something else.

    "You know about the customised attachments on her Gearbox?" Jin questioned Yuan Ba, and he nodded his head vigorously.

    "In fact, I was the one to rmend them. Before your generous gift allowing my daughter to somewhat recover, she was unable to gain much military experience. So for the first time (maybe) ever, Yang Ling has consulted with me on what kind of unique essories mightpliment her in a fight."

    "I see... it''s great that I could help you guys have some father and daughter bonding despite all your busy schedule." Jin spoke with delight, and Yuan Ba chuckled.

    "I dare say surviving that assassination attempt has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It allowed me to spend some quality time with my family during my recovery period. But enough about me, you have guests to entertain, and I shan''t be keeping you from them any longer." Yuan Ba then pointed at the conference instance entrance indicating Jin to go ahead.

    The System had not just cleaned up, but also taken the liberty to fill the conference table with nametes for the various JODE leaders, making it easy for them to find their own seats. Along with Yuan Ba who was an impromptu guest for the conference meeting too, he was able to find his ce quickly before Jin went to the middle of the conference table and shook hands with the Chancellor of JODE.

    "Ma Ge. It''s a pleasure to meet you in person." The Chancellor of JODE introduced himself to Jin who returned the greetings. "I heard many things about you and to experience yourбнproduct for myself, reinforces Grand Elder Yuan''s praises for you."

    Jin took a quick nce at Grandma Yuan, yet her face was as haughty as ever before he graciously thanked Ma Ge for thepliments. In the meantime, he was briefed by the System that Ma Ge was also the Vice Head of the Royal Zodiac Horse n.

    As the currently most influential Zodiac n, he was advised to do his utmost to get on their good side. Though perhaps more importantly to the System, it was because of their vastly umted fortunes which would dwarf any other Zodiac n''s inparison.

    The Horses had a generous share of each pie where money meant to be made, with the majority concentrated on global economics. Hence, the Royal Zodiac Horse n dipped their hands into the Demon Exorcists business to show that they were not in influential in terms of fortune but also inbat might.

    "I hope you don''t mind if we start with the official passing out ceremony for our Demon Exorcist Trainees." Ma Ge suggested with his tone clearly being one of someone who would not ept no for an answer. This request shocked Jin for a moment, especially with the Chancellor himself being the one to propose it.

    The Dungeon Supplier initially nned to carry the passing out ceremony after the meeting with JODE''s leaders. Could it be that the trainees weren''t just annoyances which Grandma Yuan had pushed on to him and were actually more important than he had believed? After a moment, Jin gathered himself and agreed to the request.

    Grandma Yuan stood up, assisted by her attendant ire, went to the centre of the stage and announced the passing out ceremony for the Demon Exorcist Trainees. With a short formal announcement, she quickly came to the main point: "...Just as we ourselves have once been greenhorns, we are aware of the burdens ced on to our trainees and appreciate all the efforts they undertake to better themselves."

    "Among the four trainees here today, there has been one that stood out among her peers during an impromptu examination conducted by ire and me. Demon Exorcist Trainee Su Zhen has clearly demonstrated an outstanding performance showcasing her intellect and her adaptability given the unique situation." Grandma Yuan announced, and Su Zhen got surprised that she was the one selected to be the first among their group to graduate into an official Demon Exorcist.

    She quickly went to the middle of the conference room instance and shook hands with Ma Ge as he presented the trainee with her activated Demon Exorcist Snake Emblem. Su Zhen had never felt as honoured as before, able to receive her Demon Exorcist''s Emblem from the Chancellor himself and visibly fought with tears of joy.

    She bowed a few times to portray her deepest gratitude before walking back to her seat where some adults congratted her (one even hugged her from behind and whispered something to her, making her grateful). Her friends envied her a little for passing that impromptu examination; nevertheless, they sincerely congratted her for a job well done.

    "However, that does not mean that the other examinees were notpetent. After a detailed review, each one of them has made a tremendous effort fighting against a powerful foe which I gauge that it would be a difficulty even for their team leader ire by herself. Perhaps even I might have had some trouble." Grandma Yuan jest and the crowdughed a little.

    "Therefore, with the blessing of the Chancellor, I will be presenting Rong, Lian, and Lein with their very own temporary Demon Exorcist''s Emblem enabling them to take part in official Demon Exorcist missions to gain more experience and the recognition of their fellow Demon Exorcists to eventually rank up into a full fledged Demon Exorcist." Grandma Yuan finished resulting in a big round of apuse. Only her students were too astonished toe to terms that their instructor was gracious for once.

    All of them clearly did not expect this particr passing ceremony as they were only instructed to report to work for the opening of Jin''s new Tree Mall. They thought that they were simply shadowing some of their parents who were JODE leaders who happened toe to this conference. (After all, Grandma Yuan asked them to join in the meeting as they were about to start working in Jin''s stores.)

    "What are you waiting for? Hurry! Don''t keep the Chancellor and Teacher Yuan waiting!" Su Zhen asked, pushing them forward on stage before their instructor decided to change her mind. As clumsy as the three could be, they quickly adjusted their attire and briskly walked to the centre of the conference room to receive the emblems.

    These temporary emblems were dull in colour and were considered probationary in nature, awarded only to those Demon Exorcists who barely met the criteria during the strict examination process. However, it was a tradition that was long erased, only to be brought back by Grandma Yuan as her standards for a Demon Exorcist were rather stringent.

    These probationary Demon Exorcists were required toplete ten official missions in two months with the aid of an official Demon Exorcist instructor. Be it ire, or Grandma Yuan, only when their instructors deemed them capable for independent solo missions would they be issued with the fully coloured badge of their ns.

    "It''s good to see a fellow Horse n Member on board. Work hard, this is not the end. I was once a temporary Emblem holder too and look at me now. Sometimes, a slight setback is exactly what we need to spur us Horses further." Ma Ge encouraged Lein as he was the first to receive his temporary Horse emblem.

    The Qilin Demon Cultivator had suppressed his feelings of regrets about being unable to receive a full official emblem, but he promised Ma Ge that he would do his best to meet his expectations.

    Next was Rong. The Chancellor congratted him as a probationary Demon Exorcist without any further dy. Last was Lian, but unlike the boys, Ma Ge seemed to hold her there for a moment longer, just enough time to send something via close range transmission, before he officially congratted her for graduating.

    Jin did not think much of the situation, but other JODE members seem to have their own theories of what Ma Ge may have told the young girl.

    Now that the ceremony was over, it was time, to begin with the official business.

 Chapter 533 JODE Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 533 JODE Meeting</h4>

    The chancellor allowed the newly officiated Demon Exorcists to stay and listen to the meeting. It was no secret that Grandma Yuan had previously assigned them to remain under Jin''s care for the foreseeable future.

    The panda cultivator stepped to the front, powering up his presentation slides with the aid of his System and passed down documents that were rted to the building of the new Main Branch of Shenzhen. He waited two minutes, allowing them to take a quick look into the document before starting.

    "I do not know what kind of requirements you are looking at, but I can at least ensure the basic necessities for a group of Demon Exorcist to be stationed. If you turn to Page..." Jin went on to showcase that his Dungeon Supplier already offered Food, Weapons, Armour, Inscriptions, not to mention various sorts of entertainment to rx as well.

    "All I need is a description of what youdies and gentlemen wish to see in a branch location," Jin said, and the other leaders were whispering to themselves. One of them raised their hands and asked if the weapons and armour that he sold were limited to Grade 5.

    "No, in fact, I am nning to release more powerful equipment in the future. I work together with a contracted dedicated cksmith that has no problem creating them upwards to Grade 15. However, he demands materials and payment upfront."

    "With my current resources, I have been able to supply him the materials for Grade 5 and below with ease. Especially when the average grade of my customer base is around Grade 2 to 3, I have yet to the need to upgrade even higher."

    "However, that does not mean the higher grade cultivators do not any choices. While limited, I do have a few...you can say higher tier weapons avable for them to choose from a VIP room in the Weapons instance." Jin answered, and the others continued to whisper amongst themselves.

    "I have heard that your dungeon experience is quite unique and very lifelike. You''ve been praised by my kid to high heaven. I can''t help but wonder, if we were to provide you with theprehensive data of various Demons, do you think you would manage to recreate those demons too?" A middle aged woman with the beauty to charm almost every father in the room posed this question to the dungeon supplier.

    "Your kid?" Jin identally blurted out and immediately apologised.

    "Ah, where are my manners? I''m Su Zhen''s mother, Lee Na from the Royal Zodiac Snake n. I''ve also heard wonderful things from another n mate of ours. For you to gain his positive favour, I have no trouble believing that you tried your utmost to please one of the greatest Snake Generals in the military." Lee Na shared, and the rest began to discuss among each other again.

    "Hou Fei gave positive reviews about this ce?" A JODE senior member asked, and Lee Na nodded even going one step beyond by revealing that Hou Fei had agreed to arrange a training exercise for his troops in this dungeon supplier in the near future.

    At this point, the Tiger Lord added that it would be in fact a joint exercise, which included police members as well. While it still in the discussion phase, Yuan Ba had personally pledged his support for the police to join the training exercise. It made the few sceptical JODE senior members start regarding Jin in a brand new light especially with the Royal Zodiac Tiger''s Head assurance and testimonial.

    "Just how much influence does Hou Fei hold exactlyбн" Jin thought to himself but replied Yes to Lee Na''s question almost immediately as soon as Ma Ge told everyone to calm down.

    "I do not doubt your capabilities, but I believe a little demonstration would help all of us assess your abilities. I happen to have extensive data on the Great White Snake Demon right here with me. Will you be able to replicate it within this conference room instance? I assume none of the leaders has any objections to wait for a little while?" Lee Na looked around, and not one of them disapproved of this idea.

    It was clear to him that it was meant as an impromptu test for him as a newly promoted Demon Exorcist cum dungeon supplier. She passed the USB data drive to Jin, which he plugged into his phone.

    "How does it look, System?" Jin kept quiet in front of the group while he spoke to the System via his thoughts.

    "Very much in User''s Favour. The data corresponds to Ke Mi''s Great White Snake to nearly 100% in terms of appearance. However, the abilities of the Zither Mistress'' snake are vastly different from the Great White Snake Demon seen on Earth." The System noted.

    "Is it possible to mimic those abilities with upgrade cards?" Jin pretended to fiddle on his phone for a short while.

    "Possible. However, within such a short amount of time at most, you could replicate intermediate and advanced abilities." The System answered, and Jin nodded his head and told the System, he would take over.

    "ErmбнI know it is stupid to ask but don''t you need to go to some server to recreate your monster?" Lee Na asked, and Jin smiled back at her. She could not understand what was going through his mind until they all sensed another new and yet distinct aura in the room.

    The atmosphere in the room felt heavy as it nearly made everyone move instinctively to reach out for their weapons in their storage ring. It waster then the seniors realised that it could possibly be the results from the test that was given to Jin.

    Looking to their right, they saw glimpses of a big white snake body slithering towards them before disappearing into thin air again. Ma Ge noticed and portrayed a broad smile towards Jin. "You were actually able to create one this quickly? Even our Royal Dungeon Suppliers would need around 30 minutes after having studied it extensively beforehand. How did you manage to do that?"

    "Trade Secret." Jin''s smirk widened as they saw the snake emerge from emptiness once more. Its head hovered right above Jin''s shoulder, sticking its tongue out while scanning the room as if it was treating everyone in the room as a threat. The dungeon supplier subsequently gave it a little pat before the Great White Snake withdrew itself, and the camouge made it vanish from the premise of the conference room instance.

    Everyone was astonished at how authentic the aura felt for a Dungeon supplier''s creation. Even Lee Na, who was a cultivator of the Great White Snake Demon herself approved of the appearance as well as its presence.

    "Well not to belittle mypetition, but that was not the final version yet. Within such short notice, I was merely able to recreate the snake''s appearance ording to your data. But for its more advanced abilities, I am afraid I also need time to reconfigure the settings." Jin admitted, and Lee Na had all her doubts cleared.

    "I temporarily approve of Demon Exorcist Jin as the acting manager for Shenzhen''s Main Branch. While an extensive review of his dungeon facilities will still be conducted by our members in the future, the documents can serve as sufficient supporting documents for now to proceed to the next phase without much dy." Lee Na sent her verdict and only then did Jin realise that she was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for JODE.

    "That''s great. Now we can officially begin business with Boss Jin...no I suppose it should be Branch Manager Jin now." Ma Ge corrected himself as he looked towards Grandma Yuan for a moment as if it was her turn to speak.

    "Jin. We wish for you to not only create an instance to serve as our base of operations but for you to also continue my legacy by maintaining the Demon Exorcist''s training centre as well." Grandma Yuan said and asked rie toe over to bring out the documents over to Jin''s seat.

    "These are the bare requirements for the main branch as well as the training centre. You won''t need to worry about Manpower. We will send you the necessary people to handle the day to day operations. We do, however, expect you to create a facility instance worthy of the main branch." She said as if it was a hefty duty to take on.

    She leaned forward a bit and sent a close range transmission:

    "Now brat, do you think you are up for this challenge?"

 Chapter 534 JODE Training Centre Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 534 JODE Training Centre Proposal</h4>

    "Wait a minute. Training centre...does that mean that you n on having them to stay in here as well?" Jin asked, and Grandma Yuan nodded her head.

    "I assume it shouldn''t be too much of a problem. You already have beds in your luxury recovery instance, heck even I felt that they were morefortable than the bed I''m sleeping in."

    "Oh, I assure you that the beds are definitely better than the bed you are sleeping I- ow!" Jin quickly found the Grandma Yuan''s stick meeting his forehead for being disrespectful while the other JODE leadersughed at this exchange.

    "One thing is for sure; you gained the approval of Grand Elder Yuan." Ma Ge, the Chancellor of JODE chuckled as Grandma Yuan gave yet another haughty look at Jin.

    "You exceeded all our expectations in the test just now, and we believe you are the perfect person to construct the training centre we have envisioned. The quality of our Demon Exorcists is, unfortunately, deteriorating at a breakneck pace." Lee Na sighed.

    "Recently, too many are joining us only to make use of our name, our reputation. It''s not for the sake of protecting the world from the existence of demons or monsters." She also told Jin that JODE was willing to provide Jin with a handful of Demon Data, hoping for results for the new training centre. If it worked well, they would proceed to pass the entire database of what they knew to Jin to recreate the Demons.

    "I really hope that the demons that you create will prove a significant challenge for the uing Demon Exorcist trainees. I would love to task you to create harder demons to allow our veterans to train against them too." Lee Na added, and the other JODE leaders wanted to chime in their opinions too. However, Jin raised his hand and asked if he could have a few questions answered.

    "Go on, we are listening." Ma Ge was happy to take in the questions.

    "Firstly, do you happen to have any data on the Four legendary Cardinal Demons. Like the White Tiger of the West?" Jin asked shocking the JODE leaders since he brought up a topic which would have been ssified as ''Top Secret''. Grandma Yuan sighed internally as she heard that question and decided to see how the Chancellor of JODE responded to it.

    "Erm, why did you suddenly ask about that?" Ma Ge was equally curious why this dungeon supplier had this specific question on his mind.

    "Hahaha, please don''t be so tensed up! It seems I''ve asked something which I shouldn''t have. Before I had be involved in this whole Demon Exorcist thing, I''ve nned to feature a special raid instance with the Cardinal Demons as Final Bosses for my store. I figured since they were so widely known it would have been a real treat for my customers trying to fight them. So with you having all the data, I thought it wouldn''t hurt to ask so that it could be more realistic." Jin improvised and quickly made aeback.

    "Ah! I see." Ma Ge, who had been all serious a moment ago, lightened his expression and shook his head. "They бн our forefathers kept the books in a secret ce, and we have no idea about the location."

    "They ended up guarding their secret a little bit too well, probably since the elders believed they had subdued all of thempletely and confirmed that they would never exist in this Earth ever again. Therefore we cannot help you in that aspect." Ma Ge said, but Pei who had been summoned back for this business could sense that he was masking a few truths from Jin. Why else had the Chancellor chosen to erect mental barriers so suddenly when he talked about that particr question.

    "Still, that does not mean that there are no lesser versions, so called variants of those legendary demons and I believe we do have some data for you to peruse. However, I firmly insist that you keep the Demon Exorcist data within JODE."

    "Nevertheless, we can permit certain demons for your customers, but please send in a request form to our COO, Lee Na, first." Ma Gepromised, and the COO nodded her head. They knew it had to be a give and take kind of situation as Jin was, after all primarily a dungeon supplier.

    He would no doubt like as much monster data to create his own monsters for his dungeons too. Even though he would be paid for each Demon Exorcist who used his dungeons, it was a given that their number was unable topete with the sheer mass of customers he could host on his own.

    "Ah! Then I presume, I am allowed to use my own versions of the Four Cardinal Demons as part of my dungeon series, yes?" Jin asked for confirmation, and COO Lee Na pleasantly nodded her head to his request.

    "Okay, next question. Will I have to provide the instructors along with the dungeons or do you send out your own instructors or specialists from JODE to conduct in the training centre? Also, am I allowed to change the curriculum or programme set by JODE in any way?"

    "No, you can''t." Grandma Yuan interjected at that point. "The main training centre will still be the one in Shanghai. Yours will be considered as part of advanced training. The trainees thate here will be apanied by officers who will use your dungeon instances as simtions for the fights."

    "Basically, it will be the same as the test you had conducted for the four of them. You just have to ensure that the fights are as real as it can get. The data will include some video footage, so I trust it won''t be too much of a problem. I will personally be checking up on your progress for the next few months to ensure the quality of those demons in your dungeon instance."

    "Not only that, a few specialists will join you too. Whether they will be a permanent addition or just temporary depends on the sess of the new training centre. Huang Xiang, our Trap Formation and Talisman Specialist will be aiding your training centre as soon as it is constructed." Ma Ge added on to the current conversation.

    "I roughly know of trap formations...they are the ones that create those wide area traps creating an illusion, simr to a sub dimension instance to trap the Demons. But Talisman Specialists, what do they exactly do? If it makes any difference, I happen to employ an expert myself who specialises in inscription charms." Jin revealed, and Ma Ge chuckled as he momentarily eyed Grandma Yuan.

    "Considering you joined through the rmendation of Grand Elder Yuan and haven''t gone through the official course, it is not too surprising that you do not know much about a Talisman Specialist." Ma Ge replied, and Huang Xiang who was in the panel of JODE leaders stood up exining his profession.

    "As a Talisman specialist, I carve and infuse energy into essories that are capable of warding off the evil that demons exude. Not only that, but I can also include special properties that can act as something simr to a magic scroll." Huang Xiang exined.

    "Say you wish to cast a fireball as a non-mage, you normally need to read out the magic scroll or at least speak the chants from memory with the scroll on hand to activate it. But with the talisman, you can skip that time consuming step while being able to shoot a fireball nevertheless."

    "Soooo am I correct in assuming that there is a fixed amount of times the fireball can shoot out?" Jin asked since he knew there would not be an all power essory avable to all demon exorcists regardless of their ranks. He believed his higher level inscriptions would be able to achieve the same or at least a very simr effect to this and the talisman operated identically.

    "Yes, but unlike inscriptions, the talisman does not require additional chi to activate it. A voicemand is really all you need." Huang Xiang then picked up a talisman that he had kept in his storage ring and demonstrated it to everyone.

    "Tali, Float." Huang Xiang ordered his pentagon looking talisman, and immediately it let out a cyan glow. Bouts of wind gradually surrounded him, and slowly everyone watched he got off the ground without the use of any chi.

    "This also gives us the preemptive opportunity to jump on demons since most of them can sense our chi. Most aplished Demon Exorcists have their own customised talisman, and they can imbue one or more spells depending on their Exorcist rank." Huang Xiang said indicating that it was kind of like a perk for higher ranking Demon Exorcists.

    "I seeбн" Jin nodded his head, and Ma Ge felt that the objectives of the meetings were more or less achieved. He then told Jin to look through the finer details of the JODE''s main branch operations centre as well as the training centre.

    "If you have any questions or after you have agreed to the requirements, you can liaise with ire as she knows how to deal with our administrative work." Ma Ge suggested as he concluded the meeting. The rest of the JODE leaders thanked the Chancellor and began to leave the conference room instance.

    Some had even decided to experience the dungeons themselves after seeing the Great White Snake Demon especially when it got their heart racing for a moment. (Ma Ge was inherently interested in Jin''s dungeon too. Unfortunately, he had so much on his te that he was unable to enjoy a simple 15 minute dungeon.)

    "Oh and after viewing the Tree Mall, we believe you have earned a sign of goodwill for the unfortunate Ruby Rat incident that has happened to you. It may be a bitte, but I figure it should still help you in some way or another." Ma Ge paused in his tracks as he reminded Lee Na. The COO appreciated the reminder and went forward to Jin as she took out and present a cheque signed by them for 100,000 Yuan.

    Jin was startled by therge amount but Lee Na assured him that he was already a Demon Exorcist when the Ruby Rat incident. So, it was only natural JODE should help a fellowбнprospective manager in need. (Su Zhenter revealed that her mother was very relieved that Jin had left them out of harm''s way while dealing with the top brass of the Ruby Rats)

    Jin thanked both of them and showed them the way out. On the other hand, Tiger Head Yuan Ba and Grandma Yuan stayed behind for a bit of chat alongside the recently graduated Demon Exorcists, all hoping to have a conversation with Jin.

 Chapter 535 Yuan Bas Reques

    <h4>Chapter 535 Yuan Ba''s Reques</h4>

    "While I have only been to your testing grounds, to see that Great White Snake Demon in action, just proves to me that you really are one heck of a Dungeon Supplier." Jin could feel that Yuan Ba had more to say to him rather than just praising.

    "So... Apparently, I heard some chattering from the ground that the exercise was not conventional as I thought it would be." Yuan Ba asked politely, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yes, I was hoping to discuss with Yang Ling whether if you are able to spare more than just police for the training as well. But considering how I saw the police acted during the Ruby Rats Incident, I do not really have much faith to other stations than people posted to Tian Gong Police Station." Jin said, and Yuan Ba bitterlyughed.

    "That... was partially under my orders. The police as a whole are considered to be affiliated with the Royal Zodiac Tigers even though it could be said that the majority was managed by the other ns or themon folks themselves."

    "When I heard that the Triad bosses personally entered the fray to fight against you, my only concern was to reduce casualties in the vicinity. Especially since I''m aware that most of them do not have the cultivation grade to stand toe to toe against the Triads themselves." Yuan Ba exined, and while he seemed slightly apologetic towards Jin. The Tiger Head did not mince his word a single bit and stood by them.

    "There''s a SWAT team in Tiangong Police Station, yet they alone couldn''t have handled such a size. It would have required Central to dispatch more SWAT teams or other police stations to reinforce the perimeters. However, given their inability to do so, they took my orders literally and stood down. It can only be described as a disgrace to my police''s reputation." Yuan Ba felt something must be done to change the attitudes of his police force.

    "Hence, I am sending every abled police officers, including the higher ranks to participate in this joint military and police training exercise as soon as you manage to create one. I will make sure the logistics are settled on our side as I can send my military people to temporarily hold the fort for a day."

    "...Wait. So, you want me to perform a mass training exercise not just for Tiangong Police Department but for the entire police force of Shenzhen?" Jin eximed, and Yuan Ba nodded his head.

    "Yes, if possible, I would like some of my military units to enter the exercise as well, especially when I heard that you are preparing them for monster horde attacks." He then leaned forward to Jin''s face and whispered to him.

    "What I am going to tell you is considered highly confidential. Recently, the Border Guard reports are not favourable at all. My analysts predict that there will be another major, devastating monster horde attack within a year or two unless something unforeseen happens." After which, Yuan Ba stepped back and smiled at him. Only Jin was feeling ufortable upon hearing the news.

    "...Optimistically or worst case scenario?" Jin asked, and Yuan Ba sighed.

    "That''s the optimistic scenario. The forest bordering Shenzhen between Dong Guan and Hui Zhou is not much of a concern. We are more afraid of coastal attack. However, I do not have much more information other than the daily intelligence snippets from the military. We do not control the navy, the Royal Zodiac Sheep n does." Yuan Ba replied.

    "So, in a way, what you want is for me to simte the monsters who could arrive through the naval defences?" Jin asked, and he nodded his head.

    "Something like that. But it would also be great if we could train for multiple potentialities. Perhaps they could remain undetected until they surface to the coast, who knows? We are so out of touch from monsters that we do not know if they mutated."

    "Maybe worse if they swam from Zhongshan and hit the West Coast which includes Shenzhen''s international airport. It would equally be a nightmare if it attacks Hong Kong, and we have to settle both refugees and the defence of the city." Yuan Ba stated all the possible scenarios out he could think of at the moment.

    "I might not be able to do a replication of such realistic situations, but I''ve thought of some ways to surprise the military and police if the instance ever happens," Jin said. He was still thinking of his n for raining Demon Rats upon them. That would definitely be harder to deal with than a coastal assault by monsters.

    "I am assuming you are in the process of making something?" Yuan Ba asked, but it felt more like an indirect order.

    "I am working out the theoretical part to amodate that many people in a fighting instance. The biggest fighting instance as far as I am aware had about 200 cultivators with 1000 monsters, and it was a horror maintaining it from what I know." Jin exined.

    "What you two have asked of me requires me to break a new record. Still, I believe it should be doable. Once the math checks out, you will be the first to know." Jin tried indirectly to ask for more time by giving reasonable excuses. However, the Tiger Lord was apparently keen on getting a concrete date.

    "Very well, shall we do it before Chinese New Year?" Yuan Ba questioned Jin further, and he could sense that the Zodiac Tiger Head was withholding some information from the dungeon supplier due to the pressing timeline.

    "Aren''t the weeks towards Chinese New Year also the period that police needs to be on high alert?"

    "So, you are saying that you could do in January instead of Feb?" Yuan Ba seemed even more delighted, and Jin started to feel the strain on his resources if he started even earlier.

    "No, I was actually suggesting after Chinese New Year Holidays."

    "That would be a problem... after the Chinese New Year Holidays there are multiple international conferences that the police needs to participate in." Yuan Ba''s excuse wasn''t really great, but Jin was in no position to call him out on it. From what he knew about the other party, there had to be a good reason for this rush.

    "Hmm okay. How about the second week of February? Chinese New Year happens to be on the fourth week of February in next year''s calendar." Jin tried going for apromise to get thetest possible date. He knew the third week was where the security was doubled almost everywhere due to the preparation for the celebration, and it was impossible for the police to relieve their duties by the military.

    "I would personally be grateful to you if it could be arranged for the first week of February." Yuan Ba ced his arms on Jin''s shoulder and tapped it ''gently'' enough to remind him of his promise.

    "Don''t worry, I will send someбнsupport along the way in the next few days. Call it some motivation to get it down as soon as possible." Yuan Ba let go of him after patting him on the back. He bowed once at Grandma Yuan, who was talking to her students.

    "I will inform Hou Fei too then," Jin said, and Yuan Ba smiled as he walked out of the conference room instance.

    "Oh, and eh tell Yang Ling not toe back home toote." With his back facing Jin, the dungeon supplier somewhat understood what he meant and acknowledged it with a defeated sigh.

 Chapter 536 Too Many Things, Too Little Time

    <h4>Chapter 536 Too Many Things, Too Little Time</h4>

    "User, System has to remind you that a Mega Instance or Multiple Cross Instances are not possible, especially after the implementation of the Tree Mall without the Brain of a Living Mechanical Titan. You will have to travel to the Mecha World for that particr task." The System stated even though Jin remembered.

    "Didn''t you see that I was trying to push the deadline so we could have more time on our side to deal with the Farming World and Mecha World? Not to mention, you told me that this hamster prince requires help in the Giant World as well. Oh and that''s not even mentioning King Baal in the Dungeon World who could visit us next month..."

    "Liberating the Farming World should open up potential farming fields to you that will be useful in the future. Agricultural Sector 1 and 2 can only amodate that many fields for User to utilise." The System began listing the options.

    "Sigh that would be great, but we cannot fully liberate it until we can gather all the rats. And as luck would have it, that is also why we need the Mega Instance for the military exercise so that the military and police can clear it up for us." Jin added in as he pretended to look through the documents for a while and asked Grandma Yuan to give him a bit of time since he needed to move all the important documents to his office. (or the Dungeon Maker to be precise.)

    "Correct. In order to achieve that goal, User has to travel to the Mecha World. It appears that there are already skirmishes between the two factions. The United Federation and Xeon Union." The System informed Jin who was already in the Dungeon Maker.

    The dungeon supplier quickly opened up the System''s Database (Even though it was still limited viewing for Jin) and did a quick check on the United Federation and Xeon Union respectively.

    "The United Federation is the one that has the Living Mechanical Titan, right?" Jin asked as he saw the Mecha World news of the skirmishes. If one were topare Mecha Animes and robots of the Mecha World, Jin could only say that they were simr to the start of the original series of Gunndam. Whether there were Mewtypes or the likes of it was another matter. (Mewtypes in the Gunndam series were portrayed as psychics.)

    "Now wouldn''t it be such a coincidence for the author of these to originate from the Mecha World and by some freak teleportation incident, he got sent to Earth. Having no way to go back to the Mecha World, he started drawing about them." Jin theorised wildly as he saw some striking simrities to the Gunndam and the Mechas used in the Mecha World.

    "That possibility may not be as likely as User believes. However, please note that said story writer does not originate from China, but Japan." The System corrected him, willing to y along with Jin''s oundish theory.

    "I бнcould help you track him down." Zeru came out of nowhere and volunteered to help out. He was startled for a moment, and Zeru continued.

    "бнMy wife was from there. It would give me some time to visit her grave before the new year. At the same time, I can investigate your hunch." Zeru humbly requested, and Jin saw a twinkle of sadness in the eyes of his Sword Saint.

    "Do you need a teleportation from the System? Things might have changed after a fewбнerm decades." Jin did not question his Betor any further and immediately gave him permission to visit his wife''s grave.

    Zeru greatly appreciated the gesture.

    Even if it were not for the coincidentalment he made, Jin would still have given his Betor the opportunity to do something he wanted.

    Nevertheless, the Dungeon Supplier was entirely sure it had to be a mere coincidence like how the Deep Ones had been portrayed by Lovecraft. Peppers had mentioned before that when humans dream, they might inadvertently connect to their ''other selves'' in worlds different from the one they were living in.

    While it initially seemed farfetched to Jin, especially when he was brought up to lean towards the ideologies of science and technology, Peppers exined that the universe was ultimately governed by the concepts of Chi and Mana instead of the Big Bang theory. (She added that the concepts Earth developed for Mana and Chi were still primitive in naturepared to other Worlds and it would take decades and maybe centuries to be able to properly grasp it.)

    In his betor''s theory (In a simplified manner), whatever Mana was used, would return to a universal pool of Mana and that Mana would eventually be distributed to other beings. Be it the same world, or other worlds, the distributed Mana could have a residual effect that allowed beings to have a glimpse of the ''other'' worlds.

    Jin did not want to believe it, but with his own exposure to the System and his experience in other worlds, that particr exnation was theoretically sound. Only strengthened when he factored in the God''s and Demon ne''s Existence where the ne of Demons was spread across the various multitudes of the different Worlds it could appear.

    "System will deduct System points ordingly and provide Betor Zeru sufficient information on the story writer. Make sure not to reveal User''s identity nor the System''s." The System instructed Zeru, who was immediately given a change of clothes as well as a fake identity card along with it.

    There was some money for transportation as well, and the System told Zeru to call upon Kraft when he found the target. Other than that, it should be a quick reconnaissance to check if he was a Dreamer or truly a person that transmigrated to Earth by ident.

    "If you need anything, give me a holler. I will be right at your side." Zeru thanked Jin sincerely for the chance to visit his beloved grave as he was teleported by the System. The System transposition his memory into coordinates so as to ensure he was teleported safely (and out of people''s view.)

    "We will keep this Mecha World in view. But I am also concerned that we have a fighting chance. The Dungeon City Fortress are still producing experimental designs, and we do not have sufficient natural resources to work on them AND the city." The dungeon supplier briefly looked through the construction process for the Dungeon City Fortress.

    "As for the Farming World, we might not be able to kill all the rats, but we should be able to disrupt them enough to force more rats to appear or at least push them to reveal some of their hidden trump cards they were hiding," Jin said, and the System acknowledged his opinions.

    "Alternatively, User could aid the Hamster Prince. It might potentially result in more minions for the fight in the Farming World or Mecha World." The System pointed out.

    "He is not asking me to conquer his world, right?" Jin joked again, and this time Qiu Yue was conveniently summoned by the System to the Dungeon Maker.

    "Nope, all we need is to lead a strike force against a disgruntled n, while simultaneously perform a rescue operation to get all the other viges under Hamster Prince''s banner into the System." Qiu Yue answered when she realised what they were discussing.

    And the Red Panda Cultivator sounded as if she already had a n in mind.

 Chapter 537 Grandma Yuans Advice.

    <h4>Chapter 537 Grandma Yuan''s Advice.</h4>

    "From the look on your face, I am assuming you have a n in mind?" Jin asked, and Qiu Yue returned a half smile.

    "Hamatarou is scouting the castle as we speak. Based on his prior knowledge, we already managed to create a rough map of where the viges are within the Giant city. Right now, he is trying to find out where exactly the Smanders are all hiding. With him being contracted to me the System is updating anything he finds in real time." Qiu Yue replied.

    "As soon as he is done with the scouting, Lynn and I are going to help him by storming the ce when they least expect it. We should be able to clear this particr hurdle for you by ourselves. After all, we were the ones contacted by him. Unless one of the enemies turns out to be so powerful that we can''t handle him, you can sit back, rx and take care of other stuff." Qiu Yue added which made Jin thought for a while.

    "Hmmбн I shall get back to you when I am done with all those various meetings. Just promise me that if there is a drastic change in бнsay Hamatarou''s safety, or more importantly your own, then don''t hesitate to call on backup from either Peppers or Milk. I jump on the chance to participate with your mission, but for some reason, I''ve been unable that troublemakиC"

    "Original Betor Kraft is currently busy and told System to pass User the following message. ''Do not disturb me! I am having fun creating my new underworld gang! Go bother the other betors! Or ask the System to release another Betor! It''s about time you get a new helper!

    "Speaking of which, don''t try to pretend that you''ve ever ounted for the possibility of meing back System, so stop hold--'' End of message." The System stated.

    "O....Okay. Anyways, we are helping that prince since he can potentially get us another army worth of minions for work and I can''t say no to that. Still, keep an eye on him for me, alright?" Jin asked Qiu Yue. She casually saluted at him after receiving her orders.

    Lightly chuckling at her actions, Jin quickly returned to the Conference Room Instance and saw that the students were still chatting with Grandma Yuan.

    "Sorry for the wait," Jin announced his return which Grandma Yuan came up to him immediately. Instead of greeting him, he felt the already too familiar sensation of her stick once more. His face was nked with anger and confusion. What did he do to deserve this, this time?

    "You have the audacity to make an olddy wait." The Demon Exorcist Instructor berated him, and it made the newly graduated Demon Exorcistsugh a little before they all bowed a little to thank Jin.

    "What are you thanking me for?" Jin did not expect that kind of behaviour and told them to dismiss the formality.

    "We initially believed the test you made us go through was just to prove that you were superior to us in every way despite the fact that Lein and I should have a higher gradepared to you." Su Zhen represented their group to exin their actions.

    "But the fact that we were clearly defeated by you in a one on threebat situation and you had the capability to lead us out of a precarious situation during the Demon Spider fight. So, despite our variedбнdifferences, it had shown us that we were wrong about you."

    "You secretly turned the Demon Spider Fight into an examination which we had never even suspectedбнand it allowed us to gain the Demon Exorcist rank earlier than any students of our age. Well even though only Su Zhen got the full one, the rest of us are sure that under your guidance we will reach her level soon enough." Lein, the Qilin Demon Cultivator,mented that Jin thought of them more than just workers and that he truly wanted to help the students grow.

    "We also saw how you aided the people of the Tiangong Shopping district. You could have simply hide away in your store and waited for police or others to deal with it. Yet, you did not." Rong added, and Lian nodded her head, saying that he was very brave to go against these many Ruby Rats and even the Mafia boss himself.

    "But shucks, when you think about it, if he can kill the Mafia boss, that Grade 8 silhouettes have to be fake. He could possibly be as strong as Instructor Yuan." Rong suddenly thought of it, and thatment struck the entire group as a possibility.

    Jin did not understand where the sudden praises for him originated, and Grandma Yuan was the only one keeping quiet and smirking at him.

    "Alright, enough of all this. We all have much work to do with the creation of the new Demon Exorcist Operation and Training Centre." Jin began to give orders, and every one stood at attention.

    As the dungeon supplier did not know what was needed in either of these centres, he had assigned each of them to visit various operation centres and training centres, taking pictures of the interior and their overall architectural design.

    If possible, they were also tasked to interview the current employees and ask if they had any improvements in the work process or facilities. He then sent them travel allowances via his Pandamonium App into their electronic cash wallets.

    They understood and went off without saying goodbye to their new Boss. "Kids no matter which age, are always eager to prove their worth." Grandma Yuan said and now looked at Jin.

    "Now that we are alone. Brat, you must have at least a few questions to ask me too."

    "Yes, mainly about how you used to operate the training centre. Did your methods differ from others, or was it the same as every centre." Jin went straight to the point.

    "Honestly my experience won''t be much help for you. You''ve been assigned to operate an advanced training centre. I can''t add much more than what has been told to you in the meeting earlier." Grandma Yuan replied promptly.

    "Your main objective is to allow the demon exorcists to get more exposure through these additional training. You can repeat what you did with the four or design it like an arena style kind of instance if you prefer."

    "Whatever the case, the most important thing is to make it as real as possible. Tsk, but given you have the System and can literally either send them into another world or get demons from there I doubt that will be a problem for you."

    "But is all this training even useful? The ones they will encounter won''t necessarily be those standard demons, right?" Jin asked as he offered Grandma Yuan to have a seat.

    "Yes and no. There are some demons that persistently appear given their nature. Most of those are earth bound demons. Still, they could appear and take on various forms. It can''t hurt for them to get as much experience as possible." Grandma Yuan said as she suddenly saw Lynn entering the instance.

    The Grand Elder smiled kindly as she saw the Penguin Chef bringing along an exquisite teapot with her.

    "Grandma Yuan. I''ve heard that you''vee to visit us. I hope this time around this tea will be to your liking." Lynn smiled widely as she graciously nodded and slowly poured a cup for her to drink. Grandma Yuan''s expression was filled with tion that she barely controlled herself.

    ire felt a little envious of Lynn being capable of satisfying Grandma Yuan''s desires for good tea, but at the same time, she was very delighted to see Grandma Yuan''s lighter mood.

    "So, demons like fox spirits?" Jin continued his conversation, and Grandma Yuan, who was sipping her tea, nodded her head before turning and thanking Lynn before the chef left them for their conversation.

    "Those, formidable types of Jiang Shi (zombies), skeletal demons like Bai Gu Jing and the list goes on. You should know that even the monster remains could summon a Demon if left unchecked. In most cases, it won''t hurt to burn the corpse." Grandma Yuan answered.

    "There were too many variations to keep track of, luckily throughout the centuries, JODE had managed topile a detailed list for the mostmon ones and how to effectively deal with them."

    "The most crucial aspect for the advanced training centres is to foster teamwork like how you did for my students previously and to ultimately earn experience from victory and death." Grandma Yuan added.

    "I seeбнin other words it''s not too different from a typical dungeon run," Jin concluded, and Grandma Yuan nodded her head.

    "There are other centres that utilise Dungeon Suppliers and ssroom setting, but the simtions were too predictable. Instead of preparing the Demon Exorcists, it had conditioned them, making them think that the actual demons were easy to kill, which resulted in several meaningless deaths."

    "Don''t you resurrect them then? After all the training they went through." Jin asked seeing how the Demon Exorcists was exclusively from the Royal Zodiac ns except for a few like Jin.

    "You might be surprised, but even the Zodiac ns do not resurrect them all unless the demon exorcist was of great importance. It used to be different, but in the majority of cases, those who came back developed various traumas prohibiting them from working their job."

    "Those who did also generally burned out eventually. It was bad enough if they died repeatedly, but in a lot of cases, their sudden breakdown in the middle of a mission also endangered their teammates."

    "A lot of our members are merely affiliated with the n via name or through distant family ties. Nowadays when they perform the resurrection for the ones that matter, it''s the premium kind. Get what I mean?"

    "Ohбнeven if you resurrect the ipetent ones, they might turn even more ipetent because of the side effects of bare bones procedure." Jin thought of it a little.

    "Those families within the n who can afford the basic ones will still proceed as per normal, but they usually do not have the backing of the main n." Grandma Yuan then rified that JODE was just an organisation that did the training and paperwork. Thus, the missions the Demon Exorcists undertook themselves were their responsibilities.

    "Hahaha! Insurance would only cover that much either since it''s a job full of risk in the first ce." Grandma Yuanmented before looking at the time. The two discussed a few other matters which were mainly about the students and Grandma Yuan decided to leave for the day.

    "Do not worry too much about the operation stuff. Just get the facilities and equipment prepared, and JODE will handle the rest." Grandma Yuan bid goodbye to Jin.

    Finally, he had some time to browse through his messages. His phone had been vibrating nonstop in his back pocket.

    "This Ke Loongбн" Jin chuckled and dialled his phone number to call him

 Chapter 538 Creating A Portal Shop

    <h4>Chapter 538 Creating A Portal Shop</h4>

    "Boss! Boss! Your Tree Mall is truly amazing!!" Ke Loong was quickly invited into the Conference Room instance. Jin was drinking the leftover teapot that was intended for Grandma Yuan. Ke Loong was able to get into the conference room instance the moment his Pandamonium App detected that he moved inside Jin''s store instance.

    "Not bad right? I was thinking of getting more store owners into бнyou know epass every possible corner of life." Jin revealed casually to Ke Loong, and his eyes were sparkling.

    "бнthat look. You want to be part of it too?" Jin asked, and Ke Loong nodded his head willingly.

    "It''s not that I really mind, but let me warn you it won''t be cheap. We are business partners so I may give you a minor discount, but not too much. Else it would not be fair to the others. Besides, it''s not like you can''t afford them. Anyway, what do you intend to sell?" Jin decided to entertain this CEO as he offered him a seat and poured him a cup of tea.

    "Thank you." Ke Loong took a small sip and was immediately intoxicated by the taste.

    "What kind of tea is this?!!" Ke Loong eximed so loudly that it nearly shocked Jin.

    "It''sбнerm one which Lynn made. You would have to ask her for the name. Is it too sweet for you?" Jin asked with concern, but Ke Loong unhesitantly took another sip of the fantastic tea.

    "It''s the best tea I''ve ever tasted. Can I get an entire box of it and bring it back to my office?!" Ke Loong asked, and Jin was relieved that it was to his liking.

    "I believe I could arrange thatбнanyways, what do you intend to sell?" Jin asked yet Ke Loong was still busy enjoying his tea.

    "Oh..erm. The first will naturally be your portal. You are right, I kept thinking of the likes of portal scrolls and didn''t consider the security involving them. Did you know that you need to pen down a written record should you wish to use a portal scroll when you buy it?"

    "I бнam not very familiar with that, I sell basic magical scrolls not the high end ones yet," Jin answered and Ke Loong exined to him that most of the stores selling high end scrolls required a minimum background check with the police.

    "So it is no different for portal scrolls in case you wish to go somewhereбнrestricted with it. Say the White House or military bases. That is why the store owners would usually transcribe the portal coordinates into the scroll so that they know where they are going."

    "Then I suppose ck Markets are filled with illegal portal scrolls," Jinmented, and Ke Loong thought for a while before shaking his head.

    "It really depends. As soon as it became slightly more ''main-stream'' if you can really call it that, restricted areas quickly employed anti-portal measures. From what I''ve heard, the mostmon one is an inscription which messes with the coordinates. So instead of the White House, you might find yourself in a cell room instead."

    "Even if you somehow manage to get through there are other counter measures such as scanning spells to search for illegal trespassers. Let''s just say, the ck Market can allow you to travel to more cespared to official portals."

    "Still, that does not mean they would not keep a record. There are ck Market snitches or undercover agents to ensure that no one does anything too illegal." Ke Loong added.

    "Especially after that infamous bombing that urred near the United Nations assembly, it caused every government to sweep through the ck Markets all over the world and annihte them as a show of force. Subsequently, they managed to reach a back end agreement, and things stabilised afterwards."

    "Isn''t it ironic how thewful constitutions cooperate with the ck Market just like apany having a transaction with another." Jin mocked, and Ke Loong shrugged his shoulders.

    "ck and White are just the two sides of the coin. One cannot survive without the other. Anyways we should look at their example and think of ways to improve on it. Implementing security checks should be our main agenda should we wish to push the portal forward so people can feel safe using it too."

    "How about putting them as part of the dimensional instance? That way, my team, including yours, can monitor them too. It would be safer, and my monsters can kick their asses if we suspect anything unusual about them."

    "I seeбнthen that way, it will save on space and security personnel! If we suspect anything, we just need to lock the dimensional instance and let the police investigate them. That is rather brilliant." Ke Loong replied with a wide smile.

    "But the problem is, I have to create those dimensional instances. I have certain technical parameters to fulfil if I want to install the monsters and they are proprietorial intellectual properties which I am unable to share with you." Jin listed his condition.

    "I see, one of your many ''Trade Secrets'', huh? Okay, I am game. I should be able to buy thend and offer to put it under yourpany''s name. In return, I assume you won''t expect me to pay for your ''monsters'' or maintenance?" Ke Loong asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "The profit of them using the portalsбнsay 80 to 20?" Jin asked which nearly made Ke Loong spit his tea out.

    "Not good?" Jin was concerned that he made an outrageous deal.

    "You kidding me? If people were to learn that I was only giving you 20% of the profit when it was mostly your team''s effort in creating the portal? Not only would I lose respect, but I would have to constantly fearpetitors killing each other to headhunt you right under me. Given your team''s technical ideas, I wish for us to remain business partners for a looong time. 60 to 40 in your favour." Ke Loong said, and Jin was pleasantly surprised.

    "Besides, you will be providing the monsters and stuff, all I need is to send operational staff to use the CCTVs etc. Right?" Ke Loong asked, and Jin thought for a moment.

    "I assume we are starting small by teleporting people to the Tree Mall, right?" Jin asked then the Sea Mesh CEO mentioned that he initially wanted to expand everything in one shot until Jin talked about security.

    "How about you put the portal machines all over in Shenzhen first? Let''s test the reaction of the crowd. We should be able to find out if there will be any problems like waiting times being too long and other things so that we can sort those out before going nationwide. Most importantly, we need to learn how much capacity it can handle before it breaks down." Jin suggested.

    "Oh, if you mean stress testing, I''ve already done it in Germany. Even the productionpany asked whether I can introduce that portal machine into their country. There should be no issues for the portal in the long term, so long as the productionpany does not skim in the materials they use. " Ke Loong replied.

    "But other than that, I have no issues putting it all over Shenzhen linking it to your Tree Mall. Using it as the main attraction will inadvertently increase my profit plus its cheap advertisement. After a trial period then I will see if we can put it in advance into the transportation of cargo etc." Ke Loong''s goals were still the same as before, and he believed the profits would be tremendous.

    "Then, I am happy to work along with you." Jin smiled as he somehow managed to be an active part of the future portal industry.

 Chapter 539 Extra: Giant Worlds History

    <h4>Chapter 539 Extra: Giant World''s History</h4>

    Even though Hamatarou had decided to investigate the Smanders, the Hamster Prince was actually quite afraid to do it alone. One enemy would be easy to handle but fighting the entire group was suicide in his mind.

    Still, Qiu Yue and Lynn had repeatedly assured him that after signing the temporary contract, there was apparently some magic at work that would protect him. He could only clinch on to this hope while trying to find out more about the Smanders.

    As a Druid, he had created multiple tunnels within this forsaken giant city to facilitate easier travelling when needed. At the same time, they were also quite handy in the frequent cases where he had to escape from the Giant wildlife that gued their world. This undergroundwork had be quite vast and would at least allow him to reach the inner castle.

    Within his heart, there was hesitation in meeting the Smanders once more. Hamatarou had once trusted them after their world got turned upside down and he got betrayed by them once. Thus, the druid figured that meeting them could only result in a particrly bad ending. But part of him could not bring himself to kill them, after all, they had once been his rtives.

    His kingdom was simr to Jin''s medieval age with just a tinge of magic mixed into the form. Nothing too out of the ordinary and while each world had their petty disputes, the Royal Family Hamatarou was born into controlled one of the most sessful kingdoms within their own world.

    However, his life hasn''t been too rosy. His future subjects lived their lives as one might expect in a highly defined hierarchical structure. The rich got richer, the middle remained the same, and the poor be poorer. As for Hamatarou... he was considered an anomaly within the Royal Family.

    All of his rtives and siblings held the power of Fire while Hamatarou was the only one who was born with an affinity for controlling the forces of nature. His father did not want anyone else to find out that one of his offspring had been ''tainted'' with he regarded as a ''lesser power''.

    Unfortunately for the young boy, Hamatarou was forced to endure a tough childhood in their castle. He grew up the victim of constant bullying by his own siblings, the harassment of their servants as the King did nothing to prohibit such action and instead encouraged it.

    Even the ''wise'' elders seemed to have nothing but spiteful words for him, with some going as far as ming the mother for producing such a varied offspring.

    At one point, Hamatarou had been kidnapped by a politically motivated extremist group who demanded the Royal Family to step down yet the King did not bother to send out a single knight to rescue his youngest potential heir.

    Ultimately, the personal knight in service of his mother had to take action to search and find young Hamatarou. It did not take long for Clyde to find their hideout, and the knight was skilled enough to reduce all the kidnappers to ashes with his magic. He then eventually found Hamatarou in an enclosed underground basement with mouldy bread and dirty water as his only source of sustenance.

    While the Queen wished for him to return alive, the King had long suspected histest wife''s course of actions and had promised Clyde a wealthy reward to get rid of Hamatarou and me it on the kidnappers.

    "It''s nothing personal, kid. It''s just business. Do not me me." Clyde whispered to suppress his consciousness as he raised his hand to conjure a fire st to kill the feeble, starved prince.

    However, what no one had expected was that Hamatarou''s will to live awakened his natural magic to an unprecedented tier. Without ever being introduced to the magic, he managed to manipte it by sheer willpower, not needing to utter a single world. The ground erected as if alive and surrounded Hamatarou in a protective barrier.

    Clyde''s fireball was unable to dent the ground barrier, and after a few attempts, he decided to give up and just burn down the whole ce. Before he managed to leave another surprise awaited him. In front of the knight, magical tiny creatures had appearedбн

    Fairies.

    One of the fairies offered to bestow Clyde with more magical power than he could ever dream of in exchange for a small favour. He was to deliver Hamatarou to a specific location. The Queen''s personal knight did not need long to make up his mind.

    Clyde never expected that he was able to meet fairies in the course of his life and they appeared as what he had dreamt of after hearing those wonderful tales in his youth. Magic was believed to be fixed at the moment of one''s birth. If one was lucky enough to have an elemental affinity, one either had a lot of power or be merely blessed with it.

    Thus, the Queen''s knight believed that with an increase in his magical abilities, there was a good chance he could get promoted to a higher calling. Everyone in court knew that it was the King who really held power (and more importantly coin) so rising to be one of his personal guards could not only ensure his personal wellbeing but perhaps even result in a noble title for his progeny.

    As a bonus by delivering the young prince to the Northern Druids would allow him to satisfy both his regents'' demands. He could receive the coin of the King while earning his trust, and perhaps (if he was feeling generous) reveal the young boy''s actual fate to his mother. So, Clyde quickly epted the fairy''s proposal.

    First, he burnt the house down to cover his tracks and me the kidnappers for having decided to die with their hostage. Then he followed the fairies instructions and delivered the young prince to a nearby forest where he ced him inside a circle of mushrooms. Clyde did not bother to wait for the Druid toe to pick the boy up and hurried back to the castle.

    As the naive knight dreamt about impressing everyone in court with his new found power, he did not see the ''fairies''ughing behind his back at his stupidity.

    s, how was he supposed to know that Feys were separated into various kinds? Most humans would live their whole life without ever meeting any such spiritual beings. Encounters with them became even rarer ever since they opted to live in stone cold cities away from the magical forests.

    Therefore he also was none the wiser that a bargain with the Feys could be considered the worst kind of trade deal, maybe in all worlds. They would twist their words no matter how the agreement was made and ensure that they ended up with the most fun because of it.

    To make matters worse, the fairy he spoke to and made a bargain was actually a faerie instead of a fairy. And it was not an ordinary faerie, but it was the Matriarch of the Winter Court, Queen Mab. To them, Hamatarou was not just some boy with the powers of nature, he was prophesied to be the saviour of the world by the Feys.

    However, Hamatarou never learned of this.

    The young him had been sad to lose his mother but also happy enough to finally get epted by a group of people who had be his real family.

    As for the Feyбн they mischievously set the stage and allowed the humans to y their part in it unknowingly. (Or in short, their victims.)

    Clyde did receive his magical boost just as promised. Not only that, the Queen''s personal knight was experiencing a growth in his magical energy by the day. It was to the point, he needed to release his magic energy from his body in order to keep himself sane.

    Coincidentally, he discovered that it was far easier to share his powers with otherspared to casting spells non-stop. Utilising his newfound knowledge, he diverted his magical powers into other knights. They who started to experience themselves bing stronger shared this incredible news. But what none of them knew was that by epting Clyde''s generosity, they all doomed themselves.

    Finally, the stage entered its next act. During an inter kingdom conference meeting, the umted magical powers were too much for Clyde, who suddenly exploded into pieces, right in front of everyone.

    Every leader who was in that conference got infected by the magical energies that spread wildly and subsequently, it became a domino effect, causing every magic abled person to explode when in contact with those magical energies through the months.

    The sad thing was that there was nothing to contain it as the air was infused with magic too. It even caused some of the normal humans to mutate by bingrger and explode. With little to no time avable, court mages managed toe up with one solution, and it''s by polymorphing them into various animals.

    They theorised that the magical energies seemed to target only Humans so if they were to polymorph into an animal, changing the structure how they absorbed magic, it would stop the increased flow of magic preventing the cmity from harming them.

    Most of the court mages initially believed that the mass polymorphing would be temporary solution iming they only had to wait it out until the magical energies were dispersed or diffused into the environment.

    And yes, the energy did dissipate into the environment but it also inadvertently affected the wild life, causing it to be more rampant. It caused gradual mutation to the animals, turning them into monsters asrge as the humans were with their new traits like the Horned Chicken. (Through hindsight, if Lynn or Qiu Yue ever learn about his history, they can only specte that the humans Hamatarou talked about were not average homo sapiens but giants.)

    Not only that, some humans refused to be animals and decided to use the magical energy they receive as a way to kill the raging wildlife who had nowe to invade their cities for more space.

    Sadly, most did not make it. They either died in battle or became unable to discharge enough magical energy to prevent their head from exploding. The remaining realised it was futile and polymorph into animals.

    While polymorphing did not entirely stop the ''Giantism'' Virus (especially since they took on animal forms and were destined to growrge until they and be killed in the wild), it significantly reduced the number of incidents, and the survivors did what they can to continue surviving.

    Being human became a thing of the past in the Giant World. The animals were unable to transform back into their human form and instead became animals with human traits.

    Hence, it became a battle for survival against Giant monsters in their animal forms for many years until Hamatarou came into the picture and assisted the remaining survivors to shrink and escape from the gigantic dangers.

 Chapter 540 Extra: Swordsman Gaeru

    <h4>Chapter 540 Extra: Swordsman Gaeru</h4>

    Hamatarou managed to reach the gates of the castle that he once stayed in when the Hamster Prince was young. The memories of the past still haunted him asionally but he had no time to reminisce the past right now. Tworge human sized Smanders were guarding the front gates.

    The druid pondered whether he should cast a spell to make them sleep or wait for the next change of guards. At the moment, he was at the top of one of the watchtowers overlooking the front of entire castle and noticed that the two Smanders were not the only guards around.

    Thus, he decided toy low for a while, hiding himself within the wild flowers that grew in the cracks of the watch tower to monitor the situation. If he wanted to, Hamatarou could probably rest especially since the hamster had used the Totem of Atem to shrink himself to the size of a petal on the wildflower and it should be impossible for them to notice him.

    Less than half an hour had passed and he was already intrigued as well as frustrated by what the Smanders Guards were talking about. Their conversation provided him with much insight on the Smander''s own situation and future spells.

    And that was when he noticed something peculiar.

    A frog who was less than a quarter the size of the Human sized Smanders approached the gates of the castle. It was wearing a cloak as well as clothes that fit him nicely. But the most crucial detail was his sword. A broad double edge sword with broken edges at the side, the frog used it to point at the Smanders who were guarding the front gates.

    "Huh, so one of the Frogs survived, eh? I thought we killed them all already. They were tasty though." One of Smander Guards snickered.

    "You cowards! Cannibals! You massacred our entire Frog Vige and you ate them too?! If I do not cut the Smanders down today, I cannot be called Gaeru!" The Frog shouted at the top of his voice, attracting the attention of the other guards too.

    "Looks like we have frog legs for tonight!" the Smander Guards licked his lips with the long tongue as he picked up his sword from the side of the wall and withdraw it from the scabbard.

    "What is wrong with him? How can that frog be so stupid?! He should have realised that he stands no chance against them, much less two. Oh why couldn''t you have at least attacked before the guards took their weapons out?!" Hamatarou clenched onto the petal of the wild flower he was sitting on and continued to witness the scene in front of him.

    As if he was giving them a handicap, the two smanders charged right in front of Gaeru. The frog swordsman swung his sword forward, blocking the two swords from swinging any further. However, the Smanders were not done yet as they used their slender bodies to twist and utilise their tails to hit the frog swordsman from the side.

    Still, Gaeru managed to evade it by leaning back. He released his sword grip and continued to jump over the height of the Smanders. Uponnding behind them, he extended his tongue to grab the sword and the weapon acted as a burgeoning item, hitting the two guards on their face.

    He quickly grabbed on to his broadsword and tried to sh sidewards at the Smander Guard but his attempt was foiled when another Smander Guard from above shot an arrow down, preventing him from attacking with full strength.

    The attack barely cut into the Smander''s torso due to the poor condition of the sword, resulting merely in a skin wound. That was when the uninjured Smander Guards opened his mouth and spewed a breath of fire towards the frog.

    In response, Gaeru raised his cloak up, preventing the fire from reaching him. He quickly detached the mantle, but because of that, the guards were given the opportunity to steady themselves and prepare to fight again.

    No matter how one looked at it, the frog swordsman was clearly at a disadvantage and it seemed that the Smander Archer on guard duty had called up even more reinforcements. Hamatarou realised that his window of opportunity to save this little frog swordsman was growing smaller by the second.

    "Damn it!!! So much for just reconnaissance!" Hamatarou grumbled as he remembered he had been given a portal back to the System by utilising the ring that Qiu Yue loaned him. It was apparently for Hamatarou to capture a Smander if possible and put them in a temporary holding area.

    However, from what he saw, the Smanders that were on scene were merelyckeys and not the main leaders that he wished to ''kidnap'' for interrogation purposes. "BAH, here goes nothing!" Hamatarou ced a Totem of Reverse Atem on his mouth as he cast his spell to boost his jump speed to the next level.

    The frog swordsman was getting surrounded. Worse he was being made fun of with the reinforcement hiding behind their shieldszily poking towards him with their swords and pikes. Gaeru was prepared to kill himself rather than endure this dishonour of failing to get revenge.

    Suddenly, he noticed a change in the winds as if a projectile wasing its way. However, if he stepped any further from his current spot, he would also be killed by the Smanders. Thus, he ced the broadsword right beside his ''neck'' and prepared to cut his own head off.

    ...Until the projectile suddenly erged into arge furry monster which both the Smanders and the frog had never seen before. It was simr to a bear but it had ck and white spots on it.

    Hamatarou had shapeshifted into a Panda though he was roaring like a bear. The Druid had been intrigued by those bear like creatures he had firstid eyes on in the WunderPanda Theme Parks and thought it would be a good way to frighten the Smanders while hopefully keeping his druid identity secret as long as he could.

    Gaining his senses back quickly from the shock due to amount of experience he had in hunts, the frog swordsman quickly scanned the situation. So, instead of cutting his own neck off, Gaeru instinctively pointed his broadsword at the ck and White Bear but it appeared as if the bear was here to attack the Smanders.

    He did not know if this strange creature would turn on him next but all he knew was that he might still manage to get some revenge so the swordsman quickly shifted his target to the remaining Smanders.

    "You are mine! Smanders!!!" The Frog managed to cut a distraught Smander Guard into two and wished to continue the momentum he had.

    However, what he did not expect was that the giant, ck spotted white bear suddenly (and gently) bit onto the Frog''s head. At the same time, it plunged its ws into one of the older looking Smanders before disappearing into thin air. And like a whirlpool sucking everything it contacts with, the portal swiped the bear (with a frog in its mouth) away from reality.

    The Smanders were in a shock of the sudden turn of events and quickly reported the happenings to their leader.

 Chapter 541 Extra: The Hamster, Frog and Salamander

    <h4>Chapter 541 Extra: The Hamster, Frog and Smander</h4>

    Hamatarou mmed the Smander down to the ground, pushing his ws further into it as he arrived into an enclosed empty room. He looked around for a moment and only then realised that there was something slimy in his mouth.

    Hamatarou quickly spits it out, and the frog swordsman rolled on the floor, gasping for air. Despite all the saliva that stained his entire body (and his clothes), Gaeru struggled to stand up as he directed his sword towards Hamatarou.

    "Is this how you treat your saviour?" The Hamster Prince turned back into arge hamster as he removed his hand and stepped on the wound of the Smander underneath his w.

    "бнYouбнyou are the saviour? The one who gave us the Totem of Atem?" Gaeru lowered his sword for a moment as Hamatarou proudly nodded his head. However, announcing his true identity made the Smander struggled even more under Hamatarou.

    But instead of lowering his sword, Gaeru changed into a stance where Hamatarou felt an intent to killing right towards him. His sword had reached a position that would be optimal for an upper sh cut against enemiesrger than Gaeru.

    "Wait, wait! I am not your enemy! You are mistaken! I really did save you from that mess-"

    "You are no saviour! You did note to aid us in our time of peril!" The frog swordsman began to leap toward Hamatarou, and he was too slow to act against the attack.

    But suddenly a mysterious figure entered Gaeru''s path and intercepted the attack by parrying his sword away. "Is this an enemy as well? The Frog?" Qiu Yue, who had finished talking with Jin, happened to see that the room was immediately upied by arge furry hamster and two other creatures.

    The System allowed her to observe for a moment until she noticed things were not going as nned. The young woman decided to enter and protect Hamatarou. Before the Smander could even speak properly, Qiu Yue plunged her sword into its head, and the Smander died.

    "Why- Why did you kill it? I was hoping to interrogate it!" Hamatarouined as he saw the Frog, relentless in his attitude, picking up his sword again and aiming to kill Qiu Yue in front of it.

    "How is this possible? You are not of any of the tribes I''ve known. I do not know what exactly you are, but if you are trying to defend him, then I can only consider you an enemy!" Gaeru shouted as he charged in once again only to have its attack easily deflected by the Red Panda cultivator.

    "While I am not one to criticise, but your sword strike is not true. You obviously have reservations in your eyes despite yourments." Qiu Yue then proceed to break the sword with one strike with the usage of her cultivation powers.

    Gaeru stepped back and drew out a short dagger he kept as ast resort. Both Hamatarou and Qiu Yue sighed at his unyielding behaviour.

    "Sub System User Qiu Yue. Killing should prove to be the most efficient method of dealing with this nuisance." The System stated, and Qiu Yue agreed to it immediately.

    "Wait- What? Hold on a moment. How is killing the most efficient metho-" Before Hamatarou finished talking, Qiu Yue already sprinted towards Gaeru and chopped him into half.

    Nheless, she was surprised that he had managed to aim for her carotid artery as ast ditch effort while she was not looking. The aim was correct, but the cut was very shallow mainly because his dagger was equally blunt too.

    "I see, so that little Frog had some skills too." Qiu Yue praised the deceased as she took out a chi regeneration potion and drank it on the spot. In the meantime, Hamatarou was absolutely speechless and furious to see the two dead bodies on the ground.

    "... I can perhaps excuse you killing the Smander Guard, as he would likely not have known too much and we could easily kidnap another one. But did you have to kill the frog?!" Hamatarou had no idea what was going on in the Red Panda''s head.

    "You are, without a doubt, capable of incapacitating him without the need for lethal force. We could have learned what happened to his vige! If you kill the person I saved and the one I intended to capture, then what is the point of my actions?!" Hamatarou folded his tiny arms and reprimanded Qiu Yue heavily.

    "Rx. Didn''t I tell you, our magic and technology is way more advanced than what you could have imagined?" Qiu Yue replied and told Hamatarou to look around. The bodies disappeared, and instead, he saw an intact Smander Guard and frog swordsman kneeling in front of Qiu Yue.

    "This. This is the power of my Boss''s magic." Qiu Yue announced as she requested the System to get them a table and chairs to sit and talk.

    Eventually, Hamatarou learned more about the System which he was contracted too and the two that became minions for Jin. The Hamster Prince could not believe such a convenientбнmagical entity not only existed but was so readily avable to be used by them.

    "Now I sort of understand why you asked me to bring the suspects in." Hamatarou looked at the Smander Guard who introduced himself the grandson of the great Edwardio. Hamatarou lied by saying that he vaguely remembered that his father had a royal guard with such a name. (To preserve their family''s past honour, his father named him as Edwardio II. But ever since the passing of his father, he kept his name short instead.)

    It had been around a century or maybe more (who could tell how many winters had passed, when surviving tomorrow was always a persistent problem) since hest faced his father who had not cared for his fate.

    That was the reason why Hamatarou had assumed Qiu Yue and Lynn to be members of an entirely new species. He had personally confirmed that no humans existed in the current Giant World (at least not on their continent).

    "I am honoured you remember my grandfather''s name, Prince Hama. It has been years since his death." Edwardio seemed ted, and Hamatarou with a slightly guilty face told him to drop the title and to refer to him as Hamatarou, especially since the Druids had baptised him with this new name.

    "I too apologise for my rash behaviour. I knew that you alone could not have prevented the inevitable death of my fellow vige mates." Gaeru formally knelt and begged for forgiveness. Hamatarou quickly epted and demanded him to stand. That was when he took his broken sword and pointed at the uncaring Smander.

    "However, I cannot forgive myself that I have to sit at the same table of my enemy. I wish to kill myself, knowing that I will have to work with one of those murderers in the future." Gaeru sounded enraged and sent the other party a deathly stare.

    Qiu Yue figured that the Frog Swordsman behaved very much like the samurais of the past days where''s one''s principle was so rigid that they died fighting for their country or cause. She was entertaining the thought of whether to introduce him to Zeru or Lynn first. (She did think about Kraft too, but he was way too good at brainwashing...)

    Oddly enough, the Smander was experienced enough not to fall for such an obvious taunt. Edwardio ignored not only Gaeru, but his petty insult towards the Smanders had no effect on him.

    Ever since he was resurrected by the System, Edwardio could already feel that he had cut all allegiance to his fellow Smanders. No one acted upon Gaeru''s insult as well, making him slightly embarrassed by the many stares. After which, Gaeru croaked to break the silence, and he quietly ced his broken sword down while slowing moving his seat to the opposite end of the table.

    Regardless, the Hamster Prince felt it was a good start and began to ask the table several questions. "Now that we have introduced ourselves perhaps we can finally talk about why the hell the Smanders are acting this way," Hamatarou suggested with eyes looking at Smander Guard Edwardio who coughed to clear his throat.

    "Prince''s orders. Hmm to be precise...The New King''s Orders." Edwardio answered truthfully without any prompt from the System.

 Chapter 542 Improved Half Masks

    <h4>Chapter 542 Improved Half Masks</h4>

    "Please pull the red angled pulley at the side of your parachute pack in five, four, three..." Shi Zuo was instructed by the half mask he got at the start of this special mission.

    Simr to the envisioned Mooogle sses, the mask was a visor filled with tons of information as if he was wearing an augmented reality headset. Shi Zuo felt like it was virtual reality, but it really wasn''t.

    They knew the dimensional instance was real and not a mere illusion. It was a pocket of time and space that separated itself from the ''real world''. If one were to stay in the dimensional instance, there would be no significant difference except the perception of time.

    Of all the information portrayed, the most important segment Shi Zuo needed to take note off was the estimated health of his shown at the top right corner of the visor. The health of the Squad Members was also indicated right below of the cultivator''s health bar.

    Also, the bottom left corner had multiple icons which would light up when Shi Zuo nced at it. The half mask was equipped with vision tracking and a voice recognition unit that enabled the cultivators tomunicate with the visor in order to receive the information they needed at a moment''s notice.

    As of now, the half mask was instructing Shi Zuo on how to open his parachute. It even highlighted the part which needed to be pulled to get the parachute working. Of course, this half mask could not be operated without Yun in the vicinity. Removing the System out of the equation and the visor was as useful as a radio without reception.

    Aside from the Squad function, the System was simultaneously learning and gathering information on the visors through this ''experimental'' instance as well. Jin figured he might as well try the things that needed to be done while assisting his minions on Farming World.

    Still, even though the information was presented all around the visors, it also had the feature to dim the HUD (Heads Up Disy) interface and allow the cultivators to fight without obstruction on their current peripheral vision.

    Jin did not want the cultivators to lose because they could not see their enemy due to the interference of the HUD interface. Other than that, the upgraded half mask was a wee addition to the other cultivators going into battle.

    Shi Zuo''s parachute opened, and he managed to steer his parachute towards somewhere safe alongside his squad mates. Luo Bo was right behind him by about 40 metres or so, but the trouble came when the Demon Rats saw Xiong Da and Ruo Ying''s descent.

    The ranged Demon Rats immediately directed their weapons towards them and shot indiscriminately. There was no way Shi Zuo or Luo Bo could help them andmunication were not possible since they were too far apart. (Thankfully, they had yet to encounter the Steam Tech copters the goblins saw during their scouting missions.)

    "Control, can Imunicate with Xiong Da or Ruo Ying?!" Shi Zuo asked in a panic, but the half mask was unable to do so without the aid of the magpies. (The visors introduced themselves initially as Control Supports which was why Shi Zuo and the rest called them as such too.)

    "Damn, if we only had the magpies!" Shi Zuo sighed, but there was no time for him to be concerned about the other couple as he and Luo Bo had also been noticed by the Demon Rats. Luo Bo went in front of him and immediately shot an arrow at them.

    The rabbit cultivator did not waste time with a regr arrow shot. Instead, it was one infused with tremendous chi which Luo Bo had been storing ever since she descended from the ne.

    "Intermediate Bow Art! Lightning Rabbit Dashing Arrow!." The arrow sped through the open fields like a burst of lightning, and upon hitting one of the Demon Rats, it zigzagged through the opponents. Like a rabbit dashing through the grasnds to evade its predators, the arrows struck the rats who never seen such a magical attack before.

    Not only the demon rats electrocuted by the attack, but the steam tech they were using, explodes from the overcharge. Most were minor explosions except for those who were carrying Steam Tech that had arger piece of Litoride on them. Those unlucky ones Demon Rats exploded into smithereens, creating an impactrge enough that took out their surrounding Demon Rats.

    The series of explosions gave Shi Zuo and Luo Bo enough time to dash with their chi infused boots as they created some distance for safety. They then noticed a winged dark knight flying towards them. Shi Zuo almost attacked him when he got nearer, but Luo Bo ordered him to not harm it, indicating that he was the allies that Yun talked about.

    "Are you the reinforcement our master sent?" The Dark Temr asked as he gracefullynded right beside them, and they nodded their heads when they saw his wings spread and protected them from some stray projectiles from the Demon Rats.

    "While meagre in quantity, you guys sure pack a punch." The Dark Temr introduced himself as Mou, one of the lieutenants working under Commander Zieg. "We are temporarily moving out for a retreat. We''ve done enough damage for the day. If you wish toe with us, we can formte a battle strategy together."

    "What?" Luo Bo said as she stretched herself a little with a new arrow in hand. "Retreat? I am just getting started."

    "бн I see. Full of energy. Go on then. We will reorganise ourselves, and if luck has it, we might meet on the battlefield within the same day." The Dark Temr bowed as a slight tremor could be felt from where they were at.

    Unable to defend himself in midair, Xiong Da ripped off his damaged parachute and went to perform the improved version of his Grand m Fissure, which he had finally mastered throughout the months of training in Jin''s dungeons. Previously it was a Hippo style, but now, Xiong Da managed tobine it with his Warclub, making it more deadly as it was now considered as a Weapon Arts.

    He and his Warclub were like a raging meteor that mmed into the ground, producing a shockwave deadly enough for pieces of the ground to fly up and kill dozens of Demon Rats that had been shooting at him. Although Ruo Ying''s parachute was thankfully not too damaged by the ranged attacks, she was nearly blown away by the impact of Xiong Da''s Grand m Fissure.

    Thus, she had no choice but to execute her Intermediate Chain Arts, Descending Chains of the Egret to grab onto an Ogre Demon Rat. Her newly bought chains extended like there would be no end to thanks to one of Octofussy''s newest inscription creations.

    As the chains wrapped around the Ogre Demon Rat, the chains shrunk and reduced in length, allowing Ruo Ying to fly towards the Ogre Demon Rat and give it a kick towards its face. It caused a critical neck fracture but also enabled Ruo Ying tond safely. Their squadmates, on the other hand,nded right beside her without much aid from the parachutes.

    "Time for some pest extermination." Ruo Ying pushed her half Egret mask up a little as she saw the Demon Rats trying to surround her and Xiong Da due to their shy entrance.

 Chapter 543 Modular Gearbox Attachments

    <h4>Chapter 543 Modr Gearbox Attachments</h4>

    The modified gearbox proved to be a tremendous boon for the Tiger Princess. She actually devised a way tond quickly and swiftly to the ground. One of her attachments was simr to a wingsuit in case she needed to jump from one building to the next. (Did she perhaps want topensate for not being able to do this feat on her own?)

    Thus, a gliding attachment mechanism had been inserted into the gearbox suit right before she jumped out. After achieving terminal velocity, Yang Ling released the gliding wingsuit, not bothering with the parachute and glided away from the current battlefield towards an open grasnd (presumably a farm field).

    Oddly enough, her own main objective was less taking part in the fight but rather to adjust her gearbox attachments for the fight. Yang Ling did not particrly care which one of those two couples won the plushie, no, the thing she came here for was much needed data for her attachments but she could not get it if she were dropped in the midst of battle.

    Not to mention, the current iteration of her wingsuit had a minute design w. It was like an escape tool attached to the gearbox, rendering her useless for at least a good full minute unless she decides to use her psychic powers instead. Still, her mental capabilities were meant to manipte a single individual rather than controlling a massive crowd.

    The Tiger Princess removed the Wingsuit attachment and reced it withbat capable items. Modr in nature, most of the essories weren''t hard to set up. It felt a bit like a plug and y, so it was easy enough to change them up for battle.

    Once Yang Ling felt ready for the battle, she took a deep breath and proceeded forward. The second attachment she was trying out was what she called the ''Ostrich Legs Attachment''. As the Tiger Princess ran, her gearbox attachment module slowly spread out and increased in length, giving her the form of an ostrich running.

    With the tremendous strides it was making, Yang Ling did not have to run hard and fast as the attachment already took care of this. The empty grasnds were suitable for letting her test its top speed, and Yang Ling wanted to learn how durable it would be inbat.

    Surprisingly, her half mask had tools of measurement that allowed her to record her experiments making her job ten times easier. Yang Ling had been worried that she would have to take out all the recording instruments she brought along in her ring. She even conjured up the ridiculous idea of using her battle squad mates to take down the results for her.

    "I really have to ask Jin how he got his hands on such an advanced piece of equipment and without selling it in the real world!" Yang Ling noted to herself as she noticed that her visor was already measuring her current speed exceeding 90 kilometres per hour.

    "I will have to send the researchers a bonus, it met the expected optimal value without any issuesбн Time to bring it up a notch." Yang Ling bent down a little and widened her strides more although she started to feel the strain from her back due to her previous handicap.

    "Warning, Cultivator Yang Ling. Do not overstrain yourself." The Visor advised as it also indicated that her ''health'' bar was diminishing slowly due to her pushing the limits.

    "Just a bit further and we will be able to kick one of the Demon Rats with top speed force." Yang Ling smiled as she dismissed her visor''s advice. True enough, she inserted a mix of chi and mana to focus her strides, which caused the Demon Rats to think that an abomination or demon was rushing towards them.

    "As if I do not have enough disruptions in a day!" One of the Demon Rat Officersined as he called out the human ves to intercept the attack. But before he could make an announcement, he felt a slight tug at the side of his head and soon after, his body was left standing while his head disappearedpletely.

    The impact kick of the Ostrich Leg Attachment had caused the Demon Rat officer''s head to dissipate into nothing but blood st all over his soldiers. Yang Ling immediately jumped up as she kept the Ostrich Leg Attachments and switched it to Tiger Leg Attachment. Her other parts of the body had also equipped simr attachments pertaining to the Tiger.

    With her half mask on, she looked like a human superhero in a tiger armoured suit. Her gauntlet attachments were like ws protruding out of arge shield from both sides of her. There was even a tail attachment near her cyx, and Yang Ling crouched while analysing the Demon Rats that were stunned momentarily at the absurdity of the situation.

    Suddenly, one of the Demon Rats recklessly charged forward and without moving, Yang Ling beheaded it even before it could use its Steam Tech weapon on her. It was a new psychic technique which she learnt how to utilise alongside the cultivation of the Royal Zodiac Tiger.

    By infusing her telekinesis powers with her killer chi, it enabled Yang Ling to create a sort of wind sh with her mind. However, it could only be used within two metres of her and yet that kill alone had scared the Demon Rats out of their wits until another officer who was oblivious to the current situation, ordered them to rush towards her.

    He used his Steam Tech to send themand to all of his rats, and at the same time utilising the powers of amplifying strength via his steam Tech with the aid of Litoride. Yang Ling could sense that the aura around her became more toxic and the Tiger Princess believed that she had to kill that particr Demon Rat Officer to stop the amplification of strength.

    Hence, she jumped up to have a more unobstructed view of the Demon Rat Officer, and in midair, her legs attachment boosted her once towards the Demon Rat Officer.

    Yet, that officer smirked.

    It was not a ruse at all as an Ogre Demon Rat suddenly emerged from the ground protecting the Demon Rat Officer by throwing a punch towards the flying tiger princess. Yang Ling reactively curled herself up, and the shields on both her arms and legs blocked the attack, but it caused her to fly out of the Demon Rat crowd.

    The rank and files did not hesitate, knowing that it was the best opportunity to kill her when she seemed incapacitated by the recent attack from the Ogre Demon Rat. "Gearbox has taken considerable damage. 10 seconds required to reboot the system." The visor warned as there was a percentage bar in the middle of her HUD interface.

    "Fuck! No! I иC" Yang Ling closed her eyes to avoid seeing the rushing spears that were seconds away from here.

    *ng~!*

    The noise of a broad metal shield shed against the sounds of dozens of spears hitting it. "Lady Yang Ling, sorry we could not catch up with you on time." A manly figure said as he tried his best to hold back against the multiple attacks at one go. Suddenly the rattling of a machine gun went off, and it lightened the load of the man holding the shield.

    Only then did Yang Ling realise that she still had a Squad with her and that these forgotten AIs squad mates had just saved her skin.

 Chapter 544 White Knight, Black Panda

    <h4>Chapter 544 White Knight, ck Panda</h4>

    After his hopefully final meeting of the day, Jin returned mentally exhausted to the Dungeon Maker. Not wanting to go out to somehow ending up in yet another lengthy discussion with anybody else, he checked up on the status of the experiment he ced his cultivators in.

    "How are the visors working for them?" Jin asked as he brought up personal monitors on all of the cultivators in that region. The System was busy analysing all the meaningful information they were gathering via this method, so it took a bit longer for it to answer Jin''s question.

    After calcting the amount of resources gained by killing the rats, his customers were currently inflicting more kills than his dark temrs.

    "That shouldn''t be too much of a surprise. Normally, those Dark Temrs could possibly take down the Demon Rats in a ratio of 1:6 based on their estimated stats. For them to hit and run around the clock, as well as the surviving these quick strikes, I am more than happy that it works out." Jin said while running the statistics for the predicted number of kills required for his new Dark Temrs to increase their abilities or ''levels'' as the System dubbed them.

    Jin simply referred them as Grades since he was able to rte to that better. At the moment, the Dark Temrs were averaging around Grade 2 with their leader being at Grade 2 Peak, reaching towards Grade 3. Having gained a strong base followers as his foundation with the aid of Dark Temr Commander Zieg, Lord Wolte''s current power level reached to Grade 5.

    If not for subordinating Baphomet, Lord Wolte would never have attained Grade 5 this easily. And with an increase in power, it seemed that he had another form which he had yet to use when the Metal Slug Tank was fighting against the Demon Rats.

    The Dungeon Supplier knew about it since the monster''s stats and abilities were all detailed within Jin''s Monster App on his phone. Jin just did not have time to read it properly and only recently found it useful to go through the nearly non exhaustive list of his ever increasing and evolving monster base.

    There were not onlybat details but surprisingly there was a fondness level in it as well. The System stated that the more time Jin spent with particr monsters and granted their desires, the better their abilities could be strengthened too.

    However, when the dungeon supplier asked how exactly it was being strengthened, the System was unable to answer it. He did not know whether it was a work in progress feature by the System or something it just couldn''t or wouldn''t exin in detail.

    But one thing was for sure, he believed it was hrious. "Something like the power of Friendship? Did you forget that we kind of chained them up and made them work for us? If anything wouldn''t Stockholm-Syndrome be the more appropriate term?" Jin asked the System, and the almighty entity did not reply immediately.

    "Regardless, it is imperative for User to study more about his monsters, so you have the chance to utilise your monsters in a fight with higher efficiency." The System countered as Jin was gearing himself for the instance portal jump.

    Instead of using the Squad feature he introduced to the customers, JIn decided to experiment with the ck Goo matter he had umted within these few weeks and shaped them into Pandas. Besides, Jin had no need for Squad mates for he already has an army worth of monsters under hismand. (Thankfully, he was not some evil dungeon master, or his world could possibly be in some serious trouble down the line.)

    The System also informed Jin that his phone was now able to create a temporary dimensional instance after the System had made a few impromptu tweaks.

    "The radius of the phone generated Dimensional Instance is considered inadequate, approximately 200 metres at most. However, the instance is mobile, and you are able to move around with the dimensional instance. User should be able to make use of monsters'' clones in the future wherever he goes. An additional increase to the range requires the Living Brain of the Mechanical Titan in the Mecha World." The System replied with emphasis on the Living Brain and Jin nodded his head with a little annoyance.

    Once Jin was ready, the System called on Yun to open a portal, allowing him to enter and meet her on the far end of the grasnds where they were hundreds of metres away from the main fight. Jin could see that his cultivators were already getting tired from the constant fighting.

    If not for their squadmates, it was very likely that they would have been defeated a long time ago.

    "Xiong Da''s team have totalled 250+ kills while Luo Bo''s team have yet to rea- Correction Cultivator Shi Zuo has just killed the 200th Demon Rat. Both groups were initially hunting apart from each other, but with time and fatigue setting in, all teams gradually started to fall back and stick together near each other." Yun reported to Jin as she yawned a little from all the observing.

    "How about Yang Ling?" Jin was concerned that the Tiger Princess was nowhere to be seen.

    "She retreated not too long ago. I don''t believe she really cares about thepetition for the plushie. Instead, she''s been fighting solo. After an amazing disy of skills at the start, she took a bad hit which nearly got her killed."

    "I took the liberty of controlling her squadmates and managed to rescue her at thest moment. (Without her knowing of course.) The state of the Gearbox has been deteriorating ever since, and it looks like a mess now. " Yunined as she took her phone out, projecting a hologram that showed video of what the System had recorded on her.

    "I doubt the princess can push it any further. Still considering she was fighting by herself, her kill score was topping close to 170 kills. After her near death experience, she showcased great talent and utilised her squad better than the other four, even switching their weapons on the go." Yun gave her observation to Jin.

    "Thank you for your actions, you spared her the embarrassment of getting killed first. Then I guess it''s up to me now to help the tiger princess a little." Jin smiled as he climbed on top of one of his ck Sludge Pandas.

    Surprisingly, they were not sticky. If anything, it had already been moulded into a Panda. It''s breathing, the feel of its fur, everything was nearly the same except for its colour.

    With a group of Pandas running behind him, Jin suddenly thought of deploying mounts in the future but wondered how hard it would be to amodate every single cultivator. Unless they used their ''mini'' pets that were floating with them in the Store Instance.

    "Oh, hmm. That could actually be quite useful. If I remember correctly Qiu Yue''s report mentioned that the hamster prince''s Totem of Atem could also erge himself. If we use that method on the pets, it shouldn''t cost us that much." Jin thought to himself and then realised he could also ask Octofussy to create a temporary inscription charm to erge the pets.

    "Then I can put a price on a permanent ergement inscription charm and shrinking inscription charm. Or perhaps made them into a card! Oh!! Racing Service Instance! Why did I not think of that sooner?!" Jin suddenly had the urge to jump back to the Dungeon Maker yet when he saw from afar the poor condition Yang Ling was in defending herself against a skilled Demon Rats with Steam Tech Gauntlets he couldn''t leave her there.

    "The White Knight on a ck бнPandaing forth!" Jin shouted loudly, attracting the attention of the Demon Rats as well as the Tiger Princess and her squad.

 Chapter 545 Black Sludge Panda

    <h4>Chapter 545 ck Sludge Panda</h4>

    "бнWhite Knightбн.ck Panda... WHAT?" Yang Ling looked at the side and suddenly saw dust rifling up in the distance. Unfortunately, she was in no position to get too distracted with the opponent in front of her being one of the strongest Demon Rat she had fought up till now.

    The Demon Rat in front of her did not waste any breath. Instead, he let his fists do the talking. Yang Ling somehow managed to block it with her Tiger Shield w Attachments, but it seemed its durability had almost reached its limit.

    Right now, the Tiger Princess could only hope that she did not mishear the Panda word since there could only be one cultivator Yang Ling knew that would appear here and spew that animal name out.

    Seeing that the Tiger Princess was in a major pinch, he quickly opened his mouth, and a mixture of ck and white Maqi flew out, annihting the Demon Rats that were waiting for the chance to pounce on her.

    Jin did not realise how stupidly strong his Panda Yawning had be ever since he had unlocked the Maqi in him. With such a high amount of devastation caused by one Yawning beam, the Demon Rats had directed their animosity towards the new challenger. Suddenly, a new variant of Demon Rats appeared with two Steam Tech shoulder cannons on their shoulders as they were ordered to aim towards Jin.

    The dungeon supplier reacted by sending his other ck Sludge Pandas right in front of him in order to counter against the cannon projectiles. With each volley of fire, the Steam Tech Cannons roared at such a volume even Xiong Da and gang were wondering what was happening at the other battlefield.

    It was then the ck Sludge Pandas performed as instructed. Each one of them jumped to counter the flying projectiles. With Jin''s Pandaromic Eyes and his enhanced maniption of Maqi, he was able to move the ck Sludge Pandas to the predicted path of the projectiles, and they swallowed the shells into their sludge bodies.

    "Have a taste of your own medicine." Jin smiled as he fiddled with his fingers in the air andmanded his ck Sludge Pandas to return the metal shells back to the Demon Rats. (With, of course, some additional surprise.)

    When the shells were in the ck Sludge Pandas, Jin rotated them viciously within their bodies via Maqi. He believed that when the shells were spewed out, they would be flying back at around twice or thrice the speed they were fired at from the Demon Rat''s cannons.

    True enough, some of the shells flew too fast and too high that they ended up missing the Demon Rats'' army and hit somewhere further down the grasnds.

    Luckily the rest of the shells were more or less a direct hit (Considering the number of rats gathered), killing multiple Demon Rats including those who had the Shoulder Cannons on. Jin also noticed that when the Litoride powered shells exploded against those Steam Tech equipment, it caused a chain explosion to happen.

    "SoбнLitoride against Litoride explodes even harder?" Jin asked himself and Peppers suddenly stood behind him and observed the explosion.

    "Looks like it! Maybe we can conduct some experiment back in thebs with all the Steam Tech we''ve collected!" Peppers suggested, but when Jin turned his head, she had disappeared into thin air.

    .

    "I thought she wanted to see more of the explosions rather than the synergy of the litoride." Jin spoke to himself, which made Peppers openlyin in the System channel.

    "Well, duh! Those explosions don''t even reach a 0.05 score on my Explosion scale of perfect 10." Peppers replied and told Jin to prepare something more beautiful for her to watch.

    "How about no?" Jin countered as he saw that his attacks had been sufficient for Yang Ling to fall back.

    "You are no fun at all! I miss the old Jin. He loved lots of explosions." Peppersmented.

    "What old Jin?! I am still the same!" The Panda charged towards the Demon Rat Brawler and bit into his arm, tearing it off his body while Jin waved awkwardly at Yang Ling.

    "Pfft! You''ll see what you get if you ignore me further!" Peppers pouted in the background while Jin apologised for his tardiness.

    "These ck bears are your squadmates?" Yang Ling scoffed at the colour of the bear even though it was obviously shaped like a Panda. Meanwhile, the brawler was screaming considering his arm was bitten off by a weirdrge ck bear.

    Yet, Yang Ling didn''t show any mercy and stabbed him through the guts with her Tiger Shield w attachment as she sent some chi and mana, causing the w to vibrate violently and cut the brawler into multiple pieces.

    "I certainly had enough of killing Demon Rats for today." Yang Ling sounded exhausted as they saw the Demon Ratsing through the smoke of the attacks which Jin returned to them. They did not care about their dead and instead moved forward, wanting to kill the humans right in front of them no matter what.

    "You sure? It doesn''t seem like they had enough of us." Jin joked as he raised his hand out from his ck Sludge Panda Mount. Yang Ling did not hesitate to grab it and climbed on the Panda. The moment Yang Ling was behind him, her fatigue caused her to not waste any time in putting her head onto his back and sped her hands over his torso.

    Jin did not expect that but kept mum about it for now as hemanded his Pandas to move towards Xiong Da and Luo Bo. The rest of Yang Ling''s Squad also retreated on top of the other ck Sludge Pandas as they ran towards the Pandawans.

    When Luo Bo saw Boss Jining towards her, she felt as if that more or less signified that they are approaching the end of the challenge. "In that case, just onest shot to go all out." Luo Bo thought. She quickly unplugged the cap of a chi regeneration potion and gulped it down in two mouthfuls before throwing it towards an iing Demon Rat to slow it down.

    "Shield! Protect me! Staff, further enhance my chi output! Wand, do as much distraction as you can!" Luo Bo shouted at her squadmates. The rabbit cultivator hadn''t put in muching up with their names and referred to them by the weapons they were using.

    The squadmate with two shields equipped mmed down in front of Luo Bo as if to protect her from ranged attacks while he went bare fist against the Demon Rats that came near her. The double staff squadmate, on the other hand, mmed both of his staff down and started to gather the surrounding magic and turn it into chi for Luo Bo to use.

    Oh and the dual wand squad member? She was shooting her magic arrows like a gunman on drugs. (Whether they hit or not was another matter.) In fact, Luo Bo loved the craziness in the wand wielding squad member as she helped to distract the rats from their iing doom.

    Luo Bo''s new advanced weapon technique.

 Chapter 546 Rabbit Geyser Blasting Arrow

    <h4>Chapter 546 Rabbit Geyser sting Arrow</h4>

    No one would be able to doubt that the Rabbit Cultivator had trained hard not only in Jin''s Dungeons but outside of it too when Luo Bo''s Cultivation Grade 6 was disyed brilliantly above. (One which even made Xiong Da very surprised at her cultivation grade since the others were still Grade 5 at best, and him at Grade 4.)

    The rabbit silhouettes were not just jumping around her head but instead, pulling the bowstring in unison as two long rabbit ears appeared right on top of the bow''s handles.

    "Advanced Bow Art! Rabbit Geyser sting Arrow!"

    The moment she released her bowstring, the arrow flew straight into the crowd of Demon Rats amassing themselves to defend against the immensely shiny projectile heading their way. However, they soon realised that the magically charged arrow flew over their heads and the rats thought the worst was over. It then flew further until the chi energy within it dissipated, and it became a regr arrow, which one of the Demon Rat was able to block with ease.

    "Hah! What an archer!" One of the Demon Ratsmented sarcastically as they continued to move forward to finish off the archer and her friends especially now when they looked thoroughly exhausted. Unfortunately, what they did not know was that the attack was far from over.

    A few secondster, the ground atop the arrow''s pathway started to glow a little. And when the Demon Rats finally noticed the shimmer underneath, it was already toote. Rainbow coloured geyser like explosions emerged from the ground, instantly killing any Demon Rats within the vicinity of the Geysers.

    While itsted only for seconds, that particrly advanced bow art technique had sessfully annihted a reasonably good number of Demon Rats which made Xiong Da worry that he might have been overtaken by Luo Bo.

    Thus, he too was going to give it his all against the Demon Rats, but Jin tapped him on his shoulders and spoke two words out. "Time''s up."

    Within the blink of an eye, the Hippo Cultivator could visually see that he had returned to the conference room instance with his weapon missing from his hand. Xiong Da then looked up and around to see his weapon was on Jin''s hand.

    "Oh,e on!" Xiong Da sighed as he regretted not taking the opportunity like Luo Bo had done. Regardless, all the cultivators who went to the Farming World were dead beat. They could hardly stand properly, and the moment they took a sit on thosefy chairs in the Conference Room instance, their legs gave way immediately.

    "Any of you guys need to hit up the luxury recovery instance? бн I can also call for a Panda Nurse to check on you?" Jin offered as he was looking at his phone, seemingly tabting the scores for their special challenge.

    "Hmmбнthat''s quite a surprise." Jin looked startled when he saw the total scores on his screen. "Yun, are we counting the officers as additional points or standard one point for each rat killed?"

    "Does it really matter?" Yun asked uninterested as she was sitting down with her head staring at the ceiling for no particr reason.

    "In a wayбн Yeah." Jin answered as he shrugged his shoulders towards Yun.

    "Then just pick a coin or something and let it decide. No use thinking too much about it. It''s a silly challenge anyways." Yun decided casually, but suddenly two strong proponents yelled towards Jin.

    "Hey! You are saying you n to let a coin decide the fate of that plushie?! Don''t let me go to you and bash your skull into pieces!" Xiong Da threatened, but he was currently glued to his chair, obviously too tired to move an inch away fromfort.

    "Too bad for you it''s my challenge, and I can change things on a whim too. Jin stuck his tongue out yfully at his customers which made them whined loudly from their chairs.

    "Booosssssssss!!! Don''t do this to us! I worked hard, you know! Really really hard!" Luo Bo was wailing until Jin could see that she was on the verge of tearing. (However, Shi Zuo was signalling from the back, warning Jin not to take pity on her.)

    "Okay. I hear you guys. Coin toss then." And the entire room was filled with more groaning. (Except for Yang Ling who was giggling at the close knitted interaction between Jin and his regrs.)

    "Heads and the Demon Rat Officers will have additional points. Tails and each Demon Rat earns you guys just one point." Jin announced as he closed his eyes and flipped the coin up high. He would let the coin drop on the table to ensure he didn''t manipte it in any way.

    They followed the coin with their eyes as it flew high up and identally hit the ceiling. бн It got stuck in the middle of the intersection of two fake ceiling covers. Jin was kinda speechless while Yun ced her palm to her temple.

    "Unbelievably stupid," Yun said as she took out another gold coin from her storage ring and threw it towards the stuck coin. (As her coin was somehow older, it was easy to make the distinction based on the wear and tear.) After which, she decided to leave the room to make herself a cup of coffee, not wanting to stay to watch the results.

    That coin finally dropped to the table as it bounced a little before spinning for a while longer andnded on Heads. For some reason, all the cultivators demanded a new rethrow, but Jin did not ede to their demands and went straight to dering the winner of the special challenge.

    "Not much of a surprise here but the winner isбн.Yang Ling!" Jin had waited for a second to let them suffer the anticipation, but the result made both couples drop their jaw to the ground. Even Yang Ling, who had been enjoying her spectating position, got startled by the fact.

    "Eh? Me?" Yang Ling asked for a confirmation and Jin nodded his head while he ced the results on a simple excel sheet (which was projected on the screen) for everyone to see. It took them a while to digest the facts. As soon she recovered from the shock, Luo Bo called foul y.

    "IS SHE YOUR NEW GIRLFRIEND?! ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPRESS HER?!" Luo Bo shouted at the top of her voice despite her posture in the chair.

    "Wait, what?! No! I was just doing this as a jo-"

    "You!!! This despicable Boss! I know you want to impress your new date, but you can''t use us as mere coterals! I demandpensation!" Ruo Ying who had been rtively neutral up until now had begun toin about how unfair this whole challenge turned out to be.

    "I AM SUING YOU! Xiong Da, please make this case a pro bono for me." Luo Bo asked her plushie rival, and Xiong Da readily agreed to team up against Jin.

    "With much pleasure. Besides, the Tigers have a lot of money. Let''s make sure we go back rich." The hippowyer promised with a smirk on his face as he eyed Jin with unwarranted hatred.

 Chapter 547 Results of the Special Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 547 Results of the Special Challenge</h4>

    "Alright! Alright! Rx I was merely joking. It was super fun and scary at the same time to joke with you guys!" Jin switched out the excel sheet for the one with proper scoring.

    "THE PLUSHIE IS NOT A JOKE!" Both Xiong Da and Luo Bo managed to gather their strength to stand up and shouted simultaneously... before dropping back to their seats.

    "Obviously I underestimated both of your desires for Giant Plushies," Jin told them to calm down and started exining the stats obtained by the System to the cultivators.

    "If we go by the number of kills, Xiong Da, Ruo Ying and their squadmatesbined killed a total of 314 Demon Rats. On the other hand, Luo Bo''s team had a final kill count of 286 Demon Rats. Without that final attack, you would have been hovering at around 250 Demon Rats or so." Jin summarised, and Xiong Da seems very satisfied by the final score.

    "However, since we decided that those Demon Rat officers matter, Luo Bo would have killed an equivalent of 406 Demon Rats while Xiong Da''s new score reaches barely 350. That is assuming one Demon Rat Officer is worth about twenty Demon Rats, and higher ranks are worth more." Jin explicitly showed the type and kind of Demon Rat Officers they each killed.

    "Ohбнso you mean that my Bow Arts managed to kill those leaders?" Luo Bo asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Xiong Da had been mainly dealing with the rank and files as they were swarming him and his squad non stop." Jin replied and also broke down the number of Demon Rats each of their squadmates killed.

    "Like I said, this is still experimental, so the squad mate''s teamwork is still not up to parбн at least not to my expectations." Jin reminded them, but Yang Ling raised her hand and objected to this.

    "For a level one Squad, I think it''s more than enough. If you tweak it too well, you may start hurting the cultivator more instead of helping." Yang Ling said, and Jin understood what she was talking about.

    "I see. I will look through the data thoroughly and take your opinion into consideration." Jin agreed.

    "Sooooooooooo whaaaaatt isssss the verdctttt?" Luo Bo asked impatiently, and Jin sighed as he told them to wait a minute to get their plushies. With a snap of a finger, he disappeared from the conference room instance giving the two couples a chance for a round of rapid fire questions towards Yang Ling. It was as if their energy returned when it came to Boss Jin''s romance life.

    "You dating Boss?" Xiong Da raised his hand and asked Yang Ling, but she was speechless for a moment.

    "Nope. She wants to date Boss." The Love Expert Luo Bo immediately saw through her weakness.

    "But Boss does not want to date her?" Shi Zuo started to query.

    "Though I feel Boss has at least some obligations with her." Ruo Ying started to pitch into the discussion.

    "Haisss, I bet Boss is too focused on his work that he feels that a rtionship is not his main priority right now." Luo Bo shook her head as it slowly drops to the table. She felt disappointed that Jin was missing out on something good.

    All this time, Yang Ling couldn''t even say a word despite the fact that the discussion was all about her. It was as if she was muted by her бнguilt? Or were her desires so in for them to see through? Shi Zuo suddenly noticed that Yang Ling was quite ufortable about the situation, and told Luo Bo to stop.

    Yet, that little nosy rabbit was not stopping at all. After ying Cupid for her good old friend Bin Yong, the Beetle Cultivator and Jia Le, the Bellflower Cultivator andter aiding in Xiong Da''s affairs, Luo Bo felt confident she was able to give a helping hand to the Tiger Princess.

    However, unlike the other two, Luo Bo gave a disimer. "I don''t know how much he is willing to invest in romanceбн honestly, sometimes I think that his head is filled with ideas of expansions. Especially now when he has a whole freaking town mall."

    "Come to think of it, Boss really does expand rather quickly. I mean, for him to have the funds to create all of this within a few months. It''s kind of respectable in a way too. It feels like ages ago when he was just a small dungeon supplier store with just a couple of instances, even though it''s just been months. " Shi Zuo noted which made everyone nod their head.

    "I think that -" Before Yang Ling was able to tell them about her thoughts, Jin returned. This time all of the cultivators'' eyes brightened up, and their energy levels peaked to the maximum.

    PLUSHIES!!!

    "Everyone will be getting one plushie each. It''s a thank you for all the efforts in participating in this special experiment. The data you helped gather will work wonders to improve on the concept." Jin smiled as he first passed a giant rabbit plushie to Luo Bo.

    The Rabbit Cultivator squealed in excitement as she thanked Boss Jin profusely for the price. The giant fluffy rabbit plushie was at least 1.5 times taller than her, and when she hugged it tightly, it felt as if the rabbit plushie curled up towards her.

    Like a mother hugging her little child.

    As for Xiong Da, he had already received a custom plushie, so instead, he got the Fox Giant Plushie whereas Ruo Ying got the Snake Plushie. (She did not mind at all, as it felt extremelyfortable when held it like a bolster.)

    "I haven''t forgotten about you, Shi Zuo. Here is a customised monkey plushie, but its erm toy size. I did not have the time to really make arge one." Jin apologised as he passed a toy monkey plushie which was the size of a baby. The moment Shi Zuo held on it, he could feel that the ache on his shoulders was released.

    "YOU MADE THESE?" Luo Bo and Xiong Da eximed at once, and Jin stared at them for a moment.

    "ErmбнI did contract someone to make this, just that I figured in some way or anotherбнyou guys would be vying for more." Jin tried to make up an excuse on the spot, yet both of those plushie maniacs could sniff that particr lie out of him. They then stared at him for a long time until the dungeon supplier gave up and used hisst resort.

    "TRADE SECRET!"

 Chapter 548 Reward For Yang Ling

    <h4>Chapter 548 Reward For Yang Ling</h4>

    By using that dreaded excuse, the cultivators gave up on their questioning. They all knew that it was impossible to get anything more out of Jin whenever he resorted to his ''Trade Secrets'' and were ready to leave the instance until the Rabbit cultivator noticed something amiss.

    "We all helped you with your little challenge, so howe the Tiger Princess didn''t get one?" Luo Bo asked loudly, and Jin bitterlyughed in return. Yang Ling blushed a little and said she did not need the plushie. (Although Luo Bo could see that she wanted the same as the rest of the cultivators too. Who doesn''t want a customised plushie from Jin''s store!? They probably have yet to know the magic it contains.)

    "All I wanted was some battle data for my prototype suit. It''s fine even if I don''t get the plushie." Yang Ling insisted, but Luo Bo бнpersuasion skills were scarier. (To the point, Jin asked System to create a mental note not to provide such plushie challenges again with Luo Bo in the participation pool.)

    "Boss, you do have it, don''t you?" Luo Bo stared at Jin for a moment, and before he could reply, Shi Zuo dragged his girlfriend by the ear and out of the instance. Xiong Da, who could read the situation understood immediately, thanked Jin for his challenge before also hurrying away.

    Once everyone was gone, leaving only Jin and Yang Ling in the room, a period of awkward silence settled between them.

    "Sigh... alright I do have something for you. It''s not a plushie, but I suppose you might prefer this over it." Jin was the first to speak, and he took out arge metal suitcase cing it on the table. Yang Ling came forth and watched Jin click it opened.

    Only to reveal a brand new Gearbox suit.

    "I hope you''ll like it. As you might recall when you initially asked me to help out with your demonstration we were kinda short on time, so the one I gave you was a rushed modelбн Anyway, my researchers had a lot of fun creating it, and in the meantime, they also started modifying it." Jin exined as he looked at the nearly busted Gearbox suit that Yang Ling was wearing. Yet instead of trying out his the gearbox suit, the tiger princess went straight to the specification sheet manual.

    "I seeбн" Yang Ling noticed a significant increase in the power output and a better metalposition which she did not believe to be possible with such innovative methods. When she picked a piece up, Yang Ling realised how light it waspared to the one she was using.

    However was it also durable? She was unsure about that as she threw one of the pieces with all of her might and it startled Jin for a while. The piece cracked the wall panels, and Yang Ling went forward to pick it up. "Not bad. It is rather solid for something this light."

    "You could have given me an advance warning that you were going to do thatбн" Jin grimaced and Yang Ling bit back at his sentence.

    "Same to you too. You didn''t give me any warning that you were going to give me such a pleasant present." Yang Ling said as she retrieved the piece and put it back into the suitcase.

    "You sure you want to give this to me? It must be rather expensive making it? I mean, with all your expenses. WaitбнUNLESS YOU-" Yang Ling''s face turned rather ck as she gasped as the possibility. "YOU DIDN''T! ...did you?!"

    "No! I swear, apart from you and me not a single human on Earth possesses any of these custom made Gearbox products!" Jin gulped his saliva as he spoke the truth.

    "Not a single human on Earth, you say?" Yang Ling was a little suspicious on his rather strange choice of words, but she could sense an aura of truth through the use of the psychic powers. She noticed it was getting harder to read Jin each time they met.

    Though she was diligently training her powers in that regard, it seemed that the dungeon supplier was also keeping pace with his own training to not get affected by it and she could not really fault him for that.(бн If only she knew, that it was mostly Pei protecting him although its the System that doing her work right now. If she were present right now, she''d probably tell Jin ''You owe me one.")

    It was easier for her to read other people. Luo Bo, for example, was sincere in wanting to help Yang Ling in her endeavour to get into Jin''s pants whereas rest was merely joining for the fun of it. Yet, the Tiger Princess did not say a single word at all about it.

    Also, was it because she could not read Jin that she felt this way about him? She didn''t have an answer for this yet.

    However, what Luo Bo mentioned wasn''t exactly wrong. Jin was indeed not looking to have any romantic rtionship at the moment, and Yang Ling also had her own agendas. After Yang Ling discovered that she could walk again, it didn''t take long for her father to learn of this as well.

    The Tiger Lord began giving her more responsibilities than her two elder brothers because of their narrow mindedness in wanting to be the next Tiger Head.

    "Then I assume this is a bribe?" Yang Ling curled her lips as if wanting to trap Jin in another awkward situation. As expected, Jin sighed and nodded his head.

    "... I at least hope you can believe that I didn''t intend for it to be one. Your dad came by just now, and he wanted to proceed ahead with thebined military and police training exercise for the monster horde simtion. I am totally on board for it, but it''s just that he pushed the deadline way too near forfort." Jin tried not making himself sound too whiny, and Yang Ling stopped him.

    "You want to know why he''s pressing you for the exercise, right? I believe I do know the answer. What did he say about Northern Shenzhen status?" Yang Ling questioned.

    "He told me everything is all fine in the northern forests and mountains for now. He seemed to be more worried about a coastal attack." He replied, though a bit confused as he saw Yang Ling started to ponder over something.

    "Really? Hmm. That information kind of contradicts what I learnedбн"Yang Ling murmured to herself before she looked at Jin with a serious look.

    "What I am telling you will be confidential and can''t leave this room." She said as she had epted the improved customised prototype Gearbox and stored it in her ring.

    "Monsters are getting more rampant in the northern forests, but the Border Guards are still able to keep them under control so far. Still, there were times where the monster remains got possessed by demons. We do not know if it is a deliberate act, especially since demons do not appear as often until recently." Yang Ling revealed to him though it made Jin frown hard. If this was true, then it meant that the JODE organisation had purposely avoided sharing this information with him.

    He did not like to be blindsided, and it was one thing to let him create the centre and work it for them, but it was another issue if they were using him to disguise some ulterior motive. Furthermore, assuming Grandma Yuan was in it too, Jin believed that a certain kind of trust had already been broken before he even started.

    "Should I confront JODE about this directly?" Jin asked for Yang Ling''s opinion. She was surprised as this was the first time she had seen the usually rxed Jin with burning eyes. Onlyter did she connect the dots and realised that Jin must have been furious of being used to create the centre.

    "I do not know what you are thinking, but one thing''s for sure. The creation of a Shenzhen operation and training centre had always been the goal for JODE. If not you, they might have gone with somebody else. Reason being that it was nearer to the APAC (Asia Pacific) for coboration purposes. Not just Demon Exorcists from China but from other APAC countries as well." Yang Ling tried to reason it out, and upon listening, Jin seemed to cool down a little.

    "... I see. I might have read to much into it." Jin then forced a smile out.

    "Still, no harm asking your elder about it. She might have some clue about these urrences. Especially when you are now a Demon Exorcist and a soon to be Branch Manager, this information should be privy to you." Yang Ling rxed her stance a little when she saw Jin returning to normal.

    "Alright, thanks for the information. Oh, and please make sure to go back early. Your dad made it pretty clear that he would personally hold me responsible if you came backte." Jin said, and Yang Ling rolled her eyes up for a moment.

    "I bet he just wants to give me more work. I swear he''s enjoying the free time he''s getting by making me do that stuff for him. бн still, I wouldn''t want him toe and bite your head off." Yang Ling joked before she waved goodbye to Jin. The tiger princess then reunited with her guards, and they went back together.

    As for Jin, he had some pressing matters to settle.

 Chapter 549 Demon Rat Analysis

    <h4>Chapter 549 Demon Rat Analysis</h4>

    Jin returned to the Dungeon Maker not to check on the squads'' details nor the data he received from the improved Half Mask visors. He was there to analyse the Demon Rats and their abilities.

    With a cup of Blue Mountain coffee by his side, Jin started topare the rey of the earlier fight to the notes and reports that his minions had given him. With today being the first time he had actively met the Demon Rats, they still continued to be something of a mystery to Jin.

    Unlike Gold''s initial description, there appeared to be many variants that Jin did not know how to categorise, and the reports he received were even messier especially as they seemed to show biases based on his minions'' attack power.

    The Goblins were able to annihte and obliterate the town guards with ease, but when it came to the iing army that marched to take back the towns, the Dark Temrs'' group portrayed a different picture. (Yet, the Dark Temrs did report that killing the Town Guards was much easier than handling the army.)

    While there could be outside factors such as equipment, experience and sheer numbers, there ought to be a baseline to measure the Demon Rats strength. Fortunately, with the creation of the temporary dimensional instance by Yun, the System had been able to measure each and every one of them systematically and group them based on their characteristics.

    The most apparent evidence was that the army had each and every Demon Rat equipped with a steam tech weapon regardless of rank, making them more dangerous than the Town Guards who did not have the same loadout. Jin could only conclude that the North and South Schrs ensured that their armies were at least equipped with the basic weaponry.

    By retrieving the steam tech as well as the materials the Demon Rats turned to, it had notified Jin that both weapons and armour were way superior to the previous iteration. Even the materials gained seemed to be of a higher quality than the town guards.

    However, what surprised the System the most was their numbers. Within the Dimensional Instance itself, the System tabted that there had been at least 5000 within the region.

    If not for the cultivators'' constant use of weapon arts and techniques, they would have been quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number. Yet, what was most concerning was that even though Demon Rat vermintide had the advantage to pin its numbers against the cultivators, they chose not to do so.

    Rather, the Demon Rats had been cautious enough to first learn about the new type of enemies that had suddenly appeared in the region. This proved that they were at least intelligent enough to know that these particr new enemies were a menace to them.

    However, given the System''s analysis, as soon as they had realised that they could defeat the cultivators, they had pressed their attacks relentlessly. The rey video on Yang Ling demonstrated this very well.

    As soon as they noticed her attack weakening, and her power mostly stemming from her Gearbox, they had utilised their superior fighters to take her down.

    Despite their numbers, one might think they had low levels of constitution until the System found out that the advanced Steam Tech armour they wore had some sort of healing capability for them. While, the armour they wore may have been iplete, for example just the helmets or the pair of boots, many of the rats who were mildly injured had the ability to recover themselves.

    As for the officers, they were better equipped and those with aplete set of armour, their healing capabilities were off the charts which lead to believe that the amount of armour and the quality of it, increased their healing factor by at least two folds. Since some of the officers were killed, the armour was also ced into the Laboratory instance for sorting and reverse engineering.

    When the System queried the creator of Steam Tech, Weslie noted that most of the items she saw had been the improvements of what she had previously designed. There were some of the Steam Tech items that she had not seen before and iterated that the North and South Schrs had never given her any feedback on the performance of those items.

    Weslie could only deduce that the North and South Schrs must have had their own research team improving the technology that she had invented. Still, with the resources System had provided her (including the whole new level of knowledge in Engineering from Jin''s world), the Schr believed she could reverse engineering the Steam Tech and learn how to counter them.

    The only thing that she required was more Litoride. Pure ones that were freshly mined from the Earth for research purposes. Thus, Jin had tasked the Mousefolks (many who had been miners before) via Gold to search for Litoride veins. As for the rest of the Mousefolks, they were continuing their assaults on towns with Meomi.

    Also, what was worth noting were the variants and types of Demon Rats that the System was able to encounter from the battle skirmish it had hosted. While Xiong Da and Luo Bo mainly fought with rank and file Demon Rats, Yang Ling had the bad luck of encountering several Specialists (like the Demon Rat Brawler.)

    But instead of finishing her off at once, the specialist took the opportunity to test their abilities on her.

    It wasn''t until Jin came that those who were watching quickly ran away to learn more about the dungeon supplier on his ck sludge mounts. Jin was concerned with how incredibly sneaky these Demon Rats were and that they were more than troublesome than the Orcs.

    "It''s as if I am fighting a human army. They are retreating when necessary to observe and learn more about usбн I know that we are doing basically the same, but it sucks when it''s used against one." Jinined, fully aware of his hypocrisy, as he examined the various kinds of Demon Rats that the System had categorised.

    "User had been lucky that the Orcs had been more objective oriented and willing to sacrifice everything and anything for victory in one sweep. The Demon Rats are not invading, as they have already taken root in the Farming World, and can, therefore, take their time with retaliation. It pains System to see that they are more cunning and shrewd despite the fact that they could have been ideal workers."

    "Sigh, and they have yet toe out the big guns. Remember how the scouting party reported tanks and other heavy pieces of machinery? None of those appeared in the skirmish. Only foot soldiers and human ves. Even their transports are non existential." Jin said as he noticed that the human ves were used to drag their cargo and supplies.

    "I can only infer that this is just the cheapest subjugation battalion that the Demon Rats are willing to afford to retake those towns. They have yet to show us any more of their trump cards." Jin looked at howrge their armies were with a holographic map that the System had created. With reports of caves and mountains that hid their training facilities, it painted a gloomier picture for Jin to win against them.

    The only thing he could do was to possibly kill off the head of the snake (North and South Schrs) and slowly handle the rest of the bodyter. However, that would make themon townsfolk suffer since their food and trade would be significantly affected by the protracted war.

    "So is User going ahead to create another Raid instance to dy the attacks on the subjugation army?" The System asked as it predicted that the invading army would take another week or so by foot to reach the nearest town that was liberated.

    "Not sure, we do not have any leaders at the moment for the resistance movement. Unless Gold or Weslie personally reveals themselves to the public, and entice the townsfolk to move out of their homes, there is not much we can do." Jin contemted for a while before he decided to collect all the data, store them safely in the System''s database and return back to his home for dinner.

    If he could not think up a good solution right now, this didn''t mean that others would be in the same predicament. After all, that was one of the reasons he had insisted on the whole mandatory group dinner, and it had been days since Jin got his fill of Lynn''s cooking.

 Chapter 550 Dinner Time

    <h4>Chapter 550 Dinner Time</h4>

    Jin returned to his home, and the first thing he saw was Lynn already preparing the meal for the table. "Ah, Jin?" Lynn did not seem too surprised to see Jin finally back at home. For the past few days, all he had taken were snacks and coffee, so she figured that he probably craved some delicious food as part of the celebration for opening the Tree Mall.

    Even Jin was kind of startled by the amount of food that was ced on the table. It sorta felt like some weing back feast. (Well thinking about it he did kind of lock himself up in the dungeon maker for ages.)

    Qiu Yue was at the side of the table nearly drooling at the sight of Lynn''s creations, along with Milk and Peppers waiting patiently for Lynn to finish cooking up thest few final dishes. Jin kind of figured the asion and sat at the far end of the table. (None of them dared to try and ''help out''. Lynn had made it painfully clear that only her and her Peggies were allowed to do so.)

    Yet, it didn''t take long for the Penguin Chef to have all the dishes ced on the table. Some of which looked so good in the presentation that both Qiu Yue and Jin believed themselves to be in some five star restaurant.

    Before partaking the food, whenever Milk was present, she would ask Jin for permission to say Grace for the lord. Even though Jin was never much of a believer in religion, (especially after learning about gods, demons and other fantasies he was exposed to) he permitted Milk to lead the whole group for a small little prayer of thanks.

    "Thank you Lord, for the food and bless this small family of ours to survive the trials set by Lord thyself. May we get stronger through the hurdles of life and always support each other in times of need. And as I pray, Father, keep me in your presence. Amen," As Milk finished speaking they could feel a light enveloped the food, and the first to open their eyes was Peppers.

    "Let''s DIG IN!!!" Peppers shouted enthusiastically. She immediately grabbed the grilled chicken drumstick at the centre of the table. The rest shook their heads at the childish behaviour of little Peppers and began to pick the savoury food on the table in a more civilised manner.

    Jin enjoyed the two new dishes that were on the table and Lynn told him that those came were part of thetest spoils from the Giant World. Specifically, the Horned Chicken and the Four wed Scorpion they killed. "My Sub System had given me recipes on how to create Horned Grilled Chicken which used the horn as a spice condiment... Though I had to grind the horn to obtain it."

    "Ohh so that''s where the slightly spicy but at the same time peppery kind of tastees from?" Jin asked, and Lynn nodded her head.

    "As for the Four wed Sautижed Meat, ites primarily from the ws themselves rather than the body. Hence I left the part of therge ws as part of the presentation decoration for the dish." Lynn described as she introduced the dishes.

    "I loved it a lot! It tasted a little beefy, and its juicy parts are very satisfying, it''s guaranteed to be a hit." Qiu Yuemented, and suddenly a teleport appeared right in front of them. Kraft sauntered through the portal and greeted Jin with a dish as well.

    "Whew~! Just in time for dinner! Lucky me. I have something for all of you, take it as apologies for not being around for quite some time. Being aбнleader in the underworld sure has been trying." Kraft half smiled as he ced the dish on the table and opened the lid for them to smell.

    "It''s rare for you to be so busy with a task, that you even sent a message not to be disturbed. What exactly have you been up to?" Jin asked as he stood up for a while to peer through the new dish that was on the table.

    It looked like a mish mash of vegetables in the pot together. The soup was piping warm, and Kraft also figured that Jin would at leaste down for dinner with the whole gang after the opening ceremony.

    "Oh, you know nothing too special. Checked out the other gangs, infiltrated some of their headquarters and branch location, just to see what we were up against. But more importantly, I''ve been making friends with the Drows."

    "They are a surprisingly close knittedmunity. Had a very warm wee and I never expect for such an isted vige to be so hospitable. We could learn a thing or two from the dark elves." Kraft replied and exined that the vegetable soup was a traditional delicacy of theirs, promoting vitality and rich in antioxidants.

    Lynn took a sip of it and found it delightfully light and pleasant that she asked if Kraft could scoop a bowl for her to drink.

    "With pleasure, Chef Lynn. I can even do you one better as I''ve brought along the recipe and the vegetables needed if you wish to recreate or improve on it. Here you go! I never wish to miss any of your meals if possible. To be able to serve you with some good quality food for a change is my honour." Kraft smile rather genuinely for a change and subsequently helped the rest to get a portion of the soup. After which, he too had started digging in the sumptuous feast.

    As Kraft was about to start, he spoke out that Zeru seemed to be missingбнonly to coincide his findings with another Portal appearing from the backyard. Zeru came back with arge bag alongside him. It was not some luggage bag but a body bagбнwith someone still screaming inside.

    When the portal closed, Zeru went to the side of the bag and used his hand to knock the person unconscious, causing the muffled screaming to be reduced to silence. He then opened the bag and left him at the backyard for a moment.

    "Ermбн Wee back, Zeru." Jin greeted his master, who also had something else on his hands. It was Japanese Takoyaki.

    "Mixed vours. There''s octopus, chicken, squid and cheese. It''s slightlyte but congrattions to you Jin for sessfully opening the Tree Mall." Zeru said as he took out the delicious smelling meatballs on the table.

    "Please dig in," Jin said even though he was worried about the unconscious human that was ced in the body bag. He figured that if that human had incurred any injuries, Zeru would have asked Milk to do something about it.

    "Sorry about the unwarranted visitor, the System told me that you came for dinner, so I had to improvise a little," Zeru said as he thanked Lynn for the food.

    "Good thing I made extra. Please enjoy!" Lynn said casually as they started to discuss the things they needed to address while enjoying their meal as one big family. And yeah, the first thing on the agenda was the elephant in the room.

    That body bag.

 Chapter 551 Body Bag

    <h4>Chapter 551 Body Bag</h4>

    "Is that who I think it is?" Jin asked as he munched on his food. Zeru nodded his head as he was taught not to speak when chewing.

    "I tried contacting Kraft, but the System denied me ess. Thus, I had decided to follow the guy around instead." Zeru told. The person in the bag was none other than the mangaka artist and creator of Gunndam, Amura Rei.

    "Well doneбнI actually did not expect you to find him that fast." Jin praised his betor with much respect for his abilities. After all, he had instructed Zeru only hours ago and to show up with the results by dinner was somewhat too efficient even for Jin. Unfortunately, Zeru didn''t speak of visiting his wife''s grave but instead focused on how he found the mangaka artist.

    "Neither did I. The System was able to vaguely pinpoint the mangaka''s favourite ces via his Tweeter ount, and it was a huge coincidence that I found him exiting the animationpany he was coborating with."

    "I wasn''t sure at first, so I bumped into him when he had his phone out and helped him pick it up. The System was able to infiltrate his phone within an instant the moment I insert a USB drive in it." All the Sword Saint needed was less than a second to connect and disconnect it, which was more than enough time for the System to run interference.

    "System managed to corrte the information on his Tweeter ount and the one used on the target''s phone, ensuring that the person was the correct target." The System stated.

    "Yet, System was unable to find anything in his phone that had information pertaining to the Mecha World."

    "Thus, I shadowed him for a while. He seemed to be in a hurry after getting his phone. I was sure that given time, there would be an opportunity to at least have a conversation with Rei." Zeru finished filling his te with food and began eating.

    "Kraft''s here now." Qiu Yue pointed at an annoyed Kraft who disliked being called out.

    "Oh,e on. You want me to work while eating''s Lynn food? You must be crazy! I do not want to be beaten by her for not appreciating her food." Kraft gave ame excuse, but it at least made Lynn pleased.

    "Since when was the guy such a foodie?" Jin wondered to himself before Kraft''s eyes turned to him.

    "You try living in a shithole for who knows how many years without ess to food, and we will see how you turn out. Especially if you have a star chef making it for you. Also, you really should keep up with your training, Pei has beenining that you''ve been cking and I see that she''s right!"

    "I don''t think Zeru is done with his story. He said he stalked the guy, but that does not really exin how he ended up in a body bag. It should have been easy enough to knock him out and transport him without...you know that body bag. So, there must be more to it." Peppers deduced, and everyone looked at the Sword Saint.

    "Indeed. I''ve rescued him from the Yakuzas." With his mouth empty, he made ament and proceed to continue eating.

    "Arggh!! Don''t keep us hanging! It won''t hurt to talk a little while eating!" Milk was slightly frustrated by the pausing Zeru did, and he chuckled a little while chewing his food.

    "Did you manage to see which Yakuza group that did it?" Lynn, who had had her fair share of encountering the Yakuzas was curious to know more about the culprit. However, Zeru shook his head as he swallowed his food.

    "I only saw a partial tattoo at the neck of their ring leader when I intervened. It was a Skull biting on a gold coin." Zeru replied, and Lynn pondered for a moment while Zeru began from the top on how Rei got into the body bag.

    "Even though it was an open space, there was only him and me in the street after ''identally'' bumping to him. So when the action ensued, the kidnappers seemed to make sure that I was somewhat out of sight before they rushed the van in and grabbed him." Zeru said as he took a sip of water.

    "But hearing the ruckus and seeing how the incident unfolds, I quietly followed behind them, hoping to learn more about the situation. But instead of the gangster''s hideout, they brought him to an abandoned garage. I believed it was a holding ce for interrogations." Zeru shared and told them that was also the time when the System informed him that Jin decided toe for dinner.

    "So I figured I get some local delicacy before assaulting the ce since Rei would not be going anywhere else for some time." Zeru then picked a takoyaki ball from the table and began to chew. Everyone immediately inferred that the Sword Saint went to buy desserts and returned to bash the Yakuzas up before grabbing Rei.

    "Ah~! It could be the n Fukurouju. Considering that particr Lucky God deals with wealth and necromancy. Plus, they love to put people into their debt for favours." Lynn suddenly remembered what those tattoos could mean, but Zeru shrugged his shoulders. He knew that he only intervene to save the artist''s life, and it had to be done as quickly as possible to prevent them from calling reinforcements. (As well as keeping his identity secret.)

    "We could ask him more when he wakes up. If it has to do with money, then I guess he must have been lucky that we intervened for him before the situation got worse." Jin said as he looked back for a moment and continued eating. The mangaka artist was soundly asleep after being knocked unconscious by Zeru.

    "Nah, keep him asleep, that way I can do my stuff after my meal," Kraft added when the table incidentally shifted their attention to him.

    "You talked about Drows. How are the Dark Elves aiding you there? And how''s the Dungeon Cave going so far? Anyone finally defeated Dungeon Cave Level 10" The dungeon supplier asked even though the System could have provided the answer to him. Just as Kraft was about to speak, Yun entered the house via a portal right at the moment too.

    "Ah! Yun!" Lynn suddenly stood up and went to the kitchen to pick a te up. "I kept the best ones for you," Lynn said, and the dish was indeed filled with the juiciest of drumsticks that made Peppers envious.

    Very envious.

    The little Demonic Sage Queen was going to whine about it, but Milk immediately shafted a piece of meat into her mouth to keep her quiet.

    "Sorry foring inte, the shopfront had some meddlesome customers. Took care of them and I don''t wish to talk about it. Continue with what you guys were saying. I am already up to date from the System''s logs." Yun said in a slightly annoyed manner, and everyone understood that it would be best to let her eat and chill rather than ask about the incident.

    "Alright, fine. My turn, right?" Kraft leaned forward, and his usual smirk face was showing.

 Chapter 552 Night Foxes

    <h4>Chapter 552 Night Foxes</h4>

    Kraft exined how the integration had been a rather smooth sailing experience with the Dark Elves. The moment they joined him, he had already begun their induction in the tavern''s basement. The training was personally given by the foxes themselves. With all of them having received the necessarybat foundation, it was easy enough to teach.

    Additionally, as all of them had their own specialities, they were even able to help the Drow learn more about their craft in the future.

    But practice? That was another question.

    Kraft had asked the System to make an exception for them to able to train by themselves in the Dungeon Cave, but of course, he was willing to pay for their entrance fee. (At least the first 500 attempts of each elf.)

    Did they get some sort of help?

    On the contrary, he had viciously put a bunch of restrictions on them. For those with magical abilities, Kraft had coborated with the System to purposely ce anti magical inscriptions on them.

    With just a rock in their hands, the Dark Elves were forced to go through intensive training of killing the monsters. No potions nor weapons at hand. They had to learn to either go through it by brute force or with a cunning head.

    Of course, they died terribly over and over as the monsters did not show them any mercy since its a dungeon run. (At least Kraft did not strengthen the monster they had to fight, and he enjoyed each and every coin he spent on them.)

    However, with time, their nimble bodies learned how to evade the elemental attacks, endure the physical punishment, and if there was something like proficiency with rocks, each one of them inevitably became a grandmaster. They managed to clear the Dungeon Cave all the way down to the tenth floor, while no adventurer has set foot on that floor yet.

    It was because the ninth floor was not just a dungeon but a maze dungeon. One that was filled with treacherous traps and itsyout changed every day. Jin initially wanted to make the shift inyout per entry, but the System informed him that it would discourage the majority who would most likely proceed to farm out the first eight floors in such a case.

    Not only that, but the ninth floor was also filled with an amalgamation of monsters from the past eight floors, including the Praying Mantis. Only instead of a wide ying field, they had to fight against the Mantis in a narrowed space with possible traps at every turn.

    Which was also why the Dark Elves was able to seed in this particr instance. Their constant fighting sharpened their senses which allowed them to sniff out prey and notice the difference in the maze. Yet to the other adventurers, they were bogged down with items and heavy armour to protect themselves from enemies. (Still, this maze dungeon was a practice for most of them, to prepare them for the lower levels when death was looming with every step.)

    Besides, after getting cut a dozen times by the Praying Mantis in the earlier levels, it would be a shame if the Drows would be killed by it. And unlike the adventurers who could teleport to any level of the dungeon they had set foot on, Kraft was sadistic enough to make the Drows start over from level one as soon as they died.

    It wasn''t too surprising that only one out of ten of them managed to clear this trial within the first 500 attempts, as for those who were unable to they would either need to pay for themselves or earn money to do that.

    Their new boss allowed them to do so by partying with the other adventurers but with one condition. The Dark Elves had to wear the attire which Kraft had custom ordered from Zhi Nu. It was the same kind of battle jacket which the Foxes were wearing (minus all the inscriptions). The only (other) difference was the particr badge on the Foxes sleeves, the Drows had been given their own symbol.

    A fox with a full moon in the background. Kraft told them to call themselves the Night Foxes from that point on.

    The adventurers were initially scared to death when they saw Dark Elves in the vicinity. It would be one thing if it had only been one, but there were so many, that some had assumed it they came here to ambush one.

    Luckily Zhi Nu, the adventurer''s guild manager hade out to assure them they were not here to make any trouble, but because they were the security forces which the adventurer guild had employed.

    While Kraft did state that he wanted to create an underworld gang, in essence, he was also creating security for this particr small budding town. And what would be better than a group that would remain unbiased against the goblins, orcs AND humans?

    Their appearance came at the perfect time as well. Qiu Yue and Jin''s contract between the Orc''s spymaster was nearing to its end. Cross, the spymaster goblin for the Orcs had graciously extended their stay for another month because of the overwhelming progress of the Dungeon Cave. Still, the Orcs Security Force could not remain there forever since it was draining a lot of their resources too.

    Therefore, the Night Foxes took over the security the adventurers needed in the vicinity. The moment Zhi Nu made the announcement, no one dared to mess the Dark Elves nor did they try to make fun of them at all.

    Their presence alone was menacing enough to cause crime rates to drop down to unprecedented levels after they demonstrated their show of force once.

    One of the leading adventurer team had started to think that they could extort whoever they pleased just because they had first hand information on how to clear the Dungeon Cave.

    Needless to say, Kraft made a shining example of them when they were thrown into the makeshift jail cell by the Drows. Nowadays, that particr adventurer team selflessly looks after anyone who needs help without anyints.

    "Soбнare they super buffed or something? Especially that ridiculously harsh training with just a stone." Jin asked, and Kraft nodded his head with confidence.

    "Not that stupidly buffed kind of image that you have in mind but they are strong enough to take down Three Boar Knights at once. And that''s the weakest of them all with just one stone. I won''t bother to tell you how powerful the strongest of them is, cause it will spoil the fun." Kraft grinned and iterated that the Dark Elves were now respected as the Big Brother of the neighbourhood.

    "Many of the new adventurers rely on them to make it through the first five floorsбнfor a price of course." Kraftughed as he knew that it was easy money. "But that''s more or less the overall picture for the Dungeon Cave."

    "I see. Use the money you earn to build an outpost for themбнunless you prefer to use the tavern as the base, which I won''t mind too." Jin suggested, but Kraft had already proceeded with thetter choice.

    "I already asked the System to create beddings and such under the tavern. Like a secret base, you know." Kraft smiled as he said that. The old fox seemed to be done with his report and looked expectantly towards Qiu Yue and Lynn, as it should be the girls'' turn to share ns for the Giant World.

 Chapter 553 Blowing Out Of Proportion

    <h4>Chapter 553 Blowing Out Of Proportion</h4>

    "Qiu Yue already shared some of it with me earlier, but let''s share it with the rest of the group. Do we have an update on the Hamster Pr-"

    "Oh, we have already captured a Smander, it''s in our possession already." Qiu Yue interrupted as she leaned over the table to take a piece of the Takoyaki as well. "The moment you left after instructing me, Hamatarou managed to apprehend one."

    "бнThat''s fast. What did you learn?" Jin asked as he sat back.

    "Apparently, their new King had the precognition that massacring all the other vigers were the only way to survive. Edwardio, the Smander Guard we captured told us that whatever their new King eats, he gains the power of that particr species as well as their knowledge. Not to mention, they also possess a Totem of Atem from robbing the frogs." Qiu Yue exined.

    "Their new King can absorb powers? So which viges have they killed already?" Jin asked as the situation seemed more pressing than he had anticipated. If all the viges were destroyed, there was no saying if he had powerful enough minions to assist as they had promised the Hamster Prince. Also, no help for him meant no new minions and of course no new manpower.

    "At the moment, it''s only the frogs. Oh, but we happened to rescue one frog survivor. Gaeru happened to have gone out on a hunt that particr day, so he was spared from the massacre. However, he did not seem to take things too lightly, so Hamatarou had to kidnap him when he tried to single handedly take revenge." Qiu Yue replied.

    "Mhmm, Qiu and I decided to let out the Smander Guard after roughing him up a bit and for him to open a secret passage for us. The System should already have the map of the castle in its database by now. All we need is a n to gather all of them and annihte them at once." Lynn discussed their ns out.

    "Sounds like it will be a nice workout for me," Kraftmented which also made Peppers raise her hand.

    "May I blow up the whole ce? That should be able to kill the people in the castle all in one go. With Milk''s Scan, I can do an area wide scan and annihte the remnants as well as rescuing the other viges." Peppers asked, and Jin looked at her with a bit of a dilemma.

    "бнHow about we rescue the viges first and bring them to our ce before dealing with the rest of the castle?" Jin asked, and Peppers eyes shone like a diamond.

    "Oooooh!!! The old Jin is back!! Exploding not just the castle but the entire city itself!! If that''s the case, we can just skip right to that step and burn the entire city down. Save us the manpower to rescue them." Peppers suggested with glee (some people just want to see the world burn) and Lynn looked at Peppers with fascination at her proposal.

    "They are like giants, you know. At least ten times taller than you. Their buildings are waaaaaaaaay bigger than you can imagine." Lynn told her as if her explosion was not meant to bring down a Titan''s City.

    "NO WAY!? A Titan''s City?!!! Give me a second while I take a look!" Peppers said as she sucked her thumbs of all the food sauce and conjured a magic eye out before teleporting it into the Giant''s world. Then, a projected screen appeared at the far side of the table, giving her a bird''s eye view of the city. Everyone on the table was equally curious as they stood up and looked through the screen ike a window to that world.

    "Estimated distance to cover the entire city, would approximately be the size of umtivend size of Mexico." The System stated, and it made Peppers contemte before she started to make some calctions on a conjured ckboard.

    "...You kidding me, right? You want to tell me that you seriously have the power to st an entire country out of the existence?" Jin queried, and Peppers who snapped out of her thoughts, turned and smiled at Jin.

    "I can do that. I mean the System would have to remove the limiter of course, but ahhaha I''ll probably be out ofmission for at least a weekбн no scratch that. More like a month if I''m lucky even with constant treatment." Peppers answered as she returned to her ckboard. The System chimed in that they could alleviate her pain by cing her in a controlleda.

    However, to Peppers. It would be an achievement. A test of her skills to prove that she was capable of annihting an entire country.

    "Wwaait. You are seriously considering!" Jin halted Peppers way of thinking, but before he knew it, she disappeared.

    "HAHAAHHA! Scare you for a second, right?!" Peppers appeared on the second floor as sheughed from above. After which, she skipped down the stairs and returned to her chair.

    "Gosh, do not scare me like that." Jin let out a heavy sigh of relief and returned back to his seat only to notice that Qiu Yue had an earnest look on her face.

    "Maybe, it''s not the worst idea after all." Qiu Yue blurted out.

    "What? Destroying the entire city and putting Peppers into aa?" Jin questioned Qiu Yue''s way of thinking. It was one thing to aid them with some of their minions, but another thing to be terrorist on a whole new level, and more importantly, he did not wish to burden Peppers that much for a favour.

    "You see, currently we have Lost Tech and Steam Tech in our possession. We can ask Ayse and Weslie toe up with something that may be able to amplify Pepper''s magical powers to a point where our little wizard does not end up killing herself." Qiu Yue voiced out her opinion.

    "So now our solution is to destroy everything with a big st?" Jin seemed not to be in favour of that n.

    "No, you don''t get it? The threat is the Smanders which are in that city. The people we wish to help are also in the city. Either way, we are going to get both of them. The explosion that Peppers performs also helps us collect tens or maybe hundreds worth of diverse species within that small region itself, enhancing our food repertoire by many folds."

    "While I do not really agree with that method, but yes, with Peppers being the only one to kill them in one hit, we would be able to replicate the Giant Monsters and use them for breeding. If I kill it, it will only be a piece of meat." Lynn added on.

    "But the meat you receive and clone will definitely be cheaper than the reproduction cost of those Giant Monsters." Jin countered yet Lynn shook her head. "Remember what Half Ghoul Lord Derek is experimenting on? If he has live subjects, he should be able to turn those Giant Monsters into a more viable food source. Dead bodies can''t be of assistance of him."

    "Haha, not to mention, you can rebuild that city from scratch. Who knows? Other Giant inhabitants might be able to live in there as well." Kraft said which gave Jin the chills.

    "Why does it feel like you want the experience of little humans to be crushed by Giants." Jin used the fox. He felt defeated that everyone seemed to be supporting that idea.

    "Iбнshall ask that Hamster Prince for his opinion before I proceed. I do not want our actions to bite us in the ass like that mechanical brain titan." Jin sigh as he looked at the decisive faces at the table.

    "System, please find out if there will be consequences to such actions. I don''t want to be cklisted from your market nor do I want to end up on a bounty list and be hunted down by some Protectors of the Universe."

    "User, please be reassured that such Protectors of the Universe are non existential. If there is, we are technically the pioneers."

    "You mean the pioneers of bringing death and destruction?" Jin argued back.

    "User protects them by putting them to the System''s care." The System rebutted, and everyoneughed with a bitter smile on their face. Somehow they knew that the System was being sarcastic to a point where Jin could only proceed to the next topic.

 Chapter 554 Mecha World Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 554 Mecha World Discussion</h4>

    Everyone was almost done with their food, so Lynn decided to show off the true desserts of the night.

    Mocha Ice Cream Pudding.

    However, the conversations were still ongoing between the entire group. Jin told them about the situation he was facing and how he needed to go to the Mecha World to get the Mechanical Brain of the Living Titan from the United Federation before defeating the Farm Rats for good.

    "Neither one of them can be ssified as good." Yun who had asked Lynn to ce her dessert at the side as she finished thest bit of chicken on her te. "Both factionsmitted treacherous crimes on each other, and this isn''t the first time they got into a war."

    "So, unlike the Demon Rats or the Orcs, there are no clear lines for this?" Jin asked, and Yun nodded her head.

    "Hurting either one of the two factions will help shift the bnce in favour of the other faction. For example, if you take the Living Titan''s brain away, it will cost them a superweapon which could be used to deter the Xeon Union." Yun continued.

    "Then let''s be the bad guys this time around." Zeru, who usually refrained from giving too many opinions, had decided to speak up for this.

    "What do you mean?" Jin asked, and Kraft giggled as he held onto this ss cup of mocha ice cream pudding.

    "I see where you areing from Zeru. But still, for you to suggest that? Oh man, that''s gold! Comedy gold! My stomach hurts from all the giggling." Kraft broke out inughter as he bit on a biscuit that was ced on top of the mocha pudding. Meanwhile, Jin was all confused from that side conversation.

    "Oh, you don''t know the full story?" Kraft looked at Zeru for once, and he reluctantly nodded his head, as if permitting the fox to tell the story out. "You know how everyone praises Zeru for his swordsmanship and for that movie about his chivalry to protect his master?" Kraft asked, and all three System Users nodded their head.

    "It''s a coverup leaving out all the bad stuff. Like the really illegal kind of bad stuff. That is why all the underworld gang came after him. Even the police couldn''t handle the scum of his ''master''." Kraft revealed, reinforcing what Yun had said about Tou Ma. Suddenly Zeru let out his killing intent aimed at Kraft.

    "Oh oops, my bad, unlike me, some of us actually have sentimental value for our mentor." Kraft apologised to Zeru before continuing. "The gang wars were extremely rampant during Zeru''s time, and when his mentor became part of the cab members, he made Zeru do despicable things," Kraft mentioned the assassination of known cab members and Zeru''s hand in disguising them to look like it was the work of various gangs.

    "Oh, but in his defence, those cab members were the worst kind of scum imaginable. Each one tainted ck in the cesspool of corruption, so you do not have to feel bad for them." Kraft exined that triggered the police to do a shakedown on the gang wars that were in the shadows.

    "Usually, the police do not interfere with the gang stuff, but this was too big of a news story that the policemissioner had his hands forced."

    ording to Kraft, Zeru participated with the capturing of key gang members, to kind of cover up his tracks but his master was not done yet. What he did next shocked all of them. To change the gamepletely, he was tasked to kidnap the children of the Triad leaders.

    Nobody except Zeru was skilled enough to perform such a feat.

    "In return, his mentor demanded millions of money which heter used to improve the infrastructure of the country. Naturally, it took decades to see the genius of his groundwork, so at that point of time, people did not know his objective and the gang leaders united together to go against the police and the public."

    "Seeing how Zeru''s master was a proponent of anti gang war, he was targeted regrly but little did they know that he was the mastermind of the whole fiasco in the country. Well, what followed afterwards isn''t too far from what that movie showed you guys. The infamous fight of protecting his master. Up to this day, only his mentor and Zeru knew about this." Kraft concluded his storytelling and paused to scoop another portion of his pudding.

    "And me, of course. Hehehe! Otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to share this story with you! Everything else is covered in lies and propaganda." Kraft added, and Zeru shook his head.

    "You were after all the one who advised him to do these despicable things" Zeru pointed out the fox''s involvement and Jin furrowed his eyebrows for a whileбнuntil he connected all the dots.

    "Your mentor was a System User??" Jin asked, and Zeru nodded his head.

    "Sub System User. To be exact." Kraft shook his chair back and forth until Yun threw her spoon at Kraft, to remind him to show some table manners.

    "So, you are suggesting that we should be themon enemy to unite that world''s two factions together?" Lynn tried to return back to topic and Zeru nodded his head solemnly.

    "We might not be gods, but we can y the act of gods." Yun chimed in with her opinion and Jin guessed it was a decent ideaбн provided they had the necessary power.

    "Even if we want to be their enemies. We do not have any advanced capabilities against the Mecha World!"

    "We can always steal." Milk said out loudly, which nearly made everyone spit their pudding out of their mouth. "What? Just because I am a priestess, I can''t say bad stuff?" Milk pouted and stole a spoonful from Peppers.

    "Hey! Why did you-" Suddenly another spoon flew towards Peppers and the mother of the group told them not to quarrel at the dining table.

    "Okay, even if we were to бнborrow their items, what are we talking? Their robots? Mechataur and the Robot Crawlers were alive in the Dungeon World, but I cannot really kill non living thing and make them obey me. I need to physically bring those things back to the System ce." Jin said with more dilemma when he first started.

    "Did you not bring back those Steam Tech as well?" Qiu Yue questioned and Jin said that it was because they were equipped on the Demon Rats.

    "Then if we kill the humans piloting the Mechas, do you think you can obtain them?" Qiu Yue replied with yet another question which made Jin equally curious as well.

    "If that were possible, Jin would already have gotten the Floating Lost Tech Carrier Ship when his minions killed the captain." Peppers reaffirmed that it was not feasible.

    "And if I may interrupt. As much as I am a fan of the five finger discount (shoplifting), why bother when you have a library full of blueprints right in front of you?" Kraft pointed his spoon at the body bag that was still left in the backyard.

    "Believe it or not, he truly is from the Mecha World. Haven''t figured out how he arrived here yet, but this ''Rnd'' was a pretty talented engineer."

 Chapter 555 KraftтАЩs Insistence

    <h4>Chapter 555 Kraftбпs Insistence</h4>

    "You kidding me?" Jin looked back and saw the Amura Rei sleeping so soundly after Zeru''s chop.

    "Do you wish to bring him into the interrogation room?" Kraft smiled mischievously as he remembered he was supposed to have been captured by the Japanese Yakuza.

    "Are you nning to pretend we are the ones to have abducted him?" Qiu Yue questioned. Her face revealed that she would be happy to take part in such a farce.

    "You can''t be serious, right?" Lynn began clearing the dishes and Yun assisted her, ignoring the conversation the rest were having.

    "I don''t think it''s that bad? If he thinks that we are the gangsters, he might probably be more submissive than learning that we are a group of magically enhanced people that knows his origin." Qiu Yue replied, and Kraft had already started dragging him to his ''personal'' chambers.

    "DO I even have a say in this?" Jin asked unwillingly for all the decisions to be made without him today. Most importantly, he demanded to know why Kraft didn''t just merely pick the information out of his head.

    "You kidding me?" Kraft reiterated what Jin just asked to him. "It''s no fun that way! I''ve been training those violet skins until I became too bored of them all for your sake. Besides, this is a scenario, we do not usually get to y with."

    "Enjoy being one of the bad guys for a change! And of course! You have a choice. Do you prefer being Underling A or Subordinate B? Heck, I am feeling generous... if you ask really~ nicely, I may just promote you to be Henchman C." Kraft teased, and Qiu Yue began followed him upstairs.

    "Zeru, do you mind being the ''good'' cop in this situation? I''d feel better knowing that someone looks out that Kraft doesn''t break our guest." Jin asked, and Zeru furrowed his eyebrows.

    "Master does not wish to be part of the interrogation? We could call for you once he is more cooperative." Zeru suggested, and Jinughed as he looked at Qiu Yue and Kraft carrying the body to the second floor.

    "I haveбнa few special projects to take care off for the night. I am afraid if I don''t do it now, I might not have the time after I learn the truth. Also, I''d rather be able to have a good night''s sleep. I somehow doubt it will be possible if I watch ...you know how Kraft can beбнtoo creative in his methods."

    "I see, very well then. Have a good rest, Master. I shall overlook the interrogation for you." Zeru promised as he got up and thanked Lynn for her wonderful meal.

    "Oh, before you go. Was your trip бн fruitful?" Jin asked with concern, hoping that he managed to at least aplish his personal desire.

    "Indeed. It was a pleasant surprise that no one touched that ce yet. I can only hope that I can still see the grave in the future as well." Zeru''s smile was bittersweet, an expression which Jin rarely saw his teacher show to the public.

    "I seeбнThat''s good to hear." Jin said as he teleported himself back to the Dungeon Maker. "System, is Zeru telling the truth? May I have the coordinates for his wife''s grave." The System did not reply and instead gave the coordinates for Jin and teleported him to the particr spot.

    The first thing Jin noticed was that he was at the middle of a hill with a gigantic tree. While it definitely cannot bepared to the size of his Tree Mall, the tree wasrge by its standard counterparts. Many were seen taking photos of themselves with their friends and spouses underneath it on a cold night evening.

    "The city named that particr tree, the Daigo Zakura. It was named after their Emperor Go Daigo who visited around 900 years ago." The System stated and told its User that they were currently at Maniwa in Okayama Prefecture, West Japan. It also noted that the city was known as the City of Flowers.

    "Now that you mention it, Zeru''s cultivation is the Lotus, right? Don''t we have our very own City of Flowers in China as well?" Jin asked as he enjoyed at the towering Sakura tree alone.

    "The state government had proimed Guangzhou to be the City of Flowers in thete 1990s for tourism promotion purposes. However, the original City of Flowers was located in Jiangsu Province, Suzhou, where the ssical Gardens including the infamous Cang Lang Pavillion were built in the 11th Century."

    "The original City of Flowers?" Jin did not know that his country had such a ce before.

    "Indeed. The Flower ns, who were infamous for their Flower Eastern Cultivation, called that ce their home during the ruling of the Wu Dynasty. Records stated that one needed special permission or at least a Flower Cultivation in order to enter their city. Else, it would merely be a mirage to those who sought that city out." The System stated.

    "SoбнZeru was originally from that city? Wait, I thought he was a mixed blood." Jin questioned, and it seemed to have more questions than ever.

    "One of Zeru''s parents originated from here in Maniwa and his wife was from our City of Flowers. For more information, please query Betor Zeru." The System did not wish to reveal more unless Jin personally questioned Zeru himself.

    "Fine then onest question. Is this the tree where Zeruid his wife to rest?" Jin asked the most pertinent question, but the System diverted his question to Zeru.

    "Please refer your queries to Betor Zeru himself." The System repeatedly replied even though Jin was trying his luck out.

    "Fine, then I shall rephrase the question. I wish toy down a bouquet of flowers at her grave. May I know where it is?" Jin knew that sometimes, it was the phrasing of the questions that matter.

    Instantly, the System reported the directions to where the grave was, and Jin found it to be at another Sakura tree, and this time it was near a small pond. There, he saw a glimpse of two lotuses floating at the side of theke.

    A pair of ck and white lotus.

    The dungeon supplier could sense that there was chi infused into the pair of lotus as if to ensure their longevity on the pond. "Ah, that is no doubt Zeru''s chi," Jin whispered to himself as he pulled out a small bouquet of lotus flowers from his storage ring which he bought it immediately via the System''s ck market app on his phone. (The app icon had a Panda with a hood down, smirking right back at Jin.)

    He then ced it near the pond since there was no gravestone in sight despite trying to search for it. Only a few minutester did the System decided to reveal that Zeru purposely ced the grave in the water, making it out of sight for other people.

    "I guess he must have his reasons." Jin thought as he bowed towards theke as a sign of respect.

    However, at that moment, he realised that there was a change in chi within the atmosphere as if it was in reaction to his flower offerings.

 Chapter 556 Spirit of the Land - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 556 Spirit of the Land - Part 1</h4>

    "Warning, the System has noted a significant change in the environment." The System stated, and yet Jin felt like he was telling him the obvious.

    However, what the System meant was that there was such a drastic change of chi that he warranted caution to his well being. True enough, the water of the pond right in front of him began to ripple and suddenly the Sakura tree that should be out of season, bared with only branches, had begun to bloom.

    Jin did not take any chances and took his sword out and conserved his Maqi into the sword that he was holding. Ever since the dungeon supplier had experienced Zeru''s way of drawing his sword, his body automatically attempted to copy that particr movement stance to dish out the strongest amount of damage in a single hit.

    "That ...stance. Xiao Ru taught you that?" A gentle female voice sounded from within the pond, and Jin''s shoulders stiffened up immediately.

    "Xiao Ru?... Do you mean Zeru?" Jin asked, mildly confused by the question, and the voice giggled. He clearly remembered that Zeru''s original name should be Zhe Rou rather than Ru nor as the voice named him ''Zhi Ru''.

    "I see, so you call him by his nickname instead." The voice whispered in Jin''s head as a foggy silhouette of ady appeared right beside the Sakura Tree.

    "System rmends User to emit more Maqi for the silhouette to materialise further." Jin acknowledged the System''s opinion and did as he was told. Soon, the foggy silhouette started to take on a more corporeal shape through the more concentrated emission of Maqi.

    Consequently, the Sakura tree started to bloom even further.

    Within a few minutes, Jin could see a gentle, demure lookingdy with hair longer than her height sitting at the side of the Sakura Tree, staring at the dungeon supplier with curiosity.

    "Zhi Ru never liked to use his new name for some reason." Thedy graciously introduced herself as Fei Er, and the wife of Zeru. "To be able to meet his current master is an honour." Fei Er said as she slowly bowed and prostrated in front of him.

    Jin then realised that the way she prostrated did not use her legs at all. Only with a closer look did he notice that she did not have any legs at all. Her thighs were practically rooted to the ground.

    "Ah...it''s a long story." Fei Er saw his expression and smiled bitterly.

    "What I have is time." Jin lied. He hardly knew the history of his betors, might as well start with this. Although he was kind of surprised that her spirit still lingered on thisnd.

    "I feel that you are not really honest in that aspect. Nevertheless, I am happy for your concern. Long story short, it''s a curse." Fei Er said as she dragged herself towards the pond. There were no apparent tracks on the ground when she moved, indicating that she was indeed a spirit of thend as Fei Er looked at the pair of ck and White Lotus.

    "Zhi Ru has been here, recently?" Fei Er asked seemingly unaware that Zeru had recently visited her grave which confused Jin all the more.

    "Wait, how did you know that I am ...his current master, without knowing that he was here to visit you just earlier?" Jin asked, and Fei Er smiled slowly.

    "You have his smell on you, so you ought to have interacted with him often and not too long ago. Other than that this ce is not essible to anyone who does not know of it. If you are here, then he must have shared it with, so he must trust you a lot."

    "Given your young age and the Panda Cultivation I can see in you, you should be either the current Head of your n or the next in line." Fei Er answered with a hint of sadness and longing.

    "System, is it true? Zeru did not get to see her?" Jin asked, and System gave a positive reply.

    "Betor Zeru said it was enough to ce the flowers down and returned toplete User''s request." The System replied shortly after.

    "That idiot!!" Jin eximed, and the spirit of thend kindly requested Jin to calm down.

    After a bit of short conversation, Jin learnt that Zhe Rou was also a cover up name from the time he was working as a personal bodyguard for Tou Ma. He who had been one of the most promising cab ministers in his time as well as the Sword Saint''s most recent master before retiring.

    Yet Jin also remembered Yun had told him that Tou Ma was once a Sub System User which abused his powers the moment Zhi Ru was done working for him. However, Jin only knew bits and pieces of the story, and with each new revtion by the Fei Er, it made dungeon supplier feel that he only had pieces of the overall puzzle.

    "Ever since he ran away from the City of Flowers with me, he had been busy protecting this master of his. Master Tou Ma privately paid Zhi Ru a high amount of allowance not only to protect him but also do бн''other things'' for him. s, my love could not refuse him."

    "He used all that money to help slow down my curse for leaving the City of Flowers without permission." Fei Er exined that it was her city''s tradition to hold a special ritual which would make it so that they forgot most details about the real city of flowers in Suzhou.

    "So, the typical situation where your parents denied your marriage with Zhi Ru, so the two of you eloped?" Jin asked as he sat right beside the Sakura Tree. After having reached full blossom, the enormous tree continued to wither.

    It was as if indicating that Fei Er only had that much time to remain as a visible spirit of the Land and Jin''s Maqi was only able to slow the process marginally.

    She nodded her head lightly as if it still haunted her, but one thing was for sure. Her eyes did not betray her resolution of being in this current state. Not a single regret could be seen in her expression at all.

    Still, Jin did not understand how Fei Er appeared right in front of him when she could have done so for Zeru instead. "User, do you really wish to waste Spirit Fei Er''s time on pondering why she appeared?"

    "You are right. This is a direct order which demands 100%pliance. Order Zeru to get here as soon as he is readily possible. Ignore that Kraft idea that I was asking him about. Teleport him to this exact location and use my money instead of using his System points." Jinmanded in his thoughts as he could see Fei Er staring at the distant end of the pond.

    "Betor Zeru, reporting for duty." In less than a few seconds, Zeru appeared right in front of Jin, but hisbat ready expression turned into a surprise when he saw the surroundings and felt the familiar chi aura within the vicinity.

    "FeiбнEr?" Those two words were something that he yearned to say out loud for the past few decades.

 Chapter 557 Spirit Of The Land - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 557 Spirit Of The Land - Part 2</h4>

    "Xiao Ru!" Fei Er ced her hands towards her mouth, covering the astonishment she had seeing Zeru once more in the flesh.

    "Jinбн Masterбн How did you manage to?" Zeru was still in disbelief that he was able to see her personally. "WaitбнSystem did you have a hand in this?!" There was a slight tone of distrust in his voice but at the same time, gratitude from his heart.

    "User wished to pay respect to Betor Zeru''s wife. Upon triggering the initial chain of events which made her visible, System merely suggested a certain course of action for User to take. User takes full responsibility for ''reviving'' Fei Er." The System slyly exined while Jin intuitively moved himself away from the scene, giving the two some private space for their reunion.

    "So, System. When have you be such a matchmaker?" Jin asked as he returned to the hills. As he looked back, he realised that there was some form of mirage illusion happening, which covered the entire scene of the Sakura tree blooming in the middle of winter. And to top off this miracle, a fresh batch of snow seemed to be falling at the same time as well, giving the couple the almost perfect reunion.

    "System is an amalgamation of various entities. The matchmaker was one of the jobs the previous Panda n members had acquired. Thus, it should not be a surprise that System behaves this way every once in a while."

    "Wait. So does that mean that those love dovey couples blooming in my dungeon runs, was partially your job as well?!" Jin asked as he vaguely remembered the pairings of his Pandawans changed drastically around Halloween. Especially Se Lang, the Wolf Cultivator and the two young girls. Jia Ying, The Stag Cultivator and Shi Hui, Shadowy Swan Cultivator.

    "Indeed. Making them fall in love with each other in the face of danger guarantees them having an experience not to be forgotten. It dramatically increased the chance of the said customers returning to User''s store. System felt that there was no substantial negative impact to the User, and instead brought about increased benefits." System confessed about its behaviour.

    "Gosh. So does that mean you are also to me that Yang Ling is looking as if she wants to have a shot with me?" Jin sat at a bench while admiring the Daigo Zakura from afar.

    "You realised it now, idiot?" Pei, who had returned to her bracelet, could not help butment on the current situation. "If not for me, the System would have you create a Harem between Lynn, Qiu Yue and Yang Ling. You should be thankful that I am holding off those starved thoughts of theirs AND yours to manifest."

    "To note, System had attempted to reduce such effects ever since the adventurer test incident and can only hope for User to be more proactive in creating babies for the future of the Panda n. System still prioritises the survival of the original bloodline of the Panda n." The System rebutted.

    "I am speechless. Simply speechless." Jin said and guessed that was the trade off for having a System way too concern of protecting the surviving line.

    "That is why I am here, making sure that System does not get into your head too much as well! Yet I haven''t even gotten a single thank you from you!" Pei scoffed, and Jin decided to use the same tactic for getting out of trouble.

    He asked the System to give her a fox plushie as a reward.

    "What?! A Fox Plushie?! Why would I want a FOX plushie to remind me about that guy?! Can''t you give me a Crane plushie instead?! That IS my original cultivation!" Pei grumbled, and Jin was taken aback by that new info. He apologised for not knowing that and asked to tell him more about herself.

    "Meh, since we are waiting for time to pass, might as well give you some background information about our past as well. Thanks to that Devilman you did receive more or less eight other Betors, so it can''t hurt for you to know about us. If you want to find out more details, you should ask them themselves though." Pei agreed and gave Jin the summary of Kraft, Rex and the other foxes as well as Panda Lord Zhou Lin.

    Naturally, she spoke ill of Panda Lord Zhou Lin and repeatedly told Jin not to ever follow his footsteps. "Obtaining full ess to the System might not be as grand as you think. There is a price to pay too. Which is why sometimes you might feel that the System is restricting you more than you expected. You just have to learn how to work around it as much as possible."

    "Once the System deemed that you are capable, then it will reveal more of its powers to you...and that is assuming you get that mechanical brain of yours. Hahaha!" Pei said and continued with her other stories. She did not share anything too personal but enough for Jin to get familiar with their origins and their overall capabilities.

    "Sounds to me like this Panda n is always destroying themselves despite the fact they have an omniscient relic at their disposal." Jin sighed as he looked at the time.

    "Yeah, nothingst forever but the Panda n certainly seemed to have picked the short straw for a long while. That is why it''s for the best that you have received the System without growing up and being influenced by the past. However, we are still in the infancy stages of you owning the System so no matter how you see it, Jin. You have a long way to go. We will be supporting you, but at the same time, we will be watching you too." Pei remarked, and Jin quickly asked the System to create a crane Plushie for her instead.

    "What is so great about all these plushies anyways?" Pei took hold of the crane plushie which magically appeared in her bracelet.

    The moment she hugged it...

    "Pei. You are too quiet. Hello? Hellllo? HELLLLLOOOOOOOO?" Jin called out, but the System stated that Pei had entered into a deep sleep after all her work in the Goblin World while holding the crane plushie. The System User smirked a little and looked at the time.

    "Sayбнyou think I can capture Fei Er? Since you know, бнShe is kind of like a monster in a sense. That way Zeru won''t have to worry about this ce being demolished or anything, and have apanion with him."

    "While possible, it would not break her off from the curse of the City of

    Flowers." The System replied.

    "Serious?! The curse carries over with the capture?" Jin asked, and the System exined that it was the norm to purify and recreate the monster again, but Fei Er was different.

    "She was able to live and survive as the Spirit of the Land in that Sakura tree because of that curse. Without the curse binding her to the tree, Fei Er would have already passed on." The System stated.

    "Then erm how about we still take her in and find a way to break that curse?" Jin asked as he walked back to the exact same ce where the mirage illusion barrier seemed to be weakening. When he entered, he noticed that both were sitting under the tree which was nearly bare from the look of its branches, with just a few sakura flowers still on it.

    The rest of the petals were on the ground mixed with the iing snow. It surrounded them like a fairy circle, blessing their time together even though they knew that their time together was nearly up.

    "Thank you Boss Jinбнfor giving me a chance to reunite with Xiao Ru." Fei Er graciously bowed her head down to thank the person who made all this possible.

    "Masterбнmy vow to you will always be unwavering for you to have reunited me with Fei Er once again." Zeru stuttered with tears rolling down his face. Even though he could not touch Fei Er, spending time with his ethereal wife was nothing short of a divine gift.

    "Hahaha, just call it an early Christmas gift for you." Jin smiled as he walked towards them with something in mind. "I know it may sound sphemous to both of you butбн" The dungeon supplier took one deep breath before deciding that it was best not to mince his words.

    "Zeru. What if I cut this tree down and bring it under Shu''s care until we can figure out a way to break the curse?"

 Chapter 558 Spirit Of The Land - Final

    <h4>Chapter 558 Spirit Of The Land - Final</h4>

    Instead of a reply, Zeru disappeared from beneath the Sakura Tree and suddenly emerged right in front of Jin. With his face just a centimetre away from Jin''s, he used his sword hilt and stabbed into Jin''s abdomen.

    The next moment Jin reached unbelievable speeds.

    He flew like a rocketeer experiencing G forces that would knock a person out cold. If not for the System teleporting him within moments into the dungeon maker''s instance and allowed Jin to slow down with dozens of safetys, he would have crashed into Maniwa''s town, causing a ruckus.

    As Jin finally slowed to a halt, he instantly coughed out blood multiple times and felt like all of his ribs and internal organs were broken into pieces. (or bleeding out profusely)

    "Am I dying?" Jin could feel that his consciousness was fading away fast and he was trying his best to keep his eyes open while he felt very light headed after the blow.

    "Negative. User''s monster enhanced bone structure from the remains of the Vampires was able to withstand the damage of Betor Zeru''s attack. User''s recovery inscription will kickstart in 3, 2, 1." The System stated, and Jin immediately descended into even more pain than he had ever experienced. (At least still breathing with whatever function left in his lungs.)

    "SoбнZeru was holding back all this while?" Jin asked as he babbled out blood while the dungeon supplier somewhat tolerated the initial worm like feeling going through his entire body, aware that it would only worsen from here on out.

    "Affirmative. The training you received from Betor Zeru was below 10% of his capabilities. The blow that you received was most probably around 20-30% of his maximum estimated physical strength. However, due to the instantaneous hit, System was unable to fully pinpoint the exact percentage of raw strength he had used on User." The System exined in detail, but Jin was in no mood to listen to it ramble.

    "Serves you right. You should not meddle with other people''s rtionship like that." Pei came out from the wristband while holding onto her (now treasured) crane plushie as she assessed the damage on him. (Now in her sleeping linen night dress as well.)

    "Anyways, from my observation, he purposely aimed at a ce where you wouldn''t get killed, and no organs would be damaged long term with the aid of your inscription. Just tolerate the pain for the next half an hour or so." Pei analysed.

    "Don''t think you will get away this time by bribing him with a plushie."

    "I kind of figured that out the hard way," Jin replied as he tried to breathe in and out slowly.

    "Since you will be in pain for quite some while, want to hear yet another story that the System told me to distract yourself a little?"

    "Story? You are not going to give me any painkillers? What kind of surgeon are you? WhewбнHaaa.. Wheew." Jin panted as he endured the worm like feeling going through his entire body.

    "I could do that, but unfortunately I have to agree with a certain sadist. ''There should be a price for stupidity and pain might be just the right currency''. Honestly, I know that you meant well, but there are certain ce and time for things like that. You''ve just reunited the two and basically asked him if he was ok with you gambling her life away." Pei replied back with indifference.

    "Besides, you don''t need any meds, when you have a legendary inscription inside now. I know exactly how sturdy you are since I was the one to did the job. Moreover, you heard what the System said. He merely used 30% of his strength. So stop being a wussy." Pei said, and Jin gave up arguing.

    "Fine... Colour -whew- Colour me intrigued." Jin requested as he gritted his teeth as the worm like feeling got even more intense.

    "Hearing my beautiful voice should be more interesting than hearing it from the System itself. So, you better be grateful." Pei said as she sneaked in a punch to his ribs as a cheeky gesture. (Without a doubt, Jin would scream if the pain wouldn''t have been already overwhelming, leaving him with his mouth wide open gasping for air.)

    "So, you were not the only one curious to know why she appeared. Apparently, even though you are not actively emitting your aura, a small portion of your Maqi gets passively exuded out of your body every now and then as part of the body''s way of maintaining a chi equilibrium. It just happened that Fei Er''s lingering spirit within the surroundingnd was already active by Zeru''s gift. That pair of ck and white Lotus."

    "Your Maqi made the spirit of thend hunger for more as it wished to materialise. Which is why the System rmendedpleting what Zeru had started. Initially, the System did not detect the spirit of thend as well since Zeru only inserted sufficient chi to maintain the flowers for seven days and seven nights."

    "But when I returned to the site, only then did the System note the -Argggh! -the materialisation of the spirit of thend?" Jin asked as he suddenly felt a spike in pain. He could feel that those ''worms'' were like gathering the parts of his broken vampire enhanced bones pieces and attempting to mix and match them together.

    "Well, your Maqi acted as a catalysator amplifying her appearance. It''s not like it knew that she was Fei Er until she called out to you." Pei replied as she giggled at the suffering of Jin. "That''s why when you inserted your potent Maqi into the surrounding, the tree started to bloom again even in the middle of winter."

    "Like you, even the tree had to regte its ''chi''ponent or else it would have suffered from chi toxicities. That being said the System also seems unsure, whether your Maqi reacted with the tree which strengthened the spirit of her or if it was the other way around, though I suppose in the end it doesn''t even matter."

    "Are you making all those things up? Sounds scientific and at the same time dubious. OW!" This time Pei simply flicked his forehead seeing as he was wriggling with pain.

    "Look if you want theplete scientific analysis from the System you can go ahead and read it yourself. I was just putting it into simple terms for you to understand. After all, I am not a biologist. Or nt scientist or whatever you want to call them. I''m only iterating what I know." Pei exined and returned back to the bracelet.

    "In any case, judging from his silent and yet prideful behaviour, Zeru won''t be apologising to you anytime soon. But given his personality, he should be extremely grateful that you allowed him to see his wife. I bet not even in his wildest dreams did he ever consider such a possibility." Pei said before bing quiet.

    "Then I guess after I am done healingбнI should go up and apologise for my behaviour. Still, I hope that he will let me help them out in the future." Jin whispered to himself because of all the pain. At this point, he would prefer passing out. At least then he would not have to endure the pain and this foreign yucky feeling all over him.

    "Sigh- this just proves that you deserve your current situation. Feel free to try and find a way, but it would be just cruel to give him hope and disappoint him. I can assure you that he is more than content with learning that it seems possible to spend time with her. "

    "And before you have a foolproof n, you should not address it, unless you like pain. Next time he might not hold back so much." Pei cautioned him. "Funny how you treat most situations with caution but you act so oblivious towards rtionships."

    "Then I think I am not mature enough to handle such stuff," Jin answered via thoughts. The dungeon suppliercked the energy to form any coherent sentences.

    "Definitely. You have more to grow than just power. But you are still young and have capable people all around you... Young Master." Pei finally stoppedmunicating and returned to her bracelet as Jiny on the ground, breathing slowly to minimise the pain of this act as much as he could.

    "Wellбнguess I can start thinking of all the Christmas presents I wish to create and give to all my minions since I am stuck in this position for another 20 minutes." Jin thought to himself as he felt it was better to keep himself distracted than thinking about the pain.

 Chapter 559 Good Cop, Bad Fox

    <h4>Chapter 559 Good Cop, Bad Fox</h4>

    "Hmm? Wasn''t Zeru going to be here to y the good cop?" Qiu Yue asked as she saw Kraft happily tying Amura Rei up to the chair and there was no sight of the Sword Saint.

    Not just simple knots on his hands, but alsoplicated sea faring knots meant to be a deadlock. He tied his legs to the legs of the metal chairs while cing the hands at the back.

    After which, he even ced a rope right around Rei''s neck and tied it to a robotic crane arm. (How he got that, Qiu Yue had no idea at all.) "That''s a bit too extreme, don''t you think?" Qiu Yue asked, but Kraft said he got the idea from Lynn herself.

    "She told me that the Fukurokuju Yakuzas are extremely ruthless when ites to returning their debts," Kraft replied. "I am merely replicating the ruthlessness. This is also pretty much the scenario our new guest expected to find himself into. Well, one of many." Kraft said as Qiu Yue seems more than displeased.

    "бнDon''t look at me like I am some sadist, I know that we need him to get to our good side eventually. Just let me work my magic and get ready to make him an offer he can''t refuse."

    Once all the preparations were done, Rei''s chair was titled to a 45бу degree angle back, and Kraft began the interrogation by sshing a bucket of water into Rei''s face. (More like a magical continuous waterfall, short of resembling waterboard.)

    It was without a doubt a rude awakening for him, and Rei began to slightly panic when he saw the new environment he found himself in. A shaky lightbulb swaying above him and the rest of the room was covered in pure darkness. From that darkness, Kraft''s silhouette could be faintly discerned whenever the light swung towards him. (Jin would have immediately recognised the scene even though it was just on a smaller scale)

    Kraft then changed his outer appearance to a buff guy with scars all over his body as well as the Fukurokuju Symbol which was mainly tattooed across his bare upper body. He used the ent of a southern Japanese person, speaking to him with crude yet fluent Japanese.

    Qiu Yue was surprised and only realised that the Sub System had at some point started to convert what Kraft said into Chinese for Qiu Yue to understand.

    "I ...do not have your money yet! Give me one more month, please! I just need a bit more time! I promise to pay double ...no Triple! Triple the interest! Please let me talk to your Bo-" Rei suddenly felt a tugging sensation on his neck and realised that the rope that was previously hanging loosely on his hand began to tighten.

    "Please! Please! I have always been prompt with my payment!" Rei shouted in fear.

    "We know that you have been a loyal client so far. But see, my boss is really~ interested to know where you spent all our money. So he tasked me to ask you. It''s up to you how ''nice'' our conversation is going to be." The experienced torturer had purposely used a custom made Fukurokuju mask as he had some familiarity with the workings of the Japanese Yakuzas from his past interactions.

    "I... am using it to fund my work. The movie! The new movie! The studio needed some additional funds, so I sponsored a bit. I just want it to be as brilliant as it can be! Once the movie is out, I can return you guys! Really! Four times the interest! I swear!" Rei tried to plead his way out, but Kraft, who had a peek of his brain knew better that he was lying.

    "Really?" Kraft asked as he tightened the rope on Rei''s neck even further.

    "REALLY!" Rei shouted back as he started to feel the tightening strain on his neck. And yet, Kraft did not loosen it and instead kicked one of the legs of the chair, causing it to tilt and topple. In that instant, Rei could genuinely feel that he was going to die.

    "Well, I tried being nice. I cannot help you if you want to lie to us! Don''t worry, I''ve all the time in the world to make you talkбн and also the means. Heh" Kraft said in a casual manner behind his mask. He stepped back into the darkness and returned soon after with a silver tray full of torture instruments. Most of them still showed signs of being used, with different amounts of dried blood on them.

    "WATI!!! I''ll tell you, I swear. It''s justбн you won''t believe me!" Rei was full out panicking and gasping for air at this point. Kraft went behind him and freed the knot a bit. It would be bothersome if he passed out again.

    After all, it would ruin all the fun.

    "Try me." The masked man demanded. Fully aware of the consequences if he did notply, Rei finally revealed the truth.

    "I shouldn''t even be here. I''m not from this world! One day I suddenly awoke in this strange country, and since then, I''ve been trying to return to my world. I needed the money to dabble with the portal scrolls. They already cost a fortune, but the magicians charge extra for custom changes. So we''ve tried to create the portal coordinates based on the memory I had shown them!" Rei revealed.

    "Aren''t you a bit too old to be a chuunibyou?" Kraft asked, as no sane person would believe this outrageous story without proper knowledge. When Rei was beginning to weep and swept his scared gaze to the instruments, Kraft sighed.

    "Rx, I''ve just been tasked to find out the truth, even if it sounds like the plot of one of these obnoxious Isekai stories. I can tell that you are not lying in your answer. It''s up to my boss to decide what''s going to happen with you. So the portals did not work for you?" Kraft made the instruments disappear as a sign of goodwill and also to prevent Rei from suffering a heart attack anytime soon.

    Nevertheless, the fox was rather curious that this guy had been attempting multiverse travel with the current magical prowess and technology.

    "No. Whenever they...the mages tried to activate the scroll, the magic backfired, killing them in the process. Once that information spread, it became far more difficult and expensive to enlist their services." Rei replied, "I also had topensate their families in some way or else they threatened to reveal my real identity to the government."

    "So what or who are you really, Mr Alien?" Kraft was timing his actions really well with Rei''s state of mind. Just as he felt a little bit safer, the fox came really close towards the mangaka artist, and his eyes revealed no emotions. Rei could feel the aura of danger looming around him.

    "I am an engineer! Just a small time engineer and teacher! I have blueprints of robots in my head! Like photographic memory! Database full of them in order to teach my students! I can give you some of them! Maybe you can sell those to techpanies, will that give you some leverage for me?" Rei was desperate to live.

    "What? So, you are just going to give us blueprints of your manga and want us to sell shounen drawings to a techpany? Are you fucking with me?" Kraft was having fun threatening him even though he knew that Rei was telling the truth.

    With a snap of his finger, growling noises could be heard from within the darkness. Numerous eyes shone dangerously looking at the defenceless victim.

    "I am telling you the truth! I swear again!! I can take that tribtion thing you guys have! I can also convert the blueprints into something usable from my world to yours. You can put me on a lie detector test, or ask a mind reading psychic. I p-promise you I am true to my words! " Rei eximed as he saw multiple small yet menacing foxes approach him.

    "Please! I will give you everything I know! Your n will sure make a fortune!" Rei shouted, and suddenly Kraft stopped his foxes for a moment.

    "Again, you appear to be telling the truth. In that case, you shouldn''t mind signing this contract which my partner prepared for you? Here let me help you." Kraft walked into the darkness and Rei could barely make out another silhouette passing a piece of paper to him. The devilman then sauntered slowly towards the frightened engineer and allowed him to read the piece of paper.

    "бнforfeit everything that I have? My debt is not that much to иC *Cough*" Rei suddenly felt the rope tightening around his neck again. Kraft was not giving him any chance. Qiu Yue thought he was going overboard with it and thus came in to cut the rope.

    "You alright?" Qiu Yue asked with a worried expression. Rei knew that this pretty angel had to be just as bad as the devil in front of him, since she was the one who created that particr contract. Thus, he kept his mouth tight and concentrated on regaining his breath.

    "If what you offered us just now is true, then I promise we won''t hurt you anymore. In fact, let me apologise for myrade''s...ck of tact." Qiu Yue smiled kindly at Rei who could not help but blush a bit.

    But little did he know that the foxes in the shadows were already doing their job to aid with this "Good Cop, Bad Fox" style of interrogation.

 Chapter 560 Sweeten The Deal

    <h4>Chapter 560 Sweeten The Deal</h4>

    Qiu Yue extended her hand and helped pull Rei up. Suddenly the entire dark interrogation room turned into one that was well lit and equipped with two chairs and a table. There were only Kraft, Qiu Yue who did not wear any mask and Rei in the room.

    "Please, have a seat." Qiu Yue requested, and Rei listened as he began to notice how beautiful thedy in front of him was. With a formal business scarlet dress, Qiu Yue folded her sleeves and ced the piece of contract right in front of him. (The System had already changed whatever she was saying into Japanese almost immediately.)

    "Do you need anything to drink? A towel? My colleague has not been very weing to you." Qiu Yue offered as she eyed towards Kraft with disdain. (It wasn''t too hard to act that part for Rei to believe her.)

    "No, it''s fine. I''d rather get this over with and return home." Rei replied as he could feel that something wasn''t right with the situation. It was tooбнdrastic of a change.

    Being a Mangaka artist, he had sufficient story ideas at the back of his mind, and Rei understood that he was experiencing one of these stories he had used in his manga before. Rei was d that they seemed to believe him for now, but it feltбн too easy, too convenient. (He still was d that the torture had stopped)

    "Fine. Let''s talk about your debt and our contract, shall we?" Qiu Yue suggested as she magically took aptop out of her storage ring and booted it up immediately. With her phone connected to theptop, it automatically activated a Panda Operating System.

    With the Panda Operating System, she was able to ess all the apps and programmes she used for creating the Dungeon City Fortress as well as managing her investments in the Goblin World. (Not to mention, the phone worked like a power bank as well, and she never had to worry about charging at all.)

    With the contract app activated, she took out a wireless mobile printer from her storage ring too and was all ready to print a brand new contract for Rei to sign. What mattered now were the terms and conditions.

    "So? What exactly are you willing to offer us for the interest of your debt? It''s no small sum to begin with, and the interest is definitely enough to feed your manga assistants for two years or so." Qiu Yue asked as she was aware of the size of the debt due to Kraft''s sneaky mind peeking abilities.

    "I бнcan offer all my knowledge and can prepare blueprints for you. I can even assist in building them, but I need you to ensure that my identity will be covered up. I do not want potentialбнassassinsing after me." Rei knew how technology could be more than justpetition.

    Sometimes, mega corporations were of the mind, that if they could not have something, it was better that nobody had it, which was why they would send out corporate assassins to kill inventors or at least impede them in some way or another. The Dark Web was filled with such contracts ranging from grudges to assassinating to look like an ident.

    "That''s all? You expect us to do all the dirty work ording to your designs without paying us any money back?" Kraft mmed the table which scared the crap out of Rei immediately.

    "IбнI can give you a percentage of the uing movie. Depending on the sess of the movie that it may even exceed the interest up to this point!" Rei replied in return. "But I''m not willing to give my everything!"

    "All my hard work in manga drawing is my pride too! Those blueprints mean nothing to mepared to the work I am doing! To you, however, it should be worth a fortune! If you don''t want to build it yourselves then just sell it. I would have done it a long time ago if I didn''t have to fear being captured for doing so!"

    "Then how about we offer you something better in exchange for everything?" Qiu Yue smirked as she stood up and told Rei to follow her. She unplugged the phone from theptop and made a short call. "I need a portal to Star Cross Industries." In an instant, a swooshing sound was heard, and a portal appeared right in front of them.

    "Get in before I decide to help you!" Kraft threatened and cracked his bones. The next second Rei basically jumped towards the portal.

    When he came out of it, all he saw was a Hangarбнfull of Core Units being refitted, and the Engineering and Mechanical Crew (EMC) of Pandas were working hectically to listen to their pilots'' requests.

    There were two Core Units who had just returned from a sortie, and Qiu Yue recognised the first as Bu Dong, the Ape Cultivator and was told by the System that the other was Deng Long, the Wombat Cultivator. Each of them came back with the machines more or less busted and the Head Panda of EMC, Man Man, was shouting vulgarities at them.

    Rei fell to his knees and saw the entirety of this ce in disbelief.

    This was no Mecha World, but the feeling was still nostalgic as he turned to Qiu Yue and asked who were they exactly. At the same time, Kraft (in his normal appearance) came out of the portal and smiled widely.

    "We are not the Yakuzas but actually the colleagues of the one who saved you from the Yakuzas." Qiu Yue answered as she called out to Man Man asking if there was a Core Unit avable for testing. "However, we needed to know that you were the one that we were really looking for."

    "Arghh! First those two rascals and now you? Fine, fine! Parking Lot Nine. The joints were recently attached, but the armour tes are not in yet, so it''s not fit for a sortie. Don''t you dare bring it out or I will ban you from this hangar! Move only the arms and legs. Sit, Squat and stand. That''s all!" Man Man said as he knocked the two Pandawans on their helmets before dismissing them.

    "Well? What are you waiting for? Want to try out the robot?" Qiu Yue offered Rei who was still trembling at the sight of all the busy hangar in this particr primitive world. He quickly nodded his head and moved towards the Core Unit with awe.

    The Panda EMC Crew guided him all the way upwards while Qiu Yue merely jumped from the ground to the cockpit (earning her a bad stare from Man Man). The Gunndam mangaka artist sat on the new smelling leather on the seats and turned on the control consoles.

    It wasn''t the same feeling as the ones back in Mecha World, but to be able to control a robot again, brought him to his tears. That was when Qiu Yue knew that they had seeded in getting him on their side.

    "You gotta give my foxes some credit, if not for Kiyu working her magic in the background, he might not have opened up to you," Kraft interjected in her thoughts, and Qiu Yue rolled her eyes in dismay.

 Chapter 561 Signing a Life Contrac

    <h4>Chapter 561 Signing a Life Contrac</h4>

    Rei managed to get the Core Unit booted up and move around in it for a little before Qiu Yue made a call on her phone for another portal that appeared right in front of the open cockpit.

    "Get in, it''s time to get back to business." Qiu Yue ordered, and Rei obediently followed.

    They were back at the same well lit room, and the items on the table were still left intact. Qiu Yue reconnected her phone, and everything booted up in an instant. The big difference was that Qiu Yue had messaged Lynn to bring up two cups of blue mountain coffee and leave it on the table for them. Rei now seemed even more ready to talk after experiencing the products that they had created.

    "First, let me sincerely apologise once again for the rough introduction. I hope you can understand that we needed to verify that you were indeed from another world, especially one of theбнrobotic nature." Qiu Yue emphasised thest two words.

    "Are you guys some sort of secret tech organisation? How did you even know that I was from another World? Did you already know that before or are you guys abducting anyone who is drawing Mangas with Robots and Mechs in them?" Rei asked as he took a sip of the coffee.

    "We are in fact just a dungeon supplier storeбнwith some particrly talented individuals running the ce." Qiu Yue tried to phrase it nicely.

    "What? Dungeon Supplier store? But that thing I saw, seemed too real to be something out of a dungeon supplier dimensional instance!" Rei replied. He felt a little bit disappointed if that was merely a dungeon instance. He vaguely knew about the limits of the dimensional instances in Japan.

    He had tried a few dungeon supplier stores before, hoping they will create what he saw in the Star Cross Hangar Bays. Though this hope had quickly left him since he learned that it was not onlyplex but not possible with the current technology. Most importantly, anything designed could not be taken out of a dungeon instance.

    "Don''t worry what you saw was indeed real. As I said, we have some particrly talented individuals." Qiu Yue replied. "I doubt that you know anything about the current events of your world so let me begin by bringing you up to date. Your world, which we refer to as the Mecha World, seems to be in danger. ording to our information, skirmishes have already broken out, and it''s only a matter of time before it blows into a full scale war."

    "Thatбн does not seem too surprising." Rei sighed as he heard that news.

    "However I would need some more proo-"

    Suddenly, Qiu Yue turned herptop towards him showed him a channel of the Mecha World. The System had managed to capture a segment of the news and broadcast it live for Rei to watch.

    "Youбнare not kidding. I''ve never leaked any of my knowledge except for minor bits and pieces on my Manga." Rei said as he recognised the United Federation and Xeon Union on the news.

    "So, our proposal is as such: Give us your everything and work for us. We do not care if you continue your manga work, but we need ALL your blueprints and every bit of knowledge on the Mecha World you can give us. In return, we will pay off your current debt''s interest." Qiu Yue offered. She gave him a moment to consider it, and when Rei was about to say something in return, she added another part.

    "If we deemed your blueprints useful, we might be gracious to assist you in paying your debt too. Also, once the situation has calmed down a bit, we should be able to help you to return to the Mecha World."

    "Wait, wait, wait! So why do you want the blueprints? To improve that dimensional instance of yours? Or do you wish to give it to the other faction to gain their favour assuming you can travel to Mecha World."

    "Because all I can say is that what I have in my head is at least 20 years old. I don''t have anything which canpete with whatever new they came up with. Naturally, I''ve only received ess to normal blueprints for teaching so I can''t exactly offer you any super weapon or something like that." Rei rebutted, and Qiu Yue shook her head.

    "You were willing to sell the blueprints, so you shouldn''t care what we do with them afterwards. If you like the condition, then sign the deal, and perhaps we will reveal more information to you." Kraft who had at some point appeared directly behind Rei (without him noticing) got another shock of his life.

    "Ohe on! You got to admit that was fun just now? Wasn''t it? So, have you made up your mind?" Kraft came closer and held onto both of Rei''s shoulder making him this close to peeing his pants.

    "What бнwhat if I refuse?" Rei trembled as he asked that particr question.

    "We will be forced to erase your memory about all of this. However, you should know that tampering with memories is a delicate procedure, so if you are lucky, you will still remember how to draw afterwards..." Rei could see Kraft''s smile at the corner of his eye until he released his shoulders

    "Probably." Kraft added promptly.

    "I mean, you will understand that we cannot let other people know that we have knowledge of interworld travel and don''t n to share it, right?" Kraft whispered into his ear.

    "Kraft." Qiu Yue called in a deep voice as if telling him off. The Original Betor slowly stared at Qiu Yue for a moment (a long eternity from Rei''s perspective) and slowly backed away from the mangaka artist.

    "So, I do not have a choice at allбн" Rei said to himself seeing the predicament hended himself in.

    "You do, though Kraft should be far more capable than he gave himself credit for. Still, you should earnestly consider what happens in the case we release you. I think you''ll agree that it''s the lesser evil working with us than meeting those Yakuzas without having any memory of why you even ended up there? Right? " Qiu Yue calmly cautioned Rei.

    "There is also the matter of us already having a way to get to your world... unless you prefer to loan more money from the Yakuza and take your chances with the teleportation scrolls." Kraft chimed in at which point he sighed in defeat.

    He picked up the contract and read it thoroughly before rifying a question.

    "You say I can continue with my Manga? Can I at least have a guarantee for that?" Rei requested humbly towards the person who seemed to be the one holding on to his life by a thread.

    "Sure. In fact, we can provide you with certain perks which will make your Manga career all the more fulfilling. That I can guarantee with my heart crossed." Qiu Yue replied sincerely while putting her hand at her chest.

    Rei''s head drooped for a moment before nodding. Qiu Yue specifically reprinted another contract that stated his manga career would not be jeopardised a single bit and in fact, they would provide him with anything he desired to continue it.

    Satisfied with the new wording of the contract, Rei signed his life to the System with the persuasion of Kraft and Qiu Yue. He would never learn that they had been so desperate for his help that they would pull off such a stunt to recruit him.

    However, one thing was for sure. With that signature penned down on that piece of paper, the manga career of ''Amuro Sensei'' (his pen name) would never be the same again.

 Chapter 562 For His Family Members

    <h4>Chapter 562 For His Family Members</h4>

    With that permanent contract signed, Rei was officially under the care of the System and Kraft who had been acting all hot headed resumed being nonchnt about the whole issue. With his expertise no longer needed, he decided to return to the Goblin World and check on the progress of his Night Foxes.

    Meanwhile, Qiu Yue revealed to him that he was no longer in Japan but in China, shocking Rei. "But your бнgrasp of Japanese is terrific! How did we get here? Was I out for that long?" Rei eximed as Qiu Yue allowed him to exit the dimensional instance and see for himself.

    Instead of their terrace house where the body bagy outside of Kraft''s room, they had been teleported to the Store''s instance instead. Amura Rei was astonished by the vast difference and quality of the dimensional instance that he could hardly believe it was an instance.

    There was also no doubt that Rei had indeed been teleported to apletely different ce, considering that he was being surrounded by Chinese nationals. If he had his phone with him, it would be more believable, but the crowd and the atmosphere around him told him as much.

    Qiu Yue escorted him out of the instance and told him that he was currently in the newly built Tree Mall of Shenzhen. "Wait, you mean THAT Tree Mall of Shenzhen that has been all over the news in the morning?"

    Rei hurried to the lower floors and out of the mall, and the mangaka artist was still in awe. But he certainly confirmed that this was indeed the Tree Mall that was trending all over social media online.

    This only helped him believe that they must have saved him from the Yakuzas. Despite the torture Rei had to endure just now in order to find out his origins, what they imed might have an inkling of truth.

    There were various rumours spreading like wildfire online about thendlord who created the Tree Mall within days after what could only be called a terrorist attack incited by the underworld gangs. Not only it had resolved it on his own, but all these rumours also portrayed him as nothing short of magical genius.

    Perhaps, going back to the Mecha World was indeed possible with their help. "If the war hasn''t broken out yetбн Could my family still be around?" Rei thought to himself.

    Thus, the mangaka artist returned back to the dimensional store instance with haste and found Qiu Yue again, who was waiting at the side of the ind bar talking to Yun. "Let me introduce you. This is Yun, one of the co owners of the Dungeons and Pandas. She is like the Mothe- *cough* Big sister of all of us. You should always listen to her and not make her angry in any way."

    "Qiu Yue, you told me that you may have a possible passage to the Mecha World, right?! If there really is a war, I want to know if my family members are still alive. If they are, I was hoping that we can bring them to this ce instead." Rei asked with some anxiety in his voice.

    "Sorry, I cannot help you with that aspect. We only have a way to go there, but we don''t know where we wille out. With the threat of an impending war on the horizon, it''s not really the ideal time to extract your family." Qiu Yue replied as she was drinking a cup of Bamboo juice.

    "Besides, we haven''t really gained anything from you so far, but empty promises."

    "But didn''t you tell me that you guys are willing to help me via the contract? ording to your terms, you have to take my well being into ount as well!" Rei countered as he took out the folded copy of his contract from his pocket.

    "Please don''t leave out the part inconvenient for you. At the very top, it reads; ''In return for his services.'' You have not rendered any services as of yet. Nothing is barring me to aid you. If you want help, show us some results, then I will ask our Boss if we can try to fulfil your wish." Qiu Yue shrugged.

    Rei knew she was right, he had nothing tangible at the moment, and it would take time to draw up the blueprints. In fact, he was the one who needed help more than ever. With the Yakuza chasing him, it would only be a matter of time until they catch him again and demand the loan interest. The longer he waited, the worse it would be for him.

    And while he did not promise to use his uing movie as coteral, having the Yakuzas hounding at his back would definitely backfire in the final few months of preparations leading to the film release. The lie he used previously was just an excuse considering that he was aware that the movie needed more post production work before it could be pushed out.

    What''s more, it was supposed to be a secret project, teased to the masses that "something major" was to be shown at the 20th anniversary of the creation of his manga by the early spring next year.

    Therefore, Rei could not use the movie''s budget even if he wanted to since the studio solely needs the money.

    "...Please, help me." Rei went down to his knees at the centre of the store instance, and everyone who was walking by was stunned by his sudden begging. Even Qiu Yue was shocked that Rei was willing to go to such lengths to kneel in front of her at such a public ce.

    "What the hell are you doing. Get up." Qiu Yue ordered quickly. Her bodynguage indicated that she did not want to be involved in this particr sighting.

    "Please, I just need your help to get my family to safety. That''s all. After that, I will spend all my time on the blueprints!" Rei begged loudly (in Japanese), but before he could say anymore, Yun walked to him and pped him.

    "If you have the balls and time to beg, you should take the matter into your own hands and do something about your current situation." Yun then pulled him up and threw him through another portal. As the mangaka artist had already been contracted with the System, the System was able to pull up the coordinates of his house and teleported him there instead.

    When Yun threw Rei back at his ce, she threw two metal suitcases from her storage ring after him as well. "Get your life in order here before we can talk about getting your family. Do what you need to do beforeing to find us." She then flicked a business card at Rei before closing the portal. "And you better hurry, my interest rate is 10 times higher than those Yakuza loan sharks."

    Rei held on to the side of his face, which was burning with pain as he saw the name card and noticed that it was the number to call the Dungeons and Pandas. He then opened the suitcase only to find millions of yen stashed inside.

    There, he quickly counted a stack and estimated the amount of money within the two suitcases to be sufficient to repay his loan interest and the remaining loan he had incurred.

    Rei realised that this had to be an advance payment for the blueprints and what Yun was telling him to do was to hurry up with the blueprints if he wished to save his family too.

    There and then, Rei turned to the direction where the portal was closed and prostrated in gratefulness. "I promise to get it done as soon as possible."

 Chapter 563 AyseтАЩs Assistance for Peppers

    <h4>Chapter 563 Ayseбпs Assistance for Peppers</h4>

    Peppers came to the Laboratory Instance after dinner to find Ayse who may have the ability to help her in the ns for blowing up the entire city in Giant World.

    "Ayse! I need your help! I want to blow up an entire city! Do you have any Lost Tech avable that can do that much damage or help in achieving it?" Peppers shouted at Ayse from afar which broke her concentration from analysing the Steam Tech.

    "Can''t you see that I''m busy? How many times do I have to repeat not to disturb me while I am working?!" Ayse rebutted, and Peppers frowned.

    "But you are ALWAYS working. Last time you told me not scare you by tapping on your shoulders from behind you. So, I shouted. How else am I going to get you to respond? You lose track of everything once you dive into your work?" Peppers asked, and Ayse sighed with her shoulders feeling like they were going to be burdened with another of Pepper''s requests.

    "What exactly do you want now, Peps? Shouldn''t you be capable of blowing a city up without my help?" Ayse stopped what she was doing and looked at the little Fiery Demonic Sage Queen. Peppers told her about the n Master, and the rest had discussed.

    "Hmmm, a destructive force for a ''city'' that is about the size of Mexico? Even Jin''s current Earth technology could never achieve that. Their nuclear bombs would not be able to reach such explosive impacts. Far reaching effects, yea but that''s not you want." Ayse told her as she browsed the System''s projected console right in front of her.

    "ording to my calctions, I believe my full powers can be stretched to the limit to reach that potential." Peppers replied eagerly. "But I was hoping you have anything that can strengthen me so that I won''tбнyou know faint and stay in aa for months. Achieving such a potential milestone in my career as a Demonic Sage Queen, you can say that''s always my goal in life."

    "So, you''d rather be useless for the next few months just because you want to be selfish in pursuit of your own personal goals rather than be useful to Jin? If I am not wrong, with all the inter world troubles awaiting us, he needs you more than ever. Please do remember your ce, Betor." Ayse folded her arms as she berated the ''kid'' right in front of her.

    "I knowбнbut that''s exactly why I want to be more than just ''useful''. Lately, he has been relying on Zeru and Kraft and maybe even Milk far more than me. I feel that at some point I''ve been left out of the loop. My most recent aplishment was the Aegis Barrier, which I only powered up... It''s as if he does not want me to overstrain myself after all the multipleбнerm rainbow vomit." Peppers voiced her concerns out to Ayse.

    "But! I have been trying to train myself too! I asked Milk Big Sis for help in training. Dragged her out of bed in the morning so that we can do someps on the Panda Muscles running track. However, I feel that my body isn''t improving to handle the strain whenever I practice my explosions spells."

    "HmmmбнThen perhaps it isn''t the body''s condition that affects your magical potency?" Ayse thought for a while before answering her. "Have you considered that it''s possible that other factors may be affecting you? Like the recital of your magical spell? Or the efficiency output of the explosion to the amount of magical power you need to use?"

    "Are you implying that I am not talented enough as a Sage? You questioning my abilities??" Peppers asked, and Ayse nodded her head.

    "I am. Even the most brilliant scientist like my dad tends to make the simplest of mistakes. If you have developed a certain mindset over the years, you can be enved by it, unable to see any other possibility. Sometimes a fresh outside perspective is just what you need. Like I remodified his equation to a theory he had and my Lost Tech now works twice as efficient." Ayse replied bluntly, and Peppers had no way to argue about that.

    "So if you wish, I can dedicate half an hour of my time off to help you with tweaking your explosions. Scientifically measuring it so that you can improve step by step." Ayse suggested with a sly smile. "But you know Peps that I won''t do that for free. For all my time is precious. I could be watching the new season of Mythbusters rather than doing experiments for you."

    "And what do you n to do? Just see how much explosions I can do in a day?" Peppers struggled with her answer for a bit as if pausing to think, but in the end, she asked hesitantly for Ayse''s help.

    Ayse shook her head at her question and decided to tell her a brief overview of the methodology the Head Researcher was going to use. Besides, it was not an everyday urrence to be able to witness and measure the powers of a Demonic Sage Queen.

    "I will methodically run down the list of what you need to cast your explosion spells. Things like how much the enchantments you are wearing that affect your spell power, the weapons you hold, the casting time and much more. Once we have identified all the possible factors of your body strain, we can see if we can increase the potency of the explosion by changing a factor and see how much change do you need." Ayse replied with a string of examples.

    "Oh, and we also have to factor in your age. You better tell me truthfully how old you really are." Ayse grinned as it was always a topic which Peppers actively avoided.

    "Argggh! Why did I even ask you for help? Fine! What do you want in exchange?" Peppers knew that she wanted something.

    "Owe me five favours which you cannot refuse," Ayse replied, and Peppers frowned at that number.

    "You kidding me? Half an hour a day for five favours? You think you are some sort of big shot? I read books on your so called scientific procedures. It''s like maths, I can deal with it!..if I have to." Peppers gave a slightly annoyed look, and Ayseughed.

    "Hahaha, to see you pouting always brightens my day, even though I hate that you always interrupt me. Fine, let''s make it two favours which you cannot refuse." Ayse knew that her demand had been absurd and Peppers realised that she had been yed with.

    "I agree. Two, but with 45 minutes per day. And I better have results before the end of the month!" Peppers said.

    "That is assuming Jin can''t find any other solution before the deadline you arbitrarily set on yourself. Hahaha. Goodbye, Peps." Ayse grinned as she began to return to her work that Peppers had interrupted.

    The status quo of a silentboratory returned for a while.

    However, it wasn''t until a few minutes that she heard a sudden shout from one of the rooms within theboratory instance.

    "I DIDDD ITTT!!" Weslie came out of her room with her hair all flustered, oil stains all around her face and shouted out loud with bated breath.

 Chapter 564 Taking a Break

    <h4>Chapter 564 Taking a Break</h4>

    The shouting of the Schr of the West had alerted not just Ayse but the other researchers in theboratory instance as well. They hurried towards her allocatedb as she happily showed everyone the prototype she had managed to reverse engineer.

    It was not as small as the previous Steam Tech and instead had the appearance of a box with an antenna on it. For this particr research, Gold had personally gone out to help capture a few live Demon Rat samples (by killing all but a dozen and beating the rest to an inch of their life) that were ced in a prison cell and fed regrly while the System strictly monitored their behaviour.

    No one was allowed to be near the Demon Rats in case they tried to do something like overpowering them and running rampant. The System did not wish to waste any souls resurrecting the researchers because of some simple blunder, so it had created a four wall prison cell where the food was thrown from the ceiling.

    The walls were made of thick concrete which rendered the Demon Rat''s attempt to escape futile. Not only that, they were at least twenty metres tall with self repairing features. Even if they spent all their time and frustration to make a dent on the wall, it would be restored soon after. So far, those Demon Rats had not reached such a point of desperation, despite the many attempts.

    The concrete wall was too smooth to be grabbed, and soon the Demon Rat captives realised that it was useless wasting energy and they more or less epted their fate mostly by spendingrge amounts of time sleeping. However, today was special. The ceiling was fully open with a number of humanoids looking down at them.

    Their hearts were boiling with rage as they shrieked loudly at their captors until one of them pointed a pointed stick at them. Soon their raging attitude was soothed without any assistance, and they started to be passive and returning to their lethargic lifestyle.

    "See, it works! It managed to pacify them, but I haven''t figured out how to input themands to get them to move like the Steam Tech prototype." Weslie sighed, but Ayse congratted her for managing to duplicate the signal used.

    "Although I know it is notplete, I could use further input from engineering experts to be able to insertmands for them to move," Weslie said as she threw a few baskets of food down while closing the ceilings and leaving them to the dark corners of the prison cell.

    "I''ve received confirmation from the System that it had managed to convince a foreign engineer into our ranks, but it will take some time before he starts working for us. Meanwhile, give me the schematics of the Steam Tech. I''ll see if I can find a way to include Lost Tech into it. If I seed, we might not even need the new engineer''s help." Ayse replied.

    Weslie began to send the data via the System''s projected console.

    "But do you think wireless is the best? Since we have the Bug Steam Tech prototype in our hands and the signal, why not make a remote control that controls the Bug Steam Tech instead?" Orwell, one of the Elfish Humanoid Researchers who were there to witness the demonstration questioned.

    "Yeah, we can perhaps use the Lost Tech for that, if I am not wrongбн We should still have the Lost Tech Signal Amplifier blueprint lying around." Geddie, another Elf researcher,mented upon hearing Orwell''s opinion.

    "But I am not very sure how the Demon Rats will react to the signals produced by the Lost Tech amplifier. We will have to try out to learn if the Litoride Ore yed an important part in this mind maniption technique." Weslie said.

    ording to her, Litoride itself was still a mysterious ore which had yet to be thoroughly researched. Even the analysis from the System was insufficient as it only indicated multiple unknown elements that were not yet discovered by the Schrs.

    "We can give it a try. Orwell and Geddie. Recreate the Lost Tech Signal Amplifier and see if the signal from the amplifier works on the Demon Rats. Oh and tell Gold to get more fresh batches of Demon Rats too. We need a control group as well as to see how many Demon Rats can the amplifier be used on." Ayse ordered, and the two other researchers began to work on it.

    "Weslie, take a small break. Focus on other things instead. Perhaps a breather will give you better ideas on how to tackle the situation. Again, you''ve done well in replicating the signal source." Ayse said as she dispersed the entire group of researchers off.

    "But Ayse, one less hour devoted to this will mean that the Demon Rats have an upper adv-" The Head Orc researcher ced her finger on Weslie''s lips.

    "Melis, bring this little girl to the Dungeon City Fortress and show her the Agriculture Sector 1 and 2. Let her familiarise herself with how the System raises the cattle." Ayse pressed on an announcement speaker option on the projected System console.

    "Now."

    "Aye, Mdm!" Melis, who came rushing into Weslie''sb, grabbed the Schr of the West by the waist and teleported her to Agriculture Sector 2.

    "Ow." Weslie seemed to knock her head on the ground, but when she looked around, the schr was surrounded by many cattle from Jin''s world. The cow right beside her was chewing the grass nonchntly as it snorted towards Weslie and Melis.

    While the schr showed off reflexes slower than a tortoise, Melis had already put up a barrier, stopping the snort''s phlegm in time before it reached them.

    "Oops. Did not mean to teleport you straight here. When I heard Ayse''s instruction, this was the first ce that came to mind. Right beside Sally." Melis gleed as she stood up and hugged the cow right beside her.

    "You could have given me some time to pack my stuff or something beforeing here." Weslie sighed in defeat and yet couldn''t be angry at someone who obviously loved animals so much.

    "Nope can do. When Ayse tell you to take a break, you have to take it no matter what. She doesn''t care if the brain of yours is working 24 hours, but she demands that you are out of yourb every now and then." Melis exined Ayse''s way of working.

    "She knows that if we were to sayter, the work in ourbs will once again attract us to their side and consume us again. This is to ensure that we are not overly obsessed by our research, especially now when we have an immortal body by the System. We have all the time in the world. There''s no need to rush, unlike the days where our time was limited." Melis said as she rubbed Sally''s chin.

    "I seeбнI shall take your advice and listen to Ayse''smand then." Weslie smiled at Melis as she stood up to take a stroll around for a moment.

    "Oh, if you have time. Pick the farm products on the ground if possible. The System already marked them with a slight glitter, so it''s easier for you to see one. Don''t want you to identally step on an egg that was left on the ground." Melis smiled as she threw a storage ring towards the schr.

    Weslie nodded her head and proceed with the menial task as a way to rx.

 Chapter 565 The Figure In The Tree Lines

    <h4>Chapter 565 The Figure In The Tree Lines</h4>

    While Weslie was strolling within the wild fields of Agriculture Sector 2, she vaguely started to reminisce about her old farnd and the animals she tended to for farming andter research purposes.

    Weslie recalled how joyful the townsfolk were in her previous hometown. Walking around greeting the schr, and always ensured that Weslie had enough to eat throughout the day because of all the work she was shut herself to work on.

    "Oops, nearly stepped on an egg." Weslie noticed the slight glint became a bright shimmer the closer she approached towards it. "Wouldn''t it be funny if these eggs are coated with diamonds? Hahaha." As she picked the egg up, the glittering disappears. At that moment, Weslie noticed that there was another person other than Melis in the sector at the tree lines in the distance.

    That figure was quietly rubbing the fur of an alpaca as it was sleeping under the tree. Weslie then realised that the person saw her and nodded his head towards the schr.

    "Melis did say that everyone here is still part of the SystemбнI guess I should introduce myself then." Weslie thought to herself when she did not want to be seen as anti social when she could possibly be working together with this person in the future.

    As Weslie walked closer, she noticed that the human had a hood on him, and while seeing that his demeanour towards sleeping alpaca was more than just gentle, she lowered her guard. As a fellow animal lover, it was apparent to Weslie that the alpaca liked him a lot. So much that it was willing to ce its head at hisp and snore loudly.

    At a closer look, Weslie found there was a second alpaca merely resting its head at his opposite side. It was currently wide awake, only wanting to spend more time with the hooded figure.

    "Am I disturbing your rest here?" The Schr of the West asked in a quiet tone, not wanting to disturb the scene, and the hooded figure shook his head.

    "Not at all. I am out here for fresh air, spending time with some of my friends too." The hooded figure said in a low, deep and somewhat tawdry kind of voice. "Never seen the likes of you around before. I assume you must be one of ourtest additions?"

    "Oh. Hi, I am Weslie. From the Farming World. A colleague of Gold, he saved me recently." Weslie kneeled to introduced herself with a handshake. Bying closer, she managed to see what was underneath the hood.

    Derek''s outer appearance was grossly disfigured.

    She suffered a slight shock as she had not expected this. She tried to hide it as quickly as possible, yet the hooded figure still noticed.

    Surprisingly the hooded man did not seem to mind at all and instead raised the hand he used for petting the alpaca to ept her handshake.

    "Derek. From the Zombie World, at least that''s how Jin and the others refer to it." Derek had a good look at Weslie and his frown into a smile.

    "I see, so you are the rumoured girlfriend of our dear Gold. d to know that he managed to get the love of his life." Derek said before bringing the hood further down as if to cover himself.

    "Ah, please! I do not mind at all. Iбнwas an undead too before Gold managed to get me into the System. I do not know what you''ve been through, but I vaguely know what is like being back scrutinised. So please, be open with me." Weslie eximed, and suddenly there was a period of silence before she heard an amused snicker.

    "Pardon me, I was merely adjusting my hood. It got a bit ufortable at the back that is all." Derek replied, making Weslie immediately blush for mistaking his intentions. "Nevertheless, that sincerity was weing. Especially for people who do not know me."

    Derek then removed the hood and showed his face to Weslie, and she did not feel ufortable at all. In fact, she felt envious (and at the same time ashamed of herself) that he was proud of what he looked like not minding other people''s opinions or if they had a prejudice towards.

    However, she did not dare to share that with him and instead changed the topic entirely, asking him about the Zombie World and what it was like before he was transferred to the System.

    "Heh. You think it''s interesting? To know that there are worlds out there other than the one you lived in?" Derek asked, and Weslie got the feeling that she identally stepped on anotherndmine in this conversation.

    "I ermбн"

    "Hahaha, I am just pulling your leg." Derek lightly pped on the resting (awake) alpaca to move aside and asked Weslie to sit beside him. But even when Weslie sat right beside Derek, she could see his slightly pained expression as he remembered about the past.

    "The Zombie WorldбнI guess it''s a very fitting name. Though we also used to call it Earth. In fact, it was not that different from our Master''s." Derek started to paint the picture, but Weslie apologised saying that she had yet to see the Master of the System nor his world.

    "Now, that is a little hard to visualise. Hmm." Derek looked around a little and spotted that Melis was around, so he whistled for her instead.

    "Oh Derek, you are here for your break?" Melis walked over and greeted the Half Ghoul Lord.

    "Melis, do you still have that System tablet which Ayse lent you? I want to help Weslie learn a bit more about how Master Jin''s world looks like."

    "Sure. Just pass it to me before you are returning to yourb." Melis said and did not interrupt Weslie. Instead, she asked for the storage ring back as she went ahead to grab the farm products. (Even though the System was capable of using the Robot crawlers to collect them more efficiently. Melis somehow managed to convince the System that the animals would prefer having people they knew interacting with them and thereby producing higher quality goods.)

    "There, we go." Derek showed the various images of modern Shanghai via the inte through the use of the System''s tablet.

    "All these tower looking buildings are used to house the inhabitants? So our Master Jin lives in such an advanced society?" Weslie asked innocently, and Derek chuckled at the innocence.

    "So yeah, my world was nearly the same as his. Though we were more mundane and nobody could use any sort of magic. To us, chi was merely a concept of the mind and body but not tangible and usable like Master Jin''s. We were basically like yourmoners but with the same technological level as Master Jin''s Earth." Derek exined.

    "While we did not have Orcs or Demon Rats in our world, the humans themselves were a monstrosity. Fighting wars based on religious grounds, for natural resources and for more power. Perhaps in hindsight, it was only right that the humans turned to the living undead." Derek continued, and Weslie asked how it happened.

    "Believe it or not, Aliens. If my memory still serves me well. Extraterrestrial beings that called themselves ''Our Creators''." Derek answered as he bitterly relived the scene in his mind of degenerating into a zombie.

 Chapter 566 Extra: The Incoming Asteroid

    <h4>Chapter 566 Extra: The Iing Asteroid</h4>

    ''Creators'' - That was how the aliens that came intruding introduced themselves.

    Initially, the inhabitants of Zombie World thought that there was an asteroid that was on a collision course with Earth. "We normal working ss were never supposed to learn the whole story until the space agencies were pressured to tell the entire truth from their side." Derek began his story while he stroked the sleeping alpaca on hisp.

    What seemed like a defect in their numbers when their probe was on their way to Uranus, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spotted way too many anomalies of the iing debris and the subsequent loss of their probe.

    Afterwards, the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) who had a probe near the area was annihted as well, sparking a debate if the asteroid was even more significant than anticipated. With highly advanced scanners and cooperation between the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) and the American Space Agency (NASA), they finally had a glimpse howrge the iing rock would be, and the probability of its projected pathway hitting Earth was higher than previously predicted.

    With those findings, NASA and the other space agencies, as well as astrophysicists, were rushing to calcte a method to either defend Earth or escape from the. Some of the agencies proposed to do both under the veil of secrecy and disguise of a possible uing war between the Chinese and Americans.

    They used the war pretext to lie to people and using it as justification for building additional underground bunkers, producing a superweapon that seemingly appeared to aim at each other''s throat but all of this was just a hoax to prevent the anxiety of the entire world.

    It was surprising that the Chinese and American governments had been able to get together without too much conflict and manage on that n unterally.

    However, the war construction efforts also lead to the prelude of a pressurising space race. With the seven major continents secretly cooperating with each other, the countries of the other five space agencies had already begun building space shuttles and fuel rockets at record time.

    Some of the most vocal critics who did now know much only fuelled more distrust among the people that were involved in it. But the rest of the world remained in their uncaring state and went on with business as usual.

    Derek was part of that.

    He thought it was absurd that everyone was preparing to fight another meaningless war, but work had to go on, so he could only hope and pray that it did not happen.

    The leaders, on the other hand, may have understood that it was dangerous to dangle the ''War'' card, but it was the fastest way to get budget approvals from the unsuspecting politicians that were not involved in it. Only the highest level ofmand and a few select individuals were supposed to know the truth as they prepared their way to destroy the meteor.

    Derek, at the time had not known what was actually happening behind the scenes. It wasn''t until a whistleblower decided that enough was enough and leaked it to the masses via the inte.

    That snitch was, unfortunately, a genius in the use of technology, rendering all the database to be open to the masses. Even the government top dogs in security defences were unable to stop it nor curb the information leak.

    There the war pretext was officially over, and the leaders of various countries like China and the USA finally revealed the true reason.

    As expected, it caused a full blown panic to the entire world, and it led to severe unrest in many countries. The military had to enter to assist the police in the riots, and that was roughly about a hundred days before viable military ns could be taken into action to reduce the size of the meteoring down on them.

    People started to buy their ways into the bunkers which the countries had specifically made if their n A (Destruction of the Meteor) or if n B did not go as scheduled. (Which was lifting people into space and to the moon base which the Chinese and Russians had expedited in their construction of it.)

    "Multiple rocket shuttles had already been sent to space in order to preserve seeds of life as well as the soil needed for the growth of viable nts should the worst case happen in the scenario where the asteroid manages to destroy the entire." Derek reiterated the ns to Weslie while showing her how rockets and such looked like via Jin''s inte ess. Some other stuff he had to exin with just words and hope that the schr''s imagination was vivid enough.

    "Butбнsince you said that you met with these creators, all these ns your leaders created were all for nought?" Weslie asked with sadness in her tone, and Derek nodded his head heavily.

    "Our n to destroy the meteor failed. Considering that we have no telemetry or imagery of the process and based on the sensors on the rockets, we know that we failed since we lost signal far sooner than it should have reached it." Derek vaguely recalled the live broadcast on TV while everyone anticipated the news.

    Thus, n B was initiated and selected elites who were grudgingly approved by the mass poption to be sent up into space, allowing them to survive while the rest had to stay in the bunkers and hoped for the best.

    However, an hour even before the first scheduled shuttle was able to lift off, there was already chatter of bad news in the social media. Eventually, the official press stated that the meteor was moving faster than anticipated.

    That was sufficient to cause even greater unrest throughout the world, and the governments had already been contemting through a live conference to use all their mass destruction capabilities to destroy the meteor, reducing it into minor debris.

    "''At the very least, it would give Mankind some fighting chance to live through it. The rest will be remembered''бнI always hated that line. How the hell can they dictate who may survive and who can''t?" Derek, at the time, had realised and detested how the small number elites perpetually made all the decisions for the rest of the world.

    And that was when he too took part in the ongoing unrest, apparently minutes before the extinction of humankind.

 Chapter 567 Extra: Going Nuclear

    <h4>Chapter 567 Extra: Going Nuclear</h4>

    Without waiting for the approval of the masses, the Western leaders had proceeded to empty their nuclear arsenal towards the speeding meteor in hopes that there would not be total annihtion of humankind within the hour toe.

    Yet at the same time, it was predicted that the meteor debris would split into hundreds of pieces, and most of it would be hitting the eastern hemisphere, causing widespread panic in Russia, China, the APAC and even the eastern European countries.

    At that crucial point, Russia was also considering firing their own nuclear missiles in hope to bring the American''s missiles down so that everyone would be extinct as a whole. To the Russians, what made the West so special that they could be allowed to survive while the rest of the world had to die for their sake?

    However, the Americans had already been a step ahead of them and had deployed their Navy on the probable sites which Russian would fire their missiles off. The American Navy was not giving them any chance to defy their ns, but the other countries were not putting this selfish thought of the American''s leaders aside.

    For once, Japan and South Korea had shared intelligence with China and Russian, giving them the contingency battle ns which the Americans were following. Her allies were asked to step aside for the greater good of humankind, and in return, they ensured that their fellow counterparts in the United States would be sent back to Ground Zero to rebuild their civilisation again.

    Enraged by their ''kindness'' in envisioning the post-apocalyptic Empire of their own, Japan and Korea had sent all the information they had on them to theirrades awaiting death by a meteor strike. With all the new reportsing in, the Chinese deployed their own Navy without hesitation, and the Russians immediately proceed in creating solutions in intercepting the American''s nuclear missiles.

    And yet all of this scheming to see who could seed and triumph for the post apocalyptic scenario was useless as the saidet rock suddenly disappeared from the space agencies'' radar and instead appeared directly above China soil.

    "They imed they were the creators of our kind, and that they had watched us all babbling about who would survive. To see it escting into a scenario where everyone preferred to drag others with them instead ofing together as one to unite against amon threat was more than disappointing in their eyes." Derek said as he leaned back onto the tree.

    "They announced their presence? How?" Weslie asked as she yed with a broken branch nearby.

    "As I recall, they spoke through our minds," Derek added that the Creator who gave the announcement called himself Ares. The God of War from Greek Mythology.

    Even though it could be just a coincidence, the asteroid that they predicted removed their optical illusion as if to prove their point. Lo and behold, it was a gigantic spaceship with all the ancient Greek designs on it. All these stories about the Gods of old, Derek would have probably believed them now.

    Of course, the government leaders and their military throughout Earth stopped their bickering and immediately banded together shooting their nuclear missiles at them. Russia was the first to fire it towards them since they were the nearest to China.

    Yet with just one response from the spaceship, it destroyed all the nuclear missiles in the air, causing a nuclear electromaic pulse that disabled only the electronic equipment on Earth.

    Shanghai City went into a major ckout because of the nuclear EMP st, and the mothership did not send any troops down at all. Instead, it sent a wave of a particr electromaic pulse which crippled the entire city, shutting the minds of everyone in the vicinity, causing them to be brainless.

    Then, a squad of space soldiers came down to capture those who were able to withstand the mind wave attack. Derek was, unfortunately, thetter as he got his mind wiped out. "If not for the System''s recovery magic, I might not have remembered all of this," Derek said.

    Weslie could feel his powerlessness when he spoke of the past, but even now, she could sense that as well. "Still, with the System and the Master that we are serving, things should change, right?"

    That was when Derek smiled a little.

    "Indeed. The ''zombies'' that Jin captured, a small number of them seem to be regaining sentience. I may have been a simple man in the past, but as luck would have it, now I am their leader. I shall guide them and help them grow in strength. Hopefully, if things permit, I might gather enough powerfulrades to take revenge against our ''creators''."

    "You sure revenge is the right way?" Weslie asked, and Derek frowned back.

    "I know it might sound petty, but that is the only thing going for us. They destroyed our homes, left us in ruins, and treated us as toys. And for what?"

    "Because after they left, more than 99% of us never really had a say in the whole matter. So much for the gods wanting to show salvation. The first scene that I remembered was about Ares, who was showing off why he was named the God of War. Heck, even Lord Wolte feels more like a benevolent patron than a demon to me."

    "I know how it feels, or at least some of it... I always hoped that achieving revenge against the North and South Schrs will bring me peace. To a certain degree, I still think so. But after hearing your story, I am not too sure of it myself." Weslie replied as her head was facing the ground.

    "Still, I will work hard to help my people get out of agony. That''s the least I can do to move on." Weslie confessed.

    "Are you sure? I sincerely believed that you can never forgive them after all the things they did to you," Derek replied with agony in his words.

    "бнI can try." Weslie understood where he wasing from.

    "Don''t act so magnanimous. You are not the one currently sacrificing your life at the frontlines. You-"

    Derek then realised that he spoke out of tune and apologised. "At the very least, you still have a chance to save your people. I was among the first few to turn into a zombie. I do not know what happened next in my world. Did they conquer it? Did they leave us to die? Master Jin only told me that everything was pitch ck and in ruins."

    "I am honestly not even sure if I have anyone to save," Derek said and Weslie grabbed on his left shoulder.

    "Yes, you do. You said yourself you are hoping your undeadrades can regain sentience. As long as you can guide them back, you will at least moved a step forward. Maybe, in the long run, you could find something that will help return the sanity of the undead that are still stranded in your old world. And that goal is definitely better than mere revenge."

    Derek only sighed in reply and adjusted his hood back to cover his face. Weslie unconsciously shook her head, and suddenly Melis came walking towards her. "It''s about time we go back. Ayse says enough of a break. Your boyfriend has gotten you more samples to test on."

    "I see." Weslie stood up and thanked Derek for his world''s story until he murmured the following.

    "I shall think about you said."

 Chapter 568 Dinner Reviews

    <h4>Chapter 568 Dinner Reviews</h4>

    In the next few days, Jin had been spending all his time working on a secret project, and this time he did not allow anyone to disturb at all. He denied every visit from the likes of Ke Loong and only entertained the requests after he was done with his work since they were left as reminders by the System.

    Even Yun was not given any permission to visit him and the only times he came out was for Dinners prepared by Lynn. Only on the table, did the Sub System Users and the betors get a chance to report to him if there were any anomalies they had.

    He was pleased to learn that the crucialponent of Operation ''Piped Piper'' had been created, even if Weslie along with the other researchers required more time to refine and fine tune it.

    The Smander Edwardio was given permission to return back to his n but with a twist. Kraft along with Evon and Kiyu had brainwashed him of all the details and instead imnted fake memories into his brain. At the same time, he became the double agent who would monitor the Smander''s n progress with a believable story that he managed to escape from the grasp of the Panda Monster.

    What Kraft crafted was the Panda Monster was one of thetest Giants which somehow used the powers of teleportation to catch its prey. And that itself should prove enticing for the Smander king to seek for it.

    Also, if any magical entities or relics were used on Edwardio, the Smanders would most likely not able to get any information and instead find those memories of him trying to escape the Panda Monster that Hamatarou managed to mimic. (He had a bloodied scar and broken tail to prove it although Kraft wanted to chop his arm off for maximum effect.)

    This should allow the other tribes to get a breather from the ughter that King Smander was initiating since the power of teleportation would be a great boon travelling distance in this forsaken kingdom.

    Other than that, Peppers reported that she was putting that thought of exploding the entire giant kingdom on hold. With Ayse advising her and taking scientific approaches to increase her threshold, Jin had secretly ordered Ayse to put the most stringent criteria before allowing Peppers to pass.

    In a way, this was like a training exercise for Peppers to learn how to control her powers and use them even more efficiently despite the fact that she had unlimited mana at her side.

    In the meantime, Qiu Yue was proud to announce that Amura Rei had officially entered into the System''s database of minions. However, he was still being treated as a guest, and the System asionally kept tabs on him to ensure that he was not being harassed by the Yakuza.

    "Yeah, you better. That amount of money...could have been used in other ces ..." Jin sighed as he said that but Qiu Yue flicked his forehead.

    "Considering the amount of money, we are earning from the Dungeon Cave as well as the Tree Mall? We can earn that much profit back in around two days. Can you stop harbouring on it?" Qiu Yue furrowed her eyebrows.

    Indeed, the Tree Mall was getting so popr that the store owners started having a difficult time coping with it. If not for Jin''s introduction of monster helpers like the Penguins and Deep Ones, the owners would not be able to continue with the sess they got for Day 1.

    Jin also allowed the store owners to join other respectable delivery services and even the Pandafull delivery for a small monthly subscription fee. However, a disimer was ced on those food items in order to not misce people''s faith that it was Lynn''s cooking.

    Yet, people still buy from them. Some imed that the food those stall owners cooked now had some spiritual power in it, making the dishes more ptable as well as revitalising. However, none of them could bepared to Lynn''s new Grade 2 Dishes.

    The Four wed Meat and the Horned Chicken Drumsticks.

    Those were more expensive than the Grade 1 dishes by 1.5x times, but the taste was without a doubt extraordinary. To the point that the Pandafull service was packed to the brim with orders. Oh, and those cutleries that Jin had designed? They were selling like hotcakes too.

    On the other hand, Zeru had finally apologised to Jin on what had happened and wondered if it was his бнerm rude behaviour which made Jin throw such a tantrum that he did not let anybody to visit him at all cost.

    "Obviously not! It was partly my fault for not bringing up this topic at a more opportune time. I am just busy with some System rted tasks." Jin said nonchntly that the only other person who knew about all of this was Pei and she was extremely adamant in keeping it this way.

    She had utilised her strongest mental defences to a point that even Kraft had some trouble getting through at the first try. Yet, instead of being challenged, he figured Jin had his own reasons and gave him leeway for now.

    "As for the Dungeon City Fortress, Industry Sector 1 to 5 have beenpleted. The Military Sector 1 to 3 requires a little more time but are still well within the estimated timeline. " Qiu Yue reported, and Jin could see in his phone app that the necessary infrastructures were up.

    Depending on what kind of production they wished to go for, had yet to be concluded. Perhaps Jin might keep Sector 4 and 5 to be reserved for future development purposes.

    "The foundation for Pand-Antis City are done so the instation reinforced ss domes should bepleted within the week too. All that is left is the mass construction of homes. Home Sector 1 and 2 will be left for the ultra rich while Home Sector 3 to 10 can be for the rest with high rise condominiums andmon luxurious facilities would be furnished as part of it. We have at least four more Dome sectors, but they are pending for future development." Qiu Yue added, and Jin suddenly realised something.

    "Come to think of it, weбнdo not have any recreational stuff for the people in the Dungeon City Fortress."

    "Well, we did only focus on the basics and self reliance was more important than recreational. Besides, we cannot expect the Dungeon World inhabitants to dungeon in our area, can we? We would be losing money rather than earning it." Qiu Yue brought up valid points and looked at Lynn.

    "Then perhaps, it''s time we look into some. Peps, give Qiu Yue some ideas since you are well read on the Dungeon World''s culture. Maybe we can look into implementing some of those as well as our own recreational stuff." Jin suggested as he stood up and thanked Lynn for the food.

    "Going back to your cave again?" Lynn asked as she folded her arms as she was both angry and worried what Jin''s behaviour. He seemed more haggled than when he was making the shop instances for his Tree Mall, and if not for the extra care Lynn had put in her food to revitalise him, he might have been burned out.

    "I promised I''ll be done soon. After that, we can start to settle the outstanding stuff that we have." Jin smiled lightly as he teleported back to the Dungeon Maker.

 Chapter 569 Evil Santa Boss Raid Instance

    <h4>Chapter 569 Evil Santa Boss Raid Instance</h4>

    On the day of Christmas Eve, Jin finally revealed what he had been doing. Those around him had been worried, but at the same time, they already suspected that he had to be preparing some grand Christmas event for his customers.

    The thing was that he was not doing much for the customers at all. Oh okay, actually he did make a ''small'' minor event for them. On Christmas Eve, he had released a special dungeon instance that cost 5 Yuan to enter, and it would only be avable on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

    It was a group dungeon instance fighting against Evil Santa. There was no story theme dungeon to it but just one major Boss battle. (With a few minions to kill as a warmup fight.)

    It was the first of its kind Boss Raid type of instance with Evil Santa using such game like mechanics. His attacks had various but specific patterns which the cultivators would have to figure out. There were even different stages to this fight with him naturally changing forms once hitting a certain threshold.

    Not only that, but it was also the first time that the Improved Half Mask would be officially introduced for that particr Boss Raid Instance. Jin needed more mass collection of data after tweaking it based on the individual data collected from the cultivators involved in the Plushie Special Challenge.

    So, when they were fighting the Evil Santa, there was a visible HP bar for them to gauge its health, allowing the cultivators to y more aggressive. Not to mention, the System included health bars on each of the cultivators too, and that surprisingly increased the usage of chi regeneration potion more than usual.

    Perhaps, with the aid of a meter, the cultivators were more worried about them dying. They could possibly be more conscious about their own well being, and whatever the case it might have been, Jin found this kind of feedback very interesting. "Perhaps, I can manipte that reliance on health bars in future dungeon instances as well....and the sales of those potions too."

    The Evil Santa Instance was just one of the many Boss Raid instances which Jin nned to create for the future. But right now, he needed to find out how much strain the dimensional instances could take in a small area aspared to a wide area raid instance.

    Tentatively, it was designed as an eight cultivator raid, but in the future, he nned to increase the number of raid participants against a boss if he wished included more Dungeon and Boss mechanics.

    As for the Evil Santa, his mechanics were not tooplicated for the first form. Still, it was just an illusion, baiting the cultivators to use their most potent attacks, only for the Boss to ramp up its stats and attack patterns on the second form.

    There was something distinctly different at the start of the second form. The Evil Santa would begin to use specific AOE attacks without any visual gaming cues for the cultivators to warn them. Instead, they had to rely on real visual cues in the surroundings or judge from his expressions etc.

    It was way harder at first, but once a group finally figured that it was the visual cues from its expressions, they immediately posted their findings to the Pandamonium forum.

    And it was a major hit.

    For some reason, Mr Know-It-All hadn''t been around ever since the inception of the Tree Mall, but that did not stop fellow cultivators (his disciples?) from creating a topic on it. Some even suggested that they should create something simr to a Wiki page to facilitate all their findings and Jin agreed to this.

    He informed the masses that it would be on his to-do list for January which led to a plethora of likes on his message.

    Other than that, the special instance was not without rewards. By defeating the Evil Santa (which no one had managed yet since most were stuck on the hardest second form) Jin would be releasing a cosmetic inscription not just for attire but for their weapons too!

    Evil Santa Candy Swords or Candy Axes were the few examples and Jin informed them that those inscriptions would only be possible within his dimensional instances. Although the cultivators could try it in other dungeon supplier''s instances, Jin could not guarantee a proper activation due to the state of his own special technology being used.

    Other than that, the cultivators who participated in the Evil Santa Boss Raid would be rewarded a certain amount of Evil Santa Raid Points depending on the stage they were able to clear. For example, if a raid team were massacred by Evil Santa''s second form, they would at least receive 10 Raid Points for defeating the first form.

    Aside from that, Jin also purposely introduced specific achievements for that particr Boss Raid instance. For example, the most amount of damage would receive the Best Attacker Achievement for that particr instance run which would allow him to gain 2 extra Raid points. That way, everyone would be able to earn extra points while excelling in what they did best.

    Because of the limited avability of the Evil Santa Instances, the diehard fans of the shop did not hesitate to stop by despite the busyness of the Christmas festival. Some praised Jin for keeping his shop open 24 hours even during the holidays, allowing them to enter anytime they desired for a dungeon.

    In addition, the low price made it essible for Students and Elderlies to try, and it was to the point that the Elders and students even manage to discover some Boss mechanics that most adult cultivators would not be able to find. Thus, Jin also made sure that the sharing of information on an open tform would be rewarded ordingly too.

    At the same time, the dungeon supplier ensured that the rewards were not so huge that people purposely withheld such information. While understandably, some wished to withhold information in order to aim for the first clear, The System noted that that did not hinder the overall progress of cultivators at all.

    And yes, those Raid Points could be redeemed at the Redemption counter store (Baby Pandas had Santa Hats now), and this time Jin intentionally made the rewards more multi purpose. Prizes included vouchers for various sorts such as food, weapons, armour and batches of chi regenerating potions waiting to be redeemed.

    That was not all! Especially when special limited mini game parts that were listed too as part of the rewards in order to incite the collector spirit in the cultivators.

    There was a limited edition Christmas booster card pack for redemption which had the chance of dropping a rare holographic card that could be used for collection purposes or for battle. Jin purposely put two versions in the same booster pack so that the cultivators could frame it up if they wanted. (Assuming they managed to get it.)

    The collector version would not have any battle abilities stored within the card since there was no Pico-chip in it. (A Pico-chip was 100x smaller than a nanochip, and it could not be detected with the mere eye.)

    At the same time this lead to him being notified about single incidents with people selling their card for real cash, which made Jin unsure if he should be proud that his products finally had enough poprity for scalpers to exist.

    In any case, he was looking forward to his Pandawans or perhaps a new batch of cultivators to clear the Evil Santa Boss Raid Instance.

    But if one believed that he had used up all the time holed up to prepare for that event for the cultivators, they were dead wrong. This was because there was an event that was way more important than earning money.

    It was none other than a Grand Christmas Feast for all of his minions. (and of course, his betors too.)

 Chapter 570 In Need For Food Materials

    <h4>Chapter 570 In Need For Food Materials</h4>

    The Grand Xmas Feast.

    Despite his conviction to do everything by himself towards the end, Jin had to admit to himself that he was not able to do it alone. Not even his Another Jins were enough to make up for the overallck of time and preparation.

    Thus, he ended up seeking help from Lynn and Qiu Yue a few days before Christmas. Upon learning the gist of his n, they dly rendered their assistance.

    When Jin mentioned that he was going to prepare a feast for all of his minions, Lynn nearly fainted by the sound of it. He was not catering to dozens of minions but thousands of them!

    The Orcs were thergest number, followed by zombies and subsequently the contracted goblins. Speaking about the contracted goblins, after a month of their work (in Jin''s Earth time) Qiu Yue finally revealed the truth of the ''Masked Humanoid''s'' Origin.

    It was so that they could make a more informed choice on whether they wished to stay after their contract would expire to work for the Dungeon City Fortress or return back to the Goblin World.

    Most of them eventually agreed to stay along with Jin, given that the promise to bring their family members was still valid. The remaining decided not to work with Jin and agreed to a simple brain wipe and return to their original lives. Qiu Yue informed them that were free to contact her anytime in case they changed their mind one way or the other before their contract ended.

    However, not all was lost for the ones returning to back to the Goblin World once they would finish their contract that was an equivalent of Three ''Goblin Years".

    The ''brainwashing'' which would eventually be conducted by Kraft was not a full wipe, but only certain details would be erased or tampered with (like the time difference) to ensure that the goblins who had restricted ess would not have the knowledge to change the current Goblin World.

    Going one step further, should they wish to ever return to the System''s contract, all they had to do was to seek out for the Dungeon Cave Town that Jin had finally maintained a presence in that area. (Especially since Jin always weed more help.)

    Back to the nning of the Christmas Feast, Qiu Yue had assisted by sealing one of the industrial buildings in Industry Sector 5 and started pumping out the mandatory door gifts for the minions. It was a customised miniature model size of themselves which had their names carved at the base of all those models.

    Jin felt this gift was personalised and showed them that they are not just insignificant workers for the System despite the number of minions under him. Qiu Yue believed the same but was worried about the cost that he would incur making these door gifts. (Because this was just the start! Jin had modestly prepared other things as presents for all of his minions.)

    "Well, you said that Rei''s debt was worth 2 days of our gross profit. What is another week''s worth of gross profit to our already hardworking minions?" Jin argued back to Qiu Yue, and she rolled her eyes. The Red Panda Cultivator was rendered speechless when Jin, who had grumbled about their loss of money not too long ago, used this sort of argument back at her.

    As for the Feast itself, Jin personally went out hunting with Lynn in the Giant World. It was a great opportunity to personally take a look over the situation in that ce too.

    He finally met up with the Penguin Vige where Lynn''s peggies came from, and they gave him tips on where thergest possible Giant Monsters should be located at. (But before that, the penguins purposely made Lynn and Jin stayed for a tea with the Elders.)

    But all was not a waste of time. Chieftain Skitter and Elder Colwaski had told them about the possible Giant Monsters that were in the vicinity as well as their habits and tracks, so the two System Users could be on alert when searching for those Giants.

    "You sure you can do it yourself?" Lynn asked, and Jin smirked at her when they reached the said location after their tea session.

    "I am not as confident without my minions and betors. Feels strange and unusual doing it all by ourselves." Jin replied as he took a suitcase which contained a customised Gearbox Suit out.

    "But I''ve been working on something that might potentially aid us in the Mecha World." He then passed the suitcase to Lynn and asked her to wear the Gearbox Suit.

    "Wait, what? You want me to wear it now? Don''t I have to strip or something?" Lynn asked with a blush appearing on her face as she saw the suit and Jinughed, shaking his head furiously.

    "You don''t have to do that!" Just put it close to your body, and it will do the rest!" Jin said and assisted Lynn to put on the Gearbox Suit. The moment a piece of the Gearbox Suit attached to her chest, the rest crawled all around her body, fitting a base metallic skeletal support for the entire body.

    Jin also brought out his own suit and quickly wore it. "System, any Smanders in sight?" Jin asked, hoping that Edwardio, the Smander Guard managed to divert their attention away.

    "At present, Edwardio has sessfully convinced a majority of the forces to look outside the city for the mysterious teleporting Panda. To make it more convincing, the System had Yun ce a one way portal in the middle of a deserted district to lure them."

    "From time to time a simtion image of the Panda appears there before disappearing again." The System reported that it had teleported those smanders who used the portal to city outskirts, providing them difficulty to return back to the castle.

    "That''s great. While I do not wish to have all eyes watching what we do, it''s ironically the best way to attract the attention of those hiding. If you find traces of species other than the Smanders in our vicinity, do give us a shout out as well. I still prefer Hamatarou to rescue those vigers before any harm is done to them." Jin knew that he contradicted himself, but sometimes, he had to be attention grabbing to get things done.

    At that point, Jin and Lynn went into a deserted house to the location which the penguins had rmended. They would use the house as a site to ambush their ''prey''. Thus, Jin began preparations by using his phone to press a few options, and suddenly arge portal emerged out from the bottom of the floor.

    He told Lynn that her job would be vital in luring the giant wildlife into the house so he could engage it. However, Lynn was more than a bit curious if Jin was really capable of holding himself out. (She also wondered if Jin wanted to use that particrrge portal on the ground as a way to capture the monsters.)

    Because if that was true, she tried to let Jin know that those monsters are at least intelligent enough to not fall into that trap unless he manages to summon it instantly underneath its feet.

    Still, it would require something more prominent than the size of the portal she saw. Yet, Jin somehow managed to overturn her expectations.

    From the portal, out came a бнMecha.

 Chapter 571 V2 Combat Bike

    <h4>Chapter 571 V2 Combat Bike</h4>

    The Mecha that emerged looked like an improved bipedal Sandroku Golem, but it was built at least two timesrger than the ones they had used in the Goblin World. This one suited more for an Orc rather than a Goblin.

    Lynn inspected it all over and aside from its bigger size, there was nothing which looked particrly impressive. (Perhaps it was noteworthy that it looked like an Ogre.)

    Instead of sitting in a cockpit and controlling the robot like the ones in Supa Robot Warz, this particr Sandroku Golem appeared more like an erged Mecha Suit, an Ogrebuster if one might suggest.

    "Does this particr thing pack a punch? Because from the looks of it, you seem to be rather underwhelming in the size department." Lynn asked as she summoned her Combat Bike out, yet what appeared before her left her speechless.

    "Happy early Christmas to you." Jin half smiled as he could only hope that Lynn would like her present. He had made some significant changes to the Combat Bike in secret. "If you do not like this, the other bike that you own is still stored within the database of the System, and it can be pulled out again."

    Lynn was kind of shocked as she thought that Jin was only preparing Christmas gifts for the minions. "I did not expect бнthis. Thank you." Lynn said as the Sub System told her to press the button at her top right chest. The Gearbox Suit immediately generated foldable tes out as well as ayer of nanofibers that covered her entire body.

    The nanofibers were a product from the ck Sludge which Ayse had experimented with for the past month or so while she mixed it with Lost Tech. (Actually, she discovered it by chance when she identally dropped the ck sludge sample onto a Lost Tech Armour te, learning that it was capable of it duplicating the hardiness of the te.)

    Eventually, she experimented with it further and managed to make the liquid form into solid under the right electrical pulse. What''s more, it would retain its shape upon formation, and the only way to remove it would be to insert the same frequency of electrical pulses into it. Thus, Ayse said that the only weakness seemed to be electrical attacks.

    Jinter incorporated that new technology by copying Yang Ling''s modr attachment inventions and hoped that it would be the new armour for his Sub System Users. While defensive inscriptions would be useful, the Mecha World would not be such a kind world that used swords and arrows. It would definitely prove to be a boon the more defence a person could pack.

    "Here''s your helmet." Jin passed it to Lynn. It had the design of a penguin with a tilted crown that was shaped for aerodynamic purpose on top of it

    "You still have not answered my question!" Lynn said as she punched him lightly on his arm. She took the helmet while smiling widely at the newbat bike.

    "It will be fine. I guarantee you that. Don''t you rather want to try the V2 Combat Bike first?" Jin asked, and Lynn could not keep her excitement as she nodded her head with delight. When she nced at the V2 Combat Bike, the Sub System had already started exining the new features of the bike to her.

    Apparently, the New V2 bike had the flexibility of a yoga master. Its parts could be moved around to allow Lynn to fit and turn into tight spaces while performing a chase or escape. While the bulky armour on the V2bat bike was still prevalent, it could be detached at a moment''s notice and be stored within the Combat Bike''s storage hard drive which had dimensional storage ring technology.

    The helmet was a notch better than the one she was using since it featured the same ck Sludge Technology that Ayse had created. (She aptly named it ck Tech, because sludge sounds so crude to her.)

    The Sub System integration within the helmet was vastly improved by the Half Mask HUD Technology that the System had gathered data on, making it more user friendly by showing the possible routes to take if she was in a pinch.

    The V2 Combat Bike was also integrated with the Sub System, so in case Lynn made a wrong move, or there was imminent danger she was unable to respond; the AI would immediately take over. Last but not least, it finally had the ability to hover.

    However, Ayse warned Jin that the Lost Tech was stillcking, so Lynn had to reach speeds of at least 100km per hour before activating the ability to hover.

    That was when Lynn snorted a little and said that bikes should remain as bikes but thanked Jin for the early Christmas present. "It''s a pleasant surprise."

    "I could not think of anything better but to modify yourbat bike, especially after I saw you browsing those bike modifications that Hou Fei had given you. Ah. I totally forgot about Hou FeiбнI should send him a message about the Christmas Feast."

    "You better tell him not to leak it since you are keeping this tight. Does Ayse know that it''s for a Christmas present?" Lynn asked, and Jin shook his head.

    "She only thinks that I was upgrading yourbat abilities and did not seem to think anything of it. Besides, I''ve asked the System, and they don''t have a thing like Christmas over there. I think she will be a teeny weeny bit jealous that the stuff I asked her and the research team is for Christmas giftsбнespecially because I told them to rush it out. I can only hope that their present will appease them." Jin replied as he saw Lynn chuckled slightly while putting her helmet on.

    "There are a few newbat options but nothing too drastic. Happy luring! I will be waiting for you!" Jin said as the V2 Combat Bike roared loudly before it was silenced by the anti acoustic inscription ced onto the bike.

    Meanwhile, Jin made some minor adjustments to the Sandroku Ogrebuster suit he summoned out from the existing portal before diving into it. As he slipped his legs into the bad boy, the System was already making calctions to send in the actual giant to fight against the monsters.

    Jin knew full well howrge those Giant Monsters could be and if he wanted to have a proper Christmas Feast, he would need something of the same size.

    And thus, a Mecha Titan.

 Chapter 572 Mecha Titan Knigh

    <h4>Chapter 572 Mecha Titan Knigh</h4>

    Jin did not build a Mecha Titan from scratch since he didn''t have the resources nor the money to aplish such a feat. Instead, he had used the Titan Knight from the Dungeon World and constructed the Mecha around it. (So much for not asking his minions for help, but he did prepare a nice present for Titan Knight, plus it was unaware about the feast.)

    As the exterior was already in ce, Jin mainly focused on repairing the internal parts as analysed by the System and gave him a new pair of ''legs'' to boot.

    For now, Jin used the caterpir tracks from the Sherman Tank blueprints from Hou Fei. He would have preferred to wait until Amura Rei shared some of their world''s Mecha blueprints as a reference, but as time was of the essence, he needed to use the Titan Knight now to catch the giant monsters for the grand feast.

    Therefore, Jin installed the caterpir tracks on the Titan Knight as its first iteration and made it modr in nature so the parts could be swapped when he finally had his hands on the Mecha Blueprints.

    The Titan Knight was rather satisfied that he finally had something to move around instead of being forced to hand around like a piece of clothing by the System in the Sanctum of Worlds'' Guest Instance.

    Initially, Jin wanted to just install the Hover ability from the Lost Technology, but it required wires sticking through the Titan Knight from his waist below with a portal constantly opened to the Guest Instance. With that method, he could be operating without the worry of his energy drying up.

    But on second thought, Jin believed it was too risky with too many exposed parts. (Not to mention all the debris falling into the Guest Instance. The System would most likelyin even though it had the capability to clean the mess. Also, the System did berate him about the expenses about having a giant moving portal out for that long.)

    After putting the Titan Knight on tracks, Jin further modified the internalpartments to install a cockpit inside, allowing the dungeon supplier to not only have a better grasp on the controls if needed but also to gain an easy way to insert Maqi into the Titan Knight''s body.

    This could potentially reduce the amount of fuel energy used by the Titan Knight which was currently running on oil that was produced by the System. In addition, by using Maqi, it was able to utilise the prototype energy beam rifles which were powered by the runes designed by the Elite Runesmith Jespa and her cksmith cousin, Hespesta.

    The Maqi would run through a series ofrge adamantium runes, invoking the magical powers within the Runes to produce the sufficient capacity to activate instead of using the energy source from the Titan Knight.

    cksmith Hespesta had also created the rifle based on the System''s purchase of a basic beam rifle from the ck market andter magnified to 50 times the size to make sure that the Titan Knight was not losing any firepower because of the sheer size. (Needless to say, they never knew that Jin had begun using those prototypes without their acknowledgement. Even Moloch thought that Jin was taking it to analyse stuff.)

    Other than the rune activated Prototype Beam Rifle, the cksmith had managed to create a titan sword and shield which waszily named by Jin as the Colossus de and Colossus Tower Shield.

    And of course, Jin would be piloting the Titan Knight with his modified Orgebuster Sandroku Golem equipped in case of any emergency ejection from the Titan Knight and for further protection within the cockpit.

    The supplier was also considering the same for any subsequent Mecha builds as he believed that the cockpit was way too dangerous for the pilot. If Jin could spend a little more money to make a suit that allowed them to exit a damaged mech in time (or at least endure secondary explosions), they could potentially inflict more damage to the enemy mech before having to evacuate. (or die gloriously?)

    At the same time, he did not wish to use Gearbox Suit as the base product as it would hurt Yang Ling''s business as well as her potential growth to be a badass Catgirl or Iron Lady. Hence, he was looking into the growth of his ck Tech, so he had tasked Ayse and her team to look into that aspect.

    However, all these prototype Gearbox suits and ck Tech Armour suits were all research mainly for one particr suit.

    The Living Armour Suit that Jinmanded his minions and Systems to create with utmost patience and diligence.

    Jin knew that he had all the essentialponents for the suit, but he felt that being hasty in the production for this one in a lifetime kind of armour suit would only be an injustice to all the efforts ced into it.

    Especially Ke Mi, Shu and the other werejackals who had tended to the Living Armour nts for months with much care. Furthermore, Peppers had yet to give him the follow up of the effect of the Living Armour te that absorbed her magical energies. Was it just an anomaly or could it affects the whole series of crops?

    Only (Peppers in) time could tell.

    As the Titan Knight finished its fundamental movement testing with its new caterpir tracks, it opened its abdominal tes and gave entry to Jin in his Orgebuster Sandroku Golem whoter manually secured the tes properly.

    With some tweaking by the System, the golem was properly seated into the cockpit''s position, and wires were automatically inserted into the golem to have ess to the Titan Knight''s sensors. The controls were simr to the cockpit of core units in the Supa Robot Wars. Thus Jin had an easy time manoeuvring the huge Titan Knight. (Although he felt weird like some kind of Robotception.)

    "All Systems good to go. Now we just have to wait for Lynn to bringбн.WHAT THE SHIT?!" Jin eximed as he saw a tiny little bike hovering around to avoid getting stomped by a giant mutant pig. Sadly, it was not just some ordinary Giant Pig Monster.

    It was a Giant Pig Monster with giant spikes on its back!

    A Pigcupine?!

 Chapter 573 Piggycupines

    <h4>Chapter 573 Piggycupines</h4>

    "You better receive it! I have a bunch of smaller pigs chasing after me as well!" Lynn said via System channel as she pressed the nitro boost on her bike, allowing her to hover and speed into the house. The ''smaller'' Piggycupines were relentlessly chasing after Lynn and Jin knew that now was no time to ask her how or why.

    The important thing to do was to prepare to support Lynn and make sure not to mess things up. As for the ''Titan'' of the Giants, the Father Pigcupine (as Jin dubbed it for now although, at hindsight, Lynn felt Porkcupine was a better pun.), got stuck at the door which Jin had much difficulty opening with the Titan Knight.

    That was currently the sole defence against a monster of that enormous size as it oinked in anger, unable to catch the tiny little fly that had offended them.

    "What exactly did you do?!" Jin asked as the most dangerous being seemed to be upied for the moment. He sent his Maqi into the Titan Knight and immediately aimed at the Piggycupines, killing each with just one shot of the prototype beam rifle.

    While it reduced some of the numbers, the others started to get more bloodthirsty at the loss of their friends. It was not exactly very pleasing to see an angry horde of them running towards the Panda cultivator. (Not to mention, the prototype rifle was heating up real fast with the continuous shooting.)

    "I just did what Chieftain Skitter advised me to do. Stab one of them in the ass to attract their attention!" Lynnughed as the Hover Bike barely scraped through a jump attack from the smaller Piggycupines. (Even with just one hit and Lynn would be a goner!)

    "System! Give Lynn the permission!" Jin ordered as he kept on channelling his Maqi for the Titan Knight to shoot and reduce the horde size of giants.

    "Permission for what?!" Lynn asked in a confused state when she heard Jin through the inte, and suddenly arge digital button appeared right in front of her screen of her GPS installed in the V2 Combat Bike.

    Without any hesitation, she mmed her fist into it while doing a backflip manoeuvre based on the warning that was given by the System through her helmet.

    The Hovering Bike rose vertically upwards, and as it flipped to the back, the storage drive within the bike started to spew out attachments which Lynn had no idea she even possessed. Lynn thought she had gone through all the options before engaging the Piggycupines, but iJin it seems that Jin had been hiding this from her.

    Suddenly, a ss dome emerged from the back of the V2 Combat Bike covering her and moving her seat forward a little, causing her to be in a prone position facing the front of the bike. Once the ss dome had secured Lynn, the Modr Attachments that magically appeared from the bike''s storage drive mmed itself onto the bike, causing it to have hands and bipedal legs.

    For all she knew, the bike had turned into somewhat of a humanoid mecha which Jin dubbed it V2 Bike Mecha. (Oh how original~) The controls were simr to driving the bike, but more consoles were up and running, giving her the ability to hold onto a weapon.

    "WHAT? Weapons?! If I knew I would have asked Qiu Yue for some advice!" Lynn panicked a little, shaking the controls rather violently since she felt powerless without the knowledge of the new Mecha that she was driving.

    Jin then realised Lynn was not able to quickly adapt to the situation. He thought that the surprise would empower her further than making her anxious.

    So, he quickly ordered the Bike Mecha to go into a partial autopiloting mode, and that would allow the Sub System to aid Lynn in her endeavour to survive when she unintentionally entered into a panicked manner. With the Bike Mecha mode on, the Sub System was able to retrieve an assortment of weapons to be used against the horde of giant piggycupines.

    Weapons like an autocannon and RPGunchers were taken out and used mercilessly on the horde. Thankfully, all the piggycupines had was just ayer of skin with lots of fats in it, so the conventional rge sized'' bullets and missiles were still sufficient to take them down. (Just that it required more than usual to make sure the giants dies.)

    In the meantime, the System was processing and analysing the Piggycupine''s body structure from the live samples captured by Jin as well as the dead ones which the Sub System assisted in procuring. It eventually was able to make a calcted guess for the several weak spots of the Piggycupine horde.

    But in that short period of time, they had already reached melee range with the Titan Knight. Thankfully it had the size advantage against the small giants. Dropping its prototype beam rifle due to overheating, the Titan Knight pulled out his sword and shield, cutting piggycupines down and ensuring that they disappeared into the System''s grasp.

    Eventually, Lynn calmed down again and took full control over the Bike Mecha, providing better support than what the Sub System was offering. (After all her Sub System was never intended for fighting purposes.)

    "Sorry Jin for nking out like that," Lynn said in an embarrassed tone through the inte as she did not expect her body to enter such a state by the sudden transformation.

    "No, it''s my fault that I did not tell you in advance. I thought we wouldn''t need to use that because the power consumption of that particr mode is extremely draining to your bike''s battery pack. There are two more backup batteries within the storage drive, but you would notst another five more minutes. It''s still a proto-" Before Jin could finish his sentence, the enraged Father Piggycupine finally managed to squeeze his way through the door by breaking the sides of the doors and did a highly terrifying low pitch oink. (Unbelievably, the wood splinters from the door killed one or two of the piggycupines.)

    Unlike the small piggycupines, the Father Pigcupine knelt a little while aiming his back towards the Bike Mecha and Jin''s Titan Knight. Without much warning,rge spike projectiles came flying towards the both of them, and there was no way to defeat it unless the Titan Knight had more mobility in its current form.

    The only thing it could do was use its colossal tower shield to block, and maybe an opportunity to possibly parry the first attack while Jin had alreadymanded the System to teleport Lynn out of Giant World to get her out of harm''s way.

    Thankfully, the spike projectile missed the disappearing Lynn and killed an unfortunate offspring of the Father Pigcupine instead, but the Titan Knight''s shield was prated by the force of the projectile.

    If not for Jin''s quick thinking, the Titan Knight might have most likely lost an arm. Jin channelled whatever Maqi he had into the shield, slowing the destruction down a little with multiple energy barriers before the spike projectile prated it.

    "System! Get us out of here now! We don''t have the firepower to defeat that!" Jin shouted in his cockpit as he threw the shield away and held the Colossal de with two hands hoping it could stop the next iing spike projectile before it tore the Titan Knight and him into pieces.

    In an instant, the System was able to recreate the portal underneath the Titan Knight, allowing both of them to drop into the portal. (Along with some extra goodies that came charging towards it.) Just when Jin thought he was prepared based on the data he had, he wasn''t.

    "Note to self. NEVER underestimate the Giant World."

 Chapter 574 Dungeon For Fun

    <h4>Chapter 574 Dungeon For Fun</h4>

    "ARRGH! THAT BOSS JIN! Alwaysing up with these surprises! How am I supposed to find myself a girlfriend if he always does that?" Bu Dongined as he took another look at the Pandamonium newsletter while waiting for the other Pandawans to arrive. Xiong Da and Ruo Ying were, unfortunately, going to miss out on the limited raid instance for Christmas.

    ording to his girlfriend on their Pandawan chat group, thewyer had been moaning about it during their entire flight to their holiday resort in Boracay. He apparently had even looked up prices for a quick one day flight to return just to be able to try it out. (Ruo Ying had quickly shattered these ns though with a bit of ... ''girl'' magic.)

    "You just have to sacrifice one of those priorities. Besides you''re still in school, you should have plenty of time finding a girl for you there бн I''ve kind of given up hope a long time ago." Deng Long shrugged his shoulders as he and Bu Dong had be an unlikely duo because of the robot skirmishes they both participated in together.

    "But you don''t look bad yourself. You''re a respectable policeman so you should attract thedies. At this rate, I''ll be wondering if you prefer men or something." Bu Dong teased, and Deng Long justughed a little.

    "You''ll understand when you grow older." Suddenly Deng Long remembered how Bu Dong was way richer than any other Pandawan (except Xiong Da). Not to mention he had quite the high cultivation for his young age as well.

    "бн Maybe not." He whispered to himself as they saw Yue Han, the Bat Cultivatore along with his girlfriend, Xing Li, the Hedgehog Cultivator. (The other (and potentially the main) reason for both of Bu Dong and Deng Long to bond over each other.)

    "Merry Christmas Bu Dong! And Deng Long Sir!" Xing Li waved happily towards them. The two greeted her back even though it was merely Christmas Eve.

    "Don''t worry. I can afford the dungeon this time." Yue Han joked towards Bu Dong as thetter was eyeing at him.

    "Heh, you better." Bu Dong grinned as they were still waiting for the Venus Four. Se Lang couldn''te as he was head over heels buried in paperwork. With the overtime pay being two times more during the festive season, he had taken all the overtime he could. Besides, Se Lang needed that money sorely to recuperate for the presents he bought for his бнtwo girlfriends.

    Many who knew about this mижnage ид trois (especially within the Pandawan circle) were rather surprised that all of them were still together. They thought it would be just a passing loving season, but the bonds between those three only got stronger with time.

    Se Lang was proving to be a reliable boyfriend who brought them out for meals, either together or separately. At times, the Wolf Cultivator felt more like a brother to thempared to a boyfriend, yet perhaps that was an aspect which kept the rtionship going. It was more than just the physical interaction but a pir to rely on.

    Deng Long while initially envious to high heavens of his buddy (supposedly many straw puppets were nailed), he respected his bro''s dedication as he saw how Se Lang increased the number of overtime the wolf took in order to cover the expenses he spent on the two girls.

    Nevertheless, it was not just a one way street. The two girls also took on part time jobs in order to help out with the finances. Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator, was so encouraged by their attitude that she ended up interviewing at the same ce as her friends and was also hired there. (Selling bubble teas)

    "Oh, they are finally here." Deng Long said as Bu Dong was boasting about some of the Supa Robot Warz missions he had experienced to Yue Han.

    "Hi guys! I hope we are not toote." Shi Hui said as she waved at Deng Long. Judging by their outfits, they came directly from their part time job and rushed to Jin''s store as soon as they could. With all of them gathered together, they decided to have some early dinner at the Restaurant Instance.

    "The first form may be the easiest to defeat, but we can''t underestimate it. ording to the constant forum updates, we will be teleported to one of three possible locations. Either in front, behind or inside the house itself." Bu Dong started to exin as soon as they had ordered Lynn''stest dishes that were avable in conjunction with the new instance.

    "If we are lucky enough to get teleported behind his house, the elves will be busy packing ''gifts'', and we can disrupt them by destroying the power generator. That is the most ideal situation as those elves that he possessed will build those annoying Spartans we saw in the WunderPanda Theme Park instance."

    "How will destroying the power generator help?" Yue Han asked and Deng Long who also read up on some of the information avable answered that the power generator provided electricity for the entire house. By removing the generator, it will shut down the house''s defences temporarily before the backup generator activates them again.

    "It will give us enough time to enter and get rid of the small fries as soon as possible without the need to worry about the generator and defences of the house." Deng Long added that after killing 30 spartan toy soldiers, Evil Santa would appear.

    "Then I guess the worst case scenario is getting teleported directly into the Santa''s house?" Jia Ying asked as she received her drink.

    "Yes and no. Considering most of us are Pandawans, we should be capable of oveing the house'' defences and defeating the elves before Santa appears." Bu Dong replied, and she was slightly confused.

    "Before Santaes? Didn''t you just say we have to kill 30 spartan toy soldiers for Evil Santa to arrive?" Shi Hui interrupted.

    "That''s only the case if the rm signals have been disabled. Though we could always get lucky enough to be teleported into a ce where there are no elves in sight. It''s unlikely but not impossible." Bu Dong said as he had watched footage of a cultivator raid team that managed to pick them off one by one without raising the rm.

    "Actually, should we even know all this information? Kind of spoils the overall experience in my opinion. Like knowing the answer to a riddle before having the time to try and figure it out for ourselves." Yue Wen wondered and Jing Ru, the Giraffe Cultivator, nodded her head in agreement.

    "While it would be nice to get the first clear again, I feel like something''s been different ever since the Deep One Dungeon Instance. We''re always trying to aim for the top and get the first clear bonus, but we don''t necessarily seem to be enjoying it as much." Jin Ru spoke out to the entire gang.

    "Back when Boss Jin had just opened, we merely yed for the fun of it. If we managed to get a first clear, it was a bonus. Now that Boss Jin has put so much work into improving his dungeon instances, to the point where we have to look up ideal ways how to ovee a dungeon, it feels like more of a chore. Like we have to meet some kind of expectations." Jing Ru continued to voice her concern out loud, and it hit Bu Dong hard.

    When he thought about it, he too hadn''t been enjoying the dungeons as muchpared to the Supa Robot Warz which did not have these rankings or a first clear bonus. It was just a mini game where he enjoyed fighting alongside Deng Long.

    He remembered how expensive it was to y the mini game that he had to squeeze every bit of a single y session dry until Jin changed the pricing. And even then, he still enjoyed the experience a hell lot.

    Not to mention being awarded so much game points for being the subscribers for the initial pricing list, which allowed Bu Dong to have fun due to the variety of robot parts for him to experiment. Sure there was some sort of achievements as motivations, but those were just optional.

    "...I get where you areing from... Alright, if everyone thinks this way, we shall go in with only that much information and figure out the rest by ourselves." Bu Dong ced his phone down, and everyone seemed happy with this idea.

    By then, their food arrived, and they enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner together with thepany they had found in this particr shop.

 Chapter 575 Not Listening

    <h4>Chapter 575 Not Listening</h4>

    "Shit! We really teleported into the house!" Bu Dong cursed to himself as he saw the staring eyes of the elves in their greenish and ck costume. On a side note, Jin used clones of the Elf Researchers as well as Kraft''s Night Foxes as Santa''s underlings.

    Of course, in terms of powers wise, Jin had to tune it down by a whole ton. The Night Foxes were too buffed up against the cultivators. (Come on, killing a Boar Knight with only a stone in the Dungeon Cave? That''s brute strength!)

    They immediately stopped their work, and their (Dark Elf) supervisor mmed the big red button, causing the rm to re loudly, signalling to everyone that there were intruders in Santa''s House. Afterwards, the elves mercilessly threw gifts at them, which transformed into iplete versions of the Spartan Toy Soldiers.

    Some of the Toy Soldiers were missing hands, legs or even heads! So, they were not too much of a threat aspared to the elves who were throwing the gifts at them. However, just one minute into the Boss Instance, Evil Santa appeared right in front of their eyes with a great big smile.

    For some reason, the group felt that Evil Santa was бн A little too tall!

    Unlike the past few times when they saw him in the WunderPanda Theme Park, he was at least three to four heads taller in size. "It''s the Boss Mechanics! Jin purposely made Evil Santa bigger so we can have more space to run around him! Watch out for his attacks!" Bu Dong announced, but Yue Han and his girlfriend Xing Li decided to make the first move against the Evil Santa.

    "Damn it, Yue Han! We need to clear the minions first!" Bu Dong shouted, but his friend was not listening to him at all.

    "Do you think those elves will disappear and note back to haunt us againter in the future form?" Yue Han asked as he used his Sword Arts to damage Evil Santa. Xing Li, on the other hand, had learnt a few support techniques from her Henotic Hedgehog Cultivation to assist her boyfriend.

    Yue Han did have a point, but at the same time, if no one stopped the ring rm, it was guaranteed that more elves would continue to swarm into from the Santa''s house. Bu Dong remembered reading how there were intervals where the elves would continue to disrupt the Evil Santa Boss Fight due to the rm.

    Unsurprisingly, the second form could summon more elves as reinforcement anyway, but it would at least be useful to get rid of the annoying small fries, while Evil Santa was in its easiest form.

    "Deng Long! I need you to go find the rm controls or at least destroy the speakers or something!" Bu Dong dictated, and Deng Long who had been fighting to defend himself so far went on the offensive.

    "Okay, but I need someone to follow me as backup! I don''t think I have enough attack power against that many elves and toy Spartan soldiers!" Deng Long said as he whacked the head of an elf, rupturing his eardrums and causing him to fall unconscious.

    As he was about to use more strength to kill the elf, a bullet went through the middle of the elf''s head. "I can be your backup." Jing Ru, the Giraffe Cultivator, offered as she aimed towards the speakers in this room and disabled them with a spray of bullets.

    "Thank you. I will dly ept it." Deng Long said with a nod as he rushed forth forward rushing into the nearest room they could find.

    With Yue Han and Xing Li distracting the Evil Santa Boss, the rest were able to clear the elves, but it was not without difficulty. With only four cultivators that hadn''t worked together much in previous dungeons, their aptitude and attitude were put to the test.

    Although the university girls treated Bu Dong like a younger brother since they hung out with each other frequently enough, they simply could not stand the orders Bu Dong gave even though he was giving them based on what he knew about them and their fighting style.

    While most of the orders were logical, they did not want to be micromanaged and prefered just having fun in this special instance as proposed earlier.

    Shi Hui and Jia Ying eventually started going at their own pace and trying out some of their unmastered attacks instead of following whatever orders he gave. As for Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden cultivator, she understood the behaviour of Bu Dong as well as her Venus Fourrades. But with her stuck in the middle of the fence, Yue Wen still decided to join her Venus Four members.

    "Is this what Yue Han mean by having fun?!" Bu Dong was furious that things didn''t go as nned. He didn''t mind going at Santa ''blind'' without knowing all the answers, but hispetitive spirit still made him want to give it their best shot.

    When he realised that no one was listening to him at all, Bu Dong felt powerless for once. They might be friends, but that did not mean that they were partners fighting hand in hand.

    However, Bu Dong gritted his teeth and followed the majority for now while he continued to analyse the behaviour of Evil Santa. He knew that getting angry would do no good and he already half expected that this current Boss Raid would not end well at all.

    "Fine, I''ll just take it as a lesson learnt." Bu Dong mumbled to himself as he observed the fight and shoot arrows with a bow he had bought as a backup. "Since they don''t want to listen and work as a team, I may as well just do my own thing too." While he did not speak thest part out, it was in to see on his face and by the way he acted.

    Over time he felt he should have just yed Supa Robot Warz or pester Jin about developing something like AI teammates.

    -----

    "A, that won''t do! Bu Dong! If you give up, the whole team will only fall further into shambles!" A female spectatormented as she looked at the screen. People were expecting the group of Pandawans to have an exceedingly good show to watch, but instead, they were witnessing a subpar show.

    Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing instead of showcasing the supreme teamwork or innovative ideas they were known for, which caused most spectators to walk away and observe other cultivators instead.

    "So that''s the boy you talked about?" A friend of the female spectator asked when the group of teenage foreigners remained as the only ones who watched the Pandawans.

    "Mhmm, that''s him. I like his tactics. They''re bold and make sense. Those other Pandawans don''t seem to realise that they are missing out on a good leader. If they listened, they might stand a good chance of at least making it up to the third form." Katerine, the Fire Shaman replied.

    Previously an exchange student in Tiangong High School, she returned to China just for this dungeon supplier''s experience. And lucky for her, she was just in time for this special Christmas ongoing event.

    Alongside Katerine were her buddies from her own school and they were raring to go for an instance run. However, Katerine knew that all they had was firepower and theycked a good leader to have a chance inpleting this new event.

    But by the looks of it, she did not have to worry too much. Judging by the disgruntled expression of a certain Ape Cultivator, she believed he would be more than happy to change teams!

 Chapter 576 Fire Shamans

    <h4>Chapter 576 Fire Shamans</h4>

    "Hahaha, did you see that? Evil Santa just needed one hit with that special attack to obliterate us!" Xing Liughed at how hriously it was when Yue Han got smacked by the Boss.

    "Wellбнit is a DPS (Damage per Second) test to see if the cultivators can stop him before he charges up his attacks. That''s why it could kill everyone around him." Bu Dong mumbled to himself while the rest were merelyughing and talking about how much fun they had. Bu Dong guessed that was their way of having fun, just doing what they can against the Evil Santa Boss since there were points to be earned.

    While it was not much, the points were already sufficient to redeem small item prizes like a chi regeneration potion. That was how Jin enticed all cultivators of varying skills to earn something from the Evil Santa Instance.

    Jin had been informed that not many people really liked the high difficulty ced in histest dungeons. To many people, it was off putting that they needed a high level of skills to clear it, and the rewards they got were minuscule.

    In most cases, this meant that people just tried it once or twice for the experience but stopped afterwards as to not waste more money being unable to get anything from it. Thus, Jin had decided to tweak it a little and was now trying out a new business model to give some leeway for his new dungeon instances.

    It might still be challenging, but at the very least, new cultivators could gain the experience and rewards for defeating the first form of Evil Santa, allowing them to have some sense of achievement. More seasoned cultivators should be able to defeat the second form while the most coordinated of all cultivators were the only ones who stood a real chance to beat the third and final form of Evil Santa.

    Still, Jin was learning how much of an impact the new dungeon model could make on the cultivators, so that was why he decided tobel it as special. The three days limit was to gather feedback from the cultivators both in terms of dungeon y and thements they had about it.

    Eventually, the dungeon supplier had to remember that he was still catering for the masses and not a niche group of people. (yet?)

    -------------------

    "Bu Dong~!" Katerine called out the name of the lone cultivator sitting at the bar counter to recuperate. The rest of the current group had decided to enter the redemption store to see what was offered while he stayed in the shop instance to check out his group''s performance chart review.

    The Ape cultivator was shocked to see that the former overseas exchange student came back to China so soon after having left.

    "Hahaha! We''re just here to stay for the holidays. I managed to convince my parents that it was so great here, and a perfect way to escape the extreme cold that we experience back home. At least it''s slightly warmer here because I just can''t stand the terribly cold weather." Katerine said as her group exchanged greetings with him as well.

    "These are all my friends. After experiencing the dungeon supplier store here, I''ve tried out a dozen other dungeon suppliers, but none couldpare to the exhrating feeling I got while fighting those Savants with you guys! So we just had toe during our stay. This Tree Mall is just marvellous. It was worth it to return back just for this." Katerine was now full on rambling like a fangirl, and Bu Dong smiled a little even though the praises belonged to Boss Jin.

    "That''s great. Don''t let me stop you from kicking Santa''s butt, I will be cheering for you guys!" Bu Dong promised cheerful manner to encourage her yet Katerine surprisingly shook her head.

    "We are not doing it without you." The Fire Shaman rebutted, and Bu Dong was confused by the way she said it. "Last time I was here, you were the one to alwayse up with the ns. We might not have beaten the Savants, but in the other dungeons you brought me along, your ns always helped us triumph. So, if you don''t mind, I would like you to lead my friends and me for this Evil Santa Instance." Katerine asked him politely as she further introduced her friends to Bu Dong.

    "These are Nia, Jasmin and Shanice." The three girls with German origins had varying white skin tone though Bu Dong seemed to differentiate them by their hair colour instead. (Since to himбнtheir facial features nearly looked the same.)

    Nia had brown, slightly curled hair while Jasmin possessed a set of big beautiful blue eyes and golden straight hair. Shanice was the only one with orangish red hair, making it her the beauty among the three of them.

    But the most prominent feature for all of them was that they could speak Chinese. (At least coherent basic sentences.) Katerine told Bu Dong that they had all taken the Chinesenguage as an extra curriculum module.

    "Butpared to Katerine, our grades and grasp of Chinese were not as good as hers," Shanice replied, and Bu Dong was rather impressed by the way she speaks.

    "Your intonation and the fluidity of the sentence is not bad! Do not berate yourselfбнso only four of you? I guess we have to find three more people to the Evil Santa Boss Instance." Bu Dong wondered who to ask, but Katerine''s group shook their head in unison.

    "We just want to y by ourselves with you leading us. I don''t think we really stand a chance of bing the first group to beat the third form, but we want to at least reach the second form. And to defeat Evil Santa at that point is our goal." Katerine replied and Bu Dong could not see why they were so adamant in choosing him.

    "I get what you mean, but I honestly don''t think that I am as great of a leader as you give me credit for. You guys can y for fun." Bu Dong did not wish to be disappointed again another round of just for fun kind of gamey. To him, dungeoneering should be taken seriously.

    "Didn''t you hear what our Chiefбн. *Cough* Katerine say that we want to beat just the second form. That is why she wanted your help. If not, we would not be waiting here for you." Nia eximed and Bu Dong was in a dilemma. Should he stay with his current group or try out with the new group who was willing to seed despite their inexperience and the size of their party.

    "Come on, it''s not like we are always here. We can tell you about our abilities, and it should be easy to remember." Katerine suggested as she went up the top level of the shop instance to grab a table for discussion.

    "Why did you say that?" Bu Dong asked as he followed the group upwards.

    "Because, we are all Fire Shamans." Katerine smiled when she turned her head back as she grinned at Bu Dong.

 Chapter 577 Joining the Fire Shamans

    <h4>Chapter 577 Joining the Fire Shamans</h4>

    Bu Dong listened intently to Katerine''s exnation on their Fire Shaman ss, both as a refresher as well as an in-depth understanding. Thest time Katerine shared her own abilities as a Fire Shaman was during the Shaoling Football Instance which she knew he would have forgotten about it.

    Only now did hee to learn that there were basic variations of Fire Shamans. While most of the Shamans studied the basic offensive and defensive spells, they would usually specialise down a certain route.

    Katerine, was the rare type, who had chosen the support route while Nia and Shanice were the moremonly found offensive Fire Shamans. In contrast, Jasmin was the only one with defensive capabilities among the four of them.

    Compared to the Pandawans, the tourist group had little experience with dungeoneering, much less something as intense as Jin''s dungeon runs. Her friends would be Grade 2 equivalents in terms of power level and only Katerine who had been here before recently managed to rank up to level 3.

    Unlike Eastern cultivations, the Western way of magic was based on levels. As long as one reached a new level, they would be given ess to a plethora of new magic skills to study. Most tended to practice a few select spells to master them well. Low levelled mages only had a very limited amount of instant cast spells they could prepare in advance. (Long casting spells were another matter.)

    The spells they decided to prepare capped based on the amount of magic power their body could handle. To reach higher levels, they would need to develop stronger and more diverse mana circuits. All these limitations were artificially imposed by the International Magical Associations (with varying names in many countries) to ensure that one did not go overboard.

    Eastern cultivators would mostly have to be wary of chi poisoning. If one wasn''t careful, it was enough to simply rest for a period of time as it merely affected the body.

    Mana poisoning, on the other hand, spread to the brain first and subsequently the body. Overconsumption of mana could pose a lethal risk. (Peppers was slightly different since her body was not considered as part of the homo sapiens category despite the fact that she looked like one.)

    To lessen the risk of such a thing urring, various international magical associations instructed magicians toe for a monthly check up at their nearest Magic Clinic (or at the very most, quarter yearly). The association would then ascertain the magical power levels of said individual and promote him/her if they managed to reach certain thresholds, updating their corresponding badges.

    Those badges were imbued with specific magical properties and could also be used as identification. Through the advent of technology, a fingerprint and a trace of magical energy could nowadays be inserted into the portable scanners, rendering the badge almost meaningless. Still most would either wear it on their body or at least take it with them as it was a prestige item. (Aka bragging rights.)

    "So, when you say you girls aim to beat Evil Santa''s second form, that is not bragging or anything but a genuine plea to bring you up to such heights?" He asked, and the girls nodded their heads.

    "I am really not that confident at all." Bu Dong said as he clearly remembering how the Pandawans failed to work together to get past the first form properly.

    "Please! We promise to listen to all your orders." Katerine assured the Ape Cultivator, but he still had his doubts.

    "When you are in a fight, you might be too busy to care about other things other than your own survival, it will be hard for me tomunicate with you girls. I might not even be that great in multi tasking. At most, I think I can help you clear his first form. How about that?" Bu Dong tried topromise with the group hoping that they did not have too much of an expectation.

    "I guess that''s fine." Nia shrugged her shoulders as honestly, she and the other two girls did not know what to expect and assumed this current Dungeon Supplier was something more fanciful than the ones they yed before.

    Katerine had been praising it to the high heavens, and from what they saw from Bu Don''s group, it was at least very well designed. However, most of their concentration at the moment was not concerning the dungeon (unlike Katerine).

    Instead, it was on the Pandamonium App.

    The funny thing was that the app that they were asked to install had immediately changed itsnguage to German (the app icon had a german g behind the Panda) and the prices were all in Euros which surprised them a lot. (Not to mention, they could pay by cash or by card.) For a dungeon instance to cost only five euros? The other three did not mind trying it out a few times to get the hang of it.

    Only Katerine was a bit baffled about this. She had already been to this store before and knew that the conversion to Yuan and Euro should be significant. So, paying five euros came as a bit of a shock, especially when Bu Dong told her he only had to pay five Yuan for it.

    She did ask Yun who was at the bar counter if it was some glitch or anything. Yun merely replied that this was the new pricing model.

    "Either you pay it, or you don''t. We''ve standardised across the board to ensure that each customer pays in their own national currency."

    "But that''s not fair..." Katerineined and Yun looked at her.

    "ording to our research, the average price for the mostmon dungeon type in Germany is around 40 over euros. Cheapest 30ish. Mind you, it''s the kind where you just fight without getting anything in return for beating it, unlike our Raid Points. So, do you still think it would be fair that you get to y such a wonderfully crafted dungeon instance for merely 63 cents? " Yun questioned, and Katerine was dumbfounded for a moment.

    "We do not need your patronage if you find our prices disagreeable or not to your liking. So what will it be, do you want in or out?"

    Yun knew that Katerine was dying to y the new dungeon instance, and thetter knew that this shop was making enough money to withstand any possible bacsh it may receive with its stance on payment.

    "Yes, I would like to y. One Evil Santa Boss Raid ticket please!" Katerine answered without any hesitation.

 Chapter 578 Underground Garage

    <h4>Chapter 578 Underground Garage</h4>

    "Hmm isn''t that Bu Dong?" Xing Li asked Yue Han. They had taken their time previewing the redemption store and were now looking for the Ape cultivator.

    His oldest friend had imed it was best to let him sulk for a while after their loss. Surprisingly, instead of doing that, he seemingly had already joined another group to try again as he was currently featured on the big screen with Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One advertising it like crazy.

    This had less to do with him, but it was more with hispany. It was extremely rare for Western Magicians to visit the dungeon instance let alone a whole group (it did not hurt that all of them were pretty girls).

    Yue Han took a closer look at the screen and discovered a familiar face near Bu Dong. It took a moment before he recognised her as Katerine.

    Xing Li did not realise it was her until Yue Han blurted the name out. Meanwhile, the rest of the cultivators who had also finished browsing the redemption store joined them as well.

    "I never expected her toe back so soon. Did Boss Jin perhaps seed in making a connection portal to Germany?" Yue Han wondered, and Deng Long told him not to be silly.

    "If Jin had developed such technology making it possible to do such stuff, he''d probably be on the front page of the People''s Daily." Deng Long countered, and the rest chuckled at Yue Han''s naivety.

    "Well, if Boss Jin was able to create thisrge Tree Mall so fast and such fantastic dungeons, I don''t see why he couldn''t do that other stuff. Ahhhh just imagine portalling to Europe without the need to travel." Xing Li said in a dreamy state.

    "Things would be so eassssyyy!! We can n a trip without worrying too much about air ticket prices and- Oh erm hahaha!" Yue Han replied (though with a bit of a red face) making Jing Ru giggle even more.

    "It might be nice, but that would literally kill the entire aerospace industry. And in turn, I won''t be surprised if people start attempting to assassinate him." Jing Ru noted jokingly.

    "Heh! You saw how Boss stopped a whole gang of triad members and personally finished off a Triad Boss? Whoever is crazy enough to try it should better consider it again. Also, if I''m not wrong, I bet that Jin has some powerful people behind him too." Shi Huimented as she could always feel a veil of secrecy around Jin and his employees.

    "I agree. Stillбн I just think about how much pollution could be reduced if we abandoned aerones entirely. Also wouldn''t it be great to just spend winter in a more exotic and warm ce?" Jia Ying added as they watched Bu Dong and the Fire Shamans fight their way in from behind the house.

    -------------

    "Everyone follow me! Jasmin, set a fire wall behind us so they will be hindered!" Bu Dongmanded as he led the way into the basement of the house where Deng Long had previously found the generator able to stop the rms from ring so loudly. (He and the group once again teleported into the centre of the house.)

    At the same time, Bu Dong had to keep a mental note of how many spells they could use. He only knew that they were able to cast Level 0 spells, moremonly known as cantrips repeatedly without a strain on their magic capacity.

    Other than that, all of them had very limited spell set. Level 2 Fire Shamas was not really cut out for such intensive fights yet.

    If they wished to cast more spells, they had to use scrolls or use a longer ritual kind of procedure which would not strain their mana capacity. However, that was assuming they had the space, time and security to do it without any interruptions. In a dungeon run as spontaneous as Jin''s, this was pretty much impossible.

    High level magicians would be able to do that by simultaneously fighting against the enemies and chanting at the same time. Unfortunately for the current group, Bu Dong did not wish to overestimate their abilities.

    The fire wall cast by Jasmin surrounded the steps to the basement, giving the group some breather even though the Fire Shamans were carrying pistols as their primary weapon. Bu Dong was honestly surprised that their aim was so precise and urate though heter found out that the half Shamanic mask with fire designs provided them with some aiming assistance.

    Meanwhile, the pistol was imbued with a level 0 fire magic which caused the bullets to ignite on fire, doing fire elemental damage on whoever came too close.

    "Standard issue or you girls just love pistols?" Bu Dong asked jokingly.

    "A longish dagger and a pistol are the standard issue of our equipment. Weapons are more expensive in Europe, and thews are a lot more stringent than here. Without a magic badge or having a special reason, it''s nearly impossible to get one legally." Katerine replied.

    "We thought we need to improvise by using dual daggers or something since we were not able to bring any weapons overseas. Thankfully, we were able to rent weapons at this ce, and the quality seems better than the ones we had back home." Nia said as they went down a spiralling stairway to find themselves in an underground garage with the reindeer stable at the side.

    Upon seeing intruders in the garage, the reindeers stomped their feet and snorted loudly to inform their friends. The entire herd started to ram on their stable gates, trying to get out and personally subjugate the invaders themselves.

    "Don''t worry about the reindeers! Quickly find the generator and pull the plug, wire or just destroy that thing." Bu Dong said to the group of Fire Shamans as he personally went to the other side of the garage.

    If Evil Santa''s sleigh was situated here, it meant there had to be a garage door further down. While the forum posts warned others not to stay outside Santa''s house for too long due to the debilitating cold, the Ape cultivator had something in mind.

    Judging by hisst experience, if their group just entered the house, there would be no way to kill the first form if they would be swarmed with elves of various strengths and sizes as well as spartan toy soldiers.

    Without reaching the full group capacity, it was too much of a risk.

    However, the forum posters did specte that with a sufficient or reliable heat source, the group should be possible to withstand the cold for a longer period of time.

    Since Bu Dong had a bunch of Fire Shamans in his group, he was nning to put this theory to the test. He remembered each one could cast a Level 0 Resist Cold spell on themselves, else he would get Katerine to perform her supporting role instead.

    "Besides, I am the Angry Ape Cultivator, I believe with my rage mode and a few warm potions from the General Store, I should be able to stall the Evil Santa for a while to let them cast the spell." Bu Dong thought to himself as he finally found the chains to manually open the garage shutters. He quickly drank a warm potion and started to jingle the chains before attempting to open it.

    There was no guarantee that Bu Dong''s somewhat crazy n would actually work, but it was supposedly their best shot at defeating the bearded old guy in a red jumper.

 Chapter 579 Evil SantaтАЩs Sleigh

    <h4>Chapter 579 Evil Santaбпs Sleigh</h4>

    "We''ve managed to take out the generator!" Katerine called out as she saw Bu Dong desperately trying to push the Evil Santa''s sleigh out to the front of the house once he was done lifting the heavy chains of the garage shutters.

    "Great job that should stop those elves from interferingter! Now help me push this out of the garage before the reindeers manage to destroy their stable gates!" Bu Dong said with a strained voice.

    For some reason, he could feel his strength waning the moment he touched the sleigh, but Bu Dong had no choice but to endure, they... he needed this sleigh for the next part of the n.

    The rest quickly came over and tried their best to help push it, however theirbined effort amount to almost nothingpared to Bu Dong. Soon, they could hear the footsteps from afar and the reindeers who were bashing onto the stable gates suddenly quieten down. There was only one possible exnation for this.

    Evil Santa had been informed about their location.

    "Damn it! Argh, I wanted to save my chi forter, but guess we have to gamble it all!" Bu Dong grumbled as he took out arge chi regenerating potion and chugged it down forcibly. It was thick, and his body felt like rejecting the contents in his stomach due to the excess amount he drank, but there was no other way he could think of.

    "Secret Art! Angry Ape Pronounces Its Superiority!! " Bu Dong shouted as the five angry ape silhouettes above him pounded their chest loudly. Finally, he and the girls had enough power to push with all their might into the snowy open right outside the house.

    Just as he had expected, the elves did not move out of the house despite their beady eyes staring through the windows. Even the toy spartan soldiers were seemingly not allowed to be used out in the open. Only after Bu Dong enabled the HUD in his mask interface, did he find out the reason for this.

    The ice cold winter winds itself had an environmental effect. ording to the information he was currently suffering from, it was a Freezing I debuff, which slightly slowed him down and also inflicted a small amount of DoT (Damage over Time) which seemed minuscule right now.

    Bu Dong could discern that the thermometer at the side of his mask''s interface was dropping drastically. Without immediate warmth, the debuff would only worsen, making them slower and numbing them even more. The only upside was that the weather did not differentiate between friend and foe.

    For fairness'' sake, teams that started in the cold at the start of the instance, received a grace period of five minutes before the weather turned stormy. Before then, it was in their best interest to disable or circumvent the traps in front of the house. Hence, starting in the house like what Bu Dong went through was not without advantages.

    "Nia, Shanice! We need to burn this sleigh right here and now! Use your strongest spells to ignite it! I''ll assist you with my techniques as well. Jasmin, do whatever you can to dy Evil Santa for as long as possible!" Bu Dong ordered as he used his Intermediate Sword Art, Sword Throw of the Angry Ape to break the garage shutter chains, mming the shutters right in front of Evil Santa.

    The garage shook a little after a dyed explosion (from his sword inscription), and Bu Dong took out his main damaging sword assist with turning the sleigh into firewood. Katerine already knew what to do without Bu Dong having to tell her.

    She was taking her time to chant out her Level 3 Fire Wisps which was already considered the Intermediate Grade of magic and one of the most potent support spells she could cast.

    She had only recently learned it and was, therefore, a bit nervous about using it in the midst of battle. With the help of her summoned grimoire, Katerine read the words out loud and slowly as it could have catastrophic consequences if she made a mistake now.

    Shamans received the source of magic from their patrons, who were usually gods (sometimes animalistic spirits). In the case of the four girls, they worshipped Tiw, a god of war. Most people might know him by another name, Tyr. As a famous being in Norse Mythology too, he had so much influence over Germanic people that a day of the week had been named after him. (Tuesday = Tiw''s Day).

    Through Tiw''s blessing, all four fire shamansmanded their version of fire to life. Katerine''s Fire Wisp spell had begun to take physical form and fire sprites formed around her which she transferred to the entire group.

    Nia and Shanice did not use their instant spells as well since Bu Dong had given them enough time to conjure their fire spells. The image of a bearded old man appeared with a Tiwaz rune (?) shining above them, fire enveloped their hands and subsequently their arms, generating warm and heat into a concentrated orb of energy.

    Level 2 Tiw''s Fireball.

    The two offensive fire shamans were making Tiw''s fireball asrge as possible bybining their powers together so they had a bigger chance of burning the sleigh in one go. Bu Dong, on the other hand, took a deep breath in and recircted his chi after using his signature technique and an intermediate technique.

    He was not going to waste therge chi potion for he now ignited his Grade 5 sword with his own chi. "Intermediate Sword Art, Lacerate in the zing Edge of the Angry Ape!" Bu Dong shouted, and the name made his teammate smile a bit as they continued to chant their spells.

    The sword was burning brightly in the dark winter skies like a beacon of hope as he started hacking his sword on the other side of the sleigh, hoping it was sufficient for it to start burning.

    He knew that Evil Santa''s sleigh was not some regr wooden cart.

    Cultivators in the forums had already discovered that it was made from ''legendary'' wood materials by gathering snippets of information scattered around the house. (Some people were just pure lore junkies, and they loved how Jin had begun to put meaning in their dungeon runs.)

    While it would not be easy for it to be burned into a crisp, Bu Dong was taking the most radical and logical method to stay alive. To make the sleigh a living burning campfire, so they have enough warmth to fight against Evil Santa in the open, away from all the elves and toy soldiers.

 Chapter 580 TiwтАЩs Burning Wall

    <h4>Chapter 580 Tiwбпs Burning Wall</h4>

    "I don''t think I can hold him much longer!" Jasmin shouted as she looked at the garage shutter. She had been casting Burning Hands, a spell that could be cast continuously so long as the caster was able to maintain the mana output and repeat the chanting in intervals.

    A sheet of mes was emitted from her hands, strong enough to heat metal up to over a 100 degrees Celsius, Jasmin upheld that particr spell on Evil Santa as he tried to pull up the garage shutters up.

    This caused him to drop the shutters continuously after withstanding a certain amount of damage from the burning attribute of the mes. After a few fruitless attempts, Evil Santa adapted and tried a different approach.

    Jasmin did not know what exactly he did, but it didn''t sound like a physical punch or kick and felt more like metal hitting another piece of metal. Perhaps Evil Santa managed to find something to damage the shutters and all she could do was to prepare to cast a fire wall in order to dy Evil Santa for a bit longer after he freed himself from the underground garage.

    The spectators outside, however, knew exactly what was happening. In fact, it had been quite the horrific sight to watch Evil Santa had gone over to one of his reindeers before twisting its neck. From the depths of the reindeer''s body, the gift giver drew a piece of metal that transmogrified into sledgehammer which he then proceeded to use as a tool to break the garage shutter.

    No one was prepared for that, and everybody was shocked by Evil Santa''s brutality. Some imedter that it was befitting of his boss raid name, but none of them expected that the Boss Raid Instance to be so real.

    Most of the customers understood that the AI monsters in Jin''s dungeons were highly advanced but to read the situation and ovee the situation so quickly? (Although a customer did question if his AI was advanced, why he could not have used the front door instead? Obviously, that customer got silenced quickly by the masses to not speak ill bearing prophecies out.)

    "I might start to think that Evil Santa is real and Boss Jin was the evil one kidnapping Santas!" One of the spectators eximed, and some resonated to thement. Another customer added that Boss Jin was possibly the grinch who stole Christmas!

    -------

    At that point of time, Katerine had finally finished her me Wisp spell, and small balls of fire sprites flew to each one of the group members. The me Wisps increased their defence against the cold as the shamans concentrating on the sleigh had begun to show progress with signs of the wood starting to burn.

    There were embers emerging despite the winter winds blowing furiously. When a fickle of fire was seen, the two offensive fire shamans, Nia and Shanice pushed their ball of fire towards the sleigh.

    Instead of hurling it at the sleigh, they purposely put it near the sleigh so it could be heated and catch fire from the expanding fireball. To the fire shamans who dealt with fire on a constant basis during training, it was nothing to have a ball of burning sun at right beside them.

    To their surprise, the winter winds were simr to the blizzards they were familiar with back in Germany, and this fireball ironically became their sphere offorting warmth.

    Only Bu Dong who was trying his best to cut the sleigh into pieces with his intermediate sword arts was affected by the scorching heat from the other side of the sleigh. If not for the damnable weather, he might have been burnt to death, but currently, he''d choose that over freezing to death every time.

    Yet, that feeling was only temporary as soon after, Evil Santa finally broke a hole through the garage shutter. He peeled through the garage shutter with his right eye and the grudge in it was immensely palpable.

    But what shocked the Fire Shamans after was the spur of action that Jasmin did subsequently.

    She pounced forward and ced her hand into the hole in the garage shutters, holding on to Evil Santa''s face. "Tiw''s Burning Wall!!!" Jasmin yelled as her mana circuits went into overdrive and inserted the barriers of mes beyond the garage shutter.

    Shimmering lights could be seen escaping the crevices of the shutters and the hole made by Evil Santa. There were even mes attempting to escape from those ces as if to indicate how excessive the wall of fire was.

    While Jasmin thought it was quite effective, she apparently underestimated the might of Evil Santa as she felt the grab on her wrist. The defensive fire shaman panicked but the more she struggled, the harder the vice like grip became with the monster behind the metal ''thick'' sheet pulling her closer towards the hole.

    Unwillingly, Jasmin was mmed into the metal wall and felt pain at her axi as the metal protrusion from the hole that Evil Santa created, pierced into her flesh.

    "Tiw''s Burning Wall!" This time, Jasmin used her prepared instant spell to try and get out of her terrible situation. The lights behind the shutters shed even more intensely with smoke appearing from beneath the crevices.

    Still, Evil Santa was not nning on letting her go at all.

    "Bad, naughty children have to be punished!" For the first time, the group heard Evil Santa''s rambling. Even the spectators who had been casually watching were surprised by the sudden developments.

    "Evil Santa can actually talk?" A bespectacled customer asked the question on everyone''s mind out loud and started to document the current scene with great detail.

    "Jasmin!!!" Nia and Shanice watched their friend struggle against the metal wall, but Bu Dong called them back to their senses.

    "FOCUS! You two are vital in making this sleigh burn! If we can''t manage to do that, the whole n will fail. I''ll go rescue her instead!" Bu Dong said as he rushed in despite the fatigue he had umted with his past actions.

    "Why am I working so hard when all they wanted was to defeat the second formбн? Heck, we can be happy if we manage to pass the first formбн" he thought to himself as he rushed down towards the slope where the garage doors were.

    "бн But this is just too exhrating." Bu Dong broke a slight smile as he looked at the impending danger.

 Chapter 581 Necrotic Damage

    <h4>Chapter 581 Necrotic Damage</h4>

    "DON''T COME ANY CLOSER!" The gold haired Fire Shaman cried out in agony, stopping Bu Dong in his tracks. "Figure a way out to at least kill the first form without me!" Jasmin pleaded as her tears rolled down profusely due to the pain, and she could feel that her life was at an end.

    "What are you talking about?! I am going to pull you out!" Bu Dong shouted as he initiated his intermediate sword art, zing Edge of the Angry Ape, hoping to hurt Evil Santa bad enough to let Jasmin go.

    "It''s tooteбн" Jasmin said as she lifted her free hand and aimed her rental pistol at Bu Dong. "By the powers of Tiw, grant this weary warrior the strength to fight a battle worthy of your praise. Armour of Tiw!" She used up her final instant spell as she fired her pistol, imbued with the magic of a Fire Shaman

    The bullet flew towards Bu Dong and it transformed into a metaphysical armour that imbued the Angry Ape cultivator with magical signs. Those magical body signs floating slightly above his body was the Level 2 Fire Armour of Tiw.

    As it was only a level 2 version of the spell, the armour materialised looked something simr to a piece of thin shirt floating over his body. However, the essence of it remained which boosted Bu Dong''s defences as well as his ability to resist the cold even better, especially thanks to Katerina''s earlier support.

    At that moment, Bu Dong noticed that Jasmin''s eyes turning bloodshot with blooding out of her mouth. He did not know what was going on, but for the other fire Shamans, the effects were as in as day.

    From the kind of damage Jasmin suffered, they understood it had to be necrotic in nature. This evil energy was primarily used by the School of Necromancy or powers wielded by Undead Monsters or Demons.

    The spectators were also at a loss at what was happening. Mr Patsu, the inhouse penguin announcer, exined to them that Evil Santa was using Dead Touch, a necrotic based spell that could rot the body.

    Based on previous interactions, some of the cultivators discerned that it was acid attack since it was simr in appearance. The projectile st that Evil Santa shot at the cultivators was able to corrode the weapons or shields they were holding and sometimes burned through their skin.

    They never knew that it was necrotic damage.

    Understanding her own predicament, Jasmin brought the pistol to her head. Her own insides were eating her, slowly corrupting her into a piece of mindless flesh and there was no way to defeat it other than epting the fate. If they had a Water Shaman or perhaps a Druid they could have averted the situation, but right now all they had were a bunch of warrior-ish shamans that had skills to fight but none to heal.

    "Not so fastбн" A voice said as another charred hand pierced through the metal shutters and grabbed Jasmin by the waist. "Naughty childrenбнwill be put to sleep by me."

    The voice alone was enough to shudder the entire group of spectators watching it. The whole situation seemed less like a Christmas dungeon and more as if it was a horror movie. Jasmin panicked even more, and instead of killing herself, she kept pistol whipping the enormous hand that was grabbing her entire waist.

    After which, the Fire Shaman attempted to let loose some bullets into the hand itself. It bled, but it did not have any other noticeable effect in releasing her. It was not until the pistol clip was empty that she immediately dropped it and tried to hit it with the dagger she hung it over her shoulder.

    But at that point, her movements were already sluggish, and she knew her time was up.

    Bu Dong hesitated for a while as Jasmin emptied her pistol, but when he saw that it was of no use, the Angry Ape cultivator immediately lunged into the fray, stabbing the hand that was holding onto Jasmin and he inserted a burst full of chi into Evil Santa.

    This time, not only his skin was burnt, but the vessels in his arm ignited into mes, causing it to release his grip. Bu Dong quickly pulled the dropped Jasmin aside, but the emptiness in her eyes indicated that the necrotic damage had already reached her brain and heart.

    "Good luckбн" Jasmin whispered with herst breath as she tried to pass her knife to Bu Dong before losing all strength. Bu Dong inadvertently grabbed onto the dagger as he saw Evil Santa destroy the rest of the garage shutter and reveal his haggard self.

    His face was all charred by the previous fire wall. Yet, he remained standing in it, seemingly without a care for his life. Evil Santa endured the mes while gazing at the culprit who did this. His clothes were also burnt into crisps, exposing the various scarred marks on his body.

    "Bu Dong! Move away!" Nia and Shanice shouted as Bu Dong turned and saw that the sleigh that he wished to light up was burning furiously like a sun. After seeing what the Boss Monster did to their friend, they decided not to use it as a source of heat like a campfire.

    Instead, they nned to ram the burning sleigh onto the exhausted Evil Santa.

    Without any further warning, Nia and Shanice threw their already huge Fireball which they had sustained for a very long time onto the sleigh, giving it the explosive push needed to go back down the slope and towards the garage door.

    It zoomed and crashed into the Santa who stood there either unable or unwilling to move out of the way, receiving the full blow of the attack. The sleigh smashed into pieces further burning the Santa but instead of sounds of pain and agony, there wasugher within the smothering mess.

    Slowly but surely, a hairy ck hoof came out of the burning debris as the fire crackled and the smell of burnt rotten flesh filled the surrounding winter air.

    What followed was a ck furred body with horns on his forehead that was previously hidden by his hat. The masked HUD interface activated automatically and indicated that the being in front of it was no longer Evil Santa.

    A digital noise scrabbled before unveiling a new name for his supposedlyst form.

    Krampus.

 Chapter 582 Krampus

    <h4>Chapter 582 Krampus</h4>

    "Do we still want to keep fighting?" Katerine asked with a bitter smile when it indicated below the name that this was the ''real form'' of Evil Santa, Krampus. No one had ever reached that state until now, and every spectator was on the edge of their seats eager to see what was going to happen next.

    Legends and tales of the old mentioned that Krampus punishing those children who had misbehaved and just like the current monster in front of them, it was said to be half goat, half demon. Since there was no such thing as a copyright for a folktale, Jin had used that myth to the fullest. To make it even more realistic, he had actually asked Baphomet to be the one to y the part.

    Already possessing a goat demon appearance, all Baphomet needed was some cosmetic inscriptions to alter the way he looked for the first two forms and vo~! He had be the perfect Krampus viin just like Jin had hoped to present in his Evil Santa Boss Raid Instance.

    "Should you ever find and capture that old Demon Krampus, please use him instead of me. I do not want to smear his name for my actions aren''t exactly quite representative of him." Baphomet requested Jin when epted the role.

    "Well if I ever get the chance, I will do so and take full responsibility for your actions. Besides I don''t need you to fully act as Krampus, you just need to appear like him for thest part. There won''t be much of a fight because the first two stages are already difficult enough." Jin added when he designed the dungeon.

    True to his words, suddenly the cultivators heard a jingling sound in the air and a loud ''Ho Ho Ho'' which echoed throughout the skies. The group and Krampus looked up towards a shining bright light, illuminating the moonless cold nights.

    Only when the light diminished a bit could they make out the form. It was another sleigh being pulled byбнpandas with a red nose essory and fake horns while the person riding it was not Santa but just Panda Captain Hei in a Santa costume with arge and seemingly heavy red sack behind him. (He still had his usual SWAT vest on his Santa costume, kinda like SWAT Santa version?)

    "Ho Ho Ho! Seems like you children have been quite resilient and brave to get Krampus to show his true form. Let me grant you some assistance and reward you with a Christmas present." Captain Hei said as he dropped the sack down, which caused the snow around it to flutter due to the impact.

    "Naughty children it''s time for you to be put to rest!" Krampus couldn''t care less about Captain Hei and decided to go take care of the nearest living cultivator who was Bu Dong with his chains and bundle of birch sticks.

    "Fine by me! I am dying to take revenge as well!" Bu Dong thought as he rushed forth and activated his zing Edge yet again as well as invoking all the inscriptions in his sword. It was time to show off the true capabilities of a rich man''s son.

    The sword burnt brightly with his chi but it was soon enhanced with an explosive effect that was slightly dyed whenever Bu Dong shed his sword with Krampus'' birch stick bundle. It caused the sticks to disintegrate into various pieces, but Krampus was not done yet. With the splinters of the branches, he proceeded to pierce Bu Dong.

    Thankfully, the Armour of Tiw cast by Jasmin took effect, absorbing one of the hits, before dissipating into nothingness. But that was enough for Bu Dong to throw in another sh that bit into Krampus flesh.

    It was the Biting Edge Inscription, one of the newer inscriptions which Octofussy had created. The sh caused small little bugs to crawl into the wound, biting and gnawing at the surrounding area for 3 seconds before disappearing. The bugs were an illusionary effect, but the damage done by the inscription was real.

    While Bu Dong was keeping Krampus busy, Katerine and the other two fire shamans pulled out the present which Captain Hei was offering.

    It turned out to be a Gatling machine gun.

    "Here''s the manual to the gatling gun, hope you get to fix it before Krampus notices you guys! Other than that, a few chi potions for replenishment as well as a fire crystal to keep all of you warm for the remaining part of the fight!"

    Captain Hei stepped onto his sleigh and charged towards Krampus as a final gift for the cultivators. Instinctively, Bu Dong moved away, and Krampus received the full blown attack, knocking him back into the garage before flying off vertically into the skies and disappear.

    "Keep him busy! We have to prepare the weapon to kill him!" Nia informed him as the girls were trying their best to affix the gatling gun together, supporting it to mount correctly. To their amazement, it was not just some minigun as the manual stated that the bullets were imbued with holy energy, designed to take down demons like Krampus.

    A heavy rain of bullets should definitely do the trick.

    Krampus roared, causing the entire house above him to vibrate and after which he charged forward through all the debris. Bu Dong could see therge ckish body frameing towards him, but then with themotion at the top of the slope, the boy knew he had to do something to stop Krampus from destroying the weapon which could defeat him.

    Hence, Bu Dong stood his ground.

    "Secret Technique. Angry Ape Pronounces its Superiority!!!" Bu Dong shouted as he pulled out the dagger that Jasmin gave him and the sword that was still burning brightly. By hook or by crook, he had to buy as much time as possible to stop Krampus from charging, even it meant that he had to pay with his life.

    The Angry Ape silhouettes above him roared in unison as if tomend his spirit of bravery when he shed straight on with Krampus. Even when the sword and dagger pierced into the Christmas Demon, Bu Dong could feel his elbows giving way like they were going to break under the intense pressure it was receiving.

    If not for the deepyer of snow he entrenched himself in, Bu Dong probably would have lost his footing sooner letting Krampus proceed forward. All he could do now was grit his teeth enduring the pain and hope for the best.

    In the meantime, Krampus did not waste a moment and had already used Death Touch on Bu Dong, causing his arms to turn blue and ck. The effects seemed more severe and faster than on Jasmin.

    It appeared that his true form had caused his skills to grow more rampant and deadly. Aside from the corruption, the Christmas Demon had subconsciouslymanded his chain to wrap around Bu Dong strangling his neck while trying to break his stance.

    Yet Bu Dong was not giving up.

    "Naughty child, just go to sleep!" Krampus stared maliciously at Bu Dong.

    "Go to sleep yourself, motherfucka." Katerine unlocked the safety, and the rotating barrel was aimed towards Krampus.

 Chapter 583 Aftermath of Evil Santa - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 583 Aftermath of Evil Santa - Part 1</h4>

    While she initially felt reluctant about it, Katerine understood that this was just a dungeon (even if it felt way too realistic) which was why she pressed the trigger button on the gun as a hail of bullets showered Krampus and Bu Dong. Bu Dong agreed to her decision as that was the most optimal choice that Katerine could have taken. If she had hesitated any longer all his painstakingly effort of pinning Krampus down would have been wasted.

    Trying to rescue Bu Dong would have jeopardized the whole dungeon run.

    Thus, the Angry Ape cultivator basked in the glory of the holy rain as he received a close up view of Krampus being torn to shreds before being teleported into the Luxury Recovery Instance.

    Everyone who was viewing it from the shop instance was quiet for a while before celebrating the first clear of this Boss Raid Instance. Bu Dong''s name was once more ced on the Wall of Honour and everyone cheered for the surviving members when they returned back to the shop instance.

    Thanks to the first clear, Katerine and her gang earnt an astonishing 500 Raid Points which was sufficient to buy a multitude of things. One of the most desired items were naturally the limited edition plushies. Including a cute Krampus plushie which had been added the moment someone cleared the Boss Raid instance. (Jin wanted to find out how many would want to buy the viins for themselves or just for collection purposes.)

    Yue Han and Xing Li went forth to wee Katerina back to China and personally congratte the girls. They hadn''t expected the arrival nor her awesome performance with Bu Dong. "He''s a great leader, it''s only thank to him that it was possible to win." Katerine said as they decided to wait for Bu Dong and Jasmin''s return. They nned to check out the redemption store as a group before deciding on the rewards.

    In the meantime cultivators were already rushing into the general store as well as the weapons and armours department to buy fire rted items in order to defeat Evil Santa Boss Instance. Yun who was on the scene and iterated that there are a number of ways to defeat Evil Santa to calm the crowd, and Bu Dong was just lucky to show them one of the ways. She also warned them that Krampus might adapt to this method over time.

    Ironically her statement actually intensified the buying frenzy and Yun merely shrugged her shoulders. "No reason not to ept the extra cash. Jin needs it anyways." Yun mumbled as she vaguely looked over Jin''s business and personal ount both of which were barely in the red in the past few days. She hadn''t expected the instance to be this expensive...? unless he was nning on releasing another dungeon instance, using this as a filler.

    Even the Venus Four felt pumped up when they watched Bu Dong manage to defeat the Boss Raid Instance especially with only five people. They were under the impression that Boss Jin had been throwing out difficult dungeons in recent days especially after the Deep One Dungeon Instance to earn more money but it turned out this was quite beatable after all.

    "Guess, we just need to crack our brains more and less brawn." Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden cultivator joked and the others chuckled.

    "More brawn can''t hurt either. Let''s go to the store and get some fire inscriptions before they are sold out." Jing Ru added and asked if Yue Han wanted to follow along.

    "Nah, we had our fill of fun for dungeons today, maybe tomorrow!" Yue Han answered flustered unlike his usual self. After his sister''s intense staring Xing Li blushingly came forward to tell them the truth.

    "Yue Han managed to get reservations for Christmas Dinner. So, we might be trying tomorrow instead with Kong Xian!" Xing Li said as they waved goodbye to the Venus Four.

    "I ermбнI guess I''ll y some Supa Robot Warz, I got the Christmas Edition robot parts through my subscription. I think I''ll also try again h Se Lang tomorrow or the day after. Please guide me if you girls are there." Deng Long said and waved them goodbye.

    "I want to get the Christmas Panda Plushie for myself and the toy model for Se Lang." Jia Ying said and Shi Hui nodded her head agreeing to stay.

    "Very well, then it''s just the four of us. If the five of them could do it, I don''t see why the four of us who are seasoned Pandawans cannot!" Yue Wen smiled and they quickly proceeded towards the weapon store.

    Bu Dong and Jasmin eventually returned to the shop instance and Katerine immediately hugged Jasmin. "So sorry about what happened to you!"

    "Hahah! It''s alright! It''s alright!? You cleared the thing, right? As long as my sacrifice helped you guys, it''s all good. Sooo what shall we do with all those points we earned?" Jasmin asked.

    Meanwhile Bu Dong gave Katerina a nk stare. "What about me? In my case you were the direct cause of my death?!"

    "I am more concerned about my close friend than you." Katerine replied as she pulled out her tongue making her friends giggle. Bu Dong''s mood seemed to sour a bit after such an answer yet he was suddenly hugged by all of them.

    "We couldn''t have done it without you!" Nia told him before letting go.

    "Thank you for leading us in this battle. It was terrifying and at the same time exhrating" Shanice added.

    "Even though we were just doing preparations and you did most of the work, it kind of already shaved our life expectancy by half." Jasmin agreed with her friends.

    Suddenly Boss Jin appeared out of nowhere and started coughing.

    "Erm. Congrats for managing to get the first clear. Sorry I could not get here any sooner. I was stuck with other things." Boss Jin said towards Bu Dong who he clearly knew and shook hands with Katerine and the other three girls.

    "Boss, your dungeons are as fantastic as ever. Although it is a pity that I have to pay in Euros, the experience was worth it." Katerine said with an agenda in her eyes.

    "Unfortunately, that is how we n to roll out our dungeons overseas in the future. If you like it,e back often and support my work. I can safely im that I believe what I offer is worth every cent and superior to those ces which charge you 40-50 Euros." Jin stood his ground on the matter at hand.

    "You are honestly nning to share your dungeons overseas as well?!" Katerine asked with bright wide eyes and it made the rest look at him with anticipation.

    "Yeah. Though I don''t know when it will be in the future. I would need to have the capital to expand first." Jin answered as he shrugged his shoulders a little.

    "Pleasee to Germany first! If you need money to expand, I am willing to ask my parents!" Katerine offered and Jin hardly suppressed hisughter.

    "That isбн very nice of you. But I don''t think you par-" Katerine, seemingly used to such a reaction, grabbed the name card of her parents and handed it to Jin. The dungeon supplier found the name of thepany rather familiar and asked the System to check.

    "Is god ying a fool with me? Or does he truly want to help me?" Jin thought as he was notified that thepany was exactly the one which Ke Loong had subcontracted the building of the portals to.

    InfiniteTechnik.

 Chapter 584 Aftermath of Evil Santa - Final

    <h4>Chapter 584 Aftermath of Evil Santa - Final</h4>

    "бнI will carefully consider it." Jin smiled at the foreign girl and thanked her for her patronage. The other three Fire Shamans also gave their praise to Jin, especially Jasmin who suffered the most in the fight as she hadn''t been prepared for it being so intensely real.

    "If I didn''t know that it was just a dungeon instance, it might seriously have given me PTSD," Jasmin mentioned in a casual way, but Jin knew that the System had been ensuring that such symptoms were being sniffed out from their memories.

    Apparently, Pei and the System (with a little tinkering from Kraft) hade out with a sort of spell that would purposely manipte the memories of the user.

    Because the experience the customers received was undoubtedly real, it was necessary for there to be such a filter to prevent the customers from developing possible symptoms of PTSD, anxiety or other traumas from merely ying dungeons.

    The way the spell worked was by changing the way the memory was being perceived. Instead of fear, the System would rece the memory to be invoked by adrenaline, especially when both emotions were two sides of the same coin. By tweaking the body''s response from flight to fight, they would wish to relive those memories again instead of being afraid of them.

    Through such memory recement process, the System made the customers hunger for more fight. All of this had the positive side effect that it innately increased their desire to y more of Jin''s dungeons.

    That was one of the reasons why it was much easier for Jin to retain customers aspared to hispetitor. The pricing restructures, the content of the dungeons, this passive brainwashing, attractive prizes and the inclusion of many other support services. It all adds up to increase the probability of his customers returning after trying it out.

    It was never just one particr factor, and he had to constantly review his methods until he made a name for himself. The route to bing the Number One Dungeon Supplier was notid with flowers on the side of the road.

    Yet, this particr tweaking of the memory was a double edged sword.

    When Jin was informed by Pei and the System about it, he was horrified and worried that it might create apulsive addiction. He didn''t want to be the cause behind his customers turning into adrenaline junkies who could potentially lead to deviancy if not managed correctly.

    Worst case, what if he was responsible for acts like murdering people just to get that kick of adrenaline back when fighting monsters would no longer be sufficient to satiate the feeling of victory in the long run.

    His concerns were valid, especially with his dungeons now much more affordable, which would lead to cultivators experiencing them more frequently. In view of this potential setback, Pei coborated with the System and Devilman to slowly tweaked the most intense moments in the cultivator''s memories instead of the entire memory itself.

    Kraft had jokingly dubbed it the "Enforced Nostalgia Filter" as the rest of the memory was left untouched.

    Yet this process eventually ced a strain to the processing speed due to the amount of analysis that the System required to do to pick the most intense moments but Jin made it a point to emphasise to the System that it was a priority to manage their customers properly.

    That was why most if not all customers had to visit the Luxury Recovery Instance regardless of victory. (For those who were defeated, they would definitely be in there to recover.)

    Remember how Jin created rewards for those victory achievements or the statistics of one would perform? It was all projected in a room in the Luxury Recovery Instance, and the cultivators had to stay there for at least a minute (or until the System was done secretly tweaking the necessary memories) before they were allowed to leave.

    Most cultivators thought it was just a new store feature to show the highlights of the battle and allow them to show off with a bit of boasting about how well each of them did. But they never knew it was a room to make sure that they would not turn out to be potential murderers (at the very least, lower that particr probability)

    For now, the brainwashing was simple, and with theck of Psychics, it gave the System a consistent load of data to improve its methods and create a process even more efficient than ever. Even Yang Ling, who was a decent mental arts magician was subjected to it, and Pei personally made a presence to ensure the memory could be swap without her noticing it.

    It only further gave the System the confidence to do this process with ease. And because of the data it collected, the System also noted that it did not have to do this on a regr basis as the body eventually climatized to the way of battling.

    Given the feedback, it was sufficient to do the filter process for the first dew runs when the cultivator was still fresh and new to the whole realistic dungeoneering procedure.

    After that, the System only had to monitor the cultivator''s vitals and tweak ordingly. Else, it would not touch the memories unless necessary because it also knew that excessive tinkering would definitely have its consequences.

    For example, the Halloween dungeon instance was meant to incite fear instead adrenaline so the System left those cultivators'' memories alone only making sure it would not leave a drastic memory of trauma.

    With thousands of cultivatorsing in and out for dungeons, even the System could learn, adapt and differentiate when it required the filter procedure.

    ------

    "Well, I am d that you''ve enjoyed my dungeon. If you are itching for one more, please don''t let me stop you!" Jin answered gleefully with a stic smile for the moment when he heard PTSD, though the group did not notice at all since they were all excited to enter the redemption store to check out what kind of rewards they could get.

    "Boss, thank you for the dungeon. It was hard, but it was damn enjoyable!" Bu Dong thanked Jin for creating the dimensional instance.

    "When you have goodpany, anything is fun. I will review the customer''sments and make sure I have something that can cater to every grade of cultivator some way or another. " Jin said and at the same time hinted to Bu Dong that he might have a Mecha Raid soon.

    "Is it something to do with Supa Robot Warz? Or are you genuinely making a Mecha Instance?" Bu Dong asked with delight.

    "Maybe something of both? I was thinking of allowing people who y the mini game a lot to have dibs on the new Mecha Instance... Maybe a little more advantage than the rest" Jin answered, and Bu Dong eyes were glittering.

    "You better make your words count! Because I am going to grind more with Deng Long and we get that first clear right off the bat!" Bu Dong said as he thanked Boss Jin once again and went into the Redemption store.

    "Sure." Jin grinned as he waved goodbye to Bu Dong and then looked at the time on his watch. Just when he thought he experienced a time crunch making the Tree Mall, the Feast he was making pushed it to another level.

 Chapter 585 Extra: BaiтАЩs Store Managemen

    <h4>Chapter 585 Extra: Baiбпs Store Managemen</h4>

    Within the next hour, another group of cultivators managed to defeat the Evil Santa Boss by emting what Bu Dong and the Fire Shamans had done. They lured the Christmas Demon out of the house where they were waiting for him fully equipped with fire enhanced weapons as well as new ice resistance clothes.

    To everyone''s surprise, Captain Hei/SWAT Santa would always arrive on thest form to assist them, which was a big help. (The weapons differed from time to time, ranging from a Holy Sword to a Holy Grenade and even a Holy Bazooka.)

    With this new development, the store co owner of the Armoury Department, Bai Xin had been waiting for this opportunity. Boss Jin had informed her beforehand that it was just a matter of time until the First Clear was achieved and advised her to moderately increase the price of the clothes due to shortage. It was to facilitate the supply and demand, and the trick was doing exceptionally well.

    However, it was not all a cash grab. Bai Xin would intentionally release more stocks every time a new ''shipment'' arrived with the first ten sets of ice resistant clothing at a major discount before resuming the current price.

    Many struggled when seeing the increased prices, but since the articles of winter clothing were ratherfy, and their designs were very trendy, people had trouble resisting. Many were forced to reach apromise between their wallet and guilty conscious. (Bai Xin could see the inner struggle in most of the customers'' eyes.)

    And yes, sets. From winter jackets to socks and shoes, she offered everything needed to take a stroll in the freezing tundra. (It''s really an overstatement, but that''s how advertising works.)

    Bai Xin did not lie when she said the stocks came in waves because they were needed to be customised by her. She had coborated with Octofussy to create abination of inscriptions that could be sold as a set. (Thus, having a set bonus and it was the first time Octofussy thought of that.)

    The General Store Instance Keeper concentrated on making the inscription by using the many tentacles on his head to inscribe each of them whereas she sewed in those inscriptions with her Weaving Spider cultivation, enhancing the set a little more.

    It was hard work, but the money for the customisation was great, and the demand for it was increasing. (Good thing the System was able to buy a ton from other worlds at a very, VERY cheap price to meet with the demands.)The sales were so overwhelming that more and more Cosy Minotaurs had decided to help with the selling and packing.

    Others continued with their fashion show and presented the various avable sets. It enabled the crowd to know what kind of designs were ready to be purchased, and most importantly, the fashion show entices them even further.

    In the meantime, her twin brother Bai Wan and his weapon store department were not having it any easier. Yet, despite his busyness, he still assisted his sister by helping her restock when he went to stock up his own items.

    Apart from Vulcan being rather busy with enhancing the cultivator''s weapons with fire, the main ie from the store stemmed from magical scrolls.

    Those were selling like hotcakes after the revtion that the element of fire was rather vital for this dungeon instance. But unlike the armour, the scrolls were consumables, and Bai Wan was not allowed to further increase the prices of those already expensive scrolls.

    After all, the scrolls became pricier the higher the scroll level was with. And each cultivator was restricted by the System to buy scrolls only up to their respective grade. Initially, the cultivators thought that Boss Jin was merely levelling the ying field until one of the ignorant cultivators had used a scroll two levels above his grade. (He got another cultivator to buy it for him.)

    That cultivator managed to cast the spell, but heter suffered a bout of magical feedback, leaving him unconscious. This had to do with how scrolls work. It already had magic stored within that piece of paper, so a small amount of chi/mana was needed as the trigger. Aside from that, a stable connection to the mind was also required to signify the will to cast the spell.

    Else, any chi or magic aura would be sufficient to make every scroll to explode on contact. When the mind connection was established with the scroll, magical energies stored within the scroll could then be released out as a spell.

    In addition, all scrolls had a sort of magical feedback since magical energies in the scrolls need to be more than what the ''mana cost'' of the spell could potentially be to keep the scroll stable. That was why the remaining mana would either be released into the surrounding environment and to the mind considering the cultivator had a stable connection with it.

    As long as one used scrolls corresponding to their grade, the body was able to adapt to the overflowing mana and dissipate it into the surrounding environment. However, using higher level scrolls would result in an excess flow of mana into the brain, causing possible mana poisoning. What the cultivator had done was no better than a Western Mage casting above his level.

    Thus, ever since that incident, Boss Jin became stricter with the selling of scrolls and wrote a disimer that cultivators using scrolls above their Grade would not be the store''s responsibility. Any cultivator failing a dungeon due to misuse would be charged for their stay in the Luxury Recovery Instance. (The price was luxurious too.)

    It just so happened that Bai Wan had long since been interested in magical scrolls before joining up with Jin. Part of him wanted to help their struggling weapons shop, but a much bigger part was due to how lucrative selling them seemed to be.

    Unfortunately, there was no one around to teach him this knowledge until they got this particrly newndlord.

    That was also how the (not so) friendly magician in the neighbourhood got introduced to him by Boss Jin. Peppers ''unwillingly'' taught Bai Wan the basics and even gave him a cultivation manual suitable for him to create such scrolls. (Ming''s hoard of cultivation manuals came in handy!)

    Deciphering Spider Cultivation.

    It allowed Bai Wan to convert chi into magic andter code it down onto paper. Before this particr cultivation, he had only studied the general form of Spider cultivation since he did not wish to take up his family''s Weaving Spider Cultivation like his twin sister.

    But ever since Bai Wan took up this Deciphering Spider Cultivation seriously, he had been creating level 1 scrolls in his spare time. Those scrolls were allter vetted by the System via a machine brought to him by Peppers to test the validity of the scrolls.

    The Systempared the near perfect product from Peppers and listed various points of improvement for each scroll, telling Bai Wan how much each of those scrolls should potentially cost inparison.

    That allowed him to improve further while selling those imperfect scrolls at a discount with a disimer that it was his products. Cheapskate cultivators sometimes preferred his version, but those who had money would still buy Pepper''s version.

    Bai Wan could only hope that one day, he would reach the standard of Peppers.

 Chapter 586 MolochтАЩs Pride

    <h4>Chapter 586 Molochбпs Pride</h4>

    "You got Boss''s message?" An orc engineer working on the maintenance of the Sandroku Golem looked at the time. There were only 15 minutes left until Christmas.

    "Yeah. I think everyone got the message. The peeps at Section A spread the news like wildfire." The Goblin assistant took off his working gloves before wiping off his sweat.

    Suddenly Moloch appeared to make ast minute check with the System Tablet on the Sandroku Golem."Looks like this one''s ready to go."

    He checked off the maintenance of this particr Sandroku Golem.

    "But that can wait until after the meeting." Moloch smiled as he thanked the orcs and goblins in the area.

    "Get a quick shower and wear your bestбнerm cleanest outfit for the meeting. I heard it''s quite an important one." Moloch told them as he sent thest unit working off to their bunks. The rest of the monsters had already returned to their instance. This was the first time he heard silence in the Dungeon City Fortress.

    He walked out to the edge of the floatingnd tform, to take in the scene of the nearlypleted city. Lights from construction cranes as well as warning lights were the only things shining from the bottom of Pand-Antis.

    Moloch could not be prouder of their aplishment. In fact, in his entire life, this was the first time he felt such pride and joy to see this particr city being built. Within a short time, the monsters along with the System meticulously brought this idea into fruition.

    Of course, Jin had a hand in this since he was the one who had supplied all the necessary manpower, resources. To be honest, Moloch had never expected his master to be able to fulfil the promise in such a grand manner.

    He''d long since thought that Jin would just create a half assed city for Moloch to control and that the Demon Lord would be the one to address any problems as they came up.

    But no.

    Despite his crazy ideas, the implementation of the city''s foundation was extremely sound. Jin purposely included sanitation and used proper city nning to incorporate the power supplies and even allow for future development. Without a doubt, Qiu Yue had been vital in the whole process too, as she modified the blueprints to suit the developmental needs while ensuring the highest quality.

    Her strict and stringent quality checks influenced Moloch to be observant and catch any possible defects as soon as possible. Any workers responsible for any deviation of the n would not be reprimanded and instead given a full break. (She refrained from calling it suspension from work.)

    Yet, it was indeed suspension. Instead of telling the affected parties about the fault that they had done, the upper management purposely let them rest for three days before showing them the truth of what they had done to receive this treatment. After which, the goblins affected were given a lump of gold and asked to return home while the Orcs were given further breaks.

    But somehow, it had an opposite effect on them. It was mainly because they had been working so hard that the workers found the break extremely unusual. And when they learnt what they had done, the goblins and orcs would wish to atone for their mistakes instead of leaving after all the work they had done. They pleaded and even begged to let them get back to their work.

    The reverse psychology was heavily implied here, letting them feel a full load of guilt before Qiu Yue and Moloch allowed them to fix the problem they had done. Surprisingly, they became even more efficient and more careful.

    Was it because of possible returns that the goblins had stayed rather than to ept that lump sum of gold? Was it because the idea of not doing any work made the Orcs feel useless? Or was it because they had pride and passion in their work that they eventually felt responsible? Qiu Yue only smiled at Moloch when he asked these questions.

    "For a Demon Lord, you seem to have a bit more to learn on how to manage your minions." The Red Panda Cultivator replied before they returned to their work.

    Regardless, because of that incident, Moloch began to observe them more closely and started to learn that those Goblins and Orcs had their own quirks and bonded with them even more. Even those from Goblin World had discovered that the Minotaurs were not just a bunch of cows who just wanted to stop the infighting between the Goblins and Orcs.

    The Minotaurs eventually realised that some fighting was necessary to clear misunderstandings along with lots of exnation and sometimes even joined in with the fights to release their stress along with the Orcs and Goblins.

    It was a rough start for the first month or so but soon, their teamwork became the best Moloch had seen. Everyone was doing their work systematically to the point they invented new ways to clear the construction process more efficiently.

    "I guess within a week we can start pouring water into Pand-Altantisбнah. I have to consult with Master Jin where to get such a massive amount of water. Or maybe I should ask Sir Derpy since he came from the Fishing World." Moloch smiled to himself as he added that onest objective before turning his tablet off.

    "System, bring me to the meeting," Moloch said, and he was immediately teleported into the Town Hall meeting ce where everyone was gathering behind arge towering digital wall of screen.

    It was obviously set up by the System with the following message:

    "Wee to the first Christmas Grand Feast! The event willunch in 4 minutes and 48 seconds!" A few Pandas with a Santa hat were used as part of the advertisement, but other than that, there was no other information.

    "So it''s a buffet?" Moloch wondered out loud before he noticed that it wasn''t just the monsters from the Dungeon City Fortress who were called in. Nearly everyone was already present in the area, and they were all talking with each other as they waited for this feast event.

    Last to arrive were the betors.

    Three minutes before the unravelling of the event, Kiyu was projected on top of the screen. The natural crowd puller began to exin how Christmas worked in Jin''s world. (Now Kiyu understood why Jin asked her to exin how Christmas came about.)

    "Does that mean we were supposed to prepare gifts for our friends?" Niu Lang asked in a na?ve manner. "I have no presents with me. The message only told me toe to the meeting."

    "Nah, I think it''s just a food buffet, I really hope that it will be Chef Lynn''s cooking!" Brown said as his mouth started to water.

    "You think Ms Lynn has the time to cook for thousands of minions? Her penguins would work themselves to death!" One of the Deep One Mages interjected.

    "Wait, speaking of penguins, where are the penguins?" Half Ghoul Lord Derek asked, and the people started to notice that the penguins were nowhere to be seen.

    "Maybe the peggies are helping with arranging the foodstuff? They should be the best ones for that job." Dread Reavermented, and the people in the surrounding concurred with that exnation.

    The casual yet lively bantering went on until thest ten seconds where the screen changed to numbers. With Kiyu beginning a countdown, the monsters all became animated and started to chant along.

    ----------

    "You ready?" Lynn asked as she adjusted Jin''s fake beard.

    "He looks as corny as ever. Probably need a big round stomach toplete the look." Qiu Yueughed as she took her phone out to take a picture of the empty side of the Town Hall Instance.

    "Hey, let''s take a picture together tomemorate our efforts. This preparation was no joke at all. And here I thought the hardest event I ever nned would have been for apany dinner. This feast literally brings it to another level." Qiu Yueined while the other two smiled at her. They knew how hard she worked, arranging the required resources for the feast.

    Thus, the three System Users took a group ''we-fie'' on stage with the massive table preparations behind them before they heard the crowd shouting the countdown together. The System who was in the loop then asked if Jin was ready.

    "Even if I''m not, time doesn''t wait for anyone. So, let''s get the Surprise Christmas Feast started!" Jin answered with a smile as he quickly hid behind the stage.

    All that''s left to do was to hope that his feelings of appreciation would be felt by minions and betors.

 Chapter 587 Grand Feast Seating

    <h4>Chapter 587 Grand Feast Seating</h4>

    When the countdown reached zero, the digital screen slowly moved upwards, and they saw rows of tables prepared for each and every one of them. The already vast Town Hall council meeting ce had been stretched to be thergest instance the System had ever utilised for this particr event without reaching its limit.

    Nevertheless, the System required the Mechanical Brain as an upgrade since Operation ''Pied Piper'' would most likely epass tens if not hundreds of thousands of Demon Rats. With Jin''s increasing customer base and more and more borate instances, especially the recent Tree Mall Instance, it started to tax his ''almighty'' inheritance. That was why it needed Jin to help it by improving itself and its processing speed to handle such workload.

    When Jin asked, the System admitted that while it was necessary for them to steal the Mechanical Brain, there were indeed alternate ways to reach the same goal. Until now, it had already managed by frequently reviewing its processes and purchase the necessary parts to upgrade the System''s processing ability, albeit it was at a speed that the System found it too...time consuming.

    Yet, the fastest and least tedious way to get an instant upgrade would no doubt be the Mechanical Brain. Given the political situation in the Mecha World, which they while not directly responsible, had at least elerated their world''s predicament.

    The System also stated that it was also an excellent opportunity tomit the crime and me it on somebody else. The System had strongly (and repeatedly) advised to Jin take action, specifically because the dungeon supplier was short on time (once again) to get it done before the uing Chinese New Year.

    However, there would be time to worry about this tomorrow, today was all about the workers in the Dungeon City Fortress who deserve a well needed break.

    The minions were surprised by the multiple rows of tables, all prepared neatly with the necessary cutleries. There were even amodations to the ''tables'' depending on the monster''s way of eating. For example, at the side of the Town Hall instance (or open fields) there werebels of various monster names such as Shadow Dagen (aka Mr. Derpy), Keyrin and even Spiky to indicate that their seats were there.

    With the giant monsters at the side, the System had prepared feasts of simr sizes to fit their proportions. (On hindsight, Jin was very thankful that the Giant World existed, so he did not have to purchase thousands of chickens just to amodate Mr Derpy or even Spiky.)

    The Water Snake Demon and Fire Lion Demon whose names he did not catch from Weslie was ced on cards on the side of the fields, and the four demons were reunited like this for the first time in decades. (They all truly had a decent time catching up with each other.)

    Jin was surprised that the System''s omni-lingualism enabled every monster to talk to each other until he learnt that it made everyone learn amonnguage. Chinese. "I guess that actually made things much simplerбн" Jin humbled himself as he peeked through the curtains behind the stage and watched his monsters talk in their own social groups, seemingly a bit unsure where to sit.

    At the same time, Qiu Yue and Lynn appeared on stage, hosting as Emcees for the night.

    They were dressed in Santa costumes too but with the modern (cutesy) look. A ermбнRed Santa red shirt and short skirt for Qiu Yue and a Santa long dress for Lynn.

    "Alright, please get seated so we can start our programme. I know the allure of food right in front of the stage and at the back is tempting but please hold on to your stomachs a bit longer." Qiu Yue announced, and the minions fastened their pace a little.

    "It''s free seating so you may sit wherever you want except for those names on the cards at the side of the field. Peggies, please take a seat for now." Lynn added and the Peggies who were manning the food booths at the front of the stage listened to their Queen.

    "What about us, we no VIPs?" Kraft shouted loudly, and Qiu Yue apologised and reiterated that it was free seating. The Original Betor frowned wondering with whom to sit down. Suddenly Kiyu was calling him over from afar, and he saw the Foxes reserved a seat for him together with the Dark Elves.

    Even Pei for this rare asion was sitting with them. Kraft half smiled and walked towards them not mentioning the fact, that she had chosen the ce farthest away from his own.

    Milk chose to sit alongside the Panda Nurses that were off duty, while Peppers went towards Ayse and her researchers. Zeru''spany consisted of the Mousefolks surrounding him. They were equally shocked to see a myriad of monsters bonding together. Meomi calmed them down and told them they were now all part of this big family.

    Amura Rei, the newest of members, was even more shocked by the turn of events and Yun beckoned him to seat with Ayse and the other researchers to get acquainted. The Goblins and Orcs, on the other hand, did not sit with their races and instead had instinctively split up into the units or sections they were assigned to. Joining them were the Minotaurs who were assigned to their sections.

    Moloch was in a bit of an odd position. He was the one to overlook the whole project, so he technically did not belong in any one section, but ironically he was also the most sought from both races to sit beside them. Eventually, he tookfort with Jespa and Hespesta who were with a section of Orc and Goblin engineers that handled the leading Mecha Developments.

    Even the Merchants and Adventurer Guild from the Dungeon Cave Town had taken a day off or left it to their Goblin World assistants to handle the workload as they joined thispulsory Feast.

    As for the Farming World counterparts, the Dark Temrs sat along with the Werejackals with the exception of Lord Wolte who surprisingly was allowed to be stationed at the end of the long table. Apparently, he had the ability to revert back to his slug form and thus he was allowed to eat near hisrades and sat down next to Baphomet. (Mr Oink was given simr treatment at the Goblin/Orc Table.)

    Separately, the Deep Ones did not abandon their lord. Initially, all of them sat closest to the Demon Beasts so that Mr Derpy would not be so lonely, but soon they watched their formidable Lord was able to make new friends with the Demon Beasts. Derpy got so engaged in the conversation that some of the Deep Ones joined the other monsters at the regr tables.

    In the meantime, Shu''s card was on the other end of the field which he did abide by. It was a funny sight to behold to see Shu walk around with its roots up andter entrench himself at the side. Naturally, Ke Mi, her Great White Snake and the ants sat closest to them. Sitting beside them were Niu Lang, Zhi Nu and Que Er along with Sandy. The Boar Knights and Pyro Jack also joined in at the side. (Along with the Gingerbread Knights and the inhabitants from Giant World like Hamatarou.)

    Yun was the only one in an exclusive VIP table that was meant for the unique NPCs like Vulcan and Octofussy. It also included the System Users. Qiu Yue, Lynn and Jin but many of them noticed that Jin was not at the table with Yun.

    Once the Emcees were notified that everyone had taken their seats, they officially started the Christmas Grand Feast Event.

 Chapter 588 Door Gifts

    <h4>Chapter 588 Door Gifts</h4>

    "First of all, it is our pleasure to wee you all to the very first Christmas Feast! We apologise for the vague meeting details even though we''ve deemed it important. Boss Jin had to keep it under wraps so it would be a major surprise for everyone!" Qiu Yue announced.

    "There will be a few activities for your amusements which will also allow some of you to earn extra System points for free! Think of them as mini games for this particr event." Lynn exined with a professional voice despite Qiu Yue being able to see her colleague shivering from her waist down. When the minions heard extra System Points, it started to make the minions chat loudly.

    "But the Betors are not allowed to join!" Qiu Yue added, and the loudest boo surprisingly came from Peppers and subsequently Kiyu. Pei had to pull her back to her seat in order not to make too much of a ruckus. "Just joking. Don''t worry, we aren''t excluding you guys. Instead, the betors willpete equally and we will all be able to watch them on the screen to make sure it is somewhat fair."

    "Could it be a massive duel?" Tsu asked, and Kai smirked at that opinion.

    "If there is one, I would love topete against you once more," Kai replied, and Tsu''s eyes turned to ones filled with senseless anticipation.

    "However, before you start with the feast, Jin here has some things to tell you." Lynn pointed to the side as they let the panda cultivator take the stage wearing a fake beard and dragging arge haversack behind him.

    "Thank you, Qiu Yue and Lynn. I wanted to surprise everyone, but I realised I could not have done it without their help. So please give them a round of apuse!" Jin said at the podium, and a loud series of apuse soon followed throughout the open fields.

    "Just like the two Sub System Users, I could have never reached where I am now without all of you here. So, this particr Grand Feast has been prepared for all of you as a token of my appreciation towards each and every one of you. The three of us took great pains to make this all possible, so after this speech, please eat to your heart content!" Jin continued, and the monsters roared into another series of apuse.

    "The food was painstakingly prepared by Lynn and her penguins who just until a moment ago were still cooking extra in case the current food that we have prepared would not be enough. So you guys better eat until you drop or I will never forgive all of you for wasting the penguin''s work!" Jin ''threatened'' loudly and cheers erupted for the penguins from the other minions.

    "It''s Lynn''s cooking! The peggies too! No wonder the food smells so good! Master, please hurry and let us eat now!" One of the Orcs shouted out loud, and the rest resonated with him. Usually, such actions would displease ck Disaster Nubwort but seeing how Jin did not take any offence at that, rxed his stance just for this event. He knew that even at times, he needed to have some fun.

    "Ah..fun, been a long time since I could even think of that." Nubwort curled his lips and realised how fortunate it was to be in Jin''s care. Not only was he allowed to help build up a city from scratch, but the Goblin Raid Instance was also a great way to fight with some worthy opponents even though most of the time they were not his match.

    "Sure sure, I shall hurry it up, but I assure you what I say next will bring more pleasure to all of you as a wholepared to the amazing food right in front of you guys. Besides, they will all still be piping hot with the System''s powers so bear with me for another few minutes!" Jinughed as he too got excited by the news he had been withholding for a long time.

    "But first, I would like to wee a few newбнadditions into our ranks." Jin started and coinciding with him the System dimmed the lights and shone a spotlight on their newest members. The first being weed was the new Mousefolks who were under Qiu Yue''s contract and werejackals like Silver. Subsequently, Jin touched on the Dark Temrs, Hamatarou, Weslie, her Demons, the Farming Humans and even Rei.

    "I am sorry that I could not be there to get acquainted with all of you yet and even missed the chance to introduce myself as I had been really busy with my other work. But rest assured you guys are not forgotten at all. As ironic and iconic, a warm wee to this extended family of yours." Jin said, and the pping was less fevering, probably as a sign of respect.

    "Lastly, you all have just heard from Kiyu about the origins of Christmas. So I am hoping to establish this tradition, in hopes that you guys will also do the same with yourrades in the future. Today let me start by dering that I have prepared presents for almost everyoneбнif not all of you guys! I hope they will be to your liking." Jin smiled as he ced his haversack down.

    "Robot Crawlers, I might need your help on this if you coulde on stage for me," Jin asked as he dragged the enormous haversack towards the centre and the Robot Crawlers that wereing out from the Robotic Arachnid obeyed Jin''s orders. The Titan Knight, who was at the other side of the field with Shu and the Arachnid, used his Colossus Sword like a sky bridge for the Robot Crawlers to scurry towards the stage and not disrupt the crowd too much.

    It was the wee door gift for each and every minion to date, including Rei.

    "This was made by Qiu Yue in secret. Let me tell you that she grumbled how difficult it was to create them all without any of you catching wind of it and make sure they were all up to quality." The Robot Crawlers indiscriminately picked the door gift and went frenzy with the delivery methods. (Meanwhile, Qiu Yue threw her mike at Jin like pstickedy before a robot crawler picked it up and returned it to her.)

    When they received the wee gift, they noticed it was a 54mm miniature model (up to 20cm depending on their respective size) with them posing to do what they had been doing. The Engineering Section, for example, had customised miniatures that if ced down properly, it would create one perfect picture of their typical workday.

    The same was true for every group.

    Sandy thought that she did not have any friends since no one originated from her World. But little did she know that her model was actually a part with the Orcs and Goblins from the materials department. Her help was essential and efficient in making high strength concrete that could reach up to 80,000 psi (550 MPa) at a fairly cheap cost.

    From the age of sticks and stones, the orcs and goblins never knew that they could see something this amazing for construction. Even for Jin and Qiu Yue, they nearly fainted that it was even possible to create such a super strength material. Thetter even joked she should sell it to the government and they could guarantee that the word invulnerable is indeed possible.

    Everyone was satisfied with the door gift, and they figured they could keep it as a memorial. Yet, this was not the end of the Christmas giving session.

    Jin had more surprises for them and the next was certain to change the way they lived.

 Chapter 589 Promises Fulfilled

    <h4>Chapter 589 Promises Fulfilled</h4>

    "Many of you might be aware that I vouched and made certain promises in the past months or so. Yet there was no news of those promises being fulfilled due to my busy schedule. So, for this particr Christmas Grand Feast, I hope that I have managed to make it worth your wait." Jin announced as he looked at the side and nodded his head.

    Qiu Yue got his cue, and via the System''s tablet, a projectile screen appeared with the image of an ind. The minions did not understand what promise this could refer to until Jin further exined it. "This Ind Instance is going to be your new home, myrades."

    He added that he had created multiple Ind Instances to house the minions still waiting for an official home instance and wished to rece the currently upied home instances. The dungeon supplier then used his phone to click to the next slide.

    The following image showed an ind with a huge stadium. Surrounding the stadium were not steps and seats, but market stalls in the first fewyers and further rings showed housing of some sort. With the exception of the East having arge mansion, the rest were buildings of various ascending height.

    All of the houses supported a view of the extended stadium field without obstruction. This meant that the grass field was the pivotalndmark for this architectural framework.

    "I specifically built the currently shown Ind Instance for the Orcs since my interaction with them taught me that they love festivals and get together for a good fight. This stadium will not only be a ce to rest and rx but a ce where the Orcs are free to settle their differences with everyone as the witness." Jin spoke and indicated that for simplicity sake, it would be named Orc Ind Instance. (They were free toe up with their own name as long as they agreed.)

    A period of silence was suddenly reced with intense cheering from the Orcs filling the ce.

    Nubwort smirked at his delighted Orcs, who received the acknowledgement of their master for all the work they had done. For keeping his honour with the Orcs, it made the ck Disaster regard Jin in a different light and respected him slightly more.

    "Let me emphasise that this Ind is solely for the Orcs, the other races will receive their own Inds which would be catered to their needs. There is no need to worry about space. Remember this is a dimensional instance that you will be living in. It can expand endlessly as much as I can allow it to." Jin had a giant smile on his Santa face after seeing the Orc''s reaction and subsequently showed another Ind.

    The next one featured mushroom huts in a terrace farming kind of style. "There will be basements for this so do not see that this particr design as small. I have also included weather modules into these instances, so those mushroom huts are designed to weather through this." Jin made a small pun which made the goblins giggle a little. (Yes this particr ind full of mushroom huts was for them.) He added that the three Goblin Generals'' sons would be joining them too, which perked the Goblins up a lot.

    Afterwards, the dungeon supplier presented a picture of a deserted theme park. Everyone instantly recognised that it was the home instance of the zombies. He zoomed out a bit, revealing that the theme park was only a small part of this Zombie Ind, and they could discern that there was an abandoned town around it.

    "Master, What is the reason for putting everyone in inds?" Ayse shouted and also shamelessly asked if the researchers had their own Ind Instance.

    "Like I said, everyone, including current owners, has it. So, yes Ayse you and your researchers will have one too. The inds are to prepare for something even more exciting in the future." Jin answered as he opened his phone and scrolled down to choose a particr picture. The System then presented it to the entire horde of his.

    It was an overview of the structure of the various inds which made it look like some sort of treasure map.

    "This will be my next grand dungeon scheme which includes all of you inside." Jin dered and revealed that this was the Sanctum of Worlds'' Open Dungeon Instance concept. He could see that almost every minion had their jaws drop and Jin enjoyed this sight.

    "In other words, this will not just be your homes, but something simr to the WunderPanda Theme Park. People wille and see how you guys live and interact with all of you." Jin exined that this was still in its experimental stage as he would not be able to achieve this particr endeavour until he got the Mechanical Brain from the Mecha World.

    He then added that even if all of this were not connected right now, all these inds instance could be expanded and built upon with the System points that they had earnt. "Items like furniture and essories for your house can be bought via the System. Stalls are created to introduce economy and allow you monsters the chance to try each other''s specialities."

    "Then do we need to travel via ships to get to the other ind?" Gold questioned, and Jin shook his head.

    "I will put a portal which allows you to teleport from one ce to another easily. When it goes live for the customers to use, the cultivators will have to choose which race they want to support or ally with. This will also decide which Ind they start on, with them receiving a save point to travel back and fro." Jin exined.

    "Other than that, they will have to travel via ships and depending on their interaction with you guys, they will be considered your friend or foes," Jin announced and there was much chatter in the group.

    "So for example, I may set it up that the Goblins are friends with the Orcs but rivals with the Werejackals for a particr week. When cultivators enter the Goblin''s seaport to resupply they will be charged higher should they be allied to the werejackals while the cultivators who are friends with the Orcs will receive a benefit or even a discount." Jin briefly described and people started tough at that particr example.

    "Aside from the Home Inds, there will be inds that have secondary dungeons in them or even Boss monsters. That is where Demon Beast like Spiky can reside in, and this will be the ultimate test of teamwork among those in their ships." Jin shared his ambitions for the entire group.

    "However, rest assured that the Open Dungeon Instance will not include your real home instances. If any of you do not wish to participate in the Open Dungeon Instance and prefer to rest after a day''s worth of work, please do so. But for those who wish to earn extra System points, no one is stopping from participating in these open dungeon instances." Jin kind of implied that hard work would not betray them as they would be rewarded based on meritocracy.

    "I will be showing slides of other ind home instances as part of the presentation slides, and that''s more or less it from me. You''ve all heard me rambling long enough. Now, please dig into the grand feast that we prepared for all for you!" Jin finished and as soon as he did his minions pounced on the yummy food.

 Chapter 590 Home Island Instances

    <h4>Chapter 590 Home Ind Instances</h4>

    In the subsequent slides, the Ind Instances of various minions were shown while the minions enjoyed their food andmented on the pictures. It got extremely lively and even the Sub System Users who had begun taking their supper, hope to eventually question Jin on the feasibility of this whole Open Dungeon concept he had in mind.

    At the moment they were discussing how crazy some Ind Instances looked like. The Zither Ind Instance was where Ke Mi, Shu among with others would be situated. Jin had purposely created sufficient space for the wyrm ants to popte under the ground while Shu was located in the middle of a crater of their Home ind.

    The Ancient Treant was allowed to grow asrge as he wished, which he approved a lot. In return, he would provide the base and foundation for Tree Apartments where various houses would ''grow'' on the different height of Shu. Ke Mi wanted to take the lowest level as she did not wish to burden her Great White Snake too much.

    Yet Sandy, the Sand Witch who would be staying with her told her not to worry that much and insisted that she takes the highest level instead. "I will bring you down if need be," Sandy said and reasoned that her song should be heard from the top of the tree instead of being at the bottom.

    "You okay with Ke Mi?" The Zither Mistress, who had learnt to trust Sandy as much as her Great White Snake decided to listen to the Sand Witch instead.

    "Of course, if you think I am merely an acquaintance, you are dead wrong. If anything, I am a fan of your songs." Sandy said as she knocked her shoulder with Ke Mi''s as if to indicate her friendliness to the Zither Mistress.

    However, it would be an understatement to call the Sand Witch just a fan. Sandy was heads over heels with Ke Mi''s music.

    Whenever she was free from her construction errands or on break, the Sand Witch would visit Ke Mi in the agriculture sector, and they would have an impromptu music performance with many also on breaking over to listen to.

    When both were off their work, Sandy visited Ke Mi at home, and she would create Sand clones to y music instruments avable to the Zither Mistress.

    Furthermore, the other group to stay with them were the Boar Knights as well as Que Er, the Magpie Queens. The Boar Knights did not mind taking the bottom tier of houses since they were rather scared of heights. On the other hand, Que Er had an amicable partnership with Shu, who allowed her to house her magpies. He agreed to it so long as they did not make too much noise early in the morning. Other than that, she was wee to stay with them as well.

    During the feast, Jin came over to her to make sure the Magpie Queen was fine with his choice. When she nodded and told him it was a great idea, he asked her to meet him tomorrow at 11 for a particr errand. She found it weird considering the asion but shrugged it off and continued enjoying the feast.

    Given therge new space, Shu tried to persuade Jin, who was on his way to return to his table. The ancient Treant listed the benefits of getting more insects for the vitality of the earth as well as to keep his Mantis and Wyrm Ants less lonely.

    "How about Piggycupines? I have them in a pen right now, and they are the only ones I did not invite becauseбн Well, a number of ourrades are eating them right now." Jin suggested, and Shu pretended to give a horrified face.

    "You! Evil! Heh, that was a bad joke. I do not want to go into existential crisis issues, but I do not mind them, I figure their giant poops should be good for my growth." Shu replied with augh as he would look forward to watching the Boar Knights trying to tame them as their steeds.

    The next Ind Instance was none other than the Werejackals'' new home instance. Instead of a proper ind, theirs was one of the moreplex Ind Instances which Jin had made. Mainly because of one thing.

    Their farms.

    They had been experimenting and even had dedicated a lot of their room for the production of Oil nts which the System took great care for. That was why the System was very willing to give a discount to Jin for making their Ind Instance, as long as he would design it first. (and with profit in mind)

    Thus, their Werejackal Ind Instance was literally an ivory tower.

    Their ind included an inactive volcano and in the middle of the volcano stood a tower where all the expensive agriculture was done. The rest of the farming utilised the plots ofnd right beside the volcano. Jin tried to mimic the situation where thends near the volcano were extremely fertile. And because of theirrge plots of farnd, the Werejackals would be situated at a seaport where most of the housing and stalls would be.

    For the other werejackals, they would have to take a transport to their farms or the ivory tower for the farming work. At that point, both Gold and Weslie had already begun discussing what needed to be done and which plot of farnd would be used for which particr sets of crops.

    The Dark Temrs would be joining them too, and they had their own headquarters to call their own. Jin said that they would have to contribute with the farming efforts since security was currently not an issue. Yet, he did mention that there was no harm creating contingency ns in case the cultivators would wish to ''steal'' crops.

    The Dark Temrs perked up, hearing that they could not only establish a security presence, but there were chances where they could also be hired as mercenaries for the Open Dungeon concept.

    In the meantime, Jin also assured the Mousefolks that they too would be given a sanctuary to call home within the Werejackal Ind Instance. He even specifically named one of the streets in the seaport after their old town''s name, Ording Street.

    "However, you''ll have to earn your share! In the future, I will purposely ce a cave full of minerals for you to guide cultivators who wish to mine as well as some monsters to spice things up, you know? Maybe if I have the time to create them, it will most probably be the Demon Rats, so feel free to fight against them!" Jin exined but all the Mousefolks had heard was one vital phrase.

    Full of minerals.

    This excited the miners of Ording, and it gave the Mousefolk a bit of anticipation that they could return to their old ways. The dungeon supplier also did not rule out the possibility of them helping with farming instead or even security work, especially when the opportunities were there for them to create since it was their home.

    That''s right. Jin wanted all of his minions to feel like they belonged.

 Chapter 591 Grand FeastтАЩs First Even

    <h4>Chapter 591 Grand Feastбпs First Even</h4>

    The spread of food was not just fantastic, but absolutely amazing. Lacking time, Lynn had no other choice but to entrust her penguins with creating this particr grand feast from scratch. With the limited experience they had, Lynn has assumed that she would need to oversee all of the cooking of food.

    Thankfully she was proven wrong again and again as she sampled each and every dish early in the eve before Christmas day. Her penguins had taken what they had learnt and applied everything without fail. Sure enough, there were some minor mistakes here and there but to be able to cook such an enormouslyrge amount of food without losing the quality, made Lynn respect her penguins to the fullest.

    The piggycupines surprisingly turned out to be one of the most versatile monsters they had ever caught. The meat was extra tender, making it very easy to stew, fry or even roast. And their spikes, when cooked well, had a nutritional value equivalent to a te of vegetables.

    Thus, a number of dishes were based on these Giant monsters, and the System even gave them ess to the farming world materials (Which were totally in excess). All the meat loving monsters adored the thickness of the b of meat Jin was offered, and no one had anyints at all.

    The Beast Demons mostly had the whole piggycupine in front of them to savour. The penguins had made sure that the meat was seasoned properly and sufficient spices were used on different parts of the body so the Beast Demons could enjoy a plethora of taste from a single dish.

    As for Mr Derpy, the size of piggycupines were like a chicken nugget, so for this special asion, Jin had made sure that he had more than just dozens of ''chicken nuggets'' for his meal. Mr Derpy did not expect to have a sumptuous and filling meal in his life nor his stay with Jin so far. The dungeon supplier told him that if he does well in the new Open Dungeon Instance, Jin will get him more than just ''nuggets'' in the future.

    "As the Shadow of Lord Dagen, you have unknowingly signed a binding promise to me. You must fulfil at all cost or elseбн Hey wait, Jin! Don''t take my piggy nuggets away! Please! I''ll be nice! I''ll be nice!!" Mr Derpy whined a little, and all his Deep Ones wereughing at the power y between Jin and their Supreme Lord.

    The Dungeon Supplier hade over to the Deep Ones to inform them that he did not prepare an Ind Instance for them. Instead, they had the whole western sea region to y with. They would be retaining their underwater forsaken town from the current home instance, and in return, Jin had given them a bunch full of System points to use them as they saw fit.

    The Deep Ones were actually ted to learn that their underwater forsaken town remained status quo as they were initially afraid when Jin said all minions would move to Ind Instances. They also quite liked the idea that it was up to them whether they wanted to further improve their city or stretch its perimeters. With Jin''s generouspensation, they even considered building a second outpost underwater. (Maybe an underwater military base?)

    "Ah, except you guys will definitely be one of the few permanent bad guys for this Open Dungeon. The sea cannot be all calm and dandy, right?" Jin said, and the Deep Ones immediately cheered for that death and destruction was still applicable for them.

    As the feasting continued on, Lynn and Qiu Yue suddenly appeared on the stage again, stopping the current powerpoint slides. Some of the monsters jeered and Qiu Yue snap back at them. "You guys! If you don''t see it, it''s more of a surprise! Rawr!" (She had been drinking a little of Lynn''s new sake which was meant forter part of the feast.)

    "Hahaha! Calm down Qiu Yue. How about we have a round of game as promised to earn some extra System points?" Lynn suggested, and that made the entire horde roared in unity. Who did not want some extra System points? That equated to better food in the future and possibly a morefortable ce to stay in with the new Ind Instance. It was THE currency to get no matter what kind of hell the minion had to go through!

    "For fairness sake, anyonerger than Baphomet won''t be allowed to y. So Beast Demons and Mr Derpy, I am sorry. You will have to watch from afar. To make it up to you, we are preparing a secret meaty dish which has specially been prepared by Lynn. " Qiu Yue said, and therge monsters felt they had gotten the better part of the deal to be able to eat Lynn''s personal cooking.

    The next game was essentially a massive game of dodgeball with a slight twist. With the aid of Peppers'' magic, the participating monsters would be magically coated with a stickyyer for the ball to stick and donning a helmet on. The varying colours of the helmet indicated how many points that particr monster was worth in order to bnce the game a little.

    Aside from catching the ball, the monsters could also block iing attacks with their weapons or skills as well. The balls would be indestructible enough so that none of them had to worry about holding back. If a ball hit a monster, it would get stuck before getting teleported out, awarding to one who threw the ball the corresponding point.

    So for monsters like me Ripper, his speed as an evolved assassin goblin would make him nearly uncatchable, and he had the skills to block most other minions. Yet his helmet was considered A-Tier, the second highest number of points attainable if he had been hit and subsequently ousted.

    The S-Tier helmets were reserved for the betors themselves. They were worth 500 points whereas hitting me Ripper would only yield 100 points. Thus, the betors had be the prime targets for almost all of the participating monsters.

    And this made each and every betor''s blood boil with much excitement. For this time only, Yun even participated in the event and wore a S-Tier helmet to make the game even more thrilling. There were no concrete rules at all, and Qiu Yue told them that teaming up was also an option but the points earnt would ultimately belong to one from an individual.

    For people like Amura Rei, who was just a normal human with the knowledge of the Mecha World, he was given the lowest tier helmet, D-Tier. Those helmets were also imbued by the System with a barrier mechanism that provided high defence so that if those stray S-Tier balls hit any of the lower tier users, they would not be identally killed by them.

    Oddly enough, Jin was not taking part himself and was the person who would blow the whistle in the Stadium Instance to start the games in there. The rest of the non-participants were given the privilege to watch it through therge screen with various magic eyes providing the live scene feed.

    "Are you guys ready?!" Jin asked as he flew above the entire group and held a re gun with him. The participants shouted with anticipation and excitement as their master slowly raised the re gun and pointed it upwards.

    A bright red re flew up to the sky, and the game of deadly dodgeballmenced.

 Chapter 592 MonsterтАЩs Dodgeball

    <h4>Chapter 592 Monsterбпs Dodgeball</h4>

    When the re went up, the ones who felt the most danger were the monsters wearing the A-Tier helmets. They understood that they were the most vulnerable among all of the monsters because catching them would yield the second possible highest amount of points. The betors would be safe for a moment unless the monsters decided to band together to remove them from the game.

    Those with S-Tier Helmets also understood that they were not the primary target as most of the monsters recognised how strong they were...except for the newerrades who had yet to see or experience the unparalleled strength of betors.

    The Deep Ones, as the species that was even keener on battles than Orcs, knew better than to trifle with the betors and yet the Mousefolks were daring enough to go against their own master.

    Perhaps it was not ignorance but rather a sort of challenge to see how far the students could go against their own master.

    "I won''t show mercy," Zeru stated with a smug smile as he took his wooden sword out as if to protect himself. Unfortunately, the Mousefolks did not know that defence was indeed the best offence for the Sword Saint.

    Every ball that was thrown towards Zeru was directly reflected back towards them. The angle of the shes and the amount of energy used to reflect the shots were perfect. The Mousefolks that were hit realised that Zeru was giving them mercy. And yet at the same time, it shed some light on how Zeru was able to control his attacks to such a precise degree that brute strength was seen as gross ipetence.

    After a few tries, the Mousefolks epted that merely throwing their balls at Zeru would not be working and they needed to devise a n of attack. However, they seemed to have forgotten that this particr dodgeball was a free for all. The other monsters were frantically trying to eliminate one another.

    Jin was fairly amused that even when his minions were not engaging a bloody fight, the monsters were doing their best to earn as many points.

    Shu ended up participating even when he was aware that his size would mean he would have a hard time. The Ancient Treant did put up quite a fight despite its inability to dodge by shrinking itself to a smaller tree and grew many branches to whack the iing balls away quickly. (That was how he cheated the height and size requirement!) Sadly, his valiant effortsted... less than ten seconds, he was ousted when a dodgeball curved and hit its torso from his blind spot.

    It was none other than Ke Mi who had magically used her strings to manipte a feint in the throw to hit him. "Ah, you ungrateful brat! After all these months of nurturing you!" Shu shouted when he saw the digital scoreboard in the Stadium instance. It clearly showed Ke Mi ''killed'' Shu, causing him to be teleported back to the Town Hall instance.

    "But you are B-Tier! Lots of points!" Ke Miughed and waved goodbye to the disappearing Shu.

    Afterwards, it became a major turning point for the game. For some reason, many of the monsters hadn''t even considered attacking the helmets of their own tiers but nned to get the big points by ambushing those in the higher level. Suddenly the free for all turned chaotic as everyone really became everyone''s enemy.

    Tsu was the first to attack his fellow brother, Kai. "What I said shall be kept as a promise," Tsu shouted as his ball flew towards Kai with a whirling cyclone of ck energy surrounding it which vaguely resembles a wolf trying to attack its prey.

    "Fine with me," Kai replied quickly as he decided to take the attack head on. Some of the monsters in the vicinity were just in awe by the powers of Tsu and Kai as they had never seen these foxes in their human forms at all. It was also an eye opener for Jin and the other Sub System Users as they had enjoyed preview on the might of the foxes that remained mysterious till this day.

    However, not all betors had it easy.

    Simr to Zeru, Kraft was also attacked by his own underlings. Their motivation was nowhere near as noble as wanting to test themselves. The crafty fox had forced them to endure hell, and all of them were looking forward to getting at least a little bit of revenge.

    Initially, the Original Betor had enough time to y around and even taunt the dark elves for failing to hit him thanks to his illusions, but quickly more and more monsters came over in the attempt of bringing this fox down.

    Kiyu just joined for the fun of it whereas Pei, who had never hidden her contempt for the Devilman, was happy to mess with him. With the girls working together and pointing out where the real Kraft was hiding he was eventually hit by a ball.

    Peppers thought her magic casting would be able to save her in all kinds of situations. Yet, within the first few seconds, she had already been annihted by a ball from behind. The ironic thing was that it was her fellow friend, Ayse who had done so mercilessly to earn those couple hundred of System Points. (Oh, Peppers made sure her next explosion experiment would be met with some sort of ident.)

    Other than that, the rest had much fun trying to escape from the attacks and dishing out damage. The spectators watched them with much glee, and after three minutes of annihtion, the final ones left were Milk, Zeru and surprisingly, Dread Reaver.

    The Death Knight had some maniption with the power of fog that enabled him to slow down the dodgeballs and allowed him to either escape or block them. As for the other two betors, it boiled down to speed.

    Milk was evasive enough to block every attack with her hands, and she even had some innate monk skills that gave her another extra pair of ''hands'' (Jin thought she was some sort of thousand arm buddha when he saw Milk using her abilities.)

    But instead of continuing to see who was the ultimate dodgeball king/ queen, Jin announced that the game was up and dered the remaining three as winners. Some of the monsters jeered at the sudden stoppage of the game since they wished to know who would be the ultimate winner.

    "Please continue with your Grand Feast! Qiu Yue and Lynn will be introducing more games to you all in the next hour or so. And if you wish to leave to get some rest, feel free to do so. Everyone will receive a video about today, so you can rewatch it anytime you like. Else, have a great night!" Jin said and took his leave from the stage.

    He teleported back to the Dungeon Maker due to a message by the System. There, he saw Kraft for once with a very serious look on him before resuming his usual self. Noticing Jin, he showed him a half smile.

    "Firstly, that was a hell of a dodgeball game, I will love to do it again. Second, I do not know if this is an intended Christmas presentбнbut let''s say it is." Kraft spoke as he turned on the console for Jin in the Dungeon Maker. Jin saw a couple of files being decrypted right in front of him, and subsequently, a picture with striking features was shown on the screen.

    "Ryuli is real."

 Chapter 593 Assuming the Wors

    <h4>Chapter 593 Assuming the Wors</h4>

    "... What?" Jin looked at the picture. This person did not really look like the one he remembered having met. Obviously, if the timeline were correct, she would have to be at least an adult already. Yet, this baffled him a lot. How can a dream match with reality?

    "It could be just a dream, you know? Why are you putting so much weight to it?" Jin asked Kraft with all seriousness. The betor grinned before he quietly asked Jin to take a seat.

    "Well, first of all, the person in your dream was hard to find. So much so that even I can''t call it anything but difficult. Aside from that. You are not the first to have lucid dreams, which may not have been dreams... Its a little hard to exin."

    "Past System Users have dreamt of simr things before, and we have ignored them in those instances. Suffice to say, we shouldn''t have." Kraft replied with a rare solemn voice as if implying that it had personally happened to him.

    "Really? So it became precognition or a forewarning like of situation?" Jin asked, and Kraft shook his head vehemently and provided him with a little background story.

    "There was a System User who had inherited the powers of Time from the System. Nothing too fancy, just being able to slow down or elerate it. You can imagine how useful such an ability could be in a fight."

    "It made it seem as if the User was able to appear at two ces at one time. But as her powers grew, so did her skills in predicting the future. At first, it was predicting what her opponent would do in a few seconds, but in time it grew. It turned to minutes andter hours. "

    "Because of this, her headaches got worse and worse. One time she had overexerted herself and fell unconscious. When she woke up, the User told us that she could foresee problems even when unconscious. Surprisingly, being unconscious allowed her to peek further into the future, but at one point, it was endless."

    "And then Poof, all she could see was ckness. Given her prior condition, we dismissed it as just wild dreams. Only when the incident happened, did we realise her powers of prediction had indeed be too powerful? But that was also when she lost her life permanently."

    "How...could she lost her life permanently? A Banned Emperor Assassin?" Jin asked. As far as he knew they were the only cultivators who discovered the means to prevent cultivators from being resurrected.

    Else, it shouldn''t be hard to revive, especially with the System''s help. Kraft looked at Jin and sighed heavily. He knew that his answer would not be satisfactory.

    "A ck hole of some sort opened up and swallowed her whole. The System was unable to find her signal afterwards. Perhaps she was teleported to another world, another time or she was dismantled into nothing but atoms." Kraft answered andter gave a stifledugh.

    "Anyways, your guess is as good as mine! Getting back to the topic. Maybe I was just too bored and wanted to try my luck infiltrating the government." Kraft twirled his chair around once, and his sly smile came back in an instant.

    "But how did you do it?" Jin asked the most awaited question which Kraft had been waiting to answer. There, the betor bragged on how the System and him managed to create the Foxy Virus.

    "Considering how deep Foxy had to infiltrate, the moment it found this series of pictures, I had programmed it to self destruct immediately after sending them back to us. Leaving no trace behind as quickly as possible. Did not expect the programme to work this long to get the results but thankfully it did." Kraft replied.

    "But could it not have waited until the Grand Feast was over? What was the urgency?" Jin asked as he only saw the portrait of the blue haireddy.

    "Now, see this." Kraft then pressed a button, and behind that portrait, a coge of pictures exploded into the screen. She was no longer fashioning that blue hair in those pictures and instead had disguised herself.

    Without knowing any better, it would be impossible to tell that those pictures were of the same person. Not to mention, there were symbols imprinted on the top edge of the photo, which indicated that they were sourced from multiple intelligence agencies from all over the world.

    "I''m sorry, I''m only getting more confused." Jin was just overwhelmed by the amount of information that was presented to him.

    "In short, thedy that you somehow seem to have interacted with, might ying with very dangerous people. The most likely answer is that she is one of them too." Kraft exined stating that she might be a possible spy for the Chinese intelligence, or worse. A double agent.

    "Buuuttt, the most important reason why I called you here just nowбн was this particr picture." Kraft said as he pulled the image out from the myriad of images and expanded it for Jin to see.

    At first, he did not know what he was looking at until he scrutinised the picture a little more and noticed there was one very familiar person within the whole picture.

    Mr Know-It-All.

    "I tried to dig through all the ssified junk that Foxy had collected and coted but to my surprise... I cannot find him within all that data." Kraft said and even iterated that the System''s registered database of customers was no help at all.

    "I tried to cross check the details of this guy, but it was undeniable that he was using an alias. To have a master spy within our midst... Oh, man. This is like calling me to take the challenge to unveil his identity." Kraft mentioned with a scary look on his face.

    "Maybe Ke Loong know something about him? I can casually ask about him since they seem to be best friends of some sort?" Jin asked, and Kraft shrugged his shoulders.

    "The CEO could possibly be one of the contacts that this Mr Know-It-All had. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to him. I''ve noticed that he never made an appearance ever since I sent Foxy out to scout for information." Kraft tried to piece the information up, and it puzzled Jin a while.

    "Though, to be honest, there is nothing much you can do about it now. Since you have already escaped the Grand Feast, go and have a proper rest. Perhaps even take a day off."

    "I guess I shall take the former...A day off is impossible with the pressing issues at hand." Jin thanked Kraft for the information and wished him a happy Christmas.

    In the meantime, Kraft was not taking things as it is. The old fox always knew that Mr Know-It-All had some sort of elusive presence. At first, he had not bothered too much with it. The middle aged guy always mixed himself with a public presence so at most Kraft thought him to be apetitor spy out to unveil Jin''s secrets.

    Only now Kraft did realise that hiding in in sight was truly Mr Know-it-All''s real speciality and it made the original Betor a little perturbed that as Jin''s personal self proimed spymaster, he had allowed such an individual to do what he pleased so long.

    Separately, the System advised Kraft to calm down. "Knowing that Mr Know-It-All is a possible spy won''t do much harm to User Jin. It shows that people are watching, and that is what the System wants. For more people to know more about User''s shop."

    "OhбнSo your take is that we should see them as a customer base rather than a threat?" Kraft stared into space for a moment and chuckled to himself.

    "I guessбн that is fine by me. Tsk, you are fine as long as they bring you more cash, after all, it''s us who are going to deal with him if he bes a problem."

    "Still, that does not mean we should not be prepared. Even if we are just assuming the worst or Mr Know-it-all could possibly be just a normal person being photographed at that point of time, it''s time to get those uppity rebels to enjoy some special Christmas training to burn those fats from the feast." Kraft replied as if he had some sinister training n for all his foxes (including the elves.)

 Chapter 594 Clash of TitansтАЩ Even

    <h4>Chapter 594 sh of Titansбп Even</h4>

    Another game was yed in the Grand Feast, and this time the Large Beast Monsters weren''t just allowed to y but even encouraged, because the event was casually called the ''sh of Titans''. Mr Derpy and the Titan Knight would fight against All of the Beast Demonsbined. (Mainly because Spiky, the Transforming Spider wasparablyrger than Mr Derpy when it came to the overall size.)

    The game was fashioned as a modified version of the Shaolin Football Instance, with their current location as the battleground. The System could not be bothered to expand the size of the Stadium instance further, using up even more of its precious resources.

    It had stretched the instance as much as was needed allowing Jin to aplish what he had in mind. After the feast was done, the System would only have to reset the Town Hall instance, and everything would be a piece of emptynd once again.

    Since Jin was not around, Qiu Yue and Lynn took the initiative to act as the judges for this sh of Titans'' event. Everyone was randomly chosen by the System to represent the Red and Blue team. Team Red would be siding Mr Derpy and the Titan Knight while Team Blue sided with the Beast Demons.

    Some like Weslie was lucky enough to get assigned into their preferred teams with the Beast Demons, but others, for example, the Deep Ones would have topete against their Supreme Lord.

    At times like this, Qiu Yue wondered whether they would ''betray'' him further in the name of more System Points since she roughly knew that it was somewhat wrong to raise their weapons against their own god.

    When the game started, everyone went into a frenzy mode. One army shed towards another just to fight for the sparkling rainbow orb that served as the ball to score. The Betors, unfortunately, were not allowed to join in the game mainly due to their insane powers, but it was a nice change of pace to see the monsters fighting against each other to their fullest.

    Peppers even offered to y the bank and turn it into a small betting event on who might win the first round. But nobody bothered because they knew how good she was in deducing the winning team based on her magic. (If Ayse were around, she would take her bets and argue that her collected data beats magic all day long.) Besides, they did not wish to be spoilt through her prediction and simply rooted for their own favourite team.

    However unlike the ssic game format where the Titans where mostly there for appearance sake, Jin wanted his Titans to battle it out too. So, whenever a goal was scored, it became a free for all for the Titans to pit their strength against each other for a set amount of time.

    The team that scored the goal would receive the opportunity to apply a temporary size debuff against their opposing rival. (The System was happy to use this as an opportunity to get a better grasp on the concept of Hamatarou''s Totem of Atem.)

    Hence, the opposing team had to fight harder and smarter instead of just relying on its huge size. In the meantime, the rest of the monsters continued to pitch their lives for additional System points.

    The monsters involved on the frontlines were rather apparent as the judges could see the majority of Orcs handling it with a mix of werejackals and dark temrs in it. (In fact, the Orcs were so fierce that some of the Dark Temrs assumed them to be demons incarnate.)

    Surprisingly, the zombies put up quite a decent fight too with Half Ghoul Lord Derek using his powers to personally enhance the horde on both teams equally. Though some of the monsters casually shouted foul y at that, they also understood that he wanted his zombies to be more than just cannon fodder.

    Meanwhile, the Mousefolks turned out to be a handy bunch of range support as their use of guns increased the fighting capability of their respective teams.

    It was to the point where they were aiming against each other since the Mousefolks knew best how much of a threat they could pose. Zeru and Meomi had informed them that they had gained grace from the powers of System which allowed them to resurrect, making them rather fearless without holding back.

    The Wyrm Ants dug a tunnel to surprise the opposing team, and it worked especially well for one round before Team Blue monsters realised andter sent their Mousefolks to defend the underground.

    As Wyrstriker was the only few that was able to fly, Que Er made sure to target him first with her murder of magpies. While one magpie was useless, having that entire flock of birds was a danger to Wyrstriker.

    This was the first time he had difficulty fighting and had to use multiple AOE attacks to fend for himself. Thus, Sandy assisted by creating a barrier for him on intervals since she needed to take care of the ground allies too. Still, Que Er managed to hold air superiority in thetter part of the event.

    The whole Town Hall instance became a ughter with whatever items they could find. Forks, chopsticks, tes, chairs and tables being thrown around or used as temporary barriers to dy the possibility of a goal from the opposing team. (Some even used the leftover bones of the piggycupine as a weapon. Those Orcs sure know how not to waste stuff.)

    Still, not a single monster dared to mess around and risk destroying the food tables which the Penguins were guarding with their lives. As for stray bullets, the Penguin ninjas were capable of immediately deflecting or slicing them up.

    Eventually, the monsters unanimously seemed to have demarcated a line not to be crossed so as to prevent any possible damage to the food tables.

    Lynn was positively surprised and taken aback by this particr development and some of the monsters even dere that they would even kill their own teammates or themselves as punishment if anyone wasted the penguins'' hard work. The Boar Knights ironically pledged themselves to be the guardians of the food tables. (They loved the piggycupine meat way too much. Could that be considered some level of cannibalism?)

    As thanks, Lynn personally awarded them a small payout of System points to ensure that those who had sacrificed themselves were not in vain. Obviously, it came from her own System Wallet. The Sub System Users also had ess to System points to periodically reward their underlings for a job well done. Those points were given to them by Jin who converted them using his own profit.

    So, the food tables were instinctively being drawn up like a barrier which everyone adhered to and fought to the fullest. After around half an hour of game time and both teams still tied, the System dered it to be a Sudden Death format with the monsters being allowed to help defeat the opposing Titans.

    Eventually, the ones winning turned out to be Team Red. They received 200 System Points each (no matter if they were resurrected or not) while the losing team earnt 50 System points each for participating in the game.

    When that particr Shaolin Football event came to a close, thest event that Lynn and Qiu Yue had prepared was an informal drinking contest. But before that, the monsters all helped cleaning up the trash and debris to be fed into the Lost Tech Recyclerter.

    After which, theyid the open fields with mats as instructed by the emcees while Shu purposely went to the centre of the area to make some flowers bloom.

    Sakura petals floated around the Town Hall instance, while the System erectedmplights, making it a cosy and memorable ce for every monster to gather around as the Penguins brought everyone bottles of plum wine to drink.

    Gold and the werejackals had already experimented with sake, but they achieved a real breakthrough after Chieftain Skitter had inadvertently found a Giant Plum Tree and gifted its location to Lynn. The Sub System User had not hesitated to reap the fruits from that tree.

    "This is thest event! Drink to your heart''s desire! Drink, eat and clear all the food that is on the table! Have a good chat with the monsters and interact with everyone!" Qiu Yue said with a bottle on her hand and pour one cup on stage to drink with everyone. "Everyone will earn some System points as gratitude from the System! You heard that right! Let''s all toast to the stingy System!"

    Lynn shook her head but joined in as well, as shemenced the start of thest event. To date, this had been undoubtedly the mostborious feast preparations she had evere across.

    Nevertheless, she was already looking forward to next year''s feast.

 Chapter 595 Unexpected Bonding

    <h4>Chapter 595 Unexpected Bonding</h4>

    It had been such a long time Jin finally had a good night sleep. The moment he saw the bed in his room, Jin did not care whether the ck sludge will flood in his ce. He was somehow automatically been allured into the embrace of his bed.

    "Had it always been thisfortable?" Jin asked himself, and when he closed his eyes, he did not think as much at all.

    "It been a long time," Ming asked as he knocked Jin with his hiking stick and Jin found himself abruptly awoken withyers of clothes on himself. He noticed he was in some enclosed tent with little space to even get up. If one wished to move out of the tent, he had to crawl backwards toe out of it.

    When Jin realised it was Ming''s voice and he could know he was in his cultivation mode.

    "God damn!" He said to himself out loud as Jin had forgotten that whenever he sleeps, he would be cultivating at the same time. However, for the past few weeks, the dungeon supplier had been using the high intensity sleeping capsule, which elerated his sleep more often.

    That only provided him sufficient rest and not enough to produce the circadian rhythm for dreaming, unlike this time when he came into the cultivation ''stage'' with Ming around.

    As he slowly dragged his body out of the tent, he realised that he was near the top of a mountain and Ming quickly gave him a pair of goggles to prevent the zing sun and to protect him for the freezing winds.

    The view, on the other hand, was spectacr. There were lower peaks and deep valleys all around the mountain which his tent was pitched at.

    "What are we fighting this round?" Jin asked as he knew that he had the trial for the other three Cardinal Beasts. Ming did mention to him once, but he had forgotten which monster was it, and with no System reminding him, Jin could only hope Ming would not be so cryptic and give him the answer.

    "Nah, I abandoned that Four Heavenly Beast route for the moment. That initially was to force start the development of your Maqi, but it seems someone else managed to do it for me." Ming said with a slight sigh.

    "And to introduce you a little to Demon Exorcists and hope that Grandma Yuan could take you in. But it seems like you managed to not only be one but a branch manager at that." Ming knocked Jin''s arms as he said it. "Guess, Yuan was softer than I thought."

    "She is really a Tsundere, eh?" Jin asked, and Mingughed loudly, which his voice was echoed back at the top of the mountains. He nodded his head and asked Jin to climb up with him to the top of the current mountain.

    "So, what are you teaching me this time around?" Jin asked as he went into the tent and get the hiking stick as well as the backpack which Ming requested him to take.

    "Not sure, to be honest. In these four months, you had grown tremendously fast that I am rather surprised by it." Ming said as he led the way up to the mountain. The two reduced their conversations as they hiked up the remaining distance to the peak.

    It may not seem as far from where the tent was pitched, but they had taken a few detours to ensure that the snow was solid enough to climb forward.

    Unlike thest time, Ming always offered Jin a helping hand and gave him a boost whenever needed. There was this particr ridge where they had to jump a little to reach, but with all their heavy equipment, it was nearly impossible.

    Jin tried to activate his Maqi as usual, but he knew it was somewhat futile whenever ites to Ming''s unreasonable restrictions. Yet, it was a humble reminder that Jin was blessed with the System''s powers in reality.

    In an hour or so, they finally reached the top and surprisingly, there was a steel bench which made Jin shook his head in disbelief. The moment they sat down, the cold winds were not as harsh as before, and the sun was only partially blocked by the clouds. It made that beautiful view from the top even more pleasant.

    "Should I be aware that there is some meaning...erm metaphor or something attached to this mountaineering experience?" Jin asked as if there was some meaning to climb this mountain.

    "Oh, just rx for god sake. If everything isden with some hidden meaning, your life would always be miserable." Ming scoffed at Jin and told him to not overthink. "Come to think of it... let''s just say some proper grandfather to grandson bonding session?"

    "Heh, I rather you teach me something than do this. It''s so unlike you at all." Jin replied as he breathed in the cold winter air. It was slightly tingling down his throat but equally rejuvenating.

    "Hahaha~! That is quite true. But don''t you think it be fair for you to tell me the things you do? It is not fun trying to pry your memories or having that stupid foxing in and bragging how creative you were in developing that tree mall." Grandfather Ming took his goggles and gloves off as he blew some warm air from his mouth to warm his hands a little.

    "Oh yea, if you were with the System, it would probably have shown you everything. Well, can''t you just pry my memories? Especially since our inheritance is a nosy group of ''people'' and probably already knew about your existence." Jin said as he ced his hands near his mouth and shouted at the top of his voice.

    "I could, but what is the fun of that? Knowing the essential stuff is good enough. You are a dungeon maker, so naturally, you should be a storyteller too. You never know when you will write a biographical novel or maybe keep some good stories for your kids?" Ming suggested.

    "Hmm...let''s say I am still alive after having the System for a long while, do I have to share the System with kids in the future? Or be like you? Make them inherit it? I mean, did great grandfather did the same as you?" Jin got curious and asked.

    "Great Grandfather, huh? Actually, he died without knowing that he passed the System to me." Ming said. "He never knew he had the System with him. For some reason, the System did not activate, and I do not really know the answer. Perhaps ask System when you get back?" Grandpa cluelessly answered and it only made Jin pondered.

    "Alright, then can I ask. Are you truly a big shot general or some famous Demon Exorcists? Somehow, Hou Fei was quite regarded in his military field, but he downyed the way you and him fought previously. What was like the significant turning point for your military career? Oh and speaking of which, have you fought any monster horde before? There seem-"

    "Woah Woah! Stop right there, cowboy! You are shooting me with so many questions, I begin to think to have a chat with you is the wrong decision I made this time around!" Ming raised his hand and tried to take a pause.

    "But it looks like you deserve to know a little about me since I brought you this mess," Ming said as he pulled out a book and showed it to Jin.

    It was a diary.

    "This contains my life''s secrets. I give you 15 minutes to look through."

    "You are kidding me, right? 15 minutes? Judging by the additional notes and the thickness of this particr diary, I am basically swimming in the haystack to know what is going on with your life." Jinined as he casually flipped through.

    "Well take it or leave it." Ming tried to take the book back, but Jin held onto it, very reluctant to release it.

    "I will read it. It is better than nothing. But can you at least point to the pages where - Oh, what is this? Your first meeting with GrandmaбнYuan?" Jin said out loud and suddenly a cold frigid wind blow towards Jin which abruptly that page flew off into the wilderness below the mountains.

    "HEY, THAT IS UNFAIR!"

    "If you didn''t say it out loud, the wind probably would not have blown I guess?" Ming shrugged his shoulders with a smug smile.

    "Then I shall go find it! It looks like this is one juicy secret you are quickly averse in sharing." Jin said as he saw the page flew further down.

    "Cough. Don''t me me if you know, some beast appear or something." Ming said, and Jin stuck his tongue out as he ced hisrge backpack to the ground as if he was looking for something.

    "After all, this is my dream. I can do what I want." Jin said as he tried to imagine a snowboard out from his back.

    "You knew you are able to do that; you should have done it in the previous fight." Ming scoffed, but suddenly a snowboard slowly emerged out of the backpack. He was slightly surprised Jin managed to create a snowboard out.

    "I realised the moment I entered this ce. I cannot feel my qi, nor the flow of Mana but for some reason. I can vaguely sense Maqi for over this entire area which you initially restricted. It did not take long for me to try and manipte them." Jin said, and Ming smirked.

    "Guess Zeru did not teach you for nothing. I shall await that moment when you found out about my ''juicy'' secret." Ming replied while maintaining his sly smile as he shoo-ed Jin off and suddenly, the snow on the peak gave way immediately after his sentence.

    "GRANDPA I WILL REMEMBER THIS!!!" Jin shouted as he fell along with the snow.

 Chapter 596 From the Valleys

    <h4>Chapter 596 From the Valleys</h4>

    "Uwah~!" Jin woke up violently on the floor and realised he was not in that cultivation dream state that he was in. But instead of sludge pool which Jin should have been immersed in upon waking up, he found that the ck sludge was floating above him in a more condensed form like a cloud hovering at his ceiling.

    Jin quickly absorbed all that sludge into his storage ring and decided to not give up. There was obviously something Ming wished to hide actively from Jin, but at the same time, his grandfather seems to not be thrilled to let him take that particr information.

    "So much for being an open book! What lies! Anyways, it''s only 4am. I think I can force myself to sleep again." Jin said to himself as he went into a sitting stance which allowed him to mediate and subsequently absorbed himself into the cultivation dream state. True enough, the moment Jin opened his eyes, he returned exactly to the point he got violently awoken.

    In the middle of falling.

    "Snowboard, Snowboard!!" Jin looked around and noticed there was nothing but snow and ice all around him, and he believed he had less than thirty seconds before he made an impact onto the ground.

    Unlikest time in his dream state, Jin could feel that the Maqi in the surroundings was still unstable, maybe because he was forcefully entered into the dream state aspared to previously where he naturally fell asleep.

    "Ah, fuck it!" Jin said to himself as he tried to use his body inertia and whatever Maqi he could gather as the force to move himself closer to the mountain. The result was not pleasant, and he felt pain all over his left shoulder, but Jin attempted to hold onto anything he could grab.

    Unfortunately, it was all snow that Jin held onto, and the Astral Panda cultivator was still falling until he managed to grab onto a cliff. Yet, the pain he received was tremendous, but somehow Jin managed to tolerate it by gritting his teeth.

    Even with his bruised left shoulder, Jin forced himself to grab onto the cliff and had a proper footing while he looked downwards. There was still a much longer way to go, yet he did not dare to move much. Jin was afraid the small little ledge which he was holding onto might give way with the amount of force he exerted. Suddenly, he heard echoes within his brain rather than from the surroundings, and they were obviously from Ming.

    "You still alive? Should have taken my offer of leaving the dream state when I kicked you out. Now you possibly have to suffer just like how you fought with the White Tiger to get to that secret now." Ming chuckled within his thoughts before it came into an awkward silence. "But I am not that evil."

    A shimmering light was seen within the depths of the valley which the page had dropped, and Ming told Jin that was the only help he would render. Knowing his grandfather, diving straight towards the light would only bring unwarranted danger. It was either a major risk to take or waste his time going through the safe route.

    Obviously, Jin would take the former.

    But Jin was not that dumb either, he held onto the ledge for some time first, gathering whatever Maqi he could muster. After which, he took a deep breath and dive into the unknown.

    With no weapons, no armour and a limited amount of Maqi at his disposal, the Astral Panda cultivator steeled his nerves to brave the darkness.

    Unfortunately, the one who took pleasure in this scene as much as Kraft was Ming himself. Within the darkness, the shimmering light dissipated and two blue, glowing orbs emerged in the dark as Jin dived into the valley.

    Soon enough, a loud thundering roar echoed through the valley, and the two blue glowing orbs got nearer to Jin. Within a split second, Jin finally saw that those orbs were eyes.

    The eyes of a serpent.

    Only then Jin realised that there was no way to evade the attack in midair, considering the typical movements of the serpent and his experience fighting against Ke Mi''s Great White Snake. Even if he utilised his Green Panda Wind Energy, he would not be able to collect enough Maqi from the surrounding to do a counteroffensive.

    So, he decided to fight head on.

    With his fists slowly imbued with ck Panda Fire Energy, he raised his hands towards the snake like creature like how Superman would fly towards his enemies.

    However, it seemed like Jin had underestimated the serpent''s intelligence as it hesitated to attack upon seeing the me charged fists that Jin was wielding.

    Instead, the whole bottom of the valley glowed with a dull green light in a peculiar pattern and out flew a piece of hard shell that impacted with Jin. Even with his ck Panda Fire imbued fists, Jin could felt that there was no effect against the shell. The only one that was in pain was probably just himself.

    But that was not the end of the attack. The piece of hard porcin looking shell flew up so high that Jin had to hold onto the edge of the shell in order not to fall over. That was when he noticed the serpent attempted to attack him when Jin had his hands full.

    "Shell?!...Serpent? The ck Tortoise of the North?!" Jin thought to himself and an echoed sound of Mingughing hard.

    "Perhaps but even if you discern its identity, how are you going to defeat it?" Ming asked as the shell violently shook Jin sideways to make him fall. It seeded without much attempt, and another piece of the shell popped out to attack the Astral Panda Cultivator.

    "Not this time!" Jin gritted his teeth as he converted his ck Panda Fire Energy into Green Panda Wind Energy. Although the conversion potentially cost him half of his limited Maqi, Jin needed to at least survive the attack.

    "You could always restart, you know?" Ming replied, and Jin snarled back.

    "Yeah, and let you revive me to the exact same point which I began falling from the peak of a mountain? No, thanks!" Jin said as he was able to move out of the way at the nick of time. But that only bought him an extra second before the serpent strikes at him again.

    Perhapsбнit might be wise to revive and rewind.

 Chapter 597 Massive Backlogs

    <h4>Chapter 597 Massive Backlogs</h4>

    Instead of a rewind and revive, Jin was once again thrown back into reality as hey on his bed for a moment to rearrange his thoughts.

    "Grandpa must be thinking... Of all the things that you want to peer into my life, you got to see my rtionship between Grandma Yuan and me first." Jin thought to himself while smiling. If he could not get that information from him, there are always other sources from to get. Perhaps, they might give a glimpse of what their true rtionship was.

    On the other hand, the serpent attack reminded him that Ming was not lying about sending out the Cardinal Beasts against him. That was clearly the ck Tortoise of the North. Which stupid giant snake would be so dumb to live in a secluded, freezing area full of snow and still be active during winter?

    The hard shell attack was also the dead giveaway, and he believed only the ck Tortoise of the North was capable of doing that. The North Cardinal Beast fitted perfectly since the icy cold valley itself would prove to be an invulnerable spot for it to stay while using its ''tail'' to get resources. (When the tail was awake)

    Not to mention, it''s an extremely defendable spot given theck of mobility.

    Thus, Jin believed it would not be a wise choice to re enter his cultivation ''dream'' state again only to find himself falling hopelessly without any weapons or tactics against the ck Tortoise of the North. Regardless, the dream state was an enjoyable experience to apany his grandfather for a hike.

    Still, Jin knew he had to fight against the ck Tortoise all by himself in theing future and perhaps, that would give him a peek into the next grade of cultivation as well as Ming''s secret.

    "No matter. I have other things to do...though I am curious what had happened in the Grand Feast." Jin said to himself as he asked the System to rey the event through his phone.

    While lying on his bed, Jinughed hysterically at the game event as well as the big key moments during the gathering where the monsters tried to fight against Yun to a drinking battle.

    The game was fun inducing, and it was all because of Lynn''s choice of alcohol. Her sake was already potent enough for most to fall after a cup or two since Jin did try one for himself. True enough, almost everyone who participated in the petitive'' drinking contest, fell into a drunken state after the third cup. Even Zeru, with his overwhelming cultivation, could not stand against the sake.

    Lynn knew that her sake which was brewed within the Werejackals''partment was one of the most tedious procedures the workers had ever done, but the taste of the sake was tremendously sweet.

    It was one of the more traditional recipes which Lynn had unlocked from the Sub System. Considering most sake usually have a tinge of bitterness and dryness, the traditional ones were more luscious. Yet Milk and Nubwort, the Orc General, were the only few that was able to stand against Yun. They were at their fifth cup and Yun was still steadily standing andughing at the state the two other contestants were in.

    Nubwort was barely standing with his sheer will while Milk went into a more drunken state but still conscious because she had previous training of the drunken fist style while the ''fake'' priest had her training as a monk.

    "Just give up already," Yun said in the video, and when given the sixth cup, both copse almost simultaneously after drinking half of it. This concluded that Yun was the new drinking champion for this particr Grand Feast Event, and the organisers called it a day.

    For those who were still sober, they brought their colleagues back to their home instances in the Sanctum of Worlds to rest. Jin did tell them previously that the transition to their Home Ind Instances could be done within a few months if needed so they could rest easy for now. However, it would be better to move as soon as possible, so the System had more processing capacity for other things.

    And although the System preferred to evacuate them once and for all, it respected Jin''s wishes and gave them at most a month to move out (which it would eventually send a notice to everyone) even though the Dungeon Supplier said ''a few months''.

    ----------

    "User, hope you have a good rest as the list of agendas have grown tremendously." The System stated as it began to show the objectives shown in no presiding order.

    1. Creation of Cultivation Zoo Instance

    2. Establishment of Demon Exorcist Administrative and Training Centre Instance

    3. Joint Military and Police Raid Instance

    4. Procurement of Mechanical Titan Brain

    5. The liberation of the Minor Races in Giant World

    6. Completion for the Dungeon Fortress City and its defences

    7. Creation of a Mecha Rted Dungeon as a promise to Bu Dong

    8. Extension of the Christmas Raid as requested by customers

    9. Pr Phantom Gentlebear Secret Dungeon Instance

    10. Finalising the Portal Devices with Ke Loong

    "What the heck!? Since when did I have that many things to settle?" Jin swore to the System when he saw the list.

    "There are other things promised as well as like the goblin theme treats which User wished to promote Lynn''s store. However, given that the Tree Mall has a bakery, it would not be wise to create unnecessarypetition for your tenant." The System stated.

    "Wait... Did I - Wait No! Nevermind!" Jin said to the System when his phone was suddenly taken controlled by the System, and a past clip of the System''s Magic Eye reyed the scene which happened in Lynn''s office.

    "Argghh. So you really did document everything." Jin replied with some bitterness, and he can feel that the System ''nodded'' its head.

    "All had to be documented should there need to be the reproduction of evidence." The System stated which made Jin shook his head.

    "Then what do you advise me to do first?" The Dungeon Supplier asked as he looked at the long list. There were obviously some items on the checklist that needed to bepleted first before he could attempt them.

    "System suggest that User look into Item #8, the extension of Christmas Raid and prepare the shop instance for the New Year." The System stated.

    "A new theme? But there isn''t much going on for January. Unless you wish for me to prepare for the Chinese New Year in February." Jin understood that it was the norm for most shops to start the Chinese New Year festivities at the start of January.

    "Not just the new Theme, with the advent of the Tree Mall, the System noted a constant rise of customersing in. At least a 280% rise in customers was seen during the Christmas Raid event during the day and a 70% increase of customers in the night. It would be wise to change theyout of the shop instance to amodate more of the customers." The System suggested.

    "I see... Then perhaps I shall do that. Besides, I need to kill some time before I meet up with Que Er." Jin looked at his storage watch and also realised he needed to do something about the Living Armour Suit as well.

    "Remember to take your breakfast as well. Without proper meals, User might potentially fall ill." The System reminded.

    "Yes, mommmmm." Jin brushed the System away like a nagging parent and went to the washroom to prepare for the day.

 Chapter 598 Your Remarks

    <h4>Chapter 598 Your Remarks</h4>

    A new Shop Instance?

    Initially, Jin did not know what to do to increase the viewing capacity of the customers. What kind of view which was eptable that could provide both privacy and at the same time, the overall mood of the people watching it.

    Jin could have just killed the view screening idea and proceed to expand his shop instance to amodate customers, but that would destroy themunity that he had painstakingly grown in his shop.

    The chat forums had always been bustling with snippets of cutscenes from various random dungeon viewings, and people discussed how silly some were (and of course they would be taken down should the cultivator in cutscenes asked the ''moderator'' aka the System to do so.) Or how epic some cultivators had performed as well as the discussion of the dungeon walkthroughs.

    The casual viewing was the very essence of Jin''s shop instance.

    So Jin cracked his brains to think of it and perused the inte for ideas. Stadium? Nahhh, he already had a stadium instance. Besides, there is no privacy in it.

    Concert Hall? Nah. Even though it could potentially amodate people, that would be too cold and precise at the same time, wouldn''t it?

    A more substantial extension of the current cinema circle which the shop instance embodied? Not really very ideal and could get rather messy.

    These were the few times he had to crack his head hard since Jin could not possibly update his shop instances every time his customer base gotrger.

    He needed something as modr as the Gearbox system.

    A particr instance where he could merely plug and y whenever he liked and at the same time, insert new stuff whenever he wants without having to revamp the entire shop instance.

    Thus, he needed a solid core foundation for his new shop instance and subsequently allow this modr concept. Also, the gathering hall which he had utilised as a stop gap in the luxury recovery instance was bing full.

    As he allowed the System to take over the operations after setting up the necessary amenities, the System had instantly showcased the various ws that Jin had created in the gathering hall. Things likeck of visual cues to show the way, shortage of storage lockers, insufficient seating space for people to wait etc.

    Jin could only remedy certain things with a band aid like adding more furniture and increase the number of Panda NPCs to aid the customers, but it did not solve the inherent problem.

    While it was clearly a more convenient and better way to gather people, there should be better ways for people to wait for their turns and have better dungeon y experience.

    That was also why Jin created the squads'' feature. Initially, it was to facilitate faster gamey, although it might inadvertently promote solidarity or erode themunity he grew. Thus, the dungeon supplier had to ensure that there had to be a bnce involved.

    Too superior and the squad NPCs might potentially rece group y altogether. Too weak and they would be discarded as a cosmetic feature, not to be utilised unless deemed necessary.

    Only when Jin felt like he was giving up with remaking the ce, the Magpie Queen came in just in time to interrupt him. He then looked at the timing and realised that she was slightly early.

    "Did the Feast went well?" Jin asked, even though he already knew the answer to it. The question was more of a conversation starter for him since he rarely spoke to her.

    "It was brilliant, thank you for the surprise feast. I suppose you might be doing this in the future as well?" Que Er asked as she was in modern clothes, a fashion trend more towards office fashion. Orange short blouse with long waist pantsplimented her long silky ck hair and the touch of makeup nearly made her almost indistinguishable against other humans living in Jin''s world.

    "Probably more of a joint effort from a number of monsters in the future. This was way more tiring than I expected it to be." Jin blurted the truth, and Que Er nodded with a smile.

    "What do you need of me, Sir? You seem rather serious when you send a passingment to me during the feast." Que Er did not wish to waste much more of her master''s time as she saw him fixated with the consoles in front of him.

    "Remember how I said that you should not side evolve at Yu Xiang''s Chinese medicinal store? Your face seems more than just disappointed, and it made me think about what I had said to you." Jin asked Que Er which thetter vehemently shook her head.

    "No, it''s fine. It is fine, really!" Que Er anxiously replied, rejecting all the possible goodwill by her master until Jin took a card out from his storage watch. It was simr to when he used the evolution upgrade card for his goblins.

    "Hold this. Whenever you feel you are ready to use it. Use it." Jin said as he ced it right in front of her. "I do not know your legend, your history, but I know you are an immortal, a Queen to all your birds, be it magical or real." Jin ced the card onto her hands even though she was trembling with the intention to return the card.

    "I might be your master but I shouldn''t bound your potential just because of the pact you made with the System. You became part of the System for a reason that is unknown to me, and I realised someбн discretion should be given to you."

    Que Er leaned back on the chair and stared at the card for a moment. It was true that she had been working hard for reasons unknown to Jin and yet when she held on the side evolution card, she gazed at it as if it was insulting her in some way.

    "Your remarks back then were to be ''useful''. I thought about it long and hard. Were my services not sufficient? I had provided themunicationwork not just for the resistances in the Farming World but also the Goblin War. Were my birds not helpful enough? What do you exactly mean by useful?" Que Er said while her face was still directed towards the card.

    "бнI was-" Jin was interrupted when he realised that Que Er was not done talking.

    "It was then that I began to understand that you did not mean just the practical uses of my abilities but possibly the initiatives I should take." Que Er said as she looked at Jin with a determined face.

    "SoбнI actually went on a journey myself with the permission of the System." Que Er reply was resolute, and with a whistle, tworge ravens flew out of her, and eachnded on the side of her shoulders.

    On closer inspection, those ravens seem to have a fake eye on the side they stood on. The crow on the left lost his left while vice versa for the bird on the right. Their feathers were not exactly entirely ck as well, and there were shades of translucent blue and purple.

    To Jin''s knowledge, there were only two ravens that were infamous enough that he believed even the Queen of Magpies would attempt to recruit. Even if he did not fully know the lore behind it, Jin was able to warrant a guess for the names of those two ravens Que Er had on her shoulders.

    Huginn and Muninn.

 Chapter 599 An Alternate Perspective

    <h4>Chapter 599 An Alternate Perspective</h4>

    "You got those from Odinбн?" Jin asked and assumed those two birds were the pets of the legendary Norse God King.

    "He actually owed me something back in the days when we were still students." Que Er said as sheughed and recollected past memory on it. "I merely went to him for some coteral interest."

    "More than just coteral. We are now the property of Que Er, the Queen of Magpies." Muninn said with the one with the fake eye in the right.

    "We are not the property of that fake bird queen! We are only here for show!" Huginn on the left rebutted, and the ravens began to fight against each other above Que Er''s head.

    "Oei." Que Er looked up with an annoyed look which they quickly simmered down andnded quietly on her shoulders once more.

    "Soбнdoes that mean that you can control ravens now?" Jin asked, and the Magpie Queen nodded her head, indicating that she managed to achieve her own version of side evolution without the need of Jin''s help.

    "Now I can summon both ravens and crows out the same way I summon my magpies. Mu made it possible. Besides, those pretty little ckies and magpies are of the same ss of birds ording to your world''s science books. But the interesting part is that the birds are ermбнmore offensive in nature." Que Er exined that while Muninn could allow her to summon the birds, it was Huginn that brought alive the innatetent powers of Que Er.

    "They made very good fireworks, in my opinion, though Peppers would beg to differ." Que Er said as she sped her hand together and a crow emerged in front of her palm. It was like a nifty little magic trick by her as Que Er shadily pulled two more crows underneath the wings of the first crow, creating a total of three.

    She then asked the System to provide a dummy target for a little performance. A section of the dungeon maker room expanded specifically for the appearance of the dummy sandbag target. All the Magpie Queen needed was to point at the specific dummy and the crows moved silently towards it.

    When they were just a metre away, it exploded with a force that scattered their blood, bones and feathers all around the dummy target. Jin was shocked as it thought it would be just a normal magical explosion but not an implosion from within the bird itself.

    The System then pulled the dummy target towards Jin and saw that the feathers were of a piercing nature and blood of the crow corroded the outeryer of the sandbag.

    "A blood explosion. Usually utilised by Blood Mages from the olden days andter banned due to its extremely lethal potency against humans as well as the rted matter of human sacrifices." The System stated that the feathers were strong enough to pierce through sheet metal, making it very useful against enemies like the Demon Rats who do not have advanced armour like Jin''s world.

    "But I can only do this to my birds." Que Er said, and suddenly a slow p was from the corner of the Dungeon Maker.

    "Amazing. Bloody amazing." Kraft said as he looked astonished by the blood explosion of the magical crow. "Boss, imagine strapping C4 explosives to them. You have your very own miniature kamikaze air force at your disposal."

    "What you do you actually mean?" Jin said and Kraft merely said two words.

    Mecha World.

    Suddenly, it clicked onto Jin. The dungeon supplier had been thinking about the various methods of invasion against the Mecha World, and he thought that building his own Mechas were the only viable way.

    He had been thinking it all wrong for the past few weeks.

    When he remembered what they say about being the bad guys, they did not necessarily mean to be the ultimate enemy against the two factions. Instead, Kraft seemed to be pointing the direction of wanting Jin to be an annoyance, the irritating thorn in their flesh.

    Simr to how poorly budgeted resistances and perhaps even how terrorist organisation operated, they did not use shy mechas or top grade materials to stifle the war against their adversaries.

    Instead, they used creativity to undermine their heavily armoured opponents and to achieve their objective. That was exactly what Jin had, and besides, he was not looking to be a messiah or the conqueror of their world. He just wanted the Titan Mechanical Brain.

    Furthermore, he had the upper hand with him.

    All the weird monsters at his disposal would be a definite surprise for the inhabitants in the Mecha World which the System stated that there were no sightings of such beings in their world.

    Thus. all Jin had to do, could solely be a grab and run kind of mission where he does either maximum damage or chaos to the ce by distracting the guards for the main objective and steal the item.

    He believed that the press release would probably be contained, and with odd monsters attacking, it was less likely to pinpoint that to the other military faction. In fact, Jin could conduct a simr raid attack against the Xeon Union and both factions would believe that it was an external intervention by some extremist groups.

    When Jin proposed the concept to the System, it had analysed that it would not immediately escte tensions as to picking a side and fighting against the United Federation at all. That was when the dungeon supplier looked at Que Er with renewed direction.

    "I think I know what you are thinking about. I see what I can do in terms of information gathering." Que Er winked at Jin and immediately asked the System for the permission to transport her birds into military bases etc.

    The System acknowledged and opened various portals up for her to send the birds. They were based on Amura Rei''s prior knowledge on certain military school bases he had enrolled in to teach the students. It was not much, but it was still a start for the birds to gather information gathering.

    Even if the crows and ravens were not a native species of the world, which the System nor Que Er had prior understanding of, they could still hide and take information in without the need for food or sleep. (since they were magical in nature).

    Thus, it made them the perfect spies in an urban environment.

    And before she left the dungeon maker, she returned the side evolution card to Jin which he guessed it was overall an unnecessary move by him.

    Nheless, Que Er did appreciate the thought, just that she did not show it out publicly.

 Chapter 600 Kicked Ou

    <h4>Chapter 600 Kicked Ou</h4>

    After the conversation with Que Er, Jin returned to the shop instance where he met up with Yun when she conveniently gave him a te of curry rice to eat.

    "Eat up, I know you haven''t had anything since you woke up," Yun said as she ced the food on the table.

    "Thank you, Yun. This feels surprisingly homely despite the crowd around." Jin said as he partook on the curry rice. While Lynn had changed and improved the curry rice recipe, Jin somehow felt nostalgic when he ate the System''s original taste.

    Jin could have eaten at home or in Lynn''s restaurant instance in a private setting, yet he felt a need to eat at the bar for needed extra inspiration on recreating the shop instance. He believed that by using this opportunity to sit at the bar, it could instil him with the perception of the customer and to experience what the customers might potentially have in mind.

    Yet, he did not go full incognito. Customers who recognised him greeted him when possible while the others merely mumbled from a distance and announced to their friends that was the ''legendary'' dungeon supplier who had defeated the Triad Rat Boss in one stroke.

    Although Jin had a keen sense of hearing, he could also tune it down with the use of his Maqi. So, the rumours did not bother him at all. Moreover, the boss got to show up in the shop instance once in a while, right?

    And upon finishing his meal, he decided to extend the Christmas Raid Event for an additional week upon seeing the pleads and requests from his customers via his phone.

    The amount of profit he received from the stunt he pulled off was tremendous, and the System predicted that the profit was even sufficient to cover the cost of the Grand Feast. However, it noted that it came with consequences which led to the System suggesting to its User to revamp the shop instance.

    Jin had also felt the ''crowd'' even though the Tree Mall was still rtively new and customers were pouring in to see the new building, which was trending in the news and social media.

    "Ahh... too bad I was way too busy creating the Tree Mall and not create any Christmas events to take advantage of the holiday," Jin said to Yun who was cleaning the tes.

    "Not exactly, you have been cooped up in the Dungeon Maker for a long time to prepare the Grand Feast, so you never knew what was happening all around the Tree Mall. You barred the System from letting information out, and hence I decided to not let information in too. Especially when you are focusing on your work. " Yun responded.

    "Most of your tenants are experienced store keepers. They knew what to do and continue what they had been doing for years. Even without you, Shen Si Fang had already organised a mini Christmas event to attract even more people to our humble Tree Mall." Yun added.

    "Odd for you to say the Tree Mall to be ''humbling'' in front of me. It''s supposed to be eye catching." Jin rebutted, and Yun shook her head.

    "You could have gone for some grand scale architecture to blow people''s mind, but instead, you went for a tree. It''s like you are defying the reputation of Shenzhen city of being a highly modern society. That itself is sort of humbling."

    "...Erm okay? Thanks?" Jin replied slowly, not knowing how to respond to a praise by Yun and while he prodded Yun for more information, she suggested him to go for a walk around the Tree Mall.

    "Perhaps, a walk will help you trigger something and hopefully an idea. Just like how your perspective changed for the Mecha World Invasion when you met up with Que Er." Yun stated as she shoo-ed Jin off.

    When the dungeon supplier got kicked out of the shop instance by Yun. Jin reluctantly looked around the ce. To his surprise, the current rooftop garden on his Tree Mall was decorated with Christmas decorations and even had reindeer stic statues along with the Panda stone Statues. The Pandas also had those Santa hats on them!

    Only through the System''s exnation, Jin then found out that Si Fang had gotten themittee to decorate not just the Rooftop Garden but the entirety of the Tree Mall''s interior. When the dungeon supplier went to the lower floors, there were modest Christmas decorations all over window railings.

    But what surprised Jin was that a Santa Hat was ced on the Panda Tian Gong Statue at the centre of the mall. Jinughed at the absurdity of it when he realised that it was the System''s doing roughly about a day before Christmas Eve.

    "I totally did not expect you to do this," Jin said, and he could visualise System giving a smirk smile while it reasoned that it had to do Jin''s portion of redecorating. It was repayment of favour for Jin to secretly preparing the Grand Feast Christmas celebrations for the monsters.

    While Jin was walking around the mall, he happened to check on the past week reports. ording to the statistics, an increasing number of people areing to the Tree Mall for lunch and dinner. It also inadvertently increased the sales of Lynn''s Restaurant Instance, particrly when the lunch crowd wanted something more exquisite.

    Lynn did not heavily advertise her instance, but it was through the word of mouth that people knew the existence of her shop instance. So those who could afford Lynn''s food would not hesitate to climb to the Garden rooftop for those extremely appetising meals.

    At the same time, there were feedbacks from his store owners that the customers asked if the Tree Mall would be willing to have a dedicated private bus route service to charter them from the business centre district (which were a few stops away via the subway).

    Jin did consider it, but he needed to get buses or vans plus also the need to hire people with licenses. Fortunately, the System indicated that manpower was not an issue since the System can use the Farming Humans from the Pandafull service to operate the buses. Jin then remembered that licenses should not be an issue too since he had his...printed without going through an examination.

    "I will consider that option maybe in the new year," Jin said as he continued his tour around the Tree Mall, towards Si Fang''s cafиж. (Ironically, some of the customers who did not know his identity thought he was cutting the queue.)

    "Si Fang, thank you for decorating the ce. I was kind of busy preparing my ehhhhh... Dungeon instances." The Tree Mall Landlord said as Si Fang had his smile ced from one cheek to the other.

    "Boss Jin! Wee to my store. Hold on for a while as I exin to my customers for a moment." Si Fang purposely went out of the shop instances and exin to his customers before returning to chat with Jin. He tried to apologise for cutting queue, and Si Fang rejected the apology. It was after all his right as thendlord.

    "And no! I should thank you instead! Thank you for restoring the ce and bring even further business to us! Not to mention, having this kind of cafиж is really a dreame true for me." Si Fang said as he offered Jin a seat behind the coffee counter. (Since the cafиж was fully booked that there were no ces for SI Fang to have a proper chat with Jin.)

    "What new instance have you created this time round?" Si Fang casually asked as he brewed a cup of tea for Jin to drink while he asked his other staff to look after the cafe business for the moment.

    "I am undertaking a massive project. Something that could possibly change the dungeon instance industry. Hahaha!" Jinughed and as Si Fang who was giggling along suddenly took his phone out.

    "Speaking about changing of the industry, I am sure you heard about the National Dungeon Symposium? I recently read some news that it is going to be host in Shenzhen next year!" Si Fang said as he showed an email to his friend.

    Jin naturally knew about the National Dungeon Symposium, but he never had the chance to enter as part of the crowd because the tickets were sold out really fast. (Besides, they were rather expensive for a student back then.) "Yeah. Perhaps, I might buy the tickets this time around." Jin said to Si Fang, and the Cafиж Boss almost choked.

    "Buy tickets?! No! I did not mean that. What about participating in it?" Si Fang asked with his eyes glittering with curiosity.

 Chapter 601 Refusing To Participate

    <h4>Chapter 601 Refusing To Participate</h4>

    Of all a sudden, Jin felt his sweat slowly wetting the back of his shirt. Participating in the National Dungeon Symposium? That would basically be an open invitation to have his secrets possibly exposed.

    For not being a proper dungeon supplier.

    At the moment, he could get away with it mainly because Jin was able to divert such questions to the quintessential excuse of ''trade secrets''. However, if he were to join the National Dungeon Symposium, authentic high grade dungeon suppliers would have genuine questions for him.

    Even Ke Loong had his suspicions and assumed that Jin was using technology more advanced than the current prototypes. But Mr Know-it-All told him to trust Jin fully and work with him instead of doubting him.

    This ''blind'' trust was not without any support. Ke Loong''s Chief Engineer, Bo Ze had sent numerous workers under disguise to try out Jin''s dungeons, so they all could fathom and theorise how Jin''s shop. Unfortunately for them, they came out even more baffled and had only worked out assumptions on how Jin''s instances work to a certain extent.

    There were numerous missing holes in their theory which Bo Ze''s talented senior engineers could not figure out, but that did not mean that they were not secretly attempting to decipher it. Because in the end, they were hopeful they were able to reverse engineer what they had experience in Jin''s dungeon. All of it was to possibly rival Jin in the future despite Ke Loong insistence saying that they want to be partners.

    Ke Loong did want to be partners all for one reason.

    Upon seeing such Dungeon Technology, he wanted to own this by himself. That was why Sea Mesh CEO ordered his HR to mercilessly headhunt Jin''s researchers. If he could get the technological knowledge from Jin''s researchers, they would further push the research they had been doing. Sadly, they had a hard time finding them, and even their online database had no information on them. (Mainly because they do not exist in this world in the first ce! Teehee!)

    Also, why let that particr dungeon technology stay in one corner of Shenzhen? Let Ke Loong handle it, and he would spread it to each and every intersection of China and probably the whole world! Up till then, Sea Mesh Company would be famous world wide and not to mention the profit!

    That was also why Ke Loong appeared very trusting and amodating to Jin for the Portal Devices. He wanted to do everything to earn Jin''s trust, and even he could not get the Dungeon Technology, this particr Portal Device technology would soar throughout the world given its use and efficiency.

    However, Jin was not a small little town bumpkin.

    He knew that Ke Loong had ns to poach people like Ayse and had been wary. So by cing the portal devices in dungeon instances and monsters, it was not only to improve the security but to show the dungeon supplier''s dominance.

    This particr move made Ke Loong wary whether if Jin was starting to learn to be street smart or it had been that way all along, and merely pretended to be taken advantage of.

    At the same time, Kraft had suggested to Jin''s Head Researcher to take further initiative to aid her master. With the sess of getting information on Ryuli, Kraft had passed Ayse a thumb drive with another version of Foxy. Just plug the thumb drive once into any of their PCs orptops and Ms Foxy will worm its way into their servers with absolute stealth.

    "Two can y the game," Kraft said to Jin after the revtion of Mr Know It All as a potential spy. A spy for corporate businesses, for the government or foreign governments? Kraft did not bother that much, but for Mr Know-it-all to introduce an intimate business contact of his to Jin, Kraft would not be taking any chances in counter industry espionage.

    With all these events happening at the sidelines, Jin knew that participating in the Symposium might potentially bring him more harm than good. He had enough problems to deal with both in this world and other worlds so he rather not risk himself exposing too much at the moment until he had time and energy to focus on his main business at hand.

    "I will consider but most likely not going for the Symposium as a participant. More of an audience. I will prefer to see how thepetition is like before entering. Maybe the year after?" Jin said to Si Fang politely.

    "Ah, that''s a pity. I was hoping you could rise even higher, especially when your dungeon instances are always the talk around the cafиж. Even without me going to your shop, I already know that you have an awesome Christmas Raid going on." Si Fang teased how great Jin''s dungeons were.

    "Perhaps, you and the other shop keepers coulde and try it out. I can give you guys a free trial for the first round as a thank you for sticking through. Hahaha!" Jin said, and Si Fang did not dislike the idea.

    "Yeah, we could do that. By the way, are you avable for supper tonight? We usually have a get together at Boxing Day as part of the Tian Gong Shopping District shoppingmunity." Si Fang asked, causing Jin to look at his phone.

    "If...I am not too upied with my dungeon making. Hahah! I will inform Lynn in case I could not be there." Jin replied unfavourable, making Si Fang a little disappointed as he wanted to JIn to participate in this special supper as a thank you for what he had done for the Tiangong shopping district.

    Jin could have abandoned the old store owners, he could have ignored the livelihood of the people in this ce. Instead, he stood up against the bullies in this unfair society and carved a breathing space not just for himself but for the rest of the owners here.

    Si Fang had always thought that the owners were being too irresponsible for demanding much from the newndlord. Jin did not need to amodate to the old store owners at all, but he still did it despite the fact that not many owners liked him initially when he came.

    Even when their business picked up indirectly from Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas, many store owners were jealous of his efforts. That was why Si Fang saw Jin more than a thriving business owner when he saw how unselfish the dungeon supplier cared to open up jobs for the rest to grow as well. If Si Fang were deep down honest to himself in that Ruby Rat Triad incident, he would probably save his friends and ignore the rest of the group store owners.

    Some might say that Jin was na?ve, but when Siu Fang and his friends gathered for some casual small talk, they discussed how the dungeon supplier had the foresight to keep the old store owners. One was to prevent former store owners to inciting possible vengeance, assuming that it was Jin''s n to use the Triads to push the previous owners out of the ce.

    The other reason was to create a debt of gratitude and at the same time a sort of repayment for the destruction of Tiangong Shopping District. Yet, Si Fang and friends clearly knew that the Triad had been aiming for this particr spot to create a casino in order to attract more cash into their coffers.

    However, the act of killing a Triad Boss had caused Jin to have unintended consequences as well. The news spread like a riptide through the underworld scenes, and a number of Triad Bosses close to Wo De Tian were seemingly unhappy that Jin was to be left untouched. And that was the absolute order by Mu Bing, the Triad Boss for the Prosperous Pigs as well as one of the elders in the Triad Circles.

    Because of this effect, Jin noticed that there were multiple requests of store owners without any branded names wanting to ce a mark into the Tree Mall to cash in with the poprity. (The famous shopping brands were intentionally avoiding the Tree Mall as an order by their respective Triads.)

    For now, Jin decided to y as the ignorant to the multiple requests until he finds what he needs within the candidates for his Mall. (After all, there is only ''limited'' amount of space he could give out.)

    Upon seeing Si Fang''s disappointed look, Jin sighed softly as he knew that he did somewhat owe SI Fang for the favour of him decorating the Tree Mall for Christmas.

    "Alright, I promise that I will join for a while since I also like to hear everyone''s thoughts and feelings after working for a few weeks in the Tree Mall." Jin said with a crumpled smile. Si Fang knew that Jin was trying to be amodating and thus the cafиж owner tapped on Jin''s shoulder and thanked him for making time.

 Chapter 602 Boxing Day Supper

    <h4>Chapter 602 Boxing Day Supper</h4>

    The supper gathering was after working hours at Si Fang''s Cafиж instance which all of the Tree Mall''s store owners arrived, carrying their very own boxes of surprises into his cafиж. Jin was neither the exception as he came with a box of food along with Yun, Lynn and Qiu Yue who were free enough to make it for the Boxing Day Supper.

    In the meantime, the store was handled by Another Jin in a Panda Santa Suit especially since Jin could split himself into two safely and within the premise of his Tree Mall. The rest of the customers were not too suspicious and only assumed that the Panda Santa Suit was either Jin''s employees or he himself.

    "Jin! d you manage to make it! I heard from Si Fang that you are too shy to appear right in front of us for making us pay for premium prices on the ingredients you sold to us!" Lai Fu, the owner for Offshore Sea Store Instance, eximed loudly and the food court owners were agreeing him wholeheartedly.

    "Lai Fu! You know I do not say this kind of things!" Si Fang said in a mild tempered tone which Lai Fu shook it off very quickly. He then reached for his box and took out beers and soft drinks for everyone to drink.

    Meanwhile, Si Fang and Qian Qian, owner of Reef Knolls Bakery Instance, were behind the coffee counter preparing desserts for everyone to eat while the Pyramid Food Court store owners brought piping hot leftovers from their store for everyone to enjoy.

    Most of them knew that they were having a supper gathering and thus ate only the minimum for dinner. Even Ke Ru, manager for the Panda Burger instance had brought some of her store''s specialities to share the love as well as limited Santa Panda keychains for everyone to keep as a memento.

    The Twins for the Weapon and Armoury Store, Bai Xin and Bai Wan had prepared a stack of limited edition of Jin''s Christmas Raid Dungeon shirts for everyone. Lai Fu even joked, asking if they had permission from Jin to spread those around.

    "They do not need my permission for every small thing. As long as they produce profit for me, I am fine with what they do with the store." Jin said, and Ke Ruughed heartily.

    "As pragmatic as ever and yet, behind that fa?ade of capitalism lied a hiddenyer of kindness." She said so profoundly Jin tried to refuse that praise hard. At that moment, Si Fang came in with tes of delicious looking desserts ranging from cookies to pastries.

    "I must echo my agreement with Ke Ru. If not for Jin, we would not have gathered together today in happiness and delight." Si Fang said, and Qian Qian nodded her head as she asked everyone to partake on the desserts.

    Lynn took a piece and crunched hard on the cookie. Immediately, she could understand the meaning of the Chinese proverb that there''s always a mountain taller than another mountain.

    "How did you manage to get the taste of ''this'' cheese to appear?" Lynn asked which surpised Qian Qian as she did not expect someone to know about the ''secret'' ingredient she used to enhance the taste of the cookie.

    "For you to sense that cheese must mean that you have some professional chef training." Qian Qian said, and Lynn nodded her head without reservation. Even though store owners knew about the dungeon chef, they always thought it was an exaggeration. Yet, Qian Qian instantly respected her for finding the taste of the cheese which she hid carefully in the myriad of sweetness within her cookies.

    Not only that, by being the Sub System User that specialised in cooking, Lynn''s cultivation had the ability to both enhanced and dull her sense of taste at the same time. It was to allow her to adjust the taste in her food not just for the regr customers but professionals too.

    Lynn knew she does not possess the Heavenly Chef Tongue which she could criticise every work out there by merely tasting it, but it was sufficient to point out the ring mistakes she or her penguins made.

    Additionally, the ability to dull her taste proved to be useful too. That was because this was the w of any chef who possessed the Heavenly Chef Tongue. Even a near wless cooked dish would spoil the chef''s appetite mainly because it''s not perfect.

    From there on, Qian Qian and Lynn began talking to each other along with some Food Court owners who want to learn a tip or two from the infamous Dungeon Chef.

    Meantime, He Rong and Yong De took out photo chips they bought from Lai Fu stores and that alone was enough to satisfy their insensitive ptes. With their hands full of chips and nothing else, Jin decided to move towards them to discuss certain issues which he had requested the arcade owners to keep an eye on.

    It was mainly about the mini games and if Yong De and He Rong had any personal feedback upon trying the games. Yong De said that the card game was simple enough, but it was notplex to master, and thus he did not think it would attract too many hardcore gamers.

    "Its more for casual yers since its a bit too gimmicky in nature. It will be hard to attract more people in the long run. If you can make the gamey something simr to games like Gwennt, Heatstone or maybe the Shadeverse, there might be more yers would be interested." Yong De suggested.

    "If we go with that kind of thinking, I believed Boss Jin''s subsequent concern would be that the game might be unoriginal. But Yong De is right. With just one pet, it limited the things one can do. And if it is turn based, it is even more boring for the younger generation. Maybe I don''t know, make it more active?" He Rong suggested.

    "Perhaps have two modes? One turn based and the other active action to aodate the young and old?" Jin asked which the arcade owners nodded their heads to that direction.

    "Still, I think only having one pet kinda sucksбнif you get what I mean. I have no variety in my options other than the battle cards that I have in my deck. And you had already close my options because I used that cultivation. What if I do not like my cultivation and only use my cultivation because I HAD to." Yong De ranted.

    "Sure, co op y will spice things up, but I''m like ''I want to try that Tiger Mini Pet too!'' that kind of feeling in my heart. Or maybe, I feel that Tiger ystyle suits me more than my current cultivation. Its a good head start to use their cultivation style as the first pet, but having additional pets will ultimately give you more profit too." Yong De spoke as he was obviously thinking of the Triad Tigers that had beaten him in the recent card battles.

    "I see, I get what you mean. Your suggestions were indeed valuable." Jin nodded as he took a stylus out and wrote his notes down on his phone. If anything, these suggestions could potentially the expansion of the core game that he needed.

 Chapter 603 Secrets Veiled in Plain Sigh

    <h4>Chapter 603 Secrets Veiled in in Sigh</h4>

    While Lynn and Jin were busy discussing during the gathering by Si Fang, Qiu Yue and Yun sat down in a corner and enjoyed the mountains of good food in peace. Yun did not like to interact much mainly because she did not have much interest with other store owners.

    She only came because Jin asked her to take a break from all the work she had been doing for him. Jin also hoped she will interact with the other store owners, but somehow after the revtion of the System''s true identity, Yun had been rather ''docile''. It became even more apparent when Grandma Yuan revealed herself to Jin.

    While she stillmunicates between the customers, the System and Jin''s workers, the System-created ''rtive'' had always been putting up a preupied face. It was as if she was thinking non stop about a certain issue and when Jin prodded about it, all he got was a defiant silence.

    "Why do you even bother to care? Don''t you have other things to do?" That was her standard answer for now. Although Lynn and Zeru had more luck in making her exude other emotions other than a stoic facial expression, they had no luck in getting her to exin. Thus, Jin could only hope one day she would open up.

    On the other hand for Qiu Yue, she got kind of bored sitting with the quiet Yun, so she subsequently interrupted Man Tang, the Karaoke Boss for the Meow Meow Karaoke Instance who was also in one corner of the cafe tower instance.

    There was nothing much but pleasantries at first until Qiu Yue asked about Man Tang''s expansion ns. At first, Qiu Yue did not know anything about the shady things that Man Tang did, but thetter assumed that Boss Jin used the Red Panda Cultivator as hisckey to learn more about her current predicament.

    Thus, when Man Tang talked more about the reduction of the shady deals she had been conducting, Qiu Yue was slightly taken aback and surprised. Yet, the Empire Building Sub System User did not raise an eyebrow and even managed to reply back as the Sub System conveniently filled her with the information needed to continue on with the conversation.

    "...That is why I might think of expanding doing more than just karaoke, seeing this might be the chance to break out of the circle. Yourndlord is not charging much from rent other than maintenance and a meagre cut from my sales. That inadvertently increased my profit margin by a lot. If he maintained this but introduce other entertainment-orientedpetitiors, I might have to think of things to increase mypetitiveness instead of just karaoke." Man Tang said.

    "But youck the ideas on how to expand?" Qiu Yue asked, and Man Tang was in a slight dilemma whether to say it out.

    "Since I am already in the karaoke business and with some of the triad members as regr customers, I was thinking of opening up a billiard instance, and at least separate the Triads and other normal customers away from them." Man Tang suggested a few other venues of profitable entertainment which Qiu Yue felt it was feasible.

    "That could work. It does not take much to make an instance like that from Jin if I am not mistaken, but surely that would not drastically increase your revenue, right? Instead, you might potentially be losing more at the start."

    "Erm yeah, but I do not know what else can I do. Besides, the Tiger Triads are holding this ce secretly as their new turf, I might not be able to do muchpared tost time." Man Tang shrugged her shoulders, thinking that the tigers will bring this ''triad neutral ground'' setting to an end.

    "I thought the Tigers were just giving protection and using the arcade to you know, ''wash'' their money with that game which Jin had created. They aren''t exactly taking this ce for their own yet." Qiu Yue believed Jin would not give the Tigers reigned the site if they really asked for it despite the help he got from them.

    "Exactly. I do not know whether Jin would be liaising with the Tigers in the future, considering the things that I heard from the other Triad members." Man Tang added that she knew Jin was now an honorary member of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n.

    "There are many factors could happen, and it isn''t like the days past where it is an ambiguous area for the various Triad members to mingle even though it is usually just the same with people." Man Tang exined, and it got Qiu Yue slightly curious about the workings of the underworld. It seemed like this current society had even more of its secrets veiled in in sight.

    "Still, I do not think Jin would want to be under the protection of the Tigers forever. He is more ambitious than what you think of him. That I can guarantee you." What Qiu Yue said suddenly struck an entertaining thought for Man Tang.

    "Jin wants to create his own Triad?" Man Tang chuckled when she proposed that particr idea out which made Qiu Yue widened her eyes andughed along.

    "He CAN do that??" Qiu Yue questioned which Man Tang shrugged her shoulders but as a gesture of jest than an inability to answer.

    "I saw a number of teenagers who create their very own gangs andter subverted into arger group due to them encroaching on their territory. Eventually, thoserger groups were subgroups of a Triad. As for now, this ce is still a ''free area'' if what you are saying is true, so the other Triads had no right to fault him if he ever creates something like that." Man Tang said as she chewed on a few snacks.

    "That is assuming that the tigers continued to protect this ce unofficially." Qiu Yue replied which the Karaoke Boss nodded her head.

    "Yeap and Jin can grow his own ''security force'' regardless of size since this is his ce after all." Man Tang stated bluntly which got Qiu Yue thinking. "However, that is assuming he has the money and clout to do so. Currently, I believe he only has thetter."

    "Because he killed the Rat Triad Boss? But I thought this piece of news was not shown in any headlines nor social media." Qiu Yue questioned as her body slowly gravitating towards Man Tang''s direction, showing more interest in this particr topic.

    "This is because you are looking at the wrong end of the social media. To those in the Triads, its big news. There are even Triad Bosses who are angry about the death of the Ruby Rat Boss although it seems to me there is a gag order going around. Not sure how, but it seems somebody had the influence to let Jin live some way or another." Man Tang added that she was initially wary of Jin''s ns of the Tree Mall because she knew how the Chinese Triads worked.

    She could have taken her insurance money from the destruction of her stall and run away. But when Jin called for everyone and announced that he wanted to help the previous tenants, she hesitated in calling him out a fraud.

    But the moment she saw him in person, she somehow saw a glimmer of hope that everything could actually be okay. Man Tang did not know why or how, but he seem to be as promising as how Si Fang had depicted him.

    Perhaps it was because of the stunt Jin pulled to create a gigantic tree had indicated that he might have friends that could potentially stop the revenge cycle in the Triads. Also, that unwavering stance when Man Tang saw Jin spoke with ambition made her feel slightlyforted.

    Thus, she decided to gamble and worked with Jin with this Tree Mall project of his. In any case, she had umted enough ''ck'' money to run away if there was a need to.

    Now with the current discussion between Qiu Yue and her as well as the additional information she learnt about her newndlord, she seemed slightly more confident about staying on.

    "I see. But I am just wondering, and it might potentially be a tall order. Do you wish to aid me with recruiting members for Jin''s potential Triad group?" Qiu Yue casually asked, and it nearly made Man Tang throw her drink out.

 Chapter 604 Haggard Researcher

    <h4>Chapter 604 Haggard Researcher</h4>

    "You what?"

    "Exactly what I said. Well, a bit less underworld but more of secretive in nature. I was thinking if we could keep this as a secret from Jin. A shadow task force in case Jin ever needs help if you get what I mean. In return, I can aid you in getting a bigger instance to you know...gather people and such." Qiu Yue began to whisper her intentions to her.

    "But I do not think you will want mereckeys, right? I mean there is surely some of your cultivators who are so loyal to you that they could potentially aid whenever possible." Man Tang asked.

    "While I do agree with you, it will be better to have a force that could be used at any time possible. And yes, I do not want just worthlessckeys. If need to, I can provide the fees for training in Jin''s dungeons."

    "That means something like ex-police and military, people who have cultivation experience but possibly needed a better paying job or more flexible work time." Man Tang started to see where this is going.

    "Yeap. Given your connections, I am sure you scout some people out, and you refer them to me for an interview. In return, I will provide you with the upgrading of your shop instances for free as well as a scouting fee. If you do manage to gather them, I will provide the sry and a bit of management fees for you too." Qiu Yue stated, but Man Tang started to be a bit suspicious.

    "You aren''t just an employee? I thought Jin was the only one creating the instances." Man Tang asked with furrowed eyebrows.

    "Hahaha! I''m not just some employee. Its a tadplicated but things will be done." Qiu Yue replied as she ced her hands on the Karaoke Boss tofort her.

    "You can be sure that I have the ability to exert some level of influence to ensure that our shadow force is secret. As for the upgrade instances, don''t worry too much. Despite his erm... attitude towards you, Jin will be more than happy to create more business. Because in the end, a part of the profit does go to him." Qiu Yue said, and Man Tang roughly understood what she meant.

    "I see, well the deal is not set until I find someone for you, so I shall at least agree to this dealing for the moment." Man Tang said, and they both shook hands as a sign of agreement for the spoken trade.

    Separately, Jin met up with Yu Xiang who seemed to be holding onto a few stic boxes and filling them with food.

    "Ah, Boss Jin. Good evening to you there and Merry Christmas." Yu Xiang said with a huge smile on her face, aspared to thest time when Jin spoke with her. Yet, she looked less dejected but seemingly more haggard.

    "You okay? Your ck eyes seem worse than mine." Jin said, and they bothughed.

    "Boss, you sure? It seems yours seem cker than mine even though it''s smaller. Or are you bing a Panda?" Yu Xiang said as she inadvertently took a bite of the mini pastries.

    "I am packing some food for my friends back in theb. They are working overtime because they seem to find a minor breakthrough with regards to the chi potion you loan us."

    "Seem to find? You not there with them when they found it?" Jin asked too tantly, and Yu Xiang immediately rolled her eyes, wondering if the remarks were genuine or slightly sarcastic in nature.

    "I can''t find it when I am here, right?" Yu Xiang said, and Jin gave a bitter smile. "Sorry Boss, I get cranky once in a while when I delved too deep into my work. And they made the discovery the moment I stepped out to represent the store for Si Fang''s gather. There and then, they called me and told ME to bring extra food to them to celebrate. At least Si Fang was able to loan me these stic boxes."

    "Heh, I can empathise with that to a certain degree. Erm..I mean the work. Don''t like to be disturb when I working on my dungeons. So how''s the working condition and the machines? I did try to procure the items you asked for." Jin questioned, but that statement somehow brightened Yu Xiang a lot.

    "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! Seeing that we have a chance to do research unhindered and with sufficient funds kind of scare my friends a little. It was a deal too good to be true. Especially when I told them, I can get whatever machines they want except their desired sry. Still, they flew to me like vultures hunger for a fresh corpse." Yu Xiang replied with a lighter tone.

    "And those machine orders, we did not expect to be in so quickly, allowing us to proceed to what we want to research almost as swift as possible."

    "Have you met my personal research staff as well or at least my Head Research?" Jin asked as he helped Yu Xiang to get to fill the boxes with more food.

    "Oh, ehh Ayse was it? Also, kind of curious why you need me when you have your own research stuff but meh, you paid our bills and research so noints here." Yu Xiang grabbed another bite of the sweet tasting chocte cake fondue before giving her impression of Ayse.

    "That employee of yours is a terrible distraction to my male colleagues. But other than that, I find her insights rather interesting. Exchanged a few pointers and even systematically solve a dilemma question that we like to pose when meeting new researchers. It''s like a kind of litmus test to learn their intellectual level." The Lady Boss for Chinese Medicinal instance said before looking at Jin as he tried to formte a proper response. "Sorry, if I offend you in any way, Boss."

    "Nope! Not at all. I think if you give me that question, I probably fail terribly at that litmus test of yours."

    "That''s great to hear. Usually, our sponsors will like to ehhh... ''yfully'' try this question when we brought it up as a conversation, and we have to entertain them. Thank goodness you aren''t that kind." Yu Xiang said with a gentler smile.

    "Hahah. I kind of know the extent of my ability and do not wish to humiliate myself in front of you." Jin smiled back and hope that the minor breakthrough could lead to more. "Other than the research, how''re your parents coping with the new store?"

    "Ah, they know that the Chinese medicinal store is a niche area. They aren''t expecting much business. Thankfully, my friends and I were there to manage the western medicine front of the shop. Together, we earn decent enough, though it was definitely better than in that terrible alley." Yu Xiang replied as she finally finished packing the boxes and decided to chat with Jin a little while.

    "And before you ask if I need any help on that aspect, given the nature of your ...helpfulness, we do not need any help. In fact, that storefront could be considered as a breather for us whenever if we feel that the research was taking a toll." Yu Xiang replied before Jin could answer anything.

    "Erm... Then I shall not keep your hungry friends waiting. Guess I await the good news in time toe." Jin said as he thanked Yu Xiang again for the update.

    "No. Thank you." Yu Xiang took a step backwards and gracefully gave a half bow as a sign of gratitude before telling Si Fang that she was taking her leave first.

    Eventually, the supper party went without a hitch, and everyone returned with a stomach full of good food. Yun was satisfied with the meal while Lynn brought back a few handy tips back home.

    Qiu Yue no doubt had achieved something which she did not expect while Jin had an overall understanding that the Tree Mall was doing significantly well without him meddling. He even got some great feedback in his notes which indirectly expanded the list of objectives by the System.

    Thus, with him back at his Dungeon Maker room, it was time to clear those said objectives. The first thing that Jin did was to summon Qiu Yue in order to understand the current situation of the Dungeon City Fortress and its future.

    At first, she thought her hidden plot was found out by Jin, butter she realised it was an excellent opportunity for her to get some things done for Man Tang. (Although she did get a bit irritated since Qiu Yue was about to lie on her bed to rest after such a great meal.)

 Chapter 605 Review of Dungeon CityтАЩs Defence

    <h4>Chapter 605 Review of Dungeon Cityбпs Defence</h4>

    The start of the meeting between Jin and Qiu Yue was rather productive (along with the leftovers they had from Supper.) She managed to convince Jin that Man Tang was looking to expand her instances to be more entertainment-oriented. She proposed for additional instances like billiards, bowling and even a cinema theatre which Jin felt it was viable and definitely money making in the long run.

    "She said that she wants to get off from the crooked deals that she had been doing. But in order to supplement her lost profit margins, she wanted more of this." Qiu Yue said which Jin agreed and already had ideas for those instances.

    "Sure. I will create those for her, but those additional instances won''t be cheap aspared to the first." Jin replied, and Qiu Yue nodded her head.

    "Definitely, she knew that the additional instances will definitely be more expensive than the initial ones as written in the contract. But she was hinting whether a discount could be given since she was asking for so much more." Qiu Yue lied through her teeth when she knew that she would be the one paying for her instances in exchange for Man Tang''s secrecy.

    "Haha, that I will think about that. Now let''s go to the main issue." Jin asked the System to call Moloch into the meeting and pulled out from the digital consoles and projected out a hologramyout on the table. It showed the current constructed buildings and sectors within the Dungeon City Fortress.

    "I trust you want to know about the defences more than anything else?" Qiu Yue as she looked at the hologramyout and expanded the entrance of the dungeon fortress city. As Jin''s city was built in a cave unlikepared to the humans'' towns and cities, there was only one way in or out of the area.

    Sometimes, Jin regretted he did not build something simr to a defensive fortress city like the dwarves in his board games. However, Moloch previously told Jin that thoseyouts were exactly how his former King Baal had created his underground metropolis. The very thing that protected the dungeon metropolis was high walls and withyers of it to prevent the attackers.

    "I bet when his army stepped into our territory, they would literally scoff at this ce when the general inmand knows how terrible ''defenceless'' this ce is," Moloch said in a sarcastic way.

    While Jin still severely underestimated the urgency, Lord Moloch repeatedly guarantee him that King Baal will attack with his army the moment the shield barriers are down.

    "But there are no buildups of any massive monster army or whatsoever in the neighbouring areas based on the wide scans from the System," Jin said which Moloch shook his head.

    "You are not the only one who have portal magic. He has mages that can do that too -well, yours is basically a hundred times way more advanced than his, since you can travel across worlds. Anyway, out of point. Erm, yeah, the portal magic will bring in his armies to the entrance of the dungeon cave because King Baal never liked any deserters or mutineers no matter how small the crime was." Moloch exined but that suddenly made Jin panicked.

    "User there is nothing to worry about. Regardless of how highly sophisticated one''s portal magic can be, King Baal will always be teleported to the cave entrance." The System spoke out and Moloch concurred. The Systemter exined it is something simr to thews of nature in their world. That was why Jin was previously teleported to Moloch''s cave and not straight to the dungeon treasure room or dungeon core room.

    "Can we look at this quickly and get over it for the day? I feel kinda sleepy." Qiu Yue, who was at the sideline listening to them talk, made her bored. Returning back to the discussion with regards to the defence of the dungeon''s entrance, it had already been filled with hundreds of y statues as ordered by Jin. The manually crafted y statues had already been thoroughly analysed by the System, and a factory had started to produce them with the aid of the Goblin Craftsmen.

    As the new y statues were mass produced, Qiu Yue and Moloch who were the temporary mayors of the city had continued to utilised the goblin y craftsmen'' expertise to correct the moulds by inspecting the quality for every batch of fifty. This way, each and newer bunch of y statues would be more detailed through the moulding process while the System funed the methods to make it cheaper.

    The runes, on the other hand, was still a bit of a manual process but Jespa had managed to scout for a few Orc apprentices, and with a mix of lost technology by Ayse, they had managed to create a simple ''Animate Dead'' rune to be mass produced . Of course, the crafted rune by Jespa was still superior though she began to fear her work would eventually be lost to automation.

    However, Moloch convinced her that automating her craft would then give her the time to explore the effects of new runebinations, or maybe craft new ones. Eventually, her increased depth of knowledge could never be outstripped by automation. Jespa hesitantly agreed to it, but when she did found out that she had more time for herself, she gave more freedom to the orcs.

    With the defences within 500 metres of the dungeon entrance secured, Jin looked at the other matters. The Pand-Antis City were in the final stages for Dome 1 and 2 while the rest were still in basic construction.

    However, the ss domes were readily secured, and along with the pipes and tunnels required for the underwater transportationwork. Moloch had stated in his reports that all that was left was to pour seawater and procure possibly defensive sea creatures. He had rmended the Fishing World where he found the Deep Ones as well as the ocean water from there.

    Likewise, for the Floating City, each sector were all shielded with a gadget created by both Peppers and Research Team''s effort. A magical shield generator that used oil, magical crystals as well as Jin''s ck sludges. The System estimated that a litre of ck sludge was as efficient as 1 ton of oil.

    With it, the power generated will be able to hold and produce a magical force of five megatons for each of the tforms that were equipped with the Lost Tech inspired Magical Shield Generator.

    This was partly due to the experiments on expanding Peppers'' explosive powers. It had allowed Ayse to understand and apply her understanding onto a few Lost Tech theories, resulting in tremendous results of the revised production of the Magical Shield Generator and upgrades.

    However, she and her team believed that more can be done when the System had investigated that the efficacy rate to turn the ck sludge into oil was roughly 4%. While both the System and Research Team knew it was not possible to get a 100% efficacy, bumping it up in the future to at least 20% would be a major breakthrough.

    In addition, they had to treat Jin''s ck sludge as precious as gold. What if Jin one day does not produce the ck sludge anymore? Therefore, they had been using oil as a substitute until they could improve the efficacy of the magical shield or find alternatives to the ck sludge. Nevertheless, in the event of an offensive or defensive battle, the generators would automatically be switched by the System to use the ck sludge.

    While the Dungeon Core could essentially protect the Dungeon Fortress City, Jin believed that the power it routes throughout the entire grid should only be used as thest resort for the magical shield generators to be utilised. This was mainly because the core would have its hands full powering up floating city and an underwater city.

    That was when Qiu Yue questioned Jin''s decision to retrieve the additional broken dungeon core. It was supposedly be used to power up a city wide barrier and used along with the magical shield generators or at least reduce the burden of the current dungeon core.

    That was when he begged to differ due to an email Ayse recently sent to him which he did not read until this morning. (Ayse did scold him in subsequent emails for not reading it any earlier.) He found that it could still be used for defensive manoeuvres but just not for mere shielding purposes.

    The Dungeon Core which Lord Wolte possessed had a hidden function which the System and Moloch did not know until Ayse''s research team identally stumbled on it while they deciphered the broken dungeon core.

    They eventually required Lord Wolte''s aid to activate it, and he told them that he knew about this all along. Only to not use it because of theck of magical powers on his side.

    It was the ability to create phantom soldiers.

 Chapter 606 Phantom Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 606 Phantom Soldiers</h4>

    Moloch pressed for more information, and so Jin called upon Lord Wolte to enter the discussion too as he was not too sure about the ability himself.

    Once a reigning Duke in King Baal''s ranks, the nky metal anthropomorphic tank was delighted to see that he was in part of some seemingly important meeting especially with all the big shots around.

    "The Phantom Soldiers are as what they are. Ghostly kind of beings which can do damage and only be killed with magic. I used it once and damn, it brought swift deaths to the adventurers while I distracted their wizard." Wolte was excited to speak in front of everyone and continued to ramble on.

    "The Dungeon Core utilised the freshly dead souls and used them as to our advantage. The only problem about these phantom soldiers is that they are ethereal in nature and require a lot of soul essences to make one strong enough to hold a metaphysical body."

    "Therefore, I used this ability something akin to cavalry charging formation. I summon the phantom soldiers temporarily and cause havoc in the front lines of the adventurers,ter disappearing five secondster. That was enough to wound both their body and mind." Lord Wolte described the procedure and subsequently exined to the rest that the broken Dungeon Core he obtained, had previously controlled a graveyard of the Dungeon World.

    "Graveyards? There are graveyards in your world as well? I thought everything was recycled. I mean resurrected again and again." Jin then openly queried whether it had to do something about the Harbinger issue they brought about a long time ago.

    "In a way. It was introduced after the 2nd Harbinger Catastrophe and most Dungeon Graveyards are a ce of destion handled by Gravemancers. They are an upation that siphoned soul essences in order to make sure that those monsters or even adventurers who did not have a ce to belong...ehhh ...They give them a peace of mind." Moloch knew a thing or two about the Graveyards.

    "Yeah, and those monsters and adventurers can even go into suspended animation for say 5 years, and the Gravemancers who siphon their soul essences would return a majority of their soul essences as a transaction in terms of dungeon dors. It''s all very transactional, but it also significantly reduced the chance of a Harbinger appearing." Lord Wolte added that adventurers who did this were looked down upon as outcasts, too ipetent to earn their living through dungeoneering.

    For the monsters, They acknowledge it was a desperate measure for those who did it since their society was based more than just meritocracy and being apetent monster.

    "Ahh..then with cash, they could find a ce to stay and start anew or something like that?" Jin asked which both the lords nodded their heads (for Wolte, it was his turret.)

    "Guess it feels like our society." Qiu Yue sighed at the simrity and discrimination of their culture.

    "Anyways, as I was saying, the Gravemancers sell those soul essences to live as well by exchanging it with the dungeon core. Thus most adventurers and monsters respected the Graveyards as a neutral zone." Lord Wolte said and Qiu Yue realised where the story was going.

    "Yet, that did not mean they cannot attack it." Qiu Yue surmised, and Lord Wolte gave an approving grunt, which allowed them to conjure how he got this particr dungeon core.

    "So, what does this Graveyard thing had to do with this broken dungeon core?" Jin roughly guessed the connection but preferred to get a confirmation answer.

    "Dungeon Cores in a way can develop a sort of бнyou could say attribute. Or in looser terms, personalities. A Graveyard Dungeon Core would no doubt be able to utilise soul essences better than the dungeon core that I was governing currently." Moloch stated that his Dungeon Core was significantly capable of making other materials, especially after its upgrade to Dungeon City Fortress.

    "So Lord Wolte''s dungeon core could make phantom soldiers, my dungeon core can make monsters or adventurers who die into бнmini treasure chests. Literal treasure chests" Moloch added that when an opponent dies, it had the chance of bing a treasure filled with raw materials or items that the adventurer/monster was holding on.

    "I don''t exactly remember that happening when I was fighting with you," Jin asked as he tried to recall seeing any chest lying around.

    "That is because it was just a Dungeon Fortress. The treasures are all generated to the treasury room. Now, this is a city, it does not have a treasury room per se, but you can assign one, and those treasures will pop in there." Moloch said, and Jin immediately looked at Qiu Yue.

    "Understood. Loud and clear." Qiu Yue smirked when their eyes connected, knowing what both parties want. Lord Wolte, on the other hand, was a bit confused when the Red Panda Cultivator statement but he was ignored thoroughly.

    "Does treasure appear in King Baal''s treasury room too when its army killed ourrades?" Jin questioned once again, which Moloch shook his head.

    "If it is a defensive fortress setting, yes. Because it is made that way, both parties only had two definite oues. Win or lose. So, when the attacking army lost, they received resources too, just not much and thosee from the coffers of the Dungeon Fortress." Moloch answered andter added on that City setting was slightly different.

    "However, for us, it''s of a different predicament. Cities are not meant to besieged on a daily basis like fortresses because the aim of invading armies for cities was to fight for territory, rather than resources. Hence. cities earn rewards from invading armies because they needed the resources."

    "Other cities would have their own unique attributes too, but not many have the simr attribute as mine since we converted this into a city from a fortress dungeon core. But this brings a w too." Moloch said with a lower, slightly depressed tone.

    "Lesser resource regeneration aspared to a Dungeon City fortress?" Qiu Yue, who had to study a lot to know what she was governing in the future, gave an answer she was hoping that her readings paid off.

    "Aye. That is why it''s also good in a way that the System took over half of the ownership. It aided a lot, and the iing assault would definitely prove to be a bountiful supply for us too." Moloch replied.

    "Okay, and I think we sidetracked a lot from the main conversation. If Lord Wolte said that the phantom soldiers needed a lot of soul essences to make a metaphysical being, how would it be a good thing for us?" Qiu Yue inquired, and Jinughed.

    "I do not know how to say this, but it was a blessing in disguise to have the foresight to make those y statues?" Jin did not directly answer her question, but she managed to figure it out. Those phantom beings the dungeon core produces upon the deaths of the invading army could be used to animate the y statues and made them more potent.

    "I never think of that. Would that make Jespa''s runes obsolete?" Qiu Yue asked as she looked into the detailed hologram to see the variation of y statues in the area.

    "Nope, it was also because of Jespa''s ''Animate Dead'' runes that made thisbination work. Ayse research team had managed to put the mass produced basic ''animate dead'' rune and the y statue into test while using Lord Wolte''s broken Graveyard Dungeon Core. It worked spectacrly, and the System was the one controlling it without a hitch."

    "That means we have a reproducible fodder army!" Moloch was delighted, and the other two System Users were holding theirughter at the Minotaur Lord''s odd choice of words.

 Chapter 607 Porkcupine-B

    <h4>Chapter 607 Porkcupine-B</h4>

    After focusing on the entrance, Jin started to look at the other parts of the cities as he reviewed the defences of the floating tforms. An overhaul of the Agriculture Sector 1 and 2 was proposed by Weslie, the Schr of the West.

    Based on the System''s predictive analysis, Weslie''s ns increase the overall output by at least 200%. Still, Jin had decided that to ce that priority in the further phases since the opening of the Dungeon City Fortress was more critical. At the very most, he would y the ''demand and supply'' card if the store owners at his Tree Mall would to request for more of his food stock.

    The overhaul would be a significant renovation of both sectors. Weslie had proposed that sub dungeon instances be used for the animals to better handle their rearing needs. This would undoubtedly increase the Jin''s overheads significantly since he had to build a server as well as cing a portion of the System''s processing capability to handle the rearing of animals in the Dungeon World. However, she continuously emphasised that the animals needed the utmost care to provide the best quality of meat.

    At the same time, Weslie was very curious about the cultivation ability of animals in Jin''s Earth. She noted that the meat''s quality was indeed more satisfying with the spiritual chi flowing throughout the animal. (Of course, the way to cook it matters too but the ingredient always y a part.)

    However, it was deemed inefficient to rear cultivated animals as they could not meet the demands unlike the use of giant monsters from the Giant World.

    That was where Half Ghoul Lord Derek''s research ofbining animals or nts into monsters might have an impact of Weslie''s n. Therefore, Jin called upon Derek and Weslie into the dungeon maker room to have a proper discussion while Lord Wolte quietly (or as quiet he could be) look through the defenceyout of Jin''s city.

    Weslie was a bit annoyed that she was summoned out of nowhere when the schr felt that she had some ideas with regards to the vital ''instrument'' for Operation Pied Piper. But when she saw Derek and Jin in the room, she controlled her temper a little.

    "Sorry to disturb both of you and without any advance notice." Jin apologised when he noticed the expressions on their faces. They quickly shook their head and asked what the matter was. "While I had set the priority to the Agriculture Sectors overhaul in the future phases after City''s opening, I need some input and rification on the overhaul. Particrly on the research, you were working on Derek."

    "Ah, the fusion research? Yes. With regards to that, I had a few things to announce. Firstly, I can say that the research had a partial sess." Derek said, with a big smile on his face. "One of your giant porkcupines had been infused with vegetables, mainly broli and its individual spikes had grown to a broli nt. This increased the feasibility of it being a source of vegetable and meat at the same time."

    "That''s great to hear but since you said its a partial sess, what is the bad news?" Weslie asked in a curious manner.

    "I read on your request about the animals with natural cultivation in Master''s world. So I had tried to ...ehhh inject the cells of Porkcupines and Grade 1 pigs together, and see if they could be cloned and grow. To my surprise, it worked, but it seemed that the pig''s cells ...in a simpler term, overpower the cells of the broli modified porkcupine." Derek started to exin.

    "So the in vitro fertilisation worked? Wait, before that, I am prying a little into your past. You a scientist or something? I never really thought about it despite your fascination in broken body parts and fusion of these food stock Jin asked, and Derek''s lips curled.

    "Was a life science student in university before I got a job in as a bank analyst. The pay was sadly more lucrative ." Derek added, and Jin vaguely remembered his world was simr to his.

    "Anyways, The porkcupine''s broli grew more vibrantly since it had some form of cultivation. I still do not know how it worked, but hey, it works! Guess sometimes all you need is a bit of magic dust to y the part." The Half Ghoul Lord was delighted to possess some magical powers to perform this miraculous act along with the scientific knowledge he had.

    "Don''t tell me you scrapped your skin or something to make those magic dust." Qiu Yue shuddered at the thought which made Derekughed heartily.

    "That''s a good one Ms Qiu Yue. Perhaps it might have happened when I was not attentive. I shall keep a lookout in the future." Derek replied when he continued on with his story.

    "But because of the activation of its cells to allow cultivation, I hypothesised that the porkcupine became more violent. I mean it can even shoot out Broli projectiles that appeared like mini missiles."

    "You must be kidding me," Jin said, and Derek knew that only seeing is believing. So, he asked the System to create a temporary area to hold the cultivated broli porkcupine to demonstrate its powers.

    Suddenly the ce which Que Er used to demonstrated her new raven powers was transformed into a gigantic tform which the Mini (still giant) Porkcupine was rampaging around the moment it got teleported. Derek then asked the System to produce multiple dummies where the Porkcupine could perform its attacks. True enough, brolis were shot out of its back, and it even had the power to manoeuvre around like a heat seeking missile to damage the dummies around it.

    Not only that, when more dummies appeared to see what else the extent of the porkcupine''s ability, it even had a move which Derek was never seen before.

    A stem of broli stood among the rest of the broli on its back as it started to grow longerrger andrger to the point, the tall stem was not able to hold its own weight of the ''umbre'' of the broli. As it falls, the porkcupine grabbed it and used it as a blunt pole.

    Every time the umbre portion of the broli hits the dummy target, it seemed to explode a burst of chi energy towards it. While Derek could vaguely recognise the significance of the attack by having the dummy blowing up in front of them, Jin and Qiu Yue could see how dense the chi energy was. Thus, Jin quickly took his phone up and requested the System for its attribute. The phone promptly activated the monster app and revealed to Jin that the porkcupine was at least a Grade 2 Peak.

    "...Had it been rather violent recently? How about its diet?" Jin asked, and Derek said that it always wanted to smash the cages apart and the System had to use a stronger grade cage to contain it.

    "A Grade 4 Stage had been used, but the System did not expect the exponential rise of its grade. Food given were of the standard high quality meals System give to the porkcupines in Sector 2 for rearing."

    "Oh my god, then this is indeed a miracle find. Derek, is this the only gically modified porkcupine?" Jin asked which Derek mentioned that he had a few more ready samples in the ice in case this did not work.

    "What do you mean it did not work? It worked perfectly well! I am already thinking about how sulent the meat will be." Qiu Yue said out loud to everyone as she leaned forward. "Won''t it be funny to use these pigs as the perfect practice training for the people low in cultivation grade? Or at the very least, train our monsters up with this especially for those that do not have a dungeon role yet?"

    "That could potentially be a good idea after all." Jin nodded his head with delight.

 Chapter 608 Gods and Demons

    <h4>Chapter 608 Gods and Demons</h4>

    Weslie was very impressed by Derek''s research that it rendered her severely speechless throughout the most part of the reveal. It was then she broke out of her daze and asked whether if the ''fusion'' of cells were only to certain species or could Derek had mix and match randomly.

    "I did not consider such options. Guess, I based it on logical instinct? I took the species most simr to the monster found in the Giant World andbined them. I never tried consideredbining like Jin''s Pigs with broli, but even if I do, I believe it will fail." Derek replied, and Weslie wondered why since he could do it with the broli, porkcupine and subsequently the cultivated pig specimen.

    "I think it had something to do with thews of nature. Like how a human can never impregnate an ape because we have 23 chromosomes, they have 24. To put it bluntly, there is already a system in ce, and a certain order had to be met." Derek try to give a reasonable and sound answer to Weslie.

    "However! What if it is from another world? I am deducing that the worlds that Jin travelled are from a separate timeline, or maybe a separate dimension. Thus, the rules and order of that dimension do not apply to Jin''s Earthws of nature. It''s just like how the Dungeon World had its set of rules."

    "I guess what support your hypothesis is the close and yet distinct simrities between my world and yours?" Jin asked and remembered how he recognised the ruined Shanghai tower when he caught the zombies.

    "Indeed. There is no way in chance that the very same Shanghai tower can be built the same way in two different worlds when both of our worlds had not reached a technology level capable of transiting space and time." Derek said until Weslie recalled what Derek noted previously.

    "Then what about those creators you talked about. Those God like soldiers?" Weslie asked, and Derek could not make heads or tails to that argument. Only Jin who knew bits and pieces of information could see a connecting picture.

    "The ne of gods and demonsбн.? Wolte, you said the demons are from a dimensional ne right?" Jin shouted at Lord Wolte, who was quietly snoozing after going through the battle ns.

    "Huh!? Yes, Master! The ns are fabulous!" Lord Wolte got up and tried to lie through his teeth which Jin ignored and repeated the question for him. "Oh, that. Yeah, all Gods came from the same sort of dimensional ne simr to us."

    Lord Wolte embarrassingly came forward and told them more to make up his snoozing during the meeting. (After which he stared at Lord Moloch who did not aid him but instead sniggered at him.)

    "Those gods manifested however they like and changed their appearances like us. They loved to ''save'' people the way we like to kill people. In the end, it''s all about control. The only difference is that we are honest to ourselves, and many did not like us as much as those sugar coating salesmen."

    "That is a rather interesting perspective to take in." Qiu Yue chuckled when she thought about Lord Wolte''s description of Gods.

    "It''s true. To us, Gods and Demons, worship cane in various forms. Acts of sphemies are on the same side of the coin as acts of faithfulness. Our followers themselves wish to copy us -or in a more glorifying term, illuminate us in their acts of desires so that they could portray themselves as the gods or demons which they worshipped." Lord Wolte preached.

    "Is it because people like priests want the ability to control or influence people like the way gods do?" Derek asked, and Lord Wolte shook his head.

    "It is something even more simpleбнmore primitive." Lord Wolte gave them a chance to try and guess, but only Moloch responded.

    "It is because it made them feel good."

    "Exactly."

    "System will like to remind that the meeting had once again digressed from its original objective." The System suddenly spoke out, and everyone felt a little embarrassed.

    "Looks like we always go out of topic." Qiu Yue, however, did learn a lot within this hour that she had forgotten she wanted to sleep. Perhaps the curiosity got the better of her.

    "Where were we? Oh yes. So Derek, continue to monitor the modified porkcupine and get Weslie to aid you in it. As much as we do not know the species well enough, its good to monitor it to get more information. Also, try and raise the other few that you put in ice as well. I like to have a better sample size and a better understanding before I recreate the Agriculture Sector 2 to ce them with sub instances without too much changes." Jin said, and they both nodded their heads.

    "With regards to Weslie''s proposal to Agriculture Sector 1, I will discuss a bit with Gold for his opinion when he is free. Right now, I think the food stock from Sector 1 is moving along very nicely with the robot crawlers automating the nting and harvesting. Ke Mi''s music had improved to give them the required magical energy to improve their taste."

    "Not to mention how strong she had be. Just a four minute song is enough to elerate the growth in conjunction with Time Compression magic ced in Sector 1. Though I wonder if she ever grew older." Qiu Yue asked, and System corrected her opinion.

    "The System only used the timepression magic if there are no monsters around to tend it. Thus, Ke Mi is not subjected to any effects of timepression." The System stated, and suddenly it made Jin concerned about himself. Would he get older in no time?

    "Time is aplex factor but based on System''s analysis of User, the System had reasoned that User does not have anything to fear. The bnce of User was not affected due to the constant usage of both time magic. User used time dtion magic to create dungeon instances but at the same time, the Sleeping Capsule which utilised timepression magic hadpensated the time he slowed down."

    "That is messed up. I do not even know how the math worked out." Weslie said which Derek concurred.

    "As long as the System deemed that the User is fine, I all good. We can''t have him dying on us with so many projects on hand." Molochmented, and the restughed except for Jin.

    He was the only one who knew that he had too much in his hands.

 Chapter 609 Fortress Knight Golems

    <h4>Chapter 609 Fortress Knight Golems</h4>

    Once Derek and Weslie were dismissed from the meeting, Jin moved onto reviewing the industry sector, which was still rtively unruffled. Most of the workload still centered in Industry Sector 1 with the mass production of y statues and the other defensive equipment as per Lord Moloch''s guidance.

    Industry Sector 1 also handled the construction and design of Sandroku Golems. For an amalgamation of metal pieces whose humble beginning was to be an explosive hauling machine against the Ogres, it subsequently became an enhanced figure of mechanical greatness by the brains of Orcs and Gobs. The System even stated that it could potentially rival a Mecha Worker that dealt with specific construction uses.

    Recently, the Goblin Mages and Orc Engineers had been creating prototypes of a defensive Sandroku Golem, aimed to be a powerhouse against the various types of oversized monsters that King Baal was going to throw at them.

    They had perused Amura Rei''s blueprints and worked out a few modr types of equipment which would help to build a Guardian Mecha. As it was meant to defend the city, the mage and engineers ced more armour to increase its durability inbat.

    With the advent of improved Sandroku Golems, that also meant that they are not going to fight fair. King Baal might have the numbers, but Jin currently had the technological edge against them. Submachine guns, missileunchers and other assault weapons were erged based on Hou Fei''s weapon blueprints to fit the new golems, and they were reproduced as such in Sector 1.

    Meanwhile, Hespesta, the Goblin cksmith had already began building melee weapons as well as automated crossbows and arrows for the first batch of defensive Sandroku Golems whichter Jin nicknamed them as Fortress Knight Golems. (Since they were in a Dungeon City Fortress, the name was rather apt, and Moloch liked it as well.)

    But because of their bulky build, the Fortress Knight Golems had lots of ws. (Considering they were the first few iterations of the prototypes, it was normal.) The first on its list was their engine. The motor they used was a replicated Lost Tech that was converted to be constructed with Earth''s raw materials to save cost, and that itself provided restricted mobility to the Fortress Knight Golems. (Which incidentally reinforced their names further.) Not to mention, their battery pack could onlyst them at most half an hour each, and even with spares, it would be a strain to the sub-par lost tech motor should they wish to pursue their enemies.

    Therefore, ranged firepower and defence were used to make up their ws in mobility. The first version of Fortress Knight Golems was equipped with anti ballisticposition armour from Rei''s blueprints. It was designed to stop a gigantic bullet in its tracks.

    While the System was unable to buy the raw materials required from their Mecha World due to their rising costs, it had analysed a few of the raw materials obtainable in the Goblin World which match simr parameters. Hence, the modified armour was built at a cheaper cost but gave lesser protection than the supposed set of armour.

    The modified armour was not as effective ording to the System''s review since it did not meet blueprint requirements, but Moloch had tested it, and he saw some satisfying results.

    He had utilised a number of varying weapons he knew King Baal had in his arsenal (After all, Moloch had once served under him.) From arrows to a crude ballista shot, the armour ting was able to hold up. The Lord Minotaur also tested it out against an advanced level fire spell and the Fortress Knight Golem was able to fend it off with a shrug. (or actually several shrugs)

    Even though it seemed invincible, it is still abination of metal chunks which the goblin pilots were piloting. Thus, there were concerns by the Orc Engineers about the use of lightning spells which could render potentially render the golems useless or at the very least its internal systems.

    That was when Moloch chuckled and asked if anyone fought in the northern frontier battle of Gob Gob Bu. Only one was raised his hand, and Moloch inquired if they remembered a tank able to tolerate an electrical based energy st.

    "I vaguely recalled something like that. The officers were panicking that the Lost Tech equipment was not working as intended." The Orc Engineer said which made Moloch grinned.

    "That is because there are magic resistant charms which Master Jin and his other minions were able to create. Let me worry about the Golem''s inherent weakness. Continue to work on improving our golems." Moloch replied and swore to the rest not to worry about its weakness to electricity.

    And improvements, they did.

    The Orcs and Gobs had managed to ovee the energy consumption issue by creating an electrical outlet which a thick, durable electric cord could be utilised that the Fortress Knight Golems could be plugged into a stable source to fight. With a stable energy consumption, golem pilots did not have to worry about the power to their engines and fight to their fullest. It would be one less issue to worry duringbat.

    They could also potentially be plugged into mobile electrical generators which could be transported around by a pair of standard Sandroku Golems. Otherwise, for the Fortress Knight Golems guarding at certain chokepoints, the System had asked Moloch to install sufficient electrical power points in the ces where the enemies could potentially flood in. Even if the enemies don''t ''naturally'' move to those areas, the militarymanders will make sure they do.

    And speaking of Militarymander, Hou Fei was the overall in charge, and the auxiliaries would be Qiu Yue and Moloch. Jin had already passed Qiu Yue the portable tactical machine, so she had been practising on it via simtions created by her Sub System as well as some mini live exercises with the battalion she was bestowed with.

    They were none other than the orcs who assisted with the construction. Most of them took turns to take part in the live exercises which Qiu Yue hadmenced within the Military Sector 1.

    However, she did not do it without the help of Orc General Nubwort. Their general knew that his underlings would not die and hence, they were subjected to the strictestbat training the orcs had ever since. Some of them who were considered special forces previously felt that Nubwort''s training was worse than the living hell they been through. They had no doubt that the title ck Disaster was earnt with much brutality.

    On the other hand, the three sons of the Goblin General had their own military toons as well. Previously, the goblin soldiers were aiding with the construction as a way to keep fit. But their main job was military duties when they signed the contract with Qiu Yue. Hence, they were exempted from construction the moment Military Sector 1 was established as the Goblin Soldiers assisted with the base''s logistics until everything was set up.

    Now with the military base up and running, the trio made their military toons join Nubwort''s training ''resort''. Furthermore, they did not abandon their men as they stripped their officer ranks in front of their goblins soldiers and joined the practice too. With the goblins added into the mix, Nubwort did what he was taught through these weeks in Jin''s ''captivity''.

    Instead of pitting Orcs against goblins, he had mixed the groups up, making it pretty even in terms of team size and variation. True enough, he saw tactics he never knew his Orc leaders could take, but he did not say a word of praise to them and instead, made them work harder.

    When everyone was trained to the degree that Nubwort found it suitable, Qiu Yue then started to incorporate the Fortress Knight Golems into their training exercises andter challenge Nubwort to a battle of wits. There were inter sector fights, intra sector fights and even simted fights at the entrances. (Of course, they did not use the real dungeon cave entrance. The System created teleported them to a temporary dungeon instance for them to test it out.)

    As much as Qiu Yue was surprised with Nubwort tactics, thinking he would be more of an aggressive straightforward general, the ck Disaster learnt even more unconventional styles of tactics from Qiu Yue which broaden his horizons even further.

    At this point, if the Orc General still felt any regrets being under Jin, he believed his father would rise from the dead and personally end his life for being ungrateful.

 Chapter 610 Outsourcing Work

    <h4>Chapter 610 Outsourcing Work</h4>

    Although Jin now possessed advanced Golems andpetent soldiers at his disposal, he did not think of discounting standard military defences. This was primarily because the first few hundred metres of the entrances were restricted. He was not able to fill it with y statues and it sort of bothered him to the point of mild paranoia.

    Moloch exined to him that it was an open ground designated by the Dungeon Cave itself for the invading armies to assemble. Because of this, it prompted the dungeon supplier that he might potentially lose the element of surprise of getting the y statues to attack on sight against any invading armies.

    The Dungeon Core had affirmed that the few hundred metres of the entrance were not under its jurisdiction which the System had no way to tweak the rules of the Dungeon Core. Therefore it was unable to allow Jin and his minions to ce any personal property in the open area.

    Even if they do, the ground would naturally corrode anything that was in its path, as if Lady Gaia of the Dungeon World did not allow any defilement of hernd. Hence, Jin decided to be more assertive in his surprise tactics should King Baal invades.

    The dungeon supplier had ordered the goblins to transport the artilleries he used in the Goblin World to the Dungeon World. Those WW2 artilleries would be reused to aimed at the direction of the open area, which was at least three hundred metres wide.

    As for the next couple hundred of metres that bordered the ''restricted'' zone, it was massively cramped with the y statues, waiting to pounce on the disarrayed army when the artillery bombardment begins. k guns were also brought into the Dungeon World to counter King Baal''s air forces which Moloch described it as one of the most offensive superior troops in his disposal.

    However, the Minotaur Lord had seen how those k guns worked, and those wyvern riders would definitely be of no match towards Jin''s air defences, a scene Moloch was personally dying to see.

    Other than that, Qiu Yue did not wait too long to get the approval from Jin for the goblins to create the M4 Sherman Tanks. Regrettably, most of the engineers Qiu Yue had contracted were already busy with either the construction of the city or the production of the golems.

    So, she had decided to outsource it to the goblins and orcs in the Goblin World. The adventurer''s guild manager, Zhi Nu had ced an urgent job notice for any adventurers willing to earn a quick buck toe forth. Since Qiu Yue had provided Zhi Nu with a standard stack of contracts which, when filled up, the manager would be able to reveal the details and open a portal for them to enter a restricted factory zone to begin work immediately.

    A few of the experienced engineers on site would teach them how to assemble the final parts of the tank which an abundance of manpower, brute strength and to a certain degree of precision.

    Of course, the System had provided the necessary tools and machinery to lessen the workload of these temporary workers, so the assembly was not the main issue. It was the quality checklist that needed to be cleared and subsequent logistics after the tank assembly.

    The transportation of spare parts like caterpir tracks, armour ting and otherponents into various outposts required manpower, and that was where the adventurers came into y. And as the Orc adventurers assisted in doing the manualbour of transporting, the goblins were assigned with less strenuous tasks such as filling ammunition and stock taking. (The humans did abination of both.)

    Manufacturing of the ammunition was simple for the System to do, but the filling of the ammo clips required time and energy to be wasted. Although the process could be automated, it needed more investment in advanced machinery which the System felt it was a waste of money at this point in time. Thus, those goblin adventurers with deft hands were suitable for such jobs.

    The pay was good for the adventurers, and it was extremely beneficial for the System too. The conversion for the dungeon dor to the Goblin World''s coins was like exchanging British pounds to a currency of a poorly developed country.

    The System was saving a lot of money by using manualbour instead of the use of automation. In addition, many if not all of the adventurers hardlyined since thepletion their daily tasks came with a free meal cooked by the Penguins.

    Those who wished to earn more money would be allowed to sign a separate contract and help with the construction, but those contracts did not guarantee them any additional benefits other than marypensation, unlike the goblins which Qiu Yue had first contracted. (Fortunately, their contracts did cover them for death and injuries, which was why a number signed up without hesitation.)

    With a fresh workforce, the Dungeon City Fortress was moving topletion even faster than before. Most of the defences were on par to a minimum standard, and Jin decided to text Hou Fei if he was missing anything else.

    Though Hou Fei was a Panda Remnant which could be ordered at any time by Jin, the Astral Panda cultivator still felt a certain level of respect should be given. That was why he requested Hou Fei toe within the next week or so to have a final inspection and if there were any loopholes that needed to be filled.

    Else, the only thing left in the Dungeon City agenda was the Pand-Antis. A series of high rise Condominiums were constructed within the Domes 1 and 2 as shown the hologramyout along with the assortment of amenities nned.

    Unlike Qiu Yue who loved theplex and intricateyout of the ss Dome 1, Jin was nauseated by it. He remembered why he did not choose civil engineering back when he was in university.

    However, he did recognise how much effort Qiu Yue had put in. The details were slightly minute, but each of them had its own purpose as well as why it was ced that particr way.

    Through the few years Qiu Yue was in the urban redevelopment programme during her stint, she had ess to different buildingyouts as well as the basic stuff like the roads and piping systems. Thus before she officially quit, she did something simr to Ayse where she stole data from Ministry with the help of Kraft.

    Unfortunately, Kraft did not have Foxy back then, but the data security system was so elementary that a piece of customised spyware was sufficient. All she needed was time to transfer the data into the thumb drive.

    Simr to Foxy, Kraft''s customised spyware left no traces behind nor signs of intrusion, so no one ever suspected her anything. Still, Kraft was also blessed that he now had Foxy when he wanted to conduct counter espionage against Sea Mesh.

    The System noted that the data collection from Sea Mesh was somewhat faster and more frequent, indicating that the database was robust but not as groundbreaking as the secret servers the Chinese Military Intelligence used.

    And unlike the Chinese Military intelligence incident, Kraft did not programme the second Foxy to terminate and instead, allow it to continue to stay in the shadows tob for new data while it learned how to counter thetest security patches.

    It was an evolvingputer virus which Kraft eventually hope that it could potentially ckout their entire servers if there was a need to.

    As for Qiu Yue, the stolen Ministry database gave her a plethora of information which she used the Sub System to sieve out the most optimal ns. She then fused andbined the most functionalyouts together to create her dream version of Pand-Antis.

    It was fortunate that even high rise building blueprint designs were in the stolen data, and that was when Qiu Yue recalled aw was made during her early days interning in the Ministry.

    With that introduction of the neww, every constructionpany ought to send a copy sample of the housing ns. Be it existing housings or future confirmed bids, everything must be given to the Ministry of Urban Development as a record. This neww urred in response to a major ident where an entire row of high rise apartments copsed because of inferior construction materials. (The Triad n responsible for thepany was severely reprimanded.)

    So in order to hold future constructionpanies responsible, the Chinese government implemented the neww, resulting in thousands of housing ns to be upload into their database.

    The number of overtime hours spent just to upload and index the data was aplete waste of time in Qiu Yue''s opinion. Yet now, because of the hard work she had done previously when she was an intern, Qiu Yue had ess to the mostprehensible database of housing blueprints the country had.

    Naturally, the Sub System did pick and choose the best housing ns to best fit the Pand-Antisyout which subsequently Qiu Yue spent nights perfecting the forme. That was partially why she was grateful for Moloch for taking over themand of the city''s construction.

    Contrary to the time when she was a sried worker, Qiu Yue was now able to create the dream district she had ever wanted. All those ws in the Shenzhen districts due to old infrastructure, budget constraints or management disapprovals were no longer an issue when working for Jin.

    Well, there were budget limitations, but Qiu Yue refused to acknowledge it, which indirectly cause Jin to suffer from the shortage of money to build the Tree Mall.

    Yet Jin and Qiu Yue did not know about this. They each believed that the shop was not earning enough. Only the System knew about everything and decided to keep its silence. But hey! Everything seemed to work out just fine. :)

 Chapter 611 Expectations of Glass Dome 1

    <h4>Chapter 611 Expectations of ss Dome 1</h4>

    As it was Qiu Yue''s precious pet project, she made sure that Jin listened to all the nonsense that she rambled out. (After all, she had to listen to his for the other parts of the meeting.)

    "Alright, alright. Fire away. I like to know what you had in store for us." Jin surrendered and got to hear what she what to say.

    "Before I carry on, I like to rify on a few things on the record. From the past visions of this city, you eventually want Pand-Antis as a ce for the cultivators to stay, right? Or do you wish to change to something simr to a hotel style kind of feel? Because, at this point, I can still make some amendments to suit your goals." Qiu Yue inquired as she liked to know whether would Jin regret his decision. But ultimately, the Empire Building Sub System User did not want all her and the monsters'' work to go to waste.

    "I am not entirely sure, to be honest. Initially, I wanted people to have a ce to stay, especially for those who felt that the housing prices are too painful to afford. But when you mentioned hotel getaways, I feel that the scenario was entirely possible as well." Jin said, but Qiu Yue punched him at his arm.

    "Make up your mind! That answer you gave is too wishy washy!" Qiu Yue pouted as she hated this part of Jin badly. He always wanted to have apromise between solutions while that kind of attitude worked for several cases of his, it was not entirely the best way to work in life.

    Sometimes, Jin have to choose a side and now was one of the few times. With the remaining budget and time left before the opening of the city, his decision was critical in deciding how ss Dome 1 works. The forceful reminder by Qiu Yue did eventually shook Jin a little.

    For once, Jin quietly sat down and stared at the hologramyout of ss Dome 1. He did mention that he wanted to create this as a ce for the cultivators to stay. But there were other thoughts in his mind too.

    After all, this was a city in the Dungeon World, and it was also his chance to possibly make it famous. How so? If King Baal''s army did invade Jin''s Dungeon City Fortress, news would spread like wildfire how the almighty King Baal suffered a crushing defeat.

    After the sounding victory, Jin could send out a call of arms to both monsters and adventurers. This potentially leads to an influx of immigrants hoping to join his city that defended against King Baal.

    Given this world''s taste for blood and war through dungeons, the inhabitants would love to fight against the infamous King Baal army and make a name for themselves.

    And since only ss Dome 1 would be the first to be avable after the opening of the Dungeon City Fortress, he could take ''preorders'' from wealthy adventurers and monsters to build their houses in ss Dome 2. With a series of emptynd plots all around, it provided space for other monsters with various sizes too.

    But that was just one particr scenario in his head which he loved to achieve. If the first battle was a failure or if Jin could not attract the Dungeon World''s inhabitants to his city, he would then had to rely on the cultivators in his shop to buy the apartments or at the very least rent them. With such a dilemma, he decided to pour it out for Qiu Yue and Moloch to hear and asked for their opinion.

    "Oh? I did not expect you to think about the adventurers and monsters in their world. I always assumed that you will only cater this Dungeon City Fortress of yours for your cultivators." Moloch responded with an interested look in his face.

    "I can only assure you that what you said was more or less urate. Cities with reputation do indeed attract adventurers and monsters of all sorts."

    "Mmm, Actually I beg to differ." Qiu Yue raised her objection without hesitation. "I will suggest you stick to the n where you provide the city to the cultivators and treat the adventurers and monsters as the tourists."

    "Why? Aren''t we building a city in the dungeon world? Wouldn''t it be natural for those adventurers and monsters to enter?" Jin asked.

    "System prefer Qiu Yue''s n too. While adventurers will go for raids too, they are a source of inconsistent amount of ie. Monsters might be a cheap addition to the city defences, but System and the Dungeon Core had to pay them for their services." The System spoke out its opinion for once.

    "Not just that. People tend to fear change instead of embracing it. The technology we utilised, the creativity we put into this ce. Only cultivators with the assumption that this is some sort of dungeon instance would appreciate it." Qiu Yue exined.

    "The adventurers also have an inherent bias against Dungeon Cities because they always assumed they are ruled by monsters. And monsters are their livelihood to live and survive. If you do not remember, Moloch said that only a fraction of adventurers would be willing to stay in dungeon cities."

    "Unfortunately, I did say that." Moloch smiled weakly.

    "And like the System had said, monsters who settle here need to be paid. We have enough on our te, and I solely need an ountant to run our money properly despite the fact that we have a System."

    "...Because our cash flows go in and out too quickly?" Jin asked, feeling a little guilty.

    "Heh, d you know. The System can calcte but cannot predict our windfall, our potential assets, and most importantly, we do not have any investments. All of these building...of great wonders, we rely our expenses on trading in the ck market and our store-"

    "We have the Tree Mall now, we can increase the number of tenants to-"

    "Not the point! You are charging them cheaply that if not for the 3%mission of the sales that I had written in the contract, you would only be receiving peanuts from them. But what I want to say is that if we only have someone that can y the stock markets and have multiple connections with other businesses, we could be better off." Qiu Yue said, and suddenly a thought struck on her and so did Jin.

    "Mr Know-It-All? I saw him ying stock markets on his phone a number of times and judging from the way he analysed battles, I think he could be a good addition to our team." Qiu Yue suggested, and Jin was in a lurch.

    "System, can you create an NPC that ys the stock market? Or maybe Kraft to do it?" Jin requested and totally ignored Qiu Yue.

    "Hello? Why did you suddenly change the subject? Is there something wrong with Mr Know-It-All?'' Qiu Yue questioned, but Jin gave a half-ass response saying that it would be better to have the System to create an NPC which we can fully trust since investments involved with boatloads of money.

    "But you roped me in? I am a stranger who did not know anything until I was exposed to the System, and it taught me things? How about that Amura Rei? He is even more of a total stranger to us!" Qiu Yue said and saw Jin''s face filled with dilemma again. She then stopped arguing and took a breath in.

    "Fine, get an NPC from the System and made us owe it an abyss worth of debt." Qiu Yue said with a bit of spite.

 Chapter 612 Creating Value

    <h4>Chapter 612 Creating Value</h4>

    "Calm down, everyone. There is no use if we argue about suggestions. Qiu Yue, I understand your concerns, and you want Jin to improve, but perhaps he might have some reasons he could not reveal." Moloch tried to quell the uneasy atmosphere in the Dungeon Maker.

    "Heh, so much for transparency. He promised that I could work unhindered and would not lie anything to me." Qiu Yue knew Jin enough to see that he was hiding something.

    "He did not lie to you, Master was merely omitting some information from you. Do not confuse the sin of omission and lying. Thetter is one I do not tolerate and trust me, I know when he is bluffing." Kraft suddenly entered the Dungeon Maker room, and somehow Jin felt even more uneasy.

    "But understand this, little Red Panda. He is your boss. You can advise, guide or even beat him to a plummet to make him see your view, but you can never overwrite him." Kraft spoke each and every word in a slow and menacing slur while ring into her eyes, reminding her that she gave her life to the System and Jin the moment she epted to be a Sub System User.

    "Then what if he is misguided? What if he is wrong? What if he is adamant about being right even though his actions are unjustifiable and deserved to be punished? All I know is that the System will not do anything unless Jin affects its agenda." Qiu Yue did not back down.

    "I will punish him. Harshly. And trust me, I been through enough to see if a User is bad or not." Kraft said as he ced his hand onto Qiu Yue''s shoulder and suddenly a burst of his memories flow through the Red Panda Cultivator''s brain. If not for the protection of the Sub System, Qiu Yue might have already passed out.

    Tears involuntarily flowed out of Qiu Yue, but as she came back to reality, she quickly swiped them away and looked at Kraft with a more trusting look.

    "Very good, that is one thing I like about you, Little Red Panda. Your resilience ismendable. Now, continue on with the meeting in peace, okay? I will just seat at one corner and use your bbering as a luby to go to sleep." Kraft''s lips curled ever so slightly to give his approval to Qiu Yue before going to the corner of the Dungeon Maker.

    "...Well, so where are we?" Qiu Yue asked, and Moloch managed to steer the conversation back. As for Jin, he had been thinking what Qiu Yue had in mind and decided to appease her by offering an olive branch.

    "We can make ss Dome 1 as a ce for cultivators to stay. Since we are using this city in the long run, its best to foster a collective identity than picking up stragglers from the Dungeon World." Jin said, but Qiu Yue was not as excited as before.

    Still, she did her job with professionalism. "If we are letting cultivators stay here, we need to let them know that this is not just some Dungeon Instance Hotel. It is a ce where they could really stay for an extended period of times."

    "But I have a few questions on my part. If we want residents in the ce instead of like erm hotels. Will there be an issue with our local government? Like deliveries of official letters, their housing tax etc? I mean, we are providing them ''a dungeon instance'' to stay." Jin asked sincerely, and Qiu Yue seemed to have all of this covered.

    "I had the Empire Building Sub System to look into our byws and housing estate regtion. What we do is technically a loophole because no one had ever created a dungeon instance real enough or substantial to hold for decades. We will be the ''first'' to do it." Qiu Yue said and added that they need to be convincing enough to let people know that living in the Dungeon City Fortress is an alternative.

    If they had fooled cultivators into thinking that the Goblin World and to some extent, the Farming World is a dungeon instance, there should be no exception for this too.

    The only problem is that theirnd had no real value at the moment.

    "So, we have to create the illusion of value on our side. Usually, people buy a ce is because of a few criteria." Qiu Yue showed four fingers out. "Privilege, Comfort, Space, Convenience andstly price."

    "I assume, the concept of Privilege is how luxurious the ce or unique the area could be?" Jin asked, and Qiu Yue nodded her head.

    "The Pand-Antis ss Dome itself is already a very unique concept, and staying in here will definitely be a notch better than all the other ces out there. We have the illusion offort because the System will always be monitoring the area, so crimes can be quickly resolved." Qiu Yue started to exin the criteria they had achieved.

    "As for Space, the Sub System is still fixing the prices per square feet to make itpetitive rate among the ones in the market. After which, we will mark it up. Lastly, convenience is definitely not an issue, I have ced all the basic amenities we needed, like shophouses etc. Else, they can teleport back to the Tree Mall and have their meals."

    "In fact, we might have something that stands out to attract buyers which no one in your world will ever have," Moloch spoke out, and he took a card out and ce it on the table.

    It was a picture of a clown walking into a cave.

    "The chance to bring them to various dungeons in this world. We will have thestugh for taking their money and making them fight to earn more resources for the city." Moloch said, and Kraft who was nearly asleep, half smirked at that opportunity.

    "Ah, that sounds really a devious n you have there!" Qiu Yue began to be filled with happy anticipation.

    "Have the cultivators pay us money to stay on a monthly basis and organised arge raid to nearby dungeon caves at a small cost. If they win, their dungeon cores will direct remit money and resources to our city while we pay the cultivators in Panda Medals. If we do this on arge scale, it could be possible that we might earn ourselves a Metropolis in less than five years." Moloch stated, and that made Jin stared at Moloch.

    "Won''t it affect the ecosystem of the dungeon caves around the area? To have an influx of ...outer world travellers using the resources here?" Jin questioned the viability of the organised dungeon cave ''outings''.

    "Hahah! Never! There are always more dungeon caves dying to have some business than cities around."

    "Heh! Not to mention, there is not a need to create too many instances too! We save money, earn money and get more resources! That is a totally a win win situation for us!" Qiu Yue replied, and Jin seemed to like that idea a lot.

    "Oh and if we ever have an invasion, we can call on the cultivators to aid us as well. On the plus side, we do not even have to pay them money, just Panda Medals." Moloch added.

    "Fantastic! Let''s do this then. I will get Kiyu to start thinking of the advertisements ideas while we continue to prepare for the impending invasion." Jin said, and he finally wrapped up the meeting for the Dungeon City Fortress.

 Chapter 613 Beyond His Reach

    <h4>Chapter 613 Beyond His Reach</h4>

    Qiu Yue and Moloch left the Dungeon Maker first since her Empire Building Sub System wouldpile what needed to be done into minutes of the meeting. Lord Wolte was also teleported back to his followers while Kraft was still at the corner, seemingly sleeping rather peacefully. As for Jin, he continued to stay in the Dungeon Maker while he looked at the ceiling to collect his thoughts.

    The issue with Mr Know-It-All still bothered him and for the old man not to appear ever since Kraft went to infiltrate the database was a bit too much of a coincidence. Jin even messaged Mr Know-It-All a few times, telling him about the new Tree Mall and such in the Pandamonium App.

    Yet, there was no response at all.

    "User, for your request to create an NPC to predict the stock markets would cost an astronomical amount which you have no money to pay for at the moment." The System stated

    "Isn''t it just mathematical models and prediction? Why would be such an expensive NPC to create?" Jin queried while he leaned back on his chair.

    "Because of the potential value it will bring in the future, and the System needs to weave a few souls together to create said NPC for there were no such NPCs nor Betors in System''s possession that can do such a job." The System responded, causing Jin sighed.

    "Can I get Kraft to hack the stock market and manipte it?"

    "Don''t bother thinking any further. I am somewhat a hacker through the System''s abilities and not some real life maths or economics whiz. Besides, I am also not willing to learn something so useless for the future." Kraft mumbled from the corner. If not for Jin''s acute hearing, he would have thought Kraft was merely slurring in his sleep.

    "Then I just abandon that thought and earn money the hard way," Jin said tofort himself.

    "Alternatively, you can find Mr Know-It-All and get answers from him." The Fox Betor suggested as he stretched his arms a bit.

    "You know where he is?" Jin suddenly stood up upon hearing Kraft''s response.

    "Something like that." Kraft yawned as hezily eyed towards Jin''s direction. "Ayse''s aid to infiltrate Sea Mesh brought me some very fascinating data. System, pull me nearer to Jin. I am toozy to move myself."

    The System did what Kraft requested, and the Original Betor tapped on the digital console, bringing up a map of Shenzhen. But it was no ordinary map as Jin could roughly see that it was simr to the pictures he saw when he had the cheapskate satellite in the Goblin War.

    "Apparently, Sea Mesh has a private satellite which was for their servers andmunications purposes. However, I found in its logs that they were also used to track a few individuals. At first, I thought they were just monitoring some of their keypetitors, you know, the usual business spying stuff." Kraft babbled, but Jin was surprised by what he said.

    "They are rich enough to buy a private satellite? I know they are the leading fewpanies in Dungeon Tech, but I did not expect them to be that rich!"

    "Yeah? You think your dungeon servers are that cheap? Not to mention those high tier dungeon suppliers always buy their stuff from Sea Mesh, including software, technical support that kind of stuff. Now I AM surprised how little you know about your partner before reaching out to them." Kraft said, and Jin was a little embarrassed. He admitted that he trusted Ke Loong too quickly when he was rmended by Mr Know-It-All.

    "In any case, judging from the train of thoughts, I assume that this private satellite somehow tracked Mr Know-It-All as well?" Jin asked since he did not need a full version of the story from Kraft.

    "What?? You don''t want to hear how I impressively cracked the code and managed to find what Ke Loong was tracking? Perhaps, some conspiracy that the Sea Mesh is rted to some sort of shady organisation and he is aiding people that are worse than the Triads?"

    "You gave just me your impressions and summary of the story already, so no," Jin answered making Kraft all pouty too.

    "Heh! No wonder Qiu Yue was angry with you just now! BYE!" Kraft said as he stood and directly walked away from Jin.

    "Hey! Wait! You serious?!" Jin got a bit annoyed by Kraft''s yful behaviour, but he knew he had to y along to learn more.

    "Yeah, I am serious. I have decided that it is best not to let you know about this yet. It''s too dangerous for you, kid." Kraft turned to smile momentarily before waving goodbye.

    "Then why did you dangle that carrot in front of me for?" Jin felt like throwing his weapons at Kraft even though he knew he was not up to match.

    "Because I want to let you know, like the stock market, there is always something ominous hiding in the shadows of the water. A fish that will always be bigger than you. Right now, you are still nothing but a pawn in this field of business. You think that you have grown a lot? Think again. This is merely the beginning." Kraft turned and told Jin off how na?ve he still was.

    "For now, I suggest you swim under the fishes that had bestowed you with some safety. When you have sufficient power, money and prestige. Then you stick your neck out and risk it all." After reprimanding Jin a little, the Original Betor''s pose rxed.

    "Still, it''s your life. Like I said to Qiu Yue, I can advise, guide and maybe provide an illusion of safety. But ultimately, you are still the Boss. You can do whatever you want." Kraft then stopped what he was saying as he tilted his head slightly to the right and lifted his index finger up as he provoked Jin by calling out to his Master to go against him.

    "That is if you writhe that information out of me."

 Chapter 614 Extra: Agent L

    <h4>Chapter 614 Extra: Agent L</h4>

    "How long do we have to be their cleaning crew?" Thedy said as she tied her shimmering aquamarine hair up to a small little ponytail. There was no need to hide her hair colour at the point of time when they were in the northern mountains of Dongguan and Huizhou which were neighbouring cities from Shenzhen.

    "Because our sponsors pay us well enough to do this?" Mr Know-it-all peered into the distance as he nced at the overarching night sky. He was in his jeep, taking a rest and drinking his wife''s oolong tea as usual.

    "Meh, I thought you did not want to do anything with them anymore. Or are you using this as an excuse to go out with me? Won''t your wife be jealous that you are spending the Christmas night with a sweet young thing?"

    "You? Sweet young thing? Please give me a break, Li. You are anything but that. Besides, if you know this is a boring task, why did you join me and not go investigate that dungeon supplier? You always wanted to know the location of your Master since you are now an independent contractor. I believed that it is a good ce to start." Mr Know-it-all mocked his partner.

    "Heh! As if my master is that young. He should be about 40 to 50 odd years old by now. And besides, if no one takes care of you during missions, who will? Your leg does not work as well as it used to." Ryuli sniggered towards Mr Know-it-all as she clenched her fist to feel the chi coursing through her.

    Though her memory of that incident was a bit foggy, Ryuli had always remembered how her ''master'' passed her the very thing that allowed her to survive before someone else found her struggling inside that god-forsaken ce. Yet at the same time, she was curious why did he merely leave her inside the dark, filthy underground cell when he broke open the ceiling.

    Was it because he wanted to test her? Just give her the means to survive? Or did he encounter someone along the way and was killed in the process? Too many questions which Ryuli had pondered over the years. She was neither grateful nor bore any malicious intent towards her master ...Just curious.

    Thankfully, it was none other than Mr Know-it-all who discovered her and decided to take Ryuli under his wing. He initially wanted to send her to an orphanage but finding out that she had cultivation powers activated within her as well as the fact that her father killed an entire temple full of innocent people, Mr Know-it-all changed his mind.

    Mr Know-it-all alsoter realised that her cultivation was not inherent to what her family was known for. Her mother was from a family of Dancing Dragon Style, a subsidiary group under the Dangerous Dragon Triad. She was subsequently emunicated from the Triads after she decided to marry amoner for her spouse.

    However, she paid the price a little too harsh considering she had to strip all of her fortune, name and even artificially sealing her Dantian to ensure that she could not cultivate. Still, she persevered and be with the man she loved.

    So, Mr Know-it-all was remarkably interested upon seeing what Ryuli had in her cultivation was not a dragon but instead, a panda. Not only that, the chi she exuded had traces of mana in it as well. While he cannot adopt a kid due to the sensitive nature of his job, Mr Know-it-all decided to enrol her into the Special Training for the Young and Talented within the Chinese Military.

    In that programme, he knew that she would be well fed, educated and trained to be apetent field agent. The only problem was that she would not be living like a normal girl. However, Mr Know-it-all had a hunch that even she could, the society will cklist her, scrutinise her because of the history of her family.

    In a way, this was Mr Know-it-all''s method of showing concern to her, and when he asionally entered the programme as a special instructor, he will make sure there everything was fair to her in the most reasonable way. (After all, it was a strict programme, there was only so much he could do.)

    In retrospect for Ryuli, she figured that she could have gotten worse in the normal society aspared to the training programme that she was drafted to. Some of the students in that programme had been in an even more obscure situation which Ryuli felt that she was rather fortunate.

    -----

    "Seems like we picked up some static noises. Agent L, go take a look." Mr Know-it-All said as he observed the various monitors in the jeep that they were in.

    "Understood, Agent K." Ryuli got out of the jeep and checked herbat umbre at her back as well as the short sword she held at her waist. Other than that, she had a standard battle jacket with a unique heat tech ability, along with long sleevedbat shirt that kept her warm during the Christmas Winter. It was made with nanofibres that are capable of withstanding a few monster hits along without an inscription.

    "Here, take these inscriptions and ced them on your shirt and jacket. As well as your weapons. I do not want a repeat likest time." Agent K said to Ryuli as she took the temporary offensive and defensive inscriptions to observe for a while before applying them.

    "That incident was not my fault, and I guess these inscription charms are from that dungeon supplier? Looks decent enough." Ryuli replied and noticed one of them was a little different from the others. She queried whether if it was from the same dungeon supplier store as well.

    "While I had not been there for some time because of this ''cleaning'', I got a few of myckeys to buy whatever they have so yes, they are all from there. Even the limited edition one that you are holding. Apparently, it''s their Boss'' Special for Christmas. He infused his chi into it to bring a sort of Panda attack out regardless of cultivation style. Sold in limited quantities so it''s one of a kind...sort of." Agent K replied.

    "And I thought you might want to have some fun killing those monsters since its Christmas, and I am interested in what it will do especially since myckeys had already spent money on it."

    "Aww, so sweet of you. Thanks, Agent K. I will make sure it will go with a bang." Ryuli winked at Mr Know-it-all as she patched it onto her Combat Umbre.

    "That charm contained the very same chi that I have. How is that possible?" She thought to herself as she pretended to check her sidearm and the items in her storage ring before departing. "Could that Master be working for the Dungeon Supplier? Is that why K always lurked in that small store?"

    "The static noises are getting louder. Go. Now." Agent K ordered, and Ryuli snapped out of her thoughts as she nodded her head and disappeared in a sh.

 Chapter 615 A Polite Gif

    <h4>Chapter 615 A Polite Gif</h4>

    Obviously, Jin did not fall to Kraft''s provocation and decided to do a little bit of work before he returned to his room for the rest of the night. But instead of sleeping, he put on his outerwear and walked along the streets in the middle of the night.

    After what Kraft had said as a grim reminder not to get sess over his head, Jin guessed a bit of time out would do him good. He initially thought sleeping would help, but he remembered Ming was waiting for him with a ck Tortoise at hand. Thus he decided a walk in the freezing night could help with his mind.

    The streets were rather quiet, but the stroll in the cold winter night was a refreshing change of environment instead of the stifling air conditioned Dungeon Maker room. Jin walked aimlessly for a moment but eventually found himself in front of the police station. The lights in the station itself were evident, with Jin believed a number of them would still be on night duty.

    "Ah, I never really thanked them for their servicesбн" Jin said to himself and asked the System to purchase and teleport arge metal container filled with an assortment of food into his storage ring.

    "Done. The necessary amount had been deducted from your ount." The System stated as Jin pulled it out from his storage ring. A policeman who recently came back from a patrol suddenly shouted at Jin. Since he could not see clearly but a silhouette from the bright street lights near the police station, he wondered suspiciously whether the man was plotting against the police.

    "Only at closer inspection, both of them realised they knew each other."

    "Se Lang?" Jin asked, and Se Lang extended his hand out to greet and congratte Jin.

    "Boss! What are you doing here? You scared me for a moment that you are nting some bomb or something!" Se Lang said as two police officers came out of the station upon hearing the initial yelling.

    "I just thought to send some appreciation gifts for the effort you guys done for m- the district. Wanted to ce here so I can be a bit anonymous and not feel too erm you know, look as if I am bribing the police." Jin said to Se Lang as the two police officers came down from the stairs. They realised Se Lang had it under control, but Jin told them not to go away just yet.

    "What is inside?" Se Lang asked as Jin opened the frontpartment of the metal container, revealing a series of delicious looking food.

    "Just something to warm the stomachs a little," Jin said, and the three police officers were cheering. "Call the other officers to get it, and return the container to me tomorrow or something like that."

    "You not going to stay and eat as well? Its looks like there is a lot of food in this container!" Se Lang said as the other police officers agreed that the metal container which looked like a library cab stacked with bowls of delicious smelling foodstuff.

    "Nah, I am just strolling a little before going back home," Jin said and Se Lang told Jin not to be shy. Even the other police officers told Jin to join them for the food.

    "Yeah, you aided us in our training, and we even heard a rumour about an iing Joint Police Military exercise! Tell us a bit more about it!" The officer beside Se Lang said.

    "If not, we have to arrest you!" One of the officers joked andter told Jin that he needed to be somewhere else, then it''s fine.

    "Alright, alright, I will join you guys for a while. I am hopeful just not behind bars!" Jin finally decided to stay behind for a while, and Se Lang escorted Jin to their cafeteria after he kept the container in his storage ring.

    When the rest of the officers were notified that there was a metal container full of food from Dungeons and Pandas, most of them did not dy any further and rush to the cafeteria for it. (Less the essential personnel on important posts.)

    "Jin! I heard this is your doing. Thanks for the treat!" Inspector Lee An said as he saw Se Lang and Jin sitting in one corner of the cafeteria. Almost everyone in the police station knew who he was and did not mind just this once for him to stick around for a while. Of course, with supervision by Se Lang.

    "Try the cheesecake, it''s terrific." Se Lang said as he pushed a slice of it towards his pal.

    "Bted Merry Christmas to you, Inspector," Jin said to Lee An as the inspector realised this was an excellent opportunity to introduce Jin to the Captain of the Tiangong District Police Station. Thus, he went off for a while and grab the Captain Mao Pai Huo to Jin.

    "Ah, Jin. Nice to see you again. I did not expect to meet you at the Police Station." Pai Huo extended his hand to shake his hand.

    "Captain, Merry Christmas to you too," Jin replied which made the inspector a bit curious.

    "You two met before?"

    "Just briefly. I was off duty and decided to see the Tree Mall opening ceremony. Tiger Head Hu Yuan Ba incidentally saw me and introduced me to him. It was a brief meet, but I must say, the Tree Mall was indeed a spectacr addition not only to the district but Shenzhen as a whole. Because of you, Central considered revising our annual budget and in turn, our training budget and sales with you." Pai Huo said with a delightful grin.

    "I look forward to more business. Oh, and it alsoes to my understanding that you guys were not allowed to budge into the scene as ordered but still did your best to capture most of the Rat Triad Members." Jin thanked the Police Captain and subsequently, Pai Huo requested the dungeon supplier toe into his office.

    Upon reaching his office with a few slices of desserts on his te, Pai Huo closed the blinds and locked the door and ced a magic scroll on the walls, activating an anti acoustic barrier around the room.

    "Seems serious concerning the things you wished to discuss," Jin said as Pai Huo settled to his office chair and tasted one of the cheesecakes.

    "I like to strike a deal." Pai Huo offered.

 Chapter 616 Contingencies Needed

    <h4>Chapter 616 Contingencies Needed</h4>

    "Didn''t Inspector Xue Ping made a deal for the police already? If you wish to revise the deal because of better budgeting, I do not think we need all this sort of secrecy." Jin tried to ease the tension a little since Pai Huo looked rather adamant to seek for his help.

    "Heh. I am not looking at that deal. Xue Ping is fully capable liaising with the HR people to get the numbers and present you with a revision of the training deal. What I am here to ask is actually with regards to the Joint Police Military exercise that you would be performing in theing month." Pai Huo said as he started to type something on hisputer.

    "What I am about to show you is ssified, but at the very least it will show you the severity of it. I am entrusting you because Tiger Head Hu said that you now have the clearance to know some things and he actually wanted to schedule a meet early next month." Pai Huo continued. "However, to my surprise, here you are in the station when I am doing the obligatory night shift of the month. Might as well take the chance to brief you."

    Pai Huo then turned hisptop around to Jin and showed him the current situation that he wished to brief the dungeon supplier. "I understand from Head Hu that you expressed a bit of hesitation in creating the joint Police Military dungeon exercise early, but this is the reason why Head Hu wanted to fasten the pace."

    What the Police Captain had shown Jin was a map of the northern borders of Dongguan and Huizhou. And when heter tapped on the keyboard, it revealed a congregation of colours in the forested mountains. It seemed like it represented the intensity... the magnitude of an observed event and Jin inferred them to be the umtion of the Monster Horde based on their conversation topic.

    "The border guards are doing their best to suppress the monsters, and we even have private hire rmended by the Chinese Military Intelligence to reduce the threat. Hopefully, they find the leader of the Monster Horde."

    "And? How does the joint exercise have any bearing with the suppression of the Monster Horde? The way you say it as if you have control over the current situation."

    "We have to prepare for contingencies even if the border guard manage to annihte their leader. Besides the exercise does matter. We do not want any sort of panic to be happening for no reason, especially the umtion of military power in the cities."

    "With the Chinese New Year looming in February, productivity will double and possibly a 24 hour work shift for mostpanies. Evacuation of Dongguan and Huizhou will have moderate to significant economic impact." Pai Huo said, and Jin still did not get why they need his help.

    "Please don''t beat around the bush. If you do not tell me what you want out of me, I do not know how to help you." Jin said, making Pai Huo stared into nk space for a while. He snapped out of it quickly and eventually appreciated Jin''s honesty.

    "Guess, I have been dealing with too much bureaucracy. My bad. Alright, I shall give you straight. We have information that you and Sea Mesh developed a mass produced portal device which is sessful in transporting people." Pai Huo started the exnation of his request so bluntly that now it was Jin''s turn to be startled.

    "I guess, Ke Loong demonstrated it to the police and military?" Jin queried, and he quietly nodded his head.

    "He wanted to sell it to us as part of his future business endeavour. Usually, this kind of tech, we will love to use it for military purposes first andter the public but Ke Loong was insistent that he had a promise to fulfil first. I assume that promise was you when he mentioned that he needed to meet his dungeon supplier request before meeting others."

    "I assumed the money was not that great?" Jin joked, and Pai Huo shook his head.

    "I do not know the full figure, but rumours said that the military was willing to pay three to four times the price for priority usage. When Ke Loong refused, they even up the offer to another two times and yet he was adamant about keeping his promise." Pai Huo exined.

    "That is why we are going to you. You are the only one capable of letting us use those portal devices for a sudden raid in the northern mountains."

    "Wait. So, you guys are not interested in the dungeon instance in the first ce but wanted a teleportation portal while disguising the intention as a gathering to test out the dungeon instance?" Jin asked, and Pai Huo had no other way to sugarcoat the truth.

    "Head Hu will provide generous numeration for the police side, and I believe he is trying to contact Snake General Hou Fei to discuss the details. I wanted to let you know earlier, and at the very least, you might have some time to talk to Ke Loong on shifting the portal devices for the dungeon instance raid."

    "And I assume I cannot refuse this?" Jin was filled with anger though he did not show it out openly. But he finally realised what Kraft was talking about all along being just a small fish in the ocean.

    "It would be wise to ept the deal. We are facing a national crisis, but I did mention previously that we have private hires and the border guards trying to deal with the situation before it esctes even further. The date that Head Hu gave you is already a generous estimate. He probably wanted the police and army to mobilise as soon as possible. Yet for some reason, he respected you and was willing to wait until the start of New Year." Pai Huo replied.

    "Also, if you do ept graciously, I can guarantee that you will maintain your prosperity for the uing year." The Police Captainter emphasised that he was merely a messenger trying to perform some goodwill for Jin.

    "бнI understand." The dungeon supplier said slowly, but the police captain told him not to give up.

    "Assuming if the border guards can destroy their leader before the appointed gathering time, we might be able to proceed with your dungeon instance. If that happens, please be merciful to the Police teams." Pai Huo said with a little smile on his face as he thanked Jin for the wonderful dinner gift.

    Jin was given a lift home back by Se Lang in a patrol car as he happily told Jin how his two girlfriends had bought him a new Scythe weapon as well as a plushie from his store. But even with all that rambling, Jin only beamed at Se Lang as he started to formte the course of actions that needed to be done in his head.

    There was no time for moping or feeling betrayed. Jin had to use whatever opportunities he had at his disposal and make the best of the situation. Hopefully, someday he will rise above them, and all this nonsense might go away.

    Now he understood why Ming potentially harboured more than just animosity against the Royal Zodiac ns and for good reasons. "I will not care for revenge, but I will make sure one day I will be the one utilising them as pawn pieces on the chessboard." Jin thought to himself as he thanked Se Lang for the ride.

    The total revamp of the shop instance can wait for it was time to get new allies before the new year, and hopefully an upgrade for the System.

 Chapter 617 The Northern Bulwark

    <h4>Chapter 617 The Northern Bulwark</h4>

    After a quick rest in the sleeping capsule, Jin woke up to check the status of the Farming World. The Dungeon Supplier needed to know if he could utilise any additional monsters for the raid in Giant World.

    That was because it was the first ce he had in mind for new allies. He kept it from Peppers for now since her intention was to obliterate the entire city into dust.

    That would be madness, but so was coordinating a search and rescue operation, in addition to the intent of defeating the reigning Smander family. If all else fails, at the very least he would still have the Smanders in the worst oue possible.

    Jin invited Gold to give him a debrief and thetest development was that he had managed to evacuate most of the towns they had liberated to the Trading Town of Wecha, the ce where the three goblins had a massive fight against the Demon Rats.

    This was because Town Wecha was the biggest and had the most defensive features a town could have. Not to mention it was the closest to the seaports where the remaining Northern Military forces were guarding.

    The liberation of Wecha had led to the remaining general in charge of defences convinced to aid the townfolks. Silver, Gold''s cousin, was the diplomat to make it happen. While he might not be a very good fighter and a bad temper to top it off, his tongue was as silver as it could be.

    He not only convinced the remaining Northern General, Matt Umiterus, to send its military forces to Wecha, Silver had also given him an open channel to the Southern Stars Organisation and Western Skies.

    With the two other organisations done scouting and sabotage missions respectively, they had provided the information for the general to organise his troops. They hoped that bigger raid attempts could be executed in the areas near the seaports so they might have a safer perimeter.

    Silver and Meomi subsequently discussed with the two other organisations on hiring more of their members, but also came with a cost to borne. Fortunately, General Matt also being the remaining official representative of the Northern Kingdom, he had agreed to take on the expenses.

    Silver did not know how the situation would pan out at first, but ording to his soldiers, General Matt was considered as the few sensible and honourable general as well as an incredibly lucky chap.

    Because of his budding talents, the newly appointed young general was being sent to Western Region for a military training exercise which none of the Northern Generals liked.

    They felt that the Western Military was too ...wilful in nature. They did not have the rigidness of the Northern Military, but the bteral military exercise had to be participated as a show of friendship between the two regions.

    Thus, they made the general Matt to go instead.

    Little did they knew, the young general was able to amodate to the Western Military attitudes and even became drinking buddies with the top brass of the Western Military.

    That was why when the Western Skies recognised that General Matt was in the negotiation table, the adventurer''s guild agreed too readily to provide assistance to him. (The head of the adventurer''s guild was one of the Top Brass and was all the more happy to aid Mattpared to any other Northern Generals.)

    But that was the only easy part General Matt had. For the past months, he had been struggling against the Demon Rats the day he returned to the Northern Kingdom. He and his army fought bit by bit, inch by inch to get back a seaport town.

    Some of the veteran soldiers even recalled that the fight started off the shores when the rats attempted to swim and board their ships. Subsequently, the other seaports were liberated by using the various surprise tactics he learnt from the Western Military.

    It was through his valiant efforts it was able to secure the seaports days after it was dominated by the Demon Rats. By denying the Demon Rats the seaports, General Matt was able to contain the Demon Rat infestation within the Northern Region.

    And for that reason alone, the remaining townsfolk in the seaport worked hard to support the defending army.

    Trade might have been reduced, but having a sea trade route meant that food and replenishment of armaments were avable бнjust at a higher cost. Yet, the other regions knew the implications of this untold horror after General Matt gave the other region''s representatives a glimpse of the grim reality. Consequently, they lowered the cost of trading essential food and arms while some tradepanies even donated for free to aid their cause.

    The only thing the other regions did not offer was manpower as they too were busy shoring up their costal and sea defences. Patrols were done regrly in their oceanic borders, in case the Demon Rats learn how to swim. Some of the Western Military wanted to send their men, but their government was quick to shoot that down. (That was mainly the reason why Silver initially used organisations as a proxy to reach to them. Soldiers of fortune were still better than no soldiers aiding the North.)

    Ironically, not one of the region ever thought of conquering the Northern Region. Perhaps they were scared of the unknown, or maybe they wanted the Northern Region to be entirely infested with Demon Rats without any Northerners left.

    If not for the fact that General Matt needed to protect the remaining free Northerners, he would have personally sailed a ship towards each kingdom and punch the leaders for being such heartless cowards.

    However, all these constant doubts and worries were being washed away with the tide of good news from Silver. As Gold and the other monsters had previously raided foodstuff and armaments from the various towns, the army in the seaports was restocked with adequate supplies. The gold they stole were also given to General Matt as a supplement to his war chest.

    Townfolks from the evacuated areas were also inspired to join General Matt''s army, the Northern Bulwark, thus replenishing the manpower to train new recruits as well to fill in misceneous jobs like logistics and administration.

    In return, the Northern Bulwark extended their defensive borders to Wecha though General Matt was extremely apprehensive about stretching his forces too thin. But he had to show his gratitude in some way or another.

    Silverughed and told him not to worry.

    True enough, days after the agreement, ships mysteriously appeared to the various seaports carrying the Dark Temrs'' insignia. Dark Temr Commander Zieg introduced himself to General Matt and told him that the Eastern Dark Temrs would be helping the Northern Bulwark in exchange for authority to operate on its own. They even passed on more foodstuff and supplies to the Northern Bulwark before marching on.

    At first General Matt was worried that these zealots would be a hindrance to the Northern Region future, but he figured that was a problem for ater date. The Northern Bulwark agreed, and the first ce the Dark Temrs went was officially reinforcing Wecha.

    By then, most of the townfolks had already acknowledged them as their saviours and protectors since they were also the ones who escorted them during the evacuation. (Just not officially.)

    Jin was impressed by Gold and his teams'' work and felt that the evacuation was a decent tactic to stall time against the Demon Rat armies. However, he was saddened that the Demon Rats could potentially utilise the resources left behind in those deserted towns.

    "Some of the citizens stayed back to gather whatever valuable resources they could find and pass it to the respective evacuation teams. After which, we used those metal carriages erm ...Jeeps to send them back to their groups." Gold exined that he had already thought of that.

    "While we gave the impression that we are going to burn them underground, we actually teleport the goods and supplies to Commander Zieg as teleported the ships from the Eastern Regions to the seas of the Northern Region to make our actions more believable. System nearly killed us for using so many resources with the portal efforts."

    "That''s great to hear!" Jin replied knowing that all did not go to waste.

    "And Boss бнyou should have already known that Peppers will not give a pass to such sweet, vulnerable targets when their armies reached the towns for a pit stop." Gold said with a smirk on his face.

    "You don''t mean?" Jin started to chuckle a little.

    "Let''s just say Ayse had a wonderful field experiment with Peppers." Gold winked at him and continued to debrief Jin the finer details of his report.

 Chapter 618 Angsty Frog

    <h4>Chapter 618 Angsty Frog</h4>

    With a few pieces of pictorial evidence by Gold and video recordings from Ayse, Jin saw the destruction left by Peppers. Without a doubt, her explosion spells were as impressive as ever.

    "Heh, I remembered that her something, something super explosion was being thrown by a giant human silhouette in our time at the Fishing World. So I expected the same kind of spells, but now there are so many variations." Jin said as he nced through the videos.

    There was a human silhouette shooting an arrow causing the explosion, another that used arge gigantic hammer to ''tten'' the entire town, causing explosive aftereffects and thest was merely a sword punching out of the ground and subsequently exploding.

    Ayse even ced some afterthoughts andmentary in the videos and said that the more creativity Peppers was with her creation of the explosive spells, the stronger it was. At first, Ayse had made Peppers cast her explosion spells in the simplest possible manner and improve on it.

    Oddly enough, casting a simple explosion spell had a reverse effect on both the mana consumption and the damage effectiveness, which made Ayse wondered what kind of magician Peppers was. With some minor tweaks to her spellmands, as well as a detailed analytical breakdown of her mana consumption, Ayse had made Peppers improved her magical powers.

    The result was in obvious with the obliteration of the three towns, but Peppers wanted more. (Thankfully, Ayse was able to beat some sense into her.)

    "While we have annihted a bulk of the Demon Rat forward armies, there was still arge portion of them heading to Wecha. At the very least, we can expect they won''t have any reinforcements from the East and West. Too bad, the townfolks had no ce to return at the end of the war...should we survive this ordeal." Gold sighed with a heavy heart.

    "What are you talking about? This is the best time for us to aid in their construction and even improve their lives significantly. We can then use these workers to help out with our Dungeon City Fortress in the future since they have the know-how. And for those towns which were burnt to crisp, I will suggest for Silver to create propaganda flyers and you can use the military to send it out through the seaports and the people of Wecha."

    "Meanwhile, I suggest that you start to create rumours that the Demon Rats were so evil that they burnt the entire towns down," Jin told Gold alternatives to turn this into their favour.

    "But won''t this create more fear?" Gold asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yes, it would but what we want to inculcate in them is not the idea of fear. Instead, influence the people''s opinions to look at the other side of the picture. Fight for the resistance, fight for their homnd. Fight at all cost. Right now, they are more than just enemies of the state." Jin exined the rationale of the proposed propaganda.

    "Not only they were willing to burn the towns down mercilessly, but they also did not hesitate to enve the humans, eat them or maybe even use the townfolks as toys for all their own pleasure," Jin said with conviction which astounded Gold.

    Jin then told the Schr of the East that he merely stated the things he got from Sebastia''s report. After the fight against the two Elder Beast Demons, she had been secretly scouting the Northern capital. Gold could not believe his ears and eyes when he briefly read the report.

    "Those bastards!! North and South! I know you might imprison people and treat them as your petty ves but allowing the rats to eat them?! That is a whole new low! You will get definitely get your just punishments!" Gold mmed on the table as he crushed the report into a paper ball. Seeing how his current battlemander for the Farming World was not thinking straight, Jin allowed him to vent his emotion before asking him to calm down.

    "That is why I want to get more allies from the Giant World. If those vigers could be a fraction as good as the penguins through some basic training, they would be a great help against the Demon Rats. Thus, I would like to know if there are any people we can spare to perform a dangerous operation in the Giant World." Jin spoke, and Gold understood his need for additional reinforcements.

    "I see, I will check who is avable as we brace for the iing Demon Rat impact. I might get the Mousefolks to help us instead. They seem more than ready during the Grand Feast." Gold acknowledged Jin''s orders and disappeared back to the Farming World.

    -------

    Hamatarou and Gaeru were the next who Jin asked for a meeting as well as the Smander which they previously captured, Edwardio. "Smander scum! If you do not die today, I cannot call myself Gaeru!" The frog swordsman shouted at Edwardio, who seemed ratherx in his attitude towards Gaeru''s provocation.

    Yet, Jin was interested in what was toe next, but to his surprise, Hamatarou stood right next to Edwardio, preventing Gaeru to attack him.

    "Sage Hamatarou! Please move, or I am forced to cut you too!" Gaeru demanded. The giant hamster sighed and chanted a spell out, causing the agitated frog swordsman to sleep even before he had the chance to swing his broken sword.

    "Apologies, Master Jin for the ruckus." Hamatarou bow as a sign of apology but the Smander remained indifferent to the situation. Only when the hamster noticed Smander''s inaction, he forced Edwardio''s head down.

    "It''s fine, may I ask the history for Gaeru''s animosity against Edwardio?" Jin inquired, and Hamatarou briefly gave a summary on the whole situation. "But did you guys not meet after teleporting into the System and mend out the differences especially now that we are now in the same team?"

    "For Gaeru, he had not properly cut any Smanders down yet, and I suspect he felt frustrated by it. While I believe his skills are on par with a senior guard level, his weapon was not in the condition to fight against me." Edwardio picked up the de and showed it to Jin.

    The edge got even more chipped when Hamataroust saw and it was so worn out that the System predicted it had not been serviced for a very long time. It added that Gaeru might not have the intention of changing a new de or repairing it.

    At first, Jin thought it was possible that his vige did not have the resources or the knowledge to perform such repair services. However, Hamatarou begged to differ. He remembered that the frogs were one of the most meticulous animal people he ever knew. They would have definitely sharpened their swords and arrowheads before a hunt.

    "I mean we can forcefully repair it for them, right?" Jin asked, and the System stated that it was usually the case. However, for Gaeru, that de was considered as a unique weapon, one that was something simr to Kraft''s No Mercy or me Ripper''s dagger and bow bestowed from the me Shaitan, Ifrit.

    "Unless we have Frog Swordsman Gaeru''s permission, we have no chance of touching it. When ssified as a unique weapon, repairing his sword is equivalent of needing consent to modify a part of him." The System''s attempted illustration disgust Hamatarou a little.

    "Never mind, let''s put him to sleep for now, because I might have a n which could fully utilise his unkempt rage against the Smanders," Jin responded and subsequently asked the Edwardio how the Smanders operated.

    The guard did not withhold any information and told Jin everything he knew about them. From the guard rotation time table to the secret routes which he knew the Royal Family had used (although not all of them) and the objective of the current Royal Family Head.

    The urge to eat every giant species and animal people to gain their powers for himself. Only then, he had the ability to ovee Sage Hamatarou and retrieve the totem of Atem and reverse Atem for himself.

    "I see... But is he a tyrant against his own people?" Jin asked, and Edwardio nodded his head slowly and with hesitation. (He was initially expecting Jin to ask how the new Smander King had gotten powers from eating giants and animal people.)

    "That is also why I am revealing all the information out. I am no longer at my King''s mercy and had believed there is a better life right here." Edwardio replied andter questioned Hamatarou if he knew anything about the Sniffer giant monsters.

    "Ah, those big dog head giants who are very protective of their territory? I heard they could be extremely aggressive." Hamatarou replied and suddenly realised why Edwardio talked about it. "You don''t mean that he wants to eat those Sniffer Dogs for its power?"

    "Yes, and the Smanders managed to cut a down a front paw of Sniffer Dog. The moment the King ate it, he had begun sniffing everyone and trying to differentiate each and everyone''s odour. But thankfully because he did not feast on the Sniffer Dogs, his sense of smell were only enhanced to a certain extent. Therefore, if there is any current goal for the Smanders, it will be to chase after the Sniffer Dogs as well as the Portalling Bear." Edwardio looked at Hamatarou while chuckling softly the moment he mentioned about the portalling panda. He clearly remembered how the Sage had transformed to distract the Smanders.

    "Oh, then what about Hamatarou''s im on burning an entire animal people vige?" Jin brought it out as a counterpoint to the Smander''s statement.

    "The Frogs were just unlucky. We had a sh with them, and so they panicked and returned to their vige without any detours. Easiest find of the century." Edwardio said with sarcasm as he peered at the sleeping frog.

    "What are the frogs famous for aside for being meticulous?" Jin questioned, and Hamatarou seemed a little embarrassed to answer it.

    "The use of their tongue?"

 Chapter 619 Denial and Betrayal

    <h4>Chapter 619 Denial and Betrayal</h4>

    "Hahahah! The use of their tongue! Maybe that''s the few reasons why our Queen''s temper had improved quite a bit in the recent days!" Edwardioughed out loud at Hamatarou''s deduction.

    "Well! I have quite a number of viges to take care, I cannot possibly track and remember them!" Hamatarou folded its small little arms together, and Smander belittled him further that he should be doing a better job as the Sage.

    "In any case, how many viges you had contacted for the past year? I believe that''s the easiest few to find." Jin wanted to know, but Hamatarou shook his head as he opened his paw and three fingers out.

    "Eight excluding the ones that had already perished," Hamatarou said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

    "The rest never met up with me at the allocated time for the exchange of the Atems. The penguins were the only one that was worth my extension of stay. As for the rest, I can only assume they are dead, gone or missed out the timeline I had given them."

    "Well what do you expect? I mean I heard that the penguins had to wait 10 yearster for the exchange of totems. The chance of the vige missing out that promise was extremely high. Besides, what do you for the rest of the time? Eat nuts?" Edwardio did not seem to buy his answer.

    "As for the rest of the time, I had been travelling to the Fey Lands in search of a cure for the Giantism Virus. I heard that there were rumours of them having the only solution to this cause."

    "The Feys? I thought the old folks said never to entangle yourself with them? The deals that they demand were out of the world. I heard they can twist the words of your contract to their liking and interpretation. I bet that maybe this Giantism was caused by them too." Edwardio responded angrily, and Hamatarou did not know how to react.

    "It''s alright, no one is ming anybody. Like what both of you had said, there could be more viges out there that did not wish toe out because of the Giant Monsters. But let''s focus on things that we have." Jin calmed the two of his minions down.

    "Right now, with Edwardio''s information, we can at least take out a bulk of the Smanders. Then we could possibly look around the City for the viges in rtive peace." Jin hesitated at thest part of hisment as he remembered the ferocity of the Father Porkcupine which he had escaped from.

    He knew it was not thest time to see that Giant and there might be other simr predators that may be more menacing. (Or maybe evenrger in size.) However, with Hamatarou''s aid, there could be a possibility that it would be easier to fight against those Giant Monsters should they ever show up.

    "You have to remember that the castle had a lot of secret passages. Even if you wish to surround the castle and siege it with all your might, there is a possibility that the key personnel run away to safety." Edwardio warned.

    "That is why I want to use Gaeru as our main part of our n. The amount of attention he unknowingly portrays will definitely bring many eyes onto him." Jin said as he outlined the basic n on how to capture each and every Smander.

    Gaeru will appear again in front of the Smander castle to make a ruckus and that is where he had to either push through into the castle with his own strength or be captured right towards the King. While Jin preferred the former, he needed to create contingencies in case Gaeru failed too badly.

    At this point of the exnation, both Edwardio and Hamatarou expressed low confidence of Gaeru winning fights with his personal sword. Jin could only wish that the frog swordsman would be able to amodate different swords and have some other tricks under his sleeves aside from blind provocation.

    "So, assuming he would be captured by the Smanders, I would need Edwardio to break him out and allow him to generate even more ruckus. Try to lead him to the main throne hall and then we could carry out phase two of the n." Jin had dissected the main objectives of his current operation.

    "Break him out of jail? Do you know that the King personally supervise this kind of ''goods''? I will literally be trespassing into rooms which are under the King''s supervision. The senior guards would be a pain in the ass to work with!" Why don''t you just give the frog some lockpicking magical scroll? That would be far more easy than me attempting such an impossible task." Edwardio replied with haste upon learning what Jin wanted to do.

    "But you two are allies now, no matter how uncanny it seems. I can request the System to ce a restrictive order to not let Gaeru harm you." Jin reiterated and tried to assure the Smander, but Edwardio gave a heavy sigh as if he was considering what Jin was talking about.

    "Fine. I can aid that bbering frog a bit, and I guess that will drum up a bit of ruckus since I am abetting with the King''s potential food. Although I honestly wonder if the King would even want to eat him." Edwardio sneered as he briefly nced at the innocent sleeping frog who knew nothing about the n. The Smander guard began to think that the more Gaeru did not know about the n, the better the execution of Jin''s operation.

    "In the meantime, I am very interested in Hamatarou''s sleeping spell. System, can you make spell scrolls out of Hamatarou''s sleep magic? I was thinking of detonating them all around the castle and have some agile monster to perform that feat. That way, we can disable the weak ones and handle the Smanders who have resistance against the sleeping magic." Jin queried which the System announced that it would cost Jin a sum of money.

    He readily agreed and the System asked Hamatarou to perform his spell on a dummy. But instead of doing as per System''s orders, the Sage looked ticked that Jin had undervalued his magical powers.

    "Are you underestimating my sleep spell? I jolly well let you know that it is capable of making any Giant monsters to fall asleep, let alone the animal people!" Hamatarou said with conviction, but Jin shook his head.

    "I am preparing for contingencies in case they have a way to counter the sleep spells. Besides, like what Edwardio had said, there are some ces where he would not have known to exist so there would definitely be Smanders who could possibly be out of range of your spell."

    "User, do you wish to have Peppers to scan the castle? That would make things even easier as it could detect the number of Smanders as well as confirming theyout of the castle." The System told Jin to consider such a possibility.

    "Hahaha бнYou are kidding, right? I am doing all this because I did not want Peppers to burn this ce down. Who knows if her explosion could not reach to the underground depths of the castle should the Smanders try to escape? Or what about the secrets this castle had kept hidden? Won''t that be a more important find than just destroying the whole castle?"

    "Besides, I am denying her the opportunity to burn down a city asrge as a country too. I do not think she will take lightly to that matter." Jin reasoned, and someone suddenly voiced out her opinion too.

    "Yeah, I agree with that. You will definitely be denying Peppers of that chance. And did you really just look down on the newly gain powers of Peppers which she put in much sweat, effort and rainbow vomits to achieve it?"

    "YIKES?! When did you appear?!" Jin was taken aback when he heard Peppers talking behind his back.

    "At the point where you decide to deny to me of exploding a city asrge as a country. The System brought me in for consult. Little did I know that it was to let me hear the blunt truth." Peppers eyes turned all red and teary. She did not know whether this was considered as betrayal since the act had not been taken ce but the intention was already there.

    "Look Peppers. Listen. There might be some misunderst-"

    *BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

 Chapter 620 Shooting JinтАЩs Plans Down

    <h4>Chapter 620 Shooting Jinбпs ns Down</h4>

    When the smoke clears, Peppers realised that Jin was protected by a magical shield barrier by Milk. She was instantly summoned by the System as an emergency response when it noticed there was a build up of magical energy within Peppers. Predicting that there was a high chance to hit Jin, the System reacted preemptively to block the attack.

    The only people left stunned were the rest of the monsters in the meeting room.

    "Why! Why can you not let me hit him!" Peppers pouted, and the System stated that this is a very critical period for Jin.

    "There are times for fun, games and explosions. Unfortunately, Betor Peppers, now it is not the moment. User has too many pressing issues to do for you tond him in the hospital for even an hour." The System concluded, and Milk went forward to hug Peppers'' head.

    "Other days, alright?" Milk said gently to Peppers, and surprisingly the little Demonic Queen Sage nodded her head. If the System and Milk chose to intervene for Jin, there was nothing much she could do either.

    "System, buy Peppers an assortment of her favourite candies and Milk a 500ml of Lynn''s sake wine. Put the tab on my personal ount." Jin said, and Milk winked at Jin as a sign of thanks before moving off.

    Hamatarou checked his fur while Edwardio inspected his tail to see if they were burnt in any way. After which, Jin continued to discuss some minor details of the n with the two of them, but Edwardio continued to point out the various pitfalls of the operation. While Jin found it very irritating he was being shot down at every turn, it showed that the Smander was very concerned for the sess of the n.

    When he was finally done with many revisions of the n, Hamatarou also felt that it was time for his master to take a break and thus, they left. However, all Jin did was took a cup of Blue Mountain coffee while his mind was filled with details they talked about.

    And even before his cup was empty, the dungeon supplier called upon Que Er, the Magpie Queen to check if she had any new details with regards to the whereabouts of the Mecha World.

    "I managed to pinpoint some information but you are not going to like it." Que Er said as she noticed the mess in the Dungeon Maker room. Jin quickly asked the System to revamp the area, and with a blink of the eye, the meeting room''s table was all brand new again.

    "Why what is wrong? Is the base too heavily guard or something? You should at least have aerial surveince of the ce, right?"

    "I don''t have any at the moment ...And although I technically can do that...it will be too supicious, so I can''t." Que Er did not know how to put it properly, and it only made Jin felt even more anxious. The Magpie Queen decided to put it as bluntly as possible to break the news for him.

    "The Mechanical Titan is ced in a spaceship. Like those sci fi films you watched, ehhhh "Moon Wars" kind of massive cruising spaceships."

    "I know I should not be surprised but damn. I did not expect that at all." Jin sighed as he asked she had any images of it. Que Er shook her head in dismay as she said her birds may be magical in nature, but for a bird to fly that high into space, it would just bring too much suspicion.

    "However, I might have a bit of good news for you. One of the ces of interest where Amura Rei had taught included an Air Force School. My birds had picked up some chatter that a spaceship is going to have maintenance near the Mecha World''s atmosphere. I might not have the coordinates of the spaceport, but the Air Force sure does."

    "You believe that spaceship would be the one that carries the Mechanical Titan?" Jin queried, and the Magpie Queenughed.

    "Hardly! But at the very least, I thought this will provide you with some insight. I am just an immortal, not some mechanical whiz with all the knowledge about those metal carriages flying around. Your world I can still handle, but their world? I nearly vomit birds at the sight of the technology that they used. My birds barely able to blend in." Que Erined, and Jin had no choice but to summon Amura Rei in.

    "What time would it be in Japan right now?" Jin asked the System, but in no time, Rei was already sitting across the meeting table, drawing something. Only when he realised the table and chair he was sitting at was so different, he decided to take a look around. Que Er smiled at him, but Jin was equally shocked to see Rei.

    "I must apologise, I was hoping to ask the System to teleport you with some notification, did not expect the System to do this. Name is Jin by the way."

    "Yes I know, we met once during the Grand Feast," Rei said as he calmed himself down. This was not the first time he got teleported abruptly by the System. He could only wish that it would be more pleasant. At the very least, there was no one in the office when the teleportation happened.

    "So I assume you called me here is because you needed information about the Mecha World," Rei asked, and Jin nodded his head slowly.

    "And I also assume that you had been briefed quite a bit by your new erm... colleagues during the Grand Feast as well from the System?" Jin made an effort to get the rest of the monsters and betors in the loop to inform Rei about his roles and responsibilities.

    Rei knew that the United Federation had always wanted to create superweapon in order to counter the one by his nation, the Xeon Union, but he did not anticipate it to be so soon. Thest he heard from rumours were that it would take another 15 to 20 years more. Now he understood why they were so eager to enter another war.

    "We found out that the Mechanical Titan is in tucked in a spaceship, and we want to hear your expert advice on how to counter it. Que Er here had suggested that a spaceship would be docked to a spaceport near the Mecha World soon enough for maintenance. I guessed she was hinting that we steal something to fly up to the spaceport and hijack the spaceship." Jin exined the current situation to Rei.

    "Impossible. If I am assuming that you are talking about the Air Force Academy, their rockets are for training purposes. While I agree the security could bexpared to other military airports, their training rocket''s top speed is not fast enough to reach space. You will be dead by then." Rei warned and already took the time gap he was not in Mecha World into ount. Yet, he felt that even though the Air Force Academy might have been toocent and cheapskate to change their equipment, they should not take any chances to bet on it.

    "You mean it does not have the capability to reach space?"

    "Argh, I phrased it wrongly. The anti air defences will shoot you down before the rocket is able to reach the spaceport." Rei emphasised that that n was not feasible from the start.

    "Then have you been to any spaceports before? We might be able to use you as a proxy to point our portal coordinates." Jin queried, seeing how he got shot down again by his minions

    "I erm...thest spaceport that I had been was the one I was supposed to die in," Rei mumbled his words slowly. "I do not know how, but I was teleported to this world and found myself lying in a hospital bed. With debts, if I must add. Took me a long time to gain a name and repay all the debts."

    "Wait, what? You were really teleported to this world without any probable technological aid from your world?" Jin had also known but never had the chance to rify this part of Rei. It seemed like there were other forces that were in y, and the System was not the only unique one that could work with interworld portals.

    "Are you a natural interworld traveller?" Jin asked Rei seriously.

 Chapter 621 Interworld Traveller?

    <h4>Chapter 621 Interworld Traveller?</h4>

    Rei shrugged his body and said that magic never existed in his world before. The only magical stuff he knows were the superior technology that was barred from him to interact.

    "That is all I know. My body is still the same, but I am not in the spacesuit, nor the people around me knew what I was talking about. They nearly wanted to throw me in an asylum for saying rubbish out."

    "Only then, a male nurse came to talk to me and asked if I was having some weird condition called the 8th grade syndrome. I refused and told him I was sane until he came close to me, and told me that it''s fine to act that way."

    "As long as I do not show it during the real test he will teach me the ropes on how to ''blend'' into the ''real'' world and ironically because of him, I managed to pass the psychiatric exams." Reiter said that the male nurse revealed his true identity as the ''Dark Dragon yer''.

    "I guess that was how I learn about this world''s manga and the animation scene. Dark Dragon yer was also my sensei when ites to drawing, and those were the days how I became a mangaka artist." Jin was totally speechless upon hearing the story and sometimes guessed the world worked in different ways to help somebody out.

    "In any case... that spaceport I died should now be in the United Federation''s territory," Rei stated, and Que Er nearly wanted to send her birds there immediately until Rei stopped her verbally.

    "The spaceport should be in ruins from the previous skirmish. Knowing the United Federation, it would leave it a dead space of floating debris to remind the Xeon Union not to mess with the United Federation." The engineer reasoned.

    "Oh,e on. Here I was hoping your information will help us out." Jin leaned back on his chair and sighed.

    "Look at the bright side, at least we have a space coordinate. Maybe build a spaceship ourselves?" Que Er inquired, and somehow both Rei and Jinughed at the same time.

    "Impossible. Impossible! There is no way we have the technology to do it! And do not look at me! I never browse at any spaceship blueprints before!" Rei said, but Jinughed for a different reason.

    "We are at a ruined spaceport, surely there must be parts floating around, and most importantly, you are an engineer. Fix it." Oddly enough, Jin always wanted to say that to a fellow engineer, especially since his university friends used to berate him in those multi-disciplinary projects.

    "You can''t just fix broken space ship parts to one space ship! That is not how Astrospace engineering works! And I am a Mecha Engineer! Totally different field of speciality!" Rei eximed at the absurdity of the request. Maybe, his master was not as rational as his monsters advertised him to be.

    "That is assuming you are dealing with only science, but we have magic," Jin smirked as he snapped his fingers and fire appeared. "And do not worry, if you remembered Ayse, she had some experience in time-space engineering as well as being skilled in other areas. I am sure we can work something out. For now, I will loan you three Sandroku Golems, modify it to make it work in space. After which, haul any parts back to the System, and we will figure out something." Jin ordered Rei.

    "Even if I want to, I still have my deadlines to handle. If I can''tplete it by the end of this month, the movie studio I am working with, will go broke and might dere for bankruptcy. We are pinning our hopes, our everything by the end of this year!"

    "System wished to remind that there are debts Mecha Engineer Rei incurred from Yun too after you have used it to pay the Yakuza." The System responded in retaliation of Rei''s defiance to work.

    "I... I..." Rei understood the chains that had bound him, and at the same time, he yearned to cut them off because of his passion.

    "System, find out the operational cost of the studio. We might potentially be Rei''s sponsor for that movie he was making. Heck, we might even be able to help him create scenes that he can never imagine." Jin ordered the System as he himself was searching on the inte for his trailer.

    "User, are you proposing to use the Supa Robot Warz mini game instance for the movie?" The System asked which caused Rei''s eyes to suddenly light up.

    "If you can really let me use the Supa Robot Warz instance, that will be great! In my opinion, I have reservations for the studio that I hired to create the 3D models for the mecha models. It is unsatisfactory work and did not live up to the hype for the movie." Rei spoke out his fears and in turn, his hidden desires.

    "So you want to remake your movie? I thought you say your movie is nearpletion?" It felt like Jin managed to bait him.

    "Yes...but I do not want my fans to recognise how terrible the overall animation could potentially be. The overall scenes are great, but it is a Mecha movie! The 3D animation must be on point! Currently, it did not have the poof I wanted. If we used the Supa Robot Warz, it will be so realistic that the fans would love it! Something like a mix of Live action robot fights and 2D animation together!"

    "Surely, other animation studios could have done better, right?" Jin managed to search the studio that was doing Rei''s work. He might not know much about the animation scene in Japan, but he knew enough about the reputation of the studio Rei employed. (Because he was a fan of Japanese animation himself in the past.)

    As what Rei had said, Studio Mashi''s 3D animation work had never been their top product although their past 2D animation works were considered to be notable in the past. Not too famous, but its name was still regarded as a contender within the industry.

    Yet, it was also because of their insistence of staying their style of animating while other studios moved to 3Dputer animation made them not as popr as before. (Which was also why Rei could make employ them to adapt his works.)

    "So is it a deal? While it might be a hassle for their HR to push the dates further, it''s still doable since we did not announce the dates yet." Rei told Jin that the movie was still kept under secrecy and not much advertisement was made except for a few teasers. (Mainly due to budget issues rather than wanting it to be a surprise for the 10 year anniversary of his manga.)

    "Deal. Handle what you need to do by the end of tomorrow and give me the estimate of the studio''s expenses for the next few months. After which, start working to make the three Sandroku Golems viable for space." Jin shook Rei''s hand hard to confirm the deal even though he could have ordered him otherwise.

    Perhaps, just perhaps Jin secretly wanted to see his dungeon instance in the movies too.

 Chapter 622 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 622 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 1</h4>

    For the remainder of the downtime, Jin had decided to use it to spend on making the renewed Shop Instance. Lately, the System had not created any further mission rewards for Jin''s efforts, but it had been giving him a few new benefits.

    One of which was that it had quietly levelled Jin to a Level 4 Dungeon Supplier, allowing him ess to the ck market items at cost prices without any duty tax. It had decided that the Astral Panda Cultivator had sufficiently proved itself worthy withoutpleting the mission.

    Unfortunately, it would only affect the products and raw materials required for the dungeon or shop rted Instances. The rest of the items not used for dungeon instances would still be at full cost or through negotiations.

    This, in turn, gave Jin a bigger bang for his buck when creating his new shop instance. The System had also given him a limited amount of funds for the dungeon supplier to build his new shop instance. (In hindsight, it was actually sufficient to cover half of the estimated cost of the revamped instance.)

    "How did you even have additional money? Didn''t you not said that our ounts are dried up? Or ARE ''OUR'' ACCOUNTS separate or something?" Jin asked with a bit of emphasis.

    "Indeed, the System had its own financial reserves to make sure that it would not go broke should User ever fail and some are seed money for the next iing generation of Panda n members. Fortunately, through the current User, System had been amassing a decent amount of money for us to graciously provide you with an additional budget at our own discretion." The System stated.

    "I guessed you ced self preservation as the number one priority." Jin shrugged as he prepared the shop instance revamps in the Dungeon Maker. After spending some amount of time on it, Jin was notified by the System that it was about time to start Operation Gatecrasher in the Giant World.

    With Que Er''s new abilities granted by Muninn and Huginn, Que Er had be Jin''stest monster for scouting purposes. During Jin''s downtime making the shop instance, dozens of Que Er''s birds bid their time to survey the Smander castle and its surrounding exterior.

    Whatever the ravens, crows and magpies saw, it was transmitted to the System where it started to recreate a hologram of the castle based on different viewpoints.

    The pieces of information wereter coted andpared with what Smander Edwardio had reported as part of the verification process before Jin could n a proper assault into the castle. However, as Que Er was about to recall the bulk of her birds back into her ''care'', Peppers suddenly appeared for a brief moment at the top of the castle. It prompted Que Er to inform Jin, but before she could send a message via the System Channel, Peppers had already shot a beam of her magical energy towards the roof of the grand castle.

    Surprisingly, instead of an explosion spell, the beam spread like a rotary fan before closing up into a thin line and subsequently dissipated. When the beam disappeared, so did Peppers at the very next moment, making the Magpie Queen suspect if she ever saw the Demonic Queen Sage.

    If not for her birds confirming that they also caught Peppers in their sight, Que Er might have believed she was experiencing a delusion. Even weirder, she returned to the Dungeon Maker room seeing Jin giving Peppers a pat on the head.

    "Que Er, thank you for the scout, you and your birds have provided a lot of information!" Jin said as he pointed at the hologram of the Grand Castle.

    "Can I have more sweets than? Milk says that you will promise me more of those Vani Cream Candies if I do good! And Potato chips too!" Peppers questioned with a purpose. From a pat on the head, Jin gradually turned it into a pinch on her left cheek.

    Que Erter realised that Peppers had taken the initiative to cast a Scan spell at the castle. She had managed to get the visualisation of the interior structure. The System also created a ''screenshot'' of the locations of every Smander currently stationed in the castle at the time Peppers cast her spell.

    It even used Edwardio''s guard rotation table as a supplement to the hologram and predicted the guard''s patrol path on it. This provided Jin with a clearer understanding to n his assault for Phase 2 of the operation.

    Jin eventually told Que Er that Milk had somehow convinced Peppers to give something Jin needed and he would potentially reward her even more. She added that there would definitely be other times to test her explosive magic on something... more substantial.

    The Priest Betor lied to Peppers outright that Jin was possibly saving her firepower for theing days, especially the fight to obtain the Mechanical Brain. (That really hyped Peppers up a lot more than destroying a stationary giant city.)

    Of course Milk had used a few spells to soothe Pepper''s anger and much pep talk to remind her that they were under Jin''s service. But at the same time, Milk also thought that maybe if she could get Peppers to act in alignment of Jin''s wishes, she could get another bottle of Lynn''s precious sake wine. That 500ml that Jin bought vanished in an instant which Milk knew it was clearly more than just intoxicating. It made her yearn for more.

    Hence, when Jin got to know why Peppers was suddenly so helpful from the System, he could not help but to continue treating her as his younger sister he never had. (Considering she sometimes acted like a spoilt one despite the Betor position she held and the immense knowledge she possessed.) And as Peppers whined more when he pinched her cheeks yfully, Jin had already requested the System to ce more snacks into her room.

    "But remember this is a one time exception! I am not so gullible as you think I am to be!" Peppers announced when she got what she wanted. "I am merely doing this because I want to know if Ayse''s advice applies to my legendary Scan ability too. That castle target of yours was suitable for me to test that!" The Demonic Sage Queen stuck her tongue before disappearing from the Dungeon Maker.

    "That is more than enough for now." Jin smiled at that silly mage before turning serious once again.

    "Que Er, are your birds still in ce?"

    "I had hidden a number of them in ces the Smanders should not be able to notice. Not too sure how potent that King lizard with a keen sense of smell could be, so I ced most of them in the surrounding perimeter instead. They can proceed to attack at yourmand." Que Er said as she stared at the hologram.

    She never saw a castle with that many hidden getaways and the scan that Peppers performed, did not even reveal the entirety of it all since her primary focus was the castle itself. But that alone unveiled untold numbers of tunnels and escape routes inside the castle. She suspected that it would lead out not to just the inner noble districts, but even to the outermon districts of the ruined kingdom.

    "Since we now have the essential information to conduct a proper operation, let''s have our main star to the scene." Jin officiallymenced Operation Gatecrasher with Gaeru''s impromptu appearance at the front of the castle once more.

 Chapter 623 His Broken Blade

    <h4>Chapter 623 His Broken de</h4>

    The usual night duty.

    Two Smander Guards were sitting at the corner of the broken main outer gate of the castle and with only a meagre amount of food served as dinner due to the tightening of rations, making them rather irritatable because of the hunger. It was not because they did not manage to hunt any monsters, but the King seemed to be angry that they had failed to catch the ck and white spotted bear that creates portals.

    Sometimes, they felt that their King was unreasonable as the Giant Monsters could be somewhat unpredictable. Not to mention, they were rather ill equipped to fight against the bear. Most, if not all of their ranged items were of limited quantities, had already been used in the recent fight against the frogs.

    They have yet to replenish their military supplies before another sortie, and most of the Smanders who were supposed to craft them were drafted to process the food rations. The rest had to scrap the remains of the defeated Frog Tribe to feed their King or aid the injured they incurred from the hunt of the Portalling Bear.

    In addition, their King had reduced the morale of the Smanders significantly by restricting their food rations while he ate like a true glutton in order to gain the powers from the things he eats.

    As the guards at the outer main guards wereining to each other about the current situation at hand, they heard a scratching sound from a distance, as if it was a piece of metal being dragged along the grey brick path. So, the guards immediately took their weapons out and brought their torches out to better illuminate what was in front of them.

    What they found right in front of them was a silhouette of a frog holding on to his broken sword.

    "Isn''t that frog the one that got bitten by that portalling bear? He survived and wanted to return to exact revenge on our kind?" One of the Smander Guards snorted as the other chuckled at his friend''sments.

    "Hey, maybe we should defeat this frog and eat it for supper. It had been a long time since I had a good meal." The Smander Guard rubbed his growling tummy.

    "Hahah! Maybe get the Butcher to cut the meat up. It would definitely be tastier. At most, we allow him to keep some meat aspensation." The othermented.

    "Are you mad? You remembered how the King''s sense of smell had gotten stronger by the day. If he knows that we kept frog meat from him, he would surelye after us!" The former guard retorted as he continued to keep his eye at the frog.

    "So, we should just eat him immediately and dispose of him when we are full? Well, that''s better than nothing." The Guard shrugged his shoulders and decided to charge in front to attack the quiet frog.

    They thought it was too easy. The frog did not move a single step nor made any noise ever since it appeared on their sights. Its stance was also wide open for attackspared to thest time when the frog made a huge ruckus. The Smander guard believed it was too good to be true, yet it went for a straight cut through its neck.

    *Shinnnnn!*

    The frog silhouette was left standing while the Smander that attempted to cut it down was split into two halves. Blood was spraying from both parts of the body as the guard struggled to have ast look at the monster that killed him.

    There was no mistake, it was none other than Gaeru who killed the Smander with one clean cut. But what happened to the noisy frog who the Smander Guards thought they knew?

    Before the start of the operation, Jin sought out for Kraft and Pei''s assistance. At some point, Jin believed that Gaeru''s anger stemmed deeply from the anguished loss of his tribe and perhaps, the burden he held might possibly cause to him to perform poorly.

    Kraft and Pei then agreed to take a peek at the sleeping frog''s memories, only to find out that he made a promise to return to the Frog Tribe when he waspetent enough after embarking on a personal journey.

    The sword he carried was the first gift to a hunter''s son, and due to an incident which nearly killed his close buddy, Gaeru decided to repent by searching atonement all by himself. It was a mere coincidence that the day he returned was the day he found his tribe in utter ruins.

    He could not keep his promise to his buddy nor his family and had been in a state of depression ever since that day. The only thing that mattered to him right now was the revenge against the Smanders. Though part of him knew that it was a mere excuse and knew that exacting vengeance would not bring him peace, his heart and mind were narrowed by grief.

    Knowing this and the fact that he was an essential piece in the uing operation, Kraft and Pei had unanimously agreed to tweak his train of thoughts. It was a mild form of psychic driving, turning his guilt into resolution.

    However, it''s Kraft that Jin asked for help for and he always needed a little fun factor to be added into the mix. The Devilman had requested one of his foxes, Evon for a little bit of rity inducing drug to be injected into the unsuspecting frog.

    What they did not expect was that Gaeru was indeed a bona fide swordsman when he cut the Smander Guard into two with his broken de. At first, Jin thought of increasing Gaeru''s strength by inserting inscription charms into Gaeru''s de, but the sword automatically rejected the offensive charms by itself, as if the weapon had a will of its own.

    The remaining Smander Guard was horrified by the sudden change of events as it decided to run away to notify the others. However, before it could take another step backwards, the frog dashed ahead of him with just one leap, shing his head off with another stroke from the de.

    "Masamune, sip their blood into your steel and let them be part of your backbone," Gaeru whispered to his sword with bloodshot eyes.

 Chapter 624 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 624 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 2</h4>

    With Gaeru steadily working his way up to the main gates, the System was already calcting and readjusting the probability of the frog swordsman''s sess rate.

    The initial n was to let Gaeru get captured by the Smanders since Jin wanted the Smanders to lower their guard. By fighting the only enemy, he hoped that the Smanders could concentrate their attention on that one odd ball event rather than doing an all scale assault which could spit the enemies up.

    He thought that Gaeru would make much of a ruckus to attract as much attention as possible to the Smanders, giving Jin time to employ the next phase of Operation Gatecrasher.

    After all, Jin''s goal was the annihtion of the Smander''s family so they could peacefully search and rescue the other vige tribes and hopefully prevent a ughter like what the Smanders had done to the frogs.

    Little did he know that Kraft''s little modification drug made Gaeru into an astonishing killing machine, veering the n to another nned scenario by the System. (Jin initially thought Gaeru would never make it happen, but the System begged to differ and demanded its user to prepare such a possibility.)

    Now that the System predicted what Gaeru had done, the frog swordsman would not only be the centre of attention but attract the irk of the King Smander. While that would definitely bring a better crowd pull to Gaeru, the System was concerned if it needed to switch the next phase of the operation soon.

    One of its concerns was mainly the properties of Gaeru''s broken de. It had changed attributes the moment the frog managed to kill the Smander guards.

    Though its name was revealed as the Masamune and categorised as a living weapon (which was considered as a unique item in the Giant World), it might potentially increase the threat level of the Smanders should they managed to get hold of it.

    However, it is not umon to see a living weapon throughout the universe. There were other worlds which had an abundance of Living Weapons and had simr attributes to the Masamune. But due to the nature of the Smander King, grabbing whatever powers it could grab on to, the System find that it bes increasingly dangerous to let Gaeru be caught.

    "From the System''s deduction, the Masamune is a living weapon that absorbs the blood of its fallen enemies. The System could not deduce what other powers it might contain, whether it is a temporary buff or a permanent increase in attack power." The System warned Jin about the attributes of Masamune and the consequences it had if it ever fall to the Smanders.

    "I understand the change of situation. Instead of executing Phase 2, call forth Sandy first and tell her to start preparing for Phase 3. The rest can wait for a while." Jin gave his instructions to the System which instantaneously portalled Sandy, the Sand Witch at the most bottom of the Grand Castle.

    It was in the deepest basement based on Pepper''s initial scan, and there should not be any guards in the area ording to Edwardio''s guard rotation timetable.

    Yet, she still wore a ck hooded cape and a full mask which was capable of night vision, hiding herself in one of the dark, damp corners in case guards were to appear. Sandy knew what she needed to do, and her priority was not to engage against the Smanders until given the signal. Till then, she was ordered to prepare a few spells for the uing phase.

    As for Gaeru, he had managed to ughter another three more Smanders, prompting a senior guard on duty to engage against this unknown menace.

    It managed to parry the frog swordsman''s one stroke strike, giving the rest of the Smander guards who were shocked by the amphibian intruder a split second to sound for the rm. Gaeru however did not take this too favourably as he took a step back and pointed Masamune right in front of the guard.

    The broken de howled in anger as a bloody looking phantom of a Smander emerged from the edge of Masamune. Even as the Senior Smander Guard raised his shield to protect himself from the unknown, the ghostly bloodied Smander swoop towards him.

    As the phantom came into contact with the shield, it sttered hard against the thick rusted metal, causing the visceral, bloody apparition to spill its content all around.

    Just when the Senior Smander Guard thought that he was safe from the attack, he realised that something was gnawing him hard apanied by an intense burning sensation. He could not believe his eyes when he saw that that sensation began to spread through his entire body. The Senior Guard then realised that whatever the bloody phantom came into contact with, it gradually corroded like acid, even the ground.

    Its iron shield was being melted into half, and his body parts which were exposed to the reddish liquid was already eating into his muscles and into the bone.

    The affected armour tes became scorching hot, to the point he felt the metal liquefied and came in contact with his skin, painfully fusing the both as one.

    Masamune''s attack immediately rendered the Senior Smander Guard paralysed by the immense pain coursing throughout his body, and it gave the frog swordsman an opportunity for a daring counter attack before more guards emerged.

    Unforunately, the Gaeru knew that the effects of the bloody phantom could burn him too, even though he supposedly should have the protection of the living weapon. Thus, in order to end the Senior Guard''s life, he threw Masamune towards him without hesitation, causing it to fly and stab cleanly through the forehead.

    After which, Gaeru used his tongue to forcefully bring his sword back to his two hands. At that point, the Smanders who on perimeter guard duty had begun to steady themselves and attempted to shoot their arrows towards the frog the moment he threw his sword away.

    Oh, they were sorely mistaken if they think he was defenceless for even just a second.

 Chapter 625 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 625 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 3</h4>

    Since Gaeru knew he was grabbing onto Masamune tight with his tongue, he power jumped vertically, avoiding a couple of arrow shots with much ease. He then swiped his weapon around the battlements of the castle''s high walls by using the tongue as an extension of his weapon''s reach.

    Still, it was a long shot considering he could not see too clearly anything too far away in the darkness. Gaeru was estimating his attack on the torches that were lit up as a guide, but in no way the frog swordsman could know whether he was able to injure or kill the archer guards.

    Yet, his broken sword now imbued with the Senior Guard''s blood unleashed a terrifying energy wave that shook the battlements. The bloodied energy wave had the same damaging effect as the bloody phantom which Gaeru had previously triggered, causing his attack to corrode some of the high walls along with the destruction done by the initial wave of energy.

    The frog swordsman wanted to continue, but Jin called out to him via the System Channel to keep going into the inner bailey and towards the castle itself. "They are not dead yet. I have to make sure they are dead." Gaeru retorted which Jin told him to calm down.

    "I havepetent assassins to make sure that they never have the intention to harm another tribe," Jin promised Gaeru as the frog reluctantly proceeded towards the inner bailey. The Smander Guard Archers who survived the initial shockwave deemed that the frog was now the problem of the guards further into the castle.

    Never did they know that it was not the end as Meomi slowly crept behind one of them and took its head off. me Ripper was doing the same on the other side of the outer bailey while his brothers took the further end of the outer bailey. Wyrstriker dived in to stab an unsuspecting archer who had its eyes on themotion while Dread Reaver ughtered without a sound.

    But not all Smanders were that oblivious to the sudden deaths of theirrades. They noticed that there were other invaders too but could not make out their build nor species due to the cloudy night andck of light. So, they activated the rms to further alert the Smanders.

    Unfortunately, their cries for help were hopeless.

    As Gaeru entered the inner Bailey area, the attention was focused towards him alone. The rest of the Smander Archer Guards had to fend for themselves, and sadly it seemed like they were fighting against shadows. Despite the fact that Smanders prided themselves to subterfuge and stealth warfare, these archers were considered as rookies in terms ofbat, which was a reason they were given patrol duties.

    In less than a few minutes, the entire outer bailey was utterly decimated by the goblins and Meomi, which Jin immediately called them back via the portals. Gaeru was now facing arge group of Smanders, though some suggested waking the King up to suppress this external threat.

    Even though the frog swordsman was still holding well against a crowd of heavily armour Smanders who now stormed to surround him, Jin knew that there was a limit to his stamina.

    The System also rmended that some external help should be given before the Smander King stepped in. "Should I have a get-go at it?" Hamatarou who was uneasy sitting in the Dungeon Maker waiting while the System continued to report what was going on at the frontlines.

    "You are our trump card against the Smander King. I believe he would do the most harm, so making him sleep and subsequently teleport him to a secure area for battle would be a better decision." Jin said as he wanted to capture the King as quickly as possible and used him to rally the rest of the Smanders.

    The dungeon supplier wished to do it with as little people knowing that Hamatarou came into the picture to knock the King out. That way, it would be more believable if the King decided to issue a few orders out of the norm, making the gathering of Smanders to progress smoother without too many hups.

    Nevertheless, Jin had seen enough of battles to prepare a few contingencies at hand too, but he knew that there would always be something startling enough to make his contingencies useless. The dungeon supplier could only hope that was not the case for this time around.

    "Penguins, your debut," Jin said through the System channel and from the cloudy night skies, four penguin ninjas including Kiddo plunged towards the encroaching circle of heavy armoured Smander knights.

    Each of the penguin ninjas began pping their flippers together and executed their Elemental Jutsus against the enemies beneath them.

    Four streams of elements, Fire, Ice, Lightning and Water was unleashed on the Smander Knights, giving Gaeru the chance to jump out of the encroachment. This further permitted the penguins to attack without prejudice, disintegrating the knight''s formation and went ahead to disrupt the other guards.

    The Commander Smander Knight on the scene could not have imagined that the frog swordsman had a devastating capability after recalling that he was rather harmless in the previous engagement. What was worse was that Gaeru had allies to rely on, making him more formidable.

    The Commander Knight had also heard about the penguin tribes before but had never seen any of them wielding such magic. He did not know that such a weak flightless race of animal people would be one of their deadliest enemies to date.

    "Men! Steady yourselves! Go for Formation Delta! Archers, switch to those crossbows you found at the Frog Tribe Vige. We have to take down these penguins, and that damnable frog before the King wakes up!" The Commander Knight shouted before he was confronted by Kiddo.

    But the old Smander had wits and instinct to rival against Kiddo''s iing short de. The only drawback was the slight electric shock the Commander Knight received upon defending himself. He hazarded a guess that if the strike hit somewhere vital, themander himself could be paralysed for an easy kill.

    "Men! Switch to Formation Sierra! A hit from those des might incapacitate you instantly!"

    "Heh, they fall for your trick, Kiddo." One of the penguin ninjas whispered through the System Channel.

    "Yeah, did not expect you to single out the Commander that quickly." Another penguin Ninja sneered at the order.

    "It was mere luck." Kiddo smiled under his face scarf as they continued to distract the Smander soldiers, so they had trouble regrouping themselves into various circles formation. Seeing that they were going defensive, Jin was on the System Channel kept telling them to press for the attacks.

    A quick session of shes and kicks to made them feel uneasy, hurrying them to by their Commander Knight''s orders. Eventually, their weapons were drawn out like a sea urchin with its spikes aiming outwards, while at the same time providing the archers with a reliable cover to shoot.

    Basically, multiple mini domes were formed within the inner bailey as the archers prepped their bolts and crossbows and ready to shoot when their enemies got into their sights.

    The Smanders would not go down without a good fight, and in fact, the Commander Knight believed he got a decent chance to catch his prey for the night.

 Chapter 626 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 626 Operation Gatecrasher - Part 4</h4>

    "Regroup!" Kido said to the other three Penguin Ninjas while he pulled Gaeru with him.

    "Let go of me, Honourable Penguin! It is not the time to fall back yet!" Gaeru mistook the regrouping as a sort of retreat when it was pretty obvious that they still have the upper hands in the situation. With the penguin''s ninjutsu, they could force open those Smander''s defences wide open.

    But because of the retreat, the Smander''s mini domes of spikes took the opportunity to force their invaders to the centre of the inner bailey.

    The Smander Commander Knight became even more ballsy when he noticed that the frog''s special weapon was useless against metal.

    "So as long as he could not have a hit or kill his weapon cannot activate, huh? Kind of useless of a weapon. As for those penguins, they might be annoying, but the arrow attacks from behind the cover of our shield dome formation proved to be formidable in scaring them." The Commander Knight said to himself as he decided to appear out of the dome to demonstrate the superiority.

    "Do not worry, Froggie. We have something more fun, just follow us for now." Kido said as he pped his flippers once more and a wall of mud and sand emerged from the ground. The other ninjas did the same, forming a box to protect themselves. It provided them with a temporary reprise from the constant shotsing from the multiple shield dome formation.

    "Do not falter! If we can push them, we can kill them! Avenge our dead!" The Commander Knight was eager to remove the threat before the Smander King arrives at the scene. If he managed to kill them, he would have three magic wielding penguins and a frog carrying a magic imbued sword as a tribute to the Smander King to feast upon.

    "Any injuries?" Kido performed a quick check on his teammates to ensure they could continue with the next phase.

    "Just mere scratches." One of the penguinsmented as it started to unroll a long scroll it had behind its back. The other penguins were also doing the same except for Kido.

    Gaeru felt that the penguins had some n in defeating this current shield domes formation they encountered. It was true, his de was broken to the point that Masamune was unable to damage their heavy armour. But as long as there was physical contact with the body, Masamune could absorb at least a portion of their blood and wreck havoc to them.

    Unfortunately, the living weapon had an inherent time limit on the duration the blood of its enemies could be contained before releasing it. Any longer than 10 seconds, Masamune would automatically be absorbed whatever blood it took in which Gaeru would then be unable to unleash any attacks.

    The odd thing was the more Masamune absorbed the blood of his enemies, the durability of the de worsens. It reduces not only the sharpness, but Gaeru had seen how the metal at the side of the sword broke apart. So upon learning such a constraint during his travels, Gaeru always tried to release any pend up blood energy within it to reduce the chances of it breaking. (There were definitely instances where he could not have done so, and hence the condition of his current sword.)

    While the penguin ninjas were chanting the lengthy inscriptions of their ten metre long scroll, arrows were being shot into the boxed up monsters which they voluntarily enclosed themselves in it. Luckily, Kido was the one in charge of blocking all iing projectiles by parrying, grabbing, or whatever means possible to not disturb the chanting.

    Gaeru assisted too by using its tongue to grab some of the projectiles as well. Still, Kido was more perceptive in predicting the shots'' trajectory, which made the frog swordsman respected the Penguin Ninjas even more and showered Kido withpliments.

    "Preparations areplete, Kido!" The Penguin Ninjas said in unison the moment the scrolls glowed a little.

    "Get your ass at the centre Froggie! We might not have the Totem of Atem like Sage Hamatarou, but we have our very own ergement Jutsu!" Kido smiled as the penguin performed a roundhouse kick to reflect one of the arrows away.

    "Aye!" Gaeru did not fully understand the n Kido created, but the veteran penguin ninjater admitted that he was improvised the n along the way. They initially created the sand walls to show weakness, hoping that it would spur them to break formation. Kido understood that destroying the mini dome formations one by one would prove to be straining and they need to conserve energy should they wish to fight against the Smander King.

    Thus, the penguins pretended that they had no way of destroying their shield wall domes.

    It indeed prompted the Smanders to be cocky, and even though they were still in their mini shield dome formations, many rxed their guard when the Smanders could not see what was in front of them.

    A sudden poof ofrge smoke emerged within the box of sand walls, and the Smanders shortly fell back, finally considering that it might potentially be a trap. However, their current formation reduced their mobility tremendously, and the Smanders were not as used to it since they hardly used it for battle.

    Before they knew it, arge de came forth from the smoke, splitting the sand walls into two and attacking anything within range.

    Both Gaeru and Masamune had grown at least ten timesrger, proving to be a giant simr to the monsters they had previously encountered. This sudden transformation shocked the Smander troops as most were still in the process of moving, resulting in them to be unprepared for the attack.

    A number were smashed sideward by the erged Masamune, and it instantly absorbed whatever blood it came into contact with. At the same time, Kido and the rest of the ninja penguins perched themselves onto the giant size frog and began to throw shurikens and kunais to the exposed nk of the Smanders.

    There was also an additional surprise to the penguin attacks. Out of the three Jutsu scrolls, two were used on Gaeru and Masamune, allowing them to be of a colossal size to deal an immense amount of damage to the heavily armoured Smanders within the inner bailey. As for thest scroll, the Penguin Ninja cast it simrly to an aura spell, enhancing any projectiles thrown by his fellowrades.

    So the size of the kunais and shurikens that were thrown immediately expanded to such a dangerous size that one hit instantly kill a heavy armoured Smander. Even if it was not dead with a direct hit, Kido was confident that death was at its side with the impact from the amplified projectiles.

    This sudden turnaround from the enemies made the Smanders panicked even further when they found out that enormous weapon swipe killed their Commander Knight who was conceited enough to leave his shield dome formation to check the status of the Sand Walls.

    Their remaining Smander Captains tried to rally whatever troops but even now the arrows and crossbow bolts were ineffective against the Giant Frog. (His skin got thick enough to ignore them) To Gaeru, the desperate attempt to rain bolts proved to be meaningless.

    "Come out now, Smander King! Come out now and face the wrath of the Frog Vige!" Gaeru''s booming voice was enough for the surrounding castle walls to vibrate. He needed the King to appear as soon as possible before Masamune absorbed most of the blood he attained or else he had to waste it towards the castle.

    The Frog Swordsman did not dare to underestimate his uing opponent but yet desperately hoped he could finish him in one shot.

 Chapter 627 Operation Gatecrasher - Final

    <h4>Chapter 627 Operation Gatecrasher - Final</h4>

    "Noisy frog." The Smander King yawned as he walked into the inner bailey and witnessed the destruction caused by the Gaeru and the Ninja Penguins. The Frog Swordsman had no hesitation in unleashing all of the stored energy within Masamune and focused them towards the Smander King.

    The King himself stood there, nonchnt about the iing wave of bloody projectiles flying towards him but Gaeru did not take much heed to it as well. They both believed that each of them had underestimated one another.

    However, Kido knew that something was amiss right away and told his fellowrades to be on guard. The energy projectiles not only scored a direct hit against the Smander King but its secondary impact destroyed the area surrounding the final ''Boss''.

    Suddenly, the System noted an intense spike of energy within the area, excluding the ones that came from Gaeru itself. Jin knew it was never this simple with all these ''Boss'' monsters but continued to restrain himself from doing anything drastic until he saw what was happening.

    "It''s a Fey..." Hamatarou said as he watched the smoke dissipate after the attack and the Smander King was still standing as if nothing had happened. A small little white faerie was standing right at the side of the King himself, protecting him from the devastating strike from Gaeru.

    "Not just any Fey. It''s...It''s the daughter of the Winter Court Queen, Maeve!" Hamatarou eximed when the pictures from the Dungeon Maker became clearer.

    "What powers does she have?" Jin asked, and the Sage Hamster shook his head violently.

    "It''s not the powers that matter - okay fine, she had loads of strength as well, but its her attitude...her behaviour! For the Queen who is toe, the druid gave her an uncanny nickname." Hamatarou took a deep breath in before saying it out.

    "The Evil Kinkstress."

    "Her love to pull strings from behind the scenes and her entric definition of fun. You will never understand how much of a hassle Queen Mab, the current Winter Court Queen had to deal with Maeve''s behaviour. Druids told me that there was even once that she was so bored that she pulled the wings off a fly just because it came into her sights." Hamatarou exined.

    "Right now, I can vaguely understand why the new Smander King would behave in such a cannibalistic way when they were previously more upstanding in their ways despite them being arseholes for being the highest of all nobles. For them to suddenly ughtering both Giants and Animal People alike just to have fun was not in their nature at all." Hamatarou was finally able to link all the pieces together.

    ''There is no way Gaeru can defeat the daughter of the Winter Court Queen, even with his unique sword. Please get him to withdraw, it would be even worse if the Smander King ever gets hold of the sword itself." Hamatarou pleaded with Jin, and it also seemed like the n to make the Smander King fall asleep would turn to moot.

    "So, you have no way of defeating this Maeve as well?" Jin questioned the Sage with a tinge of anger dwelling within him.

    "If Master asked me to distract Maeve, then yes. I can do that. But to defeat her? You need the powers equal or more powerful than the Evil Kinkstress to overwhelm her. Either her mother or the Faes from the Summer Court. And trust me, you would not want to go into a promise with either the Summer or Winter Courts. If you associate them like businessmen, they would be at least thousands times more corrupt and cunning than any business partners you have ever forge. The twist of words and promises are their forte." Hamatarou emphasised how dangerous the fairies were.

    "The System also acknowledge that it would be unwise to go against a known Fey without knowing the extent of her abilities. It would definitely be wise to retreat while we still can and attempt another approach." The System stated which made Jin mmed his fist on the table.

    "Damn it! Kido! Remove the spell of ergement from Gaeru and pop a smokescreen to escape your way out of that situation. We do not want Maeve to suspect there is an external power helping them for now." Jin ordered through the System channel which Kido acknowledged.

    The other Penguin Ninjas forcefully removed the ergement spell from Gaeru, and they took the necessary precautions by knocking him out cold so that he would not retaliate against the Smander King despite his failed efforts. However their erged projectiles aura was still active, so Kido threw a kunai towards the Smander King with a smoke bomb was attached to it as well.

    Although Maeve blocked the kunai with rtive ease, she did not expect a smokescreen to pop right in front of her.

    Kido initially feared that it would not work and had already prepared an additional smoke bomb to cover their current location. Fortunately, the smoke bomb worked more effectively than he had imagined. Still, it did no harm to throw the one he was holding to provide everyone with more distraction to escape.

    Maeve and the Smander King did not move an inch away from where they were standing to portray their superiority against their pitiful enemies despite the smokescreen. However, they had least expect the smokescreen to be fused with another effect mixed along with the loss of visibility.

    Indian Curry Powder.

    The smoke bomb mixture thrown at them had abination of Indian curry powder as well as some unique spices from Farming World mixed into it to increase the effect. It was a concoction made by Penguins and Lynn as part of their research to make their cooking even more delicious (and to some point, deadly.)

    This mixture enabled the smoke bomb to another level of potency, and it was funny how they were created this concoction by ident. Seeing it in action, the System took note of the recipe and ced them for future production.

    Subsequently, both the Fae and her pet smander had to withdraw from the smoke. Even when they were out of range from the smoke bomb, they were still suffering from the unspeakable itchiness emanating from the insides of their throat and constant urge to rub their eyes.

    Yet, the more they rub, the worse the effect was.

    Kido smirked when he heard intense coughing from afar and still retreated further before asking the System for a teleport back to the dungeon maker room. While Jin''s minions managed to escape safely, the whole operation was considered as a failure since their objective to kill the Smander King was met with unexpected developments.

    Thankfully, there was a silver lining for the entire operation.

    Even if they could not kill the Smander King, Jin had managed to iste the Smander King by annihting the entire family of Smanders with the aid of Sandy.

    The instant the King stepped out of his abode, Sandy sprung into action by activating all of her spells she had been preparing in the depths of the castle underground cer. Initially, the Sand Witch was summoned to block all the exit routes found within the castle, but with the drastic change in the operation phases, her objective became something more of a search and destroy.

    Sandy''s magic spells gave her the ability to connect herself with the ground, allowing her to know where each and every Smander was within the castle. With the aid of the scan done by Peppers, it was even easier for Sandy to locate the nonbatants and the rest of the Smander Royal Family.

    After which, she shot sand spikes through the castle simultaneously to kill all the living Smanders within the castle without any prejudice. And as for the rest who were agile enough to evade the attack, the sand spikes immediately shapeshifted into a human sand clone and attacked them.

    Most of them died by puncture wounds or through suffocation as the Sand Clones smashed into them, entering the enemies'' mouth and blocked their airway.

    At the very least, Jin recognised that this would provide him with a bit of reprise knowing that the Smander King would have trouble to find the animal tribes. Even now, there was no one to assist him with his terribly itchy throat. He had to find the kitchen room which the King barely had any recollection of its location.

    Furthermore, Jin suspected that with theck of support, he might go into a rampage or perhaps depression. Either way that would probably mean the rest of the animal tribes might possibly be safe for now unless Maeve decided to make the Smander King do something out of the norm.

    In the meantime, Jin would get Hamatarou to check on the new captured Smander Tribe and perhaps they could finally get to the bottom of the truth to exactly know what happened between the King and Maeve.

    "Since this is a no go, then I guessed I should concentrate on retrieving the brain of the Mechanical Titan without additional allies."

 Chapter 628 Raiding to Distrac

    <h4>Chapter 628 Raiding to Distrac</h4>

    "Actually, I was wondering why don''t you make it as a Raid? You never fail to use your cultivators as fodder while earning money. Why stop at the Goblin Raids? Besides, you cannot do anything about the titan thingy until Rei remodelled the Sandroku Golems to be space worthy." Kraft spoke out of turn as he sat with his legs crossed and looked at the current situation Jin was in.

    "But won''t it be impossible to defeat? From what we know previously, the Smander King gets his power ups from his defeated foes." Jin replied, and Hamatarou''s face immediately lighted up.

    "That is If he eats his defeated foes. What I understand from your dungeon shop is that once your cultivators reached to low health or killed, they would be transported back right?" Hamatarou questioned, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Then maybe it can work, especially since we need to throw lots of bodies to exhaust Maeve''s powers. As it now stands, we might have to throw everything at her in order for her to stop being a threat. If she can induce the cannibalistic behaviour in the Smander King, Maeve might do worse things when the situation is not in her favour."

    "So, you two are saying that I should use my customers as a source of distraction? To keep that Fey upied so that she would not bother the other animal tribes" Jin started to wonder if it was a good idea. There was no incentive, and in fact, he needed to fork out more expenses to manage the current situation.

    "I say it will be best to eliminate him as soon as possible. If Maeve is as crazy as what Hamatarou said, it might be possible that your future allies could be in trouble since her powers are of a different level. And if not for them, do it for my vige." Kido, who happened to return and listen to the conversation, gave his opinion.

    "Basing on the assuming that he is a stereotypical tyrant, King Smander would definitely smash and destroy stuff in his castle to vent his anger and rest momentarily before acting again. This is no doubt the best time to quickly gather people to pester him."

    "If you sending people in, I want to go as well." Gaeru dered as he still did not give up the idea of defeating the Smander King.

    "User, it will be more beneficial for you to send customers to defeat the Evil Kinkstress. Monsters defeated require souls, but customers who were killed will immediately be sent to the Luxury Recovery Instance. While resources would no doubt be used, they are at a lower costpared to sending monsters in and spending money on souls." The System stated that because Jin specialised in supplying Dungeons, the System had already attuned its resources his shop so sending customers would be the optimal choice.

    It also reminded that as his monsters are growing stronger and the number of souls to rece them increased exponentiallypared to using them in dungeons or utilising the cultivators.

    "I see. I always thought the maintenance fee that you keep asking me to pay for, was partially due to the number of customers fainting." Jin replied as he recalled paying a lot more money when the number of customers skyrocketed.

    "As previously discussed, the System used the fee User paid to upgrade its processing capability and kept a portion for rainy days." The System answered with a slight glee in its tone, which was rare for the rest to hear it.

    Jin took a quick nce on his watch andughed at the opportune timing given by fate itself. "Saturday morning. 4am. In a few hours, I will potentially have a load full of cultivatorsing in." Jin said to himself.

    "Heh, don''t forget about the oldies. Their bones might be popping, but god damn, when I saw them fight, it was a sort of refined art." Kraft joked, and Jin did not know whether he was sarcastic or not. "That is if your pricing still stays the same since they are after all a bunch of grumbling cheapskates. But man, when they fought with Krampus, I wasughing my ass off how absurdly strong they were."

    "Hamatarou, any chance you can defeat Maeve when she weakens by the customers?" Jin questioned, and the Sage Hamster shrugged his shoulders.

    "I honestly have no idea what kind of powers she has, but the idea given by your monsters and the System makes sense. If you throw enough people in, Maeve will definitely be exhausted, and that will be a good time to jump in." Hamatarou concurred with the n once more while telling Jin that he might have a way to give Gaeru''s living weapon a boost now that he knows the existence of Masamune and his ability.

    "How will you do it? I previously tried to add inscription charms and even support magic into it, the Masamune rejects almost everything." Jin said which Hamatarou smirked and replied with the following.

    "Have you tried blood?"

    Jin slowly shook his head with a happy half-smile and could roughly guess how he was going to improve Masamune''s strength. He then sent Hamatarou off to see Vulcan, his NPC cksmith for his help. "If that is the case, Gaeru. I shall temporarily bestow you with a part of my weapon set." Jin said as he presented Boo to the frog swordsman.

    As Boo was in the Wakizashi form, the de size was perfect for Gaeru to wield. The frog initially did not want to ept it, but Jin convinced him that it was a temporary weapon to use against the Smander King until Hamatarou managed to upgrade his Masamune for the killing blow.

    After that, Gaeru reluctantly epted and went to Panda Muscles Service Instance to practice the hang of his new sword before being summoned for the raid again.

    As for Jin, he courteously asked the rest to give him some alone time to create an impromptu event while Kraft had already recruited Kiyu to make a promotional video with all the data the System had in its system. (Kiyu was cursing madly when she was given urgent requests, but she nevertheless delivered her product as scheduled.)

    Jin knew that this would be a one-time event, so he had decided to create a new category of Dungeon type called Emergency Dungeon Raid. When Jin published the particr type of dungeon ''instance'' into the Pandamonium App, there will be a buzzing notification that would be pushed to all the users.

    Unlike standard notifications, the Emergency Dungeon Raid notification would appear something simr to a vibrating phone call. He knew that it might be annoying to the users, but the vibration would onlyst six seconds. Should anyone response and ept the invitation for the raid, they would have a free ticket to the raid instance as well as 100 Panda Medals if they manage to reach in an hour.

    This was to incentivise users who wish to be part of the shop''s hardcore cultivating culture and at the same time, inadvertently help Jin to achieve his objective.

    In addition, there was no limit on the eptance number and the dungeon supplier knew that if they managed to defeat Maeve and the Smander King in record time, the System could replicate the data for other people to y the event.

    Now, Jin could only hope that the suggestions of his fellowrades would be beneficial.

 Chapter 629 Emergency Dungeon Raid Instance

    <h4>Chapter 629 Emergency Dungeon Raid Instance</h4>

    Within an hour, Jin managed to release the Emergency Dungeon Raid, "The Battle in Smander Lord''s Keep" to the public. Considering that he did not have to create the environment nor any monsters, it took him more time than usual.

    He spent the time mainly to create the reward system and Jin knew that he needed to prepare an incentive system since the raid would be nigh impossible, especially for the first few waves of cultivators entering.

    When Jin published the Emergency Raid instance into his shop, a wave of notifications was sent throughout to the Pandamonium Appwork as proposed by the dungeon supplier. Unsurprisingly, the first few to respond were a group of elderlies who had used Jin''s shop as a ce to catch up with friends and rtives.

    The reason for this neighbouring group of elderlies to always gather in Jin store was mainly because Jin had provided them with an activity that allowed them to exercise on a regr basis. But most importantly, they had taken a liking for Jin''s store due to his food. (at reasonable prices!)

    Though Lynn had always provided savoury food with the bulk of the cultivators, she had purposely made an elderly friendly menu that was priced at a reasonable cost and suited the taste pte of the uncles and aunties. (not to mention filled with nourishment!)

    Hence, it was a ce of convenience to gather for food and exercise while enjoying the modern trend of those youngsters, what was there not to like?

    As a group of them was waiting for some of their friends to arrive early in the morning for the usual workout before the crowdes in, the notification of the Emergency Raid instance came without warning. Apanied with the shop instance blinking with red lights, the sudden atmosphere change startled the group of ''young'' elders.

    "What is happening?" Xia Mao, a recently retired 60 year old gentleman, checked his phone when he felt the vibrationing from his phone. He squinted his eyes a little to check the contents of the notification and realised it was from his Pandamonium App.

    Zi Dan, a friend which Xia Mao acquainted from this casual weekend gathering, also took his phone out to check the notification out. "Hmmm, Emergency Raid Instance? Is this something new? I thought the current raid was the Christmas one?"

    "Should be new, I guess? It stated that if we decided to respond and join the raid within an hour, we would be able to enter for free once and earn 100 panda medals regardless of the raid oue." Xia Mao replied.

    "Seems like everyone in the shop instance is receiving the notification. Some are not hesitating and epted the Emergency request." Jing Yu, one of the few seniors that had started this casualmunity gathering in Jin''s store, observed themotion within the shop instance.

    "Hmm I think we can give it a try first, it affirmed that this new dungeon is amunity raid, simr to the Goblin Raids and of limited time only. Must be Boss Jin trying out new stuff again. Oh does this guy ever stop thinking us as some guinea pigs?" Xia Maomented which made Zi Danughed.

    "But you never fail to participate for every dungeon of his ever since you join us! The way I see it, you liked to be part of his experiments! Hahaha!" Zi Dan chuckled as he epted the notification request too though he did not enter the instance just yet to see the response of his two other friends.

    "You don''t wish to wait for the others?" Jing Yu questioned, but her intentions were painfully clear for the other two old men.

    "Don''t tell me you are still waiting for Heng Li toe? Because I know that you do not really give much of a concern to most of our other group mates. Did he not say he is returning back to his hometown to celebrate the iing new year with his children and grandchildren?" Zi Dan was the first to say it out loud.

    "Even though I am not much of a position to say anything but I think you should give up on him. Do not mistake his kindness any more than what it supposed to be." Xia Mao said, and it made Jing Yu flustered for a moment.

    "What are you two talking about? Of course, I am definitely waiting for the others toe! You said it was amunity raid kind of instance right?" Jing Yu pretended not to care much about the person that they were talking about.

    "Say whatever you want, your actions spoke louder than words. We are not young anymore. Just take the chance whenever you can, even though it is going to fail. At the very least, you can pass on to the next life with one less regret." Zi Dan rolled his eyes at the apparent lie Jing Yu was weaving.

    "Soбнare we still waiting for the rest? Apparently, they received the notice from Pandamonium group chat, but we can check the raid out before them. Besides the first time is free and we know how money grabbing Jin''s raids are. We need toplete it at least a few times to earn his rewards." Xia Mao asked once more, and the trio decided to enter the dungeon so they could at least guide the rest when they arrive.

    "Heh! That is probably your karma for taking other people''s money when you are still working! Besides, the food vouchers they offer as rewards is simply too enticing for me as well." Zi Dan saw the sample list of rewards they offered was extensive. There was even once he worked hard to get the Christmas plushie for his granddaughter and she loved it a lot.

    The premise for the Emergency raid was straightforward for once. Nothing too fancy and the storyline from the promotional video which came with the notice portrayed a frog swordsman fighting to get revenge from the people who murdered his family andter ughter his entire vige. (Jin clearly left out the cannibalism part to make it more munity friendly.)

    But as the frog fought against his nemesis, the Smanders, he found out that their King was possessed by a mystical being which had superior powers. Thus, the frog swordsman Gaeru had to retreat temporarily and rallied for aid toe.

    That was where the cultivators came in.

    His prayers were supposedly answered by a Panda God which decided to reward him for his courage to face the Smanders alone and made it that far. Most of the customers grasped the concept of the Panda God was none other than Jin himself, and many giggled at the fact that he called himself a god during the promotional video.

    "Well, in a way, Boss Jin is a god since he created works to suit the storyline and make it a possibility for the frog to be victorious. Ahh, I assume he is gonna win with our help." Xia Mao chuckled to Zi Dan as he checked his gear once more before going in.

    "I just hope this current raid is not as strenuous as the Christmas one. Darn, I recalled hearing my joints cracked a few times doing that dungeon." Zi Dan stretched his back and move his waist a little.

    "If not for the increase in cultivation after attending Jin''s store, I don''t think I will be so active during my retirement years as well." Xia Mao replied with a smile as they both looked towards Jing Yu''s changed outfit.

    "What? Anything wrong with my outfit?"

    "Sometimes, I wonder why you go to such the lengths to change to this traditional Hanfu (Han''s clothing) outfits." Zi Dan questioned, even though he roughly knew why she had to wear that. "But it still looks great on you though despite your age."

    "Cut the crap. Use that sweet mouth of yours to younger girls. Not me." Jing Yu said with some irk.

    "Hahah, I think it''s because she looked funny wielding her two swords in modern clothing." Xia Mao replied with the obvious, but Jing Yu was already ignoring the two old man as she pressed the ''Enter'' button for the Battle in Smander Lord''s Keep instance.

    The other two quickly followed on and wondered what surprises this new dungeon raid will provide.

 Chapter 630 The Battle in Salamander LordтАЩs Keep

    <h4>Chapter 630 The Battle in Smander Lordбпs Keep</h4>

    When Jin released the Emergency Raid Dungeon instance, he noticed a couple of cultivators had already teleported into the outer baileys where Gaeru was waiting for reinforcements from Jin''s store.

    The frog swordsman did not waste any time as they move towards the inner baileys with whatever number of cultivators were with him. (Even though Jin told him to wait until he had at least thirty over cultivators with him. Right now, he a little more than a dozen with him.)

    That was why Jin had ced Kido and his fellow Penguin Ninjas at specific points of the outer bailey to guide the cultivators the quickest way into the inner part of the castle.

    Xia Mao, Zi Dan and Jing Yu were among the first few to follow Gaeru. (They were lucky that when they arrive, that impatient frog was already nning to leave.) So, when they trailed behind the frogman into the inner baileys, they could not believe their eyes at how massive the walls and its surrounding environment were aspared to them. (Since they did not have the slightest idea that they were to be teleported to the Giant World at all.)

    The amount of distance needed to travel was annoying far, and though the cultivators persisted, it was not as favourable as Gaeru thought it would be. He initially thought thetest group of elderly cultivator would slow them down, but they happened to be the few that could keep up with his pace.

    The younger cultivators were the ones who had trouble maintaining their chi and thus, their pace was hampered. Some immediately gave the excuse that they did not have their breakfast while others said they happened to be around after some night activities and were not expecting this much running.

    On the contrary, it was the elder cultivators who gave them a bump in chi and told them how to regte on the run. Gaeru had to slow down his pace for them, but it was not terrible as they were constantly catching up with him. If not for Jing Yu and Zi Dan''s aid, the young cultivators had to stop every few kilometres for a breather.

    Jin who was monitoring the progress of the group eventually decided to change the teleportation point to the Inner Baileys in order to prevent the following groups of people from being in the same situation, and it also gave other cultivators the opportunity to meet up with Gaeru and the rest of the customers as well. The only downside is that Maeve might notice something was amiss, but that was no longer a point of concern for Jin.

    The main giant door to the castle was menacing for most of the cultivators considering their size, but thankfully, it remained open.

    So, all they had to do was to simply waltz right inside of it and fight against their said opponent as portrayed in the Raid''s story.

    Nheless, it seemed like Maeve and the Smander King was already expecting them.

    With the first step into castle, the old Trio along with the other cultivators were teleported separately into various parts of the castle. When theye into their senses, Jing Yu realised that she was paired with Gaeru as they arrived at the prison cells while Zi Dan and Xia Mao were teleported into the kitchen. For the rest of the other cultivators, she assumed that they were transported to various parts of the castle.

    Suddenly, a booming voice reached out to everyone within the castle. "I lost all my servants because of that stupid frog. Therefore, all of you are to be my ves! Serve me food! Serve me wine! And clean this fucking ce up!" A female voice which Gaeru automatically assumed it was the Evil Kinkstress Maeve that was shouting out.

    "The person who brings me that frog dead or alive will be instantly promoted to be my personal ve! You will have the best food and service your entire life! Not to mention powers beyond your own understanding!" Maeve continued to advertise.

    Jin knew that if Maeve wanted to kill the frog, she already had the means to do so. Hence, what she''s doing was equivalent to toying the people that entered her castle. At the moment, all the cultivators were ounted for within her premise with the aid of the Half Masks all of the cultivators were wearing.

    He also guessed that at this point, the Smander King was nothing but just a puppet for her to y. There might be a chance which the King himself was already killed since everyone was dead, courtesy of Sandy and none was left to serve Maeve.

    Regardless of the annoucement, Gaeru had to get out of the situation he was in. (All of the cultivators thought that this was part of the raid as well and none took Maeve''s words seriously.) As for the prison cell Gaeru and Jing Yu was in, the frog swordsman broken the door with a quick sh using Jin''s off-hand weapon, Boo.

    Up till now, Gaeru never handled a weapon as light as Boo since all he had been with his entire life was Masamune. Of course, Masamune did not appear the day his father bestowed him the weapon, it was something which he found, and it decided to embody his sword and lived within his de. Hence, Masamune was a kind of spirit which wished to harbour inside his sword.

    But how did Masamune came into contact with Gaeru was something which the frog swordsman did not wish to reveal even to the Sage Hamster. The System was not too bothered since it knew of worlds that have an abundance of Living Weapons and perhaps when Jin had cleared most of his current objectives, it would introduce that particr world to him.

    As Jin noted of the trouble Gaeru was having with his borrowed sword, he assisted him in transforming Boo into a shape something simr to Masamune, including the weight and length of it. The only major difference was the crossguard and the immensely good grip which the sword possessed. Gaeru even stated that it was an improvement Masamune should have in the future.

    "Perhaps, we might be able to do that in the future, assuming Masamune allowed us to modify it," Jin said to Gaeru before he departed further down the prison cells.

    As for Jing Yu, the half mask she was wearing aided her tremendously, and if she was able to apud Jin for making such a significant Ui improvement to the mask, she would have done so.

    The current mask was able to show things that were already implemented during the beta testing by Xiong Da''s team in the Farming World and even more.

    Right now, since Jin had already scanned the area once, the full castle map was revealed to the Jing Yu, and she could instantly locate her teammates via her mask. So, her immediate concern was to protect the Frog and regroup with her team mates once more. (That is assuming she knew how to convince that musclehead frog to listen to her.)

    In usual circumstances, Jin would have ced a fog of war in the maps, but this was an emergency raid he could not afford to lose. So, the dungeon supplier believed that he should be aiding the cultivators as much as he could without too much meddling.

    He was also going to use the map function as an excuse to reveal the exclusive new features of the half masks before he used it for other raids or dungeon instances. The System liked the marketing gimmick that Jin employed and unexpectedly praised him for it before returning to monitor the situation.

    Even though it was an unforeseen development for the cultivators to be separated, it was not much of an issue since more and more cultivators will arrive and Jin was going to use quantity to squeeze the Maeve''s magic powers to the limit. Only when she was exhausted, then Jin will enter the fray as a special guest with his other betors to finish the job.

    All he hoped was that the Queen of Winter Court would not appear and make their lives as difficult as it could already be. Jin did query about the Queen of Winter Court from Hamatarou, but he was not much of a help at all as well, as they were as elusive as they could be. He only knew from legends and his druid teachers that Queen Mab was not as mischievous and бнmachoistic as her daughter.

    And unlike the Queen who possessed mostly ice magic, Maeve possessed a certain kind of magic that would make the demons under Jin rather jealous.

    The haunting capability to summon unnatural beasts into the physical realm.

 Chapter 631 Valg Parasite

    <h4>Chapter 631 Valg Parasite</h4>

    Usually, such unnatural beings required a sacrifice for them to be summoned, and Maeve was no exception to the rule. She had undoubtedly killed the Smander King despite its pledge of utmost loyalty to her.

    But because of her Fey powers, she was able to reduce the amount of sacrifice needed to call upon her beloved type of unnatural beings, the Valgs.

    Besides, the Smander King was solely seen as a mere pawn in her eyes. Maeve had never really needed him in the first ce, and his entire Smander Family acted as a sort of vacation home for her to fool around while escaping from her actual duties given by Queen Mab, the Queen of Winter Court.

    With just one sacrifice, she managed to open the metaphysical realm to call upon the hordes of Valgs as her ything against the iing foes. She never knew how Gaeru managed to get reinforcements, much less humans when they were supposed to be extinct or at least turned by her mother''s curse.

    But since there were ythings around, Maeve obviously would like to have some fun. Yet, it would be equally dull if those humans dash straight towards her. Thus, she provided them with obstacles like the Valgs to test their strength so she would fight against the few who were worthy.

    As for the Valgs, they were a sort of parasite whichtches onto beings, feeding them off their vitality and subsequently killing them. That was how they usually gain form and eventually terrorise people with it. Be it a corpse or a living person, as long as they have something to feast upon, they will grow in size.

    There were few instances in the Giant World''s forgotten history of these valgs guing theirnds. But the most recent and devatasting event was actually the Giantism virus in action. The virus was supposedly a rare variant type of the Valgs which the Queen Mab decided to y with when she was younger. Instead of the Valg leeching mana or life from the host, it did the reverse.

    By taking magic particles from the surrounding atmosphere and feeding its host with mana. It injects so much mana into the host body that it surpassed the body''s limit and thus explodes. During such explosion, the variant Valg parasite as a method of dispersal so that it couldtch on something.

    The only problem was that humans cannot see them, and they quickly die off if there are no bodies to infect in the surrounding. So, like every being who strived to survive in the harshest of conditions, it adapted and evolve. Eventually, it was able to infect the surrounding environment and other creatures as well.

    The giantism virus which everyone feared was no doubt a metaphysical parasite which still exist up to this day and this type of parasite managed to leave a strain of their DNA and infused with the current nature of Hamatarou''s world.

    Hence, everything turned big and filled with mana and life. Ironically, when the actual Valgs invaded the Giant World, all they had to do was to leech the mana and life from the world itself for them to manifest physically.

    In short, what Queen Mab did previously against Hamatarou''s supposed killer as part of her fun in the contract loophole, eventually infected the entire human poption became an unintentional yground for Maeve to use. The daughter of the Winter Court Queen knew for sure that her mother did not n to make the world a ce for the Valgs to manifest and survive with a proper physical body.

    However, it was a surprise that the cultivators did not get infected by, and it was mainly because they have yet to evolve to infect humans from other worlds. (And oddly enough, the use of chi deterred the parasites.) The System had also previously noticed such anonymous elements ledged in Qiu Yue and Lynn as well but did not know what it was and had decided to eliminate it in the name of safety when they returned back to their world. (They also thought it was a simple decontamination shower just in case. Besides, they stink so badly from the adventure, they dly took the shower.)

    Now with a number of valgs manifesting under its radar, there was a striking simrity in the elements the System previously detected. Hence, it already prompted the System to immediately take precautions against these parasites the moment the cultivators returned to the luxury recovery instance.

    It even contacted Hamatarou who was busy with improving Masamune for the spells that changed the humans into animal people for analysis as part of a countermeasure. If the Valgs never appear, the System would not have known about a possible parasitic infiltration into their current ecosystem. To the System, it was a blessing in disguise for them to fight against Maeve. (Naturally, the System kept quiet and let Jin focus on the current raid.)

    The Valg parasites that appeared in the castle grew the moment they came in contact with this world. All sorts of monstrous features one could think of, the Valg parasites were able to grow as such. From insectoid forms to even human shapes, they rushed out from the portal gate created from the body of the Smander King and helter skelter into the depths of the castle.

    Gaeru saw the abomination of an unnatural being right in front of it, dying to use its ws and fangs against him and Jing Yu. As for the elderlydy, it seemed as if she had seen her fair share of monsters and was not afraid to face it.

    She summoned her cultivation out, and a series of Condor vultures appeared right above her. Without hesitation, she went for the first strike by extending her arms out. In an instant, two swords flew from the scabbards that were attached to her waist and went towards the direction of Valg.

    Attached to the swords were pieces of cloth which were identical to the ck Hanfu outfit that she was wearing. Her cultivation, the Hungry Condor Style was a cultivation style that ced great emphasis on the control of chi aspared to swordy. It was to the point that Jin once thought that this was the few older styles that might have spark the fusion of eastern and western styles together.

    The smoothness of controlling the swords from a distance via the cloth that attached to it made it looked like advanced telekinesis, but it was all about the precise control of using chi. As the swords flew towards the Valg, it tried to block the iing projectiles with its ws, but Jing Yu easily moved the swords away from its swing trajectory and attack it from another angle.

    Gaeru now partially understood why the olddy decided to wear a Hanfu clothing. It was to hide how she controlled the swords via the cloth that was attached to it so that the enemy could not predict her movements. He was amazed by the Condor Cultivator and only until an impromptu shout from Jing Yu awoken him from the daze looking at the elegant beauty of sword control.

    The frog swordsman quickly shook his head as he leapt forth and gave a straight stab towards the Valg. While it seemed like a suicide attack from Jing Yu''s point of view, especially since it looked like a straight, sincere strike, she had underestimated the frog''s flexibility.

    Like her swords, the frog was able to turn mid air evading the Valg''s swipe while he cut the hand down with his new sword and used the momentum from spinning to give an extra impact to the strike right in the middle of its torso. Unfortunately, the attack seemed like it was not enough to kill it and Gaeru hastily used his tongue to stick to the ceiling and pulled himself away from the Valg.

    Now Jing Yu began to understand the unnatural being in front of her. It was a monster with a high constitution and perhaps a considerable amount of strength, but agility is definitely not its strength.

    With that in mind, the Condor Cultivator pushed in more chi into her swords to made them hit harder while maintaining the grace of movement.

    However, little she did know that not all Valgs were the same as the one that preyed on Zi Dan and Xia Mao was of a direct opposite. It was to the point that the two had to use the kitchen appliances as part of their defences.

    It was extremely unsightly to see two old men desperately trying to dodge the Speedy Valg, but they were genuinely doing all they can to survive.

 Chapter 632 Six Legged Valg

    <h4>Chapter 632 Six Legged Valg</h4>

    "If only we have Jing Yu, here!" Zi Dan panted as he used a pot to block a strike from the six legged Valg before retracting back to the ceiling and using the entire kitchen to its advantage.

    "Don''t joke around already! You are technically the fastest between the three of us!" Xia Mao said when he hid from a spitting poison projectile from the Valg. He assumed it was some sort of poison since it corroded therge wooden table he was hiding behind. (He could not understand why only the appliances were human-sized while the rest of the furniture around the castle wererge by default.)

    "You want me to use my cultivation techniques at the start of the raid? Come! Take over my body and feel how painful it is when the aftereffects set in!" Zi Dan yelled at Xia Mao from a distance, and that attracted the Valg''s attention, prompting it to chase after Zi Dan. "Shit! It''s like a freaking spider waiting to entrap us!

    "Do you mean toying with us? Besides! That freaking monster only has six legs, not eight!!"

    "I do not think some minor differences in technicalities actually matter right now!" Zi Dan took his chain ball mace and infused it with enough chi to block the iing projectile. Sadly, that was not the end as the Valg had learnt how those pesky humans were avoiding its attacks.

    Thus, it sprung forth towards Zi Dan, hoping to grab him before he could run into safety again.

    "Shit!" Zi Dan saw the iing mass of hands (or legs?) waiting to grab him, and that scene alone had already paralysed him with much fear. Yet, Xia Mao was not going to let his teammate to be killed by the hideous monster even before reaching to the main boss. (Although that seemed to be the case for the both of them most of the time.)

    Xia Mao shot a projectile in the shape of a cat''s head from his crossbow, and it miraculously hit the Valg. That one shot was sufficient to push the monster away from hitting Zi Dan, and the sight of the cat''s head smashing itself directly on the Valg violently awoke Zi Dan, allowing him to move towards Xia Mao as quickly as possible.

    "What were you doing, freezing up right in front of the monster?!" Xia Mao scolded Zi Dan, and he hit him back on the head!

    "It''s not my fault! For some reason, I was paralysed the moment I saw its eye on one of its palms.. or legs or whatever!! When that cat projectile of yours hit the monster, it broke its eye contact with me, and I was able to move again!" Zi Dan exined as they ran to another hiding ce to rebuttal against each other.

    "And holy shit! You still using those cathead arrows? I thought you swear not to use them anymore!" Zi Dan asked as the arrow that Xia Mao was using had a literal cat head arrow that continuously gnaws when infused with chi.

    "Hahahah! That excuse was to simmer your anger, besides it saved you this time around! This cat head arrow is a marvellous work of mechatronics! More advanced than you think! Instead of piercing the enemy, it bites the enemy until I detonate it (to explode) after that!" Xia Mao saw no fault in the quiver full of such arrowheads that looked like a cat.

    "Well, just because you had some lessons from Jin''s NPC cksmith to make your own arrowheads doesn''t mean you can do this kind of crazy stuff! It''s equally scary and had been annoying me up till to this day!" Zi Dan argued back before they realised a hand emerged from the side of the wall with an eye looking at Xia Mao. True enough, the immediate eye contact had instantly froze Xia Mao, unable for him to react.

    As Zi Dan was facing towards Xia Mao during their heated arguments, he knew that fancying another look at the eye was too much a risk. Thus, he infused more chi into his chain ball mace and swung it sidewards. He did not care if it hit or not, as long as the eye breaks contact with Xia Mao, they could run away safely. Too bad for him, the attack missed but it hit the side of the wall, causing debris to fly all over the ce, causing the Valg to retract his hand and broke the paralysis on Xia Mao.

    Xia Mao retaliated the moment he could move to shoot out of its cat head arrows at the hand, and he did not stop just there. A button on his crossbow allowed him to activate a one time inscription charm meant to power boost his shot should he need it. That inscription infused the cat head arrow with an exceeding amount of chi, and when the projectile flew, the cat head was erged to five times its size.

    Zi Dan saw the size of the cat head, instinctively realised they are too close to the st radius and he had activated his cultivation, the Bullet Cheetah. He grabbed Xia Mao by the waist and with a burst of speed, he sprinted 100 metres away from the ce they were hiding. This also allowed Xia Mao to confidently detonate his cat head arrow, hoping it would deal some damage to the monster.

    Ironically, the Valg thought that the big size cat head arrow was alive with its seemingly real facial features. So, it decided to lift four of its palms towards the cat head arrow to make eye contact with it. The monster did not know that it merely quickening its death and soon the Valg exploded into several pieces. Its impact sent most of the body parts flying before it was burnt into crisp from the attack.

    "Arsehole! Did you not notice that we are so close to the target?!" Zi Dan shouted at Xia Mao after seeing a blueish explosion from the corner of the eye.

    "Heh Heh! I had confidence you will bring me out of the st radius." Xia Mao said in a shaky voice, and Zi Dan sighed at his tant bluffing. The Valg continued to shriek at its demise, allowing the other two to think that would be the end of it.

    Or so they wished.

    The desperate howling from the dying Valg was, in fact, a cry for help and the rest of the Valgs which were lurking around the castle began to proceed towards the castle''s kitchen with the two not knowing how their impending doom was developing behind the scenes.

    Until then, Xia Mao and Zi Dan revised what they had in their inventory seriously. While the two elderly cultivators did not know what other horrors of unnatural beings were stalking this area, they knew the previous fight would not be thest. With theirbined experience more than a hundred years, they had the same premonition that more of those Valgs were rushing towards them.

    And that was where one of the new features that Jin spent the time perfecting it before releasing the raid to the public came into y.

 Chapter 633 Pit Stop

    <h4>Chapter 633 Pit Stop</h4>

    It was none other than the use of a battle store via the Pandamonium app.

    Through this battle store, cultivators can now buy food, potions, weapons, inscriptions and even essories to aid them during their raid.

    It was part of Jin''s n to improve the services he provided for a better dungeon experience. This would also allow him to create harder dungeons since the cultivators now had ess to an online store in the midst of battle.

    While it might be seen as a break in the traditional way of dungeons, Jin saw it as an opportunity that had yet to be fully utilised (or in some sense exploited). He was sure some dungeon suppliers might offer such feature before, but the System guaranteed that Jin''s store app''s user interface and services will be maintained top notch quality.

    Thus, Jin named the Battle Store sub application within the Pandamonium - ''Pit Stop''.

    The sub application would automatically be ced as the top options when the cultivators entered the dungeon, or it could be used via the half mask they were wearing. Via eye tracking movement or voice control, the store would then disy items of the most relevance which the AI predicts what the customer might need during the battle.

    Hence, a cultivator well versed in the use of Pit Stop could potentially purchase an item in the heat of the moment to change the tide of battle almost instantaneously.

    However, all the items and even the delivery of those goods were all mised by Jin. He knew the store might not be well received since it was literally a pay-to-win kind of method and Jin understood the implications of giving the rich cultivators an edge over the other yers.

    So, he forbade the use of Pit Stop should he ever create a formal cultivator versus cultivator kind of arena but against monsters and raids? He believed it was a fair game for everyone except for the first clear rewards. If the cultivators wished to have their names on the board, they had to do it without any restocking from Pit Stop.

    Also, the items were priced at least 10% higher than the standard base prices that were sold in his shops. And topensate that, there were weekly discounts on selected items in the Dungeon Store Instances, to make them attractive and viable for cultivators to continue to look into them.

    That was unless they were using Pit Stop to browse the contents of the stores outside the dungeon instances.

    While adjusting the features, Jin had also implemented a cart option, and this further improved the purchase experience within the Pandamonium App. Previously, the shop option in the Pandamonium acting as a catalogue or a wishlist for them to take note if there were any discounts. With the new implementation, cultivators were now able to buy and browse items they wished to get beforeing to the store itself for the dungeon experience.

    This new update would also allow cultivators to take advantage of the sales even when they are not in the store physically. The System also believed this long awaited marketing gimmick will increase the store''s sales by another 80% since people fancied buying items from the, not to mention at a discounted rate. (Don''t worry, Jin was still making a profit from everything.)

    As for the delivery of goods into the dungeon instance, Jin took the chance to make even more money. For the first delivery of each dungeon instance, Jin had implemented it in such a way that all goods ordered would be sent to their customers immediately. Only subsequent orders would be via a timed postal delivery. If the cultivators wished to have the second round of supplies to enter the dungeon instance quickly, they have to pay for additional delivery fees.

    Thus, for Xia Mao and Zi Dan who had umted a fair bit of panda medals, they had already started choosing items on the Pit Stop to aid them further. Despite their rich dungeoneering experience, this elderly duo knew that no matter how much they had prepared before entering Jin''s dungeon instances, it would never be enough. This particr pitstop was indeed a long needed new feature.

    With the inclusion of the System''s AI into part of the Pit Stop algorithm, it immediately rmended ammunition for Xia Mao. For the Bullet Cheetah Cultivator, the AI suggested an adrenaline booster inscription charm to further increase his speed as well as other support restorative items which they alwayscked no matter how many bottles they carried.

    The trusty chi restoration drink in arge panda bottle. (Jin even featured XL bottles for heavy chuggers like Xiong Da.)

    There was even an intergroup maskmunicator which Pit Stop was selling an exorbitant price and stated it was a Pit Stop exclusive item. "THAT BOSS JIN! HE IS DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! Extortion! Extortion! If I am back as a businessman, I am going to hire someone like him to bleed Jin dry!" Xia Mao shouted as he saw the ridiculous price of the intergroup maskmunicator which unlock the team speak module in their mask. He believed it was essential since it would allow them tomunicate with Jing Yu.

    "Hey, at least it is currently on discount right? Ande on! Thest time you boasted that your investment is making you lots of money and you have no ce to spend them! Now it is the time!" Zi Dan added that he should buy for the whole group as well, hinting Xia Mao to buy for him as well. "Besides, the one time use team speak module cost like five bronze panda medals only. What are you waiting for?"

    "I am not wailing for the one time! I am talking about the lifetime module! That''s 999 Panda Medals per person! If there is no discount, its 2000 Panda medals! Just to speak with each other from a distance! How is that fair?!" Xia Mao said, and when he pressed on it, a pop up window with exnation appeared and then he kept awfully quiet.

    "What''s the matter? The Valgs are here?" Zi Dan asked as he scanned the area via his mask and there was no presence of any Valgs around.

    "No, I think I mistakenly med Jin. You are right, its a good investment. I will buy it." Xia Mao mumbled and quietly bought the set for himself andter also gifted an intergroupmunicator module to Zi Dan and Jing Yu as well.

    Zi Dan did not expect that stingy at times Cat Cultivator would really buy a lifetime module for him. What the other two cultivators did not know was that the 999 Panda Medal package was a secret package which only appeared in Xia Mao''s screen because of his exceedingrge purchase. Zi Dan did not have that option presented to him since his purchase from the Pit Stop was the bare essentials.

    That 999 Panda Medal Packagebo provided team speak modules for 5 friends and a limited Christmas Panda Plushie which Xia Mao had been eyeing for a long time and could not get it from the Krampus Christmas Raid instance.

    The size was smaller than the ones redeemable from the store, but it was something which his grandchildren would definitely like. Upon reading, he realised that a lifetime team speak module would usually cost 200 Panda Medals, and thus Xia Mao quickly bought it.

    That was why when he immediately kept quiet, Zi Dan began to suspect something odd, so Xia Mao continued to grumble and gave an excuse instead.

    "I remembered I did not give you guys any Christmas present. This is a bted one. I got two more, and the group can do a lucky draw to see who get itter." Xia Mao tried to evade Zi Dan''s suspicion, and somehow his ''charisma roll'' seeded.

    "No wonder you are so quiet, feeling guilty eh?" Zi Danughed as he saw a Santa panda animation appeared on his screen, presenting him with a gift box. He epted with glee and the gift box popped open, revealing to him a team speak module.

    Without any need to tinker, the module programme was immediately unlocked in his mask, and he quickly called out to Jing Yu.

    "Hey, Jing Yu. Can you hear us? If you do, open your Pandamonium app, we have gifted you a team speak module, courtesy of our grumpy Santa Mao Mao." Zi Dan said with tongue in cheek. However, before they could have a reply, their masks are detecting multiple signatures at least 500 metres away from their current location.

    "Shit, I guess we better check out the physical items and get the purchases as soon as possible." Zi Dan said as he pressed his orders and a portal appeared. Out came a Panda in a light blue postman attire carrying a crate of items for Zi Dan and Xia Mao.

    "A little something extra for your good faith in our new service and for spending more than a thousand panda medals in one go." The Postman Panda said as he ced two long rectangr suitcases in front of them.

    Xia Mao opened it with curiosity which subsequently made both his and Zi Dan''s jaw dropped simultaneously.

    Lo and behold.

    The spear of death modernised to rip its enemies. The item which Peppers called a cheap imitation of her explosive magic. And yet its the envy for anyone who wields it in the battlefield, for its appearance only beckon the reaper to arrive sooner.

    It''s a triple barrel RPGuncher.

 Chapter 634 A Change In Direction

    <h4>Chapter 634 A Change In Direction</h4>

    Jin monitored the vtile situation in the Giant World, but he could help to feel frustrated and useless. As it was merely morning, the number of cultivators were still somewhat limited, and at least they were making some progress against Maeve''s Valgs.

    The System predicted that for the cultivators to reach towards the throne hall where Maeve would be situated at, they would probably need additional manpower considering the threat the cultivators were facing. In the meantime, the System suggested Jin to either work on something more useful or at the very least prepare countermeasures against Maeve.

    "You mean to prepare an army to assault her the moment the cultivators find her?" Jin asked if that was the System''s intention. He had initially wanted to rush in at the veryst moment to aid the cultivators but eventually decided to not do so. At first, he was afraid that Maeve''s magic would teleport him away the moment he teleported into the Giant''s World.

    However, the Postman Panda delivery had alleviated his fears when it managed to portal right beside Zi Dan and Xia Mao to pass their purchases to them. So, Jin theorised that it could be the entrances and exits of the castle that were affected by the random teleportation magic. If they managed to teleport within the castle''s interior, there should not be a problem.

    Unfortunately, that leads to another problem. Upon learning that the cultivators should be able to portal safely via the castle''s interior, Jin requested the System to do as such for his minions to attack but it denied and fully objected to Jin''s demands.

    The System was afraid that Maeve might take that opportunity to locate the System''s portal and either send her or a Valg portal to the System''s premise. At the moment, those little Panda postmen was not an issue because the magical signature was minute. That could not be said to be the same if the System was teleporting either a portion of Jin''s minions or the cultivators into the castle itself.

    While it might not be as a problem considering that the System had created a containment premise, the System did not wish to put itself at risk unnecessarily. To the collective of wills, it had already determined that the risk was not worth it and the cultivators should continue to go via the front door.

    Besides, what Maeve was doing had unknowingly created aplex enough dungeon raid experience for the cultivators. It saw no qualms breaking that experience for the cultivators.

    But for Jin, the Systemterpromised to provide a one shot portal which subsequently led Jin to wonder if it was a good idea after the System had expressed its concerns.

    "What if the extent of her powers is more than we estimated? We might potentially incur more losses than predicted, and I have an awfully terrible feeling that Queen Mab may step into the picture to protect her kid from dying."

    "Then do just that? Why worry so much?" Kraft questioned as he emerged from nowhere once more. He sat at Jin''s chair and ate what seemed to be an open bag of chips. (If Jin was not mistaken, Kraft probably stole it from Peppers since he remembered getting such chips for her.)

    "The System had a point, we still need to conserve resources like souls for the Mechanical Titan attack since it would be hard for us to transport any cultivators to space without any proper space suits," Jin replied.

    "What if the cultivators failed without Queen Mabing in? What do we do? Don''t know? That is precisely what the System wants you to n. " Kraft reminded Jin of his duties.

    "Never forget the loyalty and eagerness of your monsters. Although it''s true that the cultivators are a source of your ie and, to a certain degree, your fighting force, you have to remember not to rely too much on external help. That applies to business partners too."

    "But didn''t you suggested earlier to use cultivators?" Jin furrowed his eyebrows as he talked to Kraft.

    "Doesn''t mean you have to listen to everything I said, right? Did I identally lose my thinking master somewhere along the way? Or the person in front of me became a puppet of the System again? Do you want me to throw you back to that dark room once more? I can do that with a snap of a finger." Kraft warned Jin without facing him before heaving out a sigh.

    He knew that Jin was not himself when his master heard the ''business proposal'' from the Police Captain, even though it clearly sounded more like extortion.

    "Don''t let these small minor setbacks crawl all over your head. You had been marginally sessful thus far, but it was not without luck. Even if Lady Luck is not at your side, doesn''t mean you cannot work around the problem. Remember that your long term goal differs from everyone and you should not let these setbacks take control of you." Kraft finished what he needed to say. He then disappeared after using the Dungeon Maker console to check on a few queries that he had before disappearing from the Dungeon Maker.

    Jin took a deep breath in and took a step backwards.

    Kraft was right, the System and the others had been holding his hand from time to time. They could only help him to a certain extent, and as for the rest, Jin had to grow some balls and take the situation by its throat.

    The Dungeon Supplier had always been worrying about the wrong things, and the only thing he should worry about is his own future, not some business deal or ckmail.

    Maeve, the Mechanical Titan or even the Farming World were also just temporary obstacles to enhance his life in the future. Thus, he should not see these events with dread and instead with glimmering opportunity.

    And there was indeed a silver lining in this particr circumstance.

    "Hamatarou, are you done with the enhancement of Masamune?" Jin spoke through the System Channel.

    "More or less, I think Vulcan understood my requirements, I should be avable in a minute or two if you need me. What is the matter, Master? Do you want me to interrogate the Smanders to find out why the Smander King is acting that way? Or their connection with Maeve?"

    "Nope, I do not want any of those. The Raid is up against Maeve, and I think this is the best time to get the other animal people. You said you have some way of contacting everyone right? For that ehh massive migration thingy." Jin vaguely remembered the details.

    "Yeap, that something is simr to your re gun, I shoot a magical re from my hideout, and it will provide a signal to all the usable Totem of Atems to activate a hiddenpartment. It contains a map various checkpoints for me to meet them for the mass migration. But we would still be in a sort of cat and mouse chase since giants are prowling the area." Hamatarou said.

    "No worries about that, tell the System when you are ready to return to your tree hideout and prepare the stuff. I will contact you again when I have actionable details for you to proceed with the re." Jin hung up and requested Peppers via the System Channel.

    "Boom Boom time?" Peppers eagerly arrived at the Dungeon Maker despite taking the call from the System.

    "In a way," Jin replied, and Peppers frown before her master could finish his sentence.

    "That won''t do. I did you a service already, I am not going to do some useless scan to see the number of monsters in that pathetic castle. You should have enough information to go by." Peppers interrupted and was ready to return while still chewing on the candy that Jin had gotten for her earlier in the morning.

    Jin quickly grabbed by her shoulders and pushed her to the dungeon maker console. The System also assisted by blocking her teleport until she listened to Jin''s request.

    "No. Peppers, look here. I have a very important job for you, one that requires your utmost ability as well. It might not be as fun as burning the whole Giant kingdom down, but I need you to provide aerial artillery support." Jin then emphasised on the next sentence.

    "In short, an awful lot of Boom Boom."

 Chapter 635 Preparations For The Rescue Operation

    <h4>Chapter 635 Preparations For The Rescue Operation</h4>

    "Now, I am listening." Peppers eyes lit up like the lights of a Christmas tree, all twinkling and shining within the midst of her dark ruby eyes.

    "The current n is that we get you to fly up high on Que Er''s magpies, Wyrstiker''s wyvern or maybe even Mr Derpy himself and from there, you will provide numerous bombardment artillery against the Giants," Jin told Peppers that those giants would be specifically targeting the animal people that Jin wished to rescue and recruit.

    The idea was to get them out of hiding immediately with the re which Hamatarou would be firing. After which, find out where they were located and send the Penguin Ninjas to escort the animal people back to the Sanctum of World''s guest instance.

    During the mass transfer, the Giants might be a hindrance, and that was where Peppers woulde in to remove them out of the equation.

    "So, you want me to use Scan and explosions at the same time?" Peppers realised the task ahead of her might be out of her league especially when she knew how much mana the scan could take. Even if the little betor could scan kingdom wide, she would not be able to differentiate who was friend or foe.

    "Yes, that is why I am sending Ayse with you. I recalled reading a little on her recent report about you. She had prepared some contraption that would aid you in regting your mana. Besides, she had been training you for quite some time, I doubt you will faint as much as you used to. Have some faith in yourself." Jin was encouraging Peppers more positively than the way Kraft did to him, but the essence of the message felt like it was a grim reminder way too soon.

    "Alright, but I demand more sweets and candies! Especially ones from Big Sis Lynn! Else!" Peppers attempted to take advantage of Jin, and he nodded his head slightly as a sign of agreement.

    After which, Jin had passed the message to Derpy as he imagined the support from Ayse would need some space to bolster Peppers'' magic powers. That big fellow was so excited to go into action and even asked if Jin needed the Deep Ones to assist with the expedition. Jin humbly turned down his offer and told him that only he could do the job, which made him even more ted.

    With Peppers'' aid, Jin had his very own improvised Search and Destroy satellite of destruction. (Just that this particr ''satellite'' isn''t as reliable as he wanted it to be. Still, it was better than nothing.) To have air support was something that Jin desperately needed but always overlooked.

    So, with Derpy acting as the floating tform, Peppers, Ayse and Que Er would be providing the much needed aerial support. Peppers would supply the bombardment strikes as Que Er used her newfound powers to reinforce the operation. She had her murder of blood explosion crows to be hovering all around the Kingdom to keep an eye for the animal people as well as distracting the Giants long enough for Peppers'' bombardment strike to work.

    Jin had also contacted Lynn, and she had graciously lent more Penguin Ninjas along with Kido to aid Jin with his rescue mission while the raid was ongoing. She knew how important it was for the penguins to aid their fellow animal people since they knew what it was like to live through day by day in horror.

    The Dungeon Supplier also figured that if they could not defeat Maeve, they should at leastplete the grand objective of saving the animal people as quickly as possible and leave the area. While having Maeve will definitely be a bonus, its not their main priority. At the very most, Jin would cut short the cultivator''s raid and reward those who had fought valiantly in the fight.

    However, that did not mean Jin was going to stop short. He knew that Maeve will definitely be a fantastic addition to his roster (and so did the System) and even he did not say it out loud, the desire was in and clear for everyone to see. (Well technically, only the System was around...)

    Yet, the only ability she had shown was to summon the Valgs, so she should not be underestimated if they were to fight face to face.

    That was where Jin had decided to take heed in Kraft''s request.

    "Kraft, You say to rely on you guys right? How about you loan me your Dark Elves? I heard they were trained to be your elite adventuring force. Thought I can see them in action." Jin asked through the System Channel.

    "Ehhhh? They will cost you." Kraft thought this would be an opportune time to take advantage of Jin.

    "I will provide additional funds to revamp your Tavern base. How about that?" Jin knew that Kraft would want more but the dungeon supplier had something up his sleeves.

    "How about giving me an extra-"

    "No, then the deal is off. I will find other monsters to take over." Jin then shut the System Channel and began to look at the directory of monsters.

    Perhaps, he could field the Orcs as part of training for the uing fight against Demon King Baal. Meanwhile, he was hoping Kraft will take Jin''s bait mainly because he knew that even though Kraft was a betor with some authority, he did not have rights to acquire additional funding for his personal use. Besides, if he did not appear to take Jin''s request on, it meant that Devilman was shooting himself in the foot for telling his master a lie that he should rely on his monsters as well.

    It was the first time, Jin had the upper hand on the issue against Kraft and that Original Betor knew that too.

    In less than five minutes, Kraft did appear in front of Jin, and with a twisted face of agony, he reluctantly agreed to it. "I should remind myself not to encourage you too positively in the future," Kraft said slowly, and Jin shrugged his shoulders with a slight smirk expression. (If the Dark Elves ever knew that Kraft was defeated by Jin due to a logic loop, they would be praising their ''actual'' master to no end.)

    Regardless, the Dark Elves were eventually scheduled to be the first responders against Maeve if the cultivators failed badly. The dungeon supplier had also decided to send a few fighter dark elves with the cultivators so they could find out any weakness against the Valgs.

    When the Dark Elves heard of the opportunity to go into battle, their elder suggested setting up a few ambush sites when they fight against Maeve in case she wished to escape or bring the fight out of the throne hall. Jin did not understand why and the elder exined that it was solely because they would be fighting against a Fey.

    "We have previous encounters against fairies in the Goblin World as well. They were a rare sight even to Elves, and not all were friendly. The first we reached out, nearly killed us with her words. And because of that, my elders had made countermeasures against such malevolent creatures. ...though I am not sure how effective it would be against this Maeve." The Dark Elf Elder said, and suddenly he felt a death stareing from the Devilman himself. Oh, but the Dark Elf Elder was smirking widely back at him. Very widely.

    Kraft did not bother to check their memories when he first captured them which was why he did not know that they had countermeasures against Feys. The fox betor did not think it was worth the time and effort.

    But now, even though he could forcefully enter their minds to check what they had seen, Kraft rather not waste his energy breaking the barriers he had ''painstakingly'' trained them to create. After all, they were his minions and obliged to tell him anything he wished to know.

    "You could have told me that earlier! Ah, but I did not really release information on the situation in the Giant World out..." Jin wondered if he should keep his minions notified about the current situation so that they might provide help if they were able to.

    After all, the System did not possess full knowledge of all their abilities and memories unless the monsters voluntarily decided to release that information.

    But with that new information in mind, Jin had already begun sending out the Dark Elves to be paired with the cultivators to scout for the ambush sites while he prepped the rescue operation.

 Chapter 636 David Vs Goliath

    <h4>Chapter 636 ''David Vs Goliath''</h4>

    Xia Mao and Zi Dan not only made decent progress against the iing Valgs, but they had also finally connected through to Jing Yu via the team speak module.

    Apparently, Jing Yu was previously in a bind with Gaeru as the Valgs were explicitly targeting the frog swordsman, which was why she did not ept the gift when it first went through. Jing Yu did her best to protect the main objective of the raid, and that was evident through the number of points she was gaining.

    Eventually, the young male elders had made it to the first floor of the castle and met up with an exhausted Jing Yu while the Froggie was still pumping full of adrenaline. "This stupid frog is way too much of a hassle to take care in tight spaces. The length of his sword made it hard for him to fight in narrow corridors." Jing Yuint while she dragged the frog with her cloth, acting as a leash to make sure he was not out of her sight.

    "My condolences. But hey! From what you describe, those valgs were the slow moving ones. We have a shit ton of speedy Valgs itching to have our heads removed if we ever ce our guards down." Xia Mao said as he could feel his money being drained from all the ammunition that he used.

    Even though the Cat Head arrow was a customised item he made from scratch, Xiao Mao did not know that his design could be stored within the Pit Stop and be replicated from within. He believed that it was a nifty feature, but because it was reproduced for him without Xia Mao personally crafting them, it cost nearly two times more.

    For this, he did not grumble because he remembered how much time and effort to create those Cat Head Arrows and the ones he used were of eptable quality as well. Xia Mao even wondered if Jin could allow customised made items to be sold in his shop instances in the future. That way, he could earn a minormission to further supplement his retirement activities.

    While Xia Mao was actually d to pay double the price for an instant duplication of those arrows for him to use, that was not the only item he created when he attended the cksmith NPC workshop.

    As he was a cat cultivator and a lover of cats himself, Xia Mao had his weapons adorned with cat designs to the point that Zi Dan felt it was absurd. His crossbow had an ornate head of a Sphynx cat, and his crossbow stock was crafted with a silhouette of Persian catszing at the corner.

    Nheless, his fellow Cheetah Cultivator could not deny the effectiveness of his items despite the absurdity of it such as the Cat Head Arrows. Xia Mao also dered that if there was a Cat Suit Cosmetic Inscription, he would definitely wear it for every battle.

    Separately, Jing Yu had no knowledge about the Pit Stop feature as she was too busy fending for her life, nor did she read the updates to the raid. Thus, they decided to move to a corner of a giant room where the other two cultivators kept guard while she tried to restock her items.

    "Oh and DO NOT let that frog out of your side. He is always impatient, like a child so fixated on his path and ignored almost everything around him." Jing Yu said as she grabbed on to wrapped up Gaeru and told Zi Dan to hold it tightly. The Cheetah Cultivator was somewhat surprised that Gaeru''s skin was rather smooth instead of it being slimy and rough to touch.

    "Honourable Gentlemen! We should head for the throne hall as soon as possible! Our nemesis is there!" Gaeru not knowing that the Smander King was dead, continued to struggle in Zi Dan''s arm.

    "Easy there Froggie, as soon as our teammate finished restocking, we will head in there! I know you are dying to exterminate the king who killed your tribe, but it''s better to be fully prepared." Zi Dan replied as he struggled to keep the frog still. Now he understood why Jing Yu warned about this feisty swordsman.

    "No! Every second wasted means more time for him to grow stronger. We must reach there, posthaste!" Gaeru expressed his concerns of the Smander King getting stronger with the aid of Maeve, but he had also promised Jin not to leak any of the raid details to the cultivators unless they pressed really hard for it.

    "How about this? You tell us one good reason why you should rush in there along without us?" Xia Mao questioned, and suddenly the frog became motionless, he did not continue to put up a struggle against Zi Dan''s grab.

    "Because I did not want to think about it. I feel that fighting was the only way to divert my attention from the truth that I had abandoned my vige when they needed me most... While they would never have expected me to aid them in their time of desperate need, it''s still my responsibility...my solemn duty. And I had failed to protect them." The frog whispered slowly as if he spoke it out from the depths of his heart.

    Zi Dan did not know why but if this was seriously part of the raid''s backstory, the frog emotions was almost too real to be true. Xia Mao who was standing guard with his pal could not fathom such an emotional response from a dungeon instance as well and wondered if this emergency raid was a story long-nned by Jin.

    The only qualms that the duo had were the giant sized environment they were in. There had to be some sort of background history with regards to the ce''s culture or giant size buildings, but for now, Xia Mao would not waste his brain cells to rte any of those. He was not the kind who search for lore in a dungeon instance aspared to those nerds in the Pandamonium Forum, so it did not matter too much to him.

    Ever since Gaeru gave his reasons, the whole group remained silent until Jing Yu was well restocked. Instantly, the very same Panda Postman appeared and passed her the items as well as a parting gift too - a pack of incendiary grenades.

    And as they were about to depart, the team heard a series of horrid screams echoing from the hallway down from where they were hiding. A quick zoom via the Mask UI had revealed that four other cultivators were attempting to disengaged in a fight against an enormous looking Valg which the team had never encountered. That could only mean that they were getting closer to the Smander Lord.

    Without hesitation, Gaeru quickly broke free from Zi Dan''s grapple and sped towards the Giant Valg to save the team of escaping cultivators (It was more like he was dying to get into battle.)

    Upon closer inspection by the older cultivators, they noticed that the Valg had distinct features simr to a Smander. The only differences were its haunted expression, giant size and fists that were half the size of the pirs in the castle.

    It was not something a handful of cultivators and a frog could attempt to fight against. They were akin to ants when facing this particr giant Smander Valg.

    "Shit! Even the RPGuncher and grenades that Jin gave us as gifts would not be sufficient to bring this monster down!" Zi Dan said as he held on to his ball chain mace with creeping dread.

    "But it is in our way, and I don''t think we can outrun it no matter how fast we go! I think even that Giant Smander Valg will outpace Zi Dan running at his top speed ." Xia Maomented as he checked the number of Cat Head Arrows he left.

    "Either we fight to the death against this or west until the reinforcements enter the fray. Surely, we can use our team speak module to send an SOS, right?" Jing Yu queried as she opened her storage ring and ced an additional ten swords on the floor. Out from her Hanfu outfit, ten pieces of cloth flew out to attach themselves to the swords.

    Yet when the cultivators were thinking of ways to defeat the Giant Valg, the little frog charged forth recklessly with his heart steeled with nothing but absolute determination.

    From the shop instance''s screens, it was indeed simr to a reenactment of David versus Goliath.

 Chapter 637 Reinforcements En Route

    <h4>Chapter 637 Reinforcements En Route</h4>

    "That idiot Jin! Why does he always do this kind of nonsense!" Xiong Da was already on his way to the Tree Mall via taxi. If not for the fact that he had to take on the call of nature at 5 am in the morning, he would have totally snooze off the vibration notification from his phone.

    Though he loved to get Ruo Ying, his girlfriend and personal secretary up for the emergency dungeon raid, she had been awake an hour ago entertaining a few friends of hers that came from abroad.

    Thus, Xiong Da decided to go alone, hoping that Ruo Ying was able to get some quality sleep. (He too knew that he could snore too loud forfort and sometimes, she had to bear with it.) At most, he will buy breakfast from the Tree Mall and surprise her with it.

    Upon consoling his conscience, the Hippo Cultivator attempted to message in the Pandawan group chat to see if anyone''s awake for Emergency Raid instance.

    Ironically, the only person who answered was Bu Dong. While he was preparing to rest for the night after a series of online video game session with his friend Kong Xian, the Towering Tortoise Cultivator, the Emergency Raid Instance came about. Since it was the weekend, they had decided to sneak out of the house to go to the Tree Mall.

    Kong Xian initially rejected since he had spent enough on his girlfriend and any more would put a strain on his January''s budget. But when he heard that his generous friend Bu Dong would be hailing a cab for him as well as treating him breakfast after the raid, Kong Xian had agreed to go. (Some friend he wasбн)

    As Xiong Da reached to the Tree Mall, he noticed that only the Panda Tiangong Statue with a Santa Hat was lit up. At the same time, he also heard a series of shouting echoing at the higher levels of the mall and observed that it could be Jin''s Emergency Raid working.

    Unlike Jin''s store which continued to open 24 hours, the rest of the ce remained empty, and even the power to the esctors was down till the next morning. Hence, Xiong Da used his cultivation powers to jump up the top floor. He treated it as part of a warm up exercise and teleported into Jin''s store instance upon reaching the top level.

    "Yo, Xiong Da. I thought you will reach here first." Bu Dong said as Kong Xian was already yawning away. "I checked the forums a bit, and apparently it''s rumoured to be as tough as the Christmas Raid. The only difference is that its amunity raid, so everyone gonna participates until the instance itself is full."

    "And Boss Jin had also added a few new features. Apparently, the improved mask UI feature you talked about? He implemented it into this particr raid, and people were saying that there''s store app we can ess inside the dungeon." Kong Xian added, and Xiong Da''s eyes widen.

    "Well, its about time! No matter how much I prepared, Boss Jin''s dungeons would always bleed me dry of potions! This time around, I am just going to spam the store app when we are in the dungeon. He owed me that much anyway, hahahah!" Xiong Da said, and suddenly someone within the auditoriums was shouting for everyone toe to take a look.

    Although the number of people visiting Jin''s store increased, there was still more than enough space for people to squeeze through the auditorium to check what was on the screen. They witnessed the Giant Smander Valg mming randomly within the castle interior, and the magic eye would zoom towards the frog swordsman fighting against it. The fight was increasingly intense, and it became evident that the raid required more help.

    A few other cultivators were fighting against the Giant Smander Valg as well, but it seemed like this raid was already pushing them to the limits. Mr Patsu urged the rest to hurry into the raid instance and aid the cultivators that were still standing strong.

    "I am all ready, been optimising my stuff on my taxi trip here and must say, it''s amazing that the new store function would allow me to buy items on the fly." Xiong Da said as he took his phone out and pressed the ''send purchase'' option. The little Panda Postman appeared once again, tipping his cap towards Xiong Da as he dragged a crate two times bigger than him out of the portal.

    The bystanders had mixed reactions to the Panda Postman. Some werementing on how cute the Panda was in trying to get the crate out of the portal though others felt that the Postman was rather pitiful, doing a task which they deemed it was overwhelming even for the little guy. Xiong Da felt terrible too upon seeing the Panda Postman struggling, but thetter stopped him froming any nearer.

    "I have a job to do, and I will finish it no matter what." The Panda Postman said, and the female cultivators were already posting pictures on how cute the little Panda Postman was in showing his determination toplete the job. (Even though most of them knew that it was all part of the gimmick.)

    Bu Dong and Kong Xian shrugged their shoudlers and told Xiong Da that they were ready to depart whenever he was ready. The three eventually entered the raid when Xiong Da filled his storage rings with the items he ordered. To him, it seemed like thismunity raid could be as exciting as the Goblin Raid instances.

    --------------

    "Shit! This is no joke!" Xia Mao said as he barely dodged the pir looking fist of the Giant Smander Valg. If not for Jing Yu''s quick assistance by using her cloth to pull Xia Mao closer, he would have lost his life in an instant.

    "Stop fooling around already and use your cultivation properly!" Jing Yu knew that that crossbow and Cat Head arrows were not even a proper substitution for his actual cultivation.

    "You want me to activate my cultivation against this big guy? Are you nuts!?" Xia Mao said as he unwrapped the cloth around him, but somehow it got stuck. He then realised that Jing Yu was already pointing her sword while further tightening the cloth which was wrapped around that Cat Cultivator.

    "Arghhh. Fine! I am not as nimble as I am now! DO NOT expect much from me!" Xia Mao grumbled as he shot the Cat Head arrow before keeping his crossbow in his storage ring and took out a scimitar.

    Immediately, he revealed his cultivation above him, and it was a series of cats with blindfolds on them.

    "Activate Blind Cat Stance, Shadow!" Xia Mao said out loud, and suddenly his body sparkled with chi before half of his body became translucent while the other half was filled with void like shadows.

    "Grab on to my sword, I will send you flying so that you can assist that dumb frog who is jumping around like an annoying fly." Jing Yu said, and Xia Mao held on to the cloth that was wrapped around him.

    Jing Yu then slowly rolled her eyes as that was not what she meant. She knew that the sword was connected to the cloth, but Jing Yu needed him to hold her floating weapon to have her technique be executed correctly.

    And since Xia Mao wanted to tease and joke during this tense situation, she did not care anymore and sent a burst of chi through that wrapped cloth. With a blink of an eye, the white fabric intensely rolled towards the Giant Valg, and Xia Mao was literally flying off like a spinning top.

    However, with his Blind Cat Stance, he managed to bnce himself midair and twirled once more before moving like an arrow towards the Giant Valg''s face. The monster noticed something was flying towards him, and he decided to open his mouth to release a st of бнValg corpses.

    But as luck would have it, Gaeru was perceptive enough to preempt the projectile attack. When the Giant Smander Valg was about to make a move, the Frog Swordsman decided to counter attack by jumping towards its neck and stabbing it on the side. While Jin might not be there to handle Boo efficiently, the sword itself was still capable of inflicting a decent amount of damage by prating through the Valg''s thick skin.

    The quick stab was sessful as the impact pushed that the Giant Smander Valg to the side, causing the st of corpses to be diverted a by few degrees. Still, Gaeru discerned that it was not enough since part of it would definitely hit Xia Mao. Even the other cultivators in the area who were witnessing the attack thought that Xia Mao would be a goner.

    But presently, only the Blind Cat Cultivator Xia Mao knew that the attack would be rendered useless with his ability.

 Chapter 638 Blind Cat Stance: Shadow

    <h4>Chapter 638 Blind Cat Stance: Shadow</h4>

    Because of his Blind Cat Stance: Shadow, Xia Mao was temporarily in an ethereal state which he passed through objects with ease. However, that stance consumed chi like flowing water from the tap, and it meant that Xia Mao only had one shot at making it right.

    But the Blind Cat Cultivator was not an assault based cultivation style and more of a support type cultivation. That was also the reason why he adopted the use of Mechatronics and infused it with chi (i.e. His Cat Head Arrows) to fight against the Valgs. Xia Mao had shamelessly admitted to his dungeon group that when he was younger, he did use his cultivation knowledge to break into secure locations or bigpanies to pick theirpany safes.

    If not for his Blind Cat Cultivation, he would have gone to jail more than just once. For his imprisonment, the police had to specially create an anti magic barrier along with inscription charms designed to absorb Xia Mao''s chi. He recalled that the prison was meant to have the bare minimum amount of chi to survive. This was all to make sure that his blind cat cultivation would not be activated in prison.

    Fortunately (Or unfortunately), it was due to people like Xia Mao, the government became wary of such cultivations and begun upgrading prison security and even tried to ban the Blind prefixes in cultivation styles. (Xia Mao tried to boast that he was the few that made the government revamp the prison system, but no one ever believes him.) No doubt there were protests, but the country''s culture still made it easy to implement those bans aspared to other nations.

    Thus, most of the existing ''Blind'' cultivation types were either altered to suit the government ban (Such as Yue Han''s Blind Bat Cultivation) or those who used the original blind cultivation types were hidden in in sight.

    The rest who were still active? Try the underworld society.

    It is umon to know a Blind cultivation type user in the underworld, but surprisingly, the Triads had also limited the number of blind cultivation types one could employ. All of the Royal Zodiac Triads obliged to it strictly without any question. (If Royal Zodiac Triad spies ever find out that a triad had more than what was considered eptable, a shadow civil war between the Triads.)

    Despite the enforcement from the Royal Zodiac Triads, they were only a fraction part of the underworld society. And if one were to give a moral alignment to them, they were already considered to bewfully evil.

    Why? Simple.

    It''s the society of shadows.

    Previously when Kraft travelled into the Abyss Web, it was not solely just for Foxy. As part of an unwritten rule with the System, he was there to scout and gather information.

    One portion of such information was regarding ck sites and servers filled with contractable hitmen. The System needed data on those hitmen in case those people ever had the blind cultivation types and infiltrate the shop in order to take out Jin. While nothing can escape the eyes of the System when they are in the shop instance premises, it would still be useful to have the preemptive information on them. (And so, Kraft could strike them back hard too.)

    Even though most of the information was hard to obtain and such sites had the counter hackers to protect the identities of their hitmen, Kraft and the System never fail to break their security and decipher them during their spare (processing) time. And once they had ess to their servers, Kraft kept a separate watchlist to take note of those men.

    In the meantime, the Devilman tried not to use Foxy spyware if possible since he wanted to keep its appearance as low as possible to reduce overexposure if counter hackers stumble on to it. Thus, it was solely his skills and his ability to break into the ck servers. (If he ever fails, he would take it as a lesson to be learnt ande back with a better cracking procedure.)

    As for Xia Mao, because of his previous offence, he had to wear a mini monitoring device on his leg for 20 years after a year of jail. (Due to the intense and isted nature of his imprisonment, the judge sentenced had reduced it only a year upon revision. Besides, the prosecution could not find any further pieces of evidence for his previous thefts except for the one he was caught for.)

    During that period, he atoned and worked (somewhat) honestly to be a sessful businessman in the field of mechanical engineering with the money he had stolen. (Of course, he used it sparingly to avoid suspicion.) There were times Xia Mao had the urge tomit crimes again for the thrills but technology advances made it too risky for him, especially after being caught once.

    Through the years, he did attempt many dungeon instances from various dungeon suppliers, but they never gave him the kick he always wanted until now. Xia Mao never felt the battles to be this exhrating in Jin''s store, and the use of his cultivation had be beneficial for the dungeon group he joined. (For example, he used his Blind Cat cultivation to retrieve the cosmetic inscriptions in the Deep One Dungeon.)

    That was why he never failed to miss a group dungeon meeting ever since he found Jin''s store.

    -----

    "Hey, Frog! Catch this!" Xia Mao said as he threw the scimitar towards Gaeru. The moment the frog swordsman caught it; the scimitar turned bright green like the colour of his skin. Apparently, what Xia Mao had used was something simr to a technique in Yue Wen''s Healing Maiden Cultivation.

    The Healing Maiden employed a technique that permitted the transference of chi through the physical touch of the body, but for the Blind Cat cultivation, Xia Mao transferred his chi using the scimitar as a medium of transport.

    That was also how he could never get caught until that fateful day. Xia Mao was able to make an item dissipate as chi, causing it to vanish without a trace.

    Well, actually almost.

    His technique enabled him to break the item down into dust, but those dust still contained traces of his chi, which was why he was caught with the advancement of forensic technology.

    Gaeru, who was barely familiar with the chi concept, only knows that the bright green light he was holding on to, was some form of energy which could be utilised to boost his strength. So, the frog swordsman held the glowing scimitar tight alongside with Boo, finally enabling Jin''s sword to change into a shape which Gaeru had desired.

    Arger version of Masamune. (What else could he think about?)

    But unlike the standard Masamune, Boo, now enchanted with a voluminous amount of chi, allowed Gaeru to feel like he was merely holding a feather despite its size. Without any doubts or hesitation, Gaeru casually took a swing against the Giant Valg, and the impact from the erged Boo caused it to fall to the ground almost instantaneously.

    The Giant Smander Valg had no idea that the frog was able to wield such a weapon and was indeed taken by surprise. If not for the Giant Valg''s fists of pirs to block the swing, it would have been cut into two.

    By this time, some of the cultivators who came to reinforce were bbergasted toprehend a frog holding a sword hundred times its size. A few nearly assumed he was part of the monster horde they had to fight until their mask interface indicated that he was a friendly.

    "Stop staring and start killing the Giant! Do not give it a chance to stand up!" Jing Yu''s shout broke the mood of shock and awe as she channelled a bulk of her chi into her swords.

    Zi Dan, who was also in a daze, swiftly got out of it and release the triple barrel RPGuncher from his storage ring. The Mask''s user interface immediately booted up a screen that enabled Zi Dan to lock Valg into his target.

    To his amazement, the RPG missiles were programmed to follow the target locking mechanism provided by the Mask interface which allowed the Bullet Cheetah cultivator to fire without any training. With a click, three missiles were mercilessly shot out from their barrels, and they roared towards the Giant Smander Valg''s head.

    Xia Mao who managed to ledge himself on top of a castle pir after the previous stunt unleashed his Triple barrel RPGuncher at the direction of the Valg''s head as well. When all six missiles exploded, Jing Yu did not hesitate to follow up the attack by sending her swords forth. The only difference was that all six swords were attached with the incendiary grenades which the Pit Stop shop app had gifted her.

    Simr to Zi Dan, her incendiary grenades could be rigged for remote explosions via the Mask''s user interface, and that gave her more control with those grenades since she too had no experience in handling them.

    Somehow, Gaeru felt that those puny attacks were not sufficient against such arge Valg, as if they were merely scratching the surface.

    Thus, in order to finish this Giant Smander once and for all, the frog continuously jumped up the walls and pirs, dragging that huge sword right beside him.

    Using the momentum of his jumps, he backflipped the moment he reached to the top of the ceiling and plummeted his sword down into the Valg''s torso. That giant monster screeched due to the wound he recieved, and his violent reaction to it was noticeable for everyone.

    It was evident Gaeru had struck a vital blow against the Giant Smander Valg.

    Needless to say, that fabulous one-hit strike significantly boosted the morale for the rest of the cultivators as they rushed in, hoping to finish the Giant Valg before it was able to get up.

    And their efforts were not in vain.

 Chapter 639 Taking A Breather

    <h4>Chapter 639 Taking A Breather</h4>

    "бнI think we are a bitte to the party." Xiong Da and his party members were panting heavily, running from a secluded part of the castle to the main lobby where the Giant Valg event concluded minutes after.

    "I presume we are already the lucky few, able to charge through the Valgs to reach the main lobby in record time. "Bu Dongughed as he catches his breath. It was all thanks to Xiong Da even though the Angry Ape Cultivator did not say it directly.

    Xiong Da in his ck suit cosmetic inscription, which most of the Pandawans had obtained from the Deep Ones dungeon instance, took a long look at the aftermath of the Giant Valg, hoping to grasp the situation. Some of the cultivators wondered why he was well dressed, and his main reason was that he did not want people to know how decked out he was.

    Beneath that cosmetic inscription, he had equipped the highest grade of armour inscriptions, allowing him able to smash through most of the Valgs on his way to the first level of the castle. Especially when those Grade 5 inscriptions were as shy as disco lights when they were activated. Xiong Da felt that it was not necessary and possibly a hindrance if monsters were attracted to him because of the strobing lights from the activation of his inscription charms.

    Kong Xian, the supposed tank of the group, was amazed by Xiong Da''s dedication to Boss Jin''s dungeon instances. While one could say that he was slightly envious of the Hungry Hippo Cultivator, Kong Xian clearly knew his limits of being a student with little to no budget.

    However, he checked and saw that the redeemable rewards from this Emergency Dungeon Raid were alluring for him to work hard. With enough raid points, he might get those Grade 5 inscription charms as well at a fraction of a price.

    At the scene of the fallen Giant Valg, the remaining cultivators including the elders were taking a breather from the fight even though they knew this was not the end of the raid. Most were already exhausted fighting the Giant Valg, and they could already hear more of those critters areing for them.

    "At this rate, we will never be able to finish the raid. Should we surrender?" Zi Dan asked his group members as he recognised his partners were already at their limits.

    "Looks like there is fresh blooding in, and it''s none other than the few famous Pandawans. We might be able to fight at the sidelines while reaping the rewards of the raidpletion." Xia Mao joked around, hinting that he could still go on even though it was evident that he barely had much strength to stand up after that battle.

    "Honourable Cultivators, I thank you for aiding me up to this point. If needed, I will go forth alone into the darkness to defeat the source of all evil. The Smander K-" Jing Yu tied the babbling frog with her cloth once more, not allowing him to escape. As the chi within Boo had more or less dissipated after the attack, there was no way Gaeru was as capable as before.

    In addition, Jing Yu knew that the frog would not hurt them since he was likely bound by honour from the way he speaks. "Hey, you. That Hippo Pandawan." Jing Yu called out from afar.

    Xiong Da reacted and searched the room for the person who was shouting for him. When they had eye contact, Xiong Da hastily walked towards Jing Yu when she beckoned the group toe.

    "This is the NPC that you have to take care of in order to make sure the raid is a sess." Jing Yu waved her hand a little, and the cloth gently moved Gaeru towards Xiong Da. Initially, the frog swordsman would attempt various means and ways to get out of the bind, but right now, he was obediently waiting for the chance to be released since he already knew that those cultivators meant no harm to him.

    "Just charge into the throne hall, we will clear the Valgs for you, providing you with rear support." Xia Mao said, and most of the cultivators who were resting concurred with that suggestion.

    Except for Zi Dan.

    "Don''t mind me, but I wish to see the boss myself. Have not been conserving energy so that you young chaps can clear the dungeon raid all by yourself." Zi Dan cracked his knuckles and ready to kick some Smander King''s ass.

    He was the only few cultivators which the System had observed to have regrly paced themselves in fights.

    The others always gave their best in every battle but not for Zi Dan because he knew that the dungeon would not end until the final boss was defeated. It might sound selfish, but it was part of his nature to always find not just the right opportunity but the best one.

    Xiong Da took the ''package'' from Jing Yu and shouted at the group right in front of him. "If anyone is still well and able, follow us! Or else, stay in the rear and provide support as we rush to the boss room. Remember, this is amunity raid, and it means that we need to help one another to achieve the win for this raid!"

    Xiong Da words echoed through the lobby, leaving behind a trail of resounding yes from the cultivators. Many had decided to stay in the rear support, knowing their fighting limits. They epted that going to the frontline would ultimately be more than a hindrance for the capable group pitting against the final boss.

    Besides, the reward system on thismunity raid was substantially different from the one in the goblin raid, allowing lesspetent cultivators to take a step back.

    While the Goblin Raid Reward system awarded cultivators points for killing an orc, Jin made this particr raid''s reward system more dynamic in nature.

    With the new mask user interface, vast amounts of data were being taken from each individual cultivator and consistently analysed by the System. From kill counts to assisting in kills or even by providing a supportive role, the System gave points based on how much the cultivator had contributed.

    To satisfy the cultivator''s drive for aplishments, there was a mini counter at the top right hand corner of the Mask UI interface which showed the number of points they had been awarded, prompting them to repeat or do more of those actions.

    Jin also gave mini achievements and bonuses as their raid points racked up. For example, hitting 500 raid points would award them a mini feat called the ''Frog''s Acquaintance'', and 50 bonus raid points to spend in the redemption counter. In contrast, higher levels granted better bonuses such more raid points, gifting of essential recovery items or even panda medals.

    "You better hurry. The Valgs are waiting to pounce at us from various directions, and their numbers are getting bigger." Jing Yu said to Xiong Da as he was still awaiting more cultivators to arrive at the mess she and her friends made out of the dead Giant Smander Valg.

    In the meantime, Xiong Da unknowingly observed that there was an increasing number of cultivators with their hoods and masks on in their midst.

    The problem was that their masks were not of any animal shape and instead a simple semi-circle shaped mask covered in sheer ckness. Nevertheless, Xiong Da''s user interface indicated that they were friendlies, and no other information was provided.

    The Hippo cultivator was a bit disturbed by the masks and hoped they were not disguised as friendlies as part of the raid. However, he had coincidentally overheard from a few casual talks by the cultivators who just arrived that those Hooded Dark Mask cultivators had superior fighting powers, saving not only their lives but allowing them to reach this meeting point.

    "Then I guess, I just keep an eye on them for now." Xiong Da thought to himself as he blew a loud whistling sound to indicate that it was time to hit the throne.

    Spearheading the lead was Xiong Da with 30 over cultivators with him while Bu Dong and Kong Xian had ten cultivators covering his nks.

    True to her words, Jing Yu maintained the rear along with another group of cultivators, including Xia Mao.

    At the same time, Zi Dan stayed in the centre group, which had at least twenty cultivators, and they would provide reinforcement to any groups whenever needed.

    With the sounds of the Valgs roaring, heading to the supposed Smander King was a do or die situation, but soon the cultivators would find out that the opponent they would be facing, enjoyed killing as much as she created the chaos.

 Chapter 640 Peppery Tantrum

    <h4>Chapter 640 Peppery Tantrum</h4>

    "All Systems online. How are you feeling Peppers?" Ayse, who was making the final adjustments on her portable console, checked on her friend.

    "I feel disgusted with this metal vest attached to me. Not to mention all these wires that are protruding around the vest itself. I feel like I am some prisoner!" Peppers screeched as she shook the vest around because of how stuffy the vest was bing.

    "Hey, at least you are able to move about despite your ''prisoner'' status, I am ordered by Master to stay put. Floating. Hovering. Not to move unless ordered to. I am the one that should be called prisoner!" Mr Derpy argued back right beneath them, and Ayse''s pieces of machinery shook as he moved his mouth.

    "Do not talk! Whenever you move your mouth, your entire body vibrates as well! My equipment is sensitive to such movement! You do not want things exploding on top of you, right? So, stay still! Please!" Ayse ran to hold on to her equipment in case they were toppled over.

    Mr Derpy sighed wearily as he rolled his eyes backwards and fell into a state of deep hibernation before abiding by Ayse''s requests to remain motionlessly.

    For once, Mr Derpy obliged the request of his master.

    Simr to a deal with the devil, the replica of Lord Dagen was promised to an all you can eat buffet of the fattest Porkcupines by Jin. Requirements? To act as a floating tform for Ayse''s equipment.

    Mr Derpy epted it in a jiffy since it was his opportunity to get out of his home instance and breathe in some fresh air. It was better to be doing something rather than be stuck in the Sanctum of Worlds doing nothing. Upon seeing his underlings working hectically for the Farming World and Goblin World''s finances, Mr Derpy also wished to contribute to his master.

    In addition, Shadow Dagen had been feeling restless ever since he heard the announcement of the new Open Dungeon Instance during the Christmas Feast. The notion of lurking freely and swimming under the ocean once more was so enticing that he was willing to do anything to get it as soon as possible. Jin never knew that Mr Derpy had such desires for the Open Dungeon Instance until the Deep Ones reported their concerns to him.

    Although a portion of Jin''s minions were already moving their belongings to the new ind home instances, Jin had yet to transfer the Deep One Home Instance to the new Open Dungeon instance. This was mainly because he needed the upgrade from the Mechanical Titan before he was able to kickstart the Open Dungeon''s ecosystem up.

    Furthermore, it was meant to be a long term endeavour, and Jin did not want to screw the open dungeon instance by hastening the process unless he knew that it was working as intended.

    Despite Shadow Dagen''s insistence of his master to grant his wish, he was surprisingly cooperative to ensure that such a reality woulde true earlier. But as a fragment of the almighty Fish God Dagen, he too had his pride and always acted unwillingly even though his intentions were obvious even for Jin.

    "Okay, the readings from the machines are good...- HEY! Why did you take the vest out?!" Ayse shouted at Peppers who was frantically plugging out the wires from the vest and removing it.

    "I do not need to wear this stupid thing! It''s cramping my style as the infamous Demonic Queen Sage!!" Peppers said as she threw the vest back to Ayse.

    "But ording to my analysis, you will not be able to do more than two Legendary Grade Scan Spells of this scale and do I have to mention the necessity to fire off those explosions spells whenever needed? Don''t be a spoiled girl now and wear the vest!" Ayse scolded Peppers, but instead of listening, the Mage Betor aimed her staff towards the Orc Head Researcher.

    "I am not as weak as you think I am." Pepper threatened to blow Ayse off the floating tform if she was being forced to wear the experimental vest once more. However, before Peppers could even cast her spells via her wooden staff, arge raven swoop right in front of her face. It scared her momentarily, allowing the other raven to forcefully grab the staff away from her.

    "As much as I like to believe you, we cannot risk failing the whole operation when other lives are at stake." Que Er suddenly appeared onto the tform and intervened between them.

    "So, be a good girl now and wear the vest. In return, I''ll get Zhi Nu to make you a newbat outfit which should increase your magical powers." Que Er smiled as she swung the staff skilfully like a rhythmic gymnast before returning it to Peppers.

    "Heh! You won''t be able to create a good outfit without my analytical data!" Ayse wanted aeback from the conversation since losing was not really her style. (Especially when she should be the one understanding Peppers'' attitude.)

    Regardless, she was secretly thankful that Que Er was able to coerce some sense into the stubborn Peppers.

    Being the older one between the three of them, Que Er took a step back and agreed to Ayse''s argument. "Then, I shall see Zhi Nu consult your data before she starts creating Peppers new outfit." Que Er said as she absorbed the beautiful scenery around her. After all, the view from Mr Derpy was indeed breathtaking.

    "Fly now, my birds. Take this portion of the sky as your yground." Que Er said as she used Muninn and Huginn to open a purplish portal right in front of her. A murder of crows continuously flew out of the portal, making it looked like a swarm of bees from afar before they were spread out into the open.

    While Ayse was fixing back the experimental vest onto Peppers, the little mage Betor realised that there was something different with the wooden staff when Que Er returned it to her. She then noticed that there were minor bird emblems meekly glowing in blue on her staff''s shaft.

    Peppers then remembered that Que Er was a maniptor of the magical arts as well. Those minor bird emblems could potentially offload the burden she might incur from the continuous casting of spells.

    Thus, the Mage Betorprehended that what Que Er said was truly sincere. The Magpie Queen really wanted this operation to go well for some reason even though Peppers did not really know her intentions, nor did she wish to find out more.

    Because to the Demonic Sage Queen, her only concern right now was that this particr task that would definitely hurt her.

    Physically and mentally.

 Chapter 641 Maevellous Appearance

    <h4>Chapter 641 ''Maeve''llous Appearance</h4>

    "No wayбн" Gaeru was dumbfounded when he opened the gates to the throne hall. The first thing that caught his eye was the Smander King hung from the ceiling, swinging motionlessly by the updraft from the opening of the throne doors.

    Whatever that was left of his intestinal bowels were hanging loosely from his gutted torso and the Valgs right under him were chewing it as if it was mere gum. Upon closer inspection, Gaeru discerned that what was left of the Smander King was only his skin and scales.

    His bones, muscles and other organs were already missing.

    After all that struggle to reach the throne hall, the frog swordsman''s purpose for revenge vanished into thin air upon absorbing the sight of the unfortunate king''s death. The view of it nearly made some of the cultivators puke, but a few of them who were well versed in group support had emitted auras of chi to calm the nerves of the whole crowd.

    "Ahhhбн So, my new ythings have arrived. A bit slow, in my opinion, but it gives me the luxury to prepare a magnificent ying field for you." A tiny little purple light twinkled from the throne seat and swerved around the room before shapeshifting into a human a few metres away from Gaeru and the rest of the cultivators.

    "It had been a long time since I saw humans, and better yet, humans with magical powers," Maeve said as she walked around in a dress that was simr to the Victorian lineage. Her purplish ck bustle dress packed with fluffy frills matched her slightly curled long hair. The top hat she was wearing had a veil that somehow managed to blur her face despite their masks'' superior vision technology.

    "But you guys smell different," Maeve responded as she casually walked towards the group while twirling the Smander king''s crown around her index finger. The entire group somehow sensed a cold, piercing chill going down their back whenever she slowly took a step closer. Even the calming chi aura could not neglect the feeling of dread at all.

    "It smells like a freshly washed sheet of bedding that had been stained with a pungent smell of cheap perfume, but yet it still tingles me with anticipation!" Maeve''s smile behind the veil clearly crept every single cultivator, and even Gaeru felt disgusted.

    "So, I am guessing the monsters who popted this particr castle was because of thisdy rather than the dead Smander up there?" Xiong Da questioned as he held his weapon tightly. Something was telling him that this final boss would not be as manageable as the ones he had fought before in Jin''s dungeons.

    "Since you have killed the Smander King, I have no qualms with you, fairy," Gaeru said as he kept Boo back into the scabbard and turned around, indicating that he had no intentions to fight.

    "Really? You think that spineless lizard ordered the massacre of your tribe?" Maeve spat at him the moment he lowered his guard. "I was the one who aroused his cannibalistic nature. I was the one who convinced him to kill not just your Papi and Mummy. Oh, I do know you rather well, Gaeru, Son of Magu." Maeve taunted the frog as she had tapped into his well of memories.

    "They were the most fun to y with, always urging, begging us not to kill your twin brother who injured himself because-'' Maeve was instantly interrupted by Gaeru''s first strike. Yet, she did not move an inch further and took the hit through her stomach. Initially, she was surprised that the de was able to cut her, but her wounds closed the moment his de slid away.

    "Well, well, well! Looks like this swordsman not only have a de that can cut me, but have the will to do so too! Everyone! Let''s give him a round of apuse!"Maeve said as she sauntered back to the throne seat while Valgs began to block their path to her. Despite her orders, no one dared to move a single muscle after Gaeru''s attack.

    "No pping? That''s boring." Maeveid back on the throne chair and suddenly, purple icicle flowers surrounded the throne chair and glittered beautifully under the dull candles around the hall. "But you know? You should have aimed for the head for more satisfaction."

    "Any ideas on how to defeat this boss? Seems like her regeneration will be a pain in the ass." Bu Dong was finally able to rx when Maeve walked a certain distance away from them. He then took his sword and pointed at the Valgs who were gathering right in front of the cultivators.

    "You should ask how do we even get close to her when her presence was enough to paralyse us." Zi Dan added as he charged up his chain ball mace.

    "She''s a faerie. Find her source of power. It could be anything, from a small trinket to arge block of stone." One of the hooded ck mask cultivators finally spoke out. The rest of the cultivators were amazed that they have such information on them. Perhaps, they might have scoured the castle and found clues regarding this final boss.

    "Hahaha, is that a joke? This is too big of a ce!" Bu Dong asked since they had no clue what they were searching for and the castle itself would need more than the number of people they have to find the item of power. He was suspecting that Jin had made this ce gigantic in nature so that it would be hard to find clues on the final boss.

    What they did not know was that those ck Masked Cultivators were the Dark Elves from Jin. They had encountered a faerie before, and thus they knew what they were up against.

    In fact, they had a simr relic, an Item of Power from the faerie they fought against with but the Dark Elves did not know how effective it would be against Maeve; thus it would be better to search and use her personal Item of Power against herself.

    "Find something rted to what she is wearing or the colours ck and purple. It is usually connected, but I have no guarantees that you have results. It could possibly be a wild goose chase." Another ck Masked cultivator replied.

    "We will distract her while you take on the Valgs. Send people to search the rooms connecting the throne hall for the source. If unsure, destroy anything on sight." The former ck mask cultivator said, but before they could continue their conversation, Gaeru had already fixated his sights on the boss.

    The moment he took his first step, the Valgs reacted the same way as well, and the two groups immediately shed with each other.

    "Kong Xian! Zi Dan! Split your groups into two and search the east and west exits! You! That Hawk Cultivator! Send a message to Jing Yu, who is still fighting against the Valgs behind us to look for that Item of Power too! The rest,mence your attack! Bring these bloodthirsty monsters down to their knees and show them weбн Cultivators are not to be underestimated!" Xiong Da shouted his orders, and a resounding yes was heard from everyone.

    "Damn it, Boss Jin! You should have given everyone a standard title instead of just us Pandawans." Xiong Da whispered to himself as he rushed against the Valgs while the ck Masked Cultivators were already gaining their pace to assist the reckless frog.

 Chapter 642 A Cornered Cheetah

    <h4>Chapter 642 A Cornered Cheetah</h4>

    When Zi Dan was given the order by Xiong Da to disperse, he was all the more than happy to do so. The horror he experienced upon seeing thedy dressed in Victorian garb, was amplified by the memory of his first encounter in this particr raid.

    The feeling of sheer trepidation from the Final Boss was simr to the six legged Valg''s paralysing stare, except that this time around, it was very much courting death.

    Hence, Zi Dan rather performed this menial job and let the brave Pandawans do the bulk of boss fighting while he attempts to find this Item of Power those ck Masked Cultivators talked about.

    "Hahaha! So much for conserving energy for the Last Boss!" Xia Mao said to Zi Dan with bated breath as he tried to catch up with Zi Dan''s running pace. "More like conserving thest bit of stamina to run away from the boss fight!"

    "Pfft! Say all you want! Of all people who had experienced that paralysing stare, you are the only one to understand how I felt! And why are you following me?!" Zi Dan said as he slipped through one of the rooms whose doors were left ajar.

    All he could find were even more Valgs lurking inside. The temporary squad leadermanded the cultivators at the back to deal with the threat as he continued forward, in search for more of the rooms.

    In the meantime, Xia Mao kept his mouth shut for the moment and continued to follow behind Zi Dan. Even though he knew that Zi Dan was not going at top speed, his regr pace was already demanding for most of the cultivators to catch up. Maybe that was why Xiong Da decided to use the Bullet Cheetah Cultivator as the scout to find that relic to defeat the faerie boss.

    And as for the Item of Power, Zi Dan figured that if it existed, it should be in a room where the strongest of Valgs be protecting it. All he had to do was to find it and report it. There was no use wasting his life trying to be a hero. (He was already earning points being a scout, and he felt it was a decent way to survive the raid.)

    So far, it was going all fine and dandy bymanding the cultivators to clear the room and giving them first hand information what was inside. Xia Mao eventually gave up chasing after his friend and decided to enter the third room to battle against those Valgs.

    "Heh! I knew that Blind Cat can never chase after me! So much for boasting to be a renowned escape artist when you cannot even run well!" Zi Dan remarked to himself as he nced back for a moment before heading forth to the fourth and final room.

    When he was slowing down to check out thest room in the Western Hallway, Zi Dan already felt that something was wrong. Not only that, but he also noticed that he was not slowing down despite his desire to do so. The more Zi Dan tried to resist, the more he sensed that thest chamber was forcing its ''invitation'' to wee the Bullet Cheetah Cultivator into the room.

    As much as Zi Dan wished to break out of it, he felt that his body did not belong to him at all the moment he entered the room. (Fortunately) to his dismay, the room waspletely empty except for a series of open panel ss windows and an antique looking chair in the middle of the room. Right beside it was a man, dressed smartly with a buttoned ck shirt.

    Or that was what Zi Dan thought.

    It was actually the man''s powers manifested into a physical form, covering his entire body with an ominous veil of energy. His hair was gelled all the way to the back, making it look as if he had multiple horns diverging from his head while his forehead had a visible scar on it.

    "Heh, to think I will ever see humans ever again." The man said as he walked to his seat and lean forward when he sat down. With a thinking pose, he looked at the frightened Zi Dan who was already poised in a kneeling posture, all thanks to his innate powers alone.

    "Did you see a broken Smander before you arrive at this particr room? You should, right? Because that is the only viable entrance to reach here." The man inquired, but Zi Dan was hopelessly keeping his mouth shut even though his body was aching to tell the truth.

    "Ah. Not bad. And here I thought this was merely a spineless human. I guess you do have the will to fight back, its just a matter of when." The man smiled, and he leaned backwards.

    "I will make things very simple. Let me connect to your body and together, we will kill that bitch." The man rxed further as he folded his legs and pointed at the Zi Dan. Even though he acted as if he was asking, but he was, in fact, giving amand Zi Dan could not refuse.

    Zi Dan figured this could possibly be the Item of Power since it was able to talk and powers probably equivalent to the faerie boss he encountered. And recently, he had seen nothing but yapping monsters that growl, shout and gnawed at cultivators.

    Even though this could be the best opportunity to steal the final boss kill if what the man said was true, Zi Dan somehow sensed that things were not that simple. The Bullet Cheetah Cultivator felt that he would be in terrible danger if the ''man'' in front of him decided to take over his body.

    Despite knowing that this was just a Raid, Zi Dan was unable to shake the feeling that it was as real as it could get. He could feel that if he did not fight against this monster properly, he might- Nay, he would definitely lose his sanity, soul and maybe will never be the same person again.

    Consequently, in a dire attempt to survive, Zi Dan called forth whatever chi he had within him and tried to defy the stasis he was trapped in as much as possible.

    "Ho? I did not know the surviving humans learnt some form of magic. This made your body even more desirable. Allow me, Dorian to take over the body and be the master of your craft and together we can defeat that wretched Daughter of the Winter Courts." Dorian unleashed his powers once more, and Zi Dan could clearly see a Valg-like phantom hiding behind his shadow.

    "Damn, why am I the only one fighting a boss?" Zi Dan clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. His uncalled determination enabled his chi to overflow, breaking his usual limits.

    Without a doubt, this ordeal had made Zi Dan increase half a grade to Grade 5 Peak. His body finally allowed him to break out of Dorian''s mind chains and regain control of his own actions.

    If it was a fight Zi Dan had to go through, at the very least, he figured to give his all.

 Chapter 643 Salamander King Dorian

    <h4>Chapter 643 Smander King Dorian</h4>

    At first, Zi Dan had no idea what kind of monster Dorian was, but when he saw that Valg phantom controlling that body in the shadows, he could only deduce it was a Valg variant.

    Although the phantom looked simr to the animal silhouettes they portrayed, Zi Dan had the feeling that it required magic to defeat it. But he figured Jin would not be heartless to demand magic users when they were not the norm in his shop yet. Maybe a burst of chi could defeat him if Zi Dan was able to immobilise the humanoid?

    And what he deduced nearly hit the mark.

    When the Smander King Dorian was killed, his soul and parts of his bodies were used as sacrifice pieces for the ritual to call Maeve''s beloved Valgs out from the otherworldly dimension.

    Although the betrayal was expected, he did not anticipate it to be this soon. Maeve had promised Dorian that he was able to achieve powers that were beyond his limits. The problem was that Maeve did fulfil his wish even though she had twisted the words of their promise to the absolute limit.

    With loose wordings from the contract, Dorian had be THE power that was beyond his limits. The Valg portal was made from the fabrics of his soul while his body parts were used as fuel to maintain the portal opening.

    However, what Maeve did not know was that her magic was as distorted as her interpretation of the promises she keeps. One of Dorian''s soul fragments ''coincidentally'' assimted into a Valg variant parasite, allowing Dorian to ''reincarnate'' into a Valg, manifesting physically without Maeve learning of its existence. (In fact, Maeve never knew what kind of Valgs there were, she merely used them to her delight.)

    Not to mention, the richness of magical energy from the gigantic surroundings allowed Dorian''s Valg form to grow in strength. His anger and hatred harboured within his soul fragment became the very core of the physical shell''s existence. It was also the cornerstone that allowed the surrounding energy to supplement and strengthen him, giving Dorian the form he has right now.

    Ever since he was transformed into a Smander to prevent the ''giantism'' virus, he dreaded it on a regr basis and always hope to return back to the human form he once had. But time dimmed that desire until the day Dorian incidentally found with Maeve lurking in one of the corners of the castle.

    Her boredom reignited Dorian''s yearnings and his family eventually became her ything. Killing the former Smander King by slowly draining his life away, cultivating Dorian''s appetite for the Animal People gave Maeve her daily craving of sadistic joy.

    Unfortunately, the prince yed along with her, and at some point, learnt to enjoy such cruel sadism. If his people ever looked back and discover his true nature, they would have said that Prince Dorian deserved to die the way those cultivators found him.

    Nevertheless, the unexpected oue allowed him to return and manifest as a humanoid, and to Dorian, it was more than enough he could get from the bargain with the Fey.

    ------------

    Upon breaking the mind chains, Zi Dan never experienced that very same technique ever again. Maybe the Valg Humanoid could only do it once, but in actual fact, Dorian merely wished to disy his overpowering strength to test his abilities out.

    Dishing out kic sts at the whims of the former Smander Prince... (or dead King), Zi Dan was barely able to dodge any of those if not for his cultivation. However, after experiencing a series of attacks, the Bullet Cheetah cultivator finally got a grasp of the st''s speed.

    The young elder initially observed that the Valg Humanoid was simr to a psychic user, and his moves were mostly telekic energy based. So, it was basically the Bullet Cheetah''s nemesis, especially when his enemy''s attacks could be as fast as flicking a switch button. (Which wasn''t the case in his world since he had fought along with Psychic users before.)

    Yet, there might be a chance Zi Dan could catch him unguarded especially now that he had reached Grade 5 Peak.

    But even with the improvement of his Grade, Zi Dan also knew that he was engaging in a losing fight and there was no way for him to escape unscathed. He knew that he only had one shot despite the increased chi pool and the Cheetah Cultivator had to time his attack to make the best out of it.

    "Don''t underestimate the Cheetah Style!" Zi Dan shouted as he unveiled five clearly defined silhouettes of Cheetahs roaring above him. In a split second, Dorian''s eyes were unable to catch where Zi Dan was moving to.

    Hence, the Valg Humanoid released a burst of kic energy around him, hoping to destroy or at least push his prey away from him. Upon injuring him in the process, Dorian would then take the opportunity to steal his enemy''s physical body.

    Despite his ability to manifest a physical shell, the Valg Humanoid knew that his form was iplete. The body he created would notst long since it was burdening him with consistent consumption of magical energy. Though Dorian could absorb the energies from his surroundings, it was not efficient in a prolonged fight and might prove to be detrimental when fighting against Maeve.

    That was also the very reason he hid himself to this very corner of the castle. He knew the Frog swordsman that crashed through his castle would return, and Dorian was betting that hisrades would search this room to escape from Maeve''s overwhelming powers.

    However, he did not expect humans to be apanying him, and this brought his power hungry desires to another level.

    With a human shell, Dorian would revert back as what he used to be, right before the terrible transmutation into a Smander to prevent his head from being blown off by the Giantism Virus.

    By being a Valg, Dorian was sure that he did not have to worry about the Giantism Virus (Especially when he''s the origin of the said virus!). The former prince could then consume other Valgs or even the rest of the Frog''srades and ultimately take his revenge against a possibly weakened Maeve from the Frog''s return assault.

    "Too bad for you. For once, I am faster than your mind tricks." Zi Dan said as he slipped past Dorian''s attack. He finally found the right interval between the casting of his Kic Wave magic.

    With his Bullet Cheetah Cultivation, Zi Dan travelled fast enough that he experienced something simr to a slip shot within the time space continuum. In short, his enhanced burst of speed allowed him to move in subatomic speed, making him seem to temporarily disappear from the world. Sadly, that trick could only be used once due to the limitations of his current cultivation grade, but it was a definite one hit kill technique.

    ...Or that was what Zi Dan thought when he smashed his ball chain mace with subatomic speeds against the Valg Humanoid.

    *Whoosh!*

    A pound of flesh flew out of Dorian''s chest like a bullet.

    Zi Dan did not stop there as he twirled and attempted to destroy his head as well. Regrettably, the concept of pain did not apply to Dorian now as he grabbed onto the ball chain mace with his bare hands and crashed it into dust with his magic.

    Zi Dan''s eyes went wide as he retreated to the back of the room while the Valg Humanoid raised his hand up to release a focused st of kic energy towards him.

    "Shit, I guess that''s it for me, huh?" Zi Dan looked at his broken weapon while his fatigued body weighed him down. The feeling of hopelessness seeped in slowly into Zi Dan''s mind as his strength wore out of his body.

    "Your body is mine to take!" Dorian shouted in glee as he awaited Zi Dan''s death to take possession of it.

    *Boom!*

    "Twin Shields of the Towering Tortoise!" A voice came from the back as a b of metal smashed right in front of Zi Dan. When the metal perched into the ground, it expanded forward with a blowout of chi that acted as a defensive barrier against the kic shockwave.

    Zi Dan then noticed a Cat Head Arrow flying towards Dorian as a follow up attack before it was dismantled into various pieces in midair. Yet, the parts were still able to detonate before it was disassembled entirely, causing a pause in Dorian''s attacks.

    "This is what you get for jumping the gun!" Xia Mao shouted as he panted with an empty crossbow in his hands. In the meantime, Kong Xian who sent his shield ahead of him, charged forward earnestly with his two handed sword, not knowing the dangers of the Sub Boss.

 Chapter 644 Black Masked Cultivator

    <h4>Chapter 644 ck Masked Cultivator</h4>

    "If I waited for you, the monster could have already died from boredom by the time we reach here!" Even with the added reinforcements, Zi Dan exhibited his relief with a bit of sarcasm at Xiao Mao but also knew that they still did not have the capability to defeat Dorian.

    Without a doubt, Kong Xian was blown back by Dorian''s psychic attacks. If not for Zi Dan quick wits to throw the shield back at Kong Xian to defend himself, he would have been shred to pieces by the st.

    Even Kong Xian who thought his new shield was sturdy enough, it was already severely dented by the recent kic energy st from the Valg Humanoid. "Ahhhбн That one cost about 200 over panda medalsбн" Kong Xian said to himself as he kept the shield and focused holding on his two handed sword.

    Even though Zi Dan was relived by the additional support, he could not fathom why Kong Xian who was supposed to be heading towards the opposite side of the throne hall, would be right beside him.

    "Before I was about to make our move, one of those ck Masked cultivators held on to my shoulder and told us to move to your direction. they insisted that there was nothing significant at the side I was about to explore." Kong Xian replied as he observed the surroundings of the room. "But I think I should have ignored their advice and explore that area instead of being stuck here with a sub Boss. Heck, maybe this is the real boss!"

    "Not possible, histent aura is not as strong as the one we encountered in the throne hall. We might have a chance to defeat it." Xia Mao reloaded his Cat Head Arrows and pointed his crossbow at the sniggering Valg Humanoid.

    "Hahaha! I think that chance just went out of the window when you stepped into this room." Zi Dan shook his head with a short sigh.

    "So there are more of thesepetent humans with magic, huh? Maybe I will consume all of you and get my revenge against -" A rock was thrown at tremendous speed, hitting right smack onto Dorian''s forehead.

    "Thank you for finding this... monster. Now step aside, I will finish this." The ck Masked Cultivator said as he picked up a piece of broken tile on the ground, courtesy of Dorian''s persistent attacks. He then casually flung it right straight at the Valg Humanoid''s leg, causing him to fall to the ground. Even though Dorian had no concept of pain, the physical body still reacted to the damage he received when the tile destroyed the knee joints.

    "I shall not suffer such insolence!!!" Even with his brains sttered all over the ce from the rock attack, Dorian''s mouth was still bbering nonsense nonstop.

    "Heh! And take all the raid points by yourself? You do not have to be all that high and mighty, you know!" Kong Xian said as he attempted to rush strike the Valg Humanoid, but this time around, a stronger kic shockwave sent everyone flying to the corners of the room ...Except for the ck Masked cultivator.

    "Like I said, you guys can stay back." Even though his full mask blocked his facial expression, it was clear that the ck Mask cultivator was smirking behind it. Dorian was not exactly happy that his kic shockwave had no effects against the person who did the most amount of hurt to him.

    Even as he began regenerating, Dorian was cautious for another attack and prepared to dodge or counterattack whenever necessary. Yet the ck Masked cultivator took another rock and crushed it into smaller pieces with his bare hand before throwing towards Dorian.

    The Valg Humanoid thought that those smashed up rock pieces would be a threat and decided to release another wave of kic sts to prevent them from hitting him.

    The stronger shockwave rendered the three other cultivators to be paralysed once again from the bacsh, and it was a miracle they could still hold on to their lives.

    To Dorian''s surprise, the small rock projectiles disintegrated and cease to exist. But his focus on those rock pieces made the Valg Humanoid to temporarily take his eyes off his primary target.

    That split second was sufficient for the ck Masked cultivator to zoom past the shockwave without much effort and proceeded to serve Dorian an uppercut to his chin.

    Dorian''s neck splintered off from his main body, and his brain mass was scattered all around the ck Masked cultivator. Without hesitation, thetter continued by grabbing the torso and smashed it to the ground with a fraction of his might, causing the body to split its parts into various directions with just one hit.

    At the same time when the body was smashed into bits, a haunting, agonising shout echoed throughout the entire room. It was none other than the true form of Dorian as he lost his physical body. Still, that was merely a way for the sentient Valg to materialise. Given enough magical energy, it could regenerate the body once more. For now, it tried to escape the room via its spiritual form.

    In his mind, Dorian vowed to return and hunt this ck Masked human down and skin his insides out like how Maeve did to him when he was still barely conscious.

    Sadly, his dream of revenge would be for nought as the ck Masked cultivator was not done. From beneath his shirt, he took out an inverted ck cross with thorns spiralling down the symbol and raised it up towards the floating spiritual form.

    A short flickering of dark toned light emerged from the inverted cross upon detecting a dense amount of magical energy in the room. The thing was, the cross would not react to any sort of magical power but only to the magic of Feys.

    The ck Masked Cultivator could have used it directly when fighting against Maeve, but the Daughter of the Winter Court would have noticed it and directly aimed for him to destroy the cross. Thus, this was the best ce to get a hold of the Fey''s magic.

    Without any chants apanied to the reveal of the inverted cross, the air within the room turned oppressive, and the haunting echoes suddenly turned into cries of pleas. For some reason, the cultivators observed the spiritual Valg form being forcibly absorbed into the inverted cross.

    Even though Dorian had no way to escape it, he still tried to curse the ck Masked cultivator for his actions until the room was utterly silent. "Heh, for a useless otherworldly spirit, he sure made a lot of noise." The masked cultivator said before he inspected the inverted cross.

    It was now brimming with the hatred from Dorian, and the ck Masked Cultivator could feel the cross''s magic to be pulsating at the same rate of his heart. "Now we have a working Item of Power. Looks like the Feys from our world are interconnected to this world as well. Hmph, makes the job all the more easier. Would be better if Narris and Tinda found Maeve''s Item of Power."

    The other three cultivators managed to regain their footing and wanted to know what was happening. Yet, the ck Masked cultivator made no noise and disappeared from their sight as if he never existed before.

    "Do you wish to wait here until the end of the raid?" Zi Dan''s legs gave way immediately when he noticed that the coast was clear.

    "You freeloader...count me in." Xia Mao whispered as he dragged himself towards Zi Dan and sat beside him. In no time, the two took out cans of beer and started to drink among themselves. Kong Xian could not believe that the elderly cultivators were acting this way.

    "Wanna join?" ZI Dan offered a can towards Kong Xian even though thetter was disying disdain. Yet, that disdain gradually turned into eptance, and the Towering Tortoise cultivator willingly sat down beside them for a drink.

    Besides, with that group of absurdly strong ck Masked cultivators tagging along with Xiong Da and Bu Dong? They probably can clear the raid boss in no time. Kong Xian believed there was no harm for them to rest for now and recuperate beforeing to aid them at the veryst minute. (If there was ever a need for that!)

    With Kong Xian taking out a few snacks from his storage ring, the threeughed and recollected the recent boss fight as they forged a new friendship amidst that few cans of beer.

    There was nothing more pleasing than finding newrades in a perilous dungeon setting.

 Chapter 645 Operation Mass Migration - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 645 Operation Mass Migration - Part 1</h4>

    "My birds have already covered most of the ruined kingdom and are in position. We are ready, Master." Que Er reported through the System Channel as she sat down on Mr Derpy''s head and rubbed the smooth scales.

    "Peppers is still bitter about wearing my experimental vest, but we are ready too," Ayse replied the moment Qu Er gave her signal. Her mobile equipment was functioning well, and her Orcs had also brought extra electrical generators as back up. The readings from Peppers were stable, and the discrepancies were within limits. Thus, Ayse gave Peppers the heads up to prepare her Legendary Grade Scan spell after her report to Jin.

    "The Raid is proceeding smoothly, my men are distracting her as we speak." The Elder of the Dark Elves, Drex was overseeing the Raid Instance portion since Jin had his hands busy with the rescue operation. "We have also managed to revive an Item of Power which could potentially be useful against the Fey Maeve."

    "So, your relic still works?" Jin questioned Drex, and all he could give was a slight shrug. Drex had previously told Jin about how they might have a way to defeat the Feys, and this Dark Elf Relic from their vige was supposed to be that game changer. However, because this relic was from his ancestor''s era, they did not know how effective it would be against this particr Fey.

    But since the inverted ck cross relic could be charged up, the Dark Elves felt it should work to a certain degree. If anything, it should distract her long enough for the rescue operation tomence with ease.

    Else, the only way to defeat it would be through overwhelming power against Maeve. Yet, Jin emphasised repeatedly that their objective was to rescue the animal people from the Giant World. Defeating Maeve was optional though he confessed, it would be beneficial for him and the System if the cultivators and the dark elves were able to do it.

    "Hamatarou, you ready? Everything else is going smoothly." Jin asked through the System Channel, and the Druid Sage was happily holding his wand in his mouth as he climbed up to the highest point of his tree hideout.

    "I --hmmm I am shooting the re in 3 minutes!" With the all important wand was in his mouth, Hamatarou made sure that it doesn''t drop off when he was speaking through the System Channel. (Maybe no one told him that he could use his mind thoughts to do it.)

    Jin acknowledged Hamatarou as he turned his back to check on Lynn''s ninja penguins. Kido, who would be leading the ninja penguins, was making sure they had sufficient equipment for the subsequent fight as well as signal beacons to alert Peppers for the bombardment if needed.

    Kido and the penguins knew the danger those Giant Monsters could pose and would make every effort to ensure that they were well equipped for most unexpected situations.

    And because Jin was also afraid that monsters such as the Colossal Father Porkcupine could appear when the re strikes, he had painstakingly assembled Goblins, Orcs, Werejackals and even diverted the Mousefolks to be on standby. With each of them being led by a prominent monster leader figure such as Gold, Nubwort and the Goblin Trios, he was not about to delegate what they were supposed to do in the battlefield.

    That much he had learnt to trust his minions in battle since they were more than capable of doing that. While he could have asked Qiu Yue and Moloch to assist with the operation, Jin wanted them to focus solely on thepletion of the Dungeon City Fortress since the deadline for the closure of the Dungeon Core''s Barrier were only a few days after New Year.

    With everything in ce, all Jin had to worry was that the discovery of those migrating groups could sessfully reach to the open surface for him to rescue them. He initially thought of sending the penguin ninjas straight to the vige the moment Peppers scanned the area, but he felt that would incur unwarranted panic among the Animal People. That would waste more time than an already organised group leaving the vige.

    Also, He initially wanted to insert the Penguin Ninjas at close proximity to the viges to make sure they attract the Giant Monsters, but Kido advised against that since a protracted battle would not be beneficial for both the ninja teams as well as protecting the escapees.

    That was where Que Er''s birds woulde into y. Acting as a scout as well as a mobile explosive unit would provide sufficient distraction to those Giant Monsters.

    "re''s ready!" Hamatarou was panting a little as he held on to the wand. To said that he was prepared for this day was an overstatement. There was no way he could have predicted the migration and rescue of themon people would turn this way.

    Hamatarou did not have to do this, but through the years, something within him had always spurred him to save themon folk. He would never know that it was his duty ...his fate as the prince of this ruined kingdom to save his countrymen.

    "Alright, Peppers hit it. Get the first preliminary scan up so we can see if there are densely popted groups in the area before the re goes up. The System will need some time to analyse your scan and prepare the coordinates to teleport our rescue groups to aid in their escape." Jin said through the System Channel, allowing for every monster on standby to hear it loud and clear.

    "Hamatarou also said that the mass movement of the animal people somehow would trigger the Giant Monsters to prey on them, so everyone time is of an essence. The lives of our new allies depend on all of you. Do a good job, and you all be generously rewarded." The monsters gave a resounding affirmation through the System Channel after Jin''s short prep talk, and he wished everyone a speedy and sessful operation.

    The Mage betor took a deep breath in before giving her staff a twirl to start the activation of her spells. As Peppers raised her weapon up high, a gleaming ray of rainbow light shone upon the floating tform.

    "Operation Mass Migrationmence now!" Jin shouted, and Peppers released the spell into the sky.

 Chapter 646 Experimental Ves

    <h4>Chapter 646 Experimental Ves</h4>

    Peppers'' Legendary Scan Spell went through, permeating the sky with her magic and provided the System with a detailed breakdown of the ce. The castle was nheless the most popted area with a mix of Valgs and Cultivators in it.

    Other than that, the System was able to identify various pockets of activity within the city''s underground. It predicted that those were the Animal People which they were hoping to rescue. Thus, the System had already started searching for viable coordinates to teleport the insertion teams.

    And because of this particr operation, the System had also diverted processing power away of its other menial processes to analyse the possible routes the monsters could take so it could allocate the soldiers needed for each insertion team.

    Peppers'' Scan Spell was without a doubt worthy of being called Legendary Grade. Should she ever be deployed into a war zone, it was clearly simr to a cheat spell for revealing the fog of war on the battlefield. There was nothing that could be hidden from her scan but only an entity like the System was able to analyse the copious amount of data.

    Such a high levelled spell would have already taken a toll on her body given the scale of the scan, but Ayse had already begun activating her machine. Her experimental vest had sessfully counteracted the after effects Peppers was experiencing.

    What Peppers previouslyck was the sufficient mechanisms to handle the overloading of Mana as it gushed into her. Peppers'' body was acting like a gate against an immeasurable amount of Mana flowing into her from the Universal Pool of Mana. If she was using only a spell or two, the body did not need to tap much from the pool, and it absorbs the Mana like a sponge.

    But the problemes when she used arge amount of Mana. When her spellpletely drains the body''s Mana circuits, Peppers would require immediate replenishment to keep herself sane. That was where the body would openly entirely, and the overflowing rush of Mana from the universe pool would gush in to fill this empty container. (Mages in Jin''s world works differently, but the discrepancies were insignificant. They had a Mana Core that tapped into the pool, unlike the Dantian Core which generates chi from within.)

    That was also where the pain and hurte in for Peppers since the body could not close the tap to the Universal Pool due to her pact with the System. Her wish for unlimited Mana had inadvertently caused her body to be overflowing with it, damaging her circuits and thus the after effects such as vomiting and lost consciousness.

    In previous fights, all Peppers did was to leave the tap open and let the Mana flow for the battle while Milk tried to repair the strains. But with Ayse''s new vest, things changed drastically.

    Her machines acted like an extended container for Peppers, allowing overflowing Mana to flow out of her body instead of being restrained solely within her body. The experimental vest assisted diverted the excess Mana via multiyered tubes andter into the machines for processing. Ayse was also not dumb to let such precious Mana dissipate into the atmosphere.

    The machines condensed the Mana and inserted them into diamond crystals since they were the best containers of Mana. With those charged crystals, Jin could sell them for extra cash since such prisms held a lot of value in his world.

    Apparently, it was rumoured in Jin''s world that such crystals had the ability to aid a mage into the next magic grade quickly due to the high condensed level of Mana within and there was little to no consequences using itpared to other methods.

    High level mages tried to produce such crystals, and sadly few seeded. Thus, the demand for such a limited quantity of these high quality crystals skyrocketed through the roof. Many mages who were able to obtain them were usually among the wealthy of the wealthy. These mages also preferred to use these crystals to push their grades up since the modern world had more or less reduced the ces with natural urring Mana near to zero due to globalisation.

    In the next few minutes, Peppers was surprised that pain was lesser than anticipated, and when she turned to nce at Ayse, the Orc Research already had a smug look on her face.

    "See? What did I tell you? Told you things will work out if you follow my advice. Oh, and you should feel even lesser pain for the next legendary spell casting since the machines were previously warming up."

    "Does that mean I can иC"

    "No! No spamming of spells! My machines are still delicate! Just out of the prototype phase! Don''t you dare break it now!" Ayse interrupted Peppers'' line of thought.

    "A, no fun." Peppers frown for a moment before genuinely smiling back at Ayse. For the first time, the Mage Betor did not have to worry about the bacsh of her overflowing Mana. "At least, I can tell Big Sis Milk that you are better than her! Hehehe!"

    "Please, No! Don''t! Thest time youplimented me, I found her drunk and had the urge of punching my other devices and messed up all the research paper! Just keep this to yourself." Ayse shook her head when she recalled Milking inining that she was not good enough for Peppers anymore.

    Clearly, Ayse did all this was toply with Jin''s orders as well as satisfying her ability to solve ''impossible'' problems.

    Soon after, they saw a bright green re flying upwards in the distance, and they guessed Jin ordered Hamatarou to officially start the operation. Simr to Peppers'' Scan Magic, the beacon of light lit up the sky and split out like a huge firework. But the scattering of the firework was non random as those projectiles flew with purpose into the various parts of the ruined kingdom.

    At the very same time, a series of monster cries were heard in the background. The re had not only signalled the mass migration but also awakened the monsters in the vicinity as well.

    "That is why I did not want to send the res up!" Hamatarou said to himself as he could hear anguished cries of the Giant Monsters.

    This was mainly due to the fact that the re was induced with a Call of the Wild spell, inciting the Animal People''s will to move for the mass migration. Hamatarou knew that those Animal People would be toofortable living in their shitty hole for the rest of their lives because that was how they were trained to be.

    Stay somewhere safe, hunt when needed and try to survive the harsh environment.

    Those who wished to seek further out of the ruined kingdom were at best a handful. But because they now were partially animals, the Animal People could not ignore the call by a Druid. However, that also meant that the spell incited and disrupted the basic habits of Giant Monsters, causing them to seek the Druid''s call.

    So right now, all Hamatarou could hope was that the rescue operation by Jin would be sessful.

 Chapter 647 Operation Mass Migration - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 647 Operation Mass Migration - Part 2</h4>

    "Chief! Chief! The Totem is reacting! It is true, they are performing the operation right now!" Colwaski came running into the Chieftain''s Skitter''s room. The Chieftain nodded his head in solemn, and they departed immediately from the hut. They previously had word from Kido that Jin was going to evict all of the animal people, including the remaining of their tribe.

    However, since the dungeon supplier and the rest were busy preparing, Kido could only forewarn his tribe and get the penguins to pack up early. Unlike the rest of the animal people, the Penguin Tribe had more than ample time to evict before themencement of Operation Mass Migration.

    A portal subsequently appeared in the middle of their vige, and a few armed Penguins Ninjas came out of it. Chieftain Skitter was already at the centre with the rest of the tribe folks all ready to depart. The Ninjas only were there to ensure the escape was in an orderly fashion.

    Unlike the other Animal tribes, who were sceptical of themands from the Totem, the Penguin Tribe did not have to go to the surface to teleport since they already knew who Jin was. Besides, it was more convenient for them to have the portal at the centre of their vige, allowing them to move more things given the limited time frame.

    "Is Kido out there already?" Skitter asked, and the Penguin Ninjas nodded their heads in unison.

    "I see. Then I hope the rumours of your master being an all powerful being is true. It will be a shame to lose Kido." Skitter replied with a worried expression.

    "Heh! You underestimate our fellow penguins. They will be fine." Chieftain Skitter said as he beckoned his people to enter the portal would eventually lead them to the new ind instance.

    As it was ced near the beachhead of the ind, everyone who entered it was surprised by the vast ocean in front of them. Colwaski, who was the first few to arrive, had his jaws dropped when he saw the mesmerising beauty right in front of them.

    "C''mon guys! Tell the ones in front to move forward! Or else those people at the back could enter!" Skitter shouted, not knowing what was beyond the portal in the Giant World.

    "бнAnd here I thought, it was one shit hole to another. If this is truly where we are living, I would not mind working hard for this Jin." Colwaski whispered to himself when he thought of the times he had to struggle to survive back in the Giant World.

    -----------

    "User, ording to thetest scan, some of the groups had already begun moving to the surface. However, there were a few tribes that remained as they were. No panicked movements nor an up spike in activity. They remained unfazed by the message sent out by Druid Hamatarou." The System reported thetest developments out loud to the people in the Dungeon Maker.

    "Let''s be realistic. We already did our part. Hamatarou did mention that some might not have the Totem with them while others simply refuse to move out." Jin said as he looked at the predicted movement of the Giant Monsters too. "There is only so much we can do. We cannot save them all."

    Once the System had already optimised and predicted the routes of the escaping Animal People, Jin gave out another order. "Send teams Charlie and Delta to these coordinates to divert the Giant Monsters away. Prepare Team Alpha and Beta for the extradition of the Animal People, teleport Hamatarou to those teams the moment they make contact with the Animal People. We have to show that we are friendly and prove our credibility."

    In less than fifteen minutes, Team Alpha was teleported to the location which Jin had specified, and Ninja Penguin Kido discerned that they had arrived at the Church where their tribe hid in. He spected that it was possibly the other side of the Church since he cannot recall seeing any of the giant stained ss right above him even though the infrastructure were identical.

    "Can you imagine? A tribe that stayed near us all this time and we did not know of its existence! Man, if we had found each other and cooperated, things might turn out differently." One of the Ninja Penguins whispered.

    "You are too optimistic. What if the tribe are like the Smanders? Eating Animal People to survive? We all know how hard it is to kill a Giant and the amount of sacrifice needed." Another Ninja Penguin reasoned.

    "Zip it. Eyes front." Kido''s orders were sharp, and the other ninjas obeyed immediately as they ready themselves for any possible danger. Without a doubt, they sensed movement south of them, and the footsteps seemed to be hasty.

    The penguins perceived that the cracked crevice right ahead of them was where the footsteps wereing from. Thus, Kido performed several hand signals to coordinate an ambush attack in case the Animal People was aggressive.

    Soon, a figure appeared out from the hole with bated breath, and upon seeing Kido''s stance, it panicked for a moment before brandishing his axe out.

    "A Croc?" One of the Penguin Ninjas asked and Kido shrugged his shoulders before shouting out loud to state his intentions.

    "We are armed, but we are friendlies who can assist you on behalf of Hamatarou, the Druid who sent you the message via his Totems," Kido eximed loud and clear. He couldter discern the Croc right in front of him had dropped his battle stance when he lowered his axe, looking more relief than ever.

    "Forward Scout?" Kido confirmed his suspicion when the Croc nodded his head in reply.

    "How far behind is your tribe?"

    "I am sorry, but I cannot divulge that information out. I still cannot determine whether you can be trusted despite your deration." The Croc shouted back.

    "Then you can at least trust me." Hamatarou teleported in time right beside Kido which scared the Croc a little. "Show your leader this, and he will know that I am speaking the truth. And hurry! We do not want to stay here long enough to be the Giants'' dinner." Hamatarou threw one of his simr totems at the Croc.

    Not to his surprise, the Croc''s short arms proved to be quite disadvantages to catch something this small. He only picked it up when it fell on top of his mouth. "Listen to these penguins, they would bring you to Paradise," Hamatarou shouted again before he patted at Kido''s shoulders and disappeared to aid another team.

    Suddenly, the Penguin Ninjas sensed another series of erratic movement and this time around, they were sure it belonged to Giants instead of another tribe or scout. The Croc felt the same thing and his legs trembled, those footsteps were not the same as the usual prey he and his fellow hunters fought against.

    It was something different. Bigger.

    "You heard the big hamster! Hasten the march of your tribes, mate." One of the Penguin Ninja shouted.

    "Wait! Toto! Follow that Croc and call Jin via the System Channel to open a portal below. If the scout made it up here, it means the route should be safe." Kidomanded, and Totoplied without hesitation. Although he knew that there would be one less man against the monstrosity that wasing, he knew hisrades were able to handle it.

    "Godspeed! Save me some fun as well!" Toto shouted as he took off with the Croc scout.

    "Heh! I do not want the fun toe to you. Master Jin will kill me." Kido chuckled as he unwrapped a giant scroll right in front of him and started chanting.

 Chapter 648 All I Need Is A Rock

    <h4>Chapter 648 All I Need Is A Rock</h4>

    "Hahahaha! You call this a fight?" Maeve said as she watched the bunch of sorry mess right in front of her, trying their best to defeat her loyal Valgs. They were making no progress against Maeve as she continued calling out countless otherworldly monsters. (Why fight when she could let her minions do all the work for her?)

    The cultivators initially thought of clearing the room before they fight on a ''many to one'' basis. But it seemed like there was no end to her minions! What''s more, every cultivator in the room thought that the Victorian dresseddy had a limited in her summons, but it seemed like the Raid Instance was not designed to be as such.

    The only turnaround that happened was that Jing Yu and fresh cultivators was steadfast in their rear defence against the Valgs which spawned outside the throne hall or else it would be within the nightmare for the cultivators within the room.

    With time, Jin''s shop was getting filled with more peopleing in response for the Emergency Raid Instance. Thus, it lessened the burden Jing Yu and the rest of the rear support drastically.

    The ck Masked Cultivators were, however biding time until their Elder gave them permission to engage the main boss. While waiting, they diverted their boredom by bringing newly spawned Valgs to their knees so that the cultivators had an easier time to kill them.

    Yet, the Daughter of Winter Court was not idling at the shitshow happening under her feet. She was monitoring who was potentially the most dangerous and might be the real game changer.

    Obviously, she singled out the ones with ck Masks.

    There were not many of them (In fact, only two among them), but from her observation, they utilised pure brute strength aspared to the rest of the group who wielded strange abilities that could bolster their strength or summon elemental magic toplement their techniques. Regardless of their shy attacks, Maeve was not afraid of them as opposed to the two ck Masks.

    "Hmmm, but if they relied only on brute force, I shouldn''t have anything to worry about." Maeve scoffed at the situation as she slouched on her throne and yawned. Maybe, it was time to wrap this up as she started to feel something was happening outside the castle. She sensed a ripple of high level magic passing through the castle a few moments ago, and she was curious about it.

    Out of the blue, a projectile headed towards her from the side. Without the need to look, she stopped it with her powers and brought it to her face to inspect. Her barrier was able to block all manner of projectiles and even the smashes from Xiong Da''s club. But this projectileбн.this particr piece of rock which had no magical energy attached to it managed to prate her almighty barrier with ease.

    The only way to stop it was to concentrate her magical powers to prevent it from contacting her.

    "Hah!? A rock? You people must really underestimate me to throw a mere stone at me!" Maeve lied as she nced at the side. It was none other than a member of that ck Masked Cultivators. The third one and possibly the final one who left the throne hall earlier.

    This rock throw further solidified her theory that they only had brute strength and nothing else. Yet, it did ce her into high alert when she found out it could prate her barrier.

    "You animals should know your ce," Maeve said as her eyes royal purple shone as she ced kic pressure in the area, forcing him to kneel to his knees. However, for some reason, there was no reaction from him except his surroundings. The tiles were broken, and the walls cracked from the intense pressure. Some of the cultivators who were caught within the pressurised area died instantaneously.

    "Heh, you are not worthy of our weapons. Rocks are more than enough." The ck Masked Cultivator said while the rest of the Drows chuckled behind their masks.

    Maeve became speechless. It had been a long time since someone dared to insult her upfront. No one had ever treated her with this much of disrespect.

    Hence, the Evil Kinkstress summoned a high grade Valg right in front of the ck Masked Cultivator as a part of her retaliation to the remarks. However, the moment it arrived into this particr ne of existence, the ck Masked Cultivator jumped right to its face and used a rock to smash its face before it could react at all.

    Brutal savagery with just a rock nearly caused a pause in the battlefield as both Valgs and Cultivators could not believe how a giant sized Valg, equivalent to the one which the Elder Cultivators fought, was brought to its knees by it.

    Even when the Valg tried to counterattack, his opponent simply smashed it out of its existence. What''s more surprising was the rock''s durability. Being able to withstand the impact of each and every hit. It was as if the user was more than just a mere specialist in rock smashing.

    He was a master at it.

    "See? What did I say? All I need is a rock." The ck Masked Cultivator shrugged his shoulder in defiance as the Giant Valg lied on the ground motionless. At that instant, every Valg in the throne hall turned their heads to target the ck Masked Cultivators in the vinicity.

    "Do not stop your attacks!" Xiong Da shouted as he smashed the vulnerable Valg down and so did the rest. However, those who were still able to run, the monsters simply followed their mistress''s orders and headed for the ck Masked Cultivators.

    Immediately, the three ck Masked Cultivators with the aid of the cultivators crushed each and every Valgs without mercy. "Thanks, Narris. Tinda." The ck Masked Cultivator whispered via the System Channel as the two nodded their heads in unison.

    Maeve was ticked off. Pissed Off.

    She decided this group of ythings was not worth her time anymore, so she stopped summoning the Valgs, giving brief spite of relief to the cultivators. Still sitting on her high throne, Maeve instead conjured a sphere of darkness through her fingertips.

    "A ck Hole?" Xiong Da asked as he could feel his body being dragged towards the sphere and Bu Dong shuddered as he tried to bnce himself.

    All he knew was that the cultivators were no match to Maeve except for those ck Masked Cultivators. He believed they were a bunch of high grade cultivators who could have possibly kept their identities hidden via the ck masks to clear the raids.

    "Not good," Tinda said as she picked a broken tile on the ground and threw it towards Maeve. The Evil Kinktress sniggered at the pitiful attempt and sent the ck hole towards the cultivators instead of them.

    "I will make you suffer by removing yourrades away," Maeve shouted as the sphere of darkness flung towards the centre of the throne room, and it started to suck in each and every cultivator within the room. The pulling force was so great that even floor and ceiling of the throne room were eaten up by the ck hole. (Not to mention the Pandawans,)

    "A damn." Xiong Da eventually found himself in a bed staring at the ceiling within the Luxury Recovery instance alongside Bu Dong and Jing Yu.

    Thankfully, they were teleported before they were sucked into the ck hole by the System. (As stingy as ever, the System scrimp every possible resource whenever possible) Also, because of the magical disparitying from the ck Hole, Maeve did not notice a third party magical source moving the cultivators away from the scene. She assumed all were devoured within the ck Hole. (Besides, her focus and annoyance with the ck Masked Cultivators made her missed it.)

    "Looks like this raid is just way too hard. Maybe we are not supposed to win against the main boss?" Bu Dong said as heid on the bed and checked how much points he received.

    "Ah! I enjoyed the raid, while itsted. Speaking of which, did that frog disappear as well? I mean since he is the few main objectives of the raid, right?" Jing Yu asked, and the other two shook their head.

    "The ce was way too chaotic to take care of that crazy frog." Xiong Da said as he began turning on Pandaflix, monitoring the stream for Emergency Raid Instance. However, he could not find any video stream near the main boss, except for the fresh wave of rear support who happened to be running away from the ck hole attack.

    Xiong Da tried to connect to see what the ck Masked Cultivators were doing, but there was no such option in the Pandaflix stream at all. "Weird. Is this stream broken or something? I can''t seem to tune to the ck Masked Cultivators."

    "Ah! Unless they are NPCs! Part of the story. Maybe that is why the frog suddenly disappeared." Bu Dong suggested, and one of the Panda Nursesughed.

    "They are ...friends of Jin and wished to stay anonymous for this raid. That is why their streams are not up." The Panda Nurse replied and somehow the Pandawans sighed.

    "Maybe that''s why we are eliminated. In that raid, the algorithm of the dimensional instance probablypensated for their presence, so the raid boss was wayyyy harder. Maybe we can try the next one, it should be less painful that way." Bu Dong theorised and the other two seemed to ept that.

    To them, they were convinced that there were really people out there so strong, it skewed the raid boss rating out of the Pandwan''s league.

    Or so they thought.

 Chapter 649 The Winter Court Queen

    <h4>Chapter 649 The Winter Court Queen</h4>

    With the hole left at the centre of the Throne Hall, Maeve had a gloating expression on her look towards the ck Masked Cultivators.

    "Reregot, the faerie thinks that we might be disappointed with the loss of our rades''. She thinks that will reduce our fighting capabilities." Tinda chuckled behind the mask. "In fact, she is making it easier for us to move around without too much worry!"

    "I do agree. Let''s clear this fast and aid Master Jin in the rescue of the Animal People." Reregot took out the inverted ck cross beneath his shirt and revealed it to the Daughter of Winter Courts. The moment Maeve saw the cross, she was mildly disturbed by it.

    "бнWhere did you find a fairy stone?!" She shouted and sent a projectile of dark energy towards the Dark Elves who were still under the cover of their ck Masks. Narris and Tinda evaded the attack instinctively except for Reregot who stood there with the cross.

    As expected, the cross was able to defend him from the dark energy projectile. When Reregot thought that it nullified the attack, it was actually dissipated as particles to be absorbed into the Dark Elven relic. Maeve suddenly lost herposure and could not believe it. The inverted cross which the ck Masked Cultivator held was no ordinary fairy stone.

    Like every other equipment in Jin''s store, there was a varying quality of the fairy stones too. For the stone to absorb Maeve''s magic this easily meant that the stone came from entities like her mother, who were tiers higher than her in terms of power.

    She vaguely remembered that there was a period where her elders like her mother gave such fairy stones to the humans for fun, just to experiment with the humans.

    But that was a very long time ago, so she could not fathom why these short lived humans were able to obtain these fairy stones or even had knowledge about such relics? (Needless to say, she was pinning on the assumption that humans are ignorant beings.)

    Still, Maeve believed that it was a fluke and even thought that these humans did not turn to Giants or Monsters because of the protection by the fairy stone. Still, she never saw such intricate design like the inverted cross before. And to add on, Maeve noticed that the ck Masked Cultivator was also bleeding from holding onto the fairy stone.

    The Evil Kinkstress had no doubt that there would be side effects for humans to use these fairy stones without magical powers. "Heh, as expected, he would not be able tost long holding that fairy stone, but I guess I better not fool around too," Maeve said to herself as she decided to move out of her chair and released the very same ck hole technique towards Reregot.

    Except, this time it was much bigger. But what Maeve saw next, made her mouth dropped in horror.

    A silhouette of her aunt, Queen Titania of the Summer Courts emerged from the cross and halted the ck hole before the magic could be fully executed.

    However, it was not the usual bright, cheerful figure that she always portrayed. Instead, it was filled with dark, ominous energy around her that created such a daunting picture of Queen Titania which Maeve never imagined that it could be possible in her entire life. Her clothes, her mannerism and even her hairdo were different from what shest remembered of her.

    The ck Hole magic was subsequently assimted into the silhouette, and the silhouette of Dark Queen Titania unleashed the very same magic spell back at the Evil Kinkstress. This time, the ck Hole was more sinister than the colour ck, putting the definition of the abyss into shame.

    Maeve still shocked by the sudden change of events was standing at her throne like a fool. She could sense that there were no magic spells in her repertoire that was able to block, negate or deflect it. And no matter how she runs, Maeve could most definitely be not able to escape from that spell.

    The Daughter of Winter Courts even believed that those ck Masked Cultivators were prepared to die with her considering the crazy stunt they pulled off.

    "That is why you still have more to learn." A calm breezing wave of cold rushed into the room.

    In an instant, the enhanced ck Hole Magic was subdued with a spell of spatial disintegration. Ady was standing at the side throne hall, with her arms crossed, looking at the ck Masked Cultivators.

    "I do not know how you have gotten my sister''s Fairy Stone, but I assure you that the amount of output to kill my daughter? It would nearly render the stone almost useless right now, and my magic would not be easily absorbed by that stoneбнthough I would say, it''s not impossible. Just not long enough for you to throw something like that to me." The Lady spoke with grace as she protected Maeve by standing right in front of her.

    Proudly wearing a translucent dress, showing her wless white skin and toned body, the Queen of Winter Courts, Mab was not one to abandon her child in her time of need.

    "Don''t you think your child had yed enough? The mess she did is irreversible." Reregot questioned as he slowly put the Inverted Cross relic back beneath his shirt.

    "What gives you the right to lecture me? It''s not your child nor your businessбн Outsiders." Mab hissed back.

    "But as a benevolent Queen, I will give you the chance to walk away freely for one condition. Kill yourselves for me." Mab said as if they had no way to escape her request.

    "You puny humans should take it! Before she invokes a contract use on you guys! Then you all will suffer a living hell like never before! Your souls would not know what peace is!" Maeve barked right behind her mother.

    As usual, the Feys had to demonstrate their overwhelming powers to prove that they were right by freezing the entire throne hall into ice except for the areas where the ck Masked Cultivators were standing.

    After which, Queen Mab lowered the temperature of the throne room to the point where the Dark Elves were experiencing symptoms of hypothermia in less than a minute.

    The Dark Elves knew killing themselves was not an issue since they could resurrect again as long as they were under Jin, but to die because the enemy demanded it? It was more of a pride issue. Not to mention, they were still buying more time for the Rescue Operation.

    However, they knew that the Queen of Winter Courts was not deft to not know about what was going on outside the castle, but she rather preferred to protect her child from the direct threat than to meddle with Jin''s operation right now. Hence, all they needed was more time to let the rest of the minions continue their rescue efforts without the interference of the Winter Court Feys.

    "Ha! Asking them to kill themselves is like telling your kid to stop ying with dead bodies." A low growling voice was heard from behind Reregot.

    The Dark Elves turned around to see an Orc revealing his face from his hooded cloak. "Aye, Boss knew that her mother will being, so he asked me toe and assist. And I guess, this is indeed a good time to stretch my powers a little. All those governing nearly bored me to death."

    "You sure? Fire beats ice, you know?" me Ripper apanied the Orc King Frost Echo by his side while the Orc asked if he could hold the cloak for him.

    "Don''t you know? Ice is a form of water? You probably die immediately from the drowning! Besides, didn''t Boss ask you to aid the penguins?" Frost Echo said as he tightened his armour. If it was regr armour, he probably would have discarded it by now.

    But they were armour bestowed by Shiva, The Shaitan of Primitive Ice, the Goblin World''s Herald of Winter. Frost Echo figured his bestowed armour could aid him to withstand a bit of the cold. If not, he probablyining to his god that it was useless junk.

    "He told me I am the backup unit for this in case you did not appear." me Ripper folded therge cloak and hung it over his shoulders.

    "Heh! If I did not appear, I think the System gonna eat me up alive. If not that, Mistress Qiu Yue will!" The Orc King said as he cracked his knuckles and walked on the ice with poise.

    The Dark Elves did learn the existence of every minion in Jin''s consortium of freaks, and they happily jumped back to where me Ripper was.

    They knew it was a show they would not want to miss.

 Chapter 650 Ice Against Ice

    <h4>Chapter 650 Ice Against Ice</h4>

    "Who do you think you are? You think your powers ever exceed my mother? You yellow freak!" Maeve did not know what kind of monstrosity that human had be to have such an ugly face and body structure. Or maybe it was one of those Animal People that she never saw before.

    "I know your speciesбнyou are an Orc, aren''t you?" Queen Mab squinted her eyes though she could not believe that an Orc had survived in this world for generations. "But you are more civilised than the ones Ist remembered. Although I was very sure the humans had annihted all of you and the бнgoblin race from existence."

    "Aren''t you happy that the eyesores hade back to haunt you?" Frost Echo inferred that the Feys were probably the ones who incited the humans to kill the Orcs and Goblins judging from Maeve''s behaviour.

    Maybe it happened in their world too since the Dark Elves said they had encountered simr Feys before.

    "Not particrly. Usually, Orcs and Goblins are beneath me and powerlesspared to what I possess. But out of amusement, I am going to erase you permanently out of this world. You should be d you get to taste my powers firsthand." Mab clenched her right fist and loosen it, creating a ball of ice in front of her.

    She then used her magic to tten it into a sheet and subsequently rubbed the ball of ice until it looked like an icicle spear. With a flick of her finger, the icicle flew towards Frost Echo but the armour he wore, dissipated the icicle into dust.

    "Damn, looks like I am not as fit as I was." Frost Echo said to himself when his intention was to dodge it at first. But even if he did avoid it, Queen Mab''s icicle spear was something simr to a tracking missile. It would not stop until it hits the target.

    "Probably eat less of those Royal dishes with those buffalo meat. Might also help to change your diet! And more exercise!" me Ripper blurted out, and the ck Masked Cultivators who were leaning at the door chuckled softly behind their masks.

    "Yeah yeah, I will tell Cross to watch for my diet and exercise." Frost Echo waved his hand in a manner to shoo them off before he turned his head to notice an icicle ten timesrger was pointing towards him.

    "Try dissolving this into ice dust." Queen Mab was reluctant to use her powers against such a puny insignificant being when she released the projectile. She assumed that the armour was the one that was protecting him from the attacks. But from her perspective, the ''magical'' armour tes were only skin thick, and they could be pierced through with sufficient power.

    "You are not the only one with ice powers." Frost Echo said as he grabbed the thrown giant icicle spear by the tip with just one hand and eventually broke it into pieces. For the first time, the Avatar of Shiva was having fun, and his Shaitan was on the standby toe out any time whenever he needed to. It was a long time since they scratch their itch for battle.

    "You should have gone and not that bitch," Ifrit said to me Ripper in his head.

    "Nah, do not have to worry much. Her avatar would still interfere, and we can join in the funter. Besides, Shiva''s your elder sister, give her some leeway." me Ripper tried to calm the Fire Shaitan in him.

    Queen Mab raised an eyebrow seeing that she underestimated the Orc and sped her fingers. In an instant, her cold snap froze Frost Echo into a bulk of ice. "See, stop wasting my time already. Because of his interferences, I shall let do the Maeve killin-"

    An Ice Shard flew from the back and attempted to pierce Maeve, but Mab''s barrier blocked it. However, that was enough for Queen Mab to turn her head, lowering her guard momentarily. This split second distraction gave Frost Echo the opportunity to do the same towards Queen Mab as she was frozen in a bulk of ice for a second before breaking out. (Obviously, it was not a projectile based magic but rather a pinpoint type of magic, allowing Frost Echo to bypass her barrier and perform the Ice Prison spell.)

    Though Frost Echo was still in the ice block, his retaliation made Queen Mab ticked off, enough to magically create spears of ice into his direction. But to annoy her even more, the ice block Frost Echo was in, shot out the same number of ice spears against her, breaking it at a tie.

    "You! You are no normal Orc! There''s no Orc that could wield magic, much less with finesse like yours!" Cracks started to appear on Queen Mab''s face.

    "Why thank you! Don''t be too shocked that an Orc can perform such feats. I mean, I am also surprised how awfully sadistic you let your daughter to be. How about you let us kill her, and then we train her to be a good person?" Frost Echo replied with glee as he broke the ice block cleanly into two with his imprint still in it.

    "What? Don''t test my limits. I know you are cahooting with some magician that is currently performing arge scale movement to this ruined kingdom. Don''t think that I knew nothing about the situation happening outside. While I might not have any idea what your magician friends are plotting, but it looks like you are just a pawn in his books. How about you join me? And I will spare those people out there." Queen Mab seems to have taken an interest in high level Orc Magician.

    "Ehhh, that is a problem. Apparently, it''s a death contract I signed without much of my will, and now I could not break out of it. Besides, I can''t make promises with you since we Orcs value honour and trust the most." Frost Echo said but at the same time hoping that Jin was listening in to their conversation.

    If Hell did freeze over the entire ruined kingdom, it would spell trouble for the current rescue operation. "Then all we have to do is to weaken her to the state that she''s not able to cast such arge scale spell...or maybe distract her enough until its meaningless for her to cast it." Kraft who was watching at the side in the dungeon Maker said via the System Channel. "Don''t pull your punches, Orc King."

    "Heh, why don''t youe and try it for yourself!" Frost Echo''s thoughts were full hateful remarks for that Fox. Suddenly a fire arrow flew right behind him, and Queen Mab managed to create a partial ice barrier to block the ice. But she noticed that the fire was strong enough to melt the ice in front of her before it extinguishes.

    Not to mention, the moment she blocked the arrow attack, Mab saw a shadow at the side causing her daughter Maeve to immediately called a Valg out to act as a Meat Shield.

    Happy to be out of the hellhole it was in, the Valg roared out for the freedom it was bestowed in before it roared in pain, being burnt violently by an attack it did not anticipate.

    me Ripper had decided to take action since Kraft was right. If her concentration was with the fight, her threats would not be an issue even though it did hit a nerve. Even Dark Elf Reregot had decided to help by taking out the inverted cross and wrapping it around his hand. Even though it might not damage the Fey Winter Queen much as she had warned, he believed it should still inflict some damage to them.

    It was solely a battle to buy time for the rescue operation to seed but to the cultivators in his shop, what they saw were the other cultivators struggling to fight the remaining Valgs in the castle. Some who manage to reach the throne hall found that there was arge hole right in front of them. There was also ayer of treacherous ice at the far end of the hole, making it almost impossible tond properly should one jump across the massive gap. Most thought it was just a dead end and turned away to search for other Valgs.

    The only ones who happened to know that something was still going on in the Throne Hall were the Zi Dan, Xia Mao and Kong Xian who wrapped up their drinking session. While they did catch a glimpse of the intense ice fight scene between Frost Echo and Queen Mab from a distance, it instantly clicked on them that surrendering was the equivalent version of knowing their limits.

    Thus, the ''real'' boss battle was shrouded with mystery and not known to the cultivators.

 Chapter 651 Operation Mass Migration - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 651 Operation Mass Migration - Part 3</h4>

    While me Ripper and Frost Echo fought against Queen Mab, Operation Mass Migration was going pretty smoothly without too much interference. Jin had so far rescued the Penguins, Crocs, Walrus, Pr Bears, Turtles, Crabs, Otters andstly Beavers.

    These eight tribes were the only few they managed to contact, and even though Peppers reported that there were at least another three more tribes that were dormant in the ground, Jin was not going for them. His manpower was stretched with the influx of Giant Monstersing towards the tribes.

    At first, Jin thought it was the Hamster Druid that they were after, but soon, his hypothesis was proven to be invalid when Hamatarou tried to divert attention from them.

    Sure, they were some monsters that tried to eat Hamatarou, but not all of them were going for him. Thus, the rescue team was stalling the Giants as much as they could in order to make sure that there was sufficient time for Animal People to escape into Jin''s Portals.

    Thankfully, with Mr Derpy as the floating tform, Peppers was able to see where the res wereing from to initiate her explosion spells. With the aid of Que Er''s crows as well as the System predictive analysis, they managed to have pinpoint uracy of up to 10 metres for the bombardment.

    Most of Jin''s minions were able to divert the monsters'' attention, luring them to open spaces for the bombardment to have maximum effect. Needless to say, there were casualties, but the potential of having more allies as well as Giant Monsters into Jin''s Arsenal of monsters would greatly benefit the loss of resources in the long run.

    Also, Ghoul Half Lord Derek wanted to do more experiments to see if his food fusion experiment was viable for other Giant monsters than just the Broli Porkcupine, hoping to increase the variety of food products grown for ughter. It was ultimately a small cost to pay despite the System being a Scrooge in the first ce.

    However, Jin''s fears were realised when Father Porkcupine appeared not soon after the arrival of Queen Mab. To hisfort, there were oddly no otherrger monsters the size of Father Porkcupine, and he was the only at the scene.

    This made the Dungeon Supplier wondered if Father Porkcupine was truly the only mega giant monster in the Ruined Kingdom or its Apex Predator was currently out of ''town'' in search for juicier foodstuff.

    Regardless, Jin had already prepared a few surprises for Father Porkcupine who was ravaging near the evacuation of the Crabs. (Fun fact: The Crab People are the only tribe that was out of the norm. While the other seven tribes maintained mostly their features like an animal, the Crabs had a full size human body except that their heads were made out of the shape of a crab. Even their pincers were on their head.)

    "Hamatarou, since you are not needed anywhere, I am teleporting you to the Father Porkcupine!" Jin said in the System Channel, and Hamatarouined of being overworked. "Nope! This is your request to evacuate the people! It''s your responsibility, and you have to y the most part of it."

    However, the moment Hamatarou teleported, he was standing in between the nose bridge of Father Porkcupine. Not only that, he noticed that a magical circlerge andplex enough to cover the skies was right above him.

    "HOLY SHIT! PEPPERS IS CASTING, AND YOU TELEPORTED ME RIGHT ON TOP OF THE PIG?" Hamatarou scared and terrified, shouted at the top of his voice with his fur all stood up.

    "That''s the whole idea," Shu said in the System Channel, and suddenly a Tree was entrenched on the nose bridge of the Porkcupine. From far, it would seem like a stick had merely fallen from the sky and on the monster''s head. "Erge me, and so this b of good meat would not be able to run from Peppers Boom Boom."

    Hamatarou finally understood what Jin was trying to do. Since Shu was a Treant, a Druid would be the bestbination to team up with. Without hesitation, Druid Hamatarou ced his wand, and his totem of Reverse Atem on Shu and a warm green light shone from the magic that he released.

    The bright light was coincidentally a decent distraction against Father Porkcupine, allowing Shu''s roots to wrap all around it. Father Porkcupine felt the roots crawling under his belly, his spikes and even around his mouth. Eventually, the roots also went deep into the ground, entrenching the giant monster to the ground.

    Naturally, the Porkcupine tried to wiggle itself out and even attempted releasing his spikes to break the roots, but the popping of the spikes only allowed the roots to tighten the creature further before it could grow back again.

    "Okay enough tree hugging, get out of the way or you be sted off as well!" Peppers shouted at the System Channel with the floating tform was near the scene. (She just wanted front row tickets of the biggest, baddest and meanest explosion she could ever conjure especially with Ayse''s Experimental Vest.

    On the contrary, Ayse was panicking when she saw the magic circle up high. Although the Orc Head Researcher was able to handle Peppers output till now, she believed her machine would crack under the pressure of this subsequent magic spell. Yet, Ayse understood that this shot was needed to keep Father Porkcupine upied.

    She remembered Jin telling her that even the Titan Knight''s weaponry was insufficient to make a dent on the monster at all. Granted there were problems with his weapon with it at the maximum output when Father Porkcupine appeared and overheated at the wrong time, but Ayse would also be lying if she said that she did not want to first hand see the explosion herself. Thus, there was no other way than to let the Demonic Sage Queen to go out.

    It was obviously the ''only'' choice.

    "If I leave now, the remaining roots won''t hold him for more than a few seconds!" Shu argued, but his argument became invalid when Jin hadmanded the System to teleport both Hamatarou and Shu out of harm''s way the moment Peppers released her magic.

    "Are you even sure, we should be this close to the- " Ayse suddenly felt it was a bad idea when the magic circle disappeared, but it felt like time and space squeezed tight together and created a sound of vacuum.

    *Zooooooommm иC BA DAAAAA BOOOOOOOOOM*

    ted, Pepper was.

 Chapter 652 The Otherworldly Power In The Background

    <h4>Chapter 652 The Otherworldly Power In The Background</h4>

    The explosion was too loud to be ignored and could be heard from the castle. It distracted Queen Mab for a moment, allowing Frost Echo and me Ripper took the opportunity to slip a blow to her now overpowering ice barrier.

    Part of her shield shattered but Queen Mab, filled with years ofbat experience, had already prepared a counterattack despite thepse in her defence.

    Maeve chipped in by shooting out projectiles of ck magic from her hand to strengthen her mother''s counter attack. Even though she disliked her mother''s appearance, the revtion of the Dark Titania''s fairy stone had made her cowered like a rat behind her mother''s back.

    Like her mother, Maeve was shameless in making sure that she always had the advantage regardless of the situation. While Mab sighed that she had to clear her daughter''s mess ande to rescue her, she did not dislike it one bit. In fact, if Mab could, she liked to thank her ythings for allowing her to y the role of the protective mother once in a while to regain the image of Mother in Maeve''s head.

    As the Evil Kinktress continued to assist her mother, they had forgotten somebody who was in the Throne Hall for a very long time ever since the beginning of the fight.

    The frog swordsman Gaeru suddenly made his presence known as he coiled his tongue around Maeve''s neck, causing her to gasp for breath as part of her body''s reflex. The moment she had a mouth wide open, Gaeru immediately shafted Jin''s sword, Boo into her throat without any mercy.

    During the start of the battle, when Gaeru struck Maeve, he was easily deflected by her psychic barrier and was identally tossed by a raging Valg to the throne hall''s chandelier. The giant (and broken)mp lights provided sufficient refuge for Gaeru to recover from the unexpected seismic toss.

    That was also when Gaeru realised something was attached at his nape near the edge of his worn, dirty cape the swordsman wore throughout his travels. It was an instant ninja scroll which Kido had previously attached to the frog swordsman should he ever found himself in a pinch.

    Gaeru did not expect the honourable penguins still cared for him so much they were charitable enough to attach a secret scroll on him. (More than caring, Kido was actually anxious that Gaeru became too reckless in his pursuit for revenge and hoped that having an instant scroll would aid him in his more dire circumstances.) A small piece of paper filled with instructions was attached to Gaeru''s cape so he could activate it manually else the instant scroll takes its effect the moment the mantle was pulled, tightened, burned or taken off. (In short, any drastic physical movements done to the cape activates the scroll.)

    Gaeru grinned when he saw the piece of paper was filled with 4 sketch panels. It was teaching him how to use the scroll of invisibility so that even the most illiterate should be able to understand it. (Wellбнmaybe the System did aid in the rification when it observed what Gaeru had trouble reading it. Pictures might not be the best representation, especially when all he did in his life was to fight, fight, fight.)

    --------

    Queen Mab heard the gasping from behind and saw the grotesque image of the frog grabbing her daughter with his tongue while plunging a sword into her mouth. Although the Queen was sure that she was able to save her daughter, and Maeve would be able to recover with her healing magic, it was the frog actions which trigger Mab''s aggressive protective tendencies.

    "YOU!!!!!!!!!" Queen Mab shouted at the top of her voice, which shattered not only the remaining ss windows in the throne hall but even made the entire castle infrastructure to shake violently from her scream alone.

    While me Ripper and Frost Echo were stopped in their tracks from the scream, the Dark Elves was somehow partially unaffected by the yelling. However, this sudden change of circumstances made Reregot realised that he could, in fact, participate in this crazy magical exchange of powers. By factoring the partially broken ice barrier into his throw, Reregot tied his Inverted Cross Relic onto a stone and hurled it towards the injured Maeve.

    Gaeru''s eardrums burst for the high pitch scream, and with blood flowing steadily out from his earhole, it made him slightly unconscious and causing his tongue grip to weaken. The scream also made him felt his temperature to decrease drastically, making him shiver.

    But it was also precisely that scream that aggravated the swordsman to execute a more drastic action by opening his mouth wide and ced Maeve''s entire head into his mouth as it emits poison through his saliva to numb Maeve.

    At the same moment, the Inverted Cross Relic (with a stone) stabbed onto Maeve''s chest and piercing it through her sternum, causing it to absorb her Fey Magic. The impact was strong enough to shatter her sternum and disabling her lungs further.

    Queen Mab was in a state of dire shock.

    She did not realise that her daughter''s ythings had no neglect of their lives and decided to go all out to defeat the Evil Kinkstress. There had been no one in their lives that was willing to do such despicable acts to them. They had always been revered regardless of their actions since most humans were willing to suffer to gain powers from the whims of gods. But now Maeve''s ythings were so ruthless, willing to bring such a ''god'' to their knees.

    But she did not know that their aim was never to defeat her, but to distract her. It was by chance that there was an opportune timing to inflict damage on Maeve while keeping Queen Mab at bay.

    With the ancient fairy stone taking Maeve''s powers away, she panicked and tried to tear the frog''s tongue out of the way. However, both Feys did not know that there was an otherworld power in the works when the frog was thrown aside like a rag.

    "Maeve, Princess of the Winter Courts, Summoner of Valgs, the Evil Kinkstress had been sessfully captured." The System reported, and suddenly Maeve disappeared from the world right in front of her mother, making everyone stunned and speechless for a second.

    It was when Jin''s Sword, Boo, dropped to the ground which made everyone snapped out into the new predicament they were in. Everyone had forgotten the almighty System was in the background, waiting to capture such a valuable minion. The sword was not just Jin''s weapon but an item previously empowered by the System.

    If the monsters were using their own weapons, they had to make sure that the enemy was near death or dead on the floor, unable to move for the System to capture it.

    But with Boo? It was practically the substitute of Jin''s capturing app on his phone. There was always a chance for the System to capture it as long as some damage was inflicted to the enemy. It just that it would be much easier for the System and Jin to get the monster into their ranks when it''s dead.

    Queen Mab had no idea what was going on. Did Maeve escape from the battlefield? But if she did, howe she could not feel her presence anywhere near? Could Maeve had teleported herself and made her undetectable? Mab knew that fairy stones were not supposed to kill a High Fey or made someone disappear without any warnings.

    Things were not adding up, and so were the monsters right in front of her. They were injured but stillughing as if it was their n all along.

    "No matter. I will kill them and find the truth from Maeve." Queen Mab said to herself as a burst of icy power shot out from her hands and directed to Gaeru without any remorse for removing such an existence from this world.

    Gaeru smiled as he dly took the hit.

 Chapter 653 Operation Mass Migration - Final

    <h4>Chapter 653 Operation Mass Migration - Final</h4>

    "What? Maeve is captured?!" Jin looked up when he heard the announcement from the System and was genuinely surprised. He was thankful that the Mass Migration Operation was proceeding rather smoothly despite the appearance of Father Porkcupine and the news of Maeve being captured could not have been any better. It was totally out of his expectation.

    Also, the timing of Pepper''s explosion was nearly impable as the penguin ninjas and Orcs managed to clear the ''migration'' queue by requesting multiple portals. They hope to rush the crowd in before the advent of the inevitable.

    The System naturally granted this one time privilege which quickened the queue but also brought in some unexpected visitors into the Ind they were evacuating into.

    Needless to say, the Orcs who apanied the rescue proved to be a positive distraction against those other Porkcupines. (They loved the meat so much from the Xmas Feast that they hoped by killing these live Giant boars by themselves, will eventually earn them the right to eat them once more.)

    Meanwhile, Peppers'' pride was hurt when she found out that Father Porkcupine did not go down with hertest iteration of explosion spell. It was still standing and even attempted to retaliate but it did not know where it came fromбнuntil it sniffed out a faint, simr magical source from above.

    Peppers could have escaped detection if she did not try to fire another st at Father Porkcupine. However, the experimental vest broke as Ayse had expected and did not allow Peppers to release another spell on her own. Instead, she grabbed all the crystals that were charged up from her worn out machines and threw them in her storage ring before she shouted at the System and Jin.

    "Teleport Peppers and me back to base! Any more magic and you will have an incapacitated mage for the next month or so!" Ayse warned her master about the consequences of letting his Betor running too rampant.

    "Right away." Jin acknowledged his minion''s request and the System immediately zapped them back to Ayse''sboratory instance. Peppers screamed in defiance and wanted to finish the job, but Ayse was holding the battered girl back as much as she can.

    "To all Lab members! Code Green!" Ayse cried out loud for help via the System''s Lab Channel and immediately, her Elven researchers along with Weslie came to the main hall of theboratory all armed with magic. Until they realised that it was not just a Code Green, its a Code Green, Peppers Version!

    They quickly used their magic to bind, seal and whatever possible methods they could think of to keep Peppers from releasing her magic spell on the spot. They remembered theb instance was nearly blown away because Peppers became too agitated arguing with Ayse. But thankfully the System was aware of it and teleported Peppers away in time before any serious damage was done to theb instance.(Talk about violent reactions!)

    "Sorry, sweetie. This will hurt a bit." Weslie quickly ced an injector gun on Peppers'' neck and fired a sedative that caused the Mage Betor to lose her consciousness momentarily. After which, they put her in a trolley as the other Elven Researchers brought her to the medicalb for close observation.

    "This is why I do not want kids," Ayse said as she lied on the pristine clean floor of herb hall while taking a breather.

    -------

    Even though the smell of the particr magical signature suddenly disappeared, Father Porkcupine did not stop its retaliation towards the floating tform. It thought that the culprit who did a number on him was still hiding up there. Noticing that all of the Colossal Porkcupine had spikes aimed towards the floating tform, Que Er realised Mr Derpy could be in danger and immediately stomped at him.

    "Evade Dagen! Evade! Hard Left!" Que Er sent a mind electrifying pulse of magic into the sleeping floating tform, forcing him to wake up and perform the instruction as ordered by the Magpie Queen.

    "Woah! What is happening?!" Mr Derpy''s sudden movement made the machines fell off his back and thought he also dropped Peppers and Ayse along with it.

    "Do not worry, the two had already returned to base. Peppers tried to kill the pig down there, but even her spell was not strong enough to prate his thick skin." Que Er held on to Muginn''s leg without much effort and exined the situation to Mr Derpy.

    "That is why it tried to kill me after finding out where the source of magic came from?" Mr Derpy asked for a confirmation which Que Er nodded.

    "Well, he started the fight first." The Shadow Dagen unknowingly gave his creepy smile as he looked at the prey staring at him. "I guess I better finish what Peppers had started -"

    "All units, prepare to teleport back! The operation is a sess! I repeat, all units, prepare to teleport back!" Jin sent a system wide message which basically prevented Mr Derpy from doing any further actions. (Jin did not honestly it think it would be a running gag.)

    "I do not care already! So be it if there is no lunch buffet due to my insubordination!" Mr Derpy shouted as he flew higher a little more before diving straight towards Father Porkcupine. At that point, Que Er saw that the spikes on the pig''s back started to merge into one big spike.

    It was as if, the Porkcupine was going for a one shot kill against the diving impact of Mr Derpy. "Master, I think you better manually teleport Mr Derpy or else his death may lead to unnecessary wastage of resources which-"

    And before the Magpie Queen could finish her sentence, Mr Derpy was already teleported back into his instance. But the Queen realised that Father Porkcupine was still looking upwards, and only found out that the spike was subsequently diverted to aim at her.

    "No shit. This pig is cleverer than it portrays itself to be." Que Er whispered as she waited for the moment the spike flew out of his back like a rocket before she teleported away.

    ----------

    "Ah ah, and here I thought I get to unleash my powers a little bit more." Frost Echo said as he did not know whether to breath a sigh of relief hearing that retreat order.

    "But technically, the raid is still on, right?" me Ripper asked as he looked at the distraught Queen of Winter Court. "You think its best to let her go just like that?"

    "You are saying, it''s better we die fighting?" Frost Echo questioned, but he saw the Dark Elves already jumping out of the windows the moment Jin sent the retreat order out.

    "Well, we still need to know the extent of our Shaitan powers to get stronger." me Ripper said as Queen Mab slowly turned to them with a different expression on her face.

    The ''I will hunt you where ever you go'' kind of face.

    "Heh, at most we get some scolding from Boss and maybe some istion time? Nah scratch that, he probably made us work harder. That''s all." Frost Echo said as he leaned his neck sidewards to release a popping sound from his bones. "Besides, I am still a King. Got to keep my pride up once in a while."

    "Hahah! I guess it''s okay for us to fool around a little..." me Ripper said as he held onto his dagger as if it glimmered with desire. The desire to be set free and roam around the world a little to wreak some havoc. me Ripper took a deep breath in and shouted out the very words that had been itching toe out of his mouth for the longest time.

    "Command my body! Ifrit!" The Dagger Goblin held his dagger up high, and the glittering of light from the dagger turned into a spark of fire which quickly enveloped me Ripper.

    "What?!" Queen Mab had never seen such intense fire magic in her life.

    "Heh heh! Shiva, do you wish to be outmatched by your brother?" Frost Echo said as he raised his fist upwards and shouted the very same request beseeching his other Master to take over his body.

    "Command my body! Shiva!" Frost Echo said as he held his fist near his face as he slowly transformed with a barrier of ice around him.

 Chapter 654 Monster Merger Function

    <h4>Chapter 654 Monster Merger Function</h4>

    "Master, I do not think this is a suitable time for the leftover cultivators to be in the castle," Drex said as he saw the two Avatars transforming to be the Shaitans they contracted with.

    "Agreed, System perform emergency transportation of all cultivators to the Halloween Castle instance and throw the Giant Valg we captured to upy their time. When you are done, replicate the Smander''s castle for me to work on it. We will create the raid instance like how we did for the Goblin Raids." Jin said as he opened up his dungeon creation consoles up while requesting Drex to oversee the remaining portion of Operation Mass Migration.

    All Drex had to deal with was the proper allocation of the Animal People Tribes and have his people or Jin''s minions to give out Qiu Yue''s standard contracts for them to sign. (Else, they would be stuck in limbo as the System restricted movement for those not under itsmand.)

    "System had partially replicated the castle based on User''s previous operation n, but as your grade is not sufficient to fully control Maeve, she had also been locked away simr to how System locked Diabolos. It is for the User''s safety." The System stated that it was better to keep those monsters away since Jin did not have sufficient ability to deal with them. (Although Jin suspected that the System did not have adequate processing ability to hold reign on them as well as the other minions.)

    "It''s fine, we will use the Giant Valg as the sub Boss as usual and ce the Smander Queen and her guards in the throne room. I mean, the raid instance is the ''Battle in Smander''s Lord Keep''. If we do not have any Smanders, that will be kind of weird. Also System, do you Reregot''s data against that Smander turned Valg Dorian right?" Jin said as he previewed the Halloween and Smander castles'' data on his console and picked his stylus up.

    "Affirmative, while the monster regrettably turned into energy to powered up the Dark Elves'' Fairy Stone, System can recreate the Valg Dorian replica by sacrificing twelve of high grade Valg monsters. Does User give such permission?" The System asked as this was the first time he would be using the monster merger function.

    "Via the Monster Merger Function? Hmm. Usually, I''m not particrly eager to do this. It takes potential monster resources away, and I will lose the opportunity for them to grow independently. Besides, all of the monsters have their own lives regardless of the circumstances they were brought into our control. We should continue to respect that." Jin had always refused to use this particr function when he found out about it from reading the System''s manual on his phone.

    Upon seeing growth on each and every monster time after time, it further reinforced the fact that these monsters were like him. They have the ability to grow stronger without the need to merge them.

    What if Jin had previously merged the three goblins together? Does that mean the families of the other two goblins would have lost their sons forever? Would thest remaining goblin be haunted by the fact that he grew stronger using the blood, body and soul of his friends?

    Sometimes, a bit ofpassion goes a long way.

    Such a feature might be present, but that did not mean that Jin would have to use it. Furthermore, from the data collected, those Valg Demons were sentient as well. Jin figured that they had to be born from something and not because they exist due to a snap from a few fingers.

    "Understood, System shall not perform any monster merging but will remind the User such an option still exists." The System replied before remaining silent for Jin to work on his magic to create the proper dungeon raid instance for his cultivators.

    To the cultivators that were in the Giant World, all they felt was a temporaryg in their body before resuming the fight. It was a rtivelymon technical problem in most dungeon supplier stores, and most cultivators who were in the fight did not really notice it as much as those who were cautiously exploring the area.

    Even though some felt it, the temporary instance-to-instanceg in Jin''s store was shrugged away as a one off thing. The Halloween Castle instance which the System had transferred the remaining cultivators into, was redesigned with data it had received based on Peppers'' Scan spell.

    Jin had previously asked the System to merge the blueprint of the Halloween Castle Instance with the interior design of the Smander''s Castle in background processing while the System concentrated a majority of its resources into the rescue operation which Jin wasmanding.

    For once, the System felt strained due to its limited processing powers, but somehow it managed to cope by simultaneously purchasing upgrades for itself when the System deemed appropriate. It was costly, but this was the only way to make sure that normalcy continued to maintain. (As well as the superior outlook it portrays.)

    Thank goodness the rescue operation was swift enough that the System did not see red in its own ledger nor the System had the need to dip on its emergency funds. The constant money from regr ck market trading and profit from Dungeon Cave as well as Jin''s Tree Mall (the Dungeon Store included) was what kept the System ount barely above red for now.

    Apetent ountant would have sworn Jin would go red in the near future if he did not keep track of his finances properly. But Jin persisted in his ideology of spending money to earn more money.

    Aside from the System''s processing issues, Jin''s main concern was the proper transition of the ''fake'' Hallow Castle dungeon instance and the Battle Smander Lord Keep Castle Raid Instance rather than the current situation in the Giant World.

    He knew that there were still some monsters who were still fighting in the Giant World like me Ripper and Frost Echo to keep Queen Mab distract, but he understood that these monsters, unlike Mr Derpy, had logical reasons for continuing their fight instead of retreating.

    Even if he put too much attention to it, Jin ensured that the System would dip its hand into the matter and pull them out when necessary to reduce wastage of resources. If the System had not pulled them out of the Giant World, Jin trusted his System knew what''s the risk it was taking with his monsters.

    So, with the System taking care of his back, Jin concentrated entirely on the Smander Keep Raid instance before more and more people arrive to try the raid out. Yun, in ce of the System, had already ced a stopgap measure to assure Jin no further iing cultivators until he finished a major portion of the raid instance.

    Till then, Yun used the excuse of having too many people participating in themunity Raid and used the Pandamonium App to have a queue number set up for the raid. (In hindsight, it inadvertently created a lot of hype for the new raid instance as well!)

    In the meantime, when Drex was wrapping the previous operation, he could not help but peek at the other console as he saw the glorious transformation of the two Shaitan Avatars.

    me Ripper had physically grown to a human shaped size with two horns curving to the back of his head. In addition, he had developed a fiery coloured mane around him, and it became apparent that he became a separate entity.

    Tribal Tattoos in the shapes of raging fire were imprinted on his entire body, and it pulsed with orange light every alternating second, making the tattoos looked like they were alive. Not to mention, all he wore was a loincloth. (So hot!)

    On the other hand, Frost Echoбнthat grumpy intelligent looking orc? He never expected that he would turn into a delicate pale skinned female human.

    The length of her (or his) hair reached to the ground, and it turned crystal blue in colour. Shiva was also spotted with simr kind of tattoos but in the shapes of tidal waves. (And they were glittering like ice under the sun!)

    The Dark Elf Leader did hear of those dumb Orcs worshipping these Shaitans as Gods, but this was the first time for him to see an Avatar transforming in the image of their gods. It was indeed a sight to behold.

 Chapter 655 Piss Off Contes

    <h4>Chapter 655 Piss Off Contes</h4>

    "This is your true form? Whatever." Queen Mab did not care anymore ever since Maeve had disappeared out of a sudden. She could sense that her daughter was still alive but did not understand why there was no proper connection with her.

    Since there was nothing to protect and an unexinable loss in her heart, maybe it was time for Mab to have her own fun to fill the void. The Queen had been so busy governing the Winter Courts that she barely had any chance to have a moment of rest and these two transformed beings were the perfect chance for Mab to exercise her powers.

    Firstly, Mab froze the throne chair and turned it with her magic to face the two Avatars directly. But the more she looked at them, she became irritated by Shiva''s beautiful glittering skin. It was so smooth that Mab could vaguely see her reflection in it. Somehow, that was more than sufficient reason to warrant their deaths, including the grave sin of attacking her daughter.

    "Enough holding back. I do not care what your excuses are, but you two deserved to die for being the aplices sent to hurt my daughter." Queen Mab leaned backwards and folded her legs, giving an imposing stare towards the two Shaitans who refused to speak a word. Yet the two transformed Shaitans responded back with a half smug smile as if they were amused by her dramatic behaviour.

    But to the Queen of Winter Courts, it felt like an insult. They were literally signalling her to throw the first strike since all talk and no action made Mab''s threats hollow.

    "Fine. If you want to y it this way." Queen Mab took a deep breath in before speaking once again.

    "Ice Age."

    The second those two words left her mouth, a vast amount of ice rose from the throne chair and spread all across the room. While it was out of the Shaitans'' view, Mab''s spell affected not just the room but the entire castle and eventually the castle grounds. Soon, the ruined kingdom was engulfed in ice within mere seconds, her spell froze everything rock solid in ce.

    Except for Shiva and Ifrit who was stood their ground against the cold.

    Ifrit yawned as he looked at the pristine ice castle as well as the window view of the newly frozen background. "Urgh, it''s all white and shiny." The Shaitan of Unyielding mes groaned.

    "Do you now appreciate the beauty of my element?" Shiva said as she was dusting some ''ice dust'' away from her fingernails with her arms were folded. The Shaitans were not particrly amazed by Mab''s show of power.

    "Heh, she could have used that excessive power on us instead of wasting the whole kingdom. Later the others might judge and say that it''s not a fair fight at the start if we won." Ifrit shrugged his shoulders.

    "It''s already an unfair fight the moment you attempt to intrude into my duel," Shiva said as she swung her head a little before walking like a supermodel on the walkway towards the throne. It was inly obvious that she did not want Ifrit to interfere.

    "Hah! Your avatar looked like he couldn''t hold himself against her. That is why my me Ripper had to interfere." Ifrit said while he discovered arge ball of ice flying towards the throne hall from the castle''s window and it looked like the Fey Queen had enough with their family squabbling.

    Before the ball could even hit the castle, Ifrit already took care of it by spewing mes from his right hand, causing both the castle walls and the ball of ice to melt from the sudden scorching ze of heat.

    "Your wee?" Ifrit smiled as Shiva nced at the side of the castle before she continued sauntering towards Mab.

    To portray her proficiency in Ice Magic, Queen Mab, who was still sitting on the throne, had summoned dozens of icicles and instantly refined them into various weapon replicas she seen in the past. Those weapon replicas wereter erged to the size of the castle''s pirs and hurled it towards Shiva with precision.

    The Shaitan of Primitive Ice held her chuckle, but Queen Mab could clearly see that she was barely holding theugh in. The only thing that she was not keeping was a giant wall of ice that seemed impervious to Mab''s ice weapons as they shattered into pieces from the extreme force.

    While the ice wall seemed like it was fixed to the ground, Shiva proved Mab wrong by moving it with her while she walked towards the throne chair.

    "Tsk." Queen Mab got even more annoyed each time her attacks were deflected or stopped. The Queen of Winter Court also did not understand Shiva''s actions as they could have simply engaged in a battle of ranged magic to prove who was the better Ice Magic user, but it was as if the Shaitan was resolute to get close to her.

    So, Mab swore it would make it challenging to reach her.

    The floor around the throne chair shook as a block of ice shot Queen Mab out of the throne hall, soaring into the sky. It definitely prevented Shiva to reach her immediately, and thus pissed the Ice Shaitan off further.

    "Tsk, so irritating. Why can''t she ept defeat already since she''s running away?" Shiva''s vexatious expression provided Queen Mab temporary joy as she relished the moment until the Ice Shaitan created a spiral staircase along the circr block of ice.

    Shiva could have flown up to confront the Queen of Winter Court, but there was something in the her actions that made Queen Mab''s heart to quietly tremble with dread. The fact that Shiva took her time walking up to the throne chair and aimed toe up close and personal to kill Queen Mab clearly showed that Shiva underestimated her.

    However, Mab had decided to y along as she called for ''help'' by blowing a makeshift ice horn which she created on the spot. A series of rumblings were subsequently heard from a distance and Ifrit who was at the sidelines reluctantly obeying his sister''smands, finally had something to look forward to.

    "Ahhh Ahhh~! Is that the rumoured Father Porkcupine?" Ifrit said to himself as he saw the said Porkcupine now covered withyers of ice, imbued with magical energy in it. There was no doubt Queen Mab had magically enhanced the Giant of Giants to harass Shiva and perhaps there was a connection between those two, but none of that matters right now.

    "Since Shiva wanted to kill that sissy all by herself, then I will entertain myself with the pig. me Ripper! I demand that this b of Pork Meat be delivered to me every once in a while, for the Great Me to feast upon! For this is truly meat worth eating!" Ifrit shouted out loud even though me Ripper''s consciousness was currently connected to him.

    Ifrit lifted himself up from a squatting position and boosted to the skies at maximum speed. Unlike his sister, swift annihtion was the best way to settle things and thus, he charged his fist with all the magical energy he had and aimed towards the Ice Father Porkcupine.

    Thetter subsequently noticed a build up of magical energy, and though the magical signature was different, Father Porkcupine discerned that the quantity amassed was equivalent or perhaps way more than that Peppers had fired upon him.

    So, Father Porkcupine had begun prepping the very same technique he attempted to use against Mr Derpy. His spikesbined at his behest and merged into one colossal spear, waiting to fire at the right moment.

 Chapter 656 Thrill Of The Hun

    <h4>Chapter 656 Thrill Of The Hun</h4>

    Ifrit grinned at the iing colossal spike as he loosened his fist and swerved around the spike as if he was pole dancing around it. At the same time, Ifrit scratched the giant projectile''s surface, leaving behind w marks with a touch of his magic.

    The moment he let go of it, the spike exploded silently like a distant firework in the barren ice wastnd.

    Ice Father Porkcupine was intelligent to know that his attack failed and shooting again would inevitably be futile. Hence, he decided to do something different by separating his spikes again and shot them out like a fuside.

    The only difference was that each of the spike was simr to a shot from a k cannon. Each time Ice Father Porkcupine released a spike, it would pop at a specific range, causing multiple ice shards to disperse in mid air.

    Initially, Ifrit thought that dodging the spike would be sufficient, but when it found out the secondary function of the beast''s attack, he got even more d that the Giant existed. "And here I thought I would not have fun hunting you," Ifrit caught an ice shard with his teeth and chew on it.

    The Fire Shaitan then conjured a ring of fire around him, allowing it to rotate repeatedly with his body as the axis, destroying the rest of the dispersed ice shards.

    But preventing those attacks were not enough, Ifrit wanted Ice Father Porkcupine to be afraid of him, especially when the beast dared to provoke him.

    So, he summoned the second ring of fire, making it to his prey. It did not take long for the Porkcupine to realised that his enemy had decided to perform a long range attack. To him, the Porckcupine believed that his attacks were working as intended.

    Thus the Giant of Giants decided to fire more intensely, especially since Ifrit was stationary. He increased the rate of his attack as well as cleverly mixing a mix of solid spikes and the popping spikes in hopes that Ifrit would be overwhelmed by it.

    Yet Ifrit was not fazed by these puny ice shards; instead, he hovered over the giant pig and loosen his fingers before squeezing the ring of fire. As if another dimension had opened from the ring, the secondary Ring of Fire subsequently released a waterfall ofva onto the Porkcupine itself. The Boar did not realised it at first and thought the pain was from his spikes since he was concentrating firing everything he got outwards.

    But when Ice Father Porkcupine felt more than just a burning sensation, he then figured something was off and decided to run to seek for cover.

    "Hahahahaha! What fun! Where are you going to hide? Everything is all too small for you, little pig." Ifrit said as he eventually stopped theva and turned the ring of fire into a bow. "Let''s see if I am still proficient with this weapon." The bow eventually became the very same one that Ifrit loaned me Ripper, except this time it was magnified to fit his human sized hands.

    Although me Ripper had transformed to Ifrit, the body was still me Ripper''s despite the change in size. So, to a certain degree, what Ifrit was doing was based on me Ripper''s finesse. Naturally, the Shaitan transformation did give me Ripper a boost in his body''s makeup so Ifrit should not have any trouble missing arge target.

    The bow was drawn and set loose the moment the Shaitan of Unyielding mes had the sights on the running animal. His blood boiled with excitement to see the arrow flying to catch on the Porkcupine. "Ahh, the Thrill of the hunt. It''s been such a long time since I had a prey to y with." Ifrit giggled to himself

    When the arrow was let loose, it flew and burnt brightly in the cold evening like a phoenix illuminating the dark skies... before it struck on right between Ice Father Porkcupine''s butt. The beast let out an eerie snort and to Ifrit''s pleasant surprise, the Boar did not run for long as he turned and faced the Fire Shaitan.

    Itter dawned on him that the prey was never going to run away at all, he was preparing itself for a jump! A run and leap to hit the stationary floating human sized powerhouse. With his size, Father Porkcupine thought that such a feat was possible, hoping that it knocked him out of the sky and trample on him subsequently.

    However what gave Father Porkcupine such confidence was the most unexpected ability he''s keeping. The capability to roll in midair and shoot his spikes as and when he wanted. He knew Ifrit would be dodging but would he anticipate a midair attack by the Porkcupine?

    Ifrit was assuming that simple hit and run concept from Father Porcupine and even entertained that thought process of his. The Fire Shatian stayed stationary while he unsuspectingly shot his arrows against the iing charge.

    And as Ice Father Porkcupine leapt into the air, Ifrit purposely gave a shocked face before cing his hands in front. The beast was cautious when he charged towards Ifrit and ready to turn in midair. But instead of evading, Ifrit surprisingly held on to the Giant Porkcupine via his nostrils.

    "Too bad for you, you do not know the difference in our ability," Ifrit said as his hands warmed up with heat and shot out a burst of mes right through his nostrils and into the Porkcupine''s lungs.

    The mes were intense enough to spiral through his mouth, throat andter into his lungs and stomach. Any organ that connects to the mouth were torched. The output was so intense that there was a slight illumination of Ifrit''s mes within the lungs that could be seen from the outside of the beast''s body.

    Ice Father Porkcupine tried to struggle but with it being stuck floating in mid air, there was nothing much it could do. He tried to release his spikes, but he needed air to release them out into the open, and that was one thing it was unable to receive especially when all the oxygen was consumed by Ifrit''s mes within his burning lungs.

    The poor Porkcupine was gasping for air so hard that it eventually died from suffocation as his lungs were ultimately toasted.

    "Oof! The smell of burnt meat! me Ripper, quickly kill it and bring it to your master or else, I would lose such a valuable dish!" Ifrit said he left me Ripper''s body as soon as he finished his sentence.

    Because of the strength disparity from Ifrit, holding onto the near dead Porkcupine was not an option for me Ripper as he quickly released the dead beast and drew his dagger out. He was actually contemting whether to stab the Giant Beast or wait until the Porkcupine reached the ground from the fall.

    But instead of rational thoughts, instinct took over as he stabbed a few times the body a few times as if marking a temporary achievement for defeating the foe which every minion had trouble with, even Jin. But after a couple of deep stabs, the Porkcupine''s body dematerialised.

    "Rx, Goblin me Ripper. While Shaitan Ifrit might not have been captured, the body he used is still yours. You belong to the System, and thus, the Porkcupine would be considered captured. System merely required some time to allocate space for the Giant Porkcupine to exist within the Guest Instance of the Sanctum of Worlds." The System reported as me Ripper''s dagger subsequently absorbed the ''data'' of the Ice Father Porkcupine into the System''s possession.

    "Wait?! ...WHAT? WHY NOW? I AM ACTUALLY NOT CONCERN ABOUT THAT! MORE OF THIS!" me Ripper instantly discerned that he was falling from a height that he might not actually survive with theck of the Boar''s body to be his buffer. "System, TELEPORT ME OUT NOW!!" me Ripper shouted as he fell straight from the sky with nothing to break his fall.

    If he had his Gearbox boots, it would not be an issue, but no, he did not.

    The further and faster he fell, the more afraid me Ripper became and tried to break the fall as much as he could by rotating his body in hopes to executing some killing techniques to slow now the fall. (Even though he know that it was no use.)

    The curb seemed nearer than it looked. And just as his face was barely a few centimetres away from hitting the curb, the System transported him back to the Sanctum of Worlds instance.

    If it was a practical joke by the System, the dagger goblin concluded that it had seeded very well.

 Chapter 657 Ice Against Ice - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 657 Ice Against Ice - Part 2</h4>

    While Ifrit was dealing the Ice Father Porkcupine, Shiva was walking up the steps appreciating the scenery around her while watching her half brained brother beating the crap out of the poor giant beast.

    She was sure that all he wanted was a bit of fun before going back to his cramped space and be revered as a god for his followers.

    But the steps to reach the throne chair became even more cumbersome as Shiva witnessed a thickyer of ice was being created right above her. She deduced that Queen Mab had decided to change the ying field once more and that''s if Shiva managed to reach the top.

    Spears, Swords and other sorts of weapons were created from Mab''s ice magic and being thrown towards Shiva while she climbed the stairs. Needless to say, it was more of a hassle for her rather than those ice weapons serving its purpose.

    However, the Queen of Winter Court was not done with the ''harassment'' as she created replicas of Valgs with her ice magic and sent them to rush against Shiva from climbing the spiralling stairs the Shaitan had built.

    "Now it felt like Mab''s the kid, throwing all sort of weird shit at me instead of letting me climb the stairs properly," Shiva said as shepared her to her daughter, Maeve.

    "Hey at least, that means that she is afraid of you...maybe at the same time, she had the feeling that you are not worthy of her true magic? Or her emotions are conflicted? Could be a long time since she fought a worthy adversary, but that''s just my guess" Frost Echo said his thoughts through Shiva''s mind.

    "Huh? So, in short, she is panicking?" Shiva ced her hand into a charging Valg, grabbing its spine with her bare hands before throwing it off the stairs and into the barren winter wastnd. The Ice Valg fell t like a rock, whimpering and squirming a little for itsst breath as Shiva continued to walk upwards without care to it.

    "Ehhh, I guess you can interpret her actions that way tooбн" Frost Echo decided to keep quiet instead.

    Soon, she arrived at the top of the ice block where it connects the giant sheet of ice she saw while climbing up. To Shiva, it looked like an open space arena with Queen Mab at the end of the ice sheet. But right in front of her was something that Shiva did not expect. The scale, the immense details as well as its liveliness.

    It was an entire army made out of ice.

    Archers, Cavalry, Swordsmen, Spearmen, Axemen, Knightsбнwhatever Shiva could see was merely the frontline. There were hundreds if not thousands spanning across the ever growing floating ice sheet to amodate Queen Mab''s Winter Army.

    Not to mentioned, she made sure that each and every ice figure she created was imbued with both offensive and defensive magic. Ice barriers were floating on every soldier, and they even had a petite ice pixie apanying each and every one of them to regenerate any damage taken for a short duration of time.

    "Huh. So, those Ice Valgs and those weapons were merely a distraction..." Shiva shook her head in dismay.

    When both Shiva and Frost Echo saw the magnitude of the army, they clearly knew that Queen Mab was faking her reactions during the stairs up to the floating ice sheet. The Orc King guessed that Mab wanted to manipte the perception of the Ice Shaitan so that she would lower her guard.

    "It worked. I am mildly surprised by this whole arrangement." Shiva said her thoughts to Frost Echo as she stared nkly at Queen Mab, who was smiling evilly at the change of events.

    "You wanted to see the extent of my powers, right? THIS IS MY TRUE POWER!" Queen Mab answered with a twisted look in her face. She was delirious to be able to portray the extent of her powers to a fellow Ice User even though thetter continued to remain quiet.

    "Why? Too shocked? Is this too overwhelming for you? Oh and just before you think of breaking this sheet of ice with an attack and hoped to shatter the ice, I trust that you are making a mistake. But please, be my guest and try." Queen Mab returned to a moreposed expression as she calmly sat on the throne chair.

    "I shall then." Shiva lifted both her hands and subsequently went to a stance as if she was imitating crocodile''s head opening its mouth. Immediately, a series of ice shards lined up in front of the ice sheet like the fangs of a crocodile. The same happened at the bottom of the ice sheet as well with these shards being at least the size of a football field each in length and width, aiming at the ice sheet.

    Like a kindergarten kid ying as the viinous crocodile biting the soft tender meat of the innocent deer, Shiva closed the jaws by sping her hands together. Sure enough, the ice shards followed suit as it fell straight to the ice sheet.

    But a psychic barrier appeared the moment the Ice Shards came close to the sheet of ice. Like a turtle, the barrier deflected each and every shard like it was the hardest thing the crocodile could have ever bitten.

    Shiva retracted the shards and tried again, this time with more force, but it was futile as the barrier broke all the shards into multiple pieces. Queen Mab was very confident that her barrier could not be destroyed and Shiva was trapped in it as well.

    The next step was to physically break the ice sheet with force simr to an earthquake tremor. But the piece of ice sheet reemerged itself once again. The Ice Shaitan deduced that the Queen fo Winter Courts had dynamic kic barriers and eyes on her battlefield to ensure that its area of y would sustained attacks. Since both had the power to make ice to bend on their will, Shiva guessed that the only way to escape from this was to retreat, die or kill Queen Mab.

    But like her dimwit brother, Shiva''s thirst for battle merely increased.

    On the other hand, the Winter Fey was very confident there was little or no chance to ovee her superior psychic barrier and believed that hermand of ice was clearly superior

    Shiva sighed as she looked at the enemy, all ready to charge towards her and trample her to death. All it takes was just the ''go'' signal from their Queen. The Ice Shaitan could fight the entire army, but it was troublesome, and she suspected that the fight would not stop until either one of them back down.

    Not to mention, the strain on Frost Echo would be potentially immense, and the subsequent bacsh would definitely do a number on him,

    "Heh. You are forgetting something, Herald of Winter." Frost Echo smirked as he opened the System Channel via his thoughts. "To all Orcs listening in, this is your King speaking. I invoke the sacred duty of every abled body Orc who can hear this. Defend your King at this instant. To all Shiva Worshippers, your God demands your presence by her side without fail. This is the time to show your devotion."

    The moment Frost Echo finished his order, a loud synchronised stomp could be heard behind Shiva. Without looking back, the Ice Shaitan put on a smug face when she noticed a crack in Queen Mab''s sly smile.

    Queen Mab could not believe her eyes when she saw a series of portals opening and out came thousands of Orc troops marching in to defend their Majesty and one of their God Incarnates.

    "Now this matchup is pretty even." Shiva licked the side of lips, almost tempted to praise her Avatar for the quick witted thinking.

 Chapter 658 Restructuring the Raid Instance

    <h4>Chapter 658 Restructuring the Raid Instance</h4>

    From a third person perspective, Queen Mab believed that the summoning of the Orc Army was all due to Shiva''s powers. She never expected that it was the third party ''magician'' who she had detected previously within the vicinity.

    That was also one of the few reasons why she used her wide area spell, Ice Age, to remove any possible hindrances or assistances against Maeve''s opponents. However, the rest of Jin''s minions saw it as a way of her unting her powers.

    Still, Jin was relieved that the operation ended minutes before she decided to do that. (Else, the System would have been very unhappy wasting resources trying to resurrect his minions and at the loss of the Animal People.) But perhaps, it could possibly be preordained that Jin''s monsters had to fight against Queen Mab despite it being just a mere distraction. (Or he just had terrible luck.)

    While Drex, the Dark Elf Leader continued to report the overall situation to his master, it fell to deaf ears since Jin poured all his concentration in making sure his customers transitioned properly to the ''real'' Raid Instance.

    Sadly, there was one main problem.

    The Queen Smander, her royal family and the rest of the Smander Guards were nothing excitingpared to Maeve, so Jin had decided to change the plot a little and made the Smanders a little more appealing.

    Instead of being the bosses as Jin initially nned, he had decided to give the Smanders new roles to fit with the story''s instance. (In a way, he did pity them too since the family were tokens to Maeve''s ying field.) They were poised to be the victims of the whole fiasco when they reach the cultivators arrived at the ''new throne hall.''

    Jin took inspiration from the Valg Humanoid Dorian and changed the story such that it was all along the scheme of a powerful Valg who overwhelmed the King Smander''s sanity and ced the rest of the Smander Family captive in various parts of the castle.

    Should the Smander Royal family and their guards be found, they have the keystones to open the Throne Hall and fight the final boss. It was a little difficult to transit, but Jin somehow managed to tweak it and disy useful information on his customers'' HUD interface via their masks. Thus, the customers would not find too much of a drastic change in the storyline.

    "Thank goodness I ced the disimer to expect the unexpected in the Emergency Raid Instance, and that included the changes in the storyline," Jin said as he wrote a lengthy post in the Pandamonium Forums.

    The post discussed the significant changes in this Emergency Raid Instance like how a game developer revised his game, and he had stated that he would ssify it as Experimental in the future in case such raid instances would to ever appear again.

    As for now, the ''Emergency'' portion disappeared, and it was categorised as a normal raid instance. In return for those people who participated in the first and ever ''Emergency'' type, he had awarded not only the rewards promised but also increased the rewards by another 20% as well as a free ticket to the brand new Raid Instance. (Jin knows that he would still earn as much money if the trend was the same with the Goblin Raids.)

    While some people were jealous of those cultivators who not only had free entry but as well as free rewards, a number of forum posters stated that it''s an excellent move to reward people who were dedicated to the shop.

    A move that brings friends, families and even strangers to work together with amon purpose. (Of course, they would prefer to have more of these events in the future.)

    ''There''s too little of thesemunity stuff that brings people together. Being away from cell phones anding together to work as a team while meeting new people. Pandas and Dungeons is the best!'' stated by one of thementators in the forum thread which Jin was surprised that there were a lot of likes on it.

    ''Haha! We all have been behind our phones and not care about the people around us. Pandas and Dungeons had shown that themunity spirit can be still alive!'' Anothermentator said.

    ''If Boss Jin ever goes global, maybe we can see hot chicks as well?'' Obviously, a young malementator typed, and the sub replies did encourage Jin to go global for the wrong reason.

    Needless to say, there were dissidents mixed with the praises such as the increased pay to win features, but others stated that this was ultimately a business. They noted how Boss Jin had continuously showered them with free gifts, time and time again. The defenders alsomentated how he tried to improve the rewards and creating new content.

    "I am a regr dungeon goer, and this is the first dungeon store I have known to feature so many dungeon instances. I could safely say that Boss Jin introduced more dungeon variety than more than half of the dungeon suppliers could in a year!" Amentator iming he was a Dungeon Instance critic wrote.

    Jin saw that the thread suddenly became the most ''hot'' thread and though some still criticised the way Jin operates, thepliments kept pouring in, exceeding the ''bad'' posts. Some even asked Jin to do a regr thread posting to talk more about the dungeon instances he created as a sneak peek preview. (Upon reading, Jin believed he could get Kiyu to produce videos to match with his posts.)

    "Ahhhбнjust one forum thread by me and it is being spammed by so many people." Jin smiled as he closed his phone and performed the finishing touches to the Boss for the new raid instance. The dungeon supplier had used Zieg, the Dark Temr Commander and a support type of Valgbined together.

    No, Jin did not use the monster merger function because it was not needed. The Valg works by attaching itself towards the user. Apparently, it was found connected to another Valg, but the cultivators managed to defeat both Valgs at one go, and did not realise the Valgs werebined together.

    This particr Valg supplemented Dark Temr Commander Zieg''s magical powers, allowing him to shoot energy based projectiles without the need to chant the magical words to invoke them. And because of his experience as amander, Jin made Zieg as if he had the ability to summon Valgs though it was just him calling out the reserve of Valgs waiting to be reused in the dungeon raid instance.

    After which, Jin made a cosmetic inscription that allowed Zieg to have armour coloured in red as well as a Smander tail. He made sure that Zieg''s helmet would be permanently on by giving him a few card upgrades to strengthen his helmet. By having a permanent helmet, his face was not revealed even though the helmet had Smander features on. This was also partially because Jin did not wish to aggravate the fact that the Smanders had lost their King to Maeve.

    He hoped that allowing them to fight against the Valgs would aid in their grief but there was nothing more he could do. Jin needed to earn money, and there was no time for the captured monsters to rest. He could only wish that the Smanders would be painted in a better light through this Raid Instance aspared to the stories his other monsters had heard previously from Hamatarou. (Especially when Hamatarou and Gaeru had a misconception of how the Smanders were the bad guys.)

    With the creation of the new ''Valg Commander'', Jin finally released thest Smander Guard that needed to be found in a secluded corner of the castle raid which had the final piece of the keystone to open the new Throne Hall.

    "What''s wrong, Drex??" Jin thought he was done for the day until Drex had a troubled look on his face. For a Dark Elf Leader to be fazed by the situation meant that it was something serious.

    "This." Drex turned the System Console Monitor to Jin, and he was dumbfounded.

    A battle of Orcs against Queen Mab''s Ice Soldiers.

    "How did this even happen?!" Jin asked, and Drex shook his head slowly.

    "I tried telling you a few times, but you were too absorbed in your work that I had given up. Right now, I can only witness and report what had happened. As for the aftermath of Operation Mass Migration, its a sess. My people and the penguins had already calmed the eight other animal tribes down. Hamatarou had also briefly exined to them and made them signed the contracts." Drex replied before picking his jacket up.

    "I shall oversee and wee the eight tribes with Hamatarou, but you should be making your appearance when you are done handling the particr task at hand," Drex added before disappearing from the Dungeon Maker.

    "I feel another bad headache ising," Jin said to himself, but at the same time, he was secretly hoping to see some good action from the orcs to judge their new and improved army. All that training and construction work as well as being the aggressors for the Goblin Raids had certainly trained the Orcs to a whole new level.

    The System also stated a bulk of them was close to evolving, which was a pleasant surprise for Jin to take in. And even they were not at the limit of evolving, Jin could already see some noticeable changes.

    Still, it was undoubtedly a gauge to check if they were prepared for the iing fight to protect Jin''s Dungeon City Fortress.

 Chapter 659 Verastile Weapons

    <h4>Chapter 659 Verastile Weapons</h4>

    "Lady Shiva, it''s a pleasure to fight with you on the battlefield." Nubwort, the ck Disaster, an Elite Orc General which every Orc paid respects to, slowly walked towards the Shaitan of Primitive Ice and kneel to greet her. Most did not expect Nubwort to be the religious kind of person and hence surprised by the gesture he made.

    Shiva was not only the Orc''s Herald of Winter but their God of War as well, particr to the Orc Navy. In past history books, the Orcs had always prayed to the Shaitans for blessings before departing into battle. They believed that these gods would grant them the strength to survive the harsh battlefield, regardless of how dire it was.

    But to see an Avatar not just wielding the Shaitan''s powers but being embodied by the Shaitan themselves, it made the Orcs on this particr battlefield to be truly blessed. It was ever fighting Orcs'' dream to be able to see their Gods in action.

    Interestingly, records had shown that the Shaitan Avatars did not live long assuming the Shaitans possessed their bodies for the battlefield. Most could not handle the tremendous power of a god for so long since their bodies too fragile to be a long term vassal.

    However, in Frost Echo''s case, the Orcs were confident that even if their King fought alongside with Shiva against Queen Mab''s ice soldiers alone, it would be a walk in the park. Needless to say, he could be reborn again, so it was not much of an issue of self sacrifice but a matter of duration.

    -----

    To Shiva, Nubwort''s kneeling was amon sight to her and didn''t respond favourably. In fact, she cared nothing from their world other than her Avatar''s existence. What he does matters to her since he was representing her.

    As for those prayers and offerings from her followers were solely the Orcs'' way of thanking her for the deeds she did for them. She had always found them annoying, unlike the other Shaitans who adored it and basked in the glory of those praises.

    Thus, the Elite Orc General was none of her concern at all, and she maintained her indifference regardless of Nubwort''s status and past achievements.

    However, Frost Echo did secretly nudged her to give the Orc General a chance to prove himself. And for that, she sighed with her mouth closed as she stared at him intently for a moment before giving him amand. If he really wished to earn her trust and favour right now, Nubwort had to fight for it. Hard.

    "Do what you need to. Remove the threat as effectively as possible. I do not want to owe too huge a debt to ''your'' Master." Shiva replied which Nubwort nodded affirmatively.

    If possible, Shiva wanted to concentrate on killing Queen Mab before Frost Echo''s body gave way to strain. (Another reason why she resorted to the stairs aspared to charging against the Queen of Winter Court without any n.)

    Utilising the System''s mainmunication channel, Nubwort sent a few coded messages to every single Orc officers on the battlefield and the officers in charge of theirpanies, in turn, signalled their troops to ry the message.

    Everyone was surprised with the newmands, but a number of them began to smirk at the orders given. In the meantime, Nubwort also requested System''s permission for themands given (albeit it was more of a courtesy move by the General) which itter directed the request to Jin since he was already watching the whole scene unfolds.

    "Orc General Nubwort, I had never doubted your military tactics and your willingness to embrace new technology had made me recognise that you are a General that thinks. So, go ahead and fulfil your Shaitan''s orders. Also, thank you for asking for permission, your request had humbled me." Jin answered truthfully, and for the few times in his life, the ck Disaster felt greatly appreciated.

    "Commanders, Permission had been granted. Switch your weapons! Serial Line Formation!" Nubwort shouted, and every single Orc smiled as they activated the Rune Magic ced in all of their weapons, causing them to glow dimly before activating the changes.

    Jin had his face stuck on the screen, fascinated by the changes in the battlefield. The runes had enabled swords to turn into assault rifles, axes into shotguns,nces intorger calibre rifles and bows into heavy machine guns.

    "Give an Orc a sword, he can kill ten humans. Give an Orc a rifle, and he can kill a hundred. " Frost Echo sniggered at the swap of weapons which made Queen Mab even more confused. She did not understand why the Orcs would forgo their metal swords and des for pieces of metal rods. Not to mention, they were holding it so weirdly and with no pointed ends to fight against her ice soldiers. It was starting to look like a joke to her, and her confidence grew even further.

    But what she did not know were that those rune weapons were first few mass manufactured products done right in Industry Sector 1. With the consistent innovation of modern manufacturing and Jespa''s Rune Making skills, all the weapons that the Orcs held were transmutable with just a voicemand and vice versa.

    It was bing the greatest feint of all time in Jin''s opinion. Increasing the versatility of the soldiers and allowing them to possess both superior melee and ranged capabilities? It was a wet dream of every tactician.

    Even though Queen Mab had no idea what was going on with her opponent''s side, she had enough of ''wait and see''. A lift of her finger and her Ice Army charged forward senselessly towards the Orcs. Yet, Queen Mab saw no movement from the Orcs, which made her a little anxious. Nevertheless, her confidence caused her to not suspect anything else, and that was ultimately her downfall.

    "FIRE!" Nubwort shouted when the Ice Army Cavalry were the first to reach hisncers'' line of sight. Like fireworks, the Lancers'' shots gave a deafening re that nearly startled Shiva for a moment.

    In no time, the Ice Cavalry suffered tremendous losses, each bursting into dust as therge calibre bullets pierced through the Ice Barrier like a needle going into a piece of cloth. But because they were made out of ice, a number of them continued to push forward with broken bodies and horses.

    Thus, the second wave of volley came into action. The Orc Swordsmen (or Riflemen) had begun aiming for the legs. And even if they did miss, they knew that there would be coteral damage from the back due to the straight forward design of the battlefield, copsing the waves of ice soldiers bit by bit. Likewise, if the remaining Ice Cavalry did manage toe into melee range, the Axemen (Shotgunners) made short work of their determined cause.

    Although she did not understand what was happening, Queen Mab promptly ordered her archers to fire after she observed how the Orcs quickly dispatched her first wave of soldiers. But this time, she did not remain idle as a series of ice spikes was seen emerging out of the ground, where the Orc Army positioned themselves at.

    The Orcs knew it would not be that easy and was prepared to take in some losses at their end as well. However, they had nearly forgotten that they had a God with them after the excitement of seeing their enemies falling so easily.

    With the appearances of random Ice Spike breaking their formation as well as an impending rain of ice arrows, Shiva had also begun to assist her Orc Army in countering such attacks.

    The ice spikes were magically blunt and became an elevated ice tform for her soldiers to fire even more freely. At the same time, she had employed floating snowkes that erged to be ice barriers to block the rain of ice arrows or ice ''rain''.

    Shiva had also moved the entire stationary army on a piece of ice block, like a surfboard riding on a tidal wave. Thanks to Nubwort''smands and past training, the Orcs adapted with the sudden changes in the battlefield, enabling them to take advantage of Shiva''s advances and pressing the offensive against Queen Mab''s charge.

    To the Orcs, they never had that much fun ever since the Goblin Raids. Seeing how the ice soldiers falling that easily, they could not contain the anticipation for the uing battle against King Baal''s demon army.

 Chapter 660 Ice Against Ice - Final

    <h4>Chapter 660 Ice Against Ice - Final</h4>

    No matter how fast Queen Mab created the ice soldiers to replenish the ones that were destroyed, they were already decimated in the process of making it.

    Her speed of creation was further impacted by the constant barrage of small, fast metal projectiles, which she needed to use abination of ice and telekic barriers to stop it before she could remake her ice soldiers.

    Shiva did not pull her punches as well, causing it harder for Queen Mab to counter attack and it was indeed a battle of the Ice Users.

    Even when Queen Mab saw the slightest opportunity to breakthrough the series of attacks, theirmander Nubwort somehow had the perfect timing to disrupt her, allowing the Orc''s offensive to continue on.

    Whether Mab liked it or not, there was a chance for her to be defeated if she was not careful. Even though she was the almighty Fey Queen, there were still limits to her powers, Mab felt that it was not wise to continue further, especially when she was out of her Winter Court.

    Thus, she had decided to break away from the battlefield by lowering the conjured telekic barrier to save Mana. She also shattered the ice sheet which she was so insistent in keeping to distract Shiva and her Orc Army.

    In doing so, Mab hoped to create a diversion with it, but the Winter Queen knew that it would take more than that to stop them from chasing after her when she retreats. Hence, with the leftover reserved mana she had from lowering the magical barrier, Mab decided to feign her retreat by conjuring a giant ice ball and hurled it at her enemies.

    Thinking that it was the very same magical technique from the castle which Ifrit had defeated, Shiva used merely a fraction of her powers to create an ice thin de to cut the ball of ice into pieces.

    However, The Ice Shaitan was dead wrong when the de was caught with the emergence of a beak from the ball while wings of crystalised ice feathers grew backwards. It subsequently became animated as its ws and legs popped out at the bottom too.

    It wasn''t hard to figure out that it was a giant Ice Roc whose screech brought it fully to life. Its cry dipped the surrounding atmospheric temperature further, beyond the zero celsius mark. If not for the Orc''s hardy skins and their constant adrenaline generation, they probably would have shivered and trembled, suffering from all the symptoms of hypothermia. However, that was not to say that they were coping well with the sudden drop in temperature.

    "Heh, not a bad trick to learn," Shiva said to herself as she propped up the icy snowkes barrier in front of the Orc Army in case of any widespread attacks.

    Pretending to go all out, Mab stood at the top of the Ice Roc and cast onest magical spell to reduce the chances of them chasing her even though she made it seem like she wanted to end everything once and for all.

    A series of icy winds blew, and the armyter realised that they were currently within an eye of a magical pr hurricane. Shiva guessed that if they were not careful, the Orc army could possibly be caught in a winter storm which potentially turned them into muscr looking ice figures.

    "Our objective ispleted. No need to further harass the enemy." Shiva suddenly spoke out to Nubwort, and with a snap of her finger, a solid dome covered the entire army. It blocked all sight, allowing the Orc Army to teleport back before they had any serious frostbite injuries.

    Simr to Queen Mab, who had been pushed to the corner, Frost Echo meant what he said before the Orc King turned to Shiva. There was no need for them to fight the Ice Roc or be stuck in a possible winter storm which would further damage Jin''s troops. Also, Shiva did mention she did not want to keep too huge of a debt from Jin. Thus, withdrawing now was not a bad idea too.

    On the contrary, Queen Mab did not expect Shiva to go all defensive and also took the chance to leave when she assumed that they were blinded by the total defensive ice dome her opponent created. Still, she did ask her animated Ice Roc to peck at it a bit to show that she meant business, but Mab emphasised to ''poke'' around and not overturn their defences.

    Therefore, both sides retreated safely, with only their pride wounded.

    Jin was relieved to know that his Orc army was rtively unscathed from the whole battle thanks to Shiva''s protection, and at the same time, he felt rather terrified by the extent of their powers were. "No wonder, the System locked Diabolos away. If he ever defied me, we probably need more than an entire army to fight again."

    But other than that, Jin was relieved that his second mass operation on the Giant World was a sess. Although he could not have saved every single Animal Tribe in the ruined kingdom, he did what he could.

    However, he was not done with the operation efforts, especially after knowing how Queen Mab literally wiped out almost every existence of life from the surface of the kingdom. If there was a chance the remaining Animal People were not affected by the Ice Age spell, they would eventually suffer due to theck of food or sudden change in weather.

    In a way, Jin would feel a little bad leaving those innocents in a barren icy wastnd and so he had decided to send a minion which wasparatively impervious to the cold to look for the survivors.

    The Ice Wyrm Ants.

    Both mother and daughter were dispatched as a group to check the remaining spots as indicated on Pepper''s Scan spell. Since those tribe hardly move during the operation, Jin continued to assume that they should be there. All he needed to know was whether all that was left were corpses or living, breathing potential allies.

    In addition, the Ice Wyrm Ants had grown a little stronger since Jinst saw them. All the constant dungeon fighting had somehow allowed them to develop a pair of translucent wings.

    When Jin queried whether it was considered as a side evolution, the System denied such a possibility. "When you captured them, they were still regarded as infants despite the fact that they could mate and gave birth to two new ants into our world."

    "The System''s database had also shown such ants grow the more they gave birth, evolving their body limits and eventually earning the status as the King and Queen of their species. As of now, the two Wyrm Ants were considered as children after giving birth once." The System replied further to Jin.

    It also added their children will always copy her parents'' traits, so they were essentially making copies of themselves, just the slightly inferior versions in terms of development. However, when ites to overall powers, their offsprings were definitely stronger.

    The System derived such an exnation after noting the evolution of the first generation of Wyrm Ants. The Ice counterpart had ice dust flying out of her wingspared to the second generation, which had nothing but wings.

    "That''s such a weird way to grow. If that theory is true, their royalty isn''t exactly due to their strength but because they are at the peak of their evolution." Jin gave some thought about it beforementing.

    "Of course, it''s weird if you are looking at them through the perspective of humans. Should you be a Wyrm Ant, you will find humans are weird and abnormal too." Yun appeared with a cup of warm coffee and a te of French toast with scrambled eggs. Though he appreciated the gesture, he was pleasantly surprised by it until Yun told him the following.

    "Eat up before you meet them. I believed it had been a tiring morning and the System had noted you had not taken anything since the night before." Yun stated, and Jin did not understand what she meant.

    "Who''s them? Who am I meeting?" Jin questioned, and Yun clicked on the console to show a bunch of teenagers waiting impatiently in one of the carriages in the Restaurant Train instance.

    "Ack! I totally forgot about them!" Jin finally recalled that he had sent the newly promoted Demon Exorcists to find out about the formats of the existing training centres.

    "They came about an hour ago, but I told them that you were busy revising a dungeon instance, which was very evident from the crowd. So, the kids understood and decided to wait for you." Yun replied as she magically snapped out a bottle of salt and a jar of honey to apany his breakfast.

    "Enjoy." She smiled and returned to entertain the crowd on the ''frontlines''.

 Chapter 661 Demon Exorcist Formation Badges

    <h4>Chapter 661 Demon Exorcist Formation Badges</h4>

    "Boss!" Su Zhen, the Great White Snake Demon Cultivator, was the first to acknowledge Jin when she saw him entering the Restaurant carriage. Her recent sess for being a full fledged Demon Exorcist had earnt her many praises from the Royal Snake n, and most importantly, from her mother.

    Lee Na was not exactly the best role model for being a mother considering her busy position as the Chief Operating Officer of JODE. While she had harboured high expectations for her daughter, she knew Su Zhen''s battle limits.

    So, when Lee Na heard the news that her daughter was the first to graduate as a Demon Exorcist, she waspletely taken by surprise and became ted. All thanks to Jin, Su Zhen had be a little closer to her mother as they started to talk a bit more even though it was mostly about work.

    The others greeted Jin as well, and the penguin waiter offered an additional chair for him to sit. "Thanks, bud. You did great with Kido." Jin smiled at the penguin waiter who he recognised him as the few Penguin Ninjas assisted in the rescue operation. The penguin waiter quietly smiled for Jin''s acknowledgement and returned to serve the other customers.

    Heter turned back at his kids and took out four nicely wrapped gifts and ced it on the table. "Its a littlete but betterte than never. Happy bted Christmas to you guys." Jin said as he pushed the gifts to each side of the table and Rong, the Ox Demon Cultivator asked whether if they could open it straight away which Jin nodded back in response.

    To Jin, it was interesting to see how each of the Demon cultivators opened their presents. Lian, the Nine Tailed Fox Demon Cultivator, and Rong ripped opened their presents as if they had never seen one in their lives. At the same time, Lein, the Qilin Demon Cultivator, and Su Zhen were more demure in their movements as they systematically open by using their finger with a bit chi to act as a letter opener to reveal their presents.

    Each of them noticed that there were a formation patch and a pair of inscription charms in each of their gifts. Simr to how Kraft had given his Dark Elves a formation patch to represent their team, the Night Foxes, Jin had decided to create a group for them as well.

    When Grandma Yuan had told him to take charge of the Shenzhen''s JODE branch, Jin knew there was no way he could be handling so many things all by himself and those apprentices were the answer. Though, Grandma Yuan had good intentions to provide him both the reputation and money, she did not know that Jin had a lot on his te.

    Sure, he might stick his hands in every little bit of issue that was raised up, but governing all of them? He isn''t a god and even the gods and demons he knew preferred not to do any of this. So, he had decided to groom these four and eventually, they would take over from him. Besides, there was nothing much to worry about them betraying after signing that System contract.

    As for the presents, the formation patches had a furious looking Panda growling at the centre. And right beside the panda, there was a small but obvious distinction in each of the formation patches. They were themon pictorial representation of the demons which the teens had cultivated.

    For example, Rong had an Ox facing at the side right below the Battle Panda''s face while Lein''s was the Qilin. Unlike a regr formation badge which needed to be pasted on a Velcro patch, these patches could be ced wherever they want, including on clothes or even their phones.

    And that was not all to it.

    Jin asked them to transfer some chi and Lian was the first to do to it since her curiosity took over her. In a few moments, the badge glowed, instantly creating a miniature AI right above her, simr to the digital pets that almost every cultivator had by their side.

    This particr digital pet was different from the usual AI digital pets. Jin had customised it a little as an AI assistant, courtesy by the System. With the uing creation of the Demon Exorcist Administration and training centre, Jin believed the four of them would be at the pinnacle of this situation and these AI assistants would be a great help aiding them to run it.

    Of course, Jin knew that they currently thirst for more battle and experience, but they had to take on the administrative matters and subsequently leadership roles. (Jin believed he knew how they felt since he was thirsty for battle too, but recently the dungeon supplier preferred the backlines.)

    Thus, those digital pet assistants would aid them akin something simr to apetent secretary. The good and bad side about it was that it would only exist within Jin''spound since those assistants were powered by the System. (Because of it, they cannot bring any work back home.)

    Upon learning about the digital pet assistants, Su Zhen and Lein had already see the potential if it was working as intended. But to Lian, she was already treating it as a digital pet, hugging the nine tailed white fox and touching its exquisite fur.

    She could not fathom how real and fluffy it felt butpared to Rong''s, she did had the better looking pet. Rong''s Ox Demon lore was based on Ao Ye, whose body was filled with loads of long human hair, from the top of the ox''s head to all the way to its tail. While Rong didin it looked disgustingly terrible, its hair was surprisingly smooth, and Rong secretly harboured the desire to touch it.

    He also found it quite ironic that it was in tune to some of the variant myths about Ao Ye, as to how the demon attracted its human prey by revealing a long bout of hair at an isted corner of the vige or forest. The humans who found the hair attractive, could not help trying to chase the beauty down, maybe to befriend her or otherwise for other nefarious intentions.

    As for the pair of inscriptions bundled with the formation badges, Jin had another surprise installed.

 Chapter 662 Dual Inscription Charms

    <h4>Chapter 662 Dual Inscription Charms</h4>

    "I never saw these inscriptions before, are they custom made?" Lein said as he inspected on the pair of inscription charms after sticking the formation badge proudly on his shoulder.

    "Action speaks louder than words. Let''s bring you guys to an empty dungeon space to test it out," Jin said as he tapped a few buttons on his phone and informed his demon exorcists to follow the penguin waiter whoter ushered them to a cabin with an open portal in it.

    When they entered the portal, the demon exorcists realised that they returned to the very same dungeon instance which they pitted against Jin in a ''one to one'' duel. While the memory of their defeat haunted them a little, the refreshing sea breeze blowing in their face made them take a step back to appreciate the scenery instead.

    But for Lein, he was more than excited to know what the pair of inscription charms could do. Without much hesitation, Jin told the Qilin Demon Cultivator to put the charms on his clothes. "Be ready to prepare a constant supply of chi, though I will suggest inserting a burst of chi into them for an added effect."

    "But won''t that means we have to use these clothes in the future?" Lein questioned and wondered if it was the best choice to use them on ordinary clothes aspared to customised high grade defensive shirts.

    "Hahaha, you are right. but there''s nothing to worry about. What you are holding are temporary inscription charms. And the reason I brought you guys here is that I want your honest opinions on it. You can say this current session with the inscriptions is part of a trial too." Jin answered as he brought out a few more of the very same inscriptions they were holding on his hands. At the same time, he brought out a few fighting dummies and ced them at various distance intervals.

    Lein gave a satisfied smile from Jin''s assurance, and he pasted the two inscriptions on his long sleeve shirt. The rest had decided to stand at the sidelines to watch and see Lein''s performance before trying it out themselves.

    As instructed, the Qilin Demon Cultivator focused his energies and inserted it into the pair of inscription charms with an intense amount of chi. But unlike the usual inscription charms, the current ones only glowed dimly upon receiving the chi energy, making Lein thought that he had not supplied enough chi into it.

    Then suddenly, a pair of phantom Qilins burst out of the inscriptions, growing more prominent as it travelled forward, hitting the dummies at the five and ten metre mark before performing a turn to run towards Lein instead.

    "Stand there and receive the blow like a man!" Jin shouted as he signalled the rest to move back a little more. Lein was surprised by themand given by Jin but he figured the dungeon supplier had his reasons ordering him to do so.

    Thus, he took a deep breath in and prepared for the worst. When the two phantom Qilins dashed towards Lein, it felt like a st of his own lightning techniques pulsating through his body when they hit him. However, instead of feeling injured, he felt refreshed more than ever and noticed an external flow of chi covering his entire body.

    When Lein opened his eyes, the Qilin Demon Cultivator found out that he was in a different set of clothing. There was a sort of grey protective gear covering his chest while he wore a long white coat with blue streaks along the coat tails. Later he realised that the blue streaks somehow formed the outline of Qilin head.

    Lein even hadbat gloves and boots on, and they felt extremelyfortable on him like a perfect fit. The rest of the demon exorcists were amazed by his sudden change in appearance as if he was some hero from some anime show.

    Jin smirked as he told them that the pair of inscriptions consisted of a cosmetic inscription and a full body defensive inscription. By materialising their own chi into metaphysical state, it creates a defensive body barrier around the user.

    Su Zhen had heard about such defence inscriptions and knew that they were used for higher ranked demon exorcists. Some even tailor made their talismans to incorporate this type of inscriptions. However, she recalled that these full body defence inscriptions were usually depicted like an aura enveloping the user.

    "That is where my cosmetic inscriptione into y! It transforms the full body defence aura into physical items, and you could say I went a bit overboard with the designбнespecially for the females." The way Jin replied nearly creeped Su Zhen and Lian from trying the pair of inscriptions, but he subsequently assured that it was not lewd in any way.

    "Still, this is an amazing innovation! I did not expect inscriptions could be created like a transformation device." Lein was pleased with the gift, but he could feel that maintaining the ''hero'' form was not easy. "And you are right, the chi consumption is immense, I can feel my dantian churning madly just to keep this up for more than a minute."

    "It actually depends on how much chi you give at the start when you activate the inscriptions, it will then consume that amount of chi to maintain the cosmetic inscription," Jin replied while keeping the rest of the dummies.

    "However, I suggested a burst of chi is to show you that the defensive inscription could work as an offensive technique too. You had personally seen how powerful that Phantom Qilin attack was, shredding the dummies into pieces." He then asked Lein to deactivate his ''hero'' mode to save his chi.

    "And like every technique, the more chi inserted into the defensive inscription, the stronger the chi armour bes. In my opinion, Lein''s concentration of chi in that previous transformation could at least withstand Rong''s fullbo attack without flinching."

    "What?! I don''t believe that! Come, Lein! Activate that chi armour again, I want to prove Jin that his theory is wrong!" Rong said as he materialised his weapon.

    "Aren''t you more interested to see what your hero form looks like?" Lein tried to change the subject as he knew he needed time to recover his chi.

    "Heh! Probably the same as yours but I am more interested how the girls looked like. Then, it will also give us a glimpse of what kind of pervert Boss Jin is." Rong said with an evil looking grin on his face, but upon hearing hisment, the two girls refused to transform.

    "I really swear that the armour does not look as bad as you think!" Jin tried to downy Rong''s response, though Lian gave a disgusted look back at Jin''s defensivements. She discerned that Jin must not be telling the entire truth with the way he was acting. Meanwhile, Su Zhen shook her head in dismay and had forgotten that they were dealing with immature boys here.

    "Alright, alright. That''s enough for now. Here Lein, the recement inscription charms. Use them wisely, they are not easy to make." Jin calmed down before opening another portal, leading them to the conference room instance.

    Now that the Christmas gifts were out of the way, its time for business.

 Chapter 663 JOME

    <h4>Chapter 663 JOME</h4>

    "We have checked the advanced training centres in the major provinces like Hubei and Guandong. Su Zhen also managed to get a peek in the central administration centre in Shanghai as well." Lein took out an A4 notebook from his storage ring and showed Jin what he found.

    "On the other hand, Rong had a friendly contact from overseas, and they had exchanged a few tips as well from the Mage Exorcists," Lein added before giving Rong the chance to exin.

    "Wait, the Mage Exorcists? Sorry, heard of them but I do not know much about them." Jin interrupted the conversation. He did hear of their existence, but they were not really well mentioned in public aspared to the Eastern counterparts.

    "Figure as much. That is because the Mage Exorcists always used their Church''s name whenever they performed their mission. The western counterparts rather glorify the churches they were in than to use their own names for publicity." Rong replied.

    "But we do have temples as bases too, right?" Jin questioned as he remembered the ''dream'' where he had to fight the White Tiger of the West.

    "Grandma Yuan or ire should really conduct a crash course for you." Rong sighed, knowing that Jin was not trained in the Demon Exorcist Academy nor had any prior education. He did not me him, especially since a number of new administrators and managers did not have any knowledge too. At the very least, Jin was trying to learn, considering he''s now among the ranks of the Demon Exorcists.

    "Heh, I have you kids to teach me. That should be sufficient." Jin answered with a smile, but the rest simultaneously shook their heads.

    "Please don''t put that kind of responsibility on us. Teacher Yuan will kill us if we teach the wrong things." Su Zhen responded bitterly.

    "Or too little. Haha..." Lian interrupted.

    "Kill? I believe she will think that will be too kind of a punishment. She would probably make us carry those hundred kilogramme weights on our hands and legs while clearing the triathlon obstacle course of hell." Lian said as if they had been punished that way before.

    "I do not dislike that punishment, but I agree its something I would not wish to live through again," Lein added which let Jin to conclude that Grandma Yuan did put them through a gruesome training period.

    "Anyways, JODE does notprise of those Church goers. -We do not dislike them, barring them from joining or anything. It is mainly because our branding and members mostly came from the eastern counterparts. Some Exorcists hold dual membership too, but it''s rare because of their stringent criteria" Rong exined to Jin about the Mage Exorcists.

    "As for the Western Mage Exorcists, they had JOME, the Joint Organisations of Mage Exorcists. Their main headquarters is in the Vatican City where the Pope had reign and power over them."

    "They could be considered as Demon Exorcists too, but I think they want to differentiate themselves away from us," Lian said while Su Zhen added that the demons they fought usually originated from the mages themselves.

    "As the mages harness their magical energies, they tend to be more sensitive to their surroundings, and the alluring calls by the demons are not umon." Su Zhen interjected. "A few capable ones could summons them to do their bidding, but for most of the cases, the mages themselves transformed into demons. It made the exorcism a bitch if we want to save the person and that is why sometimes the Mage Exorcists think they are better than us."

    "Because you guys mainly kill stuff while they kill and save people?" Jin tried to deduce, and Su Zhen nodded in return.

    "Thus, it leads to the route where the Mage Exorcists looked down on forbidden magic like blood magic and to some extent, dark magic. Even though Dark Magic users started to have public recognition in the past decade because of their orthodoxical method to treat mental traumas, they have been frowned upon most of the time. The Mage Exorcists also had a long bloody history against the Dark Magic users." Lein said, but he prompted Rong to return back to the main topic.

    "Ah! Yes. My Mage Exorcist contact had graciously provided me with this information. As he had personally gone through the advanced training programme there, his end user experience should prove to be informative." Rong said as he showed Jin his phone logs with his friend.

    "The chat logs looked roughly the same as what you guys had so far gathered. Knowing the basic weakness of your demons and having live demon samples to fight against." Jin said as he made a quickparison.

    "Yeah, it''s just that each of the centres has a specific set of live demons to fight against especially since the samples are limited. Sometimes, they do not even let us kill the demons since they needed them for training." Su Zhen recalled seeing some of the senior exorcists had to weaken the said demons so that it could be suitable for training. At times, they stopped the training to keep the demons alive and allowed it to recuperate.

    "Unfortunately, these methods poised significant risks for the Demon Exorcists both junior and seniors as the demons could get out of hand or even stronger the process. That is why there is always a Senior Trap Formation Specialist and a high tiered Rank Demon Exorcists to ensure that those demons were banished into the abyss if such an unfortunate situation rises." She said as she took out a file of all the protocols used in the central JODE headquarters.

    They were all photocopied and filed ordingly, but Su Zhen said that the protocols might differ slightly from each training centre since it''s based on their sample set of live demons.

    "Now I understand why Grandma Yuan had decided to use my dungeon instances," Jin said out loud as he briefly flipped through the protocols.

    "Yeah, considering how god damn realistic your spider was, I really believe we have a shot of making this happen," Lian said excitedly as she quietly caressed on her formation badge and pet her digital nine tail fox demon under the table.

    "Hmm, I am wonderingбн Will it be a tall order to ask of you guys to find and hunt those demons you guys saw in the advanced training course? Or are you guys not prepared for that?" Jin questioned with the intention to make his advance training centre to be as authentic as possible.

    "Why do that? We have videos of those live demons courtesy of the advanced training centres. We can use them, right?" Rong could not understand Jin''s rationale since he did not know how people contracted under Jin''s system could automatically make those demons into his.

    "His question was whether we can kill it, not capturing it, right?" Lein asked for a rification, and Jin nodded his head.

    "If it''s just killing, I see no reason why we cannot do that. Capturing will surely be out of our league." Lian shrugged her shoulders and agreed to it. She preferred to do something like that instead of sitting here, listening to all the meaningless talk.

    "But I do not understand. Why search and destroy? Even we can kill, what good does that do for you?" Rong asked with a series of impending questions in his head. "I also assume you are noting with us, and that kind of defeat the purpose ?"

    "You are not wrong. I will not be there. But someone will be." Jin said as he took his phone out and pretended to call. Soon, the doors opened, and a gorgeousdy figure sauntered in with muchбнsleepy elegance.

    "You finally called? I was waiting too damn long for my turn." Milk yawned as she rubbed her bed hair.

 Chapter 664 Boys Be Boys

    <h4>Chapter 664 Boys Be Boys</h4>

    "This is Milk, one of my employees and the few trusted individuals in my line of work. Some of you might have seen her in the Luxury Recovery Instance." Jin introduced the Priest Betor to his demon exorcists. Needless to say, Rong and Lein werepletely mesmerised by her looks (and boobs) as she stood beside Jin and gave a warm introduction.

    "First of all. My heart is with Boss here, so don''t have any ideas trying to chase me." Milk said out straight since she knew how desperate Jin''s customers had tried to chase after her repeatedly.

    "And despite the fact that he kept rejecting me, it made my love for him grow even stronger!" Milk screeched as she took the chance to hug him from the side, with her grandiose pair of assets approaching Jin without any warning.

    Jin blushed almost immediately, and it reinforced to the girls that Jin was definitely a closet pervert and they even had afterthoughts to burn the dual inscription charms away. Separately, the two boys nearly died from blood loss through their noses as they could practically see everything with the low cut shirt she was wearing.

    Naturally, Su Zhen performed her cultivation techniques, summoning a snake to topple the chairs those perverts were sitting to break their concentration at Milk''s assets. And when that was done, Lian took her w weapons out and sharpened them while staring intently at the boys'' crotch.

    Lein and Rong immediately understood the implication of her wanting to gouge their balls out, but the problem was that Lian identally revealed her upper thighs when she ced a foot on the toppled chair. (She only wanted to look menacing when she sharpened her w weapons.)

    She did wore a pair of ck stockings but it wasn''t theplete ones. Lein already looked away when he identally took a glimpse of the forbidden fruit, but to Rong, his face looked as if he had found the holy grail.

    Lian noticed there was something wrong with Rong''s expression, but she realised toote. Hence, she immediately raised her leg that was on the chair and stomped it directly on his face without any warning. Lian then ced her entire weight on her foot, causing him to fall backwards. As if that was not enough, she took a step backбнto his crotch in order to make sure that he learnt his lesson for staring at her lewdly.

    "Sorry bro, I have to fend for myself." Lein thought to himself when he heard the muffled screams of his buddy, but then he too found himself in a precarious situation.

    An irate snake was staring at him with the intent to bite with extreme lethality caused the Qilin demon cultivator to quickly prostrate in front of the small little white snake and apologised not to do it again.

    "Oof, it''s a little extreme, but damn! Those girls really showed the boys their ce." Milk said as she tightened her hug, making Jin more than ufortable.

    "Okay, okay that''s enough Milk," Jin begged Milk to release him, and with enough teasing, she sat right beside him, now with a jacket to cover her assets. (The jacket was not helping much, but it was definitely better than nothing.)

    "She will apany you guys for the demon searches and whatever demons you fought, she will record it with a pair of HD camera sses which I had prepared for her. Should you guys needed any help, she could provide assistance too."

    "But helping too much would prove to be detrimental in your training as demon exorcists, especially the provisional ones. So, I assist only when you guys are in dire danger. Otherwise, I will be there as a spectator."

    "This way, I believe it is good for the provisional demon exorcists too. With the footage from the camera sses, it will be considered that you allpleted the exorcisms in a team. After which, I can send ire and Grandma Yuan the progress report to promote the rest of you to full fledged exorcists." Jin exined, and the rest suddenly felt that it''s a rather good deal.

    "What can Ms Milk do? Is she a Western Mage?" Lian asked after perceiving that she had a cross ne.

    "You could say I''m a battle priest." Milk did not exin further what she specialised in, but it already brought a wave of relief to the group. Having a healer in an inexperienced demon exorcist team was a great boon and not every team was able to afford a healer, much less one who was seasoned in the art of fighting.

    "However, there might be times I might need to call her back, so I am leaving her with some portal scrolls so do not be surprised if she suddenly disappeared out of the blue. Of course, I won''t ask for her if you guys are in battle." Jin added and also exined that the portal scroll allowed Jin to send reinforcements in too if there was a need. However, he did emphasis that with Milk around, there should not be a problem with the team.

    "So, what are you suggest for us to hunt?" Lein questioned, and suddenly a devious idea came into Jin''s mind.

    "I do not know what is happening there right now, and it would be good to have some eyes in the area. Given that they are demon exorcists, the border guards should allow them to go in and investigate as well. If not, those brats would probably think of a way to go round the situation to fulfil their curiosity." Jin thought to himself as he used his phone as a remote control. With a few taps, he first opened up an electronic map of China with the aid of the System on the projection screen, and then Jin pointed at the north of Shenzhen.

    Dongguan and Huizhou.

    "The mountains and forests up there?" Lein asked once more, and Jin nodded his head with adamance.

    "Ah! I get what you mean. If I am not mistaken, there are increase sightings of skeleton demons reported in the monthly report, making it easy for us to get samples of the fights. They have the ability to possess animals and encage them in their bones. After which, they will use the bodies of the animals as the host to rampage." Su Zhen said as she looked through her phone.

    "I will like you guys to go there and have a look. But remember safety first. If the situation is grave, retreat." Jin pretended to know what was going on with a faint smile and the rest also thought that it was a good ce to get experience.

    Not too long ago, these brats might not have epted Jin''s mission since they knew that these skeleton demons were like the trash of the trash. However, the encounter with the colossal spider demon had made them learn not to underestimate any task, no matter how easy it sounds. Perhaps, they might encounter a variant which could prove to be useful material for Jin to create too.

    However, they all did not know Jin''s actual intention of sending them there.

 Chapter 665 Tribal Negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 665 Tribal Negotiation</h4>

    Although it was best to start working on the JODE Administration and Training Centre instance, especially since Lee Na was waiting for his progress, Jin had other pressing matters to attend to. When he entrusted Milk with them, Jin quickly teleported to one of the inds in the Open Dungeon instance where he had previously instructed the System to ce all the Giant World''s ''refugees'' in at that area.

    Hamatarou who acted on behalf of Qiu Yu to enforce the contracts had begun to be swarm with many questions which he was unable to answer or entertain.

    Some of the tribal elders knew Hamatarou, but the rest of their vige had no idea what was going on. This mass migration matter was based on the absolute trust of their mythical treasure, which their elders doubted if they were duped.

    That was where Drex and the other Dark Elves came in.

    They were acting as the role of enforcers keeping the necessary peace among the groups and withholding the use of violence unless it''s inevitable. The Night Foxes were sorely needed to ensure that these tribes did not kill one another off until they signed the contract.

    Jin might have thought that he was doing them a favour or giving them a better life, but the truth was that he had disced them from their ordinary lives. He was partially aware of it and therefore decided to enter personally to mediate in the current situation.

    But as usual, the System suggested the Night Foxes to eliminate every single viger, and make everyone be subjected to its loyaltymand as soon as possible. Naturally, Jin rejected that as he felt it was essential tomunicate with each other although the dungeon supplier learnt not to that naive too.

    Sometimes, power had to be applied to produce a scenario where everyonepromises.

    This was because many believed their elders were scammed, especially when they were forced to sign some sort of contract which they had no understanding of. So, Jin decided to take the soft power route first and see if these Animal People could understand through his exnations.

    When Jin teleported to the open dungeon instance, the major leaders of the eight tribes had already assembled together in a makeshift tent. While many wished to listen into the conversation, the Night Foxes forbade them froming near the tent. Thus, the rest continued to wait restlessly outside, awaiting the decision of their leaders.

    Of all the Animal People ns, only two leaders and their tribes had alreadypleted the contracts.

    The Turtles and Walrus.

    A majority of the tribal leaders were still on the fence except for the Otters who were adamant of returning back to their old ways. They were, unfortunately, the only ones who refused to sign anything.

    When Jin walked into the tent, they saw that he was with another Animal People, who they perceived to be a swordsman, along with him. Some of the leaders were old enough to recognise a human being, and they began to whisper excitedly among themselves even though they barely met. (Perhaps, adversity brings kindled strangers together.)

    "Greetings all. I am Jin, this frog here is Gaeru, and some of you have known my friend and associate, Sage Hamatarou." Jin tried to show that he was affiliated to Hamatarou to exert further power and influence to the group.

    "While a few of you had already heard from Hamatarou''s story why we had forcefully migrated you to this particr piece ofnd. I am here to tell you that was not all." Jin announced as he immediately summoned out massive holographic projections via his System phone and revealed them the current situation in the Giant World.

    None of the tribal leaders could believe the images of the cold, barren wastnd, and some even call out that its a hoax. Gaeru, who was thest sole survivor of his n,ter exined why Jin was doing all of these. He included the story about the massacre of his entire vige by the Smanders and yet none of them could believe what was happening. Jin soon realised that many were still in denial and the soft approach would not work with them.

    "I guess the only way is to return them back to where theye from. After all, showing is telling." Jin said to Hamatarou while he folded his arms.

    "Yes, we wished to return to our viges!" The Croc Leader demanded, and the others follow suit, including the Turtles and Walrus Leaders who had already sign the contract.

    "Very well. We had already done our part rescuing you guys from the Ice Age spell from Queen Mab, and that would be free of charge. Should you ever wish to return here, use this particr ring to contact Hamatarou." Jin said while presenting the rings on the table and the leaders all thought that was a good deal until the dungeon supplier started to open his mouth once more.

    "However, if you ever return, you would be automatically be required to sign a contract with us. Not only that, your contract terms will have three times more the requirements than what we presented you right now. Having to work until you clear your vige''s debt will be the least of your worries." The sudden deration startled the whole group, even Hamatarou.

    "Our operation to save you people from the Giants and deployingbat professionals to risk their lives for yours were not cheap," Jin warned as he looked at the rings on the table. Some were already hesitant to pick the rings. "I will give you guys one more hour to talk to your vige people. Those who had decided either to leave or stay, please revert to either Hamatarou."

    "For the two other viges which had already sign the contract, you have technically broken a use of your contract if you take a step back to the Giant World without permission." Jin said with a tinge of anger in his words before his face rxed and spoke the following.

    "However, we are not vers of any kind. So, I have allowed you to break your contract at a price. You are free to return here again. But at a tremendous cost than those who have not sign a single thing." Jin said while emitting his chi aura out to show that he meant business even though he was smiling through his teeth.

    "However, if you and your vige wish to stay, I will promise you that providing you will be my utmost duty. A piece of bountifulnd like this ind shall be bestowed to you for your vige to develop, grow and prosper. I also swear that I can provide you jobs, new skills to learn and heck. A damn good time." Jin had now switched his bait as he showed pictures of his penguins working hard in the Restaurant Instance while others were having fun at the Theme Park instance.

    "I will leave a few penguins here who had saved your lives to answer any questions. I hope you will make the right choice." Jin said as he requested the System to bring out Kido and his other ninjas to talk to the leaders.

    The dungeon supplier believed he had done what he needed to do and the rest he would leave it to Hamatarou and his penguins to convince the leaders.

    Because as of that moment, Amura Rei had messaged that he had finally outfitted three Sandroku Golems to be spaceworthy.

 Chapter 666 Extra: Su Zhens Recommendation

    <h4>Chapter 666 Extra: Su Zhen''s Rmendation</h4>

    Milk was still currently in the room, discussing with Jin''s demon exorcists with regards to the uing expedition. She knew Jin''s hidden agenda for sending them to the north of Shenzhen, so she was keeping a close eye to make sure that they were prepared for it, at least physically.

    "I believe I can handle our amodations. The Royal Ox Zodiac n have quite a huge presence in Dongguan, so it should be easy for me to pull some strings around to get a decent lodging before the arrival of Chinese New Year." Rong suggested, and the rest agreed to it immediately.

    "Aside from the fact that we are currently earning measly peanuts from Jin, I have more than enough money to spare for you guys to buy equipment." Lein generously offered to the group though Su Zhen and Lian somehow felt bad taking it.

    "Don''t be. You could say I am a bit ashamed of my previous haughty behaviour and thought that I would be the first and best candidate to get promoted. Turns out I have much to learn... And hey look at it this way! I have yet to give you guys your Christmas presents." He immediately recalled how Jin still appreciated their presence and efforts even though they demeaned him.

    "Hmm, I guessed its reasonable if it''s your way of giving Christmas presents to us." Su Zhen nodded her head and did not refuse the offer.

    "Honestly, I would prefer some of the clothing in Jin''s storepared to the equipment he sells. I mean, our Royal Armoury ought to have better equipment than what''s offered here." Lian countered, but Rong surprisingly disagreed with her.

    "I have actually bought a few axes and hammers from this ce and gave it to my Royal Armourer as well. They were astounded by the quality of it. My uncle, who was in the weapon development said that some of the Grade 5 weapons were more durable than his Grade 10s. He even asked me to buy every single piece for him to test it out when I have the time." Rong divulged to the whole group, which made Milk deliver a smug smile.

    "Of course, while we import a few of our stuff in, most of our weapons were hand made by the best people." Milk wanted to openly praise cksmith Vulcan''s skills in creating those weapons, but she knew that they would not believe if Milk said that all those weapons were made by one person.

    Vulcan could have also created better grade weapons, but the System was locking his abilities and his production until Jin was powerful enough to handle high grade cultivators.

    "Our inscriptions are the best top notch too if you have not noticed. This is also why you guys can mix and match any items of clothing for defensive purposes."

    "But you guys do not have high gradebat armours right? The one meant for pure defence instead of daily use." Su Zhen did not doubt Milk''s, but this was one thing she noticed wascking in Jin''s armour store.

    "That I won''t deny. We have a ''few'' weavers who could create decent defensive articles of clothing, but they are not to the point they could bepared to high gradebat armours. However, considering that we are selling quality defensive inscriptions, it should not be a problem for most cultivators." Milk exined, and though it looked as if Su Zhen had something at the tip of her tongue, she continued on.

    "Besides, we have trustworthy contacts to import such high gradebat armour, and I believe Jin will release them when the time is right. After all, this is a dungeon store, not the Royal Armourer. It will be scary if our normal cultivators are decked out withbat armour, right?"

    "I see. While it''s okay for dungeon practice, sometimes high defensive grade armour would be needed for real practical fights. Since we will be opening up to the Demon Exorcists, I believe we should look into that portion too." Su Zhen said and started to write an address on a piece of paper.

    "I feel that Boss Jin should have an inhouse armourer too. I have a frien- erm... an associate that specialises in the production of high gradebat armour. He is, however, very difficult to find since he doesn''t stay in one ce." Milk took the piece of paper and looked at the address.

    "If so, why did you pass me this particr address?" Milk queried.

    "The Royal Snake n used to contact him to make us some customised armour in the past, but I must confess, it was with much difficulty. Simr to your store, his a crazy miracle worker. He can easily make a piece of shirt withstand a blow from a Grade 10 monster from cheap raw materials." Su Zhen said, and Lian believed she heard of such an associate too. Subsequently, Rong and Lein attested to such a rumour and did not know that it was true, only to remember her mother was the COO of JODE.

    "Imagine getting him to seriously work for you, he would definitely be able to make a miracle. Some even say the ministers had people secretly scouting for him so they can pay a visit to him." Su Zhen expressed herself vividly.

    "My mom gave this address to me and told me to look up for him at this address. She said that if I was lucky, I would be able to meet him. But after trying a few times, it was needless to say, I have no luck right now. Maybe, meeting him had some requirements or maybe it was perchance." Su Zhen added and told Milk and the rest of her friends that he had no name except the moniker the Ghost Armourer.

    "What makes you think Jin can find him?" Milk chuckled a little upon hearing the whole story.

    "I do not know, I feel like Boss can do the impossible, and if he could really recruit the Ghost Armourer to his shop, his fame will shoot up to the roof. Of course, it''s just wild spections."

    "Heh, I will pass the message to him when I have the time." Milk smiled and texted a message to the person who scoffed at the word impossible.

    The Devilman.

 Chapter 667 Reis Comeback

    <h4>Chapter 667 Rei''s Comeback</h4>

    "Rei, how did it go?" Jin showed a weary smile when he teleported into the workshop entrance. All the past two days, the dungeon supplier had been working non stop to ensure the sess of gathering allies while fulfilling his promise to Hamatarou to save them.

    It did, however, derail into a new customer dungeon raid but the subsequent and yet surprising capture of Maeve proved to be worth it.

    Jin hoped that he could get some misceneous task done before the police and military cooperation exercise. Still, it was imperative he assisted the System in obtaining its upgrade to eradicate the perceived threat above Shenzhen.

    The police captain did say that things were under control, but Jin knew that he was definitely underreporting the severity of the situation. That was how his country work most of the time though everyone kept mum about it.

    Although it was a risk to send the young, new graduated Demon Exorcists to the field, they were already contracted with the System. So there was little to worry about his ''assistants'', and this would be another valuable experience for them.

    -----

    "Hey Boss, it went rather well. The Orcs and Goblins definitely had some knowledge in the field mechanics and electronics...although it sure is useful to have some magic capabilities. It made the process more viable." Rei replied with a hearty smile.

    It had been a long time since he was covered in engine grease, and the nostalgic feeling of it was tremendously satisfying. He already felt it was already worthy to take a two day break from his manga drawing to do all of this.

    "Not to mention, the crew here is itching to go have a test run, though I assume you want them to go into the practical immediately." Rei added as three goblin pilots came forth to salute at Jin.

    "Pilot Piratez, Washbuckler and Deckerhand reporting." The goblins announced but their names gave Jin a curious expression.

    "Ah, a bit of a long story. It was I who told them that having code names aremon in my battlefield and informed the goblins that this particr mission was to salvage for parts in space. So, they had decided to get pirate-y names when I told them that outer space was like a vast ocean." Rei exined.

    "Its a little cheesy but if they like it, let them be." Jin thought to himself as he chuckled a little before nodding his head in acknowledgement of the goblins who were still saluting.

    "Yeap, so follow me. I have managed to convert two construction Sandroku Golems into Salvaging Golems, which by the way, I am impressed by the practicality of the golems. In terms of mobility and strength, they were as close, if not better, than the mecha workers we have in our work. Of course, I amparing based on the models before I transmigrated. The only difference andin is the use of batteries. However..." Rei continued to ramble as he beckoned Jin to follow him into the busy workshop in Industry Sector 1 of the Dungeon City Fortress.

    Jin was initially interested to hear, but when Rei got into the specifics, he was starting to feel like it was his engineering professor ranting all over again. (Undoubtedly it caused him to turn a deaf ear to Rei''s exnation..)

    Soon, they reached a more secluded hanger and saw the Orc engineers doing final checks to the golems. It caused Jin to wonder why there wasn''t a mix of Orcs and goblins going into space. Reiter exined that it was mainly because the goblin pilots have a good grasp of instant magic. "I have to fix up a support system for outer space and wanted to insert the backup respiratory support system too... But I am afraid the battery load will exceed, and this will cause unexpected short circuits in the golem." Rei started his lengthy exnation.

    "So, with the pilots able to use magic at the crux of an emergency would heighten the odds of them surviving. Like putting a barrier in front of them in case of a breach or setting an air bubble around their head before ejecting and teleporting back to the Hangar again." Rei replied, and it looked like the mechatronics engineer was mentally checking off the standard safety protocols in his head when he was remodelling the golems.

    "Plus, we are lightweight and take lesser oxygen. More air, longer operating hours, lesser strain on the battery system." Washbuckler said, and the Orcs could not argue against that.

    When Jin saw the new remodified Salvaging Golems, he was surprised to know that it was extremely simple in design. This was because Rei did something simr to the Gearbox System which he had made the salvaging tools modr and detachable to the Salvaging Golems'' arms. These included typical salvaging items like a pickup pinching arm, a cutter arm, and there was one with a power ma on it.

    "What happened to the third one?" Jin asked, and Rei''s smirk got wider as he quickly when to the corner and turn on the lights only for Jin to realise that the hangar was bigger than he thought it would be. (The goblin pilots did ce a magical illusion spell to help with the surprise too.)

    The third golem was modified to fit on the nose of the C-130 ne.

    Rei and the rest of the engineering crew had ingeniously outfitted the C-130 ne with rocket boosters on its wings as well as putting automated turrets on the sides of the dropship.

    "Since we were going modr, I thought to see your old blueprints. And that was where we found the ns of your Orgebuster from Ayse, I felt inspired to create something simr. Of course, I did it within my timeframe, and there were limits to this prototype beauty." Rei said with excitement while tapping his hand on the ne.

    "We were, after all, using this as a dropship to haul the debris and salvaged items back to the hangar and this should reduce the System''s expenses instead of opening a portal infinitely," Reimented, stating that the System was extremely pleased with the design proposal and gave a C-130 for free for them to modify.

    "I am honestly blown away by this too." Jin for once smiled like a kid in a toy store, seeing a brand new toy for grabs.

 Chapter 668 Honest Truth

    <h4>Chapter 668 Honest Truth</h4>

    "All the controls of the modified C-130 Space Explorer can be handled by the Salvaging Golem at the nose of the ne. I''ve made some adjustments to the electrical board circuits, and with the help of magic, it''s been further simplified for both Orcs and Goblins to use without too much training." Rei exined as he opened the cargo door of the C-130 Space Explorer.

    "So, what are we expecting to salvage based on your experience... you have done this before, right? Or have you only done this in theory?" Jin queried, and Rei stopped to ponder for a moment.

    "I think we can expect to find quite a number of good parts. If we are fortunate enough, a proper spaceship might be possible. Though I figured it would be derelict since in such cases, it would be a miracle if the internal parts hadn''t already been stripped by someone else. But hey, at least you might get a hull out of it. We can always bring it back to do modifications." Rei shrugged and spected as much as Jin with regards to the possible loot.

    "Though realistically speaking, having only three Salvaging Golems won''t yield you that much in one weekбн Much less in your allocated deadline. Best case scenario, and I stress, this is HIGHLY UNLIKELY; If we find ourselves an intact spaceship, one where all we have to do will be to change some parts and refuel the baby, even then, we are still looking at a space travel time of about two to three weeks to find the ship or port where Titan was holding onto. And that is already making a lot of assumptions!" Rei warned not to get too optimistic.

    "A lot of things can go wrong. The Titan could have already embarked onto a different ship, or been moved to another port. Heck, it might have already invaded the Xeon Union. And even if we were to somehow find it, we will have to face at least a small space fleet befitting the protection of the Titan. But again, this is already assuming the best scenario." Rei stood and decided to tell Jin off.

    "But considering that we always knee deep in rather shitty situations, I should expect not able to find the Titan anytime soon, and even if I did, I would be against fleets of the United Federation thinking that I am with the bad guy. To make things even more ''exciting'', the Xeon Union assumed we are also a ploy by the United Feds too and will fire upon us when given a chance?" Jin gave a hypothetical bad scenario which Rei nodded furiously to it. No wonder, Kraft''s suggestion to be the ultimate bad guy was not as unrealistic as Jin thought it would be.

    "To be brutally honest with you Boss, your timeline is inly unrealistic, and even though I managed to finish this in two days, it was a more of a challenge for myself than keeping the promise to you. There are a lot of things that might go wrong with these golems too. I have yet to perform any stress test on them to make sure that does not happen. However, I am willing to forgo the test run and close an eye to the situation because the Gobs im they can be resurrected. To me, machines don''t matter as much as the lives riding on them. So if it''s true the worst case will be us having to build new ones."

    "Hmm..." Jin was trying to consider everything Rei was lecturing him about, yet while doing so, he was unconsciously making a very frustrated face. Rei felt that he should continue to say his piece before Jin made any rash and stupid decisions.

    "I am beseeching you to reconsider the situation again. You have my blessing if you limit yourself to sending out your Gobs for salvaging, but NOTHING ELSE! I get that you have time constraints, but not everything can be solved with magic. ept the reality and expect that this will be a long endeavour rather than a rushed one." Rei told him with his eyes looking directly into Jin''s.

    "Besides, take a good look at yourself. You should really think this over. You are tired, weary from the constant work and I bet you do not even know that today''s New Year Eve. I really suggest that you find an alternative or change the timeline and be realistic about the whole Titan finding situation!"

    Somehow that hit a nerveбн Jin did not know how to argue about what Rei said, mainly because it was all true. He looked over the C-130 interior for a moment and then sighed heavily. He was resolute about trying to change his own fate after getting a painful reminder that he was being manipted by external forces who were rich, powerful and more influential than him.

    But here he was already being defeated by the inevitable fact, that some thingsy outside his controlбн at least for now. He was sure that having the System might change things, but it looked like life had a way to always put an insurmountable obstacle in front of him.

    He proceeded to take a seat at the side of the C130 Space Explorer and asked Rei to leave him alone for a moment. Meanwhile, Rei was stunned as he had not expected Jin to react this way. He had at least expected some kind of resistance, but not for him to solemnly ponder on the issues.

    Still a bit dumbfounded, he quietly nodded his head and moved out of the C130 space explorer granting Jin his desired alone time.

    "Do you think Boss be okay?" Washbuckler asked his fellow two space pilots, but they were equally clueless. Even Rei started to feel bad about pointing out the obvious to Jin.

    "No use thinking too much on our end. Let''s do some work to busy ourselves. If Boss wants to continue with the mission, he''ll approach us again." Piratez suggested as the voice of reason and the four of them decided to do some counter checks to ensure that their internal golem systems were working as intended.

    -------

    An hour had passed with no sign of Jining out of the C-130 Space Explorer. The waiting made the entire space crew a little anxious. "I''ll go and check on Boss. Maybe he teleported away and forgot to notify us." One of the Orc engineers volunteered, but Rei declined his offer.

    "No, let me do it. I was the one who pointed the issues out, so it''s only fair if I should be the one to confront him. And if he has any arguments, it will be directed at me instead." Rei strongly insisted, but deep down, the space crew team knew that Rei was just as timid as them.

    "I don''t think we need to worry so much, we all know Boss is quite a reasonable person. He is not the kind to re up randomly." Piratez argued and both his friends immediately thought of their old mage master in the academy who used to shout at them for every wrongdoing.

    Eventually, they decided to enter as a group to check on Jin, but as they went closer to the C130 open cargo door, they realised that Jin was still sitting there. Rei had adamantly decided to be the first to move up, and as he got closer, he found a rare sight of their Boss...sleeping with his head leaning at the side panel.

    Rei signalled them to be quiet and beckoned them toe over to check on him, but one of the Orcs tripped which caused him to slip and fall, resulting in a loud deafening echo in the empty cargo area of the C-130. Jin''s eyes went wide open scanning the surrounding for any enemy intrusion, only to find the space crew attempting to crawl up on him. Then he yawned and stretched himself.

    "My bad. I think the moment I rxed, I identally went into sleep. Where were we?" Jin apologised, and Rei informed him that he had probably been knocked out for over an hour.

    "Oh, no wonder... sorry about that. Anyways, Rei. I thought about what you said, and I must admit you are entirely right. Have the space crew meet me at their workshop meeting room. Let''s have a formal and realistic discussion." Jin responded favourably to Rei''s reasoning and stopped for a moment.

    "And erm, order some good food from the Penguins since its New Year''s Eve. Don''t be shy, it will be on me." His stomach growled loudly, which the rest agreed heartily.

 Chapter 669 Extra: Preachings

    <h4>Chapter 669 Extra: Preachings</h4>

    After that short cheering from the space crew, Jin instinctively checked his phone and noticed that dozens of missed calls and loads of messages had piled up. They were mainly from Qiu Yue and Lynn who had attempted to reach him.

    "System has noticed that User has entered a state of sleep deeper than any otherpared to thest week and has therefore decided to mute the phone for you. Despite System''s assurance that the User was safe, the Sub System Users wanted to be sure." Jin was surprised by the System''s gesture and thanked it before looking at his phone.

    If anything, that sleep may surprisingly have been one of the best wake up call he ever received.

    -----------

    Being a cultivator of the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas Style, he automatically entered his subconsciousness and found himself sitting beside his Grandfather Ming at the top of the icy cold mountain peak once more.

    "Yikes!" Jin shouted as he felt the winds blew through his shirt. Unlike the previous time with Ming, he was now dressed with what he had been wearing in real life, which was not exactly intended for this kind of weather.

    "Don''t worry,d. I am not going to force you to fight any Legendary Beasts this time around. Though that turtle is still down there waiting for you with my secret. If you want to uncover it, be my guest." Ming gleed at Jin before turning solemn.

    "You haven''t been yourselftely, have you?" Ming ced his hand over Jin''s shoulder, and thetter quietly leaned at his grandfather''s side.

    "Yeah. It''s been rough these past few weeks. Problems keep piling up no matter how I try to clear them. It''s as if fate actively tries to put one obstacle after the other. I don''t feel at peace no matter what I do." Jin tried to phrase his problem without it sounding too much like whining since he knew his grandfather was a no nonsense guy.

    "If I was in the real world, I would have scolded you for not having any guts. For what a sissy you have be." Ming scoffed at Jin. "However, since I am not in the real world, let me give you something that might actually help you." Jin''s grandfather took a deep breath before he did the most unexpected to Jin.

    He swiftly moved his hands under Jin''s armpit and performed a judo throw on Jin, causing his grandson to split the bench they were sitting into two. Jin sttered blood out from his mouth in an instant while his grandfather''s smile got even wider.

    "When you are confused, scratch your lungs and order them to fight! When you are angry, rise up and fight it! When you are calm, learn to fight along with it! When you are happy, fight to live for more of this fleeting moment! Whatever you do, you have to fight!" Ming preached as he sent a palm thrust towards Jin''s stomach and the dungeon supplier absorbed the entire blow.

    There was no ''grandfatherly love'' or mercy in the strike. All he felt was pain.

    However, the pain was oddly refreshing. Jin had kept himself to the backline for some time now due to all the administrative work. It felt like ages since he had entered the fray, causing his fighting sense to dull a little.

    "What do you do when you see a wall in front of you? Push it down! If you cannot push it, climb! Go around it! Or dig underneath it! If all else fails just keep mming into it until the thing breaks! If your bones break, wait for them to heal and then bash it again! Eventually, it will give way! Remember, you are a System User! The System is a product of the Wills of the Heaven. You иC No, we are part of the Celestial Chosen!!!" Ming emphasised with his foot on Jin''s chest.

    "Hahбн Celestial''s Chosenбн If that is true, the world must really hate us to hunt us down continuously." Jin remarked as he tried to push Ming''s shoe away, but the pressure seemed to only get greater until he could feel his bones begin to crack.

    "Because иC Never mind, that phrase just sounded good at the moment. So, just ignore what I said. In any case, look at how far you havee. Back then, when you first treated this path of bing a dungeon supplier, you only went with the flow. You were no different from a Koi in a pond being fed bread crumbs, unaware that he might get eaten one of these days." Mingughed at his own joke.

    "But now? You finally learned that there is more to it than just the small little pond. You have experienced what it means to get bitten. Most importantly, you are willing to fight back! Although it''s a little pathetic looking, you are getting there. Your fangs are still growing, and that is what I want to continue to see in you. Never stop trying! If things push you down, never stop moving. Even if you feel like you are going backwards, learn why you are going back. After which proceed forth." Ming encouraged him as he pushed even further while Jin struggled to go against the pressure.

    "Remember that you are no longer just a boss over a measly store. You are the boss for many viges! For kingdoms! For several monster races! Heck, even Gods and Demons are under yourmand." The pressure did not alleviate, and somehow Jin believed he felt a tinge of jealousy in his grandfather''s voice.

    "They may have started to follow you because the Systempelled them to do so. Still, I believe some are genuinely pledging their service to you not only because it''s interesting, but you are worthy of following."

    "Just take a look at that sneaky fox. You may not realise it, but he does far more for you than meets the eye. Take a look at the girls beside you. They are doing their best to help you achieve what you are trying to do. Even Yun has been helping you in her own way. If you ever doubt yourself, never forget that there are those beside you, who believe in you." At the same time, a tone of praise and admiration in Ming''s voice too, something which Jin had hardly ever received from him.

    Yet, Ming was right.

    It was not the first time Jin met with problemsrger than himself. Although he had been lucky the previous times, it did not mean that he did not see things through when the tough gets going.

    "I understand now, Gramps. It took me a while to understand, but please continue to watch over me." Jin nodded as he stopped trying to push Ming''s boot away. Instead, he gathered his Maqi at his palms and summoned ice spikes to attack Ming.

    Ming sniggered as he blocked the ice spikes with ease but did not realise that Jin did something else entirely out of the norm. With the ice spikes as a distraction, Jin imagined himself as part of the snow, and when the cold mountain winds blew, he immediately transformed into a pile of snow and allowed the winds to disperse him.

    "Hah! You rascal! d to know that you still remember you are in your consciousness." Mingughed as he saw that Jin had reached a new understanding of himself, allowing him to passively transcend into Grade Eight Peak.

 Chapter 670 New Year Eves Dinner - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 670 New Year Eve''s Dinner - Part 1</h4>

    "You called?"

    "YEAH WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!" Qiu Yue shouted in the phone so loudly that Jin could feel her wrath transmitting through the phone.

    "I erm... identally fell asleep in one of the workshop hangars after discussing some stuff with Rei and the others," Jin replied with a guilty conscience. He felt like a little kid who had been out ying for too long, worrying his mother. What followed was an awkward pause in the conversation.

    "Oh. Okay... No wonder the System did not allow us to call through. -Sigh- I guess we may have overreacted, but the System could have just told us that you had fallen asleep." Qiu Yue sounded a bit calmer, but not by much.

    Suddenly the System interjected: "System cannot verify whether User is truly asleep or cultivating. Thus, System has been unable to provide a definite response to your questions."

    "Dude. I know you are omnipotent, but don''t enter our conversations like this. It''s creepy. Like stalker creepy." Qiu Yueined, seemingly having found a new target for her rage and Jinughed.

    "Forget about that. You know it cannot help being creepy, right? The System monitors our every move no matter what we do. Is there any use pretending it doesn''t?" Lynn interjected on Qiu Yue''s end, but Jin could roughly hear her voice in the background.

    "Yeah, it''s like the overprotective parents that Jin never had." Qiu Yue identallymented something a little insensitive, forgetting that she was still on the line with Jin. "Oh oops, sorry Boss."

    "No need, I am not overly sensitive as you believe me to be."

    "What lies!" Qiu Yue thought to herself.

    "Anyways, what''s the matter?" Jin questioned and Qiu Yue informed him that they had prepared a New Year Eve''s dinner with the betors.

    "Hmmm, that does sound like a good idea." Jin looked at his watch, and it was nearly six in the evening. "Let me have a quick meeting with the space crew beforehand. We will be altering our timelines since Rei brought up some major concerns. If you don''t hear from me in the next hour or so,e to the conference room instance and drag me out. Thank you for reminding me about this." Jin said as he hurriedly teleported to the conference room instance.

    And before him, a sumptuous spread of gourmet food wasid ready by the chef penguins and the space crew was waiting rather (im)patiently for him. They collectively pointed at the helm of the table, which was still vacant.

    "THAT was fast!" Jin saw the amount of food and wondered if the space crew could actually finish up everything, especially since the food was stretched from one corner of the table to the other end. No room was spared to ensure the maximum presence of gastronomic gourmet.

    "It was Rei''s idea!" Deckkerhand immediately exposed the mastermind though Rei had never nned on denying it. It took a bit for the still sleepy Jin to realise what was going on. Since it was on Jin''s tab, they had thought to extend his generosity to not just the space crew but the other Orc and Goblin helpers who had assisted the team as thanks.

    "You really think this is sufficient to satisfy those Orcs'' stomach? Their tummies are practically ck holes walking around! Order more! And do get the penguins to join the feast too once they are done with the cooking!" Jin ordered and pretend to wipe out a credit card from his wallet, causing the crew to cheer even louder. (Even though it was not necessary, but the action of presenting his credit card somehow excited the entire space crew.)

    Jin then beckoned Rei to gather the others toe in to join the feast while he asked the System to expand the conference room, allowing the insertion of another long conference table for the penguins to ce their buffet. "For today only, enjoy the end of the year," Jin said, indicating that that the initial discussion be postponed for the new uing year.

    "Boss, are you not joining us?" Rei questioned, and Jin told him that his other family is waiting for him with dinner as well. "I better help out a little with the preparations or else, Lynn might kill me," Jin confessed he had not been helping with the dinner preparations for quite some time because of his workload.

    Only then, the dungeon supplier saw Rei''s quiet but troubled expression, prompting him to pick up the courage and ced his hand on the manga artist''s shoulders.

    "Worry not. We will do our utmost to help you find your family, but as you said yourself. Some things can''t be rushed. Please give us some time too." Jin promised, and given the recent turn of developments, Rei knew that his new boss would really try his best for his minions. Thus, he gave a slight smile in return as a sign of trust.

    "Alright, then I shall hold you to your word. But for today, WE PARTYYYY!!" Rei picked up a beer can and shouted, giving the rest the signal to start. At the same time, Jin had requested his system to connect him to various monster leaders like Gold, Moloch, Derek and Ayse.

    "Dinner is on me, order whatever you guys like and treat the entire group for New Year''s Eve. But it''s a littlete, so give the penguins some time to prep the food too! We don''t want them to overwork themselves."

    "Actually, can we order from the Tree Mall? I seriously enjoy the penguin food, but I would love to try some of Earth''s cuisine too." Gold asked on behalf of his werejackals, which made Jin somewhat flustered. The rest started to consider such an option too, and it looked like they reached an overall agreement.

    "I don''t mind, though I cannot guarantee that the taste of the food out there will be as heavenly or spiritually filling. You guys still okay with it?"

    "Yeah, we are fine with it. Besides, it would be unfair to the penguins if they always have to work so hard for us, especially when we are growing in numbers." Gold replied, and Jin thought it was a good idea to give some business for the lower floors too.

    "But you will be working the crap out of those penguins aiding the human chefs," Moloch argued, and at that moment Kido joined the call.

    "Actually, we can afford to have a few more penguins assist with the orders. We have alreadypleted the analysis on those chefs'' way of cooking and should be able to replicate it. We might even improve on their version." Kido currently represented the Kitchen since Lynn was preparing dinner for the betors and Jin did not see the problem with that.

    "Alright, I am fine with it, give your orders to the System which it willpile and split the orders between both the human chefs and the penguins. That way, the workload is slightly less straining to the human chefs. As for you penguins if it''s possible, work out a rotation system, so that at least a third of you can rx at a time." Jin ordered and everyone was amenable to it. The call ended with much tion in the background, yet Jin decided to give Si Fang a heads up.

    "Ah Jin, I am -WAIT WHAT?! Is this some kind of New Year Eve''s joke?!" Si Fang''s sudden shouting scared nearly all the customers in his Castle Tower Cafиж instance, and he immediately apologised for his rude behaviour.

    "Erm, yeah. I''m sorry, it''s so sudden. What was supposed to be an internal mini conference at my end ended up getting bigger than I imagined. A little unexpected but you know...how situations can be unpredictable." Jin tried to bluff, and he seeded with a poor excuse.

    "I guessбн We cannot say no to extra money, especially if it''sing from thendlord himself. Sure, I will tell the others to be prepared for the massive order, but I cannot assist you if we run out of stock." Si Fang warned, but there was this indescribable excitement running through his veins.

    "Stock supplies? You do not have to worry about that. I can gurantee that as long as if the chefs are willing to earn money, there''s plenty of supplies to go around. I will get Lai Fu to assist with it." Jin pointed out, and Si Fang immediately agreed to ry the message.

    So what if it was New Year''s Eve? All of them were veterans in the Food & Beverage business, and they had long since been prepared to work extra hard for the added ie during the holidays.

    They just never imagined how absurd Jin''s desired quantity would have to be.

 Chapter 671 New Year Eves Dinner - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 671 New Year Eve''s Dinner - Part 2</h4>

    Even though the food court instance was packed like sardines, the hawkers had already be experts in handling this level of workload. It was nothing new after a few weeks, and some managed to increase in cultivation grade through consistent cooking with spiritual power.

    However, they had not expected the following when Si Fang personally came down to give the hawkers a heads up on what''sing while their penguin assistants continued cooking.

    "WHAT?! Feeding an estimate 2000 people in one night? I don''t even necessarily serve that many in a week!" One of the hawkers who handled the mixed rice stall eximed. (Jin definitely had more than that if not for the splitting) For the people who cooked in bulk and sold at a reasonable price, San Sun imed that it was an impossible feat to achieve.

    "The order came from Boss Jin personally. Apparently, he''s holding some "mini" conference and needs food to be cooked because of some mimunication with his food caterer. ording to him, supplies will be readily avable as long as guys ept the orders. No price changes in the supplies but he won''t mind paying a little more for the food, especially since he understands that it''s ate order." Si Fang exined, and the hawkers started to ponder.

    "So, do we keep serving until the orders stop? Or will we have to keep going even after the new year starts? Because we only have that limited amount of time to prepare."

    "Ah, thankfully Jin told me he will stop ordering by 11.30. If there are any unfulfilled orders by 12, you guys can go ahead and cancel it. He also added the Panda Burgers will be taking orders too so I will speak to Ke Ruter." Si Fang noted, and the rest were having some form of small talk.

    "I assume the guests are not too picky with the food..."

    "...More like our food finally reached a certain standard. Hahah!"

    "But it''s a shit ton of money if we can clear his orders."

    "Perhaps Jin is trying to help us earn money, too? If he is going to advertise our food, we might be able to sell better in the future."

    "You mean stop being a hawker and get a restaurant?"

    "That would be a nice dream, and think of the instance he will make for us if we n to upgrade!"

    "So, we are epting this challenge?"

    "Why not? I never say no to more money."

    The hawkers knew that they had toe to an agreement.

    Currently, time was a preciousmodity, given that the penguins were holding the fort for them on their own. Hence, their representative, San Sun had decided to go ahead with the request.

    "Excellent, I will inform Boss Jin about it, and I believe the first few orders shoulde in soon but don''t you guys forget to serve the customers here first. They are as important as the ones waiting." Si Fang emphasised and the rest gave a resounding shout.

    ----------

    "In hindsight, they would have never expected that this particr challenge turned out to be like a ripple slowly growing and transforming into a mighty tidal wave going forth to hit the world''s cooking scene. Later generations would refer to them as the founding members of the Pyramid Chef Guild." Kraft said to the entire group.

    "What are you bbering about?" Lynn asked as she ced thest dish on the table. A pot full of noodles, particrly soba. "Just ignore him, he seems to have simply gotten too bored," Jin advised her to pay Kraft no heed. The foxy man might have spoken out of tune after Jin told them about how the monsters wanted to try other food from this world.

    As the fragrance of the noodles reached to everyone''s olfactory senses, there was a reason why Lynn decided to choose soba noodles for thest meal of the year.

    In Lynn''s culture, eating soba at the end of the year symbolised letting go of the hardships of the year and looking forward to strength and resiliency in the new year. A dish so humble in nature yet meaningful when the whole shop family ate with her.

    "Ah! Did you manage to eat it with your father?" Jin had nearly forgotten that the two Sub System Users still had their own friends and family.

    "Yeap! I had it with my dad this afternoon. Actually, he was the one who made the dish for lunch, because no matter how drunk and broken he had been, he never failed to make this dish for me. However, I never appreciated it up until now." Lynn answered with a bit of mncholy, and everyone quietly ate the soba noodles with various toppings and side dishes on the table.

    "While I did learn how to do the proper one from my formal training, I learnt this particr soba soup base from him." Lynn shared with a blush and added that she did improve on it too.

    However, there was something that Lynn had not revealed to the whole group. Being able to eat soba noodles with Jin on New Year''s Eve also had a distinctive meaning.

    "Soba ni iru."

    Roughly tranted to ''I''ll be there at your side''. Lynn started to understand the meaning of family from Jin, and she hoped by eating with soba with the family she had forged through blood and sweat, they could be near each other forever regardless of the circumstance.

    "Now that you mention it, I do feel the family kind of taste." Qiu Yue teased Lynn a bit and finally revealed that her parents had flown for an overseas trip without her. "They kept having the impression that I am staying over with my boyfriend, so they decided not to interfere much."

    Obviously, when Lynn heard it, everyone on the table could hear the metaldle crack under pressure. In turn, Qiu Yue quickly turned her tune and tried not to offend the chef of the night. She remembered that they agreed to have their little game of chasing after Jin but that the dinner table was supposed to be off limits zone.

    Yet the issue was that both of them had secretly yed the game at the dinner table, so Lynn pretended to be magnanimous and decided to back off and not pursue the matter.

    Needless to say, Jin continued to be as ignorant to their advances as usual and proceeded to tell them about the current situation they were facing. (Despite the constant smirking of a certain foxy guy.)

    Milk also reported on how the new fully fledged demon exorcists were preparing as much as possible for their uing expedition and even told Jin about the Ghost Armourer.

    "Honestly, I cannot be bothered to find something that wishes to hide. It means that that Ghost Armourer you talked of, is not proud of his own goods." Kraft previously received Milk''s request and openly objected to searching as he scooped himself another bowl of piping hot noodles.

    "Still, I believe it''s a good angle to improve the store for the new year. I will attempt to get hold of Hou Fei and see if he knows anything about the Ghost Armourer. Of course, priorities wise, this is not a pertinent issue." Jin thanked Milk for the additional info.

    Next Yun shared an update from the System about two animal people tribes deciding not to sign anything and return to their vige. The rest who stayed had been given individual inds near to rtively near to each other. "I have also provided them with a week''s worth of supply as a pity gift. They had been made aware of the consequences yet decided to proceed anyway, so I hope you n to stand by your decision of punishing them, Jin."

    "No doubts about that, I sure will," Jin replied affirmatively before asking how Peppers was.

    "Ayse fixed me up rather quickly, though I am still a bit sore that I could not damage the Porkcupine. I still believe, credit should be given to me for weakening him, especially when that Avatar of whatever fire could kill it in a few blows." Peppers argued and everyone sarcastically praised her, provoking her into a semi rage mode until Milk soothed her down between her bosoms.

    As the dining table updates began to slow down, Zeru decided to raise his own issue up.

    "While I understand it''s all smiles andughter at the end of the year, I feel that I have issues to report about the Farming World."

 Chapter 672 Zerus Farming World Repor

    <h4>Chapter 672 Zeru''s Farming World Repor</h4>

    "Has the situation turned for the worst?" Jin asked, and Zeru shook his head calmly.

    "Not at the moment. However, we have received warnings from both the Southern Stars and Western Skies organisations about increased activities. More locations like demon rats hideout and training cave camps had been discovered and marked. The mousefolks had also been very sessful in confirming the information too, and upon verification, the System updated the existing map of the Northern Area." Zeru started his reporting while everyone continued to listen and eat at the same time.

    "Gold also stated that more and more fake hideouts have started showing up. Despite our progress, the northern area has yet to be fully mapped. In conclusion, we still don''t have a full grasp on the extent of the rats'' control."

    "I do not mind helping out with the mapping. Now that I know Ayse''s mana controlling vest is working, the pain shouldn''t be as bad as before." Peppers surprisingly volunteered for the mission, but everyone knew what her hidden motivation was.

    "Were you nning on bombing the cave hideouts?" Jin asked tantly, and Peppers immediately nodded her head. "You do understand they are CAVE hideouts, right? sting the entrance does not mean much against the rats. They can burrow themselves out of the debris. Not everything is about the extent of the explosion."

    However, Peppersughed in the face of Jin''s logic: "Ha ha ha! Have you forgotten that I am the mighty Demonic Queen Sage? I have magic beyond yourprehension." Peppers smirked as if she had some ultimate trick under her sleeve.

    "Okay, colour me curious. What is your n?" Jin ced his chopsticks down and decided to listen intently to Peppers'' proposition.

    "I am not telling you just yet! It''s a very grand secret... but I might be willing to give you a hint if you hand me that delicious looking chicken cutlet that was specially made just for you by Big Sis Lynn." Peppers hungrily eyed her would-be prize.

    "What?! I already gave you mine! Don''t be such a glutton when you had a total of two cutlets!" Milk eximed, but Peppers was adamant about it.

    "She got frustrated by the fact that her explosive magic wasn''t effective against the Father Porkcupine. After that, she had spent her time further researching into your world''s technology during her recovery. Upon learning the capability of a bunker buster bomb, she had been experimenting on how to replicate it." Yun revealed in lieu of the System as she obviously did not want Peppers to win an additional chicken cutlet.

    "Why, Yun? Why betray me like this!!!!" Peppers pouted, but Jin decided to reciprocate a little by giving her half of his. Despite her fickle childish ways, she nevertheless possessed one of the highest offensive stats among his betors.

    "Aside from the increased sightings of demon rat hideouts, Sebastia who''s still lurking in the capital has also reported a significant increase in production from the rat''s war machinery. It looks like even the mostpliant of humans had been drafted to work for the Demon Rats."

    "You mean forced into very. Just call it for what it is. They are being given little to nopensation for what they do. It will be surprising if they get more than the bare minimum to eat. There is no way you can call that work." Qiu Yue responded, but Zeru continued his reporting.

    "In more pleasant news, the Northern Bulwark under General Matt Umiterus has begun to receive some aid quietly from the various governments and organisations. The supply route from the sea port and the town of Wecha had also been secured with various guard posts, giving the people who escaped, some form of hope."

    "That''s indeed some good news. Speaking about escaping, any idea on how the other towns are faring?"

    "After Peppers'' disy of power wiping several battalions in various towns, the Northern Bulwark has decided to use that as the momentum to incite rebellions in other towns. Some were sessful, but not many were quick to act. For the towns who have decided to proceed with the rebellion, the Dark Temrs assisted with much valour along with the mousefolks that I trained. We assisted approximately 600+ people out of the towns."

    "System will not deny the mousefolks'' efforts. Betor Zeru has trained them exceptionally well." The System chimed in on the conversation with its own opinion before Yun proceeded to continue for it.

    "ording to the System, the tactics the mousefolks deployed had been simple, but the execution was wless, allowing them to break into their storehouses and steal tons of food, raw material and even gold."

    "However, knowing our Boss, we understand that such results are not eptable unless we also managed to save those who were willing, given that we had the resources to do more. Therefore, with an expandedwork of Southern Skies spies, the Jacks lead by Gold and Silver have performed multiple sabotages in those towns by kidnapping families on a daily basis. The Demon Rats barracks also suffered from a varying degree of arson attacks."

    "That''s rather drastic but effective." Jin thought out loud, but Kraft added that it was standard procedures during wartime.

    "We can''t exactly y fair when we need manpower," Kraft noted as he felt the itch to contribute. "Besides, I believe the dramatic boost in military production is because they want to have an overwhelming force to go against the town of Wecha. Set an example to the remaining humans that the rebels can be crushed easily. If they seed, it would significantly break the morale of the rest of the towns, especially since all these sabotages and uprisings are happening."

    "Hmmm, if that''s the case, we can''t let that happen. How fortified is the town of Wecha? Do we need to provide them assistance in shoring up their defences?" Qiu Yue asked as the one in charge of construction and development.

    "Standard defences, nothing as fancy as what we have at our Dungeon City Fortress," Zeru replied.

    "System, are you able to create a predictive analysis on the uing invasion based on the limited amount of data?" Jin asked, and the System emphasised the need for Peppers to perform her scans to have a rough idea of the whole situation. "As of now, any analysis would be moot due to a severeck of information." The System stated.

    "Alright, we need to have some contingencies and a rough n on how to proceed with this. Qiu Yue, can I trouble you with this? You are a better strategistpared to me." Jin asked, and Qiu Yue was more than happy to take over the workload.

    "Judging from the estimated size and scale, we probably need to create another Raid instance. But as for the rest, you can leave it to me. I was getting bored with handling the finer details of the dungeon city fortress. It''s already more or less imprable, and Moloch can follow up with the minor stuff since he has learnt quite a lot from me... not to mention he is the ''mayor'' of the city. He''s got to pull his own weight once in a while hahah!" Qiu Yue joked.

    "I will start sourcing and setting aside food supplies for the uing war. With the increased number of animal people on deck, we should be able to create a proper food and supplies reinforcement n." Lynn took the initiative and Jin was impressed by her foresight.

    "But for now, let''s have dessert." Lynn beckoned Yun and Qiu Yue to follow her back to the kitchen. Peppers tagged along tooбн after all, that is where the food awaited.

 Chapter 673 New Year Eves Dinner - Final

    <h4>Chapter 673 New Year Eve''s Dinner - Final</h4>

    The end of the year was mostly uneventful aside from the long chats which Jin appreciated. The betors stayed, and each shared a story or two of their past. It had been a bit awkward initially, especially since this was the first time in a long while that Jin stayed with the entire group to chat rather than get caught up by his work.

    The System Users were most intrigued about Kraft''s story about how Rex got betrayed by his Panda Lord Zhou Yu despite his utmost loyalty. The foxes, including Pei, had also briefly shared their lives and their own stories which led them to be servants of Kraft.

    (Although Kraft kept insisting that they werepanions and not servants, the majority imed otherwise except for Kiyu. Still, from the tone of their usation, it was clear that only Pei believed this to be the actual case.)

    As for the master of the houseбн he didn''t have anything worthwhile to share since his life turned for the better (or worse?) after he met with the System. Speaking of which, he had been so busy that he had turned down a lot of his friends'' catch ups and meetings.

    "Wait, so that means you never met up with Yong Heng and Guo Zhong ever since? Hard to believe considering how close you guys used to be." Qiu Yue, the only one who had been part of Jin''s past before he turned into a dungeon supplier, was a little concerned that his new work focused lifestyle may potentially erode his existing friendships.

    "Ah...sorta. I did message the two of them recently, but I just told them that I was in some dead end job, slogging like a bull for thepany. (Technically true) And, they kind of understood my situation." Jin would have loved to reconnect with them, but he did not know how to convey the message to his friends as showing them the dungeon supplier store would definitely expose him to a lot of lies.

    Meeting up with Qiu Yue had led him into eventually making her a Sub System User, but he could not picture doing the same do his buddies...

    "Mmm, actually, that''s the problem with me too. I never really revealed much to the others in my social circle. The only exception is my previous supervisor, who did not really know me despite the close working rtionship we had." Qiu Yue affirmed Jin''s predicament. "I even told my parents that it waspulsory to work in thepany''s campus, given the nature of the work."

    "Hahaha! Nature of the work. That is undoubtedly true." Lynn chuckled. "At the rate, we are going, we can be considered as a full blown inter world mercenarypany rather than just assistants to a dungeon supplier store."

    "I don''t think that''s a goodparison. Mercenaries don''t usually earn the moh you do by selling top quality food, nor do they spend it doing various levels of research. Let''s not even start with the city." Kraft chose to put in his two cents. "Evenpanies and organisations do not wield that much influence and power over these many people unless you are talking about the top 1% multinationalpanies, JODE or JOME."

    "I guess in terms of size, we are more akin to JOME. They literally own the Vatican city and have armies of exorcists at their disposal. From what I know, I don''t think JODE officially even owns a city despite their overwhelming influence in the south eastern regions." Jinmented.

    "Heh! I think we are missing the most apparent winners since the past. We have yet to include the Royal Zodiac ns into the picture." Yun chipped in her opinion to the matter.

    "And I am not talking about just the Zodiac ns. The Japanese Seven God ns, The European Astro Zodiac ns and even the American Tarot Groups are in the same category. They are the people that controlled thosepanies and organisations." Yun was explicitly hinting Jin to be one of such groups.

    "Who cares about all this stuff?! Let''s start the countdown in the Dungeon Cave Town and throw some fireworks out!" Peppers insisted, and Kraft began to make a mental count in his head.

    "Isn''t it a bit early for that? It should just be evening at the Dungeon Cave Town around now? Also why not the Dungeon Fortress City?" Kraft was curious.

    "Because I cannot see the sky in the Dungeon Fortress City, duh!" Peppers rolled her eyes at the obvious. "Why ignite fireworks if there is no sky to fire upon?"

    "Then, what are we still waiting for? Let''s scare the people there!" Jin said in such an impromptu manner that the others joined in a heartbeat. (Naturally, Peppers was dying inside with much anticipation at the chance that her whim may turn into fruition.)

    When they teleported into the adventurer''s guild, the first person they saw was Zhi Nu, the Weaver Girl turned Guild Manager ordering some goblin merchants to ce the food trays for the uing buffet. "Boss! Thanks for the treat! The preparations are almostplete and if you wish to partake on any food, do not hesitate!" Zhi Nu waved excitedly at Jin and the other Betors.

    Zhi Nu had invited every single merchant under Jin''smand as well as a few very prominent merchants. She had decided to use this buffet dinner as a way to earn some new connections. And even if that endeavour ended unsessfully, at the very least, Jin''s Orc and Goblin merchants would enjoy it. A ssic win-win.

    "Hahah! No need, Zhi Nu. We already had our dinner but -HEY PEPPERS NO ICE CREAM! Milk, please drag that kid back in line or no fireworks for her." Jin spoke out loud, but at the same time, Kraft decided to follow Peppers'' example bymanding his foxes to snatch several boxes of ice cream away.

    Jin had no idea how the foxes were managing to bnce those boxes, and the only silver lining was that Peppers was not as greedy as Kraft. The Dark Elves in their Night Foxes outfit however decided to pretend not to see the crime. They all knew better than to foolishly try andpete against the insanely strong individual foxes.

    "Sorry, Jin. I may hate Kraft, but I do not dislike ice cream!" Pei apologised coyly as she transformed into a fox form and stole a box away, leaving Jin somewhat speechless.

    "Don''t worry, we have at least three more crates." Zhi Nu telepathically whispered to Jin before acting furious that the two betors were acting like this.

    Surprisingly, Kraft stopped that mischevious behaviour after running out of the adventurer''s guild as he waited patiently outside on top of Itori, the giant white fox with his loot. "Come, I shall bring all of you to the nearest mountain peak and we can shoot our fireworks over there." Kraft offered with an ice popsicle in his mouth. Jin knew better than to argue with the egotistical fox leader.

    Soon after, the whole gang was up on a cliffside area with the perfect view over the Dungeon Cave Town right beneath them. The town had changed drastically since Jinst saw it.

    The main reason being the time difference between worlds.

    From the once medium size adventurer camp, it had turned into a proper town with various facilities. And while they did not officially have a mayor, Zhi Nu had perfectly fulfilled the role by taking care of everything. The board ofmittee under her were also Jin''s underlings, and thus the town was broadly speaking, his second uing city.

    "No wonder, the profit is steadily rising." Jin thought to himself before looking at his watch. It was exactly five minutes before the start of the new year in Jin''s world, and the betors began to weave their magic spells as Peppers proposed a fireworkpetition with Yun being the judge.

    Even Zeru had decided to join in the fun by creating a firework with his chi. Knowing that they werecking in the chi department to win against the betors, Qiu Yue and Lynn had decided to pin their hopes on Jin.

    "What, why me?!" Jin asked, and they each took his hand and demanded to see a specific type of firework. "Because you made us worry earlier this afternoon! So do some work and win thepetition!" The two girls shouted in unison and in less than a few seconds, Yun announced the start of thepetition.

    Happy New Year.

 Chapter 674 A Drop In Priority

    <h4>Chapter 674 A Drop In Priority</h4>

    "Had a good feast?" Jin asked the following day. The dungeon supplier was surprised at how well rested the space crew seemed to be. In reality, all of those fellows had still been drunk not too long ago from all the partying. Fortunately, the System had sent over Orc Mages to cast a spell which could remove the hangover in an instant. (No wonder the Orcs could be such heavy drinkers.)

    "Fantastic," Rei mumbled as he was typing furiously on his workptop, tidying up a few paragraphs on his spreadsheet before showing it to Jin.

    "Sorry, I know this meeting is supposed to be about the timeline for finding the Titan, but I really need to show you this. I''ve already upheld my side of the bargain. I need to ask you to do the same." Rei presented Jin with his movie studio''s finances and the bnce sheet for the previous year.

    To Jin, it was mostly a random assortment of numbers. As a former engineer major, he had no idea how to correctly extrapte the data presented.

    "Studio Mashi''s human resources managed to email me this in confidence. Basically, if they do not receive any money by this week, they have no other choice but to close at least half the studio down." Rei said seriously.

    "System, please take a look at this, I don''t have an ountant to interpret all these. Is it really as bad as Rei makes it out to be?" Jin asked, and the System started crunching the numbers.

    "While System is able to provide statistical reports and a simple predictive analysis of the studio''s expenses, it is not capable of providing urate advice as per this context given that is it not under the System''s control. The System also currently does not have anyone expert enough to make such advice unless User creates one as discussed previously." The System stated that without full control over the movie studio, it would not be providing services rted to them.

    "I will just take the expenses report for now." Jin had no intention of acquiring yet another liability without assessing the risk. Reacting to that thought, the System showed various graphs and charts which left everyone in the conference room with dumb expressions.

    "Wait a minute, I think I might have someone who can analyse all of these for me." Jin took his phone out and looked through his contacts.

    "Ah, Jin. Superb timing. I had nned to contact you in a bit myself. Oh, by the way, happy new year to you." ire picked up the call and wished Jin well.

    "Happy new year to you too, ire. How can I help you?"

    "This morning I received confirmation for the animalsing your way from Shenzhen''s Cultivation Zoo. I shall send you a manifest of all the animals so you can at least prepare the necessary space. I have also already conducted interviews of the staff who wish to work for your zoo. I will attach the list together with the manifest."

    "Oh dear, I totally forgot about the cultivation zoo. Sorry, I was too busy settling the new uing dungeon instances." Jin lied.

    "No worries. The actual shipments of animals have yet to arrive after Grandma Yuan''s donation to the World Wildlife Federation. For now, it''s just the list."

    "I see, then I will make it a priority to look at the animal manifest as well as the selected interviewees. Is it very urgent or will it be enough if I get it done by next week?"

    "I see no problem with that. Anyways, what''s the problem you are having? It''s rare for you to callбн unless you need a favour."

    "It pains me to admit, but unfortunately, this time''s no different. I have a request to make. You are among the few who know a little about my special powers, so you may not be too surprised about what I am about to ask. But first are you by any chance skilled in ounting?"

    "I do have a basic degree in ounting and sometimes help to break down such information for Grandma Yuan. Why? Do you need help filing this year''s taxes?" ire wondered what Jin was so cryptic about.

    "No, it''s something entirely different, but I require an ountant''s input. My erm usual ountant refuses to cooperate. Do you have time to drop by and take a look? If I need to, I can payбн?" Jin requested for her help politely, but ireughed.

    "I doubt you can afford my hourly sry, nevertheless I wille around in the evening and see what I can do. Besides, I do need to discuss some additional things with you about the JODE administration centre and we perhaps we can use the time to have an in depth discussion on the cultivation zoo instance."

    "I understand that your main iees from your instances, but please be aware that those cannot fail no matter the cost. It would smear Grandma Yuan''s reputation." ire''s tone turned strict and demanding.

    "Thank you, Ms ire. Be seeing you." Jin swallowed hard, finished his call and told Rei to wait till evening for the review of his situation.

    "Back to the topic at hand. I understand that all of you, especially Rei, have some grievances on how to proceed in regards to the Titan. And upon discussion with my betors about the store''s current predicament, I havee to the conclusion that I might need to put this mission at a lower priority." Jin''s announcement came as a big shock to the entire space crew who had been eager to go out.

    "What, then does that mean our work is futile?" Rei was the first to seek answers.

    "No. I am going to let you guys do it at your own pace. You mentioned how our Salvaging Golems still have a lot of ws left, and you are only epting the goblin pilots to board them because they can resurrect and I insisted on proceeding."

    "So, I want you to start the salvaging operation and collect all the debris while improving the Salvaging Golems. When I say all, I mean every single little bit you can find no matter how minor it seems. Everything is useful to the System, even junk." Jin emphasised.

    "If you need some context of why the sudden change in priority, the Dungeon Core Barrier holding the Dungeon City Fortress from invasion will be down in a few days time. We might even be asking Moloch to drop the shield earlier for the Dungeon Core to gain some additional energy for an impromptu barrier." Jin exined.

    Jin had received information that The Dungeon World actually rewarded the premature abandonment of the ''newbie'' barrier. Upon releasing the current one, the Dungeon Core would be capable of deploying a city wide barrier that couldst upwards of ten minutes after the city had been officially established.

    However, Moloch stated that the strength of the barrier varied and was proportional to the remaining number of days they would have had. He estimated that the city wide barrier could at least fend off an ultimate area of effect attack by King Baal and that should be sufficient for the city to have a fighting chance against his former master''s army.

    "So, don''t be disheartened. The space project will go on. The System and I still need that Titan." Jin reiterated.

 Chapter 675 A Big Mistake

    <h4>Chapter 675 A Big Mistake</h4>

    ire arrived earlier than expected at the store, allowing both Rei and Jin to reconvene once again in the conference room instance. Rei handed ire the documents to take a look at Studio Mashi''s expenditure records, and she was quite shocked at what she was looking at.

    "Isn''t this one of the few more popr animation studios in Japan? Are they really in such a dire state?" ire asked. Both men were surprised that Grandma Yuan''s secretary knew a thing or two about the studio. The serious women certainly did not seem the type to watch anime.

    "Let''s say that their previous CEO was not really the cleanest person in the studio. He had been embezzling arge portion of money before he ran away. Not many know about the situation since they''ve done their best to cover it up. I happen to have a connection there, and he begged me to help the studio. They''ve been struggling ever since, and the movie I am making is currently the only project they are working on and is somewhat their only lifeline."

    "So you''re expanding into movies now, Jin? That is a very risky move to y, even more so considering that this one''s an overseas studio." ire warned as she took some time to study the numbers after taking a brief. Unsurprisingly, ire confirmed that the studio was bound to fail without a LOT of additional budgeting in.

    "I am not too sure about the Japanesews with regards to overseas investment, but saving this studio is nigh impossible. Even if you inject in extra cash, it''s less than certain that you will break even. You can forget about seeing any profit from it unless the uing movie that Rei is mentioning will be a multimillion dor hit. And I''m talking USD, not yuan or yen. It is very highly likely that you will experience a loss." ire concluded.

    "What about if I hypothetically create a movie studio and hire those peeps instead?" Jin asked

    ire shrugged at that particr idea but humoured him nheless: "I still can''t see you incur anything but losses. Nevertheless, that way you won''t have to worry that they waste the money and you will have control over the studio. Whatever the case, it''s not your responsibility to save any random Tom, Dick and erm in this case, Sato-san from their dying business. If you n on doing that, I can only conclude that Grandma Yuan had misced her faith in you as someone unfit to make sound business decisions."

    Rei felt devastated by the sound of her analysis.

    "Rei, are you able to get Studio Mashi to send over the iplete work? Maybe we can still finish from there and publish it ourselves?" Jin suggested yet the manga artist wasn''t on board.

    "I am choosing Studio Mashi because of their prestige in details and plot as well as their dedication toplete the project. I am not going to hand it over it to some Tom, Dick and in this case, Xiao Ming toplete their work." Rei was fully adamant on it.

    "Then my advice to you, Jin, is to not take this deal. You are walking in a financial death trap because of your friend. Let me repeat that you have no obligation to fulfil his request." ire did not know the whole situation, but she had been through enough to see that trying to save Studio Mashi would be a big mistake.

    Contrary to her appearance, she did watch a few of their movies while younger and loved their characters. She would definitely be sad to know that the studio might have to close down due to bad internal office politics. However, that did not mean she would allow Jin to make a wrong business decision to save it.

    "Unfortunately, I do owe him an obligation to save the studio, and that is why I also need your help." Jin became extremely shameless when asking for ire''s help.

    "Why should I? I have enough on my te as is. My only helping you are limited to things connected to Grandma Yuan. This does not extend to helping you solve the problems of your friends." ire replied until Jin dangled his trump card in front of her.

    "In return, I can let you learn more about the System. Perhaps it can enhance your skills and traits too." Jin said out loud, and ire was dumbfounded. How could he offer something like that so casually to an outsider?

    "Watch your words. I have no idea what you are talking about." ire pretended not to hear it until Jin had rified the white elephant in the room.

    "He is already under the influence of the System, and to be honest, he isn''t a friend. More of a colleague." Jin did not say much, especially when ''controlling'' isn''t the best of words to convince someone to join them.

    "What? But judging from the conversation we had, he seemed to be in a different profession from you. Movie directing? Some animation artist?" ire was getting frustrated that someone that simple was able to be exposed to the System. Why not her?

    "I am a Manga Artist, and I actually hailed from another world. You know like those transmigration fantasies?" Rei decided to speak the truth out and instead, incurred the opposite effect. ire could not make any sense from this. Was this just some sort of out of season April Fool''s joke or was this after all an borate plot to get her to join Jin?

    "Look. Things are really that simple. He''s truly from another world and simply a typical engineer from his original world. Not some magic wielding super crazy powerful cultivator or that sort."

    "... Fine. Show me his creations, and I''ll believe you." ire folded her arms, wanting some proof. "You imed that you owe him an obligation, which indicates that he must have already created something for you in return." ire''s demand made Jin slightly cautious.

    "You see, if we show you his works, it will expose even more things about this particr System I have. Until you give me your word and sign a temporary contract, I am not allowed to give you any more information." Jin tried to exin kindly as he had vastly underestimated ire''s reaction.

    The secretary sighed as she picked up the just materialised temporary contract and read the terms briefly. She quickly realised that there were many underlying meanings to the contract''s term.

    "I see this contract has been vetted by a well versedwyer. There''s a lot of double meanings in the terms despite its outward simplicity." Even if that was the case, she was innately and insanely curious about this particr System that Jin was hiding.

    Grandma Yuan had always kept a mysterious fa?ade whenever this topic was breached, and it always made ire feel left out when Yuan and Jin talked about it. She desired to know what made the System so special that it could have enabled a boy with seemingly normal qualifications to be so outstanding in a mere matter of months.

    "Fine, I will sign but only on the condition that you limit this to today. If you presumably can really brainwash me, then I will ept the specified consequences." ire demanded, so Jin overwrote the time limit on the contract limiting it to midnight of January 1st. Upon signing, ire felt that something entered past her entire body as if something took a long look into her soul.

 Chapter 676 One Day Contrac

    <h4>Chapter 676 One Day Contrac</h4>

    "What is this?" ire eximed when she saw the Salvaging Golem, as well as a number of Orcs and Goblins in the space crew team,id down their work to greet the three of them. "Is this another one of your Dungeon Instances? Why are the monsters working as if they were real?"

    "They are real. Don''t hurt their feelings." Rei defended his colleagues as they went further in towards the workshop hangar. There they presented the two Salvaging Golems which were currently being moved into the C-130 Space Explorer for the space salvage mission. ire could notprehend what was going on and toplicate things, Rei had asked one of the gobs, Deckerhand to pilot the Salvaging Golem and give their guest a bit of a ...demonstration.

    Deckerhand happily answered the call for a demonstration in a moment''s notice and took the opportunity to show off some magic by flying towards the Salvaging Golem unit. The other goblin pilots and engineers then assisted Deckerhand to unlock the golem from its mobile pod which was used to transport it to the C-130 Space Explorer.

    With some whizzing and steaming out of the golem, it subsequently came to life and walked out of the mobile pod as if it was perfectly natural. When it proceeded towards ire, she could see the golem moving very fluidly, indicating no wasted movement, nor bnce problems which still gued their world''s current field of robotics. Next Deckerhand showed off the various modalities like the power cutter and skillfully cut a piece of scrap metals into two with ease.

    She was even able to interact with the pilot within the golem, and it once again assured her that this was no dungeon instance. All this while, she had assumed that Jin had been using some highly scripted AI for his dungeons, probably somehow gotten from this mysterious system.

    This, however, entirely destroyed her conception of the dungeon supplier.

    "I told you he''s an engineer. Just not the same kind we have here on our Earth." Jin thought ire would be amazed by the invention of the technology for a Salvaging Golem which was undoubtedly ahead of their world''s mechatronics. He did not realise that she was in disbelief because of him.

    After receiving a ss of water and calming down a bit, Rei and Jin subsequently gave her a brief summary of how they agreed upon to the obligation that the dungeon supplier had mentioned.

    "I see, so in return for these golems, you have to make sure his movie studio is running smoothly or at least able to operate long enough to get the movie published," ire asked, and they both nodded their heads.

    "The System can aid you in financial analysis and prediction until the end of the day as per contract," Jin responded.

    "You do know that there are other people who are more capable of making this kind of decision than me?" ire inquired.

    "That may be, but do you think they will share your concern for my business? They won''t understand how my business operates, leading them to underestimate our abilities. I need someone who won''t make this kind of mistake!" Jin answered, hoping to make ire feel important.

    "Hmph. I am concerned because you are dealing with Grandma Yuan''s responsibilities. Not because I am genuinely concerned about you." ire stated while looking him into his eyes. However, she had already signed the contract, and it would be too much of a shame to just leave without doing anything. Hence she asked Jin where she should do the calctions.

    "Demon Exorcist ire, pass User yourptop." The System''s voice suddenly boomed, scaring ire for a moment and causing her to enter into a defensive stance.

    "Oh yeah, I totally forgot that you are a Demon Exorcist Instructor as well," Jin mumbled to himself as he realised that in case he was able to recruit ire over to his side even if it was periodical. He wouldn''t just get someone proficient with finances but also meant the store would have additional firepower to their arsenal even though he did not know what she was capable of.

    "System will bestow Demon Exorcist ire with the abilities of the Financing Sub System for a duration of two hours. After which, the System will cut your connection to the Sub System and terminate your contract by proceeding with the brainwashing." The System announced, and Jin was surprised that the ultimate cheapskate was actually friendly enough to allow ire to test out a new Sub System.

    "Fine by me. Am I correct to assume that this is something simr to a trial run, which could decide whether I am able to enter the System''s good grace?" ire asked out loud since she was unsure where to look for an answer.

    "Affirmative. Should Demon Exorcist ire be able to find an appropriate solution with the help of the Sub System given to you, considerations will be given for your candidacy as a User for the Financing Sub System." The System responded and immediately, ire passed theptop to Jin.

    All Jin had to do was to ce his phone on theptop. A slight bluish glow emanated through the circuits of the electronic device before he returned it to ire. She decided to open it while standing, but suddenly a flow of information zoomed past her, seemingly giving her all the supposed insights upon the analytical predictions the System had made.

    In an instant, ire demanded a chair and a table to start working. Both of them lead her to the workshop where she unhesitatingly pushed an entire pile of working prototypes to the ground and started furiously typing on theptop. (The Orcs nearly cried when their precious delicate prototypes toppled off the floor.)

    While her financial knowledge had been a tad rusty, theptop that she was using took care of that. It gave her the ability to work out all the different possibilities and patterns Studio Mashi was able to undertake.

    "Looks like the System had all the tools, butcked the person to correctly utilise it." Rei deduced the current situation and Jin felt the same way as well. It did previously stated that the knowledge that the System held onto were bountiful, considering the Panda n used to a trading conglomerate. The only thing itcked was probably the financial understanding of the current modern world.

    With ire as the bridge between the System and its unhinged ess of the inte (including the dark web), she was able to create various models to understand and potentially rescue Studio Mashi from its would-be fate of bankruptcy. The two males were simply in awe at how fast ire was.

    All those movies portraying hacking by just pushing randomly on some keys on the keyboard would pale in shame to what she was able to do. Not even 15 minutester, ire hade up with a solution.

    "It''s borderline illegal in my opinion and ording to the Sub System... but it will work. Even the local and Japanese authorities should not be able to find out about it so soon. However, in order to make this n work without too much hassle while maintaining the studio''s reliability... we have to certain decisions quickly." ire took a deep breath before dering.

    "I need Rei to be the President of Studio Mashi."

 Chapter 677 Financing Sub System Tryou

    <h4>Chapter 677 Financing Sub System Tryou</h4>

    "Excuse me, WHAT?!" Rei was totally confused by ire''s sudden deration.

    "I have run various mathematical models using the Financing Sub System, and that is the most promising solution I coulde up with. Now I also understand why the System gave me only two hours. Looks like it knows what to do, just that, it needed someone like me to verify its methods." ire stated as she moved the chair back a little and presented the predictive analysis to Rei and Jin.

    While Rei had no idea what was going on, Jin had grasped a basic understanding of the whole model in front of him. (After all, studying software engineering in university would be impossible without knowledge on statistical models.)

    "How could the mathematical model be an upward trend? I thought the System projected significant losses when it took into ount the movie and the expenses along with it? Wait a minute, where did all these stockse from? I don''t remember seeing them in any expenditure report when Ist looked at it." Jin eximed as he strained his eyes a little further down the report, and ireughed.

    "The Financing Sub System is totally a cheat. It managed to salvage anything with regards to Studio Mashi in mere seconds. So I coted public expenditure reports from the Japanese authorities and private transactions done by the previous bigwigs in the studio." ire praised the tool for being the next essential thing needed for financial espionage.

    If it evernded in the wrong hands, whoever held it could be stupidly rich or even destroy the world. She now understood the power and responsibility of possessing the Financing Sub System and why the System would go to drastic lengths to include a brainwash use to remove the memory of using the Sub System.

    The definition of rags to riches was extremely evident in this case, and ire assumed that Jin must have had this Sub System to maintain the expanses he incurred building the Tree Mall and such.

    "Huh, no. Today is the first time I ever heard about such a thing like the Financing Sub System existing." Jin replied honestly to ire and told her that all of those were through hard work and determination (Naturally, with quite a bit of the higher powers), causing her to widen her eyes.

    "Then, how did you afford the Tree Mall? Or those high quality weapons, armour and even food?" She thought that she was being lied to, but there was no air of disbelief around him. There was also no reason for him to bluff ire at this point in time.

    "If we manage to get past this ordeal, I promise to show you more."

    "Fine. Anyway,ing back to the topic at hand. I''m now sure that the past CEO of the studio must have realised that his firm was bound to head towards this particr bankruptcy situation. So he started buying out stocks on the market using the studio''s name. Maybe to inste the firm and allow it to weather any economic crisis since stock markets behaved something simr to our seasons. There will always be a hot period and cold period, it just a matter of when." ire began exining.

    "I think he had made the buying of stocks conspicuous enough to show itself if one had decided to dig for it. But at the same time, it was hiding the intention in in sight so no one would misuse the stocks that were bought under Studio Mashi''s name."

    "So, I assume you want me to be the President or CEO of Studio Mashi in order to have ess and authorisation to such funds?" Rei questioned, and she nodded her head. It was the few ways to ensure that the studio had cash.

    "Considering that Rei was their one and only big time investor in recent times and you have been working closely with them for all this time, I see no qualms about you trying to get the position."

    "Feel free to mention that you are personal friends with a secret investor who will temporarily lift them out of the ''poverty'' stage. It is far better to use you as the intermediary than having Jin as an outsider try to control it. Thews can get a bit iffy when it crosses national borders." ire exined.

    "But I have no money left, and I don''t think Jin has the financial capability to buy over the studio." Rei reiterated.

    "Yeah, and judging on how much they need for their project and expenses ... at most I can only finance the first month or so without breaking into my reserves. Still, I would-"

    "What are you talking about? Your financial profile is in an absolute mess. Terrible. Chaotic or if you allow me to be blunt for a momentpletely fucked up. It''s a blessing in disguise for you to have been able to survive up till now and earn a profit. (If only she knew how much of a cut the System itself tookбн) You are in dire need of someone to take care of your money properly." ire scolded Jin, and her words pierced straight into his heart.

    "You might be a terrific dungeon supplier with the power of the System at your side and maybe a decent boss -I don''t know, since I have yet to interact with you on a daily basis. But it looks like the myth is true. Every kind hearted boss is a piss poor boss." ire said as she adjusted her sses.

    "So, what''s the n if Boss Jin is unable to help me?" Rei questioned, and ire smirked.

    "Remember why I said that I understood the rationale of the System giving me only two hours? In less than a few minutes, the US stock market trading hours will be open, and I have already preset out orders for some stuff."

    "Huh?" Jin could notprehend what was going on.

    "Along with the Financing Sub System, I was given a few shares which the System had in its possession of. Though they were just blue chip shares, I guess it is testing me if I could make a turnover with this."

    "No, I meantбнdo you y the stock market on a regr basis or was this because the Financing Sub System gave you such abilities to do that?" Jin questioned.

    "Don''t you know? I am not just a Demon Exorcist Instructor and secretary to Grandma Yuan. I was an expert in asset and equity management for international banks, done a double degree for business and ounting. Sorry that I lied to you previously since I need to find out your intention." ire was not apologetic a single bit as she stared at theptop screen.

    "Oh, and I learned the ways of the stock market myself. Didn''t I tell you, you can''t possibly afford me? So, count yourself lucky that I decided not to charge you for any of this as thanks for letting me be exposed to the System." ire replied as she waited for the stock market to open in a few moments.

    When the trading hours were opened, a single button on herptop allowed her to start the selling of her blue chip shares with the aid of the Sub System.

 Chapter 678 Black Stock Marke

    <h4>Chapter 678 ck Stock Marke</h4>

    Clicks and beeps from theptop were filling the room. The screen was full of moving graphs, and ire was switching between various windowed applications to maximise her efficiency in flipping the blue chip shares.

    Unlike usual corporate banks who had operators and dealers to sell the stock, the Sub System itself eliminated the middlemen functioning as a stockbroker.

    It initially seemed inconceivable, especially since the security, flow of the money and shares were tightly regted, but most people might not consider that there was a ck market even for the stock market. (or had knowledge of its existence.)

    Those blue chip shares might not mean much in the normal market since they were mostly associated with smallerpanies. However, its a totally different story on the ck stock market. The blue chips were ironically the shares of famous public multinationalpanies, and that meant one blue chip could potentially go up for millions per share.

    It should be noted that ire had been limited to essing their own world''s ck market. The Sub System had yet to release the rights for her to participate in the interworld stock market or, potentially even more lucrative, the interworld''s ck stock market.

    Those stocks were as vtile as a ticking time bomb. One wrong move and it could cause a chain reaction to blow up the participatingpanies in that interworld ck market; making their stocks to plummet while others rise.

    It was seriously not for the weak hearted and many rich corporatepanies who tried to enter that market had been viciously ripped apart by the big sharks.

    Of course, the Financing Sub System would be very cautious before making such moves, but it did not hurt for the System and its counterparts to dream about it.

    "The US ck Stock Market only has an hour and a half for its opening trading hours. The hours are really tight because the impacts from this particr ck market will inadvertently ripple down to the public stock market. Shanghai''s ck Stock Market opens after the US ck Stock Market closes etc. The ck stock markets then rotate around the 12 most economically powerful countries in the world, leaving out one or two for the day." The Financing Sub System stated loudly through theptop to exin to Rei and Jin. (Some of the Goblins and Orcs who were mildly interested in it initially, quickly dissipated after failing to understand what was going on.)

    "The riskier the bet, the more enticing it is. I''ve always heard rumours about the ck Stock Market and how it''s only something for the privileged few. I never considered myself participating in it. Congrattions Jin, it seems without us knowing you have be part of the 0.001%." ire made fun of Jin despite knowing the fact that they entered the ck Stock Market due to the powers of the Financing Sub System. She had obviously seen the state of his finances as soon as she had gotten ess to the Financing Sub System.

    "What? No! I bet the System and Kraft made the ess possible. I clearly don''t have that much reserve. Maybe the System has it? I mean it has been ripping me off for months." Jin did not understand the teasing and tried to deny it while ire continued ridiculing him about it. This multitasking did not affect her focus on the markets, and she still made precise adjustments on the amount to sell and buy. In less than 10 minutes, she had already earned 2 million USD.

    To Jin, this sum was already a lot of money, but ire begged to differ. She considered it far from enough for their ns and continued to push forth buying and selling. Surprisingly, the Sub System not only kept track of her overall sales but also advised her to change her tactics or choose to invest in otherpanies every once in a while.

    "Damn, and here I thought I was cunning enough already," ire spoke unconsciously with a wide smile. She was clearly enjoying this challenge despite the visible beads of sweat rolling down her neck and the furious typing and moving of her mouse.

    Quickly an hour had passed.

    She ultimately made five million USD before she decided to call it off. Rei and Jin had only watched the ''Overall Profit'' number rise and fall and had been in a roller coaster of emotions. Finally, they had the chance to calm their hearts, only to see a few sudden major losses in that one hour.

    They thought that ire was going to lose it all yet to their surprise, the newest candidate for the Financing Sub System exined that it was a bait to throw off her scent. (As if they understood the real meaning of that.)

    After paying the Financing Sub System 20% of the profit to cover its expenses such as the initial blue chips shares and other utilities, they were left with 4 million USD and Rei believed that it should more than enough to tide through for the movie studio.

    "What are you talking about? I am taking a million for myself. Take it as the stock broker''s fees." ire''s smile turned more wicked, making her appear more like Grandma Yuan, yet Jin epted her exorbitant fee.

    "The Financing Sub System rated your capability with a 2.9 out of 5 and qualified you to be a temporary Sub System User. For repeated use of the Financing Sub System in the future, Demon Exorcist ire may have to sign another more permanent contract."

    "So after all that, I get a measly 2.9? This is the first time I received such a bad score ever since university. Damn, your system is strict." ire felt hurt that she was only deemed as above average by the System. She sincerely believed earning 5 million USD would have been a good enough demonstration.

    "While the System is pleased that the Financing Sub System was able to find a suitable candidate, the methods used had been too textbook. It was sessful this time, but there is no guarantee of what will happen if something unexpected arises in the future. System rmends Demon Exorcist ire to learn more tricks."

    "Sigh, fine by me. Anyways, now that we have the money, I shall use the remaining 20 minutes or so to create an offshore shellpany to park the money for you to use. Rei, three million USD should be enough as coteral for the rights to be acting president. Call me if everything works out. Afterwards, I will help you get the shares the previous Studio President had left. Then the money portion should be ounted for, and we will be equally happy." ire informed the two, as she was looking through her newly received contract. (The System had sent it to her via email.)

    Included was a simtion app for a fake ck stock market, allowing her to practice on her skills. Although a little hurt, she acknowledged the problems she had faced during the intense one hour worth of buying and selling. It had been such a rush that she would not forget it anytime soon and ire was looking forward to hopefully experience it again.

    Not to mention, the extra million in her pocket. (No wonder, the System was extremely stingy in letting people use the system.)

 Chapter 679 A Million Dollars

    <h4>Chapter 679 A Million Dors</h4>

    "Is it really wise to let her go off with a million dors just like that?!" Rei questioned tantly right in front of ire and Jin. As the current System User, he was undoubtedly jealous given the amount she was going to keep. Fortunately, the System rified the situation and cleared the air of any animosity.

    "Demon Exorcist ire will not be able to im the one million USD in a single transaction. It will bring up red gs and might cause trouble for her, Grandma Yuan and the User." The System stated, and somehow ire began to reveal a chuckle.

    "Hahaha! Did you really believe I can transfer one million USD into my bank just like that? Maybe it would be possible if I was some big shot or working for the Triads. Unlike you, I don''t have a System. I am just a demon exorcist instructor and secretary to Grandma Yuan. If she says that she is a nobody, then that naturally applies to me too." ire had fun teasing the two males in front of her.

    "Besides, having that much money lying around is bound to alert not just the bank but the secret police too. I do not want them toe after me for no particr reason. So, I have ced that money in a shellpany and put myself on ''their'' payroll. It will write a partial sum for me to withdraw every two months to various bank ounts I own." ire folded her arms.

    "Not to mention, those terrible personal taxes that I''d have to dere after I receive the payout." Her voice was filled with dread, yet it was apparent that ire had the ability to evade those taxes but still decided to pay them. He wondered if there was something that led to ire acting like such aw abiding citizen or if she was just morally obedient.

    "In any case, you should check with Xiong Da if he happens to know any good Japanesewyers that will help facilitate the transfer of rights for Rei." ire shared the next step even though she felt it might be a bit unnecessary.

    Still, it was always better to be overly prepared.

    "At this point, I think they will ept any help thates along their way. Just go through the correct procedure and get yourself some insurance so that everything proceeds smoothly. Don''t forget you are technically an outsider and should continue to act the part of a potential investor despite your rtionship with them." ire added, and Jin agreed to message Xiong Da for Rei. For now, the issue was settled despite the frightening move by ire to acquire 3 million USD in an hour.

    "User, please be aware that while the amount of money was considerable minute in the grand scheme of the ck Stock Market, there were already eyes prying at ire. After thest transaction, the Financing Sub System was ready to forcefully log her out before performing scrambling procedures courtesy of Foxy''s counter tracking techniques from the Abyss Web." The System quietly transmitted its message to Jin''s mind.

    "Is that why you rated her poorly?" Jin questioned as ire still continued to give somest minute advice to Rei. She was obviously over the top after earning that amount of money, and he guessed that she was on an adrenaline rush right now.

    "Affirmative. Demon Exorcist ire does possess some promising skills, but her unkempt aggressiveness might cause the System and User trouble if she does not learn to act more carefully. In the ck Stock Market, System quotes the following saying from a previous member of the System: ''Gambling is like hunting. You need to wait, give it time. For it is time that rules all gambles. Big sess is not something to strive towards. Because people will start to follow you, learn from you, be wary of you and eventually take your prey, your family and ultimately your livelihood!''"

    "But you only gave her a few blue chip shares to begin with. Her turnover was five mil!" Jin pretended tough, but in his mind, he was arguing with the System.

    "Financing Sub System stated that the turnover she made was average. It analysed that there had been otherpanies she could have ced her shares in to flip in the veryst minute." The System replied which made Jin curious as to why it did not advise ire instead.

    "It was a test for ire, and there was no guarantee that the Financing Sub System was totally correct despite its excellent predictive analysis."

    "Because it''s the ck Stock Market? Anything unpredictable can happen?"

    "Correct. Does User recall the September 11 terror attack at the US world trade centre? The European Stocks had been falling steadily for the past few months, but evidently, there were rush buying of shares from thosepanies. The moment the ne crashed, somehow the Europeanpany stocks went up drastically along with the Asian Stocks."

    "While most of the world believed that it was genuinely a terror plot, they never knew that it was all about the money behind the scenes. Spections, with substantial evidence, highly suggested that the attack was nned to target the overwhelming US market."

    "Wow, that''s dirty. Very dirty."

    "Ever since then, the ck Stock Market got evenбнin your saying, ''dirtier''. Majorpanies were secretly sending businessmen on corporate sabotage missions or even terror attacks on a regr ''irregr'' basis. In fact, as part of the revenge plot from the terror attack, the United States was the first to kickstart the financial crisis in 2007 to push everyone down from their high horses."

    "So that is why you have to limit ire using the omnipotent Financing Sub System despite your anti-scrambling procedures. No wonder Kraft who''s literally a godly hacker refuses to use it to make money for my business." Jin thought to himself while he pretended to be on the phone to continue the conversation with the System.

    "Indeed. Especially when User''s store is still too small and unworthy of the trouble it is bound to attract. Besides, User is already a power ma for unlucky encounters. System needs to reduce such possibilities whenever able to." The System noted, and Jin rolled his eyes.

    At that point, his phone vibrated for real, and so he decided to pick up the call.

    "Boss Jin! Ke Loong here. When are we going to discuss the portal instances that we previously talked about? Oh, also Happy New Year to you!" Ke Loong was so overly excited that he practically screaming. Jin needed to put the phone at least 10 centimetres away to continue his call.

    "And I also heard of thatбнpeculiar circumstance that you were forced into by Tiger n Head Yuan Ba." Ke Loong emphasised much on thest part.

    "I understand. If you have the time, I''ll be more than happy to meet youter during dinner. I have some discussion going on right biw, so I''lle after that." Jin promised.

    For a change, it was Ke Loong who agreed to wait for his customer rather than the other way around. This just showed how badly Sea Mesh''s CEO wanted the portal instances to seed.

 Chapter 680 Cultivation Zoos Occupants

    <h4>Chapter 680 Cultivation Zoo''s upants</h4>

    "Jin, firstly thanks for letting me experience the System. It was fu- an eye opener to me. I hope there will be more opportunities like this in the future." ire said as Jin had already teleported Rei back to his Japanese abode to prepare his meeting with the anxious executives in Studio Mashi.

    "No problem. Until that time, I suggest that you y around with the app. I believe the Sub System has many more surprises in store for you." Jin smiled as they changed their conversation topic to the Cultivation Zoo instance.

    Since ire was around, both of them went through the manifest and Jin noticed that most of the animals on it were particrly exotic and not the usual kind of animals that the cultivators would go for. For example, the near extinct Siberian Tigers whose numbers were hovering at less than 50 in the world because of the increased monster sightings.

    "Shouldn''t you give me something moremon? Like normal looking orange tigers? Or some easy to feed monkeys rather than this...Greater Bamboo Lemur? I doubt I am capable of handling such animals in my instance and having a variety of exotic animals will only bring in criticism to the cultivation zoo." Jinmented as he looked further down into the list and also saw a pair of Sumatran Rhinos.

    "What are you talking about? Your instances are so lifelike, it provides exactly what all these animals need to breed, nurture and live! Not to mention, time in the dungeon instances can be manipted, right? So, from my understanding, you will be able to save these animals once again...though you are correct. If the animals do die, your reputation will suffer tremendously." ire gave a slight nod while rubbing her chin a little.

    "What you really want to say is that if I fail, you will haunt me because it will damage Grandma Yuan''s reputation, right? How did you even obtain such animals in the first ce!? I doubt the World Wildlife Federation allows such animals to just be kept in a zoo." Jin eximed his anxiety out.

    "Exactly, but when Grandma Yuan was the one to propose the use of dungeon instances to them for the purpose of breeding the endangered animals, many of the higher ups of the federation were very sceptical...until they saw your instances," ire tried to exin, thinking that the dungeon supplier was informed. Yet, Jin continued to give her a confused expression as if he had no idea how this came about.

    "Huh... Alright. In short, they personally entered your instances and had partaken in all the various types like the battle and service instances before determining that if these much resources were spent to recreate their natural habitat, it was indeed possible to save the endangered animals."

    "At the same time, it will push the limits of cultivation for simliar cultivators with the simr species and perhaps create new cultivation styles in the process."

    "I believe theymunicated that with one of your shop assistants. It must have been ...ermm what''s her name... Ah, Yun. That haughty lookingdy at the bar. She filled them up with the details and even gave them a short tour to the unbuilt cultivation zoo instance." ire tried to recall what was being told to her by the WWF agents.

    "Really? I guess I was too busy for the past few weeks or so to entertain them. If they checked out the cultivation zoo instance I previously allocated and Yun had given them a tour, then everything makes sense." Jin replied, now understanding the gist of the situation.

    "In any case, they were also doing this in hopes of getting Grandma Yuan''s donation," ire revealed the truth about the wildlife organisation''s ulterior motives in allowing Jin''s cultivation zoo instance to be realised.

    "Mainly since Grandma Yuan co-owns a big portion of Shenzhen''s Cultivation Zoo, so her donations guaranteed the continued operation of the WWF in China...or at least southern China." ire continued.

    "Sound to me like getting donations from Grandma Yuan and being able to let the endangered animals strive in my dungeon instance was more of a win-win situation for them rather than for us." Jin didn''t sound too happy about once again being used as the pawn until ire corrected him.

    "Wrong, being able to obtain those animals will bring your dungeon shop up a notch, not to mention if you actually seed in breeding them, it will bring major news and reputation to your ce. High risk, big rewards. This is a long term investment by Grandma Yuan, hoping that you can continue her legacy in supporting the cultivation zoo scene."

    "I still don''t get the reasoning behind her support though." Jin felt perplexed that he was being shoved with an enormous responsibility even though he knew that this was extremely beneficial for him in the long run.

    "While this is System''s pure spection, it''s based on past evidence of past Sub System User Yuan''s behaviour. The most likely reason why she may want for User to take on the cultivation zoo is therefore to fulfil Yun''s former dream of bing a Cultivation Zoo executive, taking over Grandma Yuan''s position. In conclusion, User might be used as a proxy for Yun, in hopes she might regain her broken memories."

    "I see... and here I thought Grandma Yuan was bitter that the System created Yun." Jin deduced, and the System did not deny such an usation.

    "System is 99.99% sure that past Sub System User Yuan continues to have a deep seated hatred not just against the System. She also med the System for the actions taken, resulting in Previous User Ming having to undertake such drastic actions. She condemned the System for allowing Ming to unleash his anger willfully against the Royal Zodiac ns and not turning time back further." The System stated as if it had turned over a new leaf when it was evident to Jin that the System also harboured some resentment towards Grandma Yuan. (Despite its rather monotonous voiceover, Jin was getting more proficient in deducing how the System felt based on its phrasing.)

    "Well, if it''s for Yun, I''ll see what I can do for her too. Sometimes she feels so lost that I do not know whether it was her being her or if she was troubled by the loss of her memory." Jin decided, assigning personal value to the work he would do to ensure this particr cultivation zoo instance to be a sess.

    "Other than that, I have a list of candidates for you to choose. Judging from what had happened earlier, I figure you''ll be giving them contracts too?" The way ire asked it was obvious she wanted to more urately know if everyone contracted would be given the opportunity to possess a Sub System. (The answer was an obvious no.)

    "I''ll give the contracts out to the people I ept, but not just anyone can possess a Sub System." Jin alleviated her fears of a potential increased number of Sub System Users and perhaps the possession of the Financing Sub System which had given her a taste of how thrilling it was to gamble once again in the stock markets.

    "I see. I apologise for having asked for my own selfishness. Anyways, take a look at these people. They all have experience in Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo, and all of them were given the seal of approval by Grandma Yuan." ire said as they returned to the conference room instance and spread out the number of files on the table for Jin to peruse.

 Chapter 681 Consequences of the Portal Device

    <h4>Chapter 681 Consequences of the Portal Device</h4>

    Jin did meet up with Ke Loong though thetter came ratherte, nearly prompting Jin to cancel the meeting. Ironically Jin continued to be blissfully unaware about how many people were dying to meet up with Sea Mesh''s CEO while he was one of the only few who dared to consider cancelling a meeting with him.

    "Sorry, Jin! I was caught in traffic!" Ke Loong was immediately caught lying by the System as it informed the Dungeon Supplier that the roads leading to them were less than crowded at this point in time. Regardless, Jin ignored what he assumed was only a white lie and weed him to the Restaurant Instance at the first ss carriage.

    "Ahh, any new additions on the menu? If not, I''d like the same old Tonkatsu Curry Rice." Ke Loong asked the penguin waiter who subsequently introduced a few new items for Ke Loong to test out. Eventually, he ordered everything new as well as the Tonkatsu Curry Rice.

    "You sure you can finish everything?" Jin queried with an amused look on his face.

    "Ohe on, don''t underestimate me. I had a suspicion that I was going to eat here tonight, and have already prepared my stomach for the delicious food. You can never stop me from enjoying all your delicacies in this lifetime!" Ke Loong gloated on about his superiorly capable stomach, able to stuff lots of food without ending up round as people. (Jin obviously saw that the CEO was already in denial with regards to the ''non existing'' roundness he had at the front.)

    While waiting for the food, they naturally jumped into the topic of the portal instance. Ke Loong informed him that he had already acquired a number of empty shophouses, outlets or storefronts to facilitate the portal instances. "The ces are a little small, but otherwise they should be good to go." Ke Loong showed him some blueprints as well as some pictures taken from their interior before bringing up one interesting topic.

    "Recently, I had the privilege to be invited to a high ss private Christmas party and found myself talking with a few ministers from the central government, particrly the Minister of Transport." When Ke Loong mentioned the minister, Jin had already braced himself for the inevitable. He had thought about his dungeon store or to maybe improve the travel for his potential customers. Never had it cross his mind that his portals could impede the current national transport system.

    Unlike what his customers have considered, Jin had been too busy with other stuff, happy to let others handle this matter. Needless to say, it did not dawn on him about the implications of having a major portal travelwork on a national level. Sure, if done right, China could possibly save lots of money or even redevelop its current transportation, cementing its capability to be the world''s best industrial partner for manufacturing.

    However, at the same time, such redevelopment would definitely reduce manualbour or disrupting jobs like drivers and delivery couriers in the long term scenario starting with the transportation industry. While all these consequences were suddenly flying around in the dungeon supplier''s head, he let Ke Loong finish his statement.

    "I hinted at our coboration with the Minister of Transport, and he was rather fascinated by what he discovered. The minister was so intrigued that he immediately called over a few secretaries from the other ministry to take a look at our project." Ke Loong seemed very excited to reveal such news to Jin. However, the dungeon supplier did not share his enthusiasm for the government wishing to interfere in this privatepany''s undertaking.

    It was true that Jin had allowed Ke Loong to his own devices in order to further develop, manufacture and promote the portal devices but he had never thought that the government had eyes on the current situation. It should have been years into the future, until the concept would be proven to be effective, so howe it felt like yet another obstacle had appeared above his shoulders.

    "The very next day, the secretaries from various ministries as well as a few in-house experts hade to visit us to take a look at the portal device. I personally demonstrated the portal teleporting, and their expressions were priceless. Of course, a few of the experts remained sceptical despite trying it themselves. They thought that this was just a developing prototype." Ke Loong did show a bit of anger at their distrust since he wanted to show off the power and the extent of the portal device.

    "That is why I had ordered two portal devices to be connected from Shenzhen and all the way to Germany where we manufacture the devices. Unfortunately, we cannot activate any of the devices unless permitted by your researchers who hold the activation keys to it. Obviously, they did not allow such a test without Head Researcher Ayse''s prior permission. So, I had no choice but to tell the government people that it was still under construction and undergoing some quality checks." Ke Loong sighed.

    "Yes, and I''ve already heard that ''someone'' had tried to steal the keys from their rooms or even indirectly coerce them for it." Jin''s response was filled with anger and yet at the same time, restraint. He had just been informed about this crucial detail the CEO has seemingly ''forgotten'' to tell him.

    Yet, Ke Loongughed loudly at the usations. He decided to y it cool: "Forgive me, but at the time I had been thinking that if we can get the activation keys for the devices, I could have shown the government people how the portal devices work making them provide us with a much bigger budget. Heck, maybe they would have even offered to assist us in promoting the devices!"

    "And if the government has a grip of it, they will then be able to try and develop into something portable for their troops. Please don''t treat me as an idiot. I am not as na?ve as you might think." Jin stated with a firm voice. He was thankful that there was the failsafe step to ensure that the devices could not be activated without his permission.

    "But that is why you are na?ve." Ke Loong''s happy-go-lucky expression suddenly turned dead serious. "Like I said in the phone call. I know your arrangement with Tiger Lord Yuan Ba. If you do not give me the activation codes, you can say goodbye to the portal devices that you want to possess."

    "Heh! You seem to forget which one of us owns the real bargaining chips. Without me, you are sitting on a huge pile of expensive metal. Unless you find a way to activate it, you will be lucky if those inactive portal devices will be worth salvaging." Jin challenged Ke Loong.

    "You sure you want to offend me?" Ke Loong threatened Jin as if he had a trump card waiting under his sleeve. "I am Sea Mesh''s CEO. I have a major influence over public figures. You have nothing but this odd tree mall. If need be, I can demand your assassination right now or even burn this mall down." Ke Loong''s true colours seemed to be finally out, and Jin sighed, regretting having considered his business partner as a decent person.

    Ke Loong was sure he was winning the conversation but decided to reveal his ''so called'' trump card for greater effect. He threw down multiple photos of Lynn and Qiu Yue walking the same route. It seemed as if he had discovered the Sub System User''s old homes and families. Without a word, the Sea Mesh CEO leaned back and shrugged his shoulders.

    Jin understood the meaning of his actions.

    If Ke Loong ever wished the death of his employees and their rtives, such a thing was most likely only one phone call away. It was that simple.

    The silence continued to permeate throughout the room for some time.

    Seeing Jin still unresponsive after a dozen seconds after his open threat, Ke Loong decided to open his mouth once more. This was enough stick for the day, and now it was time for the bait to reel Jin into his control.

    However, the moment he moved his mouth, he suddenly felt that something was seriously wrong. The air in the room had gotten heavy with the intent of murderбн and it was noting from Jin at all.

 Chapter 682 Threats and Promises - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 682 Threats and Promises - Part 1</h4>

    Even without muchbat experience, Sea Mesh''s CEO could feel that something sharp was merely a millimetre away from his neck. It never moved away as he tried to swallow down his fear. Not just aimed at his neck, it felt like there was something pointy and sharp all around his body and away from his peripheral vision.

    Was he overthinking things? Overreacting since Jin had been able to defeat a Triad Boss? Yet the dungeon supplier before him continued to drink his sip of tea without a care in the world. There were no visible weapons, and he was over an arm''s length away with nothing but a cup in his hands.

    However, his body was denying his logical reasoning. There was something or things around him, waiting for him to make one wrong move, say one wrong word. Beads of cold sweat profusely went down his body, and the perspiration made his heartbeat even more palpable in that silent room.

    It wasn''t until Jin stared into Ke Loong''s eyes.

    "You must think I am new to this," Jin stated calmly. "I could have easily reached some sort ofpromise with you. I did respect you and yourpany and would have been willing toply with your demands. You could have easily just asked me for permission to activate the two portals between Germany and China for you to gain additional funding and support. Sure I would have added some conditions in it as well considering both of us are businessmen. And here I thought that we can do something to be beneficial for us both and eventually to the public too."

    "But for some reason, you decided to be greedy. From the first time I met you, I knew you were ambitious. Still, you always had that scent of caution around you. You made me believe that entrepreneurs of the new and old coulde together and get rich together. Yet, for some reason, after mass manufacturing all of these portal devices, you seem to have changed your opinion. You decided you would prefer to keep everything for yourself, and if not for the failsafe device, I don''t even want to imagine what kind of atrocious contracts and promises you would have made. Still, I was not angry...we were tolerant." Jin said, and for some reason, Ke Loong thought he heard wrongly.

    "We...?" That one spoken word suddenly made the intent of murder even more explicit. He could feel as if the des around him were already touching him even though he could not see anything. However, the intent was so heavy, he could hardly breathe another word out.

    "Yes, We. We thought of trying to work with outsiders, trust other people aside from the ones that were contracted under us. Heck, we''ve overlooked so many things you did. Trying to reverse engineer the cosmetic inscriptions, trying to headhunt our people. Your only saving grace so far was that you had yet to cross that final line. But that went down the drain when you showed us those photos." Jin replied solemnly.

    Jin snapped his fingers, and suddenly a giant mirror appeared right behind him, allowing Ke Loong to see what it was that he felt behind him. Several Minotaurs who worked under Qiu Yue and Moloch had their weapons pointed at Ke Loong, all just waiting for themand to act.

    At the same time, dozens of those penguin NPC waiters stood on their shoulders with their weapons at the ready. Those exact penguin waiters who had been so courteous in their mannerism and yful with the customers were filled with the same bloodlust aimed at cutting Ke Loong down.

    "If you think any of this is fake, feel free to test your theory. They are dying for you to do something stupid." At this time, their Penguin Waiter entered from the side of the first ss carriage and ced the food they had ordered on the table. Faminished from all the meetings in the afternoon, Jin did not hesitate to start his dinner.

    "I thought you''d at least be smart enough not to wield your threats in other people''s home. It was rather rude and arrogant of you to do so." Jin berated the other, and right now Ke Loong could not deny any of those allegations.

    "Psst, don''t forget to add that ''eternal pain is not impossible''. My experience tells me he is just one threat away from soiling his pants." Kraft''s chi transmission advised him. The old foxy man sat in the corner, filming the entire process. He was quite proud of Jin to have asked him to stay on standby in case Ke Loong decided to do something funny.

    After being on the receiving end of the subtle ckmailing from the Police Captain, Jin had begun to review his outside contacts and promised himself to act warier against them. While they were great allies to have in times of need, the dungeon supplier had learnt his lesson that they would ultimately wish to fulfil their own agendas too. No merchant or businessman would be kind to one of its own.

    After all, theirs was a dog eat dog world.

    Sea Mesh''s CEO did not feel like testing his luck. He had no doubt that any abrupt movements or just the attempt to release any chi would leave him in small pieces. But instead of retaliating, Ke Loong started giggling, which turned into a peal of innocentughter.

    Jin gave them a sign to not act yet, and somehow thisughter suddenly loosened the heavy atmosphere. Nevertheless, the Minotaurs and Penguins did not drop their guard. They had a job to do, and they would be ready if the situation demanded it.

    "Excellent! Truly excellent! When Mr Know-It-All told me to test you every once in a while, I certainly did not expect that you might have been prepared to this degree. Guess I should not make the test so obvious." Ke Loongughed heartily as he slowly stretched out his hand on the table. Only now did Jin notice that hisst finger was missing his distant phnge.

    "This finger was cut to make an eternal pact to my master andrades, including Mr Know-It-All." Ke Loong admitted that he had lied to Jin. He even revealed that most of the things publicly known about him were not true.

    "Why are you showing me this?" Jin asked with a confused look. Ke Loong just continued to smile, yet it started to deform into a sickening grin.

    "Cut the tip of your finger and offer it to me. That way, we shall be considered equals. I swear to you on the life of my master and myrades that I shall be your ally for days toe no matter what." Ke Loong said with a shocking amount of determination and Jin furrowed his brows at that idea.

    "That is my pledge and promise to you, Jin."

    "You sure?"

    "Yes."

    Jin summoned out Bam in katana form and without hesitation, cut off his entirest finger. Now it was Ke Loong''s turn to be in disbelief. Despite the emanating pain he was feeling, Jin did not allow himself to flinch as he presented his bleeding severed finger to the other.

 Chapter 683 Threat and Promises - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 683 Threat and Promises - Part 2</h4>

    It took some time for Ke Loong to process what has just happened. Only then did he slowly start to realise what exactly was wrong with the whole situationбн "My gosh. I cannot believe I had been tricked twice in a row. I totally forgot that we are still in a dungeon instance."

    "I did ask for your rification. It''s your own fault for not realising where we are." Jin gave him a grin as he wiped his bleeding hand with a towel and let the internal legendary inscription do its job of slowly regrowing the lost finger. (Although the feeling of recovery was just as painful and strange as before, at least this time it was slightly tolerable.)

    "I guess you did ce me in such a precarious circumstance that it fizzled my train of thought. Still, a promise is a promise. It''s not like we actually need your finger for anything. It''s all about the conviction to actually sacrifice a part of yourself, and you have more than proven yourself worthy. Do you wish for a blood pact or something simr as proof of my promise?" Ke Loong asked, and Kraft took the opportunity in the shadows to ''quietly'' shout in Jin''s mind.

    "Contract! Now! I''ve already prepared it for you and asked the system to ce it in your storage watch when you did that badass yakuza shit. Though it makes me wonder, is his master or organisation part of the Yakuza?" Kraft''s thoughts were intensely loud in Jin''s head, making him look as if he had a sudden migraine.

    "What''s wrong?" Ke Loong asked as a sign of concern.

    "Nothing, I thought the pain was dulling, but instead, there was a sharp sting afterwards." Jin lied as he looked at his hand, but Ke Loongughed at his statement.

    "Hahah! Well, now I know that you really did your part in an attempt to sacrifice your finger. The pain will go off soon enough... But considering that you seem to be already recovering by whatever dungeon owner rights that you have, I seriously envy you." Ke Loon replied while Jin took the opportunity to take out the contract from his storage watch.

    "What? You already have a blood contract ready for me?" Ke Loong questioned as he received the letter with two hands and started reading. At the same time, the minotaurs and penguins quietly retracted from the scene, and other fellow penguin waiters came in to clear up the mess, including recing the meals with new, piping hot ones.

    "I see. This is an interesting contract. No wonder Mr Know-It-All believes in you so much despite the limited interaction." Ke Loong stated, and Jin who did not read itmented that it should be quite a fair one, considering what Ke Loong was capable of.

    "Quite true. Very well." Ke Loong agreed. He took out his pen and pricked his finger for blood. After which, the Sea Mesh CEO signed it and requested Jin to give him a copy whenever he was able to. Only when Jin was verifying the contract did he learn what Kraft hade up with.

    It was not the usual sort of contract forcing the other party to pledge their services to the System. Instead, it was a promise that Jin and Ke Loong were to be treated as equal business partners.

    Although the previous contract profit still stayed intact, subsequent contracts created would be made to benefit both Jin and Sea Mesh. If any of thepanies ever stated to face difficulties, they would have to help each other in their times of need.

    There did not seem to be any no hidden use, no double meanings or anything that might change the way either party operated. The only limitation was not to question nor probe into each other''s way of doing businesses unless it was for research or regtory purposes. And even then it required informing the other party beforehand.

    Jin was initially surprised by Kraft''s contract, but when he thought carefully about it, it was still a majorpromise for Sea Mesh''s CEO considering that the current Dungeons and Pandas was still young and developing.

    Usually, majorpanies would buy, absorb or take full control of minor potentialpanies. In this contract, they were established as equal partners for life. Though some might say it might eventually stifle the future potential growth of Dungeons and Pandas, what Jin needed now was an assurance that he could grow safely. (Especially when thetter could possibly develop into a threat to other businesses.)

    Even though Sea Mesh was not by any means a multi nationalpany at the moment, being locally recognised as a nationalpany brought credibility to Dungeons and Pandas, and that would prove to have many implications for Jin''s expansion.

    Not to mention, Jin believed that it could provide a reliable front for all the experimental stuff he had been doing in his store. Along with the uses in the contract, Jin now recognised that Kraft had protected the dungeon supplier''s long term interests. Thus, he too signed with the blood from his severed finger (which was ced at the side) andpleted the contract.

    However, with Kraft in the picture, Jin knew that while this may seem fair, a devil''s contract would always entail some unsaid parts. Although the agreement did not state anything about being in the service of the System, offering a blood contract meant that both Jin and Ke Loong''s fate were intertwined as one.

    Using that as the loophole logic of most blood pacts and contracts, it allowed the System to have partial surveince of Ke Loong without him knowing. It was like a Trojan horse, forcefully entering Ke Loong''s fate lines without being in control.

    "There''s no need to control him. Knowing what he has is more than enough." Kraft thought to himself as he returned back to his room and started to preview what an interesting backstory Ke Loong had.

    Still, what he was most concerned about was the identity of Mr Know-It-All. Was he a foe who had sent them the CEO as a sign of mutual trust or an agent of destruction who had done so to make them less wary of him?

    "Well! That''s one way to start the new year." Ke Loongughed as he pped his hands and already felt famished from all the food staring back at him.

    "A gross understatement. Please partake in whatever you wish to eat, today''s meal is on me for the poor behaviour. I sincerely believed that you were going to ckmail me." Jin offered, and Ke Loong shook his head.

    "I honestly wished to see what kind of person you really were. The previous times that I met with you were mostly a fa?ade and the manufactured portal devices if needed, can be written off as liabilities, something I can afford to lose. While Mr Know-It-All did mention that you are still growing as a person and asked me to give you a chance or two, the business world is not as kind as he believes." Ke Loong was more than satisfied with Jin''s response in the impromptu test.

    "I wanted to see if you have the determination, the resolution to be a decent boss for the future and most importantly if you cared for your workers. I hate bosses who treat their workers like dirt and shit for their own benefits. I detest those people with all my being. If you had cracked under pressure to take my offer, I would have immediately sent word to annihte you and redirect your workers to people who appreciate them more." Ke Loong said as he gorged himself with food. Jin only smiled at this.

    Even if Mr Know-It-All''s end goal was to harm Jin, the dungeon supplier was at least thankful that he had introduced a mentor for him to learn from.

 Chapter 684 Clan Enterprises

    <h4>Chapter 684 n Enterprises</h4>

    "So, about what you said initially, was it true? Do you still n to show various ministries the portal." Jin asked, and as they both continued to enjoy the meals.

    "You do know that giving it to the military is the fastest way to earn money, right? China''s budget expenditure for defence is still one of the highest in the world and given the vast amount of territory we have to cover, this will, without a doubt, benefit the Chinese military." Ke Loong argued while Jin began to wonder if this was another test.

    "No, no, no. No more tests. After that intense murderous intent from I don''t even know what, I am inclined to believe you have some serious tricks under your sleeve and I definitely do not n to reencounter them." Ke Loong stated assuring Jin that he would be honest and forward with the dungeon supplier as much as he could.

    "If that is the case, then yes. Of course, I would love to make more money, but not this way. My researchers who I employed do this for the good of the people and not for death and destruction." (Ayse would be rolling on the floorughing if she watched Jin saying this.)

    "If we use it for medical purposes, for disaster evacuation or rescue purposes, then it would be my greatest pleasure to share it with the world. However, we both know that the world is different shades of grey, not a true ck and white." Jin stopped to take a drink, and after he had emptied his ss, Ke Loong offered to pour more for him.

    "As much as possible, I want to keep it off the hands of the government though we can sell to them at a lower price for those purposes I had mentioned. Sure, I am not naive to believe they won''t try to replicate. It''s in our blood to do so, but on the other hand, I''d like to see them try deciphering it. I have faith in my researcher''s products that they won''t be cracked that easily...at least for another five years or so." Jin replied with slight hesitation.

    "Heh! Let''s have a bet, shall we? If they really fail to make the very same top quality standard that we have, I will treat you to a grand meal with no limits." Ke Loong offered, and Jinughed at that.

    "How about we take it up a notch? Let''s agree to broaden it to include all of each other''s employees as well." Jin challenged Ke Loong to another level who dly epted the bet. (If only he knew how many ''employees'' Jin had and would have in the future...)

    "Anyways, am I correct to assume that the demonstration you''ve promised them will be to use us for the uing ''training exercise'' up north?" Jin tried to link the dots together.

    "Yeah, I believe that''s my bad. While I knew that they would be interested in it, I did not expect them to order us to use it for ''that'' situation or in any case, for operational use." Ke Loong grumbled.

    "What''s really happening up north? I hardly have any details on it, even though I''ve been ''asked'' to help out." Jin tried to probe yet Ke Loong shrugged his shoulders while chewing.

    "All I know is that it could possibly be a giant monster horde, like those sudden ones around the world recently. Not sure why it is happening that way. I heard some rumours, mainly attributing it to climate change. Others go wilder and have some conspiracy theories that some terrorist organisation must be handling the monsters." Ke Loong told him what he knew.

    "Whatever the case, I did not have much care for all this, until those idiots in the government decided to use us. But it''s not wise to go against them, especially since allowing them to use it means more business interaction with them."

    "Which also means a bulk load of money." Jin sighed.

    "Unfortunately, that is true. Given how all the ministers up there are from the various Royal ns, having extra contact with them equates to more very lucrative opportunities for us."

    "Do you mean to join one of them in the future?" Jin wanted to know his new ally''s modus operandi if possible.

    "Join them? Hell no! Have you ever interacted with those pretentious swine? They pretend like they don''t think each one of their ns is the best of the best, and you can clearly see it in their eyes that they n to use you till the day your foot is two steps into the graveyard. They do not know how much shit and effort we have to go through to get where we are right now." Ke Loong banged his fist on the table to show his defiance.

    "Hahaha, I''m d you think so. That makes two of us." Jin raised his cup in honour of Ke Loong''s words.

    "Really? Last I heard, you were quite mushy with the Royal Zodiac Tigers." Sea Mesh''s CEO hinted at the honorary n member title that Jin had been awarded with.

    "Haha. Me disliking them does not mean I won''t use whatever chance I can get to benefit." Jin replied without any pause making Ke Loong realise that the young man had what it took to be a sessful businessman.

    "Good. Good. I like that attitude of yours. They might be our rivals in business, but that does not mean we cannot earn favours from them. Then if you are not joining them, what are you trying to achieve?" Ke Loong''s curiosity about Jin''s ambition peaked.

    "Earn a sufficient level of reputation to be the number one dungeon supplier in China. After that... probably the best one in the world. Who knows, maybe with enough clout, I can even start a n enterprise of my own."

    "Big dreams. Big dreams. But creating a brand new n is considered suicidal these days. Starting one is not an issue but making it famous takes a hell of a lot of effort. And once you are famousбн well, no one likes to share their pie." Ke Loong seemed to advise against it.

    "But there are other sessful ns out there, right? Like the infamous Fivecentspany by the Cat n. All I need to do is be something simr, and my best chances for that is to have a specialised tradecraft." Jin wanted to use his dungeon supplying skills as the trademark speciality of his n enterprise.

    If possible, he would like to rebuild what his ancestors had done and reached their former glory. Even if it could not be done in his lifetime, though Jin believed it should be possible with the aid of the System, he would at leasty a foundation and pass it to those willing to go that extra mile.

    "If that is the case, I suggest you look into creating a brand newpany to handle all your misceneous stuff while promoting Dungeons and Pandas. Right now, you seem to have a bit of everything going for you, but it is too scattered to my liking. There is not much organisation structure within it." Ke Loong was honest in his criticism.

    "So you''re telling me to create a parentpany so that if I expandter, it will be easier to handle all the various groups?"

    "Something like that. But yes, it would be the best way to go forward if your ultimate goal is to create a n Enterprise. With the tree mall, you can create this particr parentpany, and it would be easy to associate with you in the future."

    Suddenly the System interjected into the conversation with a name.

    "Panda Inc."

 Chapter 685 Panda Inc

    <h4>Chapter 685 Panda Inc</h4>

    "Panda...Inc?" Jin identally blurted out, and Ke Loong sniggered at the name.

    "Sounds too generic. That is so unlike you Jin. Get something more bombastic or more eye catching, especially for the younger generations. Besides, getting another name will also be easier to identify. There''s already loads of panda namedpanies in the world." Ke Loong suggested and to prove his point, he did a quick search and it revealed variouspany names such as Panda Express, Panda Logistics, Panda Trash Recycling.

    "In my opinion, you could just go with Pandamonium Inc. Not only is the name not taken yet, but it sounds grand, mysterious and let''s not forget that you have an established base of customers already using that app. On top of that, you easily set it up to look that it belongs to the n who''s actually backing you."

    "That''s a rather good idea, but I''ll stick to just my store for now. I have too much on my te to create a newpany." Jin admitted with a heavy heart.

    "But, you liked the idea of Pandamonium, right?" Ke Loong asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Well, then inform me if you change your mind and need help setting it up... because as the first act of our partnership, I''ve taken the liberty and bought the right to the name Pandamonium Inc." Ke Loong was already typing furiously on his phone to tell his secretary to secure the newpany name as soon as possible. Jin was surprised by the gesture and thanked him for it. Ke Loong merely said it was rpensation for the sudden test he made Jin took.

    "I''ll happily pass on to you when you feel ready unless you decide on something else. Sooo, what are we going to do about that police and military movement? From what I know, they n to make at least 50% of the police force in Shenzhen participate. All their best people from the various districts and on top of that the bulk of the military. That will be at least a few thousand people using the teleportation device." Ke Loong exined the scenario. "Not to mention, we need to ce an exit portal device too."

    "Don''t they have border guards along with their city''s police as well? If they need to involve police and the national guard from another state, then it clearly means that the threat is more severe than we were led to believe." Jin deduced the need to use their portal devices.

    "Besides, it does not make any real sense that they want to use our portals when they have only seen you using it once. Seriously, what would they have done without this technology? It''s kind of hard to believe that they put so much trust in us." Jinined.

    Ke Loong took out his smartphone again to give his partner the full picture. Aside from the live demonstration, he also showed him videos of groups of his research people doing experiments with the portal devices.

    The experiment proved a steady increase in the number of people being teleported to know the extended usage of the portal device and those people knew what they were getting into. (Ke Loong fail to mention, there was hugepensation if an ident happened to them during the research.)

    Nheless, the video showed that they were very sessful in transporting a massive amount of people and also included the use of portals to moverge objects without a hinge. Jin obviously knew all of this since it was already proven by the Orc-Goblin War, but he pretended to be amazed by it.

    Regardless, Thest part of the experiment was what amazed the officials the most. "You are right, they don''t just need it as an easy way to transport people. What they really want to use it for in this demonstration is to bring in the tanks and other transports via the portal." Ke Loong wrapped up the video viewing and subsequently showed him another document on his phone.

    "It will save them a lot of trouble and most importantly allow them to do this in secret without the public finding out what''s really going on. Besides, Shenzhen is also the home of the elite leopard tank divisions. They cannot exactly move those armoured tanks through the cities. Otherwise, they might as well go directly to all those reporters and secret informers admitting what something big was going on." Ke Loong was a bit hesitant at first, but the more he spoke, the more he shared than what he might have supposed to. However, since they were now equal partners, he believed Jin had a right to know all of that as well.

    "Still, it is not much of a time sensitive issue considering they gave you a deadline for it. Else, you will be crawling to me for the activation key, or I don''t know, sending a massive gang of triad members to my store." Jin replied, and Ke Loongughed.

    "Yeah. Right now, the most crucial part for them is to get their vehicles and supplies safe and sound to the target location. Needless to say, such a big ''secret'' operation also presents a stressful amount of logistical hell to them and us."

    "They should be happy as long as we can technically teleport them from their base to the ce they want to reinforce, right? Why then bothering to the Tree Mall if they want secrecy on their part? Why use my dungeon as a poor excuse for a training exercise. Ever since I learned about their hidden plot, this part did not make any sense to me."

    "Ah, that is most likely because of me. I told them that the police and military groups should convene here to use the portals. It''s meant to be anotheryer to prevent detection and a way to attract more people to know about this ce. Basically, if those buff guys know that a superbly good dungeon supplier exists here, all the more they would want toe here to train, don''t you agree?" Ke Loong had pure intentions to send some business Jin''s way. After all, if he prospers, Sea Mesh''s CEO would indirectly rise up the ranks too.

    "Hmm, if that''s the case...I think we should split things up." Jin decided as he too did not want too much attention from the media once this particr thing kicked in.

    "How so?"

    "I suggest procuringrge container trucks that will host the Portal instance and send a few of those trucks to various military bases or police quarters. That way they can send their tanks, trucks, vans or whatever to the location they need. We can also send the trucks up north and not have to be on site to oversee the devices."

    "Ahh! I see! That is indeed a good idea, and with the dungeon instances, you can regte the portal devices without being on site. Also, I am assuming you will be remotely operating those instances?" Ke Loong asked with an agenda in mind. He knew that remote operation of dungeon instances was made possible at least with his Sea Mesh dungeon instance technology.

    But upon learning that Jin had superior tech than his, Ke Loong could not help but get curious about the capability of the dungeon instances this particr supplier could do. He once had his Chief Engineer Bo Ze personally make a field trip with a group of instance technologists to experience Jin''s instances.

    They were beyond shocked. Words were not able toe out of their mouths. Their instance technologists and even Bo Ze were crunching the numbers hard. If it was hardware, they already had thetest in the world, and yet they could not achieve such realism.

    Thus they concluded that Jin had a personal team of technologists that were capable of creating an instance engine which could be optimised so bloody well that it created such realism to life. Some of the instance technologists evenmented that they could possibly be in the world''s first real time alternate reality.

    "Hmm, that should not be a problem, but I apologise in advance if I say that when I create those portal instances, I will need some secrecy on my part. Also please make sure to tell them that this is a mid range portable prototype and if they ask, no I do not n to make them long range any time soon." Jin kindly asked for permission to keep his copyrighted technology to himself, despite knowing that Ke Loong had already boasted on the ''China to Germany'' portal advertising gimmick.

    While Ke Loong did not mind, he did feel a slight bit of pity that he could not see the creation of the dungeon instance. "Whatever it is, I believe we have somehow solved a part of the problem. All that''s left is to coordinate with the police and military. But do not worry about that, I will let my human resource team assign some people to do that for us. You just concentrate on getting those trucks, unless you need me to procure them too?"

    "You do not have to worry. I''ll have my own sources getting those trucks On my side, I see if I can get hold of Tiger Lord Yuan Ba to discuss on the intricacies since he personally requested this from me too." Jin smiled, and they eventually agreed to get it down by the end of next week since Jin said that he would be swamped for the next few days.

    While Ke Loong did query about it, Jin could only reveal that he would give the Sea Meshpany some special privileges in that particr instance he was about to ''create''. Jin was tight lipped about any other information regarding that, even after Ke Loong tried to give some mary incentives.

    "Sigh, very well. Sometimes I do enjoy the surprises you throw out, so I shall be looking forward to it." Ke Loong smiled as they continued their dinner.

 Chapter 686 Within His DNA

    <h4>Chapter 686 Within His DNA</h4>

    For the first time in a long while, Jin took the conscious effort to cultivate in the night while sleeping. Unsurprisingly, he returned to the same icy cold mountain peak where the ck Tortoise of the North was still lurking in the valley.

    The surprising thing, however, was that he was alone. Ming was nowhere to be seen. Still, Jin gave his encounter with the Tortoise another shot, but this time around, he would attempt a different approach.

    While both the Tortoise and Jin were willing to battle, thetter sat down on a short ledge and continued to observe it from afar. Unlike the Tiger of the West, the Tortoise''s tail did not outright attack him. Confused that he wasn''t outright aggressive this time around, the Serpent continued to be wary of the Astral Panda Cultivator''s existence and stared at him wildly.

    They continued their subtle eye staring contest for some time until the Serpent finally understood Jin''s intention and was the first to lower its guard. Though it approached Jin cautiously, the Astral Panda Cultivator instinctively went on guard despite the constant reminder to remain calm.

    This was possibly a chance to learn a little more about this particr Cardinal Demon. Worst case scenario? He gets bitten and returns to the real conscious world. However, at times like this, Jin wondered if the cultivation he''s using create such vivid phantasms or if it was merely his uncontroble imagination that came to haunt him in his dream.

    There were even times he questioned whether everything he went through was actually real.

    Was his subconscious filled with demons of the System''s past or did he outright turn insane whenever he was asleep, especially since everything felt so real to him.

    The pain and difort he felt during the whole process, the yearning of a true mentor and maybe to a certain extent, his grandfatherбн Were all his fears, desires and dreams manifested into something tangible for him to face every time he sleeps?

    "You still tend to overthink stuff, though at this point you are not entirely away from the truth." Ming, who was suddenly standing at the side of the ledge beside Jin, sighed.

    "Why not just ask your gramps here?" He teased Jin as he ced his hand out for the Serpent, and it allowed him to pat him.

    "Then tear another page out of your diary and throw it into the mouth of the Tortoise?" Jin practically shot an arrow into Ming''s feelings.

    "Hmm, that is yet another valid point. Fine, I will give you the answer you are searching for. All these manifestations that you see, feel and touch are all embedded in your genes. The monsters, demons...even the ces you experience in your sleep are all deep seated memories passed down from all the previous Panda n members that had been part of the System."

    "So, all those self realisation processes, the hunt against the Tiger of the West and even my existence, are part of your DNA, made real through the cultivation I created and your thinking process. That is why you feel that everything is familiar to a certain extent."

    "That is why, you never felt like the System is with you whenever you are alone here in your...''dreams''. The only things you can rely on are your powers and your grasp of reality...in other words, your perception. Besides, this is your mental ne, so your needs can actually manifest in your perceived reality in this never ending dream. For example, when you needed water during the Tiger Hunt, did water appear? Nope. But your subconscious still left you with a way to get water, from the bamboo shoots."

    "Then does that mean the dream that I had about this girl with blue hair, or someone''s attempt to kill me in a taxi ride, have happened to someone else? What about the time I was chained up, filled with hatred and anger. Are those memories of my ancestors?" Jin queried as he vividly remembered specific dream sequences that did not make sense and yet created a deep impression in him.

    "I don''t think those..." Ming''s expression changed as if this was the first time he heard of those. He was the one who created the Astral Panda cultivation, and during the period his spirit embodied with Jin, he never saw any of those memories that Jin had mentioned. (Even though he was the Ultimate Stalker.)

    Was it an unintended side effect?

    Ming knew that this Astral Panda Cultivation Manual was barely apleted prototype with not much testing when he passed it to the System. A totally experimental style especially with the merging of Chi and Mana together.

    However, he believed that with the inclusion of the System, it should have been able to weed out all the potential problems of the manual before giving the book to Jin.

    "Hmm. Unfortunately, I do not have the means to test your Astral Panda Cultivation. What you experienced might be something to do with the explosive growth of your personal cultivation, and that could be an unexpected side effect. Do tell me if you experience such a scenario without me in the dream. I will make sure to personally appear in every subconscious moment of yours." Ming reassured Jin as the Serpent now slowly moved its head towards Jin.

    As both the hunter and the hunted came to the conclusion that the other party did not mean any harm, for the time being, they cautiously proceeded with a more hands on inspection.

    The Serpent hissed with its tongue scanning the area around Jin while thetter raised his hand. Slowly caressing the scales of the Serpent, the panda cultivator could feel the quiet, silent wrath pulsating through its body.

    Jin noticed that feeling was something simr to what he had felt for the past few days before Rei''s speech to take a notch down. "So, all along, the turtle is also another manifestation of my current feelings. Being stuck in between mountains of obstacles and too stubborn to move." He thought to himself as he tried to recall if there was any corrtion to the White Tiger he had fought.

    "Interesting, so instead of fighting this one, you decided to be friends with it?" Mingmented on the limited interaction between the two of them, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Perhaps. Also, I still don''t understand the concept of controlling my powers in this subconscious ne. Sometimes, I have a limited amount of Maqi flowing in me, and other times, Ie out empty."

    "I am as frustrated as this Tortoise as I don''t know when my powers will be working and when not. So, for now, my goal is to learn how to control myself, and hopefully, the ability to exert my powers fully." Jin exined and Ming tapped his back for figuring out that it was not his grandfather that disallowed his powers to work.

    It was himself.

    "Still, you do know that this itself is supposed to be a test? You eventually will have to defeat this big shell in order to advance your cultivation." Ming reminded Jin as he became a fleeting voice and disappeared from Jin''s side.

    "It''s fine. With the Tortoise of the North not being a threat for now, I can focus on gathering my thoughts properly." Jin said out loud before sitting down and changed to the very same sleeping cultivation stance.

    With a deep breath, he searched for his Dantian Core and slowly but surely, Jin came to understand the teachings written in the manual. The Astral Panda Cultivator then began to trace both his chi and mana circuits in an orderly manner in order to awaken his core.

 Chapter 687 First War Room Briefing - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 687 First War Room Briefing - Part 1</h4>

    Cultivating within his cultivation stance had resulted in Jin feeling more refreshed than ever, and to his surprise, he discovered the ck sludge had taken on a new form.

    A very fortunate discovery since he had forgotten about the side effects and had been cultivating in his bedroom. (Though technically, his entire house was controlled by the System which could remove the sludge as easily as it did in the Dungeon Maker room.)

    Instead of the sludge floating around and above him, he found crystals strewn around near his feet. Obviously, Jin did not poop out crystals while he was cultivating but instead, the floating ck sludge slowly solidified into 30 cm crystals before they dropped out of the ''atmosphere'' and fell all around Jin.

    The System was delighted considering that storing the ck sludge was a pain in the ass, though it did notin about this to Jin in order to keep its almighty status intact. In the meantime, as Jin was observing one of the sludge crystals, the System reported to its User that Qiu Yue had alreadypleted the defensive ns for the Dungeon City Fortress.

    "Although some of the domes have yet to bepleted, 90% of the defences are already installed and operational. The remaining 10% are considered emergency cements and the Orcs are working double-time to ensure they''ll be ready in time." The System stated as it rmended User to contact Qiu Yue and Moloch for ast final meeting before deciding the time to drop the curtain for this new city.

    When Jin called for the meeting to be held in the conference briefing room, he was instead asked by Qiu Yue toe into the Dungeon City Fortress. He was teleported by the System based on the Sub System User''s coordinates. When he reached the location as specified by Qiu Yue, he realised that there was already a war table set up right in front of him.

    With a cursory look, he saw goblins operating the radio controls at the corners while some of the Orcs were moving leftover heavy equipment into the room. Maps of the Dungeon City Fortress were pinned on an electronic whiteboard, and he saw Nubwort using a stylus to draw some circles on the board to indicate certain information to his subordinates.

    "Ahбнa proper war room." Jin said to himself, and the ''important'' leaders started to convene right in front of the war table. Qiu Yue, Moloch, Nubwort and the Goblin Trio were present in the meeting along with Half Ghoul Lord Derek. Even Duke Wolte came in, followed by Dark Elf Leader Drex and Dark Temr Zerg.

    "Greetings everyone, I apologise for mycking attire, as I thought this would be an informal meeting or debriefing." Jin had noticed how everyone else was already decked in their armour orbat outfit.

    "No worries. I was the one who called you here on short notice after all."

    Qiu Yue chimed in as she was flipping a few documents on a clipboard before asking the Sub System to enter it into its database. Soon, holographic screen consoles appeared in front of everyone as if it was some sci-fi briefing.

    "Hahaha! This is much easier to read than that бнpower point presentation that Jin once showed us." Ayse came inte to the meeting.

    "Please, your briefing on the Lost Tech was even more boring." Kraft suddenly emerged from the shadows into the war room and quickly dodged an iing projectile. The goblins at the corner rolled their eyes as they called for an orc engineer to look at the damage done on the radio set. Ayse eyed the Devil one more time before returning to the table.

    "I hope you''re not all waiting for me." Hou Fei was teleported in by the System, and Jin bowed slightly in respect for him. A few followed suit, but the older man casually dismissed the formalities. "This is not my stage but your colleague''s. Let''s all hear what she has to say. I willment afterwards." Hou Fei nodded his head in acknowledgement towards Qiu Yue to let her officially begin.

    Unbeknownst to Jin, the girl had been in constant contact with Hou Fei despite the appearance, and she had sought quite a bit of advice from the real expert. As Qiu Yue began to brief the defences, she efficiently exined the roughyout of the ns that still had to be executed before the war started.

    "Fortunately for us, Baphomet had managed to link up with some of his demon friends. He was able to obtain some information on King Baal''s movement. It appears that Lord Moloch was right. The King had been busy mobilising a colossal size army and he continued to wait for our Dungeon Core barrier to run out to begin the siege. Compared to the Rats we fought, this will be a thousand times harder, and I am not exaggerating." Qiu Yue started her report.

    "Yeah, Baph reported that all the demons are dying for a fight. They haven''t had a betrayal for quite some time, and all of them want Moloch''s head in order to get King Baal''s approval. There''s quite a generous bounty on it. Even I felt a bit tempted considering we are somewhat immortals right now." Wolte chipped in.

    "Assuming King Baal is using his usual tactics, he will swarm us with pawns first before sending the big guys down," Molochmented ignoring the crude joke of his fellow demon.

    "So eradicate all the lousy peeps, and when the elite defenders are out, the senior demons wille to y?" Kraft never really liked this particr tactic especially since it''s too troublesome for him and not to mention, annoyingly dull.

    "Moloch knows how the Demon Nobles work, seeing as he also enjoys using this tactic. They love to do themanding and send their minions to take care of the dirty fighting since it gives them the satisfaction of leading a group. Unless they perceive that their unit is close to being decimated, they usually don''t act. Besides,ing in at the darkest hour means they gain more glory from the other demons. It''s a vicious cycle." Woltemented on the tactic.

    "But considering that the one who betrayed him is a person that had fought beside him before, I would not be surprised if he used a rush tactic to get us down all at once." Moloch continued.

    "Still, we have to remember that their main objective will be the Dungeon Core, with revenge only being an added bonus. It''s too bad we cannot teleport the core to our world. At most, we can try to shift it around the city during their attack with the aid of the System. But moving it outside the designated area will make the entire city which we painstakingly built, crumble." Qiu Yue sighed, and Moloch agreed. What''s worse if they were to remove the core it would be rendered almost as useless as Wolte''s partial core.

    "Hey at least, my core has some good effects! Not entirely a useless one!" Duke Wolte barked back, and Jin ordered the three of them to settle down.

    "Therefore Jin, I suggest that if you want to promote the Dungeon City Fortress, now is the best time. We only have approximately five days before we have to drop the Dungeon Core Newbie Barrier to still get the needed bonus protection." Qiu Yue rmended getting as many cultivators on board as possible.

    There would be a hell of a fight waiting for them.

 Chapter 688 Three Tier Rewards

    <h4>Chapter 688 Three Tier Rewards</h4>

    "Am I correct to assume that you have already thought up how to best utilise them?" Jin asked as he had no idea what Qiu Yue had in store for the cultivators. It also seemed more and more as if he was the only one who had been left out from the loop. Qiu Yue controlled everyone''s holographic console and synchronised the presentation that she was giving.

    "While Moloch and Wolte had given us some information on the degree of the scale, it still does not prepare us to fight against such overwhelming numbers. That is why we will need the cultivators to enter into action, as they present themselves as undying mercenaries fighting for a cause. The best way to entice them is naturallyбн rewards." Qiu Yue stated and switched the presentation to the already prepared list of rewards based on Jin''s previous rewards list from the Goblin Raid and the Santa Raid.

    The only raid that didn''t have an explicit reward list had been the Smander Lord''s Keep Instance. In a way, it provided vital information about how the cultivators behaved in regards to the raid instances. More importantly, they could infringe on the frequency of re-entering a raid based on the redeemed prizes.

    Last time they were given panda medals instead of raid points, which resulted in a certain amount of interest for various groups of cultivators. Although the rewards were lesser, earning the panda medals was practically like making extra money. Only the veteran cultivators who were aware of how Jin''s dungeons and stores worked found it the most beneficial to y.

    As for customers like Xiong Da, the experience of the raid was good enough on its own. He did not care too much about the ''medals'' at hand (seeing as he still had ''unlimited'' ess). Thus, Qiu Yue''s modified list of rewards tried to ount for all these different types of customers.

    Instead of just points, Qiu Yue had created a three-tiered reward system based on the type of points the cultivators could get by fighting the demon army. She made it more like a game to urge the customers to do more than defending against the iing waves of demon pawns by introducing bronze, silver and gold credits.

    The System had near-total surveince of the battlefield, so it would have no problem roughly gauging the kind of demons and monsters that were more powerful and assign them values in silver and gold credits.

    Based on the length of duration the cultivators stayed in battle, the System would also reward additional silver and gold credits as the effort they had ced in.

    Jin was impressed by the reward tier system as it included various items ranging from vouchers, digital pet cosmetics to the mini-game rewards. (Not to mention, limited edition plushies and at the moment, Xiong Da had to be the only person who had collected everything. By now he must have a whole storeroom dedicated to it.)

    But what was striking was the higher gold tier, where the rewards were still ced as ''???''. Qiu Yue mentioned that it was still something in progress and it would be based on Jin''s development of the Squads.

    "Ah shit, I nearly ced that on the backburner. System, how does the optimisation of the Squads function based on the cultivator''s testing look?" Jin asked, and the invisible elephant in the room had reported that the data was useful enough.

    "After making several adjustments, the squad function had improved, but System rmends not to use it in a ''real-world'' setting as of yet. It would be better if the Pandawans or selected few cultivators continue to provide additional data for the System to further perfect it."

    "Damn, and here I thought we would have additional help from the System, guess that was wishful thinking on my end." Qiu Yue grumbled as she had to think of something else to rece the higher gold tiers.

    "Will the absence of squads affect your ns?" Jin queried, and the Red Panda Cultivator shook her head.

    "I did not take that into ount, seeing that it was still in an experimental state."

    "That is why I am here." Hou Fei said and waved his hands to everyone around the war table. "Despite how I may look, I''m actually a general in our world...so I will be actually sending in my troops to reinforce this Dungeon City Fortress."

    "Huh, don''t they need you up north?" Jin was in disbelief that Hou Fei was actually sending his troops for this particr defence operation.

    "With regards to that, I''ll talk to youter on the issue. For now, know that we have elite soldiers from the Royal Battalions fighting together with the cultivators. That should boost our numbers by nearly a thousand more." Hou Fei proudly imed, and everyone was taken back at such the numbers.

    Sure, Jin might have more than a thousand customers in a day''s work, but definitely not at one time. By having an addition thousand more soldiers equate to nearly another 10% more troops in the field.

    "I wanted to have even more enter, but considering the crowd as well as amodations around the ce, it would be quite hard unless Jin could provide some form of camping. Other than that, we are using Qiu Yue''s idea of promoting the dungeon early as a form of cover."

    "But people could get suspicious with the sudden influx of people," Drexmented, and the others reluctantly agreed. It was not normal to have that many people at the Tree Mall unless its the weekend.

    "They might. Still, it''s a good enough cover, and this will artificially boost the crowd numbers to attract attention. I will get Kiyu to prepare some coverage on this to entice even more people to enter." Kraft noted in the conversation and Jin appreciated the follow-up.

    "Heh, but how elite can they be? We have fought against human cultivators and we orcs seem to have our strength restricted by the System to sometimes allow those cultivators to win." Nubwortmented, and Hou Feiughed.

    "Then that''s good! This will be a wake-up call for all of them before they encounter the foes up north." Hou Fei replied with a wide smile. Jin could safely assume that Hou Fei nned to make them have a warm-up fight before entering the north, indicating that the threat could be as potent as Ke Loong had previously predicted.

    "Regarding the amodations, I think we''ll be able to assist in some way. However, I am in no way allowing them to stay for free." Jin said, and the Panda n Remnant nodded his head with glee.

    "If that''s the case, I''ve already preallocated a few buildings for your soldiers to stay in." Qiu Yue flipped a few files from one holographic console to another, allowing Hou Fei to preview the amodations in the Sea Domes.

    "So you are just waiting for approval from the big boss?" Hou Fei looked at the files and saw how the buildings were well furnished with facilities.

    "Nah. Even if he did not suggest or approve it, I would have found a way to do so, some way or another. Hehe!" Qiu Yue replied with a grin on her face.

 Chapter 689 First War Room Briefing тАУ Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 689 First War Room Briefing иC Part 2</h4>

    "How many are we expecting from the Royal Snake Battalions? Also, we can amodate that 1000 over soldiers if need be." Qiu Yue queried, and Hou Fei was already shaking his head.

    "Those thousand-odd soldiers stayed in Shenzhen, so amodation for them is not an issue. However, if you were to take care of itбнmaybe another 4000 more? I do not wish to employ any extra, and that is more or less the maximum number of people I am willing to bring out. I can use the excuse of the ''North'', but any more than that and the Royal n Heads will question my motives and make some investigationбн Anyways, money is not an issue, you can credit me first, and those future weapons that I bring in will be at a discounted price."

    "Hmm, Jin you okay with that? Or do you need money urgently for any upgrades?" Qiu Yue asked, but everyone knew how Jin spent money like drinking water.

    "We are definitely getting more stuff from Hou Fei for the uing war against the Demon Rats, I say we take up his offer," Jin responded, and Hou Fei thanked his master for the renewed business.

    "If that is the case, I will start making preparations to deploy the full number. Weapons wiseбн I will tell them to use their own stuff. Though I suppose letting them rent or buy them from your weapon store should be okay with you. Will that be sufficient?" Hou Fei needed rification, and Qiu Yue had confirmed that the rooms would be ready by tomorrow.

    "Fantastic. Sorry that I am unable to bring out any new weapons other than the ones I have purchased beforehand for you guys. The Dongguan-Huizhou intervention has my hands tight right now." Hou Fei kept emphasising it as if it would be an important issue for the monsters to take note in the future.

    "It''s fine. As long as Qiu Yue and Nubwort are okay with it, we can assign your troops to handle those artilleries." Jin suggested, but Hou Fei shook his head.

    "Don''t bother. They are too used to our modern high tech stuff. Letting them use those old artilleries will have the opposite effect and actually slow the rate of fire. In my opinion, it''s best we leave it to the Orcs who must have already trained hard for it." Hou Fei replied while looking towards the direction of Nubwort.

    "Indeed, I have trained them to be able to reach record reloading time as challenged by Hou Fei. Furthermore, I have achieved great results by adding in a goblin mage to take care of the dust in the artillery barrel so that we can handle repeated firing without too much interruption." Nubwort exined proudly.

    "I believe they will be in a load of pain when they first teleport into the cave." Moloch chuckled when he recalled how vigorous the practices were that General Nubwort had made them go through.

    "I have double checked the Fortress Golems and made a few adjustments to the firmware within the golems. They should respond better with the interfaces the System had tinkered with. We have also been hard at work to design a battery pack that couldst half an hour longer," reported Ayse when it seemed like it was going to be a round table discussion of the developments for the city''s defence.

    "Amura Rei had also provided some good tips in the calibration of the joints allowing the golems to move 10% faster. It''s a quick 30 minute fix, so I had already appointed the engineers to work around the clock to modify the existing golems. We also have a surplus of golems in stock, ready for recement during the battle."

    "Sorry to interrupt but before we go any further. Do I understand it correctly, that we are going to bring the fight to the Demon Army at the cave entrance to the shoreline?" Jin asked, and the group nodded their heads.

    "We have prepared a major floating bridge that will lead to the currently empty floating tform. There are a number of prefabricated defences in ce so as to impede the progress of the foot soldiers." Qiu Yue said as she switched the holographic console and revealed a forest-like terrain on the tform.

    "Huh, trees and hilltops. I see, so we are not shing with them outright." Jinmented as he zoomed out. From this bird''s-eye view, it was clearly visible that the trees in the forests were systematically ced in an orderly fashion. Together with the hills, they were of great strategic value for their defending side."

    "Only a fool would give up his advantage to fight on the enemies terms!" Nubwort took over. He exined how more y statues had been created and hidden within the trees and bushes. (Some were literally embedded in the trees!) He also added that these trees were made from offshoots of Shu, the Sakura Tree Treant, stating that they have some hidden properties to hinder the enemy.

    "In addition, we have ced mechanical traps at numerous locations and demarcated them with the System''s aid. So, the traps won''t be activated unless they are triggered by the enemies. Lastly, we are constructing mobile forts with the help of Sandy to be ced in the floating tform. The map will be updated in theing days."

    "To add on, the Wyvern Goblin Knights Battalionmanded by me will monitor the skies. We are unfortunately not enough to establish air superiority, but our anti air defences should be able to make up most of our downfall." Wyrstriker stated while also showing the upgrades the Wyvern knights had been put through. It was nearly short of modifying the wyverns biological make up.

    The Wyvern Goblin Knights had been equipped with mobile rocket boosters based on Ayse''s Lost Tech, so they did not emit ignition. Instead, the boosters used air pressure as a way to increase their speed.

    At the same time, the Wyvern Goblin Knights were equipped with the very same rune weapons that the Orcs were using except theirs was more advanced to cover the demand of versatility. Theirnces could be changed to a variety of ranged weapons such as a sniper rifle, an RPG rocket or heavy machine gun ideal for dogfights. Because of this, the Wyverns themselves were equipped with a neck bracelet that held a different assortment of ammunition.

    Thus, each and every Wyvern Knight was developed akin to a WW2 fighter ne. (Or perhaps even more capable than that!)

    In fact, Wyrstriker felt that such aparison was an understatement, especially when he was pushing the limits of his Knights to the extreme. It was to the point that Nubwort felt his hellish training for his foot soldiers was a walk in the park.

    Wyrstriker made them perform day and night training of dive bombs, sharp curves, intense dogfights thatsted for more than half an hour with live firing as well as the handling of G force from the rocket boosters

    Knowing that Jin did not have many air units to pit against the demon army, Wyrstriker felt that he needed his Wyvern Goblin Knights to be one of the decisive factors against the rumoured Dragon Devils which Moloch spoke highly off.

    The Spear Goblin not only wanted to lift that worry off the ground forces but to make the demons acknowledge the Wyvern Knights as the true rulers of the skies. (or dungeon ceiling..?)

 Chapter 690 First War Room Briefing - Final

    <h4>Chapter 690 First War Room Briefing - Final</h4>

    "They will either try to kill us all and if that does not seem to work, opting to directly rush for the Dungeon Core is an option for them. We have a second contingency n for exactly that kind of situation." Qiu Yue continued.

    At that point in time, Moloch could not help but get a broad grin on his face and take over: "The System has not only finished analysing the aura of Wolte''s broken Dungeon Core but also able to replicate and emit a simr magical signature. This way, we''re able to ce a fake Dungeon Core in every non essential floating tform. Meanwhile, we''ll be hiding the real one underwater and suppressing its own signal, forcing them to split up their armies."

    "But knowing King Baal, he will eventually realise what we''re doing and split the sea open to get back the Dungeon Core, even though it means little to him."

    "Still, that lesson wille at a heavy price." Commander Zieg of the Dark Temrsmented. "All the demons we kill will essentially be our backbone against those pesky rats in the Farming World. Thus, the Dark Temrs will ce their life to cut down as many recruits as possible for the next uing war."

    Wolte added that Zieg and the Dark Temrs were able to learn how to operate the Sherman Tanks built from Hou Fei''s blueprints. But unlike the one used in the Goblin World, the current iteration of Sherman Tanks was vastly improved by Ayse with the aid of Lost Tech. And she wasn''t the only one who had been tinkering with these vehicles. As the Lead Researcher, Ayse had ordered Weslie, the inventor of Steam Tech, to use her past designs to readjust the barrels and firepower output.

    In fact, they believed the new version of Sherman Tanks were as powerful as the modern Leopard Tanks that Hou Fei''s troops were using. Thus, Ayse decided to change the name of the tank for dramatic effect to Sherman Tank EXбн However, the Dark Temrs had no interest in following her example and called them Shermies instead. (Especially when Wolte demanded them to treat their tanks as their wives or husbands.)

    "Will the domes break apart if King Baal really does split open the sea?" Jin could not fathom the cost of repairing the domes and the buildings on them. "What if he used some world wrecking magic and destroyed everything that we had built so far?"

    "That is where the emergency barrieres in." Moloch offered, but Jin was not convinced.

    "That might work one time, but what if he''s able to cast it more than once? How can we prevent that? Judging from how Moloch had been describing him, I believe he''ll be hell bent on getting it before deciding to destroy everything else. It will be folly for us to make him invade the underwater domes." Jinmented, and everyone fell silent for a while. To an extent, Qiu Yue had been optimistic that it would not devolve into such a scenario. Still, Jin did not share such sentiments, especially after his minion''s encounter with Queen Mab.

    "To be honest, it was - erm - a little hard to n the defences if we need to take in all sorts of encounters. At some point, we have to make ns for what we can reasonably expect to deal withбн " Qiu Yue tried to make an excuse on the spot, but she could see that Jin was not too pleased with the answer.

    "Never mind. We still have five days, right?" Jin asked for rification and Moloch nodded his head. "Make a makeshift fortress dome and ce it at the highest floating tform. Rig it in a way that if our defences fail us, the tform will automatically explode and smash into our city''s ocean surface." Jin said but suddenly stop in his tracks.

    "No wait, devise a method to manually activate the detonation if needed just in case of something unforeseen happens. Like you know, some bat shit crazy elite jumps straight for the dungeon core, skipping every defence we have in ce. Also, station the Deep Ones and Mr Derpy on sea patrol duty and we''ll let time decide what will happen." Jinmanded.

    "I see..." Kraft got where this was going after hearing Jin''s suggestion. "By doing that, you''re distracting King Baal from the underwater cities, and instead he''ll assume that all you have are the floating tforms. So, he''ll most likely either create a path straight to the dome defence tform. Or perhaps destroy the rest of the floating tforms and drop them into the sea for a massive amount ofnd to reach the dome. In that case, might I suggest to have more of these failsafe devices to increase our chances that he might not catch onto it."

    "Maybe, he has some pesky giant that will drag the dome to the shore for him." Ayse theorised, and both Demon Lords thought about it for a second to see if it was probable.

    "You guys get the idea, and we will use that emergency barrier on magic spells that focus on destroying our cities in the sea. Ayse, prepare a sort of floatation device for the Fortress Golems so they can still work if they drop down into the ocean. If need be, drag Rei and Weslie into the picture."

    "That''s rather demanding, but I like the idea of reducing our losses. Don''t want our golems to be mere deadweights once out of their guard posts. I will get to it." Ayse waved her hand, and she was teleported out of the war room. After she left, Half Ghoul Lord Derek wished to add his opinion into the whole defence operation.

    "While I do agree that Jin''s idea is fantastic in cutting losses, we cannot discount the preparations that Qiu Yue did for the Sea City Domes. It''s best to prepare for the worst of the worst. If Jin''s n is insufficient in dying the army to retreat, because realistically speaking, we cannot defeat them all, I will like to suggest one more contingency n...or rather the backup of all backups."

    "Then I believe you already have a suggestion in mind?" Jin queried with much curiosity. He too knew his n could only buy his defenders that much time.

    "I assume all of us must be aware that Mr Derpy is a fragment of a God in their world. However, I doubt anyone has ever seen how powerful he was exactly, and that made me curious about his abilities. He never had the chance to showcase his powers to the fullest at almost every junction. But as part of the third contingency n and Jin''s introduction of Mr Derpy as part of the sea patrol, I can safely say we should continue with Qiu Yue''s defence n with the aid of Mr Derpy."

    "You''ve been able to get a grasp of his powers?" Qiu Yue asked as she tried pressing for it and yet he did not wish to divulge any information on it.

    "I happened to have a glimpse of knowledge, and when I confronted him with it, he made me sign a pact not to reveal anything. However, that can''t stop me from rmending him for the third contingency n. All I can ask is for you all to trust him." Derek pleaded, and Jin was not toofortable with it. Leaving everything to an unknown variable left a bad taste in his mouth since there was enough of it on the current table.

    "Does User wish for the System to enforce the Loyalty order on Derek to make him tell you everything? As of now, the Monster App remained censored at the request of the monster." The System spoke out loud for everyone to hear as if it was a reminder of who was in charge of the area.

    It however made Jin stunned for a moment before he shook his head.

    "We all have some secrets of our own. Even I sometimes kept things from my colleagues or minions. It would be hypocritical for me to demand you to bepletely transparent while I wasn''t. So, I say it''s fair game. Fine, I will leave the third contingency n to you, Derek. Please do not disappoint any of us. Qiu Yue, please work in what I''ve designed and help Derek revise the third contingencyter. Please get back to me afterwards. For now, dismissed." Jin said, and everyone quickly returned to do their respective work except for Hou Fei who had been waiting to speak with the dungeon supplier.

 Chapter 691 A Puff Of Smoke

    <h4>Chapter 691 A Puff Of Smoke</h4>

    "Please tell me you have some information about the north. I''m desperate to hear some actual news about it." Jin beckoned Hou Fei to follow him to the Dungeon Maker where they had enough privacy to talk about this.

    "It would be bad if you actually heard anything about it yet. Considering how serious the government is suppressing every bit of information about this at the moment. It has reached a level where they have banned a few reporters who stumbled on this." Hou Fei said as heid back on a chair and took a cigarette out.

    "You mind?" Hou Fei asked, and Jin shook his head. "If you have heard any rumours about the monster horde, then they are right on the money."

    "I''ve heard multiple rumours, but the scale of them is a bit frightening. For you guys to insist on using my untested portal devices to keep up the secrecy, kind of shows that you all must be more than just a little desperate."

    "We are. In fact, we''re also considering sending Demon Exorcists in the vicinity to take a closer look at the situation. While it falls in our jurisdiction to eliminate the threat, we have no idea how the hell they have managed to increase their numbers this quickly." Hou Fei took the first puff, and he felt his lungs finally rx.

    "Hmm, it just so happens that I''ve sent out a small group of demon exorcists on my side to take a look at the situation. Technically, their mission is to check out something probably unrted, but I suppose they could examine the problem and provide us with some perspective on it while on site." Jin suggested, and Hou Fei squinted his eyes.

    "You have a group of demon exorcists under yourmand? That isбн quite a surprise. They''re an elite bunch of pricks who always undermine the military or police, thinking that they are the best of the best." Hou Feiined, seemingly having had too many encounters with them tofortably rely on them.

    "So do you think they are all that bad?" Jin asked as he showed Hou Fei his own Demon Exorcist badge. Hou Feiughed, but not in a funny way, probably to cover his disgust for his master.

    "You joined them out of your own volition or was it forced upon you?" Hou Fei questioned back as if he had an inkling of what must have happened.

    "Erm, Grandma Yuan made me joined her...after all-"

    "Yeah, Big Sis Yuan can be a royal pain in the ass. She has ways toбн''convince'' us to her bidding." Hou Fei thought back on all the times and how he was roped into performing errands for her. Not always willingly and not always even being aware of it until he finished.

    "There shouldn''t be that much bad blood, considering you called her Big Sis...?" Jin suddenly recalled about the crumpled piece of paper that had been thrown into the ck Tortoise of the North. Perhaps, he could pry a little on the rtionship between Ming and Yuan from Hou Fei through this conversation.

    "Oh, you didn''t know? Ming and Yuan were childhood friendsбн And guess what? This was actually supposed to be a secret which he leaked out when he was drunk. Considering that he isn''t here anymore, I don''t mind sharing it with you. Your old man Ming had been head over heels for her, but Big Sis Yuan never treated him as such. Hahaha! And Yuan never knew his feelings for her, as she always thought that he was behaving as her equal."

    "You mean not a little bit?"

    "I eventually got more out of Ming even though he obviously lied iming it was just a short periodical moment that he had a crush on her. After which, he found the love of his life and Yuan became only a battlepanion of the System." Hou Fei felt a little nostalgic over the whole conversation and decided to take another stick. Thankfully, the Dungeon Maker could make an impromptu venttion system, so the ce was not stuffed with smoke.

    "Is Yuan married or something? What was Grandma like? Do you happen to have a picture of her?" Jin asked, and Hou Fei felt ufortable from the sudden bombardment of questions. He then realised that Jin knew nothing about his elders at all.

    "Ahhh. I can''t believe those two continued to be this secretive throughout their lives, even to the extent of misunderstanding each other at times. That''s really their shared bad point." Hou Feimented as he flicked the burnt butt on a cigarette dish which the System had prepared.

    "Tell you what, I will be happy to gossip about their private lives when we are less busy. For now, let''s concentrate on the matter at hand." Hou Fei promised as he took out his phone and showed him an email. It contained a series of satellite images that showed how the Monster Horde was growing exponentially.

    "We have a few private contractors that have reduced their numbers significantly, but a group of them can only do that much. If the horde ising towards them, I trust that they can handle themselves. However, for some reason, this horde disys remarkable intelligence. After their first encounter, the private contractors were forced to search and hunt them down despite their growing numbers. It was just like they knew someone was out there to hurt themбн" Hou Fei started his report despite the need to keep them secret. Besides, he believed Jin would learn about it sooner orter anyway.

    "We have restricted the airspace above it in case of any flying creatures or those sorts but as of now there are no signs of this, yet we are remaining on alert. Though the border guards are on full alert, they have yet to increase their manpower unnecessarily." Hou Fei continued as he asked for his phone back.

    "Also, the disastermittee had mandated that we will start our operation next week, so you are lucky that my troops and I will be free for the fight."

    "Heh! If not for the portal device thing, you guys would have been travelling up north already." Jin countered Hou Fei''s ''benevolent'' behaviour.

    "Aww shucks, can''t you let me y a saint once in a while. I have always been the bad guy for quite a lot of stuff." Hou Fei sighed with a pleading tone.

    "Ites with the position of a general, I guess."

    "Props to your granddad for being so capable in raising a sessor." Hou Fei grinned. Heid his head back on the chair and took hisst puff before the cigarette died out.

    "So, is it true, your portal device truly works? Or are you just using the System''s magic to make it happen?"

    "Yeah, it does work even without the aid of the System, but I have also ced a few failsafe methods just in case of people trying to sabotage or copy our designs. Oh yea, the System has been upgrading the activation key with the help of Kraft. Now we will know exactly who uses which portal device and when. You should warn them not to pry in too deeply into our secrets. I think you know how trigger happy Kraft can be, especially after being bored for a while..."

    "Sounds like you are stricter than the government. But the big daddies will love you for such tracking information."

    "No matter what they do, they can only control people up to a certain extent. It''s more of the act itself than the actions it could perform. Besides, the failsafe key now acts more as a guarantee for me." Jin said as he typed a few things on the screen and showed Hou Fei.

    "Ke Loong is the main honcho for this matter, and while I believe they should be contacting your Human Resources soon enough, this is what''s going to happen," Jin exined to Hou Fei about the container trucks he was going to insert the portal instances in, and asked if there were any specifications that needed to be followed.

    "Ah, I will get the biggest dimensions of the tanks, 3-tonners and other misceneous vehicles and get back to you asap so you do not have wasted your time remodifying the container trucks. Other than that, I believe your n should be fine. I honestly hope that you won''t get involved in this mess any more than you already, seeing that you have your hands full with other nonsense."

    "I hope so too." Jin agreed. (Hardly believing it though)

 Chapter 692 Extra: Checkpoin

    <h4>Chapter 692 Extra: Checkpoin</h4>

    "BORDERS CLOSED, TURN BACK." The signs were wide and clear for the team of exorcists who were driving towards the checkpoint. Soon after the Border Guards demanded Lein to stop the car and present their IDs for verification.

    "The roads are blocked because of some reconstruction issues. Please divert back to the main road and try Exit 34B and upwards. ount at least two more hours to your travelling time." The Guard told them like it was a rehearsed response. As if Lein knew what was going to happen, he stopped as instructed and prepared himself mentally. Aside from the standard IDs that Lein had collected from the group, he had also shown their Demon Exorcist''s licenses.

    "We''ve heard about the ''matter'' and had volunteered to investigate the cause of it." Lein lied with a straight, yet confident look on his face. The Guard took a quick nce at the Qilin Demon Cultivator before scrutinising their ID cards once again.

    "I''ll get back to you. Go through the first checkpoint and turn left. Wait for further instructions." The Border Guard stated and shouted at hisrades to lift the roadblock for their car to pass through.

    "Looks like what Milk said is true." Su Zhen scanned around the vicinity and saw that the guards were in their full battle garments despite pretending this just being a typical ''reconstruction'' roadblock.

    "Heh. This Jin is as cunning as Grandma Yuan. He must have a sixth sense knowing that there was something going on here. I''m starting to think whatever is there, it won''t just be some standard bone demons." Rong felt ted that they were not doing some pathetic errand to catch these demons.

    "That does not mean it deviates from our mission," Lein told hispanion as he thanked the Guard who removed the roadblock with a nod. "Whatever the demon, we have to grab samples of it. If possible capture it alive, otherwise kill it and hand over the corpse to Jin."

    "Assuming whatever they are afraid of is not a ghost type, grabbing samples might still be nigh impossible. You know how quickly demon bodies erode. We have, at best, two days to bring it back for cross-examination." Lian reminded them while she stared nkly out of the window despite the constant activities of the border guards.

    "In any case, we should concentrate on getting in first and meet Milk at the aforementioned location." Lein told the rest to stay in the car while he settled with the next batch of guards.

    "Man, if Ms Milk can get into thepound undetected, that means she must be quite a high-level cultivator," Rong mentioned casually while he helped Lein turn the car into idle mode, reducing the activity of the engine further. "Just where did Jin get to know all these people?"

    "Jin this, Jin that. You must be really jealous of him." Lianmented while Su Zhen snickered believing it was more likely the other way around. He wanted to be like Jin.

    "What?! No way! Who would want to be like that scammer! He could have told us that the spider was the exam!" Rong argued and tried to defend himself.

    "Ookayyy. Whatever rocks your boat." Lian shrugged her shoulders since she could not be bothered to turn her head from the front seat and quarrel with Rong.

    "Captain Samsu." The captain introduced himself as he extended his hand for a simple greeting. Lein returned the greeting but noticed that the captain''s grip was weak and he had heavy ck eye bags on his face, making him look more than just haggard.

    "You im to have volunteered yourself here. Please exin." Captain Samsu asked, but a sudden phone call interrupted the conversation. He quickly picked up and walked away for a moment to answer the call. Even without any eavesdropping, the expression on the Captain made the situation he was handling rather obvious, and Lein did not like this one bit.

    "My bad. Where were we?"

    "You asked for an exnation of why we''re here. I am afraid I cannot go too much into the situation, but you can regard it as a simple recon mission." Lein tried to make up an excuse, but Captain Samsu felt more irritated than ever.

    " ''Simple'' recon mission? What the hell? Is that how they treat all of this and the reason why they only sent newly promoted exorcists to us? Ah, whatever. Those government dogs are always thinking about their face." Anger was seeping out of the Captain''s face as if he was waiting for something more optimistic as Lein pretended to be nonchnt to theints.

    "Regardless, four fresh able bodies is better than none. You said you wanted to see what''s inside, right? Be my guest, but know this. I''m in no way responsible for you. Youe back with everyone missing, it''s none of my business." Captain Samsu stated and shouted for one of the guards.

    "Make them sign the indemnity form and record their ID cards in case they don''te back within the next 72 hours. After which, let them pass." Captain Samsu ordered, returned back to his office and continued to make calls for the guards.

    While the rest were doing the paperwork, Lein casually asked one of the guards about Captain Samsu''s lousy mood.

    "Not enough manpower and insufficient ammunition. The injured are getting more numerous, so they are being sent to various hospitals to lower the suspicions. But despite the increasing casualties, we still don''t get any reinforcements. Not to mention, none of us here had the luxury to spend any Christmas or the new year because of this fucking horde." Guard A ranted out loud, in poor hopes that the ''infamous exorcists'' could write that in their wretched report back to their higher ups.

    "Yeah, if not for the private contractors, this wall would have already been broken through many times. And here we thought there would be more helping in the way." Guard B badmouthed the situation. It was clear that they had enough with all of this damned secrecy.

    "Didn''t they tell us the army wille by this week?" Guard A asked, but Guard B corrected him that they wouldn''te here before next week instead. Even though Lein knew a little from Milk''s leaked information, he decided to keep his mouth shut for now and calmly fill in the rest of the paperwork.

    "Not to say you are useless or anything, but I doubt you''ll be of much help, considering your ranks. So please, do a quick recon and ask your superiors for reinforcements. We sorely need it." The first Guard requested. But as luck would have it, their own supervisor shouted at them to hurry up with the paperwork and get back to their guard positions.

    Lein took the border guard guest passes as proof of identification for the roads and subsequent checkpoints ahead. As he drove the car through the first line of inspections, the team quietly but vigntly looked out for any damages done by the demons around the area.

    To their surprise, there was not much damage to the infrastructures, but there were obvious signs of firefights at the forests right beside them. Rong also managed to sieve out the scent of gunfire smoke, and it felt recent.

    Considering he could have a whiff of it from a moving car, indicated that the guards were not lying.

 Chapter 693 Extra: Camp For The Evening

    <h4>Chapter 693 Extra: Camp For The Evening</h4>

    "Yo, you guys finally arrived!" Milk waved at them from above a tree while the rest were weary from the hike from the checkpoint.

    "Did you like, erm fly in here or something? And what kind of location is this? We are standing practically in the middle of nowhere with nondmark to follow." Lianined as she was not used to the traditional methods of searching for someone using a physical map. All four of them were too reliant on technology to even understand the basics of survival.

    "Actually, I got bored at the real location some time ago, so I decided to search for you guys instead. Why didn''t you prepare better? It should''ve been obvious that you''re going into a massive jungle with no Wifi? Next time at least get a GPS receiver or apass." Milk lectured them since she had wasted an hour waiting for them at the particr location she assigned. There was no apparent reason why Milk wanted to use the site she chose other than asking System for a coordinate to teleport.

    However, she did encounter a Bone Spirit Demon that was lurking around the area and had already plummeted it to death before sending it to the System for analysis. After which, she slept above a tree branch peacefully with a variety of rm spells ced in her radius to alert her of movement either from the demon exorcists or any other demons.

    Milk honestly believed there was really no need for the kids to be here. If all Jin wanted was to find out about the monsters to create in the new advanced training centre, then there were better candidates for that job.

    So, she guessed he wanted them to learn and grow from the experience. After all, aside from Su Zhen, the rest still needed to prove that they had actually killed a few demons and solve a case or two to get promoted to full-fledged demon exorcists. This particr exercise could potentially allow them to gain such a reputation immediately.

    "Ms Milk, your information about a possible demon invasion was right. The guards were all dead tired and bbering about how they needed reinforcements and weapons. However, as we travelled here, there were no demons in sight despite the tell signs. Was that your doing as well?" Lein queried.

    Milk''s information had been correct, and her criticism was valid from the way they were behaving. But there was no apparent threat at the moment. They wondered if Milk was secretly protecting them by giving them a seemingly random meeting location as an excuse.

    "Nope, I haven''t seen anything yet." Milk lied as she covered it up with another yawn. Su Zhen judged that their observer, as well as the team, were tired so it would be best to break camp for the day despite still having plenty of daytime left. (She had no idea how much sleep Milk always enjoyed.)

    "Ms Milk, is there a river stream or some other kind of water source around?" Su Zhen asked. She decided to scan the area for a ce to rest by activating her sensing ability of the White Demon Snake.

    "Ehh, further up, there is a small stream. Enough to get some water." Milk pointed upwards, and Rongughed.

    "We have more than enough water to supply ourselves. I bet Su Zhen is just looking for a clearing to settle for the evening." Rong pointed out as he took out a bottle of water and unted it in front of Milk.

    "Just...don''t litter the ce or I will wallop you." Milk said casually as she beckoned the rest to follow her.

    Soon, they found a small clearing further up the stream and decided to camp there. Only instead of cooking dinner, they were busy setting a few basic trap formations and subsequently tents to rest. After which, all of them prepared to sleep despite the sun still being up.

    Seeing the curious look on Milk, Lian assumed she did not know much about the demons and exined that the demons were more active in the night: "They''re a little scared of the light, but that doesn''t mean they won''t attack in the day."

    Meanwhile, Lian took a spray can and started moisturising her skin from the intense heat. In fact, it also served as a sort of low level repellent so regr demons would not be able to sense the chi emanating from the Demon Exorcists as they rested.

    "The three of us will be resting up, while Rong will take watch for us until the evening." Su Zhen interjected and asked Lian for the spray can and criticised she should get the new lemon concoction from the Exorcists Shop online.

    "The Trap Formations also has an rm spell to alert Rong and should keep us safe inside," Lein said as he properly activated the trap formation. It caused a faint greenish light to appear in the distance, and eventually, the trap formation blended with the surrounding environment.

    "So instead of using it offensively, you are using it defensively?" Milk concluded, and they nodded their heads. Usually, it was used to trap and prevent the demons from moving out of the formation, thus allowing Demon Exorcists to close into the demon and kill it. But at the moment, they were trapping themselves in so they could have a quiet and peaceful rest.

    Rong would be on standby and protect the group in case any demons identally destroyed the formation.

    "But most of the time, if the demons were able to destroy the trap formation, they are usually sentient in nature, and that means we''ll be big trouble," Lian added, but Su Zhen calmed everyone else by stating that there were no tracks of the demons on the ground she had trailed.

    ''You cannot track them because...they are using the trees to travel.'' Milk thought to herself when she recalled the Bone Demon infused Monkey diving down to attack her. Still, she decided not to say anything and allow these kids a bit of rest.

    Milk predicted that soon enough, the young demon exorcists would be in one of the hardest battles they would remember for life.

 Chapter 694 Weirdest Accomodation

    <h4>Chapter 694 Weirdest Aodation</h4>

    "This is the weirdest amodation I''ve ever heard of." Meng Ruo grumbled as he stared at the Tree Mall right in front of him. "You sure the Sarge''s order is correct?"

    "Please, even Sarge thinks that this has to be some mistake." Zhang Min replied as he stared at his phone from the Mechat messages he had with his superior.

    "Well, that''s why we''ve been sent here, isn''t it? Besides, ording to Sarge, General Hou Fei also wants us to do a warm-up exercise before going up north. He kept emphasising that we''re too inexperienced at fighting monsters after thest training exercise." Wei Yi added as he beckoned the guys to follow him into the Tree Mall. Their sergeant had forwarded a message from their higher-ups stating that they were to stay in a dungeon supplier store.

    Not only did the three corporals wonder if this was the right decision, but a lot of their higher-ups were inevitably showing doubts of their usually capable General''s orders. Had he suddenly gone insane to tell them to stay in a dungeon supplier store?

    It was to the point, many were starting to consider pre-booking some of the hotels around Shenzhen just in case that order was some sort of mistake. Especially when he gave the directive for them to mobilise into Shenzhen for the ''mass training exercise'' in five days time.

    As Meng Ruo, Zhang Min and Wei Yi happened to be assigned for a cross-state training workshop in Shenzhen by the 4th Royal Zodiac Snake Battalion, they had been secretly ordered by their sergeant (Actually it came from their Commanding Sergeant Major) to verify what the General had said before they decided to mobilise the entire battalion into Shenzhen in in sight.

    "Wee to Dungeons and Panda! ording to your registration, I believe you must be here under themand of General Hou Fei?" Mr Patsu, the Penguin Announcer, turned guide for this impromptu amodation situation greeted the three who had entered the shop simultaneously.

    "Eh...Yes, that''s us. They''ve been told to ask for Jin? бн or Qiu Yue?" Wei Yi, who was the most senior among the three, had stepped forward to give Mr Patsu more information.

    "Ah, no worries, Jin, the Boss of this ce has left me specific instructions to bring you to your amodations first." Mr Patsu replied upon seeing the screenshot from the Mechat message. "Please follow me and do not hesitate to take pictures."

    That sentence alone had made the three soldiers suspicious. It was not due to the penguin NPC talking to them but mainly because of how shocked they wereing into a shop instance like Jin''s. Although the Christmas decoration themes had been removed, they still needed time to limatise to the ''ordinary'' look of the shop instance.

    "How did you know that we wished to take pictures of the ce?" Zhang Min asked while also taking one photo of the penguin himself.

    "Boss Jin reminded us that it would be understandable for you esteemed guests to doubt the orders of your general given the content." Mr Patsu smiled as he always loved to see the surprised faces of new customers.

    It brought him joy that there was this ''magical'' touch that Jin''s store still possessed no matter the age of the customers. Soon, the trio readily followed Mr Patsu into an elevator at the edge of the shop instance which had a sign with ''restricted ess'' written on it.

    Mr Patsu jumped to tap the ''up'' button with his keycard, and the elevator opened, revealing a pretty, petite chandelier at the centre of the lift. Its slight yellowish glow gave the lift a bit of afy luxurious feel. The spacious elevator included a white marble interior that blended nicely with the chandelier while slow 80s music was yed in the background.

    "It will be a short ride to the lobby, but please hold on to the railings in case of jerking." Mr Patsu instructed them and pressed the only button on the elevator. True enough, there was some vibration that came from the lift, but the soldiers felt that it was not because of any infrastructure failure and rather the speed that the elevator was moving at. They could feel there was a slight gravitational force in y and it was simr to the elevator rides going from the 1st floor to the 80th floor in less than 10 seconds.

    In no time at all, the doors opened, and the sight was entirely different from what they had expected.

    A row of animal looking people at the elevator''s entrance weed their first-ever group of guests they ever received. The animal people tribes who had signed the contract had been employed as auxiliary support staff for the current humans, and they had been drilled madly by the penguins. In terms of management, Lynn was handling the animal tribes rather than Qiu Yue since she had experience training the penguins for service support. (Though the System was using her more for the total obsession to clean stuff.)

    Still, with Lynn only being apt in training others to be a cook she had left it to her peggies to train the staff for hospitality. The System had agreed to it as well since they were the epitome of her standard in cleanliness.

    Some of the tribe people had initially been unable to handle the intense training. Still, the System (along with Lynn) had decided to use the same incentive programme the penguins were using to entice them to do better.

    Unfortunately, the standard they had achieved so far, was not exactly what they had hoped for, especially since the penguins had had more time to learn and train. Yet, the Animal Tribe people preserved mainly because of the abundance of food,fort and shelter they had been provided with in return.

    They enjoyed their new lives without the need to sacrifice themselves hunting for the chance of getting food. Some of the older members didin that this could potentially erode some of their tribal tradition, though the penguins did indirectly reinforce the fact that Jin would always satisfy the thirst for battles when the time was right.

    Furthermore, the System had also bestowed them with cultivation styles based on their animals to further develop their strength, dexterity and vitality. After all, being able to stay awake longer meant working harder, and it would ultimately prove to serve better for the System and Jin.

    In the meantime, the three soldiers could not believe their eyes and their mouth were still left hanging. The lobby was grandiose in nature withfortable chairs right beside the counters for guests to wait. The porters were around to carry any heavy luggages. Despite the soldiers'' insistence, they eventually gave way for the animal tribe people to hold them.

    Registration was just a form of courtesy as they were presented with not just the keys to their hotel room, but the information brochures about the hotel they were going to stay as well as food vouchers for the breakfast buffet. The guests were also brief that their physical keys were used to turn the circuits on in their room, but the locks could be open with the digital key affixed to the Pandamonium ount. Thus, there was no need to worry about losing their physical key.

    Yet, another shocking sight awaited them after registering for their hotel room as Mr Patsu led them to it.

 Chapter 695 Hotel Room

    <h4>Chapter 695 Hotel Room</h4>

    "Am I still dreaming?" Wei Yi asked as he opened the door to the hotel room on the eighth floor. It was not some measly one bedroom like he had expected but instead turned out to be an enormous suite.

    "Don''t get too happy now. I''m beginning to suspect there must be a serious caveat for such a luxurious stay. General Hou Fei wouldn''t just book us something as fancy otherwise." Zhang Min replied as he opened another door which revealed an individual room with a personal toilet. On further inspection, it felt more like a well-furnished five-room apartment with essories attached to it.

    The living room was equipped with air conditioning, a 55бх 8K HDR Television with a modest surround sound system at the centre of it all. From the looks of it, the brand of the sofa was just as expensive as everything that was ced alongside it. Even the carpet and tiles they were standing had a different feel. It felt like their feet did not deserve any of this.

    And hell, there was even a ybox 720 in the living room ready for them on the top shelf of a cab filled with thetest games for them to try out. If they wanted party games, the Nentendo Switch Pro was also avable but they had to prebook it at the front counter.

    It was mainly because of the limited quantity the hotel have in stock. (The hotel could not possibly cater to each and every guest with a set of Switch Pro) Aside from gaming, it also had thetest streaming premium services on demand. Sports, movies, dramas and even scious programmes were avable.

    Of course, thest one was a definite pay per view with the use of Pandamonium App and the users were reminded to keep it a secret since censorship controls were still rather tight about it. (On the side note, the System ensured that no such programmes were avable for families with kids around.)

    Separately, the bathroom was filled with arge bathtub enough for two to enjoy a jacuzzi session. A somewhat smaller TV with anti-fogging and water-resistant technology was also ced within the room for a person to simultaneously enjoy their soapy bath and remain up to date with any show of their choosing.

    Talking about baths, the soap selection would put many five and even six star hotels to shame as there was a touch screen to select the kind of soap for dispensing. If there was no time to enjoy the tub, the upants could always use the shower area right beside it. The most unique thing was, that it was a virtually simted room which meant that it could simte any environment the upant wished to bathe in.

    Zhang Min tried it out by pressing the ''random'' button, and the shower room simted the surroundings of a traffic cross junction. It was the most hrious and ''voyeur-icious'' way of taking a shower, but the soldiers understood that this was more than fulfilling quirky desires. In a way, they got where the designs wereing from.

    It was really an escape from reality.

    The individual bedrooms were another example of such a design. Simr to the shower portion of the bathroom, those bedrooms had the exact same function only this time, it was even more extravaganza. The bedroom virtual simtions scenes were able to portray different well-known movie sets and allow the upants to live in the moment. And if the guests did not like such fanciful scenes, there was the option to sleep beside a waterfall or waking up on a cliff. Else, the guest could simply turn it all off. The possibilities were numerous (although limited to 100 virtual scenes at the moment) made the soldiers already agree that this was the best decision that their General had taken for them.

    "After all the shit we''ve gone through, General really kept his promise of giving us a decent vacation!" Meng Ruo was crazily taking photos and uploading to his Mechat group.

    "Don''t forget we''ll still have to survive the North? This is probably a teaser since we have a joint dungeon exercise to do with the other Royal Snake Battalions." Wei Yi reminded his buddy, but he couldn''t be happier that they would all get to stay in such a crazy hotel room like this.

    Last but least, Zhang Min opened the curtains and doors right beside the living room. It revealed a spacious balcony enough to fit a BBQ pit, dining table and a few chairs for suntanning. If needed, the balcony could be covered and be converted into an extension of the living room. Two full-body massage chairs were also present in the balcony overseeing the beach from a distance. Zhang Min took a broad scan of the area and found several other simr hotels like the one that they were staying in. (Though most of the hotels he saw were blurred out with the some presence of fog except for the one right opposite them.)

    However, the most mystical thing of all was that they were currently in a dome. Outside it was covered with water and fish instead of space and stars.

    "Holy shit, either this is some big ass virtual simtion in the works, or we''re really in a dome deep under the sea." Zhang Min said as he took more pictures to send to their Mechat group. Obviously, people were responding faster than usual, most of it iming how jealous they were.

    Suddenly, the bell rang. Meng Ruo opened the door, only to see Mr Patsu and a pair of Croc waiters ready to serve their dinner. The soldiers graciously allowed them to enter, and the Crocs professionally arranged the dishes on the dining table on the balcony for them to partake in.

    "Today''s menu consists of boneless chicken chop, served with Portobello mushroom sauce with a dash of pepper. Sides include freshly cut chips and a pinch of sd, enough for a healthy meal and I believe fulfilling for hungry soldiers like you three." Unlike waiters who loved to exaggerate, what Mr Patsu had described was more of an understatement.

    The portion for the chicken chop was humongous, and the fries were aplenty. Not to mention, the sd was mixed with a variety of vegetables that the soldiers swore they could still smell the freshness from them, unlike the ones they purchase in supermarkets.

    "Wine, champagne or any other drinks?" Mr Patsu asked. The trio was chuckling at how sumptuous the spread of food was, and they decided to go for a ssic, beer.

    "Ah, my apologies. Yes, some icy chill beer should certainly go well with a meal like this." Mr Patsu agreed with their choice and asked for their vours before dishing them out magically from the dining trolley. What''s more, this wasn''t the end as Mr Patsu subsequently introduced the various amenities Hotel Pandastic had for them as advertised in their information brochure.

    If this was any kind of indicator for Hou Fei''s appreciation for his troops, the soldiers believed the rest of the battalions would be dying to serve the Snake General well for the uing exercises and also the rest of his career.

 Chapter 696 Jins Forum Pos

    <h4>Chapter 696 Jin''s Forum Pos</h4>

    While others were busy preparing for the iing assault of the Demon Army, Jin and Kiyu had been producing promotional materials for the cultivators to join in. Jin usually didn''t disturb the creative process of Kiyu, but this time he had been forced to step in because she had asked him to help outбн as a Panda Mascot.

    The Vixen of Seductive Advertising stood behind the camera to take pictures and videos of the new Dungeon Fortress City. She had cunningly decided for Jin to act as the ''hero'' of their advertisement. Obviously, not as himself but as a PandaMan wearing army cks and holding a gun while randomly shooting at Moloch''s minotaurs who acted as the baddies for the videos.

    It was a fun shoot for Kiyu, but a damningly stressful activity for Jin. He had never expected Kiyu to be so strict. At the slightest extra movement or slip of the tongue, she had yelled ''CUT'' and forced a reshoot.

    The cosying minotaurs were already used to her demands and told Jin to buckle up. It took no more than two hours before it could go to editing, but it felt like 2 draining days of retakes until Director Kiyu was satisfied with her final product. However, to be fair, she was not just stern to them but held herself to the same standard, and the results spoke for themselves.

    When Jin had watched her previous videos, he had seen how cheerful and happy she had been acting during the whole advertisement. It had looked so easy and naturalбн until he realised how much practice shots she must have diligently taken to reach that sort of ''fake'' natural happiness.

    To get perfect shots did not just require talent but also effort and a little bit of luck. At that point, Jin had considered if he should perhaps take a few shots or even clips of Kiyu hard at work as part of a ''behind the scenes'' kind of video he hoped to make in the future.

    After his work was done, Jin decided to post some snippets of the advertising video in a new forum post. Being an ''admin'' on the Pandamonium forum as well as the ''developer'' of the Dungeons and Panda, Jin''s posts always caught much attention in a short amount of time.

    The post informed the masses that a one-time special raid would be running on Saturday and there would be no repeats for that particr raid. Thus those who participated would be earning the rewards Qiu Yue had painstakingly prepared as well as a few unique stuff from Jin''s creation.

    Since the squad function was not fully ready, Jin had to create a few special items such as limited cosmetic inscriptions and even a set of promotional cosmetic weapons. (Let''s not forget about the plushies. Those plushies sell so well, Jin would not be letting go of them easily.)

    He told everyone that a sign-up application form would be ced in the forum post as well as in Pandamonium''s app main page''s noticeboard. (Which waster linked to the forum post.)

    Jin described the raid as realistic as he could and revealed the true hard facts about why the raid would happen. Those people who were reading it naturally assumed that all of it was just the raid''s lore and some evenined that Jin used such a clichиж.

    However, most were not really concerned with the lore. The famed gamey of Dungeon and Pandas with its realism and the fighting scale has always been the real reason cultivators loved the shop and repeatedly visited for the experience.

    Jin promised that this would just be the first of many massive defence raids he nned to conduct. He even stated that the attendance of the cultivators would be used to judge how the dungeon supplier would proceed for these events in the future.

    Some thought that it was nothing new until they read that cultivators would be assigned into teams such as frontline fighters or backend support when they were filling up the registration form. And the readers viewed that this might be more than just a simple raid story since Jin had prepared to separate the cultivators into different roles.

    Jin rified in further posts that though the Pandamonium App had data on each of the cultivator''s way of ying the dungeons and rmended certain positions to the cultivators, they did not have to stick to such rmendation strictly. His customers could choose what kind of gamey they would serve to y in for the subsequent raid.

    What''s more, there might be a mock raid that would simte the actual raid''s n if garnered enough attention or participants, but Jin heavily emphasised that theputer''s algorithm was very likely to change in the real scenario and things might not go have to deviate from the n. While losing was not an option, heavy losses are expected on their side.

    Unlike previous raids, this particr Demon Army Defence Raid had a rather expensive price tag pegged to it. It was set at 50 Yuan, 80 Yuan and 150 Yuan respectively.

    50 Yuan was the most basic tier which gave the cultivators 3 chances of reviving. What this meant was that even if they were killed in the raid, they would be teleported to an express clinic where top Panda Nurses would examine if the user had any majorplications.

    If there were none, they could be teleported back into the raid at a ''rtively'' safe location to continue the battle. However, the rewards they could choose would be capped to the bronze tier which Qiu Yue had introduced.

    For 80 Yuan or the Silver Tier, the customer would be able to ess a price from either bronze or silver tier. Six revival chances as well as a T-Shirt tomemorate the first-ever Demon Army Defence Raid. (Subsequent tickets would not reward the shirt again.) As for the highest tier, the gold tier price ticket allowed them to redeem any possible price, the t-shirt as well as a permanent limited cosmetic item for their pet.

    Under the exnation, Jin wrote a big disimer that the ticket tier decided the rewards for that particr run. So, for example, if one bought the gold tier ticket first, all points would be tallied until the cultivator ran out of revivals and they would have to redeem a price from any tier with that amount of points.

    But should they wish to continue and buy only a bronze tier ticket on their next try, the silver and gold tiers would be locked out. Needless to say, those bronze, silver and gold reward tier had adder of rewards to them, and until they reached the top of every tier, there should be no qualms to the type of rewards being given out.

    A few customers scrutinised the reward tier lists hard and indicated that there was a big discrepancy for certain levels of rewards. Still, Jin iterated that due to the new technology he used for this special raid dungeon, the ticket prices were rather fair.

    The reward list itself was enough to make everyone talk for hours. This wasn''t limited to the Pandamonium App as people started talking about it on their socials and #DemonArmyDefenceRaid became one of the most trending hashtags of the day.

 Chapter 697 Hotel Pandastic

    <h4>Chapter 697 Hotel Pandastic</h4>

    As more of Hou Fei''s soldiers arrived after realising that their General had not been joking about providing them with an exclusive hotel stay, they began to take their R & R leisure time seriously. Given their sheer number, not all soldier could fit inside Hotel Pandastic, so theters had been settled in the currently only other open hotel, Hotel Penguinton.

    Like their names suggested, the hotel''s architecture of each building was actually shaped close to the animal''s outer appearance. Hotel Pandastic had a wide curve exterior that ced the rooms outwards while there was an extensive inner garden in the centre of it all. (Qiu Yue seriously did not spare the reserves at all.)

    Within the garden, there were a variety of activities to spend their time on such as sports stadiums (yes! plural!) for baseball, football and even rugby. Worried that there were not enough yers to start a friendly bout? No problem, the animal tribes were here to entertain the guests as well.

    For the tribes, this was considered their break time. They had learnt these new sports from Jin''s world ande to enjoy them tremendously. Somehow, the beavers hade to prefer baseball over any other game and despite their build, they had be rather urate with their throws and hits, making them a formidable opponent to y against.

    The Pr Bears as another example adored rugby to the point that they even pooled whatever money they earnt to buy proper equipment from the System. Some of them used this opportunity to further their base cultivation bestowed by the System and built up enough strength that they managed to rival many soldiers in a test of brute force.

    While every tribe did have a chance to test out every type of sport that was offered there, football surprisingly turned out to be the only one that was appreciated by all the tribes equally. Each and every one of them had organised a dedicated team of eleven to y it. They even set up a tournament with a point system. This easily made football the hottest event during the soldier''s stay.

    Although cultivation was also allowed in both Rugby and Baseball, there were restrictions and limits for how much one could portray their cultivations since the rules they yed by were simr to the one back in Jin''s world. Yet, football was the only exception to this rule. Throughout the day, the football events alternated between ''cultivation only'' and ''powerless'' matchups.

    For ''cultivation only'' matches, there were no bars holding any person on the field down. Every team member was allowed and even encouraged to use their cultivation to the utmost limit with no penalty insight to score a goal.

    It might sound like an absurd game of power, but that was the whole point of the game. Still, to make it more interesting and to avoid the game turning into a slugfest where the stronger average team would win, whoever scored the goal would be put into a weakened state for five minutes.

    The power limitation bracelet, which every member had to equip before the match, would turn on and limit the powers of that person to an average Grade 2 cultivator. This way, each team still had to strategise who should do the scoring and regte the offensive strikers to pit against their opposing rivals.

    The ''cultivation only'' matches were so well received, that any soldier who was watching it on the sidelines hoped to give it a try. The game was so popr that the monsters actually reserved the fields so that they could y as soon as they were on their break.

    Even the Savants from the Shaolin Football Instance had joined in to pit against the soldiers for honour and glory. It had reached a point that the soldiers requested the ''powerless'' matches to be ditched in favour of more ''cultivation only'' games.

    Other than the fields within the garden, there was a gym and a pool though those were limited. However, should the soldiers agree to pay a little more, they could be connected to the Panda Muscles for privacy sake.

    And yes, the soldiers were paying for all these amenities that were on deck in Hotel Pandastic. Aside from General Hou Fei sponsoring the rooms, everything else required cash though it was charged at a discounted rate since they were ''guests'' in the hotel.

    Hotel Pandastic was more sports-oriented, whereas Hotel Penguinton offered more entertainment-based amenities such as bowling, billiard, karaoke rooms, (they were quite standard so as to not steal any business from the Meow Meow Karaoke instance), ice skating and rock climbing.

    The ice skating field was more extensive than one might think mainly because it was a hotspot for the penguins to rx at. There were also ice-skating tracks which featured something simr to arge yground for the penguins to slide around. (Sorta like a skate park but on ice.) And because of the nature of advanced ice skating field, there were certain parts of it which were restricted and only allowed highly experienced skaters to prevent any possible collision with the penguins.

    For the rock climbing portion, it wasn''t merely a static wall. Instead, it was more like a giant vertical treadmill with more than a thousandbinations for the position of the rocks, capable of posing a challenge for the most veteran of wall climbers. Obviously, the difficulty could be tweaked based on the guest''s preference, but there was never a dull moment for climbing.

    However, the most unique part of Hotel Penguinton was actually the golf park. It was designed to be more child-friendly for future customers, but the attraction alone made it worth the adults'' time. From the average Windmills golf attractions to using the ball to break a domino effect, the soldiers who yed this were astonished how a simple game of hitting a ball could be that thrilling. (Of course, some were already nning to bring their girlfriends with them to try it out.)

    Qiu Yue had always found creative golf park courses to be a marvel of physics, considering the effort required to get the ball into its goal. Thus, when presented with this opportunity, she had decided to add this as a mini project and a way to explore her creativeness. (Although it was already quite obvious, she had more than enough creativity judging by the way she splurged cash to build the hotels.)

    The golf courses had a note stating that they would be changed on a quarterly basis and eventually, she wanted topile all the courses into one big service instance.

    Considering all the fun stuff within the two hotels, not many soldiers had the chance to get out and explore the sea dome ''instance'' that they were in.

    Yet the few who did, soon realised that they were restricted about where they could go by Qiu Yue and the Empire Building Sub System and thus the message to stay inside had already been spread to their brothers-in-arms.

    The only outside entertainment that was currently avable was the beach and that itself was a bit of a downerбн since the Royal Snake Battalions were filled with guys only. Still, with surfboarding, beach volleyball or just sun tanning, the soldiers of the Royal Snake had their fill of seaside fun before the ''training''menced.

 Chapter 698 Assembly At The Shoreline

    <h4>Chapter 698 Assembly At The Shoreline</h4>

    After two days of R & R leisure time, a mass message was passed to allmanding officers by General Hou Fei to meet at the beach for assembly by 0800 hours. Jin was there early to prepare the necessary pamphlets and booklets to distribute, but he can''t help to notice how orderly and punctual the soldiers were when it came to their appointed time.

    Instead ofing on the dot to assemble, each and every one of them had already been there at 0730 hours for roll call. They even performed their basic set of exercises in their standard army uniforms before standing at attention waiting for themanding officers to cote and record the people who were present.

    All five thousand were waiting at the shoreline silently, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the artificial sea waves hitting the beach. (To them it''s rather real though)

    A mass gathering of that many soldiers was indeed a sight to behold, and Jin could not help but take a panoramic picture of the soldiers awaiting their next orders. Soon, Hou Fei came fashionablyte at 8.01 am. Themanding officers then announced their battalion''s roll call, stating the number of soldiers that were present.

    Upon thepletion of the roll call, Hou Fei scanned the beachhead filled with soldiers and subsequently dismissed the soldiers to get their breakfast and return to the shoreline by 9 am.

    Everyone left double time, marching back to the hotels in an orderly fashion. Only themanding officers had stayed and now followed Hou Fei to meet Jin.

    "This is the dungeon supplier who has created the raid exercise we will all attend. While I did mention that the police should be joining us in abined training exercise, this one is going to be a little bit more special." Hou Fei introduced him, and everyone took turns to shake Jin''s hand.

    "Boss Jin, it''s an honour to meet you. Your reputation of realistic dungeon instances precedes you." Major Boon Tiong said to Jin as they exchanged greetings.

    "Indeed. When I heard of General Hou Fei''s n to stay in a dungeon supplier store in Shenzhen, we believed only you could make it happen." Colonel Chen Lai added, which made Jin wonder how they had heard of his ce before.

    "The good old General always brags about how he''s met this fantastic dungeon supplier and keeps insisting that we should send our squad/battalion to try the dungeons first hand. It''s a big headache for me though.

    Honestly, you can''t imagine how much of an issue it was to prepare the funds for this ''vacation''. The defence ministry got on my back and nearly wanted to start a full-on investigation about why five battalions left their bases early for the Dongguan-Huizhou incursions to join some impromptu training exercise leaving a barebone security to guard the bases." Colonel Kan Jian lightlyined, revealing himself to be the head of finance for the Royal Snake Battalions.

    "You''re here to rx right now, so stop with all that bureaucratic nonsense. You should all agree that it was a good rmendation for the soldiers to rest here, right? Besides, we are the first to be allowed to test this ce out. Boss Jin hasn''t even disclosed this location to the public." Hou Fei rolled his eyes at Kan Jian''s constant nagging. He obviously knew that his subordinate was keeping the spending funds at a minimum for other big-budget purchases in the future.

    "Yeah, yeah. It''s all good. Nobody can deny a single bit. The amodation was shockinglyfortable." Kan Jian praised while the others also agreed that the amenities and food were excellent too.

    "Okay, enough of that. Let''s get to the main topic, shall we?" Colonel Chen Lai pointed out, knowing how the officers sometimes wished to butter up their rtions with General Hou Fei, even though they knew he was not that kind of person. "Jin, what are your ns for us?"

    "Yes, I''ll get to it in a moment, but before that, let''s go somewhere a little morefortable for this talk," Jin suggested as he opened a portal right in front of them, allowing them to enter the prepared war room for the discussion.

    Waiting for the guests, the penguins had prepared snacks such as palm-sized sandwiches so the officers could take a bite while they listened to what Jin had to say.

    The dungeon supplier told them how the exercise wouldmence, exining the current ns they had and informing them about the defences he had created beforehand.

    "However, please be aware that this is a new technological engine that I am experimenting with, so it''s likely that the algorithm is mighty unstable. In other words, the monsters that will enter the field might either be a lot weaker than youбн or what''s more likely to be the case, they could be way stronger than expected." Jin warned them. This did cast some worries on the officers.

    "Isn''t that dangerous for the upholding the integrity of the dungeon instance? Should we expect it to break down all of a sudden?" Colonel Chen Lai asked, and Jin shook his head.

    "No, that won''t be an issue. I''m using two different servers for this raid, so you do not have to worry about that possibility at all. This dungeon instance will not crash." Jin imed with confidence though deep down, there was some anxiety that King Baal might choose to cast his strongest magics obliterating everyone to obtain the Dungeon Core and destroying all the hard work they had done over thest weeks.

    The System repeatedly assured Jin that even in such a worst-case scenario there were already measures in ce to retrieve all the items they had built to a certain extent. Thus, it would not be a total waste of time, effort and money.

    "Is this erm... technological monster creation engine you are using from Sea Mesh?" Evidently, at least Major Boon Tiong knew about the connections between Jin and Ke Loong. Only through further conversations did Jin find out that he was part of the information gathering team for the Royal Snake Battalions.

    "I''m afraid I can''tment on that," Jin replied adamantly yet Boon Tiong did not mind the answer, stating that he had just been trying his luck.

    "Then I hope you don''t mind me asking why you choose to use this new engine when you could have created default ones for us to fight against?" Chen Lai questioned Jin''s reason for going with this particr method.

    "Because Hou Fei wanted me to prepare you guys for the worst of the worst against the uing Monster Horde that you''ll all be fighting," Jin answered as he eyed at Hou Fei, hoping for some assurance. The Panda Remnant did not disappoint him.

    "I vouch for him. Jin''s dungeons are the closest thing to a ''warm-up'' we can get without actually fighting those beasts. If he can''t manage to do it, you can forget about any other dungeon supplier. We''ll be doing this along with his customer cultivators as well as a few of Jin''s created monsters to even the ''ying field''." Hou Fei said to treat the remaining friendlies as variables that needed to be considered. After all, they were simting a monster horde kind of exercise.

    "Too bad for us, we won''t be earning any rewards though Jin did promise me that if we do well in the fight, we''ll get to stay in the hotel for two additional days for free. So you guys better buck up! I want to enjoy that freaking presidential suite at the top of Hotel Pandastic!" Hou Fei teased, and everyoneughed.

 Chapter 699 Extra: Sound Asleep

    <h4>Chapter 699 Extra: Sound Asleep</h4>

    "Milk, aren''t you going to sleep at all?" Rong asked after he got sick of staring into the distant forest for a while. The rest continued sleeping soundly since part of their training included forcing themselves to sleep.

    The Demon Exorcists under Grandma Yuan had to go through rigorous training, with multiple lessons where they had to learn to sleep despite any noise and sense of danger, entrusting their lives to the people that were guarding the ce.

    In one such scenario, they were ced in the middle of a military training exercise where live artillery shells were fired at a constant pace, and the demon exorcists had to take turns to maintain the shield as the others rested.

    Some people might think it was absurd. If it was dangerous, why stay in that area instead of looking for a more safe ce to rest. But Grandma Yuan who had taken part in the World War before begged to differ.

    Sometimes there were no safe cesбн

    "If fear can grab your heart despite your words iming you''ll entrust your life to your allies, then you have absolutely no trust in them. On the other hand, for the person who is guarding, you have the responsibility to guard them with your life and make the appropriate decision on whether you all should retreat, fight or continue to rest. If a guard wakes everyone up at the first sign of danger, that is no guard. That is an ipetent person." Grandma Yuan''s words were sharp, and her words echoed with experience.

    "Unlike you guys, I prefer to sleep in a nicefy bed, not some forested floor or tent with no air con. Still, I''m fine." Milk answered as if she was some high maintenancedy, but the truth was that she probably ate more salt than ricepared to the whole group of trainees.

    She had lived most of her life with the opinion that she had no one to truly trust. Even her former master had turned against the country, forcing Milk to fight against her. She had beenpelled to travel alone and believing in herself had not been an option because of the dangers she had suffered on a regr basis. It was to the point that she treated god and religion not as some sort of guiding post in her life but instead as a stepping stone to ensure her own survival.

    Her priesthood had just been a passing phase in her life which she had epted because it had seemed promising at the time. Even though she had been scouted and to a certain point, been regarded as one of the formerly most famous priest''s disciples before being branded a heretic. This just heightened her awareness and ensured that she never truly felt at ease.

    Milk believed that there was always something or someone out there threatening to kill her. Yet, despite all of this internal conflict, she continued to act for the sake of other people, for the masses selflessly. All of this work had been performed to validate her own actions.

    Thus, when she had been recruited by the System, all she asked for in return was that it would help her find someone she could trust wholly again.

    Unfortunately, it was a wish that became twisted.

    In a way, the System did grant her request. Her trust in the User would never be broken, no matter what he or she might do. Milk would follow them to hell and back if there was a need to.

    For someone who had never epted anyone in her heart, the current Milk felt that it was somewhat liberating to be able to give her ideal of trust this freely to someone she didn''t necessarily know. But to the System back then, it did not think that way. All the System did was to pass its new User a faithfully blind betor.

    With trust waning after the events of Ming, the System rather not risked using a Betor that could potentially revolt. So, having Milk to faithfully follow Jin was basically a safety for the System to test the new dungeon supplier.

    As to why sometimes Milk acted provocatively when Jin was around, it all stemmed from her wish. She craved to be ''one'' with him, especially when the fake priestess yearned his eptance and hoped that eventually, this trust issue would be a two-way street rather than remain one-sided.

    --------

    "So, how long have you been employed under Jin? Or do you happen to be partners with him in this dungeon supplying store?" Rong tried to kick up some conversation to break the monotonous guarding since Milk had decided to stay awake for so long.

    But instead of replying, Milk remained dead quiet, making Rong worry that he might have asked a taboo question... Until he sensed that something was wrong.

    Only an hour had passed, and the sun had yet to set, but the atmosphere was different from usual. "Ready your weapons and wake the others." Milk said as she brought out her giant book.

    "No way. We are trained to assess the threat and determine if it''s necessary to wake them up. Grandma Yuan''s training was ver-" The demon exorcist''s trap formation lit up for a moment, and suddenly everything shattered. There was no time for the trap formation to even activate its rm.

    The instant it came down, Milk instantly pushed Rong away from where he was standing as a white bony fist emerged from the depths underground. The Priestess Betor managed to block it with her giant book but was blown away from the impact, up into the sky.

    "Milk!" Rong shouted and then he sensed there was movement behind him, causing him to react instinctively by guarding himself with his hammer.

    That was not enough.

    A bone spirit infused monkey demon emerged from the trees and grabbed on to his hammer with a power swipe, causing Rong to be stunned about the abrupt theft. Fortunately, Milk managed to throw out a spell in time, blocking the monkey demon''s path of escape with a cage of holy swords.

    "WAKE THEM UP NOW!" Milk shouted, and Rong knew that this was definitely not something he could cope on his own. While punching the Bone Spirit Monkey Demon, he focused his chi into his throat and roared out to his friends, forcefully pulling them out of their deep slumber.

    "Enemy Horde! Battle Mode NOW!!!"

    Rong tried to wrestle his hammer away from the Bone Spirit Monkey Demon. It took him a moment to remember he could recall his hammer into his storage ring and summon it back to whack the monkey demon.

    To his surprise, the monkey demon was resilient enough, or maybe even intelligent enough to use the bone spirit''s outer bones to partially deflect the surprise hit. The bone armour just cracked, indicating that its toughness was not ordinary.

    Still, presented with a challenge, the monkey sent out a loud, resounding crackle that pierced the silence of the forest, as if it was calling out for more reinforcements.

    True enough, in a matter of moments, more monkey demons appeared and they started to approach towards the tent Lein, and the others had been sleeping in. At that point, the giant bone hand continued to harass Milk, unable to allow her to aid ''normally''.

    Rong only hoped that the defensive inscription charms ced on the tents couldst long enough for the other demon exorcists to get ready in time.

 Chapter 700 Extra: All Out Attack

    <h4>Chapter 700 Extra: All Out Attack</h4>

    Barely one metre away from the tent, the first wave of monkey demons rushed in without realising that it would be the gravest mistakes of their lives.

    A st of lightning ripped through the tent''s defence inscription charms and obliterated three monkey demons in an instant. That was not the end as the lightning continued to chain, hitting the monkey demonsing after.

    However, its electrocution powers were no longer as strong as the initial st, so it only slowed the new monkey demons down as they tried to shake off the paralysis.

    Still, this had provided sufficient time for Su Zhen and Lian to attack them with their cultivation techniques. A Great White Snake emerged from the nearby bushes and coiled around the monkey demons. It threw them into the air while Lian jumped up and sliced them into pieces.

    The only one not doing so well was Rong. He was stuck in the confined space after the cage of holy light swords blocked the monkey demon paths. It was only through a stroke of luck that he found out that the swords could be pulled out.

    However, the monkey demon was smart enough to try and copy Rong''s action except it did not know that those swords were tremendously effective against dark attributesбн which was exactly what these kinds of demons consisted of.

    With just one grab, the holy light sword instinctively released its powers, causing all the other spiritual swords to soar out of the ground and thrust into the body of the monkey demon.

    As for the caster who had performed that spell, she was ironically entrapped by the grab of the giant bone hand. However, that presented little to no trouble at all, as the giant bone hand merely acted as a cage and nothing more. It was not squeezing the life out of her, nor was it draining any of mana away. It also appeared as if the other demons ignored her for the time being.

    Thus, Milk decided to use this opportunity to watch how the demon exorcists handled this particr situation.

    "All of them are sentient in nature and have the ability to understand." Su Zhen shared her analysis with the group, suggesting that holding back their attacks might present more of a trouble for them than going all out.

    "No shit, sherlock!" Rong replied as he was finally able to perform a proper swing against a Bone infused Monkey demon and smashed it into pieces. The inability to do so previously had frustrated him enough to show them no mercy.

    Capture them? No way. It''s an all-out massacre.

    "Do you think that means there are other monkey demons watching us fight as well?" Lein made an astute observation when he vaguely noticed gazes from afar.

    "This does not bode well for us. We might clear the first wave, but the subsequent wave will learn how to break us if we don''t work together as a team to cover each other''s bases." Su Zhen answered as she stood on the Great White Snake andmanded it to spew out a sputum afar.

    The spit once broken would release a fair amount of toxic gas. Su Zhen did not intend for it to kill the monkey demons, although she wouldn''t mind if it did. Rather she was using it as a smokescreen so that they would not be able to spectate their fights.

    Even with the introduction of the poisonous gas, Su Zhen could see from the top of her snake that the monkey demons had a way of preventing the inhtion of the gas.

    The infused bone armour slowly turned into a mask shape, preventing the monkey demon from breathing in the lethal vapours. Su Zhen had never even heard of demons adapting that quickly to a new situation. It went to show that they must have learned a lot from fighting against the border guards.

    "Well, if what Su Zhen says is really true, thank goodness I am not in any fights for now." Milk was secretly craving a bag of potato chips as she peered down from the top, but then she started to notice that there were streaks of mini bonesing out the bony palm and fingers that had captured her. While she did not know what they would do, it was inly obvious that they spelt terrible news.

    Thus, with a slight movement of her palm, the entire bone hand started to vibrate before it shattered into pieces. But that was not the end, as Milk had already imbued the entirety of the bone hand with holy magic.

    So, with a mighty swipe of her hand, the fragments of the giant bone hand dispersed into the crowd and rained down like some torrential rain. Instinctively, the demon exorcists used their chi to cover themselves from the attack. (Though Rong and Lian wereining loudly that Milk should have given a warning of some sort.)

    That attack with such a wide area of effect had weakened the crowd of monkey demons significantly, prompting Lein to fire multiple bursts of lightning, starting from the ones afar. Rong and Lein went on an angry rampage to clear the nearby targets, dropping each and every monkey demon they could see while Su Zhen finished what Lein had started to ensure there were no survivors to spread the news.

    It was definitely an all-out kill with containment measures in ce. But with this, the sneaky System was able to collect a variety of monkey demons as specimen samples and most importantly as minions.

    However, unlike the usual minions, the System noticed that a number of them were not producing the same kind of survival output as demonstrated in the forest. It was as if the bone spirits suddenly let go of the monkey it was fused with. Thus they were not as strong as the ones the demon exorcists had struggled.

    It prompted the System to determine that there might be external forces at work manipting the monkeys, rather than it being a naturally urring mutation among a monster horde. And if this was true, this practically confirmed that it wasn''t a natural disaster but a major act of terrorism.

    The System deduced that it was even possible that it could be counted as a potential new form of foreign invasion.

 Chapter 701 Can You Believe it?

    <h4>Chapter 701 Can You Believe it?</h4>

    For the remaining part of the day, the soldiers spent it moving around the floating tforms in order to familiarise themselves for the uing defence raid.

    They quickly came to the conclusion that the dungeon instance that they were in was way too detailed and intricate for just a ''normal defence raid''. It looked as if it was a real living city broken into many parts for the monsters to work at.

    Some soldiers started to get the feeling that they would not be participating in an exercise but actually be defending a real city. Even themanding officers who were being escorted by Jin and toured around the area found it overly suspicious.

    Confronted with all the questioning gazes Jin came up with the excuse of telling them that he was creating a living breathing city and this was the prototype for it.

    "If I can create a defence raid and amodate massive numbers without the server breaking down, it will mean that we''ll be one step closer in creating an alternate reality fantasy world for people to experience real-life rather than just a virtual reality."

    "For example, we could use it to let city people experience a little bit of the rural lifestyle. It could be used to teach them about farming and get them to appreciate how tranquil it could be. With a bit of magic on hand, it should easily serve as an interactive agricultural simtion for them to enjoy." Jin mixed some half-truths in his lies when they passed through the first Agriculture Sector.

    "This is insane. From what I know about dungeon instances, this should not be possible right now. Your technology has already toppled the charts in many different ways. To be able to stay, live and breathe- heck! Eat and enjoy this area as if we were at a tropical resort. That''s more than enough evidence to show that your dungeon technology is more than just cutting edge.." Chen Lai praised when he saw how vast the agriculture fields were.

    "Can you believe it? When we passed the industrial sector, it was filled with those orcs and goblins who seemed to be working. If Jin ever reaches a level where he could ensure that the products produced here could be used for the outside worldбн just imagine how much the defence minister would love to locate all-out ck sites with Boss Jin." Kan Jian pointed out as he was able to perceive the capability of Jin''s ''alternate reality'' dungeon instance. (Although Jin had already been doing that.)

    "He would have endless orders just by the simple fact on how secure it should be. There would be no need to worry about foreign eyes peeking at our projects! This would be a fantastic boon! You should inform us as soon as you can maintain them for a long period of time!"

    "I''d not agree to that," Jin uttered without thinking too much. As themanding officers surrounding him stopped, he looked around and decided to exin his reasoning.

    "Look, I don''t want to be ountable for the government. One small screw up be it on my end or yours, and I will be held responsible. Besides, do you really think I''d look forward to having my employees be at risk against possible foreign kidnappings, interrogations or assassinations?!" Jin said as he recalled how the Triads had tried to capture Lynn.

    "Ah... you''re correct. You''re a good boss for caring so much about your employees." Boon Tiong nodded his head almost immediately, and Jin started to wonder how much this Major knew about him. Had Hou Fei allowed him to collect data on him that easily?

    Even though it should not be much of a surprise that he might possess the dungeon supplier''s data, but it was still rather disturbing to reveal something like that so openly.

    Aside from some minor chats, themanding officers had a thorough look at Jin''s battleground and upon Hou Fei''s eventual instruction, they decided not to pry too much into Jin''s current dungeon. Instead, they epted it as is and prepared for the attack.

    Soon after, Jin left themanding officers to their devices and spoke with General Hou Fei privately. "Do you think it''s a mistake to show them all these or to even recruit your soldiers for the battle?" Jin asked with some pressing concerns on his mind.

    "You nned to eventually open it for the cultivators and customers alike, so I don''t see why this should be a problem. As much as they want to specte, the fact is they are in this already. So, just rx and enjoy the remaining part of the day." Hou Fei consoled Jin and left, stating that he needed to find Qiu Yue for a few matters.

    "Rx for the remaining part of the day?" Jinughed at that possibility. He couldn''t even remember thest time he sat down and rxed properly. Perhaps it was karma for all the times he had cked during his school days.

    However, the advice that Hou Fei had given him was not bad per se. Jin decided tobine work with rxation and chose to take a look around the new hotels that Qiu Yue had created and their amenities. After which, he teleported out of the Dungeon City Fortress and took a short stroll in the Tree Mall.

    He had yet to thank the hawkers for that grand food order they aplished for New Year''s Eve. Jin even had the cheek to think about scaring them again by informing them about the soldiers'' presence once more.

    "AH BOSS JIN!" Sam Su, the owner for the mixed rice stall, recognised Jin checking out his stall despite therge crowd. His shout alone caught the attention of the rest of hawkers who came over to loudly greet theirndlord.

    "Thanks for the great work you all did that day. I''m truly sorry about it being so sudden of a request." Jin bowed gratefully before his tenants.

    "Small issue! The money we earned from you is more than sufficient gratitude. More importantly, what brings you here today? Want a te of rice? Free of charge!" Sam Su offered, and the others chipped in.

    "Eh, you stupid rice hawker! Stop taking Boss Jin for yourself! Boss! Come over to my shop, coffee''s on me!" The drinks stall owner shouted from the pyramid base despite the crowd they were having.

    "Boss Jin! Don''t listen to these amateur chefs! Have a te of my dumplings! My treat!" The noodles stall owner called jokingly, and everyone started trying to outdo the others in showing off how grateful they were for Jin''s order.

    "Fine! If all of you insist! I shall be shameless and take one of your signature dish each!" Jin agreed with a smile on his face, and all of the hawkers cheered on. The customers hadn''t expected such camaraderie between the hawkers and theirndlord and it did bring a little smile on their faces too. Some decided to purchase a bit extra from these hawkers and to share it with their colleagues and such.

    It was a small gesture but nevertheless a positive one.

    "So, I heard that there is some eventing around?" Sam Su had decided to serve some steamed fish for Jin to eat as the dungeon supplier thanked him for the food.

    "Yup. If I remembered correctly, about a thousand have already signed up." Jin informed him, and at this point, Sam Su was no longer surprised by the numbers. Most importantly, the System only counted those who had purchased the game tickets in advance, and the numbers were still increasing as Jin was eating.

    "Then I guess I will get the other hawkers to prepare more food for tomorrow''s event." That was all Sam Su needed to know, and he allowed Jin to enjoy his food in peace. To Jin''s surprise, the hawkers purposely brought a mini bowl from their stores instead of arge portion since they knew that Jin would sincerely be tasting each and everyone''s gratitude.

    The more he sampled from the hawkers, the more he realised that they had improved leaps and bounds. "I guess it worked. Inserting the penguins as semi trainers did prompt them to improve their culinary skills after all. Lynn is truly a genius."

    Jin smiled as he thought back to the stuff Kraft had randomly spouted about the Pyramid Food Guild. Should he perhaps help and set it up to be a reality?

 Chapter 702 Bread

    <h4>Chapter 702 Bread</h4>

    "Rxing sure is hard," Jin mumbled to himself after he woke up to a series of sludge crystals once again. As usual, he took a few for himself and the rest was absorbed by the System.

    After the impromptu lunch, Jin decided to man the store for a few hours allowing Yun to take a break. Ironically, some of the new regr customers mistook him for a brand new employee and kept asking for ''Lady Boss Yun'' instead.

    Jin figured he should try toe out in person a little more to make sure that his presence was still felt. Or perhaps, that should be ced into consideration when he creates the new shopfront instance.

    After that, the group dinner was a slew of reviewing the city defences for onest time. Despite her absence in the previous war room briefing, Lynn wasn''t entirely out of the picture. She had merely focused on what she''s best at.

    Feeding the cultivators good food so that they could be in tip-top form for the fight. The Sub System User also revealed that they had prepared an energising breakfast for all the soldiers so they should be able to even exceed their peak conditions.

    "We''ve even prepared emergency snack packs for the soldiers in case the fight drags on too long," Lynn added and Jin asked if the cultivators have such privileges as well.

    "Add that option in the Pandamonium mobile app store. We can earn a lot of money from those people." Qiu Yue chimed in immediately. She also suggested offering the first snack pack with a 50% discount to entice people to try it out.

    Other than that particr issue, Qiu Yue was mostly the one educating them about thetest changes to the city defences, and everyone except for Kraft was listening intently to all of it.

    -------

    "Morning Jin." Lynn greeted him after she heard Jining down from the stairs.

    "You''re really making breakfast for us? I figured you''d need to be in the Kitchen instance to oversee the production for today''s meals?" Jin asked groggily as he took out a carton of milk from the fridge to drink.

    "Silly, did you already forget that I promised to make breakfast for everyone at the end of our dinner conversationst night? Can''t go around breaking promises." Lynn smiled with her eyes closed so she could smell the fresh bread baking in the kitchen''s oven.

    She woke up early to try out baking bread after receiving some tips from Qian Qian. The older woman was also currently awake in her bakery instance to finish up thest few orders for the soldiers'' breakfast buffet.

    "Anyways, you woke up at the perfect time. Come and take a whiff of this." Seeing how the Cultivator of the Perfectible Penguin Ruling the Kitchen Hell was so focused squatting at the oven to sniff the making of the bread, Jin copied Lynn and smelt the bread.

    While the general scent was full of wheat, focusing his attention on the oven and watching it bake did make him start to feel very hungry even though with his cultivation and yesterday''s spread of food, there was no actual need to eat for another day. (It''s a surprise how all those extra calories escaped from Jin''s body, though he suspected they might have been used up during his cultivation.)

    "Were you aware that Qian Qian is an aplished food science graduate? She even published a few research articles in the Journal of Cereal Science."

    "What is it about?" Jin asked as he opened the cap to the carton of milk and started sipping it.

    "She had discovered that her traditional methods of baking allowed a special form of fermentation to happen, despite the fact that ording to modern culinary arts, this should not be possible? It''s crazy, and many peer reviews tried to disim her thesis as fake, but all failed." Lynn rambled about some facts that Jin had no prior knowledge of.

    His culinary knowledge was at a point where he had been amazed that cereals had their own science behind them until he thought about it logically.

    "Does that mean you were also one of the doubters? That you actually didn''t believe it, until you saw it?" Jin asked to try to keep the conversation going when it was exceptionally rare for Lynn to ramble on like this.

    "You got me. I was taken aback by it until Qian Qian quickly took one out for me to analyse. Of course, I had to use Ayse''sb on standby to do so, and everything she imed was true." Lynn admitted with her eyes open and with tion in her expression.

    "Then we can consider ourselves lucky to have a hidden expert in our midst." Jin replied as he heard the ''ding'' from the oven and Lynn had already put on the pair of oven gloves. As she took out the bread, the aroma of it spread throughout the house. It was strong enough to attract the sleepyheads out of their room.

    "What is that heavenly smelllll~?" Peppers shouted in a slurred manner as she was leaning her head over railings from the second floor.

    "Smells like a good hearty breakfast," Kraft answered as he picked Peppers up by her waist and brought her down with him. Unlike her usual antics, she did not make a single noise and allowed him to do so.

    "Indeed. We are truly blessed to have Lady Lynn in our household." Zeru mentioned as he came in from the backyard with a towel in hand. He had never missed a day of training in his life, but all the more he would not miss this tasting of freshly baked bread.

    "I won''t say no to any of Lynn''s food." Yun had already teleported into the living room upon System''s notification that the bread was ready.

    "Too bad, Milk and Qiu Yue are not here with us." Lynnmented while she was preparing the side dishes and that prompted Jin to help out by taking the various fruit jams from the cab. It was already a rare asion for Lynn to make breakfast in the morning, yet an even rarer situation had urred for the Devilman was helping arrange the cutlery.

    Even Zeru was taking the various cartons of drinks from the fridge and assisted in pouring everyone''s favourite drink. It looked like a harmonious family dinner pictureбн If it were not for Peppers. It would have been okay if she had sat down quietly at the dining table without contributing but nope.

    Her curiosity for the freshly baked bread led her to sneakily try to pinch a small portion of bread aiming to have the first taste while everyone was distracted with their various tasks.

    "Don''t you dare." Yun immediately pulled Pepper''s ear and dragged her by her red panda pyjama''s cor away from the heavenly bread before she even had the chance to touch it.

    "Noooooooo!!" Peppers moaned as she ended up tied by Yun''s binding spell. Even though the mage Betor had the power to break the spell easily, she was acting as the child of the family, yearning for the bread to be served to her right now.

    The rest of the group chuckled at Pepper''s behaviour, and they continued aiding Lynn with the breakfast before the big fight.

 Chapter 703 Pandaren

    <h4>Chapter 703 Pandaren</h4>

    As expected, on the day of the Demon Army Defence Raid event, the Tree Mall was bustling with life more so than ever before. Dungeons and Pandas, being the (literal) epitome of shops in the Tree Mall, had given cultivators and their families a reason to get out of the house and enjoy it.

    The hawkers had already expected this and prepared way more food than usual. Many around the Tiangong Shopping District had started to be regr patrons of the stores. Without the hassle of finding any tables, people just had to wait until it was their turn to order, making it a big hit in the neighbourhood.

    It had reached a point where the hawkers had even asked Jin if it''s possible to allow their regr customers to book tables at the front of their store. Jin naturally agreed to it since such staunch support for the store just proved their food was getting better. (in fact, healthier too)

    Asking the System to add such an option on the app, was considered as a small friendly gesture or maybe even a privilege for them.

    The Panda Burger instance made use of the increased people count to finally reveal its new breakfast menu in conjunction with Qian Qian from the Bakery Instance. The ''Imperial Baker'' (or that was what Lynn teased) was seemingly starting to coborate with Jin''s people like the drinks stall owner in the Food Pyramid Instance. The owner had been selling soft boiled eggs in the morning together with her toasted bread to supplement his ie. As for the Panda Burger instance, it had a more westernised form of breakfast, simr to Wacdonalds.

    The so-called ''Panda Pancakes meal'' featured pancakes looking like a panda''s head. To make things even more interesting, the panda pancakes had been imprinted with ''dark brown'' spots on either side of the pancakes to simte the ck spots a panda has near its eye (or on its eyes). The pancakes varied in regards to where the spots appeared and sometimes both sides of the pancake had it.

    Qian Qian, with the help of the Orc engineers, had created a customised pancake maker that allowed for such imprints. Fortunately, they had benefited from an increase in manpower courtesy of the Smanders. As part of the new animal tribes, they had been given the task to help Qian Qian and Panda Burger mainly because of their new cultivation that allowed them to control heat.

    The Sassy Smander Cultivation.

    While throwing massive fireballs was not too far-flung off in the future based on their cultivation, they still received their education from a mix of me Ripper and the Fire Wyrm Ants who had a natural affinity towards the fire. At the same time, Lynn refrained them from learning from Peppers and deemed her ways as something akin to the forbidden arts.

    Naturally, the little mage betor loved to create trouble and learning that she was not allowed to do so, made her more inclined to exin her ways of explosive magic to the Smanders. (Perhaps, Lynn was using reverse psychology to prompt Peppers to teach?)

    Speaking of Lynn, the Restaurant Train Instance was jammed packed with people too. There wasn''t anything new on the menu, yet everyone was practically gorging on every food possible for the various buffs Lynn''s food could provide.

    The dish which had been ordered the most on that day was definitely the onigiris. Rumours had spread (all started by a certain bored Devilman) stating that there was a set of onigiris that would give an overall boost to strength, agility and vitality as well as chi generation all packed into one meal. This made people go on a search frenzy to see which of those random onigiris had it.

    And true to his craftiness, Kraft would asionally fan the mes by sneakily walking amidst the customer who bought it and quietly buffed their onigiris by adding Evon''s strengthening drug concoction in it.

    One or two lucky random cultivators made an uproar upon finding the holy grail of onigiris and immediately posted it online. However, truth be told, the sneaky Fox Betor had already researched them beforehand and knew who were the major influencers that participated in the advanced raid. All it took was a bit of nudge and that Meibo post spread like wildfire in the dungeon scenes.

    In the meantime, the redemption counter for Dungeons and Panda was also filled to the brim with people who were there to redeem their T-shirts.

    When asked if there was a T-shirt size, the red pandas at the counters stated that they had already customised their shirts based on their previous dungeon runs. For the cultivators who entered for the first time, the sizes were prepared on-site and some of them only had to wait for 15 minutes or so to receive their shirt.

    As for the shirt, it had a simple graphic design on the right chest corner at the front of the shirt. With a pocket to contain the design, a Panda holding a sword was depicted there. However, what most cultivators failed to realise was that their graphic shirts were customised to the type of weapons they were using. For example, Xiong Da''s shirt had a Panda holding a two-handed war club weapon.

    A short text was ced at the left side of the shirts'' sleeves, namely, the word "Pandaren" (or "Xiong Mao Ren") in Chinese. What it meant was literally "Panda People", and this was to give the cultivators who had dedicated their cultivation ''hobby'' or profession to this particr dungeon supplier a sense of belonging. As for the Pandawans who had registered (naturally all of them had pre-ordered), theirs had been printed with the Pandawan title instead.

    For both Pandawans and Pandarens, they all noticed that a set of numbers was also stitched onto it right below their titles. At first, people assumed that it was the registration number imprinted on the shirt.

    It was only after one of the neers pointed out that the numbers looked like today''s date, and someone followed up with the deduction that it was actually the dates the cultivators had entered the shop. Through that astute inference, many began to appreciate the fact that Jin did not treat them as a digit on his database.

    Instead, this showed that they were born as Pandarens on that day and date, allowing them to forge a better identity with the Dungeon Supplier store. To the Pandawans, this was no longer some store but a ce where their second family belonged.

    Onest special thing about this customised shirt was that on the right side, there was a Velcro patch with a badge on it. The badge was specifically made for this raid alone, and only those who participated would have it.

    Should they wish to sell it, Jin could not stop them at all, but each and every one of them would be limited to that one. The design of the badge was simr to what they were going to experience. There were multiple floating tforms in the foreground of the badge while a stereotypical demon with bat wings was kneeling down, covered with swords, axes andnces.

    At the bottom of the badge, it wrote "Demon Army Defence."

    For a simple-looking shirt to provide a collective identity between cultivators and offered exclusivity, made them feel extra special. It had inadvertently made the customers want to start gathering more of these in the future.

 Chapter 704 Pandapolis

    <h4>Chapter 704 Pandapolis</h4>

    "There is no turning back now, you sure we are ready for this?" Moloch asked onest time at the war room table which was busy as hell even though this was just for the preparations of the eventual demon army raid.

    "I willugh my ass off if your so-called King Baal does not evene at all." Dark Elf Leader Drex replied in a crude way as for once he was donned in his full battle armour passed down from his ancestors.

    They relied on no god for they themselves could be gods of war on the battlefield. It was true that the once mighty Drow Empire had fallen far from grace, reduced in size to a tiny poption that would have been considered impossible in the past.

    After centuries of arrogance, they had incurred significant losses while defending their veryst bastion until they were forced to live in solitude.

    However, with the advent of Kraft and his Foxes, they had now regained their confidence and strength to return to their past glory that the Goblin World had once feared. Still, they refused to ever bend the knee for him anymore. ("Only such prideful creatures deserve my pity!" said Kraft)

    "My other servants Yem and Mer had been to the other Dungeon Towns and Dungeon Fortresses, the news about the iing attack was significantly well spread. Enough to garner the attention of both adventurers and monsters which pretty much guarantees that some of them will want to join the fight on Baal''s side." Moloch confirmed that the attack was imminent the moment they dropped the shield.

    "Even adventurers?" Jin asked, and Wolte shrugged as if it was a regr urrence. To them, it was no surprise that some adventurers ventured into the dark arts. Besides, King Baal''s metropolis was not a ce where one could stay at will. Even merchants needed to apply for a special pass or pay a dubious sum of money to enter. Else, every other single person had to be invited to be in there.

    "These kinds of demon army raids are quite rare, so they act as ideal chances to earn free passes for them to enter after they are done raiding. The more there are, the more it guarantees that the demon army will win, which is why news spread fast, and people happily volunteer to help King Baal to take out the betrayer." Wolte answered indicating why Moloch''s switch to Jin initially felt like a death sentence.

    "I guess no one ever lived to survive King Baal''s betrayal." Jin queried, and the two demons nodded their head. "All the better. We shall build our legacy by bing the first to defy him ande out on top as the city that repelled King Baal''s demon army." He proimed with such a resolute voice that the two Demon Lords believed there was indeed a glimmer of a chance for sess to be possible.

    "General, everyone is in ce." An Orc tels operator reported to Nubwort, who nodded silently at this.

    "General Hou Fei, your men are in position too." A goblin operator reported the very same thing to General Hou Fei, the only one representing the real human soldiers in the room.

    He knew that there were sensitive issues to be discussed and told the othermanding officers to take charge of the various defence sections. They had their very own war room table at the opposite side of the building, allowing Hou Fei to attend to them if necessary. But for now, the Panda Remnant stayed with Jin to assist him in making major decisions.

    What came as a surprise was that Jin expressed his intention in wanting to fight on the ground alongside his betors. Those listening were forced to agree without much of a choice. He knew themanders around the table were also itching to put up a fight.

    "I can stay here and watch the battlefield, you guys can enter and do the fighting if you want."

    "You serious?!" A resounding question came from the war table after Kraft teleported in to announce his own intentions. It''s not that they didn''t trust him for hismanding skills. In fact, he had proven himself to be quite formidable during the Goblin War when he assisted Jin with it. The devil Betor merely nodded his head.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t be alone. Just think of me acting as a bodyguard for our Red Panda Cutie here. I want to watch her coordinate this fight and test if she is as interesting as she was during the random match she did with Jin." Kraft reassured the group and casually ''added'' that he would join in if he felt like it.

    "But Kraft had not been in for most of the meetings, is it okay for him to watch over the war room table without knowledge of the ns that we have?" General Nubwort brought up a genuine concern.

    "I will be assisting Kraft immediately once I unlock the dungeon core so do-" Moloch waster interrupted by Kraft who threw some popcorn into his puppet mouth and voluntarily dragged him away.

    "Alright then, let''s do it people." Jin reluctantly gave the final go-ahead which prompted Kraft to teleport Moloch into the room equipped with the Dungeon Core. It was hidden within the temporarily floating fortress tform which Jin had asked Qiu Yue to build.

    Up till now, Qiu Yue was still doing some final checks and demanding the goblins and orc workers to insert temporary machine gun emcements where she deemed suitable. The brand new floating fortress was hailed by the Building Empire Sub System User as the best creation to date.

    Although the schedule to build it had been tight ("Tight? It WAS extremely tight, five days? Who gave five days to build a FLOATING fortress? Rome was not built in a day! So much having a more flexible working lifestyle working under Jin!" Qiu Yue had lots toin.), she managed to obtain more input and reviews from the Royal Snake Battalions''manding officers.

    It forced her to make some drastic changes but with most of the workers free after thepleted construction of the sea domes, they had enough manpower to make it happen before they called Peppers to add the permanent floatation magic into it.

    Unlike the others, this one was not a piece ofnd but a steel tform built from scratch. Due to the weight of the fortress, Industrial Sector 2 dipped sideways by 6 metres and Peppers needed to be called in to make temporary adjustments to the floating tform or else, items and furniture would be tilted sideways.

    "Qiu Yue." Moloch teleported to meet her first, informing her that Jin and the other generals were giving the go-ahead.

    "Huh, it''s finally here." Qiu Yue wiped her sweat from her forehead and with a switch on her phone, she was fully equipped with the same gear Jin had given her during the Goblin War. Having Moloch at her side, and a certain onlooker watching from behind with popcorn in his arm, she deactivated the concrete lock created by Sandy so as to allow Moloch to interact with the dungeon core to bring the shield down.

    This was it. The opening of their new city.

    Pandapolis!

 Chapter 705 Early Release of Dungeon Shield

    <h4>Chapter 705 Early Release of Dungeon Shield</h4>

    "My Liege! My Liege!" A hurried demon servant came crashing into King Baal''s bathing room, where he noticed that he had interrupted his majesty''s pleasure time.

    The demon maids screeched a little and hid behind King Baal''s legs, chest, and one even flew above his head. However, the King of Demons grabbed her as she attempted to glide over his head.

    "My lord! Please forgive me for my rude-" The maid realised her mistake a little toote, and before she could finish her sentence, her life was squashed out of her chest. And all that remained was a container of broken bones, organs and blood hanging over King Baal''s hand. As if the demon maid''s pitiful demise wasn''t enough to satisfy the King, he brought it near his face and sniffed it before taking a bite out of her thigh.

    "Hmm, not too bad. What is it you want, puny Imp?" Even though King Baal had a human face, there was always a split second where the Imp servant could see the facial silhouettes of an old frog or a grumpy cat appearing like a sort of transition, as if King Baal himself had two other souls residing within him. The servant hesitantly wiped his sweat away as understandably the sound of his Baal munching on demon meat was rather overbearing.

    But in order to avoid letting King Baal lose his patience again, the imp servant swallowed his saliva and announced the news he bore. "The traitorous Minotaur Lord Moloch has brought his shield down one day before the deadline! Our troops, ever ready, are in the process of organising themselves to follow yourmand." The imp servant did not speak a full lie, but a half truth was still a lie.

    The troops were indeed amassed for the fight, but theirmanders had allowed them to take one final break. Even King Baal had assumed that the traitor would try to avoid his fate until the veryst second and had hence decided to rx for the day. Clearly not even he expected the Demon Minotaur Lord to choose to bring his shield down early. But then again only a few had expected him to turn into a traitor.

    "So you''re telling me they are not ready for battle?" King Baal''s left eyebrow raised at his imp servant''s phrasing. He had been around all types of demons, so he understood them better than anyone and knew than someone tried to twist their words.

    "They are! They are!" The lowly Imp outright lied hoping to not join the demon maid in King Baal''s belly, but a snort came from his liege as he stood up. At roughly 5 metres tall, his stature might be lean and slender, but that did not mean the aura he radiated was not death defying.

    The imp servant continued to lie prostrated and prayed to theherworld that he would still be there in the next minute or so. (Even though he would get resurrected just like the maid.)

    "What are you waiting for? Don''t you know what to do next without me telling you?!" King Baal questioned, and the imp servant shook his head violently. Without a moment of hesitation, he ran off to quickly inform the other imp servants and demon maids to prepare the King''s armour while he would send a messenger to get the generals to meet with him immediately.

    But before the Imp servant was done telling the others what to do, King Baal came out of the bathroom and shouted his firstmand. "Send the first wave in! Let''s see what made the cow toy dare to defy us." The Imps simultaneously acknowledged his orders as they continued to hurry in preparation for the start of the battle.

    After all, it would be a shame that the Demon Army did not strike any fear in the hearts of any would-be traitors of the King.

    --------------

    As the ''newbie'' shield came down, there was a slight disturbance within the air. It made everyone tense up for the next few moments. Yet the first minute since the birth of Pandapolis passed without any incident, causing the demons under Lord Moloch to smirk. "Seems like our lord''s strategy worked." Sebastia who had returned from the Farming World for the fight was clearly happy about her chosen lord''s n.

    Lord Moloch knew that every demon would be given a break before the big battle so they would be in an ideal condition for the first strike. King Baal hardly changed his strategy, always utilising the old ns without fail, but then again, they always worked.

    Considering it had been ages since thest traitor, it would be strange if anything had changed. Thus Moloch had gambled on this. In any case, the worst case scenario would have been that the Demon Army teleported into the area immediately after the shield dissipated, which was what they had been preparing for till date. (Although some bet to differ that the worst case scenario was the Demon Army noting at all. This would definitely throw a blow to Jin''s time sensitive event, and the dungeon supplier was clearing not prepared for such a scenario.)

    But seeing that nothing of that sort happened, Lord Moloch and his minions knew that following the tradition, the first wave of the army would be hastily organised for the imminent attack. True, the first wave might still be formidable, but it at least meant that they would not be in full strength due to their disorganisation, giving the defenders a slight edge.

    Right now, it felt like a game of tower defence where reducing the number of attackers meant everything.

    At the same time, the cultivator''s crowd continued to gather around the shop instance and waited for the official start of the event. Usually, Jin would appear to give some nonsensical speech, but this time around, an informative video was brought up in all the auditoriums, allowing everyone to have a basic level of preparation.

    Depending on how well Moloch''s n worked, they could even take a moment to decide on which front they wanted to be assigned. (Though they did not know was that ultimately, their cement was down to the strategists and tacticians in the dungeon world''s war room.) Even in case the n failed, the first phase of defensive countermeasures did not concern the cultivators.

    Separately, Xiong Da and the rest of the Pandawans had been given a specially coded message from their app, asking them to step into the conference room instance. Trusting in Boss Jin they did just that, only to find Bear Cub One waving at them intensely.

    "Boss Jin is busy handling thest few adjustments of the raid, but the server has already started up. What we want from you is to act akin to the cultivators'' ''special forces''." Bear Cub One exined as he passed them the very same USB chip which Xiong Da and others had used previously for the Squads testing.

    "Does that mean we will all be able to officially use the squads'' function?" Xiong Da asked with excitement, and Bear Cub One inadvertently shook his head.

    "We still need more testing. This time around, we have limited it to all the Pandawans." The little bear announcer replied which made people like Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator and Se Lang, the Wacky Wolf Cultivator have nk faces and question marks floating above their heads.

    "Don''t worry, we will fill you in. It''s going to be lots of fun!" Luo Bo smiled as she felt excited to use the Squad functions again.

    "Unfortunately, there were a few drastic changes to the squads due to the limitation of the server. All the changes are recorded in the USB drive, and a notice will be uploaded to your screen the moment you plug it in. Please read it carefully and use this ce to get some practice using the new squad function. We will send you out when it is appropriate." Bear Cub One assured them that they would definitely receive more points than the cultivators who rushed in first. And if they were to rush first, it was mainly the decision of the ''server''s'' algorithm.

    "But do we even have the ce to practice the squad function in this small cramp ce?" Ruo Ying, the Esthetic Egret Cultivator, asked, and the Bear Cub One roared cutely in response, causing the conference room to widen in size.

    Without further ado, some of the Pandawans started to insert the USB drive into their phones and read the notes in amazement.

 Chapter 706 Orc Artillery Company

    <h4>Chapter 706 Orc Artillery Company</h4>

    "This is ridiculous. Who in the world would remove their shield one day early instead of taking all the time in the world to enjoy thest of your days for betraying King Baal?" Forcas, the Knight of Hell asked rhetorically as he assembled his troop of demon cavalry and foot soldiers, ready to be teleported and take down the traitorous Lord Moloch.

    The heavily armoured infernal Tiefling paced himself hastily as he checked up on his captains and everything else before the teleportation.

    Were it not for a mage who noticed the sudden change and reported on the status of the Dungeon Fortress Lord Moloch had stolen from the grasp of King Baal, they would still have been busy rxing for the day. Yet continuing to do nothing would bring further disgrace to the Demon Army for not acting promptly against their traitors.

    "He must have gone insane with fear and prefer to ept his fate instead of cowering in fear." One of his squires concluded while the others chimed in that Lord Moloch might be vying for forgiveness, knowing that he''s unable topete against King Baal''s mighty army.

    "I''d love to see the face of that arrogant cow puppet begging on his knees!" Forcas grinned while dreaming of the riches he could get from King Baal. It would be a dreame true if he could be the one to gain Moloch''s title of Lord before killing him, sending that cow puppet either into exile or to the rank of knights... That is if King Baal was still willing to forgive him.

    "Mages! Teleport us the momen-" Forcas shouted, but the demon mages had already prepared the teleportation circle and activated it the moment they heard Knight Forcas utter the word ''teleport''. There was no time to waste, especially since one of their own had informed them that he felt the presence of King Baaling towards them. If by that time Knight Forcas'' army wasn''t on the battlefield, their heads wouldn''t stay on their shoulders.

    *SAAZAM*

    "Bloody mages..." Knight Forcas grumbled as he suffered a slight headache, realising it was a forced teleportation. He suspected that the mages had skipped a few chants to get them to their destination even faster.

    "Regardless, we should be in the safe zone now. Assemble our troops! We need to get into format- ...what in the world?!" Forcas could not believe his eyes as he gazed upon thend''s horizon. There were no gates nor buildings right in front of him. Instead, it was littered with stone-cold y statues except for the ''safe'' zone that they were in.

    Tens of floating inds right above them with bridges connecting each one made the demon army start to doubt if they hadn''t mistakenly been sent into a dungeon cave rather than the city. Further, beyond the shoreline, was just a massive body of water.

    Naturally, Knight Forcas assumed that there must be some magic in y. "The old cow must have spent his time drawing up a giant magic circle to show them this illusion hoping to get them to flee. How the bloody hell did the mages manage not to detect it? What were they even paid for?!"

    "Are they using any relics?" Forcas asked his senior Tiefling mage for information but their leisure chatting time was interrupted by a series of distant sts from afar. While it took themanding knight a moment to realise that it could be the enemies'' attack, a series of explosions happened simultaneously right in front of their eyes, causing disbelief.

    "I thought magical spells are disallowed in the safe zone!?" Knight Forcas changed the topic as he raised his shield and used a defensive magic spell to ensure his survival. He was fortunate to have done so, as he got hit by a st the very next second.

    Somehow the impact had caused his magic shield to break. Even though Forcas was able to withstand the initial st, the ssh effect of the explosion caused him to be knocked backwards, indicating it was no ordinary fireball or magic spell.

    "That''s correct, but physical projectiles are still able to pass through! Therefore, I believe it must be some form of-" The senior mage was talking protected by a mana shield, yet was suddenly killed by subsequent sts of whatever that traitorous cow had managed to acquire.

    The shell not only pierced through the senior mage''s defences but also exploded right in front of Forcas, making his ear start to ring and disoriented him. All there was left of where the other Tiefling had stood was fire and ''brimstone''.

    "What kind of sorcery projectile is this then?! Why can''t we see them!" Knight Forcas shouted in despair as he saw his troops getting decimated in a matter of seconds. They had no time to regroup, and he couldn''t even find any mages to ry the message back to the main demon metropolis to report about this strange situation.

    As the bombardment was sequentially released by the Orc Artillery Company, Nubwort was not giving them any chances to rx just yet.

    Even after they had rained down waves of artillery barrage into the safe zone, it was not enough unless the System informed them that it was absolutely clear of any enemies. A few of Que Er''s magpies were also on the lookout for the System to urately adjust the barrage''s coordinates so that they were not wasting any ammunition.

    At the same time, General Hou Fei was pleased with the Orc Artillery Company''s disy of continuous bombardment. Although they knew this was all a giant simtion, the Royal Snake soldiers in the artillery section felt itchy to use their own big guns. Unfortunately, the strongest they had were mortars and anti-tank guns they had rented from the Dungeons and Panda''s weapon section. It was mobile enough for them to be able to adapt for varying situations, but the soldiers wanted some big ''pow'' to blow off some steam.

    "Stop." General Nubwortmanded, and everyone understood that this meant there were no more enemies back there. Even the fabled Knight Forcas who had brought fear and terror to countless of King Baal''s enemies with his cavalries stood no chance against the overwhelming bombing.

    Still, this was the Dungeon World, so even if all of them would fall, given time they would definitely resurrect again... Or that was what had Knight Forcas thought before he sumbed to the explosive power of Lord Moloch''s attacks.

 Chapter 707 KraftтАЩs Hidden Agenda

    <h4>Chapter 707 Kraftбпs Hidden Agenda</h4>

    It felt as if Knight Forcas and his army was just the warm-up practice as the subsequent waves of troops which entered afterwards were obliterated much more quickly than previously expected.

    After being among the few who had consistently ridden into battle with King Baal, Lord Wolte instinctively knew theposition of the armies that came in, especially since he had in designing some of these, giving Jin and the others a battle advantage. This was even truer since most strategists had to receive King Baal''s approval before being allowed to change any tactical ns.

    Thus, the Orc Artillery Company was able to amass a sessful killstreak of over six hundred soldiers thanks to this obsceneck of feasibility.

    While some of the demon soldiers were able to move out of the area in time, mainly the ones with heavier constitutions, they were allter killed one by one, courtesy of the snipers from the Royal Snake Sniper Company.

    A series of them were taking encampment at the nearest floating tform, taking shots with heavy-duty Barret M82 sniper rifles. Their captain stated that this was a perfect time to train up their long-distance kills since there was little to no wind to be taken into ount in this particr ''dungeon'' instance.

    However, the captain severely underestimated Jin''s weapons store as it had provided these snipers rifles with a little perk. The scope that was attached to it had been calibrated with an assistive AI system, giving minimalistic help functions to subtly direct the shots.

    This was merely a one-time offer because the System for once calcted that they could not afford any misses that would hit its precious y statue defences. Thus, the mini AI system within the scope was built to avoid these y statues and increased the chances of the snipers hitting their actual targets.

    Obviously, the captain did not know any of this, since the snipers were wise enough not to tell him, especially when he was already too busy coordinating where the snipers should go afterwards once the main bulk of the army would arrive. This made the snipers chuckled at the fact that they collectively manage to bluff their captain.

    Despite the assistive AI system, the Royal Snake snipers themselves had something more riding on this ''warm-up'' exercise. Priding themselves as the finest snipers in the Snake n, they had made a bet to count how many times their AI ''crap'' would appear to assist them, especially when there was a kill count statistics in their app.

    Within the statistics, there was a section for the kill count with assistance, and thus, the sniper with the highest kill count in that section would have to treat the entire Sniperpany a celebration drink after this exercise.

    So far, all of them managed to hit on sight with at most one to two misses without any assisted kill. This subsequently prompted some to increase their bets with weird conditions such as sniping down two foot soldiers with a bullet.

    As for the y statues, they remained deactivated until the battlefield would fill up, which seemed rather soon, considering how there was a sudden break in the intervals of army wavesing in.

    -------------------

    "Hmm, that took longer than expected." Lord Moloch pondered at the war table with Kraft after returning to unlock the dungeon core to bring the city shields down.

    "Isn''t that a good thing? It should mean that it''s chaotic back in your demon king''s city." Kraft questioned as he leaned back on the chair and tinkered with another Tact Tweak from the System, the technical device which enabled Jin to check the status of the monsters and equip them with items quickly.

    "Still, their response shouldn''t be this slow. Something must be way off, or they are preparing to give a huge push forward to find the dungeon core." Moloch stated worried as he looked at the war table and the statistics of the kill count.

    "But didn''t you say the first wave of army troops shouldn''t resurrect until maybe a day or twoter?" Kraft asked before he ''realised'' something vital.

    "Ah yes, my bad, that capturing thing that Jin has is still affecting all of us, including the soldiers using our weapons. Oh ho ho. That means no resurrection of demons on their end. Do you think they found out?"

    "How could you forget such an important detail?" Moloch suddenly remembered, that he was talking to the fox betor, and regretted to have bothered asking. Yet, to get 600 soldiers worth of disciplined, armed Tiefling soldiers would definitely prove to be a boon. Maybe they could utilise them at ater stage to cause mass confusion in the war.

    "After Jin had been so into rescuing the animal tribes I totally ''forgot'' he even had this cheat-like ability as a glorified and improved Necromancer. Well, at least that solved the problem of further reinforcements." Kraft chuckled as he drank a cup of blue mountain coffee at the side of the table.

    "Imagine if we capture King Baal. Wouldn''t that be absolutely hrious? Not only would we probably outright end this war, but we would also most likely gain another huge-ass city and let''s not forget about singe-handily solving a heck lot of money and resources problems that Jin has."

    "Honestly, I did not think that far, even though I said King Baal will personally attack the ce. Besides, we would have to kill him to manage that first. If what Wolte imed about his power multiplying many times over, we will be happy he doesn''t annihte us first." Moloch replied as he remembered how the little minotaur puppet submitted to Jin with just a knock of his phone.

    "Tsk, why are all of you Brainiacs always so uncreative? No ideas for any quick insertion team into your ''greatest'' demon metropolis in the dungeon world to make use of the probably once-a-century opportunity of your King''s absence? Shit man, and here I thought you are a shrewd person with far greater ambitions." Kraft leaned forward and shook his head disapprovingly. Even if Jin and his allies managed to capture King Baal, chances were the Demon Metropolis he owed would be transferred to the next in line King''s candidate.

    "I mean, I did think of it, but the feasibility is near zero. It would be simply sending out a suicide squad. Jin does not have the resources to waste to consider putting together a quick insertion team to get their dungeon core. Besides, I am sure the defending forces would prove to be a pain in the ass. Only a madman would even want to attempt to do that." Moloch replied and as soon as he did, a crude smile appeared on Kraft''s face.

    There were no two ways thinking about it.

    The Minotaur Lord only wished he could take his words back as the smile turned into a quiet, sinister smirk. Moloch didn''t doubt that Kraft had led him down this particr rabbit hole with his line of peculiar questioning, and he was sure that the devilman always had this agenda to be the solution to the aforementioned ''impossible'' problem.

    And so, three magical words came out from Kraft''s mouth.

    "Just do it."

 Chapter 708 Lost Communication

    <h4>Chapter 708 Lost Communication</h4>

    "Sir! We have lost contact with Knight Forcas and the reinforcements that were supposed to rendezvous with him." The very same imp servant brought the unexpected news to his King, the ever great Baal who was being attended by other servants who were helping him don his armour.

    "What do you exactly mean you lost contact?" Baal may look indifferent to the cause, but deep inside, he was irritated that his imp servant had to report a simple case of mimunication.

    "No, sire. We CANNOT contact them at all. Their signals disappear from our mages''munication centre as soon as they enter the safe zone. And to add on, Knight Forca''s me in the Halls of Ceremonial Titles has disappeared entirely." The imp servant emphasised the severity to his liege, hoping he got the message that Lord Moloch could be packing more firepower than expected.

    For the distinguished Knight of Hell, whose skills in jousting was nearly unmatched in the metropolis, King Baal could not believe Forcas would die in a duel with Lord Moloch, much less permanently. He was well aware of Sebastia, the hidden trump card of Moloch''s Battle Maid Minotaurs, yet even if she somehow had improved greatly, it should not be possible to best someone of Forca''s calibre before he could send back any news.

    Something was very suspicious about this whole situation.

    "What do you mean you cannot contact any of them at all? Are you implying that the death of Knight Forcas equates to theplete loss of demon foot soldiers? I''m very sure they are all dying to prove their glory." King Baal paused the donning of his pauldrons to get the full picture from his imp servant.

    "There was a single glimpse of imagery that managed to be sent back to the magemunication centre before they lost contact with the reinforcements. We have temporarily stopped the invasion following Duke Crocell''s advice. Awaiting at the audience hall is the senior mage who received the image before it went all ck." The imp servant finally ryed the entire message he had been entrusted with.

    "Tell Duke Crocell to continue with the invasion and authorise him to use whatever forces he deems necessary to break through. Get Duke Vepar and Earl Furfur to assist him in the meantime. While I do not believe that cow has the brawns to win against Knight Forca given the state he is in, I trust in Crocell''s decision making. Also, have the senior mage enter this room, while I finish donning my armour." King Baal appeared to be calmer and more collected, though inside he was burning with rage that Moloch still wanted to resist against him. Perhaps he should have done more than reduce him into a plushie all those years ago...

    "бн Your Majesty, Senior Mage Twice Eyes from the Mage Communication Centre at your service." The Tiefling mage went down on one knee and reported what he saw to King Baal. The imagery of smoke and fire all around the mage that took the image before he went down.

    "This is all the information we have collected. Judging from the otherwisepleteck ofmunication, we can only assume either the worst-case scenario that all of our soldiers perished soon after entering the fray or that Lord Moloch employed some sort of anti-magic field that blocksmunication. Perhaps it also has an effect of breaking the mages'' ability to cast magic. There are some amongst us who deduced that the magic the mages cast may have backfired hence the smoke and- "

    "Enough." A word from King Baal was sufficient to render the Senior Mage silent.

    "If they are rendering us useless of magic or using explosive spells against our foot soldiers and cavalry, then send in the Horned Armoured Knights and be done with it. Duke Vepar should have some under hismand." King Baalmanded and told the senior mage to ry the message.

    "But I am just a lowly mage, I do not think Duke Vepar, The Armoured One Winged Angel would listen to-"

    At that point, Twice Eyes could feel his neck tightening and was rendered breathless almost immediately. It felt as if a slippery rope was wrapped around not just his neck but his entire body too. Then, he saw a long reddish thread appearing out of King Baal''s palm.

    It was the infamous toad tongue whip which King Baal prefered to use to anyone talking back to him as it had the ability to allow the user to manipte it in any way he wanted including the option to inject poison into it.

    "Don''t waste my time any longer." King Baal ordered as he left an unmistakable mark which only the toad tongue whip was able to inflict. It was as if King Baal branded the senior Tiefling mage with his mark so that Duke Vepar would have no doubts in believing what Twice Eyes was supposed to say.

    The subus maidens who were helping Baal to don his armour immediately stepped backwards even though they needed toplete the procedure. However, they all recalled that one incident where their Liege had entered a small frenzy and swiped his toad tongue whip a little too wildly and killed two maidens in the process.

    Henceforth, they remained behind his other sets of armour, hoping they could provide some protection in case of a repeat scenario.

    And being the impatient King of Hell, Baal also sent a surge of magical energy into Twice Eyes, giving him the energy needed to make an instant teleport to where Duke Vepar was so he could ry the message as soon as possible. Yet, he did not notice, nor did he care that upon sending the message, Twice Eyes sumbed to the poison within King Baal''s toad tongue whip and perished.

    The One Wing Armoured Angel, Duke Vepar treated it as King Baal wanting to keep this as a secret from the rest of the army to keep the morale up and going.

    "Lord Moloch, is the reason why you have the guts to betray the King because you found some new powers or was it solely because of him?" Duke Vepar thought to himself as he shook his head and headed to the Mage Communication Centre where he met up with Duke Crocell and Earl Furfur.

    "Crocell, Furfur. I''ve received royal orders from his Majesty himself. Proceed with the invasion as arranged. We will send out our best men." Vepar said, and he could literally see the Demi Tiger Crocell wanting to open his mouth to rebut upon taking in thetest news.

    "No, Crocell. This is not up for discussion. I am sending my Horned Armoured Knights into the fray as well. This time around, let Lord Moloch feel the wrath of the Armoured Guards."

    Crocell remained speechless, and since Duke Vepar was sending his Elite Knights in without care for the ''traditional'' order of battle, he decided to resume the attack.

    "I hope it is as simple as you said." One of the senior mages injected hisment as he looked at the smoke and fire from the imagery that was left behind by the dead mage.

    "I''ve seen such a density of smoke and brightness in the fire. It doesn''t look like a magical explosion, more like a chemical oneбн"

    "Who cares? As long as that traitor Moloch is dead, we''ll get our glory in servicing the King." Duke Crocell replied as he continued ordering his mages to send the order to resume the attack.

 Chapter 709 Chemical Warfare

    <h4>Chapter 709 Chemical Warfare</h4>

    "Iing." The System stated loudly through the System Channel which prompted the Orc Artillery Company to ready their fingers on the trigger and shells to be discarded and reloaded. When there was no movement for about five minutes, Moloch had already informed Orc General Nubwort to change the type of artillery shells they had been using.

    What they had initially used was the smaller 75mm artillery calibre in order to save the better ammunition on their howitzers for theter fights. Now, Moloch had called on them to switch to the chemical shells as he predicted that the demon army would be sending in their armoured knights to counter the explosive rounds.

    "Use them before the mages appear and wipe the chemicals off," Moloch told them and the Orcs manning the howitzers had already equipped themselves with sufficient safety gear in case the chemical shells malfunctioned or backfired on them.

    Thebs had made them in preparation against the rats in the Farming World, but they figured this could possibly work against the demons too. (Also, free guinea pigs in the System''s eyes.) Naturally, Ayse had used Jin''s world military history to recreate war chemicals which were banned in modern times for today''s use.

    It was not something Jin had condoned since all was fair in war and they needed every advantage they could get. Besides, the System stated that the Dungeon Core always clean up the battlefield mess at the end of it. So, there was not much to worry in terms of environmental damage. In the meantime, the Orcs had also adjusted their barrels and cleaned them up for a smoother firing experience.

    "Hmm. Chemical shells. The forbidden weaponry of our world, this will be an eye opener." Colonel Kan Jian mused as he was looking forward to actually witnessing the effectiveness of the chemicals on the monsters. Even if it was just a dungeon simtion to him, there was no harm seeing it happen.

    While a majority of the snakes dabbled on chemical weapons on a smaller scale such as poison for assassination purposes, to see the banned weapon in action was already worth the trip for this particr warm up exercises.

    True enough, the first batch of demon soldiers that entered were knights armoured to the teeth. Filled with anti-magic runes and steel that even swords and spears could barely scratch, they were the elites of Duke Vepar.

    Though the Knights had trouble understanding why they should be sent out first as the vanguard, they still followed the orders of their revered duke. Soon, they saw the very same scorchednd their previousrades had observed. Just as they arrived in full, a wheezing sound came from afar with a loud popping sound.

    Yellowish gas appeared right in front of them, and the Knights of Vepar scoffed at their enemies for creating a fog to stop them from advancing. They believed it to be merely a dirty ploy for an ambush, and thus they moved forward, ignoring the gas to get out of the ''safe'' zone area. What do they have to worry about?

    Even though the smell of the gas was so stifling that they could taste something bitter in their mouths, they soldiered on as a tight group formation out of the safe zone.

    Despite the chemical gas blocking their view, the Royal Snake Snipers had already anticipated this and switched their scopes to infrared sensors to continue firing at them. Their shots did manage to push back the heavily magical armour knights, but it was not enough to pierce their defences. Still, it certainly surprised the knights enough to hold their shields up for additional protection.

    Because of the little damage done and with only infrared to guide them, the snipers decided to hold their actions back and waited for more vulnerable targets. As a result of their actions, the demons moved even slower and became more cautious about whatever hit them.

    Even their legendary status for being the frontline stewards, those Barrett Sniper Rifles was able to put a hole through their armour easily. Thus, this made them even more susceptible to the gas that they had been inhaling. (If those snipers tried harder, they would have seeded.)

    With the exception of the gas attack, the knights managed to send amunication response back, indicating that there was effectively no resistance except for a shady surprise attack.

    "It might be an over-exaggeration, but I believe Lord Moloch knew the explosive magic would be useless against us. Maybe that is why they decided to throw some gas to make us warier." The Knight Captain reported back. "We rmend sending overwhelming numbers to search and subdue Lord Moloch."

    "I still think we should continue to be careful. The old cow has already surprised us more than once, and I suspect that geezer has more nasty things prepared." Duke Crocell warned, but Earl Furfur ignored Crocell trying to caution them. Instead, he told the mages to continue with the original n to send the other waves of foot soldiers in.

    "Since we have already dyed our attack, we shouldpensate by sending in an overwhelming number to break that fog and show them the might of King Baal''s army." Earl Furfur''s order was ryed immediately.

    As for the armies that were waiting after the initial rm to assemble, they thought at first that Lord Moloch was already killed, especially since a yellow re was shot from the mages and there was no response to continue with the fight for over ten minutes.

    But as soon as the magesmunication centre shot a green re up to indicate that the fight was still on, they cheered loudly and demanded their mages to teleport them in immediately.

    Yet soon after themunication, the Knight Captain started to cough as more of the yellow gas was shot from the sky. Due to their stout constitution, it did take a longer time for the gas to take effect, but ultimately it did its job. After all, the knights still needed to breathe and with a denser concentration of gas around the area, the knights finally sumbed to its effect.

    The Knight Captain then decided to give themand to charge forward so they would leave this area of strange gas. Unfortunately, they did not know that Moloch and the others had already prepared a trap for them when they were dozens of metres out of the safe zone.

    An explosive ditch trap deep enough to even prevent Ogres and the like from crawling out.

    The first few foot soldiers who managed to run past it did not trigger it. Their weight had been insufficient to activate it. While it was meant to slow down arge group of soldiers, Moloch guessed having a majority of Elite Knights from Duke Vepar in the trap was a good trade off as well.

    The explosive ditch activated with the aid of the System after determining the highest number of knights within the 10 metre wide trap before releasing the explosives to cause them to fall within it.

    *Ba da Ba da Ba daaaaa booom*

    A series of explosives went off consecutively, breaking the unstable ground and revealing the ditch. Some broke their foot from the fall while others injured their shoulders or hands. And because of their heavy armour, they had no way of getting out of it.

    Yet, that was not the main concern until a gas shell descended down into the ditch and filled it with even more poisonous substances. Without the chance to even fight a single enemy, the ditch became a mass graveyard for thepany of Elite Horned Armoured Knights.

 Chapter 710 Kings Order

    <h4>Chapter 710 King''s Order</h4>

    The armies who received the go-ahead started to teleport in, and the moment they set foot on to the battlefield, they were greeted by the haze of yellow smoke. After taking their first breath, they irked from the smell and immediately started to cough from it.

    Within the next five seconds, their eyes got irritated, and they felt like someone had set their throats on fire. The more they desperately gasped for air, the more their situation worsened.

    Some ignored the previous orders of staying in formation and rushed forth in the hopes of leaving this highly hazardous zone. s, they did not know there was a 10-metre wide and 30-metres deep ditch surrounding the entire safe zone awaiting these stragglers.

    A number inadvertently fell to their death and the reinforcements none the wiser continued to act the same way, also craving the sweet release of death to alleviate the severe burning of their throats. As for the rest who managed to tolerate the burning sensations, the side effects develop further until they felt like their whole skin was on fire.

    The Tiefling Mages, on the other hand, were somewhat prepared for this sort of situation. In their repertoire, they had spells which could grant themselves and others magic resistance against all types of poisons.

    They began to cast a wind gust spell first to move the gas away, yet soon after they began chanting, they were taken down by the Royal Snake Snipers without any prejudice or mercy. Those not finding a bullet going through their brain who tried to continue chanting the spell were met with even more bullet holes that rendered them to the ground.

    Back at the Mages Communication Centre, Duke Crocell sighed at the loss of soldiers. They had severely underestimated the viciousness of this yellow gas their enemy had deployed. Earl Furfur who previously passed the order to press for the attack, knew it was ''partially'' his mistake to push forward. But his pride as a Demon Lord prevented him from apologising.

    "His Majesty has arrived!"

    An imp servant shouted to inform the rest of his presence, and Duke Crocell immediately moved away from his seat to allow King Baal to take over his rightful position as the Supreme Commander over the army. It became deadly silent in the room as all eyes were on the King of Hell.

    Without being briefed or questioning the progress of their campaign, he merely uttered two words after he had enjoyed the stifled down panic in the room.

    "Send more."

    It made sense to the demon magemunication operators and the rest of the lords in the room even though it sounded ruthless. Currently, they were being pinned down at the safe zone, but surely the concentration of gas would decrease once they managed to leave the area.

    It was inly obvious that some sacrifices were needed to push on the attack. If they backed out now with King Baal present, it would be a major disgrace.

    "Looks like Lord Moloch is suited for more than just dressing up his underlings. We never expected the old cow to use actual tactics fighting against us." Earl Furfur tried to redeem himself in the situation by implying that it was basically Moloch''s fault that this happened. However, King Baal did not care much for these kinds of excuses.

    "Gather all my children, the Dukes, Counts and Marquis and get them to contribute. If Moloch wants to y a game of wits, we will show him that no matter what he may havee up with, all trickery shall fail in the face of overwhelming power."

    King Baal ordered, stood up and left the area. The instruction was vague but demanding, making Earl Furfur regret ever opening his damn mouth in the first ce. All the Serpent Demon could say in response was a weak Yes.

    Reluctantly he headed out to search for the forty odds Sirs and Ladies to present them with the news, something the King could have done with but a single thought in his mind. It was evident that this was meant as a punishment for Earl Furfur, and he hated it. Not only was it a tedious task, but the more dire consequence was that this also meant King Baal''s impression of him had worsened.

    "I told you earlier not to be in a rush." Duke Crocell reminded him before the other set off. Furfur was clearly not taking it well. Nevertheless, he decided to swallow anyints.

    This was neither the time nor the ce to argue, not to mention that Crocell outranked him as a Duke.

    "Finding all the Sirs and Ladies sounds like a pain. If you can get ten of them, it could be a miracle, much less all of them." Crocell said solemnly.

    He was stating the fact, despite clearly being unwilling to aid hispanion and Veparughed at the sight of the slithering snake.

    "He can be d this was all. At least he didn''t have to also gather all the princes and princesses of Hell even though King Baal only mentions his ''children''. They would have given him a piece of their mind for disturbing them."

    "I think it is implied that he wants all of his children to be in the war. Heh, good luck on him for they will either kick him out of their premises or kill him depending on their mood before he would even have the chance to say that he bore the orders of their father." Duke Crocell gloated at Furfur''s situation.

    Truly, misery lovespany as Vepar agreed heartily with Crocell''sment to get his mind off losing his Armoured Knights. Seeing the Earl being punished had been indeed a weed medicine.

    "What do you suggest? We know that there is that ditch there. Should we send in our aerial units to eliminate the archers firing the gas into the area?" Duke Crocell asked Vepar who had given the go-ahead to the mages to send the mobilising message to his army.

    "Do what you need, I already transferredmand over my army to you. All I have left are my personal guards." Vepar shrugged as he decided to return to his quarters. Those Horned Armoured Knights had a track record to uphold and Moloch would have to pay for breaking it just like that.

    The One-Winged Armoured Angel was not going to give it up lying down. He went to equip himself properly and move into the fray to collect his due.

    "Very well, I shall dly take charge." Duke Crocell replied with a smile. For Vepar to throw his army away for a petty vengeance was unlike the usually stoic him, but Crocell was going to use it to his advantage. Why bring his troops to the fray when others could take the brunt of it first? Fortunately, Furfur had left his army here for him tomand, too, so how could he say no?

    Thus, he decided to send the entirety of Vepar''s Armoured Gargoyles and Furfur''s Winged Hydras first. It may be glorious to die in the midst of battle, yet there was more glory to be earned in surviving the campaign, therefore Crocell nned to bring out his Flying Tigers to dish out thest strike.

    In the meantime, he shared the information about the yellow gas with remaining Horned Armoured Knights as well as the armies going in. He also ordered them to do their best in trying to ensure the mages would be able to cast their spells.

    They were going to break through this haze of death with numbers and send Moloch and his army into the abyss.

 Chapter 711 Wyvern Goblin Knights

    <h4>Chapter 711 Wyvern Goblin Knights</h4>

    "Heh, now they are showing their true colours." Orc General Nubwort thought as he told the Orc Artillery Company to finish thest wave of chemical gas shells before switching them back to explosives. With the advance of more Armoured Knights and mages, it should not be long until it would lose its effectiveness.

    "Master Jin, they are sending in more and more of their troops. Feel free to start your event at any point now." Nubwort reported through the System Channel and Jin who had been ying with his phone, stopped his idling to verify the information with his binocrs.

    The Collective Demon Army of King Baal continuously threw bodies into the safe zone and pushed their foot soldiers out of the area. Only, it appeared that instead of letting their soldiers sacrifice themselves for nothing, they hade up with a creative way to try and solve the problem.

    Duke Crocell utilised Elephant type Monsters who had volunteered to work for the demon army to suck in as much yellow gas as possible. In the meantime, he had also stuck to his decision to send the air demon forces out of the yellow gas situation and eliminate the culprits casting or throwing them in.

    "Heads up, Wyrstriker. It''s time for your debut." Jin looked through the binocrs and told the System to continue taking videos of these demons and release some snippets of them on the Pandamonium forum to hype the customers up further. In the meantime, Wyrstriker had a wide grin on his face since his wyvern air force would actually be the first unit to engage the enemy directly.

    "Remember guys, we''ll employ a fast hit and kill tactic, then return for resupply. These are just the first of the many waves iing, and we will need to conserve our energy as much as possible. We are the only air force Jin has, so it''s up to us to prevent the enemy from gaining air superiority." Wyrstriker''s encouraging speech was short and concise, yet he suddenly heard some giggling even though his pilots were scrambling on their wyverns.

    "You totally forgot about me, didn''t you?" Que Er asked. She did not appear angry, more amused as she sat there at the corner with Muninn and Huginn resting on her shoulders.

    "Not really, I just think that your explosive crows are better suited as a supplement to my air force," Wyrstriker replied. He had yet to see the crows in action and had only heard about their capabilities. Thus he severely underestimated Que Er''s powers.

    The Magpie Queen decided to keep quiet about it. After living for so long, she understood that the young ones, no matter the age or race, would always wish to prove themselves. Besides, she liked Wyrstriker quite a bit.

    He, just as his two best friends who he had been so close with, who could also be regarded as brothers, had been the first subordinates Jin had captured. At that time they had merely been ordinary goblins. Now, each one of them went through a hard and tedious journey to evolve.

    One had managed to be favoured by Death herself whilst the other simrly had encountered a godly being and entered a pact with it.

    Wyrstriker had also evolved thank to his synergy with Ivan the Wyvern, but his was considered a side evolution, which was inferiorpared to his peers step up evolution. Someone else might have fallen into envy and jealousy but not him. Instead, Wyrstriker wished to prove to himself, his friends and Jin that he could evolve without the help of a higher external power.

    "So na?veбн but such is the privilege of the young before one grows up. We shall meetter in the skies, little green flightless one." Que Er said as she walked to the edge of the airstrip beside the hanger to watch the Wyvern Goblin Knights take off with the aid of the Lost Tech Boosters.

    But what the Wyvern Goblin Knights did not know was that Que Er was also preparing her personal air force with the help of Odin''s ravens. And they were all sitting quietly at the dark corners of the ceilings, waiting for their turn to act. Even Que Er wants to be a heroine once in a while, its just a simple matter of when.

    -----

    The Armoured Gargoyles and Wing Hydras sped out of the yellow haze without too much trouble and just as ordered, they decided to look for the perpetrators of the chemical gas by following the constant distant booming sound.

    However, as they were cruising in the dungeon skies, they noticed the majesty of the city which Lord Moloch had built. Floating city tforms from afar with a body of water right below it, made them doubt if Moloch was actually the person who created all of this.

    Duke Crocell also received the transmitted images and came to the same conclusion. Lord Moloch should have neither the required resources to build such a magnificent looking floating city nor the knowledge on how to do so. Something like this would be a luxury not even King Baal could afford easily.

    Suddenly, ck smokes popped out of nowhere in the skies, and the Demon Air Force instinctively tried to avoid it. Unfortunately, those at the forefront had be too engrossed with ogling the city, so that their initial inaction resulted in a few units killed by the ck smoke.

    The anti-air k guns were working as intended, piercing the enemies with scattered pellets of steel. Before the Goblin Wyvern Knights engaged them, thepany of Goblin Anti Air Defences had ced down some pressure to lower the enemies morale and ease the load for their ''one and only'' air force avable.

    Naturally, the demon air force took some evasive measures. They were still flying towards the artillery albeit slower now worried that more of this ck smoke could kill them. Some of them also got injured with bits of the metal shot into their skins. Unlike aerones, these flying units were living, breathing organisms. Pain was still an inevitable fact to these air forces.

    A few Winged Hydras closed in to retaliate against the k gunners, but the anti-air defences had their very own magical shield up courtesy of the panda''s sciencebs. The magical shield generator copied the very same concept of the dungeon core shield, with the biggest difference being that it used the same batteries as the Fortress Golems utilised.

    "To allow outgoing fire and block iing attacks simultaneously while being portable? This remarkable contraption should be hailed as an invention of the year!" Ayse boasted as she saw her generators withstanding the brunt of the Winged Hydra''s toxic spit while the k guns shredded it into pieces.

    Of course, it could only take so much before the batteries wore out, but since it was still the start of the battle, so more than enough supplies were on standby to rece them and keep the generators working.

    Logistics had been a nightmare for Qiu Yue, yet she had somehow managed to ensure that every team, squadron andpany should notck any supplies with the aid of her Empire Building System.

    As odd as it sounded, the Empire Building had used the Adventurer Savants who had better logical processing because of the way they were ''built'' to Qiu Yue''s advantage. They had mainly assisted her in creating a logistic protocol to sort the orders since there were no ountants or logistic officers to do the job for them.

    Fortunately, this could soon change with ire as the possible candidate to help thembat this. (But that is for the future.) Those Savants would undoubtedly get transferred under her leadership in such a case, yet for now, the logistic battle was not as pressing as the new batch of Horned Armoured Knights rushing through the yellow haze and jumping over the ditches.

    Held in their arms were mages casting spells to remove the yellow haze and creating a temporary bridge to allow the troops to get over the ditch. They had learned from the mistakes of their predecessors, so the Armoured Knights blocked the front with their shield to stop the Royal Sniper from intervening. s, this only made it more of a challenge the Royal Snipers craved for.

    "It''s time to enter phase two," Kraft announced as he happily stared at the war room table with all the updatesing in.

 Chapter 712 Activation of Clay Statues

    <h4>Chapter 712 Activation of y Statues</h4>

    After giving the crowd some teasers on the Pandamonium forums, the people demanded to see what else was happening, which enabled Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One happy to fulfil their wishes. They turned on the big screens and showed them curated bits and pieces of the current Dungeon World''s fight.

    From the continuous st of artillery to the chemical gas attacks and subsequently the superior anti-air weapons the goblins had used. Kiyu had done a wonderful job choosing them as people got hyped up, more so than ever before, and eager to enter at any time.

    Too bad for them, it wasn''t their time to shine just yet. Still, many held onto the anticipation that they could enter soon enough.

    Their patience eventually paid off as the Demon Mages managed to blow the chemical gas away. Now it was light enough for the foot soldiers to breathe, and thus there would be room for the cultivators to battle without perishing in the gas through ''friendly fire''. (or gas)

    The demons had also created temporary bridges over the bodies of the fallen Horned Armoured Knights and other unfortunate demon soldiers who had attempted to cross the ditch.

    Just as the remaining Horned Armoured Knights were getting confident about the way things were proceeding, one of them felt a sting in his underbelly. Looking down, he realised while it was but a flesh wound to him, the mage that he had been holding on to with the cover of his shield was already dead from the sudden slit in his throat.

    "WHAT?! THESE STATUES CAN MO-" A short y de was thrust from beneath his helmet, causing him to choke on his blood. Yet, his quick shout had been sufficient to rm the rest of the group. The y statues which the goblin craftsman had painstakingly built were finally put to the test.

    Hespesta and the others were watching the scenes from the new Home Ind Instance they were situated in. Atst, they got to see the powers of Jespa''s terrifying rune magic. The Horned Armoured Knights were all furious that such non-living items had sneakily killed arade of theirs. Still, the mages they were carrying quickly understood the scary implications about these y figures.

    Without a soul, without an organic body, they appeared to be fearless killing machines that could make it through the (dispersed) yellow haze without suffering from it. Worse, they were the perfect creatures to benefit from fighting inside of it, stopping at nothing to defeat the enemies in front of them.

    If they were all of one design, that would have been fine. After a bit of time, the demons could have discovered their strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, the y statues seemed to have their own hierarchy. Some were designed to look like an assassin, others as a heavily staunched knight like themselves.

    All the y craftsmen watching the show from thefort of their homes were unable to do anything but root for their own inventions to wreck as much havoc as they could before the y statues were disabled. The System even allowed them to bet with System Points on which one of their creations would wreak the most havoc, survive the longest, and take out the most creatures of a type.

    As if that was not enough, rains of arrows starting pouring in and since their y statues were invulnerable to pain(and arrows), the goblin archers were not hesitant to fire indiscriminately onto the battlefield. Also, to make themselves stand out by contributing much more to the battle, the goblins engineers had crafted an improved version of crossbows, a minigun variant!

    The first iterations had been criticised as being a little too slow. And so the engineers had gone back to the drawing board and returned with a multi-tube variant.

    20 by 20 tubes were stacked upon each other until they resemble a square worth of tubes. Arrows were inserted from the top of the stack like arge clip, and it was fired simultaneously. Thus, the rate of fire from these multitube arrow carts was enough to bring down an ogre in under 10 seconds.

    Generally, the number of arrows used was massive but considering how the Industrial Sector was able to manufacture them by the thousands of those in less than an hour, numbers were not an issue.

    While the Horned Knights were impervious to the heavy shower of arrows and their shield were quite massive they were unable to cover the whole army. The rest of the soldiers surrounding them had no choice but receive them with open arms or with reluctance. Some jumped into the ditch for cover only to begrudgingly discover that was where all the yellow gas had been pushed towards by the mages.

    With the arrows serving as a distraction against the knights, those mindless y statues continue to seize the opportunity to take the lives from the living foot soldiers.

    Just when the situation became dire for the demon army, an enormous magical circle appeared in the safe zone. It quickly dispelled the chemical gas and protected the enemy from the arrow of showers, demonstrating its magical might with their arrival.

    The remaining Knights that were desperately trying to survive saw the glimpse of the shining beacon of lighting from the safe zone itself. It shone so brightly that they could only make out the silhouette of the army.

    Yet that greyish light was already an indicator of themander who hade to their rescue. A cloaked figure with a pair of raven legs came forth and destroyed the y statues that were guing the knights with multiple air des, allowing the injured to fall back.

    Raven legs, grey lights, and with the power of wind in his grasp. Without a doubt that particrmander could only be one person. With his hood on, the iconic owl by his shoulder dispersed any doubt about his identity. A being which even their Duke, the One-Winged Armoured Angel would have to bend the knee to.

    It was none other than Prince Sts.

    Earl Furfur had been very lucky in that he managed to catch him early in the Royal Pce. He had pleaded his help to fight against Moloch. However, it was not Furfur''s plea that spurred the Demon Prince to enter the battle. No, it was a personal vendetta against Moloch.

    Once his royal mentor, Prince Sts quickly realised that studying under Lord Moloch would bring him to heights even his father could not reach. Yet, because of a certain incident, their time together was a brief one.

    Moloch had been reduced to a simple lord and cast out of the metropolis to handle some remote Dungeon Fortress. Making matters more mysterious was a Royal Decree which had been passed the same morning, announcing Moloch''s demotion as well as mandatory istion from the rest of the Demon Court Nobles.

    What he hoped for from this fight was not revenge, but a serious man-to-man talk. With Moloch officially betraying the Demon King, it appeared that the only way he would get that talk would be by using his swords which he did not mind that.

    In addition, St''s army was not some ragtag army of poorly armed foot soldiers. With wealth equivalent about 10% of his father''s, St possessed one of the stronger, more reliable troops in the city. Highly trained soldiers that knew some levels of magic, including years of dungeon experience and had participated in several battle skirmishes too.

    Prince Sts himself possessed such an elite group of people, was not only through wealth but achievements. He was not some spoiled prince under King Baal''s care and had personally gone through several battles, earning him the reputable name to keep this set of elite soldiers under his wing.

    Many also knew how logical his tactics were, (Courtesy to the teachings of Moloch) and being the few princes who do not have any specialised units in his army, many veteran soldiers wished to be headhunted by hismanders. That was why they were able to execute their arrival decisively which other Duke''s units could not.

    With a nod of his head, Sts''s mages repaired the ditch by filling it with rocks right above the bodies of the fallen soldiers, allowing his troops and subsequent reinforcements to move unhindered. Though the Horned Armoured Knights were a little bitter the way their fallenrades were treated, they knew there was no time to be picky with their allies.

    After all, they will resurrect again after the battle, right?

 Chapter 713 Jespas Dual Activation Runes

    <h4>Chapter 713 Jespa''s Dual Activation Runes</h4>

    "Prince Stsбн?" Moloch saw the image in the war room. This new batch of arrivals worried him slightly.

    "You know about him?" Qiu Yue had just entered a minute ago and was attempting to adjust herself to the current situation.

    "He''s ermбн you could say we shared a special bond..." Moloch did not know how to put the rtionship between him and Sts. Their interaction with each other had been brief before it was interrupted by that incident that made him lose it all.

    "Oh my god, did you and him...?" Kraft gave an exaggerated stunned expression as if Moloch had just admitted to doing something taboo.

    "What?! No!! He was my student!" Moloch tried to defend himself.

    "You taught him the ways of the ''cotton'' butt?" Qiu Yue decided to join in on the fun as well, and you could see a rare asion of Moloch rolling his ''cotton'' eyes upwards.

    "Alright, alright, let''s stop with the teasing for now. Since you know him, how big of a threat does this Prince posed?" Kraft turned serious for a moment.

    "A major one. The soldiers he has are at least level 50 and over. Those foot soldiers we fought were roughly level 15 and below. Well, maybe the asional level 20s but that did not make much of a difference."

    "Ah yes, I totally forgot that you guys have levels for your power system. If I remember correctly, 10 levels seem to correspond roughly to 1 Grade. In other words, we''ve been fighting Grade 1s and 2s, and now they areing out with Grade 5s and above. This could be hard for most of our cultivators." Qiu Yue recalled that the Savants who helped her in the logistic supplies were high ranked elite adventurers too.

    "You shouldn''t be so sure about it. In the Dungeon World, levels are there solely for the purpose to segregate the poption and make people feel that their hard work and efforts have paid off. Unlike with your cultivation system, you can also level up simply by grinding for long enough. But that is for another day. Suffice to say the will be very strong." Moloch nearly went into his tutoring mood and then refocused to check on the war table.

    "They will decimate the y statues easily, but that does not mean they won''t be a hassle. After which, we can rmend to Jin to send the normal cultivators in for the fight. It''s best to use them as fodder to slow down the advancement of the elites. Our revival works far better than theirs." Moloch knew that Sts had many more soldiers than the ones that were teleported. More would surely being, and the y statues would prove to be rather useless against them. Might as well send the main force in so that the y statues provide some sort of assistance.

    "What about the Giant y statues? It seems like a waste to activate them if they fall too quickly." Qiu Yue asked as she looked on the war table and saw the spanning long overarching y dragon made simr to Dragoonball Y and their infamous Pandaji fighting against it.

    "You''re correct. It''s best we let those statues remain for now until the giantse out to y. They should be among our most effective tools to deal with those." Moloch sounded like it was guaranteed that they would appear and it was just a matter of time.

    "Alright, then I shall also keep the option of the phantom soldiers open. Seems a little too early to reveal one of our trump cards." Qiu Yue replied, seeing that the battlefield had yet to be littered enough for Duke''s Wolte dungeon core to be efficiently used.

    They then send their rmendation to Jin, and he obliged all too willingly. The System had informed him that the crowd was getting way too restless and some selfish, impatient people were demanding to start now.

    "Well, you know the saying ''the customer is king''. Let''s grant them their wish!" Jin smiled as he happily pressed the button in his admin Pandamonium ount to activate the event''s opening.

    In the meantime, the chemical gas attacks were over, and the Orc Artillery Company had fully switched to firing armour-piercing shells with the purpose of breaking the shield Sts'' mages had conjured.

    They pressured the mages so that they would be unable to influence the battle, yet if that was not enough, each team had their very own Goblin and Orc mage duo that would enchant the shells with their very own spells.

    As ast resort option, they had some special inscriptions courtesy of Octofussy to maximise the pration power of the artillery shells. A shame, they were very limited, and their captains had restricted their use since it was still too early in the battle. (Though some say it''s better to use now than not having the chanceter if they were pushed back or need to retreat.)

    Still, Prince Sts showed no hesitation in taking the opportunity to rush at the forefront over the main sky bridge that separated the empty beachhead and the multiple floating tforms.

    "Moloch! I''m sure you can hear me!! Come out and face me. You should know that such cheap tricks won''t stop my army from finding you!!!" Sts bashed a y statue''s head with his fist, however surprisingly the y statue head didn''t crumble into dust bust exploded right in front of him.

    Thankfully his magical cloak provided him with defensive properties that allowed him to lessen the blow. They couldn''t have known that these y statues had magic runes with dual effects in it.

    Moloch''s ''punishment'' had forced Jespa to try ande up with ways tobine her runes, and she had seeded. (And became prouder than ever seeing it live from the telecast) Now her Animate Dead all had a random magical effect within them.

    From explosions to petrifying one into a stone, the amount of experimenting initially allowed Jespa to get rid of boredom. She had no idea that Moloch''s words were valid and regretted that she did not keep all the forms she made. (Considering she had to make hundreds of them with no apprentices to aid her, it was too taxing to create and document.)

    Unless one obliterated the runes directly, those products that Jespa made would take effect. Some strengthened the corresponding y soldiers while others gave them additional abilities, but most caused more random harm to the enemy army.

    "SHIT! Watch out. This one did not explode, but it sprayed out acid upon death!" One of his vanguards shouted out loud while another stated that his one left thorns wherever he was walking. Slowly Sts realised that this entire battlefield was filled with moving booby traps. The only way to safely remove all of them was to use wide-area magic to wipe them out entirely.

    "No wonder they haven''t deployed any real soldiers for this battlefield. Rather smart, but not witty enough to defeat Prince Sts." Duke Crocell thought to himself. He was relieved a Demon Prince was leading the way.

    "Fall back! The mages and I will eliminate them all with magic. Once we remove those nuisances it will be up to you al-" A two-handed club swung down right at him, causing him to instinctively evade. Then he noticed one more silhouette diving down with a sword attack.

    "Don''t fall back. Stay a bit and y with us." Xiong Da smirked as Yue Han readjusted his dive attack and locked swords with the Prince. The soldiers that were near Prince Sts saw the situation and wanted to help out, but they were suddenly upied by the various groups of masked humans that were holding the exact same club and sword as the Pandawans.

    That''s right, those groups of ''humans'' were the very new squadmates which were offered exclusively to the Pandawans.

    Qiu Yue was ying favourites by sending in a few Pandawans with their squads first. Their purpose should have been to engage the elite soldiers, but unknowingly this action managed to disrupt the Prince''s ns.

    It also inadvertently increased the morale of the cultivators, by showing them that their strongest were fighting along with them in the frontlines. Treating the war table like a gigantic tablet, she was able to drag and drop the Pandawans to an exact location as if it was some sh teleport skill.

    "Time to feel the might of the Pandarens." Qiu Yueughed with absolute delight.

 Chapter 714 Fixes for an Improved Squad AI

    <h4>Chapter 714 Fixes for an Improved Squad AI</h4>

    The Squads which Yue Han and Xiong Da had with them were the revamped version as introduced by Bear Cub One. Instead of having three individual squad members who provided versatility for the individual, it was simultaneously a slight downgrade but also quite the upgrade.

    Xiong Da, Yue Han and a few other Pandawans had been bestowed with five squad members and decided to take it upon themselves to lead the raid. Fortunately, Xiong Da recently became Grade 5 after finding the time to spend some intense training in Jin''s dungeon since the number of squadmates was now fixed to the cultivation level.

    After the Hungry Hippo''sst test, Jin had evaluated the feedback after receiving a series of analytical reports from the System which Jin shuddered upon opening the PDFs.

    He tweaked the AI helper''s weapons, and they would have default weapons which were also pegged to what the cultivators had been using. Should they change weapons, the default weapons would be changed as well.

    As Grade 5 cultivators, it meant that the Pandawans basically had five more identical masked cultivators that were simr to them. In terms of strength and other attributes, the System decided to bestow those AIs half the original stats of the cultivator leading them. Thus, it made the ones that Xiong Da and Yue Han used earlier against Prince Sts and his guards at a power level of Grade 2 Peaks. This was to ensure that the squads would not be too much of an overpowered feature in the future.

    These ''nerfs'' in the AI fixes the wide versatility dilemma Jin had to make sure that it was bnced since the Pandawans were able to utilise them fully after learning how responsive they were when it came to battle.

    It was also indeed a pity that Jin had removed the option to outfit them with armour and the likes of it. Still, they roughly understood that it could be because the current technology might have limited the advancement of those squads on a massive scale.

    However, that did not mean they could not customise their squadmates at all. It was actually easier (and cheaper) to equip them since the cultivators could pass down old weapons that they had used as well as changing the weapons on the fly in case they needed to do so. For example, fighting an ice boss? Equip all five Squadmates with the very same firences if the cultivator could afford them.

    Another unfortunate setback was that the squad AI mates couldn''t use any cultivator techniques, which only made them act as extra hands in a fight.

    "Damn, can you imagine how effective it will be to have another 6 copies of Luo Bo in a fight? She will basically dominate the dungeon without breaking a sweat. That will be way too cheesy." Bu Dong had wondered out loud when they had used the USB to get ess to this feature.

    Everyone smirked as they looked at the high school student since the same could be said about him. They had all seen how his rampaging ape was basically a cultivator on heavy steroids.

    "If you say anymore, I believe Boss Jin would also limit the number of squad mates based on the size of the dungeon too. Like those four men or eight men dungeon instances." Bin Yongmented randomly until Shi Zuo poked his friend on his arm and told him to scroll down.

    "Gah...he really did limit the squad mates...oh well, at least we can fully utilise these squads in raids like this?" Bin Yong replied, and Shi Zuo shook his head.

    "Stop jinxing it already..." Shi Zuo secretly hoped that Boss Jin was not listening into their conversation. (But the System is!)

    "Also can you imagine going into the Deep One Escape City with a full squad! We can show those fishes the true might of our strength!" Bin Yong said excitedly as he happily equipped each and every of his squad mates with the old swords and shields. For once, the closet hoarder finally felt that ying all Jin''s dungeons to get the various type of equipment was worth it.

    ---------

    "Humans?! Moloch, have you stooped so low to fight with humans?" Prince Sts thought to himself, as he used his shield to block Xiong Da''s swing. Furthermore, the Prince could not believe that his blow was as hard or even harder than the training coaches ever gave. And yet the apanying human was using some shadowy, dark arts to strike at the Prince whenever he managed to block Xiong Da''s attack.

    They were not giving him any chance to take a breather to counter-attack. If not for his wind affinity aiding his dodges, he believed he would be dead by now. His helpless situation made thewyer snickered.

    "Is this all you got? C''mon even the slimy creepy Deep Ones proved to be more of a challenge than you." Xiong Da taunted out loud as he aimed towards Prince Sts with his warclub, hoping to break his shield in the process.

    "Imbecile! You think this is the end?" Prince Sts shamelessly used his magic to jump backwards and back into the safe zone where there was still a shield blocking the barrage of artillery. After which the two cultivators could see that Prince Sts was readying his cavalry to trample over Yue Han and Xiong Da.

    "Heh, guess he''s one of the big bosses after all." Yue Han said as he swung his sword and bounced around a little to keep his momentum going before a massive group of a demon looking horses charged towards them.

    "Now, how about we test if the squads actually work as intended." Xiong Da had a smile on his face. He was trusting that Jin wouldn''t disappoint him, so he emitted his chi all around the area. Yue Han noticed this strange behaviour and saw that his other squadmates were all receiving the chi energy from Xiong Da himself.

    "What are you doing? Why''re you wasting your chi?" Yue Han had no idea what his Pandawanrade was doing until Xiong Daughed out loud daringly against the iing cavalry who thought that those two were insane for continuing to stand their ground. The cavalry felt challenged, so their captain ordered them to charge forward even faster, ignoring the petty attacks from the animated y statues.

    "The long ass exnations told us that the squadmates cannot use any cultivator techniques. Yet I do not believe theyck the data and knowledge on the skills themselves, especially when you think about how long we''ve been going to Jin''s dungeon. Even more so, if you consider that they use us and our stats as the guideline." Xiong Da exined before he took a deep breath and roared out with all his might, emitting even more chi than ever to ensure his AI squadmates all received their fair share.

    In the next moment, he lifted his war club, and the rest followed what he was doing as well.

    "War Club Art! Breaking Shockwaves of the Hippo!" The Hungry Hippo Cultivator smashed his warclub down on the ground, and out came ripples of chi waves which were further multiplied by his squadmates, enhancing his basic war club art technique to the next level of epess.

    This was it.

    The ''loophole'' within the rules which the cunningwyer had managed to discover (It was actually Jin messing up mentioning it because it was sost minute). When Xiong Da found out that the squad AI could absorb chi, he had the feeling something must be up. Believing that there was always a reason why Jin did things and the practice within the expanded conference room instance made him understand that it was not just a testing ground for them.

    "Boss Jin would never short change us when ites to upgrading, and this was one of the situations when it looked like it was a downgrade with lesser versatility. But in actual fact, he basically made little mini-mes in the process."

    "He needed to ce penalties to ensure that dungeons are still rtively bnced, but at the same time, he gave us the opportunity to ''cheese'' things if the conditions are right." Xiong Da was satisfied when he saw his efforts paid off.

    However, he did notice that all his squadmates were now looking worse for the wear. It appeared that Jin did not intend to allow them to use it all the time, but to force them to use it sparingly. And with this sessful experiment, both Yue Han and Xiong Da learnt something new, particrly the former who wished to perform the same.

    As the ground was being split open, the shock waves sliced the cavalries just like a b of meat going into the grinder. It was extremely gory with blood, organs and metal pieces flying along with the shock waves that subsequently dealt a great blow to the enemies'' magical shield.

    For once, Prince Sts had to see his mages'' magic, which was deemed as one of the most revered in the demon metropolis, get cracked momentarily by both the shockwaves and perfect timing of the artillery sts.

    Even though the cracks were patched only secondster, Sts'' mages gritted their teeth and exerted even more force to ensure the protection of their soldiers for they knew this was the only entrance that they had.

    They had never encountered such a fierce and dangerousbination of attacks that could so much as to dent their shields, especially given the vast amount of mages being part of the process. This made Prince Sts extremely wary, and he began to vaguely understand why Moloch might have changed sides.

 Chapter 715 Floating Magical Portal

    <h4>Chapter 715 Floating Magical Portal</h4>

    When all hope seemed lost, the demon army''s reinforcements arrived right on time. Despite them not being on the same level as Prince Sts'' prized elites, Duke Crocell had utilised themand he had been granted over Duke Vepar''s and Earl Furfur''s army for a coordinated attack. Since the whole army had originally treated this day as thest opportunity to gather their strengths before the conquest, it was still in a bit of disarray.

    Gradually the iing troops were organised, but as they witnessed how the demon army had suffered one blow after the other, the military acknowledged that they sorely needed a breakthrough. Thus Duke Crocell had hastily reorganised the \"assembly schedule\", and now there was a mage alongside every twenty soldiers instead of the nned one mage for every fifty soldiers.

    Of course, Duke Crocell''s requirement had diluted significantly. As long as they wielded some sort of magical powers, they were being sent in to reinforce the frontline. Be it offensive, defensive or mere supportive magic, the Tiger Demon Duke did not differentiate. Anyone who was unable to provide Prince Sts'' mages that extra help against the artillery barrage was assigned to a troop so that they could be arranged into a proper formation for the fight.

    \"That is their inherent weakness. Even after so many centuries, they are stuck in their ways. Too stubborn to get the idea out of their heads that formations are useless when you are pressured into one corner.\" Moloch smiled as he watched the demons take time to move into the ''best'' formation possible before they were sent into battle.

    After observing Jin''s cultivators, the goblins, orcs and the other monsters fight, his own ''controversial'' opinions that there was a need to change the way the demon army acted had only been strengthened further. He had always been ridiculed as the one to advocate for the reform in their military doctrine. But who would be the one to get thestugh, now?!

    Of course, the demon army hardly ever gotten into a situation where they had been forced to one particr corner. Luckily, their inflexible thinking gave Moloch a tinge of hope that they could defend against them to the point of retreat before their army managed to get the dungeon core.

    Unfortunately, King Baal was obliged to prove Moloch wrong. Just as the new ground reinforcements came in, a new magical portal emerged roughly 40 metres above the shielded safe zone.

    The demon army could do that because the entire area beneath and above ground had already been demarcated by the dungeon core to be safe for teleportation. Just how Jin had been able to build the underwater Pand-Altantis city and floating citadels, the same rules now worked in their enemy''s favour.

    The magical portal above ground was sorge, soldiers guarding the Flying Metal Fortress which housed Moloch''s dungeon core was able to see it clearly without any visual aid. Even the Royal Snake militarymanders now understood why Jin had warned them about the unpredictability of this new algorithm and the real possibility of them losing if they did not give it their all.

    \"HEY MOLOCH!\" Wyrstriker shouted into the System channel while pulling back his forces from giving aerial support for the cultivators that teleported into the battlefield. \"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING? I thought you said the only threat would be the Dragon Devils!?\"

    \"While I did amuse the thought of it appearing, I totally did not expect for them to pull that out of his bag of tricks this early. Fall back immediately, you won''t be able to deal with that thing.\" Moloch warned the goblin, while Qiu Yue and Kraft were waiting for more information from the demon cow plushie with regards to that ...gigantic magical portal.

    When Jin saw the magical portal floating in the air, he could only imagine that a carrier ship of some sort would appear from the area, simr to the Lost Tech carriers he had encountered during the goblin war. At that point, he chuckled recalling how Mr Derpy tried to swallow the entire ship by himself.

    Though it could be useful to immediately call upon Mr Derpy for the very same purpose, Jin was holding back such a thought, since the Shadow Dagen was intentionally being kept as the third contingency n. It would be wasteful to reveal him unless truly needed.

    As if he was prophesying the future (or just knew how these cliches worked), a giant flying turtle emerged from the magical portal and the soldiers from afar could see that it was also carrying plenty of soldiers into the battlefield. There must have been at least five battalions worth on its back. To make things worse, it was a dual military force, consisting of ground troops and aerial units.

    \"Prince Sts! You look extremely pathetic!\" A loud booming female voice echoed from the top of the demonic turtle''s head which she had named... shy. The name suits the turtle really well especially when shy was decorated with a myriad of flowers from the top of its head to its tail. On a quick nce, one would wonder if the turtle was made from flowers, some sort of nt guardian or grew flowers at the back as part of its traits

    \"Countess Dantalion.\" Prince Sts looked up to see the haughty Lady General dressed in a loud floral dress with patches of armour at the right parts. He had never been the type to care too much about proper etiquette. Right now, he was just d that her arrival on her mobile home base meant a shift in the overall situation.

    The Countess wasughing non-stop since a few of the Orc Artillery guns were aiming at the turtle. As they fired towards it, their shots were unable to hit the creature. The demon army might be slow and set in their ways, but they were still able to learn and copy a good tactic. Hence the magical barrier surrounding the turtle.

    It looked even a hell lot stronger than the one that Prince St''s mages had conjured. This was because on top of the turtle, a fortress had been constructed housing a standard dungeon core in it. Moloch exined to hispanions that this turtle was part of the real living moving dungeon fortresses that King Baal had kept control of.

    \"Such pathetic attacks will not put a dent in shy''s shell, much less prate it! Go, my flowery knights! Show them the chaos a rose can inflict.\" Countess Dantalionughed continuously without reservation. Her knights flew down with the aid of her magical petals that were being created at the side of shy.

    \"The fortress shields are top-notch because of the magic output it''s giving out.\" Moloch banged the war table in anger, hoping that such an opponent would not appear against this particr match. \"Her magic shield is not powered by some dozen elite mages, but instead Countess Dantalion is using the dungeon core and strengthening it further by keeping thousands of living mages in tubes, sucking the life and energy out of them. Even if they die, all she has to do is wait for them to resurrect, and the cycle continues.\"

    \"Thus, her magic shield is considered near-imprable. It will be impossible to wait it out as she has a sheer limitless supply of mages willing to serve her.\" Molochmented which Qiu Yue queried why the mages would give their lives so willingly.

    \"Because the tubes are infused with aphrodisiac drugs, made from a special concoction from her sweat...her love juices and some other magical properties. It brings them a never-ending pleasure while they are inside. Once they resurrect they practically beg her to get back inside. This way their never-ending servitude to Countess Dantalion is ensured.\" Moloch answered as he saw Qiu Yue hastily sending more cultivators to counter the descending flower knights.

    Their enemy also began to send flying flower wyverns to disrupt the Orc Artillery Company although the Goblin anti-air weapons were doing their best to distract them. In the meantime, Kraft was considering going out to ''stretch his legs''. Bringing back some of those tubes and dumping them on Ayse could lead Evon to learn how to produce such drugs along with Kiyu. (But why go out personally, when one had --- underlings.)

    \"Sir! The turtle- it is going to ram itself to the fighting tform we have created based on the trajectory it''s flying!\" The Goblin Comms Operator shouted as it reminded the group that the particr tform was filled with hills and forests as part of the n to slow the horde invasion.

    \"Must we use the V2 rockets right now?\" Qiu Yue asked as she checked on the status of the rockets all around the other floating tforms. She was nning to save it for the main showman, King Baal, but this seemed more pressing to halt or at least slow the advances of shy.

    At the same time, she was just as tempted to use Mr Derpy to counterattack. All while calcting the damage of actually allowing the turtle to smash into the tform and turn this into fight ground fight against the knights.

    *Cough!* A short, sweet cough was heard from the side of the room, waiting for the moment to make her grand scene. Qiu Yue realised she had nearly forgotten about the existence of another one of their superweapons.

    \"Bring me some fried turtle meat, as soon as possible.\" Qiu Yue ordered loudly.

    \"With great pleasure!\" The little girl would finally be allowed to unleash some of her most powerful magic without restraint.

    Time to show the Demons why she was called the Fiery Demonic Sage Queen.

 Chapter 716 Mythra-Orichalcum

    <h4>Chapter 716 Mythra-Orichalcum</h4>

    \"Please don''t tell me you n to let her bombard it with explosive magic until the shell breaks. That might work, but it will also cause significant damage to the entirety of the area, including the surrounding tforms. It''s gonna do more harm than good.\" Moloch logically reasoned with Qiu Yue since the little girl in high spirits had already left the area.

    But he too had forgotten something about Peppers. She continued to be the bearer of the absolute database for the System. The mage Betor instantly realised that Jin''s arsenal and their monsters were not sufficient enough to break the shield without damaging the sidelines.

    And while granted she would love to explode things without restraint, there were strict ordersing from the System personally to provide maximum damage to the enemies with little to no casualties on their side. Otherwise, she''d get no system points for the next six months.

    This penalty would severely restrict her daily snack intake, so she took the order to heart. The best part? Qiu Yue knew about this because she had been the one who had previously requested her Sub System to implement such a demand whenever they nned to harness Peppers battle powers.

    Thus, Qiu Yueforted Moloch, letting him know that everything would be fine. They would have someone else prate a hole in Countess Dantalion''s shield in order for Peppers to unleash her prowess from within.

    And who could be a better candidate for that job than Zeru?

    She had learned in her timeing up with a strategy that Jin''s master was not just a Sword Saint but a master of other weapons too, particrly those used in a conventional medieval war. While his cultivation, the Thousand Lotus of Hell Style was preferably used with a sword, nothing was stopping him fromplementing it with other weapons.

    The only request Zeru had when asked to perform the task was to utilise Jin''s Bam and Boo They were not only able to change their shape to whatever he needed, but they were also the sturdiest weapons to withstand Zeru''s usage. They had been made from the closest material to a particrly divine ore, Mythra-Orichalcum, which his own sword wasposed with.

    However, in terms of sharpness, strength and durability, it was akin toparing a Grade F and Grade SSS item. There was no metal in Jin''s world that could triumph against Zeru''s sword and with good reason. This was a material which the System had managed to obtain by luck through its years buying and selling in the Inter World ck Market. Even Vulcan, the creator of the sword, had no idea about the divine ore being inside the sword until the System performed an analysis after the sword waspleted.

    It was a lucky break for Zeru who had demanded a sword that would never be destroyed the moment he was recruited by the System. The System back then did not believe that there would be a sword which would never break, so it had used what it could find to make it as sturdy as possible.

    The result, however, was everything Zeru dreamt it. Naturally, after making this revtion, the System had also attempted to create copies of Zeru''s sword. Still, theck of Mythra-Orichalcum ore made every other replica obsolete and absolutely inferior.

    Two of those more sessful failures had resulted in Jin''s Bam and Boo. The dungeon supplier had no idea he was holding onto a replica of Zeru''s sword, especially since the System had imbued it with the ability to change to other possible shapes topensate for its inferiority.

    -------

    \"Peppers, are you ready?\" Zeru held on to Jin''s Bam and Boo as he inserted chi into the two swords for it to change into a bow and arrow.

    \"You sure, you can prate a hole through that thick magical shield?\" Peppers asked as she not only held onto one staff but two of them. In order to shape her magical attack into a st that could slip through the defences, she had to use a second staff to modte and cast her magical attack.

    \"It will definitely be more than enough for a skilled person like you,\" Zeru answered without reserve and it filled Peppers with much tion.

    \"Then I shall hold you to your word.\" The mage betor stabbed her two wooden staffs onto the ground before a magical rainbow string wrapped around the two.

    It was strung up so high, that the little mage had to jump and use all her weight to pull it to her waist. But even when she was doing it, her mouth was already busy chanting the incantations of her revised explosive spell. The System''s restraint orders had prompted her to refine the highest level of explosive spell so that the magical density per square meter was higher than usual.

    At the same time, Zeru pulled the bowstring of BamBoo while he quietly inserted an absurd amount of chi into it. If any other weapon were to receive such an enormous amount of chi, it would most probably break upon absorption. Though BamBoo was able to hold the chi, there were already telltale signs of damage urring to it already with minor cracks at the edge of the bow.

    \"Hold it in Bam and Boo. I know you can handle far worse.\" Zeru whispered as he tightened his grip on the bow handle to aim for a probable spot where Peppers could synchronise her shot with his too.

    And with one deep breath in, the Sword Saint hardened his leg stance to prevent any blowback affecting the shot.

    \"FIRE!\" Peppers shouted.

    Her orb of intense magic was released from the makeshift ''rubberband'' catapult using her wooden staffs. It was released with such force that Peppers fell backwards and her second wooden staff splintered from the impact.

    If not for Ayse''s new and improved magic absorption crystal jacket which Peppers could now hide under her baggy ''Sage'' clothes, the bacsh from the Universal Mana Pool would have rendered her unconscious and thus unfit forbat for the rest of the battle.

    Sadly, Peppers had once again broken a track record, and her jacket packed with crystals broke as the gems could not handle the density of mana Peppers had portrayed.

    In the meantime, Zeru exhaled his breath upon hermand and so did the arrow that was previously nocked on BamBoo.

    Countess Dantalion? Flower Knights? So what if she had a legion of Flower Wyverns? When it came to flowers, never joke with the Sword Saint.

    For he was the one and only true Lotus Flower Cultivator.

 Chapter 717 Shell Turned Hell

    <h4>Chapter 717 Shell Turned Hell</h4>

    Both the arrow and the magical orb shot were deadly silent.

    With the k cannons disrupting the view of the Countess Dantalion, she did not notice theming a single bit. Even though they were released at the same time, the arrow flew faster thanks to Zeru''s innate strength as well as the massive amount of chi infused into the arrow''s shaft.

    Once the arrow impacted onto the magical shield, it swiftly prated through the defences like a cockroach crawling through a slit. Initially, Peppers believed that her magical orb would partially explode on Countess Dantalion''s defensive energy shield given the nature of the arrow, but what Peppers hadn''t expected was that Zeru''s arrow had further infused it with a technique.

    \"Epic Bow Art, Watching the Lotus Flower Bloom,\" Zeru whispered as he returned Bam and Boo into their original state and requested System to send the weapons over to Vulcan for a quick maintenance session before returning it to his disciple.

    As the technique name implied, after the arrow slipped into the energy shield, its energy dispersion counteracted the magical shell around the turtle and created an opening that was shaped like a Lotus blooming in early spring. This allowed Peppers'' magical orb to pass through without any incident and head straight for the fortress sitting on the flying turtle''s back. Countess Dantalion was so focused on Zeru''s devastating attack that she did not see the condensed little sphere zooming past it.

    A massive explosion ensued at the fortress, and the area around the st became overpressurised, resulting in energised shock waves passing through the entire region.

    Rock fragments of the medieval fortress'' walls flew all over the ce and caused secondary casualties. The st impact did not only damage the outer surface of the fort, but it inflicted a disastrous amount of fatalities within the fortress itself.

    Peppers had learnt much after her fight with Ice Father Porkcupineбн for which she still remained sour to this date. There were even rumours circting of her wanting to attack and heal Father Porkcupine until she managed to one-shot kill the massive beast. (The System was not going to allow her to do anything of the sort as it had to preserve its precious resources.)

    Her new and improved (restrained) spell had been modelled simr to a hydrogen bomb but with the piercing bursts of a bunker buster. While there were no metal pieces or smart technology to enable that, the mage betor had sufficient grasp of her magic to allow her skills to detonate as such. If Jin''s world mages were to rate her maniption of explosive power, she would definitely be nominated for the Nobel prize for the creation of a new form of offensive magic.

    As soon as the explosive forces reached the basement of the Countess Dantalion''s fortress, it had violently annihted the entire batch of ''energiser bunnies'' that were kept in the tubesced with the aphrodisiac mixture. As if things were not exciting enough, those mixtures happened to be quite vtile in nature, causing secondary explosions which ensured theplete decimation of the fortress and to some extent, damaged shy''s hardshell too.

    The entire magical energy shield dissipated gradually and Peppers high fived with Zeru for a job well done. The Flying Turtle also wailed in pain from the effects of Peppers'' explosion but the worst had yet toe for the Flower Legion.

    The entire Orc Artillery Company and k guns had been aiming at the turtle waiting for this moment and shot out everything for maximum effect. As some of the Artillery gun barrels had an insufficient angle to hit the turtle, the goblin mage lifted the ground with their magic creating an upward slope to aid the artillery gunners.

    In the meantime, Wyrstriker''s forces renewed their strikes against the Flowery Wyverns in order to elevate some pressure away from the Goblin Anti Air Company. Now, the Goblin Anti Air revealed theirtest weaponry, the Bofors 40mm autocannon. Used in World War 2, the autocannons provided better uracy against the bigger targets while the k guns were concentrating on the Flying Turtle. Even the Royal Snake Soldiers were getting a little restless and decided to follow the Orc Artillery Company''s actions by angling their anti-tank guns to allow for optimal positioning.

    The barrage was endless, and it was evident that the Flying Turtle shy had not been expecting to suffer through so much pain. Still, it did its best to tolerate. It even retaliated by breathing out a burst of cold wind mixed with some sort of solid debris to counter the rain of shells.

    But with its efforts, shy gave the demon ground troops some time to recover from the constant shelling. That bit of respite enabled them to charge forth recklessly since their only concern was the army of human ''adventurers'' who they assumed Moloch had allied with.

    Separately, Countess Dantalion was in a state of shock and still recovering from the attack. She subsequently realised that the remaining troops on shy''s surface were all the soldiers she had left. Her fortress, her home which had housed the council of elite flower knights waiting for hermand had clearly been obliterated from that one attack. There was nothing but specks of dust along with a ruined crumbling castle. And if that wasn''t enough, her remaining soldiers on top of shy were continuously getting bombarded turning her grand entrance into nothing but a joke.

    She would never be able to live this down. Just where did Moloch gainmand over such powerful creatures or beings with such ruinous powers?

    \"Mdy! Be careful!\" A distant voice could be heard despite the severe ringing of her ears from the continuous bombardment, and when she turned her head, she saw a surviving Elite Flower knight emerge from the ashes and rocks.

    \"Dame Rose! I am d to see-\" A shell exploded right behind her, and the Countess Dantalion was fragmented into pieces from the attack as her knight witnessed the death of her beloved Lady.

    \"No!\" Dame Rose banged her fists hard on the ground as tears, which were initially reserved for the relief she had upon seeing her Countess, continued to fall as they were to amodate the despair that was overflowing out from her heart.

    For the Elite Knight of Dantalion had failed her duty to protect the Countess.

    \"Damn it! Damn it! I am going to kill all of you! You shall regret this Moloch! All your troops will end up as fertiliser for Countess Dantalion''s garden!\" Dame Rose eximed, but her hoarse voice fell on deaf ears as everyone was selfishly trying to survive this new hell they were in.

 Chapter 718 Flashys Escape

    <h4>Chapter 718 shy''s Escape</h4>

    Countess Dantalion''s grand entrance may have been turned around, but without a doubt, she had bought enough time for Prince Sts'' troops to push to the frontline. The mages had also used this break to patch their shields for the next impact. They ensured that the safe zone was stable enough for formation organisation and for themanders to take control over the battlefield.

    The cultivators, while useful in dying the advance, knew that it was inevitable that they could not hold down the enemy army. Otherwise, what kind of dungeon would this be if they could defeat the enemy at the first line? The cultivators were actually looking forward to getting beaten back and bing more desperate before ultimately achieving a hard-earned victory.

    Although they were unaware that this was not just one of Jin''s normal dungeons, the dungeon supplier himself also nned around the fact that the demon army would eventually forge forward. Due to their increasingly massive numbers in the protected safe zone, this was bing more and more true.

    The cultivators who participated in the first wave of attack experienced it first hand. More demons, led bymanders, proved to be more than Jin''s customers could handle, once most of the y soldiers had been dealt with.

    At some point, Qiu Yue stopped assigning cultivators to the beachhead and instead started cing them along the enormous sky bridge. It was to be the next battlefield before the demon army reached the first defensive tform. To say that the sky bridge was just a wide sturdy bridge would be aplete understatement.

    The entire sky bridge was as big as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and had been filled with defensive guard posts manned by the Fortress Golems who were itching for some action. The new, improved Sherman Tanks had also been stationed there with the Dark Temrs while Lord Wolte was guarding the very end of the bridge to provide support fire whenever needed.

    As for the start of the bridge, anti-infantry and anti-tank mines had been specially ced along the main road and cultivators had been informed not to traverse that area. Their half masks gave them the directions and warnings as to their surroundings so they should know how to avoid the mines as they retreated.

    While Prince Sts received a clearer picture of Lord Moloch''s created city, he realised that the bridge was a vital structure which could not be allowed to get destroyed. It was their only way upwards since most of the cities seemed to be floating in the ''sky''. Moloch''s army had already prevented them from using Countess Dantalion''s Turtle as a possible flying tform. Thus, if they were unable to seize the sky bridgepletely, it would definitely be a hassle to push forward in search for the dungeon core or Moloch himself.

    \"This Moloch really knows how to make things difficult for us.\" Prince Sts spat the sentence out of spite but also with a hint of admiration. For decades if not centuries, there was virtually no one who had dared to fight or betray King Baal.

    Betrayal would mean eternal humiliation most often by getting scorned to the very depths of poverty. Some were even subjected to constant death sentences to deter others from ever attempting it. But Moloch...the former Viscount Moloch, renowned for his calmness and logical ideas, had made the most illogical decision possible for a Demon Noble. This made Prince Sts wonder if he had really found a holy grail that could potentially bring King Baal down to his knees.

    Would Sts live long enough to see that happen or was surviving this entire battle so far merely luck? He had no fucking idea. Either way, he was there, intending to clear the air with regards to the incident that happened between Moloch and King Baal.

    There was so much secrecy between Moloch''s demotion that even as a prince, Sts was unable to learn any information from his spies. Once they had gone beyond the boundaries and the next day King Baal personally threw the freshly cut-off head of Sts'' spy right into his arms, warning him to never interfere again.

    ------

    \"For being rather inexperienced in the trade of war, you did rather well holding the defensive lines.\" Princess Gaap praised as she teleported in with the next wave of elite troops. \"Earl Furfur told me the details, and I too am looking forward to battle against a force that could annihte Duke Vepar''s famed Horned Armoured Knights and our Jousting Elite Knight Forcas.\"

    She bundled her long hair to cover the right side of her face. Prince Sts had never interacted much with his elder sister Gaap, but he knew there was a battle scar which she always kept out of view from people during battle.

    While it could be regarded as merely a small battle scar, to her, it seemed to be a matter of pride. As a daughter of the Demon King, she could have easily let someone heal it, but she had decided to keep it. Still, Sts chose to reserve hisments about such a controversial action and updated her about the current situation.

    \"Hmm? Oh is that why that flying turtle went crashing down into the sea?\" Gaap wondered, making Prince Sts turn around and watch how the turtle was attempting to find refuge from the attacks within the deep sea.

    \"That pet of Dantalion. I guess it''s smart enough to pretend that it''s too injured to fight. Going underwater will let it recover to take revengeter.\"

    Sts was surprised that Gaap knew a thing or two about shy and only nodded in response. What they did not know was the true horrors waiting under the water ready to consume anything that entered the sea.

    While shy made the right deduction for a tactical retreat off the battlefield, it never expected someone else to be down there. Multiple high powered harpoons were thrown at the unsuspecting injured turtle. (Courtesy of Weslie for her water-resistant steampunk harpoon gun.)

    Realising that it was in danger, shy tried to swim upwards, but even more harpoons prated its skin and continued to drag the poor turtle further down into the sea. Although the magical energy shield had already dissipated, shy was still able to protect Countess Dantalion soldiers even if it went underwater by conjuringrge breathable bubbles around its shell. The bubbles had light restorative effects, but it was negligible for the soldiers who were severely injured.

    However, with shy being dragged to the bottom of the sea, the increasing sea pressure caused those bubbles to burst, and its pain stopped the flying turtle from producing any more of these breathable bubbles.

    Thus, the flower demon soldiers once again became mere helpless prey for the Deep Ones lurking around to kill and feast on them. Even with the mages trying to counter-attack, they were no match against the Deep Ones, especially in their native element.

    Those creatures may be ferocious but they also possessed the intelligence to target the higher priority targets and focused on the magical light the mages produced during chanting. The Deep Ones were all very delighted that they received a surprise warm-up/food before the actual contingency n that Qiu Yue and Derek had prepared.

    And...as for the flying turtle, well... if it knew that it was mostly ignored to be a sacrifice for the patron of these creatures, it would have already lost consciousness than to anticipate the awaiting horror further down the seafloor.

 Chapter 719 Assassination Snipe

    <h4>Chapter 719 Assassination Snipe</h4>

    As the sea under the floating city tform''s turned murkier and murkier red, Princess Gaap and her soldiers were pushing forward with impunity. They did not care to show any mercy to any of the cultivators who fumbled, lost track of the main group or ended up injured.

    The Wights, or as the other demon soldiers called them, Soldiers of Gem, were the main speciality of Princess Gaap''s army. While Prince Sts'' soldiers consisted mainly of Tiefling elites, they were not even close in terms of strengthpared to the Wights.

    If one were topare armies, the Wights were a bunch of inhuman killers who would stop at nothing toplete their objective. Each and every one of the Wights might have looked like a human, but their eyes consisted of gems, giving them powers corresponding to their type.

    Those with Sapphire gems exhibited the ability to inflict cold damage regardless of the weapon they were holding. For Soldiers of Rubies, it was the strength to burn their enemies with their bare hands. However, because of the uniqueness of the Wight''s talents, their army wasparatively smallerpared to one such as Prince Sts.

    Maybe that was why Princess Gaap decided toe inte, to steal the show from her younger brother Prince Sts'' whose army was gaining considerable ground.

    Duke Crocell has finally managed to properly reinforce Prince Sts''s army and sent forth even more amateur foot soldiers and mercenaries who wished to prove their mettle. In the meantime, the Soldiers of Gem alongside the remaining Flower Knights showed the remaining and retreating cultivators hell. s, these fresh troops were too overconfident in their abilities.

    Earl Furfur''s Demon Army Battalion ended up bing the next bunch of foolish soldiers to believe that they were seriously winning at this point in time. The moment the frontline troops entered the start of the bridge, Furfur''s battalion encountered a series of anti-infantry mines which shredded and maimed the demons into mincemeat.

    However, after the explosive ditch trap incident, the demons had already learnt their lesson. Duke Crocell ryed messages to the Prince and Princess that he would send his own troops forward first in case Moloch prepared even more dirty traps to stop them.

    This choice turned out to be the correct one as the weak demons carelessly continued to charge forward and sacrifice themselves in order for their elites to enter without a problem.

    But that was where they were wrong.

    While Xiong Da and Yue Han had retreated based on experience (and in the face of an armada of demons), they were already preparing an ambush of their own behind the multitude of physical barriers scattered all over the sky bridge.

    Varying levels of road barricades riddled the sky bridge and made it impossible for the entirety of the demon army to go through at once. Instead, they would have to worry about getting pounced every few metres. Something which the duo and every other Pandaren was counting on.

    Princess Gaap was riding along with the Wights and saw the sorry pathetic mess of a bridge. She wanted tomand her mages to blow them all away but being a demon princess who had never been on a modern battlefield, she wasmitting a fatal mistakeбн She was out in the open without protection.

    \"Ahh ahh, isn''t that Jin making it too easy for us to spot who themander is?\" One of the Royal Snake Snipers had his sights on the stylish Princess riding on her stead.

    \"Maybe she has some of those invisible shields? Or perhaps it''s a decoy?\" His spotter theorised, but even with his enhanced binocrs and spotting equipment, the spotter could only scarcely believe the Princess was unprotected.

    \"Pration spell cast, Lacerating spell cast. Bring your magic level to seven, then take the shot. If she is protected, we will see it. But if she isn''t, we can''t let some of the other guys get the credit. I want to stay in that pandastic hotel room again.\" The spotter said as he finished prepping the bullet for the Royal Snake Sniper to use.

    Holding his deep breath, the sniper adjusted his sights, loaded the bullet in a sh and took the shot. Despite the loud bang from his sniper rifle, the battlefield was too chaotic for Princess Gaap to hear the sound from so far away.

    In an instant, the bullet ripped a hole through her chest. The pration spell broke right through her magical armour and chainmail easily, maintaining the trajectory of the shot. Once the bullet went further in, theceration spell caused the projectile to turn into a party of metal shrapnel, spreading in various directions before the core of the bullet calibre came out from the back.

    The metal shrapnel lodged into her throat, heart and even her carina, disabling her from so much as breathing properly. What''s more, the hole through the chest made her bleed out fast. Without the ability to react, Gaap could not believe she would be killed this quickly before even really getting on the battlefield.

    She had full trust in her magical armour and believed that it would be able to stop any arrows that came her way. Heck, once it had even stood up to a catapult sized rock.

    And thus, she could notprehend how something so small could have pierced through her heart and defeated her just like that. Without her being able to make any noise, the Mages of Jade Gem proceeded with theirst order, the clearing of the physical barricades with their wind powers.

    Yet they too were being targeted from afar by the Orc Artillery Company with the aid of Qiu Yue providing the troops with the coordinates of their new targets.

    By now, the orcs had already fired enough shells to result in a heap of their height. This was before the spider robot crawlers could take them away for recycling and clear enough space for the orcs to throw more of their wasted shells away.

    The barrels were also refitted, and at times the entire cannon since their firing pin had been blunted by all the shooting. (After all, an artillery cannon is basically arger version of a gun.)

    At the same time, the first batch of Sherman Tanks EX closest to the front gates of the sky bridge fired upon their enemies. Filled with anti-infantry shells, the frontline soldiers had no defences other than the measly wooden or metal shields in their possession. Neither was anything enough to stop the iing onught.

    The flower knights, however, managed to use their magic to create a series of energised flower shields to block the attack. The wall of petals scattered the shells, making them explode before being able to touch any of the soldiers, giving them some space to move forward. (And yet to be blown away by the mines.).

    Blocking a shot was fine and dandy, but having to stop a series of them simultaneously naturally caused the wall of flowers to dissipate quickly. It inadvertently cost the life of the flower knight as this signature skill requires sacrificing their own blood to maintain it.

    And for the cultivators who survived the first wave? They chuckled at the scene of demons getting some payback. Some even cheered behind the barricades as they healed up and got ready for the battle for the sky bridge.

 Chapter 720 Crossbreed

    <h4>Chapter 720 Crossbreed</h4>

    A random nce to the backlines by a single mage finally noticed Princess Gaap gasping for air on her ck demon stallion. However, before he could react, she had lost all consciousness andnded head first on the ground, causing a neck fracture due to the weight of the armour, aggravating her injuries further.

    The Mage of Jade Gem shouted for a healer despite his disbelief that their almightymander could fall and it prompted several of them to quickly rush to her aid.

    \"There is no use trying to save her. She is too far gone.\" One of the senior Mages of Jade Gem assessed her condition. There was no way she could survive a bloody hole in her chest and a neck fracture, so all they could do was to wait for her to resurrect in a few days time. The second inmand under Princess Gaap immediately sent his messenger to Prince Sts who had remained at the backlines observing the situation.

    \"What?! Gaap was killed? But didn''t she ride with you all a few minutes ago?! Fuck!\" Prince Sts kicked a stone nearby to vent his anger. It was evident Moloch''s soldiers knew who to target and the floating tform was giving their ranged troops an added advantage. Usually, the Demon flying units would be sufficient to mow such troops down with a hit and run.

    But right now, those ranged troops were doing more damage to both the front lines as well as the back end. To make matters worse, their flying units had been forced to retreat because of the overwhelming aerial defences Moloch had ced. Perhaps, he should send an emergency letter to Marquis Forneus and request for him to participate in this war and deploy the most well known veteran air force in the entire Demon Metropolis.

    The Dragon Devils.

    They were the one particr demonic air force which Moloch feared the most. It was to the point he specifically had prepared the Wyvern Goblin Knights to fight them. Marquis Forneus not only had the Dragon Devils in his possession but an army of draco-humanoid troops that could swoop into any position to disrupt the formation of the defending army.

    Dragonlites were a breed of half-dragon half-humans that aligned themselves to the demons because of the crude, twisted perception of crossbreds amongst adventurers.

    The general poption of humans despised any adventurers who fell in love with monsters but fortunately, there were havens, sanctuaries and monster towns that existed to allow these two distinct races to cohabit together.

    Hence, the crossbred poption of dragonlites preferred to be with the demons and monsters who had a system of meritocracy which rewarded people for their strength and power instead of their birth and race. In fact, for a tyrant King, Baal had shown to be extraordinarily merciful towards these discriminated races and provided them with a ce to live readily aspared to other monsters.

    This was most definitely because Baal could sympathise with them. He had been conceived from a frog monster who had crossbred with his mother, who herself was a crossbreed between a human and a cat humanoid.

    As a child, Baal had to scrimp and save every dungeon penny he could obtain through legal and illegal means. He was not as lucky as his children now who had the ability to live in luxury.

    And unfortunately for his parents, they were not able to live long enough to see the sess of their child as they had been killed in the advent of the Dungeon World''s Harbingers. Those creatures which represented living natural catastrophes in the Dungeon World could forcefully remove the resurrection ''blessing'' from this world''s inhabitants.

    That incident had also be a significant turning point for Baal inciting him to grow stronger, braver and even more ruthless. It wouldn''t be wrong to say that it had formed him into what he is now.

    ----

    \"Shit, man! This dungeon is tough, but god damn, it''s exhrating! Best dungeon yet!\" Yue Han praised Boss Jin as he took a breather and took a chi bottle from his storage ring to have a drink. \"Hippo, any idea where the rest of the Pandawans are? So far, it''s only been the two of us together.\"

    \"That''s not too surprising, considering we are in the centre. I advised Bu Dong and Luo Bo to head to the far east to aid a group of Pandarens. Given this pressing situation, we seem to have entered the next phase of this dungeon, so I assume they should have retreated by now or be in the midst of doing just that. But damn, all the sting of artillery guns, cannons and tank shots are making things way too hard to concentrate properly!\" Xiong Da answered.

    As always Jin had taken his instance a couple of notches above any other dungeon supplier store. It really felt like they were in the middle of a warzone.

    Thewyer hid behind a barricade and took his phone to check his score for a moment before turning his Pandamonium map app on to search for the other Pandawans'' location. As the most hardcore fan and veteran among the Pandawans, Bear Cub One had assigned Xiong Da the temporary title of a militarypany leader and provided him with the tools to monitor the entirety of Pandawans in the battle.

    It made the Pandawans morepetent in responding to immediate threats, allowing them to quickly help the Pandarens if necessary. (In essence, it was meant to help out Qiu Yue.)

    Leading the squads of Pandawans while fighting at the same time was tiresome, yet Xiong Da enjoyed this new role granting him such a dominant position. It was something differentpared to his usual job where most of his colleagues were merely obeying hismands just for the sake of doing so.

    While both the Pandawans and Pandarens were aware that there would be system text messages going across their half-mask every once in a while to inform the customers of the battle, the cultivators stillcked a general sense of direction.

    That was where Qiu Yue, Jin''s appointed strategist for the day, stepped in while Xiong Da handled Pandawans. Before the start of this event, Jin had created a Pandamonium forum post informing the masses that there would be ''one tactician'' who would contact the Pandarens after certain developments of the war to make sure there was some coordination aside from the regr system text messages.

    Qiu Yue was already quite busy handling the overall tactical decision, so she could not personally whisper for varying groups of Pandarens to move in ordance with her strategy.

    Predicting such problems in advance, Jin had rmended letting the cultivators use their mini pets to allow Qiu Yue to send hermands through instead of using the usual magpies from Que Er. (After all, she was now considered as a major offensive war asset after her deeds in the Giant World.)

    This provided a middleman for Qiu Yue and the Pandarens as a tform to question and rify orders too. (Although the Goblins Telms Operators were doing the rification in disguise as that ''one'' tactician which Jin mentioned.) Despite the limited mini pet''s responses, Jin and the System needed to save processing space for other more critical procedures.

    Nevertheless, it gave them a better grasp of the situation as the Armies full of Wights and Flowers pressed on along with Duke Vepar''s and Earl Furfur towards the Sky Bridge.

 Chapter 721 Promoting The Dungeon Instance

    <h4>Chapter 721 Promoting The ''Dungeon Instance''</h4>

    In hindsight, calling the fight at the sky bridge, a battle against the humans and demons would be a gross understatement. The attrition for the sky bridge between demon armies and cultivators would eventually be a lesson to remember for future demon history books as both parties were held in this major chokehold point.

    Jin had never expected it tost for more than an hour, let alone four. Initially, the cultivators were holding their ground until more demon reinforcements appeared from the safe zone and marched quickly towards the sky bridge. And whenrger sized monsters emerged from the Demon Metropolis simr to the Horned Armoured Knights, the cultivators had to fall back for the Orc Artillery Company and the Royal Snake Mortar Squads toy a barrage in order to allow for some breathing space.

    Even a ten-second break had be precious to the cultivators.

    While Jin felt it was oddly weird that Qiu Yue had yet to ask any of his other monsters like the Orcs toe out and help the cultivators, he realised why the Empire Building Sub System User must have done so after pondering over it for a minute or two.

    The sky bridge could only hold so many defenders against the seemingly never-ending invaders. Thus, Qiu Yue felt it was vital to use the cultivators first while the hype for this battle was still present and the morale, as well as the general situation, was on their side.

    As much as the cultivators might enjoy this new kind of sensation, it was ultimately a dungeon run to them. Admittedly it was more realistic than anything else they had ever experienced, but they still would have to continue with their life once their revivals ran out. (Jin was naturally hoping they would buy more, but his cultivators'' money wasn''t infinite.) Therefore it was a wise decision for the Red Panda Cultivator to dy sending out their own monsters to reinforce the defence line.

    Qiu Yue could have assembled ''sh strike'' teams to interrupt the stream of invadersing in, but the effect would be minuscule in the grand scheme of the whole battle and potentially waste the cultivator''s money because each teleport cost money to enter.

    After all, they had to somehow make a profit to regain the losses from overconsumption of resources in building these defences, the fortress city and subsequently the resurrection of the monsters in the future.

    Thus, Moloch and Qiu Yue agreed to activate Lord Wolte''s broken graveyard dungeon core to summon the phantom soldiers from the dead. The only problem with this method was that the System would then be unable to capture them as its own. The dungeon core would utilise the dead bodies and convert them into souls.

    Basically, the System would be left with a batch of souls instead of proper foot soldiers and demons in its arsenal. (And the demon army would be resurrected as per normal back to their respective churches. Its was a weird out of the loop rule which the System was unable to overwrite.)

    Yet, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Despite how ''almighty'' the System appeared to be, it was far from its past peak performance, and it did have its limits. For example, it could not possibly hold that many demon soldiers without suffering any consequences.

    While it was true that the System wished to hoard every single soldier for Jin''s future use like the retrieval of the Mecha Brain or the fight to recapture the Northern Region in the Farming World, it had to act rationally. Thus it had used a strict selection method about which monster to keep with its ''limited'' capacity by highlighting to Qiu Yue the types of monsters to be converted into Phantom Soldiers.

    Although this would not be such an issue if Jin were to be more decisive and use the monster merger function, the System respected its user''s choice upon seeing the current results of his monsters. Nevertheless, it continued to influence him to give it a try every once in a while.

    ------

    The demon army suddenly faced an attrition battle at the sky bridge and also surprise ambushes from the phantoms of the fallen soldiers who charged into their own nks. It startled the soldiers fighting against their own kind, yet this bought precious time for the defending frontline.

    The cultivators felt the intensity on varying levels. Most enjoyed this particr raid scene a lot, and since this was supposed to be a one-time event, they decided to buy a few more tickets to continue. Of course, Jin wouldn''t just sit there doing nothing.

    He had to make some immediate changes on the spot to entice the public to buy as many as possible of these tickets. He had to find a delicate bnce between earning some cash to make up for the one they used for the defences and not overcharging his customers since they badly needed them to continue the fight.

    In the end, he chose to offer substantial discounts to returning customers in a discrete way after seeing how fierce the fighting was on the bridge. Upon spending two hundred over Yuan, Jin had programmed the System to give out a ''secret'' individual discount code to their Pandamonium app''s inbox allowing them to buy their tickets by using the promo codes. And this repeated with every 100 Yuan spent, hopefully ensuring he could aggressively promote the current dungeon raid.

    However, he did not know there were other forces at work, aiding him directly for this particr event. Ever since the emergence of the Tree Mall, a number of dungeon supplier reviewers had been keeping an eye on Jin wishing to see for themselves what kind of dungeons he produced.

    Thus, with Jin hyping this event so hard for the past few days, those reviewers had decided to enter on their own ord to experience if the raid was living up to the hype.

    Even though it was not umon for dungeon suppliers to ''buy'' or be sponsored a review, Jin''s store was different. He rejected every single ''influencer'' who wanted a free pass to see the dungeons since he imed that his dungeons were already cheap enough for them to review and worth every penny.

    Some threatened with a negative review, but Jin shrugged them off at every encounter and even challenged them to write badly (A certain fox was quick witted enough to send a few anonymous emails containing undeniable data about their person. The message seemed to be clear enough to know not to mess with Jin.)

    So, to this date, reviewers who came to visit only had praises for Jin and these new arrivals were not an exception. The battle on the sky bridge had been so intense that the dungeon reviewers could not help praising them in their Meibo and blogs despite their defeat. Some even daringly made Tock Tik videos during the dungeon scenes, writing hashtags to talk about their experience in Jin''s dungeon raid and it raised the level of awareness that this particr raid was a limited event.

    In addition, Kraft was smart enough to anticipate all these things. He had asked Kiyu to send their own snippets of the battle to the dungeon supplier reviewers who had written a positive post for no charge and allowed them to do whatever they wanted with it.

    Ultimately, Jin and his colleagues were not expecting this rise in numbers in the short run, but the reality was quite the opposite. By the end of lunchtime, the System detected a drastic increase of first-time customersing to check out this limited time defence raid since it was suddenly trending in the region''s social media for quite a bit.

    Jin could not believe that the drastic increase of customers was due to the effects of his sideline promotions and wondered if there were other forces behind the scenes working to push his promotion hard. Was it the Tigers? The Snakes? or maybe even the Tiger Triad whose leader was undoubtedly capable withputers.

    Whatever the case, it would have to wait for another time to reflect over it. Right now, they needed to concentrate on the current situation as battle reports wereing in that the cultivators managed to recapture and push the demon armies away from the middle of the sky bridge thanks to the increased participation of the new blood.

 Chapter 722 Nervous

    <h4>Chapter 722 Nervous</h4>

    \"Damn it!\" Duke Crocell mmed his fist on the stone tablet with enough force to break it along with the table holding it. The senior mages knew how expensive those monitoring stone tablets were, but all of them were too afraid to say something. They were all aware that Crocell was furious with the current situation that they were facing and getting on his nerves now would be signing their own death sentence.

    It was no surprise. They''ve sent in batches of foot soldiersбн but to what end? Moloch seemed able to easily counter anything they used against him. It was as if that traitor had managed to acquire all he needed to defeat the Allied Demon Army all on his own. Just where the hell did he even manage to get a broken graveyard dungeon core from?

    It was simply absurd given the number of graveyard dungeon cores avable in the Dungeon World only amounted to a few hundred,pared to the tens of thousands ''regr'' dungeon caves and regions. But not only that, he had somehow managed to acquire one that was capable of summoning those phantom soldiers?

    Yet, Crocell continued to be wary.

    His understanding of the graveyard dungeon cores was too limited. Heck, even the world''s leading expert on dungeon cores had admitted that those graveyard cores were still considered as mysterious elements andpletely out of the norm, so how was a Duke who handled governmental issues on a daily basis supposed to know anything about them.

    In essence, he had no risk free way to defeat them but to use the soldiers to block their advance and yet, that was not sufficient since those phantoms soldiers were ethereal in nature.

    That particr element allowed them to hit soldiers whenever the phantom soldiers wanted while simultaneously allowing them to dodge physical damage, to a certain degree, because of their body ever transiting between the real and the spiritual ne.

    The only enemies that could deal substantial damage to them turned out to be the mages and the Soldiers of Gem. As soon as they made the discovery that they were weak to magical damage, after paying roughly half a battalion of foot soldiers for it, the Wight Commander had proceeded to divert his troops to halt the advance of the phantom soldiers. At the same time, he called for a regroup since they had lost their leadmander, Princess Gaap from the assassination attack.

    Also, that assassination alone had made Prince Sts'' own guards even warier about his safety, and they told him to continue to stay at the backlines for protection. The Orc Artillery Company had stopped firing at them for some time already, and they were getting overly suspicious.

    \"Huh! To see the Fifth Prince known for his quick execution of our enemies have so much trouble with his previous teacher. Are you perhaps one of the conspirators as well?\" Duke Vepar made a joke in poor taste, but Prince Sts reserved hisment despite being annoyed from this baseless usation.

    Duke Vepar was anything but anxious at the moment. The only way he could keep calm was to insult and joke about others to hide his fear of the unknown that had taken all of his Horned Knights. True, he might have been a mighty champion back in his youth, but that did not mean he had maintained his skills.

    On the contrary, he had grown ustomed to a nice and cushy job. At one point, he hadpletely exchanged his constant training for the allude of fine goods and luxuryfort. The only safety he had left was his brand new armour which he had ordered a couple of weeks ago for this event. And yet the Duke continued to feel unsafe after news reaches them about of Princess Gaap getting assassinated in the middle of the battle despite the top-notch magical runes she possessed. He had no disillusion about his armour faring any better.

    Still, he had to show a strong front as a Duke of King Baal. He just prayed that by killing a few of Moloch''s henchmen it would trigger all the forgotten training he had endured in his younger days.

    \"I suggest you stay at the back yourself. The winds of fear are blowing hard around you.\" Prince Sts, who noticed the slight twitch in Vepar''s hands and strained shoulders, decided to offer the Duke some reprise, despite the disrespect he had shown so far.

    Upon seeing his reaction, it seemed as if he hit the mark. \"If Princess Gaap could get killed just by standing afar from the wave of soldiers, it also means that neither one of us has a guaranteed chance of surviving unless we are cautious the whole time. But being fearful and being cautious are-\"

    \"Shut your trap!\" Duke Vepar ignored Sts'' royal titles and shouted back at him aggressively before equipping his helmet and spread his one wing out in defiance. Prince Sts obeyed amusingly, and even his guards were whispering whether to bet on Duke Vepar''s survival chances on the battlefield. Especially how ''long'' he couldst.

    \"They might have anti-air defences, but I wish to see how they n to fight back if we fly from here and wreck their defences at the sky bridge.\" Vepar spoke to his own regiment of Winged Armoured Gargoyles who roared in sync.

    \"Let me add to the pool to fatten the bet as well,\" Prince Sts said and threw 500 dungeon dors to his nearest guard, and they all chuckled happily. The Owl Prince with Raven Legs figured this was a good time to observe if those guard watchtowers which had been constructed at fixed intervals could be destroyed by Vepar or if they needed something stronger to defeat them. \"By the way, how long until the siege weaponry arrives? It appears we desperately need them to at least inflict some damage on those watchtowers if Duke Vepar fails in his endeavour.\"

    \"See, even our prince believes that Duke Vepar will perish.\" One of the guards tried to whisper to hispanion, but nothing could escape their prince''s ears. He only chose to pretend not to hear it as his advisor reported the situation back at the metropolis.

    \"They are underway, but we need a bit more time to gather the necessary mages and materials to prepare them. Otherwise, they could get destroyed the moment they leave the shield from the safe zone.\" His advisor reported and Prince Sts sighed.

    \"So much for it being a safe zone. That teacher of mine sure knows how to beat us at every corner.\" Sts nodded his head and quickly turned it to hear the lot of the army cheering upon seeing the arrival of Duke Vepar and his personal regiment of aerial force.

    Qiu Yue was too busy coordinating the defence at the sky bridge, so she did not notice that a group of flyers had been mixed in between the army, allowing Vepar to seed in a surprise ambush by flying straight to the first few watchtowers.

    Despite conducting this kind of mistake, she smirked as soon as she got the report. She even decided toy back a little to watch how the Fortress Golems stationed in those watchtowers would handle them.

    \"Sub System, this will be a fabulous scene for future yback. Please start recording and send the footage to Kiyu. It should serve as a perfect advertisement or a good memory to keep.\"

 Chapter 723 Reactive Explosive Shield

    <h4>Chapter 723 Reactive Explosive Shield</h4>

    Duke Vepar was not about to give the defenders any quarters as he brought out his prized possession. A gauntlet capable of crushing any foe into pieces. It was his family heirloom, passed down to him from his great-grandfather after proving himself worthy.

    His ancestor had conducted a trial of sorts where his descendants were required to solve something simr to a Rubik''s cube while fending off the enemies in the dark. For centuries, his grandfather and father had been unable toplete the trial no matter how many times they had attempted it. (Granted, Vepar''s great-grandfather had limited the trial tryouts to once every six months but given their near-infinite lifespan, it was something they had spent countless years on only to fail.)

    Vepar, on the other hand, had proven himself to be a rarely seen genius. He had managed toplete the trial within a year after reaching adulthood, but as a result, he had lost one of his wings to an enemy whose death evoked a lifelong curse rotting half of Vepar''s body. Fortunately, healers had managed to iste it to one of his wings, which then had to be permanently amputated, and ever since, he had been living with that consequence.

    Even upon resurrection, his wing was lost forever, but for the price to be paid, it was a worthwhile deal especially when he used it on multiple asions allowing him to ascend to Dukehood with rtive ease. (Although there was no doubt, his father had pulled some strings to gain such political clout to get where they are right now.)

    Upon granting his great-grandchild his prized possession, Vepar''s great-grandfather finally decided to pass on to the afterlife by submitting his will to the Church of the Afterlife, indicating that he had lived long enough. Despite its name, the Church of the Afterlife was responsible for all the resurrections and remained indiscriminate to every single monster or human.

    As long as enough money was given, the Church would serve anyone and everyone regardless of affinity to good or evil. Despite its name, it regted itself more like apany for profit. So when Vepar''s great grandfather sent his will, the Church would reimburse 5% of the resurrections it charged as a thank you gift for using their services back to their families.

    Such reimbursements were also a small way to keep the Dungeon World from being overpopted despite it ever-growing in size. They might not be responsible for the inhabitants, but they did care for the Dungeon World''s health.

    The founder of the Church of the Afterlife, one of the earliest Gravemancers, believed a little good would definitely make the world a better ce. (As well as providing the Church with a bit of some renown for their reputation.) Centuriester, the Church was considered as thergest and most likely also the most powerfulpany ever to be created in the Dungeon World.

    It allowed them to have their very own Dungeon Country, and the only one ever created in the entirety of the Dungeon World. What about King Baal and his Demon Metropolis? That was likeparing provinces to a county.

    -------

    Duke Vepar smashed through the magical energy barrier set up around the watchtower with ease and the One-Winged Fallen Angel discovered that inside the guard post was merely a couple of mechanical constructs shooting its projectiles down at the enemies.

    \"Hah! Easy game.\" Duke Vepar thought himself as he recoiled his fist for a full punch. Seeing how bulky and slow the mechanical constructs looked, the One-Winged Fallen Angel thought this would pose no problem.

    The Fortress Golem, on the other hand, had crushed his expectations with one fell swoop as it raised its shield that had been left at the side of the watchtower. Duke Vepar''s punch impacted hard with the Fortress Golem''s shield but he was shocked when the shield endured it, only to explode right in front of him.

    Using the technology of explosive reactive armour was quitemon in modern tanks, and the Fortress Golem''s shields were packed full with it. Its design structure was meant to be heavy-duty and bulky, so the goblin pilot knew exactly how much hurt it could take before its destruction. Hence, protecting the golem was of the utmost priority.

    And considering the battle had already stretched for more than four hours, it was even more vital to keep every golem alive as long as possible.

    Vepar quickly flew backwards but not without suffering some external injuries and spitting out some blood from the explosive reaction. Before the smoke was cleared, a hail of bullets emerged from it, aiming specifically at the Duke''s vitals.

    If not for Vepar''s sharp battle instincts leading him to bring out the magical shield inherent to his gauntlet, he would have been pierced multiple times by the iing metal pieces. While his instincts were present, his body was no longer used to following them. He wasn''t quite fast enough, enabling a few bullets to go through and had damaged the side of his torso despite the new expensive armour he had donned.

    Vepar could fathom what would have happened if his reaction had been dyed by just one additional second.

    \"What is up with these projectiles? And how was Moloch able to obtain such responsive constructs?!\" Vepar thought to himself as he heard a few agonizing shouts from the surrounding watchtowers. His personal regiment of Fallen Angels literally fell from the sky after taking simr actions against the other constructs.

    \"We have to find the mages controlling the constructs!\" Duke Vepar cried out as he once again rushed in by flying straight into the tower yet this time taking extra precaution not to strike against the construct''s shield.

    Unfortunately, Vepar did not know that the Fortress Golems possessed more than one pair of arms. A third arm which was meant for reloading purposes had since been outfitted with a spear which the goblin pilot used to stab Duke Vepar in his injured side.

    That itself it would not be enough to cause any damage at all, but because of the initial wound Vepar received, he was way too cautious, and his reflex caused him to move sidewards, identally hitting another Fortress Golem appearing from the side of the watchtower that was carrying yet another reactive explosive shield.

    The impact from the reflex dodge caused the reactive shield to activate, but Duke Vepar was able to use his wing to block the explosive before it could severely damage his face. \"Damn it, I should have worn a better helmet.\" He cursed with a pant while holding on to his gauntlet for the impromptu magical shield.

    \"Yeah, he should totally wear a helmet.\" One of the pilots chuckled within the Golem intes and the other three within the watchtower could not help butugh along too. ording to Moloch''s prior information, the pilots had a hard time believing that a Duke who was famed after earning multiple des from past results could easily be overpowered by their Fortress Golems. If King Sol had these kinds of Golems en masseбн the Goblin Kingdom would be able to take over the world!

    \"Alright, let''s not waste any more time and kill him before his reinforcementse in.\" The most senior one among the pilots spoke out, and the rest acknowledged his decision. They readied their shotguns and aimed towards Vepar. In a moment they would learn that the Duke still had a trick under his sleeve. It was just too bad that he had to reveal his trump card so quickly.

    As the Fortress Golems sprayed their shotgun pellets towards Vepar, the One-Winged Angel unlocked his gauntlet, and with a grinding click noise, the gauntlet erged rapidly to the extent it nearly pushed the Fortress Golems out of the watchtower. It suddenly made it look like Duke Vepar was a tiny figure with a colossal gauntlet on his arm. With a swing, those Fortress Golems could have been thrown out of the watchtower except they held on tight with deployable spikes from their golem''s soles.

    Yet, the scene from the perspective of others was horrifying and perhaps jaw-dropping too. The rest of his regiment let out a series of war cries seeing how their Duke had unleashed his trump card. (Too bad, they had ignored the fact they were in enemy territory, and the other Goblin pilots took the awe of their lord to gain the advantage.)

    \"Don''t think we will be easily taken out!\" The Goblin Pilot of Fortress Golem #045 said as he continued to cling onto the gauntlet.

    \"Heh, and here I thought I was the only one clinging on to it.\" Goblin Pilot of Fortress Golem #046 replied as he pressed a button and the backpack of the Fortress Golem released a bag of C4. They were meant to be used for self-detonation in case they were massively swarmed by enemies, but this seemed like a decent situation to use them too.

    \"Ignore that stupid fist thing! Continue firing at your position! Do not stop applying pressure against the enemy!\" The Orc Captain for the Orc Artillery Company ryed the information.

    \"Wyvern Goblin Knight, Tomas! Going in to annihte the target!\" Tomas, who had experienced the Orc Goblin War as a fresh knight, had been wanting to prove himself and this seemed like an opportune chance to do so.

    \"Tomas! Don''t be foolish!\" Wyrstriker warned but the foolhardy knight ignored direct orders and overburst his air boosters tobat Duke Vepar before he could inflict serious damage to the sky bridge or the surroundings.

 Chapter 724 Suggesting A Strike Force

    <h4>Chapter 724 Suggesting A Strike Force</h4>

    Should I interfere as well?\" Jin asked but Qiu Yue, Moloch and Kraft simultaneously and vehemently shot down the suggestion of the dungeon supplier.

    \"You might be more powerful than your customers, but you are not all mighty. Don''t forget you will be up against an entire army. If you start to interfere they might get pressured too much and it will be more likely for King Baal to appear on the battlefield. Let''s also not forget your symbolic value. Watching you get defeated will plummet the morale. It would be equivalent to checkmate in our eyes.\" Moloch exined to him why it would be better for Jin to wait for the right time.

    \"Let your customers have some fun. Duke Vepar knows not to destroy the sky bridge. It will make things harder for his troops and the rest of the demons that have yet to appear. He is probably aiming for the watchtowers to reduce the number of defences that we have.\"

    \"Hmm, that seems strange. Shouldn''t they be able to create something like a sky bridge with magic?\" Kraft argued, and Moloch was quite stumped. The plushie was unsure about whether to answer truthfully or create an excuse.

    \"Technically...they can, but just believe me when I say they will only do it if there is a need to. I know it sounds tactically stupid, but sometimes that is just how us demons work. We really prefer to let the underlings do the job and im the glory so that afterwards we can gloat about how much our guys contributed. I''d think someone like you could appreciate that line of thought.\" Moloch tried to reason, but Kraft easily countered.

    \"Sure, sure. However, it''s one thing to send your people to aplish something, yet it seems there is more glory to be had if one leads them directly. Haven''t we deployed the Royal Snake troops on standby at every single floating ind tform for that particr scenario?\" Kraft pushed, and Moloch gave up.

    \"Yes! But they didn''t do that yet! And I have no idea why that is! The only person off the top of my head that could do this without a problem would actually be Princess Gaap herself. And yet, for some reason, she did not do so before getting shot in the chest. I mean, she sure had plenty of time before she got killed. So, stop asking me about this!\" Moloch suddenly lost his temper and yelled.

    \"Woah, woah. Chill down, little cotton butt. I was just thinking about other possibilities. Besi-\" Kraft was suddenly pped in the face with a duct tape courtesy of Qiu Yue before he could make the situation any worse.

    \"Moloch, take five and cool down. I do not need a hothead on the war table. If I see any irrational decisions, I am sending you out to the battlefield.\" Qiu Yue ordered, and Moloch sighed. Nodding his puppet''s head in silence, he walked out of the room for a breather.

    \"Now that our little friend is gone, may I be so frank to tell you that we are probably gonna get fucked by these demons?\" Kraft bluntly stated after ripping the tape off, which made Qiu Yue and Jin on the line, perplexed. All seemed well so far, so the crafty fox sighed at their blissful ignorance.

    \"I can understand Jin since he wasn''t part of the nning process, but you disappoint me, cutie. You have started focusing too much on our own ns without imagining yourself walking in your enemy''s shoes. We''ve been fighting over this chokepoint for more than four hours. Since the start of the battle, our side has defeated their soldiers ranging in the thousandsбн and yet, there is no sign of relenting at all. Instead, more elites areing in, and even more foot soldiers are trying their luck to have a piece of us.\"

    \"For once, you are rather pessimistic of the situation.\" Jin was a little wary. The Original Betor had a point but knowing Kraft, there''s got to be some angle in this.

    \"No, I''m just being realistic and probably taking more things into consideration than you two due to experience. In this instance, it would be their reputation. From what I have learned talking with our cotton friend and that metal slug, they really are a prideful bunch, and they care about their image.\"

    \"...Maybe a little too much. So don''t you think it would be strange if they were sending their soldiers to be ughtered for so long if they did not have any ulterior motives or were nning something else?\" Kraft continued to babble on without allowing the others to interrupt his line of thoughts. He was dead set of keeping the conversation in his favour.

    \"Oh and speaking about alternate nsбн Before they began their attack, Moloch had suggested a very ''interesting'' idea. Suffice to say he briefly told me how we could infiltrate the Demon Metropolis and get to their dungeon core. That is of course, barring changes from his knowledge of the city.\" Kraft replied with his trademarked slight grin. Somehow he actually managed to lead their conversation into a direction where he offered them a solution to their problem. (Was all of this interaction nned by Moloch and Kraft?!)

    \"So, you are suggesting that we should send a strike force into the Demon Metropolis. You already stated that we have our hands full here, how are we supposed to assign a strike squad in? If we are going in, we will be going in fully blind unless Moloch enters with you...which you know that is clearly insane.\" Jin asked, and Kraft shook his index finger.

    \"Uh uh, my dear master. I am suggesting that yours truly should go instead. I''ve looked through cutie''s ns, and my little foxes nor I have any essential role to y in her ns. But I''ll need the whole crew including the one that is locked up by the System just for...you know as a guarantee that we will win this.\" Kraft deviously requested from Jin, but a quick shout from the dungeon supplier''s bracelet denied the n wholeheartedly.

    \"Nope, not me. I''m definitely not following you.\" Pei materialised from the bracelet and looked through the video call on Jin''s phone.

    \"Aww, seriously? I mean...it''s rare for the foxes toe together as a group, assuming we can get Rex out to y.\" Kraft attempted to persuade Pei yfully, and it was obviously not going to work. It might also be his lone presence which only served to make Pei even angrier.

    \"How much bad blood do you guys have for each other?\" Jin shook his head. How could it be that those ancie- ''experienced'' betors behaved like kids when put together?

    \"LOTS\" Pei replied with a fit of anger, readying her fan and threw it through a portal.

    \"NONE.\" Kraft happily dered while dodging the weapon.

    \"THE TWO OF YOU STOP THAT! бн Alright, let''s put it this way. Kraft, if Pei does note along, will you be able to seed with your objective in getting near their dungeon core? All I am looking for is just a pure distraction to alleviate the situation. Reaching the dungeon core will not be necessary.\" Jin asked, and Kraft took a bit of time to ponder.

    \"Should be possible. But without her, the possibility of us actually reaching the core falls hard. It will definitely be best if I have her since she is kind of our only healer. The rest of the foxes are allbat offensive in nature.\" Kraft tried to reason professionally, but it only inadvertently made Pei roll her eyes. That guy was lyingбн she only did not know why exactly.

    \"Yeah right, Evon''s drugs are enough to keep you guys going,\" Pei replied. \"Jin needs me more than you guys.\"

    \"Come on, just one run for old time sake?\" Kraft asked rather nicely. \"Okay, fine how about I throw in 1000 System points in as-\"

    \"Make it 3000 System points then I am in.\" Pei changed her tune so fast that Jin was absolutely stunned for a moment.

    \"You drive a hard bargain. 2000 points.\" Kraft shook his head furiously.

    \"3500 points.\" Pei raised the price further instead of negotiating.

    \"Goddamnit woman, are you trying to rob me blind?... Fine. I can give you 2000 points, and as a little extra incentive, you''ll get to y around with your signature weapon just for this fight.\" Kraft lowered his head and adjusted his trench coat.

    \"Deal. I will be there when the System teleports me.\" Pei returned back to her bracelet with a happy glee.

    \"But you guys are not going in until King Baal appears. Else it will end up being a big waste of time since the dungeon core owner is the strongest when his core is in danger. We need him to at least waste his time and keep him upied here for your team to get to the dungeon core.\" Moloch came in at an opportune moment to interject his opinion.

    \"Then...I guess I will authorise your strike team assuming you do as Moloch said. And it''ll be only you and your foxes. NOT your Night Foxes. We need them on standby for future fights.\" Jin allowed the strike and Kraft secretly cheered especially since he got to have Rex by his side after such a long while.

    \"Buddy, you will be out in no time, and we will show this world, how terrifying the foxes can be.\" Kraft thought to himself as he sent a private telepathy message to all the members of his skulk.

 Chapter 725 The Reckless Wyvern Goblin Knigh

    <h4>Chapter 725 The Reckless Wyvern Goblin Knigh</h4>

    As the giant flying gauntlet grabbed the watchtower like a kid taking a piece of lego brick, the defenders reacted by attempting to annihte the source of trouble, Duke Vepar.

    However, knowing that theirmander was now in a vulnerable state because of the size of the gauntlet, Vepar''s personal regiment of Fallen Angels proceeded to protect him at all costs.

    Royal Snake Snipers attempted to remove Duke Vepar from a distance, but those pesky Fallen Angels were always blocking the view to the target. Furthermore, killing one only exacerbated the situation as more and more Fallen Angels grouped together.

    Alone, they were like a one-man army, but that title was quickly stripped off after a hail of bullets lead them to either a watery grave or bleed to death from the fall into the barricades. (If unlucky, the cultivators would take the chance to elerate the fate of those Fallen Angels whonded near them.)

    As a group, their odds increased thanks to their innate trait of chain healing. It allowed them to improve their healing potential exponentially the more of them there were. Even Duke Vepar''s previous injuries were slowly being healed, making him healthy enough to wreak further damage on to the sky bridge while making sure the demon army was able to pass.

    \"You think you could give it a shot?\" Yue Han asked after they managed to regroup with Bin Yong and Luo Bo as the giant flying ''gauntlet'' was moving to break the watchtower it had grabbed and break it in half.

    \"I''d love, but I fear I do not have the energy! Half of my squadmate AIs have been killed trying to block the attacks for me.\" Luo Bo answered. She took a deep breath and exhaled quickly just to have a chug of chi potion.

    \"I''m no better. I also lost all my squadmates to dy the enemy''s advance as best I could. Without their sacrifice, we would have been unable to retreat safely.\" Bin Yong recalled how dangerous the Wights were, especially the Soldiers of Ruby who possessed the fire affinity.

    Their heated swords cut down his squad mate''s buckler into two and proceeded to kill them. Needless to say, his squadmates were still able to inflict some form of payback before death since their tolerance to pain was almost non-existent as an AI.

    Suddenly a loud sonic boom came from above, and one of the Fallen Angels got stabbed through so furiously that it was dragged along. Together with his Wyvern, Wyvern Goblin Knight Tomas had pierced a Fallen Angel through its chest while his buddy bit down on his torso, not allowing him to move as they sped away from the main group.

    Without the chain healing from hisrades, the bitten Fallen Angel lost blood quickly, but Tomas had to ensure that his enemy died, thus with amand in goblinnguage, his long spear changed into a shotgun. He aimed and lodged his barrel at the Fallen Angel''s neck which fit tightly, Tomas pulled the trigger.

    Its head was blown off and pieces of its brain mixed with a lot of its blood sttered on all him due to the speed they were travelling in the air. Even his wyvern crunched the armour of the Fallen Angel before letting go and dropping it into the sea. After which, the Wyvern Goblin Knight turned and tried to make another pass against the group once again.

    The Fallen Angels had watched how theirrade got eliminated, and they did not n to allow Tomas to seed another time. Some of them angrily aimed their spears towards the iing threat, shooting energised beams at Tomas as his wyvern evaded as many beams as possible. However, they seem to have forgotten that Tomas was not the only threat in the air.

    While their concentration had been on him, another Fallen Angel bit the dust through the very same method that Tomas had just used and a secondter, there was the third casualty. Wyrstriker and a few brave Wyvern Goblin Knights zoomed past Duke Vepar''s gauntlet to hit the Fallen Angels while their backs had been facing them.

    \"You think you will get praised for doing something this reckless?!\" Wyrstriker shouted in the System subchannel dedicated to theirmand unit.

    \"Sir! No! Sir!\" Tomas replied as he and the other Wyvern Goblin Knights intersected and flew past each other. With the decrease of fallen angels, their healing output was not as powerful as before, giving Luo Bo a chance to shoot back while lying on the ground.

    She was directly beneath them after attempting to hide from magical energy attacks and arrows with the barricade in front of her. Her shot spiralled upwards with chi, hitting one of the Fallen Angels from below, causing them to fall straight to the ground.

    Duke Vepar somehow managed to see one of his regiment troops killed and since the enemy was within his radius of attack, he spun hisrge gauntlet and aimed at the cultivators on the sky bridge.

    \"Holy shittttt!! Iing!!\" Yue Han shouted as he and his other squadmates AI tried to grab anyone near them and jump out of the area before the ce got ttened. However, even as he tried to grab Luo Bo, the girl was surprisingly reluctant to move because she had literally expended thest of her chi on the shot to kill.

    \"So heavy!!!\" Yue Hanined as he attempted to maintain his hold by her armpits and moved out with a shadow phasing technique with his Blind Bat style.

    \"EXCUSE ME! So RUDE!\" Luo Bo retaliated by hanging her bow over Yue Han''s neck and used her strength to pull.

    \"Oh my god!\" Yue Han eximed and held his otherments. He now only cared abouting out of the attack area in time before the gauntlet fell on them, but they were toote. They had underestimated the iing speed of the attack, crushing the two Pandawans and a few other Pandarens with them as well.

    The barricades were also destroyed by the impact, and the rest of the cultivator could feel that the sky bridge shook a little from the impact.

    \"Huh, Duke Vepar''s gauntlet attack should have no problem ttening an entire vige with one punch, and yet our sky bridge is still holding with rtive ease.\" Moloch wondered out loud as he tried to quickly assess the damage.

    \"Because most of the concrete we used came from Sandy''s almighty sand products. I doubt there will be anything that could destroy the sky bridge. As for the construction of watchtowers, not so much. After all, Sandy can only do that much.\" Qiu Yue revealed.

    \"Seriously, we could make a killing in the construction business if we ever used her magic sand, but Jin forbids it. He even ordered the System not to do it at all cost.\" She sighed as she threw in the next batch of Pandarens into the fray straight after Duke Vepar released his gauntlet in order to prevent the demon army from taking advantage of the gap.

    Lord Moloch could see where this was going and understood the possible negative implications of selling such sturdy material. \"No wonder you did not hesitate to throw that much defences into that sky bridge.\"

 Chapter 726 The Gauntle

    <h4>Chapter 726 The Gauntle</h4>

    \"Support Duke Vepar!\" One of themanders shouted at the frontlines to rally the troops. To them, it was now or never as they climbed over the debris of the broken barricades. Some of them even picked up pieces of broken metal to serve as impromptu shields and to strengthen the armour that they had.

    \"All Pandarens at the bridge, fall back!\" Qiu Yue ryed the orders before she quickly changed her channel to Lord Wolte''s Company of Tanks. \"Wolte, it''s time for your debut. Have two of your mostpetent tank squads fire at the gauntlet while the rest should focus on providing supportive fire to slow the horde down.\"

    \"dly.\" Lord Wolte said as he forwarded themands down to his Dark Temrs subordinates.

    \"I will go to the front. Shermie 2 and 3 follow me.\" Zieg, Leader of the Dark Temrs, volunteered with pride as his tank zipped through the barricades with ease.

    \"If that''s the case, leave it to me to take care of that naughty little Vepar. S-4 and S-5 provide long distance support while the rest fire at will and defend Zieg.\" Woltemanded, and the rest willingly obeyed his instructions.

    The sky bridge was a gentle slope up to the first defensive tform, so most of the Sherman Tanks were not able to fire at a high angle due to the curvature of the sky bridge. Thus, defensive tforms had been erected just to allow them to handle their tasks. Even the watchtowers further back had an adjustablending tform that could elevate itself, so the tanks were able to fire at a suitable angle.

    But for Wolte, his tank was essentially his body. All he needed to do was a little bit of stretching, and he would be able to angle his barrel without the need for a levelled tform. And unlike the Dark Temrs who needed to manually aim and shoot, Wolte could easily do that with a twitch of his barrel.

    He was one with the tank. Everything a Sherman could do, he could do better.

    \"Wyrstriker, retreat along with your Wyvern Goblin Knights. You are overexposing yourself and we don''t want the enemy to realise that you are the only aerial force that we have.\" Qiu Yue warned, and Wyrstriker acknowledged those orders, calling back the others while also making sure Tomas returned.

    \"Enough ying hero, Tomas! It''s time to fall back. Don''t force me to ban you from flying via the System if you refuse toply.\" Wyrstriker threatened in their System Sub Channel.

    \"Yeah, Tomas! Don''t be stupid. You will have enough chances to be a hero, but only if you listen to Commander Wyrstriker.\" Hisrades replied open, and Tomas reluctantly agreed since most of the Fallen Angels had disappeared.

    \"You think I''ll let you all go after destroying my regiment of Fallen Angels?!\" Duke Vepar looked more sullen than ever. He was not instructed in the ways of the gauntlet by his great-grandfather before thetter''s passing and was instead forced to learn about it himself.

    One of the first lessons he learned about the gauntlet was that it was going to take his life away bit by bit. After all, life force is seen as a cheap bargaining resource for extra power, and it was no surprise nearly every demon dealt or utilised their special skills with blood sacrifice.

    Still, exchanging his life force to get revenge against these meddling dragonflies would be a worthy exchange for him. Thus, he brought his gauntlet up and started to offer up his lifeforce further to charge up the gauntlet for a tracking energy beam that would be able to hit each and every one of the Wyvern Goblin Knights.

    \"Oh no, you don''t, Little Vepar! Not until you taste my iron fist of fury...or erm iron bullet of fu- nevermind. FIREEEEE!\" Lord Wolte mumbled as he shot an explosive round out of his barrel and a couple of surface-to-air missiles from the sides of his tank. Smoke was seen at the back of theunchers and at the same time, theunchers were reloaded automatically from the belly of Lord Wolte, ready for the next barrage.

    Separately, cultivators in the vicinity had to cover their ears in an attempt to block the noise from the loud screeching missiles, but it proved very much futile. Especially since the Half Mask they were wearing already had a module that would transmit a particr frequency to counter or mask the loud noise, making it not too painful for the cultivators in the area. A special Lost Tech technology yet again embedded for the convenience of the cultivators.

    The sound of missiles being fired caught Duke Vepar''s attention and he ordered the remnants of his Fallen Angels to protect him. There was no need for that. His guards had already prepared toy their lives to allow him to unleash one of his mightiest attacks without the need of telling them to do so.

    Despite the missiles being aimed at Duke Vepar, the Fallen Angels took the initiative to use their body and whatever magic they had to protect their Duke. One by one, the explosions ensued with a cloud of smoke as the Fallen Angels popped like balloons with their bodily contents raining down the sky bridge.

    Their valiant self-sacrifice managed to buy enough time for Duke Vepar to charge his gauntlet.

    \"Shit! It''s not enough?! Quick someone do something, we can''t allow him to use that attack!\" Wolte cursed as the smoke dissipated but suddenly they heard a sonic boom before Duke Vepar was able to release the energy in the gauntlet. While the Goblin Wyvern Knights had been retreating, Wyrstriker was the only one who had done a 180 degrees flip with Iwen and charged back.

    Fortunately, the clouds of smoke had acted as the perfect distraction while Wyrstriker activated his secondary boosters, something which was unique to him as themander of the Goblin Wyvern Knights. Ayse had emphasised many times that it was just a prototype and was only to be used in a true emergency.

    \"Well, I bet even Ayse will count this as a type of emergency. Either I kill him now, or he potentially makes a giant hole in one of the floating tforms with that gauntlet of his.\" Wyrstriker thought to himself as his speed punctured through Duke Vepar''s head when the One-Winged Fallen Angel attempted to move away from the Wyvern Goblin Knight Commander.

    Momentster, Duke Vepar''s pathetic head flew off from Wyrstriker''s shield and into the sea while the Spear Goblin retreated back with the boosters in an orderly fashion with his unit. Tomas and the other knights knew this feat was not as easy as their leader made it look. Considering the speed those secondary boosters could achieve when it burst to top speed, it would be hard enough to keep their bnce let alone strike urately. They could only strive to be like theirmander in the future.

    Now, without its user, the colossal gauntlet dropped down to the ground and squashed the ongoing demon army as it deeply caved in the first quarter of the sky bridge. So much for bringing down the barricades. Now the gauntlet itself had be a major obstacle for the iing invaders.

 Chapter 727 Extra: Chucka and Chucky

    <h4>Chapter 727 Extra: Chucka and Chucky</h4>

    The colossal gauntlet fell down, blocking the way for the iing demon army. The impact also destroyed nearly all of the Fortress Golems that had previously been holding on to it. Yet their deaths were not in vain with all the C4 that had been stuck on the gauntlet.

    Only a single Fortress Golem had survived the toppling of the gauntlet because of the angle it was hanging on. Thus, it climbed up to the top of the gauntlet to make itsst stand there aware that retreating now was the dumbest option he could choose.

    The Fortress Golems had never been designed with speed as their main focus, merely their joints were responsive for quick minor movements. Running away would just be losing the advantage of halting the demons even though the pilot was aware that it would be impossible to hold them for more than a couple minutes at best.

    However, to the defenders, every second was a preciousmodity. Qiu Yue was finally able to take a breather and reorganise the cultivators that were left slightly stranded from the attacks. The same was true for Xiong Da, who needed this time to tend to his own wounds. Stray debris had cut into his arm when the gauntlet fell onto the sky bridge.

    In a way, the other goblin pilots were a little envious of the situation for the one stranded right on top of the gauntlet. They had been ordered to remain in their respective watchtower picking off targets one by one while his demise was inevitable.

    ording to the protocol, he was now authorised to use up every tool he had avable before his inevitable demise. Luckily, there was still the ongoing artillery barrage to aid him, so why not use that to its maximum effect?

    \"Maybe the System might reward me with extra points for being so courageously stupid to stand here on my own.\" The goblin pilot wondered as he checked on the remaining arsenal he had in the golem''s backpack.

    Four fully loaded sixteen gauge shotguns. There were extra shotgun shells to spare, but he knew there was no time to reload. A two hundred fifty clip heavy machine gun packed at the side of the metal backpack. A heavy calibre customised pistol at the back of the golem''s hip. An emergency reactive explosive buckler ejectable via the side of the backpack as well as a foldable axe. Oh, and a total of nine minutes of operational time before the battery wore outбн

    Chucka smiled as he watched the battery tick off second by second. \"Better not waste any more time.\" He quickly unloaded his machine gun and relocked his golem''s soles onto the fallen gauntlet with its long steel nails. Surely he would be receiving a shit ton of attacks but Chucka, the Goblin pilot of Fortress Golem #046, or as he nicknamed it ''Chucky'', believed it could- no, it WOULD weather the worst of all of the attacks until his power runs out. If not, Chucka would definitelyin to the Goblin mechanics and Orc engineers for cking too much.

    Before Chucka could even pull out the heavy machine gun, the Wight Mages of Rubies had already started sending fireballs in his direction. In the meantime, foot soldiers were climbing up the gauntlet to reach and destroy his construct, hoping it would fall and grant them glory for tearing it apart. Unfortunately, they had forgotten that Chucka was not alone as other watchtowers were still operational.

    \"You lucky son of a bitch, you better kill a hundred before you fall. I do not care if your golem drops dead or you are limping, just KILL THEM. You have no rights to return unless youplete my order!\" A duty goblin officer from the watchtower shouted through the System subchannel, and the rest of the golem pilotsughed and added further insult.

    \"Aye aye, sir!\" Chucka had already deployed his emergency buckler to protect the primary sensors at the head area while arming his heavy machine gun to spray at the crowd. A digital counter specifically came out when his duty officer ryed the order to him. Once he saw the numbers climbing up rather rapidly, Chuka could have sworn his duty officer asked for a thousand instead.

    \"Don''t push your luck, Chucka.\" The golem pilot felt a sudden chill as if the golem itself was talking back to him. But there was no time to be distracted, so he continued his incessant ughter. With the aiming assistance provided by the console, the Fortress Golem was doing considerably well, targeting the Wights. However, their shields were more than decent, and only the foot soldiers died from the attack. Chucka stopped trying to go for them, instead, he concentrated on the foot soldiers to lower the overall numbers.

    Suddenly, his heavy machine gun got stuck. His training instinct kicked in to check the chamber quickly instead of panicking, and Chucka realised he had yet to shoot out even half a clip of ammo.

    \"Fuck, fuck!\" Chucka used his third arm to reach for the reloading mechanism to clear his jammed gun and simultaneously take out a shotgun from the automated backpack of the golem. However, it seemed like the Wights had been waiting precisely for this moment and a high-intensity fireball coincidentally impacted with the Fortress Golem''s third arm, taking it out almost immediately because of theck of a magical shield.

    Fortress Golem Chucky did have a magical energy shield module installed, simr to the ones used for the Anti-Air Defences, but it took way too much energy out of the battery pack. Thus Chucka did not bother using it.

    Seeing how the third arm got obliterated, Chucka inserted strength into its fist to destroy the handle and held the heavy machine gun like a makeshift blunt weapon, hitting on any potential enemies that came too close to him as Chucka handled the enemies in mid-range with his sixteen gauges, oops now twelve-gauge shotgun.

    The goblin pilot was able to stay alive up till now mostly due to skill and with a fair bit of luck, the situation he was in right now was certainly a testament to that. Chucka was just an ordinary pilot, and unlike Tomas who wished to prove his worth, the goblin pilot had considered the bigger picture, which was why he stayed behind to hold the line. Besides, Ayse and the rest of the engineers had spent hundreds or thousands of dungeon dors on this piece of metal.

    Some of the enemies managed to slip through the cracks of Chucka''s buddies support fire and tried to pierce the golem with their weapons. Unfortunately for them, the steel armour it wore was not something to be underestimated.

    Inscribed with defensive inscriptions beneath each te of armour, the golem had increased resistances against shing, piercing as well as magical attacks, making it quite a terrifying defender, if not for its limited mobility and single battery pack system.

    \"Only three more minutes!\" Chucka gritted his teeth and kept moving the controls to defend his primary sensors while dealing damage to the surrounding enemies. The shotgun subsequently got turned into a blunt weapon too since the heavy machine gun had already broken into pieces after considerable smashing. The second and third shotguns were used the same way as well until he was left with the heavy calibre pistol.

    But unlike the shotguns or heavy machine gun, the heavy calibre pistol was an invention from the Mecha World. It had a smart chip inserted into it, and the bullets could fly like mini-missiles towards their targets. Was there a particr type of target that Chucka was aiming for?

    The C4s hisrades and him had previously nted.

    A quick shift in programming with voice control from Chucka, enabled Chucky to make the necessary changes to the targets the smart gun was aiming at. Yet at the time, he was iling his retractable axe to pretend that it was out of options. And that enabled the demon armymanders to press for an advance while keeping the golem upied enough.

    \"Idiots.\"

    Chucka smiled as he raised Chucky''s arm and shot the bullets upwards, causing them to fly upwards and subsequently to their targets. Meanwhile, he too pressed the self destruct button three times, indicating to quicken the destruction time sequence to the minimum time as he retracted the handle to eject his pod.

    In short, the series of explosions seen happening on the gauntlet was a magnificent disy of fireworks too. (Oh and Peppers rated it a 3.5/10. The 0.5 for the blood spattering. Such a harsh critic she was.)

 Chapter 728 Arrival of the Mad Gian

    <h4>Chapter 728 Arrival of the Mad Gian</h4>

    The gauntlet remained intact despite the detonation of multiple C4s and the Fortress Golems. The valiant Fortress Golem, who had been left with very little battery, exploded itself guaranteeing that it was useful all the way to the end. The detonation sequence of the Fortress Golem was also meant to break the golem into small unusable parts since there was a dposition inscription hidden within the destruction ignitor.

    By forcefully activating the dposition inscription, it ensured that upon self-destruction, all the metal parts would rust and likely disintegrate. A sophisticated but surefire way to ensure that enemies would not get the schematics or reverse engineer any particrponent.

    These precautions had to be built in, in lieu of the Mecha World where their enemies would be smart enough to aplish such a feat to learn more about their enemies. Jin and Qiu Yue agreed this was a necessary step until they found a cheap way to transport items back to the System''s grasp without wasting too many resources.

    The explosions did clear some of the debris away causing the colossal gauntlet sank further in, and the height to climb over it was lessened by a little. It wasn''t much, in fact, it made it only slightly less tedious for the soldiers to climb over it.

    Still, after the honourable death of Chucka, the Fortress Golems in the watchtowers were finally allowed to unleash hell on any soldiers that were climbing over the gauntlet. This forced the Wights to be creative in their defences so that the foot soldiers stood an actual chance in being able to push through.

    At the same time, the cultivators had already dug in for the next round of defensive fighting, with some of them also shooting with their bows and guns against any of the foot soldiers.

    Qiu Yue had also prepared a few surprises in the barricades for those melee cultivators. A variety of handguns and bolt action rifles were hidden behind the ''makeshift'' defence barriers allowing the melee cultivators to take part in these shooting exercises with the foot soldiers as target practice.

    While most of them missed because of theck of training, it nevertheless applied pressure to the demon foot soldiers, causing them to be reckless and making them rather predictable in their ways. (Extra munition was sold through the Pandamonium App and would arrive by Spider Crawlers.)

    Suddenly, distant loud trumpet noises came from the safe zone. A few soldiers in the backline turned to take a look, only to realise that Prince Sts'' reinforcements had arrived fashionablyte. Trebuchets, Catapults and even mobile ballistae wereing out from the magical portal. The demon army finally had their very own long-range weapons in the midst of battle.

    \"Hahahahahah! Yeah, I guess that evens the ying field a little.\" Qiu Yueughed sarcastically at the sudden turn of events as she noticed that the siege weapons themselves were filled with mages.

    Standing at the edge of the equipment, they were providing a spherical shield at each point, culminating in a fouryer magical defensive shield which was able to withstand the barrage of artillery strikes. Not only that, but there was also a staggering amount of mages behind those siege weapons, ready to further the protection whenever needed.

    That was not all. Along with the siege weapons, Giants and Demon Trolls had beguning out of the magical portal with a very special person which Moloch recognised almost immediately. A respected tutor himself and well versed in the art of war, Earl Barbatos, the Mad Giant, along with his army of monsters entered the fray. The demon army whose morale had been dropping ever since the fall of Duke Vepar cheered intensely with the arrival of Earl Barbatos and his Giants.

    \"Hahaha! Oh, Prince Sts! Of all themanders, you are the only one here? Do you think this is a sign of Moloch giving you a chance to live? You should not waste it and return to the pce. This is not a ce to earn any glory.\" Earl Barbatos had been earnestly following the development of the situation in the invasion of Moloch''s city, Pandapolis.

    A weird name to choose considering there were other things he could have chosen, but the problem did not lie with that. Instead, it was those humans which Barbatos saw that made him think Moloch was still hiding his trump cards.

    ------

    \"I guess that''s the queue to release the Dragon and Pandji?\" Qiu Yue asked when she saw the giants and Moloch shook his head.

    \"As menacing as they look, those giant statues only have high constitutions going for them. Otherwise, they have average defence and a rather average attack power...well power is quite debatable depending on who they are fighting with.

    Against regr troops, they spell disaster but to Pandawans like Bu Dong? It would definitely be a walk in the park for him given that he now has ess to squads too.\" Moloch stated further that those giants were just foot soldiers in the eyes of Barbatos. In his ranks, he still had more agile, smaller versions of giants and trolls that he had not taken out yet. Not even the armoured ones were present in the field yet.

    \"So, should we just use the artillery on them?\" Kraft asked without looking up. The crafty fox seemed to be strangely upied with his personalptop.

    \"No, they will continue to strike the soldiers at the gauntlet. We need to lower their numbers, shell shock as many as possible.\" Qiu Yue replied as she nced through her options. To deal with siege weapons, she ended up calling Hou Fei, asking him to send in one of the Royal Snakespanies.

    To get through their thick shields, she gave Weslie''s prototype vehicle even though it was still in the testing stage. The so-called speedynd hover which was capable of hovering abovend with the aid of a Lost Tech engine. It has been modelled after the steampunk motorcycle and helicopter the Farming Demon Rats had used.

    As much as Qiu Yue liked to control the cultivators to keep them for further use, there had to be a bnce for them to see some action. Thus, she had decided to send an unorthodox group into the fray to deal with the giants since regr Pandarens were not capable to stop them.

    The Venus Four.

 Chapter 729 Venus Fours Grand Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 729 Venus Four''s Grand Arrival</h4>

    "About damn time!" Yue Wen, the Cultivator of the Healing Maiden style, grumbled full of impatience once she finally received the notification on her Pandamonium app that she was chosen to enter the dungeon raid instance.

    "You were the one who said that you would wait for us." Shi Hui, the Shadow Swan Cultivator, replied as she closed her war fan, with the rest of her squad AI following suit.

    "Well, I had to. There hasn''t been much of a chance for us to y together ever since we started working at that bubble tea store. And when we are not working, SOME PEOPLE have to have their urges filled by SOME WOLF." Yue Wen emphasised and Jing Ru, the Gunning Giraffe giggled at the side of the conference briefing room.

    "y nice Yue Wen, we agreed not to be too critical about their rtionship." Jing Ru reminded her, and Yue Wen faced her with an angry pouting expression as well.

    "You too! Ever since you got along with your father in Jin''s store, you have been running along with him and his buddies a lot! Leaving me behind!" Yue Wen pointed sternly to the Sniper Cultivator, rendering her slightly speechless. Somehow she decided to explode at the wrong time when everyone should be getting along for the uing battle. Instead of arguing back, Jia Ying, the Sanguine Stag Cultivator merely went in front of Yue Wen and looked through her eyes.

    "Calm down. Set your mind straight. Don''t forget you are still our healer for this round. Shouldn''t you be the most level-headed given your upation?" Jia Ying stated objectively, and Yue Wen sighed after staring into her for a moment.

    "My bad. Perhaps, I just really miss the four of using together." Yue Wen replied meekly and subsequently, the Pandamonium App asked for their confirmation to teleport. Shi Hui patted Yue Wen''s shoulder and squeezed it a little as a sign of encouragement before they simultaneously pressed the confirmation button.

    In an instant, they got teleported into the battlefield flying down from the skies. The first thing they noticed was the Giants they had seen on the projector in the conference room. The Venus Four immediately knew who their targets were as they readied their weapons while they were swooping down from the skies.

    Without any parachutes to guide them, Shi Hui released her chi into the surroundings, and illusionary animals of their cultivation were seen diving down towards individual Giants.

    Proud and majestic in its appearance, the Sanguine Stag could be seen diving towards one of the Giants who was holding arge shield. With the aura of nature emanating out into the skies, the stag''s horns were growing and trailing along as the illusion descended. nts and flowers of various species were popping out from the horns creating a scene as if the Sanguine Stag was akin to a major Guardian of the Forest.

    And right beside it was Jia Ying, prepping her spear technique while her AI squadmates were close behind her. It was one of therger illusions that Shi Hui had created and it immediately attracted the attention of not just the Giants but everyone in the vicinity.

    People were mesmerised by it especially since there was an illusionary aura of a blindfolded maiden in hood and cape descending with a bright shining light. It appeared as if it was radiating the path for the Sanguine Stag to walk upon. The Healing Maiden was like a bastion of hope for the cultivators who saw it when the Giants emerged from the portal.

    In the meantime, Yue Wen timed the release of the shining light with her release of a wide area technique with the aid of her squadmates AI to provide the cultivators at the sky bridge a slight regeneration of chi umtion.

    However, being at Grade 4P, Yue Wen''s technique was still too weak for it to be very effective for a battle of this magnitude. The duration was cut short due to herck of understanding of the skill along with herck of high-grade cultivation. Nheless, it was quite a pretty show to watch, and the warmth from the illusion did increase the morale of the Pandarens.

    Likewise, the Sanguine Stag cultivator Jia Ying descended elegantly whilst oveing the shield that the Giant had been holding up. She pierced through the Giant''s neck without him being able to stop her. With a hole the size of a tree trunk in between the Giant''s trachea, it gasped for air and struggled by iling its weapons around, only to sumb on the ground and suffocate to its death.

    "Urgh, I guess I should not do such a thing again." Jia Ying coughed as she was covered with the innards of the Giant all over her body. So much for the look of ''nature'' after one was filled with Giant''s blood from head to toe. (Perhaps, that IS nature. Survival of the strongest prevails within every one of us.)

    Unlike the Healing Maiden and Sanguine Stag''s grand entrance, Jing Ru did not portray her Gunning Giraffe, instead, she and her squad used grappling guns to reach their targeted Giants earlier and set a thermite C4 explosive on the body part they managed tond on before jumping down to the ground.

    To prevent the Giants from suspecting too much, they had been ''wasting'' their bullets by spraying therge creatures to distract their attention, and it worked effectively. But at the same time, the Giants were rather unsuspecting having one or two humans trying toe too close to them since they treated them as trash insects. What was one or two needle pins poking them when they had tolerated years of war against other monsters and demons?

    Sadly, that underestimation was their downfall.

    Once the thermite C4 explosives were ignited, the Giants suffered burning pains which caused severe bleeding at various parts of the body. There were also a few instant kills because of a well-ced C4 at the neck area, yet most sustained only minor injuries. Still, the burn and bleeding had hindered their movement, allowing Jing Ru as well as Jia Ying''s squad to disrupt them.

    Shi Hui descended down with her chi powers (and grace) as she too had begun to use her chi powers to hold the injured Giants down with shadow grabbing techniques.

    Earl Barbatos had never seen a small group of humans able to contend so aggressively against his Giants and at such a lightning pace as well. There was something about them that seemed to separate them from ordinary adventurers. Even the spells they cast or the techniques they performed were out of this world.

    Thus, Barbatos decided to do something drastic to cope with them. There was no point in being considerate if his opponents had the upper hand in terms of brilliant soldiers.

    "All Giants. Regroup and charge towards the bridge. All restrictions are off. Do not care if it is friend or foe in your way. Break their defences so that we can reach one of the floating tforms. Proceed to secure a safe teleportation space for our brethren." Earl Barbatosmanded as he looked at his pocket watch.

    "We will show them the true order of nature."

 Chapter 730 Land Hovers

    <h4>Chapter 730 Land Hovers</h4>

    "Holy shit! You sure this is the same vehicle we did the test drive in?!" Meng Ruo shouted as the Royal Snake Corporal identally throttled thend hovers that they had been loaned as part of the Dungeon Instance experience.

    "I heard they made some adjustments afterwards! But you''re right, THIS IS AWESOME!" Zhang Min added as he smashed hisnd hover onto an unsuspecting Tiefling soldier before it sped off towards the siege weapons.

    "Squad, Focus!" Sarge Rocher shouted through their intes, and his soldiers gave a resounding Yes, Sir. However, he could not deny that it was fun. When they had been tasked to fly off the floating tforms, they thought themands from the upper management had been a bad joke.

    No one dared to do that as the test run had shown apletely different result. Yet, their orders were to jump off the cliff and straight into intervening the siege weapons.

    Looking at them from afar, the soldiers understood that the shields had already been strengthened by their enemies, a testimony to the adaptable algorithm Jin was using (at least that''s what they thought).

    Their monster allies appeared to havee to the same conclusion. Instead of targeting those shields, they had switched to the vulnerable army at the front. The Royal Snakes who saw this knew that they had to contribute some form of help too. So, being the leader of their squad, Sarge Rocher had determined that since this was all a giant dungeon instance and given how the situation was developing, they might as well follow those seemingly crazy orders and see if thesend hovers could take them.

    Modelled simr to a motorcycle out of the movie Tron, the head of and hover was reinforced to act as a battering ram so it could keep the rider safe. At the same time, it also bashed the enemy out of existence which was a hell lot of fun.

    Thend hover featured two internal machine guns which could be triggered with a tight squeeze of the handles, and the hover engine was simr to the Lost Tech Air Boosters that the Air Wyverns had used. Only unlike the wyverns, it only had one engine booster, but it was the revised version, allowing it to be rather durable too.

    Aplicated and only half visible Epic Floating Inscription along with Peppers'' magic also ensured that thesend hovers could not get replicated.

    These precautions were the reason the System did not mind that themanders openly took photos of it, in hopes they could make something simr even though most of them believed it was fiction only possible to achieve in a dungeon instance setting. (Oh, if only they knew they could use it in the real world too.)

    Prince Sts didn''t doubt for a single moment that the siege weapons were the prime targets for the defenders right now. What he didn''t expect was that they could perform such oundish yet drastic measures to go after them. He had already ordered his very own personal guards to protect the siege weapons. The old adage was true if you wanted something aplished.

    "You had to do it yourself."

    Alongside his troops, he went forth while taking necessary preparations to ensure that he would not share the fate of his elder sister being gifted a surprise hole in his head. It was a deadly gamble but seeing how the defenders had released a new form of cavalry that were speeding through to the Siege Weapons at speeds he could not fathom, it was a sign that Sts was doing something right.

    His guards who had been with him throughout the whole battle were also worried about the dangers he might face and had already raised their energy shields as high as possible to ensure no harm woulde to their prince.

    As for thend hovers, they too realised something was amiss after they escaped the frontlines by jumping over the floating ind tforms. Upon charging through the fields of dead bodies from the Demon Army and y statues, Sarge Rocher felt that the winds were behaving abnormally. With the speedometer sensing a change in altitude meter, there was no doubt that wind magic was being used or prepared. If they were to move as they had, it was possible the squad ofnd hovers might get cut in half by a sudden attack.

    "All units, split up! Move along Perimeter C and go backwards! I suspect some mass wind magic is at y! We shall confuse the enemies by going after the back of their frontlines!" Sarge Rocher ordered them to do a diversionary attack and his soldiers obeyed.

    True enough, a massive wind draft appeared about 10 metres away from where thend hovers had split up. Were it not for their Sarge''s keen intuition, half of thend hovers might have been destroyed. Now they used the full squad to deploy hit and run tactics to disturb the back end of the frontline, in hopes that the wind magic will die down with time.

    Yet because of this dy, the siege weapons had enough time to finish charging up and fired their very first volley shots towards the sky bridge. The rocks thrown by the Trebuchets and Catapults wereden with oil, and thus when fired, the shots were lit up.

    But because it was their first shot, most of the rocks missed the sky bridges vital defences and instead went into the sea or the side of the sky bridge. Some lucky shots though managed to hit the physical barricades and even destroyed a Sherman Tank.

    "Fortress Golems, concentrate on smashing the iing projectiles." Qiu Yuemanded and ryed orders for General Hou Fei to get thend hovers to try again.

    Suddenly there was an iing message from the sky bridge''s watchtower.

    "Mdm, the Giants...they seem to be congregating towards the sky bridge!" One of the Fortress Golems had noticed that even as the Giants were moving separately, their general direction was still towards the sky bridge."

    "That should be rather obvious since there is only one way to enter the floating tforms. So what''s the worry?" Qiu Yue said as she zoomed out the map and observed the patterns. There was nothing wrong with the enemies'' tactics. In fact, it was evident that the Giants were first spread out to avoid concentrated fire on them.

    This was rather apparent with the emergence of Venus Four assaulting them head on, taking out one giant at a time. Qiu Yue allowed the deployment of Venus Four mainly because of Earl Barbato''s loose formation of the Giants. Else, she would not dare to waste the Pandawans'' chance in the field.

    "No Mdm, he had also noticed that they were moving without care for their fellowrades and stomping many in the process." The Goblin operator replied. It made Qiu Yue hesitate whether she should divert thend hovers to stop the Giants first or continue to allow the Venus Four to wreak havoc to the Giant Horde.

    And then she saw on her war table that the Dragon y Statue and Pandji were still near the shores away from the sky bridge waiting to get activated.

 Chapter 731 Murder of Crows

    <h4>Chapter 731 Murder of Crows</h4>

    "I know that you are truly eyeing for the two y statues we have left but trust me. This is not the right time to use them!" Moloch beseeched Qiu Yue to stay calm in her tactician work. She just did not know that there were other types of monsters that would perfectly counter the size and strength of those two y statues.

    Using them now would be a disservice to their powers hidden within those runes that Jespa had specifically created. (Although she was outrightining why those human idiots at the top of the food chain still had not used them by now.)

    "Urgh, fine let''s use our V2 rockets to stall the gian-" Qiu Yue was subsequently interrupted by an urgent shout from a Goblin tels operator.

    "Mdm! Another magical portal appeared right above the safe zone, and unlike the previous time, there are thousands of different signature readingsing out of it right now!" The operator said with much anxiety in his tone.

    Qiu Yue quickly zoomed into the safe zone area using whatever surveince devices they had left there as well as the birds from Que Er.

    "Damn, they are here." Moloch cursed as he shook his head. The aerial nightmare he had dreaded for so long, had indeed arrived.

    Marquis Forneus, Commander of the Dragon Devils with his army of Dragonlites had finally joined the fray.

    As expected from his regiment of aerial units, the Dragon Devils consisted of Dragons that were asrge as Boeing 747 nes and Forneus had hundreds of theming onto the scene. With battalions of Dragonlites'' armed to the teeth, Marquis Forneus was not going to pull any punches after hearing themotion back in the Demon Metropolis.

    "About damn time." Earl Barbatos smirked as he saw his own reinforcementse at the same time as Marquis Forneus'' troops. His Elite Giants were armed with full-body armour, along with crossbows and two-handed halberds which made the siege weapons look like miniature items inparison.

    Kraft had been right all along. That battle of attrition at the sky bridge had been nothing but time stalled for the heavy hitters to arrive. It would have arguably a smarter choice to wait for them to arrive, yet fortunately for Jin''s side, their demon pride forbade them from just sitting around when faced with what should be a weak enemy.

    Seeing that his father''s subjects hadplied to the request he sent out earlier and the immediate threat to his siege weapons being averted, Prince Sts quickly retreated back to the safe zone where the mana shield was being upheld.

    "Heh, here I feared we''d be just on guard duty. Looks like we do have some things to y with." Colonel Kan Jian sent on the radio channel to his fellowrade Chen Lai.

    "And of all scenarios, they had to give us the worst one." Chen Lai chuckled as he watched the Dragonlites and the Dragon Devils approaching the floating tforms from thefort of his temporary guard tower.

    "Well, hard times make strong men." Major Boon Tiong replied as he stood at the edge of the Agriculture Sector 1 with the instructions to release something rather ominous once the Dragonlites managed to touch the ground. For now, the Goblin Anti Air Company were stocking on the ammunition and had their target reticule dead set on the iing boogies.

    "Goblin Wyvern Knights, you are barred from flying. I repeat. You are barred from flying! Any offenders to this will get sent to personal reeducation by Kraft." Qiu Yue threatened through the loudspeakers, surprising the Wyrstriker and the rest of the knights who rushed to refill their ammunition while the goblin mages healed their wounds as well as the wyverns. The crafty fox meanwhile gave her a thumbs up, while his attention remained glued to hisptop.

    "Why? We are still operational!" Wyrstriker walked towards a temporarymunication post built at the side of the hangar and asked if the tels operator knew anything before going to the System Channel toin.

    "Because it seems that it is time for my debut!" Que Er answered as she gracefully floated down from the ceiling of the hangar and shortly after her touchdown, hundreds of ruby eyes glowed simultaneously. "You heal up and prepare for the actual fight against these Dragon Devils which Moloch warned us about. That is if I leave some of them for you to kill." She teased with a slightly protective mother look on her.

    As much as she wanted Wyrstriker to grow, this definitely proved too much for him and his guys to handle. Apany of knights against a full-fledged army of aerial units? They were not like those couple hundred Spartans who had the advantage of surrounding mountains to reduce the number of enemiesing at them nor did they have any lightning storm or fated winds to aid them in their battle.

    This truly boiled down to being a numbers game. And unfortunately, numbers were just what Wyrstrikercked on his side.

    "So let me be his mountains in the sky so his spear can concentrate on the prize alone." Que Er thought as Huginn and Muninn left her shoulders and took off into the skies, followed by a massive murder of crows cawing behind them as they momentarily darkened the hangars to support the two ravens of Odin.

    "Fine, if you want us to rest, then so be it." Wyrstriker guessed this was a good time for a proper refit of his Wyvern. "Knights! Since we have the time, we might as well equip properly for the showdown against those Dragon Devils!" He shouted, and the rest acknowledged his orders fervently. (Even the Wyverns growl with approval!)

    -----

    "FIRE!" The Goblin Captain shouted, and every member of the Goblin Anti Air Company was eager to bring down as many Dragonlites as possible, dying the inevitable scenario of themnding on to the floating tforms.

    ck smoke filled with pellets burst into the sky, hurting the Dragonlites and killing some unlucky ones in the process. Still, it did not stop the overall Dragonlite Horde from moving systematically towards each individual tform.

    Those Anti Air fires were nothing to the frontliners until the Dragonlite scouts caught with their keen eye arge ck blob with glowing red sparkles emerging from one of the tforms towards them. Thinking it was some magical spell, the captains ordered a magical defensive shield to be ced in front of them.

    In unison, the Dragonlites performed it impressively fast, and the mages from the Dragon Devils were also supplying mana to the existing energy shield to stop whatever wasing towards them to reduce their burden.

    However, the shield was of a single direction instead of a spherical one like the one Countess Dantalion had on shy.

    So, the Anti Air Gunners were still able to inflict some damage but the retaliation was something it did not expect as well. During the protection from the ck blob, some of the Dragonlites were ordered to throw magical Harpoons infused with a high amount of mana towards the Anti Air Gunners.

    And when thrown, those harpoons acted like missiles in the context of the modern world. It was devastating enough to pierce through the Lost Tech Shield that the Gunners used for safety and damaged the k guns.

    Yet, in hindsight, the Dragonlites should have kept it for the iing murder of crows.

 Chapter 732 Collective Raid Objective

    <h4>Chapter 732 Collective Raid Objective</h4>

    When this blob of night approached the Dragonlites, they realised it was just a bunch of crows. They did not take them seriously, opting to wait for them to get close enough to get turned into roasted chicken...erm bird.

    Many in the frontlinesughed when those suicidal crows voluntarily st themselves onto their shields as they instantly evaporated from the heat. They had mistakenly believed that their enemy was resorting to such a tactic to waste their mana so that they would have less for theter fights.

    Because of thispse in judgement, some of the mages cked, and part of the shield became less reinforced, allowing the crows to prate through the shield. After the sacrifice of their predecessors and the cackling crows zoomed through and caused significant damage to the frontlines.

    However, any Dragonlites that had been hit were quickly reced by the following row of theirrades as Marquis Forneus bellowed outmands to take control of the situation. He demanded the second batch of Dragonlites to put up another shield to keep the flying horde moving forward.

    Yet the crows were not some dumb birds, especially under the influence of Odin''s Ravens. After learning that the direct assault was futile, they quickly retracted and attacked from the sides instead, seeing that it was just a shield at the front.

    In the skies, the horde was vulnerable from any direction, and thus Marquis Forneus ordered for a swiftnding to prevent the murderous crows from hurting them anymore. In the meantime, he ordered a few of his Dragon Devils to prepare a counter-attack should the crowse too close to them. After all, the rest of the prized warriors needed to carry their weight for the rest of the ''show''.

    -------

    Meanwhile, the Pandarens realised what wasing would be a hell of a battle considering the Giants were rushing towards them without any hesitation. Thend hovers and Venus Four Pandawans were doing their best to dy the Giants, but they could only do so much against their sizes and massive numbers.

    Despite theirck of firepower, Sarge Rocher and the others had devised a method they had seen in the first movie trilogy of a gxy far far away. They used thend hovers with grappling hooks and went around the Giants, binding them on their legs and tripping them.

    Unfortunately, unlike the AT-Ts in Gxy Wars, these Giants were sentinel in nature, and they had the ability to untie those ropes themselves after they fall.

    "Unless you bash them hard on their head...or nose." Sarge Rocher shouted with glee as he sped up fast enough for a quick impact against the nostrils of the crouching Giants and sprayed a rain of bullets into their nose. (If not for his safety gears attached to the seat, he would have flown forward.)

    With the armour piercing shots, some of the bullets went through to their brains and killed them instantly. For those who were fortunate to survive, other Royal Snake soldiers mmed thend hovers again with the usage of the boosters into their eye sockets and shot through them too. It was extraordinarily bloody yet highly effective.

    Still, Earl Barbatos was not relenting with his charge of Giants. Right now, he knew that the overall advantage was on his side. Those minor annoyances may take out a couple of Giants, but it was a drop in the bucket against their numbers.

    Sometimes, no strategy was also a viable strategy, especially against Moloch''s trickeries. The foot soldiers at the front continued to apply pressure, preventing the Pandarens and Pandawans from helping out the Venus Four and others any further. Because of the importance of the sky bridge, there was no need for Qiu Yue to send any more Pandarens as excessiveness would reduce the effectiveness of the troops too.

    Nevertheless, the Pandarens were not prepared for another little tweeny surprise that suddenly popped up at the side of their vision.

    "Collective Raid Objective:

    Annihte a total of 3,000 enemies with thy powers.

    Currently in: 057/3,000

    Rewards: Special support from Yun."

    Some were too busy to look at it while others wondered a little about the objective why it showed so little until they eventually came to the conclusion that what Jin meant was to kill 3,000 demons without their monster allies'' support.

    "Ehhhh, why did you decide to use me after all? I thought that was just an optional idea?" Yun questioned Jin on the System channel once she saw the impromptu message on her phone. Jin didn''t inform her before he decided to apply the alternative n given the current situation they were in.

    "Yeah, mainly because I thought it would be great for the Pandarens morale. After seeing the huge and powerful Giants and Dragons, the System notified me, that it calcted that we need something big and shy to make up for it on our own side. So I thought since every single Pandaren knows and loves you dearlyбн Besides! I know you like some special attention once in a while." Jin urged Yun to continue with the n.

    "Fine, what can I do since you silver-tongued devil has already established the objective before consulting me?" Yun replied with a sigh.

    However, a small little curl involuntarily appeared at the side of her lips, and her heart was beating faster than usual. The ''mother'' figure for Jin knew what he had nned for her in this particr situation, and she started to check her phone to see if there were any final adjustments needed for the special costume she woulde out in.

    -------

    "What the hell is this collective raid objective? Is Yun really that powerful that she can change the tide of battle? " Jing Ru thought to herself, trying to recall if she ever saw Yun in action before. As she reloaded her shotgun, she saw and hover from a distance and waved at it to pick her up. Meng Ruo was within the vicinity and did not hesitate to rescue the damsel in distress.

    "Ah, you are that brave female gun cultivator that we saw jumping around hitting the Giants." Meng Ruo greeted her as he extended his arms out after an impromptu stop to let Jing Ru upon it.

    The soldiers had been briefed about this joint exercise and were therefore aware that among Jin''s customer base, there were veterans who had earned the nickname of Pandawans. And the one Meng Ruo picked up was a member of the Venus Four, which was its own group within the Pandawans.

    "Army?!" Jing Ru was a little shocked when she saw a soldier in his military fatigues despite his Half Snake Mask.

    "Yep, we are doing a bit of exercise, courtesy of Boss Jin." Meng Ruo knew this was a piece of information the soldiers were allowed to say to the civilians as he quickly started the engine and moved forward to another Giant.

    "Could you distract the Giant, that way I will be able to shoot my grapple gun up to its waist." Jing Ru suggested, but Meng Ruo felt his masculine instincts were taking over, wanting to show off in front of the girl.

    "How about I use thisnd hover and trip the giant down, and you can grapple on his ass to ce a C4 or two?"

    "Don''t be dumb. We do not have enough time, and two more Giants are closing in. By the time you are done tripping it, we will be in some hot mess. My friends will tease me to death if I am the first one to get eliminated in such a shameful way." Jing Ru stated as a matter of fact after bringing down a few Giants until she had no more AI squadmates around her.

    "If you''re here to y some form of hero, do it with some other girl, not me. Either you listen to me, and we can both survive this or I can jump out of the-" Suddenly thend hover swerved, and it made Jing Ru grab the rails ofnd hover tightly as she saw a giant war mace barely swinging away from the area.

    "You were saying?" Meng Ruo shouted back since the wind draft was starting to pick up and Jing Ru did not know whether to be mad at him.

    "Stick to the n as I asked. Please!" She shouted back, and Meng Ruo reluctantly acknowledged.

    "If only I could show my cultivation out!" Meng Ruo grumbled to himself as he amped up the speed to reach the giant further in front of them.

    In the meantime, 101 demons had been killed, 2899 left for the collective Raid Objective.

 Chapter 733 Meng Ruo & Jing Ru

    <h4>Chapter 733 Meng Ruo & Jing Ru</h4>

    As the murder of crows were keeping the Dragonlites busy, a few toons managed to avoid them and prated through the Anti Air defences handled by the Goblins. They became the very first demons who managed to enter the floating tforms.

    "Now!" One of the Royal Snake officers issued themand to fire. Immediately a spray of bullets mercilessly tore them down. With Agriculture Sector 1 filled with natural fauna, the Royal Snakes soldiers had the element of surprise on their side.

    The Dragonlites had been caught off guard, and the first wave that entered was killed, as the snakes left no survivors alive. To make things worse, the Snakes themselves hadn''t beenzy. They had taken the time to nt mines and traps turning Agriculture Sector 1 into a terribly dangerous area to cross if one was unaware about where those were hidden. (Luckily, the System showed them to the cultivators through the half mask as well.)

    After learning that Agriculture Sector 1 was fully guarded, some squads of Dragonlites attempted to move on to other inds, only to discover simr Anti Air Goblin Companies waiting for them. The tactics employed were identical to what they had encountered earlier. Regrettably, this revtion cost their lives, but it provided Marquis Forneus with a basic understanding of the current defences of his enemies.

    "Guess Moloch really does have a sponsor not just with lots of gold in hand to entice the adventurers to work with him but also power and technology at their side." Marquis Forenus thought before he shouted to pep talk his demons further.

    "What we are facing is not a conventional army. This might possibly be one of the toughest fights you will ever experience! But do not falter as the Dragon Devils will always prevail. The stronger the enemy, the more glory shall we gain for defeating. Let''s show those bastards what Dragonlites can do!"

    "Wow, they even have rallying sessions. Boss Jin''s work is really above top-notch. Proceed with n Broli when required, we need to follow up after the crows dispersed!" Commander Boon Tiong ordered as he observed the Dragonlite leader through the binocrs. They were giving their own subordinates orders even as the murder of crows attempted to destroy them.

    Eventually, Que Er did tell the crows telepathically to stop trying and instead go for another target as the cultivators were achieving their collective raid objective rather quickly and that should deal with the rest of the Dragonlites.

    With the increase of Giants already amassing at the front of the bridge, Que Er believed it was now the Giants'' turn to be harassed since the Venus Four and most of thend hovers had already retreated except for Meng Ruo and Jing Ru who were still hitting the stragglers ignoring themands given.

    "ying hero won''t do you any good, CPL Meng Ruo!" Sarge Rocher warned through the inte of thend hover.

    "Sarge, I know! Just one more, and we wille back. It''s too convenient a target to ignore!" Meng Ruo argued as he quickly shut his inte and concentrated on the task at hand by sending hisnd hover as close to the Giant. After seeing Jing Ru personally deal with the previous few giants, Meng Ruo decided to keep quiet about her tactics and allow her to kill off the threats. However, this current Giant was different from the others.

    It was smaller in size and had donned heavy tes of armour as well as a crossbow that was the size of a ballista. Upon seeing thend hovering towards it, the Armoured Giant did not hesitate to take out its crossbow and start shooting at it. Meng Ruo managed to dodge the first shot with ease but realised with fear that thend hover had been nearly hit on the second try. The third was a close shave with death as well, causing Meng Ruo to reevaluate the intelligence of this Armoured Giant. It seemed he was not as dumb or stupid as he looked.

    Suddenly, he saw the Armoured Giant taking out two bolts and loading them together firmly. Meng Ruo instantly understood that he would be courting death no matter whatever direction he''d try to swerve hisnd hover.

    "Sorry, Giraffe. I think I am taking the reins for this one, you just sit tight and-" Jing Ru shared his realisation. Thend hover''s odds of surviving plummeted the moment the Armoured Giant had ced two bolts into his crossbow. Thus, she had begun shooting with her Winter Wolf Sniper Rifle instead of trying the same method of bombing the Giant with several C4s. (Besides, she only had a handful left, and they might need it on the way back.)

    s, it was in vain. The Giant had also been smart enough to ce his hand near his face before he encountered the first shot from Jing Ru and she cursed loudly but still continued to fire towards the Giant''s face. The shots did make the Giant bled a little, but thanks to his thick ted gauntlet, it felt more of a needle prick.

    "SIT DOWN!" Meng Ruo shouted sternly, his voice leaving no doubt that he expected the haughty girl to obey. Although she did not take it too kindly, Jing Ru held her shot and sat down behind Meng Ruo.

    "Thank you." Meng Ruo replied, and he activated his chi that subsequently covered the entirend hover. Soon enough, arge silhouette of a snakehead became visible encasing thend hover while Meng Ruo continued to increase his speed while reminding Jing Ru to stay.

    When the Armoured Giant felt no more shots and thend hover became the danger, he immediately shot out the two bolts from his crossbow. Meng Ruo could vaguely see that the Giant was intelligent enough to predict the escape routes of Meng Ruo''s instinctive dodging to the right. Still, he had no way to ount for Meng Ruo being a reasonably capable Snake Cultivator. When the shots came, instead of dodging, thend hover jumped upwards with Meng Ruo''s excellent manoeuvring.

    During that moment, it looked as if a yellowish snake slithered through the two huge bolts with ease and went straight towards the Giant''s head. While the Armoured Giant instinctively block it with his hand once more, Meng Ruo finally gave the go-ahead for Jing Ru. "Give it your best shot, we might not be able to escape fro-"

    Yet again, Jing Ru acted before Meng Ruo finished his sentence by brandishing the very same infamous triple barrel rocketuncher that was avable on the Shop App. She shot all three missiles out and threw theuncher to the ground while taking out her Winter Wolf Rifle once again. Empowering the weapon with her Giraffe Cultivation, she released a shot of energy beam without hesitation the moment the missiles impacted the blocking arm.

    A hole appeared through the palm of the Giant as well as in front of his face. As if that was not enough to confirm his death, Meng Ruo''snd hover bashed through the hand leaving an indentation on the face while releasing the veryst clip of his armour piercing bullets on thend hover.

    The lone Armoured Giant was deader than dead.

    It was finally time to retreat.

 Chapter 734 Clay Dragon

    <h4>Chapter 734 y Dragon</h4>

    Marquis Forneus noticed how the murder of exploding crows had started heading in the direction of the Giants, so he chose to send over two Dragon Devils to intercept the murderous birds after what they had done to them.

    Judging by the size of those crows and their ability to fly fast, they would be perfect for harassing the Giants who could provide a big push towards capturing the sky bridge. Although the foot soldiers were slowly gaining ground after they had managed to ovee the gauntlet obstacle where Duke Vepar had fallen, it would take them many hours to manage it by themselves.

    The only silver lining for the Demon Army was that the number of Pandarens might seem constant, but the quality had dropped due to the influx of first-time customersing in. Usually, Jin would have dealt with this by assigning his monsters as overseers, but here they needed to conserve their forces.

    His Pandawans and Veteran Pandarens could only do so much to coordinate or help with the defences. It was nheless frustrating for some to die because they happened to be at the wrong ce at the wrong time or simply be unlucky enough to get hit by a random attack from the demons despite Qiu Yue''s sh teleporting. (It would be a lie if the System did not help since a human could only process so much.)

    Still, most epted this as a realistic depiction of war and a selling point of this dungeon instance raid. (The System did, however, gave a discount coupon to encourage them to join again.)

    Before the murder of exploding crows could take advantage of the situation and kill many Giants by going into their orifices and self detonate, the pair of Dragon Devils had already swooped down and spewed mes into the blob to destroy them as soon as possible.

    To deal with this, Odin''s Ravens quickly split the group as far as possible to reduce casualties to the rest of the murder. Que Er also gave themand to inflict as much damage before dying or else their lives would be wasted.

    Hence, the exploding crows hastened their pace and hit anything in sight, slowing the Giants down as much as possible. This incidentally provided Meng Ruo and Jin Ru with the opportunity to dash away. Going one step beyond, Que Er had alsomanded a small murder of crows to clear a path for them.

    "Take it as thanks for doing your best in the backlines." Que Er thought to herself as she watched thend hover use the dead bodies and the gauntlet as a ramp to return back to the defensive lines and rtive safety.

    Separately, Qiu Yue was finally given the permission by Moloch to activate the y Dragon and Pandaji as the horde of Giants were encroaching towards the Sky Bridge. The y Dragon which had been hanging in front of the Sky Bridge had surprisingly suffered rtively little damage from the ongoing exchange of fire.

    Only when it started to shake ande alive, did the demon soldiers realise that it was not part of the architecture of the city, but instead the very same kind of y soldier that had killed hundreds or even thousands of their soldiers.

    Wights, under the previousmand of Princess Gaap, began to hurl magic towards the y Dragon along with the mages within the army. Even Prince Sts started to switch targets and called for the siege weapons to target the y Dragon the moment they saw its movement.

    "I thought that thing was just some art piece decoration! Well yed Moloch! Well yed! A shame I will have to destroy this piece of art!" Earl Barbatos praised internally as he instinctively grabbed a ballista along with the series of siege weapons and started to demand the siege engine workers supply him with more ammunition. He was personally going to shoot the y dragon down.

    The more he shoots at the y Dragon, the higher it was flying upwards towards the Dragonlite Horde. Understanding that such y statue was a possible threat to his aerial units, Marquis Forneus began ordering a toon of Dragonlites to cut its head off, but that would be easier said than done.

    The y Dragon was a masterpiece created by the coboration of the most talented craftsmen with Jespa as part of their team. They had done way more than putting just one animate dead rune alongside another within its body.

    Due to its size and serpentine length, the y Chinese Dragon had been packed with dozens of runes. Jespa made the discovery that putting such abination of runes together had inadvertently created new unexpected but positive side effects strengthening it into a sort of superweapon. Though the secrets were not shared among the craftsmen, they respected Jespa well enough to not bother her much.

    Once the System analysed this, it had ordered the Orc Engineers to ce an AI Chip within the dragon''s head to connect all the runes together. The AI Chip enabled the y Dragon to gain some form of basic sentience and when it first awoke, the y Dragon quickly made the Dragonlites out as the main threat.

    It roared and proceeded nearer to them with the full might after being forcefully awoken from its ''slumber''. The Dragonlites did not expect the kind of speed the y Dragon was moving at, and a few were too slow to react before they met their demise at its crushing bite.

    A breath of brownish-yellow fire followed up and burnt the first wave of Dragonlites that were approaching towards him.

    At that point, the two Dragon Devils who had been assigned to kill the murder of crows recognised that the y Dragon had be the most pertinent menace to their fellowrades. So, the armoured riders switched targets and led their Horned Dragons to engage the y Dragon in a dogfight.

    However, as the Horned Dragons threw their breaths of fire towards the y Dragon, they noticed it was also covered by an energised shield courtesy of the runes in ce. Upon closer look, the Dragon Devils also identified some sort of empty emcements along the long body of the y Dragon. But in an instant after its discovery, those emcements were filled with some small critter-like being armed with the very same projectile device that had released those deadly metal pellets.

    That''s right, The y Dragon was not alone. Sentry guns had been grafted onto the y Dragon for the Mousefolks to operate and allow it to double as an effective anti-air flyer. Each metre of its body had been utilised to the fullest.

    As for Pandji, it had awoken from his slumbers in the seas. It featured the very same sentry mounts for a toon of Mousefolks ride it. The main difference being that Pandji had more space along its back, which allowed for heavier armaments to get ced and it could also hide those within its tes.

    Yet for now, Qiu Yue chose not to have it make its appearance. Instead, it would remain to lurk within the sea, waiting for the correct chance to ambush the Giants.

    Marquis Forneus perceived this as a make-or-break moment. The y Dragon was wiping out his toon quickly despite their constant magical attacks. The Dragonlites'' fiery breaths and even those magical harpoons they had used to defeat the Goblin Anti Air Company were practically ineffective against it. It was equally frustrating that they kept missing because of y Dragon''s agile movements and with the mousefolks urately gunning his troops down.

    He needed to send the Dragonlites down quickly to the floating tforms and get a hold of a clearing. If they could only gain a firm footing on the floating tform, they could create another temporary safe zone for their other demons to teleport to. It was the very same for Earl Barbatos too, and whoever was able to do it first would create a notable milestone for the Demon Army''s advance.

    If this one gigantic y Dragon could be out terrorising the rest of the army, there was a chance other such ''creatures'' might appear. He had to push his Giants fast to the end of the sky bridge despite them gathering at the start of it for a major push. It was a waste to step on the foot soldiers, but it would be more of a waste not to charge right now.

    Unfortunately, Marquis Forneus and Earl Barbatos chose the wrong timing to proceed as the Pandarens incidentally defeated their 3000th demon.

    The Collective Raid Objective gotpleted, and as a reward, Yun arrived at the top of the sky bridge''s highest watchtower as a clocktower bell tolled loudly in the background.

 Chapter 735 Collective Raid Objective Completed

    <h4>Chapter 735 Collective Raid Objective Completed</h4>

    "Collective Raid Objective Completed. All Pandarens and Pandawans receive an additional 10 Battle Points to their current point umtion. 100 Panda Medals are awarded. Please stay safe and enjoy seeing the special support in action." Each and every mini digital pet announced the same thing at every customer''s side.

    As Yun stood at the top of the highest watchtower of the sky bridge, clouds started to form within the premise of the Dungeon City Fortress. It resembled a phenomenon that should not happen unless it was some sort of spell.

    At this point, every Pandaren''s half mask visor had a small box dedicated to showing off Yun at the optimal angle. For the first time, they saw Yun in an outfit different to her usual white cor and ck office skirt.

    Right now, she has donned something simr to a Royal Empress Outfit. Using magenta coloured silk sheets with gold-wrapped metal trims as part of her dress, there was an aura of magnificence exuding out from her. Her neckline was decorated with an ornament made out of gold fments to match the ck outer robe she was wearing.

    In her handsy a crystal ball, glimmering with energy as she raised it up and began filling it with chi. It started to glow until it resembled a bright rising star. Its light was enough to catch the attention of even Prince Sts back in the safe zone area who coordinated the iing troops on the ground.

    Each and every demonmander on the field acknowledged that it was someone preparing something that would definitely pose a danger to all of them. s, because of the distance between them and the probable source of danger, they were unable to intervene. The demonmanders could only resort to ordering their troops to hasten their work.

    Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck into the crystal ball, yet Yun did not so much as blink upon receiving the energy from the clouds. Instead, she did an embarrassingly twirl around the peak of the watchtower with her awfully cramp outfit after the bolt struck and lifted it even higher. The Pandawans who knew her chuckled at the scene, and Yun could sense it.

    She was unable to do anything about it, but she intended to hold this grudge and repay them in the future. (The System had noted the ''offenders'' identities)

    "A sh of light." Yun''s words echoed throughout the Dungeon City Fortress that even the demons could hear it.

    "HURRY! CHARGE! GET HER!!!" Earl Barbatos shouted at his Giants to charge through the defences of the sky bridge without any care.

    "A break in the winds." Another phrase was spoken by Yun.

    "Dragon Devils! Keep the snake-like dragon busy, so the Dragonlites can move forth! Do not let this imposter and abomination stay alive for long! Dragonlites upy the ce immediately!" Marquis Forneusmanded.

    "He who sees itбн" Yun crashed the Crystal Ball, and both sides of the war could see a gushing flow of chi energy mixed with thunder rising into the clouds.

    "HOLD THE DAMN LINES! Do not let the Giants pass through any further!" Lord Wolte roared as he continued his volley of missiles towards the horde of Giants that had already gathered and smashed the cultivators left, right and centre. One of the Watchtowers even got destroyed by a Skullcrasher Giant when he continued to use his big skull to break it.

    However, the Fortress Golems retaliated. They didn''t n to let him leave as they pounced on him and inserted slugs and bullets into its body, disabling it. Those Fortress Golems, in turn, were not able to retreat as they fought. Limited to whatever weaponry they had in their bags, they struggled to the very end before slowly ending up ripped apart by the Giants.

    Sadly, the Giants realised toote that they had the same ability to explode as Chucky. Imitating him, they chose to end their lives after being depleted of ammunition and battery life.

    "...awaken from your restful grave." Yun finally finished her ''incantation'', and with a deep breath, she eximed.

    "Keyrin! Come forth and bring down the hammers of judgement against these heathens!"

    The clouds turned extremely ck as it crackled with loud thunder.

    Immediately, bolts of lightning could be seen flying down to strike the Dragonlites who were attempting tond on the edge of the tform.

    As if inspired by the illusion of the Sanguine Stag and Healing Maiden Shi Hui had created earlier, Keyrin had been supersized by Hamatarou''s Totem of Reverse Atem. It allowed the proud Thunder Ram Demon to finally unleash his full powers without any reservation.

    Like in some popr role-ying games, the Pandarens could vaguely hear a choir orchestra sing apanied by a piece of fierce sounding music in the background.

    The arrival of Keyrin to assist them briefly excited the entire crowd, not only in the warzone but also in the shop instance and even the Luxury Recovery instance. Everyone was cheering crazily that the nonchnt looking Yun took part in the war and summoned a sick looking guardian to save them in their time of need.

    Its dramatic entrance was further amplified in the shop instance when the orchestra piece was sted in the speakers, and the various angles of Keyrin were shown in the auditoriums. Thunder and lightning visual and audio effects were also added into the mix, giving a surreal feeling for the people waiting at the shop instance.

    Bear Cub One and Mr Patsu did not stop in hyping the sess of the Collective Raid Objective to keep the interest up. Jin and the System also done their part to make the warring cultivators feel that theypleted a major objective by bestowing them an achievement status.

    "I was wondering what kind of surprise you and Yun had nned, but boy, that''s a great entrance!" Kraft praised as he gave a series of ps when he saw the Thunder Ram Demon neigh to quickly charge his horns.

    The lightning energy further infused through Yun''s chi had greatly enhanced hisbat abilities, enabling him to rain down multiple bolts of lightning in session against the invading Dragonlites.

    However, that was not his full ability. Just a nice little warm-up as well as a warning sign for the other Dragonlites to stop advancing. Unfortunately, they did not have the luxury to heed the warnings and thus gave Keyrin the ''permission'' to execute all of them. While it galloped up high with steps of lightning trailing behind, Marquis Forneus had already demanded his Dragon Devils to chase after it.

    "Foolish." Keyrin''s voice boomed through the skies as he discharged the lightning power within his horns onto one of the iing Dragon Devils. The bolt of lightning struck the Dragon Devil, temporarily paralysing it before the lightning chained to the following Dragon Devil. And while the lightning chain continued to move down the ranks, the Dragon Devils evaluated this particr demon under Moloch to be anything but a pushover.

    "Hahahah! Those Dragon Devils are indeed foolish." Qiu Yueughed as she watched the lightning chain continue down the battalion of the Dragonlites. This was yet another epic scene she would not hesitate to record down.

 Chapter 736 Sher Slimes

    <h4>Chapter 736 Sher Slimes</h4>

    "All aerial units have been tagged with your Chain Lightning. Thunder Ram Demon Keyrin, please proceed with the next stage of your attack before you retreat to rest." The System noted as Keyrin dodged around the ranged attacks from thebination of Dragon Devils and Dragonlites.

    Simultaneously, the y Dragon, as well as the Mousefolks on top of it, took the opportunity to take down as many enemies while they were distracted by Keyrin''s appearance and they were rather sessful. This made the Horde needing to spread their offensive powers into two despite having a majority in numbers.

    Unfortunately, the Giants continued their rampaging charge thereby destroying quite a number of barricades including some of the Sherman Tanks EX. Nevertheless, the Dark Temrs within them were not waiting around to perish by being squashed from the Giants'' assault.

    With the Sherman Tank EX''s new and improved ejection seats, the Dark Temrs were able to exit from the side of the tanks, more often than not, in the nick of time before getting pulverised from the Giants'' smashes.

    And that was not the end of their tanks.

    "Even in death, our Shermies will still serve the greater good!" Dark Temr Commander Zieg shouted, giving the Dark Temrs the signal for the next step in shoring up their defence against the raging Giants.

    "Hear me, oh vessel of destruction! You who have served and protected us in times of need! We request thy service a final time!" Squad Leader for Tank S-4 eximed as he cut his wrist with a sacrificial dagger and threw blood on the destroyed tank debris while his dark temr mates were distracting the Giants as best they could.

    The blood served as a conduit of the Dark Temr''s demonic beliefs and powers to the shattered tank pieces. Instead of summoning a demon with just a blood sacrifice, they were using the broken tank parts as the catalyst.

    A purplish red ritual circle shone beneath the tank debris, and from a distance, the same phenomenon appeared on several other destroyed tanks.

    The other squad leaders were also doing the same. A violent vibration urred beneath the tanks, and soon, all of the parts were consumed by the ritual circle.

    The Giants were neither blind nor stupid, they recognised those ritual circles could prove a major threat and knew the caster should be annihted as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the remaining Sherman Tanks had to protect their brethren until they were finished with the ritual.

    With the increasing threat of the giants crushing their clubs and swords, there was no need to fire long-distance shots anymore due to the threatsing ever closer. So, Lord Wolte took the opportunity to spit his current tank cannon barrel onto the road and forcefully emerged a double-barrel from within him.

    "FEEL THE PAIN!" Lord Wolte shouted as he fired at the nearest Giant who seemed too keen on intercepting his minion''s ritual summoning. The all new cannon barrels were shorter yet bigger, allowing him to shoot out bigger rounds at a faster rate. It also gave him the satisfaction to be a badass, and in turn, increased the morale of the surrounding troops too.

    Having the support of a rapid fire tank was surelyforting.

    Before the Giant could react, he had been gifted tworge holes in his chest from the impact and fell to the ground gasping for air, unable to move and bleeding to death.

    "We shall bless thine name Lord Wolte for granting us this sacrificialmb to test out your powers! Shermie, the Fourth, go forth and consume the Giant!" The Squad leader hailed his creation as the tank parts reemerged as broken as before but with one distinct difference. The debris was moving as a whole towards the wounded Giant.

    Only demons with vast amounts of knowledge would be able to discern what kind of monsters hid under the appearance of this debris. They were slimes hiding under the crevices of the tank part or as Lord Wolte had nicknamed them, Sher Slimes.

    These Sher Slimes were not the ordinary kind of slimes at all. It would have been pointless to summon the sort that even Level 1 Adventurers could kill to gain experience or harvest their slime cores to sell for money. No, these were particrly special kinds of slimes. Upon contacting the wounded Giant, the Sher Slimes consumed the Giant''s psyche by entering its orifices and wounds.

    The moreplicated the species was, the easier it was for the Sher Slimes to infiltrate as it feasted on fear and other emotions. Eventually, it took control of the Giant and equipped it with Tank Parts too.

    What could be more dubious than a Giant turned Cyborg with Tank parts assimted into its body? A Dark Temr having direct control over the slime''s movement. As long as the Squad Leader continued to stand and survive, these Sher Slimes would be the new line of defence against the Giants. And the more Giants they felled, the more there would be for other slimes. (But that was a rare probability since the Dark Temr Squad Leaders did a hasty summon.)

    Using the blood of the Giant as ammunition, shots mixed with blood and slime were released out of the tank''s broken barrel killing the other Giants too. The other Giants were shocked by the transformation, as there should not be many things able to possess them due to their innate magical resistance.

    But they failed to understand that this was no magic brainwashing them. Rather, it was a parasitic monster taking over their central nerve system.

    Earl Barbatos saw the dreadful transformation of his soldiers and demanded the rest to take them down before they were taken out.

    This new development provided some breathing space for Qiu Yue as it allowed the Red Panda to move her hand away from the brooding Pandji.

    Ironically, this scenario enabled the Pandji to gather more energy from the surroundings. As demons (bothnd and flying) fell into the sea, the Deep Ones had started to feed the Pandji with everything they caught. Since their Lord and Saviour, Shadow Dagen was currently full thanks to feasting on the giant flowery turtle, it was a perfect time to cultivate the Pandji to an even scarier force to reckon with. If one would go down to the bottom of the ocean, he might also hear some light snoring.

    Although Pandji was just a y monster per se, its magical runes allowed it to slowly disintegrate every demon unlucky enough to enter the deadly sea and those ''nutrients'' were stored in its y-like tes forter use.

    In the meantime, Keyrin was running around the skies along with the y Dragon despite the System''s notice that he should proceed to the next attack. This was mainly because he was desperately trying to search for themander hiding in all of these aerial units.

    Keyrin wanted to make sure that Marquis Forenus died from the attack because once the Thunder Ram Demon proceeded with his attack, he ''had'' to retreat ording to the ''summon'' support that Yun had made for the cultivators'' aplishment of the objective.

    "There! I finally found you!" Keyrin dodged yet another attack while he made eye contact with a stout Dragonlite armoured figure with two pairs of dark orange wings. The System had also pinged, confirming that it was Marquis Forenus based on Moloch''s previous memory.

    It was finally time to unleash the hammering shes of judgement against these trespassers.

    Judgement Storm.

 Chapter 737 Wyrstriker Strikes Back

    <h4>Chapter 737 Wyrstriker Strikes Back</h4>

    The clouds sparkled with blue, purple and even yellow lights. The lightning bolts split, hurting each and every Dragonlite that had been rubbed with the chain of lightning.

    All who had been tagged by Keyrin felt the fury from the sky. To the cultivator on the ground, it did not look like a storm. Instead, it resembled an inverted tree sprouting instantly from the clouds, trying to reach the ground.

    With the difference in electrical potential, many of the Dragonlites were burnt to crisp, causing them to drop like flies who had flown too close to the heater. Though right now, it was more like the ''heater'' came for the flies. The Dragon Devils took heavy hits as well, but most were able to bear through the brunt of the attack.

    They were not unfamiliar with having to resist lightning attacks, so their armour provided lightning resistance. Even the Devil Horned Dragons were oiled, and the ink of a distinctive tattoo had been painted on their bodies that allowed them to resist some electrical damage. (They never knew that in modern science, they were merely instors based.)

    Yet the Judgement Storm which literally annihted 90% of the Dragonlites was horrifying to behold for Prince Sts. To him, he had never seen such wide-area thunder magic in his life before, and he was very sure Mother Nature could never replicate such a terrifying storm.

    He quickly attempted to contact Marquis Forneus for an update just to make sure that he was still alive, but he failed to get a response. "I hope this is only because of the lightning storm... Hold steadfast Marquis." Prince Sts silently prayed as he continued to demand reinforcements from the Demon Metropolis.

    "The Marquis is dead. I will make sure of it." Keyrin announced to the War Room as he conjured and shot dozens of piercing lightning spears towards the Marquis who was paralysed by his Judgement Storm.

    It was a cruel sight as the first few spears broke his lightning resistance armour while the next three were covered by his right-hand man who had chosen to sacrifice himself for his lord. As for thest four spears? Keyrin had made sure he had condensed every little bit of magic he had converted from Yun''s chi to zap Marquis Forneus out of existence.

    Corpse? Hah! Keyrin ensured no such thing remained when he synchronised his shots with the y Dragon as it swept through the ''shocked'' army. It smashed the body of their lord with its maw before it threw his body towards Keyrin who pulverised the corpse.

    The Mousefolks on its back wore gas masks to ensure they had enough oxygen to resist the G force variation due to the y Dragon''s manoeuvres. Some nearly flew out of their machine gun emcements if not for the tiny seatbelts that were attached to them. Granted, they had parachutes and ejector seats too, but they knew it would not make much a difference, just the illusion of safety.

    The masks also helped them avoid inhaling any discharge from the aftermath of Judgement Storm. With all the safety gadgets, it did give the Mousefolks a peace of mind to fire indiscriminately. The sound of their little rifles (or mini guns) was non-stop as they aimed at the surviving Dragonlites when the y Dragon cruised the skies.

    As for the remaining Dragon Devils left, their only option was to redeem whatever glory they could obtain without their leaders so that their lord could preserve his honour after the battle. The highest-rankedmanding officer quickly took over the lead and proposed a charge towards the panting Keyrin.

    "Too bad for you, I am retreating." The Thunder Ram Demon gave them a challenging smile before he reverted back to his normal size. The effects of the Reverse Atem had ended, and he subsequently disappeared into thin air with a bright sh of light. As hisst parting gift, he left them a booming thunderp that momentarily stunned and stopped the army in their tracks.

    "NOW!" Wyrstriker ordered as he saw the Dragon Devils were paralysed by the deafening sounds. From Moloch''s information, he knew that the Dragon Devils were the toughest and strongest bunch of units alive in the Demon Army.

    Were it not for Keyrin''s Judgement Storm to slightly weaken them, the Goblin Wyvern Knights might not stand a chance against it. Yet this was the perfect opportunity to take out as many as they could.

    With the amount of time granted from Que Er''s assault, the Wyvern Goblin Knights had collectively reequipped their weapons for the dogfight against the Dragon Devils. Their Air Boosters were also swapped out and reced with the ones that Wyrstriker was using. Oxygen tanks and masks were also retrofitted for them to withstand the G forces although most of the knights already had magical abilities that would withstand such gravitational forces. At the same time, Ayse had also prepared something a little special for Wyrstriker, allowing him to stand out from his unit.

    How could you improve a Wyvern Goblin Knight when you have already attached air boosters? Perhaps the answer to this was inspired by Ayse''s frenemy, Peppers. She had developed special missiles for the goblin.

    But unlike the missiles that most cultivators were used to, these were actually an improvement of Derek''s former experiment ofbining living things into inanimate items or vice versa.

    Que Er''s crows had been fused with the lost tech missile, removing the need for a guidance system. What''s more, was that the missile used the very same Lost Tech air booster technology to fly them. The only difference was the amount of ''pow'' within it.

    "I''ve been waiting long enough to try these out!" Wyrstriker had lightly caressed them before he had jumped onto Iwen.

    But right now, he is concentrating on his prey.

    The missiles had a crow''s head for that was where the ''soul'' of the crow was. Guiding the attack with its own sentience, it boosted itself towards the said enemy before using its innards to explode the contents of the missile.

    By using the Air Booster Technology, Wyrstriker could actually control the kind of explosion he wished for. The Air Booster in the missiles were built with the intention of blowing up, so most of its safety features had been removed.

    In ce of them was actually a closed-circuit system that enabled an implosion of air within the missile. Wyrstriker used his magic to telepathically open the valves of the rocket, allowing a possible timer control and adjustment of the strength of the air implosion. Naturally, he cranked it up to the max.

    When the crow missile impacted, the Dragon Devil felt like there was a mini gravitational hole that sucked him and soon afterwards an explosion due to air pressure caused the Two Horned Dragon to lose one of its wings.

    The Dragonlite rider tried to maintain flight by using magic but it was futile. Another Wyvern Goblin Knight attacked and released a bracket of bullets from above, killing the rider. Without magical support, that particr Dragon Devil slowly fell to the ground and braced for impact.

    Needless to say, it failed rather terribly since the remaining Anti-Airpanies had their sights on the dragon, making sure it would have no chance to get up.

 Chapter 738 Giants Gain

    <h4>Chapter 738 Giant''s Gain</h4>

    The Giants and the foot soldiers were lucky they did not experience the terrible magic at work. Earl Barbatos who had been a little further from the frontlines couldn''t help but curse at this sudden reversal.

    They knew their Dragon Devil allies would have survived the massive magical assault since they were among the toughest he ever knew. This made it even worse seeing them get ughtered after Keyrin''s attack left them vulnerable.

    Yet, their loss was the Giants'' gain.

    The Armoured Giants finally made it to the front of actual defensive lines since their enemy''s heavy hitters had been busy in the skies. Once there they quickly managed to capture three-quarters of the sky bridge.

    Qiu Yue''s decision wasn''t wrong. Through the wars in human history, Air superiority was not just necessary. It was deemed as the most essential. The 7 Day War between Israel and her neighbours, the prelude of Normandy, the invasion of Pearl Harbour and many others had shown that whoever controls the sky controls the battlefield. Thus the demons didn''t realise how critical it was for Moloch and the cultivators to achieve that.

    On the other hand, Earl Barbatos was confident the cultivators were in a losing battle. It had been quite the uphill battle with all the trickery that Moloch had employed so far. From poison gases, traps, y statues and now a cramped battlefield, the Demon Horde managed to ovee them with tenacity.

    However, something about their current advantage still ticked him off. His instincts told him that he was missing something crucial.

    Despite the struggle the Demon Horde had to endure for his Giants to gain that muchnd, their triumph on the sky bridge seemedбн too good to be true. Given Moloch''s resourcefulness, or more urately the one of whoever it was backing him, the Earl doubted that they had seen it all.

    Unfortunately, there was only one way forward, and Earl Barbatos had no choice but to press forth. Even if he was worried it would be right into the next trap. More foot soldiers had finally appeared due to Earl Furfur''s desperate attempts to get more help, and the word had also spread about how Moloch was putting up such a formidable defence against the Nobles of Demon Metropolis.

    Several other Lords and Ladies were getting ready to enter, and they were dying to rush towards the sky bridge, yet most of them were being held back by the Central Command. The Royal Prince who kept asking for more aid did not understand why the Command felt they were confident that Earl Barbatos could carve a path to the top and put the next teleportation checkpoint for the army at the safe zone so they could proceed further safely.

    This was a feature of all Dungeons in the Dungeon World. Whenever two parties became locked in a standstill for an extended period of time, the Dungeon Cores would interfere with the battle.

    It allowed the invading army to ce a temporary teleportation checkpoint down. At the same time, the defenders received something to even the odds as well. Jin''s side was granted an emergency dungeon shield simr to the World Magic Shattering type of shield that Moloch had been bestowed with upon releasing the ''Newbie Protection'' shield one day before it expired.

    It acted as an ultimate barrier for the defenders to regroup and recoup losses. Unlike the other shield, the Dungeon Core allowed the defenders to have a final stand by resurrecting their dead thereby increasing the number of defenders (although not every single fallen one). The attackers would have to wait for their members to resurrect as per normal; After the battle was done.

    Otherwise, it would be waves of relentless invasion against the Dungeon Core and the rules of the Dungeon World did not allow for such a thing. This gave the defenders a fighting chance, but in case you had numbers like the Demon Metropolis, quantity and quality was no longer an issue.

    Still, the Demons were unaware that they were fighting an entity that was totally out of their world and thanks to its own powers, quantity and quality did not matter that much either. (Well, to a certain extent. Even though the System prefered to portray itself as almighty.)

    Everything relied on the Mad Giant''s advance with his army. If he seeded, the demons were guaranteed to catch their second wind and the attackers would have a renewed chance to terrorise Moloch''s troops.

    Without Marquis Forenus and his Dragonlites to ry the information they had discovered about the floating inds, Prince Sts and the others falsely assumed that reaching the tform would more or less award them victory.

    ----------------

    Lord Wolte shot so many shells out that he coughed violently and gasped for air (also petroleum oil). As an old war dog, he was able to judge the limits of a defensive battle. He could see they were about to reach that point with the sky bridge.

    The cultivators had been trying their best to ovee the Giants. Some of them had even gone for suicidal attacks to stop the Giants, but without something simr to Keyrin''s appearance, there was no way the current defence team could hold out.

    Just as Lord Wolte was wondering whether he and his Dark Temrs should retreat or provide a cover for the cultivators to fall back, he received an iing call.

    "Wolte, we need you guys to hold them as long as you can. I have discussed it with Moloch, and we want the Mad Giant to be on the centre of the sky bridge before we fall back. We''ve been at it for hours, and the customers might get bored soon." Qiu Yue personally gave the orders to Lord Wolte.

    Seeing that ''little'' Barbatos was still at the start of the sky bridge, it was more or less aughablemand by the higher-ups.

    "I can''t believe we make decisions like that based on the wishes of some mortals. Are you really the rumoured great tactician Jin trusted you to be?" Lord Wolte argued back in the System Channel while firing his shells out against the Giants.

    "To be honest, you are actually an important piece of the puzzle. If we want to lure Earl Barbatos to the centre, we won''t be able to do it without you." Qiu Yue replied, ignoring the sarcastic remark. "бнYou know, you could provide the ideal ''tform'' for the Mad Giant to be attracted to."

    "You don''t sayбн" Lord Wolte squinted his eyes as he fired another barrage of shots without any aim, hoping it would hit something since he was concentrating on talking to Qiu Yue.

    "Yeap. You didn''t think you could really hide it, did you? You should understand that I have the System with me." The Red Panda Tactician teased him.

    "Pfft, you got me. I was actually hoping to keep that as a dirty little secret, an ultimate trick under my sleeve." Lord Wolte scoffed unhappily, and Qiu Yue rolled her eyes. This was war. They did not have the time to hold their punches.

    "Unless we visit the Fishing World I don''t think you will be able to use it. So, I see no reason why you should not show off your so-called ultimate form to us right now. Save the cultivators and us some trouble." Qiu Yue requested, and Lord Wolte was contemting whether to act on Qiu Yue''s proposal.

    "You will be the shining star if you do!" ttery usually worked wonders on those older fellows.

    "So, if I really get his attention, what would you do?"

    "If you can keep him upied, maybe our Pandji will go all out against his Giants, and then we retreat to the hills." Qiu Yue''s reply was firm, and if there was a hand for Lord Wolte to scratch his head at the particr dilemma, he would already have done so.

    "Fine, fine. In return, I wish for- "

    "At least 1,000 demons worshipping you so they can handle your operations? Consider that done." Qiu Yue quickly promised, and that gave Lord Wolte the go-ahead.

    "YOU BRATS! HOLD AND COVER THE LINES! If I see any of you cking from afar at sea, I will not hesitate to shoot you myself!" Lord Wolte ordered, and the Dark Temrs all grinned upon acknowledging their patron''s Command.

    Finally, it would be time for the Metal Slug''s ultimate* form! (Obviously, he believed it was not the end of evolutions if he had more worshippers.)

 Chapter 739 Transformation of Wolte

    <h4>Chapter 739 Transformation of Wolte</h4>

    Lord Wolte drove backwards from the guard emcement he was in and took a turn. As if someone had pressed on his elerator pedal, heavily dense smoke came out of his exhaust. The back of his ''butt'' transformed into a pair of supercharger turbine engines, the ones generally used for aerones.

    The moment he released his clutch, his threads burst out from the front and his metal wheels slid across the side of the bridge as he smashed himself into the sea. All of this and he still had continued to fire at the Giants to let them think it was some ident.

    As the only one to break the emcement, Lord Wolte was briefly considered to be the most vulnerable. The Giants did not miss his abnormal behaviour and quickly sent a giant ballista his way which nearly hit him on his sides but in the end, only managed to break one of his back wheels. (Evidently, the ballista almost caused him to lose his bnce if not for the fact that he was able to shift his own weight.)

    "Tsk! Pesky Giants! You shall pay for this soon enough!" Wolte gritted his teeth and continued his dive into the treacherous sea right under the sky bridge. He became the butt of the jokes as the Giants praised him as ''the only defender with half a brain realising that protecting this bridge was futile''.

    "Everyone should just jump down into the sea and save yourselves! We might not even hurt you!" The Giants taunted the cultivators as the morale of the demons inadvertently increased.

    Yet, the rest of Dark Temrs knew that their Lord was not suicidal. They kept their mouths shut and took the opportunity to attack when they were distracted. Oh, but they relished the wait for thestugh once their saviour would appear once again to punish all of them.

    As Lord Wolte submerged himself into the Deep Sea, he was not prepared for what he saw with his eyes. The Deep Ones including a somewhat drowsy Mr Derpy were having fun redecorating the Pandji. It was to the point that the bored Mr Derpy even started to grant some magical energy to the waiting Pandji, strengthening him until one of his subordinates made him aware that Lord Wolte was sinking down.

    "Wolte! Have youe to visit me?!" Mr Derpy asked as he pped his fins a little too enthusiastically, causing some disturbance on the sea''s surface. (The same Deep Ones Mage cautiously requested him to quieten down to prevent any further suspicion.)

    "Hahaha, Dagen! It''s always a joy to see you! I''d love to stay and chat, but sadly things up there are a bit more hectic than down here. I havee to conduct some business with you." Wolte ''spoke'' with bubblesing out of his mouth.

    "Oh, oh! How about I connect a live line to you like how we did before this stupid skirmish? I assume you are transforming, right?" Mr Derpy immediately suggested, and Wolte agreed without the slightest hesitation.

    In fact, he knew how gullible Derpy was and had always tried to use him as much as the old man could. (Why would he say no to a living magic battery willing to provide him with the energy to maintain his ultimate form?!)

    "Dagen, for your generosity, I shall share my line of sight as well as a cannon for you to control!" The submerging tank agreed, and Derpy was over the top. He did not expect the old Duke to be kind enough to let him see this time around, let alone control one of his cannons.

    Wolte quickly used this excuse to increase his consumption of the living breathing magical battery. There was no way he would leave Derpy alone after tasting his magical energies. (Besides, Mr Derpy was a little restless after consuming an entire ind sized turtle. So, this after-meal entertainment became a win-win situation for both parties.)

    "All right! Here goes! Witness the Grand Wolte transform right in front of your eyes!" The Demon Patron of Dark Temrs announced with much fanfare to a pping Derpy and his subordinates as tank parts started to fall out as if his skin was peeling away.

    All that was left was a wrapped cocoon which was continuously rotating and growingrger in size. Slowly but surely, the cocoon began to rise to the surface of the sea, and when it stopped spinning, Derpy sent a tentacle of some sort and pierced into the cocoon.

    Soon, the shell broke and dissipated in the water as a metal pointed shape appeared protruding out of it. With arge ssh that was visible from the far end of their sight, A bulk of the demon armies temporarily stopped their fight to see what was happening. (The demons could not believe there were so many disruptions in a single battle.)

    Eventually, the entire vessel became visible from the sky bridge. "Is...that a ship?" Earl Barbatos asked no one in particr as he heard a loud, long honking sound beyond the shoreline. He was just as surprised as his allies and enemies by the emergence of a metal ship. Those from Jin''s world could vaguely tell it was not just a regr ship. Its size, its magnitude and the ferocity of its cannonsy along with the tform.

    Its was one he big battlecruiser!

    The more astute Royal Snake soldiers who had been in the navy nearly had their jaws drop when they took a closer look at the battlecruiser through their binocrs. Some were just amazed that Jin could replicate it.

    "DID YOU HE SERIOUSLY REPLICATE THE WHOLE THING?!" One of the soldiers with Navy experience had his mouth left open aghast.

    "Holy shit, I think he did. Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming!" His pal joined in with the fanboying, but theirpanions around them had no idea what it was. Sure it was awesome to look at, but was it seriously this impressive that the two of them nearly drooled?

    "What is it? Why are you all so amazed by it?" Someone finally asked them, awakening them from their stupor.

    "You might not know this, but Russia''s leader during the Cold War loved battlecruisers. One day he demanded the military to build one that would put all others to shame. His engineers followed this order to the letter, yet the resulting blueprint was simply absurdly impossible to create from a nautical engineering standpoint. All they ever managed to build had been the tform, yet they subsequently scrapped it. Still among us, sea dogs all who had seen the blueprint as part of our education could never forget it. THAT is the rumoured ship that was once abandoned by the Russians."

    The Stalingrad.

    "What''s so special about that?" His pals asked with more interest incited within them. They exined how it was heavily inspired by the heavy battlecruisers Yamato and Musashi which had been considered the Legends of Battlecruisers back during World War Two.

    Powered with nuclear energy, its design was supposedly able to hold even more main cannons, and their anti-air would have been top-notch. There were also rumours that in an actual creation there would be anti-submarine technology built within the ship, allowing it to transcend to be the Emperor of the seas.

    "From what we heard and read previously after the war was over, some enthusiastic engineers had made another iteration of the initial blueprint designs where they designed an internal hangar within the ship''s cargo hold. It would allow it to operate simr to an aircraft carrier. Personally, I believe the idea was scrapped since it was more likely once the pilot took off, it could nevere back again due to theck of space."

    "Shouldn''t be a problem if you have those Land Hover kind of technology! Hahaha!"

    "Man, that would be a fantasye true. I wish I could board the ship! It would be a dreame true!"

    "Perhaps, that is already happening right now!" The soldiers eximed with excitement as they anticipated what the Stalingrad would do. Obviously, Lord Wolte did not know his appearance had already granted him some fanboys. (unknowingly increasing his numbers of casual worshippers)

    What would those two say, if they knew that all Lord Wolte had cared about was that his final form would be a majestic ship. He had found this massive ship as part of his transformation and merely copied the design the System had extracted from the Abyss Web.

    Perhaps they would not care about the reason how it came to beбн as long as they could fire some shots on this baby!

 Chapter 740 Stalingrad

    <h4>Chapter 740 Stalingrad</h4>

    "Woah, are you for real?" Hou Feiughed as he saw the live-feed of Lord Wolte emerging out of the waters as a heavy battlecruiser. Although he hardly used it since he was busy with real-lifemitments, Hou Fei still had a phone with System capabilities on it.

    Jin had recently assisted him with installing it as he was long since considered a part of their family. Moreover, it would be easier for the System to teleport him around this way when needed. (Him being the General of the Royal Snakes provided the perfect excuse for the control type that was the System.)

    Thus, with a simple voicemand, within seconds, Hou Fei was sitting down beside Qiu Yue and started querying her about the Stalingrad. She quickly pulled the blueprints out for the General to preview them.

    "Does Lord Wolte need help operating the controls or something? Because it would be a great help if my boys could have some naval refresher too." Hou Fei asked bluntly. He figured Qiu Yue should be smart enough to see through his intentions anyway, so there was no need to pretend he did not want to join in.

    "You''ll have to ask Lord Wolte himself. As long as you allow him to still call the shots, I don''t see any reason he might be against it. We can disguise him as the Ship''s advanced AI if required so your guys won''t question much of hismands." Moloch suggested, and Hou Fei agreed.

    In the meantime, Kraft had established a secure channel to Wolte, and Hou Fei began his rapid-fire round of questions. Fortunately, Lord Wolte was still happy basking in the glory of his ultimate form. Did Kraft decide to connect to him when Wolte was at his pinnacle of happiness? Was the world going under that this crafty fox did something for someone else?!

    "Sure, why not? I am still not used to handling this many weapons so the extra help will be appreciated. It should allow us to increase the efficiency of my firing output." Lord Wolte gleefully epted the proposition.

    "Alright, if that is the case, I will gather and inform them. System, please teleport me over to my men and then teleport us on to Lord Wolte." Hou Fei requested as he personally entered the fray, getting his troops ready.

    Many were shocked when they saw their General, assuming it was some sort of audit to make sure that they were still on guard with the current battle and didn''t ck off just because it was an exercise in a dungeon.

    The ones he selected couldn''t thank their lucky stars enough for the new task their General entrusted them with. A lot, in fact, all of them who were handpicked knew the legend of the Stalingrad and could not hold their expectations in when they found out Hou Fei was taking them there.

    As soon as the soldiers with naval experience were teleported onto the ship, they were greeted by Wolte. The voice was crusty and dense, a stark contrast to the robotic sound used by the mini snake pets they had with them. This ''advanced AI'' was informing them about which stations needed to be manned while at the same time adjusting its guns towards the siege weapons as a test.

    Lord Wolte figured they were a good first target to practice on since they were quite the nuisance when he had been defending the bridge. Most importantly, the siege weapons were stationary and hence allowed him to perform a quick configuration of his guns.

    Unlike the siege weapons, whose demon engineers needed more time and shots to confirm their distance, Wolte had the System to rely on, which only required to consider all the external factors that could be affecting the trajectory. The System was sure that its calibration for Lord Wolte was more than sufficient since the seas were artificially calm and there was no wind in the skies...unless Prince Sts'' wind magic would interfere.

    Some of the soldiers that were on the upper deck watched the firing of the cannons and regretted not being able to record it. Most of them felt nostalgic as the sound of the main cannons was like music to their ears.

    One even quickly took his binocrs out to see where the shots were going tond and holy shit. He could not believe the power of the gun when he saw the explosion from afar. As a soldier with much naval andnd experience, Gan Yang could easily differentiate what a cannon shot looked likepared against the old fashion artillery their monster allies were using.

    "This is a great ship. No, that doesn''t do it justice. It''s a supreme ship." Gan Yang praised under his breath as he took a nce around the consoles as well as the blueprint design that hung on the wall. After which, being the highest-ranking soldier among their group, he quickly took overmand and started to dispatch troops to their respective stations.

    All the sailors within the vicinity also acknowledged his experience in the naval scene since he was one of the only few guys in the Royal Snake Battalions that had more than ten sorties to the Somalia Bays for peacekeeping efforts.

    Despite copying a Cold War design, the consoles were modernized and with the AI, it was easy to control the ship. Lord Wolte did not mind these humans interacting with his consoles (it did tickle him though) as he observed them himself. He got more information about how the soldiersmunicated with each other and the things to monitor for a ship.

    Useful knowledge he nned to apply to instruct his loyal followers. (After all, the only types of ships he ever sailed on were solely from the Dungeon World.)

    "All weapon systems nominal, main engines operational, targeting systems are online and working fine! Captain Gan Yang, awaiting your instructions!" A sailor reported with a slight hint of joke which made Gan Yang feel embarrassed. He knew the responsibility of a Captain and had no intention of bing one.

    But it doesn''t hurt to pretend as Captain for a day, right?

    "Alright, the AI named Wolte has determined the Giant''s leader, Barbatos, to be the most important threat that needs to be eliminated. And so, we will be firing at him until he retaliates or when the AI said so. Reports have it that he could be strong enough to jump on board, so get those anti-gia- erm..." Gan Yang stuttered, and the sailors around him chuckled.

    There was definitely no anti-giant defences back in their world, so it was natural, they didn''t have any term against such monsters.

    "Prepare weapons with armour piercing rounds. We have to protect this ship as if it was real. If this sinks all of you will have to stay on board! Let''s pay them back for everything they did to the cultivators protecting the bridge!" Gan Yang cleared his throat and gave his briefing. The sailors acknowledged and began sendingmunications to the crew in the munitions storage to start reloading the next round of shells to be fired.

    "Ahhh, I feel so alive having people working under me again!" Lord Wolte happily thought to himself. The sailors used the System''s data to continue their fire on the Siege Weapons before the ''AI'' rmended to start pointing them at Earl Barbatos.

 Chapter 741 Desperation In Barbatos

    <h4>Chapter 741 Desperation In Barbatos</h4>

    Prince Sts had no idea what was happening. One moment it was a giant creature being summoned disabling their air forces, then quickly disappearing. Then a series of barrages had incidentally damaged the safe zone shields, costing the lives of several mages due to the strain of shielding the wide area.

    Subsequently, another barrage ensured the destruction of nearly half the siege weapons deployed. Sts was very sure that the mages had calibrated sufficiently to reduce the artillery attacks into a mere nudge on the shields.

    Yet, reality showed that they had been mistaken.

    Before him, he saw the broken shield with arge hole in the middle and the surviving mages were scrambling to fix it. Unfortunately, they did not realise that amongst this barrage, one of the shells had not detonated yet.

    Lord Wolte had sneakily thrown a special kind of armour piercing shell when he fired his three triple barrel 305mm guns towards the siege weapons as part of his calibration.

    Disguised as an armour piercing round, it actually had an internal timer which would explode after a time dy set by either Wolte or alternatively the Captain of the battlecruiser.

    So when the attack went through, all of the mages were hastily repairing the shield in case of another attack and overlooking the shell ticking off like an egg timer. (Considering with all the noise from injured people in the area, or people shouting for help, there was too little of a chance to notice it.)

    As such, when the timer hit zero, a congregation of medics was unfortunately in the midst of aiding the ailing mages. The explosion wiped out every single help that hade in and caused further damage within the shield, resulting in theplete shattering of it.

    It appeared that Prince Sts'' guardian angel was working overtime. Likest time, he now had another close shave with death. Sts ended up surviving as he was instructing the medics outside the safe zone and coordinating the remaining siege weapons.

    Even as the shell exploded within the energy shield, the Raven Prince could feel the shockwave emanating out to him. In an instant, their entire temporarymunication cum headquarters had once again been eradicated with a single st and their pir of protection had been dismantled.

    "Fuck! How the hell does Moloch have ess to all this technology, or magic or whatever shit!" Prince Sts threw his cape down in anger as he gathered his magic to produce an updraft of the mes, hoping it would burn out as soon as possible.

    There was no guarantee that a second bombardment wouldn''t arrive to finish the job but rescuing the remaining demons was his priority. If too many mages were killed, there would be no shield to protect the safe zone from getting more reinforcements.

    But thankfully, it was a single strike, and its devastation continued towards the direction of the frontlines. Sts felt as if he had enough. He wanted nothing more than to personally rip his mentor in tiny pieces. Why were his elder brothers and sisters still not here?

    Were they perhaps afraid after what had happened to Princess Gaap? Where was the King when they needed him the most. Sure, Sts might have proved to be a capable tactician, but the odds werepletely against him right now. Moloch and his allies proved too capable and were too much to handle for him.

    Was it because Baal knew that he could be outwitted and outyed by Moloch, so he had instead banished him with as little resources as possible? If that''s the case, Sts could understand the goal of revenge and yet it had been Baal who initiated the attack. Not Moloch.

    Still, that did not stop the Prince from wondering how long the Demon Metropolis could hold if the situation would be flipped with Moloch the one to proceed with an attack.

    -------------------

    "Most of the siege weapons were hit. Target now set onto the Mad Giant. The package is ready to deliver." The sailor reported as he received word that the munition teams were locked and loaded.

    "Don''t waste any time. Strike when it''s hot." Gan Yang ordered and his second inmand did not hesitate to give the signal to deliver the next barrage of attack towards the sky bridge. A series of far-reaching booms travelled to the sky bridge, and the cultivators instinctively took cover. Despite the battlecruiser being so far, it still threatened to shatter their hearing.

    A nket of smoke emerged around the Mad Giant had been standing on, and the sts did catch his attention, especially since he lost an arm trying to protect himself from the cannon shot. "What the hell is that?!" Earl Barbatos was surprised by the long-distance strike, and when he recovered from the shock, everything around him was burning.

    Hundreds of foot soldiers, regardless of their status and strength, had been obliterated instantly. "If the Giants further front were to be targeted, the invasion will be aplete loss." He cautioned himself as he tore a piece of his undershirt to create a quick tourniquet in order to stop the bleeding.

    "Any surviving Wights?!" Earl Barbatos shouted, and a dozen of them managed to respond. "Buff me! Buff me until you lose all your willpower, your mana, whatever lifeforce you have left. If we are going to win, I need your strength!" He demanded, and the Wightsplied.

    Individually, they knew they did not stand a chance to win this overpowering amount of strength. They clearly needed superior numbers which theycked if they continued to fight on this bridge. Twice, they had believed they had the ability to outshine and break their defences down.

    Still, the constant events clearly demonstrated that the Demons needed to create the secondary checkpoint so a more substantial number could overwhelm the defender''s technological advances or else this would be a failed invasion.

    Judging from the situation, the Mad Giant believed Moloch wanted to lure him into hitting the ship since he knew he had the ability to do so. But this seemed to be a trap designed for Barbatos. Without him, the Giants would not have a leader. They might not be the dumbest, but their effectiveness severely decreased without the Earl, resulting in confusion in their ranks.

    With such destructive powers on their hands, Barbatos deduced they would not use it near the defenders, and thus hitting the mid-portion of the army for maximum effect.

    So, technically, the Mad Giant should be able to avoid getting bombarded if he was to run into the frontlines. Although there was a chance the metal ship would annihte the defenders alongside the Giants, Barbatos was willing to take this bet based on his knowledge on Moloch''s attitude given their previous friendship.

    "He might be a great tactician, but he is a softy at heart. He won''t sacrifice that many of his forces to deal with me! Come on Wights, don''t hold anything back!!!" All the remaining Wights continued to pour their powers into Barbatos as he prepared himself for the push for the end of the sky bridge. Indeed they did not hold back, and soon they began fainting one after the other.

    Noticing that his stance was slightly different from afar and theck of swift retaliation, Wolte deduced that Barbatos wouldn''te. He was probably nning to actually go berserk by charging into the frontlines. (After all, he too was a crazed warring demon and knew that logic didn''t apply to them.)

    "Not good. If little Barbatos were to charge forward, this ruse bes useless." Wolte thought to himself and sent the news to Qiu Yue.

    "He might be trying his luck to get a checkpoint open at the end of the sky bridge." Moloch agreed with Wolte, and so far, Qiu Yue and Kraft also concurred.

    "His sacrifice would not be in vain if he manages to reach that far. Although we are nning to allow their troops to do that, I believe we have not reached critical mass in terms of the cultivatorsing in."

    Moloch added in consideration of the profit for Jin''s shop. (Evidently, he was crystal clear about the shocking amount of money they had spent which they needed to recuperate from.)

    "But if we don''t stop him now, he will find that something is afoot. And once he is up at the tform, Wolte will no longer be able to target him easily and the Giants are too much a hassle for the cultivators to handle." Qiu Yue replied, and Kraft provided them with a possible solution.

    "Oh, for God''s sake, it''s the moment you''ve been waiting for. Just release the Krak- I meant. Release the Pandj! " Kraft pointed at the slumberingrge y monster in the sea on the war table.

 Chapter 742 Magic Gian

    <h4>Chapter 742 Magic Gian</h4>

    Barbatos had finished absorbing the charges from the remaining Wights on the battlefield. Almost every single one of them had burnt their life power to transmit their energies and concentrate it on to Earl Babartos. It looked as if it was some sacrificial ritual that was happening right at the centre of the battlefield but surprisingly, the Stalingrad was not aiming at them.

    The Mad Giant had predicted that with the Stalingrad''s power to shoot nine shells the size of a mini car, their next goal was to stop the frontlines as much as possible without hitting their own forces. However, they did not know that it was not the defending tacticians'' intention. Lord Wolte had not expected to be this powerful when he had turned into this ultimate form.

    Maybe because of a well eaten Mr Derpy, Lord Wolte''s powers have identally been enhanced multiple folds, and thus he had severely underestimated his own capabilities. (While taken aback, Wolte was ted to fulfil the dream of his former slug self to finally evolve into a force to be reckoned with. Though he was never satisfied and believed he could grow more.)

    Thus, he was instructed by Qiu Yue to attack the group of giants furthest from the current frontline to entice Barbatos into action a little more.

    After roughly grasping the Mad Giant''s intention, the war room tacticians was sure that Barbatos wouldn''t take the bait of advancing towards Stalingrad. But in the off chance he would change his target, the tacticians just had to try to get the Mad Giant''s attention. To Jin''s side, this war was a delicate bnce of profit, fun and adequately defending the dungeon core.

    To the tacticians personally, this was merely them getting ready to enter Phase 2 of their defence n. They still had so many things in store for the demons (and cultivators to y with). It would be a pity if they would call this off and ept their defeat though Moloch had no doubts King Baal would take this as a matter of principle.

    The demons could hardly stop at this point, and he definitely would figure something out if they need to prolong this war arises. He would ensure that everything would go as per their n. For now, the evil tacticians ensured that the Demons would y at their pace.

    Havingplete control over the battlefield was the ultimate wet dream of every tactician.

    The volley of turret cannon attacks had undoubtedly crippled the Giants forces, leaving scores of dead bodies on the ground without any medical help in sight. Many were left there moaning and crying for help since it was always a do or die situation for them all.

    Not wanting them to suffer, the defenders were ''kind'' enough to offer them a quick death with a swift counterattack and killing them before returning back to their barricades for safety.

    Led by the Wobbling Wombat Cultivator Hong Deng Long and the Wacky Wolf Cultivator Da Se Lang, a number of Pandarens joined the Pandawan''s raiding party by jumping over the fallen foot soldiers and sliding through the several Giants to reach the injured Giants.

    However, this was not an easy task since the ones who suffered the brunt of the attack were at the back of the frontlines. The Giants at the front weren''t too keen to allow the cultivators to do as they pleased and they tried to stomp those pesky humans.

    Nevertheless, they underestimated how fast these cultivators were able to move. Using their chi to boost their speed, many were like cockroaches scrambling for cover, and it was virtually impossible to stop them.

    This was further aggravated once Deng Long mmed his batons with ice elemental chi against the Giant''s feet, slowing them further and allowing the more inexperienced Pandarens to escape the Giant''s attacks.

    Se Lang was relentless in his attacks. Up until now, he had been forced to hide behind the barricades because he had arrivedter than hispanions to join the battlete. Deng Long, was just d his partner was able to actually make up some time after his double shift to y with him.

    While he was notining that his partner was working hard, he did miss the casual hangouts with his buddy. As ofte, he only saw him briefly at work, and whenever he wasn''t doing overtime, he was spending it with either one or both of his girlfriends.

    Even as the ambush party took the opportunity to strike the fallen Giants to ensure their death, both Deng Long and Se Lang were running on a timer for the Pandarens. The idea had been brought up by Mad Monkey cultivator Meng Ruo. They had to return back to the barricades within 40 seconds after a bout of open fighting.

    This was to ensure the Pandarens could safely retreat without suffering too many casualties and it allowed the next round of Pandarens to harass the troops and Giants. It was tough in terms of coordination, but themunication using the half mask visors had been vital in making groups. They also had their mini digital pets to ry them orders from the higher-ups, so there was a decentmunicationwork between the groups.

    Unlike the demons who required a more primitive method of using the mages telmunication, a major reason for why Pandarens could hold so well despite theirck of war experience was mainly due to their ess to fast information exchange.

    The one who controlled the most information in a war most often would be the one to control the battlefield too. This war was no exception, and it was apparent that the demons'' disadvantage in this area caused their casualty numbers to grow exponentially.

    Yet the show was far from over.

    The Mad Giant finally had adjusted to his newfound strength and had decided to rush through. While his left hand had been regenerated, it was far too weak to carry a shield again. But the powers temporarily granted upon him by the Wights would make every Giant in the Dungeon World somewhat jealous.

    He had gained the ability to cast magic.

    No Giants could ever cast magic and maybe it was the Dungeon World''s way to ensure bnce. Else, wouldn''t magic-wielding Giants be able to easily subjugate the world and appoint themselves as the Gods of the Dungeon World?

    Barbatos did not hesitate to show off the magic he had been blessed with. The first one was Jade magic. It granted him the ability to jump high with the powers of the Wind, the Mad Giant soared up to the sky bridge and leapt over the frontlines, into the barricades of the Pandarens. Hisnding ttened dozens of Pandarens who were entrenched in the sandbags and other physical obstacles.

    To Barbatos, it felt like he was stepping on some pins and needles. It was satisfying to crush those humans, and he followed this up by releasing the powers of Ruby. The fire blew straight in front of him. However, the tion of hurting his enemies had taken him off guard since his new temporary powers gave him the feeling of being invincible.

    For the Mad Giant absolutely had no idea someone from his past hade to haunt him.

 Chapter 743 Murdering Presence

    <h4>Chapter 743 Murdering Presence</h4>

    "Did you just say that there is a formidable opponent in the seas of the Dungeon they are raiding now?" Lord Focalor asked as he switched on the broadcast from the seaport he was stationed at. With the help of his mages, he watched the ''show'' as he continued to listen to the reports they had received intently.

    He and his navy were mighty seafarers, yet the exhausted Earl Furfur under the King orders, still came by to enlist them for their help not too long ago. Focalor had not agreed to anything on the spot since his expertise was after all the sea. There was no way he would willingly send his troops to a meaningless death. There were more than enough Demon Nobles with their own armies better suited to fight onnd.

    "Indeed they have confirmed that the enemy has a naval presence. That is a real treat we can''t miss out on." Captain Kenway, one of Lord Focalor''s trusted aides, pointed out.

    "True, though you surely saw their firepower. One hit was all that was needed to make those useless toys of Sts disappear. Do you want to fight against that?" Focalor questioned his aide.

    "For the most renowned demon pirate of the oceans to show such cautionбн did you wake up with the wrong foot today, my lord?" Captain Edward teased. Unlike other nobles, Focalor was the only Demon Noble who had refused to take any position in the Demon Metropolis. However, his ferocity and tenacity, as well as the ability to take on any Ocean-based dungeons with ease, had made King Baal recognise his exploits.

    His title might have been granted merely for show, though Lord Focalor''s reputation preceded even some of the Dukes. He was simr to Marquis Forneus who preferred to rule the sky with military might than to dabble in some oundish city politics. The King had showered these two individuals with gifts,nds and power more than any higher-ranking nobles since their service was undeniably beneficial to their King.

    "Hah, doesn''t it just means I can finally go all out?! You two always seem to deny me such opportunities. Besides, if some boats be casualties in the fight, we might as well use the opportunity to get some new ones from the King." Lord Focalor replied, and his two aidesughed.

    "HAHAHA! Just one simple request from you and the King will literally throw twenty more ships at us! Why wait till they get destroyed?!" Kenway mentioned as he mmed his drink on the table.

    "Idiot, it''s that stupid old sailor myth where we cannot just abandon our ships till then end after serving us for long." Edward interrupted Kenway''sughing with his rationale.

    "Who cares anyway? Even if we meet with bad luck and drown, we get resurrected. There is nothing wrong with that. I have the money to pay for my crew and the other ships a hundred times over. There''s no way some stupid sailor myth will get me." Captain Kenway challenged back.

    "Enough! Kenway, Edward. Prepare the men for battle. We''ll bring everything, the whole armada! The sea there seems wide enough for the whole lot. Let''s heed the King''s call and perhaps give that Prince some sorely needed help. Since I myself am looking forward to testing that metal ship''s durability. We shall see if it can withstand the might of the Leviathan." Focalor ordered and the two of them nodded their heads.

    (While the two were called captain in status, the both of them are equivalent to Rear Admirals with Lord Focalor holding the rank of Admiral in the Demon Fleet Leviathan.)

    --------------------

    As Barbatos was charging to the frontlines, his Giants instinctively picked up on their leader''s decision. They immediately formed a barrier facing the Stalingrad in case the ship decided to intercept their leader. As for the rest, they maintained a spearhead formation and attacked not caring for their lives. If their Lord was ready for death, they would follow him through hell and back.

    The Mad Giant acknowledged his troops'' sacrifice and swore to himself that he would make sure it would be worth it as he charged further forward. However, he suddenly was met with a small yet sharp bloodlust intent emanating from the barricades beyond.

    While his giants were still making a mess at the frontlines, Barbatos could feel that the murderous intent was directed exclusively towards him.

    "Well, well, well. I thought this aura seemed familiar!" Barbartos grinned widely. The presence disappeared from the distance and emerged from a small portal directly in front of Barbatos.

    A scythe was aimed straight at his face, yet the magically enhanced Barbato shielded himself with the power of Granite. His face changed to stone, and the scythe failed to leave behind a single scratch.

    "It''s been a long time, Baphomet. And here I wondered why there was such a murderous intent within the group of adventurers. You should have stayed out of the Dungeon World!"

    --------------------

    Kraft was surprised and stared at Moloch and Qiu Yue when he saw the goat demon was sent to face Barbatos. "Isn''t that suicide? And howe I, the person who should have all the intelligence on every goddamn monster, did not know that he hated Barbatos?"

    "Who knows, maybe you missed it?" Moloch gave azy smile. For the first time, Kraft saw that this sneaky cotton butt had some tricks of his own. The fox decided to y it cool and shrugged shoulders, pretending not to care and returning to face hisptop.

    "Still, what can that goat demon do? Buy a few seconds of time?" Kraft scoffed that they didn''t use Pandji. Even if he missed out on some personal history of one of Jin''s monsters, the intelligence officer was sure he knew exactly the capabilities of all of Jin''s monsters on their own.

    "That''s why I said. Maybe you missed out." Moloch teased once more as he took a card out and sent it flying out of the room. The King of Clubs continued to fly swiftly out of the room and towards the battlefield.

    "Watch itбн Otherwise, I might get tempted to investigate what else I might have ''missed out'' on, starting with you." Came the not so subtle threat from the Betor.

    --------------------

    The blow on his face sent Baphomet flying backwards, yet Barbatos wasn''t done yet. He followed up grabbing the former with his one remaining hand by the throat and suplex him on the floor. (The Giants thought that their boss was hitting some nuisance fly.)

    The Goat Demon spat out blood from the attack as his opponent left him injured on the ground since he had more important things to care about. As Kraft predicted, this exchange had onlysted a couple of seconds.

    To Barbatos, that trifling issue of him identally eating some of Baphomet''s offspring should have long since been resolved. They were, after all, ''hiding'' inside his food when he had swallowed them whole, and the Mad Giant had already apologised by paying adequate marypensation for Baphomet''s loss.

    "Why would he care so much to waste his life on a useless head-on attack when he can make more of those things with his dick?" Barbatos thought to himself as he shook his head and moved forth. Were the circumstances any different, he would have finished him off, but his giants and the sess of his attack were his primary concern. The petty person trying to take revenge against him would live to see another day, another try.

    Meanwhile, Moloch''s card came out of another barely visible portal andnded on Baphomet''s chest where it embedded itself into the Goat Demon''s body.

 Chapter 744 Sins Of The Father

    <h4>Chapter 744 Sins Of The Father</h4>

    Baphomet trembled as he rose up, holding on to the King of Clubs and watched the cannibal who ate his kids walk away. Earl Barbatos was certain the other demon was no longer a threat and had brushed him aside.

    After all, it was the same oue as before.

    The Mad Giant couldn''t remember. Had thest time been decades ago? Perhaps it was centuries? While he forgot, the Goat Demon clearly remembered each and every time he had challenged the Earl over those many years. The rage inside him boiled whenever he thought back to that incident.

    His kids might have been resurrected, but the experience had emotionally scarred them, and it would most likely stick with them for the rest of their lives. There was no such thing as psychological aid or therapy in the Dungeon World, and the only solution their father could think of was to teach them how to get revenge via the path of violence. He did not know how else to help his kids nor his spouses.

    Everyone had advised him to abandon them and remove them from this world. Why be tied down to a burden when he could mate again? It was the very same mentality Barbatos had, but to Baphomet, it was different. Those had been the very first batch of kids he ever had, and no matter how he saw it, he was sure it was an intentional foul act.

    At that time he had been working as a chef to serve goat meat in a family restaurant. The younger self of the Mad Giant had always behaved like a tyrant at any food ce he went to. Whenever Barbatos, be it alone or in thepany of his Giants, had been unable to fit inside a restaurant, they would have simply sat down, right outside in the open and demanded the restaurant''s owner to serve them everything. If this would leave the other patrons with nothing to eat, who cared?

    The Giants certainly didn''t.

    Not all things were bad, though. The money was undoubtedly good considering that the Giants could clear the entire stock of food and the Mad Giant was a heavy tipper. Still, the pressure was intense. Lacking enough food for all of them or being unable to cook fast enough meant the Giants would get pissed and destroy the entire ce, leaving the owner with nothing but debris.

    It was a do-or-die kind of situation and Baphomet with his family had determined to ride this out since the Giants just so happened toe to the rural side of the Demon Metropolis with them being the most popr restaurant around.

    Baphomet had worked his magic in the kitchen to get as much cooking done as possible while his spouses went to different stores to procure more livestock for food. It had been a gruesome battle by itself, and his kids unquestionably chipped in to help their father. They had never seen any Giants in their lives up until now, nor had they had this much business.

    Perhaps it was due to the negligence of their parents or them just underestimating the natural curiosity of the children that had led to the incident.

    If he hadn''t been there to witness it with his own eyes, Baphomet would have only suspected Barbatos and the other giants taking his kids. Yet, when the Goat Demon went out to personally serve one of his signature dishes, he heard a loud cry as he caught a glimpse of a leg sticking out from Barbatos'' mouth.

    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Baphomet shouted. s, it was toote as he heard a CRUNCH. Powerless before the Giants, the crunches multiplied and Baphomet realised it wasn''t just one, the other Giants were all feasting on his kids. Subsequently, Barbatos swallowed a few kegs of beer at the same time, even eating the wooden barrel as part of the meal and looked at the helpless father.

    "Have you brought more food? бн Why are you looking at me like this?" The Mad Giant asked with a slightly drunken grin, and the others chuckled alongside.

    "YouбнHow couldбн YOU ATE MY KIDS?!" Barbatos shouted with tears running down his face. Barbatos took a bit to process what was just said. He merely scratched the back of his head.

    "Really?! Oh, my bad! No wonder the meat in the bread felt a little too special. Here''s the money for the food and a little more for their resurrection. Don''t worry, I am sure they wille back to you safe and sound from the Church of the Afterlife. Now please bring us another round of the meat we had earlier. Oh and leave that food in your hands right over there. Cheers!" Barbatos grinned as he first picked up his club and the rest of his band stood up with menace.

    There was no way Baphomet could beat the entire group thus he quietly epted the money. Horrified, he was forced to continue feeding the murderers of his kids for what felt like an eternity. To him, it was hell on Earth. (Well, Dungeon World to be exact.)

    Once they were gone, he immediately left for the Church to resurrect his kids. He would never forget the terror in their eyes. He had tried talking to them, wanting to find out what exactly happened, but they have ever since remained in a waking state of fear. It was so bad to the point where they treated their father as if he was one of those Giants too.

    ---------

    "Unlike the past, Iбнhahhhhhh. I now have the backing of others! I had trained hard, especially with the help from the benevolent Duke Wolte and Lord Moloch. They showed me that not all lords were as despicable as you and I am d to be under Duke Wolte''s service once again." Baphomet pushed the card even deeper into his body until there was nothing left.

    The Sher Slimes who had been fighting against the Giants suddenly turned and looked at Baphomet. The King of Clubs somehow attracted their attention. They became like moths who flew towards the light. They prioritised this above all else, even releasing their grasp on the injured Giants and headed for Baphomet instead.

    The injured giants, while d to be out of their control, turned to look at where the Sher Slimes were moving to. Soon, those slimes were encircling Baphomet and the remaining Dark Temr Squad Leaders had been informed about what was happening.

    Instead of trying to take back control of the slimes, those squad leaders quickly released their leash on those slimes and retreated backwards to rtive safety.

    Barbatos had felt that the irritating bloodlust presence had not entirely disappeared but instead grew more potent. His instincts warned him that something was about to happen so he looked back, intent on wasting some energy to finish off Baphomet. But when he turned around, he was shocked at what he saw.

    ----------------------

    "User, an unexpected voluntary monster merger is happening with Goat Demon Baphomet. Permission to allow the monster merger to ur?" The System requested as it knew Jin was watching how the Sky Bridge situation was unfolding.

    "So this is the monster merger function you kept talking about? Does that mean we will lose the slimes for good?" Jin queried even though he knew the answer.

    "Affirmative. In return, Baphomet should gain the powers of the multiple Sher Slimes. Unexpected side effects might ur as the monster merger ritual they are using is primitive. User can enhance the ritual by spending additional souls on it." The System replied.

    "We have a shit ton of souls from the deaths of our Phantom Soldiers anyway. Utilise them as much as possible since we are already monster merging." Jin ordered, and he could feel that the System was a little more than happy for things to unfold in this way.

    "Wise choice."

    With the permission of Jin, the slimes that encircled him immediately took the opportunity to force themselves into every orifice Baphomet had. But unlike how they were controlling the giants'' bodies, Baphomet still retained his sanity and furthermore, he was growing significantly bigger until he stopped at a size matching that of the watchtowers.

    But what about those tank debris? Yeah, they merged with the towering Baphomet, assimting the tank armour onto his body as Baphomet endured the pain of his skin tearing apart. At the same time, the demons noticed that a broad ray of energy suddenly sted down onto Baphomet itself.

    "What is this power that is surging in me?!" Baphomet asked as he felt enriched from the huge ray of energy.

    "Goat Demon Baphomet has sessfully been strengthened into Sin Baphomet." The System stated.

 Chapter 745 Revenge Was Swee

    <h4>Chapter 745 Revenge Was Swee</h4>

    "Now this is getting interesting!" Kraft stopped whatever he was doing on hisptop. Instead, he looked up at the screen, watching the transformation of Baphomet happening in real-time. Even the cultivators could not believe their eyes as they saw the monster evolution in front of them. Many wondered whether he was a new bad guy until they noticed the blue monster ally tag in their mask''s visor.

    "Man, and here I thought all monsters are bad!" A member of the audience in the shop instancemented.

    "Definitely not! Our dungeons are meant to provide aprehensive experience, and we aim to dispel the notion that storylines in dungeons are always boring." Mr Patsu exined, and many of the repeat customers concurred.

    They had been through many of Jin''s dungeons, and there certainly was a theme of cooperation with monsters they had fought against in previous dungeon instances. It provided the Pandarens with a somewhat strange rtionship.

    The random dungeon arena was solid proof as to how far this could evolve. Some of the dungeon monsters they fought often learned to adapt to the Pandarens'' style of fighting. Most started treating them as temporary rivals. Whenever they shed, the monsters took the time to give them pointers, offering them a chance to improve themselves.

    This had always been the goal of dungeon instances. Fight. Improve oneself, cooperate and most importantly have fun doing all of that. It did not matter if some other cultivator was better than you. In Jin''s dungeons, if you obeyed certain rules and were able to afford them, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

    Sin Baphomet''s awakening came at the perfect time, and many assumed it had been nned for it to be the enticing highlight for the cultivators willing to join after dinner. The number of people buying tickets to enter the dungeon was at a record high, confirming that dying Barbatos was the right move from a financial perspective at least. (If the System could show emotions, it would probably be giving the quiet tsundere kind of grin.)

    While the cultivators enjoyed gaining a super powerful-looking ally, Qiu Yue could only hope Sin Baphomet''s awakening would not be hindered by his bloodlust. After all, they still wanted Barbatos to actually end up putting the temporary raid checkpoint down so that more demon reinforcements coulde in.

    Fortunately, it seemed like the Mad Giant had the very same idea running through his head when he tried to ovee the oddity of seeing a power-up happening right in front of his eyes.

    With the major loss of ground troops from Stalingrad''s bombardment, the Giants were the sole deterrent against the defenders and with Sin Baphomet at their backs, they only had one choice.

    "FOR GLORY!!!!" Barbatos shouted.

    The giantsplied, turning around to hold down Sin Baphomet to buy Barbatos the time he needed. The Earl heavily utilised the Wights'' buff to speed forward as fast as possible.

    In his new form, Sin Baphomet had grown wings, not of organic nature but consisting of tank debris. The tank gun barrels acted as the bone structure for his wings while the wheels became the joints and thin sheets of armour were the membrane of the wings.

    Hence, after a little adjustment to their angle, Sin Baphomet could literally use his wings as cannons. Shells sted out of the wings, aimed towards the iing Giants, but they had already been prepared.

    Armoured Giants unhesitatingly came forward to block the attacks. Some were experienced enough to use skills like adventurers and utilised them to make their skin even tougher so they could withstand the brunt of the attack without being pushed back.

    Meanwhile, Baphomet rushed forward and the Dark Temr Tanks pretended to stop him. They ''identally'' left out a not-so-obvious path for him to move forward.

    Some of the cultivators were foolishly brave and tried to cut-off his legs but because of the Wights'' buff, many were run over before they could do anything. Thus, Barbatos managed to reach near the end of the Sky Bridge without too much trouble, regretting that he hadn''t done this way earlierбн If only he knew he was dancing in the palm of Jin''s tacticians.

    Upon reaching the end of the Sky Bridge, he finally caught a glimpse of the floating tform in front of him. "How could Moloch even manage to gather this manyбн" Before he could even finish his thought, he felt a hefty yet clean slice through his newly generated arm, and the perpetrator was none other than Sin Baphomet himself.

    "Surprise! I can fly now." Sin Baphomet mocked him with the very same glee that Barbatos had shown him decades ago as he mmed the Mad Giant onto the ground.

    Knowing his duty toplete the task given to him, Barbatos immediately headbutted Sin Baphomet for pinning him down as he gathered all the powers in him to materialise a magic hand which he ced on the ground.

    "By my authority as a Demon Earl, Dungeon Core, I hereby dere this ce as Sanctuary to my people!!" Barbatos announced. A wide round magic rainbow circle appeared and Barbatos finallyughed.

    "You should have gone for the head! I kept telling you that your emotions always get the better of you. You will be responsible for the life of all who help that traitor due to your irrational wish for revenge! Now it''s toote! The checkpoint is set and with the overwhelming might of the Demon Army, I swear King Baal will bring you and that trickster Moloch down to your knees!" Barbatos shouted.

    Despite the headbutt, Sin Baphomet was still holding on to him and subsequently brought his wings to various parts of the Mad Giant''s body and shot it. Yet the Mad Giant continued tough in madness.

    "It''s useless! It''s all useless! You can have your pitiful revenge. I have already activated the checkpoint! In less than five minutes, you will all be gone! It''s too bad I cannot see to it personally. But I promise to watch the reys from the mages as you are being torn to pieces. For my meritorious deed, I shall request gaining you as my personal ve! I am looking forward to you being forced to serve me your kids each and every single day!"

    It was at that moment Sin Baphomet could not hold it anymore and sliced off both of Barbatos'' legs and his remaining arm. Then he started giggling as he released the dying Giant. "Mission Complete. The checkpoint has been firmly established. Proceed with the next phase of the n, Miss Sandy." Sin Baphomet spoke out loud so Barbatos wouldn''t have thestugh.

    "What are you talking about? What mission?!" Barbatos had a sudden pang of worry and it exacerbated as he felt a little shake on the Sky Bridge.

    "Didn''t you think things were too easy? Didn''t you realise that our attempts at intercepting you were a bit too shallow? Letting you through was just part of the n to get you to initiate your checkpoint. At the ''end'' of the Sky Bridge." Sin Baphomet revealed enjoying his fill of fun and revenge.

    "What do you mean?!" Barbatos tried to move, but after all the injuries inflicted on him, he was currently a Giant quadriplegic. All he had left was the magically created hand which was also slowly fading after he had used it for the temporary checkpoint.

    "You will see." Sin Baphomet smirked as he flew above him and lifted Barbatos'' head. Then he started to shoot his cannons from a distance. It was all part of one of many ns Moloch and Qiu Yue had made to deal with the demons.

    ording to their predictions, one of the more likely scenarios had been the Giants being used for the assault on the Sky Bridge. However, it wasn''t one big overall n. No, it consisted of countless hours of hard work.

    With his intricate knowledge of the Demons, Moloch had set up hundreds of ''what if'' scenarios. All of them had been stored within Qiu Yue''s Sub System and they were pulled out by the rmendation of the Sub System whenever it was needed.

    That was why despite some disagreements on the table at one moment, they could perfectly act in unison on the next. The clearer the situation became, the more precise the demons acted along the ''what if'' scenarios, the easier it was for them to choose the corresponding course of action.

    Still, it wasn''t all that simple. After all, this was not some video game where the enemies behaved just as they wanted them to. The same could be said about their own allies who also didn''t listen to them withplete obedience. Qiu Yue had to adapt to those scenarios as well.

    Since a Demon Lord had managed to ce down the checkpoint on the end of the Sky Bridge, it was time for Sandy''s grand debut. The Sand Witch materialised at the edge of the floating tform and started to cast her magic. The Sky Bridge was mainly her creation so she still had authority and knowledge over it.

    Both the demon soldiers and Pandarens could not believe their eyes as they saw two parts of the Sky Bridge suddenly break apart from each other.

    "What are you all doing? What kind of insane sorcery is this?!" Barbatos vomited blood from sheer shock.

    "You know, even the odds a little. We can''t have a hundred thousand troops marching all at once, right? We got to inflict some damage so that you guys really have to die trying." Sin Baphomet answered as Barbatos came to realise that he had indeed been yed. After all he had done, he could forget any kind of praise. He should be thankful if King Baal wouldn''t me him for failing.

    "It''s a trap within a trap... You baited me to go for the Sky Bridge because you knew that I would realise that going for the ship would be a trap too? Damn it!" Barbatosined with a weak sounding voice. His remaining lifeforce was like a candle which would go out at the slightest gust of wind.

    Sandy was moving the Sky Bridge as if it was some lego piece. The Sky Bridge had originally been five parts joined together so she could easily reshuffle the bridge in whatever way she liked. In this instance, she ced the end of the Sky Bridge to the middle and the middle upied the end. Instead of a glorious charge, the demons would have to look out for a nking attack.

    "You have seen enough. Time for you to disappear from this act." Sin Baphomet said as he brought out his scythe and chopped off Barbatos'' head. He took it with him and asked the System for leave.

    There were some people out there waiting for him, who would appreciate this spoil of war.

 Chapter 746 Arrival of the Demon Horde

    <h4>Chapter 746 Arrival of the Demon Horde</h4>

    The demon''s temporary checkpoint had shifted to the middle of the road and the defenders, except for the Sherman Tanks EX, were following Qiu Yue''s instructions to retreat to the outer portion of the area. As for the Demon Army, they had temporarily halted, mostly confused by the drastic moving of the bridge. With no higher-ups coordinating them, they were unsure whether to charge towards the fleeing cultivators or to wait in one of the safe zones.

    Sin Baphomet had literally taken care of the remaining Giants, and there were no additional reinforcementsing out from the safe zone since Prince Sts had stopped it as soon as the checkpoint had been deployed.

    "They had total control of the whole battlefield from the start of the invasion." Prince Sts whispered as he dropped to his knees, powerless.

    While the amount of distance they needed to cover had been lessened significantly, they were still very much exposed to artillery from the cultivators in front of them, the suicidal crows and wyverns above them as well as the sea.

    Thest one, the Stalingrad, was more than a menace. It acted as the true gatekeeper of the whole show.

    With Mr Derpy providing the magical energy, Lord Wolte had no problems maintaining his heavy battlecruiser to wreak more havoc. His live battery would also not run out of juice any time soon. There were still remnants of the turtle that Derpy could feast upon, and one shouldn''t forget that the cylinders underneath shy''s shell. It had been filled with another source of energy, namely the caged up mages who had chosen to be batteries of magic energy for Countess Dantalion. (Mr Derpy greatly appreciated the crunchiness of it.)

    ---------------

    "Prince, do you think it is wise to retreat?" One of his guards'' asked as he assisted his Prince in standing back up.

    "Don''t even think about it, unless you want to be branded as traitors." A loud screeching voice was heard from behind them. Prince Sts immediately recognised that wicked voice before he even stepped out of the magical circle and showed himself.

    "The rest of the Demon Horde ising, and I''m pretty certain they are all dying to return the grudges Moloch had incurred. The loss of Marquis Forneus and Earl Barbatos has proven that this battle is far more dangerous than we initially believed it to be."

    "Kiva." Prince Sts uttered the name with a deep-seated hatred.

    "Ah Ah~! That is ARCHDUKE Kiva. But as a prince, I shall overlook this breach of etiquette. Try not to repeat that." The wretched voice turned humble in front of the Prince''s face for a moment. Kiva bowed down with his short raven legs while adjusting his vibrant bright red cape and grinned at the Prince with his two canine fangs out in the open.

    Seeing him, Prince Sts came to a realisation as to why the reinforcements had beening uncharacteristically slow for the Demon Horde. Sure they had been caught off guard by Moloch''s unexpected choice of dropping his shields one day early, but after so many hours of battle to get so little help?

    In fact, only specific requests hade through. Thus, the Prince''s suspicion that someone must have manipted those events behind the scenes were confirmed with the Archduke''s appearance.

    Apanying Archduke Kiva were not hundreds but thousands of soldiers and mages all armed to the teeth, dying to sink them into Moloch and his troops. The temporary checkpoint was spilling over with hundreds of soldiers, to the extent some had to fall back to amodate it the bridge.

    Many wondered howe the Mad Giant had ced the checkpoint at the centre of the bridge where it was the most vulnerable and only through the words of the surviving few soldiers did the news got out.

    Simultaneously, the Demon Fleet Leviathan also emerged from the temporary checkpoint with a separate magical portal and dozens of ships followed suit beneath the Sky Bridge. All of them came sshing into the waters, and arge magical shield had been immediately erected at both sides of the Sky Bridge.

    Prince Sts had never seen such arge deployment before, and even the safe zone was popted with a horde of mages in the blink of the eye. Why had they suffered through all those losses when such forces could have appeared previously? It definitely was not because the demons were limited. To see so many suddenly appear, felt like a p in his face.

    "What? You look like you''ve never seen arge scale deployment before, pitiful Prince. Now, we shall show you the might of your other siblings'' armies. It''s too bad your sister Gaap perished so early. She should have listened to me rather than rushing to aid her favourite brother into battle."

    "If these are all their troops, where are my siblings?!" Prince Sts questioned with a heavy tone.

    "They have been stationed at home." King Baal suddenly emerged from the magical portal with his Royal Guards right beside him. This alone sent out multiple alerts throughout the entire war room and eventually to all defenders.

    "F-бнather." Prince Sts immediately bent his knee right in front of his Majesty. The surrounding demons, unless they had essential duties to keep the shields up, followed the gesture. The only exception to this was Archduke Kiva himself. He was merely bowing his head slightly with an evil grin.

    "Arise." King Baal demanded, and the rest returned to their duties. A quiet stare was more than enough of punishment, but the words King Baal said hurts Sts deeply.

    "I am quite disappointed in you, Sts. You might have been outmatched, but given the resources you had on hand, the result is simply terrible." The Raven Prince merely kept quiet and tolerated the insult.

    He knew nothing good would happen if he retorted back. Besides, it wasn''t that much of a secret that he wasn''t the most favoured Prince in his father''s books. "I should send you back to ponder over your mistakes, but I agree with Kiva. If you stay, you might actually learn something."

    "My Liege. The Demon Fleet Leviathan have engaged that metal ship. Some of our aerial units have begun reinforcing the remainders of the Dragon Devils. Theirmands will be passed over so that they can be led by our air force. In the meantime, we have wasted no time in employing a full-scale invasion after Duke Crocell had managed to get the rough coordinates of where the Dragonlite scouts have died. I suggest a brute force against the-"

    "The King has his own way of doing things, Kiva." Prince Sts interrupted, but King Baal mmed Prince Sts down to the ground with yet another stare.

    "Do not interrupt when someone is talking!" King Baal ordered as he turned to Kiva and gave a gentle smile. "Kiva, I apologise for the bad upbringing my son had. Do continue. And as for you, Sts, I repeat one final time, your presence here is merely tolerated."

    "You honour me, my liege. But I do not deserve to talk after hearing the Prince''s valid argument!" Kiva replied as he prostrated right in front of the Prince rather than the King. Sts was already holding his anger back, and it got even worse when he saw Kiva''s shrewd face.

    "That guy will be the end of our rule!" Sts thought to himself as he recalled that on the day of Moloch''s demotion, the ruthless bat demon had been there and seemed happier than most at hearing the news.

    "Do not worry, continue on. I appreciate your insights." King Baal replied as he helped Kiva up instead of his son.

    In the meantime, King Baal''s servants had already prepared a throne for him to sit on, and his tent was truly worthy of a king to view the battles from afar. They even started to manage the mages'' broadcast and showed the status of their troops.

    "Coming back to your first question which had been overtly obvious. This is a battle that not even your eldest brother could manage, so I told him and the rest of your siblings to stand down at home. Who knows which idiot would dare go into our kingdom when we are at war." King Baal exined with a side stare towards his son, demanding him to stand at a corner and watch how his father dealt with the traitor.

    A certain someone suddenly sneezed, as he closed hisptop and vanished from Jin''s war roomбн

 Chapter 747 Demon Fleet Leviathan

    <h4>Chapter 747 Demon Fleet Leviathan</h4>

    "Oof. It''s so much smaller than thest time we saw it." Captain Kenwayined through themunications channel courtesy of their mages. Captain Edwards, on the other side, merelyughed at this.

    "Duh, it''s from a crystal ball. What did you expect?" Edwards asked sarcastically as hemanded his fleet forward.

    "It''s beautiful." Was the only thing Lord Focalor said.

    There was no way the demons or humans could build such a magnificent ship. Did Moloch get it from the dwarves? Or was it the gnomes? Whatever the case, Focalor did not care who it came from. The only thing that mattered was that soon it would be his.

    The moment he had first seen the ship up close aftering out the portal, he was dumbstruck and fascinated by it. It was a case of love at first sight.

    "Try not to destroy that beauty. It will be a great asset if we can capture it." Lord Focalor ordered yet his two other captains were a bit hesitant.

    "But Captain, if we hold back and the enemies shoot at us, it will be a disaster. You''ve seen how devastating those cannons can be." Captain Kenway replied cautiously, and he could already hear Edwardsughing even more loudly.

    "Haha! Kenway, Kenway. Are you just pretending or are you actually this na?ve?" Edwards questioned. Themunication they used was limited to only their voices to limit the strain on the mages, otherwise Edward would see how Kenway rolled his eyes at his taunt.

    "If the Captain has decided to use that ability so early in the game, it will be our responsibility to use that time he grants us to capture it," Kenway argued since they knew the limitations of Lord Focalor''s greatest ability, the Fog that Steals.

    For the duration of the ability, they would turn from ordinary Tiefling demons into undead Tiefling pirates, making them invulnerable to pain and doubling their strength and dexterity. Not to mention the fog was so dense that all navigation tools were rendered useless, making it impossible to pinpoint their exact location. With this ability, the Demon Fleet Leviathan had repeatedly proven themselves as one of the most renowned pirates that should not be trifled with.

    Oh, and did the two captains mention how strong their Lord''smand ship was? The Leviathan boasted approximately two hundred cannons at each side of the vessel, allowing for never ending volleys of attack or even worse, an all-out attack. Having two hundred cannonballs hurling at you was no joke.

    There were only a handful of encounters where so many cannons were insufficient to finish the job. However, in such cases, the Leviathan could always add up to another fifty cannons on each side, barring the need to carry any food storages. And that was precisely what they had done today since it would be a skirmish and not a trip around the oceans to steal and plunder.

    Even the two captains had ships with over a hundred cannons on board, and they each had over twenty other smaller pirate shipsbined. Focalor was not going to take any chances by pulling his punches. He had seen the magnitude of Wolte''s cannons. He had to bring the entire fleet out to make sure that they had enough filler targets before they could board the metal ship.

    "That is exactly what I am going to do. We are too close to each other and yet it''s a wee surprise that the ship hasn''t fired ever since it targeted the giants in the frontlines." Focalor observed. "With a high-density magic crystal granted by Archduke Kiva, I should be able to hold the ability for another ten minutes, twenty tops."

    "Ah, then it should be enough considering the distance," Edwards concluded, and Kenway had to agree.

    "Then we jump onto their ship and ughter them. Judging by the size, there should be at least a hundred on the ship, manning it." Kenway suggested, but Focr disagreed.

    "From the moment we arrived, I kept a close look at the ship. I''ve failed to see anyone on either deck or starboard. No movement except for their barrels aiming at the bridge. There might be traps or illusions on it. I want your mages to attack first to dispel any illusion and to fire another salvo before you guys get ready to board." Focalor warned.

    "Haha! You worry too much. It''s known that when you activate your ability, there is nothing to worry about. Victory will already be at hand." Edward scorned at Focalor''s sudden timidness.

    "If you believe in those superstitions then trust in my bones. Whenever we find ourselves in a tricky situation, I get that strange feeling. And ever since we got here, I feel itchy all over. Sometimes, even pirates need some caution, or else the sea will consume you for disrespecting it." Focalor rebutted, and Edward became speechless.

    "You''ve already lost when you engaged in a talking battle with Focalor." Kenyway didn''t miss the opportunity tough heartily as his smartasspanion before he ryed the information to his sailors.

    ----

    In the meantime, Lord Wolte clearly knew who they were dealing with and was already pumping with excitement. "I''ve always adored Demon Pirate King Focalor. He''s quite a legend back in the city." Lord Wolte shared with Mr Derpy since he knew the humans would have no idea what he was talking about.

    "Oh, those ships, can we eat them?" Mr Derpy asked, and Lord Wolte sighed.

    "Dagen, you still have some unfinished leftovers. Why would you want more?"

    "That contingency n has made me nervous. I am forced to sit still, wait for the eventuality of my turn toe and then everything will be up to me. I''ll bergely responsible whether we win or lose. What do you expect me to do?" Mr Derpy revealed his fears and Wolte understood that this was the first time Jin and Qiu Yue had entrusted him to do such an important job.

    "Binge eating won''t help you, though. Oh whatever, I know how you must feel. The first time I was at war and was bestowed a huge responsibility, I nearly freaked out too. However, that is perfectly normal. When the timees to act, you will know what to do. Don''t forget, you are not alone. You have me, your Deep Ones, and the System will also guide you." Lord Wolte tried to console Mr Derpy.

    "Speaking of your Deep Ones, they aren''t that needed for the contingency n. Only you are. Why not let them be useful and start tagging those ships."

    "That means they get to y and I can''t! How is that fair?" Mr Derpy argued with a pouting face.

    "If you benevolently allow them to go out and y, won''t they return that gratitude by bringing you more food?" Lord Wolte offered hisrge friend a new perspective.

    "Ah, yes. Why didn''t I think of that? Wolte, my greatest friend, your constant help will not go unanswered in the future. I shall get my Deep Ones to track under the ships." Mr Derpy immediately agreed to it at the potential promise of more stress eating.

    "Aww, that''s kind of you, Dagen. Look, I will aim to sink, or at least make a hole, in those ships, so you can get the Deep Ones to rush in, hunt and bring the food to you too. They wouldn''t have to wait all day until those pirates jump overboard."

    "You certainly are a genius Wolte. I will tell them to get ready!"

    "Good. Now I have a perfect counter against Focalor''s Fog That Steals when he decides to use it." Wolte thought to himself as he informed the human sailors about the ''trackers'' that had been employed.

 Chapter 748 Operation Fire Glass

    <h4>Chapter 748 Operation Fire ss</h4>

    "Holy shit, how is this possible?!" Meng Ruo wondered as he saw the immense crowd of new demon soldiers popping left, right and centre. "No wonder the cultivators are running away."

    "Look sharp. If there are this many, I believe the Demon Horde will be attacking all the ind tforms simultaneously." Sarge Rocher warned them to not lose focus. The others on the Land Hover squad agreed that such a possibility sounded quite likely given the intelligence level of their enemies.

    "Sarge, there are magic signals iing. It looks like they are indeed preparing for an enormous mass attack." CPL Zhang Min, who was manning the radios reported to Rocher.

    "Then let''s buckle up, it will be one hell of a ride in the Industry Sector." Sarge Rocher said as he checked his rifle chamber once more before moving out.

    --------

    Meanwhile, the same scenario was happening to the other tforms which the Dragonlites had previously scouted. Duke Crocell had been able to use the Mages Telmunication Centre to report his findings to Kiva who in turn had managed to iste and pinpoint approximate coordinates of the ind tforms.

    "It is truly remarkable how that traitor has managed to find such a powerful sponsor. If their defences were any tighter, we might not be able to achieve any of this at all." Kiva whispered to his King and Baal merely acknowledged that a multiple prong attack was necessary to overwhelm the enemy.

    "Get the Royal Mages to teleport those troops in. I want to see our gs waving at each of their highest towers. Burn everything else down. Record the scenes so we can show everyone what awaits those who stand against us." King Baal said, and Kiva hurried to ry the orders.

    What King Baal wanted was total annihtion. The search for the Dungeon Core? That already seemed secondarypared to what he was going to do to Moloch. For what that Cotton Minotaur had done to his nobles and precious daughter, he was already fantasising the most painful of tortures he would do to Moloch. "As soon as you find him, tell me. I will personally go out and collect his head."

    "Yes, my sire." Kiva bowed back and continued to give orders as per his liege''s will.

    --------

    The Royal Snake soldiers equipped with magic detectors had already begun shoring up their defences by returning to the posts they were given. Fortress Golems on every floating ind tform had also been reactivated from standby mode and were ready for action, and the ind''s defences had been switched on too.

    As for the Orc Artillery Company, they had stopped firing after the Royal Mages had ced a high-density shield on their new temporary teleportation checkpoint. While it did some damage, it was not very effective in the long run, and most importantly, it just wasted their precious ammo.

    Prince Sts must have sent back the data from the hours of barrage against the safe zone allowing the Royal Mages to learn how much shielding was needed to protect them.

    Thus, even as they suffered from this disadvantage of being set in the middle of the bridge, the only real threat for the time being seemed to be the Stalingrad. Fortunately, the Demon Fleet Leviathan was going to take care of it. (Or so they thought) So perhaps the mages believed all they had to do was to tolerate the first shot, and the infamous Demon Fleet Leviathan will handle the rest.

    Well, Wolte nned to act in a way they expected him toбн with a little exception.

    --------

    "Mdm, the defenders have sessfully retreated to the defensive floating ind. The Sherman Tanks have also ced down their mines as they moved back. Our only casualties were two Sherman Tanks that were rendered incapable of timely evading the mages'' attacks." The goblin tel operator reported. He added that the tanks were still doing a fair bit of damage from afar.

    "Mdm, the Fortress Golems in the left behind watchtowers have ceased to function as expected. Thus they were set to detonate the moment any demon soldiers tried to take control of the watchtowers. The pilots inside already retreated with the aid of the System."

    "Other than that, the Stalingrad reported that the ship is ready for a full-on assault on the bridge and is awaiting further instructions."

    "Lord Wolte intends to not move just yet. He is waiting for the magic portals to be cast on every ind before the soldiers on the bridge will move."

    The goblin tels operators were rambling on and on even though they were talking in a sequential manner and not interrupting each other at all. Qiu Yue managed to catch all of those, and the Sub System further helped her by listing them as bullet points in order of importance.

    "Send the V2 Rockets out and tell Que Er that we are initiating phase two of the operation. After that, get Wolte to fire in unison with the impact of the V2 rockets." Qiu Yue said, and the tel operators ryed the information.

    "Sandy, are you ready as well?" Qiu Yue asked, and Sandy, who was hiding near the end of the Sky Bridge chuckled.

    "The Penguins have arrived and are more than ready to help me. So yeap, I am ready." Sandy replied.

    "Very good, let''smence Operation Fire ss." Qiu Yue announced, and the entire tels crew knew what to do. While it might be more worthwhile to use itter in the day to reduce the influx of demon troops, Qiu Yue believed if Operation Fire ss was used now, it would be a great shock and awe kind of tactic.

    Moloch also concurred as this might potentially be impactful enough to lower the morale of the troops since the advent of their King must have made them feel invulnerable. Hence he gave the green light for the operation.

    However, the most crucial part of the operation would not be the mass destruction of the temporary checkpoint nor about bringing their barriers down.

    It was to buy time. Precious time which both tacticians needed to sort things out for the next phase. Doing it on the run was an option as well, but right now they need a sort of breather which might be hard to gainter.

    So, as the V2 Rockets were being prepared forunch from the military base floating inds, Que Er already had multiple crows carrying a number of big fat looking bombs towards the Sky Bridge. And to protect these bombs, more crows were employed along with Odin''s ravens to ensure the safety of those bombs.

    "Now!" The Red Panda Cultivator ordered when she saw the minimum distance left for the crows to reach the Sky Bridge and the V2 rockets were shot out into the skies, heading straight for the energy shield brought up by the mages. The demon soldiers heard booming noises and thought it wasing from the metal ship, but there was no movement from that end.

    "Artilleries, fire now!" Qiu Yue added, and the Orc Artillery Companies did asmanded and the demon soldiers got even more nervous. Though this time, there was a visible impact on one side of the barrier and the mages urged them to calm down.

    With the distraction of the artillery, the V2 rockets were able to fly from above with much sess. Before the Dragon Devils, who were still in a lengthy dogfight against the Wyvern Goblin Knights, could report their findings, the rockets were already on their way to hitting the barrier.

    With precision timing, Wolte had also fired all his main turrets at the bridge, and that was ironically the signal for the Lord Focalor to use his ability, The Fog that Steals. Yet, what they did not know was that the simultaneous shots from the Stalingrad and the V2 rockets had an impact and broke the shields with unprecedented effect.

    That was where the almighty Royal Mages tried to scramble to rebuild the barriers with the second wave of mages, but the timing of the crows toe in was impable. The bombs were not released, and instead, the crows followed the bombs for the impact as they crashednded at specific equal distances of the Sky Bridge for it to explode.

    Also, those were no ordinary bombs.

    Qiu Yue had purchased napalm bombs, causing soldiers to incinerate in a moment''s notice. The crows added the explosive powers to the bombs, causing massive destruction to the bridge''s integrity.

    And as if that was not enough, Sandy was at the end of the Sky Bridge conjuring a tidal wave of sand filled with oil and water courtesy of the Penguin Ninjas as she unleashed it downwards to the bottom of the Sky Bridge.

    With the napalm burning, the sand mixed with oil and water caused the fire to burn even fiercer and longer, bringing the temperature up by a ton, to the point where the sand was melting to be ss.

    Hence the name Operation Fire ss.

    There was literally no hope for the soldiers on the bridge as another massacre urred, dropping the numbers down. In the meantime, Qiu Yue took this solely needed time the fire had brought to reorganise the cultivators as nned into the defensive ind tform.

    She believed it would yet again be another protracted fight against all fronts. And this time once most or all of the cultivators were gone, they would have to rely on the monsters to take over their posts since it was already evening time in their world.

 Chapter 749 Monitor Him Closely

    <h4>Chapter 749 Monitor Him Closely</h4>

    "Tsk." King Baal got slightly irritated at the events on the Sky Bridge. The demons next to him, on the other hand, were mortified when they witnessed thebined powers of their Royal Mages fail to hold the fort against Moloch''s assault.

    While sand was supposed to be a fire retardant, the mix of oil and water within it had made the ongoing napalm fire grow fierce. The sand covered the area delicately so that the fire could not spread out. It had been a slightlyplicated process that needed finesse, but Sandy had been able to further improve her control ever since she started to work with the Orcs and Goblins to create concrete.

    To the onlookers, they thought that Moloch/Jin had another monster use some sort of wide-area magic like the Judgement Storm by Keyrin. The field of molten sand had burnt the army in the thousands, leaving nothing but debris from all the metal armour they had been wearing.

    Yet, King Baal had seen it all from a distance. He had sensed zero magical energy until the end of the attack when the tidal sands hade in. This meant that Moloch had reached out to races with great technological advances for their weapons and destructive powers.

    "Usually, those races all require a pricey sacrifice, and he must have paid dearly to obtain such technology." King Baal thought to himself as he ignored what was happening on the Sky Bridge. "Kiva, get the other mages to cool down the Sky Bridge so we can use the temporary teleportation checkpoint again. Continue with the simultaneous assault as per n. We won''t let one attack pull us down."

    "As decisive as ever!" Kiva replied with glee and went to over to his cronies to pass the message down.

    Meanwhile, Prince Sts had been fully reduced to just a wallflower with the arrival of his father. Still, to be honest, he was quite relieved at the shift in responsibility, despite there being mixed feelings of dread and anger towards Kiva.

    "Guards, keep a note of Kiva''s whereabouts at all times," Sts whispered, and the guards roughly knew what he wanted to do. "Before this battle is over, I expect his head toe down his shoulders. About time that he learns he is not as almighty as he pretends."

    "Do not act too harshly, my Prince. He might act like a sissy, but he is still a formidable opponent to fight against." His guards panicked and whispered back, advising their Prince to stay his de.

    "Worry not. We are at war against one of the smartest tacticians in our Dungeon World, right? He surely has a way to defeat him, if not through brute force. We will just have to be there to be the ones to deal him the final blow."

    "Will that not affect your status as Prince?" The captain of his guards asked, and Sts shook his head.

    "If banishment can release me from this chained up suffering, I will dly ept it. But at least, I will do it with some dignity intact. I know what that weasel has been doing behind our backs, and it should be satisfying if I can leave knowing I at least cut him down once."

    "While I do not think it''s a wise idea and rmend you to cool your head, we will still follow as per your orders." The guard captain bowed slightly with his clenched hand ced it on his chest, as a sign of deep respect.

    "бнI will take your words into consideration. Just monitor him for now." Sts was taken aback by the sudden pledge of loyalty and started thinking things through logicallyбн but even that did not stop his feelings of rage within him.

    ---------

    Despite all the court drama behind the frontlines, King Baal''s orders were implemented just as ordered. Hundreds of soldiers that were at the safe zone who has seen theirrades get burnt into nothingness were all ready to take revenge. They howled a series of warcries and banged their weapons on the ground to increase their morale.

    The teleportation spells were cast, and there was little to no interference because of the additional shields brought up in advance before the spell was cast. The Stalingrad was also being upied with the Demon Fleet Leviathan while the Wyvern Goblin Knights had a bout of renewed dogfights against the Dragon Devils and their reinforcements.

    And as the soldiers teleported into each and every ind tform the Dragonlites had been able to scout, they were faced with the very same situation that had gued the start of invasion.

    Bombardments.

    The Royal Snakes who had been waiting for the longest time ever were finally put into action. Being one of the decisive strike forces in China that had a reputation of being able to respond to any threat, they relished the fight against overwhelming numbers.

    Because to be honest, they had been trained mostly for tactical insertions andcked sufficient experience in defending against a horde. And that was precisely what Hou Fei wanted them to learn before holding the actual fort in the real world. While most of themanders initially had doubts about this particr exercise, they had quickly changed their mind upon seeing the sheer size King Baal brought with him.

    This was definitely what they needed, and a ''simtion'' in this quantity allowed themanders to learn first hand about any problems their soldiers might encounter in their standard formations so they could improve it before the actual defence in Dongguan-Huizhou.

    "Continue the barrage! Shell shock as many as possible!" Sarge Rocher, who was handling a squad in the Industry Sector, instructed his team handling the mortars. Despite the bombardment, the soldiers were still fearless enough to move through as a group, and he could see the difference between them and the first sortie.

    He came to the conclusion that they had been magically buffed before teleporting, allowing them to be enraged, which would exin the frenzy charges. However, he knew that enrage spells would make them more vulnerable to damage since they had no care for their lives. As long as his side was relentless too, the ultimate winner would definitely be the defenders.

    But even with the barrage, the soldiers were moving at a fast pace which the mortar adjustments could not amodate, and that was where the Fortress Golems from afar had decided to step in and pick up the pace.

    "Oh man, I love those golems and their grenadeunchers." CPL Wei Yi said as he hid behind the trench and reloaded his rifle. He recalled the sheer details on the Fortress Golem he saw and the mechanical movement brought chills to his body.

    "Haha! You have yet to see the best of them." CPL Zhang Min replied as he recalled seeing a few special weapons being stowed to the guard posts in the industry sector. "The Goblins were all snickering at how it could fry an entire roadblock in front of them with a push of the trigger."

    "Shut your traps, reload your damn guns and concentrate!" Sarge Rocher shouted, and the two corporals acknowledged as they remained vignt to stop the demon''s advance.

 Chapter 750 Defending the Various Sectors

    <h4>Chapter 750 Defending the Various Sectors</h4>

    The Demons Horde was unrelenting, moving forward at breakneck speed with no regards to their own well being. This strategy would prove especially effective in Agriculture Sector 1. Major Boon Tiong who was coordinating the defence had seen through the weakness of Agriculture Sector 1 early on.

    Since it was crop-based, their vastnd area made it hard for the defenders to cover everything without redeploying the number of soldiers from other sectors. Yet, they could not do so without it creating weaknesses on other fronts.

    However, there was a silver lining in this situation. Most of the crops had been harvested, yet the System had purposely grown tall nts to increase the survivability of the soldiers defending the area. It allowed the Royal Snakes to create makeshift traps and even hidden tunnels to hide in as they ambushed the demon troops.

    As Master Ambushers, the Royal Snake soldiers reinvented the meaning of fear so that even the demons under the rage enchantment had begun questioning the safety of every step they made.

    "Heh, there is no such thing as ''safe'' when you are in our yground." Major Boon Tiong chuckled as he quickly took out one soldier by surprise, and subsequently ughtered the rest of their group. Afterwards, he disappeared back into the tall grass, leaving no tracks behind as if he were a ghost.

    With this hands-on approach of the soldiers, the mortar strikes were more sparse than in other locations unless they were sure it was a heavyweight like a troll or a squad of cavalry trying to rush in. The rest of the soldiers were all split into smaller groups as they tackled Demon Horde who thought forward was the only way to go.

    What''s more, they were assisted by the baby Broli Porkcupines as part of the surprise bestowed by Jin. Half Ghoul Lord Derek had sessfully managed to reduce their size so that they were asrge as a Rottweiler by instilling some canine DNA into them as well, making them more responsive to humans and a little more loyal. (Actually, Derek merely used genes from Silver, Gold and the rest of the werejackals)

    And those modifications significantly increased their agility without losing the strength they possessed...as well as their unique ability to shoot broli projectiles out of their backs. If one were to think that the modified projectiles were a joke, they were solely mistaken as it had the same prating ability as their spikes. (Imagine a piece of broli was thrust into a demon''s body and going through it like a bullet, the amount of force needed was so much more)

    The Royal Snakes had discovered that the demon troops had designated their teleportation spell at the edge of the ind. In theory, this was a smart choice allowing their enemies to send in reinforcement if the first wave of demon troops were to perish.

    They knew it would be only a question of time until some demons with the ability to burn down the grass woulde in robbing them of their ambush advantage. Fortunately, this was where the Broli Porkcupines came in. After annihting the iing first wave, they quickly positioned these pigs near the tall grasses where the teleportation spell would bring in the troops.

    As soon as this next batch of demon troops appeared, Major Boon Tiong ordered a full offensive charge against the troops. These soldiers who had yet to limatize themselves from the teleportation spell were suddenly being sprung by a wave of pig monsters hitting them.

    As if that was not enough, the Broli Porkcupines shot their projectiles out, further weakening the front line they were pushing. These incidentally caused the demon troops to move backwards despite the backlines demanding for a forward charge. The more the Porkcupines charged and stormed the front, the more they were pushed back, with new ones arriving, upying the already limited space. And just like a domino effect after the first one fell, many more followed as they were pushed off the edge of the ind.

    However, Major Boon Tiong knew this shock tactic had its limits, and with a loud whistle, the Baby Broli Porkcupines went scurrying into the tall grass. At the same time, the Royal Snakes took care of the still shocked stragglers, mercilessly spraying their bullets out in the open.

    Within that interval, the other Royal Snake Soldiers returned to fix the traps for the subsequent wave of Demon Horde and the cycle continued. Some of the soldiers even began doing stock checks to ensure the farmhouses they fortified had sufficient ammunition for the protracted fight or even a possible escape road if their safe houses were overwhelmed.

    Still, that was not the end for them as professional soldiers like themselves had a few tricks up their sleeves, especially when they were currently fighting with a restricted cultivation grade as ordered.

    As for the other sectors, things were slightly different. The portion of the Demon Horde which had teleported into the Military Sector basically got ughtered the moment they stepped into the territory. In less than a minute, the entire group had been mercilessly killed again and again.

    Nothing was left and for good reason. The military base was where many of the ''surprises'' for the various phases of the defensive ns were kept. That was why multiple miniguns emcements had long since been erected by the System to cope with the possible teleportation portals of their enemies.

    While the Royal Snake Soldiers had anti-magic fields, they knew that the first few waves of demon troops would be too insignificant to waste such expensive equipment. And that was the same for Qiu Yue and Moloch though they were keener on this being more an offensive defence than a total defence.

    Jin took a peek at the expenditure list, and he was shocked when he found out the number of items they had bought. "Some are just experimental." Qiu Yue tried to y innocent when Jin queried about it, but he sometimes knew how terrible she was at lying. However, all possible contentions went down the drain against the golden argument of ''they might help against King Baal''.

    Unlike the Military Sector, the Industry Sectors may not im the title of having the biggest firepower, but they were second to none when it came to defences. With a pair of Fortress Golems at every corner, every nook, it was impossible for anyone to slip through to escape the murder machines. (Not to mention, the Royal Snake Soldiers hiding in every possible loophole they found in the Industry Sector''s defenceyout.)

    It was just as crucial as the Military Sector and could not be allowed to get breached, because the System had production ongoing such as ammunition to replenish the output which Jin''s monsters used rather haphazardly.

    As for the Agriculture Sector 2? Hah. That was the only ce where Jin had demanded only the most elite of Royal Snake Soldiers be ced as both Jin and even Qiu Yue guaranteed that was the most dangerous ce to be stationed at.

    Why?

    Because all of the Giant Monsters that had been defeated had been ced there for breeding purposes except for one particr entity. Ice Father Porkcupine. The rest were roaming rather happily in their new environment the System had created for them.

    Hence, when it came to defence, what could be better than to unleash all of them against the Demon Horde with the System partially controlling them? The Royal Snakes were mostly there for taking out any particrly dangerous individuals the monsters were unable to.

    From the One Horned Chicken to the Four wed Scorpionбн the area was basically a nightmare for any demon troops as their fate would be to be unhealthy after-dinner snacks.

 Chapter 751 Fog That Steals

    <h4>Chapter 751 Fog That Steals</h4>

    With all the ruckus at the floating ind tforms, there was another fierce battle in the seas of Pandapolis which no one could see. Even with the aid of high level magic, the Royal Mages could not urately detect anything to make a proper assessment of the situation.

    The Fog that Steals was something simr to an Anti-Magic Field, which was created to overload the mages'' senses. The more sensitive one was to magic, the harder it was for them to do anything within it. So, with no magic acuity special visual senses to guide them, the Demon Fleet Leviathan relied solely on their seafaring instincts and years of experiences to bring them to victory.

    For this reason, Captain Edward and Kenway were very adamant that this particr skirmish would end up to be an easy battle despite the destructive firepower the metal ship possessed. Unfortunately, they had no idea about the technological advances in Jin''s world and with a speckle of System''s guidance, it had basically triumphed over the difficulties of navigating in a fog.

    It was like putting a blindfold on a person with X-ray vision when the humans on the Stalingrad turned the sonar radar system on. The Stalingrad could have tracked every single ship''s position without the Deep Ones'' as trackers though Gan Yang, the temporary captain of Stalingrad, agreed with the AI that having the trackers was a good alternative.

    Wolte had done this partly as a precaution in case the technology might have had problems against he ability, but more importantly for the Deep Ones to act when needed.

    The Captain initially thought that he needed to use the magic descramblers to get the positions of the ships but never knew it was just a ''basic'' level of fog magic. Yet, even though he knew where the ships were at and how fast they wereing in, the seas of Pandapolis were not exactlyrge enough for a battlecruiser of this size to move around freely.

    Gan Yang had termed the Stalingrad as a sea fortress that could barely move. Then again was there a need to move a fortress, especially when the enemies were closing in? All they needed was to readjust their guns and get ready to fire at any threats to deter or kill their enemies. Besides, the AI had told them that they actually had monster allies under the sea waiting to strike when the Stalingrad put a hole in their enemy''s ships.

    "So this is what the AI Wolte meant with moving trackers in the sea, huh." Gan Yang thought to himself as he checked the arsenal of weapons Stalingrad had. Upon learning that there was an army of undersea troops ready to ambush the ships, Gan Yang sent a series of orders for his deck to position guns to aim at the nearest iing threats as well as forming solutions on what to hit.

    "Sir, Torpedoes One to Ten are ready. Energy Shields are up, and all the turrets are hot with Type-3 Timer Control munitions." His second inmand reported. Those shells were the very same type that had rained down on the safe zone, and Gan Yang was not going to hold any punches.

    "Do not let them get any closer if possible for now. A fleet this size might not be much for this new girl and its paternal AI but their crew members might be aquatic in nature and may attempt to hijack the ship. We have to do as much damage as possible to ensure the loss of lives so we can defend this ship without too much hassle. Reduce their numbers, and we can do a proper counterattack." Gan Yang ordered only to realiseбн. he talked too much.

    "Fire!" The subsequent simple order suddenly lit the ship up like a huge firework within the fog. And simr to fireworks, Stalingrad''s ''sparks'' flew in various directions targeting all the vessels that thought they had the upper advantage.

    Some of the sailors in the Demon Fleet Leviathanughed when they saw the Stalingrad light up. It was obviously the very same mistake every ship had made when they first encountered Focalor''s Fog that Steals ability. They believed that by shooting whatever they got, they would have the probability of hitting something.

    However, the ships of the Demon Fleet Leviathan had noticed that the ship had not moved a single inch ever since the inception of the fog, so its direction was still the same. And despite Kenway, Edward and Focalor having a brief visualisation of how the cannons worked, they all assumed that the ship''s position equated to where therge barrels were ced, much less their minions and lower ranked soldiers.

    Thus, they had falsely assumed moving out of their range of fire was sufficient enough not to get hit as per their medieval way of fighting in the seas.

    They. Were. So. Wrong.

    As with every modern battlecruiser, all of their main cannon turrets could be moved with ease, and the Stalingrad''s guns were aimed based on the ship''s size as tracked by Wolte''s allies. (Bigger, meaner guns reserved for bigger targets.) The Deep Ones gave a visual report of howrge the ships were from beneath the seas, and it waster easy for the AI to ''rmend'' the targets to Gan Yang and the rest of his crew.

    Hence when the Stalingrad fired, the demons had no idea that each and every shot would be urate to the centimetre. A couple of the ships had been so sure that they were safe that they even had their magic shields down in order to conserve magic.

    Needless to say, even with protection, Wolte''s explosive shells could have prated their defences easily, and many of them were a direct hit to the centre of their ship.

    But to their surprise, the damage done was not as significant as they had feared. Compared to what the demon sailors had been told, they were afraid when they saw it pierced into their cargo hold. But nothing happened for a moment.

    And because of that, manyughed it off that it was just a lucky shot and even guessed that their enemy might be out of powerful ammo.

    What they didn''t expect was that in the next minute, the Type-3 shells exploded suddenly. And with their supplies of gunpowder in the cargo hold, the ship turned from a capable fighting beast into a prison on fire.

    (The demons should clearly revamp where they store their munitions.)

    The same happened formand ships for all three demon captains, but because of their sheer size, the shells missed their cargo hold and only exploded a part of the ship. With capable mages on deck, they were able to extinguish the fire betterpared to the rest of their counterparts, and that was enough for Wolte to distinguish what threats were worth facing.

    As for the ships that caught on fire? Their misery merely began as the Deep Ones happily emerged their heads out of the water. The Fog was the perfect cover for them to perform some exercise without revealing the trump card of Qiu Yue''sst contingency n.

 Chapter 752 Terror of The Deep

    <h4>Chapter 752 Terror of The Deep</h4>

    "Put the damn fire out!" The Demon sailors shouted as they tried to salvage the situation as best they could. No one was dumb enough to jump overboard the ship after going through many hardships together as a group, a team or to some, as a family.

    "Get close to Ship Iceman, the damage done to their ship should hopefully not be as severe. We might be able to get some help from the mages on their ship!"

    "Sir, the cargo hold is burning way too much! Many have died, and several are injured from the explosive attack. They are unable to move by themselves!"

    "The Ship is tipping!"

    "C''mon man, you got to survive! We can make those bastards pay twice the pain!"

    Every single ship had their very ownmotion, and things were not looking too good for the entire fleet. Things only worsened for the unlucky souls as the Deep Ones started climbing on the ships looking for more tributes to gather for their lord.

    Most of the Demon Sailors were too preupied with the damages to their ships and did not notice the new visitors onboard taking the opportunity to sneak up on them when they were least prepared.

    Only one or two ships out of the many had been able to ring the rm to alert the whole crew, but most noticed them when it was already toote. As bloodthirsty as the Deep Ones were, they were also predators by nature. They wouldn''t confront their prey head on, not if there was a need to.

    Firstly, they would quietly climb up the edges of the ship and grab anyone that happened to be too close to the railings. Else, they would try to fit into the cannon portholes or stab their spears into the portholes to ensure the death of their victims.

    The Deep One Mages who apanied the melee fighters were also instrumental in the ambushes. They cast silence spells as soon as they had eye contact with any of the sailors. Oh, the fear in their eyes as they saw their fellowrades grinning with jagged teeth to drag them into the sea.

    ''The sea consumes all'' had never been more appropriate until now.

    "What are those?! INTRUDERS! INTRU-" The sailor who had noticed something amiss managed to alert the rest, but a harpoon went through his throat, and the inhuman tug that pulled him to the Deep Ones made sure he died before he hit the ground. The Deep Ones, now equipped with ranged weapons like harpoon guns, became even deadlier on their path towards the upper deck to encroach on the rest of the crew.

    After being discovered, the Deep Ones did not hesitate to change their tactics to a full-on assault. They hastily pounced towards any sailors in sight and ughtered them before they could pull out their weapons. The side effects of the Fog that Steals ability may have made the demon sailors less vulnerable to pain, yet it did not mean that it could cheat death.

    Some managed to retaliate with their primitive matchlocks powered with specks of magic dust, but in the grand scheme of things, the loss of a couple of Deep Ones did not help them as they had severely underestimated the fight they picked with Stalingrad.

    These fish-men had been constantly trained by the finest cultivators that Jin had in his store. The Pandarens'' relentless determination to clear the Escape City Dungeon only improved the intellect of the Deep Ones as well as theirbat awareness. For them, it was a mark of pride that their dungeon instance remained unconquered even now.

    Behind the scenes, Shadow Dagen had also been giving out blessings of the Fish Lord for all the tributes they delivered. All things considered, some of the Fish Men were as capable as Grade 4 to Grade 5 cultivators. So what if the sailors had improved tolerance to pain? Could they truly handle the Terrors of the Deep?

    With the Fog that Steals ability, it was as if everyone inside was in a separate dimension. While it seemed like a double edged sword, the demon troops had years of training and plundering under their belt, unlike their enemies. They even regarded it as a sort ofpetition.

    The fog would aid in isting the noises which the entrapped enemies made, and the Demon Fleet coordinated to burn and plunder their enemies ships. Focalor''s hearing was further boosted as the one to control this ability. Incidentally, Captain Edward and Kenway had earned the trust from Focalor as they hadsted against him for a very long time, proving themselves as overlypetent pirates.

    However, right now, from the shouts and cries from afar, Lord Focalor understood that it was actually his fleet that was in trouble, not the enemy. Regrettably, he was unable to give any aid to them since this was how their team worked. They might be working under the same team, but the plundered riches would only go to the strongest. Whoever needed to be resurrected would lose most of their share to cover the costs. It was not really an issue since the sailors knew the risks of the tricky sea when they signed up.

    Focalor did not shed a single tear for the suffering crew member and instead adjusted his ship''s starboard to face the Stalingrad''s port and stern. The previous attack on his Leviathan Mothership might not have been devastating, but it was concerning. He had already seen how those cannons worked and how deadly their firepower was before going into battle. Thest attack merely proved their ferocity and prowess that made Focalor yearn for the ship further.

    Casualties were to be expected and his ship had gotten off lightly because of a quick decision to steer the hull when Focalor''s astute hearing and senses believed there was an iing attack. He was initially surprised by how fast Stalingrad''s cannon could shoot after seeing it in action. But Focalorpletely did not expect such a quick reload time as another shot of the cannons came forth towards it.

    The shields that the Leviathan mothership had put up was insufficient to stop the second wave of attacks as it broke instantly upon impact, allowing two other shots to go through. However, the almighty Focalor of the Seas was not going to let another devastating blow like this hurt them. Thus, he used his sword imbued with magical inscriptions, to summon a spiritual serpent to serve as his ship''s guardian.

    The pirates always regarded this particr magical summon as the Leviathan herself in spirit to protect the ship when the magical serpent graced her majestic form, wrapping her serpentine body around the sea vessel.

    The spiritual sea serpent attempted to block the remaining two shots, and yet it suffered the same fate as the energy shield. Not even a minute out in the open and the spiritual serpent faded away upon impact. At least its sacrifice was not in vain as it absorbed a shot while the remaining one hit the stern of the Mothership. The sailors who saw it were in a state of disbelief that Focalor''s ship guardian could be down that easily just from a cannon shot, causing them to be fearful of Stalingrad''s might.

    "Quickly iste the damage, and the rest of you get moving! Aim your cannons into the fog! You all saw where the shot came from, so shoot indiscriminately!" Focalor shouted to wake his men up and the sailorsplied to the order without any hesitation.

    Every single avable cannon porthole that was open was aimed towards the direction of the Stalingrad and shot simultaneously as soon as the sailors recovered. The cannons moved to position as if the mothership was conducting a mass execution by cannon fire with hundreds of cannonballs flying towards the location of Stalingrad.

    Yet Lord Wolte only grinned internally at this!

 Chapter 753 Hijack

    <h4>Chapter 753 Hijack</h4>

    Ever since the Demon Fleet Leviathan teleported into the seas of Pandapolis, Stalingrad had been tracking the movements of the ships and getting information via the Deep Ones. It all served to provide Lord Wolte and the cultivators with the bigger picture of what was actually happening in the fog, helping them make decisions.

    It was easy enough to predict that Focalor''s ship was going to retaliate, so Wolte had already started its engine and moved away straight after attacking.

    Using the loud st of his main cannons, Wolte had been able to mask the nuclear engine''s ignition as he moved away from the spot. So by the time Focalor actually fired his cannons, it was already toote.

    Instead, those cannons ended up shredding one of their own ships that had been unlucky enough to be chasing after it. Gan Yang and the sailors were all chuckling upon seeing it on the radar. Though they were initially worried about the fog attack, they did not expect it to be this simple to ovee.

    However, this was all thanks to Wolte already knowing about the ability''s uses and its ws from the time he had previously travelled with Focalor on a raiding mission. The former Duke had shown his admiration for their tactics throughout the mission, so Focalor and his aides boasted about its effectiveness and exined how they proceed with their usual tactics.

    Thus, it would be just a matter of time until the fog dissipated, and Stalingrad continued its bombardment. There was nothing much to worry about, especially with the Stalingrad''s firepower being directly linked to Derpy''s magical supply.

    And speaking about the Shadow Dagen, Mr Derpy had fun controlling one of Wolte''s smaller cannons, and he took the opportunity to fire whenever he was given the permission by Wolte to do so. Most of his shotsnded in the water, but Wolte just encouraged him to do better and tried giving him pointers.

    Still, Focalor was not one to crumble under this adversity. To him, it was a challenge, one he had craved for a very long time. He couldn''t see the cannons hitting another ship, but he heard the attack connect, only that it sounded more like they were hitting wood rather than metal. Therefore, he immediately understood that the Stalingrad had already moved from its previous location.

    "So, not only can the metal ship hit correctly, her crew can steer her away from danger in time. It seems like our fog is more of a boon rather than a burden to the metal ship." Focalor believed that there was no need to put his crew in any more danger, so he instantly removed the fog with a snap of his finger.

    When the fog was lifted, Focalor could not believe his eyes as the Stalingrad was sailing straight for a head on collision into the Leviathan''s hull from the portside. There was no time thinking how such a big ship could navigate so silently behind multiple vessels within the fog with such precision.

    "Ready the portside guns and fire now! The rest brace for impact!" Focalor shouted, and everyone tried to hold onto something as the sailors sought to act as ordered to deliver a volley of attacks in order to damage and slow the Stalingrad from hitting straight on.

    "Fire the Main Cannons!" Gan Yang shouted. He had already instructed the turrets to be aiming at the stern of the Leviathan where the quarters of the ship would be ording to the designs of most medieval colossal ships. (And based on Wolte''s extremely vague recollection.)

    At the same time, he did not divert his course and nned for a straight on collision. Unlike the pirates, the Royal Snakes were already prepared for a crash impact operation with hijacking the ship as their main objective. In Wolte''s opinion, it was simply too audacious of a n, yet, he loved how confident the Royal Snake Sailors sounded and with how much enthusiasm they acted upon it.

    "Brace for impact AI Wolte, you have your allies with you, and I have no doubt that you will call them for such a big party." Gan Yangmented, and he could barely hear a slight chuckle in the AI''s voice.

    "Now Dagen will think I am patronising his minions too much. Oh well, more favours from him would be a good thing too."

    The Stalingrad had no sympathy when her bow crashed into the Leviathan''s hull, causing a huge crack in its hull. Some of the cannons which shotte backfired or recoiled from the impact, creating several mini-explosions within their stations. With the gunpowder ced haphazardly for efficiency, it had be a hotbed of idents for the Leviathan.

    As for the Stalingrad? Heh, Wolte felt that they were like putting his head in a bubble wrap. It was fun and painless!

    In the meantime, most of the smaller turrets and automated gun cements were given for the Shadow Dagen to control as he saw fit. The human crew had decided to carry on with their n of hijacking thergest ship in the Demon Fleet.

    "Let''s go and do some raiding. I always wondered how it would feel to be a pirate." Gan Yang said, and the entire crew joined in with wide grins on their mouth.

    -----------

    As for the Sky Bridge, the molten fire had finally cooled down through thebined work of the new mages arriving on cavalry from the safe zone by throwing whatever ice and water magic they could harness. Once there was confirmation that the temporary checkpoint was clear, King Baal sent orders to resume bringing in the reinforcements.

    In no time, more mages attended to the Sky Bridge''s clearance, and King Baal began sending the first batch of soldiers to the defensive ind tform.

    Sadly, the Demon Horde was unable to make any progress in capturing any of the floating ind tforms due to the limited number of troops the mages could teleport at a time. By the time they sent in a second group, the Royal Snake Soldiers had already eliminated the first.

    However, King Baal, who was now the overall in charge of this particr side of the battlefield, continued to send soldiers because he knew that he had a sheer limitless quantity at his end. He was confident that there was a limit to Moloch''s annoying box of tricks.

    There had been no news of him acquiring a massive organisation or being recruited by one. His top spies had been monitoring him, and the only information they ever found was that Moloch''s minotaurs had done some scouting to several old dungeons sites that were not worthy of mentioning.

    Aside from such an ''insignificant'' report, there were actually no other movements from Moloch or his minions. This led King Baal to deduce that Moloch couldn''t have acquired cooperation fromrge organisations after he betrayed them.

    "Sir, we can push the reinforcement through the Sky Bridge at yourmand. Duke Crocell had assembled rather quickly for this regiment." Archduke Kiva reported, and King Baal nodded his head.

    "Get the Dragon Devils to ignore those annoying flies and assist the reinforcement. They should be doing proper work rather than y with insects." King Baal demanded, and Archduke instantly understood what he meant.

    "Yes, my Liege, I will get the Bat Bottleflies to deal with those insects." Kiva acknowledged as he was finally able to have his own troops deployed.

 Chapter 754 Bat Head, Raven Head

    <h4>Chapter 754 Bat Head, Raven Head</h4>

    "I assure you they take no prisoners alive and they will make them pay for what they did to Marquis Forneus." Archduke Kiva sent themand for his Bat Bottleflies to be teleported into the safe zone.

    "Don''t be so sure, Archduke. If they were that easy to kill, the Dragon Devils would have already taken care of them two or maybe threefolds." Sts argued as he walked behind the Archduke, not willing to take his eyes away from him.

    "Say all you want little prince, but don''t forget that I am the one which the King favours." The Bat Head Archduke suddenly did something simr to a magical act with the use of his silky red cloak and his head turned into a raven.

    Simr to Sts who had the legs of a raven and an owl head, Kiva was also one of the crossbreeds like King Baal. With the powers of the raven, he was able to see clearly how the Wyvern Goblin Knights were fighting against the Dragon Devils.

    After witnessing the Judgement Storm by Keyrin and the annihtion of almost every Dragonlite, the Ravenous Archduke of Hunger hungered to win more praise from his King when he saw how fast those pesky Goblin knights were winning against the Dragon Devils.

    "Those mage broadcast images were not too helpful in showing off the enemy, but nowбн Ho ho ho. Those items on the little wyverns. They look like artefacts that should be retrieved for further research!" Archduke Kiva thought to himself when he had a clearer look at the Wyvern Knights.

    "But if we match speed to speed, the Bat Bottleflies will probably lose. I should further buff them to increase their chances too." Kiva said to himself as he saw the squadron of Bat Bottlefliesing out from the magical portal.

    This was no crossbreed as Kiva had personally created a chimaera monster. He had infused the traits of a bat into a bottlefly, giving it a hideous look deserving to be called as a demon. With the body of a bat erged to human size, the bottleflies'' grotesque eyes were merged with the bat and their wings were semi-translucent, giving it an eerily buzzing sound whenever the bat moved. Not to mention, the insect''s carapace was merged with the back of the bat''s body alongside with some hideous thorns growing out of them.

    "You guys, kill the wyverns and bring back those pieces of equipment they are wearing. I expect nothing less but sess from you all." Kivamanded as he chanted in a foreignnguage which Sts had never heard before. It emitted a foul smelling aura which the mages and soldiers could not stand as Kiva cast the magic on his soldiers.

    "Go forth and bring me victory," Kiva said. Then he turned his raven head back into a bat and smiled innocently at Sts.

    "It''s nothing unusual. You do not have to give me that look." The bat replied as he returned back to his liege''s side.

    At that point, Sts could not help but unconsciously root for the defenders to crush those Bat Bottleflies and show that Kiva''s soldiers were fallible.

    --------------

    As the Stalingrad shed into the Leviathan, the demons thought that they were seeing illusions of multiple coloured snakes gushing out of the metal ship and onto theirs. The Royal Snake Soldiers used their cultivation to jump onto the different parts of the ship instead of rushing from the bow of the ship.

    Instead of fear and worry, Focalor was deviously excited when he saw the humansing out of their ships to raid him. "It has been so long since someone dared to fight against us! COME! Show me your steel!" Focalor shouted as he deflected a cannon shot that came towards him with his scimitar.

    "Heh. If a demon can do that, then I guess it''s worthy of some exercise." Gan Yang thought to himself as he charged forth towards therge Tiefling who was over 2 metres tall, dwarfing the other members of his race.

    Focalor immediately shed des with Gan Yang and could already feel his heart beating way faster than usual. Both of them grinned so widely that it was evident for any onlooker that they relished the opportunity to cross swords.

    Gan Yang twisted his arm and hoped to give an uppercut with his sword, but Focalor could already see iting by preemptively raising his right hand to hit the hilt of Gan Yang''s sword. Yet, the reveal of Gan Yang''s handgun from his left hand made the Horned Tiefling adjust his core so he could dodge sidewards and kick Gan Yang''s gun away.

    A continuous exchange of blows ensued against the closebat fight between the two leaders while everything was going to hell around Focalor''s ship. In order to fight against the human cultivators, Focalor had released his Fog that Steals again but condensed it to a smaller radius that covered only his ship.

    His demon Tieflings believed they had the upper hand to beat the humans since they were able to wield unholy strength from the undead attribute by the Focalor''s fog. By condensing the size of the fog down further, their prowess increased in proportion.

    The Royal Snake Soldiers were of course surprised by it when they realised their guns were not working as intended. However, it only meant that they had to utilise their cultivation against these demons and started to appreciate just how useful this particr dungeon instance was.

    With the Stalingrad''s bow stuck onto the hull of Leviathan, Edward and Kenway wasted no time to ram their ships onto the sides of the Stalingrad. But with the turrets targeting them, it was a delicate manoeuvre to reach intact and crash against it. Still, they did not retreat in their endeavour and continued to press their charge. They knew this was the best time with the Stalingrad being rtively empty due to their sailors raiding against the Leviathan.

    "Heh! Come at us if you dare! I will show you the strength of this almighty ship!" Mr Derpy taunted as he controlled the guns with Wolte''s permission and started to empty the turrets haphazardly towards the iing threats.?(Except no one in the deep sea was there to hear his shouts.)

 Chapter 755 Fox Reunion - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 755 Fox Reunion - Part 1</h4>

    "Looks like ''everyone'' is assembled." Kraft snickered as he sat downfortably at the end of the table of Jin''s dining room. The Original Betor was too used to having discussions at Jin''s dining table, and he did not see anything wrong reusing it for his own gathering. He had called for the meeting the moment he had been notified about King Baal''s appearance on the battlefield.

    For the first time in an eternity, nearly all the Foxes had finallye together. Tsu and Kai in their human form sat at Kraft''s right as they took off their battle leather jackets and revealed only wearing a singlet. They both had matching wolf emblem tattoos that indicated their previous affiliation with their n.

    As for the n members from the Grizzly Bear, they sat at the left of the table in their smaller fox forms. Even when Kraft gave them a nod of approval to transform, they were hesitant to return to their human forms.

    "I know what you are afraid about, but you do not have to worry about exuding your aura here. There is no one around but us. If they can''t handle it, he or she is most likely an imposter fox, hahaha! " Kraft smiled, and the three of them looked at each other for a moment before releasing their fox forms.

    Ixel, the oldest of the three siblings, was the first to transform back to his human form. His slightly long but spiky orange hair was probably reminiscent of why he was the fox whose colour matches the natural colour of the fox. Compared to the Wolves, Ixel''s entire body hosted a riot of muscles bulging out, and they were apanied with a series of scars and bear tattoos. Even as Ixel took a seat, veins were already popping as if the muscles within were dying to be released from the prison called skin.

    Seeing that her brother took the initiative to transform back, the red fox Ixa did the same and sat next to her brother. Following her fur colour, Ixa''s boyish haircut did not undermine her charm as she possessed the muscles and build following her brother, albeit a little smaller. One might think she had a resemnce to a legendary Russian bodybuilder who dropped her weights to join the military force for the country.

    Itori, on the other hand, the youngest among them was the total opposite of her two siblings. In their youth, even their n members used to ask them if she was really their blood-rted sister. She was smaller, thinner in build no matter how much food her parents forced her to eat. More meek and quieter than the entire vige but her punches and kicks were as explosive or maybe even more potent than her eldest brother.

    Her white bob hairstyle and round rimmed sses did not portray the ferocity she had shown all this time. Kraft knew her well enough not to cross nor exploit her passive attitude. Still, this did not stop Kraft from using her and could possibly be the reason why Kraft was morefortablemanding her over the other two ''Bear'' foxes.

    Pei, previously from the Crane n, naturally sat at the far left end of the table. For once she too was in ''uniform''. But in less than a minute, she kind of regretted it and ced the leather jacket on the chair and tilted sidewards so she wouldn''t be facing Kraft anytime soon. s, it was toote. Kraft and Pei both knew she had already lost when she first stepped into the room for the meeting, but they would hold that thought on a day with less pressing issues.

    Evon, was sitting right opposite of Pei while checking his notes and his tablet with regards to the current battlefield once more. The champagne pink fox was considered as the most studious guy in the group, but one wondered if he pretended to be schrly or if he was actually the real deal.

    Mainly because of his champagne pink hair, people did not take him seriously and instead, assumed he was a delinquent rather than a genius. Regardless, his drugs and high support effectiveness undoubtedly made him the go-to guy to turn the battlefield with his chemicals.

    Kiyu, thest to arrive, sat beside Kai and Evon. When she walked in, her serious turned happy look was not a surprise to all since she always kept her ''pretty'' demeanour around everyone no matter who it was. It had been initially irritating upon learning her true nature, but the foxes had gotten ustomed to it and never bothered trying to change her because that was just how she was.

    She did be even more honest in her words between them while leaving her expression this way. In a way, their ignorance increased her acting and further improved her dramatics in battle too. Kraft believed the video advertising of Jin''s dungeon instance was taking a toll on her and hoped the uing heist would cheer her up. It was part of the reason (a very teeny weeny small part) why he gathered everyone.

    "You cleared everything already?" Kraft asked Kiyu, and she nodded her head with glee.

    "Yeap. I even prepared some extra scenes for the System to y around to hype the crowd for the time being if necessary. I believe ''they'' know what to do without my assistance." Kiyu replied as she stretched her hands a little and gave a p on Evon''s back.

    "Oven, stop reading already. Any more and your brain might heat bust with all that information." Kiyu berated him while Evon rolled his eyes.

    "It''s EVON! My name''s NOT some kitchen appliance. And if I do not read this, how will the rest of you know where to attack the Dungeon Metropolis?" Evon countered angrily.

    "Obviously, the King''s Pce. Where else will the demons put it?" Ixel said it first, and Evon sighed and shook his head. (Even the rest could not save the thick-headed brawler.)

    "That''s where you are wrong. Very wrong. So wrong that the moon turned into a sun afterughing too much. It''s in obvious that you do not have any clue about the location of the core." Evon responded.

    "Brother, I know you do not like briefings but do not make yourself a fool." Ixa consoled Ixel''s confusion by showing him the briefings notes prepared by Kraft. "It''s at a maximum-security prison."

    "Which idiot would ce their precious Dungeon Core in a maximum-security prison?! You sure Moloch gave you the right details about it?" Ixelughed at the absurdity of the location where they kept the Dungeon Core.

    "Believe it or not, Lord Moloch was the designer for this facility." Kraft pointed out as he pulled out a file filled with a stack of blueprints and notes on the table. "I was just appalled by it as you, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that the idea made sense."

    "Because you literally can have the most vicious, murderous sort of people dying to kill your enemies for their freedom. And not to mention those self proimed defenders of Justice that were on par with these men to keep them in check." Pei added, and everyone started grinning.

    Certainty of death.

    Small chance of sess.

    What were they waiting for?

 Chapter 756 Fox Reunion - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 756 Fox Reunion - Part 2</h4>

    "We have limited System support which should be rather obvious due to its reduced processing capacity and it being upied with Jin''s dungeon raid." Kraft briefed them as he popped the half fox masks from his personal storage ring and threw it on the table.

    "The System had already uploaded the schematics of the prison blueprint intoбнerm, the system. Anyway, it will help us track each other''s movement so that we won''t be stuck in there for too long. Although I don''t have any doubt that we all can handle ourselves-"

    "Are you kidding me?!" Pei shouted as she reviewed the schematics with a quick nce.

    "I understand the meaning of maximum security but having over 100 basement levels isn''t cutting it to be a ''just a quick heist''." Pei pointed out, and Kraft chuckled.

    "To be exact, 109 levels of basement." Evon tried to be factually urate.

    "Shut it, Oven." Pei continued the insult from Kiyu''s remarks, and Evon was already showing his teeth out.

    "Huh." Itori, who was usually quiet, suddenly spoke out. "I can see where this is going even without Kraft opening his mouth."

    "Same here." Ixa nodded her head as she believed she had the same conclusion as her younger sister.

    "Bash through to the lowest levels!" Ixel concluded with a grin and his sisters snickered.

    "For once, your tendency towards simplicity is not too off the mark," Kraft confirmed and pped his hands once. Suddenly, they heard someone walking down the stairs with the sound of heavy chains. Everyone with the exception of Kraft bowed their heads towards the neer''s direction. Even Pei who never liked protocols was sincerely bowing her head.

    "Lift up your heads. I am not the same Rex as before. Neither should you all be bowing your heads to me." The ''oldest'' member of this special skulk stated in a solemn manner. Everyone was shocked at how calm Rex waspared to thest time they had seen him and how they personally witnessed the System chaining him up after going haywire. The heavy metal chains were still evident on his legs, but it never hinders Rex''s movement at all. As the rest sat down, Kraft subsequently stood up and offered the chair for him to sit.

    "Big Brother," Kraft said in a genuinely courteous voice.

    "Thank you, Kraft," Rex replied as he unzipped the very same battle leather jacket the rest were wearing. That patch emblem of a Panda with a Fox made everyone recall all the bitter memories they went through to get where they were right now.

    "I dare not say that it was worth all those sacrifices ourrades had madeбнbut I am still d he is a part of us again." Pei thought to herself as she adjusted her seat properly at the table.

    Meanwhile, Kraft assisted Rex and released the leg chains as he ced the jacket at the back of his chair. It still had the new leather smell. After all, it was a recent gift from Kraft for him to wear it after his long imprisonment. The others did not care for this technicality and were simply delighted and honoured that Rex still treated this skulk as his family by donning it.

    Kraft walked to the other side of the table and sat on the other end as he phoned for someone. "Chef! Yes, it''s Kraft. Everyone is here. Do you mind serving some food for us right now? Thanks. Sure, sure no problem. We have a bit of catching up to do so you do not have to worry. Besides, Jin''s raid is not going to end in a day''s time or two. What difference will fifteen minutes or so make?"

    When he ended the phone call, everyone except for Rex was looking at Kraft with wide puppy (well, fox in this context) eyes as they knew who he was talking to. For all that he was, Kraft blushed a little and mumbled that it was for Rex''s temporary return to this world.

    "Why are you all looking at Kraft that way?" Rex asked, and everyone decided not to say a single word to allow the surprise to speak for itself.

    "Nevermind thatбн say your scent is quite familiar. Did you use my shampoo!?" Kiyu asked, and Kraft burst into chuckles.

    "My bad, my bad, I wanted him to enjoy a good shower before our reunion. Your bathroom was my first choice, given it is the best equipped one among the rest of us within my room." Kraft revealed, and Kiyu pouted.

    Unlike the other betors who only had a spacious room to themselves, Kraft''s room was more than special. He had requested the System to stretch his ce until he had a total of ten rooms to house the foxes. Most did not notice as those who entered into Kraft''s room would immediately find themselves in a room filled with ck void before reaching the door to the corridor that led to anyone of the foxes'' ce.

    "If it was not for Rex, I would have personally killed you over and over again until the System gave me enough points to buy that scented shampoo again!" Kiyu threatened the Original Betor uncharacteristically. It was a strange sight, given their usually harmonious rtionship, which only served to prove how seriously she took this breach of privacy.

    "To be honest, I was shocked that a shower roomбн looked so different from our time. I only chose the soap that was closest to me. I had no idea it was soap until Kraft told me they now made soap in liquid form."

    "Ah! I see. In that case, I don''t mind. When wee back from the heist, I can introduce you to abination of shampoo and conditioner so you can retain your sparkling golden hair for all eternity." Kiyu said happily.

    Kraft rolled his eyes upon hearing her change of tone. Kiyu had been ready to grind his corpse, yet Rex was so easily forgiven.

    "Are you implying that Big Brother Rex is going to get bald?" Pei gave a sarcastic reply, and it cracked the slightly tense atmosphere when Rex was the first tough, leading the others to join in.

    "Oh Pei, you are as sarcastic as I recall. I am d some things don''t seem to have changed." Rex said.

    Evon was the only one that still felt a bit tense and felt he had to point out the obvious.

    "Are you going to be okay, Big Brother Rex? Or will you be-ouch! Why did you both hit my feet at the same time?" Evon shouted, and the rest were already giving death stares of varying levels, especially Pei who had just managed to break the tense situation.

    "Hahahah! Don''t worry, Evon. I assure you I have managed to contain my angerбн to a certain extent." Rex admitted as he casually picked up the notes on the table.

    "When Kraft hade to me for my help to infiltrate that Abyss Web, it had taken out a considerable amount of energy from me. Andбн I don''t knowбн perhaps it was seeing Little Kraft again after all that time kind of simmered me down further. Maybe it was hearing him call me Big Brother again. I can''t quite point to what exactly the reason was. I just know that the System has finally started viewing me as a cautionary hostile and one which can be used in more productive ways than a mere rabid fox." The former member of the original Panda n exined.

    "Fortunately, I already know a ce where I can vent my frustrations without hurting anyone that I cherish," Rex said as he pointed at the blueprint and the foxes smiled with much reliefбн And delight.

 Chapter 757 Fox Reunion - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 757 Fox Reunion - Part 3</h4>

    After discussing for over twenty minutes on all the other strategies that Kraft had drafted during his stay in the War Room, they hade to the conclusion that the brute force way was indeed the most efficient way to clear this. There were someplicated ns suggested by Evon, but the Grizzly Bear n members disapproved, stating that there were too many variables to consider.

    "Even with the blueprints, we still do not know the kind of guards and felony convicts that will be on each level. We just know from Moloch that the deeper we go, the harder it will be. We might be the legendary foxes that rebelled, but our powers and stamina have a limit." Tsu backed up the Grizzly Bears.

    "There is also no guarantee that we can somehow manage to sneak down 109 levels and make our way back up without getting caught. It is a maximum-security prison for goodness sake! You expect us to enter under the assumption that your drugs will be effective against everyone, which isn''t the case. Remind me, was it a Whale Cultivator or a Turtle Cultivator who had reached a level that he only needed to breathe once every few days, making all your tricks pointless against them?" Pei questioned, and Evon was stuck without any answers.

    "So yeah, especially given their different physiology, someone out there will definitely be immune to your psychedelic drugs and what can we do after that?" Kiyu reinforced the point.

    "You should at least give Evon some credit for thinking up such a ludicrous n. I liked some of his ideas." Rex consoled Evon, and the Frog n member thanked him with a silent nod.

    Suddenly, there was a shift in the winds within the room and Rex instinctively went for his waist only to realise that there was no sword there as the portal opened. However, his chi aura was immensely dense, and Kraft stood up and instantly teleported to ce his hand on his shoulder asking his big brother to lower his guard.

    "Please calm down, Big Brother. It''s just the surprise that I ordered so I hope you can lower your killing intent." Kraft saw the disappointment in Rex''s face that his beloved sword, the only relic from his past linked to his ''father'', was not with him and rightly so.

    Although the System had cleared him as a potential threat, at least for the time being, he wasn''t too different from someone on probation. Kraft might vouch for him, but giving him a weapon was still too much of a flight risk.

    "Ah! I see. My bad." Rex smiled to clear his embarrassment, and then he smelt a familiar scent. "Waitбнis this smell?! My lips are already wet!" He thought to himself.

    What came in was a series of dishes that was served personally by the Head Chef in Jin''s dungeon store, Lynn. "We thought that a good decent meal would serve its part by boosting our strength a little before going into battle," Kraft said, and the rest were already eager to dig in.

    "Lynn, I hope you won''t hold this against him. Just being freed, he will take time to get used to his newfound freedom."

    "No harm done. Now dig in. A soldier with a filled stomach is a soldier that can fight to his fullest." Lynn said and ced the dishes on the table. She looked over the foxes, surprised at their alternate forms.

    "Feel free to take a picture." Kiyu winked at her with a charismatic smile.

    "Not even Jin has seen most of us in our human forms. It used to be hard to take on this form, but thanks to the System, it is now easy to do so. Nevertheless, most of us prefer our fox forms."

    "Mainly because our cultivated auras are still too strong to handle for a normal person after we recovered from the ck sludge experiment that broke us out from Kraft''s idiotic ''bullet''- erm cage. And at this point, we have already suppressed most of our cultivation." Pei exined but realised Lynn might not have known that the foxes were once held as permanent bullets in Kraft''s gun. Only after the System''s sessful experiment to use Jin''s ck sludge to release Pei, Kraft proceeded to release the rest in the same way too.

    Knowing that it was not the right time and ce to talk about this, Pei quickly changed the subject by assisting Lynn with the cement of the dishes. (Of course, pushing the meat dishes towards Rex and the vegetables to Kraft''s side of the table.)

    "Royal Peking Duck Meat, Nine Rainbow Vegetable, Steamed Egg Custard, Hangzhou Steamed Fish and Sichuan Mapo Tofu with seafood to go with it. I have also prepared and ced some sauces, cabbage, and even toasted buns to go with your food. As for the carbs, my penguins will bring it in but any preference over rice? Noodles?" Lynn introduced the current cuisine in front of them, and everyone immediately asked for noodles instead.

    They knew Lynn''s noodles were top tier and capable of winning awards even without any cultivation. "You do know they taste better with rice." Lynn giggled as she looked at the group as if they were wagging their tails in front of her.

    "May I be so shameless to ask for both?" Rex asked, and Lynn returned the answer with a gentle smile.

    "No problems with that. Ask the peggies to give you a refill if you need." Lynn agreed, and the moment she gave permission to eat, everyone thanked her loudly. However, to her surprise, no one started yet. At first, Lynn thought it was odd, but she realised that everyone was waiting for the main lead to begin picking his food first.

    It had been so long, way too long for Rex to enjoy a proper meal time with the entire group. Thest time he remembered eating with them was already too vague for recollection. All this time in solitary confinement, Rex only reminisced about the war and the rebellion against his ''father''.

    He had way too many things to think about other than eating peacefully.

    As he picked up his chopsticks, he eyed the steamed fish first since it had always been a favourite whenever he returned from the Western Kingdoms after the tiresome diplomatic trips. Rex pinched a little and dipped it into the soup beneath it.

    With a slight whiff, his nose was filled with a rich scent of aroma, and the bite was equally appetising. Yet, the moment Rex ced it in his mouth, chaos ensued. Everyone rushed to take a piece of the food with the goal to give it to Rex.

    As a form of Chinese tradition, the younger ones would always give a small portion of their food to the eldest as a sign of respect and concern. But in this particr situation, everyone was dying to put that little piece of meat on Rex''s rice bowl. Even the meek Itori did not hesitate in attempting to put her portion of meat onto Rex''s bowl.

    "... You guys! Be respectful of my food!" Lynn warned in a stern voice as she saw the chaos in its purest form but the foxes immediately obliged.

    "Good, now take turns to give the food to your senior and then proceed to eat the rest."

    "Mdm, yes Mdm!" The foxes responded in unison and followed Lynn''s instruction.

    "Good. I will be leaving and bringing you desserts in ten. And Rex?"

    "Yes, Mdm Chef?" Rex identally blurted out his formalities.

    "Wee back to their family. Please enjoy this meal." Lynn said with a smile that made Rex heart skip a beat as it evoked long lost memories.

 Chapter 758 Fox Reunion - Final

    <h4>Chapter 758 Fox Reunion - Final</h4>

    Just like Lynn had promised ten minutester, they were being served some delicious ice cream. All of the foxes soon requested seconds since they felt that one portion was not enough. Rex was baffled the most that such a soft creamy texture could be so delicious.

    "Big Brother, you missed out on so much of what life has to offer. After this heist, I will take some time off and show you around. Let you experience for yourself how the world you had protected turned out to be after all those years." Kraft promised, and Rex grinned with a quiet nod.

    "System, give us a breakdown concerning this ''dungeon raid instance''." Kraft asked so Rex could be brought up to speed with the current situation his new master was in.

    "It has been 7 hours and 43 mins since the inception of the dungeon raid defence. The Pandapolis Air Force has taken a major hit with the new arrival of chimaera type demons which have been identified as part bat and part insect. Further analysis of the captured beasts has revealed that both were gically modified into a demon instead of a mere fusion." The System started its reporting.

    "We don''t have the time for such a detailed breakdown. Just give us a general overview of any significant changes, a summary of sorts." Kraft rolled his eyes a little.

    "System strongly believes that Original Betor Kraft will not grasp the magnitude of the situation without hearing all the details. System is also merely following the prerogative set up for the intelligence officer to stay informed about all ongoing matters." The System retorted.

    "Fine, but at least add some pictures or better yet a video coverage for the scenes as we continue enjoying our ice cream. Otherwise, Rex will have no context for your rambling. Or did YOU already forget that you peeps locked him in solitary confinement for centuries with no entertainment at all?" Kraft tried to bargain while not missing the chance to annoy the System at the same time.

    Yet there was no need for that.

    The System conformed to his request surprisingly easy this time around.

    With some imagery fresh from the scene itself, Rex and the others who hadn''t been paying too close attention to the whole affair were mildly taken aback by the scale of it. "This feels entirely like a mini warzone by itself," Rex concluded, and Kraft scoffed.

    "Of course, it''s a war zone. And both sides haven''t even revealed their whole hand yet. You see that guy sitting all so nonchntly there? King Baal is responsible for this whole siege situation. Just because he has some beef with our little cotton butt Moloch, he came with his whole entourage to take away what we have built. Remind you of someone conceited who we know?" Kraft asked, and Rex nodded his head quietly as he ced the ice cream into his mouth, savouring its sweetness.

    "Continuing from the previous analysis: The Wyvern Goblin Knights have barely won against the new type of enemy and have requested for Pandawans help, mainly the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator Luo Bo, and the Gunning Giraffe Cultivator Jing Ru. They are on their third and fourth attempt respectively in this dungeon raid and had their squads piggyback on the Wyverns along with the Goblins." The System stated.

    "Ah, so Qiu Yue finally took my advice tobine the ranged Pandawans with the Goblins. I told them the wyverns could easily handle the weight."

    "Thisbination has indeed proven useful. There has been an increase inbat effectiveness by more than 50%, pushing the Bat Bottleflies capture rate to 75.40%. Wyrstriker has already been ordered to lead the retreat once they finish capturing the rest of the Bat Bottleflies."

    "As for Pandapolis'' only avable naval ship, the Stalingrad is still standing strong. It has survived being bombarded with multiple cannon shots, suffering 346 hits in total. Lord Wolte''s resilience has surpassed the estimated analysis. A possible reason for this error in judgement is most likely that the magical connection between Lord Wolte and Shadow Dagen has made it possible for the Stalingrad to stay afloat for so long. More tests will be required to determine how much the prior meal of the Shadow Dagen yed a role in this."

    "That''s rather amazing." Kai blurted out as the System changed the camera angle and showed the intense fighting on the decks. Dark Temrs who had been killed earlier were redeployed again within the ship''s perimeters, and Kraft smirked.

    The System''s ability waspletely a cheat in this kind of fight. While the Dungeon World also had the concept of resurrection, the Dungeon Core naturally would not allow any attackers or defenders to resurrect as normal until the matter was resolved, else the fights would never end.

    The stunted resurrection time could be hastened with the use of magic, but it required multiple high-level mages that were proficient in this matter to outright revive an ordinary soldier on the battlefield and required much more for those Demon Lords.

    Mana is also a precious resource on the battlefield, and even those mages could perform resurrection, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the battlefield to take care of. It was just impossible to take care of these many soldiers. And why waste mana when offence is the best defence? Hence, most of the attackers would hardly consider the option of reviving their soldiers during the siege.

    But for the System? Reviving monsters had basically be its second nature, and since the System acted outside the realm of the Dungeon World, it was not bound by its strict rules. Nevertheless, it wasn''t free, and it had to pay for it as well. (Toorge a cost for the stingy System, despite being a lot cheaper than theplicated resurrection procedure in Jin''s world.)

    "The Dark Temrs have proven themselves able to hold the fort on the Stalingrad with the aid of Shadow Dagen controlling some of Stalingrad''s turrets." The System stated, and Rex began to wonder.

    "Soбнall these monsters belong to our new master?" Rex queried, and everyone nodded their heads simultaneously. "Yup, once we kill them, they get revived. Jin is basically a next level Necromancer." Kraft joked. "If not for the dungeon supplier profession, he is probably ted to be an uing major viin in our world."

    "Don''t listen to that dumb fox. Jin is not that bad of a person. If you talk with him, it bes apparent that he still needs more experience under his belt and has quite a bit of growing up to do. Though so far, I''ve seen him adapt to the situation and change for the better despite the constant influence from the System." Pei immediately spoke out in Jin''s defence since she was the closest person who had constant surveince on Jin.

    "If our objective-driven Pei gives such a fair analysis for our new master, I will trust her on that," Rex said as he ced his spoon down, secretly thanking the chef for the delicious meal and grabbed his jacket from behind.

    "Panda Remnant Rex, the briefing is not done yet." The System cautioned, and thatment stopped Rex in his steps for a moment.

    "Heh, not Panda Ex Master, Ex Panda n Member and also not Betor... but Panda Remnant. How strange but also familiar and fitting..." Rex whispered to himself absentmindedly though everyone on the table had been able to hear what he said with their acute hearing senses. Yet, for appearance sake, they all pretended they hadn''t heard anything except for one.

    "Don''t worry about all those things, Big Brother. That just means you are free from your obligations and trust me, our new master is rather flexible about our movements. He doesn''t tie us down unless there is a valid reason for it." Kraft also stood up to wear his coat, and the rest followed suit by gulping down their remaining portion of the ice cream and took their jackets.

    "Well, you could say that I am a little angry that I cannot catch up with all the changes, but let''s just go to that King Baal''s prison. Little Kraft, I trust you enough to guide us all to steal that treasure you scoundrels were talking about. Let''s go, guys, let''s whack some heads like in the good old times!" Rex mmed his fists together and the rest resonated with a loud acknowledgement.

 Chapter 759 Royal Snake Sailors

    <h4>Chapter 759 Royal Snake Sailors</h4>

    During the conversation between the foxes, the constant skirmishes between Jin''s forces against the demon army hadn''t stopped. They had continued until they entered into a solid stalemate. Gan Yang was baffled that the seafaring crew somehow retained such a devastating defence against their raid as their numbers seemed constant despite the Royal Snake Sailors'' best attempt at dwindling them down.

    They eventually realised that there must be reinforcementsing from the port of the ship, as the Fog that Steals blocked their sight. It was currently only covering the surroundings of the damaged Leviathan. Focalor was able to maintain it even longer than usual with the aid of the high-density magic crystal Kiva had gifted him beforehand.

    Previously, he had only been using his abilities to elude them, knowing that the Stalingrad might pose a challenge even with the aid of the fog. He had been totally right about the ship as it surpassed Focalor''s wildest imagination making him yearn to be its captain all the more.

    However, he first would have to get rid of the current crew altogether.

    Since they were the first party who raided the Leviathan in years, his crew had to get used to fighting on the defending side. If only Focalor knew that the Royal Snake Sailors were keeping their cultivation to the minimum as ordered by theirmanding officers.

    However, the more the situation unfolded, the more the Royal Snake Sailors were pressured into defying the order using the power of at least an advanced grade cultivation to overturn the tide. "Requesting permission to use our normal cultivation!" Gan Yang asked through the visor as he panted from the flurry of blows exchanged with Focalor.

    Yet, the huge Tiefling felt that he was only getting started and he would be vastly disappointed if the enemies'' so-called raid leader would be killed within an instant. But at the same time, Focalor already felt bored from the attacks and did not wish to hold back his strength any further. The allure of the Stalingrad was making him a little impatient as he wanted to get hold of the ship as soon as possible.

    "Granted. Clear it as soon as possible. We need to provide support fire at a few coordinates with the Stalingrad." Hou Fei sent back through the half mask''s visor of every sailor on deck, and Gan Yang appreciated the permission. Just as Focalor thought that his enemy had expended all his energy and decided to cut him down with his scimitar, he suddenly found his own hand flying off.

    "Ha! Now you show your true colours?" Focalor questioned as he quickly adjusted to the scenario and managed to parry the next attack with his off-hand. But to his surprise, the only thing he stopped was just an after image, and before he could do anything else, he saw a dee out of his chest.

    "I would have loved to y around a bit more, but those were the General''s personal orders to clear the deck." Gan Yang apologised. Focalor could not even turn his neck despite his undead attributes because of the stab by the Stalingrad''s current Captain.

    It made Focalor''s body slowly turn to stone with the initial attack and that one stab solidified the petrification process, rendering the leader of the Demon Fleet Leviathan unmovable.

    Without turning his head, Focalor could already feel the sensation of a nest of snakes crawling from behind him. The aura he exuded felt like death had walked into Focalor''s life without knocking on the door. "This is totally a different level of power! How could this human hide his strength that much?!"

    With the ability controller bing petrified, the Fog that Steals vanished and Focalor who was still able to see, saw the exact same scene right in front of him and noticed that all the other humans were aspetent as his opponent.

    His entire crew was either petrified or lying on the ground vomiting their guts out. As the stone started to reach his face, hisst thought was about Kenway and Edward, hoping the two of them could seed in getting on the Stalingrad and take revenge.

    Sadly, that was not the case.

    The Dark Temrs had in them as with the aid of the Deep Ones and their master, Shadow Dagen, controlling the turrets. The mini gun emcements alone had managed to annihte most of the iing pirates while the rest fought against overwhelming numbers armed with modern weapons. It was definitely a ughter.

    Despite the initial attempts at an ambush led by their Captains Edward and Kenway, they did not expect the Dark Temrs they encountered to be at least twice as strong as them. They were mmed down to the ground and methodically axed by them.

    "Hahahah! You think they are just knights with some metal tes on them? Please. They have been through many trials and failures to reach this point. All the Demon Rats that they fought against were nothingpared to this, especially when they are free from the cultivators'' eyes." Wolte praised his Dark Temrs openly in the System channel.

    His minions were delighted that their patron was happy with their work, but they did not know it was Wolte that was unconsciously helping them too. Jin, who was monitoring the battle from afar, noticed that the stats of the Dark Temrs were abnormal and decided to check them via his monster app.

    Only then, did he realise that there was a buff on them that made them this strong. He dug further for more information and found out that Stalingrad itself was actually providing an aura on deck, boosting his allies like the Zither Mistress Ke Mi who supported their partners in a fight.

    Compared to the aerial scene which ended in a disaster, the naval war theatre had be a tremendous sess, and Wolte believed that they could be providing fire support in no time.

    Speaking of the Zither Mistress, she finally made her debut in the defensive floating tform that connected with the Sky Bridge. As odd as it sounded, she and the entire group from the Musical Theatre Dungeon Instance were preparing live on a concert stage at the centre of the defensive floating tform.

    With such an absurd concert setting on the defensive floating tform, the demon soldiers were initially stunned by the bright, colourful lights and loudspeakersing from the centre of the tform. As Sandy took the stage, a group of Orcs were standing in front of it, every single one of them wrapped their heads with a bandana of a cartoon face of Sandy printed on it.

    It was Sandy''s hardcore fan club.

 Chapter 760 The Demon Hordes Push

    <h4>Chapter 760 The Demon Horde''s Push</h4>

    The leaders of each individual demon toon were baffled at the sight of many Orc crying for some Princess of the Dunes, to the point they decided that it was too overwhelming to confront them head-on. Instead, they decided on a pincer formation with the number of troops they had.

    The Demon Troops knew that there might be some enemies hiding within forested areas, but the bright lights and the sounds were extremely annoying and distracting. However, the cultivators that were hiding behind the bushes had be used to it.

    Unlike the demon soldiers who saw this kind of scene for the first time in their life, these kinds of concerts were toomon of a thing for the Pandarens and many even had a side panel screen open to watch or at least listen to the show while performing their kills.

    It was essentially killing two birds with one stone for enjoying the show and racking up points to get rewards (It also made them feel like they were the protagonist of a show with their very own musical background).

    As the demon soldiers tried to charge forth to disrupt the concert, they were intercepted by Sandy''s Fan Club with the Orcs manhandling them by grabbing their weapons and breaking their skulls for disturbing the concert. After which, they broke into an intense fan club cheer which was in sync during the song''s instrumentals.

    The Orcs could not have done that without Ke Mi''s strengthened magical buff apanied by Sandy''s enchanting vocals. Thanks to it, they reached a heightened state of both euphoria and strength.

    To the onlooking cultivators, they estimated that upon hearing the music, the Orcs became as strong as the Demon Trolls but Jin who had the exact numbers knew that their strength and constitution was actually equivalent to a single Giant.

    Seeing how the frontal assault was really a dead end, the demon troops proceeded with the pincer assault. However, they did not know that all sides were riddled with traps and ambushes awaiting the Demon Horde, making their only option would be to thin their numbers until the defenders were forced to retreat further.

    Also, they would soon learn that all the trees within this defensive tform were offshoots of Shu, the magical Treant, which hemanded them like a private army. Unlike the situation at the Sky Bridge where the System had to spend processing power to provide real-time monitoring, Shu''s offshoots were already transmitting the information to the System and the War Room Tacticians, giving them the full situation amidst the concert.

    This information was also transmitted to the Pandarens on the ground, and that was how they were able to continuously ambush the Demon Troops at every turn, lure them into a trap where the System would activate it and remove them from the battle. (The teams leading them were naturally awarded points for acting as bait)

    Aside from the ambushes, Shu was also using his offshoots to capture isted groups of demon soldiers by grabbing on their legs and tripping them. After which, the offshoots would drag their bodies to their trunks and wrap them up further for consumption. Some of the Demon Soldiers tried to cut the roots, but their attempts were futile as Shu had passed on his own physical resistance against normal weapons.

    The leaders or higher-tiered soldiers were the only ones in possession of magical weapons who would be able to break free. Yet even if they did, his offshoots were everywhere, and there was no way to escape, especially when the trees marked any such particr individual as being a threat to the entire forest. Hence, more effort (and roots) were used to make sure mages, or talented soldiers were enrobed into the trunks.

    Simr to Mr Derpy, all these consumed Demons were subsequently transformed into magical energy to be absorbed into Shu as he prepared the very same spell where walls of trees would emerge to protect the Pandarens. Afterwards, he was strengthening the mini-castle fortresses that were built as defensive emcements against the Demon Horde. However, as the first wave were nothing but pitiful bugs and insects in Shu''s eyes, he continued to eat as many as he could before the need arose.

    On the other hand, The Wyvern Goblin Knights finally retreated with heavy casualties on their side. Many were heavily injured, with some even killed, despite the Pandawans'' saving grace. The dogfight with the Dragon Devils and subsequent Bat Bottleflies had incurred a sense of weariness among the Goblin Knights, and even their Wyverns had been pushed to near exhaustion. If not for Ayse''s Lost Tech, they believed they would have lost a long time ago.

    The only thing that was stopping the Demon Aerial Forces to go after them was the still surviving y Dragon and the Mousefolks. The y Dragon had a regenerative rune which ran parallel to his other runes. As long as the damage was not that extensive, the y Dragon would be able to continue moving.

    The Magpies of Que Er had also assisted in the recovery of the y Dragon as they carried some ready-made y and ced it on the Dragon''s body, allowing the rune to recover the y Dragon''s body even faster. In addition, the Mousefolks yed a pivotal role in its survival as many of the Bat Bottleflies attempted to break it down by spewing poison balls at it. Some of the Bat Bottlflies even ledged on the y Dragon and broke its y to the extent of nearly breaking the Dragon into two.

    Yet, those Mousefolks came out of their machine gun emcements and with just a rope as their lifeline, they battled with the Bat Bottleflies at the top of the moving y Dragon. Kiva''s air units regarded those Mousefolks as a bad joke, an opinion which quickly changed, upon contact with these small warriors.

    To them, the Bat Bottleflies became merely extra practice training for their swordy. As disciples of Zeru, the Mousefolks swiftly dispatched the Bat Bottleflies from lodging on the y Dragon and allowed it to remain as the reigning King of the Skies.

    Separately, the injured Dragon Devils were diverted from the dog fight and proceeded to terrorise the other tforms where they encountered simrly serious resistance from the defenders. The Anti-Air Companies were relentless in their attacks, and it got even worse when the Dragon Devils attempted to swoop down to destroy them.

    Heavy anchor bolts bound their wings and pulled the Dragon Devil down as the Anti Air continued their volley of attacks. Yet, that did not pull the spirit of the Dragon Devils as they spew fire to burn whatever they could despite their dying breath. Most of the Anti Air Companies in the various tforms had been reduced by at least half their strength. And if the Demon King continued to push for more aerial forces, it would be possible that they would have reign air superiority.

    However, the remaining Dragon Devils who struggled were at theirst straw as the Fortress Golems within the vicinity sprayed anti-air missiles from their guard posts, ensuring that the Dragon Devils became nothing but a poor paper kite caught in a hurricane of pain.

    It was safe to assume that the mightiest air force the Demons could muster had been brought down by well-ced defences and a bit of luck on the defender''s side. Still, the tacticians were scrambling to reorganise the air defences to shore up what was lost or else the Demon Horde might have the upper handter on.

    But for the Naval War Theatre, the Stalingrad had without a doubt assumed superiority of the sea once more.

 Chapter 761 The Wretched Crown

    <h4>Chapter 761 The Wretched Crown</h4>

    King Baal was quite disgruntled watching how his troops were failing so terribly. It appeared they had not taken heed of the previous mistakes the Lords and Ladies had made beforehand.

    Yet, Baal refused to believe that with their number superiority, this situation wouldn''t change. This had always been the way they fought, so as always it was only a matter of time until the defenders would exhaust their resources and their manpower. Archduke Kiva concurred with that particr line of thought, yet Prince Sts would beg to differ.

    "If Moloch has managed to build all these high-end technological gadgets and weapons, he surely must have a way to reproduce them again. Considering the sheer scale of everything, I can only theorise that as long as he has the manpower, his technological edge will definitely pull him through this protracted war." Sts thought to himself and felt restless.

    For some reason, he was beginning to put his hopes into Moloch initiating the counterattack rather than merely holding the defence line. s, from a strategic point of view, it was rather evident that this would only bring further losses for him.

    How was Sts supposed to know that on the defenders'' side, this was actually the most productive dungeon raid ever for the defenders? Jin had already earnt close to 500,000 Yuan in a single day, the highest profit he had ever made from just customers alone.

    Though the sales were extraordinarily high, it was mainly because the cultivators were doing repeat runs at discounted prices throughout the day to rake up their points so that they could get better prizes.

    Not only that, their purchases from the online Pandamonium store were numerous despite Pandarens knowing that it was expensive. That convenience they enjoyed through paying the extra money was undisputable. Let''s not forget that the offline stores were bringing in money as the Pandarens stocked themselves up with weapons, armour, potions and other essories for the next run.

    Also, the Tree Mall itself was earning a ton lot as a whole because of Jin''s current dungeon event. Every shop owner was pitching in to promote Jin''s dungeon instance and telling their customers that if they bought a dungeon ticket, certain discounts to their shops would be avable.

    It was the same for Jin''s store too as Yun had a list of promos for the customers who had purchased items from the Tree Mall too.

    This did create a slew of new customers just to test out the dungeon event that everyone was talking about even though it inadvertently ced a strain on the System''s processing capability.

    The System had also captured so many demon soldiers that it needed to reorganise its spatial ''inventory space'' to keep all those soldiers for processing. If not for the Phantom Soldiers which the Graveyard Core created, it was possible that the System might have an overflow of demons which needed to be sold immediately for the sorely needed space.

    Of course, it did inform Jin about the numbers and the Dungeon Supplier was already choosing which demon soldiers to use for conversion by the Graveyard Core, waiting for the right opportunity to mount a second counterattack to temporarily reduce the numbers in the System and the battlefield. It was all part of Qiu Yue''s n in case the battle got dragged way longer than expected.

    It was inly obvious that sheer brute force was not going to work when Jin''s tacticians had already thought of all the various scenarios to counter most of the brute force tactics that King Baal and his other generals were keen to use. However, there was one thing that Moloch feared despite all the nning, and that was actually Archduke Kiva.

    After the dogfight between the Wyvern Goblin Knights and the Bat Bottleflies, Moloch was somewhat concerned that the cunning Archduke was going to throw simr toons out in the field.

    Of course, he was confident that Jin''s monsters were more than capable of winning against them, but at what cost?

    Also, there was the issue of King Baal''s high-grade artefact, which Archduke Kiva had ''made'' for him. It was also one of the reasons why Moloch had been demoted into a useless lord, covering a dungeon cave that held onto some crappy quality gold ore.

    It was the Crown of Beyond Depravity.

    The one and only artefact which was created using leftover defunct dungeon cores via some forbidden magical technique. Such a method which even the Church of Afterlife was adamantly condemned publicly about.

    However, King Baal had not been using its powers at all as ''humbly'' suggested by Kiva since it would create suspicions and might cause the elite agents from the Church of Afterlife toe after him.

    Yet King Baal requested for such an artefact to be made solely because of the Harbinger threat as he had never forgotten how it had taken away his parents as well as the lives of uncountable others. Still, it was not until Kiva introduced his family''s sacred jewel toplete the crown, making the person who used it, turn into a power-hungry tyrant.

    Not many people could handle the pleted'' Crown of Beyond Depravity and for good reason. Those cores had once been the property of other owners, and most of the dungeon cores had been robbed through severe bloodshed.

    By not going through the proper method of requisitioning the dungeon cores, those metal balls were haunted by the souls imbued by the previous owners. Without Kiva''s family jewel to act as a conduit between the souls and the wearer, it merely acted as an attribute increasing artefact.

    The user who wore the crown literally had to pass a ''sanity'' check each and every day to assert control on the artefact. Even when Kiva first modified the enhanced Crown of Beyond Depravity, he had troubles controlling it and nearly lost his life permanently from attempting to use its powers as the voices kept telling him to kill himself to appease their grief.

    At the time Kiva had actually considered it to be a good way to kill the reigning King and also designed an overtly ridiculous excuse to make him sign aplicated invoice, but in actual fact, it was a contract disguised with a lot of hidden uses.

    Stating vaguely that if King Baal was ever gone, Kiva would take over the Demon Metropolis and Moloch who at the time had been one of the few advisors King Baal actually trusted had managed to notice it.

    Unfortunately, it had been a little toote. As when the Minotaur Lord entered the royal chamber, King Baal had already donned the crown before Moloch ever had the chance to caution him against it.

    The powers the crown granted immediately captivated Baal''s attention, and he treated Moloch''s advice as a sign of jealousy. The yearning for strength had made Baal go for a series of reckless conquests and slowly it caused the once logical and fair tempered King to turn for the worse.

    Eventually, Moloch saw no other choice but to steal the Crown of Beyond Depravity. He devised a devious n, hoping that his King would wake up from that unending nightmarish journey for power once it was gone.

    Unfortunately, the Minotaur Lord was unaware that the crown had grown into a living parasite, calling out for its master when Moloch thought that he had sessfully tricked Baal into releasing the artefact.

    And guess where it happened? At the max security prison which Moloch designed specifically to steal the crown away.

    Moloch thought that the highly dangerous prisoners he released would have an effect against King Baal, but heter found out that the crown still transmitted power to its master. In a series of unfortunate events, it allowed King Baal to catch Moloch red-handed running away with the crown.

    Ironically Archduke Kiva took the chance to remove the most scheming and yet loyal advisor, branding him a traitor for wanting the crown to himself.

    The only saving grace was that King Baal''s heart was not yet fully corrupted by the Ravenous Lord of Hunger. He was lenient enough to transform and demote Moloch for his act of treason. However, with Moloch out of the picture and forbidden from ever leaving his dungeon, Kiva took the time to pour ideas and deceitful words of hatred in hopes of removing Moloch permanently.

    For he knew that the cotton minotaur would one day rise and wake his King up from the bad dream.

 Chapter 762 Kivas Masterplan

    <h4>Chapter 762 Kiva''s Mastern</h4>

    As midnight approached, so did the decline of cultivators attending the dungeon instance. They had been wise enough to coincide the event on a weekend which maximised the odds of cultivators justifying spending just a little bit more time there. The youths especially took him up on that godsent opportunity, yet Jin was most surprised at the number of young workers who came inte to blow off some steam.

    Yet even with the underestimated customer numbers, which neither Jin nor the System had calcted, there was no doubt that Qiu Yue and Moloch needed to adjust and adapt the strategy for their defences to cope with the current situation.

    Up until now, the defenders had managed to hold most of the demon soldiers at bay, but it was inevitable that the demons would notice the defending lines getting thinner before they reported their observation to the higher-ups possibly leading to a mad rush of reinforcement.

    Upon learning the weakening of the defence lines, Archduke Kiva immediately requested King Baal to allow his subject to send another batch of his chimaera troops into battle, one which he believed would break through the frontlines and give them the chance to move further in to find Moloch or the Dungeon Core.

    "You think one toon is enough?" King Baalid his head back and tapped his finger hard on the arm of the ''makeshift'' throne chair.

    "AhбнApologies, my Sire, I can only send in one squad at a time. My powers are not as bottomless as yours." Kiva was directly hinting to King Baal to use the crown''s powers instead of just using it to acquire strength.

    By using the excuse of the deadlock in their battle, Kiva hoped that his King would use the powers to not only eliminate that irritating thorn (or horn) in his skin but also to take the opportunity to attract the attention from the Church of the Afterlife.

    That way, upon annihting Moloch, the agents from the Church of the Afterlife would undoubtedlye after King Baal for using the forbidden powers of thebined Dungeon Cores. Hence, in Kiva''s mind, two major scenarios could potentially ur.

    One would be the defeat of King Baal by the agents of the Church of the Afterlife. In that case, he would secretly cooperate with their agents to eradicate the Royal Family, banishing them out of Demon Metropolis and reign as King. This might lead to him acting as a puppet of the Church of Afterlife, but he was sure given enough time he could find ways to lessen or outright remove their interference, allowing him to be the true ruler of the ce.

    The alternate scenario was that King Baal manages to defeat the Church of the Afterlife''s agents by using his artefact to further improve his demons, firmly establishing them as a force to be reckoned with.

    Admittedly, it would be a difficult fight, but defeating their agents would reveal that the Church was fallible, allowing rebellions to rise and eventually break them apart. Of course, it sounded a bit far fetched especially when they would send even more capable agents.

    But if things don''t go well, Kiva could simply be a conspirator against his King and assist the agents in removing the King out of his power. Then, he would still be able to reign as King of the Demon Metropolis too. This would be a hard road to walk, but one that he had prepared for. He had long since started gathering data and information about the crown so that he would be able to create a better product which would make others fear him.

    Of course no matter the scenario, they all required the death of Moloch first. He needed him and his city to be the sacrificialmb. So far the disgraced Minotaur Lord had performed exceedingly well. Surely, the unexpectedly tough resistance, as well as the usage of highly technological weapons, came as a bit of surprise. But it still fit into his scheme.

    Even better, there was nothing connecting it to him, so his treacherous ideas would not get revealed. He did not know that there were far more factors than he could imagine behind the scenes able to utterly crush his ambition.

    After all, Moloch wasn''tzy during his banishment...

    "Very well, I see this as a necessary need to win. I shall aid you in your endeavour. So far they have bested our elite troops again and again and it is starting to take a toll on the troops." King Baal opened a small magical portal to retrieve the crown with his bare hands. "As well as pissing me off." He thought to himself, even though his facial expression said it all.

    When he took out the Crown of Beyond Depravity publicly, blood was already spilling from his hands as the crown bit into his skin like the flesh-eating parasite it was.

    However, the aura it emitted was menacing enough that some of the nearby guards had trouble standing straight without shaking and losing consciousness.

    Only a handful like Sts, Kiva and the Royal Guards were able to barely withstand its frightening aura. Kiva quickly kneeled down and presented a crystal right in front of his liege while keeping his head down. He did not want to admit that the haunts from the dungeon cores could be heard even when he was not holding it.

    King Baal raised the crown and the devilish purple jewel affixed at the front shone brightly and shot a beam of energy into the crystal Kiva was holding until the holder urgently requested King Baal to stop.

    Once the transmission of energy was done, King Baal immediately ced the crown back into the magical storage portal and closed it up. The terrible aura quickly dissipated from their current location.

    Right now, the full energised crystal was gleaming with so much power that even Kiva himself was a little tempted to absorb some of such energy to test it out. Yet, he as a researcher and a person privy of all the crown''s knowledge knew that it would be suicide. The bat-faced Archduke thanked his majesty with a graceful bow and hastily called out his squad of chimaera soldiers to appear.

    Fused with lions and praying mantis, the Tieflings who were standing right in front of Kiva had magnificent lion manes as if they were wearing a furred scarf. Their Mantis features were kept hidden for the moment since there were no enemies around for them to bare their fangs and des. They stood in full attention when Kiva ordered them.

    With a toon of 30 Lion Mantis reporting for duty, Kiva changed into his raven face again and started chanting, allowing the crystal''s powers to seep into each and every chimaera soldier.

    Artha, the leader of the Lion Mantis, was the first to receive the powers and the bulk of it as well. He started to feel strange heart palpitations inside him as if a second heart was being forcefully pushed into him in the midst of the transference of the crown''s energy. In an instant, he and his toon could feel the effects of the crown''s powers.

    "Happy hunting." Kiva sent them off as he sped his hands and added a bit of his own unique chant, buffing the chimaera soldiers even further before they spread their insectoid wings and burst straight onto the battlefield.

 Chapter 763 Lion Mantis

    <h4>Chapter 763 Lion Mantis</h4>

    And just as the Pandarens and monsters were having the time of their life beating the demon soldiers out of the face of this world, everything changed when the Lion Mantises attacked.

    Imbued with the crown''s energy, they arrived at their destination with insane speed, killing several Pandarens that were hiding in the forested area in one go. The offshoots of Shu fared no better, getting obliterated upon theirnding. The Pandarens, as well as Jin''s monsters, immediately recognised them for the real threat they posed.

    The pairs of Lion Mantises scanned their surroundings to gain a briefing understanding of the situation beforemencing with their subsequent assaults. Low-grade cultivators stood no chance of reacting or even fighting against the Lion Mantises.

    Even the Orcs who had the towering strength of a giant were cut down effortlessly, without the opportunity to defend themselves properly. Sandy and the rest saw what was happening and eventually stopped their hour-long concert.

    Before the Lion Mantises could strike the concert stage, Sandy had already materialised a dome of sand to protect all music members, especially the Zither Mistress. She felt confident that the only person who could subvert this particr situation would be her alone.

    Shu who was hiding at the back of the ind had also strengthened the sand dome with its own barrier of sentient roots so that Sandy could refine her sand dome and make it even harder for the chimaera soldiers to prate. She too did not forget to reinforce the ground to prevent any ambushes from below.

    Understanding the current situation, Ke Mi changed her genre of music. It was a drastic shift from pop music to her own magical tunes. Immediately, the Lion Mantises who were on a rampage experienced a sudden decrease in their speed, allowing the Orcs to finally counterattack.

    Unfortunately, the Lion Mantises quickly revealed their true weapons, the mantis des that were grown from their hands and proved their lethality as weapons. With the crown''s energy, their des'' sharpness were enhanced multi-fold, allowing them to cut through the Orcs'' weapons easily and bisecting them in the process.

    With such a gamechanger on the defensive battlefield, Qiu Yue who had been having her dinner in the middle of the night had been alerted by the Goblin tels operator to check out the situation. Simultaneously a rough analysis by the System warned the tactician that their current defences were definitely inadequate to hold the line.

    "Shit." Qiu Yue, still with a spoon in her mouth, quickly opened the list of monsters avable for deployment on the war room table.

    "Dread Reaver, me Ripper. I believe it''s your debut. Currently, Ke Mi is slowing their advances, but there is no guarantee that her music can hold them for long. Even so, its a matter of time the Lion Mantises ovee and remove the slowness debuff. Be careful, the Orcs which had been equipped with enhanced inscription weapons had their swords and axes sliced through like a hot knife through butter. I entrust the two of you who have unique weapons to be the ones to remove the new intruders from the current equation." Qiu Yue sent them the orders, and the System immediately teleported the two General Goblin''s sons onto the battlefield, right above a pair of Lion Mantises.

    A chop from the top and a clean slice diagonally removed the Lion heads from the pair of chimaera soldiers, and that act itself were sufficient to catch the attention for the rest of the Lion Mantises.

    "Heh, different aura from the normal demons. They''ve obviously been strengthened way too quickly." Dread Reaver stated as he held his ck sword up and pointed at another Lion Mantises.

    "Must be the crown that Moloch was talking about." me Ripper held his dagger at the ready on his side as he pulled his bow, conjuring a me arrow. The others including the demon soldiers somehow gave space for the Goblins and Lion Mantises to fight as both sides instinctively knew that interfering or getting too close to them would more or less mean death on their part.

    "You all handle those twoбн odd-looking Goblins. Afterwards, take care of the rest of the group. I shall personally destroy that metal ship." Artha, the leader of the Lion Mantises chimaera toon, had just received those orders from the Ravenous Archduke.

    The demons had made it a priority to handle the Stalingrad as its bombardment had been causing a lot of trouble for the temporary checkpoint. With so much energy whirling inside him, Artha simply wanted to get that power out as soon as possible. (Or maybe, he just wanted to use the power that was raging within.)

    As the chimaera toon acknowledged their leader, Artha took flight out of thebat zone and headed towards the Stalingrad while the rest rushed towards the two Goblins who currently posed the biggest threat against them.

    With Ke Mi''s musical aura that caused a slowing debuff on the demons, Dread Reaver held his ck sword up high, and illusions of the hooded reaper with long hair came out while the ground got filled with nothing but an abyssal void. Not one but six of them were hovering right above him in all cardinal directions as they simultaneously faced the rushing chimaeras and chopped their heads off into two.

    "Death''s Domain." Dread Reaver whispered as another Lion Mantises tried to move in furiously with a burst of speed, but the moment he entered the ck void zone, his body was cut in half with no other action taken from Dread Reaver.

    "Tsk, sometimes, I am jealous of your powers." me Ripperined via the System Channel, so as to not reveal any secrets to the Lion Mantises.

    "You do know that I can only use this once a day? Besides, the range is extremely limited. Not to mention the amount of mana it consumes." Dread Reaver argued back as the void faded away when he finished talking and the Goblin of Death sheathed his sword, waiting to fight the next opponent brave or stupid enough toe forth.

    "Hah,pared to you, my powers need coercing toe out. Unless Ifrit feel bored enough or the opponent proved to be a challenge, he won''te out." me Ripper said as he lit his bow and fired an arrow. The Lion Mantis who took the shot was confident of its armour, but when the arrow hit it, the chimaera soldier suddenly went into mes and burnt

    into crisp, causing the others to be wary.

    "I won''t pity you on that. Still, these Chimaera soldiers are learning our tactics way too fast forfort." The Death Knight replied as he attempted to perform a killing blow, but his sword got deflected.

    "At least, your initial attack reduced the numbers we are fighting by nearly half." me Ripper acknowledged as he took another shot. Surprisingly the Lion Mantises he had been aiming at, had managed to barely dodge. Were it not for Ke Mi''s slow debuff, it would have definitely been an easy feat for the Lion Mantises. The Avatar of Ifrit then threw his bow back into his storage ring and lit his daggers on fire.

    The two Goblins were sure that speed and finesse would be the crucial factors to win this fight. They were clueless that the chimaera soldiers themselves were beginning a second evolution triggered by their dwindling numbers and the real threat of their entire group being wiped out from existence.

 Chapter 764 Artha

    <h4>Chapter 764 Artha</h4>

    Artha did not hesitate toplete his objective, but he had made a mistake bymunicating it out loud that he was going for the Stalingrad. The System had also picked up the information, so it ordered Lord Wolte to put up a magical shield.

    While Artha might be lying and possibly a deviation tactic, it did not hurt to put a shield up in case the Stalingrad was besieged by the leader of the Lion Mantises.

    After the hijacking raid on the Leviathan, the Stalingrad had been pulled back into the open seas and was currently firing a few mmable incendiary rounds to burn the surrounding ships to kingdome. So, when it received themand, Wolte had no difficulty putting the shields up.

    The only downside of the shields was that Wolte had to stop all bombardments to the seas. He would have to put his trust in the Deep Ones to make sure none survived. The only weapons that were still avable were the anti-air mini cannons which were already aiming towards Artha when the sea crew spotted a mysterious flying buging their way.

    Looking back, Lord Wolte was extremely thankful that he did ce the shield up as ordered by the System as the leader of Lion Mantises, Artha smashed his entire weight onto it. His flight left a loud shrieking noise, and when Artha struck the shield, the impact felt as if the energy shield was about to burst from it. Ironically, it was Lord Wolte''s turn to experience the bombardment as his ship shook violently in the seas from the shockwaves produced by the impact.

    Fortunately, the shield was still holding thanks to the living magical battery Lord Wolte was extracting from. If not for Shadow Dagen''s magical powers, his protection would already have been shattered at that point of time. (Mr Derpy didin though since it had taken more than a bit of a toll on him.)

    Learning that his straight-up attack had been useless, Artha did not try again. He quickly switched to the best solution in his mind by first releasing a loud roar. The crew noticed interference on the magical shield and assumed that it was some magic desynchronisation ability where Artha would attempt to slip into the shield-like how an atom passes through time and space in quantum physics.

    However, that was not the case, and instead, it was something less exciting. Nevertheless, it was pretty much an ''oh shit'' kind of situation for both Stalingrad and the sailors onboard.

    As Artha roared with all his might, he appeared to grow exponentiallyrger with each passing second. His two hearts elerated and pushed the muscles to pump in more blood to make him grow bigger.

    With the aid of the crown''s energy stored within him, it enabled him to multiply his cells explosively which subsequently turned him asrge as a giant. Artha did not know how deep the sea went, but he wasn''t going to risk anything. With the help of his now enormous mantis wings buzzing around, they allowed him to hover over the Stalingrad.

    King Baal saw the development that was going over the sea and smirked as he watched the Lion Mantis grow in size that put Earl Barbatos to shame. Archduke Kiva was also quite happy with the results of the crown energy and was excitedly staring at it with intense curiosity. The scene of sess had been deeply burnt into his brain when he heard Artha''s roar getting louder with each interval, and to the point, he was simply a massive version of his former self.

    "And in one swoop, that metal ship will be cut into two, and that will solve all our naval problems! Too bad Focalor had to suffer the brunt of its attack. Still, it will be exciting to excavate it after the battle to study its cannons. Ooh, this is so exciting!" Archduke Kiva thought to himself. He knew that no matter how powerfully strong a magical shield was, it would notst without sacrifices and mana.

    It was just a matter of time when ites down, and Kiva deduced that Stalingrad was probably the only naval ship Moloch have on deck even though it magically appeared out of nowhere.

    When Lord Wolte saw the transformation in front of him, he knew that even if he tried to shoot the overgrown Lion Mantis, that would be no way Artha would stay still to receive the shot. There was no need to try, as he knew how slowly the cannons moved aspared to the Lion Mantis.

    "But one thing is for sure." Lord Wolte swore to himself with a slight glee. (His andromorphous mouth was right under the ship.)

    ----------

    "GODDAMN FINALLY!!! It''s time for the appearance of our ultimate product!" Jespa screamed loudly as she raised her can of root beer and the craftsman all cheered in unison when they saw the live System camera shift its video recording deep into the sea.

    A pair of red eyes were glowing with carnivorous intent towards its newfound prey as multiple soft glowing ruby lights behind those eyes continued to light up in session. For the prey''s cry had awakened the predator from the deep.

    With unmatched confidence, the Colossal Artha believed that using his Mantis de was sufficient to deliver a swift execution to the people on the metal ship andter move back to the defensive tform to finish the rest of the job with his chimaera soldiers.

    However, as he was about to swing his Mantis de, he caught a glimpse of bubbles emerging from the side of the ship. Suddenly, a st of intense red energy beam was aimed directly towards Artha, destroying his Mantis de in the process as he barely dodged the rest of the attack.

    Lord Wolte didn''t hesitate to take this opportunity to fire his triple barrel cannons at Artha as assistance. However, doing so made him lowered his shields in the process.

    Artha was unaware about what was hiding under the sea or whether this had been a special attack part of the Metal Ship. It did not matter as the shields were down and the Stalingrad waspletely vulnerable because of this.

    "How stupidly foolish but your attempt had not been in vain," Artha said as he readjusted his body and pushed himself to destroy the ship before it could do any damage to him again.

    Yet, when the Colossal Lion Mantis came too close to the Stalingrad, an enormous shadow emerged out of the waters and managed to bite on to Artha''s leg. The Lion Mantis was shocked and reactively tried to cut the thing that bit his leg with his remaining Mantis de. To his surprise, the de got stuck, and in return, two paws appeared, grabbing Artha''s waist and pulling him into the waters.

    By bringing the Lion Mantis to his territory, the newly emerged predator had secured his home field advantage while the prey lost his aerial capabilities.

    Artha tried hard to struggle by attempting to w the monstrous ''cute'' face since his final Mantis de remained stuck. He even tried to blow purplish fire which still had an effect despite him plunged into the deep sea. Yet, the predator did not flinch a single bit as his fin tes started to light up with an eerie reddish glow for the second time.

    Pandji was merciless.

 Chapter 765 Pandjilla Reborn

    <h4>Chapter 765 Pandji Reborn</h4>

    Artha could not believe it.

    Bestowed with the powers from the King himself and given personally through the Archduke of the Demon Metropolis, there was no greater honour for a demon soldier.

    However, even if Artha wanted to serve the King and Archduke, he was now feebly powerless against a monster that was slightly smaller in build than him. It was an utter disgrace to them and to his toon should he not be able to get out of this situation.

    But when Artha saw the eerie reddish fins behind the Pandji, he could already sense that he had to act quickly to free himself out of the stranglehold he was currently in. s, with the increasing pressure of the sea and Pandji''s grapple, there was really nothing he could do. The giant chimaera had never been designed to fight in underwater battles.

    His next move would essentially be a do-or-die kind of manoeuvre as he grabbed the mantis de that was stuck on Pandji''s rock hard shoulder and sliced himself into two. While this might have looked like a suicidal move, it allowed Artha to get out of the grapple hold and escape the iing beam of death that was spat out from Pandji''s mouth.

    Despite his self inflicted fatal injuries, Artha continued to ascend further up by pping his wings intensely to get a breath of air as surviving was his number one priority right now.

    At first, the Pandji thought that he had sessfully killed his prey. He had already looked forward to devouring it, but upon noticing that he was only holding half the body, his ''brain'' internalised the information, and the Pandji turned furious. For his own meal to cut itself into two in order to escape from his energy beam was uneptable for the y Panda-Fish Abomination since he was aiming to get a good wholly crunch on the insect-fused beast.

    To have such a basic instinct for food was not a coincidence resulting from the multitude of runes ced within him, but instead, the Pandji had finally gained a proper brain.

    When activated by Qiu Yue, the Pandji had simply been a lump of water-resistant y holding itself together, waiting for the nextmand to be given to him, especially with the chip installed along with his runes. However, the boredom of waiting for it to be called for an assault brought the y Pandji to be in the same situation as Mr Derpy.

    Thus as mentioned, Mr Derpy had ordered his minions to feed Pandji with demon bodies to power him up. Never did the Shadow Fish God realise that it was actually feeding him magically enhanced sailors from the Demon Fleet Leviathan. Those sailors affected by the Fog that Steals had undead attributes in them, hence causing Pandji to actually gain some ''life'' from it.

    Learning that the Panda-Fish abomination that Jin requested the goblin craftsman to create for the fun of having a panda-themed Godzi, the System could not have predicted that the runes, chips and eventually the undead essence would evolve the Pandji to be something more alive. Naturally curious, the System decided to try and see how much further it could go by setting up an experiment. It had asked Mr Derpy to hand over the Dungeon Core that had been within shy for Pandji to consume.

    Shadow Dagen thought that it was an order rather than a request, and in the hopes of gaining more favours with the System, preferably in the form of piggy (porkcupine) nuggets, it obediently allowed Pandji to consume it. The System, as well as Mr Derpy and the Deep Ones around the beast, were all equally surprised when they saw the Dungeon Core being attracted to Pandji and subsequently assimte itself into the lump of the y.

    Only through Moloch''s insight did the System learn that this Dungeon Core was like a parasite kind of core that leeches on giant monsters. With shy the flying turtle bing just another stress eating meal for Mr Derpy, its option had been limited to leech on the Shadow Dagen. But the power the Dungeon Core offered had been so minuscule inparison to the living shadow of a mighty Fish God, Mr Derpy naturally rejected it. (He had no idea that the Dungeon Core even had such a condition.)

    Thus, when it came in contact with the y Pandji, the undead essence it had consumed made the sentient core believe that the Giant Monster was suitable and weak enough for it to be its new host. (Compared to Mr Derpy, it was definitely a better choice.) So, when it assimted within the Pandji, it actually became the heart of the panda-themed monster and gave it something the y monster had sorelycked before.

    Intelligence.

    A brain had been manifested along with the chip and the dozens ofyers of runes, allowing it to be sentient enough to make its own decisions. Thus, when Qiu Yue wanted to give amand to the y Pandji, she noticed that it was already moving on its own to counter the threat that the Stalingrad was facing. And its actions to bring the chimaera soldier down was evidence that in time, it would be a fearsome monster to be reckoned with.

    Artha tried to move as fast as he could, but his wings weren''t ppers, and his arms could only aid him that much on his attempt to reach the surface of the sea. However, for the time being, the poor soul was still in the home ground of the newly reborn Pandji.

    In a moment''s notice, the Panda Godji had already caught up to the bleeding chimaera soldier. However, it was apparent that he was already recovering his torso thanks to the Crown''s immense power.

    And the Pandji meant business when it set its mind to eat the Colossal Lion Mantis as his next meal. So, he quickly grabbed onto the healing torso and tried to bite through it. That was when Artha counterattacked knowing that all Pandji wanted was him. So he threw his Mantis de into its mouth, hoping it would prate his throat and kill him in the process.

    Unfortunately, the Lion Mantis did not know that the new Sea Guardian of Pandapolis was made out of premium y which was incapable of bleeding. In addition, the Dungeon Core utilised the undead essence it had previously collected and used alongside the recovery runes to regenerate the simple y structure.

    Compared to humans, demons and other living beings, the parasitic Dungeon believed it had found the mostfortable host to live in because of its simplistic ''DNA'' structure. The System allowed it to do as it pleased for the time being before it would enforce the second seal of loyalty on it.

    The Pandji continued to ignore the Mantis de within its mouth and bit Artha with his might. This time, there was nowhere else, nothing he could do to escape. Artha was once again facing the eerie reddish glow of his fin indicating that he would be toast meat within the next few seconds.

    "I am sorry, my lord, for disappointing you." Artha apologised with his lungs filled with saltwater and his end torso, feeling the burn emanating from beneath. He had epted that no matter how much he tried, it was useless to struggle this time around.

    Long live Pandji. Long live the newest Sea Guardian of Pandapolis.

 Chapter 766 Infected Energy

    <h4>Chapter 766 Infected Energy</h4>

    "Gosh! How many surprises can they keep?" Kiva wondered as he shook his head at the loss of the Lion Mantises. There was still some crown energy left within the crystal, and his mana had recovered, so he decided to order the next batch of Lion Mantises onto the scene.

    "Artha Two, it looks like your good pal Artha One has disappointed me greatly. I strongly suggest that you take up the ck by eliminating the current threat on the defensive ind tforms. Or else, do not ever think of reviving back." Kiva said as he sent the remaining crown energy mixed with his own magic into the next batch of Lion Mantises.

    "Understood, my Liege. My soldiers and I will clear the shame of the 1st Lion Mantis toon." Artha Two hastily replied as he kneeled down to receive the remaining King''s ''blessing'' from Kiva. He felt the same kind of power pulsating in his veins as his predecessor. Yet his portion was not potent enough to enable him to grow into a colossal form like how Artha One had been able to.

    Kiva could have shamelessly asked for more, but he wanted to achieve some results first, before requesting the second dose of crown energy into his crystal...even though he suspected by now, the King would give it to him without much thought.

    "How many of those abominations do you have?" Sts folded his arms as he watched Kiva turn his Raven Head back to a Bat head once again.

    "Not very princely of you to eavesdrop on my conversation with my subjects." Kiva made double meaning pun to poke fun at Sts.

    "But since I am in a rather happy moodбн maybe another 300 more? Perhaps by the end of this year, I will have a total of 600...ish? The Dungeon Core that I was given by King Baal can only do so much. " Kiva unted his power openly towards Sts, knowing he could do nothing about it.

    "But perhaps, Moloch''s core could be a great supplement to my researchb. I should consider that." He thought to himself, and now, he started to feel Sts''s presence to be a little more than an annoyance.

    "With your curiosity appeased, I suggest you stay in your tent, or better yet, you should return back to the Demon Metropolis. Who knows how long his Majesty''s patience willst with you snooping around?" Kiva taunted Sts, knowing full well that retreating back to their city would be a disgrace. The Prince kept quiet as sometimes doing nothing would be best.

    The Lion Mantises took their leave by bursting into the skies, going for the defensive tform. However, Qiu Yue and Moloch had learnt their lesson about keeping the skies a little too empty.

    Though the y Dragon was still around to clear some minor aerial threats, it was definitely not fast enough to catch up to each individual Lion Mantis if they split up. Thus, Que Er''s Crows were used to fill the gaps while the medics and healers were busy patching the Wyvern Goblin Knights and their rides in the floating military tform.

    Since the crows were not able to catch up to them, they got ced at specific areas, so that they could at least be a nuisance to the Lion Mantises. It did slow them down a little, but the time bought was still not enough for Dread Reaver and me Ripper to catch up.

    The existing Lion Mantises that had survived the culling, transformed right in front of the two goblin heroes. Some of them grew a pair of arms, giving them four Mantis des per Lion Mantis while others grew a new pair of wings, allowing them to be more agile in their fight. The Goblin Heroes also noticed that their carapace armour seemed much sturdier and their bulging muscles had grown two-fold.

    With Dread Reaver unable to use the same skill again, the Lion Mantises'' caution wore off, and they began to start preying on the two Goblins as well as their surrounding allies. Even the Avatar of Ifrit who was supposed to have one of the most prominent speed attributespared to the rest of the monsters in Jin''s army was barely able to keep up with the newly transformed dual-winged Lion Mantises.

    The Orcs and cultivators worked together to fight against this new menace, but their efforts proved to be futile. Their swords were not cutting them deep enough, or they were too slow to react despite Ke Mi''s slow debuff music.

    Everyone believed that if not for the Zither Mistress, they would have lost their lives in the blink of an eye, perhaps even without realising how. Yet, the two Goblin heroes were doing their best to prevent as much loss as possible. Unfortunately, the two of them were experiencing difficulties against the newly transformed Lion Mantises.

    As for Dread Reaver, he nearly lost his arm when fighting against two four-ded Lion Mantises at once and eventually his head. An Orc hade to interfere against a third one who had nearly seeded in ambushing. Too bad the brave Orc lost his life in the process.

    "How dare you!" Dread Reaver shouted as he twisted his sword, bringing it into a gridlock against the Lion Mantis who killed the Orc and ced his palm on the Lion''s head. "HOW DARE YOU!" Dread Reaver shouted from his deathly looking mask and in his rage, he had forgotten the other two Lion Mantises just right beside him.

    Eight Mantis des pierced through Dread Reaver''s armour, and yet it did not stop the life and rage burning inside the Death Knight. me Ripper had seen what was happening, but there was no way he could help his pal right now. He was too busy trying not to meet the same fate.

    The third Lion Mantis was able to get out of the gridlock, but the moment he did that, he suddenly felt that he lost his grip on the des even though they were attached to him. At this point, the other two Lion Mantises saw what was happening that made the third one feel so restless. The Death Knight was pulling the soul essence of the third Lion Mantis manually out of his body.

    At the same time, he was consuming it and ignoring the other two.

    That, of course, prompted the two Lion Mantises to retract their des and go for a second wave of stabbing, however at that point, Dread Reaver was able to parry the other two''s attacks with his sword.

    "Did no one teach you not to disturb somebody during their meal?!" The Death Knight bellowed, his eyes were burning red with anger while his helmet moved as if it was crunching on the soul of the Lion Mantis. He felt his pain from the stabs he received was dulling as he consumed more of the soul. The Lion Mantis, which got his soul taken out now became an empty husk and started to decay right in front of them.

    Now Dread Reaver understood why the Lion Mantises could be moving so quickly or hold four des. He got a taste of the crown''s energy that was embedded in the soul of that Lion Mantis he had absorbed and the energy pulsating through him was intoxicating.

    "Alert! The System has detected major interference with Death Knight Dread Reaver''s sanity. Urging Death Knight to stop consuming the infected soul." The System kept popping up in front of Dread Reaver as well as the multiple alerts.

    "Shut up! I know what I am getting into. I just need more power right now." Dread Reaver waved the annoying message away. Then he pointed his sword at the two Lion Mantises, and his ck de was shimmering with murderous energy.

    "System will provide souls to Death Knight Dread Reaver for free in this current battle, in exchange for him stopping the infected soul consumption. Failure toply will result in the System imprisoning the Death Knight." The System stated with a severe warning.

    "Tsk, and here I thought I can feast on the rest of the Lion Mantises here. Fine, I ept your proposal. You better serve me enough souls to stop the endless ughter of our allies." Dread Reaver replied in the System Channel as he discarded thest bit of the soul and took the initiative to strike.

    "Understood." The System agreed but did not stop at that. Because of the sudden change which the System did not understand, it did a quick analysis of Dread Reaver. Only then did it learn that the interference signature was simr to the energy pulse from the Dungeon Core.

    Thus, it could only conclude that those chimaera soldiers had been infected by the rumoured Crown of Beyond Depravity. Suddenly, a mission appeared on Jin''s phone, which took him by surprise. It had been a long time since the System had created a task for him.

    "Destroy the Crown of Beyond Depravity at all cost. Rewards: Dungeon Supplier Rank Up to 5." Jin read and realised it was a nearly a two rank upgrade from his current Dungeon Supplier Rank. He vaguely recalled certain permissions were lifted when he reached rank 3 but had no idea what was waiting for him at Rank 5.

    "Why the sudden mission?" Jin asked, and the System was direct.

    "Bring the remains to the System for istion, containment and subsequent conversion to aid with increasing the processing capabilities. It should be usable as an alternative to the Titan Brain." The System stated, but only in hindsight did Jin realise this was a tall order to aplish.

 Chapter 767 Counterattack Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 767 Counterattack Discussion</h4>

    Jin could see where this was going and understood where the System wasing from. Though he was surprised that the System issued an impromptu mission, the System exined how it had been closely monitoring the artefact since its activation when King Baal had taken it out in the Dungeon City.

    It also stated how the Crown''s energy had nearly corrupted Death Knight''s sanity. "Although a thorough analysis would be rmended, the System had ssified the wielder of the Crown, Demon King Baal, and the artefact itself as extremely dangerous. Both needed to be taken down as soon as possible. Otherwise, the losses that User stands to face might be sufficient to not only negate the profits earned over the day but put us even more in the red."

    "He really must be damn powerful if it is as you said. It makes more sense moneywise to end it sooner rather thanter." Jin guessed, and the System naturally concurred.

    The Crown had always been anticipated as a highly variable factor which could change the tide, but the System did not expect it to be this disruptive for Jin''s dungeon raid. If the cultivators were killed easily, it would definitely discourage them froming back, especially when the amount they paid for more valuable tickets were rtively highpared to the usual dungeon instance ticket.

    Jin and the System had already put their n into action to give the cultivators a second shot at the dungeon raid, mainly known as the redemption ticket, but they could not do this too many times, else they would lose the cultivators'' trust.

    There needed to be a bnce like the Escape City Instance. It was tough, to the point that anyone has yet to actuallyplete it, but that did not mean the dungeon was overly punishing. Jin still gave them sufficient rewards for their hard work too. This was true as a nket statement, especially in regards to the younger generation since Jin himself, knew that they were too reliant on incentives and gifts to prompt them to cultivate further.

    "In addition, Original Betor Kraft and his team of Betors had been sent to infiltrate the location given by Lord Moloch in an attempt to retrieve the enemy''s Dungeon Core. System has calcted that this would be the best time for a counterattack instead of just defending." The System stated and listed the possible options for Jin to consider. Upon reading the options, he believed it would be best to look for a second opinion and went to the Pandapolis War Room for some advice.

    He was surprised to see that Hou Fei was with Moloch, both of them were having ate dinner together. On the other hand, Qiu Yue was busy arranging the troops and cultivators, sending them orders toply so they would not be too overwhelmed by the second wave of Lion Mantises that hade in.

    "I suggest you not to disturb her as she is in her zone right now," Moloch whispered as he took a sip from a straw while his man puppet held a coffee cup high for him to drink.

    "It''s fine, I have things to discuss with you instead," Jin exined how the System had issued him an impromptu mission and showed them that the Lion Mantises were actually enhanced by the Crown''s energy.

    "I see, no wonder Dread Reaver and me Ripper were having trouble holding them at bay. Still, sending in more of our minions might only increase the aggressiveness of the Lion Mantises. We''ve seen how they managed to adapt to the situation a bit too quickly for myfort. Sending anotherrade might onlyplicate things." Moloch said that this was the reason why Qiu Yue was so flustered, moving all the troops around. She wanted to give some ranged support to distract the Lion Mantises while at the same time, giving the two Goblin Heroes some room to breathe.

    "In any case, you will need to lure King Baal out of the safe zone permanently if you want to challenge him and destroy the crown." Hou Fei added as he had learned how the safe zone worked through Moloch''s teachings.

    All defender''s magic would have half the effectiveness within the safe zone while the attackers have their effectiveness doubled within the radius. If the attackers'' magical projectile was shot out of the safe zone, it would return back to its original effectiveness.

    Vice versa for the defenders as well so because of this dungeon cave rule, the defenders would never dare to go into the safe zone to fight as they knew that it would be a significant disadvantage against them. It was also the reason why the demons had not expected the initial bombardment to be so devastating. After all, who in the Dungeon World had heard about projectiles being so deadly without being infused with magic?

    "You will need to prove your worth if you wish to make hime out of it. That or you will have to lure him with a good enough bait." Hou Fei said and used his head to point at Moloch. Even the cotton minotaur lord understood that he was the best bait to get King Baal to act.

    "Still, having a good bait is useless if you do not know how to reel the fish into your hands. Don''t forget once the fish bites into the hook, it still has enough strength to fight and run away with it. In this scenario, the satisfaction of destroying Moloch and causing the rights of the Dungeon Core to return to him."

    "Not exactly the case, since our core is jointly ruled with two users. The System and Me. So even if I fall, King Baal will have to remove the existence of the System from the city first before the city can be captured." Moloch said, and the others were a little perplexed. How could one defeat the System? Does that mean the whole city had to be incinerated first, removing all traces that had System''s interference for it to cease its existence?

    "Heh, looking at your faces, I can already see what you guys are thinking. So yes, it will be very difficult for an ordinary fighter to remove the System away from the Dungeon Core. However, thetest impromptu mission that was given by the System sheds a different light in this particr case. It is now scared. Very scared of the crown-." Moloch was saying but as there seemed to be a sudden onset of heaviness in the air he stopped.

    "System, stop it! If you want us to help you, you should cooperate with us fully just this once." Jinined as he knew how the System did not like to get challenged, preferring to keep up the facade of not showing any weaknesses. The air returned back to normal, and the guys could rest easy, but for Qiu Yue, she merely took a deep breath in before returning to handle the war table.

    "I will assist in this endeavour as well." Hou Fei said and started toy his n out for the other two to hear. "We need to attract the King''s attention and Jin, I suggest you take some monsters or cultivators and charge down the Sky Bridge, making your presence known."

    "When that happens, I believe Kiva will send in some soldiers to stop you, probably of the same calibre as the Lion Mantis or maybe even higher. Allocate some troops to stop them and then continue pushing forward." Moloch added, and Hou Fei agreed to it.

    "I assume you still have the Graveyard Core active for you, right?" Hou Fei asked, and Jin nodded his head. "Great, once you have fully descended to the ground,mand your phantom soldiers to clear the demon horde that is stationed there."

    "You sure know as much as Moloch in this matter." Jin passed a casual remark which Hou Feiughed at.

    "I have to know everything to n my soldiers'' actions properly. Information is key in any war." The Royal Snake General said, and Moloch chimed with regards to the counterattack.

    "Hmm, if that''s the case, I will liaise with the Artillery Orcs and the Stalingrad to give you support if you can force the mages to lower their shields." Moloch suggested, and Jin was listening intently to what the tacticians were telling him. They gave him the overall picture but warned him that things might not go as nned, especially with Kiva around.

    "Do not worry. I know what to do. Besides, I am your master, got to show my face once in a while. Can''t let my minions do all the work, right?" Jin asked, and suddenly the System pinged an alert to Jin.

    "System shall aid in your endeavour for this particr mission by sending User the following rewards forpleting a particr task weeks ago."?A box appeared in front of the three guys, and Jin did not waste any time to open it.

    "Is this..." Moloch''s eyes were wide open for a long time as he saw the present bestowed by the System. When Jin saw the item''s description on his phone, he could not help butughed.

    "Shit, this is a really long time. I never expected it to be ready when our scientists are all constantly working overtime."

    "Take it as the System''s initiative to bnce the odds against King Baal." The System reported with much pride in the amount of effort within the present.

    "Great, then let''s do the counterattack, but we should coordinate it with the Foxes, so they can perform theirs too," Jin said as he ced the gift into his storage watch and proceeded outside with the System''s teleportation.

 Chapter 768 Fun Ride

    <h4>Chapter 768 Fun Ride</h4>

    "What a weird ce to put a maximum security prison," Kiyu stated. She, like the rest of the skulk, was in their fox forms surrounding Kraft as the only ''human'' to stakeout right outside the ''prison''. With Kraft using his abilities, no one should be able to see them before they acted. Still, it was effective enough to not catch any attention from the tower guards around the prison.

    "Only Moloch could think of such a ridiculous ce to put a maximum security prison." Pei shook her head as she looked over the railings and surveyed the surroundings. It looked as if it was at the busiest street intersection of the Demon Metropolis and only a fair distance away from the Royal Pce. Guards were everywhere, and it served as a warning to the others who would daremit crimes in the Demon Metropolis. At the same time, it was also a testament to Moloch''s intricate design and the portrayed image of the prison being unbreakable.

    Even if someone dared to try and break out, or yet even crazier, try to break in, the Royal Pce was on the watch, and many in the Royal Guards were dying to prove their worth so they could get promoted into the inner Royal Guards to serve the Demon King directly. Even if not for the Royal Guards, the demon adventurers themselves wished to prove their strength and hopefully gain some recognition to be a noble.

    The prison enticed people to catch the prisoners as if it had tremendous rewards to do so, but they did not know it was a ploy by the royalty and King Baal only gave such exemry rewards twice. Still, that was enough for propaganda services to take effect.

    "I think it''s meant to attract this huge crowd so that people can see what the Demon King was doing when Moloch executed his long term n. Sadly, that cotton minotaur couldn''t have predicted that his n would potentially backfire this badly when he tried to prove to everyone King Baal was going insane." Evonmented, and the rest felt a tinge of pity for Moloch.

    "To be honest, I find that Moloch you guys are talking about, rather refreshing. In my opinion, its advantages of his construction outweigh the disadvantages by a lot, especially when you take into consideration how the demons can resurrect after a certain time frame, just by paying some money. If there was ever a prison break, there are too many witnesses around to catch the prisoners in action. Police in the vicinity is able toe and reinforce in time. Remember how hard it was to capture that one Weasel Cultivator back in the day because we enclosed him deep in the mountains, thinking he would not break out from his prison cage created by...Zhou Lin?" Rex took some difficulty to say thest name but nevertheless did so without any emotion.

    "Ah, that rascal weasel cultivator...He really was a major pain in the ass." Tsu reminisced as he climbed up onto Kraft''s head for a better view of the area. "If we are going the brute force way, I suggest we do it swiftly or else, the Royal Pce guards wille storming in less than twenty minutes."

    "So, we got to be out in less than twenty? Sounds eas-" Suddenly arge paper fan flew onto Kraft''s face and stopped him from talking. Pei held the paper fan with her mouth since she too was in fox form and subsequently took it out to shout at Kraft.

    "DO. NOT. CURSE. OUR. RUN!" Pei practically screamed each word with such ferocity that she really meant business and the others would not even dare to oppose her on that. Because of that unlucky running mouth of Kraft, things were bound to happen in the opposite way, and they had to work extra hard to ovee those unexpected adversities. Worst of all, they all knew Kraft was doing it intentionally, craving the extra chaos as it made things ''interesting'' as he would justify his actions.

    "I think his curse had already been activated." Itori pointed with her paw at the roadside beside the maximum security prison. An entourage of carriages with bright exquisite designs indicative of ''Royalty'' had been spotted right beside the gate of the prison.

    "Come to think of it, Moloch did say that only a small part of the Royal Family actually appeared on the battlefield. There were Prince Sts and Princess Gaap with thetter being dead. Probably a few more siblings who had not answered the call for arms or perhaps they''ve been stationed here on standby?" Ixa queried, and suddenly a message was pinged on Kraft''s phone.

    "Oooh! Looks like there''s some interesting development. Jin is going for a counter-attack, and the System wants us to create a ruckus so the King will go after the ruckus to clear the raid to protect his Dungeon Core."

    "So...we are not caring about the royalty that came by?" Ixa asked once more since she had been ignored by the whole skulk.

    "What are you talking about sis? Of course, we care! We always care about the royalties!" Ixel answered in a sarcastic way, and Itori caught wind that her brother was implying on the Royal Zodiac ns.

    "Then, what are we waiting for?" Rex turned into a human and gave an upward nod along with a grin which everyone followed suit. Ixel ced his leg on the railing and using it as a support, he jumped up to the skies and looked down at the maximum security prison.?Suddenly, Ixelnded on something in mid-air proving Kraft''s hypothesis to be true. There was yet another invisible energy shield that was protecting the prison, and the moment he stepped on it, the entire prison went on alert.

    Bells rang loudly, and deafening sirens were ring throughout the whole prison. Spotlights started to illuminate, and Ixel continued to climb upwards despite the spherical curvature of the energy shield. The spotlights managed to gather on him, given that they used magic to direct the coordinates of the intrusion. With a few sprints, Ixel reached the pinnacle of the energy shield and jumped up once more.

    Separately, the guards quickly strengthened the shield to the maximum concentrating on the top part and started to sortie a few aerial sentry Dragonlites to the scene in order to stop the threat. The Royal Entourage that came to visit the prison hastened their steps into the prison, assumingmand of the entire area.

    Currently, they did not know what the objectives of the intruder were but seeing that there only seemed to be one person, they assumed it could either be an aplice trying to break out their friend out of prison or someone insane enough not to get captured by the toughest police in the city. Whatever the case, they would find out once they caught him.

    Kraft chuckled as he saw Ixel soar up to the sky and the feeble resistance meant to stop him. He saw the cultivation of therge Grizzly bear appearing above Ixel.

    "Oh, it will be a fun ride. A very fun ride, indeed!"

 Chapter 769 Yawn of the Hibernated Bear

    <h4>Chapter 769 Yawn of the Hibernated Bear</h4>

    As Ixel jumped to the top, he was surprised that there was so little space for him within the dungeon cave provided by the Demon Metropolis. Hence he had to stop short before he crashed into the ceiling of the dungeon cave.

    With more than sufficient strength, Ixel wed and stuck himself to the ceiling and ced one hand downwards, facing the maximum security prison. The Dragonlite sentries were a bit wary when they saw this attemptedwbreaker manage to reach the top of the Demon Metropolis without even breaking a sweat. For some reason, the strange stature and the fact that he was up there gave them a very bad feeling.

    The air pressure was getting thinner the higher they went up, and one of the Dragonlites already felt faint when they were approaching where Ixel had positioned himself.

    "Sorry guys, it''s nothing personal. Just business and pleasure." Ixel muttered as a ball of energy spiralled and generated around his palm. As one of the more promising n Head candidates of the Grizzly Bear n, Ixel had improved and mastered an Epic Grade Technique which already bordered on the Legendary Grade. It was the "Yawn of the Hibernated Bear."

    As the name suggested, it was simr to Jin''s Panda Yawning Chi Beam, and if anyone saw the two in action, it would be crystal clear that Ming had used this technique from the Grizzly Bear n as his inspiration.

    However, unlike Panda Yawning which could be activated almost in an instant, the ''Yawn of the Hibernated Bear'' required at least five seconds to charge even at the Epic Grade. (At Basic Grade, that particr technique required 20 seconds to charge.) Hence, the reason why Ixel had decided to jump upwards was to begin preparing for that spell.

    Comparatively, the technique Yawn of the Hibernated Bear, possessed an immense amount of power unless Jin decided to fully utilise his version by yawning longer. Ixel brought the miniature ball of spiral energy near his mouth so he could consume it and subsequently began to yawn naturally.

    To the Dragonlite sentries, there was a disturbance in the air, but they did not notice anything thinking it could be the air pressure, and when a beam of bright yellowish energy suddenly flew downwards, it came as a surprise. Ixel''s yawn burnt them into leaving nothing behind, not even ashes as the raging beam continued to descend towards the maximum security prison.

    Through Ixel''s visor, he noticed that the System had already adjusted his aim for him and automatically focused his beam so that he could concentrate on maintaining the output of the beam to the maximum. The rest of the skulk saw the beam moving rapidly down the skies and hitting the tip of the spherical energy shield.

    Even with enhancedyers being inserted to reinforce it, the shield barely held for a second, causing it to shatterpletely. The seemingly unstoppable beam then drilled its way through the multiple levels of the maximum prison.

    All those metal, wood, concrete and special alloys melted as soon as they came in contact with Ixel''s beam and it the beam did not seem to have any intentions of stopping for quite some time. First, it reached the tenth floor, then it pierced through the twentieth floor, subsequently the fiftieth floor and only when it reached the ny-eighth floor, did the beam finally lose enough power on the way to go on.

    Prince Paimon, the Second Prince to the throne, was bbergasted. For a prison invader to do this much damage, just by himself, has been unheard of. He had never seen a magical attack this devastating that could prate these many floors in his life. One shouldn''t forget that each floor was more reinforced the lower one went, yet Ixel''s technique couldn''t care less about all the expensive materials the demons'' had used for construction.

    The Guards were in a dire pinch. There was nothing in their handbook that described such an unexpected situation to ur. Usually, prison invaders would be apprehended long before they could even pass the tenth floor, but this time around, the level of damage was just too outrageous. The poor guards even peered through the burnt hole to see how far it went, but all they could make out was darkness.

    However, as the half quoted saying went, curiosity killed the cat. Only in this instance, the ones killing the guards were the rest of the foxes when they took the opportunity to jump into the hole, biting off the heads of any poor onlookers. Except for Kraft, he had decidedly chosen to kick down the main door and was having his share of fun by eliminating any guards that he encountered. (The System was unsure whether to be happy or unhappy by this sudden influx of more souls)

    After his magnificent gate crashing performance, Ixel enjoyed the descent down into the depths as he returned back to a fox form and skydived to the 98th floor to meet with the rest of the skulk. s, by the time he reached there, all the demon guards and prisonersy in aatose state. They had all been bested by Evon who had long since released his psychedelic drugs into the surrounding atmosphere.

    The killing ensued so there was no resistance in their path to search for the staircase down and to not miss out any survivors who were mentally awake enough to see the skulk of foxes scurrying around to find the exit.

    Of course, with the blueprints uploaded into the System, it was only a matter of time before they found the door for Ixa to bash it through with a body m. So they descended to the 99th where they repeated this process before eventually arriving at 100th floor. The guards were definitely more armed, but no one could escape the handle the strength of Evon''s drugs, making him think his initial n could have worked. (Still, he decided to keep quiet, not wanting to incur the same kind of jinx that Kraft had.)

    "I believe it''s the elevator simr to what was drawn on the blueprint," Kai said as he saw the elevator gates open widely with no guards handling them.

    "Now, herees the real challenge. Thest nine floors are what Moloch described as the 9 levels to hell." Pei reminded them of the minotaur''s warning stated in Kraft''s memo, but she could see that it did nothing in the eyes of those battle-hungry foxes. All of them were already dying to have a proper fight that. Even Ixel who had just fired a death beamined that it had merely been a warm-up for him.

    "You guys definitely have to give me the first boss, I am itching for some properbat!" Rex demanded out loud as they all stepped into the elevator despite his initial im to take thest floor but the entire skulk gave their objection simultaneously.

    "Why?! If I kill the first boss, you guys can go on ahead and handle the rest. I will catch up soon." Rex defended himself, but Kiyu spoke out.

    "No! If we allow you to do that, there won''t be anyone left for us to fight with!"

    "What are you talking about? If I fight the first...oh. You guys think that I will one-shot the first and continue with the rest as I descend down?" Rex gave a tease of his theory why they were objecting him so adamantly, and to his (not so) surprise, the entire skulk nodded their heads in unison. Even Pei who did not wish to fight that much felt it would be unfair.

    "Fineeeee. I will take thest level boss as usual. Just gather the keys to unlock the corridor to the dungeon core." The newly joined Panda Remnant reluctantly gave them the go-ahead with their ns. The elevator had brought them down to the 101st floor, and Pei walked out of the lift.

    "Since I am the weakest. I will take this." Pei decided, and no one disagreed. After all, she was the doctor, and it was best she cleared something easy so she could assist the otherster on. As Pei waved goodbye to the skulk, blue mes lit up the corridor, directing her to the ''boss ''room. She decided to stay in her fox form and continued to walk with her senses heightened, ensuring there weren''t any traps around.

    "There is nothing to fear." She encouraged herself as she continued forward.

 Chapter 770 Paradiso

    <h4>Chapter 770 Paradiso</h4>

    As she walked into the corridor, the blue mes flickered slowly and suddenly became brighter, revealing the extent of the corridor hallway. Pei, still in her fox form, did not walk through the centre of the pathway and instead quietly ran through from one pir to another of the extended corridor hallway.

    At the same time, she marvelled at the artwork along the corridor. It depicted a queue of cloaked humans cuffed by their chains awaiting the judgement of the executioner right at the end of the painting.

    "Heh. I wonder if Moloch is aware that he seems to have copied the Divine Comedy, Dante''s Inferno into his maximum security prison. Could it be that the writer was possibly a demon from Moloch''s time as well? Nah, that seems too far fetched. It would be more likely that the writer had juste in contact with a demonбн Hmmm." Pei thought to herself as she used her tail to shift the fox mask onto her face and take another look at the prison blueprints.

    Whether the first 100 floors had anything or anyone special to pit against the foxes, it would not have mattered since Ixel managed to break through with his technique. However, the final nine floors were ''special'' and the reason Kraft had assembled them all before venturing forth.

    Moloch''s blueprints indicated that the final floors were meant to create the true meaning of hell for the demons, humans or even half breeds who hadmitted sins in the Demon Metropolis.

    Unlike Jin''s world which required resources and money to revive, the Church of Afterlife who held onto the souls of the fallen was able to give anyone who had died a choice to resurrect again even if they did not have the money to pay for it. When they returned back to the living, they would then have to pay for the procedure with interest attached to it. (In essence, they worked like a bank, or maybe one might liken them to loan sharks.)

    Given their infinite lifespan, it was not really an issue but more of a meddlesome affair that would stick. The only problem with that was the Church of the Afterlife would not allow someone to die permanently. Whoever had agreed to the deal, they would be revived again and again, as many times as necessary, forced to work off the entire debt, no matter how long it would take.

    That was where Moloch''s infamous prison came into the picture. The Demon Metropolis did not gain its fame, power and riches because of the wise rule of King Baal nor the umtion of efforts by the previous generations of Demons. Instead, the city only bloomed after the creation of such prisons like Moloch had built as the Church of the Afterlife suggested cooperation to regain their debts.

    Those who died while they were still indebted without the financial ability to pay back the Church of the Afterlife, were sent to these prisons for reforms. They would toll their lives in the hundred floors to make goods and products which would subsequently be sold and the proceeds, after the demons took their cut, were used to repay their debtors.

    It was a win-win situation for the Church. They would not have to bother with every creditor who owed them money, but every debt would be paid regardless of the methods. Even if the prisoners escaped, it was no longer the Church''s problem to deal with, since the responsibility would fall on the guards the Demon Metropolis had employed. All the Church had to do was pay enough taxes and money to the Demon Metropolis to make their problems go away.

    Hence, the rulers of these final floors were the prison supervisors, reformers and guards, which enforced the punishment to the prisoners who escaped. Though these ''prisons'' could be found in almost every major metropolis nowadays, none couldpare to the unique design Moloch had used for the first of its kind, the maximum-security prison Paradiso. (It was #17 on the list of must-see tourist spots of the Dungeon World!)

    However, Paradiso hadn''t always been designed to work off the debtors of the Church. Initially, it was only made to imprison the worst of the worst offenders of the Demon Metropolis. Moloch would also be the only one to be crazy/ingenious enough to put the Demon Metropolis''s Dungeon Core at thest hidden sub room on the 109th floor of Paradiso.

    This was mainly because Moloch had created a so-called pity system for the prisoners in Paradiso. If they could win or kill the supervisors of thest nine floors, they would be reced as the new reigning supervisors until their jail terms ended.

    Luxurious food, a ce to stay, a flow of steady ie as well as the lust of power, had effectively satisfied those criminals to live while upholding the status quo. In years, Paradiso''s final nine floors had seen so many challengers that the essence of the dead resulted in forming Dungeon Cores for each level.

    These Dungeon Cores then evolved to be the Dungeon World''s first prison cores and allowed those who lost to be shackled onto the core until a new owner came along. Whether the new reigning owner wished to unleash all the tormented souls or kept them for their dungeon would be up to them to decide.

    Thus, Moloch used these new concept cores to protect the keys used to unlock the room which housed the Metropolis'' Dungeon Core as part of the Metropolis defence against invaders. Only the absolute royalty like King Baal had ess to the room without the need of those keys, and that was the authority of the owner of the Dungeon Core. Else, the invaders had to fight each and every level to get the keys to open the deadliest of defenders to acquire the dungeon core.

    It was, however, a trap made by Moloch and King Baal since no one had ever beaten all nine floors altogether. And even if they did, King Baal would have been notified as soon as the first one fell into the wrong hands, which would give him ample time to protect his Dungeon Core.

    Because of the achievement of creating such a wonderful defence system against invaders and his service to the throne, King Baal did not send Moloch into prison even after he betrayed him for taking his crown away.

    бн After all, he was still sane at that point and understood what Moloch had been talking about. King Baal wanted to take action by sending Moloch to a secluded ce and hoped he could create a countermeasure of the crown he was wearing. Moloch knew the King wanted to keep such power in his hands (and in check), but through the years, things changed.

    The crown had overpowered his mental will, and there were days he lost his ''sanity'' check, causing him to crumble and suffer through the pain until the next sanity check where the crown would leave him alone should he pass. Kiva had slowly taken over him and further imbued the crown with his own magic whenever possible.

    It was only a year after Moloch''s betrayal that Kiva took over Paradiso as the overall supervisor in charge and introduced such an insane rmendation to put not only the Church of Afterlife debtors inside, but anyone breaking thew for the smallest infringement since most of the cells had been empty and unused.

    By now, Baal had lost all reason to listen to sensible logic, allowing Kiva to do whatever he wished. Though it inadvertently became a moneymaker for the Metropolis, Paradiso turned into a defence system with capitalistic intentions, corrupting the very purpose of what the prison had once been created for.

    Yet Kiva thought nothing of it. He believed no one would be such an idiot to invade Paradiso or more so, the Demon Metropolis. Thus, it eventually became a thing of the past, and only fools and debtors who wished to get out of the prison attempted this new ''myth'' of Paradiso prison.

    However, the Ravenous Lord had totally overlooked that the Guard supervisors were still serving their King and city. Money and food were also sent based on a cut from Baal''s personal treasury. Even the King, throughout the years, had neglected this trivial issue because it had all been previously arranged by Moloch.

    Speaking of Moloch, over the years the Minotaur Lord tried toe up with various ns in his seclusion, but they all had too many variables, and the more promising ones would need an amount of strength neither he nor his minotaurs had possessed.

    That was why when Kraft proposed on getting the Dungeon Core, Moloch took some time to think about it. And the more he pondered about the idea, it made sense for Kraft and his skulk to capture the demon city.

    By taking the Dungeon Core away from King Baal, he would lose his stat bonuses as King of the Metropolis. That should weaken him enough for the rest of Jin''s group to defeat him and bring him to the System''s side, regaining his former self.

    Hence with this, he agreed to Kraft''s strike n and gave him the details of Paradiso to the best of his knowledge. From blueprints to the possible weakest points of the prison, he put it into memory stick with the System''s help and that was why Kraft was busy typing away on hisptop during the entirety of the first invasion phase.

    He might have sworn allegiance to Jin, but in his heart, the wish to help King Baal return to his former self, had never faded.

 Chapter 771 Limbo - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 771 Limbo - Part 1</h4>

    "Listen up, thest nine floors have the keys we need to carry out our mission. The name might be familiar for anyone who''s heard about the Divine Comedy. Though in my opinion, the naming is pure coincidence." Kraft had exined when they first teleported to the building''s roof for surveince.

    "Who cares? We have 18 levels of hell, sounds like this will only take half as longpared to that. Hahaha!" Ixel stated with such bluntness, the rest couldn''t help butugh at hisment bitterly.

    "Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, Treachery. Those are the names of each floor, and ording to Moloch all of the floors are themed in that manner too. Any prisoner gets to try and challenge any supervisor of those floors to their advantage."

    "Can you borate on that?" Pei asked, and Kraft smirked.

    "The themes must have to do with the personality of the corresponding guard supervisor. A person with more greedy traits would be more suited to be a supervisor in the Gluttony post aspared to getting a post in Lust." Evon imagined, and Pei nodded at that exnation.

    "Unfortunately the system continued to evolve after Moloch''s time, so his information on that is limited. Nevertheless, we are not here to challenge them to be the next guard supervisor. Feel free to get the keys for the Dungeon Core any way you like. But, looking at you guys, none of you seems willing enough to walk away from a good fight. "

    "Anyway, there is no reason why we should go through each floor one at a time. Time is a luxury we don''t have, so I expect you to NOT y around with your enemies. Nine foxes for nine levelsбн I do not see why we shouldn''t break up and get each key." Kraft continued.

    "Well if you want, we can make it more interesting to see who among us will get their key the fastest. Also, whoever needs a helping hand will have to pay for it with one of Lynn''s desserts!"

    "Sounds like I am going to thest floor," Rex said with a nonchnt face. "Treachery sounds right up my alley." Even as he tried to stop thinking about the betrayal he had faced from his father, there was this dull burning ache in his heart.

    "Going by normal logic, the first floor should have the weakest supervisor, so I should take that one then." Pei decided as she raised her hand. Kraft somehow gave her a cold face though itter turned into a verily slight grin which none of them except the watchful Pei had noticed.

    She understood why he did that. The theme ''Limbo'' suited her quite nicely. She had not been the most faithful among the foxes in Kraft''s skulk despite her fulfilling her obligation by keeping a watchful eye at Jin''s every moment since he was the newest master.

    -------

    Though not as poetic as one could imagine, the further Pei moved forth, the more the beautiful and mesmerising corridor hallway became until she found out that the four walls started to split. At some point, it turned into something akin to a shattered mirror revealing the ugliness of this prison core.

    Pei was unsure if that was a normal illusion. Her high resistance should have allowed her to not fall under any such spells, but right in front of her, the scene turned into something grimmer. It appeared as if she was standing on the edge of a barren mountain cliff, void of life and the only way forward seemed to be the series of stairs that eventually spiralled into various paths into the abyss.

    Cold winds started to blow from below, and Pei could finally see some enemies approaching. Shaped like babies, they were moving as fast as Jin''s robot crawlers. Not only that, but their faces were also all distorted, leaving their eyes crossed out with a bleeding scar and horns growing abnormally throughout their bodies.

    Pei did not know which path to take, but instead of thinking too long on the issue, she took out a special paper fan. Unlike her regr paper fan, which she used to regrly beat Jin or sometimes Kraft with, this one was considered as one of the many heirlooms from the Crane n.

    It was golden with a beautiful scene of cranes flying to the east, and more importantly, it was imbued with the chi of herself. "Since all the paths lead to the bottom, I shall take the quickest one down." Pei thought to herself, assuming that diving into the cliff was the fastest way.

    But the moment she stepped over the cliff, the entire mountain turned upside down and both her and the disgusting baby abominations fell due to gravity.

    Those baby abominations quickly adapted to the situation by growing wings to get closer to their target. With Pei free falling, all she could do was to defend herself. While still in her fox form, she was agile enough to whack any iing abominations with herrge paper fan and evaded their assaults whenever needed. Nevertheless, their numbers did not seem to be dropping at all, instead rather increasing, forcing Pei to transform to her human form and releasing her cultivation aura.

    The burst of aura burnt any iing baby abominations giving Pei space to fully utilise her paper fan. "Advanced Fan Art, The Crane Descends into The Lake," Pei announced her fan technique, causing the paper fan to split into two and a subsequent burst of energy was released as she used the two fans like the crane''s wings open widely to glide into ake.

    That twin burst of energy cleared the surrounding of all the baby abominations, and soon enough, Pei realised that she was able to touch on some ''ground'' in the air even though the mountain and spiralling stairs were still upside down.

    "Ahбнplease do not tell me that the spiralling stairs leading to heaven are some stupid metaphor." Pei criticised out loudly, and she heard a loudugh.

    "HEAVEN?! HAHAHAHAH!" The booming low voice echoed all around her. The sky shattered once more like a mirror and Pei returned back to the very same momentous hallway she had been at a few minutes ago. Only this time, there was a throne chair at the very end of the hallway.

    The person on the throne chair beckoned her toe closer. She followed the request cautiously and the closer she got, the more confused she was. The ''person'' on the throne resembled бнMoloch?

    "Huh, a minotaur. And here I thought I won''t see any of you around." Pei wondered as shebined both of her paper fans into onerge weapon again.

    "WHY IS THAT?" The big faced ck Minotaur abruptly shouted with curiosity.

    "Woah, I''m right in front of you, is there really a need to shout, big guy? It''s justбнerm ever since the invasion, I''ve never seen a single minotaur on the demons'' side. So I thought that all of them were under Moloch''s care." Pei exined her thought process.

    "did you just say Moloch?! you saw him? where is he now?" The ck Minotaur''s expression turned into delight, but the more Pei spoke with him, the more she felt that there was something seriously wrong with this particr minotaur.

    "So you do know him? Currently, he is defending a city we made together. Well, I didn''t do much per seбнbut he created the city for our new master."

    "MASTER? NEW MASTER?" The ck Minotaur questioned once more with an earth-shattering volume, but this time Pei got a scrutinising look at him. His face would shift, but the voice wasn''t emitted from his mouth. Instead, the two pauldrons on his shoulders, one on each, would light up.

    "did Moloch really betray king baal and go for another person? we have been trying to search for him for so long. we even killed someone to go into this prison to look for him. even when we became paradiso prison supervisors, we still did not see him. why hasn''t hee looking for us? did he abandon us as well?"

    "We? Us?" Pei could only see one minotaur on the throne, and she could sense no one else in the area. "Who are you to him? He didn''t mention anyone of his people being down he-"

    "MOLOCH FORGOT US? WHO ARE YOU? WHY MOLOCH FIGHT WITH HUMAN?" Now Pei could clearly see. The loud voice was emitted by the right red pauldron while the other gentler one was from the left yellow pauldron.

    "looks like our invader has more information about him that we know. let''s subdue her and get information out of her."

    "THAT WE SHALL, BROTHER."

 Chapter 772 Limbo - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 772 Limbo - Part 2</h4>

    The ck Minotaur stood up, and this action finally made Pei realise why it reminded her of Moloch. More urately speaking, it had reminded her of Moloch''s man puppet. Like the Minotaur Lord, Pei believed that her opponent must also have been reduced from their former self into a set of pauldrons who were now controlling that ck Minotaur like a puppet.

    "Is that why they are in a state of limbo? Unable to find their master and having doubts about serving the new one?" Pei wondered to herself as she readied her weapon. There should be no need to pull punches for she knew that dying time here would only cause more problems.

    Besides, killing them should allow the ck Minotaur to reunite with Moloch, and he could exin the situation from there. No use babbling at an enemy who refused to listen.

    Surprising her less and less with each time, the ''reality'' in front of her shattered once more and in the next moment, the ck Minotaur appeared behind her, attempting to strike her back with one fell swoop. It was only through instinctive reflex that Pei was able to block it with her reinforced paper fan. Following up on it, she redirected the force energy as part of her counterattack.

    "THIS HUMAN STRONG!" The red pauldron lit up, giving his opinion while the emotionless ck Minotaur merelyplied to its puppeteer''s orders.

    "i agree. usually most people are already dead by this time. we should be more careful with this opponent, brother."

    "System, do you think killing will work against these pauldrons? They are бнnon living entities." Pei recalled that the System should be unable to get anything that was not alive and breathing.

    "Unable to confirm. The capture of Moloch was based on his renewed fealty to our User and not because of User''s de. However, other instances in the Dungeon World have proven that System has also been able to capture robotic beings despite them not being a form of natural life. Former Crane Betor Pei should experiment." In short, all the System stated was to just give it a try. If she killed the Minotaur Lord''s subjects, and they were not able to be captured, they could only curse their wretched fate.

    "What? And if they die?!" Pei did have time to reply as she had already restrained her strength allowing the ck Minotaur to have the upper hand for now.

    "Former Crane Betor Pei, it is best you concentrate on the battle. This is the Dungeon World. Death here is nothing permanent. Remove all thoughts and get the key to the Dungeon Core. User has already begun his counterattack. No failures allowed." The System emphasised the need for victory and Pei began to recall why she was in such a dilemma.

    She had been like that for most of her life, unable to make her own decisions. She had wandered through life following her parents'' instructions to train to be the next n headбн until the rebellion.

    Some of her n people believed that Pei''s insistence of interfering was because she had been roped in due to her innocence and naivety, making her think in ''righting the injustice''. In contrast, others assumed that it was because of the enhanced coercion by Kraft of the Fox n. Nobody believed it was her path nor her own decision to follow through the rebellion.

    Ironically her actions, along with the others ''foxes'' who had all acted ording to what they each thought would be for the greater good of their n, had inevitably caused their ns'' rapid decline.

    After the most promising candidates for the next chiefs of their respective ns were gone, the ones left behind had resulted to infighting. Despite the rebellion going well in the first stages, the fallout of the involved ns had led them to their rapid decline.

    And once Panda n Head Zhou Lin had been taken out by them, with no one else to obstruct the annexation of the Royal Zodiacs, most of these ns were decimated by the Royal ns as part of the revenge for the damage their ''leaders'' had caused.

    It might have been their victory to stop the frenzied Zhou Linбн but ultimately was it worth the cost? They had partially gone out to spare their ns the exact fate, their actions had brought upon themбн Kraft, as the first Original Betor, had been the one to suffer this realisation.

    To spare his weakenedrades from feeling the same, he had decided to ce his ''foxes'' into bullets, partly to help them recover, but mostly in order to shield them from all these unwarranted hate from the remnants of their ns.

    Yet, they were not oblivious to it since the System had revived them as part of a deal. Even if it was in the initially unstable form of foxes, they were privy to listen to the hearsays and rumours as Kraft forged ahead alone into the future. Pei was the one most affected by it and her uncaring attitude when she came out of the ''fox'' bullet was due to the unseen consequences she could not bear the burden with.

    She had once looked up to Kraft as a mentor, a leader, and possibly a person who she could trust with her life. That had been her faith for him until the end of the rebellion.

    -----

    "AN OPENING!" The red pauldron shouted once more, but it awoke Pei up from her needless thinking. Still, there was sufficient time for her to react, and she transformed into a fox, preventing the ck Minotaur''s axe from slicing her into two.

    "Ahhhбнwhy am I bothered with so many thoughts all of a sudden? Is this one of the functions of this floor? SHIT, Moloch could have mentioned that!"?Pei cursed under her breath before she did a backflip in her fox form andnded on the throne chair.

    "Do you wish to see Moloch?" Pei shouted from the throne, and the ck Minotaur lowered his guard for a moment.

    "how can we know that you are his ally and not someone who has manipted him to go against our king?" The Yellow Pauldron asked.

    "And that is your reply after what the King did to you? Tell me, wasn''t your King the one to have reduced you two brothers into this pathetic state? Wasn''t he the one to banish Moloch in the first ce? Yet, you still have loyalty to your King?" Pei questioned.

    "YES. KING BAAL FOREVER OUR KING. MOLOCH MADE PRISON TO SAVE KING BAAL. MOLOCH NEVER BETRAYS."

    "Then, there you have it. Right now, Moloch is fighting against King Baal to save him. If you don''t trust my word, maybe you will trust his. Take this mask and look through it. System patch them through to Moloch." Pei demanded as she felt there was no need for ughter, the more she thought about it. Not everything needed to be solved with violence.

    The ck Minotaur picked up the mask and did not smash it, throwing the System''s expectation out of the window. Thus, the Systemplied to Pei''s whims and connected it to Moloch''s private channel.

    "Pei? Is that you? Do you need help with Paradiso''s defences? Be quick, I do not have much time to talk with you. Jin''s already riding halfway through the sky bridge wreaking havoc amongst the enemy frontlines to fight against Baal. If possible, you guys should clear it even faster to help Jin. Otherwise, I don''t know if we have enough powers to stop Baal''s rampage." The constant yapping of Moloch suddenly broke the spirits of that pair of Pauldrons on the ck Minotaur.

    "milord!"

    "MILORD!"

 Chapter 773 Limbo - Final

    <h4>Chapter 773 Limbo - Final</h4>

    Suddenly a change in tone could be heard through the inte of the fox mask visor. "Ani?! Ototo!? Is that you?! I''ve sent out Sebastia countless times, but she couldn''t find you! How did you two end up in Paradiso?! Wait, does that mean the two of you defeated Pei?!"

    "I am still here, you dumbass cotton butt!" Pei shouted as she transformed back into her human form and sat on the throne chairfortably.

    "How did you find-?! No, there is no time for that now. Ani, Ototo. I beseech the both of you to help Pei with her quest. We need to get the keys of the Demon Metropolis'' Dungeon Core to weaken King Baal. I promise to have a long talk with the two of you about what has happened after we separated."

    "BUT THAT FOXбнLADY SAID U HAVE NEW MASTER!"

    "Sorry Ototo, I do. In order to save King Baal, I had to switch sides. That is all I can reveal for now. If you do not trust me, I believe Pei can convince you enough with her strength. Ani, continue to protect your brother. иC FIREBALL INCOMING!" Moloch was interrupted, and the voice channel got cut off.

    "What are you going to do now? Continue to fight me?" Pei asked as she rested on the throne, only to realise howfortable it was. Was that the reason why so many kings and queens loved their throne chairs that much? "If not, hand me the keys, swear an oath to protect Moloch and I will teleport you to him immediately."

    "FOX LADY CAN DO THAT?!"

    "careful. she might be using magic to deceive us. like how we were constantly being deceived by this ce''s illusion."

    "BROTHER, YOU MEAN THIS IS ANOTHER TEST FOR US?"

    "i can''t say for sure. but what if we trust her and this happens to be another test?"

    "Seriously? I cannot believe I went through all that effort to try convincing you guys! I thought you were Moloch''s subjects,rades, friends or whatever else you might call yourself. Sigh, fineбн brute force it is, then." Pei said as she stood up with her paper fan, and decidedly walked towards the ck Minotaur puppet. Their guard was still down, and they continued to treat her as a being with little to no threat.

    "rules dictate that we cannot easily give up the prison supervisor role or else they- ow!" the yellow pauldron was hit by the Pei''s paper fan that swooped in and whacked him from the side nearly sending him flying.

    "Please, just stop wasting my time and give me the key! I promise I''ll send you to Moloch right now if you do!" Pei bargained while continuing to whack the yellow pauldron forcing the ck Minotaur on the defensive.

    "SMALL SIS, STOP HITTING MY BROTHER!"

    "SMALL SIS?!?!" Pei looked at the red pauldron with fiery eyes, and Ototo feared that he had said something terribly wrong. To his surprise, Pei went towards the red pauldron and gave it a little pet at the edge of it.

    "Good boy. Looks like at least one of you brothers knows their manners well. But call me pretty sister next time, okay?"

    "SEE BROTHER ANI? PRETTY SIS IS GOOD PERSON! SHE NEVER HIT ME!"

    "gosh, ototo. that is why lord moloch wanted me to protect you." The yellow pauldron sighed at the situation. He understood by the way she had easily attacked that they wouldn''t be her match and judging by the way she showed kindness to his brother she also wasn''t a bad person per se.

    dy- i erm mean pretty sis. please wear us on your shoulders. we will open the Prison Core for you to get the dungeon core key. but if we sense any deceit on you, we will not hesitate to cut you down." Ani offered with a bit of trust in her.

    "I will dly take that blow." Pei nodded her head as she picked up the pair of pauldrons from the ck Minotaur and to her surprise, it turned into dust the moment she removed the pauldrons from its shoulders. Even the axe it was carrying dissipated like yet another figment of reality. "Huh, I wondered if that Man Puppet Moloch had been holding to, would also disintegrate this way if I forcefully pull him out like that?" She thought to herself.

    "Also, don''t tell me that was how Moloch looked like before he turned into a cotton butt?" Pei asked, and the other two had no idea what she meant by ''cotton butt''. They thought it was some magical artefact.

    "NO, LORD MOLOCH MORE HANDSOME. HE HOLDS NO AXE!" Ototo replied though Ani decided to keep hisments to himself. Pei did as instructed and ced the pauldrons on her shoulders, and suddenly the pauldrons took over the control of her arms and got a shock.

    "OH MY GOD, SHE COULD HAVE KILLED US INSTANTLY!?!?"

    "i иC i бнi guess you are right. we are sorry to have doubted you." Ani said in an apologetic voice. How much had she held back when attacking the ck Minotaur just now?!

    "Hmm? I did not sense any release of memory and information or any psychological attack on me. What did the two of you do just now?" Pei started to check if this ce had left any holes in her psychic barriers allowing the two of them to take over her body,.

    "no, there is no need for us to do that. the moment we came into contact with your body, it has already told us you''ve been through more battles than us. that your duels were much fiercer than us. there was no need to иC urgh why are you hitting us so hard?!"

    "PERVERTS?! YOU GUYS ARE PERVERTS?! WHO ALLOWED YOU TO ANALYSE MY BODY?!" Pei screamed as she kept whacking the two pauldrons.

    "SHE CAN TALK LIKE ME?!" Ototo was happy for the wrong reasons.

    "please calm down, pretty sis! we don''t have any choice in this form, we learn the prowess of anything we touch! we were only relieved that you did not kill us and instead gave us the opportunity to assist our lord! i will show you the key right now! " Ani surrendered in a hurried manner as the beating did not seem to stop and for some reason, she appeared to prioritise beating him over his brother. He really started to feel as if he was going to die.

    Not soon after, when Pei finally calmed down, the pauldrons opened the throne chair and revealed the Prison Core. With a few mumblingsing from Ani, the core released the key which by itself looked rather unique.

    The key was not made of any crystal but instead covered with ayer of reflective mirror all around it, reflecting whatever Pei saw.

    "Seems fitting of ''Limbo'' stage," Pei whispered as she kept the key and took off that disgusting pair of pauldrons. "Now repeat after me by swearing an oath, and then I can send you off to Moloch," Pei instructed the Pauldron Brother who did as instructed before being sent off to meet their long-awaited Minotaur Lord.

    One key downбн Eight more to go?

 Chapter 774 Pandawans Regroup

    <h4>Chapter 774 Pandawans Regroup</h4>

    "FIREBALL INCOMING!" Moloch shouted as he tightly held on to Jin''s head. The dungeon supplier pulled the reins of his ck sludge panda mount to evade the iing projectile by jumping over it. For once, Jin''s tactician had decided toe out and act as the bait, luring the enemies to work with newfound vigour.

    Jin wasn''t alone in his counterattack assault. He had followed the advice of Hou Fei to recruit the cultivators into his cavalry team to rush through the sky bridge infested with Demons.

    -----

    "Any Pandawans still around at this time?" Jin asked in the open pandemonium voice channel.

    "Boss Jin?" It was a familiar and somewhat nostalgic sound to the Pandawans who had toiled for the past few hours. Slowly, more of the Pandawans reported their presence and Jin could not believe it. Almost all of them were still around for the raid despite it being thiste.

    "You can''t actually me us since our generous donor here had decided to sponsor all of our expenses just this once. Although, I don''t think anyone of us would mind being there next time." Blind Bat Cultivator Yue Han not so subtly hinted at Xiong Da contributions.

    "Only if everyone in the Pandawan chat group appears. Otherwise no free rides!" Hungry Hippo Cultivator Xiong Da imposed on that condition very strictly since he wanted there to be unity among the Pandawans.

    "He just wants to spend money after work hours. And here I keep telling him not to spend that much. Boss Jin had already warned him that if he doesn''t watch it, the ''unlimited'' fund for his help back then will eventually run out." Esthetic Egret Cultivator Ruo Ying shook her head in dismay, knowing that she could not stop him from using his money to ''help'' his friends.

    "You can spend more on me!" Luo Bo, the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator, said in the new temporary Pandawan only channel.

    "Please Xiong Da, save me from eventual debt. Please! ow-!" Shi Zuo pleaded honestly in the channel, and they could infer that Luo Bo was the one that cut him off the voice chat.

    "Ya, I am totally busted just from defending, it really sucks. Boss, to be honest, can''t we have an easy win for once? Oh shit! Bin Yong! On your right! Lion Mantis!!" Yue Wen shouted as most of them were still inbat, mostly trying to dy the attacksing from the Lion Mantis so Dread Reaver and me Ripper could kill them.

    "Pandawans, that''s why I have a proposition for you guys. Let''s counterattack, and I will lead the charge." Jin''s short and simple statement suddenly lit up the eyes of all the Pandawans. They had always wanted to see their Boss in action, and this was the first time that Jin proactively volunteered to let them feast their eyes on his actual strength.

    "YES!" All the Pandawans felt as if their strength had returned and they did not hesitate to rush down any Demons that they were facing before moving to the coordinates Jin gave them to meet up with him. The Orcs who were in the field quickly filled their gaps to prevent the Demons from taking advantage of the gap they had.

    The first to arrive were Angry Ape Cultivator Bu Dong and Towering Tortoise Cultivator Kong Xian. They were surprised to see that Jin wasn''t there yet. Instead, it was a group of people they did not instantly recognise, but as they approached them, realisation suddenly struck Bu Dong. "Ah! Aren''t you guys the bosses from the various instances in the Tree Mall?" He asked, and they all chuckled.

    "Looks like I am not inferior to Boss Jin when ites to being famous." Owner of Lele Castle Tower Instance and Cultivator of the Hunting Hog Si Fang boasted as he nodded his head.

    "Boy! Catch!" Owner of Offshore Sea Store Instance and Cultivator of the Shimmering Shark, Lai Fu threw a vitality drink towards Bu Dong. "For the first one to recognise us, it''s a small gift. Hahahah!"

    "Who would not recognise you? You always shout from the second floor in the morning to promote your goods." Manager of Panda Burger Instance and Cultivator of the Hunting Hog, Ke Ru scoffed at him.

    "Guys, chill. We are here to have fun. It''s quite rare we can allocate some time to spend together." Co-Owner of the Panda Arcade Store and Cultivator of the Hunting Hog, He Rong tried to appease his friends.

    "This is amazing! I''ve alwaysuded and admired Landlord Jin for his brilliance in creating the Food Pyramid Instance, but I''ve never expected him to get this crazy for his dungeon instances! Is it always like this?!" Owner of the Mixed Rice Stall in the Food Pyramid Instance and Cultivator of the Waking Wok, San Sun eximed.

    "It''s not always that crazy. I frequented enough to know that this is indeed an epic raid event. He must have prepared it for a long time as something truly special for the start of the new year." Owner of the Meow Meow Karaoke Instance and Cultivator of the Cacophonic Cat Mang Tang reasoned.

    "Heh, you guys will get lucky to see Boss Jin in action tonight. We cultivators have frequented his dungeon store for so long, and yet this is the first time he promised to appear and lead us." Bu Dong informed them. Not long after, the rest of the Pandawan arrived and exchanged greetings.

    "How about giving them a small discount if they do well?" Jin was thest to arrive. He had dressed in a ck and white jacket with an emblem at the side of his sleeve, with the words "BOSS" in English with a fierce Panda face affixed at the top of it.

    All of them chuckled at Jin''s way to show off his position as the leader. Given his personality, he was usually not that kind of person, which made the strange getup even more amusing. There was no need for him to reinforce his position. After he had bested the Triad Boss and established the Tree Mall, no one would doubt that he was the real boss of the Tian Gong Shopping District.

    "So Boss, what is your counterattack proposal?" Xiong Da asked, and Jin took out a few ck Sludge Crystals from his storage watch. With a bit of chi maniption, those crystals glimmered a little before transforming into a cloud of ck sludge above the group''s head.

    "We are going to strike hard and fast, catching the attention of the server''s main boss. ording to my developers'' kit program, he is undoubtedly one of the strongest monsters that the server has ever created, and even I may have some problem fighting against it alone. I hope I can count on your help for this once in a lifetime opportunity." Jin exined while asking for their help.

    He showed them the picture of King Baal with the aid of some hologram. Many were aware of the capabilities of Jin''s instances to create such a simple hologram, but cultivators like San Sun were surprised to see such futuristic graphics.

    Yet the Pandawans on site, they were all grinning hard that they could finally hit back against the Demon Horde.

 Chapter 775 Deaths Grasp

    <h4>Chapter 775 Death''s Grasp</h4>

    The hologram then changed to show them the most straightforward and shortest route towards their target. Most of the cultivators immediately understood the meaning of the various ring red dots in between themselves and the big X representing their goal. It only made sense that the instance would throw more obstacles in their way if they pushed back hard.

    "So, it''s like escorting our King Panda to checkmate their King?" Bombardier Beetle Cultivator Bin Yong summarised the entire ''activity''id out to them.

    "I don''t think you can checkmate a King with a King in chess. Also, King Panda sounds rather бн" Jin wanted to continue, but the Pandawans were not giving him any chance to recover after Bin Yong''sment.

    "By the way, Boss, what''s the ck бнeh liquid above us?" Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivator Jia Le questioned.

    "Hahaha. That is a magic trick by itself." Jinughed as he raised his hands up once more, and the ck Sludge started to whirl around each of the cultivators. Without touching them, Jin requested all of them to distance themselves apart until each ck sludge only surrounded themselves without touching anyone else.

    "Now, please emit your cultivation aura." Jin gave the next set of instructions, and the rest followed. Soon enough, the ck sludge absorbed their chi from the cultivation aura the group had emitted and created a mount based on each of their animals.

    The Pandawans were genuinely impressed by it as they familiarised themselves with their own animal mounts. For those Pandawans who did not have animals as their cultivation, the ck sludge created item based mounts rted to their cultivation. So, Jia Le received a floating Bellflower, Yue Wen got a winged angel looking maiden statue while San Sun''s was a flying wok.

    To Jin''s surprise, the ck Sludge actually amodated the colours and perception of the Pandawans, unlike his own totally ck Panda with varying shades of grey.?It was a discovery that even the System started to take note of it. However, the reason for the differing results was a question for another time since time was limited, and they still had to take down the Big Boss of this particr dungeon instance.

    "Say, since you are the creator of this instance, then can''t you just teleport to the boss and fight him directly? Or better yet teleport all of us?" Man Tang slowly got up on her upsized cat mount, but Xiong Da answered her in the form of a question of his own.

    "Where is the fun in that?"

    The rest of the group nodded solemnly as they all saddled up on their mounts.

    In the meantime, Jin briefly checked the situation concerning the Lion Mantises. They were currently further back on the defensive tform to prepare the group. "I need to dash out of the defensive tform without any of the Lion Mantises catching up to us. Do you think you two can do that?"

    "I have a skill that should be able to stop them in their tracks for ten seconds. However, that is all the time I can buy, despite System''s promise to give me unlimited souls. I am sorry, Master, for not being more capable." Dread Reaver apologised as he parried another Lion Mantis.

    "You sure you can catch all of them?" me Ripper could not help doubting the ability of his sworn brother since he knew it would be a challenge to do so.

    "No worries, Bro. I can do it. Trust me." Dread Reaver replied as his ck sword glimmered with a bit of blue aura, preparing for the skill.

    "Master! Iбн will power up my бнmusic." It took a bit for the Zither Mistress the speak out, but it was evident from her tone and voice that she was already panting and could possibly be reaching her limits.

    "I will assist you with the restrain! You just need to catch them Dread, Reaver." Sandy encouraged the Death Knight, as she could not stand around doing anything when Ke Mi was ying so violently and yet meticulously on her zither to slow down the corrupted Lion Mantis.

    "Hmph, I need to pick up the ck as well. Ifrit, I implore you to share with me your powers to burn these insects to a crisp!" me Ripper thought to himself, and the only reply he got was a deep ancient voice which apparently smirked at his resolve.

    "Alright, everyone! Get ready!" Jin said simultaneously to his monsters as well as Pandapolis first-ever ''Militia Cavalry''. Some of the Pandarens on-site who witnessed the next scene could not believe the unison between Jin''s monsters and his cultivator cavalry.

    Suddenly the sound of a war horn was heard blowing out loudly, and that was the System''s prompt to start the counterattack assault as Dread Reaver revealed his skill.

    "This time around, all of you are not getting from me! Death''s Grasp!" Dread Reaver shouted as he swung his sword to parry a de and kicked the Lion Mantis away as far as he could. Then, the Death Knight plunged his sword into the ground, and a small void domain appeared with shadowy ck arms emerging to target the Lion Mantises with the assistance of the System.

    Although the arms were moving rtively fast, the Lion Mantises were certain that those would not be able to pinpoint and catch them.

    However, they were dead wrong.

    It had been Dread Reaver''s intention to catch all of them ever since the evolved goblin consumed one of their souls. It was not his primary objective but eating just a speck of their soul had allowed Dread Reaver to keep track of all of them with his eyes imbued by the power of death.

    He could clearly trace the souls of the Lion Mantises, and this extended to his ability Death''s Grasp. No matter how they tried to evade, the shadowy arms were all chasing after them. Just as the cocky Lion Mantises tried to escape Death''s Grasp at the veryst moment, they suddenly realised their speed had further decreased.

    This was solely Ke Mi''s contribution. The Zither Mistress had summoned out a second zither on the stage, and she yed both simultaneously. Using her magic to control the strings'' pitch and tone, her fingers were the only thing left to y the musical instrument. Her multi-tasking ended up further amplifying the slow debuff magic by two-fold and helped those Lion Mantises to be caught.

    "Not as fancy as Dread Reaver''s but taste this ''Sandy''s Grasp''." Sandy invoked her magic as she looked at a hologram presented to her by the System since the sand dome blocked all vision. With Death''s Grasp inhibiting any movements on their part, the System was able to share the specific coordinates for Sandy to project her magic and further solidify the restraint created by the Death Knight.

    "A little something special since my cute Ke Mi is working so hard," Shu spoke out of ce as root spikes appeared and impaled straight through each and every Lion Mantises'' mouth.

    "That''s a bit unnecessary, but we''re grateful for the assist, Grandpa Shu!" me Ripper shouted as he brandished his red-hot ming daggers towards the restrained Lion Mantises.

    "Destruction Dagger Dash!!"

 Chapter 776 Descending Down The Sky Bridge

    <h4>Chapter 776 Descending Down The Sky Bridge</h4>

    me Ripper''s attack literally ripped through all the restraints that had been ced on the Lion Mantises, including their ties to life. Ifrit had answered me Ripper''s call for more power and blessed him with another increase in terms of his speed, allowing him to reach a high enough velocity to pierce through the Lion Mantises armour.

    However, speed was nothing when there was no precision. Were it not for thebined teamwork of Jin''s minions, me Ripper could not have steadily aimed for the necks of the Lion Mantises. By the end of his Destruction Dagger Dash, the cultivators around him would remember him as a monster not to mess around with in the future when they saw all the decapitated heads slowly sliding off Shu''s spikes.

    Instead of consuming the bodies, as usual, he now grew more roots to cover the rest of the bodies and even secreted some corrosive poison from his root spikes. This caused the Lion Mantises to melt to prevent them from have the slightest chance of regenerating.

    At that moment, Jin had already led the charge forward with his band of cultivators towards the sky bridge while Qiu Yue ordered the rest to divert their fights aside to create a path for the Pandapolis Cavalry to push on.

    However, the Demon Horde was not about to give any quarters for this newly formed band of humans to charge through their hard-earned progress. In record speed, they had already formed a defensive formation at the edge of the sky bridge awaiting Jin''s group.

    "Those insolent demons." Sandy cursed as she unveiled the Sand Dome for Ke Mi to take in some fresh air. In the meantime, she also used the materials from the Sand Dome to create an upward gradient over the Demon Horde''s defences, allowing Jin''s Cavalry to charge forward without any impedance.

    "Guys, I don''t see any ground after that point?! ARE WE JUMPING OFF THE SLOPE?!!" Yue Han questioned even though his Bat mount was already hovering along with the rest of the group. They all felt that they could exert control on the mount with some chi maniption, but that particr idea did not really register to Yue Han as anxiety got the better of him first.

    "YES, WE ARE!" Jin shouted as he ced more Maqi into his ck Sludge Panda while preparing Green Panda Wind energy to allow the entire cavalry to safelynd further on the sky bridge.

    "Stalingrad,mence bombardment on the sky bridge! Take note of our allies!" Hou Fei ordered as he watched the progress of Jin and Captain Gan Yang quickly acknowledged, rying themand given by his general.

    "Wyrstriker, prepare to sortie a flyby to clear any pesky remnants from the bridge!" Qiu Yueplemented Hou Fei''s tactics with aerial units so that the threat on the sky bridge could be minimised when Jin''s Cavalry moved through it. Wyrstriker and his knights dly took the mission with pleasure. He had already been worried that they would be out ofmission after returning from their fight against the Dragon Devils and Bat Bottleflies.

    Though the Goblin Clerics and Magesined about needing a rest, some nearly vomited out the mana potions they had been drinking like water. All just so they could heal Wyrstriker and his knights in time. Mostly because they were very adamant about going back to the field because they believed that the situation could change with their presence.

    "On mymandбн JUMP!!!" Jin shouted as he released his Green Panda Wind energy to his whole group, allowing the cavalry unit to soar into the skies as well as giving them an easier time to manipte their chi onto their mounts.

    From their elevated position, they had the perfect view of thest wave of Stalingrad''s punishing bombardment clearing the masses of demons off the bridge. And as if that was not enough for, the Wyvern Goblin Knights were swooping in from their sides not a momentter, blowing wyvern fire into any remaining survivors.

    "Holy shit, if this is not a massacre, I do not know what is." Mad Monkey Cultivator Shi Zuo said as he looked down from his soaring mount.

    "Stay sharp! We arending soon, so convert some of your chi into a forward point barrier." Jin reminded them and then realised some of the lower grade cultivators like Si Fang and Ke Ru might not catch on to this rapid development.

    Even the seasoned Pandawans were confused about hearing such a term for the very first time. Noticing the strange silence, Jin finally recalled that he was only able to do such a thing because his chi hadbined with magic. The same, however, could not be said about his group.

    "It''s alright, don''t mind what I''ve said. Just stay behind me. We are going to charge without stopping. We''ll only halt when we are in front of the final boss!" Jin then looked back at his shoulder. Right inside the hoodie of the jacket, Moloch popped out of it and was already aware of what Jin wanted.

    "I will assist with the barrier, but it will be shy. King Baal or Kiva will immediately realise that it would be my doing." Moloch said, making Jin grin.

    "Isn''t that the whole point of this counterattack assault?"

    "Depends on whether or not you mind getting greeted with a giant fireball for sheltering your enemies'' greatest enemy. Fine then, since we aren''t going to hold back, I will also prepare some off-hand offensive spells to hurl at enemies while reinforcing your shields." Moloch agreed as he checked his ''seat belt'' on Jin''s hoodie to ensure that he was still appropriately secured.

    "You sure you want to waste your strength on these rascals?"

    "No worries about that. I left my puppet behind, which basically frees up my mana, so I should have more than enough to go by." Moloch said as he magically popped out his deck of cards (the look of the minotaur plushie with a mini-sized deck of cards was so cute, it gave Jin the idea for a celebratory plushie if they came out alive)

    "Besides, I believe more help ising in, so I should be fine."

    "If you say so- Oh Shit!" Jin barelynded on the sky bridge, he suddenly saw a giant fireballing his way and he quickly put up a Maqi Barrier to stop the attack (Did Moloch jinx them or was he just aware of his former king''s characteristics?).

    "Maintain position!" Jin shouted as the fireball sttered itself onto his barrier and subsequently spilt over to the sides of the barrier. The System detected that it wasing from the Safe Zone and specifically from their VIP.

    There was no need for Moloch to show off his magic tricks. It appeared as if he had already managed to grab the attention of King Baal.

    The Pandawans were impressed that Jin was able to stop a fireball head-on when all of them would have just attempted to evade it with fear in them. "Oh gosh, Boss. You are awesome!" Luo Bo sang him praises as she took out her bow and arrow.

    "But I think you should not waste too much of your chi protecting us. You are, after all our lead!" Shemented as she nocked her bow and this time there were three equallyrge fireballs iing. Jia Le and Jing Ru also took out their weapons and prepared to intercept the attack.

    "Thank you," Jin said as he concentrated on leading and protecting the front.

 Chapter 777 Lus

    <h4>Chapter 777 Lus</h4>

    "Seriously, what was Kiyu thinking sending me to this Circle of Hell?" Evon sighed as he recalled getting kicked out of the elevator nearly as soon as the doors opened. They had initially decided to let Kiyu enter since she had once been a maniptor of lust who had used that to her benefit to assassinate prime targets of the Royal Zodiac ns. She should, therefore, be the ideal candidate to handle whatever this floor could hold and yetбн

    "Oven, I don''t feel like it, you do it! You better hurry up! Although it should be hrious if Peies to find you instead and sees that you are not done yet... or worse, finds you caught up in this ce. Hehehe!" Kiyu had even made fun of him as she refused Evon entry back to the elevator.

    The Bear and Wolf n Foxes did not seem to care which one of them went, and Rex only gave him a sorry look, so now the champagne pink fox lied on the floor already defeated before he even faced any ''lustful'' enemy.

    "Damn where did Kraft go off again? He is the only one who can somewhat reign her inбн Who am I kidding, he sure as hell is out having fun wreaking havoc. ...whatever." Evon sighed even deeper before he got back up after staring onto the ceiling for a while.

    After all, he really did not want Pei to make fun of him as well. Just what had he ever done to those two, that they picked on him constantly?

    As he walked further into the corridor, it was evident that the Prison Core was already changing the environment around Evon to suit the theme of lust. Starting from a simple corridor hallway, it slowly transformed into a corridor of sexual parlours tempting Evon to indulge into his fantasies.

    With a nce, he observed that there were various types of girls ranging from the girl next door, over the highschool sweetheart up to the exotic foreign exchange studentбн but also a variety of monsters that were synonymous to Jin''s minions.

    "What the hell?!" Evon eximed when he saw some distinctly female versions of Werejackals, Orcs, Goblins and even other members of the animal tribes. "Does this Prison Core have the ability to ess my memory and change them into physical hologram forms? I believe my psychological defences shouldn''t be that far off, if not be on par with Peiбн" Evon mumbled to himself as he moved further in.

    The projections, illusions or whatever they were only sent him enticing nces, tempting him toe over by his own ord. He continued going further in until he stopped in his tracks when he saw a very familiar person right in front of him.

    The female shadow slowly turned into someone he knewбнKiyu. Evon was shocked to see how the Prison Core was able to wlessly replicate Kiyu from his memory. Interestingly it wasn''t the Kiyu who had just kicked him out. Instead, it was an image from their younger days right around the time he first met her and the rest of the skulk.

    "Ahбн could it be that this core is just like a programme essing some innate desires? If so it must be taking out memories that have some sort of ''Oh my god, this girl looks good'' tagбн Wait, that does not make sense! I don''t have any such desires for werejackals, orcs or goblins!" Evon mumbled to himself.

    "Perhaps, you craved for them unknowingly when your eyes set upon them." The fake Kiyu suggested as she started to walk closer, but suddenly she felt a cut on her face. She did not even see when it happened and the fox in front of her seemed to be still pondering on the situation.

    "Is the concoction not working?" The fake Kiyu thought to herself, pretending that nothing had happened. She decided to ooze a more potent mixture out into the atmosphere. However, that champagne pink fox had resumed walking around again, ignoring the fake Kiyu.

    "Why is it not working?!" The fake Kiyu decided to maintain her fa?ade and moved closer. To her dismay, she felt another cut, this time it was deeper and closer to her neck. Seeing that her enemy appeared to have seen through her, she decided to drop the act and materialised a scythe to swing at the fox.

    "Oh. So it was you, after all. Mind telling me how you created all these fake monsters? I don''t recall ever seeing a female werejackal up till now. Although those seemed to like how I would picture them. So is that it, you essed my memories and just recreated what I thought of them?" Evon was still as calm as ever as the fake Kiyu tried to cut him down.

    Yet for the fraudulent person, she found herself strung up with multiple strings all around her like a butterfly caught in a web.

    "WHAT!? HOW?! How is the concoction not working on you?" The fake Kiyu finally revealed her form, which resembled a female Lich.

    "Oh my. Didn''t expect you to be a Lich. Or should it be Lichness? You seem to have specialised in performing illusions rather than summoning undead? Yet you don''t seem to be a Banshee... this is very interesting." Evon spoke as he transformed into his human form and started taking notes down. "What is your name, Lichness?"

    "Why must I answer you?!" The Lichness shouted as she released a swarm of murder hos from her mouth but to her surprise, each and every ho was cut down with the emergence of even more strings.

    "You don''t have to, but you should know that I can just kill you now if you don''t cooperate with me here. Perhaps that would be for the better. Kraft did ask us not to y around. We can have a proper conversation on how you conjure that at ater time, I guess. Still, you should tell me where the key is, so I won''t waste time searching for it."

    Since the moment he had entered the floor, he had been ying with the now bound Lichness. Despite their strange rtionship, Evon knew that Kiyu wouldn''t just swap ces in a serious situation unless there was some reason for it.

    Kiyu, who was a frequent handler of Evon''s drugs, had noticed a faint scent of some illicit drugs lingering from the floor of lust when the elevator doors opened. At the time, Evon hadn''t noticed it since he was too engrossed with his notes at the back of the elevator.

    Only after Evon had been kicked out of the elevator did he realise it as well. With Kiyu providing him with the perfect excuse, he had decided to bide his time, by ying the part of a sulking person abandoned by his teammates.

    In that duration, Evon had already begun analysing and breaking down theponents used via the lingering scent alone. Although there were some disparities due to the difference in their worlds, he found that the senses and nerves triggered were the same so he created an immune response to block against the scent with his cultivation.

    Only when he felt ready, did Evon decide to take a stroll along the corridor. Had the Lichness struck Evon while he was lying there weakened, she would have stood a fighting chance against the Psychedelic Fox, but now the Lichness found herself in quite the predicament.

    The Lichness herself did not realise, that ironically, she was the one to have fallen under the influence of her opponent''s drugs. Those strings, she was ''bound'' by were mere illusions and not Evon''s true weapons.

    "One''s perception of reality varies." Evon thought as he watched the struggling Lichness who ''experienced'' the strings getting even tighter. Though it was part of his ancient cultivation techniques, he honestly did not expect it to work on an undead.

    "So does that mean that you are not entirely an undead creature, but a mixture?" Evon continued to further cross examine his specimen, but after cursing him for a while, leading to more cuts on her body, she decided to keep silent. (Or perhaps it was just too tight for her?)

    "Huh. The truth serum doesn''t seem to be working on you. A shame. Fine, I''ll just ask Peppers or Moloch about it,ter." The Psychedelic Fox decided to strangle her with his string illusions as he took his notes.

 Chapter 778 White Fox Itori

    <h4>Chapter 778 White Fox Itori</h4>

    Gluttony.

    The youngest of the Grizzly Bear siblings walked out of the elevator to confront the Prison Supervisor within the third circle of hell. Ixel and Ixa both bid her good luck, which she acknowledged with just a slight turn of her head. The strength in her side stare was enough to invoke confidence that she would win without a doubt.

    As soon as the elevator doors closed, Itori could hear the sound of monsters rushing towards her. "As expected from the circle''s name. Everyone seems to be quite hungry... to kill me," Itori thought to herself as she transformed into her human persona and conjured out her weapons.

    Power Fists.

    After seeing several cultivators from the modern age wield such beastly monstrosities on their hands, Itori had demanded an upgrade for herself. And since she was the fox Kraft most often utilised, that sly devil had immediately agreed to increase her fighting capabilities and dly did so for free. Her ancient gauntlets were handed over to Vulcan and redesigned in a way that they could not only withstand Itori''s strength but also amplified it further.

    However, Kraft was not sure whether if it was the materials, the work Vulcan had done of them or a mix of the above had resulted in the modifications being far too potent.

    During the testing phase alone, Itori had managed to decimate a twenty-floor building with just a single tap of her power fist. For once even Kraft had been at a loss for words, and they had to cut the testing short until Kraft would find something better to test it out.

    Itori might have agreed as she always did for Kraft, but she too wanted more samples to test the full extent of her new toy and yearned for enemies strong enough so that she could use it to its fullest potential.

    One might ask, what about the Demon Horde?

    Kraft deduced that with her absolute new strength, the White Fox could have easily wiped out the entirety of them in a matter of seconds but she refused to do it. She would instead let other people annihte the demons so that they could get stronger and possibly challenge her in the future even though it was just wishful thinking. (Though in reality, she was just toozy to do it.)

    With a swipe of her hand, she produced a shockwave that cleared the monsters so fast and from such a distance that she hadn''t even been able to clearly make out their appearances. Yet whoever or whatever was behind the monsters did not seem to care for this disy of might.

    Reinforcements were emerging from the burrows anding towards her not caring for the fate of their predecessors. The appearance of the hallway had also changed into a field of barren wastnd littered with gnawed bones of whoever came before. (Possibly the monsters stationed here could have feasted on them so cleanly, only bones were left.)

    "You guys are irritating, call your boss out now." Itori sighed as she extended her palm and swiftly mmed it t to the ground, causing a catastrophic copse of the area in front of her.

    The ground did not shake, but instead soil and sand burst out to the ground from the impact. Those four-legged monsters that had been attempting to emerge out of their burrows were instantly sttered into blood and crushed bones.

    Soon, new monsters rushed out of therge cracks Itori had created, these ones evenrger in size. "Isn''t this supposed to be gluttony? So why am I fighting more and more monster hordes? Is it appeasing my appetite for battle? If so, why not? Bring it on! Just make sure to send someone worthy!" Itori cried out her challenge.

    She turned her left hand into a fist and threw a punch in the air. The shockwave impact was enough to turn the front few canine looking monsters into bloody smithereens, and the subsequent ones were filled with cuts.

    "Great! You guys are not dead yet! Come and stay for a while to y with me!" Itori began to grin as she started walking towards them with excitement in her fists and anticipation in her heart.

    ------------

    Above the circles of hell, there was another ughter taking ce.

    Kraft had been toying with the unfortunate guards as if they were some child''s unwanted belongings. With the System''s cooperation, Kraft had sessfully recreated a series of guns which he had stolen from his little stint on the Abyss Web.

    While Hou Fei had given Jin old gun models, Kraft didn''t much care for the old stuff. Instead, he had filled his head with thetest blueprints, ones he was not willing to share with his master. (Perhaps if he''d asked veeery very nicely)

    After all, he agreed with the System that Jin needed a power gradient in order to get stronger. Unlike the System assigned Betors, he and his skulk were in no way bound by Jin''s cultivation levels, so if they were to solve all of their master''s problems, he might eventually getcent and stop growing.

    Perhaps Kraft would one day bestow the Vulcan with all the new blueprints once he got the hang of them. But right now, he was having the time of his life trying out all of his new toys. From shotguns to pistols and even top-secret, ssified experimental weapons from the militaries of various countries that were not out in the market.

    Oh, did he mention that the weapon maniacs in the Abyss Web also seemingly had too much time on hand, creating a ton of ''what if'' blueprints?

    Although no one on Earth should have the capability to create them, it didn''t hurt to share ideas. Who knows, perhaps it would inspire someone to create simr versions? It would be too crazy to think, someone might actually aplish the ideas, mainly because if such weapons were made, most humans using them would most definitely die in the process of using them.

    Guess what? Kraft had the System with him, and a speck of the System magic enabled those crazy sci-fi weapons to get created rather effortlessly. Of course, there was some external help to make it feasible.(scientifically speaking, correcting the maths and physics on those blueprints) But right now, Kraft feels that all the honour should go to him for even thinking about this.

    As for the possible strain on his body, Kraft believed his body was durable enough after hundreds of years'' worth of cultivation. There was no way they could hurt him so much even if the weapon backfired.

    The first weapon he had used to break open the prison front gates was the Thermite ster. An insect looking projectile, which was actually a grenade, flew out of the rifle''s barrel and ittched onto the gates before burning the thick metal door down and exploding afterwards.

    What an entrance.

    He got naughty and decided to use it on some of the iing guards, who were ''iron''-ically the same calibre as the Armoured Horned Knights that had suffered the brunt of the Orc''s Artillery. Given theirrge sizes, it was nigh impossible for Kraft to miss any of those big wonkers.

    At first, the Knights were all ignorant of the projectile that hadtched onto their suit of armour, thinking it was a botched attempt to kill them. But when the thermite started to activate, it was already toote as they felt the intense heat emitted through their so-called imprable suits of iron.

    Soon enough, the grenade exploded, causing them to suffer internal bleeding due to therge gaping hole in their body left by the explosive impact.

    "Have fun bleeding!" Kraftughed at their misery as he clicked on a button which caused the thermite ster to slowly turn into arge thermite charge. "A little Kraft special for you guys. Boy, I wonder if it will create arge enough explosion for Peppers to judge." Kraft thought to himself as he leapt backwards after activating it on the Prison''s main entrance.

    With a phone in one hand and a separate new weapon on the other, he began filming the process. "Ah damn! Those pesky Dragonlites sentries havee way too soon. I hope their fall won''t interrupt my explosion effect. Then again, maybe they could be my supporting actors." Kraft grinned as he held another weapon up towards the sky, already in anticipation of the Dragonlites intervention.

 Chapter 779 Krafts New Toys

    <h4>Chapter 779 Kraft''s New Toys</h4>

    The Dragonlites saw the destruction of the only intruder who hadn''t jumped down the giant hole, and they were already starting to cast spells or used crossbow weapons against him. However, before they could even touch the trigger, their hands were cut off and suddenly their wings too.

    They howled and screamed in horror as they fell to their deaths. Only a few managed to glimpse what had happened to theirrades before meeting the same fate as them. Kraft had released boomerangs of sorts that were all controlled by him with a little bit of chi maniption.

    The mini boomerangs'' edges were sharpened to the point they could easily cut iron and steel with some chi enhancement. Yet that was not all, Kraft recalled all of them back as theybined into onerge boomerang by itself.

    "Phew! If I gave this kind of weapons to my Dark Elves... they would be unstoppable!" Kraft thought to himself as he looked up to see if any remaining Dragonlites were hovering in the skies. But not long after, he could already hear the sirens from afar.

    "Gotta hand it to them, the response team is fast." Kraft praised them internally as he casually opened hisptop and essed the cameras he had previously ced on top of the roof they were on.

    "FiveбнTen... damn that must be the whole cityбн I feel honoured! All of them rushing here to their own demise. But, oh ho ho! To use Raptor Demons to pull the police carriages. Maybe I should kill them for my Dark Elves as mounts." Kraft thought to himself, and eventually, the System had to interrupt.

    "Original Betor Kraft, please stay focused on the mission." The System demanded, and Kraft closed hisptop, returning it into his storage ring.

    "What are you talking about? I am more focused than ever!" Kraft grinned as he exchanged the human-sized boomerang with another weapon he was here to test.

    "System''s analysis is that Original Betor Kraft is taking this opportunity to experiment with his new weapons and prioritising finding anciry support for his Night Foxes rather than focusing on obtaining the keys."

    The System pointed out tantly, and Kraft shrugged his shoulders.

    "Yeah, that''s called multi-tasking. You know, killing two birds with a stone." Kraft argued as he suddenly stopped on his tracks. "Huh, speaking about killing two birds with a stoneбн I think I have just the right thing to wee those hard-working policemen."

    Kraft returned the weapon he had taken out just now and ravaged through his storage ring for the new one that he thought of.

    "Ah! There you are." Kraft triumphantly held the weapon above his head and walked to the main gate of the prison where he could hear the shoutings from the Demon Police to get the heck out of the way.

    "Honestly, this weapon suits Sandy way more than my Night Foxes. Next time I visit her, I should ask for her opinion on how to further improve this. But first, let''s see how many birds I can kill with this little thing." Kraft chuckled as he took out what literally looked to be a stone that he tossed around lightly with his hand.

    "Can''t believe those peeps in the Abyss Web have thought up all these crazy things. Perhaps I should go and meet some of them and show them how brilliantly their inventions actually work. Maybe I should recruit them or at least introduce them to Jin''s dungeon instance." Kraft had this random thought as he infused the stone with his chi and threw it at the direction of the impending entourage of police carriages.

    Naturally, it only looked like a normal stone, but behind this unspectacr appearance was actually a gravity maniptor unit wrapped with Metaquartzite.

    Metaquartzite is a type of sandstoneposed primarily of quartz and cemented with silica cement. Because of its metamorphic form of quartz sandstone, it was harder than granite which had a general score of seven on the Mohs Hardness Scale. For some reason, the metaquartzite was needed to attenuate some of the unwanted beta energy waves the gravity maniptor created as a byproduct and at the same time acting as a shell to protect the device.

    When Kraft activated the gravity maniptor with his chi, the metaquartzite also acted as a sort of buffer in emitting the chi into the gravity maniptor device to start up. Else, Kraft would have be the very first victim of his own weapon of mass destruction.

    The front police carriage thought it was hrious that the man in a long coat was throwing a stone at them. They mistook him for some protestor that hated the Demon Police or the Royalty, and so there was not a moment of care for him at all.

    "Stupid protestors, can''t they see that we are working right now." The carriage rider rolled his eyes as he prepared to evade the stone projectile that wasing towards him. However, his stomach felt weird and rather upsetting as if it was telling him that something terrible was going to happen.

    True enough, when the ball zipped past him, not only the carriage but the demon police were all being sucked and dragged towards the gravity maniptor, wrapping them like a ball. However, the throwing force was so strong that the stone continued along the street, grabbing everything around it. The Police Carriages, the Demon Raptors, the stony pathways on the roads and even part of the building themselves.

    "Damn! It''s that powerful?! Hahahaha! I should have used it for the prison break. It might have possibly sucked the Dungeon Core from its hiding!" Kraftughed while holding on his stomach as he watched a giant ball of demons both dead and alive being stuck under a huge pile of debris rolling down the street.

    He sat on the ground, filming the ball of destruction growingrger with even more debris and Demon police as well as some unlucky passerby it collected. "No wonder, the System said it is a one time use." He checked his watch and figured it was time for the second review pending from Peppers.

    With a timer set by Kraft with his chi, the Gravity Maniptor finally released the energy it stored from its dynamo engine after travelling a considerable distance. The counter gravity energy exploded, and it sent everyone and everything it collected within 50-metre diameter flying.

    "Ayse and Rei will definitely like all this new data." Kraft thanked the miracle workers that hade up with all these crazy experimental weapons.

 Chapter 780 Firestorm

    <h4>Chapter 780 Firestorm</h4>

    "My Liege! What is the matter?" Kiva suddenly noticed King Baal''s irritation was on another level. After being with him for so long, he knew for a fact that this particr expression was one that meant serious business instead of wimps.

    "Someone''s invaded Paradiso and stole the first key. I assumed it was Moloch since he was the one to have designed the ce." King Baal said as he stood up. "But to that assumption, I am clearly mistaken." He could clearly sense the presence of Moloch in this city, and the scent of him was getting stronger and stronger. "He must have sensed hisckeys to do so."

    "Do you need me to retreat and deal with the threat at Paradiso?" Kiva was hoping he could get out and survey the battlefield at his more luxuriousfort than this ce."

    "No need. The guards in Paradiso should suffice. Besides, I did order Paimon to visit the ce for regr inspection. He should be there, and I trust him enough to be able to deal with the threat."

    "Wonderful thinking, my Liege. To send one of your sons to protect the Dungeon Core should be his honour too!

    "Kiva, stay by my side. I might need you to deal with the small flies while I deal with Moloch."

    "Iбнunderstood!" Kiva replied so reluctantly that Prince Sts, who had overheard the whole thing could not help but snicker at the direction of Kiva.

    "What are you servants waiting for?! Dress your King for battle immediately!" Kiva, now irritated by an unwarranted giggle, shouted at the imp servants who were behind the throne, kneeling and waiting formands. "Mages! Continue sting your attacks against the iing cavalry!"

    "There is no need to. I will handle them." King Baal pushed the imps who were trying to don him his cape and instead he took one of the imps by its neck. "Thank you for your service." At that point, Kiva was already slowly grinning as he saw King Baal take his crown out and sucked the life energy of the imp.

    "My Liegeбн!" The imp struggled pathetically in King Baal''s hands as it withered into skins and bones before turning into dust. King Baal ignored his subject''s suffering as he raised his palm right in front of the sky bridge.

    "Firestorm."

    A single word from the King of Demon Metropolis suddenly caused the skies to darken in a simr way as earlier when Keyrin, the Thunder Ram Demon, had used his technique. Just that this time around, it was more ominous orange than the usual ck clouds.

    "Oh shit." Moloch looked at the clouds and could already sense his King''s magic at work. "Jin, this is not good. King Baal seems to be using world-ss magic on the city." The Minotaur Lord warned as he gazed over the skies.

    "Do we have to use the shield protection that we have been saving up?" Jin asked as they finally reached the descending end of the sky bridge.

    "Wait, I think I am wrong... It is actually aiming for us rather than the city itself.??? Moloch gulped as he did some calctions with the aid of the System and noticed the concentration of mana was indeed aimed at their position.

    "So?!" Jin had no time to think as he was bashing through the demon''s frontline with his BamBoobined spear, attacking any that ced themselves on their collision course.

    "We''re slightly out of the range of what our Dungeon Core would consider our territory, so we won''t be able to use it effectively. Even so, using it for us alone is kind of a waste too. I suggest that we split the Pandawans up, while we go straight ahead to confront my King alone! That way, the odds of survival for us will be better."

    "But not so much for the Pandawans?"

    "That is the fate of reusable pawns, Master. Right now, we are the King piece that the enemies want, but first, we need to survive this." Moloch exined, pointing at the ominous sky and Jin sighed at the current situation.

    "Then lets at least even the odds a little so we can increase the chances to meet your King," Jin said to Moloch before looking backwards to the Pandawans. "There will be a massive AOE spell directed at us! We need to split up as much as possible! At the same time, cover as much ground as we can!"

    "You want us to fight hundreds over demons by ourselves?!" Yue Han eximed loudly at the back.

    "Isn''t that normal for us all? Hahahah!" Xiong Da went close enough towards Yue Han''s mount and gave that Blind Bat Cultivator a p on the back as a confidence booster.

    "Normal for you, maybe." Yue Han replied with a pouting expression, recalling how devastating his warclub techniques and Hippo styles worked in sync to kill dozens of goblins. But the Hungry Hippo Cultivator did not pay it any heed for he was dying to put some pain into those demons'' bodies.

    "Alright so split up, survive the onught of magic and demons and then converge to fight against the main boss! I will go ahead and deal some damage to him first!??? Jin shouted, and the rest acknowledged it.

    "Qiu Yue, I need to request for fire support and give it to me whenever possible! We are rushing here at full speed!" Jin reported in the System Channel as he saw King Baal''s World ss Magic, Firestorm begin to loom over them and activate.

    Tornadoes started to descend from the clouds towards the ground, and it suddenly lit up on fire, chasing after the cavalry the moment they split up. As if breaking through the front was not hard enough, there''s a fiery tornado chasing after them from the back, giving them pressure to work harder.

    "Frost Echo, mind giving us a bit of assistance?" Jin asked as this was his way of evening the odds.

    "Aye, I get your predicament, but I still need some time to counter this wide AOE magic spell. Shiva isn''t as cooperative as I want her to be for some reason." Frost Echo apologised, and me Ripper concurred.

    "Same thing here. I thought Ifrit would be equally excited to fight in this battle. He barely granted me a boost to kill those Lion Mantises."

    "Maybe they still need to recuperate their powers after fighting out in the open against Queen Mab and Maeve?" Frost Echo theorised as the Orc King appeared at the cliff at Agriculture Sector 1 to look over the intensity of the Firestorm.

    "You know them better than I do. Perhaps they just don''t want to get ordered around by us inferior beings?" me Ripper questioned as he decided to move towards Frost Echo to see if he might be able to assist with the subjugation of the Firestorm.

    "Alright then aid the Pandawans as soon as you can. I will deal with my side." Jin ordered as he looked at Moloch.

    "Heh, you don''t need to say anything else. I know what you are thinking." Moloch nodded as he revealed a card with a graveyard picture on it.

    It was time for the second wave of Phantom Soldiers to show its might.

 Chapter 781 Mass Teleportation

    <h4>Chapter 781 Mass Teleportation</h4>

    "This is a good challenge!" Lai Fu praised despite sweating from the heating off the fiery tornado behind him and the pressure of needing to breakthrough. His Shimmering Shark Mount was able to bite off any iing demons who came too close to the entourage of shopkeepers.

    "You are kidding me!!" San Sun yelled as he did a flip with his Wok mount and used it to smack the daylight out of the demons from his side. With his cultivation, San Sun instantly heats up his own Wok (not his mount!) via his chi.

    Using the Wok as a ranged weapon, he threw it to a bunch of iing enemies. Demons who were hit by the burning Wok were inflicted with a raging fire on their heads. (Their heads were literally on fire!) Some of them screamed, running helter-skelter, trying to extinguish them while San Sun''s kitchen instrument returned to him safely.

    "Shut up, you two! We have it worse!" Shen Si Fang screamed as he and the other Hunting Hog cultivators spearheaded the shopkeeper squad to rtive safety. Compared to them, the Pandawans were having a better time dissecting the frontlines into two with their prearranged groups.

    The Venus Four stuck together with the two policemen while the working adults like Xiong Da and Bin Yong had also grouped up. The highschool students meanwhile chose to go on their own following behind Bu Dong who was as reckless as ever. Even as they split up into smaller groups, they were disruptive to the Demon Horde who was assembled right outside of the safe zone.

    King Baal initially wanted to use those demon soldiers for continuous waves of offence on the inds via teleportation, but with the impending counterattack, he decided otherwise. He was curious to find out if the counterattacking team would be impressive enough to break through the ranks.

    Seeing that they only had a rtively small team, it was highly likely that they were the enemies elites aiming for him. Yet, as he observed each one of them and their actions, Jin was the only one who had managed to leave a deep impression on King Baal.

    He noticed the human had Moloch''s aura around him, indicating that he was hiding the cotton Minotaur Lord on himбн or that he had somehow absorbed Moloch and perhaps fused into one. All that mattered was that Moloch was still alive in some form and needed to be punished for his insolenceбн as that was what Kiva had been drilling into his brain for decades.

    The Minotaur Lord held firmly onto Jin''s hoodie as he ced some mana into the graveyard card that he was holding and when Moloch believed there was enough energy within it, he threw it up to the sky, causing the card to growrger.

    The graveyard card started to glow, and suddenly brownish projectiles were shooting out of the card. Those projectiles were predominantly aimed againstrger targets like trolls and giants that were not in the service of the Mad Giant Barbatos. And while the Demon Troops thought the projectiles were merely rocks shot at a high velocity, it took a bit for them to realise that they were actually the same type of y Statues that their formerrades had fought earlier in the invasion.

    Not only that, but theirbat prowess was also equivalent to theirs. The y statues were slightly more agile and had more perception than mere narrow-minded berserkers whose objective was to only kill. As if being hit by the y statues were not enough for therger size soldiers, these y soldiers with greenish-blue eyes ledged onto them and continued to assault them with their phantom weapons.

    That''s right, the phantom soldiers which the graveyard core had umted, had been sessfully awakened inside the y Statues as previously nned. This allowed them to gain a shell, giving the phantom soldiers some form of protection, enabling them tost longer in battle.

    Unable to parry any of these projectiles, they could only ''kill'' the ones they were able to reach with their hands. The demon trolls fell almost immediately, allowing the y soldiers to continue their onught with the enemies around them. And for those who lost their y shells, the phantom soldiers emerged from them in their ethereal form and continued with the ughter.

    "Useless demon soldiers. Since when our quality of troops had be so terrible?" King Baal started to get enraged as he saw the human on a ck animal mount still charging towards his direction. "If they want to attack me so badly, then so be it." Once again, King Baal took out the crown, feeling as if the ominous headgear was biting into his head.

    "What is the rush, my liege? There are-" For the first time in a long while, Kiva was pushed aside by his King who did not wait for his advisor to even finish his sentence as he held his hand up once more. The crown vibrated a little as if it was emitting powers to its user.

    "Mass Teleportation!" King Baal shouted and right in front of him, all his troops including the Pandawans and Pandarens in the vicinity were all violently teleported into the various inds above themбн All except for one.

    Jin.

    "What the hell?!" Jin asked as he stopped dead in his tracks and looked around the entire battlefield that had turned empty right in front of him.

    Even the y statue soldiers that were with him had disappeared. In turn, the ruckus now extended all around the inds including the floating fortress where Jin had kept his Dungeon Core. The Stalingrad was also not spared as groups of demon soldiers had been randomly teleported onto the ship as well as the waters around them.

    Some unfortunately drowned while others were instantly devoured by the hungry Deep Ones but this phenomenon was happening everywhere on the ind. The Demon Troops were teleported randomly, causing the primary defence line to be rendered useless.

    All hell went loose, and the Royal Snake soldiers who had been stationed in those inds scrambled to counter the unexpected demon soldiers. On the other hand, the Demon Horde finally received the opening they yielded forever since the start of the current battle.

    They basically went on a murder spree running at various directions hitting and destroying anything that moved. Although it was at the expense of their lives, they were still doing significant damage against the formerly organised defence.

    Qiu Yue literally screamed for a moment when she saw how King Baal had inadvertently destroyed her defences by randomly teleporting a massive amount of troops all over the ce. "Fuck this shit! ALL TROOPS DEPLOY! Activate all defences! upy and suppress the invaders!" Qiu Yue shouted towards the System as she picked up her own sword and wore her jacket that was now filled with many new inscriptions.

    "Oh and do remember to deploy our newly captured Valgs. They were a massive nuisance in the Smander Lord Keep, might as well let them be useful against these annoying critters too." Qiu Yue reminded the System.

    If the System had the capability to do so, it would have grinned like Kraft.

 Chapter 782 Ordered to Attack

    <h4>Chapter 782 Ordered to Attack</h4>

    The situation flipped so fast that suddenly things turned to the Demon Horde''s favour. Despite his affected mentality under the Crown''s influence, King Baal wasn''t stupid. As soon as the news had reached him that Moloch had released the barrier one day before the deadline, he had recognised what his former tactician was up to.

    As a Dungeon Core owner himself, he knew about the city-wide magical barrier that could be activated. He had used his magic outside what could be covered by the barrier to make the enemy less wary, and once all attention was on him, he had used mass teleportation as a loophole. What use would the giant shield be now, where his troops were already inside?

    Counterattacking thiste also meant that the enemy could not afford to hold out much longer. Their situation must be getting bleak if they had gambled on assembling their elites for ast-ditch counterattack assault.

    With Moloch among the few leading the charge, it was pretty obvious they wanted to end all of this as quickly as possible. That was why King Baal did what he initially wanted to do despite knowing that using the Crown even just for a while would definitely weaken him for an ultimate fight against Moloch and his new subjects.

    Coincidentally, this ended up in his favour for those ''new subjects''бн the cultivators that were supposed to assist Jin had to adapt to the current situation after being teleported and kill as many enemies in order to just survive.

    The Shopkeeper squad found itself in the middle of the Agriculture Sector 2 where all of Jin''s giant livestock were living. Bu Dong and his ssmates were teleported back to the defensive tform while the Venus Four could be seen on the military base.

    As for Xiong Da and the other working adults, they noticed they were situated on the mysterious ck floating fortress with scores of demons to settle as well. Only when each and every group started to stabilise themselves from the chaotic situation, did things begin to clear up.

    There were actually elites hidden within the Demon Troops, and they were destroying the defences faster than the ordinary enemies could. Normally they would have been focused by the Royal Snipers, but right now with chaos ensuing everywhere it was hard to find an opportunity without missing the mark.

    In the meantime, the Firestorm tornadoes were not stopping despite the sudden disappearance of their enemies. They now converged towards Jin and only him since he was the only one left on the current battlefield. And yet while he was out of helpers, the demons in the safe zone right in front of them were still intact, along with the VIPs.

    "Kiva, you go." King Baal ordered out of the blue, and the Ravenous Lord nearly choked.

    "Sire? Me? I am hardly abatantбн" Kiva tried to change his lord''s mind while he was screaming and shouting vulgarities from within. "How about sending Prince Sts up?"

    "Does a King need to justify his orders? You have your bag of tricks, don''t you? Show them to me, entertain me a little." King Baal''s eyes had murderous intent, and his tone left no doubt that if he refused, he would either end him or throw his subject into the fray himself. The frightened Kiva nodded his head with reluctantpliance while his King returned back to his seat.

    "Aren''t you going to do something about these massive fire tornadoes? Otherwise, we both might get fried." Jin shouted towards his new opponent that came out of the safe zone. This made Kiva panic even more as his fear had made him narrow-minded that he had forgotten about the magic left by his King.

    "What are you waiting for? Begin the fight." King Baal ordered as he took off his Crown and ced it back into his magical storage. His head started to bleed a little, and he was developing some headache after using it.

    Kiva also understood that his involvement right now was a way to buy some time for King Baal to heal upбн but why did he have to choose him as the sacrificialmb when there were so many other pawns around?!

    Also, to put him with an enemy along with the impending doom of those fire tornadoes? Did King Baal regain some sanity? Had he learned about Kiva''s ns after the attack?!

    "Hey, are you listening?" Jin asked the Archduke. He had already sheathed his swords as he held on to his ck Sludge Panda Mount. He could have attacked immediately, but he was simrly biding his time for Frost Echo and me Ripper to get rid of the magic surrounding them.

    "Shut up! Shut up!" Throughout his life as a noble Kiva had never revealed anybat theatrics, instead preferring to let his creations do the work for him. This time, he was going to do the same. After all, King Baal directly stated that he could use his ''bag of tricks''. He wasn''t some hotheaded adventurer seeking glory, so why should he stoop down to head-on with the unknown human adventurer?

    He literally pulled out an onyx coloured bag and grabbed something from inside. He sprinkled what seemed to be dust on the ground, and a Sand Golem emerged from it while Kiva attempted to quickly return to the safe zone. To his surprise, there was a sort of windy barrier that blocked his entrance, and he realised that it was none other than Prince Sts himself that created it.

    "PRINCE! What are you doing! Let me in!" Kiva shouted as he tried to bang on the barrier, only resulting in his hand being repulsed by the air barrier.

    "The fire tornadoes areing, and I need to strengthen the safe zone barrier in case it reaches here! Don''t you have your bag of tricks with you?" Prince Sts exined in a haughty voice, and King Baal found it rather amusing.

    "Sts, it appears that you DO have a sense of humour, after all." King Baal praised his son for the first in decades as he stared at the panicking Kiva. "Now Kiva, do as you''ve been told. I recall your head being that of a bat, NOT a chicken!" King Baal added while he looked at Jin forparison. Stoic and uncaring about the impending doom the two were going to experience.

    "You must be jesting, my Liege!" The Sand Golem finished forming, and since Kiva felt that there was no way to escape the fiery disaster. Despite his desperate thinking, his only way out would be to literally weather the storm. "Sand Golem, protect me!" Kiva ordered as he lied down prone and got the Sand Golem to cover him while he changed his head to a raven and started chanting protective spells over him and the golem.

    "Urgh, Kiva reeled his ugly head that quickly?" Moloch took a peek out of Jin''s hoodie and witnessed how low Kiva could stoop just to save his own life.

    "Don''t tell me you would not do the same?" Jin questioned in a sarcastic manner, and Moloch scoffed at him.

    "All nobles know that the first thing to do is to protect the King. If Kiva had demonstrated the least bit of chivalry proving he was willing to exchange his life to protect the safe zone just like Sts did, Baal would probably save him from this World ss magical attack, seeing as he was the caster." Moloch exined as he started to feel the heat from the fire tornadoes.

    "So maybe now''s the time you can get one extra point for protecting your previous king?" Jin teasing Moloch helped him calm his own nerves a little.

    "What help would that make? We should save ourselves instead." Molochined and started to regreting out of the war room with Jin. "I could have easily created a copy to..." Then apparently, the idea had struck a chord with the Minotaur Lord.

    "Hmmm. Yeah, you are right. This could possibly be a test for me too," Moloch muttered to himself in thought, but Jin overheard it crystal clear and also realised this could be the only attention grabbing opportunity to get King Baal out of the safe zone too.

    "Then what are you waiting for?" Jin took the cotton Minotaur Lord out from his hoodie and ced it on his shoulder. "Impress your king and fellow demon mates with your ''wonder magic''."

    "You bet!"

 Chapter 783 Molochs Theatrics

    <h4>Chapter 783 Moloch''s Theatrics</h4>

    While the scared Kiva was busy hiding in his own shell, everyone within the safe zone looked at the entity that was responsible for causing so much trouble to the entire Demon Horde. The Minotaur Lord did not falter at their stares and instead stood proudly as if he was the only righteous person around.

    Without a word, Moloch took out a nk card as he performed a simple magic trick, and suddenly his card turned blue with an ice symbol on it. As the Firestorm approached within 50 meter radius, both Jin and Moloch did not flinch. (Although it was a different story on the System Channel.)

    "WHERE THE HELL IS THE ICE, FROST ECHO?!" Jin shouted in his mind as he knew it was getting too close forfort while Moloch was doing the same.

    "MY TAIL IS GONNA BURN OFF IF IT GETS ANY CLOSER! HURRY IT UP!!!" Moloch yelled as he pointed the card towards the demons in the safe zone, hoping that his ''wonder magic'' would work as timed. Yet to his dismay, Frost Echo was having difficulties conjuring anything since he had been disturbed by the sudden appearance of the Demon Horde as well.

    "SHUT IT! I HAVE DEMONS ON MY ASS, AND THE TWO OF YOU SCREAMING IS ONLY MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT TO CONCENTRATE!" Frost Echo grumbled back as he decided to hasten the process by sacrificing some blood of the demons which me Ripper had annihted.

    Were it not for the Avatar of Ifrit acting as his bodyguard, the process of conjuring a magic equivalent to stop a world tier ss spell would be even slower since Frost Echo had to contend for his life while prepping his magic for Jin. It did not help that Shiva was not particrly supportive in this current phase.

    At the same time, King Baal was looking at Moloch with much curiosity ever since he had emerged from the human''s clothing. However, the closer the Firestorm came, the more he became disappointed since it would seemingly finish the work for him.

    Prince Sts, on the other hand, was having an internal struggle on whether or not he should aid his seemingly troubled mentor. As his former student, he had learnt to pick up on some of his mentor''s...distress. He clearly recognised the nervous twitch of his Moloch''s left ear, indicating that he was outside hisfort zone.

    A quick scan using his magical eyes further revealed this to be the case. Sts couldn''t see any aura or sense the smallest traces of magic being emitted out of the card despite all of Moloch''s entertaining theatrics.

    "ALRIGHT! IT''S READY!" Frost Echo celebrated as he tore the head of an iing demon soldier and smashed it with his bare hands. Even he was frustrated by theck of assistance from his ice patron and wanted to see if his current powers could match up with the Firestorm that was summoned by King Baal.

    At that moment, Moloch, who had his ice card pointed at his audience, immediately erged it with magic and threw it behind him. The giant ice card flew towards the fiery tornadoes and was thoroughly burnt by it. Realising that it was all a joke to waste time, some of the mages who saw itughed and criticised how Moloch had fallen бнUntil they saw several wide block-shaped pirs of ice dropping behind Jin and Moloch, defending them from the impending Firestorm of doom.

    At first, they were bewildered by it but some of them with more acute perceptions, especially Sts, saw that the ice was being melted by the intensely heated tornadoes.

    "Shit!" Frost Echo cursed to himself as he wondered if there was not enough sacrifice to power up the pirs. "I did get the size correct but not the strength!"

    "With that kind of measly sacrifice? You are already lucky that the ice had not vanished right at the start!" Shiva suddenly spoke out in Frost Echo''s mind, and before he could ask any questions, she had taken over his body.

    "If people were to know that I reside in a body that cast such poorly done ice spells... Nevermind, I shall show you how this Queen does it!" Shiva confidently raised her fingers, and with a snap, those melting ice blocks turned solid once more.

    Not only that, but they also started growing again until they became asrge as the tornado itself and began to fall towards the direction. As if the Firestorm was a physical entity, the block pirs literally consumed the fiery tornadoes in one fell swoop.

    However, the moment the pirs consumed the Firestorm spell, it disappeared as allowing it to fall to the ground would be equivalent of sending the pir to crash onto the inds. Especially when the ice pirs were stretched to the skies to consume the tornadoes.

    "Still, you got to admit, the spell wasn''t that bad." Ifrit who had simrly possessed me Ripper, appearing simultaneously as Shiva,mented on the World ss Magic that King Baal had cast. Without Frost Echo knowing, Ifrit had also lent them a helping hand by absorbing a portion of the fire tornado and converting it into fire chaos energy.

    Unlike Dread Reaver who did not know how to handle the corrupted energy, Ifrit was very well versed in converting that corrupted energy into his very own without any sign of affection. me Ripper who was merely a consciousness in his own body, queried how Ifrit was able to do that and his only answer was that they were Shaitans.

    "We were born from corruption before turning into masters of elementals." Ifrit exined as he turned and looked at the massive amount of demon soldiers roaming around. Without caring to check for friendlies and defenders, he hurled the fire chaos energy haphazardly towards thergest concentration of demons before returning the body back to the me Ripper.

    Shiva did the same as if they hadpleted an objective of sorts and left their Avatars to their own devices.

    "I hope that was enough!" Frost Echo panted as he turned and helped me Ripper up after punching one of the demon soldiers away. "Come on, buddy, let''s hunt some demons. If we cannot keep it up now, how will we defeat those rats?"

    "Urgh, don''t remind me about them. I had enough sorties at the outskirts of Wecha. Those rats were a pain in the ass." me Ripper sighed as he pulled his bow out from his storage ring.

    "Hah! You think my Orcs will be satisfied with just one war? Maybe you Goblins should exercise more." Frost Echo yfully used the race card on me Ripper, rendering him to roll his eyes. (Though that did not stop him from sessfully hitting one of the demon soldiers right between its eyes.)

    Separately, the demons in the safe zone were slightly stunned. They did not expect Moloch to have the capability to stop a World ss Magic, especially one cast by their King. Only a few fell for his theatrics, yet even the doubters understood that someone on his side certainly had the capabilities to achieve such a feat.

    The Demons subsequently heard a slow ping from the front... the one pping was none other than the King himself. "Rather entertaining. Now proceed with the main show. Only one of you will leave alive. If it isn''t you, it will be Kiva."

    Kiva who eventually realised that the storm somehow had passed stuck his head out of the Sand Golem and started to stare at the cotton toy with intense hate.

    "Moloбнch!"

    "Ah, if that is the case, then I shall get my ''subjects'' to fight instead. As an owner of a Dungeon Core yourself, I sincerely hope that you do not mind." Moloch suggested, but even before his request could be answered by King Baal, two shadows teleported right in front of Jin.

    "So, it''s a ''scientists vs scientist'' fight?" Ayse confirmed as she stretched her hands a bit.

    "Its seems a little unfair, though." Weslie emerged while pping the dust away from her casual long sleeve coat. Despite the hot weather, she had insisted on wearing it which baffled a number of them who were watching this.

    "Since when have we ever fought fair? Isn''t our whole job to ensure that we have the advantage over the other side?" Ayse replied with a raised eyebrow.

    "She''s right. There''s no such thing as fair in war.?Besides, your enemy never yed fair too." Moloch agreed as Jin stepped backwards, allowing the scientists to battle against each other while beckoning King Baal to make his move too.

 Chapter 784 Boss Figh

    <h4>Chapter 784 Boss Figh</h4>

    Although Moloch and Jin tried to provoke King Baal into action, they really did not expect their opponent to respond to it. King Baal felt that they knew this was their only chance to fight him when he was not in his tip-top form.

    s, as a King in the midst of battle, he could not ask for the opponent toe back tomorrow after he had a good night''s sleep. Hence, in order to at least bid some time, he purposely put on a grandiose manner by telling his imps to don his extra armour on while taking the spare time to recover.

    On the flip side, Jin was actually a little flustered now that it worked too well. "You have something up your sleeve against him, right?" Jin asked Moloch who had already returned to Jin''s hoodie.

    "What?! I thought you provoked him because you had some sort of edge against him!" Moloch retorted in the System''s channel.

    "Huh?! I thought you had something in mind as well! Isn''t that partially the reason why we came to confront him?!"

    "NO! I came with you because you needed a bait! That''s all! Otherwise, I would not have stuck myself out for this!"

    "What the hell? Weren''t you the one who kept telling me that we would have to eventually go against King Baal?! We''ve been building defences all those weeks, but you had YEARS toe up with stuff!"

    "Well, I DID, but only against King Baal''s army! If I had the power to take him out by myself, don''t you think I would have done so before you capture me? Besides, I thought that Master, you would be capable of fighting himбн isn''t that why you wanted to go for this counterattack assault?!"

    "My whole n revolved around us beating him down like adventurers do against a Final Boss. Do you see any Pandawans around? How was I supposed to know he could just teleport them all away, leaving us alone!"

    "Hey, this is the battlefield. You cannot me me that things go south, but at least the System gave you that particr gift. Just use it!"

    "That''s called a trump card for a reason! I can''t be using a trump card so quickly!"

    "The Mass Teleportation cast earlier appears to have affected those send away. For the time being, it is not possible to bring the Pandawans back as reinforcement. System rmends User to use your so called ''Trump card'' immediately. Statistically, there is no way User is able to defeat King Baal with his current Cultivation Grade."

    "And whose fault is it, that I keep having other things to do instead of cultivating?! Besides, someone once said I am growing a little too fast?"

    "System has no recollection of saying such things."

    "Whatбн" Jin suddenly felt an immense stare and he ''woke'' up from their little game of shifting the me.

    "It seems like you are courting your death, human. Give me Moloch, and I will make it a painless one. Beg for your life, and I might even let you keep it." King Baalid out his demands as he pointed at the cotton toy hiding within Jin''s hoodie cap.

    "That request does not sound very kingly. From your past actions, you have been rather dominant and assertive. What happened?" Jin questioned, and Moloch felt like killing him. He trusted Jin enough not hand him over, but did he have to provoke King Baal even more?!

    "You mad?! What are you thinking about goading him further?"

    "Would you prefer me to give you to him instead? We got to buy some time, and since he hasn''t attacked yet, a conversation seems to be our best choice, right?"

    "Who the hell taught you this was any way to hold a conversation?!"

    Moloch felt the urge to hit his master with something for being so ipetent in speech. "No wonder, you still don''t have any girlfriends at all despite being surrounded by girls around you!"

    "Since when is this about me?!" Jin''s expression darkened in an instant because of his conversation with Moloch instead of King Baal, making thetter instinctively reach for his frog tongue-whip sword at his waist.

    The rest of the Royal Guards knew how powerful their King was, but when Baal did that one small action, they suddenly picked their arms as well, as if they really needed to protect their King from Moloch and his humanpanion. Only when Baal realised his actions, he turned his head to the side and told the rest of the guards to stand down.

    "This will be purely my fight. No one is to interfere! I will personally defeat the two of them and end this invasion." He shouted, and the rest quietly acknowledged it.

    "Oh boy. Now if we call others out to help, it will be considered as a dishonourable fight." Moloch sighed in the System Channel.

    "Since when does that matter? We already have Ayse and Weslie fighting against Kiva in a two on one match. I was ready to group against him, so if he decides to take on a handicap, I won''t mind." Jin said until he caught a glimpse of the battlefield at his left. He was right about the fight having developed into an unfair situationбн only the advantage nowy with Kiva.

    The Archduke had been busy summoning more of his chimaera soldiers to pit against Jin''s scientists. The Sand Golem had merely been a defensive summon to protect him while his true powers came from his chimaeras.

    "See! Even the enemy is fighting unfairly!"

    "Normally, I''d agree. But this is different, Master. If we engage in a fight with the owner of the invading Dungeon Core, our own Dungeon Core will create a special engagement arena between the involved parties. If the System already had problems teleporting back the Pandawans, I doubt it will be able to circumvent that sacred arena. Nevertheless, even if we do manage to win against him, we can get him to back off." Moloch exined while Jin ced his hand on Bam''s hilt.

    "Involved parties, you said? Then so be it." Jin smiled as he now looked directly at King Baal''s eyes. "We ept your challenge."

    Only then Moloch realised what Jin was talking about and gave a heavy sigh. "I hope the Dungeon Core recognises what you mean by the ''involved parties''."

    "Why not?" Jin asked as he squatted a little and went into a battle stance as taught by Zeru.

    "Very well." King Baal relished hearing those few words from that humanpanion of Moloch. He believed it was all words and no strength to back up his talk, especially when there was no menacing auraing from him.

    With enough experience in the Dungeon World, he believed sometimes judging the book by its cover was more than sufficient. Even with his injury from the crown''s power, he mentally calcted that he would need less than 30 seconds fighting at his best to take him down and subsequently subdue Moloch.

    "Alright, let''s do it," Moloch said as he shouted amand aloud.

    "Dungeon Core of Pandapolis. Both parties have epted the duel!" Suddenly, a magical counter appeared right between King Baal and Jin, causing the ground to shake a little. Jin realised that the Dungeon Core was demarcating the fight area by lifting a piece ofnd up from the ground.

    "Rules of engagement: To win, kill or force your opponent into submission. If your opponent is out of the ring for more than 10 seconds, you win. Ready? In 5, 4 , 3бн"

 Chapter 785 Drill Rhino

    <h4>Chapter 785 Drill Rhino</h4>

    "Its been a long time since I had the chance to battle myself." Ayse stretched her hands and legs while Weslie was busy taking notes of the chimaera soldiers that were Kiva literally pulled out of his bag. They were neither the Lion Mantis nor Bat Bottleflies but instead a series of new monster which Jin''s scientists hadn''t encountered before.

    Bipedal in nature the purplish-blue monster had narrow eyes, fluffy ears with leather-ish tufts and a short neck filled with jagged teeth. Yes, there was a mouth on its neck. Tworge venomous horns were on its forehead and a ridge of spiky spines down its back. Metallic tes covered the entirety of its chest, and stony spine edges were on each side of the elbow.

    Each palm had three variable drill looking ws, and the feet had triple hoof-like nails. Not to mention its tail should be a terribly potent weapon in Weslie''s opinion. Given her knowledge of animals and nts, with this kind of length and size, the tail would be capable of smashing, constricting and even breaking the bones of any creature smaller than it. There was no doubt that if either one of them got caught, there was a good chance they could die from it almost instantly.

    So what could be worse than one such monstrosityбн naturally, it would be two. Soon enough, the second entered the scene from Kiva''s bag of ''tricks''. Heughed as he watched his two female opponents take a few steps after his Drill Rhinos simultaneously let out an ear-splitting howl. (Truth be told, he hadn''t reacted any better when he gave ''birth'' to them.)

    "I am honestly quite curious how he was able to keep two such monsters in his bag. Void magic? Bag of bottomless storage? But if so, how could the monsters survive?" Ayse queried towards the direction of Weslie.

    "Oh my, I didn''t believe my opponent was someone so knowledgeable. This is something I would actually like to brag about. You see, I managed to find a way that allows me to sew a magic circle and incantations of a separate dimensional space onto this particr bag." Kiva boasted from behind the safety of his Sand Golem.

    "So you managed to export air and ground space into this dimensional space allowing them to live inside? Then how do you maintain the mana consumption of the dimensional space?" Ayse nodded as she wrote down his answer while he shook his head.

    "That is where you are wrong. This is merely a gateway to that dimensional space."

    "OH! So, you have more than one entry and exit! Or perhaps this is just your exit, and thus you do not need to keep up the mana consumption and just use it as and when."

    "You aren''t entirely correct, but not too far off." Kiva for once felt happy that someone understood him in a short amount of time.

    "That is rather unique. A simr concept to the dimensional dungeon instance but probably without any time dy. Anyway, don''t spoil it all. I am looking forward to discovering the rest on my own. I call dibs on his bag!" Ayse dered as she conjured a lightning fused fireball and threw it towards Kiva.

    As expected, the Drill Rhinos were smart enough to block to the projectile for their master and stopped the lightning fireball in the nick of time. Kiva, who was cowering in fear because of the close shave, quickly ordered the Drill Rhinos to attack the twodies.

    Ayse quickly pped her fingers, and a wave of electricity move straight towards the two Drill Rhinos, paralysing them so that Weslie could follow up. The Schr of the West used her storage ring to grab a steampunk pneumatic rifle.

    "What are you guys staring into space for? Stop acting and protect me properly!" Kiva shouted as he kicked the closest one in his butt. The Drill Rhinos shook its paralysation off and started to stomp at the direction of the armed Weslie.

    "Here''s hoping I''ve properly calibrated it to ount for the bacsh." Weslie thought as she pulled onto a lever underneath the rifle while magically inserting air into the pneumatic cylinder. Without even aiming, she shot the rifle, and a crossbow bolt flew out of the barrel of the pneumatic rifle''s barrel instead of a metal pellet.

    Because of her initial configuration to high power, the bolt was shot out with a loud screeching st of air and pierced through the first Drill Rhino that was charging towards her. Even with its heavy-duty natural metal te, the crossbow bolt had managed to prate through the Drill Rhino''s defences and even had enough force to fly towards the second Drill Rhino behind it.

    But after going through that ton of meat mass, the arrow had lost all velocity, and it merely made a cling sound upon contact with the second Drill Rhino''s metal tes. However, for the former Drill Rhino, the shot incidentally pierced a couple major arteries near its heart, causing massive internal bleeding from within.

    Hence, it dropped its speed within seconds and died nearly on the spot after a few seconds. But within that few seconds, thetter Drill Rhino did not stop at hisrade''s demise and continued to charge towards Weslie who had kneeled to fire the Pneumatic Rifle.

    "Don''t worry, girl. I got you covered." Ayse said as she too had whipped out a two-handed rifle which had construction rails at the side of the barrel. Electricity was seen being generated from her hands and subsequently stored into a batteryponent of the gun before it discharged out and zapped the Drill Rhino.

    Yet, this was her first time using the Arc Induction Lance Rifle, a prototype weapon which Ayse had been developing as a side project during her ''I build my own stuff for my own benefit'' time. And the results turned out toбн exceptionally stunning.

    While it did not paralyse the Drill Rhino like her thunderp magic, the Arc Induction Lance Rifle managed to sessfully discharge an intense beam of photon-based lightning and practically burnt off the Drill Rhino''s leg, causing it to disappear within an instant.

    The Drill Rhino fell before it ever managed toe close enough to either scientist. Ayse was extremely thrilled with the results of her new prototype weapon against a living target.

    "Huh, I kind of expected some resistance from them. But not this deadly... Very well, you force my hand too." Kiva transformed his head into the Raven form and started chanting inexplicable sentences which the two scientists were unable toprehend.

    Suddenly the bodies of the two Drill Rhinos that were in front of them started to vibrate and moved like two mas attracting each other. "This should be a fair amount of challenge that renders you incapable of incapacitating me!."

    "You sound confident. What''s your estimated survival rate?" Ayse questioned in a haughty tone.

    "I''d say 100% but judging by how easily you managed to defeat these two Drill Rhinos, I will give a pessimistic rate of 80-85%." Kiva conjured as the two Drill Rhinos began merging together.

    "You should redo your math. The answer should be zero." Ayse retorted as she started to induce more charge into her Arc Induction Lance Rifle while Weslie powered her Pneumatic Rifle further, reloading it with another crossbow bolt.

    "Hahah! I assure you, I made no such mistake. Anyways, it''s been fun interacting with you all too!" Kivaughed as he turned his head back into a Bat and instinctively tried to return to the safe zoneбн only to run straight into Sts'' barrier once more.

    "Damn that Owl Head Prince!"

 Chapter 786 Gluttony

    <h4>Chapter 786 Gluttony</h4>

    Itori looked over the mountain of corpses thaty in front of her. From mindless demons to seemingly strong ones, they were all hungry to eat her up. But even before they could do anything, Itori had already killed anything that came close to her. Without any allowance to have a break, it somehow caused her to lose the sense of time in the circle of Gluttony.

    Yet the moment she realised that she was done clearing the enemies, Itori continued to be restless and disappointed that the Circle of Gluttony was underwhelming. The White Fox was still hungry for stronger opponents, and this prison was a lie to her when the dungeon core key was left in the open in a sparkling golden chest. Was there nothing that could provide her with a sufficient amount of challenge to sate her appetite?

    Even her older sister and brother were proving to be less than effective sparring partners with the advent of her new weapon, and she could not help but yearn for stronger enemies.

    "Then perhaps, you should defeat yourself." The chest snapped back hard as she tried to pick up the dungeon core key from inside it.

    "A mimicбн" Itori said to herself, and even though it only wounded her a little when the gold chest bit her hand tightly, it ultimately still hurt. No teeth were seen at first nce, but the moment the trunk closed, she could feel dozen jagged edges poking her arm. (It would not be a problem if Itori did not remove the power fist to pick the key up, but she was afraid she would break it identally.) Therefore, Itori smashed the chest with her left power fist and caused it to break open instantly.

    But when she took a closer look at the dungeon core key, it turned to dust, and Itori panicked a little. Did she identally break the key when she brute forced opened the golden chest?! "Wellбнguess I''ll have to move to the lowest floor and break open the door for themбн" Itori thought to herself until she heard a maniacalugh.

    "You think you got the key?! Hahahahah!" Apparently, the chest had just disappeared only to reappear approximately 10 metres away from her. It then revealed its true form...

    "Ew. You are disgusting..." Itori pointed at the chest mimic that had bitten her. In its true form, three heads in the shape of the very same golden treasure chests emerged from the main torso of the monster as it roared its almighty name out for Itori to hear. (Even though she didn''t really give two toots about the monster''s name.)

    "I am Chestberus! The Mighty Guard Supervisor for the Gluttony Level. No matter how many monsters you''ve defeated, you will never win against me!" The Three Chest Head Monster yelled as he opened his mouth and coins started to pour out of it.

    After which, the coins slowly stacked together, as if they were fusing as one entity. Only when the form became more concrete, did Itori notice that it was actually mimicking her own form.

    "After a quick bite, I am able to replicate the form of my opponent! So, no matter what, you won''t be able to defeat your very own doppelganger! Prepare to die miserably in my -WHAT?!" As Chestberus was in the midst of goading about this ability, Itori had sent the coin infused form of herself into oblivion with a single kick.

    The coin creature shattered into its individual parts and flew as indirect scatter projectiles hurting the Chestberus. "Impossibru! There is no way!" Chestberus now opened all three of his chest mouths and recreated the very same doppelganger three times more. He also made sure that he had inserted more than the number of required coins to make these doppelgangers and strengthened them further.

    Yet once again, Itori didn''t wait for them to finish as she decimated the three doppelgangers in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, she did not hesitate to punch and destroy one of Chestberus heads. "Give me the dungeon core key, and I''ll let you get away with your life still intact. Might not be the entirety of it but still something." Itori had enough ying around with weaklings for the day.

    "No! I am the Gluttony Guard who has served this prison ever since its inception! I will not hand the key over witho-" And with that, Itori had had enough of the odd-looking three-headed chest dog and punched him out of existence.

    With his disappearance, the real treasure chest lined with intricate golden linings and patterns emerged from all bloodied coins on the ground. "Should have done that a minute ago instead of yapping about." Itori berated herte opponent as she ripped open the treasure chest and picked the dungeon core key.

    "CHANCE!" A voice echoed in the depths of the Gluttony Level, and a new treasure chest tried to bite her from the back. The veryst resort of Chestberus but Itori was faster. She grabbed the chest''s top as soon as he had let out a noise and met it with a furious punch.

    The blow was so immense that the Dungeon Core for the Gluttony level was unable to sustain its infrastructure and the impact of Itori''s fist led to a giant hole, revealing the Prison Core of the lower basement level. Her actions had been on a purely instinctive level and had been further strengthened by her innate hatred for ambushes. The White Fox''s punch impact had inadvertently killed off the Guard Supervisor for the level of Greed as well.

    "No wayбнhow did you even realise that I had a copy in Greed''s level?!" The leftover golden chest debris of Chestberus coughed as he did not expect for his opponent to be able to figure out that he was actually the Guard Supervisor of two levels.

    If the two copies were not killed within a span of five minutes, Chestberus would be able to regenerate indefinitely as he had made a link with the heaps of food and coins stockpiles on both levels.

    No one in decades had been able to defeat these two levels since they never knew they were intertwined. Chestberus was considered as the ultimate gatekeeper for Paradiso because of his hidden ability to regenerate and ambush their challengers so long that one of the two copies existed.

    "Seriously, Itori. AGAIN?! Do you find it funny to killsteal my prey?!" Ixained loudly from below when she realised that the Prison Core had released the key on her end before she even met the guardian.

    "...."

    "...It''s just a coincidence. Really!" Itori shouted back as she crossed her fingers at her back. She honestly hoped that her elder sister wasn''t too mad. At least this time around it really reaalllyy wasn''t done on purpose.

    "Argh~! Whatever, I will just clear the remaining monsters here." Ixa replied with a shake of her head before returning to clean up the remnants of the Prison Core.

    Meanwhile, Itori looked at the leftover piece of Chestberus. "Don''t ever try to ambush me! I hate it when people do that. Fight me face to face if you wish to challenge me again!" She berated it as she squeezed her hand. Slowly but surely, Chestberus turned into splinters and subsequently dust. (As if he wanted to challenge such a fearsome foe once more.)

    With the Gluttony and Greed Keys now in their possession, there were still five more keys for the remaining foxes to get.

 Chapter 787 The Ultimate Chimaera - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 787 The Ultimate Chimaera - Part 1</h4>

    "No, No, No! Noooo!!!!" Kiva repeatedly shouted after a sudden explosion had nearly hit him. "How could this be?!"

    The two other scientists who were ready to take him on were unsure what exactly was going on. One moment Kiva had beenbining the two nearly dead Drill Rhinos into one so that it could ''pulverise'' them into submission, yet the very next after surviving a st Kiva was screaming as if it had hit him.

    Yet Kiva was more worried about the consequences of this distraction than his near-death encounter.

    The magicalbination of the two Drill Rhinos required a set amount of mana to seed. Any more or less would reduce the optimal abilities of the newly fused monsters. What had happened was that a shot from Stalingrad might have failed to get Kiva, but it had perfectly hit the not yet fully formed monster.

    Kiva had imbued it with a shield strong enough to deflect any attacks the two scientists in front of him should have been able to use, but the shield had not been enough to counter the explosive force. In fact, the shell nearly killed not only Kiva but also the two scientists in its vicinity. Ayse did shout back at Wolte in the System Channel for not being careful enough.

    In essence, that explosive form of energy had affected the quality and quantity of mana given during fusion, resulting in a definite deformity of the Drill Rhinos. Usually, Kiva would not care for failures as he treated most of his specimens as dirt anyway. But right now, it was crucial for his survival and pride when the entirety of the Royal Guards (Not to mention Sts) was looking at him.

    Since his perfectly fused Drill Rhinos was no longer achievable, he decided to mix up the wholebination to make up for any possible defects it might have.

    The Ravenous Lord continued to chant magical words furiously in his Raven Head form as he opened his bag and threw various other specimens into the mix like the Bat Bottleflies and Lion Mantis.

    "Now he is just mashing all the various monsters into one. There''s no elegance in his current chimaeraбн" Wesliemented, and Kiva stared at her angrily.

    "SHUT UP! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TELL ME THAT! If not for your friend! You would have seen the masterpiece of my creation!!" Kiva shouted as he feared that even the new abomination might not be able to win against the two scientists, especially after he had seen what power their personal arsenal held.

    "Unlessбн Unlessбн" Kiva was a little hesitant but knowing that if he lost this battle, King Baal could possibly remove him from his position permanently. Then all his future ns would remain dreams. There was no way for redemption when since his units had failed repeatedly. The very same units that had brought victory after victory since their inception.

    Maybe the enemies got lucky in the first try since the Bat Bottleflies were notplete products. However, Moloch and his team of rag tags not only defeated his batches of Lion Mantis but annihted them with ease despite the enhancement given by the crown. He started to feel that the crown was not as omnipotent as he conceived it to be.

    Thus, his only way out was to redeem the failures by winning against the enemyбн or the very least die valiantly trying.

    "Screw this!" Kiva thought to himself and loudly chanted a forbidden verse of magic which added himself into the fusion process. Weslie tried to intervene by shooting at him, but somehow, even the monster abomination that was being fused was sentient enough to block the attack for his master.

    A shade of overwhelming darkness temporarily blinded the people at the scene, and suddenly the fused monster alongside Kiva had disappeared.

    ---------

    The System''s alert popped up and stated that an unknown object was flying towards the direction of Stalingrad.

    "What, so I am the target?" Wolte squinted his eyes as he automatically aimed his guns towards the flying object and shot everything he had towards it. To his surprise, the flying abomination was agile enough to dodge all projectiles.

    "Youбн This shipбн! This ship has been a source of annoyance ever since I saw you emerging out of the waters!" Kiva shouted. He hadpletely fused with the various chimaeras to be the possibly ultimate monster he had ever created. His fear of fighting was now overpowered by the multiple aggressive instincts inhabited within the abomination.

    He had been unaware whether it could work and even if it did Kiva had been worried if he could maintain his sanity with the minds of the various monsters getting connected to him. Still, he was left with no other chance and decided to take that gamble.

    However, he did not know that he merely got lucky. The residual crown energy within him was actually the critical key factor that had allowed him to fuse his entire body together with the rest. Without that, the foregone conclusion would have been him and the rest of his creations dying because of the rejection of too many foreign cells, leaving him to die miserably.

    "Pfft! Not as if you were here when I emerged out of the waters." Wolte said in loudspeaker mode and that stunned Kiva for a moment, providing the old man boat with an attack of opportunity to hurt it. One of the shots sttered his left arm off, and Wolte imagined he scored a good hit.

    But the annoying abomination still flew steadily towards the shipбнwith a new arm recing the old one in a matter of seconds.

    "You can''t be serious. That kind of injury and he could regrow that quickly?" Wolte thought to himself as he maintained his firing while telling the Royal Snakes to prepare for a hijack.

    "I''ve always wondered where you''ve hidden, you old fool! I cannot believe you stuck your old arse helping Moloch! By finishing you off, King Baal is bound to reward me heavily!" Kivaughed as he increased his speed and zoomed towards the ship.?"Nowe out and face me, old man!"

    In less than a few seconds, he hovered right above the ship and smirked. Most of Wolte''s heavy cannons were unable to operate at that distance, and the anti air and anti infantry shots suddenly proved to be useless against the Kiva''s new form.

    With the fusion of the Bottlefly and Praying Mantis'' wings, he was finally able to adjust to the speed of the shots and evaded them speedily. "Hahaha! Try as you will, but your new toy is no threat to me. You''ve always boasted about being epting any duels. Nowe out and let me show you MY powers!"

    "You have to remember that humans might not be as straightforward as those shells and bullets." Gan Yang''s voice appeared right behind the boasting Kiva, and he stabbed his dagger into Kiva''s neck despite the metal tes all over his body.

    Without a doubt, the Ravenous Lord panicked a little seeing how some human had managed to appear this high into the air and had been able to remain undetected thus far. Ignoring the surprise attack the human made, Kiva quickly turned and shed him with his Mantis de.

    Knowing it was a suicide attack, Gan Yang fell to the ground with his body split into two. Nevertheless, knowing that his knife had submerged into the enemy''s body, he was certain he hadpleted his mission.

 Chapter 788 The Ultimate Chimaera - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 788 The Ultimate Chimaera - Part 2</h4>

    "Hahahah! Didn''t you puny humans imed that power was everything and such trickery was a sign of weakness?!" Kiva could already feel his body parts slowing down a little, and that was enough for Wolte''s gun systems to ce a shot at him, making Kiva fall to the ground.

    Gan Yang''s suicide attack was to ensure he petrified Kiva so that he could stop dodging their attack. Since the Ravenous Lord had yet to limate himself to his new body, it was rtively easy for Gan Yang to get onto him without Kiva noticing.

    The rest of Gan Yang''s crew decidedly tried to finish up their Captain''s job after Wolte had pierced Kiva''s wings. They were sure they could ''avenge'' their captain as Gan Yang''s petrification poison was working its way through Kiva''s entire body.

    However, the shortughter Kiva let out caused Wolte to have some unsuspecting concerns. True enough, like any type of evolved boss, Kiva was not done yet. The petrification poison had worked initially but as they soon found out Kiva merely shed off the affected part of the abomination body and grew an entirely new one. The petrified pieces of his previous body became the protection it needed to counter against the deadly poisonous strikes of the Royal Snake soldiers.

    After which, he brandished his Mantis des and cut off the Royal Snake soldiers while shaking the rest of the petrified body parts away, revealing a brand new body. How were they supposed to know that as long as he had his ''bag of tricks'' on him, he could indefinitely summon new chimaeras to rece his body, allowing him to be pseudo immortal.

    Kiva took the chance to take flight and was once more fast enough to make Wolte''s guns appear as nothing but decoration. The Ravenous Lord sheathed the Mantis des and revealed a massive spinning drill by putting both of his arms together, allowing it to merge as one.

    With a bit of chanting, he imbued hisrge drill and did a flyover before aiming at the ship''s stern. "Traitor Wolte! ept your undeniable fate! I do not know where you are hiding in this ship but may this be thest time we meet!" Kiva yelled as he pushed all his strength into his insectoid wings and hoped to pierce the entire ship.

    His once timid demeanour seemed to have disappeared with the ascension of his new powers as he attempted to destroy the most powerful weapon in Moloch''s disposal.

    "Nope, you don''t!" Wolte replied and in an instant like a bubble that had burst, the ship disappeared into thin air, leaving only the dead and injured bodies of the Royal Snake Army floating in the sea. Wolte had reverted into his slug form and his buddy Mr Derpy provided him with a magical foam that allowed him to breathe underwater.

    Seeing that the ship suddenly disappeared, Kiva was unsure what to do for a moment. Then he looked back to the scientists who were still at the front for the safe zone. To his surprise, no Royal Guards or demon soldiers were keeping them upied.

    It was as if they were all friends and foes watching what was happening to King Baal and Jin. Apparently, the human and Moloch were somehow still able to hold their weight against King Baal, keeping him a little entertained.

    "Tsk! And here I thought I was making a brilliant show for them to watch! Damn it! Baal, even if you seedбн Just you wait till the Agents from the Church of the Afterlifee for you!" Kiva grumbled to himself as he flew back at top speed nning to ambush the researchers that had made him into aughing stock previously.

    "Oh, here hees," Weslie said as the System had alerted them of his iing assault and Ayse casually looked back.

    "He''s really grown to be a nuisance. Not only did he remove one of our (surprisingly) greatest assets on the battlefield, but now he wants to take revenge against us? He should deserve punishment and learn his ce." Aysemented.

    "Ah, but you cannot deny his art in transmutation. I believe Derek would love to have a discussion about that with him. Who knows, perhaps it might lead to some improvement in our giant monster''s ability to grow more crops."

    "That is true. If Derek learns how to effectively fuse animals with non-living stuff like metal, it might be possible he could help Rei create the organic robot cockpit interface which we''ve talked about." Ayse agreed as she prepared a bolt of lightning to shoot at Kiva.

    "You cannot be serious!" Weslie was shocked but kept her pneumatic rifle and brought out a steampunk tower shield.

    "Why not? If that stupid bat could assist Derek and Rei to make the cockpit, it would be akin to moving our bodies in a clunky metal body easily. Without all those stupid controls. It will be pretty helpful against an armada of space robots and ships to get that Titan Brain. -Huh, I wonder if we can also modify the Stalingrad into a spaceshipбн" Ayse immediately lost herself in thought, and Weslie quickly moved to her front and blocked the iing dive assault from Kiva.

    The tower shield immediately ledged itself to the ground and an energy battery activated the energy shield to protect the two researchers. It was using the very same shield generator concept they had used for the protection of the anti airpanies just that it was a smaller build. In fact, this was the first prototype Ayse had created with Weslie only that this steampunk tower shield had lived through many iterations.

    Abomination Kiva tried to break the defence of the tower shield, but hot air was sprayed out against the assaulter, scalding his face and arms.

    A function which was slightly unconventional since the air exhaust pipes were meant solely to cool down the heat emitted from the shield generator.

    Weslie had only thought of the pipes to face upwards, but one of Ayse''sments during the creation process had led to it facing the enemies. "If you can scald them or even distract them from your shield, it will allow you to attack. Then it will actually serve the purpose of defending oneself too."

    It was effective.

    Kiva stopped the attack and flew backwards because the hot air had gotten not only on his face but also in his mouth, throat and lungs as he tried to breathe.

    "Now!" Weslie called as she unhinged the tower shield and kicked it at the bottom right corner, causing it to topple backwards. Weslie kneeled down to support the rest of the tower shield''s weight. With a weight differentiation sensor, the tower shield immediately popped up two hinges from the middle edges of the shield and in turn, assisted Weslie from bearing the full weight of the shield.

    At the same time, the falling of the tower shield revealed to Kiva that Ayse was preparing a fully charged ace with the thunderbolt she had cast on her hand previously. "With pleasure!" Ayse shouted as she already pushed the trigger on her arc inductionnce rifle towards the distracted abomination.

    "Oh Shit!"

 Chapter 789 The Ultimate Chimaera - Final

    <h4>Chapter 789 The Ultimate Chimaera - Final</h4>

    Kiva was not the one to have cursed, but instead, it was actually Ayse and Weslie who were now in trouble. When Weslie had lowered the tower shield for Ayse to shoot her Arc Induction Lance Rifle, Kiva, in turn, had ready a long spinning drill at the tip of his tail.

    The Lightning Arc from the Lance Rifle did not damage Kiva in any single way. Rather, the drill acted like a potent lightning rod, as well as storing all the electrical potential in its spinning tail. "I''ve already predicted that you were going to hit me with that electrical fluff gadget you have. Too bad for you, I knew a way to store it for my own use! Now have a taste of your own medicine!"

    The previous two Drill Rhino could have also deflected the attackбн if their drill was at the receiving point of the electrical energy. But too bad for the Chimaeras, the Arc Lance was a little too unwieldy for Ayse despite her fairly stout build. So, the lightning arc moved sideways and damaged other areas instead, causing them to fall.

    Still, it was a mystery as to how Kiva''s long drill tail had managed to store all that electrical energy, spinning while not being hurt by it. Unfortunately, there was no time for the researchers to analyse it as Kiva decided to go into the offensive by plucking its tail and turning it into a il with the drill spinning furiously with electrical pulses emitted at different intervals.

    Weslie quickly propped up the tower shield again to defend against the attack, and while Kiva knew that he could easily move to the side and destroy them, he decided to entertain them further.

    The feeling of dominance over these twodies of science somehow was a tad too intoxicating to just let go, and it was an excellent opportunity not to break their inventions. It was as if he had to prove a point that his craft was far too strong for them to handle.

    However, to his surprise, the spinning il of a drill tail did not manage to put a single scratch or dent on Weslie''s tower shield. Ayse, now aware that her Arc Induction Lance Rifle was useless, decided to use the very same weapon that Kraft had employed against the Dragonlite sentries.

    "Behold! The Edged Boomerangs!"?Ayse grinned widely when she took it out from her storage ring and started to induce them with magic.

    Even without line of sight, Ayse threw them with ease as they magically aimed for the target beyond the tower shield and they struck the enemy with precision. However, to her dismay, the attack did not seem to be as powerful as recorded in the System''s database.

    "Did Kraft lie to the System?" Ayse thought to herself as Kiva dismissed the feeble attempts of the Edged Boomerangs.

    "Negative. Original Betor Kraft merely used chi maniption to make the attacks stronger. The weapon was still working as intended. Regrettably, your power output cannotpare to his." The System replied all of a sudden, and it made the situation for the twodies even more desperate.

    Frustrated that his weapon did not work as intended, Kiva decided to perform a sidestep to defeat the defender and proceed to cut Ayse''s head off. However, he did not expect that the moment he moved, the tower shield was moving at the same speed as him.

    "How could this be?!" Kiva thought to himself as he now tried to pass and hit Ayse with his iling drill from a distance, but the tower shield kept intervening just as the drill left Kiva''s proximity.

    "Surprised? Don''t be. Your drill eating electricity is equally a mystery to us. Thought we''d return the favour." Weslie smirked as she managed to counterattack when Kiva had a slight opening after his weapon was deflected by her shield.

    "You impudent human!" Kiva shouted as he continued to underestimated Weslie by trying to move faster and attempted to get rid of Ayse by flying over. (Especially when he deemed Weslie too weak to even bring up the tower shield.)

    "Hah! Try harder!" Weslie taunted behind the safety of the tower shield. She lifted it upwards with ease and protected Ayse from being hit. Yet, all of this was merely a distraction.

    Kiva was actually aiming for their concentration to focus on him. He mumbled a few magical words and the il turned into the very same drill that Kiva had attempted to use against the Stalingrad.

    "Since, I lost the opportunity to use it about minutes agoбн Then you will have to be my target board!" Kiva dered. He flew away from the two researchers and used that distance to gain speed. Again, he mumbled a few more taboo words and the drill spun even more rapidly, to the point that its sound became irritating enough to cause Jin and King Baal to stop for a moment to see what Kiva was about to do.

    -----

    "Stop. How about a temporary truce. I''d like to see what my advisor is capable of doing." King Baal suggested that with a prideful and unyielding tone. It was as if he was rewarding Jin for even managing to entertain him until now.

    Nevertheless, Jin dly agreed, making use of the time to catch his breath and at the same time relieved that King Baal curiosity gave him the break he needed.

    It was definitely clear that the King of Demon Metropolis was merely toying or buying time for his subjects. For what reason, Jin did not know as he trusted that his monsters and remaining cultivators were equally capable of stopping the Demon Horde in their tracks despite the chaos from the Mass Teleportation spell. And that wasn''t even ounting for Kraft''s group who apparently was making great progress.

    -----

    "DIE!" Kiva shouted and went for a pinpoint charge as his wings fluttered at the speed of sound, heading towards Weslie with all he got. The Schr of the West also realised that there was nothing that could be done but to wear the abomination down while Ayse or she came up with a n to defeat it.

    бн However, things didn''t go as predicted.

    To everyone''s surprise, Kiva''s enchanted drill prated the energy shield with ease. The impact from the weapon was enough to create a hole in the tower shield, inadvertently piercing Weslie''s abdomen with such force that her innards and even bits of her spine and lower ribcage flew in every direction possible.

    And that was not the end as the electrical charges from the drill were being discharged, causing bolts of lightning to spear towards Ayse and injuring her severely. From mere burns to loss of limbs, Ayse fell to the ground alongside Weslie.

    Jin saw the entire incident from the floating tform and his fists banged onto the invisible walls that the Dungeon Core had created to prevent any disturbances from the outside (and ironically the inside)

    "What''s with your reaction? Not used to seeing yourrades die such a horrible death?" King Baal scoffed at Jin''s whimpering scream. In a certain sadistic way, he was jovial that he had graciously granted his opponent a small break.

    But now it was time to finish the duel and call it a day!

 Chapter 790 Dramatic Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 790 Dramatic Rescue</h4>

    "Haaбн HaaaбнI know I''ll get resurrected by the Systemбн so there should be nothing much to worry about." Ayse tried to convince herself as she stared at the blurry enemy who felt triumphant over managing to finish the both of them.

    "But that bastardбн for some reason, I don''t want to lose against him!" Ayse thought to herself as her consciousness began to fade away. Despite her attempts, the Head Researcher found it hard to stay awake and watched as the uglier side of Kiva emerged.

    Abomination Kiva lifted the bludgeoning tower shield and kicked the piece of metal away before he picked Weslie''s corpse up as if she was some dead animal.

    The only thing was, she wasn''tpletely gone. Like Ayse, she continued struggling and refused to believe that she was on her final few breaths despite therge gaping hole in her stomach that was draining her life out. It was a desperate attempt to cling onto life while she fought to heal herself with her own magic.

    "What can you do in this particr state?" Kiva asked her out loud, but at the same time, Ayse heard a familiar voice that echoed the very same words in her mind.

    "Weslieбн" Ayse tried to call out, but only a coughing murmur escaped her mouth since her lungs prioritised her life. The Orc Researcher attempted to raise her hand out to her colleague, but she barely had the power to move, let alone lift. Nevertheless, Weslie, who was barely conscious, could only grin with one side of the mouth.

    "DON''T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!" A roar reverberated throughout the battlefield and simultaneously, the very same initial voice said the same thing in her mind again. Kiva turned to look, but before he could respond, the arm that was holding Weslie was cut down, and she disappeared from the corner of his eye.

    Only when Kiva returned his gaze at the broken Ayse, did he find a new challenger.

    "Goldбн" Weslie smiled faintly as she tearfully extended a hand towards his face. It pained the Werejackal Leader to see her in this state, and his heart got even emptier when she used her strengths to put her hands up.

    He hastily picked her palm up and tried to heal her wounds with all the powers he had in his disposal. Although he knew that the System could revive her easily, he couldn''t just watch and do nothing. Were they all supposed to be emotionless as theirrades died over and over, ignoring the struggle for their lives? What bullshit!

    "Shh. Hush my love. Sorry, I''mte." Gold apologised gently despite his rage-filled eyes staring intently at Kiva. Ayse, who witnessed the beautiful scene from the side, was relieved and at the same time, jealous that Gold hade to rescue Weslie while risking his own life for her''s.

    "What are you looking at with such jealousy? You have me with you. Always, my darling." The voice continued to interrupt Ayse at Death''s door.

    "Don''t you think it''s rude of you to interrupt me. I am in the midst of dying, yet here you are babbling away as usual." Ayse sent her thoughts to the voice within her mind, demanding it to go away.

    "That is why I am here. I''m always here for you. You just have to stop ignoring me. \u003c3 "

    "You just want to get out."

    "Ooo, you got me! Well, you can''t me me entirely. You are having so much fun right now! Honestly, I think the turn of events back then was an exciting one, indeed. We have more toys to y with than ever!"

    "Heh, bitch." Ayse coughed out blood, and Kiva suddenly interrupted the lonely conversation in her mind byughing mindlessly once more.

    "Hahaha! What a loving couple. I''ve always been a supporter of true love. Let me bring both of you two to hell! Oops, I mean three. Oh wait, if I kill you, you''re just going to get resurrected here all fine and dandy. Then perhaps, I should just keep you three in stasis and let you all suffer by showing the defeat your leader would suffer!" Kiva monologued like a ssic viin as he rushed towards Gold.

    Meanwhile, the Werejackal Leader ced Weslie down, and with the absolute determination of not moving a single step away from the two severely injuredrades, he decided to take the blow from Kiva''s dual Mantis de with his sword.

    "Good reflex! Now keep up!" Kiva yelled as he started to speed up.

    "Are you really content just sitting there and letting him cover for you? So shameless! I can already foresee that he''s going to lose." The voice started to fill Ayse''s mind even more.

    "Then, what else am I going to do?" Ayse rebutted.

    "Why are you so adamant about not letting me out, no matter what? You should remember how I helped you previously..."

    "How can I trust you after what you did? Leaving me behind and onlying when you felt like it?" Ayse used all her strength to pull Weslie away from the fight, hoping to give Gold a little more breathing space to move about.

    "Alright, how about a trade? I will lend you my full powers this time, so you can kill that deadbeat pompous scientist into smithereens. And then you let me back into your life." The voice negotiated. "Besides, it''s not like you haven''t been using my origins to dial up your magic. If you have me permanently, it will greatly benefit your current master too."

    "On one condition. Come at my behest in the future. If I catch you running away like you did previously, I would not acknowledge you further." Ayse knew this sly voice way too well.

    "And here I thought, I am the one in charge!! FineбнI am pleased with the change of events and its fun to watch them unfold. In exchange for your condition, you got to give me good battles like this every once in a while." The voice rebutted, refusing to apologise for her past mistakes though Ayse agreed to it.

    Gold''s sword broke from the swift constant attacks, but he managed to counter with a quick fireball which he had been chanting while parrying the des. Yet from behind the smoke, the twin des came down as if they were the scythes from the death reaper.

    Gold was not able to recover fast enough to shoot another fireball to deflect the des, nor was he able to change to werejackal form and block the attacks with his ws. So, he instinctively ced his body in front of the attack, ensuring that it will hit him instead. Suddenly two loud clink sounds were heard, and the shes that came with the sound caused him to close his eyes instinctively.

    As Gold opened his eyes, he saw Ayse who had somehow managed to stand back up and used her Arc Induction Lance Rifle as the object to block the attacks. However, the Mantis des easily cut down the Lance Rifle, and theponents within it had exploded due to the contact impact.

    The Werejackal Leader noticed it and quickly grabbed Ayse by her cor. He turned her around, using his back as the meat shield against the explosion.

    "Hahaha! That''s a decent surprise right there. Got to give you that." Kiva shook off the explosion and shed the burnt body as he moved into a new one.

    With his hundreds of chimaeras in his bag of tricks fused along with the rest of the current abomination body, he believed their respite was short-lived, and the attempt to retaliate was meaningless and futile.

 Chapter 791 The Purple Thunder

    <h4>Chapter 791 The Purple Thunder</h4>

    "No wonder Weslie likes you so much, you truly are a gentleman from the way you carry her." Ayse teased Gold as she coughed out more blood and saliva. Her panting was hurried, and the coarse voice could clearly show her injuries had worsened to the next stage.

    "What are you thinking!!" Gold asked as he put her down. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

    "What''s it look like? I was saving your arse so Weslie would own me oneбн but it looks like the favour was returned immediately." Ayse joked once again via the System Channel as she tried to stand up defiantly.

    "System, why have you not teleported these two out of the way?!" Gold harshly reprimanded it in the System Channel for its inaction as he returned to a defensive stance against the unpredictable Kiva.

    The problem wasn''t that Kiva was apetent fighter making him hard to read, it was more the opposite. He fought like an amateur, yet his strength and versatility were so absurdly high, making him unpredictable for Gold.

    "Affirmative." The System stated, and it immediately teleported Weslie and Gold into the military base where the goblin clerics had been on standby, ready to aid them.

    "What? Why did you teleport me instead of Ayse? Get me back there this instant! Ayse needs more help than me!!" Goldined as he shouted into empty space, but the clerics were already attempting to restrain him and healing the moderate wounds that he had sustained from trying to block the two Mantis des.

    "Ehhhбн This is no fun. Totally forgot you guys can teleport. Also, I meant to say this, but you guys must have met an ancient monster if he''s able to teleport you whenever you want. I am dying to meet him." Kiva spoke while trying to track the scent of Weslie and Gold only toe with the result that it had just vanished. He deduced it was a long-range teleportation skill/spell.

    "Too bad for you they were unable to get all of you out. You must have pissed off that old fart if he did not bother with you over the new guy!" Kiva taunted her.

    "System has issued a mandatory order to Head Orc Researcher Ayse: Kill the enemy without prejudice for his insult against the System. System is willing to reward you with a generous lump sum of System points. The more miserable the demise, the better the reward." The System stated, and Ayse began tough out loud slowly.

    "Haha...Hahah! Thank you for your generous reward, I will dly take them all!" Ayseughed even louder, and Kiva thought that the injured orc must be going crazy. "You want me to torture him after I kill him? Do you mind if I ask Kraft for his expertise? Something like that should be right up his alley."

    "Possible remuneration will be given by the System if Ayse is able to give out a satisfactory punishment to the offender. Feel free to get Original Betor Kraft involved." In short, the System was all too willing to see the insolent bat suffer.

    "My pleasure." Ayse acknowledged her mission even as she struggled to keep herself steady.

    "Who the hell are you talking to?! I see no one and sense no magical connection. Are you out of your mind?!" Kiva was now sure that the loss of blood had gotten into Ayse''s head for her to be delusional.

    "You know, just the many voices in my head. All of them want me to do something for them because I am magnificently brilliant and capable." Ayse replied as she held feebly onto the broken piece of Induction Arc Lance as support.

    "Pfft. If you are smart enough, you should know that statistically, your death is imminent." Kiva argued as he ground his Mantis des by rubbing them together. "Unless you are deluding yourself that I might pity you and give you mercy... Though as a scientist I was taught to never say never, I can guarantee you that the chances of you surviving is a t 0%."

    "Heh. Aren''t those my odds for your survival." Ayse countered back. Her breath became even more rugged.

    "Enough bluffing." Kiva had had enough. He took flight once more and headed straight towards her.

    "Slydra. Come." Ayse whispered with bated breath, and a sh of thunder and lightning struck Ayse as Kiva was about to enter a range to decapitate her in one go. The abomination was struck down to the floor from therge radius of purple lightning.

    "Fuckбн!" Kiva coughed after suffering the electrocution. He tried to regain control over the body, but the numbing sensation from the thunderbolt overwhelmed him. However, as he was about to assume control, he suddenly felt a leg stepping on his head, and then it stomped hard with another bolt of thunder.

    "Huh, this body, although terribly broken, is still quite silky and youthful," Slydramented as Ayse had already allowed her to descend into her.

    Like Shiva, Slydra had a slender body that wasparable to hers although she''d boast that her butt was more... Cushy. Her dull light magenta skin with several strings of violet scales was covering her sexual parts, making the demon bystanders dumbstruck by her luscious form of beauty.

    Oh, and speaking about those bystanders, a wink from Slydra immediately electrocuted the weaker willed guards while the rest had a numbing sensation pulsating through them. Even Prince Sts had difficulty oveing her irresistible electrifying charm. "How did it even pass through my magical barrier?!" Sts thought as he nearly passed out from the electric wink spell.

    As for Kivaбн Every time the abomination chimaera scavenged the power to move a little, Slydra merely sent another wrap of purplish lightning into his disgustingly fused body. (And at the same time, reinforcing her stomp via her heels which eventually seeped into his burnt muscles.)

    "While your vision of science is hardlyudable, I should give you an E for effort," Slydra stated as she released her heels and kicked him, causing him to roll away from her. Then, every single step that the Shaitan of Thunder took, Lightning Bolts continuously sted the ever regenerating Kiva, taking away any sort of opportunity for him to stand back up.

    "Now do you vaguely understand why we were hesitant to appear?" Shiva asked Frost Echo as he smashed the frozen skulls of the demons from afar as he sensed the appearance of another Shaitan.

    "Heh, so you all predicted this?" Frost Echo questioned back as he froze yet another wave of demons and rushed through them.

    "You may call it premonition and giving our бн ''friend''. She seemed awfully excited about the chance to have some fun." Shiva answered as she was happy watching the show from her realm.

    "Got to say, must be real nice to have friends that give each other the chance to blow some steam...or in this case, lightning." Frost Echo grinned as he broke all the demons into ice dust.

    Meanwhile, Slydra quickly got bored after zapping the defenceless scientist a few more times. Eventually, she somehow turned it into an automated process by sending bolts of thunder to fry Kiva every three seconds.

    "Got to make you turn into ashes seeing how you can regenerate that quickly. It is a little boring, so I put it as a backend process." Slydra pondered as she hovered to watch the one-sided duel of King Baal, smashing his sword onto Jin''s. "But on the other hand, breaking this would be quite fun." She noticed how the human was weakly defending himself against the multiple blows. If not for Bam''s sturdiness, Jin''s weapon would have broken many times by now.

    "Oh, my dear Ayse. You submitted yourself to such a weak master?" Slydra was surprised, yet the Head Researcher rolled her eyes with her mental image intact.

    "Do not interfere! If you wish to create havoc, do it somewhere else!" Jin shouted as he saw an unknown creature through the Half Panda''s mask that he was wearing, indicating that it was a friendly unit by the System.

    "Huhбнnot bad. At least he''s got balls, I give you that. King Hamu and Diabolos would have wanted us to contribute to the fight. Oh well, if that''s the case, let''s do a flyover and kill anything that moves."

    "ANYTHING THAT IS NOT ON OUR SIDE! You have the freaking System with you to know who is friend or foe!" Ayse shouted, and Slydra chuckled.

    "Did not realise you turned a little more caring, though hardlydylike. Fine." Slydra sighed as she first flew and assisted the y Dragon with the aerial units harassing it. In the meantime, Ayse was worried that the System might potentially deduct points from their rewards if they haphazardly zap friendlies.

    Left behind the scenes was poor Kiva. He was in a repeating loop of being struck by thunderbolts in continuous intervals. His drill was not strong enough to store nor deflect the intensity of the Shaitan''s lightning attacks. And because of the nature of his abomination, he had to suffer until all his chimaeras were used up.

    If that was not enough, Slydra had also ced a magic trap spell on the ground. Should Kiva find a way to withstand the thunderbolts, the trap would encase him in a lightning web where several lightning bolts would be struck with increased intensity.

    And like Ayse, Slydra was meticulous enough that she had already inserted more of those electric trap spells with increasing severity in the freak event Kiva managed to break out of the first one. By then, Slydra should be able to return to the scene to engage with him once again.

    In short, Kiva was learning through his body that being pseudo-immortal wasn''t really all that great.

 Chapter 792 That Mandatory Talk between Fights

    <h4>Chapter 792 That ''Mandatory'' Talk between Fights</h4>

    "That idiot," Jin grumbled with a weak smile, even though he was a little proud that Ayse had been able to survive the unexpected Abomination Kiva.

    The System had also informed him that Weslie, as well as Gold, had been teleported for some emergency treatment. As much as Jin was thrilled about how things had turned out, his opponent was not pleased about the sudden turn of circumstances, and his strikes were reflecting this, bing heavier as if he was finally getting more serious.

    Thetest stab was the worst of them all so far. Jin was barely able to hold his sword as the opponent''s weapon brushed through his steel. To the Astral Panda cultivator, he felt like he was holding against a rushing train. Jin''s adrenaline was already wearing off from the initial bout and with King Baal no longer holding his punches, there was no reason to hold back too much as well.

    Meanwhile, Moloch who had been in his master''s hoodie continued to hold on tight and protected Jin at crucial times when it was obvious that Jin would be unable to dodge or defend the attack properly. s, Moloch''s intervention only led to King Baal getting more irritated, and his next few attacks were always harder to predict.

    But with the eventual defeat of his royal advisor, King Baal started to remove all the restraints, and his tongue-whip sword began to show its true colours. Thankfully with the help of his Inverse Eyes, Jin was still able to see through some of the attacks but there had not been any chance for a counter-attack.

    Despite knowing Moloch could cover him, solely focusing on defence was getting somewhat tiresome and demoralising. Suddenly the whip turned in an unexpected way that even Jin''s Inverse Eyes were unable to catch and Moloch failed to protect him as well, causing him to fall backwards after getting stabbed at the right shoulder.

    "Shit!" Jin shouted, and King Baal smirked as his attack finally connected after so long.

    "Fairlymendable defence. But it looks like this is the end for your champion. Final chance to give up, Moloch. I''d rather not piece your shredded remains back together." King Baal said as he sheathed his sword. He could see the poison from his sword was already working on Jin''s body as the shoulder turned slightly gangrene.

    "Sadly for you, my Liege, but I have anticipated this," Moloch replied as he took a new card out and a triangle energy barrier appeared right in front of him and Jin. King Baal snickered at the feeble attempts of his past advisor as Moloch quickly climbed over to Jin''s right shoulder and ced a nk card over it.

    Slowly but surely, the card was reversing the effect of the poison as Jin assisted by slowing his heart rate with his Maqi. It took less than ten seconds for Moloch to remove the poison, yet his former King was not impressed.

    "Such futile attempts when both the barrier and poison removal are only dying the inevitable. You should know full well about this Moloch. Why are you still resisting?"

    "Has Kiva''s nonsense really caused you to lose all reason and logic?" Moloch asked as he went back to Jin''s hoodie.

    "I''ve always retained my reason and logic. While I had some hopes that you might be able to create something with the amount of attention diverted away from you, all you did was waste your life away. You dressed up your Minotaurs and have proven to be a lucrative spot for those pesky adventurers to dungeoneerбн And now?" Baal snorted with disgust before he continued talking.

    "Of all your options, you''ve joined up with the humans, giving away ournd to them and betraying the king that you''ve sworn to serve." King Baal argued, and Moloch did not retaliate. He allowed his king to speak freely while simultaneously using the time to enable Jin to recuperate too.

    "You are right. From your point of view, I''ve turned into the worst of the worst traitors. I''ve forsaken the crown as well as everything your Demon Metropolis stands for. Mainly because you''re no longer the king that I was willing to sacrifice my all for." Moloch spoke as he climbed out of Jin''s hoodie and jumped out in front of his previous King. (So that he could buy even more time for Jin.)

    "After centuries of my service for you, you''ve ignored my advice and allowed a new lord with no status to present you a tribute that had ultimately changed your life for the worst. Now, you are prisoned to that very same stupid piece of metal which cursed you with endless days of torment. Furthermore, if your will to live falters just a little, your entire day would be in a sorrier state than the pits of the astral hell."

    "I''ve tried to stop you from using it, but I was toote. To this day, I me myself for not seeing through it earlier. You''ve bepletely addicted to the powers despite the major repercussions you suffered." Lord Moloch did not wish to y tit for tat. But right now, he could only buy that few seconds of time for Jin to recover while defending the unjust usation from his former king.

    "During my exile, many metropolis Dungeon Core owners had wished to cut ties with you and yet I had secretly amended most of them when it was supposedly the job of your incumbent advisor. But as the years passed and news trickled in about you bing more aggressive in your approaches as well as grabbing other metropolis rights to raids, there was only this much an exiled advisor could do."

    "And sure, I might have been alluded by the powers this particr human possesses, yet I''ve never forgotten my duty for my former King. KICKING YOUR ARSE, so that you can wake up from this nightmare! Master Jin is actually my best shot in doing this." Moloch exined as he took a deck of cards out and threw it to his newly beloved master.

    "You''ve always been a great storyteller and good with speeches. Still, nothing can change the fundamental truth that you''ve betrayed me. And after all these years you should know your fate!" King Baal was insistent of his previous advisor''s mistake and dismissed all the reasoning Moloch had given.

    "Then all the more I am d that I''ve betrayed you since you don''t care to see reason. Master! It took me some painstaking time to create this ever since the System asked me. However, this deck of cards should- nay will potentially change the way you fight in the future. The only reason I did not give you sooner was that I''m afraid that you may fall down from grace like the way King Baal has."

    "If that''s the case, why did you give it to me?!" Jin asked as he felt the emotional weight of the cards despite it being just a normal looking deck of cards.

    "Because time after time, I could see that you ced your faith in your minions, and treated your subjects as friends. There were instances where you could have gone astray, but you still heeded our advice and worked closely with us. Had you been any different, I too would have plotted an uprising against the System like what Kraft did."

    "That sounds harsh." Jin slowly stood up as he stabbed his de on the ground. He took out a belt with aplicated looking device out and wore it.

    "Just a forewarning in case, you might end up like himбн especially when Kiva is going to be in your service from now onwards." Moloch stated with a mix of seriousness and amusement as he could see the confusion in King Baal''s eyes.

    "Heh. You do not have to worry about that. I trust Kraft to be a capable watchdogбнor should I say watchfox." Jin grinned as he realised that the belt had a slot for the deck of cards for him to attach on. "AhhhбнI always wanted to try this. Qiu Yue will be so jealous that I''ll be able do this for real."

    "As usual, you will be our experimental subject. If it is really as useful as we hope, System and I can always build more of this." Moloch now stepped back to the side as his Master had finally recuperated enough to fight on a possibly equal stage with his old King.

    "Can you please not ruin this moment for me?" Jin asked as he pulled out his phone while pressing a button on the device, causing it to light up.

    "For he who desires but act not, breeds pestilence." Moloch reminded Jin. He crossed his arms and ced a barrier up at the corner to watch how the remaining match would unfold.

    "Enough talk then..." Jin took a deep breath and shouted as he hovered his phone near the device in front of his belt.

    "HENSHIN!"

 Chapter 793 System Driver

    <h4>Chapter 793 System Driver</h4>

    The device on the belt Jin wore was called the ''System Driver'', (forck of a better name from Jin). It had been personally named like this by the System as it had created it instead of waiting for Jin''s researchers to build it.

    It was basically a replica simr to what all the various masked heroes used in TV shows to gain additional powers, only that the System was able to do the same for Jin without resorting to cinematic tricks. (Perhaps, the System itself wanted to copyright such a design and enhance such powers for its own benefit?)

    Unlike those TV shows, the System Driver was authentic and not some dungeon instance magic fabricated by digital ones and zeroes. Yet the design and concept worked the same. Jin had an activation device to transform, and his phone acted as the key for this. The System would transmit the data and pieces of armour it had stored within the device to equip Jin almost immediately.

    Those pieces of armour were naturally the Living Armour which Ke Mi, Shu and the other werejackals had painstakingly cultivated for the past few months. However, the concept of transforming into a masked warrior with a full te armour had not been conceivable despite the ''System magic''бн Until Peppers found a game-changing property from these newly grown metal tes.

    She had experimented and discovered that if given enough data to the metal te by any means such as hitting, burning, freezing, electrocuting it, the armour would temporarily shape in a way the users wanted it to be. That was when the System realised its immense potential and decided to ask Peppers to hit it with a tremendous amount of electromaic waves jam packed with data umted by the System.

    To their surprise, it did conform to the way the data was presented, and from there, they tried ways to retain the data within the living armour for use inbat. Else, the living armour would be too ''malleable'' in nature. And if that''s the case, it would not be protecting the user at all.

    -------

    "... In short, we need the armour to retain its data else any other thing that hits it will cause it to transform based on that. For example, a fire-based attack on the living armour will make its temperature increase and potentially burn the user inside." Ayse, who coborated with Peppers, shared her conclusion.

    "Then it does not protect the user a single bit." Peppersmented.

    "Think of it as the young living armour deflecting the hurt away by replicating the way it was hurt. That is why we need to control its new properties if we ever want to make a proper suit of armour for Jin." Ayse replied.

    "Now you will understand when I initially asked for the various demon parts like the eyes of the Transforming Spiders or Keyrin''s... Erm body parts." Gold who had been the initiator of this armour project spoke out to the two of them.

    "Those properties are not really new to the living armour. I recall reading something like this, and I believe this could possibly be a variant since we grew it too fast. Though perhaps we have too little knowledge about them since they were so rare to find in the first ce."

    Then out of the blue, the System who had been lurking suddenly decided to take on the project with great interest. It graciously used some of its celestial magic with all the materials that had been gathered (or donated) to create the System Driver.

    Thus, the new System Driver was born from the System''s magic. But despite it being created from the Heavens'' mandated entity, such a creation should still need to undergo a series of trials and tests before it was used in action.

    Sadly, there was no time for it until now.

    When Jin transformed, he felt like the living armour fit him like a good glove. Apparently, there was an initial suit of nano living armour enveloping his entire body. And after which, additional tes of living metal covered him. From bracers, pauldrons and a full helmet to waist armour, knee guards and even armoured boots which covered the front and back.

    And most importantly, the armour was featured in a ck and white scheme that suited Jin''s cultivation and the uniqueness of it. While the helmet was still human-shaped, it was the panda mask that brought out the distinct look of the masked hero. (Had it been the System''s master n all along to actually create this full armour with the introduction of half-mask?!)

    But this time, the half panda mask was erged a little bit more, and its ceramic appearance had been changed considering the System had opted for a more carbon fibre metal style to the Half Panda Mask.

    "System Rider Panda!" Jin announced out loud and struck an odd bearish... pose. Moloch could not help butugh at the name! Even King Baal, who was in awe with the sudden transformation, broke into a bit of a giggle when he heard the name.

    "What?! I have no choice but to say it! That was written and demonstrated on the screen!??? Jin exined but as soon as he had said it, realisation struck that it must have been the System''s way of getting back at him in a subtle way.

    "Ahhh! Whatever!" Jin pulled out his Bam Sword from the ground and realised that the living armour was also moving to cover the hilt and crossguard of the sword.

    "Neat." Jin thought to himself as he started to charge towards King Baal.

    "A suit of shy armour will not help you in any way, it might actually impede you." King Baal told him as he pulled his sword out and faced Jin upfront.

    "That''s what the enemy believes." The System voice wasing from within the helmet, and Jin suddenly felt that his Maqi was forcefully output to various parts of his body without him concentrating.

    "The System finally found a way to contribute to the User''s fight even outside of the dungeon instances or shop. Through this suit, the System can now directly influence and regte the output of Maqi and send them wherever needed in your body for the most optimal defence or offence."

    "This is especially crucial when User has to put time into managing the store instead of fighting, causing User to be suboptimal in his fighting abilities despite his above average current grade."

    "You can''t me me! You always set high standards to achieve for the shop!" Jin shot back as he sent a sh forward and this time around, King Baal could instantly feel that the sword strike was immensely different from the previous bout.

    It was harder, faster and the attacks had direction. For once, ever since its inception, the System finally felt it was useful in a battle where it could actually contribute to a fight directly. Jinter figured that its influence could potentially be a double edge sword in the future, but there was no time to think about that right now.

    Because he needed to prove that Moloch was right in choosing Jin as the new master to save his old King from his self-destructive path.

 Chapter 794 Anger

    <h4>Chapter 794 Anger</h4>

    "I will finish this quickly!" Ixel promised as he turned into his human form straight away and pounded his fist together while walking straight into the hallway of Anger.

    "We are all betting on it." Rex gave him an approving nod as he closed the elevator with four more foxes inside it. The moment the door lift closed, the entire backdrop of the hallway immediately went into mes, changing the environment of the Prison Core to how a burning rioted ce was usually portrayed.

    Ixel casually tried to touch the wall and true enough, it was burning his fingertips away before he even touched the surface. But to the strong willed Ixel, it was nothing but a small scratch to his current mental and physical constitution.

    "So, you are my opponent for this stage? I did not expect the person who sted an entire hole through ny-eight floors woulde to this stage." A rather small build figure talked to Ixel. He couldn''t see what the person looked like underneath because the hooded cape was blocking any distinct features.

    "Neither did I expect a scrawny boss for the floor of Anger. I pictured you looking more green, muscr and probably always angry. I am standing right in front you, yet I do not feel your anger at all. If someone were to see us, they could mistake me for the boss of this stage." Ixel pointed out as he took out his leather jacket and flexed his arms to show off his muscles like they were his prized items.

    "Heh! Well, I guess that''s one less thing to be angry about. You must be the first to actually acknowledge me as the boss of this stage. Most people just assume that I am merely some kind of pawn for another boss." The hooded cape figure replied, and Ixel shook his head.

    "Then they were all fools! Despite theck of anger, I can already size you up to be quite a capable fighter. The sad reality is just that I am better than you, especially when ites to strength and anger. My sisters never like me when I be angry because I do not think straight."

    "Do continue, I would like to hear more of it." The figure finally unveiled a hooded cape. It was actually a girl dressed in a grey sports singlet and short ck stic pants. Her arms were already bandaged up, and there was dried blood all over it. She was also wearing nothing but bandages on her legs, indicating that she used her whole body as her weapon of choice.

    "I doubt you couldprehend it. Being born into a n of muscles, I was supposed to be the next chief for the n. Only to be outdone by my sisters, I could rely on nothing but anger to go through life. Angry at how weak I am regardless of the amount of time I train."

    "Especially the youngest one always managed to overwhelm me easily. For example, I took four weeks to break and cut a hundred-year-old tree in half. After I''d been gone for nearly a month, she visited me to check on me based on my parent''s orders. Seeing what I had be, she considered it to be interesting and tried it herself. Unlike me, she managed to get it downбн in 40 seconds." Recalling those past events made Ixel slightly irritated, and he quickly went into a fighting stance.

    "Oh but do not mistake this, I loved them and cherished them with all my heart, but I am angry-" Ixel realised the opponent was already yawning with all his self monologue.

    "Sorry. I''d love to continue this conversation but looks like you are not interested despite your initial interest. Oh well, I did promise our boss I would finish this quickly. Don''t be frustrated if I win against you." Ixel apologised, but the girl tied her long hair and readied her stance as well.

    "Don''t worry, I am confident that my skills can win against you. You will actually be the one that turns angry again after the fight is done. Just like how you were outdone by your sister" The girl lifted her palm out, and Ixel thought he was seeing things.

    Her stance was quite familiar. It belonged to a certain eastern martial art, Wing Chun. He vaguely recalled that a Minotaur under Moloch''smand also had utilised such martial arts... Maybe they came from the same master?

    "Ixel is my name. A pleasure to meet you."

    "Nameless." The girl ''introduced herself'' as she nodded her head back to Ixel. It''s been an eternity since someone had entered the Circle of Anger who actually still had any sense of manners. Nameless had only ever fought against senseless demons, pouring their rage without any control, thinking that they could win over her with blind anger. That was why she courteously returned the respect to Ixel.

    Immediately, the two flew towards each other and exchanged their blows. Without a doubt, Ixel could already feel the simrity to Wing Chun as his mighty blows were easily deflected with agile techniques, and Nameless counterattacked with much ease. Although Ixel managed to block her attacks, she managed to slip in a few more blows in totalpared to him.

    That brief exchange of punches allowed both duelists to learn more about each other and they stepped back after they finally found themselves at an impasse. "Not bad, you are the first in many decades who has managed to hold on for more than ten seconds."

    "I just needed some warm-up." Ixel said. Until now he too was using some basic moves from Wing Chun in his fight to gauge the level of skill of Nameless. Now it begged the question whether the duelist was a seasoned martial artist or if Nameless was just at the level of an advanced practitioner of that particr martial art.

    Ixel might have studied the Grizzly Bear Style, but to be worthy of bing the leader of his n, he had been forced to learn a myriad of skills because the elders of the n knew that strength was nothing without skill and technique. One could cultivate strength easily but to polish a technique? It might possibly take a lifetime to do so.

    Between the trio, he might be considered to be the weakest in terms of strength and always got angry easily. But his devotion to martial techniques was second to none among his siblings. If Itori and Ixa fought at the same strength level as their brother, they would be out of the ring in a matter of seconds.

    "Let''s do it!" Nameless, who was now pumped up that her new opponent not only possessed manners but also managed to withstand her flurry of punches. But this adrenaline rush proved to be a double edged sword as Nameless began to show some slight openings in her attacks. The more they exchanged blows, the more she found that Ixel''s attacks were even harsher than before and her defences were unable to withstand his attacks.

    "This is impossible!" She thought to herself as she desperately tried to withdraw her offence and return back to counter his strikes, only to get surprised by Ixel lowering his body and rushing in with a bull charge to pin her down.

    Nameless was subsequently grappled, causing her to panic. This was the first time someone had mercilessly pinned her to the ground despite fierce resistance from her end.

    "Heh! One''s grappling skill is proportional to one''s effort. An amateur boxer mightnd a lucky punch against a pro, but there is no such thing as luck when ites to grappling! This is the only thing I know that Itori could never win me against!" Ixel grinned as he talked while performing an armbar on Nameless when she was on the ground, causing her to lose her ability to even fight properly.

    "WHY?! How could this happen?!" Nameless'' thoughts were flying all over the ce, and her anger continued to umte, providing her strength while she raged. Thus, her increased frustration somehow managed to allow her to get out of the current grapple situation she was in.

    But, Ixel was not done with her. He simply changed his technique and switched to a scarf hold and locked her back. Ixel sighed as he had discovered the current zenith of his opponent''s ability. "You are no fun anymore, join Jin and learn more about martial arts before challenging me again," Ixel told her while squeezing the life out of her neck from his grapple.

    For the first time, Nameless locked into submission, learnt how helpless she was despite her ever increasing strength from anger and the numerous victories against demons for the past decade. For a short while, she perhaps understood what Ixel meant when he was frustrated in himself for working so hard and got trounced by a new challenger.

    Her legs were kicking, trying to push herself out of the grapple but it got even tighter instead. Her hands were iling around to the point she resorted to scratching Ixel, but he was not letting go a single bit. Soon, she could feel her consciousness fading out.

    With mixed martial arts experience he umted through gruesome training, Ixel believed most, if not every true blue martial artist, would not be able to win him. Thousands of years worth of original martial artsy in his brain and body. After ensuring that her life was properly snuffed out, Ixel proceeded to find the important puzzle piece in the circle of burning anger.

 Chapter 795 Fraud

    <h4>Chapter 795 Fraud</h4>

    "Fraud, huh." Tsu looked around. "Do I still qualify for this stage even though I got frauded by Kiyu?" He chuckled to himself as this would have been Evon''s stage.

    Kiyu was the one who had pressed on the fraud button elevator, skipping the circles of Heresy and Violence. She had been curious to see if the elevator systematically brought the lift to every level or if they could actually choose whichever level they wished to fight on.

    Surprisingly, the elevator really did move to Fraudбн after which Kiyu had kicked the distracted Tsu, who''s checking out the Pandamonium App Stream on his phone, out of the lift. While both Tsu and Evon could have fought back and got Kiyu to let them both back on, they were easy going enough to take on any stage. They just knew it wasn''t worth it to fight Kiyu since there were a few stakes on this mission. (Unlike Kraft who took this chance to have fun all by himself, distracting any armed forces away from their raid.)

    "Are you a victim of someone framing you too?" A voice sounded with concern, and a child''s head stuck out from one of the pirs.

    "Hahaha, such an old uncle got cheated as well!" Another child''s voice could be heard, and soon Tsu sensed that in the current hallway, a child was hiding behind each pir.

    "And of all kinds of people, they just had to put me against the hardest type of opponents for me," Tsu smirked as he recalled why he could possibly be one of the best candidates for this particr circle.

    He and Kai had always cheated their elders when they were younger so they could have a little more rest time, take a bit more food for each other, and most importantly, they had lied and deceived to cover each other''s mistake. The two brothers had been through thick and thin together that even when pitted against each other, they rather die together then taking each other''s life.

    As for this stage, there was no one better at lying than a child, and that personated opinion would never change for Tsu. He understood that behind every pir, these children must have had to beg, lie, fight and win to get this particr position.

    When he learnt that the Church of the Afterlife used Paradiso as a factory to regain back their losses, Tsu had suspected as much that the debtors could have sought out to try their luck in these circles. But it never urred to him that the children were possibly imprisoned to repay the debts of their parents as well.

    The previous guard supervisors might have thought they were harmless beings which were why they might have lost to this group of children.

    While a lying child on their own would be one thing, it turned into something far scarier when there was someone to lead the herd of sheep.

    He should know since he and his brother had been the ringleaders for their own group of kidsбн and every single one of them would be the wolves in sheep''s clothing to portray as the herd of harmless, weak sheep in the eyes of the adults around them.

    Still, Tsu decided to observe them for a little while longer before going for the kill. From further inspection, it turned out that they were beast-men. (or more urately beast children) These kids had been born with physical bestial traits such as horns, feline cat ears and tails.

    Tsu might not know much about the Dungeon World, but if a group of them ended up in prison and eventually took over the guard supervisor post could most likely mean that they were discriminated against too. It wasn''t too surprising though when he thought about their own world, where half breeds between monsters and humans had also been criticised for the ''sin of existing''. Unless this was a professional group of delinquents who just happened to consist of beast children, they must belong to the same category.

    "If they were beast children, would not be surprised if they were under the debts of the Church of Afterlife too. Guess the Dungeon World has its pains too."

    Although his initial assessment was that they were the guard supervisors because of the nature of this particr circle, his experience told him that there should be a leader handling all these children. It was quite a conundrum for Tsu.

    Most people believed that the right thing to do would be to intervene and give those troubled kids a second chance at life. And while it was a praiseworthy goal to wish to save them from their ''misery'', that was only looking at it from one perspective.

    To the children, any sort of interference onto the hierarchy they had established for themselves would be met with stern resistance, so Tsu already predicted that the kids would backstab him if he tried to go the samaritan route.

    "Ahhhбнso troublesome. Do I go along with their fraud, or should I just kill every single kid here? No, I bettere up with something better. Otherwise, the rest will think I''m no smarter than Ixel." Tsu thought to himself andughed at theparison.

    "Uncle, why are youughing to yourself? Is it really funny to see kids here?" A wolf eared child asked as she approached the Wolf n''s Fox.

    "Teras! Don''t go near him! He might attack you!" Lapp, with simr features but in white, shouted as she pulled her friend away from him. She even showed her teeth as a show of aggression.

    "Oh gosh, these people are good in their acting." Tsu noticed in the corner of his eye that instantaneous grin Lapp had shown when she thought she was out of his view while pulling Teras behind the pir. All of the foxes knew this mischievous type of grin as it was practically synonymous with Kraft.

    "But you all saw him get kicked out of the elevator by his friends!" S, a feline cat girl who was holding onto a separate pir, tried to continue the acting.

    "All they demanded from me was to get the puzzle key for the dungeon core. If you would kindly hand it over, I''ll be on my way again." Tsu asked them nicely in a gentlemen''s tone, and suddenly, an older looking girl with the horns of a dragon came out from hiding as if blind courage suddenly took over her heart and actions.

    "No! We cannot give you that!" She shouted, and Tsu could hear the not-so-quiet frustration and disappointment from the rest of the girl group in the area.

    "Don''t listen to this dragon girl! We can give you that!" A girl with tiger ears and tail quickly dismissed the dragon girl as she ced her hand on Shen''s mouth.

    "Swee, why are you stopping me! I have had enough of lying!" Shen eventually overpowered Swee the tiger girl and yet another wave of sigh was emitted through the pirs.

    In the meantime, Tsu who saw this considered it either to be an utter failure in their group dynamics or a superb masterss act by the entire troupe of beast girls. (He had yet to see any boys in the group.)

    Regardless, he decided to go along with their act for the time being and see where they were telling the truth or not.

    "Mister, I know this is a bit too much, but we need you to drop your weapons here if you wish to proceed further into the Prison Core. Only true sincerity can open the core''s inside." S offered as she came over and pulled his hand to guide him to the ce. The cat girl decided to improvise on the ongoing drama and to reinforce Swee''s im that the key could be given out.

    "Then why are you all still here? If all you need is sincerity, you all would not need to be imprisoned here." Tsu thought to himself as he allowed himself to be dragged around. She brought him to the end of the hallway first where she kindly requested Tsu to drop his weapons.

    Tsu pondered over the scenario of an ''Honesty Dungeon Core'' with an environment setting full of frauds. Was it possible the Prison Core demanded pure honesty since all the frauds who entered this circle would tend to try and swindle their way out.

    "The Truth will set you free?" Tsu whispered to himself, but none of them was listening, his words drowned by the children''s loud ''whispers'' in the background. Without Tsu turning his head, he could already feel the eyes in the room were all looking at Shen for attempting to expose them.

    "But then again, the Prison Core could cheat since it is reigning over the entire circle...ah so troublesome. Kiyu, why did you do this to me, you are so much better at manipting people." Tsu scratched the back of his head as the doors opened and it revealed a statue kneeling down with its head in reverence to something more mythical in nature.

    "... Ok now, this is just too over the top... who is supposed to fall for that?! Enough of mind games!" Tsu questioned in the direction of the Prison Core that was right above the kneeling statue. The beast girls had already moved his weapons away and were silently brandishing their knives to stab himбнonly to realise the entire room and hallway had suddenly been enveloped in darkness.

    None of them was able to move, and the devouring abyss started to slowly creep up their legs and eventually their whole body. They were all paralysed and could feel that their bodies were being eaten by the darkness. Can one still breathe when one thinks that their lungs were missing? Can one feel fear when there were no hearts to beat??That was how the children were experiencing right now.

    Nothing but void.

    Only the two wolf girls had somehow managed to grasp the vague situation and escaped Tsu''s darkness in time. "Should I say, as expected from the wolf children? Well, it''s a wolf style technique, so perhaps I should not be particrly surprised." Tsu concluded as he raised his next palm and an invisible force caught the two stragglers within the darkness.

    "After living in this ce for so long, it will be hard for you to trust others. Nevertheless, I believe Jin and his other minions can provide you with a better life. So, please take this death as a passage to a new life. Please, do not deceive both yourselves and the people around you anymore." Tsu said as he closed his palm and all of the beast girls were killed instantly.

    "As for the main culprit." Tsu eyed the statue as he raised his palm once more and his weapon flew towards him.

    "You do not deserve mercy from me. Die painfully for making those kids work for you!" Tsu stabbed the statue and blood emerged out of it.

    "How?! How did you recognise that it was me?!" The Statue tried to move, but he had been pierced through and was unable to move.

    "Your scent alone disgusts me. You are not even worthy of Jin''s attention. Just rot here for all eternity." Tsu beheaded the statue and picked up the dungeon core key.

    Naturally, the fraud statue hadn''t been the real body of the perpetrator, but he realised that he was still experiencing the very same kind of pain as the statue. Then did the Statue notice the darkness that had already enveloped the kids crept on him too.?"Impossible! How did his magic reach me?!"

    Only this time, it would be eternal as Tsu promised. He had used a forbidden wolf art to basically turn him brain dead. Even if he would get resurrected, his mind would no longer recover.

    "Encroaching Darkness. No matter where your dreams wished to take you, nk space will follow suit." Tsu put his hands together like a prayer due to habit, but heter turned it into a middle finger.

    The actual guard supervisor did not deserve peace, and he also did not care to see how his enemy looked. The children were saved, and the key was more important than anything else.

 Chapter 796 Violence

    <h4>Chapter 796 Violence</h4>

    "First Evon, then my brother and now me?" Kai looked back at Kiyu who had just kicked him out into the circle of Violence.

    "At this rate, I think she is going to the circle of Treachery instead of me." Rex added with a hint of amusement as he was still ''allowed'' on the elevator.

    "Oh, Rex, I would not dare!" Kiyu defended herself with a sexy smile, but somehow it did not appeal to the two remaining men.

    "Without a doubt, she is going to betray you, Rex. You better take the chance to kick her out when you reached the circle of Heresy." Kai advised before the door had closed. Right before it went shut he saw Kiyu stuck her tongue out in defiance.

    "Seriously, that girl." Kai shook his head andter turned to see that this stage was clearly not meant for her. "Then I guess it was a good choice that Kiyu let me out here. She would not stand all this meaningless bloodshed." Kai thought as he saw dead rotting corpses all over the ce.

    A broken down knight was sitting on the highest pile of bodies and looked at histest challenger condescendingly.

    "You did this all by yourself?" Kai asked, but the knight did not say a word. He merely picked a random weapon from the pile of dead people and charged forward. "Huh, a berserker?" Kai managed to dodge the first attack but was surprised his enemy was skilful enough to make a follow-up attack that scraped the surface of his skin.

    "This guy is no simple berserker!" Kai thought to himself as he quickly took his sword to cross des with the raging knight. "Shouldn''t you be in the circle of Anger rather than Violence?!"

    "RAHHHHHHHH" That''s all the knight answered in return. He smashed around his sword even harder than before.

    "System would like to point out that anger and violence are two different things. Anger is a psychological state of mind, while violence is the physical manifestation of the ill controlled emotions of anger and aggression."

    "Since when does the almighty System deigned it worthy to call us lowly foxes?" Kai asked out loud sarcastically since it did not matter to the aggressive knight right in front of him.

    "System likes to give a timely reminder to every fox that Jin is now engaged in fighting against King Baal, and the System wishes to have every advantage in its disposal. Please hurry to capture the Dungeon Core to reduce the power of King Baal."

    "Hah. No wonder." Kai replied as he assumed that the System was merely addressing his concerns so he could fight without any distractions on his mind. The ck Wolf decided to listen to the System and used a rtively simple Intermediate Sword Art, Dual Cross sh to break the knight''s sword.

    However, to his surprise, the Broken Knight was able to follow and counter the Cross sh until the third sh where his sword was unable to hold against the impact and broke from the chi pressure.

    It resulted in the Broken Knight''s armour getting cut, leaving a rather deep sh on his shoulder. What''s even more surprising was that the wound closed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Usually, going berserk was a double-edged sword which provided one with a boost in terms of their attacking prowess at the cost of their defence, yet apparently the one in front of him had a way to negate that.

    "Regeneration is a pain in the ass." Kai cursed as he angled his sword.

    "But not entirely umon in this current age and the past. Advanced Sword Art. Triple Star sh." Just like the name implied, Kai was shing the knight five times as if he was drawing a star from all the hits.

    Once he connected all shes into a star shape, his sword art amplified its attack as if it was abo finisher. The strength of the attack got stronger by six-fold if he managed to connect all three-star shes in one period. That was why it was an advanced sword art despite its simplicity. If one of the sword shes were parried, the bo finisher'' would not be activated.

    Before the Broken Knight could even retaliate by picking up another weapon, Kai had already thrown in fifteen shes all aimed against his vital points. His legs, arms, hands, phnges and neck were cut into pieces. Blood rushed out from all the openings avable as his body parts were like lego bricks disassembled.

    It was then Kai realised something when he looked around the pile of dead bodies. There were not many ''varieties'' of corpses, and most of them appeared to be the same. Itter struck Kai that they all wore the same type armour as the Broken Knight he just fought.

    "Do not tell me he can split himself even after being cut?" Kai held onto the sword firmly as he discovered the phnges was the origin point of regenerating an entire body out of it. More of the Broken Knights were formed, and each of them shouted senselessly.

    "I seeбнas long an atom of him still resides in this space, he will never die. But still, won''t that make an infinite amount of Broken Knights instead of dead ones?" Kai thought to himself as the original Broken Knight regenerated fully and charged towards the ck Wolf.

    "Soбнif he killed every single opponent and yet he was left with one when I appeared, that could mean a few things." Kai deduced as he began to analyse the Broken Knight while parrying and dodging the blows in order to stop the knight from making even more copies.

    "The copies will die out eventuallyбн Or..." It struck Kai that this was the circle of violence. "They fight and kill each other until thest one remains. If that is the case, the only way to kill him is for him to kill himself." Kai believed that was the theory behind this, particrly unique monster. "Man, if I capture him, we could literally make a dummy bag out of this monster."

    In order to prove his theory, Kai swiftly went behind the Broken Knight and used his sword to stab his arm and hand from the side. It looked as if the knight had an ingrown sword from afar. Despite the roaring of pain or anger, Kai ignored them and used his free left hand to grab the Broken Knight''s. Like an amateur puppet master, he used the sword as the handle to move the Broken Knight''s right arm and pierced the iing broken knight.

    Fortunately, it worked just as Kai had theorised. The Wolf n Fox was unsure whether it was the forced act performed by the knight that killed all its clones or if it was the Broken Knight''s blood that had any effect against it. Either way, he continued without the intention to experiment and eventually every clone was turned to dust, and only the main one was left.

    "Is this considered self-suicide? Or assisted suicide? Whatever. I just need the Key." Kai physically broke the knight''s arm and pushed the sword with his arm and plunged it into his neck. Of course, there was resistance throughout the whole puppetry, but Kai felt satisfied after having killed the most unique opponent in his life.

    "Thank goodness, he could not think much," Kai said as he went in search of the dungeon core key.

 Chapter 797 System Rider Panda

    <h4>Chapter 797 System Rider Panda</h4>

    "What in the worldбн" King Baal was pushed back a few times as he tried to attack Jin who had equipped the System Rider Panda. The Panda Cultivator was proving to be able to fight him on par at the moment.

    "Don''t get cocky because this suit of armour is providing you power!"

    King Baal warned his opponent. After a few rounds of ''sparring'', he seemingly had enough and dropped his sword, to reveal a new weapon. Cat paws. His overall form had also changed ordingly.

    In total King Baal had three forms. Human, Cat and Frog. While many would choose one form over the others, the king had never forgotten his origins as a crossbreed and had learned to embrace his heritage.

    With centuries at his disposal, he had learned how to efficiently use his inner traits, yet Baal was also able to use magic to enhance the performance of each form so he could further improve on the best of each trait. As mentioned, Baal summoned a pair ofrge paws, and they were able to parry Jin''s sword easily, causing System Rider Panda to be disarmed almost immediately.

    "Be careful Jin! While in Cat Form, he is formidable in closebat and-" Before Moloch could continue his sentence, he already saw Jin fighting with his fist as well. However, the Dungeon Supplier could not hold a candle to his opponent. With each attempt to punch, King Baal had already returned the favour. The few hits Jin managed to get in were rewarded with even more devastating counters from King Baal.

    Moloch pressed his cotton hoofs on to his face. "Why are you challenging him at something you are incredibly terrible at?!" He questioned his Master in the System Channel, so King Baal did not hear it. Otherwise, he might get even more confident in his assaults.

    "Don''t you think I know that? What do you expect me to do?! He''s disarmed my sword with just a flick of his paw. Even if I picked it up again, I don''t see how the situation wouldn''t repeat itself!" Jin argued back as he tried to kick Baal in order to have some breathing space but Baal held onto his legs and used his momentum to reverse somersault him.

    His ws were unable to do any real damage to the armour, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t hurt the one inside through indirect ways. "That suit is really his saving graceбн After I kill him, I should get the best cksmiths to take a look and make me new armour from it." Baal had already started to think about what to do after his imminent victory.

    Although his head was still radiating with the most awful migraine imaginable after the use of that wretched crown, his challenger was, fortunately, proving to be easy pickings. So, despite his opponent''s new power, King Baal believed he did not need to strain himself any further.

    Reality soon proved him to be very wrong.

    "Master! Use the deck of cards that I prepared for you!" Moloch advised through the System Channel as Jin was mmed t onto the ground from the reverse somersault. If not for the System''s automated distribution of Maqi, Jin''s neck would have snapped into two, and King Baal would only have needed to finish off the defenceless Moloch.

    "Whatбн.?" Jin tried to shake out the blurring ckout he had from the m while his System was continuously churning the Maqi into his heart and brain to regte his circtory system to keep him conscious.

    "The cards! They are imbued with the power of your minions! This is simr to the System''s artificial fusion of your Astral Panda form and your betors! You now have your System Rider suit, so now you can use the cards to fuse with them for a minute." Moloch exined as he used his magic to choose a card from the deck and sent it into Jin''s hands.

    "Shit, I could have used a primer before this duel. Anyway, all I need to do is scan the card, right?" Jin asked as his head was still pounding from the m. He used the card''s image as a way to stabilise his vision and was thankful that King Baal was content standing there as if he was graciously giving Jin a chance to stand back up.

    Moloch did have his suspicions to what degree the crown had taken a toll on him, and the pause in the fight was a confirmation that it was more severe than he thought.

    King Baal was known to be merciless when he entered the fray personally. Allowing someone a break midbat would have never been his style. So the fact that Jin had been granted a break once more could only be seen as a blessing in disguise. (Though given the benefit of the doubt, King Baal might have been thinking of a way to defeat the suit of armour Jin was wearing.)

    Still, he understood that Jin was still recovering from the attack as well, and there was no way his master could withstand another hit by King Baal before using the card. "Ahh! Fuck this!" Moloch cried as he broke the shield he was hiding behind and used his powers against Baal.

    He decided to interfere just to give Jin enough time to move, knowing that this risky tactic was most likely a sure-fire way to get himself killed.

    Magic cards flew out of Moloch''s cotton hoofs, and the volley of sharp projectiles was enough for King Baal to change direction and aim his punch towards his former subject.

    "Since you are out of your hiding corner, I might as well handle you first! It will spare me the time to go looking for you!"

    "Chance!" Moloch thought to himself as a card suddenly emerged from the ground and trapped King Baal momentarily inside of it, turning him into a picture card from the deck of poker cards. "Since when did I ever fight without an attempt to protect myself first?!" Moloch taunted his King who was already in the midst of breaking free.

    He tried to run away from the corner to another while hoping the card entrapment was long enough for him to escape and create another shieldбн until he saw Jin still barely standing.

    Then, Moloch realised that Jin was taking way too long to recover from that reverse somersault. "Can it be?!" Moloch realised that King Baal must have used his frog''s ability in-between forms to cast a daze spell.

    "GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!" Moloch shouted as he infused his cotton horns with ''cure ailments'' magic and smashed himself behind Jin. At the same time, King Baal managed to break out from the trap and tried to grab Moloch after he hit Jin with his spell.

    "Oh shit!" Moloch thought that this was the end for him until Jin sidestepped to block King Baal''s advances.

    "Get out of the way, kid! I''ll deal with you in a moment!" King Baal''s grab turned into a w aimed straight at Jin''s helmet.

    "No fucking way!" Jin refused. He hovered the card over his belt, and the System Driver lit up, emitting an intense wave of energy out, causing Baal to get knocked back. Yet, the King did not lose his bnce as hended.

    As he wanted to attack once more, he first had to ovee the shining bright light from Jin.

    "Card activated, Meomi Form."

 Chapter 798 System Rider Meomi

    <h4>Chapter 798 System Rider Meomi</h4>

    The tes on the living armour shifted as the System Driver activated the card. The sh of deafening white light was simply the System''s way of throwing a shbang against the enemy hoping they would be stopped in their tracks, so the Living Armour tes had enough time to rearrange themselves.

    And for good reason.

    With the card''s activation, the System was giving permission to fuse Meomi soul''s with Jin''s body temporarily, causing him to take the backseat while Meomi forcefully entered.

    Thus, as odd as it sounded, Jin was now harbouring two souls in his body with Meomi acting as the dominant one. The new living armour also portrayed this temporary change to match Meomi''s exterior appearance.

    The tes turned orange in colour and from a Panda Half Mask, it turned to be a Cat Half Mask. (A rather stylish version of the werecat''s appearance.)

    "Meeeeoww. Master, your body is all creaky and stiff! No wonder you stood no chance to defeat him." Meomi said yfully as she bent down and stretched their entire body akin to a cat waking up from its nap. "You should do some of that yoga thingy with Lynn and Qiu Yue once in a while. It would help you with your mobility a little bit."

    "Thank goodness, I am currently not connected to any nervesбнI''ll probably feel the muscles aching from Meomi''s stretch afterwards, though." Jin thought to himself as Meomi performed a backflip without even jumping. He noticed there was now a tail created from the nano suit of living armour.

    "All good now! System Rider Meomi has arrived!" The werecat announced as Meomi posed more elegantly than what Jin did.

    "How can she have a better pose than me! System, you are obviously biased!" Jin shouted from the backseats while Meomi giggled delightfully.

    "System can only remember howzy User was. Always sitting down and drinking coffee or tea to do work. There is no pose for System to analyse. Unless User wished to have a chair as part of the props for the pose." The System rebutted, and Molochughed hysterically.

    "Hahaha! Good one System! Master! You should really learn how Meomi does things." Moloch advised sheepishly as he happily caged himself to a corner once more.

    "You think changing yourself into a cat will make you like a cat? And what''s with that female tone? Are you insulting me now?" King Baal questioned as he pounced forward and decided to test whether this new change in suit''s appearance would hamper his chances of victory. Though in all honesty, he did not give a damn.

    True enough, Meomi was able to dodge the iing attack easily and shed back with her own ws. With Meomi possessing the System Rider suit, the System had also made adequate changes in a way that would closely match the monster Jin had decided to use against his opponent. This way, Jin would literally have the backing of his monsters to aid him in his fights even if he was in the real world.

    Whether he wished to show the world the System Riderбнwould be another issue by itself. All the System knew was that it had done its job rewarding Jin for the mission he had done. Partially because the System knew it owed him too many rewards.

    Jin might not have been pressing for it, but the System prided itself on staying true to its word. Perhaps, part of the reasoning was thattely, Jin seemed unwilling to take on any missions with all the backlogs he had umted. Maybe, he should learn how to say no a little more though

    "Heh, let me show you who the better cat is!" Meomi taunted back, pretending to be Jin since he couldn''t really talk out with her at the front. She proceeded to jump and gave Baal a kick to his chin. The King managed to block it, but Meomi was faster as she changed her posture and sent a swift back kick at the side, causing him to be knocked to the side of the ''duelling cage'' that they were in.

    "Meomi!" Jin did shout his frustration for her imitation of him.

    "Master! Even though your body is stiff as a rock, the powers within you are so addicting!" Meomi totally ignored her master''s dissatisfaction at the way she tried to talk.

    "Just continue to press him! Moloch did say he still got the frog form he only uses when things turn bad. Knowing that he is dealt with by his own hand, he will-"

    "Master, he is already changing." Meomi interrupted as King Baal had indeed changed into his frog form and used his whip sword with skill. "Can I continue to fight some more or do you want to swap out, too?" Meomi charged forth despite her polite request.

    "User, if you deem the monster you''ve selected to be acting overboard, you can use your authority to retake the body by forcibly cancelling the fusion. It will, however, exhaust you if the monster in question decides to resist." The System exined, and Jin sighed.

    "Even though it''s my own body they are using?"

    "It is precisely because it is your body that such an option is avable to you."

    "Yeah~! Don''t mind me, Master!'' Meomi yfully shared her thoughts as she zoomed in, evading the whip sword and tried to close the gap.

    "Stupid human." King Baal cursed as he lifted his other hand. Following his gesture, continuous pir of rocks abruptly emerged from the ground blocking Meomi''s advance. But, thanks to her innate ability to soften hernding, Meomi was able to avoid crashing into the pir.

    However, Meomi did not realise that the whip sword could be controlled with magic as well and it turned to aim at the System Rider. "Ehhh, I did not know whip swords could do this. Too bad my magic control is terrible." Meomi considered using her own whip sword she had while avoiding the attack. However, she was interrupted when a hand broke through the pir and grabbed Meomi by the neck.

    "What the-?" Meomi tried to struggle as she saw the whip sword swerved over the pir and aimed towards her. "You are pissing me off! I had quietly promised to give Master his body back without any damage." She cursed as the Half Werecat Mask suddenly turned animated and a hidden low jaw appeared.

    With the mask''s mouth, she managed to stop the whip sword from slicing her head into half and subsequently broke the tip. In the meantime, she used Jin''s Maqi enhanced body to ovee Baal''s hold on her neck by plunging her ws into his frog-looking hands.

    It eventually caused him to release the chokehold, and Meomi took a leap backwards. "This frog is more than I can handle, and my time is unfortunately ending. Master, I''m sorry I can''t offer you an extension. Do you wish to call that Froggie for aid?" Meomi suggested as she already took a card out.

    "Heh, I think he would be so d to fight a formidable foe. Do -"

    "Card Activated. Gaeru Form." The System Driver stated, and Meomi stuck her tongue to the side of her mouth as her soul disintegrated, making room for Gaeru to enter.

 Chapter 799 Hell Knight King - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 799 Hell Knight King - Part 1</h4>

    "This is the King that you have problems killing? Wait, who do you think I am?! A Kingyer?!" Gaeru questioned as he took a quick look at Jin''s body as well as the armour he was currently wearing.

    With his arrival, it has changed into turquoise green armour tes with a Frog Half Mask as well as the broken cape he continued to wear despite the System''s insistence to change it to a new one.

    With theption of the System''s data inscribed into the cards created by Moloch, Bam and Boo were hosting Masamune within its core, the two swords wrapped around Gaeru''s living weapon to make it easy for Jin''s body to hold.

    As Masamune had powers unique to itself, all Bam and Boo did was to fuse with it in order to make it bigger. This was only possible with the aid of the ck Sludge Crystals that Jin incidentally created while cultivating.

    "You failed to kill the Smander King back then, so I thought you would appreciate the opportunity to try again with a real King." Jin reasoned, making Gaeru roll Jin''s eyes. "Just be careful, he is not just any ordinary swordsman."

    "Well, this King Baal seems like a worthy opponent for Masamune to feast on. It should be happy." Gaeru pointed his newly fused Masamune at King Baal who had already embraced all three forms yet appeared to look different once more.

    A feat which neither the Royal Guards nor Moloch had seen before. If anything, he began to look simr to the Chimaeras that Kiva had created. Whether the already charcoal fried Ravenous Lord had any interference or contribution to Baal''s current form was something Jin would have to ask the bat after he defeated this iteration of King Baal.

    "No one has made me take them this seriously for an eternity. You should be honoured, you will be the second to see this form." King Baal announced as he adjusted his grip on his Frog-tongue whip sword and inserted mana into it. The sword started to twist and turned into a ck two-handed bastard sword with gold edges.

    " бнBefore Baal became the King, he held onto the elusive ss of Hell Knight which is considered unique in the Dungeon World, only essible to direct descendants of Hell." Moloch shared the details of his past while Baal revealed the sword.

    "If I am not wrong, he should be somewhat simr to the Death Knight ss, which Dread Reaver holds. He might not have a direct connection to Lady Death herself, but as we are descendants of the Hell ne, Baal might be able to pull something dangerous out from there."

    "Heh, it appears that you have yet to forget our roots from Hell. We might have been reborn into bodies not of our choosing, but we were still the selected few. Aren''t you ashamed of yourself to side with a lowly human?" King Baal berated the little cow puppet at the side.

    "And human, you are not the only one to have a fanciful te of armour." King Baal addressed Jin this time as he mmed the bastard sword down and a circle of mes was summoned beneath him, with the mes enveloping his whole being.

    He could have continued to use his the three fused forms to fight with System Rider Gaeru, yet King Baal had determined that it would be an endless cycle of power struggle and ultimately a waste of time.

    Might as well eliminate the threat as soon as possible for he was informed that Paradiso was in danger with the enemies able to clear six floors in less than fifteen minutes. He realised that Moloch''s champion might not be his ultimate card.

    In his mind, Jin must be the most durable one out of those avable, just there to stall for time when they epted the sacred duel between two Dungeon Core owners. Dragging it out any longer meant his Metropolis might potentially disappear from his grasp. He was already receiving pleas from his own dungeon core to return to fulfil his duties, and if he didn''t follow them, the consequences would turn dire.

    "Master, we have to strike now when he has his weapon down. While it is dishonourable, this is probably the only opportunity we might have." Gaeru advised and just like Meomi, Jin''s body was already moving to intercept whatever magic Baal was conjuring.

    "Such impatience!" Baal saw that his opponent was attempting to disrupt his transformation just as he had tried to do earlier. s, the System Rider''s oue wasn''t any different. Baal had defences in ce to prevent any interruption of his secret transformation.

    He quickly took out the crown from his magical void and held it with his left frog arm. Instantaneously, Baal managed to conjure out a wide spray of fire which engulfed System Rider Gaeru and subsequently blew him back to where he came from.

    "I am not giving up!" Gaeru cried out his challenge as he performed a cover roll on the ground before recovering and running via the side.

    "User, providing System Rider Gaeru with an additional ck Sludge Crystal could potentially increase his attack power for the Sludge itself contains traces of your blood." The System suggested since dashing in without any defences would be in foolish.

    "Alright!" Gaeru happily grabbed the crystal, suddenly floating in front of him. Even the System had decided to act first despite the obligatory etiquette request to Jin.

    "Why are you even asking me when all of you are acting on your own?!" Jin questioned in a foul mood. He could not stand Gaeru''s brainless dashing. "Urgh! Let me help out!"

    When Baal spewed another methrower attack towards System Rider Gaeru, Jin''s consciousness made his body use a Panda Swipe infused with Green Panda Wind Energy, to cause the mes to temporarily move aside for Gaeru to rush forward.

    "Hahahah! I cannot believe his minions made him participate in the fight as well. Here I was worried it would take at least a week of training to get Jin to learn that he could do that. It seems like pissing him off worked wonders. Good job Meomi, Gaeru." Moloch analysed as he strengthened his shield to prevent the aftereffects of the mes despite having a distance away.

    "Oof, the crown really did make the mes rather potent though." Now, with Masamune having ingested the ck Sludge Crystal, it howled with terror moving towards the nearpletely transformed King Baal.

    However, both Jin and Gaeru had underestimated the crown as Baal now ced it on his head where Hell''s living fire engulf his head, acting as the helmet for the Hell Knight. In a sh, a burst of dark mes caused System Rider Gaeru to get knocked back into a distant corner with a loud bang.

    If not for the armour and System''s regtion of Maqi to strengthen Jin''s back, they would have lost the fight immediately with Jin suffering a severe, potentially fatal back injury. "Damn it!" Gaeru cursed as he saw King Baal fully transformed into a Hell Knight.

    "Noбнa Hell Knight does not look like this. бн I fear this is something far worse." Moloch informed Jin with a good amount of panic in his voice. The aura emanating from King Baal was stifling to him even at such a distance.

    "That is right. Thanks to the crown, I am now Hell Knight King." Baal said an arbitrary name which was never heard even in the ne of Hell and that made Moloch growled.

    "You can be a King in this Dungeon World, and I am willing to follow you as such. But our almighty King in Hell can never be reced. Renounce yourself or face the wrath of Solomon himself!" Moloch shouted yet the self-proimed Hell Knight Kingughed.

    "You think you can defeat me by barking?! Sure, Solomon might have stripped us of our powers and subsequently sent us to various Worlds to learn and atone of our sins... But did he ever care for us?!" Baal questioned.

    As he walked towards the trembling Moloch who was valiantly staring at Baal''s eyes, he snickered at the poor fate of System Rider Gaeru when he tried to withstand the dark mes that were enveloping him.

    Despite the living armour''s protection, Jin could feel the mes burning him inside. And even if he tried to use White Panda Ice energy to lessen the effects, it did not help that Gaeru was a frog and with the System Rider now embodying him, it provided a poor resistance against the mes.

    "Disengage!" Jin shouted as he forcefully separated the union with Gaeru, so he would not suffer with him.

    "Do not open the deck of cards. The System Driver belt as a whole has an innate resistance against elements due to the materials used. Endure it." The System cautioned, and Jin could only scream vulgarities to withstand the pain.

    "See, your human is dying, and here you are reminiscing about the ancient past," Baal said as he used his sword to poke the corner shield that protected Moloch and it simply disappeared.

    "Despite your betrayal against me, siding with the human, in the end, you will still die a beggar''s death. I thought all the demons from Hell should stick up for one another, but no, you have killed your brethrens again and again in this particr invasion."

    "Do not give me such bullshit such as justice! You know very well that we lie, betray and kill each other purely for our own satisfaction. I promised I would aid you, but I did not say I would not betray you in doing so." Moloch snapped back.

    "Besides, talking about treachery, you continue to use that damned crown despite knowing the ill effects that it brought you. Why? Is it because you want to gain back powers of your former self again?! Do not give me that ''I want to protect people from the Harbinger'' bullshit!"

    "Yes! Yes! Yes! I solely missed the powers I had back in Hell! To be so powerless in this Dungeon World and even if I die, I get reincarnated back in this lowly body! Solomon does not want me back in Hell yet, and I have grown too powerful to leave for any other world!" Baal said as he raised his arm towards System Rider Panda and sent another wave of mes for him to suffer.

    "Wiggle and squirm like how my beloved minions did," Baal demanded with twisted glee as he watched Jin struggling against the mes in a vain attempt to resist them consuming him. "And there is no way your pal Moloch would be able to help you," Baal added while he ignored the Minotaur Lord and forcefully created a portal.

    "Note to the Dungeon Owner of Demon Metropolis. Escaping now will cause you to lose!" The Dungeon Core spoke out.

    "My ce is being invaded by them. Metropolis'' Dungeon Core should be able to inform you of at least that. Besides, your champion is incapacitated and unable to move. Give me ten minutes, and I wille back to finish the fight. Heal him or not, I do not care. If by the end of ten minutes, I am not back, I will relinquish half of my treasury to you and consider myself defeated." King Baal asked for apromise since his dungeon core kept howling him to return even though it was actually more beneficial for him to stay. But before the Pandapolis Dungeon Core could give an answer, the portal in front was cut off with a white card.

    "The fight is not over!" Moloch interrupted even though he knew that the chances to win against a crowned Baal was close to nil. Sure, getting Kraft and his skulk of foxes to fight with Baal would definitely even the odds in their favourбнHeck, no. He was sure they can obliterate him. But right now, it was a matter of pride if the Minotaur Lord did nothing and let others do the job even though he had a way to help out.

    "I am sorry Jin, but you have to endure my selfishness a little more." The supposedly nk card flew towards Jin''s System Driver, and a voice emerged from the device.

    "Card Activated, Moloch Form!"

 Chapter 800 Hell Knight King - Final

    <h4>Chapter 800 Hell Knight King - Final</h4>

    "Card Activated, Moloch Form!"

    "What?!" When Baal heard the name, he quickly tried to stab the cotton toy but little did he realise Moloch''s soul had already transitioned into Jin''s body. A wave of light emerged from the System Driver, which indicated that it was going to transform once more.

    "I will not allow you toplete it!" Baal dered as he dashed towards Jin, but the Hell Knight King was being parried.

    "Heh. Your mesбнthey hurt you know." Jin said as he held onto therge sword in his hands. Even though Gaeru had left, he had allowed Jin to hold onto Masamune for a while longer.

    "One of the many debts had been repaid to my Master," Gaeru said as he remembered Jin bestowing him his sword for the fight against the Valgs.

    "Masamune, you are annoyed that you didn''t even have a taste of this delicious creature, right?" Jin asked as he could feel the shifting of living armour is near topletion despite still being engulfed in dark mes. The sword howled a little as if he acknowledged the temporary wielder and at the opponent who was denying him the chance to feed.

    "You insolent fool!" King Baal pushed his sword further and used the impact to retract his sword up so that he could go for another strike.

    "I do not usually like to do this but!" Jin strenuously opened his eyes, allowing his Inverse Eyes to activate. "Zeru!" Jin shouted out in his mind and only then did the System realise the loophole that Jin seemingly discovered.

    As the living armour tes were shifting, it was actually Moloch attempting to limate to Jin''s Astral Body before he could take over Jin''s body. But what Jin did was to call upon Zeru to fuse with his soul for a split second before Moloch took it overpletely.

    Jin''s sensei did not hesitate, knowing that time itself was both the strictest and opportunistic in nature. If humans can dissect time further, Zeru basically zoomed into the most crucial moment and delivered a cut towards the weakest point of Baal''s armour.

    The strike that was seemingly faster than the speed of light caused the demon''s armour pierced and King to bleed. The Sword Saint immediately left with a wide satisfied smile and at the same time hoped he did not cause even more damage to Jin''s body and soul.

    "What?!" Baal did not even see that split second strike and Masamune was already howling with excitement since it finally tasted the blood of a demon infused with the energy from Hell and the wretched crown.

    "Ah shit, I forgot the crown was on him. Ah whatever, Moloch, the stage is yours. Try to live as long as possible." Jin said as he felt his consciousness damped after Zeru''s forceful takeover, rescinding to the back.

    As the tes formed correctly, Moloch stood there, finally feeling the mes which burnt his master''s life bit by bit away. Thanks to his own demon attribute, he had some fire resistance attribute enhanced onto the ck and red living armour tes, but it was not enough to counter the dark mes from Baal.

    "Ani! Ototo! At my behest! Come!" Moloch shouted, and suddenly two coloured pauldron tes came flying from the System Driver and attached themselves to Moloch''s existing shoulder armour. After learning that Pei had managed to recruit them, he was dying to try out thisbination, and he was delighted when it worked out as perfectly as he imagined it to. The Living Armour proceeded to cover them and swiftly, the mes were dying out from their appearance.

    "MILORD! THAT HURTS YOU KNOW!"

    "i cannot deny and only concur that my brother is right. that really hurts. please hurry with whatever you want to do as we won''t be able to endure this for long."

    "At the very least, you two stopped it." Moloch praised the Pauldrons as he swung the berserk sword a little, noticing that it became heavier and oppressive than Jin''s body was aware of. As the other two monsters were considered as ''leeching parasitic'' armour, it fused with Jin nicely. His body armour also did feel veryfortable to be in. (Also, the te armour on the System Rider was so stylish that Moloch was proud and envied Jin for having such a fantastic device with him.)

    "WE CAN ONLY DO IT ONCE! HURRY!" Ototo reminded Moloch where he was, and the Minotaur Lord nervously chuckled. The two brothers had been part of his bodyguard entourage, and they were famous for theirbination technique that could create an anti-magic field to remove any spell no matter how strong it was.

    This technique was also the reason why the Minotaur brothers had been feared andter on why they were permanently polymorphed by King Baal previously.

    King Baal did not know whether the human had discovered the weakness of his armour or if it was just a desperate but very lucky strike. But one thing was for sure, no more mistakes could be allowed especially against Moloch who had now seemingly fused with the human.

    "You are not even a sword user, to begin with!" Baal shouted as his bastard sword was burning with mes, and as Moloch shed against the Hell Knight King, he felt the weight of the impact from the bastard sword. It was intense enough to cause the ground to crack from every blow and gave way to the rider''s boots. Not only that, the enchanted mes instantly burnt him.

    Even though Ani and Ototo were covering his w of being ipetent with swords by simultaneously controlling his arms, they did not expect such overwhelming odds from Baal himself. Moloch also believed that if it was a normal high grade sword, it should have broken or at least got chipped long ago, allowing Baal to slice him into two despite being armoured.

    "Hard work eh, Masamune?" Moloch asked as he started chanting and cards subsequently appeared behind Baal. Yet the Hell Knight King was not oblivious about his former advisor''s way of fighting and swung his free hand around to shoot at the cards.

    "Too bad, I have decades of magical power imbued into this crown. You do not have a chance at all Moloch. Just lose this ce to me, and your death will be swift!" Baal ordered.

    "Heh, to think you would show me mercy after what we had revealed between each other? Is it on the ount that we used to be friends in Hell? Or are you just desperately in need of returning back home?!" Moloch then shouted a magical word and those cards that had seemingly been burnt by Baal''s magic swiftly reappeared and flew towards the wound he had incurred from Jin previously.

    Upon impact, it exploded, again and again, using his own magic against him. King Baal had no choice but to move backwards and tried to reorganise his thoughts from the sudden attack. "You are not the only one to have picked up a few new tricks, ''old friend''!" Moloch taunted as he tried to remain afoot after the immense pressure and burns he received from Baal.

    Those cards were actually absorption cards meant to take in the enemy''s magic and deflect them whenever at will. However, Baal''s infected hell magic was too strong to contain for long despite the strengthening of the cards via Maqi. And thus System Rider Moloch quickly took the opportunity to hit Baal''s weak spot.

    For the second time, he was bleeding visibly, and Masamune cried louder than ever. Without any permission, it slipped out of Moloch''s hand and went straight for the wound. "Shit! I think it is addicted to the crown''s energy!" Moloch thought, but there was no way he could stop an insane sword from moving its own.

    "Impudent for a sword to have a will of its own!" Baal shouted as he wanted to deflect the sword away, but in a split moment, the blunt sword managed to cut through his bastard sword and stab him through the side of the waist where the most profound bleeding was.

    "What!" Moloch could not help but feel aghast at the situation. Did King Baal lose to a living hungry sword? Masamune continued to stick on him, refusing to move at all.

    "Weird, this is the first time I see Masamune look so worked up," Gaeru informed him through the System Channel as he was not able to teleport into the sacred arena. Moloch grinned for a moment before he conjured a card up with a broad axe picture in it.

    "Impossible! How is this sword taking my powers away?!" King Baal raged as he tried to pull Masamune out of his body. He even self immted, hoping the sword would burn in the thousands degrees heat.

    Still, the sword was not budging a single bit continuing its feast.

    With Baal distracted, Moloch proceeded to move towards the Hell Knight King with his axe, Armads, the Axe of Hell''s Thunder. Unfortunately, it was not real as the axe was conjured simr to what he had possessed in Hell with the aid of Bam and Boo. The authentic relic was still kept within the Hell ne, and thus Moloch could only settle for this. Without the System''s aid and Living Armour, the Minotaur Lord might not have been able to create this.

    "If you want to have my blood, then allow me tomand you!" Baal shouted as he conjured even more strength out from the crown and ced it on the hilt. To Moloch''s surprise, the swordpiled to its hunger for more power as it allowed Baal to draw it out of his wound and defend the miraculous thunder strike from Moloch''s replica weapon.

    Baalughed as he saw how easily the sword changed owners and defended him. At the same time, he used the time to close the side deep wound he incurred from the sword. Moloch had no chance to win against the power-hungry sword, and Gaeru became extremely quiet throughout the change of owners.

    "This is really an unexpected turn of events." Jin had regained some consciousness from the short little rest he got. "I honestly can not keep up with who betrayed who at this rate."

    "Ha Ha. Very funny master. At this rate, we are the ones who are going to lose!" Moloch reminded Jin as he held tightly on Armads. King Baal realised how much of an advantage he had right now. With his new sword, wretched crown and the infused three form he had embraced to take advantage of all the traits of his crossbreed nature, he felt all powerful.

    "There is a brilliant sword. I will finish you once and for all!" King Baal announced as he dashed forward and with the power hungry Masamune, he fed even more energy to it and saw the de itself shimmer with bluish heat.

    He had never seen such a high concentration of energy being stored in the de as if this was the perfect de for him bestowed to him. "Begone! and thank you for the sword!" King Baal shouted as he burst dash, closing the distance between System Rider Moloch and him.

    Moloch saw the iing attack and knew there was no way it was able to defend it. "Sorry Master, you''ll have to continue this fight yourselfбн Disengage!" The Minotaur Lord shouted as his half mask popped out of the System Rider Helmet and a manifestation of his cotton toy appeared along with the Minotaur half mask.

    "Break Polymorph!" Moloch shouted as he already had a card at his side. King Baal''s so-called permanent polymorph was something Moloch had already broken in the early days when he was exiled, but he never used it, as it was a way to conserve energy for himself too. He knew one day, he had to fight against Baal and his ridiculous amount of magic preserved in that crown.

    However, he did not know that he was going to use it as defence rather than offence.

    "MILORD!" Ototo shouted and immediately disengaged himself from the System Rider. Ani also knew that this was the time to serve his lord. Moloch grew from the cotton toy he was trapped in into a bona fide minotaur. Both Ototo and Ani instantly appeared in front of Moloch, not as pauldrons but two red and yellow tower shields.

    Despite their staunchest defence, Masamune cut the two of them easily, but it gave Moloch enough time to umte his strength as he held his sped hands and mmed it forward. Baal smirked as he knew that the attack would be useless with his brand new sword. True enough, Masamune sliced Moloch''s arms cleanly, but the Minotaur Lord was not done.

    In fact, the arm m was a feint for his real attacking from his bull charge via his horns. Bustling his muscles with thunder, he mmed Baal right in the chest and lightning struck his metal tes. Unknown to Moloch, Slydra who was bored conquering the floating inds with her zaps of thunder, had felt the sensation of a lightning user.

    "ying cheat does feel good once in a while." Slydra and Ayse grinned as they were to ones to secretly support Moloch, increasing the strength of this thunder strike by three-fold. Baal was none the wiser and received a blow strong enough to cause him to be knocked back.

    Moloch, on the other hand, realised that Masamune was stuck in his heart.

    "бнThis greedy sword. I am taking you with me so you will not interfere." Moloch coughed as he magically took a card out and entrapped the bloodthirsty sword inside it. But before he could pick the card up from the ground, he started to turn into fragment pieces from the overuse of his magic. "This should atone for my mistake of handing it over, Master."

    In the meantime, Jin got hold of his body, and the living armour tes shifted back to Panda form. There was no time to feel lost despite Moloch''s sacrifice. It was important to press on though Jin''s legs were not moving. The System also indicated that the living armour most likely could only hold onest transformation before the System Driver ran out of juice.

    "Can''t we just feed more ck sludge crystals?" Jin barely held together his form and realised he too was at his limit. "We have to stall him as long as possible so the others could take hold of the dungeon keys."

    "Negative. Unfortunately, the System Driver is near its breaking point. It is still a prototype and not some indestructible device. Excess usage will cause the device to disintegrate. Not to mention the toll on User has already surpassed the worst-case scenarios. Once this is done, you will have to rest until your vitals are checked, and we can be sure no long term damage has urred."

    "I cannot believe this fight dragged so long." Baal ced his left feet proper to stand up, but he realised the strain from using the crown was starting to get too much. Suddenly, the wretched crown started to light up, and Kiva''s family jewel vibrated.

    "Shit, no!" Baal didn''t know that the invasion had been so long that it was a new day for the demons. As for Baal, he had to go through a ''sanity check'' by the crown, and he knew he was in no condition to survive it. His mental will and physical body were severely beaten since he had been relying on the crown''s energy to regenerate.

    As if the crown was waiting for this chance, it took the opportunity to consume Baal in histest form, and his entire brain suddenly cked out.

    "Warning, a sudden surge of energy arising from King Baal." The System noted, and Jin saw that the crown shone a purplish light that made him feel like he had seen the face of true evil for the first time. The metal crown subsequently merged with the helmet as it tightened its grip over Baal''s head and his body stiffened.

    Suddenly, his legs changed shape, and stuff suddenly grew out of the armour greaves and boots Baal was wearing. Three Spider Legs emerged from the original pair of legs, and his hands morphed into webbed hands along with the armour. Not to mention those hands had cat ws emerging from them. Baal''s armour slowly popped cat, human and frog eyes surrounding the entire armour.

    The worse of all, the crown was emanating cries, weeps, and even screams. Those pleas of help got into Jin''s head and he too felt his mind became heavier. It felt like ...the victims who King Baal had taken his energy from was asking for mercy. They were shouting desperately to be out of the crown and that itself was trying to take over the Hell Knight King.

    "What is happening to me?!" Three slightly various shouts came out from his mouth simultaneously, and the helmet grew a mouth as if it merged with the human face Baal once had. Teeth were shown out when he shouted, and double drooling frog tongues were seen hanging out. As if it was not scary enough of an appearance, his entire armour had been imprinted with scared faces from the people entrapped within the jewel.

    "It seems that the crown had infected him further, causing him to mutate beyond recognition. Truly a monster." Jin gave his interpretation as he could feel the wretched crown energy overflowing out. "Is there a Betor Peppers card that I can draw from the deck?" Jin asked the System, trying his luck.

    "Negative. Moloch did not have the power to draw it. The System too believed it is too dangerous for Jin''s current grade. The current infusion via the Astral Body is the only way." The System said, and Jin shook his head slightly.

    "Well, yeah. Just asking. In any case, there is no way eight seconds of Pepper''s explosion could work on this guy without it taking me out as well in this rtively small arena." Jin said.

    "8.5 seconds as User is currently at Grade 8 Peak. Still, System also predict that is insufficient-"

    "I know, idiot!" Jin said as he stepped forward as he called out Bam and Boo which were in a way damaged after Masamune went crazy and broke out from their temporarybination.

    "Sorry about that, Bam and Boo. Did not mean to have it broken." Jin apologised as hebined them both together to have one Katana out. It seemed as if he had no way out but to defeat it as the creature in front of him spasmed.

    Suddenly spikes in the shape of cat ws came flying from above and beneath the ground, piercing Jin without any notice. There were no portals or anything as if they materialised from thin air. "What the fuck?!"

    The spikes pierced through Jin''s living armour defences, into his thighs, arms and even torso, causing Jin to cough out blood internally as the impact was great enough for it to happen. There was a spike that was aimed for his head, but somehow Jin managed to evade it partially(whether by luck or innate instinct, causing it to only destroy a portion of the helmet and missing the face entirely. The cat w spikes suddenly disappeared once it did its job and Jin was left on the ground bleeding.

    "Yбкou wait! IиC will finish you after I clear yourrades!" The long slurring from Baal made it seem as if he had trouble controlling his own speech, but if the System were to categorise it, it was infused with three different sounds as heard from his previous sentence.

    Despite losing the sanity check, Baal was still conscious enough to put his Dungeon Core as a priority. Concerned about losing it, he immediately opened the portal, and the Pandapolis Dungeon Core reluctantly granted Baal the initial deal. Since Jin was still breathing desperately and without intervention was most likely going to die, making it lose either way.

    Fortunately, despite the several injuries, Jin still had the legendary inscription from his general storekeeper, Octofussy to keep him alive. Not to mention his body had been tempered, granting him vampiric traits resulting in a boost of vitality without the urge to bite anyone. Baal who was busy keeping his remaining sanity in check, did not notice any of this and only wanted to pass through the gate.

    However, instead of him passing through the gate. There were ten figuresing out of it instead. "Woah, what kind of fucking ugly creature is this?" Kraft asked as he was taken aback for a moment before walking with a bloodied sack over his shoulders.

    "Eh? Isn''t this the System''s portal? Why were we teleported to this wastnd?" Kiyu asked as she walked through it while twirling the ring that held the key from the circle of Heresy.

    "Kiyu, be careful with the key. You aren''t the most graceful of all foxes." Kai pointed out, and Kiyu merely turned her head to stick her tongue at him.

    "Is that Jin?!" Pei, who came out, felt the person''s aura lying in a pool of blood to be very familiar. She quickly ran to him, ignoring the monster in front of her. The monster felt offended and decided to pierce her, but it suddenly stopped moving as it noticed a strange smell in the air, temporarily making him lose function over his muscles.

    "Do not tell me this monster is Baal?" Evon took a step back, as he noticed that the aura it oozed was not delectable a single bit.

    "Wow, the wounds on Jin are really terrible. It''s kind of a miracle he is surviving." Ixa was quite blunt about their master''s current state as the rest of the foxes in their human forms started to surround Jin.

    "This is not how I expected my first encounter with our new master to be." Rex sighed as he supported Pei in healing Jin despite his innate healing abilities.

    Baal eventually managed to break out of Evon''s paralysing drug effect and noticed that each and almost every one of them who came out were holding the keys to his Dungeon Core, except for the one sole key from the circle of Treachery.

    "Ew, Baal who the hell gave you this ugly makeover?" Kraft received the confirmation from the System that it was the King itself, corrupted with the energy he had umted. "Anyways, here is the head of your kid, Paleman, I believe. I am surprised that despite you trusting him so much, he had no knowledge of bypassing your stupid key system!"

    "I still think you should have let me st the door with my fist, Kraft." Itoriined, but Tsu just shook his head.

    "If you did that, you would have more than likely destroyed the Dungeon Core alongside your st. In that case, all our endeavours would have been pointless!"

    "Yeah, it''s rather a wasted effort after I found out that the real Circle of Treachery''s Guard Supervisor wasn''t even present." Rex agreed as he could hear Jin''s breathing started to stabilise.

    "Is this like the reinforcements?" Jin asked through his broken helmet with a weak muffled voice.

    "Nah, not really. Maybe the spectators?" Kraft grinned as he squatted down and whistled at the new suit Jin had donned on. "I believe this was a great suit before it got battered. Yo, System, I hope you n to let me y around with one of these as well!"

    "So, Rex. What are you waiting for? Kill the King so we can get the keyбнor to have ess to the Dungeon Core or whatever." Ixel was getting a little impatient but so was Baal.

    He could not believe the individuals in front of him had managed to clear the guard supervisors which no other demons had done in the past few decades. Still, that also meant that they were the perfect specimens to test his new powers after he had been degraded into a monster of power.

    "Yeah, Big Brother. This is supposed to be your officialeback. What better way to establish yourself than to im the juiciest piece of meat of this whole conquest. Speaking of that, once you are done, we can finally eat, drink and celebrate." Kraft said, and he tapped firmly on Rex''s shoulder.

    "There''s still a part 2 of myeback?" Rexughed bitterly as he knew Kraft just wanted to get even for the drinking bet they had centuries ago.

    "Haha, but still isn''t this иC" Suddenly a barrage of magicsers came from Baal''s eyes on the armour and Rex had already put up a barrier against it.

    "This monster needs to learn some manners." Rex eyed Baal who now opened his mouth, and a beam of wretched purple energy was shot against his barrier.

    "Itori, hold your fist! This is my fight!" Rex ordered as he noticed the White Fox was dying for a counterattack when Baal shot into the barrier. Itori quietly obeyed the new Panda Remnant as he walked forward.

    "Master JinбнDo you mind if I kill him? I will make short work of him." Rex asked as he saw Baal desperately trying to break the invisible magical barrier that Rex had put up. No matter how much magical energy from the crown was dispensed against Rex''s barrier, it was like a fly hitting on a closed ss window.

    "Be my guest. We need to finish him off anyways to end the war. Thanks in advance." Jin answered as he was held up by Pei.

    "Kiyu, do you want to have the honours of filming him?" Kraft suggested to Rex as he got permission from his new master.

    "I am already on it," Kiyu said, equipped with a selfie stick and a GoPro on. Rex merely smiled as the rest of his skulk stood behind watching him.

    "Guess I got to do something shy. How about I show one of the ancient Panda Techniques?" Rex smiled as he went to a stanceбнand realised the sword he had already been destroyed from killing the fake bosses in the Circle of Treachery.

    "Ahбнcan someone lend me a sword?" Rex asked embarrassingly, and the foxes tried their best to hold theirughter in.

    Kraft too looked down in order not tough at his brother, then noticed that there was a card with a sword picture on the ground. "Isn''t this Masamune? Why is it in Moloch''s card?" Kraft thought to himself as he broke the card''s spell by inserting his own chi and Masamune popped out of it.

    "Ahhбнnow I understand why." Kraft smiled as he took in all of the oozing chaos energy from Masamune, and allowed it to not go berserk. "Come on Masamune, there is tastier energy than that," Kraft whispered to it as he subsequently called out to his brother.

    Rex received the sword that Kraft threw at him, ignoring Baal''s constant all out barrages. "This swordбнit''s a bloodthirsty living weapon?"

    "It''s one of Jin''s minion''s prized items. I doubt he will mind you using it and I believe this weapon suits you well since you are still raging from within." Kraft assumed this could be the outlet that Rex needed while keeping control of his powers. "Most importantly, I do not think it will break."

    "Haha, I bet that sword will feel satisfied for some time before it gets hungry again," Ixel interjected, and Rex smiled lightly.

    "Alright, then. Judging from this monster''s attack power, he is most probably Grade 14 Peak or perhaps an inch away from Grade 15. No wonder Master had a lot of problems fighting it when he''s only a Grade 8 Peak. Without the strange chaos energy, he should fall between Grade 11 to 13." Rex calmly analysed the situation while pondering which Sword Art he should show based on the monster''s grade as he held onto the sword and adjusted his stance once more.

    "Epic Sword Art, Fatal Crescent Circle of the Umbral Panda!" Rex said in a calm voice as he zoomed past Baal and Jin could see a faint image of the moon cycle with a Panda rolling within it as the New Moon turned into a crescent and eventually a full moon. Itter went back to a new moon once more,pleting the moon cycle. With each transition of the moon''s holographic image, Baal was shed multiple times in the shape of said moon period.

    Blood spewed everywhere when the Sword Art ended, but at some point, Rex had put up a barrier to prevent any of Baal''s stained blood from dirtying his clothes. It was also relief that he did that too since the blood itself was acidic enough to burn the ground when itnded.

    The crown Baal wore finally broke from Rex''s sword art, and Baal fell from the attack. It waster revealed that the ravenous lord''s jewel was hiding the final prison core from within it and it cracked when the crown was undone.

    "How the hell can the prison core be sustained outside of its own instance?" Kraft who had some knowledge on the Dungeon Core felt mystified by it.

    "Who knows, maybe that is why he is suffering in his own prison cage." Pei offered a usible exnation as Rex opened the prison core to reveal thest dungeon key.

    "At the very least, he should return to normal once the System resurrects him, right?" Rex asked when he returned Masamune back to Kraft. While it was easy to handle, it did not feel right for him to use it. Kraft could only feel for the weapon, knowing that it had to settle for an imperfect master.

    Suddenly, the barriers between the sacred arena were lowered, and the Dungeon Core had determined that the initial deal Baal made had beenpleted. Ten minutes had passed since the opening of the portal, and he had not crossed any swords against Jin. "Wow, this Dungeon Core sure is scheming. It used this time out as a loophole to let the Foxes fight him." Jin thought since he was the only one who knew the whole picture.

    "Isn''t that great? We do not need a stupid Dungeon Core to run our city! A scheming city means a prosperous one!" Kraftughed, and the rest only smiled half-heartedly from it.

    "Go, all of you, back to the Dungeon Core. Unlock it and take the Demon Metropolis by force. We need to recoup our losses from this fight." Jin told them, and the whole fox skulk agreed to it. With Baal''s portal still opened, all of them immediately went in while an area wide announcement was projected throughout the city.

    "Owner of Demon Metropolis, King Baal has officially lost the duel. All Demon Horde personnel shall be teleported out of the Pandapolis in ten seconds." The Pandapolis Dungeon Core announced, and the entire Demon Horde who had to fight with their lives could not believe itбнexcept for the spectators at the safe zone who had seen everything first hand. (If they had survived Syldra''s electrifying wink spell.)

    The monsters under Jin and Pandarens then realised this was the final sprint to kill everything in their path. More demons killed equated to better rewards for the Pandarens while the monsters might potentially be awarded more System points.

    The adrenaline was real as the monsters were using their best skills to finish any demons within their vicinity. Some of the Fortress Golems even started to jump out of their posts and squashed some Demons while emptying their clips of ammo. The Wyvern Knights leapt down from their wyverns and fought independently to get double kills. Pandji climbed onto the indestructible sky bridge and sent out an astonishing breath of energy, burning rows of demon soldiers to their death. Many more crazy stunts were done to make that remaining ten seconds count.

    Meanwhile, when the foxes took the portal, they tried to drag Jin along with them too. While it was tempting for the foxes, especially Kraft, to own an entire city for himselfбн it was too much of a hassle in the long run. They were free-spirited troublemakers, not city overseers.

    However, Pei stopped him adamantly, and Kraft decided to go for the next best alternative.

    Moloch.

    He was not spared from it as the System teleported the newly resurrected cotton toy right into Kraft''s hands.

 Chapter 801 Claiming Demon Metropolis

    <h4>Chapter 801 iming Demon Metropolis</h4>

    "Can''t you at least let me rest a little bit longer? You know getting killed is not exactly pleasant, and the System''s way of reviving is no vacation either. I believe I''ve done some major lifting in the defeat of my King," Moloch grumbled as he was being ''cuddled'' by Kraft and did not like it a single bit.

    "There will be more than enough time for you to sit on your butt after we resolve the ownership problem of the city." Kraft rebutted. The rest of the foxed ced their keys on the hidden door, ording to Moloch''s previous instruction. The door only had a single keyhole, and ording to the grumpy cotton toy, they had to first ce the keys in descending order starting from Limbo.

    Slowly, the door opened and revealed the next door that was protecting the ''vault''.

    "You know in games they usually give you some sort of chest or some other reward for opening a secret door. Like a treasure room or something before proceeding to the next door." Kraft said as he nkly stared at the second door.

    "Too bad, this is not a game but real life in the Dungeon World," Moloch argued with his eyes turningzy, but he had forgotten that he was now in the mercy of the fox handler. Kraft pinched the top of his head and pulled his cotton ''skin'', causing Moloch to suffer some rather annoying agony.

    "Should we just call King Baal to quicken the process?" Kiyu suggested as she was waiting for her turn to open the door.

    "He has been defeated by Rex, so the Metropolis Dungeon Core does not recognise him as the ruler anymore." Moloch briefly exined to Kiyu since she might not know how the Dungeon Core ownership worked.

    "Yeah, you could have told me your king was thest boss. Would have saved a lot of time." Rex sighed, recalling how stupid he was to question each and every monster he fought against in the Circle of Treachery while attempting to find out who was speaking the real truth.

    "It has been some time since I walked on the roads of the Demon Metropolis, let alone the roster of these bosses. Though I had my suspicions that King Baal might have decided to be the reigning champion of thest circle since he is technically the defender for the Dungeon Core..."

    "Judging by his impatience to get back to the Dungeon Core during our fight, it must have desperately called him back in fear you had a way to just fight your way through without using the keys."

    "I didn''t mind the chance to cause some havoc, but was there any point in us invading here if we ultimately ended up fighting King Baal anyway?" Ixel brought up an interesting point, and all eyes turned to the cotton toy.

    "As I said, I didn''t know. Not like this kind of information is openly avable. But no your work wasn''t entirely useless. The more havoc you created, the more panicked the Dungeon Core must have gotten leading to it calling King Baal back and him getting distracted. If he refused the summons of his Dungeon Core for too long, it could have selected a different impromptu ruler, so it wouldn''t be wrong to call your work extremely helpful."

    "Still, here I thought we were going in to steal the Dungeon Core under his nose. No fun at all." Kiyuined as it finally became her turn to activate the key she had gotten from the Heresy stage. Simr to Pei, she did not have to really fight. Somehow her untimely appearance to a particr unrted event being held in the Circle of Heresy caused a hugemotion. And with a bit of charm, she literally convinced an entire cult to follow her without any resistance.

    When the foxes heard about it, they wondered if Kiyu had used her n''s secret technique the ''Butterfly Effect'' to change the oue of her particr endeavour.

    The Butterfly Effect worked as the concept containing time travel terms and chaos theory. The sensitive dependence on the initial conditions in which a small change would bring about arge scale and possibly unpredictable variation in the future.

    It was a mystery how the Butterfly n, who did not have the mathematical and scientific concept of their secret technique, had been able to create such a technique. However, ying with time was a dangerous concept so much so that Kiyu herself had once imed she would rather not use the skill if at all possible.

    Yet, on the other hand, despite how convenient everything turned out for her, to use the technique literally required Kiyu to sacrifice something very significant in return. Be it physical or emotional, it would put a toll on Kiyu''s overall well-being.

    Thus, they doubted she had used the technique. Maybe it was her womanly instinct that led her to kick out most of her male fox counterparts? (Or so they at least chose to believe for her sake.)

    "There we go!" Kiyu said as she stepped backwards and allowed Tsu to ce his key in. Eventually, it came to Rex'' turn, and the simple concrete room revealed an exposed Dungeon Core, waiting for input before the timer ran out and destroy the Demon Metropolis in an instant.

    "As much as I would enjoy having all those Demon Nobles looking up to me, I have my hands rather full with Pandapolis. I suggest we should let King Baal continue running it. That way there''s normalcy in the demon city." Moloch offered his opinion.

    "Meh, that is not fun at all." Thismenting from Itori surprised everyone, but Moloch shook his head.

    "We can do something simr to what Jin did by putting the System and me together. This way, the System has a say, and with King Baal at the helm, it would just be a dent in their city''sbat record." Moloch argued as he considered that too many changes to the city might bring forth unwanted guests.

    Right now, the Demon Metropolis was a city that churned a decent amount of revenue as well as resources which could potentially aid Jin in his future battles and projects. They needed the money if they wished to expand rapidly in Jin''s world, or others for this matter, without outside help.

    "Yes, it makes sense." Rex, who had a diplomatic mind, understood Moloch''s logic. To some extent, the foxes all were familiar with some form of governance as they were initially groomed to be their n''s leaders. "But unfortunately, what Itori said is true too. This is no fun." Rex started to grin in a way that made Kraftugh.

    "Oh, you don''t mean... Are you willing to take up such arge responsibility that quickly?"

    "Why not? Would you prefer for me to always stay mad at the past? I had enough time to think over everything in there, and I am not looking forward to returning there anytime soon. Besides, I might not have been out for long, but I''m dying to do some work." Rex argued.

    "If it helps to keep Rex calm while working, it would be a definite plus. That way, the System can use its processing capability for better use than trapping him." Pei reasoned and the System, aka the ultimate eavesdropper, concurred with her.

    "It will free 5% of System processing capabilities and taking partial control of the Demon Metropolis only requires 0.5%."

    "However, Moloch is also right. The change cannot be too drastic. Demons live here in this city and having too muchw and order as well as knowing a human is controlling them would only breed chaos." Pei added.

    "Oh. You do not have to worry about that." Kraft announced as he grabbed Rex''s hand and ced it on the Dungeon Core user''s interface along with Moloch''s. "There we go!" Kraft threw his phone which was his connection to the System on the user interface as well. Instead of a two way, the Dungeon Core finally epted that three entities would be the new rulers of Demon Metropolis by ying the core''s standard weing theme.

    "It''s a brand new day~!

    Brand new day~!

    A brand new morning hase~!

    Be Happy ~! Be Happy~!

    The wind of happiness continues to blow as we start our day~!

    One, Two, Three, Let''s Go~!"

    "Urgh. No matter how many times I hear thatбн" Moloch moaned as he grudgingly epted the added responsibility.

 Chapter 802 Royalty in Retaliation

    <h4>Chapter 802 Royalty in Retaliation</h4>

    If anyone else had forced his hand, Moloch would have cut their fingers off or even their heads (or more likely gotten Sebestia to do it for him) since it was something he really did not want to do. However, this was Kraft that made Moloch sign up for the partial control of the Demon Metropolis.

    "Don''t worry you will just be like a puppet leaderбнfor familiarity''s sake. After all, everyone still thinks that you are the true leader of Pandapolis." Kraft informed the unhappy-looking Moloch as the interface changed a little and he inspected it curiously since it was the first time he was checking one out.

    "Well, technicallyбнI am ONE of the leaders of Pandapolis. ''True'' is not wrong since the demons do not know that the core can choose more than oneбн erm ruler." Moloch agreed and tried to run through various scenarios in his head. However, he did not know whether it was resurrection fatigue, but the Minotaur Lord''s mind got cut off after a short while.

    "Anyway, I can vouch that Rex here will make an outstandingwmaker and a respectable ''Demon'' to rule thisnd," Kraft said, and the rest unanimously supported their Panda Remnant.

    "If you cannot trust anyone, you can at least trust me." Pei stepped forward and grabbed the Minotaur Lord away from Kraft''s embrace and ced it on Rex''s head. "I can already hear some footstepsing our way, so we should hurry the process a little."

    "I can punch them away if you want." Itori offered, and Rexughed.

    "There is no need to. So, what are these options here, little Minotaur?" Rex asked.

    "I guess you must be as old as Kraft so stop calling me little. Despite my current form, I am way older than any of you. I am in my golden age as a demon, though!" Moloch mumbled a little before releasing out a heavy sigh. "They are the same options given to Master and me when he first conquered the Dungeon Fortress."

    "Then, I am assuming we are going to preserve the integrity of the city?" Rex questioned, and the cotton toy nodded his head.

    "Just for your information, most conquerors do not like this option since it gives the least amount of reward. Mainly because the Dungeon Core will usually destroy the entire city and kicks everyone out, giving the conqueror the ultimate right to the ce. Raiders also prefer the ''raze it to the ground option'' since it will give them the most resources."

    "Then what rewards do we have if we preserve the Demon Metropolis?" Tsu asked.

    "Not much really. Aside from some extra cash and resources, we get an entire city. Although it will be exactly in the condition as the previous ruler has left it. Well, triple the rewards since we won the defence game against them too." Moloch added, and suddenly he heard a weird whistling sound. Rex did not waste any time and selected the preserve option, and they were officially crowned the new rulers of Demon Metropolis by the dungeon core.

    The whistling sound screeched with each second and Kiyu stood at the front and stopped a projectile. The rest of the foxes walked out and noticed a group of beautifully armoured demons waiting at the middle of the Circle of Treachery.

    "Since you are the new rulers, we might as well challenge you now. I am Prince Agares of the -" Without any warning, Kraft cut them off by shooting near their foot, missing by merely a centimetre. The rest of the group immediately picked up arms, but Rex came forward and tried to calm them down.

    "Can they really challenge the new rulers this quickly? Don''t the Dungeon Cores have some cooldown period or something?" Pei asked, and Moloch nodded his head as he tried to slide down from Rex''s head, but the Panda Remnant kept him up.

    "Something like thatбн the defeated side still has the option to take back their Dungeon Core within 24 hours kind of thing. That is why most winners would usually take the plunder or conquer everything route." Moloch exined in the System Channel so as to not let the royalty suspect that they are amateurs to this.

    "Doesn''t that mean all we have to do is to kill anyone whoes at us within that period?" Ixa came forward as she was displeased at how Itori had grabbed the Boss of Greed away from her despite her younger sister''s insistence that it was an ident.

    "Look, I am sorry that my little brother has offended you all. Please allow me to exin the current situation." Rex continued to try calming the royal family down even though someone decided to throw a seemingly high-level fireball at Rex.

    "Like hell, we will! We have battalions of troops waiting outside for you if you try to escape!" One of them shouted from the group.

    Unfortunately, the fireball bounced off from Rex because of his barrier, and the rest got cautious immediately. "Look, if I want my guys to finish you off, it won''t take more than a few seconds. A minute tops, so let''s be rational for a moment. You saw that hole that just one of us made to jump in here. We killed each and every one of your guard supervisors as well as fending off the invasion you all initiated." Rex tried to be civil.

    "Oh, shucks. I left that prince''s Pailmon at Pandapolis." Kraft blurted out ''identally'' as he felt like bragging, but one of the group members started to be angsty.

    "You are the one who beheaded my husband?!" A middle-aged demondy shouted, but a few of the guards were restraining her since they knew how strong Paimon was.

    For someone to behead Paimon without any resistance as indicated from his cleanly dismembered body showed that the monsters in front of them were leagues above their pay grade. "My husband''s name it PAIMON not PAILMON!" Thedy shouted despite being pushed back by the guards.

    Even Prince Agares, the eldest of all the royalty, started to have a sense of fear welling up in him. He finally grasped their aura and realised the difference between him and them was too huge. It''s akin to heaven and earth. Yet, he still had to maintain a strong front.

    "Give us back our Dungeon Core, and we will give you a hefty reward in return. Considering that you have yet to destroy the city means you had intentions of using it." Agares reasoned, and Rex nodded his head.

    "Yes, but I like hefty rewards in the long run too and I see potential in this Demon Metropolis. Which is why I have yet to destroy it. So, how about trusting me as your new lord and ruler?"

    "NEVER!!" The group shouted unanimously, and Kraft shrugged his shoulders.

    "I think yourmunication skills seem to have gotten a bit rusty. You''ve spent too much in the System." Evon tried to defend Rex who gave him a resigned look.

    "No problem that should alle back in due time. As for those before us. You haven''t forgotten how to quell a rebellion, right? Besides, the demons only answer to true strength. How about we show them that since seeing is beliving." Kraftmented, and Rex reluctantly nodded his head as he asked the Grizzly Bears to clear the lines.

    "With pleasure!" The siblings cried out with joy simultaneously rushing forth.

 Chapter 803 Demon Home Guards

    <h4>Chapter 803 Demon Home Guards</h4>

    "Stay at the ready!" The Demon Captains handling their toons shouted as they heard movementing out of the prison. Even though they were quite confident that the Royal Family would be able to handle whatever threat was in there, they still had to act their part.

    Besides, they had been active enough to catch any possible prison escapees that resulted from the Foxes'' reckless actions.

    The Demon Home Guards entrenched themselves deeply near the gates of the prison by deploying mobile barricades while mages and archers took the high ground on the nearby buildings (Or whatever was left of that in the aftermath of Kraft''s Gravity Maniptor device.)

    "And here I thought the royalty would put up a fight. It''s such a disgrace." Ixained as she walked behind Rex.

    "I held back just as I promised. It''s not my fault they were this weak that you didn''t get a good sweat in." Itori hoped that her actions would at least appease her frustrated sister.

    "Nah, I do not hold any grudge against you," Ixa said as she pulled Itori closer to her and rubbed the head of her younger sister.

    "Looks like the royalty wasn''t making empty threats" Kai pointed out as the foxes walked boldly out of the front door of the prison.

    What seemed to be the General of the Demon Home Guards stood in front of the foxes. He stared at them for a while and noticed that there was not so much as a scratch on their physical bodies. "No signs of fatigue as wellбн" The general thought to himself as he removed his helmet and revealed his face beyond the metal tes.

    "Vual. General of the Demon Home Guards." A demon with a camel face came forward and introduced himself as he extended his arm for a handshake.

    "Rex. The new ruler of the Demon Metropolis." The Panda Remnant came forward happy that at least someone had somemon decency.

    "I assume you have subdued the entire royalty?" Vual asked, and Rex nodded his head.

    "Not really me, myrades did most of the work." Rex smiled as he looked back, and the rest were ready for a second round.

    "I see, then we will step down." Vual nodded his head as he put his helmet back.

    "No fights?" Ixel asked. It wasn''t meant as a provocation, more the realisation of impending disappointment.

    "Since you managed to kill part of the most powerful noble elites in less than the span of half an hour, there is no use to waste my troops against you. Besides, the fact that you came out here of Paradiso without any signs of the Demon Metropolis in ruins indicates that you have far bigger ambitions than simply raiding us." Vual answered and then pointed at Rex''s head.

    "Also, because of him."

    "I am d you still ce reason and logic above emotions." Moloch praised the other party, and Vual chuckled for a bit.

    "The Home Guards knows how bad the corruption between the nobles was. While some might be disappointed they never got the chance to fight against ''that traitor Moloch'', it is good to see that the Demon Metropolis will be in a pair of better hands, especially if Lord Moloch will act as their advisor."

    "I am surprised King Baal had someone this perceptive on his side. Shall I say it was our good fortune you stayed home~? But unlike you, most of the Demon Metropolis might suspect that you are in cahoots with us, if you let us go just like this." Kraft butted into the conversation, as he too hadn''t had his fill of carnage. There were still some weapons he could try out.

    "And if the Demons lose the respect of their Defence team, it will be hard for you guys to enforce the city despite ourmon interest of helping turn the Demon Metropolis even grander."

    "I hate having to admit that you make sense sometimes." Pei sighed as she digested what Kraft had said. "Although the underlying tone isбн never mind."

    "General Vual, I do agree with the demihumans here." Moloch decided to use the term demihumans to make it seem that they were also part of the demonmunity despite their human features. With their ability to change between fox and human form at will, it wouldn''t be hard to convince the demons.

    General Vual was quite surprised about his ruler''s new identity and decided to hear more from the revered Moloch. "We can cover the cost of resurrection for the Home Guards, so do not worry about that."

    "What we need right now is an impactful yet civil enough fight so that the people are aware of the strength and ferocity of their new ruler. Killing those royalties without any witnesses would bring bad rumours which will undermine the authority of the new crown." Moloch reasoned.

    "Sire, I agree with Lord Moloch''s opinion. There would be dissent in the ranks if you just let them go like this. Unlike you, the troops do not have enough war experience to tell the difference between mercy and knowing when to retreat." One of his advisors agreed with Moloch''s proposal.

    "Very well, it does bring up a good point, especially with the rumours flying around that Lord Moloch was using some forbidden methods to defeat our king." Vualmented.

    "бнI won''t deny that I have made new friends and gained some new powers." Moloch whispered to himself and Rex, who''s the only one who had heard it, patted the cotton toy''s head and handed him over to Pei.

    "As the uing King, I have to show who''s boss. Can''t let you guys have all the fun. Otherwise, they will think of me as just another pencil pusher." Rex stated and told the rest to step back.

    "You against the entire Demon Home Guards? You cannot be serious." Vual was in disbelief though the rest were already too excited to see Rex in action once more.

    "Wooo! Rex is getting serious! Can''t wait to see his real form." Evon was getting excited as he turned into a fox and climbed onto Ixel''s broad shoulders. Kiyu followed Evon and did the same by sitting on the other shoulder and cheered for Rex.

    "Say, you think he will use his Panda form or his Fox form?" Pei asked Tsu about his opinion.

    "If I were him I''d go with the fox form. The Panda is not menacing enough. He won''t like getting a nickname such as King of the ''cute killer white bear with ck spots'' form will he?" Tsu answered as Vual returned to his troops and readied them to attack the group.

    The Home Guard General had major doubts that one person alone would have the power to fight against the whole battalion of Demon Home Guards. But considering that he said hisrades had taken care of the royalty, implied that Rex should be stronger than them.

    In his life, no one would follow a weaker person than themselves. Thus, he decided to take extra precautions and started sending orders to his officers.

    "Listen up! Demons of the Metropolis'' Home Guards!" Rex''s voice was imbued with chi enabling him to reach every single demon in the vicinity. "I have struck a deal with your General! It will be you lot against me alone. If I win, I expect you to offer me your loyalty to serve without question. If I lose, I hereby solemnly swear to abdicate myself from the throne and never disturb the peace of Demon Metropolis."

    "This will also be a match for the entire city to learn that the once exiled Lord Moloch has returned! He came back to retake the city so that his King can wake up from his nightmare! When I win, the ugly truth shall be exposed, and we will move on to improve the Demon Metropolis!" Rex said, and many assumed that the demihuman was only saying words that would bring him down. Someughed at his absurd condition of one versus many.

    Yet, the General was calm enough to get his troops under control and ordered them to get ready once more. The troops obey fiercely, and Kraft could see that the defensive formation was rock solid....to invaders other than the foxes.

    "Huh, if only they brought this General to the battlefield, then perhaps their losses would not be that significant." Kraft thought to himself as he appreciated and pitied the entire battalion for ending up as Rex'' stepping stones.

 Chapter 804 Angry Pandawans

    <h4>Chapter 804 Angry Pandawans</h4>

    Jin stared into space for a moment.

    The ringing sound of the Demons retreating was music to his ears, especially since he knew that the fight was finally over. The cheers heard from afar also confirmed that particr fact as he felt like the boss battle took a significant toll on him.

    "If Panda Remnant Rex had not intervened along withбнOriginal Betor Kraft and hispanions, User would have lost the fight." The System stated the obvious, but Jin was too tired to argue.

    "Was it a coincidence that they arrived on time? Or has it always been possible for them to interfere with the fight." Jin questioned the System.

    "Negative. The System has run through the rules for the fight. Normally, no one would be able to do such a thing, but because Pandapolis'' Dungeon Core was willing to make an exception for King Baal to settle his local threat, the loophole was there for the System to exploit." The System exined. "In essence, it was an unprecedented situation agreed upon by two Dungeon Cores themselves."

    "Huh, but shouldn''t their Dungeon Core know that thest key was with Baal? Why would it not tell Baal to stay away from them, instead of asking Baal to defend the core."

    "The Dungeon Cores are not as sentient as the System. It appears to be an instinctive call to action when feeling threatened. Would User take any chances if he felt his life was in danger? ording to System''s analysis of our own Dungeon Core, they appear to have basic AI functions that are leagues ahead in terms of technology for the current Dungeon World."

    "System suspects that the Dungeon Cores may have originated from other worlds or they might truly be relics left by high tech civilisation simr to how the Dwarves left Lost Tech to the Goblin and Orcs." The System analysed.

    "ShhhбнI do not need a boatload of exnation right now. It just makes my head hurt at the moment." Jin said as he tried to sit up. The pain was dull despite the recovery from his ''vampire bones'' and legendary inscription working overtime. If not for Pei and Rex aid, Jin would already have passed out from the pain from his speedy recovery.

    "Sometimes, I do not know why I am putting myself in danger." Jin chuckled to himself.

    With a bit of Green Panda Wind Energy, he managed to scoop up the remnants of the wretched crown and brought it close. Then he took an empty container and ced the broken contents into it. The System immediately took everything that was within the box and Jin was slightly amused since it behaved like a small child who couldn''t wait to open his Christmas gift. All this for some processing capabilitiesбн at least Jin was looking forward to his own reward.

    "The broken pieces of the crown definitely contain traces of defunct Dungeon Cores which are now highly reactive because of the magic inside. Decades of hard work by King Baal has turned the defunct Dungeon Cores into valuable resources capable of enhancing the System''s work-frame."

    "I keep thinking you are some sort of server room, but at the same time, you guys are not. What are you actually?" Jin asked as he tried to stand up and started to see some silhouettes afar. It seemed like the Pandawans and the shopkeepers were moving towards Jin. (Conveniently the System was taking this opportunity to keep silent.)

    "Oh shit. I did promise them that I would show some of my skills, didn''t I? Haha... They''re probably gonna scold me for this." Jin sighed with a light smile.

    "BOSS! YOU ASSHOLE!" Xiong Da shouted as he jumped off of his hippo mount and allowed it to dash towards Jin. Thankfully, the dungeon supplier was still nimble enough to move away from an angry hippo charging towards it. Alternatively, he could have easily disintegrated the ck sludge since it was originally part of his chi.

    "Ya, Boss! You lied to us! We thought we were going to fight side by side! In the end, I had to fight along with this Fat Hippo!!" Luo Boined, and Shi Zuo allowed her to do so. It was best to let his fiancижe-to-be rant it all out.

    "More like Boss ran away before he could reveal his skills to us. He tricked us again, I am not going to believe his words anymore!" Yue Wen snarled.

    "Boss, I cannot help you this time. You are really in the wrong." Bu Dong agreed with the rest.

    "Not to mention, there is no footage of you fighting against the big bad monster. The streams only showed us. I do not need to know how well this move could be improvedбн" Bin Yongmented and suddenly thought of ways to do so.

    "Didn''t I guys tell you that the AI that runs this is highly advanced and that I left the actions to it? I was just as surprised as you guys that he had such a move. Besides, technically I did show you guys my powers quite a fair bit during the charge down the bridge." Jin tried to rebut yet the crowd jeered.

    "Landlord, you gotta keep your promise somewhat. Else it is not fair to these loyal customers of yours." San Sun wasn''t happy with this technicality as he too was curious of his Landlord''s powers.

    "Fine, fine!" Jin sighed as he started to think what would be a cool way to impress them, and the only thing that came to mind was the System Rider thing. Still, he felt that ''surprise'' should be kept away from them (not to mention it was currently busted). Who knows whether the masked hero gimmick could be useful in the future if he needed to intervene in something.

    "System wishes to remind User that masked vigntes are probable causes for the police to catch you. They do not like surprisesбнalthough the System also rmends not to disclose one of your trump cards so openly."

    "But what can I show?" Jin asked as he turned away from the crowd and pretended to fiddle with his watch. He did entertain the thought of fighting all of them, but it would be too much of a pain, especially when his body was still recovering.

    "бнUser is hopeless." The System said as it transmitted a bunch of tickets in Jin''s hand.

    "Hahahaбнseriously, are we ying this card?" Jin looked at the ck striped tickets with a pr bear symbol on them.

    "We''ve been luring them with that idea for a long while. Could not hurt to use them as beta testers for that ''dungeon'' you have painstakingly designed."

    "I am d you recognise that fact." Jin chuckled as he turned his head with a smirk. Xiong Da could already see that Jin was plotting something bad but before he could say anything somehow a smoke bomb was thrown right in front of him and the Pandawans thought that Jin was going to attack them.

    Only when the smoke subsided, they found each of their weapons were pasted with the very same ck ticket that the System had handed to Jin.

    "That Bossбнas sly as ever." Xiong Da grinned. He knew Jin was strong but for him to paste a ticket so quickly when the smoke bomb was deployed?

    That was some skill too.?As for the ticketбн

    It was the privilege ticket to the elusive Pr Phantom Gentlebear Instance. "Come after Chinese New Year!" The Boss sent each and every one of them a personal text message while thanking them for their efforts.

 Chapter 805 Post Battle Supper

    <h4>Chapter 805 Post Battle Supper</h4>

    The entire defensive operation was a tremendous sess thanks to the teamwork of everyoneбнwell perhaps with the exception for Derpy as usual.

    As he was meant to be used for thest effort emergency backup n, the Shadow Dagen had to be kept hidden and therefore did not get to do much. Nevertheless, it wasn''t as if Derpy got the short end of the stick.

    He got an unexpected snack in the form of the flying turtle, indirectly helped bring a y Pandaji to real life and also enjoyed the opportunity to y around with his friend Wolte making him more than satisfied despite theck of his appearance.

    Jin who had escaped the wrath of his Pandawans returned to his Dungeon Maker instance and officially sent a message that the Pandapolis Defence Raid waspleted.

    "A big thank you to all the fellow Pandarens who have taken part in this raid. In appreciation for your participation up until the end, I am giving everyone additional points to thedder prizes you''ve obtained. Each one of you will be able to reach the next tier of rewards!"

    That message alone quickly received likes in the Pandamonium Forum and gave cheers to the shop owner''s generosity. While some requested for even more free stuff, the rest shared their thoughts for the Dungeon Raid.

    Many imed it felt a bit too real for them, but the experience was an eye-opener. They could feel the intensity of the battles and the death from both the demons and their own fellow cultivators left a great impact on their minds. However, many did realise that the recovery process during their stay in the Luxury Recovery Instance helped theme to terms with the incidents and experiences.

    In turn, a number of new customers were able to reach their next cultivation grade rather easily with the understanding and appreciation for life and death as their breakthrough.

    While breakthroughs weremon enough urrences in dungeon supplier stores, most of the Pandarens knew how difficult it was to get it done in one particr setting. Many had tried dungeon runs in other supplier stores for days, yet none could have provided such a breakthrough as quickly as Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas.

    At the same time, many of the customers also queried what kind of ce they had been protecting. There was not much of a background of the city they protectedpared to other stories where the dungeon instances were filled with hidden lore.

    Even though a number of Pandarens managed to catch a glimpse of it due to the mass teleportation incident, the bulk of his customers were clueless. Also, it was not possible for the Pandarens could not have a closer look when their life depended on their fighting skills against the horde of demons rampaging around.

    That was when Jin had written as a reply post that the raid was a prequel to the opening of a brand new Major ''Service'' Instance. More information would be given to the cultivators in due time, and Jin was looking at the chance of possibly creating the very first "medal to real cash" conversion method in the world.

    That reply post alone caused a lot of ruckuses even though it was in the middle of the night for most of his entire customer base.

    "Am I revealing a little too much or too fast?" Jin wondered to himself, and that was when Lynn and Qiu Yue came in together to the Dungeon Maker to rest. While it was technically Jin''s office, the Sub System Users had learned how to create furniture out of thin air and used them as they pleased before removing them when they were about to leave.

    "What are you nning to reveal?" Qiu Yue asked as she managed to catch his self-talk.

    "Oh, I was telling the forum users that I might implement a "medal to real" cash conversion. Is that really such a big thing? I recall seeing something like that in Europe... or at least in the United States." Jin answered, and while Qiu Yue tried to search for such a thing on the inte, Lynn took out an after battle meal for Jin to replenish.

    "You should take some proper rest after that fight. I''ve seen the stream... I was really worried for you, you know." Lynn admitted as Jin left his ''office'' desk and approached the small table where the three sat together to enjoy the supper.

    "Speaking about that battle. How dare you?!" Qiu Yue had one hand scrolling through the searches while another pulled Jin''s ear.

    "Ya, how dare you to fight alone?!" Lynn pulled the other ear as a continuation of Qiu Yue''s joke, thinking that her anger resulted from Jin not calling on his two Sub System users to assist him in the fight.

    "Actually... Lynn, I think I was pulling his ear for a different reason than that." Qiu Yue admitted andter reconsidered by pulling his ear harder.

    "But since you added that, how dare you?!"

    "Ow ow ow! Okay! I sincerely apologise to both of you. I''ve clearly overestimated myself, and when it came time for the fight, my thoughts were upied with fending him off. But I do think I know why Qiu Yue was so angry." Jin admitted his wrongdoing as he pulled the System Driver out of his storage watch and ced it for Lynn to see.

    "Oh my god...it is true. You are literally a Masked Rider....hmm, but we cannot use that in public. Imagine Japan representativesing down to sue you for copyrighting them." Qiu Yue talked about the superheroes children show that they had watched when they were younger.

    "Maybe that is why the System named it after itself. System Rider." Jin said as he savoured Lynn''s fried white noodles. "Gosh, Lynn. I swear I would never get sick eating this if you gave it to me every day."

    "That would be troublesome. You might not get sick of eating them, but I would get sick of cooking the same thing for you every day. Hehe. Thanks, Jin!" Lynn appreciated the praise as she took a bite as well and already started forming self-critiques in her mind.

    "Hey, System, do you think I can be a System Rider too?" Qiu Yue asked, and the System affirmed to it.

    "There is currently only one driver, and it requires Jin''s Astral Form ability to fully utilise the System Driver. System will look into making secondary drivers that could bepatible with the Sub System Users."

    "Aww yes!" Qiu Yue jumped up and down with glee and told Jin to watch out.

    "Original Betor Kraft has also voiced his interest though System is wary of the powers he could possess."

    "You''re scared he will overpower you too much, eh?" Jin gave a casualment, and the System sent an empty cupboard box falling to hit its user''s head. "Ouch! What is that for?! I am eating!"

    "Even though I may feel like the secondary character here, there will definitely be a battle where I will shine above you!" Qiu Yue pped Jin''s back as he resumed eating his noodles again, causing him to choke slightly.

    "Qiu Yue!" Lynn cautioned her with a stern voice, and she apologised as the trio dug in for the supper while giving Lynn a summary of their experiences from the battlefield.

 Chapter 806 Post Battle Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 806 Post Battle Discussion</h4>

    "Jin, you better add me to your roster for the next fight!" Lynn insisted with a pouty face when she heard about his take on the fight against King Baal.

    There were System yback streams exclusive for the few to watch, and the Penguin Cultivator was envious. She knew that she had her very own battlefield at the kitchen, serving the hungry cultivators before and after the fight. However, she too yearned to fight alongside Jin to be someone equal.

    "Haha, you should not request for him too much. He might ignore you and get another girl to apany him. Speaking of which, how''s that Tiger Princess? Hu Yang Ling." Qiu Yue asked teasingly, and Jin''s face went nk as his hand with the chopsticks stopped moving.

    "I бнhaven''t kept in touch with her recently. Too many things for me to deal with." Jin stated bluntly. He tried to recall if made any promises until he remembered about the issue where the Royal Snakes would go after this particr war. He was still unhappy about having been strong-armed into the Joint Exercise which should have merely been a cover-up for the portals.

    "The Royal Snake Soldiers are helping to clean the battlefield and doing sweeps around the Pandapolis Inds even though the System had informed Panda Remnant Hou Fei that there were no more monsters around." The System reported the status out of nowhere, and it startled the group for a moment.

    "It''s just standard procedure. Got to make those buggers work a bit more before allowing them to rx for the entire day, right?" Hou Fei entered and greeted the young adults. Lynn created another chair and offered him a seat which he denied politely.

    "Let me have a smoke first." Hou Fei said as he stood further away from them and lit his cigarette.

    "How are the soldiers'' reactions to the fight? I hope they weren''t too bored waiting for their turns." Qiu Yue asked, and Hou Fei shook his head vehemently.

    "That mass teleportation did a number on the soldiers. But most of them performed within expectations. We have discovered a few kinks that we will sort out, especiallymunication and group orders. My Colonels and Majors generally liked the experience and will convene tomorrow to express their thoughts out. Care to join, Mr Dungeon Supplier?" Hou Fei asked, and Jin pondered for a moment.

    "I guess so. As long as I am being respected as a civilian and not treated as military personnel." Jin demanded, and Hou Feiughed.

    "I will make sure to emphasise on that. Though I''d like to know, any problems with military-rted criticism?" The Royal Snake General queried.

    "I''ve watched enough shows and read books to know that quite a number of civilians were being pressured to suit the military. If, we were in martialw... Sure, I will do as you ask. However, if they ask me to produce weapons or to hand over my minion''s research for your own use, I will reject wholeheartedly and even disappear from this world if needed. The portal thing has already given me enough problems as it is."

    "I thought you sent a few of your Demon Exorcists to the northern border?" Hou Fei asked, and Jin squinted his eyes at the general. He did not remember telling him any specifics, and Hou Fei realised that he made a mistake. (Or did he?)

    "There is no need to lie since we are all part of the System. Since you already have some infoбн Yes, I sent them to take a look at the situation. The System informed me that their situation was not very favourable. Even Milk had to do some legwork to protect them." Jin disclosed and sent the information report to Hou Fei by asking the System to open it on his disy.

    "Hmmбнthose Demon Exorcists might be young, but they are talented warriors. To be able to have their special training done with Grandma Yuan had already proved that they were the cream of the crop." Hou Fei exnation made Jin realised once more that Grandma Yuan was no simple instructor.

    "If those exorcists had problems fending off the attacks, I can''t imagine how bad the situation might be if the Monster Horde breaks through the border walls." Hou Fei looked at the video clips that the System had caught with Milk''s help, but he too did not recognise the monsters.

    "Previous System User Yuan had been notified of the monsters, and she too had never seen such a variant before."

    "You have a way to contact her? Wait, why am I not surprisedбн" Jin rubbed his temples as he shook his milkshake and sipped slowly.

    "Are we going to fight against these bone spirit demons?" Lynn could already feel the chills going down her spine when she saw the Demon Exorcists desperately trying to fight against them. Even though one could say that they were only lightly armed, for an elite team toe barely alive was a cautionary tale.

    "No, we will not!" Jin stated decidedly.

    The tone of his voice left no room for arguments. "We already have enough on our te. As long as we deliver the Portal Gates to that area and ensure they are in working condition, our job is done. The Military, Police and Border Guards will have to take care of them. And Hou Fei. I ask that you keep this to yourself. If JODE knows that I sent provisional demon exorcists to such a battlefield, they might have my head on a chopping board."

    "But if your reports are rightбнthat means the private contractors are not going to be able to subdue them entirely. We will need to depart as soon as possible and reinforce the borders." Hou Fei said, ignoring Jin''s request as the Pandapolis Victory celebration for him was short-lived like the cigarette on his hand.

    "I shall liaise Ke Loong to get it done, first thing in the morning," Jin replied.

    "It''s already morning though." Qiu Yue pointed as she looked at her watch.

    "Let me get some sleep inбн The previous battle was really tough." Jinined with a sour face.

    "Haha, just kidding. If you want, I can help you get in touch with Ke Loong after my shower. Besides, I am your store''s assistant, right?" Qiu Yue offered as she stood up and stretched a little.

    "A shower sounds like a lovely thing right nowбн Anyways, if you really do not mind, ask the System for more details. Most of the stuff should be ready by now." Jin thanked Qiu Yue, and she winked at him.

    "Why are you winking?" Lynn caught her red-handed.

    "Jin said he wanted a shower. He could use a backrubбнyou know." Qiu Yue answered as she made a towel appear instantly.

    "I am going to keep putting barriers up against any intrusion, including the System!"

    "Ouch, that''s harsh Master. You should know I am right here, jealous that there are two young sprightful girls wanting to give you afortable shower. And yet you are rejecting them outright. System, I think you should start looking for a new master. This one isn''t gonna give you any babies any time soon." Hou Fei teased, and suddenly he heard a particr device activating.

    Jin had his System Driver nearby, ready to throw them out the door.

 Chapter 807 Morning Debrief

    <h4>Chapter 807 Morning Debrief</h4>

    Aside from the fact that Jin had indeed ced down barriers in case the System or the Sub System Users decided to do something funny while he was in the showers, he did have the chance to enjoy a good nap considering the circumstances for the duration of the night.

    His bones and muscles did not ache as much though the ck Sludge Crystals that emerged out of himбн seemed to be shinierpared to the dull, murky condensed appearance it once had. (However, he still found it disturbing that he could produce these crystals as if he was some magical m making pearls.)

    "System, what will happen if I do not produce any more of these ck Sludge Crystals, are you able to perform some of your procedures without it?" Jin asked casually while he changed his clothes.

    "System already has multiple backup ns for such procedures but considering that User has created an excess quantity and the quality of the crystals keeps improving, System should have enough time to rece the procedures in the future."

    "Well, at least it does not stink up the room nor creates a mess like that time in the Hot Spring Instance." Jin picked up the crystal and took a whiff of it. The crystal no doubt had a scent of his Maqi, but it was faintpared to the older ones.

    "Any progress with the Metropolis? I recalled you saying that the foxes, especially the newestбнoldest member has confronted a battalion on his own?" Jin asked as he performed his daily morning routine.

    "Panda Remnant Rex had sessfully subdued the entire battalion in less than 10 mins after he turned into a giant fox demon. To put it into perspective, he was as tall as Pandji and ttened the whole battalion with a st of his chi." The System immediately put out a disy screen and showed Jin the battle.

    "No wonder, you said there was nothing to worry about," Jin said as he stuffed the toothbrush in his mouth.

    "His giant form had also caused some disgruntled demons to challenge him. And Rex further dered to revise his conditions that if anyone was able to defeat him in 24 hours, he would renounce his position and give all the loot they had umted to the winner."

    "Then I guess, demons are still raging in the Metropolis to fight with him?" Jin identally spoke out via the System Channel, and it got connected to the foxes.

    "If you are talking about me. Yeah, I am still sitting right beside Paradiso to wait for challengers until the period for the demons to get their Dungeon Core back is over." Rex greeted Jin via the System Channel.

    "Meanwhile, the rest are shopping and doing some sightseeing in the Demon Metropolisбн" Pei grumbled as she was seen sitting on one of the nearby rooftops.

    "Do you need some dungeon dors? I can send you some." Jin offered as he gargled his mouth.

    "That''s not the point. Kraft wanted to make sure that the foxes stayed through the whole endeavour as support for Rex. He''s also filming the fights. He seems to be nning to use the footage for something."

    "You know, you really do not have to." Rex yawned a little in his Giant Fox form. Expending his power via the Giant Form did make him feel more rxed, especially with all the pent up energy for the past centuries still circting within him. Rex could not send all the chi energy out as it could potentially wipe up the entire Metropolis and then some.

    "It''s fine, I am interested in what Moloch is doing with the System. He seems to be busy looking through the data of the Demon Metropolis." Pei informed their master as she ced her head near the cotton toy and took a sniff of it as if he was her stuff toy.

    "Stop that, I know I smell good." Moloch boasted as he reported to Jin something out of the norm. "I did briefly tell you about the resurrection process and the organisation in charge of it, right?"

    "Yeah, some church handles it on your end and they are also the biggest ruling organisation for the Dungeon World or something."

    "Mmhmm. Not long after the fight with the Demon Home Guards, some of them came right here to Demon Metropolis wanting to pay me a visit apparently. Pei nearly wrecked them mistaking them for demon challengers until I noticed their badges."

    "Why would theye to visit you? I recall you saying they hardly bother Dungeon Core owners." Jin asked as he sat at the toilet bowl and scrolled his newsfeed.

    "You seem to underestimate the significance of us defeating Baal. Technically, we did defeat one of therger Metropolis Dungeon Core owners by sessfully defending and attacking at the same time. No one has ever aplished something like this before." Pei had initially thought that to be the reason why the Church of the Afterlife came to see Rex until the agents asked for a private conversation with Moloch.

    "Well, that and something else. The Church Agents wanted that wretched crown. I told them that we destroyed itpletely and even presented the broken jewel and a few unwanted parts of the crown." Moloch added with a slight grin.

    The words ''unwanted parts'' had already confirmed that the System already assimted the essential portion of the crown into the System. "The Agents were more than a bit suspicious about that, but my poker toy face allowed them to confirm that those were indeed the remnants after the fight."

    "Hey, you got to give Kiyu and me some credit too," Pei demanded as she squeezed the cotton toy a bit.

    "Argh! Fine fine! The girls did some tinkering to their minds. I do not know how, but they managed to make sure that even their top mages would not be able to see a trace of her -ARGH their meddling."

    "They did, however, insist on learning where Moloch found our group of humans. I think Demon Metropolis and Pandapolis will be under their watchful eye from today onwards." Pei analysed, and Jin sighed a little.

    "Not the first time we have eyes all around us. Don''t think it will be thest." Jin then asked the System whether Qiu Yue assisted in liaising with Ke Loong.

    "Yes, System had noted that the trucks have been procured, and Panda Remnant Hou Fei was willing to provide security details for us as thanks for the defensive training exercise. Qiu Yue has also contacted the Royal Tigers administration team based on your previous brief call with Yuan Ba. They will be providing us with the list of their bases shortly."

    "In conclusion, the portal machines would be on their way to their respective bases. User does not have anything to do with it anymore and can focus on other tasks." The System gave the report, and Jin was surprised to recall how efficient Qiu Yue was in such tasks.

    "Sub System User Qiu Yue did ask for a backrub bath in return. System believes that would be the most optimal reward for a job which User dreaded to be a part of."

    "After learning about the consequences of the job," Jin emphasised as he thanked the System for it. After his morning routine, he headed back to Pandapolis, towards the Pandastic Hotel for the feedback session that Hou Fei asked the Dungeon Supplier to join. (Yeap, he is totally going to ignore Qiu Yue''s yful advances.)

 Chapter 808 Breakfast with the Snakes - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 808 Breakfast with the Snakes - Part 1</h4>

    "Master, have you decided on your breakfast? We have toasted bread with bacon and eggs. Or would you prefer an assortment of dumplings?" A crocodile waiter asked Jin for his preference as he was the first to arrive in the private room of Pandastic Hotel''s main restaurant.

    "I shall go with the first option, ah but can I have some Xiao Long Bao? I have a sudden craving for it." Jin ced the order, and the waiter nodded his head and was on his way.

    "Sorry to bother you again, Master. Any drinks to apany your breakfast?" The waiter stopped in his tracks and quickly turned to ask. After all, he was extremely nervous about serving Jin for the very first time.

    "EhhбнGive me one Pu''er Tea," Jin said as he patted the waiter''s shoulders. "Don''t worry, you are doing a great job. Keep it up."

    "Thank you, Master!" The crocodile waiter bowed briefly as he hastily returned to the kitchen to report the order.

    "It''s as if you are treating your dungeon AI creations with respect." Major Boon Tiong said as he came inside together with his buddies and nodded his head in approval.

    "Treat a person well, and they will remember the favour, treating you back better. It''s a give or take world. What if one day my minions suddenly became sentient? I cannot bear the consequences of being bad to them. Hahaha!" Jin joked as the bigwigs sat down with him for breakfast. Now it was his turn to be a little nervous, although the atmosphere was less strenuouspared to the first time they had met.

    One of the main reasons for this might be because all of them wore casual clothes, and they were having fun talking to each other sharing their experiences.

    "That''s good to hear. You can always tell a lot about a person depending on how they treat those around him who aren''t necessarily their equals. I would not forgive someone just because they excused their poor behaviour because the one they were talking to was digital." Colonel Kan Jian took an apple from the centre table and passed it to Jin as a sign of courtesy.

    "Thank you, Colonel."

    "I am not in my uniform, just call me Kan Jian. No need to worry too much about formalities right now." Kan told him with a smile on his face.

    "Ah, but the VIP is here. As fashionablyte as ever." Colonel Chen Lai spoke up just as Hou Fei came in sporting a Hawaii shirt looking like an old man enjoying his retirement in a fancy holiday hotel.

    "The view outside is just too terrific. Can''t me me for taking a nice walk to refresh myself." Hou Fei replied with glee as a new waiter came bringing in some refreshments.

    "Firstly, let''s thank the dungeon supplier for a good fight." Hou Fei picked up his ss even though there was only tea in it and asked the group for a round of cheers. The rest chuckled at the absurdity of it but were willing to entertain their General.

    "Cheers!"

    "Yes, thank you for the fight. Thatst part where all the demons came in was chaotic. It really tested the limits of our soldiers and our current operating procedures. Though I have to admit, this was one of the most real dungeon experiences I''ve ever had. The money spent on the battalion was truly worth it." Colonel Kan Jian told him bluntly, and the rest agreed.

    "Now I understand why you decided to keep this monster creation engine secret and your reasons for staying as the sole proprietor. Over 30 years going into various dungeon supplier stores, and this has to be the one that made me reminisce the first time I''ve ever entered one. The Demons that we fought were not some useless cannon fodder as I had anticipated them to be as well. They had that realism in them, almost making me feel that I was truly fighting against a live demon soldier." Chen Lai added.

    "Remember guys, do not ask Jin about any secrets he does not want to share. He has the rights for it, after all." Hou Fei stressed, and everyoneughed bitterly, including Jin who knew the underlying tone beneath his words.

    "Still, you got to admit. If we had those things in real life, it would definitely help us a hell lot. Not to mention the firepower we could obtain. It feels oddly realistic enough when I saw the Industry Sector. Wait a minuteбн" Major Boon Tiong picked up his phone and checked the Pandamonium Forums.

    "Is that what you were implying when you posted that you could possibly create a medal to money conversation method? You can really build things in your dungeon instance like how the food here ...is erm all here?" Boon Tiong questioned, and it suddenly struck all the other Colonels while startling Jin quite a fair bit.

    "Looks like the cat is out of the bag." Hou Fei had no choice but to side with his brothers in arms for this case. He too knew that eventually, people would find out about Jin''s capability in dimension instances. It was all up to Jin to create an exnation for this right now. The only question was whether he could give them a good half-truth or not.

    "Yeah, looks like you caught me," Jin admitted truthfully, surprising them all.

    "I can indeed create things from raw resources to proper items in my dungeon instances." That one sentence alone blew their minds and left the entire group''s mouths agape.

    "I am not surprised that you are bbergasted by the truth. Because for dimensional instances, people had been using technology to rece it ever since. Most either don''t know or don''t seem to care about the actual origins of these types of stores. Although not for the same purpose, the dimensional instances I create today are simr to the ancient times where they were an extension of the ne to live in."

    "That is somewhat true. I can attest to that." Chen Lai, who was the most knowledgeable about Dungeon Instances concurred.

    "So, I have looked into some ancient ways of remaking the dungeon instances alongside some of my trusted colleagues who have decided to remain anonymous and allowed me to act as the public face. We''ve managed to discover a method that allowed us to create a substantial reality with virtual assistance via technological means. That is why I am able to create some stuff from scratch because they are real."

    "I assume there is a limit? Like I understand food farms and perhaps even creating simple tools. But production lines?" Chen Lai asked as everyone did not know how to reply.

    "There is such a possibility, but I have not reached that level of sophiscation. All those weaponry and futuristic items are still virtual items that could not be taken out of the dungeon instance. Still, I am looking forward every day to my colleagues and the researchers under using up with new ideas to broaden our horizon." Jin did not want to admit that he already could produce anything and everything as this kind of leaked knowledge could have catastrophic consequences.

    "And here we thought General Ming''s kid was just a nobody. We''ve always known that Ming was the secretive type. Seems like his grandkid inherited the same traits as him." Kan Jian said to Hou Fei as heughed loudly.

    "I wonder how those government honchos would react if they ever found out the truth..." Hou Fei thought to himself as he could see Jin wasing out of hisfort zone.

    For good or for bad, only time would tell.

 Chapter 809 Breakfast With The Snakes - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 809 Breakfast With The Snakes - Part 2</h4>

    "You knew my grandpa?" Jin asked, and the entire group nodded their heads, and their smiles did not betray the memories they had with him.

    "Not as well as our big boss here, but we also had the pleasure of being under his wings before he officially retired." Chen Lai exined and already recall all the old times which Ming whipped him and the others up to shape.

    "We knew he had a grandson, but he wasn''t one to share too much about his personal life. We never knew the whole story until Hou Fei told us about it. Looks like you did not have it easy when you are young too." Kan Jian said, but the dungeon supplier could only smile, withholding anyments he had about his childhood.

    "Still, this is quite a surprise. I never thought to see a dungeon supplier embracing those old ancient ways. Even the Royal Dungeon Suppliers are all about thetest technology and gadgets to increase the realism of dungeon instances." Chen Lai tried to change the topic to a more positive one.

    "Yet we experienced first hand how intense it can be with Jin''s. Those Royal Dungeon Suppliers could not hold a candle to him if they were to meet up in the National Dungeon Symposium." Boon Tiongmented, and the other colonels voiced agreement.

    "That is assuming we can keep the peace here by seeding with our assignment, else you can kiss goodbye to any major conventions." Hou Fei emphasised, and his brothers in arms turned more solemn. "Jin, I have already ryed your report to my men. Still, they would like more information if possible."

    "Heh, to think our new friend here is also a Demon Exorcist, let alone the uing Branch Manager of Shenzhen still continues to blow my mind. Sorry, General for not picking up this particr information. Our team should be reprimanded." Boon Tiong who was in charge of information collecting apologised publicly to the entire group for not getting the intelligence that Jin had collected.

    "It is not entirely your fault. Dongguan and Huizhou are not exactly our jurisdiction anymore, and the Border Guards like to y punk because of that, saying we have no rights to interfere with their defences anymore. The Tigers are also a rather prideful bunch of people, but hey they at least bowed their heads just enough to let use in to assist them." Hou Fei told Boon Tiong to hold his head up.

    "I am honestly confused with all theseбнit''s yours and mine thing." Jin blurted out, and the rest chuckled. For a moment they had forgotten that despite all of his aplishments, he was technically just a civilian.

    "Even though our ns hold a few territories and guard them fiercely, the government puts the Royal n''s Military branches in rotation to protect each and every region equally. This is to ensure fairness among the ns and also to cross audit each other in case they are doing something nefarious like corruption or nning an uprising." Kan Jian exined.

    "We rotate about every three years or so, and for our battalion, thest position we''ve been stationed in was Dongguan. From this year onwards, we will be in Shenzhen. The Tigers'' military recently moved out of here and will be going into Huizhou." Boon Tiong added.

    "You okay with me knowing all this?" Jin asked and Boon Tiong shrugged his shoulders.

    "As an uing Branch Manager, I am sure it''s fine for you to know. It''s rathermon knowledge despite it being ssified to the public." Boon Tiong eximed.

    "So, does that mean the Border Guards are in a way ming you guys for not taking responsibility, and that is why you got called to go into battle?" Jin asked for confirmation on what he had just learnt.

    "Not quite. We know they of thend betterpared to the Border Guards because we actually trained in the forests and mountains. They are only responsible for wall patrols to ensure no dangerous monsters emerge out of them. If one tries, they would subdue and call the military to go in and find the source of mutation." Hou Fei exined.

    "The situation was not as bad when we began moving our bases in November. We nearly lost a few troops, but they were able to locate a nest and destroy it. We thought the ruckus was over. Yet during the transition in December, we received reports that there were more of those nests." Chen Lai revealed.

    "Yeah, and because of the transition, we hired some private contractors to get the job done and informed the Border Guards to increase the security until we were done moving the bases. Onlyter in the middle of December, at the request of the Royal Horse Battalion, did they demand the Snake Battalion toe and finish up the job." Kan Jian grumbled.

    "They are the ones stationed in Dongguan now?"

    "Mmhmm. The Royal Horse n always used its position to exert influences on all other Royal ns because of their economic output and overall property value. But when ites tobat, the Royal Horse Battalion is a joke. It''s where all the softy, useless, snorty officers have assembled and their troops are such asses." Hou Fei cursed as he munched on his food, albeit a little angrily.

    "Someone offended him before?" Jin asked, and the rest nodded their heads with a sigh.

    "Ance corporal had the guts to badmouth our General here in public. Instead of receiving some form of disciplinary action from their officers, the Royal Horse General concurred to his soldier and let him off. If you were to do that such a thing in any other battalion, the offending party would receive punishment immediately because we respect rank rather than n." Boon Tiong stated as he drank some juice to wash off the bad taste of that particr incident.

    "Then why help them?" Jin asked as if he was thinking if they were giving the battalion some favour.

    "We aren''t." Hou Fei replied with a stern voice. "We are helping the Tigers instead. If the Royal Horses are so great, they can defend that ce with the dirty money they have."

    "But not everyone in the Royal Horse n is horse shit, Uncle Hou Fei." A female voice intervened in the current conversation when she opened the door to their private room.

    "Sorry to tell you all thiste, but I invited her as well since she was the one who wrote the report." Hou Fei''s expression changed when Su Zhen came into the room while giving a quick wink at Jin. He had secretly turned to the System channel and told Jin that the System allowed him to bring her in.

    The rest of the army officers casually greeted the Great White Snake Demon Exorcist, and she waved at them... except for Jin. She bowed slightly in front of the dungeon supplier before sitting right beside him.

    "Heyyyбн why the sudden courtesy towards me." Jin felt very awkward, and the othersughed.

    "Because you are her big boss, you idiot." Hou Fei pointed out as he called for the waiter to bring in more pancakes.

 Chapter 810 Breakfast With The Snakes - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 810 Breakfast With The Snakes - Part 3</h4>

    "I know it''s ironic to say this since we are talking about your report, but we are off workбн So, you do not need to be so formal." Jin did not know how to react to Su Zhen''s overtly polite manners, especially when all of them had been rebellious towards him up until now.

    "We are all her uncles in the Royal Snake n. Unlike you, the uing Branch Manager of JODE, she had been taught to respect you more than us. Her mother demanded it so." Kan Jian was gleeful over Jin''s helplessness.

    "One day they were rebellious and the next, they were too well mannered. The situation stinks." Jin thought to himself.

    "Sorry, Branch Manager." Su Zhen once again apologised politely for her ''proper'' etiquette, but Jin vaguely suspected that it was actually sarcasm, and she was taking this opportunity to make fun of him.

    "Ah, whatever. Just tell us what exactly you saw." Jin told her, and Su Zhen proceeded to tell everyone at the table about her experience. Although her food was served quite promptly, she never touched anything and continued until her report waspleted.

    "I personally believe this is not the time for politics, and both provinces should be aided equally." Su Zhen said, and the rest kept quiet for a while.

    Even Jin who barely got into this business knew that this was wishful thinking from her part. Upon experiencing the Rat Triad himself, he knew that it was everyone for themselves and the ''good guys'' could only do so much while the rest fought amongst themselves about whoever got a bigger piece of the pie.

    "We will do what we can. Su Zhen, please eat your breakfast. It''s getting cold." Hou Fei reassured the Snake n''s newest Demon Exorcist.

    "It''s okay, I do not wish to burden you at the big men table for too long. Please continue your discussions without me." Su Zhen prepared to take her leave, and Jin did not stop her. He knew how ufortable it would be to sit beside someone you had to respect out of courtesy than be respectable at someone you admire.

    "She is not an easy person to work with, but she''s a nicess. That is if you get to know her more." Chen Lai praised her to Jin as if he was doing some matchmaking procedure rather than for work purposes.

    "Gah, why is everyone introducing me to someone as if I have to get married quickly so that I won''t die alone by the end of the year?" Jin thought to himself.

    "Probably because integrating User in the Royal Snake Family will certainly boost their reputation. They have recognised your abilities and believe it would be beneficial for them in the long run. System would like User to be cautious so as to not get influenced by them."

    "Yet if User really does like Demon Exorcist Su Zhen, System takes back the advice. As long as there is a baby at the end, it''s Users choice who to end up with."

    "бн. You just want someone to inherit the System and continue my work." If Jin ever found out that the System had a physical entity, he was itching to beat the crap out of it.

    "Affirmative. Thus far, User''s work has led to positive growth in the System''s capabilities. ording to the numbers, a 2nd generation should be able to even further increase this positive trend. Naturally, the more potential candidates there are, the better. Nevertheless System is somewhat grateful."

    "Somewhat. Wow. After all I''ve done, you are just ''somewhat'' grateful."

    "System believes User would prefer words more than statistical percentages to the amount of gratitude the System has in you."

    "Whateverбн"

    "Jin, you listening? Or you are in your mind thinking about our Su Zhen already?" Boon Tiong snapped his fingers rudely at Jin when he was having a conversation with the System and staring into nk space and the others enjoyed teasing the little boy in the room.

    "Oh! Sorry! No. I was just thinking about the Bone Spirit Monkey Demons that Su Zhen mentioned." Jin was quick enough toe up with an excuse.

    "Tsk, you are not being honest to yourself. Hahahah!" Hou Fei teased as he realised that the System must have been having a chat with Jin.

    "Any idea to quell such demons? They sound to be more difficult than the Demon Army you created." Chen Lai asked for conversation sake and to move that sensitive topic away from Jin.

    "Not really. Besides, my advice would be useless since you guys are the true experts in the field of annihtingrge threats. I will, however, send a report to Grandma Yuan and see what she says about it. Maybe, I can convince her to send some people to assist against the iing Monster Horde." Jin said even though he already knew that Grandma Yuan does not have any idea about those Bone Spirit Demons. It was just a way to get them off his back for the moment.

    "Actually, I already did that with Su Zhen''s mother. Sorry to bypass the chain ofmand in your area of expertise but this is an emergency." Hou Fei stated that this was not a joking matter to him nor the people of Huizhou and Dongguan. Since Su Zhen''s mother was the COO of the JODE organisation, the report should be able to reach the Chancellor faster than via Jin or his alleged mentor.

    "Oh and eh, don''t worry. I did say you were with the young ones when she queried why Su Zhen was fighting in the enemy linesбн Also told Su Zhen to coborate for that lie and she felt a little guilty upon learning that you were covering them for theirбн let''s say initiative and curiosity to find out more about the truth." Hou Fei informed him via the System Channel since it was still a secret between the two of them. "But hey, they all came back safe and sound, and that''s what''s important!."

    "Sighбн no wonder she was unable to look me in the eyes, unlike the previous times. I understand. I will take responsibility for my ''words'' and actions."

    "Attaboy. Sorry to put you in such a predicament." Hou Fei apologised to him via the System Channel. "So, if things go well, the Demon Exorcists might be reinforcing the Royal Horse arses since JODE''s chancellor is their n''s puppet and we can focus on cooperation with the Tigers."

    "Hahah, this is the General Hou Fei we know and love. Even though you hate your enemy, you still send them aid." Kan Jian smiled at the news.

    "We cannot allow ourselves to steep as low as the Royal Horse n, right? Besides Su Zhen''s right, not all the Horses are ck horses." Boon Tiong agreed that this was the best course of action to avoid conflict while keeping the peace between different battalions.

    "Then if the Royal Battalions are in, will the normal part of the erm China Armed Forcese in to help?" Jin was a bit confused since he had always viewed them as one big organisation."

    "After learning this much, we will probably not be using the people''s army for battle, especially if the Monster Horde could be so dangerous. I believe the governors of Huizhou and Dongguan will use the local troops to evacuate the city if necessary." Kan Jian theorised, and the rest seem to agree to it.

    "Yea, Tiger Head Yuan Ba also said that he would deploy police forces on that day to expedite the evacuation if necessary, from Shenzhen and Huizhou." Hou Fei added and realised Jin could not keep up.

    "The policeбнis yet another field of politics. Let''s just say that Yuan Ba is one of the co leaders for our local day to day protection services."

    "I am more surprised that your Snake n''s Head seems to leave everything to you to settle." Jin wondered, and the rest chuckled.

    "Yet anotheryer of politics within the Snake n. Our Head dislikes getting out in the public too much, so that is why it feels as if Hou Fei is handling almost everything. And most of the public knows whyбнhopefully you too." Boon Tiong said, and Jinughed bitterly.

    "How can I not know? After all, snakes are infamous for their intelligence services." Jin replied.

    "Yes, intelligence ''services''." Hou Fei said with an annoyed face although his mouth betrayed him as it was showing a smirk.

 Chapter 811 Breakfast With The Snakes - Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 811 Breakfast With The Snakes - Part 4</h4>

    "Any worst-case scenarios in mind? What if those Bone Spirit Monkey Demon were just the goons?" Jin asked, and the military officers shook their head simultaneously and deemed it impossible.

    "If that were true, then we would have arge-scale catastrophe on our hands. There''s no way those were goons. We had eliminated their nest before, and they are neither that intelligent nor strong." Boon Tiong replied.

    "Well, I am just presenting the options from the perspective of an outsider and a person who makes dungeons for a living. What if the nests were diversions? Those Bone Spirit Monkey Demons were apparently at least smart enough to ambush our group when they were resting. Subsequently, they separated the demon exorcists and entrapped them so they could remove each of them individually." The rest became quiet for a while instead of being dismissive of the facts.

    "And there are apparently other Bone Spirit Demons waiting to finish the job based on Su Zhen''s report, right? Isn''t this your standard divide and conquer rather than a monster horde rushing aimlessly?" Jin questioned, and the rest stopped eating their food for a moment.

    "Boon Tiong, any corrtions with the recent emergence of Monster Hordes in other cities that have nearly been pulverised?" Hou Fei said in a rather authoritative tone.

    "There were somements from various sciencemissions that it might not be amon natural urrence. Though they did not specify anything about Bone Spirit Demons. Those monsters were still part of their surrounding habitat." Boon Tiong quickly checked his phone for the required information.

    "Are you implying that this could, in fact, be international terrorism disguised as a natural disaster?" Chen Lai suddenly brought that topic up.

    "Perhaps. I will have to check with the n Head to see if there are any possible causations and rtions. If Jin did not point this out, I might have overlooked such a possibility." Hou Fei admitted as his head suddenly got heavier.

    "I think we might need to prepare more than we thought if those ursed spections out Jin''s mouth turn out to be true." Hou Fei said with a cruel smile and the others chuckled for a moment.

    "Hey! I did not jinx anything! I merely pointed out what seemed obvious to me. Usually, elite troops during peace times ultimately always get their ass kicked in because they''ve grown too used to the ''threats and warnings'' around them. I also didn''t think that you would not take me seriously enough to warrant such a heavy atmosphere right now. Hopefully, this would be just baseless conjecture." Jin tried to defend himself.

    "Haha, it is not your fault, Jin. Though I must say, having a backup n will indeed prove to be useful." Chen Lai agreed, and the others began to slowly look at Jin.

    "What?" Jin could literally feel a cold chill running down his spine. The suspicions of them wanting a favour from him was extremely obvious.

    "Guys, do not bother the Boss this time around. I promise him at least that much." Hou Fei quickly intervened, yet the officers were already giving conflicting expressions on their faces.

    "But we all saw him battle. Both Boss Jin''s colleagues and their fighting abilities had repeatedly shown that they are capable individuals who could make a huge difference in our fights. Plus, this Pandapolisбн Especially when he said that his dungeon instances are an extension of the real world. This means that if we include him in our worst-case scenario, it will help to mitigate a lot of losses." Chen Lai spoke out bluntly for the officers.

    "I support Chen Lai. Though renting this ce is a horrible idea in terms of budget, we cannot deny that it might save a ton of people. And since we have the portal devices to send them here. The Tigers can be roped into the n as well." Kan Jian suggested.

    "And you are assuming Dongguan area won''t get hit as badly with the Royal Horse Shits and the Demon Exorcists aiding them? Then what if the monster horde spilt into Huizhou or even worse, Shenzhen?" Boon Tiong added fuel to the burning fire of pessimism.

    "We can only do that much. Stretching our forces thin would not do any good." Hou Fei replied. "At the very most, we can ry this information to the Tigers and get them to at least set up temporary roadblocks."

    "You sure? Thest time I heard from them, they wanted as much normalcy as possible with the uing new year preparations." Boon Tiong reiterated the need to be somewhat discreet.

    "Fuck discretion. If the Demon Exorcists have trouble handling them as per the report and the constant requests from the Border Guards to get rid of the threat are not getting anywhere, it is an issue that the government should be getting even more battalions toe in. If there is no proper, timely evacuation, we won''t have people to celebrate Chinese New Year." Kan Jian proposed.

    "Sigh. The government is certain to side with the Tigers on this. Every industry is currently ramping production, working 24 hours overtime before the pending holidays. That is why they wish to clear it a few weeks before the official holiday in case there''s a mess up. We will then have some leeway to clean the situation. Also, the partial reason why we are there to help even though it is no longer our jurisdiction." Hou Fei shook his head in dismay.

    "This is not going well as we thought it would be." Kan Jian reinforced when the conversation turned grimmer.

    "Too many factors to consider and absurd limitations." Chen Lai sighed as he emptied his cup and identally mmed it too loud.

    "There is only this much I can do as a Dungeon Supplier. If you need my services in times of need, I might consider helping. But if you ask me to fight, I am sorry, I refuse!" Jin apologised, but suddenly Hou Fei unknowingly realised a loophole in Jin''smitment.

    "You knowбнeven if you do not fight with us as a Dungeon Supplier, you are technically a Demon Exorcist... So they might have to send you to Dongguan." Hou Fei leaned forward as he said it. As much as he wanted to keep his promise to Jin, this was the only way he could think of to benefit his battalion, fulfilling his duty to the people and helping Jin out further.

    Also, the moment when Hou Fei said the word Demon Exorcist, the eyes of the military officers lit up. They knew where their General was heading and as cunning as it sounded, it could actually be a win-win situation for both parties.

    "We are willing to officially recruit you and can set up a new contract with us. We will then use your Pandapolis as a refugee camp if the need arises. Either way, you won''t need to fulfil your duty as a Demon Exorcist since you will be working for us on this particr mission. I can even put a word to Su Zhen''s mother to exempt you from working at Dongguan." Hou Fei suggested, and Jin realised how shrewd his Panda Remnant was.

    It was too lucrative of an offer to refuse.

 Chapter 812 Breakfast With The Snakes - Final

    <h4>Chapter 812 Breakfast With The Snakes - Final</h4>

    "Hou Fei, can I have a private talk with you?" Jin asked as if he was considering the lucrative proposal that Hou Fei had thought out of the blue.

    "It''s fine, we''re already done with our food and had nned to leave anyway. There are some post-battle debriefings we need to do with our respective toons." Kan Jian said, and the rest nodded their heads, giving their General and the Dungeon Supplier some time to sort things out.

    "Thanks, guys." Hou Fei said as he waved goodbye to his men and asked Jin if he could light another cigarette.

    "You know, even if you are a high-grade cultivator, it doesn''t mean you should smoke that much. You haven''t forgotten that Grandpa Ming died from cancer, have you? бнSpeaking of, I do not remember seeing you at his funeral." Jin suddenly realised.

    Aside from a few of his past neighbours and friends from other provinces, Jin did not recall seeing Hou Fei at the funeral procession.

    "I was in an overseas conferenceбнdiscussing on- Never mind. Not something you should worry about. Still, that doesn''t mean it came as a surprise. Before his passing, Ming called and told me that his time was soon to be up. That he was going to leave soon without giving you any notice and asked me to look after you when possible. We had a great dinner talking all about the old times we ever had." Hou Fei somehow stopped abruptly and took a deep breath from his lit cigarette.

    "In any case, why would you like to talk to me in person? Not because of this issue, right?" Hou Fei asked, and Jin shook his head even though he had a number of questions pertaining to Ming and especially in regards to Grandma Yuan.

    It''s just that he did not know where to start.

    "When I asked about the worst-case scenario, your expression turned for the worse and eventually got so serious. I doubt that you had some sudden epiphany that led the whole conversation this way." Jin questioned, and Hou Fei returned a puzzled look.

    "Aren''t you the one who gave me the System report? I thought that was what you were hinting at when we all thought it would not be a big deal. You know the one where the System reported that it had captured the monkey but not the Bone Spirit Demon infused with it?" Hou Fei answered, and Jin gave a nk look at that point of time.

    "Ah. That I did not know it was an issue for contention. I thought the System could not capture it in time or something."

    "Nonsense. System''s capturing rates had always been 100%. If System is unable to fully control or convert someone or something, it will store the monsters just like was done for Diabolos, King Hamu and Fae Princess Maeve."

    "Says the one who could not catch the Demon Ratsбн Hahaha- Wait a minute, why didn''t you list King Baal?" Jin was curious what happened to him.

    "He hase to his senses, and the information flow between the System and him caused Baal to acknowledge that he had really been blinded by the lies Kiva had fed him over the years. However, he does not wish to be disturbed as of right now and had asked for some solitary time out." The System reported, and Jin was surprised. He thought that King Baal would be stored the same way as the other viins they had met.

    "System likes to iterate once more, Demon Rats are not the same living entity." The System emphasised that the monkey had signs of being possessed and its DNA strain slightly altered after infusion. However, there was nothing that would impede the livelihood of the said monkeys.

    "So, there you go. I thought you were hinting to me, which brought me to believe this was not just a monster horde. It could be international terrorism in the works. Or well, domestic terrorismбн Either way, if the System was unable to capture it, means that the Bone Spirit Demon was not exactly a demon but possibly an enchantment of some sort." Hou Fei deduced.

    "Sorry, that''s out of my hands for now. I am not going to interfere with what you guys are fighting but saving people would be a different issue. I initially thought the Demon Exorcists will get some pretty nifty demon monsters, but I guess it was a waste of effort." Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "Nah. At least the System''s report and Su Zhen''s report helped a lot in our preparations though we have less than a week or so..."

    "Yeah, it sure helped a lot when I asked you specifically to NOT spread the message to other people. And of all people, Su Zhen''s mother! The COO of the JODE organisation!"

    "It''s my responsibility. You cannot override the fact that protecting this nation is my duty and calling. Aside from serving you that is. Heh!" Hou Fei argued as he flicked the ashes of his cigarette into the ashtray and coughed a bit.

    "So, what is the bright idea you have in mind, General." Jin asked since he honestly did not want to be sent to Dongguan.

    "Since Pandapolis has yet to be announced, we can use the hotels and those ssy yet empty condominiums your minions have built as a ce for any refugees if things really go south. Heh, no pun intended. I have yet to properly check the infrastructure in Huizhou, but I believe the city doesn''t have any proper bunkers against this kind of natural disaster." Hou Fei exined.

    "And if those Bone Spirit ''Demons'' ever overflow into the dungeon instances, your monsters can be the guards to protect the people. This will give me peace of mind when we fight."

    "You are already expecting that things will go bad very quickly?"

    "The private contractors, who we had hired, were previously Special State Agents. Usually, they would have aplished the job almost immediately. But to think that there was no news except for asional reports worries me. At first, I thought that it was because they got the whole mountains to track and stuff, but this additional report has confirmed otherwise."

    "You know, I thought you guys should already have scouted with air surveince or something," Jin asked as if he was stating an obvious fact.

    "Hah! As if we did not think of that. Our support drones reported no further movement of any sorts after our elimination of their nests. Even with infrared, we were not able to spot anything. Otherwise, we would not have needed eyes on the ground to check this discrepancy. The funny thing is we had been receiving reports that the Borders Guards were still getting hit despite the contractors'' reports that the coast was clear." Hou Fei told him, and suddenly it started to make no sense to him when he pieced all the information together.

    "I am not on the scene, but I can already smell something fishy," Jin said and Hou Fei snorted.

    "So, this is really not a monster horde but indeed an attack on our sovereigntyбн" Hou Fei whispered to himself.

    "In any case, are you willing to ept my proposal? I promise the Tigers and Snakes will pay you handsomely."

    "Like I said, I''m not going to do any fighting for you. As for saving people? Sure. However, you gotta protect the trucks and portal devices within it! There is only so much I can do if the portal devices get damagedбнor stolen." Jin mumbled thest part before ignoring it for a moment and shook hands with Hou Fei.

    For once, fate had allowed him to take the backseat... (For now?)

 Chapter 813 A Glimpse of the Church

    <h4>Chapter 813 A Glimpse of the Church</h4>

    "If things really go south, we need a contingency n to keep our business up while keeping our promise to Hou Fei," Jin said out loud to the System as he returned to the Dungeon Maker.

    "What happened to the ''we are going to ignore the pleas of the people who decided to abuse you for their own benefit'' kind of deal?" Kraft had coincidentally returned to the Dungeon Maker to pick up some stuff.

    "What are you doing here? I thought Pei said that you foxes needed to stay together?" Jin asked, and Kraft gave a short grin.

    "Just changing the video cams'' memory sticks for Kiyu. Since she wanted to shop and take more videos around." Kraft answered as he switched the memory sticks in front of Jin''s interface while casually opening one of them.

    Suddenly a bodycam like a video was streaming right in front of Jin. "What''s this?" Jin asked as he had never seen such a white pristine-looking hallway before.

    "We nted a mini camera on one of the Church of the Afterlife agents. Seeing that their Dungeon World is focused on magic rather than technology, we are able to do this without them detecting any magical signal."

    "I am more surprised you can get a stream out of this. We have no satellite ormunication towers to even transmit this data."

    "Damn it, you got me. And here I thought I could bluff you on this." Kraft snickered, and Jin looked at the crafty fox who would nevermit such a basic mistake. In other words, he ''identally'' revealed it just so could boast about doing something stupid but effective...

    "You followed them, didn''t you?"

    "More like, Kiyu transformed into a piece of dull decorative essory that was camouged with the rest of their odd white suits and they carried her inside. Just something we used to do way back in the old days of infiltration. Perks of being an oldie. Heheh."

    "бн Unbelievable." Jin shook his head. He had already guessed that Kraft wouldn''t just let the Church of Afterlife agents get back to where they came from without stalking them from a distance. The sound was slightly muffled, but the picture was crystal clear.

    "So how are you switching memory cards for Kiyu?"

    "You know, make ''em invisible and use chi to manipte the object towards the essory for Kiyu to switch it on the fly. Nothing tooplicated."

    "Shouldn''t they have magic detectors all around the ce?"

    "Unlike your Maqi, which had a trace of magic in it, my chi is rather peaceful and has a tranquil kind of aura. People won''t suspect much." Kraft was incredibly proud to say it.

    "More like hiding behind the pirs, being a wallflower and striking them with overwhelmingly murderous intent when time presents the opportunity to do so."

    "Meh, same thing." Kraft shook off Jin''s analogy as he switched the files on the Dungeon Maker interface and Jin saw the conversation of the agents reporting to their superior.

    -----

    "Yes, this is indeed the crown. The readings matched with what our mages had discovered. Have you managed to salvage any of the broken Dungeon Cores inside it?" The superior asked, and the agent shook his head.

    "Sir, we checked with ourbs, and the mages confirmed that while there are remnants of the cores, the most importantponent we were looking for has been destroyed or is now missing. They concluded that Hell''s ne could have been too much and burnt the cores within the crown."

    "Damn it. Fine, I will report to the council that we acted toote. In any case, continue to monitor the Pandapolis and Demon Metropolis. I do not know where that Bull Toy Moloch was able to find those humans, but they pose a possible threat." The superior said, and before he left with the remnants of the crown, he gave onest additional order.

    "When their city is officially open, send in undercover agents to make sure that they blend in well and learn their state of technology. I will prepare the budget to provide a merchant cover in case they restrict travel. We hardly got any coverage with all the magical interference from the battle, and we need to gather more information on them."

    "Sir, are we going there to steal information or get them to be our partner?"

    "Agent 5843, that is not for me to understand. Just get your job done."

    "Sir, yes sir." Agent 5843 nodded his head and got out of the office.

    -----------

    "Kiyu will still be hanging around for a while to see if this guy has any more secrets we can hold on to. As for me, I shall do some scouting. Oh and their base..or should I say Dungeon Core is basically like the Vatican City."

    "Beautifully holy?"

    "Exclusive dominion with full ownership to the Church of the Afterlife and no one but them. No Demons, no monsters, no poor adventurers, not even middle ss peeps." Kraft revealed, and Jin stared nkly at him.

    "Anyways, Rex will have full ownership of Demon Metropolis in another 10 hours or so. Do remember to check back with Moloch on how to deal with those agents when we are done." Kraft said as he waved goodbye to Jin and disappeared without a trace nor System portal.

    "Even if we ce that issue at the backburner, I honestly do not feel like making anything after hearing about that conspiracy Hou Fei had," Jinined out loud to the System.

    "Then like the situation in Pandapolis, System suggests making contingency ns to aid Panda Remnant Hou Fei. Besides, he has already given an advance to the System in case we required some more cash to prepare for the ce of refuge." The System stated.

    "How many empty undersea domes do we still have left?" Jin questioned, and the System indicated that there were at least two of them that was entirely empty. The other two were partially built for a massive shopping centre and a racing grand prix stadium.

    "More entertainment venues can be inserted within the racing grand prix, and it could potentially fit the Cyberpunk setting of a racetrack." The System replied, and Jin queried how much was built.

    "Hmm, If it is only the foundation, can we change it to buildings temporarily?" Jin asked once more.

    "The current upation of hotels and condominiums will hold approximately 100,000 people."

    "Then, we need more. Roughly enough space to hold an additional million." Jin stated without any crack on his facial expression as he typed the number on the interface.

    "System is unable topile. System is unable toprehend."

    "What''s so hard to understand? We need space for over 1 million people. We still have a few floating inds, too right? Build as many fabricated buildings as we can. As fast as we can." Jin exined and then the System stopped responding for a moment.

    "System. I am not joking. If the unnatural monster hordes were any indication about what ravaged the overseas cities, we would likely face the same. There is no way the citizens will be left unharmed."

    Instead of arguing with Jin, the System used a slightly more efficient technique and called real people out to talk it out with the now ''cracked under pressure'' master before using any System based techniques to reform him.

 Chapter 814 Counter Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 814 Counter Proposal</h4>

    "YOU DID WHAT?!" Qiu Yue tried to pull her cheeks in case she was in a dream. The System had called Grandma Yuan, ire, Yun, Lynn and Qiu Yue into the conference room instance whereas the System had forcefully thrown Jin into the fray.

    When the Dungeon Supplier told them about Hou Fei''s issue and his proposal to hold one million over people. Even the experienced Demon Exorcist Instructor could not believe that Jin made such an outrageous proposal towards the System.

    "No wonder the System wanted us to check if you caught some insanity fever after your fight." ire scoffed at the idea too.

    "I am not being unrealistic! The total poption of Dongguan and Huizhou is roughly 12 million. I am only asking for the funds to amodate one million people worth of space. Besides, if we want to run the Pandapolis with full efficiency, we need that many people anyway, right? The monsters under my care cannot do all the jobs. There is definitely a limit to how many monsters the System can hold despite the increased processing capabilities."

    "I understand you have far-reaching goals, but this is simply ludicrous. Jin, we do not have the potential to feed 1 million people! Even if we were able to, the capacity to do so in the long run is not viable. When we built this city, we looked to cater to approximately 200 000 citizens, customers or tourists and perhaps move our way up from that SLOWLY. One million is five times that number. Our sanitation, our infrastructure, our utilitiesбн nothing is prepared for that!" Qiu Yue argued with reason but her head was already filled with the word impossible.

    "This child needs a good wake up p on the head." Yun did not hesitate to go towards Jin but a word from Grandma Yuan and strangely, she obeyed and stopped.

    "Son, are you doubting the capabilities of our soldiers or of our demon exorcists?" Grandma Yuan asked, and Jin kept his mouth shut. He knew whatever he said, be it yes or no, would be countered almost immediately.

    "No reply? Then listen to me carefully. First of all, calm yourself down. You have just been through a major battle from what I''ve heard, and you should take some time to rest, not jump straight into the next battle without thinking it over." Grandma Yuan said as she gently banged her stick on the ground to keep his attention.

    "As a war veteran myself, I can only give you one piece of advice. Do what you can. Prepare the infrastructures as much as you deem possible, but do not overstretch yourself. You are no god. No one is expecting you to be one. You are just a person who so happens to have a special ability and can use such power for them. I am d you are willing to help other people, but there is only this much you can do." Yuan sighed as she took a ss of water to drink and continued.

    "You also have to remember that people will eventually envy you for that power and seek that power that you hold for themselves. It is partially why the System does not wish to make any noise. Don''t forget what you are about to do isn''t a smallmitment. Basically, you agree to house them for as long as it takes. Are you sure you can handle that for that many?" Yuanmented as she saw the troubled look on Jin.

    "Iбн" Jinid back on his chair and took a deep breath. There were words within him wanting to argue back, but Grandma Yuan was right on the money. There was only so much he could realistically do.

    His food storage could onlyst that long.

    His space was limited.

    How long before the government stepped in to aid the troubled citizens? What if the Monster Horde were indeed the same as the ones as seen all over the world recently? That could possibly mean that exterminating them would be a hassle since they would be secretly hiding in those cities.

    And what if the situation was beyond their means? Would they have to kick out the refugees? Then he wouldn''t be a hero but be the bad guy in this scenario. When Jin was considering all these, Lynn came towards him and ced a warm towel over his face she took out from her storage ring.

    "Grandma Yuan is right, calm down," Lynn spoke in a rxing tone. She too had seen the numbers on the screen projected by the System to justify that its User had gone crazy.

    Despite the many outrageously impossible ns, both User and System had always ovee them barely up till now, yet this time the System was iming it was too much of an obstacle.

    "Say, after the fight with King Baal the System has increased its processing capabilities, right?" Lynn asked, and Jin took the face towel down to look at her.

    "What are you implying, Lynn?" Qiu Yue gave Lynn the chance to voice out since she was usually the most reasonable person out of the three of them.

    "I know you would like to sit this one out, but how about we prepare a counter offence?" Lynn questioned, and the rest were drawing nks from her question.

    "бнWhat do you mean?" Jin probed for more information.

    "ording to all the information we''ve gatheredбн we are assuming that the Monster Horde might be under control, possession, or something of that level? What we are doing right now is relying on the Royal Battalions to do a sweep through the forested mountains and still catch all of them and maybe whoever is behind them. Either way, theirst defensive line would be the Border Guards with the wall fortifications, correct?" Lynn started to sum up everything, and everyone slowly nodded their heads.

    "So if the problemes about when the Monster Horde reaches the wall, why don''t we teleport in the midst of the Monster Horde and disrupt them so they would not overflow the wall when that happens? Maybe we can find the perpetrators of the act as well. Sure, we will still take Hou Fei''s job to take people in for emergency evacuation but at least that way, even if we fail, they''ll only have to remove the people from those districts around the border wall and not the entirety of Huizhou or Dongguan." Lynn exined.

    "I was partially reminded of Jin''s previous n. He once nned to use a lure to get the Demon Rats sucked into a dungeon instance so that they couldn''t escape. After which, we had nned to utilise the Demon Rats as the product for the joint training exercise between the Tigers and Snakes." Lynn revealed and that caused Qiu Yue and Yun to whisper among each other while Grandma Yuan and ire were absolutely clueless.

    "Here I thought we would not need to be too involved in this other than rescuing people." Jin thought to himself and sighed. Nevertheless, he had to agree that Lynn''s solution would potentially enable them to either prevent the situation or limit the damages.

    It would be great if they could supplement the defending soldiers without being seen. This was also the first time Lynn had actively decided to take reins and control the operation. (Just shows how serious she was in wanting to fight side by side with Jin.)

    "A counter attack against the monster is considered as a way to rescue people too. System can generate an EMP charge ckout disguised as the enemy''s attack to reduce chances of detection if User wishes to keep the whole situation at a low profile. However, the probability to appear as the perpetrator with User and his monsters would be a cause of concern too." The System spoke only to Jin as it would decrease the chances of its existence being discovered, yet simultaneously it pointed out the dangers of proceeding with this n.

    "Do we have any lures for the demons?" Jin finally caved in and asked the System openly.

    "With User''s unique aura, it should be enough as a lure to get the Monster Horde to chase after you instead."

    "What if I use the ck Sludge Crystals to amplify my aura? Do you think it will work even better? We can use that to attract the demons into the System portal and trapping them in a dungeon instance." Jin asked, and the System replied with a resounding yes.

    "But are you sure you are okay with this? You previously said you do not want to get involved with these. Now you are actively putting two feet into the deep waters." Qiu Yue wished to confirm his intentions.

    "I feel too restless when I know that the lucrative business will disappear бнand people cannot celebrate Chinese New Year in peace."

    "Heh, that kid." Grandma Yuan was reminded of a certain someone who, when he was younger, also could never admit of just wanting to help everyone.

 Chapter 815 New Task for Jin

    <h4>Chapter 815 New Task for Jin</h4>

    "Alright, it seems that''s settled then. ire, I heard from the System that you''ve been scouted as a possibly Sub System User. Take this period as an extension of the internship. Organise Jin''s finances, get the exact amount we need and while you are at it, use the practice you''ve umted and earn some extra money for the relief fund." Grandma Yuanmanded.

    Then she looked at Qiu Yue.

    "Start building the prefabricated buildings for evacuees to stay for the moment. Try to make as many as possible just to be safe while ensuring the basic standards of living is met. As for Lynn. You are the one who proposed this counter-attack n, so I expect you to follow through it with the rest of the group. Do not forget your responsibilities too, for you are now going to be responsible for the stomachs of over 200,000 people."

    "And as for you, Jin, Yun will bring you somewhere you are needed right now. I will go to the Dungeon Maker and talk to the System in regards to that variant Bone Spirit Demon." Grandma Yuanmanded, and the rest acknowledged their jobs.

    "Where do I need to go? Training?" Jin asked as Yun opened the portal without making any noise.

    "Just enter, and you will understand. Don''t even think about leaving until you are through with the whole situation! Else, I will forcefully teleport you back." Yun ''threatened'' with a jaunty smile on her face as she nodded into the direction of the portal.

    --------

    "AH! Master is here!!!" Wyrstriker shouted, and everyone suddenly looked upwards, which shocked Jin who had juste through the portal. He realised that he was in the Adventurer''s Guild Tavern and all the bigshot monster hade together to celebrate here. From the three goblins testing their ability to gorge ale against General Nubwort to Ke Mi at the side drinking her favourite cherry peach juice alongside Sandy.

    The entire atmosphere was theplete opposite from the conversation he had all morning that made him forget that their major defence had actually seeded after months of nning. Everyone was partying crazily since they achieved the impossible.

    "Master! Sorry, we did not invite you! The System told us you were sleeping when we wanted to send the invitation. That was why we went ahead with the victory party." Zhi Nu apologised on the monster''s behalf.

    Ayse had taken the initiative to create the party since she was starving for good food and decided to splurge the System points she had umted so far. (Not to mention she had a windfall for eliminating Kiva.) The one and only General Nubwort who had been at the sidelines ''quietly''manding and coordinating troop efforts had also decided to chip into the System Points which he got for the orcs who had worked hard.

    When asked whether this was the only group of monsters celebrating, Zhi Nu told Jin that the Adventurer''s Guild Tavern was only one of the ces. "The stadium that we''ve used for the Christmas party is currently being utilised as a mess hall for the rest of the army. Knowing the Orcs, they are probably drinking their butts off. Some of the penguins had offered their time to make food for us and seeing that we took the initiative to create this party on our own, the System decided to bestow us some free System points to spend."

    "System believes that User''s minions have done a tremendous job and acknowledges that they indeed deserved such a reward." The System spoke out to Jin since it probably felt that he was about to question why the stingy System had decided to give out System points for free.

    "You guys really did work hard for it, and I agree that you should have a party befitting of your achievements. Do not let me be the sour one here." Jin thought that he was merely getting the way of their parties being the only uninvited guest around. Then he remembered that Yun forced him here, so he was thinking of passing the time by travelling around the new Adventurer''s Town to check out the infrastructure.

    "What are you talking about, Master? You were vital in getting the boss down! You should not talk as if you were not part of it all! Come join us. Try this out. This drink is a Goblin speciality!" me Ripper drunkenly joined them as he mmed a cup of drink in front of him.

    "Heh, Master. No need to even try that watered down piss. Take a gulp of this Orc Ale, instead! Even our King used to drink this on a regr basis!" Nubwort interrupted and that caused the two monsters to quarrel between each other.

    To Jin''s surprise, a smoothing instrumental was heard which caused both me Ripper and Nubwort to slowly fall to the ground asleep before the situation escted further. "Is that how this ce has not been trashed yet?" Jin asked Ke Mi as she giggled while waving back at her master.

    "Zhi Nu has long since introduced a tavern refurnishing fund paid by the adventurers'' tips in case they destroy the whole ce. But as for today''s party, we have Ke Mi around because the manager cannot have our own goons destroy the ce repeatedly." Niu Lang, the cowherd boy exined to Jin while offering him a ss of iced ginger ale with a pinch of lemon.

    "Are you still keeping score?" Sandy asked Zhi Nu which she nodded her head while carrying the two sleeping monsters away from the scene.

    "14 to 9. I am still in the lead betting that General Nubwort will wake up first to drink even more." Zhi Nu smiled towards Sandy while Ayse from afar shouted for more ale.

    "Zhi Nu! Faster, we need more ale! Else, Weslie''s going to leave again!" Ayse demanded as she was basically pinning Weslie down to make her drink and divert more secrets about Gold.

    "Then let her leave! She just recovered from her wounds. YOU just recovered from your wounds. What is your problem?" Zhi Nu shouted back but still sent an ale down the tavern using her thread magic to carry a pair of ale to Ayse''s table. She knew the Orc would say that the ale was her magical healing potion.

    Jin could literally see that there was chaos among the monsters, but nevertheless, they were having fun chatting and enjoying thepany of each other. He also saw a difference whenpared to the Christmas party. The party was milder in terms of their attitude partially because there had still been a strict hierarchy at each table while this was pure chaos and fun which made Jin recall how his high school sses had also been divided into a variety of groups.

    "Hmm, I can''t help but feel a little distanced since I am their master and not their equal. Still, this did bring up an incredible insight and-" Jin was suddenly pushed to the centre of the crowd by Zhi Nu.

    "Master! What are you doing? Stop thinking so much, and go have fun! They want you to teach them some more ridiculous party games like at Christmas!" Zhi Nu prompted him as she noticed how Jin had been standing still and looking around the tavern.

    He sighed but seeing as the atmosphere had suddenly turned still, with all eyes on him, he decided to entertain them. "There''s a game I learnt back in school. Its called Beer Pong...well you can call it Ale Pong." Jin started to exin, but in the end, got pushed to demonstrate instead.

    "Mission Complete, Yun!" Zhi Nu giggled seeing how Jin slowly integrated himself into the party.

    "Thanks, Zhi Nu." Yun replied as she continued to serve the customers in the shop instance diligently.

 Chapter 816 As The Heavens Mandate

    <h4>Chapter 816 As The Heavens Mandate</h4>

    Since Jin had interpreted his ''mission'' was to ensure that everyone was dead drunk before he was allowed to return back to the Dungeon Maker, he made the best out of his time there. For the next couple of hours, he forgot about the uing problems of his world and enjoyed the party hard.

    As promised, He taught them a couple of drinking games and even apanied General Nubwort who had returned within half an hour to continue drinking for another round. At one point he also sang some Karaoke apanied by Ke Mi and all the monsters cheered. (Luckily a certain someone wasn''t there to film him.)

    When the sun came up again, Zhi Nu and the System teleported all of them back to their own home instances. Niu Lang cleaned the whole ce up, and Jin had stayed behind to perform some improvements on the adventurer''s tavern.

    He spent some dungeon dors in the System''s ck market and added a few more decoration points to it as well as seemingly cheap destructibles for the adventurers to break during a brawl. Of course, this allowed Zhi Nu to charge them even more if they inevitably destroyed them.

    "Thanks, Master for staying back with us. It''s a pity you do not get drunk easily because of your cultivation, but I hope you still had fun with us! And at the very least, we can sleep a bit longer since you helped us to clean the ce up" Niu Lang said with a wink and Zhi Nu beat his shoulder for ying naughty in front of their Master.

    "Hahaha, no worries. You two have an enjoyable night." Jin teased back as the couple disappeared and Jin continued to refurbish the ce with the help of the System. While it might not be like his shop where he has total absolute authority, thisnd was still under the control of the System, thus giving Jin the right to buy and change things in whatever way he liked.

    Of course, it would be best to consult the real boss of the tavern, but Zhi Nu allowed Jin to go wild. "The things you ce will only be temporary anyway. This is partly why I like this adventurer''s tavern. I can renovate it almost every week, and I am sure the adventurers who return enjoy seeing it change every time."

    Zhi Nu told him about the time when Wyrstriker and Dread Reaver got into a drunk fight because Wyrstriker had refused to get evolved to the next level with the System''s help despite his brother in arms telling him that he was more than qualified.

    Throughout the renovation process, he felt at peace as his brain was focused on finding the ideal ce to ce that flower pot. It was something that came naturally when he was deep in his thoughts, and perhaps that was why Yun had insisted on him joining the party as he failed to achieve such rity especially with those current troubles he had in his mind.

    Suddenly a thought struck him.

    "Say, System. How do you control thend around here? I mean we did buy this piece ofnd and ced it under your control, and the same goes for our shop, too. But it''s a sort of lease so does that mean the infinite control within that small space is limited to that time period as well?" Jin asked as he sat on a newly bought table.

    "The System needs to have an agreement with thend itself. The lease isn''t so much with any form of government that User interacted with. It has more to do with thepromise between the System and the spirit of thend, not to mention the eptance usually varies from world to world." The System described but noticing how Jin''s face was incredibly deadpan, it proceeded to exin further.

    "For example, the spirit of thend in User''s World currently prefers wheat and wine for some reason the System is unable toprehend. Upon cing it on a custom made Altar which only the System is able to create, the tributes are offered in exchange for thend''s agreement." The System revealed.

    "Thus, the System would use part of the money earnt and purchaserge quantities of wheat and high quality to appease the dominant spirit of thend. That way, thend is satisfied and allows the System to control it. If the System controls thend without appeasing the spirit of thend beforehand, it will punish us with significant bacsh at every action of the System. There is no better way to describe this pact with thend."

    "I assume the Dungeon World prefers souls?" Jin asked as he wished to know more about this new aspect which the System didn''t share about.

    "Negative. The Dungeon Core already had absolute control over thend. All the System had to do was to assume control of the core to manipte thend as required."

    "Then, for example, if I wished to conquer the Dark Elves'' forest with thend''s blessing, can you assume control over it once you have done the transaction?" Jin was curious about the extent of this ability and offered the System a scenario to learn more about it.

    "Yes and No. The?System can affect the forest with its powers, but the effects are only temporary and not permanent depending on the transaction. This is because the System is merely the tenant, and the spirit ofnd is thendlord, so it can recover without the System''s help.?However, that also means thendlord might increase the tribute if too much damage was done."

    "Then why are you not using it to help me during my fights outside the shop? I mean you could have done something during my fight against the Rat Triad Boss."

    "It will mainly bring suspicions to User if used excessively. Also, it relies on System''s processing capabilities even though we have thend''s agreement to operate."

    "It sounds like the ground is one selfish living entity."

    "That is not entirely wrong. Maniption of thend takes up significant resources and processing capabilities. Which is why the System prefers to limit the control over thend for surveince purposes. Without any floating magic eyes for better observation angles, the System could still identify and trace targets. Which is why some portals could be created instantly without coordinates and were based on previously seen areas."

    "Assuming you regain 100% processing capability and sufficient resources, can you change this adventurer''s town into a second Pandapolis?" Jin asked, and recalled how the System had been able to create a Dungeon Cave out of the middle of nowhere.

    Subsequently, the System told him that the Goblin World''snd preferred gold in its purest form and all the System needed was to melt the gold coins and offer monthly tribute. That was why it was a no brainer for the System to push the dungeon supplier to invest in the Goblin World since it was cheap enough to do so. (In terms of dungeon dors exchange to goblin gold coins.) While the New Adventurer Town was still somewhat a deficit in his books because of the ongoing construction work, the System believed that given enough time it would be a budding town full of profit.

    "And to answer your question inndscaping the town instantly into a city... Yes, but that would also permanently consume System''s processing capability, and System would be left with a minimal set amount of processing capability to serve the User. The creation of the Dungeon Cave only took 0.0055% of the System''s processing capabilities and can be replenished with sufficient upgrades via the ck Market." The System reported, and Jin realised he never knew how to use the System properly.

    "So, anything and everything is possible through you so long you have ammunition to do stuff?"

    "As the Heavens mandate." The System stated.

    "Well, at least I know that you can restore your processing capabilities even though it''s currently tough for you to do so," Jin said as he recalled having his Dungeon Supplier Level upgraded to the fifth rank.

    "Speaking of which, what perks do I gain as a Level 5 Dungeon Supplier aside from this duty free tax I got from purchasing items in the System''s Market бнand the ck Market?" Jin remembered that at Dungeon Supplier Level 4, he got to enjoy a duty free tax on the items that he bought via the System regardless of the marketces.

    "As for Level 5, yourmission from sales increased to 50% although, upon User learning that the System requires a lot of resources to maintain thend, the System encouraged the User to readjust hismission sales, so the System is able to keep better control over the variety of property the User has in his possession. However, the User can withdraw funds for personal use for free from the System if needed. Of course, to a certain limit."

    "Ah, alright. Just keep it as it used to be for now then. I do not need the money that badly for myself since you provide me with practically everything anyway. The improvement of our business is more important." Jin said as he performed the finishing touch of the tavern.

    "Well, it was fun while itsted and at least this party and renovation calmed me down a little. I can now focus a little better." Hemented as the dungeon supplier was ready to work on his business again instead of worrying too much about the uing Monster Horde.

    For the growth of his business was equally vital in ensuring that he and themunity were strong enough to fend off such hordes. If not for the uing one, then certainly future ones!

 Chapter 817 Extra: Pandawans Dinner

    <h4>Chapter 817 Extra: Pandawans'' Dinner</h4>

    "Ahhh what a bummer." Yue Han yawned a little after ordering food at the Restaurant Train instance. "Here I thought we could finally see Boss Jin''s true fighting skills. He is avoiding us as usual and his schemes are getting more cunning with each passing day."

    "Hahaha! Don''t be that upset. That''s our boss and why we like and hate him that much at the same time. At the very least the dungeon raid was mega awesome, and at the rate we are going, I might probably need the adrenaline rush for exams in the future. And don''t forget all the juicy rewards!" Bu Dong tried to encourage his best friend as he looked at his own Pandawan Shirt once more and felt a little proud of this achievement.

    Despite the muddy fights at the defensive tform, he had been able to enjoy a good shower at the Luxury Recovery Instance.

    The feeling of gushing hot water running down his entire body after a battle was extremely satisfying and the soap was surprisingly soft andfy. Not too feminine either which made Bu Dong secretly hope Jin could sell that in the future. The other Pandawans had also rested up in the Luxury Recovery Instance before meeting up for a celebration dinner.

    The Shopkeepers, on the other hand, had decided to stay at the Luxury Recovery Instance for some rest before they proceeded back to prepare to open their shops for the next day.

    "By the way, Xiong Da, are you nning to buy the Gentlebear tickets from the shopkeepers?" Luo Bo asked as they upied a private room of the Restaurant Train Instance courtesy of Xiong Da''s generosity. Since Jin had paid him back with free credits to spend after his generous donation, he saw no reason not to treat hisrades.

    "Hmmm, not really. Remember how we gathered a bunch of keys from the various dungeon instances and raids? I''m pretty sure the ticket would serve its purpose only with the keys, and they might disappear after using them once. No point collecting more tickets when we have to farm all the various keys once more." Xiong Da said.

    "This is definitely an evil plot to make us go through all the past dungeons again to get those keys!" Yue Wenined as she opened her storage ring and took out all the keys while they were waiting for their orders to get served.

    "Oh, so we areparing keys to see which ones we are missing?" Jing Ru asked while she was cleaning her rifle waiting for time to pass and her friend nodded.

    "We''ve been a little busy with our part-time job to get some money so we might have missed some keys. Here I thought Xiong Da should have the fullption of keys." Yue Wen deduced.

    "Hahah. If the rumours are true, we could possibly earn a lot of money from converting the medals we might get in the Gentlebear instance into real money. Though I do not see how this would be profitable for us. Could be just a cashback scheme to retain even more customers." Shi Hui said as she walked around the private room and checked out the decoration pieces and the interior design.

    "Can you imagine if there was a true blue way to earn a decent sry just from fighting? I would quit school and do just that in a heartbeat." Bu Dong stated nonchntly, and Se Lang shook his head.

    "If the real world was that forgiving, I would not have worked so hard." The wolf imed as he leaned back and checked his message logs for any shift openings for the subsequent days.

    "me yourself for having two girls to manage. I, on the other hand, can spend my extra money after my personal expenses on Supa Robot Wars." Deng Long teased his buddy and even smacked his friend''s back (totally not super jelly).

    "Actually, we could do that if Boss Jin sponsored us to be a guild." Shi Zuo pointed out as he too spread his keys out on the table topare.

    "Guild? Don''t you mean n? I thought we were all already in some sort of n based on the roots of our families?" Kong Xian interjected as he munched on theplimentary peanuts that had been served on the table to keep his mouth busy.

    "Nah. Some major Dungeon Suppliers have their own guilds which they use to fight inpetitions."

    "Ah, those interstate or even international Dungeon Sparring Competitions?" Bu Dong asked as he had watched some of those before. He might have been a local bigshot in terms of conquering dungeon supplier stores, but he would not even dare to think ofpeting in those when he was merely a Grade 2 back then.

    "Oh! Oh! That reminds me, I''ve heard that this year''s National Dungeon Symposium would be held in Shenzhen. Isn''t that the ce where a variety of dungeon supplierse together to exhibit their dungeons for people to try out." Ruo Ying recalled seeing an advertisement on it.

    "Yes, that Symposium determines which dungeon supplier would have the honours of getting their store topete in the interstate Dungeon Sparring Competition." Shi Zuo added, and Bin Yong looked at them. "If Boss has the intention of joining, we can actually ask if we Pandawans could form his guild."

    "But I remember there are a lot of high-grade cultivators joining it. Do we even have a chance?" Bu Dong asked as he recalled how spectacr some of the matches are.

    "There are some mid-grade levelpetitions as well if I am not wrong." Ruo Ying wasn''t quite sure, so she grabbed her cellphone and tried to look it up on the web.

    "Haha, that sounds fun, but that would consume a lot of time from us. Doing full-time plus apetitive guild already sounds exhausting. I do not know if Bin Yong and my schedule could even fit something like that it. We already have a hard time trying to meet deadlines so we can y at this ce." Jia Le shared their troubles, and Bin Yong nodded in agreement.

    "Well, the improvement of cultivation did help us be more productive at work, so they gave us more leeway as long as weplete the work." Bin Yong shared since he and his dungeoneering colleagues had been working approximately 21-23 hours a day during a crunch when the rest could only manage 14 to 16 hours at most.

    The improvement in cultivation clearly showed that they have acquired better concentration and lesser fatigue umtion which started to make some of their own colleagues envious. (but most importantly, clocking overtime hours meant additional pay.)

    "Well, we can ask Jin about it. Though I can already picture him iming that ''it''s too soon to be in the National Dungeon Symposium!''." Xiong Da mimicked Jin''s voice, and the others allughed. "Then after a while, he should change his mind and train us worse thanmandos to reach the top."

    "If you are aiming for something, might as well aim for the top." Ruo Ying chuckled, and the whole group could imagine Boss Jin saying such things.

    "His earnestness would betray him." Bin Yong shook his head.

    "More like his innate greed. He could actually be a tsundere towards business." Luo Bo added, and the Pandawans couldn''t agree more.

 Chapter 818 Exploiting the Intern

    <h4>Chapter 818 Exploiting the Intern</h4>

    For the next few days, Jin stuck himself within the Dungeon Maker and was working on multiple projects, yet he made sure to take the time for their daily dinners. As directed by Grandma Yuan, Lynn had further fleshed out the counter attack proposal for Jin to look over while Qiu Yue had begun constructing prefabricated buildings in the open spaces of Pandapolis.

    Meanwhile, ire had finally looked over Jin''s ounts with the help of the Sub System and realised that his money and spending was all over the ce. Thankfully, the System had all the records of expenses, and all she had to do was to organise them properly and urately.

    With the aid of the Sub System which ire had been loaned once more, she was able to create a database. But this time, she ensured that even without her help, the System would be able to track the data in a streamlined fashion and could show it to Jin and his Sub System User so they might immediately notice any discrepancies.

    "System feels the organisation of expenses is useless. As long as there are records of the expenses, the System will know how much User is earning." The System stated to ire as she had received an office in the Pandapolis Business Sector to do her job.

    "Whatever. It might not matter to you, but we humans just cannot process data like that. Also, I have been wondering. Am I the only one here in this Business Sector?" ire asked, and the System acknowledged her by showing a celebration emote on her screen.

    "..."

    "You are the first to use the Business Sector. It will eventually be used to house the banking, logistics and other administrative purposes. User and Sub System User Qiu Yue nned to make an internal stock market for the Pandarens to y with. But right now, it is closed because there are no tenants." The System exined.

    "No, I wanted to what those digital poppers were for?" ire asked as she adjusted her spectacles.

    "System has given Sub System Intern ire the honours of being the first person in operation in this dested business sector." System answered, and ire felt pressing her head on the table. She did not expect the System to be this cold in its jokes.

    "Argghh. System, if this is your sense of humour, please keep it to yourself. It is very dry."

    "Or so they say in a cold setting." The System stated, and ire ignored it to her best of the ability although it seemed to be getting on her nerves.

    "Anyways, I realised what you were up to when you gave me the app to practice. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction."

    "d to be of assistance. System also determined that Intern ire had improved by 12.7% when she subtly purchased potential stocks that would greatly assist the relief fund."

    "We just need to wait a day or two before we sell them. They are vtile enough to flip while earning enough profit." ire was happy with the purchase as the Sub System provided her sufficient information and analysis on those particr units.

    "Since you have finished the work, System rmends creating ounts for the New Adventurer''s Town and the Demon Metropolis. The New Adventurer''s Town needs a new bank that will moderate the golding in from the three major cities."

    "If I am not mistaken, their currency is rather standard, right?"

    "Affirmative. Despite their differences, the three races are using the same kind of currency. While the gold coins have a variety of imprints depending on the cities they were made from, the coin makes no discrimination when it is being used."

    "So, are we making our very own coin? Or continue as per standard as the major trading town for the New Adventurer''s Town?" ire asked.

    "System rmends the following suit, but their financing system is primitive. System''s opinion is to start introducing loans, interest rates, as well as insurance to the public to increase our profitability. Eventually, when the town grows sufficientlyrge, System would be bold enough to rmend User for the town''s bank to issue our very own currency."

    "But we do not have a banker''s knowledge or the agreements the insurance agents made. It''s best if we consult oh- wait... Okay. Now I understand why it is called the Sub System." As soon as ire was pointing out the w in this n, screens popped in front of her showcasing the protocols and even rules for the banking system as well as insurance agents operating all over the world. The various models of operation were clearly there for ire to choose and research them.

    "Also, if Intern ire is interested, System would like to rmend expanding the current deliverypany that User has created."

    "Ah! The Pandafull Delivery? I''ve ordered from there, and gosh it was good and fast." ire had only praise for it. The System shared the details of how pathetic the delivery system was in the current Goblin World.

    "I seeбнif we were to make Pandafull aplete logisticpany and use it in other worlds, we might be able to make a lot more from it."

    "Not only that, but the Dungeon World delivery system is nearly as deste as the Goblin World when ites to logistics."

    "Wait a minute. Isn''t this far outside the scope of an ountant? Why are you suddenly giving me this many jobs to do? Aren''t I just an intern for the Financing Sub System?"

    "System has discovered that Intern ire had a ir in understanding terms the User had trouble recongising. Also, your organisation skills are superb, and System wishes to utilise (=exploit) more of it whenever possible. In return, System will give an admirable testimony for User to consider hiring her."

    "Tsk, you are using me so tantly and do not even bother hiding it! Are you just basing it on the fact that I can reorganise Jin''s ounts nicely? Because of that, you want me to set up a variety of side businesses? And those businesses are substantial businesses which need constant monitoring after their creation."

    "With Intern ire''s talent and the Financing Sub System capabilities, System believes that the tasks could ultimately be automated once the foundations are created. There are also a lot of monsters that can take on those jobs if needed."

    "Speaking of monsters, what about those demons you defeated from Demon Metropolis? From my understanding, it will be hard to pretend that those demons are gone from the Demon Metropolis forever. Resurrection should still take ce. If they don''t return, they should discover that you have ways to temper with their resurrection system, making you public enemy number one." ire disyed her knowledge of the current situation after her few days of internship with the System.

    Even when organising the ounts, there were long waiting times that bored ire. Thus, she had used that amount of time to learn more about Jin and his current predicament to have a better understanding of his shop.

    "That itself is a long exnation." The System replied hesitantly, yet ire shrugged her shoulders as she stood up with a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee (one of the best perks of the job) in one hand.

    "I have all day to listen while I wait for the stocks to move." She stressed as the Financial Sub System Intern admired the empty business buildings outside her wide panel window.

 Chapter 819 Counter Offence Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 819 Counter Offence Discussion</h4>

    "No matter what I try toe up with, the probability of Jin and the others getting seen is just too high." Lynn shared as she chewed on the thick fat yet sulent drumstick.

    "It''s not your fault, that Pandas aren''t exactly known for being stealthy and sticking out." Kraftforted Lynn as he used his lips to tear the fried chicken skin off the meat and kept it on his te.

    "Since we all seem to be in agreement, why are you all not just letting me or the other foxese with you guys for the counter offence? I mean we did a great job in the previous ambush, right?"

    "That is exactly why! You guys already had the chance to have some fun in the Demon Metropolis. Don''t be selfish! Let me go boom boom once in a while! Besides your job wasn''t much of a heist, more like you came in guns zing. You in particr, though I loved the explosions, you caused. A solid 7.5/10,cked a bit in the colour departmentбн OIIII!!! Who took thest piece?!" Peppers pouted as she noticed there were no more wings on the table.

    "You!" Everyone answered in unison. Their eyes practically drew an arrow towards Peppers'' hand holding thest eaten piece of chicken wing. They all enjoyed the bliss from the unforgettable taste of Lynn''s Barbequed chicken wings, yet after a few pieces, Peppers had fried some to change the vours up a little. She blushed for a while, not having noticed that during the talk about the videos with Kraft''s explosion, she had seemingly eaten it without realising it was thest one.

    "Peppers, remember, no Boom Boom this time around! We are trying to limit our presence as well as the damage done to the environment. Else people woulde looking for Jin, and even the System can do so much against them." Lynn took the opportunity to stress that point while giving one of her wings as bribery.

    "Ehhhh But I can''t call myself apetent mage if I don''t let things explode." Peppers motivation visibly deted but not her mouth. "Besides, it would be boring..."

    "Shouldn''t apetent mage be able to adapt to any kind of circumstance?" Milk questioned her as she held on to a chicken wing she had previously kept hidden in her pile of leftover bones to avoid Peppers from stealing it.

    "Outrageous! I had dibs on ALL the wings!" Peppers imed (she did not) and was about to cast a spell to get it, but Milk snapped up the whole piece of meat right into her mouth. She gleed with the tip of the wing inside her mouth and Peppers whined with dread, forced to admit defeat.

    "See. If you werepetent enough with your other magic, you could have taken this already." Milk teased her slowly with her mouth partially chewing the chicken wing.

    "Back to topic, in other words, no monsters areing to aid us?" Qiu Yue rified as she tore a piece of breast meat and dipped it with salted egg sauce.

    "Even with cosmetic inscriptions, chances are too high that something might go wrong and could reveal their true form, so we should avoid using them. Instead, we will be using the Dark Sludge Crystals installed onto a fake Portal Device structure to cover our real System portal. Meanwhile, we got the System''s approval to Lynn''s proposal to use the betors in case we are seen by others." Jin said as he poured the mushroom sauce over his barbequed chicken.

    "You mean by the private contractors?" Qiu Yue asked, and Lynn nodded her head.

    "With Jin''s status as a Demon Exorcist Branch Manager, even if it''s technically an uing one, there is no problem with him having his own bodyguards. If those contractors were to ask us we could avoid any further suspicion that way." Lynn pointed upwards where the System had listed pages with the responsibilities and right of a Demon Exorcist Branch Manager.

    "The System has also acquired a security business licence and listed the Betors as bodyguardsбн excluding Original Betor Kraft." The System stated, and everyone could hear Kraftining about this injustice despite having his mouth full of meat. Yet he was obviously not bothered by it since he knew how the System acted. They were also all aware that if he wanted to participate, there was not really anything or anyone of them could do against him.

    "But will the private contractors actually believe you? I guess the only saving grace will be to have Jin show off his Demon Exorcist badge." Qiu Yue shrugged at such a feeble defence, but it was better than nothing.

    "Nah. By then, the soldiers would already have met with the private contractors since they are attacking them at head-on. If the horde starts to move towards the border wall, the chances of the private contractors staying in the forest should be low, especially since they were previous state agents. They probably have to stay to help out with the defences." Jin deduced.

    "Heh, you are underestimating them. It is precisely because they are former state agents, that they will be more likely to search for the cause of this and stop it at its roots. With you all as the only humans around, you will undoubtedly get treated as suspects for this case." Kraft gave his opinion as an ex-spy.

    "What if they see us fighting against the Monster Horde?" Jin tried to counter, and Kraft shook his head.

    "If you were to chance upon some strange people fighting a Monster Horde in the middle of an attack, would your first thought be, that those are allies? No, the normal case is that you guys lost control over the monsters and they are about to overpower you as a way to get back against their masters. You will have to find someone incredibly naive if they talk to you instead. Out there in such a situation, it''s shoot first, talkter!"

    "That is why we are only letting Betors and Jin fight for this round. As much as I''d like to help out, I feel that I might be a burden even though it would definitely be a good fighting experience." Lynn sighed, and Qiu Yue whined like Peppers.

    "Ehhhhhh! Doesn''t that mean I''ll have to stay behind with you, Lynn?" Qiu Yue tried to confirm Lynn''s counter attack proposal.

    "Yeah, but we have loads of monsters to fight alongside our minions once they enter the portal." Lynn answered.

    "Then, I guess I will be in my System Rider form while fighting," Jin said, but Lynn was in a dilemma.

    "Do you think that''s a good idea? I mean it will protect your identity, but I doubt Demon Exorcists have such shy outfits."

    "Actually they do. Well maybe not as shy as mine, but I learnt from Su Zhen that higher ranked exorcists do have full defence armour inscription as part of their repertoire. To be honest, I actually only gave them those dual inscription charms thinking it would be cool to look like they control and possess their demons until they told me about it. I had no idea, so I went pretending that it was always part of the n. Hahaha!"

    "Ah, then that means they will believe you further if you im to be the Branch Manager since only higher-ranked exorcists have such armour." Qiu Yue nodded her head to agree with that idea.

    "Actually, I do not think Branch Managers have thatбнit is an administrative post, not abat one. Though I doubt anyone will question it if I im it was a perk or gift from Grandma Yuan or something. HahahaбнJust need to tell her to coborate with the lie in case anyone does ask."

    "Alright, that settles it. Sorry, I am leaving first. Have some errands to do first. Please rest up well and prepare for tomorrow''s big day." Zeru excused as he thanked Lynn for the food and left with the aid of the System portal.

    Kraft was a bit intrigued as to what kind of ns Zeru would have. He should know about most if not all of the stuff going on, yet nothing came to mind. Then again, seeing as no one seemed to be bothered about it, he shrugged to himself and savoured the best food he had kept forst.

    The chicken skin.

 Chapter 820 Follow Up Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 820 Follow Up Meeting</h4>

    "You worked throughout the whole night again, didn''t you?" Lynn asked with some worry in her tone as she found the lights of the Dungeon Maker were still on after six in the morning.

    "Had to make sure the trucks went to the right military and police bases. Besides, I can''t really afford to sleep when such a big event is happening in our world for once. Especially seeing as we have been dragged into it... So we''re also at least partially responsible for it." Jin argued as he pointed on the screen while stifling a yawn. There was only one convoy left, reaching Shanghai outskirts where one of the Royal Snake n''s bases was situated.

    "That''s really far. I had kinda assumed the bases would all be in Shenzhen or at least from Dongguan since they had transferred their belongings from there." Lynnmented as she saw the portal manifest on the dungeon maker''s interface and about 85% were already active. "Hmm, I thought they needed a .....erm, your portal key to activate them?"

    "Yeah, they still do. That''s why I sent a portion of the Pandafull delivery team alongside the Royal Snakes. Only instead of the ''Farming'' Humans, I''ve sent the Night Foxes in with advanced cosmetic inscriptions for a worst-case scenario of ''someone'' trying to steal our technology. So far nothing has happened, and I hope it will stay that way. You know, better safe than sorry." Jin exined the procedure.

    "Anyways, they are the ones who activate the portals and return them via the portal coordinates. After which, the rest of the trucks have a two-way function. From their base and to the Huzhou border walls."Jin added.

    "So what about the deal with Hou Fei. The one in which they require you to house the evacuated citizens when pushes to shove?" Lynn questioned as she created a chair in the Dungeon Maker and started to sit beside Jin to listen to him talk. The Dungeon Supplier did not suspect anything as he assumed she was doing her job as the person in charge of this counter offence operation and wanted more details.

    "Hou Fei told me that they intend to use the portal devices to their bases first since Shenzhen should be rtively safe from the Monster Horde. However, should their military bases near max capacity, they can send an SOS signal via the portal''s interface, and that is when they will connect the truck to our area." Jin exined as he showed her images and some simple chart on how the teleporting business would work.

    "Ah, so we are actually only being used as the veryst resort?" Lynn could easily understand Jin''s exnation.

    "Yeah, the military still has to use their bases as ces of refuge in order to show the public that they are doing their job. Only when they are flooded with people, will they proceed to publicly enlist us as a third party contractor for serving aid." Jin narrated though his facial expression showed that his thoughts were elsewhere.

    "However, I feel it''s more like Hou Fei wants to boost my earnings by using my Pandapolis as the backup n. The deal we''ve struck clearly favours us. In case everything goes well with the Monster Horde, I will only have to return the emergency supplies I had purchased to their bases for future use. Whatever I''ve built in preparation to house the refugees, I can legally keep them since it''s already done and only the leftover budget would be returned to them. Not to mention, I got to retain amission of 10%, which is already quite a lump sum of money."

    "That is assuming everything does go well," Lynn emphasised with a smile, and Jinughed since he shared her feeling that was not possible at all.

    "Yeah, if they really need to start the evacuation but do not use our facilities, those emergency supplies that we''ve stocked up on would be sent to those bases via the portal trucks. It will give them instant ess to medical care and food supplies as needed."

    "Not to mention, they can use your store as a gateway to send them to Shenzhen and use the ''hotels and motels'' here as temporary amodation for their evacuations," Lynnmented as that was what her government had previously done during natural disasters.

    "Ah, Hou Fei did not tell me about that. So we are in the hotel and motel services now apparently." Jinughed, and Lynn chuckled along with him.

    "By the way, have you checked how far along Qiu Yue is with the temporary lodgings? During our dinners, she only told us that she would get it done." Jin asked Lynn, and she nodded with glee.

    "As expected from her and our workers, they''ve done a fantastic job so far. My peggies have also prepared multiple days worth of rations with the help of the new tribes since the hotels were temporarily brought offline. They might not be as agile as the penguins, but they are able to assist with the preparations."

    "Also, the Demons from the Metropolis came at the perfect time. They turned out to be extremely useful in making sure the logistics would be going smoothly since a lot of them have gone through long distance dungeon raids in their world. A number of them are well versed in logistical supplies which sped up a lot of stuff. I let Moloch handle that part since he should know how to handle them. But apparently, he forwarded the job to another guy. ording to him, he had pledged loyalty to him and in turn, the System and you." Lynn picked up her phone and showed Jin the picture as she couldn''t remember the name.

    "Prince Sts? Ah, I vaguely remember him from the War Room Table discussion. He was apparently the one and only royalty who had managed to survive the entire war without much of a scratch. If I am not wrong, he even tolerated the bewitching spell from Syldra, Ayse''s Shaitan." Jin thought back to ensure that his memory served him correctly.

    "He is doing a great job so far. He also roped in those Demon Noblesбнor is it militarymanders? You know, the ones you guys had killed since they were rather apt with administrative issues."

    "Good thing they are like the Orcs and are helpful at more than fighting. Having some people who know how to do some administrative work is as important to fighting a war." Jin smiled at Lynn, and she couldn''t help but nod along childishly.

    "The System believes those Demon Nobles should carry on with said administrative duties especially since their battle capabilities are not as great as they had advertised for the Pandapolis defensive battle."

    "Does that include that bat guy, Kiva, too? How is he handling Ayse?" Jin was curious about the fate of the bat/raven head scientist.

    "At this point, he is totally smitten by Head Orc Researcher Ayse." The System answered and provided no further details.

    "I wonder if that is meant literally?" Lynnmented, and the duoughed together for a moment before they continued with their discussion for the uing evacuation n. At the very least, Jin did not feel as stressed as before and was thankful that his colleagues had spoken out to provide their help.

 Chapter 821 Metropolis Justice - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 821 Metropolis Justice - Part 1</h4>

    "General Vual, please get up." Rex smiled when he saw General Vual kneeling right in front of him, pledging his fealty towards the new king. Ever since Rex had full control over the Demon Metropolis, he had been busy looking through the policies that had been made by King Baal and his predecessors. Without anyone disturbing him, he had delved deep into all the paperwork in the office and only got out for asional mails which he ced at the door for his servants to deliver.

    This was the first time that Vual finally had a physical face to face contact with his King and thus his kneel. "This is my office, not the throne hall. You don''t have to abide by some sort of protocol when you are in here." Rex quickly dismissed the need for Vual to reassure his fealty.

    "Thank you, my King." The General who had presented calmness and logic above all had been appointed as the right-hand man for Rex after the Panda Remnant had dered himself the city''s new ruler. (Of course, the System had a hand in changing his allegiance as well.)

    During the 24-hours recapture period, the Demon Nobles who hadn''t participated in the assault against the Pandapolis had decided to band together all for the sole purpose to challenge him. (Even though he had warned all of them that he and his colleagues had defeated the entire Royal family, they kepting at him as if that warning does not matter at all.)

    "Now I understand why Moloch was extremely concerned about the state of the city," Rex concluded after he went over the currentws and decrees as well as the leftover letters and envelopes. The number ofints from various advisors had been left ignored in a corner, and Rex was shocked to discover that this city was nearly at the brink of copse were it not for its predatory way of conducting dungeon raids to keep it alive.

    "But with your reign, I hope that these wed issues can finally be righted." Vual bowed a little when he stated his wish.

    "Hahaha! I certainly n on doing exactly that. For now, we shall clean up the mess left by the previous administration. Assemble all of the officials in charge of the various ministries to meet up in the Grand Meeting Hall." Rex ordered.

    "Understood." Vual immediately went to fulfil his objective while Rex called up Evon via the System Channel.

    "I''m getting Vual to bring the ministers and advisors to the Grand Meeting Hall. Are you ready with your drugs?" Rex asked, and Evon was already grinning from ear to ear.

    "I have prepared the truth serum and a bunch of other stuff in case we need it. I aim to please my King. " Evon teased Rex with his new title which thetter rolled his eyes away, but Kiyu supported Evon''s teasing fully.

    "My King, do you require some additional performance to quell your need for entertainment during the minister bashing party? If so, this humble butterfly is willing to dance for your sake~!" Kiyu offered with ''grace''.

    "I heard bashing. I am willing to bash those corrupt ministers until their bones turn to dust." Ixel volunteered enthusiastically.

    "Ah, let me have some fun with them as well! I suggest we should live stream it all and put it on national TV for everyone to see. Once they see what kind of fate awaits corrupt guys, no one will want to risk it. At least they''ll learn that we are going to reform the city." Kraft added on, and Rex snapped back at all of them.

    "You guys! I love you all but NO! This is meant to portray as the good guys, not some evil goons! I want to show the Demons that the future for them will be bright...well erm bright enough, hehe. Though I agree that broadcasting it citywide should be great entertainment and prove educational." Rex stated in a domineering tone.

    "Tsu, Kai, mind doing the honours?"

    "Definitely. We''ve rebelled for righteousness and justice. If this Metropolis is a step to do so for our real world, I do not mind." Tsu said, and his brother agreed to it by proceeding to the Mages Broadcast station and started to use Rex''s name to prep the national telecast.

    --------------

    "No, Sir! We cannot do that even though the King has the absolute right to our city!" The broadcast director refused toply and was ready to defend the schedule that was ced on their current broadcast station.

    "How about this?" Kai asked again as he dropped a bag on the table and when the director saw wads of dungeon dors in it, he coughed and changed his tune almost immediately.

    "Well, if you all insist. I should be able to squeeze a slot out for the new King to address his people." The Director ''graciously'' allowed the twin brothers request and suddenly Tsu disappeared from his sight and mmed the director''s head on the ground, causing a few Demon Guards who had been standing outside the room to rush in.

    "As of 1040hrs, Director Gutmo, you are hereby arrested for epting bribery and shall be persecuted under the new anti-corruption decree which King Rex had signed this morning. Guards! Bring him to the New Central Police Station for questioning!" Kai shouted as Tsu grinned quietly while holding the broadcast director down. His palm had also generated enough chi to burn the director''s head away if he decided to do something nonsensical.

    "Wow, you guys are fast." Rex was a bit taken aback when he learned that Tsu and Kai had spared no effort in enforcing thew that he had ced about an hour ago.

    "Swift justice and free the oppressed. That''s the whole point of getting this Demon Metropolis, right?" Kai asked with an audible grin via the System Channel.

    "Are you not afraid that the Metropolis people will rebel against us?" Pei, who had been on the sidelines, had listened in on the conversation. "Not everyone will like it."

    "That''s the rich minority. As long as we have the majority on our side, we can change this Metropolis into a better ce. If it seeds, we can possibly recruit other monsters and maybe humans to join us too." Rex defended the action of the brothers before he told Tsu and Kai to hurry the broadcast since most of the advisors had already arrived.

    "General Vual reporting via the System Channel. Sorry to interrupt this channel, but as instructed, I have ced guards around the Grand Meeting Hall to ensure none of these advisors escaped. Some of our officers have also managed to convince a few of the richer nobles to participate in this meeting, stating that it concerned the state of the New Metropolis."

    "Excellent work, General Vual. I look forward to our future work together!"

    Rex clipped a grey overcoat over his formal business suit and started to walk with modern grandiose towards the Grand Meeting Hall.

    "For a better Metropolis. For a better life. For the poor and discriminated." General Vual renewed his vows in the System Channel, and the foxes cheered. (Even Pei unknowingly hoped for it too.)

    "Exactly, time for the much needed culling. Let''s prove that our resolve from the past has remained resolute to this day!" Rex said as he walked down the stairs.

 Chapter 822 Metropolis Justice - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 822 Metropolis Justice - Part 2</h4>

    "What are we waiting for? I have urgent meetings to attend to today!" Shouted a noble dressed in all expensive silk clothes and an exquisite fur coat exuding his wealth status.

    "Calm down there, Litr. There is no way your anger will quicken the current situation." Minister Phaspho tried to talk the other party down even though he was equally frustrated that they were kept waiting for quite some time now.

    The advisors, ministers and nobles who were on the scene did not realise that Evon had purposely leaked a minute amount of a rage inducing drug into the surrounding atmosphere that led them to be a bit on the edge. The Guards were oblivious to it as they had already also taken a pill of Evon''s antidote so that they would not be affected. This enabled the Guards to stay rational and sane enough to keep the ce in order.

    As for the nobles and ministers, Angry people do not talk rationally, and that would eventually tip the scales further in Rex'' favour. It wasn''t that Rex was unable to beat them in an intelligent conversation but rather, if they were shown like this on a national broadcast, the general public would sympathise with the new king over their existing cab of ministers.

    "Attention! Court is now in session!" General Vual shouted as his guards opened the doors for King Rex to enter the Grand Meeting Hall.

    "Court session?" Phaspho looked around, and many of the other ministers and advisors were just as confused. Did someone mess up? Was this not a get together meeting to greet the king and learn more about his agenda for the Demon Metropolis? What kind of court session was he talking about?

    Suddenly with a p of Rex''s fingers, everyone who had been sitting around the Grand Meeting table found themselves cuffed. Even some of the bystanders got magically bound, and the Demon Home Guards swarmed in from the various entrances and held them down.

    With another p, the furniture in the Grand Meeting Hall had been deliberately shifted, and the Demon Home Guards were carrying benches and even lock bars to hold the ministers in chains. In the meantime, the Grand Meeting Table had been teleported out by the System, providing the home guards with space to set everything up.

    "What is the meaning of this!? Stop this nonsense immediately! It is not funny at all!" Litr shouted out with zing fury. This was the first time he had been chained down, let alone by the authority of the Home Guards.

    Instead of being ridden with guilt for shoving someone of Litr''s standing down on the ground, the Home Guards who performed the act were ted.

    They knew how much evil he had done with his business and connections, yet he had escaped countless times from the Demon Metropolis Central Police''s investigation department. Many times, the leading investigator who had umted sufficient criminating evidence against Litr, had been abducted and the case against him must be dropped.

    Those investigators weren''t killed since resurrection was avable. Rather, they got captured, tortured and their life had been made miserable than death itself. Rumours had it that some of the victims were left rotting in an isted cell after being chained up with a limbless body. Some had it ''lucky'' with their bodies cryo-freezing for eternity. (Sounds better? Actually, that meant they were thrown into an ice based dungeon core, and the ce became their graveyard.)

    Those were initially rumours... But when people started to go missing one after another and subsequently having entire investigative teams to suddenly disappear, it was not a mystery that they were taken care of to ensure the rich and corrupt were able to continue with their business. (Some even joke that being in the Major Crimes department for the Central Police was putting one foot into the grave.)

    "Don''t you think because you are the new king, I have to listen to you! My connections are far and wide. Enough to bring you down if you do not listen to me!" Litr cried in defiance but was abruptly interrupted by the Demon Guards with their batons.

    "After you have seen what I could do? Nevermind, I guess there are some people who are that oblivious. Oh, and you don''t have to listen to me talk that much. In fact, I am here today to listen to you. You, as well as everyone else who has been invited, will get the chance to give their testimony." Rex announced to the nobles, ministers and advisors that had been chained up within the meeting room. The Home Guard then rearranged them in an orderly manner and forced them to their knees.

    In a matter of minutes, the entire ce had been renovated into an impromptu courthouse for the first hearing under King Rex'' ruling with the mages'' broadcast being shown publicly without the knowledge of the ones used.

    While General Vual believed this method of rooting out corrupt officials was extremely brutal and unconventional, this was the first time in the history of Demon Metropolis that the ruling owner had used such a course of action. He always considered corruption to be something normal even though Vual tried his best to avoid it.

    There were times, it was too sweet of a deal, especially when it would help his department of Home Guards to grow. Yet, when confronted by Rex, Vual admitted to everything without the intervention of the System.

    "That is why I was not wrong choosing you. From now on, you shall act as my right hand." Rex had praised the man and instead of punishing him, provided him with the opportunity to change the bleak reality they had been living in.

    Still, it wouldn''t be so easy. This being a court case, had instantly made the corrupted officials decide to keep their mouth shut. They had been interrogated before. They had been threatened before and yet all those did not matter as long there was money on the table.

    Just by buttering a few fingers, those corrupted officials had been able to make all the problem go away. Not to mention, Kiva was previously at the top of their hierarchy, allowing the abuse of power and money to go unchecked as long as he received a cut from it. s, with him now gone, it had left a power gap that had made each official hungry to be the next Kiva.

    One might say that demons were born this way, and unfortunately, that was how the majority were discriminated as such by the rest of the Dungeon World even though there were plenty of honest, peace loving demons. It was simr to the situations where monsters were stereotyped to treat humans badly and vice versa because of how the Dungeon Cores worked. But there were also many instances of monsters and humans cohabiting together.

    Thus, Rex decided to change all of this in a progressive manner despite being in office just for a few days. He had learnt enough of this city''s plight from Moloch as well the collective data from the System''s ability to tap into everyone''s mind after their capture.

    In a nce, Rex knew what was wrong with their system and their way of life. But only through the System, it made him realise that those hard-working honest demons had been repeatedly ripped off by their richer counterparts. Seeing that they were being dominated in a fashion like how the Royal Zodiacs unted their power and wealth, Rex could not help but decide to use his power against these nobles.

    He was now King. There were things a proper King should do to get the people''s trust, and this opening act of his was one of them.

    "Order! Order!" King Rex, now acting as judge, jury and executioner mmed his hammer demanding silence from the group.

    However, the officials were not willing to listen. They defied Rex''smand with even more shouting. Yet, the Home Guards were quick to silence them with the officials having no knowledge that the broadcast had already been airing throughout the whole city.

    "I will be questioning each and every one of you to prove not only your subsequent loyalty to me but also to root out any officials, advisors or nobles who have wronged this particr city during the rule of King Baal," Rex announced, and that alone stunned every single person in the room. (As well as those watching.)

 Chapter 823 Metropolis Justice - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 823 Metropolis Justice - Part 3</h4>

    "First, let me show you the evidence we have collected, incriminating most of you here," Rex stated as he erged photos, documents for the whole court to see. Although the officials continued to be ignorant and kept mum despite their names and faces shown on those documents, the citizens of Demon Metropolis were taken back by the revtion. Many were so appalled that a number stopped work just to watch where this court session was going.

    On the other hand, pockets of demons in various parts of the city started to break down and cry. Their muted call for justice seems to finally get answered today.

    "Gosh, the corruption in this country is really terrible." Rex sighed and asked Moloch if he had any knowledge about it in the System channel.

    "I do not remember it being this bad when I was the Royal Advisor. King Baal was quite a proponent in stemming out such illicit activities from the society. Because of our policies, a number ofpanies had decided to invest. Whether they did turn to the other side of thew and return back all depends on your performance." Moloch answered as he was actually the one projecting the event to the Broadcast Station for Tsu and Kai to manage the stream.

    Where had that little bull toy been hiding in this Grand Meeting Hall?

    Actually, he was right in the Dungeon Maker alongside Jin! He had previously set up surveince cameras which had the capability to project whatever that was going on to the Broadcast station. With the variety of angles as well as zooming functions, it made the broadcast less of a deadpan and they were able to jump different scenes.

    That was why the public initially mistook it for some new show rather than an actual trial. But it was also thanks to these functions which were not a constant stream of one particr angle that attracted more and more people to watch it. "Urgh, this city entertainment industry has much to learn from Jin''s world," Moloch mumbled even though he too had been absorbed by the TV programmes in Jin''s world.

    "Any objections to this evidence?" Rex asked, and while Litr''s instinctive reaction would be to deny everything, his entire body reacted preemptively forcing him to answer truthfully. He did not know what was happening. He felt as if the truth was stuck right in between his throat, and he had to vomit it out no matter what.

    "Fuck fuck fuck! No, it''s all true! I did those!" Litr shouted with excruciating agony as he felt himself unable to lie or pretend his way out.

    "Very well. Now we shall bring in the witness to testify against you." Rex announced and told the System to prepare them.

    "What are you talking about?! I already admitted to doing that? Why would you need to bring in witnesses?" Litr did not understand the whole trial procedure.

    "Oh, it''s just to solidify the case so that we can crush youpletely. ording to the reports you aren''t usually thispliantбн although that does not seem to be an issue right now." Rex turned his head to Evon, and he quietly and slightly nodded with pride. Not many of the officials who were at the scene caught that short exchange of nods, and even if they did, they were already too enraged and fearful of their own uing trials.

    They did not know that the truth serum was being used and so effective that it would permanently change their brain physiology forcing them to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. Of course, that would inadvertently help Rex if the officials were to continue to be his ministers and advisors for the city. (But he didn''t have high hopes for the majority of the officials after they were done with them.)

    As ordered by King Rex, a few beast children started to walk in with the aid of the Demon Home Guards. They were none other than Teras, Lapp, S, Shen and Swee. The kids who had been in the Circle of Fraud which Tsu had rescued.

    Litr saw the kids who he recognised in an instant because of their unique traits and started to panic. "No wayбнhow could those kids be here?! I sent them to Paradiso to rot for all eternity?" Litr blurted out his thoughts without even realising it.

    When Lapp saw that ugly rich noble, she immediately rushed towards him and kicked him in the face. The rest of the children were also filled with wrath, and it did not stop until the Demon Home Guards intervened to stop them. (They didn''t halt them immediately on purpose as it was just too satisfying to watch Litr get what he deserved)

    "Oops, maybe the rage drug in the room affected them a bit too much." Evon apologised on the System Channel, but the rest were delighted that the beast children had been able to get some physical revenge against the perpetrator who had ced them in Paradiso.

    He was the one who had exploited them and even pulled strings to make up some ridiculous charges against them. Then he also bribed detectives and police officers ensuring they would be sent to Paradiso after finding out that they were responsible for providing information on him to the Central Police Investigation Department.

    He never realised those kids were determined enough to challenge the Circle of Fraud. But a twist of fate brought the kids to the very same person who they had supplied information to. The lead investigator had been turned into a statue as punishment from the Litr Corporation, and was the one who taught them to kill and how to survive the Circle of Fraud.

    The beast children had initially thought that it was karma for partially being responsible that he got turned into this statue. But over time, he had started to exploit their abilities and act in the same way Litr had done to maintain superiority in the Circle of Fraud. It was not until Tsu came to rescue them from living their life of misery and oppression.

    After learning the connection, Rex had decided to take this matter to hand and use it as the precedent case to disy what kind of ruler he would be. He might have cared about the discriminated demons in due time anyway, but none of the foxes had expected him to take such a drastic measure against the corruption until those children appeared on the scene.

    With each and every testimony from the beast children, they used Demon Noble Litr of way more than just Minor abuse. Paedophilia, child trafficking, and even renting the children to businessmen and women for their own twisted desires hade to light. The public was once again horrified by the staggering evidence against one of their more well-known phnthropists, and Litr was unable to deny any of those usations from the beast children testimonies. In fact, thanks to Evon''s drug, he added things that the children hadn''t even been aware of.

    While the trial was going on, General Vual was dispatching more and more of the Demon Home Guard to raid the corporation offices and people that Litr named. Ever since the inception of King Rex, it was a task that Vual and his officers had trained for, prepared to throw down the swift hammer of justice on that scum.

    This first part of the trial alone had already solidified the people''s trust for the king and ced fear into the hearts of evildoers.

 Chapter 824 Metropolis Justice - Final

    <h4>Chapter 824 Metropolis Justice - Final</h4>

    "...Noble Litr will be stripped of all of his assets in theing days. He will assist the Home Guards to dismantle his entire wealth and help unveil any hidden operations that have been going on away from the public''s eye." King Rex announced the verdict, yet he could literally hear the crowd outside.

    Apparently, the public wasn''t satisfied with such scum getting off easy, and demanded more justice.

    "Don''t you think you''re relieved a bit early, Litr? I have yet to bang my hammer. " Rex smirked as he drank from a cup of water to quench his thirst.

    "Because of all the atrocious crimes you''vemitted, especially against all these poor children, I hereby also sentence you to life imprisonment in Paradiso as soon as it is rebuilt. For the moment, you will be kept in the maximum cell security prison under the Central Police Station. We''ve prepared a cell for you which cannot be unlocked unless I personallye over to fetch you." Rex added.

    "All of your statuses is hereby erased, and your entire household will be ced under arrest until investigations have cleared their names. Until then, they will be treated guilty until proven innocent. All of their assets would also be freezed. There is no way out for you no matter how you see it. You are not allowed to appeal nor request for bail. The sentence I give would be absolute."

    "Lastly, you will be receiving five strokes of the cane on a daily basis and be kept alive for eternity. Don''t you worry. I won''t let you die that easily. We will butter your ass up with lots of medicinal oil if we need to." Rex said with a gentle smile, but it spoke volumes of terror which Litr could notprehend at that moment.

    Litr stared at the absurdity of the sentence, and tears started to leak out of his eyes pleading for leniency. "Please my liege! I have admitted to all my crimes! I have even voluntarily given you the names of those involved. Don''t I deserve a lighter sentence for my cooperation?"

    "No, you do not. For decades you have been involved in shady business. You did not care about the well being of others. You have sent children into Paradiso because they ''betrayed'' you as you im, ignoring the circumstances they had to live in. You confessed because you did not want to bear with the pain as you saw the guillotine upon your neck alreadying down. Such behaviour does not deserve any sort of lighter punishment. That''s all." Rex replied firmly.

    Soon enough, those officials would all discover that there was actually a second part to Evon''s truth serum. If someone tried to keep the truth by not saying anything, it woulde along with more and more excruciating pain.

    However, as to not waste any time, all Evon had to do was to activate the truth serum via his own chi and the used would be forced to speak the truth while at the same time still suffering the pain. The Fox of Drugs did not have to worry about death since they would either die and disappear forever or resurrect at the church and continue with the trial. It was a lose-lose situation for them, considering the resurrection point couldn''t be changed.

    "Now, you''ve wasted enough of my time. Guards, bring him away and get the next official or noble to the podium." King Rex ordered, and the Home Guards were delighted toply with their new King''smands.

    As the next official came, it was ironically Minister Phaspho who had assured Litr that this was just a show of power. "Ahбн Minister Phaspho, I heard much about you too. You''ve witnessed how I shall conduct these trials, so let''s proceed quickly, shall we? We have wasted too much time exposing Noble - oops I meant Litr." Rex''s grin at that moment wasn''t any less evil than Kraft''s, and the foxes could never imagine how happy Kraft was when Rex enforced such cruel justice.

    Phaspho was under the impression that touching the book of ''truth'' would cause him to spill out his secrets, and with defiance, he tried to avoid it as much as possible.

    But refusing the ''book of truth'' did not change anything as long as Evon was there. All Evon had to do was to increase the dosage or activate his chi for it to spill his entire life''s story.

    Thus his resistance to swear an oath was futile for Minister Phaspho, and Rex began his line of questioning without further ado. (After all, there was a line of ''criminal'' ministers waiting to be judged.)

    Simr to Litr, multiple crimes got exposed to the public, and by now almost the entire poption of Demon Metropolis was earnestly watching the entire broadcast. Many were angry that the people who were supposed to act for themon good were so corrupt when they promised things to get done.

    After each usation against the culprits, King Rex''s sentences ended up based on the offences they admitted to havingmitted and soon after, it was the next official.

    Only after 74 hours of non-stop interrogation, the longest trial ever to be held did Rex let the hammer fall for thest of the officials. The Home Guards had already scheduled rotations so that they would not get overworked but for the used officials and noblesбн They were not allowed any rest except for toilet breaks which were also supervised in case they tried to make a run for it.

    No food or beddings were provided, and they had to kneel until the end of the trial session. Naturally, most of them ended up sleeping in that position, but what surprised even the Home Guards was King Rex being around for the entire time without breaks. (Although there were slight stretching during intervals.)

    For that period of 74 hours, Rex had not eaten a single piece of food nor taken a wink of rest. His focus actually got sharper as the hours went by, and even Evon had shown his ability to stand all day, by his side.

    The entire Demon Metropolis was in a way moved by the dedication of their new King, but at the same time couldn''t help but question his purpose.

    For the past 74 hours, the Home Guard had been busy raiding the used houses for jewels, treasures and money. Yet, all that ill-gotten money was technically still taxpayers'' ie. What was Rex intending to do with it?

    Was this trial just a way to amass all the wealth or would he be distributing it back to the people, or at least use it for the people''s wellbeing? The critics were still sceptical about it even though Rex had conducted a brilliant job clearing the current administration. The second problem the critics in the news industry pointed out would be getting new officials to take over for their jailed predecessors.

    Those ex-officials might have been corrupt, but at least they had been somewhatpetent in their work. By arresting them all, it left a big gap, which might actually prove to be disadvantageous to the new King.

    Yet, the King who after mming the hammer to conclude the trial session had no qualms with that especially when he had the System and the foxes by his side.

    In no time, Pei got assigned to be partially in control over the health ministry department. Although Kraft teasingly told Pei that she did not need to be with them any longer, she refused adamantly yet demanded Rex to allow her to work remotely.

    Tsu and Kai had been assigned to deal with internal affairs, and mainly the coordination of departments. Ixa was assigned to the transportation department while Itori the education department. As for their brother, Ixel decided to head the police department while General Vual became the sole defensive force after the Demon Metropolis'' defeat against Pandapolis.

    Even though Kiyu was currently working for her mission, her position in the Metropolis would be foreign affairs as Rex knew how that girl could sweet talk anyone.

    Evon had been appointed to head the science and research department while Kraftбн was given nothing.

    "Big Brother. I am so hurt. I''ve been nothing but good to you, and this is how you repay me?" Kraft asked overly dramatic via the System Channel.

    "Knowing you, I believe it''s best not to give you any position," Rex admitted, and the group could hear a rtively quiet snort from Pei. "But because of that, you will not have to report to anyone, not even me. Feel free to probe at everyone''s stuff."

    "That''s equivalent to the King''s positionбн" Kai pointed out, and Kraft literally jumped with joy.

    "BIG BROTHER KNOWS ME BEST!" Kraft shouted as he instantly disappeared from the chat.

    "You sure it''s a good idea, King Rex?" Pei asked, mentioning his title with some lofty sarcasm.

    "It''s not like you do not know him. If I were to give him something official, he would just get bored after a while. After all, he hates having someone tell him what he can and cannot do. Besides, despite his devilish ways, he always gets the job done and often he is going the extra mile." Rex tried to defend his proposition.

    "More like childish waysбн" Pei resigned to that fact and looked up the Demon Metropolis health policies and rted items. Even though all these jobs were temporary until a suitable official could be found, it was still a good time killer for Pei while protecting Jin.

    The reform of Demon Metropolis might have started, but the toughest part has yet toe.

 Chapter 825 Stalking Tiger, Hissing Snake

    <h4>Chapter 825 Stalking Tiger, Hissing Snake</h4>

    "Finally, some rest!" Hou Fei sighed as he sat down in a corner stacked with supply boxes and took out a cigarette for a smoke. He had been coordinating all morning with the Border Guards for the first wave of forest sweep.

    The Border Guards were initially confused as to why the Royal Snake General were to bring such heavy machinery and even lending them some of it. But even without any exchange of words, they knew it was better to over prepare than not having anything. Thus, the Captains of the various Border Wall Sections and a select group of guards went through a quick induction course with some of the heavier weaponry like rocket propelled grenades and even heavy machine guns.

    "You sure make it hard for people to find you. Were it not for your rank, I would have reprimanded you already." A man inbat fatigues noted as he casually waved at Hou Fei which he had caught smoking.

    "Tsk, are you sure you''re a tiger and not one of the dogs? How hard did you sniff to find me?" Hou Fei replied, but despite his harsh tone, he offered the man his box of cigarettes.

    "To chase a slippery snake like you? I had no other choice." He answered with augh and epted the box of cigarettes. Hou Fei even lent him a light.

    "Still, it''s a surprise to see the almighty Royal Tiger Battalion General in the field. I was sure you would be fiddling with yourputer from your triad basement or remain on the sidelines." Hou Fei teased as he pointed his cigarette at theptop that the general was holding on to.

    "Someone else is temporarily coordinating the Triad members for me. Else, how could the police ensure its 90% catch rate of bad people without the direct influence from the Royal Tiger Family?" The Royal Tiger Battalion''s general was none other than San Ya Bai, who was simultaneously the Three Eyed Tiger Triad Leader.

    "Don''t pretend you know everything about the bad guys. You did not foresee the Ruby Rat Triad Boss going for Jin, did you?" Hou Fei asked, and Ya Bai chuckled with a puff.

    "That, I cannot deny. I was aware of the tensions, and at most, I predicted some Rat Triad resistance or skirmishes around Tiangong district. But for the boss himself to go out and deal with that Jin? I have to admit that decision of his continues to baffle me even now. At least, now I know where the loyalty of the police chief in Tiangong district lies. He will go far as long as Jin grows in prosperity." Ya Bai admitted as he sat on a box and enjoyed the puff of smoke.

    "Looks like Tiger Head Yuan Ba has good foresight to make Jin into an honorary Royal Tiger n Member then." Hou Fei said with a bit of spite.

    "There is nothing stopping the Royal Snake n to bestow him with the same honorary status too, you know? Although it would be the first time for a person to receive honorary status from two different Royal Zodiac ns." Ya Bai mentioned.

    "Is it really necessary to use Jin as a political tool?" Hou Fei questioned, and Ya Bai was a bit surprised.

    "I did not know you cared for that kid that much. Is it because he''s Ming''s grandson?"

    "Yes. Ming specifically asked me to take care of him. Shelter him from all this nonsense if possible."

    "Sad to say, but in the current era, no business can grow rich and famous without any meddling from the political scene. Even if one managed to steer away from politics, he or she would still get affected by the indirect influences of it."

    "That is why it''s best to get Jin now, eh?" Hou Fei could not deny Ya Bai''s reasoning.

    "That''s one of the reasons. Although, perhaps more importantly is that our Tiger Princess seems to have taken a liking to Jin. Let''s not forget that the kid also saved our n Head. All the more for us to interfere with Jin''s life." Ya Bai vaguely reminded Hou Fei that the Snakes did not have anything like that could keep Jin at their side except for Hou Fei''s rtion with Ming.

    "You might be surprised to learn how close Jin and I have be." Hou Fei raised his eyebrows for a moment as if he got another secret to keep and a warning that the Snakes can be as protective. "Besides,st I remember was that your n kinda forced your status on him to use the Portal devices."

    "Heh, he had to prove his usefulness. That''s all I can say." Ya Bai replied before a short awkward silence filled the air. "бнIs heing to fight in this Monster Horde incident?" Ya Bai changed the topic a little as if they would be expecting him.

    "We both know that I''ve contracted him to be our backup n for the evacuation. As for whether he does anything more than thatбн well, that''s up to him." Hou Fei answered even though he knew a bit of the counter offense n that Lynn had prepared if things went wrong via the System.

    It was insurance by the System in case any unexpected sh were to happen between him and other troops.

    "Heh, that alone is enough information." Ya Bai sneered as he handed a Royal Tiger Battalion Badge Pass to Hou Fei. "Give this to him once you see him. It should prove useful if hees into contact with any of the private contractors."

    "You make it sound as if it''s a sure thing I will meet him."

    "Doesn''t seem impossible since we all have the portal devices now." Ya Bai grinned as he put out his cigarette and he waved goodbye to Hou Fei without looking at him.

    "Nice private chat. Once this is all over, feel free toe and pay us a visit. I''ll let my wife prepare your favourite meal again."

    "Does the System need to subdue that particr General?" The System asked, and Hou Fei smirked.

    "Nah, he is just as resourceful as the Snake''s Head. No wonder they sometimes say thatpetent Tigers are good stalkers." Hou Fei answered the System, and the badge immediately disappeared from his hand.

    "Ah, Sir!" A Royal Snake Soldier finally found his General.

    "Damn it, so much for taking a nap." Hou Feiined, and the Royal Snake Soldier saluted and apologised.

    "Apologies, General. Colonel Chen Lai needs you at the frontline as soon as possible. They''ve are going tomence the sweep at 1100hrs." The Royal Snake Soldier reported.

    "I thought Colonel Kan Jian was getting a few APCs (Armoured Personnel Carrier) and an Apache helicopter from Shanghai before we start?" Hou Fei threw his cigarette butt on the floor and squashed it.

    "General, there are new and sudden activities being caught on the radar. They are approaching fast. Approximately moving at 50km/hr. That is why Colonel Chen Lai decided to proceed with the sweep." The Royal Snake Soldier reported.

    "That is weird. Way too weird. God damn it. Is it really true that this is an intentional act?!" Hou Fei gripped his hands as those thoughts went through his head. The Royal Snake Soldier merely stood there waiting for his General.

    "Did Major Boon Tiong contact the Horse n in Dongguan about it already?"

    "Sorry General, I''m not aware. I will pass the message after Iplete my current orders."

    "It''s fine, by that order. Lead the way." Hou Fei ordered as he took his phone and called the General of the Royal Horse Battalion.

 Chapter 826 Evacuation Plan Ready!

    <h4>Chapter 826 Evacuation n Ready!</h4>

    "The Military Sweep has started on Huizhou and Dongguan." The System informed Jin just when he was recing Yun for her lunchtime break. Inparison to the supposed tension, the customers in the shop were utterly oblivious to the soldiers that were risking their lives to protect them. Jin never felt that way until today, and he once again learnt that ignorance was indeed a disguised blessing.

    "I seeбн" Jin said as he took his phone out and requested the System to check if there were any news about it. He was expecting news ckout on the situation, but with the System''s advance search, it might be able to search for some gossips.

    "Negative. After checking all news outlets in this country, the information closest to the truth was a short article about an exercise being conducted around the borders of Dongguan and Huizhou. Private forums required more time, but a quick search resulted in zero hits on User''s query." The System reported back.

    "So, just another training exercise, huh." Jin began to wonder how many times when he had seen the words "training exercise" in the papers it was merely an excuse to actually cover something up, just like what Hou Fei and the others were currently doing.

    "User, your heart rate has elevated. There is not much you can do at the moment. System would like to advise you to focus on the business for the time being. Even if there is a war right outside your doorstep, User has to remain calm and carry on with his work." The System stated that protecting his shop was the most important thing for a businessman.

    "As if the past wars we got ourselves into were not enough to realise that." Jin chuckled a little as he stared at the audience from the bar table that the shop had ever since its inception. Nevertheless, he felt a difference now that it was his own world that was at stake. Was this how the Goblin Trio, peggies, Minotaurs and even the Jacks had felt?

    "Sigh, it''s only been a few months, but it already feels like forever."

    "If the System were to put the timepression and dtion into perspective of User''s current lifespan working on Dungeon Instances, it would approximately be close to two years."

    "In this case, I am definitely gonna die sooner than Gramps." Jin bitterlyughed at the impromptu analysis of the System. "Anyways, I was thinking of changing-"?Suddenly they heard Qiu Yue screaming on the System Channel.

    "FINALLY DONE!!!" She happily reported to Jin that the prefabricated buildings hadpleted.

    "Thank you Qiu Yue, go enjoy a nice bath (without any Jin massage) or eat some good food to rx. The sweep has just started, so we do not have much time to rest in case we proceed with the counter offence." Jin thanked the Red Panda Cultivator for her job.

    "Seriously, you are already assuming the worst?" Qiu Yue questioned as she took a picture of the buildings she had built. Yes, with the Empire Building Sub System, she had spearheaded the building process by utilising its powers without the aid of the monsters.

    Although it was more efficient to set up herself, the constant use of the Empire Sub System is rather draining and the extra money needed to be spent to make those construction materials was way more than when she used the Orc Workforce to build it from scratch. Besides, even if Qiu Yue could have asked the Orcs to do it along with her, they were busy performing maintenance of Pandapolis after the offensive raid.

    The defence ns she had in store for Pandapolis were meant to reduce the amount of maintenance needed while keeping the cost low. However, King Baal''s mass teleportation spell had single-handedly overturned any ns they had designed, and while Pandapolis did not end up in ruins (their worst case scenario), major repair works were still needed to ensure that it could be operating smoothly for the real opening of the city.

    With her Empire Building Sub System, she was able to control simple blocks of prefabricated concrete levels as if she was in a video game. Her phone turned into a pair of Control Gloves as if she possessed high-level telekic powers to move the blocks into ce.

    Her Red Panda mask, which was connected to the Sub System, also reminded her of the pieces that needed to be ced to ensure that the building was ready for use.

    Metal pipes and electrical wiring were done with a swipe of her control gloves while the levels of concrete snapped into position like lego building blocks with locking mechanisms. This was to ensure that those prefabricated buildings could be removed in a jiffy as well.

    "Hahah, as a businessman, I have to assume the worst, right? Besides, we cannot disappoint the customer who rented our instance space for this much money." Jin said, and Qiu Yue giggled.

    "You sure are exploiting them for charging such a high price. No matter how I see it, the dungeon instance space and materials do not cost that much." Qiu Yue, who knew exactly how much the material cost was for all this preparation, retorted.

    "Got to factor in my workers'' wages, right?" Jin asked with a smirk, and Qiu Yue''s eyes brightened up.

    "Does that mean what I think it does? A FAAAATTTTTT bonus for the iing red packet?" Qiu Yue asked with excitement.

    "Who knows?" Jin tried to be mysterious, but his voice betrayed his words, and Qiu Yue was once again screaming at the top of her lungs. Some of the monsters who were doing some minor works near her had been shocked by it butughed it off.

    "By the way, what happens to all these buildings if they don''t end up being used? Or after they were to be removed after this evacuation is over?" Qiu Yue finally calmed down as she teleported back to her room.

    "I was gonna hand them over to Rex. He is reforming their city. Did you recently watch how he basically umted a massive amount of funds from bagging a number of corrupted officials and is forcing those corrupt officials to reveal other scum bags." Jin answered.

    He had followed the Litr Corporation Trial and was wow-ed by the performance. Now Jin roughly understood why Kraft looked up to Rex as an older brother.

    "Yup, I saw that trial too, though I only watched the first part. He is really one amazing person. You should work towards bing like him." Qiu Yue teased him, but was also half-serious.

    "Hahaha. Perhaps if I had a thousand years or more on my belt? Anyways, he did say that he wanted to bring down the slums and create proper housing for them. So, these prefabricated buildings could be the perfect answer for that situation. If we have the time, maybe you can construct more of it for him." Jin suggested, and Qiu Yue realised that the Dungeon Supplier was shrewd too.

    "Nice. These prefabricated buildings are sturdy enough tost for at least 50 years. With some maintenance and a bit of improvement work on them, they can definitely be decent housing for the poor. Also, if they get targeted by other Dungeon Core invasions, the buildings are cheap enough to rece. Definitely a good means to rece those slum settlements." Qiu Yue wholeheartedly agreed to that proposal.

    "If they can raise the poor out of their poverty or at least improve their quality of life, we should be able to benefit from it as well," Jin said as he could see that his source of money would finally be erged by a huge jump.

    "User will then finally be able to return the money you owe the System." The System suddenly interrupted, and the two System Users burst intoughter.

 Chapter 827 Worst Possible Momen

    <h4>Chapter 827 Worst Possible Momen</h4>

    Just as Jin and Qiu Yue wereughing away at the System''s impromptument, the situation took a sudden change.

    "Emergency. EMERGENCY!" The System was ring out through the channel. Nearly every monster who was working suddenly stopped in their tracks.

    "What is happening?!" Jin quickly took a look at his phone and realised the screen disy had already been switched to a view of the Farming World.

    "System has detected a significantlyrge magical presence right above the town Wecha." The System stated as it had already taken the initiative to teleport Peppers into the field.

    Although Pandapolis had been a clear priority for Jin and his monsters because of the imminent attack from King Baal, they had not left thest remaining major trade centre of the Northern regionpletely defenceless. Silver and the rest of the Jacks had been reinforcing the town as well as they could, taking care of the refugee poption in the area.

    Gold and his cousin took turns to train the refugees from various towns and taught them basic fighting skills. They might not ount for much in the grand scheme of things, but at the very least they would be able to do their part in defending the (second to)st remaining sanctuary for humans.

    "Is it some mass wide offensive magic?" Jin also asked if the town had already been equipped with Ayse''s shield generator.

    "Affirmative. The shield generator has already been booted up by Silver. However, the System is unable to recognise the pattern as it has been shrouded with some form of unknown magic. Betor Peppers has been teleported to the scene to investigate while enhancing its magic defence systems."

    "Shit, of all times this had to happen now! Just what kind of twisted fate do I have with rats?" Jin cursed as he called back Yun to take over the counter as soon as she was done with her break. Meanwhile, his astral form allowed Jin Two to temporarily hold the fort in the shop instance as he checked out the situation in the Dungeon Maker.

    "Right now is not the worst possible moment. If the Demon Rats from the Farming World hadunched an offensive during our defensive battle against the Demon Metropolis, it would have been far more devastating for the town of Wecha." The System reasoned, but Jin was looking for someone else.

    His one and only spy who had been monitoring the Rats ever since she had managed to get into the Northern''s Region Capital.

    Sure enough, the magic signals by the System were not a lie as Sebastia''s constant scouting immediately noticed something was off with the current capital upied by the rats.

    "Master, it seems that-"

    "Holy mother of - JIN, THERE IS A FREAKING FLYING FORTRESS...above me!" Peppers excitedly reported. She had wanted to blow it into pieces the moment sheid her eyes on the piece ofnd that had a variety of engines and machines installed at the bottom of the ind to keep it afloat.

    The only thing stopping Peppers from attempting exactly that were the consequences of sting it right over the Town of Wecha. The resulting debris meteor shower would rain down, unquestionably killing many citizens and refugees residing in Wecha.

    While she could conjure a wide energy barrier after an explosion massive enough to take it out, she knew all too well that her strongest ''spear'' would defeat the strongest ''shield'' in her arsenal. Thus, Peppers unwillingly followed the System''s orders to create arge enough energy barrier, surrounding the town of Wecha.

    "Cough! As I was trying to say. Master, it seems that a portion of the Northern capital where I''ve been hiding has somehow emerged over Wecha. I can see the view from where I am spying has turned into an endless ocean of blue skies. No wonder the rats have sent all the human ves into the castle. They might be used to boot up the steam engine." Sebastia finished her report by stating that she would continue to go deeper into the floating fortress to gain a better grasp of the situation.

    "Looks like the fortress hovering is mainly due to the steampunk technology Weslie had inventedбн" Jin took a look at the steampunk floating fortress as it seemed to be descending towards the town itself.

    Suddenly, giant pir supports emerged out of the fortress and sank into the ground around Wecha''s enhanced shield barrier.

    "Damn, I had hoped they''d be stupid enough to force itself through my barrier." Peppers pouted as she saw the pirs avoiding the shield. She thought they would be stupid to do just that.

    "I have a very bad feeling about this." Silver said in the System channel, and the others shared his bleak outlook.

    "What are you guys staring into space for?!" Qiu Yue shouted in the System Channel. "Aren''t we supposed to protect the remaining Northerners and get rid of those pesky rats? If the rats are gonna rain down now, are we going to allow the rats to dominate?!"

    "Well said. Orcs, stop the maintenance work, go to your battle stations and get ready to be teleported into battle! Orc Artillery Company Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, prep as many High Explosives rounds you can into the storage trucks for teleportation! Remember we can only carry that much for the fight!" General Nubwort sent themand, and every Orc dropped their tools to sortie quickly.

    "Gobs! You heard General Nubwort! Will we allow ourselves to be outdone by them?! Activate any usable Fortress Golems and standby for teleportation! Wyvern Goblin Knights, sortie in five!" Wyrstriker shouted through hismand''s sub channel as well.

    "We might be a smaller grouppared to the Orcs and Goblins but let''s not forget this is our home, Jacks! Make sure every able citizen militia has retrieved their weapon from the armoury and remember to give out the basic protection for them! Silver, Brown, Yellow bring the elderly to the Militia headquarters basement!" Gold ordered, and Jin found it weird.

    "What about the women and children?"

    "What are you talking about? They are fighting along with us." Gold answered as he shut the mainmunication channel out and tuned into the Jack''s sub channels. Jin might not be fighting in his real-world, but he had made amitment to save the Northern Region in the Farming World.

    This was one fight he wouldn''t back away fromбн even if it meant skipping out on the counter offence.

 Chapter 828 Militia Defence

    <h4>Chapter 828 Militia Defence</h4>

    The cylindrical metal pirs descending around Wecha were like open floodgates for the rats to swarm out from. And unlike the Demons from Metropolis, these Demon Rats were armed to the teeth (literally).

    Hundreds of these monstrous steampunk infused machinery rats were dangerously strong just from the looks of it. From heavy armoured steampunk suits torge cannons on their backs, a majority of the Demon rats were upgraded at least once more for this particr assault to remove thest few bastions of humanity.

    Even Silver believed that standard swords and shields would be indefinitely useless against them. However, the rats hadn''t yet realised that their enemy was also quite the unconventional bunch of soldiers.

    Simr to the Orcs'' arsenal, the militia had infused inscription charm weaponry that allowed them to change their swords into rifles. Unfortunately, there was a drawback to the militia''s weaponry.

    In order to prevent the rat from taking away the weapons after defeating their owner, the System and Jin had decided that those weapons needed to be imprinted on their users.

    In essence, this meant that they had to sacrifice a portion of their lifeline to activate the inscription charms for the weapons to change into modern rifles capable of fighting evenly with the steampunk rats. In short, sacrificing their blood and body to activate the charms for a shot at fighting against the rats.

    It was harsh and cruel but because barely any humans in the Farming World were trained in the ways of magic, resorting to this type of blood magic had been deemed the easiest implementation. Initially there was resistance in getting them to use those until Gold had convinced them with a demonstration of their firepower. Able to easily pierce into the cast iron used by Demon Rats'' steampunk armour, the townsfolk realised they finally had a fighting chance against them.

    The inscription charms were also numbered and indexed by the system, enabling it to track the citizens on a grand scale and deactivating those weapons upon their death. In addition, there was a surprise waiting for the rats who thought it would be a good idea to pick up the militia''s weapon for their own use.

    Upon illegal usage of the weapons, the System was able to self detonate the weapons, causing damage to the rats who held onto them. Meanwhile, Ayse had devised an even more sinister way of exploiting this looting issue. She had proposed to ce an additional inscription which would possess such a rat and brainwash it to fight for Jin momentarily. Unfortunately, the project could not bepleted in time because of this unexpected invasion.

    There was, however, a sort of saving grace from the blood magic. By sacrificing a portion of their life, the System had added their identities into its database in case some of them were not able to sign a contract with the System in time. This meant that the militia would not die in vain as the System had acquired their DNAs and souls through the weapons.

    This was actually in lieu with Jin and his monsters ns for a full-on offence against the rats once they discovered all of their many hiding areas with the help of Peppers'' legendary Scan magic. Regrettably, he had never expected that the rats would have the first blood by attacking Wechat so quickly despite what they had deemed sufficient surveince through the help of his monsters.

    The citizens who had collected their weaponry and basic armour from the various provisional armoury camps quickly mounted the nearest defensive walls. Usually, chaos would ensue with this kind of sortie, but all the officers inmand were the Jacks who had been the ones to train them.

    With the aid of the System, it was easier to coordinate the sortie, and the militias were able to get deployed in time.

    Meanwhile, the Demon Rats began banging themselves against the energy shield until they realised that each touch of the shield would result in a minute explosion, sting them away from the shield. Demon Rats who being mechanised to have battering rams tried their luck too but to their surprise, those battering rams broke down from the knock back explosion. Ranged projectiles also proved to be rather futile as well but some officers knowing that no shield is perfect,manded its warriors to keep the pressure up.

    Just as anyone might expect from Peppers, even her shield had an explosive blowback feature, and all those previous bursts of high intensity magic in the various wars allowed her to better control the mana output to the shield. She had dubbed it the Living Barrier of Explosions as she could instantly detect the coordinates where the contact read and release an explosion ordingly.

    Nevertheless, her body was still itching to st that big fat juicy target dangling above her despite knowing it would be detrimental for the entire town. "Arghhh why do I have to be stuck with guard duty!" Peppers grumbled since offence was always the best defence in her books.

    It seemed as if Wecha was not the only target the Rats had in mind as guards from Wecha''s watchtowers reported that a sizeable force of rats was assembling towards the direction of the remaining seaport where the bulk of the Northern Bulwark Army was stationed at.

    "We will definitely incur some losses, but at least we should have time to shore up the defences at the seaport. Admiral Focalor, I hope we can count on your expertise in handling a harbour defence." Jin said through the System Channel and the Tiefling noble immediately obliged.

    "Less than a month and we have our debut fight? Master, I am already liking you!" Focalor replied with excitement ringing in his heart.

    "Unfortunately, I do not have any ships to spare at the moment. Wolte, can you lend a hand for this?" Jin questioned, but to his surprise, the slug had already taken the initiative to be on his way to the Northern Seas.

    "On it, although I might not be as powerful as I was in Pandapolis since I am currently not connected to Shadow Dagen," Wolte answered after he transformed into Stalingrad while sounding his horn as an arriving signal to the seaport.

    "I could possibly get a ship or two from Northern Bulwark General Matt, but they are definitely not as well equipped as Leviathan or her counterparts." Due to the advance warning, Gold had also teleported to the harbour town to inform General Matt Umiterus about the iing attack. With the information on hand, General Matt immediately began evacuating the elderly into a ship so that they could be shipped out.

    "No problem, we are pirates at heart. Any ship in our possession will be a beast." Captain Kenway boasted with pride as he rallied his demon sailors with him.

    "Can we hurry it up? My men are dying to try out your weapons after experiencing their fearsome firepower first hand." Captain Edwards asked with equally pounding enthusiasm.

    "Boss, am I going to be left out again?" Mr Derpy asked despite getting involved in the previous raid yet he never truly got a chance to shine.

    "You kidding me? Right now, I think you are the best candidate for an assault against the floating fortress! Pepper''s shield won''tst forever, and since they are desperate to clear us off the Northern Region, we shall entertain them as much." Jin replied as he was worried that the rats might try to crash into it as a desperate attempt to finish the rebels.

    "You mean you want me to assault the fortress?" Mr Derpy was finally ted that he had an important job to do.

    "Not only that, but I might also want you to carry an important individual or two for them to invade their flying capital," Jin added and Derpy was all pumped out.

    "Boss, now might be a good time to inform you that my team and I have refitted a couple of the C130s as part of a research project for our own homegrown spaceships. They should be good enough to get used as attack crafts for artillery support, but I''ll need to have One Orc Artillery Company to fill the numbers and man the equipment." Rei suddenly spoke out, and Jin was delighted to hear that.

    The dungeon supplier could have used the y Dragon again, but apparently, the rune stone powers had dried up from the constant use, and Jespa had yet to refill the runestone since she was ensuring Pandji, the first y statue to be sentient, continued to work perfectly fine.

    "That''s great to hear, Rei. I will get back to you if I need to use them. Qiu Yue, how''s the preparation of the ground troops?" Jin asked as he opened several interfaces and noted the possible choke points that could be created to block the rats once the energy shield was down.

    "Waiting for yourmand." Qiu Yue reported as she too was anticipating to be teleported.

 Chapter 829 The Tacticians Rampage

    <h4>Chapter 829 The Tactician''s Rampage</h4>

    "All right, go!" Jin ordered as he enabled the mass portal via his Dungeon Maker interface. With the newly increased processing capabilities from assimting the Dungeon Core crown, the System was able to teleport a massive number of minions in for a fight.

    That''s to say, it was one of the most unconventional teleportation moves that Jin had made up to now.

    After the enemies realised that bashing through the shield was not an option, they were reassembling their troops and had requested siege weapons from the floating fortress. With no retaliation from the defensive side, most of the rats were taking it easy.

    That gave Jin''s minions the upper edge when the portal appeared a few metres right above the rats, and all of them got surprised to see Veteran Orcs and Goblins diving out of their portals to hit them where it hurts.

    "This is what I call an ambush! We still have the element of surprise! Keep at it!" Qiu Yue shouted as she drove her katana into the crevices of a rat with arge steampunk suit. Blood mixed with other fluid was spilt throughout the floor while the Red Panda Cultivator started her rampage.

    When her katana was not in some poor rat''s body, her uzi was zing bullets out of the barrel, distracting and wounding the rats. The short bursts from her sub machine gun in a crowded area made her equipment amazing for closebat.

    It didn''t take long for the rats to notice that Qiu Yue was unlike those normal soldiers that had been dispatched. Instead, she was akin to an officer inmand despite her ''status'' as a human. Amidst her ughtering, she still found the time to order the fighting Orcs around and telling the goblins to move to corner certain groups of rats deemed dangerous.

    Unlike the normal Orcs who needed more time to get through the rats'' powered up steampunk suits, Qiu Yue was slicing therge mechanical rats with ease. The only strange thing was, that whenever she faced the standard rank and file rats, it took her a bit of time to dispatch them. Whereas whenever a Giant Rat entered her range, they would die almost instantly as if she had some mysterious technique that will kill thoserge Demon Rats.

    The Rats had already reported back to the higher-ups, dubbing her the ''Giant'' Killer, and the numbers of her casualties started to pile up. They did not know that her Sub System allowed her to use money to strengthen her de temporarily. Naturally, she wouldn''t choose to use it for the regr ones, so she only resorted to abusing it to slice down herrger size opponents quickly.

    "Mdm, looks like the rats are very attracted to you!" An Orc praised her as he covered Qiu Yue''s back with arge swing, cutting a Demon Rat''s body into two before transforming his weapon into a rifle to help cover Goblin who was about to be attacked.

    Even with the ambush tactic, the Orcs and Goblins were still outnumbered 1 to 300. And yet, none of them sumbed at these odds. Each and every monster on the field was fiercely fighting to bring down as many rats as they could. They knew that every kill would award them with precious System points which would ensure them a better quality of life.

    Since they knew that they had nothing to lose thanks to the System, most stopped being afraid of death. They simply tried to postpone the inevitable for the chance of getting more points. Not to mention, the constant fights along cultivators had ignited something within them.

    Jin also noticed a phenomenon which was something simr to the Goblin Trio. Even without formal training, the Orcs and Goblins were slowly gaining some form of chi as if a partial dantian nucleus had formed upon constant exposure to his cultivator customer base.

    He was unsure if they had noticed it themselves since the System had been the one to point it out to him, but the majority of the monsters were able to unleash a faint amount of chi while fighting, making them tougher than the rats had expected. Some even had applied chi unknowingly when transforming their weapons, strengthening them to provide it with some extra boom.

    "Heh! They do not know their ce! Sorry but I think I need you to cover me a little more! Got a good surprise for all of them in store." Qiu Yue said as she tapped on the Orc''s shoulder. He acknowledged it by turning his back, and with the chi he identally inserted, the rifle was shooting continuously, stopping the rats in their tracks momentarily.

    "Red Panda Arts, Icy Wind of the Umbral Winter." Qiu Yue shouted, and her katana immediately glittered with a transparent look, as if she was holding on to a beautifully lit icy stctite. A swing of her de caused the air in the area to drop below zero degrees Celsius, and the steampunk rats were unable to move their suits at all as their primary source of power, steam, had been frozen into ice.

    Unfortunately, as this was a dense battlefield, the icy winds could not differentiate between friend and foe. Qiu Yue did not seem to care and continued to ughter those rats entrapped in their deactivated steam suits.

    The Orcs and Goblins, especially the ones who prayed to Shiva, they just sneered at this level of ice. All of them had undergone specialised training from King Frost Echo as a guest invited by General Nubwort to suffer and survive in terrible cold conditions during their camp sessions.

    Naturally, as a tactician Qiu Yue had been, was aware of that special training course, so she did not waste a moment to apologise, nor did she take any particr precautions to limit her skill. Each and every one of those battle-hardened monsters shook the cold off and mercilessly preyed on the helpless rats stuck in their suits.

    "That was a brilliant strategy, Qiu Yue!" Jin eximed as he watched the events unfold and released the second wave of his minions down to fight against them.

    "Heh, Weslie did tell me about the weakness of her steam technology. They might be strong against weak and powerless humans, but they are awfully fragile against mages and cultivators like us." Qiu Yue was happy about the praise.

    "Too bad, they make up that shoring by being cunningбн Shit." Jin cursed as he noticed something albeit a little toote. Arge fountain at the centre of Wecha suddenly cracked andter exploded, causing pieces of stone and wood to fly all over the ce. What came after that was shocking for the militia defending at the walls.

    They were already fighting a sheer endless number of rats, but their reinforcement didn''t look any less numerous. They wereing out of the aftermath and began filling the streets with their verminous bodies.

    "AMBUSH!!!" Silver shouted as he witnessed the whole thing from one of the watchtowers. One of the trademark skills of their vermin type enemies was that they could create tunnels. Most, if not all of the militia had been stationed at the walls, leaving the inner cities nearly defenceless.

    "Good thing we have the knowledge to manage such cunning foes," Jin smirked as he quickly opened a folder on the Dungeon Maker interface marked with a crossed out rat symbol.

 Chapter 830 Covering The Sewers

    <h4>Chapter 830 Covering The Sewers</h4>

    While it did not include one fool-proof n, it still had notes inside about how each and every able person in Wecha had a role to y. They had been prepared for the rats to y dirty. While not as numerous as Moloch fabulous ybook against the Demon Horde, Gold still had formted dozens of what if scenarios which he submitted to the System based on the current information they had on them.

    Naturally, one of them had always been an underground invasion. After all, they know those rats were capable diggers long before they got ess to Weslie''s steam technology.

    Thus the sewers had been rigged with explosives, all meticulously covered and camouged with mud, dirt and smelly garbage. The foul-smelling job had not prevented the citizens from earning extra coin which the System had an abundance of in the weeks before this ambush.

    Technically it was not intended to be used as a defensive measure, but instead, they had nned to use the very same trick that had lured the rats into the various empty towns to blow them up into pieces with the help of Peppers. However, that would have been ast resort only after the people of Wecha had evacuated the area and moved to the seaport.

    After all, exploding each and every explosive could possibly obliterate not just the sewer systems but cause existing buildings on the surface to crumble from the loss of their underground foundation. Yet, the System had determined that detonating a few could increase the number of chokepoints and buy more time for the humans fighting against the threat while preventing the entire town from bing a quicksand pit of death.

    And the most obvious choke points were undoubtedly the ones closest to the fountain as the townsfolk could feel the intense rumblinging from the centre of Wecha. The centre copsed inwards, and it halted the iing onught of the Demon Rats through the makeshift tunnel entrance.

    At the same time, women all armed with rifles or bows were shooting as best they could from the rooftops at those Demon Rats who were scurrying into theplex slums of Wecha. While many missed because of the Demon Rats'' agility and the townsfolk'' inexperience at hitting moving targets, the rest were actually killed by either the shots or the surrounding traps made by the children in town.

    From hidden spikes to simple grease tricks, the traps enabled the women on the rooftops and upper floors to have a better chance to finish them off. It was abination tactic which was unprecedented in their history books.

    Upon the Demon Rats'' death, the children reset the traps while the women made sure that the rat was deader than dead before looting their corpse for any valuables or weapons. As for the elderlies, they were not useless at all in their contribution to the war effort.

    They had started to inject odourless rat poison courtesy of System into the food and water in case the ce got taken over. This was in case the rats decided to cripple?the town by stealing the food supplies for their own war efforts.

    That was what had happened during the initial phase of the invasion, causing the humans to starve. These made the subsequent fights easier and made the humans more subvertable to their demands. At the same time, they had also prepared rations and got the children to transport them to the men and women of the militia.

    Gold had also repeatedly ensured that they all had sufficient supplies and did not have to worry about getting food if they survived. But the elderlies knew that that was something akin to a wonderful dream to survive the onught of the Demon Rat horde.

    So the only way to persist dreaming was to have a chance in fighting for it. Most if not all of the elders were also equipped with a hunting shotgun for the worst case possible. Unlike the weapons that the militia were holding, they were not imbued with any conversion inscription charms. Instead, Octofussy had inserted basic lesser recoil and easier reloading inscriptions, so the elders could contribute if necessary.

    Armed with only two shotgun shells, and a couple more of them in a side bag. The elders were also given reloading kits, enabling them to have an easier time to dish out a hell of pain.

    Escaping from the enved towns had already been a miracle but now entrapped at all fronts, most of the elderlies were already d they could do something to contribute to the death of those Demon Rats before their inevitable demise.

    ------

    "бн Actually, won''t it be worse after we explode that area?" Jin realised after he had already pressed the button to detonate the explosives. "Those rats will eventually find the other exits too."

    "System assures User that it was only a matter of time for those rats to pop up everywhere. System merely rmended exploding those points as a way to frustrate the rats underground while dying the inevitable so that User finds a way to execute his n." The System stated.

    "Send us. We are small enough and a decent deterrent against the rats in the sewer systems." A meek voice spoke out in the System Channel, and it was none other than Poppy, one of the vice leaders of the mousefolks.

    "Ya, and at the same time, detonate all the exits or entrances to the sewage system." A yawn from Meomi interrupted the conversation. "We will take it from there and clear the sewers out to their entrance."

    "As seen from the dead Demon Rats on the streets, most of the rats should not be as geared up as the ones outside the gates. They are likely to be armed with just the essentials to fight us with overwhelming numbers instead." Pippy, his brother in arms, examined the current situation.

    "Are you guys sure about this? It is bound to be a suicide mission. Even though you can be reborn again, dying isn''t the most pleasant of all experiences." Jin warned as he checked the Dungeon Maker interfaces to see where the locations of all the explosives were.

    "Heh, that''s the same thing Qiu Yue told us before we manned the machine guns on the flying dragon statue. Gosh, that was insane but awfully fun." Poppy recalled how much Pippy was nearly shitting his pants from the sudden dives and rise with the dragon''s constant evasive movement.

    "I''d rather die a few more times than ride that dragon statue againбн" Pippy swore that was the first andst time he was flying on that statue. (Don''t be so sure, Pippy...)

    "Then that settles it. Chop chop. Nyanmi, remember to bring short weapons like daggers, our whipswords can''t do shit in the sewers." Meomi ordered as she pped to hurry the execution of the n from Jin.

    "We can always rely on our ws and jaws." Nyanmi replied, and Meomi was already salivating to tear the life out of those rats.

    "I wish you guys all the best." Jin sent them off. Then he took a page out of the rat''s book and used their own means against them. He made sure he exploded part of the sewers which would not break the foundations and teleported the mouse folks and the werecats into battle, making it appear as if they had broken through.

    With a smaller stature than the Demon Rats, the mousefolks used the smoke and dust from the explosion to perform their opening volley before switching back to the mini des and rushed off to cut the vermin''s throats.

    Needless to say, their performance was ster enough to not tarnish the name of their teacher betor.

 Chapter 831 JODE Backup

    <h4>Chapter 831 JODE Backup</h4>

    "Grandma Yuan!" Su Zhen waved at the older woman before bowing for a moment out of respect. She even rearranged her clothes a little before walking forth to her instructor.

    "Teacher Yuan, I did not know you would be here in the frontlines as well." Rong, who came together with the rest, greeted her as the Demon Exorcists had been gathered in a building affiliated with JODE.

    "Just as insurance. Although the Chancellor has already sent me messages telling me to go back to Shenzhen. There are enough people here, he says." Grandma Yuan shook her head as the amount of people gathered before her was barely a handful.

    "They are taking the threat a bit too lightly?" Lein questioned as he saw that most of the Demon Exorcists who had gathered were like them. The attendance list somehow confirmed his suspicion as it listed the point in time when they got their badges. Only when he saw it with his eyes, did the reality set in rather harshly how JODE think that they are really just the reserves.

    With a sweeping nce, the group could recognise that a few of them only had more than a couple months worth of experience under their belt, the rest were recently promoted exorcists or provisional ones.

    "Perhaps JODE assumed that our report has been over-exaggerated because we are new?" Lian tried to reason why there were so little people around. "But if Milk was not around that day, we could have died on the spot!"

    "Unfortunately, I had to edit the details of the report." Su Zhen whispered to them. "In order to have some credibility for our secret trip, I told them that Jin followed us instead. By right, we should have turned away when the Border Guards stopped us."

    "Aw man, alright. What''s done is done. I am just having a bad feeling churning in my stomach, and I cannot shake it off." Lian replied.

    "It shouldn''t be the case. I did stress the credibility of your report to Chancellor Ma Ge too, but it is ultimately his decision to send the number and quality of exorcists here." Grandma Yuan said after having overheard them. "I, however, believe that the Royal Horse Battalion report might have overwritten the urgency of this particr sortie."

    "I happened to have an acquaintance in the Royal Horse Battalion and asked him to keep an eye for me. He privately messaged me about five minutes ago that they are already doing a sortie for the sweep." Lein added, and suddenly they heard a loud explosion from the direction of the border.

    All of the Demon Exorcists quickly went to the window to get a better look, and since they were on the top few floors, they managed to catch a glimpse of the aftermath of the explosion.

    Instead of smoke and mes, they saw trees, dirt and gravel flying from afar. And then another explosion was heard, this one closer. Some thought that it was some Royal Horse soldier brandishing his techniques against the Monster Horde. However, this time, those Exorcists with keen eyes noticed that the bodies flying up in the air weren''t monsters but rather humans.

    Not live human cultivators trying to escape from the st, but corpses with their body parts blown away along with the trees and soil.

    "Hmph." Grandma Yuan''s face turned serious, and the scene did not bode well for present Demon Exorcists. Most of these newly graduated Demon Exorcists were roughly Grade 5 or so, which paled inparison to Yuan''s ex-students.

    This was because the training Yuan gave was extraordinary, and the so-called career progression for Su Zhen and the others would be fast-tracked after four to five years of field experience. Maybe less if they did amicably well in their initial two years.

    In the Royal Horse Battalion, most rank and file soldiers didn''t go above grade 5 to 6 unless they were ranked 2nd Sergeant and above. That was why when Su Zhen wrote the battle report, she hoped that would lead the defenders to prepare better. If Demon Exorcists with Grade 10 cultivation were having problems with the issue, they should handle the situation with quality instead of quantity.

    "Mdm! Instructor Yuan! We have orders to sortie. The bus is waiting for us downstairs as we speak." One of the Demon Exorcists'' senior admin shouted through the hall.

    "But isn''t it way too early for us? Some of the Exorcists on the list have yet to arrive!" Su Zhen argued and to add oil into the mes, Rong pointed out that only half of the list had reported for duty since it was expected for the Demon Exorcists to sortieter in the evening.

    "System, any idea what is going on?" Yuan, who had the ring on her, contacted the System. While she was not reinstated as a Sub System User, the System remained content to keep her under surveince with a way tomunicate it.

    As the circumstances got more apparent, Yuan clearly knew that this would be suicide for even experienced Demon Exorcists, not to mention those who had just graduated. Even with full attendance, there was still no way they would be able to make a dent.

    "Mdm?" The senior admin asked once more and everyone now looked at the renowned veteran with worried eyes. Yet, she stood at her current position and continued to stare at the forest.

    To the Demon Exorcists, it was as she was pondering at something before they heard her letting out a heavy sigh.

    "Contact the local officials. Let them know we will prepare to evacuate this city and the ones along the borders of Dongguan. Also, contact the surrounding senior Demon Exorcists and tell them to be on standby. This current situation has turned to Danger Level 4, with it dangerously creeping to Level 5. As usual, use my name." Grandma Yuan ordered, and everyone was bbergasted.

    JODE had their own system to judge the threat level of any given situation, and Danger Level 4 already suggested the entire province was in danger. And yet, ording to Grandma Yuan, it might turn to 5, which meant the entire country could be in danger.

    "Are you serious? I understand you can invoke a Danger Level 4 scenario given your status, Instructor Yuan, but we''ve only seen an explosion or two. Does that really warrant a Level 4 rm? Perhaps a Level 3 rm should suffice? After all, only the Chancellor has the rights to dere Level 5бн" Even the admin had a hard time taking just Grandma Yuan''s words to sound such a heavy rm after the fight had just broken out.

    Suddenly, the entire room was filled with a menacing aura. A silhouette of a gleaming Gold Griffin could be seen emanating out of Grandma Yuan. It was so bad that almost everyone in the room except for her own students dropped the floor, dying to get a grasp of breath.

    "Do I look like I am joking to you?" Grandma Yuan spoke each word slowly, and that aura alone was enough to show that she was dead serious. The senior admin understood and quickly ran back to tell his team to act under the protocol of setting the Danger Level 4 rm.

    "Whew, it''s been a while since I saw Teacher Yuan portray her cultivation out," Lein remembered the days when their instructor had constantly sent out her aura to suppress and discipline the initially unruly kids to do her bidding.

    "That''s not something I really want to remember," Lian whispered as she suddenly saw Grandma Yuan''s eyes looking at her.

    "Lian, Lein, Su Zhen and Rong. Go towards the frontlines and help people evacuate. By the time you reach there, the sirens should have red. Do not overstretch yourselves and defend the citizens at all cost." Grandma Yuan ordered, and she subsequently looked at the rest.

    "You, grab me a map of the city, right now. I will be dispatching all of you to various locations to assist with the evacuation, and all of you will work in teams of two." Grandma Yuan announced. As to prove how bad the situation was, just as she finished speaking, they heard yet another explosion.

    This time in triple session. The threat was approaching them, and all the Demon Exorcists'' hearts were already pumping hard. Yet, for some reason, the choking aura had cleared their mind, and while nervous, they were still able to listen intently to Grandma Yuan''s instructions.

    And this was sadly just the start...

 Chapter 832 Uphold the Oath to Protec

    <h4>Chapter 832 Uphold the Oath to Protec</h4>

    There had been a long silence during the decision making. It had seemed like an eternity to Grandma Yuan while it had been only a few seconds off her life, waiting for the System to share its information with her.

    The System had not been idle with the Monster Horde situation despite the abrupt problem that the Farming World was currently facing. Que Er, the Magpie Queen, had been sending out her crows and magpies into the forest for surveince purposes as suggested by Lynn.

    However, for once the System deduced that it would be for the best if its User did not interfere with such a dangerous situation. At least not unless they had gathered enough information and it would be deemed optimal for the dungeon supplier to perform the counter offence operation they had been working on.

    It should be simple enough. Slip in, make a big bang with the help of his betors to attract as many Demons as possible and hold them up in an dungeon instance. Then it would be either up to Jin''s minions to finish them off, or they could sell the monsters the trapped creatures as a seasonal dungeon for the cultivators. Of course, they could also use those same Demons as training products for the advanced training centre for the Demon Exorcists. No doubt, it was a win win situation for Jin and the people involved in it.

    However, the development of this issue had been too quick. Even the magpies which had recorded it with their magic eyes were shocked by the sudden change in pace. The moment the Royal Horse soldiers had entered into the forest, the Bone Spirit Demons began springing out from the depths of the mountainous forests.

    While the soldiers had been initially happy about no longer having to search for hours for any signs of the monsters, the Royal Horses quickly changed their opinion. They had not expected the frontline of the horde to disy such terrifying power, eliminating nearly 10% of their forces almost immediately upon contact.

    The Royal Horse Soldiers never even had the chance to fight back properly, and the first ten minutes had turned into a massacre. It wasn''t until their higher-ranked officers like the Royal Horse Captains and Majors stepped in, that the battle started to turn in their favour. Yet, the soldiers weren''t the only ones to have reinforcements. Soon stronger monsters joined the fray, making the Majors and Captain''s firepower seem like nothing but a joke.

    The Royal Horse General Xi Le Ma had never seen such ferocity being disyed by a Monster Horde let alone the sheer number of monsters that could take out his highly reputable military officers half an hour into the sweep. However, highly reputable did not trante to being capable enough, and deep down in the General''s heart, he knew that his battalion wasn''t one to have the mostbat-hardened soldiers among the Zodiac ns.

    Instead, most of their officer ranks received the titles to appease the Royal Horse n family members. That was one of the few reasons why Le Ma had wanted to use this Monster Horde as a training session to get their soldiers beaten into shape. Money was not an issue for the Royal Horse n, and resurrection could be done as long as the number of casualties was not substantial. Yet, this Monster Horde happened to be beyond his expectations.

    "Where are the Demon Exorcists?! Didn''t I request them to assist us half an hour ago?!" General Le Ma shouted at his base camp near the border walls as he saw his soldiers'' morale visibly dropping after getting reports of how their soldiers were faring, and there was a lot of confusion in the temporary headquarters.

    "I have contacted them, yet they refuse to heed our call! Instead, they are evacuating the cities right now!" His aide replied in a panic. Amidst all the chaos, Le Ma had actually forgotten that there was a living breathing city right behind him and further beyond, an entire province.

    "General! Border Guard Captain Ding Huo is right outside demanding for orders to retreat!" Another officer came to report in a hurry.

    "What are you talking about?! If we retreat now, the monsters will bash through the walls!"

    "But a single battalion is unable to hold off this size of a horde!" The officer screamed back with increasing anxiety dwelling in his heart. "We will have our backs against the wall!"

    "THEN SO BE IT!" General Le Ma shouted so loudly that everyone was shocked by his temper. "We are the elite soldiers of the China Armed Forces. ACT LIKE ONE, GODDAMNIT!"

    "Sir, yes sir!" The officer saluted, despite knowing his entire body was trembling. He then turned and ordered the Border Guard Captain to bunker down. All those inside could hear the other party screaming that it was insane to die just like that right outside the camp. The guards had to pull him away as the captain punched the officer for giving a death order to the rest of his men, and yet the officer stood there motionless.

    Yet, deep down his heart, the officer was already crying. He had hoped to see his family once more. Praying that this was all just a bad dream he could wake up from. But the harsh reality was, that the chances of him getting resurrected after this entire ordeal was infinitely small.

    "I feel you, Captain, but this is to defend our mothend from this horde! Do you want those citizens to share the same fate as us?! Or do we stop the horde here at all cost?! " The officer replied back with a strong front.

    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Ding Huo knew that they swore an oath to protect the citizens from monsters when he first signed up for the Border Guard Defence, but he never imagined in his ten-year career that such a situation would actually rise. That they would have to face something this бнcatastrophic.

    "It does not change the fact that you guys fucked up and brought a lightly armed battalion! I heard from the peeps at Huizhou borders that the other two Royal Battalions came with far better armaments and even fucking tanks and helicopters to this shitshow!" Heter calmed his nerves a little and returned to the border wall while showing a middle finger at the Royal Horse officer.

    At that moment, everyone near the border walls started to hear the sirens going off and somehow that pissed off Le Ma even though he knew that it was best for the city. "General! The local officials are trying to contact you!" One of his aides said that he had the mayor on the line.

    "Reject that phone call. We have more important things to do now than to please some bureaucrats." Le Ma said decidedly as he too shut his phone after he noticed 28 missed calls and dozens of messages waiting to be read. Whether it was pride or the feeling of guilt for that inaction to pick up the phone, the Royal Horse General ordered the soldiers to fall back to the wall where they would have better cover against the deadly Monster Horde.

    Even though he knew that this would only quicken the inevitable...

 Chapter 833 Why Cant I Return to Normal?

    <h4>Chapter 833 Why Can''t I Return to Normal?</h4>

    "User, System noted that the sweep for the Monster Horde has turned for the worse." The System reported as it popped a side screen in the Dungeon Maker for Jin to view while not distracting him too much from the actual job.

    "I understand, but like I said that is not our priority at the moment. As much as the lives of my world matter, without our intervention the people in the farming world don''t have a fighting chance against them. At least the civilians in those regions have the Royal Zodiacs to protect them. These Farming People will only get ughtered if they are left unprotected." Jin argued to the System (or was it for himself?) as he was replicating a few dungeon instances for the cultivators.

    He had considered about calling for yet another Emergency Raid Event to deal with the Demon Rats of the Farming World, so he could concentrate on the Monster Horde. But Jin believed he had stretched that a little too thin already after having had two consecutive raids. Even normal Dungeon Suppliers would not rmend cramming so much content in unless they really had a crazy amount of customers.

    That was why he was making another ''normal'' dungeon instance. As normal as it could be called seeing as it would trap these Demon Rats inside now that the System had a higher processing capability.

    "While System agrees with that decision, the bulk of User''s business currently stems from your own world. If the crisis were to extend to your province, it would definitely affect User''s iing profit." The System stated tantly.

    "But we have already mitigated that with the Pandapolis and New Adventurer''s Town, right? Heck, we can theoretically move to another province or country if the need arises. We do not necessarily have to stay in Shenzhen." Jin reasoned that there was not much to worry about.

    Besides, he strongly believed his country was resilient enough that it could recover in a matter of weeks from a bit of destruction. Maybe that would potentially revitalise and boost the economy as well.

    While it seemed as if Jin was not taking it so seriously aspared to when he first started out, the System understood that Jin wasn''t exactly wrong.

    It could haveplied to its User and moved on, taking care of the business in the Farming World and subsequently establishing a foothold in their Northern Region. And when the time was right, they could still send in Jin and the betors to reduce the horde size.

    It was theoretically a win-win proposal for the System and Jin. However, that was no longer the case.

    "User, the System has found evidence that agents of the Banned Emperor factions are within the Monster Horde operating them. The situation is as Panda Remnant Hou Fei has feared. This is a case of domestic terrorism." The two words Banned Emperor were enough for Jin to break his usual concentration and looked at the screen at the side of his interface.

    "Agents of the Banned Emperorбн?" Jin asked and the System affirmed by throwing out a picture which one of Que Er''s magpie had taken with its magic eye surveince. The picture was clear despite having tree branches in the way and blocking some of his features. However, his face was definitely uncanny to Jin. "Why does that person look so familiarбн"

    "There is a 99.87% probability that this is the very same assassin that has nearly seeded in taking the life of Royal Zodiac Tiger Head Yuan Ba." The System reported as it projected another picture which it had taken in the Stadium during the assassination attempt against the Tiger Lord and put it next to the first one.

    "But I thought the police had arrested him? How did he manage to? Huh?" Jin was confused though he could see that the assassin''s face was even more distorted now. He had a few new scars on his face and neck, which had yet to healpared to his old picture.

    "System has a few theories, the most likely cause being that he might have broken free with help from the inside and escaped. It is impossible for someone to get out on bail for nearly taking the life of someone of Yuan Ba''s position." The System stated, and now Jin understood how this would concern him on a more personal level.

    "So, you are showing me this becauseбн" Jin wanted to ensure that he was on the same page as the System.

    "Because the System has much reason to believe that the assassin will not leave your life intact after the ordeal he had been through. If the Monster Horde could potentially shred half the Royal Horse Battalion in less than two hours, the System predicts that the Monster Horde could run through Dongguan and Huizhou and head for Shenzhen."

    "And that would also fulfil their objective of ruining the cities, eh?" Jin asked as he mmed his head on the table. "Wonderful."

    "System has detected sarcasm in thest word spoken."

    "Why am I involved in this Banned Emperor nonsense?! You are supposed to be just a System that would help me be the number one dungeon supplier in this world." Jin grumbled a little.

    "With great poweres great responsibility." The System retorted.

    "Hah! More like signing a contract without getting a chance to read the terms and conditions. Can I call Xiong Da to get you out of my life right now?"

    "And lose all this power, prestige,fort and luxury?" The System questioned.

    "Hmmm, why not? Get a normal job with standard working hours and hopefully find a nice, caring wife too." Jin literally did not want to continue. What were the odds of a Monster Horde breaking out and being controlled by a faction which he never wanted to get involved with?!

    "Your lineage forbids you from doing that."

    "ARGGGHH!!" Jin scratched his head and fumbled his hair up in frustration, somehow hoping that it would help him get out of this nightmare.

    "How long do we have?" Jin asked as he felt like he was on a time-sensitive mission once more.

    "Dongguan''s walls might break soon because of the Royal Horse Battalion ipetence. However, the Demon Exorcists, including Grandma Yuan are on-site, assisting people with evacuation. Unlike Huizhou which the Tigers and Snakes have prepared sufficiently, Dongguan is the weakest link of this whole equation."

    "Yun." Jin immediately called the System''s assistant into the Dungeon Maker the moment he heard Yuan was there. "Protect Grandma Yuan with your life. Knowing her, she is definitely too stubborn to run away and is going to fight the enemy to the best of her ability. However, since we know that there are Banned Emperor Assassins out there, their dantian corruption poison could prove fatal to her. I don''t want to risk her life. Teleport her away to the Dungeon Maker if need be. We cannot let the Banned Emperor terrorists take away our prized grandmother''s life!"

    "But the way you say itбн Seems like you just activated her death g." Yun frowned with her arms folded.

    "Then plug that g out of her. It''s an absolute order." Jin pleaded. "I will deal with the Farming World as fast as I can and return to assist."

 Chapter 834 Extra: Interrogation of the Banned Emperors Assassin

    <h4>Chapter 834 Extra: Interrogation of the Banned Emperor''s Assassin</h4>

    "Heh, for an assassin, you have quite a durable body." The Royal Tiger Police interrogator said as he whipped the Banned Emperor''sckey with a spiked whip and yet the assassin continued to keep quiet.

    Despite the highly advanced surveince technology which China was proud to possess, there was no ID match on this particr assassin. He didn''t have any type of fingerprints they could check, no DNA match could be found, and the house which they raided was perfectly clean.

    Aside from the failed attempt on Royal Tiger Head Bai Hu, there was no other evidence that pointed towards the Banned Emperor terror group or faction.

    Even Criminal Forensics with Mage assistance had been unable to find any traces of magic in the house they had raided. The Investigation department had dug deep into his past movements. Surveince cameras were scoured throughout the past week thoroughly, and the Tigers used their exclusive rights to obtain footage from restricted or limited ess cameras for any criminating evidence. And yet, he had merely been acting as a sales representative to bid for the Gearbox that Yang Ling was introducing.

    Thus, with no physical evidence at hand, the Royal Tiger Interrogators only had one way to get information out of him.

    The hard way.

    It''s rare for the Royal Tigers to even consider such an anarchic method as torture since they usually were able to gather enough incriminating evidence to indict a prosecution. As for this case, the attempted assassination was not just on anyone but their own Royal Zodiac Tiger Head. It was enough to put the nameless Banned Emperor assassin behind bars for some time beforepiling a case for execution.

    The police''s upper hierarchy had been dealing with this particr elusive group for far too long without achieving any results. Since there was one in their custody, they might as well resort to underhanded tactics to finally retrieve as much information out of him as possible before the assassin was taken away by the Special State agents. (The police did request for some ''personal'' time with the perpetrator from the State Agents since they nearly killed their head.)

    s, all the Banned Emperor assassin offered them was a muffledugh at the interrogator, as if there was nothing that could be done to get any information out of him. "You fuck, you think we won''t be able to extract information out of your head?" The interrogator cursed as he decided to change his tactics a little.

    He called upon his colleagues, who wore masks to prevent identification by the assassin, to uncuff him from the prone position where he had been whipping the half-naked assassin. Now they grappled him and ensured that his fists were locked in titanium cuffs mixed with granite to ensure he was unable to manipte his techniques. After which, they ced him on a chair with a seat that had arge gaping hole at the bottom.

    They didn''t even hesitate a moment when they removed his pants, and his genitals were hanging right below the chair as they fully secured him on the seat. The assassin knew what was going to happen the moment he sat stark naked while the interrogator tied the ends of his whip into a heavy knot with spikes on it.

    "Spare me the brave front and tell me about the workings of your organisation. Give me the leader of the organisation and don''t you fucking dare to tell me it''s the Banned Emperor!" The interrogator demanded as he tightened the knot and already started swinging his whip gently.

    "Banned Emperor." The assassin continued to smile, and his answer already prompted the interrogator to gently swing the knot to the assassin''s genitals.

    The pain. The sensation. That odd ecstasy.

    "Sometimes, the simplest of torture is the best way to get information from people." The interrogator mumbled as he started shaking his knotted whip once more and the assassin was breathing heavily, anticipating the swing to his genitals once more. Despite the slight bleeding from his thighs and intense pain imaginable from the initial one, the assassin continued to keep his mouth shut.

    "Don''t worry, I have all day." The interrogator said with pleasure, but there was a knock on the door, which prompted him to stop.

    "Sir, the State Agents are here." The masked officer who sent the message had left the door slightly ajar, and the interrogator panicked.

    "Already? I thought that they would only be hereter in the night."

    "Nothing we can do to stop them. You might want to talk to them and request for additional time." The officer replied which made the interrogator drop his weapon at the torture table and open the door to find that all his colleagues murdered in cold blood.

    Before that horrid scene was able to etch itself into the interrogator''s mind, that brain of his exploded into smithereens by the masked officer who stood there with his literal hand ''gun'' pointing at the body.

    "Bang." The officer said as he unveiled his mask and blew imaginary smoke off his finger.

    "Took you long enough." The assassin said with bated breath.

    "Well, I always thought that you deserved a nice hit to your balls for being an arse." The imposter officer shrugged as he grinned from ear to ear.

    "Fucker. They really did a number on me. You could have left him half dead, so I could give him a taste of his own medicine." The assassin heaved a sigh of relief as the officer pointed his finger on the titanium and granite cuff. He pushed his thumb down like he was priming his finger gun and the action of receiving a gun recoil caused his chi to ignite and explode the cuffs off the assassin. But oddly enough, the assassin''s hands were undamaged after the mini-explosion.

    "You could have used the keys on the interrogator, you arsehole."The assassinined as he checked the movement of his wrist before catching the bag of new clothes which the imposter officer threw his way.

    "Shut up. I don''t wish to touch him with all that blood on him." The imposter officer argued as he hurried the assassin to change.

    "So now that I failed to kill the Royal Tiger Head, has anything changed?" The assassin asked as he put on the clothes.

    "Yung, the n was never going to change. The assassination was optional, and we knew there were risks involved. If you could have killed him, it would be one less problem in the future. Still, you could have at least fled so I wouldn''t have to save your sorry ass. Anyway, right now, we have to focus on our objective to rescue the Elder." The imposter officer said.

    "Yeah, my bad, Huan. Nevertheless, this will definitely be a big blow to the Royal Tigers. Wonder, how the headlines will read." Yung spat at the dead interrogator.

    "What do you think? Probably somethingpletely normal. They will keep it quiet from the public, and the State Agents will be looking for us desperately." Huan answered while he waved goodbye to the dead bodies as the two ''officers'' pretended to walk out of the interrogation room as if everything was as per normal.

 Chapter 835 Uprooting The Problem

    <h4>Chapter 835 Uprooting The Problem</h4>

    "So, do you both understand all of this? Especially you, Derpy?!" Jin asked through the System Channel, and the Shadow Dagen was already getting restless after all that information.

    "In short, just smash myself into the fortress, right?" Derpy reiterated, and Jin felt like cing his palm on his face.

    "Yesбн ultimately it boils down to that so you can put it that way." Jin said with gritted teeth. Just as he was about to tap on the interface for the System to begin teleporting his monsters into action, Peppers interrupted the conversation.

    "Jin, it''s just as you expected. The fortress is opening up its bottom. There are signs of increasing levels of magical energy and heat umtion underneath it."

    "Can your shield hold?" Jin asked, and Peppers replied with a resounding yes.

    "Ayse came by to fix the improved vest on me. I should be able to fix the shield to withstand the damage. She even gave me a prototype amplifier unit to allow me to cast two spells at once." Peppers boasted with glee on her face.

    "DON''T TWIST MY WORDS! This unit merely allows you to continue channelling your shield spell without breaking concentration and thus gives you the leeway to start prepping your mana for an explosion spell. That way you won''t go crazy by the influx of mana going into you like a ck hole." Ayse corrected her in the System Channel.

    "Basically, two spells at once." Jin and Peppers said simultaneously, and it baffled Ayse that her master was of the same mindset as Peppers.

    "Whatever, Master. Just don''t let Peppers shoot until the amplifier unit gives her the green light. Otherwise, both shield and explosion spell are likely to backfire on her instead. Worst case scenario, the entire town you are protecting will disappear."

    "...at least that means the threat we are fighting will be gone, and those humans will be in the System''smand." Peppers mumbled after a bit.

    "Sure, if you don''t mind turning into a LITERAL ck hole which will suck all mana and life into it, and possibly cause this world to crack and disappear from existence. It would be scientifically interesting to see if the System could still revive you then." Ayse threatened with the theoretical possibility, but she knew that the chance of such a thing happening was barely above zero.

    "Urgh. Then why did you even let Peppers have that amplifier unit." Jin asked with much more worry about the situation. However, before he could get an answer, Peppers suddenly shouted when she saw that a beam of high intensity energy had dropped onto the apex of her shield.

    "ALRIGHT, LESS TALK ,MORE ACTION!" Peppers screamed, and Jin pressed a button on the interface that allowed his initial n to be put into action.

    While Jin believed that the masterminds of the fortress were rooting for a sessful beam attack, he sent Derpy about one kilometre away from the fortress to allow them to witness the impending doom they were about to experience. (Actually, it''s more like enabling Derpy to fly at top speed and adjusting his angle in case the portal coordinates were off since the System had to teleport such arge figure.)

    Upon exit, Derpy was already swimming in the air at full speed, and the fortress did not have any means to defend against such an enormous target. Most of its turrets were beneath the hovering fortress, and they were upied with hitting the shield which protected the humans, hoping for it to crack under pressure.

    By the time, the masterminds of the flying fortress decided to send out flying units, Derpy had alreadye too close to the fortress. There and then, one of the newest members of Jin''s army of misfits stood proudly on the nose of the Shadow Dagen.

    "Duke Vepar, at your service!" The One-Winged Armoured Angel introduced himself with a wide smile as he pointed his gauntlet in front of the fortress and erged it. (After capture, the System had allowed him to return to the bridge where he lost his giant gauntlet though it was mainly to help the monster maintenance team to properly repair the bridge.)

    Vepar had not actually been able to precisely control the size he could erge other than the standard colossal gauntlet he showed during the Demon Invasion. However, the System had measured the size of the flying fortress and helped extend the size of his gauntlet ordingly, enabling him to grab the entire fortress within.

    Along with the speed that Derpy was moving, the gauntlet was not only able to grab hold of the entire fortress but also uproot the pirs it had entrenched itself around the town. Of course, not all the pirs remained intact upon experiencing such force. Many were broken, but the collision still forced the fortress to move away from the town of Wecha.

    Normally, physics would not have allowed the one-winged angel to survive the uprooting, but thanks to the innate powers of his ''flying mount'', Vepar had temporarily merged with the Shadow Dagen.

    So, the impact of his gauntlet was absorbed by the entire giant whale of a monster as it continued to dash and break the fortress away from the attack. (Nevertheless, the strain felt by Vepar was absolutely wrenching. He felt like death would be a better option.)

    Along with the fortress, the continuous beam of energy which went haywire ended up killing a massive number of Demon Rats. Unfortunately, it also resulted in some Orc and Goblin casualties. The System had been smart enough to quickly teleport a majority of them outside beam trajectory in time, all in the name of saving cost, resulting in an overall higher death toll to the rats.

    The flying fortress was unable to maintain its aptitude and bnce after being grabbed by the giant gauntlet, and the whale monster suddenly disappeared from the collision. However, that was not the end as Derpy did not return via the portal and instead had already flown upwards once again to achieve enough speed for a terminal velocity drop.

    "Boy, this is fun!" Veparughed as he readied his gauntlet once more. This time, he switched hands since the left one he had just used to grab it became powerless and broken.

    "I like your attitude! Are all Demons like you and Wolte?!" Derpy eximed along with a loud wail.

    "Nah! I doubt so!" Vepar answered as he clenched his fist, ready to erge it and bash the fortress to the ground.

    "They don''t make us like they used to!"

 Chapter 836 Gauntlet Smash

    <h4>Chapter 836 Gauntlet Smash</h4>

    Despite the tremendous bacsh he endured from the previous attack which resulted in a broken left arm, Vepar managed to keep his erged gauntlet steady enough on his right hand for the punch to hit the unstable floating fortress.

    By dropping the fortress to the ground, Jin hoped that it would disable most of the features in it. Weslie mentioned that the steam technology systems she recalled creating were not as sturdy as she had liked them to be. This was mainly because she had been forced on a very strict timeline for some reason. At that time, she was only given enough resources to make the floating mechanism.

    Weslie initially thought that it would be used as a foundation for some major floating tform or a gigantic airship, yet she never expected that the North and South Schrs would decide to put her system to power up an entire castle. Despite the improvements to the floating system they had added, she assumed that the core floating steam system should still be the same.

    Hence, giving the castle a good hefty impact should definitely render the fortress''s hovering mechanism useless. Worst case scenario, they would be discing it further away from the town of Wecha, so the dungeon supplier could employ the heavy hitters without any need to hold back. Peppers alone would be enough to wreak havoc at the fortress. (Although the monsters would surely disapprove letting her have all the fun.)

    Nevertheless, like every prepared viin, they did not justy there and wait for Vepar and Derpy''sbination attack. Even though the enemy mainly consisted of Demon Rats, the masterminds of this attack revealed the ability to cast a crude but functionally simr multiyer shield to block the attack. At the same time, they had managed to sortie their own versions of air force against the unlikely duo.

    Steampunk helicopters and even steampunk nes that were still functioning had been sent out from the unstable hangar in a hurry to counter the giant threat. However, the gauntlet smashed straight into the shield, causing an impact great enough to knock the steampunk helicopters away. Thankfully, Vepar did not lose out as he inserted more magic into the gauntlet (courtesy of Derpy) to maintain the punch''s strength.

    The Shadow Dagen himself was not being idle too. Unlike the time when he acted as a battery and was confined underneath Wolte, Derpy worked properly this time around and assisted Vepar to the best of his abilities. He used his mighty teeth and began biting the magical shield. If one didn''t know any better, they might mistake him having an impromptu snack time in the middle of a fight.

    "Is there anything he does not eat?" Jin chuckled at the brilliance of Derpy slowly biting away on the shield, resupplying that magical energy back for Vepar to use. He looked at another screen where the Wyvern Goblin Knights had heeded hismand to fight against the steampunk attack helicopters and nes. The dogfight quickly turned in the favour of the Goblins, who appeared to have a much easier time fighting these Demon Rats than the Demons'' air forces.

    The attack helicopters were less agile and did not have the speed to catch up with the Wyvern Goblin Knights, making them nothing but easy pickings. Though they could not say that it wasn''t a novel experience since the helicopters were able to shoot steel pellets and even a cannonball in the midst of battle.

    But it was not until the fortress sent out steam nes that looked like the ones used in World War 1 that provided the Wyvern Goblin Knights with a bit more of a challenge. Yet, with a bit of limatisation, the knights had no problem stopping them in their tracks.

    -------

    "Still holding on there, buddy?!" Derpy asked as he made one bigger munch closing in on thestyer of shield away.

    "Couldn''t feel any bet- What the hell is that?!" Vepar saw an abnormality within the fortress itself. It looked as if a hole was artificially opened in the town area, and a cannon was already aiming at them.

    "Looks like the very sameser cannon that had been used against Wecha! Derpy, quick move out of the way!" Jin cautioned, but Vepar refused.

    "After all this struggle, you expect us to move away?! Fat chance! Master, you might mean well, but you clearly do not know me well enough!" Vepar disagreed as he slowly pulled himself out of Derpy''s fusion and spread his wing.

    "It''s all yours!" Derpy shouted while he pulled thest remaining shred of theyered shield and swiped his body, enabling him to use his tail to hit Vepar''s back.

    "Thanks for the assist!" Vepar yelled as he could feel that the backtail p was not as damaging as he thought it would be. Instead Derpy had used it to send a big burst of magical energy into him, slinging him to propel forward.

    Instead of aiming at the pce within the fortress, Vepar decided to destroy thatser cannon before it could cause further harm to either Jin''s minions or the town.

    *BOOM!*

    All that was left in the scene was Vepar''s Giant Gauntlet stuck in between the floating fortress''ser cannon. It resulted in multiple secondary explosions within the fortress and guaranteed that it would not fly anywhere anymore.

    Still, for some reason, it did not stop the influx of Demon Rats pouring out of the ce.

    "Heh! Finally, I can get a bit creative!" Peppers squealed with satisfaction until Jin reminded her something important.

    "If you shoot now, you might not have the strength to fight against the Demons in my world. Are you willing to do that?" And that question alone was sufficient to hold her firepower back for once.

    "But it''s a castle! FILLED WITH RATS! FILTHY, DISGUSTING-"

    "Some are quite cute actually if you take a look at them properly." Weslie interrupted. "Despite their hideous looks (from a rational standpoint) they had not all been the same, and some of the Demon Rats had gratitude in them."

    "Well, true for your case. But still RATS!" Peppers shouted once more in the System channel even though she had already lowered her staff. "Sigh, and here I thought I could end things with a big bangбн"

    "Argh, fine. Let''s do it. We do not have a better chance than now. Peppers go-"

    "Master! Please wait! I found that there are still arge number of human ves inside the floating fortress. I have managed to locate and free a number of them, but there should be more!" Sebastia informed them as she continued to run towards the next block of cells and attempted to free more of them. "There are kids and elderlies as well."

    "Damn it! Why did they bring those ves in the fortress?" Jin banged the table and gritted his teeth to control his anger. Peppers might have no problems burning the entire castle down, but the perception itself would bring hate and disgust to Gold''s allies.

    So what if Jin could resurrect them? Capturing kids and elderlies would not profit the System, and it would only rmend to kick them out as to not waste resources. There might be the consideration of a long term investment for the kids, but sadly not so much for the elders. In short, the System was not a charitable organisation, and even if it performed good deeds for Jin, it could only tolerate so much if it saw only detrimentsing its way.

    "Peppers, lower the strength of your explosive burst and aim it at the tower instead. That should hinder the mages in there, particrly the schrs. We should give Sebastia more time before rat reinforcements interfere with the rescue." Jin ordered as he switched to another channel. "Penguins, sorry to trouble you guys once more. You all have more experience rescuing people than others."

    "Heh, no problem, Master. Queen Lynn should not oppose us doing this too." Kido, thetest penguin ninja leader agreed.

    "You won''t see myining. Jin, I am tagging along with them and learning a trick or two from my peggies." Lynn reported as she had volunteered to be part of the rescue team. Kido nodded with pride that his Queen had decided to apany them despite the danger she might encounter.

    "Thank you, and godspeed to all of you," Jin said as he temporarily diverted his attention from both attacking and defending against the Demon Rats.

 Chapter 837 Luring Them In

    <h4>Chapter 837 Luring Them In</h4>

    While Qiu Yue was supposedly the tactician for Jin''s skirmishes, she had argued that she would need to gain some fighting experience before turning into a full-fledged strategist.

    Inspired by her rival''s enthusiasm, Lynn had also decided to join the battle and allowed Jin to direct the battle since he had sufficient power-ups under his belt. (Or on his belt.)

    "Tough fight, huh." Moloch came in at just the right moment when Jin had to coordinate between two separate different groups. "Let me handle the one at the crashed fortress. You should settle your dungeon instances and the defence of Wecha so we can earn money too."

    "Thanks, Moloch. You know me the best." Jin giggled and raised his hand for a high five before both of them started their work.

    "Weslie, how''s that luring device? Is it operational yet?" Jin asked as that was the most important equipment needed before he could start his dungeon instances.

    "Yeap, I did a quick trial run after making some impromptu improvements. The device can now attract a fair number of them, but it is not exactly very effective after a certain range." Weslie said as the System had already teleported the device away from her hands and ced it in the Lost Tech Counterfeiter for quick product purposes.

    "User, the System has already produced five of those luring devices. Feel free to start with your n." The System prompted its User as it magically sent those five devices on to Jin''s table.

    "Nice. Now to attract those rats into the portals. We have to make it slightly subtle so that they will unconsciously jump towards it without realising what we are doing." Jin said as he looked at Peppers. "Ready to let go of the shield spell. Be quick about it, our monster force is losing rather badly already."

    "Also, think you can open just several portions of your shield instead of bringing down the entire magic spell?" Jin asked to see if he can refine the use of the luring device too.

    "You kidding me? That''s like basic stuff I learned during my first month of mage training!" Peppers boasted as she asked where Jin wished to have the shield partially opened. The dungeon supplier responded by pointing at certain locations of the barrier on the Dungeon Maker interface, and the System made it simple for Peppers.

    In an instant, a few portions of the shield disappeared which shocked some of the rats thinking it was a trap. Portals suddenly appear right between the crevices and a pair of defenders appear right in front of the portal.

    They were none other than the Savants.

    Semi-autonomous humanoids which contained top adventurer souls that Jin and his minions had collected in the Dungeon World. Their menacing presence alone had proven to be a few notches above the ''average'' Orc and Goblins within Jin''s army, and the Demon Rats were looking at them with spite.

    With the Shaolin Football instance as a hotbed of trials for the cultivators to test their strength, the Savants too had be one of the most formidable monsters. Their difficulty ramped up to a level that the cultivators had yet to defeat them in Jin''s shop.

    Yet to the rats, the defenders weren''t as interesting as that open partition in the energy shield which hadn''t closed with the Savant''s arrival. After all, their objective was to ughter down every single civilian within the Town of Wecha, and they would be handsomely rewarded if they aplished it.

    "Go go go!" The Rat Officers shouted as rats in bulky steampunk suits attempted to brute force their way through, underestimating the defenders. Without making a sound, the Lord Knight Savant raised his sword and crystal lights pierced through time and space in order to imprison themselves on the hands and limbs of the Demon Rats.

    With their movement restricted, the Archer Savant released a volley of homing arrows that went straight for their eyes, barely missing the heavily reinforced helmet they had difficulty wearing. As for the other pairs of Savants, they also started their fight. The Savant Warlock summoned tentacles to strangle and entrap the rats while the Savant Lancer proceeded to eliminate all those constrained by prating their armour with his spear, aiming precisely for their hearts.

    Having simr abilities as Ke Mi, the Bard Savant plucked a few strings on his guitar, and it was sufficient to immobilise a bulk of the Demon Rats for his partner, the Assassin Savant to finish the job. This opening act was enough to enrage the Demon Rats and rush to overwhelm the defenders all around them.

    Yet, they did not know that it was actually the luring device which was ced at the top of the portal that had already been activated and started to attract the rats. Naturally, the Savants did their best stopping as many Demon Rats as possible, but somehow that made their primal instincts even more rabid, causing them to fight even harder.

    Jin did not mind the Savants actions as long as there were still rats left at the end of the day for thetest instation to his repertoire of dungeons.

    The Spiralling Sewers Instance.

    Since there was no chance for him to resurrect the Demon Rats, he had decided to make this yet another limited dungeon run. Only this time, it would be a little different from the usual dungeon instances or raid instances.

    As most of his dungeons were team-based, he realised that there was little emphasis on individual dungeon instances. The only real thing he offered individuals was the option to fight in the battle arenas.

    This was because he had always kept to the notion where dungeons were meant to be team-based so they can have the most fun out of it. That was why they developed the Squad AI teammates for future dungeon instances.

    Yet, he had neglected that there were cultivators that wished to improve themselves without the need to y with other people. And since Jin did not know when exactly he would implement the Squad AI feature, he believed this particr dungeon instance should be the ideal stopgap measure to allow individual cultivators to y by themselves.

    "Keep getting more of them! We need as many as possible!" Jin said as the System started to chunk out more of those luring devices so they could be used to catch the rats at the crashed fortress site, the actual sewers of Wecha and the impending horde that headed for the North Bulwark''sst bastion.

 Chapter 838 The Spiralling Sewers Instance

    <h4>Chapter 838 The Spiralling Sewers Instance</h4>

    The Spiralling Sewers Instance.

    Inspired by roguelike games, a subgenre of role-ying games which emphasised on procedurally generated levels and permanent death of the yer character, Jin had used a few ideas from them to create this particrly new dungeon instance.

    While the Demon Rats would eventually disappear after enough cultivators had culled their numbers ying this particr new instance, it would give Jin a good amount of data to see if he should continue to expand this instance in the future as well.

    As for now, this instance would work by allowing only one cultivator per dungeon instance. They would start from the top where they would find a porthole to descend down into the next, they would encounter those Demon Rats which would be roaming around the sewers.

    Each time the individual cultivator defeats a Demon Rat, Jin expected the rat to drop some loot corresponding to whatever crop they were born from. That loot would then be collected by the cultivator and could be exchanged for Panda Medals at certain checkpoints where they would find a shady looking trash roon selling potions, essories and even weapons. (Some cultivators whoter yed it felt that it looked like Thomas "Trash" Hook from a certain famous leisure game.)

    That being said, the cultivator going in would be limited by the dungeon server aka the System to hold onto two items to help them with their dungeon run. Aside from those two items, the server would lock all items from being used. Therefore, this particr Spiralling Sewers Instance would be a progressive run which was a variant of the Dungeon Cave that the adventurers in the Goblin World experienced.

    Compared to the Dungeon Cave, which focused on exploiting the adventurers as much as possible to prepare them for any possible threat within the lower levels, the Spiralling Sewers was the direct opposite.

    The cultivator had to earn their medicinal potions, weapons and ammunition to continue travelling down the sewers.

    However, there was an additional catch to thetest dungeon instance. Jin predicted that there might be a few cultivators who would try to explore each and every corner of the sewer before proceeding to a checkpoint in the sewers.

    Sure, there would definitely be a few goodies hiding in every alternate corner of theplex sewer system, but he needed to stop them from taking too much stuff since this was still a business model.

    Thus, he added a gem light mechanism in the instance.

    The gem light mechanism would not only light up the sewers but also act as the checkpoints for a safe resting point, allowing them to quit the dungeon instance and return again whenever they felt like it. As time passed, the gem light would dim and if not replenished, the System would actually increase the strength of the Rats by blessing them with temporary magic buffs.

    Only with a bright gem light, there would be no penalty. As for the resting point, it could only be used as long as there was light in the gems. That, however, would incur an additional 10% charge of the ticket fee or they could forfeit 50% of their collective resources to return back to that level.

    This would invoke the benefit and loss mechanisms in their brain making them choose whether it was worthy to pay that extra 10% or lose half of the panda medals collected within the sewer instance.

    Else, the cultivators would only ''respawn'' back at the nearest stairway ordder that descended to the sewer level if they died or escaped without a gem light. Naturally, the savepoints in the sewers would be littered with ''fuel'' to increase the brightness of their gem light, but whether the System would intentionally impede the cultivator''s progress was another issue by itself...

    As for the ticket price, it was the same as every other dungeon instance in Jin''s dungeon as he promised to his customers previously that his dungeons were affordable and fun. If someone were to tell that to Jin from a few months ago, he would only see that as making a big loss.

    But with the Dungeon World cities as his new source of funds, Jin did not have to worry too much about money for the moment. Not to mention, his current customer base was growing too so quantity would no doubt triumph the low price. ire had also been making some good and sound investments which allowed the dungeon supplier to go a little wild in his dungeon making process.

    However, aside from the price point, he put up a basic guide to help the customers. For example, it not only contained the types of rats they could encounter in the first 10 floors (more would be added upon encounter) but also made rmendations for Grade 1 Cultivators to not proceed any further than the 5th level of the sewers instance, telling them that they should exit upon reaching the sixth level checkpoint.

    Otherwise, they ran the risk of losing every single reward they got up until that point.

    This dungeon would feature a ''permanent'' death for the yers if the cultivators got killed during their descent into the sewers. The only constion was that during their next ythrough they would have the chance to recover all of those rewards.

    First, they would have to reach the point where they got defeated, and they only got their items back if they were to win against the doppelganger that was hoarding their items.

    It was an initiative by the System to replicate the data it had gathered so far about the cultivator to use it against them. If they managed to win against their doppelganger, that meant they were ready to proceed further into the Sewer Instance and be deserving of their rewards.

    Otherwise, the doppelganger would gather whatever the cultivator had earnt on its way until they managed to proceed forward. (And of course, deducting some minor rewards in the due process.)

    This allowed Jin to earn a little more from the yers who persisted aspared to getting money upfront for more sewers while keeping to his objective of improving the cultivators.

    And if they managed to reach specific checkpoints and exit, the remaining panda medals they had would be transferred into their Pandamonium Wallet.

    The only catch was that the items the cultivators had bought within the instance would not be transferable into their actual ount except for the personal things they had brought in less the consumables used. (Of course, if their weapon they brought into the dungeon run had zero durability, it would remain broken after the fight too.)

    The surprise announcement of a new permanent dungeon instance - despite it being limited in nature because of the number of Demon Rats Jin could catch - was a weed surprise for the cultivators.

    Instead of making it a limited-time dungeon instance, he wrote in his advertisement that the monsters appearing would be seasonal. For this particr season, he would reward anyone who tried it out with the loot of those monsters worth double the Panda Medals and this would exin the disappearance of this perk once the Demon Rats had been annihted.

    After all, this dungeon supplier had sufficient monsters in his repertoire to rece the Demon Rats and would think of other perks when it was time to change it.

    While ecstatic for this permanent dungeon instance into Jin''s Shop, cultivators in the forum queried if Jin also nned to bring out an exclusive Chinese New Year dungeon instance.

    The Boss only replied to that concerning line of questions with the following.

    "Trade Secret."

 Chapter 839 Situational Report of the Farming World

    <h4>Chapter 839 Situational Report of the Farming World</h4>

    "Alright, I''m back. Any drastic changes?" Jin questioned Moloch, who was already yawning.

    "Compared to the defence of Pandapolis, this is absolute child''s y. I have already cornered most of the possible entrances with the newly acquired Demons. Even send Princess Gapp and her Battalion of Wights into the fray. They are instrumental against the steampunk suits, especially the Soldiers of Sapphire. Ever since Qiu Yue demonstrated how effective ice magic is against the steam equipment, we have been utilising that to our advantage." Moloch exined as he gave Jin the overall battlefield report.

    "Eh, but isn''t itpletely useless against rats that are partially infused with those steam tech, as they can detach their equipment and charge against us with melee weapons? ording to the System, there is an overwhelming number of those." Jin stated the obvious.

    "Duh. That just means our ice wielders have be their top priority while we take chances to disable their big guys if possible...and that is if they appear."

    "So, they are already starting to adapt to our strategyбн Welp, at least if we can keep up the pressure against the rats. They will eventually have to send arge toon of those armoured fellows out then we can use our heavy hitters to finish them all at once." Jin suggested, and Moloch told him that he was counting on Frost Echo and his Shaitan.

    "That is assuming Shiva is not throwing her usual tantrums and will be willing toe out and y," Moloch recalled how much of a close call it wasst time. "Also, the System had informed me that the significant magic signals at the top of the castle have disappeared. Welihelm and Olgret, the North and South Schrs respectively, have disappeared. ording to Weslie and Gold assumption, they most likely have returned to the capital."

    "It probably looked like they felt the raid was a failure and fell back. Quite a tactical move." Jin believed that those schrs might not be the same as the big bad bosses he had encountered before.

    Unlike the Goblin King, King Baal or even Maeve they were more cautious to failures and didn''t hesitate to retreat when the situation turned sour. With the revtion of Jin''s troops as well as a major weakness in their steam technology, the schrs were probably pulling back to perform a few adjustments to their ns beforeing back once they felt ready.

    "Meh, I think they are just wussies who knew how to run away in the nick of time. Speaking of time, aren''t you going to assist the crisis in your world? I heard things are getting worse." Moloch questioned.

    "Since the System has yet to inform me of something drastic happening or pressure me into joining the frontlines, I assume it is still all good?" Jin said and was waiting for the System''s response.

    "The situation in Huizhou is still stable. Both the Snakes and Tigers have managed to suppress the Monster Horde with theirbined forces. However, they are not taking any chances. Huizhou Police and its civil defence forces have already been called in to help evacuate the people living near the borders should the worst-case scenario arise." The System reported.

    "Then what about Dongguan?" Jin felt that the System was actually keeping the bad news as thest.

    "A portion of their border wall broke down about 4 minutes and 34 seconds ago...the Royal Horse Battalion has managed to scramble and fill the gap as soon as possible, but a few of the Demons slipped through. Ironically, the Demon Exorcists under User''s care are contending against them as we speak. Past Sub System User Yuan has also called for the evacuation early enough, so most of the destroyed buildings were empty, enabling the Demon Exorcists to go all out against those Demons." The System gave a simplified report.

    "Most huh? So there are some who were unwilling to evacuate." Jin pondered on the report for a moment.

    "It happens. Not everyone has the guts to put everything down and run away when all they have is just that roof under your head." Moloch chimed in as if he knew what those people were thinking of.

    "Will the government at least repay them or something? Surely we have some Monster Damage Act or something like that?" Jin asked the System.

    "There is the Disaster Repatriation Act. Not everyone is eligible to that act, and even if the poorer ss of citizens were to take full advantage of its benefits, it would not be sufficient to buy back an apartment or room." The System answered, and Jin sighed heavily as he could not do much for them.

    He was not a politician who had the power to rewrite thosews, nor was he a phnthropist rich enough to save them from poverty. But there was something he could do which might indirectly affect them and get them through safely.

    The counter offensive n aimed to lure those monsters away and reduce the horde''s size. That should not only lower the battle strain in favour of the Royal Horse Battalion and Border Guards but also fill up his Spiraling Sewers Instance helping him earn a living.

    However, the System had rmended not to proceed with the counter offence n because of the new variable that appeared within the equation.

    The Banned Emperor Assassins.

    The System had managed to photograph a second person controlling the Demons before the passing magpie was discovered and strangled to death by his summons.

    The surrounding magpies had noticed that the revtion of the second person caused the Demons to act even more impulsive and their attacks were noticeably potent against the defending Royal Horse Battalion.

    By now, the Royal Horse General Xi Le Ma had long since abandoned his prideful attitude and requested help from the Royal Tigers and Royal Snakes battalion. He even urgently asked for more reinforcements from the main headquarters of the China Armed Forces, begging them to send in air support. Be it bombs or additional personnel, he did not care as long as he could suppress the Monster Horde before it crossed through the border once more.

    Of course, the Border Guards were not very optimistic about any sort of reinforcements reaching in time ever since the first crack appeared on their walls. The very same wall which had stood firm for centuries imbued with inscriptions that could not be authentically recreated in the modern world. Those walls were said to be sacred shields to protect the people, and they had done their job with valour for all those years.

    A few of those Bone Infused Spirit Demons were able to st a crater in the forestndscape and yet their attacks were deflected multiple times by the border wall before it started to show weakness, showcasing that the inscriptions were doing their jobs.

    Unfortunately, the firepower on the Border Walls had drastically been reduced since the local budget had prioritised economic aspects which had been deemed more important than a few monsters pouncing onto the walls every so often. The guards still had sufficient strength to subdue minor incidents, but throughout the years, it has be a dead-end job or for people who did not worry much about career progression.

    That was why the Border Guards were having as much trouble as the Royal Horse Battalion. Some of them even had to resort to picking up rifles from the dead Royal Horse soldiers to continue their fight against the Monster Horde.

    But despite the fears for the loss of life and the wounds they suffered, the soldiers were unwavering in their determination to protect the city, which was right behind them.

    They knew it was a losing battle. They knew that their tears were running down their face and yet both battalions were buying as much time as possible for people to run away.

    For it is the duty of a soldier to serve and protect.

 Chapter 840 Tables Turned

    <h4>Chapter 840 Tables Turned</h4>

    "In addition to the assassination threat User might face, the System has picked up chatter that the military will be sending bombs to burn the area. They are currently not being subtle about it since the cities along the borders have already made the evacuation apulsory thing. Thus, System still rmends for the User to focus on the Farming World until the System deems it opportunistic to strike." The System stated.

    As if the world itself found it taboo for Jin to stay calm and take a step back, the System had detected the emergence of numerous groups of Bone Spirit Infused Demons. They suddenly appeared further away from the current battlefield that the Border Guards and Royal Horse Battalion were concentrating on. For the past few hours or so, the horde had mainly focused on one particr section of the wall, and this allowed the Royal Horse to stand a fighting chance against them.

    But this development had literally turned the tables. Once the Border Guards in other sections of the wall detected movement on their radars, scouts reported a series of intrusions on multiple parts of the wall. As stretched as they could have been, the remaining few Border Guards knew that death was inevitable.

    Coincidentally, the same was happening at Huizhou where new Bone Spirit Infused Demons popped up on their radar and started to head towards the border walls, ignoring the portion where the Royal Tigers and Royal Snakes were situated. Fortunately, because of the detailed preparations by those two battalions, the Border Guards in Huizhou were equipped with better weapons, and there were even light armour tanks being stationed on the walls that contributed with their great firepower against the Monster Horde.

    Because of the sudden slew of monsters, one might even liken the border wall as thetest ''great'' wall of China to slow down the invasion. Attack Helicopters were also deployed to provide quick air support within the dense forests as Hou Fei, and Ya Bai called for the retreat. The two generals had thought they were making progress, but that sudden arrival of overwhelming creatures was too much for even their elite soldiers.

    However, with three Royal Battalions signalling for help to the main headquarters, it definitely rang the rm for the upper echelons. The Joint Chiefs in the China Armed Forces immediately convened and took the current matter seriously. While they received observation reports consistently from their own intelligence office with regards to the issue at hand, they had not taken it too seriously mainly because the government had prioritised their economic benefits before the Chinese New Year Holidays.

    For this reason, the headquarters had sent out a couple of the Royal Battalions to quell the horde before it got too messy. But this current turn of developments shocked the entire headquarters and even the political offices in Beijing began to respond to this unprecedented Monster Horde.

    JODE Chancellor Ma Ge had also been notified of the recent developments and did not hesitate to rmend to take actions in ordance to a Level 5 Danger Alert to the Joint Chiefs ever since he received news of Instructor Yuan, a District Guardian categorising it as a Level 4 Danger Alert bordering on Level 5.

    This also prompted him to arrange a quick meeting with the heads of various Demon Exorcist offices to put up an emergency defence n. But unlike the Joint Chief Office, they had no such ns in the first ce. After all, each office enjoyed some anonymity and had their own ways of dealing with the problems. They however unanimously agreed to send out a number of their elites to Huizhou and Dongguan immediately.

    Without a doubt, the various ministerial offices also began drawing emergency ns to deal with the worst case scenarios. At the same time, the Armed Forces Headquarters sent out deployment orders to increase the guards in the other territories in case simr Monster Hordes appeared out of nowhere in other provinces. From procurement of food and supplies and to the cement of troops, the backend finally made a move.

    Still, the urgent deployment of troops and equipment required time and there was literally none to spare for the soldiers that were currently fighting on scene. There was nothing stopping those monsters from pouring into the cities despite the deration of a nation wide emergency.

    Jin, who saw the development first hand, felt equally powerless until he received an urgent call from Hou Fei. "Boss! Master! We need your help desperately! Fuck secrecy! Do whatever is necessary! I will convince my n Head to cover your presence as much as needed no matter what you do!" Hou Fei pleaded, and Jin knew how risky this call of help would be.

    As much as he wanted to arrive with grandiose like a superhero, there were untold consequences upon doing that. The System might get revealed to the higher authorities and to the Royal Zodiac ns further. It would be more than a hassle, especially after Jin already had ''enjoyed'' some first hand experience on how they used their authority to put pressure on him after learning about his portals.

    Yet if he did not appear, many of the soldiers might die, and many cities would potentially be ruined. His deployment might not fully stop the Monster Horde, but he and his monsters could definitely influence the degree of the aftermath.

    "Iбн" Jin bit on his tongue. He could not make up his mind with so much at risk.

    "User, if you are too worried about involving yourself, System will support reallocating to another world if needed as per your rmendations. The Tree Mall can still operate without your presence here. Upon repeated revision of resources, we are currently self sufficient enough to not worry about this." The System interjected its opinion while also hoping that Jin could do the right thing.

    "Damn it, JIN! This is no time to be concerned about politics, secrecy or whatever shit! If we have the power to help someone, we do it!" Hou Fei shouted, and that sentence woke him up violently. That was because his grandfather used to say the exact same thing to him when he was still alive and kicking.

    "Screw it! You are right, let''s do this! Hou Fei, get ready to cover EVERYTHING up. I will be ready in five minutes!" Jin said as he started to change the program on his interface.

    "Like hell if I have fucking five minutes to spare!" Hou Fei cursed before he sighed once more and changed his tune. "Fine, five minutes! But that''s all we can give you. Every minute equals the lives of soldiers, so if you can, please hurry." Hou Fei turned off the System Channel and gave the good news to his officers.

    "User, what are you doing?" The System asked as Jin was coding something quick.

    "Moloch, you can handle the stuff here, right?" Jin asked as he typed furiously on the interface.

    "No problem. You can trust me on that. I''ll get all the Demon Rats for your dungeon than you will ever need. Besides, if anything goes weirdly wrong, Kraft still owes me a favour for pulling that Demon Metropolis nonsense on me so you can rampage however you like. I will get his help when needed."

    "I heard that." Kraft''s voice appeared behind them before the man himself exited from the shadows. "Funny thing, here I thought attacking Paradiso WAS a favour to you. Then again, who am I to say no to have a bit more fun."

    "Shouldn''t you be still stalking nuns and priests?" Moloch raised his eyebrow.

    "Well, Kiyu can manage without me for a while, besides the current situation is way more fun. Do you really have to put me with Cotton Butt here? I could help you tremendously. You could use the terrifying firepower of my foxes." Kraftmented towards the duo in the Dungeon Maker.

    "You are myst resort, till then please assist Moloch." Jin did not say much but that however changed Kraft''s smile.

    "Oh Master, how I like that you thrust me into such a precarious situation so readily! Fine. Cottony bosoms, I will assist you for now." Kraft said as he disappeared into thin air once again and made his appearance known at the Crashed Fortress.

    "Thank you." Jin typed finished themand prompt on the System interface, and the System realised what its User was doing all this while.

    "Understood. User will receive the desired effect upon teleportation." The System replied. If anything, it believed that was an ingenious move for a cover up.

 Chapter 841 Dungeon Supplier Enters The Fray

    <h4>Chapter 841 Dungeon Supplier Enters The Fray</h4>

    While most would assume that the position of General was being held by the cultivator with the strongest grade, that was not how it worked in most Royal Battalions. After all, being a General in the Royal Battalion required special affiliations and connections to get things done.

    That person would have to be a brilliant strategist for his men, one who kept his sound mind during high-pressure moments. While being the strongest within the battalion would definitely be a nice bonus, it was not necessarily needed since the General usually did not go into the frontline to fight.

    Yet despite being a General, Hou Fei was in the midst of battle.

    He was currently fighting at the front alongside his other officers since they needed every capable man on deck to stop this new Monster Horde wave from passing through the Border Walls. Admittedly, the Royal Snakes and Tigers were able to manage their circumstances far better than their counterpart. Yet, Hou Fei had a gut feeling that they would eventually break down and end up in the same situation as the Horses.

    Instead of asking Jin to reinforce the Royal Horses, he had requested the dungeon supplier''s presence in their own region. It wasn''t that he feared for his own life or that of his soldiers, but the Panda Remnant prefered for one wall to break rather than jeopardise all the walls alongside the Dongguan-Huizhou border. If they managed to keep their portion of walls intact, the military could concentrate on containing the fight only in Dongguan.

    Plus, his soldiers were already familiar with Jin and the Royal Tiger General Ya Bai knew of his existence, promising an easier time to cover everything up especially when they knew all about the existence of the portal trucks and how ''special'' Jin could potentially be.

    Not to mention, the District Guardian of Tiangong was at the borders of Dongguan along with a group of Demon Exorcists and more should already be on their way at the behest of JODE Chancellor Ma Ge. As much as Hou Fei did not want to admit this, Grandma Yuan was far stronger than him not just in terms of Cultivation Grades but also in conducting Demon Warfare.

    Being one of the very few veterans still alive after the Second World War, Grandma Yuan had experienced enough to deal with something like the present situation. Else, she would not have remained as the District Guardian, a title that only a few held to this day. (Peace times surely degraded the number of ''war'' based cultivators)

    "Sorry I amte." Jin apologised when a portal suddenly appeared right in front of Hou Fei as he smashed one of the skulls of a Bone Spirit Boar Demon.

    "Finally! I was worried you wouldn''t show up!" Hou Fei said as he noticed that Jin was wearing a ck hood and a half Panda Mask. "Only you?!" Hou Fei questioned since it appeared as if Jin was not taking the current situation seriously.

    "You should know that I''m never alone anymore. Just get your troops to fall back and regroup. I will take it from here. Tell them not to hit anything that has a bluish-ck aura. Those are allies." Jin answered as he took out his System Driver.

    "Need me to cover you a little? I can make a mini-explosion plus a smokescreen. Not as vibrant as Peppers though." Hou Fei offered as they saw another Bone Spirit Boar Demon charging towards them.

    "Please do." Jin epted as he ced the System Driver on his waist and a belt automatically appeared.

    "Get ready" Hou Fei warned as he threw a grenade and a smokescreen grenade simultaneously while putting up a temporary shield barrier for his own master.

    "You call that иC nevermind." Jin was expecting something more spectacr, thinking that his Panda Remnant was just being ''humble''. Still, that distraction had allowed him to transform into System Rider Panda with the ck hood intact. (The extra light from the System Rider did help quite a bit too!)

    "It is what it is." Hou Fei dragged his voice, but there was a slight grin that he had sessfully bluffed his Master.

    The Bone Spirit Boar Demon was unfazed by the explosion though it did slow down enough for the System Rider to grab it by its tusks. Enraged as it was, the Bone Spirit Boar Demon hunkered down ready to give a tremendous shove.

    "Oh, you remind me of our very own piglet. He definitely trained me enough for this moment!" Jin said as he reminisced Mr Oink in his first form. After which, the metallic panda steel mask on Jin''s helmet opened its lower jaw, and a beam of Panda Yawning was shot out from it, obliterating the Demon.

    "User, take note to conserve Maqi even though you have your crystals as a backup. System foresees you having many ''boss'' fights soon." The System reminded Jin.

    "I thought those Banned Emperor chums were in Dongguan?" After which, Jin took out a ck Sludge Crystal and ced it at the right side of his waist before activating it with his Maqi. Sure enough, a few of the Demons who had been charging forward suddenly changed direction and headed towards him instead.

    "The System believes a group of at least 20 are controlling these Demons. Else they should not be able to coordinate such a wide-scale attack." The System informed him as it regted the System User''s Maqi output via the System Rider suit by using the crystals to conserve enough energy while ensuring it still works.

    "d to see I do not have to pour that much into it to ensure it keeps working," Jin said as he nodded to Hou Fei as if he was ready to proceed.

    "Nice. Let''s do this then. Time is sorta of the essence." Hou Fei replied as he cleared his throat and shot a red re upwards, indicating a retreat.

    "Fall back and regroup!"

    "Don''t drop this. It''s an identifier." Hou Fei said as he ced his hand on Jin''s shoulder and attached the badge which the Royal Tiger General, San Ya Bai had given him. "Also, please don''t die, Master. I don''t want to have to answer to Ming for having his grandson go before me."

    "Same goes to you. I would not know how to exin it to Grandpa if you died under my watch." Jin replied as his hand started to glow with Maqi.

    "You, what?" Hou Fei was a bit confused about Jin''s reply, but he had already moved deeper into the jungle.

    "Zeru, Milk. Ready?" Jin asked as he mmed his hand into a Bone Spirit Snake Demon and performed a Lazy Panda Swipe.

    "Ya bet!" Milk answered as she appeared out of the portal with the very same cape that Jin was wearing, causing her to glow with a bluish-ck aura.

    "Same with me." Zeru emerged out of the portal next and did a sweeping sh, killing anything that tried to creep up on them.

    "Good. Now go find those Banned Emperor bastards and stop the source of this. I will lure out the rest." Jin ordered, and the two betors nodded their heads and left a trail of carnage on their way to fulfil their objective.

    As for Jin...

 Chapter 842 Demon Trapper

    <h4>Chapter 842 Demon Trapper</h4>

    "You think you can win against me when ites to monster summoning? How about I show you that you aren''t as special as you might think." Jin monologued to himself while he grinned and raised both of his arms. (Maybe he thinks that the Banned Emperor Assassins could be eavesdropping him from a distance, hehe!)

    A dozen portals instantly appeared next to him, in the shape of a circle. Like a sundial gnomon, the 12 portals surrounded Jin as if he was the centre of a clock. Out of those portals came the Valgs. Those horrendous outer world monsters that had once been controlled by Maeve, the daughter of Winter Court Queen.

    Simr to Milk and Zeru, the Valgs that appeared also featured a bluish-ck aura around them. That aura was actually a part anonymity inscription charm infused with by the powers of the ck Sludge Crystals. The high concentration of that aura should hopefully result in the Demonsing towards them instead of fighting the Royal Soldiers.

    The System theorised that there was no way the Banned Emperor assassins could actually control this many Demons in the same way it did for the monsters. Instead it believed that they had opened aherworld gate or maybe a direct connection to the Hell ne which Moloch and Baal hade from, allowing these Bone Spirit Demons to appear in masses in Jin''s world.

    That would certainly exin why the System had been unable to capture any of those Bone Spirit Demons. After all, if they left their realm without permission and their actual essence continued to reside in the astral nes they were not really there for it to capture them. Jin did not really get the System''s exnation for thisplex situation until the System used the analogy of someone killing Jin Number Two.

    "How would I know what happens if he dies? I have never been through that before." Jin answered as he started to power the gates with ck Sludge Crystals, thetest kind which was transparent clear instead of the old muddy ones after he had reached Grade 8 Peak.

    "Nothing would happen to the User, since Jin Number Two is merely a form of energy created from your astral energies. The System might be able to catch ethereal beings such as ghosts and such but not beings whose essence core lies outside the present realm of existence."

    "But surely Newton''sw of every action having a reaction still applies?"

    "The animal which got infused will no doubt end up stronger afterwards and perhaps even turn more intelligent. That is the System''s analysis report ording to the few that have been captured. More studies need to be conducted to confirm whether that is always the case or the captured individuals are outliers. System asks User to provide arger sample size."

    As for the infused monsters or animals, the System knew how rich and lush the forests could be but the number of monsters rushing to destroy the border walls definitely outnumbered their current poption which led the System believe that a separate dimensional gate simr to a long term portal got used.

    And beyond that portaly thousands of clone animals which were probably gically modified with enhanced cultivation in them. Because those were the type of animals the System had been catching.

    What''s more, there were also species that were not native to the Dongguan Huizhou natural environment such as the Bone Spirit Elephant Demon that Jin had to fight as it jumped over the portal and dived towards him.

    "On the plus side, these animals could potentially be used for the Cultivation Zoo that User ns to create alongside with the iing delivery. Intern ire has promised that the animals that Grandma Yuan imported should be arriving after the Chinese New Year holidays."

    "Heh, that is assuming we can survive until New Year!" Jin said as he mmed the Elephant Demon down after performing a Panda Tumbling technique and following that up with Lazy Swipe into the portal.

    Meanwhile, the Valgs were dragging the various Bone Spirit Demons into the portals. The System did assist a little by enabling some sort of vacuum which sort of pulled the Demons into the portal as soon as they entered into close vicinity.

    But most of the time, the Valgs were working hand in hand to bring downrger creatures before they had the chance to retaliate. Some of the Demons were way too dangerous and needed to be taken down as soon as possible.

    Nevertheless, the tactic which Lynn had thought up was quite useful despite it not going as nned. By putting Jin in the middle to attract the Demons, some were mindless enough to get sucked into the portals while the rest tried to jump or circumvent them to get to Jin.

    Yet, even those Demons with limited intelligence were in for a surprise as the portals worked on both sides, allowing Jin to throw and kick those Demons into the portals.

    Thus, it was basically arge catching with Jin akin to being the Demon trapper by throwing all the Demons he could find into the portals.

    The System also theorised that was the most efficient way to stop the Demons since the Bone Spirits would dissipate once they went through the portal mainly because they could not live or maintain their form and shape when they entered the System''s domain. But the System could not confirm all these until Jin started the ''operation''.

    "Heh! So this is actually easier than I thou-" Before Jin couldplete his sentence, he felt an abrupt knock on his head.

    "Baka! Look at that!" Peppers appeared right beside him after hitting him with her staff and told her master to look up.

    "You must be kidding me!" Jin uttered as he did not notice what Peppers was pointed at, with how focused he had been capturing the Bone Spirits.

    "And why are you here?!"

    "Because Ayse already installed the necessary shield generators, so she told me my work was done. Besides, I was not happy that I had to dial down my explosion on the crashed castle tower. Now, since I held back earlier, it''s time to finally unleash-"

    "Jin, are you seeing what I am seeing?" Hou Fei interrupted Peppers''s speech as he contacted his master via the System Channel.

    "If you are referring to that giant thing, then yeah, but it seems like there are some people attacking it right now," Jin answered as he adjusted his zoom function and saw two cultivators doing their best to damage the Colossal Bone Spirit Demon Aberration.

    He did not know whether they were brave or pure foolish as the Bone Spirit Aberration attempted to sweep them away with the use of its gigantic tentacle looking hands. If he were to make aparison, the Aberration was asrge as the Giant Chickens he had fought in the Giant World.

    But to see something of that size in his own world was simply jaw-dropping because this could possibly be the first colossal monster the world had seen in decades.

    "This cannot beбн" Moloch, who happened to watch at the sidelines, recognised the monster. "That is a manifestation of Loopa Ooofpa! The Unceasing Hunger!" Moloch imed as he called Baal to verify.

    "That is, without a doubt... Loopa Ooofpa. How did it get summoned in Jin''s world?" Baal wondered since the Unceasing Hunger was a menace not to be trifled with.

    "Who cares how it got here? It will cease to exist to satiate my own hunger for explosions!!" Peppers announced as she prepared her magic chant.

 Chapter 843 Hand Tentacles

    <h4>Chapter 843 Hand Tentacles</h4>

    "Actually, I remember seeing that ugly smut during the Second World War, and that one had been artificially created. Not sure about this one. Could be the same." Kraft chimed as he had his own means to watch the broadcast the System was streaming. One hand on the trigger of his gun and the other holding his phone.

    "Oh man, Jin''s stunned body expression is as good as his stunned face." Kraft grinned as he took a phone screenshot of the stream while shooting a rat''s face off. The bullets from his signature gun No Mercy did not stop there and continued to pierce some other rats'' armours before they came back and joined the other bullets which were hovering around Kraft.

    The crafty fox used his chi to manipte the shot bullets, and he turned it into some ''protective'' offensive barrier with the projectiles circling around him while he watched the following broadcast.

    "What do you mean artificially created?!" Jin asked as he continued to grapple the Bone Spirit Infused Demons with Bam and Boo, now transformed into enormous power gauntlets. He needed the extra pow so they would punch the Demons into the portals as the System Rider protected the oblivious chanter standing right in the middle of his.

    However, he did not quite expect Bam and Boo''s transformation. Instead of awesome looking mechanical power gauntlets like Itori''s, his gloves actually appearedбн as a pair of panda faces! The one on his right had the appearance of an angry (yet cute?!) panda face while the other had a?cheeky (and also cute!) panda face.

    Unfortunately, he had no time toment as the Bone Spirit Infused Demons were actuallying too close forfort to maim Pepper. Yet, there was one that slipped past him, and all Jin could do was warn Peppers to dodge.

    With a smirk, Peppers stared at the Bone Spirit Crocodile Demon and pointed at it before releasing a st of telekic power which caused the crocodile to flinch for a moment. Yet the flinching was only the first part of the spell as the crocodile turned its back towards his rades'' and shot out a breath of me.

    "Huh?! Howe the me had traces of Pepper''s magic?" Jin was amazed by Peppers'' control of magic, and the System exined that Peppers had used a series of quick cast spells to manipte the monster to turn it into an extension of her.

    "So, she does actually know spells other than иC Woah!" The possessed crocodile swiped its tail in Jin''s direction, but the dungeon supplier''s senses were quick enough to dodge the backstabbing.

    "I thought you said she could control it?" Jin questioned the System as he evaded and headed to punch another Demon into the.

    "Doesn''t mean I will tolerate being insulted. My title as a Sage isn''t just for show! Of course, I know spells other than explosions!" Peppers had already finished her spell incantation, and the staff was holding a charge of Explosion, waiting to be released at a moment''s notice. ??Could you tell those two cultivators or soldiers to get out of the way? I won''t take responsibility if they end up in the st''s radius."

    "You just don''t want them to take your kill, right? Maybe it''s best we withhold your иC Wait, are those hand tentaclesing towards us?!" Jin saw that fourrge hands moving towards them, ignoring the onught of attacks by the other two cultivators.

    "Well, Loopa Ooofpa''s title is the Unceasing Hunger for a good reason. He always craves more power and Peppers vast amount of mana makes her a very juicy target, especially now that she has all that energy umted." Moloch replied through the System Channel.

    "Ah, found it. I was already worried I lost that photo, as it was taken decades ago." Kraft suddenly and finally answered Jin''s question by letting the System upload the picture on a screen of the System Rider Suit. "See! Taking random pictures is a good habit, after all!" (Kids, please don''t emte Kraft!)

    ??Now is not the time!" Jin said as he concentrated his Maqi into his Bam and Boo panda faces.

    "Since they are faces, they should at least be able to do ''that'', right?" Jin thought to himself as he could not think of any other methods to prevent Peppers from wasting her explosion magic charge on these hand tentacles. (What''s more, he would be blown back, and the he created would be useless with all the Bone Spirit Demons scattered throughout the forest once more.)

    "Double Panda Yawning!" Jin shouted as he aimed his two gauntlets at them and the panda mouths immediately opened, allowing Jin to shoot two beams of chi towards the nearest hand tentacles that were approaching them. It obliterated the end of the first tentacle causing it to retract, but there were now two hand tentacles which approached him like a pincer w.

    Thus, he divided the power of the two beams separately in order to counter them, but he did not notice the third hand tentacle that was hiding within the forest bushes attempting to strike him head-on.

    "Ah, Damnnit!" Jin cursed as he quickly prepared his very own Panda Yawning beam from his mouth and managed to discharge the beam in time to counter the third one.

    "Master! Behind you!" Peppers shouted as she used the crocodile under hermand to block the one that was attacking her. Unfortunately, with Jin upied with all his hands and mouth full, there was no way to counter the one that emerged from the ground right behind him. Not to mention, his Maqi enhanced beams were not strong enough to destroy the hand tentacles when separated. He could only dy the tentacles that much.

    Multiple scenarios were shing within his mind such as transforming Bam and Boo quickly to counter the attack or summoning a few of his monsters to counter the hit. But none of that mattered when he suddenly saw ady with an umbre appear right in front of him, dangerously close to the beam he was shooting from his mouth.

    She immediately took out an inscription charm and activated it with her chi. Suddenly a Panda silhouette appeared and shot out the very same Panda Yawning beam.

    It burnt the overarching hand tentacle right above Jin before the Panda silhouette disappeared. Next, with a quick turn of her umbre, the three hand tentacles that were guing Jin were immediately cut down, causing all of the hands to retract, allowing the System Rider to rescind his beams.

    It was only then that he noticed that the Maqi from the inscription was simr to his own. While he had his suspicion that it could be a limited item he sold, the surrounding aura should not be gued with a dense aura of Maqi.

    Especially where thedy had cut the hand tentacles down.

    "For you to use the very same chi as this particr inscription charm... Tell me where your Master is!" Thedy demanded from afar as if she did not care about what was happening around them, only interested in learning the truth right there right now.

    Meanwhile, Jin had no freaking idea what she was talking about.

 Chapter 844 Real Awkward Situation

    <h4>Chapter 844 Real Awkward Situation</h4>

    She did not care about the current circumstances around her. Even as the Bone Spirit Demon approached her, there was a sort of barrier to protect her. A dragon silhouette emerged out from thin air and bit the Demons'' head off. Jin did not understand a single thing that was happening right in front of him.

    What did she mean about having the same chi as the inscription charm?

    Was she a customer? Jin clearly recognised the inscription charm as his piece of work. That particr Panda Energy Beam inscription charm had been a limited stock during Christmas Dayst year.

    And he knew that only the Pandawans and a few other regr customers had purchased it because Jin had personally sold each and every one of them. Overall they had just sold twenty of those after Jin had coborated with Octofussy who got the idea to try and make inscriptions of Jin''s fighting style.

    For her to hold possession of one of those charms could only mean someone either gifted it to her or she stole it. It was unlikely that it was thetter when she was this powerful even without the charm''s help.

    "Well I am done on my side. Since you seemed busy I thought I could alleviate your load while I tell you about artificial Loopa Ooofpa." Kraft suddenly appeared, making the matters even moreplicated.

    Ryuli immediately exuded her chi into the atmosphere, shocking everyone, including the System on scene. They all recognised that the aura had the very same trace of chi signature Jin possessed and Kraft quickly turned his head.

    "She''s really that KID, isn''t she?! And here I thought my satellite search was wrong or something." Kraft asked, and Jin equally dumbfounded. "I must say, you either turned into a master in lying that I did not notice or someone altered your memories about her. Because she is clearly not a little child. Last I remember, a child is at least this short and not that powerful when ites to chi maniption, well unless the kid is some prodigal kid genius that would eventually terrorise the world."

    "Not helping!" Jin said as he saw Ryuli visibly get even more irritated. The long-coated gentlemen with a fox half mask who had appeared out of nowhere was talking about a kid, whichonly confirmed that the masked suit with a ck hood knew something about her.

    "You are obviously using the Panda Arts, ording to the ridiculous suit you are wearing or holding. Just tell me who your master is, and we can continue to defeat this monster! Is that such a difficult question to answer?" Ryuli shouted irritated as she had been spending years trying to find the person who both blessed and cursed her with this particr power.

    "That, mydy is actually a veryplicated question to answer." Kraft bowed with some manners, but Ryuli felt insulted instead.

    "Woah woah woah, what is with all this ruckus?" A familiar voice was hearding out from the side of the forest and noticed that Ryuli was in contact with a group of strangers. "Are they the enemy, L?"

    "Wait a minute, isn''t that Mr Know-It-All?" Jin blurted out loud, and Agent K was mildly surprised.

    "Boss Jin? Is that you in that suit of armour?" Mr Know-It-All chuckled at the absurdity of this situation. "Okay, now I can connect some of the dots together." He stopped his chuckling and snapped his finger, and a couple of Bone Spirit Demons died right behind him while ignoring the Valgs.

    "Holy shit. I told you that he was definitely hiding something big." Kraft reminded Jin about his suspicions with glee and Mr Know-It-All just nodded his head.

    "Should I say as expected from Boss Jin to have someone behind him, who could see through me?" Mr Know-It-All replied, and Kraft smiled in return. It felt like Kraft had just made a new worthy frenemy, one he would have fun ying against in the shadows of information warfare.

    "But before that, protocol demands that I need to see some confirmation that you are not our enemy. I know that you are in the good books of the Snakes and Tigers, but I still need some proof you are here to help. Else, as a private contractor, I am obliged to treat you as an enemy."

    "Here." Jin quickly pointed to the badge that Hou Fei had given him at the veryst minute and also took out the one the Tiger General had given them.

    "Very well, Agent L. Cease and desist your aggression towards him and his group. He is a private contractor too. Approved by not one but two authentic badges. There is no need to hurry in finding your master. If you think he is the key to your Master, I will bring you to his shop after all this is over." Mr Know-It-All said after acknowledging their authenticity, and Ryuli stopped asmanded.

    "You sure he won''t disappear?" Ryuli asked while ring at Jin.

    "That dungeon supplier shop in Shenzhen is his livelihood and pride. I trust that he won''t be going anywhere soon. At worst, I will spend some money to resurrect him if he ever dies in this skirmish." Mr Know-It-All replied before turning his head towards Jin. "Also, Boss. Please go all out. I do not believe those monsters that you have summoned was the best of your ability."

    "How did you know?" Jin was surprised that his regr customer who never bothered to actually try out his dungeons would know so much about him, despite him never demonstrating his powers.

    "I did not get the title of Mr Know-It-All for nothing, you know? Admittedly I pretend to know it all at times, and this was just another of those half bluffs. Still, we really need a miracle once in a while. So please Boss, do your miracle. I assure you that the Ministry of State Security (MSS) will cover your tracks and not bother you unnecessarily after this."

    "You know, I could just remove all traces of this current situation if you want to," Kraft suggested as he shot a Bone Spirit Demon who did not understand the delicate situation they were in.

    "Don''t. It will be nice to have the Ministry of State Security owe us a favour or two. Especially after their apparent misstep for not being able to detain the Banned Emperor assassin we sent them." Jin said after recalling that seeing the Banned Emperor Assassin in the flesh at the forest.

    "How did youбн" Ryuli was surprised that Jin knew about the escape of the Banned Emperor, but Mr Know-It-All was mildly amused.

    "Heh, let''s just say we did our very own investigation before handing him over to the ''professionals''. But in order to not trouble Boss Jin, I have kept it under wraps because honestly, it was none of his business up until now." Kraftmented as he tapped on Jin''s shoulders and his helmet disy finally showed a number of stuff on the investigation he had extracted.

    "Holy shit. It''s that grand?! Wait, doesn''t that mean you knew about this Monster Horde all along?" Jin was thankful for the helmet he was wearing since he could not think that he would be able to hold his expression away from them.

    "Yes and no. They were smart enough to use a technique which deleted any relevant memories, but it''s not like his subconscious didn''t still have some puzzle pieces here and there. The things you saw from his ''memories'' were the ones I managed to recreate after digging deep enough andbining them. Believe me when I say it was a pain in the ass." Kraft spoke secretly in an exclusive System channel which he was sure the private contractors could not even detect.

    "All I knew was that this Monster Horde was going to happen one way or the other. Had I intervened any earlier they would have just switched locations and one of their backup locations was Shenzhen''s coast. I am sure as hell you wouldn''t want them so close to your backyard, right?" Jin could literally hear Kraft grin with pride for not interfering.

    "Anyways the ones to actually summon these creatures must have only arrived here recently. To be honest, ording to what I found in his memories they must rank above him, so he didn''t have much on them. Fortunately, we should be able to capture quite a few of them this time around that is if you let them live. As I said, you were not ready to deal with stuff at such a level back then and frankly, you shouldn''t have gotten involved in it. But since you bravely chose to ept the burden, I am here to make sure I won''t have to start to address Hou Fei or someone else as Master in the near future." Kraft turned to his boss and stuck out his tongue a bit. "Besides, you are too gullible and fun to work with."

    "And here I thought you did not have anything on them back then," Jin replied as the Demons were once again converging despite the fact he had subtlymanded his Valgs to keep them out when they were having this really awkward conversation.

    "Don''t make meugh. You did not ask because you were too busy for almost everything else." Kraft pointed out, as he looked at the two State Agents. "Though I guess you guys already found out some stuff. Like how all of this practically stems from domestic terrorism."

    "I am starting to like you and more, Sir Fox." Mr Know-It-All smiled as he tipped his boonie hat towards him. "Am I correct in assuming you are the reason why Boss Jin was able to survive this long despite having so much interference from the Royal Families?"

    "I can neither confirm nor deny that part without the boss''s approval." His only follow up to the reply was a wider grin which Mr Know-It-All just took it for what it was.

    "Agent L, new orders from your superior. We are to cooperate with them as best we can. Make sure you survive this so you can find out what you were looking for. Also, keep this conversation out from your subsequent operation report." Mr Know It Allmanded.

    "I thought you said we ''retired'' already upon taking this job? In any case, I will not die until I learn the truth about my Master." Ryuli took a deep breath and turned to look at her boss and nodded her head.

    "Retirement? Since when? State Agents never retire until they are banished from this world. They merely go on paid vacation." Mr Know-It-All responded as he used his sword sheath and tapped on the ground. Suddenly the surrounding air veered slightly, and Jin could see a barely visible silhouette of a Chinese Serpent Dragon circling around them and the forest.

    It immediately vanquished every single Bone Spirit Demons in the area, giving Jin the space to breathe and work his magic. "I cannot believe I am falling deeper into this world''splex web of politics," Jinined as he took a card out from his deck.

    "As you always do." Systemmented.

 Chapter 845 Chaos in Dongguan

    <h4>Chapter 845 Chaos in Dongguan</h4>

    The borders along Dongguan Province were in worse shape than ever before as the Demon Exorcists from Jin''s store desperately tried to stop the second breach. This time, the Border Guards and Royal Horse had been utterly defeated despite their desperate attempts.

    Unlike in Huizhou where Jin had activated the Portals and enhanced them with ck Sludge Crystals to interrupt the Bone Spirit Demons instincts to destroy the city, Dongguan had no such luxury. The portal trucks in Huizhou had also been actively utilised not only by the evacuation but also the military after Royal Snake General Hou Fei told the Central Headquarters to deploy the troops from Shanghai to Huizhou.

    This extensively expedited the supply run and it did bring in soldiers to reinforce the border walls around the Huizhou province. A number of high ranking officers were shocked by the leap in technology but did not question it at the time as the defence for the province was more important.

    As for Dongguan, the only saving grace was that JODE Chancellor Ma Ge had authorised a few private nes to fetch the Demon Exorcists from surrounding provinces and airdrop them into the cities along the walls. Because of the flight restrictions beyond the border walls, a couple of the nes were forced to make arge detour in case there were flying creatures within that vicinity.

    But most importantly, it was mainly due to the Air Force sending a fly by sortie to that area. With the horde increasing in size and appearing unstoppable aspared to the situation in Huizhou, the Chinese Air Force had sent a couple of J-30 fighter nes, thetest multi-role fighter aircraft and one of the proud achievements for the Chinese Air Forces.

    Equipped with high-intensity napalm bombs inscribed with Demon ying attributes, courtesy of JODE for just such an asion, the aircrafts dropped those bombs dangerously close to the border walls, igniting the forest repeatedly withyers of strikes. They risked burning the forest entirely but forests, like all the other things natural in Jin''s world, had certain grade to them. A few of the trees still stood tall despite the impactful destruction and unfortunately the same was true for the Bone Spirit Demons.

    Anything weaker than Grade 8 was incinerated due to the fire and the special inscriptions attached to the explosive. However, for the higher grades, they were only injured to various degrees but all retained their ability to continue rampaging. Still, that did not mean the napalm bombs were useless as the heat and fire affected their defences, slowing them down for the remaining troops to take a breather.

    Also, the Bone Spirit Infused Demons were still animals at their core. The Bone Spirit Demons might have possessed them in order to have a body to run around in the forest, but the animals need to breathe to survive. Heavy smoke and haze from the burning of the forests managed to choke some of the animals that were Grade 8 and higher.

    And even if the Demons could survive the smoke and fire, there were incidental infighting because of the animals'' instinct took over the possession momentarily because of primal fear of fire. That caused some minor casualties in the grand scale of the scheme, but it was still worth noting that the rumoured Banned Emperor''s assassins do not have full control over them.

    Unfortunately, not all soldiers used that breather the same way. Some of the Royal Horse Battalion Soldiers tried to desert upon seeing the mass destruction was not entirely effective, but the Border Guards prevented their exit. "If you call yourself a soldier! Fight!" The Border Guards punched andter aimed the guns on them, creating unnecessary tension between the two scared and fearful factions.

    The Royal Horses had just been stationed here because of their job, but to the Border Guards, their homes and families were at stake. When the second breach urred, it would mean that they had already failed their job twice, and it would be the lives of their friends and families on their hands. They''d rather face death than the shame they brought to their city.

    "Let them go!" A voice echoed as the side doors to the border wall Gates were opened.

    "You ass, why did you let an elderly through this dangerous ce?!" One of the senior Guard shouted until Grandma Yuan presented her unique Demon Exorcist. For the Border Guards to not know the JODE badges would be a sin, let alone the badge of the Gleaming Griffin.

    "You are the infamous District Guardian of Tiangong?!" The Border Guard said as he let go of the Royal Horse soldier who he had just punched.

    "Sadly, Yes. I am that District Guardian. Reinforcements areing, but they will take a while. ording to the Chancellor, the cities bordering Dongguan Province have most likely been deemed a lost cause by the higher-ups. Now retreat before the Air Force sends in another airstrike. Pass the message." Grandma Yuan told him, yet the Border Guard spit right in front of her even though she was of a higher authority.

    "This is my home. I will not abandon it. If I have to die in the fire, I will use that fire and fight the remaining horde!" The Border Guard imed which resonated with the rest of his fellow colleagues while the Royal Horses shamelessly ran out of the city. This attitude of honour inevitably made Grandma Yuanugh.

    "Hahahahah! It seems no matter the time and age, there will always be young ones recklessly trying to throw away their lives for the country. I like your guts, and truth be told, I was the same at your age. Still, if you continue to stay here, you will just die meaninglessly." Grandma Yuan said as she walked further. "If you want to help the city, you should better use the time to help with evacuations." Unfortunately, they were unwilling to budge despite the repeated warnings.

    As she reached the top of the wall, the stench of death assaulted her nose. Bodies of Bone Spirit Infused Demons were lying all over the ce with human bodies beneath or over them. The remaining Guards were patching up the injured as much as they could. Some proceeded to grab the equipment from the dead bodies because of their ownck of firepower. The situation was beyond dire, and it reminded Grandma Yuan about the grim gloomy days during the Second World War.

    Right now, they were fighting against insurmountable odds against actual Demons rather than monsters disguised as humans. "Even with time, things never change." Grandma Yuan sighed as she saw the eyes of desperation, all staring at her as if she was the only saviour in this ce as the me rages in the forest beyond.

    "Warning, System has detected a possible manifestation of yet another Loopa Ooofpa in the outskirts of Dongguan Province. System rmends past Sub System User Yuan to evacuate as soon as possible." The System suddenly spoke out through the ring that it had given her.

    "Another?" Yuan asked with her eyes squinted to see beyond the endless mes burning the forest.

    "Affirmative. User is currently fighting one with Peppers as well as two particr State Agents. Codenames: Mr Know-It-All and Ryuli." The System replied, and that response surprised Grandma Yuan.

    "Of all the State Agents in the country, Jin had to meet the notorious two." Grandma Yuan did not know whether this was fate punishing Jin for having the System or there was something else in the grand scheme of destiny.

    "Still, that is a lot of firepower gathered in Huizhou. That brat should have at least send someone capable here to keep things in check rather than this rascal here." Yuanined as she eyed Yun who came up the stairs subsequently with a Demon Exorcist badge which Yuan considered to be a bad joke.

    "For a System clone to wear that Demon Exorcist badge is an utter disgrace to my previous disciple," Yuan stated, and Yun just looked away without saying a word. She might not like it, but it was her job to protect Yuan as designated by Jin.

    "Your hatred towards me is unwarranted. Believe me, I enjoy being here with you as much as you enjoy my presence." Yun countered in defiance and Yuan snorted.

    "To think she has the same attitude as the previous Yunбн Whatever." Yuan thought as she cleared her throat and portrayed her cultivation aura with her eyes staring at a particr emerging silhouette far within the forest.

 Chapter 846 Media Blackou

    <h4>Chapter 846 Media ckou</h4>

    Even though it was thetter half of the day, heavy smoke from the mes made it almost impossible to make out whether the sun was setting.

    News media outlets have long since been broadcasting about the massive evacuations at the borders near Dongguan and Huizhou after an hour of national media ckout so that the Ministry of Defence would be able to release a statement first.

    Yet, pictures and videos of the devastation beyond the border walls had already been broadcast all over social media. Still, within that hour of media ckout, people from behind the scenes had been busy scrambling to send out revised heightened alerts to not just the military but also a call for civil defences and hospitals for them to receive the injured.

    That hour of media ckout had also been to allow the stock market to close in time before any damage was done to their market, making the Ministry of Finance extremely concerned about any consequences if the Monster Horde attack would drag on to the next day. Fiscal reserves were quickly being prepared in order to hold the market if necessary.

    Surrounding provinces were put high alert and reserve soldiers had been sent to the border walls for defence although the Ministry of State Security was doing the opposite. ording to Mr Know-It-All''s urgent report, the Monster Horde could be held within the cities with more reinforcement and yet they decided to ce this unnatural phenomenal assault via the mountains.

    His superintendent understood the implications of a possible diversion and had already dispatched local State Agents within the province''s ssified locations in case of a possible infiltration or assaults on important points of interest.

    Cultivators of high grades and other private contractors were also roped on short notice to perform protection details for essential services like the power stations and water nts.

    Thus everyone was extremely vested to make sure this horde did not go further than expected.

    To help make this a reality, Grandma Yuan had decided to face the manifestation of Loopa Ooofpa for the second time in her life. Coincidentally that first encounter had been the famous incident which had led to her bing the current District Guardian of Tiangong.

    "To face this monster againбн is like facing my fears once more. Although, I must say it''s true origin name is so much funnier than the one given by the military." Grandma Yuan thought to herself when the System queried about it.

    "While the current System has knowledge that past Sub System User Yuan had a fight with a colossal monster based on your memories, it is unable to analyse andpare its power level since the Sub System was not contracted at that point of time. Please give a rough estimation for the System to understand whether Jin''s temporarybat alliance is overkill."

    "No. It is not." Grandma Yuan stated decidedly with a shake on her head as she vividly remembered the horrors and atrocities that the particr manifestation of Loopa Ooofpa had done during the Second World War.

    As she powered up her cultivation to gather as much chi as she could, Grandma Yuan couldn''t help reminisce the past where herrades died fighting such a monster. As controversial as it may be, the Banned Emperor faction did participate in the Second World War in defence for their mothend. However, they had joined under a false name as the State Agentster on discovered. Once their origin became known, they quickly started to dismantle that faction''s name and reassume their old identity.

    That was also why she had found these Bone Spirit Demons oddly familiar even though she could not identify them with the current database of monsters. Any records were removed right after the war, and she was going through PTSD and depression to even recall about the enemies.

    The Loopa Ooofpa waster used against the Chinese after the Banned Emperor faction found out that the invading opponents were targeting highly valued VIPs. Somehow the information about an undisclosed meeting of the Royal Zodiac n Heads as well as the resistance factions had been discovered.

    That leak of information had brought about a much heated discussion within the faction itself, but the majority demanded that they should remove the n Heads and be the ones controlling the remnants of the ns if they were to stand a change in this war.

    Thus, the Banned Emperor faction had gone ahead with their coup d''etat by unleashing such a monster. Ironically the allies mistook this action as the Banned Emperor faction trying to defend the n Heads via a summon techniques from their ambush attack.

    Sadly, it did turn uncontroble and aimed for everyone, including their own masters after dealing with the foreign invaders. Hence the cleanup crew involved Yuan and herrades who only graduated recently from the special Demon Exorcist training. (Yup the very same Grandma Yuan was heeding in this age.)

    "So there is much pressure for the ex Sub System User to seed again." With her permission, the System briefly scanned through her memories to check whether it could get an estimation of the Loopa Ooofpa strength, but unfortunately, human memories were somewhat deceptive and unreliable. Especially after they had been tinkered with.

    "Told you, it''s useless. Unless you wish to bestow me a Sub System again." Grandma Yuan joked as she knew that was not possible as her module was the very thing that rescued Ming from his predicament, yet it broke after being used.

    "Apologies, System cannot adhere to such requests. Giving past Sub System User Yuan to permission to contact the current User''s System is already a break in System''s standard protocol." The System replied as if it was giving much leeway for her only to honour her previous upation.

    "Fortunately it''s Jin wish to see you safe, so that is why I am here to ensure your survival," Yun said, but instead of gratitude, Yuan just gave her a menacing re.

    "I''d rather die than allow you to save me." Grandma Yuan pouted as she finally reached the peak of the chi gathering, but things got grimmer as the Loopa Ooofpa emerged fully from a distance.

    Its faceless head roared with the urge to consume. Its hand tentacles were spreading like wings stretching after a long slumber. There was nothing on its body but a pile of flesh covered with streaks of bones around it. Only with a pair of binocrs could one see how the Bone Spirit Demons wereing out from its abdomen.

    At that point, the second wave of J30 fighter jets who were initially nning for a second fly by through the mountainous forests had decided to change their target to therge colossal manifestation.

    "It''s uselessбн" Grandma Yuan knew that those napalm bombs would be ineffective against the giant leader that emerged from the Banned Emperor''s Ritual. If those bombs could only eradicate Grade 8 and lower Demons, they would merely tickle the monster''s skin, and their only utility would be in eradicating those newly emerged weak Demons.

    If anything, that was a new unique trait of the current Loopa Ooofpa which Grandma Yuan didn''t encounter in the past. (That fight had been hard enough without such a trait)

    "Instructor Yuan!" Lein and his group of Demon Exorcists returned to their teacher''s side afterpleting the objective of removing the Demons who leaked out from the second breach.

    "There are some remnants running around, but the others are chasing them after the second breach of the wall had been mended by the Border Guards." Su Zhen reported.

    "But more importantly, we are concerned the moment we all felt your chi aura kilometres away!" Lian spoke out the truth which made Grandma Yuan grin a little.

    "Your other disciples are already airdropping into the town. They abandoned everything the moment they heard that you sounded the rm for a Danger Level 4 Alert in Dongguan." ire appeared from nowhere and surprised the Young Demon Exorcists.

    "Wow, doesn''t that mean a portion of the elite Demon Exorcists is joining the fight?" Rong eximed when he heard ire''s remarks and the rest of the Demon Exorcists were excited to see their senior disciples under Grandma Yuan.

    "Heh, ire you sneaky little... Nevermind, that means I can fully concentrate on the big guy, huh?" Grandma Yuan showed a rare wide genuine smile before taking one more look at hertest batch of graduated students.

    "Will it be time to let the younger generation take over..." She whispered as she executed a technique which had not been used since thest Loopa Ooofpa fight.

 Chapter 847 Rebirth of the Golden Griffin

    <h4>Chapter 847 Rebirth of the Golden Griffin</h4>

    The cultivation aura which was initially intense and oppressive but it suddenly turned soothingly warm and light on the body. Faintly visible golden sparks of energy were seen being emitted out of Grandma Yuan''s body as she breathed in and out.

    "Epic Gleaming Griffin Arts, Rebirth of Golden Griffin," Yuan spoke as a silhouette of a massive Griffin slowly climbed out of her body and took shape. The winds within the borders became unsettling as if to show its aggressive emergence into this world, and it even imitated the way Loopa Ooofpa emerged from the forest by letting out a loud wailing screech.

    Subsequently like Grandma Yuan''s chi, the Griffin calmed down when it lowered its ws as they grabbed the ledge of the border wall. But the most unexpected thing to the Border Guards and Demon Exorcists was seeing that silhouette of the Gleaming Griffin materialised.

    They were all in shock as this was the first time seeing someone materialising their animal cultivation into a living and breathing creature. "Heh, this is nothingpared to the Royal Zodiac Dragon n''s technique. Mine is just a rip off of theirs." Grandma Yuan exined to the students watching her from behind while taking heavier breaths as a way to stabilise her chi circuits.

    While this particr technique had never been used against any enemy for decades, it did not mean shecked any practice on it. In fact, it was actually part of her recovery therapy, allowing her to master the intricacies of it with the help of a Royal Zodiac Dragon nsman. It was mainly because she had used this Rebirth of Golden Griffin technique as ast resort against the rampaging Loopa Ooofpa at the expense of herrades'' chi and ...life.

    The chi ''payment'' for the technique had been so tremendous back in the day that herrades sacrificed their blood and flesh to convert the remaining chi needed for the summoning. To this day Yuan med herself for her ipetence to hold the materialisation at that point.

    Even though it was not fully her fault for notprehending the technique well enough as her cultivation manual only had theories for such a technique, it technically bordered a miracle that she had been able to materalise it from just that alone.

    Only through the help of the Royal Zodiac Dragon n did she find out that there were so many missingponents with the ''summoning'' and the optimisation of her chi could have improved. Although she would have prefered to keep the memories of that fateful day where it all happened suppressed, she stared at the Unceasing Hunger as if this was what she had been waiting for all her life.

    A chance to redeem herself.

    Even though there were also regrets with Ming and his System, this particr grievance in her heart was heavier than the others as there was no possible reconciliation between her deadrades who had overtaxed their Dantian cores to allow for the maximum amount of chi transferred into her.

    "Everything ends with a full circle, eh?" Grandma Yuan thought to herself as the Gleaming Golden Griffin lowered its body. Yuan could feel the softness of its feathery neck while it glittered and glowed with radiance.

    The Griffin also rubbed onto Yuan as a sign of affection andter allowed her to jump onto it before extending its wings again to signal the others to move away from it. The Border Guards were taken aback that such a weakly looking old grandmother had the strength and finesse to jump so easily, but the Demon Exorcists knew better how that look was merely a fa?ade.

    "I can still remember how she whooped our asses on the first day of her intensive camp training." Lein said when he saw her jump so elegantly. The days where they underestimated their demanding elderly instructor felt like it was just yesterday.

    "I can hear you." Grandma Yuan said without turning her head back.

    "Teacher! I aming with you!" Su Zhen shouted, asking for permission to fight along with her. This prompted the rest to want to follow her as well.

    "NO!" Grandma Yuan told them sternly as she activated her cultivation once more, pushing them away with a chi burst. At this moment, the Griffin had also started pping its wings, further disabling them from moving forward.

    "Let it go." Lein decided to hold back Su Zhen. "If we follow her, we will just hold her back."

    "But it''s impossible for her to fight alone! ire, say something to stop her!" Su Zhen shouted as the Griffin began to take off. However, even her long-time assistant was standing at the back, subtly waving back at her.

    "You still owe me my bonus red packet for the uing new year. Please remember to return." ire said via the System Channel which made her boss smirk.

    "Just get it from your new Boss. You two-timer." Grandma Yuan snapped back at her.

    "You were the one who approved it. Don''t pretend to go senile on me now. Besides, it feels more appropriate to get it from an elderly figure." ire remarked as she started to type a few things on the System''s phone. "System, you better have a way to save herбн" ire thought to herself.

    "This rascalбн I never regretted hiring you to be my assistant." Grandma Yuan replied as she looked forward. The Loopa Ooofpa had never been so ready to consume the iingrge golden Griffin as it could sense the intense amount of chi residing within it. Hand tentacles had already started to crawl out of the forest and zoomed into the skies just to grab the prize that was like an inch out of reach.

    "Gleaming Griffin Arts, Rainbow Feather Storm." Grandma Yuan announced as she lightly held on to the nape of her Griffin and continued to channel chi within it. The Golden Griffin glimmered despite the looming dark skies, and out of its wings, feathers with homing capabilities soared through the darkness with streaks of bright rainbow trails following it.

    Like a beacon of bright light that continued to shine and illuminate, it destroyed the hand tentacles and lit the hopes of the Guards along the wall, bringing cheers.

    "Don''t be so happy!" ire shouted at the Border Guards. "The waves of enemies are not stopping! Use that renewed strength you uncovered and stop those monstrous Demons! You four! What are you staring at? Since you are at the wall, do your job as Demon Exorcists!" iremanded as she ced an artefact on the ground and suddenly the section of the wall lit up with greenish hues.

    "Ms ire, you are using that?!" Su Zhen lit up further when she saw the greenish hues glowed with a hum along the edges of the border wall and slowly spread to the other sections of the border walls.

    "Duh, how else are we going to survive with these little numbers the guards are left with?" ire answered as she used her head to prod the Demon Exorcists to get a move on. "We have to stall them until other demon exorcists reach here."

    "Besides, I need to see if Jin''s System was not lying to me about my new ''intern'' powers," ire added in her head.

 Chapter 848 Magpie Form

    <h4>Chapter 848 Magpie Form</h4>

    "I get to boom it, right? Right?" Peppers squinted when Mr Know-It-All literally gave the go-ahead that the Ministry of State Security would cover their tracks no matter what they did. His Dragon Wave Barrier had also eliminated the small fry (to the System''s dismay) and provided Jin with some breathing space to prepare for his ''all-out attack''.

    "Not yet. Just give me a minute" Jin told her as he held up a monster card with the picture of Que Er, the Magpie Queen and used the System Driver to activate it.

    "Card Activated, Magpie Form."

    His Rider Suit once again changed with a sh. After its transformation, it featured a magpie head as his mask, and there were some other obvious changes to his suit too. A pair of Raven Wings was growing from his back, metallic in form because of the living armour nano suit''s ability.

    And out of a portal, both of Odin''s Ravensnded on his shoulders cawing at the current situation. "You got to excuse theirбн initiative to erm ''im'' your shoulders."

    "Well, that just means they love you enough to not be separated from you." Jin teased Que Er who he had fused with. (Of course, the others could not hear their talks unless they were in the same System''s channel.)

    "Oh please, they keepining how Odin did not work them as hard as I do."

    "And yet, they continue to work for you. Perhaps they preferred to be with a pretty queen than a grumpy old man?" Jinmented with a proverbial wink.

    "Since when did you be such a smooth talker? Should I be worried that older women are your preference? Is that why you haven''t been paying attention to your Sub System User?s I honestly don''t mind if Master wants a piece of me." Que Er teased Jin back.

    "Please. Imagine having thousands of crows and magpies and two talkative Ravens secretly peeking at us. You must be insane if you think I have such a voyeuristic nature."

    "That is true. Especially those lecherous Ravens. I have a feeling they keep peeking into my attire when I am not looking. Perhaps why they love to stay on my shoulders. Not sure if they transmit anything to Odin though." Que Er agreed as she pinched both of the Ravens on their necks which made them caw even harder.

    "We swear we would never do such a thing! Never!" Muninn screamed via the System channel.

    "Your denial makes it even more suspicious!" Que Er said as she now grabbed the two by their necks. By now all the scouting magpies and crows were hovering above the group in circles.

    From afar, the Border Guards and Royal Battalions might have mistaken it as a slow-moving hurricane given their numbers.

    "Ah...I get it. Not a bad idea to be honest." Peppers who saw the circling birds chirping away now understood what Jin was aiming at. She took her staff and swung it a few times to show her finesse of using a staff and pointed it to the sky.

    Subsequently, the magic within the staff was dispersed. All the magpies and crows absorbed it and started to glow with a bluish-ck light. She did not forget to imbue her magic transfer with the ck Sludge Inscription Charm so that those birds would inadvertently attract the Bone Spirit Demons. (And ensuring those monsters ate the ''bombs'' instead of evading it.)

    "Man, I was expecting a more spectacr kaboom, but this is an interesting variant I''ve been wanting to try ever since their inception." Peppers shared in the System channel while she sent the remaining portion of the magic into the two Odin Ravens.

    "Que Er, send half of them to Dongguan. Grandma Yuan might need all the help she can get before we settle this." Jin requested and Que We obliged.

    "Sure thing! Muninn, Huginn lead the way. MAKE SURE these birds reach there safely." Que Er ordered as she squeezed the Ravens once more before sending them off.

    A flock of them immediately left the area with the remaining half now spreading themselves out in the wild. Que Er took the opportunity to fly up and size her opponent up.

    "Actually with Peppers magic now strengthening the explosive power of each of my children, I do not see a need to increase it any further. However, I figure that Loopa Ooofpa won''t go down that easily. Who knows? Maybe he will eat the explosion." Que Er analysed.

    "Quite an astute observation! Now if anyone at all is still interested, I would love to exin how the artificially created Loopa Ooofpa appeared in the Second World War." Kraft offered. While he would usually use Itori to fly around, this time he did not use any tricks or wings but to hover beside the System Rider Magpie. Apparently, all he needed was just chi which made Mr Know-It-All all the more curious about the cultivation grade of the neer.

    "Not really the time for a history lesson. More importantly, does that thing have any weak points?" Que Er could literally feel Jin''s anxiety in wanting to finish this monster quickly before it got any worse.

    "If one explosion is not enough, make it two. I still have a whole bag of things I never got the chance to try out which might prove useful. Actually, Peppers made the right choice by breaking her magic into hundreds or thousands of them. That monster would have literally absorbed the first shot and used it as his own energy source. Basically like an enemy Derpy." Kraft stated as he checked his storage ring at the side.

    "Well, duh. Why do you think I was so willing to forsake my chance of a grand explosion? Of course, I had read it up the moment you said that you knew about it. Though I have to admit, it''s equally nice to be able to see a series of fireworks..."

    "Ah, the System must have Grandma Yuan''s entry of the Loopa Ooofpa she fought." Kraft deduced since there was no way the System had ess to his database of naughty secrets.

    "Eh really? I merely used the birds because they could be as highly deadly as a piece of missile." Jin said in the System Channel, attempting to bluff Kraft but to no avail.

    "Don''t white lie or y dumb with me, Boss. You are not of that level yet." With his head down, Kraft shook it slowly. He then unveiled the triple-barreled, triple-cylindered revolver ornamented with detailed golden fox designs and pointed at the messy blob of tentacles.

    His all precious ''No Mercy''.

    "But I shall y along with you just this one. We will divert its attention by allowing it to feed on onerge enough explosion and you can attack him with the rest of your birds. At least, we got to show that we are so SO much stronger than those State Agents, right?" Kraft added as he already loaded a trio of steel bullets into No Mercy.

    "I don''t really understand your intentions, but let''s do it." Jin allowed Que Er to take over thebat, and with a hand wave, the birds started to glow brightly as the magic churning inside them was dying toe out of them.

    "Nice, Nice, Nice." Kraft grinned as he aimed his gun, all ready to press the trigger.

 Chapter 849 Loopa Ooofpas Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 849 Loopa Ooofpa''s Weakness</h4>

    "Don''t. Stay back and watch their backs in case they will require us to intervene. I can sense that the other monsters are all actually converging to our location and leaving the soldiers to regroup." Mr Know-It-All said as he raised his hand to stop Ryuli from intervening in their fight.

    "You honestly think that they can win? No matter how I sense it, that guy in the weird suit is only Grade 8 Peak for goodness sake." Ryuli argued, and Mr Know-It-Allughed.

    "That''s what I thought too. But if you are sensitive enough to detect his chi, you should understand that his power level is бнfor theck of a better word, fucked up." Mr Know-It-All exined as he lowered the Dragon Wave Barrier and noticed the monsters under Jin''smand continue to pull those Bone Spirit Infused Demons towards the portals.

    "Is that how he collects monsters and learns how to reconstruct them? Under controlled circumstances? If yes, he is one tenacious fellow with a high level of creativity." He thought to himself. He was already looking forward to the next dungeon instance and expected it to be filled with those creatures.

    "Erm, yeah. I did notice an abrupt spike in power after he used that card to transform and gain wings for his suit. Some of the talented mages in Europe''s Circus also possess such abilities, what is so special about that?" Ryuli asked as she pointed out that the spies in the European countries had better transformation abilities than him. Only when she said that she realised something was off.

    "бнHe uses magic and chi circuits simultaneously and with the same efficiency too," Ryuli whispered to herself and noticed this was unprecedented.

    "Mmhm. You used to think that you were the only few in the world who could use magic to supplement your chi, right? It seems that he is one step further than you by utilising both circuits allowing him to cast spells too. So, at least int theory, he is actually as strong or maybe even stronger than you." Mr Know-It-All reasoned. "All the more reason for him to be your so-called ''elder disciple''." Ryuli heard it and was unsure how to process that information. She could only listen to her superior ramble on as she watched the two start the fight.

    *BAM!*

    Kraft had fired his first volley of shots, and the three steel bullets were immediately imbued with his chi, breaking each and every hand tentacle that tried to stop it. Needless to say, the Loopa Ooofpa relished such a ''mighty'' meal as it opened its mouth to slow its descent by absorbing the chi that was within the steel bullets.

    But the moment those bullets stopped to a halt, they immediately released a gaseous substance that caused it to choke. Oddly enough, the bullets were releasing more gas than it should have contained in terms of standard physics. That was because it was actually a steel bullet encased with Evon''s inscription. The chi Kraft had imbued was like a bottle cap, keeping the bottle from overspilling. Only when the chi got taken away, would the inscription self activate courtesy of the bullet.

    "Jespa really wished to pin me hard on the wall after I told her that I needed to make a bullet out of runic metals and of all metals. Steel fused with mithril alloy. Despite all her arguing, she sure did a great job. Hehehe!" Kraft was not one to waste any monster talents in Jin''s disposal, and the rune bullet itself provided enough power for Evon''s inscription to work beyond its inscription limits.

    The gas eventually spread around the Loopa Ooofpa, and Kraft subsequently shot out standard incineration bullets to ignite the gas. "Though it was meant to be a choking gas bullet, it''s quite mmable in nature." Kraft boasted as the bullets were visible with the tracers on them and instantly, the surrounding area exploded.

    "Huh. Not bad. 1/10." Peppers graded the explosion after helping the Valgs by magically chaining the monsters up with magic. She had used her staff as the anchor to pull all the surrounding Demons towards her. Only when the Valgs brought the Demons near the portal did she release the chains and the portal sucked them in. As for those Bone Spirit Infused Demons who were too close forfort, a knockback explosion was sufficient to push it away and sometimes into the portals too.

    "I am totally ignoring you, Peps." Kraft dered nonchntly. (Though Jin believed that he only did so because he was pouting. Everyone always looked up to Pepper''s review rating as if it was the international standard for explosions.)

    "Go, my birds!" Que Er, who had actually used Jin''s Maqi to further juice up her birds'' offensive power, finally gave the order to attack the Loopa Ooofpa. With their small physique and their body frame for speed, the magpies and crows easily evaded the Loopa Oofpa''s hand tentacles by skidding along it and dived towards the body.

    But what Que Er did not expect was that the hand tentacles began to evolve as soon as Kraft''s attack had started. The hand tentacles immediately released pores that could explode as quickly as one of Que Er''s birds entered within its proximity. As a result, a secondary st happened since the magpies were basically flying timebombs too. (At least, it took out the hand tentacles too.)

    "Do you see now what I told you about the Loopa Ooofpa? They will use your magic against you after eating it. If you throw a nuclear bomb at it, chances are it will be a walking nuclear disaster and irradiate the regions it does through." Kraft pointed at it as if he was proud that the monster was proving his point.

    "So, then how are we supposed to kill it?" Jin, who was at the sideline, saw it.

    "Constantly interrupting its eating time," Kraft replied. "Whenever it attempts to consume an attack, you break it. But of course, different types of attacks means different types of consumption methods, and that means it will make it harder to kill."

    "So that is why we are merely concentrating on explosions right now instead of a variety of attacks?" Que Er reasoned as the System Rider''s mask gave her a more advanced disy interface on the visor so she and the System could fully control the movements of each and every bird as if they were living breathing homing missiles. With the evolution of Loopa Ooofpa in mind and the losses it incurred seconds ago, the System had already adjusted the birds'' trajectory and aimed for the parts of the body where it was producing the Bone Spirit Demons from.

    "Yeap, that is why when it is attempting to eat the explosions, it is also taking damage from the constant release of choking gas turning into explosions. The fire from the after-effects will ignite those gases and cause the explosions to continue for some time." Kraft informed them as he fired a few more incineration bullets.

    "At the same time, we target its body which had residual crevices after the Demons get ''born''. Even if it could regenerate and evolve, there is no such thing as an immortal creature." Que Er remarked.

    "How sure are you?" Jin queried thinking of the worst possible scenario.

    "Trust me, I am an immortal at your service." The magpie queen giggled as a result of her birds'' attack and her honestment to Jin.

    "Sometimes, we got to fight smart, right? Brute force isn''t always the way." Kraft winked at System Rider Magpie while grinning when he thought how the Banned Emperor Assassins must be tearing their hair out to see their Loopa Ooofpa in trouble.

    Especially when Loopa Oofpa should be deemed as their trump card in this Monster Horde attack.

 Chapter 850 Command Headquarters

    <h4>Chapter 850 Command Headquarters</h4>

    True enough, the State Agents were baffled when they saw the Loopa Ooofpa getting damaged. Their initial attacks when fighting against the colossal manifestation had been useless as it continuously regenerated and threw their strikes back in their very raw essence.

    They literally could feel their own strength and chi being used against themselves and were only thankful that they had not used any higher advanced techniques.

    That was also one of the reasons why Mr Know-It-All decided to step back and see if the dungeon supplier had any ways to damage the monster (Especially when they are supposedly the monster experts.)

    "Seems like this won''t be a futile alliance!" He thought to himself as he saw how the monster wriggled in pain and turned even more aggressive.

    With the attacks on its "birthing" crevices, it somehow stopped the Monster Horde temporarily from growing, and this gave them confidence that it could be defeated.

    "Master! Air Command is sending reinforcements to fight against the creature, do you want me to by that order?" General Hou Fei finally checked into the System Channel.

    "I am leading this battle for now. Tell them to aim for the crevices. I will send you some digital pictures shortly via the System." Kraft answered, and Hou Fei rolled his eyes.

    "As if those pilots in the air have a telepathy System Channel in their heads for me to transpose that information!" Hou Fei cursed under his breath as he saw the pictures had already been sent via an email. "I have a few choppers ready to fly. They should be able to airlift a few of my artillery scouts, and I shall order them toser paint the targets for them to hit."

    "Great, just make sure to set their explosion dys to intervals of three seconds. That or hit it with precise timing of at least three seconds apart. We need double impacts for it to be effective!" Kraft replied as he reloaded his No Mercy and switched to abination ratio of one Evon Special Choking Gas bullet to two incineration bullets.

    "I will try to ry that information but cannot guarantee whether those pilots can bepetent or listen to us." Hou Fei yelped back at Kraft.

    "Ehh? Don''t tell meбн aren''t those exclusive to the Royal Zodiac Rooster''s Air Force?" Instead of the standard J30s, Kraft distinguished with his keen eye that those were, in fact, the J30-Rs. One of the two special variants custom made to suit the Royal Zodiac''s privileged group of pilots.

    "Hmm yeah." Hou Fei scratched his head, thinking of a way to send that instruction without making it sound as if he was undermining their authority.

    "Ah, fuck it!" Hou Fei opened the secure channel and just repeated the information he got from Kraft to Central Command.

    "Roger that, we will ry the nes to do a quick roundabout before sending them your way, so you have time to paint the targets." A familiar voice was heard by Hou Fei, and it was none other than his Royal Zodiac Snake n''s head, Mong Tse.

    "Sir! I did not expect you to be part of themand staff for this current operation." Hou Fei was d to hear his voice in this chaos.

    "Hehe, did you think I would stay idle during a national crisis? I have been monitoring your progress since the start. As much as we want to be quiet with our development, we have to n for pessimistic scenarios. Why else would thosezy Roosters get to sortie this quickly?"

    "That''s true. Despite their namesake, being early isn''t really one of their specialities." Hou Fei jest for a moment, but he knew this wasn''t the time for idle chatter and his Snake n Head informed him that the field artillery would be in soon via the portals.

    "Your decision to bring one of the portal trucks to Shanghai was a good one." Mong Tsemended his General, and subsequently, Hou Fei asked about the situation at Dongguan.

    "Tiangong District Guardian certainly lives up to her name. Satellite feed shows that she is damaging the manifestation the same way your group of private contractors are doing. However, she seems to be waning in power. s, time is a deadly enemy nobody can escape. I will liaise and get the Royal Dragon Air Force to send their nes there as soon as possible." And suddenly from the corner of the voice call, someone was already shouting.

    "They are already on their way!" Royal Zodiac Dragon General, You Wan Long, shouted over the many shoulders within themand meeting room.?A number of officers saluted as he stomped into the room and literally threw ssified documents on the table.

    "This is everything we have on the target ''Sundew'' from the National Secret Archives. As we speak, the J30-D''s have already been equipped with thetest gravity implosions bombs, which we believe should be enough to decimate it."

    "It might actually make things worse unless you-" General Mong Tse tried to exin, but the Dragon Zodiac General didn''t even let him finish before he rebutted.

    "On whose information are you relying on? We have records about killing target ''Sundew'', and Demon Exorcist Instructor Yuan was the one to write that particr report. Also, the information has surprisingly been updated in recent years during the revision audits from Monsterology experts." He stated matter of factly.

    "I do not wish to argue that. However, thetest intel on the ground has shown results proving that their technique works. Are we going to rely on paper or results from the ground?" Mong Tse knew that Wan Long was a little impulsive to show off that the Dragons were superior to the rest of the Zodiac ns.

    All he needed to do was switch the way he phrased things so that he would listen. "By following this method, it will guarantee the Dragon Air Force''s sess in injuring target ''Sundew'' and also show off its superior finesse and uracy. Should that not work, please feel free to go back to your way of handling things."

    "Very well. I am listening." Royal Dragon General Wan Long nodded after he caught the ''correct keywords'' and Mong Tse easily exined the tactics that Hou Fei had ryed to him.

    "That''s it? Of course, my pilots can do that!" Wang Long quickly told his telmunication officers to send in these orders.

    "Very good, I will send the message to the Border Guards, and hopefully they can at least help in aiding with theser painting procedure." Mong Tse took a quick heave of relief before forgetting that he had his General on hold.

    "I actually heard everything." Hou Fei admitted, and Mong Tse chuckled. "To see the Snake subdue a Dragon is always satisfying."

    "Then do me proud." Mong Tse answered.

    "No worries. I actually should have a way to contact Instructor Yuan and the Demon Exorcists in Dongguan immediately. Although to be sure, please send a formalmunication telegram order." Hou Fei replied, and his Snake Head n was smiling.

    "You sure you do not want to take the chief position of our Military Intelligence Branch?" Mong Tse asked once more.

    "Trust me, you do not want me to hold on to state secrets. They might slip out of my hands." Hou Fei refused the offer once more and officially closed themunication channel before giving thetest information to his soldiers as well as ire who was holding the fort at the Dongguan border walls.

 Chapter 851 System Interns Powers

    <h4>Chapter 851 System Intern''s Powers</h4>

    Even as the Golden Griffin flew and fought on a less favourable footing, Grandma Yuan was still able to evade and counter while dishing out damage on the colossal manifestation.

    It was also because all her techniques were solely for demon exorcising and thus its potency against this big bad boss was far higher than an ordinary cultivator''s technique or the ones possessed by the Border Guards and Royal Horse Battalion.

    However, the only thing that she was unable to do was to halt the waves of monsters constantlying out of the belly of Loopa Ooofpa. She had already tried her best stopping the manifestation from moving forward, but with only one person on the scene, there was only so much the district guardian could do.

    That was why she had asked her students and assistant to stay at the border walls.

    The low glowing green hues that crept on the wall via ire''s technique got even brighter, and she pumped in even more chi into it. "Advanced Trap Formation: Slime Scarecrows!" She called out the name of the technique in order to fully stabilise the formation she created along varying sections of the border wall.

    As the name depicted, the glowing green hues that seeped through the crevices of the damaged concrete border wall immediately grew slimes in the shape of scarecrows. The remaining Bone Spirit Infused Demons that tried to climb over or bash the wall had been met with significantly high resistance as the Slime Scarecrows shot slimy projectiles to slow and if possible, kill them.

    For those who got too close were instead entrapped by them and subsequently strangled. Slowly with no air or oxygen, the infused demon died from asphyxiation as the slime entered into their airway and filled their lungs with nothing but semi-viscous fluid.

    This trap formation had also brought the much needed relief to other sections of the border wall in Dongguan especially with the mes in the forest starting to die down near the border walls after the deadly napalm strike.

    The firestorm was still spreading at a significant pace further from the wall, but there''s nothing left in front of the wall for the mes to burn, giving way for the Bone Spirit Infused Demons to dash through the smoke for safety.

    And without the mes to slow the demons, the border walls only had barebone defences against the horde until ire summoned her Slime Scarecrows.

    "This is amazing! We can at least wait for some reinforcements because of that!" Lian said as she saw ire''s trap formation techniques in action.

    "It''s not even the start of it. I have sessfully modified it in the past month or so. Besides, when ites to Trap Formations, I have to show my powers once in a while, right? Else I cannot be teaching any more students on such a topic." ire lied through her teeth as she actually used the Sub System''s power to modify her current technique.

    The other monsters or betors might have thought that she possessed the same powers as Qiu Yue. To use money to boost her offensive strength since ire had the Financing Sub System with her. But that was not exactly the case for the intern.

    Instead, any monster that she killed got converted into valuable metals or gems. (With of course heavy taxing by the System.) And with the properties of those valuable resources, ire was able to power up her techniques.

    The killing of Bone Infused Demons enabled her to earn a bag full of topaz which she immediately utilised to enhance her current trap formation. Due to this the Slime Scarecrows eventually evolved into Slime Topaz Scarecrows, allowing them to possess the ability to fire energy beams from afar or burn the demons when caught inside the slimes.

    As the Slime Topaz Scarecrows were simr to a carnivorous flytrap, many of the Border Guards also made use of them by luring the Bone Spirit Infused Demons towards them for better offensive options.

    ------

    "ire, I have information to pass to Grandma Yuan. But seeing that she is busy fighting, the System prevents me talking to her." Hou Fei informed the young woman via the System Channel.

    "Shoot." ire said as she held onto a topaz and used its energy to create a sunburst effect, blinding the demons in front of her. It allowed the Demon Exorcists to finish them up in a jiffy. Hou Fei then exined the situation to her, and she understood the current state of the problem they were in.

    "I understand. Basically, we just need something to aim at those eerie-looking holes so the Royal Zodiac Dragon Air Force can st them to kingdome?" ire summed it up.

    "Yeah, preferably doing some damage to them at the same time but they are using some sort of gravity like bomb to take the target out. So I have no idea what could be used toplement it." Hou Fei replied, but suddenly it clicked on ire.

    "Hey, Lein! You remember when you did that electro ball trick which nearly devastated the entire ce and created a crater?" ire queried as she went to Lein''s side.

    "Ehhh, yeah. What''s up with it?" Lein had a nk look on his face as he was not expecting such a random question out of the blue.

    "Can you replicate that and shoot them towards those genitalia looking holes?"

    "You mean the monster''s vaginas?" It was obvious Lein was holding his giggle back.

    "Language!" ire beat his head but at the same time, instinctively stifled a short chuckle. "It doesn''t have to be at full power, just something enough to wound it."

    "It will be hard to do so at this distance. If I try, I can''t guarantee that I will have much control especially when this is a technique I have yet to master. Why do you need it??" Lein asked as he continued to stake a lookout for more demons.

    "Because the Royal Dragon Air Force ising down to beat the shit out of that thing and your electro orb seems like the best marker we can use to guide their bombs," ire replied.

    "Sounds like an adventure that Grandma Yuan will kill us for!" Lian was nearby and overheard the conversation, wanting to be in.

    "I am only asking Lein about his assessment for this task. If it is too risky, I am just gonna need a lightning trace towards those holes."

    "As defiant as this sounds, that electro orb thing is probably the best way to help Grandma Yuan." Su Zhen agreed as she wanted in.

    "Why are you all here when I was talking to Lein only a few seconds ago?!"

    "Call it team telepathy!" Rong exposed their trick and got knocked by Lian''s fist.

    "Don''t worry. I believe we already have a n to aplish that. Besides, it should be safer if we do it together." Lein looked at the others, and they winked back at him with aplimentary thumbs up.

    "Just don''t make things too worrying for Grandma Yuanбн" ire warned as she let them go since it was her fault to overlook that they were a close knitted team.

 Chapter 852 Electrical Markers

    <h4>Chapter 852 Electrical Markers</h4>

    The moment they were given permission by ire to move forth, Rong stayed on the walls while the others jumped into the burnt clearing and continued into the forest.

    The reason why Rong stayed back was mainly because of his unique cultivation that allowed him to pull them back to the walls if the situation turned dire.

    This extra precaution was sorely needed with the firestorm within the forest still raging on. The team of newbie Demon Exorcists might be high grade cultivators with the ability to hold their breath for an extended period of time, but should they get stuck, there was a need for an escape route.

    Hence, Rong came into the picture by enabling his cultivation of the Ox Demon Ao Ye. "Advanced Ao Ye Technique, Hair Tracking Ropes!" Rong shouted.

    Despite the name, the hair ropes actually emerged from his hammer and they were like an extension of the hammer because of the particr technique. (Not his hair!)

    It might sound weird at a nce but the folklore in which Ox Demon Ao Ye appeared, truly depicted Ao Ye as an ox with human features on its head. Instead of leather skin or fur, the body was filled with human hair, and it grew so long that it looked as if it was covered from head to toe with it. (Or one could say, from head to tail.)

    Hence, Rong''s cultivation allowed the hammer to grow long extending hair which each and every one of his teammates utilised by tying themselves with a tight knot around their body.

    Not only that, but Rong also served as their eyes and ears because the hair ropes had sensoryponents on them, serving as the team''s backup support.

    And because he was up on the border walls, he could also use the bird eye''s view on the ever-changing situation to his advantage. (Of course, the burning forest was a hindrance, but the information from the hair ropes helpedplemented it.)

    Meanwhile, Lian, the Nine Tail Fox Demon Cultivator led the charge into the forest as a forward scout, finding the most suitable path for the team to move forth.

    With a few tails extending from her back, they acted as a bnceponent during her scouting as well as a chi absorber.

    Whenever they encountered a Bone Spirit Infused Demon in front of them, she would use the umted chi in one of her tails to kill the enemy in one shot and push forward. Thus, allowing Lein and Su Zhen to save their chi. Time was definitely of the essence for them since ire had warned them that the Royal Zodiac Dragon Air Force wasing in three minutes time.

    However, even with her charged up chi tails, the number of Demons was increasing the further they got into the burning forest.

    "Guess, it''s time to use the present Boss Jin got us!" Lian said as she took out the dual inscription charm from her storage ring and activated it.

    In an instant, her appearance immediately changed into a set of kunoichi ninja clothes. This allowed her tails to move freely at the back without any hindrance to her movement. (Although she would admit that Jin''s design was a little sexy, it was very practical and made with functional use in mind.)

    A design of a nine tailed fox was being embroidered on the ck ninja clothes with gold and orange threads. With the use of the inscription charm, it heightened her power abilities, allowing her to grow one extra tail and get a better grasp of her senses. (If anything, it was simr to Jin''s inverse eyes, but something extremely basic to the feeling of a sixth sense.)

    Upon transformation, she took in the surrounding fire as her own chi and shot it directly at the Bone Spirit Infused Demons, allowing her to create a clear path big enough for her two teammates to follow.

    They were sessful until they encountered the very first hand tentacles which ire had told them to either avoid or destroy with one clean shot! If they were on the fence or hesitated too much, they would suffer the consequences.

    "Then let''s see how much pain this hand tentacle can take!" Lian said as she shed down with her dagger infused with the fire chi, utilising up to two tails worth of chi storage. Naturally, she seeded.

    Yet, this also meant that Lian could only bring them this far. Any closer would mean they would encounter even more hand tentacles and underestimating it would bring death to the team.

    "My turn then!" Su Zhen said as she sped her hands together in the direction of Lein and immediately four snakes appeared from beneath her and slithered towards the Qilin Cultivator.

    "You sure your snakes can hold it out?" Lein asked as he already started to discharge the chi to create the electro orbs.

    "I will be here to defend you, so rest easy and concentrate. No use overthinking stuff now." Su Zhen nodded her head, and soon the snakes lowered their heads for Lein to step on them.

    After which, they calmly lifted him upwards, out of the smoky forest and into the open skies. It was almost half the distance away between the border wall and the Loopa Ooofpa. Obviously, Grandma Yuan noticed him from her Griffin and immediately questioned ire for an exnation which her assistant dly provided.

    "No wonder. Fine, I will do my best to distract the Monster, but I cannot promise their survival." Yuan cut off hermunication and started to summon even more chi, and this time, taking it straight from the System Ring.

    "In the end, I still have to rely on you," Yuan said with a bitter smile as the ring glittered a little with a small input of chi. She then continued to stalk Loopa Ooofpa''s actions and preempt the counter attack.

    "You sure, you want to use your stored chi that quickly?"?Yun said as she sat quietly behind the Golden Griffin despite Yuan''s disgust.

    "And see my little kids get killed in the process?"

    "You said you did not care about their survival." Yun replied.

    "I say I cannot promise their survival. I did not say I didn''t care about them." Yuan answered while her Golden Griffin blew out golden electrical breaths to destroy the hand tentacles that wereing close towards Su Zhen''s snake defences.

    "Epic Qilin Technique! Electro Orbs of the Thunder Unicorn!" Lein shouted after he too changed into his Demon Exorcist uniform bestowed by Jin. The chi from the dual inscription charm somehow managed to stabilise the forms of the Electro Orbs and Lein quickly sent them flying toward the colossal manifestation''s damnable genitals.

    Why ire suggested using Lein''s attack was simple. The electromaic force from the electro orbs could potentially be the precursor attack for the gravity implosion bombs that were being sent by the Royal Zodiac Dragon Air Force.

    And true enough, multiple screeching sounds were heard zooming past the skies the moment Lein shot out the Electro Orbs to the monster''s belly.

    "Visible Markers found. Chi projection adjusted. Weapons free, I repeat Weapons free!" The Royal Zodiac Dragon Pilot Leadermanded through the inte, and the staff within the headquarter''s office were watching through the radar and satellite feeds.

 Chapter 853 Gravity Implosion Missiles

    <h4>Chapter 853 Gravity Implosion Missiles</h4>

    The gravity implosion missiles flew rather silentlypared to the conventional rockets as they were being sent down to their markers via a chi projection technique by the Royal Dragons Pilots.

    Upon impact, the gravity missiles appeared like a standard explosion, but soon, the explosion got sucked into a pinpoint location centred around the tip of the missile and started to suck in any matter around it.

    That naturally included the intact flesh on the Loopa Ooofpa. While it was a gamble, ire with her limited high school science knowledge believed that the electro orb could act as a precursor attack that enabled the gravity bomb to serve as the secondyer of repeated attack. This also prevented the introduction of a new fresh element for the Loopa Ooofpa for it to absorb.

    After all, Lein''s Electro Orb consisted of electromaic force, the second strongest fundamental force in the world which could definitely invoke the disruption of the gravitational waves depending on the calctions applied. While it might not work precisely how ire''s mind had intended, it did prove to be rather effective in practice.

    Even better, the Royal Dragon Air Force managed to pull off the manoeuvre ording to Hou Fei''s rmendation. (*cough* Actually it was Kraft''s idea andter the System refining it for the simpletons.)

    Thus, the ''technical'' third hit on the same spot was the one that did the most damage to the Loopa Ooofpa. Yet, all the behind the scenes nning did not matter to the guys at the border walls since they could see the colossal manifestation wailing in pain. (It did inadvertently boost their morale which was critical when they suffered such heavy losses.)

    With an effective hit, the Royal Dragon Air Force was confident to proceed with a second sortie and that fortunately applied to the Royal Rooster Air Force too. They might not have the same kind of weaponry as the Royal Dragons, but most importantly, their attacks hurt the creature.

    --------

    "I can perfectly imagine those Banned Emperor Assassins or terrorists currently panicking, thinking something along the lines of ''how is this possible''!?" Kraft pretended to express the horrid face to Jin, and it no doubt made Jinugh.

    "Told you, it''s best to leave it to them for a solution." Mr Know-It-All chuckled as they now know how to defeat the colossal monster. "Let''s go. We have been idle for far too long."

    "Yes, sir." Ryuli said as she portrayed her cultivation. With the aid of the System, Kraft could vaguely see that the cultivation style was partially simr to the form of the Dancing Dragon. But at the same time, it felt way too simr to a certain someone''s cultivation.

    "Isn''t that a little bit too much reminiscent of the Neen Lazy Astral Pandas cultivation style? Even the chi she exudes is almost the same as yours!" Kraft pointed out in the System Channel.

    "Then she is really Ryuli?! How is that possible? She was a kid when I met her in that boxed up basement." Jin replied. He did not have any confirmation when she utilised the limited edition Panda Energy Beam Inscription charm but right now when she portrayed her dragon cultivation out, it was nothing but Jin''s type of Maqi.

    "While it is impossible for another cultivation user to have the same type of chi as User, the fact is indisputable when the System sees it with its own ''eyes''. Colour the System interested. Original Betor Kraft, is there a second child that Ming took care which the System is unaware of?" The System questioned upon seeing the same thing.

    "Illicit rtionship? Hahaha, Ming would be too afraid to do that! Anyways you said boxed up basement...say where was that cer you were held in again? I didn''t get to see the exterior part of the area." Kraftmented, stating that he blindly followed the portal to where Jin was previously when he was stuck in a basement cell.

    "Grandma''s Yuan training camp? I don''t really know. I merely followed the directions given by them previously and reached a broken down old temple before I got attacked by the Demon Exorcist trainees- well technically they are exorcists now." Jin answered as they fell back for the two State Agents to showcase their own offensive powers.

    "Why does this address sound a bit familiar? System, do you have a picture of that ce?" Kraft queried.

    "System does not wish to waste precious resources on meaningless revtions when the battle is at hand." The System stated even though it did portray interest in the current situation. (It just did not want to entertain Kraft like how the fox dodged its initial questions.)

    "I agree too. Even though the two agents are flying around brandishing their chi and powers, we should clear it as soon as possible." Que Er chimed in as she summoned out more birds. Her transformation had been extended with use of the Dark Sludge Crystals by Jin.

    "I just want to boom stuff. :(" Peppers pouted as she sat on a Valg, already doing a few sting mine spells to knock the Bone Spirit Infused Demons into Jin''s portals.

    "Target found and eliminated." Zeru suddenly interrupted the System Channel.

    "Unfortunately the group we''ve encountered did not have the summoners though." Milk interjected. "They are merely offering their chi to maintain the Loopa Ooofpaбн I think. Teehee."

    "The main group could be at Dongguan. I can move now if you wish and we will leave a trace so the Snakes and Tigers can follow up from thister." Zeru reported as he made sure he plucked the dantian out of those assassins to prevent resurrection.

    Milk knew Zeru was an insanely powerful sword saint but to see his powers at its full glory was terrifying. The Banned Emperor''s Assassins never stood a chance the moment he turned dead serious. This made Milk wonder why Zeru had been holding back so much when he could simply cut down all of Jin''s enemies.

    "A few of my scouting birds are at Dongguan, you can use them to have the System set up theirst seen location. Be careful though. Unlike here where the forest isrgely intact, Dongguan had been decimated to the ground with napalm, and they used some weird bomb that caused the ground to get deformed a little." Que Er suggested.

    "Put us in the mountains instead. They are probably hiding within it." Zeru replied, and Que Erplied.

    "Please update us for any possible changes and help take a look at Grandma Yuan too!" Jin requested which both betors willingly agreed to it.

    "Welp, that was an unexpected but fortunate turn of events. I was hoping to torture the Banned Emperor Assassins." Kraftmented as he looked at the creature failing with desperation, all in the hopes to stop the minuscule cultivators from killing it.

    If anything, the Banned Emperor had miscalcted that Jin and Grandma Yuan could get involved in this particr Monster Horde defence. It was Yuan''s knowledge and Jin''s army of misfits that brought the quick demise of their trump card.

    In Dongguan, the elimination of the Loopa Ooofpa was proceeding well. Although Grandma Yuan was surprised to see the electro orbs and the plea to retreat from ire, she was proud that they were able to make a difference and assisted her in defence of the border wall.

    But that did not mean she was going to overlook her students acting against her orders. (Although she knew long all along they were doing something beneficial.)

    With a quick nce, she found Lein and stared at him and subsequently the others with a menacing look. Her menacing aura was only strengthened by her griffin steed. The Demon Exorcists instantly knew that they were in deep trouble after the situation blew over.

 Chapter 854 Silver Wings

    <h4>Chapter 854 Silver Wings</h4>

    "Rong! Pull us out now! Grandma Yuan is looking straight at-" and before Lein could finish his sentence, the hair rope tied around his waist already started reeling him in at an increasingly fast speed.

    "I know! I too can already feel her beady eyes staring at me! Hold onto your nape in case of whish!" Rong warned with his chi telepathy back at the group

    "Those rascals!" Grandma Yuan chuckled a little more as she stood on her Golden Griffin, awaiting the right chance to finish the Loopa Ooofpa in one fell swoop after the Dragon''s second attack ording to their flying pattern.

    But things never happened one sided in real life. The viins struggled toplete their own objective too. Grandma Yuan noticed that two human cultivators were running towards her, and their chi was being expelled into the surroundings.

    "So, they showed themselves instead of running away, huh?" Grandma Yuan tapped on her Griffin and immediately, several Rainbow Feathers underneath the golden wings flew towards the location where she detected the chi.

    "Huan, careful." Yung warned as he took his de out and deflected the razor sharp feather projectiles. But to their surprise, instead of flying to another direction, the feather changed its course and proceeded to attack the Banned Emperor Assassin.

    "Remember to keep your distance, Big Sister Yuan. We have no idea what foul tricks they have under their sleeves, especially when they have that dantian corruption poison." Hou Fei reminded Yuan as he ryed that information to Zeru who actually found the band of assassins rather quickly after Jin transported Peppers to his side too.

    While it is not as legendary as the Scan spell that Peppers had, the magpies and crows'' hard work finding the remnants of the Banned Emperor terror group made the subsequent kills easy. Zeru quickly searched and eliminated them.

    There was no mercy in his strikes, and the birds did pick up two assassins who had run away from the area and were heading towards Grandma Yuan.

    Without any hesitation, the System (even though it looked reluctant initially) had immediately teleported Zeru and Milk to deal with those assassins that wereing for Grandma Yuan.

    After all, it deduced that its User would not forgive the System for making such a blunder under its watch. But to the betors'' surprise, Yun actually intervened when one of the assassins, Huan, came close enough despite Yuan putting a distance away from them by flying higher.

    He had used the Loopa Ooofpa hand tentacles as a support to jump even as the Golden Griffin tried to fly and evade away from the damaged colossal manifestation.

    "Do not think you can run away from me once I locked on to you!" Huan shouted as he picked a pistol up and aimed towards the Tiangong District Guardian.

    Upon pulling the trigger, several ck hydra silhouettes burst out of the gun, aiming for Yuan. It was then that Yun came between the hydra silhouettes and Grandma Yuan, deflecting most of the attacks with just a wide long de.

    Silverish wings soared through the sky on top of the Golden Bird. A Griffin silhouette appeared behind Yun and Yuan somehow felt that cultivation style Yun selected was meant to spite her further.

    "You think using his cultivation style would make me delighted?" Yuan shouted, but it did not bother Yun a single bit as she released a technique yet again simr to Yuan''s Rainbow Feather Storm.

    "Advanced Silver Griffin Art, The Feathery Silver Cross Wave!" Yun shouted as she swung her de and fully pushed back the ck Hydra silhouettes away with the first wave of silver chi energy. Only when the silhouettes dissipated, then she followed it up with the second and final wave of silver chi.

    Huan tried to evade upon losing the fight of chi attrition, but Milk was behind him, giving him a sneaky shadow kick before conjuring chains made of light to pin him down. "Bon Voyage to theherworld!" Milk said as she leapt backwards for the silver wave of chi to eliminate him.

    Separately, Yung saw the opportunity to run even further away since he saw how absurd his teammate had decided to challenge someone who was leagues above him.

    "The dantian corruption poison may be strong enough if you manage to get it into their body, you idiot!" Yung said as he tried to run until he suddenly felt that he hit a stick on the ground, which caused him to trip.

    Only when he recovered from the attack did he realise Zeru was already there with his katana ready. However, even before Yung could move a muscle, Zeru cut his head away while holding onto his arm.

    "Not toote, nor too early." Zeru said as he took the precaution to cut the left arm and kicked it away even though it was dangling lifelessly at the side when he beheaded the Banned Emperor Assassin.

    At the tip of Yung''s fingers was the Dantian Corruption Poison which thete assassin hoped to use against Zeru. Instead, the sword saint collected it in a sterile box and sent it to Evon for processing since he was the ultimate chemist in Jin''s science team.

    As for Yuan, she kept quiet for a moment upon seeing tears appearing on Yun''s face despite it being expressionless after the fight.

    "You still remember him, don''t you? You do not have to act dumb in front of me. I too am a woman and mother." Yuan said as she lowered her Griffin, making it easier for her to ride on.

    "There is still the Loopa Ooofpa. We got to-" Yun ignored Grandma Yuan''s attempt in consoling, and she looked away to wipe her tears, but for the first time in a long while, the almighty District Guardian showed her softer side.

    "Up, we are moving." Grandma Yuan cleared her throat and told her to climb up the Griffin. She did not know how much Yun remembered about her son and her, but that was something to resolveter, not when the Loopa Ooofpa still alive and kicking.

    Yet, despite the dangers that the hand tentacles presented, the Golden Griffin was not moving anywhere else until Yun does.

    It lowered its wings, and the Griffin used his body to cover the two cultivators while hovering in the middle of the battlefield. Even Yuan''s manifested chi knew this was one of the times it had to protect its master at all cost during this indirect act of kindness.

    For this small tiny opportunity to reconcile might nevere again.

 Chapter 855 Months of Planning

    <h4>Chapter 855 Months of nning</h4>

    "Thisбн IMPOSSIBLE!!! How could months of nning have been thwarted so easily?!" Banned Emperor Elder Wang Ba Tan couldn''t believe the reality of the situation as he controlled the Loopa Ooofpa''s hand tentacles to intercept the iing attacks.

    He was not hiding in the mountains nor in some other remote location. No, he was actually inside the monster, offering up his blood, sweat and chi to the best of his ability to keep the colossal monstrosity alive.

    His only hope was that his brother, Wang Ji Tan in Dongguan was faring better than him right now. After having been locked up in the Royal Tigers'' special security prison for a long time, they had been freed by theirpanions and the brothers were finally able to exact revenge on the public.

    Initially, things had gone smoothly with the destruction of several smaller cities around the world as part of their experiment and diversion. Confident about their odds, they had returned to China so they could unleash one of thergest Monster Hordes in China to put the Royal Zodiacs to shame.

    All ording to the will of their Emperor!

    They could not tolerate seeing those traitors dominate the current world. The Elders wanted them out of society''s equation and start a new regime with the Banned Emperor returning and rightfully reiming his rule over China.

    Although Ba Tan knew that his age was getting up there, he believed that he still had it in him to lead this Monster Horde which would serve as the perfect opening deration of war against the traitors.

    However, things didn''t go as expected. The resistance turned out to be far stronger than they had scouted, and the cultivators on-site were seemingly aware of the weakness of the Loopa Ooofpa.

    He couldn''t understand how this was possible. The archive reports should have been adjusted by an ''expert'' in monsterology about five years ago. The army was meant to attack the target ''Sundew'' with a variety of attacks all of them as mighty as possible.

    By absorbing the attacks, the Unceasing Hunger would have grown in strength and be unstoppable. The army would have contributed to it evolving and bing capable of throwing out even more dangerous moves that could hopefully decimate cities in a matter of minutes.

    The Elders had made preparations to counter various famous cultivators from the Royal Zodiac ns and those affiliated with them, including Grandma Yuan, thest surviving Demon Exorcists from the first appearance of the Loopa Ooofpa.

    And yet, there he was, stuck fighting a bunch of unnamed cultivators he had never heard of or seen before.

    Meanwhile, his brother was faring no better. It appeared as if he had sorely underestimated the powers of Grandma Yuan, despite all the simtions and projections from their best analysts. Then again, how could anyone of those have taken into ount that Grandma Yuan was getting ess to the System and its copious amounts of chi?

    Given her advanced age, she should have been straining herself to maintain the enormous chi consumption the Golden Griffin needed to retain its physical form unless she relied on blood sacrifices. Yet, they were sure that was something she would never do to avoid repeating the fate of her fallenpanions.

    To merely call it months of nning was too humble of their grand ns. The Banned Emperor faction had long since infiltrated all corners of the government while keeping a low profile. While this Monster Horde was one of the first major attacks in years, one shouldn''t ignore the decades of misinformation and misdirection that preceded this incident.

    The main reason why Chancellor Ma He did not send out a bigger force of Demon Exorcists in the first ce was that the report did not reach him. It was actually the Vice Chancellor who reviewed it based on a quick summary by his aides. Even Grandma Yuan''s rmendation had been toned down by his aides. But whether the aides were part of the Banned Emperor faction or someone who had forwarded the report, that would be entirely another issue by itself.

    Although the Banned Emperor had many ns in mind, the Monster Horde was undoubtedly one that had used up a considerable amount of their resources. Elder Wang was naturally aware of all of it, making him so distraught that the defenders were able to cope so well.

    Their Loopa Ooofpa manifestation had been damaged to the point that it would be hard to make any groundbreaking changes in the current situation.

    Not long ago, one of his charms broke, indicating that a foreign person had entered their secret hideout in the mountain. A quick localised scan via his chi found informed him that they had all been ughtered mercilessly. Body parts all around the ce and their solidified Dantian cores had been extracted with precision, ignoring all the charms, trap formations andpetency of hisrades which should have been able to contend with even State Agents.

    Everything had changed once that "Panda Man" and his teammates came in. At first, they had not seemed any different from the two Dragon cultivators or the annoying private contractors who had been disturbing his horde expansion for months.

    He had even looked forward to the short girl charging up her energy which she was about to unleash on the Loopa Ooofpa. With that kind of energy, his Loopa Ooofpa could have been invincible... Until a man in a trenchcoat had appeared, making the girl actually divided up the energy and imbued it into birds the Panda Man had summoned after growing wingsбн

    It became worse when the Royal Rooster Air Force, infamous for their bright red nes swooped in and used the same tactic with their missiles as seen as the newly arrived trio. This indicated to Wang Ba Tan that those people might actually be affiliated to the military, especially to the Royal Zodiacбн And that made Ba Tan''s blood boil.

    "I cannot let myself be beaten by these lowly beings that are despised by our mighty Emperor! If they think they are so clever, then I shall show them a world of pain even if part of this monster has to be sacrificed for it! From the looks of it, they are of high cultivation and eliminating them will prove to be beneficial for the faction''s future!" Ba Tan thought as he suffered another blow from Ryuli''s energy st from her war umbre.

    "Show me how you will survive the trials of our punishment...Hahahaha!!! FOR THE EMPEROR!!!" Ba Tan said as he pulled his hand out of Loopa Ooofpa''s flesh and started to beat his chest and chant.

    Immediately, Jin and the others felt that something was seriously off even when the Loopa Ooofpa was evidently wounded from their barrage of attack. The colossal manifestation did not stop and actually started to rampage further, forcing Jin to take out a new card from his deck and transformed once more.

    "Card Activated, Dark Temr Form." The System stated as the armour lost its wings and turned into a cape instead. Jin'' suit had transformed into a standard Dark Temr armour in appearance.

    As for the strength and durability of the armour, it was definitely tougher than the ones the demon worshippers used. However, the only thing Jin really cared about at that moment was the ability to call upon Demons.

    Jin and the System figured that if Loopa Ooofpa was from the Hell ne, it should be possible to banish it back to Hell once more. Of course, Kraft and Peppers would be aiding in the procedure since there was no way a single cultivator would be able to banish such a colossal manifestation like Loopa Ooofpa.

    However, things took a drastic turn when the monster howled loudly as if it was in pain and it''s hand tentacles started to vibrate.

    "This does not look good! Zieg, can''t you do it faster? Surely there should be something like an emergency banish in your repertoire?!" Jin questioned the Dark Temr Commander on his magical ritual which had already been elerated by Jin''s Maqi.

    "This is already as fast as I can do without breaking the integrity of the ritual, Master! Banishing a named hell creature even though it''s just a manifestation of it, is equally hard because of the rules involved in it! If I do a poor job, it will either not work or worse cause serious bacsh to your body!" Zieg warned as he mmed the rider''s gloves deep into the ground.

    Now it was a race to see who would be first to kill the other.

 Chapter 856 Turn of the Tide

    <h4>Chapter 856 Turn of the Tide</h4>

    "Not good!" Kraft shouted as he pulled out a gun simr to No Mercy. ''''Just Business'', a 12 gauge short barrel shotgun, with the same miniature fox cravings on the wood handle itself, had been brought out magically from the depths of Kraft''s coat.

    Each time he fired Just Business, fox silhouettes would appear on the handle to temporarily break open the shotgun and aid Kraft with reloading the gun.

    The foxes on No Mercy had started doing the same thing, holding onto bullets at the side, waiting for the right time to reload them. It made Kraft look as if he had a toon of foxes hovering around his arms ying with bullets and shotgun shells, to enable his insane trigger happy fingers. He was firing at a rate much faster than any gunmen ever lived, except for specialised magic casters transmuting their mana into bullets.

    If he wanted to, he could have used his chi to transmute it into bullets, but he was not in favour of wasting it. Why bother using chi when there were other ways to stop an enemy? The modern world had enough inventions to kill stuff. Might as well make use of it instead of straining oneself.

    While one man was casually wreaking havoc, the same could not be said about Jin who was pouring all of his Maqi into the ritual circle where the ground started to draw lines by itself. The ritual circle clearly needed more than just one person toplete it, and Jin was absolutely pushing the limits to create the Banishment Circle.

    Still, the five ''private'' contractors on site had nearly forgotten that this was technically a coborative effort between them and the Royal Battalions. Royal Snake General Hou Fei and Royal Tiger General Ya Bai knew the moment the hand tentacles started to multiply that it was now their job to assist the ones on the frontline to the best of their abilities.

    Attack Helicopters fired their remaining missiles from a distance and sprayed their bullets while light artillery from the border wall emcements was discharged to intercept the hand tentacles. It did provide a small reprieve, but the pressure to seed was mounting from within the Loopa Ooofpa.

    Elder Ba Tan had thrown caution out of the window and used taboo magic by offering part of his body as sacrifices for the Loopa Ooofpa to reach the highest pinnacle it could achieve.

    As the hand tentacles multiplied, so did the Bone Spirit Infused Demonsing out from Loopa Ooofpa. "What the hell?" Mr Know-It-All could literally feel the earth trembling at the colossal manifestation, and they knew that even if they could remove the Loopa Ooofpa in time, the massive tsunami of demons could not be stopped by the border walls.

    They literally needed something with the might of a nuclear missile to stop the horde from flowing into the cities.

    "Hahahahah! You think we will be beaten by you Royal Zodiacs?! DIE!!!!" Elder Ba Tan happily cried out within the monstrosity as he felt his dantian core invaded by the hungry sentient flesh. "All hail the Banned Emperor and his magnificence! May he be reborn once more!" Ba Tan shouted with his increasingly coarse voice as Loopa Ooofpa consumed him slowly by pushing its flesh into his airways and orifices.

    That caused the Unceasing Hunger to once again explode its production and in a matter of minutes, things turned for the worst. As soon as the hand tentacles were damaged, they instantly grew back their palms and started to retaliate back against the aggressors while still aiming to kill the five highly-skilled private contractors.

    The hand tentacles aimlessly picked up the ground soil, trees, and even Bone Spirit Infused Demons andter throwing at whatever that was shooting at them. There was no discrimination to what they were throwing. Whatever was in their vicinity, the hand tentacles would use it.

    This inevitably caused some of the Bone Spirit Infused Demons to loop over the border walls. While there was an invisible defensive barrier to prevent aerial demons from passing through, the projectile''s force was strong enough to prate it, thereby causing a number of demons tond in the evacuated city.

    Both the Royal Zodiac Generals were cursing madly when they saw the demons being flung over them. However, the only constion was that the situation behind the border walls was well taken care of.

    The provincial police, along with the Royal Tiger SWAT teams had assembled to intercept the iing monster projectiles. Some of the firefighters as well as their elites, the Royal Rabbits'' Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) also joined the fray, in case of casualties and were ready to support the SWAT with manpower if needed.

    Yet, all these were just band-aid solutions to the current situation when the final huge wave of demons was still approaching them.

    "System! Remember what you told me about having a contract with thend?" Jin asked as he was still pouring his precious Maqi into the Banishment Circle as it grewrger. Now the dungeon supplier had resorted to using his Dark Sludge crystals as a supplement to avoid potentially fainting from the over usage.

    "Is User suggesting to take control over thend temporarily?" The System asked.

    "Yes!!! Let that thing drop into the ground or build a bigger wall in front of the border walls. Heck, teleporting all these monsters into our vicinity would also be a good idea! We just need to stop them before they hit the cities! Do it, no matter the cost!" Jin panted as he looked at the Loopa Ooofpa still relentless in its production of monsters.

    "If they asked, we could use this Banishment Circle as an excuse," Zieg suggested, knowing his master would not get away if the System started arge scale teleportation.

    "I could also just wipe their memories away with a snap of a finger..."?Kraft felt that he was being ignored once more.

    "When ites to that, we will settle it somehow. So, is it possible or not!?" Jin asked under duress.

    "System does not disappoint."

 Chapter 857 Communicating with the Spirits of the Land

    <h4>Chapter 857 Communicating with the Spirits of the Land</h4>

    "BrrrrбнBeeeep. Beep Diii Booop." Oddly, weird nostalgic sounds of an inte modem connecting to the inte resounded through the System''s inte as the System tried tomunicate with the Spirits of the Land. However, that was all Jin could hear. He was unaware that the System was already chatting with them in their own special way.

    "Query: Cultivation World''s Spirit of the Land No. 769 and No. 052, System wishes to bargain for temporary total control over yournd." The System stated in a digital telegram which no human would ever see.

    "Acknowledging Cultivation World''s Super Entity No. 002''s request formunication. Please stand by... Connecting." The digital telegram subsequently turned into an invitation for channelmunication.

    "Connected. Involved parties received Query. Please stand by for a reply."

    "Reply: Cultivation World''s Spirit of the Land No. 769 and No. 052 both have noticed the amount of damage inflicted on their property. Cultivation World''s Super Entity No. 002 request has been acknowledged, and they are willing to provide free reign over the mountainous forest area on certain conditions." The Channel that the System was connected to had started to send its demands.

    "Acknowledged. Requests received. Reading the conditions to the agreement as per confirmation. Condition 1: Total annihtion of the Demons/Monster Horde in the affected area. Condition 2: Recultivate the forest to its former state. Condition 2-1: Restoration of wildlife to at least 25% of the initial state before the damage of this attack. Any amount above is not necessary but appreciated. Upon epting these conditions, Spirit of the Land No.769 and No.052 are willing to waive off the tribute fee." The System reported.

    "Reconfirmation of the conditions acknowledged. Any questions?" The Channel sent the digital telegram back.

    "Negative. Cultivation World''s Super Entity No. 002 epts the agreement and generosity of the Spirits of the Land."

    "Acknowledged. Likewise, Spirits of the Land thank Super Entity for the helping." After thatst reply, the Channel ceased to exist, and a temporary authorisation certificate had been sent to the System''s possession, giving it the control that it needed.

    "User, the System has received the confirmation. However, there were conditions attac-" The System was about to list the conditions for Jin who was already edging from falling into unconsciousness.

    "Just do itбн Fuck all the conditions." Jin slurred and the System acknowledged its User''s request.

    "Affirmative. Please wait for a moment. Preparing for mass teleportation of all Bone Infused Demons into User''s Open World Ind instances as a holding area. In the meantime, it would be best for User to remove the Loopa Ooofpa before the mass teleportation activates." The System said as it newfound they of thend thanks to the authorisation certificate.

    Without the need of a satellite like in the Goblin World, theplete unfettered control of thend gave the System an unparalleled amount of information to locate each, and every Bone Spirit Infused Demons. Its authorisation had also spread to the forests connecting to Dongguan Borders.

    But to its surprise, the Loopa Ooofpa manifestation in Dongguan Borders was brought to a halt with the aid of Que Er''s murder of crows and magpies. While the birds were distracting the hand tentacles from killing the District Guardian, it also formed a physical wall around the Golden Griffin, granting Grandma Yuan the time to execute her technique.

    Not just any technique but the strongest in her arsenal. The Golden Thunder of the Gleaming Griffinplimented with the gravity implosion bomb aftermath. Its frightening boom in the dark night skies temporarily lit up the skies and even made the Qilin Cultivator Lein who specialised in lightning afraid of the ferocity of her power. If anything, Lein believed that the art itself was particrly close to a Legendary Art, were it not for his teacher''s grade, which should not allow for such a thing.

    Nevertheless, Grandma Yuan was not the MVP of that fight. That role would go to Yun who hammered in the proverbial nail that caused the death of the Loopa Ooofpa before it could do anything else.

    The imitation of herte husband Epic Silver Griffin Art, Raging Thunder of the Silver Griffinplemented Grandma Yuan''s technique, causing it to inadvertently electrocute the other Elder Wang before he could copy his older brother into sacrificing himself to summon a massive Monster Horde.

    Even as the ''heart'' of the colossal manifestation in Dongguan was killed, the horde it was producing dropped in terms of quantity but did not fully stop. However, it did not matter much because the elite Demon Exorcists once trained by Grandma Yuan had finally arrived.

    "Hmm, a possible gathering for the funeral?" Yun asked after she sat down on the Golden Griffin behind the older woman as if nothing had happened.

    "Your mouth is as bad as the first time I met you." Yuan snapped at her and yet at the same time, smirked ever so slightly. She might not be the same Yun but the fact that the System had always been copying stuff since the day of its inception, there was no doubt that the clone was still somewhat Yun even though her Dantian had been corrupted.

    "Whatever. Just go back soon, my air barrier will not keep you safe much longer from all this forest smoke." Yun said while she was tapping something on her phone.

    "No wonder, I did not have any breathing difficulties despite fighting above the forest fire. And here I thought Griffy had to do something about that." Yuanmented without actually thanking the other woman. Instead, she rubbed the feathers of her chi manifestation, and it cawed softly at the back scratch.

    "And if Griffy had allowed you to sit this long behind me without making any fuss, means that there''s still a part of old Yun inside you." Grandma Yuan thought to herself. She had already noticed it earlier as her Golden Griffin had obediently allowed Yun right before the start of the flight. Usually, it would kick a fuss or even bully the pillion rider with its tail since the proud Griffin usually never allowed more than one person riding it.

    "System is very pleased to see both of you safe. With this being the case, System will leave Dongguan alone. Please clean up." The System analysed that it would be cumbersome if it interfered with the Demon Exorcists reinforcements.

    However, that did not mean it missed the chance to secretly teleport away some Bone Spirit Infused Demons for its own keeping. It was wise enough to only choose those out of the sight from the humans and left the rest for the elite Demon Exorcists to handle. After all, half of the forest was still burning strongly from the napalm attack, and visibility was a problem.

    "We are finally done..." Jin and Zieg said out in the System Channel simultaneously as the power suit he had on, immediately deactivated from theck of Maqi holding it into ce. Jin panting with beads of sweat dripping from his head, bit his tongue and spit at the ritual circle as thest ceremonial step.

    "Good job." Kraft did not mince his words as he could feel the Maqi emanating from the erged Banishment Circle which had been spread around the forest.

 Chapter 858 Banishment Ritual Circle

    <h4>Chapter 858 Banishment Ritual Circle</h4>

    One might wonder why Jin had not used the forest itself to power the Banishment Ritual. Cultivators from the ancient times did not have any shame in using the chi around them to power their techniques up after all.

    Even Grandma Yuan who had executed her Gleaming Thunder of the Golden Griffin utilised the ambient chi particles around her to do so. Of course, she also abused the System''s ring for the majority of the actual execution but taking from the surroundings was equally important. The amount of chi she and her Golden Griffin exuded was excessive, and it did not hurt to take some back as part of a ''recycle'' process.

    However, in Jin''s case, that was different. His Maqi was particrly unique because it contained both chi and magic essence within it. Before he could take back the Maqi he emitted from the air to ''recycle'', it had already assimted perfectly into the surroundings. The trees and ground around him already took in his aura as part of their cultivation process and gave out their chi in return.

    Jin could not take in any of those chi energies since the Banishment Ritual was created with both chi and mana. Too much of one property would definitely cause an imbnce in the Banishment Ritual''s power. Sure, there were mana emissions from certain trees, but it was insufficient to turn over since thend was predominantly chi energy-rted, not to mention Jin had never received any training in manipting those mana channels.

    Without the suit, Jin would have long since bled out to the death. Not even offering up his Dantian core would have been enough for this Banishment Circle because of the control he needed from spamming the Dark Sludge Crystals. Being barely alive was quite an aplishment for a Grade 8 Peak, and as Jin fell to the ground afterpleting the Banishment Circle, Kraft took over.

    "While it is slightly shameful for me to use something you so painstakingly created, I have no choice. Peppers, I''ll need your help too." Kraft said as Peppers smacked yet another Bone Spirit Infused Demon into the portal.

    "Can''t you see I am busy?! Unless you are telling me that I finally get to Boom Boom now?!" Peppers shouted excitedly.

    "Something like that. Insert your boom magic, but dy it until it gets banished back to its own realm. That way, we can be sure that it will note back to bite us in the future." Kraft exined that he wanted to use Peppers'' magic as insurance.

    With a title such as the Unceasing Hunger, there was no saying what the manifestation would do after it met up with its original body. Best case scenario? It would either meet its demise within Hell''s ne. Worst case scenario? It would manage to strengthen itself, crossing over the borders once more and disrupt the peace in Jin''s world with an even stronger army while it was out for revenge.

    "A yes. One Super Duper Mega Booomzing right up!" Peppers immediately set her defences by taking control of three Bone Spirits Infused Demons and dominated their minds to defend her at all cost. "I actually have something prepared since I had to dial down the previous two attempts in explosions. But since it''s for insurance, I would like some time to juice it up. Should be up before it gets banished!"

    "Hurry up. The rest of the Horde does not seem in the mood to be waiting patiently." Kraft hurried her along as he hadn''t missed that Mr Know-It-All had secretly protected them with his Dragon Wave Barrier. Unfortunately, there were way too many monsters rushing through so it was unavoidable that a number of them slipped through the ''cracks'' of the barrier rather easily.

    Kraft aimed his Just Business and No Mercy to the ground and immediately fired a round each from his respective guns, causing the Banishment Ritual circle to light up even further.

    At that moment, the monster producing factory got dragged towards the circle despite its resistance. Even with its colossal size, there seemed to be an invisible force that continued to pull it towards the centre of the Banishment Circle, running over multiple monsters that it had just produced.

    The irony was that it did not stop creating those monsters out of its orifices because of thestmand that thete Banned Emperor Summoner had given it. Without a mastermind controlling its action, the manifestation could only act on instinct. It was grabbing random monsters to eat and replenish its strength, causing it to slowly evolve because of the resistance the monsters put up.

    Yet, it was still helpless against the unstoppable pull from the Banishment Circle. As the name suggested, the circle was meant to banish the colossal manifestation Loopa Ooofpa out of this world. It was a technique Dark Temr Leader Zieg had perfected after a failure he previously suffered in pursuit for more power.

    At the time, the young Zieg had nearly killed the entire squad under him because of the insufficient control he had over the demon he attempted to summon. Simr to Grandma Yuan, he regreted the incident very much but unlike her, he did not have the luxury of being able to suffer in shock. His organisation''s hierarchy did not give him any time to mourn not recover.

    All he could do was to focus his energy into righting the wrong he had done. Since then, Zieg vowed not to have it happen ever again and he had achieved it by studying up on how to banish those demons back to theher realms in case such a situation would ur again. He never expected it to be used as abat skill since it took a long period of time to prepare the ritual.

    For System Rider Dark Temr Form toplete it in under 15 minutes was a significant aplishment in Zieg''s eyes since he usually took hours to make it. And even with itspletion, heter had to lure the demon to it without making it suspect anything else.

    But make no mistake, the Banishment Ritual had to be specific to that particr demon alone. Else they would be pulling every single Bone Spirit Demon into it as well, and that would take a hell lot of prepared resources especially the Maqi Jin ced,rendering the ritual to be useless against the Loopa Ooofpa.

    Thus, they were fortunate enough to have learned the true name of the demon. The Bone Spirit Infused Demons that were captured earlier also had some of Loopa Ooofpa''s cells and residue on it, making it even easier for the System to enhance the Banishment Circle''s power level.

    Once the Banishment Circle had been activated, there was no way of dispelling it unless the caster stopped itбн or perished. But with luck on their side, their Banned Emperor Summoner had self-sacrificed himself for one final push. It''s too bad that he did not know there was a person with a System that would stand in their way even after his death.

    Soon, the Loopa Ooofpa had been pulled to the centre of the Banishment Circle, desperately trying to get even more power by consuming the Monster Horde around it and could only hope that it would break free from it.

    Sadly it would not be that simple with Kraft at the helm of the situation.

 Chapter 859 Show Off and Tell

    <h4>Chapter 859 Show Off and Tell</h4>

    "This is no attack but just a little tussle. And since my little master is knocked out, I might as well show those State Agents guys why they should note near him for the time being." Kraft smiled as he stopped suppressing his chi and activated it fully for once. A burst of ck aura immediately filled the forest with dread and misery.

    State Agent Mr Know-It-All overheard what Kraft had mumbled before he showed his aura (Did he want him to hear it?) and already prepared counter chi aura defences for himself, but he was not fast enough to do the same for Ryuli.

    Yet, when Kraft released his abyssal ck chi into the surroundings, Mr Know-It-All was surprised by the strength of Kraft''s overflowing chi. Ryuli simply did not stand a chance and fell to the ground unconscious. Were it not for her grade, she would have been choked to death, or that was what she thought.

    "My bad, I should have maybe warned you." Kraft ''apologised'' with a smirk on his face as he watched two State Agents unable to effectively withstand the aura. At this moment, behind his long coat, a ck flurry tail appeared, and it subsequently separated itself into nine tails.

    Those nine tails eventually grew more prominent with the chi he put in, stretched, and aimed for the Loopa Ooofpa. "Your stupid hand tentacles were a pain in the ass. Come and have a taste of your own medicine." Kraft spoke as the tails were only restraining him and pulling him nearer to the Banishment Circle.

    "Ew, I always knew you were a foxy person, but your tail is seriously fugly. Do you need me to burn some of the fur and trim it?" Peppers teased as she was the only person not affected by Kraft''s chi which indicated to State Agents that she was either a monster at Kraft''s level or that he was in perfect control over his own chi. That itself would be a feat because not every person that exuded their aura would be able to control the strength of its dispersion.

    By showing Kraft could do that easily while attacking the colossal manifestation meant that he does have the skills to back his cheap threats. However, the State Agents were currently being suppressed by Kraft''s chi, and they could not see the overall picture.

    The Original Betor did not perform what was mentioned, his chi aura literally slowed the entire horde from moving forward during that duration. The only ones from the audience who were not affected by this were the Royal Zodiac soldiers and Border Guards who were outside his range and still frantically throwing whatever they got from the border walls to ensure that the Horde did not overpower them.

    "Do you want me to wrap one of these tails around you instead, Munchkin?"

    Peppers knew Kraft long enough. Whenever he changed her form of address to Munchkin, it was better to not push him further on a point. Apparently, the colouration of his tails fell under that category. (Was there perhaps an underlying reason for it?)

    "Is the spell ready?"

    "I would not be talking to you right now if it weren''t." Peppers stuck out her tongue (her quiet form of revenge) and aimed her staff at the Loopa Ooofpa. A series of magic circles started to pop out all around the Unceasing Hunger.

    "Good job. Now the moment I remove my tails, I will activate the second part of the Banishment Circle, my very own revision." Kraft ''warned'' her but he already let his tails off and let off a smirk. He did not want to be part of Peppers'' dyed explosion (Oh Karma would be such a bitch, if Peppers pulled it off.) and he also had to prevent the Loopa Ooofpa from eating any of his tails.

    "Why, you!" Peppers triggered the spell activation, and the magic circles immediately turned into silhouettes of syringes. The Loopa Ooofpa instantly saw the needles as a threat and stopped eating any more of its ''children''. Instead, it began to form a barrier, but the multiple syringes around him merely proceeded forward and stabbed the Unceasing Hunger.

    It wailed in pain as the syringes pushed its long needle into the main body as Peppers magically squeezed every single plunger and caused her own specially prepared magical content in liquid form into the Loopa Ooofpa.

    "Dayum! This will certainly be one hell of an explosion when it gets banished!" Kraft thought to himself as he now directed the chi around the forest to create a replica of Jin''s Banishment Circle right above the Loopa Ooofpa.

    He had tried to fiddle with his master''s ritual circle but realised that there was only so much chi he could insert into it without breaking the bnce within the spell. Therefore, he recreated the circle based on the design itself. While it would prove to be only half as effective or even 25% of the strength because of its haphazard replication of the symbols on it, it would still be a deterrent without knowing the chant Zieg had spoken to handle the intricacies of the Banishment Circle.

    True enough, the makeshift Banishment Circle started to affect the Loopa Ooofpa''s movement while the real Banishment Circle turned into arge metaphysical gate of Hell that spread around the forest and started to pull the Unceasing Hunger back to where it belonged.

    Technically, because it was a manifestation, it should not exist the moment it reached Hell, but like what Kraft had said, he was not taking any chances to make sure there were no two Loopa Ooofpa or a variant of it existing simultaneously. (It was as if he knew such an incident had happened and bit him back before.)

    But to the people around the metaphysical gate, they were amazed to see such an extraordinary sight of the Loopa Ooofpa struggling to pull itself out of the gate.

    "No, you don''t. We have put in a shit ton of stuff to ensure you aren''ting back." Kraft dered as he used his tails to gather the surrounding chi to form a ball of ck energy which he used to provide an extra push.

    The Monster Horde, now unhindered by Kraft''s chains, started to move forward. Unfortunately, they did not know that the System had already locked all of them in its sights the moment Kraft had managed to slow them down. Whether that was a coincidence or Kraft indirectly helping the System didn''t matter as each, and every Bone Spirit Infused Demons were teleported into various ind instances in Jin''s prototype Open World concept for safekeeping.

    While the Unceasing Hunger did its best to resist, Kraft looked at the two crippled State Agents who were still under the influence of his chi. "Now, just for a quick little experiment to see if it works for human beings too."

    Kraft thought as he rubbed his fingers a little and two minuscule foxes appeared on his palm. "Go, Foxy Version 2. Let''s see if you can assimte with their chi and collect information from the notorious State Agents."

    Kraft squeezed his hand with more chi, causing histest trick to ''disappear'' as he walked towards the two and extended a hand to help them up.

    The menace was no more and ''assumed'' to be exploded into oblivion.

 Chapter 860 Recovery Efforts

    <h4>Chapter 860 Recovery Efforts</h4>

    "You help us first before aiding your own Boss?" Mr Know-It-All felt a little suspicious of Kraft''s current behaviour.

    "Heh, you do not have to worry about him. Let him lie there for a while longer. He hardly has time to sleep properly these days." Kraft replied as he assisted Mr Know-It-All to stand straight for a moment andter extended his help to Ryuli who was just a few metres away and immobile because of him. She initially refused to be assisted, but Kraft insisted he grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

    "What kind of spell was that? Abination spell?!" Ryuli asked as she quickly moved away from Kraft and instead used a tree for support before stabilising herself. "How is it possible to remove thatrge berserk colossal manifestation and that huge Monster Horde, all in one go?!" Her mind could not wrap around the fact that three unknown people had been able to basically single-handedly stop the entire Monster Horde.

    Even though the military was supporting them from behind and having two State Agents on the scene, she felt that they could handle this crisis on their own without any of their help at all. What''s more, this fox gentleman was not sweating after all that effort. Did that mean that what he had shown wasn''t even the entirety of his true powers?!

    Oddly enough, his chi did not give out an ''evil'' vibe which she had encountered so often when fighting against enemies of the state. If she had to describe it, it felt more like Chaos. As strange as it sounded, it felt as if someone had taken Chaos and tamed it.

    "Now, now. I can''t give up secrets just like that, right?" Kraft grinned at Ryuli before giving her a formal bow. Then he went over to pick up Jin''s body from the ground. "Peppers, let''s return back to the shop."

    "You gotta be kidding me. Do you seriously think I have the strength to move after performing that magic spell?"?Peppers questioned as she was lying t on the ground with herrge witch hat as a cushion. Even while disabled, she had to feelfortable.

    "In that case, allow me to help you out, little girl!" Kraft''s smile got wider.

    "Policeman! Policewoman! Arrest this lecher! This paedophiliac! KYAAAAA! Ahahahhah~!" Peppers screamed as she was being pulled up via her abdomen and put over Kraft''s shoulder just as Jin currently was. (He did not hesitate to tickle her waist while doing so.)

    "I honestly do not know whether that was a real scream for help or that''s just their way of bonding." Ryuli, now finally able to stabilise herself, whispered to Mr Know-It-All.

    "Well, like it or not, they are certainly the heroes of this particr event." Mr Know-It-All replied.

    "Oh yeah. Do remember your deal. Feel free to im the credit for this. Just make sure to keep our involvement out of the media. Or I will find you and crush you both!" Kraft winked. After which he pped Peppers'' butt, and a portal appeared right in front of them while the remaining portals which had been used by the Valgs to catch the Bone Spirit Infused Demons were closed.

    "Did you see that?! Sexual harassment! You caught him in action! Arrest HIM!!!!!!!" The unmovable Peppers cried out loud as Kraft entered the portal and the entire forest suddenly turned dead quiet. At that point, soldiers started to move in already, doing a sweep in case there were any remnant Bone Spirit Infused Demons around.

    "Looks like our work here is done." Mr Know-It-All said as he pulled his badge out to show the first wave of soldiers that they were private contractors.

    "You sure, we can keep this out of the report? How are we going to answer the higher-ups properly?" Ryuli questioned as she too showed her badge to the soldiers. They thanked them for their service and continued to walk through the area, making sure the dead bodies around were truly dead.

    "Let me worry about that. But I have an inkling, they are going to keep things under wrap, too. You heard the fox gentleman. They don''t want to be involved, and I bet the higher-ups would love to use this event as propaganda. Agent L, go back to the hotel and rest. When I have settled the stuff, I will bring you to that shop."

    "Can''t you just give me the address?"

    "Heh, indulge your supervisor''s whims once in a while." Mr Know-It-All denied her request as he started to walk towards the border wall. "Maybe, just maybe. I will get to witness something very special. Besides, I am looking forward to seeing that master of yours myself."

    "Please, I will not call him master after abandoning me at that ce. Besides, you are the only one I will ever acknowledge as my master." Ryuli dered as she followed him side by side.

    "Heh, we will see." Mr Know-It-All felt that things were not that simple.

    ------------------

    As of 2056hrs, the Monster Horde had officially been stopped along Huizhou borders. The casualties and damage to infrastructure were devastating, but considering the eventual scale of the attack, it was minor. As for Dongguan, the elite Demon Exorcists were still hunting the remaining Bone Spirit Infused Demons.

    While it was a little more difficult to fight in the night since the Demons were more aggressive with nightfall, the elite Demon Exorcists were able to clear them rather quickly within two hours after their arrival. The only problem was hunting each and every one of them which was eventually assigned to ire and Grandma Yuan''stest batch of graduates.

    With the System''s control of the area, it was able to point out to ire where the remaining Bone Spirit Infused Demons had been hiding. As much as it wanted to keep those demons for itself, the System believed it would be better to have the Demon Exorcists under Jin receive their official emblem.

    This particr situation would definitely get Lein, Lian and Rong out of their provisional status. (It just did not want to admit that the current horde the System teleported caused it to be near full capacity once more.)

    With the alert dropping, the citizens were able to return to their homes and the provincial officials had already started to send in construction teamste in the night to fix the damage done to the cities. In the meantime, fresh batches of soldiers were sent beyond the border walls to make sure none of those Bone Spirit Infused Demons survived. (They were mostly sent out to make the citizens feel safer)

    The forest fire in Dongguan had also been put out with rescue nes and helicopters water bombing the area along with the aid of several water mages and capable cultivators. After which, the Demon Exorcists who took care of Dongguan''s remaining horde were also seen patrolling the burnt forest to assist the soldiers doing the sweep.

    The only real setback was that the Royal Horse Army Battalion had effectively been wiped out by the horde and their General had been reported dead after they found his body during the cleanup. It might be a victory for the cities but not to the military force who had taken a blow from this domestic terrorism.

 Chapter 861 Wecha Defence Continues On

    <h4>Chapter 861 Wecha Defence Continues On</h4>

    Even though the Monster Horde hade to a stop in Jin''s world, the assault on the town of Wecha had yet to conclude. While the shield generator was no longer under Peppers'' control, its automated processes were doing an outstanding job against the Demon Rats'' final push for the town.

    Many of the militia were able to fight and hold the walls despite a few minor breaches. Any rats who broke through were handled by the Jacks. The rats in the sewers system were doing their best to dig a way out, yet whenever they managed to breach the surface, the women and children handled them in the same manner as they had done since the first wave.

    Meanwhile, Sandy was rushing wherever she was needed to seal the entrance and put a stop to the flow of rats appearing. (At the same time temporarily strengthening the foundation so that when the System set off a st, it would not break the entirety of the town.)

    The Mousefolks were not to me for the escaping rats underground. There were just too many of them crawling around, and they could only handle so many at a time. Their sword and gun fighting could already put some of the Royal Zodiac soldiers in Jin''s world to shame. Poppy and Pippy were literally jumping from one rat to another, executing them by stabbing their necks or shooting their brains out. For such a small body, they were packing a lot of punch and stamina.

    Even Meomi and Nyanmi, who were veteran fighters in Jin''s army, had begun to feel the fatigue. Their ws were starting to get blunt from all the shing and scratching they had done whenever they had to wait for their busy weapons to cool down.

    At this point, Meomi''s personal agenda to kill all rats was the only thing that kept her going through the fight. There were times Nyanmi fell behind, but Meomi still managed to cover her back when things got too tough.

    Aside from the defences within Wecha itself, the Savants had done their best to gather as many Demon Rats as possible outside the walls. Though the shield generator had been changed to a mechanical device and did not have the same properties as Peppers'' explosive knockback barrier, the Savants stood their ground, keeping the frenzied rats in check.

    Sadly, even the ''unstoppable'' Savants could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. All of them were killed a few times because of the rampage those Demon Rats caused during their final push. But with each death, the almighty System resurrected them without dy and even restored them back stronger and fiercer to exact revenge for their deaths.

    At some point, the rats had fallen in a state of frenzy and were getting even more agitated due to unexpected severe losses rather than the guaranteed win they had been promised. (Moloch had concluded there were no superior leadership around, making them fending for themselves.)

    Both Nubwort and Qiu Yue gathered their troops into a sort of tortoise formation to deal with them. Their shields were forming a circle, the Goblins came in between the Orc Defenders and shot at their enemies.

    Some of the Orc toons even piled up the rat bodies and used them as a makeshift hill to create a height advantage for the goblins to fire from. There were also Orcsplementing their shields by tying rats in front of it to soak up projectile damage. It was an extremely bloody scene in which most if not all of the defenders were soaked in Rats'' blood. If not for the distinct features among them, they could already hit each other since everyone was dark red in colour.

    With the System temporarily freed from its obligations in the Cultivation World, it was finally able to focus a little more on the Farming World. As its first course of action, it widened the current portals that had been deployed, increasing the number of fodder for Jin''stest dungeon. Moloch had also used a few more luring devices at Wecha as well as the crashed flying fortress.

    Speaking of thetter, the castle rescue had proceeded rather smoothly. The penguins, along with Lynn, had managed to rescue about two hundred humans. The only odd thing was that all of them very rtively youngбн until Lynn discovered a hidden door when one of the corridor''s stench was overbearing for her nose.

    Kido opened the hidden door with brute force and found that there was a pile of deceased humans waiting to be burned for the Demon Rats steam engine technology to work. "Is that why they decided to gather that many humans from the town for this particr assault?!" Lynn felt disgusted that they had apparently used their human ves as biofuel.

    Some of the humans that had been following them along vomited at the sight and Lynn could not me them. She would have done the same were it not for the experiences of handling animal and monster meat on a daily basis.

    "Not just the humans, even those rats who were killed had been brought here." After spending time amongst the rats, Sebastia had learned to discern between their features.

    One of the bodies was the very same Rat Captain who had brought Kraft and her to the capital. Only now he was lying right in front of her, all tortured and crippled before being thrown here awaiting his incineration.

    "Looks like they managed to trace the rat who brought in the enemy that stole their precious steam tech creator away." Sebastia thought to herself. "The rat empire did not even spare the body after torturing the captain. I wonder if this is called efficiency."

    "Lynn, what do you want us to do with them?" Kido questioned.

    "While they deserve a proper burial, we do not know when this castle will copse from the previous explosion by Peppers. Let''s find more of the survivors before the rats find them and lead these people away from such an undesirable demise."

    However, the longer they stayed in the castle, the stronger the rat resistance got. Eventually, Lynn was forced to make the call to fall back.

    "Mistress, a few of us will stay and continue to search for survivors. Please lead those we have rescued out of this hell hole." Kido told Lynn who quickly agreed. She had no doubts that her peggies were capable of finding the remaining humans with their abilities. Unlike other monsters, she knew her penguins were better suited for moving in smaller groups.

    "Understood, go forth and be careful. If the rats'' retaliation is this strong, it means that they are either hiding something within the castle or that''s where their main barracks are located. Send me a message when you need a portal to be dropped even if it''s just one survivor." Lynn said that she would not mind covering the cost of any extra portals if necessary.

    Yet, as time went by, the elite ninja penguins found no other survivors afterbing the area twice and decided to call the operation off. "There are no survivors left. It''s all yours, Moloch." Kido reported through the System Channel.

    "Alright, but do you guys mind rampaging around a little longer? Let me conclude the situation at the seaport first." Moloch replied as he rubbed his two cotton hoofs together.

 Chapter 862 Fending off Rats at Port Bulwark

    <h4>Chapter 862 Fending off Rats at Port Bulwark</h4>

    Everyone at the seaport walls was worried when Gold told them a hovering castle dropped a massive amount of rats to Wecha. As many of the soldiers were veteran survivors, they knew how terrifying the Rat Horde could be.

    Thus, when the first wave of rats reached towards the defences of the seaport, renamed Port Bulwark as a sign of appreciation for the Northern Army''s contribution, the defenders were befuddled by the number of rats running towards them.

    The numbers were underwhelmingly less than expected.

    Nevertheless, trained with the very same weapons used by Wecha''s Militia, the Northern Bulwark Soldiers started to fire at the rats without discrimination. The small number of rats had also allowed the soldiers to adjust their formation further since it was the first live firing ''exercise'' in which they used these weapons.

    Even the Western Skies and Southern Stars who had been stationed in Port Bulwark had only received the chance to use these weapons under strict supervision. Obviously, the System had ced tracking inscriptions on them in case they would attempt to smuggle them out of the Northern Region. While it should be absolutely impossible to replicate them with the world''s magic and technology, the same could not be said about possibly creating an alternate version following the designs via reserve engineering.

    Ayse who had managed to recreate certain Steam Tech was living proof that it was definitely possible for great geniuses in other worlds to do the same as well.

    "This is too weird. Why are the rats having such a frantic expression on themselves?" General Umiterus questioned Gold once the second wave of rats came through with even lesser numbers. All scattered beforeing in the range of their weapons.

    "They usually pride themselves on attacking withrge numbers and if not stick together to show their ferocity of a horde in order to scare the defendersбн Yet, they are defying all standard fighting protocols."

    "Did you hear distant booming sounds minutes ago?" Gold smirked when he saw the actual results right at their measly stone wall.

    "You mean the one behind us or the one above us?" General Umiterus pointed at his back andter at the skies.

    "Hahaha, both. They are actually doing their job to reduce the horde size. I have received reports that myrades managed to block the source of the horde at Town Wecha, so the numbersing in are smaller than we might have expected and most importantly finite." Gold replied as he oversaw the current defensive battle at Port Bulwark.

    That''s right, Moloch was coordinating the attacks between Stalingrad''s ship artillery bombardment and the ones from the skies. With Rei''s brand new modified C-130 Artillery nes, they were able to severely reduce the numbers from the skies and sea. (Well, Moloch was supposed to only do coordination since Kraft ''promised'' to look after the counter assault demon forces at the castle. Needless to say, the Kraft teleported to Jin''s side after learning he would have more fun there and told Cotton Butt to postpone the favour.)

    The route from Town Wecha to Port Bulwark was mostly wide rolling ins with a few hills and a small dested ruined vige. This made it easy for the C-130 Artillery nes to track the rats from high above. Of course with the help of the radar technology which Rei had installed based on the blueprints from himself and using the ones they received from Hou Fei as a guideline, they were able to predict the rats'' movement.

    The System would then set the projectile course for each and every artillery weapon on deck (or on the ne), so all the minions had to do was to press the fire button. The Demon Rats were massacred without putting up a fight without even knowing how.

    Some of them had managed to spot the nes, but all the Rats could do was to scatter as much as possible rather than follow their instincts and keep moving in a group. And when Demon Rats thought that the artillery attacks were not able to have sufficient impact against the scattered groups, the big guns came in as if to prove that they were not out in the danger zone. Stalingrad''s bombardments caused massive hurt to the Demon Rat groups when Lord Wolte and his new Demon Crew used scattered explosive shells against the rats.

    While they were not able to witness it first hand, the camera footage from the C-130 Artillery nes transmitted to the televisions on the ship was sufficient entertainment to keep them excited.

    They had dreaded the power Wolte held when the Demons were on the opposing side, yet now when it was their turn to control the oversized ''toy'' it was apletely new experience for them. Also, they hoped this would be the first but not thest opportunity to be on Wolte''s deck. (Jin did say that he would be creating ships for them in the near future now that Demon Metropolis is under his control.)

    Moloch''s task was more or lessplete after another hour or so. Still, there was a number of surviving Demon Rats who had scurried off to other far sides of the ins, escaping from the defensive chokepoints and Gold was not going to let them off.

    He got the aid of the Dark Temrs on standby to ride on Hover Bikes and chase after their prey. After all, most of them knew the ins well enough to chase after the surviving rats. Some of them even brought the Southern Stars Assassins with them which Gold allowed since they had better surveince ability than most on the search and kill missions.

    All in all, Port Bulwark was safe from the attacks, and it seemed Jin once again had over prepared on a few matters when he clearly had the upper hand. (Or maybe he was getting used to defending.)

    As soon as Moloch was free from his responsibility in Port Bulwark, he refocused his efforts on the remaining forces at the crashed fortress site. Even without Peppers'' legendary Scan, the System and Jin''s minions had also detected an increasingrge energy signal emanating from the castle within.

    It could not be theser cannon since Peppers had made sure to destroy it thoroughly without much of an effort. There was no way they prepared the same twoser cannons when Weslie deduced the engine systems would be terribly burdened by one, let alone two of it.

    Hence, everyone was deducing it was either somerge mechanical rat or a self destruct mechanism which would destroy every single lifeform in the area. However, given the nature of thetter, it should have already blown to pieces by now, and the System also detected that the energy was spread out in arge areapared to a concentrated area.

    "No way! It cannot be! Theypleted it?! That''s impossible! How did they find a way to connect the steam engine and the neuro interfaces together?!" Suddenly Weslie realised where this surge of energy was bing after seeing traces of the spike from System''s basic scan.

    "Wait, so it really is arge mechanical steampunk rat?" Moloch asked, but Weslie shook her head when she appeared in the Dungeon Maker.

    "No...It''s the castle itself."

 Chapter 863 Mechanical Castle Arm

    <h4>Chapter 863 Mechanical Castle Arm</h4>

    "How much have you been ving for the Rats?!" Moloch eximed at Weslie after he heard that the castle was able to still move and of all things, assume a humanoid form.

    "Ehh heheh. I had tried to resist at first, but they had ways to make meply. Eventually, I discovered that as long as I had results ready for whenever they came to collect it, they would leave me alone with lots of demands. This one is actually originating from some thought experiments I did to relieve my boredom." Weslie gave a forced out smile.

    "Youy the groundworks for it when you were bored?!бн This is one freaking mechanical bot if what you say is true! And here I thought we could just reroute the C-130 Artillery nes and bombard the castle to kingdome." Moloch felt like hitting Weslie''s head for being way too hard-working for the enemy.

    "I never meant for it to be used. As I said, it was just some doodlingбн Since we have already damaged the fortress beforehand, it might not be as dangerous as it should beбн probably... I THINK!" Weslie emphasised that thergeser cannon was ruined and the flying fortress had been damaged at multiple areas which should prevent it from making effective use of its humanoid form.

    Just like the Schr of the West had said, the castle suddenly revealed arge mechanical arm with steam venting out at its joints from a portion of the fortress. With an impending p to the ground, the Demon Rats and Demon Soldiers had started fleeing from the scene.

    A number of Wights, particrly the Soldiers of Jade had mass cast wind-rted spells on the run to boost their allies soldiers to escape the attack. Others even got on theirrade''s horses, hoping to survive while a minority gave up and went into the castle instead. They were too close to the castle and might as well try their luck hiding within the castle grounds. (But if they had to fight with overwhelming rats than so be it.)

    Many managed to escape the ''p'' attack, but the live arm was not done as it retracted itself and attempted to pick up the Gauntlet Vepar had left stuck within the castle. "Geh, the enemy is trying to use that Gauntlet as a possible projectile. System, some help would be much appreciated right now." Moloch wanted it removed as soon as possible.

    "Request denied. System is currently swarmed with requests for teleportation and unable to process that particr demand. Please wait or have User overwrite System''s priority queue. In addition, the owner of the Gauntlet, Duke Vepar is currently out ofmission which would hinder the teleportation of the Gauntlet." The System stated.

    "Then where is Jin?" Moloch yelled at the invisible entity. He couldn''t fathom why the System clearly would want to see the Gauntlet used against them by therge Mechanical Castle Arm.

    "User is currently unconscious after the fight in his world." The System replied before adding an extra use out of nowhere. "Sub System Users cannot override priority queue."

    "In short, the minions do not have too much of a say, huh?" Moloch grumbled as he knew that the minions were indeed at the mercy of the System. The only reason the System was saving them via teleportation was because of the cost they incurred would be more than the profit they earn. Other than that, the hierarchy still remained.

    The only redeeming factor was that Jin was benevolent enough to treat his minions as near equals instead of reigning over them as a controlling master. The same was true for the Sub System. Moloch didn''t even want to imagine how bad his life would be if any of them would act tyrannicallyбн the world didn''t need any more King Baals.

    "System will review the situation as needed." The System answered, making it sounds like it wouldpromise for Moloch but he knew all the better it wasn''t. However, to Moloch''s relief, the Mechanical Castle Arm had difficulty removing the Gauntlet that was etched deep into the ground after Vepar''s magnificent glorious impact preventing theser cannon from firing.

    "Well, at the very least, the legends hold some speck of truth about Vepar''s family heirloom." Moloch took a breather and started to reroute nine C-130 Artillery nes back to the Town of Wecha in order to aid the destruction of therge Mechanical Castle Arm.

    However, instead of continuously attempting to take the Gauntlet out of the ground, the Mechanical Castle Arm seemed to have had enough and instead shifted to target Wecha''s shield barrier by opening its palm and revealing a hidden weapon from within.

    "Another freakingser?" Moloch hoofpalmed his head and looked at Weslie, who tried to look the other way and whistle innocently. (But failed terribly at it.)

    "Then I have no other choice. Here I thought we could keep this as a surprise from the Users. Well, at least Jin is knocked unconsciousбн" Moloch sighed as he picked up the phone in the Dungeon Maker. "Niu Lang, are you there?"

    "Ah! Lord Moloch! How are you? I heard there''s some crazymotion happening in the Farming World." It took a long time for Niu Lang to pick the phone up because he was fixing something. With that amount of time lost, the Mechanical Castle Arm had already fired its firstser beam at Wecha''s Shield Barrier.

    Thankfully, Ayse''s products were top notch, and they were able to withstand the first attack with ease. However, judging by the cracks in the shield, it would not stay that way for long. Thankfully, with it being a part of the Steam Technology, theser cannon needed some time to cool down and that caused the arm to remain stationary.

    The Wyvern Goblin Knights who had dealt with the steampunk helicopters and nes began trying their luck to damage the arm during this time. At a closer look, they found out that the entire arm was filled with rats hastily trying to fix the internal machinery so it could fire the next round of energy beams at the town once more.

    "Yes, we need you to get ready. Is he already operational?" Moloch asked directly without any greetings.

    "Ehh, Teacher Rei said that it should be able to work, but the energy battery pack still needs to be revised after all the improvements we made." Niu Lang replied as he took a look at the chalkboard which Rei had left behind for him with all the information scattered.

    "Yeah, there''s enough juice for fifteen minutes or so but if you want me to be operating him at max performance, I think two to three minutes are more of a conservative estimate." Niu Lang calcted within his head.

    "Two to three minutes is all I need. Get it up and running, I will get the System to teleport you soon. And I need you to hit it as hard as possible and make sure it goes down." Moloch said as he quickly gave orders to the C-130 Artillery nes to attack Mechanical Castle Arm before it had any chance to recover, hoping to weaken it so that his old pal could make his renewed debut.

    Mechataur.

 Chapter 864 Mechataur Reborn

    <h4>Chapter 864 Mechataur Reborn</h4>

    "All Systems Online, Taurus Interface activated." Niu Lang flipped the switches within his cockpit and ced a replica of Mechataur''s head at the side of a ceholder near his shoulder.

    The Minotaur head immediately lit up upon receiving electrical power and turned alive. Its first reaction was yawning as if it had awoken from a very long slumber.

    "How long have I been - whaddafuck is this?! What happened to me?! Where is the rest of my body?! Why am I in the cockpit?! NIU LANG, what the hell did you do to me?!!" Mechataur started shouting and couldn''t ept the reality around him.

    "Woah, woah, hold your horns! I just made it easier for you to move about without therge body...well that is if you are connected to an electrical packбн"

    "What bullshit are you talking about?! After that fight with the giant Titan Knight and sacrificing myself for that human master, this is what I have be?!" Mechataur continued yapping yet Niu Lang believed it was best to let actions speak for themselves. He flipped another switch and turned the switch knob which caused the robotic bull head to power down.

    The bull head was actually a soul containment unit and what Niu Lang did was transfer the soul back to hisrge body which he actually continued toin about.

    "Now I am stuck I''m this- woah wait a minute. This isбн this isбн woahhhhhhhh!!" Mechataur started to survey his new body and realised there were so many changes to it. He no longer had a bulging metallic abdomen and instead, a proper body chassis.

    After which, he started to move his hands and legs to test the joints. "I feel lighter and more flexible! Can I do a somersault with this body?"

    "If you want to continue to stay in that metal head for another three more months, sure go ahead and try that." Niu Lang rolled his eyes.

    "Aww man, thanks buddy!" Mechataur tried to stand up but realised there were a ton of tubes being stuck on him. "Pfft all these annoying wires!" Mechataur started tearing and plucking each and every one of them.

    "Urgh be gentle! Each of them cost thousands of dungeon dors!" Niu Lang eximed as he had no choice but to turn the knob back and Mechataur returned back to his head.

    "Hey! What is the meaning of this! Get me back to my body! You have no rights to stop me and contain me! I have my constitutional right to my own body!" Mechataur said

    "Where did you even learn that phraseбн" Niu Lang sighed as he clicked a few buttons and those tubes and wires automatically released themselves.

    "Hey! Why are you ignoring me?! Respond back!"

    "I have no choice but to transfer your soul to this containment unit else fixing you previously might kill you off permanently since I have to dissect and rece each and every part there is while maintaining and improving the core body." Niu Lang believed everything was in order and told Moloch that they were ready to sortie.

    "Erm..yeah I appreciate your efforts, but that doesn''t mean you can keep me to this small robotic head!"

    "Would you prefer being inside the previous iteration? That one was a jar which Kraft gave me, without any outlet to speak out your will freely?" Niu Lang questioned, and Mechataur kept quiet for a moment.

    "Good. Now, I know you are a little frustrated about this situation. So in return, we are going into battle. I give you full reign while I provide support within the cockpit." Niu Lang said as he could hear the portal opening above them. He quickly closed the cockpit doors and wore his helmet.

    "Mechataur, Pilot Niu Lang. Departing!" Niu Lang announced and immediately they found themselves performing a free fall at a few hundred metres above the supposed target. Niu Lang knew that they would be free-falling and already had a jet booster attached.

    "Unit''s control has been transferred to you." Niu Lang said as he turned the switch knot again and Mechataur could literally feel the winds against his entire body.

    Even without anymands, the metal bull robot had already activated his jet boosters to counter the descend. With a bit of fiddling, a rifle appeared from the jet booster as well, giving Mechataur the means to shoot at their target.

    Naturally, Niu Lang was inside the cockpit doing all the aiming assist as it had been a long time since Mechataur got to hold a rifle. In addition, the knockback and recoil from the rifle were tremendous because of therge calibre rounds it was using so Niu Lang''s aiming assist was useful, especially when he purposely went for the joints.

    As for the Mechanical Castle Arm, the rats operating it were able to withstand the attacks done by the Wyvern Goblin Knights, and there was some damage from the artillery attacks, but those were not as deadly as rifle rounds from Mechataur.

    One shot was all it took to damage a portion of the joint and hit a steam pipe that supplied energy to the arm''sser cannon. That one shot alone had managed to disable the Mechanical Castle Arm and caused it to topple a little.

    Emergency repairs were on its way, but the next few rounds targeted the very same ce too, causing the mechanical joint to dislodge. The entire arm fell without the support, but Mechataur was not done with it.

    It now started to shoot randomly at the castle, ignoring Niu Lang''sints about wasting ammunition (well, those bullets were really quite expensive) and subsequently began opening his chest tes to shoot the missilesбн only to realise there were none in there.

    "Where did all my missiles go?!" Mechataur asked Niu Lang with a streak of panic going through his circuits.

    "Moloch asked for an emergency sortie...that is why I did not pack those stuff in. I figured we had enough firepower in the jet boosters. There''s an erged RPGuncher in it which should finish the job."

    "What do ya mean we have enough firepower?! There''s no such thing as enough firepower. Firepower is a never-ending pursuit for greatness! I hold you responsible for not getting the job done this time around!" Mechataurined.

    "And that is why I invented the switch knob. Ayse''s researchers say that there might be a drastic application of your current personality because you had been detached in a soul containment unit for too long. You need to chill and rationalise."

    "I ain''''t doing that kind of shit! All I need to do is to kill the enemy right in front of me, and Ick the means to do so!" Mechataur unequipped his jet boosters and fell straight into the castle, crashing into it while taking out the RPGuncher.

    Without thinking, Mechataur threw the rifle and fired every single rocket within theuncher towards the Mechanical Castle Arm...only to find another arm suddenly appear behind him. However, this arm was not asplete as the initial one and Mechataur''s crashing actually released the arm from its deadlock of debris.

    "Holy shit!" Mechataur eximed as it stopped the right broken arm with its own and faced it while shooting AP rounds from his robotic cheeks. It did not stop there as it tried to charge its horns and fire a st of electrical energy towards it.

    "Holy shit, indeed!" Niu Lang agreed as he saw Mechataur''s energy level had dropped so significantly in less than a minute!

 Chapter 865 A Risky Paradrop

    <h4>Chapter 865 A Risky Paradrop</h4>

    "I am sorry, my Friend. Although I know you want to rampage after hibernating for so long, you are not well equipped to do so right now." Niu Lang sighed as he turned the switch knob again, causing Mechataur to return to his soul containment unit.

    The Robotic Bull Head was metaphorically jumping up and down, throwing tantrums from Niu Lang''s mistreatment, yet the mecha pilot finally regained full control over his robot body.

    "It''s my body! How can you just kick me out of my own body?!" Mechataur raged, but Niu Lang ignored him for the moment since there were other pressing things to take care of. He quickly moved out of the castle by moving backwards and used his leg thrusters to get out of the pinch.

    Unfortunately, that took another five percent of energy from the battery pack, and Niu Lang wasn''t left with much. However, thanks to Mechataur''s reckless use of his weapons, one of the Mechanical Castle Arms appeared to be permanently out ofmission. Even the rats had stopped trying to repair it and focused on the one with the intact cannon arm, which was currently aiming at the duo.

    Suddenly, explosions were seen on the castle arm, and Niu Lang recognised that the cause was artillery fire rather than internal explosions. "Orc Artillery Beta Company Leader to Mechataur Pilot. We thought that you might need some assistance since you backed off with no visible weapons at hand."

    "Thank you for the assist. You came in at the right moment. I really have no more weapons because of the emergency sortie." Niu Lang decided to keep Mechataur''s wasteful actions quiet. (Surprisingly, the Robotic Bull Head did not make a noise when Niu Lang wasmunicating back.)

    "We can fire off another round, but it would not provide you sufficient precision because of distance." Beta Company Leader reported back.

    "Say, are the artillery guns detachable?" Niu Lang asked as he raised Mecahtaur''s arms and activated a pair of spiked gauntlets. It was an inbuilt feature in case there was a need for some close-quarterbat.

    "Yes, Chief Engineer Rei had made some adjustments so we can attach the guns for emergency deployment via paradrops." The Orc Leader replied.

    "Then can you send two down along with your men?" Niu Lang requested as it punched the arm and it likewise did the same thing.

    "You want what?"

    "Parachute them down. I will align them to the back of my shoulders. I have attachment tforms ready to lock the artillery guns down."

    "That''s insane! Predicting projectile shots can be achieved with the System, but I do not think it can predict where it wouldnd to the centimetre! Especially when your Mechataur tform is moving! Also, my orcs have tond in there! That is impossible!"

    "Trust in my partner!" Mechataur suddenly shouted out even when Niu Lang started to think that his unorthodox idea was way too challenging to perform. "If he can refix me into what I am now, I am sure his idea has some merit!"

    "Still..- " Before Beta Company Orc Leader could say anything more, the System interjected.

    "The System believes such a manoeuvre can be achieved if the predictive analysis pattern were to be implemented on both sides."

    "Then hurry up. My battery pack will be dead if we do not take down this mechanical arm." Niu Lang encouraged them. The Beta Company Orc Leader had no reason to argue against it after the System had already given its assurance. Besides, the artillery gun was also the System''s property. If thending failed, that would be its responsibility and not the Orc Leader''s.

    "Fine. Beta Squad 4 \u0026 5, reload those guns and unlock them. We are throwing them with a pair of personnel! Choose who wants to be the first daredevil to do an artillery gunnding on a freaking bull robot!" the leader shouted, and the Orcs quickly volunteered themselves for the action.

    "Eh thank you Mechataur. I thought you would make the situation worse." Niu Lang said as the Mechataur was grappling with the Mechanical Castle Arm.

    "Just don''t forget you owe me more upgrades for this." Mechataurughed loudly and oddly enough, Niu Lang did not care about the bull''s disruption as he focused on the screens as well as the System''s solutions. In the meantime, the Beta Company''s C-130 Artillery ne had its back opened and was cruising at a slower speed than usual.

    "Go Go Go!" The Artillery Company Leader spurred them on, and the Orcs around the guns assisted the push out of the nes. Unlike usual paradrops, only the weapons had the parachutes, and the pair of Orc personnel merely hitched onto the ride.

    "It''sing!" Mechataur said as it saw on the top screen of the cockpit two artillery gunsing down.

    However, the unexpected happened once more as the Mechanical Castle Arm had decided to turn on itsser cannon. "Fuck! It is trying to kill us at point-nk!" Niu Lang shouted. He grappled and stood his ground because it was the best position for the paradrop tond with the highest chance of sess. But if he did not move in time, he could be fried into molten metal. And if he did, then it would be the artillery guns and the orcs who would be burnt instead.

    Seeing how Niu Lang was struggling, Mechataur could not bear to watch this further. "Leave this to me!" The Robotic Bull Head said as he jumped (by using his chin!) and aimed for the switch knob. Even though the Robotic Head was connected with a few charging wires, the distance away from the switch knob might cause the wire to be plugged out. Still, Mechataur took the risk and did it as he knew Niu Lang cannot leave his hands away from the controls.

    "You cannot do this without me!" The Mechataur''s soul managed to be retransferred back before thest connecting wire was unplugged forcibly because of the distance and gravity. Rendered speechless by its actions, Niu Lang watched Mechataur use up even more battery to push the palm downwards while moving into position to receive the artillery guns based on the System''s data.

    "ZAAMMMMMM" Theser cannon was activated at the veryst minute when the guns were about to touch down.?The Mechanical Castle Arm burned Mechataur''s feet as it tried to hold on to the palm. The artillery guns managed to touch down despite the intense rocking and heat emanated from the downwardsser cannon.

    "ARRGGGHHH!" Mechataur shouted as he continued to pin down the palm while the orc personnel quickly locked the artillery guns'' leg spikes into the Mechataur''s shoulder. Immediately upon locking, the artillery guns fired their first shot afternding which managed to disrupt theser cannon. And without any further instructions, the personnel already started to unload the used shell and ced a new one in.

    "FIRE FIRE FIRE!" Niu Lang shouted in his cockpit as he continued to cheer for Mechataur and the artillery gunners. The Demon War had made the gunners an expert in reloading with a minimum amount of people operating them.

    This particr performance of continuous shooting was nheless showing off their incredible skill as the other C-130 Artillery nes were also joining in to bring the Mechanical Castle Arm down from afar.

 Chapter 866 The Final Blow

    <h4>Chapter 866 The Final Blow</h4>

    Despite the barrage of artillery fire from C130 Artillery nes and Mechataur''s shoulders, the final blow that brought the Mechanical Castle Arm down did note from them. Perhaps not unexpectedly the killing blow actually came from the almighty Stalingrad.

    Moloch had long noticed that his old pal Mechataur was having a difficult time to finish thest Mechanical Arm. He did ask for their immediate deployment, and it was no surprise the current situation was more than they could handle. The all out attacks by Mechataur had somehow managed to uncover the existence of the second Mechanical Castle Arm, and after it appeared, it only spelt further trouble.

    As much as he wished to believe that Mechataur was able to destroy thest Mechanical Castle Arm, he was in charge of this operation and was not willing to leave it to luck.

    The victory he obtained from the Demon War might have been attributed to some sort of lucky fluke, but it was also because he and Qiu Yue made it happen. The number of preparations he slogged through many nights to get it done was countless and that had allowed them to win that meaningless war. (Well, not so meaningless for the System since it got an unexpected reward from Baal''s crown.)

    Moloch hadmanded the Stalingrad to sail further south and requested the System to prepare a shot analysis that would disable the Mechanical Castle Arm instantly.

    "Amazing. I never knew that you could shoot that far." Captain Focalor praised Wolte as he saw the shot imbued with some magic for visualisation being flown far into the endless skies.

    "The System said we are taking into ount the gravity and the world''s curvature into ount. Not sure what that means but it''s science stuff like this modern cannon. If not for the imagery designs, I too would not have been able to create this ship." Wolte admitted that his ship was not his intellectual copyrighted property though he did make some changes to it to suit his uses. (and tastes!)

    The armour-piercing shell was also used instead of the explosive shell to avoid Mechataur bing a part of the coteral damage due to its proximity. When it came close enough, Niu Lang took over the Mechataur body to hold the Mechanical Castle Arm high enough to shield himself from the hit.

    "Whew~! The battery packsted just long enough. I thought I was a goner if not for that surprise shot from Stalingrad." Niu Lang breathed out a sigh of relief as he saw the cockpit''s light turn red and change into emergency battery mode.

    The backup battery could power the Mechataur for another five minutes but if Niu Lang did that, he would not be able to open the cockpit at all and lose 24 hours of power on the oxygen converter. That would be dangerous for space though considering they had the System''s ability to teleport, Niu Lang sometimes thought that was a little overkill.

    All he could see from the monitor was that the Mechanical Castle Arm had been broken and now had a massive gaping hole in the middle of it. The remainders of the AP shell were right behind the Mechataur, grinding into the ground creating smoke by-products until it stopped moving.

    "That was a close shave. Where did that thing evene from?" Mechataur asked in his robotic head form again.

    "Moloch orchestrated it from Wolte. You''ve missed it, but he is currently a ship. Or to be more precise, he now has a ship form on top of just being a slug." Niu Lang let down the arm and requested for teleportation. Meanwhile, he could see that the Demon Soldiers from Dungeon World started to advance towards the castle again.

    "Moloch, I guess you do not want to leave any rats to be left alive? Haha. I will be returning now and repairing Mechataur. Sorry that I can''t be more of assistance." Niu Lang reported as he started to turn and walked forward into arge portal prepared for him.

    "No worries about it, you already did more than expected. Besides, we are just trying to capture the rats like Jin asked us to. But more importantly, I want the castle!" Moloch answered which nearly made Niu Lang slip his controls.

    "You WHAT?!" Niu Lang and Weslie who was right beside Moloch eximed.

    "Hmm? Why are you so surprised? Isn''t it normal for the winner to collect some spoils of war? This might be a broken mess right now, but with enough resources, we can repair it, enhance it and use it against them down the line. An eye for an eye. Well, a castle attack for another castle attack. Same thing."

    "Hmmm... You are right. I can''t wait to see what nonsense they had reced to make it move." Weslie quickly changed her tone and even sounded excited.

    "If you are bringing it in, I would like to take a look at what those bastards North and South had done to the ce. Hope you did not trash the ce too much." Gold interjected in the System Channel.

    "Oh, my dear. I fear you might be disappointed if you have that kind of mindset." Weslie replied with a chuckle.

    "Don''t worry. With my Empire Building Sub System, there is no castle I cannot refurnish. Besides, who doesn''t want a floating fortress? That sounds like a great dungeon instance idea for Jin too." Qiu Yue joined their conversation amidst huffing and puffing after killing thest few rats who were putting up a resistance.

    The rest of the Demon Rats were already attempting to run away but had forgotten that there were militias carrying rifles that could target far and wide. Granted, they might not be able to hit with every shot, but at least they suppressed the rats, which made it easy for the Savants who went from defending mode to hunting mode.

    Once an adventurer, always an adventurer.

    These Savants had their instincts awaken when the System posted a special little reward for those who were able to kill thest few Demon Rats. The Warlock Savant alone had already created some floating balls of sentience with tentacles that were able to track the Demon Rats while the Archer Savant sniped each and every one of those who were in his sights.

    "Speaking of Jin, where is he? Howe I can''t connect with him? Kraft? Yun?" Lynn concerningly asked for Jin via the main System Channel.

    "Ah. We cleared the counter-attack operation already. Boy, there''s lots to share, but right now, Jin overworked himself and fainted. Once you are done on your end, feel free to check in on him. I have Pei looking after him." Kraft said through the System Channel.

    "What? No? You never said anything to me." Pei entered the System Channel upon her name being pinged by the System as it reyed thest line of the conversation to her.

    "What do you mean? You just heard it from me, didn''t you?" Kraft grinned, and Pei rolled her eyes. She stopped typing her notes on the Demon Metropolis''s Health System and saved it.

    "Jin, I told you not to work so hard when I am not there!" Pei grumbled, but the System had teleported to the Luxury Recovery instance to pick up some necessary supplies to aid in Jin''s recovery.

 Chapter 867 No Sign of Improvemen

    <h4>Chapter 867 No Sign of Improvemen</h4>

    "Why is there still no sign of improvement?" Pei thought to herself as she continued to monitor Jin''s vitals and inside the Luxury Recovery Instance for a proper investigation.

    "Call in Milk, please. Perhaps she has some idea of what is happening." Pei requested the System after she brought him into the intensive care unit of the instance and started to shout for the nurses to give Jin some hydration. The senior Panda nurses who were more advanced in their AI and were partially controlled by the System immediately brought in the intravenous fluid bags which Pei injected via Jin''s arm.

    She subsequently imbued the fluid bags with some of her chi, hoping that some of her chi transferred into him might lead to some improvement. Milk came in at a short notice, dressed skimpily looking like she was about to go for a long sleep after that counter offence operation against the Banned Emperor Assassins.

    "What''s the matter? Why do you look so panicked? It''s rare for you to call me in the first -." Milk asked until she saw that the person Pei was treating was none other than Jin. She quickly changed fromzy mode to serious priest mode. She conjured a long jacket to cover herself and used a spell to check Jin''s vitals.

    "He has fainted hard a few times before, but this is the first time his Maqi output is close to zero. If Kraft had informed me anyter, Jin might have died from chi exhaustion." Pei informed her. She was in fact quite angry that Kraft did not notice the seriousness of his condition any sooner. Yet, at the same time, she could not bring herself to fully me Kraft for not recognising his condition.

    Extreme Chi Exhaustion was fairlymon to cultivators who wished to push themselves to the limit. Unfortunately what Jin was experiencing right now was a more severe form of Extreme Chi Exhaustion.

    It was Chi Death Syndrome.

    The chi circuits of a person were simr to muscles in a sense. Both could be willingly strained, and they would both heal over time and get stronger as a result. However, no matter if it was muscles or chi circuits once either waspletely torn apart, there was no way for the body to repair it by itself. (Well unless with magic or chi.)

    That was why Pei had called Milk over because in Jin''s case, not only did his chi circuits rupture but his mana circuits too. It was odd that his body was still fully intact and his blood cirction system was still working, and the physician believed that it was the System''s workings.

    If the System had not been controlling the flow of Maqi, both of his circuits could have been overwhelmed, and Jin would have gone into shock immediately rather than the current dyed reaction. "His Dantian Core is still alive and working, but his twelve primary meridians are showing severe weakening."

    "I saw. His mana circuits are in a simr state. The Cloud Gate in his lungs and Moon Gate in his stomach are severely broken. Even if I can repair them with my magic, this transfusion will take days. How the hell did he manage to practically cripple himself with just one Banishment Circle?" Milk remarked while tapping her fingers on Jin''s body to check on mana circuit''s reaction.

    "A what?! Banishment Circle?!" Pei, who had not followed the chain of events, was surprised when she heard that.

    "Yeah, Jin got into System Rider Dark Temr Form to banish the big bad boss back to theher realm." Milk recounted what had happened as she started to ask the Panda Nurses to bring blood transfusion kits over.

    IV hydration might be the standard in transferring chi quickly into the circuits but to cure the mana circuits, blood was a far better medium. It also had the practical benefit that they could infuse chi and mana at the same time into Jin.

    "Any normal cultivator, would be dead by now." Pei did not waste time by putting a tourniquet on her arm and wiped it with an alcohol swab to clean the area. She was preparing for the blood transfusion since her chi was already in the process of repairing the circuits via the IV hydration fluids. Besides repairing one circuit at a time was simpler than doing two at once, so it would be easier to use her imbued chi blood rather than Milk''s for now.

    "Thank the System for his cultivation. When he is asleep, he will always be generating chiбн. I honestly envy him sometimes for such a convenient way to cultivate. If he did not have this cultivation, he would definitely be dead by now." Milk shook her head as she started the checklist for the blood transfusion.

    And even after inserting the needle through Jin and Pei, Milk was still frantic. She was contacting Ayse for Peppers'' mana crystals which she had collected over time from all the experiments and fights when she had her jacket on. Because it was clear that there was no way she could hold out that long giving mana to Jin.

    With the Mana Crystals, Milk could at least repair the major circuit intersections by putting them close to proximity. However, she also had to take note not to interfere with Jin''s Chi circuit.

    When contacted, it honestly did not dawn to Ayse that they could be used for such a medical situation and she began rummaging for all the mana crystals she had secretly kept in case of an emergency.

    "Pfft. You should be thankful that my blood is suitable to yours." Pei grumbled as she lightly flicked Jin''s head for being this reckless. After which, she called on the Panda Nurses to request from the System to obtain more blood packs as Pei initiated the first round.

    At the same time, the System''s only licensed doctor was also wondering why the Legendary Inscription Charm had not been activated with their chi and manabined.?"Is it because it''s too attuned to Jin''s Maqi so it won''t activate from our chi and manabined?" Pei questioned herself.

    Yet, the whole situation turned even more tense when Kraft came into the room surprised by the entire scene, and it is solely because Pei was staring at him with much anticipated angst.

    "How could you allow this to happen to him? You should be the one protecting him and not making him suffer until this kind of state! How are the others going to react when they learn that he is suffering from Chi Death Syndrome?!"

    "Then, don''t tell them. Restrict the ce and limit ess only to the betors or something. Maybe just leave it at us three and the panda nurses." Kraft shrugged his shoulders. "I was busy protecting him from the riff raff and allowing ''Hero Jin to save the day'', while the System was with him the entire time controlling the flow of Maqi."

    "System was overwhelmed with multiple things happening at the same time." The System retorted, not wanting to apologise but instead choosing to exin its rationale. "During the drawing of the Banishment Circle the chances of the User suffering from Chi Death Syndrome were less than 1%, and the risk of perishing from it was at 0.03% especially when taking into ount his highly regenerative Dantian Core."

    "Well, if he is still generating some chi it means he is cultivating even while unconscious. That''s a beast move itself. Maybe he can experience a breakthrough in cultivation and automatically bring himself to the next grade? That would very likely fix all our concerns in one go." Kraft replied though the rest felt that was being overly optimistic.

 Chapter 868 Odd Conversation - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 868 Odd Conversation - Part 1</h4>

    "Is this like some save point?" Jin wondered to himself as he saw the familiar blue clear sky and felt that chilly wind blowing through his clothes. The wood that creaked whenever he leaned back on the bench and that slightly rusted screw knob which he had secretly fiddled with whenever Grandpa Ming was talking to him.

    The mountainous scene was still a sight to behold even though he knew that underneath awaited a challenge he had already postponed a number of times.

    "I had a short glimpse of what happened before you passed out. You''ve really outdone yourself." Ming''s voice appeared next to Jin who was admiring the scenery.

    "I was holding on really hard, like REALLLLLY hard at thatst moment. I can still feel my entire body clinching each and every muscle to get it done." Jin recalled thest few minutes before he went unconscious. Although they were inside his subconscious, he still was able to feel the physical pain when he thought about it.

    "I was actually referring to those Banned Emperor Assassins. When they tried to assassinate the Tiger Head in your shop, I honestly hoped that encounter with them would be a one-time thing. But now this? I am starting to think that even if you be a normal working person, your fate would still end up intertwined with theirs." Ming sighed as he slowly sat down and the wood creaked just a little more under the weight of two men.

    "Oh those. I don''t know. Maybe third time''s the charm?" Jin tried to lighten the mood since he felt that it would be a heavy topic.

    "Heh, I had my share shing against them when I was in the army," Ming revealed as he breathed in the cold dry air and exhaled slowly. "As much as I''d like you to do some monster hunting, especially that turtle down below, given their reemergence, I think we should go up a notch."

    "You want me to go up a notch? Are you serious? I haven''t even managed to make a dent on that monstrous turtle, and you want me to go even higher? Hang on a moment, before I forget, there is something serious I need to ask you. Do you know who Ryuli is? Mr Know-It-All? Have youe into contact with them before?" Jin didn''t really want to fight.

    The fight against King Baal not too long ago has already been above what he wasfortable with, not to mention the huge abomination before he passed out. It was just way too ridiculous even for his inner state of mind.

    Whatever happened to those simple times when his opponents used to be something manageable like Goblins or Minotaursбн

    "Can''t say that I know them. Although that nickname Mr Know-It-All does ring a bell." Ming shook his head while trying to remember where he had heard that name before.

    "Maybe you know them under their Codename? State Agent L and State Agent K from the Ministry of State Security? They were the ones in thest battle." Jin questioned and suddenly Mingughed out loudly.

    "Hahahahah! Oh, you mean those two notorious agents of chaos?!" Ming could not stopughing, and the mountains started to echo along with it.

    "Notorious?" Jin suddenly felt it was a bad choice to mix with them.

    "Well, erm... To the army that is. They are actually very loyal to the state. Loyal to a fault I''d even say." Ming seemingly decided to entertain Jin a little seeing that his grandson was in an really exhausted state.

    "While the Joint Military Intelligence department - meaning Air, Sea and Groundbined - is always held by the Royal Snakes, the Royal Dragons are actually the ones who should be feared the most. If you be intermingled with those proud sky lizards you should quickly learn about the fact that they are the ones who control the Ministry of State Security and rumours have it that Agent K''s grandfather is the head of that ministry." Ming exined.

    "Yet anotheryer of Zodiac politics that I would rather not have to know" Jin sighed and Ming beat his head, something that he doesn''t usually do unless it''s quite a severe mistake.

    "Be grateful for the information. Not everyone knows about this and I am giving it to you for free. In any case, ''ipetent'' Royal Dragons, by their standard that is, get transferred to the Royal Dragon Battalion. As for the best of the bestбн those will automatically serve in the State Security in a heartbeat."

    "So it''s worse than a nest of snakes. It''s air of dragons in there." Jinmented.

    "Technically, not all of them. The Royal Zodiac Dragon n tried to be diverse in their selection by recruiting the best of every other Royal Zodiac n and a few outsiders to be their so-called counter check. But we all know that''s bullshit. Oh, by outsiders I mean anyone inside the country without any direct rtion to the Royal Zodiacs. There is even a special institution where those outsiders are groomed, and from a very young age, I hear." Grandpa Ming said as if he had some grudges with that particr system.

    "Meh, I can pretty much guess that type of exclusivity. You don''t have to tell me about it." Jin had experienced it himself during his high school days. Some students from the Royal Zodiac ns had received preferential treatment from their teachers, despite being the so-called lowest scum in their own social circle. Sometimes, the other students felt it was just so unfair that they received all the privileges despite their school''s pledges for ''equality'' to all.

    "Haha yeah. Anyways, the bulk of them should still be the Dragons, and because it''s basically a family n, they have continued to pass and maintain top ssified secrets about China''s internal and external dealings. Honestly, I would not be too surprised if they had some sort of records about the System and decided to keep quiet about it." Ming shrugged his shoulders when he discussed it openly.

    "Why did you say that?" Jin started to have suspicions that Mr Know-It-All might have known a bit of the System after he purposely implied he knew about it. Whether it was only a bluff, it remained to be seen.

    "Because I had a friend in there, and he said that there were State Agents that were looking around for some super metaphysical entity as if someone ''requested'' for it. They were aware that there was something unexinable backing me and wanted me to pass it on to them for you know, research purposes." Mingid his bitter history out.

    "Entity, huh?" Jin nodded his head slowly.

    "Yea, the System, what else? They were unaware that at the time the Original System entered a sort of hibernation to recuperate. If not for my awesome skills in erasing information, they could have gotten every detail about it, or worse, I would have most likely spilt out everything to them." Ming recalled as he leaned forward with his head heavy.

    "How did they even find out about it?" Jin started to think it might be a bad idea to have shown himself and his powers to Agent K, but at the same time, he felt there was a need to purposely rephrase his question a little to Ming.

    "Apparently, there was a family member of theirs who remembered every single detail despite the time reversal because she was a unique cultivator with the power to control time. In my stint of being a General for the China Armed Forces, the people had nicknamed her as the Grand Dragon Archivist or the Royal Dragon Historian. She might not be active anymore, but I doubt she''s kicked the bucket like me."

    "So if you had not messed your brain up, you might have identally revealed the System to them and also allowed them to use it?"

    "Possible. That is why I''d advise you to tread carefully with this Agent K. If the rumours that he is to be the next director for the Ministry of State Security are true, there is a good chance he might want to use you." Ming said as he heaved a heavy sigh out of his mouth.

    "On the other hand, if you were to use the System to control him before he controls you, it might be the reversal you need to actually change this country."

    "Because I will be holding onto one of the few powerful men under the mercy of the System?" Jin queried.

    "No, because you get to control one of the uing most powerful heirs in this country and change the world for the better!" Ming answered with hopeful grandiose.

 Chapter 869 Odd Conversation - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 869 Odd Conversation - Part 2</h4>

    "Control the most powerful heir in the country?! Hahahaha! Last I remember, the System wasn''t going to capture any cultivators because the hassle wasn''t worth it. It would be oddly funny if they were, though. Instead of customers, they would be like ''employees'' who were sending tributes to me." Jin replied as heughed hysterically and shook his head at that possibility.

    "Are you sure that isn''t already happening?" Ming asked in a quiet, tame voice. He went forward towards Jin and his bodynguage indicated that there was something deeper, something more sinister at work.

    "No, noбн that can''t be." Jin would lie if he pretended he had never considered the possibility. It would be quite convenient to have Xiong Da and the others at his beck and call simr to ire as theirtest addition.

    "The System told me it''s part of itsw to not enve people from our worldбн"

    However, the more Jin said it out loud, the more doubts started to flow in Ming''s words. Was the ''hassle'' really the only thing limiting it? Was there actually a w'' that prevented the System from using the capture system on the cultivators of his world? These thoughts that were once locked away because he believed that thew of the System was absolute started to crumble.

    Acting just and moral might be nice for a human, but despite its origins, the System did not behave like one anymore. Unless that method happened to result in the best efficiency the System would not hesitate to resort to more dubious means. It prioritised its own growth and subsequently fulfilled its own desires.

    In essence, Jin was just the current generation''s User, a person who the System decided topromise with to have the best manageable oue in long term benefits rather than straight out efficiency as it had done previously, like the harvesting of souls from the Dungeon World''s adventurers.

    "So does that meanбнmost of my customers are in a way part of the System, part of the minions that I could control? They are there because of it and not because they liked my dungeon instances?" Jin suddenly felt like there was an existential crisis ongoing in his life if it''s true.

    "Hahahahha! That issue woke you up real good, right? You think the System had the best intentions for you? If anything, it is self-serving. Who was behind all of these? None other than the System itself. It took me some time to realise it by myself, so I thought it would be best to save you all the troubles." Ming grinned widely at Jin.

    Out of a sudden, a de was ced at Ming''s neck without any hesitation.

    "Who are you?" Jin questioned as he started to apply some pressure on Ming''s neck, demanding an answer.

    "Ah Jin, you disappoint meбн Were you not ready for this truth? Are you content staying a puppet of the System? I do not remember raising you to raise a de against me. Put this -" Before Ming could finish his sentence, Jin used his other hand to stab Boo into Ming''s stomach, but his ''grandfather'' was already holding onto the wakizashi''s de with his bare hands.

    Ming kicked him away and put some distance between them before Jin could sh his neck off. Nheless, it had grazed Ming, and there was some blooding out.

    "Tsk, and here I thought that I could control you. A magnificent subject like you with the powers of the System is worthy to receive the glory of the Banned Emperor." ''Ming'' revealed as he believed it was useless to retain the form he was portraying.

    "You killing my precious Loopa Ooofpa was certainly outside our expectations, but for you to have this unique ne of subconsciousness and that power backing you might make it a worthwhile trade." Elder Wang Ba Tan greeted Jin formally by calling his name out. Jin, however, remained on alert and held his weapons tightly.

    "How did you even manage toe in here?" Jin asked calmly.

    "Well, since we will be sharing much of our time together from now on, I might as well tell you. I would much rather have you as apanion to our cause than our enemy. Think about it. The thing your System wants and what we want is not so different. We both want justice for what those traitorous Zodiacs have done!" Elder Wang exined.

    With a snap, suddenly everything within the ne of Jin''s subconsciousness started to copse and subsequently reconstruct itself to a dead quiet inner hall filled with ck concrete.

    The only light source was tes of oil lit with candles on top of them. They were ced all over the area and their illumination brought out the abyss within the dark corners of the inner hall instead of hope and visibility.

    "Since I n to be honest with you, I hope you can extend the same courtesy to me. How exactly did you discover that my impersonation of your Grandpa was fake?" Elder Wang Ba Tan asked courteously. He was dying to know the reason why this young chap without mental barriers was able to see through his disguise. He also did not expect the lie he made up about the System using the customers could be caught that quickly after looking through Jin''s memories.

    While waiting for Jin''s answer, Wang Ba Tan remembered hisst moments when the Loopa Ooofpa was getting banished and managed to have the control of his consciousness returned to him. There was still a small part of him surviving within the colossal manifestation.

    It was then he noticed an unconscious body nearby, one that his spirit could enter with ease before the ritual threw him and his manifestation to wherever it came from.

    While he had never heard about a Banishment Spell powerful enough to get rid of such a monster, it was a lucky break for him to be able to jump from one body to another. In fact, it was how he had been surviving for a long time and learnt about the forbidden creation of the Unceasing Hunger.

    With his Epic Arts, Soul Jump of the Parasitic Worm, he had been through many bodies to learn of their secrets and Jin would merely be histest victim. Should he choose to cooperate, it would only be a matter of time until he would dominate Jin''s spirit and take control over his body.

    While it was unfortunate that he had failed in quietly manipting Jin from behind the scenes, he had learnt a lot about this ''System'' and the other worlds by browsing through his host''s memories. If anything, Wang Ba Tan believed he had found the holy grail which could revive the Banned Emperor faction. What''s more he could use Jin as the vessel for the rise of their almighty Banned Emperor.

    All these memories of Jin having such powerful allies... If he could get this System entity into his hands. The whole world would kneel before him in no time!

    Then, his ambitions grew even stronger. Why limit himself to conquering just this one pathetic world when there were others out there? The eternal glory of him serving the Banned Emperor was overwhelming!

    His urges to get his hands on this System entity caused Wang Ba Tan to speed through the memories and grab whatever he deemed important to fake Jin''s closest rtive.

    It was a total coincidence that he decided to use Ming since he had seen vague repetitions of the elderly man in this particr ne. And since he could get Jin to talk so easily, he continued to use whatever knowledge he had acquired from his position as a Banned Emperor Elder to coerce Jin into hismand.

    This was not his usual modus operandi, but the prize of the System was too tempting, and the shbacks showed that Jin might have allies which could be trouble for him if he did not control Jin from within quick enough. But for the real host to find out that Elder Wang was an invader was truly an unforeseen surprise. Had he been a tad too hasty that he messed up somewhere?

    Yet there was no time to worry about it. As long as he could subjugate Jin right here and now, he too could have the whole body to himself. It would only be a little more challenging to control with his subconscious constantly rebelling as Wang Ba Tan took over, but it was nothing new to him.

    "I had my doubts from the start. If you think your acting was superb, think again!" Jin did not need to know anything right now. When Wang Ba Tan revealed his true form, Jin had affirmed that this was not just another of Ming''s test or anything. It was truly an intruderбн no matter how ''friendly'' they suddenly pretended to be.

    "Of all the times for someone tounch an attack on my mind, it just had to be when Pei is busy with the health policies reformation of the Demon Metropolis!" Jin thought to himself as he tried to exert some Maqi. It was not strong, but he would have to do with it.

    At the same time, there were too many questions in his head. While he was aware that this fake had tried to unsettle him, he did manage to conjure some doubts which Jin had buried. And yet the Astral Panda Cultivator would have to ignore them for now as Jin did not doubt that he was facing a formidable foe.

    "Perhaps, Gramps was preparing me for this day in case of an intrusion of the mind." Jin thought to himself as the ck-robed elder Wang Ba Tan started tough hysterically.

 Chapter 870 Odd Conversation - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 870 Odd Conversation - Part 3</h4>

    "So, you don''t seem to want to cooperate with us? I cannot totally me you for not trusting me unconditionally. Still, you should be aware that if I wanted to be your enemy, I could have attacked you outright. Are you sure you wish to point your des at me instead of talking things out?" Wang Ba Tan continued l pretending to be amicable, but in fact, he was trying to open Jin up with his chi persuasion tactics.

    After all, words were also part of his repertoire of weapons, just that they were imbued with chi to weaken Jin''s mental defences. After scanning through Jin''s memories, he believed he would be able to influence the young man. Yet, unexpectedly he had encountered spots of ckness when browsing through with many of them always leading back to a room with a single lightbulb which was seen hanging from the ceiling.

    Wang Ba Tan knew that certain spots of ckness within the string of memories could stem from mental trauma like PTSD. That small room indicated that he might have been tortured there at one point in time, yet there were way too many spots in Jin''s ''string'' that he started to think that perhaps someone had tempered with it externally to make him forget about it.

    Still, he found it odd that while there was an intentional removal of memories, he had encountered no mental barriers whatsoever.

    Jin did not answer, merely smiled as he listened to those chi imbued words. They were nostalgic music to his ears as he recalled how Kraft had made him listen to his chi imbued words to the point that he nearly went mad.

    "Breaking your psyche and rebuilding one''s mental defences is important. Never ever rely on barriers! They are about as useful as you sitting at home defenceless with a burr outside. If that person wants something from you bad enough, they WILL find a way to either bypass your mental lock or simply smash their way through using brute force. In both scenarios, if you don''t have a weapon to defend yourself, your fate will be up to the intruder''s mercy!" Kraft had said when he attacked Jin out of the blue and started this involuntary training for his master.

    And true to his words, this torturing chamber exercise eventually became part of Jin''s weekly routine where Kraft would be that ''burr'' always barging in uninvited into Jin''s mind at ungodly hours to test his psyche defences. Later on it was also to check if Pei''s barriers were still on par to her capabilities and help her reinforce them. And whenever Kraft managed to force his way in, the crafty fox would bring Jin back to that dark room with a single lightbulb and force him to fight. (even though to Jin it felt more like abuse)

    "And yet, here I am back in this lousy imitation of that ck room." Jin thought to himself as he kept his breathing stable and subsequently went to attack Wang Ba Tan with a straight stab.

    "You think you can defeat me in here? Just because you have enough willpower to fight doesn''t mean anything. As you can see, you have no control over your ''realm'' here. I can do whatever I like!" Wang Ba Tan gave up on his sneaky way of doing things and decided to beat Jin into submission.

    He raised a pir in front of Jin, hitting him from the bottom which caused him to trip and fall. However, being a veteran cultivator also meant that the Dungeon Supplier had the finesse to recover from it quickly and continued his attack.

    Subsequently, Wang Ba Tan sent even more pirs up from not just the ground but the sides and the ceilings in an attempt to slow and stop Jin. As Jin proceeded further, those pirs became spikes while some of the spikes branched out and turned into more pirs obstructing Jin''s way. To make matters worse, the room continued to expand as if he was running on a never-ending treadmill which did not allow Jin to catch up.

    However, the Astral Panda Cultivator did not stop in his tracks. Without using any extra tricks, he continued to focus on reaching his opponent and kept running straight at him without any distractions. The Maqi he had was concentrated inside his lungs and body movements rather than on his sword, enabling him to dodge rather effortlessly. Though he suffered some superficial cuts, they were non consequential to him.

    "What the hell? How is he still unfazed by all this?!" Wang Ba Tan thought to himself as he now started to wield his chi and caused those pirs to turn into multiple infernos being hurled at Jin while the blocks of rock continued to emerge from every corner of the room. Yet all Jin did was to run and even use the blocks and pirs to evade the trailing fire st.

    Only as time went by did Wang Ba Tan have to admit that Jin''s defences were nearly imprable. Whatever attacks came his way, he would either evade or walk ''em off. There was nothing stopping him from continuously running towards Wang Ba Tan as if the elder''s control over this reality meant nothing to him.

    And at the same time, Jin also started to realise why his Gramps did not teach him to manipte this current ne of subconsciousness and even stripped him off most of his powers. Controles from within and not from external factors. To add on, Kraft''s punishing tuition lessons enabled him to withstand most, if not all of the mind persuasion tactics. (He did guarantee that no one could ever break Jin''s mind as much as Kraft had.)

    "And most mind users do not necessarily have a resilient physique against martial arts? And here I thought that training was all useless. Guess my teachers really did eat more salt than the amount of rice I ate." Jin grinned as he ced his katana on his waist for bnce and continued to run forth.

    Soon enough, Wang Ba Tan ran out of his own personal chi with the uninterrupted bursts of chi attacks, causing his metaphysical body to weaken in Jin''s personal ne. He never expected Jin to be able to withstand his chi persuasion tactics and maniption of the realm.

    "It''s fine, I can utilise the surrounding chi even through his realm. That should teach him who is the real boss around here!" Elder Wang thought as he tried to absorb the chi around him, yet discovered was extremely difficult to absorb. It was too dense and felt more like mana rather than chi. In the first ce, he could not fathom why there was mana in the ne of a cultivator.

    Even though it was a little tiring, Jin did not exert anything other than his stamina. And with his Maqi strengthening his body, he had plenty of strength left to catch up to the Banned Emperor Elder. Obviously, the Astral Panda Cultivator could see that Wang Ba Tan was getting desperate, and he seemed to be gathering the strength to use onest line of defence as Jin got too close forfort.

    That was when Jin felt ted that he could finally use his hidden trump card behind his sleeve. "Now!" Jin shouted as loud as possible, momentarily scaring Wang Ba Tan after minutes of being silent throughout the whole fight.

    During that scare, a majestic white tiger popped out from the back of Wang Ba Tan and bit his neck while plunging his ws on the front of his chest.

    It gave him an absolute shock which was one that he would not recover from. The weight of the tiger after its pounce caused him to fall to the ground as Jin raced towards him and stabbed his sword through Wang Ba Tan''s other side of the neck which inadvertently went to his heart.

    "Cough! You think that this will kill me? All you did was remove *cough* my metaphysical form! I will haunt you in your dreams! Next time it won''t be so easy for you to recognise me! You will live in fear for eternity, knowing that I will corrupt your mind and take over your body!" Wang Ba Tan cursed until he felt an intense white electric shock throughout his body.

    Not only that, he realised the spiritual hold or link which he hadtched on to Jin''s ne of subconsciousness was not as strong as it should be.

    "Got to thank you for showing me where you were hiding." An old harsh tone was heard from the back of the White Tiger.

    "Gramps!" Jin''s face was delighted when he saw Ming rubbing the White Tiger''s head while the repeated new revtions shocked the imposter.

    He had no doubts that this was his true grandfather, reigning control over the ce.

 Chapter 871 Odd Conversation - Final

    <h4>Chapter 871 Odd Conversation - Final</h4>

    "What?! This cannot be! How can there be another entity here? *cough* I made sure to seal us up?!" Wang Ba Tan was losing consciousness after losing out in this particr match, mainly due to the strange properties of Jin''s subconsciousness.

    Wang Ba Tan started to realise that he was about to get killed by Jin once the White Tiger pounced on him. With his experience, he had begun to activate his spiritual version of the Dantian Core so that he could remain hidden inside Jin. Wang Ba Tan had no idea that his Dantian Core was being tracked and taken out from its ''hiding'' ce.

    Gramps Ming fiddled with the spiritual Dantian Core as Wang Ba Tan was still being pinned down by the White Tiger and his face turned to one of sheer shock.

    "Not just another entity. The one you boldly chose to impersonate! All this time you have been here, I allowed you to y along with Jin. So be grateful that I gave you such a chance." Ming said as the White Tiger took the opportunity to bite even harder and more blood spilt onto the ck concrete tiles.

    "You meanбнthe reason this kid has no mental barrier around him is because of you?! You are actually the master of his unconscious ne?!" Wang Ba Tan shouted coarsely, not satisfied with dying in ignorance.

    "I wouldn''t go so far as calling myself the master of this ce. If anything, I am more of an upant. I got to switch off the viewing camera when he wants to have his alone time, right?" Ming joked, and Jin facepalmed while taking his sword out of Wang Ba Tan.

    "I have enough people peeking into my life, I honestly do not need you to do the same," Jinined.

    "Well, what''s one more?! Besides, you have to check out on this particr AV star. Last I saw her before I sumbed to my illness, she was totally breathtaking. I am convinced by now she should have realised her potential! I can give you her actress name and the name of the video I was talking about. Though you have to use a VPN to watch it. You probably cannot -"

    "Gramps! SERIOUSLY?!?! Not in front of the enemy!" Jin was starting to get embarrassed.

    "What does it matter? His life is basically over. Maybe in his next life, he will repent and instead of following a crazy ideology, he will actually enjoy his life more by watching some lustful videos as side entertainment." Ming countered with a smirk on his face, and that insult alone was enough to garner thest remaining strength within Wang Ba Tan.

    "Don''t be so cocky just because you have my Dantian Core! I am still the best dream maniptor around! I am the Parasitic Worm Cultivator of the Banned Emperor!! I WILL-" Before he could finish his sentence and set his remaining chi up to explode, the White Tiger of the West, smashed his head into the ground without mercy and released a thunderous shock that blew Jin away. Ming was barely standing straight after its attack, but at least he was able to withstand it.

    "Woah. This feisty tiger here is not taking any chances." Ming said as he realised the orb he was holding had been obliterated into dust. Even as he withstood the thunder shock, the spiritual Dantian Core was not able to face the terrifying destructive bacsh by the White Tiger.

    "I honestly did not expect it to be this strong. Does it mean that the White Tiger was holding back when I was fighting against it?" Jin asked as he could still feel his entire body pulsating with electricity and decided to stay on the ground and concentrate on his breathing.

    "Well, duh. It is one of the Legendary Cardinal Demons. Like you, it had been stripped down of its powers, and even its strength got nerfed to oblivion to match your measly little cultivation." Ming teased as he scratched the back of the White Tiger while generating some chi water to wash its mouth away from all that terrible meat.

    "Still, it recognised your determination and diligence. Not every cultivator would dare to face it a second time, let alone multiple times like a madman that came out from a cave after seclusion." Ming said as he and the White Tiger walked towards Jin.

    "Also, you remembered what I said about it, huh?" Ming added as the White Tiger took the chance to lick Jin over his face while he pondered over his grandfather''s words.

    "Gosh, his tongue feels like needlesing out, touching all over my cheek area. It''s a little spiky and yet oddly soothing."

    "You find poking needles smoothing? Hahahahha! Spoken like someone who would have one?" Ming made such a cold sex joke onto Jin that he could not help but roll his eyes.

    "What do you know, stupid jeezer?!"

    "Oh, you want topare, do you? You want to be demoralised to the point that you won''t be able to face reality? I can pull my pants down anytime." Ming dared Jin to do the same.

    "Someone please get me out of this ne!"

    "Sorry, but I can''t let you do that. Not when your body is in such dire shape. You are lucky I managed to secretly pull you into this area. Else your mind would be dead too, and then the System would have to try resurrecting you." Ming denied his plea as he snapped his finger and the entire imagery of the inner ck hall sanctum copsed. They returned to where they were before, and this time Jin felt extremely cold being stuck in the snow.

    The White Tiger was not helping when it decided to snudge itself around Jin, disabling him from moving away from it. Perhaps payback? Jin did not want to specte any further and allowed it to do as it pleased.

    "By the way, I am also quite curious about how you realised that Wang Ba Tan was a fake? Am I that easy to read?" Ming stroked his beard a little as he sat down on the bench and watched Jin stuck in the snow as the White Tiger yawned.

    "See. The bench did not creak when you sat down on it. Never. Even at such an awkward position, you are still somehow able to avoid letting out a single noise." Jin exined as the White Tiger started to feel more rxed with the petting.

    "It was one of your habits while alive. There was never a moment where you made a sound when sitting, and your footsteps were silent. Sometimes I wondered whether you were trained by a ninja boss. I tried emting that when I was younger, but never managed it."

    "That''s all? Damn, grandson. Picking up such weird things to symbolise your grandfather." Ming smirked as he conjured a femur bone for the White Tiger to chew on.

    "I could go on, but nevermind that, what did you mean by the System would ''try'' to resurrect me? What''s the matter with that? My Dantian Core data should be with the System at all times." Jin asked as he started to pick his courage and pet the tiger.

    "Haven''t you picked up on it? You should have heard stories from me, Kraft, Yun and probably the System as well. Didn''t you ever wonder why the System Users always struggled and why there was no prosperity even when we had such an enormous super entity supporting us?"

    "I бнNo." Jin initially did not understand what Ming was saying until he started to think back.

    "Never questioned why the System grants you Betors who are all-powerful to a point that you do not even actually need to raise a finger?" Ming hinted strongly until it somehow clicked.

    "I бнcannot be resurrected?"

 Chapter 872 Untold Revelations

    <h4>Chapter 872 Untold Revtions</h4>

    "... Probably!" Grandpa Ming shrugged as he sat down properly and breathed in the air.

    "Did you not ask the System directly before?" Jin questioned as the White Tiger had rxed and released his body even further.

    "Of course, I did. However, the System was not willing to give me a direct answer. It would always divert the issue by iming that ''User should rather train instead of worrying about h h h''. It was super frustrating to hear that, but nothing I could do to make it spill the beans." Ming replied while rubbing his nose and cleared his throat. The memory associated with those words was not something the grandfather would like to remember much.

    "Well, I can give it a try when I have the chance to ask the System about it," Jinmented as if he was not too worried about it for some reason.

    "And if what you say is trueбн Then I guess it cannot be helped. I mean it would make sense that there had to be a trade-off for having something as powerful as a System. And now I think about it, I realised how the System never spoke of past users joining the collective form of entities. Would like to know how their past actions nearly sent the System into demise."

    "Heh! Are you indirectly insulting that I am ipetent? Gah that I will admit there were things I was not proud of when I was young. Still, I am surprised you took this message so easily. I was expecting you to be shaking or filled with anxiety. Knowing that unlike those around you, if something were to happen to you might actually die."

    "Hmm, I mean no one can escape Death forever. Maybe I am less shocked because I had way too many near-death experiences ever since I inherited the System. I don''t really want to think about it. Besides, I ce my trust in myrades and believe they wille to save me no matter what." Jin replied while thinking of all the times where he nearly got killed.

    "Is that why you wholeheartedly tried to save their worlds when it''s not your responsibility?" Ming was also curious why he would do such a thing when he had no real obligations to do so.

    "Wouldn''t you have done the same in my shoes? ''If you have the power to save someone, you should do it with all your strength. If not, it''s not worth living'', right? Thoughбн I have to admit that it did not click until Hou Fei told it to me so tantly." Jin remarked, and suddenly the White Tiger growled softly at the spot Jin was scratching.

    "''And the things you''ve invested and given to the people will be returned multi-folds.'' Hahah! d to see, that you did actually learn some useful things from me before I was gone." Grandpa Ming appeared as if he had something else on his chest after all this.

    What followed was a sudden silence. Jin could see that his Gramps was struggling about whether to tell him something important or not, so he just waited for Ming to gather his resolve.

    "There is something you should know about the time reversal. It was not really me who had initiated it. After I had rampaged against the Zodiacs, all the System did was re out alerts like an annoying cock screaming its lungs out before someone chopped its head off. Knowing that I could not be saved, Yuan sheбн sacrificed her Sub System module to ensure that I survived. After the System had learned about the Banned Emperor''s involvement, it was ready to change the world''s current history and allowed us to return back a few hours."

    "A few hours? And that itself caused the System to go so haywire?" Jin questioned and Ming gave out a slight chuckle.

    "I understand it might sound minuscule to you. But you have to understand it wasn''t just a local time reversal for one particr area. Everything which happened in our universe had been turned back exactly 3 hours, 44 minutes and 59 seconds. The cement of the sun, the birth of a new child, the minutes beforepletion of an exam. Even something as grand as the true death of a star. Everything was pushed back. Memories were unwritten, and things that were supposed to happen did not happen. The scale of the things that had been reversed cannot be taken into ount."

    "But only you, the System and a few others should have memories with regards to that, right? Or are the things Wang Ba Tan said actually true? Does the Royal Dragon n have a person with the ability to have recorded that time reversal? The Royal Dragon Historian was it? Have peoplee to you and asked you about it?"

    "For a Banned Emperorckey, it is terrifying to learn that he is right." Ming sighed and nodded his head. Even when Wang Ba Tan was actively searching into Jin''s memories, Ming was not just hiding. Like Kraft, he had used what the fox had taught him and extracted information whenever possible. When the Banned Emperor Elder thought he had the upper hand, Ming''s smirk became wider.

    "Well, the part about someoneing for it was something he made up. Still, a person with that moniker does exist and she might be someone who would know about the System or at least have an inkling of the existence of such a Super Entity. Also, thatst part of his advice should be false. When the System states that there is a rule, then it doesn''t lie. It seems to take those very seriously without breaking themбн Even that time reversal had some very stringent conditions which needed to be fulfilled before it acted."

    "But it is possible for the System to take control of the cultivators and treat them as moneybags?"

    "If you asked me about it a few months ago, I would have answered that it would be highly likely that it might do so via a loophole. But now that Kraft told me about your interaction with it, the System seems to have mellowed down and is actively trying to work with you. There shouldn''t be any real benefit for it to betray your trust again. Still, this is just the ramblings of an old man. If you want to rify things, you will have to ask the source. Just be prepared the answer might not be to your liking." Mingmented.

    "Whew. This is a lot to take in. I might have to reconsider the way I do things in this world then. First off, my cultivation isn''t great enough and even if I can hit a high grade like I don''t knowбн Grade 15 or 16? I alone cannot fight against the political forces brewing like an active volcano waiting for the right chance to explode."

    "Are you going to abandon all your work?"

    "Impossible. There is so much I have already done and still so much more that I want to do. I have been thinking for some time on how to expand. I just know that I won''t allow myself to be used as a pawn by others. The teleportation device is way too dangerous to reveal to the public seeing how they could bring in troops and supplies so quickly to reinforce the borders of Huizhou. It might be useful, but if something like that falls into the Banned Emperor''s hands we might have monsters popping out everywhereбн"

    "Every action has a reaction. Thatw does not apply only to physics but everything else in this world. Items are never at fault. It''s the people who use it." Ming preached.

    "And for an ambitious dream to be the World''s Number One Dungeon Supplier, I have been thinking that my steps were too small. Mainly because my capital had been restricted. Now that I have a certain reputation and the resources in ce to earn money, I believe I should start to make bigger strides. That is why when I wake up, I am going to change how to deal with all this." Jin stated with some resolution.

    "That is if you wake up. From what I know, your body is currently in no condition to do anything grand." Ming shook his head for having to be the one to bear the bad news.

    "That bad?"

    "You think I am just keeping you here because I miss my precious grandson so much? Believe me, I have ways to entertain myself in here. Hehehe."

    "Please spare me the details. But yeah, I thought you wanted to share things with me after that sudden Banned Emperor Elder surprise bash."

    "If you really mean what you im and you do want to change the way you are doing things, you still need the appropriate cultivation to do so," Ming stated as he pped twice and the White Tiger sat back up sluggishly as if Jin had been a perfect plushie for him to snooze on top of.

    "You might have had the Sword Saint drill you for the basics, but I am going to train you in my own Panda Sword Arts. Once you learn them, you will understand why I wrote that Astral Panda Cultivation Manual in a certain way." Ming spoke mysteriously as he summoned out a ck and a white scimitar.

    "Only when you truly grasp and master the concepts here and that manual, will you have the ability to make your own Sword Arts."

    Ming''s chi started to emanate through the mountains. A spiral of ck and white chi burnt through his body and melted the snow around him.

    Jin knew that his Gramps meant business.

 Chapter 873 Training A Panda

    <h4>Chapter 873 Training A Panda</h4>

    Just as the chi flowed out of Ming, it gradually returned back to him as well. The two weapons that he was holdingbined into one ck and white stic-looking scimitar. "Get up. We do not have time to waste."

    Ming ordered as he swirled the newly formed de around. "Your objective is to make me use my ultimate form. Pressure me with what you have learned so far and don''t hold back!"

    "I won''t be giving you any concession. If you die by my stic scimitar then you only have yourself to me. You should be ashamed till you beat me to clear those sins." Ming stated as the winter winds on top of the mountain began to whistle into their ears.

    Jin stood up and prepared his stance by transmuting Bam and Boo to his waist. Yet, his sword was still within his scabbard and ready to be pulled out in a moment''s notice. The very same technique as Iaido, a quick sword draw, responding to a sudden attack. Jin did not learn this smooth controlled movement without difficulty.

    Zeru had pushed him to his limits to get it right. From the speed of his draw, the cement of his feet to the correct push from his muscles. A lot of it came with muscle memory and extremely rigid rote memory to boot. Even now, Jin could feel Zeru staring at Jin''s back checking for the slightest mistake.

    "Oh, I see. Iaido. The Sword Saint has taught you enough for my training to be two times more effective." Ming praised his grandson as he raised his stic toy looking scimitar. "But it will also be two times more difficult for you to pass," Gramps added before starting to run towards Jin.

    "Seriously? Just a straight on attack? Is he copying my method? Is it a feint or is thinking that way the diversion?" Jin thought to himself as he activated his Inverse Eyes. For some reason ever since Wang Ba Tan''s assault, his Inverse Eyes started to act a little weird.

    Fortunately, they behaved weirdly in a good way. It could predict the way his opponent moved, and that was how Jin had been able to evade most of the attacks. There was a slight change in the atmosphere which he could detect where it wasing from and thus allowing him to adjust his action.

    Even when Wang Ba Tan was about to hit him, there were future apparitions that would hint ever so slightly where the attack wasing from. However, when used on Ming, Jin could not even see a trace of it.

    He wondered if it was because it was a one-time thing with Wang Ba Tan, a restricted use which refreshed after a certain period of time or if Ming was simply on a different levelpared to the Banned Emperor Elder.

    Without the assistance of his newly improved power, Jin decided to rely on his training that Zeru had drilled into him as he tightened his form and waited for the right time to strike Ming down. Maybe, just maybe Ming was testing how strong he was with this first strike and would handle him depending on his level. Whatever the case, Jin was not going to let his grandfather down.

    Once Ming entered the range of his Iaido strike, Jin shed his sword and realised Ming clumsily fell down in the direction where it was out of the range from Iaido''s strike. Jin was surprised and wanted to follow up a second strike instead of returning his sword back to scabbard.

    But instead of hitting Ming, a de sh suddenly hit his shoulder and ran down to his chest.

    "How didбн?" Jin, stunned by the sh, decided to move backwards. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the power behind the attack. The sh was deep and strong enough to break his vampiric bones and spill his guts out.

    Now all Jin could do was lie on the ground and wait for his eventual death and reset. "Bad choice. You should not overextend your attacks. Had you returned back to your original Iaido stance, you would have received a lighter wound." Ming lectured Jin as he recovered himself from the ground, patting away the snow on his body.

    Yet, Jin was there breathing in pain and simultaneously feeling scared. His partially detached heart from the attack was pumping blood furiously out in the open, dying the snow with dark red colour.

    When Jin thought about it, there was not even any time for him to activate his ''Perfectly Normal'' parry sh, which was one of his most-used skills in a closebat fight. There were many a time, he managed to stop Zeru''s fast de with that skill during their training. This time, Jin had been unable to see that stic toy scimitaring forth but just a slight tinge of chi in the air.

    "This feeling of deathбн can''t say I''ve missed it!" Jin thought to himself as he tried to use his Maqi to recover himself. The Astral Panda Cultivator knew that he could reset his life in this ne of subconsciousness without any problem. But if he relied too much on that, he might get careless in the future when outside.

    And carelessness was not something he could afford if his life was at stake.

    Thus, Jin ced all his Maqi that he could muster into the legendary recovery inscription charm knowing even more hurt and pain would grip his mind and body in this particr metaphysical ne.

    "I see. So, you have a way to recover yourself even from such a severe wound. Do you want me to wait for you to recover or do you want to continue in this state?" Ming questioned as he rested the stic-looking scimitar on his shoulders and swayed his body.

    "Just a secondбн" Jin asked for a ''break'' when his training had barely begun. For the first time, he finally saw how the legendary recovery inscription charm worked with the covering of his skin. There were literal worms- nay, leeches that started to crawl out of the inscription charm and started to cover Jin.

    Only instead of sucking blood away from Jin, they were actually providing Jin with blood, and some of them were even grouping together tightly. To his surprise, he could see that the leeches were metamorphosing into blood vessels and even organs. The old vampiric bones infused with his own were also doing their magic working in tandem with the leeches, regrowing and heal the fractures together.

    "No wonder it''s always this painful." Jin was curious why the inscription charm and bones had also been replicated in this particr ne of subconsciousness. Unlike his sword, these were supposedly added on traits into his body and not something he should have been born with.

    "Ah, whateverбн I can''t think with all this pain. Just focus on handling it." Jin thought to himself as he finally could stifle the pain from within and shouted at the top of his (damaged) lungs.

    "At this rate, there is no way you will die if you have enough time to hide. Heck, you do not even need to worry about sickness." Ming remarked as he squatted down and observed the recovery process in real time.

 Chapter 874 Clumsiness Is a Form of Ar

    <h4>Chapter 874 Clumsiness Is a Form of Ar</h4>

    "How the hell were you able to do that sh without me realising it? You were faster than my Iaido! Even my Inverse Eyes were not able to catch a glimpse of your attack." Jin asked while healing. All that pain he suffered caused him to sweat profusely despite the cold weather. Not to mention his shirt was stained with blood and a gaping hole in the middle of it, making him colder (and to a certain degree, painful) with the winds blowing through his wounds.

    "Panda Sword Arts. Although, to be more precise, what I showed you was the actual essence of being a Panda User." Ming exined after he sat down and asionally poked at Jin''s wounds to see if the leeches would react to it.

    To his surprise, the leeches did by starting to suck his blood to use as nourishment to help their host recover. He decided to entertain them by allowing the leeches to do whatever they pleased. (Especially since those leeches would not stop until they have enough of his blood.)

    "Have you ever seen a Panda ...be rigid in its life?" Ming asked, and Jin carefully shook his head without causing pain to his closing wounds.

    "It''s alwayszy, clumsy and wants to y whenever possible, right? Like heck, I remembered a guy got taken down with a grapple by a Panda smaller than his size because he intruded his enclosure. And that Panda merely slept on him, thinking he was some pillow." Ming recounted an incident, waiting for the nod from Jin with regards to his initial question.

    "So as Panda Cultivators, we naturally have to be like this too."

    "You beingzy? Please, I think you''d rather die than bezy. Whenever you came home from work, you always were busy with something. Mowing thewn, repairing stuff around the house or simply cultivating. Anything you could find, to avoid sitting around and watch TV like a normal person! The only exception was on weekends, and even then you only did so as some sort of reward after training me." Jin reminded him, and Mingughed.

    "Hahahah! You are not wrong. I did not mean your way of life in general, but just how you fight against your enemy." Ming specified as he stood up and started to show a few martial moves without his scimitar.

    When Jin watched his grandfather''s demonstration, it was obvious that the way he moved was strikingly simr to the Drunken Fist martial style.

    "Don''t tell me the Drunken Fist originated from Panda Cultivators?" Jin could not have made that connection since most of these cultivators were from the Shaolin Temple.

    "Not exactly. From what I discovered the roots of those Drunken Fist Styles were actually from a Shaolin Monk who observed a Panda after it identally drank wine. That stupid Panda had noticed the bamboo wine container and assuming it was more food, it greedily grabbed from the monk and ate the entirety of it all. Afterwards it started fighting other creatures and that monk emted what he sawбн well, the rest is history." Ming exined.

    "EhбнI do not think that really answers the original question." Jin said as he tried to sit up slowly.

    "Just a fair fun tidbit, but not entirely out of topic. Just like the Drunken Fist utilises unusual body movements to catch their opponents off guard, the true essence of Panda Sword Arts utilise the characteristics of the Panda. We deliberately get clumsy to fight, and you can say we are basically the antithesis of the Sword Saint." Ming told Jin as he finished his martial art demonstration.

    "Zeru aims for precision and perfection as you would expect from a Sword Saint, but we should be clumsy to throw the opponent''s conventional prediction out of the fighting ring and win the fight. They are bound by rules, but we set the rules with our own fighting style."

    His Gramps said as he kicked up his scimitar and repeated the very same demonstration with his de. This time, Jin could vaguely see silhouettes of a Panda all around Ming''s body as he executed the moves with his scimitar.

    "That is why I told you that this training would be two times more effective because you''ve been taught perfect basics from the Sword Saint. And two times more difficult for you to learn since you will essentially relearn most of it, to be able to deliberately behave clumsy."

    After performing the very same attack which he hit Jin with, he fell to the ground as part of the demonstration. There was actually another vague silhouette left behind to perform the strike making the Astral Panda Cultivator aware of how he had been injured.

    It was as if Ming''s body was the diversion, making his chi and sword art the actual deal. "If you manage to master this, you will finally get to use your Astral Form to its utmost potential. It will be extremely useful."

    Even without Ming''s remark, Jin could already predict how useful it would be. "Hahaбн just plement'' well? This is the real deal." Jin thought to himself as he watched Minge up from the floor effortlessly. There was no wasted movement despite how clunky he seemed.

    Heter proceeded to sway his body and trip even though there was nothing there that would cause him to fall at all. Now, Jin has a grasp of what Ming meant by deliberate falling.

    "You cannot act clumsy. You cannot preempt clumsy. You have to BE clumsy. Not only do you have to learn how to break the falls, but also learning to read the opponent''s actions so that it would counteract against their conventional thinking and reflexes." Ming stressed as he showed how there were no bruises or cuts despite the falls he had made, and this made Jin understand that it was easier than done.

    "It might be easier if you have an actual panda to mimic, but right now, you have to settle for me," Ming added.

    "Hahaha, maybe if we put some ck spots on the White Tiger, he might be of some use." Jin joked, and Mingughed as he went towards the tiger and pulled its face.

    "This guy has been sozy he might even put pandas to shame, but clumsy? He probably would have to put in way more effort than all of usbined to do what a panda does." Ming got in on the joke as he rubbed the tiger''s head who merely let out a light growl of protest before moving its resting spot to the wooden bench.

    At this point, Jin started to get up as the wound closing was more or less bearable. He suddenly felt that he understood his cultivation more than just refining his abilities. Maybe that was why even repeated reading of the cultivation manual, continuous meditation in his spare time and going through near-death encounters had not increased his current Grade.

    With a better rity of mind, Jin picked his sword up and decided to face Ming. He knew that his grandfather was a person who did not teach with grace and patience. Everything he wished to learn would have to be gained on the field itself and from there, his grandfather would give the necessary advice allowing him to improve.

    If anything, Jin was aware that oveing this particr huddle could be one of the hardest portions of his cultivation journey.

 Chapter 875 Not Waking Up

    <h4>Chapter 875 Not Waking Up</h4>

    "Why is he still not awake? I know for sure that I have helped you transfer a shit load of mana into his circuits! I have better things to do with my time, you know?!" Peppers threw her manga book down andined as she was stuck on a more advanced blood transfusion machine which Qiu Yue had bought after learning of their leader''s situation.

    She and Lynn had gathered funds from their individual Sub Systems and invested in specialised medical equipment for the Luxury Recovery Instance''s ICU (Intensive Care Unit.) Initially, Jin and Pei had agreed on creating a series of ICU rooms in case of fatal chi injuries, but the equipment was still pretty basic since no one was using them after the System''s proper calibration of the Dungeon instance.

    Later, the instance had swiftly been designated as a temporary medical outpost, and Jin had even ordered boxes of basic medical supplies and equipment for the Huizhou evacuation in case of trouble. It was meant for patients to get admitted before they would be assessed and triaged.

    With the System as part of the medical analysis team, the Panda Nurses would have judged whether they could be treated on the spot or be sent to hospitals for specialised treatment.

    That was why Pei and Milk initially used basic blood transfusion kits because they were part of the medical supplies that Jin had bought beforehand.

    "Is there any progress in his diagnosis?" Lynn asked as Pei was still at the side of his bed, looking extremely haggard. She was notably reluctant to bring him to see a proper doctor specialist mainly because it was her fault that she had left him alone with the System.

    Not to mention how she predicted that most doctors would say it would be better to pull the ''plug'' and let him off. Because if it was up to her, she would have done the same if not for Jin being the System''s User. What''s more, the hospital doctors were bound to discover the abnormalities in his physique that she ced into Jin were more valuable than any current medical equipment avable on the market. The Dungeon Supplier could have easily been turned into a guinea pig for the government in his current state.

    "Both of his chi and mana circuits have mostly been repaired. It turned out to be a good thing that I had strengthened his body a while ago. However, it is weird that Jin continues to be in an unconscious state. I did feel some weird fluctuations in the brain waves during the first day as if he was panicking from somethingбнbut since thenбн It had remained normal." Pei filled her in as she was dying to do something more to ensure that Jin had not been reduced to a vegetative state.

    However, it was Kraft who had explicitly ordered that no one was to touch him after checking up on him for a moment. Instead, they should just continue to rotate around the chi and mana insertion and ensure that his circuits would be well repaired. "Trust me on this. He will wake up, it''s just a matter of time."

    And unlike Kraft who could wander around without any worries, people with high social status had beening to the shop to ask for Jin. Naturally, Yun rejected all of them no matter how important they imed to be. She also ignored all sorts of threats they hurled her way (the System noted down any offenders). In fact, Hou Fei and Grandma Yuan were also protecting Jin by denying their fellow ''colleagues'' from looking further into Jin.

    They all repeated that Jin was busy recovering after the battle and had disappeared to his secret hideout to create dungeon instances for his shop. After all, the Chinese New Year holidays wereing.

    s, the constant harassment from the Demon Exorcists and Military officials had continued to a point where Yun had entertained the idea of letting Kraft go deal with them (as non violent as he saw fit). Among the ''repeat offenders'' were Ke Loong, his business partner and the State Agents.

    Sadly, Ryuli left almost immediately upon learning that Jin was not avable. She was not interested in experiencing any of the dungeons even though Mr Know-It-All wholeheartedly rmended them. (Especially the Deep One Escape City Dungeon Instance)

    However, before she left, she did call Mr Know-It-All a liar since he promised that Jin would be at the shop after the Monster Horde Defence.

    After a week of nothing but rejections, people finally believed that Jin had really disappeared to make some special dungeon instance and with promises toe backter, the Sub System Users could only buy that much time for their Boss.

    "Isn''t it weird that there are still no new Dark Sludge Crystalsing from him? Usually, Jin would have filled this whole room with Sludge Crystals." Milk tried to lighten the mood as she sat on a cushion at the side of the ICU, recuperating from the donation of mana.

    "I was wondering the same, and that is why I am worried." Lynn acknowledged the observation Milk brought up and was hoping that Pei knew anything about it.

    "The more unusual thing is the creation of them in the first ce. We have all been through cultivation, and we know that there might be times where we would shed ayer of skin like a snake. Or grow slightly prettier because our chi circuits became cleaner. However, for him to throw out this much ''dirty chi'' is pretty much abnormal behaviour." Pei tried to discern the nature of that.

    "Maybe because he had been throwing out a ton of dirty chi also means that his storage might actually be way more than a regr person''s ability to handle chi. That could be the reason why we felt that the chi and mana that we were pouring in seemed to be going to an abyssal pit." Pei theorised as she started to stand up and walk around the room for a moment.

    "Then perhapsбнhe''s also using this period of unconscious time to regain what he lost." The Crane Cultivator added as she picked up the phone and started to dial for the Panda Nurses. "Yes, it''s me. Mind bringing a box of chi potions here? No, the new ones that the researcher made."

    "That researcher?" Qiu Yue did not understand who Pei was talking about until she saw the wooden crate of specially stored chi potions. "Oh, so you meant Yu Xiang, the researcher that Jin hired to replicate the System''s chi potions?"

    "Yes, she came in a day ago, wanting to show Jin her results as part of a Chinese New Year surprise but we told her the same convenient excuse as everyone. She had actually managed to make a chi potion simr to the System''s demands." Pei exined.

    "As I recall, it was a project meant for us to mass-produce them in the future to avoid relying on the System''s reliance on the ck Market. From what I have learnt, the prices started to increase rather drastically ever since Jin requested the System to buy a ton of them." Qiu Yue reasoned.

    "Exactly. That Yu Xiang is truly a geniusss. I personally tried one bottle since she had already brought them over. The quality might be the same as the ones the System bought, but the chi effects are longersting than the System''s inferior goods. It actually prompts the Dantian Core to produce chi. I n to put this on a hydration cycle for Jin and dilute it with some basic mana potion. Let''s hope this will fill his bottomless pit and get him back up for work." Pei told them as she already started to take one of the potions out.

    "Does that mean that I can get this needle out of my arm?" Peppers felt left out by the conversation.

    "What? No. You are connected to the universe pool of Mana. There is no way you areing out of that seat until Jin wakes up. Milk has already overdone it, and I don''t want to have to treat her as well!" Pei stressed as she wore a pair of gloves and set up a drip stand with the chi potion on hand.

    "But you just said that you are using basic mana pots." Peppers argued, feeling frustrated.

    "What are you talking about? You are the basic mana potion!" Both Milk and Qiu Yue said at the same time which made Lynn and Peiugh, causing Peppers to roll her eyes and heaved a ''brrrrrr'' sound out.

 Chapter 876 Falling, Failing

    <h4>Chapter 876 Falling, Failing</h4>

    Time was not a factor in Jin''s ne of subconsciousness as Ming and the White Tiger alternated training Jin in his inelegant swordy. At first, he was embarrassed trying to behave clunkily, but that made him suffer even more wounds from Ming.

    Only after he started to grasp the movements did Ming decide to take a break and let the White Tiger train with him. Unlike humans, the White Tiger was able to ''y'' with Jin using grapples, knockdowns and tussles which made it harder for Jin to execute his fakeout attacks and he had to be more creative in actively avoiding them while performing the clumsy rolls.

    What Ming had told him turned out to be true. Zeru''s teaching about posture made it all the harder for him to forget since it was trained deep into his muscle memory. Thus, to speed Jin''s learning process, Ming had secretly manipted the ne to put in stones and sticks within the snow.

    This would make the falling and trips slightly easier for Jin while he learned how to utilise his Maqi to project his Astral Form out for an attack. "Trust me, you have it WAYYYYYY easier than me. Like I did not even have an Astral Form to project my attacks much less anyone to guide me. I had to cultivate my chi to do it by myself. Me giving you that perfected Panda Cultivation Manual is already providing a handicap."

    "Yeah, but you had years toe up with and practice it while I only have what? Hours? Days? At most a week or two! I am worried the System and the others are already facing the bacsh of the Monster Horde without me at the helm." Jinined as the White Tiger pounced forward.

    Jin was able to gracelessly fall to the ground and perform an Astral Projection Attack, but the White Tiger used its tail to p Jin on his balls before evading the Projection attack too. By now the West Cardinal Demon had adapted to him and started to feint his own attacks better than Jin which made his training even harder.

    "Oooh. That hurts just watching it." Ming giggled while ignoring Jin''s worries as he saw his grandson trying to breathe through the pain. The Tiger had no human sympathy for a person being hit in the balls. As long as it saw an opportunity, it would take it and strike mercilessly.

    And as expected, neither Ming nor the White Tiger gave Jin any breaks in between, causing him to train ceaselessly. The only time he was allowed to take a breather was when the wounds he suffered from were major and required much time to regenerate.

    In one instance, the White Tiger nearly decapitated Jin''s head, and it was barely hanging with the left side of the skin intact. Ming had to use his chi to keep Jin''s heart pumping and ensure there was a blood vessel connection to his brain while he healed. He could have let him and resurrect but Jin''s pleading gaze had made it clear that the dungeon supplier would rather suffer now than take the easy path.

    All this intense training and punishing pain brutally strengthened Jin''s mental concept of physical toughness while he got the hang of the Panda Style. His Astral Form got even more potent as time went by. Considering there was no night and day unless Ming deemed it appropriate for training, Jin had lost sense of all time. (Usually, it''s the System that reminded him of things.)

    For night training, Jin fought with Ming in absolute darkness as his current mentor changed thendscape to a snowy forested area. Unlike daytime training where Ming would help Jin with obstacles, the forested area his grandpa had created was ever-changing. The rocks, trees and slippery snow was more of a hindrance to Jin, forcing Jin to fune his movements so that whenever he moved, it would be gracefully clunky.

    To make matters worse, Ming also added traps which he would intentionally lure Jin into, further increasing the difficulty for his grandson. And as if that was not bad enough, his grandfather also blindfolded after he seemingly got used to the advanced training. Naturally more cuts, bruises and bite wounds from the White Tiger helped turn Jin into a deadlybat specialist.

    However, all these appeared like child''s ypared to his final test. Ming teleported Jin to the very same ck concrete inner hall where he had fought against Wang Ba Tan.

    With a quick nce, Jin already saw his final exam question staring right in front of him. The silhouette was more than enough to discern who he was. "You must be kidding me. How did you get him here?"

    "It wasn''t that hard. This version is based on your memories, and I asked Kraft for some samples of his stats and attributes some time ago. This representation is not as powerful as the real deal, but it''s more than enough for you to have a hard time against." Ming exined as he lit up the whole ck hall and they found Zeru replica with his long yellow hair intact.

    "I suppose that means his strength is above the one he used to drill mest time?" Jin asked, but before he could get a reply, a shing shockwave zipped by him without any warning. To this particr Zeru''s replica, his opponent was right in front of him, and there was no obligation to wait.

    Ming clearly did not need to answer that question anymore as he stepped backwards and summoned the very same wooden bench he had used in the mountains. The White Tiger also sat on it while staring at the impending fight.

    "Welp. Here goes nothing!"

    After days and days of training his whole body was filled with superficial scars. Not to mention, he was left half-naked with bloodstained tattered pants since he had been wounded time and time again throughout the training. As a constion, he had full ess to his Inverse Eyes in this fight.

    He decided to run straight towards Zeru, just like how Ming had done against him. With their roles seemingly reversed, he noticed that Zeru simrly took on the Iaido stance Jin had previously performed. The Sword Saint''s chi coursed through his body and Jin knew how powerful Zeru wasбн it would be instant death if he got so much as grazed by this replica''s attack.

    However, with all the Panda training Jin had done with Ming and the White Tiger, he now had confidence that his cultivation style was indeed an antithesis to all weapon specialists.

 Chapter 877 Astral Panda Projections

    <h4>Chapter 877 Astral Panda Projections</h4>

    Replica Zeru performed his Iaido sh, yet Jin was able to dodge it in time since he remembered his sensei''s timing by heart and the replica behaved true to its name.

    At that moment he dodged, Jin performed a fall which indeed prompted Zeru to overextend his attack range, and that was when Jin initiated the Astral Form sh after his fall. The projection of his Maqi appeared almost instantly doing a straight cut right after Zeru missed his target by a few centimetres.

    s, it would have been too easy if that was the end of it. The replica managed to block the surprise Astral attack, but that was when Jin decided to push for a follow up strike.

    However, Replica Zeru had not dismissed Jin despite the diversion of a second opponent. The replica was merely slightly confused that he had to block a sudden strike from a ck and white sparkling silhouette that disappeared momentarily after that.

    A stab from the bottom caused Replica Zeru to move aside and use his scabbard to block the attack but somehow Jin "identally" dropped his weapon. This greatly threw off Zeru''s reflexes as a different ck and white astral silhouette stabbed Zeru from a slightly different position. Possibly only a change in a five-degree angle from where Jin dropped his sword.

    While Zeru once again managed to move away from the attack, he did not get out unharmed. That stab managed to scrape his elbow, causing a light wound which hindered his arm movements a little.

    "Nice, +1 point for aiming at the nerves. If he moved the other way around, your silhouette would have gone for his armpit, and that would have been worse for him." Mingmented from the side and apanied it with a p. The tiger even gave a low happy growl as if to approve his training partner''s efforts.

    "You are taking points for this?!" Jin didn''t think his grandfather was serious on a ''final exam'' duel. And yet that moment of distraction was what Zeru needed to throw his scabbard into Jin''s face.

    But thankfully, after fighting blindfolded and in the dark, Jin ced some Maqi in his hands that made him slip intentionally rather than dodging outright, and this gave the Astral Panda Cultivator the opportunity to project another Astral form to attack. (As if Jin needed to fulfil a requirement to project the Astral images but no, it was toplement his attacks.)

    And yet all of his attacks were actually part of the basic Panda Sword Styles. Technically speaking, as long as a cultivator was using chi with his weapon to attack, it''s already considered as a basic Weapon Style. (Even if it was just imbuing the weapon as that itself requires basic knowledge of transferring chi energy into it.)

    So for each Astral Projection that popped up, it''s basically Jin utilising a basic Panda Sword Style mainly because the silhouette that appeared looked exactly like a Panda holding onto a sword.

    If any of his regrs were to see him, they might think that Captain Hei had been fused with Jin or even believe that those Panda Captains were incidentally part of Jin.

    The Replica Zeru might not be affected by the Panda Astral Silhouette since it''s reconstructed for battle, but against other cultivators, both Ming and Jin believed that its size (and to a certain extent it''s cuteness) would be adequate enough distraction to gain an advantage over the opponent. And that was important since a moment of diversion was all a fighter needs to have the upper hand to win the fights.

    And as Jin continued his duel with Zeru, he did not feel as pressured as the time he duelled against Zeru for onest time before the underground boxed up cer was officially opened by ire.

    Jin utilised all he had learnt fighting against a Cardinal Beast as well as Ming who hadparable years of experience. Though he would not be thanking them for all the near-death experiences, it was definitely helpful to learn how to ovee them. Not forgetting what Zeru had taught him, Jin had also utilised his skills and projected them via the Astral Panda silhouettes. And sometimes the fight they were in made it look like Zeru was fighting with a cultivator with his pet Panda instead.

    "Advanced Panda Sword Art, Bamboo Sword Rain!" Jin shouted as he mmed his sword on Zeru''s wooden sword and immediately put his weight on the other side of his body causing him to roll to his enemy''s back with the aid of Panda Tumbling.

    At that point, Replica Zeru was prepared to defend himself from an aerial attack since the Astral Panda Cultivator called out Bamboo Rain.

    But to his surprise, Bamboos were shot out from the ground and pierced his left foot without warning. Zeru managed to evade for the second one that aimed for his intact foot and immediately unleashed arge chi sh on the ground to counter Jim''s Bamboo Sword Rain.

    ...Only to realise that the Astral projection of Pandas holding swords started to rain from above and aimed for Zeru.

    Even as Zeru blocked one of the Astral Panda projections, another one came too close forfort. It was to the point where the replica had to remove the wooden shaft and pull out his real sword.

    Once shifted to dual wielding, he could block and dissipate every single metaphysical Astral projection, but he did not realise that there was a second part to the attack.

    The Bamboo shoots that grew eventually were rooted out and held by more Panda Astral Projections and this time. It was Jin sending the Maqi into them. Each of them imbued with some form of element, they charged towards the replica at lightning speeds.

    Immediately, a whirlwind of lotus flowers emerged from the centre of the conflict, and it pushed all of the Astral Pandas away. For Zeru to resort to using a Sword Art meant that Jin had managed to push the replica to a certain limit.

    Still, that was what Jin was waiting for.

    "PANDA YAWNING!" Jin yawned really loudly, releasing arge amount of Maqi which he had umted over time. For some reason, he felt that his Maqi generation got better as his training days passed.

    Ming believed that his body had been healing rather well and his caretakers were already taking into consideration his mana and chi consumption such that they pumped enough for Jin to perform his Panda Yawning technique.

    In the meantime, with all that trickery, Zeru decided to not bother evading and take the st head-on. Jin did not expect this course of action but was delighted that his mentor had done so.

    Mainly because the Panda Yawning technique he used was not the usual energy beam. Instead, it was actually a series of Astral Projections beingpressed into a single beam.

    Jin had initially nned for Zeru to evade, allowing the Panda Astral Projections to make a roundabout and return to attack from his back. But since he was taking the hit, the Panda Astral Projections were damaging him consecutively.

    For Replica Zeru, Jin believed there was no way he could withstand such an attack head-on.

    But he was dead wrong.

    Zeru blew it all away with yet another sh filled with lotus flowers spreading across the air and looked angrily at Jin. In the next moment, more lotus flower petals started to appear around Zeru, and the radius widened.

    "Okay, that''s enough." Ming pped once and suddenly the replica dissipated into thin air.

    "Huh, why?" Jin asked as he was still able to fight since he had yet to suffer any serious injury.

    "You will die if I let him continue. Trust me, you don''t ever want to be on the receiving end of what he was about to do. Come to think of it, he might not have been the best enemy to be reconstructed for your test." Ming meant that Jin managed to pass Zeru''s threshold, which caused him to move to the next level.

    "Does that mean I pass?" Jin asked and Ming nodded his head with a smile.

    "No rewards though. Just permission to leave this ce for now. I believe I held you hostage long enough for it to be an interesting scene when you reach back." Ming''s grin started to resemble Kraft''s.

    "Wait, what?! What about that ultimate form promise?!" Before Jin could get an answer, he was flung back to the real world.

    "Nah! Was kidding about that, hehe! Don''t forget to check out the video I was talking about!" Ming''s voice turned into an echo for Jin who felt his subconscious ne fading away.

 Chapter 878 Time Lost Can Never Be Returned

    <h4>Chapter 878 Time Lost Can Never Be Returned</h4>

    His eyes were heavy with the rheum that had umted throughout his sleep. His arms were aching when he tried to remove the dried up mucus and Jin felt as if he had been chained down for a very long time.

    Only after rubbing his eyes did Jin start to realise that his body was incredibly dull and бнdamp?! "Oh shitбн" Jin thought to himself as he noticed that it was not just him but the entire ce which had been flooded with the dark sludge liquid.

    It was even more viscouspared to his original iteration, but it was obvious that it was leaking not just around his bed, but it actually broke the door and ss of the room that he was residing in.

    "JIN!" Peppers shouted angrily as she popped her head out of the room''s window. "THAT HURTS!" The little girl Betor shouted as she wiped the dark sludge away from her face.

    "Oh but this isedy gold!" Peppersughed while pointing downwards. As the Dungeon Supplier was strapped to his bed, he could not clearly see what was happening.

    "Shut up!" Milk argued in a disgusted voice as she stood up all drenched in her sleepwear.

    "Who asked you to change into your sleepwear? You are totally translucent now. So baggy! Ahhahaha!" Peppers continued making fun of her, but Milk showed no mercy and grabbed her.

    "Sheeesh! Better than the t slopes that you have!" Milk replied while grinding her fist on top of Peppers'' head.

    "That was really unexpectedбн" Pei started to remove the formerly white (but now dark chocte colour) coat and threw it on the floor.

    "Oh heyбн Ladies?" Jin felt something simr to an impending doom when Pei walked closer to him as she folded her shirt sleeves up. But instead of a punch or p, she actually performed her role as a physician and merely checked his vitals and some other parameters.

    "Everything seems to be in order," Pei concluded after thest step of the checkup in which she shone light into Jin''s eyes. "Looks like you finally returned. Well, it''s been long enough." Pei heaved out a sigh of relief while trying to remove some of the stains.

    Not before long, Panda Cleaners started toe in and whiff away all the sludge out of the room while Peppers and Milk decided to return back to their respective rooms for a much needed change of clothes, leaving Pei with Jin alone.

    "How long have I been out?" Jin asked as he felt his body was stuck on the bed mainly because of the dark sludge overflow.

    "It''s been decades. At first, the girls stayed at your site, but eventually they had to move on with your life. It took Lynn about 15 years, whereas Qiu Yue stayed here by your side for 4. Nevertheless, both managed to liveparatively happy lives afterwards. Unfortunately, they are no longer with us." Pei answered nonchntly, but Jin had his jaw dropped.

    "No way! You are kidding, right? I don''t think that I passed out that long." Jin refused to believe what he had just heard and tried to look around for his phone, but it was nowhere to be found.

    "We have kept your store going, but after around two years, the customers stoppeding. They could somehow tell that the new instances we introducedcked the charm of previous versions. Without you, the monsters could not give it their all, so it had to be closed down. Simrly it felt wrong to open up Pandapolis without you, so it hasn''t been used. The only relief you have is the Demon Metropolis. Although that ce has been repeatedly invaded because of the new tech we had introduced. So not much left there either." Pei listed everything while checking her nails.

    The Panda Cleaner picked her coat up, (now all white again thanks to Panda System Magic) and Pei stuck her hand into one of the pockets, picking out his phone.

    Jin was sitting in the sick bed in awe and could not believe the date on his phone. The timestamp was eighty years from now, and he did not know whether to tear from the fact. "Then the System kept me alive here for these eighty years?" Jin asked.

    "You''ve achieved a miracle by allowing the System to improve its processing capabilities for the first time in centuries. There was barely anyone that had ever done something like that, and the System believes that you could continue to do so as long as you are kept alive. Speaking of, there''s also the problem, that you are now the only original Panda n Member remaining. All the more reason for it to keep you around." Pei shared while she began to unbutton her clothes when the Panda Cleaner gave her a new set of fresh clothes.

    "Before they left, the System convinced the Sub System Users to part with some of their eggs in a cryofreezepartment. I, however, rmend you to fertilise them all. Especially since they possessed Sub Systems of their own. Who knows what special genes they might have once the System modified their body to take on the Sub System modules." Pei suggested as she went to a corner and pulled the curtains so that she could change.

    "Iбн" Jin was at a loss of words, and he ignored the Panda Cleaner''s presence. The cleaners had to pull him out of the bed because of his sudden shock and changed everything except for the monitoring wires that were still on him.

    "Any preferences on who I should start with? Unfortunately, the System was unable to get the genes of the Tiger Princes. No, it would be more appropriate to call her Ex Tiger Queen. It''s too bad because her firstborn daughter had led the Royal Tigers to another Golden Age, even more so than herself." Pei literally threw her dirty clothes out of the way and wore new ones.

    "I am not choosing! If anything, I will continue with my work." Jin stated as he leaned on the wall for support.

    "You sure? It might be best to try to have offspring before it''s toote. Not sure how much your body can handle. This room has been set to dte time, but that doesn''t mean your body hasn''t aged at all." Pei asked for a confirmation, but Jin shook his head.

    "I am sure. Just give me some time to process all this information." Jin pleaded. He didn''t know how long it would take him to adjust to the new norm.

    бн fortunately, he wouldn''t have to find out.

    "See? I told you, that''s how he would react! Even up until the end, he prioritises work!" A familiar voice was overheard from the broken windows and then a mix of giggling and sighs.

    "Well, if you had let this y out for a day or two, he might have changed his mind." Pei shrugged her shoulders when she came out from the curtains.

    "Waitбнwait, wait! Wait a minute! So, it was ALL a prank? Pei yed a prank on me?" Jin''s brain was unable to understand this change. He could only conclude that he had been bamboozled once Qiu Yue and Lynn emerged from their hiding spot, waving their hands even though they were equally drenched in Jin''s dark sludge.

    "Pei decided to have some revenge on you for making us all worry." Qiu Yue confessed with a smirk.

    "Wee back." Lynn bowed a little with a tinge of happiness in her heart and a small tear in the corner of her eye.

 Chapter 879 Imposter?!

    <h4>Chapter 879 Imposter?!</h4>

    "Wait, so you were all in on this? OIII, System is that why you have kept quiet all this while?" Jin questioned in annoyance but got no answer. He waited for the girls to also change clothes before continuing their conversation.

    "They thought it would fun to make you go cray cray once in a while." Qiu Yue apologised as she quietly checked if she still had any odour from the sludge on her.

    "Cray Cray?" Pei did not know what that was and could only assume the meaning behind it.

    "Crazy. A slight ng." Lynn exined as she typed a message for her penguins to bring some food to Jin''s usual dinner table. That table was left empty in their house for a very long time. (Definitely not eighty years long!)

    "System agreed to Betor Pei''s idea since there was a 54.79% chance that faced with his own mortality and the passage of time, the User would start to be more proactive in procuring the next generation. Any attempts to wake User had been unsessful, even the non subtle ones." The System spoke out while the whole group teleported to Jin''s house.

    Everything was the same as it is as if there was no change.

    "What do you mean with non subtle ones?!" Jin asked as he started to check on his body. All he knew there were still needle wounds all over his arms, and that was where it ached the most.

    "Nothing much to be honest." Pei answered as she was the first to pull the chair out and sat down as if her burdens were lifted away from her. "I first tried to make you regain by inserting chi in specific points of your body.

    After it failed, I tried the same with upuncture, and even an aromatherapy hoping that certain smells would wake you up. Without any progress, we tried a more modern version by electrocuting you a few times, hoping to excite your brain waves while not short circuiting your heart."

    "And you dare to say it so calmly!" Jin could not believe what he heard and decided to dismiss it since he knew there was no use pondering over it. "So how long was I really out? It honestly feels like it was yesterday to me, but it might just as well have been more than a month."

    "Your timing is impable. You sure, you didn''t n this out? Today''s actually Chinese New Year''s Eve. Well, just the start that is." Qiu Yue pulled her phone out, and it showed 00:23. Jin quickly checked his phone, and the timing had been synchronised properly.

    "Gosh. That means I was out for nearly two weeks or so." Jin realised as he sat at the end of the table. Soon the penguins arrived, all delighted to see their master was well once more. They had no idea that he was out cold for such a long time and believed what Kraft and the others had said about him being wounded and resting.

    Only after the penguins had left, Lynn decided to fill him in and not reveal the truth of the matter to his minions. "бн So, we inadvertently told them that you were hidden away in some secluded ce to recuperate and create the new dungeon instances for this uing Chinese New Year Holiday."

    "Should the System inform Panda Remnant Hou Fei and past Sub System User Yuan about your recovery or does the User prefer being the bearer of good news?" The System asked as it knew that there were a lot of things Jin had to do because of their white lies. While they knew about Jin''s condition, the System felt Jin would need some time to adjust.

    "Let''s leave that matter forter. Jin is finally awake, and we should use the time together to have the mini celebration for Jin''s recovery first. Besides, I am really hungry now that I know Jin''s okay. Not to mention Jin, who hasn''t had enough to eat for all that time." Qiu Yuemented, and the rest felt the same way too. They all felt as if a heavy load had been lifted off their shoulders since all the signs of Jin being unresponsive had been way too abnormal.

    "Don''t count us out!" Peppers suddenly chimed in as she came running down the stairs, nearly tumbling over one missed step. Milk had to hold onto the back of her shirt to prevent her from falling t on her face.

    "Same here, after giving Jin so much of my blood, I need some food here. But hehe, at least I know I am now one with Jin." Milk said with a blush until she got kicked by Peppers in the stomach. Though it was not that painful, it was surprising that Peppers had learned a trick or two from the Monk ss Betor.

    "You little rascal! Is this how you repay me after saving you from falling t on the ground?! Yo- Ooof!" Now another kick to her face which nearly made Milk react with a punch/p but Jin intervened in time by dragging Peppers away.

    "My blood is equally as much as yours in him. It disgusts me knowing that! For the Demonic Sag- Mmhmmm." Peppers'' mouth was stuffed with a drumstick which immediately pacified her.

    "Milk, be a good elder sister. Forgive and forget. She helped you too when you nearly fainted after throwing too much mana into Jin, right?" Pei reminded her and Milk had no choice but to let the little rascal get away with it this time. Fortunately, that anger simmered down the moment a piece of food went into her mouth, and she fell into theps of heavenly bliss.

    "So, what is all this blood thing that you guys talked about?" Jin asked, and Pei informed him that he had been suffering from Chi Death Syndrome, which was why he had been unconscious.

    Moreover, Jin was able to preserve his life because of his unique cultivation.

    "Sounds bad enough. Sorry to have made you guys worry so much. Also, got to tell you guys something. Remember how...erm with regards to the Loopa Ooofpa, we couldn''t find the summoner?"

    "Yeah, we killed all the Banned Emperorckeys, yet the monster still rampaged on. We looked everywhere but no mastermind who we could have missed." Milk remembered'' about the incident.

    "Not your fault. Apparently, he was controlling the monster from within." Jin revealed, and the rest looked at him confused. Even the System had certain queries on how he got such a piece of information.

    "Oh. Eh fun fact. He fled into me when his life was about to be over. Had to fight him off. Well, I didn''t really exactly best him or anything. Things in my subconscious or unconscious...pssh I dun even know which is which. But anyways, they beat them." Jin said, and the rest had problems responding.

    "Are you okay Jin? Pei, do you wish to check his psych?" Qiu Yue asked as if she did not know whether Jin was bbering the truth or still suffering from some unknown side effects from the blood transfusion aftermath.

    "I бнam actually a little apprehensive about the situation. Kraft did tell me that Jin had some special ne of subconsciousness which he used to train himself, but I do not exactly know the details. Unlike him, I had mainly focused on defensive psychic usage, so I can''t really dive into someone''s consciousness. You will have to ask him to do that."

    "Why can''t you just ask the source?" Jin questioned, and Pei shook her head.

    "Trust my patient who came back from a near death experience?"

    "More like trusting your boss? Just this once?"

    "..." Pei sighed heavily and nodded her head slowly. (Perhaps with good food, her mood has been alleviated just like with the other female betors?) "Fine, let''s assume that it is true. So what actually happened?"

    "He invaded my head because there were no psychic or mental defence barriers, thinking that it would be very easy to go through."

    "Welp, that''s partially my fault," Pei interjected.

    "Nah, it''s not your fault. I was the one to agree to your request. No one could have known they had a psychic user amongst them." Jin emphasised. " In any case, he thought he could control my body and pretend to be me-" and suddenly everyone went into battle mode. Even Peppers was holding a drumstick as a wand.

    "Wait, wait listen. I am myself!" Jin tried to calm the group down, but they were not letting up.

    "Kraft. We need you." Pei said as she was unsure whether this was really a ruse or not since there were some things she could not detect.

    "For the beautiful and enchanting Pei to call upon me, there must be some - oh, Master you are back." Kraft said and bowed towards Jin. "Had a good time training?"

    "That''s not the point, he said there was a Banned Emperor Summoner that was inside his psych. We are not sure whether it''s him or that Banned Emperor Summoner."

    ""Seriously guys, if I were a fake, would I be stupid enough to share this story with you all?!" Jin questioned with a stone face.

    "How can we believe you? What if you suddenly call out hand tentacles against us?!" Peppers asked and added that maybe Milk might be delighted.

    "What?! No! Don''t group me like that!" Milk countered.

    Kraft immediately walked towards him to size him up and yet Jin was not afraid. He sat back down and ate his supper while Kraft took slow steps and even released a concentrated amount of chi.

    Suddenly Jin was back to a dark room with a lightbulb, with a gun pointing at him.

    "What has this period of darkness taught you?"

    "Thanks to this darkness, it showed me the beauty of light?" Jin joked a little.

    The next moment he was back in the kitchen and continued with the meal. The rest hadn''t even noticed him disappearing.

    "How boring. The Jin you talked to is undoubtedly genuineбн though I have to say, you''ve changed a lot." Kraft stated with a slight rxed smirk.

 Chapter 880 User To System Talk - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 880 User To System Talk - Part 1</h4>

    "You noticed?" Jin asked with a weak smile.

    "Who do you think I am?" Kraft responded, but the rest had no idea what was going on. "So, do you wish the share with the others?"

    "Maybeter? I''ve kinda been through a lot and would prefer to rx." Jin answered as he continued to munch on some bite-sized snack.

    "What is he keeping? What is he keeping?" Peppers asked excitedly with her mouth full of food. "I DEMAND ANSWERS, after everything I''ve endured for your sake!"

    "I also cannot deny that I''m curious." Lynn chuckled. "Peppers at least swallow before speaking, otherwise don''t me me for denying you seconds!" Lynn remarked as she gave the little magician girl a ss of water so she could swallow her food faster.

    "Yeah, Jin. You''re basically indebted to all of us." Qiu Yue nodded her head towards Pei, who kept quiet and simply chewed her food.

    "Talk is cheap, how about a bit of performance instead?" Kraft asked with an even wider smile. He even ced his fingers near No Mercy and Just Business, which indicated to the group that he was serious.

    "What? Against you? Forget it. There is no way I am able to defeat you, much less spar with you for more than five seconds." Jin vehemently shook his head.

    "Aww, not even if I limit my powers to your level?" Kraft coaxed as he let go off his hand from Just Business and put it up in the air and yet Jin still sternly refused. He knew how crazy strong his betors were, and it was basically suicide to think of fighting against any of them. At least with Zeru, he had confidence that his master would hold backбн

    "Jin, no fun! Boo!" Peppers showed a thumbs down and yet that did not incite any feelings inside her master.

    "The System is also interested to learn what changes have happened with its User. However, that will have to wait. In User''s absence, an outstanding number of issues have piled up and are awaiting input." The System remarked, and Jin was giddily happy inside. Finally, an excuse to keep his newly trained powers a secret a while longer, so he could show them off some other appropriate time.

    The rest stopped pestering Jin any further and they continued their mini supper until Jin dismissed himself from the table and returned into the Dungeon Maker.

    "Thank you for your help, System. Since we are alone, I wish to have a heart to heart conversation with you." Jin announced as he sipped some Blue Mountain Coffee andidzily on his reclining chair.

    "While the System does not have a heart per se, System understands the meaning. What does User wish to talk about?" The System queried.

    "I wish to close down the store in our world." Jin started his conversation with a shocking revtion, yet instead of arguing the System was quietlyputing all sorts of solutions with regards to Jin''s decision.

    "System predicts such a course of action will result in a profit loss of approximately 27% for this month assuming it will be a gradual decline of business closure instead of an abrupt one."

    "I was intending to close it down after a good night''s rest as soon as everything was done. Preferably by the end of today instead of tomorrow. Only the dungeon supplier store that is. The rest of the shop instances would remain open." Jin emphasised.

    "Does that mean User would like to move the establishment over to the Dungeon World or Goblin World? Perhaps doing a risky move and moving to the Farming World instead?" The System asked, intending to reduce the number of permutations for its solutions.

    "Nope. Just a full-on closure." Jin stated, and the System stopped calcting.

    "Has User given up on his dream of bing the Number One Dungeon Supplier?" System asked.

    "Not really, but judging from the current situation, it appears that the shop and I have been tangled into loads of unwanted political stuff. To resolve that, I?suggest we cut off as many ties to this world as possible."

    "While it is User''s dungeon supplier shop, what does User intend to do with regards to the uing Cultivation Zoo and JODE advanced training centre?" The System questioned. "You promised Ex Sub System User Yuan and such a promise should not be broken."

    "I will have to talk to Grandma Yuan about it. Judging from our performance at Huizhou, I believe we can bargain for a better deal under our conditions. As for the Zooбн I still n to create it, but I have some other?ideas in mind."

    "Speak freely." The System asked of Jin, since it was unable toprehend Jin''s sudden decisions and its predictive analysis were hitting a wall.

    "I am concerned about the future if we continue as we did. While it is nice to increase the cultivation of our customers, this might ultimately lead to our downfall. Whatever the customer do with their strength might inadvertently rte to us."

    "But that is what Dungeon Suppliers are meant to do." The System rebutted.

    "What other dungeon supplier store can boast about the efficiency we do? Let''s just take a look at the Pandawans. Xiong Da had been at Grade 1 when he came to me and yet he is now at Grade 5 in a matter of months. While that is still eptable given his age, the high schoolers are not that far off with their cultivation. If this trend continues, they might actually get as strong as our Generals and could rival the Heads, perhaps even by the end of the year." Jin reasoned.

    "A reasonable concern-" The System agreed, but Jin interrupted it.

    "You might be thinking that it might not be our responsibility. After all, we are merely providing the means, but seeing how this world continuously tangles us into its politics, its factions and people... I don''t doubt that there wille a time when we will have to acknowledge that we had yed a role in whatever happens." Jin continued.

    While the System understood Jin''s point of view, it was still unsure what Jin intended to do. There was no easy way to prevent cultivators from increasing their grades because that was how the System''s dungeon instances had been designed.

    They could make the minions and monsters more difficult for the cultivators to kill, thereby limiting the amount of spirit power taken in, yet that would definitely turn off a lot of customers.

    "How does User intend to fix that?" The System asked.

    "Remember how Ke Loong- wait, speaking about Ke Loong, I n to stop that whole portal thing too. It was necessary to deal with the Monster Horde, but I fear it''s too convenient and it might tip the scales of the economy as well as unbnce society way too much. Sea Mesh is not ready for such fortune and possible bacsh despite them being a fairly sessfulpany."

    "Then what does User suggest?" The System repeated its question.

    "We got Ke Loong''s promise to help us start Panda Inc. Instead of relying on them, I am suggesting we build a virtual realitywork."

    "System does notprehend."

    "A Virtual Reality Massive Multiyer Role ying Game." Jin said, and if the System had a mouth, its jaw would have dropped.

 Chapter 881 User To System Talk - Final

    <h4>Chapter 881 User To System Talk - Final</h4>

    "The prospects in this endeavour might be grand, yet System feels the need point out that the amount of work that is required to fulfil User''s n is enormous and the umted work so far might be rendered somewhat useless." The System analysed after a moment of silence.

    "I thought you might say that. However, if we make the very first VRMMORPG in this world, we can instantly reach hundreds of thousands of people and allow them to y our dungeons. There will be no need to solely confine everything to this store." Jin argued while he shared his thoughts from the reclining chair.

    "On top of that, nothing is stopping us from exporting these virtual reality machines to other worlds and increase the customer base that way. They will be able to y and interact with the cultivators from our world or the demons from the Dungeon World. Connecting people''s lives and bringing them together? Isn''t that part of the purpose of a Dungeon Supplier as well?"

    "This also ties to the main reason for slowing down the rate of growth of our cultivators. I intend to work on some proper reward achievements, but it will at least include a voucher allowing customers to attend our ''secret'' shop where they can really practice their cultivation."

    "So, the VRMMORPG will actually be like a grinding mechanism for them to earn the rights to get to User''s real shop with the current dungeon instances intact?" The System questioned.

    "Exactly! That way, we can cut contact with most people and allow people through invitations or by the meritocracy of their hard work. At the same time, we can continue to create dungeons and supply them. Our uing Ind Instances can pretty much be used as a temte for the starting locations for the yers. As for the dungeon content and such, we can pretty much use the dungeons from the Dungeon World and copy-paste them over, perhaps with some changes. We can also try out experimental builds for the dungeons for the secret shop in reality."

    "Honestly, System feels that is a very loose interpretation of being a Dungeon Supplier but still not an invalid one." The System concluded.

    "Our dungeon instances have been bordering to a virtual reality simtion, so will it be that much different?" Jin questioned, and now with new answers and exnations, the System created a permutation of scenarios.

    "User seems to underestimate the difficulty of his request. It was one thing to allow cultivators to enter the dungeon who alle to a ce under the System''s jurisdiction. Judging on User''s vision of our new business route, we need Virtual Simtors to be portable andpact, and most importantly they need to be able to connect to a space even if they are on the other side of the world, or potentially from a different world entirely. At the very least System is able to search for products in the ck Market with these specifications but there are only a few models avable. Just like with the potions or any other products they will rise in cost if the sellers notice System starting to buy batches of them."

    "I vaguely remember Ayse had some lost tech on it so I can ask her about it. Also, Rei is from the Mecha World. They are more advanced than us, so they should have some VR technology on his, right? And that is excluding worlds that have such technology as their main staple for gaming or life. Surely we can travel to such worlds to get it." Jin retorted.

    "While the System has no qualms about letting User enter a new world, System would like to remind User about his history of poking his nose into every major conflict situation of the worlds he had visited, with the only exception being the one the Shadow Dagen originated from. Until User has dealt with the problems of those worlds at hand, System will not entertain such a request."

    "Just another good reason to close the shop for now." Jin agreed, yet the System begged to differ.

    "On the contrary, with such a grand endeavour, System cannot rmend User to close his shop. We will require the customers'' aid before everything is set up."

    "But we have ire to help us win stocks that are worth thousands of dungeon dors, right? We can use that money for investment. Even without factoring in ire, we still have Demon Metropolis and Pandapolis too."

    "That is assuming User wishes to proceed with the opening of Pandapolis and allow the Church of the Afterlife''s agents to infiltrate." System reminded Jin.

    "Urgh, yet another set of politicsбн" Jin grumbled and started to see where the System wasing from when he said he handled all the current worlds first before moving ahead.

    "Exactly. The money that Intern ire might have gotten us is only a temporary measure as well. It will not sustain us in the long run, especially when we have another uing war." The System warned.

    "Unlike governments, the System does not have any bonds to sell to keep the production afloat. System and User have to use our own pocket money to purchase items. And most of our wars and battles are for good causes. Please remember that the cultivators are the ones footing some of the bills to offload our expenses."

    "But earlier you imed they only made up 27% profit or somewhere around that line..."

    "For this particr month and perhaps the next since we received major rewards for getting the Demon Metropolis. There are expenses attached to them as well. Therefore, the System asks User to please reconsider his decision to close the shop." The System emphasised, and Jin repeatedly brought up the concern that the cultivators might get too strong in the future.

    "Then all the User has to do is to create the Virtual Reality as soon as possible so he can keep his shop as a secret reward for them to enter." The System countered, and Jin felt this would be another overwhelming task he imposed on himself.

    "However, while System is a multitude of beings all with the same goal to revive the Panda n, System shall give its un-humbled opinion to not forgo the links User made so far. While they may be troublesome, System''s analysis proves that they will be worth the trouble in the future."

    "Even though it wille as exposing them to the truth? We might get exploited, you know? Unlike those Royal ns, we do not have the prestige preventing others from doing. Power maybe and perhaps we have some connections to rely on especially our links with other worlds, but without a doubt, if theye together they can crush us." Jin finally revealed the real reason why he insisted on this VRponent.

    "Not just my world but others too. None will take kindly to a superpower even if it helps them when they can use the superpower to dominate others. I''ve finallye to understand your point of view of wanting to stay hidden, but now you are rejecting me? That''s honestly something new."

    "Make no mistake. System was doubtful about the idea, but that does not mean System does not assess the risk consistently." The System rebutted.

    "System does not outright reject User''s proposal. In fact, System is supportive and only wishes to point out the ws of the current n. If anything, System sees the potential the User has in making use of his current connections and achieving better immunity against his potential enemies. In short, System believed the trouble to glory will be worth itбн though it has to follow a proper procedure first."

    "Heh for you to think further than me. That''s more like the System." Jin thought about it a moment and smiled.

    "Naturally. All for the glory of the Panda n."

 Chapter 882 A Dinner Reques

    <h4>Chapter 882 A Dinner Reques</h4>

    After that serious discussion, Jin took some consideration of what the System had said and decided to continue on with the shop (not that he could close it without the System''s approval in the first ce).

    When he was training with Ming, he had thought a lot about how his actions would have repercussions and even discussed some of them at length with Ming during his grandfather''s break. (Yeah, Jin was not given any breather unless he was near death. Like literally near death. s, that was not as seldom as he would have liked)

    While Ming did provide some insight, he too did not explicitly have any biased opinions and wished for Jin to forge a path himself. It was mainly because he knew the System had its own agenda, but hearing Jin talk about the System in recent times, gave him hope that the System would at least consider the concerns of thest living Panda n member.

    Thus, Jin continued to slog throughout the night, refining the new shop instance which he had put off for quite some time so that it could coincide with the Chinese New Year. In the meantime, he promised himself that his priority was to get the Virtual Reality tform up and running so that they could dominate the world''s gaming market.

    The Dungeon Supplier had already used the System to check on his world''s development on Virtual Reality, and unsurprisingly, they were nowhere near a full-body dive experience like it was portrayed in certain novels. He figured it was because of the existence of dungeon suppliers that most people do not think it was worth it to develop a working virtual simtion, let alone a full scale virtual realitywork. Now that he have the capital to work things out, as well as possible tools with the advent of Pandapolis to do so, there is a high chance he could steamroll the process. Unfortunately, he might not have the expertise.

    "But I should not worry about that for now." Jin thought to himself as the System presented him a checklist of things toplete. They were sorted in order of priority and on the top of the list was informing Grandma Yuan and Hou Fei about his wellbeing.

    True enough, when he opened his System channel and gave them a morning call, both of them hurriedly teleported into the Dungeon Maker to see Jin in the flesh.

    "Seriously, if you go off earlier than Grandma Yuan, Ming will undoubtedly haunt me in this and the afterlife." Hou Fei rebuked Jin, unaware that Grandma Yuan had teleported in right after him.

    "I hear you. Hou Fei." Grandma Yuan replied with a mild angry tone.

    "Oops." Hou Fei made an ''Oh shit'' face in front of Jin before turning behind and humbly greeting ''Big Sister'' Yuan with a hasty bow. Even Jin could feel the guilt of Hou Fei being caught talking about her. However, the anger umted within her right now was not aimed at the Panda Remnant but instead to Jin.

    Her Gleaming Griffin Cultivation red up, and Jin quickly knelt down on both knees and pulled his ears as if he was willing to ept his punishment since he understood where he went wrong.

    "As if I will believe you!" Grandma Yuan spoke, and her metaphysical Griffin silhouette flew towards Jin and pulled him upwards. With this metaphysical chi form, her Golden Griffin was still able to materialise without using too much chi.

    "Did Ming never teach you about something called restraint?!" Grandma Yuan''s temper was off the roof, and Hou Fei tried to calm her down.

    "Big Sis Yuan, it''s best to calm down especially so early in the morningбн"

    "Tomorrow is the New Year, if I do not vent my anger out now, I might carry it forward to the next year. That is ominous and bad for luck, so don''t stop me!" Grandma Yuan replied, and Jin just kept quiet and continued to apologise.

    Were it not for his knowledge that he might really die because that was seemingly part of the deal upon inheriting the System, Jin would have shrugged Grandma Yuan''s shouting off as an angry rant. Grandma Yuan should be aware of that serious drawback, making her genuinely concerned about him, so he quietly epted the scolding that Grandma Yuan had for him.

    "I am really, really sorry. I will take more care for my actions next time and will do my best to not make you worry like before." Jin apologised profusely, and somehow Grandma Yuan felt that he was indeed truly apologetic for his actions. She sighed heavily and turned away from him.

    However, the Golden Griffin was not aspassionate as its master.

    Even with just a metaphysical form, it pecked its beak onto Jin''s head after releasing him. As if signalling him not to do anything too rash in the future. Before it dissipated into nothingness, the Golden Griffin also stared at Hou Fei since he was the one responsible for calling Jin into action in this particr incident.

    And despite the heavy atmosphere, Jin broke the awkward silence with a request. "I was wondering if you two are willing toe to join us for reunion dinner? I know Hou Fei might be busy since he has a family, but Grandma Yuan, if you have the timeбн"

    "Hahaha. I cane for a while since my wife recently went for her business trip again, making me stuck with an empty house. But my soldiers would want me to join them for a feast too, so I might have to leave a bit earlier." Hou Fei agreed as he knew that he had obligations to show his face since he was after all a Panda Remnant.

    "бнI wille. Tell ire the details." Grandma Yuan said with her back facing away from them, but she secretly had a small grin in her face. The System teleported her away upon her request, leaving Hou Fei with Jin.

    "Master! I seriously thought you were a goner for a minute!" Hou Fei sighed as he grabbed Jin by his shoulders and rubbed his head quite a bit. Hou Fei was relieved that the period of intensity was finally over.

    "Hahah. I also thought that I was gonna get chewed inside out by that Golden Griffin." Jin could literally feel his legs shaking.

    "Honestly, there are so many things I want to ask, but most importantly, how are you?" Hou Fei asked.

    "Actually, I never felt better. My body feels renewed, and I am touched that my friends andrades selflessly sacrificed their time and blood trying to save me." Jin responded as he let Hou Fei sit at the side of the table in the Dungeon Maker.

    "I seeбн So, have you seen the news for the aftermath?" Hou Fei queried and Jin shook his head.

    "There were a few things I needed to prepare since I woke up way toote. If it isn''t too much of a problem, mind giving me a quick breakdown of events?"

    "Wellбнwhere should I even start?" Hou Fei stifled a chuckle andter asked the System if it could provide images or videos to help exin the current situation to Jin.

 Chapter 883 No Thank You.

    <h4>Chapter 883 No Thank You.</h4>

    "First off, thank you. What you did for themunity is greatly appreciated. On behalf of the Royal Tiger and Snake Battalion, we wish to reward your bravery with -"

    "Stop right there. I don''t need anything other than what was contracted. Sorry, if it sounds heartless, but I do not want to have any more ''rewards'' that might entail further strings attached." Jin stated bluntly, and Hou Feiughed.

    "I guess you are right. For an outsider, we had been too reliant on your powers but understand that you alone have brought a wave of massive relief to ourmunity. Even if those higher-ups don''t acknowledge that, I do. That is why I really want you to ept the reward because I know what it feels like to be unappreciated." Hou Fei exined.

    "No, I think you misunderstand my intentions. You are right that I should help people because I have the power to do so. Still, I am also a human and have to look out for my own interest. If I intervene as I did during that Monster Horde, people are bound to find out about the System. That is my main concern." Jin emphasised. "I can bluff only so much, and I know if someone is interested in something, they can go extraordinary lengths to achieve it."

    "Wellбн you are definitely not wrong. The System is an omnipotent device." Hou Fei nodded and was immediately interrupted by the System.

    "The System is not a device and has the power to reject people from using it."

    "But it does not have the power to prevent me from dying if they kill me." Jin thought to himself, yet he kept quiet about it. Even though Hou Fei is a Panda Remnant, the less people knew about that truth, the safer it would be for Jin.

    "Then you do not have to worry that much, right? You already have my backing even though it doesn''t ount for much whenpared with Grandma Yuan''s. And let''s assume that we are not there for you, you still have unparalleled betors watching over your back. The previous incident has proven sufficiently that you have enough firepower to win against most people." Hou Fei reassured him.

    "Admit it, you''ve been quietly holding your powers back a hell lot despite that show of strength. And when pushes to shove, you technically have an army of minions at yourmand. Honestly, if I were to put you in the middle of a Triad Gang War right now, you would dominate each and every one of them. Heck, you probably can win against a Royal Zodiac n Turf War if you y your cards right."

    "Perhapsбн but not without putting the System in the limelight." Jin said even though he knew what Hou Fei implying was the worst-case scenario.

    "Actually, you might be wrong about it. I have put in some time to research how to make a cover for you in case shit hits the fan and apparently, you already have everything to y the role." Hou Fei held his phone and showed Jin a picture of an ancient manuscript.

    "In ancient China, there was this Grandmaster Summoner of the Old Guard who travelled alongside the infamous Lu Guan Yu, the one who changed thews of nature and made the world into what it is right now. ording to these old scripts, he had the power to create monsters out of nothing and protected Guan Yu from his enemies."

    "Hmm? I don''t remember Guan Yu having such arade alongside him." Jin said as he asked the System if it was true especially since the super-entity should have lived through that particr era.

    "System does not have the full story. During that period of time System''s Users had gone into hiding. However, there should be some truth to Hou Fei''s story. In fact, some might call this Grandmaster as the one who invented the job of Dungeon Supplier." The System stated.

    "Then why is this the first time I am hearing about him?" Jin asked, and Hou Fei can only deduce the reason.

    "Because he literally aided Guan Yu to reach Grade 20. By letting him fight monsters that he could never imagine before, hence allowing him to reach the pinnacle and unfathomable Grade 20." Hou Fei theorised. "At least that should be the case ording to that diary of one of Guan Yu''spanions."

    "Panda Remnant Hou Fei might not be wrong. It would make sense for that Grandmaster Summoner of the Old Guard to not want other cultivators hounding him day and night if they managed to learn of Guan Yu''s method of reaching Grade 20. System recalls hearing hearsays about a Grandmaster who remained unbeatable at that period of time. Without such convenient external help, it would also exin why there was never another reported Grade 20 Cultivator." The System exined.

    "Oh really? Here it says that Guan Yu eventually had to hunt his friend for ''betraying'' him. Those monsters that were used to safeguard mankind turned against them. Some at first thought it was a temporary loss of control, but the writer of that diary indicated that the Grandmaster Summoner of the Old Guard might have been gone senile with mental disease. Thus, the loss of control of the Guardian Monsters." Hou Fei shared what he had learned.

    "And by summoning despicable monsters known to mankind, it ultimately boiled down to Guan Yu having a fight against his old friend. However, instead of gathering an army to defeat him, Guan Yu went to fight against him alone as repayment for his friend''s help. The diary doesn''t go in-depth, but after a week he had returned and asked hispanions to forget about the Grand Summoner." Hou Fei added that the diary still wished to honour the memory of that person.

    "System does find some usibility in that ancient manuscript''s content. Rumours and gossip from that era coincide with Guan Yu ''losing'' a friend. Maybe that was the way Guan Yu had chosen to keep his friend''s powers anonymous." The System remarked.

    "Heh, and can you guess the name of that Grand Summoner?" Hou Fei smiled when he asked Jin.

    "How would I know? As I said, this was literally the first time I heard about him." Jin did not exactly understand why Hou Fei was smiling.

    "Mo Lo Jin."

 Chapter 884 Lots of Catching Up

    <h4>Chapter 884 Lots of Catching Up</h4>

    "No shit!" Jin shook his head in disbelief.

    "It must be just an oddly wrapped coincidence that you have the same name as the Grandmaster Summoner that walked alongside Guan Yu. Unless Ming had found that manuscript as well and convinced your parents to name you as such. And erm that sounds like quite the stretch seeing as Jin is toomon a name." Hou Fei shrugged his shoulders.

    "Although it''s quite ironic how we not only share being ''Grandmaster Summoners'' but both of us wish to keep our monster summoning skills a secret to the point of wishing to escape reality." Jin pointed out the obvious and Hou Fei realised he shot himself in the foot.

    For wanting to prove to Jin that he should not be afraid of his powers, he eventually solidified his point. "However, unlike my namesake, I have different ns on how I want to deal with matters at hand." Jin changed the topic a little and presented Hou Fei with the Virtual Reality concept that he told the System about.

    "You wantбнto create a Virtual Reality Console so that people can pay and enjoy your dungeons?" Hou Fei asked as confirmation. "It might work for the younger generation, but I doubt many who are working will be interested. As for retireesбн can you imagine someone like Ming ying video games? At least with your dungeons, people had more of an incentive toe and y since they could increase their cultivation."

    "Hehe, I have already thought about it. True on its own, it would be just a ''game'', but what if one of the benefits of ying such a Virtual Reality MMORPG would be that by earning enough points one could have the chance to y my actual dungeons in the real world. That way, I will have customers from all over the world too. After all, I want to be the Number One Dungeon Supplier fast and not like in 20+ years. ording to the pathetic ranking that the System had given me, I am still in the six digits ranking." Jin said and exined his rationale to Hou Fei.

    "I seeбн if you put it that way, even I might be tempted to try it out. You are right, if people perceive the opportunity to improve their cultivation at a very fast pace as something of a hidden bonus, they might mistake it as something like a gimmick to get them hooked into ying the game. I see your point that if things continue not just the Royal ns but the entire world would seek after you."

    Hou Fei also started to consider things from a military perspective. Not only would Jin be highly sought after, but the State Agents would also have a handful keeping him in check in order to make sure that other national intelligence agencies could not get to him and win him overбн or simply abduct him.

    "So, you have started worrying about the big picture after all this time. And here I thought you meant you are just afraid to mingle with the Royal Zodiac ns."

    "I believe I told you that I do not necessarily treat the Royal Zodiac n with disdain. As long as they don''t try to control me that is. I can''t deny that they prove to be a convenient tool to rise in society. Even the System started to see it that way and has kept its grudge of destroying them aside for the moment. Not entirely, but it''s a start. Also, that whole Monster Horde incident stemmed from Banned Emperorckeys. I doubt we have seen thest of them, so befriending the Royal Zodiac ns should be better in the long run. Besides, our ancestors banded together to fight against him, right?"

    "And have the others been notified of this grand n of yours?" Hou Fei asked and Jin shook his head.

    "I was nning to tell them tonight at the reunion dinner. Thought I''d run the whole idea through you and check if you have any inputs. Especially since you have a wider view of the world and military experience. But based on our conversation, you merely reinforced my stance of needing to create a ''buffer''. Not just against this country but towards the entire world before they gain a taste of real levelling." Jin chuckled, and Hou Fei smiled with a nod.

    "Speaking of this country, it looks like I got sidetracked a little on the matters I wished to inform you about." Hou Fei remarked. "Even if you do not wish to take the rewards that I had prepared, people are still looking for you."

    "The State Agents?" Jin asked as he recalled that Mr Know-It-All had promised to bring Ryuli to his shop who wished to learn the truth about their encounter, even though she suspected that the one she had met wasn''t Jin but someone she perceived as his master.

    "Well, I did have a bit of talk with Agent K. He managed to find?out that the two of us share some connection, so he asked me whether I knew when you would be back. Looks like he really wants to talk to you."

    "That particr State Agent has been staying inside the shop for long periods of time ever since User''s disappearance. It appears he has made your shop into his ''hangout'' area. Other State Agents of simr calibre have been moving in and out of the shop to meet him for reports in the Restaurant Train Instance. System does not mind such a customer per se, but whether he is aware of us watching him is another issue entirely." The System spoke out.

    "Has Kraft tried to probe him?" Jin asked, knowing that his Director of Extreme Spying had a penchant of taking matters into his own hands.

    "Not that System is aware of. Original Betor Kraft might have gathered enough information just like how he did in regards to?the Banned Emperor Assassin and deemed it unnecessary to act." The System replied.

    "As for the female individual State Agent called Ryuli, so far she had only entered the shop premise once and hasn''te back since. Enhanced audio yback revealed that the female agent was disappointed in Agent K for failing to uphold his promise. Her information in the national database had been locked, but Original Betor Kraft somehow managed to pull her data out. While System had not received any updates on the information, User can ask him, since he had also shown a vast interest in investigating Ryuli''s past."

    "Nevermind, I will ask him about it during the reunion dinner when I have the chance."

    "State Agents aside, the Tiger General wished to thank you personally for sending help. He had previously extended an invitation to dinner at his home to me and requested you to join us at your earliest convenience. I had also spoken to Ke Loong since the military had to return the portals. He was very happy with your productбн but not very happy once he realised the portal devices had been deactivated after the entire incident. Your people reportedly told them that it was your prerogative to do so."

    "Ah yea, I do remember giving them the instructions to turn it off unless I said otherwise. And since I was out cold for a long time, they just followed protocol." Jin replied and hoped that Ke Loong had kept the dungeon supplier''s condition in mind to not create any more portal devices until they had sufficient data on the portal devices.

    Realistically, Jin already anticipated Ke Loong to have ignored him. Still, knowing that businessman, he would have taken the initiative to do up a n to sweeten the deal for Jin so he could sell those portals en mass.

    "I will speak to the Sea Mesh CEO when I have the chance. For now, it won''t hurt him to believe I am absent a while longer. I will consider that dinner invitation, but I make no promises." Jin said, and Hou Feiter showed Jin the aftermath of the city.

    The damage in the cities along the Dongguan-Huizhou Border Walls had already been taken care of. Most of the Border Walls had also been repaired and strengthened. Veteran Border Guards had also been deployed from all over the country to fill in the ranks until their local toons had their numbers increased again.

    But more importantly, the forest was in a mess, especially in Dongguan where entire acres of forests had been burnt to the ground. And that was also the time when the System interrupted and told Jin about the deal it made with the Spirits of the Land.

 Chapter 885 First Step Into The New Direction

    <h4>Chapter 885 First Step Into The New Direction</h4>

    "Your deal with the Spirits of the Land?" Jin asked, and Hou Fei thought he should better leave. After all, he had already aplished what he came here for and didn''t want to intrude on any of the System''s secrets.

    "Panda Remnant Hou Fei, please stay. User will need your cooperation to fulfil the obligation from the deal that had been struck." The System pointed out.

    "Geh! Should have run away faster... Fine, what is it?" Hou Fei reluctantly but quietly epted and listened to the System telling its User about the iteration of the conditions which the Spirits of the Land had ced.

    "We have to repopte the forest? Well, that should be easy enough?but getting back the wildlife might pose a problemбн" Jin put his hand to his chin and thought about how to tackle this issue.

    "The System is in possession of many specimens of wildlife after the Bone Spirit Demons had left their bodies. System believes they could be released in a timely manner to the wild to repopte the area. After some more analysis that is."

    "Ah, I think I see what the System is getting at. Since you have Sandy, the Sand Witch and Shu, that grumpy treant, we should be easily able to revive the forests along the borders of Dongguan and Huizhou. Still, if you do it overnight, it will cause yet another newsworthy phenomenon like your giant treeбн unless my battalion is involved. Am I right?" Hou Fei concluded.

    "Affirmative, Panda Remnant Hou Fei catches on the topic at hand fast." The System sent an apuding emoji through the Dungeon Maker interface.

    "Doing it overnight is way too insane. One single tree is one thing, but an entire forest will lead to all the mages around the worlding to investigate what kind of magic we are hiding especially since our country has a cultivator centric society." Hou Fei considered.

    "I suggest we do it in stages, that way we can have guards protecting your Sand Witch who I will hire as an external contractor alongside her ''pet'' treant while they do their magic."

    "Animals wise, I will see if Grandma Yuan can y a part and ''acquire'' the wildlife we captured. I think we can use the same trick and as long as she ims to have acquired it via her sources, nobody should look into the matter too much. Especially since she is part of the Cultivation Zoo stakeholders, it should not prove to be much of a problem." Jin suggested.

    "That is assuming you get her to agree after making her worry that much." Hou Fei chuckled.

    "Well, you can help me y the pity card since the destruction of the forest is also partially her fault." Jin shrugged while giving his opinion and Hou Fei shook his finger.

    "Dangerous card to y but hmmmбн since you are my master, and you did aid me when I needed you the most, I shall be the sacrificialmb for this matter." Hou Fei sighed before looking at the time. "Sorry I got to go. System, please keep me updated when you want me to get Sandy and Shu toe out." Hou Fei requested for a teleport back to his house.

    "Now that he is gone, I would like to ask you something. When you said to release the animals to the forest, I am assuming that you n to merely let them walk around or something, right? Or are you really releasing them out of our control?"

    "Till now, the System has not released any captured monsters or minions. If the System deems that it is nearing capacity, it will selectively reject or ept monsters into System''s control."

    "In short, you are basically a massive hoarder until you really have no space?" Jin tried to rephrase its exnation to get a confirmation.

    "бн System reserves anyments on User''s statement."

    "Then what about the Demons we captured in Demon Metropolis? Have you also released them back to their ''living habitat'' or are they still under captivity?" Jin queried while continuously used air quotes on words that he deemed too sensitive.

    "System shall overlook User''s way of speaking and answer his question. Panda Remnant Rex had forged a fake deal with Moloch. As part of the agreement, those who lost will have to work for Pandapolis. This was just a tiny use in the huge cooperation deal between the two major cities. They have been allowed to go back to their families, but when duty calls, they will be activated to serve the needs for both Demon Metropolis and Pandapolis." The System stated.

    "That is quite a nifty deal. Didn''t expect Rex to think of such things. Wait, howe you call him Panda Remnant and not Betor?"

    "Panda Remnant Rex proves more useful in an administrative role. He used to be a sessful diplomat back when he was in service of Panda Lord Zhou Lin. System had expected nothing less from him and felt the need to reward his contribution."

    "Well, at least this morning has been productive enough." Jin leaned back on his chair and thought about a few matters moving forward before starting the day.

    "The new shop instance is done. I can put it out soon enough for the uing New Year celebration as well as the new dungeon instance. The Spiralling Sewers Instance is a sleeper hit but we should keep an eye on the data to see if we need to tweak the difficulty a little more. Resources wise, we are still in the green... So that''s manageableбн And the Adventurer Town in Goblin World is self-sufficient enough to close an eye. Please tell Zhi Nu that she is managing it well and maybe give her a bonus in the near future. Hmm, Pandapolis maintenance repairs are still ongoing, but it should be done within a week or so. Ah, - nearly forgot I need to start increasing the Adventurers'' Town Dungeon Cave''s difficulty." Jin mumbled to himself continuously that the System had to interject its opinion at times in case he forgot something vital.

    "Do remember that increasing difficulty will result in their deaths and subsequently the service to the System." The System reminded promptly.

    "Hahah, I know that. And right now, I think we need some manpower too. If we are to create that Virtual Reality MMORPG, we need to get our Open World Instance well developed. We can perhaps use those adventurers as our Alpha Testers. How about we start selling special charms which will allow them to not die when going into the lower levels? Those who pay for it will get transported into the Virtual Realitywork and get kicked out if they die. Those who don''tбн oh well, more diverse minions I guess." Jin suggested.

    "While King Baal''s Crown has increased the System''s processing capability substantially, it will not be enough for the User''s ns on its own. Therefore, it would be best for User to get the Mecha World Titan''s Brain too. It will improve the System''s operation in maintaining the Open World Instance." The System gave its very biased rmendations.

    "Figures you would use that opportunity to strengthen yourself. Well, I am asking something major from you, so I can''t deny that request. ording to your data, we might handle a few thousand people, but if we go live with the VRwork, we will need more than that by a hundred times at the very least." Jin sighed as he sat straight up from his chair and started to note down the things he should do in terms of urgency.

    "If System recovers to?at least 40% processing power, the output would be exponential enough to handle a China based server." The System said, and Jin got curious instantly.

    "You can handle at least hundreds of thousands of people with 40% processing power? Then what''s another few hundred thousand from overseas?" Jin asked.

    "The System''s ''roots'' are in China. In order to spread to other countries it would require the System to create nodes simr to the Dungeon Cores. Only with Sub System Server Nodes can the System move to countries further than our current borders without excessively stretching its processing powers. What''s more, the System can ce its existing processing capabilities into those server nodes, and technically that will allow the System to have more than 100% processing power."

    "Probably that means your cap limit can be raised further. Interesting..." Jinmented.

    "Exactly. System shall look forward to the day that User helps it ovee the initial limit System had."

    That was a long term goal to keep in mind but and of all the pending matters, the first agenda on his list was the Chinese New Year''s Eve reunion dinner. He was not just preparing to enjoy it with his family of betors and Sub System Users but also wished to include his minions.

    After the stark epiphany he had during his party time in the Adventurer''s town pub, he had decided to make this reunion dinner a little different from the Christmas Bash they previously held.

 Chapter 886 Changing of Personal Priorities

    <h4>Chapter 886 Changing of Personal Priorities</h4>

    "Is this enough?" Lynn asked Qiu Yue as they were getting ready for the reunion dinner. They were aware that they would just go down to their usual dinner ce inside the house, but it was a rare chance to wear traditional dresses for the asion.

    "Hmm, it''s still a bit too nd. Hold on, let me try something." Qiu Yue answered as she helped the Lady Chef, who was ignorant in such matters apply some more makeup. She grabbed the foundation brush and gently took some mild pink rose makeup and started to puff Lynn''s cheeks up a bit.

    "Lipstick wise, I think these natural colours will bring out your natural charm." Qiu Yue advised as she opened her cab stash and took a couple of sticks out for Lynn to choose from.

    "But those won''t give me a bombastic and loud look like yoursбн" Lynn pouted, as she was a bit jealous that she could not pull off such a bright and bold tone.

    "Don''t worry, I will make you as pretty as me in your own way. Treat it as my thank you for helping me pick this lovely cheongsam dress. " Qiu Yue snickered as she pointed to the ck long cheongsam dress with red panda tinted designs on the cloth.

    Lynn was simrly wearing a floral sakura kimono in respect to her nationality, and with small, cute penguins hiding behind the sakura flowers. Butpared to the traditional ones, she had it easy because of the quick wear mechanism which her Sub System developed as a side perk for its user.

    Once Lynn had applied the lipstick, the Penguin Queen took the initiative to help the Red Panda Tactician do up her hair into a cute, neat bun while Qiu Yue continued with her makeup process.

    "It might sound weird to say it now but... honestly, the more I work with Jin, the more I feel at peace rather than in loveбн" Qiu Yue suddenly blurted out after Lynn had barely started to work on her hair.

    "Mhmm." Lynn did not know how to reply. To make things worse, the table mirror in front of them betrayed Lynn''s not so subtle expression to Qiu Yue.

    "Here I thought you would be more relieved after hearing this." Qiu Yueughed at Lynn''s stunned expression. "I am telling you that I am retiring from that meaninglesspetition for Jin''s affection."

    "This must be another trick of yours, isn''t it?" Lynn said the first thing that came to her mind. She had never expected that just aiding each other with their clothes would turn so serious.

    "I just figured a new year, a new me. Haha. Maybe it was Pei''s little trick on Jin that opened my eyes, but I do not want to be a burden to him. You know that we used to be a couple, right? I''ve known him long enough to see that he really does not seem to be in the mood of getting into a rtionshipбн at least not back with me. Perhaps a tiny part of him still mes me for dumping him back thenбн Anyway, I just decided that I would rather concentrate on getting some achievement for myself." Qiu Yue exined as she closed her lips and checked the brightness of her own lipstick.

    "Unlike you, Ms. Prodigy Cook, who has already trained to be a professional cook, I have yet to find a niche."

    "Please, you''ve worked for the government before you joined Jin. You took control over the economy of the Goblin and Orc Kingdom and single-handedly oversaw the construction ns of Pandapolis. Don''t those count as amazing achievements under your belt? Not to mention, you aided in the defence of Pandapolis by leading hundreds of minions under yourmand. What more could you want?" After Lynn tied Qiu Yue''s hair into a bun, she inserted a red panda hairpin at the side.

    "Heh, I feel like I should have done more. In the end, wasn''t it Jin and Kraft''s troupe who handled the Big Bad Boss? I''ve even asked my Sub System how my odds would have been in his shoes. It told me it was 0%. It might be able to boost my but not to such a level. Not unless my base strength improves by a lot. Don''t tell Jin, but in recent weeks, I''ve been training with Tsu and Kai." Qiu Yue shared as she ced her index finger on her mouth while facing the mirror.

    "Ohбн no wonder there were some days I could not contact you. I ermбнthought you did not want to talk to me when I visited Jin in his ward." Lynn decided to also be open with her, saying some things she had dared to say before.

    "True I was worried about him. Especially the first few days, but I saw the betors were taking great care of him, so I decided that I would trust them and instead of moping around I would take this time off from Jin''s constant bbering of requests to improve myself." Qiu Yue replied as she had felt inadequate after the fight against the Demon Rats.

    While she did amicably well, there had been many times that she got rescued by the Orcs and Goblins around her, some of them paying for it with their lives. Though one could say that she had developed good teamwork to ovee the mounting odds, she felt that she could have done better.

    Acknowledging her ownck of power, the Red Panda Cultivator had personally decided to look for mentors to help improve on herbat skills. Naturally, Tsu and Kai were quite surprised when the Sub System User approached them for training, but they were nevertheless happy to help.

    She had chosen a perfect time, as the twin brothers were also giving martial art sses to the beast kids of the Paradiso Prison. However, the only condition that Tsu and Kai gave to Qiu Yue was that she had to unlearn all the knowledge she umted and follow the same training pattern that the Wolf brothers had given the beast kids.

    "Then what about the cultivation manual that the System has given you?" Lynn asked, and Qiu Yue smiled.

    "They told me not to worry about it. While I would learn their basics first, Tsu would subsequently follow up with the cultivation manual given to me. I don''t know about Zeru, but those two are seriously demanding teachers." Qiu Yue sighed when thinking about it.

    Seeing as she was done, she swapped ces with Lynn. "Now it''s my turn to do your hair a little." Simr to Qiu Yue''s red panda essory hairpin, Lynn also had a penguin hairpin. Still, instead of a bun, Qiu Yue tied a simple ponytail for her fellow Sub System User.

    "So, don''t worry about me and go for Jin. Just don''t me me if my inactivity still attracts him to me. Perhaps he really is bing like a Panda and had just suppressed his desire for me, hehe!" Qiu Yue teased Lynn a bit. "Also, you should get him before that mysterious female State Agent officially enters his life. I have a feeling like she could spell trouble for you."

    The Penguin Queen decided at that moment that in the new year, it''s time to up her game a little. (Or at least she tries.)

 Chapter 887 Minions Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 887 Minions'' Reunion</h4>

    Just as Jin had promised, he announced his sponsorship of everyone''s meal for Chinese New Year''s Eve through the System Channel. He had even prepared a temporary service instance where the minions would be served hotpot.

    There was no limit to each hotpot room within the service instance, so it could amodate any number of them. But to avoid straining the System''s resources, the minions were required to define how many people were entering it in the first ce.

    Therefore, every minion had to register their names into a group so they would be given their own room in the Hotpot Service Instance.

    Furthermore, this was the first time the penguins were able to sit back and rx as the System had already collected enough data on how the little aquatic birds worked.

    Jin had used that data to simte something simr to the Panda Nurses'' artificial intelligence and had created Panda Waiter equivalents.

    At first, the penguins were apprehensive about Jin''s decision until they learned that the Panda Waiters'' only job was to prepare the food items to serve to the minions. Just a bit of cutting and washing of the food supplies before those premium raw items would be delivered to each and every room''s hungry customers.

    While it was supposed to be hotpot, Jin had actually included metal grills beside the hotpot too, allowing them to barbeque their meat if they didn''t wish to have it steamed. And unsurprisingly, all minions were happy to go with thetter option since barbequed meat was an expensive System point purchase and not something for everyday consumption to the average minion.

    Naturally, most minions did not hold back on their appetite after they learned it was free for all. Only the more recent additions were a little apprehensive of their master''s offer. It seemed too good to be true if it was indeed without a catch, but the older minions encouraged them to take it as it was a rare opportunity.

    "It''s not every day that the Boss treats us, but when he does, he does not hold back. So eat up, my dear student! Trust me, after taking one bite, you will look forward to these events, as you won''t have to worry about any cost." Moloch said to Prince Sts, who had voluntarily joined the System''smand after he had witnessed what an amazing job Moloch and his human- Nay, his master had done to defeat his father.

    Only a select few forces should have stood a chance against the Demon Metropolis. Still, even amongst them, the young prince doubted any could have achieved such an overwhelming victory against the Demon Metropolis. Perhaps the Church of the Afterlife, but they usually kept to themselves.

    "Yea, little prince, eat! Eat until you burst, for tomorrow he might swarm you to death with work!" Wolte added in as he ced arge piece of medium-rare cow steak into his slug body. "MMMMMMM! The taste is heavenly." Wolte shook his body with joy.

    "True, Jin does expect a lot from us minions, but you do get rewarded in kind," Moloch admitted as he ced a te full of meat on Baal''s side of the table. "I would advise you to start grilling a ste- HEY WOLTE! Get your fingers off my meat, you stupid metal slug!" Moloch defended his food by throwing a magical card towards the slug which stunned him momentarily. Long enough for the plush minotaur to recover his te.

    "Bah, no need for your little tricks. You could have just taken some from meter. It''s free flow until the morning after all! The Master was even nice enough to set a time dtion instance for us to eat until we could not move! Waiter! More beer please!" Wolte shouted, and the rest on the tableughed, but Baal was a little more serious as he lowered his head to his old friend.

    "Thank you, Moloch. I thought you would still be mad at me." Baal said in an apologising tone to the surprise of his children. Princess Gaap and Prince Sts had never seen such a side of their father before.

    "Nah, it''s over already. We''ve beat you fair and squareбн well mostly fair. So why make a big fuss about it now? Besides, I won you over. To me, that means my job is done. Also, I get to enjoy watching Kiva being used as a guinea pig for lots of research work. I hope Ayse will at least give him some time off for this." Moloch chuckled.

    Not only did Jin enable smaller groups to have their own reunion with each other, but he had also granted his monsters some time off to check on their real families as part of the reunion dinner agreement. The Goblins, Orcs and even Demons from the Demon Metropolis were all able to return their individual worlds. And because time passed differently in each and every world, the System only dictates a four hour grace period to visit their loved ones.

    But this kindness had a price, and Jin knew about it. There could be potential bacsh upon doing this act, and thus the Dungeon supplier warned each and every one of them that this was only a temporary visit and the System would not just let them go that easily. He also ryed them the consequences of contacting their loved ones again for certain monsters, and if their work progress deteriorates because of this, the System might have to intervene.

    However, he did promise them one thing. If his nextrge scale project seeded, the implementation of the Virtual Realitywork, and with enough resources on his side, he might be able to allow their families to stay with them (in a virtual way at least). Else, he coulde up with a system that would allow them to return on a regr basis based on their work performance.

    Knowing that their master had no obligation to do any of this because he owned them, they were already thankful that they received a chance to reunite with their family members. Of course, exining why they were gone would be hard for many of them, especially the Orcs who would have to see their family, friends or loved ones from a distance. Some even learnt a few tricks from the Orc Traders in the Adventurer Town and or do so under a different appearance and name.

    The Demons did not have any such limitation since their world revolved around the concept of resurrection and the deal brokered between King Rex and Moloch of Pandapolis City allowed the Demons to return almost anytime.

    As for the Goblins, many of them were ted to return to their loved ones but they also noticed how long they had been away. With the time differences between worlds, a small number, unfortunately, had to visit graveyards because of the time they were away. But the majority were excited to be back. (And with lots of money to boot.)

    The Farming Humans, on the other hand, had already formed amunity between themselves as they knew most, if not all of their family members had already been killed by the Demon Rats. Some even took this chance to ask Jin if it was possible for them to take part in the fight against the Demon Rats.

    Jin did not hesitate to grant their request, but on the condition that they had to be trained under someone more senior. Thus, most of the Farming Humans if not all went to the Mousefolks for apprenticeships. As for the rest, they went to the Jacks, but that is a story forter.

    Because right now, it''s all about reunion and enjoying their ''employment benefits''.

 Chapter 888 Prosperity to the Panda Clan

    <h4>Chapter 888 Prosperity to the Panda n</h4>

    Just like the minions, Jin and his dungeon family were enjoying the same bountiful dinner. It had been hard on them as the dungeon supplier had to convince Lynn not to get involved in the food process at all.

    For the first time, Lynn had felt ever so restless as she was being forced to rx. (The Queen and Penguins were just too hardworking when ites to food.) However, upon learning that it would just be hotpot and barbecued meat, she had decided to leave it to Jin. (Even though she could not help herself and prepare some Porkcupine meat ''just in case'' they would need it.)

    Grandma Yuan and Hou Fei had both turned up. The old woman was apanied by ire, who had quickly be a favourite guest in the System''s eyes (or sensors). The Panda Waiter had prepared a mini hotpot special for Grandma Yuan so it would be nutritional and tasty but more importantly, premium looking.

    "Heh, guess you brats know how to please the elderly." Grandma Yuan said but little did she know it was Yun who had suggested that specific assortment of food for Jin to procure. She had made him promise that he would not say a word about her involvement, as she would deny everything, but the Dungeon Supplier knew that credit should go where it was due.

    Thus, he slipped a video file to ire and hinted that it might be interesting for Grandma Yuan to see. However, he never knew that it was because they were rted in some way and thought it was just a method to close the gap between them. (In hindsight, this small gesture by Jin helped propel the mending of their rtionship, but that is for ater story.)

    Even before digging in, the betors'' mouth were already drooling from looking at Grandma Yuan''s hotpot. When their personal hotpot was served, they feasted on it as if they had been starving for weeks. Side dishes were gone, and the Panda Waiters had toe in multiple times to fill the tes.

    Even Zeru decided to eat more than usual andughed with a rxed posture. As a good disciple, Jin had also prepared a special something for his Sword Saint teacher. He beckoned him to a corner, where he gave Zeru a bottle during the midst of the reunion hotpot dinner.

    A bottle of fermentedvender flower wine.

    Zeru was curious as to why he would give something like that to him away from the others until he saw Jin pull out an antique Chinese tea set as well as a bottle of sludge.

    "This day is meant to be celebrated with the people closest to us. I thank you for all that you have done, but there is still someone else you should spend time with. I think your wife will be thrilled to learn that you can be with her during this day. This bottle is filled with mytest dark sludge, so it is choke full of my Maqi, allowing you to manifest her spirit for some time." Jin exined and Zeru could not help but stifle his reaction.

    "Boss Jin. I... Thank you for your generosity." Zeru said as he nearly wanted to kneel, but Jin stopped him almost instantly.

    "Stop it. I might be your boss, but I am also your disciple. Now please stop or the others will think up something suspicious!" Jin panicked as he tried to stabilise the Sword Saint.

    "Agreed, but as your teacher, allow me to honour my precious disciple with a toast from this wine he got for me." Zeru insisted. He effortlessly opened the bottle and used his chi to grab his ss from the table, making everyone''s attention shift to the duo.

    They watched Zeru pour a cup full of wine and drank wholeheartedly not before shouting "Prosperity to the Panda n!" which caused chuckles from the table afar. After which he nodded his head with gratitude and left the room early.

    "Was that the wine you asked me to get?" Lynn asked in a hushed tone, and Jin smiled widely.

    "Yes, and his mouth was wide open when he saw that I took out that bottle." Jin whispered back.

    Not too long ago, Zeru had been asked by Lynn for his opinion for a wine which might apany a particr dish. At the time, she had presented him with many choices. He had expertly analysed each one of them, but that one in particr had made him halt for a moment. Jin only came to learn of this by sheer coincidence as he had asked his Sub System Users what had happened while he was unconscious.

    "Speaking of Prosperityбн isn''t it time for our boss to give us some *cough* pieces of paper?" Qiu Yue mischievously asked as she pointed at the clock.

    It was about three minutes to midnight, and Jin shook his head with dreaded anticipation. "Damn, time really flies, eh? Shouldn''t we wait until morning?" Jin chuckled with a bitter smile.

    "No wonder Grandma Yuan left a little early, citing the need for rest. She must have suspected you guys would be shameless enough to ask for some Hong Bao (red packets)." ire stated as sheid back on her chair and drank a bottle of beer. Although she was not expecting much since she was the ''intern'' in the family, she would still like a red packet from Boss Jin too.

    "Heh, and you cannot forget about Hou Fei. He flew off the fastest after the first round of meat. Besides, we worked damn hard to fulfil your impossible deadlines, so it is only natural to ask for some good bonus. Besides, who knows what this Boss of ours got to do in the morning. Perhaps we will have to save yet another world from being taken overбн or at least some Royal Zodiacs might be knocking on his door after they learn that he is still alive and kicking." Qiu Yue argued as she looked at the time and kept tapping on the table.

    "That you are not wrong. But on the side note, I cannot believe there are still people ying those dungeons at this time. Shouldn''t they be with their parents or something?" ire wondered, and eventually, all the Sub System Users were staring at each other.

    "I ate with my father in the afternoon, because I told him I was eating with you guys in the evening." Lynn defended herself first and gave a peace symbol with a wide grin, as if she knew she had done her ''familial duties'' then the eyes slowly shifted to Qiu Yue.

    "My parents are still overseas because of their business obligations. I had a video call after Lynn said she was looking for her father for lunch." Qiu Yue even showed the logs that she called her mom in the afternoon, which allowed her to grin the same as Lynn.

    Andstly, the eyes went to ire.

    "The only ''family'' I had was previously Grandma Yuan and to a lesser degree her students. So, I''d like to formally thank you all for inviting me to this reunion dinner." ire even bowed with delight and gratitude too.

    "Let me formally wee you to our family, ire. No matter what happens, you are now one of us after what you have been through. And of course, what you have seen. Besides I am sure that pesky System will change your status from intern to-"

    "HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!" The System suddenly dered and imaginary fireworks lit up the whole terrace, causing Jin to realise that three minutes had already passed. Both the Betors and Sub System Users together wished Jin a very happy new year by raising their sses to drink up.

    Jin chuckled a little and picked his ss up to toast.

    "Happy Chinese New Year, everyone. Let''s hope that we will continue to prosper for the uing year and continue to strive towards our goal of being the Number One Dungeon Supplier Store in the World!" Jin said, and everybody stood up to clink their sses together.

    "Readyбн1, 2, 3- YAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" Jin started the toasting chant, and the rest followed up, including Yun and Kraft who had told the System to record the moment. All of them continued to yell for a considerable amount of time for as long as possible as it was a tradition to do so.

    "SENGGGG!" The sses all collided with each other once more, and everyone drank up.

    After which, the Panda Waiter came in time with arge giant te of Yu Sheng, a premium tter of raw fish and vegetables. Everyone knew that the dish was served to usher in good luck and wealth for the new year.

    There were eighteen phrases when one added the ingredients into their Yu Sheng, and the Panda Waiter looked eerily familiar. (It turned out to be a replica of Captain Hei.)

    He came in with a waiter costume and started to open the extra ingredients that needed to be added into the tter to signify good luck.

    "Nian Nian You Yu! May every year be filled with prosperity!" Hei said as he opened the first pack filled with raw slices of fish.

    "Da Ji Da Li! For more good luck and prosperity!" Hei proceeded to add dried orange peels into the Yu Sheng tter.

    "Zhao Cai Jin Bao! Weing wealth into our household!" Hei added the peppers and a variety of seasoning powders.

    "Yi Ben Wan Li! May Boss make a thousandfold profit from investment!" Hei shouted out loudly when he poured a packet of oil.

    "Cai Yuan Guang Jin! May the money pour in all directions!" Hei said as he sprinkled thest bits of oil in the packet.

    "Hong Yun Dang Tou! May fortune greet you at your door!" Hei announced as he threw thin strips of carrots into the tter.

    "Bu Bu Gao Sheng! May Boss rise higher with every step!" Hei threw in the shredded white raddish.

    "Feng Sheng Shui Qi! May everyone have sess and promotion at work!" Heiter ced the shredded cabbage in, and there was a slight cheer from Qiu Yue.

    "Qing Chun Chang Zhu! May everyone retain their youthful looks!" Now more cheers came in when Hei threw in the shredded green raddish.

    "Jing Ying Man Wu! May our house be full of gold and silver!" Hei sprinkled chopped peanuts into the Yu Sheng mixed tter.

    "Sheng Yi Xing Long! May Boss''s business prosper forevermore!" Hei used a little more strength to sprinkle the sesame seeds, and Jin personally added some cheering in.

    "Man Di Huang Jing! May your floor be covered in gold!" Hei said as he opened not one but three packets of golden looking crackers and scattered them throughout the whole tter.

    "Jin Yu Man Tang! May your hall be filled with gold and jade!" Hei added when he scattered thest packet of golden crackers.

    "Tian Tian Mi Mi! May your life be blessed with sweetness." Hei now opened a small container filled with plum sauce and poured it over the tter. That was when Hei stepped back, and everyone took a pair of chopsticks. They knew that there were a few phrases left, but they were only to be said when everyone started tossing the Yu Sheng tter.

    To mix everything up was a symbolic gesture of putting all the wishes together. They allowed Jin to be the first to start by tossing the vegetables and fish tter in therge red te. Only when he initiated, the others began to follow, and that was when Hei shouted thest few phrases.

    "Wan Shi Ru Yi! May everything be good and smooth sailing!"

    "Shen Ti Jian Kang! May everyone''s body stay strong and healthy!"

    "Gong Xi Fa Cai! Wishing everyone great wealth!"

    Andstly, everyone waspeting to be the one to toss the vegetables as high as possible as that was the point where everyone had to shout the most auspicious phrase.

    "HUAT AH!"

    Huat, Huat, Huat Ah! To Prosperity, to Victory and most importantly, to his Family.

 Chapter 889 Red Packets

    <h4>Chapter 889 Red Packets</h4>

    Even after the tossing of Yu Sheng, the dinner did not stop there. All of them near the table took a portion of it to partake in the well wishes that had been said by NPC Panda Hei. Jin thought it was a nice touch for the System to participate in this reunion dinner in some way or another.

    And for it to control Hei''s personality and NPC settings was a small little secret that only Jin and the System were aware of. After all, just as Ming had said, the System took its rules seriously and would not break them unless there was either a consensus between the two parties involved or they were in danger.

    But in order to not create any further suspicion, ''Hei'' had already retreated back into his quarters after serving Yu Sheng and taking a portion of it to eat. As for the rest, Qiu Yue had already shamelessly extended her hand out with her mouth full of food, but Lynn sternly told her not to be rude.

    "What''s wrong? I thought we should be rewarded for our efforts?" Peppers asked as she too followed Qiu Yue and smiled widely while awaiting the red packet.

    "You guysбн At least treat me as a proper boss! Otherwise, no red packets for you lot!" Jin stated in a fit of yful anger while he folded his arms.

    "Hahaha! Fine, fine!" Qiu Yue wiped her mouth and hands with a few pieces of tissue and adjusted her ck cheongsam dress. After which, she sped her hands together and wished her Chinese New Year greetings to her boss.

    "Boss Jin, Gong Xi Fa Cai! Hope you get rich and famous in theing year!" Qiu Yue said that part with respect, and now it was Jin''s turn to control his giggles as he did not expect them to reallyply with his request.

    "I am willing to ept rich, but famous? Maybe not too soon." Jin replied as he too adjusted his clothes and epted Qiu Yue''s well wishes for the new year.

    And as promised, he took out a red packet from his storage watch and used two hands to pass the Hong Bao to Qiu Yue. "Thank you for your service, Qiu Yue. Let''s make Dungeons and Pandas the best it can ever be." Jin said as he prepared the next red packet for the little one queuing behind Qiu Yue.

    Meanwhile, the Red Panda Cultivator realised that even the red packet was specifically designed to suit their cultivation styles. Instead of showing the current zodiac animal, they were celebrating for this year as the norm, Jin had purposely printed a Panda alongside a Red Panda ying in a Bamboo forest with both animals wearing traditional chinese costumes on it.

    However, the red packet design was just a teaser to what''s inside it (still, she nned to treasure it, instead of throwing it away). As shameless as the Red Panda Tactician may be, Qiu Yue knew it was way too rude to open the red packet in front of her boss. So, she purposely went to the backyard where she slowly and carefully opened the package without destroying it.

    However, she did try to guess how much was inside by shaking it, pressing it and bending the red packet while trying to determine its weight.

    Unfortunately, no matter how she tried, it was a little too thin forfort and Qiu Yue worried if Jin went back on his promise about giving her a ''hefty good bonus'' for the work she had done. All those worries disappeared once she opened the red packet.

    Inside was a single piece of paper.

    Slowly, she pulled it out and got giddily excited. It was a bank cheque written with quite a number of zeroes on it. "Woohooo! THANKS BOSS!" Qiu Yue shouted from the backyard and into the dining room.

    Meanwhile, Peppers shamelessly opened the red packet in front of Jin. Peppers then pulled out a card. Only upon closer inspection, did it turn out to be a gift card with the words ''System Points''.

    "Oh. My. GOD." Peppers squealed as she flipped the gift card to show that Jin had given Peppers 30,000 System points. That was equal to roughly six months of work. Milk also received the same amount, and they were jumping with joy since it was very difficult to earn this much unless they worked extremely hard for the System or by miracle, they did something deserving of that much points.

    "Wow, then I guess I better get my rewards too. Hehe!" Kraft chuckled as he joined the small queue upon seeing the many happy faces around him.

    "Are you serious, Boss?" Lynn suddenly screeched out in joy when she saw exactly the same number of zeros after opening it in the backyard. Qiu Yue and her were all excited when they thought of the things they could buy. Qiu Yue thought of getting a car with that money while Lynn was still thinking about how to improve her kitchen apparatus with that amount of money.

    "Do I kid with money??" Jin smiled as he turned his focus on Pei, the only ''fox'' he was close enough to invite to this gathering apart from Kraft and thanked her for saving him time and time again.

    "Please note that the money that User gives is from his own pocket. So, the money you spend is not part of the current budget. Spend Wisely." The Sub Systems stated simultaneously as if to prove a point not to waste their new year bonus.

    "Shhh! System I thought I told you not to say it out!" Jin asked the System as it finally came to Kraft.

    "Sub Systems did not make any such promise." The System stated as it noticed how even Pei could crack a genuine smile once in a while upon receiving the very same gift card as Milk and Peppers.

    "You know that I don''t need any of these gift cards, right?" Kraft raised his hands and sped his hands together to wish his boss prosperity for the new year.

    "Yeah, I know you well enough. But I think you will be happy with the red packet. Happy New Year to you as well, Kraft." Jin passed a packet with Foxes and Pandas imprinted on it.

    "Heh! Thank you, Boss. Do you mind if I open it right here and now?" Kraft asked as Jin gave him the go-ahead.

    When he opened it, he found out it was also a piece of paper, but he realised it was more than that. It was an inscription charm. One that looked quite simr to the ones the Demon Exorcist Trainees had received for Christmas.

    "I do not know how much power it can give you, but I hope it''s still a minor upgrade," Jin said, and that made Kraft sniggered.

    "Even if it''s not, I am sure I can convince Octofussy to help me tinker with it further. Now I am more interested in what kind of outfit you are giving me. Hahahah!" Kraft replied as he noticed it was not a dual inscription charm but rather, a triple inscription charm.

    It was a literal upgrade to the dual inscription charm which Jin could not have fiddled even with the help of the System because of his current Cultivation Grade of Eighth Peak.

    Unlessбн

    He was beyond that.

 Chapter 890 More Red Packets?!

    <h4>Chapter 890 More Red Packets?!</h4>

    Everyone was messy and noisy but equally excited by the amount of goodwill Jin had shown them. They decided to prolong dinner for a bit more. Being a cultivator allowed one to control their food consumption.

    While it was generally used to slow it down, it was also possible to quicken it. That way, the stored energy couldter be used for long periods of cultivation if needed. Thus, every one of them enhanced their speed of digestion to make room for a ''second'' round of servings. (Jin had lost count on how many times they had repeated this process and although the System had that exact number, he would rather not know.)

    With thistest round of dinner, Jin chose to share his vision for the future of Dungeons and Pandas. Most of them were astounded by Jin''s new approach, but Pei did appreciate that her master understood the concerns of how the dungeons could lead to unforeseen consequences in their current society.

    This was especially true since cultivation was not easily obtained especially in peace times, making it an indicator for position and power within the country. An extraordinary catalyst like Jin''s dungeons meant he would be targeted by every powerful organisation, whether they are good or evil.

    While it''s true that the dungeon supplier cannot take sides and is supposed to be treated as a neutral ground, it''s not necessarily true if he goes out of the store. His encounter with the Ruby Rat had shown as much. It wasn''t surprising why most dungeon supplier stores were part of arger group. (Though most parts of the reason were due to the cost of maintaining the dungeon instance servers.)

    That was why Jin owning the entire Tiangong shopping district allowed him some flexibility when it came to store management and future expansion. For example, he could use thend of his old store to create the new uing Panda Inc to support the Virtual Reality Network on a long term basis.

    "This sounds like a big endeavour to take on...but if you do it right, we will no doubt prosper and eventually even enter into Forbes Top 3." Qiu Yue shared her thoughts on the matter, and Jinughed.

    "You are clearly joking, right? I do not think that is entirely possible." Jin had never considered the consequences to that degree.

    "You see, if we y our cards right, this VRwork could be used as more than a game. You already n to create a virtual reality, but it could also be used to conduct business meetings, encrypted ones for sure and even used for education. Not just in terms of cultivation but literally anything from learning how to cook fried rice to learning how to kill someone."

    "That, I got to agree. And with the power to create within their own VR space, which I assume that''s one of the eventualities, this will allow humanity to have an online livingmunity. With exclusive rights to your own technology... Trust me, that equals shit loads of potential markets that coulde out of this. Those VR goggles? Man, those are crap stuff. I believe Boss Jin will create something akin to an alternate reality." ire also voiced her approving opinion.

    "And unlike an authentic ''virtual'' reality, ours seems more to be intended as augmented virtual reality, right? Just transferring the souls in and they are digitally physical enough to do stuff and experience with their given senses, correct?" Lynn asked for rification.

    "Hopefully. Because that should guarantee that no spiritual powers will influence them. What they fight will still be real because of the digital to physical conversion by our dungeon instance technology. That is why I said their participation in our dungeon instances is already akin to that. What we are selling will be merely the permission key to enter our doors while maintaining their physical body in ce. That way, they cannot take in the spiritual power because of the loophole in dungeon instance technology but still have a wonderful experience."

    "And we can maintain the illusion that we are doing a virtual reality stunt. That''s awfully deceptive while making sure to keep the System hidden. Didn''t think you coulde up with such a clever scheme. I am looking forward to you having more of those in the future." Kraft gave a thumbs up for the entirely new direction Jin was taking.

    "Still, there is much to do." Jin sighed and consciously stopped himself. He was afraid that the casual announcement would be a business discussion meeting. "бнLet''s get back to it, after this." Jin pulled out more red packets.

    "More red packets for us?" Peppers'' eyes widened up, and Milk told her to continue dreaming.

    "Hahaha! The ones I hold are technically for Zeru...and since I am the Master of the Panda n, I have obligations to give Hou Fei. As for those Demon Exorcist kids, they did a great job so as the boss, I need to give them too...assuming theypleted their assignments in designing the advanced training centre for me. But in any case,?I will have to give it to themter in the day. As for now, I was actually going to visit each and every room in the Hotpot Service Instance to personally convey my thanks to all the hard-working minions." Jin remarked, and everyone pretended to be bewildered by Jin''s deeds to the point the Dungeon Supplier was getting annoyed that they were so sarcastic in their response.

    "I think that''s an excellent idea. Everyone will be happy if the Bosses to meet them personally to give them their red packet bonuses like you did for us, onlyбн do you n to do that every time from now on?" Pei cautioned whether he would be able to continue to do that in the future.

    "I agree, have you taken a look at howrge their numbers have grown? Don''t you think it''s more efficient to ask your minions toe to you instead? I mean, of course, there''s sincerity for you to personally give your red packets, but that will take a heck lot of time." Qiu Yue added.

    "Although it might seem a little insincere, at the very least you will set a precedence on how you give out your red packets in the future. Imagine if you have another ten of thousands of ''employees'' under you or let''s think big, a hundred thousand employees. Are you still going to have time to give each and every one of them?" ire concurred with Qiu Yue.

    "Actually, User did consider such circumstances and had already created something to aid in the distribution. However, User eventually felt embarrassed and decided against using it. System once more rmends to use it rather than waste its resources and time teleporting around to give his employees their profits." The System stated, and everyone could feel that Jin was dying for a hole in the ground to disappear in.

    "Alright, fine! I shall use that. Butбнdon''t you dareugh at me! Orбн or next year there will be NO BONUS!" Jin threatened as he kept the red packets and told the System to make the announcement to everyone while requesting for a teleport to yet another temporary service.

    The Instant Lottery Instance.

 Chapter 891 Instant Lottery Instance

    <h4>Chapter 891 Instant Lottery Instance</h4>

    "HAHAHAHAHAH WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?" Qiu Yueughed hysterically when they were teleported right into the instance and saw a giant panda figure in front of her. ire, Lynn and even Pei burst intoughter despite the threat and immediately understood why Jin had been too embarrassed to show that creation to his monsters.

    It was not just any giant panda statue sitting casually in the middle of an empty service instance but one whose pose was reminiscent of a Maneki-neko or Zhao Cao Mao.?With the posture of a sitting beckoning cat, the lifelike Panda Statue too held its right hand up and started to beckon money continuously while making a slightly low pitch screech during an interval.

    On its left paw, the beckoning panda held onto arge coin that resembled a Panda Medal with the only difference being that it was diamond minted instead of the standard gold medal. To suit the Chinese New Year Theme, Jin had already dressed up the panda in a traditional red Chinese costume and even gave it a pair of round sunsses toplete the style of a fussy, money minded panda.

    "I honestly do not believe you only created this in such an empty service instance. This is not how you usually create your instances." Qiu Yue pointed out, and the System took the initiative to activate the instance.

    True enough, the nk white background that they were standing on started to dissemble as if the spatial space itself came alive from a long slumber of inactivity. Stage lights began to appear above them, and rows of seats like an indoor stadium theatre rose from a distance as if the instance can be calibrated to suit the size of the stage. If anything, Jin made sure that the indoor stadium can be adjusted to suit even more people while ensuring that everyone can have a brilliant view no matter where they were seated.

    "Now this is the Jin that I know of!" Qiu Yue eximed, but Lynn was curious as to why the Instant Lottery Service instance would be like an indoor stadium theatre.

    "User was worried that minions waiting for their turn to receive their red packets would get very bored, especially at their current capacity. This indoor theatre was meant as entertainment for the people who were waiting for their turn." The System exined, and the Sub System Users nodded their heads.

    "Because, to make it fair, I created a huge lottery ball drawing machine where they would have to turn the wheel themselves, and only luck would allow them to get the highest red packet value," Jin added as he showed the lottery machine at the side of the stage. "Well, the odds are actually out of their favour since all lottery machines are rigged...still it will give them a decent amount of System points as rewards, since I ced the minimum to be at least 300 points."

    "I see, then you can also announce those super prize winners on stage and let everyone get jealous about their System points." Kraft saw through the scheme while scratching his chin, most definitely considering ways on how to rig the lottery machine even further.

    "I swear that was not my intent, but yes, announcing them as winners were part of my n," Jin replied. "For this new year, I had to prepare over 8000 red packets, and it was only possible because of ire''s investment, so I thank you for that."

    "No wonder you gave me a little more than Lynn and Qiu Yue..." ire said out loud, and the Sub System Users stared at Jin. He had been prepared for that matter to eventuallye to light, but to his surprise, that stare had only been momentary. Both Sub System Users were of the same mindset as Jin, and agreed that credit had to be given when credit was due.

    Besides, their own bonus was extremely generous, and it was more than the total sum they would have earned in five years of leading their normal lives.

    "So, what kind of entertainment are you showing the monsters when they arrive?" Kraft asked, and Jin scratched his head.

    "It''s a bit dumb, but I had been considering something simr to a talent show, where Bear Cub One and Mr Patsu would be the announcers. However, since I wanted to scrap the whole because of how odd it was, I really have nothing nned. Perhaps, we can just do some anticipated 1 vs 1 fights or maybe team-based fights, obviously with some restrictions as the entertainment." Jin suggested.

    "You should let the winner take part of the points of the loser, that way you will have more than enough volunteers. How about some betting? That would make it even more interesting for those looking at it, and I mean people do have to spend their System points somewhere. After all, there''s a need to regte System Points. Otherwise, our internal economy might be due for intion." Kraft questioned with a mischievous smile.

    "That sounds more like a colosseum idea rather than an indoor theatre stadium ideaбн" ire remarked though she could not deny that from an economic point, what the Betor said was true.

    "Nobody is gonna fight Peppers though. She would just bomb the whole indoor stadium into kingdome. Haahha!!" Milk teased the small betor, who she saw was still eating a packet of chips without sharing with her. (How did she even bring that bag of chips into the scene?!)

    "Please, if you were to fight, you would win, simply because of yourrge saggy mountains. Those monsters would be too distracted to concentrate." Peppers tried to spite Milk, but instead, she turned it into apliment.

    "Beauty itself is also a weapon. If I can use that to my advantage, why not? If you are lucky, perhaps there might actually be someone who would bow down to that t chest of yours.- ARGH! Why are you spitting out your half-eaten chips onto me! Disgusting! My wonderful white cheongsam dress will get ruined by you!" Milk cried out as she tried to evade the next barrage of Peppers'' spit attack.

    Meanwhile, the others ignored their shenanigans that had be quite frequent in recent time. Given their interaction, it might be better to avoid physical (or magical) fights and instead turn it into game show fights.

    Immediately Qiu Yue and Lynn put their hands up as they had some ideas for entertainment purposes. Thus, they immediately brought out some quick y ideas that they believed would be simple enough for group team games. One of them was to reuse the dodgeball game as the monsters had really enjoyed it, and many would love to have a rematch.

    "I guess that can really be a time waster while they wait for their turns for me to distribute the red packets." Jin was happy to leave it to them, as he looked at the time. "Prize wise, it is simple enough, I can just pass them another set of red packets. Obviously not on the lottery again."

    "It would be real funny if someone struck the top prize twice," Kraft said out loud, prompting Jin to quietly inform System to take note of any hampering of the lottery machine.

    *Cough* "Can we make it in an hour''s time? I did set the announcement thinking that it would just be a simple red packet giveaway."

    "An hour? Please, Jin. You''ve tortured us with way less time." Qiu Yue winked at him, and she held onto Lynn''s hand while teleporting to an undisclosed location to prepare the entertainment for the minions.

 Chapter 892 Preparations for the Lottery Even

    <h4>Chapter 892 Preparations for the Lottery Even</h4>

    Jin''s minions gathered following the announcement, and many were already giggling at the sight of the Giant Beckoning Panda holding onto the Diamond Panda Medal.

    For those who had visited their loved ones in the various worlds, they had been given an additional hour grace period before they had to report to the Instant Lottery Service Instance.

    Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One were already checking their mikes while some of the Panda NPCs were used as the backstage crew that coordinated with them to ensure that everything went as per their impromptu ns.

    "What are we here for?" Rex yawned as he teleported into the instance the moment he had received the message from the System. He assumed it would be some sort of emergency, so he was surprised to see that it was merely a gathering.

    "Ahбн Chinese New Year. My, my, it''s been a long time since I had the chance to celebrate it." Rex thought nostalgically as he saw Pei waving him to take a seat at the front rows.

    "Wow, what is happening? Why gather these many people?" Rex asked as he saw the iing crowd was quickly reaching massive numbers.

    "Jin is giving away System Points in the form of a lottery, and there are more System Points to be earned if you participate in the games that Lynn and Qiu Yue are creati - ahem have created."

    "Ah, if I''m not wrong, Lynn''s the girl that cooked for me, right?" Rex''s mood suddenly perked up quite a bit.

    "Aren''t you a bit too old for love, Rex?" Pei teased him as she sniggered.

    "She just reminds me of my step sisterбн that''s all." Rex replied quickly, and suddenly he could feel a familiar vibe behind him.

    "Yes, Kraft, my brother. That step sister. Don''t you put any funny ideas into Pei''s head! You''ve caused enough trouble all those centuries back then." Rex reminded him, and Kraft grabbed his brother by his shoulders.

    "As you said, it''s been centuries. Have you still not forgiven me for that incident?" Kraft asked with a low apologetic voice.

    "Forgive? You nearly made my step mother go into fits! Everyone around her nearly panicked because of you! Because of you, I had to rush back from the western kingdoms to properly exin to Mother." Rex eximed, and Kraft let go of his Bro''s shoulders and jumped to sit right beside him.

    "Surely, it does not help when your step sister was giving mixed signals when you arrived." Kraft teased his brother once more.

    "YES! And who''s fault is that? For putting some of Evon''s experimental ''medicine''? " Rex rolled his eyes and somehow reminisced the Chinese New Year gatherings with his old family.

    "You know, you don''t really have to stay behind for this gathering thing. I heard from Kiyu that you''ve worked nonstop to reform Demopolis ever since bing King." Kraft expressed concern while acknowledging that Rex had changed the Demon Metropolis name into something a little catchy while signifying that they had a new owner.

    "I appreciate your concern, but I am fine. If you are so worried about my well being, feel free to help me with some administrative tasks after this is over. For now, allow me to learn what kind of man our master is." Rex said as this was the best time to observe Jin.

    As a diplomat, he had learned that reading non-verbalnguage was a skill that''s honest to a fault. It could not fool an experienced observer such as him. However, he already gave Jin a plus point when he created this indoor theatre. With thousands of monstersing happily and amidst the wide smiles and loudughter spoke volumes of their master.

    Rex had already seen Jin''s minions fight bitterly for his cause no matter how small it was, but now he observed howid-back they had be. There was no argument that the monsters'' treatment also portrayed Jin''s attitude.

    "Ehh, testing mike one, two, three. Good, it seems to be working fine. *Ahem* Wee everyone, please take the seat allocated to you by the system. You are free to change between your pals if you want. Just make sure the exchange is mutual. There is no strict seating for this particr event, except for big guys like Derpy and Mechataur. Your seats are fixed. Also wee back, Mechataur, d to see you lively up and running again." Jin addressed his audience.

    Obviously, he was surprised by its appearance and the incidents that had happened during his recovery period. The most notable of them all was when the System reported that Ayse, Weslie and even Rei werebing through the castle which Moloch ordered to transport back to the System''s embrace.

    And without a doubt, the System had done a deep scan to ensure that there were no more rats hiding in the castle''s hidden crevices before allowing the science team to take a look at it. And yeah, the Mousefolks were sent in to exterminate the hiding remnants which had even surprised the System, causing it to perform extra scans to ensure that it was entirely clear of rats before they started investigating the ruined castle. (There was no time to capture them for the Spiralling Sewers Instance, since they want to make sure the castle did not crumble any further.)

    Nheless, Jin felt that Moloch had made the right choice. By taking the floating castle into custody, the science team could not only salvage the Castle Mecha but also thoroughly check whether the rat leaders had left some clue behind. While Gold felt that the Schrs of the North and South might have left fake evidence, Jin believed it was better to have something than nothing to work on.

    "What bullshit? What do you mean I have to sit at one location and not move? That is a vition of my-!" Mechataur was about to shout his usual line of protest, but before he could continue to ramble, Niu Lang had already powered it down and had popped it out of the cockpit, apologising to Jin for his partner''s outrage. (The Bull Head was still yapping andining non stop that Niu Lang had tied his mouth with a metal chain.)

    But the noise did not die down. Soon, the random chatters in the theatre got more boisterous and louder until it was as per the time set by the announcement.

    "Alright, guys it''s time for our very first Chinese New Year giveaway! Is anybody excited for it? There will be loads of System Points for the taking and not to mention, some exclusive prizes which our Master, Jin has managed to convince the System to give out. So, are you all ready for this?!" Mr Patsu started his wee message, and everyone in the indoor theatre began to cheer with anticipation.

    "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s officially wee our one and only Master, Xie Jin!" Bear Cub One shouted and another round of furious apuse heated up the atmosphere.

    Even Jin could feel a warm feeling of fuzziness within his heart when he came out of the stage again, now all dressed so formally for the asion.

    Only his formal attireбн was yet another panda suit. (as usual)

 Chapter 893 The First Lottery Participan

    <h4>Chapter 893 The First Lottery Participan</h4>

    Everyone immediately recognised that the panda in a traditional red costume was their Master. He had been ''Panda us'' on Christmas, and now he had be the ''Panda'' of Fortune which lugged around two golden sycee ingots on his two paws, and a few red packets stuck on top of it.

    The monsters were immediately looking forward to yet another wondrous giveaway when sounds of drums and horns were yed in the background.

    "Happy Chinese New Year to all my fellow colleagues! While I am up here, please allow me to share what is toe for this new year. I think it''s important to update each and every one of you about the current direction this particr small shop is taking." Jin started his speech, and everyone especially the older minions, were already holding in theirughter.

    Small shop? More like an Empire in the making! From the budding Adventurer Town to the epic proportion of the soon to be opened Pandapolisбн Calling it a ''small shop'' was nothing but an understatement.

    "He reminds me of my former big wig bosses giving a pep talk to all his workers. Thankfully, his is one I would like to stand behind." Qiu Yue whispered to Lynn wholeheartedly agreed as they watched the Panda of Fortune talk from backstage.

    "First, let me thank all of you once more for your efforts in the Pandapolis Defence Raid and let us also wee the newrades who joined after the war. Thank you, and Wee!" Jin bowed a little, which signalled for a round of cheers and apuse from everyone around the indoor stadium.

    Even Mr Derpy was giving out a long wail to show its appreciation for Jin.

    "I too know that we had encountered the rats way earlier than expected. For them to ambush us even though we set up sufficient surveince shows that we have much room to improve and should warn us not to underestimate their shrewd leaders."

    "However, we prevailed, and I like to thank Moloch in particr for acting as the overseer for not just the Pandapolis Defence but the defence against the Rat''s ambush!"

    Suddenly a lonely shout came from the crowd asking when they were going to counter-attack to show the Demon rats what Jim''s army of misfits was made of.

    "Hahha, that''s a very good questionбн so I shall answer that immediately! Your leaders and I will be meeting after this event to n an all-out attack against those rats. The details will be shared with you after that!" Jin replied, and the crowd cheered madly.

    The Orcs beat their chest with pride, the goblins were pping, and the Tiefling Demons howled their approval. Even the Proud Dark Elves smiled with satisfaction. As for the Farming World Inhabitants, they couldn''t wait for Jin to help them have the chance to gain back theirnd and were ready to everything in their power to make it happen.

    "But make no mistake, it will be a tough fight! It will be unlike any of the wars we have ever fought! The Demon Rats are a cowardly bunch of fighters. And yet we should never underestimate their cowardice. It had enabled them to be cautious and prepare for various scenarios. For example, the near-simultaneous overground and underground attack. It is something that could have entirely overpowered any normal army."

    "But not us!" Jin shouted, and the defenders who took part in the fight cheered with tion.

    "Since when is he able toe out with such rousing speeches?" Moloch asked Kraft as he was slurping on arge ice slushie with his fake human puppet.

    "Don''t look at me. I am just as surprised as you are. Maybe he just never had the courage or audacity to do so until now." Kraft shrugged his shoulders.

    "At the very least, he is quite honest in his speeches and even acknowledges his shorings," Rexmented, but his reply was drowned in the series of cheers.

    "So, if you have any ideas on how to fight with these kinds of enemies, do not hesitate to send your opinion and feedback to the System. We will cote your replies and have our leaders take a look at it. Rest assured that the System values efficiency in battle and so if you think you have what it takes to win the war, any information you provided is much appreciated!"

    "Now, THAT''s the Jin I know." Kraft pointed out snickering, as he felt that part of the speech to be somewhat of a downer.

    "In any case, let''s get on to our main event! Today, as part of a long term tradition I n to establish, assuming our business does not suffer any major groundbreaking setbacks, I shall be giving out System points as part of the lottery draw to every single minion here in this Instance. Don''t worry, those who are absent, ore inte due to their reunion will have their chance to spin the wheel." Jin said as the stage lights shifted to the inconspicuous lottery ball draw machine which would decide the fate of the 8000 over minions that Jin housed. (Except for a few certain beings like Maeve who were locked for safe handling.)

    "Now let''s see which will be the first group gaining the chance to have a go at the lottery!" Jin said as he called out the System to randomly pull the race of monster that would first get their pick. Even the Ant Wyrms like Mr Hot and Miss Cold were considered as one race itself. So, it was down toputer-generated picking.

    The screen behind him shook drastically like a casino jackpot machine where the names rolled down continuously until it stopped.

    ''Valgs''.

    Immediately, Jin raised his eyebrows and did not know how to proceed. Fortunately for him, a somewhat familiar silhouette raised his hands. "We Valgs do not have any proper representatives other than Maeve, who is understandably uncontroble at this particr point of time, I will be taking the honour to roll for the entire group."

    "Ah, Smander KиC ahem, Dorian." Jin ''corrected'' himself just in time, as he did not wish to offend the Smander n that hade into his service as well.

    "Master, you do not have to worry about them. I have made peace with my family, and they know my desire to repent by serving the Valgs. You may call me just Dorian. Or if you prefer, please call by my System''s appointed title, Elder Valg Dorian." With the power of Valgs, he had returned into his human form and was dressed in a formal Victorian gentleman style, yet with a bowler hat instead of a top hat.

    There were still some scales left on his neck as if it was a reminder of his past. Jin just watched him walk towards the lottery ball draw machine.

    "So does that mean each leader pulls for all of their people. Will we watch Dorian turn the lottery over hundreds of times?" Lynn asked Qiu Yue, and surely all others who were watching were thinking the same, including the Elder Valg, who stood in front of the lottery ball draw machine''s console.

 Chapter 894 Lottery Draw Prize!

    <h4>Chapter 894 Lottery Draw Prize!</h4>

    Right in front of Dorian, the console had a fingerprint scanner which the System used to confirm its identity so that the lottery draw participant did not cheat. It''s not that the System suspected that the minions would try to cheat, but it was more meant for the future lottery ticket holders if Jin decided to go ahead and include it to his repertoire of service instances.

    (Meanwhile, monsters like Mr Derpy and Mechataur would have to send proxies as the scanner was unable to read their signs)

    As Dorian ced his hand on the scanner, the lottery draw ball machine suddenly grew in size right in front of him. As the leader of one of thergest factions, the System had to flush out the current ball samples and rece them with different sets of balls that were meant for those quantities. More colourful marble balls were added into the mix and started to spin as if they were in a washing machine.

    The digital screen fizzled right beside him for a moment before a revised chart of the lottery rewards revealed his odds of sess and the updated prize pool. As Dorian was the first lottery draw participant, the Magic Eye cameras automated by the System zoomed onto him with anticipation, and everyone was looking at it on the big screen. Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One were also giving sidements to bide time and hype the crowd up a little more.

    Amidst the sounds of the rotating marbles, one of them finally appeared out of the drawing machine as it quickly spiralled out of the tube andnded on a softnding trayced with cushions.

    "Let''s see what it isбн It''s a red spiral marble! Those are worth 2,000 System points for each Valg and let''s see what else the System put in!" Mr Patsu announced as he went to the revised rewards chart and read the fine print while the magic eye camera panned its angle and filmed a portion of the chart.

    "Ooo! The extra prize, in this case, is 20 Draw cards for Dorian to use. With them, he can grant an exclusive power boost to up the Valgs!" Mr Patsu eximed and Jin in his Panda Suit was confused.

    "System had taken the initiative to recreate the monster fusion procedures since User refused to use it to its fullest potential. Thus, it added another function that would permanently boost the monster''s abilities. However, that process does require User''s ck Sludge Crystals."

    "But you do know they are rather limited, right?" Jin queried, and the System merely stated that the newest form of Sludge Liquid that poured out of Jin''s body had been collected. A mere 100ml of it alone had been enough to boost the monster''s stats by a few notches up.

    "However, despite this power up procedure which the System had tested on animals as part of the experiment, the power boosts dilutes upon reaching a certain limit. So far, it has not been possible to raise their power above User''s grade."

    "So, what you are saying is that I can theoretically boost all my minions to my current Grade while you subsequently downgrade them to meet the cultivators'' standard in the dungeon instance?" Jin asked, and Mr Patsu was exining the same thing to the audience in a more dramatic way.

    "Affirmative. However, to give your sludge crystals to 8000 over minions and growing would be an arduous task. That is why the System is giving it out as part of the lottery rewards."

    "And some lucky minion could be powered to my current grade?"

    "While the System wished for such a case, those kinds of situations should be reserved for desperate situations. Drastically increasing the power stats of a minion might seem useful, but they are likely to suffer from training deficit, where theck of training could not allow the minion to fully utilise their new found strength. It might also promote torpidity and inactivity despite being in a controlled environment. Not to mention System is unsure about any other long term negative effects it might have."

    "I see... Guess you are just giving them something like a step up power boost? Even though you are seemingly using them as more guinea pigs..."

    "Affirmative. That way, they can have an extra boost in their stats and be able to train further since they all currently will suffer ack of contact with cultivator training until your Virtual Reality Network is up and running."

    "And the cultivators will never know that despite their soul turning into data, they are actually fighting with real monsters all the way," Jin smirked as he stepped forward.

    "Thank you, Dorian, for being the first draw participant! Now, let us see who is the next participant and while you all wait for your turns, we have prepared some games for you to participate in. Of course, that means there are more prizes to be earned." Jin said as he pulled the microphone out of the stand and beckoned his two game masters (or mistresses) out to exin more.

    "Oh, and one more thing. Each of you will have a chance to press on the lottery draw machine. Unless the System deems otherwise!" Jin emphasised before giving the mike to his Sub System Users to take the stage.

    "Happy Chinese New Year to all! Firstly, let''s congratte the Dark Elves as the second group of minions to get to draw the lottery. Do not worry, everyone will have an equal chance of winning the grand prize of 100,000 System points! And yes, there can be up to three of such winners. But if you do not get such a prize, I assure you the minimum points are still worthy of your wait." Qiu Yue grabbed the mike and Jin in his Panda costume skipped happily into the backstage.

    His role now was to only appear and congratte the three grand prize winners for picking the lottery as well as presenting arge gift pack filled with alcohol, snacks and other kinds of goodies.

    Other than that, he took out his panda head and checked his phone. Even while waiting, there were a few things he could do. This is especially so when the System had also recently upgraded his phone capabilities and allowed him to have remote ess to his dungeon maker console after achieving better processing capabilities.

    But first, an email to Ke Loong for a meeting in the morning.

 Chapter 895 Blackbeard Cannon

    <h4>Chapter 895 ckbeard Cannon</h4>

    "Firstly, let me start by saying something that must be on the minds of all of us present here. JIN! STOP GIVING US SUCH SHORT NOTICE, DAMN IT!" Qiu Yue suddenly shouted out her frustration which made the dungeon supplier topple from the chair he was sitting on.

    His Panda Head rolled out of the backstage. The monsters vaguely understood what Qiu Yue was implying andughed along with it that someone finally said it out loud. Jin chuckled when he fell to the ground revealing himself at the side of the stage as he ced the chair back properly and bow himself out once more.

    However, only Lynn noticed that Jin''s fall was quite strange. (Qiu Yue was too busy addressing the minions and he was backstage, hiding behind the curtains.) The way he fell seemed a little too natural as if it had be second nature to him to react in such a way and at the same time, she could feel a slight change in his chi from afar.

    Even though he was smiling at Qiu Yue''s outburst and came to retrieve the rolling Panda Head, Lynn sensed a heavily masked killing atmosphere. Focusing on it, the Penguin Chef noticed that there was no murder intent in it. This reminded her of the time working for the Yakuzas when her Sensei identally leaked his own strength out despite the constant suppression he taught her and his other students in the kitchen.

    "So Jin really did have an increase in his cultivation grade despite being out cold," Lynn mumbled to herself disappointed. She had been busy training herself to close the gap while Jin was unconscious, but it seemed that the dungeon supplier had somehow found a way to widen the distance yet again.

    "Earth to Lynn. Are you still with us?" Qiu Yue joked as everyone could see that Lynn was staring at Jin blindly while she was in fact, lost in her thoughts.

    "Huh? Oh, sorry!" Lynn quickly bowed and apologised to the entire crowd and with her beautiful kimono directly under the spotlight, she was the picture of a ssic beauty that captured all the hearts of the male minions. At that point, unbeknownst to the minions, the penguins had started scanning through the crowd to find potential troublemakers in case anyone got any funny ideas in regards to their Queen. (Talk about overprotectiverades.)

    "With no further ado, let us start with the first game we have prepared for all of you!" Lynn announced, and suddenly the stage started to rumble a little, revealing a tall gigantic wooden barrel with multiple and yet systematic holes on it.

    "The first game is called ''ckbeard''! It''s a game where it will be up to you minions to stick swords into the barrel, and if you get lucky enough to score a hit, the person inside will fly out of the barrel!" Qiu Yue exined.

    "Because of the space constraint, we have set it in such a way that the barrel is facing towards the audience. But have no fear! The barrel is simr to an air cannon, so when someone manages to hit the right spot, the one inside will shoot over the crowd and to that safety there!" Lynn took over, and the spotlight quickly shifted to a safety being set up at the far end of the stadium which was being manned by Panda Helpers.

    "So, to make things extra interesting, we have decided that the ones insideбн shall be the upper management and monster leaders! That''s right if any of you ever had any grievances with your superiors now''s the chance to send them flying! If you hit the right hole, that is. But no worries, we have prepared a little something for everyone who ns to participate!" Qiu Yue added as both the girls simultaneously ran to the backstage to hold onto their Boss''s hands.

    "Wait, what?!" Jin, who thought his previous appearance would be sufficient, had been to busy writing the email to Ke Long to even pay any attention to the game exnation. The girls did not give him a break, and so he became the first victim of the ckbeard Cannon mini game.

    The minions cheered as they saw Jin''s reluctant and stunned face inside the battle and the monsters were intensely holding their hands up wanting to try the game.

    Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One took turns to choose the volunteers from the crowd of 8000 over monsters, and the System aided them to choose rather impartially, in ordance to race and their numbers.

    And for the first time, Mr Derpy was chosen immediately which shocked the Shadow Dagen significantly. However, Qiu Yue apologised that given his size, it would be impossible for him to personally go up to the stage.

    Thankfully, Mr Derpy did not mind.

    Mind controlling his Deep One was a walk in the park for him, and the crowd could see how happy and light footed the Deep One Mage he blessed was when going on stage.

    It was then that Mr Derpy could choose which hole to put a stic sword into the wooden barrel. Only with so many sword holes for him to choose from, he understood that the odds to get the right one were not in his favour. So for a moment he freed the Deep One Mage from his control and asked for his subordinate''s opinion.

    "Let''s just stick it in the hole right in front of us." The Deep One Mage offered, and Mr Derpy was fine with that idea. Being able to participate and y in a game was more than enough for him, especially since he was the first one this time around.

    "Hahha, won''t it be funny if Jin flies off because we happened to choose the right one?" Mr Derpy wondered as he resumed the mind control and forced it to parade around the tform for a moment before he aimed the stic sword in the hole he picked up and shafted it in.

    There was arge click sound, and for a moment everyone expected their Panda Boss to fly in the airбн but unfortunately, there was no other movementing from the barrel.

    The crowd as a whole pitied Mr Derpy for a moment before the next few monsters tried continuously. Everyone understood that the odds were low, but with every failed attempt their wish to be the lucky one increased.

    Besides, who would not want to be able to boast about achieving such a feat, not to mention the prize that would await them?

    In the meantime, Jin had ess to a console monitor purposely built inside for the victim to see the number of slots left before they would inevitably be sent sting out of the ckbeard barrel. (It was as if the console was telling him how much closer he was being sted off)

    And true enough, on the 43rd attempt, someone managed to seed.

    "Congrattions to our first winner for this game! Let us all give Zither Mistress Ke Mi a big round of apuse!" When Qiu Yue announced the name, a loud burst of air emanated from the cannon hole, and Jin was sent flying without any safety gear towards the only flimsy the Panda Helpers were supposed to catch him with. (Ke Mi was totally embarrassed but still, she let out a cute little chuckle when she saw Jin flying away in his panda suit.)

 Chapter 896 Grand Prize Winner

    <h4>Chapter 896 Grand Prize Winner</h4>

    While everyone initially worried it would be a long process, the lottery draw machine was able to spill out the lottery balls fast enough to not cause any long queues. It was constantly spinning and only stopped whenever the tube gate was opened upon using the fingerprint scan.

    As for the ckbeard game, the monsters were immensely enjoying the chance to bully their beloved leaders and eventually, after each leader got fired off once, the two game masters presented other games to catch the minions'' attention while they waited for their turn. Mini-games like dancing and even karaoke followed in which Sandy was obviously the winner once she came on stage by popr demand.

    Her die-hard fans, the Orcs being the most fanatic among them, sang along with Sandy to the point that they requested more than just one encore. Soon, it turned into an impromptu fan concert when nearly the entire audience joined in with the sing-along (only monsters like the Valgs and the Deep Ones abstained as their voice was more disturbing than melodic), nearly overshadowing the grand prize winner when Wyrstriker got it while his eyes were on stage.

    Still, the System was considerate enough to not disturb the songs and only announced the Grand Prize Winner after the apuse. That also allowed Jin to prepare hisrge gift basket and present it to Wyrstriker while the goblin raked in the System points.

    "Congrattions Wyrstriker! You are our first Grand Prize Winner!" Jin bowed in respect and from the distance, the Wyvern Goblin Knight Battalion were howling with pride. With that many System Points, it was possible to buy better aerial fighting equipment and continue to improve themselves so that they can continue to stand as the first and best airborne force that Jin had.

    This was especially important for the Wyvern Goblin Knight Battalion since the Dragon Devils were now under the System''s control. However, this also meant that their friendlypetition for improvement would be endless, pushing Jin''s air superiority to another level.

    Yet, as time went by, the minions finished drawing their lottery lots, but there were no second and third Grand Prize Winners as advertised by Jin. However, that was not the end for them as Jin came in after thest minion got his prize despite the hype that Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One were creating.

    "While it is unfortunate that there was no second and third Grand Prize Winner this year, that does not mean no one gets it. In my world, when no one wins the lottery, the prize usually goes to charity. So for those wondering, we are not going for another round of lottery runs, but instead, we are going to follow my world''s practices. These two Grand Prizes will be converted into money, food and supplies, and we will be sending it to your home worlds to help the poor." Jin exined, and there was a short silence and subsequently murmurs between the monsters.

    It was an unexpected reaction for Jin, as most of them never knew about charity. It was usually a dog eat dog world where only the strongest survived. Sure, once in a while there would be a helping hand for the lucky but it took more than a miracle for that to happen.

    "But we are not going to give the money and supplies blindly. To efficiently do that, I would like to recruit a group of willing volunteers with sufficientbat skills to scout the cities and areas for us to give aid."

    "Why can''t we have the money to ourselves and improve? That way, we would be better equipped to fight against our enemies?" Jespa, their local runesmith suddenly shouted out from afar.

    "Yea, it''s not as if we do not need the funds and there won''t be tax deduction from our additional ie." Qiu Yue chipped in her opinion, which caused the chatters to be a little more intense.

    "Because." Jin stressed the first word, which made everyone keep their mouths quiet for a moment.

    "Because there are people out in those worlds that need our help. They have suffered from neglect and possibly an unfortunate streak of bad luck. Meanwhile, there are some who struggle to have their ends meet. I am sure more than a few of you have either personally experienced it in your family or at least seen it in those around you. Families who had suffered and thus went to war, hoping to not just get a few mentions of glory but those few gold coins to feed their family."

    "But! And hear me out on this one! We are not giving anything away for free! Even though I stated that it''s for charity! No, I am not contradicting myself, but it is more important to help those in need by providing them with a chance to do better and not just with a one time relief. For the iing Virtual Reality Network, I need more than just our current 8000 over minions workforce. I need chefs, jewel makers, barbers, scribers, astrologers, farmers and many more!"

    "I need you to find those people in need and query whether they wish to learn a new skill. Only upon their agreement, shall we give them food, supplies and money but they have to show results too. It does not matter if they have potential or not. The most important is that they have the determination to pull themselves out of that poverty circle!" Jin said, and suddenly an Orc put their hand out.

    "Is this your way to let us recruit our family members into the System so we can be with them? I figure that''s what was why you allowed us to return to our home world, not as part of your tradition but to learn that family is still important." The Orc asked so bluntly that everyone came to realise the impact of Jin''s words.

    "I did not expect my charity move had been found out that easily." Jin chuckled, and everyone began chattering among each other once more.

    "Ahhhh, now my kingdom will have even fewer Orcs if Master keeps poaching them away for your own instances!" Frost Echo ined'' out loud, and the Orcs around himughed.

    "Do not worry, I will keep sending coins to improve your infrastructure and the Goblin Kingdom. " Jin replied back. "Besides, you Orcs have such frightening birth rates that it would put many races to shame. And I am sure with enough ''taxes'' from me to you, the kingdom will do just fine."

    "That is assuming our King finds a wife. He is stuck with pen and paper the whole day. Stop infecting him so much with your personality, Master Jin." The one and only Goblin Spymaster of the Orc Kingdom, Cross remarked, and Jin rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore that personal attack.

    "Wow, Jin. I honestly never expected that move from you." Qiu Yue replied as Lynn gave a thumbs up too and it was apparent the atmosphere among the crowd turned a lot livelier than usual.

    The aim of getting their family into the System would not remain as just a dream but an attainable goal that most orcs, goblins and demons could achieve quickly.

 Chapter 897 The Darker Side of Demopolis

    <h4>Chapter 897 The Darker Side of Demopolis</h4>

    Jin emphasised that he did not intend to exploit the poor, but instead aiming to give them the chance to turn their lives around for the better. His minions didn''t doubt his sincerity and were already satisfied that they would be able to bring their family into the picture as long as they were productive.

    And the unexpected twist in his use caused many of the Orcs to volunteer before he could even leave the stage which prompted Jin to tell them to sign their participation with the System once it produced the appropriate forms out.

    Finally, thest announcement which he gave was that the hotpot they were having had also been extended to the end of the day.

    That meant that barring any unforeseen circumstances, everyone would be able to eat, drink and get drunk for an entire day before it was back to business as usual. The moment everyone heard it, they cheered once more and returned to their respective hotpot instances and had fun.

    "Is this wise, User?" The System asked Jin when he stood at the stage waving goodbye to the minions.

    "Which one? The charity part or family part?" Jin asked as he saw that the betors had remained seated at the front row, and that included the Foxes. He had also asked a few monster leaders which he had trusted implicitly to stay back for a further debrief.

    "Both, and also the free flow of food for the rest of the day." The System replied.

    "If they bring out some really talented people, I say it will be a worthy investment. That being said, it doesn''t harm if we have some mediocre talents in the Virtual Reality Network. Correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn''t it help lighten your workload if we use them to fill up our Virtual Reality Network? They can just go about their business, and the yers will think of them as life-like NPCs so you won''t have to have AI helpers to that job."

    "And besides, everyone has to start from somewhere, right? I mean look at me. If you did not put that slight trust in me to change after defying you, would we be where we are now?" Jin slowly sat down at the edge of the stage since he wished to give them a briefing.

    "System reserves itsments for the moment." The System answered and gave Jin the opportunity to address his employees. Lynn, Qiu Yue and ire had also joined in as per his request.

    "First of all, Happy New Year to you Foxes once again. Thank you for not only allowing us to gain Demopolis but also putting your efforts into governing it." Jin said and bowed as a sign of his gratitude.

    "As the new King, let me provide you with a breakdown of the current situation," Rex spoke as he adjusted his seat. "First things first, I hope you know about our crackdown of the bad guys in the area?"

    "Well, I recall that you locked up a lot of nobles and raided their stuff. After I woke up the System did not inform me that there were any issues, so I don''t know much more than that."

    "It is nice to know that you and the System trust me in that task, but as the one overall in charge, you should still know about all the things going on under you. So, for the two weeks that you were gone, we had been busy making those ministers confess to their crimes. It didn''t take long for the major shadow criminal triads that toe into the open after we had apprehended their backers." Rex exined and with the help of the System pulled up pictures with all the information they had gathered up until now.

    "I assume you need more manpower to deal with them?" Jin went straight to what he assumed Rex would want from him, which made thetter smirk.

    "Exactly, while the Home Guards are decently strong, they are unable to match the firepower which the demons are carrying." Rex remarked.

    "They can''t be carrying that much punch, right?" Jin asked, and Rex looked at Ixel who immediately produced photographs and threw an envelope full of incriminating evidence in front of Jin.

    He obviously caught it but nearly fell from the edge of the stage. That was when everyone, including Lynn could feel the change of aura on Jin and it further solidified Lynn''s suspicions. Kraft was sitting there and already grinning by the side, as if satisfied to see his master''s progress and unsubtle revtion of his new grade.

    "Oops. Sorry, nearly dropped that parcel." Jin apologised as he opened the envelope to find the Demopolis'' Triads were holding onto advanced weaponry that could outmatch the Demon Army''s arsenal of weapons.

    "You know any of these weapons, Lord Focalor? As a Pirate Captain, you must have seen some of these before?" Jin asked as he passed the photographs to the Sea Tiefling.

    "Hmm, my crew are using something simr, but ours seems to be an older variant. I heard the King wanted to procure a series of such advanced weaponry for us since raiding in the sea requires dexterity and uracy. Killing our enemies before they can do anything is the surest way to get our treasures too."

    "But this is definitely something that even the King would have trouble getting," Focalor stated as he pulled out his old pin-lock pistols and showed the difference.

    "Yea, what they are using is some kind of Wheelock rifles. These types of rifles improved the rifle''s stock contour for ease of handling and improved the uracy of the longer barrels. System, what kind of gunpowder are they using?" Jin queried.

    "It is akin to serpentine gunpowder. They should be easy to refine, but theyck the firepower of modern conventional gunpowder." The System replied, and Jin nodded his head.

    "In essence, jailing the ministers was just the first step in cleaning up. The biggest vermin are still hiding inside the city and will still cause it to rot if left unchecked. That is where I would like you toe in if possible." King Rex said as if he wanted to see more of Jin in action.

    "You want me to catch these mafias or triads so that we can control Demopolis'' dark side too?" Jin asked once more for confirmation.

    "There''s no doubt about that. Given your array of monster soldiers at your disposal, it should be an easy job, no?" Rex asked, and Jin chuckled.

    "This will be good practice for the soldiers to learn a bit of urbanbat as well as getting them prepared for the Demon Rat extermination. I agree to do it, but not in the near future." Jin said, and Rex raised up three fingers.

    "Three weeks. We have heard rumours that they are nning something big and whatever it is can''t be good for us. I can get the Demon Home Guard to apply asional pressure with simple tactics as a diversion to your raid." Rex said, but before Jin agreed, he requested for something else.

    "But in return, I need something back. Is that okay?"

    "I am part of your Panda Remnant and to some extent, a betor of yours, I cannot say no. But depending on how you do your job in coordinating this Mafia clean up, I will return the favour appropriately," Rex replied, and Jin knew that the oldest and most powerful fox was tantly testing him.

    "It''s a very simple request. Lend me Kraft." Jin pointed at the devil in human skin, causing each and every Fox Betor turned around to their de facto leader.

 Chapter 898 Krafts Agreemen

    <h4>Chapter 898 Kraft''s Agreemen</h4>

    "You seem to pick the easy way out huh, Master?" Kraft mentioned as he grinned widely upon hearing that Jin wanted him for this raid.

    "Information gathering is your expertise, and you can kill without prejudice. Or can you rmend someone better suited for such a job? Besides, don''t you think you can keep from me that you have secretly been training your ''Night Foxes'' for such an event?" Jin asked as he took his phone out and showed some pictures which he had snapped.

    "How did you get that picture?" Kraft let out a stifled chuckle but continued to stare at his master.

    "I asked Zhi Nu for permission to redecorate the tavern after their party. I just happened to see all those weapons and training ns within the System''s records."

    "You do know that saying ''curiosity kills the cat'', right?" Kraft asked as he leaned forward.

    "Last I heard there is no update of the phrasing that showed that the Panda will die from being curious." Jin countered, and Kraft raised his eyebrow and then startedughing.

    "Hmph! I was actually preparing them for something more glorious but considering it''s Big Brother''s city, and if it''s at the request of the Panda Master then fine, I shall entertain you all with a performance of my Night Foxes. Show you guys that they are a force that will put allmando teams to shame." Kraft boasted as if he was bringing them for a live firing demonstration exercise rather than a mission.

    "My gosh, Brother Kraft, if you had such a force ready under you, I would not have involved Boss Jin in such a simple task," Rex remarked shaking his head.

    "Wasn''t it you who allowed me to probe at everyone''s stuff without any need to report to you? This is, unfortunately, your loss Brother Rex as you never asked me and his win to reveal a hand. You have to acknowledge that at least he yed his cards decent enough. Like I said, I was keeping this a secret until Jin was seriously in need of a rescue. That way he could owe me one." Kraft replied with a shrug.

    "Well, you can still make him owe you one." Rex wondered what was stopping Kraft to do that.

    "Nah, I did technically left him out to die in the previous battle against the Loompa Ooofpa. Pei was seriously angry so I will let this request slide." Kraft spoke not for Jin''s sake, but rather to appease Pei who had diligently tried her best to save Jin with all her might. The Dungeon Supplier might not see it, but everyone else knew how worried she was to keep their master alive.

    Jin could vaguely read the atmosphere and decided to close the issue on that by telling Kraft he had that three weeks to do anyst minute preparations for his Night Foxes.

    "Wow, three whole weeks. I honestly thought that you would want me to raid them right now. Even better. This way, I can assure you that the Night Foxes will perform the cleanest extermination of those vermins any of you have ever seen." Kraft added a thumbs up as Jin continued to the next issue.

    "Thank you, so aside from the Mafia problem, how are the other stuff going forth?" Jin queried knowing the Foxes themselves had taken major positions of the city. Rex had made them do so because he wanted them to revise their leadership before they gave it back to the demons.

    "Once we clear the ones making trouble, we are ready to remove the slums and ce those prefabricated buildings created by Qiu Yue. She has also promised to assist us in revamping the city blueprint." Tsu shared, and Qiu Yue nodded her head in agreement. Both the Red Panda Tactician and the Wolf Twin Betors knowingly used this opportunity to utilise each other''s strengths. Qiu Yue would be trained by Tsu and Kai while the Wolf Betors would take the chance to improve the Demopolis.

    "Once that is done, we shall begin using the Orc Construction Crew to rebuild the roads and subsequently the infrastructure too. Although we have also considered the possibility of using the Pandapolis as a temporary shelter for them to stay until we fully revamp Demopolis for it to be like a second Pandapolis." Ixa said, and Jin thought that sounded like quite a refreshing idea.

    "So, instead of opening Pandapolis, we use Pandapolis as a training centre? A temporary shelter and possibly a conversion camp or well in this case a conversion city while we capture other cities?" Jin joked but Ixa nodded her head.

    "That was what Itori and I had been thinking. That way, we can monitor each and every one of them, and if there are any detractors like any spies hidden there which belonged to the criminal organisations or agents from the Church of the Afterlife, we are able to have an upper hand." Ixa added.

    "Not to mention, taking control of those agents and feeding them with fake information while we procure theirs," Itori interjected her opinion.

    "Obviously, conversion wise - for theck of a better word right now, we can influence them the ways of how we work in Pandapolis. Influencing them with our current quality of life will undoubtedly make them automatic ves under our systems." Rex exined.

    "You mean, just one System." Ixel pointed out, and the rest chuckled a little.

    "But in the long run, we will not be able to stop the infiltration of the Church Agents. They might haunt us even more. Are we going to create a secret police or something along those lines to stop them?" General Nubwort said and was waiting for the big wigs like Rex or Jin toment but Ayse interrupted before any of those two could speak.

    "Master! Master! You know, when I thought about this Church of the Afterlife. I had a rather radical idea in mind if you allow me to say it out."

    "Shoot." Jin gave her the attention needed.

    "Why don''t we create our own ''religion'' to counter theirs?" Just one line alone from Ayse had already enabled the entire group to start to think about the possibilities of such an idea.

    They had the System which worked exactly in the same way as the Church of the Afterlife. Being the onlypany that had a monopoly on the resurrection business, its prices had be inted, and its power could be overbearing for some. Sure, there might be some who might be trained in resurrection magic, but they could never do somethingrge scale like the Church of the Afterlife.

    The fact that Kraft and Kiyu had found out that they were wary about the new powers from Jin''s faction showed that the Church wanted to stay at the top by whatever means necessary. If a new rising power woulde to contest such a superpower, it might also mean there was arge piece of the cake to take from the business and ultimately the consumers would momentarily benefit from thepetition.

    "Hahahahahahah! How could I have not thought of this before!" Jin wondered to himself as heughed till he lied down from his sitting position.

 Chapter 899 Creating A Religion

    <h4>Chapter 899 Creating A Religion</h4>

    "That''s indeed a very interesting line of thought." Moloch agreed as everyone could imagine the feasibility of it in the long term. Not just the creation of a religion but the ability to finallypete with the Church of the Afterlife.

    Moloch felt that they were holding onto that particr power of position for way too long and reports of wanting to stop Pandapolis was unheard of.?Were they also doing it in Demon Metropolis? Was Kiva a part of their scheme or an unknowing participant? Perhaps when he had the time, the cotton Minotaur Lord talk to the fallen Crow Demon.

    "Panda Temple anyone?" Qiu Yue babbled her thoughts out, and Lynn suggested that maybe the Penguins and Red Pandas could be the side gods.

    "Then the foxes would be the apanying major gods alongside the Panda God." Gold stated as if it was a fact.

    "Sure, but let''s find some preachers and priests to do our work." Jin sat back up and jokingly gave his opinion.

    "Sigh, where can we even find such devout priests?" Pei asked with a tinge of sarcasm as everyone in the group was already looking at someone in particr even though the one in question was partially sleeping through the entire meeting.

    "Oei, Saggy Mountains. Wake up!" Peppers pinched Milk''s arm really hard, which caused her a shock before focusing her attention to look at Jin.

    "Just say yes!" Peppers hinted at the side.

    "Yes!" Milk shouted still too sleepy to register that Peppers had been the one to tell her what. Once her brain started up, she just hoped she would not get into trouble upon listening to her little sister Betor.

    "Wonderful, thank you, Milk. Your preaching services will be much appreciated." Jin teased Milk who heard the word ''preaching'', immediately realised it was some sort of trap she got herself into.

    "What did you make me say yes to?!" Milk questioned with her eyes burning with rage, demanding answers from Peppers.

    "They asked where to find some preachers or priests to create a new religion. The obvious answer is you, right? You were part of some god damn megachurch organisation after all." Peppers responded.

    "That was YEARS ago. And I was only trained to do so, I barely have any experience under me what so ever. Besides, I only pretended to be a proper priestess until Jin said we could be ourselves. There is no way I want to go back to be a priestess. It''s awfully boring!" Milkined openly so as to reject the notion of bing a priestess.

    "What if I allow you to do whatever you want with that title? Well, almost. Would you agree if I let build your very own religion the way you like it?" Jin suggested, but Pei gave a squinted look at her master.

    "That sounds way too irresponsible. A religion of such recklessness will only promote dire consequences." Milk''s serious tone brought forth a new side which Jin and the others hardly see. Even Pei was surprised by her honesteback.

    "Wow and no, Milk. We do not need to create a religion strictly per se. You might want to check out how it works in our own world. We just need an influencer to gather a massive following. Once we have a figurehead that represents the ideology that we have, we can ultimately recruit these followers into our Virtual Reality Network. We are not going to make a good to honest cult following. Remember, we are just ''selling'' our resurrection abilities."

    "So, you want her to set precedence for the Panda n''s objectives?" Pei asked for a rification and Jin affirmed to it.

    "Instead of a priestess, we can promote her into our Goddess. Throw in some Angel Pandas and Devil Foxes as part of her entourage, saying how she epasses both good and evil, and we can attract both monsters and humans."

    "Nah! I doubt that it will work well. There are very race opinionated humans and monsters, and unfortunately it was something they had been taught since they were little." Itori said. As the one responsible for the education deparment, she was the most knowledgeable about the current textbooks of Demopolis.

    "Even if we change the way they are being taught, it might work for the children, but the roots inside of the grown ups run too deep. Maybe we can do that in the future when we are in control of more human adventurers and monsters. But it is suicide if you attempt that at the moment."

    "Then why don''t we split that concept into two?" Kraft tilted his head sidewards and pointed in the direction of the Betor sitting beside Milk. Jin quickly realised what his crafty fox was talking about.

    "AhбнI get what you mean now." Milk looked at Peppers who was busy yawning and pinched her back.

    "Ow! What?!" Peppers shouted back, but she knew it was her own fault she lowered her guard.

    "Since you dragged me into this mess. I am not going to let you go. If I am to be the Goddess, you are going to truly perform the opposite role of Demonic Queen Sage or Little Ms Explosion whatever!" Milk said as she grabbed Peppers by the waist and pinch her fats. (Oooof! Ever wonder what kind of fat?)

    As the two continued their bickering, Jin could already see where this was going. Instead of a single figurehead, the two betors with him could y the role of the Sisters of Order and Chaos. The Angelic Pandas with Milk against the Devilish Foxes with Peppers. And since the inhabitants in this country loved to fight or had to fight for their survival, putting them under their service should exponentially work.

    All they had to do was follow a simr concept as it had been done in novels and fiction stories. Bless a few adventurers and guide them with the power of Priestess Goddess Milk. Do the same for monsters under the guidance of the Demonic Sage Queen Peppers, and they could incite a full scale war which profits Pandapolis and Demopolis.

    Jin exined the possible idea he had to the whole group, and even the two felt it should be feasibly possible. "Not just that, if we are really able to create a huge following with you two at the helm, this can be ported to the Virtual Reality Network as part of the Grand Lore storyline," Jin said excitedly, and people could see where this was going.

    Not everyone would like yer versus yer content but those who do, should love a full scale battle along with the monsters aspanions. And that alone could rake in a shit ton of money for Jin''spany.

    And with the real dungeons instances as rewards, Jin believed it would definitely entice cultivators to y. Who knows? Maybemoners could achieve the impossible and gain a cultivation of their own too. At the very least they would get to chance to obtain it while ying.

    But ideas aside, the work needed to prepare all these would be staggering, and a fair amount of nning was needed to ensure things would go well.

    And with issues with Demopolis done, Jin now diverted the attention to the Farming World. Assuming that the Demon Rats had already recovered from the failed ambush, it was imperative for Jin and his army to act quickly.

    "But before you go into that, shouldn''t you publish your new dungeon instance and Shop Instance?" Yun shouted from the side of the stadium and reminded Jin that he should not forget his primary duties as the boss of Dungeons and Pandas.

 Chapter 900 Off Site Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 900 Off Site Discussion</h4>

    "Ah yes, sorry my bad." Jin stood up and walked towards Yun who had opened a portal ready to transport Jin back to the Dungeon Maker.

    "Seriously, I have waited quite some time for it ever since you made the timed published post. And now everyone''s asking where the new dungeon instance is." Yun sighed as she knew that Jin must have been swiped away by this impromptu event.

    "And here I was wondering where you went after the Yu Sheng. Thank you for the assist." Jin ced his two palms together as a sign of apology to Yun.

    "To work, duh. Someone had to man the post until you put up that new shop instance of yours. Now, hurry." Yun rushed Jin in a hasty tone with her arms folded. She knew what exciting mess Jin had in store for the Pandarens but more importantly, Yun could potentially work lesser if what Jin implemented were operating as intended.

    "Are we going to disperse this meeting too?" Qiu Yue shouted out loud as Jin was about to enter the portal.

    "No, you guys should discuss that fantasy religion thingy or just do some small talk. If there are any good ideas, the System will just pen them down and send it to me for consideration. I will be back soon! Promise!" Jin said as he entered the portal before Yun followed behind him.

    "Sometimes, Master reminds me of my senior colleagues when I used to be working for a physician clinic," Pei grumbled when her eyes trailed Jin going into the portal, followed by Yun.

    "How so?" Lynn asked as she brought out a few finger snacks from her storage ring and shared it with everyone. She knew eating while discussing was the best way to get the ideas flowing aspared to staring at everyone.

    "They always used to do things halfway andter get called for more important stuff. Before they left, they promised they would return but ultimately left us dangling to fend for ourselves." Pei caught a cheese ring snack from Lynn and opened it up.

    "Isn''t that applicable to all the super busy senior colleagues in every kind of work setting?" iremented as she thanked Lynn for the snacks.

    "I might be guilty of that, even more nowadays." Ayse raised her hand to catch the snack pack and nearly missed it. "But you got to give him credit. He always does return."

    "Oh, you are definitely guilty of that. My girl keeps sending me System messages to tell me how bored she is waiting for your approval." Gold sniggered as he started munching on some seaweed voured chips.

    "Please, Weslie is more than capable of tinkering on her own inventions without needing my approval. She could just go ahead with me looking at it." Ayse shrugged her shoulders.

    "True, she used to do that in the past. However, after all the time she had been in servitude, your validation is one of the most encouraging things for her. It certainly spurs her on to greater heights. Sigh, you are definitely the thing we talk about most oftenбн" Gold suddenly started munching a little faster than usual.

    "Hahaha! Do I detect some jealousy? Aren''t you a Schr as well? Perhaps you should start creating some inventions to have somemon ground with her." Ayse snorted, and the rest were enjoying this mini-drama.

    "My focus as a Schr is not really transferable to make some inventionsбн?Anyways, do you guys have any ideas about that religion?" Gold tried to steer back the conversation, but everyone understood that he was just running away from the previous discussion.

    "I am not really a religion fanatic even though I do pray to our Shaitans at times. I would like to suggest that we should expand on the lore on how these two ''sisters'' became angry at each other." General Nubwort inadvertently stared at the Avatar of Slydra leisurely eating chips.

    "Are we really going with what Jin suggested? Isn''t that taking the joke a bit too far?" Milk looked at Nubwort with a death stare and pouty face full of snacks within.

    "Even if it may sound like a joke, it seems rather valid. Pardon my rudeness, but you are tremendously beautiful, Ms Milk. For you to act as a Goddess of ''Good'' will definitely attract many followers." Nubwort looked back into her eyes, revealing that he was not afraid as he enjoyed his spicy M voured chips.

    "And as for little Peppers, she has her own unique traits that should make her quite an attraction to us monsters." Nubwort tried to please the mage before he got blown to pieces.

    "What do you mean by unique traits? Are you implying that all monsters are paedophiles?!" Peppers showed her teeth as a sign of aggression at Nubwort, but the people at her direction noticed there were some cheese bits stuck between her teeth. (She was, in terms of physical appearance a kid after all)

    "I haven''t met any monsters who would not admire a Goddess boasting such destructive powers." Wolte chimed in. He himself would also patronise a God of Destruction if there was one under Jin.

    "We actually could make their origin story really fun since Peppers and Milk always tend to fight over the most petty thing ever." Qiu Yue added.

    "Like a plushie?" Lynn chuckled, and everyone seemed to be nodding their head with approval upon hearing her idea. It was definitely something they could picture those two fight over. (maybe even die for?)

    "Not just any plushie. Perhaps a tinum animal Plushie. One that smells of gummy candies or something along that line. Those two are always fighting over those gummy bears anyways." Qiu Yue decided, and Lynn added how sparkling it could be.

    "Or maybe, a sparkling tinum Gummy Panda plushie! " Lynn took the chance to bring out two bags of gummy bears and threw it to the hungry looking hyenas.

    "Are the two of you tempting us?" Milk chewing on her gum burst candy had actually been imagining a plushie that looked like Jin in Panda Suit with an overhead Panda head, so it did not cover his face. Smelling of candies and sparkling whenever she hugged it. What a fantastic idea. (And she could finally stuff her face into the plushie and imagine Jin hugging her all day.)

    "Is there even such a plushie that I do not know of?!" Peppers imagined her plushie to be a ginormous Panda plushie that had many pockets to put her snacks in and maybe even fly her around like a magic carpet. When she would be cold, the plushie would be able to cuddle her to sleep or maybe blow her cool with magical wind if she was too hot.

    As the two were imagining their ideal plushies, the thought of each other taking it away suddenly snapped them out of their dreamworld simultaneously. They identally made eye contact with each other, and the onlookers could practically see the lightning between their eyes meeting.

    Even without saying a word, the group understood that the plushie idea could be a viable bait for them to work their roles. (And perhaps without acting and with real emotions invested in it!)

    ??But jokes asideбн If I can add on to the validity of the idea, what Jin proposed is extremely radical but in my opinion, quite usible. Only now do I realise that there is no such thing as Gods and religion in our Dungeon World context aspared to Master''s world. Sure, we have the Church of the Afterlife, but they only preach how one should live their ways. After all, they are responsible for something everyone needs. They are not spiritual leaders or people who guide the lost. Compared to Jin''s world, even though they have the power of resurrection at their disposal, they still believed in superstition and gods." Moloch added.

    "Where Ie from we use the concept of Gods to gather their powers. After all, we generate our mana and chi from within our bodies or from the surroundings. It''s not like a universal mana pool like Peppers. That is why the stronger our belief in something, it somehow clicked and we can conjure a stronger spell." Lynn replied and hopefully exined to Moloch why their world needed gods.

    "For us, our powers are from the blessing of the Shaitans. Even the goblins'' magices mostly from them or well, the astral ne that our Shaitans are residing in." Ayse said as she stuffed more chips into her mouth.

    "But my powers are not from Shaitans at all." Dread Reavermented as he and his two other brothers were also part of the group that had been called to stay back to represent the goblins.

    "Still, your powers areing from Lady Death herself. It''s a magical ne nheless and not from the universal mana pool." Ayse added.

    "From what we know, this universal mana pool concept exists in the Farming World, Dungeon World and whatever world which Peppers was from," Moloch said to confirm the facts and the monsters in those worlds nodded their heads.

    "Definitely not for my world. Unless we had some sort of shadow organisation which ran everything in the background like some had theorised, we should not have had ess to magic. Even our technology can only be called mediocre ifpared with Master Jin''s world...well since we are from a world that based solely on technology." Half Ghoul Lord Derek spoke out after he chewed and finished a biscuit.

    "Nevertheless, we believed in Gods and their bullshit before they came into our world and annihted us."

    "Speaking of Derek''s world. I heard that you''ve been trying to concoct a remedy to reverse the zombie virus? How has that been going?" Ayse wondered since there was never a good time to talk to him.

    "I have done quite a number of tests, and while not conclusive, the cure could actually just be in the System''s possession. Somehow the System allowed the zombies to gain intelligence and strength. One of my zombies has even sessfully evolved into a ghoul, and she retained her previous memories too." Derek shared with the group.

    "Any differences between a ghoul and a half ghoul lord like you?" ire queried.

    "In terms of evolution, I believed she has surpassed me in all attributes since I am just a half ghoul except for intelligence. For some reason, my current state gives me more rity and insight. I am afraid if I were to evolve into a full ghoul, I might lose that intelligence." Derek spilt out his worries.

    "System will assure Half Ghoul Lord Derek, there is no need for worrying. Evolutions always enhance you and will not be a disadvantage. System further wants to point out that the Evolution would be at least to a Ghoul Lord which is a higher being than a ghoul." The System suddenly stated its assurances but also reminded the group that the System was hearing them.

    "Heh, thanks for the vote of confidence. Anyways, while painfully slow, it is indeed possible to return the zombies to their ''normal'' state." Derek said with air quotes since they will never return to normal because even he knew that also as a human, he could never have the strength to carry a vehicle that he had now.

    In fact, being a zombie allowed Derek to continuously evolve to a superhuman than returning back to normal.

    "But I assume that you are not satisfied with the result?" Rex expressed his concerns since he knew how revenge can consume someone upon secretly receiving a crash course from the System on Derek''s situation.

    But until the act was done, they too could never find peace.

    "You read my mind. Jin only captured a few hundreds of us. Compared to the millions back in my world, we were the lucky ones to get out of that mindless loop of hunger and instinct." Derek said.

    "Howe you never really asked Master Jin about saving your people''s life at all?" Wyrstriker eximed, and Derek scoffed at his remark.

    "Why should I? It''s not like my world is ending. In fact, it practically already has ended. I am not thatpassionate. Perhaps it''s because I have just been a small cog in the machine while alive so I do not see it as my responsibility. Instead of curing humanity as a whole, I am more interested in the people who inflicted this damage to us. Those Gods." Derek replied.

    "In fact, I am very certain that if Jin were to fight with those gods, the System might obtain some goodies that will significantly increase its processing capabilities and thus making the Virtual Network much easier."

    "If I am not wrong, those Gods that you speak should be from the Gods Realm. And if that''s true, we might have trouble fighting with them." Baal who had been listening quietly finally spoke out. He was forced by Moloch to stay with the ''upper management'' crowd even though he still considered himself as an outsider. But right now since he had some inside information on them, Baal hoped it could provide some insight.

    "Unlike the Demons, the Gods are highly reverted and worshipped because of the phnthropic actions they partake. Thus they are more powerful in terms of strength and numbers. Look at Wolte, ever since there were Dark Temrs worshipping him as their new saviour, he had been growing leaps and bounds." Moloch exined and using Wolte allowed them to visualise how absurdly strong the gods could be.

    "But everyone in the Demon Realm knows that they can be as evil as the perceived demons. Or maybe even worse than us. And what''s more, they use our perceived stereotype to shift all the me to us. And while hate and sphemy is also a form of worship, they do not give as much as the favoured gods."

    "Because their love for their gods is the main product while hating you is the byproduct?" Evon asked, and Baal nodded his head.

    "Unless it''s pure hatred for us, the powers we can receive are subpar."

    "Is that why you became a power greedy King despite the fact that you have a decent base of followers from doing your job right?" Wolte questioned, and Baal kept quiet for a moment.

    "System believes that the User requires more time to stabilise himself before he should even attempt fighting against such celestial beings. User has too many things on his list of agendas and adding one major objective would less likely to benefit the System." The System spoke out.

    "However, with the iing Virtual Reality Network, more zombies will need to be captured, and when there are sufficient amounts of evolved zombies, Half Ghoul Lord Derek can suggest under the rmendation of the System to build a base camp in the Zombie World." The System borated which shocked everyone.

    "Woah, this is the first time I heard the System being so nice to a monster''s plight," Pei mentioned sarcastically.

    "System believes that the Zombie World has a lot of untapped potential and possible scavenging could help enhance the processing capability even without fighting against the gods."

    "But our technology is equivalent if not lower than Master''s world." Derek wondered.

    "That''s where you are wrong." Moloch shook his head. "Now I know why System is suggesting that."

    "Hahaha, yea there is no way the System is charitable. I am seeing where this is going." Kraftughed.

    Because it was a world that immediately turned every single person into zombies, there were money, gold, and raw natural resources which could be piged to enhance the System''s capabilities.

    In short, it was a ''gold mine'' world for the System to tap into when Jin was strong enough.

 Chapter 901 Revamping the Shop Instance

    <h4>Chapter 901 Revamping the Shop Instance</h4>

    Ever since Christmas, Jin had wanted to renovate the Shop Instance so his new customers would have a better first impression while his repeating customers would have a more inclusive experience using it.

    He had been experimenting with new interior designs inside the Dungeon Maker and felt that the ones he found had been extremely inadequate. It did not feel right when he tried to bnce the needs of the masses while trying to do a makeover to give a better aesthetic to the whole Shop Instance. There was no sense of closeness or familiarity if something was too grand in his designs.

    It was only after the Demon War Defence that it clicked inside of him that there was actually no reason to create an interior design. If it was an instance like all others, so why should he restrain it as part of a building? With more resources in his hands, Jin could create something quite different from his past designs.

    And with the Chinese New Year, he had also repurposed and recreated the Shop Instance to fit the holiday''s theme so they could experience with the Chinese New Year thematic designs as well.

    "Hi, everyone. Happy Chinese New Year! There will be an update to the current Shop Instance in five minutes, but it should not affect your current activities. However, we will ask you to move out of the old Shop Instance once I have pushed the data into the server. So if you wish, take as many pictures as you want of the old Shop Instance before it is taken down." Jin said through a microphone via the Dungeon Maker Instance.

    "Hopefully, they will appreciate this version just as much as they did the previous one." Jin thought as he waited the five minutes. He could have done it instantly if he wanted to, but he chose not to. Then he clicked on the ''Load'' button on his Dungeon Maker Interface as it created the new Dungeon Instance. And soon after he pushed the data into the System''s servers, he went in first to have a quick look of the area.

    When he saw that everything was to his liking, he allowed the System to open it for everyone. Not even a second after, his customers started to teleport into the new Shop Instance to see what Jin had changed.

    To their surprise, they found themselves back in time.

    It wasn''t back to the initial version when Jin had just started out, but back in historical time. There was an extensive row of old shophouses simr to the ones which were popr in the 1930s to 1950s. Jin had taken his inspiration from Hong Kong''s Queen Road which the British first built it in the 1940s. The row of shophouses gave a nostalgic jump to the past where everything was less modern and more face to face interaction.

    At the centre of it all was a two way street with a train tform in between them. Jin had incorporated Lynn''s Restaurant Train into his Shop Instance, so people did not have to go into a new instance, breaking the immersion.

    And that was Jin''s main idea for his new Shop Instance.

    He wished to incorporate all the current Service Instances he had into one gigantic Shop Instance and hoped this would make people make use of his Service Instances. At the same time, have fun travelling around the new ''shop'' instance rather than merely teleporting for the sake of convenience.

    Naturally, he did not remove such an option, but he did rename it into ''fast travel'', and they could only do it by going to a shop houses that specialised in such services. That was none other than the ''Tourist'' Information Centre. The Dungeon Supplier had supplied Panda NPC Employees to take charge of the shophouses in order to relieve the load of the other NPCs and his employees within the Shop Instance. Naturally, Yun could take over whenever she wanted, but she was no longer needed to man the counter twenty four hours round the clock.

    As for his Service Instances, they could also be essed without the fast travel via the train, by foot or even by flying which Jin mised a little on. For those who are at low grades and wished to fly around with Qing Gong (Light Martial Arts), Jin sells temporary flying inscription charms at his tourist information centre which would temporarily boost their chi. This allowed them the ability to fly to the service instances with their Qing Gong.

    The Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance as the name suggested, had been ced at the mountains where the cultivators would have to make an effort to reach there. The same goes to Deep Fishing Reservoir and the Wunderpanda Theme Park, which could be seen from the top of the mountains.

    However, sensitive service instances like the Emerald Mountain Hot Springs were all adjusted to show Pandas and Red Pandas using the hot spring pools whenever any cultivator flew over them. The cultivators would still be able to enter a separate service instance and use the services as previously intended.

    As for open service instances like the Wunderpanda Theme Park, they had been ced with a distance detecting feature. Once someone entered the area above it, they would be asked to get out or pay for it. Failure toply within the time limit would warn them, that the cash would get subtracted from their cash wallet. And after which, they would still be allowed to enter the theme park.

    Other than that, Jin did ce some minor discounts to encourage people to take the train but made sure everything was also reachable by foot. Simr to aerone miles, Jin had made an experimental Panda Miles programme which would keep track how much the cultivators had walked. If they travelled sufficiently, they would be given rewards like a one time discount which had a maximum cap of 5% or even used to redeem Panda medals.

    With the creation of the new Shop Instance, Jin had not intended to make it so wide and vast, but the System stated that with this new instance format, it would collect sufficient data for Jin''s new Virtual Reality Network tform.

    Initially, the System needed even more processing capability to power such arge instance since it had used to collect even more monsters and animals. But because of how Jin had closed andbined various instances into this particr Shop Instance, it eventually became feasible creating this new possibility.

    Panda Street Instance.

 Chapter 902 Panda Street Shophouses

    <h4>Chapter 902 Panda Street Shophouses</h4>

    The Panda Street Instance had everything that the old Shop Instance had, only morepartmentalised since they had been broken into shophouses for people to mingle around. Jin had utilised the very same concept he first used when he opened his shop.

    While it might look like small shophouses from afar, it was a different experience once they walked into the store as the area widened within the shophouses. This allowed groups of people toe in without an issue and would expand ordingly.

    For example, the Bai Twin''s Weaponry and Armoury Store Instances had been incorporated into multiple shophouses. Bai Wan had separated his shop based on the type of weapons being sold. Melee weapons had one store dedicated to them while the ranged items were another. Heter further separated them based on the types sold.

    With swords as the most popr of them all, Bai Wan had put them on the first floor and subsequently the axes and spears on the second. Blunt weapons and niche weapons had the third floor for themselves because he wanted people to at least look at them and do some window shopping so that they could have some love for themunity obsessed with swords.

    And speaking of swords, the range was absurdly wide. So much that Bai Wan had been given a separate shophouse to amodate the higher grade swords and the varieties. The same went for magic weapons where Jin started to sell staffs, wands and books as part of the store expansion. Jin knew that there might not be that many mages ording to System statistics but at least by offering such an option, it could prompt mages to at least try his dungeons.

    On the other hand, Bai Xin''s Armoury Shophouses was even more frightening because of the number of clothes she had in her possession. From traditional armour to reinforced defensive clothes with inscriptions, she literally owned half the row of shophouses in the Panda Street. Jin felt that this would be a better choice than an ever-expanding department store which would make the cultivators feel as if there was no end when window shopping.

    With the genrespartmentalised by the shophouses, it should give the shoppers a set of specific choices. What''s more, Bai Xin could now open a shophouse that solely sold her own personal wares. This gave her more control of the products she wished to market and promote her items without it being bogged down by the wide variety of choices the cultivators once had with the department style instance.

    But because of therge catalogue they had, Jin had coborated with Bai Xin and Bai Wan to create a submodule in his Pandamonium App that would give them partial control of the items they wished to showcase.

    Based on their inputs, Jin had also revamped the shopping sub-app that should see an increased uptake in the number of people browsing it. And with the items in weekly rotation, several obscure items could be showcased and entice people to buy it.

    Not only that, but he had also started to incorporate the Pandafull Delivery Team to send wares in Shenzhen for. (Since his team got a little bigger after the defence against the Demon Rats Ambush.) It was also to see the response of the customers to see if they could catch on getting stuff from his store. After all, Pandafull was just a minor delivery service aspared to the other big names out there.

    Regardless, Jin had been thinking of making people like Bai Xin and Bai Wan as official Panda n Associates and allowing them to have ess to a small part of the System without them knowing that it was the System.

    And not only them, but the advent of the newly concocted chi potion by Yu Xiang, the potion researcher had also prompted Jin to create this Panda n Associates position. This would not only enhance their current skills but enable them to move faster and further in creating higher grade products at mass quantity too.

    Speaking of Yu Xiang, Jin had already rewarded her team plenty by allowing her to open her very own potion shophouse in his Panda Street Instance. With the ability to create whatever shop interior with no budget limits like the Bai Twins, this gave her the ability to build her dream shop. However, what she desired most was better equipment for producing even higher quality potions, and that was when Jin told her that doing it in his Shop Instance would be the only choice.

    Unlike the Chinese medicinal Shop Instance which Jin created for them to do their makeshift research, the System had actually allocated very, very little resources to those instances so that they could be standalone without the System''s interference. After all, the System prefered to spend as little as possible while taking as much rent from the tenants. (Of course, Jin did regte it so that the shopkeepers had a fair price.)

    So with the allure of having a morepleteb within the Shop Instance Yu Xiang ended up agreeing to create that shophouse. However, Jin emphasised that only quality items could be sold in the potion store, and she would still be fighting with Octofussy''s General shophouse for profit until she proved her worth.

    Yu Xiang did not care about all that as all she wanted was to create even better potions.?Which is also why Jin had delegated her potion-making into the first official manufacturing job to the Pandapolis Industrial Sector. So, she did not have to worry about making said potions as part of her job and concentrate on researching better ones.

    Furthermore, a newb department was officially created for Yu Xiang and her team in Ayse''s Research Lab Instance, although clearance wise, the humans had very restricted ess to most of theb. All theb machines were teleported into the new department, and Jin hoped that Yu Xiang and her team could mingle with his minions and they would give each other insight into what they knew. (The Cosmetic Inscription were a good excuse why the minions sometimes did not look human.)

    Of course, that would also mean more secrets would be spilt out. But there was no need to worry as the dungeon supplier had the Director of ''Secret Keeping" by his side and he knew how to keep a tight leash around when it came to the System''s existence.

 Chapter 903 More Shop Revamps

    <h4>Chapter 903 More Shop Revamps</h4>

    Of course, that was not all for the new Panda Street Instance. Scrapping the tabletop bar that Jin had been using for what felt like an eternity would have been a shame, so it merely moved elsewhere. (Where it went, was still a mystery to the cultivators and only Jin knew where it was.) The food that the System had provided previously had actually been turned into side stalls manned by the new Animal folks from the Giant World.

    The System had chosen the animal folks who excelled in cooking from the various races such as Smanders, Crocodiles to operate the street-side stalls, each selling one specific item from the System''s menu.

    From the random onigiris, the tonkatsu curry rice to the triple cheese pizza, each belonged to their new animal folks owners so that the System did not have to waste time creating them. And to the animal folks, they felt it was an honour to have such an important job as they were given fullplete knowledge on how to create these dishes.

    Thus, the streets were actually slightly wider than most perceived in order to amodate the street side stalls and their tables. It brought back a little bit of nostalgic feeling especially to the older cultivators, and that was exactly what Jin was aiming for. A sense of familiarity and feeling of closeness among the NPCs, shopkeepers and also the cultivators.

    Wouldn''t they be in directpetition with the current Shop Instances? Perhaps, but that was not Jin''s concern as this happened to coincide Jin''s objective to gather data ultimately for his Virtual Reality Network. And their current focus was on the crowd size of his customers and its interaction with his minions and his NPCs.

    This is because with the Virtual Reality Network, crowds would be inevitable, and he needs to know whether the System can control the workload without breaking down. While Jin created the Open Ind Instances with the System''s workload handling in mind, the inds would still be filled with activities onceunched. So, this particr Service Instance would serve as the fundamental foundation of the Virtual Reality Network.

    As for the other shophouses, Vulcan, the master cksmith had his very own two shophouses joined together. The services he provided were the same, but because of his metal smelting, Jin made sure his shophouses were soundproofed correctly, and the smoke did not affect the air quality of the instance despite it being strictly handled by the System.

    The Panda Muscles had three shophouses joined together, so there was enough ce for all the equipment. Jin started to incorporate a few other sporting exercises inside such as Yoga, Dancing and even Kickboxing. As for the pools and running tracks, they were ced further away into the wilderness.

    And one would realise, the end of the shophouses was actually a gate to the wilderness where the Restaurant Train would also depart to the various service instances within the Panda Street Instance.

    As for the other end, it was actually facing a wide neverending ocean where Jin had ced a seaport and an airport further at the side of the Panda Street Instance. That was how the cultivators would be travelling to their various dungeon instances. This was a gimmick which also allowed Jin to do some events that could take ce from the sea or via the aerones.

    It would provide enough loading time for subsequent events, especially those emergency ''raid'' instances when Jin might need help. But for now, the cultivators who had teleported in along with Jin found out there was already a giant ship with bright festive lights hanging around it.

    Pandas in old sailor uniforms were banging their gongs, blowing their trumpets and shooting firecrackers from the ship itself. Evidently, it was the highlight of the current Panda Street Instance despite people being shocked as if they were being teleported into a new world.

    Once again, Jin had released a new limited dungeon instance to coincide with the Chinese New Year Festival, and this one was called the Nian Dungeon Instance.

    Most if not all the cultivators knew immediately what kind of dungeon instance it was since the monster, Nian had practically been a staple in all dungeon suppliers stores when it came to the New Year because of its significance of ushering the holidays in.

    However, most of Jin''s customers trusted that Jin''s Nian would be different from other dungeon suppliers, especially after what they had seen and experienced from the Christmas Limited Dungeon Instance. The ''Devil us'' had been a major hit that even the influential Dungeon Supplier blogs and websites were talking about promising to check out what this promising dungeon supplier shop woulde up with.

    "Comee! Buy a ticket, and we will send you to the Dungeon where Nian has supposedly fled away to!" Mr Patsu now dressed in all traditional Chinese clothes did his job of advertising theirtest dungeon.

    But to everyone who had transported into this new fantasy Shop Instance, they were torn between going to the ship to try the new dungeon instance and seeing what kind of secrets the new Panda Street Instance might have to offer.

    Obviously to those who wanted to watch the dungeons first before venturing forth, therge screen cinemas were still avable, and they were in a major cinema theatre right at the centre of the Panda Street Instance before the road and railways split into two. (Since it was basically a roundabout ride around the entire instance before returning back to the main station.)

    With the new revamp, the cultivators started to explore the whole ce with much excitement.

    Jin also took this time to walk through the streets to make sure his NPC employees were working without any hitches since there were no ''human'' workers around because of the Chinese New Year holiday.

    He believed he might be one of the few non-essential shops that still remained open, giving rise to the number of customersing in the morning for their usual routine. (Of course, they would be pleasantly shocked to see the new changes, or that is what Jin hoped.)

 Chapter 904 Collection of Seeds

    <h4>Chapter 904 Collection of Seeds</h4>

    "Apologies for the long wait. I hope your discussion has been going on well." Jin said as he returned to the Instant Lottery Instance. Instead of maintaining the indoor stadium, the System had already reduced the ce to several rows of chairs and a half-broken stage to save on resources. The only thing left was the lottery draw machine and the Fortune Panda waving its paw slowly.

    "We may have strayed off topic a bit, but we did bring up some points of discussion." Qiu Yue told Jin and decided to jump down the stage when she noticed the stage disappearing.

    "Let''s go to the conference briefing room since the System seems to be closing this instance down. That way you guys can also have a glimpse of the new Shop Instance I created too." Jin suggested with a hint of pride as he beckoned his minions, betors and Sub System Users toe to the teleport portal.

    When teleported, they found themselves in a meeting room that was vastly different from the one they had gotten used to. The room and furniture looked so old fashioned that there was a little bit of retro-modern feel to the whole conference room.

    There were windows attached which could allow the minions to peek through outside without interrupting the air conditioning and the quality of the sound-proofing the System had created the room with.

    "Wow, is this why you asked me for permission to edit the Restaurant Train Instance?" Lynn asked, and Jin nodded his head with a wide smile. He opened up a hologram on the conference table and vaguely exined to everyone the new design of his Shop Instance.

    "Not bad. This way, you don''t have to take care of your shop so closely leaving you with more time to clear all the nonsense you have stuck your nose into." Kraft stated bluntly as if wanting to keep things on track.

    "Don''t let Yun hear that. She insists that taking care of the dungeon supplier business as my main priority." Jin chuckled as he asked everyone to sit down. The System immediately conjured a few more chairs for the minions to sit at the side of the conference room as it did not expand the conference room any bigger. Jin sat at the end and started to pull a few files out of nowhere, and the people near him noticed the big fat rat head on the file''s cover.

    "We shall now be discussing a little on the Demon Rats'' incursion and how we are going to stop them once and for all. The number of reports that have been constantly sent to the System for evaluation has piled up, from enemy numbers to geological surveys of the ceбн It is high time we strike back. We have a chance to make it right for the Northerners as well as creating a source of major farming for us if we seed properly." Jin started as he pulled out a few ss bottles from nowhere once more, but upon closer inspection, Gold noticed that they were seeds from his world. Only he was more concerned about the unique ss bottles they were in.

    "When you guys raided the castle, the cleaning team found quite a number of interesting things. Among them were these seeds hidden at the very bottom of the castle. If not for a crack behind a fake wall, the cleaning crew might have overlooked it. There is apparently an entire archive of seeds in those hidden rooms, and it is well preserved. Gold, I assume you should be able to tell us something about this?"

    "With pleasure. Each and every royal castle has a safe room that protects the seeds used to produce their items. It''s a procedure in case of a catastrophe like a great famine or drought, and these seeds are the salvation of the kingdom in those times. They also act as a library of sorts, and the Northern Regions happens to have the mostplete collection. The ones you are currently holding ar-"

    "Stop pretending it''s the first time you see it when you were the one who helped the Northern Region fill it up." Weslie who came inte with a few other stacks of files via the side door chided herpanion.

    "Oho, so Gold was merely boasting about his collection to Jin?" Kraft remarked and Gold inadvertently got tongue-tied. He turned a little embarrassed and nodded his head.

    "Weslie, why did you tell them about it?!" Gold asked via the System Channel trying to recover his pride.

    "Because I know how crazy you can get when talking about it. Or do you want me to believe you were not about to ask for permission to see the library collection since you had ''some knowledge'' about it? And then proceed quickly and check if your entire collection is intact." Weslie answered out loud as she ced the files in front Jin.

    "That sounds exactly like what Gold would do. He is always too shy to admit his own stuff." Ayse agreed with Weslie as she knew Gold''s working style.

    "People won''t fault you for being in love with seeds and dirt, my friend." Moloch came to his defence, and the minions who knew how difficult farming was who had an in-depth knowledge of they ofnd also believed that such people should be recognised.

    "ording to the System, we recovered everything they had on there. Gold, if you want to check up on it, you are wee to do so afterwards. We are lucky that we have an expert of your calibre with us. In fact, after we have defeated the rats, I shall grant you the opportunity to regrow them all and evenpile arger library." Jin found this as a lucky break for the team.

    From the System''s reports, there were thousands of ss bottles filled to the brink with seeds that needed identifying. With Gold being the one previously in charge of that, it should not pose a problem.

    "But if it''s so precious, why did you not sound it out and tell us to find them?" Lynn queried Gold who felt relieved to hear such good news.

    "I had assumed the rats would have used them to increase their numbers. I did not have much hope when I heard the castle had been mechanised and destroyed rather brutally by our attempts to stop their assault. After all, saving the human ves and the humans at the town were more important than those seeds. I couldn''t exactly ask anyone to hold back for the chance of them still being in there." Gold answered as he took the ss bottles and took a closer look at their condition.

    Despite their frail appearance, the ss bottles had actually been enhanced to make sure that they could withstand shocks and earthquakes while also ensuring that the seeds would be kept in a cool condition. However, all those enhancements required magical sources that needed to be reced after a certain period of time.

    Onlyter did he find out that the System had purposely stored them in optimal conditions upon discovering them. It knew how precious seeds could be when its body of entities also consisted of former farmers.

    "With the seeds in such a good condition, Master Jin, I guarantee you that upon retaking ournds, our farms will be one of the best, if not the very best in the multiverse especially with the help of the System!" Gold imed with such confidence that everyone could feel the money-making vibeing from him.

    The objective to take back the Northern Region from the Demon Rats had just be juicier in the System''s eyes (or sensors).

 Chapter 905 Demon Rats Elimination Proposal - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 905 Demon Rats'' Elimination Proposal - Part 1</h4>

    "Ahem. Master, these are all the files you asked about in regards to the castle remnants. We have yet topile everything since it''s the rats left behind a huge mess. There was literally shit all around the ce, and they have no sense of cleanliness at all." Weslie sighed as she wiped her sweat away.

    "I cannot possibly read while you guys wait for me to be done with that," Jin said as he took one of the files and flipped through the pages.

    "Sure, you can!" Qiu Yue injected. "In fact, I insist you do, so we can get on with the agenda. Especially since you are their masters, it wouldn''t be right if you are the only one unaware. But you will definitely piss off your Sub System Users and betors if you don''t hurry it along."

    "Qiu Yue!" Lynn frowned her eyebrows as if to stop her incessant remarks.

    "Rx, it''s fine. He is used to my stark remarks." Qiu Yue pointed at Jin who had already gone back and was seemingly engrossed with the file right in front of him. Weslie had purposely created a summary of the castle''s investigations that could enhance his current knowledge and ced it on top of the pile.

    "He may not look like it, but when ites to reading, his mind turns one track, and Jin will absorb whatever he reads. Though I think the process became more pronounced with the powers of the System."

    The Red Panda Tactician was spot-on as Jin was using his Inverse Eyes to skim through the entire document and subconsciously picking up the important points. While he was not some boy wonder who merely needed to flip the pages being able to retain all the information, it was considerably fast enough.

    "I think I got the gist of it. Weslie, thank you forpiling it. I will read it more in-depthter." Jin said as he closed the file after about five minutes and got to the next agenda. The discussion of their n to eliminate the Demon Rats.

    "We have previously done a series of full deep scans of the Northern Region courtesy of Peppers. While it has yet to be updated with thetest scan since she was busy aiding me, the data had been given to the System and Qiu Yue for analysis. They havee up with a n that''s viable now that we know the devices are working even better than ever. I shall give the stage to our tactician to exin more." Jin told them and took a set, while Qiu Yue came forward.

    "First of all, I would like you all to give a round of apuse to Weslie. Herpletion of the Demon Rat lure device has proven very useful during Wecha''s defence, and she has already managed to further improve the lure''s range. ording to the System''s analysis, it should be at least two times more effective now. We have already recycled the older model and replicated a number of the newer ones, so they will prove useful in our elimination n."

    "After going through all the data about their number, their behaviour and their reproduction rate, we can safely say that they are nowhere close to their potential maximum growth. Unfortunately, we believe that with us proving to be quite the nuisance for them, they are likely toe back in evenrger numbers."

    "Don''t they have like one ce we can strike to interrupt their growth?" Ixel asked when he heard Qiu Yue''s analysis results. He was thinking of using pure brute strength to wipe the Demon Rats away.

    "The danger their hideouts pose will increase drastically based on their growth. While we did kill quite a fair bit of rats in the area, we estimate that they have already repopted that number to continue as it is." Qiu Yue continued.

    "Fortunately, what theyck now are resources. The Northern Region was said to be the lushest of all the regions with the most fertile grounds. However, the rats had rampaged to the point where they killed almost every single farmer that had the knowledge on how to cultivate suchnds."

    "If I may add based on Weslie''s reports. They are using technology to grow their food based on the tools and samples they found within the castle. She suspected the North and South Schrs are helping the rats to a certain extent, but their limited knowledge on farming made it an obstacle to their progress rather than a boon. It''s almost a miracle that we found the seeds safe room intact since they are desperate to get food supplies up." Jin, who continued to read the reports that interested him, said it out loud.

    "Hah! That''s great. I guess our raids on their towns'' warehouses have been beneficial." Dread Reaver interrupted out.

    "Not to mention, we took the human prisoners to safety. Or well, rtive safety." me Ripper added. "Wouldn''t it be better if we just teleport those humans to our instances?"

    "The System never liked that. It still preferred talents because of the limited catching space." Jin replied as he shuffled another page of the reports.

    "Hahaha! The System having a limited catching space? That sounds almost impossible." Wyrstriker said as he knew how much stronger Jin''s army waspared to the first time they met.

    "But in any case, I think by cutting their supplies, we might have actually been aggravating their methods to be even more desperate in regards to those they still hold in captivity," Wyrstriker added.

    "It''s not like it was wrong to raid their warehouses." Jin voiced his opinion out. "After all, if I might be so bold to say, but we gained excellent quality food supplies for our shop and to feed those Farming Humans and the other minions. The gold didn''t hurt either, even if we gave out a good portion of it to support the Resistance. However, it is certainly true that in return, they ved the humans in their capital even harder based on Sebastia''s reports. That was also why she was quite concerned about saving the humans from the floating castle. After this major setback, I can''t imagine it getting any better. But we couldn''t really help it..." Jin had forgotten to thank Sebastia properly for continuing to spy despite the risks she had to go through after the Rats learn of their counterpart''s mistake for letting the likes of her into the capital.

    "This is a war, Master Jin. No war can be fought without both sides incurring any losses." Nubwort stated while looking at Jin.

    "I know that. I have been thinking hard on this issue for some time now, and no matter what I try toe up with, there will be death involved. Nheless, I had epted such a consequence, and while I can''t always emotionally and physically mourn their loss, I sometimes wonder if there is a better way to do things." Jin said as he knew there was blood on his hands, be it direct or indirect.

    "Still, I can''t help but wish it would be different. Reality has proven that there will always be consequences from our actions, and I have been trying too hard to prevent and mitigate theseбн Deaths and misdeeds that I sometimes lost sight of the bigger picture. And it''s because of these asions that the grumpy old System did give fairly sound advice." Jin emphasised that he was not delusional.

    Kill one to save many? Sure, he would love to do it, but the rats had already proven that they did not have any honour and would fight in any way necessary. If it looked bad, they would simply retreat instead of risking extermination.

    With some experience and expertise under his belt, Jin would do whatever he couldбн as long as it was not at the expense of his new ''family'' of monsters. As selfish as this statement could be, he was still just one human.

 Chapter 906 Demon Rats Elimination Proposal - Final

    <h4>Chapter 906 Demon Rats'' Elimination Proposal - Final</h4>

    "I will do my best to help whenever possible and try to minimise the casualties. I am part summoner, part necromancer so we can at least try to help those who survive by offering them a second chanceбн even if it is under the System. I can only do so much." Jin said out, and his minions nodded their heads in agreement.

    They knew that his control could be even more authoritarian, but he chose not to enforce it. There might still be some subtle influencing and indirect brainwashing from the System, but most of them could see that Jin was doing for the betterment of their lives. His actions spoke enough to allow Rex to regard this new master of his in a better light.

    It did remind him when Panda Lord Zhou Lin ruled over the Panda n way before his resurrection and subsequent insurrection. But his former master had it easy. The Panda n had still been intact, and he had wealth and power to boot.

    Unlike Zhou Lin, Jin literally started from scratch. The System he inherited had been in shambles, and yet somehow the dungeon supplier had managed to persuade the old relics to follow him rather than to control him.

    While he had received some financial support from it, especially in the form of loans whenever he expanded, it amounted to nothingpared to the almighty trove of wealth that the Panda Conglomerate was famous for. Other Users who had a better System capability squandered it needlessly and subsequently gave up or died because of selfish reasons.

    "So what are you going to do?" Rex asked.

    "I will do my bestбн to follow the n Qiu Yue has designed." Jin apologised for interrupting.

    "Ahem, where was I? Oh yes. As I was about to say to counter their explosive growth, my Sub System has built up a multipronged approach to this delicate matter." Qiu Yue continued as she fiddled with her phone a little and a hologram of the Northern Region emerged in the middle of the conference table. Minion Leaders sitting at the side of the room immediately stood up so they could have a view of the hologram while the rest at the table squeezed a little to have a better view of it.

    "Based on a predictive analysis of their supposed growth and building patterns of the hideouts, we have determined that there are over a hundred caves and camps that we need to raid." Qiu Yue said.

    "Normally, doing that should be impossible. Even if we had enough soldiers to cover the ground, the enemies would suspect something amiss." General Nubwort voiced some concern, and everyone who possessed some experience in military leadership agreed on this point.

    "But we aren''t some normal army, right?" Wyrstriker smirked, and everyone knew they were going to depend heavily on teleportation and sudden strikes against the camps and caves.

    "Yeah, you all got the idea. This n is a little bit outdated since the Sub System only took into ount of our forces prior to the Demon War. With the fresh troops that boosted our numbers by more than half, it will definitely ease up on certain restrictions." Qiu Yue nodded as she quickly amended the numbers, hoping the Sub System could give them a rough overview.

    The hologram changed a little, and the percentage of sess increased substantially on certain locations because of a nket increase of numbers.

    "Now, this is where I need your help. Although not all the military leaders are here, there is enough expertise in this room to give me some rmendations."

    "The Night Foxes and me won''t be participating since we have already agreed to help with the Demopolis Raid against the Triads." Kraft raised his hand to speak out his objection. "Though, I don''t minding in personally to wreak some havoc if Jin asks nicely."

    "You have the gall to make demands? Thest time you said you would help out, that foxy ass of yours suddenly disappeared." Moloch reminded him not so subtly.

    "Hmm? Was I supposed to let our precious Master suicide? Besides, didn''t a certain Cotton Butt boasted that it was so easy peasy for him?" Kraft slowly leaned forward over the table and stretched out his arm to grab the unruly plush minotaur.

    "Enough you two. We are here to give input. Do not make this meeting a waste of time." Rex chided his brother-in-arms and Kraft tsked before he quietly returned to his chair where he resumed beingckadaisical to the discussion.

    Everyone except the Foxes was bbergasted to witness that there actually was a person around who could hold the crafty fox''s leash.

    "Are you going to bring cultivators into the fight?" Lynn questioned both her Boss and fellow Sub System User, which caused them to look at each other. However, Qiu Yue let Jin take the stage to answer that question.

    "I was nning to do that. However, the ''dungeon'' setting will be focused on them attacking the capital instead of the caves and hideouts. I initially wanted them to do the reverse and have our minions attack Rat''s city insteadбн but I realised the coordination would be too much of a hassle for not just me but the overall coordinating group and tacticians handling them." Jin replied.

    "I agree with that course of action. To put it frankly, I think we have been holding their hands a bit too much during the Demon War Defence too." Qiu Yue added. "Nevertheless, it is partially our fault since the Pandapolis was at stake, which is why we had to be a little uppity on controlling their battle movements."

    "They did put up a manageable fight against the free for all, especially the Pandawans." General Nubwortmented. "Though I do admit that their standard was really terrible if we had not stepped in to help them. Especially in thetter parts."

    "Fortunately there were a lot of them, and they are definitely better than the average humans from our world and the Farming World''s." me Ripper said which annoyed Gold a little.

    "Hey, it can''t be helped. Most of our humans are not soldiers to begin with. We have been forced to fight because of these rats. Before this infestation started, all the fighting had been handled by the soldiers like the guys from Northern Bulwark. And we only had the showing force to deter and not experience to back it up." Gold spoke with some temper in his words, and Weslie attempted to calm him down.

    "Oh, sorry about that." me Ripper apologised quickly.

    "Alright, calm down people. After this meeting, I will be creating an event to suit the Capital attack. With us now on the offensive, our customer''s objective will be to bring down as many rats as possible, wearing them down while we upy ourselves by freeing the smaller towns that are still under the control of the Demon Rats. This way, the capital should not be able to respond to our skirmishes while we have the chance to cut off supplies to and from their main capital." Jin decided, and everyone agreed that it was a viable n.

    After which, the entire group of minions crowded around the hologram and started to give their input on their monster group''s capabilities, and Qiu Yue began assigning the workload based on the All-Out Attack n that they were making.

    Finally, after multiple counts of defending the Farming World inhabitants, it was really time to get the n up to go on the offensive so they could make preparations for a swift and impactful strike against the Demon Rats.

 Chapter 907 Promoting Pandarens

    <h4>Chapter 907 Promoting Pandarens</h4>

    While the minions continued to discuss what to add onto the current battle n, Jin had requested the System to ce a fewrge hotpots at the side of the hologram so that the group could continue to enjoy the same perks as theirrades. Although it has been designated a holiday for the monsters and betors, they did not mind doing work this way too.

    Even Rex and the other Foxes shared their own pot with the minions but they left earlier since they still had matters to attend to in the Dungeon World. With their group gone, Jin also used that opportunity to walk away since he would like to check up on how his new limited Nian Dungeon instance had been doing.

    "System, how are the people''s reaction to the new Panda Street Instance as well as the new dungeon instance?" Jin asked as he brought out a bowl of soup filled with piping hot ingredients he stole from the hotpot before running to the Dungeon Maker.

    "As User had expected, there was an increasing number of peopleing around 3am to 4am to y the new dungeon instance." The System stated as it was not expecting that many people toe, especially the younger ones.

    "Well, I remember using the first night of Chinese New Year as an excuse to stay up aste as possible while younger with Gramps. So I figured that tradition was unlikely to change even now." Jin retorted as he was implying ''Shou Sui'' or the tradition to stay awake in the night to be vignt after the dinner of New Year''s Eve.

    Chinese folklore had it that people are afraid to sleep during the New Year because of a monster called Sui, which is coincidentally the monster known as Nian too. So, in order to let their parents be at ease, their children would stay awake to keep watch. Nowadays, it was only known as a myth where enforcing Shou Sui would increase their parents'' longevity.

    Most kids didn''t care about the origin of this and were just happy about the convenient excuse to stay upte without any scoldings and apany their family and friends till early in the morning.

    "That must be why the Nian Dungeon theme concept is always so well received in many dungeon suppliers!" Jin noted as he checked on the customers who had already tempted the fights.

    "Wow, I guess not only teens but our elders are up early as well." Jin thought to himself as he found Zi Dan, Jing Yu and Xia Mao being part of the few who recently bought the tickets for the limited Nian Instance.

    The System had marked them as noteworthy, ever since the Smander Keep Dungeon Instance where they led a number of cultivators out from a bind. They had also shown up on Jin''s radar since they already attempted almost every sort of instance he offered. While their dungeon instance clear rate was not as fabulous as the Pandawans, they were clearly above average.

    "System predicts that their main routine is unlikely to change after discovering User''s Dungeons and Pandas. The trio has been included in their own set of constant participants. While they separated at times to indulge their friends, they always appear without fail to at least attempt a dungeon instance even if their fellow members are not present. There were only three asions where they on an individual basis to dine with their friends."

    "So, you think they are worthy enough to be new uing Pandawans?" Jin asked the System for its opinion.

    "User''s customer base only includes a few individuals who have received this title so far. Most of them have earned that title, even though some of them just happened to be part of the main clearers for our dungeons. People such as the Tortoise Cultivator who had apanied the Ape Pandawan and the Swan and Stag Cultivator that had to apany the Healing Maiden Pandawan." The System answered with a feeble attempt to mask their identity while making its point obvious.

    Jin understood that the worthiness seemed to mostly focus about their presence and spendibility inside his shop, and he had to agree that those mentioned, their dungeon records were not as ster. However, he had no intention of revoking that Pandawan status especially since they were among the first few regrs he ever had.

    "System feels the need to remind User about the conditions for epting new Pandawans he himself has set. User had promised to make any team who managed a true first clear into Pandawans or alternatively one could obtain the position by clearing all normal story dungeons not counting whatever thetest one is. Many customers haveunched aint that the second option is too hard due to the Deep Ones Dungeon." The System argued.

    "Fair point. So lets put it this way. As long as they manage to clear this dungeon, there should be no problem if we grant them such status, right?" Jin concluded, but both the System and Jin were aware that the difficulty of this particr dungeon instance was simr to Demon Santa us. Unless they could think outside the box within their first try, they would be annihted swiftly.

    "Hnmm well, I am feeling very VERY generous today, so I shall give them a helping hand this time around. They did spend quite a fair bit on my dungeons, and having a new set of Pandawans will show to customers that getting the Pandawan title is not wed." Jin decided.

    "System is amazed how coveted the title is despite User not offering any tangible benefits." The System remarked.

    "Well, that might be the power of bragging rights at worse. Also, it''s not like they get nothing in return. ...the chance to try my dungeon instances earlier than others? Sometimes some insider tips?" Jin tried to think of something right on the spot, and the System was literally speechless.

    Jin was referring to the Phantom Gentlebear Dungeon Instance, something which some have already ridiculed as a joke instance on the forums and the main reason he had secretly handed the tickets out was to appease his Pandawans for being unable to watch him fight after the disaster of being teleported to various part of Pandapolis.

    "Fine, you are right. It might be time to make that a permanent feature from this dungeon instance onwards. We could give them a special 50% discount for the early dungeon instance try. Or...something along the lines. I will try to think of some other perks to make it lucrative for others to join as well." Jin surrendered when he could feel the chills of the System''s deafening silence in the air.

    "System will review such benefits to ensure that the Pandawans have adequate recognition. Terms and conditions will be applied as well." The System stated as Jin hurried to switch the screen on the console to watch the progress of the Elderly Trio.

    Even if he wished to give them a helping hand, he had no intention to make it too obvious, so he had to time it right to make it look like it was an apparent handicap.

    "I wonder why the System is so insistent of making more Pandawans...could he be recruiting people to be part of the new Panda n?" Jin thought to himself but decided to postpone that thought as he concentrated on his soon-to-be Pandawans.

 Chapter 908 Boarding The Ship

    <h4>Chapter 908 Boarding The Ship</h4>

    "Are you three registered as a group?" A Panda Sailor who was drinking on some bamboo juice asked the trio.

    "Yeah. I''m Zi Dan, the Bullet Cheetah Cultivator. This is-" Zi Dan was about to introduce the rest of his team, but before he had a chance Xia Mao and Jing Yu merely pulled their Pandamonium Apps up to show their tickets.

    "Well, go right in! We will be departing soon!" The Panda Sailor told them as he ignored Zi Dan''s introduction since there was already enough ''proof'' that they bought the tickets and registered as a group.

    "OIII, didn''t we agree that we were going for a more inclusive kind of experience?" Zi Danined with his eyes squinted at them with a tinge of despise.

    "Showing the ticket is plenty inclusive enough already." Xia Mao retorted as he stepped onto the boat and saw there were many Pandarens all in their groups and waiting for the ship to depart. With the new revamp of the Shop Instance, they all felt that Jin was going for a more authentic and realistic experience of his dungeons.

    The waiting time for the ships to depart and arrive on the port was also made quite realistic, and everything was moving like clockwork. Depending on the number of Pandarens in the vicinity wanting to try the dungeon instance, the ships also differed in size.

    All three of them had seen how the crowd was when they first came in after dawn. Given the early hours, it wasn''t a considerable amount, but Jing Yu figured it had to have been at least a few dozen. Thus when the ship came, there was nothing much to notice about except for the shiness of the vessels.

    However, when they were waiting for their turn, more and more Pandarens had joined them by the bay, enforced by the Panda Sailors and Panda Ticketmasters to keep them in line. (Obviously, a snake line queue was created with the aid of System''s queue control.) And when the next ship was seen from the horizon, they did not expect a colossal ship, akin to the size of Titanic docking right next to them.

    The sting of the ship''s horns, the seagulls following at the side of the giant vessel and the rushing of the sea waves had physically excited the cultivators. However, the most exceptional part of the ship was the exquisite decoration and therge paintings on the boat''s side, which wowed almost every cultivator on the docks.

    The docking was fast and swift for a ship that size, and the Panda Sailors who were ushering them in began to allow them to board on. Soon, everyone who had the Nian dungeon instance ticket was able to board while the others who had bought a different set of dungeon tickets had been directed to the avenues of the Great Panda Transport.

    "Alright,st call! Last boarding call! The ship will depart in exactly one minute! Anyone not on board will have to wait for the next one!" the Panda Sailor shouted while an announcement was also broadcast through push notifications. Whether they could make it on time or wait for the next ship arrival would be entirely up to the customer''s choice.

    While it was tempting to let the Pandarens have ess to the teleporting system once again, Jin felt that he should slowly phase it out and allow them to get used of the inconvenience.

    He was not sure how much it would affect the customers as not everyone had the time in the world to do things, and essibility would definitely be appreciated. However, he felt that there was a need to cut out certain things so that they could understand the beauty of the shop instance he created. (Of course, the System did help with the environment and pavement settings but it was still quite a bit of effort putting them together.)

    Thus, he created apromise which evidently disadvantaged those who decided to not follow the new set of ''instance behaviour''. He allowed those who were not queuing to have an instant teleport to the dungeon instance of their choice once the timer for the ships was up. However, they would not receive the major incentive for those who did the ''proper'' way and waited for their turn.

    After all, on the ship, the dungeon groups were not only given a feast spread worthy of praise, they were also allowed to hire Panda Mercenaries of their choice by speaking with the crew to hire. Jin had collected enough data to know how unbnced the groups in terms of team fights could be.

    Most if not everyone in the modern world wanted to go for the most offensive, most stylish way of fighting. This was because the current working model was to use the cultivation as a way to improve their quality of life, and cultivation became a hobby rather than a way of life.

    Jin wanted to change that and thus created this Panda Mercenary Board where Panda NPCs could be hired for their expertise. The System had collected the necessary data from the Savants and thousands of fights to create a varied set of basic NPCs worthy to be used for dungeon instances.

    As a nice bonus, this would not only block transmission of spiritual power from monsters to Pandarens but also allow the System to gather even more data on how the teams worked with NPCs.

    Of course, this could not have been done without the creation of squadmates, the feature that Jin had exclusively allowed the Pandawans to test out. This was basically the third iteration of it where Jin tried to innovate and tweak it so it would be bnced. For the uing newer dungeon instances, the dungeon supplier had decided to ce more emphasis on the ''holy trinity'' party, where it was essential to have a bnce of a healer, tank and attackers. That way, Jin would be able to create more fun dungeons and ultimately pave the road for the Virtual Reality Network.

    With the exception of the new Spiralling Sewers Instance, the Pandamonium App would rmend for cultivators to hire at least a healer, and a tank for their group (unless their group had those bases covered) and each dungeon group could not exceed more than six people and needed a minimum of four for fights. Naturally, the difficulty of the dungeon would be scaled up as well with the increased number of Pandarens participating in the fight, so it would actually be harder for a bigger group to win.

    While this was strictly enforced in the Nian Limited Dungeon Instance, Jin had decided to be more lenient for older dungeon instances and the cultivators, for now, were allowed to choose between ''old-school'' and ''new mode''. The rewards for thetter would be more enticing, even if the difficulty was also adjusted.

    The Three Elder Pandarens had no idea how the new dungeon instance format would be like since there were norge cinema screens to watch on the fly while waiting for their turn. And with the need to have a dedicated healer and tank also gave them the chills that Jin''s dungeon instances might have gone up another notch.

    "But let''s not think ahead of ourselves and choose a good mercenary before the rest are taken." Xia Mao suggested as they were reading the new set of instructions in their cabins as the ship prepared to depart.

 Chapter 909 Personal Rooms

    <h4>Chapter 909 Personal Rooms</h4>

    The cabin they were in was something new too. Instead of a single bedroom which they all expected, it actually had split into three different rooms converting to a mainmon room within the cabin.

    Jing Yu happened to see that the other Pandarens'' rooms were the same as every single one of them was shouting from their main cabin doors how crazy spacious it looked.

    Only through some interaction between the Pandarens did they realise that the cabins were actually split up based on the number of party members one would have, excluding themon room. Only through further inspection, did they all discover that the room was actually meant to be used as their very own personal private room.

    The Elder Pandarens found how all their weapons, armour, clothes and misceneous items that they had stored previously in a separate locker had been transferred over. There was a little note where it stated that the room they were in would henceforth be their personal locker room.

    No one would be able to enter without the owner''s permission, and they could decorate the room in any way they liked. There were no fees to it and could always be essed before a dungeon raid.

    The same service was extended to include the ne rides, and in the future train rides too. To top it all off, Jin had already cunningly added an entire shophouse dedicated to customising one''s hideout. It was operated solely by Red Pandas instead of the usual Pandas because it fell under the premise of Empire Building.

    Qiu Yue initially wanted full customisation options to be avable to the customers but Jin rejected the idea vehemently. "If we can mise something, we should." Jin insisted as this personal room expansion was meant to provide more avenues to ''exploit'' the Pandarens even more.

    To get the shophouse rolling, Jin and Qiu Yue released the New Year Theme Set, and it would be an exclusive item reward for anyone who participated in his dungeon. To top it off, it would not be sold again in the future. He knew how games and various dungeon suppliespanies had given in to removing the exclusivity on time-limited products and released more in the future, but it spoiled the collector''s value. That was why he would remain adamant those would be of a limited quantity.

    ire had also created ns for starting an auction house in the future but seeing how Jin was creating the Virtual Reality Network she held back that thought for the future.

    "No wonder Jin insisted cultivators to board the ship. From a free meal to hiring dedicated mercenaries in case we do not have the party members present to fulfil a certain role." Zi Dan said as he came out of his room and sat down in themon area.

    "But this role thing is eating up quite a fair bit of panda medals and to an extent, real money too." Xia Mao ced his phone on the table, activating an app on the TV in front of them, which allowed them to choose who they wanted their Panda Mercenaries to be.

    "Wellбн We could always go for the free one and increase its stats by feeding him a little more Panda Medals." Jing Yu was rereading everything again as she felt that this whole Panda Street Instance appeared to be a reboot of Jin''s dungeons and how he was moving forward.

    "Heh! There is also a service where they bring you the weapons and armour we missed to buy from the stores." Xia Mao said as he believed the catalogue was still the same.

    "Does it charge more? It must be the case, else the shophouses would be kinda obsolete." Zi Dan came to the conclusion to his own question as he opened their mini-fridge and there were explicit items that said FREE and $$$ on different levels.

    "Yeah, roughly another twenty percent but that also includes the delivery charge. It seems to work like a pre-order too, so the price is normal if we do not collect it immediately and head to the store and get itter." Xia Mao vaguely remembered the price of a sword he was looking at and knew that what he was seeing through the screen was more expensive.

    And unlike some shops, the app screen showed that there were additional charges on it.

    "Welp, looks like Boss has more money traps to his dungeons." Zi Dan sighed, but they all believed there was still a bnce in all the options he featured, especially if on budget.

    However, they too know that this experience they were having was way too real that no other dungeon suppliers could have replicated such an amazing thing, so it was hard for them to fault Jin entirely given his price point for the ticket itself.

    "I feel that if Boss Jin emphasises that there is a need for a Tank and Healer in this dungeon instance, that means the fights should be more intense than previously. We can''t just be chugging potions endlessly even though they are more potent than most stuff out there." Jing Yu added as she checked her des

    "Yeah, and too bad those awesome potions are locked out with a spell and turned invalid if we try to bring them outside his dungeon instances. I would love to use it during my fishing trips to revigorate me." Xia Mao was seriously browsing through the mercenaries to see who had better stats and cheapest options.

    "I understand that he does so in regards to the weapons but don''t you find it kind of funny that he is applying such a powerful seal on simple chi potions? I mean there are dungeon suppliers out there that have their very own cksmiths and alchemists who create customised stuff. They do not even put such restrictions on their own products as much as Boss Jin does." Zi Dan queried.

    "They really must not want people toe and copy their stuff. I mean,e on, the new potions that the young researcher girl was selling are fantastic. We experienced first hand how the wounds closed faster than any other options avable." Xia Mao replied while thanking Jing Yu again for demonstrating a wound cut in Yu Xiang''s new Alchemist Store.

    "Hmm...if that is true, shouldn''t he export it out? He could be earning more money." Zi Dan casuallymented butter on realised how impractical it would be in the long run.

    "OH.. Ohбн I see. my bad."

    "That actually saves some exining. And here we thought you had forgotten about your trading roots." Xia Mao sniggered, and Jing Yu shook her head with a smile.

    "Yeah but no matter what, people will try to reverse engineer his stuff, after it besmon knowledge how good it can potentially be." Zi Dan revised his statement, and the other two chuckled.

    "All the more reason for him to try and make it as hard as possible to copy and prove that he is able to keep ahead of thepetition." Jing Yu said as she heard a loud horn from the ship. The Pandamonium App had also pushed a notification that they had to rendezvous at the ship''s basement for their departure to the Nian Dungeon Instance.

 Chapter 910 Panda Mercenaries

    <h4>Chapter 910 Panda Mercenaries</h4>

    "Ah, so you are my employers this time around?" A stout looking Panda with armour tes on his chest waved his arm as the three Elder Pandarens came down via the stairs.

    "As expected from Boss Jin, his NPCs are truly lively." Xia Mao said as he raised his hand and shook the Panda''s paws before the others did the same. The feeling was somewhat extraordinary and Jing Yu being an olddy requested if it was okay to hug the Guardian Panda.

    "I don''t mind, but you might want to hug myrade instead, she has less armour on her." The Guardian Panda chuckled upon Jing Yu''s request as another Panda came out. Slightly smaller in build but they could obviously see that she was the healer of the team.

    "He at your service." The Panda Cleric introduced herself with a small bow.

    "Ah, my bad. Tanke at your service too. Nice to meet you guys." The Guardian Panda noticed that he forgot to state his name.

    "It''s funny how the names should be the same throughout the teams, but the experience would be vastly different." Zi Dan had a small smile on his face as he shook He''s paw too.

    "Boss Jin is probably toozy to make up new and unique names for each one. That or maybe he is truly hoping the names would stick with the cultivators." Xia Mao replied.

    "Heh, and he probably does not want people to think these NPCs are useless in a fight. If all the NPCs with the same name are basically clones, then it''s probably up to us cultivators to discover how to use the NPCs properly in a pinch. Then again I''ve read that you can customise the free one and even name him or her once we ''bonded'' enough, so maybe he wants us to lead us down that road." Zi Dan added as they saw a Panda Sailor beckoning them.

    Upon closer inspection, the Pandarens found out there was a boat awaiting them at the side of the basement. The ship subsequently opened its side hangar door, and water started to flow in. However, the flow was controlled, and there was a barrier that prevented any more seawater from entering.

    "Hop on! There is a navigatorpass on the motorboat that will point you to your destination. We are not able to move in any closer because of the possible risk of the Nian that has been sighted knowing of our location." The Panda Sailor told them as he passed a re gun as well as a few firecrackers.

    "Take these items. The re gun should only be used if you clear the dungeon instance. That way, we will be able toe and fetch you back to the ship. As for the firecrackers, take them as a bonus. A part of the ticket fare and they might prove useful."

    The Panda Sailor subsequently winked at them and helped them get onto the motorised boat. He also gave a quick crash course on how to operate the boat to Xia Mao before telling his mates to lower the boat.

    "Do you really know how to operate that thing?! I do not wish to get stuck in the middle of the sea!" Zi Dan questioned, and Xia Mao shook his head.

    "There is always the option of rowing the boat." Xia Mao said as he pointed at the oars. "If you are so scared of me mandeering'' this boat, then row the damn boat yourself."

    "Enough yapping and start the motor already." Jing Yu said as she knocked Xia Mao''s head for being so childish despite being so old.

    "Argh, yes Mdm..." Xia Mao said as he started the motor, but they had no idea that the motorboat had such high horsepower that the boat nearly flew upon taking off. Tanke immediately held onto Jing Yu and Zi Dan as he could see they got almost blown off by the powerful start of the motorboat.

    "I AM SORRRRRRY! I HAVE NO IDEA IT''S THAT STRONG!?" Xia Mao shouted as loud as possible to ovee the overwhelming buzz noises from the motorboat. At the same time, he was freaking out to check if there was a way to control the power of the motor. However, no matter how he tried to pull, push or even turn the handle, the motorboat was not slowing down at all.

    Hence, he told the rest to continue to hold tight while he focused on getting them to the shore. Yet, the navigatorpass was pointing right, as if tantly telling Xia Mao that it was wrong to head straight.

    "Should I trust thepass?!" Xia Mao asked as he already had trouble manoeuvring the boat with such high speeds and pulling a sharp right might potentially cause the boat to overturn. "Damn it! Screw thepass!" Xia Mao decided as he tried to hold steady as the motorboat sped through the waves.

    Yet when they came closer to the ind, they saw a beast already waiting for them at the shores. With a ferocious body of an ox, menacing head of a lion, red bloody scales of the dragon, there was no doubt what the creature awaiting them was.

    Nian.

    "WHAT?! We are fighting the boss straight up?!" Zi Dan asked loudly, but Xia Mao was too much in a panic to do anything else. The only way was to sail straight up because why not? They literally had a speeding battering ram that should be able to do significant damage if that proud beast did not move out of the way. And if it did, they should be able toe to shore.

    Yet, Nian roared to wee its prey, but the Pandarens did not expect the waves to start moving more violently. It was as if the waves were under itsmands to the point that the speeding motorboat was slowing down from its speedy advance.

    "Since when are Nians able to control the seas?!" Xia Maoined as he tried to wipe his face from all the seawater sshing at him. "I thought they lived in the mountains or something?!"

    "I remembered there was a part of the legend where Nian lived under the sea before it got hungry and ravaged the viges!" Jing Yu answered as she was desperately trying to hold onto the boat with the raging waves. If not for Tanke''s help, she might have already been swallowed by the sea itself.

    "Then how are we going to reach it if we are getting pulled away by the waves?" Zi Dan asked.

    "Maybe that''s why thepass was telling me to go right! Just before this beast appeared from nowhere!" Xia Mao admitted as he now tried to look at thepassбн only to discover that it was spinning crazily as if it was being affected by Nian''s tidal wave powers.

    "I will provide a path!" He shouted as she had just finished chanting her support spell, Protect. But instead of casting Protect on the Pandarens, she ced it on the boat allowing it to cut through the waves and finally gain some speed once more.

    "If we can''t go rightбнthen we go straight in!" Xia Mao announced as he held onto the motorboat''s engine handle, hoping that it could push them further and straight into the ind.

    As long as they manage tond safely, there might be a chance toe out of the situation alive without being suppressed by the tidal waves.

 Chapter 911 Beach Landing

    <h4>Chapter 911 Beach Landing</h4>

    The System noted an anomaly within one of the Nian Dungeon Instance and immediately checked up on the Elder Pandarens. It discovered that they happened to be the first group to encounter the Nian Boss despite many of the others still struggling to find it in their own dungeon instance.

    "System wishes to query. Is that anomaly User''s way of helping the Pandarens promote into Pandawans?" The System asked tantly.

    "You wanted them to rise, right?" Jin smirked as if he did not do much to their dungeons. "Obviously, I cannot do anything too direct since people are watching the live streams in the Cinema theatre shophouse. So I figured I''d just give their motorboat engine a nice little boost."

    "Too bad that the axle to turn the handle was a little faulty because of seawater, you know? Probably the reason why it broke when the speed became too immense, leaving them no other choice but to move straight or wherever the boat brought them. Fortunately, their NPC was clever enough to put up a barrier, not bad for an AI, eh System." Jin narrated the event as he knew that it was not the usual protocol for the AIs to be creative enough and handle environmental objects. (Or at least not yet.)

    A look into their settings had revealed to Jin that the Artificial Intelligences for those two individuals had been tweaked so that they would be more aware of the scenario they were in. (Was a certain crafty fox''s behaviour be rubbing off on the two?)

    While the three Elder Pandarens found themselves in direct confrontation with the boss of the dungeon, other cultivators were still fighting against the mini-bosses and minions within this Nian Dungeon Instance. The story of this particr dungeon instance was surprisingly simple whenpared to the rest of Jin''s dungeon instances. Following thepass, the cultivators should have reached an ind vige ravaged by Nian and its underlings.

    On arrival, they would have to fend off the current attack against the vige''s remaining guards. Afterwards, the surviving guards would offer them side quests which would help them take on the main quest provided by the Vige Leader which revolved around killing the Nian. This was the first even for dungeon instances as cultivators and dungeon suppliers knew how hard it was to create a main questline within an instance.

    Much less the expectations of side quests apanying the main questline.

    However, Jin had the System taking care of the heavy work, so with his umted experience in creating dungeons, he was finally able to create the very first set of side quests. It entailed a fairly interesting story that would also exin the origins of Nian itself. And if the cultivators managed to pass the side quests, they had the chance to fight the Nian during these asions, allowing them to injure the New Year Beast a little, before they would have a final showdown.

    This would be the proper way one was expected to clear the dungeon instance though The Elder Trio had been ''guided by the hand of fate'' and was rushed straight to the big finale. However, Jin and the System did not leave them in a lurch. Their bi'' cheating allowed the motorboat to move at fast speeds and it was possible to damage it significantly right from the start.

    As long as they managed to crash it against Nian head-on with their boat which Jin believe that would be their current course of action, the damage they raked in on the boss would beparable to the average amount of damage done in that series of side quests.

    While Jing Yu was not privy of such understanding about the situation, she and her friends also understood that letting their boat crash into Nian might be their safest and best chance to score the first strike. After all, if they were to be left entrenched on the shore, the Nian might take the opportunity to hit them first when they were not even in a basic formation at all.

    Still, if their n seeded, they might even have a chance to spread out and follow up on the attack. Nevertheless, it was a gamble as they had no idea of. The Pandarens had thoughts running through their head such as the NPC Guardian having problems fighting Nian on the unstable footing of the washed up beach. And it would be even worse if they were to lose any one of their members before the dungeon actually started.

    Thus, with quick thinking, the Hungry Condor cultivator used her des that were tied with high-quality fabrics. Those fabrics were capable of withstanding the strength of dozens of cultivators by utilising her chi. She then threw them towards Nian, but instead of flying straight towards it, they appeared to each miss their mark. However, just like a boomerang those cloth tied des ended up returning, allowing Tanke and Zi Dan to grab hold of them.

    The NPC Panda Guardian used its mouth to hold onto the cloth firmly while Zi Dan stabbed the de into the boat. "No matter what! This boat is going to smash into you- You little fat ugly cat!" Xia Mao taunted it. The trio could see that Nian tried to remove the cloth that had surrounded its torso while being dragged closer to the shoreline.

    Just like the Devil Santa, the Nian was a Boss monster designed with the capability of learning. When the cultivators would inevitably find one tactic and try to abuse it, it would only take a matter of time until the Nian would adapt to it forcing the cultivators to think of something else if they wanted a rtively ease clear. On the flip side, it meant that thinking out of the box would help the cultivators immensely.

    The Nian had no concept of the physics of the boat speeding towards it. In fact, the Demon Lion mistook it for something simr to a living thing flying towards it skirting on the water''s surface at top speeds.

    Jing Yu''s cloth continued to shrink in size, preventing the Nian from dodging out of the vehicle''s path. Nian kept on roaring and producing soundwaves that would interrupt the dungeoneers'' sense of hearing, but the boat continued to approach it like some sort of homing missile.

    Although the trio was distraught by the deafening attack, they continued to hold until the boat finally got out of the sea and onto the beach. Now, Jing Yu pulled the cloth that wrapped around Nian towards her. She did not care if it broke during the process. As long as it could buy them a few precious seconds so that the boat could have a direct impact against Nian, it would be worth it.

    *BAM!*

    Not just the pointed edge, but the entire length of the boat smashed into Nian as it tried to escape from the wrapped cloth around it. At that point, Zi Dan, who was sent flying out of the boat, unsheathed his chain ball mace and used his chi to send it flying, aiming for one of its eyes.

    After the boat had smashed onto Nian, it flinched for a moment, causing it to lower its guard and that allowed Zi Dan''s attack to critically hit. The loss of an eye bought the rest of the team some additional time as they were sent flying all around the beachhead to regroup.

    "Stay behind me! I will taunt the beast!" Tanke announced as he took his shield from his back and started to screech at Nian while banging his shield with a one-handed warhammer.

    The beast was furious after the injury it had just received and was out for revenge, but with a sessful first hit, the trio picked themselves up and readied their weapons once more for the next part of the battle.

 Chapter 912 Tanke, The Panda Guardian

    <h4>Chapter 912 Tanke, The Panda Guardian</h4>

    When Tanke said he would taunt the infamous beast, the cultivators did not expect him to do it in such a stunning manner. The Panda Guardian never hesitated despite fighting against a beast of such arge stature as he rushed onto the stumbling Nian with a shield charge.

    Tanke''s chi umted towards his shield, staring down the Nian and with each step, he shouted to attract as much as possible. Even as Nian tried to stabilise itself, it knew that the Panda Guardian was racing towards it and thus remained in a defensive position. However, it did not anticipate Tanke to shift his body weight and performed an uppercut with his shield, utilising the opening the Pandarens created to strike.

    The Demon Lion Beast being mmed on its face head on, subconsciously stepped backwards as it still needed some time to recover from the blunt smash on its chin and get used to its loss of vision. Yet, the Elder Pandarens had no intentions of giving it such an opportunity. Jing Yu aimed for the limbs while Xia Mao went for its sides. Zi Dan, with his cultivation managed to move towards the back of Nian to attack it. He nimbly sped through the sides (although he nearly fall because of the beach sand) and zoomed towards its butt.

    Despite the three-pronged attack, the Nian was still powerful enough to retaliate whereas their damage was sharply negated. The scales on the body were absorbing the damage rather well and Jing Yu''s stabs could only reveal a crack on Nian''s dragon-like scales while the torso sh was not much more effective. Even Zi Dan''s back attack had been instinctively repelled by Nian''s tail.

    The same could not be said about the counterattack by Nian nearly which nearly obliterated Jing Yu when she tried to repeat the attack for the second time. Its battled honed reflexes went for the des as if it learnt how those des moved and subsequently went forward to strike the ''caster''. Thankfully, Tanke''s reaction as a Guardian was fast enough to block the attack by putting himself at the middle to intervene the strike. But this partially caused him and Jing Yu to fly backwards.

    Nian himself was an altered monster boss based on the Burning Lion''s data, one of Weslie''s Four Cardinal Guardians who had protected the Farming World. Jin had experimented on making it a little more predictable while creating new moves for the monster so there would be exciting mechanics for the cultivators to weather through.

    There was actually a threat meter that had been implemented by Jin yet it was not visible for the cultivators for now. The purpose of the tank in the party was to maintain the highest threat meter so that their offensive yers could continue to dish out damage.

    That was why those Guardian type NPCs were programmed in such a way to generate as much of the threat meter as possible. Without any prior exnations about this concept, it was mostly the younger generation parties who utilised their knowledge from games.

    After everything Jin had done to give this team an advantage over his other customers, he still felt that they might not be able to clear the dungeon instance if they did not catch on to the passive mechanics of the Holy Trinity.

    "Are you alright?" He asked as she rushed towards Jing Yu and Tanke with her staff shining with magical powers.

    "Heal our tank first! He took the brunt of the damage!" The Hungry

    Condor Cultivator told their healer as she grabbed a potion from her side waist pouch and drank it.

    "This is way harder than I had expected!" Zi Dan sighed as he stood up, trying to shake off the experience of the tail whacking him.

    "That must be why Boss Jin insisted that we would need a dedicated guardian and healer to go into this dungeon instance. There''s got to be an underlying meaning to his actions!" Xia Mao thought out loud as he picked his scimitars up.

    "Anyone else has the feeling that the Nian is still pulling its punches? You saw how it managed to control the tide waves when we tried to sail towards it."

    "Are you suggesting we should try to lure it away from the beach and go further ind before we enter into a more difficult phase?" Xiao Mao asked as he could see Nian had already recovered from the stun and was observing the prey that had pissed it off so much.

    "Damn, this monster is intelligent as well!" Zi Dan could feel the menacing gaze from Nian as he tried to move a step forward.

    "Have no fear! TANKE WILL PROTECT YOU!" The Panda Guardian shouted as he bashed his warhammer on his circr shield like a gong attracting Nian''s attention. Given that there were no orders from the Pandarens, Tanke proceeded with his initial setting, which was to taunt the Demon Beast away from them, so the cultivators could attempt to attack.

    Xia Mao was observing the fight and contemted their options. Staying at the shores might prove to be a dangerous endeavour to fight the monstrous Nian. The beach was open with no covers to take advantage of, and its maniption of the tidal waves might prove to be a hassle for the groupter on.

    Then again going ind might not be much better either. He had no idea what awaited them, but after participating in many of Jin''s dungeons, he expected that there should at least be something inside that could change the bnce of the battle.

    Still, things could go south if this wasn''t the actual Boss and more appeared ind, but it also meant that there might be some good spots they could utilise to fight such a monster. Perhaps if they were lucky, they could chance upon a few extra weapons to help them ovee it.

    "Surely we can buy some instant items from the shop to get a bonus rocketuncher, but damn, I''m not rich to that extent!" Xia Mao thought to himself as he even considered trying to ovee the situation by pouring more money into the current problem.

    "Stupid! That is only for raid instances! Remember how we try to buy a few items and they only gave us a box of potions?!" Zi Dan shouted, forcing Xia Mao to recalled that Boss Jin had previously promised to only allow such a brute force method for his raids.

    "So team leader, what is your n?!" Zi Dan asked as the Nian was getting only more difficult to fight.

    "Fuck it! Let''s run further in. It is definitely better than staying stuck here with the unstable ground because of the sand." Xia Mao decided as the current situation didn''t look good. Without He, their Panda Guardian would have long since been totally overwhelmed.

    "Understood!" Jing Yu said as she conjured even more des from her storage ring. She agreed to the choice as He definitely could use the break. If she ran out of mana, it would not take long for their Panda Guardian to fall and subsequently the rest of the team.

    With the maniption of the des via her long strips of cloth, it allowed Tanke to move while holding Nian''s attention. In the meantime, Zi Dan, with his speedy cultivation, moved further into the ind to scout for a safe ce to fight.

    They might not be aware that the current dungeon doubled as their proving grounds to get the Pandawan Status, but as always, they would give it their best shot to win. For this was their hobby, and the thrill of the hunt had never been better than what they were feeling right now.

 Chapter 913 Bad Scouting

    <h4>Chapter 913 Bad Scouting</h4>

    Moving further ind, Zi Dan quickly realised that Xia Mao''s decision was not as great as they hoped it to be. There was indeed a small forested area, but as he went further in, he found that the ce was mostly filled with nothing but swamps.

    "Shit! Shit! This is worse than the beach!" Zi Dan cursed to himself when he identally stepped into a seemingly stable ground, only to find himself stuck in between the mud and water. He quickly used his chain ball mace to grab onto a branch and pulled himself up.

    His current direction was a no go, but the party members were already pulling Nian towards the swamp. Even worse, he felt other creatures were lurking within the swamp after spreading his chi around to check on the surroundings.

    While Nian might be enough to scare them off away for a while, he would not count on that happening since this was a dungeon instance. It was far more likely that the party would be ambushed while they were fighting Nian. And if the monsters were to attack now, they might be caught in a bad predicament.

    Either way, it was a lose-lose situation for the entire group, and Zi Dan had to make the decision fast. Allow his team to slow fight their way back to the sparsely forested area for the showdown or continue pushing into the swampy areas and hope to find some better grounds further into the ind.

    With Zi Dan leaving the party to scout, the pressure on the Nian had lessened, enabling the monster to start bullying the party members by picking on Jing Yu or Xia Mao as they fled further ind. He was shooting crossbow bolts at regr intervals to distract the monster as her healing would require her to stand still, which was impossible at the moment.

    The mercenary healer did have instant cast spells for emergency heals, yet those were precious and limited in number. After all, Jin had designed He simr to their world''s mages way of healing instead of how Peppers or other mage minions he had in possession. That way, the cultivators and subsequently mages of his world could get used to the dungeon raids if they were to be together. (Especially with his dream of going worldwide.)

    "Damn it! Our mobility will be limited if we cross this swamp area without some proper strategy, and this fight is proving to be way harder than we thought!" Zi Dan thought to himself as he could see the rest of his group approaching fast with the Demon Beast right behind their backs.

    The forested area, however, gave Jing Yu the opportunity to hit Nian unexpectedly, just that her des were still not strong enough to pierce it no matter how much she hit it. Xia Mao was the same as he tried to backstab Nian with the trees as his support and for some reason, Nian was perceptive enough to escape the ambush strikes and could even counter-attack with its paws the moment Xia Mao entered its field of vision. (The only fortunate thing was that they could at least still see its health being chipped downwards though it was marginal in terms of progress.)

    The Blind Cat cultivator might have been able to hide its actions from the Demon Beast for a while, but it was not enough when his strikes were not decisive enough orcked the speed to counter its perception. Not to mention, they were on the move, and Xia Mao had to adjust ordingly by moving further into the forested area to create such an ambush.

    The most troubling thing was that their formationcked their Panda Guardian who had been scattered from the group. Tanke had the endurance to hold down the Demon Beast, but because of its armour, the Panda Guardian did not have enough stamina to catch up with the party''s main offensive attackers.

    Furthermore, Nian had been aiming at Tanke so much that their injured mercenary was not moving fast enough, which caused Xia Mao and Jing Yu to take the matter into their hands and thus their current situation. If they lose Tanke while finding a more suitable ground to fight Nian, there is a possibility they would fail the dungeon instance because of the loss of their Guardian.

    That was why the Pandarens spammed their offensive skills to attract Nian and the more they did that, the more they had to move continuously so they could evade while dishing out attacks. With the Nian approaching fast towards Zi Dan and fast losing of options to stay alive, he suddenly remembered that the Panda Sailors had given them some souvenirs before their departure.

    The Firecrackers.

    "He should be scared of these loud sounds, right? Please don''t tell me the firecrackers are just for fun! We need the legends to be true now!" Zi Dan prayed as he took his portion of firecrackers out and started to light them with a lighter.

    "What the heck are you doing!?!?" Jing Yu screamed towards Zi Dan when she saw him standing still, attempting to light a few firecrackers. The Bullet Cheetah Cultivator ignored the shout as he already had a hard time keeping his hands from shaking violently with the iing Nian racing through the forested areas and towards him. (He literally felt the stare emanated towards him.)

    Zi Dan''s eyes widened as he saw the fuse light up, but when he looked up the Nian was merely a metre away and already pouncing towards him. With all the training and experience within his body, Zi Dan instinctively squatted and performed a low jump so that he would glide in the opposite direction from where Nian pounced.

    His brain was not thinking, and the only thing that reacted were his muscles and the chi he emanated naturally allowed him to flee from his current position and away from danger.

    "As expected from the Bullet Cheetah!" Xia Mao heaved a momentary sigh of relief when he saw how Zi Dan dashed out of trouble and not only that, he took that opportunity to hook the firecracker on Nian''s tail.

    "Run back to the forest!" Zi Dan cried as he manoeuvred his body to throw his chain ball mace towards Nian''s face violently hitting the beast''s nose.

    At that moment, the fuse for the firecrackers had reached its end, and the fire had ignited the explosives, causing it to produce a tremendous amount of noise which inadvertently scared Nian out of its wit.

    All that ''in-game'' aggression against the party had disappeared as the Demon Beast fled east towards the mountainous area of the ind with the popping noise right behind its tail.

    "Wow, okay that is some quick thinking there, my friend." Jing Yu tried to catch her breath as her ears were ringing. She never had such an experience being chased by something so ominous. Usually, she''s the one doing the hunting and not the other way round.

    "I guess the Visual HUD interface wasn''t kidding when it wrote that it was the boss. I thought it was some monster attempting to disguise itself as it is." Xia Mao said as he saw Tanke finally catching up to them. Seeing how the threat was gone for now, the Panda Guardian was so tired from running that it decided to lie and roll slowly instead.

    "Let''s take a breather and take a look at the ind. Boss Jin wouldn''t have designed a dungeon so straightforward. We should be able to find something that should prove as helpful as that firecracker move at the least." Jing Yumented.

    "Or maybe just more firecrackers. Hahahahaбн" Zi Dan looked into the swamp area where hest saw his chain ball mace after it hit Nian''s nose.

    "Should I even attempt to search for itбн?"

 Chapter 914 Dragon Slaying Sword

    <h4>Chapter 914 Dragon ying Sword</h4>

    "Seems like, despite the handicap I provided them, they were unable to defeat the Nian. And here I thought I could hope for a miracle fight but perhaps I am overestimating them a little too much. I guess when ites to them, they err on the side of caution aspared to the brash young Pandawans. But at least they are alive in all one piece." Jin mumbled as he checked on the progress of other groups besides the Elder Trio.

    Some had alreadypleted a few side quests and tried to advance by fighting Nian. While he also saw Bu Dong and a few other Pandawansing in a littleter for the dungeon instance, he believed the Elder Pandarens could be able to catch up.

    "User should have known that the Nian Boss cannot be defeated with brute force alone. The System has collected adequate data to ensure that the final Boss would pose a sufficient challenge based on the cultivators'' grade. Unlike the previous dungeon instances, the System finally achieved a form that takes into consideration the offensive and defensive capabilities of the cultivators." The System stated.

    "I understand that you might have sufficient data on repeating customers like but how can you do that for neers? How can you know it will end up useful instead of detrimental if you do not have information on them?" Jin queried.

    "This new form takes into ount both old and new customers. It may be possible for anomalies to appear, like the one User caused, but the System is able to detect and change the Monster''s ability to suit them." The System replied with confidence.

    "So you mean to say that there will be no heroes in this dungeon supplier store?" Jin sniggered at the System''s reply.

    "Never! For the System is forever monitoring the dungeons. That is the Dungeon Supplier''s main job, and so it will be for the System." The System said.

    "Not even when someone who could possibly isekai like Rei, our dear engineer from the Mecha World? And maybe the next time we meet such a person, he or she could possibly possess some absurdly crazy powers?" Jin fancied such a thought to the System.

    "User is underestimating the System. If System had managed to put Panda Remnant Rex into submission, there is nothing the System cannot do."

    "Strange, I somehow recall that it was Kraft who beat Rex. And isn''t Kraft running around causing havoc whenever he pleases without you ever doing anything about it?" Jin returned with a poignant point which caused the System to flinch a little in its reply, a rare reaction which Jin got to see.

    "System merely refuses to deal with Original Betor Kraft since he has not harmed the System ever since. System has therefore allowed him to do as he pleases and tolerates such behaviour."

    "I might not have an ability allowing me to sniff out lies, but that was a little too obvious." Jin teased the System which was obviously trying to keep its pride.

    "System only wishes to reinforce to User that System can be relied on." The System reinforced before pointing out that the Elder Pandarens were moving out after their rest.

    "In any case, the former anomaly will be treated as if the Elder Pandarens have fought the Nian after finishing a side quest and all damage will be kept. The vige starting scenario for them will have to be adjusted. Does User wish to provide some navigation for the Elder Pandarens?" The System showed concern and Jin understood why.

    They were currently in this particr situation because of the Dungeon Supplier''s meddling. And now that the Elder Pandarens had failed to use their first opportunity to fulfil his expectations for defeating Nian quickly, Jin should at least be responsible for the situation they were in.

    "I suppose that is fair," Jin replied as he immediately installed a navigation module within He and Tanke so they could bring the three Pandarens back to the ind''s vige where they would have more information on defeating the Demon Beast.

    -----

    "Follow me, I''ve been through this ind a couple of times so I recognise the scent of their vige," Hemented when they were done discussing on where to go next.

    "I believe that is the best course of action. We should visit that vige since they most probably know more about that beast and how to defeat those hard dragon scales." Tanke added.

    "I should have brought a demon-ying scimitar...or at least a dragon-ying scimitar. BUT ARGGGH they were freaking expensive!" Xia Maoined, and the rest giggled.

    "Probably because other people are more cautious than you and have already invested in those weapons before the price hike due to high demand and limited supply. Imagine what the prices will be like by noon." Zi Dan chuckled and made Xia Mao''s regrets even worse.

    "You never know. It might not even work even though the forums are suggesting it. Nian is after all a chimaera of beasts fused into one." Jing Yu interjected as they followed the two NPCs walking at the outskirts of the swamp area.

    "At least it should hurt the dragon scales, right? Even though it could be ineffective against other parts of the body." Xiao Mao tried to justify the reason for buying a dragon-ying sword even though he did not get one prior to the dungeon.

    "Hmm, you could try looking at the spoilers part of the forum and see if it works." Zi Dan suggested since there was no use arguing now. Xia Mao could still get one now via the Pandamonium Shop Interface although it would be priced significantly higher even if he was out ofbat. Zi Dan continued to coerce Xia Mao to get it, stating that the prices would be worse.

    "You know we can''t get into the spoiler part of the forums until after we have attempted one dungeon run. You want me to spoil my chance here and now just to see if it''s worth buying a dragon-ying sword?!" Xia Mao argued, and both of his friends merely shrugged their shoulders.

    "No matter how we see it, it seemed that you still want to buy that sword." Zi Dan replied.

    In the meantime, Jin was listening in on their conversation and contemted if he should tell them not to buy it. Mainly because they were going back to the vige and there were quests that would specifically help them defeat Nian.

    Jin understood that if Xia Mao bought the sword with Dragon ying properties, he could still earn some money from them. This was after all a business and not some charity dungeon instance. Thus, Jin kept his mouth shut and let Xia Mao''s friends influence his decision.

    Ultimately, the Blind Cat Cultivator ended up caving in, mainly because they happened to encounter Mini Nians but with more of a dragon looking appearance. Upon hearing their conversation, the System simply tweaked the navigation a little for them to cover a stretch ofnd where it would be faster to reach the vige.

    However, there''s a catch as the Pandarens would have a high chance of encountering mob monsters, which should not have been the case if they had stuck to Jin''s route.

    But hey, it''s just business.

 Chapter 915 Side Quest Line

    <h4>Chapter 915 Side Quest Line</h4>

    That one sh from Xia Mao''stest Dragon ying Scimitar was enough to bring each and every single Dragon Headed Nian down when they ambushed them. Though in Zi Dan and Jing Yu''s perspective, it was quite a bit of exaggeration. Unfortunately, it was indeed something like this when the scene reyed through Xia Mao''s head.

    He had buffed Xia Mao before the start of the battle, giving him speedparable to Zi Dan even though itsted for less than half a minute. The boost in speed gave the Blind Cat Cultivator a significant rush of adrenaline, allowing him to pick off the Dragon Headed Nians as many as possible before the boost dissipated into nothingness.

    While the feeling of immense satisfaction drunk his mind to cloud nine, Xia Mao also felt the pain emanating from his digital wallet. The number of Panda Medals he had left was close to zero. Yet, they made quick work of this variant of the Nian, the small Dragon Headed Nians since the original one they had fought had a lion head instead.

    "I suggest we bring back these bodies to the vige. Thest time I was here, they offered some reward for these." Tanke advised as he tied two of the dead ones together and carried them over his shoulder.

    Obviously, this was part of the dungeon side quest line, and the System was using the opportunity to cheat Xia Mao while allowing them to clear the quest lines quicker. It explicitly wanted the Elder Pandarens to be among the few who stay in line and get the first clear since the System knew Pandawans like Bu Dong and his friends were already prepping for the limited dungeon instance.

    "Let''s try putting them inside our storage rings." Zi Dan suggested as he tried to register them as items, but the storage ring refused to take them in.

    "You probably need a monster storage ring like those people who go hunting." Jing Yu pointed out as she too used her cloth to tie three of them together and carried them behind her backs. While it seemed like an amazing sight, their cultivation grades allowed them to move such heavy creatures with ease.

    For this very same reason and a side note, Jin wanted to expand the Pandafull delivery service because he knew that the longer-serving employees that were with the pany'' since the start had gathered enough cultivation strength and stamina to do more tedious deliveries.

    "I can''t allow myself to be outmatched by Lady Jing Yu!" Tanke announced as he tied yet another two more dead Nians and ced it on his shield while he dragged it with a rope. This way, his shield acted like a metal te that kept the Nian monsters intact while transporting them.

    "Aren''t you afraid that your shield will be damaged from the friction and all that pulling?" Zi Dan asked as he too tied four of those Nians and carried it behind him.

    "If the shield breaks because of some simple dragging, then it''s a useless shield in the first ce. Hahahah! But don''t you worry. This shield has been with me since birth, and it has protected me for as long as I can remember. A bit of transportation won''t hurt it." Tanke answered with pride as he started to pull the load of Nians forward.

    "The vige should not be far from here! Just over the rocks and we will be able to see a clearing!" He cheered the others on while carrying just two Nians on her back and she started to walk on fours for better support.

    Soon, the entire party managed to reach their destination without any problems, and the vigers were surprised to see a cultivator group bringing corpses of their dreaded enemy.

    "Pandarens! I thought you would not be arriving when I saw the storm brewing at the far end of the ind. And when there were no signs of you people, we feared the worse!" The oldest and wisest man came to greet them. "Ah, apologies for my poor manners! Song Erming, Chief of Song Chew Vige at your service!"

    "Such good killsбн" Another elder came forth to check the goods that the cultivators had bought. "Most of them were killed with a single stab from the back, leaving quite a lot of the meat and organs intact!"

    "Ah! Yiming, you should thank the heavens that the cultivators have managed to eliminate Nian''s babies before they feast on ours!" Erming said, and his older brother nodded his head.

    "Yes, yes. Thank you, cultivators. May I have your names?" Yimingter introduced himself as the Head Hunter for the vige and told them the predicament that they were in.

    Simr to the stories and legends of Nian in real life, what the Elder Pandarens heard was identical with a twist. The Boss Nian they had faced turned out to be the Mother Nian who had led her children on this ind for feeding.

    The ''attacks'' were supposed to be triggered when the cultivators arrived in Song Chew Vige, but because of the change Jin had secretly forced upon them, they literally changed how the usual events were triggered.

    Mr Know-It-All, who happened to be in the cinema theatres, had witnessed the change and was documenting everything in his forum posts. (Does that guy ever sleep?)

    That alone already alerted Jin that he was around and questioned the System why he was not informed of his presence.

    "Why is User so surprised? System clearly stated that Mr Know-It-All has been behaving as if it was his personal hideout. There was no need for the System to report anything because nothing has changed and he continues to await User meeting him." The System said, and Jin smiled bitterly.

    "The fact that I have changed the shop instance and he was here waiting patiently only proves his tenacity, I guess?" Jinmented, but the System denied such a statement.

    "No, Mr Know-It-All has been staying here as if it was his working hours. Only today, he decided to stay here through the night. System believes that he might have predicted User would release your new dungeon instance. However, as System does not read the minds of the customers, User will have to ask Mr Know-It-All yourself."

    "Fine, fine. I shall pay him a visit then. Please tell me when the Elder Pandarens have finished their side quests and are ready to fight the Boss battle. It doesn''t seem like their contenders have too high of a chance of clearing the dungeon on their current attempt ...well except for Bu Dong, so I would like to personally watch their fight when it is their turn. That way I can at leastmend them if they received their new title." Jin said as he started to pick his phone up and got ready to enter the Panda Street Instance to check on Mr Know-It-All.

    He felt as if the post was basically meant to tell Jin ''Hey I''m around,e find me, you stupid boss! I have been patiently waiting for a heck of a long time.'' (At least that was the way Jin interpreted it.)

    True enough, when Jin teleported into the cinema theatre where a number of cultivators were happily watching the cultivators trying their beast, Mr Know-It-All yawned and tapped on the seat beside him, beckoning Jin to sit with him.

 Chapter 916 Being Elusive

    <h4>Chapter 916 Being Elusive</h4>

    "Jin! Nice to see that you are alive and well! From what I heard from Yun, your injuries seemed to be quite severe to the point that you had to take some time off from everyone. And here I thought you were a superman or something after seeing that stunt of yours to remove the Loopa Ooofpa."

    Mr Know-It-All said, and Jin got a little conscious when he heard it.

    He quickly looked around to check if anyone was listening into their conversation then immediately gave Mr Know-It-All a nod to follow him.

    "Wow, you seriously do not want to take credit for something you did tremendously for the country? People would be vying to get glory." Mr Know-It-All said as he saw Jin continue to keep quiet and lead the way.

    Being ignored to such a point, Special Agent K understood the message as he kept his notebook and packed up his items. Only then did people start to notice that the ''Walkthrough Master'' had decided to leave halfway.

    They wondered if he had gathered enough information or just needed to take a toilet break. However, it did not bother them that much as they continued to watch the show for they knew Mr Know-It-All would post a guide to help the others as somehow he was the only one who could post in the spoiler section of the forums without entering the dungeon instance even once.

    Jin waited for Mr Know-It-All for a moment at the main entrance of the cinema theatre before they quietly walked along the noisy Panda Street instances and took the Restaurant Train. But unlike the other times where Jin would reserve a private cabin where he discussed business with whoever was involved with him, he sat at the economic ss of the Restaurant Train.

    Agent K sat beside him, but neither of them spoke a single word even after the train departed from the Panda Street Stop.

    Mr Know-It-All browsed around the economic ss cabin and noticed there were people around chatting happily while taking videos of the new Shop Instance when the train started to move. This was obviously not the best ce to make a serious conversation, and with Jin looking outside of the train without care, Mr Know-It-All predicted that he was bringing him to a ce to talk privately.

    While Mr Know-It-All knew that Jin was the master of the dungeon instance, he could have directly brought him to a quiet room for their conversation. Yet, it appeared like Jin had another agenda in taking this particr train ride, so the State Agent continued to keep calm and waited for Jin to open his mouth. He had already patiently waited for 2 weeks, what was another hour of silence? (Although he did feel a bit disturbed that he had toe out of the cinema theatres. Fortunately, there was always the Pandaflix where he could rewatch the fights and create the guide for Jin''s customers.)

    After a few stops, the Restaurant Train gave out an announcement saying that they were reaching the next stop, the Bamboo Forest Trail. That was where Jin turned towards Mr Know-It-All and told him that they were getting off here.

    Mr Know-It-Allplied and found himself in another part of the Shop Instance where he marvelled at the beauty of the tall overarching bamboo covering the skies. If there was anything special, it was how precisely each and every Bamboo tree was separated. This was nothing but perfection especially for couple Pandarens in the evening and night when the walkway would be lit up by mini bamboomps and benches far apart enough for the couples to have their own time.

    "I hope you haven''t brought me here for some time on those benches?" Mr Know-It-All joked, hoping to get some reaction from Jin and to his surprise, the dungeon supplier finally reacted by shaking his head with a smile.

    "No worries, we just have to pass through here so I can show you something even more fantastic," Jin exined as he picked his pace up.

    Naturally, Mr Know-It-All was able to keep up with him easily and soon, they had left the Bamboo Forest Trail and gone into a sidepath that was barely visible. The more the ventured, the denser the forest of bamboo became. Large Rocks were seen as if they were some sort of guiding marks where Jin would tap them and a faint light symbol would appear on the rocks.

    Soon, they reached a dead-end where there was a vertical wall of high rocks blocking the path. Jin then beckoned Mr Know-It-All to continue on, and it was only then that the State Agent realised that the wall was an illusion they could walk through them.

    On the other side was a bar setting where he discovered the infamous Bar Ind which Jin had used since the inception of his shop. There was an extraordinaryrge Panda that was acting as the bartender, sitting down cleaning the sses. It noticed Jin and greeted him as the Boss just as every other NPCs would.

    "This is the hidden bar which I kept as a secret for now. I would ask you to not reveal its location until you have seen what the new dungeon rewards are. If my customers turn out to be adventurous enough, they should be able to find it in due time." Jin requested as he weed Mr Know-It-All to the Bamboozled Bar Instance.

    While the ceilings and walls were covered with a smooth kind of rock surface, the tables and chairs were separated by well-ced bamboo trees so that there was some privacy. There was a Red Panda who instantly came out from a small hole via the rocks and went to the piano and started to y a lovely soothing tune. A few Baby Pandas came along as well and picked up the instruments.

    Imagine three Baby Pandas trying to get the cello upright while one stood at the top to y the strings and the other moved the cello bow. That was happening to the other instruments too. The saxophone was held on the ground but the Baby Panda blowing it was ying with such ''ungracefulness'' that it was way too cute even for Mr Know-It-All.

    "Whiskey on the rocks, please. Also, some chicken wings. My mouth feels a little pecky." Mr Know-It-All ordered after Jin assured him that he had locked this bar instance so no one else woulde and interfere with him.

    Now it''s time for them to have a much-awaited conversation.

 Chapter 917 Agent Ks Offer

    <h4>Chapter 917 Agent K''s Offer</h4>

    The big Panda Bartender brought in their drinks, and Mr Know-It-All put a few silver Panda Medals on the table. Then he took out a bottle from his leather suitcase and uncapped it. The smell of oolong tea was evidently strong, and he poured that mild lukewarm oolong tea into the whiskey.

    "Oh, I''m sorry, I hope you don''t mind?" Mr Know-It-All recalled that this was not the same bar he had frequented.

    "You paid for the drink even though I was ready to treat you, so why would Iin about it? I just wonder if it actually tastes any good. Won''t the warm oolong tea dilute the whiskey even further or possibly spoil the taste?" Jin asked as thebination seemed a little bit weird.

    "Hmm, I can''t im that it is something everyone might enjoy, but it tastes nice to me no matter what." Mr Know-It-All replied before he took a little sip and judging by his expression, he greatly enjoyed the taste. The mild bittersweet taste along with the slight dryness after sipping the whiskey was fantastic.

    "Ahбн Boss Jin, your whiskey is definitely top-notch. Very few bottles of quality whiskey are able to bring out the hidden taste of my wife''s oolong tea, and yours was considerably good! Have you brought me here to make me a regr at this Bamboozled Bar?" Mr Know-It-All jested as he thought about how his friend would feel if he stoppeding to his bar. (Probably ted given his status and thepany he usually brings in.)

    "Now let''s get down to business. First of all, I want to sign a blood pact with you. What I''m about to reveal to you might turn you into a potential threat to national security." Mr Know-It-All started their real conversation as he took another sip while he smelled the wonderful odour of the fried chicken wings at the back of the bar.

    "I feel honoured to have the full trust of a State Agent such as yourself, but if it''s really that important, perhaps I shouldn''t hear it. I might not look like it, but I have enough on my tter as is. My actions should have proven that I am not any sort of threat to national security, right?" Jin really did not want to get dragged into another sort of problem if it was avoidable, yet somehow they always found a way to haunt him, even in his own world. It felt like the problems had a scent detector that would allow them to always go for Jin to solve them.

    "That is true, and I was prepared to say something like that. However, I''m aware that you were trying to find out more about Ryuli so if you ept the blood pact, I''m willing to answer any questions you might have about her. Likewise, it will guarantee that any secrets you identally may reveal to me won''t be leaked out, too." Mr Know-It-All said, and suddenly both of them heard a clinking sound of the ice hitting a ss cup from the far end of the bar.

    "Geez, Boss. I am extremely disheartened that you did not tell me about this meeting. Did you know that you are seeing one of the strongest and arguably the second most influential State Agent in this nation and you left me in that boring meeting room." Kraftined as his footsteps echoed through the bar with his drink in hand. "Well, granted I love to see those ''associates'' of yours bickered and take notes of their quirks so I can use them against them, but this is more interesting!"

    "If I brought you here on my own, do you think he would tell me anything? You don''t exactly exude a trustworthy aura with your trenchcoat!" Jin retorted as he was talking about being upfront honest. Kraft merely smirked at thatment, and with a snap of his fingers, his outfit changed to a neat ck business suit.

    Tailor made to the centimetre detail, the suit''s quality was exquisitely brilliant. The use of silk, leather and even some animal fabric hinted that it was one damn expensive set of clothes. His buttons and cuffs were also custom made to the point, he was emanating the embodiment of stylishly formal. And the watch Kraft wore was a piece of beauty too which made Agent K slightly jealous since he knew a solid watch piece from afar. However, for once, the crafty fox did not even bother to hide his gunbelt even though he still kept No Mercy and Just Business holstered.

    "He is trained to speak half lies and has been doing it so naturally that it might trick even spiritual judges overlooking the blood pact. Face it, he''s way out of your league, and you need me to back you up." Kraft insisted as he shamelessly yoinked a chicken wing from the Panda Bartender before he could even serve it.

    To the three men''s collective surprise, the Panda didn''t even hesitate as he bashed Kraft''s head when he tried to take a bite and forcefully ced the wings on his side of Kraft''s table. "Customer, please wait for a little while for a new batch of wings." The Panda Bartender said nonchntly, and even he apologised for the rude behaviour of Kraft before he returned to the kitchen.

    "Wow, Boss. So much for the customer being king. That''s a harsh bartender." Kraft looked a little stunned from the paw swipe, but without a care, he bit on the wing.

    "So shall I assume you''ve gathered information privy about me that might render me useless in this particr trade of secrets?" Mr Know-It-All''s calm expression slowly turned slightly serious.

    "In a way, yes. Don''t underestimate the power of information gathering from little ol'' me. In fact, why don''t I share the secrets here and now? That way Jin gets to hear it, and you get to verify it? Any objections, Long Kong Rong." Kraft pronounced his name word by word, as slowly as possible as if to irritate him to the maximum.

    "Well, I would LOVE to learn more about you too, Mr Fox." Kong Rong said as his eyes were quietly burning with a challenge to the point that his chi aura was leaking out to show his superiority. Kraft merely grinned as if he was about to do the same thing until...

    "Kraft!" Jin banged the bartender table, and suddenly the concentration between the two broke.

    "I nted a sort of information gathering bug on him. It transferred quite a lot of information about him and Ryuli. You honestly do not have to do this with him." Kraft told him via the System Channel.

    The Foxy Version 2 that Kraft secretly passed to them had been able to infiltrate their headquarters when the State Agent was trying to find out more about Jin. However, in doing so, he allowed Kraft to retrieve a bountiful load of ssified information. Compared to the first Foxy Virus, the 2nd iteration was a nano bug courtesy of Rei''s expertise that allowed them to hack into the database with Kong Rong''s credentials intact. (Of course, it took some time for Kraft to execute it but the Foxy Virus was able to work.)

    Once connected to theirputers, the nano bug physical form dissipated and the V2 virus took way less time for Kraft to find what he neededpared to V1 where it was constantly trying to run away from the firewall.

    "It''s your call, so you should know that he isn''t a threat as you might expect."

    "That''s great and all, but the most important thing I need to know is whether he knows about the System!" Jin asked via the System channel while Kraft continued to put on a performance.

    Kraft merely shook his head, while looking straight at Kong Rong who had noticed that they were using some sort of high-level telepathymunication. He had tried to listen in on it, but he quickly realised that there was no way to break into it. It was rare for him to be unable to do so, but he had briefly forgotten who he was dealing with.

    "Fine, I do not need a blood pact, but I will at least need your word, that nothing can get out of this room no matter what." Kong Rong sighed in defeat as he received the chicken wings from the Panda Bartender. As for the Panda, he went out of the ind bar with a bottle of apple wine and walked his way to a corner of the bar with headphones on.

    His NPC''s actions somehow further strengthened his faith in Jin while Kong Rong took another sip of his whiskey once more as if he wanted the drink to be responsible for him leaking out the information. Especially since to learn more, one had to give something in return.

    "I''vee here today to learn what thest heir of the supposed Royal Panda n ns for the future."

 Chapter 918 Dragon Ley Lines

    <h4>Chapter 918 Dragon Ley Lines</h4>

    Jin was unsure if he should feel relieved about the State Agent''s ignorance on the matter, but he decided to y along to learn the extent of how much Kong Rong actually knew. Perhaps, he might not know of the existence of the System at all, and that itself would be a great relief for Jin.

    "I did not expect the Royal Zodiacs or even the Ministry of State Security to even know- hmm no, you surely know of our existence. More like wasting resources and allocating manpower to track our existence, if what Kraft said is true about you. We are basically dead in your eyes since we have no strength nor power to fight you guys. Why do you bother to look us -erm me up?" Jin queried even though he initially wanted to y dumb.

    Yet, knowing Kong Rong, it was useless to do so and might actually be counterproductive. Thus, Jin decided to acknowledge the fact that he was indeed part of the rumoured Royal Panda n.

    "Hah! You useless? Have you forgotten you have single handedly brought down an aberration of horror that no one actually knew how to kill aside from Senior Demon Exorcists Instructor Yuan? And in retrospective, even our records were proven to be useless otherwise." Kong Rong retorted.

    "You do know that those records had been edited by the Banned Emperor faction, right?" Kraft asked as a casual question.

    "Well, yes and no. We did not know of their meddling until this particr incident happened especially after Instructor Yuan vouched that those reports had been edited by showing us her own copy which she had kept. Since then, we had started to trace these moles, especially in the defence sector, and we are in the works to do a massive raid in each and every department, including other sectors." Kong Rong responded cautiously.

    "Still, the Royal Panda n has always been an elusive group of members, one that I could not help but wonder why history had not acknowledged them. No matter which library or database I look upon, there were traces of information erased about them. The only ce where I could find evidence of this n was the Royal Zodiac Archives. But more importantly, I wanted to learn why my grandmother constantly considered them traitors when everyone had forgotten about them. Most if not everyone I know, do not recognise the existence of such a n. They all believed it was just folklore simr to how those Banned Emperor terrorists got their name from it." Kong Rong stated his reason for being here to learn more about the Royal Panda n.

    "Your grandmother?" Jin asked with curiosity as he bent over the ind bar and picked up the whiskey left by the Panda Bartender to refill Kong Rong''s bottle. Kong Rong thanked him as this time, he decided to drink the shot without adding any of his wife''s oolong tea.

    "Indeed, I am the grandson of the Lead Royal Zodiac Archivist. She''s the only one in the country, heck maybe in the whole world that has the power to tap into the Dragon Ley lines." Kong Rong revealed, but Jin merely gave him a nk look when he heard about the dragon ley lines.

    Kraft decided to step in so he could fill in some knowledge for his master and at the same time unted his expertise in front of Kong Rong. "It isn''t too surprising that a modern person like you would not have any ideas about them unless you studied the ult or cared much about ancient history. The concept of these Dragon Ley lines stems from the belief that the Earth is a giant living organism and would have something resembling the chi and mana circuits in one''s body. The Dragon Ley lines are the most prominent for humans to obverse and thus taken advantage of."

    "ording to rumours, they are currently dormant since many cultivators of old travelled far and wide to find these Ley lines. There are records of those cultivators stating how they were blessed by the Heavensбн a nice way to refer to exploiting them for their own purposes. Absorbing the Earth''s spiritual energy allowed them to jump cultivation grades. Of course, those were mainly rumours since I believe those people who jumped grade just needed that extra push from their current state. But still, there were many who tried finding them for the sake of power, but only very few seeded." Kraft exined as he felt peckish and stole another chicken wing since the Panda Bartender was not there to stop him. Jin shook his head and actually revealed another te that the Panda Bartender had been hiding it when he took the whiskey bottle out.

    With his mouth filled with tender, juicy meat, Kraft added that the ultimate price of this treasure hunt was actually Dragon Ley lines crossing each other, which are called Dragon Ley Nodes. In those ces, the power spirals so intensely that it bes a massive vortex of spiritual energy. This was not discovered only by the cultivators but mages too. One such ce is in Old Ennd where at least twelve Dragon Ley lines intersected before diverging into the core of the Earth.

    That was one of the reasons why the Stonehenge was erected to contain its power after a mage stumbled upon the excessive spiritual energy which spilt out as a method for Earth to stabilise itself. Those monolithic stones have been put up not only to hold the spiritual power but also as a method to transfer said spiritual energy into a person.

    Stonehenge has basically be the coveted prize for most mages to attain possible perfection. To avoid such a power falling into the wrong hands, the government protects it so fiercely since its inception. But to everyone''s surprise, even the founding mage did not attain a perfect Grade 20 in their supposed magic levels.

    Some even thought that the only Grade 20 Cultivator, Guan Yu, had found one, if not more of these Dragon Ley Nodes that allowed him to reach his godly attainment. Some even deduced that he had walked and visited every possible Ley Node in the world and even discovered some hidden Ley Nodes underground that enabled him to hit that Grade 20.

    However, as modernisation set in, so did the disappearance of these Dragon Ley lines. This was mainly because when Guan Yu changed thews of nature, more people were able to fight against the domain monsters usually lurking around the Ley lines. Thews of nature might have changed, but humanity''s greedy nature has not. Many exploited the Ley lines to the point that various governments had to step in because of the unexpected consequences of taking in this spiritual energy too frequently.

    Earth was supposed to release spiritual energy periodically to stabilise oneself, but the constant exploitation caused spiritual energy to be sucked out of Earth itself instead of naturally releasing excess energy.

    This inadvertently created natural disasters of massive scale due to the imbnce in the spiritual energy which the researchers at the time were unable to exin as anything but Heaven''s Wrath.

    Ironically, the one to propose the theory that by extracting spiritual energy from the surface Dragon Ley lines, it interrupted the entire meridian system within Earth, causing the imbnce of spiritual energy to certain parts of the world and thus these natural disasters, had been branded a heretic.

    "Most attributed it to the change in thews of nature. It must have been convenient to just pin the me on someone else. In the end, only decadester did a joint team of mages and cultivators manage to find the reason why all these were happening, led by one of the sessors of that ''heretic''s'' idea. They were the first to be known as China''s Royal Zodiac Archivists." Kraft munched happily on his chicken wings as he showed a peace sign towards Kong Rong.

    "As expected from a person of your sinister calibre." Kong Rong sighed after listening to the exnations from Kraft. Surprisingly he learnt quite a few things that he had not been taught by his grandmotherбк especially the natural disasters portion.

    The State Agent tried again to use his chi enhanced senses to check if Kraft was lying, but there was no scent of lies, no unusual panic aversion of his eyes and the bodynguage was too rxed. If Kraft was a con artist, he was extremely good at his job.

    "Tsk, so much having your grandmother being the ''archive'' and protector of history," Kraft noted sarcastically while grabbing the whiskey bottle and pouring himself a drink. Jin knew this thousand year fox could not be beaten if youpete him with history lessons.

    At the same time, all those exnations caused Jin to wonder about the state of the Farming World''s condition. From Kraft''s impromptu history lesson, Litoride, the precious miracle ore responsible for the rats'' Steampunk technology, sounded quite simr to the concept of Dragon Ley lines.

    "Could it be, that they are digging so many caves and hideouts under the ground becauseбн" Jin considered the possibility that the undergroundwork of the Demon Rats might be far more dangerous than anticipated. It might actually be because they were digging deeper for a better quality Litorideбн

    Or maybe something more sinister.

 Chapter 919 Digging For Freedom

    <h4>Chapter 919 Digging For Freedom</h4>

    "System, please get Peppers to do a deep scan of the northern region! I want her to repeat it until we have a clear picture to see to the core of the Farming World." Jin ordered as he remembered that the scan Peppers made were only a few dozen metres into the ground. He was initially unsure if it was the limitation of her scan, especially since they were only looking for activities of the Demon Rats.

    "What''s with the sudden concern?" The System asked as Jin picked his phone up and told them he had an urgent phone call to make. After which Kraft quickly ced his hand over Kong Rong''s shoulder to distract him and hustled him for another drink.

    "A phone call this early in the morning around?" Kong Rong thought to himself, and he felt like Kraft was buying him some time. Just one sentence on the revtions of him being thest member of the Panda n had made him so anxious? However, if that was true, he would have been startled when Kong Rong revealed the fact. But Jin was calm and collected and even admitted that he was indeed part of the Panda n.

    "Nah, it seems that my exnation just now suddenly triggered an idea about something that needs to be done." Kraft saw through the facial expression on Kong Rong and immediately said it out as if to calm him down.

    "Ah... I deduce as much. Is he thinking of getting to a Dragon Ley Node by himself? Hahahah!" Kong Rong replied, but to the State Agent, it seemed as if it was a direct challenge as Kraft could read his nonverbal expressions easily and had grasped his train of thought.

    Unaware that he had been seen through, Jin continued to pretend he was on the phone while rying information with the System. In reality, he shared his concerns that it might be possible that they had been taking a certain matter a little too lightly.

    "Remember how fast the Schrs ran away after their castle ambush had failed? I am starting to believe that attack was not just some simple failure. In actual fact, I think that their ''n B'' was to use it as potential bait for us." Jin exined as he felt that it was not the rats underestimating them, but they were the ones looking down at the rats.

    "I read the reports briefly, Weslie and some of the researchers had concluded that the castle mechanics were done in a haphazard way. It was as if they just wanted to get this done as soon as possible and throw the attack on us. But at the same time, you saw how sturdy the Demon Rats'' armour has be. Compared to the older models, Weslie pointed out there were improvements made getting rid of the most severe weak point." Jin continued and went behind the Panda Bartender, who was quietly drinking his apple wine to lean on him. (A privilege of being his master)

    Even though the Panda Bartender was being controlled by the System, its AI knew that it did not want ears to be prying into the conversation even though Kraft was keeping Kong Rong busy. Thus, he shifted himself a little and eyed at the little Pandas to y something more upbeat. Once their song ended, the tunes became more jazz oriented, and when possible, they purposely directed their instruments towards Kong Rong. This would not only catch his attention but also divert it away from Jin now that he was out of his sight.

    "On the other hand, Weslie pointed out the offensiveser cannon was working as intended and to some extent, she felt the rats or maybe the Schrs had managed to improve on it a lot on her previous design. Yet, she felt it wascking something... Argh, what was it in her report...?" Jin suddenly forgot the wording in her report and starting snapping his fingers while unconsciously rubbing his head behind the Panda Bartender''s back. (It was incredibly soft and fluffy though!)

    "It was initially part of a device before it was used in this castle superstructure. As if it was actually meant to be for a piece of heavy machinerypared to just being used as an offensive weapon." The System literally quoted word by word from Weslie''s analysis report.

    "Yes! That''s it! Theser cannon was being retrofittedst minute, and its condition seemed worn out aside from the damage taken from our attacks." Jin''s memory finally clicked after the System''s prompting.

    "User''s point being?" While the System had already begun calcting and predicting the type of answers Jin could have contemted, the System allowed him to finish his sudden epiphany.

    "What I am saying is that we might be focusing on the wrong objective. We seem to be very sure that they are regrouping and holding their fort in the Northern Region''s capital butбн They might actually be running away." Jin said as if his hunch on it would definitely hit the nail on the head.

    "Assuming they do not have portal magic, they are actually doing their best to run away from this Northern Region. However, I suspect it''s neither by sea nor by airбн but by digging!" Jin said with emphasis that even the Panda Bartender raised his eyebrow and turned his head a little before returning to being nonchnt.

    "Peppers showed that they had multiple caverns to dig for Litoride to fuel their military might. But what if they are digging deeper for better quality of Litoride and also a way out of the Northern Region?"

    "In that case, the use of heavy machinery would make a ton of sense! Dig big and deep to create not just an underground city but to connect them to possibly other regions and take them by surprise. Ultimately they have thestugh because they might not have just one undercity but a real one somewhere else!"

    "As long as they block the entrances to their real undercity, those Demon Rats could live in seclusion for the ultimate takeover when everyone is living seemingly in peace and thinking that the threat was all over," Jin stressed as he could not believe he did not realise this sooner.

    "Fair point of contention." The System agreed.

    "And we are also assuming the rats are going underground only. However, what if they have developed the idea and technology to make submarines? Fortress submarines and diving suits with oxygen? We have already seen theme up with the idea for aircraft, so who is to say they might not have found a way to aplish underwater travel. Damn it, specting like that makes me want to have them as part of my team." Jin sighed as he felt the rats were way too cunning. Maybe that was why the dungeon supplier felt they only sent a smallpany of Demon Rats to the Bulwark Port to review its resistance.

    Though thankfully, the System also ensured all of them were killed to prevent any reports from being sent back but could the System be sure that the Schrs had not attached them with high level magical seeing spells?

    If Kiva had managed to bide his time to change the kingdom so that the crown would be under his control, Jin would also believe that the rats under the scheming Schrs could do the same.

    "User''s worries are warranted, System will assist Betor Peppers with the scan." The System replied, now satisfied with such an analysis. While it had thought of it before previously, the Super Entity had not believed the Rats were capable of doing such a feat. In fact, Weslie had allowed the System to do a thorough scan of her memories, giving it an idea about how capable the Demon Rats were supposed to be.

    Yet, the new iing reports from salvaging the castle ruins had already proven that she might have been mistaken about their capabilities and ignorant to their intellectual growth. Armed with substantial facts from its host, the System finally bumped the priority to eradicate the rats up to one of its highest importance.

    It was mainly because of the Farming World''s extensive potential to provide Jin and his subsequent virtualwork a limitless quantity of high-quality goods that lead the System to allow more than somepromise.

    "But not today, let Pepps enjoy her day off tonight." Jin requested as he stopped pretending to whisper on the phone. (Even though the System had already erected an acoustic barrier using the Panda Bartender as a proxy from the start.)

    "Would User rather risk to fight the Rats outside the Northern Region for the sake of the peace of his betor?" The System questioned since every second, every minute still mattered as they meant progress for the Demon Rats. In the meantime, the System was already formting ns within its processing unit and simultaneously creating rmendations on the minion''s new revised strategies so as to improve the next raid on the Farming World.

    "If they are already that far along in their ns, then I doubt a couple of hours will make that much of a difference. And even if it does, it will just mean that it is our loss for not realising it sooner. I rather have a rested army with high morale than an army who felt that the master''s promises was empty and hollow." Jin apologised as he closed his phone and stood up.

    Only to see the smiling duo at the bar table been fighting without words nor physical contact. (And to Jin, that was downright scary.)

 Chapter 920 Chi Execution Promise

    <h4>Chapter 920 Chi Execution Promise</h4>

    "Settled your stuff already?" Kong Rong asked and Jin nodded his head, but he knew he was still waiting for Jin to either confirm or deny his earlier statement.

    "My bad, I erm... Don''t youugh at me! I just thought of something about ley lines exnation and needed to record some of my thoughts quickly. I thought I can perhaps use that as part of my ns for a new ''dungeon raid'' if you get my drift. hahahah!" Jin replied, adding that he was too embarrassed to be seen recording his sudden pangs of inspiration as weird, so he decided to go around a corner and record his ns.

    However, Jin was never great at lying, and Kong Rong could immediately pick up that the Dungeon Supplier was not telling the entire truth. But decided not to bother to pursue. At the very least, based on the State Agent''s experience, Jin was not lying straight at his face, and that still retained the respect he had for the little Royal Panda n Member.

    "As for my nsбн Well, you can see it for yourself. I have quite the unique dungeon supplier store. And I wish to grow it out at a national and then international scale. It would be a lie that I would not want to have the Panda n to regain its old former glory, but right now, I would rather focus on my shop. If the n growthes in the same direction as my shop''s expansion, then I will dly embrace it." Jin truthfully admitted and Kong Rong finally gave a rxed smile.

    "Then all your crazy dungeon instances finally make some sense. It would definitely be a pity for you to stay in Shenzhen and not spread your wings or in this case, dungeon instances to the rest of the country. And if possible internationally." Kong Rong happily replied as he cleaned his fingers from all the leftover chicken wing oil. He noticed that Jin had left out the word ''Royal'' indicating that he saw the Panda n as something else.

    "However, I must ask. Have you ever hated the name Royal Panda n? Or do you feel resentful that being born in such a n?" The State Agent questions were out of the norm for Jin but the dungeon supplier understood where he wasing from. History had always been written by the strongest and unlike the Royal Zodiacs, Jin had the whole story from the bitter old System. So, instead of bitterness and anger that was expected from thest surviving Royal Panda n member, Kong Rong sensed something much more.

    "It''s more like it just sounds so odd to me. Heck, I only found out recently after the death of my Grandpa that I apparently belonged to a n with ancient roots which no one ever knew about. Growing up, he never revealed those things to me, and he just left me his inheritance, assuming that I would like to take it as it is. He just shoved that kind of deadweight responsibility to me, telling me to get revenge for our ancestors." Jin replied as he sat beside the duo and poured himself a shot from the bottle of whiskey too.

    Even though he never liked the taste nor the notion of drinking, Jin picked the cup up and drank it with all his might. The bitterness and dryness of the alcohol were terrible as if he was putting cardboard into his mouth and swallowing it whole.

    "I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but he''s an idiot," Jin said out, but both men could still see the rity in his eyes when he proimed that. In fact, those pair of eyes got even more decisive when Jin opened his mouth.

    "Following the footsteps of my grandfather or the ancestors that came before meбн it just sounds unnecessary. I don''t n to fight them if that is what you were worried about. Instead, I n to honour my heritage by creating a Panda n that is worthy of my respect and that of the public. So, if you n to treat me as an enemy of the state on that grounds, you better prepare because I will fight against you with all my might!" Jin firmly dered, and Kong Rong understood why he took that shot of whiskey.

    Doing so must have just been to ease his nerves, so he could send the deration of challenge to him, a Lawman of the Country, a respected person standing at the top with power, privilege and money. Thereafter, Jin already poured himself another shot of whiskey and downed it in order to hide the shame of uttering something normally so out of character for him.

    "Hahahah!" Kong Rong loosened his shoulders and justughed. "You kidding me? Do you really think you have the power to take on the Royal Zodiacs? Have you forgotten what happened to your grandfather?" Kong Rong''s words had confirmed that there was indeed someone who actually remembered the actions of Ming despite the System''s time reversal.

    "Looks like the Royal Archivist can manage to retain her memory after allбн" Jin mumbled as his resigned look changed to that of a cornered animal. Ironically this time it was Kraft who broke the tension, by ''identally'' using too much force when he downed his whiskey shot, breaking the ss. He broke out inughter over his clumsiness and excused himself as he went to get a recement.

    "To manipte time and space, storing historical information was vital in order to make sure that the caster could retain her sanity. Thus, the System believes, the Royal Archivist must have stored her memories in a secured position within the Dragon Ley Lines or a Dragon Ley Node so that in case of any change in time, she would be able to retrieve her memories from the original timeline. But that''s to say the original timelineбн" As the System attempted to babble on in an attempt to calm Jin further down, Kong Rong raised his hand and showed his palm towards the Panda Cultivator, as if signalling him to halt his actions.

    "I assume that was the sort of reaction you have expected from me, right? However, I believe that you are someone worthy of my trust, so I wish to help you." Kong Rong told him, and Jin was unable to sense any malice from him.

    At that moment, that palm immediately turned to the ceiling while he pointed upwards. Suddenly chi was gathered within his index finger while he drew an imaginary circle with his chi. That was when Jin realised that Kong Rong was about to do something unthinkable, there was no way he could believe it.

    "As these two gentlemen my witness, I hereby invoke the oath that my actions, be they direct or indirect, will ultimately not harm Jin''s livelihood and his way of living." Kong Rong spoke as Kraft gritted his teeth for he too understood what the State Agent was doing.

    "That''s an Oath that invoked the Heavenly Five Element Tribtions." Jin thought to himself. He knew the implications of the Heavenly Five Element Tribtions, and so did Kraft. Yet, both knew that those Element tribtions would only be effective on ''average'' ordinary folks.

    To people like Kong Rong, who was a State Agent, he probably went through torture both physical and mentally that would put him way above average citizens. However, Kong Rong suddenly changed his oath invocation a little which was new to both the Panda and Fox. The Royal Dragon Zodiac Cultivator put his other hand out, and it started forming a dragon silhouette in front of him.

    The bloody dragon silhouette circled around Kong Rong as it bit him on his neck causing more blood to emerge and forming even more dragon silhouettes which continued to encircle him and bite at every portion of his body. Just when Jin worried that Kong Rong might die of blood loss the oath invocation was suddenly over, and Kong Rong sat on the high chair with wounds all over him.

    Jin immediately took out a potion and quietly offered it to Kong Rong, yet the State Agent refused and told him that he would be fine after a quick breather. True enough, his wounds suddenly healed by itself and Kong Rong appeared fine and dandy, as if nothing had happened. Jin then noticed that there were no bloodstains on the ground nor on his clothes.

    "Youбн Did you just strengthen Heavenly Five Element Tribtion Oath with a Chi Execution Promise?" Kraft asked with a grim face.

    "Heh. For you to even know this taboo oath making, you are definitely not someone I should underestimate." Kong Rong answered Kraft''s query with a smirk.

    "Now you wish to revise your impression of me? That is a little tad toote, isn''t it?" Kraft replied solemnly. Still, the reason for making such a Taboo Oath boggled Jin''s mind whereas Kraft already had his own thoughts on the matter.

 Chapter 921 Leader of Kill Squad

    <h4>Chapter 921 Leader of Kill Squad</h4>

    Seeing the nk face on his master especially when this was a rather obscure technique, there was no need to ask as Kraft spoke out on the issue at hand. "A Chi Execution Promise is considered a taboo oath in which one party uses their own chi to basically ''program'' it so it would kill them if they end up breaking their promise. It''s basically the same as a death wish, and once it activates, the Dantian Core immediately shuts down."

    "And if you think shutting the Dantian Core would bring you eternal death, you are so wrong. So dead wrong. If you have read about radiation poisoning from Chernobyl idents, that is roughly what you are going to expect from it. You would feel fine at first, thinking that you just lost control of your chi. This is because there are other ''secondary'' Dantian cores to generate chi during an emergency."

    "However, you have to understand. The chi within the body had been programmed as such that it would attack those secondary cores by clouding and prevent them from making fresh chi. Instead, it would turn those fresh chi as part of the programmed chi, which eventually shut the secondary cores down because of the strain."

    "After which, the chi would be acting like foreign objects which would cause the bodies'' immune system to continuously attack them while the chi disrupts the organs from within. Your organs would start to feel the pressure and eventually fail. Your skin will melt gradually, and your breathing will be difficult. If you try to expel that chi or even attempt chi infusion, it will further exacerbate the problem."

    "It''s ultimately the kind of oath where the body and the entirety of one''s soul judges the actions of the person who will be consistently monitored from that point onward. After all, the brain might be able to lie to oneself, but not the heart. Some might say that nurturing and bad experience could train a human to be extremely heartless, but no one is forever ck nor always white." Kraft exined for Jin to understand the severity of what Kong Rong had just done.

    "I am a Special Agent of the State, the First Son of the Royal Dragon Zodiac n Leader and of all things, your perceived enemy. All the more reason I have to do this to gain your immediate trust because of my personal agendas." Kong Rong iterated why he made such a dangerous move.

    "For once, you are not very cryptic." Kraft sneered derisively.

    "Well, I wanted a blood pact because I thought I had leverage in regards to my information. It pains me to admit, but you somehow clearly beat me to it." Kong Rong replied as to give one of the reasons why he performed this dangerous oath.

    "I am actually surprised that you know that I know your stuff." Kraft did not act surprised at all despite his im.

    "Heh, I am a State Agent, so please don''t underestimate me." Kong Rong added as he raised his half-drunk ss shot and Kraft joined him.

    "But it seems that your all-seeing capability has a limit since you didn''t seem to have predicted I would do something like that."

    "I won''t deny that your actions caught me off guard. After all, I figured you for the cautious intellectual typeбн What you just did was just hot-headed!" Kraft shook his head at Kong Rong''s actions. "Seriously, I might never understand what the big deal is about such an archaic oath. You should go with the times, we have much better things at our disposal nowadays!"

    "But sure, I will admit that I''m unable to read your thoughts freely. Whoever was the one to train you, Imend them for their efforts." Kraft acknowledged as he drank his shot.

    "However, it''s just that I''m toozy to do that. Too much of a hassle to bypass your defences without you realising it, plus I am a little more forgiving during the New Year." Kraft was not lying when he said he could not pass through Kong Rong''s mental barriers with the usual subtle way as the barriers were unique enough that a ''subtle intrusion'' was not possible.

    The Foxy V2 Virus might be able to get ess to information from a database like the State Agent''s, but the lock on the mind was an entirely separate challenge.

    "Hah! Stillбн Damn! For you to dig so far without me noticing is still quite a feat." Kong Rong said before looking at Jin.

    "Butpared to this panda guy, I was unable to go through anything at all. He might look empty in terms of defence, but there are actually plenty ofyers of mental barriers up. Each time I tried to subtly go into his mind to look for a thought, I got bounced out of it." Kong Rong shrugged his shoulders in defeat and drank his ss only for Kraft to refill it.

    "Erm, I got to ask. Why did you suddenly go all bad at me? Somehow, I got a little bit of dижjид vu when you turned bad at me. Ke Loong did the same thing to me." Jin interrupted the whole conversation with an innocent thought.

    "Hahahahaha!" Kong Rong suddenlyughed while holding on his stomach. "Ke Loong really did that? And here I thought he was lying when he told me that he tried to actually strongarm you into bing his partner." The State Agent subsequently took out his notebook and started to strike something out from one of the pages.

    "Please pardon us. To be honest, it''s a silly game that both of us used to y when we were little, and neither one of us seems to have outgrown. Basically every so often we challenge each other to random dares." Kong Rong embarrassingly revealed to Jin. He even turned the notebook and faced it towards Jin. ''Threaten or frighten the Dungeon Supplier before making a deal, else pay 250 yuan. Confirm with Dungeon Supplier about the other''s attitude'' was being struck out from the book.

    There were other stupid dares such as ''Give Father a lollipop and make him eat it. Can be observed from afar, need a screenshot to confirm, else pay 600 Yuan.''

    It seemed as if Ke Loong and Kong Rong were actually willing to work hand in hand with Jin rather than being a threat, even if their hobby seemed quite peculiar.

    "Trust me, if anything, he wants you to seed, too. Even if Mr Kraft disagrees about my method, I hope that after making this taboo oath you won''t see me as an enemy either." Kong Rong asked for confirmation as he closed his notebook.

    "Why are you so intent to help the sole surviving Royal Panda Member so much? Shouldn''t your ns'' objective be to eliminate them?" Kraft questioned, and Kong Rong''s face turned serious.

    "With the permission of my grandmother, I have gone through the records. I read through the memories of my ancestors and am therefore aware that it was actually the Jade Emperor''s fault for being too greedy and craving absolute power." Kong Rong answered, and it made Jin recall back what the System had said about the origins of the Royal Panda n. Perhaps, he had the wrong impression that Kong Rong had no knowledge of the full story.

    "ording to the Heavens, all elders had been removed, yet somehow it made the Royal Panda an enemy to be reckoned with. Since then they seem to have been blessed with some sort of special power. From amazing martial arts to even drawing the most beautiful art one could ever behold. Yet ironically, from what I could gather, the Heavens seem to limit it, so that only one particr person each generation would gain that power, no matter howrge their n was."

    "And thest official Royal Panda n Member, your grandfather Ming, made the greatest impression on my grandmother. She used to think that she was at the forefront of time maniption. If not for that incident where the Banned Emperor Assassin killed your mother, there might have been a good chance for your grandfather to work alongside granny." Kong Rong implied that he knew about the time reversal without giving out the facts. When Jin heard his version, he knew that it was not true, and it was Grandma Yuan''s Sub System Module that allowed time to be reversed for just that one particr time. However, he did not interrupt Kong Rong and allowed him to continue.

    "After Ming passed away, the only generation left for the Royal Panda n was Jin. With his parents killed, you could only assume that he had to inherit no matter the circumstances. There was no clearer target since he was thest surviving Royal n Panda Member. In other words, an easy target which might guarantee that you would never ever have to worry about it again?" Kraft interrupted his conversation with Jin.

    "Yes, and I shall be upfront about it. We have indeed assembled a kill squad within the State Agents to eliminate thest Royal Panda n Member." Kong Rong did not mince his words. "All because of the possibility that your grandpa''s powers might have been passed down to you."

    "So why haven''t you taken action yetбн Mr Leader of the Kill Squad?" Kraft interjected which inadvertently irritated Kong Rong, but it also showed the State Agent that Jin''srade was indeed capable of reading him like an open book if he so wished. (Perhaps he should have thought twice about allowing Kraft to pour him a drink)

 Chapter 922 Chuckling Together

    <h4>Chapter 922 Chuckling Together</h4>

    "Did you really have to point that out to him? I was about to tell him thatter anyway..." The more Kong Rong spoke with Kraft, the more he got the feeling that the State Agents would need to have a major overhaul of their database''s security.

    What was even more irritating was that this particr employee of Jin was too elusive. After their help against the Loopa Ooofpa, Kong Rong had naturally been curious to find out more about him, yet to his shock, there were no records of him, no fingerprints, nor any pictures of Kraft in any CCTVs.

    It was impossible for a person to not exist in a world full of cameras pointing at the public 24 hours a day. But through some effort, Kraft was able to evade them as if he did not exist to the cameras at all. With his rights and powers, Kong Rong could bring Kraft in for questioning, but after seeing Jin''s powers and the extent of what that guy was able to do, the State Agent strongly felt that it would have been counterproductive to do so. (But perhaps, now that they are in ''good'' terms, he could probably catch him and see how he escapes. That way, Kong Rong might be able to improve on thepound''s security.)

    "I believe it''s a little fair that my boss knows your true identity and understands that the underlying reason for you to perform that taboo oath was because of your job. Perhaps then, he would appreciate your sacrifice even more. But honestly, in hindsight, I believe you would think that it was such a foolish move once Jin decides to open up." Kraft sniggered, and Kong Rong did not know whether this fox was genuinely helping him or just being a little sarcastic.

    "Then, what is the real reason for you helping me then? If you are out to kill me, I understand why you need to collect intelligence in the shop before striking." Jin asked with a wary expression to the dismay of Kong Rong. Kong Rong had initially thought of ways to try to exin and perhaps disguise his intentions quite a number of times before meeting Jin for a face to face conversation. But eventually, he guessed telling the truth does not hurt either. (Especially when that fox was looking over his shoulders.)

    "I didn''t lie when I said that I was interested in thest surviving member of the Royal Panda n and wanting to know what he would do. It might be my job to ''clean up'', but I am against killing someone for the off-chance they might do something bad in the future. When I checked you out, your record was less than ster. Your performance in school was slightly above average and even your choice of university, as well as module, was nothing extraordinary. You nevermitted any crimes, and you had no achievements at all either. Yet, the archives had shown that for some reason the ''chosen'' Royal Panda n members gained superpowers only once the previous generation of selected Royal Panda n members had passed away." Kong Rong started to exin.

    "So, when you created that dungeon supplier store, we decided to close an eye despite the perfect forging of that licence. We even questioned the people who reviewed and issued that dungeon supplier license for you and they said you met all the requirements, stating you had sufficient ability that the aptitude tests were not needed to be a dungeon supplier."

    "That is because he had alibis, duh. How can you close an eye if he did the paperwork properly?" Kraft yawned at Kong Rong''s reasoning, and Jin felt that Kraft must actually have had a hand in this. He just did not know when his foxrade did it since Jin knew that the System had created the licence without manipting anything but the database from the start. (Perhaps, Kraft found out certain loopholes and closed them when he was ''recruited'' by Jin.)

    "I was sceptical, yet after my colleagues tried the dungeons while I watched from afar, all of them reported that it was indeed top-notch quality. I trusted them since some of them were intensively trained in such dungeon instances. Even though they purposely suppressed their levels for the dungeons, there were times they really felt they should increase their levels to work out properly."

    "So if your colleagues did that, there was a good chance that your surveince operation might get detectedбн" Jin pointed, and Kong Rong nodded his head. "Is that the reason why you never once participated in the dungeons, so that your identity as a State Agent as well as your powers wouldn''t be revealed?"

    "Erm, well. Yeah, it''s something like that. Still, I had tons of fun looking for optimal ways to beat your dungeons. Who knows, maybe I will actually go through them one of these days." Kong Rong said as he coughed a little and returned to the topic.

    "After watching you for a while, we noticed that you managed to handle trouble by yourself. It all culminated in that fight of yours against the Rat Triad Boss. A few colleagues and I happened to be in the area watching out, and I admit that I ordered them to hang back. At that point, we were certain that the Rat Triad Boss could kill you. In that case, our mission would bepleted, and we only would have to worry about the cleaning up."

    "It''s a bit far fetched but are you the people who pushed the Rat Triads against us?" Jin questioned, and Kong Rong shook his head.

    "I swear that we did not have anything to do with it. All we did was to observe you, and check if you would show any signs of wanting to seed your grandfather. You just happened to have upied the exact area they had taken a liking to. In other words, in economic forces. Still, I think that it would be a great idea for the future." Kong Rong answered half-jokingly.

    "You managed to exceed expectations when you defeated Wo De Tian. Granted the Triad nowadays mostly uses their faction''s power to intimidate others instead of fighting them, yet his grade was still something not to be sniffed at."

    "For you to go against authority while utilising friends in high ces wisely revealed to us that you might be a little more cunning than we had estimated you to be. Anyway, the real deal-breaker for us was the creation of the Tree Mall and most importantly, your willingness to retain the shopkeepers from the district."

    "How is that a deal-breaker?" Jin did not understand the rationale.

    "He is basically calling you a goody-two-shoes. Most businessmen would never even inherit failing business. And from a business perspective, they were bound to fail within the next decade or two. Their food was mediocre at best, the products they sold were so-so, and some of the services they provided were just meh until you came in to change it all." Kraft shook his head, at his master''s cluelessness.

    "Yes, my team and I saw how you managed to change their circumstances almost instantly, and we started to think that your ability to create dungeons was making an impact on people. Also in the previous situation where you had those portal machines, we managed to keep it under wraps, even though certain countries are still enquiring about it because of the impression it made in easing transport. That rapid response allowed us to transport supplies in very quickly, saving a lot of time and people." Kong Rong said before looking right into Jin''s eyes.

    "So, with all that good you did, would it be ridiculous of a reason to see the rise of a fallen n worthy to fight not just one but all twelve Royal Zodiac ns? And by fight, I mean beating them at their game and rising up to the top. Break the notion that the Royal Zodiacs should always be the superior one." Kong Rong replied, and when Jin and Kraft heard it, they looked at each other and chuckled together.

    Kong Rong just looked at the two who wereughing so heartily at his lofty goal and waited for an exnation. He expected them to be more surprised or even just curious why he as a State Agent would do that.

    "Should we?" Jin asked Kraft tantly after he stopped chuckling.

    "I do not see a reason not to. He did make that dubious but beneficial oath for you. At least at the moment, we can be sure that he is an ally. He could have killed you early on, but that did not happen so I guess we should respond to his бнhmm supposed mercy with appropriate gratitude."?Kraft shrugged with a wide smile.

    Being able to recruit Kong Rong into the System would not just add a powerful cultivator to their midst, but provide awork of high levelled expertise that Jin solely needed if he wished to continue on his way to be the number one dungeon supplier.

 Chapter 923 Senior Panda Associate

    <h4>Chapter 923 Senior Panda Associate</h4>

    "If you really mean what you said, read this piece of the contract carefully. You''ve already made an Oath to not hurt me, so what is another contract on top of that?" Jin slowly pushed the piece of paper towards Kong Rong and brightened the lights so he could read clearly.

    "That''s not really necessary, but thanks." The State Agent said as he picked up the contract and noticed there was a low grade spell of persuasion on it. A quick nce towards Jin''s eager impression showed that he had no idea what was in that contract piece until someone intervened between their conversation.

    "Oh just ignore that, we use it when we really are interested in the talent. Helps hurry along those who are a bit on the fence." Kraft waved his hands to dispel the spell immediately, and Kong Rong continued to read the contract. Jin did stare back at Kraft, and they were making serious eye contacts between each other. Naturally, the old fox did not give a damn at all and continued to check on Kong Rong''s non verbal expressions.

    ''By epting this particr piece of contract, you are thereby being promoted to a senior associate of the Panda n...'' Kong Rong read on and noticed that there were conditions that certain orders from Jin would be absolute as the Master of the Panda n. The State Agent thought it was weird that Jin would try to poach him, especially when he was affiliated to the Royal Dragon Zodiac n. It''s like asking someone to go from a number one n in the country to a group much less a n, with no name attached to it.

    "In short, you are recruiting me to be part of your n? Don''t I need to disavow my n and go through the Heavenly Five Element Tribtions by default? What would you be able to provide me in return?" Kong Rong asked, but Jin shook his head, knowing that he would be mistaken with the wording in the contract. After all, Xiong Da did create the legality of it while the System reworded it via his style into the System''s contract.

    "I wouldn''t have asked you to take the oath if that was the case. You would only have had to sign the contract. Once you do, you will be a senior associate and the very first one at that. The way we work is slightly different from other people, but it will be easier to see if for yourself once you sign. I know it sounds a little counterintuitive but trust me in this. In essence, you will have additional responsibilities and secrets to keep. Otherwise, you can keep to your current lifestyle, and it might not even affect or make a difference to it if you wish to be inactive." Jin tried to exin without offending the guest in the bar.

    "Very first? You never recruited others? I was sure that Hou Fei would be one of these panda associates." The State Agent asked with curiosity. It did not seem to match his collected data of the ce. But at the same time, he could not detect any panic or anxiety from Jin, doubting he might not be lying, and more like he''s thinking of a good reason to exin the situation.

    "It''s a bitplicated, he is technically a part of the official Panda n. But in terms of rank and work he has done, he would probably be ranked as a Senior Panda Associate as well. Erm, perhaps a little higher." Jin did not know how to phrase Panda Remnant until Kong Rong joined him officially into the System.

    "And what are those ''opportunities'' that await me?" Kong Rong queried.

    "You will understand as soon as you sign. Also, just believe me when I say it will broaden your horizons. Hehehe, can''t wait to see your face when you realise that your current knowledge is just a drop in the oceans of mystery." Kraft answered mischievously which annoyed Kong Rong, but he knew that even though the fox guy could not be trusted, his words had some weight to it.

    "Fine. As a sign of trust and moving forward, I will sign it. But buck up on your persuasion without using any spells to get people to sign it. They need a heck lot of work." Kong Rong reluctantly agreed as he bit his finger and released a bit of blood as a binding signature for the contract. Suddenly, he felt his body start to ache as if a low current of electricity was pulsating through his body.

    "Senior Panda Associate Long Kong Rong acknowledged. Assigning Codename: Tiny Dragon. The System wees you, SPA Kong Rong." A voice sounded out within his head, and the stunned face caused the Panda and Fox tough out loud once more. (Perhaps, the influence of alcohol caused all thismotion?)

    Subsequently, Jin started to exin about the System and the rest of the other stuff. He even created a portal introducing him to the Pandapolis in the Dungeon World.

    "Hahahah. You are shitting me. So, all along you have been teleporting your customers to other worlds to aid you in defending or attacking other alien lives?! I mean I''ve always felt that your monsters seemed alive, but it never even crossed my mind that you could have been abducting them from other worlds??!" Kong Rong could not wrap his head around it.

    "Told you it would expand your horizons. Stop living in that well, and be happy you got a chance to jump out of it and work with Jin. He has great ambitions for a fairly useless baby panda." Kraft snorted.

    "This is just way too much to handle, but I can now see the link between the System and the rest of the previous Panda Users. Gosh, this certainly is an eye-opener." Kong Rong admitted as he enjoyed the grand sight of Pandapolis from one of the skyscrapers.

    "Heh, that expression... You n to make a safe house here?" Kraft, who was closely observing Kong Rong facial expressionmented.

    "More than that. But I believe a dungeon instance will already suffice for me and my squad, Ryuli included. I do not think they should learn that there are other worlds out there so soon. People are greedy, after all." Kong Rong replied, and Jinughed.

    "As a Senior Panda Associate, I think that is the least I should grant you." Jin agreed and told Kong Rong to prepare a list of things he wanted it to include so he could start working on something to his liking.

    "It will be best if you allow me to handle the construction personally. I have certain designs and stuff I would like to get hold of if it''s possible." Kong Rong insisted.

    "If that is the case, I will get Qiu Yue to entertain you. She is one of the Sub System Users who have ess to room customisation as well."

    "Ah, that Red Panda girl is part of this too? And a Sub System to boot? How do I even get to such a rank?" Kong Rong asked, but Kraft schooled his finger.

    "When you proved yourself to be very valuable to Jin, then perhaps he might bestow you such a post," Kraft answered, and Kong Rong questioned what exactly Fox''s position was.

    "That my friend, you have no idea at all." Kraft pulled a name card out that looked like a golden que with all his supposed titles on it.

    "It''s a joke, he is one of my partners in the System." Jin rolled his eyes, but on the contrary, Kraft''s eyes brightened up.

    "For Jin to call me his partner! Ooof! My heart shimmers and melt!" Kraft exaggerated, but Jin was more interested in what Kong Rong had just mentioned. There were so many other issues to discuss, although more importantly, he needed to know more about how the State Agent found Ryuli and what had actually be of her.

    "Oh yeah, she dide earlier, wanting to know if you were around, so she could confront you about her master. Unfortunately, you had already retreated, and it was impossible to find you. As expected, she did leave in a fitбн She usually isn''t like this, but whenever it concerns anything about her past, she has a tendency to be a... Ehh what do those Japanese people call them? Tsundere?" Kong Rong tried to recall thest word.

    "Couldn''t you just text her that I''m not around, rather than her wasting a trip here?" Jin queried but Kong Rong shrugged his shoulders.

    "I wanted her to at least enjoy herself a bit after thest mission, but she didn''t even listen to me. Besides wouldn''t it be a nice miracle for the fates of two disciples to meet announced?" Kong Rong tried to tease Jin.

    "Ehh.. actually I think you might have it all wrong, it is possible that I am actually her master." Jin pointed out, leaving Kong Rong with a nk face. (Yet, Kraft was smiling nonstop and even took a sneaky picture of Kong Rong at that moment.)

 Chapter 924 Chi Spiral Symptom

    <h4>Chapter 924 Chi Spiral Symptom</h4>

    "You''re her Master?!" Kong Rong felt like today''s surprises just kept popping up one after the other. Jin recounted the sequence of events how he managed to meet young Ryuli to see if there would be any corrtion with the State Agent''s story. Still, he could only confirm that he felt the presence of only one person within the locked basement. Kong Rong was only able to tell Jin that it was a loud bang which prompted him to search for the source of the disturbance.

    "With regards to the basement cell, I have some extra news about it," Kraft told Jin via the System Channel since he still deemed this information a little too sensitive. "I''ll tell youter after Kong Rong leaves the ce."

    "Alright." Jin did not even bat an eye back at Kraft, and they continued the conversation. In the meantime, Kong Rong theorised with his limited knowledge of time maniption that he could have entered into an idental ck hole left by someone there.

    "The only way it might be possible is if you happened to enter that room during a sudden eruption of spiritual force within the Dragon Ley Lines underneath it. This could be due to various factors, for example, excessive mining in one particr ce which would put stress on the Earth''s regted ecosystem. It also happens naturally due to tectonic te movements, but recently the disruption in the Dragon Ley Lines have been getting more frequent." Kong Rong exined.

    "You probably heard those stories about the infamous Bermuda Triangle transporting people away." Kraft chimed in to keep his appearance up of being all-knowing.

    "While there were reports of such people missing, we actually have confidential reports of people returning to the same location where they were lost. Surveince was scarce in those areas, but there were researchers that looked into this asionally, and we got the data from them. However, most are brutally scarred by the experience that they could only get bits of details from those survivors." Kong Rong added and said those reports were not published for security reasons as they did not want people to have the intention to attempt time and space maniptions.

    Kong Rong then returned and told them as much about Ryuli as possible. Though he admitted that he considered himself to be her real master when it came down to training and recruiting her to be one of the finest and youngest State Agents, there were a few things that he was ashamed of.

    "I only really started caring about her, roughly a year after we rescued her. When we found her through the ruins of the burnt temple, we realised that her chi had been forcefully activated. While it was umon for children at such an early age to have their chi activated, the amount she was giving out was way off the charts."

    "My supervisor at the time believed that it would be better for her to go into a school of special care so that we could monitor her behaviour and interaction with chi in case she, you knowбн?explodes."

    "Ah, you mean she was suffering from a Chi Spiral Symptom? Because of an overactive Dantian Core, it produces way more chi than the body could handle." Kraft once again won the guessing terminology contest.

    "Yes, while the body does have the ability to expel excess chi to the surroundings naturally, it still requires the cultivator to do so actively. However, in Ryuli''s case, the amount of chi expelled was ten times the size of her body, causing pain and torture."

    "The doctors tried to suppress the symptom by using chi drain techniques, but the odd thing was, the more they drained, the more the Dantian Core ended up producing."

    "Really does sound like someone in particr when he is in a pinch." Kraft looked at Jin as he said via the System Channel.

    "Eventually, they decided to iste herpletely and stop wasting too many resources on her. She got branded as a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any given time if the symptom worsened." Kong Rong continued.

    "They ced her in a bunker simr to the basement cell, and she was denied any care and concern except for basic food, being transported by remote-controlled trays where she had to pick the food and leave the door."

    "No one even dared to keep in contact with her ever since she had a ''minor'' eruption of the Chi Spiral Symptom which destroyed one of thebs with a lot of sensitive equipment and injured many people working there. Fortunately, there were no deaths." Kong Rong emphasised much on the minor

    "As I said, I was blissfully unaware about all of this, and only learned about it after I paid her a visit. That visit had also been dyed for about three months because of a prior assignment I had. I felt bad for her after I learned what happened. In fact, I would even describe it as cruel what happened to her. She got sealed down there, only to be rescued, but when it turned out that she was a handful, she got sealed once moreбн I somehow felt obligated to save her." Kong Rong exined.

    "Is that why she hates the master that granted her those powers? I only gave it to her because she needed help back then. I never intended for her to suffer as a consequence." Despite the exnation, he told Kong Rong, Jin was also feeling really responsible for Ryuli''s plight.

    "My father was 120% against such an idea of adopting her as part of the n. My other siblings, on the other hand, went so far as trying to convince him. After all, if she ended up exploding and taking me with her, the position of leader in the Royal Zodiac Dragon n would be up for grabs."

    "Luckily, I was old enough to make my own decision, and if I managed to get her under control, she would turn into a wonderful asset for the n and country. I admit that I might have acted because I had lofty ambitions even back then. That''s probably also why I wanted to support you so that you might break the hierarchy ced by the Royal Zodiacs."

    "Easier said than done, but that is for another day," Jin replied as Kong Rong mentioned how he tried to suppress the Chi Spiral Symptom by teaching her how to cultivate her strength. That way, she could assist her body to expel the excess chi andter on control it.

    "Did you nearly die from teaching her cultivation?" Jin queried, and Kong Rong nodded his head.

    "I promised myself no never take on any more disciples after that little brat. I wasn''t a natural when ites to teaching at all, but eventually, we started to bond, and it got better." Kong Rong rolled his eyes, but he unconsciously let out a smile as he remembered back the days when Ryuli and him trained together.

    "And now I get why Ryuli was dying to find this irresponsible master of hers."

    "It''s your choice what you want to tell her. You can bluff your way out and even tell her where ''your'' master currently is. If you pretend that you''ve also been abandoned by that jerk, I''m sure you will get along great. Perhaps you could find someone to portray as ''your'' master and fight with her. That way, she could find closure." Kong Rong suggested since he found the truth to be a messy business, especially since it involved time and space travel.

    "Closure? There is no such thing as closure. It would just have the opposite effect and open up old wounds." Kraft folded his hands and disagreed with the idea.

    "So you want to tell her the truth and let her defeat Jin? Fine with me, as long as you can guarantee he won''t end up worse than after fighting that monster. I still need him for the reformation of society you know."

    "What Grade is she currently?" Jin questioned, and Kong Rong used his fingers to show him.

    "What?! She''s this young, and she achieved such a high level?!" Jin was shocked by the revtion.

    "I told you she would be an asset to the Royal Zodiac Dragon n and I meant what I said." Kong Rong said as he chuckled for revealing such a fact.

 Chapter 925 Reform

    <h4>Chapter 925 Reform</h4>

    "Mind telling me what sort of reformation you have in mind?" Jin, who vaguely now knew how to deal with Ryuli, decided to ask Kong Rong his ultimate objective.

    "Sure, but first, I would prefer hearing what you have in mind. Now that I have joined the Royal- Opps I mean, your Panda n, surely you will be able to tell me what you really n to do. I can tell that you already have a set of goals and it should be better that Ipromise with yours than you suiting mine." Kong Rong said with a smile as he would also gauge the lofty goals of this particr Dungeon Supplier.

    "Liesss. I can smell lies from that stinky mouth of yours. It''s more like, your goals will align to mine eventually." Kraft sneered at Kong Rong as he downed another cup of whiskey.?The bottle was getting empty, and yet they were nowhere near drunk at all because of their cultivation despite the high alcohol content.

    "Do you have to be so forward? I wanted to appear genuinely interested in Jin''s objectives." Kong Rong retorted, and the Dungeon Supplier already believed these two are going to be besties.

    Jin then briefly told Kong Rong about his current objective of creating a Virtual Reality Network which could potentially upset and change the course of this world''s way of working.

    "If I manage to aplish it, it will improve globalisation on a world wide scale. This and the portal engines would make the world an even more essible ce, and not to mention environmentally friendly. Lynn also told me that in times of mass pandemic like the SARS virus that we once had, it would allowpanies to continue to work remotely without much contact. Schools can teach without students having to physically go to their location and risk spreading it. The visualisation of teaching would be so much easier, well of course that also means I have to create a developer kitбн but that is an issue for some other day." Jin stated with a hint of pride.

    "He thought up all of this because he felt the dungeons he created were too potent for cultivators. Especially our regrs have been growing way too fast, and this might eventually prove to be a threat to other people and perhaps to other countries as well. I''m sure as a State Agent who hangs around all the time in our shop, you also must have noticed that." Kraft added without the sugar coating, and Kong Rong smiled before he became serious.

    "I see, I''m d you are sensible enough to notice that. One of the reasons why I would like to work with you was also because of the dungeon instances as well as making something simr to that Virtual Reality Network so it would benefit the society as a whole. But I see that you had already thought up of a goal one with your creativity could only imagine. However, I trust that the work to be done is enormous?" Kong Rong queried.

    "Yes, the System still needs more processing capabilities to handle such a big scale project. I do not really know how to describe this as, but anyways we also need capital and resources. Because it is just virtual only in name, whereas in reality, it will be a mix of real and fake stuff put together so I will need a heck lot of stuff to do things. But well, I always wanted to be a game developer with my engineering background if the dungeon supplier didn''t work out, but guess I am going to be one after all and it''s bing arge headache." Jin snickered.

    "That is why User has the System. Your headache will only be partialpared to the System''s who will have to be the one to realise the scope of User''s project." Jin''s phone spoke out, and the System was greatly emphasising the amount of work it had to do.

    "I see, so I assume you are unable to simply buy those processing capabilities in our world?" Kong Rong questioned.

    "At the moment, no. We managed to locate a source or two in other worlds, but all of them are safely guarded, so we are not yet ready to get any of those." Jin remembered that he had to talk to Rei about the remaking of the spaceship from all the junk he salvaged.

    "I see, let me just remind you to proceed carefully. Remember thest trade war, it involved the Tarots Guilds in the US fighting over the rights to build 5G? Thankfully, our country''s establishments had made it easy to proceed without too much of a hassle." Kong Rong warned.

    "So, you are saying I should proceed with caution and not tell people about this?" Jin asked for rification.

    "Yeah, keep it as low of a profile if possible. And I''d advise you to get Ke Loong to be a part of your Senior Panda Associates as well. I''m sure he has contacts that could further the advancement of your goal." Kong Rong said as he remembered he had a few contacts that could help Jin too, but he needed to check on them first.

    "Other than that, I am quite satisfied that you are in line with my expectations. I will see if I can convince the right people to join your side and make your job a little easier." Kong Rong added, but Jin told the State Agent to hold back for now.

    "Don''t worry, I will think of a suitable cover story for your current plight. After all, I am a State Agent, I have some reliable sources you can depend upon. And trust me, you need the expertise given the scope. If anything, I can always just p a top secretbel on our topic. Hahahah!" Kong Rong wrote a few sentences in his notebook until Jin recalled a System request. (More like the System nudged him for it.)

    "The recovery of the forest along the border walls? Oh? Okay. I believe I can help arrange that with Hou Fei, so that should not be a problem at all. Speaking about that situation, I need to inform you about the Banned Emperor, which I nearly forgot after all your shocking revtions." Kong Rong took something out from his bag.

    "What is this?" Jin asked as he saw the crystal floral piece shimmered on Kong Rong''s palm.

    "This is merely a replica, but we had been tracking these sacrilegious mongrels who were going for it for quite some time. During their attack against the border walls, we had the feeling that it might possibly be a distraction. So, we had agents deployed to certain ces to ensure that certain relics remained safeguarded and we believe this is one of those that they were aiming for."

    "What kind of powers are inside that floral piece?" Jin received the replica, and Kong Rong allowed him to keep it.

    "I don''t exactly know the details, but I can look it up in the archives when I have the time. From what I recall, this flower relic that we have is one of thest few entry keys to enter the ancient flower city and is said to allow ess to one of their inner vaults. However, we all know that the city does not exactly exist anymore, but seeing how these mongrels were trying to obtain the relic meant that they might have an inkling of an idea where to find the city or maybe a lost vault." Kong Rong answered, but Kraft gave a quick nce towards Jin.

    "No, the ancient flower city still exists, and it is well hidden from the likes of modern man. If the Banned Emperor Assassins do know of such a ce, that means -" Kraft said via the System Channel which was cut short by Jin.

    "Zeru must be notified immediately," Jin announced and the System had already sent a message to Zeru since the Panda Boss had allowed him to visit his wife''s spirit in Japan to celebrate the new year.

    "Yes, that lotus loving guy will protect that ancient city even more than defending his honour or even previous master. I am not sure how he really feels about you, but you are probably not an exception at all. However, System, hold your horses. Let that samurai guy have a good chat with his ghosty flower waifu. The State Agents did stop the sinister plot, remember?" Kraft gave a quiet chuckle as Kong Rong continued to ramble on. (No wonder, he was given the nickname Mr Know-It-All.)

    But there was actually a silver lining to all of these long draggy exnations. Kong Rong once again fiddled with the pockets of his bag and took a red packet out for Jin.

    "Happy New Year to you, and may we prosper and change the world to be a better ce." Kong Rong smiled as he felt this was the most sessful visit he had ever made to Jin''s shop. (He could say some effort had been paid off.)

    Jin knew that Kong Rong gave him a red packet as a formality since he was a married man. Giving to the young was part of the New Year tradition wishing them health and prosperity. But to be able to receive one had also shown that also showed that Kong Rong wanted to share his blessings with Jin.

    Thus, he did the same and gave the newly appointed Senior Panda Associate a red packet as part of his responsibility as his new ''Boss''.

 Chapter 926 Less Talk! More Fight!

    <h4>Chapter 926 Less Talk! More Fight!</h4>

    "Looks like there are side quests to this as well? Knowing Boss Jin if we don''t do at least some of them it will probably be next to impossible to defeat the Nian!" Bu Dong yawned as he reached the vige and talked to Erming and Yiming about the quest to find Nian.

    "Can we hurry it up? I agreed to do this because you said we could earn a quick win! Last I checked in the cinema waiting for you guys, there was already a group fighting the Boss!" Yue Wenined since it turned out they were not as lucky as the Elder Pandaren Trio. After rescuing the vige, it appeared it would potentially take longer than expected with all the side quests. While it was necessary to do all of them, Bu Dong believed there would be a suitable reward aspensation.

    When she agreed to help out since Bu Dong ''sponsored'' the run, Yue Wen had not realised that this would include a slew of side quests though the Pandamonium App guaranteed that they could return anytime with their progress saved so long as they were out of battle. This new save and load feature had people very excited.

    This meant that cultivators can try, try and try again until theypleted the dungeon and despite the need to pay per every entry, it at least showed that they could save their progress. Also, Jin was not going to eat their money outright. By reaching a certain checkpoint as determined by the System, the price needed to enter would be reduced.?However, the maximum reduction of price would only be 50%. (After all, he was providing a service, not charity.)

    "Yeah, we better get back before Mom notices that we have snuck out. She explicitly told us that we had to prepare to receive visitors and rtives by 8am." Yue Han yawned as he stared back at their mercenaries. Their Tanke was surprisingly well armoured mainly because Bu Dong did not spare any change, upgrading him to at least medium armour proficiency.

    This allowed Tanke to wear heavier armour and carry arger shieldpared to the one currently apanying Jing Yu and her Elder Pandarens, who only carried a buckler and wore essential armour tes to cover vital areas. Of course, there would be a decrease in mobility, but Bu Dong''s Tanke'' defence rating was not to be scoffed at.

    Unlike the Elder Pandarens, they did not hire He since they had Yue Wen in their party. Instead, they decided to go for a ranged mercenary, and their fifth member went by the name of Archy.

    To their surprise, there was a slight attitude to Archy who, unlike Tanke, was extremelyzy. Whenever they were not moving, he would already be sitting on the floor yawning widely as if he was preparing to go to sleep at any moment.

    "Our mission is to search and if possible rescue the vigers captured by Nian''s underlings. They might be hurt from the attacks since the vigers saw a number of them getting dragged off into the forest of the ind before we arrived. So we should stock up on a few more potions at least."

    "Urgh, with my sister here I don''t think we have that many potions with us. We need more than rmended." Yue Han grumbled at his friend. "I''ve read some posts that He was especially effective on this particr side quest because of her continuous healing capabilities and her wide AOE heals."

    "But look at it this way, we have a healer and sub attacker at the same time. It might be useful for this particr quest, but we could possibly rush through the entire dungeon faster because of an extra attacker. It can''t hurt to have extra potions so that your sister can help us fight and she won''t have to overtax herself." Bu Dong replied.

    "Heh, I do not know how you can continue to be so optimistic when we experienced all the unimaginable pitfalls that Boss Jin always set up in a dungeon instance. How long has it been since he added that Escape City Dungeon? You know the one nobody was able to beat yet?" Yue Han sniggered as they waited for Yue Wen to check her potion stocks. After which, they went to the vige shop which was ironically handled by a Panda with a straw hat biting on a bamboo made pipe.

    Being a frugal person in nature, Yue Han noticed that the items sold in the shop were the same as outside, and the only difference was the amount they could buy because of limited stocks. The Panda Shopkeeper had a small, varied stockpared to the Panda Street Instance. "It really is just the essentials and nothing more." Yue Han sighed as she regretted, not getting a little more supplies beforehand.

    He could have gotten more via the online Panda Store, but almost everyone knew that on the spot shopping was a sort of scam unless they really needed the item badly. (Fortunately for Jin, there were indeed people who fell for it either because they really needed the items or they just had the extra money to spend.)

    "Alright, let''s get going otherwise Archy will fall asleep in the middle of the streets." Bu Dong urged Yue Han to be faster so he could smack some monsters.

    Soon, they left the vige and followed thepass that had been enchanted by Chief Hunter Yiming.?(As for the Elder Pandarens in a separate instance, they were given a newpass since theirs got destroyed during their first encounter with Nian.)

    "Thepass is pointing into the cave. Should we rush in or lure the Nian''s underlings out?" Yue Han asked.

    "I have no idea. They could be sentient and might not take out bait. I mean the vigers told us that those captured by them were dragged and not killed. Doesn''t that mean they are smart enough to not eat them immediately and collect food for long term survival." Bu Dong judged the situation, but suddenly the always tired Panda raised his nose and requested the Pandawans to be quiet for a moment.

    The rest immediately squatted and went to hide among the flora where they saw a Nian Underling walking out of the cave for a breather. Unlike the ones the Elder Pandarens fought, this particr one looked more like a Lion mainly due to theck of the dragon scales.

    "I suggest we grab one of these and when it cries for help, more should appear to aid it. At the very least that might reduce the number of monsters we have to fight in the cave. Besides, we do not know how wide or narrow the cave is. We might be restricted." Yue Wen analysed, and the other two agreed.

    "If that is the case, I will go into the cave when I see an opening." Yue Han volunteered since he had the cultivation of a Blind Bat, allowing him to walk in the dark without too much of a hassle.

    "Fine, then I will-" Before Bu Dong could continue, he heard the sound of a bow being nocked and released instantly. An arrow lodged into one of Nian''s Underling, and surprisingly there was a rope attached to it.

    "Less talk, more fight!" Archy demanded as and pulled on the rope stuck in Nian''s underling.

 Chapter 927 Sui Lions

    <h4>Chapter 927 Sui Lions</h4>

    Archy''s arrows were coated with ayer of his chi which not only sharpened his projectiles but also had the effect of slightly paralysing the target. Furthermore, the rope arrow had a mechanism which opened up the moment it ledged into the flesh, causing more pain for the underling since its spikes were entrenched into the muscles.

    Compared to the Nian itself, the underling did not have dragon scales, thus allowing the Panda Archer to easily prate its flesh. Once hit, Bu Dong and Yue Han quickly tried to pull the ''Sui Lion'' as it was called on their interface towards themselves while it cried out for help.

    While most animals would naturally lie on the ground after being shot with such a sharp piercing arrow, the Sui Lion did not. It tried to move run away from while shouting for help. However, it did not realise that the arrow was attached to a rope and eventually, it got strung like a fish when the line tightened. And thus, its howls were getting louder and harsher when he saw movement from a distance near the trees.

    "Gosh, my ears hurt, and it feels like someone''s hitting my brain! How can the cries of that stupid thing have such an annoying effect!" Yue Wenined as she tried her best to ignore the persistent roaring from the Sui Lion. Its resistance wasmendable as it not only continued to struggle against the rope arrow and even attempted to pull it out.?Only when it found out that it was useless, it tried to gnarl on the rope and pull it instead so that the tension would not be present and caused it pain.

    However, Archy seemed confident that it would not be able to do so. Still, he pulled out another arrow to make sure of it. The stun arrow was supposed topletely paralyse the lion monster by sending a shockwave of electricity through it.

    As the arrow flew towards Sui Lion, it immediately tried to evade it, but Bu Dong and Yue Han were not going to let Archy waste his ammunition. They pulled the rope arrow as hard as they could, causing it to trip sidewards and the stun arrow barely impacted on its hind legs. It immediately released a loud electrical p as if a thousand birds were chirping simultaneously forcing the Sui Lion to stay down on the ground.

    Fortunately, the rope was insted, which allowed the Pandawans to continue to pull the Sui Lion towards them. However, to the Pandawan''s dismay, the captured Sui Lion only got further enraged by it despite the brief paralysation, indicating that it actually possessed a resistance against stun effects or electricity in general.

    In the meantime, Tanke had positioned himself to intercept any reinforcement which mighte from the cave. True enough, more of those Sui Lions ran out in a pack to save their brethren in pain. Perhaps it was the environment and the light setting, but Yue Han could see the multitude of eyes emanating through the dark cave and out into the open.

    While individually, they might seem like a prideful group of creatures, the Sui Lions possessed better teamwork than expected and those who tried methods of luring simr to Bu Dong''s party had already been bested by these beasts. Some of the Pandarens were even quick toin about it on the forums with regards to this, hoping others will take it as a warning.

    True enough, it only took a moment for Tanke to get surrounded by the pack of Lion Monsters, all eager to add the Panda Guardian to their next meal.

    "Hah! If you think you have what it takes to eat me, fine! Go and take a bite! Fortress of Stone!" Tanke taunted them with hisbat skill as his body slowly turned rock solid while fending off the first few strikes. This particr skill significantly increased the threat meter and caused all the Sui Lions to rush him first.

    Bu Dong and Yue Han went into action the moment they heard Tanke announcing his skill. They might not have learned about all the Panda Guardian''s skills, but they had sufficient time to learn about the ones he mostmonly used during the motorboat trip towards the vige''s harbour.

    This was because they believed it was best to learn how their Panda Mercenaries worked in order to make full use of them (And get their money''s worth). In the case of the Fortress of Stone, it allowed Tanke to enter an invulnerable statue in which he would receive no damage, allowing hispanion to proceed to kill off the distracted enemies. The downside of the skill was that itsted for about 30 seconds in which he was unable to do anything else, and it had a very long cooldown before he could use it again.

    As the two Pandawans jumped into the fray, the first Sui Lion they tried to ughter was no doubt the one closest to them who had called for reinforcements. With it visibly wounded from the initial attacks, they sent their des flying into its chest. However, they had forgotten that Yue Wen was also around and the university student stole their kill by sending an arrow towards the head of the struggling Sui Lion.

    Obviously, even a chi enhanced arrow was not enough to defeat it, but Yue Wen had something better. An arrow with a stick of dynamite attached to it. "Holy shit! TELL US EARLIER!" Bu Dong said as he quickly retracted his step and turned around, pulling his friend away with him.

    The two closebat Pandawans immediately fled from the lion by desperately dashing ahead towards the Archy and Yue Wen, understanding that if they stayed around, they would be taken out along with the captured Sui Lion.

    The fuse went off a littlete because Yue Wen purposely pulled the fuse wire out a bit further to buy some time for the Pandawans to get out promptly. One could say she trusted their ability to stay away from the st radius, but the two Pandawans could not help but wonder if it was some sort of revenge for all the little things they had done to annoy her in recent times. (Only Yue Wen knew and she found it rather pleasing.)

    A Sui Lion somehow noticed that the arrow its brethren had been pierced with was different than usual and tried to remove it. Unfortunately, it was toote as the captured Sui Lion''s head exploded the same way the dynamite did, sending all its brain matter into various directions.

    Archy let go of the rope and took out the crossbow from his back andid down on his stomach. While he supposedly was advertised to use a longbow, Yue Wen had borrowed the weapon for a moment to fire off that dynamite attack.

    Archy didn''t mind the opportunity to use his favourite crossbow since he could ce it on his stomach and shoot, showing off the epitome of theziness of a panda. Despite his posture, the Panda Archer was able to shoot urately against the targets, providing support fire for Bu Dong and Yue Han while Yue Wen shoo off the Lions that came too close with more of Archy''s dynamite arrows. Some went off a little too close forfort, but the Panda Archer did not seem to have any care, as if it knew whether the sts would hurt them.

    Meanwhile, the two Pandawans simultaneouslyunched their offensive techniques against the distracted Sui Lions, allowing them to ambush them from the back. But like every other new monster the Pandawans had encountered, it did not take long for the Sui Lions to move away and refocus their attention on the attackers.

    The threat meter had shifted towards the Pandawans, but thankfully, it coincided with Tanke''s Fortress of Stone skill duration. Now that the Sui Lions had been ignoring him, the Guardian was free to act how he wanted.

    Ten seconds after breaking out of its stone skin status, Tanke unleashed a wide area of effect skill by bashing the ground and causing rocks to erupt out of it. (The Pandawans would agree that it was frighteningly simr to Xiong Da'' Hungry Hippo techniques.) The ground shook because of the Quake Wave skill and in response, the Sui Lions were scattered around the ce allowing the Pandawan group of fighters to pick them off one by one.

    Oh the look on the Pandawan faces, they were simply ecstatic from this session of skills.

 Chapter 928 Shadow Panda Medal

    <h4>Chapter 928 Shadow Panda Medal</h4>

    "Using an emergency defence skill and subsequently an area of effect skill to scatter their group into individuals? That is actually one way of doing the side questlines, which I never considered the cultivators could think of." Jin chuckled to himself as he knew how tough those monsters he created were.

    By breaking the Sui Lions up with Panda Guardian''s Quake Technique, it gave the Pandawans a bit more breathing space, allowing them to fight one on one for each of them. This also unintentionally broke one of the hidden trait bonuses that Jin had for the pack of Lions. By splitting the pack apart, they lost a secondary trait which actually empowered their strength by 5%. The trait, Number In Packs, could not be shown on the Pandawan''s visor unless they have a Panda Explorer in their party. It was a mercenary ss that focused less onbat monsters but searching for treasures.

    However, the Sui Lions themselves were not something easy to be dealt on a one to one basis, but the party currently have two ranged supports that would aid them in their offence too. Archy kept shooting a variety of arrows like stun arrows, sticky arrows and even poison arrows to keep the other Sui Lions at bay while the other melee focused Pandawans fought by releasing their intermediate or advanced techniques.

    Yet, the ''proper'' way to win this particr side quest: ''Rescue the Kidnapped Vigers of Song Chew'' was to enter the caves and fight them in their respective ''sections'' within the cave. The first Sui Lion was meant to give a warning to the rest as all of them were sleeping after their afternoon ''snack''.

    Jin tried to create an experience that would allow for a chaotic battle or alternatively a sort of silent gamey. If the cultivators had managed to sneak past the first Sui Lion, which was very unlikely unless they killed it in time, they would still have to find a way past the enhanced smelling senses of the lion.

    And even the wording, ''in time'' was a difficult thing to achieve as the cultivators had to utilise the environment such as ambushing it from top of the caves and support from ranged cultivators to kill it in one single stroke.

    Naturally, Jin had purposely adjusted the data to the Sui Lions that they would be more prone to Beast ying inscribed weapons just as how Xia Mao utilised his Dragon ying Scimitar against the Dragon Headed Nians. (Which had been named as Sui Dragons).

    That way, the cultivators would have an easier time toplete the side quests despite their styles of ying. Jin did, however, rewarded the silent gamey a little more since it was harder to achieve, and he also knew that the cultivators had a tendency to be impatient and always rush forth. If they managed to kill approximately half of the monsters within a particr side quest line with stealth, they would earn the hidden stealth bonus added to the end of their rewards.

    The Pandarens who first failed the dungeon instances noticed that their progress statistic stated the amount of stealth gamey achieved. They were rewarded with a different sort of currency which showed a Panda with its mouth and head wrapped like a ninja.

    When some of the cultivators queried via the Pandamonium support section, on where to redeem the Shadow Panda Medals, the support only stated that the redemption shop was within the Panda Street Instance. Thus, this was the way Jin chose to include the Bamboozled Bar Service Instance into the gamey.

    When found, the Bamboozled Bar Service Instance would require 1 Shadow Panda Medal to go in (or ten Bronze Panda Medals as the current exchange rate). That was also partially the reason why Jin introduced the Bar earlier to Kong Rong so he could talk about it even though it was meant to be an ''open secret''.

    Jin only asked Kong Rong that he wouldn''t talk about the Bamboozled Bar Service Instance for a day, as it would actually change its location every single day and it would not stay in the same spot unless the rotation was done. As its name had suggested, it was meant to bamboozle the cultivators from finding it.

    Surely, things within the Bar Service Instance could be bought with the normal Panda Medals because Jin felt it was still too early to lock out certain features within his shop, but the Shadow Panda Medals provided a higher valuepared to the normal Panda Medals.

    While Jin did emphasise that he did not wish to create too many different currencies, he realised why various games had purposely made different currencies to incentivise and reward yers who yed differently or challenged themselves further.

    For this reason, he had maintained the main currency of Panda Medals while quietly increasing the amount given to the cultivators. With a currency exchange in mind, he could slowly gear his customers towards various challenges and reward them with different types of Panda Medals so that they could still at least attain his future prizes.

    In the meantime, Jin was also considering creating a sort of currency exchange with a basic stock market function by utilising said Panda Medals and real-life money. This was one of the ways Jin had thought of allowing people to use their in-game currency to exchange for real money and vice versa.

    However, the dungeon supplier believed that the rates would be abysmally low because of supply and demand. The more people exchanged for real money, the more Panda Medals would be infinitely useless to exchange. Nevertheless, it would provide the cultivators with an avenue to earn some cashback, but the main purpose of the currency exchange would be for the medals. People could exchange the main Panda medals currency for other exclusive Panda medals.

    Jin wanted his stock market to work to allow customers to have ess to exclusive items and medals in the future even if they did not have the time to get it. As long as they had money, they could exchange for the normal Panda Medals in order to get the exclusive Panda Medals as Jin would mandate that the exclusive medals could only be exchanged via the Panda Medals.

    For example, if one would like to have a Shadow Panda Medal in the future and had nothing on hand, they could either earn some Panda Medals via the Dungeon Instances to exchange them in the stock market. Else, they could directly exchange for Panda Medals with real cash money and subsequently use that amount of Panda Medals to get the Shadow Panda Medal. In return, Jin would earn more from doing this, and it would also be lowering the market rates slightly for people wanting to exchange Panda Medals into real cash for that period of time.

    Yet, in some cases, Jin was also a little afraid of the bacsh that could ur since history had already shown how greedy some people were in manipting the stock market of their world. But no venture, no gain. He had no idea how this stock market feature would y out until he gave it a try. As for now, he was testing the waters by umting feedback on the reception of the Shadow Panda Medals first before dishing out the stock market feature.

    Who knows? If the stock market works out, Jin could also subsequently introduce it to the other worlds when he provided the Virtual Reality Network. That way, he would not only provide his dungeon supplying services to his own world but to the other worlds and subtly connect different worlds and bring them together. At the very worst, Jin could intervene in the stock market with ire''s knowledge and get it stabilised.

    However, despite all the talk about stealth, Jin did not forsake the chaos and beautiful dungeon y. The System was always monitoring the fights and checked if there were any creative methods that could be utilised and taught to Jin''s monsters.

    Since there were many monsters not featured in Jin''s dungeons yet, it was impertinent to keep them training for future fights. While Jin had been lucky to be involved in fights that had up to this point been medieval based, he could not say the same for fights in the Mecha World. (And who knew how often he would have to interfere with such advanced worlds?)

    The dungeon supplier was d that he had allowed Hou Fei and his Royal Snakes to have their ''training exercise'' as the System took records of their tactics and the way they handled monsters.

    This data would be used to show the monsters how modernbat worked. All these recordings had also benefited Jin in mimicking certain moves like how Tanke managed to copy Xiong Da''s Seismic Quake technique.

    So for brilliant moves and certain exemry team tactics which the System never saw before, it will give the yers a high Chaos score and rewards them more Panda Medals.

    Jin wanted to create one more type of medals toplement the Shadow Panda Medal, which was more in line with the Chaos portion but he guessed holding that thought could be ideal. Only when he felt that the Shadow Panda Medals had been revised and hotfixed, then he would create the next medal type if the customers didn''t mind the first one.

    If the Shadow Panda Medals were well received, Jin could also create specific weapon skins that can only be bought with such medals. And if customers could not obtain such medals, that would be where the currency market is as exined.

    And if anything, ire also believed that employing this medal exchange market would be a bold move and gave him some tips on how to maintain it. (The System nearly wanted the Intern to take it over, but Jin prevented the System from doing so until she became a full official member for the team.)

    Aside from that, Jin continued to watch how Bu Dong fought with each and every Sui Lions with skill. For the first time, the dungeon supplier noticed that he was not using any fanciful skills and used basic and intermediate techniques to relinquish his foes. Compared to Yue Han, who was trying his best to eliminate the Sui Lions as fast as he could, Bu Dong had been eyeing for weak points instead.

    "It seems he has learned to control himself rather than brandishing his high-grade techniques all the time." Jin thought as he previously had time to review the Pandawan''s performance during the Pandapolis Defence Raid. The records revealed how he nearly lost his life because the young Pandawan had overexerted his chi fighting minions leaving him with barely any chi to fight off the elite mobs.

    "System believes that is the whole point of dungeon fighting. If one does not improve himself and learn from his mistakes, Angry Ape Cultivator Bu Dong would be forever stuck in his current grade."

    "But if they improve, doesn''t that mean I have to create even harder dungeons?" Jin moaned.

    "That is your problem User." The System replied with a '':p'' emoji, causing Jin to scratch his head and sigh.

 Chapter 929 Extra - Life Potion

    <h4>Chapter 929 Extra - Life Potion</h4>

    After defeating thest of the Sui Lions, Bu Dong and his team agreed to take a short break. Even though they defeated quite a number of Nian underlings that appeared to strike them, Yue Wen believed that there should still be a few more inside guarding the vigers.

    Thus, the entire party did their best to recover their stamina and drank chi potions to heal themselves up. As advertised by the Pandamonium App, the Pandawans had opted to try the new potions concocted by Yu Xiang, the new local Alchemist of Jin''s service instances as the opening week discount had been a great incentive to do so.

    Just like all the customers before them, they were instantly surprised that the effects of the new potion were more soothing to the mind and bodypared to the chi potions they had used previously. Ignoring the fact that the Pandawans would never buy and consume any potions from outside of Jin''s store ever again, Yue Wen had the most experience in regards to healing and evenpared this version of the potion with the ones they used to buy at Octofussy''s General Store.

    She ultimately liked Yu Xiang''s chi new concoction not because it was advertised to have a 33% increased efficiencypared the other chi potions, but because she could feel that the effects of the potion rejuvenated her entire body. This was an effect not found in the ones the System bought from the ck market at absurdly low prices, and it was a result of Yu Xiang incorporating her parent''s knowledge about Chinese herbs into her potion recipe.

    Add that with the list which the System gave after vaguely identifying simrponents used in the chi potions, Yu Xiang and her team of researchers had managed to crack the recipe and enhanced it further.

    Initially, the prodigal alchemist was bewildered as to why Jin did not give her the full recipe list, but sheter assumed that it was because he wanted to challenge her further and create her very own concoction instead of merely improving on the original.

    The result was groundbreaking to the researchers themselves to the point that some of them desperately wished to publish the work and receive international recognition for it. However, all of them knew how Yu Xiang, who was their leader despite the difference in age, felt about it. They had promised to follow her because of the allure of freedom to work, and the reasonably good money Jin paid them. Not many ces would grant them as much freedom to pursue their very own projects as long they managed to create something for the shop.

    However, the researchers were also baffled as to how a mere shopkeeper had been able to purchase such expensive high-grade processing machines for them to perform their research. That equipment alone would need millions of yuan to acquire, and some of them could only be bought with a special licence from the manufacturer.

    Even Yu Xiang had her suspicions and attempted to search Jin up on the inte, only to be disappointed as she had found nothing about but apart from being a young aspiring dungeon supplier. He was not some millionaire''s son or whatsoever.

    But despite always being inside theb, she too had heard of rumours of Jin being associated with high-level Royal Zodiac Members, and she knew about him defeating the Rat Triad Boss who would be impossible as a normal person. His miracles were not short of being surprising, and that was why even the level headed young researcher had decided to gamble on Jin.

    Initially, she was justzing around in her bed, getting some well-earned rest from the Chinese New Year holiday, but her research team had been telling her to look at the forums.

    She did and was baffled by it.

    People werementing in the forums about how this new life potion had been so effective in battle they would not hesitate to stock up a lot more since the discount onlysted for a week. It was to the point, Yu Xiang decided to take a trip in the middle of the night to see the crowd herself.

    Lo and behold, her assigned shophouse had a long queue with people standing outside wanting to buy just that specific potion. Her mind could not process such a thought because it was just one particr potion that she was selling and ording to the Pandamonium Store App statistics, her potions were already out of stock and people were waiting for the next batch of stocks to arrive in the shop.

    Indeed, because of Pandarens had been pre-ordering online, most of the physical stock had already been allocated to them, and those who were on scene had to wait for the shop to replenish properly first. It was one thing Jin had not foreseen with regards to this significant demand.

    Thankfully, being the overcautious System, it at least kept batches of the potion ingredients in one of the Pandapolis warehouse. The only unfortunate thing was that the Goblins and Orcs responsible for the production had to be activated even though Jin did dere a rest day.

    However, the minions were willing to work because they knew more money for Jin also meant more points for them and they all had already experienced what those precious points could do to their quality of living for themselves. (Not to mention they were able to be paid with 2.5 times the System points during dered holidays within their contract, making it enticing for them to work.)

    Hence, instead of the minimum amount of workers going to work, the System was moderately astonished that the factory was in full force and some other minions not within that factory''s allocation came to aid them too. (Luckily, the System was not so stingy that it would not pay those extra hands as long as they were productive enough.)

    This enabled a fairly quick turnover for the supplies, allowing them to meet the demand in a reasonable amount of time, yet, the System did not stop upon meeting the hour''s demand and had already produced more.

    With such an overwhelming demand in the first few hours, its predictive analysis had already determined it would only get worse in the next few days after word of mouth spread about the effectiveness.

    And even if they have extra left, the System had sufficiently well-equipped storage to handle the extra products.

 Chapter 930 Sidearm

    <h4>Chapter 930 Sidearm</h4>

    "Let''s enter the cave now!" Bu Dong said after he checked his weapons a final time. Apart from the sword he usually used, the Angry Ape Cultivator had added a Glock automatic pistol to his repertoire of weapons. While he still needed more practice to get the hang of it, Bu Dong carried it in case of an emergency.

    He had learned the painful lesson that having a secondary weapon might prove very useful in Jin''s dungeons. There had been times when his sword was being flunked out of the way, leaving him with nothing but his fists to fight his way out.

    He naturally had other swords in his storage ring, but there would always be a dy activating the storage and removing said item out of it. And also, putting them out as a secondary sword hindered his movement. Having two scabbards usually would interrupt his footwork if he ced it on the waist and if he put it behind his back, there were sometimes trouble drawing it out in time. Unsurprisingly none of Jin''s monsters was nice enough to wait that long in the midst of battle.

    Other customers had opted to use quick storage rings to solve that problem, but they were he expensive. Even though Bu Dong had the money to get it, the durability of these rings was a problem too. Also, as a long time customer who wholeheartedly believed in Jin''s items, the Pandawan had decided to wait for the dungeon supplier to release his own version of quick activation storage rings.

    The most prominent reason for the change in this Pandawan''s behaviour was the Pandapolis Defence Raid. After King Baal had used his magic, everyone had been transported to various parts of the city. So, Bu Dong, as well as the others, had been stranded to fend on their own. Even though reinforcements eventually came in to help them, many of them by that point in time had been barely holding on to their teeth and knuckles. (Well, figuratively.)

    Their weapons broke from the constant shing, due to the wear and tear to set in even faster. The blood from killing the demons made their grip on their weapons to slip, causing them to lose possession of their weapons at times too. Some of the Pandawans were agile enough to steal weapons from the fallen demons to continue with their fight, but to Bu Dong, the biggest issue had been the ranged fighters.

    Most if not all the Pandawans suffered near-death experiences because the ranged fighters had a clear shot on them. Bu Dong had a very close shave when an arrow zipped past the crowd in front of the Demon Archers and shot him in the back. At that point of time, he was too tired to even throw a melee weapon towards the Demon Archer and could only be wary for the next shot.

    The other Pandawans had found themselves in simr situations, and all of them shared one thought: ''If only I had a gun with me.'' They all wished for a quick way to retaliate since those single arrows from the archers would have killed them instantly as long as they hit their heads.

    Surely if it had been a one-on-one fight, the Pandawans would win hands down, but the demons had suffered too many losses to care about the opinion of Jin''s customers. Afterwards, all of the Pandawans reviewed their fights during dinner and collectively requested Jing Ru to give them some lessons on gun handling.

    The Gunning Giraffe Pandawan didn''t mind, but after two weeks of training, she all found them to be sorelycking in every aspect. While it was to be expected, that did not stop any of them from carrying their pistol into battle.

    ------

    "You think we can ever one-shot these Sui Lions?" Bu Dong asked as he touched the sidearm and ensured the safety was off so he could fire away at a moment''s notice.

    "I remember Jing Ru telling me that so far Boss Jin had always secretly ced a sure kill spot on all his monsters. If we manage to find such a spot, they could theoretically be killed instantly. Apparently, it isn''t always the head, and those sure kill spots can vary with each and every monster we encounter despite being the ''same species.'' But if we are repeating the dungeons and memorising the monsters'' sure kill spots, it would be easy as cake." Yue Wen answered as she too checked her pistol.

    Xiong Da had graciously sponsored the whole group after their dinner discussion and made a bulk purchase of the same Glock pistol (to not make it too obvious that they were not for him) and even got them gun belts and holsters as part of his welfare package to the group. (He was really utilising the free credit that Jin had bestowed him.)

    "Well that sounds good in theory, but that means we would have to repeat the dungeons by always making the very same decision and moved to the very same ces like clockwork." Yue Hanined that it was impossible to search for a sure kill point for each and every monster, especially when it was not visible.

    "Chances are that at our skill level the only way to hit it, would be from a lucky shot and even then we won''t be able to necessarily pinpoint exactly where we hit it since the monster stters. " Yue Wen exined how Jing Ru had found out about the sure kill points and identified it by the monsters spitting its guts out instantly as if the shot had turned explosive in nature.

    Soon after she had made a post on the forum and someone had gone through other simr posts to make a guide of known sure kill spots for cultivators who used ranged weapons.

    "So what about bosses? Can bosses also die from those sure kill points yet?" Bu Dong asked as their group carefully entered into the cave.

    "She managed to get a lucky hit once, and it dropped the boss'' health by a third at the time. Jing Ru tried hitting the very same spot, but after the first time, it did not activate. Her theory is that either there are other sure kill points on the boss or the sure kill point change after one has been activated. Of course, it could also be the case, that Boss Jin made it so that you only get the damage once and it''s up to the cultivator to use it early orter."

    "Sounds like being a gunner has its perks." Yue Hanmented as he actively concentrated his chi into his eyes and ears. Being a Blind Bat Cultivator, he had better senses in searching for monsters within a cave.

    "True, but you saw how Jing Ru has to cover herself with various traps and tricks when fighting whenever she can''t get a shot in. Unlike us who have defensive and offensive skills, her only advantage is sniping from afar. Other than that, she''s a normal gunman against a slew of monsters with various defences and armour." His sister replied since she had seen her friend in battle quite a number of times.

    "Shhh." Yue Han immediately halted the group and stopped them from talking any further as he detected movement within the cave. "I sense twoing from the front and one lurking at the side over there. Prepare for battle." He whispered as Tanke who had been quiet the whole time paced himself forward while the others retreated a few steps back.

    If possible, the group wanted to ambush the remaining monster.

 Chapter 931 The Fight in a Cave - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 931 The Fight in a Cave - Part 1</h4>

    The first pair of Sui Lions rushed through the cave tunnels, but the rumbling of the cave felt fairly abnormal. Apart from being able to tell his team that they wereing from the front, even Yue Han''s senses were unable to pinpoint their exact location.

    Only thanks to the lightmps Tanke was holding at the side of his waist did they manage to realise that the iing Sui Lion on the ground was purposely creating a distraction so that the Pandawans would not pay attention to the second one above him who was actually using the surrounding walls to try and attack them from above.

    "Holy shit, they can run upside down as well?! What kind of monster are we facing?! Are we sure they''re the same ones as outside and not some kind of Sui Spiders?!" Yue Hanined even as Tanke held on to his shield and prepared to intercept both of them.

    However, Bu Dong doubted that both Sui Lions would sh with their Panda Guardian upfront. Given their intelligence, it was far more likely that the one above was aiming at the backlines and even if it wasn''t, it would at least backstab Tanke while he would be busy dealing with the one on the ground.

    Yue Han was still shocked by the abomination running upside, and Bu Dong''s contemtion caused the young Pandawan to act slowly. The only person who reacted in time to this shocking development in their fight was Yue Wen. The young woman aimed her pistol at the charging beasts and started to shoot.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The sound of the shots reverberated throughout the entire cave, and it caused a slight reaction dy to Tanke''s actions. Yue Han, with his enhanced senses, was severely harmed by it as he knelt down covering his ears. Bu Dong was also affected, and the eerie ringing within his ears made it hard to fight.

    "Sis! What the fuck are you doing?! Shooting so close to us without any warning?!" Yue Han shouted since his ears seemed to have been temporarily crippled by the loud sounds.

    To make things worse, none of the shots actually connected and the Sui Lions, although slightly agitated by it, did not stop in their charge. In fact, they further increased their speed after their prey had noticed their failed ambush. This caused Yue Wen to continue shooting, now with two hands, hoping to get a lucky headshot.

    However, only the final bullet scrapped the ear of the ground Sui Lion, barely reducing its health bar. Unlike the Elder Pandarens, Bu Dong and the others had not realised that the Sui Lions, and in fact all of the Nian variants were susceptible to loud sound and shes of light.

    The pistols they used were coincidentally doing a great job providing both, especially when in a tunnel cave where the sound reverberation was enhanced, and the rtive darkness of the cave caused the shes to be more poignant.

    However, the asional shes and bangs of sounds were still not as deadly as a firecracker which had sessive loud booming sounds and bright lights, so the Sui Lions were not badly affected. Nevertheless, amidst Yue Wen''s unsessful attempts, Archy had used the opportunity to fire a crossbow bolt and hit the front paw of the Sui Lion running on the ceiling.

    The pain caused the Sui Lion to lost not only it''s footing but momentum, forcing the Lion to fall off from its position. Archy did not hesitate to fire yet another bolt as he utilised his skill to reload quickly to fire another shot in session. By releasing another stun arrow and able to hit with such uracy on the falling Sui Lion ensured that it would not be able to recover when it touched the ground.

    And with some luck on their side, the Sui Lion dropped on its brethren''s back, causing them to collide. Tanke took the chance to move a step forward and mmed its Warhammer on both of them. A direct hit on the head caused the Sui Lion to concuss. Thankfully, the Panda Guardian AI was smart enough to hit the Sui Lion that was on the top, causing the one at the bottom to struggle continuously from the dead weight of his fellow stunned brother.

    Bu Dong who managed to shake himself off from the shock of the gunfire quickly went forth to sh the struggling Sui Lion''s neck. Obviously, the Sui Lion did not allow itself to die like that, and thus, it managed to gather its strength to throw its concussed brother into the Angry Ape cultivator''s path as it thought that it had already been killed. Bu Dong was surprised by the Sui Lion''s willingness to sacrifice itsrade as the ones outside the cave had not showcased such a behaviour.

    "Careful! They could be veteran versions of the Sui Lions we fought!" Tanke warned as he quickly stepped to the side and tried to nk the still active Sui Lion. The Sui Lion did not bother escaping and decided to go for the smaller human since Tanke was blocking their back.

    However, with a taunting screech from Tanke, the Sui Lion somehow stopped its track and turned towards the Panda Guardian. "Woah! So an enmity meter really does exist! No wonder Boss Jin insisted on a Tank party member!" Bu Dong rxed from a defensive stance and quickly switched to the offensive.

    "I''m starting to understand a little more about this new dungeon format! Now, this is more interesting!" Bu Dong thought to himself as he lit up his sword with chi.

    Fire from his chi started to envelop his sword as he too threatens the provoked Sui Lion. With the darkness of the cave and the support of just some measlyntern light, Bu Dong also believed it would be best to light up the cave a little so that Archy or Yue Wen could be able to see him further and aid with the long range attacks.

    However, to Yue Wen''s surprise, she saw Archy retract his crossbow and take the time to wrap a few bolts with linen. She now vaguely understood why Archy liked to sit and shoot upon seeing a mini-workshop right in front of her.

    The Panda Archer had a small table right in front of him with tools that allowed him to rework his arrows. Upon wrapping the linen, he doused it with some oil and lit it up with a lighter on his mini table. After which he ced a bolt on his crossbow and aimed at the Sui Lion his party members were fighting against.

    While waiting for a good shot, Archy passed Yue Wen a few arrows doused with oil in a quiver too. "You need to be a bit careful with those. Longbows are not really suited to be used inside caves. Use them when you''re sure it''s safe." Archy advised as his eyes never left the target in front of him. Yue Wen thanked him, and she carried the quiver.

    She decided not to interfere as her aim was not as good as Archy''s and she was worried that her carelessness could result in a case of literal friendly fire after the frantic firing of her pistol.

    Unfortunately, the party appeared to have forgotten about the remaining Sui Lion, which Yue Han had detected previously. With Yue Han still recovering from, the party had ced all its attention on the Sui Lion in front of them, allowing the third Sui Lion to silently stalk the party from the shadows awaiting the right time to strike.

 Chapter 932 The Fight in a Cave - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 932 The Fight in a Cave - Part 2</h4>

    When Tanke used his nking position to try and hit the Sui Lion with its Warhammer from the back, the Nian underling worked its hind legs to kick the Panda Guardian away.

    Tanke thought that merely blocking would suffice, but surprisingly the Panda Guardian got knocked backwards from the impact and even fell on his back from the attack. The others had also not expected this kind of strength only strengthening their belief that this one must be some veteran version, Sui Lion.

    Bu Dong took the opportunity to dash forth and attack its side. However, the Sui Lion once again reacted in time and turned around to use its front paw to block the attack. The fire from Bu Dong''s chi technique hurt, yet it was better than getting shed by the side.

    Despite its reaction speed, the Sui Lion was fully upied with the close quarterbatants missing the iing fire bolt shot by Archy''s crossbow. "Bullseye." Archy proimed as he reloaded his weapon. As soon as the coast seemed to be safe Yue Wen proceeded to heal her brother.

    "Let''s not take any chances!" Bu Dong thought and smashed his fist onto the Sui Lion''s face while adjusting himself for a stab at the monster''s neck. Tanke rolled on the ground like any Panda would, and while holding on his Warhammer, he used the rolling momentum to stand up. It would probably take too much time to stand up if Tanke did the ''normal'' way and even more to cover the same amount of distance. The Panda Guardian then used his newly recovered strength to hurl his Warhammer at the monster''s legs, attempting to cripple it so that it would be unable to defend itself any longer.

    Despite the struggle of either getting bitten by the Sui Lion or being mawed by its paw, Bu Dong sessfully plunged his sword into the Sui Lion''s neck. He then tried to block the Sui Lion''s mouth with his hand by pushing it away during its attempt to bite, but its giant paw inadvertently swiped hard towards Bu Dong.

    "Fuck! His paw attack hurts so fucking bad! URGH!" Bu Dong cursed as he retracted his left arm to block against the paw while ensuring that its ws did not plunge into his flesh. The Angry Ape Cultivator even went sidewards to prevent the Sui Lion''s series of angry biting.

    Meanwhile, Yue Han had healed to a point where he could sit upright, and as soon as he came to his senses, he immediately noticed the third one and shouted out a grim reminder: "THERE ARE THREE OF THEM!!!"

    It startled the party for a moment, but not the Sui Lion who had been hiding within the side cave and took this scream as his sign to attack. Yue Wen instinctively reached for the pistol at her side waist, but she recalled that she had yet to reload the near-empty pistol, causing her to hesitate about whether to use the longbow or not.

    It was rare for the Pandawans to react so slowly, but the System deduced it was most likely because of the environment and theirck of spatial awareness. Cave fighting was not as easy as one might think, especially for someone without any prior experience in that regard. The Pandawan group had no idea where the cave crevices were and had been unprepared how significant the influence of little light would be in the way they had to fight.

    A loud screech was heard, this time from Archy who uncharacteristically stood up from hiszy sitting position and countered the Sui Lion with raw strength. His mini workshop of tools and arrows were flung away along with his crossbow just to intercept the third Sui Lion. Those two animals tousled and grappled furiously while the party members tried to regain their pace inbat.

    For the whole trip, this was the first time Archy was seen being so aggressive as it tried to counter pin the Sui Lion but, unlike Tanke, it barely had the strength to match the Sui Lion on equal grounds. However, thanks to his quick and decisive direct interference, Archy saved his other party members from certain death. Seeing how powerless she was, Yue Wen decided to step up her game and ditch her pistol as well as the longbow she borrowed from Archy and reached for her sword crane along her waist.

    The Healing Maiden Cultivator initially wanted to help out as a long-range supporter since the group did not want her to get injured when she was the only capable person able to perform emergency heals. But in these circumstances, when their secondary fighter was incapacitated, it was better to work on something she was proficient with.

    She pulled her sword crane out and aimed the Sui Lion''s neck as it continued to suppress Archy, but when it detected the threating towards it, the Sui Lion looked up and roared at her. It did stagger her momentarily, but Yue Wen knew she needed to do something to turn the tide or else Archy''s intervention might turn into his sacrifice.

    "Take this! Intermediate Sword Art, Maiden''s Mirroring Stab!" Yue Wen shouted back as she closed one of her ears to prevent too much pain and moved forward in a zig-zag motion. At that point, Archy decided to fight back since the Sui Lion was currently not breathing down on him. Despite being pinned down with the beast''s ws plunged into his arms, he bit down towards the Sui Lion right shoulder.

    The Sui Lion squirmed a little, and that caused its ws to dig deeper into Archy, and in turn, the Panda could not help but release his bite due to the pain. However, that was sufficient time for Yue Wen''s attack to proceed without interference as the zig-zag motion caused multiple images of her to appear, and they simultaneously jumped to attack the Sui Lion.

    While they might just be mirror images of Yue Wen, her chi energy existed in all of them, providing them 1/3rd of piercing strength of her usual attacks. So, with the mirror images attacking at all sides, the Sui Lion got injured to the point it let go of the Panda Mercenary. The blinding shing lights from the mirror images of the Healing Maiden''s cultivation style was also troublesome for the Sui Lion, causing it to abandon the fight and retreat.

    "Oh no, you are not going anywhere." Yue Han announced as he emerged from the shadows and jumped from the cave''s ceiling and stabbed the Lion''s head from above. He then used his chi energy to push the de further down, causing blood and brain matter to be pouring out from the wound.

    As for Tanke and Bu Dong, they too had cleared their share of monsters, and they regrouped with the others to heal their wounds. "Damn it, Sis. That was freaking dangerous!" Yue Hanined after he made sure the beast underneath him was killed.

    "How could I''ve known that a pistol would be that deafening loud within a tunnel? I''m sorry about that. I swear I didn''t do it on purpose." Yue Wen apologised as she retracted her hands from Archy seeing that the wound had already close. With one of the new life potions, the Panda Archer was able to move again in no time.

    "While, I''d like to stay here andin about our mistakes in the battle, its best we quickly find the hostages before more of them show up and take their food stock back." Bu Dong warned as he impatiently waited for the healing to be done. He suddenly felt his confidence from earlier had been hampered by the previous encounter with these veteran Sui Lions. If they were already that difficult, didn''t that mean their Boss would be even more demanding?

    "Just give them a little more time. I can''t sniff any more of Nian underlings in the cave. Besides, it''s better to have apetent party than an injured one." Tanke said as he checked his armour to ensure it was secured properly.

    "I am actually more afraid of another possibility. ording to what I heard other Pandarens say there''s a chance that Nian might appear after each side quest." Bu Dong replied, and Tanke snorted.

    "All the more reason for us to be mending our wounds before moving forth." Tanke insisted and calmed Bu Dong down to the best of its AI capabilities.

 Chapter 933 Deviants

    <h4>Chapter 933 Deviants</h4>

    Jin continued to monitor the various groups going through the Nian Event. Many of them appeared to be like the Pandawans, stuck with their current side questline, which turned out to be more challenging than they had expected.

    Some of the Pandaren groups had decided to ignore the side quest line upon seeing some non-spoiler reviews telling them it was optional, so they had searched for the Nian to fight against it. It was not incredibly hard to find the Boss, yet the battle was overwhelming because it was meant to be handled after doing the side quests to weaken it.

    Once defeated, those groups diligently started the side quests and they would have discovered that if they were toe back, the Nian Boss would wait for them in the same state before their defeat. This meant that its hit points did not recover and thus allow them to wear it down bit by bit if they chose the brute route again even though it would cost them.

    Thanks to the System filtering the forum posts for special updates, Jin saw that less than an hour ago people started to spread this information in the spoiler sections of the forums.

    However, even they were unaware that once a dungeon would bepleted by a group, it could be reyed without having to do the side quest lines. Jin had added a mini New Game+ mode that ced one-shot equipment that would directly modify the Nian''s health as if they hadpleted the dungeon at least once. It would allow them to fight Nian as if the side quests were done.

    Redoing the side quest lines was also possible and came with its own set of perks. Completing the side quest line again would deal double the damage to the Boss Nian before the final showdown against it.

    Not only that, but both normal and Shadow Panda Medals could also be earned from the side quests, increasing the reyability of the quest linesбн at least in theory. Only time would tell how many would choose that option as his customers so far have agreed that the side quests were quite standard in terms of storytelling.

    Jin himself would admit that most of what he has ced was rather routine stuff such as rescuing the vigers or collecting x amount of items. Yet, none of them reallyined too much since the fights to get those were equally tough as fighting against the Nian itself. Not to mention the ones possessing the right equipment like Xia Mao''s dragon-ying scimitar immensely enjoyed the feeling of being overpowered when fighting the right monsters.

    In the meantime, there was one group which eventually caught Jin''s eyes. It was neither the Elder Pandaren team nor the Pandawans wandering into the cave, but actually a rtively new group of cultivators who had decided to do things a little different from the rest of the parties, pushing the limits of Jin''s dungeon instance''s AIs and NPCs to the next level in terms of reaction.

    Afterpleting a few side quests, they had understood that they could receive more of these firecrackers which Nian was vulnerable to. Only thing was that the group were attempting to steal the firecrackers from the vigers withoutpleting any extra side quests, in order to increase their chances against the Nian and to possibly im the first clear.

    When the System gged them up as potential deviants, Jin started to listen in on the conversations between the group members. Their n was to build arge firecracker bomb with the firecrackers they stole and use against Nian.

    In case they get caught by the vigers, which they highly doubted since the AIs on NPCs appeared to be dumb, they nned to escape and just lure Nian to the vige instead. That way, the group could still try and devise the firecracker bomb amidst the chaos to defeat Nian.

    "Huh, the way of doing things is certainly outside the box. Still, I don''t think I want to reward such behaviour that much." Jin thought. He felt dissatisfied with the way they wanted to exploit his NPCs.

    "System could penalise them by turning down the helpfulness of that particr group''s NPC''s AI or make them intervene." The System suggested as it would merely need to tweak some parameters for their mercenaries in that particr dungeon instance.

    "Possible... But then people might get the wrong idea about the Panda Mercenaries experiencing bugs. We should still have that NPC punishment system active, right?" Jin questioned as he recalled using Captain Hei as the protector of NPCs in a rare few cases when cultivators abused his NPCs by turning them into punching bags in some previous instances.

    "Yes, but it is currently outdated. System rmends User to use the opportunity to revamp the NPC punishment system if you wish to use it on that group." The System replied while activating the NPC punishment protocol onto Jin''s console.

    "Fine, let''s continue to use Captain Hei though. I remember one of the ''hidden rules'' in that forum section had an addendum not to anger Hei in particr even though he is a reasonably friendly NPC. Perhaps we should use that opportunity to elevate him in rank, and turn him into a sort of Guardian God for the NPCs whenever anyone tries anything such as killing the innocents." Jin suggested as he tweaked Captain Hei''s stats even further, making him a force to reckon.

    "I will let them have the glory of using their unorthodox method and broadcast it to the other Pandarens. Let''s also highlight their record on Pandaflix for the next week at least. This is, after all, what we are pursuing, a limitless degree freedom inpleting the Dungeon Instance. If this group manages to steal the firecrackers without hurting any NPCs, I will allow them to proceed with their n. But if they kill any vigers NPCs, then we shall release the fury of the panda." Jin stated as he started to create an Iron Hulk suit for Captain Hei, just like the dungeon supplier had used in the Giant World in case for high grade cultivators.

    In fact, he ced even more weapons and defence resistance into Captain Hei to show off that if you do bad things in the dungeon instances, you would be punished appropriately for it. Once such a video/stream had been broadcast, everyone would know that there would be consequences for killing the NPCs.

    However, as Jin creates the all-new almighty NPC, he was contemting whether he should create a time limit in eradicating any evildoers and ultimately give them a chance for such deviant Pandarens to escape imminent death should they survive the wrath of Captain Hei.

    "That could be a possible solution since some Pandarens could identally kill the NPCs during a fight, or unknowingly use them as a body shield. However, the code injected within the NPC punishment system will detect that as an anomaly and chase after them. If a time limit were to be ced and they could survive the newly made Captain Hei, it should be worthy ofmendation." The System suggested.

    "Then we shall do that for now. I will update the code when I have the time. Please put up a reminder for me to adjust them, or else the victims in those idents might cry foul. At least, this shows that we condone the use of such deviant methods while not limiting the creativity of the Pandarens." Jin nodded and quickly implemented the new Captain Hei.

    Now it was just a matter of time to see if the group would seed or trigger the newly implemented feature.

 Chapter 934 Kong Rongs Afterthoughts

    <h4>Chapter 934 Kong Rong''s Afterthoughts</h4>

    Mr Know-It-All, aka Kong Rong had returned to his seat in the movie theatres within the Panda Street Instance. Every regr seemed to know the spot that Kong Rong loves to sit, and they always reserved it for him.

    And now that he is in service with Jin, the in house announcers Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One would now officially reserved a seat for him even though it was free seating for everyone. However, none of the regrsined, and the neers believed it was for some VIP.

    Also, despite all the alcohol he had consumed with Jin, he actually felt rather lively. The State Agent was not sure whether this was testimony to the high quality of the Bamboozled Bar''s goods or the animated conversation he had which had allowed him to learn much about the ''real'' Jin.

    This knowledge gave him a renewed purpose in his life. His intentions of helping Jin were genuine, yet they were also driven by his desire to change his own family, which was none other than the Royal Dragon Zodiac n. Their strict adherence to tradition and the agency''s protocol had made him feel like a caged dragon for many years.

    When he was younger, he had tried to rebel against his family, unfortunately, a privileged child that he was, the resistance had also quickly died down once he was not allowed ess to a lot of things. Not to mention the punishment that hade afterwards had been excruciating enough to periodically haunt him in his nightmares to this day.

    He had been forced to stay in an ancient giant cauldron forced to endure varying degrees of temperature which were primarily used to temper chi pills in the past. From drying heat to stinging cold, Kong Rong had suffered it all until his father felt his son had enough and eventuallye to put an end to it.

    The young Kong Rong had indeed stopped openly defying them, but this did not mean that his ideals had been snuffed out. Kong Rong had bided his time by learning more about the internal structure of his n.

    Unfortunately, he soon realised that a change from the grounds up was next to impossible if he were to attempt it alone. Just like the other Royal Zodiac ns, they were not inherently bad but rather, the State Agent felt that there was too much internal corruption and politics involved, which made the country''s inner workings inefficient.

    s, even if he ever became the leader of the Royal Dragon Zodiac n, there were way too many obstacles which required the approval of many others. The multiple checks and severe red tapes ced within the political system guaranteed that anypetent leader who tried to pass something revolutionary or beneficial for the country would take ages. (That was assuming he did not grease anyone''s palms with cash and titles.)

    Fortunately, when it came to Jin, it felt different. He had watched the dungeon supplier''s growth and potential as a person who had often gone against the norm.

    Kong Rong knew that there was something special about thest surviving member of the (Royal) Panda n, but after seeing it with his own two eyes, he had indeed felt like a frog in the well. Pandapolis city and the army Jin actually held was something no one in this world would be prepared. And yet, Jin was бнinly speaking, dull and normal.

    Instead of trying to unt his assets, he kept quiet and handled national scale situations across worlds. As Kong Rong requested more and more data from the System with regards to Jin''s actions, he started to see a leader in the making.

    It was not the kind of leader that was cold-hearted, calctive with an iron fist but people who might be willing to follow him. (However, when the State Agent thought about it, he was wondering if the System had any influence on the following.)

    If anything, Jin had every right to call himself a powerhouse that could demand to influence the country''s path even if the other Royal Zodiac ns did not like it. And with the dungeon supplier as a part of the Royal Zodiac Panda n (even though it was not officiated in public), he had the chance to be in the government and change things.

    "Hah! Just imagine if he invoked the old rule of honour and forced the Royal Zodiac ns into a battle for the government positions. Not only that, if Jin wins, he also gets to control the geezers in the parliament via the System. That would be a dictatorship of unparalleled power. A lot of things can be done assuming he does not fall into himself in the grips of greed. The greed for more power." Kong Rong thought to himself.

    "I think it is far more likely he would bankrupt the nation''s coffer in an attempt to build a better ce for the people." Kraft chuckled as he practically popped into existence beside the State Agent. "But rest assured, I am not just his ally, but also his inspector in chief. If he ever diverts his path of righteousness, you can be sure I am there to correct him... harshly."

    "How long have you been eavesdropping on my thoughts, you nasty old fox?" Kong Rong was not as surprised as before merely annoyed that his inebriated state had allowed the other party to rummage through his brain without him noticing it (again). "But please, borate. Shall I interpret it as you ying a fool is just your way to destress yourself while maintaining vignce on Jin?"

    "Just evaluating our very new Senior Panda Associate. And hmm, you could put it that way if you like. I personally feel that the ''asional'' little bit of mischief allows a person to maintain his бнerm drive to do good. At the same time, challenging his moralpass every so often to check how steadfast his goals are. Oh and as for your idea, you can pretty much forget him taking on any governmental position unless you literally push the responsibility to him. Just some advice from a colleague, that''s all." Kraft chuckled while he sat down even morefortably in the chair next to Kong Rong.

    "Besides, I overheard some System chatter that a particr newbie group within the Nian Event has done something to make Jin implement something very fun. I am here to watch it." Kraft had pulled out a small box of popcorn from his coat and extended the offer to Kong Rong.

    "If you don''t mind, thanks." Kong Rong took a few pieces in one go so he won''t have to disturb Kraft for some time. Also, he used his chi to grab more popcorn than anyone would normally do, just so he could annoy the old-timer fox.

    "So, what exactly did Jin do? I thought he usually won''t interfere with the dungeon instances?" Kong Rong now questioned while crunching therge fluffed popcorns.

    "This naughty panda boy has been meddling with this current event. Maybe he too wanted to have fun once in a while since it''s the Chinese New Year and the System allowed him to do so within reason." Kraft answered within the System Channel which now made Kong Rong realise why he could never pick up some of the telepathic talks.

    "But it will be fun to watch, trust me. Get your pens ready for some good juicy post for the forums." Kraft slurped loudly on his Slurpee and fixed his eyes on the screen.

 Chapter 935 NPC Punishment System- Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 935 NPC Punishment System- Part 1</h4>

    "We noticed a particr group is attempting to take a vastly different path to achieve victory. Let us all watch and see if their ns unfold as they expect!" Bear Cub One announced in the Cinema Hall as all the theatre screens changed to the Pandaren Weasel, Roon and Cockatrice to keep the anonymity of their group.

    Jin felt that certain anonymity would be best for the group and the cultivation style each Pandaren used was already much of a giveaway on who was who for those who knew them.

    This kind of system had been implemented not long after the introduction of the Half Masks. While the Pandawans had a more prominent stage presence and their names would be repeated asionally, it was mainly because they all had some sort of minor celebrity status in Jin''s dungeon supplier shop. Such a system also allowed some of the Pandarens to shine in one way or the other, allowing people to take notice of them.

    The standard Half Masks were nothing unique barring the animal designs, and this is a plus, allowing the Pandarens to customise them in any way they wish it to be. For Pandarens who yed anonymously, their masks'' simple design also meant that those who had been seen as acting ipetent could just change their mask colour and join another team without having to endure ridicule. As for some, they took this chance to make themselves stand out of the crowd.

    It''s a double-edged sword as people would tend to flock to more sessful cultivators while not wanting to join the ''losers'' whenever possible.

    Fortunately, it was not much of a big issue in Jin''s dungeons at the moment, but who knew how widespread it would be in the future? And in order to curb any hazing, Jin had already reduced the number of failed showings in the cinema theatres to keep the hype up for the dungeon instance watchings, and the announcers focused on the sessful teams which could teach the viewers how to beat an instance.

    However, he would still put up aption of failures with the permission of the Pandarens to ensure that there was a variety in content. Of course, the System was the one to actually curate those as the dungeon supplier already had a limited amount of time on his hands. It rewarded them a few Panda Medals for agreeing to be featured as entertainment but also offered an option of blurring the faces further and tweaking their voices.

    It was also only recently that the System had also started offering Panda Medals for sessful or highly unusual dungeon ys that could be featured which were meant to encourage the Pandarens to y well. Perhaps the deviant Pandaren group had decided to try out such an aggressive tactic in the hopes of getting featured?

    Still, Jin had made up his mind. If they could steal the firecrackers without harming the NPCs he would tolerate them ''cheating'' his dungeon. In fact, the System would award them Stealth gamey points for being sessful. However, in the case that they ultimately did harm the NPCs, Jin would not hesitate to let them experience the wrath of Captain Hei.

    Both Kong Rong and Kraft had no idea what to expect as everything was an impromptu thing that Jin had created. Even Kraft did not have the full picture because the System had not yet finalised the executable module for the NPC punishment system.

    "Oh? That''s interesting. They are attempting to steal from the vige?" Kong Rong deduced based on the current movement of the cultivators. The Cockatrice Cultivator was in the midst of climbing the highest tree within the vicinity of the Vige warehouse, and the Roon was stalking as lookout around the back. As for the Weasel, he was proudly sauntering towards the Song Chew Vige Guard NPCs at the front of the warehouse they were guarding.

    The guards appeared to be strict in their demeanour, but when they saw the Pandaren who had already helped their vige by doing their side quest, they lowered their guards and greeted him joyfully.

    At this point, the Weasel Cultivator was trying to bribe the NPC guards, hoping that they would just let them pass through without the need for theirplicated process to steal the firecrackers. Unfortunately, adamant to their AI code, the vige guards declined the Weasel.

    They were even willing to close an eye for such an intrusion and forget about the Weasel attempting to bribe them as long as the Pandaren moved along and continued with their quest.

    That was when the Weasel pretended to be courteous and apologised for the attempt which the guards gullible took in. Yet the audience in the theatres could already sense his intentions, and they looked forward to what would happen next.

    True to their desire to get therge hoard of firecrackers, the Weasel bowed to ''apologise'' once more... Yet when he returned into a standing posture, the two guards had already fallen over as their heads were cut off. It was a basic feint move by the Weasel Cultivation Styles which had been executed beautifully and brutally.

    That was when the entire audience was shouting at the audacity of the Weasel, and Kong Rong could already predict where this was going.

    "This does not seem like a presentation of a new strategyбн I assume Boss Jin ns to give us a demonstration of his newest penalty system in this dungeon." Kong Rong deduced as he started to pen down notes.

    "What makes you think that way?" A bespectacled Pandaren who was obviously a fan of Mr Know-It-All questioned him directly.

    "Boss Jin has never tolerated people bullying his NPCs. He has always made a clear distinction between monsters and NPCs. The former ones can be safely killed if one manages to. But at the same time, they can be charmed and befriended to fight aside you...." Kong Rong exined half way and he realised Jin purposely prepared this particr highlight as if he already knew what those Pandarens were about to do.

 Chapter 936 NPC Punishment System - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 936 NPC Punishment System - Part 2</h4>

    "...And for thetter, whenever NPCs appear they are only there to help out the cultivators or to get help from them. Ah! There was this instance which he even used them to teach people some manners. Have you ever heard of the Captain Bai incident?" Kong Rong questioned, and the bespectacled cultivator roughly understood what was going on. He recalled how the Panda Captain roughed up the cultivator for hitting the NPCs.

    "So, do you think the Panda Captains will appear again to beat these people up?" Another bespectacled cultivator within the audience questioned, but Kong Rong could only shrug his shoulders hard. However, he knew that Jin would not let such behaviour go unpunished.

    As the two guards fell to the ground without their heads attached, the Weasel immediately blew a whistle with his fingers, indicating to his teammates that the coast was clear. The Roon returned the whistle, and the Weasel promptly searched for the keys to the warehouse while the Cockatrice jumped to the roof and entered through a secluded half-open window at the end of the building.

    "Found it." The Weasel said as he unlocked the doors and checked the surroundings once more before pulling the bodies inside the warehouse. (And their heads by kicking them in)

    He hoped that the other viger NPCs would note by to check on their location anytime soon, else they might notice the blood on the ground. But in any case, the Weasel already prepared a trap at the front door to alert him, if someone else nned toe into the warehouse to check on the mess he left. After all, he needed time to help himself to the stockpile of all the viger''s food supplies within.

    "How can they be so stingy when ites to handing out rewards?! They obviously have more than enough to feed the whole vige for months!" The Weasel badmouthed them as he began pocketing certain food items for himself. Meanwhile, the Cockatrice had already picked up the scent of the gunpowder and started to point to his pal to where to find it.

    "Go search for Panda Medals or other pricey looking stuff! They might have something that could make us rich with medals!" The Roon eximed, seeing that the Weasel was sessful in killing the guards and managed to enter via the back.

    "Heh! Don''t expect much! This is just a storehouse for their supplies. There is no way they are stupid enough to put money in here. If anything, we are better off trying to steal from the vige chief hut, maybe he has something-" the Weasel was suggesting his ideas, but stopped as they heard his trap being activated. A loud snap from the metallic jaws of the bear trap which he ced could be picked up with his astute hearing, as well as the cries of the viger in pain.

    "Ah, shit! I forgot to keep the door closed!" The Weasel cursed as he recalled the door was left ajar. No wonder the vigers had managed to find the scene of the crime this quickly.

    "God damn it! You had ONE job! Quickly go get the firecrackers. I should be able to hinder them for a moment. I''ll see you at the meeting point." The Roon ordered as he rushed forward to the main door and silenced the noisy viger with his weapon.

    As soon as he managed to deal with the viger caught within the bear trap, one problem leads to another. This time it was the NPCs from the vige. Knowing he needed to buy some time for his friends to steal the firecrackers, he started smearing some blood on his hands and even sh himself with his weapon to make it real.

    The pain was temporary, but it needed to be obvious enough to be convincing. He was not sure how real those AI''s could be but being in Jin''s dungeons a few times, he believed that they were advanced enough to take pity on him. And thus, the Roon began his fake act in order to show that he was innocent.

    "Help! Help!" The Roon Pandaren cried out with crocodile tears, as every NPC of the vige came out of their homes armed to the teeth to search for the culprit. He then lied to them that it was the work of a Nian underling that came rushing in and had killed the vigers. Despite incurring injuries, he tried to rescue the viger that was dead on his arms and his friends were now chasing after the culprit.

    "Oof, that is one terrible lie, and the acting is only satisfactory." Kraft joked as he saw those fake tears going down. "Still, got to give him credit for bringing those tears out. hahaha!"

    The vigers started to discuss among each other while the vige chief called reinforcements to be sent to secure the perimeter. But just as he thought that he was able to convince them, the aura around the vige suddenly turned heavy when one of the guards went to check on the pile of blood at the warehouse''s entrance.

    At that point, a shake from the guard''s head made the mob of vigers hold on to their weapons tightly. Soon, the Roon Pandaren realised that they were not buying his lie. All of the vigers had their eyes staring at the Roon with disgust as if they had already discerned who had actually killed their fellow member. Nevertheless, the Roon tried to push for his ''innocence'' further, attempting to justify his lies.

    "I am really sorry that I could not save- huh?" Before the Roon could say anything else, he suddenly felt that his eyes were blurry and numbness overcame his entire body. Only then, did he notice that a sword had pierced through his chest. All this time, he had a dagger prepared and was aware of his surroundings, but he did not even hear anyone snuck upon him.

    "You piece of trash." A low husky voice was heard from behind the Roon as the field of view in the theatre slowly turned towards the back.

    бн And everyone in the theatre cheered loudly.

 Chapter 937 NPC Punishment System - Final

    <h4>Chapter 937 NPC Punishment System - Final</h4>

    When the Roon turned his head, he couldn''t believe his eyes. Behind him stood Captain Hei in his iconic bulletproof SWAT vest, yet he also had a traditional Chinese robe underneath. The panda made for a strange sight in his get up, but his appearance here signified to the viewers that something important was about to happen.

    "Do not think for a moment that you can fool me, the Guardian of Many Inds, Protector of the People. I can smell the stench of your de in this poor soul''s body." Captain Hei berated the trembling cultivator. His heart rate was pumping super fast in the face of iing death.

    The Roon''s feeble attempts of pulling the sword out only worsened the wound, and Captain Hei''s hand went to his gun belt as he unholstered his trusty pistol. "You had no right to kill this innocent man shouting for help! But don''t you worry a single bit, you won''t be lonely for long, I shall send your friend over as well once I am done with you." Captain Hei promised as he pulled the trigger, and the entire viger crowd resonated with this judgement.

    In the meantime, the cinema hall audience pped loudly to see that the Roon had justice done to him except for Kong Rong who thought about what Captain Hei had said. "Hmm, so does that mean he is not going to kill the Cockatrice?" Kong Rong asked Kraft, but the old fox could only shrug his shoulders.

    "Technically the Cockatrice was not directly involved with the killing of any NPC, so let''s wait and see if Captain Hei will still go after that one," Kraft replied while observing the audience''s expression.

    "It will be interesting to see if he will get away scot-free for onlying along. There are a lot ofplications if the Cockatrice can escape unscathed, assuming he does not touch any other NPCs." Kong Rongmented while writing notes on the new job scope of Captain Hei in this instance.

    "How so? Aren''t their actions a testimony that they abandoned the sidequests to steal firecrackers and perhaps even Panda Medals? Shouldn''t they get punished for circumventing the intended gamey this much?" The very same bespectacled spectator overheard their conversation and queried about it.

    "Well if the Cockatricees out alive, it means that this particr dungeon instance allows for a lot more flexibility than one would think a dungeon instance could ever have. People have long since assumed that Boss Jin''s Dungeon Instances were somewhat linear whenpared with other dungeons."

    "Aren''t you partly to me for that? Whenever you publish one of your walkthroughs for the dungeons, your fans speak as if you have ''solved'' it. Admittedly, your way is the easiest to follow for the majority of cultivatorsбн still doesn''t mean it''s the only way." Kraft couldn''t help but snarkily remark.

    "Ahem, it just shows that as long as people think outside the box, it is possible for them to find alternative routes for thepletion of the dungeon." Kong Rong added slightly embarrassed as the audience watched how Panda Hei unceremoniously removed his sword from the Racoon''s corpse and adjusted his ck rimmed sunsses.

    At the same in the warehouse, the Weasel was trying his best to hoard as many firecrackers into a haversack. Unfortunately, like real life, the items they stole could not just be inserted into the storage ring because they already belonged to ''someone else'' due to a certain RFID mismatch of the items. The items belonged to the dungeon instance and like in real life, they had a specific code which denied the Weasel from stealing it outright.

    "Damn, I heard that the dungeon instances in this shop were supposed to be realistic, but couldn''t they have at least made collecting loot a bit more like a game?!" The Weaselined as he shouted for the Cockatrice to do his portion of the heist.

    "You kidding me?! I only apanied you because you said it would be a sure way to get the first dungeonpletion! I did warn you about the NPCsing, and in case you haven''t noticed, Captain Hei came out of nowhere, turned your brother into a shish kebab before he put a bullet into his head!" The Cockatrice shook his head and refused to get any more involved.

    Unlike his twopanions who hade here today for the first time, the Cockatrice had been an avid watcher of the dungeons in the past. As a regr, he still remembered that one incident with Captain Bai. The cultivator who had tried to shame and abuse the NPC was ced in a hall of shame post for nearly a month before his name had been removed.

    "Then all we have to do is kill that panda, right? My brother probably did not notice him. Besides, I''m far stronger than him. I bet I can take out that stupid bear in one hit." The Weasel replied as he tried to zip anotherrge sling bag full of explosive firecrackers while walking hastily towards the backdoor.

    "Then try dodging this first!" Suddenly, Captain Hei''s paw connected with the Weasel''s face from the side of the warehouse, creating a hole with his punch in the process. The impact force was powerful enough to send him flying through the warehouse, breaking all the supplies in between and subsequently out of the storage area and into open space.

    The Cockatrice was once again forced to watch his teammate get violently assaulted by the Super NPC. And with one stare from Captain Hei, the Cockatrice immediately had goosebumps and did not hesitate to flee from the warehouse at that instant. He even used his chi techniques to run away from the crime scene in the hopes of not getting implicated any further.

    "Clever bird." Kraft snorted at the actions of the scared cultivator, yet it was exactly that cowardice that allowed him to avoid execution by Captain Hei.

    Meanwhile, Captain Hei''s violent punch had caused smoke and dust to appear, and the angry vigers surrounded the culprit in case he might attempt to escape Captain Hei''s wrath.

    But there was no need for that.

    The Weasel was coughing blood as the dust around him settled down.?His legs turned to jelly, and his stomach was severely upset. He felt his vision bing nk, and his head was pounding hard from all the impact while his ears, bleeding from the aftermath.

    "How do you like that?" Captain Hei asked loudly as he ced his foot on the Weasel''s chest, causing him to have even more difficulty breathing. (Not to mention his ribs cracked a little further.)

    "Let this be a lesson for you. If you evere back and intend to hurt them, I will find you before you can so much as to touch a strain of the hair of these good people. I will hunt you down like a monster, and I will make sure you will not have the luxury to enjoy the dungeon instance in the future." Captain Hei threatened as he pressed his foot further down while taking his pistol of judgement.

    Executed in cold blood, the System believed this act will undoubtedly make the audience to spread the word not to kill any NPCs.

 Chapter 938 The Cockatrice

    <h4>Chapter 938 The Cockatrice</h4>

    After showcasing the death of the Weasel and Roon, there wasn''t anything else worthwhile for the spectators to see. Hence Bear Cub One switched the cinema screens to another group attempting Nian''s dungeon instance.

    The Cockatrice ended up as the only survivor of their particr group and a screen popped up in front of him. He was asked whether he wished to use the ''Emergency Mercenary System''. Jin had inserted that feature for this limited time event since he was aware of how hard the special dungeon was. At the time, it had been designed for those cases where only one person survived a hard fight and not exactly this kind of situation.

    Of course, as the name implied, the mercenaries that were sent through this emergency deployment required even more Panda Medals than the ones on the ship, and there were no free Panda Mercenaries to choose from here.

    Alternatively, the Cockatrice had the option of soloing whatever side quest he wanted to or even the boss if he thought he would be to handle it. Any kill he managed to make would subsequently be coted as part of his score. Of course, the final option would be to voluntarily abandon the current run and start over with a clean te. (or run with the same group with the current save state.)

    The Cockatrice hesitated whether he should just call it quits for the day. Super NPC Captain Hei had given him quite the scare. Still, he ultimately decided to just spend the Panda Medals as part of his guilt trip, and he ended up hiring the maximum amount of four Panda Mercenaries to protect him.

    However, the System never forgets, and the expression on the Mercenaries were not very pleasing either. Nevertheless, since they had been paid the coin for his deployment, the Panda Mercs followed the Cockatrice''s orders and continued the dungeon while making their dissatisfaction of working for someone like him audibly known. As for the employer, he could only hope he would earn back some panda medals to cover the extensive amount of medals he spent (and to some extent, money.)

    Since the "special" scene had died down and the audience''s attention shifting to the new group, Kong Rong finally had some time to think consider the consequences that Jin might have prepared for the two offending cultivators. He even questioned Kraft, but that crafty old Fox merely told him to ask Jin directly.

    "You have ess to the System Channel now, don''t you? You''re already working with him, might as well ask, you stupid Senior Associate. Here, let me open it up for you." Kraft said as he instantly opened a telepathic System channel between the trio again.

    "Yo, Jin, Mr Walkthrough wants to know what happens to the two dipshits you just punished. Nice one by the way, though you could have made them suffer a bit more for my taste."

    "Ah, Jin! Sorry, to bother you. That old Fox seems to like shoving people into slight awkward situations for his amusement, and this is one of them.?Anyways, I was actually hoping to write an opinion piece on what happens to the two offenders in the aftermath." Kong Rong apologised for suddenly barging in on him again.

    "All the more reason to hear it from the source. That way you can write something better." Kraft grumbled.

    "Sometimes, just knowing a little is enough to spark my inquiring mind. Getting told the answer without reaching the conclusion yourself has its perks and cons." Kong Rong answered Kraft''s unspoken question about why he didn''t go to Jin directly, yet Kraft merely rolled his eyes at the ''inquiring'' portion.

    "So, do you want me to tell you? Or shall I continue to keep quiet and let the offenders experience it firsthand?" Jin asked as he was a little amused by the two old men interacting with each other.

    "Since this Fox already opened the channel, I shall take the opportunity to learn about it. Like I said, knowing has its perks and I personally think it would be best for this new punishing matter to be addressed clearly." The State Agent took his hobby about writing walkthroughs for Jin''s dungeon quite seriously.

    "You are right. I guess you''re the perfect person to inform the masses, even better than me at times. It''s actually annoying that some think that I am purposely being cryptic because of the way I write things or even suggest that my words had some underlying meaning in them." Jin rolled his eyes in the Dungeon Maker instance and sipped some water to clear his throat.

    "Well, you are the developer of these dungeons. Most people can''t take things at face value with the creators, and besides, you always leave a small trail of tidbit to keep the people excited. Not to mention there are times where you just surprise people without any prior warning like with the new raids, especially the emergency ones. I''m already taken aback that quite a number of people do actuallye back for those emergency raids. Hmmm, with the revtion of the System, it makes me wonderбн have you put us under some unknown ancient suggestion spell so that we alwayse back for more?"

    "Can''t you just say that my dungeons are awesome?" Jin moaned a little, hoping for betterpliments, especially from someone of such high status in society.

    "Your dungeons can be better." Kong Rong chortled with someughter. Eventually, the talk returned to the new punishment system Jin had ced (in a rather impromptu manner).

    For any Pandarens who had been targeted by the Super NPC Captain Hei, the vigers would treat them differently, ranging from slight distrust to mild disgust.

    The attitude wasn''t the only thing affected, but they would give them fewer tips or guidance and things sold by the NPCs would have their cost increased by 10% for first time offenders. Repeat offenders would get more and more severe penalties. Mercenaries would at times actively ignore theirmands, and this could potentially discourage gamey. They would even have a red skull on their status, to indicate to other yers that the person had intentionally killed an NPC in the dungeon instance.

    Initially, Kong Rong wondered if these cultivators would even return given the harsh treatment that awaits them, but Jin believed his reasoning was fair and square. He did not need to earn money from anyone who disrespected his NPCs because he was there to create cohesive and conducive gamey for everyone. Some rules had to be ced with strict adherence, otherwise, when the time came for Jin to create the Virtual Reality Network, there would be chaos.

    Naturally, Jin was looking into other features that could liven the NPCs too and perhaps tweak the NPC punishment system by introducing something like a redemption system. However, for now, Jin prefered being too strict over toox in regards to the NPC killers.

    "Then what about yer killers? I remember there was some form of friendly fire? Like in the Pandapolis Defence Raids, some of the Pandarens were killed identally because they could not recognise friend or foe." Kong Rong questioned whether some of the Pandarens were intentionally killed from stray fire.

    "Obviously, now you know that they were being situated in another world, you will understand why that was unavoidable. The System did review the friendly fire incidents with its exceptional data collecting and found that most if not all of them were idental. For my dungeon instances, I put a limit in. Even if a teammate hits you, you only suffer 10% of the actual damage. This is just to give them the reality of being in their teammate''s line of fire."

    "Hmm, yeah. That might make for some great training, although the military might have a better use for. If Hou Feies back, then I would suggest resetting the limit back to 100% because they have handled more serious situations than cultivators." Kong Rong remarked as he closed his notebook and coincidentally the featured dungeon on the cinema screens ended as well. (They died from the ambush in the caves)

    "Alright, I have enough information for now, so I shall call it a day. Need to do some visiting the next day too. Dragon n duties. Goodbye Jin, have a good new year holiday." Kong Rong sighed a little as he teleported out of the Panda Street Instance. There were too many things to consider on his way back home.

    Separately, to Jin''s dismay, both the Elder Pandarens and Pandawans had simrly failed to fight against the Nian limited dungeon event. Nevertheless, it was to be expected as a dungeonpletion on the night when itunched would put Jin to shame. Aside from that, Jin requested the System to inform him if there were any other significant developments.

    Otherwise, Jin was intending to do some hotpot hopping to mingle around with his minions before the sunrise. Now that a few key people already knew that he was alive and kicking, others would also being around to kick his ''door'' down to find him.

 Chapter 939 Teaming Up With A New Group

    <h4>Chapter 939 Teaming Up With A New Group</h4>

    "Ahh.. here I thought we would have a serious chance against the Nian Boss." Xia Mao yawned as he found himself in one of the beds of the Luxury Recovery Instance. The fluffy pillows and cushy beds were the best and mostforting way to rx after a defeat. (They also made the taste of victory feel even sweeter)

    "Come on, let''s get going. We should be able to put in one more game before I have to go back to prepare for the new year. Maybe, I too can slip in a short nap when I reach home and hopefully before my children visit meter in the morning." Jing Yu said as she felt revitalised. After her quick shower, she was ready to go for one more round.

    "Sorry, but I don''t feel like it. That previous one was way too strenuous for my liking. Besides, it''s a new dungeon, it will take some time until people find a way to defeat it quickly." Xia Mao grumbled while putting the nket over his head. Despite already having a grandkid, this grandfather sometimes still acted like one big baby.

    "Did you forget that we can resume where we stopped now?" Zi Dan asked as he reentered the room. He had gone out for a moment and came back with a cup of coffee from the vending machine. "By the way, when I was out, I overheard some people talking about Bu Dong being in one of the recovery rooms. I hastily checked his stream on Pandaflix, and his group was defeated before being able to damage the Nian."

    "I don''t know about the others, but it seems he might be leading the only Pandawan group that ispeting in the dungeon right now. It looks like we have the advantage since our group managed to damage the Boss with the boat in the beginning. We even have more of those firecrackers at hand, so if we give it our best shot perhaps we can beat their group to it!" Zi Dan added excitedly.

    "I mean, I wouldn''t mind getting the first clear, but this bed feels too heavenly. It would be a sin to leave it." Xia Mao yawned loudly. After which he slowly grabbed another pillow from the bottom of the trolley bed like a cat reaching for its toy and pulled it up as if his strength waned with every second away from the bed.

    "Hmmm... Actually, he is right, why are we pushing ourselves so much? Didn''t we originallye here as part of our retirement exercise? Sure, getting the first dungeon clear would be nice, but we should not strain ourselves that much. Perhaps I should just visit the dungeon supplier store that is close to my house." Knowing their friend long enough, Jing Yu decided to use some psychology tricks on him.

    "Heh, the dungeon instances at other ces can''t hold a candle to Boss Jin''s dungeons. They are absolutely boring, unable to design a worthy opponent. I don''t think I will patronise them ever again." Xia Mao mentioned as he continued to ck in his bed.

    "Then what about the money and Panda Medals you spent getting that Dragon ying Scimitar? Don''t you want to retrieve what you lost?" Zi Dan joined Jing Yu''s attempt to motivate theirzy friend.

    "Can''t we just try again tomorrow? If it''s that important to you, why don''t you just team up with Bu Dong? Is Kong Xian there with him?" Xia Mao proposed, and Zi Dan shook his head, telling him that the team consisted of Bu Dong, the Yue siblings and two Panda Mercenaries. The Pandawan Kong Xian which they drank together in the Smander Lord''s Keep Raid was not with him.

    "Well, isn''t that perfect? I recall Kong Xian mentioning that Bu Dong doesn''t mind making new friends, so as long as you tell him we are friends with his friend, it should be alright." Xia Mao borated and suddenly, speaking of the Devil himself, Bu Dong came in. He had heard his nameing from the recovery room when he was opposite of their ward buying some Panda Soda via the vending machine.

    "Were you guys talking about me?" Bu Dong asked, and his eyes squirted momentarily. "Waitбн aren''t you the guys who fought with us at the forefront of the Smander Lord''s Keep? I remember seeing you. You must be the uncles that helped Kong Xian with his part of the fight, right? I personally watched that raid a few times since it was a limited fight. It''s a shame Jin hasn''t brought it back in its original form. I would have loved to try out your portion of the fight, too."

    "I feel you. His first iteration of raids is alwayspletely unique." Zi Dan agreed as he greeted the teenage prodigy. "They might be harder in nature, but it feels satisfying being able to clear it. The toned-down version for the masses just doesn''t have the same feel if you know what you''re missing. Not to mention, the rewards we''ve earned from that original emergency raid was way better too."

    Bu Dong was quickly weed into their recovery room, and they talked a bit in regards to the current Nian Dungeon.

    "What?! You can do that? I thought those sea waves were unapproachable, and we had to follow thepass to reach the ind safely. But did you really manage to hurt the Boss with it? The Nian seemed pretty tough when we encountered it."

    "To be honest, we didn''t do it on purpose. For some reason, my handle was spoiled or something. Maybe it had been mishandled or sabotaged, but we had a lucky break because of it, reaching the Boss and damaging it. We''ve been facing an injured Nian ever since, making it easier to deal with her at the end of our side quests." Jing Yu replied.

    "Only it seems that Boss Jin is not nning to let us finish him, I erm mean her quickly. Keep forgetting the lore states that Nian was a mother... Anyways, I think he wants us to go to where the main quest is if we want to face off with her. Despite his injuries, the beast was always healthy enough to run off." Xia Mao added to the discussion from the bed. "Say, my friends here would like to join your team in the dungeon if you n to continue after resting up that is."

    "Oh, eh okay. My pals had to go back home to prepare for the Chinese New Year visit, as such, I am by myself at the moment. So sure, I would love to join you guys. I''d much rather let someone new get the first dungeon clear than letting Xiong Da get another one under his belt." Bu Dong muttered thest sentence and the Elders believed it was some internalpetition between the Pandawans. Yet, it was just Bu Dong and Xiong Da''s mini face-off.

    "We would be honoured to. Let''s join forces! It will be easier to fight with Bu Dong around." Zi Dan looked at the rest of the group, but Xia Mao just retracted back under his nket.

    "With the four of us, there won''t be enough space for a healer and tank since the rmended party size is five. So count me out and go have fun." Xia Mao argued, but Zi Dan did not want to leave his pal alone. It would be a shame if they actuallypleted the dungeon and he wouldn''t be part of it.

    "How about I fill in as the healer? I did learn some basic healing chi techniques when I was younger, and with my cultivation now, it should be equivalent to an advanced chi heal. I can also sponsor the potions for this round!"

    "Oh my, so generous? What''s gotten into you, Zi Dan? You are usually at odds with Xia Mao, and now you are patronising him." Jing Yu questioned, and the Blind Cheetah merely shook his head.

    "I just want to get a first clear of a dungeon once. I mean we finally have a Pandawan with us, won''t it be better if we go together and possibly stand a much better chance against Nian?" Zi Dan responded, slightly embarrassed that he is actively trying to coerce the whole group. The others in the room believed it was his desire to earn such an achievement, but Jing Yu was sensing something more. Like Xia Mao, Zi Dan always want to keep things easy and simple. From the dungeon runs, she knew that he was not the kind who likes to do much hard work. Thus, for him wanting to do a dungeon so desperately showed that there was something up. Even Xia Mao also find it very odd but kept quiet for the moment as he let it linger at the back of his mind.

    "Urgh, fine, let''s do it together. But we take it slow! Thest time you rushed, we got swarmed by the monsters. And you take orders from me, little boy!" Xia Mao scratched his head and stretched a little while giving out his conditions to join the raid.

    "Hah! In terms of Boss Jin''s dungeon experience, I probably know more than you." Bu Dong rose to the challenge, hoping to raise thepetitiveness of the group a little. He was previously sulking that he did not have the chance toplete the dungeon since his circle of friends were usually from the Pandawans group.

    But seeing that he got lucky to team up with the Pandarens that Kong Xian talked highly about, he believed this groupbination might have a chance to win this. (with his help.)

 Chapter 940 Save State

    <h4>Chapter 940 Save State</h4>

    Once the Elder Pandarens had teamed up with Bu Dong to give the Dungeon Instance another try, the Pandamonium app questioned them on whether they wished to use their own ''save state'' or to use the one of the Pandawan group.

    They did not think that the Pandamonium App would take into ount their new party member, making it the first time they encountered such a thing, proving that Jin''s new dungeon instance provided quite an impressive save system.

    Before confirming their choice, the app did warn Bu Dong that by clicking the option of using a different save state, he would lose his previous progress. This new party''sposition would be his new save state, and he could only change his party two more times after that.

    Jin had chosen to limit the number of party changes to prevent any abuse by other Pandarens who might n to sell off their progress. Anyone who just wanted to fight only the Nian to clear the dungeon quicker could theoretically do that by joining another team who had alreadypleted all the side quests.

    Any yer who achieved their personal first clear (not counting the shop wide''s first clear) of a dungeon, would get a decent reward. Generally, repeated clears would not provide such an incentive so as to prevent abuse of the dungeons.

    While the System was of the opinion that they should curb down on the rewards, Jin insisted that they should stay as they are. With the increasing number of features in the shop, it would be best to have something to entice the new customers. They require some pull and push factors, or else the customers think that this is entirely a cash grab venture. (Which technically it is, just that Jin needs to make sure they do not feel it''s too absurd.)

    These free Panda medals the cultivators could earn from their personal first clear would allow them to gear themselves up for new and uing raids and provide a sort of enticement for veteran customers to spend on his older dungeons. (Assuming Jin decided to implement the save state into his other dungeons, but for the moment he kept it to the Nian Dungeon as its exclusive all-new feature.)

    The more features the cultivators discovered in this limited dungeon instance, the more they started to suspect that this might be the start of an overall quality of life improvement patch and that the new event dungeon might just be the start of it.

    Of course, Jin required feedback for each and every feature they encountered. After the Pandarens left the shop, they would receive an email and a notification on the app asking them to help improve the shop by filling out Jin''s survey.

    As long as they filled it out earnestly, the System would reward them a base amount of 20 Bronze Panda Medals. In cases where it felt the feedback was valid and productive, it would give out an extra bonus. It didn''t take long for people to share that information on the forums and learn that their surveys were all being read and judged, some requested to do it again. Obviously, they would not receive the 20 Bronze Panda Medals a second time, but depending on their extensive feedback, the System did pay out the bonus.

    After confirming the selection of the Elder Pandarens save state, the tickets were bought and promptly printed out at the Information Counter. Now they only had to wait their turn for the massive ship to bring them to the Nian Ind again.

    On the way, Bu Dong and the Elders had been talking about the type of Panda Guardian they should bring along for the second dungeon run.

    "We should go with Tanke and give him two sets of armour. That could help him withstand the onught of Nian Underlings and subsequently the Nian itself. I''m thinking of getting a high-grade pickaxe so I can at least help pierce Nian''s armour." Bu Dong reasoned, yet before he could continue, the Hungry Condor Cultivator interrupted him.

    "Alright, then we should hurry to get the things we need while we still have time. Let''s go buy the stuff while one of us waits in the queue for the ship." Jing Yu suggested, and Xia Mao immediately volunteered himself for it.

    "You guys go hit the shops and buy the stuff we need. I will wait here for the ship." Xia Mao yawned once more as he leaned on a railing and chased them away.

    "Come, little Bu Dong, climb on my back. I will get you to the main Panda Street Instance in a split second." Zi Dan bent his knees and shamelessly offered Bu Dong a piggyback ride.

    "Ehh, Uncle Zi Dan, don''t you think I am a bit too old and heavy for this?!" Bu Dong adamantly refused and instead typed furiously on the Pandamonium Chat and sent him a message.?(The Angry Ape Cultivator was too embarrassed to ask for a favour after replying to him.)

    "You''re the fastest of the group, so please get these misceneous items first? We might need more than a couple of them. If you don''t have enough medals, I can-"

    "Ah, no worries! Uncle Zi Dan will purchase it all in a jiffy!" He nodded his head, and before Bu Dong could say anything else, the Bullet Cheetah had already run off.

    Jing Yu finally had time alone with Xia Mao to speak on the situation with regards to Zi Dan. "Is it just me, or is he acting a little weird ever since thest dungeon run." She remarked while Xia Mao looked past Zi Dan''s afterimage at the corner of his eye.

    "You finally noticed it? He does not usually care so much if we clear the dungeon or not as long as we give it our best. For some reason, he desperately wants to get a first clear with us this time. Not to mention, his performance isn''t as ster in the dungeon as it was in the past. He made mistakes that a rookie would not have doneбн His mind is definitely upied with something else." Xia Maomented as he yawned a little, leaning on the railing.

    "Do I need to be concerned about this? I... erm mean from a tactical point of view for the dungeon clearing?" Bu Dong knew it was not his business to butt into people''s affairs especially when they just met, but he couldn''t help but ask.

    "Hahaha, don''t worry, kid. Thanks for receiving my message and getting him out of the way for us to talk personally. Anyways, my instinct is telling me he has something he wants to get off his chest. After he does, he should be back to normal." Xia Mao said

    "I see if I can probe him in any way during the purchases but you know I am not that subtle. So, if I fail, I need to rely on you, Xia Mao." Jing Yu said as she beckoned Bu Dong to follow her to the shops.

    Once they were gone, Xia Mao took out his cellphone and started browsing his social media ount, hoping he might learn the reason about Zi Dan''s sudden change in attitude from it.

    The Blind Cat Cultivator did have a hunch, yet he was notpletely sure, even though the likelihood was high enough. During their daily breakfast chats, he had often spoken about his son and how well he did. Usually, he and Jing Yu had just shrugged it off as him bragging about his family, but perhaps he had made up his mind this time.

    "Ohбн? Maybe this is going to be a problem after all...." Xia Mao thought as he looked through Zi Dan''s social media ount. There were indeed posts of him indicating how he felt regrets in life and wanted to make them up whenever possible. It was as if Zi Dan had gained some enlightenment and pondered about life.

    However, Xia Mao knows that was just the tip of the iceberg, so he looked through hisments and found out about ament he posted onto his son''s picture. "That guyбн Can''t he just say it properly?!" Xia Mao felt a bit frustrated upon seemingly having figured out what Zi Dan was hiding from them.

    It seemed as if his dear dungeoneering friend was finally leaving Shenzhen to move to Australia to live with his son and his new family.

 Chapter 941 Leaving for Australia

    <h4>Chapter 941 Leaving for Australia</h4>

    Not even half an hourter, Xia Mao was greeted by a strange sight. He was baffled by the sheer number of bags hisrades were carrying around. Apart from haversacks to hold the extra armour for Tanke, they were also dragging along stic bags full of emergency food supplies allowing their Panda Mercenary to recover on the go without the need for any healing spells.

    "You know you guys could have just stored everything inside your storage rings, right?" Xia Mao questioned them, wondering if they were doing this on purpose to show off how massive their shopping spree had been.

    Before he got an answer, a Panda Sailor was announcing that the boarding of the ship would now begin. Xia Mao was in no rush since there were many other Pandarens next to them and he knew they would all gain a notification shortly before it would leave.

    "Bu Dong said it would be best if we have the items out. This way it will be easy for us to sort them out on the ship and give it to our Panda Mercenary." Zi Dan answered and quickly followed Xia Mao, who was holding the tickets.

    Once they entered their previously allocated cabin, Jing Yu noticed a change in the cabin''syout. Just as they had suspected, a new room had been made avable for Bu Dong, and all his items had been transferred to it. They were surprised by the staggering number of items in his personal hideout, and he blushed.

    "Wellбн it''s a bit embarrassing. My parents know that I''ve been dungeoneering a lot and they are happy about the increase in my grade. In fact, they were so happy that I found a hobby that might potentially be useful for my future, that they even gave me some extra money to invest into Boss Jin''s shop. However, I might have used part of that money to purchase some things they might not approve of, if I brought them backбн" Bu Dong was fidgeting with his hands as he exined his situation with some awkwardness. The Elder Pandarens concurred with his logic.

    Apart from useful things like weapons, armors and inscriptions, the room was filled with plushies, figurines and other misceneous goodies that Jin was selling to promote his dungeons. If anything, Bu Dong''s collection of items might actually be the only one on the level of Xiong Da''s. And yet, thewyer often ined'' that so far he had only managed to collect a bulk of the items that Jin had released to the public.

    Each went to their respective personal rooms for a moment to check on certain supplies for the next round. Bu Dong was the first to be done with the task, and soon Zi Dan joined him in the living room. There Xia Mao encountered them sorting through their purchases.

    "Zi Dan, I have something to ask you. Could it be that you n to leave for Australia soon and have avoided telling us so far?" Xia Mao, who had always been a brutally honestpanion, shocked his friend with his deduction.

    The old man did not hesitate to be upfront in order to clear any misunderstanding. While it was confirmed that Zi Dan had sometimes talked about his wish to move closer to his son, there were many other problems old age could bring and if the reason for his strange behaviour was some type of illness, it might be best not to continue with the dungeon.

    "Iбн Ah.. so you managed to guess why I had been so jittering for the past few hours." Zi Dan lowered his head and sighed, thinking of a way to say it without hurting his friends'' feelings.

    Bu Dong quickly excused himself and returned to his room since he just remembered something ''very important'' that he had to check up on right now. Both of them realised that for a young guy, Bu Dong sure knew how to keep his manners, wishing that their own grandkids could also grow up to act in the same way. Meanwhile, Jing Yu, who had overheard the conversation, stood at her room''s door waiting for the men talk it out between themselves first.

    "I didn''t want to lie to the two of you. I just didn''t know how to tell you. I figured we should at least make the best out of the remaining time we have left together. I might be able to return to Shenzhen once in a while, like during the holidays, but I doubt we will be seeing each other that much in the future. That is why I wanted to clear this dungeon and maybe even achieve a first clear so you won''t forget me that easily. It''s because I''ve reallye to like you guys even though we only met recently. The fun we had in these dungeons was extraordinary."

    "So to get a Pandawan on our side to ease our dungeon clearing ability, I was ready to lower my head or even beg for Bu Dong toe to join us. I just wanted to have the best experience with you guys before leaving after the Chinese New Year holidays." Zi Dan exined himself, and towards the end, his eyes began to swell up.

    "Geez, it''s not like you leaving is the end of the world or anything. It''s totally different from when we were young. The world is very connected nowadays, and all we need to do is simply click a button, and we can see each other again." Xia Mao shook his head while pointing to his phone.

    At the same time, he was relieved that the reason behind Zi Dan''s excessive initiative was indeed merely because he was leaving and not because he had gotten ill or caught a disease like cancer. "We are all adults, so we know that we each have our own individual lives, and the only time we get together is during these morning dungeon exercises. But thank you for thinking of us as part of your life."

    "Yes, we appreciate the thoughts." Jing Yu added as she opened her arms up, beckoning Zi Dan toe over for a friendly hug.

    "Well, I guess I have to work a little harder than usual. Gotta earn the privilege of returning to my heavenly bed." Xia Mao joked as he walked towards Bu Dong''s room and knocked.

    "Is everything okay?" Bu Dong questioned as he felt like he hade in at the wrong time to join the group.

    "Yeah, everything should be fine now. Sorry about that. When you are our age, it''s best to clear things up as soon as possible. Otherwise, you might not have the chance to do so." Xia Mao apologised as he called the boy out of his room.

    "C''mon, we are not that old ording to society''s standards." Jing Yu insisted with a slur.

    "Please, to Bu Dong and the others, we are like basically old pigs and cows" Xia Mao replied as they all cleared their differences and started to n for the dungeon clear. Bu Dong had not listened in on their conversation, so he was unaware of what exactly had urred.

    However, from what he could see the issue seemed resolved and Xia Mao appeared to be much more eager to actively participate. Taking their newfound motivation into ount, the young Pandawan decided to propose a change of ns to further increase their chances of obtaining the shop''s first dungeon clear in this limited Nian Event.

 Chapter 942 Second Round!

    <h4>Chapter 942 Second Round!</h4>

    The bells rang as ast call for the cultivators to set out on their boats. Bu Dong was in the midst of a heated discussion with Zi Dan and Xia Mao about what they had to do next when they came down the stairs from their cabin. Behind them was Jing Yu who was holding their Panda Mercenaryбн He.

    After Bu Dong had heard about their experiences within the dungeon instance and how sessful they had been by utilising the holy trinity (although they did not name it as such), he felt dumb that he did not realise it sooner especially since the rmendation emphasised the need for a tank and a healer to clear this dungeon instance.

    During the time they had to prepare for the second run, the Angry Ape Cultivator had discovered that the holy trinity might not have been fully integrated into the whole system yet. The whole RPG mechanic still seemed "lite" enough to allow an offensiveposition to stand a chance against Nian and her underlings as long as they dodged enough.

    For example, the HP bar they had in their visor was an indicator of their health, but many Pandarens knew that it was not perfect but more of an estimate. Even if they received substantial damage from the monsters and were down to zero hit points, they could actually still fight on by pushing their limit. It was not aputational sequence of numbers but a battle of will against the monsters. (Of course only to a certain extent. Near-death, limbless humans can''t do much after all but who knows? )

    Bu Dong was confident that with Zi Dan''s hidden healing skills and He''s recovery magic, they might be able to pull through. Thus the group had decided to follow Bu Dong''s advice and gamble their potential first clear on his new strategy.

    However, Xia Mao was still sceptical since they had yet to see Nian release any significant death-defying moves considering her health was barely a quarter down.

    "Do you think we can ram the boat into her again like you did on your first run?" Bu Dong questioned, hoping to do some extra damage against Nian before the showdown. Every little bit might make the difference between a first clear and another defeat.

    "I doubt that. Besides, if we ever encounter her in a simr situation, I''d probably just jump overboard. Once was more than enough and if possible, I want to avoid a repeat for sanity''s sake." Xia Mao grumbled as he turned on the engine.

    "The Nian shouldn''t be in these parts anymore. The Vige Chief gave us the information that she should be residing within the Volcanic Caverns now." Jing Yu added.

    "Let''s just hope the fire resistance charms will be enough for us to deal with her. Without Tanke around, we are going to need every little bit of protection we can get." Zi Dan slightly regretted the change since he had paid for two sets of extra armour. Thankfully those sets of armour could be refitted to fit anyone with the aid of Jin''s cosmetic inscription.

    Something too bulky? Just use cosmetic inscription to tighten it!

    It was a revolutionary idea from Bu Dong who had done something simr in the past. The only downside was that the cosmetic inscription did notst forever. The moment the armour left Jin''s store, it would turn back to its normal bulky form.

    With everyone being well equipped after their shopping spree, Xia Mao cautiously navigated the motorboat towards the vige harbour. The inhabitants cheerfully weed them back again. (Meanwhile in a separate dungeon instance, those returning offenders had been treated with disgust and spite. Some of the vigers even threw rocks at their boat.)

    Chief Erming of the Song Chew Vige queried whether they were well enough, revealing his knowledge about the fact that the cultivators were able to ''revive''.

    "There is onest favour I''d personally like to ask of you before you embark towards finding the Nian." Erming requested and Xia Mao turned his head towards Bu Dong.

    The Pandawan''s stare was all the Blind Cat Cultivator needed to confirm the young boy''s intention. "Apologies, Chief. We will try to amodate your request, but we cannot make any promises. Perhaps after we have defeated the beast."

    "Ah, that is a valid response. I''d like you to get some flowers for my daughter." Chief Erming was understanding and did not force them. He still gave them the side quest, allowing their Pandamonium App to update their logs.

    "The Rainbow Flower is native to our ind. The flower exists in seven different varieties, each one a colour of the rainbow hence their name. They were a favourite of myte wife, and my daughter has inherited her love for these flowers. If you manage to gather all seven of them, I will give you a bonus."

    Bu Dong had already checked in the ever-busy forums with regards to thest quest left for the Elder Pandarens. It was a simple fetch quest that allowed the Chief to reward some Panda Medals to the group. The flowers themselves were not too difficult to find, but they were all over the ce, meaning that one would have to backtrack unless they got the side quest early on.

    Chief Erming went into his hut and came out with a unique piece of firecracker that lookedpletely different from the others they had given out before. "Everyone in our vige has contributed something to help craft this particr firecracker. We''ve harvested the materials from the Nian underlings you''ve in and hoped that this item will help you in the fight against their mother."

    The firecracker was gleaming even when it was not yet lighted. The really special thing about this particr firecracker was that it was shaped like a halberd. There was a hardened wooden shaft that held onto the firecracker, and they had even added an axe de.

    Upon closer inspection, the cultivators saw small engravings of each and every viger the Elder Panderens had helped during the side quests. Vige Chief Erming brought out a metal pen. "Please inscribe your names on the firecracker as well. This would have been impossible without your effort. Ah, Mr Bu Dong, please do not hesitate to write your name on it as well. Although this might be the first time we meet, your eyes and expression show me your resolution of wanting to bring the Nian down. That is all we need of you."

    "When it is my turn, I will be honoured to add my name to it with pride. For now, this source of achievement should be given solely to the Pandarens who aided you here." Bu Dong understood that based on the Elder Pandaren party''s ''save'' state, he seemed to be treated as a ''visitor'' who was either benefitting from the trio''s good reputation or from his own actions in the previous save.

    "Uncle Xia Mao please let me take a photo of it! I suspect we might be among the first few parties who have managed to get this unique firecracker weapon!"

    "Soбн Anyone capable of carrying a spear?" Bu Dong asked after taking a few pictures of the weapon which he decided to upload on behalf of their group into the spoiler section of the Nian Event subforum.

    "Not too sure about Zi Dan and Xia Mao, but I have handled spears before as part of the training for my cloth des." Jing Yu volunteered, and the two old men already ced their palms out to point at the Hungry Condor Cultivator, indicating she should have the honour.

    "Remember, this is a one-time weapon. Once you light the fuse, you only have that amount of time to use it!" Erming warned them as he pointed into the direction of the Volcanic Caverns. "Also, please grant my brother the honour to escort your group inside the caverns. It''s his sincere wish to face Nian on an equal footing and going along with your group will give him the greatest chance to survive such an encounter."

    "Please allow me to join you in battle!" Yiming, the Vige Head Hunter kowtowed before them, and the Elder Pandarens who previously apanied him to battle, knew that he could hold himself in a fight and understood when to retreat as well. Bu Dong had not reached that particr side quest yet and just trusted the Pandarens in their judgement.

 Chapter 943 Bu Dong Haggles

    <h4>Chapter 943 Bu Dong Haggles</h4>

    "This is as far as the horses will bring you." Chief Erming said as he stopped the carriage wagon. With his brother joining their team, he had decided to transport them as close as possible to Nian''s current location. "Apologies for the bumpy ride."

    "No worries, you have our thanks for graciously bringing us all the way to the cavern''s opening. Coming so close to the beast''s hideout is very brave of you." Jing Yu thanked Chief Erming and voluntarily took out a few panda medals to reward the Chief for his time and effort.

    "This is the first time someone gave me something back." Erming looked very surprised but humbly epted them. "Hmmm, now that I''m here, I''ve recalled something about this ce. The legends speak that this cavern is not exactly Nian''s home. Rather, it is the hunting ground of the abomination."

    "Many of the brave vigers who tried to fight against Nian have died here." Head Hunter Yiming added on, and suddenly Bu Dong could not help but smile widely. This meant that Nian was not going to run, and this would be the battleground for the final battle.

    "I ... sincerely thank you for that information." Bu Dong said as he took out more than just a few panda medals. "If possible, I would like to buy this wagon of yours."

    "But then how will our chieftain return? Unlike me, he is no fighter. Without a horse, he won''t be able to outrun Nian''s underlings if they catch him on the way back." Yiming argued, worried about his younger brother.

    "I just need the wagon. You can keep the horses. Maybe leave one here for Yimingter." Bu Dong replied which caused the Vige Chief to ponder for a moment.

    "Alright, but it will require more than just these few medals to buy the wagon." Erming agreed, and they immediately went into haggling mode. While Xia Mao would have been willing to pay the whole price if it meant increasing their chances (and their time), Bu Dong, who was known to be a rich kid and big spender, insisted on paying a low price. Zi Dan and Jing Yu shook their heads as they found this scene all too familiar.

    When they had gone to buy the items from the shophouses, all the shopkeepers familiar with Bu Dong had already pre-empted the haggling and the numbers that came out from their mouths were like bullets from a machine gun.

    "100 Medals is the lowest I can go." Chief Erming started his bid, and even though the System was the one ultimately controlling the AIs and knew Bu Dong''s behaviour, it was not about to relent to him that easily.

    "30 Medals." Bu Dong did not bother topromise even by a little.

    "Outrageous! 80 Medals, and that is ignoring the bunch of items we''ve already given you so far."

    "What?! Aren''t those rewards? Basically the payment for the quests we do for you? Also, when you gave us the ride here, I felt that the wagon isn''t in the best of conditions. 35 Medals." Bu Dongint.

    "75 Medals then. Take it or leave it."

    "Then we shall not subdue Nian for you. Let''s go guys. Let''s just pick his precious flowers and be gone from the ind." Bu Dong said as he took his sword and returned them into his storage ring, subsequently walking away.

    "Wait, wait! 65 Medals. Final price. That''s the lowest I can go since I need at least that much money to pay for the materials to rebuild the wagon!" Chief Erming tried to amodate him, yet Bu Dong moved off and started looking around for any signs of one of the Rainbow Flowers while the rest of the group was left speechless.

    With Bu Dong giving him the silent treatment and using the walking away tactic, Erming was hesitant whether he should drop the price any lower or not. His indecision, however, was quickly cured when a roar could be heard from the direction of the Volcanic Caverns.

    "Fine, you win! 50 Medals!" Erming had his head down and raised his palm wide open while shouting for Bu Dong toe back.

    "50 Medals and one set of extra firecrackers that you have on you." Bu Dong smirked as he pointed at the pouch bag that Chief Erming was holding on to.

    "I cannot believe you would even бн Haven''t we sold you a bunch of firecrackers when you came? In fact, I''m certain that you bought all of them! Leaving us barely any to fend off any Nian underlings who mighte to attack us." Chief Erming very reluctantly agreed to it.

    "Well, the fact is that you still have some with you indicating that your vige must have some stock remaining." Bu Dong criticised, and Chief Erming was speechless for the moment. And when Bu Dong was being handed to the extra set of firecrackers, he managed to peek into the Chief''s pouch, eyeing for more. However, Jing Yu stopped him by putting her hand on his shoulders.

    "Don''t. Leave those for him to scare away the Nian underlings when travelling back to the vige."

    "But isn''t it just a game? Just a dungeon instance?" Bu Dong''s expression clearly reflected this thought.

    "This is Boss Jin''s Dungeon instance. He has made this as real as it could be while maintaining some elements of magical realism. We''ve already seen there are consequences being built into this dungeon ''game'' engine that he uses. It''s best not to let him go empty-handed. It''s quite likely that we will have to pay a big price if anything happens to Chief Erming. Worst-case scenario we might fail or be unable toplete the mission on this run." Xia Mao helped Jing Yu in stopping Bu Dong to be too greedy.

    "Fineбн" Bu Dong sighed as he paid 55 Medals instead of the agreed 50 Medals. Chief Erming thanked him for the extra ''tip'' despite the excessive haggling with a forced smile. He quickly released the horses from the wagon to leave before Bu Dong could change his mind.

    "Now mind telling us why exactly you purchased this bulky thing? You can''t possibly want to use this in our fight?!" Xia Mao asked since the wagon had never been part of any of their ns. Unlike him, both Jing Yu and Zi Dan who realised what Bu Dong might have nned.

    "Why not? It was crazy haggling for that item. If it potentially saves our strength while we move forward, I''d say it''s already worth it! Also just think about how cool we must look when we watch our runter on." Bu Dong chuckled.

    "I like that thought of yours! If the subsequent dungeons get harder because of our little trick here, me him, okay Jing Yu?" Zi Danmented as he knew he would not be around to see the aftermath himself.

    "It''s too expensive for others to casually recreate it." Jing Yu also felt that the stunt Bu Dong was going to show was not for the average cultivators, but it certainly would be shy.

    "That is why I''ve always been Boss Jin''s favourite Pandawan!" Bu Dong gleed as he proimed himself to be Jin''s number one best cultivator/customer.

 Chapter 944 Volcanic Cavern - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 944 Volcanic Cavern - Part 1</h4>

    "Ready?" Bu Dong asked as he cocked the bolt and clicked the safety to ''off''.

    "Ready!" He smiled with a gentle expression on her face that even made Xia Mao''s heart melt.

    "Gosh these Panda NPCs, how can you not love them all?" Xia Mao wondered out loud as he stayed near the side of the wagon.

    "They are both huggable and useful in battle. Boss Jin has truly created the perfect NPC ally." Jing Yu joked as she stood behind He, acting as backup support. With the gathered experience from previous cave fights, they were not taking any chances.

    By now the monsters in the Volcanic Caverns were ''impatiently'' waiting for the Pandarens'' move, and they became active the moment they stepped into the cavern. Without much care for their own brethren, Sui Lions and Sui Dragons rushed through the cavern with the sole objective of being the first one to rip the invaders to shreds.

    It was a scary sight no doubtбн but only if one was utterly unprepared for it.

    Fortunately, the group had figured out that something like this might happen. While sharing theirparing their experiences, both the Pandaren and Pandawan group had encountered one particr NPC in the vige that reported seeing hundreds of Nian underlinging on to the shore.

    However, no one had believed him because they knew that if the one could see the Nians, the monster would have gone and eaten him up.

    Most people had treated him like a fool in the vige, but Bu Dong had taken him at face value. Seeing as the Elder Pandarens hadpleted all but the flower side quest without encountering such arge size of Nian underlings, there was only one ce left for them to be atбн the Volcanic Caverns. Yet, this was just his intuition at y, and the Angry Ape Pandawan left it all to luck (or in this case, Jin''s programmed dungeon instance.)

    Worst case scenario, he could still use the weapon he was holding to fight against Nian. He had his doubts about how much damage it could do, but at the very least, it would be a unique and fun experience which was ultimately the most important thing in a dungeon instance.

    As it appeared, his intuition had been spot on, and he faced it towards the Nian Horde and held down the trigger. The cold metal barrels started to roll, and the tubes of metal began to heat up. The gatling gun he had bought in the fiercest haggle against the weapon shophouse owner Bai Wan, was about to do the heavy lifting in this particr phase of the Volcanic Caverns.

    "It seems Boss Jin probably used this with the intent to wear anyone down before they can fight the main Boss after this point?" Zi Dan shouted his question over the sound of the weapon, before he remembered that he could have just used themunication channel provided by the visors. (Especially since all of them were wearing earplugs on Bu Dong''s rmendation.)

    "Probably. Each of them has died with just a few bullets in their bodies. He must have toned them downpared to the ones we''ve been fighting, so they seem scary with their huge numbers but are still defeatable. Anyways, we need to keep moving or else the pile of bodies might block the wagon''s path." Xia Mao said as he kicked a dead Nian out of the way so the wagon could continue further down the cavern while Bu Dong continued gun zing.

    The spent bullet casings were flying after each shot burst out of the gun barrel and Zi Dan regretted that had not bought the ammo bag to store them in one ce. Still, it was just a minor nuisance, and it was quite satisfying to watch the Nian underlings fall to the might of steel rain. Head Hunter Yiming could not believe his eyes as he helped pull the wagon. Even as he was raring to have a go against those Nian Underlings (or as programmed to do so), there was not a chance for him to even shoot an arrow out.

    Eventually, the Nian Horde started to include bigger Sui Lions and Sui Dragons, yet the bullets were also sufficient to bring them to their knees as Bu Dong aimed the gatling gun onto their face. (He even shouted ''EAT LEAD'' when doing so.)

    However, the gatling gun had its limits, and since Bu Dong had set it at the highest rotation speed, the barrels had quickly heated up, forcing him to stop or risk that gun would jam.

    The Nian Horde must have collectively breathed out a sigh of relief when that happened, giving them an opportunity to bring down these six trespassers. Still, the Elder Pandarens and Yiming had already prepared for that interval. They were each holding a firecracker with a small incendiary bomb attached to them. The moment they lighted the firecrackers up, the four of them threw them forward.

    The bombs immediately went off, and the fire started spreading on the ground while the explosion of the firecrackers caused the Nian underlings to be stunned on the spot. This allowed the fire bombs to do their work and burn the Nian underlings to death.

    As if that was not enough, Bu Dong had switched to his pistol and was holding it with two hands for better uracy when he started to fire at the burning Sui monsters.

    He actually moved back a little, pulling the wagon along with her so as to prevent the wagon identally catch on fire. Jing Yu acted ordingly and made sure there were no other Nian underlings that ambushed them from the back.

    As soon as the gatling gun had cooled down, Bu Dong lowered the rotation speed and started firing haphazardly when the next wave of Nian underlings came at them. This process repeated a total of five times. Each time the gun was heated up, they would use whatever ranged projectiles or explosive materials so that there was always a gap between them. The audience thought it was a waste to use it on them since they could save it for the big cat boss. Yet, they seem to have forgotten sometimes being a big spender in Jin''s dungeons does have its perks.

    Once the coast was clear and no more reinforcements wereing in, Xia Mao and Zi Dan went around stabbing the Nian underlings to make sure they were all dead. Some had indeed pretended to stay dead, and those were the times where Zi Dan used his quick lightning reflexes to stop them. Meanwhile, Yiming and Jing Yu were busy moving the bodies out of the way to create a path for the wagon to move through.

    Bu Dong had started to fill the wagon with firecrackers while gathering as many bullet cases as he could and ced them in wooden boxes which came with the firecrackers.

    As they reached the end of the tunnel, the Pandawan pulled out a new box with ammunition only this time they were of the armour-piercing variety.

    "Let''s fight that Nian head-on and show Boss Jin that we can clear this particr dungeon." Bu Dong said, and all the members of his group nodded in agreement.

 Chapter 945 Volcanic Cavern - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 945 Volcanic Cavern - Part 2</h4>

    The boss monster was sitting in the middle of a rather particr circle surrounded by hot burningva. The Pandarens felt that the moment they stepped outside of the caves and into that stone circle, they would be trapped in a do or die battle. But for the time being the beast was licking her hind legs and even looked bored from waiting so long for for the Pandarens to appear.

    They would have arrived sooner, but with the frightening amount of ''explosives'' on the wagon, He and Yiming had taken it slowly, ensuring there were not many hups while pushing the wagon. Thankfully, Zi Dan and Xia Mao were always there to help support the wagon from the sides and assured them that as long as nobody yed around with fire, they were perfectly safe.

    "Guess, this is it. The point of no return." Zi Dan said as he wiped his sweat away. He felt the temperature of the cavern rising higher and theva seeping around the circle was definitely not a good sign.

    "You think we should have brought Tanke for this instead?" Xia Mao questioned if it was wise to rush in like that.

    "Zi Dan did purchase some rather expensive inscription charms. Let''s trust in the quality of Boss Jin''s items." Bu Dong chuckled slowly and bitterly.

    "Well, no use regretting anything now. Let''s just go and hope for the best. Though, got to say, it was fun to see you use that gatling gun. I remembered you used for the Christmas Event too, right?" Jing Yu said as she walked towards the front of the wagon and held onto the Firecracker Spear. As long as the fuse was not lit, it acted as a normal spear and without any quick activation storage rings, it was best to carry it around. Meanwhile, Bu Dong did not say a word as it was precisely because of the Christmas event that he adored the gatling gun. That expensive piece of heavy equipment was not worth the price but the kick to kill those Nian Underlings was god damn satisfying.

    "Alright, then. Let us seed for the safety of the vigers of this ind!" Head Hunter Yiming gave the wagon a good push from behind moving towards the edge of the stone circle, and the rest followed suit. Ironically, before he could follow behind the group, a magical barrier appeared barring him entrance.

    "Guess this is as far as I could go!" Yi Ming said as he tried to force himself through the barrier once more but to no avail. "All the best then I will go back to the caverns to make sure that no Nian Underlings venture into this area!!" The Head Hunter encouraged them once more and disappeared from theye from.

    "No wonder Chief Erming said this was her hunting ground. She could do whatever she likes, and it also looks like there''s absolutely no way Nian is going to stop until all of us be her dinner. Too bad we''re already down a man before the fight even started." Zi Dan sighed as he repeatedly banged on the wagon, signalling Bu Dong to fire off the opening volley.

    "He might have been an extra helper against the Nian Horde only, or perhaps he was meant as a recement if one of us got defeated before the final showdown. Whatever the case, let''s just focus on the fight!" Bu Dong stated as he pressed on the trigger and the barrel started to spin.

    The Nian was not so stupid to stay idle and hurled herself towards the wagon. Meeting her advance was Xia Mao who had already lit up a piece of firecracker which was tied to his dragon-ying scimitar.

    He dashed forward to intercept Nian so that he could buy Bu Dong some time for the gatling gun to warm up and shoot the lion abomination. It was a dangerous move since Xia Mao ran the risk of getting caught in the crossfire, but the Blind Cat Cultivator was willing to take the risk. He was confident that Bu Dong had the finesse to aim at the monster instead of him.

    Thankfully, Bu Dong aimed at where Xia Mao would m himself onto Nian and had ovepensated the gatling gun''s aim so that when it released the rain of bullets, it would definitely shot the Monster Boss. (Nevertheless, there was some luck in y too, and he could only hope the best.

    In addition, the firecracker on Xia Mao''s scimitar was effective in startling the Nian, causing her to move to the side, giving the Blind Cat Cultivator some extra space from the hail of bullets.

    Yet, the Nian was confident in her armoured scales, so she did not really care about the bullets and focused her attention back on the Blind Cat Cultivator who had startled her. However, she was wrong to face Xia Mao as the bullets aimed at her torso and began to tear through her armoured dragon-like scales.

    The sudden unexpected pain caused her to fall back, and Bu Dong did not stop the gatling gun at her, keeping it in the same position as much as possible. Xia Mao also took the chance to sh at Nian''s face as she tried to squirm herself away from the bullets. Her armoured scales were sturdy but face with continuous impact from pieces of fast prating metal, there was little she could do too.

    "No use! No use! We''ve spent our time preparing, and we will be sure to defeat you as fast as possible!'' Bu Dong shouted confidently as he continued to hold the gatling gun steady. They all could see Nian''s hit points drop sharply on their visor closing in on the half way point.

    There were only a few vital points on Nian that could give her a critical wound but instead of using finesse or the ''proper'' way to handle the beast, the Pandawan had chosen to go with this brute force method. It continued to shatter the armoured scales and exposed much of Nian''s flesh.

    Bu Dong was over the moon with this change of development. After having spent over half of his current medal amount on this weapon and ammo needed to make it work, it was indeed an exclusive item to a select few. They wholeheartedly believed that if this method did not work, Boss Jin must have purposely created an unkible event and in that case, Bu Dong would have every right toin.

    Unfortunately, the entire party knew that this method would not guarantee their victory, especially with the gatling gun overheating and the bullets being limited in number. Once they either ran out of ammunition or when the gatling gun had to cool down, that was the Elder Pandarens'' cue to start the battle proper.

    The moment they heard the gatling gun sizzle from afar, indicating that it was about to overheat, Zi Dan and Jing Yu who had been preparing their chi went forth nking the Nian, as Bu Dong pushed the weapon even further. He could see the barrels getting red orange hot, and smoke started toe out from the chambers of the gun barrels. What was worse was that he was standing on the wagon full of explosives and the situation he was in, clearly warrants immediate death.

    Yet, he still kept his nerves steady by activating his chi. BecauseбнHow can you be scared if you are angry? And by being constantly angry with his Angry Ape cultivation style, his fear disappeared, and his nerves remained hard as steel.

    However, they seemingly forgot that ording to legends the Nian was not just a monster of strength but a monster of magic as well. The moment her hit points had been reduced to half, a wave of psychic energy burst out from her. That sudden aftershock caused the wagon to flip around, including everything they had packed within. (And Bu Dong on top)

    "Do not worry!" He shouted as she banged her staff on the ground and immediately, an energy capsule enveloped the entire wagon with Bu Dong in it, and the items within it remained mostly intact with only a few firecrackers getting thrown outside.

    On the other hand, Bu Dong felt the piping hot gatling gun on his torso as it was burning him. "HOT, HOT, HOT" He shouted, yet refused to let go of it. He even raised it upwards since he knew that that overheated piece of weaponry could potentially set off a chain reaction within the energy capsule if it touched the firecrackers and bombs he prepared.

    (Fortunately, his heat resistance inscription charms were working and the energy barrier also seemed to numb the pain.)

    "Great job He, without you we might have been blown to smithereens!" Bu Dong thanked their Panda Mercenaries as he watched the two Elder Pandarens attack the beast.

    "A pleasure! Now hold still and let me tend to your wound. We will need you soon enough!" He ordered as she quickly went forth to make sure the other party members were also within her healing range.

 Chapter 946 Volcanic Cavern - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 946 Volcanic Cavern - Part 3</h4>

    "We have exciting news, everyone! The first group has made it all the way through the Volcanic Caverns. Everyone should remember the group of seniors who smashed their boat into Nian earlier! They have just begun their fight against the Final Boss Nian and apanying them is none other than our very own Pandawan Bu Dong!!!" Bear Cub One eximed.

    After the introduction of Super NPC Captain Hei, nothing too interesting had happened in the Cinema Hall. Some of the featured live streams used creative, out of the box tricks, but it was nothing exciting enough to get the blood of the spectators boiling. Just as many in the group of spectators were about to leave, the in house announcers pulled their attention back and yed the highlights of Bu Dong and the Elder Pandarens fight against the Nian Horde.

    The System even used the chance to advertise the fight by putting it onto the front page of Pandaflix. Any Pandarens who used the app or clicked on the promotional link on the forum was able to watch everything in real-time. It was the System''s way to somewhat fix the ''problem'' with their current streaming service.

    The customers had put inints about Pandaflix being too cluttered due to an abundance of streams without any easy options to sort it by their own preferences. In fact, Jin had some ideas how to improve on it, like creating a section for award-winning streams of the Pandarens or Pandawans that cleared the dungeons with style or perhaps people that gave simple walkthrough guides on how to clear it.

    But for now, everyone was more interested to see if Bu Dong would be able to pull the first dungeon clear with his new teamposition. Jin''s new improved system of clearing dungeons gave people an additional opportunity to earn a ce in the Hall of Fame. (Which was now an official shophouse near the top of the mountains in the Panda Street Instance.) People could make it either by clearing it in one shot or by clearing it with multiple attempts like Bu Dong was doing right now.

    ------

    "Holy shit!? He brought a gatling gun into the battle?!" A middle-aged Pandaren who was walking around in Panda Street Instance cried out in amazement. He could hardly believe that something like that was so easily avable for purchase.

    "Don''t get too overly excited. I just checked and while that gatling gun was on sale, don''t forget that such a weapon eats through ammo! Not to mention even on sale it''s freaking expensive, and such a weapon is difficult to set up in the middle of the battle. Unless one is very skilled in setting it up, it should be impossible for those Nian monster to not notice it." Another middle-aged Pandaren, who was also watching it on his phone, gave his opinion.

    "That''s just the start of the highlight, mister!" A rtively young Pandaren pointed at his cellphone screen and fast-forwarded to the appropriate time before showing it to the middle-aged Pandarens. "Here, you can clearly see that he set it up before going into the cavern and using that wagon to keep mobile."

    "Holy Mother of- How is this not cheating?!" The middle-aged Pandaren asked as he shook his head in disbelief.

    "Hahahah! I guess this is what you would call ''the power of medals''. If you use that new market to change your money to medals, you can gain enough spending power to even buy a gatling gun!" The first Pandaren theorised.

    "I''m certain that he saved enough medals to buy that gun. No matter how you see it, this is the first time he is splurging this much!" The young Pandaren was obviously a fan of Bu Dong. He was quite apparently proud to be one of the few to know such details of the Pandwan from all the streams he had watched about the Angry Ape cultivator.

    "Ah, sorry! Is my boy being ermбнtoo enthusiastic?" The young Pandaren''s father came to stop him from unting, but the middle-aged Pandarens were both shaking their heads.

    "It''s nice seeing someone this young be so interested in cultivation and dungeon instances. Beforeing to this shop, I thought the old ways of dungeoneering were dead. Thanks to Boss Jin, I see it being revived and all I can say is this is indeed one of the better dungeon supplier shops out in Shenzhen at least." The middle-aged man smiled at the young boy.

    "But you see those firecrackers on the wagon, he is basically courting death -oh my God! That Nian was vicious!" The father wanted to give his opinion of the highlight when they all watched the boss flip the wagon around.

    Both middle-aged Pandarens smirked after discovering where the boy got his energy and enthusiasm from. Meanwhile, the teenager could only giggle and being giddy on Bu Dong''s usage of the gatling gun. He even told them tidbits how the Angry Ape Pandawan had used them in the previous dungeon events too, and the boasting subsequently spurred the spectators to watch the current stream together despite them being total strangers.

    ------

    "You are not going anywhere you beast!" Zi Dan shouted as he took out his chain ball mace. He used his chi to extend the chains by executing the intermediate technique, Ball Chain Prison. The Bullet Cheetah Cultivator threw the mace over the Nian''s legs trying to immobilise the beast. Once he managed to hook it, Zi Dan began sliding and circling around Nian''s torso.

    Nian realised what he was doing and tried to get out, but Xia Mao was holding it in ce. He shed his dragon-ying scimitar right into the open wound that Bu Dong''s rain of bullets had caused. Nian, in turn, yelled out in pain.

    But it did not end there.

    Jing Yu sent her des to further aggravate the wound. This series of quick attacks gave Zi Dan sufficient time to bind its legs and forced Nian to drop on the ground. At the same time, she activated the firecracker halberd, and with each sh, the spear de would explode upon contact.

    However, the attacks might have been effective if it was at the start of their battle. Now, Nian had turned into an angry state from losing 50% of her hit points and had entered the second phase of the fight. Soon after Zi Dan hadpleted his chain binding technique, she roared out anger, causing moltenva to harden and be part of its defences. The firecracker halberd Jing Yu used was the only thing that was able to destroy those hardened floatingva shields.

    But Nian was notpletely happy that she was binded by Zi Dan, but she had not given up attacking them. Those Molten Lava Shields which had been broken down from the firecracker spear''s explosion had a secondary effect, causing them to explode towards their enemies upon destruction, counteracting against Jing Yu''s offensive streak. And that caused the hardenedva turned into projectiles, piercing straight to the Elder Pandarens.

    If not for their fire resistance charms and cosmetically inscribed fire resistance armour, they might have been burned and suffered even more damage. Yet, Zi Dan finally thought that was his turn to shine by spreading his chi into the atmosphere and started to heal the party members. They were surprised how fast and wide the healing chi could be distributed since most healing chi required closer contact, and they assumed it was partially due to his cultivation.

    And only those with astute observation among the audience noticed that Nian, in turn, had also used theva to heal herself. However, she used that opportunity to throw in another roar, and the Elder Pandarens expected another attack pattern to soon emerge.

    The roar itself was not frightening, but the magically imbued Nian used it to further control theva that surrounded them without the Elder Pandarens knowledge.

    Only He had noticed that the temperature of the dungeon was rapidly rising and theva was starting to churn like sea waves about to hit the harbour. She initially wanted to heal the rest, but with Zi Dan''s emergency healing in y, her programming was able to allow her to be more aware of the surroundings. Thus, aiding her to sense the iing danger to the entire party. She then quickly raised her staff and started to cast a spell to save herpanions.

    "Advanced Healing Arts! Wide Panda Barriers!" He eximed as she released magic into her staff. A horde of Panda silhouettes appeared and flew to the edge of the stone circle they were currently entrapped in. As the magical Lava Waves tried toe ashore, the Panda Silhouettes immediately form a barrier stopping it in its tracks.

    There the Panda silhouettes began to slurp theva as if they were drinking from ake until theva waves subsided. Upon fulfilling theirmand, the Elder Pandarens realised how devastating theva overflow would have been if not for He. All of them were suddenly very happy about choosing her instead of Tanke. (Or perhaps, Tanke had a different way of saving them?)

 Chapter 947 Volcanic Cavern - Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 947 Volcanic Cavern - Part 4</h4>

    "That was close! If not for those Panda silhouettes, we would have ended up as charcoaled Pandarens!" Bu Dong breathed out a sigh of relief. He thought he would be done for after his barrier suddenly disappeared in the midst of him sorting the explosives out.

    However, this had heightened his concentration, allowing him to have a clearer picture of the overall fight. Nian was getting agitated, and she started to use her newfound powers more frequently and more destructively. There was not much time to be flustered by theva attack.

    The Elder Pandarens had been momentarily stunned by the dangerous use ofva magic by Nian, but thanks to He''s interference, they made it out in one piece and decided to match a tit for tat. After charging their chi, the Pandarens continued to take turns to face Nian.

    Yet, Nian had also simrly changed up her tactic. She no longer relied on using just her paws and jaws, but she focused on using the ample amount ofva around her. Bolts of moltenva shot out of the surrounding stream and headed towards Jing Yu.

    "Watch out!" Zi Dan cried out as he ran to the Hungry Condor Cultivator and pulled her a step away, making her narrowly escape the bolts ofva at thest moment. It merely scrapped her clothes, and the fire-resistant inscription charm prevented any damage to her body. Still, they understood that luck could onlyst that long and the burningva was starting to melt the stone floor, leaving a crevice in the middle of it all.

    "Shit, I really wouldn''t mind having Tanke to distract her!" Zi Dan grumbled as he used his chi once again to extend the chains on his mace ball and swung it towards Nian.

    However, Nian pulled another fast trick on them, revealing ava barrier that negated the mace ball. The attack bounced off its wall like a basketball. That was when it became clear to the Elder Pandarens that they had to utilise her weakness to get over her strengths in this second phase.

    Since it was better to use the secret weapon the vige gave to them on ater timing, all three Pandarens took out the firecracker that was hanging on their waist and lit them up. Xia Mao quickly threw his towards the barrier while Nian was not looking at him.

    Theva barrier dissipated momentarily as the firecracker exploded, breaking Nian''s concentration in conjuring it. That was also the cue for Jing Yu and Zi Dan to rush forward with their firecracker fused lit up. They wrapped the firecrackers unsafely on their weapons and used it as part of the attack, causing Nian to step backwards.

    "Do not give her any time to stabilise herself!" Xia Mao ordered over the visors as he took out a firework starter from his storage ring and started to light it up. With the fuses lit, he also ced some of his chi into the projectiles so that they would travel further and hit the target faster.

    "Firing the fireworks!" Xia Mao announced as he ran to the back of Nian and aimed behind her. The fireworks shot out of the starter, and once it impacted Nian''s dragon scales, the fireworks changed into a rainbow colour, and the scales exploded. Everyone who was watching was stunned and subsequently realised that this must be the way to defeat Nian.

    Xia Mao was also surprised by this discovery and quickly let out another shot to test the theory that was on his and everyone else''s mind. By inserting another bout of chi into the firework starter, the subsequent fireworks flew, aiming for Nian''s upper torso.

    Meanwhile, Zi Dan turned his chain mace ball into arge metal ball and kept his attacks on the Nian to divert her attention. This allowed the firework bolt to collide with the Nian''s dragon looking scales once more and true enough, the scales exploded in an instant with a loud bang and shy colours.

    "Looks like we found your weakness you little иC" Zi Dan was swinging his erged mace ball onto the exposed region where Nian''s scales were broken, but he was interrupted by arge giant paw emerging out of the pool.

    It was made entirely out ofva, and Nian sent the paw flying towards the metal ball, mming it hard to the other side of the cavern. With the initial magical barrier that Nian had erected to prevent the cultivators from running away still in ce, Zi Dan was mmed into it and eventually fell straight down after impact.

    "Zi Dan!!! Shit! He is dropping into the stream ofva!" Jing Yu watched the whole scene unfold, but she had her hands full evading Nian''s aggressive style as it pounced straight towards her. The firecracker spear that she had was beginning to dissipate, but she still had her des as her backup to defend herself when she was mmed into the ground because of Nian''s pounce.

    Yet, instead of a struggling expression, she yelled angrily at Nian and activated her chi which she stored for this moment. "Intermediate Sword Arts! Flying Condor de Barrage!" Jing Yu shouted, and her des vibrated instantly, causing mirror images of her sword to emerge from the sword itself and soon, those chi des started to pierce Nian at her underbelly.

    She knew it would not do much damagepared to the firecracker spear that the Hungry Condor Cultivator was holding on, but she hoped it would force the great beast to move away. Sadly, her attack was rather underwhelming, and the Mother Lion continued to attempt to bite her head off despite her desperate struggles defending. If not for the spear, Jing Yu believed the Nian would have been more aggressive in her offence.

    *SLAM!!!*

    Suddenly Nian disappeared from her line of sight as Jing Yu saw arge metal ball zooming past her face. "You might be some mythical lion! But I am a freaking Cheetah that matches the speed of a bullet!" Zi Dan shouted as he tried to catch his breath.

    Jing Yu turned her head to see it wasing from, and she saw Xia Mao waving at her. "Can you believe him? Doesn''t even mention that he needed a blind cat to save his ass from that fiery pit of hell!" Xia Mao pointed out as he thanked He foring forth to heal them.

    "Then I am not wasting the chance for that stupid lion to stand up!" Jing Yu said as she took her portion of firecrackers and ced it on the cloth wrapped des. Lighting it up with her chi, she immediately sent her des to pierce the Mother Lion. At the same time, Jing Yu attempted to stand up using the Firecracker spear as her support.

    Nian conjured out whips ofva to prevent the des from attacking her, especially since the cultivators knew her exact weakness. However, the monster had forgotten that they were fighting as a team and Zi Dan had already taken the spear from Jing Yu, dashing to strike Nian with a decisive stab.

    The Mother Lion tried to counterattack with another loud deafening roar, but Xia Mao was pressuring her not to stay in one ce with his firework starter shooting out fireworks at her direction. This bought time for Zi Dan to dash forth as he tried to stab her. But being the boss, Nian was not going to go down that easily.

    However, the audience who had learned something new and Nian who was busy handling the Elder Trio seemingly forgot that the fight was merely a distraction. With another 10% of her health gone, Nian stopped paying attention to the real threat from the party.

    Bu Dong.

 Chapter 948 Volcanic Cavern - Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 948 Volcanic Cavern - Part 5</h4>

    "I''m surprised the Elder Pandarens don''t seem to be affected by the firecrackers. They didn''t even flinch when those went off.." One of the spectators, a young teenager, wondered out loud.

    "There are different types of firecrackers on sale in the vige. The ones they used are smaller in size, and therefore there is also less of the explosivepound within them." A young woman in her twenties who had done the dungeon once offered her insight.

    "Most importantly, they''vee prepared and are using earplugs. Theirmunication so far seems to revolve around the visors'' teamspeak option. Still, I gotta say they have guts to wield their firecrackers around like this. I would hesitate even if had the same fire-resistance inscription charms as them." A middle-aged man chimed in as well.

    "I see! But if that''s the case, why did the firecrackers not cause the dragon-like scales on Nian to break?" The teenager asked the two of them.

    "I''m not too sure about that. Maybe only fireworks can make that happen?" The young woman seemed unsure.

    "There''s a difference between the firecrackers and the firework?" The middle-aged man was surprised about such a revtion.

    "Fireworks contain some gunpowder, but they also have theponents to let it spark shes in a variety of colours. Firecrackers might be essentially the same thing, but they are primarily designed to cause a loud bang." The young woman exined.

    "I think the Nian knows that those fire bolts can destroy her scales, making her vulnerable. That is why she tried to run away from it every time they get lit up. It could be the same for the fireworks too, just that Blind Cat Cultivator managed to aim with the use of his chi and scored a lucky direct hit." An astute observer next to them shared his theory.

    Everyone who had fought the Nian would agree that her sturdy dragon scales was the only thing preventing the cultivators from doing massive damage to her. But now with the real weakness exposed, she could be defeated rtively easily.

    The Pandarens in the Cinema Hall who knew about it realised that Jin had included the myth of Nian being afraid of firecrackers as part of his dungeon mechanism. All of them had been fooled into thinking that Nian was merely afraid of the loud sounds, but when in reality, it was the underlying mechanism that would allow them to break her high defence scales. All along, she was agile enough to prevent any direct contact with the firecrackers.

    Simr to the Christmas Devil Event, the audience quickly spread the word on how to fight Nian in the spoiler portion of the forum. After which, the crowd went wild when they witnessed a scene where one of the firecrackers the party had used managed to touch Nian''s scale. The Elder Panderens were desperately trying to score a hit so they could prove that the firecrackers were equally effective. True enough, when it impacted, it immediately exploded with a different kind of loud bang and a portion of the scales disappeared. However, in terms of damage, Nian didn''t even lose a single HP.

    But it was not the Elder Pandarens who managed to score that firecracker hit. Only when the screen panned its camera to the side, did everyone see the culprit who threw the firecracker and it was none other than Bu Dong, the Angry Ape Pandawan. And right behind him was the bunch of explosives along with the firecrackers he was holding to.

    "I heard you like these, you stupid beast! Here, I brought even more of them just for you!" Bu Dong taunted the Nian as he lifted them up. He had tied the explosives and firecrackers up with the most basic binding agents one could ever rely on.

    Duct tape.

    With lots of duct tape, he efficiently carried the mixed load of firecrackers and explosives with chi while bouncing it up and down. Nian saw the impending threat and summoned the entire stream ofva to surround the stone circle they were in. Without any further warning, theva spread high and wide as if it was a tsunami wave waiting to be dropped into the circle and engulf the entire stone circle.

    Despite being aware of the danger the Nian ced them in, the entire party were still going for the kill. Since the Nian had enclosed them in a kill box, there was nothing to do other than fight to the bitter end.

    In such a high-stress situation, Bu Dong turned that fear into more anger as his chi enveloped the firecracker bombs. His fiery chi set the fuses alight, and he charged towards Nian as if he was carrying tworge boulders on his shoulders.

    The rest of the Pandarens also did their part with Zi Dan executing his Chain Ball Prison while Xia Mao kept control of Nian''s movements with the adept use of his fireworks shooter.

    At the same time, Jing Yu conjured up her chi once more, and her clothed des pulled down Nian while reinforcing Zi Dan''s Ball Chain Prison. The firecracker spear was wearing down from its prolonged use, and she too rather be using something she was proficient at.

    Nian tried to get out of the imprisonment she was caught in, but after utilising her magic to call upon the tsunami wave ofva, her body had barely any energy left to resist, so she sumbed to the chains and des. At that point, the waves were already crashing down, and Nian gambled on theva destroying the explosives before it would reach her.

    However, all of them had underestimated Bu Dong. The young Pandawan threw the ball of mixed firecracker bomb like some athlete during the Olympics. Once both explosive boulders were in midair, the firecrackers started to pop and exploded on impact with the Nian. The resulting explosion might even track on the Pepper''s scale (although at only 1/10) and was enough to deflect the fallingva.

    As valiant as his effort was, it couldn''t help the team who was consumed by the iingva. Only instead of a ck or ''Game Over'', the spectators were greeted to the sight of five stone pirs emerging out of the pool of molten mess.

 Chapter 949 Volcanic Cavern - Final

    <h4>Chapter 949 Volcanic Cavern - Final</h4>

    There was a bright green barrier at the top of each of the stone pirs.

    "HAHAHHA, we are still alive!" Zi Dan triumphantly shouted after confirming that he wasn''t dreaming. There weren''t even any burn marks on him, in fact, he actually felt so rejuvenated as if he was a whole decade younger.

    Everyone else also felt the surge in power, and they all realised that only one person could be responsible for thisбк their beloved Panda Mercendary He.

    The tsunamiva wave was Nian''s way to try and turn the fight around if she ever found herself in a bad situation (or if her HP dropped to 10%). As long as they hired a NPC healer, the party had a good chance to survive this devastating effect.

    However, it was not an automatic guarantee. Should their NPC healer get battered by the constant need to heal throughout the boss fight, or in the case, they had failed to protect her it could mean an instant party wipe. One also needed to ount that thisrge barrier would leave He exhausted, so she might not have enough mana or emergency heals for thest part of the fight.

    Of course the above only applied in a ''normal'' dungeon run. Bu Dong''s party had done anything butply to the ''script'' Jin had nned ever since the Volcanic Caverns, so everyone had been able to scrape through the fight without incurring too much damage. Not to mention, He had been able to conserve enough mana to concentrate for arge area of effect heal with a defensive barrier.

    Then what about the parties who had gone in without He? Jin didn''t want to force his rmendations on anyone, so instead, he had created a special side quest. It would only pop up for those groups whocked any sort of healer, and after the Pandarenspleted it would be able to utilise a one time use inscription just for this dungeon. (Something simr to the dark talisman that the Pandawans had used in the Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance.)

    In those cases that the groups had one dedicated healer which was not the Panda Mercenary, the healers'' visor would show them that there was already a formation on the bottom of the hunting grounds which would help them defend against the tsunami. That, however, would definitely cripple and exhaust their healer for the rest of the fight, which would lead to its own problems.

    No matter what, Jin had set it up in a way that the parties would continue to the final stage where they would fight an enraged and cornered Nian. s, Bu Dong had ''gifted'' tworge boulders of explosives that had taken care of the existence of the Mother Nian before she ever had the chance to enter that phase. And thus, they miraculouslypleted the dungeon instance, making them the first party in the entire shop to do so.

    "Gosh, it''s been a long time since I heard that announcement. Gee, Boss Jin. Why are your dungeons getting harder!" Bu Dongined as he sat down on the ground and heaved out loudly.

    "So this is how it feels to get a first clear for a dungeon, eh? I have to say, I don''t feel very aplished...more like just relieved it''s over." Xia Mao sighed through the teamspeak channel.

    "Hahah, don''t worry that feeling wille soon enough after you watch your own dungeon rey. Nothing beats seeing yourself pulling off a dangerous move, barely escaping in the face of certain doom and the realisation that you were to one who achieved that." Bu Dong shared his thoughts based on his personal experience.

    "So doesn''t that mean we will be Pandawans now?" Zi Dan asked casually.

    "Heh! Do you really care about that? If so, you would be the first Pandawan who retired as soon as he gets the title." Xia Mao teased his friend while theva beneath subsided.

    "You never know! I mighte back just to y with you guys!" Zi Dan smiled as he had made asting memory none of them would ever forget. "We need to celebrate our titles tonight. Allow me to treat you guys to some good quality steamboat!"

    "You sure your son won''t mind us?" Jing Yu questioned.

    "Bah, I dare him to have the gall toin about me enjoying myst days here, when he''s the one who practically forced me to follow him! And don''t worry about expenses! I will pay for everything!"

    "Great, I have the bill for the gatling gun and its ammunition and the other stuff in my storage ring." Bu Dong eximed, and that was enough to keep Zi Dan mouth shut for a moment.

    "I''m kidding, kidding! Those are my own expenses that I''ve already ounted for before I bought them." Bu Dong teased Zi Dan as he did some stretches.

    "Then erm what are we waiting for? Do we have to go back to the vige to report or something?" Xia Mao yawned as he felt that he had enough excitement for one day.

    "The Nian must have been here a long while. Surely she must have hoarded some types of treasures. Let''s wait for theva to subside, then we might be able to retrieve whatever is still here." He suddenlymented, and the rest took it as a reminder that they still had to pick up their reward chest.

    And true enough, once theva dissipated, there was arge ckened chest on the bottom just waiting to be looted. The entire party went down to check it out and saw there were five palm imprints (one of which was obviously that of a panda) on the giant chest. They did not hesitate to put their hands on it, and they heard a click sound.

    Medal coins burst out from the chest like an erupting geyser and threatened to bury them underneath. Even new equipment could be found hidden in the sea of coins within the chest.

    It was the first time the Pandarens were showered with this much reward and partially understood why Bu Dong loved to get the first dungeon clear. It was not just the fame or title but also the satisfaction of being (so heavily) rewarded after a difficult battle.

    And upon closer inspection of the equipment, they noticed that it was actually exclusive Nian Costumes and essories. A full set for each and everyone (including He as her alternate skin)! Not only that, there was a mini Nian plushie with various poses for all four of them. Bu Dong had never seen any Nian plushies avable for sale indicating it was limited stock. (He was looking forward to rubbing that in Xiong Da''s face)

    "This is honestly my first plushie...and now I get why people are so crazy about them. The feelingбн?it''s just inexplicably good." Jing Yu said as she unconsciously hugged it tightly.

    "Don''t get too used to it, or you might develop a craving for more. I don''t even know when it started, but I suddenly found myself a proponent of getting all of these plushies. People thought I was weird at first, but if you collect enough of them, you will discover that there are some subtle differences between each and every one of these plushies."

    "The way you make it sound, it does indeed sound crazy weird. Hahahah!" Xia Maoughed as the group slowly gathered their loot and exited the dungeon instance to enjoy their rest in the Luxury Recovery Instance.

 Chapter 950 New Pandawans

    <h4>Chapter 950 New Pandawans</h4>

    Under normal circumstances, Jin would have personallye out to congratte anyone who achieved a first clear. However, his minion hotpot jumping has led to a ratherбн predictable oue.

    As a cultivator who had reached a high cultivation level, he was able to dispel any alcohol with ease given time. Yet each group had greeted him with different types of quality alcohol, and they had all been extremely generous when it came to filling his cup. The dungeon supplier didn''t want to seem ungrateful, so he epted every shot as a sign of respect for his minions until he became too inebriated to use that technique and eventually passed out.

    To make up for hisck of presence, the System awarded the newly promoted Pandawans with more medals than it would have otherwise done. It also created a post titled "Congrattions to the new Pandawans!" under Jin''s name, which instantly got upvoted by all his customers. (It also included a link for their adventure on Pandaflix)

    As part of their promotion, the three new Pandarens naturally got invited to join the exclusive Pandwan group chat. Bu Dong instantly introduced them and heavilyplimented their efforts in the Nian Dungeon Instance.

    "He gives us too much credit. If not for his nning and guts in battle, we might not have beat Nian, let alone achieved a first clear." Jing Yu stated humbly, but Xia Mao was already sending friendly emojis replying to Bu Dong''s messages.

    However, there was little activity within the Pandawan group at thiste hour(or early wee hours in the morning). The only exceptions were Yue Han and Yue Wen who had returned home and were now preparing for a trip up north to visit their grandparents.

    They were (mildly) shocked that Bu Dong was able toplete the dungeon this quickly after their earlier failure, but listening to Bu Dong''s highly unorthodox n, it made sense how they seeded. Yue Han and his sister congratted the new Pandawans and wondered if more would follow.

    "With Boss Jin adding an extra first clear for this instance, he might indeed n to increase the number of us. Assuming we stop taking all the first clears that is. I look forward to it. About time for some new blood toe on. Wee to the group chat!" Xiong Da greeted themter in the morning, and the newly ascended Pandawans were quite honoured to meet the legendary Pandawan, which Boss Jin promotes all the time.

    "Why do you all behave like he is some sort of superstar? I''m actually as good as him, if not better! " Bu Dongined while eating with the group in the Restaurant Train Instance.

    Since Zi Dan was about to leave in a couple of days, he didn''t see the need to hold on to his Panda Medals and had invited all of them to this feast. (They were all eventually too embarrassed to ept the invitation for the steamboat dinner and so Zi Dan decided to do this since it was thepany that matters.)

    "You sure you don''t wish toe for a few more games before you leave?" Xia Mao asked.

    "Well, this is the new year. I nned to visit some old friends before I move and one should leave on a high note, right? I doubt we''ll be able to one-up such a victorious dungeon run." Zi Dan reasoned which Xia Mao could not deny.

    "Heh, then I guess this will be ourst meeting then. A shame, I won''t be able to make it for tonight." Jing Yu sighed since she had agreed to attend a family reunion dinner with her rtives.

    "It will be awkward that I go to your house alone. As you said, after such a win, and with the yummy food, this is a great way to say goodbye." Xia Mao said as he shook his friend''s hand, thanking him for the dungeon runs and his friendship.

    "You never know, perhaps when Boss Jin dominates the world with his dungeon instances, you guys will just be able to meet again in a shop instance." Bu Dong remarked casually, and the eldersughed.

    "Sure, as long as it''s Boss Jin''s dungeon, I will dlye and y." Zi Dan replied with a chuckle. "He just needs to implement something like that before I bite the dust. With me having to look out for my grandkid who knows how long that is! Hahaha."

    "Then you better tell Boss Jin, that he has to hurry. There''s a personal message where we can give him feedback, mostly about how we liked his dungeons, but we are also free to put in suggestions and such." Bu Dong replied.

    "Oh really? " Zi Dan asked with a light tone. "Hard to believe that something like an overseas dungeon instance connection or that sort of thing is possible."

    "True, it''s not possibleбн yet. But I have a feeling Boss Jin could find a way to make it feasible. Judging by his actions, he must have ns for expansion as well. In any case, he can''t exactly ignore the wishes of his veteran Pandawans no matter how far fetched it is. Although he will surely say that we are crazy or something! Hahah!" Bu Dong said in return.

    "Sure sounds far fetched. Still, it''s a nice thought that someone could connect the world through dungeon instances!" Xia Mao envisioned how connected the world would be.

    "Anyways, thank you for the wonderful meal. I shall be going off first." Bu Dong excused himself as he felt the elders might have some more things to say to each other.

    He finally had the time to explore the Panda Street Instance, and he already had a few agendas in his head such as checking out the hidden Mecha store that the sub forums of the Supa Robot Wars were talking about.

    If he could not find it, there was always the Bamboozled Bar Instance which people were raving on. Andst but not least, he needed to redecorate his hideout with his new Nian event medal.

    Overall, he and the Elder Pandawans literally had a st of a time with this new format of dungeon instance.

 Chapter 951 Lai FuтАЩs Investmen

    <h4>Chapter 951 Lai Fuбпs Investmen</h4>

    Everyone knew that the main attraction was the Dungeons and Pandas dungeon supplier shop at the top, but the lower floors satisfied the locals sufficiently. From their local fast food restaurant to an arcade, to a general store, there was more than enough variety for anyone to find something worthwhile.

    Lai Fu had at first just purchased the normal expansion which Jin and Qiu Yue had packaged for the current store owners which lead to the creation of his Offshore Sea Store. However, after experimenting a bit with it, and finding tremendous sess, he had decided to put his faith in Jin and invested in thendlord''s dungeon expansion package because of the generous insurance he finally received.

    From a mini-mart that sold a variety of food supplies and essential household hardware, his shop had turned into a mega general store that could handle all the needs of the people. As his store instance featured something like a harbour port, ships simr to the size of aircraft carriers came to dock right beside the port to sell his goods. (With the new event that featured the heavily decorated ship which Jin used, Lai Fu wanted to purchase such a skin for his shop instance.) That''s not all! Boss Lai Fu even subscribed to the Pandafull Delivery which featured same day delivery for the local province if they decided to order via the Pandamonium App.

    With Pandarens'' exclusive ess and asional discounts at intervals managed by the System, Lai Fu was guaranteed to sell his stock away without any trouble, allowing him to bring in a variety of items. Though he did think of expanding to existing delivery services and online shopping tforms, Jin''s Pandamonium App had made it all toozy for him and the other Instance Owners.

    He had no idea how the delivery men and women managed it all, but Lai Fu knew that not a single customerined about it. All he had were five star reviews about the delivery system, and it was so much so that it made it seemed as if bots were spamming it. The delivery service subscription and instance expansion had been one of the best things he''d ever invested in. And with growth, it was only natural that he had to hire more NPCs to help him, especially the Deep Ones who sailed ships of supplies and handled the cargo.

    Tip them once in a while with some real Yuan, and they immediately go bonkers, assisting Lai Fu and his human employees with even mundane tasks.

    Lai Fu certainly wasn''t the only case though. The same applied to the other shop owner in the Tree Mall. All store owners had purchased NPCs and Jin''s minions to handle their stores, even asking for extra for the Chinese New Year Holiday. (They did have toe back and settle certain administrative issues like managing the day''s profit.)

    Some food store owners had evenpletely handed the reins of the stalls to Jin''s minions.

    This was a weed opportunity for the ''lesspetent'' penguins and other Giant World Tribe minions to try their luck and skills in handling a store. With the increase of worker, the criteria for directly working in Lynn''s kitchen had gotten stricter and stricter with each passing day. They saw it as a way to polish their skills for the monthlypetition that Lynn was hosting to check the next month''s rotation of workers.

    Jin was okay with the owners taking a break during the holidays, but he wanted them to know that this was the exception and not the norm. The dungeon supplier had therefore added an amendment to the contract stating that after a certain number of days of absence, excluding the proof of medical leave, he would take an increasing amount ofmission from the profits they earned which only increased for every day they didn''t show up.

    It served as a good reminder for them as well as the other Instance Owners that it was ''their'' store to handle. If Jin''s minions were the only ones doing all the work, then why should he allow them to continue existing?

    ---------------

    "To think that I have to personallye to get him to see fatherбн Argh, Jin sometimes you really get on my nerves!" Tiger Princess Yang Ling thought to herself as she entered that infamously popr Tree Mall.

    She did not bother to take the elevator or stairs and instead opted to use her ''qigong'' to jump to the top. While real qi gong required even more finesse in Chi, the Tree Mall was designed in such a way that jumping with high strides along the Giant Panda Statue in the middle of it all make it easy to practice for it. She had always wanted to do this after improving her Gearbox Tech into something more of a simple attachment than a clumpy suit of metal.

    Her Gearbox Tech had been highly sought after by various roboticspanies from other countries, including Japan, US and the European Union after the initial round of promotion that showed them the potential of her product.

    The product she was currently wearing was the result of all the brains that hade together. Using the prototype Jin had gifted Yang Ling as the basis of their study they had managed to create their own improved prototype model from it.

    Initially, they had nned to reverse engineer Jin''s model and replicate it. However, after dozens of tests, they could not determine all the materials Jin''s version has used. It seemed as if he was using some unknown materials, so their best guess was that it was some sort of manufacturing secret created by mixing some items in certainbination resulting in such a strong, sturdy product.

    Unable to go with Option A, they had adapted their n and put their focus on increasing the efficiency and reducing the bulky size. With her long coat, it was impossible to tell that Yang Ling wasn''t using her own legs to walk and jump around.

    Yang Ling''s agenda for today was not just to fulfil her father''s request but to also learn more of this secretbination that the dungeon supplier had used for his prototype. Because of this ''minor'' obstacle, they were unable to mass-produce the Gearbox Tech in huge quantities since the cost of the materials required to emte them was too expensive for the average consumer.

    Still, due to this endeavour, Yang Ling was looked upon once more, and it had led to a more favourable rtionship with her father. (Though she believed it was mainly because of the generous grant money that started to pour in because of the development of her Gearbox technology) But besides all the business issues, there was one thing that still lingered in her head.

    She wanted to earn Jin''s acknowledgement.

    Yang Ling had made it this far because of him, and for some reason, she wanted him to be proud of her. If not for Jin, it might have taken decades before she would be able to walk to this degree. If not for him, Yang Ling would not have gained so much attention that even brought internationalpanies to their door front.

    Her gratitude towards him was boundlessбн unfortunately the Panda Boss did not seem quite as appreciative of her. The Tiger Princess was in for a challenge if she wanted to get him to pay a visit to her father.

 Chapter 952 Reports of the Loopa Ooofpa

    <h4>Chapter 952 Reports of the Loopa Ooofpa</h4>

    "He is currently not avable. Sorry, dear." Yun politely declined Yang Ling''s request to see Jin.

    "Howe? My spaw- бн erm colleagues happened to see him walking around the Panda Street Instances talking with somebody else earlier. They were even nice enough to send me some pictures as evidence. Are you telling me that Jin is just a body double? Part of the dungeon instance? If so, where is the real one now?" Yang Ling asked as she opened her phone and showed it to Yun.

    There were numerous pictures of Jin taken by the Tiger Triad with his face visible and in different locations. With so much assurance at hand, Yang Ling had made time in her usually busy day to invite the young dungeon supplier for a private lunch meeting herself even though her father could have easily sent out his administrative team to do so. While her father Tiger Lord Hu Yuan Ba wanted to deepen their cordial rtionship, Yang Ling had her own reasons to meet Jin.

    Both political and personal reasons.

    Only a few in the upper echelons knew that a small-time dungeon supplier had significantly contributed to the defence of the border wall by sharing his portal technology. Still, even fewer knew that the very same Jin had personally gone out to defeat the Loopa Ooofpa with the State Agent''s ''help''. Especially when the State Agents concerned were one of the top agents the State Agency ever had.

    Having to rely on external help was quite the humiliation for the Royal Zodiac Tiger and Snake toons who on top of that had a difficult time holding the wall. Their only saving grace was that considering the fate of the Royal Horse Army Battalion, they could still be deemed lucky.

    In the aftermath, Grandma Yuan had filed her report stating the Loopa Ooofpa she fought had been many times tougher than the one she had encountered during the World War. The Banned Emperor Faction had clearly ced quite a lot of emphasis mutating it and caused it to be nearly indestructible.

    The Royal Zodiac Monkey n, as the only n allowed to research the so-called forbidden techniques (with lots of restraints and red tapes of course), used the new samples andpared them with ones they had left from the first monster. Withpelling evidences, they reluctantly concurred with Grandma Yuan that they indeed had it easy losing just a Royal toon. However, it would require additional research to find out how exactly the Banned Emperor Faction had managed to further strengthen their summon.

    The Royal Monkey Researchers'' official report read that it was nothing short of a miracle that the army managed to defeat those two Loopa Ooofpas in record time with the minimum military manpower. Simtion upon simtions had been run based on the numbers of forces in close proximity that could have been deployed, and the result was devatstating. It was analysed that Loopa Ooofpas would have easily destroyed the entire Shenzhen province and Hong Kong before they could have been stopped. (And that''s just the best case scenario.)

    The collective simtions dictated that they would have needed to respond to the threat with at least half of the nation''s military power while losing certain cities to ensure they would have enough time to set up the attacks as exined by Grandma Yuan.

    And to make things worse, thest surge of evolution where the Loopa Ooofpa had fused with the human summoner was something that the Royal Monkey Researchers had been unable to ''solve'' in the simtion. It kept giving an error stating that there was no way the nation would survive. One of the researchers tried to key in numbers for the sake of it, and he dered that the forces needed will require a massive joint operation that could endanger not only China but the surrounding nations too.

    The researchers were baffled that the Banned Emperor''s terrorist faction had gone beyond the word forbidden and create such a harbinger. No matter how they calcted, it all led to the very same conclusion. To create a magical gate simr to Jin''s and banish the monster to abyssal oblivion. Still, that was easier said than done. Even when contacted with the esteemed mages of the Western equivalent of Grade 18 and 19s, they had no idea how someone could teleport the Loopa Ooofpa into somewhere foreign. Some even theorised it might have been sent to space and there might be a chance it will return to have its revenge.

    Even by deploying nuclear bombs, the simtion gave an error that itcked the necessary data to determine if it would have been enough or if the Loopa Ooofpa could have been immune to it, especially the enhanced version. This only further solidified the fact that without Jin and his team of extraordinary cultivators, they would not have brought it down.

    Nevertheless, the State Agents had ced down a gag order to ensure that Jin was not harassed on a daily basis. Kong Rong had done his best to ensure that Jin''s whereabouts were kept out of the database for a period of time, but there was only so much he could do. There had been other people snooping in the database right before he could ce the gag order in.

    Not to mention with the portals being linked to Jin, it was impossible to remove him entirely from the data. However, it was all for nought when they realised that Jin was nowhere to be found. But this time, there wasn''t an excuse for him to run away since Jin had been seen in public in his very own dungeon instance.

    "I can bring you to him, but you have to understand that he really is in no shape for any discussion." Yun sighed as she shook her head in dismay after she saw all the ''incriminating'' pictures of Jin on the Tiger Princess'' phone.

    "Yes, please! I insist on speaking to him. I will do anything I can to make sure that he will talk to me!" Yang Ling was adamant about bringing Jin to see her father. Whatever Jin needed, be it money, power or privilege, she would find a way to fulfil his wishes.

    Now that it was just a matter of time that it becamemon knowledge that Jin was a secret powerhouse to the point that even the State Agents gave him special treatment, it was best to get him on the Tiger n''s side before the other ns could wrap him around their little fingers.

    s, if her sources were to be trusted, it might already be a bitte for that. Apart from the photos of Jin being out in public, she had been informed that the Royal Snake General, as well as Grandma Yuan, hade to his shop on Chinese New Year Eveбн and that was hours before the emergence of Jin''s public appearance.

    Yang Ling could only imply that these two VIPs had visited Jin on a personal tie basis and even ate reunion dinner with him. She was not even invited to eat with him! (Imagine how hurt she felt when she heard about it!)

    Yang Ling believed they could have done better in keeping close ties with this extraordinary dungeon supplier, especially after she had found out how Jin had been pressured into using his portal technology for themon good. Still, one of the major mistakes they made in the Tiger Princess'' opinion was to not allow their police to coborate with the Snakes for thetest Raid Instance.

    They thought it would be a waste of time, but the Snakes had boasted about how extremely useful they found it. There were quite a number of tactical moves they had managed to try on arge scale basis which they sessfully used in the defence against the Loopa Ooofpa''s Bone Spirit infused demons. Even San Ya Bai, the Tiger General, who saw it first hand could not deny that.

    It was of the utmost importance that Yang Ling would regain Jin''s trust to work with them in spite of all the prideful mistakes they had made before realising his importance. She had personally vowed to get Jin to have dinner with them at the very least. This would no doubt boost the Tiger''s rtionship with the dungeon supplier before any other ns.

    For now, they were unaware that Jin had just recruited the Dragon n''s heir into his service so, the Dragons and Snakes already had a head start.

    "Alright, but only because you can be called his acquaintance. Don''t me me if you fail to make him respond to you though." Yun sighed, but Yang Ling believed Jin would not be so cold-hearted to ignore herбн

    She was about to find out how wrong she was.

 Chapter 953 Off The Rails

    <h4>Chapter 953 Off The Rails</h4>

    Since the Tiger Princess had yet to be appointed as an ''associate'' by Jin like Ke Loong and she obviously wasn''t part of the System, Yun did not use a portal to bring her to him in a matter of seconds.

    Instead, she gently told one of the Pandas to keep the ce in check while she brought her "esteemed" guest to meet Jin. It surprised Yang Ling that she was led out of the Shop Instance, but she merely thought they would go somewhere more secretive. Perhaps a secret instance within the Tree Mall or a hidden physical room.

    But no.

    When they were out of Dungeons and Pandas, Yun thoroughly inspected Yang Ling for a moment and her surroundings. "Cough! Please call off the guards who are on standby further away. We do not want any more disturbance since people are already looking at us." Yun requested since people were indeed looking at them.

    After all, the sight of two beautifuldies was quite eye-catching. Everyone who had visited the dungeon supplier shop knew who Yun was, and she had her own fanbase amongst customers. While Yang Ling had used some make-up to make it less obvious who she was, it still didn''t hide her beauty.

    "We attract enough attention as it is." Yun pointed out as her eyes scanned intrusively at the Tiger Princess'' entire outfit, and Yang Ling blushed a bit.

    "It''s the new year! Of course, I have to wear new clothes!" Yang Ling tried to justify her change of attire. Her long coat was to hide her Gearbox, but her dress beneath was a piece of work that was screaming to be revealed.

    "Heh. But it is not just new clothes that you are wearing" Yunmented as she stared further down and looked at her chest.

    "What?! Erm no?!" Yang Ling quickly tightened her long coat to cover herself, thinking that Yun was implying something more sensitive.

    "Hmm? I was referring to your new Gearbox. You are able to hide it seamlessly without any budge or protruding pieces. Not only that, but your movements seem more refined. I assume you did not just improve the attachments, but you had intensive physiotherapy as well. You must have put a lot of effort into it. Well done, girl. Not many have the will to survive after what had happened to you." Yun rified as she folded her arms but nodded her head in approval.

    "I ...yeah. Thank you for noticing." Yang Ling felt even more embarrassed.

    "So is it safe to assume you''ve also regained some of your cultivation grade back?" Yun questioned, and she nodded her head profusely. The Tiger Princess willingly portrayed her cultivation in a short radius to ensure that the others did not get hurt by the imposing aura. Without the appearance of the tiger silhouettes, Yun could already gauge what grade she was. However,pared to Kraft, she had much to learn when that old fox could literally smell one''s cultivation grade out with a long sniff. The System had been trying to emte that kind of ability with its own circuit systems, but when Jin was out of the shop, its capabilities still dropped significantly.

    "Congrattions. I hope your health continues to improve." Yun nodded her head gently once again as she grabbed onto Yang Ling''s hand. "With this being the case, let''s have some fun." Her actions caused the guards monitoring Yang Ling to panic momentarily. Yet, before they could react, Yun and Yang Ling were already running towards the edge of the garden.

    The Tiger Princess'' heart was pumping furiously because they were closing in on to the ss railings. Yun had taken a stance indicating she was ready to jump and Yang Ling was too perplexed to react. She had the same look as her guards practically screaming. "Is she kidding?!"

    Right as she jumped, Yun turned and held the Tiger Princess by her thighs. Yang Ling was excessively dazed to resist when she suddenly found herself soaring through the skies along with Yun.

    "Hiiiiiii!" Yang Ling grabbed on to Yun tightly in fear of falling even when she realised what the most beautiful employee under Jin had done. Yun''s actions were too sudden for the Tiger Princess to mentally prepare herself, making her forget that she could use her Qigong andnd with the aid of her Gearbox Tech.

    Yun had a wide grin painted on her face as they were falling down. "That is how you run away from your personal guards," Yun whispered to the screaming girl in her embrace, since she found the extras very annoying. She trusted Yang Ling to not share the location, but the same could not be said about her guards. (However, Yun also knew that they could still find where Jin lives with just a bit of digging through his records. Or maybe they already knew since they did stalk him previously. Nevertheless, she will do whatever it takes to keep his ce secret as much as possible.)

    "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! I could have just waved them away!" Yang Ling replied angrily when she finally opened her eyes and saw where they were headed.

    Yun didn''t stop. Shended on an outlying tree branch before using her momentum to jump again. It was as if thatnding was practised for some time, and she always wanted to use it.

    Soon, they were jumping over rooftops and heading through alleyways to lose the guards, all while Yun continued to hold on to the Tiger Princess. Only after they lost sight of the guards did she let Yang Ling down and they ran towards Jin''s terrace house.

    Eventually, Yang Ling started panting, and Yun asked if she had fun. "You do know that they can track my phone ande to me in a matter of minutes, right? I honestly did not expect that from you, Yun!"

    Yun had her back towards Yang Ling and subsequently replied. "Because I am Jin."

    That voice was sufficient for the Tiger Princess to be stunned once more until Yun turned her head and snickered softly with her phone out and there was an audio clip paused. "Fooled you again."

    "Hah! Very funny! I honestly did not expect you to be this rxed! You have always been someone very strict and demure." Yang Ling said. She took her phone out and messaged her Lead Bodyguard to stand down and stop the search. Immediately, the phone rang, and Yang Ling exined her situation that thepany she was with could be trusted.

    "There is no need to worry. Just give me 10 minutes and do not crowd the neighbourhood." Yang Ling ordered and hung the phone up.

    "It would be a miracle if 10 minutes is all you need." Yun giggled, as she opened the front gates with her phone as well as a thumbprint for the front gate.

    "What do you mean?" Yang Ling was getting more and more suspicious about Yun''s behaviour. But the System''s assistant was stating the truth all along.

    "Oh? Hey Yun! Why did you use the - Is that Yang Ling?" Lynn heard the front door opening, which was a raremotion to happen in a house where everyone always appeared out of thin air.

    "Happy Chinese New Year to you!" Yang Ling said as she took out a few items from her storage ring. She had prepared entire bags filled with Chinese New Year snack goodies.

    "Happy New Year to you too! What brings you here this early in the morning?" Lynn asked as she told the Tiger Princess to give her a moment to wash her hands before she gave her a proper handshake as a greeting.

    "I was actually looking for Jin. Yun kept saying he is currently unavable, but she agreed to lead me to him." Yang Ling replied as she passed the goodies to Lynn.

    "Ohбн You will understand once you see him. It would be great if you can talk with him, but if that''s not possible, I can prepare a light breakfast snack for you. I was cooking some pancakes just now. You''re more than wee to try a few. It never hurts getting a different opinion on my cooking." Lynn offered as she wanted to thank Yang Ling for the gifts.

    "Are you sure we should allow her to go up to Jin''s room? That''s awfully kind of you." Yunmunicated to Lynn through the system channel.

    "I trust you will be there to stop her if she does anything pesky. Your breakfast is at stake." Lynn answered with a serious face.

    "Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if Jin had not taken you in." Yun nodded with a resigned grin and beckoned the Tiger Princess up the stairs once again.

 Chapter 954 Contamination?!

    <h4>Chapter 954 Contamination?!</h4>

    Yang Ling followed Yun to the second floor. There were customised signs on each door they passed through, giving her a sort of idea who was staying in which room. While she was not very familiar with Jin''s employees, she considered it kind of him to offer his house to them as their lodging. However, she did notice that there was something that seemed off about the ce.

    "Ah, that look on your face. I can roughly guess what it is." Yun said as they stopped in front of the room with a small panda sign. "Our house is instance-based. That is how we have been living for the past few months ever since Jin started to get serious with his Dungeon Supplying skills. You could call it our test version of the dungeon supplier store."

    "Mmm yeah, I noticed that there were way too many rooms squeezed in the second floor when the first floor was not as spacious. It now makes more sense to know that he has been using dimensional instances to live in it. But won''t it be taxing on the electrical bills? I know the server maintenance is rather expensive."

    "True it would be quite expensive if we would have used conventional electricity as the only power source. Did you know that Dungeon Supplying in the olden days relied on chi by using relics as a sort of predecessor to modern batteries?" Yun asked as they continued to talk in the walkway instead of entering Jin''s room.

    Yang Ling found it weird, but it would have been impolite to barge into Jin''s room, especially without knocking, so she humoured Yun. "In other words, you have found one of those relics and made it work for you? Wait, does that mean you''re also using a relic for your shop?"

    "Hmmm, in a way, yes. I hope we can trust you to go babble this out to people. Of course, that includes the location of this house and anything you will see in here. After all, you are the first visitor we have allowed here in recent months." Yun stressed the need for secrecy. However, no matter how sincere Yun made it sound, Yang Ling''s knew based on her sources that the Royal Snake Army''s General had been visiting Jin in the past. The real question was whether Yun tried to hide the factбн or if he was not considered a visitor but a close friend as she feared?

    "бн I understand." Yang Ling nodded her head, and that was when Yun smiled a little before she turned and opened a cupboard that was right beside Jin''s room. From the cupboard, she took out a ratherrge suitcase and passed it to the Tiger Princess.

    "What is this for?" Yang Ling questioned, and with a light kick from Yun, the suitcase opened up and revealed a series of sealed ziplock bags.

    "Wear this before you go in. It''s for your own safety." Yun exined as she took another suitcase out from the cupboard before closing it. She did the same by kicking it andter ripped open the ziplock bags to unveil a ck and yellow contamination suit.

    Yang Ling was stunned beyond belief.

    Why would she need a contamination suit to meet Jin? Was he undergoing some chemical treatment or something that was dangerous for anyone toe in? She remembered him getting injured in the battle to defend the Border Walls but if he has yet to recover then why would he go around meeting other people?

    Could it be the Jin her sources saw was just an illusion or indeed a body double? After all, the Dungeon Instances Jin had made had always been very convincing to people. He could have previously set a timer to push this update before the defence raid, and if he was still injured, he could have time to recover slowly.

    "Well, if you want to go in without a suit, it''s your choice. But I really rmend you wear it. The suit is made so that you do not need to take off your clothing at all. Just ermбн perhaps a little tight at the crotch area for you since you are wearing a dress." Yun said as she was already halfway into the suit before zipping it up.

    "Alternatively I can offer to put you into contamination bubble ball instead. You will practically be like a hamster in a stic toy ball. You won''t have to wear any of this at all." As she described it, the thought of seeing the Tiger Princess like that seemed hrious. She recalled Peppers and Milk testing the product out, and they used it to fight against each other. (Although from her perspective it was clear the two of them had a lot of fun.)

    "Why do I have to do this? Is he sick or injured in some way?" Yang Ling questioned as she felt that perhaps today might not be the perfect time to invite him. No doubt she would be scolded by her parents but at least that would better option than endangering Jin in any way because of her presence. Not to mention if they forced him to visit them it would only serve to put further strain on the rocky rtionship between the two parties.

    бн Unless Jin was doing all of this in preparation to avoid her. "No no no. He would not do so many silly things just to push me away." Yang Ling believed she was overthinking things.

    "On second thought, let''s just go with the contamination ball. I expect you to not stay there long anyway." Yun wanted her curiosity to be sated and see how the ever so formal Tiger Princess handled the situation. She ced the contamination helmet down for a while and took back the suitcase which Yang Ling had barely touched. Then, she retrieved another suitcase from the cupboard beside her and requested Yang Ling to hold it.

    "It will open the moment you pass the door. Don''t worry. I will give you a push if you start." Yun said as she now ced the contamination helmet on her and with a click, it sealed the suit up ensuring nothing could go through. A button was pressed right beside her left shoulder, and the air venttor machine attached to her suit was started to whizz to life.

    Yun quickly beckoned Yang Ling to stay at the front of the door, and the Tiger Princess'' heart began to pump faster. Despite her repeated question about what awaited her, Yun insisted that it would be easier to see for herself.

    She had no choice but to continue as it is. "Here we go," Yun warned her as she ced her palm on the door and Yang Ling stared with much intensity. It looked as if it was somewhat difficult to be pushed open as Yun continued to press forward.

    Eventually, she saw some liquid oozing out of the sides of the room, and that was when Yun reached over Yang Ling''s suitcase and pressed a button, causing it to vibrate.

    "Hold tight!" Yun advised and pushed the door harder while internally calling the System to raise the barriers in case of an overflow. (Though judging by the oozing of liquid from the side, it was already overflowing.)

    With a quick burst of chi, the door swirled open, and all the Tiger Princess could see was a wave of darknessing towards her.

 Chapter 955 Sludge Overflow

    <h4>Chapter 955 Sludge Overflow</h4>

    A sudden gush of liquid sludge flowed out of the room and as if the suitcase that Yang Ling was holding on immediately sensed the iing danger. To protect its owner, the suitcase instantly activated and it inted outwards, slowing enveloping the Tiger Princess as she was too surprised by the turn of events that she stood there motionlessly.

    All she could do was to hold the sides of the suitcase while the stic sheets wrapped around her and injecting air with a kind of reverse osmosis technique. Thus the sheets slowly got rounder, and automatically sealing the edges, turning it into a stic air bubble ball that shielded her before any bit of Jin''s sludge touched her beautiful dress beneath her long coat. In the meantime, the System had already erected barriers to stop the sludge from dirtying the rest of the second floor.

    "What is this?!" This was the first time Yang Ling saw the ck slimy liquid. On the other hand, all of Jin''s colleagues had grown ustomed to it. Yun kept quiet and pushed the air bubble ball. It waspressible to a certain extent allowing Yun to move the ball into the room as the System had already created bigger vents to drain the sludge away.

    From the looks of it, Jin had no immediate ns to stop with the production of dark sludge. And because he was drunk, the sludge was even more watery than usual. Yun grumbled in her mind that she''d prefer collecting those crystals sludges rather than this current version. Yun prayed that introducing a new stimulus like Yang Ling could hopefully wake him up.

    However, the System did not share Yun''s point of view. It was delighted that the quality of sludge had increased once more and the viscous state made it even easier to maniptepared to the previous iteration. It did not interfere with Yun''s attempt to wake Jin up because based on the current sludge generation, it was impossible.

    "Where is all this dirty watering from?" Yang Lingined as she was shocked to see that Jin''s room was practically empty and he was in the middle of it all, strapped tight on the floor unable to move.

    "Our dear Panda Boss man is producing it. This is basically a by-product of his particr cultivation." Yun said as she continued to push the ball into the room and ced her at the corner where she could watch Jin continuously produce the sludge from his body. It was not crystal clear, but it was obvious enough.

    "By-product?! I mean I heard of people releasing by-products to remove the waste in their body but isn''t this a bit too much for a by-product?!" Yang Ling asked and noticed that Jin was sleeping extremely soundly.

    "Usually it''s not as bad, but I''ve also never seen hime home so dead drunk like after yesterday''s bout of drinking." Yun chuckled as she waddled into the middle and kicked him at the side. The reverberation of her kick showed Yang Ling that this ''love tap'' had a lot of power in it, yet the watery sludge seemed to absorb it, protecting Jin''s sleep.

    Looking at the situation, it was clear that there was nothing Yang Ling could do to wake him up, so she resigned to her fate. "You could have just told me he was dead drunk!"

    "Did you forget that I told you he ''really is in no shape for any discussion''? Besides if I''ve told you, he was dead drunk, would you have believed me? You followed me all the way here because you needed to see it for yourself. I bet you thought he was just avoiding you like the others..." Yun replied.

    "Iбн You are right." Yang Ling sighed in defeat. Yun had hit the nail on the head. Even up until they were right before his room, she entertained the thought that this was some kind of ruse to get rid of her. Only after seeing Jin''s state for herself did she acknowledge that there really was nothing she could do to wake him up.

    "So, showing you his drunken state was the best option. I can leave you two alone, but he showed no reactions when any of us tried to talk with him." Yun offered her. Yang Ling tried her luck, but unsurprisingly to no avail. Yun then grabbed a stic handle of the air bubble ball and started pulling her out of the room.

    The System eventually shut Jin''s door from the inside and the vents slowly drained out the remaining sludge in the second floor corridor. With another press of a button, showerheads appeared, and strong sts of water sprayed the two of them, cleaning them as much as possible. After which, a gust of warm air blew the corridor drying the area almost immediately like magic. (All Yang Ling had to do was to stay in the bubble ball until the contamination suit were

    That was when Yun removed her decontamination suit and assisted Yang Ling out of the stic air bubble ball. "Breakfast is ready!" Lynn shouted from below and beckoned Yang Ling to join them.

    "You knew that this would happen?" Yang Ling queried as she sat at the dining table and took a whiff of the magnificent food made out of high-quality fresh produce.

    "More or less." Lynn smiled without saying more. "Enjoy your meal. Don''t worry, we will forward the message that the Tiger Princess was looking for Boss man."

    "Urgh, you don''t understand. I''ve promised my father I''d bring him no matter what. He will kill me if Ie back empty handed." Yang Ling shuddered for a moment when Lynn proposed to help. "Lynn, how about at least youe. I bet my family n would not mind if I at least show up with some of Jin''s people. I think that would entice him toe to my ce."

    "You just do not want the misunderstanding of your family that you might like Jin?" Lynn questioned as she knew that this Tiger Princess could possibly be a hidden factor for her chase to get Jin for herself.

    "What? No! Though I admit I ''ve been smitten once or twice by Jinбн but that is because I did not expect someone to be so magnanimous! I''m used to people either fearing me or trying to exploit my position. He''s been the only one who really did not seem to care and treated me like a normal person and not just ''the crippled Tiger Princess'' " Yang Ling retorted. "I only want to reach some mutual understanding about work with him. I feel he deserves that much at least."

    "But your father does not seem to have that intention. And you are rejecting it outright." Yun argued back, and Yang Ling''s ears suddenly turned red as she nearly choked on her food.

    "I meanбн I do not mind trying him иC I erm mean I do not mind having a closer friendship with him!" Yang Ling rebutted quickly. "There are a lot of things that we can do -erm as in a working rtionship capacity." She flustered once more, and the words were noting out right.

    Lynn chuckled at Yang Ling''s dishonest honesty and sometimes wondered if Jin knew that the way he helped people might actually have an effect on them. "Although I believe now that we are in this terrace house instance, I am not surprised that the System tried to influence her." Lynn thought to herself as she vowed once again to up her game this year.

    But for now, having enemies closer than friends was one way to learn what Jin could potentially like.

 Chapter 956 Dead Drunk

    <h4>Chapter 956 Dead Drunk</h4>

    "Bloop Bloop BNSADJNSAJIODNASODGAAA~!"

    "What is User doing?" The System questioned as it opened the vents within Jin''s room once more to slowly drain the massive amount of sludge which has umted.

    "GAHHH!!! I thought I was gonna die for a second there!" Jin, who had just woken up in a panic, panted and spit out some of the sludge that had gotten in his mouth. He coughed some more and just hoped that he didn''t swallow any of it while asleep... or in case he did, that it might get it out of his system naturally. He looked around and noticed that it was his room. He had purposely refurbished it such that there were two sets of dimensional instances. One was his own room with his personal effects and the other with proper vents and drains so that the System was able to clear the space as quickly as possible when needed after his ''cultivation''.

    "User was doing just fine breathing through the sludge the entire time he''s been unconscious. System has taken the liberty to lock User into timepression for a speedier recovery." The System brought him up to speed.

    "How long was I out? Officially and unofficially." Jin asked. No matter how often he was told that time was mendable by the System it was still hard to believe. Not to mention, it also messed with his sense of time, and he sometimes had to rely on his storage watch, which was now synchronised with his phone to get the timing. In a way, his living armour tes which made up a bulk of his storage watch had been revitalised after being in contact with the new tes when transformed into System Rider. This gave the older tes better durability and malleability to change while powering the mini device that the System recreated to suit the functionality of a smartwatch.

    "On the outside, only 3 hours had passed. However, in here User has been snoring for thest 72 hours and 23 minutes." The System answered.

    "Ok, in that case, good job. It would have led to many headaches if I was out for so long. Wait for a second, howe you used it to help me get sober, but not when I was recovering for the past two weeks?" Jin wondered. He could feel the restraints on him loosen, and he was able to move his body a little. However, unsurprisingly after ''three days'' of not moving, his body ached quite a bit.

    "Pei and the others had been transfusing blood to User on a bi-hourly basis to replenish your chi and mana. Such a delicate process should not be hastened as it might cause unforeseen problems. Most people would not be able to handle timepression and dtion well, presenting side effects. In fact, User is starting to form a sort of resistance to this method. Fortunately, this means that your body has developed an affinity to time magic. To a certain extent, at least." The System remarked.

    "Then what about those giant creatures we ''caught'' from the Giant World. We also use timepression on them, right?" Jin questioned as he went to his bathroom to wash his face and subsequently took out a water bottle from his storage watch to quench his thirst.

    "The ones used as food products are being closely watched. However, given the purpose of us rearing them, the most important factor is not their quality of life, but the quality and quantity of meat they provide User''s customers. Still, Ayse''s Research Team has a researcher look into the side effects of timepression to determine if thepression of time could be resisted by giving them a sort of anti-ageing food to slow the degeneration of the cells."

    "There is also another experimental project centred around Zither Mistress Ke Mi. Her music has proven to elerate time in a natural way when taking care of the seeds in the Jack''s instance. Another research team is looking into the effects of providing the food nurtured by her music to the animals." The System reported.

    "Then what about the timepression with Ke Mi''s music?"

    "Magical Treant Shu, as well as the Great White Snake, have been the ones most affected by being near Ke Mi for the past few months. Their stats are considerably higher, and their growth potential had to be revised twice already. Of course, given that their races get strong with age, they might be the exception and not the rule."

    "For example, some extra fine-tuning was required to ensure that the nts grew correctly. At first, some of them grew too fast, and the produce was not up to expectation, but generally, the results were satisfactory and have been in use ever since." The System remarked.

    "So what was that about me having an affinity with time magic?" Jin, who decided to shower, started to think about it. What if his encounter with Ryuli had something to do with him unconsciously using time magic which he had not known about. (Somehow, that thought came naturally.)

    Could it be some hidden power within the Astral Panda Cultivation which he did not know about? There was no mentioning of the time magic within the cultivation manual that Ming gave him but when had that dumb manual ever really helped him? It had always been Ming spoon-feeding him his training through his cultivation dreaming.

    "Oh yea, speaking of-" Suddenly the Old Fox appeared in his bathroom, and Jin let out a scream like a little girl who had noticed a peeping tom while taking a bath.

    "KYAAAAA~! WHY ARE U IN HERE?!" Jin shouted as he suddenly cringed into a ball like state. "Have you ever heard of something called PRIVACY?!"

    "What do you make such a fuss about? I''ve already seen your everything back in the hot springs. And Pei naturally saw you naked while performing your surgery. What is wrong with you? Besides, YOU HAVE A SHOWER CURTAIN." Kraft argued while pulling the curtain away, demonstrating his point.

    "Get out! Get out!" Jin''s cultivation activated in a panic, and arge Astral panda silhouette emerged from Jin. It pushed Kraft out of his bathroom even though the old Fox could have resisted it. He immediately pulled the curtain back and showered with anger while Kraft decided to entertain himself with the Astral Panda silhouette that Jin had produced.

    "Not bad. You can handle an astral projection simr to a chi summon like what Grandma Yuan did at your new grade." Kraft said as he scratched the Panda behind his ears and it graduallyid its head on hisp.

    "What did you want to say? It better be important enough for you to appear in person instead of using the System channel." Jin was still pissed, not sure whether it was the slight headache he had from all the heavy drinking or Kraft''s intolerable need to surprise his master.

    "As I was about to say, ''speaking of time magic'', I might have found a bit of clue why the Ryuli you met could possibly be the same Ryuli you met in your dreams," Kraft exined.

    "But?" Jin wore a towel around his waist and folded his arm, waiting for Kraft''s request. "You always have a condition attached to your answers, so spit it out!"

    "Hahaha! That I cannot deny and it makes me feel proud that I''ve managed to groom such a very understanding master." Kraft sniggered happily. "But no. In the spirit of the Chinese New Year, I shall hand you this information for free."

    "Impossible. If you don''t want anything from me, it must mean that this new information is going to make me squirm trying to exin to Ryuli how I got to know her. Just thinking about how she is my ''disciple'' from years back is starting to give me a headacheбн.assuming that your theory is true." Jin said with difficulty as he knew that time magic was something not to be tampered with especially after the time reversal that the System did.

    "You know me well enough, Master. Meh, even if you figured out my intentions, the good show is bound to happen, and I am looking forward to it. Speaking of a good show, your little Tigress came by earlier to see you." Kraft injected to see his reaction as part of his ''punishment'' of knowing him too well.

    "So what? I was dead drunk." Jin queried.

    "That didn''t stop Yun from showing her your body," Kraft said as he opened the Panda''s mouth and put his head in. The big Panda tried to bite down, but it didn''t work and yawned instead.

    "THEY WHAT?! Why will Yun even do that?" Jin started to feel embarrassed rather than concerned about how his cultivation stance had been exposed.

    Kraft rejoiced in that reaction and gave him selected bits and pieces of the story, knowing that either Lynn or Yun would provide the whole story eventually. But for now a bit of teasing before telling the Dungeon Supplier his theory on Jin''s encounter with young Ryuli.

 Chapter 957 Time Magic

    <h4>Chapter 957 Time Magic</h4>

    Regardless of the verbal assaults, Jin finally calmed down and questioned Kraft seriously on the matter.

    "What do you really know about the ce? Or the connection between Ryuli and myself?" Jin asked as his bedroom had transformed back to its normal appearance recing the locking cell that made Jin look as if he was entrapped to produce sludge. He was still embarrassed that Yun had allowed Yang Ling to see him in his most terrible state. (Perhaps, he should request the System to put a lock in case people woulde in and infiltrate the area. However, the System said that was unnessary since it could have already locked people out of the dimensional instance)

    "Honestly, there really is not much connection between Ryuli and you. No ''fated bond'' or anything like that like some reincarnated Romeo and Juliet. If you guys hadn''t met each other in that locked basement cell, you would probably have been like two strangers who passed each other on the street. Also, in hindsight, you could have just opened that locked basement with your chi and not give on anything to that child."

    "I ermбн in my defence, I assumed I was in a dream at that point of time. Without the System at my behest, it seemed like I was in a dreamscape like the one Grandpa put me in. For all I knew, it could have been one of his strange tests." Jin reasoned hoping that would excuse him for the folly he did. Kraft, however, sat on his chair, leaned back and extended his legs out without a care for his reasoning.

    "I see. Well, can''t fully me you, Old Ming does have a tendency to do what he wants. So you really were unable to call upon the System? Well, it would exin why the System did not have any information on her, no matter how I tried to probe it. And I tried hard. I thought it was some super secret weapon that the System was cultivating or maybe sending as a spy Betor. But no, that was not the case. Also, this is just my conclusion- Erm, the reason you did not have ess to it, would be that at that point in time, Ming should have been the System User." Kraft theorised.

    "The System kept reassuring me that it knew nothing, and even felt weird that I kept trying to ask about someone that it could not be found in the national database based on the information and description I gave- Huh?! HUH?!" Jin tried to recall how the System extracted information of the girl''s appearance without there being a match at all until Kraft gave his theory.

    "I don''t have a basis to prove it, just some Fox ramblings. In any case, it was a long stretch when I found her in the State Agent''s database. In fact, I managed to find her because of her blue hair since it stuck out in her portfolio. The database criteria are quite strict, so they won''t put a blue hair girl as part of their data if it does not match their actual origins if you get what I mean."

    "No...not really. Do you mean they need to have the original picture of the agent as a reference?"

    "Hmm, yeah something like that. Sometimes those agents go deep undercover for long periods of time by assuming a new identity. The database has to have some sort of system to ensure that only their actual person gets the original identity back, and not a spy from another country." Kraft exined.

    "Anyways, I''vee to tell you that I found out the abandoned temple that Old Birdy is using belonged to the Butterfly n, one that they used to practice their techniques and skills." Kraft finally revealed the information he was hiding for some time, stating that the temple Grandma Yuan used was no ordinary one.

    "So, what does that have to do with me and Ryuli?" Jin queried.

    "Have you already forgotten that our dear Kiyu was supposed to be the next n head of the Butterfly n? To put it simply, she uses chi to activate time magic. Not much on her end, since she didn''t exactly finish her training though enough to call her an adept. The Butterfly n was one of the few secret ns that held time magic as part of their skill repertoire."

    "Only time magic isn''t something so easily avable in this world. Although I suppose the same goes for other worlds." Kraft said and knocked on the table as if demanding an answer from somebody.

    "Time, in reality, is something that sentient beings invented to keep track of each passing day. It''s a concept rather than an element. But a concept also means that it can be repurposed into an element provided certain criteria were met. Thus time magic was created." The Systemmented, neither confirming nor denying the previous statement.

    "However, because it''s not just a concept that can be exined and recreated using ''mere science'', time is akin to a natural force of a higher tier. There are consequences for using it, which are impossible to predict and it could range from nothing to an apocalyptic catastrophe. Otherwise, the ck Market would be selling time magic as a product too."

    "Does everything have to do with money?" Jin asked with a sorry grin on his face.

    "Unfortunately it is. Last I checked, the Inter World ck Market was selling anything and everything. There are worlds, and even entire sr systems up for sale. Heck, there was even once a bidding war to own a universe. There was this one buyer who was selling the right to be a god. It''s really fucking scary. But as you can imagine the price itself is very outrageous. Not everything can be gained by mere Dungeon Dors. The higher tiered stuff uses the bartering system. I''m just warning you, in case you had any dream about bing a Panda God." Kraft smirked.

    "Unlike the official Interworld Market which is governed by a group of Grand Arch Wizards, the state of the ck Market is far more chaotic. You are very lucky to have not pissed off anyone toe to look after you because you purchased thest product of someone. And I honestly hope nothing like that will ever happen. Just a flick of a finger and you would be thrown into an abyss, and all your effort and experience won''t be able to save you."

    "Well, I have you and the System to save me, right?" Jin asked, and Kraft for once turned serious.

    "Do not ask something this ridiculous. Do you really expect an ant to stand up to a mammoth?" Kraft questioned in a dark deep tone. "If that ever happens, you are on your own. I will take this System for myself and shall pray for your soul."

    But just as Jin was about to absorb that piece of information, Kraft rxed in his seat and stretched backwards on the chair. "Though I don''t think you have much to worry about. Those types of people won''t even bother interfering with small fries like us. All the problems you encountered are nothing but mere child''s y in their eyes. Hell, they might even think we are just small pieces on a giant chessboard, that they would just y around with and go ''a shucks'' if they ever lose. Just concentrate being the number one dungeon supplier, heh."

    "Hahaбн alright." Jin gave him an awkward smile as he considered how powerful those people must be if even Kraftpared himself to an ant. Then again, might Kraft just be humble and actually be one of those superpowered entities he thought about?! (But of course, knowing his backstory, there was no way he was one of those people he described.)

    "Let''s get back to the topic at hand. In short, you might have been affected by the temple''s residual magic. Birdy must know how special this ce is. Why else do you think she chose to train her kiddos there. The asional slowing of time or even experiencing time magic will push those exorcist powers since Kiyu''s n used demon sacrifices as the source of their magic."

    "Whatбн?" Jin was taken aback by what Kraft said, and he never knew it was that dark.

    "Is that the reason why Kiyu never likes to use her powers?" Jin thought about it. He never really saw Kiyu as much of a fighter.

    "Find out yourself. You have an eternity to learn about us." Kraft smirked, and in the blink of an eye, just as he had appeared, he was gone, leaving Jin with more questions than answers.

 Chapter 958 Dish Washing

    <h4>Chapter 958 Dish Washing</h4>

    When Jin came down from the second floor, he noticed that there was some food left on the table. He could also sense the residue of Yang Ling''s chi within the room. "System, why is Yang Ling''s chi density so heavy in the house? Did Yang Ling have a fight with someone?" Jin asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

    Kraft had only told him that the Tiger Princess hade to see him, but nothing about her staying in the house. (A certain fox would argue, he also had not said anything about her not staying afterwards)

    "System had asked Chef Lynn to have a quick spar with Royal Zodiac Tiger Cultivator Yang Ling in order to showcase her new Gearbox suit. With the terrace house being under System''s control, it was a good opportunity to analyse the improved Gearbox suit." The System replied and opened up a screen console with a yback of the fight. "It certainly lived up to the expectation of her being a potential associate to increase our engineering capabilities. Even Rei had some difficulty improving the Gearbox Technology when System represented it to him."

    "It looks slicker than the prototype that we gave her. Did she manage to improve it even further than what you expected?" Jin questioned as he observed the two only engaging in hand to handbat. Still, that was quite the improvement for her physical state considering the Tiger Princess had been unable to walk previously. (Well, she did manage to have a stroll with Jin in his theme park, but he thought that the recovery was a little way too fast. The System could only assume she did high intensive therapies for recovery.)

    "I assume she must havee to talk with me about further funing it, so she can sell and armed their military dudes to improve their chances inbat. After the fight against the Banned Emperor Faction, I bet you can make good money with such an innovative upgrade." Jin surmised as the back of his mind, he wondered how the State Agents could benefit from this proposal.

    "Even if all Royal Zodiac Battalions would be outfitted with a Gearbox suit, they would still not be able to match cultivators with peak cultivation grades. All the major civilised countries have their very own special squad of Grade 18s and 19s as a deterrent factor and negotiation chip when ites to offensive powers." The System stated, indicating that the high grades had a major jump in offensive powers such as how a Grade 10 was vastly different from a Grade 9. Jin, on the other hand, did not feel much of a difference, saying that his opponents were always tough. (The System did poke him to make him realise that the bosses he fought were already a few grades higher than him which was normally impossible for standard cultivators to go against.)

    "But one man could only be able to do so much against a whole army. Even Peppersбнthough now that I mention it if given enough time she could likely just st an entire small country away and survive the tale." Jin added, recalling how Peppers literally attempted to st the entire region with her powers in the Giant World. Even if it was broken into several simultaneous sts, the area she had covered was undoubtedly impressive, and there was no need to second guess the destructiveness. As long as Ayse continued to help Peppers in her journey to find the best explosion, obliterating a country of increasing size was merely just a stepping stone.

    "Even if it might not help them per se, if those peak cultivators wereplemented with their highly strengthened colleagues, it will help in their cause too,"Jin argued. "Though I''d love to see them fight an army of Gunndams from the Mecha World. Speaking of which, remind me to ask Rei about the spaceship salvaging progress."

    While watching the closebat spar between Lynn and Yang Ling, Jin helped himself to the leftover food on the table. After which, he helped clean the area and washed the dishes even though they had an automated system dishwasher.

    Lynn treated cleaning as a sort of ''spiritual'' training, and she had infected everyone else in the house with her mindset. No matter how busy they were, they had to at least wash the dishes at home. (It''s not the same in the restaurant as shepromised, knowing the workload her penguins had to go through.)

    After one incident when Qiu Yue had just ced her dirty dishes in the dishwasher due to sheerziness and Lynn had about it, she literally threw the tes onto the Red Panda''s bed. Of course, the fight that ensued would have been worthy to be featured on the front page of Pandaflix.

    Ever since Lynn continued to insist that the entire family washed their tes. It was a reminder that they were blessed to have the System and should not take everything for granted.

    Meanwhile, Pei believed that it was a ''give and take'' kind of situation. The Chef had painstakingly prepared the food and cooked it. Since Lynn was the only person capable of producing such magnificent food on the table every night without fail, the rest, even Kraft had sumbed to the Chef''s wimps and washed the dishes.

    She did not care whether they used chi or some technique to wash it, the most important thing was they cleaned it themselves. Only to make things ''worse'', the System had introduced a cleanliness meter to detect how good a job they did. It activated as soon as they hung it on the dish rack. It was hrious and frustrating to watch Zeru who seemed to be perfect in everything being unable to get a perfect 10/10 mark from the System.

    Jin recalled these small little details as he cleaned and appreciated the new life the System had granted him. Without the System, he would have never be a Dungeon Supplier and instead would have pursued a different career. Could have just taken some administrative job in a bank dealing with software analysis and work overtime just to have a better meal at times. What''s more, he could be stuck all lonely in thisrge terrace house all by himself.

    "Or maybe, I could have just rented out the terrace house out and gotten myself a small apartment to stay in. That way I would earn extra cash while also working a 9-5 jobбн" Jin thought to himself as he was waiting for the System dish rack cleanliness rating to appear.

    "Why does User once again waste his time with these thoughts?" The System queried and yet again reminding Jin how the System could be intrusive to his thoughts.

    "I am d that I have you, but I just wanted to have a n B if you should ever disappear?"

    "Is User trying toe up with ways to get rid of the System? If User wishes, the System could instantly detach itself from User, and everything would cease." The System said.

    "EHhhhhhh." Jin was left speechless for a moment at the System''s ''threat''. What''s worse was that System was unresponsive for a momentбн but the very next there was a loud ''ting'' sound from the dish rack stating that the dishes were sufficiently clean. (6/10 on the scale, eptable.)

    "System has been joking. User shall continue in his position since he is the best host." The System replied, and Jin shook his head. "No matter what User does, he is stuck with the System until the end."

    "Then I might as well marry you, and you can have my babies instead." Jin noted sarcastically.

    "Technically speaking, the System can attempt to create given that there are sufficient DNA samples and soul resources." The reply from the System worried Jin.

    "However, the System still requires additional data such as attitude, behaviours and habits toplete a fully functional clone. Based on its centuries of interaction System has concluded that a clone without ws is impossible as of now. Please recruit even more minions or associates to aid in the clone''s creation." The System said, and Jin quickly sighed.

    "Come on, I was clearly joking." Jin sighed and pleaded with the System to not even try to entertain that idea. At that point, he could hear someone unlocking the main door and saw that Lynn and Yun were returning withughter in the air.

 Chapter 959 Going for New Year Visiting

    <h4>Chapter 959 Going for New Year Visiting</h4>

    When Jin looked at aughing Yun, he involuntarily thought of the clonement that the System had just made. "Isn''t Yun considered a clone in some way?" Jin questioned via his thoughts to the System.

    "System needed someone to act as User''s mentor to teach you the ways of the System at the start. Subject Yun was the ideal candidate since she was your mother. She does not really fit the definition of a clone. System would ssify her as a resurrection that went wrong."

    "This world had deemed it impossible to reconstruct anything with her Dantian Core. Before being passed on to User, System has been doing its utmost to recover as much from the Dantian Core as possible in the 19 over years it has been dormant. If sessful, System would have gained a countermeasure against the Banned Emperor faction. Ultimately the experiment has been deemed a partial sess since there were some defects."

    "Subject Yun did not remember clearly about her past and had no recollection of having any direct rtion with current User. Since the time Subject Yun had spent with the User was rtively short, this was to be expected with a corrupted core. System has fed her the information from its database to make up for it. Naturally, those can''t really be called her own ''memories''."

    "Surprisingly, User and past Sub System User Yuan have managed to trigger memories she did not seem to possess when resurrected. While she remains stoic in her attitude and emotions, the revtion of the System''s history to User has awakened some specific string of memories in her. It has caused her to be mad at that point of time although she seems to have regretted betraying your trust leading to the kind of distance between the two of you."

    "What do you mean?"

    "The System developed the hypothesis that Subject Yun had been coping with her feelings and memories since she must have felt that they were not hers. There was a dissonance between the soul and the body. Suffice to say, the System had modified her to make up for the corruption of the Dantian Core, which made herpatible with various souls so she could turn into the ultimate bodyguard for User in case he was ever betrayed by anyone in the real world. A sort ofst measure. She was designed such a way that no matter how you hated her, she would stand by you no matter what."

    "System had hoped that she would imprint on the User and that some motherly instinct would emerge through prolonged contact. Unfortunately, that method seems to have backfired dramatically. System wished to take this opportunity to apologise once again, but in the System''s defence, it was a viable n that had beneficial remunerations for such a risk."

    "Well, from what I can see, your idea worked only the other way around. She seems happier ever since she managed to reconcile with Grandma Yuan a little." Jinmented, but the moment Yun saw Jin, her grinning face turned astutely serious.

    "Jin, Yang Ling hase to visit not too long ago, demanding that you meet her father for lunch. You can refuse, but she told us the Tiger Triad would likelye around to fetch your body to see to your arrival right in front of their n Head. So best get changing." Yun spoke in a clear, definitive manner.

    "She has extended her invitation to us, though. My peggies should be able to deal with the kitchen on their own, so it''s okay for me to go visiting people!" Lynn raised her hand as if to volunteer to go and ensure that Jin did not make any fuss. "If you don''t mind that is. By the way, thanks for clearing the area. I was actually going to do that after we sent Yang Ling off."

    "What about your own dad? I would rather visit him than meet up with Tiger Lord Yuan Ba. They gave me nothing but trouble recently." Jin grumbled as he checked the fridge in search of anything to drink for the three of them.

    "Well...if you coulde to visit him, that would be for the bestбн" Lynn''s ears turned red momentarily as she was delighted that Jin was the one to mention it. She had nned to invite him, but with his drunken condition, she was unsure if he would recover in time. "I would really appreciate if you could do that. My dad would surely love it too." Lynn said with a wide smile as she involuntarily bowed towards Jin.

    "Awesome! I have been wanting to talk to your dad for some time and catch up with him a little. Then let''s go and visit him first. Yang Ling should have reported that I''m still ''ill'', so can''t me me for beingte." Jin grinned as he pulled out a drink and asked if any of them wanted some.

    "I will be heading back to work." Yun dered, yet Jin suddenly grabbed Yun''s hand.

    "Huh?" She did not know how to respond as that was a first for Jin to stop her from the work he himself had no time to attend to anymore. (Granted, with the revamp of the new Panda Street Instance, Yun did not need to be there, but having her around does boost sales to a certain percentage ording to the System.)

    "Don''t you want toe with us?" Jin started to sweat a little and wondered what had prompted him to take such an unconscious action.

    "And bring your mother to your prospective inws'' family? Isn''t that a bit too hastying for someone who kept insisting he doesn''t want to get attached or even entertain the thought of marriage?" Yun retorted which caused Jin to be stumped.

    "No, I thought we could just ...erm do a chain of visits and get it done all at once. Like you know, go to Grandma Yuan after paying a visit with Lynn''s father? I actually have something I wanted to talk with her about." Jin tried to make up a reasonable excuse.

    "Hmmбн That makes sense. It would be weird if I do not see Instructor Yuan. In fact, I bet she will be angry if I don''te and give her a red packet. Fine, I will follow you, but in the capacity of a colleague. I''m not going to pretend to be your mother anymore."

    "You don''t have to. I do not have such intentions. With your youthful look, it would just lead to all kinds of confusion. Let''s just stick with you being like an elder sister or older cousin of mine if anyone asks. Anyways, Lynn can you get Qiu Yue?" Jin asked as he started to go up the stairs to change.

    "Ah! She said not to disturb her. She wanted to get some sleep in. She did not want to reveal this, but I know you will probe me endlessly for it so please don''t say that you heard it from me. Tsu and Kai have prepared an intensive training course for the beast kids and her, for the entire week, if not longer. If you need anything in regards to her Sub System, just get Moloch to handle it." Lynn said and Yun concurred.

    "Couldn''t she have given me a warning at least?" Jin asked, and both girls sighed before simultaneously chiding him.

    "Check your emails!!!"

    Jin opened his phone to see a flood of emails, most of which belonged to Ke Loong. The CEO of Sea Mesh had sent a plethora of chain mails requesting Jin to meet with him to discuss some things honestly. Now that he knew Kong Rong''s true intent and his wish to make his friend Ke Loong into a Panda Associates, there were a lot of things to discuss. Just the talks in regards to his ideas of the virtual reality system would likely take quite a while.

    "Looks like I have to meet with Ke Loong too." Jin thought to himself and decided to send a message about whether he was free this evening. And if so, he asked for an address where they could meet.

    Before he had a chance to put down the cell phone, there was an immediate "YES" reply from Ke Loong. "He sounds pretty desperateбн for my attention" Jin sighed as he believed the subsequent email woulde with his address. It was a grim reminder of why he disliked opening his emails.

    "Let''s meet each other in half an hour." Jin suggested, giving the girls (and himself) some time to prepare.

 Chapter 960 LynnтАЩs Home Visi

    <h4>Chapter 960 Lynnбпs Home Visi</h4>

    "Dad! Happy New Year!" Lynn greeted her father Zheng Hui with such a wide grin that he was taken aback as he sleepily opened the door early in the afternoon.

    "Lynnбн? But you told me you would be busy at work?" Zheng Hui had not expected to see his daughter. It took him a moment to realise that she was not alone and that a short distance away were none other than Jin and Yun.

    "I am not dressed well!" Zheng Hui immediately shut the door until only a small slit was left open so.

    "Are you really going to leave your daughter and our guests outside in this chilly weather?" Lynn pouted with her arms folded.

    "I gave you the key to this ce weeks ago! You should havee in to wake me up, so I could change to receive your friends!" Zheng Hui argued in a hushed tone. (Jin and Yun could still hear him, but pretended not to.)

    "And risk seeing you possibly naked in your room? No thanks!! Just get changed quickly! I will give you a minute before wee in!" Lynn retorted as she closed the door and faced Jin.

    "Erm. At least he is not leaking sludge throughout his entire room?" Jin tried to lighten the mood while they waitedбн but he failed terribly at it. Lynn and Yun merely sighed at the cold joke, and as he was about to say something else to recover the conversation, Yun stopped him.

    "Just don''t talk. It won''t kill you." Yun chided him as she grabbed her cellphone from her handbag and started to browse on it casually.

    Lynn heard a distant m of a door which she took as a cue for them to go in, to at least have a seat while waiting. When Jin came in, he was surprised to see how much the ce had changedpared to thest time he had been at her house.

    For a start, there was now proper heating in the rooms, and the walls had a clean coat of paint. The rusty broken windows had been reced with newer ones, and there were new white tiles in the living room.

    "Is this what you''ve been doing with your money?" Jin asked as he noticed the other mini renovations that had been done and most of the old furniture had been reced with new ones. However, the most prominent part of the room was theck of alcohol bottles which used to be all over the ce.

    Now, there was only one lone bottle on the coffee table, and Jin believed there was no way to escape the addiction. But at least Lynn''s father started to be more disciplined aspared to thest time he saw him.

    "I figured if I could provide a decent home for my father to stay in, he would be a little more motivated to do something productive," Lynn exined while she went into the kitchen and got some tea for her friends.

    "Sorry, it doesn''t taste as great as the ones back at your home." Lynn apologised in advance as she ced the cups on the coffee table. She picked up the half-full bottle of alcohol and contemted throwing it away as she had done with the ones before it, but Lynn had seen that her father was doing his best to keep it together.

    Thus, she decided to be lenient for today. She left it in the refrigerator so he could continue drinking for the rest of the new year holidays. "Just this once," Lynn muttered to herself, choosing to put her trust into her father.

    "Hi! Hi! Happy New Year to you guys!" Zheng Hui came out wearing a formal shirt and pants while holding onto something that the group did not expect.

    Red Packets.

    "Sir! We are just here to pay your a courtesy visit! We can''t possibly ept any red packets." Jin quickly refused. He had not forgotten about the financial situation of Lynn''s father since it had been part of the reason they had gotten in trouble in the first ce.

    "Boss Jin, what are you talking about?! You are our benefactor. You gave my daughter a ce to work at, you gave me the p that I needed to wake up and most importantly, you literally saved both of our lives. We shall forever be in your debt for that. So please, I insist that you at least allow me to hand you these red packets as a sign of our gratitude."

    "Jin, just take it. I can always earn back that amount." Lynn chuckled, and Jin sighed in defeat. He understood that Zheng Hui wanted to earnestly thank him, and the look in his eyes made it clear he would not ept ''No'' for an answer.

    "Happy New Year Uncle Zheng Hui, I wish you great health and evesting prosperity," Jin said as he offered the two oranges to Lynn''s father. Zheng Hui ced the red packet at one side and wished Jin the very same thing. (Oranges offered during the exchange of New Year greetings are a symbol of good luck and their bright, vibrant colour is associated with a happy future.)

    "I also wish that you may find a good wife- " He winked at him as he tilted his head a little to point at his daughter. "- as well as a prosperous and ever-expanding business. I saw how your tiny shop turned into thendmark of Shenzhen, and I believe you have more in store. Please continue to surprise us. Perhaps one day, I might end up working for you!" Zheng Hui said as he received the oranges and handed the red packet to Jin.

    Zheng Hui then embarrassingly looked towards Yun, but her usual response was to immediately pull her hand out in the open and use just her ''eye power'' to point at the ring. Lynn''s father was somewhat awestruck by her beauty for a moment. That dark red one-piece slenderly portrayed her figure, and her dominating pose showed confidence and a tinge of arrogance that made any man feel jealous of her extremely lucky spouse. He quickly nodded his head and smiled in return while keeping his other red packet back into his back pocket.

    "Thank you for the red packet. Did you mean what you said about wanting to work under me? I n to expand in the future, and an extra pair of hands wouldn''t hurt." Jin offered as he kept the red packet.

    "It''s okay, I don''t really have any special skills, and besides, I managed to find myself some extra odd jobs that should be able to tide me over the months." Zheng Hui said embarrassedly. He had not expected that Jin would offer him a job right away, but he also wouldn''t want to be known as a person who got employed through nepotism.

    "Why don''t you just ept the Boss'' favour? Or are you too proud to work under someone? Would you prefer to open your own store? I can loan you some money to build one. I believe Jin could provide some discount for his favourite employee''s father." Lynn suggested as she passed a cup of tea to her father.

    "бнA store?" Zheng Hui''s mind went nk for a moment as he considered the possibility.

 Chapter 961 Everyone Wants A Piece of Jin

    <h4>Chapter 961 Everyone Wants A Piece of Jin</h4>

    "You think I go to anyone and give charity to them?" Jin questioned harshly.

    Not long after the Tree Mall had been revealed to the world, major MNCs and even worldwide famous food chains had started harassing him about their desire to work with the dungeon supplier. (Yet another reason why Jin dreaded checking his emails.)

    With the advent of dimensional instances and his Tree Mall being the first of its kind, not only in the nation but in the whole world, the potential was endless, and all of them wanted a piece of that pie.

    Being able to create an entirely new building for a fraction of the usual cost by embracing thetest technology was a dreame true for these superpanies. The allure of money from these mega-corporations could significantly offset the war cost they had rued and even bring in profit with which Jin could channel into changing Shenzhen''sndscape forever.

    So what was holding Jin back?

    Nothing.

    Initially, he would have said it was the System since even with an increase in processing powers from King Baal''s crown, the uptake of processes had already increased. But the System did reply to Jin that all it needed was more money to buy even more chips to fuse, but the dungeon supplier refused to do so because the cost for getting more chips were expensive. And in addition, he was already overwhelmed with much of the work at that point in time, and there was no time to entertain them.

    Still, he was wise enough to not outright refuse them. The usual answer he gave (technically the System was the one forced to take on these kinds of secretary duties) was that the Tree Mall was still in an experimental stage and that he needed to monitor his technology performance before he mighte around to ept more proposals in a few months.

    Thus, they kept in touch by periodically sending him emails, reminding him to tell them when he was ready to go all out. The more influential ones even dropped hints in their replies that in case he wished to expand overseas with his tech, the megacorps were already courting some favour to get their government''s approval fairly quickly if things went well.

    So the implication of Jin making an exception for Zheng Hui would not just be a p in the face of all the megacorps but also hurting (if not destroy) his chances to continue to wiggle the carrot above their heads.

    Lynn and Zheng Hui naturally had no idea about the kind of pressure Jin was under, so Lynn thought it to be quite rude for Jin to refuse it so directly.

    Zheng Hui was a little furious as well, yet although they were under his roof, he decided to control his temper. No matter what, that dungeon supplier had saved his life after all, and he was the owner of the Tree Mall so he had the right to refuse.

    "However, I can actually offer him a position in a shop within my Panda Street Instance, making him into my employee. Functionally he will have the same rights as any other owner would, including being able to sell his speciality while selling my items too. That way, he will be able tomand a higher sry if his profits are good for the month." Jin rified, and Lynn took it as a sign of him not to pressure her father into making a new store.

    While the renovation cost and store rent would not be an issue with the advancement of the dimensional instance, he still had to deal with outside sources for supplies, and they might not necessarily sell. Even if Jin would act as his supplier in terms of the goods he needed, there was a possibility he might not be able to provide everything and anything at the moment. (Making it all the more imperative that they had to win back the Farming World.)

    "I think that sounds like a great choice." Zheng Hui said after swallowing down his disdain from just a moment ago. Meanwhile, Lynn was just relieved that Jin was not being an asshole towards her father anymore. (Later, she thought that Jin might have pulled a fast one as an act of petty revenge against her father who had put him in quite a pinch against the Japanese Yakuzas on their first meeting.)

    "Well I''ve agreed, but what exactly would I be selling?" Zheng Hui asked as he was now invested.

    "Anything on Lynn''s mind and her workers''. If you can cook at a level Lynn deems trustworthy, you can add to the menu as well." Jin answered, and the two of them were confused. On the other hand, Yun understood what Jin was talking about immediately.

    "You want to sell Lynn''s and the peggies personal creations, right? I mean if the other Giant Beast Tribes were to be of that level ofpetency, you would sell theirs too." Yun asked, and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yes. I''ve pictured with the Pyramid Foor Court already being a thing, a mystery store might be something interesting for our customers. Of course, we''d have to put warning signs that our foods may contain certain ingredients which might cause allergic reactions. But other than that, the people who try the store would never know what they will get until they pay for the food."

    "Wouldn''t it be a risk selling something unknown?" Zheng Hui asked which caused Jin and Yun tough.

    "When was thest time youined about Lynn''s cooking?"

    "Must have been many years ago, before she graduated culinary school. Ever since she took that job at your ce, her cooking has improved by leaps and bounds. Each time it feels like I''m not eating something home-cooked, but from a fancy restaurant." Zheng Hui praised his daughter openly that Lynn did not know how to cope with it. This was the few times she really appreciated thepliments given to her.

    "As her father, you should know about her tendency to create new stuff, if only to see which cooking is good. But also her high expectations." Jin sighed as he eyed Lynn.

    "I don''t waste it! If it''s bad, it''s given to the recycler, and if it''s passable I give it to my peggies!" Lynn threw her poutings at Jin via the System Chat. (Zheng Hui kept thinking the word Peggies was a nickname for her chefs and assistants.)

    "I concur with Jin. Even her experimental stages are usually good enough to be given to the public. s, with Lynn being a perfectionist, she thinks differently. Still, we can even charge extra for them this way too." Yun said out loud, and Zheng Hui began to see the appeal of such an idea.

    "I seeбн so people won''t be able toin about what mystery food they get, and it allows my daughter and her other colleagues to showcase what they can do. That sounds like a fun concept to work on."

    "Yes and all I need you to do will be to sell them out. As well as shoo-ing away the customers when we are out of stock." Jin added. "Don''t worry about thatst part. If you have trouble, I can send you help for that but it will cause you."

    "Hah! You are underestimating me when ites to shoving people off." Zheng Hui said with pride until he saw Lynn''s re. "I erm mean, I will restraint them not toin too much."

    "You sure it''s okay? I mean I am not sure whether some of thebinations will work. That is more of a medical and ethical issue than giving out this kind ofbination of food trials."

    "Erm perhaps we can get Xiong Da to look into it and see if it''s okay or not," Jin suggested and Yun gave him a long stare.

    "Even though Xiong Da might be a fantasticwyer, it doesn''t mean he knows all thews about everything. There is a limit to the things he knows." Yun pointed out.

    "I mean we can put a ''Do not me us if you have a tummy ache'' warning before they pay for the food? Maybe have them sign a consent to waiver their right to sue us?" Jin tried to reason, and Zheng Hui stood up.

    "Let me deal with that question. I am confident in my daughter''s ability in cooking. So I will find a way to make this mystery food shop seed it." Zheng Hui dered full of conviction. This new year he was willing to take up a new job and be a better person. (Part of the reason was obviously because he had seen how profitable it could be if he were to join Jin. Just look at the renovation that Lynn could afford in a span of a few months!)

    "Then that settles it. After the new year holidays find me or Yun to talk about the detail. In case we are busy, Lynn might show you around." Jin said as he sealed the deal with a solid handshake.

 Chapter 962 Intra Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan Lunch Mee

    <h4>Chapter 962 Intra Royal Zodiac Tiger n Lunch Mee</h4>

    Zheng Hui was nice enough to offer them a ride to their next destination, but the group refused and just bid Lynn''s father goodbye. The trio walked into a secluded corner within the apartment t. They checked around, and this area did not seem to have any CCTV cameras around, so the System opened a portal leading them into some quiet yet well-maintained garden park.

    "Master Jin." A voice could be heard from behind them, and there was some rustling of the leaves near the bushes. Jin assumed the person had to be one of the Farming World Humans that was under the employment of Pandafull Delivery.

    "Ah, no wonder the System knew where to teleport us without having to worry about anyone seeing it." Jin thought and thanked the delivery man for his efforts. He had expected him to get teleported away, or go do something else, but instead, he came forward.

    As they emerged from the corners and shadows of the Garden Park, all of them appeared to dress suitably well, making Jin question the reason behind their gathering here.

    "You think we are letting you go into such a ce without reinforcements?" Yun asked as she saw the confusion in his eyes.

    "What? Why would I need an army of bodyguards to go meet Yang Ling and her father?" Jin questioned. He understood this to be a simple Chinese New Year visiting, perhaps apanied with lunch. He had nned to go in, greet Yang Ling''s father and be gone within an hour if possible less.

    "You said Kraft told you the details?" Lynn wondered as she looked around the garden, and some of those humans were waving at her delightfully.

    "Yea, Kraft mentioned that Yang Ling came to visit, nning to ask me to visit her Dad. You showed her my unconscious body, and she begged you toe in my stead in case I was still out. Was that not the case?" Jin queried and started to notice that there were some humans he had not seen before. Still, they were all happy to see him once again, making him a little suspicious of this current arrangement to visit the Tiger. He originally nned to meet Grandma Yuan first but seeing how Yun had strongly insisted on going to the Royal Zodiac Tiger n''s for a new year visit, he decided to follow suit.

    "You have heard the gist of itбн if we ignore the fact of something vitally important missing." Yun shook her head and took a card out from her handbag, showing it to Jin. "I should have known Kraft would have some fun with you, by sending you in uninformed. Honestly, it''s my own fault for allowing him to help when he even volunteered to do it while we apanied Yang Ling. Why did I bother to trust him that much."

    "бн What is this? Intra Royal Zodiac Tiger n Lunch Meet?" Jin read through it. Yang Ling had included a summary of what this whole event was about. ording to the card, it was the time when various Tiger ns met up to greet the Tiger n''s Head and wish him well for the uing year. Since Jin was treated as an Honorary Tiger n Member, he was obligated to attend as well. Failing to do so would make him lose his status.

    "So? Why do we need to bring so many people with us? Also, who exactly are these people? I don''t believe my memory is that bad, but I''m unable to recognise meeting any of them." Simr to the visor for the Pandarens, the System had recently created a pair of permanent contact lenses to automatically showcase names, stats and other information of the minions serving under Jin. (A perfect product so that Jin could recognise his work force with indirect System help.)

    "Haha, do you know why?" A familiar voice was heard from the side, and when Jin turned around, he finally saw someone who he was familiar with.

    "Ayse? What are you doing here?" With a snap from the Head Researcher, Jin''s contact lenses started to work, allowing him to see through that all the various ''new'' faces were actually his minions in cosmetic inscriptions.

    "Those excessive Peppers Mana which I turned to crystals had allowed us to experiment a lot. We finally found a way to use her magic and fuse it with the cosmetic inscriptions." Ayse started to unt her research team''s achievements, but Weslie came out from the side and knocked her head. (She was probably the only one that would dare to act this way towards Ayse.)

    "Do you think now is a good time to give a lecture? *cough* Sorry, Master. To put it simply, we''ve improved the cosmetic inscription so that it stays on for a period of time even when outside the System''s influence and it prevents people from using magic to sense or remove them from us."

    "You could call it a perfect way to show our strength while appearing human. Your world does not have Orcs or other Beastman, and we can imagine what would happen if we showed off our real form." Orc General Nubwort added.

    "I will tolerate this necessary evil to hide our identities and protect our master. Else, I would not even wear this disgraceful skin." Drex, the Dark Elves'' Leaderined. "On behalf of Lord Kraft, I wish to inform you that he is busy preparing us for the city raid mission you assigned him. That is why he told me to apany you for this Meet instead of my usual fighters. But worry not, I am as capable as the others despite my old age. Lord Kraft saw to it."

    "I don''t know what your problem is with these cosmetic inscription charms. I finally get the chance to experience what it''s like to be tall." Dread Reaver said as he started to jump around. Wyrstriker and me Ripper were also by his side, and they were testing how high they could jump.

    "Okay, now I know what you are doing here. However, is it necessary for us to bring such a force?"

    "Of course," Lynn stated inly as the rest all smirked.

    "The Intra Royal Zodiac Tiger n Lunch Meet -urgh such a mouthful, anyway the part about paying respect to Hu Yuan Ba is just the official appearance. In reality, you should picture it more as a Battle Royale deciding who may keep their membership as an affiliated sect of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n and most importantly how much backing they get for the new year." Yun added.

    "The Tiger Lord is going to pay up to five million Yuan for whoeveres on top of that event. Just participating will us a hundred thousand Yuan. The better we do in the fight among the ns, be it solo, duo, trio or team fights, the more we can earn. Yang Ling even provided some videos from thest few years. Most importantly, the Tiger n Head has a lot of expectations for you."

    "However, before we get to join the fun, he wants you to create a simple dungeon instance for the fight. Naturally, that yields us a quick buck too." Yun exined as she took out a ck formal suit with a white shirt matching the rest of the group who was busy fixing their clothing which had a ck and white theme inmon.

    After all, they were the Pandas.

 Chapter 963 New Year, LetтАЩs move forward

    <h4>Chapter 963 New Year, Letбпs move forward</h4>

    "And you agreed to all of this without asking me?" Jin changed in the middle of the garden with all his minions surrounding him in a circle. The minions, especially the female ones, could not help but take peeks at Jin''s body.

    They all saw the healed battle scars that he had gotten over the past few months. They were testimony to his actions of tirelessly saving and rescuing the various worlds despite his ''normal'' life as an ''ordinary'' dungeon supplier. Lynn was amongst those eyeing up his body. His physique caused her to skip a beat or two. "It seemed the cold did not bother him anyway." She thought to herself as she rubbed her hands when the winter winds blew through the garden.

    Meanwhile, Yun continued her lecture incessantly. "Our coffers might be full for the moment but knowing your horrendous spending habits, it will be a wonder if anything will be left at the end of next month," Yunined.

    "That''s the whole point of money. If you don''t spend and invest in the business, we will be unable to gain better equipment or a better quality of life!" Jin justified his habits as he adjusted his belt and picked the ck jacket up.

    "Stop using that as an excuse. It''s only true to a certain extent. ire has advised us to branch out and find alternate sources of ie as a quick fix for our leaking ounts. This is one of them."

    "Look, I am notining about it. In fact, I was going to praise you for making that choice. Otherwise, I would not be changing my clothes right in the middle of this deste garden." Jin argued back.

    "I - Hmm. I apologise then. I always thought you would be adverse to me making choices for you." Yun said.

    "Considering how your initiative has brought me down to my knees and eyes swell with tears more than once, I wonder why," Jin noted sarcastically but eventually changed his tune a little. "Look, I feel that things have been awkward between us for quite a while. I don''t think it will be possible to simply return to the way it was when I just started out and it was only just the two of us. But I would be happy to work towards such a rtionship. I want to take this opportunity to make things right with you."

    "So, then what would you treat me as? A System''s assistant?" Yun questioned.

    "Probably? I mean to be fair, I treated the System quite cordially after we settled our differences. It''s the new year, let''s forget about our mistakes and move forward. That''s all I''m saying." Jin adjusted his coat and added one more sentence.

    "Just be yourself. Be that obsessive protective System Assistant that worries about me for not doing well in the eyes of the System." Jin rified, and suddenly there was a bit of wooing from the minions even though most of them were facing outward.

    "Way to go Jin!" Lynn teased him for trying his best to mend the rocky rtionship between him and Yun. But suddenly she felt a pull from her right ear, and as she turned her head, it was Yun that was doing the act.

    "And you know what you should do." The System Assistant lectured her as if she had already started to care for Jin in the capacity of the System.

    "Ooowwooo. Yes, Mdm." Lynn quickly nodded her head.

    "Are the two of you not changing?" Jin asked as he finally had his ck and white formal suitbination that was the same with his minions.

    "Well, the lead girls have to look different so they will be staring at us, right?" Lynn chuckled as she held onto Yun.

    "More of a power y. One might think that Master Jin is capable of having these two independent powerful yet beautiful looking girls beside him but in actual fact, those who really know him, it''s actually showing that Master isn''t exactly the boss and instead it''s them." Aysemented, and some of the minions couldn''t help but snicker.

    "Sad to say, I have to agree with Ayse on this. Even if you are our master, sometimes Lynn and Yun seem to hold more power than you." Weslie nodded her head as she held onto Gold''s arm. The rest of the minions giggled, and Jin was speechless. It was arguing the truth of the matter.

    "So, where are we actually?" He asked in an attempt to change the subject.

    "All of this is actually part of the Royal Zodiac Tiger''s property and we are at the distant edge of their district. We are actually early since we have asked to rendezvous with Yang Ling here. She says she will give us the official invitation personally to the meet." Lynn said.

    "Don''t worry. You will not be charged with public indecency. Despite our bodyguards circling you, we have also put up a barrier around the area so no one cane in. It''s a bit bothersome, but it also shows people not to trifle with you." Yun said as she snapped her finger and Ayse immediately pulled the barrier down.

    Suddenly, there were tons of annoyed people that red in their direction. Jin''s minion immediately took up position and just stared back at them behind their sunsses.

    "For once I would enjoy just going to a normal event," Jin mumbled and suddenly Lynn held on to his arm as if it was a given. Yun, on the other hand, stood a step behind them and started scanning around him as if she was his lead bodyguard.

    "What are you doing?!" Jin asked in a private System channel.

    "We talked about it with Yun. For this event, it would be best if I pretend to be your girlfriend. That way, you should not get bothered by Yang Ling or others." Lynn shared her thoughts through the system channel were firm and decisive. The only thing she ''forgot'' to mention was that it was in fact her idea.

    "Iбн thank you. I am in your care." Jin nodded at her and straightened his posture before starting to observe his surroundings. He did not know why Yun and the others had decided to y and act as if they were a power group. The System usually preferred to not stand out, so this was way out of the norm, and he believed there was a reason for it.

 Chapter 964 Fashionably Late

    <h4>Chapter 964 Fashionably Late</h4>

    The garden they were in was within the Royal Zodiac Tiger n''s mansion, and it was supposed to be a gathering ce for the minor ns who had pledged their allegiance to the n and wished to gain a chance to shine on this day.

    Unfortunately for them, what little hopes they might have had, it was bound to be crushed this year. During their breakfast together, Lynn and Yun had promised the Tiger Princess that they would arrive with Jin, and that they would be fashionablete.

    Yang Ling could only hope they kept their promise and thus reserved a ce for them. However, she had underestimated Jin''s group as a bunch of his minions had immediately followed her entourage back to their house and erected a barrier in ce, keeping any onlooker on the outside.

    Initially, there was a ruckus, especially from the older minor ns who demanded an exnation from Yang Ling. It was unclear whether it was coincidence or pure intent, but the barrier happened to be on the spot which had been reserved for the oldest of these minor ns. The Tiger Princess, while acting all friendly with Jin''s employees, turned her attitude 180 degrees when confronted with the Minor n Leadersining.

    Some had started to suspect that the barrier might have been erected for a surpriseter down the line, but when it was time for the n''s Lunch Meet to begin, it did not change. All of them were curious about how the Tiger Lord would react to this. Hu Yuan Ba was known as a person who regarded punctuality in high regards. Would he really be so forgiving to a person that camete? If not, was the Tiger Head waiting so that he could give a lesson to whoever was behind the barrier?

    All the constant chatter became meaningless when the barrier was lifted, and they suddenly saw a group of people in formal suits protecting a young guy, who had to be the n Leader of them with a beautiful, cutedy by his side.

    "All this waiting and anticipation and its not some present or prize from Tiger Master Yuan Ba? Just a freaking kid with a bunch of his bodyguards?!" The Minor n Leaders started to hurl vulgarities towards Jin and his group of minions.

    "Welp, now I understand the need for a show of power. If not, I would have been swamped by these people." Jin thought to himself. Now was not the time to hide. He started to understand the current situation the Royal Zodiac Tigers might have put him in. (Or in this case, how the girls and the System had inadvertently put him in.)

    "Who the hell does this young punk think he is?! I, Buay Hao Pai, Leader of my Roaring Tigers n demand an exnation from the Main Royal Zodiac Tiger n organisation. We, the Roaring Tiger n, have served diligently and loyally for decades and that ce has unterally been epted as our spot. Every other minor n knows of our existence and shows us the courtesy and respect to not assemble on our spot on the annual n Meet!"

    "Oh my god, is this the advent of an arrogant cultivator dispute?" Jin wondered out loud in the System Channel.

    "You know, you are just really lucky you have been meeting nice folks. There are idiots like him almost everywhere." Lynn whispered her experience that she had been bullied quite a number of times back when she was selling her ck pepper pork buns out in the streets.

    "And I suppose you gave in because you were powerless to do anything?" Jin questioned as he quietly looked at Lynn. Her look showed that she was annoyed by this kind of people that deserve a p in the face.

    "Well, duh. And when I first met you, I thought you were one of those creepy cultivators too." Lynnmented and it felt like a dagger had been struck at the front of Jin''s chest.

    "I promised to be better than that." Jin apologised.

    "You already did. Now continue to act the part." Lynn whispered back.

    On the other hand, Buay Hao Pai noticed that silence from Jin''s group as he merelymunicated with his ''girlfriend''. Being ignored by a spoiled brat made his blood boil even further. Despite the Royal Zodiac Tiger house servants requesting the Roaring Tiger to wait for the arrival of the main family for a proper answer, Buay Hao Pai decided to take things into his own hands. Even his n members were roused by their leader''s wrath and started to make a mountain out of a molehill.

    ------

    "Are you not going to show yourself and deal with the situation? It was actually very hard to convince him toe here today." Tiger Princess Yang Ling asked her father, who was staring at the wholemotion.

    "Take it as punishment for Jin who had arrived sote. It has been 18 minutes past the appointed time." Yuan Ba replied, and Yang Ling''s two elder brothers both snickered.

    "Why are you so afraid of your little panda boyfriend - oh oops?! Looks like he already had a bitch with him! Should I rephrase it? You afraid your little panda crush cannot handle the pressure?" Yang Rong, the second brother, ridiculed his sister with an arrogant tone.

    Yang Ling kept her mouth quiet as she knew that her two brothers had no idea about Jin''s aplishments. She also knew that her second brother''s loud mouth was second to none. Arguing with him would only stress her out even further. This thought, however, made her realise that her father must be putting a facade. He must not want to openly show any favouritism to the new kid in the block.

    Everyone in the family knew that one of Jin''s associates managed to save the Tiger Head''s life and in turn, Jin was given an honorary membership as thanks. But there were certain rules in the Tiger n and not being punctual for such an important event had to be punished.

    Still, while Yuan Ba continued to keep a strong nonchnt front, he was hoping that he did not piss off Jin too much. They had done little to gain his favour and even berated him by utilising their powers to force him to do things he did not want (ording to the Police Chief who had informed him about what was expected of him), namely bringing out the portals for military use even though it was just that one time.

    The Tiger Head had treated him like just an above-average cultivator who happened to have excellent dimensional instance maniption skills. If possible, he would have kicked his past self''s butt for failing to see Jin''s worth. How could he have possibly predicted that the young guy he tried to take advantage of, would be a national war hero in the eyes of the upper level of the society who were now vying to get him for their own purpose?

    And even now, they had discovered various Royal Zodiac Scouts from the different ns watching his garden from afar. If Yuan Ba did not act fast enough to secure Jin or at least gain some form of leverage, there might not be another chance.

    "Perhaps, I should intervene when the time is right." Yuan Ba nned since he strongly believed Jin''s group could easily overpower the Roaring Tigers.

 Chapter 965 Disrespecting the Roaring Tigers

    <h4>Chapter 965 Disrespecting the Roaring Tigers</h4>

    "Not a minute in and we are already going into a fight?" Jin shook his head in disbelief, and the Roaring Tiger n yelled back with even more ferocity mistaking Jin''s statement as an attempt to taunt them.

    "No use staying here. Let''s leave these savages since they seem to desperately want that participation gift. Just leave let them be." Jin ordered as he scanned around to check for an exit.

    "We shall protect you." Nubwort, who had beenrge as an Orc already, had an equally huge build with his cosmetic inscription on, he started to lead the group to the side.

    "Who says you are free to leave after disrespecting us?" One of the Roaring Tiger n veteran mates shouted in response to their cowardly behaviour.

    "Yeah! If you wish to leave peacefully, all of you kowtow to our master right now, and leave your beauty here if you want to leave without any bruises!" Another n veteran shouted.

    One of them cleared his throat, which silenced the others. It was clear that he had enough clout to hold these tigers on the leash: "Why don''t we make apromise? We let ten of our best fight against your master, and if he survives the onught, we will let you all go as if nothing happened?"

    "I do not have time for these stupid games. Everyone, let''s go, we have better things to do. Tell your master we said hi." Jin scoffed at the suggestion as he told Nubwort to continue ignoring them. And yet, since the prey could not be provoked, the Roaring Tigers cultivators immediately stood in their way.

    "Aren''t you lot too old to use such highschool level bully tactics?" Jin questioned rhetorically before he told the rest to go back to the spot they were at even though it was a dead-end with a long wall. Unsurprisingly, the Roaring Tigers Cultivators had already stood at the top of the wall blocking their advance.

    "Other minor ns! Look at this coward! Not only did he arrogantly take our ce, but he also does not even apologise for his offence. And yet, he tried to run away! Should we punish them for their insolence?" Hao Pai asked theatrically, and Jin sighed once again.

    Just as he was about to request the System to create a smokescreen so everyone could be teleported and vanish from this ridiculous n Meet, he received a phone call from a blocked phone number.

    "The call stemmed from the Tiger n Head personal phone." The System notified him as it had traced down the origin in less than a few rings. Jin sighed and picked the phone up.

    "I know what you are capable of. While I dislike people beingte, I did request for your presence, unlike that of this minor trash. Feel free to teach them a lesson they will never forget, and I shall immediately send you a thousand Yuan per head." Yuan Ba said from the other line.

    "You already cutting your losses? From what I heard, you organise some tournament for your annual n Meet. If I put all of them down, there will be no one to fight with. No fighters, means no tournament, saving yourself quite a bit of money. I''m not interested."

    "But it''s better than leaving empty-handed right?"

    "Then handle them yourselves. I see no reason to waste our strength for something I should have no connection to. If you think you can still put us under your thumb, think again. I havee here because Yang Ling personally came and asked to meet you. While I am not ashamed to admit that I''ve nned to stay for the money, it does not mean I cannot earn such a sum by myself. It will just take me a little longer than a day. That''s all. Since you are not interested to keep me here, giving me the stick and a shitty carrot as bait, I rather not y your game." Jin said not caring for things like themon courtesy of calling him Tiger Lord. He was about to end the phone call when the Tiger n Head stopped him.

    "Wait."

    "What?"

    "The current offer still stands. Let me extend it, however. If you eliminate each and every one of them, I will pay you one million Yuan extra on top of the current Meet rewards ."

    "... fine, but those ns'' resurrection costs won''t be cheap." Jin hesitated to agree.

    "That is their own matter to resolve. They brought only their strongest members to the n Meet. They must have prepared to resurrect already. Otherwise, they would lose their standings in this Royal Zodiac Family or risk getting kicked out."

    "In short, you want to pay me and my guys as a cleaner and remove them so that you are able to get rid of undesirables that had been leeching of you?"

    "Take what you will. For a cleaning job, I feel that thepensation is more than adequate." Yuan Ba told him as he heard a knock at the door and cut short the conversation.

    "Dad, are you seriously not going to intervene in this current misunderstanding?" Yang Ling shouted so loud that Jin was able to hear through the phone.

    "Don''t worry about it. It will resolve by itself. Let me settle some work in the meantime." Yuan Ba replied without blocking the speaker, surely wanting for Jin to hear his daughter''s worry for him.

    "So no cops or other nasty surprises who might stop us?" Jin continued his conversation, but all he heard was a smirk, and the other end dropped the call.

    "Well, I assume that''s the case. So, it''s a free for all." Jin announced as he turned off his phone and gave his minions a quick summary over the System channel.

    "1,000 Yuan per head will be tallied up and will be converted into System points with each one of you gaining their fair share."

    "Damn. Then I should have brought more people here." Ayse cursed as her electrical senses were tingling with excitement.

    "I can not believe I''m part of this entourage," Molochined as he finally revealed himself from the bag and his man puppet ced him on its head. (he did look like a walking plushie)

    "And here I thought this would be just a simple guard mission." Sandy yawned as she stepped forward.

    "Just when I thought I can enjoy a day of peace in your world." Derek, who rarely goes out, actually came out to see to if this world''s Chinese New Year was the same as his. (He was naive to think as such.)

    "At the very least, you can move those bones of yours a little." Dread Reaver said as he summoned a sword out while his two other goblin brothers were doing small talk.

    "Oh ho, brother. You think they would prove much of a challenge? I am betting the Pandawans could actually beat these elites." Wyrstriker said.

    "The only way to know is to hold back. But I do not feel like holding back when System points are at stake. You know, I am eyeing for that massage chair. Maybe I should get it for my dad." me Ripper said.

    "More System points! Ke Mi enjoys this very much. I can hear my heart beating!" A small girl revealed while sitting on the shoulder of a rather stoutrge build man with sunsses. (She too has her set of sunsses and adjusted with some coolness.) His skin was undoubtedly hard and dry like bark despite the cosmetic inscription.

    "Oh, I am so pumped up that I can finally use this control form on my minor treant. I wonder how much I can fight with it." Shu shared his thoughts through the tree puppet he was using.

    With a myriad of cosmetic builds the minions took upon, their magical and strength aura still burst out without holding back and it shocked the Roaring Tigers.

    Jin slowly turned his head towards the leader of the Roaring Tigers, and with a slight impersonation of Kraft, his face darkened and turned dead serious.

    There was no bloodlust, but the intent of murder was malicious enough to make Hao Pai take a step back involuntarily.

    "You im I''ve disrespected you? I''ve given you face more than once by letting you walk away. You can only me yourself for pissing off the wrong person." Jin dered as he raised his chin up.

    "Go."

 Chapter 966 Disrespecting the Panda Clan

    <h4>Chapter 966 Disrespecting the Panda n</h4>

    The Roaring Tigers believed they would have the upper hand.

    Their veterans were nothing to trifle within their world, and they had experienced a few major scuffles and inter-n fights. Some even went through military training and had been deployed for overseas operations. Even the newer ''elites'' who came to have a feel of the n Meet had been training hard over the years just for this day. Their internal n criteria were strict enough since winning the prize money from the Tiger n was one of the main attraction foring to the Meet.

    And now this new minor n which supposedly came to pay ''respect'' to the Royal Zodiac Tiger n had defiled the sanctity of their order and therefore rightfully deserved to be taught more than just a lesson!

    For goodness'' sake, who brings little kids and teenagers to a n Meet? Does that group really think this was some Chinese New Year Visit? And worse of all, they were dressed as part of the bodyguards.

    However, Hao Pai, who had years of experience, knew better than to underestimate his enemies. He already sent a chi transmission to his n members to disable the teenagers first. If Hao Pai was not wrong, they must be employed as mages, and if they were given a job at this early age, it could only mean they were nothing to scoff at. Some of the veterans within their own telepathic chat thought the young master was despicable for using teenagers as part of his entourage of bodyguards and decided to teach him a lesson he would not forget.

    If the kids happened to die in battle, that was their fault, and they would have no one to me but their young master. (While they could be resurrected, the younger ones generally developed post traumatic stress disorders as opposed to adults.

    That was the harsh reality of life that any veteran needed to ept when epting to go on abat operation as it always had the risk of dirtying their hands doing so. As for the newer elites, they were tasked to fight with the strongest looking guards and teach them that muscle was not everything. A bnce in the maniption of chi and body strength was most important.

    And what if the bodyguards were exceptional? Hao Pai did not rouse a speech at the start for nothing. When he saw the newpeting n that came into the n Meet, he had already started coordinating with the other minor Tiger ns to work with him behind the scenes. All of them knew what was at stake in the n Meet and it was better to send those new ns packing home and fight among themselves. Thus, those minor ns would do their best to eliminate the new uing n and kick them out of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n''s care as soon as possible, preventing them from getting any favour from the Tiger Head.

    Such coboration had been ongoing for decades, which was why there was no new blood in the Tiger n for a long time. Hu Yuan Ba also knew about the situation and the stagnant situation also meant that the Tiger n did not have any growth potential for a long time. However, his was not the only n which suffered from this kind of problem. The Old Guard didn''t wish to be reced after all in many other Royal Zodiac ns. The only exception was the Dragon n who faithfully based their achievements on meritocracy. This was because they were the guardians of the country, and they only needed the best.

    Yuan Ba''s intention had always been multifold, and the inclusion of Jin into this n Meet was no exception. He might look decent natured, but one always keeps their ws sharpened to threaten, and their fangs were hidden to the enemy. That was why he easily predicted that the minor ns would once again collude against this new enemy and only watched on, despite Yang Ling''s pleas.

    The Tiger Princess herself understood her father''s ill intentions and where he wasing from, so she just followed the flow. She was not as innocent as Jin assumed her to be and it was a good decision for him to keep her an arm''s length away from these royal ''nobles'' despite the System desire to recruit them.

    It believed that with the inclusion of these Royal Zodiacs into the fray, the System could not only get confidential information not privy in databases but also subsequently influence them to help make the Royal Zodiac Panda n a reality. Unlike Kong Rong who had openly revealed most of his intentions to the point that he had made a vow to not harm Jin, the Dungeon Supplier would not necessarily agree with the System''s way of doing things. However, he was willing to give it a try since it was better than its original agenda to defeat the ns with raw power. (Well, at least part of its wish was getting fulfilled right now.)

    Going back to Hao Pai, he had already informed the other minor n leaders to rush in when they started to engage with the arrogant young master. Some evenughed and already started to think of ways to punish the young master. After all, being a police-rted n, they had ess to all kinds of torturing equipment.

    However, the reality was often disappointing.

    Once Jin''s bodyguards were finally given the go-ahead, the initial outburst of aura they had suppressed beforehand almost crippled everyone on site. It was indiscriminate, and the veterans of the Roaring Tiger immediately changed the assessment of Jin''s bodyguards.

    "The killing intentбнthis kind of stifling aura. There is no way these people are normal bodyguards. They have been to battle dozens of times." One of the Veterans gasped while trying to breathe properly.

    "Noбн they were not just battle-hardened. This kind of killing intent could only be sensed in battle-hungry monsters who only want nothing but victory!" Another veteran added as fear started to creep up to his throat.

    These bodyguards were here to protect, and they would not hesitate to kill and ughter to achieve their goal. The Roaring Tigers had only been thinking of teaching a lesson, but they were about to get taught life''s final lesson.

    Hao Pai recognised at that moment he had made a fatal mistake angering them. That young master was not kidding when he imed he was giving them face. Being able to turn their killing intent on like a switch, they could not be some battle-hungry monsters. They were professionals. Veteran professionals who had been at the boundary of life and death countless times, making it seem like a stroll in the park.

    It would still be manageable if it had only been one on one or two of these bodyguards, but no. Every single one of them had the very same killing intent. Even the young master who had seemed ignorant andzy a moment ago had the very same aura.

    Hao Pai could clearly feel it.

    It was not as obvious initially because of the shock, but he could immediately sense there was something different about their master. His aura was not as malicious, and his killing intent was not very apparent, but Hao Pai could feel that he hadplete control over these bodyguards as if they all dedicated their lives to him and only him.

    Despite their young age, the teenage bodyguards were the same too, all had the very same blind trust to their current master they were willing to fight to the death for him.

    But while he was so engrossed with this new n, he did not notice that these overflowing auras had already crippled their younger elite cultivators who had no experienced war or war-like battles. Some of them were choking, only to get saved at the edge of their final breath. Others had the fear taken over their whole body that they urinated or defecated themselves.

    The Roaring Tiger n who was next to Jin''s group, suffered the most mental damage but the ns within the garden who could feel the aura especially the veterans already took their arms up in an attempt to protect themselves rather than aiming to fight and win. Even the Royal Zodiac Tiger Family could feel a tinge of the aura from their mansion which made the two Tiger Brothers shut up and finally interested in the current affair.

    And as if the intimidating aura was not enough to prove it, that singlemand word from Jin frightened everyone in the garden.

 Chapter 967 Bodyguards

    <h4>Chapter 967 Bodyguards</h4>

    The only mercy Jin''s minions would show the likes of these people who had coborated to insult their master was the mercy of death. Their master had always been a shining beacon for a better future, a second chance for some of the monsters even though most had been initially forced to swear fealty.

    Nubwort, who was at the very front, was the first to have the pleasure of beating the shit out of these pissy pants cultivators. He took a standard grade six spear out instead of his personal one and stabbed the very first Roaring Tiger in sight. The spear went through his throat smoothly like a pen prating a lump of ydough. Blood immediately clogged in the Roaring Tiger Cultivator''s lungs and started to flow out of the hole created from the spear. All the cultivator could do was to desperately move his hands towards the spear.

    As if that was not enough for a show of power, Nubwort raised the spear with one arm in an angle and shoved his spear deeper, piercing through another cultivator''s heart before the weapon tip hit the ground.

    And that was just the opening scene.

    Behind him, the ''goblin teenagers'' came out and using standard grade weapons they began their assault against the defenceless cultivators. The daggers ripped through the tendons of me Ripper''s opponents while Dread Reaver chopped some of their heads off when they were responding to the hurt from his brother.

    Wyrstriker apanied Nubwort and followed up with his attack as he jumped over the Orc General''s shoulders and stabbed two cultivators with his dual-wielding spears.

    As he witnessed the onught of deaths, Hao Pai snapped out of his fear and started tomand his n members to move forth as one and try to save the injured ones. s, that secondmand was too tall an order for most veterans to follow.

    Heads were chopped off, bodies filled with holes and those cultivators who had their tendons ripped out would be rendered useless their entire lives, making death a more desirable option. That way, if they got resurrected, they would at least leave with their body intact.

    Still, Jin and his minions pressed on with their attacks. Hu Yuan Ba did not want to dirty his own hands, and thepensation was more than sufficient for Jin''s reputation to get smeared. Of course, a bit of revenge was an added bonus, especially when he couldn''t stand this sort of people in their world. Whatever the consequences might be, Jin was sure he had enough powerful contacts to make certain things go away if necessary.

    He did not stop his minions and allowed them to act freely as long as the damage was contained within the garden. (Jin had a weird hunch that Yuan Ba might be petty enough to ask Jin to pay for damages outside the garden or maybe twist his words in their verbal agreements.)

    In the meantime, Ayse released her lightning magic on the cultivators that were standing on the walls. Some of them managed to evade the first strike, but they did not suspect it would be a tracking magic attack where the bolt of lightning would continuously move to strike the cultivatorsst position until they were out of Ayse''s range of attack. But for those who did not evade, they were hit with a bolt of lightning so strong, it vaporises their skins instantly. To be able to stand after that was considered a miracle.

    On the other hand, Sandy and Shu started to tag team and used the ground and nt elements within the garden to slow and impede the other Minor ns as they attempted to rush in for an all-out attack. Vines and quicksand pit magic were used in conjunction, causing them to suffer the next barrage of attack from Weslie who had brought a steam tech gun out. (The tech gun, however, had been made to look like a normal assault rifle with a grenadeuncher attachment. Only with a closer inspection, one could see steaming out of the chambers whenever Weslie fires them.)

    The vines wrapped around the cultivators'' legs and dragged them towards the quicksand where it would sink their enemies in. It was then, the vines would do its job by strangling the cultivators while preventing them from climbing out.

    Along with Gold, her grenade shot was energised with magic and eventually the shot was dispersed into various mini bolts when it reached an optimal height out in the open, hitting the various n members stuck in Shu and Sandy''s offensive supportbination. She had dubbed theirbination attack "Mini Meteor Shower" (If this was a mini shower of grenades shots, Gold could not fathom the ''normal'' shower or even bigger ones. One thing was for sure, he was happy she didn''t name the attack a Golden Shower.)

    With those four dealing with the weaklings, Drex had begun fighting with the supposed n leaders. It was easy to tell them apart since their arms had bands showing their individual n affiliation as an easy identification within the n Meet. Being the Dark Elf leader, he had been specially picked by Kraft to do training more intense than the other younger elves.

    When Drex begged for mercy because of his age, Kraft made him worked even harder to the point the old fox had to resort to memory wipes in order to keep him sane. Yet, these memory wipes were short term wipes. Eventually, Drex still could remember the training and suffering he went through. Thus, killing these leaders were not an issue, but rather keeping the impression intact of a bodyguard and restraining himself to not be stronger than Jin. (The Dungeon Supplier did not know the measure of his strength and already thought that Drex was amazing enough.)

    Drex thought these n leaders would offer some sort of resistance, but it looked like he had underestimated their capabilities. With a single nce, he was able to tell that all of them were beneath Jin''s Cultivation Grade, only strengthening his resolve to remove them from the battlefield instead of burdening Jin to battle and waste his time. His quick punches without the need to wield a weapon scared most of the onlooking n veterans, and they started to avoid him like the gue whenever possible as death was inevitable for whoever faced him.

    Ke Mi was not idle either. Her zither music was a weed addition to the group''s morale. A short, powerful high strung instrumental offered the group a strength buff that allowed them to handle more hits than previously. (In short, a boost in their constitution)

    Jin felt that it was not just an increase in the toughness of his minions but that the music also had a slight regenerative effect on one''s health and stamina. As a person who still had to cope with a slight headache from a hangover, it was indeed a soothing music piece.

    It didn''t take long for people to notice that Ke Mi was boosting the strength of her guards and they mistook her for the real culprit of their overall might. Thus, she was constantly targeted until an unlikely ally came to help.

    "Frost Echo? Why are you here?" Jin asked as he saw the Orc King, who was under the influence of his cosmetic inscription.

    "What do you mean why I am here?! To freaking protect you! Shiva keptining about Ifrit and Slydra''s teasing her about their avatars having fun killing wimps. She ordered me to be here as well!" Frost Echo exined as he erected a thin transparent barrier of ice around Ke Mi while ensuring she does not freeze from his ice. The cultivators who tried to attack Ke Mi was immediately frozen within the vicinity.

    "He probably felt left out. You remember how he could note on the steamboat on time because of his Royal court work? Probably he needed something to vent upon." Moloch shared his theory via the System Channel while his puppet skillfully evaded shes and strikes and used his cards to cast reflect magic to avoid the barrage of chi techniques.

    The attacks bounced back and struck the cultivators themselves. The stronger the reflected skill, the more deadly the retaliatory attack was. He was unable to use this type of magic against high-level opponents yet, but against these groups of mid-low-grade cultivators? It was basically child''s y.

    And while Jin''s side was having fun fighting against such weak opponents even with some restraints on their side, there was one who remained ...or at least tried to stay stoic.

    "I, Buay Hao Pai, challenge you to a single duel!" He shouted in the midst of this messy fight, and his pointing finger point did not deviate. It was for Jin to decide whether he wanted to enter the fray or not. Even Drex left the challenger alone. In fact, they all wanted to see if their master would reveal his new tricks instead of keeping them in the dark.

 Chapter 968 No More Pushovers

    <h4>Chapter 968 No More Pushovers</h4>

    "What kind of powers do these people have?!" Hao Pai wondered as he stared down at Jin. His pride and honour was at stake and to make things worse, he saw a glimpse of the n Head Hu Yuan Ba just standing there at the mansion''s balcony.

    It was apparent that Yuan Ba had noticed the transgression of that young master, yet he was apparently not going to do a single thing about it. In fact, it almost felt as if he was encouraging this massacre.

    That was when he suddenly had a terrible thought. ''What if Yuan Ba was the one who had initiated this fight?!'' It wasn''t hard toe up with a reason for such a course of action. Deep down, Hao Pai knew what he had been doing and so far Yuan Ba had closed his eyes when they had ganged up on neers.

    Perhaps that was the reason why he refused to act now as well. There was no reason for the Tiger Lord to defend the Roaring Tigers if they could all be beaten down by this new challenger. It would be especially dishonourable since this particr challenger was daring and ruthless enough to take on the entirety of the Minor Tiger ns.

    Initially, Hao Pai had believed that their numbers would be sufficient to defeat Jin''s group. It was just that the challenger n had the element of surprise by their side. That was why the Roaring Tiger Leader continued to coordinate the fight even though his attention was fixated at the master.

    But the more he multi-tasked while keeping a watchful eye on Jin, the more he felt that the young master himself was less of a threatpared to his bodyguards despite the initial assessment of his chi aura. Various cultivators had attempted to murder him, but the one defending him was the beautifuldy in the red dress. Her sword skills were swift and precise that many who tried to evade and still got hit with a fatal wound.

    -------

    "He seems to think that you are an easy target." Yun teased as she could see the change in expression and the false confidence in his face.

    "Do I have anything to fear from him, when he has to go through the Ultimate Bodyguard first?" Jin replied in a joking manner. He ignored the challenge for now and continued to observe the fights of his minions. It was surprised how certain monsters were able to fight together without much coordination involved.

    "There is still me, you know!" Lynn chimed in as she was assigned guard duty for Jin as well.

    For Lynn, all she needs to do would be just picking her cellphone to summon an army of peggies. One order from the Penguin Queen and those Ninja Penguins would obliterate her enemies, assuming things turn for the worst. However, she too had been holding on to her chi at the ready to fire off any ninjutsu spells at the sign of dangering towards her, but Jin kept emphasising for her not to worry too much.

    "Sometimes, being stoic is the best way to hold the enemies at bay. They do not know what you are nning, and they might overthink about it." Jin insisted as he continued to remain calm despite multiple attempts at his life, which were all being foiled by Yun on her own.

    "At the very least, this is a decent workoutpared to sitting in the store all day. You have my thanks, Jin." Yun said as she flipped her hair to one side.

    "You are taking way too easy. Don''t you think they have any tricks under their sleeves?" Lynn questioned since she knew Jin was always the cautious one.

    "Why? I have everyone on deck today. Besides, we have been through way worse, so this is basically just a show of power. This time I have to concur with the System, if I remain meek with my powers, people will just try to push us over. I''ll have to thank the Tiger Lord, this is the perfect venue for us to establish how powerful we are!" Jin dered with confidence and somehow it was overheard by most of his minions.

    "Master you give us too much credit." Nubwort shared in the System Channel as he used his bare hands to crush a cultivator''s skull. It was not an easy feat considering that the elite cultivator was struggling, and the Orc was surrounded by more enemies. Fortunately, he had the backing of Wyrstriker who kept them upied while Nubwort enjoyed the luxury of painfully killing his enemy.

    He was one of the few cultivators who had bad mouthed their master when they were taunting him. That was why Nubwort had marked this elite and was going the extra mile to give this guy a lecture to make sure that he would never sprout any nonsense like that ever again.

    "Besides, we need some workout after all that steamboat buffet we hadst night." Drex chuckled as he killed another Minor n Leader, inciting more fear among the masses. Hao Pai did his best to keep them together, but the dwindling morale made it hard for him to sustain his efforts. The more he observed, the more he realised that Jin''s bodyguards were intentionally ignoring him, not even attempting toe near him.

    In an attempt to raise morale he went in personally and crossed swords with Dread Reaver, and yet the Knight of Lady Death merely pushed him away by tripping him and kicking him to the side, allowing his subordinates to aid and rescue him.

    Not long after, there was mass desertion from all the Minor n members after a series of bloodbath and the assassinations of their leaders. They could see that staying to fight spelt doom. Therefore retreating, while dishonourable, would at least have a chance of them staying alive, leaving Hao Pai and his remaining Roaring Tiger cultivators in the fray.

    Any of the Roaring Tigers who tried to do the same were actually the first to be gunned down by the young master''s mages. Some were even pulled back to the garden by Sandy and Shu with their sand and nt magicks. They were then rounded up and thrown towards Hao Pai.

    "To run away in the midst of a crowd despite taunting us, isn''t that a little discourteous?" Jin shouted from afar. In reality, his minions were not letting those deserters run off that easily. While Jin was okay with not getting all the money, his top researcher begged to differ. There were many research topics that Ayse wanted to pursue, and there was no such thing as ''too much money'' for a researcher.

    She wanted to know if she could use Lost Tech Engines to power Engineer Rei''s Mechas designs and that would require a significant amount of investment into raw materials and other resources.

    So with the help of the other Avatar of Shaitans, they had alreadyid a n to trap the cultivators who decided to ditch the fight and run beyond the gardens. This was to ensure that nobody would get out of the Tiger''s territory. (For some reason, me Ripper had done his homework while waiting for Jin toe by checking out the surroundings. Perhaps he knew something like this was going to happen? Or was it just his habit?)

    "I think this is a good idea to use on the Demon Rats too." Ayse concluded as she hovered above the garden walls and watched her n unfold.

 Chapter 969 Shameless Kneeling

    <h4>Chapter 969 Shameless Kneeling</h4>

    As the remaining Minor Tiger n cultivators tried to run, giant ice shards began to appear from the bottom of the ground and magically from the top. Some of them tried to bash through them, hoping the ice shards would break upon impact. But instead, they felt a freezing sensation on contact, only to realise that the ice spread on their arms as if it was eating them up.

    It was not a slow process either.

    The ice was like oil catching on fire, spreading and taking over the bodies who had made contact with the shards. At the same time, it also slowly drains the chi out of the cultivators immobilising them in ce...for the next set of attacks. And without a doubt, they were Ayse''s lightning boltsing straight from the skies even though the weather was dry and shiny. The booming sts scared the running cultivators even more as they tried to cower from them, but it was useless.

    Most cultivators were instantly fried from the attack since it was a direct hit and only a few veterans managed to withstand it. Lightning Magic was somewhat a tier of superior magic in Jin''s world because of its speed and not many cultivators even these elites had seen enough to evade or have tricks to defend against it.

    However, these cultivators should have died at the spot instead of struggling.

    me Ripper was next in line as he conjured multiple fire dagger projectiles and with the System''s assistance, it targeted each and every cultivator that was still breathing after surviving the lightning attacks.

    As the ming daggers flew, they slowly turned into a massive fireball which incinerated them upon impact. The only thing left was their frozen parts of their body which subtly indicated that the mes were not strong enough to melt the ice. (But at a closer look, there was some evaporation from the ice, and that itself was enough to allow Ifrit to have a little smirk, knowing his powers were not as inferior as Shiva thought it would be. Some sibling rivalry.)

    With the distant screams, the Roaring Tigers knew that this massacre would not be done until all of them were killed. The rest of the cultivators already had their knees shaking - in fact, they were already on their knees with all hopes gone. However, Hao Pai did not go down to his knees hopelessly. Instead, he faced the mansion and ced his head down to the Tiger n''s Family.

    "Please Big Boss Yuan Ba save us from this predicament! Boss Yang Rong! Boss Yang Hui!" Hao Pai shamelessly kept prostrating and banging his head on the ground. He does not want to die despite all the boasting he did previously. "I will pay! I will pay for your services! Boss Yang Hui!! Boss Yang Rong!! Please lend me your strength!!" He shouted desperately when he could hear his subordinates got killed in cold blood without much resistance.

    "Hah! My fees won''t be cheap!" Yang Rong said as hended right beside Hao Pai and pushed a few of the Farming World Humans who had apanied the big names minions to this fight. (After all, they needed some experience in fighting to join their world''s war in the future.)

    "You have to pay twice the standard fees for this impromptu contract." Yang Hui followed suit as he tried to kick Drex froming near Hao Pai.

    The Dark Elf Leader had already predicted where Yang Hui wouldnd and thought he could quickly annihte one of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Brothers before they joined forces, but it seemed Yang Hui had the upper hand in terms of power. (Drex could have increased his strength at that time but he suddenly heard a sly whisper to withdraw while keeping the act up and leave the rest to Jin.) The impact itself was explosive enough that it caused wind, dust and even some of the nearby corpses to fly away.

    "Heh. For an older looking body guard like you to still have the strength to withstand me, you are no ordinary assassin." Yang Hui said as he saw his legs were blocked with Drex''s palms.

    "You overpliment this old man. I am just trying my best to serve my master." Drex said as he moved his body inward without lifting his legs. Yang Hui instantly did a roundhouse kick in order to turn his body and avoid the iing attack that Drex was doing.

    He then released an advanced technique of the Royal Tiger Cultivation, Tiger Quartet st, sending four massive silhouettes of Tiger Heads in fiery orange chi towards Drex as he backed away. Yang Huiter smirked knowing that even a master in martial arts would have no chance winning this if their chi and body were not strong enough to handle the attack.

    Unfortunately, the Tiger Head Silhouettes continued to move forth to the distance and dissipate when it hit upon one of the Garden''s wall, breaking them into pieces. That was when Yang Hui returned towards his 2nd brother''s side and noticed that the old man was still well and alive. And all he did was to adjust his coat because a loose string was burnt from the attack.

    "Ahh, I have to tell Zhi Nu to weave a little tighter for my coat. I guess she did not expect me to move this much." Drex said to himself as he slowly walked back to behind Jin, seeing that he had toply to that whisper no matter what.

    "I guess I have to triple my standard fees, Mr Hao Pai." Yang Rong noticed the fight his elder brother was in and could already judge the standard this particr group of ck suits were on. They initially thought that the group was easy picking like Hao Pai did but seeing how they massacre almost everyone with ease, they felt it was the minor ns just being a too weak a group. But now with his underling able to dodge Yang Hui''s advanced grade technique showed that they are more than just trained professional bodyguards.

    Unlike the n veterans who been through war and military jobs, these two tiger brothers lived a life of training and fixed match brawls. They could not measure or feel the fear these veterans did, and that was their downfall. Surely, the minor n veterans wanted the Royal Tiger brothers to win these, but to some extent, they could not help but to root the ck suits too. After all, they basically extorted them in the face of immense danger their leader was facing, and it was downright despicable.

    "Father!" Yang Ling shouted at Yuan Ba to do something to the current situation or else, her brothers might be killed. She knew the cycle of hate this family had umted and even though she disliked her brothers, having Jin being hated by them could only cause more chaos and obstacles to build an amicable rtionship with the dungeon supplier which everyone was dying to get their hands on.

    "They always wanted to prove themselves. So why not let them?" Yuan Ba said as he spread his hands over the railings and now watched whether Jin was going to make a move. For he knew how his sons would demand a 1 to 1 duel against the Panda master himself... that is if they are honourable enough.

 Chapter 970 The Tiger Brothers

    <h4>Chapter 970 The Tiger Brothers</h4>

    "Stop hiding behind your guards and fight me! One on one and I shall forgive your transgressions to this massacre." Yang Rong came forward. The young master of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n was ready to see for himself how great this Jin actually wasбн unfortunately the other party was unwilling.

    "No thanks. I don''t wish to waste my strength." Jin even crossed his arms to stress that he refused to take any such offers. He sure as hell would not allow himself to be bullied into a stupid fight when he was surrounded by his allies. After all, not every general had to necessarilymand from the front.

    "Fine, then you leave me no choice but to call the police on you! This area has camera surveince, so there will be no problem to arrest you on charges of manughterбн and trust me, you won''t like it under the police custody, especially when you get me as your torturer." Yang Rong threatened the dungeon supplier, hoping that would get him to change his mind.

    "You honestly believe I''m scared of the police?" Jin sneered back. There were far too many possibilities Jin had at his disposal to make sure he would not stay long in custody. Not counting brute force methods like getting Kraft or the System involved, Jin could easily call in a favour from Xiong Da or Grandma Yuan. (Although that will entail some scoldings) Getting Kong Rong involved would also guarantee that he would be bailed in within five minutes.

    Even if there was a magical barrier over them, it was possible for his minions to get him out. And worste to worst, Jin now understood that a bargain with the spirits of thend could give the System full authority of the ce, making the escape out of police custody a stroll in the park.

    With the two of them bickering the entire garden appeared to have frozen in time. The remnant cultivators continued to stay on their knees happy for each passing second while Jin''s minion still hoped to see their big boss in action. Even the elder brother who had previously been brandishing his skills took a step back and observed the situation between his younger brother and the guy his younger sister had a crush on.

    "The younger brother seems to be the impulsive type, whereas the elder one seems to be more on the thinking sideбн Argh, I knew I should have made up an excuse and just gotten to Grandma Yuan instead." Jin thought to himself and massaged his temples.

    "Big words for an HONORARY member of OUR Tiger n. The atrocity you''vemitted is reason enough to revoke your membership today." Yang Rong stated his new threat.

    "I might feel more threatened if those words came from your dad. From you? Not so much!" Jin said though he could not care less for the honourary membership. They could revoke it for all he cared.

    "He still owes me. I could easily call in those favours, and he would have no choice but to do it. He already repaid his debt by making you an honorary tiger member. It would be your own fault for losing that status!" Yang Rong argued.

    "Really? I didn''t feel that anything changed ever since I got that title."Jin shrugged his shoulders. "Unless you want to count that dumb badge and those extra responsibilities I never asked for. Feels rather empty for a repayment. Then again, perhaps that is how much he valued his life. Rather useless." From the corner of his eye, he could see Yuan Ba with a strained smile. The expression he harboured made it clear that saying anything else would cross his bottom line.

    Unfortunately, Jin had merely stated the ugly truth. The dungeon supplier had found out about his worth from Kong Rong and with the heir to the Royal Zodiac Dragon n as his backing, he did not see any reason to pretend to be at the mercy of these tigers.

    They might be a major Royal Zodiac n, yet as long as they wanted to control him from behind the scenes, Jin would not tolerate it. All he wanted to do was to create dungeons and supply them to his customers. (getting rich in the process wouldn''t hurt.)

    With experience, power and knowledge on his side, nothing was stopping Jin to reciprocate the way they had treated him. Sure it might mean he would lose certain privileges like the protection from the Tiger Triad members and such, but now that his minions had ess to this improved cosmetic inscriptions this issue could be easily fixed.

    Albeit not as massive as thework from a Royal Zodiac n, his manpower rivalled that of arge n, and in terms of firepower, his faction was like a nation with ess to nuclear weapons. (Even the Royal Zodiac would not have this kind of firepower essed to them!) Today he would use this event to disy his stance to all powers interested in him.

    ''I can be your friend, but if you try to mess with me, then I won''t give you any face.''

    "Look, to be honest, I have no qualms with your n members." Jin made a genuine attempt to de-escte the situation somewhat. "However, surely you''ve seen that they were rather rude from the moment I''ve shown myself. It was clear to see that they were not going to listen to a word I said. Do you want to tell me I was not courteous by trying times to avoid a direct confrontation, only for them to block my way and ridicule mypanions and me?"

    "Still, YOU were the first one who raised the sword against the Minor ns. You''ve obviously proven your superiority to our members!" Hao Pei chimed in now. "You even had traps in ce to prevent our people from getting away. Do you not think that to be overkill? "

    "You are not wrong," Jin admitted freely. "Yet for some reason, I doubt any of you would have granted us such a treatment if my side had not been stronger." Hao Pei was left speechless since arguing otherwise would just be lying.

    "Then let''s put it this way. I, Hu Yang Hui, hereby issue a Royal Zodiac n Duel Challenge towards you, Xie Jin." His elder brother finally stepped forward while taking out a wooden tiger statue piece and threw it right on the floor.

    "I''m sorry, I don''t know the rules for such a duel and thus will no-." Jin spoke, but before he could fully refuse, the System interrupted him in a rather jumpy manner.

    "User NEEDS to ept the duel! System will be behind you all the way for this match." And that sentence alone made Jin assume that there were things at stake that would fully benefit the System.

    And he was absolutely right.

    Yang Rong saw what his brother did and startedughing. "My god, Big Brother. For you to do this out openly. I shall invoke my right to participate in this challenge. If you ept the challenge from both of us together, we will double the stakes. Give us all you got! Use whatever weapons you have! However, only you can participate!" Yang Rong shouted as he threw his own wooden tiger statue piece out on the floor too.

    In the meantime, Yuan Ba held on the railings even harder and mumbled with an evil grin. "Stupid kids. I swear you will be the death of me."

 Chapter 971 Royal Zodiac Clan Duel Challenge.

    <h4>Chapter 971 Royal Zodiac n Duel Challenge.</h4>

    Royal Zodiac n Duel Challenge.

    A name dull enough that it was easily forgotten. Yet, the simplicity in its name was also a testimony to the straightforwardness of the challenge. A ceremonial duel without any tricks or facades and its sole purpose were to facilitate one condition.

    Granting the winner the territory of the loser.

    The rules were just as simple as the name implied. The challenger would throw in their animal statue chess piece as a sign of deration, and the targeted party would have to ept unless they had the backing of another Royal Zodiac n willing to block the deration.

    As one of the first ground rules set by the Jade Emperor following the betrayal of the Panda n, it was a privilege reserved for direct family members of the Royal Zodiac ns serving as a sort of legal justification to seize the property of others by betting their own.

    With the mass disappearance of the Panda Elders, the Panda Conglomerate had been absorbed bit by bit on a day to day basis. It would not be wrong to im that the Royal Zodiac ns influence of today was all based on seizing the Panda n''s solid foundation. Thus, the System had a vested interest in righting this wrong, by taking things back now that such an opportunity had presented itself.

    The Tiger Brothers each had a wooden version of the official Royal Zodiac Statue Piece, which disyed them holding partial territories or industries belonging to the Royal Zodiac Tiger n. These official duel pieces had been sanctified in the exact manner that the Jade Emperor had ordained, so the challenge was considered as a type of Heaven''s Will.

    It took many centuries for the Royal Zodiac ns toe together once more and sign a treaty agreeing that it was more ''honourable'' to negotiate over these regions rather than continue with the ''barbaric'' ways of fighting like in the olden days. (They basically were sick of the disorganised mess of acquiring one territory only to lose it the very next week)

    Once a challenge was issued, any outside interference was forbidden. Only the challenged party was allowed to change the terms of the duel. Without the backing of a Royal Zodiac n, surrender and immediately ept the loss of the duel or fight back and keep their property intact. But those with a Royal Zodiac n backing, they not only have the ability to fight back but win the challenger''s territory too.

    In fact, Yang Rong''s action of throwing in his wooden piece was merely an act. As long as Jin refused the younger brother''s wish to participate, the fight would be one on one. (Something the younger brother assumed Jin was unaware of)

    One might want to pity this poor tiger''s fatherбн since he had tried to clean his minor ns and now his children were fighting this dungeon supplier whose powers seem to be a mystery despite constant surveince... But what Jin did not know was that Yuan Ba had been the one to pull the strings which had led to the current situation!

    Jin''s new elevated status made it impossible to acquire the Tree Mall through force alone. Any Royal Zodiac n that might attempt such a foolish thing out in the open would experience a concentrated strike from the other ns in retaliationбн and yet the Tiger Lord had schemed a possible way around it. And that was despite portraying the intention to protect it by having the Tiger Triad flexing its muscles to prevent other underworld triads from being in Jin''s territory. (In hindsight toward his scheme, it was as if he was prowling, wanting to keep this Tian Gong district as his own.)

    The leading Minor n had always showered the Tiger Brothers with gifts and tributes to stay in their favour while paying a reasonable amount of tax, making them one of the regr funders of the n. Were it not for them bullying any new blood, they would have been the ideal Minor n.

    During this year''s n Meet, Yuan Ba had therefore presented Jin with the opportunity to teach them a lesson in his stead. But given his sons'' characters, it had been a given that they would not take it lightly. With his sons agitated enough to protect the Roaring Tigers, it gave the Tiger n''s Head a justification for their rash actions in front of Jin as well as the other Royal Zodiac ns.

    This way he could continue to y both sides.

    Should Jin win, there was no loss on his side since he had no Royal Zodiac n backing him, taking his property away (Especially more so when he was the honorary member of the Tiger n in his point of view.) At the very most, Yuan Ba would stay impressed and pretend to punish his kids for being insolent trying to fight with the Dungeon Supplier. In some way, it was a twisted kind of bonding session Yuan Ba had presented to his family to get to learn about the dungeon supplier while trying to learn more of Jin''s powers.

    And in case the Tiger Brothers would win, he would gain possession of the Tree Mall. He would pretend not to keep it and exchange the life debt he owed Jin by offering him a simr deal where he would pay them tribute, only he was more interested in Jin''s technology over any amount of cash! That way, he could subtly squeeze Jin even more despite the kindness he shows.

    Oh, what joy, it''s a win win situation.

    ------

    "Do you need my help?" Suddenly Jin heard the question from the open System channel. He recognised the voice immediately as Kong Rong''s.

    "The System just briefed me about the details of being challenged to a Royal Zodiac n Duel Challengeбн so I''m guessing you''re offering to use your Dragon n Statue Chesspiece to help me block the challenge?" Jin queried.

    "That''s the jist of it. Hu Yuan Ba is not as simple as he may look. The current Tiger Lord is one of the most cunning Tiger n Heads that even my grandmother acknowledges. I believe you''ve been dancing on the palm of his hand ever since you have epted to massacre his own people." Kong Rong replied.

    "While I appreciate the help, if you block it for me, wouldn''t you reveal that you''vepromised your mission of removing me out of the equation?" Jin questioned.

    "Don''t worry, I have long since prepared certain contingency ns of my own for such a case. You think I would leave myself vulnerable upon being subjected to such a truth?" Kong Rong answered.

    "Actually, Tiny Dragon''s help is not required for the fight itself. What the System is about to do might cause trouble for Tiny Dragon more than his current n." The System suddenly interjected its opinion.

    "What do you mean exactly?" Both of them asked continuously, yet while Jin continued to talk in his mind, the two Tiger Brothers had had enough about being ignored. While the elder brother remained calm, the younger brother''s temper kicked in.

    "Oei! Give us a damn answer. Either fight us now or surrender! I''d suggest you better surrender since you seem to be worried about the iing hurt and embarrassment! Hahaha!" Yang Rong taunted him into action. If one of his bodyguards would attack them, it would be even better since they would win by default.

    "Forgive me, I was just considering whether both your territories would actually be worth it," Jin stated to buy some time while trying to remain calm upon listening to the System''s exnation that made Kong Rong go nuts.

    "Worth it?! What the hell are you talking about?!" Yang Rong exploded and started to collect his chi into his inner core.

    In the meantime, Yang Ling watched all themotion and decided that the situation would be unfair to Jin. She wanted to throw her own statue piece into the ring to even the odds out, however, when she took a few steps back and prepared for a huge jump, the surrounding bodyguards suddenly tapped on her shoulders and restrained her down. That was when she saw her father''s face.

    With a nce, she knew that twisted disy of cunningness under that stonewalled face.

    "You! You PROMISED you would NEVER trick me again! How dare you USE ME LIKE THAT?! How can you do that to your life saviour?! Just like a leopard doesn''t change his spots, your stripes never change too!" Yang Ling cried out in defiance.

    "JIN GET OUT!!!"

    "Sorry my little Tigress, but while that guy saved my life and yours indirectly, I cannot allow you to interfere right now." Yuan Ba said solemnly.

 Chapter 972 A Chess Piece

    <h4>Chapter 972 A Chess Piece</h4>

    "JIN!!! IT''S A TR-" The Tiger n''s bodyguards knocked her out by blocking a chi point near her neck as she tried to scream again. Yuan Ba was impressed that his daughter seemed to have seen through what he was plotting.

    "It''s for the greater good of our n, my dearest daughter. You might not like it, but one day you should understand that this was my way of taking care of you three." Yuan Ba thought to himself as he stared down the garden once more. The shout had made everyone in the garden look up to see the angry face of the Tiger n Head turn into one long smirk.

    Yang Hui who had been the only one in the know simrly did not hide his grin anymore while his brother looked shocked as the realisation hit him that everything must have been part of their father''s plot. He had never liked being yed by their father and his schemes, but right now he was fully focused on dealing with the dungeon supplier who finally seemed to take actionбн by searching his pockets for something?

    "You sure about this? There is no going back if you reveal yourselves this way." Kong Rong warned Jin through the System Channel.

    "I''ve done a bit of thinking, and I believe I should be able to handle the pressures of society now. I''m definitely far from being fully prepared, but whatever happens, I have something to fall back on. My minions and family will stay by my side. Not to mention, I have you too. Heh."

    "You make it sound like I am your guardian angel." Kong Rong chuckled and sighed while he looked at his monitor that was receiving the live feed from a drone. "Very well, do as you like. Let me make some arrangements on my side to ensure that you get some backing for the aftermath."

    "Thank you, my Senior," Jin said through the System with a quick snicker before looking up towards Yang Rong and Yang Hui, who were still very confident that Jin had no way out of the trap that they created for him.

    "Very well, if you so desperately want to bet your territories for a fight with me instead of going against my guards, I shall y along. An eye for an eye." Jin addressed the Tiger Brothers and pulled out a storage ring. In an instant, he summoned out a tinum looking statue in the shape of a Panda. Like the others, it looked as if it was a chess piece and all of them stared at it.

    The cuteness of a Panda yawning while having its paws on a bamboo shoot, crystalised with tinum metal. Unlike the wooden tiger chess pieces, even the fur on the Panda was heavily detailed, and a simple form of shading had been applied to give the Panda that sense of realism. Jinter employed some Maqi onto it, and the Panda Statue chess piece could even move its mouth, closing it for a while before it returned to a wide yawning mouth.

    Yuan Ba focused his chi into his eyes to see what Jin was holding. A tinum statue piece? It looked to be made from the same material as his own tinum tiger statue piece, yet that was something only n Heads were eligible to use. And when he saw Jin applying some chi to make its mouth move, he could not believe it at all.

    "What? Impossible! It has to be fake!" Yuan Ba uttered as he leaned forward and grabbed the railing. However, before he could do anything to stop the duel, he saw his two sons had already used their chi to bring up the wooden tiger statues and call upon the heavens to invoke the challenge.

    Immediately, tworge tiger silhouettes appeared from the statues and burst wide into the skies as if they were going to oversee the match. Jin did the same, and surprisingly a colossal panda silhouette filled the sky. After which, it started fighting the two tigers upon its emergence. Although it was a two on one, the Panda was three times bigger than the two tigers, and it was already overpowering them with its size alone.

    "Preposterous!" Yuan Ba''s mouth was left wide open when he watched the Panda silhouette suppress the two tigers and call upon the Will of the Heavens, the match had been set between the Royal Zodiac Tiger ns and the Royal Zodiac Panda n.

    This became all the more clear when an actual representative from the Gods Realm came down to oversee the match between the ns as had been officiated since the olden days.

    Derek, who had remained at the sidelines, became quite lively when he saw therge celestial being. He recognised him as one of the gods that had taken his world away. "It appears they do intervene in your world too, master." Derek pointed out, and Jin took extra notice of their judge.

    "From what I gather, he might be like a worker ant for the Gods. Then again, this is probably just like an automated clone body. Still, it does have some of the powers of a god, despite it being extremely limited. Probably only to oversee this match." Moloch reasoned as he was a Demon Lord and had a few shes with such Gods when he was younger.

    "Don''t do anything rash. You''re free to collect data but nothing else. We do not need toplicate things with innocents in the picture." Jin cautioned, causing Derek and Moloch to continue to monitor from afar.

    The God that was standing in the middle of the three animal silhouettes was wearing ancient Chinese armour, resembling the depicted form of Er Lang Hu, the War God with three eyes. His ck battle armour was adorned withyers of intricate patterns pertaining to the twelve Royal Zodiac.

    This Godly Representative had been depicted in the journals of previous n Heads. However, Yuan Ba noticed that unlike in those illustrations or descriptions the representative was now also holding onto a feathered fan with the image of bamboo forest and Pandas hiding within it as if indicating that the rumoured thirteenth Royal Zodiac did exist.

    "As per the Will of the Heavens, I have acknowledged the authenticity of both sides'' chess pieces. I shall bear witness and act as judge over this duel. The challenged Panda n has agreed to the addition of another challenger, and in case of his victory, he shall bepensated further due to his handicap." The Godly Representative announced in a booming voice. "All non-participants, move away this moment!"

    Jin''s minions jumped out of the way as a rectangr barrier rose from the ground. However, not all the Minor n cultivators managed to move out of the way in time, and thus the Godly Representative used his Feather Fan to magically move them out of the field. Granted, they did not have a nicending, but it did the job.

    "You may now proceed." The Godly Representative was prompt to get the match started.

    "What the hell?! Father! This is not what we agreed on!" Yang Hui shouted when he finally realised the situation he was in. His calm demeanourpletely gone, reced by a scowl on his face. Yang Rong decided to not care and rushed forward.

    His chi was all focused, and he was ready to st forth, but Jin had been waiting for his attack.

 Chapter 973 The Tiger Duellis

    <h4>Chapter 973 The Tiger Duellis</h4>

    Hu Yang Rong did not fullyprehend the implication of this dungeon supplier turning out to really be a n Head of the Royal Zodiac Panda n. After all, it was a mythical n that supposedly had perished because of various reasons.

    While there were no official records withstanding, some nasty rumours imed it was because the Jade Emperor had betrayed them. Others stated that the Panda n had chosen to split from the Royal Zodiacs to live on their own and over the years had simply declined into non-existence. There were also many simr rumours pointing in that direction, using the Panda n of going under as a result of inner strife at some point after the defeat of the Banned Emperor, although the exact date varied wildly.

    No one was able to learn the exact truth with the exception of the oldest person in each n as one of the secrets that needed to be passed. Even so, the ''truth'' had been distorted quite a number of times throughout the centuries to the point that it had be a myth.

    Not to mention, the System''s time-reversal had also destroyed certain elements of the Panda n''s presence in this timeline. Only extraordinary existences like the Royal Zodiac Archivist who had the Dragon Ley Lines to keep her safe from the time maniption had been exempt from it.

    The pressure of a supposedly skewed fight suddenly turning into a serious fight for territory had seemingly overwhelmed the elder brother, yet Yang Rong was less fazed. What mattered to him was that this haughty dungeon supplier had been crazy enough to act as if he owned the ce and thereby injured his sponsor, the Roaring Tigers.

    "Intermediate Fist Arts, Flying Tiger Burn Strike!" Yang Rong shouted as he came straight for Jin with his fist burning with chi and to a certain extent, passion.

    Passion to kill this Panda Young Master in order to keep his property intact. His fist was enveloped in the shape of a Tiger Head moving forth with its open maw, ready to get a bite out of that juicy target.

    Still, Jin was not moving a single inch, seemingly prepared to take the hit straight on and thus Yang Rong was readying himself for the next move. That seemingly straightforward punch was just abo starter where the subsequent hits would be even harder, leading to Advanced and Epic Arts.

    It had been the downfall of many who had underestimated the simplicity of the Flying Tiger Burn Strike, only to get destroyed in one fell swoop by the full Arts Combo earning him the nickname of Tiger Duellist.

    "Heh, this guy won''t even know what hit him." Hao Pai thought as he knew that Jin was not prepared to even block the attack. However, the dungeon supplier did ultimately step backwards. The only problem was that when Jin did, it seemed as if he tripped on to something and fell back, which surprised the Tiger Duellist. As a trained martial artist, he was able to keep sufficient momentum as he tilted his punch downwards before he missed the striking point of his punch. While the strength of the attack would be weakened, it still should not pose too much of a difficulty in maintaining thebo starter.

    Suddenly he felt a sharp jab at hisher regions even though there was no visible movement or attack intenting from Jin. Still, that sharp jab was enough to throw him off bnce, and the punch failed to connect. With a wide open opportunity avable to him, Jin shamelessly took the chance to summon a gun out and shoot at the Tiger Duellist. Who says that he had to fight on equal terms with a martial arts artist? All the Godly Representative said was to fight until one surrendered or killed. Besides, the Tiger Brothers were the ones who provoked Jin to bring out whatever he had. (Which obviously, he didn''t. Why bother risking showing his enemies all his trump cards when he could hide them?)

    Yang Rong could not believe the shrewdness and trickery of the Panda Young Master when he felt the sharp pain through hisher regions. Yet, he barely managed to swirl to the right to avoid getting shot in his head. He then enveloped his body with chi as every other advanced chi Duellist would do when fighting against ranged projectiles.

    Yang Hui decided to ept the harsh reality of the current fight and moved into action when he saw Jin continue to fire his pistol nonchntly at his brother. The dungeon supplier had noticed his efforts and promptly changed his target to Yang Hui instead, giving Yang Rong the respite needed to charge forward again.

    The knowledge that Jin was a gun user, made things easy for the Tiger Brothers as they knew most ranged users'' offensive powers relied on their weapon and its uracy. All they had to do was cripple the user before the killing bullets could reach them.

    Yang Hui was also a close-quarterbatant, but he used katars to simte the sweeping strikes of a tiger granting him better reach and more devastating killing power. Using an Advanced Royal Zodiac Tiger Technique, he boosted the strength in his legs for an increase in agility and speed so that the gunshots would not be an issue while moving towards Jin.

    With two closebat cultivators closing in on him, Jin merely brought out a second pistol, one that was smaller in size but still packed a punch and continued to shoot to distract the two brothers. For those who were in the know, they could clearly identify the two pistols he was holding as transformations of Bam and Boo. It was only a matter of time until he transformed those two back into swords to fight against them in a close quarters fight.

    "Take this, you scumbag!" Yang Rong shouted as he switched his starting attack into a version of the Intermediate Fist Arts, Flying Tiger Burn Strike that utilised his legs. The Tiger Duellist jumped and the chi he possessed turned into Tiger Head now enveloping his right leg. This time Yang Hui wasing in from the side with his own Katar Arts activated too.

    "Advanced Katar Arts, Bloody Tiger Fangs!" Yang Hui shouted, and his katars turned into red hot des going straight for Jin''s vital organs. He utilised the way his brother attacked since a person could only evade his kick in a limited amount of ways.

    Not to mention, Jin had been cornered into the erected barrier set by the Godly Representative, and there was not much space to run away. Even Yuan Ba could not see any way how Jin could get out of that situation unless he had some way to teleport himself.

    However, the Panda Young Master continued to shatter their expectations.

    This time around, he did not evade Yang Rong and the kick impacted against his chest. Simrly, Yang Hui managed to pierce his katars into Jin''s chest. Yang Rong was so baffled that he did not even continue with his subsequent Arts Comboбн until the silhouette of Jin disappeared.

    The real Jin was right behind the silhouette they stabbed, and both of them found a gun aiming at their foreheads. With a quick smirk, Jin pulled the trigger on both guns.

    *BANG* *BANG*

 Chapter 974 Metamorph

    <h4>Chapter 974 Metamorph</h4>

    Both brothers, each only had a split second to try to evade. Yang Hui at least had the benefit of his agility having been boosted previously, but Yang Rong was not that lucky.

    The only form of protection he had was the chi he used as pseudo armour, yet the shot was nearly a point nk. He did his best to tilt his head slightly, leading to the bullet sting his ear off instead of his head. The pain and buzzing sound from the pistol made him stumble backwards to maintain bnce and regain a sense of the current situation. The echoing of the aftermath rang in his head, the searing pain of the bullet on his skin might be too much for an average person, but he was a seasoned fighter.

    Tolerating it was not an issue for him.

    The spectators were all bewildered and racked their brains, trying to figure out how Jin had managed to fool everyone. Even Yuan Ba had never seen such a high-level defensive trick before, despite being exposed to many styles during his life. He had thoroughly researched the Panda Styles to advise his eldest son on what to look out for, and this was never one in the books. (His youngest son had been left out for fear his impulsiveness would reveal the n too early.)

    "Honestly, how did Jin do that? He literally broke off as if he wasing out of a husk and let them target him." Lynn questioned on the System Channel, and his minions all had their theories, yet nobody had a clear answer. The System appeared to have been waiting for anticipation to grow before it finally answered without disturbing Jin.

    "ording to System''s deduction, this was a disy of a high level of maniption of Maqi. User must have created an Astral Projection that looked real enough to fool everyone. Not only that, he maintained the density of his Astral Projection while using his Maqi at the right moment to move away from the attacks." The System exined though Jin''s minions questioned how he was able to hold enough Maqi to create such a high-density Astral Projection without letting the opponents know about it.

    Yet, the System was a bit off the mark from its deduction. Jin had actually used the very same method he had used previously to create the sharp jab against Yang Rong. All he did was do a slight trip backwards, prompting him to activate his Maqi to create this Astral Projection. And with Green Wind Panda Maqi, he floated back with ease during the tripping, allowing him to hide behind after the attack.

    Jin did not stop shooting and with his Inverse Eyes activated, he was able to predict where they were going tond, making it even more difficult for both the Tiger Brothers to evade.

    It was then that Yang Rong decided that his conventional method of fighting against their opponent would not be sufficient. Jin had proven to be more than just a simple snobbish young master. He had the necessary skills to back him up, especially when he noticed how urate his shots were.

    Yet, Yang Hui just felt humiliated by Jin. He was aware that from what they knew about Jin, these guns were not his main way of fighting. It was like he was indirectly taunting the Tiger Brothers and telling them that they were only worth bullet shots and not his actual skills.

    "I will show you that I am not messing around!" Yang Hui called out as he released his cultivation aura. Two Tigers silhouette like projectiles sprawling out of his body and they rushed towards their prey. Jin was able to move away quick enough andter saw behind the Eldest Brother was a massive Tiger silhouette to portray his Grade 10 and a smaller tiger silhouette beside it to show that he was Grade 11.

    Jin now focused on Yang Hui, who had started a metamorphosis process and was gaining stripes on his legs and hands. His teeth turned into fangs, and his eyes were filled with ferocity staring at Jin.

    Yang Rong was also sick of dealing with the way too urate bullets and activated his own chi aura. Despite being the younger brother, he revealed a massive Tiger with two smaller tiger silhouettes, showing that he was actually a grade higher than his elder brother.

    "Epic Royal Zodiac Tiger Technique, Steel Fur Skin!" The Tiger Duellist shouted, and he turned all greyish with a shiny matte all over his body. There were faint stripes on him too, indicating that he had metamorphosed as well and with even better controlpared to his sibling.

    "Steel skin and metamorph ability, huh? This is starting to feel nostalgic fighting with tigers. Let''s see if our experimental product is working as we hoped." Jin raised his watch, and a bullet clip was released out from the storage watch. Some of his minions were wondering why he needed to change his pistol clip when Bam and Boo worked via his chi.

    "Oooooh! Looks like we might get another twist in the fight!" Ayse said excitedly since she had recognised what he pulled out. After all, she was the one to create them. "Seriously, I was getting worried if he was too busy to try it out despite meeting such a good target! It''s no longer experimental in my eyes! He just failed to approve it!" Thest part was said in a pouting voice.

    Yang Rong did not bother to evade the bullet shot that Jin shot and just took it straight on.

    His Epic Technique was enough to even resist machine guns with high prative power much less a chi indued bullet. But something unexpected urred...

    The bullet managed to pierce the Steel Fur Skin even though it was just the tip of it, making Yang Rong feel quite a bit of pain. Apanied with it was a st of fire yet it only scorched a portion of the armoured skin which was non-consequential.

    At that point, the Tiger Duellist thought that his Steel Fur Skin might not yet have been fully activated, yet Jin''s next shot proved otherwise. To make things worse, he had aimed at precisely the same ce again, and this time Yang Rong could feel the pain of the bullet within his abdominal area.

    Not only that, the st of fire ensued, this time causing the rest of his insides to burn as the Steel Fur Skin tried to close the hole that Jin had just created. Yang Rong toppled onto the floor, coughing blood, and to a certain degree, puffs of smoke emerged from his mouth too.

    But to show weakness immediately after showing his cultivation was truly an insult. The reminding minor n members were all depending on him to win this fight. Not to mention, his territory was at stakeбк one which he took great effort to earn it from his father aspared to his other siblings. However, as he tried to stand up, he felt the firey sensation pulsating through his entire body, as the fire boiled his circtory systems, paralysing him for a moment.

    "Heh, I did not expect this to be so effective. Well done, Ayse. I definitely approve this for further developments." Jin praised her via the System and Ayse gleed very widely.

    "I am d you like the weapon research team''s development. It was rather easy to replicate since you had the actual product. We''ve used your sludge to further improve the firepower. Therefore part of this achievement partially belongs to you as well, master." Ayse said as she saw the System bless her with additional System Points to put the other elemental bullets into development.

    The truth of these bullets was that they were Ayse''s recreation of the ones Ming had left behind when Jin unlocked the series of inheritance gifts. They had been in the same box as the Anti Demon Manual and given that Jin had used these Ruby Fire Bullets before against an imaginary tiger, he had figured it would be useful against a real metamorphosed tiger too.

    After all, the metamorphosis was not too different from demonising oneself to be stronger. Grandma Yuan would be proud if she saw Jin utilise his knowledge of Demon Exorcism in such a way. Naturally, that info came from his two week crash course with Ming when they had their random chats and lectures.

    But for now, it''s time to put the raging proud tigers down, one bullet at a time.

 Chapter 975 Tiger Fist Combo Arts

    <h4>Chapter 975 Tiger Fist Combo Arts</h4>

    With his younger brother at the mercy of Jin, Yang Hui jumped in front of his brother and ate the next bullet for him. His fully metamorphosed beast form, unfortunately, had an even higher level of demon affinity, causing him to take extra damage from this shot. The bullet went through his right chest and exited his body cleanly.

    And the bullet seemed to add insult to his feeble attempt of him protecting his brother even further by coursing out of his body and ricocheted on to hit Yang Rong''s shoulder.

    However, the brunt of the Ruby Fire explosion had been reserved for Yang Hui, and it had made a mess of his right lung. Unlike Yang Rong, who had Steel Fur Skin to soften the damage, the explosion was clear for everyone to see as his chest skin ruptured and blood burst out impactfully, causing him to asphyxiate from the gush of blooding out of his throat.

    "Idiot, why did you do that?!" Yang Rong shouted as he desperately tried to use his chi to close his brother''s wounds instead of his own. The rtionship between the brothers wasplicated due to their father''s favouritism of his firstborn son. Still, they had gone through thick and thin together, especially during training sessions and there was still a sense of camaraderie instead of familial kinship.

    "Can''t let the better one of us two die that easily, right? We''ve barely shown this Panda our fangs, and you are already down on the floor. Father must be disappointed with us." Yang Hui uttered in a weak voice. Jin didn''t like to interrupt such a heartfelt moment, but he was not giving them any chance to recuperate. After all, his umted work was still at stake.

    "Sorry, but you will have to continue this conversation another time," Jin said as he ruthlessly shot another Ruby Fire Bullet aimed between Yang Hui''s eyes. Only instead of evading, Yang Rong punched the ground, causing a portion of the garden brick path to disperse and create a temporary distraction as he pulled his brother further back.

    Sadly, the arena was limited to prevent the contestants of a duel from running away. Although the Ruby Fire Bullet had been wasted exploding among the brick debris, Jin had more at his disposal. The dungeon supplier continued to fire from afar with Boo first while transforming Bam into a weapon he had seen being used in the Farming World.

    A Gunde.

    With three more Ruby Fire Bullets in his Gunde, he rushed forward the moment the bricks and explosion settled downбн only for the Tiger Brothers to have disappeared from his sight.

    "Invisibility technique?! Damn, I thought you tigers would fight me from the front after ganging up on me. Didn''t think you''d use these nasty tricks." Jin taunted them out loud. He quickly focused his chi into his Inverse Eyes to scan the area, hoping to have a sense where the tiger brothers could have hidden. Any dy in finding them will definitely give them an advantage. Thus, the System also assisted him and true enough, Yang Rong hade close to striking Jin while remaining camouged among the environment.

    Advanced Tiger Technique, Stalking Saunter of the Tiger was a skill that allowed the Tiger Brothers to blend into the environment for either a quick escape or more often to set up an ambush for their enemies. In this instance, Yang Rong had used it to perform both these actions though it did not take Jin by surprise.

    Instead, the muscle memory from Ming''s intensive training kicked in, and he tripped sidewards. His body somehow managed to ''sense'' the impending danger and acted as such to save Jin. The Tiger Duellist was irritated that he could not read Jin''s movement yet again as the fall had been too abrupt.

    "Who the fuck can be so clumsy in movement and yet still beat us into this state?! What kind of fucked up situation is this?!" Yang Rong wondered as he forcefully twisted his ankle and changed the angle of his punch once more. He was not sure whether Jin had found a way to see himing despite the camouge or if he had been just lucky to trip at that exact moment.

    All he needed was to get a hit onto Jin''s body, s, there had been no chance to do so, making him extremely furious. Yet, as he missed Jin again, he suddenly felt a stinging cut rising up through his torso area. "What the -? How did I?!" And instantly, the same burning sensation enveloped his entire torso, burning him alive.

    This time, the fire was even stronger and more vibrant as he could feel his entire body wriggle in pain despite the Steel Fur enhancement and with valid reason. Jin had further enhanced the Ruby Fire Bullet with his Panda ck Fire and the cut from the Gunde had made sure it would impact deeply.

    To make things worse, the Astral Projection that emerged from his tripping doubled the pain he suffered, allowing it to break the Steel Fur enhancement easily.

    Jin did not stop there and did a quick side step and stabbed his de into Yang Rong. But he found it a little too convenient when he did so, and hence immediately found out that Yang Rong was still battle ready, extremely determined to win the fight.

    The Tiger Duellist grabbed on Jin''s ck zer despite being engulfed in mes and with his right hand still charged with Chi, he sent it flying towards Jin''s stomach.

    "Flying Tiger Burning Strike!!!!" Yang Rong Roared as he did not care of the pain he was enduring right. If he didn''t use this chance, he was unlikely to get another one.

    With his perseverance, the gods seemed to be smiling down upon him, perhaps rewarding his struggle. The Tiger Duellist felt that his punch hit onto something hard and was ready to finally execute his deadly Arts Combo.

    Now an explosive sound vibrated through the allocated arena, and Yang Rong did not stop for anything else. "Advanced Fist Arts! Triple Tiger Quartet Strikes!" Yang Rong eximed as he mmed his elbow towards Jin''s face and the arms now moved lightning fast to execute the Arts Combo. The multiple attacks switched between finger jabs, palm strikes and wholesome punches to ensure that he blocked Jin''s major chi points preventing him from any sort of retaliation.

    "Epic Fist Arts, shes of the White Moon Tiger!" Next, Yang Rong focused chi on his nails, metamorphosing them to ws that were as sharp as steel swords and grabbed Jin up and flipped him. After being tricked once when he hit a dense silhouette of Jin, he now ensured that the other party would not get any chance to substitute himself against the Tiger Duellist. Upon flipping, he sent out his shes out to cause Jin to be flying to the skies, and because of the impact of the attack, the minor n members started to cheer loudly.

    "Oof! that must hurt," Ayse said as they all saw Jin being pushed against gravity time and time again by the continuous number of shes. With hisst breath, Yang Rong shouted and temporarily, the sky turned ck with a full moon out.

    The Moon slowly descended and cut Jin at the center, visibly causing him to split into two. "Epic Fist Arts, Moon Descends into the Night." Yang Rong grinned when after he uttered out the Fist Arts name and saw two pieces of Jin falling and bleeding.

    Seeing the entire chain of action scenes, his brother slowly came out of the camouge and showed a victory fist to his brother.

    Yuan Ba, who had been watching from the sideline, was delighted by the results. Not to mention he was ted that they emerged rtively safely out of this unexpected fight for territory. Even the Roaring Tigers were pping their hands, congratting Yang Rong for having restored the Tiger''s honour.

    However, the Tiger Duellist noticed something was amiss. While his side of the field was jumping with joy, the other side of the arena was not sad in the least. In fact, it was filled with chuckles. (All of them seem to have been influenced by Kraft''s evil way ofughing0)

    Only then did he realise that the Godly Representative had yet to say anything about the match being over. He just continued to oversee the arena.

    It was too bad that by the time he realised it, it was toote.

 Chapter 976 Decisive Results

    <h4>Chapter 976 Decisive Results</h4>

    *Schwing Schwing*

    An energised ck chi sh flew at breakneck speed across the arena, and Yang Rong barely managed to duck. Yang Hui, on the other hand, had been too injured to move about much. His head fell to the ground and rolled down the broken garden pavement, with a look of shock edged onto his face. His body slowly fell to the ground, and blood from his neck stained the garden soil and brick path.

    Meanwhile, the surviving brother ced his arms upwards in a blocking position while ensuring there was sufficient chi to break any follow up attack. However, the force of the next sh was so intense that it broke his chi barrier, causing him to be knocked back.

    He was thankful that the impact allowed him to break out from the shбн until he found a sword pointing at his right eyeball. An inch? No, it was even closer. Probably less than a centimetre away. He felt that even blinking could cause him to lose his eyelid, forcing him to hold that involuntary movement.

    "How did you manage to survive all the attacks and remain unscathed?" Yang Rong questioned in a barely audible whisper while he was trembling from the fear, focusing his will to not blink at all.

    "The next words you utter from that prideful mouth of yours better be ''I surrender''. Anything else or any type of other movement and I will stab you before you can try anything funny." Jin dered decidedly. His tone made it clear that this was a non-negotiable ultimatum.

    "Do y- ARGHHH" Yang Rong couldn''t help his character and tried acting out in defiance. s, Jin had not been joking. There was not the least bit of hesitation when he pushed his sword into his eyes and the sword plunged through the skull and out of it.

    Everyone who was at the scene was terrified to see Jin act so cruel and Yuan Ba was holding on to his railings very tightly while enduring the gruesome scene. There was no way for him to interfere in the current fight unless he wished to throw in his tinum tiger chess piece as coteral. He wouldn''t do something so risky, at least not before he had figured out Jin''s way of fighting. It was just too risky to ce a bet on and possibly his entire n''s property.

    "I already gave you a chance. You refused it." Jin said to the Tiger Duellist as he took his Gunde out and shot once more into the very same ce he had injured Yang Rong previously. Immediately, the Ruby Fire explosion took effect and the Steel Fur Skin enchantment slowly dissipated.

    Just then, the Godly Representative raised his hand to pass judgement as if he had enough of the Panda''s master sudden cruelty. Still, to his minions and colleagues, they believed it was justifiable since his one and only territory was at stake.

    "The Panda n is victorious. The properties of Hu Yang Rong and Hu Yang Hui shall belong to Xie Jin with immediate effect. All profits and expenses shall be borne by the winner as of theing hour. As the Heavens will it." The Godly Representative then slowly turned to Jin with a sly eye.

    "We willmunicate with your super entity to transfer the deeds and ounts expenses. The rest of the documents that you need will be human formality and dealt with by the losing party. Extrapensation shall be arranged by the Tiger''s n Head as he fits and should you find it unsatisfactory, use your Super Entity to contact us. However, we doubt they would do that for they know the harsh punishment that followed through." The Godly Representative sent a transmission, fully implying that it knew about the existence of the System.

    "How does he know about you?!" Jin suddenly went on guard as the Godly Representative ced the feathered fan towards his face, and with the ring of a bell ring, the arena disappeared. (Just as he did.)

    The remaining Roaring Tigers quickly moved towards the severely injured Yang Rong to check his pulse. Unfortunately, he was already on hisst breath, cursing Jin''s name and vowing for revenge. Meanwhile, the dungeon supplier picked up his phone once more and it auto dialled to Yuan Ba.

    "Shall I continue to clean up?" Jin asked. The question implied that Jin was ready to take on the Tiger n Head face to face if there were any more schemes waiting for him.

    "You''ve done enough. I will transfer the full amount of money ording to the guest list. Each and every one of them even if you did not clean them up. On top of that, the prize money meant for the n Meet will be given to you as promised. By tomorrow." Yuan Ba answered in a straight tone, but Jin could hear a tinge of bitterness and reluctance within his voice.

    The Panda n Young Master strongly believed that the Tiger Lord might be scheming to get back on him someday.

    But at least not today.

    "Well then, I hope the next time we meet, it will be under better circumstances. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, but I wish you a good new year." Jin said as he ended the call and nodded towards Yuan Ba silently.

    The Royal Zodiac Tiger n Head returned to his office and made the arrangements to fulfil the Godly Representative''s directive. There were dire consequences when not following the duel''s proceedings and he''d rather lose those territories than suffer the wrath of the Godly Representative.

    "Apologies Sir, but do you wish for me to prepare everything to resurrect Young Masters Yang Hui and Yang Rong immediately?" One of his main servants questioned him on the way.

    "Later. Send them to the hospitals for checks first. I do not want them toe crying to me that they''ve be stupid or something like that. Do not disturb me for the rest of the day. Just put my dinner at the door when it is done." Yuan Ba replied with a resigned voice.

    "Understood Sir. As for that Panda n Young Master, do you need me to get the police to arrest them?" The main servant questioned.

    "On what grounds????? The Tiger Lord sounded a decade older. "He decided to y my game and revealed himself because he must have someone with high backing. Probably even much higher than me." Just as Yuan Ba opened the door, he saw someone sitting at his guest''s chair.

    "Good afternoon, n Head Yuan Ba." Kong Rong greeted him with a tip of his round hat.

    "Awfully rude to note by the main door?" Yuan Ba asked, as if it was not enough headache for him to deal with the territory exchange, now he had to contend with one of the nation''s leading State Agents.

    "I tried, but everyone seemed too upied, so I decided to go by the side gate. Thankfully, one of your servants recognised me and kindly offered me in to have a seat first." Kong Rong said as he removed his hat as a courteous move.

    The main servant was shocked to see the first son of the Royal Zodiac Dragon n in the seat and quickly asked if he needed tea. Kong Rong kindly refused but thanked him for the offer, while Yuan Ba quietly closed his doors to begin the discussion with Kong Rong.

    As for Jin? Without a word, his bodyguards began walking behind him, and they quietly escorted him to the exit of the Tiger n''s bloodied garden path. The rest of the surviving Roaring Tiger Cultivators kept their heads down as they heard the clobbering of the Pandas'' footwear through the paths.

    There were no insults, noughing or anything. Just silence and footsteps shuffling away into the distance. It was as if the massacre they had left behind was not out of spite, but rather just business.

    And as their aura diminished with distance, Hao Pai finally took a breather and broke down. He did not cry, but rather fell into despair after taking in the sights of his deadrades. The people he had sent into their meaningless deaths just to show off.

    "I am sorry...I am sorry brothers." Hao Pai mumbled as he stared at a bloodied sword near him. After much consideration, he used his chi to lift the sword up and sent it towards him, stabbing himself.

    He knew there was no way of redeeming what had happened.

 Chapter 977 Protection Ac

    <h4>Chapter 977 Protection Ac</h4>

    The Tiger n Meet might have been primarily for the Royal Zodiac Tiger n, but several scouts from the other Royal Zodiac ns had watched them in case a new power would emerge in the fight between Minor ns. It was business as usual for most of the scouts, and so was the Tiger n who had done the same for the other n meets.

    Admittedly, this time around, they all had been keeping an eye on Jin.

    None of them had expected such a particr show of power from him nor his bodyguards which they were unable to find any information about. All of this had frightened most if not all of the scouts that had been watching. (Especially since they saw the bodyguards have the time of their life sending the cultivators of the Minor ns to theherworld.) To make things worse, those guards knew that they were being watched. Sometimes, minions like Nubwort and Drex would purposely put up a show for them to watch.

    "If I had known this would happen, I would have just called him toe to our lunch meet instead." Kong Rong mused out loud when he saw Yuan Ba''s dejected spirits who sat down on the other side of the office table.

    "Well, it''s toote for that now. Speak, what do you want?" Yuan Ba did not bother with formality as the paperwork he had to do was of utmost importance. If he didn''t clear it fast enough, the Godly Representative would punish him for not abiding by the current situation.

    "Fine, I shall be frank then. He might have been an honorary member of your Tiger n, but I doubt he wants to retain the title. From this moment onwards, Jin is under my protection. You should know what happens now that he finally revealed himself to be the head of the rumoured 13th Royal Zodiac n." Kong Rong rified and pulled out a few documents, but Yuan Ba stopped him.

    "I''m perfectly aware that all Royal Zodiac ns who are on the brink of failing fall under the Dragon n''s protection until they manage to stand on their own feet again." Yuan Ba interjected. "But the Royal Zodiac n Protection Act should only apply to the existing twelve Royal Zodiac ns. For you to extend it to Jinбн Does that mean the Dragons are willing to ept this rumoured n''s existence?"

    "Is there any doubt left after the Godly Representative has shown himself and acknowledged Jin and his n''s existence?" Kong Rong questioned back, and Yuan Baid back on his chair stifling a scoff out.

    "Since when? How long have you State Agents known about his status before today''s revtion?" Yuan Ba tried to learn at least if he was the only one who had been kept in the dark.

    "I''m afraid that information is confidential." Kong Rong left the papers he had pulled out. "I will not keep you from doing your paperwork. Please make sure to fax me these papers at a more convenient time within theing week. Well wishes to you for the new year. Just remember, we are watching." Kong Rong took his suitcase and walked out of the room.

    The courtesy call and show of power by Kong Rong was clear enough. At least for the foreseeable future, the Tiger Lord would not meddle with the dungeon supplier''s life or trouble him in any way.

    Even after the resurrection of his sons, it was his responsibility to stop them from facing him head-on, use their privileges as the Tigers to make his life more difficult or seek nefarious ways to take their revenge against Jin. After all, the State Agents and the Dragon n (or Kong Rong specifically) had invoked the Protection Act on Jin''s n. (Unless they decided to wait until the protection act was over...then that is another issue for another day.)

    With the deration by the Godly Representative, there was no room for doubt. The other ns would have to give up their chances of grabbing Jin for their own. Right now, they were forced to watch him grow as either an ally or an enemy that could power grab their territories since the Panda n was not included in any treaty or mutual agreement.

    That was why Kong Rong had decided to use his n''s might to save Jin from too much trouble with the Protection Act. While Jin had known there would be consequences of revealing himself, he did not know the extent of Kong Rong''s power. A trustworthy ally gained over the night of alcohol?

    It was possibly the best thing that could happen over the new year!

    Kong Rong was technically not wrong to invoke the Protection Act as the Dragon n had vowed to keep the Royal Zodiac ns intact without any one of them losing their privileges or powers. Their job was to maintain the bnce between the ns and to act as an internal auditor. If one n decided to use its wealth and power for the worst, the Dragon n would step in and stop them. (After all, they acted as the State Agents of the country and swore to lead it the betterment of their nation.)

    One might worry that the Dragon might have too much power in their hands, but most did know that the Jade Emperor had ced measures to ensure that would not happen. It fell to the Heavens to stop the Dragon n if they misbehaved badly.

    Yes, it was none other than the Godly Representatives.

    While they did rampage in Derek''s world, turning it into a ce void of life and full of zombies, most of them had actual responsibilities to keep the worlds under their care in bnce. (At least as much of a bnce as the contracts they were bound by required.)

    It could also be known that those contracts were simr to a Devil''s contract, but their bad stereotypical reputation had made the Demons, be known as evil even though their bargain was the same as the Gods. (Which was not the case with Moloch and Baal once he calmed down.)

    It was how one would perceive the Demons and Gods, and in Jin''s eyes, he believed there were good and bad ones mixed in their races.

    In hindsight, it appeared as if this Godly Representative has deliberately made things easier for Jin. The revtion of the feathered fan with the pictures of a Panda had quickly be the topic between the scouts and the higher echelon of all of the Royal Zodiac ns.

    This, in turn, helped make Kong Rong''s work easier who had started to visit the various n Heads to inform them that Jin was now under his protection.

    "No wonder, the System told me I''d have more work to do due to that stunt it pulled with Jin. To make me work on the first day of Chinese New Year. That boyбн seriously, I am starting to think I am making the right decision." Kong Rong thought to himself while grinning. At least the System was courteous enough to teleport him around.

    The moment he got out of the Monkey''s territory, he was immediately teleported to the next Royal Zodiac n''s mansion. "But I must say, that revtion was fun. It certainly seems like it was the right choice partnering with him rather than to be against him. After all, to him, this world is a dungeon instance in which he has the ability to mould it for the betterбн."

    His expression turned serious once more when he was greeted by the n Head of the Royal Zodiac Rats.

 Chapter 978 Higher Order of Gods and Demons

    <h4>Chapter 978 Higher Order of Gods and Demons</h4>

    "How did you manage that?!" Lynn asked as she was curious about the sudden turn in events when Yang Rong performed hisbo technique against Jin. They were already back at the Tree Mall as the rest returned for the lunch meal provided by the System. Even the minions were curious as it was apparent to everyone that he was suffering the hits.

    "Ehh luck? Hahaha- Ow!" Jin lied so tantly that Lynn hit his shoulder hard. Chi infused kind of hard.

    "Tell us properly! Or don''t tell us at all!" Lynn pouted as she removed the te of delicious looking chicken rice in front of Jin. "Else, no lunch for you!"

    "Perhaps, I might have an inkling of the technique that he had done, but it seemed modified. So, there are certain portions of the technique which are not clear to me either." Yun said as she was already munching away on the chicken rice. "It had something to do with what Ming taught you, right? It was somebody''s substitution technique."

    "Okay, okay. I am sorry. I will say!" Jin apologised to Lynn, and he nodded at Yun''s conjecture.

    "But if it''s a body substitution technique, it requires a medium or an item to move away from...unless you used your unique Maqi to create an astral projection thick and sturdy enough to act as a body substitute." Yun deduced, and Jin yet again nodded his head.

    "I did not just use the astral projection. It is not that sturdy enough to suffer those hits. I had added a sludge crystal into the mix which was within my pocket, courtesy of the System and thus I used it as a defence mechanism. The System was dying to win this fight. Didn''t you guys see the first defence move I made? It was actually testing it out whether the body substitution with astral projection works."

    "Oooh! No wonder." Lynn said as she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

    "Yeah, the System was betting an all in to win this fight no matter what. Though I wonder if it was against the rules, which was why I turned a little afraid when the Godly Representative sent me a message that I have a super entity." Jin asked out loud and at the same time, querying the System.

    "No, the Godly Representative had already known of the System''s presence when User brought out the tinum Panda chess piece. It had been used before in fights way before this particr match. The only thing was that it had not been used for centuries. Also, it was the God Realm that created the System, and thus its acknowledgement of our existence was within reasonable means." The System said.

    "Does that mean there are other Super Entities around?" Lynn questioned, and the System acknowledged it.

    "As for the System to this particr world, we had been bestowed the number two, indicating that there was another super entity before us. Whether there are other simr Super Entities around, the System does not have any idea."

    "Can you be created that easily?" Derek asked as he was concerned if they were to challenge the creators of the System.

    "No. Upon the System''s knowledge, the System had not met any simr entities yet." The System said, and Moloch pulled up his hand.

    "I believe the peeps in the Demon Realm could do the same too, to create a super entity like the System, but to my understanding, there are many conditions to be met. It''s a once in a blue moon kind of thing." Moloch exined in a summarised form how a Super Entity could be created, and he said that only the higher order of the Demon Realm would be able to perform such a ritual.

    "So you mean, the System might have been created for a purpose?" Jin asked.

    "Yea, it''s possible. Unlike the normal Gods and Demons in their respective nes, the Higher God and Demons are subjected to a shit ton of responsibilities. Things like destiny and stuff are created by them. To them, good and evil is just a perspective and chaos was necessary to keep the bnce and equilibrium among the universes. Have you heard from Kraft how people could buy and sell universes? Yeah, they allowed it but to a certain extent too. It is conceivable that we might y a part in their prophecies and such, but that''s wishful thinking on my end. It could also be possible that Jin''s sess is just part of their prophecies, and he might be a prelude in the things toe." Moloch deduced.

    "You serious, bro?" Derek asked in a slightly bewildered manner.

    "In my opinion, the ones that attacked you are Gods with higher privileges. They are not necessarily Higher Gods. So you will still get your revenge if Jin decides to aid and abate your journey of vengeance. Besides, we have already fought with demons and came out victorious, right? What''s a god being to us?" Moloch chuckled.

    "You are lucky Baal did not take us as seriously as he liked to. And I believed the crown yed a part too. I do not think I was able to win him if not for the crown that took his sanity away from him." Jin recalled how dangerous that fight was.

    "Heh, when the pushes to shove, I believe the System will intervene for you." Lynn chuckled, and the rest of his minions somehow nodded their head in agreement. If the System ever felt that Jin was in absolute danger, it would not hesitate to use all its powers to protect him. This was especially true when the System saw leaps and bounds of improvement to its own processes.

    As mentioned before, Jin was one of the few who had managed to gain enough capital to increase the System processing capability, allowing it to do more miraculous things. Thus, it would definitely not leave Jin in a lurch.

    "Do you think we will ever see these Higher Gods and demons?" Jin asked, and Moloch shrugged his shoulders. (Including his puppet.)

    "I have been living for so long that I lost count and I never saw them once in my life. Even when I had been reincarnated and sent to the Dungeon World, I only heard the orders." Moloch replied and teased Jin a little. "If you ever saw one, please give the demons a peek at how they looked!"

    "Heard? Orders?" Jin asked which immediately prompted Moloch to scratch his head since he did not know how to exin it without giving too much context.

    "Yeah...King Solomon is the part of the Higher Demons and one of the few that are in constant contact with the normal demons. To be able to even receive an order or request from him should be honoured as precious as life itself." Moloch exined and just as Jin was about to ask another question, Yun cleared her throat.

    "Jin." Yun suddenly interrupted, and her eyes were staring at the half eaten chicken rice on his te.

    "Eat quickly. We still have to go visit Grandma Yuan." She said while tapping her watch as if to indicate they are on a tight schedule. (Which they are clearly not! Yun just wanted to get it over and done with!)

 Chapter 979 Its All About The Money

    <h4>Chapter 979 Its All About The Money</h4>

    Jin shut up and concentrated on clearing his te of roasted chicken rice. Despite this being an easy (and very yummy) task, it felt a little too wasteful to finish it hastily.

    The aroma of the rice was soaked with the smell of chicken broth, and a tinge of ginger gave it a distinctive vour which led to a mouthwatering reaction. The taste was not overbearing, and each bite wasplemented with the roasted chicken meat bursting in his mouth. While the taste of food would teau after a while, this particr dish did not.

    Infused with a bit of Penguin Queen''s chi cooking in it, each bite maintains its tastiness. (And this was Lynn''s leftover cooking for the penguins, which showed that she had improved a long way!) It was neither too oily nor too salty, and one bite led to another and another.

    Unfortunately, Yun insisted that they did not have the time to wait around for Jin to enjoy a second serving. As soon as he was done eating, she requested the System to open a portal and hurried Jin once more. Meanwhile, Lynn told them to go ahead first as she still owed Grandma Yuan a cup of brew roasted tea and she needed to make sure she had all the tea brewing items in her storage ring beforeing to meet her.

    "See youter," Yun said as she got impatient and started to drag Jin into the portal and they reached Grandma Yuan''s Demon Exorcist Office. It was just as eerily quiet and empty as one would expect at the start of the new yearбн except for one particr room from which they heard furious typing.

    The door was partially closed, and the lights to that particr office room were off. Yun did not hesitate to walk straight towards while dragging Jin with her. (She literally did not let him off the cor at all! Jin merely resigned to his fate being dragged by Yun.)

    When the door opened wide, and Jin recognised the one typing furiously was none other than ire. The woman in question was yawning away as she nodded her head as an acknowledgement to the two''s presence.

    "Happy New Year."

    "Happy New Year to you too," Yun replied as she searched the side of the walls to locate the light switches. ire plunged her head into the table as the lights turned on, but thanks to the illumination Jin could see that she was merely hiding within the desk cushion that she was holding on.

    "Dim the lights if you want them to be on!" ireined as her head was stuck into the cushion, like an ostrich hiding its head in the ground. Seeing that the System''s Assistant was refusing toply, Jin sighed a little and turned the switch knobs so it would not be too ring for their Sub System Intern.

    "Thanks..." ire said as she slowly reared her head upwards and started sending Yun some angry stares.

    "It''s your fault to work in the dark, girl." Yun merely snickered not admitting to any wrong. Both of them sat down opposite of ire''s desk. "Do you have what I want?" Yun questioned once more, and there was no reply for a moment but just typing.

    The silence ensued for the next minute, and Jin was already contemting whether he should interfere in this bout of awkwardness. Then suddenly, a loud ping was heard, and more electrical noises ensued. At this point, Jin listened to the fax machine behind him starting to work overtime, printing several documents at once.

    "There you go, it''s right at the fax machine. Take them out yourselves." ire answered still grumpy, but she finally heaved out arge sigh and rubbed her sore shoulders, hoping that the pain could be alleviated for the moment.

    "Great, all the documents seem to be in order." Yun took a quick nce at the documents and nodded her head. "Is Grandma Yuan at home?"

    "She hasn''t left the house, but she should be taking a nap. After that raid against the Loopa Ooofpa, she''s been taking more naps than usual in a week." ire informed them. A nap sounded like a wonderful thing in her tired mind, and she would not mind going for one herself. She reached out to her System''s phone, but before she could unlock it, there was a ''thud'' sound at the left of her desk. Her nose started to tingle, and her body automatically turned to the other side of the desk.

    It was a cup of Blue Mountain Coffee, extra thick with two cubes of sugar at the side of the saucer and a mini condiment holder of raw honey beside it. Her body instantly ached for its consumption, but ire knew this was her reward for getting it done.

    "Your favourite, right?" Yun asked, even though she knew the answer already. As the System''s assistant, she knew what ire liked based on her consistent orders via the Sub System.

    "Surely, this can''t be my only reward." ire grumbled, yet her expression changed immediately after the first sip of it. "I had done a shit load of work, even sacrificing my sleep for this."

    "This is just for you to not fall asleep. If Jin is ok with it, I would be happy to promote you to no longer being just the System Intern." Yun nodded her head, and ire''s eyes were swift as a hawk''s when they red at Jin as if he was a rabbit. He was utterly confused since he did not know what she had done to deserve the System''s acknowledgement. As if on cue, the System began to reveal that she finallypleted the finances and budgeting for all the major projects that were ongoing.

    Not only that, she had secured significant finances from an anonymous investment source that was willing to fund their projects.

    "What? And you just epted without learning who that investor was? Isn''t that a little too shady a deal?" Jin questioned, wondering if it wouldpromise them.

    "It''s actually a ''partner'' that I found when I was ying the ck Stock Market. He messaged me and queried why I was fighting so aggressively through the stocks. Oh, by the way, he was referring to my excessive flipping. I managed millions with the click of a button, but the preparation to do that was enormous." ire exined with a tired smile.

    "He was impressed by the choices I made, although he also disagreed with others. Thetter should be obvious after all those were his shadowpanies'' stock. He was keeping them low and quiet since they were considered spoilt and useless, yet due to my investment flip, he unknowingly earned a bunch of money too."

    "So he honestly wanted to know how you flip them? Or did he want to learn from you?" Jin asked, and irezily shook her head when she continued to stir her coffee.

    "He acknowledged that as my trade secret when I refused to reveal even though he offered a generous sum of money. It was his local currency but converted into dungeon dors; it should easily be half a billion. He thought it would be a shame to just let me go, so he decided to invest in me instead. ording to the System, the person can only be described as a major yer, so I did not want to refuse his new offer. So technically, this investment source is half of the allowance he''s giving me. Meanwhile, the other half will be used in investing." ire smiled weakly once more, but there was happiness in her eyes.

    "So, what ire had been furiously typing was the budget write up for the System''s consideration. It was initially done earlier this afternoon, but when I told her that Jin had won the Tiger''s territories, she mmed her desk hard." Yun pointed at the table and showed Jin the indentation on both sides of the table. Luckily the table did not break under pressure and the System informed Jin that the table was made from pretty high grade wood.

    "Now that we have Yang Rong and Yang Hui''s industrial territories, it will significantly lift the burden of our own industries by a whole lot! You might not have known this, but the Tiger Brothers'' territory was home to a lot of refining and raw materials industries. With this acquisition, it''s very easy for us to gain a reliable source of natural resources. Refined ones too!" ire said with a higher pitch tone, indicating she was excited for the future of Jin''s cities.

    (In the meantime, Jin was simply stunned with the amount of money he now has in his possession.)

 Chapter 980 Yuns Business Proposals

    <h4>Chapter 980 Yunб░s Business Proposals</h4>

    "Hmmm, I see. Alright, I understand the need to retweak these proposals, but is it really necessary for you guys to get it done today when itбпs New Years?" Jin browsed through the documents to get at least a superficial level of understanding (he could always ask the System for more in-depth informationter on).

    He was surprised to find out that Yang Hui and Yang Rong had been bestowed such precious industries by their father. However, on second nce, it became obvious that although these were бпessentialбп industries, it did not automatically make them profitable.

    The refining industries that the Tiger Brothers held were just a pebble on the roadpared to major brands, but it was a different story for Jin. The addition of these new industries on Earth meant that neither Pandapolis nor Demonpolis would have to go to any lengths to create these industries. Still, if they needed it, they could always copy-paste the designs or even improve the refining process to create their very own.

    While a portion of the Industry Sector had been upied for military production, Jin wanted to diversify his products for this now-closed city to be more self sufficient in the future. That meant, the automated production of food and refinery of basic raw materials.

    Thus, with the newly acquired territories, it gave Jin convenient ess to such resources, reducing their reliance on the ck Market for primary resources such as precious metals, oils and even stics.

    Of course, this might lead to a deficiency to this worldбпs bnce since Jin would be taking a bunch of resources from his world and use it for other worlds, but in return, he would be using all this for the Virtual Reality Network which he wished to create in the end, so ultimately there should be an equilibrium.

    "Iбпve been personally tasked to do it because certain projects have a tendency to lie around rotting when my *cough* boss *cough* was supposed to be the one who has to do it. Do you know? Like a certain advanced training centre?" ire yawned despite the rich smell of the Blue Mountain Coffee filling the room.

    "Cough! As well as the Cultivation Zoo." Yun added shamelessly as she was holding those two documents and conveniently handed them to Jin.

    "Yun felt that you had too much work on your hands as is already. бпSomeoneбп had to help you out, because that stuff is rather urgent." ire said while pointing to herself.

    "For example, the zoo animal imports can only be dyed for that long and Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo already has beenining about бпtemporarilyбп holding them! I had to keep dying for you because of thea you fell into! Those animals need to get in suitable environments to stay active and sane, not just alive! Otherwise, they wonбпt be able to do much for the public when they are out in the open! Remember, these are fairly wild animals that have cultivation potential. They cannot stay in a caged environment for too long." ireбпs mood somehow got more energetic when it came to scolding Jin.

    She wondered if she identally caught the scolding behaviour from Grandma Yuan, but whatever it was, it certainly felt good to criticise Jin, perhaps because he was her boss.

    "Do you have any idea about how much work it involved getting them to you?! We had to pay hunters to catch them, pay massive tariffs for the imports to bring them in and also pay the annual licence in advance to keep them. And yet, all these costs had been handled by Grandma Yuan by herself without a singleint! I was not allowed toin despite seeing those costs and could only curse under my breath." ireined as she drank another gulp of the blue mountain coffee.

    "In addition, the JODE board had been pestering us for at least a basic proposal for the advanced training centre. They initially pressed Grandma Yuan for more details even though she declined it, on the ground that бпa good centre cannot be rushedбп. The only silver lining was that thanks to your involvement in the National Defence Emergency event and your people defeating the Loopa Ooofpas, they decided to close an eye and gave you a grace extension. For once your disappearance was in your favour as theyбпre all impressed that you managed to win while suffering enormous injuries."

    "That is why Yun had volunteered to get it done in your stead. Within those two weeks you were out, she had been fiddling with the Dungeon Maker." Her final gup of the coffee allowed her to heave out arge sigh of relief as if all she said had been heavily weighed on her chest.

    "I had done the basic nning and allocation of the Zoo animals based on the basic design framework you had kept with the System when you made your dungeons. I merely followed it and assigned the creatures as such. Amenities and the required workces are all in the documented blueprints. Look through the proposal and see if you are satisfied with it." Yun said as she surprisingly did not dare to face Jin for the first time.

    Although the Systemбпs Assistant had the upper hand in most matters, using the Dungeon Maker was entirely a separate issue. There were several settings that Jin specifically set so that it would facilitate his style of dungeon creation. Even the System had to бпsaveбп the temtes in case Yun made a mess out of it. If that happened, it would be her fault.

    So, she was secretly hoping that she did not get such a huge scolding from Jin since he usually was very protective about being the only one to create any dungeon instances and no one is able to have a say in it. (Well, with the exception of customer feedback.)

    "Ah, I am not too sure about the Advanced Training Centre blueprint since I am not an expert when ites to architecture. ire, can send Qiu Yue the details and tell her itбпs urgent? I will still take a look after checking on the Cultivation Zoo Proposal first." Jin said as he focused on the Cultivation Zoo since he had already created a foundation for that particr dimensional instance.

    It was supposed to be the biggest dimensional instance he had ever created at that point in time since it was meant to be a series of dimensional instancesbined as one. But now with the increased processing capability from the System and the sess of making the Panda Street Instance, he was considering whether he should change the Cultivation Zoo into one massive dimensional instance. Naturally, that would further push the boundaries of Dungeon Making for the System, but Jin was not the only one improving the way he did his instances.

    The System had never stopped fixing and patching itself up, optimising procedures whenever possible so that the dimensional instances would not take as much memory and processing capabilities as it would have three months ago.

    And now with the advent of the Virtual Reality Network, the Systemбпs backend had been crunching numbers to ensure that even more processes could be shortened, optimised and thus ensuring its processing capabilities could be efficiently used. Fortunately, the Crown of Beyond Depravity did not just give the System additional processing capabilities. It actually sped up its calctions with the help of the Dungeon Cores that the Crown of Beyond Depravity had been created from.

    With time, the System managed to break down the Dungeon Cores and based on its analysis of the Pandapolis and Demonpolis Dungeon Cores, it was able to recreate the formerly broken Dungeon Cores as separate processing units and attempted to house the Sub Systems within them. The Users did not know of this бпhardwareбп upgrade, but the migration of the Sub Systems into these Dungeon Cores had also relieved the System from these modules.

    Most importantly, by being housed in these the Dungeon Cores, the Sub Systems finally had the chance to grow on their own. Of course, they would require massive amounts of resources; however, it did mean that they were no longer being restrained by the System because of its limited processing capabilities.

    Thus, in the future, it is possible that the Sub System can fully support the Sub System Users as if they are a System User. (Although, it is still considered as an infant at the moment.) With the separation of the Sub Systems, the System could better support Jinбпs projects and instances, and so it was a boon that they managed to get the Crown of Beyond Depravity.

    "The Cultivation Zooyout is very systematic, and I see no problems in terms of convenience for a multiyer dungeon instance. Only I think it would be even better if we put all the various environments together. Simr to what I did for the Panda Street Instance." Jin said as he could already envision what was left to do it. A robust transportation module within the Cultivation Zoo instance, possibly just by using the same as with Panda Street Instance.

    "But the various environments will sh, wonбпt they?" Yun asked, and Jin winked back as if not to worry much about it. He also wants to keep the various environments intact, letting the animals be in their natural surroundings so that when the cultivators could observe them, they would be more inspired.

    "Hmm, fine. Donбпt take too long making those changes. I do not want Grandma Yuan to use the Zoo as an opportunity to bash you too." Yun warned Jin, and he nodded his head violently.

    He suddenly realised why Yun was so focused on these documents. This way, Jin could at least tell Grandma Yuan there was some progress to the projects he was handed by her. Perhaps to Yun, this would prove to be a better New Year greeting than going there with a couple of oranges and asking for a red packet in exchange.

    "No wonder you insisted on going to the Tigerбпs Meet first. Itбпs to give more time for ire to tidy everything up. Thanks... Yun. You are already one hell of a System Assistant at the start of the New Year." Jin nodded his head once more with gratitude and Yun curled her lips a little and nodded in response too.

    "Hey! What about me!? I want to be acknowledged as a Sub System User!" ire grumbled that she had done all the work and yet Yun got the credit instead.

    "What are you talking about? You are already one." Jin stifled hisugh and asked ire to check her System phone, and when she opened it, there was already a бпcongrattionsбп sign floating at the centre of the screen.

    "Happy New Year once more." Jin smiled towards her as Yun stood aside and opened another portal courtesy of the System. This time, theyбпre ready to meet Grandma Yuan.

 Chapter 981 Afternoon Tea with Grandma Yuan

    <h4>Chapter 981 Afternoon Tea with Grandma Yuan</h4>

    "Jin, you arete!" Lynn stuck her tongue out and closed her eyes to express happiness in cheek. While Jin, Yun and ire had been talking about settling the project proposals and the written documents for them, Lynn had teleported over.

    Grandma Yuan, who had just woken up from her afternoon nap, had stumbled upon the Chef in the kitchen as she felt thirsty. Despite grumbling about how the System was inconsiderate for teleporting Lynn into her house without prior notice, she was actually quite d to see Lynn first. (especially with a hot drink in hand). If not for Lynnбпs quick new year greeting, Grandma Yuan would already have thought that she was some intruder that came by and was prepared to st the kitchen along with it.

    But now with the tea in her hand, the slight charcoal smell of the roasted tea leaves inside that one fresh cup that had been prepared to perfectly suit her taste pallet. She could feel her soul being at peace and to add on to that bliss, Grandma Yuan was delighted to enjoy the afternoon tea with a small te of Matcha mochi (rice cake). Although Lynn had solely prepared it for Grandma Yuan, the elderly woman could not bear to eat without anypany and thus asked Lynn to join her.

    The two women had enjoyed a short chat while waiting for the rest toe in, and they exchanged pieces of information that held dear to their hearts. It was to a point, Lynn could feel where it was leading to and felt a bit ufortable hearing it from Grandma Yuan. Yet, Jin and the othersбп arrival brought her a chance to escape. However, the old veteran cultivator knew what she was thinking.

    "Donбпt you dare use this opportunity run away from the conversation, Lynn darling." Grandma Yuan insisted as she used her chi to hold on to a teaspoon and knocked the fleeing girlбпs forehead with it.

    "Oops!" Lynn said, and the two of themughed heartily together.

    "Did wee at the wrong time?" ire yawned once more. She would not mind drinking Lynnбпs creation. The Blue Mountain Coffee had been fantastic, but that rich roasted smell from those Japanese tea leaves was enough to make all three of the neers crave some.

    "Itбпs not that bad. Are you okay, ire? You look extremely tire, how are you even standing with thoserge eye bags under your eyes?" Lynn questioned as she stood up and started to pour some of the roasted tea for the rest of the group. "Itбпs not as great as the first batch of tea, but it should still taste good."

    "Maybe, this is why the System finally epted me as part of you guys. I had to be a Panda first... Hahaha." ire joked as she thanked Lynn for the tea.

    "Woo! Thatбпs great news! Congrattions!" Lynn even pped softly with delight.

    "Happy New Year, Grandma Yuan," Jin said before taking the cup of tea while presenting a pair of oranges in front of her.

    "No other greetings? How typical of youngsters these days." Grandma Yuan lightlyined as she ignored Jin and continued to drink Lynnбпs roasted tea.

    "I actually do have some news on the progress of the Cultivation Zoo and the JODE advanced training centre." Jin immediately brought out his trump cards because there was no use hiding them (Mostly when those were also the only tricks he had underneath his sleeve).

    "Oh?" Grandma Yuan lifted her eyebrows as she slowly ced the teacup down and decided to return the greeting to Jin.

    "Happy New Year to you, Instructor Yuan." Yun was the next in line with the new year greetings and simr to Jin, she did not have many fancy words to give to Grandma Yuan as she knew the other never liked them. Unlike Jin, Grandma Yuan quietly epted the oranges and passed her a red packet.

    "Why donбпt I get one as well?" Jin wondered but decided to keep that thought to himself. Itбпs best not to offend Grandma Yuan. She excused herself and returned to her room for a moment. When she came back, she was holding a small key which she passed to Yun once more instead of Jin. However, her bodynguage was directed to the dungeon supplier as she spoke to Yun.

    "This key helps unlock one of the insurance boxes that Ming was supposed to keep in my name. This is not part of Mingбпs collection but my own. Just open it when you think itбпs time to do so." Yuan instructed as she ced the key onto Yunбпs hand and grabbed her palms softly as if she was entrusting something precious to her.

    Yun slowly nodded her head in acknowledgement, and the entire group enjoyed a session of tea. The conversation on the table was at first merely an exchange of simple pleasantries, but it slowly turned towards Grandma Yuanбпs projects and mainly her opinion on the matter.

    "Why should it matter what I think of it? All these projects are youngling stuff." Grandma Yuan declined the opportunity to get involved, but Jin insisted that her opinion was VERY important since she had a vast amount of experience. He even went so far to tell her that without her input, these two projects were bound to fail.

    She sighed at this tant attempt of curring her favour and just reminded Jin to go to Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo once more to understand why they are that sessful. "I bet you did not ask those guys under you about the results of the training centres, now did you?"

    "I mean I read all their reports... but they felt too normal. Although I guess it couldnбпt hurt hearing it from them personally." Jin replied back.

    "If only you wouldnбпt be too busy you could actually talk to them ." ire pointed out while yawning once more.

    "Alright, alright, System please put that on my agenda." Jin sighed in defeat, yet the System denied the request.

    "It has already been part of Userбпs agenda for more than five weeks. Please stop putting things on бпyour agendaбп if youбпre not periodically checking up on them. System would also like to remind User that it is NOT your secretary." The System answered rather vehemently despite its deaf tone reply.

    "Then I seem to have good news for you. Iбпve nned to invite those four for a steamboat session today. You guys should just stay for dinner. "Grandma Yuan suggested, and ire looked confused.

    "I thought you wanted to keep your night empty. Didnбпt you tell me you did not want to entertain anyo- Ow!" ire questioned Grandma Yuan before she got hit by the very same teaspoon.

    "At this rate, that teaspoon is going toe to m- ow..ow Ow!!!" Jin realised he should not open his mouth to tease the girls as the teaspoon turned and hit not just his forehead, but it flew towards his nose, and Grandma Yuan mmed it hard.

    "I did say I PLANNED to invite. However, this reminds me that just like you, they are technically no longer under my care. Jin, you shall therefore have the privilege to call them for tonightбпs dinner." Grandma Yuan dered.

    "I donбпt mind providing the steamboat dinner. We still have quite a bit of food remaining from yesterdayбпs massive buffets." Suddenly Lynn got red in her face because she realised that using leftover ingredients might be a bit of an insult to Grandma Yuan. Hence, she quickly covered her face (especially her nose for fear of the flying teaspoon) "Ehhh I will get new materials immediately!"

    "Hahahha! You donбпt need to bother my dear Lynn." Grandma Yuanughed as she looked cheerfully at the dungeon supplierбпs chef.

    "Yesterdayбпs ingredients will do. Those brats who have such a luxury life will not know the difference when ites to eatingmonerбпs food. In fact, I think they will be delighted to have a steamboat dinner." Grandma Yuan said, and the rest suddenly felt degraded by thements.

    Steamboat dinner was consideredmonerбпs food?! What had they been eating that made the steamboat dinner feel cheap?

    "Are you serious? I do not think they are that much different from them! Besides, any food made by Lynn is nomonerбпs food! Her food is fantastic that it could easily be served to Kings and Queens of the past!" Jinmented in defence of Lynn. (Well, she бпdidбп serve Kings and Queens of other worlds.) His tone was for once quite aggressive, to the point that it stunned Grandma Yuan. She shook her head and let out a softugh.

    "My bad. It was amon saying during my time, but it seems to have been mostly forgotten in this day and age. Do forgive me for that, my dear Lynn. I did not want to insult your cooking." Grandma Yuan apologised, and for all of them, this was the first time to see the prideful instructor lower her head. Even ire was wondering whether theck of sleep was making her see things.

    "Allow me to rephrase my answer. They will learn what a fantastic chef they have in their midst." Grandma Yuan said, and this time it was Lynn who lowered her head with gratitude.

    "You are giving me too much credit, Grandma Yuan." She said and immediately stood up. "I will prepare the ingredients!"

    "I shall call the four of them then. After all, I have yet to congratte them for a job well done during the Loopa Ooofpa fight. I heard they were instrumental in the battle." Jin said as he started to call them individually and each one of them who picked up instantly agreed to it the moment they heard they were going to Grandma Yuanбпs ce for dinner. (If it had been Jin that invited them, they might have been reluctant.)

 Chapter 982 Advanced Training Centre Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 982 Advanced Training Centre Discussion</h4>

    The four demon exorcists were more than punctual, and all of them hade bearing gifts for Grandma Yuan even though simple well wishes would have been fine.

    It was initially a little awkward at the table. After all, Jin had not really interacted much with them as their boss and given his personal situation, today was the first time he had the chance to congratte the four for their promotion. The situation only got moreplicated since they were supposed to study under him until all of them became Demon Exorcists, yet they were now an entire Rank above that.

    Rank 2 Demon Exorcists

    Such a rank customarily required at least five years of experience before being considered for such a promotion. To add on, it was a bit of an open secret, but Rank 2 Demon Exorcists were considered as the бпrealбп juniors of JODE. That was why previously, the Demon Exorcist Organisation had deployed a handful of Rank 2 and 3s to the scene when being asked for reinforcement for the Loopa Ooofpa fight as they did not deem serious. It was only until as the situation unfolds, they rushed to send out the higher ranking Demon Exorcists. (Ultimately those Rank 2бпs only got to clean up).

    It was a major embarrassment of the organisation if not for Grandma Yuanбпs coverup of the entire situation. (Several administrators and coordinators had to take the me for ignoring Grandma Yuanбпs initial request and it was unfortunate for them since many a time the requests for help were over exaggerated.) Thus, awarding the four trainees were one of the hush benefits that Instructor Yuan received even though in her eyes, they were already as good as Rank 2 Exorcists.

    Considering that these former trainees had been the ones who had fended off a national emergency alongside Instructor Yuan, they had been awarded highly, and the message behind it was clear enough. Her students were to keep quiet on the matter and let Grandma Yuan earn the glory too, as that was how the JODE upper management was to handle it. While it had been all over the news for the weeks prior to Chinese New Year, only those who were really in the know knew about what had truly happened and how close the country had been to meeting its end.

    The dinner preparations were rather peaceful, and ire had stayed for a bit, but not long after the greetings. She had excused herself, citing that she was utterly exhausted helping Jin and Yun with the proposals. (It also conveniently allowed her to leave this awkward situation). The System had teleported its newest (and currently favourite) addition into the Dungeon Maker for a very, very short nap.

    She got to use the very same sleeping pod Jin had used but on the lowest setting in order to not to damage her body through time magic. (Unlike the System who had total control of User, the Sub System modules do not offer sufficient resistance against the side effects of time magic.) Once she had recovered enough from the fatigue of preparing the documents Yun needed, she returned, and ire had to rub her eyes to check if she was not still dreaming.

    Lynnбпs unique steamboat broth had somehow sessfully managed to unite everyone. In fact, the cook appeared more than happy to exin how all the ingredients had been specially curated just for today.

    Unlike the day before, where Jin and others had a mini steaming pot in front of them, all of them now shared arge wide pot in the middle of a round table. In addition, the broth had been separated into spicy and non-spicy.

    This was to amodate Grandma Yuan, even though she insisted that she would have been okay eating a bit of spicy stuff. As the dinner passed and stomachs were partially filled, Jin finally brought up the issue of the advanced training centres and asked his employees in-depth about the reports they had handed him.

    They were pleasantly surprised that he was able to remember even minor details of their reports though, in actual fact, he just read them thoroughly for the first time while waiting for their arrival.

    "I see, but there does not seem to be anything special about your version of the advanced training centre? I thought there would be more... I donбпt know advanced facilities?" Rong, the Demon Bull Cultivator, questioned as he perused the documents that Yun had made. Although Jin had made somest-minute adjustments based on the reports he read, those improvements had just been minor.

    "I donбпt think that is much of an issue. We should focus on where we can add value to the centre aside from equipment rather than criticising the structure of the centre. With this being a dimensional instance, it can be size adjusted to amodate more people, right?" Su Zhen, the astute Demon Snake Cultivator, remarked.

    "Yeah, with Jin being a dungeon supplier the training programme can be whatever he wants. Just imagine if he ces a replica Loopa Ooofpa as one of the training dummies! I think that basically could solve most problems we encountered at the other advanced training centres." Lian, the Demon Fox Cultivator, argued casually as she stole a bunch of meat from the spicy portion of the te and handed some of it to Grandma Yuan with a sly smile.

    "That is honestly not a very bad idea. If we can get him the data, those hordes would really make for an ideal form of stamina training and proper regtion of chi. I nearly lost my breath fighting a bunch of them." Lein, the Qilin Cultivator,mented.

    "In my opinion, fighting those monsters yet again should be worse than surviving that so-called Hell Camp," Rong said as he stuffed a mouthful of Enokitake Mushrooms, those long thin-looking mushrooms.

    "Then we can just make that be our version of Hell Camp. It could even serve as the main attraction of Jinбпs Advanced Training Centre. I mean, they want us to be the best of the best training centres, so we should create it as such. бпIf you can survive our centre means, youбпll be prepared to fight a Loopa Ooofpaбп could be our slogan... or something like that." Lian suggested that she could not help but find the Enokitake mushrooms to be delicious once soaked in the non-spicy portion of the steamboat broth.

    "Hah! pretty neat slogan, Lian." Jin praised and found it amusingly urate. Although it might sound a bit elitist, the slogan would be perfect to act as an attraction for his dungeon instances too.

    "What about the need to go through other advanced sses or lessons?" Su Zhen asked.

    "Let the other advanced training centres handle that. I agree with Lian. We should get our centre to make the current Hell Camp look like a midnight stroll by the beach." Rong now excited about how he could contribute to making a Hell Camp.

    "You do know that by proposing that, we have to go through iterations of Jinбпs Hell Camp to make sure it works properly right?" Su Zhen rebutted.

    "As long as it makes me stronger and more useful in battle, I do not mind. I would rather stay alive surviving through hell than go through the regrets those Border Guards suffered." Rong dered as he muttered a few inaudible words before eating another mouthful of mushrooms. Even though his heart was filled with instant guilt at that point of time, his stomach said otherwise. "Big Sis Lynn! More mushrooms please!"

    "Hahaha, this is the first time I heard someone ask for more vegetables instead of meat. Sure thing!" Lynn agreed as she went to the бпkitchenбп to take it.

    "Then it is settled, youбпll have to set up a new Hell Camp worthy of its name." Grandma Yuan decided. "But we wonбпt be recing the ordinary one since that is already a trial of passage for most Demon Exorcists. Instead, we shall create one that will be open to amateur Demon Exorcists as well as the elites."

    "Wonбпt that be too harsh?" Lynn, who overheard it sounded concerned.

    "Like what Rong had said, the times have changed. If the Banned Emperor dares to pull such a terrorist stunt against us once more, we should better be ready. Besides, in Jinбпs dungeons, there is always a restart. We cannot guarantee the same in this world." Grandma Yuanбпs remark seemed to have an inkling of truth hidden within it, and everyone agreed to it.

    "Heh, and now with Grandma Yuanбпs name all over JODEбпs organisation for killing the Loopa Ooofpa, her backing of this centre would definitely have some credibility to this hell camp," ire said as she felt a bit reinvigorated from eating Lynnбпs food. As they always say, sufficient food and sleep are what a tired body needs. "And if you need ideas of how the Hell Camp was previously, I could give you my experience. Although they revised it every five years."

    "I swear itбпs getting easier each time." Grandma Yuan chipped in. "That is why I rather have my students not undergo that."

    "Is it really that hard?" Jin asked, not knowing how the Hell Camp feels like, and ire gave a rough exnation of how it was during her time. She exined how there was forced regimental training and regr punishment whenever the team did not work as one.

    "That sounds awfully easypared to what we went through," Lian remarked, and ire chuckled a little.

    "Of course. What Grandma Yuan and I had given you four is already a modified version of Hell Camp. Back then, I even dubbed it Hell Camp 2.0 but Grandma Yuan kept insisting it was still a bit too easy for you guys." ire said, and the rest felt a moment of despair as they reminisced what they went through.

    "Very well, I will prepare a Hell Camp, eighteen levels deeper than the original one! Please give me your inputs, and I will make the amendments to our centre" Jin announced while nodding his head before banging the wooden table with his hand, and so did everyone else. (Since it is fairly inauspicious to say hell and death during the new year. Knocking on the wooden table was to avoid bad luck.)

    "Perhaps they should have renamed it as Yuanбпs Hell." A certain foxy person said as he watched the group having a delightful dinner from the shadows. "Or perhaps... I should simply interfere with the Hell Camp Dungeon Instance once in a while to show them what is true hell when it is truly up. Ooo like a special guest! This will be such a fun experience for me, and my Foxes and most importantly, our participants. Hehe." The Foxy person raised his wine cup and took a gulp before disappearing into the shadows.

 Chapter 983 Meeting With Ke Loong

    <h4>Chapter 983 Meeting With Ke Loong</h4>

    The group enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Grandma Yuanбпs ce before all of them returned to their abode with the exception of Jin. He stayed back for a while longer to settle the details for the cultivation zoo and the advanced training centre.

    Obviously, Grandma Yuan wasining about Jin making her do work on the first day of the New Year. It felt an unending rant, but Jin kept quiet and tolerated it, knowing that she was doing so much for him behind his back. Nevertheless, she assisted Jin with some parts of the current proposal since she knew that time was rather precious for the dungeon supplier.

    ire, on the other hand, decided to wash her hands off that proposal after having worked overtime to get it done. She did not want to even think about it for the next few days and would rather rx on a holiday break. To her, the meal was so satisfying that she decided to nap once more at Grandma Yuanбпs massage chair. (She had been the one who bought it anyway.)

    The wisdom of the elderly woman allowed Jin to make some necessary adjustments, but at least he finally knew what to do for both projects to make them sessful. (Though he would still like some opinion from Qiu Yue especially from an infrastructure point of view.) At that point, he decided to make a move before he got thrown out for staying too long. While Grandma Yuan usually wore a non-caring face, she still took the effort to smile at the dungeon supplierбпs progress and even sent him off.

    As for Jin, instead of returning back to rest, he teleported to the Panda Street Instance and checked the progress of his store. Compared to earlier in the day, the night scene was teeming with people. Most of them were here for the experience since they heard Jinбпs store had undergone another revamp, but the majority stayed for the food and to do some window shopping.

    "Hmm, I should start thinking of making an event for Valentineбпs Day too..." Jin thought as he watched families and couples walk through the bamboo forests, checking out the various sculptures of different zodiacs along the path. This was part of the New Year Event where the twelve zodiac sculptures had horoscopes and Feng Shui advice inscribed at the side. It was a side attraction since people loved to check how their luck would be for the year, and there were interesting tidbits on what to take note of with regards to love, work and health.

    Of course, being part of the Royal Zodiac Panda n, Jin did not miss the opportunity to put a Panda Sculpture out while cing the Systemбпs self-generated Feng Shui and horoscope advice on it. Most of the Pandarens thought it was a nice touch to put a Panda Sculpture in the Store Instance and even took photos of that very same Yawning Panda which Jin had used for the Royal Zodiac Duel Challenge.

    And as Jin was admiring the Panda Sculpture and thought back to the things that had happened earlier in the day, he heard a voice shouting for his name with lots of heavy panting involved in it. (And people are letting way to let him move through.)

    "JINNNNNNNNNNN! I had no idea how to find this ce! Couldnбпt we just meet at the starting point of the Panda Street Instance?!" Ke Loong questioned as he tried to catch his breath as hard as he could.

    "But then you would not have had the chance to see the new Panda Streets, would you?" Jin replied with a small smile on his face. "Besides, do you think this ce has a starting point?"

    "True. However, I ended up getting so distracted because I wanted to go into each and every store. Even the street food smells so good! I would have loved to buy something to eat, but the queues were really long, not to mention your the allocated time!"

    "Honestly, you could have just bought something. Iбпve time to spare now and wouldnбпt have minded waiting a bit for you."

    "Oh no, I was not about to take any chances! Iбпm the CEO of a modestlyrgepany, and yet I have trouble contacting you, much less MEETING you!" Ke Loong made a fuss while Jin merely chuckled and beckoned him to the very same Bamboozled Bar that he brought Kong Rong to. This time, the path to the Bar Instance had been allocated right beside the Panda Sculpture, and after Jin walked outside the normal path, onlookers were watching him and checking if there was some sort of hidden course.

    Some tried to follow, but their attempts failed since Jin made a turn near arge rock and disappeared along with his friend. It made those onlookers try to see if they could find the remainder of the hidden path. Almost everyone gave up and returned to where they set foot after failing to find it.

    "Now this is more like it!" Ke Loong was astounded by the cosy bar with jazz music in the background yed by the baby penguins and pandas at the side. The customers within the bar instantly took a look at the entrance since Ke Loong shouted. The Panda Bartender immediately gave a calm stare, and Ke Loong realised his mistake and nodded his head apologetically before walking in with Jin to an empty table further away from most of the customers.

    As if that was not enough, bamboo shoots started to grow around their table and created a barrier to prevent from people hearing what they were about to say, giving Jin and Ke Loong the privacy needed.

    "Since you told me you did not get the chance to eat anything, feel free to order anything you want here. It shall be my treat." Jin graciously offered as he pressed on the remote table bell and another Panda Waiter came in, holding onto a tray with a bottle of sparkling water and two sses.

    "Hmm... for a bar, you do serve quite the variety of finger food. Alright, I shall be so shameless to ept your offer. Iбпd like some steak fries and some fish nuggets then." Ke Loong said, and the Panda Waiter nodded his head while filling the sses. It looked towards Jin, who just shook his head.

    "Water will be fine with me. I am still full from dinner. Thanks." Jin patted his tummy, and as soon as the Panda Waiter had left, the Bamboo Shoots grew back from the ground.

    "So, I heard from Kong Rong that you had started some business association thingy....and the fact that you are the mysterious thirteenth Zodiac n Master is already making the rounds. No wonder that guy kept asking me to take care of you... But in the end, I canбпt feel that it was the other way around and you took care of me." Ke Loong sighed before he gulped down the ss of water. Feeling even more thirsty upon drinking, he took the bottle of sparkling water and poured more of it into his ss. Ke Loong had not expected that water could be this satisfying.

    Was it because he had been running around trying to find Jin? Or was this water could be simply this tasty?!

    "Ah, so you heard of it." Jin was surprised how fast the news had spread despite today being a holiday.

    "In this modern era, information is of utmost importance, especially when making big decisions. This is certainly one of them." Ke Loong spoke in a tone, a good-natured tone like a wise senior giving advise to a junior. He slowly ced the ss down and wiped his sweat away, and Jin could feel that he was still rather anxious.

    "Could you please calm down? You are making me nervous just looking at you. Please. Treat me normally as you would a simple boss of a Dungeon Supplier store. There is no need to make such a big fuss even if my secret identity is out." Jin sighed in exasperation, but somehow that prompted Ke Loong to stand up and subsequently kneel right in front of him. Despite his size and slightly unsteady gait, he ced two knees down and prostrated right in front of him.

    "Young Master of the Royal Zodiac Panda n. As unofficial as that name is or even if you do not acknowledge it, I wish to pledge my eternal allegiance to you. Should you ever ept, Sea Mesh and its other entities will belong to you and the n." Ke Loong swore solemnly.

 Chapter 984 Ke Loongs Pledge

    <h4>Chapter 984 Ke Loongб░s Pledge</h4>

    Jin had expected that Ke Loong would want to join his бпillustriousбп Panda n, especially since Kong Rong had tried to persuade him into epting his friend. But the way this CEO was acting was too much for Jin to handle.

    If anyone had told him that a mighty man like Ke Loong would prostrate in front of him for the chance to work for him rather than demanding certain conditions, Jin would have never believed it. With all the scheming he had to endure from other Royal Zodiacs (especially the Tigers), Jin had nearly lost all faith in dealing with such people.

    "Ke Loong, get up, this is unseemly. Other people might not see you right now, but this is totally unnecessary." Jin gathered senses as he tried to bring the CEO up from his knees, which he managed with little effort.

    Ke Loong was quite that Jin could actually pick him up from his kneeling stance. To have the strength to pull him up and with technique showed Ke Loong he was indeed skilful. Jin was not wrong in mistrusting others, as the CEO of Sea Mesh was using an Advanced Martial Technique to keep him steady on the ground. While he was indeed genuinely asking to be in his n, Ke Loong could not help to stay in character, and thus his kneeling had been a form of a test intended to tease his Young Master. (After all the Sea Mesh CEO still had some sense of twisted pride.)

    Perhaps it was a tit for tat for making him try to find Jin in his Panda Street Stance but generally, he performed this trick on most people he requested help from. For those businessmen who knew Ke Loong and his style, some would say this was a form of reverse psychology. If the person could not lift him up from his prostrating position, it could be seen as a sign that his request was too much for that person to deal with.

    But to Jin, all he had to do was to hold his shoulders and slowly pick the CEO up while maintaining some form of bnce. He knew the Ke Loong was more towards the heavier spectrum, but he had no idea he was being tested.

    Eventually, the CEO slowly released his technique when he got up and saw that Jin did not bounce when he got a little lighter. Instead, Jin merely shifted his bnce naturally to let him stand straight and subsequently poured a cup of water for Ke Loong to drink.

    The Sea Mesh CEO was very impressed by Jinбпs handling since not many were able to carry him up, much less handle him smoothly. Even Kong Rong had difficulty bringing him up normally and required a few tries. This reinforced the fact that Jin was indeed a trained cultivator despite Kong Rongбпs information on him. (After all, seeing is believing.)

    "Instead of prostrating, tell me the reason why you still wish to bet your entirepany on me. I did send an email informing you about my decision to stop the portal devices, and my employees should have seen to their deactivation. I shall honour what I said in that mail, and I will pay for the cost of the production incurred already by the end of the month." Jin promised, even though he knew he could pay it even sooner thanks to the funds he would receive by the end of the week for what the Royal Zodiac Tigers had done earlier in the day.

    "I am not worried about that, and in fact, Iбпm okay with your choice of ditching that technology. However, let me also warn you that people will still try to reverse engineer them, especially after theyбпve seen your products in action. Even though I ran a tight ship when it came to the blueprints and held my workers strictly on a need-to-know basis, one of them is bound to spill the beans since everyone wants a piece of your portal device. Itбпs next-level technology, ushering to the age of automation and convenience." Ke Loong turned serious. "Its too enticing for my employees when all they needed was a bag full of cash to open their mouths. There is no such thing as loyalty in this era."

    "I know that. It was part of the reason why I wanted things to be done locally, instead of being outsourced to some german factory." Jin said crudely which incidentally offended Ke Loong a little since he had great ties with that German manufacturer. But he understood that Jin might not know the rtionship he had and thus Ke Loong exined why he had taken that бпriskбп.

    "Your what?!" Jin eximed, and it nearly shocked the Panda Waiter enough to drop the food and assume a defensive position to guard his master. (And the food at the same time.) "Oh sorry, please just bring in the food."

    "Apologies too. Yes, right away master." The Panda Waiter returned itsposure and ced the food on the table. Before leaving, it even helped refill their sses. Ke Loong got a little frightened by the sudden action taken by the Waiter, but Jin reassured him that it is a defensive mechanism inbuilt into the NPCs to ensure the safety of customers in his Panda Street Instance.

    "Ah...I did hear something along that line of an advanced AI by Kong Rong. He was raving about it even though I tried to get more information about you... Anyways, as I said, that german factory belongs to my stepbrother. He might be of a different mother, but our brotherhood is tight as fuck." Ke Loong boasted while clenching his fists and Jin was speechless.

    "In any case, I actually own nearly half the shares of the factory so by putting me under you, you would have control of that factory too." Ke Loong exined, his eyes were confident that there was nothing to worry about. "In any case, I have note here to talk with you about the portals. I think that you are not concerned about the portal because of your new invention. Your uing Virtual Reality Network!"

    "Is that the reason why youбпve rushed to meet me?"

    "YES!!! When Kong Rong told me about it, my brain literally exploded with excitement! Can you imagine the amount of money we could earn by being the very first global distributor of a Virtual Reality Network? This is the stuff you only normally read about in those web novels, but I believe you will actually be able to turn such a fantasy into reality! We will kill all thepetition in an instant. And seeing how Kong Rong insisted that he could not say more unless I became a Panda Associate, here I am, stripped of my pride to be yours truly." Ke Loong announced while his arms were wide open and it somehow irked Jin a little.

    "Most importantly! The realisation of being on board for making the very first working Virtual Reality Network in the world! That is a goal worth aplishing in my lifetime! Our names will go down in history!"

    Even Jin could understand the indescribable urge of getting the Virtual Network done and with Ke Loong and his connections. This would be the breakthrough Jin needed to expand thework quickly too.

    Thus, without any further dy, he brought out the very same contract that they had used on Kong Rong. The only thing was the System made some amendments to it since the CEO had a variety of properties in his name. In the event, Sea Mesh turned bankrupt, there should be no implication of it to Jin. However, the wording was so shrewd that even Ke Loong who was experienced in looking at legal documents, did not pick it up. (The System must have learned a trick or two from analysing Xiong Daбпs way of writing contracts.)

    To him, the CEO would do whatever it took to be rich, famous and aplished, and Jin definitely had the means to allow him to achieve that.

    It was a win-win situation.

    Only once he had signed it, did Ke Loong learn that there was so much more waiting for him. His brain repeatedly exploded from the revtion of the Systemбпs existence and Jinбпs exnation during their snacks. (which they eventually called for more.) Ke Loong had already tried to overestimate the possible potential Jin had in his hands, but the System had blown all those out of the window. With proper backing by him, the Sea Mesh CEO already started to spit out ideas which could help Jin.

    The discussion subsequently became one of the longest nights that they could ever have with the System taking down all the notes. (Even though The System insisted it is not Jinбпs secretary.)

 Chapter 985 Yuan Bas Sudden Visi

    <h4>Chapter 985 Yuan Baб░s Sudden Visi</h4>

    Eventually, the discussion dragged to a standstill as the ns they agreed on needed concrete implementation before they could move to the next phase. Thus, they ended their drinking session and returned to their abodes for rest. Jin was happy to call it a day finally. He did not doubt that tomorrow was more than enough to do (mainly because the System told him about the things on his agenda.)

    When early morning came, he was abruptly awoken by Yun, because of something he had not predicted. Hu Yuan Ba, had made time and was waiting in his store for the dungeon supplier.

    Yun would have dly thrown him out or left him to rot for a long while, before entertaining him and his entourage after the stunt they had pulled. Still, the Royal Zodiac Tigerбпs n Head had been smart enough to tell her that he hade today in regards to the transfer of territory to Jin.

    "What... I thought the Godly Representative said that the territories had already been given out. Why would Yuan Bae here and in person no less..." Jin yawned as the System automatically activated the showering system for him. (Since the sludge was everywhere in his room.)

    "No idea, just go and meet him. We are in your shop so whatever stunt he might want to pull it will be useless. Iбпve already sent them to wait in the Panda Streetбпs Conference Room. Since heбпse to give us something, we should not make him wait too long. But since he also has not bothered to inform us beforehand, feel free to take a long shower. A very long one." Yun advised as she left him clothes she had picked for him on a higher shelf.

    ------

    "Mr Xie." Yuan Ba had been starting to get a bit impatient, but she immediately turned courteous as he saw Jine in from the door. His face was still haggard from yesterdayбпs activities, and he was definitely not in the mood to hold any proper meeting. Up till now, Yuan Ba continued to refuse Jinбпs title of Panda Head n despite the Godly Representativeбпs show of approval. Thankfully, the Dungeon Supplier cared little on such formalities and went straight to the point. There was no need to dwell on these courtesies and waste peopleбпs time although he has the right to do so, especially now that Yuan Ba was in his territory.

    "Morning n Head Hu. Apologies for the slight tardiness, what brings you here?" Jin literally took Yunбпs advice and slept in the shower for some time beforeing out to meet Yuan Ba. And now when the dungeon supplier greeted the Tiger Head, he realised that Yuan Ba was truly not the only one waiting for him as Jin took a look at the entourage of people behind Yuan Ba. (In some way, it did benefit Jin as the System reported his staff spent money on snacks and breakfast while waiting for Jin.)

    Also, this was the first time Jin saw him without any of his children around and for good reason. Yang Hui and Yang Rong were still recuperating after the overnight resurrection procedure, whereas Yang Ling refused to even see her father after all the work she had put in to try to make Jin have good faith in the Tigers. After her father had broken his promise once again, she had seen him act no better than the Rat Triads and thus refused to take any part of whatever he nned next. While still personally employed by Yuan Ba, she had immediately recluse herself into herpany grounds and ignored any text that came from the family.

    "These are the major key people that are working in the territories previously owned by Hu Yang Hui and Hu Yang Rong, both of which you have defeated." Yuan Ba introduced them as they all took a bow as a sign of courtesy towards their new бпbossбп.

    Most of the time, territories would be given a new te once transferred. Buildings and equipment were maintained, but the workforce had to be reassigned since the employees were under the defeated nбпs payroll.

    Yuan Ba dered this to be the бпextraбпpensation that the Godly Representative demanded since he argued Jin might require this more than an extra mary tribute. It did not break any rules, and the value the employees provided was indeed objectively the betterpensation.

    "It is best you get acquainted with them for you will need their expertise to maintain the factories and industries." Yuan Ba advised, yet Jin could not help but feel that the other party was doing this as part of some schemes while pretending to be friendly. Who wouldnбпt want exact revenge when they had to give up their territory unwillingly because their failsafe n had been toppled by a seemingly impossible turn of events?

    "Indeed, especially for someone who does not have the knowledge of our field, itбпs best you-" one of the older key personnel started to chime his opinion, yet stopped as Jin stood up in the conference room.

    If Jin refused this particrpensation, he would not have specific expertise to tap on and even with an all-knowing System, there were certain limitations to practical knowledge. (There are definitely some workce connections which these people that the System would never have.)

    "n Head Hu, your kindness certainly knows no bounds. Iбпll be more than happy to ept your generous gift." Jin announced as he walked around the table to show his dominance in the area. He had enough of the Tigerбпs tricks, and although he was unsure whether the workers were supposed to be used as spies or just ck off when given the opportunity, Jin would not fall for any of them anytime too soon. Still, Yuan Ba did not expect the dungeon supplier to go with the flow and since JIn decided to y into his trap, Yuan Ba was all the more happier. (Especially when he knows that those buildings would be useless to Jin if he did not have the people to work for him.)

    Another reason for the usual change of personnel was that no one was stupid enough to allow potential spies to stay in their own territories. So the most Jin could do was to sell away those buildings andnd and Yuan Ba had made sure that Jin was given only the most basic of items if he rejected thepensation since the n Head had bundled it all as part of the package.

    "But before we sign anything of that sort, I do have one minor condition," Jin added and Yuan Baбпs eyebrows stoked up.

    "Speak, and if itбпs not absurd, I might consider it." The Tiger n Head offered cordially, and his brain was ready to work overtime, waiting to counter anything Jin was about to say.

    "Well as their new boss, I would like to have a one-on-one talk with them to see if they would really want to be my employees. At the same time, Iбпd also like to learn more about the industry from their perspective. Especially since they already have taken the time toe down here, might as well take the opportunity to familiarise ourselves." Jin stated as he continued to walk around to observe their dressing and their bodynguage.

    "Ah." Yuan Ba heaved a sigh of relief and thought he was going to ask for an absurd бпminorбп condition like asking for extra mary tribute. "That can be arranged since most of them are on their holiday breaks and havee here specifically just for you. While it might be a holiday, there is much to be done due to the transfer of ownership, so Iбпll have to ask you to not spend too much time with them so they could handle the assist with the transfer documents. Besides, Iбпm sure most of them would prefer to spend some more time with their families as soon as possible." Yuan Ba grinned, and the rest were nodding their heads along.

    Their allegiance would still be to the Tigers, and it would not change with a pep talk with Jin. All of them had done brokered business deals and had handled a fair share of shrewd people in their line of work. Not to mention this Jin appeared to be somewhat naive with his friendliness, so those key personnel were basically handling an ant which they could step on.

    In fact, some were already thinking of ways to manipte the dungeon supplier to hopefully gain more favour with the Tiger n Head. To them, It was indeed wishful thinking that Jin could convince them to work for him earnestly.

    If only they knew how бпconvincingбп Jinбпs headhunter could be...

 Chapter 986 Just A Pep Talk

    <h4>Chapter 986 Just A Pep Talk</h4>

    "Please enjoy a great meal at our Restaurant Train in our Panda Street Instance while you wait. If youбпre not feeling peckish the sights my Store Instance has to offer should also keep you busy in the meantime. Iбпll have my NPCs find you and apany you to meet me when it is your turn." Jin told his new personnel with a wide smile. Nobody refused, since it seemed a better alternativepared to just sitting around and doing nothing.

    "If that is the case, then letбпs convene this meeting then." Tiger n Head Yuan Ba said as he extended his hand towards Jin. "To a more harmonious and memorable working rtionship."

    "Thank you for being supportive and giving me such a huge crew to support me. I did not expect your generosity and appreciated it a lot." Jin replied as he returned the handshake and Yuan Ba could only scoff inside his heart. Jin was grinning happily too, not because he was naive, but he also had a n in mind.

    They subsequently exchanged some small pleasantries before he got teleported out of the Conference Instance (courtesy of Jinбпs бпcreator rightsбп) and YuanBa left with a satisfied grin on his face as he drove off in his car. "Jin, Jin. You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into. Maybe, I might be able to recoup my yesterdayбпs losses in the future." Yuan Ba thought to himself while he quietly drove back to his mansion.

    "Sorry to hold you up while I let the others go off first, Mr...?" Jin questioned the one who was the first and whose statement he had interrupted by standing up in the meeting previously.

    "My name is Fa Tai. Iбпm the overall in charge of the Tigerбпs Refinery Industries." The middle aged bespectacled man introduced himself. Fa Tai had a small build with a dad body and matching that look he appeared to be balding too.

    Jin got the feeling that Fa Tai must have given his all to get into his current position and was very loyal to the Tigerбпs no matter how one would see it. The fact that he called them the Tiger Refinery Industries with pride only strengthened his belief that this worker had no real intention to recede himself to work for the Pandas.

    The dungeon supplier had a small pep talk in mind, but it appeared that would be meaningless. "Then I assume you are the president of thepany?" Jin asked, and Fa Tai did not mince his position.

    "Of course. Iбпve made millions for Lord Yuan Ba, and if not for him magnanimously handing you the industries, I would not be here talking with you." Fa Tai admitted without holding back. He was sure whatever Jin had nned trying to convince him to change his mind would be a colossal waste of time, so he wanted to keep the conversation as short as possible.

    "So you are a man who values his time, Mr Fa Tai. Alright, it seems we do have certain things inmon. Please,e to my office for a moment. I just want you to tell me a bit more about your work. A short summary will be fine while I offer you some of my hospitality too."

    "There is really no need too. I know about your store. You sure had it easy getting things donepared to us. To me."

    "I gave it my all every day and many nights, just to work my way up to the top and you merely had this tree in less than a few months. You honestly think you can handle us. Think again." Fa Tai started to be impatient and showed his true colours since the pensation" package had surprisingly been epted. There was no need for any much facade, if not for the condition for that one on one talk, he would have already flown back to his state and enjoyed his holiday break.

    "Iбпm afraid I INSIST that you do me this courtesy." Jin stressed as he still obligingly showed the way to another room, ignoring the harsh tone of the other since he knew that he would soon change his behaviour.

    "Fine. Fine." Mr Fa Tai sighed as he followed Jin through the corridors. The dungeon supplier opened one of the doors, and Fa Tai could see that the office had minimum renovation to it. Just a desk with two chairs at each side. Other than that, there was only one cab at the corner.

    "Have a seat first. I will get you some nice tea." Jin instructed him.

    "Please be quick. I have a flight to catch back." Fa Tai called with the бпnicestбп possible tone he could bring out before Jin left him at the office.

    "Is this a joke? This office doesnбпt feel like what a boss would have. Only two possible reasons. He is berating me as well, or he does not have money to make a proper office. Well, maybe three. This is a makeshift office. Whatever it is, it is just a quick five minute talk, and I say I will get going." Just as he was mumbling to himself, he suddenly found that the lights went out. Fa Tai cursed under his breath after being stunned momentarily and tried to take out his phone for some light.

    "This is a dungeon instance, right? How can the lights be out?!" Fa Tai questioned out loud as he tried to find the exit. But as he got up, he felt the darkness was crushing him. His gait was unsteady, and the light from his phone merely made things worse. There was no wall in front of him despite knowing that there was supposed to be one just a few metres away.

    Thus he tried to move faster but the more he walked, the less certain he became since he had yet to touch any of the walls which should have been only mere meters away from him. Fa Tai could not find anything to grab on and fell to the ground. Furthermore, he identally dropped his phone, causing the only source of light that he had to disappear within the surmounting darkness.

    "What is this charade, Jin?! Iбпllin to Yuan Ba about this nonsense. Release me right now, or yourpensation package will be voided! Null!" Fa Tai shouted as he tried to crawl around, looking for something to hold on but even now he felt like the darkness itself was a physical thing, holding onto him, making him very ufortable.

    It felt invasive to the point that he needed a way out of this. But even with his feeble attempt to portray his cultivation for a source of light energy, it seemed to be eaten, absorbed by the darkness almost immediately.

    "Okay! Okay! I am in the wrong! I will tell you what n Head Yuan Ba said to me! I promise not to betray you! Just let me out!" Fa Tai begged after he realised that his threats got ignored, but it seemed as if his voice was getting swallowed by the darkness too.

    "Oh...no. Youбпre not going anywhere, my little boy." The crude voice and the clinking of boots were heard from afar.

    "Please! Help me! Iбпm willing to pay you! Just tell me your price. All I ask is to let me out of here! I am not that good with darkness, and I have night blindness!" Fa Tai shouted, but a "tsk tsk tsk" reply echoed throughout the entire room as if repeating that particr sound over and over again.

    "Please, Iбпm not interested in your money. Now Iбпvee back from a very long workout, so you, my boy, will be the perfect stress relief." Kraft said as he chuckled a little. It had been a long time since he could torture people and Jin gave him the perfect new year gift he could hope for.

    "In the spirit of the new year, allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine, who has been neglected for far too long." Fa Tai was still unable to see anything, but somehow the projection of an evil wide grin like a Cheshire Cat, began to appear in front of him. "You will give me everything that you have inside that jelly brain of yours. Spill every. Single. Secret. Out."

    Although only a couple of minutes had passed, to Fa Tai, it felt like years - nay - decades. And if not for the message that more people woulde, Kraft would not have minded lengthening his stay to perceived centuries as he yed as he infiltrated into the manбпs brain and heart while ying with his feelings.

    And thus, the brainwashing sessionmences.

 Chapter 987 Brainwashing Session

    <h4>Chapter 987 Brainwashing Session</h4>

    Just like Fa Tai, each one of Kraftбпs new victims had had haughty thoughts towards Jin, before Kraft бпconvincedбп them to think otherwise. Jin, who had survived to tell the tale, knew what a terrible torture each one of them had to go through.

    Still, Kraft had merely shown Jin a fraction of the pain and anxiety the key personnel had gone through. He had not had such fun for a long time and took this as an opportunity to refresh his skills and try out new tactics to scare the key personnel.

    His methods had varied from in boring overwhelming darkness to digging out their worst fears and portraying it out for them to relive it over and over again. However, that was just part one. The next phase of brainwashing them was to make them believe they still had hope in that evesting darkness to cling on.

    And that was when he hung the carrot bait up high for them to reach out only to disappoint them by leaving it centimetres away from their maximum extent. "For the despair upon hoping had the greatest effect on their minds, thus making them extremely vulnerable to the effects of seducing the brain to ourmand" or so he quoted in one of his brainwashing sessions.

    "You are lucky that I was only strengthening your resolve back then, not brainwashing you to submit to mymand," Kraft pointed from the sidelines to Jin as the dungeon supplier had seen enough for the moment. He left for a moment and came back with a bottle of water and a packet of piping hot waffles.

    "Too bad the System rules prevent insubordination of people from my world. If only we could kill and resurrect them, that would be so much easier. Iбпm sure they all would have preferred thatpared to your treatment." Jin said as he folded his arms and saw one of the personnel squirming in the middle of the room. To Jin and Kraft, the room was just as Fa Tai had seen. That rtively empty room with a desk and two chairs and a guy pping his body like a fish on the floor. But in the personnelбпs perspective, all they could see was abyssal darkness waiting to swallow them.

    "Heh, if the System made it so easy, all you had to do would be to kill each and every one of them and make them our ves... Well there should be reasons why these rules exist. How lucky you are, that I can still recruit people for you. Besides, the way the System does it uses up its processing capability to handle all of them, so Iбпm sure it also appreciates my efforts." Kraft replied as he munched on the hot waffles. The blueberry jam inside suited the crispy edges of the waffles, and it melted inside his mouth. "But good on you to think about brainwashing them. I honestly did not expect you to call me to perform such a wonderful activity."

    "Meh. I needed the information in their head and making them double crossing the Tiger Head n will be so much more fun. I do not understand why Yuan Ba had to keep making schemes to take over me. Is that why the System hates those Zodiac ns so much?" Jin asked as he squatted and saw the man pissing on his pants while begging for mercy still in that fish stance.

    "Now youбпre speaking mynguage!" Kraftughed as he swallowed his food with joy. "He thinks you are gullible, a person with strength and possibly wealth, but no wits. To be fair, you DID fall for like ALL of his plots. Like the part where the police did not interfere with the Rat Triad until the veryst minute? Thereбпs no way an honest police force would be allowed to do that. They had pledged their service to help themon folks, and by fencing the ce up for the Rat Triad to finish you, it was a dead giveaway. Someone high and mighty is controlling the ropes. Perhaps a deal between the upper echelons of the Rats and Tigers? Who knows. I did not bother to investigate. Luckily, there are still some good fools, sry I meant people, out there, like the police chief who still had some conscience and closed his eyes to let a few of his policemen assist you." Kraft began to wonder if these key personnel had some information of the said event. Highly unlikely but since he had his toys it was worth a shot to check.

    "Now that you say it, I felt that the Tiger Triad members came at such a convenient time. Too much of a coincidence, in my opinion." Jin started to think back to that incident. The way Ku Wai, the Tiger Princess personal bodyguard and vice leader of the Three Eyed Tiger Triad came in to save him felt like it was choreographed. However, it was a possibility that Ku Wai had been used the way Yang Ling had been taken advantage of.

    "Have you ever wondered why they gave you that honorary tiger membership? Perhaps, they had colluded, and if you fall, the Tigers will try to protect you as much as possible. So, in the end, you will owe them. You are in their debt because they not only gave you an honorary position but saved your life from the Rat Triad Leader." Kraft said so bluntly that it allowed Jin to ponder further.

    "And the Rat Triad could get the district with the Tigerбпs help, then pay them somemission fee or something? While I felt that is usible but isnбпt it a bit too far fetch too?" Jin asked, and Kraft could only shrug his shoulders.

    "Your judgement call, mate. While I might be providing you with circumstantial evidence, you can only decide these things yourself. However, thereбпs one thing I might be able to add. The Tiger Princess? She is genuine." Kraft used the paper packet to wipe his mouth before drinking some water to clear his throat.

    "She might be бпin the schemesбп, but generally, her father used her as a pawn as well. Also, I heard Yang Ling tried to warn you before she was taken down by her own people. That will give you an indication that she might be a worthy ally to consider. Heh! Imagine having her as the Tiger n Head while under your Systemбпs influence! That would be quite an aplishment!" Kraft added while grinning from one end to another. "And another girl to your harem of potential wives."

    Jin rolled his eyes and denied that possibility. "Please, if I recruit her, I would want her for her knowledge and expertise in nanomechanical engineering. Compared to what I studied in school, sheбпs a real deal engineer which could soar our in-house technological capabilities to the skies." He argued as he conjured a waste bin for Kraft to throw his items. After all, he did not like the office to be messy in any way.

    "Please! Stop giving excuses." Kraft snorted before snapping his fingers and the nightmare for the Tiger Refinery Industry Manager to fall to his knees.

    "Wake up. Who do you think you are? Lying on the floor in the presence of your true master?!" Kraft said as he kicked the guy awake as he did to Fa Tai and the rest before him.

    "Sorry! Sorry!" The manager said as he saw Jin and quickly prostrated.

    "I expect an audit report of the factories that are under you, do you understand?" Kraft shouted, and the manager nodded his head, banging it on the ground before running out of the room.

    "Isnбпt that a bit too extreme?" Jin asked as he checked the whereabouts of the next participant of Kraftбпs brainwashing.

    "Nah, you got to incite that fear and power abuse in them. You might not really understand it, but those boomer old folksбп mindset is totally different from you millennials. You got to work a different angle to get things done. Donбпt worry, these brainwashes are as effective as they can be. Besides, they had already made a verbal pact to the System at the end of the brainwashing procedure."

    "So, no matter what, Original Betorбпs Kraft method would ensure loyalty to the Panda npared to the Tiger n." The System chimed in.

    "And that means willing, productive management that would perform for the betterment of the Panda n." Kraft said as he was thinking of the next punishment procedure for the uing clueless key personnel.

 Chapter 988 Requesting Support From Other Regions

    <h4>Chapter 988 Requesting Support From Other Regions</h4>

    As Kraft continued to convert the Tigers to people loyal to the all new Panda n, Jin requested the System to check the situation in the Farming World.

    "Everything is all quiet; there are no interferences from the Demon Rats. However, the System has dragged Betor Peppers to perform a higher Grade Deep Scan as suggested by User. And based on the results, what you were initially afraid of might be usible based on the section that Peppers scanned." The System reported and stated that Jinбпs hypothesis that the Rats were plotting something even more sinister by digging through the underground could be correct.

    "Then why did you not tell me earlier?" Jin questioned, and the System stated that it would rather have the full scan analysis before sending the report to Jin. What Peppers had scanned was merely a portion of the northern region, and because of the depth of the scan, she was unable to expand the search. Not to mention it took a considerable toll on her body considering this was a new sort of maniption to her current magic spell. (She probably wonбпtin if it was an explosion spell.)

    "The military leaders have been informed, and they are scrambling to change the ns as we speak. But without Qiu Yue to facilitate certain changes, they were unable to go through with it." The System said, and Jin queried what it had to do with her.

    "Sub System Qiu Yue had proposed creating mobile encampments to facilitate attack and defence strategies. While teleporting to and fro would be much easier, the System would not wish to waste resources unnecessarily."

    "I thought they wanted to do an all out attack, fighting against the Demon Rats on all fronts?" Jin asked, and the System reported that with the new findings, that would prove to be an insurmountable task.

    "Weck the military force, and not everyone is at a бпNubwortбп kind of level. Each and every soldier have their individual level of fighting expertise, and some are better at logistics and crafting instead." The System said as he teleported Jin to the War Room and he saw the usual military leaders like Nubwort and Gold.

    "Master Jin." All of them nodded their heads in acknowledgement of his presence.

    "I heard from the System about the change in deployment developments, what do we do?" Jin asked as he nced at the electronic documents on the table which the minions were now familiar in using. Every idea they have, the System would transcribe them and ce it on the console for them. Sometimes, the System would even infiltrate their minds and draw or depict the picture/ n they wished to portray to everyone.

    It was a little invasive in nature but rather useful in exining especially those who were not good with words.

    "Master, we actually did not want to bother you since the System said you were busy. We nned to show you the ns once we have most of the things confirmed." Nubwort said with a tinge of anxiety despite being an almighty Orc General. But even the mightiest of generals found this task to be somewhat insurmountable when they used the predictive model and exponentiated the results . Yet, Jin raised his hands to calm him down.

    "No worries. I was casually asking the System about the progress of the Farming World military nning. Since I did question how the Rats might be pulling a fast one on us based on the recent choice of deployment they had beset us with."

    "As expected of our Master." Molochplimented, but Jin felt it was a little bit of sarcasm solely because it was from Moloch even though his thoughts were really genuine.

    "Yeah, if they have underground sea routes to dig towards the other countries, we might be in deep trouble. We need to inform the other regions about it." Weslie, the Schr of the West remarked.

    "Those people wonбпt listen to us. In fact, they might not believe us. It is too far fetched, and they have their own concerns to deal with." Zieg, the Commander of the Dark Temrs said. Being a noble himself from the Eastern Region, he knew how stupid those people in power are and how they worked.

    Weslie, on the other hand, wanted to believe otherwise, but her past experience had also shown to her that it would take a lot of exnation and rock solid evidence to change their minds. Why bother to move when the threat is far from their regions? And for the rats to dig hundreds of miles from the Northern Region! That would be nigh impossible to those old fashioned noble minds to wrap around. In terms of technology, the Demon Rats had already outpaced everyone in the Farming World, and it was only Jin and his reinforcements that kept them in check. Should the Demon Rats proceeded forward with their invasion against the other regions, the War Room reckoned that they could easily bring down the capitals in less than a day.

    "Even if they believed it, they would say they need to have money to send supplies and soldiers through the Central Ocean and get to us. And if we managed to convince that the threat was real anding soon, some might say they needed their troops to defend their people instead." Zieg chimed in more of his own opinion and saying what he would do if he had not seen the cmity himself.

    "Heh, then I believe they would send a token force instead? But hey, isnбпt that better than nothing?" Gold asked, and Zieg shrugged his shoulders.

    "Not heard about the West and south but their token force probably consist of conscripts or worse, volunteers who sought to improve their lives for a feeble mary sum from an impromptu recruitment", Zieg replied and with a second thought, shook his head.

    "Maybe the northern kids and elderlies proved to be a better soldier than those with their knowledge of using our own crafted weapons. If I say so myself, the Mousefolk that consisted ofmoners from Meomiбпs town had proven to be more formidable a force than any Eastern Knights contingent I knew of. Heck, they might be better than the elites the Eastern Region had in possession." Zieg added, and the rest of the group chuckled a little, knowing that for a fact it is true. "And If I may add, our war tactics are also unconventional, and it would be a burden to those Knights much less a token military force for them to follow ourmands strictly. All they know is to fight in a straightforward battle...no wonder the Northern Troops lost so easily..." Zieg whispered to himself thest part and only knew the follies of his tactics until he joined with Jinбпs army.

    "Maybe the Queen in the West could help! I know her personally. Her influence is definitely more than the nobles in the east and should be able to send us more than a token force. Even if they cannot fight effectively, they could help with the logistics and that should be able to lessen the burdens of the System" Weslie said, but Gold held her hand and shook his head.

    "She received news that you died. If you return to her this way, she might suspect foul y to your body or thinks that you are an imposter. That is impossible to gain her trust in a short amount of time. Until this incident is over, perhaps." Gold said, and Weslie had nearly forgotten what she had gone through.

    "Actually, we can contact the south to help us. My dear friend Nightingale is part of the Southern Stars Organisation. The leader of that organisation holds a high position among their hierarchy of rule. They had also been fighting with us for some time, and since they are more or less after mercenary money, I think it wouldnбпt be a problem if we provide enough gold." Meomi said as she participated in this war room as a fighter who knew about the Farming World. "More importantly, I saw them how they fought. They clearly preferred our guerri tactics more than the usual bashing and the leader who came with this team and decided topile our ways of fighting."

    "That is worth a shot and it seems like a better option than the rest had mentioned. Any objections from the impromptu council?" Jin said, and the rest all looked at Jin with curious eyes.

    "Ah, donбпt worry about money. Tell the Southern Stars they will have it if they fulfil their end of the deal. But, bring Qiu Yue with you when you reach the Southern Region. If she cannot make a bargain profitable for us, I doubt anyone else could." Jin said as he now requested the System to open amunication channel to her.

    He knew she might be training hard with the Wolf Foxes, but this was equally important too. In the meantime, Meomi grumbled even though she knew that it was not possible to portal to the Southern Region given that the System hates strangers. Thankfully, the trip to the Southern Region would not be as painful as she thought it could potentially be. She thought that she had to sail for weeks while missing weeks worth of killing rats until Jin stepped in and bestowed a wondrous gift for her mission. He hadmissioned a C130 to be flown via the Bulwark Port and subsequently parachute to the Southern Capital.

    "As I said, Once you reach there, call out for Qiu Yue or me. When the negotiations are done, load them up to the C130, and we have our first batch of mercenaries to do some rat termination." Jin said as he opened a portal for Meomi to past through while waiting for the System to send an urgent SMS to Qiu Yue.

 Chapter 989 Icy Chi

    <h4>Chapter 989 Icy Chi</h4>

    "THIS JIN!" Qiu Yue said as she squeezed her fist and chi oozed out naturally. The impact of her chi suddenly caused her surroundings to crack and freeze. If one breathed in the air, they could feel that their lungs were dried out and their throats ached for moisture.

    At that moment, Tsu walked to her and tapped her shoulders to keep her in check. Only then did the Red Panda Cultivator realise what she was doing and controlled her chi from spilling out of her body.

    "Sorry about that. Itбпs just that I wanted to have a full course of intensive training, but the Boss keeps breaking our momentum. It infuriates me quite a bit." Qiu Yue apologised, and Tsu merely nodded his head.

    "Your choice, the Farming World seems a big deal too. Especially when Jinбпs sudden epiphany turned out to be very true. They are not mining for more litoride ore for their steam tech products but rather digging to reach out for other regions." Kaimented as he saw the missive sent by the System. (Technically it was just an SMS.)

    "I honestly think you should go help Jin. We can always train more. Besides, you did considerably well, especially for the time you had." Tsu added apliment.

    "Guys, can you two stop it? Both of you are way too different outside of training. It scares me." Qiu Yue said, and the beast children who saw the scene from afar were already giggling.

    "What Qiu Yue Big Sis said is true!" Lapp, the grey wolf girl said out loud and Kai immediately sent a mini chi st towards her. However, she managed to dodged it and in return, unsheathed her sword and released a greyish chi sh towards her mentor.

    But for Kai, he did not move and instead took the st head on. There was no scratch or wound when it hit the Wolf Fox, and Lapp cursed under her breath.

    "Remember what we said about cursing?" Tsu reminded Lapp strongly.

    "Teacher, why is it Lappбпs fault? Qiu Yue Big Sis used it regrly." Tera, the ck wolf girl said, and the Wolf Fox Twins immediately looked at Qiu Yue.

    "What?! Itбпs not entirely my fault they learned those!" Qiu Yue tried to defend herself from saying explicit curse words. Though it was natural for her to swear, in order to lessen the pain she was going through. Psychologically, it helped a lot and that was why the kids followed too.

    "Yea! Itбпs not her fault, damn it!" Lapp said casually without knowing the meaning, but it felt good. Tsu and Kai could only shake their heads and told Qiu Yue to get going.

    With a quick goodbye to the rest of the kids, the Red Panda Cultivator immediately teleported to Jinбпs side with the aid of the Systemбпs portal.

    "Wee back, sorry that I - woman what are you doing?!" Jin heard the sound of a portal opening, knowing it was Qiu Yue, but he did not expect a fury of icicle spears directed to his direction. While he could have dodged it, he was more concerned with the work stored in the dungeon console and thus simrly used a Panda White Ice wall magic to block the attacks.

    "What am I doing? More like why do you keep bugging me to appear when Iбпm in training!" Qiu Yue said as she retracted her chi.

    However, that show of power was enough to let Jin know that she definitely improved from thest time he saw her. And the jump in improvement was frightening. It felt like the chi she wields had the taste of cold winter winds. The chills of ice creeping forth were obvious even though it paled inparison to Frost Echo, the Avatar of Shiva.

    Her cultivation of the Radiant Red Panda in the Umbral Snow allowed her to possess and control ice with her chi and the higher her grade, the more potent those ice chi powers could be. ording to the cultivation manual, it might even be steady enough to use for building materials and withstand regr heat.

    While Qiu Yue was a predominantly ice user, it was the direct opposite of Lynn who cultivated the Perfectible Penguin Ruling The Kitchen Hell. However, the Penguin Cultivator had not been fighting in the front lines despite her grade ascensions. Instead, her strength lies in manipting fire, and she was extremely good at it since her cooking needed it as if it was an essential ingredient.

    A difference in a degree of heat could drastically change the taste that she was aiming for. In fact, most chef cultivators were the same as Lynn, apt at controlling fire. But whether they have the strict discipline and talent to do so was another matter. Fire Control does not mean it was restricted to maintaining the fire at the stove but could be used for baking too. Unfortunately, most modern veteran chefs were unable to do that and relied on electric ovens instead. Lynn could not only control the heat in the oven but was able to cook simultaneously at the stove too. Her multi tasking and detailed control over multiple fires made her a top notch chef that not many had noticed yet.

    But unlike the kitchens, Lynn continued to rely on her ninja penguins in battle since she believed they were stronger than her. (Though our Dungeon Chef still has some tricks under her sleeve which she has yet to show.)

    "Alright, alright. I am sorry. Do not me Lynn for this, I forced her to tell me because I needed your help urgently and somehow it just so happened I needed you to make it work." Jin lied about Lynn so he would not be used of revealing where Qiu Yue went.

    "Hmmph, I supposed you needed my aid in the days toe, I just did not expect it to be so soon. But judging from the summarised report you sent me, it doesnбпt bode well, and I guess itбпs valid you called me urgently." Qiu Yue said, but she didnбпt know how she could help with the Farming World. Thus she highlighted the advanced training centre until Jin stopped her before she could begin. The Dungeon Supplier also mentioned how she would be neededter for the negotiations with the Southern Stars, and all Qiu Yue could do was to roll her eyes. As usual, so much work and so little time. (At the very least, thepensation was more than sufficient, especially her red packet money. So, there was not much she couldin about when she had received this much money.)

    "While I read and appreciated the war n that you and the minion leaders wrote up, I actually have something else in mind that I would like you all to consider. For that, I need your Sub System capabilities for the iing n that I thought up." Jin said as it has been a long time since he took the initiative to create aprehensive war n.

    "Now, I am intrigued! To see that you have a n in mind, itбпs like seeing a dungeon instance being created on the spot." Qiu Yueughed.

    "Whatбпs wrong with that? If not, I have no revenue from my customers and raid instances are the most profitable. Need the moh to get the Virtual Reality Network working right?" Jin said as he unveiled the n via the dungeon maker console and she stared nkly at it for a moment.

 Chapter 990 Real Time Strategy

    <h4>Chapter 990 Real Time Strategy</h4>

    "What are you going to do?" Qiu Yue readied her heart as she had no idea what Jin had in mind. The ns Iбпm in front of her was overwhelming, and she was not taking any information in. She doesnбпt remember having any terrific powers with her Empire Building Sub System except for making buildings pop up if enough resources were avable.

    "It mighte at an awkward timing, and perhaps a bit old too, but I have yet topliment you for the decoration you have done for the hotels that hosted the Royal Snake Soldiers. The System told me that you had created them along with the Goblin y Masons." Jin said, and Qiu Yue nodded her head, thinking where thismunication conversation was going.

    "Eh yea, after a while, I learnt how theyposed it and created them. Of course, it is a little difficult to get the details like the muscles and stuff. I also helped them create a production line for the defence raid."

    "We needed them to run fast, hit hard, and thus the bnce of the creation needed me to crunch some numbers without wasting time making them. Still, the y masons products were stronger because of the effort ced in them." Qiu Yue exined. "You saw how they were more effective against the Demon soldierspared to thest line of defence we have where those were mass produced."

    "Those runes are the same, right? You were able to mass produce them." Jin asked once again, and she nodded her head.

    "That one was harder as Jespa was very insistent in making sure certain parameters of the rune stone manufacturing were achieved before she allowed me to produce them. But yes, even our favourite runesmith was stunned her work could be manufactured. It merely takes some ingenuity."

    "Which you did, Qiu Yue. And here I am acknowledging how important they were and will be for the uing fight." Jin said "Judging from the limited deep scans from the System and Peppers, their numbers are way over the top and they are still creating even more as we speak. What we need is to wither their numbers down for the fight, and we are going to do the same as before right now." Jin exined as he started to expand his dungeon console screen.

    "We are going to make havoc in their caves, disrupting their operations and proceed to their undercities. And we need those y soldiers once more. But this time with some extra help not just from you but your old mates." Jin said, and she was confused.

    That was when Jin said that he was going to make a fake бпreal time strategyбп game for Qiu Yue. He exined how he would want Qiu Yue to contact her old pals and even their contacts and try out this real time strategy game of controlling the y Soldiers.

    "In short, I am making a mind hive, a LAN gaming dungeon instance so that RTS geniuses like you and your friends can take control of. I briefly talked to Jespa via the System channel, and she saidmand runes were possible to create and use along with the animate y runes, a more advanced animate dead, specific to y models. The System will then pass that control to the Empire Building Sub System. After all, how can you build an empire if you have no control over certain subjects?" Jin smiled, and Qiu Yue was stunned for a moment before she ponders if there were any loopholes to it.

    "But how do you replicate the production of these y soldiers like the way we manage soldiers in those RTS games? I mean we canбпt exactly teleport y soldiers one by one in, that will be a strain in the System along for just one yer, not to mention a bunch of crazy ass micromanaging assholes and bitches." Qiu Yue said as she was concerned whether the System can take control of it.

    "Also, the fog of war, usually we have a constant overview of the fighting ground. Back then, in the Pandapolis fight, it was easy peasy because the city was ours to begin with. Now, amidst the spiralling caves, it is nigh impossible to have it done unless we create a satellite that does what Peppers do every sec, in fact, every mini second of constant deep scanning." Qiu Yue said and Jin was looking towards her without saying a word.

    "Wait, what?! You want me to create a satellite?! That is impossible! I donбпt have the blueprints, and current satelliteworks that we have are not cut out of ...oh wait. Did you already-" Qiu Yue squinted her eyes, and Jin was nodding his head at a slow pace.

    "You have the satellites and already improved them so that the satellites are possible to do such a feat like constant deep scanning?" Qiu Yue questioned, and he shrugged his shoulders.

    "Almost there. It was a project on the sidelines that I had asked the research team to do whenever they are free, which they are never free. Still, they inisisted on giving them more work. Anyways, I noticed how useful the satellite was for the Goblin World and the importance of having first hand information." Jin said as this was his n. He must have something done before getting help from Qiu Yue.

    The only issue was how he did it so quickly, and that was because Jin had been using the time dtion room to the maximum, slowing time down drastically. He found out the dungeon supplier does have some innate resistance to the side effects of time magic as he levelled up in his cultivation grades. The System was surprised and increased the roomбпs dtion to its third highest setting.

    At that point, people would have slurring problems; the inertia to work was basically a constant. But to Jin, he worked as if there was no tomorrow. And so, he had managed toplete the n in a short amount of time for Qiu Yue to take a look in.

    "However, the satellites are more to track above the ground movement. So in order to ovee that w, the System had made contact with the Farming Worldбпs spirits of thend, and they were delighted to hear that a super entity could help with their ailing condition." Jin said, causing Qiu Yue to be amazed by the solution.

    "So real time tracking of the rats cane true..."

    "However, we will put some fog of war for you guys, to make it interesting unless the System deemed it otherwise," Jin exined.

    "Then, this production of y soldiers?"

    "Simr to the satellites which are in the process ofing out their first prototype, I took the liberty to look at your y factories and made a mobile version aka your Factory on wheels," Jin said and told her to improve on the designs if possible.

    "So like amand centre, we get troops out. Huh, I guess this RTS cum virtual controlling of the game is really bing possible."

    "Told you so. I mean, we saw how the Pandawans tried to control the squads. They have no sense of leadership inmanding the AI as much as I hoped them to be. I tried reducing the scope by giving the customers a more advanced AI for the Nian Instance but based on statistics, itбпs not up to my standard. So why bother giving them that many AI soldiers when all I need are those smart friends of yours to y it and control them effectively? I would probably need you to test y it as the alpha version before putting it out as the beta version. This way, the fights would be more organised and to some point, efficient. We can send the cultivators to fight their own wacky style in some other portion of the operation." Jin imed which Qiu Yue agreed.

    While she now had a first hand in realmanding, she knew how hard it waspared to controlling a keyboard and mouse. But those y soldiers that could move atmand would be a better addition to Jinбпs arsenal than a bunch of cultivators doing their way.

    "Then I guess the cultivators would be invading the capital?" Qiu Yue asked.

    "More like a distraction for our pros and help to thin the numbers whenever possible. Hahaha." Jin said as he passed Qiu Yue a USB drive and a key to the Mind Hive dungeon instance.

    If this goes well, Jin would have an autonomous fighting force to be reckoned.

 Chapter 991 Review For The New Operation

    <h4>Chapter 991 Review For The New Operation</h4>

    During the Goblin Orc War, Jin had few allies to defeat the Orcs. The Goblin Army had served as the backbone of that fight while his minions and the cultivators who had believed it to be a Raid Instance had acted as their support. With theirbined powers and a bit of luck, they had managed to defeat the Orcs who had been empowered by their Lost Tech. It was the first major victory in Jinбпs eyespared to the minor skirmishes he had in the various worlds he travelled to gainpanions. It not only makes him learn how gruesomely bloodly a war could be but also slowly emboldened him to help the oppressed.

    On the other hand, his escapade in the Giant World had primarily been a rescue operation despite it being a heavily coordinated effort among his minions and the cultivators. Nobody on Jinбпs side had anticipated the sudden interference from the Goblin Worldбпs Shaitans, but thanks to their interference they had managed to clear the operation as quickly as possible, saving almost everyone.

    As for the defence of Pandapolis, the Demon Army had growncent over the years and had wrongfully assumed that they could win everything with numbers alone. Jinбпs side had benefited from the home ground advantage, and Qiu Yue and Moloch had prepared many nasty surprises, in case things would go wrong. If the Mad King had taken him seriously from the beginning, that battle would have likely had a different ending. Jin had also not forgotten that it was ultimately the arrival of Kraftбпs entourage at the perfect time which had saved his butt.

    s, the Demon Rats from the Farming World feared neither men nor monsters.

    Under the North and South Schrs, they had raided, murdered, piged viges and towns and even exploited the human poption. Fortunately, the Spirit of the Lands had agreed to aid the System in its war against the Demon Rats giving Jin a better picture of what was really happening underground.

    The dungeon supplier had been baffled by the sheerplexity of the Demon Ratsбп ingenuity. He had been mentally prepared to find perhaps an outpost or fortress underground, but not various Mega Metropolises. The Demon Rats had sprawled under the seabed, and the tunnels were already half way through to the remaining three continents.

    Everyone was under the assumption that the Demon Rats were not ready to take that final step, but in reality... they just could not be bothered under the grand scheme of things.

    Upon judging the serious fighting power of the remaining humans and the secret organisation that aided them, the Schrs had teleported the Northern Capitalбпs Floating Castle to the town of Wecha. Only instead of winning in one fell swoop with the Floating Castle, they lost against the otherworldly force that had been aiding the Northerners. It was something out of their prediction despite it taking a portion of their resources to do so. They initially wanted to eradicate the town of Wecha at the very least and leave Bulwark Port alone, but reality did not go as nned.

    So just like in previous asions, the Demon Rats fled as best they could and returned to monitoring the Town of Wecha and Bulwark Port while continuing with their ns.

    "They have enough power to kill the Northern Region off, yet they purposely allowed a resistance to form which seemingly keeps their numbers in check. I believe they must be nning the same as us, a four way assault on all four regions, clearing out the entire Farming World of humans at once, so that the Demon Rats will reign as the superior race in this world." Jin expressed his opinions to the System as he prepared the additional strategies for Grand Operation Vermin Fall. While the War Room had been thinking how to beat the Demon Rats on a tactical level, Jin was thinking of the bigger picture.

    Some might say that it would be better to have the War Room Leaders to be in the picture, but Jin needed time and resources to confirm his operation ns before revealing it out especially when it involved creating new dungeon instances. Yet, he did not forgo the counsel of his minions and colleagues and continued tomunicate with them for their help whenever needed.

    "That is entirely possible. However, if they split their forces, itбпs good for Userбпs n." The System stated in an attempt to encourage Jin. However, how could 8,000 Minions win against hundreds of thousands if not millions of rats? There would have been a chance if those pests were stupid and dumb following a zealous leader. However, each and every Demon Rats had demonstrated that they were perhaps cowardly, but smart enough to escape and retreat if they faced with overwhelming odds. They would survive, and once their masters came up with a new n, they woulde back and enact revenge. Maybe coward was not the word, but rather, opportunistic in nature.

    Whatбпs more those Demon Rats were born from a variety of nts and possessed a variety of capabilities. Their knowledge of mining, carpentry, cksmithing etc. gave them quite the edge. The only silver lining was that the Northern and Southern Schrs had been unable to find Goldбпs hidden deposit of rare seeds. Otherwise, they might have been even more formidable than ever.

    Nevertheless, Gold was troubled and curious about why that was the case. Given the Ratsбп abilities and above average keen senses, they should have been able to find it. Surely, they would have gone through every crook and nook of the ce to look for treasures and yet, his deposit of seeds were left untouched.

    Mystery aside, the System found the nts to be of a wondrous find. Gold did not keep just seeds but soil samples too. The purest of forms in case a disaster befall the nation, and they could use the deposit to reestablish their nation. Thus, the System had been working hard to analyse them, trying its best to replicate the magic of the Farming World, but it was to no avail. Somehow, the trick to growing them still lied with the secrets of the Farming World. Not until the System had finally taken the initiative to contact this worldбпs Spirits of the Land.

    When presented the chance to do so, the System had added a use in its negotiation with the Farming Worldбпs Spirits of the Land for their knowledge in creating a seed to something in return for killing the rats.

    And that use alone might have been the key factor needed to topple the current predicament that they had. With samples of the soil, seeds and the aid of their Lost Tech, it was finally possible for Jin to fight toe to toe with the Demon Ratбпs overwhelming numbers. The only other few things he needed would be money and time. He had recently amassed plenty of the former, but he could not influence thetter. And thus that was when the ingenuity of Jinбпs minions came into y.

    "Summon Gold, Weslie, Ayse, Rei. Oh and Kiyu if possible. We are going to do some test runs to make sure they work before we mass produce them." Jin ordered as he began to design some blueprints and notes for the iing minions.

 Chapter 992 Exhibit 9S-2P

    <h4>Chapter 992 Exhibit 9S-2P</h4>

    In a matter of minutes, the minions Jin had called for assembled in the Dungeon Maker. He was patiently waiting for them at the head of the meeting table, where he was doing some finishing touches on some documents.

    "Whatбпs the special asion that needed me to be around?" Kiyu asked while yawning as she stretched a little. The foxy maiden had arrivedter than the rest as she had still been sleeping in after a series of deep reconnaissance against the Church of the Afterlife in the Dungeon World.

    "Just needed your expertise on a certain topic. It should not take long." Jin answered as he handed out the papers as well as some samples.

    "Are those the seeds from Exhibit 9S-2P?" Gold asked since his nose began to start working overtime with a familiar scent in the air.

    "Wow, no wonder you are called the Garden Prince." Rei was amazed by Goldбпs instant identification of the seeds that Jin was holding. To him as ayman, it appeared to be just some ordinary grey looking seeds.

    "Garden Prince...?" Gold looked towards Rei and was speechless for a moment. He did not know whether to take it in as apliment.

    "Wait, donбпt tell me you havenбпt noticed?" Weslie turned towards Gold who now looked even more confused. "The Orcs and Goblins had been nicknaming all of us to easily identify us from the crowd."

    "Then, what are they calling you?" Gold questioned, intrigued and Weslie smiled yfully.

    "Youбпre sitting next to the бпSteamy Scientistбп! I believed it suits me well!" Weslie answered while putting her tongue out and giving Gold a peace sign, which he literally and instantly ced his head on the table as part of his reply. It was a pun on a few levels, and he admitted that she was pretty enough to be steamy.

    "I wish the System would tell me who was the one who started with all those silly nicknames. Yours is so much better than mine." Ayse grumbled a little. "Seriously, would it be too much to ask, toe up with something more creative than "Lead Researcherбп? Itбпs so dull and doesnбпt ce much of an impression on people."

    "Still sounds a million times better than бпTHAT Golem Engineer from Another Worldбп. Just because they could not handle the fact that I could build better mechs than them." Rei shrugged his shoulders and hoped that in due time someone might give him a better nickname.

    "That seems like a ton of fun. I should mingle with the Goblins more often, so I can earn myself a nickname tooooo!" Kiyu snickered since she wanted to join in the fun and the rest chuckled along until Jin cleared his throat.

    "Youбпre free to do as you wish in your free time, but Iбпve called you guys here for a reason, remember?" Jin asked, and the rest kept quiet immediately, listening attentively to what Jin had to say.

    "Thanks. Gold has correctly guessed the contents of those samples, although theyбпre moremonly known as бпnk State Seedsбп ording to his notes. While the details are in the report, Gold, do you mind exining it in your own words for now?" Jin requested, and Goldбпs eyes lit up as he was more than happy to do so.

    "The nk State Seeds have been named for their ability to take on any form the one who handles them wishes for. They are usually used by mages, and the most aptparison might be to liken them to Masterбпs weapons Bam and Boo. However, they are unable to shapeshift once a form has been chosen, and it is a delicate process to form exactly what a mage had in mind."

    "With Gold being the Schr of the East, he was naturally one of the top experts in manipting these seeds to oneбпs desire." Weslie chipped in. "He and his other disciples have cultivated not just these nk state seeds but many other specialised seeds over the years to make them easier to use for themon folk. In short, theyбпve been working their entire lives to create essential items for the various townsfolk."

    "But know that we regted them so that there is no abuse! That is why we have the Royal Seeds Guild and have a Royal Seed Deposits in each and every castle. How do you think I got those Living Armour Seeds?" Gold stated, and Jin squinted his eyes.

    "Hang on, didnбпt you tell me they were from a merchant or something previously? Those Living Armour Seeds were from that castleбпs deposit?" Jin queried, and Gold flinched as he had already forgotten about that lie from so long ago.

    "Well... I did technically get those living armour seeds from a бпmerchantбп. During the day he was an honest merchant, but in reality, he was a resistance member working deep undercover. He provided a lot of information being a secret info broker by asionally giving inurate information to the enemy and selling us crucial information." Gold said that there were many a time that merchant was able to save their asses because of thest minute changes in the information he received. However, there were times he had to let it happen since the Rats could get suspicious, especially when the resistance barely managed to run away for quite a number of asions.

    And when the opportunity presented himself, he broke into the castle and undid the seal of the seed deposits. Unfortunately, he got caught and had to fight his way out. He died from his injuries trying to get those seeds for me. This, I swear itбпs the truth."

    "Weбпve hoped to cultivate those Living Armour Seeds that you used for your System Rider and make them into part of our armour. Back then, we thought it would give us a good chance against the Demon Rats. Guess, we were quite lucky that Zeru stole them from us..." Gold sighed as he imagined what would have happened if they had never met Jin.

    So what if he had created the resistance group, the Jacks? Compared to their real numbers and grand n, the Jackбпs hard earnt little victories which were meaningless on the grand scale of things. They had likely just provided some sport for the military minded Demon Rats and the traitorous Schrs that sat at the top.

    But now, it would be different.

    Heбпs in thepany of Jin and other worldsbined. With their help, they had liberated many towns or as Gold dubbed it in their words, Demon Rats Internment Camps. While the people had no idea what was going on or where Gold had managed to find such help, they finally had some hope that there was a real fighting chance against the Rats. Thus, he solemnly swore that he was not going to let the Demon Rats take over the Farming World.

    Therefore, whatever Jin had in mind, he would give his all to aplish it. For that is the only sole hope that this Farming World has right now.

    "Thank you, Gold. So, returning to these nk State Seeds. The System had managed to contact the Spirits of the Land in the Farming World. Many had ignored our call previously, but for some reason, that has changed. Perhaps, they did not think it could be that dire previously, and now those Demon Rats were more than just a pain in the ass. Anyway, what matters now is that we have a clearer picture of what the Demon Rats are nning." Jin stated.

    "We thought that by taking away Weslie, they would have been severely crippled with the loss of a lead scientist. However, our thoughts were a bit too optimistic. Although they had lost one Schr, the other two are also intelligent enough to keep that circus lot of rats running. Now that we know what we are really up against, we are going to y their game by evening out the odds with these seeds."

    "What do you mean? We only have a certain number of these seeds? There is so much we can do with ... Oh wait." Gold stopped as he remembered that Jin had something perfect for this situation. A machine that made the impossible possible. The Lost Tech Counterfeiter!

    "Ahh... No wonder you asked me to see if I could improve that feisty machine." Ayse said as she nodded her head happily, giving the sign that it had already been done. "But it will be more furious with its demands after the improvement. I donбпt know how to describe it, but I feel as if it is starting to have a mind of its own."

    "Come now, donбпt tell me you are not expecting that. I mean you did use a piece of the leftover broken core and an advanced ck market motherboard microchip that costs tens of thousands of dungeon dors." Rei sighed in defeat when he remembered how Ayse dragged him to the Lost Tech Counterfeiter and forced him to fix an interface simr to Mechataur.

    Ayse had been surprised by the revamp Mechataur had received through thebined effort of Niu Lang and Rei, so she immediately put theirtest scientist cum engineer to good use. (Reiбпs free time had been severely cut ever since Ayseбпs demanded improvements on not just the Lost Tech Counterfeiter but every other machine as well.)

    "Itбпs fine, we can just ce a System Contract Inscription Charm on it, and it should more or less obey," Jin said and the rest looked at him with a surprised look.

    "Is there really such a thing?!" The minions queried and the System immediately took over.

 Chapter 993 Blank State Seeds

    <h4>Chapter 993 nk State Seeds</h4>

    "That wonбпt work, although that is a uniquely interesting idea that the System might consider creating it. Especially for the likes of controlling non to semi sentient lifeforms. It might potentially help with future circumstances" The System stated, and it made Jin think about what it meant for a moment.

    "You mean like taking control of the mechas in Reiбпs World?"

    "Affirmative. However, Systemбпs Contract so far has been mostly either a бпKill and Commandбп or бпSign and edeбп. There have not been any prior instances where the System was бпforced and orderedбп. While such provisions can be amodated, the System requires some time to make such amand avable."

    "Do you think it will have an effect on the rats?" Gold questioned, but the System could not provide an urate answer until they tried it.

    "Will there be issues of them resisting themand?" Kiyu started to ponder since she had been in the System the longest in this current group setting. She was aware of where the System Contracts had beening from. Compared to the ancient times, Jin was the only System User who had been using this technique and relying upon it heavily because of the nature of his job. No one else in the Systemбпs History had ever used this particr System Contract Technique to this degree and frequency.

    Then again, the System acted as an extension of the wishes of its User. Previous Users who had been familiar with the history of the Panda n usually wanted to get stronger to enact revenge, which did not really require travelling to different worlds.

    That coupled with the Systemбпs policy of not enving humans of their world had made it more of a rarity. By resurrecting the opponent it meant that the soul owed a debt to the System, hence the Kill and Command Contract which Jin used in the battle.

    As for the Sign and ede, the opponent had to be willing to submit their life over to the System, and the System would slowly win over the body by corrupting it with its constant privileges. Through Jin, it had sessfully won over each and everyone who signed such a contract. Despite the constant hard work, the rewards were copious enough to keep the бпmind vesбп satisfied.

    But for a "Forced and Orderedбп edict to be issued, Kiyu was afraid that the System would be unable to get the approval of the opponent assuming he/she/it had the willpower to resist it. That may mean consequences to the Kill and Command Contract and whether the System would actually have full control of the monster in the future. In Kiyuбпs mind, she was worried that the Systemбпs opponents might erode the full control slowly without the System noticing it. In the worst case scenario, they might eventually plot to kill Jin.

    "The System had no current data on it, but the System had assumption theories in case the edict fails and thus understands Betor Kiyuбпs concern." The System reported, and she nodded her head.

    "If we are that worried, I highly suggest we use it only on non-sentient lifeforms so that it will be just a form of highly advanced hacking?" Jin suggested, and the rest agreed right on the spot. "Anyways, back to the Lost Tech Counterfeiter, youбпve said itбпd been improved so do you think we can at least double the production?" He asked the бпLead Researcherбп and бпTHAT Golem Engineer from Another Worldбп.

    "Double? You wound me with your words, Master. I dare say it can produce things way quicker after absorbing that broken Dungeon Core. I have connected it to the Lost Tech Recycler too so that it could take things straight from it if needed. Obviously, thereбпs a drawback that you wonбпt receive any precious stuff from the recycler since the Counterfeiter will take almost everything. But hey, when we kill those rats, we get random resources anyway. Might as well use them to get the Counterfeiter working."

    "That Counterfeiter is a seriously cheat machine." Gold said as he shook his head in dismay. "What are you going to do with that many nk State Seeds? If I am not wrong, you already have the capability to produce ck Sludge Crystals and create things like the nk State Seeds, and maybe even moreplex than a seed could do."

    "Obviously, grow out an army. One that is capable of fighting against the Demon Rats. We fight iron with iron. If this proves out to be effective, we might actually have a shot fighting in the Mecha World rather than just fighting them with sticks and stones." Jin snickered, but the rest could not catch his drift that well.

    "What I meant is... forget it. How about I just go direct to the n? Alright? Okay, so Rei and Weslie. I like you guys create a series of blueprints on semi autonomous machines that are able to fight. Be it a tank, a ne, heck even a mecha robot if the seeds can grow such a thing. Then you show them to Gold who will try to inscribe it into the nk State Seed, and we grow them."

    "Even if thatбпs possible, we donбпt have the time to grow thoseplicated structures! Remember how long it took to grow the Living Armour Seeds? In actual fact, it had taken years for the old tree and our Zither Mistress because of the timepression magic which the System used." Gold exined.

    "Doesnбпt that dumb dumb tree get stronger with age? We are actually powering him up further the more we let him grow through the timepression" Ayse noted.

    "That may be the case, but the timepression magic has already taken a toll on our cute little girl. She seems to hail from a long living race, so sheбпs be stronger in the same manner as that treant, but Iбпve noticed that her powers are unstable." Kiyu noted as she took a nk State Seed and yed around with it in her fingers. The Butterfly Fox had been checking on the minions periodically to in case the effects of time magic would affect them negatively ever since she found out that the System was abusing time magic a lot. (And with reason.)

    "Releasing that pent-up energy to help the nts grow has in turn helped her lessen the strain. Perhaps that is why your System Rider is so powerful. However, from what Iбпve seen, she seems to be doing that unconsciously, and itбпs not like itбпs an effective countermeasure in the first ce." Kiyu said that the side effect, while positive, might prove to be a bane in the future if left unchecked.

    "...Although, the Kraft in me would say, let her grow further and allow her to expend her powers all at once in the Grand Operation. That way, it might solve her problems and provide a huge boost to our overall battle efficacy. Still, you will also run into the risk of potentially killing her... although meh. You could always resurrect her once more. All the more stronger and powerful. It just depends on how you want to use her." Kiyu couldnбпt help but shrug her shoulders over this possible scenario.

    "Donбпt talk about Ke Mi as if she was a thing!" Weslieined, but Kiyu could not be bothered to argue back. Her years of fighting experience against all odds had taught her and the other foxes that they were mere pawns on a chessboard. Sure, they may be worth a rook or even a queen, but it did not matter when certain stakes were present.

    "I will take your advice into consideration. Thank you, Kiyu." Jin replied although he shared Weslieбпs dismay. They might be his бпminionsбп, but Jin treated them like family after all. He eventually coughed to stir the conversation back. "It should not be a problem. This part of the preparations for our Grand Operation will only need Shu to handle them."

    "The System has been taught how to get these seeds to grow on foreignnds. Itбпs also thanks to Gold and the Jacksбп effort and data in creating that agriculture patch in their home instance." Jin added and stated to them that the System had initially tried to replicate the Farming World but failed to do so until it learnt the secrets from the Spirit of the Lands.

    "And you know what? That is not all. Those items which we collected from the Demon Rats will be of some use, and we can recycle their troops for ourselves." Jin said with a smirk.

 Chapter 994 An Unnamed Farming Instance

    <h4>Chapter 994 An Unnamed Farming Instance</h4>

    Jin opened up a new window to show off a brand new instance with literally nothing butyers ofnd floating from one corner to another. Not only that, the ground had already been tilted by Panda NPCs and automation to put even the current Pandapolis Farming Sectors, the Werejackalбпs Mansion Farm and even the New Home Ind Instance where the werejackals had an agricultural tower to shame.

    "The System had been keeping each and every single item - basically a hoarder though it ims that it is for collection of data purposes- Anyways, the first of each and every single item that had been dropped were kept while the rest were used into the Recycler with the exception of those in our Spiraling Sewers Instance. The Pandarens who were grinding the dungeons would get to keep those items... Although I have the feeling that the System is sneaky enough to at least copy the item before giving the Pandarens ess."

    "And after our dealings with the Spirits of the Land, the System finally has gained the capability to regrow anything that was from the Farming World. The only caveat is that itбпs limited to stuff from the Farming World." Jin said as if he was proud that the System gained a new skill but still disappointed that it could only work that much. (#asianparent)

    "You mind sharing it?" Gold asked as he too always had the conception that the farming had always worked in such a way until he went to other worlds to have an eye opener.

    "As much as the System wishes too, it is not something that could be exined or quantified without speaking potential Systemnguage gibberish. As the saying goes бпseeing is believingбп." The System reported, and the group continued to browse through the new Farming Instance with awe (since the monitor featured something like Mooogle Street Map with 3D all around view.), Jin continued to exin.

    "Therefore, our priority lies in the absolute eradication of the Demon Rats. Once we have achieved that goal, we will have ess to a multitude of resources to grow, reducing the reliance on the ck market. In fact, we might be able to sell things in the future that could bring us massive profits." Jin told them with glee.

    "Like weapons?" Kiyu asked with her hand raised up.

    "Hopefully not." Jin did not outright reject that as a possibility after all military spending was always where most of the money could be made.

    "Oh..." Rei finally got the overall picture. "So, we create a lot of nk State Seeds, find some military blueprint designs and let Gold work his magic to grow them in that Instance."

    "Ah...but as much as I like to brag that I am the best seed inscriber in the Farming World, I have not had a lot of practice for a while now ...so Iбпll need some time to brush up. I hope it wonбпt pose too much of a problem since we can make more nk State Seeds. However, I must warn that there are certain limitations to them. The seed is like a nk CD from your world. I can only add that much to the seed for it to grow. I mean have you seen the stuff the rats drop? There was nothing tooplicated. From buckets, to tables and perhaps to a simple wooden house and thest one is pretty much as big as it can get." Gold iterated his concerns.

    "Hmm but oddly enough, the Demon Rats did drop ...you know erm your Farming World produces animals." Jin argued.

    "Because those seeds are animal seeds. Not nk State Seeds. Did you not check the animal seeds in my deposit? They are at least four times bigger than the usual seeds?" Gold replied.

    "Then just find bigger nk State Seeds, duh." Kiyu replied with a grin, and Gold shook his head.

    "Impossible. Iбпve seen a Giant nk State Seed only once, and harvesting them had nearly cost me my life. I had to travel far and wide to get them." Gold recounted those bad memories in his head and wondered how he lived so far.

    "I can assure you that is the truth. This idiot dragged me to an icy tundra that had a worm asrge as Lynnбпs Restaurant Train and forced me to fight with it until he came out of its belly with those seeds. Without Keyrin and the others helping me that day, we would have probably be worm food in the end." Weslie recalled how terribly one of the encounters was.

    "Come on, it wasnбпt that bad, was it? Didnбпt we have a lot of fun on the journey there and back?" Gold gleed a little but Weslie smacked his shoulders instead. "Hey! Whatбпs that for? You were the one who brought it up."

    "Well if you had problems to keep it in check with Keyrin and the others we probably should not bother going that route. In any case, donбпt worry about that. Weбпll create blueprints and subsequently break it down once the prototype is working properly. That is where Pandapolis Industries wille into y. Without the need of creating those parts, we only need to wield and assembly it together. We should have enough time for that. I will get Qiu Yue to set up the factories once we have those blueprints ready. But the only issue is soil and fertilisers. We need lots of it so we can continuously push growth." Jin exined.

    "Why is that an issue? Arenбпt we already producing it all with the Counterfeiter?" Ayse queried.

    "That problem lies with the Systemбпs ability to grow in the spatial dungeon instance. While the Counterfeiter can produce seeds and soil, the Spirit of the Land reported that it required their blessing for optimal results. So, we need soil or at least fertiliser from the Farming World to make it work." The System reported.

    "That is where I have another task for you, Gold. While waiting for the prototypes of those semi-autonomous machinesбп blueprints to work, I need you to travel back to the East to procure sand, soil, fertilisers and other things needed to make the nts grow faster. You are the expert anyways. Budget wise, just tell the System how much you need and it will grant you what you required. Also, remember to- "

    "Bargain. Yeah, yeah, Boss. We all know that." Gold cut him off and already teleported to the Farming World. Back at his head, he already had a few contacts in mind and already began pursuing them back in the Eastern Region.

    Weslie had actually been doodling out some ns which popped out in her mind, and upon hearing how Jin got those parts to assemble them, Rei made sure it was feasible to manufacture them on arge scale. Ayse returned to the Counterfeiter to check if it was working as intended while Kiyu held onto that nk State Seed and told Jin she would borrow it for a bit before performing a disappearing act like Kraft.

    Jin did not think much into Kiyuбпs actions as he wanted to return to Qiu Yue to check if she had any opinions about the Mind Hive Dungeon Instance until a thought struck him.

    "Oh yeah, I have yet to name this instance... Never mind, its still in the works. Or maybe I should leave it to Shu since he would be the main caretaker of that instance." Jin left a mental note to himself before he disappeared from that meeting room.

 Chapter 995 The Makings of Mind Hive Dungeon Instance

    <h4>Chapter 995 The Makings of Mind Hive Dungeon Instance</h4>

    "How is it?" Jin questioned Qiu Yue, who was brooding over the Mind Hive Dungeon Instance.

    "All you did was give me a list of weapons with which to equip them! Thatбпs all! We can hand them ance and call them ancer, but that doesnбпt change the fact that they are still ultimately y soldiers. They will still be vulnerable! I mean we can p on some armour etc, for higher levels but there is noplexity to this бпgameбп at all." Qiu Yue remarked with a slight fit of anger. "Isnбпt there anything else at our disposal?"

    "That is why I have this." Jin showed her a nk State Seed and gave her a brief summary of what had been discussed. (He sincerely hoped the conversation would pacify her temper a little.)

    "So we have tanks and nes which can be controlled by these y soldiers?! Is that even possible??" Qiu Yue questioned, and Jin told her that it would not really be the y soldiersmandeering them, but the vehicles would be semi autonomous or at least that was what he had proposed. With Rei on the team, they could create a semi AI which he featured in his Gunndam manga.

    "Shoot, I totally forgot about the movie thing. ...Then again, if there is no news of Reiining that should mean he is doing fine. Hopefully. Hahha! Oh well, Iбпll just ask him after the whole Grand Operation is over." Jin thought to himself while Qiu Yue pondered on the semi autonomous machines that he had proposed.

    "If that is the case, then perhaps it is possible to make a game out of it. However, there is no collecting of resources or whatsoever." Qiu Yue criticised his ns once more.

    "Oops... forgot about that too." Jin did not really think much about the n nor put a lot of effort into it considering he had wanted Qiu Yue to take reins over the project. Uponying the groundworks, Jin merely thrust the entire project to her.

    While ttered that he put so much trust in her, Qiu Yue was simultaneously pissed at how half baked Jinбпs notes and ns had been for the game. No difference in stats, no special abilities or anything. With all the resources they had at their disposal, they could make something remarkably fun and powerful. Instead, Jin had scribbled somebinations like бпy soldier +nce =ncerбп and had called it a day.

    During his short term absence, Qiu Yue had already put in as much effort into this бпgameбп as Jin had done for his Nian Instance. At least Jinбпs idea in regards to those semi autonomous machines sounded like a promising addition.

    "Though I have to say itбпs rather funny. You rely on trees to grow your metal parts so that you can put them all together." Qiu Yue found it a bit ridiculous, but as long as it worked, she would be happy. "Well, now that we hcolourome variety with our бпunitsбп I have some ideas about the resource gathering part."

    "Get the System to make tickets. Digital Tickets. Earning them will require some effort such as killing the rats. Oh and make them give out varying amounts. It should be easy to color code some rats and give them some visual effects to make them into like higher-tier enemy units. The more rats they kill, the more tickets they can earn since there are no resource collection points. The yers can then use those tickets to purchase stronger units like those machines you talked about."

    "How about doubling our mobile encampments as collection points too? That way, we can allow them to gain a stable but slow ie of tickets to purchase those y soldiers even though they are readily avable. Maybe even add a 10% refund of tickets after their units die? So in the event that their force gets wiped from a surprise attack, at least they can still recover." Jin suggested.

    "Hmm, not a very bad idea. Considering we want them to keep going down and attack the cities, giving them an option to build more additional mobile encampments as defensive positions to protect the ce will be good. Should we cap the amount of units they can have at any one time?" Qiu Yue asked.

    "Nah, we need all the help we can get. Besides, who knows how many million rats are down there? Itбпd be dumb to limit them to like 20 y soldiers. The more the merrier." Jin replied. "Also, based on the number of rats and outposts theyбпve cleared, they should earn reputation points, and we can use yourdder redemption reward again. Or we could go with a limited reward store."

    "Heh! And what if they still lose after all that? Should we add more mary possibilities like pay to win units?" Qiu Yue asked.

    "Nah, that would make it seem like the other units are not worth it. However, we can easily offer cosmetics. We can colour their y soldiers with paint, and we can also add stuff like Zodiac costumes. But we definitely will have to offer a Panda option. Just imagine a bunch of y soldier in Panda outfits stomp through the rats. Hahah!" Jin suggested enthusiastically, and Qiu Yue believed it was a good idea. "However, I have to remind you that this is a beta version of sorts. Especially since I am not sure how are we going to charge them to y the game."

    "Hmm. Maybe charge the customers as to how those local LAN gaming shops charges? Or something simr to an Arcade game try? After all, they aremanding the troops and not going into battle with these stone soldiers." Qiu Yue suggested.

    "Then I suggest we go by Arcade tries more than charging a local LAN gaming fee. After all, the бпgraphicsбп would be so much more realistic." Jin replied.

    "Well, that finally sounds like a decent n. I will iron out the details. By the way, are you nning to make this a Raid as well? If anyone asks, we can call it"

    "Why, of course! Simr to the Pandapolis Defence, I am going to advertise this very early. We can even promote it as a sort of cross y feature. Like a general could summon his friends as squad leaders for the y soldiers. And will stick to a certain timeline. I was thinking of putting this in lieu with Valentineбпs day." Jin thought it would grant those people who were single on that day a good activity. "That way, those singles and couples have a ce to y. Hahaha.

    "You and your fantasies. What couple do you think would want to have where they fight in a war?!" This time around, Qiu Yue really smacked Jinбпs head.

    "Love is war, isnбпt it?!" Jin argued back as he rubbed his head to soothe it.

    "Thatбпs meant as an expression, not reality!" Qiu Yue let out a sigh while shaking her head.

    "Alright, calm down. I was merely kidding. We can start before Valentineбпs Day. Otherwise, people like Bing Yong and Xiong Da will likelyin." Jin gave in, but he wondered if that would really be the case.

    "How did I even get together with this guy in the first ce?" Qiu Yue mumbled to herself before talking back to Jin. "You better have a romantic option for the actual couples other than the raid!"

    "Do you think Cupid costumes will do the trick?" Jin joked, but Qiu Yue gave him a strong re. "Fine, fine. Iбпve already nned something for Valentineбпs Day, besides this Grand Operation will definitely not end in a day. I suspect it will at leastst a couple of weeks. Or maybe months."

    "Well, I have some concepts in mind on how to make the mobile encampments, but I need you to finance them." Qiu Yue returned to the topic at hand.

    "I thought you needed resources too? Now itбпs just money?" Jin queried while he checked his phone on the ounts which ire had tidied.

    "Hmm, you could say that Iбпve received a modest upgrade. I guess the System has learned a lot from your bargaining and has shared that kind of bargain ability with my Sub System. Now itбпs able to get the stuff I need as long as I put money in. I donбпt have to worry much about materials. It can choose the best ones avable at the best price." Qiu Yue boasted with a grin.

    "We currently have enough to spend. Just have your Sub System hand over the receipt to the System or perhaps directly to ire. By the way, I never got a chance to ask. How are the Wolf Foxes, Tsu and Kai as trainers?"

    "Not too bad, I guess. My only gripe would be that itбпs scary how different they behave during and outside the training. So far the beast kids have managed to endure their strict training regiment, but that only means the Wolf Foxes are going to give them even more hell. Surely you didnбпt just ask me because you were concerned?"

    "I admit I may have had another reason for doing it." Jin sat down properly beside her and asked Qiu Yue more about their training regime. It looked like he had found some trainers to get inspiration from for the Advanced Training Centreбпs Hell Course.

    As if handling one job wasnбпt tough enough, the inheritor of the Panda n had to manage many outlets, all while saving other worlds. Apparently, aiming for the number one dungeon supplier was not as easy as it sounded!

 Chapter 996 Negotiations With the Southern Stars

    <h4>Chapter 996 Negotiations With the Southern Stars</h4>

    Suddenly Qiu Yueбпs watch started beeping. It was informing her that Meomi was calling via the Systemбпs Channel.

    "Lady Boss Qiu! I have reached the Southern Regionбпs Capital with Nightingale and the others. Sheбпs asked for some time to readjust back to the ground after that C130 flight and parachuting down! Hehehe! Are you free to meet us soon?" Meomi asked as she held her former housemaid Nightingale by the shoulders.

    The rest of her squad from Southern Star had enjoyed that novel experience and most of them were still high on the adrenaline rush. Some even said that they would not mind experiencing such a feeling again.

    "I shall report to the Grandmaster and inform him about your arrival. Enjoy the sights of our Southern Capital." Nightingaleбпs leader said as he waved them goodbye before disappearing into the shadows outside the gates of the Southern Capital which Meomi could feel their presence slowly fading away.

    Before she blinked they had seemingly fused with the shadows and when she had opened her eyes again, there was nothing but walls along the Southern Capital. She checked around the area in search of a trick door but was unable to find one. She scratched her head wondering if they really had a skill to blend with the shadows and escape.

    "You, your friends and your ninja-esque skills." She muttered to Nightingale but her former maid was unable to reply as she still felt like vomiting with every step. Meomi hoped that it wouldnбпt leave asting trauma, especially since they could be flying back. (After all, it was cheaper to the System than teleporting arger group.)

    "Meomi, I will join you in a little while. Jin just gave me a new task and Iбпm going to be a bit busy with it. Give me another call when you are about to meet their leader or if something urgent happens." Qiu Yue replied even though she saw Jin giving her the go ahead to help Meomi on the spot. It was after all Jin who had asked Meomi to get Qiu Yue to apany her with the negotiations.

    "Sure Lady Boss Qiu! See youter, I shall apany Nightingale for some sight seeing first before they contact us." Meomi said as she started dragging her friend to the gates of the Southern Capital. (The guards were a little wary but eventually, they got through with Nightingaleбпs credentials.)

    "You sure know how to make use of me when Iбпm gone. Perhaps Iбпve been doing things wrong. Instead of chasing after you, I should have shown you the cold shoulder." Qiu Yue teased Jin and the dungeon supplier sighed with his eyes rolling upwards.

    "Please. If you donбпt want to do that job, I can go instead. I just know that you are better at negotiating deals for me." Jin grumbled.

    "Oh if our mighty Boss puts it that way, I shall give it my best." She chuckled a little. "To be honest Iбпm more impressed with the Southern Starspared to their western counterpart. What was their organisation called again? Western Skies or something. Their adventurers could only do jackshit, despite me being inmand of the Farming World for a period of time. Some of them even actively chose to ignore some of mymands and rightfully suffered for it. Nightingale and her people on the other hand were observant, detailed and disciplined. Each one of them is aspetent as their leader." Qiu Yue was promoting the Southern Regionбпs main guilds and with valid reasons.

    "They even had the balls to proactively clear a few poorly manned caves and mind you when I say poorly manned, Iбпm just referring to them being outnumbered 10 to 1 instead of 50 to 1. Meanwhile, the western guys could barely handle minor skirmish when they were outnumbered 5 to 1. Southern Skies seem to actually appreciate this golden opportunity to earn lots of cash while gaining experience not just for their veterans but fresh recruits too." Qiu Yue remarked.

    "We should be able to offer them 1,000 Gold Coins per week without cing any burden on ourselves. When we employed their group of four, we agreed on 49 gold coins per week for the next three months. So you can work out the math. At most Iбпm willing to pay them 2,500 Gold Coins per week and that is assuming they hand over their entire organisation numbers." Jin dered as he once again rechecked the sums on his phone app to make sure he did not allocate a wrong budget.

    Qiu Yue was a bit surprised why he suddenly acted so stingy. Given the current exchange rate of Dungeon Dors to Farming World Coins, 1 DD equalled 125 bronze coins (=1.25 Gold coins). And to put things to perspective, 3 bronze coins was enough to purchase a decent meal.

    For Nightingale and her group, 7 gold coins per day meant each of them was earning about 175 coins per day. This generous payment was most likely also the reason why they dared to risk their lives so eagerly. Getting more than 100 bronze coins a day was considered a luxury or as they put it when being offered the deal they бпstruck goldбп.

    While the Southern Stars guild would take amission fee since it was responsible for feeding all their numbers, especially in times when some of them were unable to get work, it was ultimately a lump sum leaving more than enough for the group.

    "Fine, I guess you have your own reasons why you want to limit it. Depending on the size of their organisation it might be difficult to get them all, but I will do my best." Qiu Yue and Jin nodded at each other.

    "Their current weaponry is unlikely to hold a candle against the main group of Demon Rats. Iбпve received reports from Meomi that during one of the confrontations the Southern Star membersбп weapons broke and they had to resort to fighting with the Demon Ratsбп leftover weapons. Well, they only used those as blunt force weapons since they were unable to figure out how to operate them properly. Meomi was smart enough to allow the current group to keep these new weapons for now, so they could brandish it to their leader."

    "I see that you alreadyid the groundwork." Qiu Yue was happy since this would ease up the negotiations and with it, she would be able to squeeze the life out of the leader. "So basically we are limiting their pay, because weбпll be the ones to outfit them with our own weapons. Well, if nothing else works, a show of force should help sweeten the deal."

    "You sure you are stronger than their leader?" Jin doubted her for a moment before he got whacked on the head with an even more forceful impact. He could have dodged it easily given his rigorous training but he allowed himself to be hit to judge her strength.

    "Strong enough for you?" Qiu Yue asked as she did not hold back and infused her icy chi into the punch.

    "Itбпs definitely cooling," Jin answered as he tried to tolerate the pain, but it only got worse. He eventually realised it was the freezing ice that was more painful. It literally started to give him a brain freeze until he was forced to use ck Panda Fire to slowly remove the ice by warming the surroundings as well as channeling his chi towards his head. (Else he could be bald if he haphazardly tried to remove it!) Yet the casual remark nearly prompted Qiu Yue to give him another punch, only this time Jin did dodge.

    "I yield! You win! You win! Go do your brute force method!" Jin shouted as he furthered the distance upon dodging. Fortunately, Meomiбпs call saved the dungeon supplierбпs skin from being frozen once more.

    "Hmph! Consider yourself lucky that I did not use the full effect of my ice chi!" Qiu Yue harrumphed and stuck her tongue out before teleporting away.

    "Full effects?" Jin queried and the System informed him that there was actually a second part to the ice attack. Itбпs just that the Red Panda Cultivator did not use it. Jin shuddered at the thought of what might have happened next.

    "System, please record her fight for me if she started any. I wanna see if she turns any of them into ice cubes."

 Chapter 997 The Southern Capital

    <h4>Chapter 997 The Southern Capital</h4>

    The Southern Capital.

    Unlike the other three regions that had an abundance of sun and rain, the harsh environment did not allow the inhabitants to be farmers or build many fantastic looking cities. The South had extended periods of dry seasons for most of the year and instead of a winter, it merely got colder in the second half of the year.

    The winter desert season as they had dubbed it was just as harsh as winter and the winds blew along with the white sand all around them. There was little rain, so each Oasis became a precious hub for life around it. Ironically the skies were full with imposing grey clouds yet while it rarely rained, it often thundered.

    The Southerners had been forced to adapt and improvise a lot for their survival ever since the first group of people set foot into this abyssal sandpit of white death. It was practically a miracle that they had somehow persevered long enough to create a longsting civilisation.

    Nevertheless, thepletely hostile environment was surprisingly suitable for one thing:

    The growth of monsters.

    The rate of monsters growing in the South was considered to be the most rapid and problematic. The first wave of settlers who had tried to establish a foothold in this area, quickly got beset by waves of monsters that eventually wiped the entire group away.

    The next group of settlers found the ruins of their predecessors and learned about what had happened from a torn diary by the expedition leader. Their short stay had been enough to convince themselves about the reality of the monster plight. Luckily they had managed to fend off the first waves of monsters with few casualties before they sailed back to report to their respective homnds.

    The retrieved diary spoke about precious metals, gold and artefacts which had apparently been found not too far away from their original location. Thus, the third expedition had been manned by apany of soldiers to protect the new wave of settlers. With the prospects of getting rich, many had flocked to join the expedition, hoping to earn a good buck for their families back home.

    They also managed tost longer than the first group, but they had been unprepared for the harshness of winter in that newnd. A number also sumbed to diseases unknown to them they caught from the cold while some died from theck of proper medical care from frostbites and winter rted injuries. Even those from the North who were more prepared for the cold than the others had trouble settling down.

    However, the greed of mankind would always be a big motivator, no matter the world especially when the torn diary entry turned true. It caused a significant ruckus among the other three regions and more people sailed to settle there. But the talk of gold also allured the unfavourable types with the majority being runaways, stowaways or even viins that needed to get out of the worldбпs view. That did not mean they were not

    One day, someone decided to make a proper kingdom in the Southern Region despite the perpetual dangers. That person was a charismatic military man, who had sessfully convinced many groups to join in. With his training, hemanded his armies to handle the hordes of monsters.

    After killing the monsters these new southerners started to survive the harsh environment by striping them for their meat and using their materials to create more weapons, armour and even buildings.

    That was why there was a difference in terms of strength and abilities of the guilds between the Western Skies and the Southern Stars. To thetter, scouting and killing was part of their daily job and their long term survival depended on those skills. Even when they turned old and frail, the Southern elderlies were probably two to three times stronger than the average healthy men in the Eastern or Western regions.

    Qiu Yue teleported to a secluded corner after Meomi gave her the signal that nobody could see them. The Red Panda Cultivator found herself at awe by the design of the Southern Capital. Unlike the cold metal look which the Northern Capital had, the Southern Capital was an abomination of a city. For example, the Capital Walls were made from monster parts which Meomi told her came from the bones of the giant snake. Between the pirs (aka the bones), other monster parts were mixed, matched and subsequently defused to be something as hard as stone or maybe even stronger than that. But no matter what, they still looked like a white washed stone wall from afar until one decided to have a closer inspection on them.

    "Look over there. Nightingale told me she slew a golem with her squad and they decided it would be strong enough to put it on the wall. Around here itбпs considered an honour if your kill can be used to protect the general popce." Meomi added that she had even seen Nightingaleбпs name inscribed on the stone of the golem.

    "But thatбпs not the best part of the Southern Capitalбпs wall. Do you see that particrly unique design at the front gates of the Southern Citadel? A Legendary Monster Beetle had invaded the Farming World in the past. It was a terror for all Four Regions. I was a kid, but I do remember the sounds of its wings when it had ravaged the Northern Region, after it came from the West..."

    "So I am guessing the Southerners were the only ones who managed to down it?" Qiu Yue asked as they walked towards the Citadel Gates.

    "ording to my father, the Southerners had prepared an ambush for it since the beetle had ravaged the corps of the rest of the Farming World. Although the other three regions had sent elite troops as reinforcement for the Southern Region, they ultimately only got to enjoy the show." Meomi recalled vaguely and felt a bit nostalgic that it was a story her father told her.

    "I am surprised, your father did not sugar coat the truth and imed that the Northern Region yed a major role in the fight."

    "Hah! He was never the kind who would do such things. In fact, he was the one who made contact with the Southerners to warn them of this eventuality. He thought they would not treat his words seriously since he had just been a mere lordling in the Northern Region. To his surprise, they contacted him back, thanking him for the warning and asked if we could send some reinforcements just in case. Although the South is the hardest ce to nt a crop, we are nearly the next in line to take that trophy title. And despite all the losses my father managed to convince the Northern King."

    "I guess he reasoned that itбпs better to send the troops there and have a bloody battle with the Legendary Beetle than having ite here again and destroy your hard earned crops." Qiu Yue said and Meomi merely shrugged her shoulders.

    "I did not really care what his reasons were. To be honest, I was too small to even bother about it that much. I only remembered all of this because Nightingale had been reminiscing the past with me. Without her, I would probably not have thought about sort of information." Meomimented as she showed the guards at the citadel gates the badge of the Southern Stars which Nightingale loaned her.

    "Come now! Do you really have to call it information? Canбпt you just say they were your precious memories?" Qiu Yue tried to make a joke but Meomi got serious.

    "These бпmemoriesбп ...have all been sullied by the Demon Rats. I donбпt wish to recall them until each and every Demon Rat is dead." Meomi stated but they suddenly felt an imposing presence from a distance. As they raised their eyes up beyond the sight of steep stairs, they saw a group of well armoured men and women standing with their hands folded as if they were waiting for their arrival.

    "Well said, friend of Nightingale. I suppose the one beside you is the emissary for that secret organisation which Nightingale spoke of." The man spoke and Meomi nodded her head while for some reason, Qiu Yue noticed that her hands were turning into ws.

    "Donбпt tell me a show of power will be necessary to even speak to them..." Qiu Yue sighed at such a possibility but with each passing second, it became more likely.

 Chapter 998 The Odd Trial of Royal Stairs

    <h4>Chapter 998 The Odd Trial of Royal Stairs</h4>

    "Hold your ws, little girl. I have no qualms with you." The one who seemed to be in charge spoke as he walked down the stairs with grandiose and strength. Even without chi, his figure was imposing enough for the rest of the guards around to bow down as a sign of respect. They then lifted their swords and shields in salute the moment he passed them.

    "Nameбпs Leopardo. I am the current Grandmaster of the Southern Stars and also the interim leader for the Southern Region at the moment."

    Qiu Yue noticed his physical features intently since they were uniquepared to his counterparts. His braided hair was flowing down his shoulders and his unbelievably tanned dark skin showed that unlike the leaderбпs of their world he was not just sitting in some office all day.

    The apparent loss of his right arm and scars all over his body were testimony that he must have been a veteran warrior who had participated in multiple battles. But most importantly, it seemed as if he was able to walk with his eyes closed even though Qiu Yue had a hunch that he still had at least some of his eyesight left.

    "Pleasure to meet you, Mr Leopardo. You may call me Qiu Yue and I do indeed represent the boss of our secret organisation." Qiu Yue returned the greeting and Leopardo nodded his head. "Please excuse the behaviour of Meomi, I shall see that she does not insult you in any way in the future." The Red Panda Cultivator added as she ced her hand on Meomiбпs head and forced her to bow apologetically.

    "So far, I heard many great things about your organisation, especially the rpensation that you have given our scouting party. Not to mention the amount of spectacr inventions which myrades have brought back. I do understand that they were on loan?" Leopardo asked.

    "Yes, they are. It is just a taste of what your Southern Stars can obtain if they work with us. We have a myriad of items which can increase your fighting capabilities. You provide us with manpower and solid fighters, we will bestow them with weapons that can keep for life." Qiu Yue exined and Leopardo was intrigued enough that he beckoned them to climb the stairs and follow him to the meeting chambers.

    However, the moment the two tried to walk on the stairs, they felt as if someone had ced a heavy chain on their legs. They suddenly felt sluggish while being restraint without anything physical holding them on.

    Seeing as nobody attacked them, it didnбпt appear to be a trap, but more a test of sorts. As she looked up top, she saw that the guards were holding their breaths to stop themselves from smirking at their situation.

    "I see. Apparently, we have not managed to leave a strong impression on the leader of this nation yet nor in the eyes of a grandmaster." Qiu Yue sighed and let go of Meomi as thetter transformed into her werecat form. Both girls began to traverse across the steps. However, with each step it felt as if the number of chains and their weight kept increasing.

    "Brute force does not solve everything, little girl." Leopardo offered onest piece of advice while waiting for the huge bronze Southern Citadelбпs gates to open. "You have five minutes to reach the gates before my guards change their shifts and officially close them."

    "You are kidding me, right? бпBrute force does not solve everythingбп? Your entire nation was built upon brute force!" Meomi cursed as she used every ounce of strength to move to the next step.

    "But that does not mean you have to work at it alone, Baka Neko." Qiu Yue smiled as she stopped and took a deep breath. The next moment she walked on the steps as if nothing was affecting her. While passing her, she picked up the struggling werecat and dragged her along by pulling her tail.

    "Ow! What are you doing! Stop it!" Meomiined but she realised she was being pulled up the stairs which finally made Leopardo turn and eyed them from the corner of his sights.

    "This is punishment for being a naughty cat. So bear with it until the top of the steps." Qiu Yue replied as she continued to pull Meomiбпs tail while moving up the stairs. That was when the guards at the side of the long steep stairs immediately moved to block them from moving any higher.

    "What in the hell are you thinking right now, Leader of the Southern Region." Qiu Yue stopped before getting close to the first guard blocking their way. "Is this a test of some sort or your way of greeting your visitors after youplimented them."

    "Thatбпs why I said we should have fought him at the start and not listen to his bull crap," Meomi said and Leopardo could only snicker.

    "Like I said, the gates are opened for five minutes," Leopardo said once more before descending into the depths of the Southern Citadel.

    "Then you know what, forget it. We donбпt need their help." Qiu Yue decided it was a waste of time and shouted goodbye. The guards were baffled by her behaviour as they always thought that these guests were dying to ask for help.

    "Tell that arrogant boss of yours, we will get by without his help. He would only lose out on the amount of gold we are giving him and the thrill of hunting." Qiu Yue said as she walked downwards now without her chi activated. Compared to climbing up, it was so much easier to walk down the stairs.

    "Why are you doing this? Donбпt we need the manpower against them?" Meomi asked while rubbing her tail.

    "Well, yeah. We do. But there is no need to bow our heads this low to get it. They already heard from the reports that we are awesome. They just want more proof to see such awesomeness from us. Itбпs their loss really." Qiu Yue replied but as the both of them tried to walk out of the Citadel Gates, only to be barred by the gate guards at the front with spears blocking their way.

    "No one disrespects our leader in this way. Get back to the stairs and climb or we will skewer you."

    "I am starting to notice a recurring theme. Is that how you and Master Jin gain attention? By walking away." Meomi grinned and her ws were wide and ready to strike.

    "Well, people somehow felt offended that we just walked away. You could say itбпs some form of reverse psychology. Like you are not worth my time and thus they wanted to prove the opposite. However, Jin did not feel this way. He felt that such issues were really not worth his time at all. After all, you know how busy a panda he is despite being azy one." Qiu Yue said as she beckoned Meomi toe with her instead.

    "What? We are going to try the stairs again?!" Meomi questioned but instead, she saw Qiu Yue sitting at the middle of the stairs.

    "No. What are you talking about? We are going to have a tea break right here and now since they do not want to let us go. Or maybe until they got sick of us." Qiu Yue said as she conjured out a bottle of coke and two bags of photo chips.

 Chapter 999 A Variant Monster

    <h4>Chapter 999 A Variant Monster</h4>

    When Meomi saw the chips, she immediately chose the sweet and sour ones and her ws turned into hands. Judging by the way she opened the bag of chips with her hands, she might as well have used her ws.

    Thus, the two members of this secret organisation baffled the Citadel Guards by their audacity to have a snack break in the middle of their sacred stairs trial. No one in their right mind would have done that and quite likely these two were the first to be this shameless.

    s, the trial stated that unless the challengers of the trial came into physical contact with the guards, the challengers were not to be harmed during the trial period. Somehow Qiu Yue had a feeling things would go this way and so they took their time to eat the chips while also enjoying the sight of the grey skies and scenery the Inner Citadel had to offer. Even if they were to brandish their swords and spears, Qiu Yue believed that the two of them could them on all of them easily despite the odd difficulty of the Trial for Meomi.

    Although the guards were boiling inside that this group did not take their trial seriously, they were forced to tolerate this shameless behaviour. Once the five minutes were up, the inner gates were indeed shut off while the guards stance changed.

    "Looks like we failed your trial. Can we go now?!" Qiu Yue shouted at the front gates guards as they reluctantly opened the outer gates.

    "Do you think we will get assassinated?" Meomi asked as she licked her fingers.

    "What? For sitting right here? That would have to be the silliest reason to get assassinated. Death to you for sitting at the stairs!" Qiu Yue joked as she threw her own bag with half eaten chips into her storage ring while swiping her hands a little before standing up.

    "Meh, they are southerners. As long as money exchanges hands they would do it. And you never know how these guards might say things like бпI will kill you for disrespecting our leader! kind of stuffбп, ya know?" Meomi argued before she asked whether she could finish that pack of chips. It appeared that munching on food kept the werecatбпs temper in check. As they walked by the Citadel guards, both of the girls could clearly feel the anger emanating from the guards but Qiu Yue still cheekily waved goodbye to them.

    Just as they walked further into the streets and Qiu Yue informed Meomi about some of the ns that Jin had in store for the Grand Operation, until the werecat felt a familiar presence behind her. As she turned her head casually, she felt that familiar presence turns into a sharp pointed aura of bloodlust, aiming at her and only her.

    "Oh hey, Nightingale." Meomi waved at her with caution, only to realise that the crowd around them started to thin out slowly with people in ck cloaks starting to close off their perimeter.

    "Guess you are spot on with the assassination part?" Qiu Yue sighed as she picked up Meomiбпs bag of chips and took a bite out of thest piece. "But to send your housemaid to kill you, isnбпt that a little too much a task for that little bird friend of yours? Also, was that intuition or did you know they would try to assassinate us?"

    "Hmph... a mix of both? Nightingale did seem to mention something about their Stairs Trial being sacred. Sorry I wasnбпt listening too carefully. From what I can recall it had to do something along the lines of losers will all eventually die. Still, she hoped I would clear the trial. But judging from the thinning of the crowd, she is not alone, probably sent to track us down instead. I have full confidence she wonбпt pull the de on me. To you, not sure."

    "Heh, she might bemanded to do both! Then you wonбпt be in for a surprise since she can catch you off guards because of your rtionship. Not to mention, we are foreigners and they expect the foreigners toplete the trial without giving any information on it? Thatбпs kind of rude on their part. Considering how much we had taken care of them, that is outright insulting." Qiu Yue said as the crowd in that particr street finally disappeared.

    Only the Southern Stars Mercenaries were left as well as the offenders. It was as if they knew what would happen to them, so they immediately scattered. Even the shopkeepers and merchants in the vicinity walked away from their stores and left without seemingly caring for their wares. Theyбпd rather keep their lives intact than getting implicated for a possible crime.

    "Leader Leopardo was amused by the way you handled the trial," Nightingale informed them with a disgruntled tone. She honestly thought that Meomi could clear the trial easily.

    "Is this supposed to be a way to entice us to try again? Because if it is, Iбпm totally not interested." Qiu Yue replied and suddenly there was a bit of chuckling at the back of a street alley.

    "I can see how бпslightlyбп different they are from normal people. Especially the representative from this secret organisation you spoke of." He lowered his ck cloak and showed himself.

    "Oh, you want to talk to me now? I thought you wonбпt bother since weбпve miserably failed your trial." Qiu Yue pointed out sharply.

    "So youбпd rather fight this cripple instead of my guards?" Leonardo questioned which she nodded her head nonchntly.

    "From what I gather from your culture, fighting seems to be part of your way of life. So, why should I bother myself with the weakest when I can directly fight with the strongest? Also please, letбпs not pretend you are a cripple. You may have lost an arm, but you seem to still be quite active." Qiu Yuemented before using her chi to judge her opponent. "Probably need some warming up though."

    "Fine, I wonбпt pretend, however, if you think you can take me you might have overestimated yourself, Lady Qiu Yue. Arenбпt you afraid of death?" Leopardo asked as he unsheathed his sword. Akin to his name, there was a leopard monster carved on his crossguard.

    "No, I donбпt think so. Perhaps you should be afraid of me who isnбпt afraid of death." Qiu Yue now picked up her Ice Katana from her storage ring and most of them were surprised that her sword magically appeared from thin air while not sensing any magic powers.

    "Hahaha! Such bravado. Now I am more interested in you. But apologies Lady Qiu Yue, it seems the trial I intend for you is more ...difficult than the fight against me. Especially now that I know you wish to fight the strongest of them all." Leopardo said while putting down his weapon. Qiu Yue noticed that suddenly more cloaked figures appeared through the shadows.

    "Infighting among yourselves?" Qiu Yue deduced and Leopardo burst out inughter.

    "Your imagination is something else. No, but that was a good guess." Leopardo said as the winds in the air changed a little. The cold dry breeze slowly became warm. Not only that, there were distant screeches from afar and Qiu Yue sighed.

    "Oh... You have some top ss monstersing your way." Qiu Yue asked and Leopardo nodded his way with a grin.

    "Is there any better way to learn about our allies? My reports have stated that you were able to defend the Town of Wecha within minutes." Leopardo was betting, hoping that this mysterious organisation would be able to help his people the same way they did for Wecha.

    "You seem awfully sure that we are going to help you? Do you think that we are phnthropic in nature?" Qiu Yueбпs words, however, were different from her actions as she quickly jumped towards the high ground to check up on the iing monsters. She immediately requested for the Sub System or the System to give her whatever information they had of whatever was causing these. All she knew was that she never really encountered any animalistic life forms other than the Demon Rats in the Northern Region.

    At that point, she also ryed the view to the Farming World Schrs in hopes that they knew something too but she did not expect for Gold to suddenly scream and shout through the System Intes.

    "Unbelievable!!!! Is that really- *cough*" Gold cleared his throat due to the excitement. "Is that really THE Phoenix!?! The Seven Oceans Phoenix?!!" Gold eximed and the System instantly verified that what Qiu Yue saw was indeed it. The Bird monster with the colour hue of seven oceansbined. Its majestic feathers were blooming with magic and it brought the taste of sea into the dry white desert.

    "Wait a minute...so that phoenix is the one whose dung you were so excited about previously?" Qiu Yue asked and Gold was beyond delight.

    "How dare you degrade such a miracle fertiliser? With enough of it, it would be a breeze to literally grow those nts that Jin wants me to inscribe! The nts, like the Phoenix, will rise up almost instantly!" Gold was giddied from the exhrating sight of seeing the Phoenix...until the System apologised via the System Channel.

    "Upon closer inspection, what Sub System User Qiu Yue saw is not exactly the Seven Oceans Phoenix, but apparently a variant. The Seven Oceans Phoenix should only have seven tails, yet this particr individual has nine." The System corrected itself. "But judging from its magical powers, it is no doubt the signature energy of the Seven Oceans Phoenix although it is many times stronger. Thus, the System shall name it the Nine Oceans Phoenix for easier reference."

    "So what? Itбпs like a legendary ss monster or something? I donбпt even know the power grade of this particr monster. Is it normal for such a monster to appear in the Southern Capital? I recalled Gold saying that itбпs aversion to humans makes it hard to find. Isnбпt that the reason itбпs crap is so rare?" Qiu Yueбпбп questioned only then Meomi turned to Leopardo.

    "Did any of your men capture that monsterбпs chicks or something? Maybe an egg? Or did you kill any monster at all recently which might have had any rtion to it?" Meomi shouted and that caused Leopardo to squint his eyes.

    "We do not keep track of most of the monster in because itбпs our daily source of food. I can, however, get my man to trace it, assuming we verified what monster that is. All we know is that my mages found a giant source of energying towards the capital. And weбпve already begun evacuating the citizens." Leopardo said. "With your help, we might be able to stop it."

    "So time is of the essence and you still opted to conduct that stupid trial thing before outright asking us for help? What are you? Sick in the head or something?" Qiu Yue shook her head. Her interrogating tone made the ck cloaks take their weapons out immediately and they pointed them at Qiu Yue for saying something so offensive to their leader.

    "You are right, thatбпs my fault. It was meant as a measure of strength. Youбпve passed the moment you managed to walk up the stairs with ease. While yourpanion Meomi did not satisfy such a condition, I would say that not many could even walk the first few steps up. So sheбпs considered above average and perhaps on par with our rookies in the Southern Stars." Leopardo eximed.

    "Nevertheless, it seems that the both of you know what sort of monster that is, judging by the way youбпve asked if we capture its younglings." Leopardomented and Qiu Yue did not hesitate to tell them.

    "A variant of the Seven Oceans Phoenix? Nine Oceans Phoenix?" Leopardo repeated and his eyes left his usual look of confidence. it seemed as if he understood the actual severity of the problem at hand now that he had identified the monster.

    "That is our conjecture but until it releases its attacks, we wonбпt know whether itбпs a variant or another creature entirely." Qiu Yue added.

    "Save our capital and I promise you, you shall gain the Southбпs favour. We shall consider your proposal to the best of our ability." Leopardo requested of her.

    "Huh? Just бпconsiderбп? Youбпre asking us to help you take down a possibly Legendary creature and yet you still continue to be on the pedestal even when asking us for that kind of help, eh? Thatбпs rather arrogant of you... Sorry, but I believe we will manage just fine without your help. Who knows how many lives it might cost to help you. If that Nine Oceans Phoenix everes to disturb us in the North, we shall deal with it then." Qiu Yue answered as she requested a portal right in front of her, seeing that the ck cloaks were ready to cut them into pieces.

    It was not until Leopardo lifted his hand up.

    "Please wait, you misunderstood me. I can only promise you that it will be бпconsiderбп because I am not the leader of the Southern Region for I am but an interim one. When our real leader is back from his expedition, only then can he make that choice. Itбпs not for me to decide but him." Leopardo exined.

    "But I can promise you at least this. As one of the biggest mercenary guilds in the Southern Region, should you be able to avert this crisis with us. We will lend you our aid and that I can guarantee."

    "For free?" Qiu Yue asked shamelessly and Leopardo felt a major dilemma. Bargaining even at deathбпs door? This Lady was a true blue businesswoman.

    "Forgive me, but I have many mouths to feed too. We can negotiate a favourable deal for your side, but only upon clearing this particr threat?" Leopardo was trying to be realistic as the coffers would definitely be drained from the extended campaign. They might be rich and have one of thergestworks of mercenaries but their families still needed to eat.

    "No, that doesnбпt sound good enough.." Qiu Yue did not hesitate to move out into the portal whilst grabbing Meomi. They teleported away, leaving Leopardo and his Southern Starrades in a lurch. Nightingale was shocked as she did not expect such an answer by Meomi and her superior. But seeing the negotiations had broken down, the Southerners could only do what had been trained their entire life for.

    To fight.

 Chapter 1000 Miracle

    <h4>Chapter 1000 Miracle</h4>

    Qiu Yue teleported back to the Dungeon Maker, where she was greeted by the sight of Jin who just stared at her through squinted eyes. Next to him was Gold who had hastily returned from his trip to the Eastern Region with bags of soil and fertiliser and the Schr was sharing Jinбпs expression when looking at Qiu Yue.

    "Am I that pretty that you all have to stare at me with such ferocious looking eyes as if you will devour me the moment I made a move forward?" Qiu Yue cracked a small joke and Meomi just sighed.

    "What were you thinking to abandon the Southerners just like that?!" Gold questioned the Red Panda Cultivator, making Jin focus his attention towards him.

    "Interesting, I thought your first reaction would be something more like, бпLetбпs go find where that Nine Oceans Phoenix has been pooping! I want all that fertiliser for myself!бп " Jinбпs impression of the Schr lightened the mood.

    "Well, my heart is stirring and it would be a lie if I told you I donбпt want that miracle dung, but-"

    "But just like Jin here, you care about the people of your world first and foremost. Donбпt worry I still have ns to help them. However, I want to do it in a way that will guarantee that we can keep the Phoenix all to ourselves." Qiu Yue interrupted and they all could see Goldбпs eyes practically scream бпWANT!!!бп. This was the first time the Werejackal Leader had desired something so badly and coincidentally it would be for the betterment of Jinбпs agriculture ecosystem in the future.

    Since the Phoenix equalled unlimited high quality shit all year round, it would have most likely been put on the Systemбпs to-capture eventually, but since the one flying towards the Southern Capital had a variant mutation, it meant its value was far greater than an ordinary one. For all they knew this oneбпs poop could have the potential to be superior to the fertiliser Jin had gotten before as part of the System Rewards.

    The Panda Cultivator was not the kind of guy who would travel around different worlds specifically to catch a monster unless the System put out a mission for him. So far there had not been a specific need for it, but if they had to protect the Southerners, they might as well be getting the Phoenix out of it.

    "Fine, but was it really necessary to outright refuse them in such a manner? We could have used their help in capturing it." Gold argued as he ced all the soil and fertiliser bags down and swiped any possible dirt and dust from his body.

    The System assisted him with a cleansing magical spell so that Gold would not dirty the Dungeon Maker interior. (Otherwise, that would be even more of a waste of resources cleaning the ce up.)

    "Perhaps, but our n might have us sh with them. Besides that Phoenix is not the only oneing up to trash the Southern Capital. I had to return since we would not be able to deal with itspany without reeinforcements." Qiu Yue informed him and the System pulled up a birdбпs eye view imagery of the Southern Capital courtesy of the Orc Pilots who were currently flying the C-130 overhead. After which, pictures of the iing Nine Oceans Phoenix popped out on the Dungeon Makerбпs console.

    "Hahah... this feels like another major dижjид vu..." Jin muttered under his breath as he saw what Qiu Yue had meant. There was a giant flock of winged monstersing towards the Southern Capital and the Nine Oceans Phoenix appeared to be their ringleader. The odd thing was that their group looked as if their бпcreatorбп had basically taken somend animals and pped some wings on top of them.

    Among the variety of monsters, there were Winged Bears, Winged Elk, Winged Lions and even Winged Worms with lots of sharp and pointy teeth. Surrounding them there were smaller animals which the C130 imagery caught such as Winged Monkeys, Winged Racoons and even Winged Mutated Humans.

    "Oh... thatбпs really bad. Instead of and attack, the Southerners are facing an unprecedented series of flying monsters. And judging from their current fortifications, their defences are rather primitive when ites to monsters with wings." Gold shared his knowledge about the South.

    Jin ced his hand on his chin and started to ponder on what to do. "Hmm... I see. Correct me if Iбпm wrong, but our air strike force should, unfortunately, be our weakest link, correct? Letбпs get Wyrstriker here for his opinion."

    "Also, I have to apologise. Initially, I thought you left because you were just a natural in tsundere-ing people." Jin bowed his head but hisment made Qiu Yue pout.

    "Tsundere-ing people? Only you coulde up with such a term, Jin... As your tactician, itбпs a given that I know theposition of our forces! If it had been a simple monster horde, I wouldnбпt have left, but stayed and negotiated for more in the first ce. I would have upped the stakes just enough so they would have to agree, but end up regretting having promised us that much while we cleared the threat effortlessly." Qiu Yue rified.

    "Master, you called?" Wyrstriker answered the summon and Jin was happy to conveniently excuse himself by giving the goblin leader a short debrief on the new situation.

    "Oh... This is indeed a problem. While our aerial forces have significantly improved after the Pandapolis Defence, especially thanks to the addition of Marquis Forneus and his Dragon Devils, this might still be too much for us. We do not have enough anti-air defences against all of them. Even if we did, this is not an isted dungeon where we can push them into one corner and annihte them. They have the oceans and mountains to flee to when they feel threatened and we donбпt have the manpower to chase after all of them." Wyrstriker gave his analysis.

    "Iбпm relieved you did not say that we did not have the strength and capability to chase them." Jin chuckled a little and Wyrstrike scoffed.

    "Of course! My Goblin Wyvern Knights have been utilising our best technology that Ayse had created to date! Itбпs impossible for us to fail to catch any monster at our speed! In fact, General Forneus had to bow down in front of Ayse when he requested his dragons to be outfitted with the same technology as us! However, the designs had to be modified and testing is currently underway to ensure that the dragons can handle the drag and inertia force." Wyrstriker informed Jin.

    Wyrstriker still vividly remembered how he and his wyvern had to get used to such a boost in speed, making both the pilot and rider vomit because they could not handle the G force. Fortunately, it had not taken long for him and his team to get ustomed and afterwards the natural instinct of the wyvern was able to make adjustments that no ne would be able to. That included emergency stopping and swift turns.

    Engineer Rei was in charge of coting all the data and it was his responsibility to check if he could use it to convert it into an AI data core for the golems too. (However, that project was a low priority and would only bepleted at some point in the future.)

    "Any ideas on how to make up for it, Big Boss? I have a few things in mind, yet not a concrete n on how to solve the overall problem. By the way, Meomi did bring up an interesting possibility during our exchange with the Southern Stars." Qiu Yue mentioned the prospect of the Southerners having abducted the Pheonixбп child.

    "That would certainly exin why such a creature would fly towards them and with an army no less. Since the Southerners do not have any aridnd to farm properly, a tamed Seven Oceans Phoenix, or in this case, the offspring of that Nine Oceans Phoenix would be something they would definitely try to get their hands on. Who knows with all the magical properties itбпs said to have, they could perhaps finally create their own farnds." Jin theorised.

    This possibility was another reason why Qiu Yue had not offered to outright help the Southerners, since she would be abetting the Southern Starsбп kidnapping of the Phoenixбпs child.

    "That sounds quite usible. Did you happen to sense any minor changes in expressions or bodynguage on Leopardo or his underlings when youбпve asked them about it?" Jin addressed Meomi who unfortunately could not fully remember.

    "System shall help you."

    Some consoles immediately appeared in front of the group. They activated and various screens reyed Meomiбпs point of view of what happened mere minutes ago, allowing the System to use its terrifying analysis. From the few twitches in their facial expressions to unconscious movement of their feets and hands, it was able to pinpoint a few ck cloaks who seemed to have some knowledge or understanding towards Meomiбпs sudden outburst.

    "This is amazing..." Jin eximed as he was still in awe when he saw the System strike out many of the various cloaked men who appeared to be blissfully unaware about such a reality as it eliminated all but a select few.

    "Of course, the bodynguage shows more truth than words could ever portray. Itбпs a matter of discerning." The System stated and further narrowed the suspect to two. "However, this method of prediction does have its ws, yet the probability that they have some deeper understanding of the particr matter is at 96.74%."

    "Are we gonna bag them? And then at the same time try our best to help them?" Meomi asked, but Qiu Yue had something even more sinister in mind.

    "How about instead of releasing it we just capture the child of the Phoenix for ourselves and use it to bait the Nine Oceans Phoenix? That way we could probably easily divert them away from the Southern Capital and it should be easier to control the Phoenix if we can tame its child." Qiu Yue suggested and the rest were shocked by her methodology.

    "Itбпs logical enough, although it really is quite ruthless. In fact, will it make us any better than them if we act in such a way?" Jin wondered which made Qiu Yue shake her head and shrug her shoulders.

    "We are nning to make it submit to the System, right? Unless we can convince it to willingly do so, we might have to kill the Nine Oceans Phoenix first. It would be easier to y its chick who could try to reason with its parent to willingly submit, thus sparing us from a difficult fight. Either way we would be able to allow parent and child to live together without any worries, right?" Qiu Yue argued and Jin was forced to admit she was right.

    "You know better than anyone that we arenбпt running a charity here. There is always the chance that the Nine Oceans Phoenixбп poop wonбпt be able to act as a good fertiliser since itбпs a variant. Getting its child will double our chances of getting something good out of this whole episode, although we can always use the parent for its fighting capabilities. In the best case scenario, we will end up with two sources of fertiliser. That way we could potentially even sell off some excess on the ck Market."

    "As much as I hate it, what Qiu Yue says makes sense." Gold sighed as he continued to look at the constant imagery from the C130бпs live feed.

    "However all these assumptions are under the condition that the Southerners have actually captured it and itбпs still alive. Even if we find its child, the chances of its parent just agreeing to submit are considerably low. I donбпt think we will be able to avoid a fight to be honest. Our aerial troops are not sufficient against that horde. The Southerners may be able to hold it for a short time, but we do not know the full fighting potential of the Nine Oceans Phoenix, especially if itбпs fighting to protect its young. Even if Jin and the System could manipte the Spirit of the Land, given their names the skies might be outside of their jurisdiction entirely."

    "Schr Gold is correct." The System confirmed that line of thought. Meanwhile, Jin who had been thinking overdrive suddenly had an epiphany which could help them.

    "System, remember you kept pestering me about that monster fusion function?" Jin queried and the System acknowledged the functionбпs presence.

    "However, System understands that User does not wish to use it?"

    "Is it possible to alter it and just make a temporary fusion? You know a sort of strengthening simr to the cards we use to equip our people?" Jin queried yet the System and the people around him could not make heads or tails to his line of questioning. "The Dragon Devils need bigger air boosters but we need to make them, right? I was thinking about expediting the process by putting a few air boosters together, add a few sludge crystals or sludge liquid and fuse all of them."

    "Does User wish to augment the monsters by fusing them with non sentient objects? The monster fusion function is primarily meant for fusing two sentient monsters together, yet the proposed concept would not be too far fetched and the System can give it a try. Given that User wishes for the end result to be a form of temporary augmentation, the sludge crystals used to power the fusion should not be too many. In fact, one sludge crystal or a vial of the sludge liquid should be able to power twenty over temporary augmentations. However, do note that those items will be destroyed in the process once the augmentation period passes."

    The System rputed its calctions and tweaked the function for Jinбпs idea to be usible. After all, as an almighty super entity wasnбпt it the Systemбпs job to create miracles like that?

    "How long is the augmentation period?" Jin asked, hoping it would not be something absurdly small like five minutes, but something ranging multiple hours at least, in case the fight will end up prolonged.

    "Given the power of the sludge, at least a week. That is assuming the monster does not die before that. Any resurrection will return them to their former state." The System reported and it seemed there was hope.

    "Alright, we shall hold an emergency war council meeting, this time with all the aerial squadrons as well as any monsters who can fly, including our dear Mr Derpy. We donбпt have time to dilly dally." Jin ordered and immediately a request to convene in the Indoor Stadium Instance for the briefing was sent to the various monsters.

    --------------

    Jin stood at the podium and started to address his minions as if he was a professor holding a lecture. "Sorry for the impromptu call, but we have an(other) urgent situation on our hands." The dungeon supplier briefed everyone about Qiu Yueбпs visit to the Southern Capital and started to exin the rationale of this sudden mission that they had to go through.

    Although the primary objective was capturing the Phoenixes to increase their farming andbat prospects, all of the minions knew that Jin was interfering because he wanted to protect as many people in the Southern Capital as possible.

    On the surface, Jin did so to gain as much extra reinforcements as possible for the fight against the Demon Rats, yet it was not like he was overly reliant on the Southerners. Without his weaponry the Southern Regionбпs warriors would be unable to beat most of his monsters, unless they were at a grunt level like the zombies. ording to the System they were also less valuable than his worldбпs cultivators who would be causing some havoc once he started his Grand Operation.

    In essence, Jin was not cruel enough to turn a blind eye to the Southernerбпs plight. Otherwise he could just force teleport the Nine Oceans Phoenix into a dungeon instance and fight it with all his minionбпs might, not caring for the level of destruction the flying monster horde would cause to the Southern Capital.

    "Thus, we are going to a batch experiment of fusion augmentation with the Lord Forneus and his Devil Dragons to see how effective the fusion is. If the experiment fails, we willpensate you." Jin announced but he could hear the minions chuckle away.

    "You canpensate us by simply bringing us back to life to fight again!" Forneus called out as he was excited for the aerialbat already. While it would not be the same as having a rematch with Wyrstriker, they had already thought of a system topete against each other, by counting their kills (individually and with their groups).

    бпIf that is sessful, it could help in making our own Gunndams. Perhaps we could just strengthen our golems to achieve such a result. That would also mean more mobility for us, especially the monsters.бп Rei thought to himself as he listened in on the briefing. He had not realised how busy the days could be assisting the dungeon supplier. Suddenly being dragged in and out of meetings disrupting his daily routine appeared to be the norm under Jin.

    "First of all, we need more time to prepare our defensive operation. Ayse, Keyrin, I need both of you to stall their aerial force with your lightning strikes. Go wild." Jin instructed them. The Head Researcher took off her coat and started cracking her knuckles while Keyrin nodded in acknowledgement.

    "I believe this warrants some overtime pay! Donбпt worry our research team epts your sludge, be it in crystal or liquid form! Gold may have his miracle dung from that Phoenix but to us researchers your sludge is just as miraculous. Itбпs the goddamn holy grail! Or you could increase our budget topensate them from leading me away from work." Ayse smiled before teleporting away.

    "From what I saw, your team will probably be d to get a break from your bossy ways," Jin mumbled to himself before, but decided to humour her request. It was not like hecked the sludge.

    He shifted his gaze upwards to the ceiling of the indoor stadium. "Spiky, Iбпd like you to also apany them to the Southern Capital for me. If some of those flying monsters manage to outmanoeuvre the lightning strikes ande too close to the capital you could catch them in your web."

    "Mousefolks, please get those automated climbing gear from the Research Teamбпs Armoury and protect Spiky while ughtering those winged monsters. Show them how deadly being small and flightless can be. Pippy, if you can, go with Meomi to inform the Southerners that we will reinforce their borders so that they wonбпt interfere or attack you."

    "Ooohh! You mean those automated gear like the бпAttack of the Giantsбп Manga Peppers showed us?! I thought it was just gossip talk when Peppers boasted that the Weapons Research Team was doing it for fun." Pippy asked and Jin nodded his head and the Mousefolk brothers were extremely excited.

    "Yes, Master! We will follow your orders!" Pippy added as he called upon his brother and a few older Mousefolks to get the gear ready first.

    "HMmmmmMmMMmm." Spiky, the Altered Transforming Spider hounded with joy that he finally got to be deployed in a real battle. Its first major appearance was supposed to be during the Pandapolis Raid when it stayed on standby to protect the Iron Fortress housing the Dungeon Core. But no one went that close to it and even with the threat of the mass teleportation, Spiky was not called for the fight.

    "Spiky said he is delighted that he could finally be of use." Weslie tranted for Jin since he had no idea what Spiky had said. "He also said not to worry, his web can be used as support for the Mousefolks as he can selectively insert magic in his web to make it sticky."

    "Nice. Okay but I need you to do something else too." Jinter borated to Spiky while the rest were listening in. Spiky was once even more joyous for being further involved in his new masterбпs n since his powers could be put to good use. The n Jin had shared with it, would challenge him to transform into something vastly moreplicated than he would usually do. Even Weslie was awed at the scale of Jinбпs thinking.

    "Qiu Yue. Do you still have those artillery and sentry guns blueprints?" Jin took a breather and drank some water.

    "Aye aye, Boss. With that kind of deployment in mind, I cannot disappoint you, can I?" Qiu Yue chuckled as she too teleported away back to her room to prepare her Sub System for the fight.

    "Finally, Narris, Tinda. I heard from Drex himself that you two are the stealthiest and erm...most discreet amongst you Dark Elves. He told me that your abilities improved further ever since your help during the Smander Keep mission." Jin was about topliment them more but Narris stopped him in his tracks.

    "Tell us our targets and we will get to it." Narris requested since both of them were supposed to be training for the Demopolis Police Raids before they got plucked out of the intensive training programme by Drex to meet Jinбпs demands.

    As Jin told them their part in his ns, the two listened closely, but they were a little ufortable since they were missing out on Kraftбпs training regime. They might be the best at the moment, but if they did not participate in thetest iteration of Hell Training by their foxy de facto leader, they would be easily reced.

    However, Tinda took this break from the programme as a weing experience. There were certain things that she would like to try before heading back into the programme and this was the best opportunity to do so, especially when it came to extracting information.

    "Alright. Find those two dark cloaks. We only have limited information on them. Get them to reveal the location of the Nine Ocean Phoenixбпs chick and retrieve it. With the iing monsters, the heaviest defence should be focused around the caged Phoenix and the threat of its parent. You may take anything from the Research Team Armoury even the automated climbing gear. There are human sized ones aside from the ones we made for the Mousefolks." Jin replied and the both instantly disappeared from where they were sitting as if they were an illusion all along.

    "Alright, Iбпve covered the important stuff. Wyrstiker, deploy as soon as your toon gets ready to go. Forneus, please bring your entirepany of dragons into the Dungeon Maker. The System has already erged it enough for all of your men to squeeze in and receive the augmentation under a controlled environment. In the meantime, prep the rest of your Dragonlites for battle." Jin instructed and the entire group started to leave. Eventually, he was left with only Mr Derpy and Duke Wolte who were sitting eagerly in their seats looking at him with бпtearyбп eyes that he had overlooked them... again...

    "Oh stop it you two. I have a super duper perfect part for the both of you to y." Jin smirked as he checked his phone for a moment to make sure he had the materials ready.

    ------

    After Jin talked to Derpy and Wolte, he opened a portal in order to return to his Dungeon Maker. However, before he could step into it, a deft hand came out of nowhere grabbing him by his shoulder and pulled him into another instance. He recognised that feeling instantly as his vision disappeared and turned into a sort of blindness.

    "Time for another dose of mind torture." Kraft announced pridefully. Although Jin was unable to see it, he could picture his jailer grinning devilishly. Judging by his tone the Original Betor must have prepared something special for todayбпs session.

    "You know for as much бпfunбп these sessions are, itбпs kind of a huge inconvenience right now..." Jin pointed out, yet he could feel that he was strapped onto a chair, only this time with chains that felt like a ton of iron balls pulling him down.

    "Have you ever met an enemy who cares for your opinion and postpones his attack to a time when itбпs more convenient for you? In my experience right now when your mind is disturbed is the best time tounch a sneaky mind attack. Anyway, I naturally know that youбпre firing up to go out there. However, you seem to have forgotten that time flows slowly in this instance. Hours in here are merely minutes out there. So I wonбпt keep you here for long... objectively speaking that is." Kraftбпs Cheshire cat grin got even wider.

    "Alright. Not like I can do much to change your mind in this position in the first ce. Letбпs just get this over with. Mind at least telling me what youбпre going to put me through this time around?" Jin queried, but instead of answering him, Kraft ced his hand on Jinбпs head.

    As a result, Jin started to feel omnipotent, seeing things in his mind that he would be unable to without any System assistance.

    "For today, Iбпve decided to show you the effects your work has left throughout the realms or well, letбпs just call them worlds. These ripples caused waves and if you are not careful they might turn into a huge tide which might bite you in your butt." Kraft told him as he ced his other hand on Jinбпs head. The images in Jinбпs mind got even more intense.

    "What you can see before you is all the information Iбпve gathered which the System has coted without you knowing. It should show you that you have more people spying on you than you have realised."

    "Letбпs start with the world youбпve interfered with the most." Kraft tuned the images in Jinбпs head and it headed to Jinбпs Home World. Earth.

    As an бпignorantбп dungeon supplier who only cared about honing his craft by making fantastic dungeon instances (with a бпhobbyбп of saving worlds), Jin had actually changed Shenzhenбпs dungeon instance industry and it was starting to affect the whole nation. Various dungeon suppliers hade either openly or in secret to look into Jinбпs dungeons and the suppliers with disposable profits had already begun to emte his dungeons.

    However, they were unable to achieve the same realism he offered. Topensate they had to resort to putting more money into their dungeon servers. The suppliers had even requested their technicians to see if they could tweak it as much as possible to reach Jinбпs standard. On the flipside, Sea Mesh was simultaneously pushing hard to research better servers even though they were supposedly partners with Jin. For the time being, Ayse fed them with бпwrongбп information periodically, so as to hinder their research efforts

    Next, Kraft concentrated on the cultivatorsбп side. Jinбпs dungeons had rekindled a fairly good portion of Shenzhenбпs people back into cultivation. Not too long ago it was treated mostly as a hobby for the younger crowd or as a necessity to further oneбпs work prospects but those who had experienced his dungeons realised that it could be gruesomely satisfying.

    It didnбпt hurt that Jin served a little of everything, making dungeon running easier with all the things in one major hub. From clothes to weapons, Jin had covered all necessary aspects and as if that was not enough, there were mini games that involved the dungeon instance.

    From the Pet Card games to the Supa Robot Wars. Those were things he had just added to for fun and had nned to rmission once they were no longer actively yed, but to his surprise it had be an instant hit and an increasing number of people yed them (some even more than the dungeon instances, earning Jin a tiny steady profit).

    Naturally, the System would never ignore a potential cash cow for too long, so it had noted that it was about time for Jin to create a new expansion pack to keep the hype going. s, the problem was that Jin neither had the time nor necessary the brains to do so. It had been easy to create a solid foundation but it was not as easy to build on that foundation of content.

    Fortunately Jin had capable people under him, so he had given the Pet Card Game to his Arcade Instance Storekeepers to create the next expansion. As of now, they were in the midst ofpleting it and offering the proposal to Jin soon.

    "Ahh.. okay, I will take note of that."

    Other than that, the dungeon supplier had inadvertently increased the quality of life of at least those near his district. The Central Business District people and employees from Hua Wee Phone campuses always visited Jinбпs Tree Mall for its food and free bus rides. These led them to eat not only healthier tasty food but allowed them to wait without any queue especially in Lynnбпs restaurant. The only problem was the cost which Jin thought it would be an issue until Lynn presented him with the volumes of ordersing in via the Pandafull Delivery.

    The promise of hot food upon delivery at Lynn and her penguinsбп quality had made it immensely popr and many major delivery services had begun inquiring about Jinбпs delivery system. Yet, none of them was able to get any information despite generous bribes towards Jinбпs Farming World employees.

    Some even got ambushed with the assants nning to kidnap them, but with the Farming World Humans each armed with a Battle Horse cultivation style, such ambushes did not work well. (The System would mark them down, for Kraft and his minions to make them disappear in a way that did not create any suspicion.)

    Speaking of quality of life, the increase in cultivation inadvertently led them to work more efficiently,pleting what they needed without feeling too tired despite the constant overtime they clocked. That led them to abuse of the active nightlife and what could be a better ce to go to than a famous big store thatбпs open 24 hours with awesome food and activities?

    Thatбпs right! Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas.

    "You see how your little wimps and wants to create new service and dungeon instances have changed peopleбпs lives for the better? At the same time, youбпve made them dependent on us." Kraft chuckled. "This kind of subtle brainwashing is a masterss project in progress. As expected of my student. Now letбпs change the pace a little and move to the next world."

    "We are not going to watch how the Zodiac ns react to Kong Rongбпs deration of protecting our Panda n?" Jin asked and Kraft flicked his ears.

    "That can wait for another day." Kraft answered with some annoyance. He was still a bit annoyed that the Top State Agent had beaten him to the punch when it came to protecting Jin. "That bastard...trying to one up me." He whispered to himself.

    In a split second, Kraft forcefully changed the imagery in Jinбпs mind to the Goblin World. For the first time in decades, the three races who had been solitary in their ways had begun to change since they now had something inmon. The Dungeon Cave in the New Adventurerбпs Town was the talk of the many cities of their respective kingdoms.

    The town had never truly stopped growing and was on the cusp of bing a city if only Jin allowed it. For the time being, he had instructed Zhi Nu, who had somehow been elected as the mayor of the New Adventurerбпs Town, to stop any additional major construction. His rationale was that if the town were to grow into a city, proper foundation and sanitation was needed first and they currently had other priorities. Yet, this did not stop the growth of the New Adventurerбпs Town since more and more aspiring adventurers started to flock in, each of them setting up tents since the taverns were full.

    These camps had developed into a minor slum, something Zhi Nu could not stand, so she had taken the initiative to take matters into her own hands. With some assistance from the System, she had forced the adventurers and experienced workers who had built the town to develop their own temporary houses with strict rules to guarantee proper sanitation.

    Recently, the Dark Foxes aka the Dark Elves had been forced to decrease the number of their usual patrols. Kraft had instructed all of them to attend his training camp, but that did not mean they didnбпt whip up a certain trusting type of police force to keep the ce enforced in their absence. At all times, there would at least be one Dark Fox avable to split up the asional tavern brawl between the adventurers.

    All of this could be attributed to the бпnever ending cavesбп. As Jincked the time to properly manage this side project, the System had modelled the subsequent floors to behave to the dungeon model of the Spiral Sewers Instance. Loot became a little more sparse but the value and quantity per drop had increased, making it more dangerous for the adventurers to venture further down.

    The number of casualties had increased and the Dungeon Cave had spawned something like a memorial wall to those who had fallen. While they undoubtedly offered unimaginable riches, the risk of dying was too real.

    The profession of an adventurer which used to be regarded as someone who did odd jobs to get by, was nowadays respected. Those who had returned from lower levels of the dungeon were being treated like heroes.

    Yet, that did not deter the adventurers as the money was worth it.

    However, Zhi Nu couldnбпt allow everyone under her to die left and right, other that would result in ack of proper talents. So, she had posted бпemployment bountiesбп for gathering materials for crafters and agricultural experts too. Those were mostly found on the safer floors, allowing young adventurers to gather experience and they got rewarded with sufficient coin to survive. At the same time, she also ensured that the economy was not inted with too much money, otherwise, not just the New Adventurer Town would suffer but their entire world. That was why she still allowed bartering and asionally sent those bartered goods to the System to replicate them for the Dungeon Cave.

    And that was when she started to see a race that was rarely seen. The Elves.

    With the advent of the Dark Elvesing out to keep the peace, the Elves were actually shocked to see they managed to blend in well with the people around without any discrimination. And thus, the Elven Kingdom allowed a small group of adventurers wannabes to try living in that town.

    Zhi Nu had allowed them in, but only if they did not discriminate against the Dark Elves or any other races. That was the only condition they had to abide by or they would be immediately kicked out of the town. Should they refuse to leave, it would be death by sword.

    It was a weird condition, but the influential powers she held were surprisingly strong especially since the Goblin King and Orc King were often seen apanying her for meals. Even the Human King who was known to be a recluse had started to send official letters to ask if Zhi Nu could apany him for meals. Zhi Nu had taken the chance to get the three Kings to meet with each other to discuss various issues.

    "That should be enough about the Adventurerбпs Town. Letбпs look at the Orc and Goblin Kingdom for a change. Because you magnanimously allowed the monsters to return to their homes, despite the Systemбпs rmendation, weбпve gathered a ton of information giving us greater insight about how these ces have changed." Kraft said.

    The majority of the Orcs were reeling from the loss of the recent war, yet their new King had been working tirelessly to provide aid to the masses. Getting work and therefore coin through his efforts was the best way for him to earn their hearts and trust. To be able to do that, however, Frost Echo had been borrowing money from the System despite constant warnings from Cross, his Goblin Spymaster who insisted they had to make the Orcбпs economy flourish on their own.

    In the course of this, the budget which had been prepared for the military was repurposed to improve the agriculture of the country, allowing them to grow their own crops, while the System sells them foodstuff to get through certain periods when needed.

    Some of the Orc Merchants who worked in the New Adventurerбпs Town had also been providing massive discounts to their Orc counterparts, providing them with supplies needed to survive through famine or the deadly winters.

    Not only that, through the New Adventurerбпs Town, Zhi Nu had been giving them work such as building roads from their orc cities to the new town. And that also allowed them to establish outposts to protect adventurers and merchants from the threats of wildlife.

    These slow but steady changes had gradually influenced the Orcбпs perspective but that did not mean there were no dissenters. As the spymaster Cross was in charge of disposing them and subsequently putting them into the Systemбпs care for some reeducation. Nevertheless, he did not do it himself for such risky operations. No, several Orcs and even Goblins like me Ripper had assisted with the culling of these бпpotential terroristsбп.

    Speaking of Goblins, the Goblin City flourished simrly through the trade with various other races. The Goblin Crafters who had been working for Jin brought back their knowledge which they shared in the city. Especially the need for mechanisation. Soon, those Goblin Crafters who returned for good built a guild named the Illuminati Ironworks or I.I for short to facilitate the modernisation of the city. (Obviously, бпsomeoneбп had suggested that name for them for theughs, yet the goblins loved it.) Some of the Orcs were also in the Illuminati Ironworks which they would do cross city assistance to rebuild their civilisation.

    If the Lost Tech were anything but an indication of an advanced society, they believed they could get there too.

    "I could go over the Giant World, but honestly, there is not much left there but a wastnd after Peppersбп explosive magic." Kraft decided to skip that part. "Still, I have to admit Mother Nature sure is scary. Despite Peppersбп magic, nts and animals have started growing back once more.

    The System had observed the area on an asional basis and has noticed there are now more varied species in the area. It was as if the animals or monsters saw the big explosion and got curious about it. Now that area is like a jungle wastnd and it has be a survival of the fittest."

    "Wow...okay. I totally didnбпt expect that." Jin admitted.

    "As for the Farming World... I really cannot be bothered to even glimpse at it. Weбпve been focusing on those stupid Rats for so long, that Iбпve had enough of them. Skipping that part too." Kraft yawned during his бпtorturingбп session.

    "How about the Mecha World and eh Zombie World?" Jin asked. "Oh nearly forgot Derpyбпs home, the Fishing World."

    "Oh those? I did not look through them too much, because honestly, your effect on those worlds is minimal in the grand scheme of things for now. Everyone is still a zombie as far as Iбпm aware and there are treasures and resources to pick aplenty. We might get to raid them if we need some extra moh. Youбпve already experienced it first hand how crazy those hordes can be."

    "Well, yeah. If what Derek said was true and all of them have turned into zombies, we are talking about probably a couple of billions of zombies or at least hundreds of millions.." Jin managed to say out loud despite being chained down and paralysed from the body downwards. "However, arenбпt you concerned that you might have overlooked some survivors in that area that might not have been turned?"

    "While I cannot outright strike out such a possibility, I also donбпt n to look into it. In case your guess is correct, then those survivors have somehow made it this far, so they wonбпt need your help. We are not obligated to save them in any way shape or form. If we show ourselves, they might just turn hostile or be all cunning, nning to backstab us, wanting everything for themselves." Kraft argued, sounding like someone who had watched enough zombie movies to know what might await them. "Should you create a base in that world, we can make them work for us. I have no qualms with that."

    "Moving on to more interesting stuff. Reiбпs makeshift spaceship. The fact that he can make it work with the assistance of the Orcs and Goblins means he is quite a talented engineer despite him iming otherwise. Iбпm quite tempted to get into his brain and see what else he has hidden in his nogging."

    "Come on, donбпt do that... although maybe you should. So far he has kept his part of the bargain. We should at least find his family and make sure they are fine." Jinmented.

    "You mean, check out if theyбпve already be casualties in the ongoing war between the United Federation and Xeon Union? I still think providing them with amon enemy would be the best way to stop them from fighting each other." Kraft sighed, but agreed to look for Reiбпs familyбпs location to the best of his abilities...that is after he probed his brain.

    "As for the Fishing World... I would not rmend you to go there again. Although we call him Derpy, the Shadow Dagen is the manifestation of power from an actual God, who is quite pissed that someone stole what belonged to him. Although the loss of power probably is just minimal, itбпs about the principal of things."

    "Anyway,st but not least we have the Dungeon World." Kraft giggled.

    "I was actually worried you might have forgotten about it. Especially since your entire skulk of foxes is handling the Demopolis." Jin teased and suddenly the images shed a little faster.

    "I do not have to tell you much about Pandapolis since itбпs still a ghost town despite your promises of opening it up."

    "I did not promise to open it up, alright? The shield came down and the Demons attacked us. Thatбпs all. Besides, the repair works are still ongoing as far as I know. The only sectors that are active are the industry and agriculture sector."

    "Yeah, but the business sector is empty and so are the entertainment areas. Even your industry sector is not fully set up for the city. Almost half of it is for military purposes which kind of defeats the purpose of a diversified industrial sector." Kraft yawned as if he wanted to go to the Demopolis part as quickly as possible. "Your hotels are still closed too. It took a HELL of an effort constructing those series of aquatic domes and yet they gather dust."

    "Well, with most of the efforts concentrating towards the Farming World... Alright, I will take note of it and will decrease the military portion when I open up Pandapolis. So, howбпs the progress in Demopolis?" Jin questioned and yet another sh of images came into his mind.

    "d you asked! Big Brother Rex has been busy. Very very busy settling the Demopolis policies. I am d that you set up a secret meeting between him and Xiong Da." Kraft nodded his head in acknowledgement.

    "I thought it would be fun for Xiong Da to makews for a бпvirtualбп kingdom. In fact, we are actually paying him quite a bit to do so, since itбпs time he could spend otherwise. Sure most of it is just an increase in terms of his store credit (plus a custom made Hippo and Egret plushie), but still, I shudder when thinking about how much we would have to pay otherwise. Not to mention he is already giving us the deep friend discount. It surely helps that he seems to have had a wish to dabble in national policies but had found it too troublesome and not profitable enough to actually pursue that desire. He seems to have enjoyed talking with Rex about it." Jin said.

    "In any case, my other foxes all have problems piling on top of their heads and doing their best to deal with them. The healthcare was terribly under budget and education was a privilege reserved for the spawns of the rich demons. The transportation system was nearly nonexistent and people had to use magic to travel far distances or walk by foot. Supplies were scarce in certain parts of the cities because of it. All these problems led to crime lords which Tsu and Kai had been rotating to find out more about."

    "I thought they had the beast kids to take care of? That intensive training camp?" Jin queried.

    "Oh, thatбпs what the training camp is for. To get those kids to learn how to y detective and teach them to properly scout. Theyбпve used cosmetic inscriptions to make them look taller and older. Oh and trust me, those beast kids are good at acting. So good that they are naturals at extracting information. And when ites to running away, boy were they excellent at it. Now the Wolf Twins only have to train theirbat skills up and you have your first batch of next generation spies." Kraft nodded his head with approval.

    "Then I presume that the Demopolis police raids areing closer and closer?" Jin asked and Kraft merely shrugged his shoulders.

    "The Drows have asked for better equipment. They were especially interested in the kind to increase their mobility, so I have implemented thetest Gearbox Suits into our training exercises, courtesy of Yang Ling who left a sample in the suitcase she was carrying on our table while visiting you. I took the liberty to copy its designs before putting it back. Lynn nearly scolded me for being this sneaky."

    "I doubt she would scold you for that. Be honest, you must have gotten caught stealing part of her breakfast too right?"

    "Tsk, how could I resist? Do you think YOU could have resisted? " Kraft fiddled with his fingers and Jinбпs olfactory senses recalled Lynnбпs cooking on that day and he inadvertently drooled.

    "As for the Church of the Afterlife, weбпve scouted them and came to the conclusion that the extent of their reach is rather creepy. If you think the Northern and Southern Schrs are a pain in the ass, dealing with an entire world religion is worse. I bet you would prefer straight forward enemies like Baal. In any case, for the time being, there is no reason to worry about them too much. Until we get our own Panda religion up and running, theyбпre merely keeping an eye on us."

    "Other than that. I say you did a good job growing up. A bit slow though. But you are doing a good job nevertheless." Kraft praised as he let go of Jin.

    "That did not feel very torturous. More like you send me on a tour down memoryne. I do admit the overload of information was slightly painful but after that, I could cope with it. You getting soft, Kraft?" Jin provoked.

    "Oh? Here I thought I would be nice for a change and give you some minor encouragement, but this is how you treat me? Are you turning a masochist? Is that why those girls in your harem are not satisfying you enough?" Kraft sent a wave of dark chi into Jin and immediately he started to struggle.

    "You see, this technique was merely part one. After showing someone all their good memories or all of their aplishments from any point in their life, the real torture begins by showing them slight deviations of what they had just seen. бпWhat ifбп scenarios in which certain things turn out differently. What if me and my skulk had not arrived just in time during your fight with King Baal? What if the Rat Triad Leader De Tian had bested you inbat? What if you had never gotten the System? It will bombard your brain until you will no longer be able to tell reality from fiction!" Kraft devilishly exined the бпreal beautyбп of his technique.

    "And donбпt worry. I wonбпt ruin your face or your mind that badly. After all, a certain somebody still needs you." Kraft peered into the self made darkness, grinning. Smirking.

    "I think a 1,000 of those scenarios sounds quite good." He whispered with a satisfied look on his face.

 Chapter 1001 Southern Capital Fortification

    <h4>Chapter 1001 Southern Capital Fortification</h4>

    Ayse and Keyrin were the first to arrive at the scene. The System had teleported them near a church like tower for cover, giving them a good look at the Southernerбпs defensive line.

    "Manually cranked ballistas and trebuchets? Ohe on, how do you suppose those trebuchets will hit? They wonбпt do shit against flying creatures!" Ayse grumbled as they continued to observe from a distance. "At the very least use some sort of grapeshot projectiles instead of a piece of fiery rock, you dumbasses!"

    Unfortunately, those anti-siege weapons were the only type of defence the Southern Capital could deploy, so they had to make do with what they had. In a nce, Ayse could already see that the ck Cloaks were the ones who weremanding them. As much as they were just mercs, they seemed to have a higher status in the military.

    "Arenбпt we supposed to help them now иC now?" Keyrin questioned as his massive size was a little conspicuous to be hiding properly. He was afraid he would be targeted by the defenders as one of the monsters that came invading the city.

    "I thought you are some Cardinal Guardian that Weslie made to protect the Four Regions or something? Shouldnбпt they know your presence?" Ayse asked but Keyrin got a little agitated before calming down to answer her.

    "We are supposed to be. Until the urrence of the Demon Rats, I had to flee deep into the mountains to prevent their capture. In addition, the news of the Demon Rats was more apparentpared to the rise of the new guardians. And that was also the time where Weslie was still grooming the power within us. You could say I would not have been stronger than I was a few years back. It was fun killing stray Demon Rats though."

    "I see... Anyways, the System said that Meomi is teleporting towards the leader to make clear of our stance. You can fly into the skies and start prepping, I will follow suit when I hear enough. Perhaps, I too will make an appearance to spice things up." Ayseбпs side winked Keyrin which he acknowledged by charging his hoofs with electricity and sted out of the area. The defenders within the vicinity thought that the attacks were starting and many went into alert.

    "Well, that warning made them work faster so I guess thatбпs a boon." Ayse giggled as she swiftly jumped away from the church tower and moved nearer to the Southern Capitalбпs walls while staying hidden as much as possible.

    -------------

    Leopardo noticed the very same portal that Qiu Yue had used and demanded the troops around him not to panic. There, Meomi appeared, now in her full battle gear, despite still being in human form. Like a battle cultivator, she had equipped herself with clothes suitable for her transformation like a tabard so that it would not break whenever she shapeshifted.

    The battle tabard she wore too were infused with inscriptions along with her gunde which she requested be modified as more of a gun than a de so she still had long range options avable to her. Other than that, there were armour pieces on her shoulders and knees to soften blows to them as well as the automated climbing gear which the Mousefolks wore. With these many flying monsters, the automated climb gear would be a boon mainly because it does help the minions to climb in midair with a mini air jet booster attached to their lower backs.

    Propelled with magic crystals, they would be able to refill with crystals stashed in the belt of the climbing gear and those containers on their waist held guns or melee weapons each minion was ustomed with.

    Also, to other people, it looked like two rectangr suitcases but they had no idea that it was built with storage ring technology in mind, allowing them to carry ammo cartridges, more weapons and even a few goddamn mini RPG missiles. For the Mousefolks, the size does not matter as the missiles were inflicted with a minimised spell until they were activated. This meant that the Mousefolks still packed a punch despite their stature.

    However, each use of the air jet booster had a limited range of 20 metres unless they pushed the crystals to the maximum and thus the quick insertion of magic crystals was avable right in front of their belts. For leaders, the Research Team Armoury had given them Jinбпs Sludge Maqi Crystals which had twenty times more potency than a normal crystal as they knew that they would be the ones doing traversing.

    Thus, seeing how oddly equipped Meomi was, Leopardo had no idea on the efficacy of her lightly armoured defensive wear and odd contraptions on her body.

    "I hope you are here not to waste my time and reconsider my proposal," Leopardo said as Meomi was still emerging out of the portal. In the meantime, he was curious where such a portal would likely bring him if he tried to enter it.

    "Do not even think about entering. The portal will slice you into two." Meomi raised her opinion, seeing that Leopardo was looking at the magical transportation circle floating above the ground. "Answering your question. Yes and No."

    "What do you even mean?" Leopardo questioned as he heard thunder rumbling above him. It was unexpected especially when the atmosphere had already been fucked up by the presence of the Nine Oceans Phoenix with the temperature rising on a constant level. The only constion they have right now was that the monstersбп leader was staying in a position far from them to gather her own league of winged abominations to fight. Else, they might have already been burnt by her or so they feared.

    But now with the skies rumbling with thunder and asional shes of lightning, they did not understand whether it was a monster or natural urrence.

    "What she meant is that we will help you. But on our own terms." Ayse jumped to the top of the walls and everyone instantly pulled their weapons towards her as a sort of reflex. "I see that your soldiers are well trained. Much expected for a capital always besieged with monsters. But it seemed to me that you arecking in the anti air department."

    "We will improvise if necessary," Leopardo replied as he could not phantom thepany that Meomi was with. The soldiers were asked to put down their weapons even though she looked half monster with her orc features.

    "So, yes. Our organisation will help you but instead of you directing the battle, we will be the ones who do it." Meomi said and that made Leopardough.

    "Donбпt make meugh too much. And as I said, do not waste my time. You might be a secret organisation filled with...people of unknown origins but so far, I see that you have a fewrades in your midst. How can you fulfil such a demand?" Leopardo replied and decided to ignore them to give the next set of orders. He had entertained these people enough and it was time for serious business.

    But before he could open his mouth, bolts of purplish lightning struck near him and Leopardo realised that it was hitting the Orc consistently. "This shows that you have much more to learn. Stop living in your well and witness powers that changed the tide of war." Ayse remarked as she turned into the Avatar of Syldra.

 Chapter 1002 Discrimination Against Monsters

    <h4>Chapter 1002 Discrimination Against Monsters</h4>

    The soldiers around Ayse were shocked to see such a beautifully elegant yet deadly monster right in front of them. "You...You work with monsters?!" Leopardo turned towards Nightingale, putting her in a bind.

    While The Southern Star scout did warn them beforehand that Meomi could turn into a Werecat, this was still eptable as the Therianthropy spell had been widely recognised as a pseudo cure against the rat virus. However, Nightingale had not mentioned anything about the secret organisation being affiliated with actual humanoid monsters.

    "I did not know how to properly convey it in the reports because it just sounded unbelievable." Nightingale immediately knelt down admitting her mistakes.

    "Did Bison not know about it?" Leopardo questioned. The team leader should have warned him about it.

    "Heбпs also aware of their organisation working with monsters. I had assumed that he would have informed you about it before your meeting with them since you were more likely to believe iting from him." Nightingale answered and Leopardo sighed.

    It appeared that it was his own fault. Bison had mentioned the need to talk privately with him, but given their dire situation the Grandmaster had sent him off to gather more soldiers from the surrounding smaller towns. As the Leader of Southern Stars, he had read through the reports briefly, yet it had been enough to convince him that Jinбпs organisation was just amazing by itself.

    "Do you have a problem working with us monsters? If so, allow me to call off myrade who is prepared to risk his life to protect you and we shall all leave your Southern Capital be." With that one sentence, Ayse had practically robbed them of any real choice on the matter. "By the way, donбпt even think of backstabbing us. If one of your men dares to attack any of us, I will personally assist the Phoenix in obliterating your entire Southern Capita instead of helping you." Ayse threatened Leopardo, since his soldiers had immediately directed their spears towards her at the first mention of her being a monster.

    "Is that why you did not wish to work with us in the first ce? Because you are a beast monster?" Leopardo asked her directly. "Then why do you fight against the Demon Rats instead of joining them?"

    "Have you ever considered that we бпbeastбп monsters have our personal lives too? That not all of us are the same, just like not all of you humans arepletely good or bad? It might surprise you, but we generally do not wish to get involved in your petty games." Ayse replied. "Phoenixes are supposed to be solitary creatures, known for avoiding mankind at all costs, yet now one is flying right here... Do you really want us to believe that this oneбпs merely bored? Confess! What have you done that caused it to gather such a massive horde against your Capital City?!"

    "We have no -" Before he had a chance to deny anything, a thunderbolt from the sky struck him down, forcing him onto his knees. "I can do this all day. The more you try to deceit this pair of eyes, the more you will suffer. Although Iбпve been told to avert the iing disaster, I will not hesitate to strike you down." Ayse met the angry stares at the soldiers. "And that includes all of you."

    "I already have my own suspicions of what is really going on and if those are true it does not look good for you. Either you speak up now, admitting the real situation and we can try to remedy it by defending you bunch of pricks or I shall assist the Phoenix in its path of vengeance." Ayse stated with a sort of hardened temper in her, ready to strike Leopardo once more.

    "Enough! We donбпt have time to waste. Fine, I admit that our leader, Saberteeth had stumbled across a pair of eggs during hisst expedition to calm the volcanoes further south. With the loss of our Schr, Saberteeth had been trying his best to fulfil that role to avert any major catastrophes. Those eggs had looked amazingly beautiful reminding him of pearls from the ocean. He had no idea what exactly they were but he imagined that whatever was inside of them, if we could tame one of those creatures, it might help us in the defence against possible threats. It was only once he returned to check the Grand Library did he realise that the eggs he had stolen belonged to a Seven Oceans Phoenix. All the more we found out that we struck gold because of its miraculous dung." Leopardo exined. "So, I am guessing the one flying towards us must be the mother who wants her eggs back."

    "Then where are the eggs being hidden?" Meomi now also turned aggressive and pointed her gunde towards Leopardoбпs throat.

    "Iбпve already satisfied your curiosity more than enough. Either you can help us, or I ask you to get out of our way. That Phoenix might significantly destroy our capital but it wonбпt be able to exterminate our collective. Even my life is just a small price to pay for it. We will simply rebuild again with their bones and feathers as part of our foundation." Leopardo replied sounding like a man with nothing more to lose, despite Meomi pushing her gunde closer on to Leopardoбпs neck.

    "My my. Ladies, you do know that you just have to call me out, right? Killing him wonбпt be fun nor will it help our cause at all." A Shadow Portal appeared and a familiar voice sounded out.

    Kraft grabbed the fallen Interim Leader by the back and put his hand on top of his head. Only unlike with the dungeon supplier, the pulling of information from Leopardo was an extremely painful process. He struggled to pull Kraftбпs hand away since he could feel the other party pull his mind apart like a person rapidly pulling the tapes out of a cassette and leaving it to dangle once the deed was done.

    "Heh. As expected. It seems his memory is iplete, someone must have fizzled it via magic. I believe that leader he trusted so much also fuddled with his mind as a safety precaution. There are indeed at least two eggs. One of them appears to have been deliberately broken or maybe it had hatched, but had died a terrible death soon after." Kraft analysed. "I will get Tinda to follow the leads which might lead to that egg as a confirmation while Narris will pursue the possibility of there being another intact egg."

    "So does that mean that the second egg is a diversion to the egg they kept hidden?" Meomi questioned and Kraft could only say that was an assumption based on his memories. It made Meomi furious as she used the hilt of her gunde and knocked him out. But Leopardo, still a veteranbatant stopped her movement and blocked the attack. The Devil Fox was however surprised he was still able to move despite having his mind torn and literally pushed him down with his chi.

    Some of the soldiers got a bit restless but Ayseбпs re and the thunderbolt raining down next to their feet were enough to keep them away for the moment except for two ck Cloaks who had enough of this charade and charged towards them. As brave as they were, a direct hit from a bolt of electricity, downed them immediately, paralysing before they could do any damage. Ayseбпs electrical barrier blocked a salvo of iing arrows and burned them into ashes.

    "You were going to let your entire capital die just for an egg?! Are you mad?!" Meomi asked and Leopardo bided his time to strike opportunistically when he felt that Meomi lowered her guard. However, he had not taken into ount that Kraft the crafty fox was formidable in his own right and he shot his No Mercy at his legs. To Ayse and Meomiбпs surprise, it was some sort of glue shot instead of a proper shot. They both looked up, hardly able to believe that Kraft could be thispassionate.

    "Why are you so simple minded? If I kill him, it defeats the purpose of this operation." Kraft shrugged his shoulders. "Because of a few rotten people, they will allow a massacre to take ce between the monsters and humans. As much as I like bloodshed, I do not appreciate meaningless ones."

    "Well, thank goodness Qiu Yue did not agree to help this bastard," Meomi said as she stared at Nightingale for a moment before diverting her eyes away to the battlefield. "At the very least, we will be helping those monsters to find бпpeaceбп more than these humans."

    "That I can agree with." Ayse nodded her head and went towards Leopardo. She stepped on his chest and pushed it down so that it felt as if it was going to pierce through the chainmail armour he was wearing. "Listen you prick. We are going to save your people and once that is done, you are going to owe us one hell of a favour. Donбпt think we will do this as charity work!"

    "Thatбпs fucking ckmail!" Leopardo coughed.

    "Thatбпs the whole fucking point." Kraft chuckled as he pulled out a piece of paper and brought it near Leopardoбпs finger which heter pricked for blood to ooze out. The paper lit up before disappearing and Kraft thanked the twodies before disappearing. "That was quite fun. Now I will leave the rest in your capable hand,dies."

    "Thanks again." Ayse waved him goodbye and without warning, she jumped into the grey thunderous skies and disappeared. Meomi on the other hand demanded Leopardo to send an emergency missive to the entire wall, announcing their cooperation with Jinбпs minions.

 Chapter 1003 Spiky Fall

    <h4>Chapter 1003 Spiky Fall</h4>

    "Sir, what shall we do? Can we trust them?" One of the higher ranking soldiers asked as he still had his spear aimed towards Meomi. The scene before their eyes did not really inspire confidence towards their new бпalliesбп.

    "Despite what they did to our Grandmaster, I can assure you that they have the best of intentions for our people! " Nightingale risked her life by putting herself between the spear and Meomiбпs body even though she knew full well that Meomi was more than capable of dealing with the soldiers herself. After all, the Werecat was at least as or even more powerful than her.

    "Iбпve seen them fight to the teeth against the Demon Rats and they came out victorious while ensuring that the citizens were not killed. They might be foul mouthed, yet they also have the necessary strength and capabilities to back up such arrogance!"

    "Heh! You are giving us too much credit, Nightingale. We just donбпt want innocent people to suffer. Unlike your interim leader who is supposed to protect the masses, but instead hid the fact why youбпre being attacked in the first ce." Meomi said.

    "Your choice now, Leopardo. Ayse has already given you an ultimatum and youбпve felt how absurdly strong she is. Sheбпs been going easy on you, yet it left you paralyzed up till now. We have plenty more suchrades on route and none of them will show any mercy once the wordes from our leader. We can be your temporary allies or your absolute devastation."

    "...Please help us. I was... wrong. Wrong to behave in such a way that does not benefit the interim leader of our Southern Capital." Leopardo did not understand why such words wereing out of his mouth. Though they wereing from the bottom of his heart, he was doing his best to resist the urge to say even more due to his pride.

    No one had ever seen him, a champion who had saved the Southern Capital on more than one asion, this pathetic before. For him to be bested so quickly and even toyed with by these agents indicated that their powers were of another level. (After all, most of the Farming World people did not have magic on their side and those who did got strictly controlled by the Schrs.)

    "Thatбпs more like it." Meomi nodded as she opened up a System Channel to inform Jin.

    "I got the gist of the situation based on the Systemбпs summarised update. Go ahead with the n to protect the Southerners. Kraft has already ordered Tinda and Narris to search for the conspirators and theirckeys. Obviously, thereбпs no need to tell them to hold back but I did rmend condemnation before killing them outright." Jin replied.

    "You think the Southerners will empathise with us? They will probably think what Leopardo and Saberteeth did was right, given the harsh conditions that they were ustomed to." Meomi noted her opinion as she sheathed back her gunde into the Climbing Gear Suitcase and picked up a sniper rifle.

    "Nah. I did not mean public condemnation. You will understand when it happens. But first, letбпs concentrate on the giant flying armying towards us. Let Spiky get settled in." Jin ordered.

    "Aye, Aye, Master!" Meomi jokingly saluted as she instructed Leopardo to tell his people not to attack the unfamiliar monsters which are going to appear unless they have some sort of wings and are flying towards the capital. "If you think every monster you meet is one to take your life, allow us to open your eyes open and show that itбпs not the case."

    As she finished her sentence, arge portal appeared and the southerners who were not informed were immediately taken aback by the spikesing out of the portal. Only then did Spiky, the Giant Altered Transforming Spider, came crashing down towards the Southern Capital with absolute delicacy. Before its бпfallбп, Spiky had aimed his legs right outside the walls. The Southern Soldiers were scared stiff and could not help their instincts to point a weapon towards that monster despite repeatedmands not to attack their new ally. After all, they had never seen a spider monster this humongous before.

    However, Spiky did not care about the Southernersбп reaction to him and he started to change by matching the sandy colour of the fortress walls. It turned its legs into stairs leading to defensive tforms high in the sky and the space around his legs began to create higher walls from thin air. At that moment the scared soldiers realised that therge spider had transformed into extension of the fortress walls.

    "What are you bugs waiting for? Quickly get up and take up defensive positions! Interim Leader Leopardo already told us that these monsters are helping us." One of the Southern Army Captains ordered his men to make use of higher ground when given the opportunity. It would be a great boon to have against the iing army of winged creatures.

    A toon of archers immediately picked up the caches of arrows and hurried to higher grounds, knowing that this would even the ying field a bit. Spiky had even created a gentle slope to allow the knights to push the ballistae up towards arger defensive tform. They discovered that the floor where they had ced their defensive weapon could be turned 360 degrees with a pulley knob at the side so they would not have to consistently push the ballistae to reposition them.

    That was not all. Unbeknownst to them, Spiky had already spun webs between his legs so that any winged monsters that tried to attack them could be removed by the archers or the Mousefolks who were still gearing up for their sorties.

    When Jin saw the transformation, he was surprised how detailed it was. It appeared as if the spider had improved considerablypared to when it fought against the (at the time) Demon Exorcist trainees. When asked about it, the System informed the dungeon supplier that the fortress design has been created by the Super Entity on the fly and sent to Spiky to transform as such. "Wow, nice follow up. I did not expect the Transforming Spider could be used so creatively."

    "Of all the captured Elder Demons which make up the so-called бпCardinal Guardiansбп, the Altered Transforming Spider has the most potential. System only tapped less than 5% of its current potential, thus the System does not deserve much praise."

    "Only 5%?! Are you kidding me? You mean this Transforming Spider.... Huh. Interesting. I will have to have a one-to-one talk with Spiky or well with Weslie as the trantor. Come to think of it, I should probably make the whole tour and also get myself more acquainted with the Burning Lion Demon and Water Snake Demon. Perhaps I could make something exciting for the Pandarens in the future utilising all four of them." Jin thought out loud as he also saw that Spiky too had already achieved the secret air base at the top of its head.

    With its head high up into the clouds, Qiu Yue teleported to this improvised airbase with a small oxygen respirator attached to her waist in case shecked oxygen. After which, she started to use her Empire Building Sub System to attach a portal regtor into it so that the System would not have to waste so much energy and resources to maintain a portal.

    That allowed Jinбпs aerial squadrons to move into the makeshift warehouse which Qiu Yue had ced while setting up the ammunition and magic crystal stocks needed when they returned for a resupply.

    Wyrstiker came through the portal regtorst, walking in with his own oxygen respirator. While the Devil Dragons were going through the augmentation with Jin, it would be Wyrstrikerбпs duty to keep the skies above the Southern Capital clear.

    With all the technology ced on the Wyverns, an extra team of Goblins followed the soldiers. They were usually working on the Supplies and Technical front and were there to ensure that the Wyverns could be refitted properly if necessary.

    After a quick assessment, the Sub System deemed the ess to healing magic as well as technical support satisfactory to ensure the Goblins and knowing that the Wyverns could go for a second run, it finally gave them the okay to head out.

    "Goblin Wyvern Knights, letбпs show them who the masters of the skies really are!" Wyrstriker bellowed out through the System Channel and was met with a resounding affirmative cry from his toon.

 Chapter 1004 Augmentation Process

    <h4>Chapter 1004 Augmentation Process</h4>

    As Wyrstrikerбпs Company of Goblin Wyvern Knights were sortied out into the airspace, Jin was in the Dungeon Maker to start with the augmentation process. Since this would be the first time they would experiment with this type of strengthening, a small portion of Goblin Technicians were also stationed nearby in case of sudden breakdowns of the equipment as a result of the process. To lead by example, Forneus volunteered to go up first.

    "Since you are the leader, I guess weбпve got to make you extremely shy." Jin smiled and Forneus was remarkably delighted by his new Masterбпsments.

    "If it is possible, I want some firey-" But Jin cut him off before he could continue.

    "When I said shy, I meant the useful kind of shy. Weбпve got to be pragmatic first and foremost. If it turns out to be a sess, you are free to choose your own cosmetic look for fun and decorations." Jin promised him as he used his phone as a remote control to activate some of the consoles.

    Forneus and his Devil Dragon were then surrounded by a multitude of screens as images of armour pieces were shing around them resembling some gambling casino roulette (onlycking the lever). As for thest step, Jin ced an energised sludge crystal which he infused with more of his Maqi and the sludge liquid into the centre of the augmentation circle before it shed in his eyes.

    There and then, the System started its бпmagicбп and suddenly metallic tentacles appeared all over that particr portion of the Dungeon Maker, equipped with drills, pluckers and all sorts of mechanical attachments for all kinds of jobs. Forneus was picked up like a rag doll while his Devil Dragon was chained to the ground with shes of light were seen repeatedly over and over again. (Only his legs!!) There was no screaming or whatsoever but somehow it reminded Jin of those magical girl transformation scenes. The fact that they were all oblivious about it, only made it funnier.

    Jin giggled to himself as he imagined the Systemбпs magic rendering his minion бпnakedбп with their important bits being protected by a shining light until new armour would magically be ced on them. Only then he realised that he might be in that same position with his System Rider belt and nearly wanted to transform to make sure that was not the case for him. Yet, the System reminded him to stay focus in case the augmentation process went weary. (Though Jin felt it was unnecessary since the whole procedure was managed entirely by the System and there was nothing much he could do.)

    Yet the reality was not that fantasy-ish and when the augmentation process was done, Jin was surprised at Forneusбп new look. Even his soldiers were shocked by the all new transformation. They all thought that the augmentation process would merely be something like fixing a new b of armour on to their body but no, there was sadly zero to none magical girls vibe from them.

    Forneusбп Devil Dragon turned from a Beast of Nature to a Metal Killer Machine. It was apparent that the Devil Dragon turned robotic in nature, with its legs, neck and tail connected via multiple metallic joint parts and visible metal tubes running under its metal scales. The Devil Dragon tried to spread its wings, but instead of the usual wing membrane, something simr to a sheet of malleable carbon metal appeared. Each digit and fingers on its wings seemed to be attached with air boosters. While its tail had be something akin to a vertical stabiliser and rudder for the dragon.

    As for Forneus, he too grew metallic wings since he was part of the Dragonlite races and his horns doubled in size. His face was protected by an air resistance faceless helmet with holes to allow his horns through. (In fact, they were the only factor distinguishing him in this form). Most importantly, his left arm had been reced with something awesome. At first, he thought the augmentation had caused him to lose an arm seeing that there was a hole in his wrist. But before he could panic, the System quickly exined that he should try focusing his magic to his left arm that he realised the magic energy subsequently turned into a st of energy when it reached a critical mass. (Cough like a certain бпMбп man with a blue helmet on.)

    "Holy Shit, Boss. You sure, I cannot keep this augmentation? It feels great! Those Goblin Wyvern Knights are going to be so jealous that they will demand the same treatment!" Forneus was excited as he pet his Devil Dragon and the System allowed the Dragon to shoot a st of energy out of his mouth. The hyper beam was intense and the size of circumference would depend on how much magic the Devil Dragon wished to use.

    "I was totally not expecting this too. This goes beyond my wildest imagination on how the augmentation process could go. Isnбпt this already something akin to a type of evolution?" Jin queried.

    "The System underestimated the effectiveness of the mix between a sludge crystal with the inclusion of your Maqi and Userбпstest type of sludge. We thought that the augmentation required more energy but it appears that Systemбпs calctions were off by a huge margin. Needless to say, itбпs a positive boon and System excitedly awaits the results, the period Forneus can stay in this form as well as the usible side effects of the augmentation process, both during and after."

    "The only side effect I can think of is you not granting me this as a permanent upgrade!" Forneus noted as he took off first with his Devil Dragon to make sure the rest of the Dragonlites under him would be ready forbat. After all, who else was going to save the Goblin Wyvern Knightsбп asses when the going gets tough?

    With the augmentation process confirmed, the System ryed a bulk of itsputing resources to duplicate the augmentation process so that multiple Devil Dragons and its riders could be augmented at the same time. Jin, however, warned them that they might not have something as great as Forneus since lesser resources were used but most of them understood.

    They knew it was an emergency deployment and thus there were limitations if Jin was to mass augment the entire Devil Dragon Company in a very short period of time. But to their surprise, most of the Devil Dragons managed toe out simr to their leader except they were a mix of Biological and Metal parts together unlike Forneusбпs Dragon who waspletely metal d.

    As for the Dragonlite riders, they did not gain any metal wings but their skins grow flexible metal tings which helped resist certain attacks. Yet, the System was notfortable with the process seeing that the Phoenix or the horde under her might have lightning attacks which could disable the dragons. Thus it added ayer of specialcquered coating to reduce the electrical contact to all the Devil Dragons.

    Ironically, the only one who did not get that treatment was their leader and yet he would require it the most so the System tasked the Devil Dragonбпs vice captain to bring a bottle of self developing coat to make sure Forneus would be protected as well.

    With this upgrade, the Devil Dragons were ready to bring a good fight against the Flying Horde!

 Chapter 1005 - Nine Oceans Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 1005 - Nine Oceans Phoenix</h4>

    The skies got darker, the flying monsters were growling with impatience. They had been promised a wondrous bounty if they were to work together as this never before seen horde. If not for the Nine Oceans Phoenix leading the way, most of the monsters would still be dwelling in their own territory and minding their personal business.

    Yet, instead of attacking the humans as soon as possible and getting things over with, they had been ordered to fly slowly and wait for a period of time which kind of defeated the purpose of their monster horde.

    бпHm. This does not seem to bode well.бп The Nine Oceans Phoenix thought to herself. Although not old enough to be counted as an Elder Demon like Keyrin and the others, who had a will and mind of their own, the Nine Oceans Phoenix had simrly turned sentient after severe situational circ.u.mstances had forced her to mutate. The reason why she was holding the horde back was that she was giving the humans who had taken her eggs a chance to return them. However, she did not trust the humans, hence the gathering of the monster horde should they refuse or pretend like they had nothing to do with it.

    There had been a few encounters with humans in the Phoenixбпs lifetime and most of them had been with nasty hunters that had wanted to either outright murder her for the feathers she adorned or capture her to gain a constant supply of her dung which she knew had miraculous powers. Nevertheless, she had never forgotten that it was a human who had saved her at the brink of her death enc.u.mbered with severe injuries.

    He had not cared how monstrous she was as a Phoenix nor bothered how she kept using her powers to frantically protect herself, injuring him in the rescue process. Nevertheless, he had not yielded and used his healing magic from afar to close her wounds. Healing magic had always been designed to be used in close proximity, yet that particr na?ve human had continued to strain himself to heal her from afar to the best of his abilities. It was to the point that he had even sacrificed a portion of his life force to keep the dire firebird from stepping into the grave. Once the Phoenix had finally realised that he was not harming her and in fact hurting himself, she had finally decided to lower her guard a little to see what the human would do.

    Seeing the opening, he had not even hesitated for a moment to rush towards her and had quickly applied his healing salves to soothe her pain and rescue her from the dire situation she was in. (Which she made it worst by straining herself to fend him off in the first ce.)

    The whole time he had been talking to her in a soothing voice in an attempt to keep her calm and eventually, it worked. To his surprise, she purposely thanked the human in hisnguage. Excited about her intelligence, he had started to ask her a mountain of questions ranging from how the Phoenix had lived her life, her eating habits, what kind ofnds and oceans she had travelled and many more.

    Happy for the rare opportunity to have a conversation the Nine Oceans Phoenix had answered everything to the best of her abilities during her recovery period. She had not even realised that they had been talking non-stop and he even sacrificed his sleep and meal times just to listen to her until the 3rd day.

    The mage had just shrugged it off, saying that there were so many things he wanted to know about her, that his own physical needs were nothingpared to the knowledge he could bring back from speaking to a sentient Phoenix. And a variant one to boot. "Iбпd rather learn every single thing about you and the experiences you have than satisfy my measly needs. Sleep is for the weak! You will have all the time for it when youбпre dead as my dad used to say! Hahahah!" The human mage joked.

    They had spent more than a week together and once the Phoenixбпs health had improved enough, the mage told her to fly elsewhere, since she would not be able to return to where she lived. Mainly because the human mage could not hide the Phoenixбпs scent after she got out from the sealed barrier he had ced around them and those pesky monster hunters would try to catch her again.

    And although all the encounters had been proven to her that the majority of humans were greedy and downright vicious to the core, that particr puny human mage somehow convinced the Phoenix that not all humans were like that.

    бпI am sorry, my dear friend. But now that these humans are holding on to my children, I have to think for myself. You did tell me to бпThink for yourself in this harsh world first, but be kind to those who have shown you kindness if possibleбп.бп The Nine Ocean Phoenix thought as she finally gave the signal for the Flying Horde to attack when she saw that arge spider like structure suddenly descended from the skies. The Phoenix knew that those humans were plotting something too and it would be best to act first before they could do whatever they nned to. After all, she was still a monster that followed her instinct.

    Thus, with a strong p of her wings and a loud screech, magical energies burst out of her body coursing through the entire horde. It empowered them and even forcibly mutated a few weaker ones. While she honestly did not care about the monsters that were with her, she still needed a good push so that she could use the time to find her eggs. In addition, she felt that there was another force at work with them and if possible she wanted those monsters to push through that unusual force.

    The winged monsters now energised with magical energy screeched and roared simultaneously, which caused the white empty desert in front of the capital to rumble. Some of the humans thought it was some earthquake, only to realise swarms of monstrous looking deformed dogs and cats with tentacle ws were crawling out of the sandpits. And their destination was singr in nature.

    The Southern Capital.

    "SOUND THE ALARM! Zurglings! Zurglings! Among the Winged Monsters lies a Zurgling Queen!" The Gate Guards shouted as he reported the endless waves of Zurglings running towards them. It was at that point the Winged Monsters also started their descent towards the Southern Capital while the Nine Ocean Phoenix continued to stay in one spot, supplying magical powers to those higher ss monsters, especially the Zurgling Queen that had agreed to follow her. While unrted in blood, the Zurgling Queen too understood and empathised the Nine Ocean Phoenix which was why she was not hesitant to send her children out for battle even though she knew they were going to be battle fodder and be eventually gone with the winds.

    "My unborn children. Please wait for me. I aming for you," the Nine Oceans Phoenix mumbled to herself as she once more released another surge of energy to empower the monsters.

 Chapter 1006 - Mousefolks Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 1006 - Mousefolk''s Arrival</h4>

    Jin watched the sudden turn of events take ce from inside the Dungeon Maker and wondered if the Southern Soldiers would be able to at least defend against the first wave of these Zurglings, granting him enough time to organise a proper defensive ground force against this additional monster horde.

    "Nubwort, you seeing this?" Jin queried and the Orc Leader immediately teleported into the Dungeon Maker to assess the situation.

    "They are swarming us just like the Demon Rats and they appeared to be fiercer and faster than those pests, granting that they do not have any mechanical parts on them." Nubwort analysed as they viewed the imagery from the C-130.

    "We can call upon the C-130As that are still parked in Bulwark Port to sortie, but it will take some time to reach the Southern Capital unless the System assists with the travelling." Nubwort estimated that they would need at least half an hour to send his Artillery Orcs into the air and a few hourster to reach the Southern Region barring any weather problems.

    "Letбпs send out the nes en route and in formation first instead of just teleporting straight ahead. This way, we can cramp a few of your troops inside of those nes and airdrop them into battle. The System also tells me that by teleporting in mass will be cheaper for us to use them as the gateway points." Jin decided as they watched the Southern Soldiers disy their discipline.

    It was clear that this was not the first time they had experienced a ground battle and their defence formation was quite effective against the first wave of Zurglings. Spears had beenid out a few metres away from the edge of the wall, guaranteeing that any Zurgling who jumped over would be pierced to a sorry state.

    Shieldbearers were ready to push the dead Zurglings off the spears, but not before stabbing them a few times to ensure that they were really dead. This way the Spearman could stay in formation and not waste too much strength and energy swing their spears needlessly. (Not as if they have the space to do so since they were in such tight formations.)

    Under normal circ.u.mstances, Archers would assist from the back yet this time around they were keeping their ammunition intact for the flying hordes. Nevertheless, with the new high grounds, courtesy of Spiky, it enabled them to drop down firebombs from a safe distance instead of throwing them. That was the only support they could give at the moment.

    "Sorry Nubwort, give me a moment. Pippy, Poppy. Are you guys ready to intervene?" Jin called the Mousefolks via the System Channel.

    "Aye aye, Master! Just onest check and our toons will be able to st off at the speed of light." Pippy replied happily as he squeezed his automated climbing gear to ensure that the air boosters were working.

    "Slight change of ns. There are now enemy forces on the ground which are numerous enough to make up a monster horde on their own. I want you to assist the Southern Soldiers with their ground defence. Let the aerial squadrons worry about the flying mobs. Donбпt worry about them, it appears that their power boost was more than we had anticipated." Jin informed them.

    "Assuming they know how to use their powers." Pippy chuckled. "As Master Zeru taught us before: бпHaving power means nothing unless one can utilize its full potential.бп "

    "Oh, I totally get that feeling. I still feel some of my powers are underutilised." Jinmented his own situation. "I will talk with some of the other minions to act as your reinforcement, but it will still take some time."

    "Donбпt worry, we will buy as much time as possible for ya. For our dear elder disciple. Hehe." Poppy said as he requested the System to open the portal for his advance troops to proceed first. (Not before Pippy knocked Poppyбпs head for teasing their master since Zeruбпs was both Jinбпs and the Mousefolksбп masters. Oh what aplicated rtionship.)

    The Southern Soldiers were doing decently in their defence against the massive tidal wave of monsters until they found that their efficient defence was proving to be a bane. A few Zurglings managed to jump on top of the corpses of their brethren, thereby avoiding the spears and made it through. They then took the opportunity to move deeper into the Southernerбпs defence lines where some of their support was working overtime to bring extra ammunition or tend to the wounded.

    Unfortunately, because of the strict formation, there was little those Southern Soldiers could do and only hope that the stray Zurglings could be killed by the guards responsible for protecting the backline. They understood that it would be foolish to break formation, as more monsters could potentially bypass them that way and that would result in more casualties.

    Noticing their situation, the System promptly changed the portal coordination and sent the Mousefolks towards the vulnerable backend. This time, the System was being a little creative with its teleportation and instead of opening a usual portal, a temporary beam of light was shone on the spot where the Mousefolks wouldnd. (Hence the promise reaching there in the speed of light.) And this too stunned the monsters momentarily allowing the Mousefolks to join into the fray with a better advantage.

    At the same time, The Southern Guards did their best to deal with the stray Zurglings who had been focused more on destroying the supplies rather than kill anyone in sight. Suddenly a speedy creature moved through the crowd after that momentary sh of light and annihted two Zurglings with just one sh to their necks each.

    "Impossible!" Cried out some of the guards, as they recognised the one responsible as Mouseman, who was significantly smaller than the Zurglings, yet had such an easy time dealing with them.

    "Oh, guess I used too much strength on that one." Poppy snickered as he checked whether his weapon had be blunt by the blow. The guardsбп shock only increased when they saw that the other stray Zurglings within the vicinity were also killed in the exact same way and many Weremice were standing on the roofs,mp posts and balconies of houses.

    They were literally everywhere and their eyes were fixated on the wall, checking for any Zurglings that managed to escape the tight formation. The moment they spotted one, thread needles could be seen flying out of their machine gear attached to their waist and they flew thanks to the magical winding from their back. It was more apparent with the attachment of a cape that they had and a one-eyed Panda embroiled into the red cape.

    Upon a closer look, some wondered how the Weremice were able to control those thread needles as they moved extremely smoothly, flying from one spot to another in a matter of seconds. But none of that mattered since there were more important things at hand such as the continuation of the tasks they currently were on.

    The Healers continued to tend to the wounded while the support team brought over more arrows for the Archers who patiently waited for their turn and bombs for the Knights. Meanwhile, some of the more talented chemists were creating firebombs in the midst of the chaos to keep the supply ongoing.

    The Archers on the high ground wanted to render some help to the ground troops but the situation of the flying hordeing closer made theirmanders worry about theck of ammunition...until they saw a few monsters flying off from the top of Spiky. Since they were noting at them and instead, facing the iing Flying Monster Horde, they could only assume that they were the allied monsters that Leopardo reluctantly epted help from. Thus they were ordered not to hit any of such monsters as much as possible else, they too would not hesitate to kill their allies. (Or so they heard.)

    "Control your aim! Fire swift and true so your every arrow scores a hit! Remember, each strike has to be a killing blow or I will personally hound you even after death!" The Southern Commanders bellowed outmands as the Archers took their formation and nocked their arrows.

    But before the Flying Horde coulde in range, those allied wyverns simply swooped from the skies and towards them, brandishing theirnces and wyvern fire to the winged monsters, causing them to crash to the ground.

    Surprisingly, the Zurglings did not care whether it was a monster or human. As long there was meat right in front of it, the swarm would simply tear each and every limb to feed on. As the Zurglings munched on those monsterбпs stored energy, they mutated right at that instant, growing additional muscr limbs or even wings. Some of the deformed cat and dog faces even transformed, taking on more birdish features, most likely because of the Nine Oceanбпs Phoenixбпs magical energies.

    For those who had grown wings, they turned to the skies and started pping their broken deformed wings in hopes that they could transverse the skies like the others at the top. While a little clumsy at first, most of them got the hang of it pretty quickly and headed towards the Southern Capital Walls. They might not be the most apt at flying but it represented a new target which the soldiers had to waste their precious amount of arrows. Such a transformation inadvertently increased the number of flying monsters as multiple monsters had fallen from the Goblin Wyvern Knightsбп counter-attack.

    "Damn it!" Wyrstriker said as he knew that his counterattack could eventually give the Southern Capital more trouble.

    "What do we do, Captain?" His Vice-Captain asked as he too saw what their attacks were doing and suddenly they heard the crackling of thunder which gave the Lead Goblin Wyvern Knight an idea.

    "If we canбпt crush them to the ground, we throw them up to the skies! Otherwise use sufficient firepower to obliterate them into ashes!" Wyrstriker answered and his trusty Vice-Captain immediately ryed the orders via the System Channel.

 Chapter 1007 - SwitChapter Guard Formation

    <h4>Chapter 1007 - SwitChapter Guard Formation</h4>

    Most of the Goblin Wyvern Knights were a little confused in regards to their leaderбпstestmands until he personally demonstrated what he expected from them. Wyrstriker flew towards the nearest Winged Lion and lodged his spear into its shoulder before hemanded his wyvern partner Iwen to distance themselves from it as quickly as possible.

    But how to go against a Winged Lion when it still had the strength and power to struggle against just one strike from the spear?

    The answer lies in the very next moment as the spear triggered an explosion by using the energy it had been charged with, however it did not originate from inscription charms but from Wyrstriker himself!

    With a great number of monsters exposed to cultivators, these minions of Jin had their chi points miraculously activated. For the misinformed, they believed they wielded magic though some were not wrong.

    Because of the closeness of mana and chi circuits, it was easy to misidentify until the System informed them so. Yet, the System also saw a small yet significant change among these monsters. It found out that the constant use of Jinбпs Sludge around them caused the monsters to have a mixture of mana and chi points power activated, which should not happen in theory.

    Still, Jinбпs sludge was a mystery even to the System that it had yet form proper theories on how to fully utilise it. Therefore, the System only informed the monsters what they had unlocked ording to the majority of points they had activated. For example, Wyrstriker had 15 chi meridian points and 4 mana focal points opened so far and the System merely stated that Wyrstriker had the ability to manipte chi.

    Even his wyvern had a few chi meridian points opened, although in his case, there was a greater amount of mana focal points in his circuit. That alone had already reinforced his body to withstand the constant struggling of the Winged Lion while he focused on sending the Winged Monster up towards the skies.

    Unconsciously, Iwen activated the air boosters with his chi and they zoomed higher to the thunder clouds which the wyvern sent an air st to push the Winged Lion away from Wyrstrikerбпs spear.

    The Lion regrettably had been buffed by the Nine Ocean Phoenixбпs magic and with the release from the clutches of Wyrstrikerбпs explosive spear, it wanted vengeance by swooping towards the Goblin Wyvern Knight Leader who was at least two times smaller than it.

    However, before it could reach Wyrstriker and enact his retaliation, a sh of blue and purple bolt flew hit the lion, disintegrating it before it could even wink for thest time. Wyrstriker blew out a small sigh of relief and quickly aimed for the next monster.

    The Goblin Wyvern Knights watched what Wyrstriker expected of them, yet it would undoubtedly be a dangerous task. Only a few of their wyverns had strength rivalling Iwenбпs. (He was their leader for a reason after all.)

    Still, that did not mean they were unable to replicate it and in fact, the Goblin Wyvern Knights immediately stuck to a particr formation which had been practised in the Goblin Military. A formation which had been drilled into their brains.

    The Switch Guard Formation.

    The formation relied on two Goblin Wyvern knights that were intimately in synch with each other. Lacking the sufficient strength topete against the aerial threat, the Goblin Wyvern Knights relied on the technology they had attached to their wyverns as they boosted their speeds while approaching a Winged Monster farrger than them. Once near enough for an attack, the lead Goblin Wyvern charged in with their air boosters at the maximum and his semi charged spear ready. Using the st of wyvern fire acted as the opening volley, they swooped in and counter the Winged monster before it could do any thing to retaliate.

    Naturally, the Winged Monster was able to evade the st of fire but in doing so, the Goblin Wyvern Knight had already tricked the beast into moving exactly where he wanted him to, so he pierced the Winged Ape with his might. However, it was still able to defend itself by bringing up its arms to prevent the strike from reaching his vital spots.

    To its surprise, the Goblin Wyvern Knight was not exactly looking to prate his vital spots and instead focused on breaking its defences by releasing its charged spear into a forceful air impact before flying away. This caused the Winged Ape to propel backwards and closer to the Thunder Clouds but not near enough for a decisive strike by Ayse and Keyrin. That was when the second Knight who had been building up its speed, swooped into the defenceless ape and mmed its spear right in the middle of the Winged Ape.

    The Wyvernбпs air boosters were pushed to the max once more and even the spear which had been revamped to have its own mini air boosters for more prative powers were activated to push into the danger zone.

    The Winged Ape was unable to react to this quick switch of their attack formation and suddenly felt extremely numb.

    Upon closer inspection, the Winged Ape realised that the bolts were grabbing him like a birdбпs w only with it embodied with high voltages of electricity. That was also the signal for the Goblin Wyvern Knight to release himself away from its prey as the lightning blot ws clutched and squeeze the lift out of the Winged Ape by burning it into ashes.

    "So this is why you had been keeping your powers eh?" Wyrstriker caught a glimpse of the attack and spoke in the System Channel.

    "Got to give credit to that magical horse though." Ayse, now formless after merging with Keyrin in the thunderclouds, answered. She was impressed that Keyrin had not merely charged into the clouds and burst the flying horde. Instead, the Elder Demon has been busy electrifying the clouds to turn the entire airspace into his territory. That way any monsters flying too close to the clouds would be killed.

    "I AM A RAM FOR GOODNESS SAKE! *cough* While Master Jin did say to slow them down or perhaps strike the horde before they could hit, I am but one magical ram. A solitary ram king in the grand scheme of things. So, I thought of stuff only that one magical ram could probably do. Fortunately, Wyrstriker was able to figure my ns out on his own."

    "Not really. Itбпs just a coincidence that I thought of it when I remembered you two should be doing something." Wyrstriker chuckled as he once more brought another flying monster to the clouds for an electrifying execution.

    "But you have to worry no more! For the new and improved Forneus is here!" Arge portal suddenly appeared right in front of Wyrstrike and Forneusбп Devil Dragon charged into their ranks, taking the lives off a couple of winged monsters with its ws and jaws.

    The Mecha Devil Dragon st out an energy beam from the mouth and aimed directly at the Nine Oceans Phoenix. The Leader of the Winged Horde easily deflected the beam to the skies and stared at the newest threat.

    "Ho. This firebird is one feisty prey. It will be a worthy foe to test my skills against it!" Forneus shouted as he charged forward.

 Chapter 1008 - The Zurglings

    <h4>Chapter 1008 - The Zurglings</h4>

    "Has hee here alone?!" Wyrstriker asked via the System Channel as he looked around and saw only the new and improved Forneus rampaging forward.

    "Affirmative, the others are being teleported via the airbase and will make their ascent to the skies from there." The System replied, implying that Forneus was a one-time exception, especially since it had taken quite a considerable amount of energy to teleport therge beast into the middle of the warzone.

    The major disruption of chi and magic in the air had caused the portal to be fairly unstable and the System had been required to apply extra resources and channel more processing capability to ensure that the portal would not break halfway during the teleport. That was one of the reasons why it did not usually portal monsters into the thick of battle (Another was that the cheapskate Systemmented the loss of extra resources).

    "Hey System! We could use some help here at the ground level too!" Pippy shouted as he killed another pair of Zurglings with the techniques that Zeru had taught him and his brother right in front of the Southern Capital gates. Unfortunately, the rate of killing was meaningless since the Zurglings were able to replenish their numbers right in front of him.

    "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!" A deep but yet bubbly sound came via the System Channel and suddenly Pippy heard a familiar falling noise from the distance.

    "Shit! All units fall back to the fortress post-haste!" Pippy ordered as he did a whirlwind sh to deter the Zurglings froming close. His move also cut up any that were around him before he used his climbing gear to move back into the fortress.

    One of the soldiers nearly mistook him for one of the sieging monsters and sent his spear flying towards him, but the Mousefolk with enhanced senses merely took that as a support for him to climb and run towards the soldierбпs head.

    "Watch who you are aiming your spear at!" Pippy berated him as he used the soldierбпs helmet as another stepping stone (as payback) and descended further into the Southern Capital while covering his ears. At that point, that soldier was not only stunned by the kick from the one of the mousefollk but also the sights he was taking in right in front of him with the rumbling sounds of the ground and smoke emerging out in a series of shockwaves.

    The white deserts had been painted with fireworks, extremely loud ones that scared the frontline troops and the Zurglings, causing them to look back momentarily. Those were courtesy of none other than Wolte. His Explosive Shells rained down indiscriminately amidst the swarm of Zurglings.

    The Zurglings cried out in pain and agony as they were burnt in the white desert and their corpses let out a rotting, expunging smell that covered the entire battlefield. However, that did not deter the Zurglings from fulfilling themand of their Zurgling Queen. Through the fire, they jumped into the fray of battle even though their skin got torched and the mes were searing into their bones. All that matters was their fulfilment to the orders of their Queen Mother.

    As for the one responsible, she had been meaning to do attack the Souther Captial for a long time now but hadcked the courage to do so until the appearance of the Nine Ocean Phoenixбпs and her beckon to raid the city. She knew that her Zurglings were numerous but against the well trained Southern Capital, they alone would not be enough to enact revenge.

    They had defiled her own grandmotherбпs ce of birth and the filthy humans were now using it as their own nesting area. The settlers of the past had taken advantage of the situation when the then Zurgling Queenбпs developed nesting area had been attacked by a legendary giant beetle.

    Aye, the history had been written by the victors.

    The current generation of Southerners believed that their ancestors had built this ce brick by brick, a monster part at a time. Yet in truth, before the Legendary Giant Beetle had been in, it had travelled from continent to continent to satisfy its neverending hunger. Around 150 years ago, when it had once againe to feed on the Zurglings, the settlers had taken that chance to side with the Giant Beetle and had killed off most of the Zurglings. After all, the Zurglings of the past had not just been a nuisance to them, but the general poption of the Southern Region.

    Their meat while pungent had been the most nutritious meat they could ever find. Its blood not only aided with the recovery of injuries but the meat was filled with strengthening properties that allowed the Southerners to prosper to this date.

    Most if not all of the Southerners survived with Zurglings meat and while it was a cycle of prey and predator, the table had turned during that particr battle where the Beetle and the Settlers managed to topple the at the time Zurgling Queen. At that point of the time, the then Zurgling Princess had already fled deeper into the Southern Region with a batch of elite Zurglings by first escaping into the seas andter surfacing at the other end of the Southern Region. But unknown to the Beetle who actually thought of the humans as a new form of ally, found itself being betrayed the moment it killed the Zurgling Queen.

    The humans were after all settlers from the other three regions and some were reinforcements to fight against the Beetle who was said to arrive and ravage the ragtag settlement of the settlers. Only to their surprise, the beetle had returned to settle its score against the Zurgling Queen. That was when one of their leaders determined to use this chance as a moment of deception and created one of the best art of war in the history of the Farming World.

    When the injured beetle found that it had been betrayed by the humans, it was already toote. The fight against the Zurgling Queen had undoubtedly been one of the craziest giant battles the Southerners had ever seen and it hadsted for days on end until the beetle had already revealed most of its tricks and skills. That was how the Southern leader took notice of its noticeable ws and utilised it against itself during its fight.

    While the beetle had a fighting chance against an army of battle-worn warriors, one which also took a heavy toll fighting against the Zurgling Queen, it did not expect that more reinforcements woulde. Fresh troops from the three regions to put it down. And thus, with its corpse filled with highly valuable construction materials, the humans dissected and took the beetle apart to create the now Southern Capital.

    The current Zurgling Queen was not empathising the Nine Oceans Phoenix as the role of the mother but rather the child who had experienced the humanбпs brutality and knew the type of consequences the Phoenix might have to go through if she lost her child.

    Still, she did not understand why now there were monsters siding these humans especially when the call from the Nine Oceans Phoenix was extremely potent. Even the Phoenix herself was at a loss when she tried to contact the monsters that were fighting against the Zurglings through a telepathic mind possession technique but somehow there seemed to be a stronger entity that was controlling them.

    "Could the humans be that strong or is another Legendary Monster assisting them?" The Nine Oceans Phoenix feared for her kids even further.

 Chapter 1009 - A Glimpse Of The Phoenixs Power

    <h4>Chapter 1009 - A Glimpse Of The Phoenix''s Power</h4>

    "Holy Shit! That was awesome Wolte!" Meomi praised theirpanion as she mmed a Zurgling on the floor, before using her climbing gearбпs anchor head to kill the downed Zurgling as she simultaneously chopped the head of another in mid air. "You shooting from the sea? That has to be one hell of a prediction!"

    "Hahaha! The System might have yed a role in that but you are wrong in one particr aspect! Iбпm not in the sea!" Wolte boasted as they suddenly heard a loud wail from the back of the capital which faced the direction of the sea. Up in the air, they saw a whale-looking monster travelling forward with an enormous ship ledged on its top. "Brilliant, isnбпt it?! Jin suggested this!"

    "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!" Mr Derpy shouted as he wailed once more and another series of shots got fired off towards the white sand desert.

    "Itбпs the new year, baka derpy!" Ayse corrected him via the System Channel but Mr Derpy did not care. This was the secret n Jin had promised this unlikely duo. In fact, a simrbination between Wolte and Derpy had been on his mind for quite some time.

    Back when Lord Wolte had evolved into a tank, the dungeon supplier had meant to deploy Mr Derpy like an airship transport, carrying tanks and an assortment of warriors into Demopolis as part of the counterassault.

    Lord Wolte would have acted as Derpyбпs defence during the transport andter as one of the fewmanders that would cause havoc in case the Demon Army would close in on Pandapolisбп Dungeon Core. He had hoped that such an attack would have forced the Demon Army to retreat or at least decrease the number of their elites.

    Never could he have expected the skulk of foxes under his employment to be as formidable as they had revealed themselves to be, and the scary thing was that they had not even been very serious in their fights so far. (That also made him wonder how absurdly strong they might have been during the resistance back in their days.)

    Thanks to Wolteбпs бпultimate transformationбп (at least he called it that) into a ship, the same idea had been used with a different twist. Because the Southern Capital was nowhere near the ocean nor sea, Jin had decided to bring the бпoceanбп for Wolte closer to the Southern Capital.

    To achieve that, Mr Derpy was to ferry the ship right on his back towards the Southern Capital. However, they were not the only ones in the area. The C130 Artillery nes were also flying in sync with it, providing necessary cover for the Wolteбпs titan battleship бпStalingradбп.

    This was to ensure the winged monsters were taken out away from Stalingradбпs projectiles, else it would be rather embarrassing and hrious if one of the Winged Monsters would manage to intercept the attacks, only to explode right in front of Mr Derpyбпs face. In addition, this particrbination allowed Stalingrad to take in Mr Derpyбпs magical powers, enhancing Wolteбпs own firepower and gave him the ability to shoot even further.

    When the Nine Oceansбп Phoenix saw such a threating towards them, she did not panic and instead utilised her powers to conjure three simr silhouettes of herself. With a simple nod from her head, those Nine Ocean Phoenix silhouettes flew towards the burnt fields scattering its energy amongst the dead corpses. True to its name, the Phoenix not only had miraculous dung but also the power to resurrect the Zurglings.

    But its powers were a far cry from what Jin had predicted. Instead of a full resurrection, the Phoenixбпs magical energy had merely simted the remains, which caused them to move forward in their damaged state. Their minds were nk, apart from their base instinct to hunt down anything that was not rted to the Zurglings. It felt as if the Phoenix herself was a necromancer kind of monster.

    "Are the portrayal of phoenixes skewed in my world?" Jin asked as he watched the Zurglings raise from the dead and begin charging forward. Some even started to bite the remainders who were not fortunate enough to move despite the phoenixбпs resurrection ability tobine themselves together into arger, more terrifying menace to storm the Southern Capital. It was to the point the Southern Soldiers were showing signs of weakness in their defences.

    "The phoenixes that User knows of in legends are indeed different. They do not have the capability to resurrect any monsters other than themselves and even so, there should be a limit to the times such a being can resurrect before they truly die." The System replied.

    In the meantime, Nubwort who was in the makeshift Dungeon Maker War Room queried whether Jin was going to send more of his soldiers to reinforce the Southern Capital.

    "Iбпm not sure. Do you think it will make much of a difference? It seems that weбпve clearly underestimated the power of this Nine Oceans Phoenix." Jin answered as he shrugged his shoulders a little. "It feels like weбпre just dying the inevitable. I wonder if that is how everyone felt when fighting against my forces. We might not know much of the rtionship between the Southerners and the monsters residing in this region, but for all the various monsters to band together and unite in a coordinated effort against the humans... These people must have done more awful stuff than we had imagined. After all, they treated those monsters as a means to survive."

    "So what are you proposing to do, Master Jin? Shall we fight a protracted battle until we find the real culprit? Because if your assumptions turn out to be true the citizens of that city might just be as guilty as the ones who made the monsters suffer." Nubwort argued. "And if you ask me, based on that short conversation our colleagues had with their leader, those Southerners deserve to die. If it was up to me, we should be helping the monster horde instead."

    "That is indeed a very tempting proposition. These monsters would probably fight fiercely against the Demon Rats to ensure that they could keep thend they have. Either way, finding the culprit continues to be one of our main objectives, which will hopefully allow us to learn more about the whole situation. But yes, given the choice, Iбпd rather make a contract with them then these scheming Southerners."

    "Seems like you canбпt fight your nature, Master. Youбпd rather work with us monsters, who have a kind heart than a seemingly nice human who might betray you." Nubwort chuckled.

    "Hey! But you trust me with your lives!" Jin said in defence.

    "Not that we have much of a choice to begin with, do we?" Nubwort mimicked Jinбпs very same shrug. "Nevertheless, I am d that weбпve joined you." It was then Nubwort had some sort of epiphany unrted to the current situation.

    "If you donбпt mind me diverting from the situation a little, Iбпd like to ask your opinion on another matter. What would you say to employing Orcs from our country as mercenaries or maybe as guards and peacekeepers?"

    "Do you fear that eventually, the adventurerбпs dungeon cave might not be enough to sate their l.u.s.t for battle? " Jin questioned.

    "Not exactly. The dungeon cave is a fantastic idea to keep the fighting urges in check for every race in the *cough* Goblin World, all while supplying them, as well as us, with a nice bit of money. No, Iбпve been meaning to ask you for the opportunity for us Orcs to take on extra responsibilities since many of us would like something more stable in terms of jobs."

    "Oh, so not only could they earn dough and coin for their family, they could contribute to our fights?" Jin thought it over for a moment.

    "Indeed. Remember how you used your worldбпs Royal Snake Battalion for that бпtraining exerciseбп? I hope you could do the same not just for the Orcs but also the Goblins. That way, they could go all out and at least still keep their rtionsh.i.p.s in check. With the System, the participants near death could be teleported away and get healed, thus earning you Frost Echoбпs and the Goblin Kingбпs coin. And if we ever go into war, we could ask for their assistance, whether theyбпre bound by the System would be another issue."

    "In essence, Orc General Nubwort is suggesting that since System and User are always in sticky situations, it could prove beneficial to let System act as a middleman and bring in those willing to fight for money and glory and give them a chance to prove their mettle." The System summed up the ck Orcбпs request.

    "That way you could pick the talented ones too and those who died would have served their duties valiantly." Nubwort nodded and even wanted to add more to his proposal, but Pippy interrupted via the System Channel.

    "Master! The fights are getting more intense! I cannot let my team spread out too much or they might get overwhelmed!" Pippy reported as he zoomed past a Zurgling and used it as a jumping pad to one of Spikyбпs towering legs.

    "I understand, focus your defences on those already wounded. The rest could not be that lucky. Most of the Devil Dragons are moving out soon so the Winged Monster Hordes should not pose too much a threat to the ground defences. I will see if -"

    "Master. Tinda reporting in." The dark elfбпs voice sounded in the System Channel. The drow was currently holding on to a manбпs decapitated head and the organs in the head were slowly sliding down.

 Chapter 1010 - Phoenix Chick

    <h4>Chapter 1010 - Phoenix Chick</h4>

    "One moment please, Tinda. Wyrstriker, we need a tighter defence near the walls of the capital. Forneus, get a portion of your Devil Dragons to burn down any Zurglings who get too close to the fortress walls." Jin ordered and Forneus acknowledged it, forwarding themands to four Devil Dragons to send them on a sort of бпbombingбп run along the Southern Walls.

    They were in fact dropping carpet bombs from their tails after the augmentation process. This caused a series of devastating explosions which shook the Southern Soldiers hard and some were left deafened by the sound while others were catching their bnce, causing many to be off guard.

    The Zurglings did not miss this opportunity and pounced on the defenders butpared to the majority that had been burnt and exploded into pieces, they were the lucky few. Nevertheless, their assault was short lived, as the Wyvern Goblin Knights came to the Southernersбп rescue and swooped those Zurglings away before they had the chance to maim their prey into bits.

    "Sorry, Tinda. Whatбпs the matter? Have you managed to find out what happened?"

    "Unfortunately the person killed himself under my interrogation." Tinda sighed as she threw the head away like it was some roadside trash.

    "However, I did get some information about the approximate location where the second egg is hidden and have already ryed that information to Narris."

    "But?" Jin somehow felt that it was the only good news she was providing.

    "The first egg has hatched a few days ago and theyбпve not hesitated to start torturing the poor chick. Itбпs furthermore covered in shit stains and what I can only assume is barf." Tinda regretfully reported as she walked towards the injured, chained phoenix chick.

    "Healthwise, it appears as it has been given proper nutrition. Only it looks like it has been force fed and Iбпve found traces of chemicals in the food which should bexatives. From what I could see in their memories, they are nning to do the same for the second egg once it hatches. They are treating the first one as a guinea pig to find out what they have to feed them for the best dung efficiency."

    "What..." Jin could not believe how those people treated the monsters.

    "How is the bird faring right now?"

    "Alive, but not in a good shape. Some of them had been treating the baby bird with scorn because of its motherбпs appearance. The one in charge had a mindset of making the chick suffer to get the most dung out of it before harvesting it and running off. Luckily, Iбпve managed to find them in time. Still, there are certain memories within a few of the guards indicating they have ns to run because they believe the capital is doomed. Although Iбпm not too sure if those were rumours or fears." Tinda apologised that her memory searching abilities were not as great as Kraftбпs, so she could only pluck the ones with the strongest emotions or attachments to it.

    "If Iбпm not wrong, the chickбпs ability to resurrect should be stronger than the one of its mother. From what little we know about them, they are prone to being left in the wild by themselves for long periods of time while their parents might go out to hunt. Resurrection is their only survival mechanic to get out of danger. And resurrecting would allow them to regain all their bodily organs. Maybe that is why the Southerners were beating it slowly to death so that it woulde back stronger and provide better dung." Gold surmised.

    "Iбпm ready to kill it to end its misery and allow it to be reborn via the System." Tinda offered as she picked her de up and pointed it at the poor phoenix chick that panted for breath. With wounds festering all over its body, and heavy rusted chains bearing its weight, the bird was drowned in its own dung and vomit. Tinda thought she had discarded her empathy during Kraftбпs training, but this was so downright cruel that she felt a desire to ughter everyone involved in the treatment once more.

    "System strongly advises User to personally go out and use the capture app that System had installed in Userбпs phone. There is no telling how the Phoenix might be able to resurrect, potentially causing Systemбпs capture code after death to be invalid." The System interrupted immediately, halting Tindaбп intention to grant it a merciful death.

    "The memories of these people interacting on their own has inly shown me that these people are worse than savages. Iбпve been informed that this Southern Continent lives by thews of the jungle, but this... they are the true monsters." Tinda held her de for a moment while Jin hurriedly came into the scene. "Iбпm unable to forgive these Southerners a single bit, Master Jin!"

    Even though he was used to the stench of blood, the rancid smell that came from the Phoenix chick nearly made him vomit. He did not hesitate and pulled his phone out to activate the capture app.

    The nostalgic panda screen appeared and so he walked towards the little creature. Unsurprisingly, after suffering the constant torture the Phoenix chick (rightfully?) feared for its life and used all its feeble strength to let out onest screech towards Jin.

    Instead of the usual whip that came after such an act of defiance, followed by food being forced down its throat, Jin caressed the chick, before he gently tapped his phone on its head. "Donбпt worry, the horror has ended. I promise you, that you wonбпt ever have to suffer like this. You will find yourself in a better ce and understand that the world is not always against you." Jin exined as he pointed towards the dead human body corpse.

    The weakened chick followed his hand movement and saw how the dungeon supplier haphazardly conjured a ck Panda Fire in his palms. With a flick of his wrist, the fire was thrown towards those people that had tortured the chick and burnt it until only ashes were left.

    Even with fading consciousness, the chick somehow understood that Jin had helped it get its revenge and it felt that it could finally rest. At that moment the Systemбпs capturing app started to work overtime. With no resistance against the capture, the Phoenix chick was quickly taken in the Systemбпs bosoms.

    "System, ensure that the chick is doing well. Get the Panda Nurses and Milk to look at it." Jin ordered as he now held his nose and got out of the room along with Tinda. That was when they heard footstepsing down hurriedly from afar.

    "They seem to have been alerted by the assassinations." Tinda shrugged her shoulders as she held her de outwards and pushed Jin to the back as if protecting her бпmasterбп was the first priority.

    "Nah, letбпs not push our luck. We got what we wanted." Jin refuted, he opened a portal and dragged Tinda along with him. Although she resisted, the System was able to suck the dark elf who was eager to mete out more justice alongside the dungeon supplier.

    "Why did you stop me? They deserve death, donбпt they?" Tinda questioned as she ryed the found memories through the System and Jin was able to see them as a yback.

    Instead of killing the monsters outright, the entire city under the leadership Saberteeth wasmitting inhuman acts against the monsters. They did not treat them as prey from a hunt but rather abuse and tortured those monsters like how they had done to the Nine Oceans Phoenixбпs chick to get the most out of the monsters. If it was one particr organisation, Jin would have hunted all of them down.

    But no.

    This was the culture in the Southern Capital. All in the name of survival of the fittest.

    However, Jin could not see how this could be called survival. They were doing this on a daily basis, hauling monsters in, cutting off their limbs and keeping them barely alive, so that they could get more parts once they had regenerated. And if that was not enough, they had fun bullying the monsters and some evenmitted take joy in burning them, seeing them squirm or putting them against one another in an arena when they stopped being useful.

    Jin clenched his fists as he now understood the rage Tinda felt. Even though they did not feel remorse because it was ingrained in their culture, this monster horde was basically karma rued from torturing all those monsters.

    For the first time in the Panda cultivatorбпs history, Jin was about to do something very radical.

 Chapter 1011 - Retreating His Forces

    <h4>Chapter 1011 - Retreating His Forces</h4>

    "Pull back. I want all troops to pull back right now."

    Jin announced via the System Channel in a solemn way. The humanoids inside the Dungeon Maker War Room were just mildly surprised after the scenes they had just watched. While Gold was a Schr of the East who was meant to protect the people from the Farming World, he could not not condone the Southernersбп actions.

    As for the monsters on the field, they werepletely shocked. Some monsters like the Devil Dragons were still preparing to sortie out while others like Mr Derpy and Lord Wolte had just been warming up so far.

    "I repeat. With immediate effect, every monster on the battlefield is to pull back. Those getting ready to join us, stay where you are. Wyrstriker, get yourpany of Goblin Wyvern Knights to protect the backline as they retreat. The System has set up one big portal for all of you to go through. Ayse and Keyrin focus your magic near the base and strike any flying monsters whoe too close for the moment and await further orders. Forneus, return back to Spikyбпs airbase at the top and rendezvous with me. I will need you and your mount to fly me over. I n to personally have a chat with the Nine Ocean Phoenix." Jin borated and after some slight hesitation, they started toply.

    Qiu Yue, who had not been present in the Dungeon Maker, was just as confused by the orders, but she did not question the Big Boss. She immediately assisted in opening arger portal via the temporal regtor and the goblin support unit began packing their stuff to return to the Dungeon Instances. Wyrstriker also retreated back to the defensive lines and did not stretch any further than he was supposed to.

    As for Spiky, the Southerners could consider themselves lucky that the Altered Transforming Spider had been benevolent enough to shed off its long legs before he went away. Nevertheless, because it was merely a ditched part of the spider, the high ground became as flimsy as a dead skin and if the archers stayed there for too long, they would undoubtedly fall to their death when the flying monsters came to their vicinity and destroy it.

    Forneus, who had been raring for a good fight just sighed at the wasted opportunity. Fortunately, he knew that unlike the Demonopolis Army where he had to stay on standby on a regr basis, Jin would provide him the excitement with the uing fight with the Demon Rats. Besides, with the new augmentation, it seemed as if he might have strained himself a little too much magic and retreating would allow his mana circuits an opportunity for sce.

    But for now, the order only required him to bring Jin to the Nine Oceanбпs Phoenix for a talk and that did not mean he could not бпdefendбп himself. Thus, Forneus bent the rules a little and killed anything in his path back to the airbase and he did so by going a big round while waiting for the airbase to clear up.

    However, this retreat had a significant impact against the current tide of battle. The Zurgling Queen realised that the aerial forces were retreating and through the eyes of her scouts, she also noticed that the specialbatants were moving away too for some reason. Blinded by her rage, she did not even question it and just took the opportunity to order her children to attack full force.

    On the other hand, the Nine Oceans Phoenix wondered if this was part of some scheme by those humans. Yet, she did not bother to voice her opinion in the matter since the Zurgling Queenбпs kidsбп rampage should reveal everything. In her opinion, it was better to have those monsters have the brunt of a major attack and instead of some of their more valuable allies.

    In the meantime, the Southern Soldiers were devastated by the change of attitude from their monstrous allies. That sudden retreat caused them to panic for a moment as they understood that without the weremice the gaps in their defence line would not be covered. And without the Wyvern Ridersбп interference, the archers proved unable to deal with vast number of Winged Monsters who dove straight towards the Southern Capitalбпs fortress walls.

    "What is the meaning of this?! I thought we had a deal!" Leopardo questioned loudly, enraged that the special organisation had renegaded on their бпdealбп.

    Meomi, who had stayed behind for a while longer, zoomed towards Leopardo with murderous intent. Her climbing gear allowed her to reach speeds she could not have achieved herself but Leopardoбпs instincts kicked in and allowed him to block her attack with his shield.

    However, it was not without difficulty. For the first time in a while, there was someone smaller than him who had been able to knock himself backwards. And not only that, Meomi followed up the attack despite the knockback impact against the shield by using the climbing gear as an anchor with the wires attached to the ground.

    Her attacks turned out to be fiercer than Leopardo expected for someone who had failed toplete the Sacred Trial of the Citadelбпs Stairs. He did not know that Meomi had a hidden trait which she had been keeping well even among her friends and Jin.

    Advanced Catzerker Fury.

    Because of the intense fight she was in with the Demon Rats, Meomi had somehow managed to break through the limits of the Catzerker Fury upgrade card and had managed to manifest it as a superior werecat ability. With it she became capable of fighting stronger, and faster as time went by. The only problem was that once she started it, she was not allowed to stop as the drawback since the drawback would cause her bones and muscle to be weary, exhausted and potentially break upon a momentбпs rest.

    Since the activation of her Advanced Catzerker Fury trait she had been fighting both winged monsters and Zurglings simultaneously making her ascend beyond her base stats and fight with twice her capabilities she had possessed when she had entered the city. It was therefore only to be expected that her the current onught of attacks made it hard for even apetent veteran spearman like Leopardo to find an opening.

    The Southern Soldiers were used to quick decision, and it was not hard to tell that Meomi and the other monsters must have betrayed the Southerners, so they went forth to protect the interim leader of the capital. Yet, this only fuelled Meomiбпs Catzerker Fury even further the moment they were killed by the werecat.

    "Our master might not have told us the reason for his decision, but my instincts are telling me that you must have done something awful to warrant such a drastic move! Calling us monsters? The only monster I see is you!" Meomi shouted as she slid her gunde along the piercing spear strike from Leopardo.

    Compared to Wyrstriker and Nubwortбпs training in spearmanship, Meomi scoffed at this Interimбпs leaderбпs way of the spear. She too had asked for training against spears since the Demon Rats had been using it frequently as a means of attack though she did not expect to use it against a human so soon. (Without to her knowledge, the System had already upgraded some of her iterations in the Bank Heist Dungeon Instance with her improved knowledge against spear users.)

    "Meomi! What are you doing?!" Nightingale tried to block her crazed friend, but Meomi was too far gone to stop for her former housemaid. If she ended up getting in the way, all the werecat had to do was kill her, to exinter. After all, it was not the end for Nightingale if she died by her ws.

    For now, Meomi believed that if she did not bring down Leopardo now, the chance to do so in the future would be harder, if not impossible.

 Chapter 1012 - Parley

    <h4>Chapter 1012 - Parley</h4>

    Jin hastily carried his System Rider Belt on his shoulder as he arrived at the air base. Around him, everyone was hurrying to return back to their Dungeon Home Instances before Spiky was transported out of the Southern Capital. Some queried why canбпt the all mighty System could not teleport all of them at once including the altered transforming spider but not many know that the System still had its limitations at the moment.

    In the meantime, Qiu Yue saw Jin and gave him an upward head nod, her way of asking him what the hell happened. "The Southerners are borderline sc.u.ms. Let the wheel of fate continue as it has, especially since weбпve interfered quite a bit and anything more would not be proper justice for the mistreated monsters fighting to kill the Southerners." Jin briefly told her as he equipped his System Rider belt and beckoned Forneus to fetch him up.

    "What are you going to do? Force your way into the thick of that horde and try to talk to the Nine Oceanбпs Phoenix? Do you think you can convince her? She might not even want to listen to you, since youбпre a human." Qiu Yue replied.

    "We got to try first, right? Else weбпll never know if they are willing to listen. Besides, I think I have the charms of a being a monster person instead of a people person." Jin grinned as he saw Forneus flying towards the edge of Spikyбпs Air Base. Jin then activated his Green Panda Wind energy and sped towards Forneus. By aligning himself to the edge of the base, Forneus was ready to receive his master who jumped on top of therge mechanised Devil Dragon.

    "Because almost every human you meet would like to either use you and kill you, less the few of us that are on your side." Qiu Yue shook her head and assisted with the evacuation.

    After which, the Devil Dragon Leader informed his mount to get ready to activate the boosters, allowing him to tear through the horde if necessary. In the meantime, the System ryed the message of Meomi disobeying the orders by fighting against Leopardo.

    "Let her have her share of fun for now. We can reprimand herter for it. Once the defensive line breaks and the Zurglingse pouring in, she wonбпt have any choice but to retreat." Jin said as he held tightly onto Forneusбп dragon. (There was surprisingly a solid metallic handle at the side of the dragonбпs saddle.)

    The Winged Monster Horde had already experienced how strong the Metal Devil Dragon could be, so instead of facing it, most did their best to evade him as much as possible. Hence, this gave Forneus an easier time charging through the ranks of the Winged Horde and towards their actual target.

    Meanwhile, the Nine Ocean Phoenix was not staying idle. Although not happy about the cowardice of her fellow monsters, she understood that they were too afraid to die pointlessly, so she conjured a sphere of foaming water right in front of her, sparkling in pattern as if it was a reflection of the oceans. The Phoenix understood that she would be the primary target and thus, she released a stream of energised magical st of the seas right towards Forneus.

    "Heh! I am raring to use this arm ever since I got it, and this seems to be the perfect time!" Forneus shouted as he raised that barrel arm of his and started to focus his magic into it. Simultaneously, his Devil Dragon was not moving an inch away from the st zone and too prepared his own Dragonбпs breath in case his master failed. (In actual fact, the Dragon was just aspetitive as his master and was just itching to shoot at something strong instead of picking on weak minions.)

    While his dragon was .u.mting for the st of fire, Forneus already shot out his st of energy beam towards the Phoenix to counter the water beam that it shot out. The Devil Dragon Leader thought he would have the upper hand in terms of elemental attribute, after all, his energy beam was a st of energy, able to evaporate any conjured water.

    Unfortunately, it turned out that the water beam was a monstrosity of its own, able to withstand the st of beam energy and continuously streamed towards the iing Devil Dragon. That was when Forneusбп ride smirked and sent out its prepared dragon st against the attack, proving to his rider that he had much more to learn.

    "Gah! Just because youбпve been augmented way more than me does not give you the right to- Urgh! FINE! You win this time, Carbon!" Forneus grumbled as he let go of his energy barrel arm and instead sent his mana to boost the Dragonбпs power.

    In the meantime, Jin also did the same by using his Maqi to ensure that they would have the upper end. This caused the stream of dragon breath to be more deadly and destructive, allowing it topete with the Nine Ocean Phoenixбпs attack.

    Soon, an explosion ensued after both the Dragonбпs Breath and Water Beam reached a certain threshold that caused the energy to disperse into the air because of its ipatibility. However, that gave the Devil Dragon the chance to swoop in.

    The Nine Ocean Phoenix was not able to react much after that extended use of her attack. She did not expect someone could be more formidable than her on the humansбп side. But instead of a charge, the Metallic Devil Dragon stopped right in front of the Phoenix even though its breath was still charging and its eyes were ring at all the other winged monsters at her side including the Zurgling Queen.

    "Hold your ws and fangs! Iбпm not here to kill any of you, so please donбпt give me a reason. My name is Jin and Iбпvee here before you, because there are certain things I wish to discuss with you. All I ask is that you listen to me." Jin said as he raised up both his hands to show that he was not holding any weapons. (Even though the System Rider Driver Belt was technically a weapon.)

    "Youбпre more than wee to send out your minions to attack the Southern Capital without any further interference from my side. As you might have already noticed, Iбпve ordered my friends to retreat as a sign of goodwill beforeing here. Since you all seem to be the leaders of the hordes, Iбпd like all of your attention, especially yours truly, Lady Phoenix."

    "What makes you think we are willing to parley with a human?! And even though you might not be holding a weapon, that strange dragon of yours is intimidating us with his attack as we speak!" The Zurgling Queen argued and she made a very valid point. Her Elite Zurglings under hermand immediately formed a perimeter along the cliffs, armed with spiked projectiles, awaiting the order to strike if this ...emissary proved to be as dangerous and scheming as the Southerners.

    However, all the monsters in the vicinity knew that the humans do not usually have such magical powers except a minority. And even among those minority, even fewer were able to exert and portray such powers. After all, in their opinion, the wild had always been a constant struggle for monsters and only the strongest survive. Those monsters that had been tamed could not be as ferocious as those who bare their fangs on a daily basis.

    "Apologies. As another sign of trust, I will get him to stand down. Forneus, do you mind telling your body to not attack them?" Jin asked politely and even without Forneusбп approval, Carbon looked straight up and shot his dragon breath upwards, scaring a few of the winged monsters even as they tried to surround Jin from the back.

    They all believed that this was an olive branch of trust being handed to them to show that all Jin wanted to do was talk. But all of them did not know that Jin had previously requested the Devil Dragon to be on standby to act as the first bargaining chip in the negotiations to prove that they were really only here to negotiate.

    Seeing Jin as the ones protecting the Southerners had indeed abandoned them, and this human even allowed the others to continue with the assault against the Southern Capital, the Phoenix slowly nodded her head. "Speak, but none of us will promise to ede any of your demands. Also, who knows what you will do since you dared to betray them. What makes you think your words would be worthy."

    But even with Jinбпs request being epted, that prompted a few of the Winged Monsters to turn around and proceed towards the rather undefended capital.

    "Thank you, Lady Phoenix for your patience and hopefully your understanding after you hear my side of the story. First, Iбпd like you to know that originally my people had agreed to the Southerners because we needed their help and it seemed that your monster horde was about to attack them without just cause. ...until we found out that you are no ordinary Phoenix." Jin said as he ced his hands down.

    "And with however short amount of time we have to find out about the truth, we now know that youбпre not just some savage monsters wanting to have a bite at the humans here as they have imed. No, weбпvee to learn that you have an agenda, something more important than killing these humans for sport or food." Jin risked it all as he said the next sentence with zeal.

    "Youбпvee here to take back your kids!"

 Chapter 1013: Deep Mistrust

    <h4>Chapter 1013: Deep Mistrust </h4>

    "Do not bother listening to this human! Their kind are all perpetual liars . " The Zurling Queen cried in defiance, advising the Nine Oceans Phoenix to not waste a moment of time listening to Jin .

    "I do understand the mistrust you have towards us humans, and I do not deny that I have indirectly hurt you bymanding my monsters to kill your children, but let me show you that not all of us are the same," Jin said as he opened a portal . "I hope that they also believe in actions speaking louder than words . This might possibly be the only way to get their attention . "

    When he finished his sentence, swarms of Zurglings started to sprout out of therge portal on the ground, surprising the Zurgling Queen . While they did not have names per se, she recognised each and every Zurgling as they all had her unique scent on them . Like little puppies, all of them began to wag their deformed tails in delight towards seeing their mother .

    And even though they still recognised her as their mother, her attempts at controlling them toe back failed . Hermands were not effective unlike her other children, it was as if they were all independent Zurglings .

    ''How . . . ? I saw them getting killed? I FELT it! Like a string spun from my own thread, I''ve felt it snap! And yet they are standing here, all much happier than when they served me?!'' The Zurgling Queen thought to herself as she saw a few of them take the initiative to climb on her and y on her back . By normal Zurgling standards, only the favoured few were able to gain that honour and yet all these Zurglings were doing it as if it was something natural,pletely against their supposedly subservient nature .

    "What did you do to them?" Zurgling Queen asked with a heightened alert since that human they were talking to was certainly not someone ordinary if he could change her children that much .

    "Not much . I possess a sort of ''ability'', allowing me to bring back those in by me or myrades . " Jin said as he looked at the Nine Oceans Phoenix . "However, I also have another ability allowing me to capture those who agree toe with me willingly . That includes your little chick too . " He immediately raised his phone up and a holographic projector presented them images of the Nine Oceans Phoenix''s little baby barely alive after the torture it went through . Seeing her child in such a miserable state had naturally enraged the Nine Oceans Phoenix until she saw another portal appearing, wide enough to allow her through .

    "My reaction was the same as yours, Lady Phoenix, which is exactly why I''ve broken all ties with those scheming bastards . One of myrades managed to rescue him . . . or is it a her? Sorry, I''ve yet to ask the gender of your baby, either way, it''s in intensive care right now . My team of healers are doing their best to heal your baby as much as they can . Be my guest ande have a look for yourselves . " Jin used his hand as if to direct the Nine Oceans Phoenix into the portal .

    Although her instincts cried for her to rush through the portal, she herself was still a bit hesitant whether it could be a trap . The human in front of her might have knowledge of the baby and utilised to coax her . For all she know, there were hundreds of hunters waiting to bring her down the moment she stepped into the portal . Or perhaps worse, the humans could be using the baby as a hostage to ckmail and threaten her . Therefore if she were to be wary, the Phoenix needed to have sufficient strength before going into such a portal .

    Since it all sounded too good to be true, the Nine Oceans Phoenix coated herself with magical energies that made any monsters around her feelpletely intimidated by her powers . Aside from the Zurgling Queen they all distanced themselves from her and not wanting to get burnt by the water waves that produced an intense bout of heat .

    She looked down at the Zurgling Queen who had always been a strong proponent of her actions and started to break down as she noticed her confidante begin to embrace the independent Zurglings in her multiple pair of arms . She sensed no devious magical energies from the Zurglings that Jin had summoned and the Queen appeared genuinely relieved finding out that her children were still alive .

    "I do not me you if you do not trust me . Fire up as much as you want before going in, I assure you that this is not a trap . " Jin said as he told Forneus to move away from the portal to give the Phoenix some space to move forth .

    "Aye, I do not me you for being suspicious about my master . But your kid is in good handspared to those bastards that were the ones responsible for its current condition . " Forneus saw the images on the holographic projector and already asked Jin via the System Channel whether the culprits had been served with justice .

    "I burnt their corpses and the System did not even need my input . It had taken the initiative to throw their souls away like a dirtied sock into the trash bin . " Jin replied via the System Channel and Forneus nodded his head with approval .

    "It looks like both you and the System have some morals . I thought you would be catching every single soul regardless of good or bad . " Forneus spoke via the System Channel as the both of them watched the Phoenix mother pluck her courage and venture into the unknown .

    "System finds it a waste that the soul would be cast off instead of being reused . If recycled, it could be of some value to our ''secret organisation'' . " The System remarked casually as it made sure that the current Luxury Recovery Instance had been expanded wide enough for the Nine Oceans Phoenix to enter without any problems . (It was already making a big exception allowing it inside the instance, instead of isting the big creature first . )

    When the mother saw her baby chick in bandages, she was heartbroken, yet at the same time, she was relieved to see the Panda NPC Nurses extend their healing magical capabilities to keep the baby chick''s vitals stable . She was especially thankful for Milk since the Priestess exuded the most potent healing magic .

    "Forneus, hold the fort here while I speak with the mother . " Jin ordered, then jumped into the portal before the System closed it . When he came in, the dungeon supplier came just in time to see the mother''s beak lightly caressing the wounded chick . This was the first time that mother and child met since she had missed it hatching .

    Unfortunately, instead of a happy first meeting, the mother was forced to heal it to the best of her abilities too . Jin then requested the Panda Nurses and Milk to back off for the moment, to allow the Mother Phoenix to enjoy some alone time .

    As the healers moved out of the room, the Nine Oceans Phoenix stared at Jin with eyes of vengeance .

    "I''ve already gotten rid of the ones to torture your first chick . Right now one of myrades is looking for the main perpetrator responsible for stealing your eggs in the first ce . So far, he has not been found yet, but he seems to be holding your other egg . Once we catch him, I can allow you to get your revenge . "

    "Why are you going to such lengths? Helping my baby chick and even offering to sell out the one responsible? Aren''t you a human too?" The Nine Oceans Phoenix asked and Jin found it difficult to answer that particr question .

    "Indeed I''m a human . I could have used a spell to make myself look like a monster, but I wanted to be honest with you . You''re not the only one to mistrust other humans . I wanted to believe them that you were the bad ones, but I''ve learned a valuable lesson that it''s good to trust, but better to check . Besides, monster lives matter too, don''t they? Well hmm, now that I said it out loud, it does sound a little hypocritical of meбн" Jin mumbled thest sentence and the Nine Oceans Phoenix did not really understand until Jin requested the System to ''advertise'' his friendliness to the monsters he had captured .

    However, that actually made the Nine Oceans Phoenix even more confused as she thought those images were about to pop out and harm her kid . She even used her wings to cover her chick which made Jin stop the flood of images .

    "Look, I don''t expect you to trust me blindly from one moment to the next, but I hope that I''ve proven to you, that I at least don''t mean you nor your chick any harm . In fact, I can help you right now . If you allow me to . " Jin asked in a straightforward manner .

    "You do seem nice, but you humans are always scheming! Surely, your ''help'' is not for free and you will want something in return . Or do you im you''ve helped us from the goodness of your heart?" The Nine Oceans Phoenix asked and Jin nodded his head in silence .

    "Indeed, I want to offer you the chance to lead a better life . Not just you, but all those monsters that you''ve gathered shall gain that opportunity if they wish . "

 Chapter 1014 - Peppers in Doubt

    <h4>Chapter 1014 - Peppers in Doubt</h4>

    "We will undoubtedly refuse!" The Nine Oceans Phoenix dered without a momentбпs hesitation.

    "Yeah, I expected as much." Jin sighed since the Phoenix had reacted just as he had feared. "Iбпd probably do the same if someone offered me something like this. It does sound too good to be true, doesnбпt it. However, I just want you to fully hear me out while we rescue your other egg. And if you donбпt mind, please pass that message on." Jin decided not to say anymore as he believed that it might be best to try again once he had reunited the entire family.

    Without any clues or direction to look at, she had no other choice but to pass all that frustration into protecting the one kid she had gotten back that was now right in front of her.

    "We will take care of your baby and make sure that it will recover. Meanwhile, you should return to the frontlines else the othe-"

    "Why should I leave my child with you?!" The Nine Oceans Phoenix spread her wings as a threat to Jin, agitated that he had asked her to leave her precious child. "After what youбпve just proposed, you might be as scheming as the person who holds my other egg! You may have put it in a nice way, but you just want to use us as well!"

    "Please be rational, Lady Phoenix! Iбпve just asked you toe because you are the lead-"

    "I do not give a damn about that horde! All that matters is that my child is with me! Iбпll stay here until she is awake again!" The Nine Oceans Phoenix screeched.

    "She huh..." Jin finally learned the identity of the Phoenix and maybe because itбпs a female, she was more protective of it. Who knew whatw of the jungle they had to obey if they birthed a female chick.

    Nevertheless, this Nine Ocean Phoenix was bing a bother by making things overlyplicated which caused Jin to literally scratch his head.

    If he went out, asking to lead the horde, the winged monsters and the Zurgling Queen would most likely assume that the Phoenix mother had been killed or captured.

    On the other hand, if he didnбпt move out, the winged monsters and the humans would just have a bloody battle on each side. s, harmony would be the most preferable solution, since that would ensure the most allies gather to deal with the Demon Rats, yet it seemed that fate had decreed that for once Jin would have to settle for one side or the other.

    This was merely the capital and there were other Southerners in various towns, but he could most definitely forget hiring anyone from Southern Star. Manpower wise, the humans could be in the thousands which would be a boon fighting the semi mechanised demon rats. Still, Jin decided to clear his hand from the Southerners and fully assist the monsters from the monster horde.

    They were stronger, they hit harder and certainly the harder choice to endeavour. Jin could have killed all of them and made them his allies by capturing them. Then he could have easily gotten humans on board to his side, but he could not just turn off his consciousness.

    Although he was aware that not every single person there was guilty, the problem was the general mentality of the Southerners, that had allowed them to do such horrible things to the Nine Ocean Phoenixбпs chicks and other monsters.

    "This is just a headache, you just have to make the hardest choice in life, eh Jin?" He thought to himself as he opened the portal once more and subsequentlynded on Carbon. A number of the winged monsters were looking at him as if they were waiting for their leader to return.

    "Your Leader, the Nine Ocean Phoenix has seen the terrible state her child is in, and decided to stay with it until the chick recovers from the humanбпs brutality. I know some of you must have doubts or suspect that I am bluffing, so I am going to do something that I would never have thought possible to prove to you that Iбпm indeed on your side." Jin spoke as he called up Peppers by his side.

    "Yo, Boss. What do you want?" Peppers asked as she was raring for a fight when she came out of the portal. It had been quite some time since she was allowed to create havoc instead of having to y a supportive role.

    "You see that capital over there? I want you to st it to kingdome." Jin said and Peppers who instinctively said yes to anything containing the word st, immediately jerked in her reactions and looked at Jin.

    "Could you please repeat that? You want me to...?" Peppers asked for another confirmation in case she had heard wrongly the first.

    "Gather your power and erase that city from the map. Whenever youбпre ready." Jin spoke it out loudly and clearly so that the monsters could hear his orders too.

    "Youбпre aware that if I do that, the System might not have the capability to capture all of them, right? I mean perhaps 30-40% of whoever is still in there. Anything more would be lost due to the overflow of souls. This is not like the Giant World where those peeps were just mindless monsters wanting to fill their stomach with a meal of meaty animal folk." Peppers cautioned the dungeon supplier.

    "We might be forced to act as the bad guys in the future for certain worlds. Itбпs probably for the best to pick that act up as soon as we can to learn and limatise to it." Jin sighed and if they were not surrounded by monsters, he would have most likely also dropped his shoulders in defeat.

    "Those WORDS!" Kraft came out from nowhere once again and hugged Jin. "Iбпve been longing for you to say those for a very long time!!!"

    "Huh, what?!" Jin did not expect Kraft to appear to intervene and turn such a delicate situation even worse. Did the crafty fox really have to appear when he was about to make a choice which would undoubtedly lead to many sleepless nights? (Yes, yes he DID!)

    "Alright, Peps! Since this is a historic moment, let us help lessen the guilt of our reborn Master. Thereбпs no need to kill them all in one go. In session would be fine as well, right? Then again theyбпre indeed human sc.u.m worse than trash, so nobody would me you if you wanted to show us a 10 on the Pepperбпs scale." Kraft suggested as he lifted Jin up and twirled him around the Devil Dragonбпs back.

    Meanwhile the monsters (and Forneus) were speechless at the weird scene they were having to watch.

    "Well, if you say so." Peppers shrugged her shoulders upon Kraftбпsment and raised her staff. "Yo, Queen! Get your little kids out of the area or donбпt me me for turning them into!"

    The Zurgling Queen scoffed at thatmand, thinking she had to take orders from a human. "I shall merely do it because you are aiding us! But as soon as we see any indication that you might betray us, we wille after you no matter how powerful you are."

    "Hah! You can keep those words to yourself." Peppers did not really have much qualms now knowing that Jin gave thatmand with decisiveness despite iting a little as a whim. She had already double checked since the mage betor wanted to make sure Jin was aware of the potential consequences.

    "Then without further ado." Peppers waved her staff in a circr motion as Jinбпs monsters were already in full retreat.

 Chapter 1015 Escaping From The Catzerker

    <h4>Chapter 1015 Escaping From The Catzerker</h4>

    "By the way, hope you do not mind me if I borrow some of that sizzling electrical energy!" Peppers merely informed Ayse and Keyrin via the System Channel as she absorbed the thundercloudбпs mana into her staff. The roaring thunder got crackled louder whenever the lightning bolts zapped Pepperбпs weapon but instead of being charred, its mana twirled around the staff as if it was dancing before it turned into a raw form of magic essence.

    The two Thunder Magic Users felt that there was no need to maintain the domination of the skies any longer, so they gave Peppers everything she wanted before retreating. This way, her cast time was also reduced significantly to prepare for the best skill in her repertoire.

    Also, with electrical energy to y with, she realised she could do another variation of her explosion as a wide magical circle once again hovered above the Southern Capital. The rainbow coloured circle slowly turned from purplish blue from all the mana absorbed from the clouds and the Southerners could already feel an ominous feeling emanating from it.

    While all of these were happening, most of Jinбпs monsters had already retreated, leaving Meomi the only one within the capital still battling against Leopardo. Since she had failed to kill him with her initial attack, more and more soldiers hade in to protect their interim leader.

    With the mysterious organisation abandoning them to the inevitable monster horde attack, at the very least they had to buy their interim leader enough time to lead the elites into retreat. However, Meomi was unwilling to let her slippery prey escape. Each time the soldiers intervene and guard Leopardo to run away from the current situation, Meomi easily shes them away because of her Catzerker Fury trait.

    This ensued a cat and mouse game with Leopardo running away from the walls of the Southern Capital and into the town where he thought he would have space to run and hide. Unfortunately, he had not ounted for Meomi being a werecat and his smell was extremely nauseating for Meomi making it impossible for her to lose him.

    With her automated climbing gear, she continued to chase Leopardo relentlessly and exchanged a few blows before his guards and mercenaries came in to intervene. "You are just wasting your time running away! And Nightingale, I did not expect you to protect such a wussy!"

    Meomi shouted as she saw her former maid running beside Leopardo.

    Nightingale was still bleeding from Meomiбпs previous attack, yet she was bound by duty and had sworn an Oath when she enrolled into this particr mercenary organisation.

    There was some magic at y making it impossible for her to defy Leopardoбпs orders to protect him. She could only hope Leopardo and his remaining few guards could outrun Meomi. Although that was a wish that would note through given her mobility and even if they could, that ominous magical circle hovering above their heads would not give them a chance to leave properly.

    "Do not fall for her words." Leopardo smirked as he made a right turn and revealed a narrow back street alley with a mage maintaining a portal for their leader. "Nightingale, follow me! I have many questions about this secret organisation that you so eagerly vouched for. As for the rest, guard me with your lives! Your death wonбпt be forgotten, you honourable soldiers!" Leopardo shouted as he grabbed Nightingaleбпs cape and pulled her along forcefully.

    The guards obeyed their interim leaderбпs orders without question and felt prideful that they were given such a task to perform. Upon his orders, they formed a tight formation at the front while some parkoured and took to the roofs so that Meomi would not have any space to move forward easily even with her automated climbing gear.

    But they underestimated the werecat with her Catzerker Fury burning brightly through the past fights. As if her whole body was burning with red chi when the guards saw her, they realised their so called tight defence was nothing but a small little stone on the path. She screeched as she shot her climbing gearбпs anchor head to the far end of the backstreet alley and with the boost of the air crystal, Meomi charged through the multiple defensive lines like a razor cutting the thick bushels.

    The mage realised that there was nothing stopping the attacker froming through and decided to end the spell but a shot suddenly came through and burst his mouth before he could start the incantation to close the portal. Meomiбпs gunde was working as intended and she zoomed past the guards and into the portal. Just in time before it closed due to theck of mana maintaining it with the mageбпs death.

    On the other side of the portal, she found herself in a wide spacious hall with marble tiling and well decorated walls( And also many heavily armed guards pointing the weapons at her!) Yet despite all of those, she could still the familiar sounds of despair fighting from a distance. In order to prevent her Catzerker Fury from dissipating, her body already moved to the nearest guard and killed him effortlessly while trying to assimte the information around her.

    It was only with the fourth kill did she realise she actually was in the heart of the Southern Capitalбпs Citadel. "So, itбпs a diversion portal huh? Quite a clever method." Meomi mumbled as she concentrated on her nose, only to realise that the nauseating sense had disappeared in the far corner, indicating that there could be another mage that teleported him away.

    "Argh! So irritating!" Meomi cursed as she proceeded to fight against all the heavily armed guards as a way to cool herself down before thest call for the retreat was enforced by the System.

    Meanwhile, Leopardo wasughing to himself that his n to escape had seemingly worked splendidly. He had indeed gone into another portal and was now lying low in an out of reach hideout in the Southern Region.

    бпTo think there would be a group of sentient monsters willing to help us. How foolish I was to ept their help." He thought to himself. "But never again. The only good monster is a DEAD monster.бп Leopardo unceremoniously kicked Nightingale into her guts, causing her to throw up.

    "See what you did? What kind of help have you brought?! The whole capital is in shambles and perhaps gone! I cannot believe your leader Bison had na?ve enough to trust them. Guess my intentions to have him killed by the Demon Rats could not be achieved." Leopardo said as he delighted in Nightingaleбпs suffering.

    "Now tell me everything about them and their weakness." Leopardo ordered as he pulled a dagger out. "And do not even think of lying to me or I will cut your limbs off."

    That was when Nightingale saw the real Southern Stars leader right in front of her. That he was far from being as magnanimous as he had always seemed when she had grown up training in his organisation. Back when she had been recruited into Southern Stars because of the Demon Rat situation, she had believed that their leader had taken pity on them. Especially since, they had fed her, had clothed her and had provided her shelter. All she needed to do had been to learn and hone her fighting skills to the best of ability, so she could fulfil missions and bring back coins.

    And even with limited interactions with Leopardo, he had always portrayed himself as a reliable leader and not a man being induced by madness like the one she was facing right now. Could that be the reason why Meomi had so desperately tried to kill him? Because she had seen through him?

    "Ouf!" Another kick to the gut since she was not responding to her leader in time, followed a punch to the face while he pulled her by the hair.

    "SPEAK!" Leopardo shouted as he felt he had lost everything he had built and the anger in him could not be quelled even with the information the Nightingale was about to provide. He needed a punching bag to vent his anger and Nightingale as the former housemaid of the crazy catdy seemed to be the perfect candidate.

    "Meomi.... Save me." Nightingale whispered as she suffered even more blows, unable to retaliate. She scorned the tattoo of the three stars that was disabling her from even trying to fight back. Each time she willed herself to defy the leader of the Southern Stars, her hands and legs instantly went numb.

    But just as she was about to ck out, she heard a voice...

    A very sinister one.

 Chapter 1016 Great Protector Extraordinaire

    <h4>Chapter 1016 Great Protector Extraordinaire</h4>

    "Dear me. Looks like youбпre in quite the bind. Should I send over your BFF? But who knows how long that will take... Well, I suppose I could lend you a helping hand if you so wish." The sinister voice whispered as he giggled without restraint.

    Nightingale was unaware who exactly was calling out to her but she believed it had something to do with the secret organisation that Meomi was part of. Feeling helpless, she did not hesitate a single moment to ask the sinister voice for help.

    "Please, I donбпt know who, but make that monster stop!" Nightingale shouted loudly not caring about offending Leopardo. However, because of her defiance, Leopardo was even tougher in his abuse. He utilised more strength in his kicks which sent Nightingale flying to the side of the wall.

    The former maid spat out blood from the impact, feeling that something inside of her had snapped, most likely her ribs piercing into her lungs or her stomach rupturing from the strain. Her sight was getting hazy and she was barely at the edge of her consciousness.

    "You dare to liken me to those traitorous beasts, who YOU brought to us?! Oh donбпt worry, it will all stop in a moment!" Leopardo yelled as he walked even closer to her and raised his right arm which he had used something simr to a magic spell to create. A parting gift from Saberteeth when he told Leopardo to бпtake careбп of the capital and with his brand new temporary arm, he was about to smash her face in.

    "Tsk, tsk, tsk. I may be an advocate of true gender equality who has no qualms battling a girl in a fair fight, but this? Forcing her to endure your abuse, preventing her from defending or retaliating? How would you like to be in such a situation?" The sinister voice was echoing around the hideout. While Nightingale could only recognise it as the voice who had spoken to her just now, Leopardo was far more familiar with it.

    He remembered that voice all too clear and to be honest, he had yet to ovee that trauma about his memories being ripped out forcibly. It was at that moment he suddenly heard a crack. In the next instant, he felt an excruciating pain in his arm, since it had been twisted to the point where an aspiring acrobat would feel jealous.

    As if that was not enough he found his legs suddenly sinking down as he was being swallowed by the ground. Some magical quicksand was biting into his armoured boots and binding him.

    "IMPOSSIBLE! How did you even find us? I should have sensed your presence! No matter how faint the magical aura was!" Leopardo asked as he tried to pull his dagger out with his remaining hand while tolerating his pain.

    s, Kraft was not leaving him with the smallest speck of hope. A ck fox appeared on the interim leaderбпs shoulder and a secondter, his entire left arm disappeared. There was no pain until he saw the fox jump out and away from the dark magical quicksand with his entire arm in its mouth. Leopardo suddenly experienced a series of phantom pain pulsating through his nerves as the fox started biting on the left arm and munching it away as if it was an afternoon tea snack.

    "Where should I begin to tell you about my awesomeness?" Kraft asked in an overly dramatic fashion as he came out of a portal, raising out his arms with confidence and style. "You see, you signed something quite important. A pact with me. Although the contents are vague, not to mention quite useless in this current situation because of your peopleбпs wrongdoings, the important bit can be summed up as you basically signing over your life to me!"

    He pulled out a piece of paper with a tinge of blood at the bottom right corner of the contract and came close enough to show it to Leopardo. The interim leader realised that was the blood that Kraft had forced out of his finger. He was about to curse his captor for forcing him into signing it, but the crafty fox already continued his grand spiel.

    "But even without this fail safe, your little Southern Star Ninja could have easily led me to you. While she didnбпt exactly sign a full used contract, she is still considered a part time employee with all the benefits such a job entails. Most prominently getting rescued by a roguishly handsome fellow." Kraft sauntered towards the injured Nightingale and tended to her wounds.

    "A normal human without any magical power whatsoever and yet she was doing her best to ride the tide to survive. To die as a punching bag without any means of retaliating is worse than getting toyed with by a predator. At least prey gets a chance to bare their fangs out when cornered, no matter how blunt such an effort might be." The crafty fox spoke as he ced his hand underneath Nightingaleбпs chin to have a closer look at her while pushing her hair behind her ears.

    "But worry not. I, Great Protector Extraordinaire of all fair and good, shall save you from your imminent death." He winked at Nightingale who was struggling to keep her breath steady and was unsure if all of this was real or she was hallucinating due to blood loss.

    "Thankfully, you are not too stubborn for your own good. Jin should learn a little from you, though he is gradually changing to someone who understands that he cannot protect everyone and yet is selfless enough to protect people who matter." He smiled once more before turning his head towards Leopardo.

    "As for you," Kraft carefully ced her head down, turning it towards the sinking Leopardo.

    "O how enjoyable it is to see fools like you be. Unable to understand even the most basic things. Fine, as a parting gift I can answer your burning curiosity..."

    Without any hands to even resist what the sly fox was about to do, Kraft walked on top of the quicksand without any trouble and put his hand through the chain mail and picked up Leopardoбпs pendant. "This useless crap can only detect magic up to a certain calibre." He then lowered his chi presence and suddenly the pendant started blinking and vibrating crazily.

    "However, once I get an output higher than what it could detect." The pendant started to vibrate so much that it stopped vibrating and darkness enveloped the entire crystal on the pendant. "Itбпs such a useless magical detector and the funny thing is I am not even using magic. Well, exining the difference between magic is chi to you sounds too bothersome." He threw the pendant into the quicksand and it melted.

    "Instead, I shall show you a performance that you will never forget. Hmm, perhaps you will once you are dead." Kraft chuckled but Leopardo had no idea what the man in the long coat was saying. Even resisting was futile when he had no arms and his legs were trapped, not to mention the series of pain was starting to emit through his legs as well.

    "You see, Iбпm not much of a healer, so to save the little bird, I need some extra parts. In other words, I got to use you. And judging from the amount of battle experience your body went through, I would say you alone would suffice in saving her." Kraft exined as he walked away from the quicksand to have a nce at the dying Nightingale.

    "Though... she might probably be disgusted that I used your body so letбпs keep a secret, shall we?" Kraft winked at him as he once again raised his hands up and dark chi began to flow out and surround the entire hideout.

    "Good thing, dead men tell no tale... unless you are Derek that is. Hahaha!" He smiled as he tried to imitate the very same spell Derek used to siphon and drain energy from his opponents.

 Chapter 1017 Vassel

    <h4>Chapter 1017 Vassel</h4>

    Before Leopardo was allowed to process the insane mumblings of the mad man that put him through all this pain, his head was grabbed once more. His heart immediately clenched tight as if it knew what wasing in the next few seconds. With a twirl of dark chi in the surroundings, the interim leader of the Southern Capital felt a tugging sensation throughout his body. At first, he thought his blood would be drained since the man in the long coat imed he was going to heal Nightingale.

    But soon, he realised that it was more than just his blood, he felt his life force was being absorbed right into the palm of the devil. "Ah, such vitality. As much as you are a warrior, you knew how to enjoy life too. Compared to what your employees eat on a daily basis, you have outlived them by a hundred times more. Oh little Nightingale, youбпll be getting more than you deserve and trust me, you will need it for the days toe. Hehehe!" Kraft said as he used his chi to maintain the life force on his palm and slowly walked to the barely unconscious little ninja.

    "Infused will be memories, techniques, experience and so much more. Unfortunately, youбпre getting the whole package, so there will also be undesirable things such as a distaste for monsters and the absolute discrimination against them. But have no worries, a little one on one session with me should ensure that you will be making friends with monsters in no time!" He giggled as he was looking forward to her contribution under him.

    The fox leader had wanted to get himself a secretary for some time now. Qui Yue, the little Red Panda Cutie, had been a promising candidate on his radar, but after getting to know her, he had decided against putting her in between himself and Jin. Ayse had been another one on his mind, especially with her feistiness, but as Jinбпs Head Researcher she had more than enough on her te.

    He could have easily chosen one of the Foxes like Kiyu for that role, given their capabilities, but they were neither pure and innocent. Not like this girl right in front of him. While her fighting skills needed some brushing up, she had the potential to do so much more especially when he browsed through her memories and saw that her brilliant current battle experience had been gathered in a short span of time. Now that the System and Jin had announced to the world that the Royal Panda n was still alive, itбпs time for the Fox n as its trusty vassal to grow in strength too.

    "Only unlike that young Panda Master, whoбпs willing to take people randomly and sometimes incessantly just for his dungeon instance, Iбпm a little more refined. Although I got to say his batch of бпn membersбп has subsequently grown to be a fine group of people. Enemies turned friends? Thatбпs like the ssic going from ck to white!" Kraft snickered as he inserted the lifeforce into Nightingale while putting in a bit of foxy chi in the mix to make her his.

    "Original Betor Kraft, while it ismendable that you are building up your own n once again. Please be sure to do so within reason. The System still does not have sufficient processing capabilities to keep everything together."

    "Yes, yes, now quickly go get that titan brain or something. It sucks that youбпre giving us such a handicap. Like seriously, you should have done limitations like this for the past generations. That way, those Users wouldnбпt have ended up too drunk in power, you dork." Kraftined and that rendered the System speechless for a moment.

    "The Users under the System required that amount of power to stay alive during that period of time. It was a necessity for them."

    "You mean just as necessary as them going around, doing stupid things because they had an awesome power backing them up?" Kraft shook his head since he had more than a few faces popping up in his mind the moment he talked about it.

    "The System will take your suggestion into consideration and review its protocols upon the passing of the current User." The System stated and Kraftбпs gave a sarcastic expression of being horrified.

    "You are putting a death g in his life story! So evil of you! And to think I might be considered a bad person! Perhaps you are the antagonist this whole time!" Kraft exaggerated as he continued to treat Nightingale while Leopardo was convinced the person who was taking his life waspletely insane. He could not believe his life would end just like this.

    "Oh no, no, no. Youбпre not allowed to leave us so fast! This time, I will have myself a fantastic time learning all about the insane stuff you guys have been doing behind the peopleбпs back. The quick glimpse previously has already revealed that you are the hypocrite type who just acts like a goody-two-shoes." Kraft smirked as he wielded his dark chi with another hand and did a telekic chi p at Leopardo.

    But as he did that, the entire hideout suddenly shook and the tremor did not stop until a few secondster. Kraft knew that there was no way his p could have done and there was only one other exnation for this unnatural tremor. "Peppers already got her spell out?" Kraft asked the System for the coordinates to this particr hideout.

    The System instantly showed the distance away from the Southern Capital in a holographic screen in front of Kraft which made him chuckle. "Oh, Peppers... so much for holding back, eh?"

    "System is now processing all those who have been killed and putting them in various overflow stacks to ensure that User will eventually keep control of the Zurglings." The System stated.

    "Why the need for so much micromanaging? Just put the Queen under our control and let her handle the revived brood. Say, now that you mention it, I got quite curious when Jin told me his army numbered around eight thousand-odd? You see, causest I recalled, the number of monsters we captured should be way much more than that." Kraft pointed out as he leisurely deciphered Leopardoбпs brain while at the same time healing Nightingale. Although he had to multitask, thetter was already almost done and he just wanted to make sure she would make an awesome servant.

    "That number corresponds to the number of sentient monsters who are able to think for themselves and donбпt need to bemanded by the System. Monsters and animals once possessed by the Bone Spirits and Zurglings were not counted in. So are the livestock which had been captured in the Giant World. Also, System has been starting to make sure that the quality of the monsters captured would be of a certain standard following the newly revised protocol. Anything that falls short of the revised standard will be thrown away."

    " HAHAHAHAH! бпThrown awayбп? Haha! Please, you might be able to bluff Jin with the amount of trust youбпve regained in this short amount of time, but you donбпt have to do that to me. I know what happens to those people that are killed and бпdiscardedбп. Instead of buying more items that could expand your processing capabilities, you use them as vessels." Kraft snorted that the System did not deny such allegations.

    "And do not think I did not notice. While the official number for your processing capabilities still stays the same, you actually have a backup System that is crunching the numbers at the backend. And those monsters and people you discarded have been used for that particr backup System" Kraft pointed out.

    "The current User has worthy ambitions that are worth pursuing but System also realised that it will be impossible to achieve his dreams without any underhand methods. As the System has said before, this is the real chance to grow and return to former glory and thus we will do whatever it takes to make sure it will be possible if not in this then in the next generation."

    "As such, let the true burden of his glory be borne to the elders while at the same time correct the wrongs that we did." Kraft grinned gently. He had uncovered all the information he needed from Leopardo before sapping out thest of his lifeforce.

    His бпsacrificeбп would allow him to serve the System...in a different way.

 Chapter 1018 Forced Advertising

    <h4>Chapter 1018 Forced Advertising</h4>

    "HA HA HA!" Peppers was a hundred and ten percent satisfied with the results as she watched the entire Southern Capital go up in smoke. (More than just smoke actually, but she wasughing so hard at the end result, she could not notice anything else other than that.)

    Compared to her previous experience of destroying hectares ofnds in the Giant World, this could merely be counted as a warm-up exercise of her magic. The Mage Betor even felt that she had barely scratched the surface of her daily quota of explosions.

    бпShe did reallye a long way from vomiting rainbows on my shirt.бп Jin thought since this was the first time he saw her still standing and even able to jump around with joy without any fatigue after using her big spells. The dungeon supplier then eyed the monster hordes at the corner of his eyes to see a mix of expressions.

    The Zurgling Queen was surprised, yet felt satisfied that the Southern Capital had been demolished. Still, she couldnбпt help but feel a bit regretful to see the home of her grandmother reduced to rubble, but it was better than allowing those pesky humans to stay in her ancestorбпs abode.

    However one of the monsters with the ability to speak voiced out a rather intellectual concern. "Wonбпt this escte the hunt against us?"

    Jin had been waiting for someone to raise such a concern and he was more than happy to address it. He was aware that despite his grand gesture, many could not help but mistrust him with the Phoenix gone, fearing this could just be some giant conspiracy, so he had to make his stand clear. The Panda Cultivator had to convince them that he was indeed there to provide them with an opportunity for a better life. (But of course, not everything was a bed of roses.)

    "Once again, my name is Xie Jin! Where Ie from Iбпm a so-called dungeon supplier. You can think of me as a sort of Monster Master. This means that I govern over monsters who work for me. They earn their keep by doing hard work, but in return, I provide them with great food, a suitable shelter to stay and the opportunity to not only better themselves but also their living conditions even further. Youбпve seen that I have many elite monsters during the unfortunate show of force against you guys. While I regret that our first meeting started out negatively because of that misunderstanding, I assure you that I fight for monsters and humans as long as they do good."

    "And before you raise any concerns, yes, I ept all kinds of monsters, not just ones as powerful as your leaders. As long as you are willing to fight or use your talents for the greater good, youбпll have a ce in my dungeons. Not to mention, youбпll get a chance to kill as many humans as you want to the best of your ability in arena like battles, because they will be there trying to kill you too." Jin said and immediately realised that this was not exactly the best advertising quote he could have used.

    He coughed once in slight embarrassment before he changed his tone. "Now Iбпm sure all of you are asking yourself how exactly it will benefit you to join me if youбпre going to lose all your benefits once youбпre dead. So I am going to tell you a huge secret - I have the powers to resurrect monsters. So if you end up killed, Iбпll make sure that youбпll be alive and kicking in no time at all."

    "If you doubt my master and think he is bluffing, how about one of youe and kill me? I wonбпt lie and pretend that dying doesnбпt hurt, but if itбпs to dispel the doubts, Iбпll happily endure that bit of pain. You should be aware after seeing that explosion or watching the power my buddy Carbon showed, that we could have just chosen to ughter you and forced you to join us. However, Master Jin is not that kind of person. Heбпs allowed you to choose whether you want to continue your life or change it for the better." Forneus chimed in.

    He could see the monster hesitating about that offer, but he didnбпt me him. Jin and the System defiedmon sense like they had done during the Pandapolis Raid. It had been one of the best and worst fights Forneus had ever had. He had never expected such resistance from a new city and his firm belief that the Demon Army had been one of strongest armies in the Dungeon World had been deeply shaken. Fortunately, now that he had joined Jin, more fights were waiting for him like the one against the Demon Rats and a possible sh against the Church of the Afterlife in the near future.

    "Will my kids be free from my twisted tyranny? Just like how free these babies are?" The Zurgling Queen asked with an anxious heart. Zurgling Queens used powerful pheromones to keep full control over the Zurglings theyбпve spawned, but her control was more than that.

    Her grandmother might have been doting on her granddaughter to let her go before she was caught in the crossfire, but her mother was not that kind. Her mother had tried to fight the humans on her own, but failing over and over again, turned her to be more and more desperate.

    Losing hope, she had eventually sacrificed herself to ce an ancient curse on her daughter to make all the Zurglings obey her unconditionally. This had allowed the Zurgling Princess to control them like extensions of herself, instead of sending them out and hoping for the best.

    s, the price she had to pay was that she got burdened by hearing the thoughts of her Zurglings at all times. For example, in this battle alone, she had felt hundreds of them express their fear, felt their pain as well as the agony of dying. If not for her vengeance against the Southerners, she would not have tolerated all these whispers that were edging her close to insanity.

    However, Jin shook his head solemnly as part of his reply.

    "They happened to be like this because of the circumstances. I can only assure you that we will help you to the best of our abilities." Jin was not making any promises because he had no idea what the Zurgling Queen was suffering from. Still, the Zurglings that had been liberated from her control were telling her something else. They were encouraging her to join Jin and give it a try. Unbeknownst to the Queen, her desire for vengeance had simrly been guing them and they had never felt such relief when they were killed and reborn as Jinбпs subordinates.

    She trusted the words of her children more than this human. The Zurgling Queen decided to be the first to openly join Jin without waiting for Forneus, demonstrating that Jin indeed had the power to бпresurrectбп monsters. Slowly but surely, more and more monsters voluntarily decided to join Jin too. After all, thew of the junglepelled them to follow the strongest creature. Whoever could destroy the entire Southern Capital was not a person or monster to be trifled with. Whether his words and promises were true was another matter entirely.

    Jin opened a portal wide enough for those Winged Monsters to enter and felt that this could be the battalion he was searching for. With their capability to fly, everything else could be arranged especially after their discovery that the new System Augmentation Process could potentially make his life easier. The headache on how to fight the Mecha World was getting lesser and perhaps Kraftбпs constant insistence to act as the бпevilбп party of that world so that the two major factions could set aside their differences and unite as one was getting more and more possible.

    Also, by defeating their Mechas, he could haul those damaged Mechas back for some reverse engineering and possiblye back to use it against them. As for the pilots that were captured, they could ultimately be used for the Supa Robo Wars and therefore expand that particr part of his dungeon instances. Not to mention, having Mechas would provide some nice and interesting end game content for the Virtual Reality Network he envisioned.

    But right now, all he was focusing on was to get as many of these Winged Monsters on his side as possible. His dungeon ns woulde into fruitionter.

 Chapter 1019 Nothings Ever The Right Choice

    <h4>Chapter 1019 Nothingб░s Ever The Right Choice</h4>

    бпDid I really make the right choice?бп Jin thought to himself as he observed more and more monsters entering the portal after one of them struck down Forneus, who then got revived right in front of them. As happy as he was about the increase of his own flying monster horde, the sight of the Southern Capital in shambles weighed heavily on his mind.

    Although they might have evacuated most if not all of the civilians, there had been many innocents within the city, no matter how badly he tried to convince himself that they all deserved this punishment for their savage way.

    And yet, this also taught Jin that with just one word he could kill as easily as he could protect. The dungeon supplier had once thought that he could protect everyone given the sheer limitless capabilities of his System, but in the end he had to acknowledge that their powers were finite. No matter how hard he tried, death and destruction would follow his trails.

    However, he knew one thing.

    He would do whatever he needed to do to protect his new family (of monsters). As long as they worked hard for him, Jin would do what he could to allow them to live life to the fullest. While the System had tried to make him embrace this dog-eat-dog world mentality rather early in their budding rtionship, which had led to a deep feud between the two parties, he now felt like he could slightly understand the Systemбпs action, as it had done what it deemed necessary to ensure the survival of the declining Panda n for the next generation.

    This System that he possessed had blood on it since the time of its inception. Therefore, all Jin could do was to minimise the bloodshed while climbing to the top. And if he analysed it logically, he had technically saved the Southern Region from a protracted war by annihting the humans quickly. The death toll would have undoubtedly been way higher on both sides and the fight between the monsters and humans would still go on, even if he had sided and saved the humans. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that the greed of humans was neverending unlike monsters who mostly just rampaged when they did not have enough food or someone threatened their territory.

    "Snap out of it, Jin. You did make the right choice. These monsters will serve you with more loyalty than these Southerners ever could." Jin told himself and pped both of his cheeks to wake himself up. At that moment, he asked Forneus if he could do a fly by to the capital.

    "Why? Searching for survivors? Youбпve seen it yourself. Even if she held back unless it was someone like King Baal, nobody else could survive such an explosion." Forneus wondered, but he merely shrugged his shoulders and told Carbon, his Metal Devil Dragon, to move forth.

    "No, I going to ask the System to take some pictures and make an analysis of this burnt area. It will provide a good reference if I ever want to feature a dungeon instance with a ruined capital. And if not, it could be its own area for the Virtual Network. We should be able to make it a big event and at the end of it the former capital would turn out like this. What do you think?"

    "Wow, Boss. You can be pretty sick in your brain at times, donбпt you know that?" Forneus shook his head in disbelief. He never really looked back on any battlefields after he was done with them. This was the first time he heard someone wanting to revisit the war scene just because of some reference.

    "The deed is already done, might as well make the most of it..." Jin shrugged his shoulders as he requested the System to analyse the area while he made Peppers prepare to do a Deep Scan of the area. His Mage Betor agreed rather readily since she was also interested in looking at the ruins. However, her interest was more regarding finding ways to improve the quality of her explosions. Checking out the epicentre was not enough in her opinion.

    Although she usually had the System to tell her how well she had done in the training room she had bought with her System points, there were discrepancies in this particr spell she had used. Not only would the current environment affected the explosion quality, Peppers had also borrowed lightning based mana via Keyrin and Ayse before mixing it with her own magical powers.

    "Heh...if we someday visit a world filled with magicalbat idiots like her, she would most likely be the queen of thosebat idiots in a heartbeat," Forneus remarked and although Peppers did not turn around, only staring at the far end of the ruined capital.

    "There are people with far more dangerous magic than me. Not just in my own world, but also the Gods and Demons that Jin has yet to encounter. Have you seen the images from the System, how arrogantly the Godly Representative held himself? With a flick of his wrist, he had conjured barriers that denied chi, mana and every other thing from the outsideing through." The Mage Betormented.

    "To the naked eye, not everyone could notice it but the more astute in magic or chi will recognise that no simple fellow could break that barrier apart...well perhaps Zeru could if he gave it his all. Maybe Kraft as well if he really wanted to or Rex." Peppers added and started to mumble more names in her list of exceptions as she started to take notes on the irregrities of the mana in the atmosphere because of her explosion.

    "You mean we should not go against them?" Jin asked, now interested in the conversation.

    "If you were to put them in your game, they would unquestionably be end game content. And I am not talking about you being able to beat them on your own but those World Bosses where multiple guilds would have to unite to take them on. Still, right now you are not on their radar, yet fate flickers like the candleбпs light on a windy night. Who knows how things might change for you in the days toe. Maybe youбпll have to mingle with them soon enough."l

    "It sounds like youбпve shed with them before." Forneus asked, continuing to feign ignorance even though he was a Demon from the Demon ne, venturing out to the Dungeon World because of the prospects of a бпquieterбп life.

    "Letбпs just say I got a chance to see them in action first hand, so I can safely say, they are definitely stronger than you, Demon. You would not stand the chance as you are now. Despite the upgrade weбпve given you, it should be a far cry from your former form as one of the Greater Demon Nobles, Forneus." Peppers answered and her words stung him bad.

    "Ouch. So you actually do know about me." Forneus but Jin was lost in the conversation and yet he did not wish to interrupt it.

    "Of course, they donбпt call me the Fiery Demonic Queen Sage for nothing. Iбпve acted as the encyclopaedia of the System for a reason. I even know quite a few things that the System does not know because of the Universal Mana Pool that Iбпm connected to. You may not know it but the worlds no matter how vastly different they are, are not much more than pieces of paper in a book. Well, one giant book." Peppers exined with pride.

    "But didnбпt you admit that youбпre still not all-knowing." Jin interrupted and Peppers felt like throwing a fireball at her master.

    "Because I could not be bothered to check. If I concentrate really hard, I could get to the bottom of things. And the System wanted me to do that for you initially, but that was just too boring. I only want to explode stuff!"

    "Is that why the System gave you to me as a Betor so quickly?" Jin tried to remember back the days when he first got the betors.

    "Maybe. Anyways, I am picking up a few heat signatures in the ruined capital. Do you wish to save them?" Peppers asked as she started to charge her magical staff as a way to kill them quickly as mercy.

    "Your magic was not strong enough to kill every single one of them?" Forneus could not help but tease the Mage Betor, who just harrumphed and looked away, as if could not give two hoots about his opinion.

    "Go ahead. Let the System judge them and if they are worthy to be resurrected, the System would do as such." Jin believed that was the best way for these survivors who were stuck in the rubbles of this ruined capital.

 Chapter 1020 The Hatchery - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1020 The Hatchery - Part 1</h4>

    While Peppers and the System were busy analysing the debris from the skies, (and bringing a swift death to the remaining survivors) Jin received a call from Narris, the Drow who had been investigating the location of the second and final egg that the Southern Leader Saberteeth had stolen.

    "Any updates?" Jin had learned to ditch the pleasantries when interacting with the Dark Elves since they did not like them and found them to be a waste of time, especially the younger ones.

    He suspected that it might be Kraftбпs indoctrination at work, but he believed if he asked too many questions about it, Kraft might want to make him experience what the Dark Elves had gone through. "If the monthly mind torture was not enough, just say so!" Jin assumed that would be what Kraft would say if he was there.

    "Yes, the information from Tinda has proven to be useful. Iбпve found the exact hideout location and discovered that the Nine Oceans Phoenix egg is not the only one there." Narris said that and that made Jin furrow his brows.

    "borate."

    "Despite their seeming reliance on harvesting monster parts, they somehow have a highly advanced magic operated hatchery with lots of monster eggs and even pregnant monsters in the vicinity. However, it was not hard to find the Nine Oceans Phoenixбпs egg because of its unnatural magic signature. Unsurprisingly theyбпve hidden it at the deepest basement level of the building and itбпs the most secured area." Narris replied as it was no brainer that the Southerners would want the best protection for their prized egg.

    "Can I assume youбпve rescued the egg already or are in the midst of doing so?" Jin asked but the dark elfбпs tone indicated a negative.

    "There is one final barrier Iбпll have to bypass if I want to reach that egg and it looks veryplicated. It will require some time for me to crack the barrier. It looks to be the work of multiple mages who have oveid protective spells, reinforcing this particr barrier. While eachyer of the barrier should be easy enough to crack, the stacks simply make it cumbersome for a stealthy entry. Also, time is of the essence..." Narris reported as she continued to be aware of her surroundings in case more guards started toe down and query why there were no reports. (That would be because she had knocked the surrounding guards out cold.)

    "In other words, you want us to create a distraction? Or do you need more help in breaking the barriers down?"

    "Preferably both. I figure that if they have such a troublesome barrier, there has to be some very troublesome anti theft mechanism within the room to deter thieves from escaping with their most prized possession. Worst case, they might rather see the egg destroyed than it falling into someone elseбпs hands."

    "If thatбпs the case... Narris, kill those two guards. We will rece them with our бпguardsбп and perform an act."

    "Iбпm afraid thatбпs not possible. Iбпve noticed that a lot of them have an explosive attached to their necks. Sick bastards. If their heart rate stopspletely it will trigger the explosion and it will alert the mage leader in charge. Going in with a portal is not possible as well. There are sensory traps everywhere and triggering one will cause the same thing to happen."

    "What kind of facility is that? Isnбпt it just a hatchery?! At that rate, I could also use that ce as a reference for my Phantom Thief Gentlebear Dungeon Instance!" Jin could not fathom how paranoid their leader was to put up so many safeguards. At this time, Peppers started to listen into the conversation since she heard the word magic again and again. Even Jin was a little taken aback by the troubles the Night Fox have with removing the barrier. (She was after all the star student of Kraftбпs and thus thereбпs a certain calibre attached to such a title.)

    "They probably had enough break-ins to warrant such an extensive array of traps and sensors." Narris knew how sensitive mother monsters could be for their young and all these security setups would deter anyone to brute force their way through.

    "If thatбпs the case...let me get our expertsбп opinion," Jin said and invited Shu and Sandy into the conversation and gave them a brief summary of the area.

    "Even if we know all these, how can we help Narris?" Sandy queried.

    "Yeah, wonбпt it better to brute force the way through? Do a quick and yet forceful spatial opening into the room and grab the egg before going off." Shumented and Sandy agreed.

    "As Narris said, we donбпt know what sort of defensive protocol that would activate. A self destruct mechanism is possible and if we fail to retrieve the egg we can forget about Nine Oceans Phoenixing to our side." Jin reiterated. "And must everything be brute force? If I wanted brute force, I would have called in the Mr Derpy instead."

    "Then? What do you want us to do?" Shu could not think of anything great.

    "ording to Narris, itбпs in the basement, so no matter how sophisticated their tunnels are, they should be prone to wear and tear... which also means a way for both of you to get your act together." Peppers who observed the conversation, said and that n alone made the three in the conversation curious.

    "Knowing Kraft, he taught you spycraft, right? Do you have the depths and location of where you are right now?" Peppers asked and Narris nodded her head which the System immediately extracted information from her head.

    "Come to think of it, isnбпt this some telmunication magic, how could she evermunicate with us without activating some trap?" Shu asked out of the blue which caused Narris to chuckle

    "Ask the System." Narrisбп answer was short and sweet while stating the obvious.

    "Great, now that the System has the exact location, please teleport Shu at least a kilometre away from the hatchery and push the roots through. If you need Sandy to move the earth, you two can coordinate. Most importantly, once you reach the basement, use Sandyбпs powers to slit an opening through the stones and with Narrisбп detection skills, avoid the traps and take control of the two guards with your roots." Peppers was the first to propose the n, and Jin allowed her to lead.

    "I see what you are getting at. You want me to use my roots as the puppet strings for those guards while Narris continues to decode the magic?" Shu concluded with delight. It had been some time since he performed something delicate.

    "I will do what I can to help him." Sandy got the rough picture of the whole situation and the Dark Elf nodded her head. A n that has some tact in it which Narris did not expect the little girl whose head was only filled with explosions has more things toe up with.

    "Great. And if everything goes to n, we might actually have a show to watch. But remember, securing the Nine Oceans Phoenixбпs egg is the number one priority." Jin thanked them as the System had already teleported Shu and Sandy near the hideout.

 Chapter 1021 Giving Tinda A Cover

    <h4>Chapter 1021 Giving Tinda A Cover</h4>

    The System teleported Shu and Sandy a distance away from the supposed hideout. The two looked around, but there was seemingly nothing except for the white desert sand in the area. Sandy immediately created a makeshift shelter to cover Shu as he shrunk in size so that they would not be detected that easily through the enemiesбп constant observation.

    "Thank you for the shelter, otherwise I would dread working in such бпsunnyбп conditions." Shu thanked her as he started to sink his roots into the desert. While his roots burrowed into the desert, he quickly felt the magic pulsating through the hideout. He knew had to be careful now, else he might identally trigger one of the traps as he approached the basement of the hideout. For a kingdom with little to no mages, the monsters including Jin were taken aback by the amount of magical бпstuffбп happening in the hatchery. Thus, one would conclude that their leader Saberteeth had been concentrating all his kingdomбпs mages into one particr area.

    Meanwhile Sandy sent her magic through Shu, increasing his affinity for sand, thus allowing his roots to be more invasive in nature, sliding through the thickyers of soil, granite and sand. Although it helped Shu, the Sand Witch was quite amazed at how efficient the treant was in manipting his powers.

    When she transferred her magic into Shu, the elder treant was doing the same and she could clearly visualise how the roots were digging and zig zagging closer to the hideoutбпs basement within minutes. At that point, Shu informed Sandy that they were approaching the hideout and she started to use the split ends of the roots as magic detectors to sift through if there was any weakness in the construction of the tunnels so she could break open one of the walls without alerting their enemies.

    To their surprise, the basement was filled with holes, making them both hesitate as they presumed this to be some sort of trap. Nevertheless, even after double and triple checking, they found nothing. And that led them to the conclusion that the mages were not as skilled as Tinda was expecting them to be.

    Granted, the basement was filled with a variety of magic detectors and traps, but those were concentrated towards gates and intersections of the basement rather than filling up the entire ce. In terms of trapcraft, they were rather primitive in their selection of spells.

    Regardless, the duo began to break one of the stone bricks and with a sleeve in between the walls, Shuбпs roots finally reached towards the guards Tinda had knocked out. The feeler roots crawled through the legs and as unsightly as one could describe, prated through their rectum because it was the easiest route for invasive control. There the roots nted a seed closest to the cauda equina, one of thergest portions of the humanбпs nervous system before the feeler tree roots withdrew and grabbed hold of the guardsбп waist.

    The seed was filled with magic, instantly grew to invade and infect the nervous system, propagating within its host, allowing Shu to control the entire body. There, Tinda who was still working on breaking the magic barrier saw the two guards moving unwieldy. However, she could see the roots attached at the back of their legs, indicating that Shu was already using his magic to control them.

    "To control someone from such a distance is a first for me as well. Normally, I only control those within my vicinity." Shu said over the System Channel as he continued to concentrate in regting the mana while Sandy began picking up the white desert sand and analysing it with her powers. She thought it could be worthwhile to retrieve a few samples and check if there were any difference in terms of the quality and possibly adding it into her repertoire.

    At the same time, she was also getting a feel of the entire hatchery hideout. She was scouting the other eggs and the monsters. The Drowбпs objective had been to get the egg, therefore she had ignored those as distractions. Sandy considered using the sand to ce a few of her own traps to cause a distraction while also possibly grabbing a few eggs, especially since these humans regarded them as rather vital if they put them in such a highly secured area.

    A few minutes after they gainedplete control over guards, her astute senses allowed Tinda to hear footsteps from afar and she quickly informed Shu.

    "Aye, donбпt worry about it. You can leave the acting to me." Shu chuckled as he started talking through the guards using their original voices. "But what about you? Are you going to kneel there and be an eyesore? If yes, I will have to improvise the acting by bringing these two goons further forward."

    "You do not have to worry about me. If you do not know, we Drows are fantastic in making sure we wonбпt be detected." Tinda grinned with her lips curled. Her words were not empty as Shu could see her disappearing and blending into the hideout like a chameleon waiting for its prey.

    "Also, a little special bonus for you, since I knocked them out to find the egg." Tinda sent the information she had taken from the guards and passing it to Shu via the System.

    "I was thinking of making them shoot the guard leader but welp, that works too I guess," Shu said through Guard A before moving, getting the two guards to lock their swords and staff together as if they were in some fight. He then activated their mana circuits so it was as if they could channel their own mana although it was actually Shu prompting them to do so.

    "Hey! Whatбпs the big idea of not reporting back! We have not heard from you two in the past two minutes! Have you forgotten what I said about reporting every five minutes?!" The Guard Leader shouted from afar while bringing a small squad of guards with him. They were armed to the teeth, ready to strike at the momentбпs notice. Some even thought that there was fighting involved when they felt the violent mana circting in the air.

    But it turns out that the two guards were merely having a spite against each other when they both acknowledged their Guard Leader immediately.

    "Ah! Sorry Boss! But nothing ever happens around here. I challenged him to see who couldst the longest without fainting." Guard A spoke out as he leaned forward and discharge more magical powers out into his sword.

    "Donбпt think of using the excuse that you talked to Boss if you lose! Weбпve bet on the next meal, so if you lose you better pay up!" Guard B added and the Guard Leader just shook his head.

    He could feel the intensity of the mana flowing out through them and could not stop prematurely as it would release an unneeded explosion. Apparently, it was not the first time he had to deal with goons such as them but he knew that guarding a basement could be extremely boring. Every member of the guards behind him knew especially how terribly dull it was to guard the lowest of all basements.

    To be honest, the Guard Leader prefered seeing them engaged in some stupid betting activity over them being asleep. But still, Saberteeth had assigned him as the Guard Leader so he had to act tough.

    "Like hell if I care that any of you loses! What you do to pass your time is up to you. You can jerk off to each other for all I care, but if you miss out on reporting back to me, you both will have one whole month topete on who can clean thetrines the best! This is the only warning for you two. Also if your stupidpetition releases an idental explosion, you are staying in this basement guard duty forever!" The Guard Leader shouted at them before walking off as the two guards apologised and continued to put their strengths between each other.

    "Heh. Nice save there." Tinda whispered.

    "You should thank the stars that the two guards disliked each other rather openly. I still feel it was a little disgusting to dig their memories a little further but that helped a lot." Shu sniggered as he continued the act but at the same time slowly siphoned their energies away.

    As for Tinda, she was very close to breaking through the magical barrier.

 Chapter 1022 Got the Egg!

    <h4>Chapter 1022 Got the Egg!</h4>

    "...I got it." Tinda whispered with a wide grin as she broke through the finalyer of the magic barrier protecting the egg. With a quick puff, she loosened her neck muscles a little before reaching for the door, only to sense that the physical lock was also emitting a source of strange energy. It appeared that the lock was magically imbued to make sure that it could only be opened with the appropriate key.

    Shu controlling the guards noticed her hesitating and could not help butugh at the drow. "I thought being Kraftбпs number one student would mean that you could break into anything? And now a simple magic lock fumbles you? Hahahah!"

    "Shush, you big old tree. Why bother breaking the lock when you can go in without going through the lock?" Tinda retorted as she first ced her hand on the door to check for any other magical abnormalities or problems that could ur if she entered forcefully.

    To her fortuitous luck, there did not seem to be anything to worry about. Seeing that Shu and Sandy had analysed via the System Channel how the traps had been inteced at certain points of the hatcheryбпs basement when Tinda pointed them out, she too had realised that the mages hadnбпt been as scheming as she had initially expected them to be. (Perhaps the influence of a certain foxy had made her assume the worst case scenario in each and every situation.)

    Upon a second more thorough check, she confirmed that with the barriers gone, it should now be possible for the System to teleport her into the room to get the egg. However, before the Dark Elf could request the System to do so, the System informed her that the egg had already sent them into the most optimal environment иC the Farming Sectors of Pandapolis.

    "Haha, sorry dear Tinda. I was unable to restrain myself frompeting against you." Sandy informed her in the System Channel. "I have found the properties of this worldбпs white sands to be rather fascinating and made some shocking discoveries upon pouring some magic into it."

    At that moment, Tinda could see specks of white sand seeping out of the stone walls and a thumbs up sign formed right in front of her. The Dark Elf presumed that since the Sand Witch was hovering her magic to control the sand, she must have been able to mould it into a shape where it could grab the egg to subsequently teleport it into the Systemбпs embrace.

    "I thought it was a little strange how the sand managed to create the shelter when we first teleported here faster than I had expected and through a little bit of experimentation, I found out that this white sand is extremely sensitive to magic, allowing it to not just store magic per se, but more importanly help me to manipte it very easily."

    "So, I guess this means the mission isplete?" Tinda scratched her head wondering if all her effort breaking these magical barriers had been rendered moot. It seemed that even without the lead foxбпs training, Jin himself had gathered a variable set of monsters that could perform wonders for him.

    "You could say that. Iбпve also taken the liberty to snatch all the other eggs from this hatchery. All of them have been swapped out with chicken eggs who had received cosmetic inscriptions in case the Guards checked up on them. Hehe!" Sandy boasted while the white sand in front of the Dark Elf returned back into the wall, leaving no trace of evidence behind.

    "Wonбпt they know that those eggs are fake? I am actually surprised they do not have observation magic to check on those eggs constantly." Tinda sighed as she shook her head looking at the far end of the basement tunnels.

    "Kraft made you too sensitive and overly paranoid. Rx, girl. Even if they notice, not like they can do much after the deed has already been done."

    Shu still controlled the guards as he verified the extent of how precise he couldmand them from his distance. After all, itбпs not every day he got the opportunity to grab some random humans and turn them into his ythings.

    So before they went back to how they were, he made them perform more refined movements such as twirling the sword and doing quick step movements.

    Suddenly Jin chimed into their System Channel and congratted them on a job well done. "You do not need to stay there any further. While confronting Saberteeth would be a boon for the Nine Oceans Phoenix, we should иC"

    "Boss, I think you should let Nine Oceans Phoenix have her revenge." Shu interrupted Jin know how his nature was to not be going around poking the hoбпs nest further. However, this had to be done from the monsterбпs perspective.

    "Itбпs true that we have achieved what weбпvee to do, but look at it this way. Youбпve technically allowed their capital to be destroyed, robbing them of their livelihood. They are bound toe hunting any monsters relentlessly to make up for the loss and will likely try to hunt any other phoenixes without any prejudice."

    "Besides, now that we know that they are doing such evil stuff, all the more reason they should join us. If not, the repercussions might turn into a tidal wave down the line. You eventually n to gain full control over the Northern Region, donбпt you? Turning Saberteeth into our ally will allow us to have the chance to get against the Demon Rats and should allow you to unite the captured Southerners, making them work hand in hand with us, despite the destruction youбпve caused." Tinda added in. Jin was left speechless. Somehow Kraft had managed to indoctrinate his own beliefs into the Dark Elves. This was exactly what the dungeon supplier would have expected toe from the Original Betor.

    "Especially when ites to their leader. The fact that he seems to have congregated all the mages into this hatchery as his pet project, only serves to show further that he only keeps the elites of the elites in this ce. Just think about how much it would help our own researchb if we take this ce over. Not to mention, with the Systemбпs control, they will do much better taking care of our own foody monsters with their explicit knowledge."

    "And you have a ton of Southerners being imported in by the System, well the more innocent ones. Even if the leader is a shitty leader, itбпs best to have a leader that they are familiar with. That will improve their morale a whole lot. And if you influence their leader, the people would sway along with them. The Temrs are a good example. We thought them to be a cult not to be trifled with but in the end, they did a hell lot of good for the Northerners~" Sandymented and stated that Jinбпs System had always been about second chances. "At the very worst, you could simply tell the System to get rid of their souls. Itбпs as simple as that."

    "And with the egg safely tucked in our possession, there are really not many risks involved in this revenge scheme Even better if you get to save the Nine Oceans Phoenix if it found itself incapable of fighting against Saberteeth." Tinda added as the System opened a portal for her to jump in when she found that the coast was clear. "Thus this gives you the leverage to let the Nine Oceans Phoenix join you...now that you have two of the kids in your possession."

    "You make it sound like I am an evil overlord who is ckmailing her." Jin smiled bitterly.

    "Itбпs all for the good of the rising Panda Empire." The Drow replied as she returned back to her training camp, cutting off anymunications.

    "I can be around to deal with the killing blow since this white desert is my territory now that I learn how to use them more effectively," Sandy added and Jin sighed. There were no doubts that even if Jin did not let Sandy participate in the battle, the System would already imnt the capturing module into the Nine Oceans Phoenix some way or the other considering that the Phoenix was in its instance.

    After all, considering the System aversion to outsiders, it let the mother monster toe in without anyints. But as insurance, Jin nodded his head to the matter and decided to tell the Nine Oceans Phoenix about the whole ordeal.

 Chapter 1023 Calm Down!

    <h4>Chapter 1023 Calm Down!</h4>

    "Nine Oceans Phoenix, we found the culprit." Jin teleported back to the Luxury Recovery Instance to ry the good news. However, instead of being happy about it, the mother birdбпs wings spread out wide in a threatening manner. To the dungeon supplier, it seemed like she was hurrying him to tell her everything or risk dying.

    Jin had tolerated her antics initially, because he understood that she must have been emotional about suddenly seeing her chick in such critical condition. Now that some time had passed, he expected his guest to show him the proper amount of respect, so with a far more authoritative voice, he told her to calm down.

    "TELL ME!" The Nine Oceans Phoenix screeched impatiently and began to release her magical aura. Ironically she had been unaware that all this time the one at the mercy of the other party had been none other than her. In an instant, she found herself pinned down by the giant Titan Knight and out of seemingly nowhere many monsters had emerged with their weapons out. She intended to increase the output of her magical powers, but discovered that they were being drained consistently.

    "As I said, calm yourself down! Iбпm treating you with courtesy, so I expect you to reciprocate. Do not make me use excessive force against you!" Jin chided her and the Lady Phoenix struggled a little more, before admitting that there was nothing else she could do. Only then did the Titan Knight release her from his palm hold and the rest of the monsters moved a step back away from her, but none sheathed their weapons.

    Honestly, Jin was quite surprised at the show of force from the System. Had it perhaps analysed the Nine Oceans Phoenix to be more of a threat than he himself had realised? In any case, he reminisced about the time when the Banned Emperor Assassin hade to make a mess in his dungeon supplier store during Yang Lingбпs Gear Box demonstration and the System had not responded this fiercely. Could it be that the System did not imagine the assassin was a major threat aspared to this particr monster?

    "You may get up, but slowly." Death Knight Dread Reaver instructed the Nine Oceans Phoenix as he continued to point his sword at the bird while it did as she had been told. It was then she finally had the impression that Jin was really no simple human.

    "As I was about to tell you, weбпve managed to not only find, but also retrieve your other egg. Itбпs currently in one of our hatcheries, under the care of the best monster caretakers I have working for me." Jin stated confidently as he knew that the ones handling the eggs were the penguins and the animal people from the Giant World.

    He strongly believed that they were the best ones for the job. After all, Lynn had selected only the best of the best to be allowed to serve food to their customers under her name. (Of course, they were not going to cook the Phoenix Egg or else...the System would not be the only one who would be very pissed.)

    "If itбпs already been done, why are you telling me all this? Are you ckmailing me like that guy who stole my egg?" The Nine Oceans Phoenix questioned, making Jin sigh.

    "I wonбпt pretend that I canpletely understand how you feel, but I empathise with you not trusting every human who graciously extends their hands to you. Iбпve decided to tell you that we found it because I promised you I would do that. Iбпve expected you might want to take revenge but if you donбпt want to do that, then I wonбпt force you to. I can leave that guy alone, but Iбпm sure sooner orter he will return with a vengeance." Jin exined and the Nine Oceans Phoenix was paralysed by his scolding.

    "After what weбпve done to his capital... well if it was me in his shoes, thereбпs no way I wouldnбпt take up arms and mercilessly hunt down every single monster responsible for that. As much as I want to believe in the good in people, that is wishful thinking. Thatбпs why I ask for your help. Letбпs end this cycle of hatred by exacting your vengeance against him and start anew. Help me for the greater good while we fulfil our needs and desires." Jin felt thest part was a little too excessive as бпencouragementбп, but at the same time, he was just being realistic.

    Seeing that the monsters around him were nodding in silent agreement, the Nine Oceans Phoenix fluttered her feathers a little before nodding her head.

    "While I feel that you have a greater agenda than just taking my dung and children, your words have truth to them. Fine, I will do as my heart desires and after that, I will return the debt of you getting my children back safely." The Nine Oceans Phoenix agreed, but before that, she had a condition of her own.

    She wanted to see her unborn child before they left.

    Jin naturally eded to the request and opened the portal to Pandapolis Farming Sectors where the Nine Oceans Phoenix saw how her little baby egg was being pampered with thetest advancement in hatching procedures.

    She instantly recognised that the egg was indeed the one which had been stolen by the Southern Capital Leader. She appeared ted that she did not miss the hatching of this one, but Jin could see the fury in her eyes about being separated from her children. "We will provide you with help against the Southern Mages if necessary. After all, you are going to be part of our family soon no matter how temporary that was. Iбпll let you take care of everything else, but feel free to ask for help should you need it." Jin offered as he opened a portal.

    "Are you saying that I am no match to some feeble mages?" The Nine Oceans Phoenix asked.

    "Iбпm merely stating that it would be for the best if you donбпt let your guard down. No matter what, their leader has taken the liberty to assemble probably every single mage the South had in that one area. It is possible that they are prepared to take you down with the assumption of destroying the hatchery too. For the time being, you should be safe knowing that they are unaware that weбпve taken back your egg."

    "You mean your monsters stole right under their noses?"

    "Yeah, and it was not an easy feat for them to do so. All of this was to ensure that you could fight with your full force without any fears that they might use your unborn child as a hostage." Jin bragged even though it was partially a lie since his minions did not have that much of an issue getting the egg back.

    "Very well. While I will ept your assistance, I honestly do not think I will need it." The Nine Oceans Phoenix could now feel that her magical powers wereing back. But before Jin allowed her to go, a portal suddenly appeared right beside him and he saw Lynn carrying arge te of meat with two hands.

    "Youбпre not going anywhere until you eat up. I assure you that your strength will double the moment you clear this te of meat." Lynn said as the animal people caretakers opened the hatchery doors and showed the bird a better view of the Farming Sector while having a spacious area to eat. They even told the Phoenix that theke right beside the hatchery was drinkable and with a quiet thank you, the Nine Oceans partook in the meat.

    "While I will rue this to your kindness and courtesy but thereбпs something more to the food too, right?" Jin whispered to Lynn.

    "How did you know?" Lynn was a bit shocked as she giggled a little to cover her innate expression.

    "You could say that my panda senses were tingling. Or rather my acquired foxy senses." Jin replied with glee and subsequently settled himself down. At the very least he knew that the System would have some control on the Phoenix if there were something to go down wrong during their duel.

    In the meantime, Sandy and Shu got a better grasp of the environment and numbers and had discussed a few ways to eliminate them should the majestic bird encounter problems.

    Having a n B never hurts.

 Chapter 1024 Attack of the Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 1024 Attack of the Phoenix</h4>

    "Thatбпs weird, why have I still not been informed about anything? Are they having too much fun with the bird? Well... I did tell them to be as explicit in their torture as possible but having no news now... I expect an excellent analysis report from their findings. Heh." Saberteeth wondered to himself as he watched the sunset sinking into the edges of the White Sands Desert.

    He had been expecting a report from the Southern Capital with regards to the torturing of the Nine Oceans Phoenixбпs chick or any particrly new developments. While patterns had estimated that today it should have reached the point of exhaustion leading it to resurrect into a stronger form, it could be possible the report was dyed due to the chickбпs resilience.

    He yawned, wondering if the new chick down in their basement would be like its sibling putting up some feeble resistance before it goes down. Still, its elder sister though young and had barely alive a few days after hatching, was afraid of death and probably unaware that its resurrecting abilities were its only form of defence without its parents around.

    "Heh, if only my father were to see that I, that бпuseless bastardбп had managed to tame a phoenix.... And soon I will have two at our disposal, which shall be the turning point for us People of the South!бпбп Saberteeth enjoyed his daydream of grandeur. He wandered around the room with a giant grin on his face as he enjoyed the quiet breeze of the White Desert until he suddenly felt a slight disturbance of the mana in the air.

    "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

    A screech so loud that he was able to hear from the small cottage situated a few kilometres away from the hatchery filled the air. Saberteeth immediately grabbed his cape and staff that was hanging at the perch as he went out where he saw the prominent flying figure fly towards the secret location.

    бпYouбпve finallye, eh? Took you long enough, but donбпt you worry, everything is ready for you to join your egg." Saberteeth thought to himself as he ran inside to grab a few ancient looking metal cubes from inside his basement.

    He believed that it would take the Nine Oceanбпs Phoenix quite some time to reach the bottom of the hatchery, but he also did not want to leave his mages alone with the rampaging mother for too long.

    At the very most they would suffer a terrifying blow, but if Saberteeth yed his cards right, he could capture and control the Phoenix and use her powers to resurrect them again. He would only have to find out how the Phoenix resurrected people, since none of the historical records and texts passed down from the previous generations of Southerners had any mention of that.

    Unfortunately, it was hard to tell what parts were urate and which were heavily exaggerated. Still, more than one record attributed those abilities to the Phoenix, so all Saberteeth would have to do would be to find out how to properly utilise its powers and the full extent of it in time toe.

    "Ahhh just thinking about it makes my body get fired up!" Saberteeth muttered to himself as he unlocked the basement to grab the metal cubes.

    In the meantime, his mages were indeed having a tough time fending off the terrifying monster. Its appearance came at the worst possible moment, just when they were about to have a shift change. They had let down their guard since the hatchery had arguably more firepower than even the capital.

    The Nine Oceans Phoenix had emerged from the skies and had started sting down torrents of water beams at them. Before they could shield themselves behind magic, some of them already found themselves drowning in burning waters and all that would be left of them would be bits of flesh and bones.

    It was the only surprise attack that the Nine Oceans Phoenix could muster as the magical barrier immediately went up to protect the hatchery and the buildingбпs defences were initiated. All sorts of defensive spells like Slow, Weaken and Stupidify got used to hinder the Phoenixбп advances as the mages began to congregate to pull off a massive spell while still under the protection of the buildingбпs magical barrier.

    "If such a barrier could stop me, I should stop living as a Nine Oceans Phoenix!" The bird screeched at them as she flew up and with a quick twirl into the skies, the mages saw that the clouds above eventually turned into something more solid. Without any magic circles, the Nine Oceans Phoenix had managed to change the properties of the clouds into orbs of water.

    With a p of her wings, therge orbs of water descended towards the hatcheryбпs magical barrier. Reaching terminal velocity made the orbs of water fall as if they were miniets crashing into the worldбпs atmospheric barrier. Indeed, the orbs created such a ssh that the barriers instantly weakened by 40% and was barely able to hold up against the second wave.

    The Nine Oceans Phoenix was shocked that this attack was not enough to deal with the humans, but she felt that her magic powers were still in tip top condition after eating Lynnбпs tes full with luxurious bs of meat. She had no idea what it was that the cook had served her but the only word capable of describing the taste would be бпDeliciousбп.

    Her magic was flowing out without any dy, a vast differencepared to a few hours ago when she had needed to concentrate to bring the magic out. It was as if the food had not only turned her stronger temporarily but also allowed her to be a little more sensitive towards mana, which had enabled the Phoenix to use the magic in her surroundings.

    At that time, the Southern Mages were finishing the conjuration of a fewrge scale spells and started throwing it towards the Nine Oceans Phoenix. As the monster was a flying type which dealt with water, the mages believed it was best to use attributes that it was weak to.

    "Star Lightning Storm!!" The mages shouted as they pulled whatever they could simultaneously against their nemesis. Most of them knew what they had signed up for when Saberteeth had recruited them to guard this hatchery. Many of them had been captivated by their greed since their benevolent leader had offered to pay them very generously, while a minority had been genuinely interested in saving the nation upon learning about the Phoenix Egg.

    Yet, none of them had expected the Nine Oceans Phoenix to be this ridiculously strong. With Lynnбпs buff the Nine Oceans Phoenix was agile enough to evade each and every attack the mages threw at it. Even a lightning based magic, which was considered to be the fastest attack possible in every Magesбп repertoire had been countered so easily.

    But instead of evading every one of the magic attacks, the Nine Ocean Phoenix soon understood that it was not enough to stop them from casting as some were seen to be sacrificing themselves to power the spells up.

    And since they were so willing to die, the Nine Oceans Phoenix decided to grant them swift deaths.

    She flew up higher into the skies and for once in this entire battle, she stood still momentarily to gain enough mana to decimate the entire hatchery. A spell which she had initially reserved to paralyse the Southern Capital.

    "Tidal Sky Wave!!!"

 Chapter 1025: Tidal Sky Wave

    Chapter 1025: Tidal Sky Wave

    Everyone in the vicinity looked up to the sky and stopped casting any other spells. The air was extremely still all around the Phoenixбн until she released her magic. A few of the mages wanted to escape, but their legs felt heavy, probably aware that no matter how fast they could run there was no way out.

    Even the more adept mages who had the capability to open portals to move vast distances felt that their spell casting would be far too slow to grant them any chance of escape, so they did not even bother trying, for the sky had been transformed into a massive ocean with no end in sight and the Nine Oceans Phoenix brought down the fury of the seas right in the middle of the white deserts.

    The torrents of waves gushed down with extreme speeds thanks to gravity and it seemed that the magical defensive barrier the hatchery had employed stood as much of a chance to hold out as a man single handedly trying to stop an oing train.

    And yet a man appeared at the centre of the hatchery''s roof, looking unphased by the massive attack as he released his magical aura and held up a few metal cubes together.

    "Have you no care for your own child, oh Mother Phoenix?!" Saberteeth shouted, hoping that the magical waves could be cancelled as they were about to destroy this very important building for his people.

    s, the Phoenix did not heed the words from the thief who was responsible for her children''s disappearance and proceeded to watch the entire hatchery''s barrier crumble, making way for the torrential amount of burning water to destroy everything in its path.

    No, not everything. The metal cubes Saberteeth held had started glowing brightly, as if in reaction to the monster''s magic and created a protective barrier around himself.

    While the Southern Leader had the ability and knowledge to use these metal cubes to lessen the damage of the Tidal Sky Wave attack to limit the damage to the hatchery''s magical defensive barrier, thereby potentially saving the lives of his men, he strangely chose not to do anything.

    The Tidal Sky Wave attack by the Nine Oceans Phoenix therefore literally obliterated his entire toon of mages and the possibility of their survival was close to none. "Woah, woah, woah! When I heard of your powers, I did not expect you to be this strong!" Saberteeth said as the cubes grew in intensity right in front of him. "I have no idea how you managed to find this ce, but how can you be so cruel as to kill off your unborn child?"

    "That is none of your concern. I have seen what your people have done to one of my chicks!!! Even if you had yet to kill the other one, my attack should have granted it a swift death reuniting it with their sibling!" The Nine Oceans Phoenix acted in ordance to what Jin had suggested, pretending to believe that her second egg might have been already destroyed by Saberteeth.

    "Wow, you managed to find your chick? How did she look? I hope you appreciate the ''care'' we''ve given her?" Saberteeth taunted the giant bird openly and at the same time with quite a bit of spite. He now understood why his city team had not been responding. If the Nine Oceans Phoenix had found out about the state of her chick, it could only mean that the Southern Capital must have suffered the same fate as their hatchery now or even worse. Yet, for the Phoenix to find her chick and now the egg, has she always been bidding her time to locate them in quick session or someone was helping her? A human?

    "But stillбн to have not a single soul escape to send me a message, not even Leopardo...it''s odd." Saberteeth thought to himself. He could not help but feel that something did not add up. Even if the Nine Oceans Phoenix had eradicated the city, how exactly did she learn that she had toe here?

    Besides Leopardo only a handful of the interim leader''s personal guards knew about the hatchery''s existence, and none of them would ever reveal its location, not even under torture, instead they would all opt to kill themselves. Not that monsters were ever known for torturing people in the first ce. No, his instincts were telling Saberteeth that there was something else going on in the shadows. And he did not like it.

    It was not particrly hard for the Nine Ocean Phoenix to act enraged. Whenever she remembered the state her firstborn had been in when Jin brought her to see her precious daughter, it was enough to ignite the fury within the phoenix and bring her magic powers forth once more.

    "Good. Good. Be furious." Saberteeth thought to himself as he raised the metal cubes right up high and pointed towards the Nine Oceans Phoenix.

    "Shit. I have a very bad feeling about this." Jin cursed as he was watching the whole scene y out from a far away dune hill while Sandy and Shu were standing by about a kilometre away from the fight zone.

    "Do not move first, we need to find out what that cube does to her before we rush in," Jin ordered his two minions to hold steady before acting, hoping that his gut was wrong and that the Nine Oceans Phoenix could withstand whatever treachery Saberteeth was about to do.

    From the look of it, he was doing nothing but raising those metal cubes up on his palms, floating and waiting for the Phoenix to make her next move. Another, even more deadly, Tidal Sky Wave was unleashed since it was the most powerful skill she had at her disposal.

    Only this time she circled the clouds around Saberteeth as if she was about to pour her waves into a cylindrical manner with the Southern Leader at the centre of it all. That way he had nowhere to run and considering he was standing still so confidently meant he must have something in his sleeve so it was better to unleash everything she got so that Saberteeth could be taken down indefinitely.

    But as the waves gushed towards him, the metal cubes shone even more brightly, seemingly intending to rival the sun as they began to absorb the entirety of the attack. Multiple ck holes were created at the Southern Leader''s fingertips and the Phoenix was forced to watch the magic being sucked into it.

    "HAHAHAH! IT''S WORKING! IT''S ACTUALLY WORKING! YOUR MAGIC IS USELESS AGAINST ME NOW!" Saberteeth shouted hysterically since he had been gambling on this moment and from the joy in his voice his bet had paid off.

    "The lives of your chicks were a small price to pay! Getting them for research purposes and using them for the benefit of my country was a nice boon to have. But THIS? THIS IS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR!"

    Saberteeth used his own magic to float even higher as the waves were continuously absorbed into the metal cubes. He had found those cubes in a temple deep in the valleys of the Southern Region. He had roughly deciphered that those cubes were able to channel one''s magic into another, although it was not permanent for a fixed duration, yet so far he had never been able to get it to work as described.

    Until the day he found the Nine Oceans Phoenix which allowed him to have an inspirational breakthrough in his findings. It could be possible that those metal cubes required a ton of magical energy for it to work and as expected, the first Tidal Sky Wave that hit the cubes had been the key to activate it.

    Seeing how her attack which was further strengthened by Lynn''s food was easily sucked into oblivion by the metal cubes, the Nine Oceans Phoenix panicked a little and decided to send a third wave of magical attacks, only this time it was weaker than usual since she felt threatened and did not have the time to prepare as before.

    And yet, the cubes were able to take in that copious amount of magical energy while Saberteeth, in turn, took one of the cubes and tapped into its energy reserves. "I told you it was USELESS! The amount of magical energy you have is so rich that I''ve never felt so invigorated before!!" Saberteeth grinned widely and was about tounch his attack.

 Chapter 1026: Surpass Ones Limits

    Chapter 1026: Surpass One''s Limits

    "System, please tell me that I''m just hallucinating and those are not ck holes sucking all the magic away?" Jin begged despite his own eyes telling him that those tidal waves had literally disappeared into that abyssal crevice of that metal cube.

    "From the System''s perspective, those cubes have indeed taken the form of ck holes and have sessfully absorbed all of the Nine Oceans Phoenix''s magical energy from its attack. System and User can only pray that the Southern Leader Saberteeth does not also have the capability to tap into those absorbed powers. Should such a turn of events ur, the enemy would be invincible not only against the Nine Oceans Phoenix but also turn into an unprecedented threat for all the monsters in the Southern Region."

    "Especially after what we did to his Capital, huh?" Jin continued to stay wary of the ongoing fight. s, it appeared that either the System had jinxed them or it had (unfortunately) just correctly listed the worst case scenario. The Southern Mage was hystericallyughing as he utilised the very same powers he had absorbed with the metal cubes and unleashed it against Nine Oceans Phoenix.

    With a twist.

    He had infused own speciality magic into the torrential tidal waves. Although the Mother Phoenix was still able to fly swiftly to evade those very same torrential waves that she had previously summoned, she quickly realised that the attack continued following her as if it was alive.

    This caused her to fly zig zag, up and down, avoiding the waves which tried to enclose her at each opportunity possible, but no matter what it kept following her and even shortened the distance. Because of her exhaustion from casting three Tidal Sky Waves, each with increasing intensity, all the Nine Oceans Phoenix was relying upon at the moment was her tenacity to pull her through and it was getting obvious to the observers that she would not be able to outrun it.

    "You think those metal cubes are that game breaking?" Jin asked as he tried formting a few ideas to tackle the existence of such artefacts.

    "Considering how the Phoenix''s phenomenal magic could be taken in like a vacuum cleaner, those items must be some sort of artefact left by the Higher Gods and Demons. However, System wishes to note that each item, no matter how strong they seem to be, should have a limit, even if said items were made by the higher beings." The System stated with confidence that those metal cubes had some life span or limited usage.

    Even the ''almighty'' System had a certain limit to its existence.

    "So it''s up to us to test out those limits, huh?" Jin thought as he requested the System to bring Peppers back to his side.

    "What? Me again? Is it my birthday or something?" Peppers questioned sarcastically after being kicked out of her room and back in her Red Panda Pyjamas. She had been sure that her schedule would be free after Jin had told her to destroy the Southern Capital.

    "Didn''t youin earlier that you didn''t have enough explosions for the day?" Jin chuckled as he tilted his head towards the fight between the Nine Oceans Phoenix and Saberteeth. Peppers needed some time to understand the situation but the System quickly filled her on by feeding her the necessary information.

    "Hmmmбнso you basically want me to explode Saberteeth to pieces?" Peppers asked as she summoned her trusty wooden staff again and changed into a more appropriate attire.

    "It would be great if it turns out to be that easy. I fear that his metal cubes will absorb your explosion. No, I want you to create an explosion sorge that those ck holes won''t be able to keep up. Either that or create so many multiple explosions that the ck holes are not able to absorb everything. Your choice really."

    "But that might destroy those metal cubes! Just imagine the magical applications we could do with such an artefact!" Peppers moaned as she saw the ck cubes in action again as the Nine Oceans Phoenix threw a desperate counterattack against Saberteeth.

    "Are you saying that your magic is so useless that you cannot ovee the ck hole of some measly metal cubes?" Kraft, the crafty fox suddenly appeared from nowhere as he whistled at the intense fight between the man and Phoenix. At the same time, he saw the potential of the Southern Leader with his chain magic.

    "What?! Of all the people who might demean me, you are thest one I will tolerate it from! I shall oppose you with all my strength!" Peppers yelled as she now swung her staff, hoping to hit Kraft but the Devil was agile enough to avoid the swing and slickly moved to the side. From Jin''s perspective, it felt like a family gathering where the older brother had, once again, teasing his younger sister in front of their father who was trying to watch his TV show after a hard working day. It annoyed Jin greatly that he had to keep his calm and asked them to stay focus with the task at hand.

    "Guys! Stop ying around! So, Peppers, can you do it?" Jin asked once more. If she was not going to try it out, he would have to think of something moreбнcreative in nature.

    "Meh. Why not? As you said, I did not have my fill of explosions for the day. Besides, I will show this crafty fox that my power is unparalleled to some flimsy artefact made by random nonsensical beings who left their things haphazardly for idiots like that Saberteeth to pick up." Peppers proudly imed as she readied her staff and started chanting.

    While Jin''s one and only Mage Betor could have done multiple explosions of epic proportions in an instant, this was one of those days where she hoped she could surpass her best record (And that was still the monstrous explosion in the Giant World.)

    Maybe that might be excessive in this instance, especially since if things went wrong she might end up wiping out the entirety of the Southern Region, however, Peppers had something else in mind.

    When she cast that spell, she traded the area of effect for the quality of the explosion. With that in mind, she concentrated the density of magic particles in her spell in one specific area aimed to st Saberteeth''s metal cubes into oblivion.

    Yet, in order to do this, Peppers needed time to cast. Unfortunately, the Phoenix'' fatigue made it impossible for the bird to grant her that time. Saberteeth was getting more confident in his attacks, making them more aggressive as he saw weakness in the monster bird''s movement.

    Thus, Jin tried to look for Kraft to y the part of a meatshield, but as a fleeting phantom, he was already out of sight, as if he had only shown up to incite and spur Peppers to ept the job. When that was done, he disappeared toplete what he needed to doбнor rather, felt like doing.

    "Gah! That unreliable fox!" Jin muttered to himself as he entered the System Channel to get the two other monsters who were watching the whole fight scene as well. Sandy, the Sand Witch and Shu, the Magical Treant. However, knowing that those ck holes could suck any type of magic into it he asked once more whether they were up to the task to provide support for the Nine Oceans Phoenix so that Peppers have enough time to chant her magic.

    And all they responded was just two words.

    "Yes, Master."

 Chapter 1027 - Sandy and Shus Support

    <h4>Chapter 1027 - Sandy and Shu''s Support</h4>

    Sandy did not hesitate when Jin gave themand to assist the Nine Oceans Phoenix. Within an instant, the sand around the broken hatchery suddenly shifted and turned into spikes, moving towards Saberteeth with absolute speed. There were no signs of magic until the veryst minute as if the entire backdrop was Sandyбпs yground.

    However, because of the distance between the centre of the hatchery and surrounding sand, Saberteeth was still able to move away fast enough. For a lead mage, he seemed to be quite proficient in evading as well, indicating that the Southernersбп prioritised in outdoor survival more than any drowning themselves with old mushy books in libraries.

    While it had be obvious that the ck hole created by the metal cube had the potential to absorb magic, she wondered what would happen if she merely threw her sand weapons as projectiles. The white sand did require magic to be manipted and maintain its form, yet said projectiles should still be able to act as a distraction even when dispersed.

    The surroundings such as the hatchery had not been taken in at all even though they had been damaged by the initial Tidal Sky Wave. If her theory of the metal cubes absorbing only magic was right, her manipted white sands could provide sufficient distraction against Saberteeth for the Phoenix to escape the iron jaws of death by the enemiesбп chain magical power.

    In the meantime, Shu had been growing his roots at the hatcheryбпs surrounding. While he did use magic to grow his roots, they were still a part of him, and Shu was able to control the direction of where the roots were moving towards. However, because of the vast distance, it was a tad troublesome to maintain the same amount of strength he usually used to kill his enemies.

    Saberteeth was surprised by the sudden attack of weapons in sand form and magically imbued spikesing towards him. s, because of the ck holes from his metal cubes, the magic keeping the sand in weapon form weakened significantly before it ever hit him. Still, a few went through before he was able to erect a proper barrier up.

    At that moment, he realised that the Nine Oceans Phoenix had friends backing her up and immediately increased his magic output to scan the area. Unfortunately, the magical energies from the Tidal Sky Wave which he had stolen with the ancient metal cubes were disrupting his magic detection preventing him from properly locating the magical sources.

    More and more sand projectiles were proving to be an annoyance to Saberteeth as he broke his concentration in capturing the Nine Oceans Phoenix, giving the bird the chance to break out of his continuous pressure to capture her. She also saw a glimpse of the white sand being manipted and understood that Jin had already sent her some support to go against Saberteeth.

    At that moment she became aware of how pathetic she must be, requiring the aid of a human to help in this endeavour. Not only had she failed to exact her revenge properly, but that proimed dungeon master who had many extremely powerful monsters on his side had also repeatedly shown her sufficient courtesy. He had saved both her kids and now he provided support to her when there was no need for him to do that.

    Jin had even thought about the bacsh his actions would have to the monster poption while he could have easily sided with his fellow human. Even this chance to eliminate the perpetrator who stole her eggs and exact justice were bestowed by him so that she could have some peace of mind. She suspected he had some personal agenda behind his actions, yet there was undoubtedly still kindness in his actions.

    "What are you staring into space?!" Jin shouted as he flew towards the Nine Ocean Phoenix with the aid of his Green Panda Wind Energy and told her to follow him.

    However, that shout alone was enough for Saberteeth to track Jin as the support that the Nine Oceans Phoenix was given. "WHAT? A HUMAN?! HOW CAN THIS BE? HOW DARE YOU HELP THEM AFTER ALL THE CRIMES HER KIND HAS COMMITTED?! THEIR BEASTLY INSTINCT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT THAT WE HAVE PAINSTAKINGLY BUILT?!T" Saberteeth shouted fanatically as he now redirected his chains towards Jin.

    However, the dungeon supplier did not react, so the Southern Leader came to the conclusion that since Jin assisted a monster, he had to be a monster himself. A бпhumanбп who Saberteeth will happily rid the world off!

    Jin saw metal chains flying along with the Tidal Sky Wave towards him and he instantly engaged the inner Maqi within him. White Panda Ice Energy was released in session to create gigantic cier barriers that blocked the Tidal Sky Waves while the Nine Oceans Phoenix twirl and swirl in the skies towards Jin.

    Unfortunately, the chains were manipted to move around the cier barriers even as the Tidal Sky Waves crashed into them. Saberteethughed as he thought he had the upper hand in this current battle ... until he saw his chains gradually frozen as they tried to move around the barriers.

    He did not realise that Jin had reached a higher level of control of his Maqi with his grade up and those cier barriers were able to protrude a small icicle spike out poking the chains, stopping them from moving. And at the point of contact, the chainбпs temperature went straight to below zero and further until it froze.

    The enemyбпs Tidal Sky Waves initially burnt the barriers but eventually, it too froze up in the sky, creating a magnificent ice structure in view over the white sandy desert.

    Saberteeth realised the human aiding the monster might have noticed the weak point of his ck holes. It might be an excellent defensive item but in terms of offense, it was undoubtedly his Achilles Heel. As long as the magic could be overpowered, and not within the range of the ck hole, Saberteeth was not able to do anything about it.

    Yet, he could not believe this particr human was able to topple the intense magical energies of a Nine Ocean Phoenix since it was considered to be one of the mythical creatures in the Farming World. (Not to mention, it was already a variant!)

    Even the Phoenix was bewildered by the show of power even though it was just a defensive act from Jin. But the Dungeon Supplier was already snapping her out of her shock once again and telling her to move to him as soon as possible.

    "You are not going anywhere Phoenix!!!" Saberteeth yelled as he tried to levitate himself. But at that moment, roots suddenly appeared right beneath his feet and grabbed him, stopping him from running away. Saberteeth immediately reacted by bringing the ck hole towards its roots to break it but he found out that it was not a magical attack. It was an actual living root that was holding him.

    While there is some form of magical energy being absorbed, it was too little to constitute a magical attack.

    "Hahaha! Suck it! I am using regrowth to keep the root from snapping, a talent of mine rather than a magical spell." Shu boasted loudly from afar even though Saberteeth was unable to hear it.

    Simultaneously, Sandy was not letting off her magic attacks and had also resorted in using as little mana as possible. They slowly discovered that maintaining the ck hole required magic too and that mana the ck hole absorbed was barely sufficient for the ck hole to maintain its form and there was nothing for Saberteeth to manipte.

    Still, with most of his minions filled with magic and chi, Jin felt that it was the correct decision to limit their numbers and let Peppersбп explosion deal with Saberteeth. If that wouldnбпt work, he nned to make the Orc and Goblins mechanised toons fight against the Souther Leader, but for now, it was time to test whether the most drastic solution would also be the best solution. (Though it was mainly because he did not wish to waste anymore resources on this fight and Peppers had yet to meet her quota for explosions.)

    And so with everyone acting as her diversions, Peppers finally had the time to finish casting her spell once the Nine Ocean Phoenix was out of the range.

 Chapter 1028: Peppers Latest Achievement

    Chapter 1028: Pepper''s Latest Achievement

    "Iing!" Peppers warned herrades via the System Channel once she finished preparing her spell. An instant cast incantation weaved together with her mega (-or perhaps already giga?) explosion spell was ready to be fired off at any second. The Mage Betor was not stupid enough to give Saberteeth any time to react to it, for he could have some way to run away.

    Still, she had to give Jin and the Phoenix some time so they could slip into the System''s portal when she unleashed her sure fire kill attack. She was quite surprised how Jin''s magical powers had exponentially increased and Peppers could only deduce that he had kept it as a secret for quite a long time ever since he woke up from his two week longa.

    Upon hearing Peppers'' warning, Jin decided to speed up towards the Nine Oceans Phoenix and he grabbed hold on the side of her neck. Confused by this action, the monster bird croaked a little from the sudden chokehold, but Jin needed toe into physical contact with her so that he could quickly summon a portal. Within that split second of him giving Peppers the signal, both the explosion and portal appeared simultaneously and if not for the quick coordination from the System, Jin and the Nine Oceans Phoenix would be caught in the st.

    Saberteeth, on the other hand, being bound by Shu''s roots had nowhere to escape and the snap explosion robbed him of any chances toe up with some strategy. Unlike the usual explosions, Peppers did control the radius of this particr explosion, causing it to destruct within the vicinity of the hatchery, disintegrating not just the building above ground but obliterating the basements too.

    Although Saberteeth was caught unaware, the metal cubes had an emergency defensive mechanism which would protect their user from being struck by any magic attacks. If the Nine Oceans Phoenix spell strongest could be taken in like sipping water, Peppers was not going to give any concessions on her spell.

    However, neither the offensive nor defensive ck holes could keep up the absorption of the sustained explosion. Yes, Peppers had not just cast her spell once, but three times! A triple instant cast spell which was already considered an overlyplex spell had been cast in a concentrated form. If anything, she would mark it down in her diary as an achievement considering theplexity of the spell and that it was the first time she was doing a controlled explosion.

    The ck holes tried to absorb as much of the spell as possible but the intensity and quality of the magical power were so dense that the metal cubes were not capable of holding the spell. What''s more, they broke from the destructive powers of the spell that had been cast. Following the Southern Leader''s body, those metal cubes melted and disappeared from the face of the world by the third explosion spell.

    "Lol. Those cubes do not even stand a chance for my-" Peppersmented half way before the mana overload and drawback effects from tapping to the universal mana pool hit her. It caused her to vomit rainbows right at the spot and Jin who knew her condition immediately opened a portal right in front of her to pick her up.

    "It''s alright, it''s alright. I will bring you to the Panda Nurses right now." Jin remarked as he assisted Peppers up. "You did brilliant. Absolutely stunning. Bravo." He did not skimp out on the praises as he saw the explosion from the portal the System created.

    The former portal had not brought them back to the dungeon instances, but right beside Shu and Sandy. After all, Jin wanted to see the explosion with his eyes while showing the Nine Ocean Phoenix the capability of his betors.

    Peppers on the other hand was breathing heavily but gave a peace sign with her hands. "I know I am awesome." In truth, the Mage Betor had never felt more terrible. This was even worse than the Giant World explosion incident and yet she had also never felt as satisfied that she had aplished something thisplex before. Jin carried her up and quickly sent her to the nurses after the explosion subsided. This misadventure had certainly ended with a bang.

    The System sent Sandy and Shu back to their respective home instances, allowing them to rest while giving special concession for the Phoenix to return to see her hatchling and injured chick. Jin did not waste any time to see the Nine Oceans Phoenix and was a bit baffled that unlikest time the Phoenix greeted him with her head held low. Filled with gratitude, she had finally decided to join the team with the only condition that her children would be well taken care of.

    "I was nning to do that from the start, so sure. What about your other children? I remember that you had more than two eggs." Jin asked and the Phoenix shook her head.

    "Oh, you don''t have to worry about that. I onlyy two eggs. To prevent other monsters from taking my eggs, I took the liberty of caring for their eggs together with mine. They provided protection within the area that I chose to nest in, which allowed me to hide my presence from other predators. In return, their eggs benefit from my magical aura, which would have made them grow up more powerful than their peers. Unfortunately, that monstrous human you just defeated was downright lucky enough to find the nest at a time when I had gone out to hunt."

    Jin looked at the colour of several oceans on the egg''s surface. If one would take time to look at it closely, there was an illusion of the oceans ever moving on the egg''s shell as if it was a magical pearl from the deep sea. "All''s well that ends well, though. In fact, you and him might be working together really well."

    "Sorry, What?!" The Nine Oceans Phoenix nearly cried out feeling like she got betrayed the moment she signed the agreement. "How would that even be possible, NOBODY could survive that explosion?!"

    That was when Jin started to exin the workings of the System and how the people he killed had ''a chance'' of bing his minion. While still a little suspicious, the Nine Oceans Phoenix replied that she would only believe it when she saw Saberteeth in action.

    "Speaking of Saberteeth, say now that you''ve joined us, what should I call you?" Jin asked, telling her that to continue calling her ''Phoenix'' seemed a little ...distant.

    "Hmm.. Call me Jean then. That was a name given to me by someone I once knew." Jean replied as she reminisced the days of that na?ve mage simr to Jin.

    "Alright, Jean. Wee to the family." Jin raised his hand up, wanting to shake her feet but instead, Jean lowered her head below Jin''s hand as if a pat would suffice. And with this, a case of monster and human grudge somewhat came to a close.

    It was downrightical, how Jin had only wanted to hire some help from a Southerners'' mercenary group, which he believed he had sufficient money to pay them, yet given the chain of events he ended up recruiting nearly half a capital worth of mouths to feed due to the explosion Peppers made as well as a horde of flying monsters.

    "Now this is the true headache..." Jin shook his head as he couldn''t help but question his choice of intervening.

 Chapter 1029: Too Many Minions

    Chapter 1029: Too Many Minions

    Meanwhile, the System had ced theirtest recruits in the Open World Home Instances on a new Ind Instance. Normally, to have that many Southerners and monsters stay in one ce would have resulted in a bloodshed and quite possibly the eradication of one of the two sides. Still, since all of them were now under the System''s purview, they had no choice but to stay in harmony despite their prejudices against each other.

    However, Jin saw this as not necessarily a bad thing. After all, he needed more NPCs and monsters for the uing Virtual Network and these additions were very weing. If it was impossible to get them to work together, they could easily create a storyline where people would have to choose to side with one side or the other, just like he had done.

    "I thought you said you do not have space to keep this many people? And now we have another few thousands in our midst." Jin looked at the consoles of the Dungeon Maker to try and make sense of the current situation. Last he checked he had not done anything to increase his System''s capabilities.

    "System has иC to put it in User''s terms - done some New Year cleaning. By optimising some space it was possible to house the current group of monsters and humans captured. The System has already sieved through all those with unwanted behaviours, the extremists'' group and put them in storage in case we neededбн more ruthless behaviour in our NPCs." The System revealed some half truths in case Jin found out about the System using humans as its backup processing units to run the show. With this cover story, which was not entirely wrong, the System would be able to release them if Jin needed such unruly NPCs. But for now, their minds and bodies were utilised to the best for the System.

    "Nevertheless, this is pretty much a makeshift solution. System is once again asking User for support. Please find more ways to increase the processing power to reduce the burden as well as to allow System to expand the servers, allowing us to realise the Virtual Network instance as swiftly as possible." The System reiterated and yet Jin found it even more of a headache.

    Sure, he would love to get it done and over with but there were way too many pressing matters at hand. While this particr sidetrack had yielded him some benefits and manpower, the burden of keeping them would definitely backfire. With the new recruits in the thousands, Jin had unofficially be a Mayor with all the people and monsters under his rule.

    "While I''d like to rebuild the Southern Capital, the Demon Rats still pose too much of a problem. It seems unwise to invest into a new city when I have trouble brewing up North and the potential for them toe and disturb us." Jin remarked.

    "What do you think about us putting these people into Pandapolis for the time being?" Jin asked the System for its rmendations. "This way, they would still be under your jurisdiction, but not require you to uphold this ce. We would be able to get certain things working while they learn a new set of skills so that they could rebuild the Southern Capital way faster by themselves?"

    "System understands User''s rationale but does anticipate the fallout effects of leaving the Southern Capitals in ruins. Without their capital and their leader presumed dead, the Southerners might interpret it as a monster attack and the rtionship between the Southerners and monsters might intensify as such. Especially with the explosion that Mage Betor Peppers has done, it should be quite visible for the surrounding towns to learn about the nature of the attack."

    "бнSo? Why not keep it as is? The whole monster attack thing? Just need to use another strawman though." Jin sat down and started to think that there could actually be a way to turn the situation around.

    "What does User mean?" The System queried.

    "Instead of cing the me on the monsters from the South, we turn it into propaganda against the Demon Rats? We let loose a few Southerners who will spread the message that the Demon Rats are the ones responsible? Heck, we could even im that the Southern Monsters were cooperating with the defence against the Southern Capital?"

    "Sound a bit far fetched, don''t you think?" Qiu Yue popped by as she overheard thest few conversational exchanges between Jin and the System. "While the idea seems good, don''t you think it''s a bit weird that the seaport had no sight nor contact with any Demon Rats?"

    "That''s under the assumption they woulde here by boat. What do you think about those aircraft carriers? I mean, while the seaport towns and cities could not have seen any Demon Ratsndings but the capital isn''t exactly too far away from the coastal regions either. It would be believable that those rats did that. Besidesбн" Jin opened up his console.

    "We have quite a few rats in our Spiral Sewers Instances, don''t we?" Jin asked as the System replied to point out the quantity ''a few'' was quite inappropriate.

    "Oh, so we throw an act?" Qiu Yue questioned and Jin nodded his head.

    "With the Monsters and Southerners working under us, it should be easy enough to set up a бнyou could say a recovery camp, where some of the monsters are helping to clear the debris of the capital while we have Saberteeth as the de facto leader. Get my drift so far?" Jin said and both the System (figuratively) and Qiu Yue (literally) nodded her head.

    "At the same time, we can prepare the construction of the Southern Capital by clearing the ce up and reusing the salvage and debris. It couldn''t hurt to feed our recycler to continue working non stop." Jin grinned as he remembered the System had increased the Recycler''s abilities.

    "That is quite true. At the same time, we could influence the rest of the Southern Towns to get ready for war against the Demon Rats." Qiu Yue suggested.

    "Assuming they are able to produce the things we need. Else, it''s better for them to use our weaponry instead." Jin said but Qiu Yue shook her head.

    "That will tip the bnce of the Farming World way too much. The East and West will suffer and we might have a North-South alliance against the East and West after this whole Demon Rat thing is over." Qiu Yue cautioned stating that it might be good to interfere with the Farming World as much as they did for the Goblin World. By introducing new technology it could potentially lead to political conflicts in the future.

    In the Goblin World such technologies had been introduced and then got taken away, before they came back as their very own Goblin''s Illuminati Ironworks.

    Jin was lucky that the Goblin World was still peaceful as it is because of the Orc powerhouse and the Goblins acting as the intermediary between the Orcs and Humans but they could not say the same for the Farming World especially when the production of items are potentially different in their world. And unfortunately, that goes the same for the Dungeon World too so while it would be great for Jin to interfere with all the worlds, the headache he has would no doubt increase.

    However, the dungeon supplier was toozy to think that far. "''I''d rather we just do it and get rid of the rats as soon as possible. On that noteбнwe could always control the East and West in the future as well should they try to make an alliance and take out the North or South first. And if that happens, we could potentially have the Farming World at our fingertips and that would no doubt bring greater production to not just the other worlds but our dungeon supplying as an inter world business."

    "So as long as we have the end product, that will be fine?" Qiu Yue shrugged and shook her head. "Guess, the ones supporting you just have to buck up then, but still I have to say that''s a goal worth looking forward to."

    "That sounds awfully dandy to me. He he!" Jin nodded his head and started to coordinate for a recovery camp at the ruins of the Southern Capital.

    "History would remember this as the first day on his rise to be the future Intergctic Panda Emperor" - Diary of a certain Fox.

 Chapter 1030: Disaster Rescue Camp

    Chapter 1030: Disaster Rescue Camp

    Qiu Yue spent the next few days cing camps simr to the ones they had set up for the New Adventurer''s Town in its initial stages outside the ruins of the Southern Capital. The tactician did not have high hopes about this ''bluff'' working effectively, yet the Red Panda Cultivator felt it was still worth a try. On the off-chance they could trick the Southerners to team up together with the monsters, they might actually gain even more powerful allies against the Demon Rats.

    Jin then released all of the ''innocent'' Southerners within his System into the camps. While they were crushed to see the destruction of their homes, the System had exined the reasoning behind the total annihtion of the capital.

    It was not easy for the Southerners to swallow the truth but with the System controlling them to a certain degree, most of them epted it unwillingly. Some were rather pleased that the entire capital was destroyed, since it meant they could create a new (and better) city.

    Issues such as discrimination against the weak and the survival of the strongest had always been the ongoing theme within the city and for good reasons. It had been the only way to live and survive in this harsh environment against all the monster onughts. With Jin having taken control of them and their leaders, they requested their master to use his capabilities (and deep pockets) to help them with that project.

    Yet first, they would have to defeat the Rat Demons, and that was the hard part.

    It was only a matter of time until the other Southern Cities would send out scouting parties to investigate the source of therge explosion where the Southern Capital used to be. The camps had been set up to show off that the monsters were actually helping the Southerners and Jin needed the two groups to y nice with each other.

    Theoretically, all of them were under the System''s influence, so controlling them should be easy enough. However, forcing Jin''s subjects to do something against their nature required a lot of focus (aka processing capabilities) on the System''s part which could be used for more important issues.

    In addition, Jin only had so much time on his hands to make sure that the free willed Southerners would agree toe together as a team before he would have to take care of other problems which just kept piling. In a somewhat drastic choice, Jin appointed a person which nobody had expected to lead the entire group.

    Silver, cousin of Gold, as well as the current recement leader of the Jacks by rmendation of the Schr of the East himself.

    Although Silver''s understanding of the Southern Region was limited to a few pages of the history books, he had the werejackals under him who were previously mages under the Four Schrs, especially notable people like Yellow, Brown and Grey.

    While they now understood the ''true'' history for the feud between the Southerners and the Monsters residing in the Southern Region, Yellow and Brown had the capability to intervene in their culture because of the knowledge they once held.

    Still, the Jacks were well versed in Jin''s way of working things out and thus, with their expertise, they assisted the two groups and made sure that they are working alongside each other. Silver took charge of the matters rted to the reconstruction of the Southern Capital as well, assigning manpower (and monster power) to various sites of the former capital, arranging them to prepare for transportation into the System''s Recycler.

    In the meantime, Yellow and Brown instructed some of the Southerners to go out and spread the propaganda messages as detailed by Jin''s initial n. All the mayors in the surrounding towns were initially sceptical regarding the content of the messages, even though they were mostly delivered by the same scouts that visited them frequently. But both the Werejackal Mages had another n in mind.

    On the third day after the disaster rescue base camp was set up, the first mayors of the arrived. They were promptly weed by none other than Saberteeth for an informal meeting in one of the nearest biggest Southern Town, Banning. To ensure the willingness of the Southern Leader Jin had allowed a certain Dungeon Security Director with the help of his new assistant, Nightingale to ''convince'' the Southern Mage that it was all for the good of his people.

    That meeting alone cleared many doubts and rumours for the mayors of the various towns, especially once Saberteeth presented them with a live Demon Rat they had captured and ''interrogated''. In reality, Kraft had merely brainwashed one of their captured Demon Rat with moreбн violent methods to make it more responsive to telling the ''truths'' it had been fed during its session.

    No doubt the mayors made a huge ruckus seeing that their capital turning into ruins but all that empty noises were not going to make much progress. So with all that evidence the mayors ultimately pledged their support, since they understood they had toe together to deal with the danger of more rats attacking them.

    However, although the mayors were in favour of fighting against the Demon Rats, they were wary of the alliance between the monsters and the Southerners. The reformed Saberteeth had already warned Jin about the concerns any ''sane'' Southerner would have, so with the help of Qiu Yue, they hade up with some contingency ns.

    That was where Gold, the Schr of the East, the Farmer of all Farmers, or the Garden Prince as Weslie had dubbed him. He joined the meeting and promised the mayors that if they pledged help, he would assist them in their agriculture aspects.

    Even though the White Desert was not a suitable ce to grow crops, it was nevertheless part of the Farming World and with the right fertilisers and seeds, the Southerners would be able to have a decent bounty from nature itself.

    Naturally, he took the chance to introduce the secret organisation which was now aiding the reconstruction of the capital, stating that they would provide the necessary food supplies.

    That brought a ton of relief to those mayors since they had actually been relying on the capital to feed their people. The little farming that their towns did, was barely enough to sustain themselves and would. Thus, they all followed their leader''s example.

    Saberteeth was known for being cunning and ruthless in his behaviour and his weird hobbies of collecting eggs for experiments, yet he was still a leader who had improved their situation. Thanks to his ''out of the norms'' ways he had brought innovation to the Southerners after the mysterious disappearance of their Southern Schr. When they had needed him the most, he had disappeared, but the mayors had witnessed Saberteeth pulling them out of the rug before so there was a certain level of trust for him.

    Some even queried Gold why the Schrs did not approach or rmend him to be the next Southern Schr when the old one had somewhat abandoned their duty. The only remark Gold could give them without revealing any details was that he would try his best to find out more about the old Southern Schr.

 Chapter 1031: Recruitment for the Demon Rat Offensive

    Chapter 1031: Recruitment for the Demon Rat Offensive

    As Saberteeth worked out the details with the mayors to get their support for the relief effort at the capital, he was also writing contracts for them to draft manpower for the Demon Rat Offensive. Since Jin had been able to get the Southern Leader on his side, he might as well y bigger and mobilise the entire Southern Region.

    That way, not only would it make the Demon Rat Offensive slightly easier, it would drastically increase the production of the items he wanted to make in the future, if he had ended up with two major regions under his control.

    However, the mayors were a little skittish on the fact that Saberteeth was giving their recruited men off for training, inds away from the Southern Region. All these were once again orchestrated by this secret organisation, just called the ''P".

    Yet, the reimbursement to the men as well as the mayors was astonishingly good, to the point that they could not believe it until Jin sent ire, his new Sub System User that specialised in finances and ounting.

    She literally presented the mayors with treasure boxes worth of gold and even offered them straight up. While in the real world, it was considered to be bribery, ire knew that these members of a бнbackward society would prefer a valuable exchange immediately over contracts that would benefit them long term.

    Still, there were leaders with decent moral values as chosen by Saberteeth himself to govern the towns and these gold bars were merely seen as an incentive to spur them forward. ire further sweetened the deal for those who epted the call of the drafting of individuals and gave her organisation more people to train, she would even throw in perks like a free ton of food supplies. However, knowing the Demon Rat numbers, ire added that women, children and even elderly with sufficient strength could participate in it too.

    When the mayors queried about the training conditions, they were surprised to find out that they would be given shelter and food as well as a stipend which they could use to spend on items they had on the ind as well as bringing it back to their own country. As expected, the mayors were taken aback by the perks but Saberteeth lied by saying he had reviewed the training regime and stated that it was not easy but overall it would be mutually beneficial for the Organisation P to train their people.

    Once more, with the backing of Saberteeth, the mayors agreed to this win-win situation for them. They had quite a number of starving and lower ie sses which gued their streets. It could amount to sheer governing ipetence but the ce they were in yed a major role as well. Naturally, they did not mind this Organisation P taking these people away. It would allow them to finally rebuild a few of the slums to proper buildings while improving the condition of their towns overall.

    It was such a steal that the Organisation P was doing but Saberteeth said that they had been doing this for the rebellion in the Northern Region. If not for their help, the Northern Region would already have been overtaken by the Rats. Many of the mayors queried where the wealth of this organisation P came from or whether their sponsors were from the Eastern and Western Regions. But all ire did was to smile at them, telling them not to worry about it. (All the more they worry!)

    With the military recruitment out of the way, the focus of the meeting shifted to routine issues which Saberteeth and the mayors would attend to. But as all these administrative matters were being sorted out, the real work was being done at the ruins of the Southern Capital.

    Since Jin wanted the Southerners and monsters to cooperate, Silver had to put them into various groups, mainly the debris clearing group as well as the salvaging group. The Zurglings, while small in size, were great for removing the smaller debris as well as picking up items that could be salvaged. s, most of the items had been melted or burned to the point it was impossible to tell what the original item was, yet there was still various metal and stone that could be reused.

    Thus, the Zurglings would prepare to bring whatever ''trash'' they could find to a certain point and the humans would sieve out the trash for processing. In the meantime, the Southerners who knew how to cook, assisted the Animal Folk from the Giant World to make meals for the thousands of Southerners that had been left estranged. As for the other Southerners, a few Minotaurs were stationed in the camp to help with reconstruction efforts.

    While the Zurglings removed the smaller debris, therger flying monsters would assist with the bigger ones and when a section of the Southern Capital was cleared, the Minotaurs sent in the already assigned Southerners to start digging to build a proper foundation. And of course, Jin provided them with modern tools like Construction Golems while the Orcs taught them how to use them.

    Jin did not want them to rely on their food supply too much, so Silver had sent out some of the mutated Zurglings, a few of their warriors and even kids to work together to gather food in the forest as well as the nearby coastline. Because of their size, some of the kids and teens sat on the Zurglings as they partnered with each other to find berries, herbs within the forest.

    Silver hoped that this forced pairing would slowly increase their rtionship and teamwork with each other so that the System could release the mass enforcement orders, and their behaviour and attitudes would stay the same.

    Just a few days passed, but the disaster rescue camp was already bustling with activity. Initially, it had been chaotic with Silver and the Jacks having to shout out their orders to get things done, it didn''t take long for a semnce of orderly work in the area to appear.

    Silver was younger than Gold and had lesser life experience, the days where Silver had secretly coordinated with the rebels against the Rats had allowed him to be a better leader than most would acknowledge him.

    Nevertheless, this particr situation where he had to coordinate thousands of humans who did not know a single thing about reconstruction or the monsters where they had been living from hunting only, had proven to be a significant challenge for the interim leader of the Jacks.

    Fortunately, when Saberteeth returned from the mayor meeting, he instantly helped Silver and improved the werejackals'' processes by a whole lot. This in turn allowed Silver to take a breath of relief for a day or two and just when he thought he was able to take a break with Saberteeth leading the way, the Southern Leader suddenly disappeared because Jin summoned him for some other military rted issue.

    Silver naturallyined to Jin, s all the Dungeon Supplier said was that he was doing a good job on his own. He praised him and told him he was confident that Silver would be able to take over the lead once more. Even Gold chimed in, stating that he was doing well.

    But Silver thought otherwise.

    "This pressure! GAHHHH!!" Silver grumbled as he looked at the construction ns in the disaster camp headquarters for Jin had something in mind with regards to the new Southern Capital. (But he did secretly liked the praises.)

    It was another of his grand ns to revitalise the region

 Chapter 1032 - Demonstration of Power

    <h4>Chapter 1032 - Demonstration of Power</h4>

    While Silver was racking his brains about how to put Jinбпs ns into action, the massive бпbig brainбп System was simultaneously taking into ount the possibility that the Southern Region could be turned into a prospective country under their rule. Since бпjust a cityбп such as Pandapolis was not enough, the System wanted Jin to have a бпmock countryбп to rule.

    However, Jin did not care about all these ns for the future. His priorities were to ensure proper housing, sanitation and an overall better quality of life for the Southerners which he now felt responsible for.

    All those ancient feuds stemmed from humans and monsters fighting for the survival of their poption. As long as the humans could be fed and sheltered properly, he believed that cooperation with their former enemies might be possible... at least in theory. He was not naive enough to believe that evesting peace could ever be realized so easily, otherwise others would have done so already.

    s, there were problems everywhere.

    Today, he had turned his attention to Demopolis. The Wolf Fox brothers had been gathering information for the uing Police Raids. Although Jin would have loved to create a new dungeon instance for the shop, the elimination of the Demopolis Triads and Mafias was an essential step to stem out the evil, repossess their wealth and improve the lives of the Demopolis Citizens.

    So far, the citizens had shown mixed responses about Rexбпs way of rooting the weeds out of the corrupted political system in his first few days of office. The majority were just relieved that the takeover had been rtively peaceful to their lives, (since most of the damage had been done at the location of the prison which housed the dungeon core). They were still unsure whether this unknown new master could be a threat to their daily lifestyle or make it better.

    On the other hand, most Mafia Bosses understood the need to stay low for the time being since many had been implicated by the truth serum. They believed that Rex was merely putting up a show to gain the respect of the citizens because of the sudden takeover which many did not expect and it would only take time for him to reach out to them.

    Of course, there would always be outliers. One such minor mafia boss did not take heed of the King Rexбпs public warnings and brazenly arrived in front of the Demopolis Pce with his men all in full glory. He wanted to reveal that Rex was just a mere puppet to the shadows of the Demopolis.

    As one might expect, things did not end well for him.

    His goons had brandished their weapons to intimidate the Demopolis Pce Guards, as well as the Demon Home Guards under General Vual, who had not shown any mercy to the trespassers. Hails of bullets had rained down on them, executing every one of them and a modified Sherman Tank had blocked off the Pce Gates to prevent them from escaping.

    It was a short and quick massacre, which only ended with the nameless Mafia Boss on his knees, panting for his breath while he held his bloodied sword. Instead of his enemies, the weapon he held were dripping with his own blood.

    Injured with multiple bullet shots to his legs and upper torso, it was nothing short of a miracle he was still alive. But given his endurance and physical attributes, he was barely hanging on to the thread of life. The boss looked back at the carnage done by the inc.u.mbent king.

    There had been no time for him or his elite bodyguards to create a magical barrier to protect themselves from the speedy metal projectiles shot from their gun barrels. He knew what a gun looked like since there were some in cirction but he had never seen such a fast-action rifle, shooting multiple bullets within a minute.

    Making his defeat even more depressing, not a single Pce nor Home Guards had even been injured from the supposed бпshowбп of power. All their belongings, including their horse carriage, waster gathered in the middle of the pce, and burned right in the middle of the garden za.

    It was to ensure every single demon rted to this mafia group was killed. Of course, they had been relieved of their weapons, armour and anything valuable though Vaul would im that it was merely repossession so that such items could be sold for themon good of the Demopolis.

    And while the looting of the corpses and throwing them to the centre to burn each and every one of them, the mafia boss was being dragged into the pce with a team of eight Home Guards including a Dark Elf loaned from Kraft to the Pce Halls. As the instigator was about to seep into the darkness, he found Rex pulling him up and punch him in the gut, leaving quite the first impression on him.

    "My other associates wille and take revenge for me. They WILL kill you. You wonбпt have another day of proper sleep without assassins targeting you, waiting for the right moment to strike you down. And donбпt forget, we can resurrect again and I have the sufficient resources to do so!" The Mafia Boss threatened one final time in a trembling voice because of the pain from his wounds but Rex merelyughed at his feeble threat.

    "Thatбпs perfect! I wee all of them toe to find me and it will certainly make my life a whole lot easier! But guess what? Reality isnбпt as rosy as you thought it would be, little kid. Plus donбпt me so sure that you can resurrect back without my permission." Rex pulled out his details from the database with the System help since it was in sync with the Demopolisбп Dungeon Core too. "You see, thanks to your act of violence, this will only further cement my perception as the killer of all evil."

    "What bullcrap. You are the same as us. The only difference is that you have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g crown on top of your head!" The Mafia Boss coughed as he could indeed feel he was going to be unconscious from the loss of blood, and probably die from it. (Un)Fortunately for him, Rex still had ns for him. He would not allow him to die just yet, so he got Pei to heal his wounds. Just enough so that he would not bite the dust right now.

    "I donбпt care for crowns, or do you see one on my head right now? You know what? Iбпm feeling a little generous today. Youбпve already yed your part, but you can still be useful. All I need you to do is to give me some of your close friendбпs names and you shall be allowed to survive this ordeal. Betray your friends and you shall have a golden crown for your head." Rex said with a smile and he could see that the Mafia Boss was wavering.

    After all, he did not be a Mafia Boss by being loyal to a certain someone. He had fought, stolen, lied and even betrayed a few friends to reach his current position. So if this new King was indeed foolish enough to not only release him but also pay him, why not?

    Especially when these бпclose friendsбп he had were not exactly very friendly when push came to shove. Thus, with Rexбпs offer dandling right in front of the boss, he nodded his head slowly. In any case, he could simply inform his friends before the Home Guards could do anything. (And that was assuming he was able to get out of this situation in one piece.)

    "Well, what are we waiting for? Tsu, Kai!" Rex shouted and pped his hands twice, for the brothers to magically appear right in front of him, first in fox form and subsequently transform into humans. "Take the statements of our friend here. If you find his information credible, return him to me. Oh and inform Kraft that I have promised the fellow a golden crown."

    "Yes, my King." Tsu nodded his head and a slight smirk appeared on his face for a brief moment. He then turned to the mafia boss knowing that the golden crown treatment was something of a torturous punishment by pouring hot melted gold onto the Mafia Bossбпs head. At a whopping 1000 over degrees celsius, the melted gold treatment would surely kill. "You are one бпluckyбп fellow to be bestowed such an offer," Tsu said then extended his hand up with a smile while Kai exerted some of his chi to stop the bleeding.

    The Mafia Boss was sure that he could not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. To forever wear a golden бпcrownбп on his head when the interview was over.

 Chapter 1033: Discussion of Demopolis City Raids

    Chapter 1033: Discussion of Demopolis City Raids

    After the Mafia Boss had spilt the beans, a portal had opened up and he had been quickly yoinked away. The information he had given them was helpful, but it had not sufficed their coordinated city-wide attack.

    Tsu and Kai, along with their little spies in training, had been gathering information on the fly, which had also beenplemented by several Home Guards. They were keeping the reconnaissance and information gathering to only a handful of people mainly because Tsu was convinced that there were moles in the Police department too. It would take time to purge the moles within the police department and doing so before the raid might scare the other Mafia Bosses away.

    Still, Rex believed that Jin had enough manpower in his hands to perform such a feat on his own. Especially with Night Foxes, thebat team under the directmand of Kraft, who had been tasked to do this raid, he was confident they could pull a strict operation that would execute all mafias and triads within the city premises.

    However, they were not going anywhere or doing any operation without the System''s guidance. Even with the System being acknowledged into the Dungeon Core, the System had been jam-packed with all kinds of other priorities, which was why it had ced theplete integration of the cities surveince at the back end.

    Demopolis was not like Pandapolis where security cameras and sensors had been ced all over the ce. In order to aid the System, the Home Guards who were in sync with the System''smand had been quietly acting as repairmen to rectify that, putting up security cameras on magic power points, (simr to electrical poles). Additionally, they had also installed a mini power dock as well as an ongoing magical circle that held the Magic Eyes which the System had been using for the Dungeon Instances.

    With the magic power points consistently supplying power, the Magic Eyes could be deployed at any time and this would give the operation a few more pairs of ''eyes'' to monitor the situation around the Demopolis. That way, it was easier for the System to view the area and provide rmendations to the headquarters which was situated in the Royal Pce.

    Other than that, the Home Guards had also been receiving training along with the Night Foxes to make sure they were in sync when it came to orders andmands. By pushing their bodies to the limits so that they could perform better in operations. Additionally, they were taught how to use the newer specialised ranged weapons. Although educating a group of spearmen to hold guns and expect them to operate as a toon of modern military soldiers would be too much to ask.

    Many of them felt ...exposed, for theck of a better word. Instead of the bulky armour they had grown used to, they were given ck military-grade coats with defence inscriptions imbued into them. It was hard for them to believe that the little fabric was indeed stronger than any sort of metal they could be wearing. To demonstrate the effectiveness, one of the Night Foxes fought barehanded with a toon of Home Guards armed to the teeth. The Dark Elf in question was none other than Narris who had assisted Jin with the search of the Nine Oceans Phoenix.

    She managed to fend off most of the attacks and evaded a majority of them too but because of the squad''s superiority in numbers and the restriction of only fighting barehanded without any use of magic, Narris got wounded quite a few times. However, those shes and pierces had been softened by the defence inscription inbuilt into the military-grade overall. It was only then the Home Guards had started to trust what Rex and the other Foxes had been providing them.

    The day after the Mafia Boss''s visit, all of the Foxes had gathered at a table in the pce to go over their ns on how to best upgrade the Demopolis to be as modern as Pandapolis. Chief on the agenda were the many revisions in the city ns that had been made. From removing the slums to a major revamp to their infrastructure.

    However, to do these major reworks required a lot of money and Demopolis was not exactly a city of trade. They had been relying on raiding others with the army that they once possessed and with nearly more than half of their elites in Jin''s possession, it was simply not possible to do so.

    Thus, reeducation was a major factor in the ns of rebuilding Demopolis.

    Kraft did contemte to simply perform a mass brainwashing session and give them the skills required for various jobs, but not only would it be straining for the Original Fox Betor to do so, but more importantlyбн he would get quickly bored of it. He might train one or two out of boredom but after that, Rex believed he would not bother to do so any more. If anything it would be better to convince the crafty fox into teaching some of the Night Foxed how to perform such aplex brainwash in case they would go with his n.

    The Foxes had been shamelessly copying from Jin''s World. From the various policies ranging from education to the way of transportation, the foxes had studied all things rted to their job scope to assist Rex in governing the Demopolis. It might be awfully tedious to certain foxes but most of them knew from experience what it was like not to have a basic implementation of a modern city.

    "It''s easy to say we will change the lives of these people, but to do so will require a tremendous amount of work," said Rex during their progress reports.

    "It might not be perfect, but at the very least, we are doing this for the experience. That way, if things do improve, we can leave it to the locals and use our knowledge for the real world whenever Jin decides to take over the government." Evon mused and the others chuckled a little.

    "What? You guys don''t think he would be part of it? He already revealed himself to be a legitimate n as recognised by the world''s Godly Representative. It''s only a matter of time and we will reach there." Evon insisted and Rex shook his head.

    "Honestly, I don''t think he really needs to govern China. He already has a major ecosystem via the dungeon instances, these dungeon world cities under him and now the Southern Region as his puppet state. That is already way more than what any one of those 12 traitor ns could ever have." Peimented that he had much on his te and there were so many things to do. From slowly improving each and every city and now even a state, he simply would not have time anymore to handle his store.

    "I have a feeling that our master is unfortunately not too different from Brother Kraft. After a while, he might just pass that baton to other people and concentrate working on his dungeon supplier job. After all, he did reveal he wanted to do a Virtual Reality Network, no? All these cities, if they are truly established as strongholds, they would be providing money and resources to create the Virtual Reality Network." Rex remarked.

    "Nah! I think he would still identally stumble into something and end up being part of his possession. Even if he is trying hard to not get involved in the politics of China, I think he will just get dragged into, as if the fates would want him to be in that. Don''t forget if we realise the Virtual Reality Network, he would be as big as the westernpanies Mooogle and Banana Inc." Evon sighed.

    "Enough chatter. Let''s continue with the boring stuff and then we can get back to the raids. ording to the System, Jin has more or less settled the stuff in the Southern Region and he has made time to put some focus on the City Raids. He wants to know if we think it''s possible to integrate his customers in this particr raid." Pei mentioned and Rex nodded his head.

    "Yes, that might be useful. That bbermouth told us that those mafias do have a stronger hold on this city than we had anticipated. Ever since that stupid bat had been controlling King Bael their control had increased. There will definitely be shes and we might need to rescue the civilians on a massive scale." Tsu said and told Pei to procure sufficient medical supplies for the hospitals for when the fighting started.

 Chapter 1034 - Relocating? -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1034 - Relocating? -Part 1</h4>

    The Foxes had already started to discuss what needed to be done for the Demopolis Police Raids as the number one agenda on the list. From the manpower needed to do a proper cleanup to the possible destruction of the city.

    Yet many agreed that the raids to catch the mafia bosses would not root out the core problem of the Demopolis society. From infrastructure to their ways of life, it had been deteriorating ever since Kiva had been manipting King Baal. The distribution of wealth among the people had been very skewed towards the nobles and unless they intervened the nobles would undoubtedly continue to do so even after the cleanup.

    In fact, a good part of the said nobles was sponsoring one or more of the mafias and they had relied on them for their protection. To the outsiders who did not know anything about the nitty-gritty of the n, they thought it was King Rexбпs way of managing the filth in the city. But to Rex and the other foxes, cleaning up the mafias was merely an excuse to take control of the underworld so that those proponents of бпevilбп could act as the guards, the middleman as well as the protector of the weak if needed.

    Ever since their fights against the Royal Zodiacs in ancient times, they hade to appreciate the benefits of having unruly factions of society working for them. From the numerous beggars to the street side peddlers, the minor factions of the Panda n had been utilising their street information to outwit the Royal Zodiacs and as such, they believed there would be simr advantages to this city if they could control the underworld.

    At first, it might sound like a silly n, but because of the need to fortify their defences against the Royals for a possible attack after seeing the friendбпs fate (in reality he had already been resurrected by the System), the gang activities from other mafia groups had quickly decreased significantly within a few hours, indicating that their shadywork was vast enough to learn about King Rexбпs possible motives. It also proved that there were indeed moles among them that had leaked the information.

    Unlike the other parts of the city, the System hadplete control of the Royal Pce and it had been able to identify the moles within the Home Guards as well as in the Pce Guards. However, instead of exposing them, Rex had ced them under intensive surveince since such moles would usually lead them to the bigger fish and that was what they wanted.

    Still, the moles had not been informed about what was going to happen, so they just thought that Rex was only hitting some Mafia affiliated locations as a show of power. Hence the Mafia Bosses though the same. Still, the increased activities gave the Night Foxes plenty of time to stalk their prey and monitor them while the Fox Betors gathered for their meeting.

    As this was one of the more major meetings ever since the inception of the Demopolis, the foxes had started to point out all the ws they found out about the city. And in short, there was nothing great about it.

    "How about we move the entire poption to Pandapolis while we rebuild the city from bottom-up?" Evon asked as he felt the headache listing the number of ws in the infrastructure and the progress of their society.

    "Now you are feeling the pressure of managing the city, eh?" Itori smiled as she knew that it had been one of Evonбпs dreams back in the day to rule over a small town, or city. Back then he had felt that just bing a n leader would be boring, and thought of being a ruler had seemed бпcoolбп.

    Although he just was put in charge of the science and research department he had had enough things to deal with. In his opinion, there were too many things that relied on magic. If not for the constant army raids for magic crystals, this cityбпs heavy reliance on magic would most certainly shut down. Of course, some of the inventions had surprised him but many of the systems in ce were very inefficient and recing them step by step would be a headache too.

    "I too feel that is a good idea. A proper renning of the city would be ideal especially when the dungeon core still allowed a reset, well that is if Rex allowed it." Ixa said as she pointed out the terrible transportation systems and again the overreliance of magic to transport oneself to another ce.

    "We can ask Jin if that is possible since the Pandapolis is currently close and empty. That way we can be as destructive as possible so we can rebuild Demopolis so it can serve our needs better. Maintenance works in Pandapolis should be done soon too, I believe?" Ixel added since the workers had been interrupted a few times to aid in the defence of the Farming Worlds.

    "From what I know from the System, the repair of the city is more or lessplete. Just a few part recements in several buildings and they should be fine. But even so, wouldnбпt reallocating be a hassle and a possible deviation from our ns?" Peimented.

    "It might not exactly be such a bad idea." Kraft who had so far just been listening in from the side started to think of such a possibility. "We could like you know, im we are doing some gang cleanup and those who do not want to be implicated be evacuated. Of coursepensation h h h."

    "Oh? That sounds like a decent idea. That way those who would stay should mostly be the ones guilty and well, old folks." Evon thought about it "And that will increase the gang activities when we announce it out loud so we can monitor them even more tantly."

    "Then what about those who support the gangs, but are not part of them?" Ixa queried and the consensus was that they deserved what wasing.

    "Basically, it will be a warzone here. Anyone who would be caught in the crossfire will not be shown any mercy." Ixel replied. "Unlike in the old days, we donбпt have to worry too much about it though. The System could revive them, or we can leave it to this world if that might be a problem. However, if the System does it, we can im to have rescued them, thereby increasing our public rtions."

    "Since when do you even think about public rtions? That is so unlike you! Shouldnбпt I be the one that is worried about that?" Kiyu chuckled at the Ixelбпs unusual statement. "But you are not wrong. I believe the System can also release those бпpeopleбп if needed, right? I mean it cannot capture infinitely because at the rate we are going, we are gonna have a world full of needs to worry about. I donбпt even think Jin would even want that."

    "Hah! Maybe Jin wanted that. Remember how he raved about having a world of virtual reality. He might need some old NPCs for their knowledge and stories. Could make a good side quest thing." Itorimented and the rest startedughing.

    Why bother to a door to door fight against the Mafias when you can have an all out battle? Thus, the decision to relocate the people so they could rebuild Demopolis was starting to get a major consensus.

 Chapter 1035: Relocating? - Part 2

    Chapter 1035: Relocating? - Part 2

    While most of the Foxes agreed to the relocation, they still needed Jin''s permission for them to do so, thus Rex had summoned him. The dungeon supplier had just been working with Qiu Yue on the reconstruction of the Southern Capital. (Needless to say, he had dragged the Red Panda Cultivator into the conversation and she felt another streak of headachesing in.)

    "You know, Jin, when I first heard that my Sub-System was called the Empire Building System I had just thought it was just a shy name. However, with all the fuss of rebuilding stuff right, left and centre, I''m starting to think one day I might be able to create an entire city with a snap of a finger." Qiu Yueined while entering the portal. While she had slowly earnt the capability to create buildings via the Sub System, there was only so much she could do at a given set of time.

    "Basically you n to start a mini civil war in the city and make use of that opportunity for big change, huh?" Jin asked after scanning through the files, all thick with pages of reports from the foxes. He had never expected them to be this meticulous since the dungeon supplier had always thought of them as just fighters. Only through the limited interactions with Rex in the past few days did hee to learn that the foxes had all been leader candidates for their ns, making them excellent bureaucrats.

    "You could say that. Think of it as a sort of spring cleaning to change the city in a way you want it to be." Kraft chuckled from the side with arge grin on his face.

    "That is actually a good idea in theory, but we don''t know how they will react to going into Pandapolis. We can''t exactly feed them for months on end, while we are rebuilding Demopolis. Even though we need data to replicate what their jobs were, this seems like a bad thing for us." Jin said and Rex shook his head.

    "Then make them work the way you need them to work. If they have to readapt, this is the best time to inculcate new values in them. With the power of technology by our side, we should be able to influence them to fall in love with the gadgets of the modern world and thus allow them to work better."

    "Besides, we will need people to rebuild the Demopolis. Qiu Yue''s ability is handy, but costly and we cannot expect our minions to do everything, especially with the Farming World situation. Let''s not forget it will be the future city for the Demon Citizens. It''s best they work for their city and they would fight for their citizens. This will also give temporary work to those demons in the slums and will allow the craftsman to upgrade their skills. Their engineers and scientists could benefit from working with our Orc and Goblin engineering teams and they might be able to build their very own version of golems. As for the military side, they can be under the training of Nubwort or Zeru if he''s not missing most of the time." Evon stated.

    "And if things go very well with the re-education programme, we can also adapt this to the Southerners and eventually the Northerners once we defeat the Demon Rats. As for the kids, they are currently not bound to our world''s norm of giving them an education so they could work in the fields in the Farming Sector and receive some education materials as part of learning. Maybe the ones with deft hands could be assistants for the engineers and scientists. That would definitely spur them to read up more. After all, if we were to fight in the Mecha World, we need all the help we can get." Itori exined.

    "While I understand that all these are preparations when they are in Pandapolis, I am actually more interested in the current chaos we are about to make." Jin queried if he was able to exploit the City Raids for his cultivators.

    "From what I know, you all have been gathering intelligence on the Mafias and they are quite deep-rooted in this society. With the relocation, we can get the System to monitor all of them who go into Pandapolis and remove any possible threats. But the problem seems to be those that remain in Demopolis. If possible, I would like the cultivators to find them and if needed subdue them. Like a sort of city bounty hunt kind of dungeon instance."

    "That means the amount of effort we put in in the first ce to get intel is kind of useless isn''t it?" Kai asked as the coordination training between the Night Foxes, Home Guards and even some of the police units would be useless if Jin sent his customers into a rampage.

    "I wouldn''t say that. If you think about it, we not only need to close the Demopolis borders but we got to assist with the movement from Demopolis and Pandapolis. I assume it should be done with the magical circles, just like the way the Demon Army first came in. If that''s the case, the Home Guards as well as the police are needed to secure the area. If those Mafia goons try to do some reckless, we have to be there to protect the citizens. The Night Foxes on the other hand could chase after those assants or maybe sieve out the baddies if the System managed to catch anybody suspicious within the crowds." Tsu defended the proposal to move the citizens to Pandapolis so they could have a definite battle with lesser citizen casualties.

    "You make them sound like terrorists in the making." Qiu Yuemented which both Tsu and Kai nodded their heads.

    "Don''t forget that the System is not the only one capable of resurrecting people. In the Dungeon World it''s practically guaranteed, even if the duration differs, that is how they hold the values of their victim''s lives and being destructively reckless could be said to be one of their modus operandi." Kai sighed.

    "If anything, we can always dispatch several patrol units both as bait and backup during the Demopolis lockdown. If the Pandarens need help, they could just shoot a re up and the Home Guards can assist." Tsu suggested.

    "Oh myбн That is actually a delightful suggestion." Jin thought to himself and already started to have a few ideas on the perks of maintaining a kill bonus. He remembered the uses of such perks in fast paced action games but if he could implement this, it might give the cultivators more reason to survive in a fight.

    "Guys, as much as you all want to murder those mafias and squeeze some money from the cultivators, you have to remember there are some who will refuse to move out of their areas. To them, it''s their livelihood or even a precious memory." Pei pointed out, telling them that while it would be fun for the Pandarens to go all wild in a secluded city, this was still reality, despite what Jin''s customers might think. "If you really want to go through with this Bounty Hunt thing, I suggest you add a portion of rescuing the citizens or forcibly removing them into Pandapolis if needed. Or just do that when the System recreates this experience, and not during the live thing!"

    "Pei my dear, if you say ''forcibly remove'', people might have some misunderstandings." Kraft chuckled and Pei threw a death stare at him, already reaching for her fan to forcibly remove that crafty fox, who had not really added anything substantial as of yet.

    "I get what you mean Pei, I see to it that I add a rescue portion too and attached to it, would be a higher reward so that they would prioritise keeping them alive as much as possible."

    "Loot wise, might I suggest, that they do not go around stealing. If they just start taking the belongings of every individual that had left the ce in a rush, we will have to shoulder the me." Ixel pointed, believing that the Pandarens would have the tendency to pick up anything that they deemed valuable. It would both be rude and Public Rtions wise, hard to salvage when the citizense back to a looted home.

    "I think a tweak in the System visor programming should be sufficient since all the Pandarens wear the visor masks. We can just threaten them with the new NPC Punishment System." Jin noted Demopolis Police Chief Ixel''s concerns. "Alternatively, we can make them have a lost and found portion where they also earn points picking items up. There will be some reprogramming done if I do that but it''s doable."

    "So I assume I have to create some advertisement not only for the Demopolis Citizens to evacuate but also enticing advertisements of a new raiding up?" Kiyu said with a reluctant drag in her tone. It was obviously more work for her since she had toe out with something that would spur the citizens to move out while pumping the excitement for the Pandarens toe in.

    "The extra cash and increased numbers of customers from raids would be weed. So please do both sides. I have to settle Grandma Yuan''s stuff before shees hounding me." Jin replied and Qiu Yue reminded him that the Tiger''s Factories also needed his urgent attention too.

    "Urgh. Sometimes, I feel that I should just reset everything and stick with a small store." Jin added which somehow caused both Rex and Kraft to grin sidewards for the moment. He could think about the past as much as he wanted but there was no going back.

 Chapter 1036 - Utilising the Tiger Factories

    <h4>Chapter 1036 - Utilising the Tiger Factories</h4>

    Getting a reminder, he put the Tiger Factories as more of a priority and quickly moved out of the Demopolis and into his store instance where the senior executive staff were waiting for him in one of the Restaurant Train cabins.

    "Boss Jin." The staff immediately stood up and bowed, greeting him as if he was the almighty.

    "Woah, seems that Kraft certainly did not hold back with the brain washing." Jin thought to himself and asked all of them to sit down.

    Their main agenda was talking about the products they were refining and in-depth analysis on moving forward. They could move on as per usual but with the workersing back from their holidays soon, this would be the best time to change any production lines if deemed necessary. Of course, they still had contracts both iing and current ones to fulfil, but there was still some space for adjustment if Jin wished to make a few changes.

    As a nice little bonus, Jin found out that the Royal Zodiac Tiger Lord Hu still believed that the people were loyal to him. However, Kraft had brainwashed all of them in such a way that the threat they posed would now be to the Royal Tigers themselves. They had been undercover for the sake of the Panda n and now that Jin had repossessed the factories, their cover was needed and thus Kraft had released them from their current farce.

    Unmistakably, a very far fetched story but the brainwashed staff were all very tuned into that particr plotline and would continue to work undercover while siphoning funds from the Royal Tiger if possible. Even if the Royal Tigers did suspect something, they had full confidence that Jin would save them from their current predicament.

    Hearing that, Jin wondered if it was truly needed to y both sides since this was already his factory, hisnd. If he wanted to, he could even cancel all the contracts, which might be seen as a bad move, but the fault would lie with the Tigers. Jin was free to rebuild the whole factory from scratch, but he agree with the System there was some benefit in keeping the refinery factories.

    The Systemбпs previous pet project had allowed it to grow some oil nts and it had been .u.mting oil for sale in the ck market. With the demand for electrical products in Pandapolis as well as the uing mass relocation of the Demopolis Citizens, the System would require more petroleum for the production of electricity if it wishes to save on magic crystals and mana. (It did once consider putting Peppers on the grid and use her to power up the city in emergencies but that had been violently rejected by the Mage Betor herself.)

    The System was also able to use oil and directly convert it into electricity but with the increasing strain on the Systemбпs resources, it was best for Jin to utilise what he had until more resources were avable for the System to crunch out.

    Also if things go well, the System might be able to sell petroleum to other бпcitiesбп Jin now owned, gaining more profit than in the future but for the moment, it knew that it had to keep some stock for the Virtual Reality Network.

    So with that, Jin told them about the ns and the possibility of overtime. Naturally, he was able to pay them ording to the System after ire tidied their records. The millions of dungeon dors from the quick investment could be used too but he would rather have the senior executive staff handle it since they were all loyal to him right now.

    As for the executive staff, they were delighted by the extra work since that meant additional money in their pockets at the end of the financial year. So, knowing that Jin was able to get an oil supplier even though it was a small timer, it is still good money.

    Thus, they would agree to take a look at the current workload and make changes if necessary. Other than that, most of the meetings were about the transfer of ownership, especially the money portion. When everything was done, the executive senior staff once again bow before exiting, leaving Jin in the empty room alone.

    "Tired?" Lynnбпs voice echoed behind him as she brought an ice cream parfait for him to savour. "I thought you would need some sugar to get your mood up."

    "Hahah, thanks Lynn. This is much appreciated. Howбпs the Disaster Rescue Camp been faring? I erm mean the food part." Jin thanked her and already started to dig in. Each scoop was sweet, creamy, and a bit crunchy as well. He realised there were corn kes in it, with a bit of mochi mixed into the parfait.

    "I donбпt remember seeing this in the menu," Jin said and Lynn chuckled.

    "You read my menu?"

    "Itбпs not thatplicated and a wee changepared to all those thick files. That is also why people liked it. Although I know the weekend menu is slightly longer."

    "Itбпs easier for my penguins to keep track of the orders while ensuring the quality of the food. As for the special food store you let my dad owe, that is entirely another issue."

    "Oh yea, howбпs your dad faring? I believe the System should have helped you and him set it up?" Jin said as she took a seat at the side.

    "Itбпs going quite well. Most of the customers were actually surprised to see a new storee up. I thought the revamped store instance was still rtively fresh in their minds and they wouldnбпt notice, but the subforum had been raving with theories of what it could have."

    "I did not really create that much at the start since I was helping with the food supplies in the Southern Region. However, my dad knows how to y the customersбп feelings and itбпs by lottery."

    "Lottery?!" Jin questioned with his eyebrows furrowed.

    "Yea. Itбпs simr to the lottery instance. A customer buys a ticket and if they score the big prize, they will be able to get the food as part of the prize."

    "Oh, is it because itбпs in little quantity? Then what about the other prizes? Since itбпs a lottery." Jin asked, rather curious about it.

    "Food voucher equivalent to the prize of the lottery ticket. At higher tiers, the voucher is doubled. And yes, my father has been rationing the amount in case I did not have the time to do it."

    "Sounds like an overall decent idea. Is he having fun?" Jin questioned as he tried to scoop the remaining portions of it.

    "Oh he is, and he had been contemting whether he could use some of the current shop stocks as part of the lottery to keep it exciting. Although he has yet toe up with a name for the shop."

    "Canбпt he just call it Lynnбпs Delight or something? Or perhaps Penguin Gacha and if he can afford some money, the System could make premium looking Gacha tickets. Ah, he could use some of the leftover promo items as part of the lottery too. I can get the System to pass it to you? That way you can have a bit more bonding time with him." Jin started to think maybe he could add more variety to that Gacha portion in the future when the store stabilised. (Of course, at a price since they were renting it from him.)

    It was sadly ironic how Jin thought about granting Lynn some bonding time with her father when she would have much rather prefered some with him...

 Chapter 1037: Teaching Lynn - Part 1

    Chapter 1037: Teaching Lynn - Part 1

    Number One Dungeon Supplier

    However, knowing Jin, he would still be ignorant of Lynn''s advances. The Cook, therefore, decided to take some more drastic measures so that she could ensure that there would be some more time with just the two of them.

    "I''d like to help you, especially with Grandma Yuan''s ns regarding the Cultivation Zoo. If possible, I would like to fiddle a little on Dungeon Making and subsequently create the Zoo," Lynn requested boldly. Jin was quite taken aback by her initiative.

    Although she had previously expressed her interest in dungeon making, Jin had thought it had just been to coddle his mood. Still, the dungeon supplier had taught her some of the basics, allowing her to revamp the Restaurant Train, but nothing too advanced that required some finesse in the dungeon maker options.

    "I.. erm you sure? Aren''t you already overly busy with work with the penguins and creating even more dishes?" Jin wanted to avoid sounding chauvinistic, not wanting to sound as if he was iming that women belonged in the kitchen. It was merely because that was her workroom given her specialisation.

    "What happens if you get knocked out again like in the aftermath of the fight against King Baal? Who knows how long you will be unconscious the next time you get injured so badly?" Lynn stressed her point, now even more determined to learn his craft properly. "Fine, you can refuse, but I will just pester the System until it gives me a chance to create a dungeon instance."

    "Wellбн *sigh*, if you are so insistent about it, then fine. I mean I''ve already taught you some basics, so might as well teach you some more. Still, you have to understand that there''s a lot of trial and error involved. It will take time to get used to the Dungeon Maker options, although it is quite flexible in its options and settings, mostly limited to your own creativity."

    "If you''ve ever seen the source code normal dungeon suppliers are actually using, they have to have advanced programming knowledge as well as the know-hows of Dimensional Technology. Fortunately, we don''t have to bother with that." The more Jin started to exin to Lynn, the more he started to appreciate the idea of having a helper. He had been so swarmed with so many projects recently, that he had vowed not to take on any more requests until he cleared out a bulk of them. (Although his minions and even the System very much doubted the sess of his approach.)

    "And you think as a chef, I am not familiar with such a method? A majority of my chef''s life had always been about trying out new things and taking out the wrong ones." Lynn was clearly not delighted by the tone of his reply, but she knew that it was probably because he was more concerned about the shortage of time, or perhaps the quality of the cultivation zoo when it appeared.

    Jin was able to notice Lynn''s displeasure (or maybe her aura of unhappiness was quietly oozing out of her.), so he quickly tried to salvage the situation. Unfortunately, he did not have any idea what she was annoyed about and decided to shoot in the dark, giving an answer generic enough, hoping that it could calm her mood now.

    "Ehh! You do not have to worry much about it. If anything, you can simply ask the System for help, or me! Yes, me! I wille and assist you whenever I can as long as I am not stuck in some fight that I am unable to back out." Jin replied hastily and somehow, that seemed to calm Lynn''s mood a little. However, that dungeon supplier despite having a girlfriend once, thought it was not enough to soothe her mood and decided to add more to the initial reply.

    "The basic foundations of the Zoo Instance have been done by Yun already, and I have approved her changes, so I believe it should be okay for you to create your own version. if there are some ws in the Zoo creation, we can always review it again. If you feel that it is not up to standard, there is the option to create a clone of the instance, an alternate dungeon phase where you could dabble more into the ''what ifs'' and the System could offer suggestions where to cut cost or which portion could be improved. If you like some of the ''what ifs'', the System can then add them into the original instance and you discard the rest. It is a rather simple but tedious phase of the creation of a new dungeon instance." Jin offered a more explicit exnation but it made Lynn stare at him with one side of her eyebrow up.

    "Not up to standard? So you think I''d give you some substandard results?" Lynn asked as a way to tease him since she felt that it was a good opportunity to bully Jin a little. After all, she honestly did not expect him to suddenly change his tune when she had subconsciously expressed her unhappiness. To a certain point, her heart had fluttered for a second to know that Jin picked up her slight change in emotions.

    "I бнEhhhhh. Sorry, I honestly did not mean that." Jin at that point realised that he got trapped in this particr conversation. So, he surrendered to maintain the rtionship they had. Lynn chuckled at his reply and took the chance to grab his shoulder.

    "Then you better make sure you teach me properly or else, you will only have yourself to me for substandard results." Lynn smiled and the System instantly opened the portal for them. (Naturally, the System would want this high potential love line to continue. If they could be together, the likelihood of Jin getting hitched would be high. Indeed the System very much approved of the idea of its current User getting hooked as soon as possible!)

    But as Jin had said, the basic foundations of the Zoo had already been done up by him and subsequently by Yun. While Lynn was just a Sub System User and supposedly only to have permissions to things assigned to her, the System had decided to make an exception and gave her ''User'' Rights to the Dungeon Maker console.

    Jin was surprised that the System would give Lynn such a vast array of options when she booted up the Dungeon Maker Console. He thought that the System would want another person to be well versed in the Dungeon Making portion in case he was too busy to deal with it.

    After all, the Dungeon Shop was still their priority business despite his ''side businesses'' earning wayyyyy more money than the current one. To Jin, he found it a little ridiculous that he had powerful minions and vast cities under his belt just for the sake of a shop. But it also showed that when hard work produces results, the more you would want to do it because of the potentially favourable results in the far future, enabling you to put more energy into it.

    And that was where his passion for Dungeon Making started to bloom and take shape. While it was a littlete to say this but this was barely the beginning for Jin and his dungeon family.

 Chapter 1038 - Teaching Lynn - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1038 - Teaching Lynn - Part 2</h4>

    "Alright, so you have to keep in mind to toggle that auto snap option, otherwise, themp post would end up floating in the sky," Jin demonstrated as he sat close to Lynn and closely went through the avable advanced options one by one. At the same time, he tried to utilise the tutorial period to ce items for the Cultivation Zoo. While there was only one Cultivation Zoo instance, it had already been split into various tforms amodating to the weather, and environment that the animals could be in.

    Yun had named them as tforms, yet it was notpletely urate. In fact, they were more akin to mini instances like the ones that had been built for the Meow Meow Karaoke Instance. This was especially useful since it would take a lot fewer resources from the System and the mini instance settings had been locked into ce, barring many edits if a person with the knowledge came to fiddle with it. Most of the animals had certain preferences for their environment and ire, in Grandma Yuanбпs stead, had sent Jin the requirements of each and every animal that they had managed to buy to be built.

    Most of the exotic animals had been ced into Chrono stasis with the use of magic as that was the best way to preserve them but long periods in such a condition would be bad for the animals, not to mention it was costly in terms of the high mana consumption and thus, a very huge sum in maintenance bill. Jin had no idea that Grandma Yuan had been spending a fortune to keep them in ce but since her assistant ire was doing the ounts, she could not bear to see such money being wasted.

    Although she understood Grandma Yuanбпs decision to prolong the time for Jin to prepare the Cultivation Zoo Instance, it was simply too much in her opinion. But for certain exotic animals, it was certainly a бпbuy now thinkterбп kind of situation as they were rare enough to be caught in the wild like the Siberian ck Tiger and the Silverback Harambe Gori.

    While one might think that it was cruel to capture these animals and keep them in captivity, the reality was that Jinбпs world was still a world filled with monsters. There might be monsters and animals that coexist together but the eco cycle and the natural chain of survival ensured that these exotic animals were a rarity. By providing them with a ce to stay and in an environment sheltered enough to not cause them distress, there could be a greater chance for them to mate and increase their poption. Of course, that was under the condition they would have a mating partner.

    Oddly enough, in Jinбпs world, the monsters and animals could potentially belong to the same family tree. That means that monsters might once have been an adorable kitty and the variation in their family species was due to the shift of magic and chi within them, causing them to mutate.

    That was why most monsters were of a higher grade while animals belonged to a lower grade. And yet, some animals maintained their purity and still achieve a high grade cultivation in the wild. Those were the exotic animals which Grandma Yuan had bought off an official zoo auction.

    What this also meant was that a Grade 1 generic house cat had the capability to be a Grade 10 Sabertooth Monster or a Grade 10 Siberian ck Tiger. And because of such a trait in Jinбпs world, certain animal tamers would personally buy pets to rear and train them for sport.

    However, such urrences were umon and there were a variety of factors required to push such mutation or evolution in animals. Jin did ask whether there were worlds out there that had the same kind of animals out of curiosity and the System did mention there were a few worlds that had such features in their world ecosystem. But one that made him very interested was a forced evolution when a user could use a mana crystal to elerate the evolution for a certain period of time before they return to their pitiful young state.

    Still, the System reminded Jin to hold his horses and concentrate on what he had right now before searching into other worlds for projects that were still in the preparation phase. As for his current task, Lynn was attentively taking notes to make sure that she did not miss out on any tips that Jin had exined. The Dungeon Supplier assured Lynn not to worry about that too much as he had already instructed the System to record some of the examples as tutorial yback as well as past special methods he did to increase efficiency while making the dungeon instance.

    "So Yun has kindly separated most of the tforms and noted the type of animals that could be ced in those environments. As long it still matches, everything you do in there should be fine. Keep in mind that we want them to remain active. For example, if we just feed the predators their food, they might turn into house cats andze around all day doing nothing. In the future, we could get humans to fight with them and that would increase their grades." Jin exined.

    "Wonбпt that caused them to suddenly mutate? You will certainly lose a precious exotic animal if you did that." Lynn queried.

    "If it was that easy for them to mutate, most of the animals in the world would have already be monsters and there would be no Cultivation zoos left to host them. Perhaps a monster farm? Hahaha." Jin replied with glee. "Still, the System would probably assign a minion expert in Zoology to look after them and see signs of mutation. And considering the omnipotent System is around, it can monitor the vitals and based on their behaviour patterns, we can determine whether they had too much fight for one day. Well, that is assuming if there is a minion expert on that topic. If there are none, I would probably have to buy one..."

    "I see, So when they fight, they could increase their grade without any possible death. I assume thatбпs the difference between our Zoo and the other Cultivation Zoos in the world?" Lynn questioned and Jin nodded his head with excitement.

    "We are going to be the very first Dungeon Instanced Cultivation Zoo, allowing people to try their skills against the animal they had been cultivating with. This should allow the animal as well as the cultivators to gain their grades in the future. However, we need to hold our reins or the animals might go too crazy on the cultivators. We still donбпt want to risk those exotic animals turning into monsters if what you said could be true."

    "Is it possible those animals be beaten up very badly?" Lynn questioned as she was already multitasking putting certain species of trees on the snowy tform.

    "The System will stop them if necessary, like forcefully teleporting them out or at the very worst, resurrecting them. But donбпt worry. We are after all a shop that specialised in dungeon fighting. The System will make sure there will be a fair percentage of win and losses." Jin smiled as he did an overview recap before giving Lynn some space to try out on the Dungeon Maker Console.

 Chapter 1039 - App Encryption

    <h4>Chapter 1039 - App Encryption</h4>

    After he taught Lynn the ways of the Dungeon Maker Console, he left her to her own devices to try some things out. She too appreciated being left alone so she could try things out without getting embarrassed for doing it wrongly. Meanwhile, he figured it was a decent time to look at the reactions of the Nian Raid Instance as well as the revamped Store Instance through the forums.

    He read through thements from users such as T, EuryEvans, Talzin, Dear_HeartMine, Suncust, crackedcacti, Yaximbahps and many others and they all shared a simr sentiment. (Editorбпs Note; Congrats to the named readers, you are now canon in the NODS novel. ^^ To any other long-time reader, apologies for not including you all, but the list might have grown too long otherwise. Feel free to be more active, so you can make the next cut ;) )

    Despite their initial praises, they pointed out that the dungeon raids were getting harder with each new one and that they took longer toplete. While they liked the story theme, quite a lot of them would prefer a return to shorter dungeons.

    To Jinбпs surprise, the very first Goblin Dungeon Instance had lived through a renaissance of poprity. And when he checked the statistics as well as the poption analysis, he learned that most of the repeat customers were srymen (and women) who only had a limited amount of spare time during their lunch break and took a quick spin to the dungeon instance fight, seemingly preferring it over the monster arena battles.

    It appeared to be somewhat of a бпcatch a break and release the stressбп dynamic for most of those sry workers. They needed just a quick workout before taking the busses Jin had employed to send them back to their respective districts. Incidentally, there were actually more demands for the buses in the nearby business districts as well as an unofficial petition from the Hua Wee Phone Company Campus.

    And speaking of Hua Wee, thepany had also been trying to contact Jin with regards to his phone app programming, questioning him if they could partner up so they could cooperate with his app specialists. Apparently, his Pandamonium Phone App had not gone unnoticed and as all attempts to reverse engineer it so far had failed. They had even tried to crack the app code but they found out that the Pandamonium Phone App had been using some sort of special app engine and source code that they could not figure out.

    At first, they thought it was because of a strong encryption code which was why everything looked like gibberish when they tried to look at the workings of the app. This alone had been enough to attract the interest of various Hua Wee departments who specialised in engineering new cyber security methods. But as they tried to decode it, they found out that the encryption code got even harder to decrypt with each update.

    Although they could iste the phone and the Pandamonium app from updating itself and tried every method to decode every version of it, they were still nowhere near cracking the first release version of the Pandamonium App. But despite the setbacks, it prompted them to think out of the box and allowed them to think of ways to increase the encryption in their very own phones. And as time passed since the first Pandamonium App had appeared, it had prompted Hua Wee Staff to visit the shop to learn more about it.

    While some of the shop options were mundane, there were quite a few quirky aspects that surprised them and enabled them to be interested in participating in the dungeons. Eventually, there was even a regr team that entered the shop for fun while others were there as part of a reconnaissance team to check out what new events and items were on. Because every time a new event or item was up, the Pandamonium App would have another feature that could potentially be on their list to crack.

    It was to the point that Hua Wee management had decided to open a special Pandamonium Department just to study it, and that was regardless of whether Jin would join them or not. As for those staff who were in that app department, they treated the team of engineers who created the app as saints and the app itself as the holy grail.

    Some of them were the brightest of minds in China, who had graduated with the highest of honours in various top universities. Nearly all of them had also gotten their post doctorate degrees in the shortest time possible. Yet, this particr Pandamonium App had left them speechless, clueless and befuddled.

    There had also been employees from their Human Resources stalking, to see if they could identify the said-engineers or any details about them so they could poach these miracle workers into their midst. Unfortunately, they had little luck getting into contact with any of them, as if there were бпghostбп engineers working on the project, meaning that those engineers and cyber security specialists might not necessarily be stationed in the Tree Mall. So their only bet was getting the cooperation with Jin.

    Yet for several times, the Dungeon Supplier had ignored them with good reason on his side. (He had toe up with some believable stories, since he could not tell them he was busy conqu- *ahem* SAVING other worlds, right?) Still, they did not yield, knowing that Jin might be hooked into the offer. From trying to lure him with money to now giving him the rights to charter a bus from the campus and to his Tree Mall. Since there had been no reply on his side, the employees of Hua Wee were trying their best to create the perfect bait for Jin to pick up.

    Nevertheless, Jin was aware that the Pandamonium App was a delicious attraction to those bigpanies as the System has detected multiple intrusions to its application. Even though he was making waves in the Royal Zodiac scene, the spread of his infamous store had been propagated by the techies in Hua Wee Phone Company. Now even the major monopolypanies like Onepenny had tried getting their tech personnel to prod into the Pandamonium application.

    With the word of an unbreakable encryption code in this modern age, it might certainly spur the brilliant minds to give it a try. Some even rumoured that the Pandamonium App could be a living AI entity that evolved with the number ofmon decryption methods failing to open it up and it lived to its Pandamonium name for bringing the tech society in China into disarray.

    But they did not know there was a catch about all these decryption tries, which actually made Jin delighted that all these brute force methods were being revealed to the System so that the System could revise its code and update to prevent such decryption methods from ever working.

    If anything, the trip to the Abyss Web had enabled the System to learn that it was important to be tech relevant in this particr age to stay above hispetitors. (Although such advice was not tranted well in Jinбпs current weaponry, he should be getting there soon.)

    Not to mention, the Pandamonium App was part of the System and no matter how they isted the app from updates, the System was able to change and update it on the fly with its own unique frequency of Wifi. Unless the phone would get shielded from all the radiating frequencies, they were fated to fail.

    Of course, no one had ever considered going to such lengths. And even if someone did that, the System could update as long as there was another phone with the app within the vicinity of the isted phone. Itбпs like tracing and always searching for its fellow app users to learn more about the users.

    It sounds invasive in nature and it truly is.

    And knowing that there were people trying to pick the app apart, the System only ced the security patches in those бпistedбп apps and not changed the version number. (It irked the System to do that, but it was to fool the enemy.)

    Nevertheless, the System believed that its encryption code could be broken if it was not careful in updating itself. The System determined that more information was better than none!

 Chapter 1040 - Setting Up Telecomms

    <h4>Chapter 1040 - Setting Up Telms</h4>

    "I wonder what Ke Loong would say about this deal that Hua Wee is offering me. They really seem to be getting desperate, eh?" Jin mused to himself as he wrote an email reply thanking Hua Wee for allowing him to send buses to all of their work campuses. From now his buswork would cover the entirety of the campus which spanned more than several districts worth of people. But of course, in terms of distance, the buses had a certain schedule to meet to amodate their lunchtimes.

    But enough with Hua Wee, with Ke Loong now at his very side and behest, his CEO friend was already talking with various people to get the Virtual Reality Network set up. Because of the amount of information needed to be exchanged to and fro for the Virtual Reality Network to work properly, Ke Loong and the System had been working on getting a possible new generation of telmunications up, specifically just for the Virtual Network. And this could not havee true if they did not have Rei on their team.

    The Mecha Worldбпs technology was far more advancedpared to Jinбпs world. And with an engineer from their world, Ke Loong and the System would be able to implement this exclusivework just for Virtual Reality. However, Rei was not some super engineer that remembered everything. In fact, there had already been reconnaissance and break-ins, courtesy of Jinбпs minions, specifically Sebastia, the faithful right hand maiden of Moloch.

    Her information gathering from the Farming World had brought many advantages to the current tide of battle against them and now she was doing the same with the Mecha World, based on where Rei deemed to be the easiest way to obtain such information. Naturally, she had been using cosmetic inscription to keep her identity hidden and the ability to change her face had been extremely convenient for that task. Yet, the breach could not have been done so easily without the Systemбпs help. With a bit of patience and luck at their side, Sebastia had been able to ess to the Mecha Worldбпs Databases and obtain information on how this particr super speed wireless telmunications worked.

    Rei had told them that they were named as Laser Telmunications because of the speed that was being transmitted but that was not the fantastic thing about it. The capability to have the end usermunications act as a beacon and even as a ry was the reason why they had used it

    Since battle could be widespread, each end userбпs telmunications ry was able to broadcast almost infinitely to find the nearest ry and tels main servers to connect. And when that was established, distinct power telmunication waves would be sent at high speeds for connection. That was also how they were able to connect to other worlds and space colonies they had conquered in a matter of minutes. (Which was awesome considering how many light years those packets of information could be pushed.)

    Sadly, the main servers required a tremendous amount of energy and that was the con of using these Laser Telmunications technology. The System imed they could only do so much if they did not clear such prerequisites. But there were some things they did not have in the Mecha World too. Magic and Chi in Jinбпs world allowed the System to modify such aser telmunications system a little to enable to supplement the energy with Earthбпs means.

    Amidst the schematics stolen by Sebastia and the System, Ke Loong started to exert his dominance to buy newnds to create such tels centres and establish them as soon as possible but such ns had changed when he found out that Jin was now owed a fewnds he won from the Tiger family. This was good news for Ke Loong as whatevernd he bought was still something simr to renting it from the official owners, the Royal Zodiacs. However, space was somewhat limited because of the protocols of the refinery factories.

    So, Jin told Ke Loong not to worry for the moment and instead n with the entirend plot in mind. In an email reply, Ke Loong asked whether it was feasible to do that and Jinughed. "Donбпt underestimate the omnipotence of the System. Do not worry, just trust me on that." Jin said as he was nning to do something radical with the limited free space left in the factories. As his current goal was to set the Shenzhen poption as his yer base, all he needed was to concentrate all the information to one point. (Although Jin did mention he wanted to break it to the rest of China and subsequently the world.)

    And he would literally be creating just one particr point for the exchange of information with the aid of dungeon instances. With the Panda Territories in his hand, the Land was considered to be under the Systemбпs control and so what Jin was going to do was to create theser telmunication headquarters for Shenzhen in a dungeon instance and ry that point through a powered portal and into the real world. This way, he would not only save space but optimise the efficiency of hisnd.

    After all, Dungeon Instances were a pocket dimension and if the connection between pocket dimension and real world existed permanently, it would be the very first space saving achievement in the world. (But whether such a feat could be revealed to the public was yet another issue.)

    "We will be breaking major barriers if this particr project works smoothly." Ke Loong replied in a live email chat with Jin, stating that this Virtual Network could potentially bring the rise of the Panda n to certainty.

    "And we will be making majorpetitors our enemies from all angles. From Techpanies dealing with those encryptions as I told you, to telmunicationpanies andternd developers. We are offending the big yers in the world." Jin sighed but he could hear Ke Loong snorting at the other side of the screen.

    "Your existence and that shop alone have already acted as the ripples of change. Whether it turns into a formidable tide will be based on your preparations and response when the others start moving." Ke Loong noted as he would start creating the telmunication centre with the talented people he had contact with. "If we want to make it big, letбпs do it with a loud ssh."

 Chapter 1041 - Revisiting Nian

    <h4>Chapter 1041 - Revisiting Nian</h4>

    A week had gone by with Jin busy on the sidelines and most of the seasoned Pandarens had already cleared the Nian Raid due to its all new progression system. When the first clear had been over, most of the Pandarens had decided to take it easy to explore and enjoy the view. There was even a бпGame Completeбп version where the Pandarens were able to revisit the Mysterious Nian Ind where they could interact with the locals and buy the items over there.

    Unlike the start of the mission where they had to sail towards the location, afterwards, the ind would require only a teleport confirmation from the Pandamonium App. It only took a moment for a portal to appear in front of the Pandarens within the Store Instance and they would be teleported in a jiffy. At that point, the Pandarens could visit the vige with the vigers toplete whatever remaining side quests they had yet to do.

    They could take their time to explore the wonders of Nian Ind and earn exploration achievement points. It was a time filler that Jin had tantly copied from most games to keep the more active Pandarens upied. In fact, if one were to clear all the side quests andplete all exploratory achievements, there would be a hidden reward that was created specifically for the Virtual Reality Network phase.

    There were enoughpletionists among his customers and eventually one had managed to explore all the nooks and cranks of the area, getting all the exploratory achievements and finishing all the sidequests. Unfortunately, what he earnt was a mere ticket voucher that was locked when he tried to ess it in the Pandamonium App.

    Unable to ess it, he posted it into the forums and people were starting to specte whether this particr voucher was a precursor to the next uing raids. Even some of the Pandawans had shared their opinions since they too had received a voucher stating that it would be a ticket to the elusive Gentlebear Dungeon Instance, yet the colour and type of their rewarded ticket seemed totally different from his.

    The Pandaren who hadpleted everything had a symbol of Nian on the voucher and the paper was coated in glossy red. It was not until the developer of the dungeon instances chimed in, stating that it will be a fairly valuable item in the future. At the same time, because its feature had not yet been implemented, Jin decided to change the coding a little and provide the lucky explorer with a lump sum of 300 Panda Bronze Coins to those who hadpleted the achievements and got the voucher. However, he did indicate that when the feature had been implemented, that additional 300 Panda Coins reward would be removed from the achievement rewards.

    Upon hearing that there was a free 300 Panda Coins to be earnt, this news spread like wildfire. It was umon for Jin to be generous to give free coins since this was after all a business to be made. So most of the Pandarens agreed that such a feature had to be abused as quickly as possible. Even the Pandawans wanted the coins (although for the case for Xiong Da, he wanted the achievements.) and decided to band together to clear these exploratory achievements.

    What they did not expect was that the achievement actually differed for the groups that entered and there was a permutation of five different sets of tasks, ranging from assisting the NPCs in the Nian Ind Vige to the top of the volcano ind without any chi. While the former might sound like minor side quests, they were actually a mini game to бпimprove the rtionshipбп between the inders and the Pandawans. It was like a dating simtion game where they had to earn the hearts of the NPCs so that they would gift them an item that would count for the exploratory achievement. So even as most people wished to quickly clear the achievements and get those 300 coins they ended up vastly underestimating the amount of hard work they had to put in.

    As for thatpletionist Pandaren, he had initially wanted to keep quiet about the requirement for achieving those exploratory achievements, but faced with the allure of a mary donation from a well known Pandawan, he decided to put out all the information he could as best as he could.

    As people realised that the tasks were random to a certain portion, his input amounted to only one tenth of an actualpletion guide. (Quite ironic for apletionist!) Still, some groups benefited since those advice that he wrote was useful to those who received the same tasks as him.

    And because of this particr revisit to this dungeon, Jin once again saw an increase in the number of Pandarens joining the Nian Inds, both new and old customers, buying him some time to prepare for the Demopolis City Raids. While he was going to break Demopolis City into pieces with a hard reset, it meant that it was a showdown against those who opposed the current government. Going forward, rumours had been spread by Tsu and Kaiбпs internal affairs department iming that there would be a major crackdown against the mafias. This caused the mafia to hunker down further after the confirmation had been made that no one was allowed to leave the borders.

    This, unfortunately, caused panic to the entire city poption until an official royal decree had been sent that the Demon Citizens who were clear of their бпsinsбп would be moved to the Pandapolis as a temporary measure to avoid the fights. Shelters, food and evenpensation would be given to those who wouldply with the order.

    In addition, those who confessed their sins on the spot would be given two choices. To serve their time to make up for the sins they did and bepensated when they were done or return to the city for the ultimate showdown. As most of the citizens had already seen how the King had managed to get the truth out of his corrupted politicians, they knew better than to try and get away with anything and understood the severity of this deep cleansing of the city.

    To ensure they would be taken seriously Kraft had taken the initiative to construct a special statue and had ced it in the middle of the city. It was reminiscent of As who was carrying the burden of the world on his shoulders, only that it looked awfully simr to a certain Mafia Boss. Additionally, the round sphere acted as arge countdown timer until the raid would start.

    Some of the Mafia Bosses had not bothered to wait and had already started terrorising the police stations, which in turn became a boon to the current government. The terror attacks were widely advertised and this instilled fear in the citizens as they saw the patrol officers had been shaped up to capture those mafia members who had caused trouble. This indeed spurred the good serving citizens to head for the border immigration where it was now the heaviest guarded area in case of surprise attacks. But with the System around, most of these wannabe perpetrators were captured before anything bad could happen.

    While Demopolis was spiralling down into chaos, other cities were cautiously looking at them and the biggest spectator of them all was the Church of the Afterlife. They were extremely curious and delighted that those people that could cause trouble to them were killing themselves inside out.

    They even cautioned the surrounding cities to not interfere with their meddling and once their Dungeon Core got switched to a new owner, they were wee to feast upon it. However, those were merely some... words of advice. Those cities could do whatever they want and some of the greedy city leaders mistook this for a perfect time to wipe the demon capital out from the face of their map.

    After the countless times Demopolis had raided the human cities for loot and resources, who could me them for looking forward to their neighboursбп downfall?.

    Yet in hindsight, those Church Agents would realise that their actions were the snowball that would get out of control and bury everything underneath. For this turn of events could be the mark of the new Demopolis, and one of the cities that would cause the biggest threat to the Church in the near future...

 Chapter 1042 - Extra- The Surge in Customers

    <h4>Chapter 1042 - Extra- The Surge in Customers</h4>

    "The citizens are moving ording to the schedule. 17.6% left to finish the reallocation of the Demon Citizens." The System reported to Jin as he yawned once again going over the finishing touches to the Demopolis City Raids. In the meantime, Kiyu had, as always, worked wonders in the PR department. She had strongly hinted to the Pandarens that there would be another Raid iing.

    While the revisiting of the Nian Inds had everyone pumped up to get the free Panda Coins, Jin understood that there needed to be new content for him to continue to entice his Pandarens and their wallets.

    Because of the Chinese New Year Holidays, he had thought he would be seeing a drop in customers, but boy was he wrong. Visitors from other provinces and cities had heard about these miraculous Tree Mall and took the chance to visit it.

    Not to mention, it was one of the main attractions that the Shenzhen government had been advertising ever since a few officials realised that it was raking in money crazily during the Christmas period. With the advent of the Tree Mall, the Shenzhen Tourism Board had enjoyed an increase in hotel stays around the area and had decided to exploit that to the fullest. By advertising the Tree Mall, it inadvertently promoted Jinбпs Dungeons since it was one of the main attractions of that mall.

    However, something was wrong.

    Despite the increased travels to the Tree Malls based on statistics and town wide camera monitoring was astoundingly high that the surrounding hotelsбп stays remained just fully booked and not overbooked. The tourism officials did not understand the numbers since the people going into the Tree Mall and the people staying around the area were disproportionate.

    As such the officials decided to take a closer look by going to the Tree Mall itself to learn more about it. When they arrived, they noticed that the Tree Mall itself was fully upied both inside and outside. Aside from the customary Chinese New Year decorations being ced on the Tree itself, it appeared that Jin had created mini treetop pavilions for cultivators to rest, eat and even study. The only requirement was to keep the ce clean. Any acts of vandalism and those ignoring the only requirement would be harshly dealt with.

    This made the Tree Mall look as if it was an art of work with little tiny бпhumansбп within the vicinity rxing and chatting with friends. But this was not the main point for the officials as they searched the area to find there were no illegal squatters within these pavilions.

    Only after a foreign couple was wheeling their luggage out from the Dungeons and Panda did they find out the real reason for their missing numbers. (Obviously, those officials were undercover agents and they were posing as curious couples.)

    "Huh? Donбпt you know about the Hotel Pandastic in the Dungeon Store?" The male foreigner asked them in fluent Chinese. "I never thought Dimension Technology could go this far and this totally blows my mind! Wonбпt hesitate toe here again, right dear?"

    "The food and shopping! And all the tax rebates are instant! If we have more time, we would stay here and try more than just one dungeon." Hispanion said as they gave more information to the undercover tourist officials.

    "I overheard you are looking for Hotel Pandastic?" Yun was behind them as she asked the question, giving them a slight shock. Those officials themselves were also cultivators but to have somebody emerging behind them without any noise was something they were not ustomed to. "Let me guess, officers?" Yun asked as she scanned them from top to toe with her eyes in a nce.

    The duo officers who were posing as a couple decided to feign their ignorance but Yun pointed at the bulge in the maleбпs pocket and there was a card there that was partially revealed. Seeing that Yun had noticed them, they showed their badges saying that they were merely tourism officers who had been tasked by their superiors to look around and hopefully discover the root of the problem.

    Yun chuckled lightly and told them that she had been expecting them causing the officers to be taken aback by such revtion. "Donбпt you worry about it. Letбпs just say you are not the first group toe here to check us out. There are other hotels and business spies who havee to take a peek at theirpetition. So, we figured that sooner orter, the official government agents woulde to take a look too. Thus, I apologise for thinking that you were another group of ourpetitors and decided to confront you head on." Yun bowed her head with some courtesy.

    "But upon noticing that badge there, I figured you are officers," Yun exined to them the current predicament they were facing. While Jin had closed the entire Pandapolis, he had already opened Hotel Pandastic, the hotel which hosted the Royal Zodiac Snake soldiers before the big epic battle against the Demons.

    While this might sound a tad ironic given that the Demon Citizens were moving into Pandapolis, Jin needed more money to feed the Demon Citizens. Sure, he might have gotten some funds from ire after her flip in ck Market stock investments but he still needed it as a sort of war fund against the rats.

    Thus, he had opened the series of hotel chains including Hotel Pandastic to get more moh from his customers. It also provided an avenue for the Demon Citizens to work so long as they signed the Systemбпs Contract. This enabled Jin to tap on skilledbour while allowing these Demon Citizens to learn more about the tourism industry.

    Naturally, the animal folks from the Giant World had been put in charge of serving the Pandarens, but honestly, they could not have done anything much without the assistance from the Demon Citizens who had settled early. Jin had purposely liaised with Rex to get the jobless Demons in first so that he could rope them into this opportunity. And some of the friendlier Demons with less or no prejudice against humans were able to serve the frontline.

    However, there was no doubt in Yunбпs mind that these officers wonбпt believe their eyes when she shows them around and she was already looking forward to it.

 Chapter 1043 - Extra -The Surge In Customers -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1043 - Extra -The Surge In Customers -Part 2</h4>

    When the Tourism Agency Officers were confronted with the potential of Hotel Pandastic and Jinбпs other chains of hotels, they were bbergasted. While there were matters of Dimensional Technology and the dangers of it, Yun was convincing enough in guaranteeing them that it would not cause any issues.

    "Weбпve naturally already applied for Hotel licenses and it has been approved a week ago. Feel free to check in the database if you wish and get back to us if required." Yun offered. Despite it technically being a Dungeon Instance, Jin had made sure to acquire the certification to house people to avoid any problems. And while the Tourism Officers were a little sceptical, it was undoubtedly an opportunity for them to promote the Tree Mall even further, providing a unique point for their own campaign.

    While the Tourism Board should have known and been informed about such new hotelsing out, Yun apologised on Jinбпs behalf. "After all, these dungeon instances are one of a kind and there was really no way you could have known unless you visited us personally or through our Pandamonium App."

    And what Yun said was true.

    Most of the advertising had been through word of mouth. While there was the бпGreat Firewallбп in ce to not allow foreigners to ess their products, it did not mean that Jin kept his handy app to national borders. With the rising poprity of Kiyu, they had engineered a version of the Pandamonium App outside of China, leading to the arrival of a good portion of foreigners.

    While they could not enjoy the dungeon features outside of China (at least not yet), the Pandamonium App itself had quite a number of nifty features (like the message boards which automatically got tranted to their respectivenguages, or more importantly Pandaflix with subtitles), it had managed to entice those Dungeon Instance Enthusiasts around the world.

    Despite the restrictions when it came to weapons, Jinбпs shop had guaranteed that most of such weapons could not work unless they were in a dungeon instance. Immigration Customs Officials were nearly baffled when they found out that such weapons existed and confronted Jinбпs employees.

    Unfortunately, they were indeed within their immigration guidelines and the System had ensured that the weapons and armour sold online followed the customerбпs respective guidelines too. But because of the portability and avability, most of the prices ended up tripled or quadrupled. Some were even in a so-called Panda Auction house where certain grade 2 weapons were considered a rarity.

    It did not take long for people to appreciate the quality of weapons that Jin and the System were selling for the Dungeon Instances and the sales were hot enough to warrant interest by the internationalmunity to visit Jin. For example, the Fire Shamans from Germany had advertised their rmendations to their club members and through the word of mouth, a number of high school students were solely based on their rmendations to check this Dungeon Supplier out.

    And with the advent of the Hotel Pandastic which gave a 20% discount to those who had bought Jinбпs items before, the bookings for the hotel had been selling like hotcakes. It was not precisely a well known travel location but to the Dungeon Instance enthusiasts, it had slowly be a name for itself.

    Even when Jin was not looking at his shop, the effort he had ced on it previously had started to take root. He, however, had overlooked that Yun had been actively looking after it ever since Jin got too busy handling the other world issues. While she disliked taking over his responsibilities, she understood that he was busy getting those worlds up just for his shop. So, as an employee, Yun had also utilised the Demon Exorcists once under Grandma Yuan to find contacts and introduce people to the shop.

    Also, an interesting tidbit on the delivery portion. Even though the Pandamonium App had been charging exorbitant shipping fees and immigration costs, only the first few weapons that went on sale had gone through the proper channels. Afterwards, the System had already analysed the immigration processes and went ahead to бпapproveбп the sales themselves and quality checked before sending to their customers. Thus, the usual waiting time, stock avability and shipping time was based on how much they were willing to pay for it.

    If the User deemed to have taken the most luxurious option to purchase the item, the System ensured that its бпshipping timeбп would be cut short extremely by sending out its Pandafull Delivery agents via a portal and to their ce within 2-3 working days. But assuming customers chose free shipping options, the System would purposely backlog their orders until a delivery agent was avable or if an express shipping customer were within the vicinity.

    In short, the power of money made the System produce faster. And one would wonder why the System alwaysined there was ack of processing capabilities. This was one of the smaller details that the System had assimted with Yunбпs help. (Even though Yun was part of the System, she would obviously say that this was her idea and not the Systemбпs.)

    Going back to the Tourism Officers, they subsequently realised that their Boss had immediately approved their tourist advertis.e.m.e.nt for the Tree Mall mainly because of the influence of one very special man.

    Kong Rong.

    While his unique team of special agents had already taken the responsibility to protect the Royal Zodiac Panda n with its inception during the New Year, they were not meant to take care of Jin from just the physical dangers of other ns, but economically as well.

    Yet, Jin and Yun had felt it was a tad unnecessary, Kong Rong would definitely give the excuse that he was doing it as a part of being a Senior Panda Executive. With the Dragon n influence stretching to all parts of China, it was no surprise that he was advocating the Tree Mall as part of the economic protection for the Royal Zodiac Panda n.

    However, that did not mean he did not encounter resistance from his family or peers. The rise of the rumoured thirteenth Royal Zodiac n brought tensions up to an all time high as new alliances were forged behind the Dragonбпs back. And even though all these foreshadowed backstabs were already taken into ount by Kong Rongбпs бпPanda Protectionбп Team, Kong Rong knew that Jin would still ultimatelye out as the victor if he yed his cards right.

    Simr to the Dungeon Worldбпs newbie protection barrier, there was a time limit to everything that Kong Rong could do. If he were to base his word of protection on ancientws, Kong Rongбпs grandmother said that the entirety of the Dragon n could only grudgingly assist the Panda n up to six months before they had to let go. To most ns and even the Royal Zodiacs, six months was a very short period of time.

    Kong Rong understood that six months was a luxury that even the Dragon n might not be able to afford with the current vtile situation of a budding new Royal Zodiac approved by the Godly Representative. Yet to Jin, each extra waking day counted until the end of his protection and he was already doing his best to do whatever he needed to not just protect himself, but to guarantee his shop would rise to be the number one dungeon supplier shop!

 Chapter 1044 - Extra- Raking Couples Money

    <h4>Chapter 1044 - Extra- Raking Couples'' Money</h4>

    "Itбпs done. Itбпs finally done...." Jin heaved out a heavy sigh of relief as he lied back on his chair, slouching as much as his body could possibly handle. His eyes were white and if one could detect spirits, they might see Jinбпs spiritual form flying out of his own mouth.

    However, the System was not willing to let him go just yet. No matter how tired he was, the show still had to go on and the next thing on the agenda was the Demopolis City Raids.

    "Well done, Master. You did take quite a while with this one." Kraft berated him as he took the opportunity to spin Jinбпs chair, causing him to slip out from it and nearly fall t on the ground.

    "The System had too many backend processes that it took almost forever to make sure that itбпs in sync with the Demopolis Dungeon Core," Jin said as he merely leaned onto the Dungeon Console Maker and started yawning, causing Kraft to instinctively move aside, in case Jin would try to take revenge by shooting Panda Yawning at him.

    "Even I have to be aware of your yawns. You can be a very dangerous cultivator, Jin." Kraft pointed out and this time Jin was the one smirking.

    "Somehow I feel like after suffering through all of this constant admin work, I might have gained enough experience to reach the next grade." Jin mentioned jokingly but Kraft took it at heart and started to check if there were any real gradual changes happening to Jin.

    At least for now, his aura still felt the same.

    "I bet you cannot see the difference, eh?" Jin smiled as if he was hiding yet another trump card from Kraft and the Devil Fox enjoyed the excitement. Be it just a bluff, Kraft wouldnбпt mind a duel with Jin to fully explore the powers of his new grade.

    However, Jin was not lying. During this stretch of creating the Demopolis City Raids, he had to go through a series of super timepression sleeps in order to keep to the datelines he set for himself. In fact, it was actually Kiyu who had sabotaged him by releasing a random date at the end of February during the trailer for the Demopolis City Raids.

    And that caused a great frenzy for Jin mainly because of another event that most Dungeon Suppliers would have neglected because they felt it was not necessary for them to even participate. And that was Valentineбпs Day. While Jin did not exactly create a brand new dungeon for Valentineбпs day because of theck of time, he did digress his usual work to catch this opportunity to earn some extra money.

    Furthermore, that required the help of Lynn since the food and beverage industry was one of the major business yers when ites to the festival of love. Even though Lynn had to juggle between the promise of improving the Cultivation Zoo and handling her daily work, she actually had adequate experience for this particr day from her past job. So much so that she did not mind being one of the lead nners to aid Jin in earning money.

    From creating a Pandastic Hotel Valentine Package to arranging a one-on-one date with your precious partner, she had already used all the shrewd techniques she had once learnt from her former sensei to take advantage of the current situation.

    As for her own love life, Lynn knew that it was a little hard to catch Jinбпs attention at the moment since he was swarmed with self imposed deadlines and many other issues to handle. Still, that did not mean she had not attempted to hint to Jin at her own desire for a date with a certain dungeon supplier.

    Sadly, nothing happened between them as Jin was locked in a perpetual state of busyness which even the System could not deny the amount of workload to make sure that the Demopolis citizens were well taken care of while ensuring the eventual raid would have a high chance of sess.

    Ultimately, Lynn managed to get Jin to reward her with a pricey dinner outside of the dungeon store because of the work she had done for him. (Which was actually quite tremendous, considering the amount of profits being raked in on that particr week.)

    Infamous Hippo Pandawan Xiong Da and Egret Pandawan Ruo Ying had taken the priciest of all packages and did not regret a single bit. They received a one night staycation which covered essentially everything which made Xiong Da feel like he was on a holiday without even thinking too much. (Well, that was the purpose of the itinerary.)

    Checking in from noon, they found out that the Store Instance had been heavily revamped to portray Valentineбпs Day mood. From all sizes of Cupid Panda flying around the shop instance to a secluded panda couple getting lucky in the Bamboo Forests, it was tolerable for singles who still wanted to continue their dungeoneering experience.

    Not only that, Xiong Da and Ruo Ying had activities all day long such as a mini game roulette in the WunderPanda Theme Park and an exclusive Restaurant Train Trip around a few selected inds in the Open World Instance. (Although they had no idea it was going to be open to them in the future when the Virtual Reality Networkes online.)

    After which, a dinner within the Restaurant Train itself with the beauty of Aurora lights shining under them. Even though they knew it was just a Dungeon Instance, the realism of it was still something to behold. And not to mention, a special couple spa session by the Panda Masseur from the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance before leaving them some privacy in Hotel Pandasticбпs most luxurious suites.

    And to top it off, Xiong Da was bestowed with a bouquet of purple shaded roses with a unique set of Panda Cupid plushies to seal the deal for the night. Even though it might seem a little too simple, the amount of organisation the System and Lynn had to deal with was a nightmare. Moreover, Jin knew that too well so his promise to bring Lynn out for dinner had been a must.

    But for now, it had to deal with the Mafias.

 Chapter 1045 - The Shadow Kings

    <h4>Chapter 1045 - The Shadow Kings</h4>

    "My Lord, The Home Guard are ready," Vaul reported as he entered the coveted Dungeon Maker War Room which once housed the War Room against the Demons. Rex nodded his head, but in reality, he was just here as a spectator or at most an advisor. After all, the coordinator for this particr raid was someone else.

    Kraft. (Also known as The Bubbling Social Media Director / Bodyguard / Most Awesome Original Betor / Ultimate Fox Lover / Cyber Hacker / Counter Intelligence Agent - at the rate his title was going, there would eventually be no space for a hand palm sized name card.)

    Apart from the usual suspects such as Moloch, Nubwort and Qiu Yue, the entirety of the Fox Betors were also present in the War Room. Last but not least, Jin who was at the side sitting on a chair with his legs crossed was giving his Devil Betor the limelight since he had asked the Devil Fox to help with the raid. To mark the asion Kraft had even changed into an attire making him look eerily simr to a military dictator. (He even wanted Jin to call him El Presidente)

    While their initial n had been to cleanse the internal menace within the City of Demopolis, the situation had changed after they had decided to use this opportunity to relocate the citizens into Pandapolis. In fact, it was a rather sessful shift since Pandapolis had been unupied and now Demon Citizens of all sses enjoyed afortable ce to rest.

    At the same time, the System also took the opportunity to deep scan each and every citizen that had immigrated into the Pandapolis. It did not take control of them directly but rather, scourged deep into their past memories invasively through a high level mind control spell. Most were unable to resist such a spell being cast onto them but there were a few who were wary about it and did attempt to fight against it.

    Whenever that had urred, Pei had been summoned to handle such cases but those outliers had not even crossed into the triple digits, which indicated that their level of spell casting was not as mighty as Jin had thought them to be. Rather, they had relied a lot on brute strength and numbers to ovee their enemies. If not for Pandapolis intensive preparations to deal with their manpower in the first ce, as well as their cheat-like ability to convert enemies into friends, Jin believed that they might not have won against them.

    During the immigration process, Demon Citizens who had confessed their affiliations with the Mafia and wished to start anew were given plenty of chances to make up for their mistakes. They were still given jobs like working under the Hotel Pandastic or the other entertainment chains under Jin and they received a roof under their heads for the night. Simr to the other citizens, they had been given a stable wage and food to eat.

    Unfortunately, not many were that honest during the process and the System was able to find all the hidden бпmolesбп rted to the Mafias. Unlike those who had confessed beforehand, they were punished for hiding the truth and were sent to thebour camps aka the Giant World under a heavy military escort to pick herbs and vegetables for Lynnбпs Kitchen.

    Yet, they were still given a shared бпluxuriousбп prison space within the Pandapolis as well as a hefty three meals and a short thirty minute break for the entire day. Compared to the eternal бпParadiseбп of Demopolis, some of those moles started to change and repent for the better when they learned how their fellow counterparts were doing in this new city.

    Separately, the rest of the Mafia groups had stayed behind and fortified their position. Since the normal goody two shoes citizens had left for Pandapolis, the Mafia groups quickly took over arge portion of the city in order to have more grounds against the military. They were surprised that the Home Guards did not swoop in and actually gave them time to raid the area and set up more defences.

    They had be daring enough to even bring out their weaponries and create makeshift barricades with whatever time they were granted. But as the Demopolis got emptier, the Mafia had started to boldly upy the area. They began to bring up even more solid defences such as casting shapeshifting spells to create high walls and hijacking homes to create traps as such. Their scouts had seen how well defended the Royal Pce was, especially now that their soldiers were armed with ranged projectiles that could bring them down easily.

    A few groups of separate Mafia members tried their luck but none of them ever made it back to their bases. Instead, they were ridden with bullet holes and being hung right in front of the Royal Pce as a sign stating not to бпf.u.c.k with the Kingбп. This enraged the Mafia groups even further and caused them to set up their own territory even further to the point that all the Mafia groups had agreed to have a temporary truce among each other and weathered the storm that wasing.

    Ironically, by doing just as he had expected they were all ying right in Kraftбпs hands.

    Now that the districts outside the Royal Pce had been taken over by Mafia groups, the Shadow Kings within the depths of Demopolis had also entered the picture. Kraft and Rex had been waiting for the three Shadow Kings that controlled the major mafia groups within Demopolis to feel safe or greedy enough to attempt to take over.

    The Eld Enve, The Atrocity and Tyr Gauntlets.

    Although each Mafia group might have a name of their own, at the end of the day, they would merely be a subsidiary of one of the top three factions. Each had a mix of fighters and mages, but all had their own specialities. The Eld Enves specialised in dark magic and in particr Old World Magic. The Atrocity relied on brute strength and their members never gave any thought about killing their opponents in cold blood. As for the Tyr Gauntlets, they were a little more special.

    One could say that the Tyr Gauntlets were something simr to the defender of the wicked. Ex soldiers, police and even rescue workers worked under Tyr Gauntlets because they had grown sick of the Nobility and their inability to serve themunity.

    Their numbers were considerably smaller than the other two Mafia factions but one Tyr Gauntlet member could match to a couple of Eld Enves and Atrocity members. Their sense of justice was a little twisted, basically all vigntes, and they were always against the other two Mafia groups. That was also the reason why they had gained traction and poprity especially among the poor.

    Years of infighting had caused them to harbour a deep feud against each other and the decadence of King Baalбпs greed for power had made their fight even more intense. It was mainly because Kiva had funnelled a lot of money into them in order to control the public as well as the nobles for his own benefit. Not many Demopolis Citizens could survive on a decent honest job and it was because of Kivaбпs fault. (But fear not, justice had been served ever since he had been ced under Ayseбпsmand.)

    With the arrival of the New King, the three Shadow Kings had been thinking how to win over Rexбпs favour since their liaison with Kiva had disappeared. Unfortunately for them, ever since the act of executing and jailing the corrupted nobles, they knew that this king could be hard to deal with. Yet it was the death of a minor Mafia Boss, and subsequently Kraft turning him into a piece of art, that had confirmed the new Kingбпs intention to annihte them. So for the first time in history, all three Mafia had unanimously grouped up against amon threat.

    The Royal Crown.

 Chapter 1046 - Getting Hyped for the Demopolis Raids

    <h4>Chapter 1046 - Getting Hyped for the Demopolis Raids</h4>

    While the Mafias had been shoring up defences in their territories, Jinбпs side had been doing the same. Kiyuбпs advertis.e.m.e.nt had been on point, garnering a high volume of responses by cleverly disying how the new City Raid would work. Whereas Pandapolis had been all about defending the city to the veryst man, Demopolis theme would be бпsearch and destroyбп.

    Kiyu had hyped it up to be one of the most dynamic raids ever, only second to the Pandapolis raid. With an entire city as their battlefield to fight, the urbanndscape was theirs to destroy as they pleased. However, the objectives remained distinctively clear.

    One иC Search the city for any Mafia members to apprehend them.

    Killing them was also a valid choice, yet capturing them alive would grant the Pandarens double the raid points. Escorting them to the police station might prove to be a hassle, yet the point difference was quite potent, especially for the higher value targets. (Mafia Boss Cold Stone had given them enough intel to make out the higher echelons of the three major Mafia factions.) Why Jin ced the capture first and killter is mainly because capturing is a harder thing to do than killing. Hauling a demon alive would take a lot more work than letting them die on the floor meaninglessly.

    Two иC Save as many townsfolk as possible. Points wise, this offered most points forpleting this task. One could render a person unconscious and capture someone, but escorting an innocent to the backlines safely? That would take more than just coordination from the team, the effort ced to rescue a kid or even an elderly was significantly more dangerous than capturing someone alive.

    Also with the tweak from the System the visors were now colour coded to disy IFF (Identification friend or foe), the Mafia groups who had been openly fortifying their defences had provided the surveince goblin tech team with the information needed to tag the enemies. Still, it was not entirely a foolproof system and if necessary, the System would state a question mark in the visors for those not within its database, hence why Jin advocated capture over kill on sight.

    The Pandarens praised this as just a part of the added realism of the raid. Unfortunately, saving townsfolk would not be an easy task as the Mafia members would be gunning down anyone not part of any of their factions. However, this could be ovee with the battle perks which would be exinedter.

    Three иC Collect the rescued townsfolk possessions.

    Each of the Pandarens would be given a standard storage ring meant to collect the Demon Citizensбп valuables. From dungeon dors to art decorations. With the exception of big furniture, everything could be collected even pets that were left behind as long as the storage ring had sufficient space in them. Else, they had to return to the police stations or outposts set up by the Demopolis Police to swap the rings for new ones.

    With the objectives of the City Raids being straightforward this time around, Kiyu had also announced the use of the Demopolis points to redeem items such as thetest iterations of exclusive plushies as well as all the new cosmetic weapon inscriptions that could be used as mour for their dull looking weapons. As the theme was Demopolis, the cosmetic weapon inscriptions were slightly demonic and would remain exclusive for the moment. (Eventually, they would be added to the possible price pool in the shop of Lynnбпs father)

    Not to mention, the Demopolis points could also now be used to redeem other items that were previously locked since Jin had decided to make the raids seasonal. Nevertheless, those past raid items had their prices increased in order to give those who had yed before the feeling of achieving something.

    For Pandarens who had coins or points from the past raids, they could be used in conjunction with the Demopolis Raid Points, resulting in a slight discountpared to those who bought the past seasonal items with just Demopolis Raid Points. Else they could convert all of them into Demopolis Points. Naturally, the conversion would be subpar and Jin had also ced a disimer that the past raids could possibly return, rendering their current coins and points valid once again.

    The change in the redemption system brought many smiles to both new and old Pandarens as they started chatting while setting groups within the New Panda Airport. As the Nian Instances were still ongoing till the end of the month, Jin did not wish to crowd the area too much and had suggested using the New Panda Airport as the rendezvous point. On the plus side, it was easier and more cost effective to teleport the Pandarens via the nes than teleporting each and every one of them individually into Demopolis.

    Thus, Pandarens and Pandawans were rmended to create groups of eight and await further instructions via their Pandamonium App. Once they had formed into their respective groups and everyone had bought the Demopolis Pass, the app would give them their electronic ticket to participate in the raid. Like an electronic air ticket, a gate number was shown on their Pandamonium App where they were supposed to depart.

    "Firste, first serve!" The Panda Attendant loudly announced before allowing the groups of eight to board the nes and choose their own rooms. Unlike a standard travel aerone, the modified C-130 nes had been revamped for the teams to have their own rooms so that they could convene for a group meeting before the major sortie.

    Once the previously agreed upon team leader enters, they would get to choose which бпroomбп they wished to upy. In reality, not only was it simr to the cruise ship of the Nian Ind, all their room settings had been imported the moment they chose a section of the ne to convene with a slight alteration in theme.

    Thesepartmentalisations had been convenient not just for the users but for the System too. To top it off, the System was earning money for being cost effective in its partition of the rooms. To the System, it was merely coded data into physical items and the storing of the Pandarensбп belongings. But such ease of convenience became a necessity for the Pandarens and many started to realise that it was a goal to reach or get when they found out that their rooms could be imported before the raid as advertised.

    It became more important for the revered team of Pandawans who had started to find this store as their second home. (or third for some.) While it was true that this store was draining their money on a constant basis, there was this pull factor that would always make theme back for another fight even though they started to feel a sort of stagnation in their grades.

    Naturally, this raid had attracted some of the prominent Pandawans.

    Bin Yong, the Bombardier Beetle Cultivator who specialised in Sword and Buckler.

    Jia Le, the Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivator who used Kunai and used her magical cultivation.

    Shi Zuo, the Mad Monkey Cultivator who used Axes of various sizes.

    Luo Bo, the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator who has Bow Arts that wowed the crowd previously.

    Xiong Da, the Hungry Hippo Cultivator, the crowdбпs favourite and his jaw breaking War Club was nothing to be scoffed at.

    Ruo Ying, the Esthetic Egret Cultivator who used her chains elegantly and had always kept up her support for Xiong Daбпs daring attacks

    There were two other Pandarens that had joined them to form a team of eight because they finally had the time off from their busy work schedule. They were none other than Lee An, the Yondering Yak Cultivator that utilised Knuckle Knives and Xue Ping, the Prancing Puma Cultivator with her Power Fists.

    But of course, all of the members of this бпAll Stars Teamбп brought a number of weapons in their storage rings despite their weapon specialisations. After their experience fighting the Demon Army led by King Baal, they had acknowledged the need to get creative to survive and this had led them to over prepare for this raid.

    From emergency medical kits to snack sized chi potions that could refresh their chi on the fly. Not to mention, the entire group of eight had enjoyed a hearty breakfast in Lynnбпs restaurant to buff themselves up before the raid. They were not taking any chances as they understood that this could be a protracted raid from the sounds of Kiyuбпs advertising.

    They aimed to be the number one team in terms of points and get ALL THE PLUSHIES!!!

 Chapter 1047 - The Crowd!

    <h4>Chapter 1047 - The Crowd!</h4>

    "Itбпs quite a surprise the police gave its top detectives some time off." Bin Yong said as he showed the Panda Flight Attendant his electronic ticket, verifying his participation for the Demopolis Raid as well as the appointed de facto team leader for this particr All Star team.

    "Weбпre merely here to spend our vouchers that Jin had offered us as part of the contract to keep us in shape. To be frank, this particr raid had raised quite a number of eyebrows fromthe policemen and women in the station." Xue Ping replied as she raised her phone with the Pandamonium app on for identification purposes.

    "Is it because the trailer mentioned we would be fighting against some demonic Mafia monsters?" Luo Bo questioned and Xue Ping nodded her head.

    "While we know that Jinбпs dungeons are mostly fantasy based, there are still quite a fair bit of tactics the monsters deploy against cultivators that are rather original. Although it is a bit far fetched in the real world, it canбпt hurt to learn something from it and draw inspiration from it." Xue Ping exined.

    "Bah, what nonsense. Although Police Captain Pai Huo might im this could be a good exercise, you just wanted to fight and work off some steam by smacking some monsters." Lee An, her husband, waved off all the previously mentioned logic of his wife.

    Xue Ping did not hesitate to pull his ear and reminded him to concentrate for they were here to explore whether it would indeed be good for the rest of the police staff in the Tiangong Police Station to take part in this raid.

    "I guess it canбпt hurt to try it out. We saw the trailers that this is set in the urban city. Compared to the Pandapolis raid, which happened to be at the outskirts of a city andter chaos within the city, this seemed to be really concentrated in an urbanndscape." Shi Zuo remarked as he adjusted his bag and entered through the security gates after showing his identification.

    "Yeah. The Deep One Escape City is madness for a one team dungeon instance and this seems to be an improvement over it." Luo Bo still felt sour that so far they had been unable toplete the Deep One Escape City Dungeon Instance. In fact, so far nobody had managed to fully clear that dungeon and the Pandawans hade up with a theory that it could possibly be a бпmarathonбп kind of dungeoneering rather than a find the objective and rush to it.

    Bin Yong and his team had tried a dozen more times but they had failed to replicate their first pleteбп run. It was as if it had just been a fluke or the AI within the dungeon instance had gotten lesscent with their team at that point of time. When they heard that Demopolis Raid featured an entire city that is equivalent to three major districts worth of streets, they knew that this raid could not be finished in a single day.

    The previous Pandapolis Raid had already felt like a week long, so they imagined this one might turn into months long. In actual fact, the Pandapolis Raid had onlysted around two Dungeon World days and the System, as usual, had purposely recreated the scenes and yed them on repeat for a week after the actual one. It was not so different from what it had done for the Goblin Wars as well as the Smander Lord Castle Raid.

    Still, everyone who had been to Jinбпs dungeon store long enough would know that the first iteration would always be the most unique one, as if it was to give the early bird cultivators the special privilege of testing it out, although some just imed that it was to calibrate the difficulty level. Whatever the case, this was no exception with the fact that both Jin and his minions had indeed anticipated this fight to be a very protracted one in order to save System resources while earning money.

    However, the Foxes begged to differ. ording to them it wouldst less than a week, seeing how the crowd for the new Demopolis raid had grown quite immense. There were estimated to be nearly two thousand cultivators within Jinбпs store instance, all camping to try out the new fight. It was all thanks to the Shenzhenбпs Tourism Board as well as his new бпpalsбп from the Royal Zodiac Snake Battalion. But if the System were to analyse the crowd properly, it would be entirely another reason.

    While higher echelons of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n were at odds with Jin, it did not mean that everyone associated with their ns hated him. Some even admired his show of strength on the first day of the Chinese New Year. The news of him being the newest Royal Zodiac Panda n leader had reached to the ears of various leaders and had made them very curious about this unique dungeon supplier.

    From the Royal Zodiac ns to minor ns as well as military and police leaders, all had sent out theirckeys to observe this particr event. They knew that Jin might not exactly be directly involved in the event but the rumours of a rising leader because of his dungeon store had made people interested in the features of his dungeon supplier store.

    Although the store instance was already a power blow to their current mindset about dungeon suppliers, the Demopolis Raid instance would be a whole new level and Jin weed these people to try their luck and strength in this raid. After all, the Mafia families controlling the city right now were no ignorant brutes. The fight for the Shadow King titles had been a constant struggle for control and that meant lots of bloodshed as well as the rise of veteran fighters.

    If the Demon Army was considered a menace that required Jin to use heavy ordnance to stop them, this would be far harder considering they wished to keep most of the stuff intact. As ironic as it sounded considering that King Rex and Jin were going for a restart in Demopolis City, there was another good reason for this.

    Kraft and Kiyuбпs deep infiltration within the ranks of the Church of the Afterlife had not been for nought. Their бпenvedбп tempered agents had already told them all about the Churchбпs desire in demolishing the Demopolis and this entire fight could possibly be a farce...

    But for now, Jin kept his cool and watched on the sidelines as he allowed Kraft to take the stage.

 Chapter 1048 - Secret Vouchers in the Achievements

    <h4>Chapter 1048 - Secret Vouchers in the Achievements</h4>

    "Wee to the flight deck of our C130 Modified ne Series P4ND4. We will be departing shortly to Demopolis and will reach our destination in roughly 30 minutes. In the meantime, please preview the information gathered by our trusty Panda Spy Associates and get ready for a rockynding. Youбпre not required to put on your seatbelts for this flight as the nesбп gravity has been adjusted such that it would fly like a baby in a luby rocking bed. Do enjoy the flight and be ready to depart once the green light at your front door blinks." The neбпs inte clicked twice before deactivating and the sounds of the nesбп engine could be heard loudly for a moment before it got muffled by the sound barriers that the neбпs interior had raised.

    While there was the option of viewing the takeoff through their roomsбп miniature portholes room, most of the Pandarens and Pandawans chose not to do so. From previous experiences, it had be clear that they had to get as many points as possible from the start especially when they had the lead. However, that also meant that they would be prone to suffering a heavy blow at the start if they went in too reckless.

    Whatбпs more, the first Demopolis Raid had been deemed tost at least a week, mainly because Jin had implemented a resurrection procedure for the enemies. He could have done that for all of his raids but this time around, he wanted a more persistent kind of battleground where it would be a battle of attrition more than conquering the territory. (Nobody told his customers that Demopolis was part of the Dungeon World and that resurrection was a fairlymon thing even though it did cost money to elerate the process) That is, however, only to the smaller fries of this entire raid fiasco and limited to locations where the System deemed that the Pandarens arenбпt getting enough action.

    This meant that they had to capture high value targets orplete the objectives as set out by Jin and with the simplicity in the nature of the objectives, they believed there would be some sort of a boбп which they could exploit. True enough, Jin did set perks and achievements for meeting the goals of the main objectives. From mere quantitative achievements such as killing 1000+ mafia demons to unique ones such as protecting your fellow teammates and other teams in a scuffle for 30+ minutes.

    As the Pandawan Team (which at the moment included the two Police detectives for inclusionбпs sake) studied the бпresearch notesбп, they found out more about the series of achievements that could yield them Panda Coins, Demopolis Points as well as a secret voucher simr to the one that had been given out in the fullplete exploration of the Nian Ind. Even though few Pandarens had managed to get the voucher, there was actually an NPC that had brought them to a discreet location to show them the details of said voucher.

    As much they would want to show it out to the Pandamonium Forums and disy it out in full view for the rest to be jealous of, the Panda NPC re emphasised that this feature was not fully implemented and thus requested the Pandarens to sign a non disclosure agreement to ensure that such information was not leaked out prematurely.

    Still, each time a Pandaren obtained the voucher. The Panda NPC was able to publish a small portion of a photograph of the said item which made people guess crazily what it was. Some conjured it was a picture of Nian but there were Pandarens who painstakingly tried topare every detail of Nian with the Dungeon model especially since the cultivators were able to take screenshots with their visors with a quick voicemand. They found that while there were striking simrities, yet at the same time it seemed to be a different model.

    Some customers tried to find thesepletionists for an answer but it seemed that the System had enabled certain anti bullying and tracking measures to ensure that these customers were not harassed within the store instance.

    Aside from the few who publicly revealed to have vouchers, most of the otherpletionists were able to keep out of sight of this unique situation. And since there was another of such vouchers avable for grabs in the achievement section of the Demopolis Raids, there was a high amount of interest on this particr voucher.

    The Nian Indpletionist achievement secret voucher might have seemed hard, but this Demopolis Secret Voucher was even more demanding. And yet Boss Jin personally had imed that it would be worth it because once the feature was released, it would be quite an exclusive item and a sort of keepsake for those who had worked hard for it.

    The research notes included not only notes about the rules and rewards, but also a physical map plus a digital map that could be essed within the groupsбп main meeting rooms. The map featured a total of 50+ districts of Demopolis and which gangs had upied them.

    The Merchants District was being held by the Atrocity mafia, the Petal District was directly under themand of the Tyr Gauntlets and the Cosmo District was filled with the presence of the Eld Enve Mafia Family.

    For the start of the raid, Jin had limited the choice of each team to one of these three districts, waiting for the first Pandarens and Pandawans to take over these districts before spreading out into the surrounding areas.

    The Pandawans decided to go to the Merchants District mainly because they believed the бпbrawnsбп faction were the easiest to deal withpared to the бпbrainбп or the бпall-roundersбп. Not to mention, they were melee cultivators who wanted a good fight too.

    The team did think of hitting the weaklings and working their way through while learning more about the battlefield when they saw the monstrosity of details in the map, but Xiong Da disagreed. "Fortune favours the brave and right now, we should set the example for the other Pandarens and set what we intended to do in the first ce." With a sweet talker like him, he managed to cement the initial conviction for the rest to take on Atrocity.

    Hence, everyone within the Pandawan team agreed to hit hard fast and while finding a ce for retreat as time goes by so there would be enough time to recuperate as Jin had now ced a mini cooldown timer for those who were killed in action as part of the new rules. (More would be exined further as the action unfolds but there was a way to get their teammates back and avoid the cooldown period.)

    All that was left to do now was to wait for the green light to appear at the top of their meeting room to battle the бпweakestбп of the three factions...

 Chapter 1049 - Paradrop

    <h4>Chapter 1049 - Paradrop</h4>

    "DENNGGGGGGG, DENNNGGGGGGGG" That long awaited light bulb finally blinked and sounds were ring as they were discussing another possible route to run if they were surrounded. If not for the expertise of Lee An and Xue Ping, they would not have considered that many alternatives to their initial n.

    "Yo Pandawans, you guys are up next." A harsh voice could be heard through the metal doors when the light bulb above it remained lit and the rm had waned. It was then the figure who talked, opened their doors and revealed himself to be Captain Hei.

    "Since you are going into such a high risk territory as well as spending money to be in the priority first wave, Boss Jin wanted me to inform you that you will receive assistance for the first five minutes as well as during the paradrop." Captain Hei said as he shook his shoulders a little to release the slight itch of the battlebat vest that he was wearing. The rest of the group were happy to see him as he was a familiar friend and teammate that they could rely on easily.

    However, Captain Hei was still strict with his words even though he was merely an NPC. "What are you guys waiting for? Get dressed for the fight!" Captain Hei yelled and bang the door twice, causing everyone to instinctively reply with a бпYes captain!бп while scuffling to their own rooms to get any gear that came to mind at the veryst minute.

    "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Or else we will fly over the drop zone and you losers will end up fighting boring maggots!" Captain Hei pped his paws to spur them on to take their things. Although they were not military trained, Captain Hei was imposing those restrictions mainly because their ne was approaching the edge of the Merchants District.

    Technically, they could always just fly one more round to amodate the Pandawans but Jin had insisted that all the cultivators should be treated equally (even though some paid for the priority ticket such as the Pandawan Team.) It was also to ensure that the nes would keep to their schedules as they still needed to return to pick up the other teams. That way there would be a steady flow of reinforcements to keep the Mafia groups pressured.

    "Shi Zuo, letбпs get going or else Captain Hei is going to leave you behind!" Luo Bo yelled at the door as she made sure that her parachute vest was fastened properly before walking to the unloading bay door.

    "Coming! Comingggg!" Shi Zuo called back as he quickly uploaded the details of the n that the police officers duo had suggested into his Pandamonium App which wouldter be transmitted to the half mask visors within their team. Thistest minor feature was quite impressive in Shi Zuoбпs opinion. For a supposed store app to be as versatile as this, Shi Zuo had slowly begun to treat Pandamonium as apanion app that was an integral part of Dungeons and Pandas.

    Ironically, he had considered it to be quite redundant at first, thinking of it as just another store forcing their sub-par product on their customers, craving to gain some digital presence. He had downloaded it back then simply because it had been a requirement, but boy did he quickly change his mind.

    As the store grew within the few months since its inception, it had proven itself to be very responsive with little to no bugs despite Shi Zuoбпs pet peeve (or rather workpulsion) to try to break it down consistently. In fact, the few bugs he had encountered had been quickly corrected within a day without any need for reporting.

    For an app to be this robust could only mean that Jin must have a highly sophisticated tech support. Since Shi Zuo had been there since week one of the storeбпs opening, he suspected that one of Jinбпs friends or colleagues had to be a powerhouse not to be trifled with and he would love to meet the one in charge...

    Yet none of that mattered at that moment, since Luo Bo was shouting rather angrily for her boyfriend to stop dilly dallying.

    "Go, Go, Go!" Captain Hei said as he started ushering people out of the ne, never giving any of the Pandawans the chance to catch their breath. The police officers had been the first to pretty much get booted off the ne, as they were trained inbat. (Though that did not mean they were well versed with being kicked out from the ne!)

    Luo Bo could not wait for Shi Zuo any longer as she took a bow gun out from her storage ring and used a rope arrow to bind Shi Zuo. Thankfully, there were no piercing arrow ws onto the rope arrow this time around but rather, a glue-like web that sticks to Shi Zuoбпs hand temporarily.

    Infused with her chi, she shamelessly pulled Shi Zuo towards her through the corridor and to the end of the ne despite the onlookers peeking through their main rooms to see how Captain Hei treated the Pandawan ruthlessly. (Some even thought that they were like ythings to the Panda Captain!)

    And in order not to bete from the jump and with Hei already ensuring they had used up the maximum amount of dy, Luo Bo was picked up by him and being thrown out of the ne. But ruthless as he may be, it was also one of the reasons why Captain Hei hurried the rest to jump off first so that he could buy Luo Bo and Shi Zuo enough time before jumping out.

    Shi Zuo screamed like a little girl, but otherwise maintained most of his focus in adjusting thest few options in the Pandamonium App to ensure the ns and markers would get uploaded. In the meantime, Luo Bo pulled him closer knowing that he would be too busy minding his own business. Captain Hei was also right beside them and transmitting information to the rest of Team Pandawan.

    From above, the city beneath looked extremely vast and sophisticated with the number of low rise buildings. But for now, they seemed to be undetected as they realised that the C130s that brought them here had been covered with either a high tech camouge capability or a magic spell that enabled stealth.

    As such, once theynded they would still have the element of surprise on their side!

 Chapter 1050 - A Successful Landing

    <h4>Chapter 1050 - A Sessful Landing</h4>

    The Pandawan team might still beplete amateurs when it came to paragliding, but thanks to the assistance of the System through their visors, they were told when to pull their parachutes out. Worst possible case scenario, they would drop t to the ground if they could not handle the parachute instructions. (And restart all over again since they would be severely handicapped from the long fall if they did not have enough chi to soften their impact.)

    Despite the multiple times Bing Yongбпs group had been paradropping for the raids, the Bombardier Beetle Cultivator never got the hang of it. He was baffled how his girlfriend could enjoy this thrill. He had always dreaded it to the point that one time he had decided topletely forgo the paradropping, instead opting to jump from the ne to kill monsters. That was especially true with the use of his trusty small little buckler infused with chi to make quite a big ssh in previous raids (And of course provide entertainment for the other Pandarens watching them doing so.)

    But this time around, secrecy was of the utmost importance. If they were able to pull it off, they would have an edge in their uing fights. Even the usually loud Xiong Da had agreed that it was quite important this time around.

    Jin had provided them with some details on this particr raid like they knew that this particr Mafia faction had many fighters focused on meleebat. Still, the Pandawan team was unaware of how many members or the numbers exactly that awaited them in the Merchants District. Was it a huge gang with an unlimited number ofckeys or a group small but strong enough to topple the standard Pandaren parties.

    Hence, to them, stealth was of vital importance prior to scouting.

    The airdrop was mostly a sess thanks to the stealth inscription they used to descend into a nearby garden. They were simr to the ones used by the C130 ne that brought them to this particr raid instance with the only difference being that the parachutes only benefited from it for a limited time before the inscription powers wore off. That was also the reason why they had agreed tond inside the garden. They could have chosen a higher vantage point to n their attacks but that would require them to have better coordination as well as some skills tond where they wanted to.

    Not to mention, there were guards on certain rooftops and their unskillednding could be the rm needed to alert the rest of the Mafia group. The Pandarens might not know it but the Atrocity Mafiaбпs demonbatants were not to be trifled with when it came to their extra sensory perception. Their training andbat skills honed through daily struggles in their fights to survive in the underworld had made even the most average guards very perceptive, enough to see through stealthy spiesnding near them.

    And since the Pandawans had no zero ideas or information on their target, the ever cautious officers had decided against risking anything. With the aid of the half mask visorбпs instructions, they all were able tond safely in the gardenбпs field. Only Bin Yong was uncoordinated enough tond into a bush of flowers but Jia Le managed to help him out, though he did try to hide his embarrassment by taking a bunch of flowers to present to his girlfriend.

    To their surprise, there were no guards around the garden while Bin Yong had struggled toe out of the flower bush. Captain Hei ended up being thest tond, skillfully removing his parachute vest, he made it disappear in his storage ring before looking at the group. The Pandawans quickly followed suit as they understood it was best to leave no evidence.

    At that moment, Captain Hei raised his head as if to sniff his surroundings for a moment before beckoning them to follow him. With their training in urban policebat, the officers broke the team down further into groups of three with the officers and the Panda Captain in the lead.

    This made Captain Heiбпs job easy as he gave quick, precisemands to the officers to delegate so they were able to keep their presence in the shadows hidden. Under the cover of darkness, they were headed towards a designated checkpoint. While the Demopolis City Raids were ced in the city itself, none of the Mafia members had any idea that the System was technically still in control of the ce.

    If the System wanted to, it could easily destroy the entire city on a whim. The citizens would be kicked out of the city and be left stateless (or city-less) until the Demopolis had been rebuilt from scratch. However, since both Jin and Rex had sensed a golden opportunity (one to earn money, the other the goodwill of the people), they had utilised the Systemбпs ability to arrange special ces within the city via the Dungeon Core to create a sort of sanctuaries for the cultivators.

    As they had seen in thriller movies, Captain Hei was leading them to a safe house which the System had specifically designated where the Pandarens could rest and reorganise themselves. In addition, those safe houses would act as shops, allowing them to restock and save points for people who had decided they had had enough of the raid.

    By paying a fraction of the initial ticket, they would be able to return to the raid once again through those safe houses and even find parties to join if any teams werecking in teammates and were unable to replenish their numbers. As a service, the System would portal them to the nearest avable safe location (in short, out of sight from the Mafias) and allowed such Pandarens to rejoin back with their new teams.

    When they reached the safe house, which was in a bas.e.m.e.nt of a secluded alley, they found that the safe house had a checkpoint that Captain Hei emphasised to activate in case they were killed. "Unless you wish to experience the pleasure of going for another ride and parachute drop. Either way, itбпs your choice. I am done helping you guys for now. At this point, itбпs all up to you, Pandawans. Time is ticking. Three teams of Pandarens have already started fighting with minor Mafia groups in the outskirts of Demopolis and the most efficient one has gained 6 points." Captain Hei announced before he informally saluted them and went through a door with the sign "NO ENTRY."

    While Team Pandawan was a little disappointed that Captain Hei did not actually join them in a firefight, they were thankful that they had a ce to gather their bearings and did a final restock of items within the safe house. It was quite a bit back breaking effort to reach the safe house but in doing so, Captain Hei had already pinpointed to them a few major locations that were swarming with Mafias. This was updated into the digital map Shi Zuo had loaded into their Pandamonium App group chat and into their visors.

    After which the restock, Lee An took the first step out of the bas.e.m.e.nt and started to lead the group, only this time they split into teams of four, ready to kill some Mafia demons!

 Chapter 1051 - Ambush Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 1051 - Ambush Attack!</h4>

    "P1 in position." Lee An announced through the secured team chat channel.

    "P2 in position too. Get ready for your part." Bin Yong replied, his eyes on a group of Atrocity Mafia demons on the second floor of a derelict building. All of them seemed to be resting and enjoying their off duty status as they had just switched their shift with another group of demon guards who had barely left to patrol around the area.

    The Pandawans had been watching this particr guardhouse movement for a short period of time after their information had been verified from one of the goons they extracted information from. Before this, they had managed to subdue a series of small parties of Atrocity Mafia Demons but with quite a bit of difficulty.

    They noticed that no matter how they tried to cover themselves up with stealth, they still managed to catch onto their presence. (Xiong Da was unhappy he was being med for the cause of it all.) But eventually, the Pandawans found out that they were just that perceptive so they had regrouped and decided to hit one of the main guardhouses which Captain Hei had pointed to them previously. This was also because they hoped that the small groups they hit would not be noticed.

    After quietly subduing a guard on duty at the side gates of the opposite building across the guard house by using Jia Leбпs magical kunais, Bin Yongбпs team tried their best to enter it without attracting too much attention. Jia Le, Shi Zuo, Xue Ping who were in Bin Yongбпs team took their positions behind the second floor windows and readied their guns.

    "Once Bin Yongбпs group start, the other guards who had just departed for their guard route should return. Letбпs make sure they wonбпt be able to interfere." Lee An reiterated their responsibilities as they were the primary strike team of the two groups.

    With two heavy hitters such as Xiong Da and Luo Bo in the group, his group would be engaging the patrol that had left the guardhouse a few moments ago. The shy attack from Bin Yongбпs team would be the distraction to ensure that there would be no other teams reinforcing the recently disembarked patrol when Lee Anбпs group ambushed them.

    "Letбпs start!" Bin Yong pulled the pin of a grenade and threw it towards the window of the other building. As the metal mini pineapple flew into the room, one of the off duty Atrocity guards instinctively grabbed it since it was flying towards him. He had no idea what it was even though it clearly felt ominously dangerous. Despite his quick reaction to pick it up, that iron pineapple in his hand was already ticking down.

    The primer on the grenade had already caused the dyed chemical fuse to move, causing it to ignite the charge within the frag grenade. As it exploded, fragments of metal balls burst out of it lining the off duty Mafia guard with holes in his body. However, he wasnбпt the only victim. Some nearby guards had approached him to get a better look at what exactly theirpanion had caught, resulting in them also being hurt by the explosion.

    The st was deafening enough for the recently departed patrol to turn their heads. They saw the smokeing out of the second floor of their guardhouse, which prompted their leader to move back to the base to check the situation out. It wasnбпt until he saw a few more metal canisters being lobbed into the guardhouse from the opposite building that he ordered the rest of his team to follow after him.

    Those metal canisters had looked as if they were going to fall to the ground but somehow they suddenly started to speed up via a magical propulsion method in midair. They quickly rocketed into the second and third floor of the guardhouse resulting in even more explosions. To make matters worse, the on duty Atrocity guards were so caught up by the first explosion with their perception focused on the higher floors that they did not realise that a few of these canister projectiles were flying into them.

    Only the on duty guard captain recognised the threat, the rest barely had time to bring their shields up. As soon as he caught a glimpse of these projectiles, he quickly went ahead to intercept one by attempting to kick it away.

    However, that was the worst decision one could make as the canister exploded right when it impacted right beneath his leg, causing him to lose his entire right calf. The guard immediately fell to the ground screaming in pain as the loss of blood was immense right from the get go. The medic of the group tried to cast some healing magic but it would take some time to chant.

    In the meantime, his otherrades tried to stop the bleeding by tearing their shirts and using it as a tourniquet to stop the blood from gushing out while some tried to cover the exposed femur by pushing their stained cloth shirts onto it. Simultaneously, a few of the guards shifted their position forward with heavy shields at the front to block any more attacks.

    "So this is how a fully armed guard patrol looks like. They seem to have a mix of healers and defenders. Despite their rough look, they seem to be very organised." Lee Anmented as he continued to observe the situation. It was very different from the small parties they killed initially. That opening volley had given the Pandawan primary strike team an insight into their makeup of groups, allowing them to learn that even a melee oriented organisation had bnced attack teams.

    He realised that those canisters had made a loudmotion which had lost them the chance for an ambush but with the Pandarens already actively fighting in the district, the guard had already been vignt.

    Meanwhile, Bin Yong and the others who had used the canisters were satisfied with thest minute addition to their arsenal found in the safehouse. The rocket propelled grenades, although a cheaper version, were courtesy of Jinбпs Science Department.

    The surprising part was that Kiva had created them as an attempt to curry favour with Ayse. Its intended use had been to save costs for the uing war against the Demon Rats in the Farming World, but Kraft who often visited thedy orc had coincidentally seen it and quickly incorporated it into бпhisбп raid. (Jin rolled his eyes whenever Kraft said that this was his raid.)

    In order to create these makeshift RPG canisters, Kiva had first filled a metal can full of explosive powder and added a snippet of booster rocket inscription charm at the back of it. Of course, there had been many revisions until it resulted in the current version which allowed to stack and screw the canisters together for increased mobility or increased explosive power of the RPG canister.

    This ingenuity allowed Jin to earn quite a fair bit of profit because it was more or less impossible to recreate this particr booster rocket inscription charm except for Octofussy, Jinбпs legendary charm inscriber.

    But without too much hesitation, Lee An signalled Xiong Da to move forth and intercept the group while Bin Yong and his group continued to throw more RPG canisters before running away deeper into the building they were residing.

 Chapter 1052 - Clash With the Guard Patrol

    <h4>Chapter 1052 - sh With the Guard Patrol</h4>

    "Chase after them!" A grumpy demon shouted from the highest floor of the guardhouse. The primary Pandawan Strike Team figured him to be the leader of the guards, so Lee An had signalled for Luo Bo and Ruo Ying to test the capabilities of the бпbossбп whereas he would follow up with Xiong Da after dealing with the guards outside. They might have lesser firepower but Xiong Da assured his current leader that they would be sufficient against those fools.

    While the women had left to go after the Guard Leaderбпs head, Xiong Da had already jumped out from his location and raced to the centre of the patrol team who were preparing themselves against the RPG canisters. Still, as expected from an elite group of Mafia demons, the defenders noticed Xiong Daбпs presence shortly after he came out even though he did not make any loud tant charging noise as he would usually do.

    Half of them quickly turned their back after mming their shields to the ground. Since they were resolute enough to stay on the ground with the might exerted by the defenders, the patrol believed it was sufficient to stop the RPG canisters that came their way and rushed to intercept Xiong Da. However, they did not know that these canisters had been charged with not just explosives within the metal can but also chi to double thebustible strength.

    It caused their iron shields to burst into pieces when the RPG canisters impacted, injuring some of the healers and guards. This caused a split moment of hesitation for the defenders and that was all Xiong Da needed to intercept them with hisrge warclubs.

    Aye! Two warclubs, one in each hand, mming through the groupбпs defenders from the front. However, to his surprise, the defenders were able to match the strength of his weaponsбп m and that further made him even more ted.

    "This is just the beginning!" Xiong Da hyped himself up as he used whatever momentum he had left to turn his body and to deal out another wide m. Yet, the guards were not there for show as they instantly used the opening thewyer gave them to counterattack, causing him to fall back from the blows.

    Fortunately, he was not alone. Lee An did not waste any more time as he came out with his pistol and began firing earnestly at the guards. While the guards were perceptive enough, all but one evaded Lee Anбпs support fire. A few perished from the headshots and the rest only sustained minor wounds as they shamelessly used theirradeбпs fallen body as a meat shield to stop the attacks.

    Xiong Da quickly recovered from his fall and Lee An diverted his firing support to the edges of the patrol team so that they would not hit the Hippo Cultivator. Still, he noticed that the guards felt that his weapon could be disarmed or less effective at closerbat and thus a few attackers from the patrol team disembark from the main group and were already rushing towards him.

    "Tsk, you are justing to a step closer to death each time you approach me." Lee An thought as he released his off hand to hover it above the knuckle knives he had slotted near his waist. Once the guards entered his range, he used abination of punches and shes while switching his pistol to full automatic, allowing him to fire off quick bursts at close quarters.

    This time around, the guards were unable to evade despite their extra sensory perception. They never saw iting that his pistol could be fired in such short intervals. That knowledge came toote though, as they fell to the ground in pain from the direct shots to the chest. Though it was a fairly quick death in the eyes of the police officer, the demon guards felt their painsted for an eternity before taking their breath.

    In the meantime, Xiong Da had battled with the defenders and a few of their guards but both parties realised that the guards had an advantage in terms of agility. So the Pandawan was quick to forgo his war club for a more direct approach. As the guards rushed to attack him, he did not hesitate to grab them with his hands and grappled two of them to his chest.

    At that point, he exerted his chi onto his clothes, causing them to activate and instantly the two guards were killed on the spot. Once the Hippo Cultivator released them, the remaining defenders were shocked to see stab wounds all over their deadpanion. They did not know how Xiong Da had done it, but it had be clear that getting too close to him was basically a death sentence.

    Sadly, things did not go their way as Xiong Da also activated his bootsбп inscription charms and sped towards them grabbing another two defenders on each arm before using them as an alternative to war clubs.

    He held onto their legs and mmed the two defenders together in a manoeuvre that caused the bodies to stter right in front of the healers. Seeing that most of their guards and defenders were killed, the healer demons took the right course of action to run away from them but Lee An had no intentions to allow them to regroup with those inside the building.

    "Itбпs a good thing these healers take time to work their magic. They thought that their team would be fast enough to kill us and they could focus on healing." Lee An thought to himself as he went towards them but like him, the healers were actually keeping their trump cards.

    Poison daggers were brandished at the veryst minute but Lee An with the cultivation of the Yondering Yak, quickly activated his skill "Force Step of the Yak." That enabled him to forcefully leap backwards a few metres and avoid the бпsurpriseбп dagger strikes. As part of his counterattack, he raised his gun and dealt reactionary fire to the healers despite the inadequacy to coup with the inertia from his evasive manoeuvres.

    Even though the aim was off because of the leap, the distance between the two parties was close to considerably injure the healers, causing them to drop to the ground wrangling in pain. Once Lee An stabilised himself, he did not hesitate to drop another bullet to each of them, releasing them from their anguish.

    With this swift assault, nearly the entire on duty patrol team had been disabled.

 Chapter 1053 - Pandawans New Weapons

    <h4>Chapter 1053 - Pandawans'' New Weapons</h4>

    Although the alerted patrol guard had been annihted, this battle was far from over. More Atrocity guards left the guard house before they split up. The bigger group went towards the opposite building where Bin Yongбпs strike team had unleashed their improvised rockets from while the smaller group went after Xiong Da and Lee An.

    With the entire patrol decimated, there had been no one to report the ferocity of the two cultivators so their leader had merely sent a smaller group after them. They assumed that Bin Yong and the others had been the ones to kill off the patrol outside, leaving two of theirrades out in the streets.

    "Wow, I thought we were falling behind badly but it seems that these guards are actually worth quite a fair bit of points. Too bad we donбпt have the time to apprehend them properly." Lee Anmented as he took a look at his Monkey Emporium brand digital watch which he showed off the scoring their team had earnt.

    Obviously, the watch manufacturers had not had Pandamonium App in mind but Jinбпs shop instance featured a store that provided exclusive options to upgrade digital watches regardless of brand. They did however state that it would void the warranty of the watch, yet the perks of using it in the dungeon instances were so immense that many opted to use it.

    "You mean we are number one right now?" Xiong Da grabbed one of his warclubs and returned it to his storage ring while he continued to hold the other as a two handed weapon.

    "That would have been too easy. No, some other Pandaren team under the name of бпMojoбпs Viins Leagueбп is holding that position at the moment, but we are gaining momentum. It was the right choice to hit a high value target." Lee An replied as he readied his stance after he reloaded his pistol and checked his wrists.

    In order to ensure a quick reload time during high intense fights, he had to make sure that his pistol clips were easy enough to reach. To do that he utilised a bracelet on each arm that acted as pistol clip holders, which could hold two clips, one on each side of his arm. In a way, it acted as a basic wrist protector too since the clip holders were made of heavy duty metal. It had been a little more expensive than the usual clip holders, since it could potentially hinder his movements.

    However, Lee An had seen the effectiveness of his pistol wielding abilities first hand against these demons making him trust in his decision to go with this one. On the other hand, Xiong Da was gleeing as he held his war club tight. With the (almost) unlimited amount of money on hand, he too had something that could change the tide of battle.

    His warclub had been heavily modified into something akin to a gunde, although one would more than likely just call it a shotgun warclub. While it was not usable outside of Jinбпs dungeons, this was potentially one of the most terrifying weapons made by Jinбпs inhouse weaponsmith, Vulcan (Letбпs not count Kraftбпs constant бпexperimentsбп which gave Vulcan and Jinбпs science team a bad headache).

    By using physics and chi, the cksmith had created a war club for Xiong Da that utilised a kic energy modifier to stall the бпshotgunбп charges. Thewyer merely needed to exert a little bit of his chi to fire off a scatter shot of energy into his enemies. Still, that was not the only war club that had been modified. The one the Hippo Pandawan had returned into his storage ring had the same concept except that it had chambers for shotgun rounds and even alternatives such like dragonbreath shotgun shells in conjunction with the kic energy modifier war club.

    One might even argue that it was overkill no matter how much the number one customer of Jinбпs had equipped himself with. The poor guards had no idea what wasing. The first demon Mafia guard who was about the same size as Xiong Da challenged him directly to a duel. He rushed towards the Hippo Cultivator, confident in his strength to bring down one of the culprits who had killed his friends.

    However, Xiong Da, who had been casually swinging his war club while waiting for his enemies to regroup, was all ready to plummet the Mafia demon into one big lump of meat. True enough, just as the Mafia demon came into range of Xiong Da, the war club smacked him from the bottom of his feet and up to the third floor.

    The Mafia demon crashed through the walls, resulting in multiple injuries. Xiong Da thought that to be enough to frighten quite a number of Atrocity Mafia demons, yet it ended up having the opposite effect. All of them were enraged and even felt excited that there was a strong enemy to fight against.

    They had been nearly bored stiff from the constant guard duty with no signs of the Demopolis Police despite the warnings from their higher ups. So when these unique human magicbatants with those half masks had started to appear, they had looked forward to this chance to wreak havoc.

    The Mafia demon immediately recognised them as the soldiers that King Rex must have employed mainly because of the weapons they used. From the fast draw pistol to the heavily modified war club which could not be manufactured with usual means. They understood that these humans were the special forces that had been rumoured to be dropping into the neighbourhood and they quietly infiltrated into the districts.

    While they did not have modern telmunications, magic orbs and other magical items easily reced those, allowing the various Mafias to send out transmission amongst each other. They understood that even though they had their differences, this particr "cleansing" wasnбпt something they could stand on their own.

    This бпdraining the swampбп had bonded them to look out for each other... at least on the surface. In reality, the three Shadow Kings merely wished to have as much information on their enemies, so they could be prepared for them.

    This particr ambush by the Pandawan Team was a daring attack that the Atrocity Mafia didnбпt take kindly to. The top Guard Leader had already transmitted the information about these human special forces causing trouble, especially focusing on their new weapons, making all three Mafias enter into high alert. The upper brass had also immediately sent out reinforcements to the damaged guardhouse to take care of the offenders.

    Just as the guard leader was done forwarding that information, he sensed two humans in his vicinity, despite the awful burning smell from the aftermath of the explosions.

    And it seemed that they were very keen to take his head.

 Chapter 1054 - Commanding Guard Leaders Room

    <h4>Chapter 1054 - Commanding Guard Leader''s Room</h4>

    Luo Bo and Ruo Ying surrounded him.

    There was no need for him to query the two human invaders about their intention as they stood in front of his doorstep with dead bodies piling right behind them. He only saw their result, yet the spectators of this very exciting raid in Jinбпs shop had seen the two women fight their way to this бпminibossбп.

    Being quite the adept bow user, Luo Bo had used a rope arrow to scale the walls pulling along Ruo Ying with her. During themotion from the front gate, the two Pandawans had snuck to the back of the building.

    While Ruo Ying could have used her chains, Luo Bo had invested in a belt that had an automated axle that her rope could be attached to. Thanks to it, the two Pandawans had managed to reach the highest sixth floor without wasting their chi, all while keeping their presence hidden.

    It was all going well until a guard had happened to patrol right there, right then.

    Just when he had been about to sound the rm, Ruo Yingбпs thrown out her spiked chain which had prated the thick reinforced ss and into the guardбпs chest. Luo Bo had simrly followed up by using a handheld mini crossbow, enhancing it with chi so that it could perform the final blow.

    While it had achieved the desired result, the sound of ss breaking was bound to attract unwanted attention to their floor and the two Pandawans had been aware that they had to act fast now before guards woulde to investigate.

    As such, they had entered through that window with Ruo Ying in the lead since she could easily detach the chains which she had used to bind Luo Bo to herself like a rope for moving upwards. The moment they touched the ground, the Esthetical Egret Cultivator had mercilessly used her chains to find the nearest possible target it could strike.

    If not for the small corridors, the guard members could have easily evaded the chains, yet the current interior design had allowed Ruo Yingбпs snake-like chains to mercilessly zoom and aim for the guardбпs vital spots such as their necks and chest. Whenever a chain had missed its target, she had used the walls to make it rebound hitting the guards from unbelievable angles. Amidst the explosivemotion from the second and third floor, their own fight remainedrgely undetected, allowing them to enter the Guard Leaderбпs room.

    Still, to be a Commanding Guard Leader in the Atrocity Mafia was no easy feat. Even as the noise and fights in the streets had grabbed much of his attention, Ghimley had simrly sensed it in his bones that there was internal strife within the building. However, his first priority had been to inform their current headquarters about any new developments.

    "Thank you for waiting." Ghimley said as he ced the бпphoneбп down with a sigh of relief. With his duty fulfilled he was ready to take revenge for the guards that these two humans had killed. He knew that his underling would eventually get resurrected but it was one thing to reincarnate outside of the city and another to do so in Demopolis.

    Unfortunately for the Mafia factions, the final say for anyone resurrecting within the city currentlyys with King Rex. Such matters would be usually handled by the staff from the Church of the Afterlife within the city, yet the new king had actively scoured them even before the mass migration and a number of them had gone missing.

    The Mafia factions could only infer that King Rex had done so to control who was allowed to resurrect within the city. Without the Church of the Afterlife staff to facilitate the resurrection, it meant that the Mafia forces were bound to dwindle in due time. That was one of the reasons why the three Shadow Kings who had deep feuds among themselves had decided to put their hatred aside and assist one and another.

    For example, the Atrocity Mafiaбпs healers had been bestowed by the Eld Enves. However, one look and it would be obvious to anyone that they had been given a batch of healers who could barely be called as such. Most of them had been merely recruits of newly joined demons who knew way too little about healing.

    It had been a p in the face despite the truce they had agreed to, especially since a previous sh between the Atrocity and the Eld Enve Mafias had been one of the worst catastrophes in Demopolis Cityбпs history. Both sides had never liked each other, yet the new kingбпs actions had forced their cooperation.

    Ghimley had believed that the Kingбпs forces would have focused on eradicating the weaker Mafia groups first since they had been ced at the edge of their districts and closer to the Royal Pce as well as the main Police Headquarters. As such part of his reported intel had been about the current surprise ambush that defied the Mafiasбп expectations, informing them that humanmandos with half masks had been sent out to do as much damage as possible.

    He did not like it and counted himself unlucky that he had to fight them especially when he saw Xiong Daбпs warclub smashing through his defenders despite them putting up quite a fight for him. And to make things even more unpleasant, two human magicalmandos who had ughtered his guards were right in front of him. Seeing that he might have a disadvantage fighting them in the room, he roared out loud while flipping his table right in front of him.

    It was no ordinary table flip as it flew straight towards Ruo Ying and Luo Bo, blocking their field of vision, giving Ghimley the opportunity to escape out into the open. He had mistaken those two as close quarterbatants that could annihte his guards in minutes but he couldnбпt be more wrong.

    Luo Bo and Ruo Ying rejoiced at the fact that their target refrained from engaging them in such closebat.

 Chapter 1055 - System Traders

    <h4>Chapter 1055 - System Traders</h4>

    "To the left!" Bin Yong said through the inte for the current squad he wasmanding. Unlike the others who had prepped their arsenal of weapons to the brim in their storage ring, Bin Yong decided to have a more supportive role in this current battle mainly because he knew that he was a one to one duelistpared to his pal Shi Zuo who could go crazy and face multiple enemies at once.

    Those RPG canisters were part of his stash when he found out that they were on sale when they activated the safehouseбпs save point. However, there were more than just explosive canisters and he bought at least a couple of every variant that was on sale, hoping they would prove useful in this particr raid. Everyone knew that this was a gimmick in Jinбпs store to provide a variety but they could not deny the effectiveness when the situation arises. Still, the act of overconsumption was thoroughly encouraged by the NPC trader who gave major discounts.

    As if the System had reversed engineered Jinбпs cheapskate behaviour and flipped the switch into their NPC traders, they could be rather persuasive in getting people to buy more than just what they needed. But that was not all, to make people serious about the third main objective of the Raid, which was to collect the Demon Citizenбпs belongings, the System had developed an in-raid currency that could only be used within the period when the raid event was active. Each belonging returned would have an amount of currency attached to it. For example, a diamond ring has the value of 10 Demon Panda Emblems. (As much as it sounded evil, it was actually an emblem of a Baby Panda biting a tiefling plushie.)

    However, the System Traders had heavily emphasised not to be confused with the currency that the current Raid was giving. This particr set of emblems would automatically be exchanged to thetest set of Raid Tokens when the raid was done. (A period of two weeks would be given to the Pandarens should they wish to exchange anyst minute items with the System Traders.) However, it would not be a 1 to 1 exchange and it depended on the currency market like the Panda Coins that Jin had implemented.

    This was because the items that the System Traders are selling were not limited redemption items butbat items that could be replenished. The only special stuff that was in that particr session was prototype weapons which Jin had stated that they needed more data before they could release for public use. (But still, those weapons are locked and restricted in Jinбпs store, they could not be used in public at all.)

    These kinds of weapons and tech items were stored in their weapon closets and only be allowed ess when they returned for dungeon instance. In a way, one could say that Jin had rights to hold those weapons and they were deemed too dangerous for cultivators to bring it out of the store. This applied to those warclubs that Xiong Da had been brandishing as well as the guns which the Pandawans were holding. If a Pandaren forgot to return those weapons or wished to bring them out of the store, permission to beam themselves out of the store instance would be denied.

    They can forcibly return those weapons with a tap in the Pandamonium App or be trapped in the store instance forever until theyply with the rules. This was something Jin hade up with recently as a way to control the weapons, not allowing them to use them out in society while at the same time continued to make fun for the dungeon yers. One of the reasons was mainly because of hispetitors.

    It was one thing to use dungeon instance weapons which is fun and wacky but it is another issue if those fun and wacky ways to kill a monster turned out to be above military grade. Previously, Jin sold high quality low Grades weapons, catered for the new cultivators and that alone had alerted the System that counterfeits wereing out into the market. Thankfully, the Night Foxes under Kraft had managed to keep the distribution under control and brought the ck market distributors to justice.

    Oh, but it was not swift death but rather uwful detainment while still being fed. Jin initially wanted to hold them until Kraft had the same idea to wash their brains from such ideas and the needless thought of revenge. However, with the advent of Kong Rong under the service of the Panda n, Jin merely allowed him to handle them.

    All of it a perk for being a Senior Panda Executive because those distributors were surprisingly veterans in their trade and their contacts were considered a massive trove of information. It was to the point Kong Rong used some of them as double spy agents and provided them with the promise of safety not only to them but their families.

    Oh but Kraft did not only take back those imitation products, he had collected all those ck market weapons for the scienceb to reverse engineer so that they could manufacture them for the Dungeon Raids. And thus the Emblems were used precisely for that.

    Weapons not seen on the actual market and were in fact illegal for use in the real world. The cultivators had no idea that they were on a borderline ofmitting a major crime should they escape the shop instance with those weapons.

    While Bin Yong did not have ess to those weapons as of the current situation he was in, he sure had enough modern tech to make an average soldier envious.

    A beetle like spy drone flew out of his storage ring and with his visor, the Beetle Cultivator hadmanded it to fly ahead to check the surroundings of any intruders. It also acted as a hi tech cartographer, plotting a new digital map on the maps that Shi Zuo previously uploaded into their teamбпs visors.

    "Coast clear! Letбпs push forward and out of the building!" Bin Yong smiled as he looked at his Pandamonium App. The screen portrayed a little Panda carrying a bomb and the fuse was waiting to be lit with a "press and hold" button showing right at the bottom of his screen.

 Chapter 1056 - Thinning the Guards

    <h4>Chapter 1056 - Thinning the Guards</h4>

    When a number of Atrocity Mafia guards had entered their derelict building, Xue Ping was there to stall them for as long as she could. The police officer was utilising her knowledge of urban warfare to create a buffer between her and the enemies. Fighting against someone with firearms had slowed the guards down considerably as they had to be extremely careful.

    A single hit from her guns would be enough to cripple their fighting capabilities by half. It was to the point the demons had trouble shielding their casters from her suppressive fire, especially after she started using her modified power fist on top of the submachine gun.

    Just like Xiong Da, she had decided to splurge a bit by modifying her power fist days before the raid. Theplete overhaul of the entire power fist hadnбпt been cheap, yet due to the deal Jin had with the police, most of it got subsidised. (She was lucky the police chief used the dirty money they had confiscated from the Rat Triad.)

    The newly modified power fist could periodically charge and shoot either waves of energy or in st projectile forms. Xue Ping was using her power fist predominantly with thetter option to keep the Mafia demons at bay. The mix of bullets and the power projectiles had hindered the movement of the Atrocity guards long enough for Xue to run out of the building.

    "Come up now!" Bin Yong instructed her through the inte after the rest had already evacuated to the higher floors of the building. Xue Ping quickly used her cultivation to sprint to the back end of the building and released one more scattershot of energy st from her power fist before jumping out of the window.

    "Iбпm out!" Xue Ping replied through the inte and Bin Yong instantly picked up his fuse detonator and pressed it. The explosive charges which he had ced before the engagement exploded sequentially from the window and into the building. While those charges were not strong enough to destroy the structure of the building as a whole, it would heavily damage the Mafia demons.

    The building shook rather violently as the Pandawans braced themselves against the shockwave. Although a little shaky on their toes, Xue Ping immediately urged her teammates to put on their respirators. Both Xue Ping and Lee An used to be part of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team before decided that they wanted a bit of desk work and thus the switch to inspectors, thus they knew how to perform in such an intense situation, something that their fellow Pandawans appreciated very much in this raid.

    Their half mask visors activated the extension respirators, turning into full masks which allowed them to breathe through the aftermath of the explosion without much trouble. The points on their wrist watches had told them that not all of those below had died in the explosion.

    True enough, many were dazed and severely injured from the attack, with those in the middle passed out, so Bin Yong and the rest quickly rushed in to finish up the guards. To their surprise, some of the Mafia guards were not giving up and attempted to put up a fight despite their injuries. As valiant as theirst stand effort was, the Pandawan team quickly rushed in for a coup de grace in order to not waste any strength and regroup with the rest.

    Shi Zuo dragged his axe through the ground while .u.mting chi as he was assigned to clear the enemies nearest to the window in case reinforcements were to appear. This allowed him to do a sweeping sh when he saw additional guards jump to the second floor. Any injured demons who had been caught in the attack were being thrown out of the window, ensuring their deaths through multiple dislocations.

    Jia Le used her Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivation Style to detect any vital life signs within her magical range to point out any demon trying to fake their death. When it became clear that faking was not an option, those individual guards would jump to their feet and retaliate to the best of their ability.

    Some even tried to stand as one and fought against Bin Yong but after all the dungeon instances they had fought in together, his girlfriend was familiar with his fighting style. She had already prepared a few support spells to aid him. A magical barrier spell appeared in front of him and magical Bellflowers would periodically appear to stop or at least soften the attacks, enabling the Beetle Pandawan to focus on defeating them one after the other.

    As for Xue Ping, her power fist was nothing to scoff at as a few were sent flying through the ceiling to the third floor with her trademark uppercuts. It was a strategic wipe against the guards but their explosive actions might probably attract more than they could chew.

    From the ground, Xiong Da and Lee An could see groups of Demon guards inrge carriagesing towards them at high speed. Despite the initial upper hand in the situation, the Pandawans did not expect their reinforcements toe this quickly. Lee An could even detect a few strong magical signaturesing their way, indicating that they could be Atrocityбпs elites in Atrocity.

    "We should retreat." Lee An said to the group, warning them about the impending danger. And the rest acknowledged except for Luo Bo and Ruo Ying who were chasing after their Guard Leader. Thankfully, they were heading south which was also the direction of the safehouse, so Lee An did notin too much.

    He merely warned that it could be a trap, advising them to finish the Guard Leader quickly or retreat if they got too far from the meeting point. Luo Bo confirmed the order from their resident police officer and with the experience of the consequences of moving too far away from her previous raids and dungeon instances, she intended to adhere to this rather strictly.

    To ensure it was possible, it was best to immobilise the runaway before he could get any further!

 Chapter 1057 - Ghimleys Absolute Death

    <h4>Chapter 1057 - Ghimley''s Absolute Death</h4>

    Ghimley prided himself on being a fast runner, perhaps not the fastest of the Atrocity Mafia family, but definitely decent enough to be recognised as a capable Guard Leader. Yet, he did not expect the human soldiers to be chasing after him with much ease and even firing their ranged weapons at the same time, causing it to be quite a difficult race to run away from.

    So upon realising that jumping from roof to roof was not enough, he made use of his acute senses to foretell the nooks and cranks in the alleys up ahead. Since they were able to catch up with him, Ghimley intended to outpace his pursuers through the alleys, confusing them and eventually take them out when they were tired.

    Unfortunately for him, his n had not ounted for the fact that the duo behind him was not only on par with him in terms of speed, their ranged projectiles also had the ability to stop him dead in his tracks. Never in his life, had he ever seen humans able to catch up to his speed this quickly when he noticed that they boasted themselves even further when the two female soldiers discerned that he was slowing down. There had been casters who could hasten themselves via spells, yet those would take time to chant while a guard would protect them.

    Normally, he would have plenty of time to kill a mage before they couldnd even a single offensive spell on him. The Tiefling had thought the same to be the case for this pair of soldiers but he had clearly underestimated them and their weapons. The ranged projectiles were way too urate for his liking. Were it not for his extra peripheral senses, he would have been brought down the instant he had fled the guard house.

    "Was I wrong? Are they not mages, but specialised ranged operators?!" Ghimley thought to himself as fear started to creep into his heart for the first time in years. He changed his n from confronting them to leading them to the next avable guard house, hoping their reinforcements would be sufficient against these two elites.

    s, he never got a chance. The next alley was destined to be his grave.

    The moment Ruo Ying and Luo Bo had seen him attempt to outrun and hide within the subsequent alleys, they had recognised the need to act fast or risk losing such a valuable set of points. ording to the Pandamonium App, the Guard Leader was worth as many points as his subordinates.

    Luo Bo couldnбпt understand why the guards they had fought with previously were not as fast and agile as their leader in front of them. Her shots had already been infused with her chi and she was known to have a high rate of uracy against moving targets.

    And yet this particr enemy seemed to have eyes on his back, allowing him to barely dodge the projectiles. They barely scr.a.p.ed his magically toughened skin which he activated at the veryst second to avoid the brunt of the attack.

    Still, the hunt was nothing but satisfactory for Luo Bo, especially when she felt that it was the end of the line for the Guard Leader as soon as he entered the backwater alley. "Big Sis! Letбпs clear this as soon as possible!" Luo Bo said to Ruo Ying, who nodded her head with a soft hum as acknowledgement.

    Simr to the encounter back at the guard house, Ruo Ying first charged her chains and propelled them into the alley chasing after him. It did not matter if those chained spikes missed Ghimley, all that mattered was that those chains were faster than him.

    When Ghimley saw the chainse in, he evaded them easily, thinking himself safe for a moment... until he heard a series of multiple clinging sounds up ahead. It did not mean much to him at that point in time because he was busy watching out the trajectory of the chain spikes that were raining down on him.

    Ghimley strongly believed that salvation was just up ahead as he remembered there was an intersection straight ahead as well as a few smaller corridors which could prevent detection. But as he avoided thetest chain spike, he realised those chain spikes were just the start of the death trap he was being lured into.

    As he got closer to the intersection, he saw the horrors return in multiple folds. Chain spikes were moving at tremendous speeds as they blocked his path of escape because of the initial ricochets. In that instant, Ghimley understood he either had to bash through the spikes with brute force or go upwards.

    But the skies turned dark when he raised his eyes to check for a way out. He could not make out the shade of darkness initially until it came too close forfort. It was a torrential rain of arrows that was unavoidable no matter where he moved and the only way out was probably the soon toe resurrection.

    Seeing that he would not have time to move out of the way, Ghimley resigned himself to his fate and stopped in his tracks. The chain spikes pierced through him and the rain of arrows fell with high speed velocity. His toughened skin was no match to the increased pration power inscription that Ruo Ying had put on following Luo Boбпs advice.

    It could only be described as tragic, that the now dead Guard Leader had been thoroughly tricked by the duo. Most of the projectiles, as well as the chains, had been one borate illusion, the work of the бпMirror Imageбп instant magic scroll. Cultivators primarily used those as part of a defensive manoeuvre, yet Luo Bo and Ruo Ying had creatively utilised its properties as feints for their own attacks.

    Once it had be clear that the Guard Leader was more focused on running for his life and possibly leading them somewhere so he would be preupied to notice the mirror images, they hade up with this use. If he had not resigned himself to his fate, but risked his all, to evade or endure the non-existent attacks, he might have gained a second wind from seemingly surviving the near-death situation.

    "+65 Points" The Pandamonium App showed on the screen for both cultivators. And as the body started to dissipate into nothingness, Luo Bo contacted the rest, confirming that their next rendezvous would be back at the safehouse.

 Chapter 1058 - Aftermath of the Guard House Massacre

    <h4>Chapter 1058 - Aftermath of the Guard House Massacre</h4>

    "Not bad, not bad. The Pandawan Team has taken down an entire guard house on their own." Nubwort rubbed his chin as he monitored the overall situation within the Demopolis. A portion of the Merchants District was in disarray after they found out that one of their guard houses had been taken down.

    As these guard houses were strategically ced to cover a wide range of the Merchants District, it was a hard blow for the Atrocity Mafia that their members could be subjugated within an hourбпs time. The only thing the reinforcements had been able to do had been to watch and then report the destruction and end result of the massacre.

    Ghimley might not have been the strongest of the Guard Leaders but he had stillmanded a fair bit of clout. The guards under him had been considered to be better than average. The upper echelons of the Mafia Family had the impression that he would at least be skillful to at least upy the enemies until reinforcements came in.

    But now, with the entire guard house ughtered, it could only mean that King Rexбпs special forces were not a joke. News spread like wildfire and everyone under the Three Shadow Kings believed that this was a show of power, a statement to the rest of their factions that they could hit fast and hard whenever they wanted. It was a scary thought that a group of elites could be so effective when the rest of King Rexбпs hired бпsoldiersбп were already making their waves in the outer districts.

    The fights there were fairly violent whenpared to the assault on the Atrocityбпs guard house. But unlike the Pandawans who had .u.mted a fair amount of Panda coins to spend rather frivolously when it came to weapons, it was not the same for the other Pandarens who had yet to find the safehouse. They were fighting with whatever inventory they had in their storage ring and the sh was basically about who had the guts to score more kills.

    Thatбпs not to say that the Three Shadow Kingбпs Mafia family were not actively participating in these attritions of war. That was also one of the reasons why reinforcements could not arrive as quickly as anticipated for the assault on the guard house. They thought it was a good idea to send their attackers to the frontline and leave their territory lightly guarded. They knew there might be possible assaults from the sky but they could not believe King Rexбпs shock troopers were able to break through and into the districts.

    And because of this daring move from the Pandawan Team, it had subtly changed the course of battlefield. The Mafia demons who had been winning initially against the Pandarens had finally seen a stalemate in thest few hours. However, all these were solely the Pandarenбпs efforts.

    The Round Table of Jinбпs Minion Leaders had yet to reveal any of their trump cards. So far, they had merely assisted the cultivators by quietly providing caches of new weapons and medical kits for the Pandarens on the frontlines. With the Systemбпs ability to manipte the Demopolis Dungeon Core, it was able to slip in a few goodies towards the Pandarens and ensure that they would have an advantage over the Mafia demons.

    Nevertheless, whenever the Pandarens ended up killed, the loot would go over to the victor. As such, the Mafia demons were simrly able to get hold of Jinбпs advanced weapons, which they then used against the Pandarens (after some initial figuring out how to operate them).

    However, the System and the people using the System were not stupid. Those items in the caches had been designed to only have a certain durability to them. Be it the Pandarens or Demons who used them, those items would break after a period of time. If a Pandaren User were to check it through the Pandamonium App, there was a tag within the weapons that stated that it was fragile, indicating it would break after a number of times.

    But in exchange, the weapon was more powerful than the usual they used and this was up to the Pandarens to use it sparingly or for the lucky Mafia demons that managed to pick them. Jin had not been too much a fan of that mechanism, but Kraft had reassured him that not only would it be more interesting this way, but there was also a failsafe inscription that would guarantee that they would break into pieces if the System noticed that they were used on him. (That is assuming that he was going into battle.)

    "Speaking off, why donбпt you go into battle? You have been slogging your life away to make this, so it would be a pity for you to just sit back and rx." Kraft proposed when he saw the attackers from the infamous three Mafias returning back to their respective districts as per the Systemбпs cameras and radars.

    "Yeah, I think it will be a good stretch and allow us to see what you are truly capable of." Rex agreed with the idea. He himself was also itching for a decent fight but he knew that these Mafias might not be even a proper warm up exercise session for him.

    "You know that if I did that, I would truly be blowing my own trumpet in front of experts like you guys, right? To disy my pathetic skills before an expert would be a disgrace." Jin argued with his head shaking so hard to show his reluctance.

    "Ohe on now, Boss! We all know about your grade up! Weбпve ascertained that it was entirely different from the normal you a few weeks back and it seems even more so from all those sleepless nights youбпve been forcing yourself into. Not to mention, the System also needs to update its defenceponent in case something major happens, right?" Kiyu made sure to rope the System in to nudge its unwilling User to perform for the foxes.

    "If Jin is going, would it be alright if I came with him?" Lynn volunteered as tribute. She had been watching themotion from the side with the rest of them.

    Since she wanted to be part of the entire process ever since she started working on the rest of the Cultivation Zoo instance. She figured that fighting alongside with Jin might give her some insight or even inspiration for the Cultivation Zoo. (But everyone knows that was an excuse, even Jin who could see it so tantly for once.)

    "You sure? This kind of battlefield is not something you are used to." Qiu Yue, who had been analysing the tactics various Pandarens had been using, some quite ingenious and recorded for posterity was worried for her colleague. She recalled the time she and Lynn had been out in the Giant World, but this would be an entirely different battlefield.

    "All the more reason I should give it a try. How else I will learn if I stay safe the whole time. In the event that I had to defend myself with or without Jin, I would be better prepared." Lynn said as she unconsciously touched her sword that was held on her waist.

    "I donбпt mind. In fact, if youбпre there maybe ourzy Panda Boss will have some motivation to show off." Kraft gave a one sided smirk and told Jin to make the move. The Dungeon Supplier sighed and knew that Lynn was doing her utmost to integrate.

    He was not as dense as some shonen protagonists, so he did appreciate the thoughts that she wanted to spend time to be with him. Jin too wanted to do the same and whether that was out of guilt for leaving her out most of the time, it did not matter now.

    "Donбпt worry, Boss. If our Queen really gets into a pinch, the Sub System will call us out to save her." Kido, her mostpetent Ninja Penguin suddenly appeared right in front of him to assure him.

    "Alright, if thatбпs the case. Letбпs go for a spin." Jin finally agreed as he asked Lynn to бпsuitбп up.

 Chapter 1059 - Convincing Jin

    <h4>Chapter 1059 - Convincing Jin</h4>

    With a snap of her fingers, Lynnбпs equipment appeared on her as soon as Jin gave the go ahead. One would think that she would proceed with a sailor moon transformation given that Jin has his System Rider transformation sequence but it was not anything fanciful at all. A battle vest with pockets as well as a utility waist belt that could hold quite a number of mini essories. Her sword on her waist had been moved to her back where there was a maic attachment along with a retractable belt that facilitated movement.

    This granted her better mobility and made sure she had sufficient reach to grab her sword. She had also been wearing thetest prototype of the Gearbox arms and legs attachment made by Ayseбпs research team. Jin had emphasised to all those present that he would only allow the Kitchen Goddess or more particrly the Sub System Users in general to apany him into battle if they were well equipped and the Gearbox System was one of those prerequisites. (The girls called him paranoid, but Ayse viewed it as caring and more importantly useful for her research -especially since all the usage could be seen as valuable data.)

    That quick бпcostumeбп change startled Jin for a moment before sighing with a gentle smile on his face, something Lynn was waiting for, for a long time. "Letбпs get going then. Where do you want us to go, El Presidente?" Jin asked Kraft tantly to make him happy for donning such a military suit. (He knew that fox was merely fishing for praise. Lots of praises.)

    "How about the Petal District where the Tyr Gauntlets are residing? They seem to be the strongest based on our intel but of course nothing too menacing for our Kitchen Goddess debut." Kraft suggested as he ced his hand on the war table and a hologram of the district appeared. "From what we know, the Shadow King for the Tyr Gauntlets should be residing somewhere around here."

    "Didnбпt you brief us beforehand that we donбпt know where exactly they are because they keep to the background?" Jin started to think back on the briefings even though he could not ascertain the facts properly since he had still been half asleep at that point of time.

    "True, we donбпt know where EXACTLY they are, but judging by the strength of the guards around that area, itбпs a safe bet he should be there. Thatбпs why we get our trusty boss to go take a look and if possible annihte him or her." Kraft replied with a glee in his face.

    "So I suppose I can call in reinforcements whenever I feel terribly outnumbered?" Jin questioned as if he was treating this as a trial for himself until he realised they merely wanted to see his powers unfold. "Or maybe I should just retreat."

    "Haha boss, you are such a funny guy. Obviously, you should annihte the threat when he is right in front of you. Why bother wasting time retreating?" Ixel answered as he subconsciously flexed his muscles.

    "If anything unforeseen happens, my penguins could be the first to enter the fray. My Sub System is pretty much designed to make sure I can summon them in a pinch. The other big guys coulde inter." Lynn replied.

    "See, nothing to be worried about. Just trust her and the peggies, since they are also a force to be reckoned with. You just donбпt know yet." Kraft smirked and winked at dear little Lynn.

    The crafty fox understood that this was also a great opportunity for Lynn to finally show off her skills to Jin. Simr to Qiu Yue, she had been secretly working out in conjunction to her usual workload. One could argue that she put in more effort than any of the minions under the Systemбпs care. The only thing she sorely needed right now was battle experience.

    "Heh, alright. But I will not hesitate to call on you guys if things get too tough. Itбпs not worth the risk of dying for no particr reason when the System controls most of the area, giving it near unlimited ess like how it has for the store instance." Jin insisted.

    "Itбпs exactly because this fight is so much in our favour that you should not hold back and push your limits. If someday you donбпt have the System with you for some particr reason, youбпll have to rely on yourself to settle matters." Rex argued with prudence.

    "It will be impossible. System and User are inseparable." The System stated vehemently in their fairly robotic voice. Those around the table shrugged it off, yet the Dungeon Supplier himself had already experienced times when he did not have the System with him and how powerless he had been without it.

    What about all the times when he met up with Ming? There was no System in his own unconscious ne. What if someone decided to use some high level maniption mind games on him again?

    And then there was that incident with the young Ryuli that still gued his thoughts to this day. In fact, he was surprised that she had strangely stopped harassing him after trying a few days. Jin had been busy with other things, so he had just figured she had her own work to take care off, or that it might have perhaps been a sort of courtesy from Kong Rong.

    Nevertheless, he was not going anywhere else with the Tree Mall intact, so Ryuli knew where to find him. Unfortunately, it was guaranteed that she would sooner ortere to him to find out the truth about her master when she was free...

    "Ahem, Earth to Jin." Lynn waved her hand in front of Jin who had been clearly lost in a world of his own. "Thereбпs no use overthinking things. Letбпs just go out and do our best."

    "Ah sorry, I was just thinking about what Rex just said." Jin smiled as he asked the System to teleport them to Petal District, as close as possible to the supposed location of their Shadow King. It was better to strike fast and hard than waste their time on clearing the minions.

    Oddly enough, the System did not open a direct portal to the target location. Instead, they kind of disappeared into thin air, traversing through time and space to reach their ce. Jin could only believe that the System was doing it to keep his teleport location nice and quiet.

    The super entity had performed a sh teleport bomb to catch their enemies off guard, but it was a different situation when Jin and Lynn felt their surroundings explode around them. Only once the dust started to dissipate a little, did Jinбпs visor instantly identify groups of demons congregating around them.

    "What the hell... the System sure knows how to pull my feet." Jin raised his sword offensively despite the need to adjust himself to the new surroundings. While Lynn was still coughing and trying to bnce herself, the enemies were already on the move, happy to score a kill against their unknown opponents who had presented themselves to them on a silver tter.

 Chapter 1060 - Back To A Corner

    <h4>Chapter 1060 - Back To A Corner</h4>

    "The heck?!" Jin shouted within the Systemбпs Channel. "What kind of teleport was that?!"

    "As User had surmised, it is a mid tier spell, sh Teleport Bomb. It is to provide ample surprise against your opponents while injuring them at the same time. Given the security level of the enemies, a normal portal might have rmed them or even prompt them to enter it." The System replied.

    "Fine, I get what you did, but why did you teleport us into the midst of the enemy lines?!" Jin stressed as he saw a body moving towards him without reserve.

    The Dungeon Supplier did not hesitate to bring out his System Belt in case the enemy was way stronger than he expected them to be. But before he could even attach it to his waist, the bolstering figure emerged out of the smoke and into Jinбпs front view, he was nearly 180cm tall dded in full metallic armour and his double sided axe were cleaving through the dust, headed right towards Jinбпs body.

    Thus, the Panda Cultivator did not hesitate to grab Lynn and using the smoke screen of debris to his advantage, he quickly performed his signature fake fall that allowed him to move out of the way, avoiding the chop. What he did not expect was that the axe chop was immensely impactful that the flooring broke and created a crate right where he had been standing just a moment ago, causing more debris scatter as well as dust clouds.

    Thus, Jin attempted to avoid it by rolling further away from the impact site. But then, a few arrows started to fly towards him and he could sense them to be highly charged with magical energy. His body was attuned to all sorts of punishment from Mingбпs vigorous training, so he instinctively moved backwards. At the very same time, Jin threw Bam and Boo out, powered by his Green Panda Wind Energy, allowing it to urately counter the charged magical arrows zooming through the smoke screen.

    Lynn, on the other hand, felt like she was a parcel being thrown around in a sorting centre with Jin being the courier. Despite his rough handling of her, there were no cuts or immediate bruises on the chef. It was as if Jin was holding her like a fragile packet despite the excessive tossing.

    Thest magically charged arrow went too close forfort but Jin managed to take it down with a projectile shot of White Panda Ice Energy. At that point, Jin and Lynn were pushed to a corner and the entire group of warriors took their offensive stance while surrounding the cornered humans,

    "For a shock squad, they are rather petite." A deep grunted voice came from the very same axe warrior who had tried to cleave Jin into two.

    "Still, for the guy in that weird ck and white bear mask to deflect my arrows with some style, he isnбпt too bad." A more husky voice emerged from the side.

    "You want to take him to our liege? Perhaps he can provide more information about that fake King." A lizard shaped man spoke but Jin could only see his silhouette.

    "You are giving these humans too much credit. For them to use such a half ass shock ambush, they must havee here by ident rather than on purpose." Another murmured to his colleagues.

    "In any case, they should be punished for destroying our valuable intel." The stout guy said as he readied his axe and prepared to attack. If they were too weak then they wouldnбпt know much anyway.

    "Thatбпs fine with me." Jin thought as he ced his clenched hand near his mouth and spewed a huge breath of ck Fire towards the crowd, using his hand as funnel. Afterall, a cornered Panda could still bite.

    The ck Panda Fire Breath startled the group of Tyr Gauntlets Elites, giving Lynn a chance to calm her nerves and grasp the situation. She quickly ced her hand in one of her utility belt pockets, revealing a ck metallic dome shaped item which she stuck on the wall. (Which actually looked like a bowl.) The ck metallic dome was imbued with a high grade "Melt" inscription which caused the wall to disintegrate slowly, unveiling a path for Jin and Lynn to escape from.

    "We can move out now!" Lynn spoke through the System Channel. Both of them quickly went into the other room and Jin sealed the hole with a barrier of White Ice. It was perfect timing since the armoured demon with the axe was pushing through despite the mes. He was blocking to keep his face intact but Jinбпs ck mes were not just a st of heat.

    Damage over Time.

    Each second the Armoured Demon blocked the attack, the multiplying effect of the ck mes were doubled and the Armoured Demon felt the heat searing through his ted armour. Jin believed that the only way for the Demon to stop taking damage was to stop the source itself. Plus the continuous me itself was a source of distraction to prevent the rest froming near. With the heat going up to more than 300 degrees Celsius, the other Tyr Elites kept their distance until the opponent was weary.

    However, the sudden fall of the ice barriers stopped them dead in their tracks with the exception of the Armoured Demon being encased halfway into the ice barrier. He could clearly see that they were not cornered anymore and ran out of the room.

    As he tried to utilise his brute force to unshackle himself from the ice barrier, Jin sent another few sharp blocks of White Ice right into his face, piercing through his skull and into his body. The ice continued to freeze his warm innards until they became a b of ice mixed with mere bones and meat.

    "Sorry, but Iбпm not some naive anime protagonist that gives my enemies a chance. Iбпm not ashamed to take the kill when it presents itself." Jin mumbled to himself as he attempted to catch his breath before moving on while Lynn.

    "If you want toin, do so once youбпre under my service, after this ordeal."

 Chapter 1061 - Transposing The Elements

    <h4>Chapter 1061 - Transposing The Elements</h4>

    "How did you do that?" Lynn asked as Jin led the front, searching for an exit. Be it a staircase or a door, he just wanted to regain his bearings since the System had decided not to report anything to him ever since the fight broke out. (Courtesy of their dear Kraft who imed it would be good for Jin to be cut off, so he can simply focus on defeating the enemies. Guess it was no brainer to learn who was the culprit behind sending them directly in front of the Tyr Elites.)

    "Do what?!" Jin wondered as he could hear shouting from afar, believing that those Demons had already broken down the ice barrier.

    "That ice barrier thingy. Therge guy Demon in full te armour got heated up with your ck Fire, but then you managed to encase him in ice without any trouble." Lynn demanded to know, seemingly more concerned about Jinбпs actions than the fact that they were in the middle of enemy territory.

    Serving as a grim reminder, a patrol showed up right in front of them. Luckily Jin was already on the offensive with the momentum he had. He leaped toward the wall and dived into the pair of patrols who hade to investigate themotion, but had not been prepared from the ambush. Since the Dungeon Supplier had the high ground there was nothing they could do.

    Jinбпs Bam and Boo had turned into long daggers and Jin imbued it with ck Fire. As if it was to answer Lynnбпs question, the ck Fire enveloped the entire patrol once they got hit and shed by the daggers. Within an instant, their scorching mes and screams were silenced as a block of White Ice encased them in it.

    "I merely transpose the elements of fire into ice. This way the intensity of the fire burning can be thick ice in an instant." Jin exined, yet Lynn had troubleprehending it at all. If anything her former schooling education had taught her, it was virtually impossible to do that.

    "Erm... Iбпm sorry, but I donбпt know how else to exin it." Jin scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, before he beckoned for Lynn to continue moving. Although she still felt a bit unsatisfied with the answer, Lynn was aware enough not to make a scene and just him at ater point in time when they were not being pursued.

    "The System could give a possible exnation but it might furtherplicate your understanding." The System directly spoke to Lynn. "Userбпs ability to cast magic is based on both his chi and mana circuits. Aside from that, his cultivation of the Neen Lazy Astral Panda has him interchange the elements with the help of those panda silhouettes that he cultivates."

    "You mean those pandas in that style are actually meant for more than just serving as a disy of his strength?!" Lynn was shocked to learn something new about Jinбпs cultivation.

    "While it is not conclusive evidence, given that the pandas donбпt appear unless User utilises the Panda Energies, it could be because User has not reached sufficient grade for them to appear and assist him." The System stated and Lynn took it as gospel truth since it was the System that bestowed the cultivation of the Astral Pandas to Jin.

    As she was contemting, a loud explosion was heard right behind her, followed by many more. It was only through the side of her eye that she saw the very same magical arrows flying towards them again. If not for the change in direction by quickly entering a hallway to the left side of the station, the two of them could have been blown to pieces. (Although that would be Lynn underestimating Jin.)

    "They managed to chase behind us this quickly?" Jin thought to himself as he grabbed Lynnбпs hand, channeling Green Panda Wind Energy through her entire body, allowing her to feel his Maqi pulsating through her veins. She instantly felt lighter and her steps were fleeting through the corridor.

    "Letбпs go up." Jin said as he figured if they were against the Tyr Elites, they might as well finish the fight with their Shadow King.

    "You sure it is a good idea? Shouldnбпt we clear hisckeys first before entering a fight against the big boss?" Lynn expressed her concerns as her heart was racing wildly.

    She herself was unsure if it was because this was the first time she was in an uing intensive fight with just Jin alone or whether she was just genuinely concerned about being able to put up a good first deep impression in Jinбпs mind.

    "Does the order matter, as long as we win? That is the most important part of this particr showcase, right?" Jin smirked as he continued to hold on to Lynnбпs hand as they went up the stairs. If anything, the couple noticed that what they were climbing seemed like a tower of endless stairs. However, because of this particr feature, Jin was able to narrow down which part of the Petal District he was in.

    The Petal lighthouse.

    Having an elusive cove to themselves, the demons in Petal District had erected a lighthouse to handle any possible derelict sh.i.p.sing from their side. As odd as it might sound, Demopolis City was created akin to a penins because of its capability to do just that.

    There was not much exnation why it was shaped in such a way in the Dungeon Coreбпs records but it did bolster the strength of their navy forces and also allowed them to connect to other Dungeon Cities easily. This gave them ess to the resources of Dungeon Worldбпs oceans and provided a form of natural defence.

    But as Jin and Lynn climbed up the spiraling stairs of the Petal lighthouse, they could also see their pursuers rushing up to them in full force. Not only did more magical arrowse flying their way, there was a shadow silhouette which Lynn managed to sense while Jin was busy fending off the arrows. (Mainly due to her enhanced senses from cooking, she was able to pick up more minute changes in the surroundings without information overload.)

    Like what she did previously, she stuck a metal rice bowl on the wall but instead of the inscription бпMeltбп, it was бпSimmerбп. This particr inscription acted as a Trap Activation type of spell.

    "Activate!" Lynn ordered as she continued to be dragged up the stairs by Jin.

 Chapter 1062 - Lynns Debut - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1062 - Lynn''s Debut - Part 1</h4>

    At the same time as Lynn said the trigger word, the metal bowl that she attached on the wall immediately activated and a gush of hot steam spewed out from it, causing the shadow silhouette to scream. Furthermore the shadowy figure was ejected from the wall and everyone could see the demon lizardman now reeling in pain on the floor.

    "Aww, damn! Thatбпs a job well done!" Jin made a mental note to praise Lynn some more when after the mission was over. For now the Dungeon Supplier decided to stop moving. There was still quite a long way to go until they reached the top and it was uncertain whether they could make it before the pursuers would have caught up to them anyways.

    As such, it seemed a wiser choice to deal with them here and now. The spiraling stairs were wide enough for a proper showdown and they might have a chance to take the elites out.

    Jin would have prefered to conserve his energy and at least have a proper talk with the Shadow King to propose a one on one fight. This way, he could get the Tyr Elites to stand down in the best case scenario. However, he knew too little about the Shadow King to predict whether he would entertain his request.(Or Kraft knew too much and was not telling him anything.) There was really no reason for the Shadow King not to team up with his elites and bully them with numbers. And seeing how they were so insistent in bringing Jin and Lynn down before reaching the Shadow King it could mean several things.

    Perhaps their heads equalled an additional reward? Was their Shadow King particrly merciless towards his subordinatesбп failures? Regardless, their persistence changed Jinбпs mind to end their lives here. Surprisingly, Lynn merely needed a nce to be able to guess what was going through in Jinбпs mind.

    "Boss, you go ahead. Let me and my Peggies handle this. If everything goes well, Iбпll bring some reinforcements to your showdown." Lynn shouted as she took her sword out in a defensive stance position. Jin hesitated for only a moment. Hadnбпt Lynne here voluntarily to assist him? The dungeon supplier might not be as much a tactical genius as Qiu Yue, but even he understood the strategic value of her decision to upy them, while he would proceed on ahead. Most importantly, staying here would only mean that he could not trust her enough...

    "I leave it to you then. My only order for you as your boss is to stay alive no matter what it takes! Screw the Systemбпs trial if necessary!" Jin insisted, as he didnбпt know whether real death was applicable to them the same way it was to him.

    "Donбпt worry about it." Lynn smiled as she stared at the iing Tyr Elites. "I will make sure they do not survive my type of hell."

    Jin nodded his head and continued climbing the stairs without turning his back nor his head. He emptied his mind and forced himself not to turn around, no matter what he might hear from the fight.

    Lynn survived the initial barrage of arrows that came raining on her. But when the archer thought he had a direct hit, he discovered that there was a metal sheet protecting the little girl. That metal sheet was actually a big wide ck wok which had slowly transformed back to the sword that Lynn was holding previously.

    "As expected from the Queen of Food." Kraft chuckled at the absurdity of the sword transforming into a kitchen equipment. Its utility was strikingly simr to Jinбпs Bam and Boo but catered to Lynnбпs way of cultivation.

    "Iбпm quite interested in her variety of equipment. That metal bowl inscription was indeed a sight to behold." Molochmented as he had never seen such a cultivation yet.

    "She probably has an endless assortment of knives to use as projectiles." Nubwort added as a casual spection and everyone in the War Roomughed... until she brought them out.

    Using her sword as a wand (Or maybe it was a spat upon closer inspection), it looked as if she made a cut in the fabric of time and space. Reaching into that dimensional tear, she grabbed on to something.

    The Archer who noticed that she was not dead continued to rain down more arrows from his position as his fellow teammates continued climbing the wide spiralling stairs. "No matter what you pull out, thereбпs nothing that can stop this next shot!" The Archer yelled as if his warning should be taken seriously by his opponent.

    Meanwhile, Lynn used her might to pull the handles that she was grabbing on to and the entire tower shook momentarily as the dimensional tear revealed an enormous metal grey cupboard on wheels. It had multiple cabs but other than its square-like features and its size, there was nothing else impressive about it on first nce.

    The archer initially thought there was a huge threat from that magical move Lynn was doing but felt cheated as if she deceived him. Thus, he continued by nocking his bow and started to chant demonic words to enhance the offensive capability of the next arrow he was about to set loose.

    бпHellбпs Hook.бп

    Or so he had dubbed upon using it on several of his arch enemies in the past. The arrow started to absorb the surrounding magic in the air and multiple arrows subsequently emerged right beside it, mimicking the direction where the arrow was to be shot. These arrows were supercharged to the extent that it could prate high tier protection spells. The Tyr Elite Archer was banging on the opportunity to finish Lynn off before his otherrades got to her, and acquiring the kill for himself.

    Jin had been right on the money with his theory that they would get rewarded for killing them. Simrly to his way of assigning points to each demon, their Mafias had started assigning bounties on his бпsoldiersбп. Every head they brought to their respective Mafia Kings would earn them a sufficient amount of coin.

    "You are going to be mine. That weird cupboard of yours wonбпt be protecting you from any of my shots." The Archer imed as he licked his lips but when he was about to let the string off, he noticed something strange emerging from the cold metal looking cupboard. The cupboard instantly opened wide from all sides with their covers dropping to the ground.

    All the cabs revealed knives of various sizes and des usually used for specific purposes in the kitchen were shining so brightly right in their holders within the cab. From cheap iron to bloody expensive adamantine, the knives still had their price tags on, indicating that Lynn had not used them yet.

    "You seem to be mistaking, youбпre MINE." Lynn smirked as she mmed the cupboard, causing all the knives...

    To drop.

 Chapter 1063 - Lynns Debut - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1063 - Lynn''s Debut - Part 2</h4>

    Everyone in front of Lynn heard the knives drop to the ground like coins deliberately being thrown to the ground. Despite being the one furthest from her, the Tyr Elite Archer, received a big scare for a moment as he had suspected it to be a big attack.

    However, his momentary moment of relief was indeed fleeting.

    The knives started to tremble once they all hit the ground, vibrating so violently that the sounds of the hundred knives could be mistaken for a swarm of crickets gathering for the mating season. The Elite Archer had a bad premonition that this was the only chance to defeat the human soldier before she was able to get her attack spell up and running.

    "Release! Hellбпs Hook!" The Archer yelled to unsettle his opponent while also giving his teammates a sign to take cover. As he released his main arrow, the rest of the duplicate arrows hovering beside it started flying in a non-sequential pattern. They were not going straight to the target, yet they also were not flying out of sync, swirling around in mid-air as if he had not aimed properly.

    However, Lynn had seen a variety of skills and attacks in the dungeon store. Additionally, Luo Bo, the Pandawan who specialised in Bows, had been a patron of her cuisine. In exchange for food, or rather to express the Rabbitбпs deepest gratitude for Lynnбпs impressive cooking, she would sometimes share a tidbit or two on her ranged fighting style.

    And the situation they were in was precisely one of the topics they had discussed before.

    "If an archer barely misses once, twice and three times over, you can be sure that he was testing you as you manage to evade his attack only by the breadth of your hair. Such attacks were calcted instead of a series of flukes. Thus, any fancy things or methods he usester on, does not matter and should not be taken into consideration. The only thing you have to note is that he is out there to confuse you. To make you think that you might have a chance of being out alive after all that dangerous close runs you had with him." Luo Bo had lectured Lynn which resonated with her right at this moment.

    With a bit of help from the Sub System working furiously behind her half masked visor, she saw first hand that it was somewhat true. While it was a far shot prediction because of the messiness in the arrowsбп trajectory, the System had assumed that the majority of the arrows were going to miss with the exception of four of theming towards her with full force.

    That was sufficient information for her to perform her counter attack. As Lynn put her sword up ready to transform to the wide ck wok once again, the knives had charged up sufficiently, by simrly absorbing the surrounding magic aura emitted from the bottom of the cupboard. Like the Archer, Lynn had decided to y his own game against him. The metal cupboard itself was not only a container for the knives, but also a magical battery charger, created by using the principals Ayse had used to control Peppersбп magic.

    Only instead of collecting Peppersбп excessive magic, this was doing the reverse by transferring magic into the items within the cupboard. However, it could also be used as a healing station or at this particr moment, a charging station for Lynnбпs weapons.

    With her Perfectible Penguin Ruling the Kitchen Hell Cultivation Style, she had an affinity with those kitchen knives that she had bought on sale in the ck market. Afterwards, she had added an engravement to indicate that she owned the knives before using it to establish a link between herself and the knife. The connection itself was weak, given just how many knives there were, not to mention that she had hardly ever used them (... well used since they still had their price tags on!), yet it was sufficient for Lynn to perform her own trick against this group of Tyr Elites.

    As the arrows were nearing her, Lynn did not waste any time in protecting herself by kneeling and using the staircase and the cupboard as cover. At the same time, she used her Sub System to control the knives and with a one simple wordmand, a couple of those knives started to pick their бпtargetsбп and their interception.

    However, from the Elite Archerбпs perspective, he was sure that he would have a sure kill. Hellбпs Hook, as the name suggested, meant that one of the arrows was bound to hit, the rest merely serving as a form of distraction. Normally, those who saw the hail of arrowsing towards them, would try to run for cover and those secondary arrows which were moving erratically would then target the heat source and chase after it.

    This was how no one had ever escaped his signature attack. Thus, the Archer quietly apuded the female soldierбпs bravery for standing her ground as those secondary arrows would not have a chance to be activated and could only hope they hit the target close enough. Yet, he was confident that the main arrows were sufficient in destroying her shield barrier and killing her directly.

    *KABOOM* *KABOOM* *KABOOM*

    The rest of the Tyr Elites knew the strength of theirradeбпs offensive range attacks and held on to the walls of the lighthouse as support as smoke dissipated around the target. "Tsk, all that woman did was tough talk. In the end, that cupboard full of knives merely drops to the ground without any particr effect. Hahaha-" The Archerughed momentarily until he realised something was not right.

    As he looked down, he discovered a knife right in the middle of his abdomen which he had not noticed before. Then suddenly, his back felt heavy and when he tried to look to the back, he could feel the pain starting to emanate from behind him. The knives were so sharp that it merely slipped through his chainmail armour and stabbed him from the back without any breakage.

    That was when he understood that the femalemando was not kidding at all. Despite his enhanced perceptiveness, he had only noticed the multiple stab wounds that he had when it was far toote, causing him to fall to the ground bleeding without any possible aid from their teamбпs healer which was with the main group chasing after Lynn.

    "No way... What kind of cheat is that?" His words were silent as his lungs ceased to function.

    And speaking of the main group, they too had been assaulted during the multiple explosions of the Elite Archerбпs Hell Hook. Lynnбпs knife attack had taken out one of their more perceptive team mates, especially the Demon Lizardman who had been injured from the initial simmer inscription attack. Nevertheless, thanks to his quick wittedness, he enveloped the rest of his team into the depth of his own shadow, protecting them from the rain of knives that were nowhere in sight when they took cover.

    "Arthur!" The Healer of the Tyr Elites shouted in agony as she grabbed hold of the falling lizardman when his shadow protection had dissipated. Behind the Demon Lizardmanбпs back were a chockfull of knives.

    "Take care of yourself. Donбпt die until Ie back." The Demon Lizardman smiled as he took in hisst breath.

 Chapter 1064 - Lynns Debut - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1064 - Lynn''s Debut - Part 3</h4>

    Lynn was panting heavily, giddy from the multiple explosions that happened right around her. Her ears were ringing so extensively that she needed some time to adjust her bearings.

    Still, she had survived the Elite Archerбпs attack.

    On the other hand, the Elite Archer and Demon Lizardman had already passed on from the scene. The rest of the Tyr Elites were still reeling in from Lynnбпs sudden counter attack. They did not understand how she had managed to do it except for the ones who were secretly watching her.

    "Did anyone of you know that our Lynn could send magically charged vibrating knives through multiple dimensional tears?" Pei was astounded by the Cookбпs feat. The System was nice enough to y back her attack for those who might have missed it around the war table, even using different angles to highlight her as if she had just scored a goal.

    Watching it in slow motion, it was easily discernible how the knives had travelled through more one dimensional tears in split seconds, leaving the victims barely any time to react. The only drawback was that the charged knives required more than just mere magic but coordination from her Sub System too.

    Were it not for the valiant self-sacrifice of the Demon Lizardman, she could have annihted the rest of the group in an instant. They all understood that terrified consequence they had barely avoided, unaware that this particr attack had been a sort of trump card for Lynn. If they were to continue battling with her, the Tyr Elites would have quickly realised that her attack was basically like that of a ss cannon with little battle experience.

    Nevertheless, at the end of the day, there were no бпwhat-ifsбп on the battlefield and only one side coulde out victorious. One could even say that luck was also a part of the equation. Lucky for her, the scale of damage as well as the strange magical abilities she had disyed, made them extremely wary of her and took her seriously now.

    The Healer tried to save the Lizardman, not wishing to ept the reality that he could have been killed so easily from one attack. However, the Elite Lancer and Swordsman shouted at her to get a grip of herself.

    "Jigar, protect her!" The Elite Swordsman ordered the remaining member, a martial artist to keep their Healer protected, as he raised his shield and proceeded to move forward without any hesitation.

    "Donбпt bullshit me! You saw how she could have wiped our entire group easily and you want to go with just the few of us?" Jigar the Monk shouted back but there was no response from the swordsman.

    "All the more you should understand why I am asking you to stay back." The swordsman smiled bitterly as he called upon hisncerpanion to follow him upwards.

    "Shit... I can hear footstepsing up." Lynn cursed as she struggled to pull her wok shield up to the level of her chest. She had avoided showing herself, to recuperate as much as she could. She returned the shield to its original shape but the sword felt very heavy in her exhausted state.

    "Kido, your debut." Lynn was convinced that taking on the rest would be impossible for her. There was no reason to try and y the hero, so it was time for her personal bodyguard to protect the Ninja Queen.

    s, a certain fox would beg to differ.

    "I stopped your bodyguard from appearing." Kraft informed her through the System Channel. "You are better than this Lynn. Youбпve volunteered to help Jinplete this mission! I can see that thisst attack took its toll on you, but I know you can push yourself to do more! These few scalps were nothingpared to the diligence in your training. Have you worked this hard just so that Kido could take all the credit away from you?"

    "In my defence, I am not-" Kido tried to reply in the System Channel but before he could finish his sentence his connection got cut off. It was apparent that Kraft had only allowed him enough time to make it clear that he was the бпbad guyбп behind this decision.. Lynn chuckled and nodded her head quietly.

    "I know, Kido. I know." She replied softly and lifted the sword, assuming a battle stance that only the cultivators of the Perfectible Penguin in the Kitchen Hell could possess. She held her sword up and it slowly transformed into a chopper. Lynn stood up straight and had her eyes closed while she straightened her breathing cycle to a certain rhythm despite the fatigue in her muscles.

    The Swordsman and Lancer thought this was the best opportunity to attack since her stance had way too many openings for the duo to exploit. They were not those noisy cultivators who will shout as they charge but rather thinking of ways to counter Lynn and achieve the killing blow. But as the duo of Tyr Elites entered Lynnбпs range, it instantly activated her next trump card.

    Kitchen Zone.

    Any intruder in this particr zone would be treated by the Penguin Cultivator not as enemies... but as ingredients to be cut! Simr to dealing with a live animal, struggling for its life before the ughter for the meal, Lynn was about to skin the two Tyr Elites as such.

    The Swordsman went for the first blow, by trying to m his shield against Lynn, just as how Bin Yong performed his shield charge to stun his enemy before attacking them. This gave the Swordsman some blocking capability but its main purpose was for the enemy to redirect themselves away from the shield. By forcing the enemy to move back or to the side, the Tyr Swordsman would follow up to deal with her.

    However, Lynn continued to stay still, with her chopper raised up high, on a 45 degree angle. "No way, she intends to sh head on with me?" The Tyr Swordsman did not know whether it was a foolish move or something he should fear especially after what they had just witnessed.

    "Go ze!" The Tyr Lancer shouted behind him, as if giving him assurances that he would have his support and backup from him. This boasted the Swordsmanбпs confidence as he pressed his shield charge while increasing his magical output to make sure that his shield charge would be formidable enough to knock the opponent down for a wider opening.

    But as he went close to Lynn, he suddenly noticed that his shield cracked a little even before their weapons shed. However, it was toote to move away due to his momentum and he could only watch in horror as the very same chopper Lynn had been holding effortlessly slid through his shield and towards his shoulder.

    At that point, ze had no choice but to force his body to turn to evade the attack, otherwise the chopper would head straight for his neck. The sudden turn caused the shield to be carved into two in an S shape, splitting it into two as he evaded to the side.

    Yet that was not the end as the Lancer pushed forward, about to learn the capability of Lynnбпs Kitchen Zone.

 Chapter 1065 - Lynns Debut - Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1065 - Lynn''s Debut - Part 4</h4>

    Kitchen Zone was an offensive defence zone in Lynnбпs repertoire. Although the Lancerбпs pierce was fast, the rigid defensive manoeuvre has given her sufficient advantage to be able to deflect it. The only thing she regretted was choosing to evade instead of countering the attack. Due to theck of experience she had given up the chance to break the Elite Lancerбпs weapon as she had done with the Swordsman.

    ze, the Tyr Swordsman managed to pull his buddy away before the cook could rectify her mistake. Only after they had both put a considerable amount of distance away from Lynn, did they realise that she was not pursuing them or pressed for the next attack. This made ze believe that there was some limitation to the unbelievable chopping power she had presented just now.

    Since theycked more ranged options now that the Elite Archer had been killed, ze gathered some of his magical powers to project a charged sh towards Lynn, to check whether she would evade it or cut the magical projectile away.

    "Ten Dungeon Dors say she can cut it down in an instant. " The Elite Lancer chuckled quickly as he felt ze was being foolish to even try something so mediocre.

    "Youбпre on, Rai. I bet that she has to evade. You never know what kind of weakness someoneбпs technique could be hiding. Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of trial and error to see the effect." ze replied as he shot out magical sh and as the projectile broke the stairs as it travelled upwards towards Lynn.

    However, Rai turned out to be right.

    "Hah, told you so. Please deduct ten bucks from the debt I owe you." The Elite Lancer said as he was smiling wildly that he was correct with a бпsuck it upбп expression.

    "Whatever, itбпs not like such a deduction will make a dent in the amount you owe me." zeined as they both could clearly see how Lynn had cleanly cut the impending magical sh into two, avoiding herpletely and damaging the Petal lighthouse walls behind her instead.

    "So, you guys are not going to give it another go now that you know she is nigh unkible?" Jigar, the Monk, came forward alongside the Elite Healer.

    "Well, now we know why they only sent two humanmandos to fight against us. This human woman who does not have the features of a defender is still able to block our entire team right here and now. Not to mention killing two of our best attackers." ze said as he checked his left arm. (In total three, if they counted Jinбпs kill of their warrior.) He could have thrown away the broken shield he was carrying as part of his manliness behaviour but on second thought, any distraction against the female human would be better than nothing.

    "And someoneughed along the corridors saying their royal employer had made a huge mistake sending only two humans down to Petal District." Rai rolled his eyes while continuing to keep a distance away from Lynn.

    Like every hard hitting skill, they believed that there would be a sort of cooldown or at least apse in her concentration. Should Lynn try to provoke them toe nearer, it would confirm their theory. But as of right now, she was not moving an inch away and the Tyr Elites were befuddled how to deal with such an obstacle, forcing the entire situation into a standstill.

    "Rai, wait till you let our own cook see what this soldier could do and probably you might not goining how awfully boring those food selections are for yourselves. Else he might learn a trick or two from our enemy and use it especially against you." The Healermented randomly upon seeing how they could not make any move and hoped to lighten the mood a little despite the grim scenario they were in. They were the elites and yet these humanmandos had managed to pin them down. It felt like a disgrace to the positions bestowed by their Shadow King. At that moment, Rai bared his teeth in front of the female healer for herments.

    "Stop it Rai, if you had not been so mean to our kitchen staff, perhaps Adora would not be snapping at you right now." ze said as he continued to stay watch on any movements Lynn could make.

    "You think she can stillmand those knives?" Rai queried, hoping to divert their attention away from the current subject and Jigar shook his head in response.

    "If she could, they would have long since been embedded into our backs, especially now when we are vulnerable. Looks like our defensive opponent has some limitations too." Jigar answered.

    "Good thing for us. Otherwise, she would be the perfect murder machine.. Makes you wonder why such a talented being would work for the crown. With her talents she can easily find money anywhere." Raimented as he checked his armoured boots, while preparing his body for a skill which he had not used in ages.

    After all, this standstill was way too much of a hassle for them. It was their job to protect the Tyr Gauntlets Shadow King even though they had no doubt he was more than capable to defeat that lone soldier that ran up the stairs.

    Yet, seeing how the female defender was still keeping them at bay, it would be foolish to assume that the male masked soldier wouldnбпt be equally if not more battle hardened than her.

    Meanwhile, Lynn remained in her stance. Unlike other times where she would have tried to run or at least attack, all she needed to do at the moment was to buy as much time as possible for Jin. She knew that he would be back eventually, but deep inside, Lynn wanted to clear this obstacle on her own and join him in his fight, instead of waiting for him to rescue her.

    Unfortunately, she was experiencing just how difficult it was to do that without any backup from Kido or the other Peggies. And from the looks of it, they were about to go in for the next attack soon. She rxed her stiff shoulders as maintaining the Kitchen Zone was not easy as it seemed to be. If she were to handle two or more attackers at once she would probably have to take a hit or two before able to hunt one down.

    "Alright, alright, that much should suffice." Kraft suddenly informed her via the System channel. "Rex insists that making you fight on your own any longer would just be bullying, so here, enjoy your penguin knight... well erm...penguin ninja."

    "My Queen, I am at your service once more! I await your call." Kido eagerly called out to her and behind him resonated the sounds of dozens of penguins.

    "Now hurry up and call them over. I had enough of your Peggies death re for one day." Kraft added while shrugging his shoulders in the War Room. "Besides, itбпs getting boring now that those Tyr Elites are ying the waiting game. So, go forth Chef! Grab your victory! Also while youбпre at it, try to make it into a more entertaining show than on Jinбпs side."

 Chapter 1066 - Lynns Debut - Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1066 - Lynn''s Debut - Part 5</h4>

    Now that they knew that the half masked Penguin Cultivator did not have any means to attack them from a distance, Rai, the Lancer Elite, had decided to try his luck with a special attack that he had been honing for some time.

    The rest of his party understood his intentions when he took a few steps back. ze even decided to help him out by trying to distract Lynn to raise the chances of Raiбпs attack seeding. In essence, their opponent had the capability to stop any attack and had even already proven that she could stop a few sessive attacks at once.

    But they had seen how the ability worked and the possible limitations of it. While it might seem dangerous, they had to experiment in order to defeat this enemy. As of right now, they had tried follow-up attacks and ranged attacks, and had noticed that Lynn had not taken a single step from her spot.

    It was possible that her technique required her to stay in one particr spot without much movement. If she strayed from that spot, her stance might be off and she would then hopefully be as vulnerable as any other enemies they had encountered before.

    So, in order to force the Penguin Cultivator to move, Rai had decided to use his technique. It was not a very conducive area for performing it given that the name of his technique was Skyshatterer (Despite ze and the others calling it the Skyshitter because of the number of failures they had seen him fail (and fall) when practicing it.)

    As the name suggested, Rai needed sufficient space to soar to the sky ande diving down to hit an enemy. Considering that Lynn wasnбпt going anywhere, he would have a stationary target, making it be easy for him to focus all his magical energy into one giant attack. (Not like he had ever been blessed with a lot of it.)

    Still, he was slightly afraid that his attack would be nullified when heбпde into contact with Lynnбпs terrifying chopper and get chopped into two. In that case, the Elite Healer Adora, who was also their supporter would try her best to supplement them.

    She had already conjured a wind boost magic which would greatly increase Raiбпs velocity for a more impactfulnding.

    Elite Monk Jigar also tried to prepare himself, but ze stopped him. "Donбпt. We need you to protect Adora as much as possible. I have a feeling this isnбпt the end of her capabilities. There is no way someone with such a powerful ability wouldnбпt have thought of a way to cover such an obvious weakness. This might all be a trap to lure us in and take us out at once. In the event we are injured, we still can at least fall back for some healing." zeбпs perceptivement was the only thing that held back Jigar from going against hismand.

    But ze was indeed risking it all along with Rai to ensure that they could at least stop this person. That way, they could at least be sure that their Shadow King would have one less opponent to worry about if they seeded. Also, if they were killed in the sh with the female human soldier, the healer would still be avable for the fight they anticipated between their King and Jin.

    "Here I go!" Rai said as he started to climb at the edge of the stairs and jumped high up. Thankfully there were no obstacles in the middle of the lighthouse, and its hollowness gave Rai the sufficient space to jump. However, it was still rather difficult for him to make a proper jump because of the design of the stairs and location of where Lynn was standing.

    He noticed that she had finally returned her chopper back into the wok, meaning that she had sensed that he was going all out for the attack, especially when her attention was locked onto him regardless how ze tried to regain it with more magical shes.

    The wok allowed her to ignore zeбпs attacks rather easily, since she was blocking them with Kitchen Zone activated. Yet, Rai believed he still had a chance, as he soared up high and adjusted himself when he reached the required height for the Skyshattererбпs dive.

    "You got this!" Rai amped himself up and pointed his spear downwards, going for the dive. His spear was gleaming with so much magical energy that it looked like petals from a rainbow-coloured flower descending towards Lynn. The wind magic from Adora boosted the speed of his dive even further, causing winds to blow erratically when he made his dive.

    At that point ze also moved forth with his sword charged with all the mana he could bring out and performed a shrge enough to bring a cottage house down. To a bystander, there was no way Lynn could seed in defending against the two pronged attack by herself. And even if she moved away, the coteral impact from the two attacks would definitely knock her out of the lighthouse. (The hole between the walls that ze made from his deflected magical shes was rather inviting.)

    The sh mmed into Lynn and not a secondter, Raiбпs Skyshatterer followed through. As usual, dust ensued from the explosion and the sound was rather deafening but Rai was not a single bit confident when hended.

    "F.u.c.k..." Rai cursed as he felt the very same chopper he had seen go through his chest armour. However, at the same time, he was sure that he had hit the wok. "Unless she had transmuted the very same chopper, itбпs not impossible-" Rai then felt another sh through his chestte. When the dust settled, he finally understood that they had indeed belittled Lynn.

    "My Queen, are you unhurt?" Kido asked as he lifted the choppers out of Raiбпs corpse and kicked him away. Hisnce was stuck in the Wok Shield, as Lynn coughed a little and held onto her damaged shield for stability.

    "Iбпm fine." Lynn answered as she looked at Kido, who was jumping onto her shoulder after making sure that he had assassinated Rai properly. The scene was brutal as he chopped his head off cleanly and kicked it into the depths of the lighthouse. It did not take long for the rest of the Tyr Elites to be roused by such a provocation. "Letбпs clear this mess and assist Jin as fast as possible."

    "Donбпt worry about him. Take care of yourself first. Have a short rest before moving." Kido advised as he climbed down and lifted his chopper up against ze and the rest of the party, searing with unkempt anger.

 Chapter 1067 - Lynns Debut -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1067 - Lynn''s Debut -Final</h4>

    While this wasnбпt the first they had witnessed the death of one of their party members, this time was unforgivable as the the penguin had kicked their party memberбпs head off the stairs, as a clear sign to provoke them.

    Jigar could not care anymore about orders of restraint. He instantly dashed towards Kido with the intention of grabbing that penguin and smashing his body until his innards appeared.

    However, before he could even make a proper sprint, he felt his legs being restrained by a tight rope, causing him to fall and injure his hands as he hit the edge of the staircase. Then the party realised that they were being surrounded by more penguins, each armed with dual choppers.

    "More killer penguins?" ze chuckled as if it was some bad joke and felt that this was a losing battle no matter how their party struggled.

    Adora on the other hand, raised her staff and magic started to .u.mte rapidly through it. She might be just a support healer, but she was still a part of the Elites from Tyr Gauntlets, so she knew how to handle her portion of trouble.

    "Goddess of the Afterlife, I plead you. You are the light and dark. The beauty beyond the disaster. Grant your beloved children another chance and guide them to your light! Resurrection!" Adora shouted, sping her staff even harder as she remembered the faces of those who were killed. "I am your shepherd. Come back to me for those who were lost!"

    Adora shouted as a massive amount of energy was whirling around her staff and the Peggies understood that if she was to seed, they might have a lot of trouble handling them. ze also believed this was the only chance they might stand to fight against this Penguin Queen and herckeys, but the spell itself required time to activate.

    It took some time to find the lost souls in the swirling abyss of the Dungeon World бпafterlifeбп ne and the bodies needed to be reconstructed again with the surrounding magic. That was why most of them were resurrected in the churches, which were ces of heavily condensed magic.

    Immediately after Adoraбпs incantation, ze mmed his sword on the ground and ced his broken shield right beside it, shouting. "Great Crusade COVER!" Two blinding shes of light emerged from him and instantly connected to Adora and Jigar. As the Killer Peggies assaulted the rest of the party, they noticed that their attacks were being blocked by the lights.

    But instead of stopping, they tried again, and this time it was with greater force, a stronger motion. Their swings were wider as they tried to cut the magical light. Only when they heard a cry far out to the side.

    Swordsman ze was tanking all the hits that the Peggies were swinging at his party members. The light shining was the barrier to protect as well as transferring the damage to the swordsman instead.

    It was a simple but efficient defensive maneuver that ze possessed and it was usually apanied with Adoraбпs healing. s, Adora already had her hands full with the resurrection procedure and ze thought that he could buy enough time for her toplete the spell before he went down. However, knowing that the light barrier had such an effect on ze, the Peggies violently smashed their choppers down repeatedly.

    ze could not tolerate the pain any further and he released a series of shouts as he held onto his sword for support. The pain subsequently became too excruciating to bear, destroying his magic buffer, making wounds appear all over his body. Seeing that ze was visibly wounded, it prompted the Killer Peggies to try even harder until the wounds started to fester and more blood oozed out from the wounds.

    "Argghhhhh!" ze gritted his teeth and continued to tremble until the Killer Peggies had decided to attack him too. While he was protected in that light barrier, the wall separating him and the choppers were dangerously thin. True enough, in a few chops, his barrier broke and the Killer Peggies were happily dipping their des into his armour and flesh.

    "Resurrection!!" Adora shouted once more and three rays of light shone through the lighthouse and soon, three figures were apparent. It was the Axe Warrior which Jin had burnt and frozen, as well as the Tyr Archer and Demon Lizardman Arthur who had been killed in battle. Suddenly, another ray of light shone in front of them and Lynn saw the very same Lancer whom Kido had killed mere minutes ago emerging from the light.

    However,despite their reappearance, the Killer Peggies ignored them and kept whacking ze and Jigar who finally managed to untie the ever tightening restraints from his legs. (The Killer Peggies had used an inscription to tighten the ropes on a regr basis.)

    "What are you guys spacing out for?!" Jigar eximed as he now went out of the light barrier and started to sh with the Peggies. With a live target that could retaliate, the Peggies were livid and many tried tond their chopper des into the monk.

    Seeing that Adora hadpleted the resurrection spell, ze released his spell and fell to the ground, helpless from the onught of attacks from the Killer Penguins. Their healer also held onto her staff, tired from the resurrection spell but herrades were not moving and the Killer Penguins merely held their choppers in their ppers.

    In a state of confusion, Adora looked at them and called out to their names. None of them responded, even Arthur who had protected her so feverently previously from the knife attack.

    Had she made a mistake with the resurrection spell by rushing it? Impossible, this was not the first time she had performed this spell. The penguins inched closer to her, now that the light barrier had dissipated in a shy st.

    "Guys?! Guys?!" Adoraбпs voice trembled further as a Killer Peggie raised its chopper and mmed it downwards. With her reflexes, she managed to block the first hit with her staff but it was subsequently broken into two. Soon after, more and more Peggies moved closer and shed their choppers into her.

    Despite her screams, Adoraбпs eyes continued to fill with dread as she saw ze get cut from a corner of her eye while Jigar was desperately trying toe to her rescue. Her other resurrectedrades were not doing a single thing to help her at all.

    "Why?" Adoraбпs face was sunken as she struggled to draw herst breath.

 Chapter 1068 - Tyr Gauntlets Shadow King -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1068 - Tyr Gauntlet''s Shadow King -Part 1</h4>

    "Gosh, that was awfully gory." Kiyumented after watching the entire scene through the eyes of the System. "Good thing, this is not being shown in the dungeon supplier store."

    "Really? I find it fairly interesting. It just proves that Lynn is someone efficient on all kinds of battlefields." Kraft replied with a satisfied smile. "Sure, it might be a bit overkill to show it to the customers, but Iбпm pretty sure the Peggies will want to watch it again with their Queenter."

    "Still... that resurrection spell... allowing her to call upon her former teammates was pure evil." Kiyumented while looking at the crafty fox.

    "What should I say? Lynn gave me a private call via the System Channel to ask if the resurrection would really go through. I told her that it was up to her and gave her some options. She was the one to allow the healer to have her wish." Kraft shrugged his shoulders happily, implying that he was merely following the instructions of the Sub System User.

    "What exactly did you tell her?" Pei queried, but she could roughly figure what the options must have been.

    "For one, there was the more obvious option of just letting the resurrection spell fail, but that would have been pretty boring. Instead, the System didnбпt fight the call for resurrection and allowed her to resurrect those four Tyr Elites by using her own magical energy, thus saving on our resources. After that point, it was basically whether she wanted to supersede the Systemбпs powers and cause the Tyr Elites to side with herself or the dying Elites for a more interesting match."

    Ultimately, she ordered them to just remain still, while the remaining party members put up a fight, thinking it would be ast stand. The quiet betrayal was more deadly in her opinion and... well, the results speak for themselves." Kraft exined and nodded his head with glee.

    "That despair they felt, especially the healer seems rather heavy....but I like it." Kiyu gave her a thumbs up and Pei shook her head, but did not deny that as well.

    "I think we should let this group stay with Lynn. They will undoubtedly be an excellent team of bodyguards in the future." Kraft suggested and the System agreed to it readily.

    "Doesnбпt she have enough with her Peggies? You saw how her Killer Peggies wiped the entire floor, or, erm... staircase with those elites. And isnбпt it twisted for them to die andter serve under the person who killed them?" Qiu Yue felt a bit jealous that such an entourage was just bestowed upon Lynn.

    "Nah, itбпs more like this was the first time she put a lot of effort into killing others to help Jin. In a way, itбпs her actual debut kill, so we should reward her as such. As for that emotion of guilt, those people wonбпt remember much or even at all once they were deployed to their new Queen. But eventually, it would be up to Lynn whether she wants to ept the entourage." Kiyu replied and went towards Qiu Yue to cheer her up. "Donбпt worry, you will get yours too. In the meantime, you could always ask Kraft nicely for some Night Foxes. I am sure he will part some of his toys for you to y."

    "No, what I meant is that... this supposed to be Jin deciding?" Qiu Yue wanted to give an excuse.

    "Well, he said it was okay." Kraft smiled as he yback the System Channelбпsmunication between him and their master. "As if I would do anything without his permission."

    "Surely, you jest." Qiu Yue rolled her eyes at these tant lies and returned to watching the live War Room Hologram that was running in the background on their grand table.

    Back at the Petal Lighthouse, Jin had reached the top floor and there was only one door separating him from his target...

    However, instead of drawing his sword, Jin used one of the cosmetic inscriptions he had stored to change into a formal business suit. As he walked into the room, Tyr Gauntletsбп Shadow King didnбпt even acknowledge his presence. The Demon remained sitting behind his desk, checking doc.u.ments and other misceneous administrative work.

    "So, you and your fellowrades are the ones who have been destroying my precious lighthouse?" For a moment the one behind the desk looked up with his eyes staring at him intently, After sizing Jin up from top to bottom, he returned burying his attention in the paperwork he was holding to.

    "Weбпre willing topensate you appropriately as long as our interests happen to align. Mind if I have a seat?" Jin asked as he pulled his Panda Mask out and the Shadow King nodded his head upwards as if telling Jin to do as he pleased.

    "So what are you proposing?" The Shadow King questioned as he ced his paperwork down after putting his signature on the doc.u.ment.

    "No proper greetings?" Jin queried since he did not know the Shadow King but heid back on his chair.

    "Just get to the point." The Shadow King answered, clearly not wishing to waste a moment of his time on something as unnecessary as бпproper etiquetteбп. He believed he was already kind and tolerable enough to even entertain Jin.

    "Very well. Do you honestly believe that this is our intent? To root out all Mafia factions because our King believes in justice?" Jin queried and that made Shadow King stop his paperwork for a moment as he sighed. He took off his pair of spectacles and ced his hands on the table.

    "No. You would be foolish to believe you could ever truly wipe us out, no matter how hard you try." The Shadow King remarked with a stern voice. "You are wasting my time, either get out of my face right now or take me out."

    "I agree with that statement, so I will do neither if the situation allows. Instead, I want to offer you an alternative." Jin pulled out a stack of doc.u.ments. "This is what King Rex proposes."

    The Shadow King did not pick up the doc.u.ment and instead, he brushed it aside and continued with his own paperwork.

    "What if I tell you there is a bigger picture to all of this?" Jin asked but once again, there was no response from him.

    Jin sighed, knowing that the onlynguages that these people would talk were Violence and Money. While this entire fiasco was because Kraft wanted Jin to show off and Jin was itching towards the first option, the Astral Panda Cultivator felt he should conserve his strength whenever possible. Thus, he pulled out a suitcase from his storage ring and unlocked it right in front of the Shadow King.

    The piles of dungeon cash neatly ced side by side did cause the Shadow King to bat an eyelid towards Jin. "Not enough?" Jin immediately pulled another suitcase out and this time that particr suitcase was filled with cash of a higher denomination.

    "You honestly think that will interest me?" The Shadow King remarked as closed the two suitcases and he pulled his chair backwards. Jin could feel the aura within the Shadow King raising and burning brightly.

    "Well, why didnбпt you start with that?!" The Shadow King raised his hand out even without giving any consideration on the deal that they were about to close.

 Chapter 1069 - Tyrs Gauntlet Shadow King -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1069 - Tyr''s Gauntlet Shadow King -Part 2</h4>

    Standing about 180cm metres tall, the Shadow King was a Red Tiefling with a trimmed beard, and a peculiar tattoo right beside his right eye. From far, it looked like a turned around cross, but upon closer inspection Jin saw that it was the hands of a clock that made the cross.

    The Shadow King continued to smile as he unreservedly asked Jin to sit down, before going over to the cab and taking out a ck bottle of wine. However, after some consideration for his guest, he put back the ss bottle and went for a silver one.

    Jin, on the other hand, was surprised that the Shadow King became this amicable upon the allure of money, yet decided to follow the current development to see where it was going.

    In the meantime, Kraft wasining that this was not the climactic battle they had been waiting for, whereas Rexplimented Jin for using his head. Still, he was also a bit disappointed that there would be no fight between the Shadow King. Eventually, everyone returned to their respective tasks within the War Room and Kraft began to yawn loudly, switching the channel back to Lynn.

    "Nameбпs Neil." The Shadow King introduced himself as he poured a drink of a somewhat watered-down version of their Demonбпs liquor. Jin squinted his eyes as he saw the liquor changing colours the moment he ced some ice in. He thanked Neil and took a sip.

    The vours were explosive and it was certainly unexpected. At first, it tasted like ice lemon tea andter there was a scent of hot chocte even though it was supposed to be a higher level of vodka. Despite that, Jin already felt slightly lightheaded despite having endured all the forced drinking sessions with his minions.

    Fortunately, he had learned a trick how to handle his alcohol. He used his Maqi to regte his body in case it was a trap by the Shadow King. "Oh, is it still too strong for you?" Neil chuckled seeing how Jin had lost hisposure for a moment there.

    "Not a fan of drinking, thatбпs all. I only do this for business." Jin smiled back as Neil sat back and his attention towards the Astral Panda Cultivator. "Iбпll be blunt with you, I didnбпt really expect you to expect this fast. I was pretty sure that you would kinda reject my idea very readily and even the money."

    "Hah! Please, I run this Mafia group because of money and in fact, Iбпm nning to demand some more from you aspensation considering that you have disrupted our operations so severely. Still, this amount of money is a good start to repair the rtionship between the current King and us." Neil exined while he started to calcte the estimated losses Tyr Gauntlets had incurred, to properly bill the King for it.

    "Actually, we can brute force our way if we wanted. My sources have informed me that we have already defeated your Elites." Jinmented. "Nevertheless, we want to be amicable too. If we can resolve it with money alone it would be great. Too much fighting will create a misunderstanding."

    "Tsk, you say that after defeating them?" Neil grumbled while he leaned backwards on his chair.

    "How else were we supposed to convince you that we are a force not to be trifled with. You would really ignore us if we tried to negotiate with you, right?" Jin chuckled as he took another sip of the weird alcohol. The more he drank it, the more he felt that it was oddly intoxicating and addictive but the apanying lightheadedness was no joke.

    "Touche, so what are you proposing? Do you want us to bash up Eld Enve or Atrocity? I heard that you did quite a number on thetter at the start of the day. Still, Iбпd like to remind you that whichever side it will be, it wonбпt be cheap, especially since we will have to revive those youбпve killed." Neil stood his ground that his Elites were still a valuable bunch of people despite their supposed defeat.

    He had seen most of it through the magical orb he possessed but he had a number of burning questions to ask especially since his magic orb conveiently broke during one of the shes between his Elites and the sole enemy. He had seen how his warrior and archer got killed and was wholly convinced that it was possible his entire team of Elites were annihted. Else, they would be storming through the front door and stop Jin from evenmunicating with their big boss.

    "Thereбпs no need for you to attack either one of them. No, I want you to retreat with your group from this city and station yourselves in the outskirts. We have a secret outpost that was built recently which you can upy for the time being...well assuming that your numbers arenбпt much greater than our estimate." Jin answered and Neil felt perturbed by his request.

    "Not even asking us to join forces for bashing the other Shadow Kings down? Youбпre either very c.o.c.ky... or more powerful than we had anticipated. What exactly are you plotting?" Neil questioned him but Jin refused to say a single word more which made the Shadow King start to ponder the dungeon supplierбпs actions.

    The mass exodus of the Demopolis was a dangerously weird move while the current infighting between the Mafias and the Human Mercenaries was something that was out of the norm. Instead of a coordinated push to flush out the Mafias, it became more of a chaotic situation. It was as if this entire scenario was just a build-up for something else entirely.

    And that was when Neil believed he had figured it out.

    "Wait a minute...You are using this city as bait?" Neil queried as he remembered how the Demopolis had been conquered by surprise. Jin smiled widely and he nodded his head slowly.

    "We know that your group is smaller than the other two Mafia groups but had a stronger force. Weбпre hoping you could at least deal a huge blow to one of the invading citiesбп armies when they arrived." Jin exined and Neilбпs eyes dted.

    "You mean you are baiting not just one but more than a few cities at a time?" Neil questioned with disbelief when he heard Jinбпs answer. "But for the King to use the entire city as his yground, thatбпs rather ambitious. A bold but foolish n." Neil replied that this was going to backfire quite badly.

    "Nah, not really. We honestly donбпt need your help for this n to work, but it never hurts having some extra help ready and avable. All you need to do is to sign this set of doc.u.ments. I can already promise you that this will not only bring you untold fortunes from the cities but maybe I could even convince the King to bestow a city for you to control if you wish." Jin offered as he pulled the set of paper Neil left one side and waved it beside him.

    However, as he did that, the System was already rewriting the doc.u.ment uses and preparing another set of doc.u.ments. The Dungeon Supplier purposely brought it close to him to adjust the papers but as he did that, Jin secretly swapped them with the brand new doc.u.ments.

    Those doc.u.ments were a series of contracts that when signed by Neil, the System would automatically assume control of each and every Mafia member under Tyr Gauntlets. At that particr point, the System was able to share valuable information and sufficient context for Neil to make further decisions. But for now, Jin had to lure him to sign it. "Not to mention, you will have the odds against you. Like insurmountable kinds of odds." Jinбпs warning felt like an advertis.e.m.e.nt for the crazy.

    Oh but Neil wasughing hysterically when he heard it. "Money, a prospect for propernd and killing stuff? Where do I sign on that goddamn paper?"

 Chapter 1070 - Tyrs Gauntlet Shadow King -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1070 - Tyr''s Gauntlet Shadow King -Final</h4>

    Upon signing the contract, Jin finally rxed and asked a question that had been bugging him for a while now. "Say, I thought you guys were supposed to be vigntes. The kind to fight against the oppressive rich and give to the poor and such... but here you are not even hesitating to take this deal so openly, to the point you openly showed your desire for money,nd and even a thirst for massacre."

    Neilughed at Jinбпsment as he grabbed the silver bottle and drank a gulp of it before replying to him. "Now isnбпt that imposing your ideals on us? Besides you need money to help others, doesnбпt matter if it has to be stolen by some pretentious noble guy or from some rich young master who has delivered himself in front of me."

    "Still, itбпs true that we care about those with little means, but so does your side. As much as I hate the crown, I canбпt help but admit that бпKingбп Rex has been doing some nifty things to ensure the survival of those who had been abused. Oh donбпt give me that look, you should be perfectly aware that we have rats and moles everywhere. So his deal with the Pandapolis Lord has been extremely beneficial to my fellow people that they have reported that they need to observe the situation a little longer."

    "Why? Afraid that there is no such thing as a pure good deed?" Jin chuckled which made Neil shrug his shoulders momentarily.

    "In a way. How can we not be wary? They are suddenly being provided with food, shelter and even a living daily wage to tide over the difficult times... who would believe that nothing shady was going on in the background. A lot of them had a bad bout of scepticism because they suffered too much under the previous ruling of King Baal. Not to say he is a bad king, mind you. Just that, he had fallen from grace, which is why all of us had been dealing with his advisor instead." Neil revealed as he took in another mouthful of alcohol.

    "Say, now that I have you before me, Mr Lordling of Pandapolis, whatбпs your rtionship with the usurped?" Neil asked as he ced the silver bottle down and smirked at him. Jin then realised that this must have been the reason why a Shadow King had so readily epted the deal without any reason or excuse.

    "Firstly, how did you know it was me?" Jin questioned and sighed, not even trying to deny the truth. Neil tantlyughed at him for his ignorance.

    "For starters, if you want to stay incognito you might switch to a different type of mask. Your feud against King Baal was possibly one of the most anticipated fights in Demopolis history. How could I not recognise you from that alone?" Neil stared at him for a moment to check for any reactions before exining that the Mafias as usual had their ways and methods to get footage of the fight between Demopolis and Pandapolis. No doubt, they had also taken Moloch to be the main lead against Baal, so they had been just as surprised for a human with strong physical and magical abilities to appear and fight the previous King for so long.

    "Andter we found out that the owner of the Pandapolis Core was not entirely by Moloch but a human too. That information was quite an expensive purchase but to have the Lordling to be right in front of me, offering me a deal that I cannot resist, this is just way too exciting to refuse."

    "I see..." Jin was unsure how to feel about his infamous status in the eyes of the Mafias.

    "Another thing I would like you to confirm is about an interesting rumour flying around. Apparently the true objective was never to take over, but to use Demopolis as bait to fight against the other cities. No need for false courtesies here. I for one am hoping this to be true. I would be looking forward to working alongside a Lordling with such a crazy mindset, as the world needs someone like that. Someone who could get rid of the discrimination between the rich and poor." Neil replied with a wide smile.

    "To be honest, that is not the only thing I am aiming to change." Jin felt a bit more talkative than usual and decided to tell Neil about his ultimate goal for the Dungeon World since now he and his entire Mafia had been officially registered to be under the Systemбпsmand.

    "The Church of the Afterlife?! The root of all evil in this world?! Are you kidding me? Hahahaha!" Neilughed so hard, one might even worry he could fall off from his chair.

    "The root of all evil?" Jin queried and the Red Tiefling controlled hisughter for a little.

    "The might and deeds of us the three Shadow Kings pale inparison to the Church of the Afterlife. They probably donбпt even know themselves just how many people got ripped off by their piss poor agents. Their ruthlessness in achieving what they want is something our yolk can learn from."

    "Driven by their greed for power, they had crawled their way into the beds of politicians and royalties. If we had not seen you in action before, weбпd think you to be insane proposing such a dangerous goal." Neil exined, making Jin believe that the Tiefling must have shed against the Church of the Afterlife quite a few times to have such an experience.

    "Thatбпs not all. We want to attack them where it will hurt them to most, by putting up our own religion against theirs." Jin revealed and with a snap of his fingers, the System started to load a summary of details into Neilбпs head. He was instantly stunned by the overloading information.

    A while ago Jin and the System had requested Pei and Kiyu to create a spell that would allow fast transmission of information so that they would not not have to exin to each and every new recruit that joined under Jinбпs banner what the end goal would be.

    This way was very effective and they could get on with what they needed to discuss without wasting any time. However, the one downside they had failed to get rid off, was a series of slight headaches for the recipient. When asked if the spell could be improved, Pei said, that itбпs less a direct result of the spell and more an after effect of the brain getting that influx of information. The easiest remedy was to take paracetamol or any other suitable painkillers to aid with the headache.

    "Wow. Alright." Neil shook his head and tried to steady himself by taking another shot of his alcohol. It indeed rxed him a fair bit before nodding to Jin with regards to his n to create a religion so that they could go toe to toe with the Church of the Afterlife.

    "Ultimately, a Crusade War, huh." Neil felt it would be quite the befitting end for the Church of the Afterlife if Jin were to seed. "If thatбпs the case then I might actually have an idea or two you could consider and possibly implement at theter stages of this current battle." Neil smiled in a way he usually only saw in Kraft.

 Chapter 1071 - Pretence

    <h4>Chapter 1071 - Pretence</h4>

    "Boss!" Lynn ran up the stairs panting slightly with a group of Killer Peggies right behind her. Their choppers were sharpened and ready to cleave through any armour or any other type of resistance they might encounter. She even had the resurrected Tyr Elites follow quietly behind her, ready to act at a momentбпs notice. It was in obvious that they had already fallen as the Systemбпs thralls and would act against their former Shadow King if necessary.

    However, when they opened the door... they found Jin discussing a series of business deals with his supposed mission target, having a serious conversation until they both looked up, interrupted by the appearance of the neers.

    "I see that you have sessfully enthralled all of my Elites," Neil sighed as he stood up and bowed. He introduced himself as Tyr Gauntletsбп Shadow King and Lynn was pleasantly surprised by them talking things over with their mouths instead of their fists.

    Noticing her gaze, Neilughed. "If I were Atrocityбпs or Eld Enveбпs Shadow King, I probably would have done that. Atrocity would use the excuse of passing out judgement against you, when in truth, theyбпd just want revenge. Eld Enve, on the other hand, would love to get their hands on your bodies to study the secrets of your magical styles. Of course, both scenarios would need them to survive your onught first." Neil added as he courteously offered Lynn the seat beside Jinбпs.

    "We have not even fought and you already think I could win?" Jin chuckled as he poured Lynn a ss of alcohol and asked the chef to give it a try.

    "Last time we fought, I was stronger than the other two Shadow Kingsbined, yet I didnбпt have to fight you to feel that if it came down to it, I would be at the losing end." Neil admitted as he stared at Jin for a moment before gazing upon the battle maiden who had bested nearly all his Elites on her own. Suffice to say, the Killer Peggies at the door were beaming at him, watching his every move in case he tried to do anything funny against their Queen. Regardless of whether he had already epted the Systemбпs contract, the peggies were a fanatic bunch of warriors that would do anything to keep their Queen safe under their protection.

    Meanwhile, Lynn was appreciating the strong vour of the alcohol and wondering whether she could and should try to recreate it for her customers. Jin exined to her what they had discussed and it was the first time Lynn was hearing about the Church of the Afterlife having instigated other cities to attack them. Because of her primary job, she had hardly been part of the War Room and nobody else had bothered to tell her that this entire raid had changed recently into an borate n to lure the Church of the Afterlife into fighting.

    "But we all believed it would not happen so soon. Given their cautious nature based on the information given to me by Kraft and Kiyu, I estimated that they would probably only attack after a week or two." Jinmented.

    "As Iбпve said, I would still rmend you to announce the fall of me, the Tyr Gauntletsбп Shadow King. Not to toot my own horn too much, but my supposed demise would actually be quite the big news to the other two Shadow Kings. When the human cities learn that one entire Mafia faction has been defeated this fast, they would have no choice but to rush in. Waiting too long would have them risk losing the opportunity to ambush your side during the chaos." Neil remarked while he poured another ss of alcohol for Lynn.

    "As much as we might like to side the humans, the majority of them have sided with the Church without ever bothering to give us a chance. There is no denying that they wille based on the Churchбпs agents...erm persuasion. Even if they see my customers they will probably just treat them as demon worshippers or something." Jin added more context for Lynn to understand.

    "Why do you want to go to war again? Arenбпt you preparing yourself for the Demon Rat Offensive in the Farming World? By doing this, arenбпt you overstretching your troops to a huge extent that they might not have enough rest? What about the resources that you-" Lynn wanted toin even further but then it struck her like a bolt of lightning. It finally dawned on her why Jin was doing such aplicated process by using Demopolis as excessive bait.

    "You want more men?" Lynnбпs short and sweet analysis hit the spot and Jin nodded his head with a smile.

    "Where else can we get more manpower that has already been trained so wonderfully?" Jin chuckled as he was pleasantly amazed that Lynn was able to catch the underlying ploy by Kraft and him. This entire raid had already been turned into just a pretence to get more troops from the Dungeon World and use them against the Demon Rats.

    "The System has already verified that as long as weбпre able to capture their Dungeon Core, it would be akin to holding their city бпhostageбп for theck of a better word. We donбпt need to control them ourselves. We can easily promise them to release the hostages as long as agree toe into the Farming World and cause some havoc there."

    "Of course, the System will still have to track each and every one of them down to ensure that those who belong in the Dungeon World return here, dead or alive. Best thing, we donбпt even need to arm them as much as the minions on our side. Our batch will act as the elites, doing the tasks necessary to bring their entire Rat Empire down while the human armies can just act as the rank and file to disrupt the massive numbers that the Demon Rats have." Jin added and Lynn involuntarily shook her head.

    "But still, in order to earn those cities, you gotta fight for them. How are you proposing to do it? And in a quick manner too so that they wonбпt notice it?" Lynn questioned and suddenly a shadow appeared behind Jin. His hand was gently ced on Jinбпs shoulders and he could already feel the weight of the many worlds resting on them.

    "Why of course, that job is up to me and my (Night) Foxes, who shall have the honour of performing this brilliant coordination capturing," Kraft stated and Lynn sighed. There was no denying that no one else was as powerful as those Foxes and if Kraftбпs boasting was to be believed, they havenбпt even disyed their true capabilities during the previous Demopolis City capture. That alone made Lynn ponder just how absurdly strong these ancestors were and their enemies had been to have fostered such overpowered fighters.

    "Donбпt worry, our ...agents have already shown us that theyбпre not as guarded as Demopolis and donбпt have such aplicated seal. The human cities have mostly concentrated on outer defence over protecting their core." Kraft grinned as he recalled how quick those Church agents had spilled the beans upon some бпpersuasionбп.

    Neil cleared his throat. "Looks like the conversation is getting out of my depth. Letбпs end it here and you lot can talk in some other office, alright? Now if youбпll excuse me, I have orders from my new employer to station my guys at the outskirts of Demopolis." He picked up his suit and then he stopped for a moment to snap his fingers at Lynn. "Sorry there, Bossman and hisdy, but I would appreciate having control over my Elites for the fight."

    Jin acknowledged the request and had the System summon the rest of the Tyr Elite party in front of him. The office was getting crowded, so Jin and the rest left via a portal while the Tyr Elites knelt right in front of their Shadow King. They roughly knew the current situation based on the sh memory overload that the System had forced upon them.

    "Well, guess we drew the short straw of being the good bad guys for once," Neil sighed as he wore his suit and raised his hands to the side cab of the table. With magic, the drawer opened and an embroidered pouch emerged from it, floating right towards his waist.

    "You guys better buck up, or else!" Neilбпs expression darkened before taking out a jewel from the embroiled pouch and a teleport circle appeared as the jewel glowed. The entire team teleported out from the scenes and so did every underling under Tyrбпs Gauntlet leaderбпsmand.

    It was definitely a more powered up version of the Systemбпs mass teleport. The super entity had shamelessly recorded it and was now attempting to copy it behind the scenes.

 Chapter 1072 - Overview of the Demopolis Raid -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1072 - Overview of the Demopolis Raid -unedited</h4>

    Just as Lynn learnt the truth of the raid, the raid was still progressing as per nned. The only difference was that Jin had announced that the entire Tyr Gauntlet Mafia had disappeared from the map. There was no exnation given and the System had already cordoned off the Petal District by putting up a power barrier which an ordinary Pandaren could bypass. In terms of gaming terminology, it had be restricted for any users to go in.

    Jin had also added that anyone who had attempted to trespass into the Petal District would be forcefully teleported out of the raid instance and that puzzled everyone that was in the raid. People started to create bizarre theories on the current situation. From a technical bug that had been found and Jin was repairing it in the midst of the dungeon runs to others thinking that Jin purposely increased the Raid difficulty since the Petal District was one of the few districts that were tantamount to an intersectional district that connects to the rest of the surrounding areas.

    No one would have known that it was because of Jinбпs subjugation of the Mafia except for the major two families that were still alive. They realised that themunication between the Tyr Gauntlet and them had been cut off permanently with no possible way to restore any connections. And with the light barriers appearing over the Petal District, they could only assume that the Tyr Gauntlet Mafia had been estranged by the Demopolis Police forces or the human mercenaries which King Rex had hired.

    While the Shadow Kings had influence to not just their own families but to various minor gangs as well, the situation was not looking good for them. There were humans armed with both magical and technical expertise that were able to shred the defences that they had painstakingly built to protect themselves against the Demopolis Police. To make matters worse, some were being captured alive and brought to the Demopolis Police outposts and headquarters.

    However, the underworld was not to be underestimated. Even with the shock tactics done by the Pandarens, the Mafia gangsters had managed to decipher their formations and started to counter attack with overwhelming numbers. Some even use the same tricks that the Pandarens had yed because of the constant exchange of information between mafias. Although fighting a few of the Pandarens would result in losses, they still knew their districts and the environment yed a crucial role in securing a win. They might not win the war, but they sure know how to inflict major losses to King Rex. (Or thatбпs what the Mafia were supposed to believe.)

    And this was merely Day One of the raid where the tougher guys were still not out to y with the Pandarens. All the customers had been fighting against were merely the rank and fileckeys. But now with sufficient information in their hands, Atrocity and Eld Enve had decided to go all out by sending their veterans to assist with the surviving minor gangs.

    Although it was true that the Team Pandawan had been making strides in their effort to thwart Atrocity, they too had underestimated the sheer numbers the Mafias have, hiding behind the scenes, waiting for their Shadow Kings to give themand.

    To add on, theck of Demopolis Police in the streets and the odd looking light based barrier had caused the two remaining Shadow Kings to deduce that the Demopolis Police was concentrating their efforts to contain Tyrбпs Gauntlet. And as if to support that theory, Ixel, the current chief of Demopolis Police Department and all things to do with internal security, had already pre-empted this by releasing fake telmunications so that the Mafias could be misled by the false information. (The rest of the foxes were surprised that their muscle brain Ixel was able to think this out.)

    Telegrams and magical calls that requested for help had been intercepted by the Eld Enve Mages and that prompted the Shadow Kings to be more aggressive in their fight. What they did not know was that their actions were all calcted within the parameters of the n created by Kraft and his pals in the War Room.

    The arrival of their veterans had allowed the Goblin Tels Team to reverify the Mafiaбпs outposts and strongholds and update the Pandarenбпs map as necessary. However, most of the Pandarens who continued this particr raid in the Dungeon World had amounted to nearly a day. Even Team Pandawan who thought that they only spend hours in it, was shocked that they were immersed in this warzone for at least a day in it.

    Lee An and Xue Ping had decided to return to the safehouse to check out of the raid instance safely, and to keep their progress of their current run. After which, they had a couple only dinner in the restaurant instance before beaming out from Jinбпs store instance. (All in all, a very satisfied couple.) The rest of the team eventually did the same an hourter and all of them noticed how different it was whenpared to the Pandapolis Raid.

    The intensity of the fights was less but the amount of effort to traverse from one corner to another was tiring. While they were d that this particr raid was as advertised, they could not believe how real it was that the detective couple told them that was how soldiers lived in the war zone in their chat group. Some wondered how they could keep up on a daily basis and the detectives said that when they were stuck in that situation, all they thought was how to survive the next day.

    But as usual, satisfied customerse along the other end of the spectrum. There were armchairmentators stating how boring the entire raid was,pared to the exhrating turn of events during the Pandapolis Raid. They even stated that the longevity of this particr raid was merely to squeeze more money from the customers. Naturally, Jin did not bother with them as his ultimate goal was to get the armies from the humans. The only things he did considered were the feedback to improve the current raid and some of the opinions given by his Pandaren customers were rather interesting.

    There were certain feedbacks to create a бпquick time eventбп within the raid so that the scattered Pandarens within the vicinity could band together and fight against the threat. In return, more Emblems or Demopolis Raid Points to be given out for those who managed toplete the quick time event. It was a neat idea and Jin did ponder on how to implement it into the current Raid but at the same time, he was thinking of the situation that they were in to the System.

    "... Nevertheless, what Neil said was true. The two other Shadow Kings are bolder right now and they had ramped up the difficulty of the fights for the Pandarens." Jin remarked as he sat beside his Dungeon Maker console, twirling around waiting for a response from the System but instead, he sensed an aura all too familiar emerging right beside him.

    "And to make things even sweeter, my scouts reported that the Human Cities had already embarked from their cities. They are riding to us as we speak and should be expecting them within another day or two." Kraft opened his digital tablet and Jin could see blips moving towards Demopolis.

    "You think they would make a coordinated effort to attack us?" Jin questioned but Kraft shook his shoulders.

    "Wait and see." The fox said and he smirked seeing the blips ever moving slowly towards his brotherбпs precious city before disappearing once again.

 Chapter 1073 - Active Response Events

    <h4>Chapter 1073 - Active Response Events</h4>

    Following his customersбп wishes, Jin did indeed end up implementing several quick time events over the next few days, which would appear on their raid maps with a symbol of two Pandas wearing Viking helmets and raising their axes in unison. Each one would have a circr parameter around the location on the map and anyone inside would be able to receive participation points.

    Usually, the objective of these Active Response Events would be apanied by a simple narrative, with some of them being pretty whacky considering they were all generated by the System. (Itбпs honest;y a side of the System which most users would never get to see.) Jin had allowed it mainly due to the fact that it had all the information about the current situation on the ground. Not to mention, the System seemed to have been having fun generating the narrative based on its info gathering.

    One such example was about a Pandaren who had be too greedy with hoarding the furniture to the point his assigned ring had been filled to the brim. Apparently unhappy about not being able to take back everything at once, he had decided to carry just a few more things manually.

    s, the mafia had spotted the hoarding Pandaren and rightfully believing he had valuable things on him they had annihted him on his way to the nearest safe house. With the death of the ring holder, all items in the assigned storage ring had dispersed out in the open, filling the street.

    This had prompted the Mafia gangsters to grab the valuables before they had promptly returned to their own base. Fortunately, those lost items had been geotagged by the System, allowing it to track where they had gone. Instead of getting away, the thieves were unknowingly leading the way to their den.

    Such events prompted other Pandarens to join in the search. Not only were they able to take hold of the lost items for Raid Emblems but also earn extra Raid Points uponpletion of these AREs.

    However, to remain true to the idea of an бпActive Responseбп, the System had also implemented timers attached to the events, causing customers to rush to the assigned location, thus indirectly ensuring a decent Pandaren presence within the current section of the battlefield. This also guaranteed that the fighting would be more intense and to a certain degree, memorable.

    To foster a healthy sense ofpetition, the amount of participation would result in the Panderenбпs achieving a Bronze, Silver or Gold Tier rating, each one rewarding the participants a certain set of raid points and to make things easy for the System to track. (Especially when there were multiple AREs active within the Demopolis districts)

    In order to achieve a Gold Tier, Pandarens would have to very actively participate within the diameter of the ARE, which depended on the mission, be it collecting the majority of the lost items or subduing most mafia gangsters.

    As long as the Pandarens were performing something useful even by just aiding an injured Panadren to safety earns them points. These points would then be tabted and the System would instantly create a list disying who had scored the most number of points. Only once an event has concluded, would the System rank those Pandarens based on the Tier System.

    Initially, Jin had intended to implement a t points system, meaning as long as the Pandarens reached a certain number of points, they would be rewarded with a Gold tier reward. However, the System had refused the idea, arguing that those raid points would eventually be used to purchase items, so it would hurt his bottom line in the long run if he was too generous.

    Ultimately, theypromised with a system that acted something like a bell curve. The top percentile would receive the Gold Tier, most people earning the middle Silver Tier, so only those who did the bare minimum got the Bronze Tier.

    Such tactics forced the Pandarens to take more initiative in their game and after the first day, some had alreadypiled a list of doбпs and dontбпs in order to achieve a Gold Tier. (Eventually, the бпanalystsбп noticed that it was a bell curve and had ced a new disimer that the list only covered the basics.)

    Still, all of this was merely distractions for the actual agenda.

    Kraftбпs foxes and a few minions under Jinбпsmand had stationed themselves outside of Demopolis to watch out for the real enemies. Without a doubt, the human armies wereing en mass and they were not hiding their firepower.

    As Demopolis was situated in a penins, the Deep Ones were monitoring the sh.i.p.sбп movements beneath the sea while Kraftбпs Night Foxes had noted that armies under different city banners were moving in from the top too. If anything, it was inly obvious that they were aiming for a pincer movement based on the speed they were travelling.

    "A pincer movement seems like an understatement." Moloch was standing at the side of the War Room Table and was taking note of the city banners that the scouts had reported. "It looks more like a бпYouбпre surrounded, surrender now and we might give you a quick death!бп "

    "You believe they will grant you a quick death after all the raiding during King Baalбпs time?" Nubwort snorted and Moloch shrugged. "Besides, you guys can resurrect so if it was me, I would enve you under the pretence of justice."

    "Youбпre not wrong on that. Lucky, we have a pair of new Goddesses who can protect us, right?" Moloch smiled as he looked at Jin.

    "While I like to say that they are changing into their costumes right now, but Iбпm not sure how easy it will be for Peppers to convince the Mafias to switch sides. And that is assuming if they were not toozy toe out. To be frank, I am still contemting to use Rex instead." Jin wondered if it wouldnбпt have been wiser to use King Rex instead.

    "After what Rex supposedly did, you think the Mafias would listen to him?" Qiu Yue questioned as she was already clearing a few backend issues for the iing fight.

    "I guess theyбпll have to. No matter what, the Mafia gangs should still fight for the city." Jin argued.

    "What makes you so sure about this?" Qiu Yue stopped her work, curious for the answer.

    "The fact that they stood their ground and fought against King Rexбпs hired soldiers shows that they still have loyalty towards this city. That alone should be enough to turn the tideter on. Besides, all we need is for them and the Pandarens to buy us some time." Jin remarked and suddenly he could hear the rumblinging from the side of the War Room.

    A ck and elegant бпthroneбп emerged out of nowhere, decorated with foxes borately carved into the chair. It was clear that given its design it could only belong to a narcissistic certain someone, which caused everyone at the War Room table to collectively sigh.

    "Whatбпs with this reaction? A little more respect to this El Presidente. After you all swear your allegiance, weбпre going to take all those cities!" Kraft announced as he emerged from thin air andfortably sat down on his new бпchairбп.

    Nine magical tails shot out from the back of the throne and weaved around their local бпUsurperбп, making him more ominous than usual.

 Chapter 1074 - Uniting the Shadow Kings

    <h4>Chapter 1074 - Uniting the Shadow Kings</h4>

    "Sir! We finally have a signal!" The messenger mmed open the door only to realise that he had interrupted a meeting full of executives. All eyes were now ring at him with scorn and he knew that unless he could give them a good reason for his action, it might actually be the end of his life.

    "Sire, we finally managed to receive a signal from Tyr Gauntlet." The messenger knelt at the doors, closing his eyes while beads of sweat rolled down his neck. His heart was elerating and the only thing that kept him sane from this pressurising situation was the hope that his transgression would be overlooked in favour of thepletion of the task assigned by Atrocityбпs Shadow King himself.

    "You." Without even turning his neck, the corner of Satovбпs eye was sufficient for the messenger to know that he was being called upon.

    "ce themunication ball on the table. Everyone else, dismissed!"

    With onemand, the entire room was silenced and the only sound was that of the executivesбп chairs being moved backwards. The executives stood right beside their seats before bowing simultaneously to Satov and walking away in unison. All of them clearly avoided the messenger and his precious crystal ball, not even sparing him a single nce.

    "Sire, the signal is weak and there were unfortunately only inconceivable repliesing from the ball. So far, we have yet to decipher them as there was quite a fair bit of mana disruption in the room. I just came here, because it was yourmand to inform you, no matter how weak the signal was..." The messenger slowly mumbled his words as he could suddenly feel a darkened pressure emitting from the Shadow Kingбпs single eye.

    Indeed, Satov, Atrocityбпs Shadow King, was a Cyclops, a race whose members were widely regarded as primitive monsters who only followed their base instincts.

    And yet the one before the Tiefling messenger not only had an abysmal amount of strength and endurance that could match a Giantбпs, he also had intelligence far above the average man. For him tomand one of the threerge Mafia factions was a testimony of his abilities, rightfully earning him the respect and fear of everyone in the underworld.

    Although Neil had imed that his abilities could rival the other two Shadow Kingsbined, he would never deny that based on raw strength, the Red Tiefling would lose in an instant.

    "You may get out now," Satov said and the messenger immediately ran with his tail between his legs. The Cyclops would lie if he said he wasnбпt disappointed with the messengerбпs result. Merely getting a weak signal was as good as nothing, but it was not entirely the messengerбпs fault.

    The Shadow Kings had purposely used something like an encryption code via magic to protect their messages and for the messenger to even get a signal was already a miracle considering the barrier in Petal District.

    While using his innate strengths to survive, Satov hadnбпt wasted his years climbing to the top of the food chain and hade to learn some basic magic. With some mana gathered in his three fingered hand, the crystal ball started to glow eerily for a moment before he managed to get some footage within the ball.

    "Ah, Shadow King Satov, I finally managed to contact you." A voice came from the Crystal Ball, yet it wasnбпt Neilбпs nor anyone else he could recognise from Tyr Gauntlet. Satov quickly assumed the worst as the image formed into the one seen on magical screens all over the city.

    King Rex.

    "Speak." The Cyclops demanded with gritted teeth, making sure to hold himself back from immediately crushing the crystal ball.

    "Firstly, thank you for not breaking the conversation and thereby showing me where you are. There is a lot I wish to speak about with you. Surely you must wond-"

    "If you wish to waste my time, I shall end this call. If there is anything you want to say to me do it now, or we will speak on the battlefield." Satov interrupted him sternly as he tried to hold his anger, calling him out on the бпbluffбп.

    Rex cleared his throat before he spoke with rity. "Alright, I shall get directly to the point. Tyr Gauntlet has surrendered to me. Shadow King Neil is currently working to protect Demopolis."

    "So? Did you want to unt that you have gained another ally?" Satov questioned while trying to perceive any underlying meaning whether Neil had betrayed the alliance.

    "No, I wish to offer you a proposal. Before you reached out, Iбпve already managed to contact the Eld Enve and their Shadow бпKingбп has already epted the deal." Rex rified and suddenly Satov saw a portal appear right in the middle of his table.

    It was none other than the King of Demopolis himself who walked out from it. Upon emerging from the portal, he activated his storage ring and a few suitcases drop in front of him. The King mildly kicked one of the suitcases towards the Cyclops and the lid popped open, revealing a stash of Adamantine bars.

    "Iбпve been told gold bars are not to your liking, but these... These will allow you to have suits of armour of unparalleled strength, which willplement that gauntlet you have right over there." Rex eyed the old rusted Adamantine gauntlet at the side of the Shadow King.

    Needless to say, Satov was just as intrigued as Neil from the allure of those Adamantine bars. He could only wager a guess who had told Rex about it, but they were spot on.

    Those dull greenish metal bars were more precious to him than everything else gold could allow him to buy. If anything, the Cyclops race treated Adamantine as their war trophies. It might just be a piece of rare metal to the other demon races but when a Cyclops wore such metal, it allowed them to harness more advanced magic because of their properties.

    And that was for a normal Cyclops, whereas Satov was considered to be the brightest of all his racebined. Unfortunately, despite his high intelligence, his ability to use magic was still hindered by his gic markup.

    These Adamantine metals had the triggering properties toplement his gics and were able to allow him to wield magic as mighty as the Shadow бпKingбп of the Eld Enve. s, although powerful, Adamantine would rust and disintegrate with each use of magic, preventing Satov to fully capitalise on them if he does not have sufficient Adamantine to even learn those said magic.

    Letбпs not mention how Adamantine could not be found easily because of the humansбп rational fear of the magical wielding juggernauts. (The humans destroyed any sources they could find and even banned Dungeon Cores that created them.)

    "So, you wish to stop this war by buying us Shadow Kings under the table?" Satov questioned and Rexughed loudly.

    "Stop this war? We have barely begun." The King smirked as he pulled out the very same contract that Jin had used on Neil previously. The time for war against the human armies was approaching with each tick of the clock, and the King had taken the spontaneous chance Jin had identally created to unite the Underworld under him.

 Chapter 1075 - Wide Active Response Event (WARE)

    <h4>Chapter 1075 - Wide Active Response Event (WARE)</h4>

    King Rex had already met with the only female Shadow бпKingбп of the Eld Enve before having his conversation with Satov. While Rex and Satov sealed the deal, she was in the midst of preparing the spells to protect the remaining portion of Demopolis for the next phase.

    Honestly, he had not expected Jinбпs rich resources to be so easily epted by the Shadow Kings but it had proven that their intelligence gathering had been on point. Through the constant eavesdropping, the goblinmunications team had sessfully managed to figure out the desires of each head of the three major Mafia factions. It was not an easy feat but thepletion of this particr task had further shown Jinбпs War Council that information gathering and maniption was indeed as important as the strength to fight off their enemies.

    The Eld Enve had always needed more magical stones and the higher quality the better. So, with the Systemбпs ess to the Intergctic ck Markets, Rex had been able to find a magical stone that the Eld Enve had been unable to resist.

    The price to pay for it had been rather obscene but the System had believed it to be a decent rpense. After all, it couldnбпt risk losing Demopolis because of the infighting between the Mafias and the Pandarens. Fortunately, the System had felt that it had earned sufficiently from the sales from the raid so far, so it had decided it was time to enter the next phase as quick as possible.

    Thus, an alert had been sent out via the Pandamonium App indicating a very important Active Response Event was about to be created. The warnings had not been restricted to one particr district, unlike the previous events, but more and more alerts had popped up in the outer districts. Eventually, it changed into a call to gather at the Royal Pce of Demopolis which would henceforth act as the stronghold for the Pandarens.

    Xiong Da, Ruo Ying, Xue Ping and Lee An were fighting in the raids as thisrge scale Active Response Event had been activated since it happened to coincide with the weekend. (And the inspectors for once wanted to finish this raid. For бпresearch purposesбп as Xue Ping imed.)

    The Pandawans did not know what exactly was happening and all they could do was to follow the narrative of this current raid, as stated within the Pandamonium App. By adhering to the instructions of the ARE, the Pandarens were immediately rewarded with twenty raid points which already resulted in a boost to morale.

    They quickly realised that this was not just some ordinary Active Response Event as the panda symbols with Vikings helms had evolved into a Viking panda having its back leaning beside a plushie looking minotaur simr to Moloch while they were surrounded by sinister shadows. They were whispering between themselves, wondering if this could be like a starting signal for phase two of this particr Demopolis raid.

    And true enough, the Pandarens saw the narrative changed once the timer on the event expired. Multiple district events merged into a singr city wide event which was the Pandapolis called a Wide Active Response Event, or WARE.

    The narrative instantly changed within the Pandamonium App as King Rex broadcast a holographic image of himself at the top of the Royal Pce. It was huge enough so that everyone who wasnбпt currently hiding in a bas.e.m.e.nt would see it. And even then, his booming voice reverberated from the pce to all over the city, to alert and inform everyone.

    "Citizens of Demopolis, while some may im that a king should never bow to his subjects, today, I, King Rex, havee to ask you for your help." King Rex announced while publically lowering his head in front of them all. "Over thest few days, we have been fighting amongst ourselves for our personal beliefs, yet now outsiders havee to prey on us, wishing to make use of our own turmoil."

    "They are Purist Humans who have aligned themselves with the Church of the Afterlife, and intend to plunder while we are at our weakest. As I speak, they areing closer to ournds and shores for a definitive attack. My scouts have reported to me that we will be contending not with one, not with two, but with the military of seven cities at once. Their numbers in strength alone could topple our city in a matter of hours."

    "Thus, I beseech each and every one of you, just as I have implored the Shadow Kings, stop the infighting and concentrate on the real enemy. Although we had our differences with the Shadow Kings, ultimately Demopolis is our home and WE ARE NOT GIVING IT UP WITHOUT A FIGHT!!!" Rex roared and the city shook once more, as the ones inside the pce joined their king in his deration.

    As King Rex mentioned the Shadow Kings, three beacons, one in red, green and blue were emitted within their respective districts, showing holographic pictures of their familiesбп crest. The ones belonging to the Mafia recognised it as an affirmation of what the current King was saying and that they should stop the infighting.

    "With what little time we have left, we need to prepare against the horde of humans. I, therefore, ask all the various Mafia members who listen to my promation to move to those beacons and follow the instructions of your respective Shadow Kings. Together we shall save the entire Demopolis from bing a ruin. Listen to me now and I promise to lead us to victory against the Seven Cities!!!" King Rex announced which subsequently led the Pandamonium app to start beeping again.

    The rules of the City Raid had changed and any Pandaren who were still fighting against the mafia would be eliminated from the current raid instance. To avoid such a fate the app rmended for them to rendezvous at the Royal Pce instead. The time limit was an hour and this led the Pandarens to wonder what they could do until a new objective started to appear in their app.

    "Rest and prepare for the next phase of the raid."

    This enabled people who were not in the current raid instance to have some time to make their way to Jinбпs store as the alert had been sent out to every customer who had the Pandamonium App installed on their device. The Pandawans took the chance to call on their remaining team members to gather once more while they explored the current monument they were residing in, the pce itself.

    While it had been designated a forbidden ce during the raid, the now opened Royal Pce of Demopolis offered the Pandarens a chance to explore the luxurious buildings built during King Baalбпs reign. Not only that but there were also portals that allow them to return to their customised rooms to change their gears as well as a bunch of System Traders which the Pandarens could stock up at. Judging from King Rexбпs message, they discerned that the uing fight would be a tough one.

    And that preparation alone was enough for Jin to open up a very special page in their app that would change the experience of the Pandarens that were ying this particr raid.

 Chapter 1076 - Xiong Das The Man!

    <h4>Chapter 1076 - Xiong Da''s The Man!</h4>

    When the objective бпto rest and prepare for the next raidбп appeared on the Pandamonium App, Xiong Da noticed that there was a mini panda notification blinking in his inbox. As a person who disliked notifications annoying him all day long, he tapped on it to check what it was.

    Actually, he just wanted to press on that cute panda icon that was carelessly fluttering around at the corner of the Pandamonium App while holding on to an email. (The mini Panda Icon carried more letters if the notifications were not cleared and there was once Xiong Da was so busy that the mini Panda was hidden by a stack of letters as if it was being drowned by it.)

    "Is it a new curated list?" Xiong Da thought to himself as the Pandamonium App would sometimes create specialised lists for Pandarens to buy based on their buying patterns and behaviours, which was hauntingly urate for the most part. (It would be 100% urate if the System did not throw in the asional curveball to make the customers less vignt about them being studied)

    Because of these lists, the Pandarens discovered the increasing multitudes of services that were being offered by Jinбпs store. Xiong Da believed it to be the kind of notification informing him about some special deals which could prove useful for the next phase, as it coincided with the new task. From personal experience, he could say that they were strikingly close to search engines and wondered what new items they would have in store for him to try out.

    However, to his surprise, it was not a customised shopping advertis.e.m.e.nt, instead, it was a banner for help.

    "Assist in the war efforts against the Seven Cities! Contribute your Demopolis Raid Points, Raid Emblems or even Panda Coins to strengthen Demopolisбп defences!" The banner stated and Xiong Da was instantly intrigued by it. If anything, he could potentially turn the tide of this particr dungeon instance with the seemingly near infinite Panda Coins residing in his wallet.

    Did Boss Jin create this event to cater to the likes of him?

    As he clicked on the banner, he was linked to a special page in the Pandemonium App which was beautifully designed by none other than Kiyu. There was arge progress bar at the top of the page with various milestones being set by Jin.

    "Hey, guys. Check this out." Xiong Da said to his fellow Pandawan teammates via the app by sending them the link. "Looks like there is something that can give us an edge in the second phase of this ridiculously crazy raid." The rest quickly clicked on it, to check what Xiong Da was referring to.

    Upon reading the details, they realised that if they were to contribute their resources, they would have an easier time in the uing fight. After participating in the raid for a few days, they had seen how crumbled the entire ce was thanks to the previous infighting and there were not many defensible areas left that they could make use of.

    Kiyuбпs бпCall For Helpбп page stated that if they were to collect 250,000 raid points, they could instantly change the cityбпsndscape to something suitable like a stronghold. And that was only the raid pointsбп portion. If they were to contribute emblems, military vehicles could be issued for ease of transport as well as an increase in mobility.

    Likewise, for Panda Coins, they could be converted into either temporary raid points or temporary emblems that could be used to contribute to the respective progress bars. However, it was heavily emphasised that none of those temporary points could be used to redeem items.

    Despite the versatility of the Panda Coins, they also had a separate progress bar and inserting money would result in additional support for the NPCs and even call some of the other dungeons minions that would fight alongside them upon hitting certain milestones.

    In summary, achieving the three different progress bars would bring extensive perks for their battle against the Seven Cities Armies. This was something simr to a coborative effort where their hard earned points would be used for the entirety of the raid instance.

    And right below the banner page, Kiyu had prepared some expected бпfrequently asked questionsбп with the appropriate answers.

    Q: "Can I only donate Demopolis Raid Points, Raid Emblems or Panda Coins right now or is it possible to do so during the second phase?"

    A: All three currencies will be epted at any time during the second phase.

    Kiyuбпs tip: Pandarens might want to prioritise achieving the very first milestone of the Raid Point section before the battle as the current interval allows the city to change without much interference. Should the goal be hit during the "rest and prepare" mission the city would instantly receive basic foundation upgrades for the uing second phase.

    Q: "Can I get a refund if a milestone is not hit?"

    A: Refunds will automatically be processed in the respective currency at the end of the raid if a milestone has not been met. However, once the next milestone has been achieved within the progress bar the customer has donated to, that currency will be considered бпspentбп. Any бпunspentбп currency will, as stated, be naturally returned.

    Q: "It was hard getting my raid points/emblems, Panda Coins, why should I donate them?"

    A: For the benefit of the entire raid!

    Boss Jinбпs remark: I can assure everyone that the rewards for winning the entire instance will outweigh the charity we ask for.

    More FAQs were below these answers, but the Pandawans reading it had also noticed that there were bubble notifications for the people contributing at the side of their Pandamonium App.

    Many had doubts about just how many customers would be willing to give up their points as they were all earned with the Pandarensбп sweat and blood. Not to mention, the redemption store had quite a lot of items that were very enticing even for even the Pandawans. So, to see Pandarens actively give up their points for the raid was somewhat heartening.

    The bigger the contribution, the bigger the bubble mention. It was supposed to motivate his customers. Although the sum needed wasrge, if everyone chipped in a bit, it would be easy enough to reach...

    However, their dear Sir Spendalot had decided topletely wreck this system by chipping in thergest portion into the fray. The Panda Coins which he had been rewarded for assisting in the construction of the Tree Mall were frivolously exchanged for Raid Points and then donated towards the progress bar, allowing the entire raid instance to achieve the first milestone of rebuilding the foundations of the city.

    "Heh, I knew he would do that." Both the Pandawan Team and Jin thought the same and chuckled to themselves. Still, therge celestial бпwhaleбп otherwise known as Xiong Da didnбпt stop just there, as he liked to exceed peopleбпs expectations, especially Jinбпs. (In most games, people who spend a lot were called a бпWhaleбп, as they were known to be whaling for the game.)

    Not only the first milestone of the Raid Points Progress Bar had been fulfilled, but also the one for the Raid Emblems, as well as the Panda Coinsбп initial milestone, providing the entire Pandarens team with the perks of having a brand new city defence foundation, a truckload of jeeps and motorcycles at their disposal as well as some experimental batch of guns for the current guards.

    The bubble mention instantly filled the entire screen indicating Xiong Daбпs major contribution. To further thank him for his epic donation proportion, Jin, who had been watching all of this from the sidelines, had decided to project a holographic form of him, over the entire city, just as they had done for King Rex.

    Suddenly, everyone saw the innocent looking Xiong Da smiling down at his phone, before subsequently realising that he was being projected in holographic form for everyone to see their benefactor. The fl.u.s.tered look on his face caused Ruo Ying tough loudly and hug him from his back.

    The nearby inspectors also rushed and hugged him, thanking his generosity to the raid instance, allowing everyone to see the big hippo cultivator being loved by his friends dearly via the giant hologram.

    And because of Xiong Da achievement in hitting all three milestones, everyone who logs in for the second phase had been given a free defensive temporary inscription courtesy of the Dungeon Supplier.

    As was to be expected, everyone went bonkers.

 Chapter 1077 - New Empire Building Sub System Feature

    <h4>Chapter 1077 - New Empire Building Sub System Feature</h4>

    Although Kraft oversaw the entire operation, he still allowed Jin to incorporate stuff to entertain his customers. As long as it didnбпt interfere with the Devil Foxбпs almighty master n, he didnбпt care what his master made his customers do. Even if it entailed something as drastic as an entire revamp of Demopolis, just in time for the attack of the Seven Cities.

    From a pragmatic standpoint, Kraft did not think that they needed to proceed with the fight. He and the other foxes could easily teleport to the enemiesбп Dungeon Cores and steal them right under their noses.

    However, both Kiyu and Qiu Yue had vehemently disagreed with that kind of action. Not only because they wanted to continue profiting from the war by allowing the Pandarens who still thought of this as a Raid Instance to actively participate in it, but the main rationale was that if they were the first ones invaded, they would have a legitimate excuse to upy the trespassing Seven Cities.

    Even without advertising the battle between Demopolis and Pandapolis, there were already rumours and whispers spreading around various cities about how a young city lord had managed to not only fend off Demon King Baal but had also managed to take his city by force and right under his nose too.

    While these rumours were left out that he had been assisted by King Baalбпs ex-advisor, they eventually became hot news, leading the Church of the Afterlife to push its faithful allies to take over Demopolis from behind the scenes.

    Of course, the Church of the Afterlife had refrained from publicly promising their support. Instead, they had nudged the surrounding human cities to take revenge against Demopolis who should be in a state of turmoil as a result of their infighting.

    With the бпblessingбп of the Church, the armies of the Seven Cities expected that by the time they reached Demopolis, all they would need to do was to finish up the weakened forces and divide the rewards among themselves.

    Yet, that was the narrative in their societyбпs news, but everyone who had lived long enough would know that all these were just a pretence for apetition between the Seven Cities to grab Demopolisбп Dungeon Core.

    They would eventually defeat and ughter each and every demon and Demopolis citizen they encountered, but as soon as theirmon enemy was defeated, it would be a battle to decide who was the strongest between the Seven Cities.

    However, what if Jin, Kraft and Rex could fend off the overwhelming assault as well as capture the Seven Citiesбп Dungeon Cores?

    It would not only make the headlines but allow Jin to create an alliance of cities that would benefit him and ultimately Pandapolis too. (Not to mention it would be a perfect shield for Demopolis.) The others would fear him and some industry titans might even convert to his side for safety.

    The three had also learned from Moloch and Baal that they did not have to necessarily conquer and rule the Seven Cities like how they did for Demopolis and Pandapolis. Another option would be to turn those Seven Cities into their vassal states for a period of time as set by a contract between the victorбпs Dungeon Core and the losing sideбпs Dungeon Core.

    Knowing that Jin had a sufficient amount of kingdom ruling between worlds, this was a delightful feature that he would love to utilise. He would be able to influence the way those Seven Cities worked while not having to deal with the administrative work that was beset by each city.

    At the time that Moloch had exined this feature inside the Dungeon Cores, the System had spoken out, suggesting that should Jin and his minions be sessful in this endeavour, Qiu Yue would be the most important piece in his current arsenal.

    As much as the Empire Building Sub System was made to construct instant buildings as Qiu Yue levelled up her cultivation grade, more features such as automated governance could be given clearance by the Sub System for Jin and Qiu Yue to utilise.

    One of the requirements would be to get more Dungeon Cores into the Systemбпs care as they inadvertently would increase its processing capabilities, in turn allowing it to allocate more resources to each of the Sub Systems, even though the Sub System modules were already partially independent from the main System.

    Speaking of the Empire Building Sub System, the current "Assistance in the War Efforts" had been a coboration between Jin and Qiu Yue. Due to the Red Panda Cultivatorбпs diligent effort under the training of Tsu and Kai, her grade had gone exponentially to the point that it had frightened the System a little too.

    Although she kept her new skills a secret from everyone but the Wolf Foxes, she did not hesitate to show Jin the new features that the Empire Building Sub System had unlocked, which had allowed this "Assistance in War Efforts" to be possible and naturally the Dungeon Supplier wasnбпt averse to make a profit in every possible turn of events that the Pandarens were in.

    Jin had thought that he and Rex would have to use the Dungeon Coreбпs basic functions to do a hard reset, clearing most of the city away and used Qiu Yueбпs previous quick fabrication buildings to provide defensive strongholds for the city.

    However, with her new function, she was not only able to do that but by imaging what she wanted, the Empire Building Sub System was able to create a draft design of the area and fully replicate them immediately as soon as its user approved it.

    Both major and minor edits could be done so long as Qiu Yue had a digital tablet and pen with her, with which she would redraw and change the designs by hand. The Sub System would then take into ount her edits and add the needed infrastructure to make it work.

    It would still require specific resources to build the buildings as detailed by the Empire Building System but if the Main System was in possession of those resources (from cement to pipes and wirings), everything would be automated through the powers of the Empire Building Sub System and this brought extreme new possibilities to the way Jin could fight his wars.

    Once Qiu Yue demonstrated it to him, they were both reminded of those real-time strategy games like "ck Alert" or "Command And Conquest" where buildings were built so long as they had sufficient resources at their disposal.

    The only problem was when Qiu Yue wanted the building to bepleted within an instant. The Empire Building System stated that such a feature was not implemented and even if tried to research such a thing, it would be locked until she attained a much higher cultivation grade.

    Thus, the defensive stronghold foundations that Xiong Da had assisted the Raid Instance to those milestones were merely part of the n that Qiu Yue had already designed and had merely been awaiting construction based on the customersбп progress. All the derelict buildings had already been deconstructed and removed, yet Rex had programmed the Dungeon Core to recycle the materials so they could be used for future construction.

    Bunkers were already installed in the bas.e.m.e.nt levels and roads were mended throughout the districts except for the Royal Pce and the Shadow King Districts. With the milestone rewards to entice the Pandarens, Jin would step in and intervene only when they felt the need to rush the constructions.

    For now, they just let those point and coin contributionse in, allowing Jin to save tons of money in redemption rewards while earning more via the side to fund the resources needed for the construction works.

 Chapter 1078 - Retaliation Against The Seven Cities

    <h4>Chapter 1078 - Retaliation Against The Seven Cities</h4>

    As Jin was reinforcing the City with the бпaidбп of the Pandarens, the acimed fox overlords of all Overlords, was already on the move to prepare the defences of Demopolis for a simultaneous strike against the Seven Cities.

    He already had information on those seven cities and he was appalled that the Church of the Afterlife were using such weak pawns against the Demopolis. With the exception of one particr city, Kraft had determined that the rest were equivalent to warm up exercises.

    This was because Demopolis had previously dominated these cities during its prime. They had been defeated to a plum and had been raised with so many resources that Kraft who had checked the Dungeon Coreбпs directory of cities learned that they amounted to nothing.

    However, he was still wary of them mainly because of the Churchбпs support. He spent enough time within the organisation to learn that they had been doing illicit experiments to artificially strengthen soldiers for their fight.

    He even managed to procure one set for Ayse to study and she was shocked how ravenous the Church Agents could be when it came to sentient experiments. "Their serum will strip the user of every bit of intelligence they would have and rampage crazily. And the set you gave me seems to indicate they have catered the serums based on their elements. From basic ones like Wind, Fire, Earth, Water to advanced ones like Light and Darkness." Ayse said as she ced on the Systemбпs replicator to reproduce the exact same serum for further testing.

    She was annoyed that the resources required were a little obscure and she had to spend money in the ck market to duplicate the exact ingredients. (Even without showing it, the System was pleased Kraft was able to steal a sample set.)

    "With the Church of the Afterlife monopolising the deaths of billions of people and monsters, they no doubt have sufficient samples for those who were not able to pay the fee to resurrect. This is indeed a horrible organisation that these people had no idea how much crazy batshit these people are overcharging for a resurrection." Ayse said as she showed the results to Kraft.

    "Isnбпt that why we are working to put up our own religion aka the most legitimate business? The bigger thepetitors, the sweeter the victory when we bring it down. Oh when you think about it, Jin sure found a loophole of using Peppers and Milk as the goddess of saviours since they did not have to be around all the time to entertain their followers." Kraft chuckled to her as he read the results and prepared for such scenarios.

    And todayбпs the day he was able to show the result of his preparations. (Though to be honest, he never really prepared much against a rampaging horde of insentient monsters.) Kraft did however take the effort to ce signs at the borders of Demopolis, includingrge floating billboards in his seas to tell the armies to back off or be killed mercilessly.

    The Seven Cities never heed the warnings and ignore them as empty threats as they trampled the signs or for the naval fleets invading, sting the floating billboards away. Now that the Seven Cities were in their territory and had ignored the warnings of Kraft the kind gentle fox, they were ready to retaliate.

    "As per Dungeon Worldбпs PROPER rules of engagement, we had warned our enemies to not step into our territory. Yet, they refused to heed our pleas of peace and even showed force on my terribly beautiful billboards. So, we now have the right to engage them in battle and chase them out of Demopolis." Kraft said as he sat on his oversized throne and yed a jack in the box. A fox plushie came springing out of the box instead and that indicated to the War Room staff to start the retaliation process.

    "Try not to kill all of them or else I have a sparkling new Stronghold without any scars on it. Would not look nice in the resume of any Stronghold builder." Qiu Yue said as she started to coordinate for the north eastern and western part of Demopolis where there was sea andnd to contend against the invaders, and also assuming Kraft failed to stop the sea invasion. And when that happened, this would be the hardest to contain if themanders handling the north and south failed.

    "Please, it would be best the new Demopolis City was unaffected and we would save more money reconverting it back to a functioning city." Moloch replied as his focus was at the south against the iing naval fleets. "We should send the Pandarens to battle rather than letting them stay in the cities. The Mafias and other remaining Demons would subsequently see them as allies for King Rex too."

    "You think too much Moloch. Just convert the entire city to a Military stronghold and naval base and we can use it to raid on a regr basis without other cities even thinking of attacking us. You had forgotten that we would be angering thergest and most advanced organisation in the entire world. You think they would give us a chance to rest and prosper when they could counter within a whim?" Nubwortmented while handling the northernnds and he was not wrong.

    "What do you have to worry about? We have always been the underdogs fighting against the big guys. From the Orcs to Rats and even my worldбпs Tigers. Even if we have to lose, we wonбпt lose with grace." Jin said. "We will be winning this battle and win even more in this war as long as we y our cards right."

    "Thatбпs my boy!" Kraft said as he pointed to Jin and gave him a love sign with his two hands. Then his face turned dark as he turned on the multiple holographic screens right in front of him.

    "Donбпt you worry, this fox will make sure the Panda n not only wins but have its name be heard across the various worlds," Kraft said as he fiddled his chair and a keyboard with a tablet attached, emerged from the sides. He then typed a fewmands which he sent to his Night Foxes for them tomence with their current operations.

    It was a guarantee the Seven Cities were going to fall. It would be up to Kraft how hard they were going to do so.

 Chapter 1079 - Taris Army Setting Camp Up

    <h4>Chapter 1079 - Taris Army Setting Camp Up</h4>

    "General. We are reaching their city outskirts soon. Should we set up our camp here to rest while sending out our scouts to inform us about their situation before embarking for the assault?" One of the leading Majors asked Yaega Nern, the attacking general from the City of Taris, as he looked back to see the fatigue in his soldiers after a long march from their city. They needed to take some long winding path in order to prevent their away army from being mistaken by other cities as an act of aggression and not incurring the wrath of other cities.

    "Aye, we should and set up a defence parameter as we make camp here," Yaega said as he took his stuffy iron helmet out after a long trip from his city. Unlike the Demopolis City who had immense magical powers to teleport their armies for a shock intensive raid, these human cities did not have such luxuries. The only thing they had in their possession were numbers.

    From the poor and impoverished to the middle ss who wished to gain an achievement, all of these people were drafted into this particr army for the assault. But all these changes when the Church Agents had given them a small shot of a secret serum that gave even the weakest his ability to fight at least two people at once.

    After all, in Yaegaбпs mind, he knew that the Church wanted Demopolis out of the picture and all Taris wanted was a piece of the pie when the Church Agents suggested a coordinated attack. The Taris army would be moving out of Demopolis as soon as they got sufficient shares of Demopolisбпs treasures, the other cities fight it out for the grand prize of owning it.

    "We would be coordinating with Bodek City and Merah Cityбпs armies for the morningбпs attack. ording to ourstmunication, they should be able to rendezvous by nightfall. Other than that, this is proceeding way too smoothly than I expected. The infighting had indeed taken a toll on their defences." Yaega smiled as he could still see smokeing from the city at the cliff view he was standing upon.

    "Yes, sir. Usually, we would have to meet up with such aggressive defence from the Demopolis forces that it would be impossible for us to step a hundred metres into their territory." The Major smiled as he pulled out a small bottle of wine from his bag and asked if the General of Taris City wished to have a gulp of it for a job well done leading their army here intact.

    "Drinking on the job?" Yaega questioned and the Majorбпs eyes were as thin as a slit of paper, smiling from one corner of his mouth to the other.

    "No, General. More like a good luck drink." The Major rephrased it and Yaega could not refuse when he put it that way. In the meantime, the Generalбпs orders were being passed down to the rest and a toon of guards had spread out as ordered so that the rest could have peace of mind to set their camp out.

    Thankfully, it was uneventful as the Taris Army set their camp up for the night. Even though they were in the enemyбпs territory, they were still brazen enough to establish a full temporary base right in the enemiesбп region. It was as if telling the other iing city armies that the Demopolisбп defences were non-existent and that they could invade with a drink in their hand. Themanding officers even thought that this could be a tale to savour for time toe as they partnered with the other cities for the morningбпs coordinated attack.

    However, Yaega did not wish to becent in his defence aftering a long way from home. So, he ordered a few more toons of guards to keep watch of the new encampment and send his scouts to check ahead as the rest of the army were allowed to have a hearty meal and some winks of sleep before the morningбпs assault.

    ---------

    "Are these humans really na?ve or what?" Tinda, one of the Night Fox Elites grumbled via the System Channel thinking that this was an insult to the defenders while passing the binocrs to her pal.

    "Thatбпs the whole point of this retaliation. Tinda, take a chill pill." Narris said as she looked through the binocrs to confirm that there was little activity within the encampment even though the sun had yet to set. At that moment, Tinda already gave instructions to the rest of the Night Foxes to surround the encampment and the rest swiftly flew to their allocated positions with their gearbox suits.

    If they were going to massacre the entire encampment, they needed the element of surprise and those gearbox suits which the Mousefolks used previously during the Southern Region Battle were the right tool for the job. (Of course, they were equipped with gearbox suits which were bigger in size and not Mousefolk sizes.) Not to mention, the dark elves already excelled moving through the forested regions with ease even without the gearbox so the new suit merely elerate their movements to be more fluid like a floating shadow, allowing Tinda to be able to execute an extremely precise ambush with a lesser number of elves in the team when they split up.

    And that was what they were waiting for the entire time.

    Massacring an entire army of two thousand troops with fifty odd Night Foxes was overkill in the eyes of Kraft when he knew that a small coordinated group could easily handle a number bigger than that. (He did oversee their training and expected them to perform an equivalent as a God of War in a medieval setting.) But he wanted these many people not because he wanted to send a show of force or create an explosive scene.

    This was because the rest of the iing army would be wary of their firepower and perhaps indulge in the Churchбпs illegal experiments to seed in this alliance attack on Demopolis. Instead, he sent this many Night Foxes for one reason.

    Sabotage.

    The Night Foxes whose subterfuge was second to none had been sent into the Taris Army to poison their food and water stocks with a rather nasty virus. A virus concocted none other by the Ravenous Lord Kiva.

    That bad Bat Lord was no doubt apetent scientist which could rival Ayse in their individual field of expertise. His poisons had earned him the privileges of being the right hand man of King Baal and this was no exception in the eyes of Kraft. If anything, Kiva had revitalised and produced a previous concoction of stomach flu virus that would be used to target a personбпs life energy. Except now it was more refined, more elegant and undoubtedly top notched effective that give Kraft the idea for mass biological warfare.

    However, that was not the most impressive portion and rather, the ability to have a dy activation when the virus entered their body. Kiva had made sure that the activation would happen when the body arouses its adrenaline receptors, hence causing them to fall ill the moment they were anxious, excited or even felt fearful. In theory, the virus sounded fun for Kraft and decided to give Kiva an entire army as his experiment sample.

    As for the location of the food stocks, the Night Foxes had been there keeping an eye when the Taris Army set their entire encampment out in the open the entire time. From the moment they arrived up to now, their watchful eyes had seen where the food and water items were ced and allocated. Also, this was a true test of their subterfuge abilities as the sun had yet to set and they were poisoning the water and food supplies before their dinner started.

    While it might sound like a handicap, the Night Foxes even for the likes of elites, both Tinda and Narris relished this stealthy close encounter as they poisoned their enemiesбп perishables. Their objective was not to kill anyone at all while making sure they were able toplete their mission.

    Even though it was a roundabout way to do this, chemical warfare was something that Kraft had been looking into for some time and with Kivaбпs бпevilбп expertise at his disposal, this was one more way to defeat the enemies of the Panda n.

 Chapter 1080 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1080 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 1</h4>

    The night went by peacefully for the Taris Army with no incidents and that alone reinforced the fact that the Demopolis Police and even their Home Guards were too busy dealing with the internal strife to even know about them.

    Taris General Yaega had sent scouts ahead to check on the cityбпs situation for he felt something was still amiss. There was no way the Demopolis would not know about them given that they were tantly out in the open. All that bustling for setting the camp up should have already given away their position and yet there was no retaliation on their side.

    However, themanding officers under him reassured him further when the scouts returned safely to state that the infighting was still ongoing.

    Even though it was before the peak of dawn, the scouts reported there were sporadic infightings in each district and the ce was basically torn down. This gave General Yaega a momentary peace of mind until the arrival of Bodek and Merah Cityбпs legions came into view. Their Generals had also assembled in the temporary headquarters Taris had erected within the night. For the rest of the army, they were given a momentбпs respite as well as a hearty breakfast before their assault.

    As the other two cities were further than Taris, they were unable to carry as many food supplies as they would like to and thus given that responsibility to Taris to handle. Surely it was not a wise decision from a strategic point of view since they would all be vying for the treasures and loot of Demopolis but the Churchбпs power to guarantee the cities participating, a fairpensation if they were to coordinate until the demise of Demopolis.

    With that contract enforced, the various City Generals were still protecting the best of their interests but at the same time cooperating between the cities whenever needed while a few Church Agents were made as overseers to make sure that their alliance was valid.

    And one of such overseers was Agent Ravis. Scrawny but not to be underestimated as he was also one of the few who had taken the prototype serum after the scientistsбп countless attempts at refining it. Besides, his true identity was an elite agent employed by the Church of the Afterlife who apanied Merah Cityбпs Army to Demopolis outskirts. (Mainly because the agent happened to be around that area and it was easier to rendezvous with them.) And thus alongside him was General Ana, who was well known in their circles of cities as the War Angel of Fire.

    Bodek Cityбпs general had also arrived as per stipted time and the three generals were discussing the fine points of the battle n created by the tacticians of the Seven Cities. The current war master n was fairly simple. Taris, Merah and Bodek would attack from the north, attacking from three points. The middle point would be led by Taris Army but only a small force would be allocated for that position. A bulk of their troops would be separated to assist with Merah and Bodek attack points which were the North East and North West respectively.

    Eun City, Kemban City and Leba City would bemandeering naval fleets to attack from the south. These three cities, which had superior naval fleetspared to the rest, would be attacking at ater time as they would want the Demopolis Home Guards to focus on the north as their naval fleets swoop in from the south.

    As for thest city, Aljun City, they were the trump card of the Seven Cities alliance and the one Kraft was a little worried about. This was because they were not sea ornd based but aerial. But unlike the Land and sea, the aerial forces woulde in thest because their city did not wish to waste their precious expensive machinations to be destroyed by some magic ball wielding demons. They would however provide whatever fire support the other human cities would need against the Demopolis and should the demons put up a fierce fight, the rest of the armies could retreat and allow Aljun Cities Fleet Armada to burn the entire Dempolis to Kingdom Come.

    "General Ana, itбпs nice to see you again and a good day to you to Church Agent Ravis, I have received your correspondence and sent my units to check out the parameters. Everything is in order and proceeding smoothly. Hope you all had a decent time travelling through the other cities without much disruption." Taris said as he pointed to them their seats on their war table.

    "There were some unpleasant encounters with a few groups of bandits who think that they could steal our supplies. Other than that it was nothing significant, just a bit of sport for our army." General Ana said as she sat down and ced her War Axe at the side. It nearly tipped the table to her side but she reacted quickly by picking it up and cing it on the ground.

    "Where is General Edgar? I thought you said everyone had arrived." Ravis said as he opened his pocket watch to check the time. "He knows that he had to be here by-"

    "Stop your nonsensical yapping, you bloody agent. I am already here." Edgar swiped the tentбпs entrance p away and sat at the remaining chair avable around the war table. "Donбпt you bastards already know that my cityбпs the furthest and you had to yap on being punctual when I am REQUIRED to take detours of unknown difficulties and toe on time as instructed as well? Well f.u.c.k you, you churchie."

    "Mind your words, Edgar. I can denounce you as a heretic and have you cut down even before the start of this assault." Ravis raised his finger at him but Edgar did not back down and instead, challenged him further.

    "Try me." Edgar raised his chest and looked down at the scrawny looking Church Agent.

    "Enough!" Ana was about to pick her war axe and stomped it to stop themotion and Yaega ced himself in the middle to intervene them from even attempting to confront each other. "We can do all this after the assault, not in the middle of it. Letбпs quickly review the ns and start the attack. The dawn is approaching soon and we should hit before the Demopolis Home Guards notice us."

    The three generals including the church agent once more went through with their ns while their armies ate their breakfast in the Taris temporary headquarters. Once the generals were out of their camp meeting, the orders to reorganise and sortie were given as Church Agent Ravis reported the armyбпs progress to his main headquarters. His main purpose was to liaise the information between thend, sea and air so that the war master n could proceed with ease.

    But that was not their main concern for the Church as they themselves were actually preparing a special surprise for Demopolis in case the Seven Cities failed in their assault. After all, they saw the swift capture of Demopolis as well as the stout defences from Pandapolis. Therefore, they were taking no chances.

    ----

    "Ahh... So, this is what they had been nning. Now I finally know why my senses had been tingling for some time. Naughty, naughty! My dear elves, please catch that Church Agent, I would like to know more about their surprise." Kraft smiled to himself as he received the very same information not soon after.

 Chapter 1081 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1081 - Seven Cities'' Assault -Part 2</h4>

    "Letбпs get moving!" General Edgar shouted as the Joint Armies of Bodek and Taris started to march to their allocated point. Merah Cityбпs General Ana did the same too, but because her point of attack was nearer, she dyed her march a littleter so that it would not be a mess. (Since three different armies were moving simultaneously would cause quite a big chaos.)

    Once the two City Armies had been dispatched, it was finally time for General Yaega to take a quick breather as he reorganised his troops for the eventual fight. Everything was smooth sailing as usual and it still bothered Yaega that it had been way too quiet.

    But despite his bad aching hunch, he still stuck to the war master n and already sent his other troops to reinforce Bodek and Merah Cityбпs Armies. In the meantime, Church Agent Ravis had decided to stay in the temporary headquarters Taris Army had erected. When asked why he did not join the fight, he merely stated that he was here to oversee thepletion of the Joint Armyбпs task to defeat the soldiers in Demopolis.

    Yaega knew that there was something up in Ravisбп sleeve which he was not revealing and ordered two of his trusted aides Cak and Imin to keep an eye on him. While his aides protested that they should be on the battlefield with their general, Yaega emphasised that there could be a battle brewing behind the scenes and he would do anything needed to keep his men alive if necessary.

    His aides reluctantly agreed as Yaega went off to the battlefield. As they were merely the distraction and possibly the frontline fodder, Yaega only had three full battalions consisting of a heavy armoured cavalry, a light armoured cavalry and a battalion for siege support.

    Because of the ridiculousck of mobility in the siege support battalion, they had already gone ahead when the other two armies had been dispatched as Yaega knew that both his heavy and light armoured cavalry could reach in time. Still, despite its name, the Siege Support Battalion was actually one of the best Taris City could offer. Cutting edge siege weapons such as magically powered catapults and trebuchets were part of the battalion.

    Not only that, the cityбпs best defenders wearing magical rune armours had been deployed to protect the mages that powered the siege weapons. This way, even when the sieges weapon teams hadpleted their objective in destroying a wall and creating a path for the army, the mages could easily abandon their siege weapons and join the fray against the Demopolis Home Guards.

    They even have seasoned spearmen, archers and backup mages in case Demopolis was able to send aerial units or their own cavalry against the Siege Support Battalion. It was a battalion that supposedly was able to revolutionise the way how battles were fought given its versatility. Many cities remained sceptical of Yaegaбпs new tactics since most battalions were focused on one function for easymanding but the Taris General believed that a well sought victory against Demopolis was all that was needed for the Siege Support Battalion to spread the generalбпs ideology for the entire army. That was also the reason why he did not need such a big number against the centre.

    Ideally, once the Siege Support Battalion had done its job, Yaega and his cavalries should be able to rush and possibly create a pincer movement against the Demopolis defenders in the north east and northwest corners.

    But when the Taris General was about to arrive at the staging point for the assault, he noticed an injured soldier running towards him carrying a dead body right behind the horse.

    Yaega immediately stopped his entire battalion as he wanted to meet the injured soldier to know about the situation. Despite its name, the siege support battalions actually have one of the best soldiers protecting their siege weapons since they were vital in supporting the assault on Demopolisбп walls.

    "Soldier! What happened?" Yaega kicked his Horned Bear to move forward to meet with the injured soldier.

    "The information the scouts gave was wrong! The Demopolis stronghold is-" Before the soldier could even finish his sentence, his throat had been pierced by an unsuspecting arrow and his head immediately exploded right in front of Yaega.

    "AMBUSHHHHH!!" One of the officers shouted and the battalion officers echoed to the rest of the group to pick their shields up. Yeaga realised this particr forested area they were in was not the best ce to protect oneself from an ambush. Even as his knights raised up his shields to protect themselves from arrows, they did not know where it wasing from. Some of the arrows sunk into their horses and horned bears, causing a few of the hors.e.m.e.n and armoured knights to fall from their mounts.

    "CHARGE! CHARGE! Do not retaliate!" Yaega knew that the longer they stayed in the forested area, the more vulnerable his soldiers were. His cavalry was not suited to fight in a forested area, and much less defend themselves in the situation where the ambushers could cripple the entire force. Thus, it would be better to get out of the forested area and into the open area near the Demopolis walls. At that point, he might have a better grasp of the current situation of what his fallen headless soldier had said.

    However, that also meant that he might have casualties before the official fight but he knew something like that was going to happen when he felt that their preparation phase went way too smoothly. Yet, he did not expect to have a coordinated ambush in the outskirts without triggering the magic rms that his scouts had ced.

    Wait, did that mean his scouts had betrayed him? But how?

    Those questions were lingering in his mind as he tried to race out of the forest only to see a scene which he could not believe his eyes. A bright new shining wall staring right in front of him, with soldiers lining the outer walls of Demopolis, all ready to release their projectiles against the invading army.

    To make things worse, the Siege Support Battalion had been utterly destroyed. Large shielded defenders who were supposed to protect the siege weapons from iing projectiles were riddled with holes in their bodies. Siege Weapons which were protected by anti siege magical spells were burning right in front of his eyes.

    The mages were alsoid dead right beside the siege weapons and there were... zombies gnawing at the magesбп corpses until they saw the iing cavalrying towards them. They instantly stood up and dashed towards the light cavalry and the battalion knew they had nowhere to go but only forward. This was not what Yeaga had envisioned and had no idea why his ideal battalion formations had gone so wrong.

    But like his soldiers, right now the only way out is moving forward.

    "Move! Move! Move!" Yaega shouted as he sheathed his sword and grabbed hisnce that was hanging on the side of his horned bear. At that point, he suddenly heard a series of loud bangs emanating from the soldiers on top of the Demopolisбп Wall which caused each and every cavalryman to raise their shields up instinctively. Yet, no arrows were seen flying towards them.

    But a quick nce to the back made Taris General surprised that his heavily armoured horned bears battalion, which could handle dozens of arrows at once, had fallen to the ground. As if to finish the job, the very same explosives arrows from the forested area emerge from behind and annihte any bears that were merely wounded.

    To Yaega, the current open battle area that they were in was a kill zone with no retreat.

    It was a massacre.

 Chapter 1082 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1082 - Seven Cities'' Assault -Part 3</h4>

    "We are getting out of this no matter what!" Taris General refused to throw the towel down as he fiddled with hisnce, feeding it power. Even if the Siege Weapons were not working as expected, he always had a backup n in mind. Hisnce was not just some stabby little spear that he carried around on his armoured horned bear.

    It also has the ability to bring down a fortress wall.

    That was one of the reasons why General Yaega had continued his charge towards the fortress wall and his battalions religiously followed him through because they had witnessed the power of his siege tiernce in battles before. The Taris General tightened his grip on the all powerfulnce, or as the others dubbed it as the Wallbreaker Lance.

    Yaegaбпs magical energy steadily .u.mted within hisnce but instead of him leading the charge, three hors.e.m.e.n sped ahead of him to protect his front. This was mainly because there could be anti personnel traps such as spike pits ced right below the fortified walls. The three hors.e.m.e.n who were in front were to ensure that their leadingmander would not be hindered by these traps and he could pave the way right in front of him.

    To the hors.e.m.e.nбпs surprise, no traps had been triggered as they reached thest few metres towards the fortified wall as if the enemies were so confident of their wall.

    Sure, it looked weird from the standpoint but it did not lower their confidence in their generalбпs attack. So, they quickly did a sharp turn in order to not sh themselves onto the walls and also run away from the possible residual debris of Yaegaбпsnce attack.

    But despite knowing the might of the Wallbreaker Lance, Yaega suddenly has doubts in his mind because he had never seen such a wall before. It was not made from the usual brick and mortar since he could not see any lines or crevices in this particr wall he was attempting to break.

    It looked way too smooth and white like a nk piece of canvas staring back at him. Other than that, this was the only way forward and the general could not think what else he can do in this current situation.

    "WALL BREAKER!" Yaega shouted as he raised his charged upnce and directed it to the wall. The Wallbreakernce immediately acted as arge rotating drill with all the magic infused into it, directly impacting onto the wall. If everything goes fine, his Wallbreakernce will reveal a holerge enough for the entire battalion to charge through into the inner city.

    However, the loud bang on the wall does not sound the same based on Taris Generalбпs experience. It felt muffled and the debris that flew away from the impact was not as much as expected even though he knew that he had inserted even more energy than he ever had because of the adrenaline that was pulsating through his veins. True enough, the Wallbreaker attack only revealed a hole big enough for three battle bears to go through and there was no light at the other end of the wall but Yaega had to keep moving or else the momentum from the battalion behind him would crash the front few.

    The Wallbreaker Lance eventually lost its stored energy and as Yaega tried to move forward, he found himself in a tunnel like environment that was poorly lit with red light and the only paths avable were either left or right. So, in order to reduce the possibility of an impending ident or jam from behind, Yaega sent the order to split up and go through the tunnels from both sides. "Kill anything that moves!" The Taris General orders literally echoed through the huge tunnels.

    However, because of the unsessful siege attempt, the two battalions were indeed attempting to squeeze through the hole that Yaega had created. In the process, a few hors.e.m.e.n were trampled and crushed because of the crash from the charging Horned Bears mixed in their armyбпsposition. And due to the idents, some of the horses made a fuss by not moving forth and instead raised their forelegs to neigh. That alone amounted to a standstill, giving Demopolis soldiers to pick their targets off from their edge of the wall. They even have the time to push tubs of hot oil to the area the Taris Battalions were gathering and pouring the oil down at them.

    With the design of the fortifiedyered smooth walls like terraced farms, the oil was able to .u.mte a little before flowing down. This build up caused a torrential wave of piping hot oil to crash down onto the battalion, melting anyone who was in its path. The rain of bullet projectiles and the flood of oil caused some of the heavily armoured horned bear knights to violently push their way into the tunnel hole for cover but eventually got killed when the oil gushed into the hole and melted the cavalryбпs legs, causing their riders to fall. The hot oil was enough to burn the riders and their mounts, rendering them severely burnt.

    And while they might berades in arms but in the face of death where all were bound to lose in this catastrophe situation, the soldiers felt they had to fend for themselves especially when their general was out of sight.

    The rest of the knights and riders at the back of the battalions had determined that going back through the woods was their only way out of this shit show. To them, the choice they were left with was to either get shot down by these mysterious projectiles which they could not see or take their chances against the ambushers who have explosive arrows which they could blow their heads off.

    Obviously, thetter was more feasible for the rest of the battalion since the front was filled with a deadlock of cavalry trying to squeeze through and the hot oil flowing down the fortified white wall, killing the rest who were stuck in that position. If they could return back to their headquarters they might have a chance for a proper regroup against the ambushers.

    Thus, one of themanding officers in the rear took charge of the retreat and ordered the rest to stay in a scatter formation so that the projectiles and arrows would have a difficult time hitting them. However, the remnants of the battalion were taking casualties as they tried to enter the forested area again. Still, themanding officers were also not stupid to retreat from the same ce they were from, and they split their troops again so that their ambushers had split their forces. This way, there should be fewer ambushers following each group and their chance of survival would technically be higher.

    The problem was that they had no idea who their ambushers were and they might go into a fit to know that they were none other than the Night Foxes. Furthermore, if the remnants retreating were to know that only ten Night Foxes were left handing them to the afterworld, it would be aplete disgrace to the battalion since they imagined that it was an entire toon of ambushers attacking them. They had no idea that the fifty odd Night Foxes had split themselves equally based on the numbers they saw marching out from the camp.

    As for the temporary camp headquarters itself?

    The result was obvious enough.

 Chapter 1083 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1083 - Seven Cities'' Assault -Part 4</h4>

    The temporary headquarters had been thoroughly entertained by a group of ten Night Foxes, personally led by Tinda, a talented Night Fox recognised by Kraft himself. While they could have waited for the virus that Kiva had created to take effect, the Night Foxes were just itching for a sport. Thus, it had been wiped clean by the Night Foxes except for one particr person.

    The Church Agent Ravis.

    He had been struggling to stay alive from the sudden ambush from the Night Foxes and that itself should give praise. That means that the title of an Elite Church Agent was no doubt given based on their abilities. For three Night Foxes had to gang up to fight against him and still alive was a feat. (Well, granted that the Night Foxes were currently ying a fool of their prey rather than to kill him quickly.)

    But Tinda believed that they should not waste their time. The more time is given to the Church Agent to live, the more blunder the foxes could make which the Church Agent might utilise in the future. Thus, she instantly walked to him and grabbed his throat and squeezed it.

    The other Night Foxes were disappointed that they did not have more time to y but they did not know that Kraft wanted the more detailed information of the Churchбпs backup n and Tinda merely used the killing as an excuse.

    Their master had instructed Tinda to extract all the information from the agent himself before he whittled to a shrivelled corpse. However, as Tinda was about to ess information with regards to the Churchбпs n, she suddenly felt her mind being invaded, causing her to be lightheaded momentarily.

    Ravis himself was an Elite Church Agent because of his ability to manipte thoughts with his mind. This was one of the reasons why he was being assigned as one of the Overseers for this particr Seven Cities Assault. To manipte the generals toply with the Churchбпs n since they were the ones sponsoring this entire endeavour. Even during thest War Room briefing, Ravis was able to infiltrate General Edgarбпs mind and nt thoughts, subtle thoughts for dissent between him and the Church. It was his way to make sure that if Edgar made any wrong move on the Church, Ravis could take legitimate actions against him and eventually the city itself. It was his way of revenge and wanted Edgar to take the consequences.

    Right now, when he had been beaten to a pulp, Ravis realised that he was no match against these ...long ears. He did not know where they came from or have any information from them but he knows one thing. When one was mainly brawns, they would hardly have the brains. So, he had decided to use his mental powers to insert betrayal thoughts into the current Night Fox that was squeezing his life away. His rage and the want for vengeance were also transmitted into Tinda, hoping to make her a crazy killing machine that would protect him and annihte the rest of herrades.

    Tinda loosened her grip on Agent Ravis upon the thought transmission and she stood in front of him as if protecting him from the rest of the Night Foxes. Church Agent Ravis believed he had seeded in his maniption as Tinda proceeded to attack her fellow Night foxes before returning to protect the injured Agent Ravis.

    More of the Night Foxes surrounded them and even aimed their weapons at them. They shoot out arrows without hesitation which Tinda deflected with a swirl of her cape and even have the dexterity to catch a few of the arrows. And at that point, Tinda grabbed Ravis and started to bring him away from the camp to somewhere within the forested area.

    "I will remember this, Demopolis. But for now, I am going to torture your long earmando and ravage her to my utmost pleasure." Ravis coughed as he spoke out openly but that was enough to make Tinda stop in her tracks.

    Ravis thought that he had identally broken the connection to his possessed Night Fox and attempted to push more thoughts into her. This time, she did not obey his orders and threw him down to the floor while stomping her foot into his pelvic region. There was a loud crack that caused him to shout in agony.

    "Lol. Are you serious? You disgusting piece of shit." Tinda said and at that point in time, the trees were filled with the Night Foxes present in the previous engagement.

    "So what? Looks like you are going to die with me! And then when they resurrect you, they would imprison you for even siding the enemy for even just a second. That is assuming you are allowed to be resurrected. I have the power to stop your resurrection and even direct you to my church. Ms LINA." Ravis shouted and the rest of the night foxes were giggling. That was when Ravis could not fathom what was going on.

    "Well, I give you credit for catching me off guard since I did not expect a psychic attack from you. But other than that, you think giving me these simple uplicated thoughts of betrayal was enough to influence me?" Tinda said as she had indeed given a fake name and fake identity story the moment she noticed that Ravis was looking through her brain when he attacked her mentally. All those training by Kraft was not for nought and now Tinda understood why Kraft relished in this kind of powery situation. At the same time, she had also put a little more strength in her foot and that alone was sufficient to bring Ravisбп agony up to ten fold more.

    "Then yourradeбпs retaliation....? And how is it that you are able to defend yourself from my thoughts?" Ravisбп tears were already dropping voluntarily along his face.

    "The rest knew that I was feigning and they decided to y along with me. Thatбпs all. But those words you said...was just disgusting. I can imagine how many girls you had tricked and r.a.p.ed because of your psychic powers." Tinda instantly stomped her leg once she finishedmenting and blood slowly stained Ravisбп pants, leaving the church agent speechless from the pain.

    "ARGHHHHH!!! YOU think you will get away from this? I will make sure I will find you! *COUGH* You -you will tremble for making me your enemy-" Ravis could feel his body got had throw out all the adrenaline pangs they could find and caused him to lose his sense of pain. But somehow he felt his head was being controlled as Tindaбпs eyes turned purple. His throat was tighter than before and his grasp for air became erratically frequent.

    "And for yourst question. Do you think your psychic powers are that fantastic? Well, you will be in for a brand new experience. Now I appreciate Kraftбпs tough love. " Tinda remarked as she released him from his physical misery and started to walk backwards. The church agent could visually see that he was being carried up and she showed him a trick that he would never forget. Ever.

 Chapter 1084 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1084 - Seven Cities'' Assault -Part 5</h4>

    When the retreating battalions of Taris Army returned to their temporary headquarters, all they found were bodies lying in the ground, assassinated in cold blood. Most of them were devastated by the current situation but still put on an uncaring face. (or rather, they had learnt to fend for themselves as quickly as possible.) After all, everyone could be resurrected once more but that did not mean that it did not reduce the morale of the troops that were retreating.

    They were not aware whether the ambushers were able to catch up on them or the ambushers were merely waiting to see the reaction of the retreated battalion who returned to their headquarters. But the moment the Horned Bear Knights tried to dismount to search for any survivors, explosive arrows were sent flying across the trees and into the headquartersбп ground.

    This explosive barrage was sufficient to scare those who had yet to dismount and some decided to flee out of Demopolis territorypletely since staying around had no other benefits especially when their headquarters had been decimated into nothingness. The rest were ughtered or eventually bleed out to death when they lost their limbs or parts of their body from the explosions. With no healers around, many of the wounded resigned to their fate as they felt this was merely just a nightmare.

    In addition, this terrible scare within the remnants had already activated the virus that had been ingested during their breakfast. Even as they tried to run out of the territory, their fear and adrenaline rush caused the virus to sap them of their life energy. Most of them, if not all, were killed trying to flee not knowing the reason why. All they knew was they became weak almost instantaneously and had difficulty catching their breath.

    Without much knowledge of their deaths, they fell off their mounts and died as their lungs failed to move and their hearts refused to beat. As for the rest, their Horned Bears and horses could only move forward, some with their masters still on their backs, attempting to get out of the current predicament. Regardless, the System knew who was alive and who wasnбпt since the entire Demopolis territory was under its control.

    And thus, based on the Systemбпs intel, the Night Foxes proceeded to eliminate the ones that were still breathing to make sure that there were no survivors. Besides, this is a recruitment run for the System, it was best to take everyone into its embrace.

    As for Taris General Yaega and his faithful cavalries who managed to pass through the deadly ambush, they were still split up in this tunnel within the stronghold walls where they were hoping to find a way out of it. But the more grounds they covered, it felt even more endless. In his mind, he was wondering why the scouts had betrayed him and or did they give the wrong information.

    All of them would faithfully follow him to the depths of hell and back before and there was no doubt of that in Yaegaбпs mind. They never s.u.mbed to tremendous torture from other enemy kingdoms as they all knew how their general never left anyone behind.

    Not to mention, they were well paid, very well paidpared to some of the junior knights because Yaega knew how the scouting job was a dangerous one especially when death in this world was a blessing and curse. In fact, if they were to die, the Taris Army were to benefit from it since their resurrection also meant that they would have the information in hand. (Though it still hugely depends on the resurrection process since some of the side effects included information loss.)

    But in this case, the Taris General did not know the powers of the lords controlling Demopolis. The Night Foxes had previously killed the scouts and the Dark Lord Almighty Kraft purposely resurrected them for this misinformation performance. After all, information war was something that the Dungeon World had little to no knowledge about and it was fun for Kraft to manipte them into ying this kind of game.

    While he contemtes, the remaining cavalry galloped further through the tunnel untilyers of heavy metal doors suddenly emerged from the top and bottom of the tunnels, cutting their paths and disabling them to proceed any further. As if these doors were a calcted move the moment they appeared, they squashed at least one to two armoured cavalry units, crashing and cutting them with the doorбпs weight.

    Some of the cavalry men were horrified by the attack but not for General Yaegaбпs whose priority was to create chaos as a source of distraction for the North East and North West deployments. They knew they were decoys but with the supposed betrayal from his scouts still in his mind, he believed that the enemies knew their intention and intended to trap them in this tunnel.

    Furthermore, he was in shock that his siege breakingnce had little effect on Demopolis Walls and how the information he obtained during the nning stages of the war n was basically trash. He remembered that the Demopolis walls should be old and tattered, fortified only with magical barriers. The guards were nearly non essential since no one dared to wage war against a big name city like Demopolis.

    Yaega took the extra mile to confirm this intelligence information from the Church indicating the very same thing. The Church also provided unique magical runes for his siege engines, which could only mean that they did not know of this new development. So does this imply that these new cement walls were erected during their march to Demopolis? It would seem impossible in the Generalбпs mind and yet they were within this towering white wall, trying to find a way out.

    "Argh, get yourself together Yaega!" The general thought to himself as he dismounted from his bear and decided to try breaking the walls from the inside. Perhaps if he used his magicalnce from within, the damage would be greater?

    "Hmmm, that magical lookingnce must mean that you are someone special."

    Yaega suddenly sensed a heavy looking item was being thrown his way and instead of inserting magic into hisnce, he used it to block the projectile along with hisnce. As it collided with the Wallbreaker Lance, Yaega had been pushed several metres back. He then noticed that there was some blood on the heavy bulk of metal and saw the bloodshed it made along the way. The metal piece slowly retracted back and Yaega saw a menacing huge figure wearing a sort of animal visor at the side of the tunnel. There was no way he could not have sensed such a big figure when they were trapped inside a section of the tunnel, so ...possibly teleport magic?

    "...And that huge thing is actually a retractable mace? No. Itбпs too huge to be a mace, itбпs more like a war club." Yaega thought to himself as the rest of his cavalry men dismounted and went ahead to create a defensive formation around their general.

    As for the Horned Bears, they obviously knew who their enemy was instantly and three of them charged towards the towering figure, as if telling him who is truly in charge here. But even before the bears could even reach him, the hippo masked cultivator had already made his move once more with his war club.

 Chapter 1085 - Extra- Preparation Phase Against The Seven Cities

    <h4>Chapter 1085 - Extra- Preparation Phase Against The Seven Cities</h4>

    "El Presidente, the Pandaren cultivators are actively engaging with the remnants of Taris Army," One of the goblins in themunication team replied to Kraft while using his made up title. He had been changing his titles so frequently that the goblins had no qualms following his whims.

    "Well done, Comrade. Tell them to clean up the ce properly, alright? Donбпt want any leftovers ying hide and seek in the tunnels." Kraft yawned as he swiped his tablet to check the other battlefields.

    "El Presidente, you still have the flush them out option avable to you." Anothermunications goblin reminded the dictator of this current operation that Jin had fulfilled his bargain of putting a flood tunnel within the stronghold walls. And since the Demopolis was situated right beside the sea, there was no reason not to have the capability to flush enemies out into the sea. (After Kraft drowned them to their deaths first.)

    "That is true! I wonder if our hippo could survive the flooding... I mean he is a hippo, right?" Kraftughed as he tried to give some attention to the North East and North West regions of Demopolis. But even as he browsed them like television programmes, his mind was more on the ns to thwart the naval fleets. Mainly because he IS the head coordinator for the entire operation, he had had enough ofnd battles and decided to go for something which he didnбпt have much experience in. But despite his wants to lead sea battles, thatzy fox ultimately left the seas to Wolte and his best friend Mr Derpy.

    Because of his achievements in the battle of Pandapolis, more demons, especially the Demopolis Navy (or to put it bluntly, highly distinguished pirates) had started to join Wolteбпs fellowship of devouts. Most of the Demopolis Navy joined under him because they were in love with his battleship form, Stalingrad. They also knew that his powers primarily came from merely being under him or being part of his crazy worship and if his numbers were to grow, he might once again have the chance to evolve into something crazy. Even if he doesnбпt, the System did promise that he would have some pretty nifty upgrades.

    Needless to say, Lord Focalor, the trusted navy admiral of the previous Demopolis Navy, was present and was appointed as the captain of the Stalingrad for this current fight, enabling him the luxury to sail in Wolteбпs steed. While the Stalingrad could manage all by himself if he wanted to, he felt that having hands on deck would allow the ship to multitask better and maximise the abilities and new upgrades he was bestowed by the System.

    Also, with Mr Derpy on his side, Kraft barely had to worry about the incursion from the sea. Instead, he felt pity for the invaders. The Deep Ones had repeatedly proven to be the masters of the seas and no one had ever been able to win against them. However, that did not mean they did not upgrade themselves for the uing fight. With the Systemбпs budget for Kraft to improve the defences of the Demopolis Stronghold, the sly fox did not hesitate to provide some budget for the underwater miscreants. Via the Systemбпs interworld ck market, they had managed to procure high powered submachine guns that shot nails repeatedly as well as torpedo propelled grenades that could sink sh.i.p.s easily.

    All this attention could be given to the Naval Fleet mainly because Moloch and Qiu Yue were handling the maind skirmishes while Jin took care of the Demopolis stronghold defences. The бпassist the warбп event was a hit mainly because of Xiong Da pushing through the first set of milestones.

    Even though the other pandarens were not contributing as much as Xiong Da, they were still following in his footsteps making this initiative a big hit. This enabled Jin to recreate the new desired state of Demopolis with no loss on his part because of the extra money rolling in.

    The walls as seen in the fight against the Taris Army were erected throughout the entire Demon empire and defensive weapons such as artillery and machine guns emcements were installed along the walls.

    With the terracing wall formation, multiple gun cements were also installed to improve the strongholdбпs firepower especially in the North East and North West portions of the Demopolis City. Less were installed in the Northern Wall mainly because the Kraft and the System had already known the war ns beforehand. No use reinforcing when they already knew that they had sufficient firepower to get by. Additional cements of guns could be addedter if necessary since the System and Qiu Yue were on a level that could modify stuff on the fly.

    As for the Demopolis Home Guards, General Vual had ensured that his troops were thoroughly trained in these defensive weapons when they were sent to Pandapolis boot camp to learn these new sets of skills. The Orc Artillery Teamбпs training regime was so fierce that the Home Guards now understood why the Demopolis Army were able to lose so terribly. The Orcбпs strictness in firing and the speed to adhere to needed more than just focus. One would need the stamina to do so too and the Orcs could care less that the Home Guards were not as muscr or physically talented as the Orcs.

    So long they could not hit their minimum standards, their whole team was not allowed to return back home. And because of thepletion of this strict training, the Home Guards were desperate to show it off to the iing human armies the results they earned through sheer effort. The only thing stopping them now was the insufficient range of their cannons and the go ahead order from either Qiu Yue or Moloch.

    "Yawnn... I guess they should be reaching soonish? They did promise for a coordinated hit." Kraft opened his mouth wide to yawn with no courtesy of using his hands to cover them. Hezily saw through the visors of his Night Foxes that Merah and Bodek Army had no clue as to what had happened to Taris Army. Those poor sods were still in a high mood that they were going to win this.

    But the Home Guards were not the only few defenders waiting for their arrival. The Three Shadow Kings were doing the same, with their own agenda, those mafia families were to hit and protect the city from those unsuspecting human armies.

 Chapter 1086 - Extra -Take The Gauntlets Off

    <h4>Chapter 1086 - Extra -Take The Gauntlets Off</h4>

    "They are still not here yet? Canбпt we just sleep a bit more?" Neil, The Tyr Gauntletбпs Shadow King, was also snoozing off in his bed waiting for the enemy to ambush. Technically, all of them could sleep through the entire fight after Kraft told them that there were some бпminorбп changes to their orders. But after theplete utter defeat of his Elites against Lynn, most of them wanted to prove to their King again that they were not that useless.

    "Boss, you know your men will give you a t No, right?" Adora, the Tyr Elitesбп only healer, had prepared a tray filled with wholesome food and ced it aside for her King to partake for breakfast. A cup of orange juice and a few slices of bread apanied with a chunk of bacon. The outpostбпs automated pantry was providing these meals so readily that all she needed to do was to bring the tray to her Kingбпs side. "If you wake up now, you might enjoy some goodness before the fight. That cooked sliced meat was terrific."

    "Are you enticing me to go to war after a nice dandy breakfast?" Neil questioned as he rubbed his eyes and yawned out loud. It was after all near dawn and it had been a long time since he had to wake up this early to perform an assault.

    "If that would make you get out of your bed, why not?" Adora bowed and gave Neil some personal time to clear his breakfast.

    "Seriously, this Jin. So much for calling this ce an outpost. This is basically an underground mansion with the facilities it provided and its god damnfortable. Does that guy have no limits when ites to modern technology?" Neil thought to himself as he got out of his bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face.

    Even though the walls were mere concrete with ayer of dull white silver paint, the room was awfully spacious outfitted with a dozen amenities which one would not expect in a military outpost. As he thought to himself the wonders of the outpost he was in, the bathroom mirror simultaneously portrayed the current war information and results of the recent battle.

    Aerial images had also popped up to show what the Mafia was fighting against and it affirmed Neilбпs suspicions that they were overwhelming since Merah Cityбпs army was about a few thousand strong.

    "Compared solely to just numbers, it looks like the odds are against us." Neil said as he enjoyed the warm tap water and facial soap which was rumoured by Adora to be one of the amazing features that this underground бпmansionбп has. "But from the sh memory overload by the System, it looks like the people handling Pandapolis had been winning with such odds way too many times. At the same time, a System Channel link emerged through his head and it was ze, his trusty swordsman to be calling him.

    "Boss, the rest of the Mafia had gathered and were ready to sortie. You want us to head out first?" ze was raring for a fight especially when he found out that this underground mansion was not for show. This was no doubt a military outpost and they have an armoury filled with lots of unusual weapons. However, because of theck of time, the System had barred the Tyr Gauntlet mafia to have ess to guns. Thus, the only few sections that were avable to them was the melee portion as well as the archery department. Only a select few were able to enter the magic section of the armoury and only one time scrolls were essible for use.

    Still, this had greatly improved the Tyr Gauntletбпs mafia group offensive capabilities. They might be small in numberpared to Atrocity and Eld Enve, with only hundred odd members but this underground military outpost was more than sufficient for the group. There was a training room where some of the mafias tested out their new weapons while the rest continued to gawk at their shiny new toys.

    Especially Tenov, their Elite archer who donned a mass produced basic gearbox suit which slightly strengthened his arms and legs while having carbon fibre armour tings protecting his vital organs. He still had to wear either a chainmail or a leather full suit to cover his body before wearing the gearbox but it was definitely lighter than his usual armour stuff. (mainly because of the gearbox tech actively reducing the weight) The same goes for the other elites though the rest of Tyr Gauntletбпs members did not have such a privilege.

    They instead havepatible low grade defensive inscriptions that strengthen their current armour and that was already equivalent to wearing heavy te armour. (For those who were wearing heavy te armours felt like they were imprable when they tested it out in the training room.) Thus, with all these new toys, it was no little surprise that Neilбпs mafia family wanted to go out and score some blood.

    "As much as I like to take out the leash on you guys, the higher ups have not given the go ahead," Neil said as he slowly shaved his chin with the electric razor. "Even if we were to step out now, it will most probably be a death wish for you," Neil said through the System Channel, but this time, he took the advantage of it and broadcast it to the entire mafia family. At that point of time, the System chipped in and further cemented the warning Neil was giving by showing arge holographic screen in the hall where the mafia mobsters had gathered.

    It was the very same screen that Neil was currently watching where they saw Merah Cityбпs army finally within the firing distance of the defensive artillery cannons. It was the exact situation on the other side of Demopolis Walls where Bodek Cityбпs Army wasing too close forfort. To the mafia mobsters, it might seem utterly hopeless for Demopolis since traditional battles had shown that there were way too little guys manning the walls and the advantage goes to the big numbers.

    But they had already seen the firepower being packed with their masked human soldiers and the battle of Pandapolis was still quite fresh in their minds. Neil was already smiling despite such odds. "This time, once the orderes down, you guys can take your gauntlets off and show them what it means to be part of my Mafia Family."

 Chapter 1087 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1087 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 6</h4>

    "Something is not right." Ana, Merah Cityбпs General said to one of her officers. "I am unable to contact Yaega at all." She tried tapping on her magical ball charm to check on his status but there was no reply at all. Aspared to General Edgar, Ana could feel some feedback emanating back even though there was no answer.

    But for Yaega, there was essentially no change in the colour of her magical ball charm and the only reason she could think of was an anti magic field even though it never happened before. This was mainly because the magical ball charm would blink of a different colour upon attempting tomunicate through an anti magic field. But this time around, it seemed as if he entirely disappeared. Thus, she could only deduce that the charm was inadvertently be destroyed in a scuffle especially since there was no retreat re indicating any defeat from Yaegaбпs direction.

    "Perhaps he is preupied fighting that he identally drop it or lose it? You know how those mounted cavalries usually lost things they carry when they charged like a mad man." Her officer suggested as he was more concerned with the current situation in front of him. The behemoth looking walls were bothering him to an extent that he felt paranoid with his generalбпs line of questioning. The wrong information was given to them by Taris General and the Church was something new to him and it proved to him that all of this could potentially be a trap. But since General Ana was his higher up, he could only think of simple excuses to answer her while he was vexed with the current situation.

    "Yaega is not that kind of person, he would at least send a transmission at least once and all the more if the situation is unfavourable," Ana remarked as Yaega and her had been battle pals for quite some time. From attacking each other till near destruction to cooperating against other cities, those two had gone way back.

    And Ana did attempt to send another transmission out with a scroll containing a specialised form of magical telmunications. However, she did not know that the enemy Gobs Infms team were able to intercept it and blocked her message from going in.

    Kraft wanted to mess around with the message and ry the magical telegram that everything was proceeding all fine but he decided he was toozy and let them be. (After all, he got way tired of messing up the messages during the Mafia fights.)

    Although Ana eventually felt something was amissed, seeing that she was unable to get through Yaega nor receive any message, she decided to stop the army from going any further. "Everyone, halt! I need a suicide squad to volunteer!" Ana shouted and instantly, a bunchful of hands emerged from the crowd of soldiers.

    "Alright,e out and assemble at this g point! Officers, make sure those troops have their duties covered by the rest of their teams." Ana said and in less than a minute, those daredevil soldiers assembled right in front of her.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for covering this particr task. Report your names to Major Farouter so that you are dulypensated for the resurrection process. Now, to the task at hand, I am going to impart to you some of my powers and I would want you to charge to the wall and detonate my magical powers. Avoid any attacks and move forth when I give you themand." Ana exined and the suicide squad immediately acknowledged the glorious duty given by the War Angel of Fire.

    And without further ado, Major Farou took the names of the soldiers when Ana spoke a long prose of magical words. A mystic circle emerged on the ground and expanded to epass the entire squad. Slowly, her powers were passed to the squad and they could feel that her fire magic was overwhelming. It felt like it was burning them from the inside and wanted to overtake them, to consume their innards and explode outwards. But for now, the only thing that was holding them together was their human sanity.

    Yes, what Ana did was not exactly transferring magic to the squad but instead, applying her magic and to make them into a deadly ticking human timebomb.

    To add on, she evenmandeered the suicide squad to carry actual fire bombs to charge to the wall. Simultaneously, Major Farou had cast mass support magic on to the suicide squad, allowing them to be more agile and run faster.

    "At least with this, I should be able to recognise the trap if they were not dumb enough to ce any." Ana thought to herself as she ordered the squad to move forth.

    With the timebomb magic cast on the soldiers, the suicide squad felt like they knew no boundaries in terms of stamina and ran as if their heels are on fire. Their only goal was to keep their sanity intact until they reach the wall.

    But the Demopolis Home Guards were not idle either. The System had managed to capture themotion of making the suicide squad. And thus, the Home Guards were already zeroing into their squad through the sights of their sniper rifles.

    "Fire whenever you feel they are moving." Qiu Yue said through the System Channel and the Demopolis Home Guards were ready to shoot as soon as their General gave the call.

    "BOOM!"

    As the suicide squad was about to be given themand to run, they suddenly exploded right in front of the army, giving Merah Cityбпs General a huge shock as she knew that they should not explode so haphazardly unless they die.

    She knew that the timebomb magic was a vtile one but Ana had been using such a tactic for ages. So much so that her army even acknowledged such a powerful tool at their disposal and it was one of the reasons why they dubbed her the War Angel of Fire. Thest time it backfired on her was aeons ago and there never had been such an incident as bad as this.

    While she was lucky that she was able to shield herself from the damage, it was not the same for the rest of her army. Her entire frontline was either killed or heavily burnt. To make this worse, the fire bombs that they carried were extremely mmable, causing the entire forested area they were hiding from cannon fire to be caught on fire. Thus, they either retreat now or charge fully through the wall.

    Ana thought it was her fault that the human time bombs had backfired but they had no idea that the Home Guards were the ones who shot them. At that point of time, they hadcked the understanding that the deaths of those firebombs would be such a setback against the Merah City Army.

    The Home Guards merely performed their actions as per Qiu Yueбпs orders and even the Systemбпs tactician was unaware that the inferno that was happening could be realised and she even readied an alternative n to st them all bits and pieces once again.

    Now with the inferno brewing right in front of them, Qiu Yue did not have to think of other ways to reduce the amount of wham and bam while still being efficient in her methods of killing.

    Thus, the current change of winds had allowed Qiu Yue to keep Demopolis safe and withheld her trump cards for the next phase while ordered the Tyr Gauntlet to move out.

 Chapter 1088 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1088 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 7</h4>

    "Bloody hell..." Moloch grumbled when he realised that his side of battle was not as easy as Qiu Yueбпs or the Northern portion of the Demopolis wall despite it being poorly coordinated by Kraft and overrun with Pandarens. He envied that the North Eastern portion of the Demopolis was under control when Tyr Gauntlet came smashing down on the army hard when they appeared with their sh mass teleport.

    The Tyrбпs Elites gave a fantastic opener when they performed a pincer movement from the sides and the back of Merah Cityбпs army. With the back of the army being filled with paramilitary support and siege weapons, Tyrбпs Elite killed them down quickly with the brand new shining toys at their disposal. While it might just be a level one inscription weapon, it was akin to magical swords that might cost at least hundreds to thousands of dungeon dors from a regr weaponsmith. The Tyrбпs Elitesбп ess to better versions of those бпmagicalбп weapons were a boon and they raged through the backbone of the army.

    Contrary to Merah Cityбпs Army, Bodekбпs General Edgar was pushing through his army with a traditional and systematic assault towards the North Western portion of Demopolis. Moloch reacted with a continuous barrage of artillery fire but Edgarбпs army was fearless to a fault. They did not care about the casualties they incurred and instead kept moving forward as if they were the tsunami tidal waves moving through the shores, relentless in their march to destroy things.

    Yet the Demon Guards in the North Western portion did not falter at all nor lost their morale despite the battle hardened army of Bodek steadily pacing through the forested areas and into the ins right in front of Demopolis Walls because of a particr group reinforcing them.

    The Atrocity Mafia who had recouped their losses after their One Eyed boss, Sakov had made a deal with the System after Rexбпs enticing offer of a full adamantine armour set.

    Now that the city was in arms with the Shadow Kings, the rest of the minor mafia families had no choice but to confusingly follow the big groups after they acknowledged that enemies of Demopolis take priority. While it was true some of the minor mafias did not agree with this sudden change of arrangement, they saw how the Home Guards tolerated their presence and even generously provided them with supplies during the truce.

    Thus, with the drastic change of circ.u.mstances, they temporarily allied themselves with the big three or rather, the big two since Tyr Gauntlets decided to act alone as they usually do. And because of this, the Atrocity Alliance was at least a thousand people strong and all of them were waiting behind the walls with huge holographic televisions hovering above their heads, showing them the ferocity of the iing enemy army.

    As there was only one particr gate at the North Western portion, Bodek General Edgar believed that pinning his hopes on destroying it would be pointless. He knew there were some tricks behind this Demopolis Wall and he was not going to follow the convention despite his brute force march.

    Those defensive cannons which kept pounding explosive fire on his troops were something out of this world and something that even the magical advanced cities were not capable of doing. That weapon was defying in nature and thus he had to bring out his trump card moves too. Bodekбпs City was known for men with colossal strength and they were not mere hearsay when his army stormed through the ins with most of his soldiers able to withstand the explosive fire.

    Still, repeated artillery fire could bring those men down and that was what Demopolis Home Guards were doing. With the artillery guns that were deployed with the assistance of the Pandarensбп wallets, they rained down shells after shells which the Orcs would give a grade above passing. However, the Bodek City Army was not only marching through the ins for nothing.

    One would think that they were moving forth systematically but they were actually preparing to create an (in)human staircase where the toughest one would hold his ground and the rest would create a stack at the front with their shields, withstanding the explosive fire to the best of their limit. With pure brute strength, the soldiers eventually created a human like ramp where the backlines would dash and step on theirradeбпs back to jump across and to reach Demopolis wall.

    Yet, the Demopolis Home Guards were not idle with their defensive manoeuvre as some took out their machine guns and fired at their opponents with solid lead. Nevertheless, the Bodek Human Ramp was so tediously resilient that they grit their teeth and bare through each and every bullet. It was as if they were given medicine or drugs that would turn their pain receptors off and those bullets did nothing but put merely holes into their staunch body. (The rumours of the Churchбпs Serum were reinforced into Kraftбпs thoughts when they saw it working so well for the Bodek army.)

    It was only when the artillery guns used piercing anti tank shots upon themand of Moloch that they managed to destroy a portion of the human ramp. Nevertheless, General Edgar ensured that there were reserves at the side of the ramp that would rece the gaps in its human staircase so that it would remain steady for the assault.

    Simultaneously, the inhuman soldiers that managed to jump across the wall had begun to destroy the artillery guns that were causing damage to the human ramp n. It was at this point the Atrocity Mafia had sortied to take on the brutes. And they were equally mercilessly as they dragged the humans over the wall and into the city where the rest of the Mafia members were waiting to assault it. This was because they did not want the Bodek soldiers to cause any further coteral damage to the wall.

    Some of the mafia members even sacrificed themselves to be part of the fall so that they could bring Bodekбпs soldiers to the other side of the wall.

    Separately, the guns that were bunkered within the walls were destroyed as the enemies who did not manage to jump to the top of them slid down and took advantage of the situation to destroy some of the artillery guns stationed in the walls.

    But broken barrels aside, the enemy soldiers were unable to break the steel reinforced cement walls with their bare hands and the Home Guards stood at a distance and sprayed their bullets through the bunker windows. Most of them scored a headshot or dealt enough damage to cause them to fallpletely. The situation was indeed a battle of attrition, seeing who couldst the longest.

    "Should I get my foxys to act on the current situation? They are currently stationed right behind them." Kraft saw the increasing difficulty which Moloch was facing since part of Taris Army was with them and that very same wretched Siege Support Battalion was steadily preparing their offensive assault from afar. It would not be long for them to release their barrage of primitive yet possibly effective siege projectiles against the Demopolis walls.

    "Well, what are you waiting for?!" Moloch rolled his plushie looking eyes and immediately saw that he hadmand of the Night Foxes awaiting at the back of their army.

 Chapter 1089 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1089 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 8</h4>

    As the Northern Invasion of Demopolis progressed, the other three Cities had pushed their Naval Fleets from the southern borders. Eun City, Lebar City and Kemban City who specialised in their naval strength believed that they had sufficient firepower to storm the tip of the Demopolis penins and get the trophy of conquering the city.

    Their perceived position strengthened further as their naval scouts confirmed there was only one sole ship standing against the might of three naval fleets. A number of the captains and even their Admirals wereughing through the magical ballsmunication system, stating Demopolisбп audacity to send just onerge ship against multiple fleets.

    "If they think size is the only thing that matters, those demons would be sorely mistaken. Our overwhelming numbers would crush them!" One of the infms goblins were mimicking the way the captains were talking as they type out the conversation they intercepted into theirputers.

    "The Demopolis Home Guards must be too busy handling the infighting within their own city and could not provide sufficient numbers for a naval defence. Who knows? Maybe this ship could be practically empty! Just a mere show of force with its size!" The Naval Admirals of the three cities continued to exchange their insults over Demopolis ck of preparationбп and the infms teams merely transcribed whatever they said as part of their war report.

    While there was quite a lot of idle chattering within the channels of the magical balls, the goblins had managed to sieve through all the useless information and obtained their sh.i.p.sбп positions. Those positions were sent through the magical ballmunication channel to coordinate with their Mothership, thus leaking the current speed and bearings of their sh.i.p.s and giving the infms goblin team to plot out the entire naval fleets without the capability of a satellite.

    The System might have an idea of their location because they were passing through Demopolis grounds but because it was covered in sea, the data was best corrted with the information the infms goblin picked up and performed adjustments to portray the most urate data on the war table digital map.

    And with the updated information being constantly projected in the War Tableбпs holographic map, the System would send it to the relevant parties to keep them within the loop of the enemiesбп position. That included Lord Wolte who had already transformed into Stalingrad and Mr Derpy who was swimming right beneath the infamous ship that protected the seas of Pandapolis. And with the simultaneous feed from the System, Lord Focalor who nowбпs the captain of Stalingrad used the updated coordinates to adjust Stalingradбпs cannons to the biggest fishes in the sea.

    The Mothersh.i.p.s of the three naval fleets.

    As for the rest of the smaller sh.i.p.s, Lord Focalor had already engaged Stalingradбпs newest targeting system which could smartly aim almost all of them. Those sh.i.p.s that were not targeted by the big cannons, had been allocated two surface to sea missiles from Stalingradбпs missilepartments. But because of the sheer numbers, only the back row had been currently targeted so the invading naval fleets could not retreat.

    "I finally understand how it feels to be in power. All these digital instruments might seem overlyplicated but once we are able to target them, I feel a surge of adrenaline passing through me." Lord Focalor thought to himself, thinking how amazing it was to be able to pilot such an almighty vessel. He also ordered his sailors to prepare theunch as they awaited the three naval cities to shoot first. (After all, this was just for the pretence to subsequently attack their cities.)

    And with the inactivity from Stalingrad, it did not take long for Eun Cityбпs Mothership to begin turning to its portside and readied her guns. The rest of the sh.i.p.s began to follow suit but as they turned, Eun Cityбпs Mothership had decided to fire their first volley of cannon shots. It was as if they wanted first blood to be theirs since there was no use wasting time not destroying the chunk of metal looking ship.

    The Naval Admirals collectively thought it was pretty menacing to have a huge metal ship, but they all believed the clunkiness of the ship made it a white elephant in the sea. Not to mention the amount of manpower needed to create it and the materials utilised. One of them even deduced that the gigantic metallic ship could have potentially exhausted one entire iron mine. (or in their case, a dungeon filled with iron resources.) Also, being able to let it float was already an engineering miracle in their eyes and they wanted to have a sample of the ship once the war was over.

    And since their sh.i.p.s were made out of aged wood, they were faster and more agile. Hence, they believed that they should fire first and fast since the admirals deduced that Stalingrad would probably sink in their volleys of attack. A few thought the metal sheet might break with a few hits else it would be too heavy to float and the majority did deduce it wrongly causing them to miscalcte, requiring more time to bring it down. Regardless, the cities collectively believed that their overwhelming numbers would be sufficient to bring such a metal whale down.

    Lebar City was notgging behind in terms of attack as they used their mages to summon meteors from the sky and dropped them right above the titan metal ship. Since they could not see the deck of the metal ship, they hoped that it would be made out of wood so their meteors would have a significant impact in damaging their ship. Their admiral assumed that there was no way the entire ship could be made out of metal.

    As for Kemban City, they merely waited at the sidelines since their expertise were their men. Simr to Bodek City, Kemban Cityбпs naval fleet was based on raiding strength. This was because both of their cities shared borders and there was a close rtionship among the two citiesбп people. (and Churchбпs serums) Their objective was to charge through the fort, breaking them with their ram sh.i.p.s while their men charged in to ughter those puny demons.

    Yet, all that sound of iing fire was like a sweet song to Lord Focalor as he pushed the microphone button to tell the respective weapons department two words.

    "Weapons Free."

 Chapter 1090 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1090 - Seven Cities Assault -Part 9</h4>

    The exchange of fire was tremendously quick.

    Even as the Eun Cityбпs Mothership volley of fire was like a battle orchestra riding on the thunder clouds with their sea crew screaming at each other, giving out the orders to fire from their higher ups. The tremendous series of firing was a spectacle to watch from the side sh.i.p.s as they systematically released the cannon balls. The volley consisted of at least twenty over cannon balls towards Stalingrad but even the most thunderous sounds were nothing without the strength of the lightning.

    Their cannonball hits did not even make a dent on Stalingrad at all. Their cannons literally bounced off from the metal tings of the battleship and dropped into the sea like a piece of useless paperweight.

    Lord Wolte thought that those cannon balls were mere nudging as it felt that it tickles a little with no significant damage done to him. He expected the human cityбпs naval fleets to be more challenging like the time he suffered under Lord Focalorбпs assault during the Pandapolis War but it seems that he had severely underestimated them. The previous damage, while not extensive, had shown that the demons were using cannon balls infused with a high level of elemental magic.

    Thus, Lord Wolte believed that the humans with their cunningness would prepare something even more sinister than the demons since they always would like to find the weakness of their enemies. But it seemed like his current foe had not studied enough against his ship. To Wolte, the human armiesбп cannon balls that were fired out were nothing spectacr and totally short of his expectations.

    It was simply just gunpowder and a heavy ball of iron flying out of it.

    There was no magic infused into the cannon balls and their supposed barrage of attacks did absolutely nothing to Stalingrad. It was to the point that Lord Wolte worried almost for nothing.

    The meteors, on the other hand, proved to be more of a threat. When they first emerged from the skies, Stalingrad was able to counter a few with its anti air capabilities and breaking the meteor rocks apart. However, as they began to grow in numbers because of the simultaneous casting from the mages, Lord Wolte had no choice but to call out magic dispellers within Lord Focalorбпs crew of demon pirates. With the help of his online navigation systems, the magic dispellers made quick work of the meteors.

    After all, the Naval battles were more deadly thannd battles. They needed to have the skill of sword and magic while fighting along with deadly cannon balls, sh.i.p.s crashing on another while fighting on an unstable tform and nasty sea weather to boot if they were unlucky. Their past experience raiding various armies had made Lord Focalorбпs crew be well equipped with the necessary set of skills to defend a battleship.

    While some of the meteor strikes were able to hit the ship at first, the damage was almost negligible as the pirates quickly sortie out to not only repair but counter those magical meteors. But most of the dispelling required a significant amount of time because the mage needed to do some mental calction to ensure that the dispel was able to cast directly on the magical projectile itself. It was no easy task for most of anti magic mages and many usually die before they could counter a spell properly.

    However, Anti Magic Magesбпbat prowess to stop a magic attack was nothing short of a lifesaver. Sh.i.p.s were after all a mechanical floating ind that required the effort of everyone on it. Even if they could stop a magic attack, it was akin to proloning the life of the shipбпs existence. Yet, Stalingrad was able to survive this long was also mainly due to the assistance of the System.

    With the Systemбпs support, most of the anti magic mages could easily calcte the trajectory, the exact amount of mana needed to counter it and had miniscr details and information that could optimise the destruction of said offensive magic with the minimum amount of mana required. This incredible feat of dispelling magic caused Lebar Cityбпs mages to be in disbelief. Unable to ept the fact that their magic could be dispelled this easily, they wanted to summon arger meteor through group chanting to counter the mass dispel they had seen.

    But they did not have that luxury of time in their midst as the Mothersh.i.p.s of all three cities were being targeted by Stalingradбпs heavy cannon fire. Explosive shells were more than sufficient since most of the citiesбп naval sh.i.p.s were made out of wood. As the shells impacted the sh.i.p.s, the explosion was sufficient to catch the ship on fire and that kept the naval crew busy, trying their best to stop the fire from spreading.

    However, the naval crews had no idea that Stalingradбпs shells were able to prate deep into their Mothership and exploded right in the middle of their sh.i.p.s, causing fires to be spread widely and blocking exits. (They probably have those emergency fire evacuation ns but when things went to shit, nobody would be bothered following them)

    As for Eun Cityбпs Mothership, their damage was even more extensive due to the fact that one of the explosive shells incidentally reached thepartment where they kept their crates of gunpowder. (Also because they were nearerpared to the other two Mothersh.i.p.s and Lord Focalor personally devoted a few extra explosives shells towards such a nearby target.) This naturally caused secondary explosions which were probably why Eun Cityбпs Mothership burst into mes that were worthy for Peppers to pass a sympathetic judgement. And with no chance to repair the mothership, the Eun Cityбпs Naval Admiral had to promptly make the call to abandon ship.

    Lord Focalor also took this opportunity of shock and awe to send out the missiles that were previously targeting the fleetбпs back when the other crews saw one of the Naval Fleetбпs mothership destroyed right in their eyes. The roaring thunder that emerged out of Stalingrad sent waves of chills through the hardiest of sailors as they saw the trail of smoke flying up to the sky and passing through the front part of their fleet.

    The subsequent sessive explosions of their fleetбпs backline had scared the wits of their mind even further that many felt this assault had be a death wish. Stalingrad was no mere empty metal vessel that was unable to move, it was practically a sea fortress guarding the Demopolis walls.

    However, some of the sailors did not falter when they now knew that retreat was not an option. Thus, they began turning their sh.i.p.s to fire at Stalingrad in a desperate effort to sink it while Kemban City had decided to ram their siege sh.i.p.s against the Devilбпs battleship in order to sink it.

    As for those who had abandoned their sh.i.p.s from the explosions, another level of terror awaits them as Mr Derpy, the Shadow Dagon sent out his Deep Ones to clean up the rest of the mess.

    The Deep Oneбпs speed in swimming increased with the new gear that they were wearing and the humans were almost helpless against them. While the monsters liked to use their new shiny weapons, most of the Deep Ones merely used their traditional technique of grabbing a leg to drown the men. Only a few managed to fend for themselves within the water because of their magical abilities but most of them were mere mortals with no powers. Their meaningless struggle for air and survival was futile as the Deep Ones pulled them further into the oceans of Demopolis.

    Unfortunately, the magically inclined had a worse fatepared to the men that died in their watery grave. The Deep Onesбп appearance within the dark murky sea waters was nothing but dull yellow glowing eyes and rough green scales with their ws and teeth emerging out of it.

    Those men who drowned at least do not have much knowledge of their deaths but for the mages, they saw the nightmarish terror of an army of Deep Ones hunting down each and every human that had contact with the oceans.

    Fear was not the word, but rather pure despair. It made them panic and tried to cast spells underwater to break the hold of their grapple.

    But the Deep Ones gave no mercy.

 Chapter 1091 - Seven Cities Assault -FINAL -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1091 - Seven Cities Assault -FINAL -unedited</h4>

    "So... North side, Check." Kraft was saying as he yed with his digital tablet and browsed through the checklist he had created on a whim. "Oh triple checks since all the battles are proceeding rather smoothly."

    "Hey! Just because you sent me some of your dark elves to my side, doesnбпt mean my side is all cleared, okay?" Moloch heavily reminded Kraft that the battle was not entirely over.

    "Anddd South Side, total annihtion check. So, when are the churchesing to seriously attack us?" Kraft pouted as hepletely ignored Molochбпs side of the argument and started to be bored. With nothing on hand, he was at the point of moving on to the next phase of his perfect mastern to conquer the seven cities.

    "Arenбпt you forgetting about the aerial attack ns that the Church Agent had revealed to us?" Kiyu yawned while sitting right beside the devil foxбпs throne, ying her portable game console.

    "Nah, they would not go through with that." Kraft stood up as he threw his tablet on his throne seat and started walking around the war table and subsequently ended up standing right beside Jin."You. Stop cking around already. We need more money to being in for the iing days."

    "What? Donбпt you need my help in the uing fights or anything?" Jin said as suddenly two Night Foxes emerged from his sides and grabbed both of his arms. "ARENбпT YOU THE ONE WHOбпS SLACKING?" Jin immediately yelled as he could feel that the grip from the Night Foxes were getting tougher. He did not want to use any strength ormands against his own minions but this was a tad too disrespectful to their master. (While he was not wrong about the chain ofmand in the hierarchy, the Drows technically still have to obey Kraft who was their direct master.)

    "Shhhh. I was browsing my checklist and I noticed that you have a lot of iplete stuff to do. The zoo, the advanced training centre h h h." Kraft said as he knocked Jin on his head to shut him up a little.

    "What?! What does that have to do with you? Arenбпt I helping with this whole Demopolis Defence thingy just so that we have enough people for the иC Ow!"

    "You entrusted me to do this, and I promised my brother Rex that I would do a good job. So, therefore. I do not need you anymore. Guards! Take thiszy master of ours and put him in a cage inside of the Dungeon Maker! He is not allowed toe out until he finishes all of his tasks!" Kraft shouted and the Night Foxes immediately started pulling Jin away from the current War Table Room.

    "This is part of the Dungeon Maker room! How would you even put me in a cage when I am already inside this room? Is it because I did not showcase my skills, thatбпs why you are being very angsty right now?" Jin shouted but before he could have a reply, the floor beneath him suddenly gave way and the Night Foxes that were holding him quickly threw him downwards, causing him to fall faster.

    "Perhaps." Kraft shrugged his shoulders and walked away, while the rest of the foxes who were at the scene smirked.

    "You are doing this just for your own self interest arenбпt it?" Qiu Yue who was at one corner of the War Tablemented while the North Eastern battle was starting to have a clear winner. The soldiers barely had a chance from the ambush from both the Night Foxes who came inter and Tyrбпs Gauntlet. While General Ana was meant to be a power yer in this particr wargame, Neil the Shadow King was no pushover either. The Night Foxes who came inte had managed to subdue most of the officers of Merah City and even began cooperating with Neil to take down Ana.

    "Sometimes, I wonder if you are innately kind," Lynn remarked too as she was at the sidelines resting from the fight she had with the Tyr Elites. "Though, I had to remind you that I am now in charge of the Zooбпs work."

    "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I just do not want Jin to see what we are going to do." Kraft said as he returned to his big funky throne.

    "And for you to include us, the Sub System Users? Thatбпs something new in my book." Qiu Yue replied and started to move towards Moloch. With a nudge, the little Minotaur plushie instantly shared hismand units with her and they both managed the North Western battle together.

    "You sure about this?" Moloch posed a question with two meanings in it. One of which was leaving her battlefield and assisting with his and the other was taking part in Kraftбпs mastern.

    "We got the money, the resources and even the necessary talent. But we do not have the troops. They are all easy picking right now because we have technology on our side. Unlike the Demon Rats, who would copy our tech stuff just by seeing it is terrifying. We need whatever advantage we could get. And that involves me helping you to clear this so we can quickly move to the next stage." Qiu Yue said while giving a stare at Kraft.

    "But I still think itбпs too fast to move to the next stage when we have not resolved the aerial portion of this particr invasion." Qiu Yue added.

    "h! Come on. Give me some credit. I had already sent the Devil Dragons and our trusty Goblin Wyvern Knights to annihte them long before you guys even started fighting with those hummies. When ites to air battles, offense is the best defence." Kraft said as he flipped his digital tablet and showed everyone the current aerial battle that no one could have noticed.

    With the tablet screen being ufortably small to see, the System automatically projected it to the wider screens around the War Table Room and they could see that the Devil Dragons and Goblin Wyvern Knights were working in synchronicity. Their upgrades from the Southern Region battle in the Farming World hade in handy and Marquis Forneus even rmended that both forces should have a friendly match to specte who could have the most kills.

    Naturally, Wyrstriker did not back down and had beenpetitively keeping up with the scores despite the fact that the Goblin Wyvern Knights were not meant to take apart big aerial airsh.i.p.s down.

    "No wonder, you pushed Jin away." Lynn nodded her head.

    "It cannot be helped, his idea of putting Milk and Peppers as the figurehead of our new religion is at best meagre in terms of influence. We had to be more ...whatбпs the word? Empathetic to get people to learn about our new godly Waifus for this dungeon world." Kraftmented as he dramatically raised his hand and pretended to look understanding towards the rest in the group. "And that cannot be done without a show of a miracle." And in his mind, it would be a good chance for Jin to finally be isted and started to work on finishing all his iplete projects for good.

    "A бпmiracleбп that would dirty Demopolis and drain some money and resources away." Rex finally spoke in agreement with Kraft.

    "Thatбпs right, we got to do it and you get to see it." Kraft said as he stared at the two Sub System Users. "Especially you Qiu Yue, you are our main star for the show to get our Panda Religion going."

    "We will see about that. Letбпs see if the Church response in the way you predicted it to be." Qiu Yue kept quiet and continued to assist Moloch.

    "Donбпt you worry. They will. I had already ensured their cooperation." Kraft leaned back with his legs crossed.

    And that sly pure evil smirk across his face.

 Chapter 1092 - Finishing The Job

    <h4>Chapter 1092 - Finishing The Job</h4>

    "What is that Kraft thinking?" Jin grumbled to himself as he found his surroundings to be the same as a prison cell. Unlike a normal prison cell, this one had no door, no bars, no windows, just four walls.

    However, the biggest difference was that the statuses of his iplete jobs were being disyed right in front of him. A holographic screen would follow his line of sight everywhere unless he was looking at the control console.

    "Is this another kind of psychology test I have to endure?" Jin thought to himself as he closed his eyes and suddenly rms started to re after a few moments of rest. That Kraft had purposely created a type of hell for Jin to go through. To make matters even more strict, Jin was not allowed to touch anything that was not rted to Earthбпs problem. From the Farming World to Goblin World, there was no ess given to him and the System even gave him slight electrical shock feedback whenever he tried essing those projects.

    "System, what is the meaning of this? Why are you coborating with Kraft to do this to me?" Jin questioned and the System gave a straightforward answer.

    "Original Betor Kraft, the System, and others have noticed that User tends to deviate from his current objective to focus on other projects whenever you are stressed. So far, this has always resulted in more new problems popping uppared to if you had just stayed focused."

    "System has made many simtions in that regard and the results were that if the User hadpleted everything as per schedule, the entire store would not be in this particr situation!"

    "What situation? Didnбпt I create a new Dungeon Raid for the customers? And sometimes, even impromptu ones which actually serve as a money booster to our monthly reports?" Jin asked and the System acknowledged his efforts.

    "User did indeed, however, your diversion from certain projects has led even our most loyal customers to feel somewhat cheated. The System is always listening in on their phones and they havemented that while they are ted to have new items to y with, theyбпre unsure whether to throw certain key items away which you had once deemed valuable. As you might recall, you promised some a few certain types of dungeon instances, most prominently the Gentlebear instance, had been teased since the early stages of the shop, yet for nearly five months nothing came of it. It is imperative to keep your promise or to givepensation to the people affected by it." The System stated.

    "Another thing of note would be the National Dungeon Symposium which Mr Shen Si Fang, the owner of the Castle Tower Cafe Instance, had told you about. Given Userбпs future ns, System deems this to be the perfect opportunity to portray Userбпs prowess by introducing the world to his new augmented Virtual Reality System." The System stated.

    "So thereбпs indeed a hidden motive for you to perform this act of imprisonment." Jin sighed as he stared at the Dungeon Maker console for a while before another rm started ring a minuteter. "But you should know that I have zero interest in doing that. Besides, I thought you want to keep it as low as possible?" Jin tried to make an excuse even though he already knew the System wouldnбпt be convinced so easily to drop the issue.

    "Please do not kid yourself, User. You should know perfectly well what situation we are in right now." If the System could have emotions, it would show the very same agitation that Jin was feeling too. "After the promation of the Panda n during the Royal Zodiac Tiger n meet, news has already spread like wildfire. Senior Associate Kong Rong has managed to douse the fire for the moment, but the time we have been granted is limited."

    "Even as we engage in the affairs of other worlds, the Royal Zodiac ns are wary of us, financially and in terms of strength. The System has deduced that we might have sufficient financial capabilities and manpower but the feedback analytics have also suggested that we should chase for clout. Without influence, the Panda nбпs status could be manipted in the war of information and at worst we could be branded as enemies of the state."

    "So you are saying that now that we have enough hands on deck, I should just delegate certain duties like leaving the situation of the Dungeon World to Kraft and his Foxes and concentrate on building up our store proper on Earth?" Jin suddenly felt the responsibilities got even heavier as the System replied with a definite positive.

    It was true he owed the Pandarens certain instances and even personally promised a few of his Pandawans the realisation of certain dungeons, such as a mecha-based dungeon to Bu Dong and Deng Long. Jin could not deny he had been procrastinating with all the other world jobs since he had felt a higher potential of growth in those areas which could ultimately give him an upper edge in his store.

    Still, there was one particr thing he did not understand and it bothered him quite a lot.

    "Say, System, wasnбпt it you who imed you needed more processing power and resources? Wasnбпt a major reason why we started to clear the Farming World of Demon Rats and nned to invade the Mecha World for those increased capability ch.i.p.s? If we do not have any of those, how are we going to switch to Augmented Virtual Reality?" Jin asked and since he was backed to a corner to do stuff, the System finally decided to reveal the dark truth of temporarily using captured livesбп to increase its processing capabilities.

    "Wait...a minute, so you keep them in бпhibernationбп but you are also using them as processing capabilities?" Jin stifled augh through his throat and somehow he did not feel as bad as he was supposed to. Was it because of Kraftбпs constant influence or had he finally epted that he was actually a modernised necromancer with a System and doing some bad things would pave the way for goodness?

    "As the System had stated, it would be a waste not to use their capabilities when they are in stasis. After all, the System has to use its processes for some high maintenance tasks like the case of keeping powerful individuals like Betor Rex or Maeve, the daughter of Winter Court Queen in check. Freeing Rex has allowed the System to clear up a lot of processing capabilities and this gives the System the capability of controlling the others even further. That, the System will swear upon." The System stated and a digital contractual use immediately emerged on the Dungeon Maker Console for Jin to read the amendments of the бпcontractбп he had with the System.

    "I do not know whether I should feel relieved or not to know that, but I am assuming you are already doing the same for the current capture of Dungeon World Soldiers?" The System acknowledged it at once when Jin asked and he sighed while staring at the ceiling for a moment.

    "No way, even staring into nk space is not allowed?" Jin was agitated by the sudden aggressive behaviour from the System before taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He knew that going against the System right now had no additional benefits, especially if both Kraft and the System had decided to coborate to go against him, there was only one thing he could do to get out of the current situation he was in.

    Work.

 Chapter 1093 - Krafts New Master Plan

    <h4>Chapter 1093 - Kraft''s New Master n</h4>

    "So, now that my little revolution has imprisoned our бпgovernment leaderбп and ced him in his solitary confinement cell, letбпs focus on the situation at heart!" Kraft announced, pulled out his tablet, walked towards the War Room Table and ced it at the side. The System instantly transmitted the information into the War Room Table and the War Hologram slowly zoomed out while keeping Demopolis right at the centre.

    At that moment, the Seven Cities that invaded Demopolis emerged on the massive hologram and the rest of the War Room Staff crowded around it.

    "The Night Foxes have allowed me to gain some crucial information after a pretty nifty mind torture session with that Elite Church Agent. Apparently, the Church of the Afterlife has long since determined that the Seven Cities would fail, mostly based on their army size. They also firmly believe that we will be invading the Seven Cities as retaliation to take them under the wing of Demopolis or Pandapolis. No matter how you see it, they are just waiting for us to take actions, so they can twist the facts around, giving them an official reason to step in and бпdefendбп the seven cities."

    "Ah, their standard бпLet me protect you from the evil peepsбп move. Honestly, you would think they would be at least somewhat creative to not arouse suspicion after so many years, but no they still use that one story to much effect. I really wish they would create something fresh once in a while." Molochmented as he finally enjoyed some peace.

    Since his side of the battle had stabilised, Nubwort alone was sufficient to order around themanders in the North Western portion of Demopolis to handle the rest. Meanwhile, the plushie took the time to savour a cup of green tea which Lynn had prepared at the side for them while listening to the crafty devil borate on his altered master n.

    "I guess, when something works rather well, thereбпs no real reason to change it." Qiu Yue sighed, since that new information meant their n had indeed gone to waste. Initially, what they wanted was to annihte the armies that came to invade Demopolis and subsequently send a specialized strike team to attack the Dungeon Core of each city.

    They could have performed this simultaneously, sending seven teams at once and grabbing them together so that there would be no chance for the citiesбп guards to even retaliate. It would have been a quick snatch job, which would have boasted Demopolis reputation, earning them the fear and respect of others.

    Not to mention, it would have immediately added the productivity of seven new cities to their roster, which they could have turned into vassal states for either Pandapolis or Demopolis, allowing them to trade among themselves freely, thereby increasing their strength to fight against other worldly threats without much consideration. The idea of vassal states sprouted mainly because Jin had enough of managing various cities and wanted to concentrate on the stuff that mattered, particrly his Pandapolis.

    However, with the Church having directly involved themselves by moving their personal armies into those cities as a sort of protection, it would just be suicide. ording to the information Kraft had gotten out Elite Church Agent Ravis the numbers they had were rather overwhelming, to say the least. It was to ensure their Dungeon Cores were not vulnerable to a major assault. And because of rumours that the Demopolisбп prison fortress had been destroyed rather easily despite its reputation to be unbreakable, the Church of the Afterlife took this as their excuse to send in masses into the Seven Cities. Knights armed to the teeth with the toughest armour and sharpest weapons had marched into each of the cities one day after their own armies had set out for the invasion.

    "In summary, the real enemy is patiently waiting for us to deal with the invading armies and is ready to spring the trap, adding themselves to the fight to reverse the tide of battle, with a scalerge enough that it would make our Demopolis look like a small little dot. " Kraft said as he checked his nails and blew the dirt out of them.

    He obviously didnбпt care too much about the Churchбпs ns and couldnбпt wait to show off his own n for his listeners to be amazed and praise him after this mandatory exnation. (Jin emphasised on sharing information and keeping everyone updated, so the Devil Fox figured he should do the minimum after having kicked the person who would yap the loudest in a hole.)

    "I think I get where Kraft ising from. In essence, we canбпt attack them otherwise they will just brand us as the enemy of this world since the Church literally controls everyone." Lynn concluded. "But shouldnбпt things change now that we are in possession of the armies of those seven cities?"

    "Oh Lynn, my sweet dear. You are SO SO RIGHT!" Kraft was ted that someone appeared to have grasped an inkling of his ns before he spilt them out.

    "I see... Based on your violent and yet sadistic behaviour in torturing people, I roughly understand why you sent Jin away." Lynn folded her arms and began to formte possible scenarios in her head.

    "HMMM! Colour me interested! Come now, share with the rest of the group, tell me what you think I have in mind?" Kraft skipped his steps and went near Lynn, literally giving her both of his ears to listen to what she had to offer.

    "With the citiesбп armies entirely gone from the equation, there is no usible reason for the Church of the Afterlife to offer their assistance for the involvement to attack. All they can do now is guard their cities against threats and the potential assault from Demopolis." Lynn started to exin and that reasoning alone had indeed caused everyone to have all ears on her too.

    "Correct me if Iбпm wrong, but the Church of the Afterlife is supposed to be a neutral party, right? That is why they had to nudge certain cities. Well, in this case, the Seven Cities, to attack us so they could get involved, correct?" Lynn questioned and the Dungeon World minions nodded their heads, particrly Moloch.

    "Then, without further provocation, all the Church can do is to defend the ce," Lynnmented and the rest were following suit.

    "So, what I think Kraft wanted to do is to not go in and save those people. That is one of the reasons why he had to put Jin away because knowing our boss, he would do rash stuff such as save everyone he sees."

    "Aww, our Queen Peggie knows me very well." Kraft sped his hands together and swayed around with happiness, seeing that she knew what was going on. "But can you also figure out what I AM going to do?"

    "If you have decided to abstain from a direct invasion, I can only think of a few options. But I believe that my ns are shallowpared to the thinking of a sly fox." Lynn chuckled and yet Kraft continued to give Lynn the stage.

    After all, that was one of the reasons why he allowed the two Sub System Users to stay for the meeting aside from the need to use their abilities for the uing portion of his new master n.

 Chapter 1094 - Lynns Theories

    <h4>Chapter 1094 - Lynn''s Theories</h4>

    "Hmm, if I were you, Kraft..." Lynn dly took the grand stage and zoomed the hologram into Demopolis. Everyone was already interested as to what Lynn had to offer.

    "I would continue to hold their armies hostage but not in chains. Instead, I would lead them around, giving them a chance to enjoy what Demopolis and Pandapolisbined can offer them as an ally instead of an enemy. That way we could perhaps continue as nned and train them for the subsequent fight against the Demon Rats in the Farming World. After all, that is the whole objective of this particr defensive raid, right?"

    "That is not really how I would do it." Kraft summoned a te with an бпXбп on it, and his mood visibly soured, but Qiu Yue took out some duct tape and pped it on his mouth like in some gagedy. Unlike the crafty fox, she and the others didnбпt mind hearing Lynn out. (Even though she was already wrong from the start.) Qiu Yue gave Lynn a sign to continue.

    "And while we have direct control of them, the situation in those Seven Cities might potentially deteriorate. Their cities will wonder why their armies have note back yet or why there continues to be no news of a Demopolis invasion. That is where information maniption woulde into y. The Church Agents could potentially y this to their advantage, and take the opportunity to usurp the current cityбпs management and take over as theirs. But we can also do the same if we act fast enough." Lynnmented and Kraftбпs eyes finally twinkled.

    "We could use sabotage missions both in terms of information maniption and some form of physical violence to obtain more knowledge of the situation they are in," Lynn added and she stated how she thought it would be very much Kraftбпs style to use his Night Foxes to kidnap a few Church Knights and use them to spread misinformation by assuming their identities.

    "I do not exactly know what should be said but we could go along the lines like that Demopolis had already been conquered and the Church has been holding the Seven Cities as hostage by surrounding the Demopolis walls and are sieging them as we speak."

    "Why would you say that?" Moloch asked and Lynn replied that their goal was to get the treasures and resources of Demopolis. Since the Seven Cities were in possession of the бпresourcesбп, the Church took advantage of the situation by holding the cities as their coteral. If the armies did not give the said resources to the Church, they would ughter each and every one in their cities.

    "That is not a bad idea, but telling an outright lie isnбпt going to help. Especially when none of the armies is being resurrected. It also only works under the assumption that the Church is going to y the bad guy when we know that they are ying the wolf in sheepбпs clothing." Orc General Nubwort remarked on the proposal that Lynn gave. "Besides if they found out the truthter on that we were the ones who lied, it would indirectly benefit the Church instead of us. The idea however could be refined further, assuming we have time to do so."

    "Then what about if we mistreat them under the guise of the Church Agents and Church Knights? Burn their houses and unofficially dere that the Church is in control of the cities? That way, shouldnбпt it create some form of hate to the Church?" Qiu Yue suggested and both Moloch and Nubwort shook their heads.

    "The Church would immediately cut them off, branding those few whomitted the crimes as heretics. Heck, they would probably use that chance to build up their image some more, by performing some service recovery such as rebuilding new and better houses for those people. Doing that would only help the Churchбпs position, unfortunately, their influence is too big to cause hate in a short manner of time." Moloch exined.

    "Then what about pitting their armies against the churchбпs armies?" Kiyu asked and once again the military strategists shook their heads in unison.

    "The Church would just dere either the armies as converted demon worshippers or most likely go one step beyond that by iming the Seven Cities have always been on their side. It would go against our goal of keeping them for ourselves." Nubwort replied and with so many failing opinions on what to do, they all looked at Kraft who felt disappointed by theck of depth in their answers.

    "Well, then spit out your altered master n. And we will judge whether it is worthy of praise." Qiu Yue said with her arms crossed since she wanted to hear a satisfying answer from the Devil himself as she removed the duct tape.

    "Well, you at least got the part about sabotage right. Still, I didnбпt expect such shallowness from all of you." Kraft squeezed through the group and put himself at the centre again. "Honestly, all of you overthink the situation. You all know that weбпre dealing with an enemy with lots of influence. The simpler the n, the easier for us to execute it!"

    "Yes, yes, we all know that already. Please get to the point and tell us what you propose?" Qiu Yue started tapping her feet, as the suspense was not helping at all.

    "Easy, we just need to break their influence. Change peopleбпs perspective. Make people get scared of them instead of worshiping them. Once the Seven Cities feel they are incapable of protecting their citizens they will be asked to get out." Kraft borated as he smiled wildly. "And then we convert them to our side with a bit of бпPanda Magicбп. Simple as that."

    "Could you speak a bit more clearly? You still havenбпt told us how you intend to achieve that effect!" Qiu Yue pointed out, yet Kraft shook his index finger.

    "Thatбпs the best part of the n. We wonбпt have to do anything ourselves. All we will need is just time.... and this." Kraft said as he pulled out a vial filled with some invisible substance. He shook it a bit and it continued to stay transparent despite the thought in the groupбпs head that something crazy would happen. (Because itбпs Kraft!)

    "Biochemical warfare...?" Lynn guessed out loud and they all started to wonder what kind of effects that small vial would have.

    "In a way. You guys have already seen first hand how a majority of the soldiers died from the бпfoodбп poisoning that was dealt by my Night Foxes, right? That was just an experiment and it was undoubtedly a very sessful one. So what do you think will happen once we contaminate their waters and food stocks with this kind of poison?" Kraft asked and the rest began to formte potential scenarios.

    "So if the Church was there to only defend the ce but not to give aid. Each cityбпsw and order would crumble..." Moloch concluded.

    "They are the Church, from everything you told us about them, they will definitely help, if only to keep up their image." Nubwort interrupted Molochбпs train of thought.

    "Then all we have to do is to steal those aid and supplies under the guise of citizen rebels or bandits." Qiu Yue suggested and the rest could see the repercussions of this... man made que.

    "Now I can see why you did not want Jin to be involved. This is too dirty and he would have never approved it. You know how viruses work in general, right? They could mutate despite having the antidotes. This could spiral out of hand if we do not control this properly. I, for one, am against this idea." Lynn stood her ground and Kraft shook his head lightly.

    "Who said I would use a strain of an uncontroble virus? Would you believe me if I told you that I have sent Rei to help Kiva engineer a nano technology that could control this pandemic at the palms of our hands? I can remotely activate it if we wish to!" Kraft said while raising his right palm up, acting as a God of Destruction and yet the entire group at the War Table continued to be against his n.

    But that did not deter him until a specific individual sounded out her opinion.

    It was none other than Ayse!

 Chapter 1095 - The Virus Project

    <h4>Chapter 1095 - The Virus Project</h4>

    "All projects and inventions have to go through me regardless of approval! This is the rule created between the System and me so I know for a FACT that you have not created such an item! Stop lying!" Ayse used him as she went to the front of the War Room Table.

    "That being said, I will have to agree that Kraftбпs is viable, mainly because this particr strain of virus is not as deadly as you all seem to think. Itбпs an isted strain with no chances of mutation, though that is not the issue. To put it in simple terms without boring you with the details, the virus acts as a sponge that absorbs life energy. Through the data Kiva gathered from us from the death of those soldiers, we can roughly gauge the dosage needed to create a pandemic that wonбпt kill off the entire poption."

    Aysemented and Qiu Yue raised her hand almost immediately.

    "That doesnбпt obey thews of physics! Especially the rule of the conversion of energy. How can you absorb this much life energy and not create something out of it?" Qiu Yue queried and Ayse happily nodded her head, feeling like a teacher proud of a good student.

    "Youбпre right, but it does create something." Ayse took a crystal out of her pocket and presented it to the group. It was transparent in colour and it shone rather brightly when ced under bright light. "Does this look familiar to any of you?"

    "Looks just like a regr crystal bead." Qiu Yue shrugged her shoulders.

    "Donбпt you think it kind of resembles a solidified Dan Tian bead?" Lynn squinted her eyes a little to inspect from afar and Ayse once again nodded her head. When she removed it from the bright light, the bead turned slightly translucent and the cultivators in the room could feel a strong aura of life energy emanating out of it in regr intervals.

    "Exactly. This little bead here, has enough life energy to resurrect a man. Shouldnбпt be surprising seeing as it took it away from that man in the first ce... at least ording to the math and theoretical bullcrap Kiva presented to me when I was so suddenly informed about a certain someoneбпs pet project." Ayse gave a smirking fox an evil re.

    As for everyone else, they were amazed by the new invention. Had the System, science team and some involvement of Kraft really created the infamous legendary resurrection bead? That was lingering in Qiu Yue and Lynnбпs mind until the System rified.

    "The amount of life energy harvested in one bead is only sufficient to kickstart a personбпs heart upon immediate death. ording to the theories of eastern medicine, the body is the capsule while the Dantian is the core that provides the energy. This artificial bead, while capable of providing life energy if harnessed properly, could potentially be a life changing medicine, yet it is also a dead end to that particr solution. This is mainly because there are other factors than providing the body with life energies to wake a dead human." The System stated and started showing other facts of the crystal bead to provide circ.u.mstantial evidence for the entire group to study upon. However, everyone was more interested in Ayseбпs answer since the Systemбпs exnation, while urate, was not exactlyymen friendly.

    "In short and simpler terms, itбпs better to facilitate it as an energy crystal than a resurrection bead. We arenбпt that omnipotent in terms of creation." Ayse summed it up. "It does however reduce the cost of resurrection for the System."

    "So does that mean that this бпvirusбп is just an energy sucking ...erm creation that eventually forms a bead in the patientбпs body. And there is no need for an antidote?" Pei finally broke her silence after watching the charade at the War Table for some time. "And itбпs not some virus that could be mutated and be a deadly strain that potentially causes the deaths of millions of people?"

    "Hmm...something like that. Kiva even has a way of extracting it, freeing the person of its effects. It should be useful for our charade with the Goddessester on, while also allowing us to harvest some beads for emergency medical purposes. Though... we will probably give it to Jin since he always gets sucked into some sort of fight and canбпt get his feet back up in time."

    "With all this nonsense exined, shall we proceed with the altered master n? I do however like what Lynn proposed initially. Her decision to include the armies into our daily life will undoubtedly be a strain on the Systemбпs resources, but that would definitely bring a smile to my face." Kraft said as he mmed the tables to conclude this meaningless meeting. After all, he was going through with his n no matter whoined.

    "Then what do you need us for?" Lynn questioned and Qiu Yue ced her hand on the Chefбпs shoulders while shaking her head.

    "There is no need to ask, Kraft already told us what we need to do based on hisst sentence. Those armies are going to need a ce to stay and with Jin currently grounded and out of the loop from all outsider world stuff, it boils down to us."

    "As the Empire Building Sub System User, Iбпll build the required houses and you who now has the basicpetency to make dungeon instances to create a temporary one. As well as your knowledge on how much food to feed them. It is going to be a busy few days to clear this particr request," Qiu Yue said and Kraft happily grinned in front of the two of them.

    However, that glee suddenly made Qiu Yue wonder if Kraft had indirectly manipted Lynn or perhaps even the entire group to y to his tune. The nudging of Lynn to make her involved in arge meeting, the constant rejections from the military strategists, the appearance of Ayse to force out the truth about the virus and eventually getting a major consensus. Not to mention, kicking Jin out of the entire picture for бпvalidбп reasons so he could enact his n without much resistance.

    Was Kraft really that crafty??

    "...Donбпt give too much credit." Qiu Yue reminded herself as she dragged Lynn away to be teleported away to a new Dungeon Maker instance to create their stuff while Moloch and Nubwort took over the rest of the remainder of battle. And the battles all around Demopolis started to wind down as the soldiers became lifeless. The Generals were also eventually defeated after the various groups made their appearances.

    And speaking of appearances, the only Shadow King who hadnбпt had the chance to make much of an impact was the Eld Enve because they were the only ones who Kraft hadnбпt stationed inside of Demopolis.

    Instead, he had ordered them to assist the Wyvern Goblin Knights and the Devil Dragons to ensure that the aerial force of Aljun City was decimated. But extermination was not the only task they were given.

    Kraft had his own devious ns for the Eld Enve. (Or more like, squeeze them dry of their talents.)

 Chapter 1096 - Extra: Battle On The Flying Fortress -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1096 - Extra: Battle On The Flying Fortress -Part 1</h4>

    The Airsh.i.p.s from Aljun City were their sole pride and the crown jewel of all their possessions. Their citizens were immensely proud of their air force. In particr, the constant creations of new airsh.i.p.s were considered to be one of the strongest feats that had allowed them to be a force to be reckoned with among the neighbouring cities. It had allowed them to attract both investors and talents into their city. However, as the saying goes, when they faced Demopolis and Pandapolis forcesbined, pride came before the fall.

    The Air Force of Aljun City could have never imagined that theirtest prototype of airsh.i.p.s could be defeated by a bunch of dragons and wyverns. Then again, they had never before regarded these flying worms a threat until they witnessed them move at the same speeds as their fighter airsh.i.p.s, which had the reputation of being the most agile air force in their regiment. Yet even those who had were having difficulty fighting toe to toe with them.

    In their experience, typical dragon riders should have already been decimated by the speed of Aljun Cityбпs fighter airsh.i.p.s. Marquis Forneus, the esteemed leader of the Devil Dragons had also admitted that his Devil Dragons could barely win against them in a head on fight despite their overwhelming offensive powers. (Of course, that was before he and the rest of the Devil Dragons had been captured and upgraded by the System)

    At that point, speed and manoeuvrability would decide the oue of a dogfight and those Fighter Airsh.i.p.s which were equipped with high density crystals had been able to outss them. Thanks to the ingenuity in their airship design, many talented human engineers sought to join Aljun City for the sake of glory and fame, hoping to establish themselves by further improving their air force.

    With the Cityбпs Lord loving his airsh.i.p.s to a fault, it was the easiest way for them to be rich. All they had to do was join the yearly design contests to see who could create the best prototype for the air force. This in turn promises a whole lot of rewards which would set them for life.

    s, all those did not matter in the face of the newly fused Devil Dragons whose speed had finally caught up to their prowess. The augmentation which Jin had granted them during the Southern War in the Farming World had be a boon they would forever thank him for.

    Especially since it had allowed them to finally retake their rightful бпKing of the Skiesбп status from the Goblin Wyvern Knights. In the current battle, they disyed overwhelming skillspared to the Goblin Wyvern Knights.

    Yet, this did not deter Wy Striker and the rest of his knights. They knew their limits without augmentation but never stopped improving themselves with minor tweaks to their equipment or their tactical formations. Even though the Devil Dragons dominated this particr fight, most of the Dragon Knights were fighting as individualspared to the Goblin Wyvern Knightsбпs teamwork.

    While Marquis Forneus was delighted by his newfound powers, he was still a bit envious of the goblin teamбпs coordinated efforts. Hence, he understood that there was more to do in the future to make his troops bond further as one.

    However, the total destruction of Aljun Cityбпs air force had never been the main concern to Kraft. He was more interested in the airsh.i.p.s themselves and that was where the Eld Enve came into the picture. While the entire sky was in total chaos with magic and explosive projectiles flying around, there were some targets which Kraft warned the fighters to keep intact.

    One of them was the Aljun Cityбпs main battlecruiser which Kraft and the War Room Council had codenamed бпFlying Fortressбп, an airship that was asrge as Stalingrad if not bigger. It was equipped with multiple air cannons which would bring any enemy down with their fires of judgement...(or that was what it was the City Lord had been advertised with when they were building it.)

    For its first maiden voyage, it had indeed provided the necessary support such as acting as the sole airship carrier for many fighter airsh.i.p.s as well as a plethora of services like refuelling, rearming and emergency maintenance. Unfortunately, this Flying Fortress happened to have the dumbest luck to meet Jinбпs augmented aerial force.

    Both their conventional and magical cannons were not strong enough to destroy or render a Devil Dragon wounded and to put insult to injury, they noticed that for some reason the enemy was ignoring thempletely. The entire enemy force was concentrating on reducing the rest of the fleet into scrap metal because of Kraftбпs orders. (He had made sure to stress that just the slightest scratch would result in a private session with him)

    That was because the Eld Enve was tasked to take over the Flying Fortress with the help of Wyrstriker after he had set up a coordinate for the System to mass teleport the mafia family into the battlecruiser.

    So why did the Eld Enve cave into this particr order?

    Itбпs mainly due to the fact that they were interested in the dense magical crystals the Flying Fortress was using to power this particr ship. They did not need to possess it as long the Shadow King of Eld Enve was allowed to touch it and learn more about it. She was interested in the crystal powering this entire chunk of metal to keep it afloat.

    Kraft didnбпt mind entertaining her as long as she didnбпt break anything. He just wanted it intact, for future expeditions. It might also prove to be useful for Rei, the Mecha World Engineer to use it as a basis to create more spacesh.i.p.s. Therefore, it was a win-win situation for both of them.

    The only obstacle they encountered was that half of Aljun Cityбпsnd army was still on board that ship. Fortunately, it did not pose much of a problem to the Shadow King as she had one very important person right beside her as part of the contract to fight alongside with the System.

    Rex.

    The King of Demopolis had agreed to apany Eld Enveбпs Shadow King бпStarry Moodбп into battle (upon her request). As her name was a description of her demure and looks, Starry Mood was carrying an astrometer. Itбпs an instrument that she used topare the rtive amount of light in the stars shining over the Dungeon World. But if one would think that she received her powers from the light of the stars, they wouldnбпt be entirely correct, but also notpletely wrong.

    "Show me how you align the fate of your star." Starry Mood spoke softly and slowly that it could annoy almost anyone who was not used to her.

    Thankfully, Rex did not bother with such an issue as he raised his sword to a group of soldiers dded in modern iron armour. It seemed as if the army of Aljun City should not be underestimated. They would have surely been able to fight valiantly if only their opponents were generic soldiers from a human city.

    Regrettably for them, they were confronting one of the most powerful members of the Fox betors and a Shadow King of Demopolis.

    Death was inevitable!

 Chapter 1097 - Extra: Battle On The Flying Fortress -part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1097 - Extra: Battle On The Flying Fortress -part 2</h4>

    "You know, itбпs rather rare for the King to personally take action. The times King Baal had bothered to personally fight can be counted on two hands, and even then it was only when it was absolutely necessary. Us Shadow Kings were really taken aback when it reached our ears that he would do so in that attack against Pandapolis." Starry Mood said and with a point of her finger, her frontline battle mages went in to disable the soldiers of Aljun City within the hanger.

    Wyrstriker and his trusty wyvern did aid with the opening volley by shooting several fireballs at the entrances of the hangar as well as a few anti air defence instations before flying away. This allowed the Eld Enve to enter into the battlefield without any casualties which allowed Rex to thank the Leader of Goblin Wyvern Knight and then looked at Starry Mood to answer her question.

    "King Baal is King Baal, and Iбпm me. If this helps to earn the trust of one of the Shadow Kings, I see no reason to remain in the castle. Besides, I have trusted allies and aides overseeing the fight. Consider this as a sort of routine exercise before going back to work." Rex smiled as he raised his sword up and the chi energies within him transferred into it.

    In a few seconds, the sword vibrated and multiple illusions of the sword emerged from the swordбпs hilt. Whenever an enemy soldier tried toe near the Eld Enveбпs mages, his swordбпs illusion would quickly swipe him or her away from the battlefield.

    "Still, you sure have created an interesting magic that I fail toprehend. Heh, here I thought the new magical crystals of Aljun City were a mystery, yet I somehow stumbled into a bigger one." Starry Mood noted as she followed quietly behind Rex who he walked through the mages and into the frontline as if he was on a leisure walk and not surrounded by enemies.

    "You mean the System? Itбпs not exactly magic. More like a miracle from another world... or perhaps it would help you to think of it as a sentient Super Dungeon Core?" Rex mused as he used his chi once more and the mes emanating from the earlier fireball attacks dissipated momentarily for Starry Mood and him to walk through. "It did give you the information you needed to aid us, did it not?"

    "Yes, but to have apulsive kind of charm that forces the entire mafia under me to serve it, it is a world ss magic in my opinion! Hmm, but for it to keep our minds and behaviour intact while merely limiting our freedom...perhaps world ss is still a bit of an understatement. I think it could be an astral ss tier magic instead." Starry Mood theorised.

    Another bunch of soldiers came to intercept the duo through the corridors when they exited the hangar. They were dded with armour and armed withrge heavy automated crossbows.

    Starry Mood believed Rexбпs sword illusions would be rendered useless against the enemiesбп armour and wanted to help by casting a spell of her own. However, she was once again amazed that Rex sauntered towards them with no protection spells or offensive magic at hand. Instead, she watched Rex raise his sword once more and simply point at them.

    The soldiers didnбпt hesitate to fire off their arrows at him immediately once they saw him bring his sword up. They took him for a suicidal fool who had underestimated their arrows which were made from the same material as their armour. From the nock to the tip of the arrow, they had been tempered with iron alloy which could be used as the foundation of a brand new sword. So, in short, they were like Rex, shooting swords out from their weapons.

    Rex found this oddly fun as the sword illusions above him went ahead to counter each and every arrow. He was surprised when he discovered that the illusions were only sufficient in stopping the arrows, unable to pierce through them. It was then he noticed that those crossbows werenбпt mere wood and iron. He could sense they were something simr to this particr ship. There was actually a crystal mechanism inside the crossbow which powered the limbs and wheels. It even provided magical energies via the flight groove of the crossbow, enabling it to be a magical shot.

    "Hooo. Looks like their crystal engineering is of a certain grade right now. And for them to implement a crystal within weapons means their engineers know a thing or two about crystal imbuing." Starry Moodmented as she snapped her fingers. "At the same time it means that if they were to fight with someone who has sufficient knowledge regarding those crystals, it will actually be a bane."

    At that moment, both their armour and weapons exploded. The armour suddenly became too heavy for the soldiers and they fell down since their body could not resist the weight. The crossbow weapons were broken and couldnбпt be salvaged.

    "If you can do this, why not just break the crystal of this Flying Fortress?" Rex asked as he held his hand from attacking any further. After all, he had only been expending less than 1% of his chi energies to create those sword illusions. (Where was the fun in killing everyone before learning more of Starry Moodбпs abilities?)

    "If they are indeed able to power this entire ship with just a single crystal, it would mean that theyбпve found the motherlode of all crystals. To break that would be a pity. Also, my intuition is telling me that the crystal could be something else entirely." Starry Mood answered as she used her magic to raise the bits of crystals left from the devastation she created previously. The bits twinkled a little before Rex saw them flying into the crevices of the soldiersбп armour.

    The next moment, they started to wring in pain.

    But that was not the end as the armour started to move on its own despite the actions of the soldier inside them and Rex realised that Starry Moodбпs Shadow King title wasnбпt in vain. She had enabled the crystal centric armour to move with her own powers.

    "Why does it feel that youбпre way too familiar with the insides of the armour design?" Rex asked as he watched the armours line up in a straight file to give way for Starry Mood and him to walk through. After which they followed her behind like a pack of thralls even though the soldiers in them were screaming from the excruciating pain.

    "Iбпm starting to feel that it was you who has secretly manipted me and the System to assist you with some hidden revenge plot." Rex mused as he walked behind Starry Mood through the shipбпs corridors who seemed to be heading down a certain road.

    "Would that be so bad? As long as our goals align, everything should be good, right? If not, you could call it a tit for a tat for all thatmotion you cause earlier in Demopolis." Starry Mood smiled under her veil as she proceeded further into the Flying Fortress.

 Chapter 1098 - Extra: Battle On The Flying Fortress -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1098 - Extra: Battle On The Flying Fortress -Final</h4>

    "You are letting yourself be seen more than you should. Could it be on purpose to show off your abilities in an attempt to impress me?" Rex asked Starry Mood as she used the soldiers she controlled to destroy any iing enemies that were not dded with armour.

    The iing enemies had their weapons broken with a snap of her fingers, just like how she did it for the first wave of soldiers. Without any arms to bear against the бпenthralled crystal armoursбп, the soldiers which she took over, literally walked towards the unarmed and tore the enemy troops into pieces.

    They were stuck in a tunnelled corridor with no other ce to go to. Theirrades were not going to open the doors for fear of giving the intruders the chance to ess the next section of the Flying Fortress.

    The unarmed helpless soldiers had no choice but to beg for their mercy. Yet the armoured puppets of Starry Mood did notply with the whims of the weak when their arms and legs were torn out of their body like tearing a piece of paper.

    Blood was spilt everywhere as part of the process and she subsequently walked through the pool of tattered soldiers treating them as stepping stones to her destination. The edges of her starry robe had been tainted with blood, yet she sauntered forward towards her enemies.

    "Perhaps. I would wee you granting me some form of propernd. Maybe a ce to research my magic in peace for me and my team of researchers. Of course, Iбпd be willing to share any breakthroughs we might encounter... assuming youбпre willing to fund it." Starry Mood turned around, her hands behind her bag as she looked at Rex who merely shook his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

    "As much as I would like to grant those wishes, Iбпm not the master of the System. Iбпm afraid youбпre barking up the wrong tree." Rex exined and then Starry Mood stopped in her tracks and stared at him in confusion.

    "But arenбпt you the...?" Before Starry Mood could finish her thoughts, Rex ced his finger right on her head, asking the System to give her the full version of the story. He initially did not want to do this when she signed the contract due to the situation they were in as well as the urgency of travelling into battle straight after so Rex had only asked the System to give her a short summary of the predicament she would be going into beforehand.

    Now, to avoid the issue of mistaken identity, he decided to give her the information she d.e.s.i.r.ed via the System.

    Most would probably faint from the overload of information and require some time to recuperate, hence why Rex initially hesitated to do this. However, given that she had already signed the contract and that her troops were onto the Flying Fortress, her task was more or lessplete.

    He would prefer getting the exact location of the Crystal Engine from her in order to overtake the Flying Fortress with ease, but there were other ways to find it. Be that as it may, just at that moment Rex finally felt a certain energy emanating from the direction they were facing which he could not detect until he reached this close.

    With that, her presence was no longer needed and King Rex asked the System to get her out of the current battlefield, especially since he feared it couldplicate things further based on her history. He assumed that she must have been one of the engineers who had worked on the Flying Fortress, either that or she had some personal rtions with one of the more important crew members.

    "Betor Rex is right, her memory reveals that she was indeed an employee of Aljun City before bing the Shadow King of Demopolis." The System said as it had taken the opportunity of overloading her mind to take a (very thorough) бпpeekбп of the information she was keeping. (After all, her actions puzzled Rex AND the System at the same time.)

    "So was I right in guessing that she has some vendetta against her previous employer?" Rex asked since Starry Mood had already fainted and the crystallised armour warriors escaped her control. This gave both relief and pain to the soldiers stuck within the armour as they came crashing down to the floor. Their wails and cries of help once again fell on deaf ears of the dead and Rex decided to give a helping hand since they were somewhat irritating for him, especially with the rm wailing in the background.

    Hence, he once again raised his sword and emanated a particr chi throughout the corridor, causing the screams and cries to stop. Instead, the souls of soldiers slowly emerged out of the crevices of the armour and they floated around Rexбпs sword. He also picked up Starry Mood before she fell to the pool of her enemiesбп blood and he ced her on his shoulders, waiting for the System to create a portal.

    "Now that I can feel the magical vibrations of the crystal, I donбпt really need her anyways." Rex thought as he pointed his sword towards a door barrier. For the past few barriers, the possessed crystallised soldiers had been the ones opening them, allowing the duo to move through rather easily. That also made the rest of the enemy soldiers terrified since those door barriers were mechanised with the strength to bisect an ogre.

    Obviously, Rex did not know that those mechanisms were powered by crystals and Starry Mood had been able to manipte them easily. Still, the enemy soldiers expected the barriers to hold for now since they saw the possessed armours had fallen through their magical balls. s, Rex was a powerhouse on his own and those souls which he collected from the dead were going to y an important role in opening those barriers.

    Even without the possessed armours and Starry Moodбпs help, Rex had ways to reach his goal. He was able to materialise the souls andmanded them to open the barriers. Those souls under the Kingбпs orders fused themselves into one giant figure and collectively they were able to have sufficient strength to open them. As they created a small opening, a few of the souls broke off from the main body and ughtered the rest of the soldiers hiding behind them (Well, a better word would be guarding but they were too frightened to even do that job properly.)

    For the next few barriers, the very same thing repeated itself and as the souls ughtered Rexбпs supposed enemies, he collected them as allied souls and they merged into the mountain figure, empowering it to break the barriers even easier.

    At the very end of the corridor, there was the Crystal Engine which Rex marvelled at for a moment before holding his sword right at it. With a light touch, the System immediately connected itself to the Crystal Engine and began to take over its power. While the deck possessing the controls to the entire ship, the System was able to infiltrate the Flying Fortressmand through their main power source and got it under itsmand.

    "Mission aplished. That was a nice warm-up, I should really go out more often. Itбпs so good to know that we have someone on our side who could potentially be our next air force chief engineer. Xie Jin, luck truly smiles at you in mysterious ways." Rex thought as he raised his sword once more and all the souls that had been out wandering about after killing their targets were recalled back into it.

    Now that his interim task was done, it was time to focus on fixing the Demopolis issues again while his Brother Kraft executed his true master n.

 Chapter 1099 - The Final Phase of the Demopolis Raid

    <h4>Chapter 1099 - The Final Phase of the Demopolis Raid</h4>

    With Jin stuck in his personal hellhole and Kraft free to enact his master n, everyone had decided to focus on their own task to keep Jinбпs assets afloat.

    Demopolis had indeed developed into arge military city thanks to the бпassist effortsбп that the Pandarens had put in (chief of all a certain Hippo). Speaking of the Pandarens, the fighting concluded as soon as they killed thest enemy soldier that had been alive within Demopolis. The Home Guards and Night Foxes had withdrawn their forces as soon as they had been informed that the situation had been under control, giving the Pandarens the chance to search and kill any enemies on sight.

    This also prompted the System to give extra Raid Points for those who were able to kill the remaining enemies. The fewer remained, the more valuable the targets became.

    It was not a very satisfying end for most of the Pandarens since they were all rushing to find the veryst soldier and ultimately it came down more to luck than anything else. Still seeing their efforts being rewarded when they contributed Raid Points during the assist event, was another kind of satisfaction.

    Most importantly, their efforts were apparent for everyone to see. For example, the walls had initially been made from brick and mortar but with the Raid Point (and mary) contribution, they got upgraded to cemented walls andter into reinforced steel cement walls before the Home Guards rushed in to fill up the defences. The construction was nearly instantaneous, making most of them feel as if they were witnessing some sort of real life magic trick. (The raising of the walls from the ground was truly a feat to behold, nearly everyone held their Pandamonium App camera to take pictures and video of it.)

    The military vehicle equipment such as the jeeps were also being deployed by the Pandarens to move around the cities quite smoothly and they saw tanks stationed in Demopolis military base. But as the situation unfolded, they realised that the enemies were not as powerful or intimidating as they should be, preventing the tank drivers from having any fun at all.

    As if to address their mood, King Rex had sent out a message that reassured them that the end was still before him, hinting that the progress of this instance would subsequently be brought over to future instances.

    In fact, the message had been created way back in the very beginning of the raid, at that point Kraft and co. had still been under the impression that the Churchies woulde out with something amazing. Kraft, as the one in charge, felt quite cheated for once.

    Their side had overprepared, amassing arge army and even going so far as to reconstruct Demopolis as a centralised military base... only to learn that the Church wouldnбпt act until they came to get them, and if they did, it would end in arge scale battle, one in which the Pandarens would be reduced to sacrificial pawns.

    He had half a mind to just send the Pandarens into the Farming World and was considering rewriting the scenario and turn thest act into something of a yable teaser, preparing them for whatбпs toe in the future... until the System notified him that Jin had actually prepared a monster instance specifically for an emergency, in case this particr dungeon raid did not offer his customers sufficient fun.

    "System, if we put this up as a Final Boss Fight for this Raid, how much will it cost us?" Kraft questioned as he felt partially responsible for theck of monsters and soldiers for the Pandarens to kill.

    "Cheaper than resurrecting entire armies for the sake of reyability." The System noted and Kraft shrugged his shoulders, ordering the System to put it out for onest big bang for the Pandarens to have fun with.

    .However, the System advised Kraft to allow it to create a new separate dungeon instance with all identical assets since it would be even cheaper than producing it in the Dungeon World itself. (also less costly in terms of damage control)

    "Whatбпs the drawback then?" Kraft asked since he knew that the System was a cheapskate and would have something that would spoil the yersбп experience.

    "Since the features arenбпtpletely integrated yet, we will have to proceed with an intermittent wave of teleportations which are prone to cause some teleportation feedback into the new instance. The feeling would be something to a slightg in their movements especially since it would be a replicated dungeon instance based on Userбпs past creations. Without test loading it, for which weck the time, programming bugs are likely to appear." The System stated.

    "Itбпs not the first time youбпre doing this, right? As I recall, something like this already happened during the Goblin World Raid too." Kraft questioned as he sat up straight and looked at the tablet that he was holding on to.

    "Fine, I shall deal with the programming bugs. Canбпt have people use us that our Demopolis Raidбпs ending was a bummer. Wouldnбпt want them to tarnish my brothersбп new city name." Kraft stretched as he ced the tablet on the side of the throne and immediately a fullputerised console with a few monitors emerged from the back of the throneбпs chair and branched out right in front of him.

    The others were quite surprised to see the hardworking side of Kraft for a change. The troublemaker usually disappeared for long periods of time, only to appear to cause some mischief. Only the foxes knew him long enough to know that he was actually a workaholic by nature and him toiling about was his way of rxing. (Not that it excused his behaviour in any way though.)

    "Very well. Creating a dungeon instance based on Demopolis territory. Initiating polygrams and setting aside the necessary processing space for said dungeon instance." The System stated and Kraft immediately requested his Big Brother to make another announcement, to lead the customers to the Royal Pce. Since there were too many Panderens thest step would need to be limited in numbers for bnce reasons. (Aka a technical excuse.)

    As the King of Demopolis, Rex happily obliged and followed the script that Kiyu had made in tandem with the System. Via the very same hologram, they told every Pandaren that the бпreal enemyбп who was behind the attacks is sending out their trump card.

    -----------

    "Oh... no wonder there was no Raid Complete signing out. Seems like this really is an interim event." Xiong Da thought to himself as he grouped back with his fellow Pandawans. At the same time, he carried back the very samence he had picked up from the dead general whom he killed recently. It had not been an easygoing battle considering the fact that he fought the Taris General and his guards with little to no reinforcement.

    The Pandarens that hade in to assist him had been killed too quickly to be of use. The Generalбпs guards had made short work of them, but at least they had served as sufficient distraction for Xiong Da to kill those, before duelling one on one against the general.

    Needless to say, it had indeed been an exhrating experience and the Hippo Pandawan hade close to death twice. If not for the potent potions which he had bought from the main shop instance, he was sure to have kicked the bucket.

    "Yo, Xiong Da. How did your hunt go?" Bu Dong waved his hand at him, as he had arrived as quick as he could once he saw the бпAssist the War Effortsбп Eventse about. As a hardcore yer of Jinбпs dungeons, there was no way he would miss out on contributing to clear the first instance of a Raid. He was already looking forward to some personal rewards.

    "Isnбпt my bloody self enough to tell you just how much I must have suffered?" Xiong Da smirked as he threw thence towards Bu Dong, allowing him to check out his trophy from his fight while he beckoned his girlfriend to meet him and Bu Dong.

    "I took the liberty to call most of the Pandawans since King Rexбпs announcement sounded like weбпll be entering thest part of the Raid." Bu Dong informed him and Xiong Da felt the same. Everyone anticipated the abrupt teleportation as it would finally bring an end to this particr raid!

 Chapter 1100 - Raid Boss Appearance

    <h4>Chapter 1100 - Raid Boss Appearance</h4>

    To ensure the customers were kept busy for some time as he changed the instances, Kraft had added бпresting cesбп which functioned as a mix of the safe houses and the Pandarenбпs personal rooms. (After all, the fighting was over and the use of safe houses were rendered useless.) Of course, he didnбпt miss the chance to charge them for such luxury.

    There was the basic and free бпTentбп option, which was literally a tent that would allow the Pandarens to get back to their rooms and outfit themselves ordingly. The amount of space was somewhat lesserpared to what they had rented since there was only a c.h.e.s.t and a basic mattress to rest momentarily.

    Otherwise, there was the бпPremium Tentбп option, which бпonlyбп cost a couple of Raid Points, Raid Emblems or Panda Coins to have avable for themselves. On top of ess to their rooms which would appear the moment they entered the tents, they also got some morefortable furniture (albeit temporary) to rx before thest phase officially began as well as a lunch set from Lynnбпs Restaurant Instance.

    Andstly, there was the бпNobilityбпs Tentбп option, which cost a lot of currency of the Pandarenбпs choice. It was designed for groups and could connect all of their rooms. (In a way, itбпs priced slightly cheaper since the option was leaning towards a group setting.) And just like the namesake, it expanded the room into a Premium tent setting with everything that this choice had entailed.

    Since money wasnбпt an issue for him, Xiong Da had booked the most expensive one. However, Xiong Da did not just change equipment, he even took a quick shower so he could feel refreshed for the next fight.

    While thewyer had been busy in the bath, Bu Dong had taken the liberty to gather everyone. Unaware of the gathering, he was taken aback when he opened the door at the sound of the knock, only to be ogled at by therge group waving at him and chuckling at his half n.a.k.e.dness.

    "Iбпm rather surprised that you could really get the whole group here!" Xiong Da was utterly baffled.

    "Please, Dear! Go back in and put on some clothes!" Ruo Ying, red like a tomato, quickly pushed her boyfriend inside, telling him to change as quickly as possible. How could she stand to allow other women in the group to check out his manliness?

    "I merely came out to check what themotion was all about! How was I supposed to know that- Ow, ow! Okay! Gimme a second to put on my b.r.i.e.f.s!" Xiong Dained as Ruo Ying beat him back into the bathroom. A quick change of clothester, he came out and saw that everyone was ready for the next round.

    "Itбпs quite odd to have such a long interim between the raid instances. Thatбпs not exactly Boss Jinбпs style to keep us in suspense." Bin Yong, the Beetle Pandawan noted as he sat on a log with his partner, Jia Le, staring at the makeshift campfire at the centre of the group.

    "He might just be waiting for more cultivators to join in for the final phase. This kind of majorst boss fight will feel more epic if there are more people around." Shi Zuo yawned loudly. He hade here directly after pulling an all-nighter and he was sure he would regret it afterwards. His girlfriend Luo Bo was already snoring right beside him, using her boyfriendбпs arm as her pillow, despite the crowd and noise.

    "All I know is that I am more than happy to experience this after multiple shifts." Se Lang, the Wolf Pandawan was checking out his phone, wondering if his current assortment of equipment would be sufficient for the uing fight.

    "Not as happy as me, seeing you WITHOUT your girlfriends for a change. Just us two FRIENDS like in the good old times. Hope you still havenбпt forgotten me, you know, your old AFTER WORK PARTNER!" Deng Long, the W.o.m.bat Pandawan, emphasised thest part to guilt trip his old friend but it looked like he was not giving a damn except for the group whoughed at this outburst of manly jealousy.

    "The Venus Four said they would be a tadte. Apparently, they are doing some major shopping online in Jing Ruбпs house." Bu Dongmented and heavily hinted that Deng Longбпs alone time with his buddy was limited.

    "Oh yea, Inspector Xue Ping and Lee An apologise that they wonбпt be able to make it today and wish us the best. This final part of the raid has riled up the entire police station and many have put in requests for some urgent leave." Deng Long shared some inside information.

    "Then how were the two of you able toe?" Jia Le, the Bellflower Cultivator questioned.

    "We got really lucky with the lottery leave. Itбпs more or less be a norm for those who want to train at Boss Jinбпs ce to do it that way. Of course, our transponders must be active at all times, so if there is a situation that needs us, weбпll have to respond immediately with no questions asked. Itбпs a give and take situation." Se Langmented and after their little chit chat, they noticed that the skies turned dark real fast.

    "Guess, itбпs time. A night battle, huh?" Xiong Da picked his phone up and checked the Pandamonium App for any updates. Everyone else did the same and they kept refreshing their phones waiting for any changes. At that point, lightning struck and the thunder rumbled while the faces of the Pandawan group instantly melted into dread.

    "You are kidding me?" Bu Dong could not believe his eyes when he saw the update.

    "Well, this further cements the rumours that Boss Jin had a hand in that particr incident." Bin Yong scratched his head, not knowing how to respond to thetest update that appeared on their phones.

    "At least it states at the bottom that this is just a work of fiction." Jia Leughed at the tant statement trying to fool them. "That should make this easier... right?"

    "In terms of legality, there is nothing wrong about copying famous monsters for dungeon fights. After all, itбпs because of the possible recreation of these fights that we patronise dungeon supplier stores, isnбпt it?" Xiong Da remarked as he could see that everyone had put on a defeated smile on their face.

    It was only natural that the wailing echoes in the background they heard from afar caused their blood to pump through their veins hard. It was a sound everyone had heard on the newsreels not too long ago. Even without seeing the monster first hand, they knew that the Final Raid Boss would be insanely hard to defeat.

    For the first time in Jinбпs dungeons, it might be possible that they would experience an entire Raid Wipe.

    "You know, I am kind of d now that I invested all those points in for the Demopolis City upgrades." Xiong Da gulped, clueless on what to do next.

    After the instance switch, all minions and NPCs had disappeared. The Home Guards and the asional mysterious cloaked dark elves were nowhere to be seen. It was as if this entire raid was prepared solely for the Pandarens and their Final Boss.

    The Loopa Ooofpa.

 Chapter 1101 - That Artillery Shot

    <h4>Chapter 1101 - That Artillery Shot</h4>

    The trembling noises of the Loopa Ooofpa were enough to scare every Panderen inside the instance and they finally understood why there had been a need for an interim to gather more people for thisst part of the raid. (Though at the back end, Kraft was hastily fixing bugs and adding his shade of rainbow sparkles to make their fight against thetest boss AI programme one they wouldnбпt forget anytime soon.)

    Without any help from Jinбпs minions, it was solely up to the Pandarens to organise themselves and fight. However, despite the possibility of a Raid Wipe urring, their Pandamonium App blinked once more, notifying them that their current ythrough of the raid instance had yielded them a special bonus. This particr bonus was given to everyone regardless of the amount of time they had spent in the raid instance or their contribution beforehand.

    It was sort of a бпcongrattoryбп gift for the collective of Pandarens that they had reached this far into the raid instance. Strangely, the end of the doc.u.ment didnбпt have Jin signing off but a fox paw.

    Most of the Pandarens did not really bother but the Pandawans who were perceptive to such minute changes began to suspect that the following boss might not be as бпsimpleбп as they had thought. (This бпFox Paw/Difficultyбпter became synonymous to a Hardcore/Hell Mode)

    The gift came in the form of a raid specific inscription charm that would enable the users to create an invincible shield around themsting for 10 seconds. After which there would be a cooldown of 10 minutes before they could use it again, for a total of 3 times. Most believed it should be saved for emergency uses but Bu Dong begged to differ given his vast experience in gaming.

    "Boss Jin would not give us something this powerful unless us not having this would make this Final Boss fight too difficult. However, since this letter isnбпt signed off by him, itбпs hard to say whether this is a friendly bonus or like a lifeline to allow us to win." Bu Dong stated his opinion, yet everyone was already in panic mode when the trembling noises turned to tremors that felt like an impending earthquake was about to set in.

    "There is no way we can defeat that thing!" Ruo Ying shrieked out as she nearly tripped from the constant tremors.

    "We have to do this no matter what! Just imagine the rewards we are bound to get if we can clear this!" Bu Dong tried to encourage them but the tremors were indeed not helping them at all.

    On the other hand, Xiong Da used his cultivation powers and jumped hastily towards one of themunication towers since that was the highest height avable to check where the Ooofpa Loopa wasing from.

    "What the hell... we have to deal with TWO of those monsters?!" Xiong Da could feel his balls shrinking.

    "WHAT?! TWO??!" Hong Deng Long felt like fainting at this instant and everyone within Demopolis felt the same dread oveing them. Was this sense of helplessness the same as how the frontline had felt when they had encountered the very same monsters?

    Probably.

    Yet when hell turned loose, some of the Pandarens that had been gathered on the walls were not falling into despair. Instead, they picked up the artillery guns that had been installed and aimed at the Southern Ooofpa Loopa.

    "This is for all my friends you killed!" One of the Pandarens shouted as he pulled the trigger for the artillery gun and its shot exploded through the deafening aura of fear that surrounded the Demopolis City Instance.

    This initial shot became a beacon of hope for the Pandarens who had been stricken with dread as they watched the artillery fire fly miles across the sea and score a direct shot on the Ooofpa Loopa. The Artillery Gun immediately released the spent round and that sole Pandaren removed it. At that point, another Pandaren who was near him went towards the pile of explosive shells and picked a new one, passing it to the shooter.

    The former Pandaren thanked him and slowly ced that new shell into the barrel while the artillery gun automatically reloaded itself without much help. It even had an onboard navigation system to help the Pandarens readjust themselves. (The only thing was that the System left the aiming navigation to the Pandarens without much assistance.)

    Once again, the second shot was fired and its sound pierced through the silence as people started to feel invigorated by the sole actions of the Pandaren.

    Xiong Da then took a deep breath in to calm himself, before he picked up his Pandamonium App. There was an option within his visor that allowed him to make a full Raid Announcement which would be broadcast to everyone, although it was costly. However, since money was not an issue to him, the Hippo Cultivator dly paid for it.

    "To all Pandarens, this is Hippo Pandawan Xiong Da speaking. That thundering roar of fire from that brave Pandaren has shown us that we DO have the ability to stop these monsters! All we need to do is remain calm and work together! So throw away all your doubts like how he did with those two shots of artillery fire! Guys, we can win this!" Thewyerбпs impromptu speech did wonders for his fellow customerбпs morale.

    "Operate all the artillery cannons you can find! If Boss Jin recreated this one from the original, there is no doubt that it will create some bad shit crazy swarm of offsprings to hunt us down! We have the entire Demopolis City at our disposal since there are no minions around to help us at all." Xiong Da shouted as he used the information at his disposal to give instructions to the masses. After all, there was no leader to order them around or any super defying high grade cultivator like Grandma Yuan who could solo fight one Ooofpa Loopa by themselves.

    "Imagine if we do not have our army, police or some secret n and organisations to protect us. Should we let these kinds of fiends destroy our homes? If we cannot clear this, it will be a disgrace to all the Pandarens! So send out the бпcall for armsбп! Get your friends toe as soon as possible and join us! We will clear this no matter what and show Jin that we Pandarens as a collective are to be feared!! Should you ever falter, remember youбпre not alone!! If you canбпt do it for yourselves do it FOR THE PLUSHIES!!!бп" Xiong Da shouted and his persuasion was not for nought.

    Even the joke-like deration should help immensely to hype up some of the stronger fans. (Although Xiong Da didnбпt know whether there would be plushies as rewards, he was sure with enough of them demanding them, they might convince Jin.)

    The Pandarens wore their Panda badge with pride and to withdraw because of the high level difficulty would be a disgrace. A disgrace to their past efforts, their time, sweat and blood. They were going to clear this and show the world that theyбпre the proud Pandarens of this unique dungeon supplier store!

 Chapter 1102 - Business Ac.u.men

    <h4>Chapter 1102 - Business Ac.u.men</h4>

    After Xiong Daбпs announcement, the Pandarens started to rush to the walls, arranging themselves in groups and manning the wallбпs defences. They realised that for the past raids they had always depended on Jinбпs minions and monsters to lead them into the battles.

    This was the first time that they were going to fight this on their own and this rude awakening apanied with two Ooofpa Loopas would be the true test of their powers. One could say that all their hoards of previously won prizes, as well as their bought weapons, inscription charms and other battle essories, would be put to full use in the fight.

    Aside from the disappearance of the minions, everything else such as the бпon the goбп battle shop features was still avable to the Pandarens, which gave them some peace of mind. It should give them a slight advantage in the battle but this did not mean fighting against two Ooofpa Loopas would suddenly be a walk in the park.

    The news of the Ooofpa Loopa being the Demopolis City Raid Final Boss didnбпt go unnoticed. Despite them being in a raid instance, the Pandarens were actively sending out requests for help to their friends and rtives to aid them in this particr fight via their Pandamonium App. Quite a few of the Pandarens were off duty soldiers, doing their due diligence to hone their skills even when they were on leave. (In actual fact, quite a lot actually believed that Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas was a far more effective measure in training their skills than the oneбпs the military currently offered them.)

    Once they learned that the raid boss was that very same abomination that nearly endangered their cities, these off duty soldiers instantly sent out mass invitations to their work colleagues, encouraging them to fight alongside them. Many, if not all, were shocked by this and did not hesitate to drop whatever they were doing (if at all possible) and headed to the store.

    Thus, as the current group of Pandarens were shoring up the defences of Demopolis, their reinforcements were on the way. All they had to do was to survive the raid and prevent a raid wipe before the next wave of Pandarens came in to assist them.

    The name Ooofpa Loopa alone was sufficient to send those that were wandering in Panda Shop Instance to at least take a look at the cinemas to check out themotion. That also included journalists, influencers and even official online news reporters that were currently squeezing into the Shop Instanceбпs Cinema Hall to get a peek at the current situation.

    Their indirect advertis.e.m.e.nt furthered the interest for Dungeons and Pandas from onlookers through the that prompted them to query whether they could have footage for the current raid instance.

    Kiyu had expected such a thing to happen and had coborated with the System for the next move to entice more users for their service. For those who were not within the raid, the Pandamonium App instantly generated a new pop up and presented them with a limited time offer of a three month subscription of Pandaflix for the price of three Yuan.

    The targets of this new ad were first and foremost the social media influencers in and out of the Shop Instance and they did not hesitate to immediately ept. Streamers at home quickly downloaded the Pandamonium App and subscribed to it so that they could provide their audiences with live reaction to this current Ooofpa Loopa scenario.

    The one time subscription price was abysmally cheap, enticing even the most casual onlooker to give it a try and everyone was vastly interested to see how the Final Boss encounter would y out. They all had heard of the rumours of the Ooofa Loopa but because of the previous media ckout on it, Kraft and Kiyu could now take advantage of the hype surrounding it.

    Within 15 minutes, the System tabted an 18% increase in subscriptions for the Pandaflix from new users and a staggering 60% increase in subscriptions from Pandarens who had yet to subscribe.

    "Does this prove that I am a genius in marketing?" Kraftughed sharply like a richdy overpowering the rest of her бпfriendsбп when he saw the cold hard figures. He even created the illusion of him swimming in the pile of cash they were earning behind him. Kiyu rolled her eyes but demanded El Presidente to praise her too.

    "What is there to praise? I always knew that you can do this if you want to. How do you like me taking over this Dungeon and Pandas endeavour? I could make it big fast." Kraft now raised both of his hands while sitting on his couch иC apologies, his throne as he wasughing hysterically, busy with histest daydream.

    "No thank you, Iбпll take my chances with Jin since he has more business foresight than you. If he had not set up all these options as part of the shopбпs foundations, you wouldnбпt be able to do this at all. You actually should thank him for giving you an opportunity to shine, especially when he is not around." Kiyu shrugged the crafty fox away.

    "Youбпve basically just admitted that he is being too conservative in his actions for his shop. In this modern era, everything is about timing and I happened to take this opportunity to take advantage of that, which he would not. Also, you are not denying that I have a keen sense of business ac.u.men. Muhahaha~" Kraft smiled widely and Kiyu massaged her temples. Although the rtionship between her and Kraft was not far from the level of Kraft and Rexбпs, sometimes she forgot that she was dealing with a person who had бпnarcissismбп written all over his chi aura.

    "Yes, yes, El Presidente. Without you, we wouldnбпt have established such a great head start with the almost teauing sales which Jin has if he is around." Kiyu decided to entertain him so that he would leave her alone for at least a moment to find some sense of respite.

    Yet, the fact that this particr event generated a lot of media presence had further reinforced the notion to those in the shadows watching quietly that Jin had indeed participated in the fight against Ooofpa Loopa.

    While it should be ssified as a confidential secret, there was nothing in thew barring dungeon suppliers to recreate a factional scene.

    Some of the western dungeon suppliers had recreated the infamous бп11/9бп scene in their dungeons and the government wasnбпt able to ban them in any way. While it was true that there were some changes like how they modified the terrorists to monsters infiltrating nes to keep it бпdungeon supplier friendlyбп, it was a tant retelling of the incident.

    In fact, it had actually helped cate the citizensбп anger with the creation of these scenes and thus the government reacted with indifference to the issue. (There were even rumours that the government was actually the one who had sponsored some high levelled dungeon suppliers as well to run simtions of it too.)

    After all, cultivators and mages craved to experience the бпwhat ifsбп on their own. The scenes where they could kill the бпterroristsбп and pilot the ne away to safety or rescue the workers in the tower building before it could be destroyed.

    That alone was enough to evade a war in the Middle East while avoiding potential heavy bacsh from the public. There were no doubt some discord against some of the vocal minority but the government was able to cate them from making too much noise. Surprisingly, this also allowed the government to proceed discreetly in carrying out specialised covert operations to find the culprits that did it and annihte them.

    Hence, it was no different for El Presidente Kraft to utilise the hype train around the true Loopa Ooofpa. He believed it would incite the curiosity in the onlookers and crave Dungeons and Pandas name on the map. Besides, he also wanted to see who else was watching them intently. At times like these, friends as well as Jinбпs enemies were prone to be way too prying about the major event, leading them to step out of their usual habits and allowing his Night Foxes to catch them unaware.

    After all, the incident regarding Jinбпs fight with the Tiger Brothers had already caused turbulent waters to stir under the tranquil sea of China. Hiding was no longer an option for the Royal Panda n if they wanted to grow bigger, so they might as well show the world what it wanted to see!

 Chapter 1103 - The Ooofpa Loopa Finally Strikes

    <h4>Chapter 1103 - The Ooofpa Loopa Finally Strikes</h4>

    While there was chaos initially, most of the Pandarens quickly took whatever role they needed to fill based on the avable бпjobбп slots in the Pandamonium App. (Like gunners, artillery shell assistants, lookouts, barricade builder, etc) Even without any minions to lead the way, they still had ess to the Pandamonium App Map which at least provided them with an interactive map listing all defensive emcements they could take up.

    Once they took the emcement position, the Pandamonium App would not only disy that their location was filled up but would also send them easy to understand work instructions on how to operate the machines. Their half mask visors even gave the user visual hints by highlighting certain parts of the machinery like the artillery gun they were operating.

    The System also sent outbined operational work instructions that allowed various cultivators to try and team up together as a whole. After all, this raid was about them working as one big group of strangers. There was bound to be some friction among Pandarens when working with members outside their usual group.

    Yet, Kraft and the System believed that there should still be some level of cooperation because this was not a life and death situation. Mistakes were permitted and themunity of Pandarens progressed as a team no matter the differences.

    The usage of defensive emcements such as artillery guns, anti air guns and even mobile mortars were picked up by them on the spot. Thanks to the assistance of the System it was easy enough (because it was dumbed down a lot), yet this enabled some form of confidence that they could deal with the iing threat.

    For the time being, both Ooofpa Loopas remained stationary, giving the entire section of artillery freshman a few training shots against the big immovable target. It was programmed that way by Jin and reinforced by Kraft to instil fear in the monster. The interesting part was that Jin had purposely changed the way the Ooofpa Loopa would work while keeping the basic mechanics of the boss monster the same.

    He had purposely inverted the original name of the abomination from Loopa Ooofpa to Ooofpa Loopa to explicitly show that it was a basically бпdifferentбп monster. (He was also betting that most of the Pandarens would not notice the difference since the monster looked the same and a flip of the name was nothing to people who were dyslexic.)

    The original Loopa Ooofpa abomination had the disgusting ability to consume energy be it chi or magic or other types, toter emit it out as part of its attack, causing pretty much devastation on a pretty epic scale. If Jin had kept the very same mechanic, he believed that the Pandarens would only experience raid wipe after raid wipe since most of them were relying on his dungeon environmental mechanics to support their strengths and powers.

    Thus, he had purposely revamped the Ooofpa Loopa, keeping the part about getting immune after the first attack that they were damaged with, primarily based on the type of element. For example, the artillery shell shots were mostly explosive in nature and therefore, fire element.

    Anything else with a fire element would subsequently not be effective against the big boss. They would have to start hitting it with a variety of different attacks as time goes by else the Ooofpa Loopas would simply bulldoze their way through the Demopolis City Defences.

    At least, the Pandarens had it easier despite not knowing the exact nature of the Bossбпs attribute. This was solely because their visors disyed the Ooofpa Loopaбпs health points right in front of them when they targeted it. All they needed to do was some major бпbig brainбп thinking to realise that their artillery shells would only be effective if they constantly rotated in different elements.

    And that itself would be a surprisingly decent boss mechanic to deal with once they figured it out. Kraft sure had it easy, not needing to recreate anything special. All he needed to do was to ensure that the transfer and replication of all the assets would work as intended. (Of course just because he didnбпt бпneedбп to, didnбпt mean he didnбпt touch it... )

    However, not just any elemental attacks would do the trick since the Ooofpa Loopa also had a certain amount of base elemental resistance and defence (both magical and physical). The Pandarens would have to tear through before the change in the element could happen. And as if that wasnбпt enough, they also had to deal with two of those monsters at once.

    Meanwhile, the Pandawans were temporarily taking up leadership roles to ensure smoother processes within Demopolis. But as they explored the Pandamonium App to check the facilities avable to them inside Demopolis, they found out that the entire city was indeed a military base, filled with all sorts of equipment which they could use to fight against the Ooofpa Loopa and from the looks of it, many of those had already been taken up.

    From small arms like assault rifles and RPG to one man tanks and even a truck that held a barrage of rocketunchers. What surprised them the most was the variety of ammunition stored within the armoury. The Pandawans saw the stock inventory in Pandamonium App and they believed it was practically enough to start World War Three.

    "What are we your waiting for? Those Pandarens who are not at the North and South Defence instations, get your a.s.s over to the bas.e.m.e.nt four armoury and get those crates of guns transported out. Some of you carry those lightning element based artillery shells to the southern area. Maybe we can use the elements to our advantage since that dumbass monster is in the sea area!" Se Lang shouted when he brought a team of Pandarens to sort out the inventory.

    But as he did that, chatter within the Pandaren Channel, which was created simrly to the System Channel, increased multifold minutes after Se Lang gave the order to send the artillery ammunition to the south. (They really had to thank Xiong Da for buying the entire package to do raid wide coordinations.) Those chatters wereing from the Pandarens on the North and South Walls who had simultaneously spotted the Ooofpa Loopa giving birth to various odd shaped eggs from its orifices.

    However, the North still had it easy, at least their sideбпs eggs could be seen on the ground. As for the Southern Wall, the Pandarens reported that those eggs sank the moment they emerged out of those orifices and most of them assumed that the sea was hiding their presence.

    This presented an unprecedented challenge to the Pandawans and Pandarens but all of them decided to take it one step at a time. "Fire at those orifices and eggs! Reduce their numbers before those abominations give birth to more of them!" Bu Dong shouted through the Pandaren Channels and those manning the walls immediately pounced into action by readjusting their aim to the vulnerable orifices of the Ooofpa Loopa so they could destroy them.

    And this was barely the beginning!

 Chapter 1104 - Extra -The Workings of Bone Spirit Demons

    <h4>Chapter 1104 - Extra -The Workings of Bone Spirit Demons</h4>

    "You sure know how to torture those poor little Pandarens, eh?" Peimented as she watched Kraft furiously type on his tablet and keyboard from his throne. It was quite rare of him to work so hard out in the open for people to see. And yet he somehow had the time to disy the expression of a bored sloth, as his hands typed in speeds that made it hard to follow their movements.

    "Sure, but half the credit should go to Jin. It was his initial idea, I just improved on it. Since I ced one stupid Loompa Oompa monster in the sea, I had to make sure that the underlings are sea tondpatible...or at least seapatible. Otherwise, they would have just drowned or be easy pickings for Jinбпs customers to kill. Where is the fun in that?" Kraft argued and Pei corrected him.

    "They are the Ooofpa Loopa, stop confusing me. It is already difficult to differentiate the real Loopa Ooofpa and now the customised dungeon monster Ooofpa Loopa." Pei said while folding her hands.

    "Again, me Jin and not me. He was the one who switched the cement of words in the name away. Iбпm merely following him." Kraft yawned a little but his eyes were still squinted, staring at the miniature screen with utmost concentration.

    "What kind of monsters are you putting in to terrify our customers, anyway?" Pei questioned once more.

    "The Bone Spirit Demons are a very interesting set of specimens. While we did not technically capture them the traditional way, I did however have some of the Night Foxes take the liberty of sealing a few up during our time and been studying them during my downtime. Why of course, I had to give credit where itбпs due since the bulk of the specimens were captured by the Valgs, you know those creepy looking four legged monsters of Maeve and Mab? The Feys of the Winter Court? Yes? No? I still remembered how impressive it was for Jin to call those parasites out to y. I mean, they were almost a tit for tat against the Bone Spirit Spirits. Being unnatural parasite themselves, they would not betched upon by the Bone Spirits no matter how they try. It was as if Jin had the sense to bring out a swarm of parasites to pit it against another. But seriously though, those Night Foxes of mine did y a part catching them too, just out of sight of Jinбпs. Anyways, I am bbering too much. Where was I? Oh yes. With the main host gone, they would not havested long in any astral ne setting. Fortunately, this issue had been solved by tying it down to a new master." Kraft was speed talking that Pei knew that he did not have time to filter his words since he was concentrating on the raid instance bug fixes.

    "Anyways, the System, as usual, was very amodating in providing them with the necessary requirements to keep them alive when I unsealed the bunch... long story short, they turned out to be quite the exceptional spirits despite their abysmally low rank in the Hell ne." Kraft continued to babble on without any care as his mind was in tune with what was on the screen while he multi-tasked and talked with Pei, to quench thetterбпs curiosity.

    "So the time you asked to borrow my medical tool box back then... Were they the reason why?" Pei realised it and connected the dots. "Did you even sterilise it after use?"

    "Duh. You always use me of being haphazard and somewhat irresponsible, but do you really think I want to give you a reason for me to suffer your wrath unnecessarily?" Kraft took a nce at Pei and returned to what he was doing.

    "The System can show Betor Pei a record of Original Betor Kraft sterilising the tools ording to the standard protocol youбпve set." The System reported while intervening in their conversation so as to ensure that there was peace and understanding between the duo.

    Although he made it look easy, it was nheless a delicate time for Kraft to clear the Demopolis City Raid Final Boss Instanceбпs real time errors and bugs along with the help of the System before the Raid Dungeon Instance would enter Phase one of the fight in full force.

    "Fine, I shall believe you without the video. Still, since you бпborrowedбп it your usual way, can you tell me what exactly you are doing with those Bone Spirit Demons aspensation." Pei used the excuse of Kraft simply leaving an IOU on her table where the tool box had been to squeeze out more information about the current Raid.

    After all, she was a little worried that Kraftбпs tendency to бпmake things interestingбп might explode the raidбпs difficulty into something that the Pandarens would be unable to handle and that was definitely not what Jin would have wanted.

    "Psssh. Fine. No need toe up with those excuses, I would have told you anyway, as long as you would have addressed me as your rightful El Presidente." Kraft teased her for a brief moment before he turned serious again.

    "As you know, the Bone Spirit Demons have the same astral ne alignment as Moloch, Wolte and King Baal. Only unlike those three big a.s.s lords, they are pretty much the lowest tiers of бпdemonsбп within their astral ne if you want to call them that. Calling them a byproduct of the Hell neбпs energy wouldnбпt be wrong after all. Point is, theyck the capability to live without a constant supply of Hell neбпs energy to feed on. To them that energy would be the same as our oxygen...erm wait no. That is a little too far-fetched, maybe something like humans who would be unable to live without the sun." Kraft exined as he continued to type but suddenly noticed that he had overlooked an error. He stopped talking for a few minutes as he tapped his up arrow furiously to reach that error and held down his backspace button to clear it before recing it from scratch with a new line.

    "Grrr. Should have just said oxygen and not broken my train of thoughts. Sigh, anyway. Yes, the Sun. Aside from all those theoretical bull crap we say about the sun, without its energy, mankind would feel kinda shitty, to put it mildly, right? Letбпs not even mention how all nts and stuff would die without it and the other h h. It might not be the best analogy, but they have the same needs as us and without the energy of their ne, they would go bonkers."

    "Topensate they subordinate themselves to a higher tier entity like the Loopa Ooofpa. Since he is a manifestation of hunger, greed or whatever he represents, that one big oaf provides that energy to them, allowing them to move freely in another realm ne." Kraft continued as he pressed enter waiting for the debugging function to work, awaiting the System input if there were any other problems with it.

    "Isnбпt that the same as oxygen. You should have just used the oxygen analogy." Pei squinted her eyes as she replied.

    "No, the sun is indeed better. Without oxygen, humans would die rather quickly, but without the sun they could actually survive, at least for a longer period of time. For them itбпs the same, my experiments lead me to the conclusion that they should be able to survive in our worldly ne for more than a week or so without the powers of the higher entity as long as theytch themselves onto a creature for its bodily needs, and subsequently transforming the body it hitched on into part of its new identity."

    "Inymanбпs terms, they can survive by bing parasites and possessing some other entity. But even so, the constant loss of Hell Energy makes them weak and due to the misalignment of this neбпs energy and Hell Energy, it kind of makes them dissipate into thin air if left alone and no other external factors included." Kraft bing so schrly for a brief period of time made Pei reminisce all his rational arguments from when they were younger. It made her remember the days why she tolerated his behaviour and enjoyed hispany.

    "If we are going that route-" Pei was about to continue questioning him until a sudden loud noise came out from his tablet.

    *Ping!* "System reports no other faults in the current raid instance."

    "Meh, that was easier than expected. Should have added a few more surprises. Oh well..." Kraft shrugged his shoulders as he quickly browsed the veryst line as confirmation and pressed the enter button in a very satisfying manner. "There we go. Should be all done for now." Hemented as he stretched on his throne before swiping the tablet away for a while.

    "You should stop worrying your pretty little head about this whole Bone Spirit Demons info dump. Just enjoy the fight and the surprises I have prepared for them. System, please make sure to send me a clip of everyoneбпs reaction. Time to do what really needs to be done. After all, those Dungeon World citizens arenбпt going to poison themselves, right?" Kraft unbuttoned his El Presidente zer and threw it at his throne to go out to work.

    "For you to actually go to work, youбпre working yourself off to carry Jinбпs burden, eh?" Pei noted with a bit of concern.

    "What can I say? I pity my master. He works so hard but yet still finds a way to bury himself in extra work. Besides, he did put me in charge for this Demopolis Raid. Finishing things with anything but an E for Excellent rating would bring shame to the name of us Foxes." Kraft said as he rolled up his ck shirtбпs sleeves and from his storage ring, his ever iconic coat emerged from it.

    "I also canбпt leave out those two rascals. The way things have been going, made it seem that me and Zeru are the only ones working overtime." Kraft coughed while mentioning the Sword Saint himself. Before teleporting away, he tidied his coat and checked that he had his trusty phone with him even though he did not need it with all the System channels.

    "Come to think of it, System any updates on our Sword Master in the Flower City with all the Banned Emperor conspiracy nonsense? Wait, no. Donбпt tell me yet. Or else I will be distracted to go into the Flower City myself to find out more." Kraft asked as he made a mental note to mess with him after they bothpleted their missions. (Oh but to trust the Fox to behave on his mission? That would be something out of the ordinary and very unlikely to happen.)

 Chapter 1105 - Setting Layers of Defences in Demopolis

    <h4>Chapter 1105 - Setting Layers of Defences in Demopolis</h4>

    "FIRE!!" Bu Dong shouted as another barrage of artillery shots came raining down towards the direction of the Northern Ooofpa Loopa. This time around, they were focusing on the Bone Spirit Demons who had been able to escape the initial volley of attacks and were now running towards the Demopolis Walls.

    Sadly, the Pandarens were not yet ready to face them head on outside of the walls. They had wrongfully assumed that the interim period before the Boss encounter had been merely set up for them to rest and rx. Nobody had told them that they had been supposed to use that particr period to prepare some defences against the menacing hordes of monsters.

    s, that time had already passed and there was no use crying over spilt milk. All they could do now was to mitigate the further damage, hoping that therades they had called in would soon arrive. Right now, all the Pandarens were doing their best to either use the artillery to fight back or search for more defences as much as they could with whatever they were able to scour throughout the city.

    The Pandawans, with the help of some Pandarens, had realised that they could use the cityndscape to their advantage, yet, the city itself was rather vast. There was actually a Suburban area near the outskirts of the Demopolis Walls to amodate the residents if need be before it transits to a wide round field andter the military bases.

    The Suburban areas were filled with multistorey buildings which could be used to iste the Bone Spirit Demon Horde if they brought them down with explosives. However, the barricade would onlyst a certain amount of time before the Bone Spirit Demons climb over them or even dig through them.

    Still, it was somewhat ast ditch defence solution to slow the monsters down if the walls were overwhelmed. The explosives were easy to ce since the Pandamonium App had basic blueprints of each and every building in the Suburban area. But before exploding those buildings to dust piles, the Pandarens rushed to create defensive barricades just like how the Mafia Demon Families had done the same.

    Whye up with something new if an old n should already be able to do the same job?

    So they found every piece of furniture they could salvage from the homes and built several makeshift barriers to stop the Bone Spirit Demon Horde from advancing. Some explosives and debuffing inscription charms were added into the mix of those barriers so that they could further reduce the advancement of the Bone Spirit Demon Horde from approaching the open fields.

    And speaking of the open fields, that was where the second major batch of Pandarens was present. Under the lead of Pandawan Se Lang and Deng Long, they had begun digging shallow trenches so that the cultivators had a ce to fall back at each and every interval in their fight against the Bone Spirit Demon Horde. They had no idea how aggressive the Bone Spirits were but they took whatever possible method in their handbook to slow the horde down. However, they honestly hope the fighting would not take ce that near to their base. Because if that was the case, the odds of winning would practically be close to zero too. The open field without proper support fire was equivalent to suicide and Se Lang believed they should rather surrender the raid instance.

    Still, they continued to do it because the objective of this raid was not just to kill the two boss monsters, it was the protection of the airfield runway. it was the one thing that the Pandarens had to protect at all costs, otherwise, there would be no more additional reinforcementsing in.

    Some of the Pandarensined that this Final Boss Instance should have allowed for a more constant wave of reinforcementsing through by the means of magical teleportation but thematically, it did not make sense at all and it might break the raid.

    If the reinforcements were to stream in simultaneously, they would no doubt have sufficient manpower to fight against the Demon Hordes and the Boss Monsters. It wouldnбпt be a suspense filled fight anymore, but more of a battle of attrition, with one side unable to lose. It would no longer be a question of IF they could win, but WHEN they would win.

    However, as the epic conclusion to the Demopolis City Raid this part was meant to be a fight for their lives, preparing them for the case should such a monster ever appear in the midst of their reality (again). It was a sort of training for both the civilians and the armed personnel of the country...or that was what many who were in the raid instance hade to believe.

    In reality, Kraftбпs main goal was just to give the Pandarens a worthy fight to remember Jinбпs dungeon instance, since it was indirectly his brotherбпs possible future legacy. (Although he also wanted to see them suffer for a change since he was of the opinion Jin always treated them too nicely. And sadly, some of the minions felt the same way as well.)

    The trenches were filled with anotheryer of artillery guns awaiting their time to be used while barbed wires, explosives and even mines were ced diligently by the Pandarens setting up the battlefield. And because they needed more time to dig the trenches and ce the items, it was up to the Pandarens at the Demopolis Wall and Suburban areas to buy them time to settle their defences.

    However, one shouldnбпt forget about the military equipment that was stored within the cityбпs bas.e.m.e.nts. Tanks, jeeps and rocketuncher trucks were slowly being brought out and they were ced in strategic areas where they could cover the most extensive area of attack. There were a few soldiers among the Pandarens and they immediately volunteered to give whatever advice they could to the Pandawans in order to speed things up.

    As for the naval portion, the Pandawans found out there were actually mini submarines as well as portable diving engines which could be used to manoeuvre within the sea withouting up for air. They were shaped like a torpedo without the explosives inside, allowing easy maniption as long as the cultivators could tolerate the sea currents and even had huge oxygen tanks with which the Pandarens could replenish their oxygen. But because of their properties, they were vulnerable when those engines were damaged, so those who used them treated it as a one time trip against the wave of Bone Spirit Demons.

    Still, the Demopolis Armoury seemed to have no shortage of them. Destroying even a hundred of them would not dent their inventory stocks. Thus, with most portions of the defences covered, the Pandawans were only worried about the offensive part of this raid.

 Chapter 1106 - Ooofpa Loopa Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 1106 - Ooofpa Loopa Weakness</h4>

    "The Bone Spirit Demons have crossed the 100 metre mark!" One of the self-assigned Pandaren leaders shouted within the Pandaren Group Channel, informing everyone that they were going to engage in closebat with them soon.

    "The Bone Spirit Sea Demons are already near the walls! We are proceeding to intercept them!" Another Pandaren leader reported in the Pandaren Group Channel as the sea creatures were more of a menace than their Northern counterparts mainly because of the cover of the sea.

    Some of the Pandarens had already used the diving engines to engage with the Bone Spirit Sea Demons but ording to the shared intel, less than ten survived the confrontation when they had sent forty of them out to see how many were hiding in the seas.

    "The sea really is our Achilles heel." Xiong Da admitted in the Pandawans Group Channel and they all agreed that none of them had much knowledge on how to defeat creatures that were in the sea aside from waiting for them toe on shore.

    "At the very least we have a lengthy beach shore. I have asked Tank toon Charlie Leader to assist with the efforts against the engagement. Unlike the Northern portion, we have to send out some Pandarens to fight against the Bone Spirit Sea Demons to slow them down." Bu Dong who was aiding the coordination said.

    "So the Southern Walls are aiming most of their attacks at those Bone Spirit Demons that juste out of the shore?" Bin Yong questioned and Bu Dong nodded his head.

    "The shoreline has already been riddled with artillery shells and machine gun bullets and the current group of Pandarens is aware not to go too close to the shoreline. Itбпs the least they can do to injure and possibly kill any Bone Spirit Sea Demonsing ashore before the rest of the Pandarens engage them." Bu Dong replied.

    "Good thinking there, Bu Dong, but if youбпve sent the stronger group to the shorelines, that also means that the Northern portion is nowcking in that many high-grade Pandarens to guard the area." Bin Yong scratched his head and wondered what they could do.

    "We might have solved our immediate problem, but we still need to attack the Ooofpa Loopa. Iбпm afraid that until we defeat one of the two, their respective hordes will continue to swarm us. How is the research regarding that going on, Ruo Ying?" Xiong Da questioned as he could see his partner continuously scrolling her phone to research the monster.

    "We are currently experiencing what those City Guards must have been through. Apparently, the death toll on their end had been because of theck of proper defences. The only good advantage is that we have these automated defensive weapons at our disposal. " Ruo Ying stated that the Bone Spirit Demon Horde was as expected.

    "But as you said if we are focusing solely on defence, it will just be a matter of time until we get defeated. Itбпs impossible to find any articles rted to their pattern of attack. The embargo of information has been well managed for this particr incident. It seems like the only solution will be to move out to hit the Ooofpa Loopa and learn of its weakness the hard way."

    "However, we already know that conventional attacks donбпt seem to work, right? I mean the explosive shells were effective for a moment but then his hit points suddenly stopped reducing." Bin Yong chimed in and as they were discussing out in the open fields, a group of Pandarens suddenly came to interrupt them.

    "Apologies, we understand that you are discussing your defences, but we might have some information that might help." The group leader of the three Pandarens said.

    "Please, any information would help. How may I address you?" Xiong Da asked as he extended his hand to shake his.

    "Zhang Min. And these are my friends Meng Ruo and Wei Yi. We are part of the Royal Snake Soldiers Battalion that fought directly against the Loopa Ooofpa." Zhang Min stated his work ce to increase the credibility of his solution.

    "Is it okay to reveal restricted information out in the open? Wonбпt you get punished?" Ruo Ying questioned even though they knew that it was for the benefit of the entire raid instance.

    "Itбпs fine, we got the clearance from our General." Meng Ruo replied.

    "Actually, heбпs the one who insisted that this particr information should be spread about that monster abomination we fought. Whether it will work or not for this particr dungeon instance, remains to be seen."

    "Yeah, since Boss Jin had purposely inverted the abominationбпs name, it should be safe to assume he is not making his particr boss monster the same as the one we fought previously...ording to our General at least." Wei Yi added.

    "He even said itбпs high time for us to get our revenge against the Boss Monster for not having been able to do our part against it during the actual fight- Ow why did you hit me?" Meng Ruo looked at Zhang Min who stomped on his foot.

    "Thereбпs no need to bring out the shameful past. We donбпt want people to spread rumours that the Royal Snake Battalion had been unable to do a single thing to aid with the fight." Zhang Min stared at Meng Ruo angrily.

    "I am not getting involved. After telling the Pandawans what we need to say, I am getting out of here." Wei Yi said as he raised his hands, not wanting to speak out of tune.

    "Hmm, yea. Sorry about that. Back to the topic, you should try using a different elemental attack against the boss each time you attack it. Based on the thundering noises in the background, you guys already tried artillery fire against it." Zhang Min questioned and the Pandawans nodded their heads.

    "So yes. It should already be immune against the fire element. Using other elements to damage it should help. But remember, I suggest that you use one element at a time. Worst case scenario might make it immune to a plethora of elements and that could mean game over." Zhang Min stated and it suddenly clicked with Bu Dong and Bin Yong that they might have been doing it without noticing the solution right in their face.

 Chapter 1107 - Soldiers Warning

    <h4>Chapter 1107 - Soldiers'' Warning</h4>

    "Wait a minute. Is that why our armoury is filled with shit loads of different elemental shells?" Bu Dong brought up and it also dawned on Bin Yong that what the soldiers said must have a corrtion to the damage dealt with the Ooofpa Loopa.

    "This would also exin why the Southern Ooofpa Loopa in the seas has taken more damagepared to the one in the North. I saw them take lightning-based artillery shells to hit it, thinking that it might be more effective since it is submerged in the seas." Bin Yong reported as he picked up his phone to check the status of both Ooofpa Loopa to see how much of a hit point difference they had.

    "Some of us theorised that the boss has entered a sort of invincible mode until we clear the Bone Spirit Hordes. So youбпre saying thatбпs not the case?" Ruo Ying asked but the soldiers shook their heads.

    "Since Boss Jin has messed with it, we canбпtpletely eliminate the possibility that he wants us to fight them in phases. Weбпre just saying that based on our own experience, those Bone Spirit Demons were endless. We had been fighting against them the entire time when-" Zhang Min stopped since his buddy poked him in his ribs. He had nearly forgotten that they were not allowed to use the Dungeon Supplierбпs name.

    That was one of the secrets that their General had explicitly stated that they must not reveal despite the fact that a number knew that Boss Jin had worked behind the scenes to aid them like with those portal trucks. Still it was not too hurt for them to figure out, seeing as they had the Sea Mesh official logo had a small panda next to it. Although it had not been an official logo, some people managed to connect it since there was a proper affiliation between Sea Mesh and бпDungeons and Pandasбп.

    "...when other State Agents came into the scenes." Zhang Min whispered, making it seem as if it was already a stretch to bring the Ministry of State Security into the picture and the Pandawans could see why they struggled to say it out loud. They instantly understood and decided not to ponder over their incident especially when they just met.

    "I just checked and numbers wise, we managed to damage the Southern Ooofpa Loopa down to 85% of its health while the Northern Ooofpa Loopa still has 90% of its health intact despite a fiercer barrage ongoing. Weбпll have to check how much damage the next element will inflict on it." Bing Yong reported and the two other Pandawans beside him immediately got into action to tell the Pandarens responsible for the transfer of inventory in the armoury to start moving a water based elemental shell to the Northern borders next.

    "Hey, why did you not tell them about the explosive feedback when the abomination got immune to the attacks? Isnбпt that more of a pressing concern?" Meng Ruo asked after the trio of soldiers had bid the Pandawans goodbye and proceeded towards the Northern Demopolis Walls.

    "The feedback should have already urred based on the theoretical papers created by the Royal Zodiac Monkey Researchers. Maybe Boss Jin just decided to dial the monster down a fair bit? It would truly be unfair to the Pandarens if they encounter such a crazy a.s.s monster in their raid instance." Zhang Min answered as they started to leap with their qing gong, jumping from one trench site to another and all the Pandarens in the vicinity who saw the qin gong style recognised them as being part of the military. No Pandaren without proper training would be able to do what the Royal Snake Soldiers were doing.

    "Only real life is that unfair, giving us such a troublesome monster to deal with back then. Without Boss Jinбпs intervention, I honestly doubt our battalions would have been able to defeat it. Also, I am secretly hoping that the Pandawandy is right and once the Bone Spirit Horde has been defeated that those abominations be vulnerable to attacks again, since that immunity trick really sucks." Wei Yi remarked as he followed closely behind them.

    "I donбпt believe that will be the case. It would be too easy, all we would have to do would be to keep shooting from afar. You think Boss Jin will give his cultivators such afortable route of cultivation? Did you already forget about the Pandapolis Raid Instance and how that massive fight was too damn real and chaotic at the end despite all the preparations that we had?" Meng Ruomented.

    "All I remember is that someone tried to rescue a feisty бпdamsel in distress." Wei Yi pointed out and they allughed.

    "Alright, enough nonsense, you guys. We have a boss to take revenge on and we donбпt know whether the mechanics still apply here." Zhang Min stressed as they climbed over the Suburban buildings and managed to reach the Northern Demopolis Walls. The horror of seeing those Bone Spirit Demons never left them and the view from the top of the Demopolis Wall had brought back some horrific memories that remained suppressed until now.

    "Gee, seeing them again isnбпt the greatest feeling ever. Itбпs like we are going through some psychotherapy against traumatic events. We were really lucky that our battalion did not suffer as badly as the Royal Horse Battalion." Meng Ruo said as he took his sword and gun out.

    "Have you tried Jinбпs inscriptions? They are pretty fun to use." Wei Yi tried to change the topic since it was getting way too heavy in the reminiscent part as he threw a pack of them towards Meng Ruo.

    "Use whatever you need. We are going to release hell and show these small-time Pandarens what it means to be a Soldier in the Royal Snake Battalion!" Zhang Min supported the diversion as he took his standard load out of a sword and gun.

    "Right, just make sure we wonбпt have to save you from another Bone Spirit Gori again!" Meng Ruo nudged Zhang Min with his elbow and Wei Yi got tough at their supposed leader. As much as they could not stand the Bone Spirits, the trio could gauge that the monsters were as deadly as the ones they had encountered before.

    The Pandarens who had charged in earlier than them were having difficulty staying on the offensive against them. A number had already lost while some used the invincible shield that was bestowed to them at the start of the fight to prolong their life.

    However, from the Royal Snake Soldiersбп perspective, the worst has yet toe. Those Bone Spirit Demons they encountered were the easier lot like the Bone Spirit Monkeys and Bone Spirit Dogs.

    Individually they were not too strong, but underestimating them as they hunted in groups or packs was foolish. Regardless, this was still a Raid Instance and those soldiers rushed in to save people, kill monsters and earn more points before the rest of their buddies came in to join the fight.

    As for the Ooofpa Loopa, it was up to the Pandawansбп coordination to ensure that they could reduce the health of the abominations using their elemental shells before they broke through Demopolis walls and started to wreak serious havoc.

 Chapter 1108 - The Battalions Backup

    <h4>Chapter 1108 - The Battalion''s Backup</h4>

    "The Bone Spirit Demons!!! The Bone Spirit Demons!!! More of them areing out from the fog! They are getting bigger too! Run! Run! Run!!!!" Some of the Pandarens began to panic and retreat in a panic to the Demopolis Walls after encountering some variations of the Bone Spirit Demons in the midst of a fog. It was a defensive mechanism from the Ooofpa Loopa in an attempt to shield the eggs from the constant firing of artillery fire.

    "Hold your ground! Do not retreat any further! Remember that this is just a Raid Instance! Itбпs better to injure the monster in front of you than run! The rest behind you will finish it up! Trust in the teamwork of your fellow Pandarens! Do not falter against the enemies!!" Zhang Min shouted repeatedly to encourage the rest as he plunged his sword through the neck of a two-headed Bone Spirit Dog and wasted his bullets through its heads. The moment he heard a click sound, he immediately unloaded it while twisting his sword to ensure that the Bone Spirit Dog Demon stayed dead.

    "Reloading!" He shouted to let Wei Yi and Meng Ruo cover him in the process. He took out a new cartridge from his waist belt with the necessary clips for subsequent battles. His breath was starting to get a little strained but the adrenaline kept him sane while hisrades were shooting nearby Bone Spirit Demons to taunt them to charge towards the soldiers.

    This was also to relieve the pressure from the retreating Pandarens who had lost the will to fight. It was understandable since many of the soldiers themselves had not been prepared for the Bone Spirit Demonsбп ferocity when they had first encountered those abominations on the field.

    "The variations areing out from the fog, we should change our firepower." Wei Yi suggested as he too spent his current clip of bullets but was able to reload quick enough with the remaining cartridges on his waist belt.

    "Letбпs properly clear this wave first. Do not make the same mistake again. Thest time they left the small fry, they would wait for a chance to backstab us at the worst possible timing! If we can clear as many of the first wave Bone Spirit Demons, it should be easier for us to handle the second wave." Zhang Min dered as he finished reloading and took his sword out of the dead Bone Spirit Dog.

    "You are once again assuming Boss Jin is ying by the rules." Wei Yi said as he took two Bone Spirit Monkey Demons head on. When they jumped right in front of him, he instantly used a basic Snake Sword Technique, Whirling Curve which enabled him to swipe right through the monkeys bisecting them before they were able to touch him.

    "Stop jinxing us! So far, they are behaving exactly how they did in the real world, so letбпs hope that the pattern continues without any nasty surprises!" Zhang Min nearly shouted at his buddy, when he suddenly heard a beep in his Pandamonium App.

    With his phone attached to his upper c.h.e.s.t for easy ess, the Royal Snake soldier saw that they were indeed going with a coordinated elemental barrage against the Northern Ooofpa Loopa. No wonder the artillery shots had been greatly reduced in the past few minutes, making the unaware Pandarens on the frontline panic for a moment.

    He and the group also realised that the Ooofpa Loopa did not leave any opportunity unwasted and already sent the second wave out when the artillery fire had lessened. "Man, Boss Jin sure is ruthless with the programming of his boss monster." Zhang Min said to his group as he pointed towards the fog with his sword. His half masked visor was already sensing multiple groupsing about.

    "It is already as real as it could get with the raid instance. The rest of our Battalioning in will be in for a treat." Meng Ruo remarked until he heard a familiar chatter in the Pandaren Channel.

    "Treat your a.s.s, Corporal!" And suddenly that harsh voice went to the public channel for the Pandarens in the Northern Walls to take cover.

    Without hesitation, the trio ducked for cover and a series of loud sts was hearding from the direction of the Demopolis walls.

    "Are those?!" Meng Ruo saw a fewrge tracer rounds zooming past them and headshotting the Bone Spirit Demons right in front of them.

    "Shit, those really are tanks! Hahahahah! However, these ones seem to be the american versions!" Zhang Min was very happy to see their reinforcements arrive in M60 Tanks from the bottom of the Demopolis Walls and to the battlefields. The M60 tanks were a series of second generation main battle tanks made by the Americans and were used in several wars throughout the years since its inception in the 1960s. Their reliability wasmendable and their model had been revised and updated several times during its service in the US Military.

    "Iбпm more concerned about the one who talked to us..." Wei Yi pointed out a bit dejected and soon enough, they spotted their very familiar personnel. A person who they had a serious love/hate rtionship with. A second father to them on duty and a brother off duty.

    Sarge Rocher.

    "What are you punks waiting for?! Get into the f.u.c.k.i.n.g tank and get some anti demon gear on! You think you can fight those Bone Spirits with whatever shit you have right now?!" Rocher started shouting in his work voice and the trio didnбпt waste a second to lower their stance and run through the battlefield as the tanks roared loudly at the second wave of Bone Spirit Demons hiding in the fog.

    "Sarge!" Zhang Min and the rest exchanged greetings with Rocher with a quick bro handshake before picking up the equipment which their sergeant had already left right behind the tank. Looking around, they realised that a number of the tankmanders were also hisrades.

    "Geez, you guys got to y with the tanks while we had to get out into the fight and get dirty in the mud?" Meng Ruoined to his toon mate who was driving the opposite tank.

    "Sucks to be you! Should have explored your options when the Pandamonium App asked you to go in." His mate ridiculed him and gave him a friendly middle finger as a payback for calling him to join the raid instance so abruptly.

    "Asshole!" Meng Ruo returned the favour and Rocher hit his head directly which prompted Meng Ruo to apologise almost immediately.

    "Still, god damn it, to be able to lead and drive a tank like this, Boss Jin really isnбпt your average Dungeon Supplier." Rocher praised as he touched the metal tes of the tank before looking at the enemies. "My onlyint that I have is that the controls are too f.u.c.k.i.n.g amateur! Where are my pedals and pulleys?!"

    "Sarge, this is a raid instance, not everyone is as learned as you to get into a tank and operate it immediately. Besides, you just want a tank under your name, right?" Zhang Min pointed out and Rocher scoffed at him.

    "Shhh. Do not even dare to bring up that incident in the previous military exercise or I will make sure to give youtrine duty for a week straight."

    "Sarge, as much as you like to warn people, we-" Before Zhang Min could finish his sentence, a volley of artillery were fired right behind them, and their coordinated attack was not a pleasant sound to their ears. On the other hand, the thunderous explosions of the artillery shots moving fast towards the Ooofpa Loopa were a sight to behold as they got to watch the Ooofpa Loopa squirm in pain when it received the water elemental shots and everyone could see that the hit points were going down.

    There was a series of approving screams and shouts as its HP dropped, increasing the morale of the Pandarens since it was proof that this was not a fruitless endeavour. However, the artillery crew had little time to celebrate as they were hastily preparing another volley of shots before the beast started to get immune against the water elemental shells.

    For now, there seemed to be a light glistening beyond the depths of a dark tunnel and the Pandarens were rallying to do the same for the Southern Ooofpa Loopa as well.

 Chapter 1109 - Extra- Dicey Moments -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1109 - Extra- Dicey Moments -Part 1</h4>

    Just as the Pandarens were busy fighting against the Ooopa Loopa in the North and South of Demopolis, Shi Zuo and Luo Bo were currently fighting their own battle. A battle that could potentially change the course of the raid instance...or so they hoped.

    The Pandawan couple had been searching the depths of Demopolis for items, inscriptions or possibly legendary relics they could salvage for the fight. But instead of those, Luo Bo had identally found a passage as they had been scavenging through boxes and crates in the lowest bas.e.m.e.nt hoping for that special inscription or some form of weapon of mass destruction.

    Even though the Pandamonium App should have listed all the items they had in the online inventory, Luo Bo had quickly discovered that inside the raid instance there were actually secret stashes with items not listed.

    This had led her to believe that the armoury itself might be a sort of mini game and a way for the Pandarens/Pandawans to earn some points if they were not actively fighting. And given that they had deployed most of the Pandarens, and the Pandawans were technically theirst line of defence, Shi Zuo and Luo Bo decided to use the downtime to find a potential trove of hidden treasures within the armoury.

    It was to their surprise that after they had moved one of therger crates away that it had unveiled a crack in the walls from which one st of cold air emanated from. She was able to go through the crack easily, but Shi Zuo wasnбпt as thin. His girlfriend had to pull him in after he had held his breath.

    Apart from the area they got through, the couple ended up in a tunnel where there was no light. Fortunately, with their half-masks night vision mode, they managed to see that the caves were supported with several iron pirs and a few shing light bulbs. Not what they expected from a revitalised military base but hey, whatбпs a military base without any hidden secret or ghostly portion of it?

    The duo also noticed that the Pandamonium Appcked a map in regards to this area, and two waymunication from the bas.e.m.e.nt to the surface became patchy at best. Shi Zuo sent a text message to the group, hoping his phoneбпs sporadic signal would be sufficient to inform the rest that they were in a secret area. (Eventually, they received a surprising response from Xiong Da stating, бпGood job, please continueбп.)

    They assumed the surface operations were too busy for the rest to give a damn about why two Pandawans had gone missing. However, the Rabbit Pandawan had her senses tingling that this ce could potentially hold one of the secrets that might allow them to win the battle against the Ooofpa Loopas.

    True enough, as they walked further into the cave, they subsequently breached an opening and there was a guardian figure sitting right at the centre. With their presence being felt in the opening, the shadow stared back at them.

    Soon, the Pandawan couple found themselves trapped in a duelling ring surrounded by fire and they were finally able to notice the figure. It was none other than Panda Captain Hei and clearing his throat, there was Panda Captain Bai who appeared behind the duo to block their escape.

    "You finally found us." Hei said as he stood up and Shi Zuo noticed that he was not wearing his standard SWAT vest. Instead, he was wearing a Japanese Samurai Armour with a two handed Katana or an Odachi (also known in the western setting as a longsword). Meanwhile, Bai was in full Chinese Armour with a spear with a de at that top, which the Pandawansбп identified as the Guan Dao, held by the infamous Lord Guan Yu.

    "Shit, did we just trigger some sort of secret duel? Do we have to win against you guys to get a special item? Does that mean there are actually NPCs in the instance, and we just have to find them or is it you guys hiding around?" Luo Bo asked a barrage of questions.

    "Maybe they wille to aid us if we beat up them very badly?" Shi Zuo theorised, even though he had a hard time believing it.

    "You know how to spoil someoneбпs fun. Weбпve been waiting here since the start and now you even take our exnation away." Bai sighed as he pointed his Guan Dao towards the back. "To cut to the chase, itбпs pretty much what you deduced. Finding us has improved your chances to survive this raid. That is, if you can win against us. If you do, youбпll obtain something that will be able to turn the tide in the defence of your city."

    "Ehhhhh, we have to fight again?" Luo Bo dragged her voice as if she knew that it would be tiring to have a fight against Hei and Bai. When she saw the armour they wore, the Rabbit Pandawan instantly assumed it would not be an easygoing fight. "Can we postpone it or something? We promise toe back and duel you guys after the boss fight!"

    "Do you honestly expect us to just give you the keys and ess to the one possible thing that could cut short your war against the Ooofpa Loopa?" Hei questioned and Luo Bo fervently nodded her head, hoping the NPCs would agree.

    "Fine, if you did not suggest it, we would be fighting the hell out of your lives right now. However, there is something we want to do aside from fighting. And it is indeed the easier option." Hei revealed and came over to whisper with his brother, Bai.

    The two giggled like a bunch of naughty rascals and eyed Luo Bo who could suddenly feel the chills going up to her spine when she saw their gaze. Even Shi Zuo slowly inched himself forward to protect his girlfriend from any possible... attempt on soliciting Luo Bo.

    The Pandas chuckled and waved their hands inughter, rejecting any s.e.x.u.a.l notion as if it was a joke between them. "It was boring having to wait so long, so letбпs y a game of dice. If you win, weбпll let you have ess to the stuff hidden behind the door. If you lose..."

    "The chances of winning a dice game is rigged, donбпt think that we know what you think -" before Shi Zuo could argue back, Luo Bo immediately shouted, "We ept!"

    "What? Are you crazy?! ying a game of dice with them is worse than fighting both of them head on!" Shi Zuo wanted to retract the statement but the two Panda NPCs were already chuckling.

    "Donбпt worry, Pandawan Shi Zuo. It is indeed a very simple game of dice. If you win, you get to go through." Hei said it once more but Shi Zuo wanted to know the consequences more than the win condition. Yet, they were not willing to reveal it and instead, moved on ahead to the dice game immediately.

    Instantly tworge cube dice appeared in front of them and with Hei and Bai simultaneously swiping them in different directions, the dice began to spin furiously at the middle of the duelling ring.

    "All you have to do is to throw your axe and shoot your arrow at the respective dice. As long as you get exactly 10, weбпll let you pass." Bai exined.

    "If you get a 12, weбпll even throw in a bonus," Hei added.

    "And in case you fail, or worse, roll 2... Hehehe! Just remember it was you who agreed to y the game." Bai and Hei finished in unison with a wide grin.

    "How many tries do we have?" Shi Zuo asked and the NPCs started to discuss before Hei threw his palm out. Shi Zuo was squinting his hand to count the number of fingers on him.

    "Hahaha, itбпs six, my dear. Pandas have five fingers and a thumb." Luo Bo beat Shi Zuoбпs back andughed at her boyfriendбпs attempt to figure it out.

    "Thatбпs awfully a lot of tries." Shi Zuo thought to himself but he felt it was too easy and instead, he requested if he could have more. However, Luo Bo knocked his head and told him not to be greedy.

    "Besides, I have confidence in hitting my shot but... Itбпs another issue for you." Luo Bo teased her boyfriend as she took her bow out and stared at the dice suddenly spinning furiously with the draw sound of her weapon.

 Chapter 1110 - Extra- Dicey Moments -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1110 - Extra- Dicey Moments -Final</h4>

    Even as the dice spun like a washing machine gone out of control, Luo Bo calmly nocked her arrow and aimed at the left die before she took a deep breath in. Her Illusive Rabbit Cultivation emerged from her back and multiple rabbits were jumping around happy as if to encourage her to get this right.

    When she released her bowstring, the arrow flew with a quiet tugging sound and in a blink of an eye, it was already on one of the faces of the die. Slowly, the cube ceased its spinning and all those present could see that her result turned out to be a 6. While it was a little close to the edge, it did not change the fact that she had calcted the time, distance and strength of her shot to get it right on the first attempt. (The culmination of her training was shown here as not any archer type cultivator would be to get what they want on the first try unless it was pure luck)

    The two Panda NPCs pped, but their faces did not show any signs of surprise, as if they had known beforehand that she would be able to get it right.

    However, the challenge now passed on to Shi Zuo. At least Luo Bo had increased the odds for him with her 6. Their objective was to get either a 10 or 12 so Shi Zuo could now aim for the face of a 4 or 6 to beat this dice game.

    Having to increase the odds from one sixth of a chance to one third to a win was a major improvement and he knew he had to make the best out of this opportunity before anything strange could happen with this game.

    s, he did not have the skill to predict a dice result and even if the Monkey Cultivator could even see the die faces, he did not have the kind of training Luo Bo have to throw it at the precise moment.

    Therefore, he was leaving it to pure luck and chance and threw his axe at it without even looking. (Shi Zuo even whispered a little prayer before sending it out)

    The axe swirled in a curved direction before hitting one of the faces of the die and when the Panda NPCs stopped the spinning of the cube, they found that the axe was stuck at the edge of 5 and 6! It was an unbelievable turn of events and they thought they could clear this бпsimpleбп event fast.

    However, the atmosphere changed almost instantaneously when the Panda NPCs stood at one side to deliberate the results causing the Pandawans to hope quietly that it would be a бпfairбп judgement.

    "Sorry to say, the axe edge is more towards the face of 5 than rest of the weapon," Hei dered that Shi Zuo had failed the dice rollbination.

    "In addition, the handle of the axe is towards the face of 5, so we shall count your result as 5, making your total score 11," Baimented further and Luo Bo immediately jeered at the result.

    "What nonsense! The axe de is clearly swinging towards the face of 6! And canбпt you give us a break? We are in the middle of 10 and 12! We do not need any bonus items or whatever, just give us the pass to go through." Luo Bo argued and the two Panda NPCs shook their heads.

    "That is not what we agreed upon and we will not change the deal. For fairnessбп sake, we can let Shi Zuo throw again this one time. We will ignore the previous throw and pretend as if this was his real one." Bai offered, yet this sort of pampering irritated Shi Zuo.

    What does the NPCs mean by the handle of the axe facing the direction of the face? What about the portion of the axe de? If they were being calctive, he too could y that game. Thus, he removed the axe that was on the die and portrayed his monkey cultivation.

    "Since you have those ridiculous rules to decide on my axe throw, then let me show you what is called ying fair." Shi Zuo yelled as he gathered his energy and focused it on his axe. Luo Bo could even feel the axe was filled with intense chi which she never felt from him before.

    She decided to step back a little when she saw the cultivation portrayal of the monkeys above Shi Zuo to be screaming and shouting incessantly. They, just like him, were clearly unhappy with the Panda NPCsбп decision.

    Hei and Bai could have said it was a no go right from the beginning and Shi Zuo would have epted it without any problems. But their absurd reasoning, despite giving him a chance to try again, was the trigger for his sudden re up and he decided to y a tit for tat.

    When the die began spinning again, the Panda NPCs allowed Shi Zuo to throw his axe at any time. They all assumed that he was about to perform a more forceful throw so they decided to step back a little as well.

    And yes, when Shi Zuo was ready, he did throw with force... but they were not expecting what he was aiming at.

    When he threw the axe, a burst of chi emerged out of him, as if giving the axe the needed push to do its best. In response, the axe suddenly imploded from within and subsequently transformed into a humongous axe. If one needed aparison, it was about the size of a Humvee when the die was at best a standard medium sized cardboard box. And this time around there was no handle to the erged axe de, just the metal edged portion swinging towards the die.

    The Panda NPCs were surprised by the humongous axe de that they instinctively dodged away, thinking that the Pandawan had gone crazy and had aimed at them. Yet, to their astonishment, it did hit the die and the weight of the axe forced the die to be stuck on its edge while it made a loud bam sound upon touching the ground.

    "Due to inconclusive evidence, we have decided to reward you with the benefit of the doubt and count it as a 6 this time. However, because of the ambiguity, we are unable to reward you with the bonus. Regardless, congrattions to you. The two of you have passed the gamble." Bai announced and the two Panda NPCs pped their hands while the backdoor creaked open slowly.

    Shi Zuo thanked the two Panda NPCs despite knowing that they would lose the bonus. (After all, the Pandwans were aware that Shi Zuoбпs throw was a bit on the cheating side.) Thus the two of them quickly picked up their weapons once more and ran through the backdoor before the Panda duo might change their mind, eager to see what exactly had been hidden that could enable them to defeat the Ooofpa Loopa with ease.

 Chapter 1111 - The Big Shots

    <h4>Chapter 1111 - The Big Shots</h4>

    "Itбпs still working! Continue to wither down its hit points before the next wave of Bone Spirit Demonses forth! Mortar focus your attack on the Bone Spirit Demons and halt their advance as much as possible. Artillery Team focus on the Boss except for those assigned to aid the mortars and Pandarens below! Tanks, maintains your distance away from the Bone Spirit Demons and aim for the bigger ones!" Xiong Da ordered as he continued to coordinate the next batch of elemental artillery shells to wreck the Ooofpa Loopas.

    Despite the initial shabby coordination, it was rather surprising that they had managed to drop both of the Ooofpa Loopasбп health down to 55% and thankfully, there had yet to be any retaliation from the boss monsters from either side. However, the Pandarens had noticed that both were inching closer to the Demopolis walls and that they had started to spawn even stronger Bone Spirits to ughter them. (Although they were unsure if they became stronger with them, or if it was because of the Boss Monsterбпs falling health pool)

    The average Pandaren had managed to handle between five to ten per encounter during the first initial wave. During the second wave, the samepetent level of Pandarens had been able to stand against two Bone Spirit Demons and would struggle against a third. Starting with the third wave onwards, the tides had changed.

    The Bone Spirit Demons like the gori variant had emerged out in the open, causing the fight to be skewed towards the monsters. It took approximately three to five Pandarens to take down a Bone Spirit Gori.

    But because of the reinforcement of the Royal Snake Battalion and their tanks, the statistics were somewhat biased as the soldiers took on the harder demons based on their experience while the Pandarens cleared the remaining weaker Bone Spirit Demons. That being said, the soldiers did not have an easier time despite having some knowledge of them.

    Whenever they did not know how to defeat a certain Bone Spirit type, all they did was spam explosive shells with the help of the tanks against the demons. The constant bombardment barrage was sufficient to slow the Bone Spirits though they could see that it was getting less effective as newer waves of monsters emerged from the orifices of the Ooofpa Loopa.

    "Tank 1-3, move backwards for quick refuelling. Snake Alpha Company toon 1 will assist with the defence. toon 2-4 charge forward while toon 5 will assist you from your nks until the next wave of reinforcements arrives." One of the Royal Snake Captains ordered and Sergeant Rochor acknowledged the orders along with the rest of the sergeants.

    "You heard the man, we have to rush forth." Sergeant Rochor repeated the order for his toon 2.

    "Sarge, canбпt we use our official techniques?" Zhang Monined as he wanted to y these monsters as fast as possible with the least amount of effort but with the orders restrained to not reveal their techniques, they were bound to withhold their true strength.

    This was because they were still one of the Royal Zodiac Military Battalions and showing their hand to the public would only undermine their capabilities, especially when there might be enemy eyes surveilling them.

    "If you want to do that, be my guest. Forward my greetings to the general when he calls you in for a бпcoffee talkбп, will you?" Sergeant Rochor replied through the channel and Zhang Min sighed.

    "Forget it, bro. I shall treat this as a handicap and learn to grow from it. Besides, we got all these funky inscriptions charms to help us." Meng Ruo sneered as he assisted his pal by grappling the Bone Spirit Demon, allowing Zhang Min to stab and sh it multiple times while seeing in burning up in smoke because of the charms.

    "Honestly speaking, you guys need more dungeon fighting. At this rate, the Pandarens will start to regard you as just some pathetic soldiers." The voice alone was able to strike a chord through the toonбпs channel since they immediately recognised who it belonged to.

    At that point, a high level intensive aura could be felting from the top of the Demopolis Wall and it was sufficient to stop the current wave of Bone Spirit Demons in their tracks. In a blink of an eye, that heavy aura could be felt moving down across the Demopolis Walls and crashing into the battlefield, killing a bunch of Bone Spirit Demons simultaneously.

    "Sir! Itбпs you who gave us that order to not to show our true skills!" Zhang Min shouted and the figure merelyughed.

    "That is true, but I did not say you could not use your gradeбпs brute strength, Corporal." The figure shook off the dust cloud from the initial impact. It was none other than Hou Fei, the Royal Zodiac Snake Battalionбпs General.

    And that was not all, just as he was about to kill a Bone Spirit Demon with his hands, yet another powerful aura came about heading in his direction. His presence was not ignored by Hou Fei but instead of helping him, the figure took the opportunity to use Hou Feiбпs head as a stepping stone.

    The kic waves from the impact were sufficient to paralyse the surrounding horde momentarily and that gave the rest an opening which they did not hesitate to utilise to the best of their abilities.

    "Act like a general, you dumbass." The figureбпs fiery aura slowly dissipated and those in the upper echelons identified him as Royal Tiger General, San Ya Bai. At his behest, a new Tiger toon came rushing down the Demopolis Walls and reinforced the current line against the Bone Spirit Demons.

    A few of the Royal Snake toons instantly recognised them and even shook hands for a moment before cing their focus back on the Bone Spirit Demons. Meanwhile, the remaining Pandarens were in awe to see two Royal Zodiac Generals working hand in hand since it was not amon sight for such a thing to happen, let alone for the average citizen to have a chance to fight beside them. (even if it was бпonlyбп in a dungeon instance.) To some military buffs, it was basically a dreame true.

    There were no rules in the military preventing the Royal Battalionsбп soldiers (or their higher ranking officers for that matter) from participating in a dungeon instance so when it happened, the streamers all went nuts with their reactions.

    Their presence alone had basically increased the credibility of Jinбпs Dungeon and Pandas store by at least two fold and that was enough to entice the prying eyes from both the public and the other Royal Zodiac ns to tune in.

    "Yeah, yeah. I understand the situation that we need to control ourselves but it would be a shame if we failed to defeat this particr Boss Monster in a dungeon instance, right?" Hou Fei argued and Ya Bai sighed.

    Technically, Hou Fei hadnбпt done anything wrong by merely using his cultivation strength since there was indeed an ambiguity in the rules set by the military council based on their military conduct in public. Thus, Ya Bai merely shook his reply off and joined him to punch the shit out of a Bone Spirit Demon into oblivion.

    "Wait, why donбпt you go kill the one in the south? Why are you stealing my prey? I want to earn some raid points too!" Hou Feiined and Ya Bai chuckled.

    "My entire battalion is still in the queue. They wonбпt being in that quickly. Besides, we Tigers know that you Snakes cannot do it without us." Ya Bai reasoned as he smashed a Bone Spirit Gorisбпs skull into pieces which the Royal Snake Soldiers had trouble fighting one on one. "Plus, we got to give the Pandarens participating some fighting chance, right? I heard they might have some special weapon iing."

    "Alright then, then letбпs see if we can clear this wave in record time and kill the stupid Ooof--GAH this fat a.s.s monster first!" Hou Fei identally bit on his tongue when he evaded a quick strike from Bone Spirit Elephant and somehow the entire battle eventually became all about them. The rest of the soldiers under them sighed but most of them understood that the Generals did not really have many opportunities to clear some steam, something they desperately needed after бпthatбп incident.

    And since this was a dungeon instance, they were finally able to let loose and go crazy while their subordinates sympathetically supported them from the back.

 Chapter 1112 - The Fall of the Southern Wall

    <h4>Chapter 1112 - The Fall of the Southern Wall</h4>

    With the advent of the two Royal Zodiac Battalions, dominated by their respective Royal Zodiac Generals, a majority of the Pandarens were subsequently redeployed to the Southern Walls since the Pandawans trusted the army to handle the situation in the North on their own.

    The Pandawans felt that the Royal Zodiac soldiers would function better with their own troops and that random cultivators with no military discipline might just hinder them. This also gave the inexperienced Pandawans leading the rest of the cultivators to focus on one area, lessening their burden, since the South so far had only been able to use its advantage of elemental ammunition and equipment they could find within Demopolis.

    Hence a major portion of the main Battle Tanks was also deployed to the Southern shores, leaving the Royal Zodiac soldiers with just a set number of tanks they felt would be sufficient for their own purposes. All these changes in the battle order worked wonders in aiding with the morale of the Pandarens while being used to slow the horde down.

    Those tanksбп interfaces were the same as what Xiong Da and the rest had used before in the Goblin War. As long as the Pandarens remained calm and had a sound mind, they were able to handle the controls of the tanks rather easily by following the instructions via their half masks.

    In addition, the System had dramatically increased the ease of interface, allowing simpler handling of the tanksparable to the other military equipment that were in Demopolis. However, having good equipment was useless if the Pandarens were not able to handle the stress of the ever increasing difficulty of the Bone Spirit Sea Demon Horde.

    Thus, without the expertise of the Royal Zodiac soldiers, there were multiple situations where Pandarens had to retreat because the Demons started to overwhelm them, leaving the shoreline empty for the Horde to move forth.

    Thankfully, that did not mean the Horde had it easy. There were still Pandarens assigned on the Demopolis Walls who were tasked to remote denoting the partially destroyed tanks to further dy the advance of the Southern Horde whenever necessary.

    Unfortunately, they could only do so much before the Horde reached the Demopolis Walls, causing Pandawan Bin Yong and Bu Dong who were in charge of the Southern front to call for the retreat of the Southern Demopolis Wall.

    Nevertheless, that was not the end of the fight as mentioned earlier. The Pandarens as usual were able to arm their discarded equipment with explosives before they moved to their secondary line of defence.

    The Suburban areas.

    If the Bone Spirit Sea Demon Horde were going to advance, they were not going to make it easy for them at all. Sadly, this also meant that their primary way of attacking the Ooofpa Loopa was disrupted since their artillery guns had to be discarded as an essory for the explosions to temporarily halt the Bone Spirit Sea Demon Horde climbing on the walls.

    Yet, Xiong Da had a fairly shrewd idea in his mind. He told the Pandarens to aim and load their artillery guns before abandoning them. Apparently, there was a Pandaren within their midst that was able to wire all the artillery guns to a remote control button, allowing the Southern Walls to give onest offensive volley against the Ooofpa Loopa before they destroyed the artillery guns. (Lest the few that had been trampled by the Bone Spirit Sea Demons.)

    Some of the Pandarens thought that the loss of their wall meant that they had lost the raid instance, and their despair almost drove them to have no hope.

    "Do not waver! The North is under control by the Royal Zodiac Battalions!! The best our country has to offer! All we need to do is to concentrate on the Southern side, reducing the coteral damage!" Xiong Da reinforced through the announcements and reiterated to them that the needed manpower is stilling in from the airstrip as well as the Pandarens from the North being redeployed to the South.

    All they had to do was to hold their ground until the Royal Zodiac Battalions managed to stop the Northern side.

    And just as the two Generals were plummeting the Bone Spirit Demon Horde in the North, they did not notice that there was something brewing within the fog at the base of the Northern Ooofpa Loopa. Neither did the Pandarens in the South notice anything as the two Boss Monsters were being held at bay with roughly the same amount of hit points. Still because of the forceful takeover of the Southern Demopolis Wall, it seemed that the Southern Ooofpa Loopa was about to cause more chaospared to the Northern one.

    And with the sea no longer in check by the Pandarens, the Southern Ooofpa Loopa had full reign to do what it pleased without much counter... or that was what it thought until it sensed multiple iing missiles from the centre of the city heading towards it.

    Simr to the procurement of tanks, the Pandarens had invested enough in the war efforts that they had acquired rocket trucks. The fairly iconic Russian Katyusha rocketunchers were at their disposal and Xiong Da did not hesitate to bring what they could find in the Demopolis bas.e.m.e.nt to the battlefield. Once a centrepiece in the Russian military during the second world war, the ones the Pandarens possessed had been tuned with far better rocket navigation and aiming systems. The artillery guns might have been disposed of after the remote activation of the final volley of attacks but the Pandarens still had a way to fight back.

    The only problem was that the dy between each volley of missiles from the rocket trucks was rather immense due to the slow reloading of missiles done by a few Pandarens. It made it unviable for the rocket trucks to do as much damage as they had been able to do before the Southern Ooofpa Loopa got immune to the elemental attacks.

    Yet, every bit counted until the Pandawans on the surface got a mysterious transmission from Shi Zuo and Luo Bo that they might have potentially found a way to fight toe to toe with the Southern Ooofpa Loopa.

 Chapter 1113 - The Secret Weapon

    <h4>Chapter 1113 - The Secret Weapon</h4>

    "Actuators normal. Engine valves patent, all limbs have power. Basic Weapon Systems are online. Just a little more stuff..." Shi Zuo was looking through the checklist thoroughly to ensure that they had activated everything in the c.o.c.kpit.

    "Are we done yet? Canбпt we just fire off at the speed of light?" Luo Bo was yawning as she rxed on the inclined seat, waiting for her dear boyfriend to finish looking through the manual. "Every second lost here means a more dire situation up on the surface. This is just a raid instance, you do not have to be too particr with all the specifics."

    "Way to бпnotбп put me under pressure! Would you prefer that we just crash and burn the moment we lock on to the enemy?" Shi Zuo questioned her as he flipped a few switches on. "If we do not know what this baby can do, how are we going to win this? In case you forgot, there are TWO Raid Boss Monsters waiting for us up there! I, for one, donбпt want to be remembered as бпthat one Pandawan who ruined the secret weapon to seed in the Demopolis City Raid Instanceбп !"

    "Then why is this even more difficult than the tanks and artillery guns we previously operated? "Luo Bo questioned but Shi Zuo did not even bother replying as he was too upied with the remaining items on the checklist but eventually gave in. Although he knew that if he ignored her, he could activate the c.o.c.kpit faster for operational use, but he was afraid a bored Luo Bo might do something rash.

    "You would have to ask Boss Jin. Maybe it had always been programmed like this? Maybe the bonus we missed out on, would have made things easier. Could even be some sort of penalty for us kinda cheating the dice game back then." Shi Zuo answered as he continued to keep his face buried deep in a physical manual book.

    That reply of course made Luo Bo even more bored since she was not exactly listening to the things he said. And thus, she decided to do it her own way, after all, this was really just a raid instance. There was no need to be so uptight in her opinion. (She lied. Luo Bo wanted to fight in the big giant robot as quickly as possible.)

    "AHHHHH WHATEVER, I AM TURNING IT ON!" Luo Bomented as she sat properly at the front console and pressed the ignition button. The interfaces immediately lit up right in front of them and the dark metal surfaces in front of them instantly boot up to show the surroundings. The hangar outside of the c.o.c.kpit was poorly lit when they entered it previously but when the ignition button was pressed, the hangar bay automatically raised its rm to red alert. sh lights were lit up and various autonomous equipment started to move around them.

    "Arghhh!! Luo Bo, dear. Can you please be a bit more patient?! Iбпm not done with it!! If there is something to happen before we-бпбп Shi Zuo tried to talk some sense into his girlfriend, but she was no longer listening. The Rabbit Pandawan was going to be selfish as she grabbed the joystick consoles towards her and put on her seatbelt.

    "I believe in you! No one else but you can find out along the way when we are fighting the boss monster." Luo Bo encouraged the Mad Monkey Cultivator as she pressed a button on the System interface indicating бпLaunchбп. Despite it being a t panel with some interactive holographic buttons, there was actually some pressure feedback when she pressed the бпLaunchбп button.

    Originally, Shi Zuo had wanted Bu Dong or Deng Long to pilot the Supa Robot as those two were veterans in the Supa Robot War mini game. However, Luo Bo did not care about Shi Zuoбпs бпlogicбп plus the sight of a Taurus Supa Robot felt awfully familiar to her that Luo Bo said she had to ride it no matter what. (She remembered seeing it somewhere but she could not recall it on the spot since she was preupied to know that they were vital in those fights or maybe there was just too much crazy stuff happening.)

    Most importantly, she wanted the raid points. Initially, she did not care about the Boss Monster as it had been pretty apparent that it was designed with team effort in mind. But right now, she saw the opportunity to not only earn raid points but be the best person to earn the raid points.

    How could she hand over such a precious fighting equipment to Bu Dong and Deng Long when it could potentially defeat not one but two Ooofpa Loopas?! That would definitely mean that she would be the MVP of the raid if she managed to pull it off and she would show that Hippo what it means to be the best raid cultivator in Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas. (Not to mention it could mean getting a special sort of PLUSHIE!!!)

    "F.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k! Screw it! Why did I even bother to try and reason with her?!" Shi Zuo cursed their situation in his mind as he was forced to watch Luo Bo not giving a damn about his exnations. He quickly strapped on his seatbelt and began to ensure that all the robotбпs parameters were within range for theunch.

    At that point, he could feel the Supa Robot was slowly being shifted around within the hangar, a corner where arge heavy metal door slowly rose up. As the front monitor was something simr to a panel with 270 degrees of vision, he was able to have a birdбпs eye view of the hangar because of the connection between the robot and the hangar.

    "Luo Bo. Wear this. It should help you with the fight since you are piloting the robot. This will lighten the load for you while I provide the necessary support." Shi Zuo said as he threw a helmet towards her direction and she did not hesitate to wear it. This caused a series of brain shockwaves transmitting to her head and she could feel a phantom interaction between her and the robot.

    Lights also began to lit up the route of theunch tube as the movement came to a halt. The tubes that were initially stuck to the Supa Robot were finally disengaged after Shi Zuo cleared them via his own interface.

    "All Systems green. You are good to-"

    "MECHATAUR LAUNCHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Luo Bo shouted excitedly as she stepped on the throttle and mmed the elerator joystick to the maximum.

 Chapter 1114 - The Royal Zodiac Battalions Need To Win

    <h4>Chapter 1114 - The Royal Zodiac Battalions'' Need To Win</h4>

    "HEEEEEEEEEE HIIIIIII YIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!" The Southern Ooofpa Loopaбпs screeches caused an iing barrage of Katyusha elemental rockets to be diverted away from it and they exploded midway as the screeching sound waves were enough to cause an impact.

    The Pandarens who saw the sudden change of development started to feel extremely nervous since this was the first time that the Southern Ooofpa Loopa had directly taken any action. So far it had merely spent its time spawning the eggs from which the Bone Spirit Sea Demons would emergy to fight against the Pandarens and slowly approached their location.

    Despite the Big Boss starting its counterattack, the Bone Spirit Sea Demons were not letting up with their attacks too. A few of the Royal Tiger Soldiers who had been stationed at the Southern area to give their Tiger General Ya Bai constant updates met with pretty hefty resistance.

    "The Southern Ooofpa Loopa just sent out another wave and this time, it seems that we might not have enough firepower to match against." One of the Tiger Scouts reported.

    "Is it some Giant Squid or Octopus?" Ya Bai asked as they also saw several new additions to the Northern Bone Spirit Demon Horde which he had never seen during his fight against the real one weeks ago. Bone Spirit Velociraptors were emerging out of the fog and they were two times faster than the current wave of Demons, breaking the Royal Zodiac Battalions .u.mted momentum.

    While the Pandarens manning the artillery guns on the Demopolis Wall were independent of the Royal Zodiac Battalions, Pandawans Deng Long and Se Lang were constantly exchanging information with the soldiers to provide necessary support on the ground. They had dedicated four to five artillery guns to aid as the ground support and the rest were used tobat against the Northern Ooofpa Loopa.

    As of now, they had managed to reduce the Northern Ooofpa Loopa down to 30% of its hit points but the Southern Ooofpa Loopa was still around the 50% mark. However, unlike its Southern cousin, the Northern Ooofpa Loopa had still notunched any counter attacks and merely continued to send out batches of stronger and stronger Bone Spirit Demons against the cultivators.

    It was still difficult but manageable for the Royal Zodiac Battalions to hold the ground in the open space. And yet the streamers who were watching the fight were finally able to see their Royal Zodiac Cultivators fight to the best of their бпpublicбп limits. Some might have incurred serious injuries but the inscriptions and potions which the Battalions poured their money tremendously into had allowed them to stay alive.

    Both of the Generals were aware that the public must be watching them through various streaming tforms and it would be pathetic if their Battalions were to fall in battle because they had ordered them to restrain themselves. They would also felt responsible if their actions would lead to the Pandarens failing in this raid instance. Thus, Hou Fei and Ya Bai had allowed the unlimited spending of the necessary raid supplies to ensure that they would survive and triumph against the Ooofpa Loopa.

    Yet, that was not all they had in mind. The newspapers had painted them as the saviours of the previous event despite it not being the case. Even though they were the бпscapegoatsбп, the two Royal Zodiac Battalions could not wash the shame that they were assisted by a small name Dungeon Supplier. Although there had been State Agents in the area, Kong Rong and Ryuli had admitted in their reports that they did not need to unleash their abilities since the Dungeon Supplierбпs team had been able to clear the entire incident without their help.

    Initially, they had only wanted to test Jinбпs strength but it had subsequently turned into his debut when both he and his people had banished the Loopa Ooofpa into oblivion. The two Generals, while relieved to know that they were only doing clean-ups and assisting with the redevelopment of thend once more (as requested by Jin since the Spirit of the Lands had a deal with the System), they were not satisfied with the reported oue... until now.

    They had never expected to ever see the Loopa Oofpa again. Even Hou Fei, who was one of the associates for the Dungeon Supplier store, had beenpletely baffled when he got news about the Final Boss being that ursed monster.

    So, since the opportunity to redeem their failures in the raid instance had appeared, they intended to not only reinforce to the public that they were indeed capable of clearing the raid instances, but they also wanted to let the public see that it was indeed the бпRoyal Zodiac Battalionsбп who had defeated the abomination and properly hide the rumours that it was some random cultivator that did it.

    To Hou Fei, it was all about damage control for his battalion while promoting Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas AND keeping Jinбпs involvement with the real Loopa Ooofpa a low profile.

    -----

    "Thereбпs a short interval where the Ooofpa Loopa changed its immunity by vibrating its entire body, as if he is shaking it off. We should use that time to hit as hard as possible." General Ya Bai pointed out as he grabbed one of the Bone Spirit Velociraptors and crushed its head like an orange squash.

    "So far, itбпs all elemental projectiles, if we hit it with our fists with pure chi energy, it should be counted as a non elemental attack." General Hou Fei mentioned as he literally cooked the head of a raptor with pure chi while it was being pinned down. The Bone Spirit Velociraptor was unable to perform any counterattack despite trying to sway its body weight around away from Hou Fei.

    However as the two were discussing their next move which could potentially end the fight for the Northern Ooofpa Loopa, it suddenly started to screech the same way as its Southern counterpart.

    Arge b.u.t.t was seen emerging out from the magical portal and everyone feared the worst.

    "A THIRD Ooofpa Loopa?! In the middle of the city?! You have to shitting me!!!" Xiong Da cursed as he could go insane from the absurdity of the current situation. However, they were unable to verify the monster emerging out of it since they had never seen the entirety of an Ooofpa Loopa before. (Maybe it had small little legs too...? Who knows!)

    At that point, Pandarens also reported a few Bone Spirit Demons dropping out of the magical portal, dropping from the sky. But because of the height, most of the Bone Spirits Demons merely fell to their death. Yet, that was enough to scare the Pandarens since it was akin to projectiles falling out of the sky, damaging their defence barriers and equipment.

    "Shit. We have to kill our Ooofpa Loopa fast before it summons another one!" Hou Fei shouted but Ya Bai stopped him for a moment to think.

    "Remember what the previous Ooofpa Loopa did? It screeched too but nothing happened. What if that screech was actually his summoning rather than the one we are fighting?"

    "You mean..." Hou Fei could understand the dilemma Ya Bai was facing. If Yai Bai was correct then it would mean they had to defeat the Southern one to stop its casting. However, if they stopped attacking the Northern boss, it might also summon a recement...

    But when all hope seemed to disappear, there was one thing they could count on. Flying through the air, was it a bird? Was it a ne? Nope, it was a Supa Robot to save the day!

 Chapter 1115 - The Arrival of Mechataur

    <h4>Chapter 1115 - The Arrival of Mechataur</h4>

    Just as the Pandarens were feeling despair from the sudden emergence of the magical portal, they heard a loud booming sound from the north eastern direction of Demopolis. All of them assumed that there was something as sinister as the appearance of the third Ooofpa Loopa and even the Generals believed that it could be the summoning of a fourth Ooofpa Loopa.

    But it was not until the Royal Zodiac Battalions saw that the booming sound came into бпsightбп.

    "Boombayah!!!!!" Luo Bo shouted in the loud speaker and everyone in the Northern Demopolis Wall was shocked to see a Supa Robot smash itself into the Northern Ooofpa Loopa. The Bossбп hit points drastically dropped by 10% making everyone stare in disbelief before cheering at the top of their voice.

    Ya Bai could not believe his eyes seeing a deus ex machinae in to save them from this seemingly futile fight. However, Hou Fei had seen Mechataur in action before so he smirked and pped Ya Baiбпs back.

    "Might as well finish the job before the Ooofpa Loopa gets immune to physical attack." Hou Fei advised as the p woke Ya Bai out of his state of shock. Afterwards, he grabbed him to throw the Royal Snake General into the air. At the same time, he had transferred some of his chi into Ya Bai, allowing him to gather some momentum in Chi gathering when he was in mid air.

    "Is this revenge for stepping on you?!" Ya Bai shouted but Hou Fei merely shrugged his shoulders, before enveloping himself with even more chi to jump towards the Ooofpa Loopa too.

    Simultaneously, the Mechataur uncoiled his right arm so it could send a devastating punch right after smashing against the Big Boss. However, the Ooofpa Loopa was surprisingly agile and sent out a tentacle from its orifices to block the attack. It even shot out hardened spikes as tough as steel from its main c.h.e.s.t and into Mechataurбпs torso, yet Co-Pilot Shi Zuo was able to detect the abnormalities quickly and told Luo Bo to take care of it.

    "Yes, Sir!" Luo Bo replied as she turned the joystick hard enough to swirl the body while using her thought to control the interface helmet she was wearing to deploy additional defensive tings at the torso area in case the spikes managed to hit her.

    Thankfully only two of those spikes ended up grazing the Mechataur due to the aid of the additional steel tes protecting it. However, the graze was sufficient for the System to alert Shi Zuo to purge those tings. He did not hesitate to follow the systemбпs controlбпsmand and subsequently realised that the spikes were covered with some sort of corroding poison that was capable of burning through the defensive ting.

    Perhaps the system control was afraid that the poison and melted metal could damage Mechataurбпs torso and rmended the purging of the metal tes.

    "Thank you for taking its attention off of us!" Ya Bai shouted as he sent a flying punch towards the Ooofpa Loopa and behind him, the embodiment of his Tiger aura was overflowing. At that point when the punch impacted the Ooofpa Loopa, the bright bluish tiger silhouette materialised into a metaphysical form as it widened its mouth to plunge its fangs into the Ooofpa Loopa. The metaphysical tigerбпs attack continued as Tiger General Ya Bai continuously sent his punches towards the body of the Ooofpa Loopa, causing internal injury to its organs.

    In retaliation, the Ooofpa Loopa screeched in pain and the Bone Spirit Velociraptors that had been harassing the frontliners turned around to assault Ya Bai.

    However, it seems as if they had forgotten the second powerhouse on the battlefield. Hou Feiбпs presence was not felt throughout the exchange of blows despite the fact that he had disyed an overwhelming aura at the start.

    By the time all the members in the fight remembered about his presence, Hou Fei was already standing at the top of the Ooofpa Loopa and exuded an aura that was suffocating not only to the monsters but the entire battlefield.

    A snake silhouette gracefully emerged in the open and its metaphysical form was already binding the Ooofpa Loopa despite its attempt to remove it with its tentacles.

    "This is a skill I can still show the public." Hou Fei mumbled to himself as he sped his fingers and shouted his technique.

    "Advanced Snake Technique. Binding Burn of the Royal Snake." Hou Fei called out and the metaphysical snake chi energy turned even more blinding bright. Even those at the Southern portion of Demopolis could see it happening from afar.

    Yet when all this was happening, Ya Bai did not stop and also initiated his technique. Since Hou Fei was going with the light elemental chi energy, he decided to follow the same and even instructed the pilots of Mechataur to do the same if they had any.

    "Light?" Shi Zuo panicked for a moment, trying to search for the right attack option but Luo Bo did not think much and went ahead of him again.

    "Taurus Horn Beam!" Luo Bo shouted as the horns of Mechataur raised to temperature got enough to turn its energy into a pair ofser beams, sting away any tentacles and heading towards the main body of the Ooofpa Loopa.

    Ya Bai also gathered his energy to the middle of his palms and sent them towards the main body of Ooofpa Loopa. The resultant st caused a bright shining blue light to mix with the Mechataur and Hou Feiбпs attack, causing thest blow to the Ooofpa Loopa to be a fantastic light show.

    The hit points drastically dropped and both the soldiers and Pandarens cheered on as the Northern Ooofpa Loopaбпs health bar bottomed out. The System visually broke it to show off that it had lost, while sending out an area wide announcement that it had been defeated.

    All the Bone Spirit Demons that had been summoned by the Northern Ooofpa Loopa instantly dropped dead to the ground regardless of their variant and size. In fact, thetest variants were the first to fall out of action and the fighting on the northern side ceased immediately.

    Still, the people stationed on Northern Demopolis knew that they had won a battle, but they had yet to win the war!

 Chapter 1116 - Extra -Krafty Auditor

    <h4>Chapter 1116 - Extra -Krafty Auditor</h4>

    "They arenбпt doing too bad for a big group of low to mid grade cultivators. Didnбпt expect Hou Fei to enter, but hey who am I to prevent anyone who can afford to spend a shitload of money from entering? With their presence, it should mean that there is a good chance they might be able to win this without too many casualties. ... Well, I did program it in such a way that a couple of nasty surprises are only waiting to be activated if they donбпt clear it anytime soon. Hmmm... or should I tweak up the difficulty....or should I leave them alone?" Kraft talked to бпhimselfбп as he watched the progress through his phone. He could feel both adrenaline and reluctance coursing through his veins at the same time.

    Regardless of the current oue of the raid instance, it was of little concern to the fox as the operation to mobilise the stomach flu pandemic was currently underway. The Night Foxes had already been dispatched to the various cities and Kraft had decided to tag along to visit Aljun City, even though he imed his direct interaction with the sabotage mission would be overkill.

    No, he hade for a different reason. He was intrigued by the crystal technology they had to offer after Rex and Starry Mood managed to procure the entire Flying Fortress.

    The preliminary analysis of the mothership had already been processed by the System and the report was eye catching not just to Kraft but to Jinбпs research team as well. Ayse and particrly Rei were dying to get their hands on it after Rex had brought it back to Demopolis for processing. They found it being apanied by the Devil Dragons and Goblin Wyvern Knights who had taken turns guarding the Flying Fortress on its way back since it got damaged during their dogfights in order to obtain it. (Despite Kraftбпs earlier threats of damaging the Flying Fortress, the System бпabsolvedбп them of their бпcrimesбп because it was unrealistic for it toe unharmed in an intensive bout of air to airbat.)

    "Anyways consider yourselves lucky, that I find my current predicament to be more fun than messing with you all in the raid instance. I can always watch the chaos in subsequent fights. Time to grab the Crystal Tech before the Churchies managed to do anything with it. Donбпt want them to have an added advantage against us." Kraft ultimately decided to obtain the Cyrstal Tech but the System queried whether he was assuming too much that there were blueprints about the Crystal Tech in the first ce.

    "Aljun City is considered to be the most advanced city around the neighbourhood, so the possibility of it having a stash of physical blueprints should be extremely low. Besides, with the Church of the Afterlifeбпs connections, the possibility of them obtaining them even after Original Betor Kraft steals them is very high." The System stated the obvious that Kraft wondered if he should even reply back his opinion at such a dumb report. (Eventually, he caved in since his mouth was itchy.)

    "Well, duh. Since they have advanced their Crystal Tech, obviously their storage method would have to be something Crystal Tech-ish. I donбпt believe they donбпt have any copies of their stuff. We just gotta make it harder for the Church to find it or... Hmmm, Hmmm, Hehehehehehe!"

    "Or better yet make them suffer by manipting the backup blueprints and change them to have the wrong dimensions, adding a screw or something within the build that will create a weakness. Something like that Moon Wars Saga where the Death Moon could be destroyed entirely by simply destroying one of their pipelines. Hahahah!"

    "Oh, that will be a fun thing to do, sabotaging them without them realising it. For now, we have to find a person to get into the base for us." Kraftmented as he was already strolling around the outskirts of the cityбпs main air basepound, Gen Air Base. And it so happened that someone had recentlye out of the air base in a fairly modern motorized carriage powered by crystals.

    "This guy should work well enough." Kraft thought as he typed in his own group chat that the Dark Elves continued their pandemic operation while he went off to have a little fun. After which, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, immediately casting a spell towards the direction of the carriage while he continued to stroll out of sight of the guards who were looking at him from a distance. Seeing a suspicious person wearing a trench coat, the on duty guard leader was getting a bad vibe and decided to confront him head on.

    Not longter, the carriage returned back to Kraft and the driver even lowered its window to speak to him. From afar, the guard leader noticed that the driver had gone all the way out to open the door for the mysterious person in that long trench coat. After which, the driver drove back to the Gen Air Base front gates, prompting the Guard Leader to hurry back.

    "Why did you let him go back in without checking his credentials??" The Guard Leader questioned the guards that opened the gates for them to enter.

    "Sir, that person in the trench coat is THAT somebody." The guards replied in a very hushed tone, implying that was the reason why they opened the gates for him.

    "That somebody?" The Guard Leader took some time to understand until the guards added that the carriage was under Major Thicket. It then started to click in his brain. The person in the trench coat must be the rumoured mysterious Air Force auditor who hade today in for an inspection. (Of course, no one knew that Kraft had already altered the memories of everyone in the vicinity.)

    And with Kraft assuming that particr identity, upon brainwashing Major Thicket, he managed to enter without a hitch. "Oh, lucky me! To get the right person on the first try... There must be some unseen force guiding the hand of my fate. Hehehe!" Kraftmented loudly, while Major Thicket nodded his head profusely as if Kraft had shared something very profound with him. (It was apparent the Major had been brainwashed.)

    As the carriage went further into the baseбпspound, Kraft touched his face a couple of times, allowing him to change his facial features into someone that was totally unrecognisable to Jin and his minions. He even secretly transformed his shirt beneath his trenchcoat to suit the Air Forceбпs attire. All of these preparations were taken based on the memories of Major Thicket since he had to act as that mysterious auditor.

    "Since I am going around questioning everything that requires rigorous inspection, I might as well enjoy the grand tour of this ce and check out everything I deem as essential for my бпauditбп." Kraft smiled as he crossed his legs and enjoyed the rest of the ride as his driver was in extreme distress from the current situation.

 Chapter 1117 - Destruction Of The Air Strip

    <h4>Chapter 1117 - Destruction Of The Air Strip</h4>

    There was no impact on the progression of the Southern Ooofpa Loopa when its Northern counterpart fell in battle. Without any continuous artillery to hold it back, the Southern Ooofpa Loopa continued to approach Demopolis through the seas slowly.

    The Bone Spirit Sea Demons started to seep through the defences of the Suburban area since there were as many leaks to its defences as the number of offensive opportunities to attack them. Urban warfare was not as easy as the Pandarens had initially thought it to be.

    Because of the strength of the monsters, the ability to defeat multiple Pandarens with just one swipe of their tentacle arms, the Bone Spirit Sea Demons were actually overpowering the Pandarens in the fight. Their makeshift barricades were not doing much in the way of stopping the rampaging Horde, rather it provided only a moment of respite for the Pandarens to regroup until they could no longer hold the ce.

    Most, if not all of the Pandawans that were present in the raid dungeon had already stationed in the area to assist with the fight but since they were mere mid grade cultivators, there was only so much they could do.

    However, the Northern Ooofpa Loopaбпs announced defeat was music to their ears, a message to boost the down-stricken morale of the current band of Pandarens to keep on fighting. Yet, there were still two issues to contend with.

    The first issue was the Southern Ooofpa Loopaing forth ind. As much as they disliked it, the Pandawans believed it was a good opportunity to fight the giant abomination without worrying too much about the terrain.

    Thus, they had decided to take all possible cause of action to keep the Bone Spirit Sea Demons at bay until the Southern Ooofpa Loopa entered the Suburban area so they could use the explosives they had prepared to drop some high rise buildings on the fellow.

    The other issue was that the b.u.t.t of the third Ooofpa Loopa. The emergence of its posterior caused several severe logistical problems though the Pandawansбп only major concern was the runway strip that allowed their steady reinforcements toe in. Those Pandarens who were killed were forcefully teleported back to the Shop Instance as usual and if they wished to enter again, they needed to buy the ticket and wait for their turn on the ne.

    While Jin and the System had previously contemted creating a premium ticket to allow people to skip the queue for a price, they believed it was unfair for themon folk who wanted to try their hands on the raid instance. There was no issue transporting the entire bunch of Pandarens into the raid instance but overcrowding would cause the blind to lead the blind. Also, this would create an artificial sense of demand and supply to the entire customer base, making them worry they would miss out on the raid points.

    That was why there were all these fanciful buffers of entry to prevent the Pandarens from spamming and rushing the raid instance. Unlike the past where they needed every single cultivator avable for their raid instance, Dungeons and Pandas had seen its customer base to be growing at a rather terrifying pace. So, with the increasing poprity of the Dungeon Supplier store, limiting them was the only choice as much as they wanted to get more money from the cultivators.

    Still, they did not think it was a bad idea to implement the premium ticket as part of the raid points system. Upon reaching a certain amount of raid points, the Pandamonium App would give the Pandarens a free premium ticket to jump the queue as well as enter into the fray by teleporting into the safest zone of the raid instance.

    Thus, to some Pandarens, it did not really matter if the runway strip was destroyed. But in the grand scheme of things, the Pandawans believed that they needed to protect it as much as possible to prevent the loss of reinforcements. However, some Pandarens believed that Jin would not be so stupid to cut off the reinforcements entirely, and rather slow it down even further so that the Pandarens in the raid instance would be of a sufficient number.

    This inadvertently allowed the Bone Spirit Demons to destroy the runwaynding strip and even damage the neбпs wings uponnding. In turn, this forced the NPC Panda pilot to make a crashnding on the runway strip rendering it to be useless. Thankfully, all of the cultivators within the ne had survived the experience and they proceeded outside with the help of the existing Pandarens who had been fighting the Demons.

    The overall in charge of the Pandawans, Xiong Da was informed of this particr change in development and he felt perplexed how the subsequent reinforcements were supposed to enter. Until a beep sound emerged from his phone and there was an announcement that the reinforcements would be arriving from the extreme North of Demopolis, beyond its walls since it was now clear from anyrge threats.

    "So...the new batch of cultivators will need much more time toe in to assist with the war effort." Xiong Da scratched his head as he managed to pulverise a falling Bone Spirit Demon before checking on his phone.

    "Hey yo!!!!" Luo Bo shouted as she carried two tanks in working condition with Mechataurбпs palms for a quicker transport to the South.

    "We finally get to see the saviour of this raid instance, huh? Now I understand why you messaged us saying you found a special weapon and wanted to keep it a secret until you arrived!" Xiong Da said, which caused Luo Bo to giggle.

    Bu Dong who finally saw the special weapon in his two eyes, he was shouting in the Pandawanбпs channel. "Can I ride it? Can I ride it?!" Deng Long who saw it also raised his voice and wanted to pilot it too.

    "Nahh! Not a chance!" Luo Bo replied as she slowly ced the tanks Mechataur had been holding onto the ground.

    "Pleeeeaaaasssse!!! I know how to operate it too! I saw its model in the Supa Robot Wars instance but I am still trying to progress to obtain it." Bu Dong pleaded in the channel.

    "Babe, let them have it. They probably know how to use this better than us." Shi Zuo remarked as he was already weary from the constant surveince of the Supa Robotбпs system parameters.

    "Alright, since I had my fun bashing the first boss, Iбпll let you have it." Luo Bo was surprisingly amicable instead of her usual stubbornness. The Rabbit Cultivator could already hear the weariness in Shi Zuoбпs voice and she didnбпt want to strain her boyfriend even more.

    Bu Dong and Deng Long shouted in joy as they both looked forward to their chance to shine!

 Chapter 1118 - Boot Up, Mechataur!

    <h4>Chapter 1118 - Boot Up, Mechataur!</h4>

    Even with all themotion inside Demopolis, the exchange of pilots for the Mechataur had proceeded smoothly. Apart from Luo Bo having hesitated a bit when the time came to leave Mechatur, Shi Zuo had decidedly pulled her away, reminding her that enough was enough.

    "Iбпd rather fight with the Bone Spirit Sea Demons toe to toe than having to read all those vital parameters to keep the Mechataur working properly! That hasty boot up of Mechataur made me nearly go mad." Shi Zuo continued to distance Luo Bo away from the Mechataur while bidding the Supa Robot Veterans duo good luck.

    The two pilots nodded their heads in unison and chose their seats instinctively. It was as if this was not the first time they had been piloting a Supa Robot, but this was indeed their maiden voyage on the Mechataur.

    As the c.o.c.kpit closed, the duo immediately raised their storage rings up and a set of items immediately came out of it. The very same helmet that Luo Bo had been using to control the Mechataur with her thoughts, a key card that had been engraved with their name and rank used for the Supa Robot Wars as well as a cosmetic inscription charm.

    "Two Star Ensign Deng Long, signing in." Deng Long said as he finally found a suitable card slot on the seat where Shi Zuo was controlling the console.

    "Three Star Ensign Bu Dong, signing in." Bu Dong subsequently inserted his key card too after he wore his helmet. Unlike the one Luo Bo wore, Bu Dong had a customised helmet made out of carbon fibre and the aesthetic was more pleasant lookingpared to the dull looking one Luo Bo had. However, his helmet and the current outfit he was wearing did not match at all and that was where the cosmetic charm came into y.

    With a quick chi activation, both Deng Long and Bu Dong changed their current battle outfit into tight skin suits made out of nanofiber material. They even had an insignia of an Astronaut Panda at their shoulder, disying their affiliations to the Space Pandas, a Supa Robot Warsбп guild which Bu Dong and Deng Long had created exclusively for the most skilled space pilots. It was built in hopes to tackle the Supa Robot Warsбп future dungeon and raid contents when Jin would finally update the mini game.

    Unbeknownst to Shi Zuo, he had made the right decision to pass the piloting to the veteran space pilots mainly because of one thing.

    To inexperienced pilots like Shi Zuo and Luo Bo, they had to manually input their options to use Mechataur and that was the restriction that Jin had ced before he was caged into oblivion to do his work. But all of that changed when one had yed Supa Robot Wars for a lengthy period of time. The key cards Bu Dong and Deng Long had, were a set of presets they had saved from the various fights they encountered in the Supa Robot Wars.

    So, when they inserted their key cards, the control consoles in front of them instantly changed to suit them rather than the pilots adjusting themselves to the control consoles. The buttons, pulleys and joysticks had been reconfigured to the setting that Deng Long and Bu Dong had been ying with. All the parameters of the Supa Robot were automatically regted without any input from the pilots.

    What took Shi Zuo ages to boot up the Mechataur was merely seconds for the space pilot duo. And not only that, the key card had something special which Shi Zuo and Luo Bo would not have been able to utilise.

    The ability to summon various attachments and weapons for the Mechataur to use.

    And that was actually the bonus that Captain Hei and Bai had prepared to reward Shi Zuo and Luo Bo if they would have managed to get a 12 in their dice game. (Or you know, beat them up until both of them were rendered incapable of fighting if they had actually duelled.)

    Usually in the mini game, Bu Dong and Deng Long had to prepare the attachments and weapons in the hangar bay. Once theyunched out of the hangar bay, they would either have to work with what they had or return back to the hangar bay for refuelling and reattachment of their weapons. But that caused time and dy, eating up precious seconds of their mission time and possibly their rewards too.

    Thus, when they saw the alert where the system control is allowing them to summon any attachments instantly for this entire raid, Bu Dong and Deng Long literally screamed in excitement.

    "This Mechataur Mk 3 is a heavy ss Supa Robot. We should be able to field the extensive equipment!" Deng Long shouted in excitement as he was checking out all the possible options with lightning fast reflexes. He already knew what weapons both Bu Dong and he would love to use in this current situation and they were solely browsing for those particr options.

    "We saw how the missiles were useless when he screeched,sers might be an option, but what is the battery capacity of Mechataur? How about its heat venttion threshold?" Bu Dong asked as he did a prep warm up with all the pedals and joysticks to make sure the controls were the same as he was used to.

    "There is the railgun cannon option. But that is one of the few things we have yet to unlock. We would need to pay a lot more than usual to use it here." Deng Long mentioned and Bu Dong looked back at him.

    "THAT railgun?" Bu Dong queried with his eyes filled with stars.

    "Aye, the same one in the mission where we had to protect the base from those super carriers diving down from space and into the atmosphere." Deng Longбпsment made them simultaneously recall the one crazy mission.

    "How much is it? Do we have enough Supa Medals for it or do we need to top it up with Panda Coins?" Bu Dong asked and Deng Long took his phone out to calcte.

    "Seems like we can exchange our current Heavy Weapons discount voucher to top up the remainder without using any Panda Coins."

    "Hmmmm but those Heavy Weapon vouchers are hard toe by. We can either exchange it for 10,000 Supa Medals or unlock a new weapon." Bu Dong was in a dilemma since they were one Heavy Weapon voucher short of unlocking the railgun but Bu Dong knew the value of those vouchers since they did not have any expiry date on them.

    "Use my Panda Coins. We should save those vouchers for another time." Bu Dong made a snap decision to use his money. "If Jin had introduced a Supa Robot in this raid, I can imagine he will do so for the future raids and dungeon content, making our voucher even more valuable!"

    "Understood." Deng Long immediately cashed in the duoбпs Supa Medals while topping up with Panda Coins. The purchase was made instantly and the current console unlocked that particr option for them.

    "Shall we use it now as an opening attack? Orter? Its specs say that we only have one shot since we do not have additional battery packs to spare." Deng Long asked and Bu Dong already knew what to do.

    "We will use it after we get close to it. For now, Weapon Set Delta." Bu Dong ordered and Deng Long acknowledged his higher ranked buddy.

 Chapter 1119 - Mechataur Barrage

    <h4>Chapter 1119 - Mechataur Barrage</h4>

    As the Pandarens were doing their best to fend off the Bone Spirit Sea Demons in the Suburban area, the sound of the boosters from the Supa Robot had the effect of an indirect morale boost from the desperation of their endless fight.

    It was perfect as a sign that there was some actual hope to cling on.

    And that hope became even more reassuring when Mechataurбпs imposing form hovered above the Suburban area holding on to two huge metal boxes on its back. "Before we deal with the boss, letбпs give the Pandarens some time to regroup. Otherwise, they might get caught in the middle of our firefight." Bu Dong eximed as he used his helmet to the utmost capabilities it could exert.

    The control interface on Deng Longбпs side suddenly emerged with alert pings on multiple Bone Spirit Sea Demon targets when Bu Dong scanned the Suburban area for enemies. While it would be ideal to catch every single Bone Spirit Sea Demon in its sight, the number of missiles on their giant toy was unfortunately limited despite their temporary ability to summon any weapon set that they owned.

    "64 targets locked on and ready to be obliterated." Deng Long informed Bu Dong that they had reached the maximum number of monsters they could hit.

    "Entering some chi for maximum effect!" Bu Dong confirmed as he portrayed his cultivation aura and the Mechataur in turn glowed slightly with an orange hue before it grabbed onto the two metal boxes on its shoulders and aimed it downwards.

    A few of the Pandarens noticed this and quickly called to theirpanions to retreat, hoping that the monsters they had engaged could be killed off by the Supa Robotбпs fury. The Mechataur let out a stream of steam through its nostrils and its entire body vibrated a little from the knockback as the missiles from the two metal boxes flew out in a rush to annihte its targets.

    The missile barrage was a sight to behold for everyone outside the zone of fire, especially Luo Bo who had been unaware that the Mechataur was even able to perform such a feat, despite having been in control of it. "Why are they able to do that? We were the ones who first found it, but Iбпm sure it wasnбпt capable of that yet!" Luo Boined as she pulled Shi Zuoбпs sleeve, trying to grab his attention.

    "Who knows? It just proves that it was the right choice to leave it to the experts! They are able to make it fly and shoot missiles whereas I could barely keep it operational! That is the difference between us and them."

    "If I were to take a guess, it must be that Supa Robot War mini game theyбпve been ying that allowed them to pilot it. Make it give them some extra bonuses." Shi Zuo replied, unaware that he had forgotten to mute the Pandawan Channel, allowing the rest of the Pandawans to hear what he was saying as well.

    "Yep, the controls are exactly the same in Supa Robot Wars! That is why we can pilot this rather easily." Deng Long confirmed as he engaged Mechataurбпs thrusters once more while throwing the leftover metal boxes against an injured Bone Spirit Demon to finish it off.

    "That disy of force makes me seriously want to try out the Supa Robot minigame." Xiong Damented, impressed by the fight. It might be every boyбпs dream to pilot a giant mecha, and at least thewyer was no exception to this.

    "Go forth, although I have to warn you, the start is kinda sucky with that useless basic robot that youбпll be given. But trust me, it gets better and will definitely be worth your time." Bu Dong didnбпt miss the chance to promote this awesome mini game that most of the Pandawans had been ignoring.

    However, Bu Dong believed in Boss Jin and that the Dungeon Supplier always looked into the future, so the things that he had provided in his Dungeons and Panda should never be deemed useless.

    "Lol, does that mean our digital pets might be useful in future dungeon instances too?" Bin Yong questioned and Bu Dongmented that it might be a possible feature in the future. After all, hadnбпt they already experienced riding on their cultivation styles as mounts?

    "Looks like we have more things to look forward to. For now, Bu Dong. You have a guesting into the city that requires some of your... weings." Xiong Da interrupted and both the Supa Robot Pilots focused back on their current predicament, only to realise a tentacle was flying straight towards them.

    "This is nothing!" Deng Long eximed as he pressed his finger on the control console and quickly swiped it upwards. As the tentacle approached the Mechataur, an energy shield immediately enveloped the Supa Robot, providing the required defence since it caught the pilots slightly off guard for them to dodge in time.

    But as much as Deng Long wanted to brag it was nothing, the tentacle was surprisingly tenacious, enough so to pierce through the energy shield damaging the upper c.h.e.s.t portion of the Mechataur. Thankfully, the energy shield lessened the impact pierce of the tentacleбпs strike, causing only a hole through its armour without damaging any vitalponents that could affect the mobility of the Supa Robot.

    Still, that was enough to get Bu Dong angry.

    "Bloody Ooofpa Loopa! I will make sure that you are going down hard!" Bu Dong shouted as he controlled the robot to pull out the tentacle while crushing it so that it would not be returning back to the main body. Afterwards, Bu Dong resummoned Weapon Set Delta which wasprised of the two boxes of missiles that they had been handling previously.

    This time, it was aimed at the Ooofpa Loopa which had finally approached the shores with a bunch of Bone Spirit Sea Demons at its side.

    "Are you sure we should be using those missiles against the Ooofpa Loopa? It should already be immune to the fire element." Deng Long asked for a confirmation and it acted as a reminder to Bu Dong that the Ooofpa Loopa had its own boss mechanics that they had to handle.

    "Yeap. I am sure." Bu Dong replied and started to aim his sights at the Boss abomination. However, from Deng Longбпs perspective, it seems as if Bu Dong was not attacking the boss but the air spaces around it.

    "What are you aiming at, bro?" Deng Long questioned but since Bu Dong was in charge of the fire control, he already released the missiles before replying to his co-pilot.

 Chapter 1120 - The Missiles

    <h4>Chapter 1120 - The Missiles</h4>

    The missiles zoomed past the target as indicated on the control console Deng Long wasmanding but heter realised what Bu Dong was actually doing andughed at the current situation.

    "How did youe up with this idea? No, first tell me how did you manage to coordinate all of this?" Deng Long questioned as he saw the missiles explode in mid air, causing blue purplish smoke to appear all around the Ooofpa Loopa.

    "What do you mean? Thereбпs the Pandaren Channel. I merely asked and they responded." Bu Dong answered as he let go of the emptied missile boxes once more andunched the Mechataur towards the Ooofpa Loopa.

    Some of the Pandarens and even the live stream spectators initially thought that Mechataur had missed all its shots against the Ooofpa Loopa and called it an enormous scale of blunder. However, some of the more observant live streamers noticed that those explosions were ced at almost equal distance away from each other and suspected there was something more to the attack.

    This was indeed not the ordinary explosions they had seen so far.

    "And here I thought I needed to run from one end of the map to another!" A punch filled with incredible chi mmed onto the Ooofpa Loopa when Royal Snake General Hou Fei emerged from the explosions, causing it to be knocked sideways and the impact could be seen vibrating on the abominationбпs muscles. Those wiggly waves of kic energy spread outwards and eventually to the entire body, making the Ooofpa Loopa to have loped sideways.

    At that point, he regretted making that punch as he realised he could have used more strength against it since the abomination was caught off guard. Still, this was the first time he used this tactic proposed by Bu Dong and regardless of the regret, it was a very hefty punch to drop the Ooofpa Loopaбпs hitpoint.

    "Must say, it sure is a rather convenient tactic despite it being unorthodox in nature," A sh strike was made from the opposite of the Ooofpa Loopa as Royal Tiger General Ya Bai came out of the explosions and a silhouette of a blue gigantic Tiger silhouette pounced onto the abomination, performing the very same attack it had done against its Northern counterpart, incidentally allowing it to return to its original position after Hou Feiбпs punch.

    Although their chibined were multi elemental, the bossбп immunity had yet to set in and the power they emanated was indeed sufficient to create a damage log in their visors, indicating a drop of hit points in the monsterбпs health bar. In the meantime, the biggest hitter of all wasing at max speed from the Suburban area with a spear in its hand.

    "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAбпбп Bu Dong and Deng Long shouted as they attempted to crush the spear into the Ooofpa Loopa stomach. Because of the sudden teleportation missile attack that Bu Dong had made, the Ooofpa Loopa was not able to retaliate Mechataurбпs flyingnce charge, allowing it to pierce it right into its stomach.

    "THIS IS NOT THE END YET!" Bu Dong shouted as he pulled the joysticks upwards, enabling Mechataur to imitate Bu Dongбпs actions by driving the spear in an angled position. It stuck further into the abomination which irritated the Ooofpa Loopa and finally forced it to send a load of tentacles spiralling out of the ground.

    Those tentacles pierced Mechataurбпs legs and torso area and at the same time aimed at the cultivators like General Ya Bai, Hou Fei and their soldiers. The Generals did not have a problem dodging them mid air but the same could not be said about all of their underlings. A few of them shared the same fate as what the Ooofpa Loopa was suffering from, a hole in their stomach. Yet that did not deter the rest as they continued to attack the tentacles and the main body as much as possible.

    It should go without saying that Mechataur continued to do the same as well.

    "Purchasepleted! Go rampage all you like!" Deng Long shouted as he had purchased a few cash shop items on the fly such as attack and repair drones. The attack drones were shooting outser beams to break the tentacleбпs grip from the Mechataur while the repair drones were performing emergency repairs on the vitalponents by spraying nanobots (Their costly equivalent to a health potion for the robots) to keep them operational.

    "Heh! Letбпs show the streamers how powerful Supa Robot veterans like us can be in such a toy!" Bu Dong shouted as he once again pulled the joysticks on his console once more. Thence that was stuck within the body of Ooofpa Loopa suddenly clicked and released the outeryer of metal, revealing an inneryer of explosives hidden within it.

    Bu Dong triggered the explosives with theyer of metal as the shrapnel against the Ooofpa Loopa, damaging its innards and its ability to reproduce any more Bone Spirit Sea Demons. Incidentally, that also caused some of the already birthed Bone Spirits to suffer from a series of muscle spasms, allowing the Pandarens fighting with them to get an upper hand in the situation.

    That goes the same to the Bone Spirit Sea Demons on the shore along the Ooofpa Loopa. However, there were still many unaffected and they were ready to pounce on the remaining soldiers that had sh teleported into the area.

    "And now for our final trick!!" Bu Dong shouted as the Exploding Lance suddenly disappeared from Mechataurбпs hand and a new weapon appeared to rece it. Mechataur handled the new weapon roughly as it tried to poke through the innards of Ooofpa Loopa even further before pressing on the trigger.

    "If you can survive this, I have no idea what else could actually kill you. So PLEASE DIE!" Bu Dong requested as Deng Long reported that the energy levels on the weapon had reached critical mass. The Southern Ooofpa Loopa seemed to understand that its life was in danger and even more tentacles shot out of the burning sand caused by Xiong Daбпs barrage of missiles and all of them reached Mechataur instead.

    Deng Long erected an additional energy shield but they were repeatedly broken by the influx of tentacles piercing into them, causing extensive damage to the Mechataur. The Pandarens and live streamers could see the desperation thest Ooofpa Loopa was making since it was at itsst stretch.

    But it eventually did not matter.

    Bu Dong still managed to send amand for the Mechataur to fire the trigger on its weapon. The Rail Gun.

 Chapter 1121 - Job Well Done

    <h4>Chapter 1121 - Job Well Done</h4>

    As much as Bu Dong and Deng Long wanted the shot to be fanciful, it was in fact quite a cid and brutal scene when Mechataur squeezed the trigger on the Rail Gun. However, both of them could not deny the monstrous power of the weapon once they watched a piece of the metallic projectile visibly pierce through the Ooofpa Loopaбпs mutated head, unveiling the sky behind it.

    Its hit points directly plummeted from twenty odd percent down to a single digit. Following thews of nature, the abomination giantбпs few remaining hit points also quickly dissipated as it bled to death, painting the sea underneath it green.

    An announcement resounded far and wide once the health reached the zero value, breaking the health bar. The Southern Ooofpa Loopa had finally been destroyed. Yet the Raid Instance did not put out a congrattions sign which indicated that the raid instance was far from over.

    "You are kidding, right? We still have to deal with the b.u.t.t a.s.s problem right above us?" Luo Bo questioned and the rest were simrly disappointed at that realisation.

    "At least itбпs just a b.u.t.t, we should be able to clear it quickly." Xiong Da said as he ordered the trucks to re-equip the missiles so that they could use them tounch the missiles against the third and final Ooofpa Loopa.

    "Still, we cannot forget the bossбп mechanics if we want to fight against it." Bu Dong cautioned them through the Pandawan Channel as he had to kick the door of the c.o.c.kpit down in order to open it. Despite the death of the Southern Ooofpa Loopa, its tentacles remained intact and because they had prated through the essential wires that provided power into the c.o.c.kpit, the entire robot was shut down. Even the backup generator had been busted, leaving them to forcefully open the c.o.c.kpit with their legs.

    "I donбпt know about you, but Iбпm so tired after the two consecutive fights. Canбпt they throw us a bone and just call it a win?" Luo Boined but she still took a deep breath before gathering her chi once to try aiming at the Ooofpa Loopaбпs b.u.t.t with her bow.

    "Well, we can either rest up now and wait for the descent of the b.u.t.t or we can destroy it before the ugly beast appears entirely on the raid." Xiong Da suggested, yet at that moment there was a crackle on the channel.

    "HAIIII GUYS!! Do not fear as your saviour is here!"

    Luo Bo had nearly released her energised bow due to shock as there was a cute little voiceing out from the centre of Demopolis City even though itter became a deafening echo going through their ears. Out from nowhere, a spiralling concrete emerged from the centre and had instantly captured the attention of the hundreds of Pandarens in the middle.

    "You mean your saviours, right?" Just as the concrete stopped rising after a suitable height, all of the Pandarens were able to see a bright enigmatic duo standing at the top of it with lights shining upon them. (They had no idea where the lights came from.)

    "Demon Queen of Explosions, Peppers!" The Mage Betor struck a cutesy pose as she announced herself.

    "The Beautifully Angelic Goddess, Milk!" The Priest Betor followed suit, but it was obvious from their performance that theycked a certain synergy.

    "Dungeons and Pandasбп favourite employees are here to save you guys from devastation!" The duo spoke in tandem in such a cheesy manner that Hou Fei who was watching the scene from the Southern Walls could not help butugh at the cringybo.

    In the meantime, the rest of the Pandarens were staring at them awkwardly, especially because their appearance had shattered the serious weary atmosphere of the Raid Instance. Only then did they remember that Boss Jinбпs store was famously filled with wacky stuff.

    "I told you this would not work." Peppers whispered to Milk upon looking at the baffled crowd of customers but she had forgotten that themunication channels were still open.

    "Shhh! We are still live on the channels!" Milk replied back in an annoyed manner and yet the Pandarens continued to hear their squabbles loud and clear.

    "What the hell was that stupid fox thinking making us do this now. This was a big mistake, a big STUPID! Argggh whatever!" Peppersined as she raised her cosmetic staff up instead of her usual wooden one. (The kind where there was lots of ck paint to make it all demon-y in the staffбпs design and a purplish looking heart stone in the middle so that itбпs still cutesy in nature- totally not Peppersбп liking.)

    "Ahh.. that rascal of a mage... and Ms Milk is also up there." Xiong Da said out loud in a trance, smiling widely to himself that it somehow caught Ruo Yingбпs attention.

    "Why are you smiling from one corner of your lip to the other so widely?" Ruo Ying questioned her hubby despite already having pulled his ear and he quickly exined that he was merely reminiscing the days when he had first joined Dungeons and Pandas and had the two of them as his instructors. Ruo Ying nearly did not buy it, especially when Milk managed to take a quick look at him and waved at him.

    In the meantime, the self proimed Demon Queen of Explosions did not waste any time unlike that Goddess Milk trying to curry more favour from the customers. She just wanted things to be over with and im the reward Kraft had promised them for going into action.

    The Original Betor had watched the Raid Instance y out and he agreed with the opinion of Luo Bo and others, the Mechataur VS the Southern Ooofpa Loopa fight had been the perfect climax. Anything else would just pale inparison.

    Yet just ending things there would have been boring and logical, as such he had spontaneously decided to spice things up by introducing the Demon Queen and Angelic Goddess as a prelude to the next phase of Jinбпs creation. Their uing religious organisation.

    While it sadly remained a work in progress, the crafty fox was using this opportunity to gauge the response of the Pandarens and allowing them to be familiar with the Betors in case they were ever needed to be out in the real world. (If it was not well received, Kraft still found it funny to employ them out of theirfort zones wearing those odd looking yet stylish enough costumes.)

    And because this was a Raid Instance and the costumes had kind of sent the impression that these two employees were going to be more of a shy addition than employing their true powers, the Pandarens did not take them seriously and even thought of them as pure entertainment.

    However, what Peppers was conjuring was her full strength even though they were currently acting as the Demonic Queen and Angelic Goddess. The Pandarens just could not ept the fact that she could conjure an awfully big ball of fiery mass that was capable of detecting the whole of Ooofpa Loopa.

    As such they werepletely unprepared for when it happened, suddenly getting treated with a firework which Peppers judged as a mere 6/10. "Could be better if it had not just been the b.u.t.t. Meh...still looks good enough for an impromptu st."

    What followed was the congrattions announcement from the System, but before they were sent out, Milk expanded her powers to heal all those that were still alive. (After all, she was presented as the angel, so she got to show the caring side rather than punching the shit out of people. Nevertheless, it was quite an impressive feat despite the fact that the Pandarens thought it was the бпdungeon instanceбп that had healed them.)

    Everyone cheered loudly while some gave a sigh of relief that they had survived what was undoubtedly the hardest Raid Instance they had ever fought in.

    To make the scene more memorable, Panda Coins started raining from the aftermath of the explosions which also caused a frenzy among the Pandarens as they desperately tried to grab as many coins as they could.

    In addition, the System promised them through the Pandamonium App that the rewards would be more than that rain of coins and every cultivator in the Raid Instance could finally have a breather.

 Chapter 1122 - The Starting Line to Supremacy

    <h4>Chapter 1122 - The Starting Line to Supremacy</h4>

    Once the Raid Instance had been deemedpleted by the System, the live streamers and spectators were calling out this fight to be a revolutionary way of ying dungeon instances. In fact, this was the first time these live streamers had gathered such arge audience. For some reason, there had not been too many people interested in watching or hosting dungeon streams, despite it having been avable for some time now.

    The main cause of that was that Jinбпs dungeon supplier store had not been around for long enough yet, making it a rtively new sensation. Secondly, Kingбпs Monster had been dominating the field of dungeon suppliers for some time in Shenzhen, and thus Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas had remained under the radar until recently.

    Third, there had been no way for live streamers and other media influencers to have known about the existence of Jinбпs dungeon instances since they had gained their reputation mostly by word of mouth, with limited advertising to the public.

    But now, it is different. The situation had changed drastically.

    Jin had decided to go public with his status as a member of the Royal Zodiac Panda n with his debut fight against the Royal Zodiac Tiger n brothers. Although that was only known to the Royal Zodiacs, it was sufficient to shake the ground since they were the people that needed to be aware of his appearances. To make things worse for them, the Royal Zodiac Dragon had decided to keep the Panda n protected for the maximum amount of time possible, for them to gain enough strength to stand on their own.

    Such a deration had never been seen in the past centuries especially when their ancestors had always advocated in favour of retaining the bnce between the twelve Zodiacs. Right now, the emergence of a new power with unknown capabilities had rendered the rest quite wary of the new emerging n. Even the Head of the Royal Zodiac Dragon n was a bit sceptical of Kong Rongбпs decision to protect the Pandas.

    However, things had quickly changed once Kong Rongбпs grandmother, the keeper of the Royal Zodiac Archives had suddenly changed her tune and backed her grandsonбпs decision, causing possible internal strife to end abruptly within the Dragon n.

    To be frank, even Mr Know-It-All had not expected the old woman to change her tune this easily. Initially, she had been quite adamant in her efforts to prevent the rise of the Panda n. It was only after the defeat of the Royal Zodiac Tiger nбпs children that her sudden change came about.

    When asked about it, she had imed that the Earthбпs leyline divination had changed for the better after that particr fight, prompting Kong Rongбпs snap decision to protect the Royal Zodiac Panda to be one of the best choices he had ever made in life.

    While Jin did not reveal to the public that he represented the Royal Zodiac Panda n as of now, Kraft had utilised this brief autonomy to the fullest potential. The protection by the Dragon n was pathetic, to say the least in Kraftбпs eyes. With only three months of no interference from the other ns, every second of their time to expand was precious.

    One of the unspoken reasons why Kraft had demanded Jin to clear all his backlogs and promises all in one shot was so that they could this time to move forward. Notwithstanding, Kraftбпs idea to use the current Raid instance to attract the masses was a brilliant one.

    By using Jinбпs recreation of the original Loopa Ooofpa into a Raid Instanceбпs final boss even though it was supposedly just a backup n, the fox had incited a high amount of interest in this particr Dungeon Supplierбпs store.

    Live Streamers and media influencers finally had their hands on a potentially new trend of videos and it was something that would not fade in a short amount of time. With the governmentбпs initiative to promote sports and cultivation, Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandasбп store had been benefitting from the initiative and it was still growing with a decent number patronising it, allowing the new trend that Kraft employed to have growth.

    It proved that people were interested in increasing their cultivation and whatбпs more, the surprise appearance of the Royal Tigers and Snake Battalions in the Raid Instance had indeed pulled their weight of the store being reliable and useful. (Something simr to an indirect endors.e.m.e.nt.)

    While the Royal Zodiac Tiger n were banging heads against the Royal Zodiac Panda n after their initial sh, the Royal Zodiac Tiger Battalion did not care about those political matters. To General Ya Bai, he might be taking orders from the Tiger Head but this had been a personal vendetta to defeat the Loopa Ooofpa even though it was a fake.

    Besides, he had the responsibility to grow his battalion stronger, so ignoring this chance to fight the abomination would have deprived his battalion of the experiences they needed to reach higher heights especially since he had seen the effects of it on the Snakeбпs battalion!

    Just one Pandapolis Raid fight had helped the Snakes improve the coordination above his own troops. It was as if the Snakeбпs army had been battle hardened with basic war experience. Ya Bai could see the apparent ws of the Tiger Battalion whenpared to the Snakeбпs during the fight against the Loopa Ooofpa and its Bone Spirits.

    And thus, with the endors.e.m.e.nt of Royal Zodiac Battalions as well as the battle of the fake Loopa Ooofpa, more people are genuinely interested in Dungeons and Pandas. This was the make or break session and whether Jin could bring out the best of his Dungeon Supplier store would be within these few months, especially the Symposium event where various Dungeon Suppliers both local and overseas would make their presence in this event.

    The System and Kraft did not wish to put any бпunwantedбп pressure on Jinбпs work of art and thus the need for him to clear all his backlogs so that he could concentrate on the Symposium event even though he did not like to join it in the first ce. While the topic was not announced as of yet, the System had already registered Jin for the global event. (At least it did report this to Jin rather than keeping quiet.)

 Chapter 1123 - Aftermath of the Demopolis Raid Instance

    <h4>Chapter 1123 - Aftermath of the Demopolis Raid Instance</h4>

    Two weeks after the end of the first Demopolis Raid Instance, the focus hadpletely shifted on the best ways of defeating the Ooofpa Loopas.

    Once the mechanics had been figured out, the fights had mainly be aboutpleting the raid to earn points. Most of such Raid Instances had been filled to the brim with people on an hourly basis and the mode of y had been made easier since the Demopolis City that they used was being upgraded consistently.

    In most raids, the instance would reset and the Pandarens would start from zero once more. But for this particr raid, the remnants of the previous fight had been deliberately left to show the consequences of the various instances before them.

    This included the broken walls and destroyed sub urban areas as well as the tanks. This was worsened whenever Kraft had decided to tune up the difficulty allowing the Bosses to overtake and win the Raid Instance. Although they did not trample the ce, they did leave behind some very nasty Bone Spirit Demons.

    Thus, there was continuity in those Raid Instances where the Pandarens were tasked to retake Demopolis City to fight against the new wave of Ooofpa Loopas.

    And once they had won back Demopolis City by killing the Bone Spirit Demons residing in the area, the City would then magically refresh their ammunition, walls and defensive instalments for the iing Pandarens to y properly. (Lest the other debris was the way.)

    The System even gave out raid points for clearing the debris and rubbish being left in the instance and they were designated to throw it into a Lost Tech Recycler which had been given a set of cosmetic inscriptions to look like the sludge monster in the Hot Springs Instances. Though the System had rmended throwing in the Sludge Monster to work with the collection of rubbish, Kraft did not bother approving it at all.

    Still, these instances were sufficient to generate some form of media influences for certain live streamers toment and talk about. As a result, they had made their storeбпs cute little announcer Bear Cub One take the opportunity to create its own channel andment on the raid instance on a daily basis.

    Kiyu was involved with the project and figured they should ride the current wave by making an official Vtube and Metube Channel to promote Dungeons and Pandas. They also created one on Twitcher, the overseas streaming channel so that they could exploit the money from the rest of the world too.

    To her surprise, Bear Cub One was doing rather decently and already had over forty thousand subscribers in the span of these two weeks. Banking on his sess they started having giveaways with some special figurines and even opened merchandise stores for both local and overseas audiences.

    Meanwhile, Jin might have been away from the shop but he had made a lot of progress in clearing his backlogs. And the biggest sess was that they had stepped into the realm of making Virtual Reality a possibility.

    He and Rei (who had been summoned by the System as the intermediary between Jin and the science team) had managed to create the very first working prototype of a headband that would allow their customers to bring their very own dungeon stores into theirfort of home.

    While of course, Jin did not have the expertise to create such a device, it was a piece of cake for Rei since such technology had been readily avable in the Mecha World. Sebastia, the Battle Maid Minotaur, had already been scouting the Mecha World in secret and had been able to obtain it without much trouble. The only difference between the prototype and the VR yset from Mecha World was that the way the cultivators would be transported.

    Unlike the Mecha World where the yers were transported into a server and go through out of body experiences, the cultivators in Jinбпs world were to be teleported into the Systemбпs database. This would allow Jin to guarantee his customers that his servers would be hackproof and always evolve to suit the needs of бпbetterбп hardware.

    But the hardware was just one aspect of the creation of Virtual Reality. Initially, Jin was worried that the System would not be able to handle the workload and that there were insufficient processing capabilities to hold the various instances. The System took this opportunity to reveal its brutish methods to its User, ensuring him that they would have sufficient processing capabilities.

    Since the System was insistent on improving the reputation of the Panda n, Jin decided it would be a waste of time bothering with ethics and arguing with the System at this stage. Might as well produce work that would earn him money and think about how they could go more бпeco-friendlyбпter.

    While itбпs true, it was still simple enough to create instancespared to the real world examples, there were many things to take note of. From a grand story plot to what would drive the economy of his Virtual Reality instances.

    Was he really going to create an entirely new world or should he just make several instances and patch them one by one? Either way, it would take considerable time and effort, neither one he had to spare, despite the luxury of the Systemбпs ability to timepress.

    For example, NPCs might not be a problem but the stories and lives to make the ce an experience not to forget was another thing and the System was not well versed to create a brand new fake life.

    Thatбпs one of the reasons why Jin hadmunicated with Rei a lot. Aside from him being an engineer from the Mecha World, his reputation for creating stories was not something to scoff at.

    As such, Jin came to the conclusion that the best way to solve that issue was by бпemployingбп a group of mangaka artists into his n so that they could assist with making with the NPCs, and perhaps give him some inspiration with new areas as well. If possible, they might be in charge of creating sub stories and bringing in more life for the Virtual Reality instance.

    Besides, if Jin was going to dive into Virtual Reality, he needed the best of the best so that no one could beat him to it!

 Chapter 1124 - Reis Promises Getting Fulfilled

    <h4>Chapter 1124 - Rei''s Promises Getting Fulfilled</h4>

    "I have managed to reach a few of my ...erm contacts. They are kinda sceptical of the current offer but I have at least set up a time and date for them to meet with you." Rei said as he got into the mini ustrophobic box of confinement to meet Jin and tell him the results. At the same time, he brought the second revision of the VR head gear so that Jin could personally test it out. This time, it looked more like a bike helmet than a simple head band.

    "Thanks a lot, Rei. You helped a lot." Jin said as his eyes sparkled a little despite the weariness he .u.mted on his face.

    "Nah, I should be thanking you...and the System," Rei said astely because of the Systemбпs insistence to clear the backlogs, he was relieved that he finally got his funding for his Gunndam movie production. However, there was more to that funding than he had expected which brought him a much needed smile too.

    Jin had previously contacted Pei and queried if she was able to do him a favour. As reluctant as Pei would be to do extra work, she agreed to assist only because she wanted to get out of Kraftбпs meddling. But as to what Kraft was doing, she never spilt a single word to Jin about it. Even as Jin asked about the situation outside, both the System and Pei barely spoke a sentence out of it. It made the Dungeon Supplier suspicious as hell but since he had been put behind bars, there was only that much he couldin about.

    In any case, how Rei had benefited from Peiбпs meddling was that Jin requested the mangaka artist to bring everyone in his movie production to the head office of Studio Mashi to hold arge scale conference. And that included all the assistants and other small fries that were involved in the project. During thatrge conference, Pei had бпinspiredбп them to re-sign a new contract with Rei for obvious brainwashing reasons. For the big wrights, there was an additional use where any neers they recruited would have to sign the very same contract too.

    On the outside, it might look like just another privacy concern contract but Rei knew that it was a way to induce thepany into the Systemбпs arm even though the System promised that it was more of monitoring rather than interference. When asked why during the meeting, Rei cited that Pei was part of thepany that was nning to invest in the movie and they wanted to keep their presence unknown until the release of the movie. In return, they would provide necessary cash and funds for the movie though they expected the courtesy to be given in terms of profit.

    So, the rest had unquestionably signed it since they knew the film production was losing too much money from the constant change in the movieбпs directive. Initially, they wanted the existing director to get out but it seemed after a one to one intensive pep talk with Pei, the current lead director seem to be amicable to changes and remained steadfast with the current directive that they were heading. It was a surprise but the staff took whatever change of heart the director had and pressed on with the movie release.

    But the most important portion was that they were going to be sent to China for the shoot which Rei indicated where they could have shots of big a.s.s giant mechatronics via the Supa Robot Wars mini instance. Thus, their contract to be in the Systemбпs subtle surveince was required.

    Eventually, they found out it had perks working under the System too.

    Rei would have instant updates of his movie production and they would be unquestioning in their zeal to work to the best of their abilities. Some of the workers who experienced first hand would call it a significant morale boost for their passion in the movie they were making.

    As both Rei and Jin were having this conversation, the Studio Mashi team was already in the process of moving their team into China while they were promised to have their apartments, equipment and even daily life essentials to be covered. The Pandafull delivery team had also sent a bus driver to bring them from the airport and back to Dungeon Supplier Store so that they would stay permanently until the movie production was done.

    Such activities consisted of liaising with frencing artists, editors and voice acting. Those tasks that had been outsourced were also given the very same contract which Pei introduced.

    But unlike the Studio, they had no obligations to continue or sign the contract given the strict work timeline Rei outlined. So in order topensate for that, they were also given a one off four month sry bonus if they signed it and literally everyone could not stave off the allure of cash. To top it off, there was a use that stated that if the movie had done well, an additional form or mary bonus would be given which further spurred them to sign on the spot and work for it.

    That being said, Rei was actually more concerned with another part of his deal. His family members.

    Hence, it was one of the reasons why Sebastia scouted the Mecha World. Even as much as Kraft and the other minions had advocated starting a proxy war between the two major military oriented factions, there was not much of a push factor to do so aside from stealing the Titan for the Systemбпs use.

    However, the allure of highly advanced technology was worth the scouting and to Sebastiaбпs astonishment, finding Reiбпs family was not as simple as it was. Apparently, the information that Rei gave was extremely outdated and they had moved away due to the dangers of the space colony they were previously staying to be attacked.

    Still, Sebastia had her pride as a scout of Moloch and vowed to continue to find Reiбпs family. And that alone was enough to let Rei have peace of mind to give 110% to Jinбпs creations.

    ----

    "Do I have to go to Japan again?" Jin asked Rei since the meeting was set up by him and those artists were quite a nuisance to handle ording to the Mecha Engineer.

    "Nah, we are doing the online conference over Vroom so they have no excuse not to attend a short fifteen to twenty minutes talk," Rei said as he sent the Vroom app details to Jin. He re-emphasised Jin how irritating it was for them to leave their studio or apartments, citing them as permanent hikikomori despite their abilities and talents.

    "Isnбпt that a great thing? We might be able to have them all by ourselves if we y this right." Jin smirked at Rei, implying to him that he had found a great group to exploit.

    "Good luck with that and also this. Put it on and give it a try. There should not be any more headaches." Rei said as he tuned the Pandamonium app to synchronise with the VR headgear, allowing Jin to finally catch some бпsleepбп that he had missed for ages while his mind wandered in the Virtual Reality.

 Chapter 1125 - Virtual Reality Headgear

    <h4>Chapter 1125 - Virtual Reality Headgear</h4>

    As Jin entered the Virtual Reality Instance, his body flopped in real life since his consciousness had been uploaded into the Systemбпs database. The first iteration of the VR headgear had been a little choppy in terms of transmission. One of the bugs had made the transmission so patchy that Jin had been losing parts of his body whenever he walked inside the Virtual Reality.

    The System thought it was funny to look at the sight of Jin panicking at the data packet losses of his body and even took some screenshots for posterity. For the second version of the VR headgear, Rei had been able to smooth out these kinks. But even though Rei was the overall engineer for the VR headgear, the one responsible for the much smoother uploading of consciousness was none other than Starry Mood.

    For the Mecha Worldбпs version of virtual reality, their headgear induced a temporaryatose state by using low voltage induced shocks directly into the brain. The feeling was slightly unpleasant but when coupled with a specific set of shing lights to trick the eyes, the pain somehow became inconsequential.

    A sequential show of shing green lights halted the circadian rhythm andter slideshow of lights caused a temporary daze to the user, allowing them the low voltage shocks to not only induce theatose state but also connect the brain to the VR interface, allowing them to y the Virtual Reality in an out of body experience. Those low voltage shocks also halted the nervous systems to stop them from moving the body in real life while the user was having an out of body experience.

    A simr concept was used for Jinбпs Virtual reality world instance with a few exceptions. There was no light show or any low voltage shocks which could potentially damage the eyes and brain of the user. Instead, the Dungeon Research Team had gathered all their expertise and put together a product that required resources from other worlds.

    In return, they created a бпsafe to useбп бпout of bodyбп experience for the cultivators. The System stepped in as well, tuning them to ensure that there would be no overloading brain problems and setting up the correct specifications. Of course, they were not going to create the ultimate VR headgear off the bat because that would be bad for business if the first model was already sessful and evesting.

    Like every major electronics business, they would be withholding the technology specs to ensure that after the first one there would be ver. 1.5, 2, etc. so that the sales of their hardware would continue to go strong.

    But before they could strip their VR headgear to the b.a.r.e minimum, the System and Dungeon Research Team would need to ensure it was working first and Jin had volunteered to be their test subject and specimen. (Was it just another way to get out of work?)

    After all, this gave Jin the chance to experience the yerбпs perspective when they would reach the first newbie town.

    "System, is it currently more popr to figure everything out on your own or to have a tutorial?" Jin asked as he checked his limbs and motor control to make sure they were moving correctly. Unlike the Mecha Worldбпs VR headgear, the concept of using magic crystals had been used instead.

    Starry Mood had been able to easily create the prototype crystal that enabled the transference of the human consciousness in and out of the physical body without any damage to it.

    And once finalised, the mass production of the crystal creation method could be done by the Eld Enve mafia and their other associates, giving them a lucrative job to do while practising crystal crafting and imbuing. The production of crystals was also given to the Eld Enve now that they had the motherlode of all crystals from the Flying Fortress.

    All Starry Mood had to do was carve a piece of it out of the Motherlode crystal and treat it like a tree, growing it with magic and reaping the fruits ofbour when it had grown again. The only problem was that it needed time to grow, yet that was not an issue since the System had a dedicated Agriculture Team consisting of the Werejackals.

    Compared to their experience with the living armour nts this crystal growing was a piece of cake and that startled Starry Mood who had believed this endeavour to be a fruitless one. With timepression farming techniques created from the Zither Mistress and her caretaker Treant, crystal farming had suddenly be priority number one in Pandapolis Agriculture.

    While Jin was satisfied with the current progress of the second prototype, he was actually more concerned about the safety of his users using the headgear. After all, they would be paralysed andatose for the entire trip into the virtual realm. It needed an emergency escape button to ensure that their users would be safe when they are back to their bodies.

    The Mecha World VR headgear merely had a temporary inducedatose which the users could be awakened from if the headgear was forcefully taken out. But that was not the same with Jinбпs headgear. The uploading and downloading of the human consciousness, or one could say soul, back into the body required some time. Although the System could assist with the ejection by giving priority to the exit route, it would be expected to handle traffic worth hundreds of thousands of souls in and out from the System in the future.

    So, Jin had requested the Dungeon Research Team to create something akin to a surveince mode for the end users too. While it was ideal to have a barrier over the end user when they are unconscious, there would never be a barrier that cannot be broken. Therefore, Jin asked for something simr to a camera sensor that would allow the end users to be notified that in case there would be unknown people in their surroundings. (It would also provide video evidence in case anything ever would go wrong)

    An image would pop up should the userбпs body be approached and they would be able to perform a full emergency exit if necessary. That way, they would still be conscious of their surroundings. As for other concerns, Jin had already thought of them as essories to the VR headgear set, giving the potential quality of life improvements to it.

    But for now, he had to make sure the Virtual Reality town was good enough for presentation in the Dungeon Supplier Symposium as they found out in a letter of eptance upon application that the current topic for this yearбпs event was...

    Vige.

 Chapter 1126 - Creating the Virtual Reality -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1126 - Creating the Virtual Reality -Part 1</h4>

    "All vitals are within range. Do you feel any side effects on your side? Any more loss of limbs?" Rei chuckled as he oversaw Jinбпs testing of the new prototype.

    "Thankfully, no. Movement is all good and natural. Next, please turn off the Game Master mode for me and give me a level one yer temte." Jin immediately went to the next agenda after affirming that his body was still intact and working as intended.

    For better or worse, the daily grind of working nonstop had somehow influenced his mindset, a clockwork of objectives kept going through his head. He did not doubt that the System (probably with the help of a mischievous fox) had a hand in brainwashing him to have such an attitude, but for now, it worked in his favour, allowing him to clear all the tasks he needed to do.

    "Game Master mode off, yer level one new adventurer temte on. Do you need me to activate the environment settings?" Rei questioned which Jin responded with a firm no.

    "Letбпs do one thing at a time, we are not trying instance server loading right now. Itбпs better to ensure the individual form is working as per schedule." Jin stated and a basic holographic UI immediately popped up right in front of him, indicating his current status and the equipment he was wearing.

    A in t-shirt and shorts.

    The very same set of clothes he had been wearing before he had been teleported into the Virtual Instance and they were identical to the veryst detail.

    The concept was to collect information and portray it correctly within the Virtual Instance. While some would eventually query whether it was the doing of the camera sensor and thus invading their personal space, it was not really how it worked.

    The camera sensor could certainly inspect the surroundings but its input was meant to monitor the proximity of the user instead of peeking at the body. Rather, the clothes were a part of the subconscious preconceptions of the end users.

    How they conceived themselves would then be portrayed to the Virtual Instance. (However, the System did not deny that it was collecting information from the end users the moment they were plugged into the machine. After all, they never knew that they were currently within the workspace of a sentient celestial being, or to be exact, a collective of celestial beings.)

    "Clothes check. User interface seems a littleggy, letбпs try to speed up the changing of the oveys by half a second or so. Other than that, everything seems fine. System, have you set the kind of statistical parameters you wanted for the adventurers? Or are we sticking to what we have discussed?" Jin questioned as he did a bit of stretching on the spot before he started to run as fast as he could.

    The holographic user interface disappeared once he ignored it. While he was running in a straight up line, the Heads Up Disy (HUD) appeared right in his peripheral vision. Jin had purposely created it simr to the design he had used in half masked visors so that his customers would be able to familiarise themselves easily with the movement.

    The only difference now was that there was a stamina bar right beside their own health bar. The decision to include stamina was no doubt a huge one since it would somewhat limit the way the adventurers could handle themselves.

    Jin had ultimately decided on a low fantasy kind of Virtual Reality Instance. Only once they had yed long enough would the customers be able to use high level skills or magic. That way it would feel rewarding to learn those techniques, skills and magic. Nevertheless, he also intended to include machines so that there was a mix of tech and magic in it.

    This way, Supa Robot War yers would not feel too out of ce and Jin had also remembered to include Digital Pet Card yers as well as the Top Spinners into the group of sses. Thus, with that direction to include such yers, Jin had decided to go a skill based levelling system instead of a specific set of jobs like knight, mage and archer.

    Unlike most games which needed a ton of coding to allow the character to move the way they want, having to deal with damage forms and shes with ipatibility, Jin did not have to worry about any of this at all. He had the System by his side and that meant he could do whatever he wanted since the System controls the бпcodesбп. (Although in reality, he was nning to exin it as the work of his exclusive proprietary dungeon instance engine, the Panda Engine.)

    For example, if an adventurer wished to hold a pencil and use it as his primary weapon of choice, the skill to use a pencil would be created and increase ordingly. If the adventurer continued to train in the ways of a pencil (in short, lots of grinding), eventually he would reach a certain level of proficiency to wield the pencil and be able to one shot kill his enemies.

    It was there and then that the System would generate a sort of ss based on the adventurerбпs way of fighting and subsequently create gear for said adventurer. All gamers wished to have a path of limitless choices to their gamey and Jin had created based on that selfish wish. Of course, that would mean there would be a hundred over sses avable and definitely not the most ideal solution. Thus, Jin was still thinking about what to do to ovee such a hurdle.

    Perhaps, he would let the yers invent their own way of fighting and the System would create skills based on their way of fighting. However, even with such a broad way of levelling, the System did not seem to worry that much.

    "Since the yers will be the humans of your world, it is safe to assume that they will try and make use of their already learned cultivation. At most, they will use this chance to try out someone elseбпs cultivation. In view of that, the scrolls and manuals that your grandfather Ming had left would prove valuable in teaching them such skills."

    "Aside from the proficiency based skill levelling, System has determined that specific attributes such as Strength, Dexterity and Constitution will have to be included as part of their levelling than the core set." The System replied as Jin was running around the Virtual instanceбпs newbie vige. "For anything new, System will base their way of fighting and pick the closest avable techniques to improve their skill set."

    "Speaking of that, we have not opened any new boxes since my Grade up." Jin remembered as his Stamina Bar had dipped to zero, forcing him to rest on the spot until it reached a certain value. "Once this set of tasks is done, please transmit those boxes for me to open иC Ah yes, get Yun to unlock them first please. It will be stupid if you get me those boxes and I have to go to Yun to unlock it." Jin said as reached a mushroom looking house with a shop name right on top of it.

    The Tricky Shop of Magic.

 Chapter 1127 - Creating the Virtual Reality -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1127 - Creating the Virtual Reality -Part 2</h4>

    Although Jin was not forcing anyone into the stereotypical jobs, he also was not going to stop anyone from ying as such. If anyone wanted to equip a shield and sword and wear heavy armour, so be it. However, magic rted jobs would be a tough choice at the start of the virtual reality instance.

    Compared to the Stamina Bar which the adventurers would have at the start of the Virtual Reality Instance, the Mana Bar would have to be unlocked and then trained from scratch.

    That was where the Tricky Shop Of Magic woulde into y. They specifically sold an essential item that would trigger the magical essence of the adventurers. Jin had dubbed it as the бпMagic Unlockerбп and it was a key that would unlock their doorway to the Universal Pool of Magic.

    This magic theory has no doubt been giarised by the real Universal Pool of Magic which Peppers had been talking about for the whole of her life, but Jin felt there was no need to reinvent the wheel when this particr pool of magic could be subsequently used as a potential plotline for future events.

    For the time being, this troublesome way of unlocking would allow both real life mages and cultivators to start at the very same footing and learn the basics properly. It also gave the mages a chance to try out the skill based job set before going back into the field of magic.

    However, casting spells would not be as simple as their real world. In the real world, the mages utilised their mana circuits to store the type of magics they remembered for the rest of the day, with very little free y in their way of fighting. If they chose the wrong spell set for the day, they would have to find a way to circ.u.mvent it with brute strength or scrolls.

    In the Virtual Instance, it would be slightly different and possibly more tedious than usual. This was because the number of possibilities was limitless for the melee counterpart and if they were to augment with magic power, most magicians would definitely opt to be a Battle Magus, a person who could wield both a weapon and magic at the same time, augmenting their battle strength if they grinded the Virtual Reality Instance.

    So, in order to limit that, the casting of spells would always require a medium. An item that would act as the intermediary between the universal pool of magic and their current Virtual Reality Instance. The power of their spells would be based on the medium of their choice.

    Going back to the previous example, if that pencil wielder had decided to use magic, they could use their pencil as the medium to cast their magic. Upon doing so, the pencil would act as the item needed to activate their magic and would give a set amount of durability to do so before it would break. In return, the magic cast would always be 1.25 times the amount of attack power of the item stats being used and that number increases with the proficiency level of the user.

    So if the user had a fire elemental proficiency level of five using the standard pencil as the medium, the amount of damage the user could inflict would definitely be more than a user with a fire elemental proficiency level of zero.

    All these were created so that magic would not be the most prevalent form of usage and yet people would still use them because their damage potential would be higher with better items. And when ites to spells, it would be kinda free for all too. The Tricky Shop of Magic would be able to sell certain basic spells but whether the adventurers would eventually be able to turn their fireball into a homing fireball would be based on their imagination and willpower.

    After all, the бпPanda Engineбп was designed to make the Virtual Reality Instance a very suitable ce for users to explore and as long as they had enough time to grind their skills out, their effort would pay off.

    As Jin browsed through the Tricky Shop Of Magic and tried the Magic Unlocker, a Panda Paw stopped him from even activating it. His entire body froze for a moment while the Panda that stared at him immediately sent a warning to his HUD to not steal anything.

    "Son, I suggest you go to the front counter to update your licence te after you PAID for the item!" The Panda grumbled at him, before he unfroze Jin, giving him free rein again.

    "If you think you are capable of stealing this right under my nose, then be my guest."

    "Great, the NPCs and the security system are working as intended! But gosh, the vige will be packed full at the start if people are going to enter in one go." It suddenly struck Jin that there would be chaos in the viges given the realism. Unlike the shop instance which he had now, the number of people could be overwhelming if he opened the Virtual Reality instance worldwide.

    "The System proposed creating separate instances as has been done for your current dungeon instances. That way, the processes in an instance could be optimised while amodating arge number." The System reminded him and Rei added thatбпs what they had done back home for the Virtual Reality games as well. All they had to do was create more servers and allow people to transfer to other servers if their friends were not in the same ce.

    s, that was easier said than done.

    There was not enough data to justify whether his current scale of a vige was big enough. Too small and rural would restrict the poption of adventurersing in and the System would have to create way too many instances for it.

    Too big of a vige and the ce would be deserted once the bulk of the gaming poption would leave for the bigger cities. Jin had also considered implementing a sort of progress system, so the vige could grow with time. It could even receive more features, making it easier for future iing yers to catch up to the veteran yers.

    With so much to consider, Jin decided to just pause such thoughts and focus on something even more basic than the vige.

    The character creation and makeover.

 Chapter 1128 - Creating The Virtual Reality -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1128 - Creating The Virtual Reality -Part 3</h4>

    While Jin would have loved to focus a little more on a low fantasy world for his Virtual Reality Instance, he understood that it might be somewhat limiting to force everyone to remain a human.

    As such, he had decided to sell a fantastic fantasy makeover kit in the Tricky Shop of Magic.

    Initially, the makeover kit had merely been created to allow the adventurers to remodel their body size in any way they wanted. The only exception had been a gender makeover.

    ording to the System, the gender makeover would just mess with the yers due to the way their cognitive preconception worked once their souls got uploaded into the Systemбпs servers. The only ones who would be able to change their gender were those whose cognitive preconceptions were that they had been born into the бпwrong bodyбп.

    Aside from that, seeing how his minions were all intellectual and able to converse without any discrimination, Jin came to the decision to add humanoids and other races into the makeover kit like werewolves, dark elves, orcs, dwarves, halflings and so on. (This way, his minions would also be able to blend in as NPCs more easily and help enrich the Virtual Reality Instance.)

    However, to make people consider what they wanted to be, he would impose certain requirements to allow the adventurers to race change into them. For example, if one would want to be a werewolf, there was a proficiency requirement of using w rted weapons.

    Buying the makeover kit did not mean they would have ess to every function. There was the basic makeover kit which allowed them to change their facial appearances, an advanced makeover kit that allowed one to change their entire body size and height and the ultimate makeover kit which did everything as well as changing the race.

    Naturally, the cost for all those kits differed but he had purposely made the basic makeover set cheap in order to entice his yer base to use them on a constant basis. This was because the kit was required to ess the special haircut styles which he intended to add in the near and far future.

    "The System still believes that User should set the prices higher or even use real life currency to purchase them." The System stated as Jin was trying out the features on a full ultimate makeup kit. He purposely spent more time on it, more than the System had allocated but he argued it was a very important feature for every gamer.

    Therefore, Jin did allow the adjustments of every part of the body. From cheeks, nose and toes and even Adamбпs apples for the guys. As for the female counterpart, he had already requested Qiu Yue and Lynn to take charge of it. (And they knew they had to amodate all sizes...)

    However, he was aware that many would care less about their outer appearance and more about what they could do in the Virtual Reality Instance. For those yers, Jin had the System create a few standard temtes for each and every race.

    He also implemented a бпsmartбп randomise which allowed the System to choose the kind of makeover that most people would prefer to look like. All of those were based on science itself and with a big enough sample size, the System would be able to offer those choices based on the adventurerбпs ethnicities.

    "Seems like the makeover feature is working well and dandy. Letбпs call it a day then." Jin said and used his HUD in his vision to log out. Rei was right beside him when he woke up, busy jotting down the vitals on a digital clipboard and he noted that everything seemed to have been proceeding fine.

    "Boss, the test run was sessful. Do you want to testbat on the next trial run?" Rei questioned as he requested the System topile the rest of the results.

    "Not so soon. Let me create a proper vige first before going into thebat phase." Jin answered as he pulled out the prototype gear. "Though I must say, this is rather heavy equipment. My neck feels sore now."

    "Do you want us to deal with thefort of the yer now on top of our technological advances?" Rei asked as he scratched his head. This was one particr section which he had no idea how to deal with. To him, the beauty was already in the current prototype. Those ch.i.p.s and circuit sequences were as perfect as they could get. The electrical circuitry was minimum and the cooling system was perfect with the exception of the main motherboard.

    While there were smaller motherboards out there, this particr motherboard had been bought off the ck market for its robustness in serving the needs of the Virtual Reality headgear. Rei might be an engineer but he was not much of a microchip expert and he could only ensure the motherboard was working well with the rest of the otherponents. He felt that it was already a miracle he could fit it in a big a.s.s helmet for Jin to be teleported into the Systemбпs servers, so Jin asking for a smaller build felt a little bit of an insult.

    Jin seemed to be able to sense his dismay and decided to change his tune a little.

    "Donбпt get me wrong, the prototype is as perfect as it could get! Hard to think that just two weeks ago we had and in a short span of a week you managed to mish mash random things together and get them to work for the previous version."

    "This was nothing short of a miracle and I really feel you were not appreciated enough in your previous work." Jin gave him a pat on the back while emphasising how much of a job well done it was until Rei felt a little too ufortable. The praise felt a bit empty but for Jin to sense the dismay was already good enough for the Mecha Engineer.

    "Nah, itбпs just that itбпs hard to get the job you want in a space colony." Rei sighed, stating that he preferred to create things rather than teach lectures. Although there were resources for him to do so, it had to be within the curriculum rather than something out of the box since in the end, it was all about serving for the war.

    "Ah, I am sorry to hear that. I will take that more into consideration in the future." Jin agreed as he felt a little embarrassed that he had forced Rei to perform war rted tasks for the expansion of his army. And when he said in the future, Rei also understood that there were some military rted tasks that he had to clear for Jin before they could move forward.

    Besides, a deal is a deal. The dungeon supplier seems to be the only one who was able to transverse between worlds and it was already a miracle that he was able to meet up with him. So for now, he understood his responsibilities and pledged Jin that he would try to reach his expectations.

    "Hahah! Itбпs okay Rei. I just realised I have the perfect person toy this thing on. Besides, their engineering group has already touched one of our gadgets before. Doesnбпt hurt to contact them again. Not to mention, I know that CEO would be in for another wave of shocking surprise when we show him this." Jin said and Rei immediately understood who he was talking about.

    "Indeed. With him being part of your Panda n, you could start moving mountains without being discovered." Rei chuckled and told Jin that he would look forward to meeting up with their бпvery supportiveбп CEO.

 Chapter 1129 - Creating the Virtual Reality -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1129 - Creating the Virtual Reality -Final</h4>

    "Before the User goes to contact Ke Loong, System has determined that you have to at least improve your cultivation once more." The System noted when Jin seemed to be ready to contact the CEO of Sea Mesh.

    "Hehehe! Then does that mean my work here is finally done?" Jin asked with a smirk, looking forward to finally being able to enjoy some proper sleep.

    "Huh, didnбпt Jin attain a Grade Up recently? ...At least that is what I heard. Is it even possible for him to gain another one so easily? I might not be a person of this world but Iбпve lived here long enough to know that itбпs supposed to take a long time. Are you saying Jin can do so easily?! That is basically cheating in this world!" Rei ranted, but neither the System nor Jin bothered to reply.

    Wasnбпt Jin having the System already too much of a cheat? Was being able to бпquicklyбп breakthrough even worth mentioning whenpared with that?

    "Userбпs work has indeed been satisfactory during his stay in this special бпconcentration roomбп. Not only you havepleted the Cultivation Zoo, the Advanced Training Centre for the Demon Exorcists, the Gentlebear Instance as well as the prototype of a first instance for the Virtual Reality World as the System has dubbed it, User has also taken the opportunity to reorganise ns for the overtaking of the Farming World."

    "While the ns do require some refinement from the war table veterans, System believes you havee up with a sound n and we will start producing equipment for the troops given the set budget." The System dered.

    "Of course, you literally gave me hell and I have to walk through it barefooted!" Jin was happy about the praise, but the circ.u.mstances that had led to it were not something he ever wished to repeat. "Do not forget about the Southernersбп City. If myyout is okay, send the details to Qiu Yue and we can start rebuilding after we have purged the Farming Worldбпs menace." Jin added and the System could humbly admit that it liked thismanding User more than the one it had to chase all day long.

    "Since istion has proven to increase productivity, please note that System will not hesitate to send User back here if you revert to your underperforming ways."

    "Underperforming is such an understatement...seeing how Jin had to handle so many things at one go, it is pretty much a given that he would be swamped with work unless you go through that many time dtions!" Rei intervened on the Dungeon Supplierбпs behalf.

    "Aye. These 2 weeks appeared to have been equivalent to 20 years of my life. Seriously System, are youpletely sure the time dtions does not affect my lifespan at all?" Jin queried with much concern for the state of his health.

    "Fear Not! System puts the utmost priority on the health of its User. As stated before, the User has provenpetent enough to be among the top 1% of the Users that System had attended to. If System does not care about its top performing user, System too would not be able to reach 100% peak performance."

    "Oh please, your бп100%бп is such a lie! Here I was under the impression that you were oh so weak, but turn out you were basically crying about being poor, because you used to be a former trillionaire, who was down to billions... With that brain s.u.c.k.i.n.g skill that you have kept hidden alone, you can grow infinitely as we transverse through more worlds!" Jin shook his head and looked at Rei. As much as the Dungeon Supplier had way too many things on his hands, Reiбпs Mecha World was something that was a mystery to him.

    It was unlike the other worlds he had been to ording to Sebastiaбпs reports. This was because most of the worlds he and his minions had travelled through had mostly been contained to one particr region.

    But for Reiбпs Mecha World, Sebastia had already travelled through multiple space colonies and was forced to travel through gxies to find information. To say the word World was a bit far fetched as it was technically a universe that they had been travelling through.

    However, that thought of the Mecha World being a universe suddenly gave Jin a possible solution to the problem he had stumbled on previously. The one in which he had trouble amodating the rest of the poption into the Virtual Instance when they popped in.

    "System, before I leave this hellhole and perform my cultivation, can I ask a question?"

    "Permission granted!"

    "Hypothetically, what would happen if the entire poption of six billion people would attempt to connect into your server, all at the same time? Would you be able to hold all of them at 100% peak performance?"

    "Hypothetically yes, but realistically even if the System reached 100%, there would be no way to handle all six billion people at once. The resource management would require such an astronomical number of tasks that would have to be done, that it would be out of Systemбпs control. We might even need to go into excessive server overflow due to the ginormous calctions."

    "Then realistically speaking, how many people could you handle? I mean due to the time difference alone, there should always be some sort of limit with how many people would be free to y. However, Iбпm convinced that people would definitely stay and sleep in this Virtual Reality Instance, grinding the shit out of our game." Jin wondered and the System reinforced that a definite amount of processing ability would be dedicated to it without giving a proper number.

    "Then what if we were to have proper physicalnd instead of creating a totally new alternate dimension?" Jin asked, making Virtual Reality not as virtual as one had envisioned it to be.

    "Please borate more." The System requested. "But before you do, System does agree that having a physicalnd would indeed offload a lot of our burden."

    "What are you getting into?" Rei questioned Jin, not knowing his current line of thought.

    "When the System suddenly dubbed it the Virtual Reality World, it got me thinking. Rei, I recalled how you were from the Mecha World UNIVERSE." Jin tried to hint to both of them where his train of thoughts was going and yet neither man nor supernatural entity could see through his supposed logic.

    "Geez, what I am proposing is creating a world of our own!" Jin spilt it out and Reiбпs jaw dropped. If the System had been a corporeal entity, it too would be doing the same.

    "Hahaha! Are you proposing to create a space colony on arge scale?! All that while keeping the yers in the dark about it?" Rei asked and Jin nodded his head furiously.

    "And since the System is in full control of the server, full of the yersбп consciousness, they are merely being projected into the physical area, reducing the workload for the System. Please correct me if I am wrong." Jin answered.

    "That is an oversimplification of how the System transmits the yersбп consciousness but the gist of the solution is correct. Having propernd and buildings as stated by Userбпs rification to create a space colony would no doubt reduce the Systemбпs burden, increasing the Systemбпs ability to perform other tasks with ease." The System noted that the space colony could also be powered by sr and cosmic radiation, reducing the reliance on the Systemбпs resources even further and creating an entire dimensional instance and maintaining it.

    "Imagine a person with no understanding of space colonies suddenly entering it and would think that the ce is haunted. All buildings and no people around" Rei understood that Jin could potentially use the Dimension Creator, simr to his phoneбпs ability to create a pocket of dimensional space, to project the yerбпs consciousness.

    "What are you talking about? In the first ce, why would a person even enter that space colony? In any case, the бпrealбп factor would be multiplied within the Virtual Reality instance because it is REAL!" Jinughed at the end but as reasonable as the solution was, the amount of preparation would be insane. This also meant that there was more excuse for the System and Jin to go into the Mecha World to steal more of their technology and possibly an entire space colony for research purposes.

    But as of now, the System would power the Virtual Reality World for the purpose of the Symposium and if sessful, the long term goal to acquire a space colony would be worthwhile.

 Chapter 1130 - Sleeping Cultivation Stance

    <h4>Chapter 1130 - Sleeping Cultivation Stance</h4>

    "Alrighty, good night folks." Jin waved goodbye to Rei and the System as he started to yawn even though his cultivation would allow him to stay awake for another week or so before he would just pass out.

    "So Jin, care to tell me what your current cultivation grade actually is?" Rei questioned as he started to pick up the headgear, ensuring that it was turned off before he returned to the researchbs. The other party didnбпt answer and when Rei looked over he found the Dungeon Supplier having fallen asleep on the same chair he had been bound to, with no form or stance of cultivation at all.

    "... Can he cultivate at this particr position?" Rei now turned to the System for answers.

    "As long as he is able to fall asleep, his cultivation style allows him to grow stronger. System also believes that User had advanced to the stage where he could fall asleep at will to further cultivate himself."

    "So, you mean, he could actually cultivate when he is resting in a taxi or train ride too?" Rei was shocked how Jin could do that so effortlessly. If the Mecha World Engineer was not wrong, cultivation of oneself should not be that easy at all!

    It required mental preparation, mindfulness of the body and in some cases, strict mediation procedures to clear the mind and body for them to cultivate. That was the main reason why cultivators used to seclude themselves in caves and isted areas in the past. Those were the best ces for them to cleanse their mind, soul and body before preparing for a long cultivation process so they could achieve enlightenment and reach the next grade.

    While there were many instances where cultivators could instantly increase their grade to the next level through fighting or a change in thought process during their fights, it was not as easy as one would think once one left the Advanced levels (6-9). It was as if the human bodies were limated to reach a certain grade and stay that way.

    Maybe it was due to the minor change in gics where the past generations of cultivators had always broken through their cultivation, allowing the current modern generation of humans to have a simpler time reaching a certain Grade. Or perhaps, the current generation was doing activities that they unknowingly knew could aid them in their cultivation process. (After all, the people in modern society had way too many things on their agenda to clear.)

    But that бпeasy cultivation grade upбп came with a cost too.

    As society had progressed, the spots for cultivation had reduced drastically, making cultivation in istion almost impossible. And to top it off, there were increasingly more distractions for the modern cultivators to stay focused, as well asws to prevent actual cultivators from fighting monsters. (With how much humanity had multiplied, monsters and animals would go extinct if every human had decided to strive for the maximum cultivation grade.)

    This made Dungeon Supplier stores the next best method to get their fill of cultivation and even that had been modernised to amodate the cultivators. In doing so, the product had been less than ster with the exception of Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas. The rumours and word of mouth did not fail when they found out that Jinбпs Dungeon Supplier store was able to allow the cultivators to break through their stagnant grade 2 and 3 cultivation, moving them up thedder.

    It had proved to be exceptionally useful for many of the modern cultivators since their breakthroughs allowed them tost longer in their work,pleting what they need without getting tired. But the concerns of a growing cultivator poption could possibly work against Jinбпs favour and he had already been padding the dungeon instances even when he knew that the exponential growth of the cultivators would gradually teau when they reached higher grades. He continued to make it harder for them to grow further by increasing their essibility with better weapons and essories.

    As ironic as it sounded, those weapons and essories like offensive inscription charms were reducing their potential in growth because of their assistance in fighting the monsters. The cultivators were not бпdyingбп as much as they should be because the content was technically made easier by the means he provided them with.

    There was little to no growth for thempared to Jin who had ess to fighting even stronger monsters from other worlds and the absurd cultivation stance that he had. People would fight to get that particr manual of his to try and achieve his cultivation stance (If he was living in a more archaic world, female cultivators might even throw their bodies to him in hopes that their children would be able to achieve the very same ability too.)

    This was made worse when those cultivation areas ormonly known as power spots had been coveted by only the rich and powerful. One good example would be the Royal Zodiac Dragon family that had established the main branch nбпs location under awork of leylines, giving them almost unlimited power when it came to cultivation.

    Jin had no idea how powerful his cultivation method was and the System kept everything quiet to keep him as ignorant as possible. Aside from that, it also seemed that the sleeping cultivation method had somehow evolved and been integrated into his fighting stance too. The System noticed every time Jin fell purposely to evade an attack, his cultivation stance would kick in momentarily before he activated his astral abilities to counter attack.

    However, given that Jin was still holding back his powers in the previous fights, there was no way to calcte the true extent of his enhanced fighting capabilities. The momentary kick in of the cultivation stance got even more apparent in these two weeks where he tried to slip in a snooze or two before the default rm went off.

    It was to the point, Jin was practically cultivating as he performed his work duties and it frightened the System since it had no information on this considering such a possibility had never been mentioned in the manual. It could only deduce that the Ming which Jin spoke of was helping him tremendously in the subconscious training of his cultivation.

    That being said, when Jin said twenty years had passed in thest two weeks, it was no doubt an exaggeration but not entirely an understatement. The time dtion would have been equivalent to two years. In short, Jin had technically been cultivating on and off for two years and that was why the System demanded Jin go into full cultivation mode to consolidate his chi and power.

    So that he could potentially Grade Up once more to face the real world with confidence and strength.

 Chapter 1131 - Genbu, the Turtle of the North -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1131 - Genbu, the Turtle of the North -unedited</h4>

    "Up."

    That word alone caused Jin to wake up despite the heavy eyelids and groggy state of mind. The surroundings were as cold as ever and the strain from waking up caused his neck to feel very ufortable. He tried to push his muscles to move but they seemed weary and numb.

    "Come now, donбпt waste any more time. Or your trial will only get harder."

    Jin tried toply by pulling his arms to rub his eyes. All the rheum or eye booger was being removed from the slow but continuous movement. There he saw that it was not the person who he thought would be talking to him.

    It was the Turtle of the North, Genbu staring right in front of him despite Jin knowing that he was currently at the top of the mountain because of the surrounding view and the bench he was sitting on. Yet, this turtleбпs head was now asrge- no, possibly bigger than he could ever recall. It stared at him above the top of the mountain and its presence was so immense that his body might go numb further from the fright he got.

    "Did you climb out of that valley? I do not remember your head being this big." Jin spoke while trying to remain calm. There was no way he could defeat such a turtle with his sword or current chi capability. At the same time, he felt the aura was somewhat simr to Ming though Jin could eventually feel the slight alterations in its presence until a gigantic serpent head emerged from the side of the cliff to where he was sitting.

    "We did not climb out of the valley. Hisss Hissss. We merely outgrew that space." The serpent said as it twirls around the tip of the mountain as if blocking Jinбпs from ever descending from the only path down the mountain.

    "How did you even get so big?" Jin asked as he discerned it was no longer usible to fight it on par that he might as well try to talk to it.

    "Who knows? Your ever growing achievements?" The turtle replied with a slow smile.

    "You mean his ever growing procrastinations." The serpent hissed while drawing its tongue out close enough to Jin to threaten him.

    "Or his ever growing workload." Both turtle and serpent chuckled at their own speech leaving Jin rather speechless.

    "Might I add his growing audacity to take on the whole world?" Ming suddenly emerged from the blocked path and waved at Genbu. "But despite him growing, something continued to hinder him."

    "Hisck of motivation." The serpent answered.

    "His attitude." The turtle added.

    "His impatience." Once again they both said at the same time and Jin could not deny any of it. As much as he wanted things to go well for the Dungeon Supplier store, those were the issues he had with himself. But because every day is a busy day, he always used that as an excuse to ignore them.

    "Sometimes, I honestly hoped you had changed for the better. But it seems that you had lost your purpose, your drive. Have you forgotten what the System did to you? To us?" Ming questioned and Jin sighed for a moment.

    "There is no issue with the System at all. It can be quite amodating if you pressed the right buttons." Jin said as he ced his hand at the side of the bench and found that his sword Bam was still right beside him.

    He picked it up and raised Bam right in front of his grandfather. "You said people change, and yet you who were quite supportive of the idea of the System suddenly want to turn it against me. Are you even the real Ming or is this the real you?"

    "Internal strife." The serpent hissed.

    "Like his heart." The Turtle bellowed.

    "And yet, he finally knows whatбпs best for himself." Both of them echoed and suddenly Ming who was in front of Jin disintegrated into a pool of sludge. The serpent uncoiled itself from the mountain and Jin could feel the cold wind gushing right into his face.

    "His fate, broken." The Serpentбпs voice got softer with the sound of the cold winds.

    "His reality, harsh." The Turtleбпs head retracted as well and the winds got even stronger. Yet, Jin stood on his ground with whatever chi he could gather.

    "But he remained unwavering. A change which we both wished to see more." They both echoed again and that was when Jin realised that the mountain itself was the shell of the turtle.

    He could not believe it at first but when he finally saw a glimpse of the turtleбпs head facing forward and the serpentбпs entire body at the back. Jin knew that he was on Genbu itself. That theory was further cemented when the mountain started to rumble and with each step (or waddle) the turtle took, it felt like an earthquake tremor. Using a fake Ming to get to provoke Jin could also be one of its tactics since Genbu could be associated with yin energy, the origin of darkness.

    "Do I have to defeat you to move on? I feel like I have gained some insight through you. Even though you seemed unbeatable since the first time I saw you."

    "Young boy wishes to yield." The serpentughed and the winter winds got even harsher.

    "Wisdom gained through defeat." The turtle chuckled as the snow got heavier and the atmosphere.

    "But fight you must. So that the mountain would be yours truly." Once more both spoke in unison. "Just as how the West had pledged its allegiance to you through trial of battle."

    "Damn. If you said it that way..." Jin could feel the cold winter winds get even more piercing than ever as Genbu continued to move forth. But like what the Turtle of the North said, Jin was not alone as a bolt of blue lightning struck at a spot right beside the bench and Byakko emerged right from it, waiting for Jin to give him his orders.

    "Are you willing to pin your hopes on this useless Dungeon Supplier?" Jin asked once more and the Tiger sneered at him before charging his fur with electricity. His roar was nheless electrifying and somehow provided a barrier where the snow and wind could not enter. While Jin continued to feel terribly cold, it at least gave him a breather to think better.

    "Hahaha, less talk, more action? Fine!" Jin said as he let go of Bam and released the chi that allowed him to secure his footing. Instead of staying in thefortable barrier that Byakko created, he charged out of it and allowed the icy cold winds to blow him off the mountain.

    "If old man Genbu wants me to fight, then I will dly give him one! This time around, you better watch out!" Jin said but the winds were not giving a chance to do anything. Instead, it started to whirl like a hurricane causing him to be moving in circles around the top of the mountain.

    His hands and legs were also getting frostbites but Jin continued to let the Turtle of the North have his way. For Jin knows that this is his subconsciousness at work and he would not allow it to beat him up this easily. Itбпs time for the master of his own subconscious realm to throw some payback.

 Chapter 1132 - Expanding His Chi and Mana -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1132 - Expanding His Chi and Mana -unedited</h4>

    Remember what the System said that it noticed Jin activating his cultivation stance? He was actually going in and out to test his chi output despite always being ced in the very same icy mountain top.

    The scene he saw today was exceptionally different and it was no doubt a deration of war from the Turtle of the North. For the past two weeks, there was barely any disturbance from the turtle, especially since Jin had believed it was residing in the mountain valleys.

    Thus, he had been practising his hourly chi output because he knew that this was also considered as one of his backlogs from the past few months. Sooner orter, the System would demand the Dungeon Supplier to perform his cultivation in order to grade up and he had to face Genbu in order to proceed

    So, it was not idental that he entered his cultivation stance but instead, it was a conscious effort to do so. With a wink of sleep, he was able to enter his subconscious realm to practice his output. That few seconds of sleep was equivalent to a couple of minutes in his subconscious but as he practised on an interval basis, he was able to extend that couple of minutes to tens of minutes, to a point he was able tost an hour in the subconscious realm while it was barely three seconds.

    While he did not have a probable answer to the current situation, Jin theorised that the constant time dtion which the System subjected him to had changed his perception of time, allowing him to practice more in his subconscious realm too.

    And he did not waste any time doing it. From trying to channel the chi from his dantian to his entire body, he noticed that there was a very noticeableging out from his body instead of the usual instant the Astral Panda Cultivator had when he was in reality. Thus to improve his cultivation, he had been reading up on the chi circuits during the two week hell when he was building the advanced training centre for the Demon Exorcists.

    Apparently, he found that chi circuits were part of the beginner course to be a Demon Exorcist and they had been trained to use their circuits to the ultimate effect. He did question previously whether he had been doing it wrong to summon chi directly from his dantian. Unfortunately, not only the System exined that it was the most inefficient way, several cultivators and betors even said the same thing.

    He even got the same answer from Zeru, his supposed master when ites to sword training and he was mildly shocked that Jin had been summoning chi directly from his dantian core. "It does not seem that way when I assessed you, the usage of chi from the dantian core had a more erratic movement but your Maqi had always been quite steady," Zeru said before cutting the connection once more, citing that he needed to concentrate on the task at hand in the Hidden Flower City. He did however promise that he would give more information to Jin once everything had settled.

    Upon knowing that he had been training wrongly, he did try to ask for Ming in the subconscious realm but for the past two weeks in confinement, there was no sight of him. It felt like the Tiger of the West trial all over again in which Jin had to rely on himself to get the answer. So without much advice, Jin tried to figure it out by attempting to spread the chi in his subconscious realm.

    It was at that point he noticed that the chi output he had was not the same as the instances where he pulled out his Maqi in the subconscious realm. As irritating as it might sound, the chi was pure chi,cking the mana he felt in the Maqi. That being said when he rxed, Maqi was released but only in small amounts that were sufficient to bring out his Astral body, thanks to the intensive training he had with Ming.

    Still, he found it weird that he was practising advanced techniques when his basic foundation of spreading his chi throughout his body was notplete. So, Jin had to work backwards for the past two weeks, not only to spread his chi but also to activate his magic circuits.

    He did send a query to the Demonic Sage Queen for any advice in mana .u.mtion and all that Explosion Specialist stated was to create explosions. "You might think my advice is for nought but explosion spells are the fastest way to call forth vast amounts of mana. Thus, the result is in direct corrtion to the amount of mana you have. If you could only poop a 5cm diameter of explosion, it means you suck. Suck so bad I will tell you to either quit right now or train your explosion spells until you increase the size of the explosion."

    Jin quickly understood that Peppers did explosive spells to remove the excess mana that was stored within her and she made sense. If he were to manage his Maqi in his subconscious realm, he had to conjure mana by casting spells. Peppers did send him an incantation of an explosion spell and told him to practice when he had the time. She was at first curious why he needed it since his Maqi was able to cast fiery explosions without much aid of an incantation spell. But since Jin had cut her off upon learning the spell, she did not bother much. The Mage Betor had no idea that Jin was doing this for his subconsciousness.

    Little did he know that the training in his subconscious realm had exponential effects on his Maqi in real life. Two weeks? Two years? Twenty Years? The refinement of his Maqi in the subconscious realm did not matterpared to the colossal task of defeating Genbu right now.

 Chapter 1133 - A Tussle With The Serpent -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1133 - A Tussle With The Serpent -unedited</h4>

    As he was stuck in the hurricane of cold icy death, Jin was gathering his chi and magic within his body, fusing them together so that he could output Maqi.

    Oddly enough, the gathering of his Maqi has the side effect of warming himself up for this fight. He did not feel as cold as before and therefore was able to think rationally. (The cold doesnбпt bother him anyways~!)

    He felt that despite knowing the Serpent and Genbu being one entity, it made Jin feel like he was fighting against two monstrosities. Although Jin was swirling around in that sted hurricane of icy doom, the serpent did not hesitate to strike the Astral Panda Cultivator and it was quite urate in its attack.

    But Jin did block or evade the attack. Instead, he did the most predictable move in every anime and movie. By pushing himself through into the serpentбпs mouth. While as iconic as the move would be, he was also to evade the serpentбпs fangs which seemed to be coated with poison.

    Jin was able to guess correctly when part of his winter jacket had been corroded upon contact with the poison. Thus, the Astral Panda Cultivatorбпs idea to envelope his entire body with Maqi before sliding through the Serpentбпs throat was a decent decision.

    Yet, the serpent was not stupid to allow the cultivator to do what he likes. (Probably slicing its innards and organs when he has the chance.) It instantly vibrates its entire body, causing the internal organs to secrete a certain lubricant which would prevent Jin from cutting it up.

    "Too bad for you, my sword is right outside! I am not gonna cut you or anything so your liquid based defences would not stop me....or erm eat me!" Jin thought to himself as he felt the liquid was merely part one of the serpentбпs defences as its internal muscles were closing in. But the Maqi that Jin enveloped around him was not only used to protect him, it was a precursor of his spell. His self detontating explosion spell. (Obviously without hurting himself in the process.)

    *Kaboom!*

    The sound of the explosion caused the white tiger to look with interest. It too thought it was the end for Jin since he got eaten by the serpent. Unlike Jin, Byakko did know what Genbuбпs serpent was capable of and there was hardly any chance for Jin to get out alive if he did not prepare anything against it.

    However, his initial thoughts were proven wrong when he heard the explosive sounds and smoke emanated from the Serpentбпs mouth. Eventually, even more explosions ensued and the Serpent had no way to counter it. The tiger chuckled for a moment and decided to help his fellow master a bit.

    "Whether he cane out unscathed, that would be another issue," Byakko smirked as he summoned his very own Maqi and called out for a thunderbolt to strike the serpent. But even before the thunderbolt could hit its target, it suddenly dissipated mid air, as if the bonds of the electrons holding the bolt together had dispersed throughout the winter space.

    That was when Byakkoбпs smirk turned into an irritated expression.

    "To think the White Tiger could still fall for this trick. It sure made my old cracking bones shivered with a little joy." Genbu giggled and Byakko eventually concluded that there was nothing he could do to aid his master.

    "At least my master is stupid enough to perform the trick of going into the Serpentбпs body." Byakko yawned a little before hefortably sat at the side of the old bench.

    "Yes, that rash stupidity would help, but for how long?" Genbuбпs words echoed and Byakko sat at the side, ignoring the old man turtle as he watched its serpent struggle with the multiple explosions.

    "I wonбпt say he is the best master I have, but he is hardworking enough to get out of this situation you ced him... despite him being azy panda." Byakko had to add thest part to show so that Genbu would not think he went soft from being a prideful animal. While the thunderbolt had fizzled out, the White Tiger of the West could have broken Genbuбпs magical barrier if he had ced more Maqi into his spell, but it seems Genbu wanted Jin to clear this by himself as much as possible before the tiger could interfere. After all, as much as Byakko was able to break this magical barrier, Genbu could likewise do the same and strengthened the barrier even further. There was no use fighting in a petty match whether whose little tricks could triumph the other.

    Though the above was merely inference based on Genbuбпs words, Byakko still chose to take the easy way out and let Jin settle it. Besides, it was quite a sight to see the Astral Panda Cultivator struggle so hard and it had been some time since the Tiger of the West saw old man Genbuбпs serpent struggle this much even though he knew it was merely a part of his powers.

    The next few explosions got even louder just as Byakko stifled a yawn and finally saw the serpent drop to the side of the mountain. Another explosion was seen at the mouth of the serpent and Jin desperately crawled out of it, all drenched in the semi transparent liquid while gasping for air.

    "Is this how all the snakes suffocate their prey when they bite them??!" Jinined as he tried to get as far from the serpent as much as possible. He knew there was no time to rest if the serpent could have ck out momentarily. At the same time, he tried to push himself to reach near arge rock as support and cover.

    "Rx, the serpent is dead." Byakkoбпs voice echoed from the top of the mountain. "For now that is... But I am not sure whether -"

    At that moment, the serpentбпs tongue suddenly twitched and Jin was way too tired to react after casting that many spells. (Not to mention, the initial sentence Byakko spoke of, caused him to lower his guard.)

    The mouth of the serpent instantly reacted and moved towards Jin at frightening speeds that Jin believed he had to restart the instance once more.

    However, as clumsy as a panda could be in real life, Jin managed to slip from the rock that was behind his back and identally activated his astral double to counterattack the iing serpent. Perhaps it was because he knew his life was in danger and the hopelessness he suffered got washed away from the unintentional slip, enabling him to activate an Astral Panda instead of his personal astral doppelganger.

    The Panda itself was powerful enough to not only stop the Serpentбпs strike but held both upper and lower jaws of the snake before it forcefully closed them together. That impact caused the fangs in its upper jaws to pierce through its lower jaw, systematically bleeding itself to death once more.

    "Guess...that was a lucky break for me. Thank goodness for the lubricant then...Ha ha ha..." Jin saw the entire scene up front and he could only count his blessings that his astral abilities could be this useful in a scene like this.

 Chapter 1134 - Genbus ItChapter to Fight -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1134 - Genbu''s ItChapter to Fight -unedited</h4>

    "Hahahahaha!!" Byakko wasughing at the top of his voice when he saw themotion that happened before he could warn Jin about it. "All I was about to say was that the serpent under Genbuбпs control is kinda like an undead. Did not expect him to pull a fast one on you. Old man Genbu, you are getting a little too impatient for your age."

    бпBut kind of like an undeadбп seemed to be an understatement as the corpse of the serpent retracted slowly. There was no way a corpse could move by itself and the only rationale was that Genbu was moving it away from Jin.

    However, instead of allowing Genbu to pull it away, Byakko leapt from the top and roared as he descended towards the serpentбпs corpse. With lightning at his behest, he mmed the head of the serpent with a series of thunderbolts which Genbuбпs magical barrier could not disperse in time.

    Byakkoбпs dive was strong enough to tear the serpentбпs head off the corpse as it electrocuted the rest of the snakeбпs body. It also did not hesitate to bite its head and summon forth even more jolts to burn it into crisp.

    "Old man! I might have made fun of you but arenбпt you being overly enthusiastic about this particr fight?! I know what you are thinking when you pull the serpentбпs head away." Byakko shouted and Genbuбпs chuckle could be felt as tremors on his mountainous shell.

    "It has been a long time since I had the opportunity to fight toe to toe with you, little tiger cub. I bet the other two would do the same since this is the only ce they could do so without any consequences." Genbu said as his head emerged from his shell and the mountain continued to rumble. He stared towards the Tiger of the West which was now standing at the front of his exhausted master.

    "Have you forgotten that this is a trial for the young master? Itбпs very rare for you to put your d.e.s.i.r.es first. For a mythical legend depicting wisdom, you are nothing of that sort right now." Byakko said as his fur started to tingle along with the electricity produced around him.

    "Live by thy title or by thy self? Thereбпs no one around other than you and the youngling so I do not have to pretend. And if Ming was insistent in protecting his youngling, he would have interfered by now since the Trial is considered to bepleted." What Genbu said made no sense to Jin and he could not believe the trial was consideredpleted with just the killing of one serpent.

    "You do not know, huh." Byakko could sense the confusion behind him.

    "What do you mean? The trial ended just like this? I thought I had to break an entire mountain to win his trust."Jin answered as he used his hard earned Maqi to remove the lubricant away from him. The feeling was simr to the ck sludge that he got as the by product of his cultivation.

    True enough, that lubricant from the serpent immediately turned its colour and it eventually looked like the ck sludge he encountered.

    "Since the start of your subconscious cultivation, your chi circuits and mana circuits had been blocked by Genbu right from the start. Way before your encounter with me." Byakko said and suddenly the mountain started to rumble once more. This time it was more than a minor tremor and only Byakko had an idea what Genbu was getting at.

    "While it would be nice to tell Jin the whole story, you are currently on my back and always have been. I appreciate it if you guests entertain the host. After this, I assure you that this old man will tell the entire story." Genbuбпs voice got even more shallow and Byakko gritted his teeth. The Tiger of the West himself had a chance to stand against all of Genbuбпs might but he could not do so while protecting the young master.

    Jin too tried to push his Maqi to quickly remove all the ck sludge on his body so that he could be ready for the next round of battle. But, he realised that his Maqi output was increasing more than usual. There should be some sort of difficulty to activate his circuits at first but it somehow seemed easier with every second passed.

    "Release the lock and let the box manifest to reveal its true self." Genbuбпs smirk was hidden from his guests but without a doubt, both of them could feel the delight in his words as if there was a double meaning in his speech. At that point, the rumbling turned into multiple eruptions of the ground which enabled Jin to see Genbuбпs true form while eight serpent heads emerged from the depths of his бпmountainбп shell.

    "The eight headed hydra or as the folklore in oriental east dubbed it, Yamata no Orochi." Byakko said as his hunch was right. When Jin saw its presence, he could not help butugh at the absurdity of the reality he was seeing. The Turtle of the North had always been depicted with a serpent fighting with it. Never did he imagine that it was the home of the body of eight serpents.

    "However, White Tiger Cub is right. It would not be a fun fight if I go all out against both of you, especially when your master could not perform at peak performance." Genbu remarked and Byakko once again understood the underlying meaning of his previous sentence when he felt Jinбпs aura got stronger.

    "No time for exnations. Your circuits have been unblocked by Genbu. You should feel your original strength and powers flowing back to you." Byakko said and Jinбпs aura flourished to a point that it made Byakko confident that he did not have to do any babysitting.

    "Original strength? This is way more than I had felt in my original body. It was the first time I could feel the intricateness of my Maqi. The cross weaving of chi and mana throughout my circuits. I did not even feel this power coursing through my veins when I am conscious and awake." Jin eximed and the serpents snickered.

    "And that means we have seeded." The serpents and Genbu answered in unison. "So, in return for your sess, fight us with all your might!" they eximed with anticipation. (At this point if Kraft was around, he would have cued for an epic cinematic flyabout of Genbu, Byakko and Jin for the starting boss battle cutscene.)

 Chapter 1135 - Yamata No Orochi -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1135 - Yamata No Orochi -unedited</h4>

    Yamata no Orochi. As the name depicts in eastern oriental has eight heads and each is capable of something magical. Legend has it that the serpent originally only had one head. However, its shrewd tactics to tell lies had enabled it to extort both gods and goddesses to sacrifice their daughters to keep it in check. And each time the god and goddess sacrificed their daughters, the serpent itself grew a head because of their daughterбпs abilities.

    And thus ording to the lore, the serpent was killed in the eighth year before the eighth daughter of the minor gods was taken away. The existence of its corpse had been kept a secret so that no one would be able to resurrect such a horrific creature back alive again. But the Gods never know that the one that had been defeated was merely a shadow of its former self and its true form had always been manifest under a giant celestial turtle.

    Thus, this evil serpent versus hero story only depicted one side of the story since the God Realms had always been full of themselves. As usual, the lore had been twisted to glorify the God Realms as those minor god families were actually bad news for their own daughters.

    Their family allowed their daughters to be abused, tortured and they even forced them to do despicable things that would give most gods a bad rep for their names. Yet, every realm had its underworld dealings and such pleas for help were always ignored. And that was where the story of the serpent story began.

    The upstanding society of the God Realm did not know the full story and assumed that these abused daughters went бпmissingбп after the appearance of the serpent when they were in fact driven to the corner to be offered to the higher ranking gods as tribute in order to gain favour for their minor god families.

    But such tributes didnбпt happen because of the deed of the first woman and a serpent she found.

    Remained unnamed in the lore, Ichigo was desperate to run away from the abuse and torture of the higher gods. She had not heard of these in public but personally witnessed the physical and mental abuse of the tributes done by the higher gods since she worked as a servant for them.

    Ichigo remained oblivious to the situation because she knew that meddling in the situation the tributes were in would result in severely harsh punishments. But it did not take long for her turn to emerge as the son of this particr Higher Godбпs family she worked for finally to took notice of how Ichigo was bing a beauty despite her constant efforts to make up herself as an ugly downcasted maiden.

    When found out, Ichigo was demanded to be brought into his room, and requested Ichigo to attend to the young masterбпs bodily d.e.s.i.r.e. That was when she realised that this must be the .u.mtion of karma for ignoring the past tributes.

    However, that did not mean she was going to submit to him. She might be ignorant of the plights of the tributes but that did not mean she was unaware. Unlike the rest who were helpless in their situation, Ichigo knew the insides and out of the house she was serving.

    She knew that they have a room filled with exotic animal species and one which she had many affiliations to was the baby serpent rumoured to be the pet of Demonic Headless Knight, Duhan. As much as the Gods hated the demons, ck market trades of their trophies were quite the rage so having a demon pet was nothing sphemous in the Godsбп eyes.

    That particr serpent was a nobody, it was nothing special but it had the ability to turn invisible once in a while. Ichigo did not know about its capabilities until she chanced upon it when she was assigned to feed the animals. And it was then she started to have interest in the invisible serpent as it had caused trouble for her a few times, running away, causing her to panic for the loss of their trophy demon pet.

    But as time went by, Ichigo also learnt the traits and quirks of the invisible serpent, allowing her to deal with it and at times, y with it. The limbless reptile had also taken a liking for Ichigo for amodating to its slyness. Thus when Ichigo found out she was being requested into the young masterбпs room, Ichigo used the excuse to clean herself up except she was grabbing the serpent as part of her defence against any potential assault on her.

    The serpent, while incapable of intellectual speech, no doubt understood the sense of fear Ichigo was emitting and apanied her quietly into the young master room. Unfortunately, she was right that the young master wanted her body. Apparently, the young master used a spell to bind her, rendering her immobile and the ability to fight back. She could not even make a noise but all thatmotion allowed the serpent to cleverly hide itself and eventually defended her at the apex of the situation when the young master was at its most vulnerable.

    It was then the serpent gained sentience when it killed the young master and gave the suggestion that the duo should escape from the house as soon as possible before the guards discovered the young masterбпs rotten poisoned corpse.

    Ichigo tried to return to her family, exining the situation and asked of them to aid her in her time of need. But to her dismay, her family did not protect her and instead only reprimanded her for doing such a disgraceful act. They even wanted to offer her back as a tribute to save their skins. Soon, Ichigo realised the ugliness of her family. She was so disgusted by their behaviour that she requested the serpent to kill them too.

    But since the serpent had already done her a favour as well as relishing for more powers of a god, it made its demands too boldy. It told Ichigo that it would be able to do that if she parted her godly powers and transferred them entirely to him. In return, it will continue to save her and bring her somewhere safe while continuing to save people who were бпin needбп as well.

    Ichigo did not hesitate and immediately agreed to the serpentбпs n despite knowing that upon doing so, she would be a regr human with no immortality. Thus, the duo once again managed to escape from the jaws of death from the Higher God Family as well as murdering her parents.

    But the surprising thing was that the serpent was happy to take all the me by himself, which was why Orochi became infamous as the years went by.

    Although it was not required, Orochi, who gained godly powers, took the responsibility of ferrying Ichigo from the Gods Realm to one of the human worlds where she could start afresh. And since then, it continued its new бпmissionбп to save any despondent girls from their fate by offering the very same deal it gave to Ichigo.

    Not soon after, the legend of the serpent took ground and incurred the wrath of the majority of the Higher Gods because it stole precious tributes and killed their family members. And thus, they assigned a God Hero to kill it without knowing the deeds it did.

    But little did the God Hero Susanoo know that all he killed was merely a shadow of the serpent who ate the godly powers of every girl it saved.

    And now Orochi was going to use that very same godly powers against its current opponent.

 Chapter 1136 - Eight Heads -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1136 - Eight Heads -unedited</h4>

    The first serpentбпs head struck Jinбпs location with a headbutt and the Astral Panda Cultivator was able to dodge it easily even without the use of his Maqi. It did, however, stop him from .u.mting even more Maqi on a stationary spot and that was adequate for Orochi to follow up with the attack.

    The head of the first serpent did not stop upon crashing into the ground and retracting itself back to its original position. Instead, it continued to chase after Jin and its speed increased dramatically like a homing missile set to kill its target.

    "Donбпt these serpents have a limit on how much they stretch?" Jin queried as he now used qing gong to jump from one icy cliff to another and yet the serpent continued to chase after it. He also managed to pull off some idental slips, allowing his Astral Double to appear in an attempt to slow the serpent down. In the meantime, he continued to move towards a second serpent head, hoping to entangle the two heads together but he canбпt seem to reach the rest of the seven heads at all no matter how fast he moved.

    "You think I know what it is capable of?! Get on me!" Byakko shouted as he managed to catch up with Jin and the Astral Panda Cultivator did not hesitate to mount on the White Tiger to gain even more speed.

    "I thought you knew everything about your old pal?!" Jin said and the Tiger shook his head.

    "When we fought, he was the only one casting spells and hardly used the serpents on his back to do the fighting for him," Byakko replied. "Besides, our petty feuds ended quite quickly with one devastating blow to the other. We did not exactly drag and prolong each otherбпs misery."

    "Then why donбпt you do that with him now?" Jin asked and Byakko used his tail to smack him from the back

    "I am not the one fighting in this round! I am merely helping you, donбпt expect me to go full force just for you even though Ming had made me swear to protect you!" Byakko said as he jumped and climbed further back to the centre of the mountain.

    At that point, several other serpent heads began spewing elemental projectile shots toward the white tiger in order to slow it down for the first serpent to catch up with them.

    Fortunately, Byakko was a nimble predator and he was able to evade most. For the rest, he tried to counter the near miss with magical bolts of thunder. Sadly, Genbuбпs magical presence was stronger than his and the thunderbolts dispersed mid way since they were not as powerful as Byakko hoped for a full counter attack. Nevertheless, it did block the serpentsбп elemental attacks but the current stalemate would be skewed towards the serpents given the pressure they had been exerting against the White Tiger and his Astral Panda Master.

    But, as Byakko and Jin evaded the constant chase, they did not know that they were being boxed in by the serpents. With the eight of them systematically pushing and diverting their shots of magic breath towards Byakko, they indirectly influenced the pair to move to the centre of the mountain.

    "Hey, Genbu! Arenбпt those serpents hurting you with their missed shots?!" Jinбпs pathetic attempt to split and divide the enemies from within was unsessful

    "If they were a nuisance, I would have admonished them from my shell. Besides, those shots are quiteforting, giving me the opportunity to regrow and strengthen my shell even further." Genbu exined that it was not a big deal to him

    "And just how big is his shell?!" Jin thought about it momentarily before deflecting one of the fire shots from the serpent

    "Big enough. So, stopining and start working." Byakko said as he finally reached the top of the mountain again, the spot where their faithful old bench was. There, Jin was able to see that despite the serpentsing out of Genbuбпs shell like the arcade game бпwhack a moleбп, they were able to move unhindered.

    There were no holes or crevices left from the movement and it was as if Yamata no Orochi was metaphysical in nature, able to move without damaging the shell in any way. And yet, the damage caused by the first serpent when chasing after Jin defied all of that. The Astral Panda Cultivator stumbled, having no idea how the serpents were moving and to make things worse, Byakko and him have yet to do any damage to the serpents.

    "No wonder they were able to move away so quickly despite me trying to catch them," Jin said the serpents continued to encircle the duo. Byakko was already charging his electric Maqi ready to detonate when Jin made his move.

    "Release that Maqi on my mark instead, Byakko. You disrupt Genbuбпs magical barrier and I go all out against each and every serpent head on." Jin telepathically said to the Tiger of the West.

    "You sure? Your attacks might not be sessful against them. When I fought with Genbu previously, my electric Maqi could only hold them temporarily." Although Byakko presented his doubts, he continued to .u.mte his Maqi as per Jinбпs orders.

    "Donбпt worry, let me handle this. Judging from the serpents, all of them were shooting a particr element when they were trying to box us in. I managed to memorise who was firing which element so I got this correctly, we might have a short and quick battle instead." Jin said as he continued to gather his chi and started to visualise the elements needed to fight simultaneously against the eight serpents.

    "I could help you if you want. Even if Genbu had unlocked your supply of Maqi, dividing your chi into eight portions would be detrimental to your spirit body. Especially so when your body suddenly receives arge influx of chi and mana from your dantian." Byakko advised Jin to overstrain himself.

    "Heh, I know without you telling me. That is why I wanted this fight to end as soon as possible. Very well, I will take up on your offer. This way, I should be able to produce more strength for the remaining seven portions." Jin nodded his head and began to redivert his strength.

    Eight Targets, One Shot. Can the duo scratch the itch of Genbu by simultaneously defeating the heads of Yamata no Orochi?

 Chapter 1137 - Astral Alter -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1137 - Astral Alter -unedited</h4>

    "Earth, Water, Thunder, Fire, Wind, Light, Dark, Metal andstly Physical," Jin mumbled to himself but it seemed that Orochi had caught wind of their ns when Jin started to emit a tremendous amount of Maqi that would naturally make any monster or enemy be on guard.

    He needed more time to deploy the seven other different elements and Orochi knew that he would be vulnerable. Even Genbu had begun to interfere by intensifying his own Maqi to reinforce the magical barrier around his serpent partner. In addition to that, his Maqi had an ominous presence of Yin Energy that hindered the gathering of Jinбпs Maqi.

    While Byakkoбпs personal electrical energy barrier was nullifying Genbuбпs magic shield, it started to be ineffective and Byakko could literally see his barrier fizzling and breaking apart. He had to focus on regenerating while keeping sufficient Maqi for the simultaneous attack with Jin.

    Orochi had decided to strike as well, knowing that idling would bring forth its imminent demise. Thus, from all cardinal and sub cardinal directions, the serpents zoomed into the peak of the mountain, hoping to disrupt their gathering of Maqi.

    Yet when Jin and Byakko seemed to be at the doorstep of death, a sludge-like creature suddenly emerged from the back of Jin and instantly prevented the coordinated assault from the serpents themselves. As the serpents impacted against the sludge creature, they felt their energies being s.u.c.k.e.d out and thus caused them to retreat away from it. Soon, the sludge creature began to form up and slowly they realised that it took the shape of a half body armour suit.

    "You have forgotten something Genbu, Orochi! I am still the master of this subconscious realm. It seems that you did not only unlock my chi and mana circuits! My link with my abilities in the real world is also avable to me too!" Jin shouted as he called forth the Titan Knight to protect them from the relentless assault of the serpent.

    "Hahahah! Stupid fool!" Genbuughed heartily that Jin and Byakko had to keep their footing stable. "Have you not seen the clue I gave you when you came out of the serpentбпs mouth?"

    "What do you mean?!" Jin questioned while he continued to try his best concentrating the essence of Maqi into his palms.

    "The by-product from the innards of the serpent you felt was my creation. Itбпs my product to block your chi and mana circuits. Thus, these so-called sludge you created from your body was all because of me. And since it is my property, I am able to control them." Genbu scoffed and pushed his Yin energy into the sludge in order to take charge of it again. This would enable the Turtle of the North to take full control of the Titan Knight and obliterate Jin and Byakko immediately before it could inflict any hurt on Orochiбпs serpents.

    But for some reason, the sludge did not seem to be responding to Genbuбпsmand. The Titan Knight remained stationary and never moved a single inch away from Jin and Byakko. "Come on, I am still waiting for your counter move, what are you waiting for?" Jin smirked widely as his Maqi essence was getting more concrete.

    "What? What is happening? What did you do to the sludge?" Now it was Genbuбпs turn to get to the bottom of the situation. There was no way his Yin Energy was not able to control a humanoid sludge creation. For its size, the turtle even inserted more Yin Energy than he should assert its dominance.

    "Why should I tell you? When you did not even exin to me when I asked for answers! Itбпs a tit for tat!" Jin said but he was lucky that his gamble paid off. When he first saw the sludge by product, there was no way it was a case of a lucky coincidence. The Astral Panda Cultivator knew that the sludge he created had to be part of either Genbu or Orochi. Also, there was no way his enemies for this бпfriendlyбп match would allow him to do what he liked while he gathered his Maqi.

    He embodied the Titan Knight with his Astral Body.

    By doing so, the Sludge would be a part of Jin instead of being a separate entity. In fact, if one were to look closely, the Titan Knight while body-less from the bottom half, there was a fabric like portion that was attached to Jin. It was a new technique that Jin had created on the spot and Jin would eventually name it Astral Alter since the minion sludge was still a part of him.

    And thus, his gamble paid off with Genbu revealing that the sludge was a by-product of his, confirming Jinбпs suspicion and began to infuse Yin Energy into it, confident that he would control it. But because the Yin Energy was not invasive or бпoffensiveбп in nature, Jin was able to absorb the Yin Energy to make it part of him. While the conversion was not entirely a 1:1 rate, the energy output was enough to strengthen his circuits and aided him to have sufficient Maqi for the one shot.

    "Impossible! I do not believe you are able to control it. Are you using some freeze technique or spatial time lock?!" For a turtle of his age, Genbu got a tad more irritated than usual which made Byakko quite surprised that the old man could still have anger as part of his repertoire of emotions. Yet, Jin refused to answer him and used the dy to further cement his Maqi powers.

    However, Genbuбпs anger was not to be underestimated. With the entire atmosphere choke full of his Yin Energy and the ground they were on was on his shell, he and Orochi had the home ground advantage and they were going to use it to thwart Jinбпs n as much as possible.

 Chapter 1138 - Eight Shots, One Kill -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1138 - Eight Shots, One Kill -unedited</h4>

    Knowing that it could be in danger, Orochi had finally pulled all its moves to fight against the Titan Knight. Stopping Jin from releasing his Maqi was the most important task at hand and Orochi did not hesitate to go full force. Even though it was connected as one particr body, Yamata no Orochi had the capability to split his serpent heads equally into eight pieces.

    The lore stated that Orochi could be seen with eight heads and tails was not a lie as that was his form when all eight separate serpents emerged as one. It was one of the reasons why no one suspected how Genbu was hiding the eight headed serpent for so long and how the serpent always seemed undying in nature, providing the turtle with the ultimate offence and defensive capabilities one could ever wish for.

    So, with the help of Genbu who manipted his Yin Energy to create spatial distortions, Orochi used those distortions to jump through time and space so as to ambush Jinбпs Titan Knight.

    "If you think my Titan Knight is just a chunk of metal waiting to be destroyed then it means you did not see the improvements my team had made for it!" Jin said as the Titan Knight pulled a two handed sword from the shadowy depths of its half body. It was ready to slice any of the serpents that approached it into half.

    But Genbuбпs use of his spatial distortions and Orochiбпs ambush attacks was a work of beauty from a third partyбпs perspective. They had been together for so long that the turtle and serpent had mastered the idealbination of attacks that would put any teambi Jin ever saw to shame.

    Orochiбпs serpents restrained the Titan Knight from moving its arms and begun to spew their elemental attacks against the huge chunk of metal although their targets were mainly Jin and Byakko. However, as the protector of his creator, its duty to keep Jin from harm had forced the Titan Knight to move its entire half body right under the duo to shelter them from the barrage of elemental attacks. At the same time, it pressed a trigger on its two handed giant sword, causing apartment to appear within the core of the sword.

    A series of missiles emerged from the giant sword and haphazardly targeted the serpents restraining the Titan Knight despite knowing that it would also damage itself. Yet that was not the only surprise that the snakes received. They initially thought those missiles would be the only threat they would be encountering and thus tightened their restraints against the Titan Knight.

    Little did they know that Byakko had sent out a terrifying amount of electricity from the bottom of the Titan Knight, shocking all eight serpents trying to prate through the defences of the duoбпs protector.

    "Jin! You better hang in there and hurry as well!" Byakko eximed as it seemed Jin was taking some damage too since the Titan Knight was connected to him. However, the Astral Panda Cultivator did not mind at all since this counterattack was the perfect opportunity to retaliate.

    Previously, he was worried since the one shot he had against all of the eight serpents was indeed the one and only the chance he possessed. Even if he could shoot them out simultaneously, the serpents might have the chance to evade them entirely. But right now, they have estranged themselves onto the broken Titan Knight, paralysed from the surprise thunderbolt attack from Byakko.

    Not to mention, his Astral Alter was somewhat an extension of him and he could sense which particr elemental based serpent was coiling the Titan Knight. And thus, a split second after Byakkoбпsment, Jin released all he had within him, countering every single serpent that was on sight.

    Six shots of elemental Maqi were shot out furiously from the insides of the Titan Knight while Byakko intensified his electric Maqi and refocused it against the water elemental serpent after Jin pointed to him where it was situated.

    And as those seven serpents decimated from their countering elements, the Titan Knight was finally free from its restraints and grabbed the final one that was lingering from the shock on his helmet. His pull was so strong that even knightбпs helmet fell off from the sudden strike. Although that did not stop the knightбпs movement since Jin was partially controlling it with his will.

    The headless Titan Knight then picked his sword up and the serpent could finally see its demise in slow motion.

    "Hahaha...what a change of events and the irony at y. I am going to serve from one Headless Demon Master to another." Orochi thought to himself as shbacks of Duhan flew past his eyes when he saw the headless Titan Knight sending its de towards its throat.

    However, at that moment, a spatial distortion emerged right in front of the serpent and the upper portion of the sword disappeared. It instead popped right behind the Titan Knight and before it could perform any evasive manoeuvres, the upper half of the sword had already sunk its de right into the Titan Knightбпs armoured torso.

    "We can stop here." Genbuбпs tone was harsh and ordered Jin to let go of Orochi. As much as he thought it might be a threat, Byakko echoed Genbuбпs request to Jin, telling him to do as he said. The Titan Knight, while broken, was still capable of receivingmands and thus followed Jinбпs word to release the serpent.

    Orochi fell to the ground, momentarily gasping for air before giving a brief eye contact with Jin and disappeared into the shell of Genbu. "So, have I passed the test?" Jin asked as he released his Astral Alter and the shape of the Titan Knight dispersed in midair and Genbuбпs shell vibrated a little to pull Orochi into his core.

    "Old Man, I am surprised you did not pull out everything in your arsenal." Byakko snickered and they heard Genbu give out a stifledugh.

    "If I did, you would not be around the second we start the battle. Have you forgotten that you are standing on my shell?"Genbu replied like a spiteful old man.

    "I do not care about any of that... for now. Thank you for the trial but right now, all I want to know is if I passed the test since I would like to understand what the hell is going on. The number of questions in my head increased as the trial went on." Jin asked while he caught his breath. His legs were trembling and the Maqi particles around him were rather messy. Byakko quickly cast a healing spell to stabilise Jin since it was quite the norm when someone had been exposed to arge amount of Maqi and release that much at the same time as well. Most would have fainted but Jin managed to stay conscious.

    Genbu sighed and while slightly irritated, he does have an obligation to answer them since Jin passed the trials. But as he was about to open his mouth, Byakko and Jin heard heavy footsteps behind, walking through the heavy snowy path.

    "I shall do the answering as usual. Genbu, mind sending us back to my lovely adobe?" Ming mysteriously appeared and Genbu obliged his request instantly by creating a spatial distortion.

 Chapter 1139 - Circuit Adjustments -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1139 - Circuit Adjustments -unedited</h4>

    However, instead of a portal, the entirendscape changed right in front of them. The mountain peak was ttened and the trees started to grow right around them. The temperature continued to rise and snow melted to make way for the flowers and other flora in the area.

    The very wooden cabin in which Ming and Jin had shared a couple of meals together was raised from the ground the same way Orochi moved around Genbuбпs shell. First ethereal in nature and itter materialised properly right in front of them. The sounds of spring were heard with birds chirping and the footsteps of other hoofed animals.

    If anything, Genbu was simr to a dungeon dimension instance but instead of a store, the so-called instance was its shell. There was nothing Genbu could not create with his shell and it proved to the Astral Panda Cultivator that the old turtle was hiding way more tricks under his proverbial sleeve than expected.

    "I thought you wanted to go all out against me?" Jin queried Genbu and there was a defying sneer.

    "Like I said, I only wished to y a little since crushing you will be all too easy. Get to my age and ask me for the rematch again." Genbu grumbled as his turtle head soon returned back into his shell to recuperate. (As if Jin could reach that old!!)

    "Do not fall to that old turtleбпs provocation, I will exin to you while you cultivate. Do not waste your time and start consolidating all that unblocked circuits or else they would get blocked again and that will be your undoing," Ming said as he picked his walking stick and smacked Jinбпs legs. Even if the Astral Panda Cultivator did not want to, his smack was right on point, causing him to kneel down and with a few additional pokes from Mingбпs stick, Jin began to close his eyes and concentrate cooling down from the aftermath of the major while he consolidated his Maqi.

    With Genbu unlocking his circuits, Jin had a major influx of Maqi emerging from the blocked circuits which could potentially destroy him if he did not have the capability to adjust it on time. It was like pushing air into an already inted balloon and subsequently continued to insert air to its maximum capacity.

    While it might have looked like a request to self indulge himself, Genbu initiated the battle to aid Jin in removing all the excess Maqi in his body. As the sole objective of the old turtle disguised, Genbu honestly did not bother whether he would win or lose. But perhaps, Jin did ignite some form of fire in himter in the fight, and Genbu felt that making Jin lose was a lesson he could have taught. (In hindsight, that old turtle was d he did not reveal his hand since he believed he probably could not bother to control himself if he were to went all out.)

    Still, he had to admit that it was quite a neat trick by creating the Astral Alter. Since it was not part of the cultivation manual, Genbu agreed that Jin does have the potential to grow further if he could create his very own Maqi techniques.

    In the meantime, as Jin was checking his chi and mana circuits, Ming grabbed a chair from the cabin and started to talk Jin about the trial he went through.

    "Initially, we thought that the manual I painstakingly created would be sufficient for you. First, it would let you grow a little, and then teach you a few techniques and use them in battle. Subsequently, we will release the next volume of manual when you reach a higher grade which itбпs tucked nicely into the lockboxes that I entrusted to Grandma Yuan although I believed you have yet to open thest few." Ming began his exnation and Jin who was adjusting his circuits was finally able to reply with a few words when a major configuration was done.

    "I see. Yea, I have not opened thetest boxes," he replied as he took another deep breath in.

    "I figured. Because if you did, you would probably question me a long time ago when you had your major grade milestone. Thus, the whole thing is supposed to be very standard stuff and it should subsequently lead you on a straightforward road to sess. This was because we wanted you to concentrate on your dungeon store and not worry about the cultivation. Also, did you know that the Astral Panda Manual had been curated by Genbu? Without him, I would not have been able to create a basic manual for you to follow." Ming tried to add Genbu into the picture but the turtle did not bother to reply.

    "We figured that based on your past personality, and the attitude of the System, you would have purely focused on the dungeon supplier store alone. Of course, back then, we had no idea how the Dungeon Supplier Store would be since the System that I experienced was pretty much abat oriented System. So when you unlocked your cultivation, it also gave us ess to your memories and we realised that the route we set up for you was pretty much f.u.c.k.e.d." Ming continued his exnation and Jin had to interrupt.

    "We. The бпWeбп you were talking about. Are they the Four Legend Cardinals and you?" Jin asked and Ming smiled quietly. If Jin had noticed his smile, he would have suspected something was off but for now, he was entirely upied with the circuit consolidation.

    "Well, yeah. I guess you could say that. But things changed when we noticed that you went to other worlds. Suddenly, it was major hard mode for you. Your exposure to the other worlds means that you need your cultivation to be higher as fast as possible... Or you will die." Ming hoped Jin took thest portion of his sentence seriously.

    "I already deduced that one out." Jinбпs eyes stared at Ming for a moment before he closed them again.

    "Guess he really does know that he will die." Byakko, who was lying at the side of the chair, could notice that Jin was not speaking for the fun of it. He truly knew that the consequences of having the System.

    "Did the System tell you about it? Because the System did not tell me anything about it until muchter. We thought that you might keep a low profile and death would be thest thing you would need to worry about." Ming questioned and Jin shook his head.

    "That is why I tried my best to beat this trial. Because I know I need to pass this trial to further my cultivation. I am guessing when Genbu said that my trial had beenpleted because I had met the requirements for unlocking my circuits?" Jin asked and Ming nodded slowly.

    "For so long, you wondered why the sludge wasing out of you. Your circuits were blocked by purpose so that you learn how to utilise all of them. In the past 2 weeks, your constant push to clear those circuits was the key to pass the trial. Orochi was there to spite you so you can open the veryst few circuit nodes." Ming exined the rationale of the trial Jin passed.

    "Upon doing so, Genbu released the бпcurseбп on you and therefore unblocked everything for you to use. By the time you wake up, you should have absolute control of your Maqi. Fast and efficient, not the slow charging kind of bullshit."

    "Wee to the real world. Jin. Things will continue to get tough." Ming remarked as Jinбпs circuits glowed a little as a sign ofpletion.

 Chapter 1140 - Circuit Adjustments -Part 2 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1140 - Circuit Adjustments -Part 2 -unedited</h4>

    "Considering there are the four cardinal legends, then I guessed my next trial would be to fight either Suzaku or Seiryuu?" Jin stood up to stretch as he tried to imagine how the Vermillion Bird of the South and Azure Dragon of the East looked like. "Probably Suzaku I think... Given how the Dragons are always thest to be fought."

    "You are one thousand years too soon to even fight them." Genbu bellowed under his shell.

    "One thousand years is a little too far-fetched." Ming chuckled and beckoned Jin to enter his cabin. "But you are not the right grade to start the trial."

    "From what I know from the previous trials, I need to hit at least a multiple of five milestones before I could clear the tests...So I am guessing once I reach Grade 15 or 16?" Jin said as he rxed his muscles and went into the room with Ming.

    "Technically, you could say that." Ming shrugged his shoulders but Jin deduced based on his grandfatherбпs expression that he was more or less correct.

    "How did you even know these cardinal legends? From their conversation, they needed your permission in some way or another." Jin changed the topic as Ming brought out a frying wok from the cab.

    "I like to say you are not ready for the truth and you would probably press me for more information. However, it is the fact I cannot tell you anything else. In return, shall I reward the passing of this arduous trial with a te of fried rice?" Mingmented and Jinбпs eyes perked up.

    "I would love to. Itбпs been far too long." Jin said solemnly and Ming smiled softly.

    "Itбпs not even a year in and you said itбпs too long?" Ming remarked and it baffled Jin.

    "Considering all that time dtion..." Jin did notplete his sentence but Ming sneered.

    "Fine, you win this time. Go cultivate a little more, and adjust your circuits while I cook you the fried rice."

    "If you can add-"

    "Yes I know, fried chicken skin and bacon bits, right? Do not worry, I have the ingredients here too." Ming said as he opened the refrigerator and showed Jin his favourite add ons before shoo-ing him away.

    But they both knew that what Jin was going to eat was somewhat fake. Everything within the subconscious realm was constructed. Yet, this small request of selfish indulgence made Jin reminiscent of the days where he enjoyed a quiet evening with his grandfather. There was no need for small talk since all they wanted was each otherбпspany.

    Ming might have been strict in his ways of raising his grandson but he continued to pamper Jin in whatever ways he could when the opportunity arose. And this current act of small love was no doubt something Jin relished.

    The fried rice did not take long to make and Jin could barely concentrate when the cooking was done. However, he was already doing what Ming asked him to do.

    The Astral Panda Cultivator did not fully understand the meaning behind adjusting his circuits until he went into cultivation mode. Previously when Jin consolidated his circuits, he was just making sure they did not suddenly erupt. So, the moment he entered this time around, he found out that the circuits were all in a mess, something simr to the entanglement of wires behind a cab full ofputer server hardware. But since he could finally feel the fibre of every single бпwireбп going through his body, he decided to allocate them properly.

    As weird as that sounds, his body did physically untangle any possible knots and ced the circuits alongside his blood vessels. At first, Jin had no idea how to approach this problem but when he recalled the scene of Orochiбпs serpent moving its muscles internally to squeeze him to death, the Panda Cultivator tried to do the same.

    Slowly but surely, he sought to move his muscles with chi and they slowly moved the circuits into бпceбп. The entanglement did make him squirm in difort since he was moving his muscles and blood vessels to amodate for a smoother transition of chi and mana flow.

    "Jin, the fried rice is ready, you cane eat whenever you are ready to- Ah, I see... While I did request you to perform adjustment of your chi circuits, I did not expect you were able to achieve such a degree." Ming said as he walked towards Jin and saw the flow of the Maqiing out of him to be more fluid. He honestly only wanted Jin to clear any remaining sludge within his body but it seems he was going the extra mile without knowing.

    "However, Jin. Moving your muscles internally would not be sufficient in the long run because the circuits would slowly return to the very same spots." Ming remarked as he went behind his grandson and ced his palms on his shoulders. The Astral Panda Cultivator was already way beyond what he expected in terms of adjustment, so Ming believed it was best to get it done properly.

    "You need an external force to keep them in ce." The Grandfather immediately pumped out a massive force of chi into Jinбпs body which suddenly caused him to vomit blood instantly. Not only that, his entire body was oozing with blood especially where the joints were supposed to be.

    "Tolerate it. I am barely done. You still have your mana circuits which I need to fix in ce too." Ming said as he released his palms and sat right behind Jin. This time around, he drew a magical circle in the air and slowly pushed it into Jinбпs body. The magic circle immersed itself into the body and suddenly Jin released a very loud and long fart. Not long after, Jin instinctively burped as well, removing as much waste gas from his body.

    "Heh!" Ming chuckled as he let go of the circle and repeated his hand movements to garner some chi within his palms before cing them behind Jin. This old method of transferring chi was indeed an iconic scene like any old wuxia drama shows but the most important thing was that it works perfectly well.

    In the meantime... A white hungry tiger was already staring at the huge te of fried rice that was left on the table.

 Chapter 1141 - Circuit Adjustment -Final -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1141 - Circuit Adjustment -Final -unedited</h4>

    When the process was done, Jin gasped for air as he vomited the remaining volume of blood in his lungs. "The f.u.c.k..." Jin said as he coughed continuously for a few seconds or so before Ming brought him a ss of water.

    "Well, at least your body is all tuned up. I even make sure that there is space for your body to grow even moreplex chi circuits if needed." Ming said as he rubbed the sweat off his forehead.

    "If that does notfort you, we have the fried rice to replenish our-" Ming pointed backwards with his thumb but as he turned his head, the huge te of fried rice was all cleaned up. All that was left were scattered rice pieces on the table and a very bloated white tiger yawning.

    "BYAKKKO!" Jin shouted as his chi aura suddenly went to top gear and his anger was directed towards the Tiger of the West.

    "What? What?!" Byakko who was about to sleep from a filling meal suddenly felt an overflowing menace from Jin.

    "MY FRIED -COUGH FRIED RICE!" Jin shouted and Byakko stood at his four paws ready for a counterattack as well.

    "Itбпs too AWESOME to not resist! Heh! If you wish to fight for just a te of fried rice. BE. MY. GUEST." Byakko fired up his electric Maqi and the cabin they were in was vibrating from thepeting auras. There was no need to prepare for any consequences for he did not mind the exercise to burn off the excessive calories.

    "Enough the both of you." Ming said and a tap from his shoe instantly caused the two auras to vanish, causing them to be breathless. This was because the aura Ming emanated was way stronger than the two of them were portraying.

    "Jin, I am sorry but it looks like you are fated to that fried rice today. Why donбпt you go back to your world? Perhaps, someone out there would be willing to cook for you the very same thing too. Meanwhile, let me teach our housecat some table manners." Ming smiled weakly at Jin before he waved his hand, causing the Astral Panda Cultivator to fly out of the cabin and back into his conscious world.

    No doubt it jolted Jin out of his subconscious realm and left him gasping for air once more. However, for the first time, he realised that there was no sludge around him or oozing out of him at all. The System immediately queried if Jin was fine even though its system analytics had determined his vitals were normal.

    "Yea, yea I am fine." He touched his body a little and noticed that he did feel lighter than usual and requested for the System to do a quick analysis on his chi and mana circuits.

    The System did as requested and was shocked to find that his circuits were optimal for battle. "Your chi and mana plexus are well organised and the System estimated that the flow of Maqi output will increase by at least twice fold. However, given the multiplier effect from thebination of chi and mana, there is a possibility that hitting four fold was not too far fetched. Congrattions User, for a supposed grade up."

    "Thatбпs...good to hear. And can I ask, did I produce any sludge?" Jin wanted to know since if his circuits are unblocked, he should not be producing any more sludge.

    "Negative. No sludge production which also prompted the System to be curious if the User had encountered any problem with his cultivation. But given the reorganisation of your chi and mana circuits, it should be a decent trade off for not having any more sludge by-products." The System said and Jin could feel that it was disappointed. The sludge was a precious new type of resource which the System felt was an omnipotent item that could be utilised in various fields.

    And thus, Jin decided to try producing the very same sludge during his waking hours. "Technically, Genbu should be under my control now...so I should be able to do so without being in cultivation mode." Jin said as he opened his palm and concentrated to visualise the formation of sludge.

    Hence, Jin continued to imagine the sludge formation, further refining it with his thoughts in order to make it denser so that it would be more useful for the System. Soon, it solidified right in front of him and produced a pearl bead.

    However, the moment he rxed his thoughts and tried to hold the pearl bead with his fingers, the bead suddenly erupted with its shape changed into something simr to a bed of spiky looking crystals, as if there was an explosion right inside the bead itself that caused its deformation.

    "Ehhhh hahaa... Sorry, System, guess I am not able to control the creation of the sludge yet." Jin said as he put the Sludge crystal rock right in front of the System allowing it to determine its quality.

    "User..." The System called out.

    "Not good? I apologised once more, this is after all my first time creating this." Jin scratched his head, thinking about how to improve the formation of the sludge.

    "No, User. This particr sludge crystal rock that you created is so concentrated that once refined, its quality itself provides more energy than the quantity we had kept in our storage." The System stated and Jin was taken aback.

    "What...what do you mean?" Jin asked and the System reported that if the crystal were to be used as part of its use for energy consumption, it could theoretically cover what they had .u.mted throughout the entire few months.

    "This is no longer a by-product, but an actual product of your Maqi. If applied correctly, you can even use this for your battles. Being a dungeon supplier to create minions on the spot does not sound an impossibility with your new powers." The System said and Jin wondered if histest grade up was way too overpowered.

    But all things considered, especially being the same grade as Grandma Yuan, Jin should not be that surprised.

 Chapter 1142 - Bringing the Animals -Part 1 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1142 - Bringing the Animals -Part 1 -unedited</h4>

    With his cultivation out of the way, it was time to roll out the tasks he hadpleted in the past two weeks. It was not necessary to showcase them immediately but at the very least, the Dungeon Supplier already had content avable for his customers if he was busy with the Outer Worlds or the symposium.

    The Virtual Reality Instance needed a lot of coordination so those new instances would probably free up more time for Jin to attend to it. But right now, most of the matters pertaining to the Virtual Reality Instance can only be resolved after his meeting with Ke Loong.

    As of now, he wished to clear a task that had been ced in the backlogs for the longest time ever.

    The Cultivation Zoo.

    As much had he wanted Lynn toplete it for him, somehow he felt that it was his responsibility to finish it and tell Grandma Yuan it was a done deal. At the very most, he could let Lynn continue improving the Cultivation Zoo Instance now that he had integrated it with his shop instance. He called to inform ire, Grandma Yuanбпs assistant as well as his Sub System ountant that the Cultivation Zoo was ready to receive the animals unless Grandma Yuan wished to have a review of thepound before sending them here.

    "What nonsense are you talking about? Why should Grandma Yuan have to walk around the Zoo when we both know that itбпs under the System? That annoying group of perfectionists who keeps thinking that it is the best of us when we all know they were merely a bunch of old ancient uncles and maybe a few aunts being trapped in there that cannot keep up with the modern society and bear centuries old grudges?" ire rolled her eyes and obviously, Jin somehow caught her at a bad time. (And somehow the System did not fight back either)

    "You alright, ire? Need any assistance in any issue?" Jin asked out of the concern and ireined that the Joint Organisation of Demon Exorcists, JODE, had decided to revoke Grandma Yuanбпs instructorship all of a sudden.

    "And then she would be given a hefty pension for her contributions. What bullshit?! Grandma Yuan merely needed more rest from the previous fight against those Loopa Ooofpas. Why are they retiring her because of her injuries? In fact, they should need her more than usual! Training a new batch ofpetent demon exorcists is more than vital knowing that the threat from Demons has never been more real than ever!" ire vented her anger through the phone and Jin continued to listen to her rants.

    "If it helps, the advanced training centre is up as well. Even though I am named as the manager, I probably need an experienced hand to guide with the ways of the training centre. Will that help aid the case of keeping Grandma Yuan as an instructor?" Jin asked since he had no doubts that ire would have petitioned the higher ups to rescind Grandma Yuanбпs instructorship.

    "What, you serious? I never thought that would ever be done in a lifetime given your busy schedule." ireбпs voice sounded less vexing but Jin could feel the knives in her voice poking him.

    "Yeah, and I want the Demon Exorcists under my employment to be helpers in that advanced training centre. Surely, they could aid with the logistics and training course management. This will also give them the opportunity to learn from the experienced Exorcists too."

    "You should just send them to those Outer Worlds for battle, they would gain way more experience than most high grade Demon Exorcists I ever knew." ire suggested andter pondered why Jin never did that in the first ce.

    "Eh...to be honest, I never really thought about it. I have way too many things in my agenda that letting those kids roam around was not on my list at all." Jin replied and started to think about what would be a good time to introduce them.

    "They have tried a few of your dungeons if I remembered correctly and managed to clear them too," ire added and Jin instantly looked towards the System Console. The System did not dally and gave the requested results of the Demon Exorcists right in front of him.

    "Oh... so they actually cleared most of them as a team with the exception of our infamous Deep Oneбпs Escape City Instance." Jin chuckled.

    "Obviously because the User had already indicated the difficulty to always be higher than the customersбп grade. Despite their training and wit, they have yet to be able to clear through the ferocity within the Escape City Instance. However, the System noted that they were working towards it at a steady pace despite the amount of variety we had ced in the instance." The System stated that it too would add in difficult phases to batter the young Demon Exorcists.

    "No wonder my Deep Ones had been asking for more stuff. I thought they were just being greedy but it is because they want to improve themselves... I see." Jin finally saw a corrtion which bothered him for some time.

    "See, even if you are not looking at them, they are growing too and they have proven to be quite a sturdy batch of Demon Exorcists. In fact, you should let them be the first batch of the Advanced Training Centre and there is a chance they can request Grandma Yuan to be back as an instructor." ire smirked and it was pretty obvious despite it being just a voice call.

    "After all, they were known to be the batch that no one ever wanted to handle. The ursed Batch." ire spoke as if she had calmed herself down and she had a n in mind along with it.

    "While I didnбпt need specifics, I guessed you would like to brag about them a little so I can understand their situation better?" Jin felt this phone call would not be put down any time soon.

    "Do you want that or more ranting?" ire folded her arm and seemed to have her Boss y right under her fingertips.

    "How about none? I stayed on the line long enough. I would just like to know about the animals in captivity since they are putting a strain on Grandma Yuanбпs coffers and getting them out as soon as possible would reduce her burden." Jin answered as he was tapping his fingers on the System Console.

    "Oh, that? Consider it already done. They will be there by midnight since we obviously canбпt have that many people see us transporting truckloads of animals. I assume your underground car park is big enough for the storage trucks to enter? They are at least 4.5m tall.... Since we have giraffes as well."

    "Donбпt you worry about that. The System can make incremental changes to ensure that those storage trucks fit and we would make a storage space big enough to amodate that as well." Jin reassured ire and she was d that everything would be smooth.

    "Very well, I will be there at midnight to ensure those animals are in properly. And also, the list of Zookeepers that should be able to help you in your Cultivation Zoo instance." ire added. "And that one special gift that you are waiting for."

    And in Jinбпs heart, he hoped that it was not more ranting.

 Chapter 1143 - Bringing In The Animals -Part 2 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1143 - Bringing In The Animals -Part 2 -unedited</h4>

    By midnight, Jin had used the System to transform a portion of the underground car park as a storage area. And to prevent anyte night visitors going into the underground car park unannounced, he had set up a blockade to the third lowest level of the underground car park.

    This was to make sure that when the storage trucks arrived, they could not only descend with ease but also unload the animals to the lowest floor while the second lowest floor was designated for a buffer area in case there were more trucks than expected or any uninvited бпguestsбп.

    Considering how Jinбпs underground car park was limitless, the lowest level continued to change as per the amount of vehicles Jinбпs car park was holding. This was because Jinбпs Tree Mall boasted one of the lowest car park charges within the district and almost everyone in the vicinity had decided to park there to save cost.

    Since Jin owns not only thend but also the entire mall. The technology and features used were basically the Systemбпs magic and its operating costs were nothingpared to the power grubber dimension instances. So, it was a tremendously popr car park spot for those drivers who were in the know.

    Not to mention, the car park technology was incredibly amazing that all the drivers had to do was to beid back and let the car park do the entire work for them. There was no need to parallel park or worry about getting a slot. Also, security wise, there had been zero incidents since its inception and that tremendously increased the poprity of the Tree Mall car park.

    Jin had always felt car parks are a waste of space, and the Systemбпs magic in solving this particr problem was raking in a fair bit of money for the Tree Mall. Therefore, even with the car parkбпs automated parking technology, Jin had to ensure there was no snooping by the Tree Mall customers or people who wish to see how low the car park can go.

    But all those worries went to the next level when he finally saw the storage trucks arrive in several batches. ire and Grandma Yuan were not kidding when they wanted Jin to make a full fledged Cultivation Zoo; the storage level he prepared was not enough and he had to either expand sidewards or downwards.

    Thus, Jin purposely ced a brand new blockade at the supposed lowest floor in case there were more trucksing in. "If only ire gave me a clear indication of the number of trucksing in... I do not have to worry so much!!!" Jin thought to himself as he told the truck driver leader that he was the person receiving the animals.

    "What? Only you? Where are your zoo staff?" The transportation lead queried and suddenly he had a bad feeling that these animals they transported were to be auctioned in some way or another. The hunch was so bad, he was about to reach his phone to call his higher ups until a female voice echoed through the underground car park.

    "Yes, only him. You guys can ce the animal cages and exhibits at the side of this car park. His staff will handle the rest when you are gone."

    "Ms ire, I understand we have beenpany partners for quite some time, but this is breaking protocol to the extreme. Surely, you know that we have to bring the cages and exhibits right into the animalpound or any transport insurance would be considered nullified." The transportation lead reconfirmed her orders. "And some of the animal exhibits had to be in the right temperature and sufficient forestation. Judging from the shipping manifest, I see that these animals should not be kept-"

    "Yea. I understandpletely and you know this is not the first time we did this. Just ce them there, he and I will settle the rest. Donбпt worry, I am not going to sell them or let them die here. Grandma Yuan spent way too much money keeping them under YOURpanyбпs care to do something that silly." ire interrupted him so that he does not have any other say in the matter.

    "Fine, consider the transport insurance nullified. I will tell the rest to at least ce them carefully." The transportation lead said before picking up his walkie talkie and gave further instructions.

    "Sounds like they are very concerned with how we handle the animals." Jin folded his arms and saw the well kept pristine cages and ss exhibits being transported out of the storage trucks.

    "Duh, as I said previously. Grandma Yuan really spent a fortune. You better not screw this up. Make sure that you not only have the best cultivation zoo instance but something that would go into the UNESCO heritage site or something in the future." ire amped up her expectations of the Zoo which Jin had created.

    "Donбпt you worry. I have seen the list of animals and the System ensured that they would be kept healthy, well fed and given lots of exercises." Jin replied as he heard a System ping, indicating that another batch of storage trucks wasing in. To his surprise, the coordination between each wave of trucks was very well coordinated even though Jin had his бпcar park technologyбп on.

    "So, what is this surprise you are talking about? And yeah, the zoo team too." Jin asked as he continued to watch the transport team handle the exhibits professionally.

    "Oh, what a coincidence. Thest storage truck is here." ire said as she beckoned Jin toe forth.

    "Madam." The transport driver somehow knew ire intimately and immediately unlocked the storage doors when she approached. Jin hurried towards her side and when they opened the doors, arge ck shadow dashed towards Jin without any fear of crushing him to bits.

    "XIN!" Jin shouted and the mischievous panda yfully rubbed its cheeks and ced its entire weight on Jin happily. As it screeched with happiness, Jin scratched his underbelly and pulled its cheeks a little. A normal person would have suffocated to death but Jin, being a high grade cultivator, treated the panda like a small little puppy and returned its affection.

    While suspicious of Jin initially, the remaining transport team saw how Xin yed with their supposed client made them realise that perhaps this was not a shady deal at all.

 Chapter 1144 - Bringing In the Animals -Part 3 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1144 - Bringing In the Animals -Part 3 -unedited</h4>

    "As much as I like this reunion to go on, the other animals need to be put in ce before any danger happens," ire said although she was happily rubbing Xinбпs fur as well.

    "Alright, I understand," Jin replied and beckoned the Panda toe with him. The transportation team were quite surprised since Xin was one of the more burdensome creatures for them to transport. Despite some coercing with treats and tricks to get it up into the truck, the team ultimately had to use seduction drugs to get it into the storage container.

    Ironically, the Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo was relieved that Xin had been taken out of the equation since their zoo team believed that Panda Xin had been influencing the rest with its nonchnt yet ignorant attitude.

    But with Jin around, Xin automatically listened to him with just a few hand signals and it bbergasted the entire transportation team with the exception of ire. Since she knew that Jin had a Spiritual Union with Xin, allow him and Xin to have an understanding beyond words.

    However, she was curious how he did it in the first ce.

    "Maybe because I am the true Panda n ancestor? Teehee~!" Jin shrugged and let his tongue out, making ire shake her head continuously for a few seconds. While it was a in and simple answer, it was nothing further away than it being the truth.

    Once the transportation team hadpleted their tasks, they promptly left the area and Jin could finally do his magic peacefully and without distraction. The System instantly analysed the type of animals, reptiles, and even insects and had data coded them so that the Cultivation Zoo instance would not only have the most suitable environment for them but also the type of food needed to procure for them to live a life of longevity. (Not to mention, eternally binding them into the Systemбпs service.)

    Panda Xin was included as well but it seems it was not going anywhere away from Jin for quite a while. As Jin was using his handphone to check the progress, Xin was already hugging him from behind and leaning onto Jinzily.

    "Seriously this panda knows no manners at all." ire smiled as she saw how Xin finally let go of its grumpy attitude when it was near Jin.

    "By the way, is Xin a him or her?" Jin questioned as he did not really notice its gender.

    "This very animal has performed a spiritual union with you and yet you have no idea at all. I am in some ways rather baffled by the way you do things Jin." ire replied, adding that Xin is a male.

    "Well, Iбпd rather you be baffled by this!" Jin immediately pressed a button on his Pandamonium App and all the animals that were in storage had been teleported by the System and into the Cultivation Zoo. In the meantime, the System also created a portal for ire and Jin to enter so they could see the supposed wonders that Jin had created.

    "Eh. Itбпs nd. You sure you have made the right adjustments..." ire said as they stood right in the middle of a grasnd. Sure, it did simte the Africa Savanah ins but there was nothing across the horizon.

    "Well yeah?!" Jin pointed at the distance and they noticed a lion and his mates exploring the grasnds. Jin had purposely replicated the size of territory based on the animalбпs well doc.u.mented behaviour on the inte and research papers so while it might look empty, this was ideal for each of the animals within Jinбпs cultivation zoo. But at the same time Jin pointed to them, Xin suddenly let out a screech as if provoking the lion and lioness pack.

    "I thought he teleported away?" Jin asked and the System replied saying that Xin wanted to spend more with his long lost partner.

    "But I was just away for a few weeks... I even did a quick trip to the zoo once after the Chinese new year period to check on him!" Jin said as he pouted at Xin and pulled his ear.

    "Perhaps, it wanted to look awesome trying to fight against a lion?" iremented while being at the sideline. She obviously wanted to create more trouble for Jin and Xin.

    "Bah. Xin. If you want to fight, you better make sure you are on par with them! Donбпt you dare lose!" Jin said as he pped Xin at the side of his torso. At the same time, he cheated by inserting a bit of his own Maqi into Xin, so he could handle the lion pack all by himself. However, Jin did dilute his Maqi since he believed his cultivation grade was way more than the Pandaбпs natural cultivation grade.

    That small boost of Maqi was sufficient to raise the capabilities of Xin tremendously as well as his confidence to take down the lion pack. Without much hesitation, Xin was already charging recklessly towards the alpha male but his faithful lionesses went to the front to protect their king.

    Sadly, their sacrifices were in vain as Xinбпs blind charge mmed through their defences, leaving the lion to fend for himself. At that point, the Pandaбпs screech got louder as Xin confronted the lion with his teeth and w barred out.

    They immediately went into a tussle as the tiger attempted to bite Xinбпs neck but the Pandaбпs paw swiped through his opponentбпs torso, knocking the lion down to the ground. The lionesses which were brushed aside from the initial charge began to jump towards Xin but the Panda suddenly released a st of ck and white energy beam from its mouth, simr to Jinбпs Panda Yawning technique.

    Jin was thoroughly surprised by the change in circ.u.mstances, thinking that Xin was merely muscle headed Panda that yearns to fight. But right in front of him, Xin was ted with his overwhelming opponents.

    "User and Sub System User ire, what you both are looking at is the ancient ritual for the strongest in the animal kingdom. This was made entirely impossible with modernisation but with the Systemбпs capability to separate animals and heal them back to the pink of health, this could essentially be the pushing factor for this Cultivation Zoo Instance to seed tremendously." The System stated as the Panda screeched loudly at the remaining lioness for them to step back as he continued his fight with the King of the grasnds.

    "This way, the animals would have a chance to grow stronger in a constant environment of strife and struggle, allowing cultivators and mages to flock and learn from them when avable. Upon reaching a certain level, the System would also rmend the battle of humans against animals while ensuring that the animals do not mutate to be a monster." The System stated and this caused ire to glee with bewilderment.

    "Grandma Yuan did not waste her money keeping these animals, this will definitely be a hit when done right!! And if what the System said is true, I propose we have an animal arena once the animals reach a certain grade!" iremented while clenching her fists to see which animal was winning the tussle.

    "We can call it the fight for the Animal Emperor!!"

 Chapter 1145 - Bringing In The Animals -Final -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1145 - Bringing In The Animals -Final -unedited</h4>

    "Geh. You totally ripped off that name from the arcade game, didnбпt you?" Jin stared at her with a dull expression. "That Animal Kazier game where the yers used unique animal cards to fight one another."

    "Geh. How did you know about that game? You do not even look like the type who goes to the arcade that much." ireбпs excitement got reduced to a plum just like the lion behind them. Xin was totally wrecking it by giving the Lion its fair taste of pain. Jin believed he had given Xin a little too much Maqi.

    "There was a whole row of them in Shenzhenбпs Cultivation Zoo, do not tell me thatбпs your doing? And also, the fight between Xin and that lion seems to be concluding." Jin said as he could see his Panda was already about to assert his dominance against the Lion by sitting on it. "Still, itбпs quite a surprise for me to see that he was able to use the skills in the cultivation manual."

    "This is because of the Spiritual Union User and Panda Xin had entered previously. The recent contact between both of you yed a part in that fight, as unfair as it would seem." The System stated.

    "But I just gave him a little Maqi to boost his attack temporarily. Surely, it cannot be that significant, right?" Jin beckoned Xin toe towards him since the battle was far over. There was no need to insult the lion and his pack any further.

    "Unfortunately, Userбпs Maqi had drastically changed in quality from the recent cultivation grade up, causing your Maqi to be denser and of higher intensity despite your efforts to reduce it." The System added. "Hence, what you gave Panda Xin was not just a бпlittleбп boost in his attack power, User had enabled it to grade up with the Maqi you gave and the Spiritual Union connection both of you possessed. The System did not expect this as all we wanted was a show of force from the Panda, learning what the Panda could be capable of."

    "Oh... Oops. Sorry about that." Jin said and guessed what Ming and Genbu had told him was true. His Maqi output had increased tremendously after he woke up from his supposed slumber.

    "No matter, with the forced grade up, the trust between Panda Xin and you should have increased and that bore well for User since the Panda himself could teach you new tricks as it grows in strength too." The System added before teleporting the Lion and its pack of lioness away from the grasnd instance for immediate recuperation.

    "Ah, speaking of recuperation. Do you still need a trained staff from the Zoo? I almost forgot that the System was around to do all the analysis crap that would render an experienced zoo team useless." ire scratched her head, unsure what to tell the members whom she had recruited.

    "Its okay, let them in. As per usual, indict them into the Systemбпs junior executive programme." Jin said as he pats Xin on his head before opening a teleportation portal for it to return to its assigned Zoo Plot.

    "You sure? I thought you were previously adverse with more people knowing about the System. And furthermore, allowing them to be junior executives?" ire wondered if Jin had too much Panda for a day that he was not thinking straight. It was rare for him not to use NPCs instead which he can trust without any problems.

    "Itбпs fine, the System had proven to be an unbreakable contract. Besides, it would be great to have a team of passionate members handling the Cultivation Zoo. They probably know what best for these animals and have contacts that would ensure that the exotic species could survive."

    "The System is capable of doing that and even increasing their poption." The System interrupted as if it would not allow itself to be beaten by a bunch of humans.

    "Hahaha, you mean to let them mate? I guess with an evesting loyalty contract even on the animals, they might as well listen to the System and get into the mood to have more babies." ire approved of that idea.

    "System, I am not saying you are bad or anything. You sometimesck the humane touch despite you guys being humans centuries ago." Jin seems to strike a nerve and the System had decided to let its user take the win this time around.

    "Very well. The System will ensure that they will know of their duties upon agreeing to the terms and conditions of a junior executive. The System however estimated that it would require only two zookeepers for its premise, preferably a male and female." The System ced its demands for the first time, probably acting as the sore loser against Jin.

    "Four. Two female and two male staff." ire gave a chi telepathy instead of using the Systemбпs channel and Jin decided to back her up. The System thought about it for a moment and decided to give in as it did not seem much harm taking in an additional two staff. (Since it was not much a dent to its expenses!) However, the System subsequently found out that ire was not going to hire a team of fifty odd zoo keepers given the scope and extend of the Cultivation Zoo. Only that four which she suggested to Jin.

    "Wait. Wait. Wait. When you said four. Did you mean our four Demon Exorcists?" Jin questioned since that was the only four he could think of.

    "What? No. You think they are omnipotent in their knowledge? Rong would rather kill that lion and eat it for breakfast than feeding it meat." ireughed and told him not to worry about the Zookeepers for she would definitely introduce the four to him.

    "But speaking of the four Demon Exorcists. I am serious, you should get them to fight the battles with you. It will benefit you in the future." ire requested Jin once again and he reluctantly agreed on the spot.

    "Fine, fine. Letбпs take a look at the Advanced Training Centre now that we finally deal with the Zoo." Jin said as he once more opened his portal so that the both of them could explore the new JODE advanced training centre.

 Chapter 1146 - JODE New Training Instance -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1146 - JODE New Training Instance -unedited</h4>

    The Advanced Training Centre.

    As much as the name sounds to be one particr building in an instance, Jin actually took the effort to create an entire school campus instead of that one building. From all the feedback that he received from the Demon Exorcists, he figured that if he were to attract the best of the best Demon Exorcist cadets for training, he should create proper schooling facilities for it. There was no better way to attract the best than to build extensive world ss facilities.

    From ssrooms, lecture halls to Olympic sized swimming pools & gymnasiums, Jin even created a fighting arena stadium for them to have their duels against themselves and of course, against demons.

    "While I kinda expected more from the Cultivation Zoo other than regted environments, this one totally kicked me out of my boots." ire had her jaws down when she saw the size of campus from the schoolбпs one and only watchtower which Jin specially created for the principal and their staff.

    "I did take a few notes from the Demon Exorcists but Lein and the others stated that itбпs still a ce of education. And you know how you initially proposed Grandma Yuan to continue with her instructorship, how about we create a post higher than that? Let her be the principal of this new campus. Her recent endeavours and past des should give her more than enough credentials to be one." Jin walked around the top of the watch tower and even sat on the principalбпs seat for a moment to have the feel of power and prestige.

    "Besides, itбпs better for Grandma Yuan to be under the Systemбпs influence. It can take care of her in terms of health and also protect her when needed." Jin said and naturally prompted the System for a response.

    "Affirmative. While Ex Sub System User Yuan had relinquished her powers to aid with the past User, her recent contributing efforts to aid User had been more than sufficient to allow her back into the Panda n, assuming User allows." The System stated.

    "Yea, duh. Definitely. By the way, does that mean she reims her powers?" Jin questioned but the System rejects such a notion.

    "No, the previous contract had already nullified her from any possible form of powers. However, because of the Userбпs decision, the System now allows Yuan to have ess to chi reserves should she be within the vicinity." The System stated and that was more than sufficient in both of their books.

    "Thatбпs fine with me. As long as she has ess to arge amount of chi, there is nothing that she is incapable of. But seriously... This Advanced Training Centre is way too much of an overkill."

    "To be honest, I did not want it to be just the advanced training centre. If we want to make a name for our branch, it would be best to have an entire Demon Exorcist Academy right under our noses. From the trainees, fresh recruits, and Demon Exorcists wannabes to the veterans who wished to upskill themselves." Jinmented.

    "Also, I have recently looked at the boxes that Grandma Yuan left behind, and one of them had a bunch of Demon Encyclopaedias which the System had already uploaded into its database," Jin remarked as he pulled out his phone and showed it to ire who was at the opposite of the principalбпs table.

    "Ah...all these are really old demons. Some of them are not even in the current catalogues." ire scrolls quickly as she knows most of the demonsбп names by heart. "Hmm, she sure is meticulous, giving you the western and oriental versions as well. For some reason, perhaps with globalisation or something, the demons from those lores had been appearing in our territory too. This is no doubt a good reference to lean on to."

    "If only she knew that it was Grandpa Ming that collected all this instead of Grandma Yuan, she might think otherwise... Or is it that Grandpa Ming coborated with Grandma Yuan to get all this?" Jin thought to himself and requested for ire to return the phone.

    "I see, with the Systemбпs capability to create NPCs and monsters with this demon list, I think this would no doubt bring a high level of difficulty even for the advanced Demon Exorcists." ire nodded her head. "I will see if I have ess to thetest batch of demons so they can practice on them as well."

    "That will be great, and this way, the System would also be able topile the different kinds of Demon Exorcistsбп techniques. If we are lucky and there are foreign exchange students, we will be able to get more out of it too." Jin wanted more data from all the various experts to further improve his Virtual Reality Instance as well as his minions.

    "Sounds feasible if we are able to kickstart the curriculum. But I believe Grandma Yuan would beining that this is too much work." ire chuckled and imagined Yuan demanding to get out of the situation for more time off.

    "Please, despite herining, she would rather work than rest around at home doing nothing," Jinmented and ire could not agree more.

    "Alright then, I will write the proposal to JODE and see how they respond. After all, your Demon Exorcists owed me some favours back before they met you. Could not hurt to tap into their familial contacts to make this a reality." ire replied, wanting to go all out for Grandma Yuan. She then waved to Jin goodbye and left him sitting on the principalбпs chair.

    "Hey, System. You think itбпs a good idea?" Jin questioned whether the stuff he did was ideal. "What we are doing is no longer just Dungeon Supplier work."

    "That was why Senior Executive Ke Loong had requested that we changed our name to Panda Inc. There is no reason to stay purely as a Dungeon store." The System replied back.

    "Bleargh, you liar. You just want to take control of the economy again as you guys previously used to." Jin said as he picked a pen up and started twirling it around.

    "The System would not deny that."

    "Meh, even so, we are still using Dimensional instances to create all of this. We should be considered pioneers doing such innovative use of instances."

    "The System would not deny that too. In fact, it would eventually help with the dungeon supplier ranking that we once talked about."

    "Heh, I am not that interested in that anymore. Tell me when we hit Top 100 or something." Jin still remembered he had this ranking list as well as a Supplier Level. But upon trading so many favours with the System that the System ultimately decided that it owed Jin way more than it could reward him. Thus, it rewarded him with the maximum dungeon supplier level and provided massive discounts to the international ck market.

    After all, ire and the "Fake" Jins had been producing quite a bit of economic impact on the ck market and in turn, slowly became one of the more prominent бпminor namesбп and had given the System a boost in reputation and discounts for trading that many materials and resources.

    If anything, there were already making waves in the Interworld economy and that would already count as something impossible done.

 Chapter 1147 - Morning System Updates -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1147 - Morning System Updates -unedited</h4>

    "JINNNNNNN!!!!"

    A very familiar voice came on the channel when Jin thought that he could have a decent amount of sleep after finalising the Cultivation Zoo Instance.

    "JINNNNNNN!!!"

    His door was mmed wide open from and Jin could not bother to open his eyes properly to see who wasing in. But the reality was just as cruel as he was being picked up like a ragdoll and shook violently.

    "WAKKKKEE UPPPPPPP!!"

    True to his Panda cultivation, Jin did not care a single bit especially since he was not able to get a proper wink of sleep. However, the shaking did not stop and that somehow had irritated him to a point that he had to answer.

    "Yes, yes what is it Mr CEO that you have to personally barge into my room and wake me up?" Jin said and Ke Loong finally had his attention fixated on him.

    "The System said this was the only way to wake you up. I even prepared myself a diving suit since I heard you produce some sort of oil or sludge that would make it difficult for me to enter." Ke Loong said and he was indeed in a diving suit with an oxygen tank right behind him.

    "System...did you not update him with thetest news..." Jin asked and the System replied that it had no idea that Jin would not produce any sludge until it had visual confirmation. Till then, it would be right to have the necessary precautions equipped.

    "Does that mean I can take this out right now?" Ke Loong ced the oxygen tank down and tried to unzip the diving suit since it was extremely stuffy to wear it indoors. If not for the air conditioner, he would have been a roasted pig with the humid weather outside.

    "Do you even have something to wear aside from that, or are you trying to b.a.r.e yourself n.a.k.e.d in front of me!" Jin squirmed at the sight of Ke Loong stripping his diving suit and he was insistent on removing the entire thing.

    "Hahahahah! Gotcha!" Ke Loongughed as he zipped back partially and told him to wait as he returned to the first floor to get his change of clothes.

    "Jin! The breakfast is ready!" Lynn shouted from the first floor and Jin acknowledged reluctantly. (He really wanted to sleep more but the sound of breakfast was no doubt alluding to him.)

    "Alright... Give me a minute to wash up," Jin replied and in the meantime, he questioned System what was his agenda for today.

    "We are waiting for Sub System User ire to give us an update on the Advanced Training Centre. The Virtual Reality Instance could be finalised once the meeting with Senior Executive Ke Loong had beenpleted and subsequent tasks would emerge upon the discussion. Other than that, the Virtual Reality instance required additional testing before it could be revealed for the Symposium. And onest agenda for the day, the Tree Mall Store Owners wished to discuss a few things with you if you are avable, the request had been pending for three days and Yun had said that User was on a business trip. The System had also determined that it is best to have a bi monthly meeting with the store owners to see what issues they might have." The System summarised what Jin needed to do.

    "Sounds like a busy day, I see what I can do though I canбпt promise on that bi monthly meeting. Other than that, whatбпs the news about the outer worlds? Especially the Dungeon World. You seem to be keeping information from me with regards to that."

    "The situation in the Dungeon World would be thoroughly exined during the breakfast session. Original Betor Kraft had agreed to sit in for the session to discuss the oues for the Dungeon World. Aside from that, the reconstruction of the Farming Worldбпs Southern Capital is on track and they are steadily building their forces in the outskirt inds of the Southern Region. The North had been very quiet although the Bulwark Army did perform a few raids to ensure the rats were not too busy with their own agendas. Defences had improved significantly in Town Wecha once the repairs were done. While the System determined that our forces required more time, it is best to strike when they least expected."

    "Or else, they would have already reached the Eastern and Western inds. Gah! So far, the Rats are a pain in the a.s.s. Would be a different story if those Demon Rats can be converted to our cause." Jin said as he cleaned his face and checked his phone.

    "JINNNNNNNN. Youing? I am hungry already!" Peppers shouted in a bid to get Jin toe to the table as soon as possible.

    "If you are hungry, go ahead! I just need to perform my number two!" Jin said but obviously, on the table, Lynn did not allow Peppers to go ahead and the rest were indeed waiting patiently despite Jinбпs go ahead. (There were echoes from Peppers that Jin was giving too much information about his toilet business.)

    But for Jin, he was merely creating an excuse so that he could sit at the toilet bowl and check the circ.u.mstances in the Farming World. While there were other pressing matters to take care of, Jin had been gearing up for the fight in the Farming World especially with the previous Dungeon World event.

    Even though the System did not exin the current situation of the Dungeon World to Jin, it did assure him that the army forces he wanted had already been recruited. Lynn and Qiu Yue had been taking care of their basic needs with adequate housing and food for the time being.

    They were not situated in one of the Pandapolis Domes where prefabricated houses and retro modern technology had left the troops living there in aghast.

    "System, give me an estimate on thepletion of the rat tunnels to the Eastern and Western regions." Jin requested as he sat on the toilet bowl.

    "Based on the information from the Spirits of the Land, the System estimated we have at least a month before they reach the other side. If User were to be optimistic, presumably a month and a half at the very most. However, the System had to warn User that our fighting might cause the project to elerate and thus rmend not to dally too long before the actual assault."

    "Yeah, we need time to dismantle them too. I understand." Jin said before thanking the System for the quick update.

 Chapter 1148 - Tension During Breakfast -Part 1 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1148 - Tension During Breakfast -Part 1 -unedited</h4>

    "Wow... You guys have not touched your food yet?" Jin said as he came down the stairs, seeing a bunch of grumpy faces looking at him with the exception of Ke Loong and Lynn.

    "He is here, I do not care anymore!!! And I am eating Milkбпs portion as well!" Peppers said as she picked her utensils up and wanted to gorge on the food but Yun knocked her head from the side with a miniature aerial chi st that caused her to stop in her tracks. (From afar, it looked like a spatial flick of a finger on her forehead.)??

    "Where did she go?" Jin questioned as he headed towards the kitchen to wash his hands once more before sitting at the end of the table.

    "Zeru requested for her to do some errands and she did not want me to go with her. Saying that I am a mere hindrance. In return, I guess I could eat her portion." Peppers replied and when Jin checked his phone, the System indicated that there was no way to contact both of them.

    "Zeru is still handling the flower city issue?" Jin questioned about the missing betors while allowing everyone to eat and finally, Peppers gobbled the entire sandwich into her mouth. Still, there was plenty on the table and Lynn mentioned that second servings were avable back in the kitchen.

    "Yes, he said when he settled what he needed to do, he will give us a report." Yun answered as she casually ced the pork bacon strips closer to Peppers, knowing that she eyed for that for a long time.

    "By the way whatбпs with the asion of this grand feast? Why so much food. Oh...wait, please donбпt tell me itбпs because of me. That would be a little unfair." Jin said as he took a bite on the perfectly made sandwich right in front of him. Without any consideration to his table manners, the sauce from the chicken ham and beef patty sandwich were dripping all over his te.

    "Of course, itбпs about you! Everything is about you. What else would Lynn even provide us with such a sumptuous meal? Baka Jin." Peppers said proudly and then there were multiple air flicks hitting her consecutively at her forehead. It was not just from Yun but also everyone at the table that knew her on a personal level gave her a quick hit on her forehead.

    "Hey! Old folk tales say that hitting on the head will make you stupid! Stop hitting my head!" Peppers pouted as she continued her munching and grabbed more bacon strips. (If she was not some magical being, the amount she took would be of an unhealthy level.)

    "Obviously, itбпs for Jin. The System did not allow me to send any food to him at all, it kinda worries me that he is not eating properly." Lynn said, tantly attacking the System.

    "The System does not wish to prompt the User from breaking his thoughts. Besides, by being a cultivator of a high grade, he should be able tost longer without food. User should be grateful that food was given at regr intervals."

    "And lesser breaks for me? Have you forgotten that you initiated time dtion and stretched time almost infinitely that I had forgotten how the flow of time works? Iбпm practically hungry almost every hour!" Jinined and a few at the table gave a slight chuckle.

    "Hahaha, does Jin always go into istion this often? Because, to me, it seems like a normal urrence. Sometimes, itбпs really hard to contact him when I need him." Ke Loong interjected his opinion. (Although everyone knows that back then, Jin was purposely avoiding Ke Loong for a reason.) "And gosh. The food is really amazing. I thought your restaurant delicacies was top notch, but this homecooked meal seems a hundred times better than the things you offered. I am truly honoured to partake in this."

    "Dumb dumb. This is because Lynn personally managed this entire breakfast while the food you ate at her restaurant was prepared by her subordinates. Naturally, there will be a huge difference. And donбпt go thinking that you are able to enjoy this on a daily basis. It is entirely based on Jinбпs avability." Peppers said proudly as if she was a hardcore follower of the breakfast club. (And all the flicks starteding in again but this time around, she prepared a miniature force field to protect herself from all the iing бпattacksбп.)

    "Lol Peppers, you sounded like you are chasing some idol. If only you are as diligent for all the tasks that you were assigned with." Jin chuckled and he began sharing news to Ke Loong as well as those who were at the table. From the Virtual Reality Instance to the Cultivation Zoo instances as well as the Advanced Training Centre. All of them were delighted to hear that Jin was able toplete some of the tasks that had been guing him for a long time ...especially a certain fox.

    "Ah. So, you finally had some progress. Arenбпt you happy that I kicked you into istion and got lots of work done?" Kraft smiled.

    "You made me like a ve. I know I was already a ve of the System and probably the shop, but that insistent push? That was way over the line in my opinion." Jin said as he stared at Kraft with a bit of defiance in his voice.

    "I see. Our little panda cub now wants to brandish his fangs at the old fox just after he thinks that he can walk. But donбпt you think you are way too young for it?" Kraft replied with a smile.

    "That does not mean I should always follow you. I am still awaiting the aftermath of the dungeon worldбпs fight. Something tells me that you are hiding a lot of stuff from me that I would disapprove of."

    "What makes you think that way?" Kraft ced his knife and fork down from eating his bacon and beans.

    "The System would always report to me, but this time around, it requested that I get the full picture from you."

    "What if I say that it doesnбпt matter at all? Just go with the flow?"

    "Is it because I said that I leave you in charge of the whole operation?"

    "Aye."

    "Fine. System, give me a quick breakdown of the Dungeon Worldбпs aftermath."

    "The System believed that reporting you the facts would only reinforce your skewed perspective against Original Betor Kraftбпs intention." The System replied.

    "I will see how it goes," Jin said and continued to eat his sandwich while the atmosphere turned a little too tense for a normal breakfast.

    "A written report would be a better option for Userбпs perusal. That way, the facts are presented and there will be no bias as per report." Although everyone present was within the Systemбпs purview, it did not want Ke Loong to hear anything that would misalign his trust in the entire group.

    On the other hand, Ke Loong tried to break the tension by asking Jin about the Virtual Reality Instance which he talked about in the first ce. After all, a change of subject would be a better course to take than having such heavy air at the breakfast table.

    "Since the System had made me Senior Executive, I had personally revised the contracts with all my people, telling them it was an overhaul review that needed to be done."

    "You mean, you single handedly talked to everyone in yourpany so you can contract everyone into the System?" Jin queried that Ke Loong took such a personal approach to the matter.

    "Yeah, I figured it was great to hear the thoughts from everyone, even the cleaners and interns. Obviously, I had help from Pei as she kind of like ...erm did a massive mind read of the wholepany and the problems that each and every one had with thepany. We found out that I am not running a tight ship as I thought I was, kind of an eye opener in my opinion."

    "Ah... I am sorry to hear that." Jin said with a slight nod.

    "No matter. Some of the problems they addressed are systematic problems of a hugepany. I will see what I can do to help them since I got the System help with me. But other than that, I can assure you that you do not need to worry about any information leakage from us, especially since the System now has the whole view of the entirepany." Ke Loong said and added that reworking the Virtual Reality Head Gear would not be an issue that he had to worry about.

    "If you would allow me to work on the schematics, I will let my engineers improve the quality design of the headgear and get back to you as soon as possible." Ke Loong said as he continued to savour the food Lynn had made for him and the rest continued to eat with some silence at the table.

 Chapter 1149 - Tension During Breakfast -Final -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1149 - Tension During Breakfast -Final -unedited</h4>

    "While you are busy building your stuff, Dungeons and Pandas has never been this sessful. In fact, the sales that the new raid had brought in by me was one of the most discussed topics in Webo." Despite Ke Loongбпs effort to divert the subject, Kraft had insisted on bringing it up again.

    "What raid?" Jin looked at Kraft suspiciously since he did not authorise any new raids other than the Demopolis raid. Thest he saw in the Pandamonium updates was also with regards to that particr instance.??

    "Duh, obviously the second part of the raid which you were not in. If not for my decision to bring in it, you would not have been able to sit here peacefully eating your breakfast." Kraft pointed the butterknife at Jin as if telling him that without the old Fox, nothing in the Dungeon Supplier store could be aplished.

    "Ya, I like toin that-" Peppers wanted to say her terribly boring role of destroying the final boss in the Raid instance but Yun pped a few bacon strips into her mouth and she kept quiet munching. (Although everyone on the table could sense that a telepathy link had been established between them, with Yun pressuring the Mage Betor to make the matters on the table even worse.)

    "Speaking ofints, I do wish to bring up the point of making even more boss battles. We had been through quite a number of big boss fights, canбпt you just create more of that and dish them out to the public like hotcakes? We would be earning wads of cash in no time." Kraft suggested.

    "In fact, if you need my help to improve the bossбп mechanics, I would be willing to do so with a bat of my eye. However, my services arenбпt cheap considering the amount of attention I have brought to your shop. You should be paying me more than what I own right now. Perhaps, a small street named after me since you basically own Tiangong Shopping District." Kraft rumbled carelessly.

    "What did you do during the Demopolis raid?" Jin started to feel a little ticked off but Kraft kept avoiding the issue by blowing his own trumpet. Although it was his natural behaviour, Jin did not want to hear any of this. He wanted to know what exactly happened.

    "h! You want to know what happened, just read the report that the System generated. You should have done that before evening to this breakfast table." Kraft waved off Jinбпs question and continued with his breakfast in delight. After all, he achieved what he wanted from this discussion.

    Thus, instead of a slow and peaceful discussion over breakfast, it ended rather abruptly as Jin decided that he would like to read the report by the System in his room.

    "Thanks, Lynn. The breakfast was awesome, something I did miss. Ke Loong, I will get the System to send you the necessary doc.u.ments. If there is anything that you need, just ask. You have the special Pandamonium App in your phone anyways." Jin reminded him as he brought the tes to the kitchen and took a bottle of water with him back to his room.

    Lynn stared at Kraft and questioned why he would behave in such a passive aggressive manner.

    "You have put in a lot of work to create all this food and I did not wish to sully the taste with our meaningless arguments." Kraft wiped his mouth and thanked Lynn as well for the food.

    "You could have just postponed the issue to ater date. Did you really have to spite him this much?" Lynn cleared the remaining tes on the table and surprisingly, Kraft insisted on helping.

    "This does not absolve you from the mistake you made. After all, you did push him into istion against his will even though he did gain more than he should from those two weeks of hard work." Lynn added as she ced the dishes into the dishwasher while the System did its magic.

    "If he cannot get over people pushing him around, he should not be our boss. in and simple." Kraft shrugged and Lynn shook her head.

    "You and your weird antics," Lynn said and could only hope for the best.

    "Sigh, if you want me to go apologise to him, I can." Kraft shrugged his shoulders, not understanding why there was a need to dig a mountain out of a molehill.

    "Lynn, Iбпm going back to my office. Send my regards to Jin. And thanks for the hearty breakfast. I really hope I can partake in it again in the future." Ke Loong said as he bid goodbye.

    "Youбпre wee!" Lynn shouted through the kitchen and when she wanted to send her guest out to the door, Yun insisted on doing so on her behalf.

    "Doe back again. I apologise that you had to be part of such a tense situation earlier. I can assure you that this was not really something any of us had expected." Yun smiled and Ke Loong gleed right back at her.

    "Donбпt worry about it. Itбпs a small issue. If I were to be in the same shoes as Jin, I would have already erupted right at the table. Give him some credit for enduring the crazy workload and that foxбпs attitude." Ke Loong thanked Yun and a magic portal courtesy of the System emerged from right behind him, allowing the CEO to return to his office without the need to travel the busy roads.

    Meanwhile, Jinn was in his room as he read the detailed report that the System had prepared and understood the Systemбпs rationale to not reveal the situation of the Dungeon world right away.

    "Sigh, I knew something like this would happen." Jinбпs brows furrowed and his stress levels went up dramatically. While it made sense from a military point of view, since this was made to conquer upon weakening the troops, Jin felt that the civilians should not be involved in this at all.

    What if the Seven City armies which he obtained knew what was happening outside, would they be happy serving for Jin?

    Definitely not.

    "Has the virus been activated?" Jin questioned and the System stated that the stomach virus nanobots had not yet invaded everyone, so the n had yet tomence.

    "Do not activate any of them without my direct permission. That is an absolute order." Jin instructed and Kraft happened to hear it when he was walking along the corridor.

    "What are you doing?" Kraft questioned, his hands folded.

    "I am doing something to stop you from creating havoc in the Dungeon World. We have enough trouble as it is. We do not need thousands of citizensбп suffering under our regime." Jin replied with a stern voice.

    Kraft sighed as he rubbed his temples. "See, this is EXACTLY why I did not want to get you involved. Anyway, you cannot stop me even if you are the Systemбпs user. Donбпt forget, the bond we entered puts us as equals!"

    "So what? All I need to do is to let the army we obtained return home." Jin insisted, speaking slowly to keep his temper in check.

    "Just to spite me, you are willing to abandon MY n that will have us gain sufficient reinforcement for YOUR fight against the Farming World? Wasnбпt that YOUR agenda the entire time?"

    "When did I ever agree to make the poption of seven cities suffer for that? And only to heal them afterwards with Peppers and Milk? That is such a bad n execution. I cannot believe nobody stopped you. Donбпt they have brains to think?"

    "On the contrary, it is YOU right now, who is not using your brain! Do you have any idea how many people are suffering in your world alone on a daily basis? This will be no different! So what if some of them might die? Donбпt forget that resurrection is something natural in the Dungeon World, so ultimately they will simply me the churchies for failing to help them!"

    "Nobody needs to know that it was us who was responsible! This entire operation was done solely by my Night Foxes and they very well know how to keep their mouth shut. Like it or not, but this is the best way to gain support for our cause without any real sacrifices, in the shortest amount of time, as well as establish the religion that you so damn wanted!"

    "Enough!!!" Jin nearly shouted as he demanded the System to execute the return order immediately. "I am returning the armies to where they belong. They are NOT needed for the Farming World!"

    "So you want to do this the hard way?" Kraft questioned with a deadly stare. "System, Executive Order: Coup DбпEtat!"

    The System suddenly halted its order to send the armies back.

    "Come and earn it," Kraft whispered each word right beside Jinбпs ear. In the next instant, both Kraft and Jin were teleported into a dimensional instance with nothing but empty space right around them.

    The ceilings were covered with rows ofmps and the floor was made out of smooth concrete. No other minions or cultivators were there to stop them.

    It was just Jin and Kraft right in the middle of it all.

 Chapter 1150 - Provocation -Unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1150 - Provocation -Unedited</h4>

    "Is this some test again? If it is, I am in no mood to have one." Jin said as he took in the sights of the concrete room. The lights were so bright that it was mildly hurting his eyes to some degree for a moment before he got ustomed to it. In the meantime, he turned his back away from Kraft and tried to find the exit by fiddling with his phone.

    Now that the n to obtain the Seven Cities Armies had backfired, he probably had to think of a new way to counter the Farming Worldбпs Demon Rats. It was true he did not think of the consequences to get the armies. He did not realise that the Church of the Afterlife would be so daring to put their own armies in recement of the ones he captured that quickly and on such a scale.??

    If he were to challenge the Church themselves, Jin had to prepare to fight at least a scalerger than the Demon Rats. Not to mention, whenpared to the Church of the Afterlife, the Demon Rats were considered easy mode since the Demon Rats were a pest while the Church was integrated into peopleбпs lives.

    If Jin could not handle one continent worth of fight in the Farming World, then he should not even start a fight that he could possibly lose in the first ce. Perhaps, he should make peace with the Church of the Afterlife and be their ally. Only once the Dungeon Supplier had ascertained the might of their enemy then he would break out a coup. But that itself would take years, not to mention the possibility that the Church could find out that Jin had resurrection powers as well. (With that resurrection powerespliance, a tool that every major organisation would like to have.)

    "Why? Getting cold feet now?" Kraft questioned in an authoritative tone as he saw Jin trying to walk away from him. "Never dare to fight against your master even after barking ferociously at him?"

    "Sure, whatever you say. System, teleport me back to my room. There are many things I have to do." Jin eximed loudly, thinking that Kraft was having his бпtime of the monthбп. If Kraft would like to torture him as usual, Jin would insist on getting out of that sticky situation since he had a lot of things in his mind. He believed that Kraft would back out eventually after teasing him sufficiently. Besides, with the te of trouble served right in of him, he rather clear it all up before ites to bite him back but suddenly, the System stated that it was unable toply with Jinбпs orders.

    "Sincere apologies, User. Original Betor Kraft has disabled the Systemбпs ability to assist you upon executing his customised executive function. While the System both approves and disapproves of both of your methods, we are truly unable to do anything at all at the moment." The System reported to Jin with a low, apologetic tone which hardly urred for the Dungeon Supplier.

    "Executive function? What are you talking about? Are you not THE System? Why is Kraft able to stop you in your tracks? Did you let him modify you in some way that it can nitpick you? I thought you would not allow him to do that." Jin heaved out a troubled sigh but Kraft could sense that he was not afraid. No. There was not a single tinge of fear in Jin, he was simply not interested in this particr fight at all.

    "Of course, the System is not able to do anything. Have you forgotten that I am the antithesis of the System? I can do what I please, whenever I want." Kraft walked close to Jin and he was pleased that Jin was not flinching a single bit.

    "The System regrettably acknowledged that we had allowed Original Betor Kraft to create such a function because of the help he rendered to improve the defences. This was an essential exchange to ensure that I stay up to date with any form of attack, including cyber connection to the worldwide web."

    "See, there you go. The System once gave part of itself to me, and thus I am part of the System too. So, you are not the System but the end user that utilised the System. Therefore, you have no control of the System unlike me."

    "While the System reluctantly agrees to Original Betor Kraftбпs argument, we are currently performing countermeasures against Original Betor Kraftбпs hacking." The System said and Kraft raised his eyebrows.

    "OH? So, the Almighty System has decided to fight back? After such a long time of inactivity, you finally have the guts to do so?" Kraft smirked as he ced his hands in his pockets. "But do you even have the capability to do that while I fight your precious User?"

    "Why are you raring for a fight? What is your angle for this entire argument?" Jin asked and suddenly he felt a burst of chi from Kraft, as if he was giving Jinбпs his final warning to follow through his master ns.

    "You are the one who yed with fire, and now that the fire burns you, you wish to retract yourself. This is all your fault entirely."

    "Has it always been this way for the rest of the System Users too? To Ming as well? You had been threatening them to let them go your way while you had your fun?" Jin asked while he continued to stand steady.

    "Perhaps? Because I have the power to do so? Money and fortune do not stay. Power, on the other hand, is liberating and evesting." Kraft said while he picked up No Mercy from his storage ring. "Besides, I did ask for you to show me your powers and you have yet to fulfil my request.".

    "Ahh... Ahhh. Kraft is having itchy fingers once again." A feminine echo was heard through the empty бпbas.e.m.e.ntбп room. Jinбпs bracelet lit up and Pei emerged from it while yawning from all the meaningless passive aggressive talks.

    "Seriously Pei? I just want a good fight with Jin. There is little to no action these days and I need something to scratch the itch." Kraft said as Pei had seen through his ruse.

    "Jin, good job on resisting his provocations." Pei took out her sword and stood right in front of her master. "But Kraft, if you want a fight, you should have just asked from us."

    "Pssssh, forget about such thoughts. Do you think you guys will entertain me after so long? Besides, you guys probably get scared since you have not had enough training and exposure after such a slumber period."

    "Oh? Are you saying that you are raring to go for an 8 versus 1 or should I call your sworn brother Rex to join the fight against you too?" Pei tapped her sword, now her turn provoking Kraft to enter a fight that he should not be able to win.

    "Have you guys forgotten that I have whoop your asses once? You are my bullets to my gun." Kraft said as he pointed at his triple barrel No Mercy. At this point, it seems that Pei had the upper hand to avoid a conflict for Jin but the Dungeon Supplier had other things in mind.

    "Pei, itбпs fine. I will give him the fight he wants. Even if you foxes stood up for me, that old fox would still tease me to no end for staying behind the backs of the other betors. Besides, we had a blood pact that we never really told anyone about. No matter whatever trouble he does, he would not ultimately harm the User and the System."

    "Ah...no wonder. Thatst sentence merely ensured that you would not die but that does not avoid any trouble he makes." Pei understood the situation a little more and decided to take a step back.

    "Oh ho~ Looks like someone finally has the balls to stand and бпwalk the talkбп. I am not going to hold back since this is a System regted dimensional instance. You wonбпt die, Jin but it will be painful for you... assuming you can evenst one of my blows. Hehehe!" Kraftбпs aura began to .u.mte and it got denser.

    "And trust me, I have blocked the Systemбпs capability to send you back. As long as I am not satisfied or until the System manages to bypass my hack, you are not leaving this ce unless I deem so." Kraft said.

    At that moment, the rest of the foxes appeared right beside Pei as she had appraised them of the situation. Rex took the opportunity to shoot a nce at Jin and smiled before dering that the rest of the foxes will abstain from this particr fight.

    "Heh, donбпt worry, brother. I do not need you or the other foxes to aplish my itch... so COME JIN! Letбпs have a fight to see if you are still worthy of the foxes help!" Kraft yelled as he shot his gun, prompting the start of the one on one duel.

 Chapter 1151 - Panda VS Fox -Part 1 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1151 - Panda VS Fox -Part 1 -unedited</h4>

    The shot was slow moving in Jinбпs eyes but it suddenly sped up when it reached closer to him, splitting itself into several projectiles and attempting to hit him from various angles.

    "Inverse Eyes!" Jin said to himself as his eyes glowed with Maqi. Time seemed to slow down significantly with the powers of his mystical pair of eyes, allowing him to prepare for the attack. Both his Chi and Mana circuits pumped through his entire body and his muscles were energised thoroughly. As his Inverse Eyes was somehow able to predict the future, his body instinctively found the safest route away from all the projectiles with the exception that the projectiles continued to stay the same. (If they were split up again, then it is possible Jin would be terribly injured from it.)??

    "One by one!" Jin said to himself as he sidestepped for the very first projectile while taking out his trusty sword, Bam to block the second. The Third subsequently came by his blind spot but his living armour instantly shifted to protect its master. The fourth was a troublesome one as Jin could sense the fifth hiding right behind it. Hence, he utilised his chi to trip himself, allowing his body to fall backwards while an Astral Image appeared to block the attack.

    All in all, the Astral Panda Cultivator was able to dodge the very first volley of attack from the start with his бпnaturalбп instinct to evade.

    "Bah! I expected that much from you, considering how many times you saw me fired No Mercy. Still, if only your evading was as good as your attacks then perhaps, you could end this particr duel immediately!" Kraftmented as he rushed towards Jin shooting No Mercy multiple times. "But that is assuming you can evade all of these right now!"

    "Wow. Itбпs been ages since Ist saw Kraft taking a fight so seriously. Guess, he really wants to punch Jin to oblivion...or heбпs just too bored trying tomand the Dungeon World. Hmmm... maybe both? Still, it was no doubt a meddlesome situation to be in and I kind of understand their perspectives. If only those Churchies are not such bastards, things might not be thatplicated." Kiyumented as she offered some popcorn to the rest of the skulk who had already created a bench where they could sit and watch the action. With their powersbined, they believed that they had a barrier sufficient to prevent Kraftбпs attack from going through. So, all they had to do was stay stationary and watch how it unfolds.

    "Humans are always the one that make every situationplicated. As long as thereбпs power involved, they bound to scheme something up. Oh by the way, do you guys want to move this bench around so that we can have a better view? Or request the System to hook us up for better viewing entertainment?" Evon subsequently suggested that they should make the bench move along with the action to get the best scenes.

    "With the System busy to eject Jin, I honestly donбпt think you able to get decent footage out of it. But... lucky you, I have some on those flying video drones with me." Kiyu rejected Evonбпs suggestion of moving the benches by sending out the invisible бпMagic Eyesбп out to view the battlefield.

    Everyone agreed to Kiyuбпs alternative as most of them were curious to see Jin in action. They had missed his big showdown against King Baal back in Pandapolis and watching the recording from the System just wasnбпt the same as experiencing it live.

    He changed his No Mercy from a triple gun barrel into a giant scythe and shed it in the direction of Jin. Just as the Dungeon Supplier was about to evade the attack, he realised that he was about to underestimate the length of the attack. Nay, Jinбпs mystical eyes had predicted the attack correctly but his hunch instinctively told him that there was something more to the simple swing of the scythe. It was only then his eyes suddenly changed its prediction when Jinбпs body moved backwards voluntarily.

    Thus, he lowered his body even further and Kiyu giggled how Jin could make an excellent gymnast himself. Kraft uttered a quick tsk, not happy that Jin was able to see through the attack. He was sure that it should have been enough to grant him first blood in this fight and he had already prepared a speech to brag about it when he was revived back into the dimensional instance. Hence, he continued his attack by nimbly twirling the scythe with the momentum and going for the next attack.

    At this point, Jin had decided to slip, and an astral panda emerged from his body, blocking the attack and at the same time, attempting to hit Kraft. However, the old fox punched the astral image with his chi, dissipating it in an instant. That was not all, the chi from his hand converted into a st that knocked back Jin.

    Kraft used this opportunity to rush forward again to bisect him while Jin was unbnced from the attack but to his surprise just as he was about to drop the scythe onto him, another Astral Panda came out and swayed his scythe to the other side, causing him to barely miss the dungeon supplier.

    At that moment, Jin had decided to use his Maqi to cast a pir of Astral Ice to push him out of the way. However, he too was surprised when he saw that his ice was crystal blue in colour than the usual white pale ice he was used to. Naturally, Kraft was able to block it but it annoyed him that the ice somehow was able to change its direction at the veryst moment, hitting his scythe when he thought he already evaded it.

    "For an ice block, it sure hit hard." Kraft stepped two feet back to once again sprint towards Jin.

    This time, Jin attempted to conjure his Astral Fire to confirm his suspicions of the change in his powers and it was pure orangey yellow in colour. He felt the Astral Fire was even stronger than he had ever experienced before. Upon seeing the astral fire lit up his opponentбпs hand, Kraft boosted his chi even more and went for a straight dive.

    "Kraft sure is giving Jin some ck despite iming he is going full power," Tsu mentioned as he requested Kiyu to change the view of the Magic Eye Drones to provide them with an alternative view from the side of the bench so that they could see the action from all angles.

    "He is probably testing Jin a little more before being serious. Isnбпt that part of his mantra when fighting? бпLet the enemy think that they are winning before you obliterate them in one shotбп." Kai theorised.

    "Nah, he already went for the kill shot a few seconds back." Rex remarked. "While it was a simple swing, the chi imbued would have been enough to cut Jinбпs head away from his body. But the Panda had managed to evade it quite a few times despite seeing his No Mercy Scythe for the first time."

    "Even I was stabbed a few times the first time I fought against him. His ability with the Scythe to slow it down, only for all of that momentum to spring forth in thest moment is just too evil. Kraft is even able to extend the range at any time he likes. Truly a weapon that seems to defy physics." Ixel rolled his eyes, remembering the times he got stabbed in practice.

    "For a cultivator of the panda styles which are generally known for their power than evasion, he sure understands how to escape most of the attacks," Ixa said as she too decided to take a small pack of ch.i.p.s to eat. Seeing that the fight had moved past 10 seconds, she believed it was worth something bingeing for. "I would have just destroyed the entire area to stop him from moving."

    "He has his inverse eyes to aid him with his dodging but seeing and fighting at the same time are two different matters especially when Kraftбпs scythe had the ability to distort time and space at the veryst moment," Itorimented while quietly taking some popcorn from Kiyuбпs back.

    "Yeah, Kraft would possibly start using his chi to stop all those evading," Evon added as he reinforced the shield on his side while Kraft used his Scythe to grab a few debris and threw it in Jinбпs direction.

    However, the ice block which he had ignored started to sprout icy spiky offshoots that hindered Kraftбпs movement too and the old fox had to slice them up before moving forward, allowing Jin to conjure his Astral Fire.

    "If hurling basic elements to me is all you got, you better make sure that basic stuff hurt!" Kraft shouted as he had enough of the icy offshoots and used his chi to dismantle the entire block.

    ytime was over.

 Chapter 1152 - Panda VS Fox -Part 2 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1152 - Panda VS Fox -Part 2 -unedited</h4>

    "Damn, note to self. Please test out your powers first when you first obtain them." Jin thought to himself when he found himself surprised that the ice pir and the fire he was conjuring right now was different from what he was used to. When Jin conjured his Astral Fire, he figured it had something to do with the readjustment of his chi and mana circuits because the quality of the element seemed so much different from usual.

    From thebustion of the sma rapidly emitting both heat and light at the same time to the amount of energy that was used to produce this intensity, Jin was wholly in awe with his own magic that it was a pity he could not enjoy admiring it at this current moment. If the past training within his subconscious had shown any results, the new cement of his circuits had finally allowed him to produce the elements he wanted precisely. ??

    No fancy ck, white or whatever colour staining his elemental energy. Just pure chi and magical power coursing through his veins and into his palm without any difficulties conjuring it out. The rigorous training from the past two weeks to utilise his entire chi and mana circuit to create his particr fire energy had paid off. Even the Ice Pir he shot out was done in a breathбпs cycle which was a feat to behold if it was made known by maniptors of ice from both schools of cultivation and magic.

    After Kraft destroyed Jinбпs living block of ice pir, he continued to hold the Astral Fire energy by his hand while waiting for the opportunity to have a good close up hit before dishing the damage out. Given how each of them was high grade cultivators, Jin reckoned that Kraft would simply avoid it if he were to throw it out like a fireball. Of course, he might be able to control and manipte the energy he threw but this was a fight where a slight mistake could cause the battle to tip the enemiesбп favour. This was no ce for any trial and error, and the only thing he could do was take actions that had the highest probability to injure the opponent. Hence, it was best to keep the hit close and clean so that Kraft could feel the pain of his newly obtained powers.

    But Kraft had no idea of Jinбпs drastic change even though he did sense the increase of Maqi from his current foe. So, even as the Old Fox moved towards Jin at a steady pace, he did not bother much since he believed Jinбпs Maqi amounted to nothing especially when he had seen all the fights his master had been in before. However as he was about to rush, he saw a shimmer of the broken ice pir right beside him and that prompted him to have a quick thought.

    "Hmm, even as I do not wish to admit it, that change in colour of his elemental fire does pose a bit of concern if I were to take into ount his previous ice pir manoeuvre even though I had blocked it with my weapon. The strength was considerablepared to the previous bouts I remembered and he is not letting his guard down at all..." Kraft could see that

    Thus, he rushed in once more but this time, with a bit of trick.

    He switched his No Mercy back to gun mode and sprayed chi energy sts with his gun. Once he got closer to Jin, it transformed back into the scythe springing towards the Panda. And as usual, the scythe was beaming with Kraftбпs ominous powers that forced Jin to reevaluate the necessity for a counterattack.

    This caused Jin to hold his fire literally and converted his Astral Fire energy into Astral Rock Energy, allowing him to create a b of rock to block all the iing attacks. Unfortunately, the shots prated through the rock walls and Kraft quickly inserted more of his chi into his Scythe to perform multiple cuts at once.

    It was pretty obvious that Jin had cornered himself in the worst possible way and the Foxes who were spectating believed Kraft would im first blood in this fight.

    But the System did not indicate any deaths or injuries and when the dust settled, it revealed there was no blood there on sight, forcing Kraft to stay on his toes.

    "Oh did Jin burrow his way out of danger?!" Kiyu squeaked excitedly as she was surprised Jin found a way to escape. The slight rumbling everyone eventually felt confirmed that something wasing out right from Kraftбпs feet given their keen senses.

    And then as the ground erupted, the spikes zoomed right into the target without mercy, causing Kraft to smirk a little...until he felt a stab at the side of his shoulders.

    It was an astral energy projection of a knife and Jin was panting with a peace symbol behind the b of broken walls. The Foxes at the bench were bewildered by the change in battle.

    "Ohohoho! First blood goes Jin! This is quite unexpected!" Pei pped and the others were discussing what happened. The only deduction they could make was that Jin dug his way through the ground upon evading the series of attacks and subsequently returned to his original position without portraying any Maqi. Or perhaps he had spread his Maqi underground to confuse Kraft while he crawled his way back to the surface.

    "That eruption was most probably a dyed Maqi Explosion. But to keep Kraft from even detecting his whereabouts... thatбпs surely a feat to be proud of." Kai nodded with approval.

    "Yeah, but it wasnбпt as easy as you made it out to be," Tsu pointed at the panting Jin.

    "The important bit is that he injured him first. That would surely infuriate Kraft." Pei smirked and was happy Jin was able to do something to get that high and mighty fox off of his high horse.

    "Yeah, but wonбпt that just mean that Jinбпs end will be far more miserable?" Evon shook his head and immediately pitied Jin for trying so hard to score a hit. While Kraft had indeed been treating this fight as a sort of spar, suffering this first strike changed everything.

    "You..." Kraft dropped hisckadaisical attitude. Using his chi to destroy the astral projection of the knife, he just stared at Jin for a bit, a mix of emotions in his eyes. Eventually, he took a deep breath and started to unbuckle his long coat, only to throw it aside.

    While he still looked professional with a grey office shirt and ck tie, he was ready to hunt Jin until he apologised.

    The lights began to flicker a little and suddenly the entire room was filled with Kraftбпs chi. A low grade cultivator would have instantly fainted if exposed to this much power, with the possibility of death imminent since the Old Foxбпs chi practically condensed the air, making it hard to breathe.

    A middle grade cultivator on the other hand would be gasping for air and whether they could resist the atmosphere would totally depend on their own chi maniption capability.

    As for Jin, who would have to be considered a middle to high grade cultivator, he did not have any problems with the change within the room. While he might be panting hard, it was because he had exhausted his new powers to cover his tracks to the point he became invisible. Now that he did not have to do it, the shortness of breath subsided and he was ready for round two.

    Noticing that his chi aura did not do anything to Jinбпs constitution, Kraft emitted his emotions into his chi aura, turning it even darker purplish in colour and unsightly in some way. That itself was vexatious to those who were s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to chi and made the dungeon supplier even more aware that he was not to be trifled with.

    However, Jin was barely affected by the foxбпs taunt and he decided to attack Kraft straight on. He believed that his only option would have been to endure the fight until the System was able to ovee the hack. For the longest time, there had been no way for the Astral Panda Cultivator to even leave a dent against his sadistic opponent.

    Frankly, Jin had thrown the astral projection of a knife more out of pure instinct and curiosity but knowing that the Fox could be injured changed the Pandaбпs n substantially.

    Sure, the System User clearly understood that each and every fox he had contact with were powerful beings, especially when he had watched the rey of the destruction of the Paradise Prison in Demopolis but...

    If they could bleed, then they could die!!!

 Chapter 1153 - Panda VS Fox -Part 3 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1153 - Panda VS Fox -Part 3 -unedited</h4>

    "JINNNNNNN" Kraft shouted as he raised his hand up. The Chi within his hand caused the ck purple aura he emitted to solidify right in front of him. Multiple spirals of the ck aura spun around Kraft and Jin could sense a consolidation of Kraftбпs powers taking shape. Teeth andter the shape of a mouth could be seen until the multiple chi spirals began to grow a body out of the chaos. As expected, silhouettes of foxes were conceived out of the chi spirals and they squeaked before instinctively zooming towards Jin.

    Their movements were incoherent as they swooped past Jin andter attacked him from the back. The Astral Panda Cultivator tried to evade them but unlike normal bullets and chi projectiles, they did not seem to stop. Whenever Jin moved away from them, they would merely swirl to the side and continue to follow their target.??

    It appeared as if they were to possess some level of бпintelligenceбп, at least enough to follow up with the attack and the only way Jin could stop the attack was to either block it or dispel the purple fox silhouettes entirely. To make things worse, the aura that Kraft emitted around Jin seemed to thicken and more of those fox silhouettes emerged whenever the Panda tried to put one down to rest.

    "Ahhh... good luck to Jin. Of all the attacks and techniques, Kraft had decided to use his signature technique against him. Our young little Panda is in a terrible mess right now." Kiyu pointed out as she recognised the technique that Kraft had pulled out as he smiled happily at the side.

    ck Mist of the Fox Graveyard.

    One might say that he named the technique by harnessing his sadness and loneliness he had once experienced. As the name suggested, Kraft had created it as a sort of tribute after he became thest remaining true Fox n descendant. As long as the Chi generated mist around Jin was around, the creation of those fox silhouettes was only the start. It was the foundation for a series of techniques that he had coined as the бпGraveyard Comboбп.

    Remembering the origins of this technique, Kiyu couldnбпt help butpare the twobatantsбп history. One had been blessed with the luxury ofpanions on his journey to fulfil his personal goal of bing the Number One Dungeon Supplier whereas the other... his path had been riddled with difficulties, pain and the loss ofpanions which had ultimately led him to a great sacrifice.

    The Panda had an ever growingpanionship while the other kept losing his allies until he trusted almost no one. Sure, things changed with time and Kraft could have grown a little more wiser but as long as this technique existed, it would serve as a grim reminder of the sufferings the Original Betor had endured during his prime.

    Perhaps the chance to fight Jin had not stemmed out of sheer boredom or an бпitchбп to fight, but from a long suppressed jealousy towards the good luck he had never been privy to in his own youth. There was a sort of bitterness within him that had never been resolved and the only way to keep it in check had been to бпentertainбп himself, to get what he wanted through any means possible.

    "Behind that mask of mischievous smiles, Kraft probably just wanted someone to resonate with him and have a friend with equal standing," Rex spoke solemnly and almost every single fox turned towards Kraftбпs бпbrotherбп, hoping he could provide some rification. Rex had always been one with little words, and small talk about Kraft did note by easily even after he became king of Demopolis. Despite the fact that everything else with regards to him seemed to have calmed down and his rage for the System had subsided, Rex still broods several scars that were kept even from his fellow foxes. Hence, this revtion of Kraft was so that they could understand their бпkeeperбп a little better and not hate him for the things he did previously to them, like making them part of his arsenal.

    "I will not deny that I too felt that I might be the closest to him considering the deadly battles we went through. The thick and thin, blood and sweat, the mountains and seas. We hid and ambushed, iming both victories and losses but in the end, I had just been arade in arms, a means to an end for him. To defeat my Father, the Panda Lord." Rex exined.

    "After all, the two of us had been resurrected to provide the Panda n with a chance to get revenge and return it to its previous glory. Instead, by breaking this taboo the System of that time had created far more internal strife and had forced all of you to get involved. It was at that point, the System was uncontroble in my opinion. So keep this in mind. No matter the oue of this particr duel. Life goes on, the System will continue to grow in strength with Jin and make sure that we keep it in check once in a while."

    "We understand." The foxes said that two words in unity, something which had never urred for a very long time. Rex nodded his head with a gentle smile and looked at the broken expression Kraft was showing when he fought with Jin.

    "In my heart, all I had felt had been anger and rage for having been betrayed while he had struggled with loss and grief. It pains me to admit that at those times I did not think of Kraft as a brother as much as he considered me to be his, because each of us had been focused on our agendas. Still, I would reminisce that the things we did were nothing short of memorable." Rex nodded his head while he momentarily thought about the past even more and the rest watched the battle in anticipation.

    Sadly, recollecting the past was meaningless to both Kraft and Rex as the battle had taken a sharp turn towards Kraftбпs advantage. The consistent harassment of the fox silhouettes eventually wore Jinбпs senses down a little partially due to the exposure of Kraftбпs chi despite the Panda Cultivatorбпs ability to shrug it off initially.

    Some of the fox silhouetteбпs attacks connected and wounded Jin by grabbing hold of him. The Panda Cultivator realised that if he were to stop even for just a moment to remove them away, he would be bitten by another two more fox silhouettes.

    Thus, his only way to stop this was to do something simr to what he had done in the innards of Orochiбпs body. By exploding himself with an .u.mtion of Maqi. The only difference from now and then was that he had full control of his Maqipared to the limited quantities he had been able to summon forth in the subconscious ne.

    Hence, with a quick breath in, he discharged his Maqi throughout his entire body while causing an explosion to ur by mixing a bit of explosion magic, astral fire and lighting Maqi into it. The entire room shook as if there was an earthquake within their midst but they could clearly see that Jin was able to dispel the mist for a while.

    "Do you really believe that my mist would dissipate so easily?!" Kraft questioned with a sadistic grin as he powered the ck Mist of the Fox Graveyard technique into the next stage of his Graveyard Combo.

    The ck Hurricane of the Fox Graveyard.

    The dark purplish mist around Jin instantly swooped towards him, catching him in the chi technique and Jin could already feel multiple bites gnawing at him as he tried to withstand the attack. At the same time, he could feel his body getting weaker not because of theck of Maqi but rather the debuff the second stage of the Graveyard Combo was inflicting.

    "Not many could handle this but even if they could, can they handle me attacking them as well?!" Kraft smiled widely as he once again shot his No Mercy before turning it into a scythe, heading towards Jin with no mercy in thought. The situation was entirely skewed to Kraftбпs benefit and the foxes also agreed unless Jin decided to not just use his Maqi.

    But this was a fight to the бпdeathбп, right?

    And that means Jin had other items at his disposal to ensure the fight would continue until one of them dropped dead. Another explosive burst of Maqi was sent out to stop the projectiles from reaching Jin while dispelling the ck hurricane for a moment. Jin did know that it would not stop Kraft from charging him but he needed just a second to do what was needed.

    To equip his System Rider Belt on and fight with his might.

    "I hardly use you but I guess, itбпs time to show that fox who is actually the master of Graveyards, Half Ghoul Lord Derek!" Jin shouted as he performed a sleight of hand and shoved a card into his System Rider Belt, calling forth the Zombie Lord to merge with him.

    System Rider Zombie.

 Chapter 1154 - Panda VS Fox -Part 4 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1154 - Panda VS Fox -Part 4 -unedited</h4>

    "Hahahahha! So much for it being a one on one fight!" Kraft inedбп as he watched the transformation of the System Rider. He was aware that technically this was still бпjustбп Jin he would be fighting since the System Rider merely allowed the Dungeon Supplier to borrow powers from his minions.

    But even though he felt a bit unfair for Jin to change into System Rider Zombie, the Original Betor allowed the transformation to proceed without any interference. After all, he was curious how the new Rider would look and it would give Kraft a bit of insight on what to expect from his challenger. ??

    For the Zombie version, the System Riderбпs armour was simr to the original design of System Rider Panda but there were purposeful cracks within the armour with signs of the nano suit being greenish and mouldy in nature. The Mask that Jin was wearing had a red eye on his left instead of the usual ck eyes and the chin was dyed with blood. It was as if the System Rider Panda itself turned insane and deteriorated into a Zombified Panda. Unbeknownst to Jin, even the posture of System Rider Zombie was somewhat hunched as if he became feral from the possession of the Half Ghoul Lord Derek.

    Derek stormed the front when it finallypleted its transformation and mmed Kraft who identally kept his guard down when he watched the transformation scene in its full glory. "That was not very nice when I gave you my full attention, Derek." Kraft said as he tried to shake System Rider Zombie away when Derek managed to catch Kraftбпs left arm and bit it. Nevertheless, that annoyed him and forced the old Fox to increase the intensity of the ck Hurricane of the Fox Graveyard even further by emitting even more chi, causing System Rider Zombie to be blown away.

    As the hurricane winds continued to exist, it started to rot the walls and caused the lights to be flickering and it was to the point that one would wonder how much chi Kraft was able to dish out a room wide damage and debuff technique for so long. (Even scarier was that this was just barely the second stage of his Graveyard Combo!) In the meantime, the Fox merely healed his wound before it festered and brought more problems which made the System Rider Zombie even more cautious of a more powered up Kraft.

    "Now I can see why you summoned me." Derek smiled as he unsheathed Jinбпs twin swords with a hardened grip. He even poured some of his own magic to make sure that the swords had a bleeding effect if they happened to cut the foxбпs flesh. But before the System Rider Zombie was able toplete its enchantment, Kraft did not hesitate to emerge right at the side of the System Rider to engage with him in a closebat melee.

    Thankfully, with the Half Ghoul Lordбпs natural endurance as a zombie, the constant debuff Jin had started to suffer from became a minor issue and this would have enabled his master to withstand Kraftбпs onught. Even as the Zombie wielding two swords were rather unwieldy due to its feral stance, the Riderбпs movement was rtively unhindered by the ck hurricane, allowing him to stay on par with Kraftбпsbat prowess.

    "Sorry to drag you into this, but you are the only one who will help me resist his debuff magic and rot powers," Jin exined as he came to the front of his consciousness to take control over the System Rider while Derek was pushed to the back momentarily. He had already analysed that the ck Mist of the Fox Graveyard was not just reducing his capabilities magically but he could physically feel the deterioration of his body when exposed to Kraftбпs chi.

    "Now I understand why Kraft kepting to me and talking about necromancy and its other counterparts. It seems that he had dabbled quite a fair bit of it himself. Thanks for taking over, I was not much of a frontline fighter to begin with." Derek did not mind the back seat and in fact was relieved to hand Jin back the reins over his body when Kraft came in contact. To the Panda Cultivatorбпs dismay, the swap of consciousness came at the nick of time, forcing him to experience the pain of receiving Kraftбпs Scythe attack.

    He could feel his arms dislodged momentarily and had it not been for the Vampire Bones in his body, as well as the aid of the System Rider, he was certain his arms would have been cut off instantly from the blow.

    Suddenly the hurricane turned menacing as more fox silhouettes emerged to hit Jin as well while he exchanged blows with Kraft. Seeing how Jin was covered from top to bottom with living armour, the old fox became even more relentless with his strikes.

    Each time his scythe attacks did not connect, it gathered more chi energy from the surroundings, enabling the next attack to be even more destructive against his victim. Jinбпs only saving grace was that Bam and Boo were swords made by the System. Although it considered them to be failed products, any other weapon would have snapped into two by now.

    It was pretty obvious that the entire situation was to the advantage of the fox no matter how one would look at it. But as things were starting to get grim for Jin and Kraft getting more c.o.c.ky with every slice stripping bits of living armour away from Jinбпs System Rider suit, the Astral Panda Cultivator went back to the basics. He used his Panda Swipe against the No Mercy Scythe using the back of his swordбпs hilt to knock Kraft away from him.

    Kraft smiled knowingly, his gaze telling Jin that he had expected this scenario. The next moment a skulk of fox silhouettes flew from behind Kraftбпs back in the opening that Jin had intended to use and struck him hard. The System Rider was severely knocked back until he crashed into the wall. The skulk of foxes immediately merged into one giant fox head and bit Jin on his torso. Its fangs bit through the Living Armour and into the sides of Jinбпs body.

    As the Panda Cultivator was in shock from the knockback, he could not retaliate immediately against the Giant Foxбпs bite. To make things worse, Kraft closed the gap and emerged from his side, swinging the Scythe right towards his immobilised master.

    All of the other foxes were ironically on the edges of their seats, hoping Jin could get out of the situation even though their gut feeling told them that Kraftбпs revenge for losing first blood to Jin wasplete elimination.

    "It would take a miracle to save Jin now," Evon said about what was on the mind of every fox.

    Kraft swung his scythe, already looking forward to the sight of Jinбпs lobbed off head, yet contrary to his expectation his weapon got stuck in the wall, something that should be impossible. Unable to slice through it, there was only one exnation for it.

    "F.u.c.k you, System! How DARE YOU intervene now?!" The Old Fox shouted with rage as he looked towards the ceiling, his eyes glowing with a dangerous glint, the chi aura in the surroundings took on a darker hue, getting closer to ck.

    This was because this particr dimensional instance was made by the System and while the System should be impartial in every fight and argument, this was the first time in a long time that it had intervened for the sake of its user. Still, seeing how Kraft had yed a fast one by activating an executivemand and overwriting the Userбпs orders, payback was in order, it was a matter of when.

    "Wow, you really managed to jinx-" Before Kiyu could finish her sentence, Evon grabbed the popcorn from her bowl and stuffed it into her mouth, preventing her from saying anything else. The rest chuckled a little but subsequently turned their attention back to the fight.

    These were the only few chances Jin could get and he better make use of it or else, what the System had done was for nought.

    "Thanks..." Jin ced his hands on the Giant Fox silhouette which continued to бпnibbleбп on his torso and a streak of Astral Lightning sted the silhouette into nothingness. However, Kraft was not going to let Jin go that easily especially after he finally got him immobilised.

    Just like Jin, he wasnбпt limited to just his primary weapon. He materialised a 12 gauge short barrel shotgun, with miniature fox cravings on the wood handle and instantly fired it off. Instead of pellets, this time it was a string ofser beams flying towards Jinбпs head.

    Kraft figured that even if Jin wanted to counter it with his Panda Yawning Beam, there was no time for him to even activate it. As much as Kraft would like to finish Jin with No Mercy, the final strike would be Just Business.

 Chapter 1155 - Panda VS Fox -Part 5 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1155 - Panda VS Fox -Part 5 -unedited</h4>

    The continuous barrage of attacks, the revealing of the second weapon, and the huge difference in power. No matter how one look at it, there was really no way for Jin to win. He should have savoured the first blood as a win and called it quits. But if he continued to struggle any further, it would be pointless...or that was what went through most of the Foxesбп minds.

    Just as it seemed hopeless for Jin as spectated by the rest of the Foxes, the Astral Panda Cultivator pulled a stunt that caused Kraft to wipe his smirk off his face and leave the foxes to learn not to underestimate the fusion between Jinбпs and his minions.??

    The System Rider Zombie did not only have the capability to resist debuff magic and rot, the Half Ghoul Lord Derek who was in the backseat of Jinбпs subconsciousness the entire time was keeping a trump card to aid Jin in a predicament like this.

    The ability to regenerate.

    Nope, it was not that overpowered for Jin to regrow his brains once again. when his head got blown off. Instead, the zombie within him used its power to grow a head in recement of his by pushing his neck forward and sprouting an entirely new brainless head, allowing Jin to бпevadeбп the beam attack from Just Business. By sacrificing Derekбпs newly grown head out of the System Rider suit, it was able to give Jin some time to recover his consciousness.

    "Hahahahha!" Kiyuughed while holding onto her stomach, seeing how Jin managed to escape death once more with the aid of Derek. The foxes were surprised that the System Rider pulled such a whacky cheap trick against Kraft.

    "It takes a trickster to outy another one," Tsu said as he nodded approvingly for Jin to keep his cards close to his c.h.e.s.t until the right moment.

    However, it did look extremely grotesque for having two heads on the System Riderбпs head, especially when the new grown head was a zombie. Still, regardless of the looks, it was effective in keeping Jin alive and that was what matters in the fight.

    Those extra seconds that Derek bought for Jin gave him the time to stabilise himself and Jin took a deep breath to push himself out from the wall. (After all, he was stuck in it initially after the knockback.) Kraft remained vexed by the entire situation as he conjured another skulk of Fox silhouettes from his side andmanded them to assault him once more. But this time, the skulk seem way deadlier than before and the number of spirits lurking within the skulk made it looked as if it was an infestation of fox heads in one lump of chi aura. Perhaps, Kraft did not matter on the looks any further and wanted a quick shot against Jin before he could perform any other counterattacks.

    But since Jin now learns this new ability from Derek, he instantly ced his hands together as if he were praying but in fact, he was concentrating his Maqi to his back where the living armour separated from each other allowing Jinбпs Maqi to take shape.

    Soon, he summoned forth a series of zombie hands from his back like some zombified thousand hands Buddha. As Jin stayed in ce to keep himself steady, those zombie hands grew continously from his back and started to stretch out to counter the iing lump of fox silhouettes. Jin even prepared another batch of zombified hands to grow from his c.h.e.s.t in case the first batch was unable to stop the silhouettes in their tracks.

    This was especially vital since evading was not an option with the nature of those fox silhouettes and Jin had to stop this while he prepared his counterattack. And that was by powering the multiple zombified hands with Maqi, hoping they could prate through the fox silhouettes. Thinking that those hands were merely an extension of his body, his Maqi burnt through the zombified hands and released continuous waves of energy to stop the fox silhouettes.

    However as strong as it sounds, it was only destroying a few of those fox minions under Kraftбпs control before it had been thoroughly obliterated by the strength of the Old Foxбпs chi.

    To make things worse, Jin seemed to forget that he was in Kraftбпs ck hurricane technique and when the old Fox thinks that his skulk of fox silhouettes was not working, all he did was perform a swipe of his hand into the air and the piercing ck winds that were surrounding Jin instantly бпcarriedбп him to the centre of the dimensional instance where his audience was hanging about. At the same time, Kraft was able to destroy the conjuring of those zombified hands and took the opportunity to summon yet another skulk of fox silhouettes from the other side of the room and sent them to Jin as he was in midair.

    "Gah! This wind is just ridiculous. I had enough of this!" Jin thought to himself as he once again immersed himself with arge amount of Maqi and allowed himself to blow up again. While the explosion happened, zombified hands flew out of the explosions impeding the swarm of silhouettes going towards him as a source of distraction.

    Even as the crowd could not see what was happening after the explosion of Maqi, the magic eye drones which Kiyu had employed rushed to see what Jin was up to especially when it was equipped with X-ray vision, infrared sensors, and other motion sensors to keep track of Jinбпs movements. Unfortunately, some of the nearby magic drones were also being blown back by the Maqi explosions and Kiyu required time to relocate the nearby drones to follow up with the development of the battle.

    "Bahh! So sorry for the bad image quality. Could be because of Jinбпs high intensity Maqi and Kraftбпs stupid graveyard chi that resulted in quite a fair bit of distortion in the uploading of information. Usually those magic eye drones shouldnt be affected by anything but if I were in that chaotic aura, I think I might breakdown too" Kiyu apologised when the footage the fox spectators were looking lost connection for a moment. Hence, she tried to adjust the magic drones with her Pandamonium App but it did not seem to work very well. (It felt a little intentional in her opinion but it was just a hunch.)

    "Its fine, the imagery is back up again. Oh ho. It seems like ...another minion is going in our little Panda." Ixamented, interested to see which transformation Jin was about to handle since his movements indicated the disengagement of the System Rider belt, allowing him to insert a new card in.

    "You think I am gonna let you do what you want? I had enough ying around, especially all those misses. Your fighting style irritates me to no end." Kraft suddenly whispered at Jinбпs ears and the belt broke into two mainly because the Foxбпs scythe pierced through Jin from the back. As awkward as it sounds, he literally sliced Jinбпs b.u.t.t into two by piercing his scytheбпs de right in the middle. And as soon as Kraft was done talking to Jin, he pulled the scytheбпs handle upwards and cut Jin into two.

    The Panda Cultivatorбпs body fell to the ground lifeless, his organs working overtime from the rush of adrenaline were sttered everywhere and Kraft swung his scythe once more to remove all the blood that was on it. He was waiting for Jin to disengage from the System Rider Belt so that his slice could be a clean one. The living armour would no doubt make his attack a little harder to perform such a brute force but ultimately Kraft felt satisfied that it was a fatality scene.

    All he had to do now was to wait for Jin to respawn once more since he programmed the dungeon instance this way and inflicted punishment on him again.

    "Booo! Booo!" Kiyu shouted from the bubble offort. "You yed cheat!"

    "What do you mean I y cheat? I yed by the rules, didnбпt I?" Kraftughed while raising his hands up.

    "You know that most cultivators would not be able to win against that Shade Teleport." Kiyu threw a thumbs down towards Kraft.

    "He used his System Rider Belt to the maximum effect, why canбпt I use my skills? Shade Teleport is after all an essential tool of mine to move around anyways. How else could I scare people without it?" Kraft continued to act arrogant in the face of victory.

    "And were you that ignorant that I have seen this move way too many times to not create a counter for it?" Kraft could not believe his ears when he heard Jin whisper right beside him. But even as he tried to move, it felt like there was something restricting him.

    Chi powered Spider Webs.

    That alone was enough to jolt Kraftбпs memory that Jin had a transforming spider in his possession but still it was not possible. There was no Systemбпs voiceover of him transforming and the chi aura was indeed Jinбпs when the fox stabbed him with No Mercy.

    "Impossible!" Kraft said as he could see the tip of Jinбпs katana at the side of his stomach.

 Chapter 1156 - Panda VS Fox -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1156 - Panda VS Fox -Final</h4>

    Kraftбпs mind went into hyperspeed for a moment, forcing itself to look into the Systemбпs logs without checking the Pandamonium App and noted that Jin was indeed still alive and there was no death for this particr round at all.

    The old fox himself would be lying if he did not say that he panicked a little especially all the devastation that he did to crush Jin with all his might.??

    "Grow!" Jin shouted and his sword was like the ice pir previously, sprouting miniature metallic branches and spreading out to Kraft at multiple spots immediately. The Astral Panda Cultivator wanted to expand its Maqi to aim for all the major chi points so that the Fox would be unable to continue producing such a high volume of chi.

    But even if Jin was unable to pierce and choke the major acupoints, his sword was still enchanted by Derekбпs magic and it was able to inflict an abnormal bleeding status that the Old Fox should not be able to clear with the usual cleansing chi methods.

    On the other hand, Kraft still had no idea how Jin survived but the process ultimately did not matter since he only cared for the end result. Thus, he decided to bring his Graveyard Combo to the third stage.

    "Fox Graveyard Domain: The Land of the Scars"

    As soon as he did that, the concrete ground suddenly sullen and cracked, pieces of tombstones emerged from the abyss and were raised into existence with the might of Kraft. This was not his final stage of hisbo but it was deadly enough to send a mid-high range cultivator to and back from hell. The tombstones were eerily poignant and yet they did not seem to be a decoration prop for this particr stage of Kraftбпs Graveyard Combo.

    Kraft eximed as he held on to Jinбпs Bam and his sword started to vibrate as if it was scared of Kraft. The Astral Cultivator somehow could feel the swordбпs fear and instead turned Bam into a knuckle to avoid Kraft from messing it up but that was enough for the Fox to swing its elbow backwards, hitting Jin at his mastoid and causing him to be mmed back once more.

    Furthermore, Kraft was no longer ying nice. He knew that the System could possibly interfere once again in this particr situation and so it was time to suit the flow of the battle to the Original Betorбпs way. A graveyard tombstone shaped in an obelisk suddenly emerged from the wall in the direction of Jinбпs knockback, with the intention of piercing Jin into the tip of the tombstone.

    There was no other way to block the attacks than to eat it upfront and to top it off, the sheer pressure from the piercing rendered Jin helpless. If that was the end, Jin could have regenerated with his vampire bones and legendary inscription within him regardless of the pain he was suffering but Kraft believed he knew all the powers up the Panda had and decided not to let chance y its part in this battle.

    Additional Graveyard tombstones appeared and each of them had inscriptions on them. From simple curses to extreme death magic, the inscriptions lit up as they were activated by Kraftбпs chi powers. (Or rather the fox silhouettes which he summoned andmanded possessed those tombstones, to activate them.)

    At that point, whatever magic that one would have experienced from a simple fire ball to an abyssal meteor, all of those inscriptions were on Kraftбпs Graveyard and the Old Fox activated every one of them, turn by turn, making sure that Jin was killed thoroughly. As if Kraft was killing a vampire with infinite regeneration, the old Fox did not allow any dy in the attacks and they impacted continuously, aiming from the top of his body to the bottom. The Obelisk also s.u.c.k.e.d the Maqi out of Jin to make sure that there was no way he could retaliate.

    He did not care whether he was being cut into pieces, lost a pinky and left a toenail. Kraft made sure that he was destroyed to the end of times and asserted his dominance that he was the Original Betor, one that should not be trifled with.

    But even with all these forms of magic attacks, Kraft was unable to stop the bleeding done by Jin and despite the terrific powers of the Graveyard, there was no magic that could assist in his healing. He did think of putting a healing inscription or two in his third stage of the graveyardbo but he felt that it defeated the purpose of his Graveyard theme.

    So, he shrugged the thought and waited for his magic to wither every visibleponent of Jin off from this dungeon instance until he felt the unspeakable once more whispering to him again.

    "Are you sure that you are killing me right?"

    This time the sword was not in his stomach but a slit through his neck with the help of his sword Boo. After which, Jin did the very same trick with Bam.

    "Grow."

    The sword once more sprouted metallic branches in a chaotic manner, piercing the Old Foxбпs wounds once again. However if one were as observant as a few of the foxes, they saw that the metallic branches were not attacking randomly but instead at the very same spots which Bam had wounded before.

    Boo too had the enchantment from Derekбпs magic and the wounds festered even more which caused Kraft to finally s.u.mb to his injuries. It seemed there was no way his standard chi healing methods were working and thus he decided to reabsorb the Graveyard technique to make sure he had enough chi in him to expel Half Ghoulбпs Lord bleeding effect.

    "There can be no way, a bleeding effect can be that potent! How did you even appear right here? I am still killing you as we speak!" Kraft coughed out even more blood as he panted heavily trying to see where that Jin had appeared from. "No. No! I will not lose to some cultivator just like this!" Kraft thought to himself as he held onto No Mercy and inserted whatever chi he could gather to make a final area st.

    With this attack, No Mercy would trace for any chi different from Kraftбпs and attack instinctively with the scythe flying head on, piercing the origins of those chi signature. This was the only thing the Old Fox could think of in order to find the missing link. But as the chi area st subsided, his scythe did not move an inch and Kraft fell to the ground panting, bleeding to his untimely death.

    In the meantime, the foxes in the spectator area were dumbfounded that Kraft, the self proimed high and almighty cultivator could lose... Making the score from the duel an inconclusive draw.

 Chapter 1157 - Jins Lucky Break -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1157 - Jin''s Lucky Break -unedited</h4>

    As the dust settled, Rex removed the barrier to allow the skulk of foxes to check the battlefield. There might be energy remnants of Kraftбпs Graveyard Combo but the foxes were strong enough to bear the brunt ofbo.

    In fact, if there were any other minions or even the Sub System Users in the area, the Foxes believed that they would have been eliminated almost immediately. The odd thing was Jin was not бпthat strongбп even with a supposed grade up and they wondered how he could survive the third stage of Kraftбпs Graveyard Combo which would pose a problem even to the Foxes themselves. Rex instantly disposed the rest of the residue energy with his own chi, purifying the dimensional instance so that the other foxes could breathe easy too.

    "This is indeed a surprise. To have a draw with that old fox was not an easy feat at all even though we know that he was still pulling his punches against him." Pei said and the rest agreed when the two of thepetitors remerged back into the dimensional instance, brimming full with life and lots of questions in their minds.

    "How the hell did you even manage to survive my attacks!" Kraft shouted as Rex ced his arms through the old foxбпs armpit and restrained him from moving towards Jin.

    "Why should I even tell you about it when you never mention to me about this Graveyardbo technique that you have?" Jin said but honestly, he felt lucky the n he created on the spot had worked miraculously well.

    When Jin was surrounded by the ominous chi aura that Kraft produced, the chi explosion that he made was to give him time to disengage Derek from the System Rider to get a new minion into the System Rider Belt so he could deal with the pesky aura but he figured that it was the Rider System that was protecting him all this time.

    Even though the Living Metal armour which was embedded through Jinбпs body was not of a consequence to Kraftбпs attacks and strikes, it was still an obstacle for Kraft to ovee should he wish to chop Jinбпs head into one. So, Jin believed that if he were to trick Kraft and get an attack in if he were to y his cards correctly.

    The trump card he had was the powers he acquired with the grade up that he recently obtained upon diving into his subconsciousness. However, the only problem was that Jin does not know how to use it properly because he never tried it before even though his mind, his soul and body know of the technique.

    Orochiбпs Substitution

    Many had known that the eight headed serpent had the ability to grow back its head was no brainer but Jin was able to use it was a blessing in disguise. Maybe Ming might have known that Jin would need more than tougher bones and innate healing to survive since he only had one chance in life. Unlike the rest who could be killed and resurrected, there was no such option for the current System User and this was one of the ways topensate for it.

    Naturally, as the skillбпs name had implied, this was merely a substitution, a clone of his body where he would hide in the makeshift body. So long as Jinбпs dantian core is up and running along with the required amount of Maqi to produce it, he should be able to get it up as many times as possible. The only problem Jin had was the activation of the skill and the limitations of it. He tried to use it when he had the System Rider on but it was not working as intended so he believed that the only way to do so was through disengaging it.

    And thus Jin had decided to use the chi explosion as a cover up so he could allow the technique to take over his body before Kraft attacks him again. After all, there had not been once the old Fox used his shadow step strike that he always used to creep up on Jin so there was a possibility he could have kept the move until the most crucial moment.

    So just as Jin disengaged the System Rider, he activated Orochiбпs Substitution and snakes literally came out from his orifices (Letбпs not imagine the one that came out from his b_u_t_t hole...) and immediately wrapped around his entire body, substituting it with a fake body with the same amount of details on it. The only difference was that Jinбпs soul was hiding in the dantian core and thus had to disy even more Maqi to control the body.

    That was how unbelievable it was, to trick Kraft into thinking that Jin survived the attack.

    However, the battle was still a draw mainly because of what Kraft had pulled out from his Graveyard Combo. The Third Stage, the Land of Scars. As the technique had proven itself to be one of the deadliest in the world and possibly the multiverse, there was no way for Jin at his current grade able to survive the continuous barrage of chi induced magic abilities. But because his substitution was based on the amount of Maqi he had, Jin was able to tolerate some hits before going dark.

    And hence, he activated his Astral Alter, an exact version of himself to finish the job on Kraft, sneaking behind his back and slitting his throat, as just how the old fox would have done to Jin if he had the chance to do so. But upon doing so, Jin exhausted his Maqi reserves and got obliterated by the punishing damage from Kraftбпs extreme magic.

    Perhaps, to Jin, it was payback as well, a tit for tat of all the torturous training he had gone through and for the Panda to get an inconclusive draw with the fox? In Jinбпs opinion, he had won the fight.

    Not to mention, seeing the irk on Kraftбпs face was quite a pleasurable sight.

 Chapter 1158 - Quick PatChapter Up -Unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1158 - Quick PatChapter Up -Unedited</h4>

    As Rex tried to restrain Kraft from doing anything funny, the old fox decided to shadow step away and wanted to continue the duel. But the moment he emerged from the side of Jin, he suddenly felt an immense force that could only belong to his sworn brother, forcing him to be pinned down.

    Suddenly weapons from all the other foxes were aimed towards Kraft as he was being restrained on the ground by Rex and they were pointed to him without any reservation of their strength. Their chi forces were fully activated and ready to ughter Kraft if he were to continue.

    "What are you all doing? Arenбпt we all foxes?" Kraft said he tried to expand his chi but was subsequently suppressed by Rexбпs and the rest.

    "When we said enough, it is enough," Rex said as he mmed the tip of his sword right in front of Kraft. The swordбпs edge was close to slicing Kraftбпs nose into two and with that, Rex summoned picked up No Mercy from the old Foxбпs holster and held it down to his ear.

    "Itбпs a draw. As much as the System would lie to side with the User, it does not lie with the results." Evon reiterated so you had to stand down, considering that you already created the mess for Jin to clear up.

    "Yea. We know you meant well for Jin and the rest of us while being yourself. Just that erm... keep it down a notch for the friendlies and bystanders? They do not deserve your wrath especially when they are innocent to it. And bring it up when we are dealing with our enemies?" Kiyu said as her weaponised fan tapped on Kraftбпs cheek. At the same time, she ced a calming spell on Kraft, hoping that it would quell his unusual rage.

    "Then the jury spoke. Even though it is a draw, we should follow Jinбпs method and stop this madness from going any further. We can deal with religion thingy in some other way." Kai said and the rest agreed to it.

    "Thank you, guys." Jin said as he immediately summoned the System to order the entire seven city armies to return to their own cities but with apromise. As much as he despised Kraftбпs methods, he did not want Kraftбпs operation to go to waste. Before teleporting them near their own cities, they were all given a shipment of vitamin Cs as cebo medication to aid with the stomach flu virus that their citizens were experiencing.

    As for how the armies, citizens and subsequently the Church of the Afterlife would react, that would be a matter which the people had to solve the mystery themselves. When Jin told the System about it, the foxes no doubt eavesdropped on the entire conversation and everyone had a little smile on their face, knowing that the fruit did not drop too far from the tree it was grown from.

    Upon hearing the orders, Kraft understood where Jin was going. As the flu was already ongoing, the armies returning with the antidotes would have many questions to answer but at the very least, the suspicion would be turned towards the Church of the Afterlife instead of the armies.

    But that came with suspicion of how the army was able to return full force without losing any troops since any death would be resurrected back into their citiesбп cathedral, that was where Jinбпstest n came about.

    It was then the System had told Jin previously that the armies were informed how they were defeated and resurrected into Pandapolis City domes. And they would stay in the domes, quarantined from the rest of the world until their purpose was to be served in the Farming World. However, in exchange for their obedience, they were to be given ess to the modern lifestyle which the rest of the Demopolis poption were experiencing within Pandapolisбп main city.

    While it was not all fun and games, the entire seven cities army realised they were dealing with a force clearlyrger than them and it was certainly unwise to fight against them. From the technology Jinбпs counterparts possessed to the work done to create the buildings. (Qiu Yue did give a demonstration of how her Empire Building skills worked and the soldiers were going insane with the speed of construction. And to sweeten the pot, Lynnбпs food was a clear favourite with every soldier, even with the pickest eater.)

    Even if they did wish to invade again, they expected a fight something simr to Demopolis and the System had guaranteed them that the previous battle was of minimum effort on the Systemбпs part.

    "Wow, you sure know how to coerce them..." Jin said and realised that the System was doing its own propaganda since it had predicted that Jin would do something like this.

    "To give credit, Original Betor Kraft did suggest internalising the armies without putting them in our directmand especially since it takes a heavy toll on the Systemбпs бпofficialбп processing unit." The System was trying to ?ssist in bridging the rtionship between Jin and Kraft since it would be harmful if both were to be at odds constantly. Especially when there are too many major things to take care of, it was critical that the both of them were to patch up as soon as possible.

    "System, you do not have to worry about me and Kraft. This fight kinda sorts out a lot of stuff we had internally. In fact, for you to try to patch stuff, it brings a tear that you have concern for us." As much as Jin was being sarcastic, he was well aware of its intentions and Kraft too when he calmed down.

    "Obviously, I need a backup n for our бпmasterбп. I actually wanted to finish this stomach flu virus operation before hees out but it looks like he got the right to call it off as the matter unfolds." Kraft released his hand upwards, surrendering and telling the rest that he was sane enough to not do anything stupid.

    "Then, all we can hope is that the armies will seed in their endeavour to join us when the timees in the future." Jin hoped that this entire ?ssault against the Demopolis had thwarted the Church of the Afterlifeбпs effort to send discord and not bother them for the moment.

    "My gosh, after so long and still that na?ve thinking? I mean who are we to kid? If Kraft suggested this, that means those generals would have been under themand of the System." Kiyuughed at Jinбпs stupidity and walked off along with the rest of the Foxes now that the show was officially over.

    "Then, letбпs focus on other agendas, particrly the fight for Farming World," Jin said and Kraft shook his finger.

    "As much as we have the upper hand in the situation. The Seven Cities situation isnбпt done. We got to hit back hard when they least expected." Kraft said opened the Dungeon World map. If anything, the calming spell had done to him, it was to dy the inevitable for the release of his anger.

    And he was precisely going to do so by aiming at a major city owned by the Church of the Afterlife.

 Chapter 1159 - The Real PatChapter Up - unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1159 - The Real PatChapter Up - unedited</h4>

    "I am not going to have another city under my control. There are too many things on my te to take note of. Even if I can give one to thepetent minions, that would also mean I have one more minion on administrative duties. Until we have the System with sufficient processing abilities capable of handling the cities, I suggest we stop taking any more cities in." Jin sighed as he knew that he could not control the old fox misbehaving again.

    "I know. So, all I am going to do is to raid them big time. A tit for tat for the shit they throw at us." Kraft said as he immediately raised his hand, summoning out his tablet and stylus pen started to look at the Dungeon Worldбпs map to check which city was worthy of an attack.

    "Who are you going to use? Most of the minions are preupied with their own stuff. The Goblin and Orcs are aiding with the repairs for the Southern City since a bulk of the Southerners are training in the бпdistant indsбп to get ready for the fight against the Farming World. Can we really afford an attack right now?"

    "My boy. We have the resources to take over your world if needed and also as long as we have booze and money, we will have soldiers to call upon." Kraft said and Jin shook his head vigorously.

    "Of course! We have the resources to probably take over the world! And letбпs bring out all of the crazy minions to y! Allow every Original Betors to rampage! Let the entire world burn around us!" Jin eximed and Kraft pped his hands with joy even though he knew that Jin was being sarcastic.

    "No seriously, what is your n to attack a major city if you really want to." Jin decided to entertain the Old Fox so that he could be worry free. (Although Jin felt that he was merely ying into his hand once again.)

    "We got the Aljun Cityбпs mothership, the System and our research team had been analysing it. Even Rei said that we could use their schematics to create our very own air nes." Kraft said and Jin looked confused.

    "Donбпt we already have air nes of our own? Those C-130s Artillery and such." Jin asked and Kraft snickered while shaking his hand.

    "No no no my little panda. I am looking at nes that are simr to the Flying Fortress we stole from Aljun City. The science fiction- fantasy kind of airships. You know? Those WarHammah kinds of space ships?" Kraft said as he showed a picture to let Jin familiarise himself with the concept.

    "THOSE ARENбпT AIRSHIPS OR AIRPLANES! THOSE ARE BATTLE FLEETS!" Jin shouted with dread, confusion mixed with excitement while also feeling faint. He could not believe Kraft could even think of this up.

    "I also stole a few schematics so that we can modify and build our own mother ships without the burden of reverse engineering it. We will then show this world what is meant to be called the flying fortress." Kraft remembered how he enjoyed being the fake auditor of the base and everyone literally bowed to him because of his astute criticisms and praises. (Without a doubt, he stole quite a lot of secrets without them knowing.)

    "Do we need such a motherlode of a crystal to get it done?" Jin questioned since he remembered reading how the Flying Fortress of Aljun City had a giant ?ss crystal to power everything.

    "What are you talking about. We have Lost Tech experts in our midsts and they always wanted to use one particr item, the Lost Tech engines. Itбпs basically like a nuclear reactor that powers on up with magic....and erm your sludge from what Ist heard."

    "Huh...?" Jin was taken aback for a moment and Kraft had to say what he mumbled once more.

    "Yes! YOUR SLUDGE! YOUR SLUDGE! We need your sludge to power it up. Somehow it is the substituted ignition factor they had been missing for all this time!" Kraft said and Jin understood why the old fox bothered to take his time to exin everything to him when he would usually leave when the time was right.

    "I see. So I am guessing that you have enough sludge for now given the current supply within System but if things go well, you will need more of my sludge to get the whole operation to run?"

    "I am not taking a no. With just one flying battleship, all I need is the Demon Army from Demopolis to operate it and vo."

    "Why...donбпt you just take Stalingrad- erm I mean Lord Wolte with you? Isnбпt that much simpler? Last I recalled, he now has the ability to hover over the sea and dive into it too."

    "Well, thatбпs my backup n if you continued nning to be an ?ss with me and discordant enough to not provide me the sludge after we fought," Kraft grumbled and Jin could see that he was a sucker at apologising and making up despite the age he now is. "And I do not want to owe him anything, I much preferred to have my own battle fleet under my own name."

    "You just want to be a captain of your own... How greedy can you be."

    "Says the person who wants to take over the world with virtual reality dimensional instance."

    "That is -urgh never mind. Fine, I guess I can provide some provided that you follow my conditions. Else, I am telling the System to confiscate the rest of the sludge production." Jin decided topromise and use this opportunity to patch up with the Old Fox.

    "What conditions?"

    "Hit thergest resource hub they ever have and hit hard. Take every possible resource and soldier you can find. Now that we released the seven city armies, we have to prepare for the worst should the bulk of them decided not to return to us. Thus, we need to be aggressive with our solution as much as I hate this idea. But since they are our enemy, this will also reduce their chance to counterattack when we steal soldiers away. But leave the civilians alone if possible."

    "Do not worry User, the Dungeon World had always had a rule that the civilians were to be teleported away from the city f?r??b?? by their dungeon core unless they wished to fight." The System said and Jin looked at Kraft with him trying to control his smile.

    "But you know we do need manpower if we were to fight with the Farming World. A city worth of defence forces isnбпt cut out for it. Maybe if we add the civilians, they could do the support that we need to..." Kraft tried to hint at Jin that he could do something about that particr rule the System had spoken and Jin stared at him for a moment.

    "Nope. My conditions are absolute. Resources andbat manpower. You take the citizens, and that would be an excuse of war which the Church of the Afterlife would go after us forever." Jin was strict in his request and Kraft decided to take up the offer.

    After all, the conditions were more than enough for him to rampage.

 Chapter 1160 - Tree Mall Owner Meeting -Part 1 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1160 - Tree Mall Owner Meeting -Part 1 -unedited</h4>

    Since Kraft was finally happy with his new agenda, Jin can finally concentrate on the business side of his job. People were still ted with the storeбпs current event as the Demopolis raids were continuously raking money for Jin not to worry about the health of his store.

    Instead, he was rather concerned with the current Tree Mall owners and how they cope with the influx of peopleing into the area. But more importantly, the thought of bringing in more revenue into his wallet. Even though he rejected major brand and retailpanies, they were relentless in their offers and even up their quotations just to have a piece of Jinбпs Tree Mall, specifically because of the crowd he brought in.

    Apparently, it all started because an owner within the Tree Mall Owners had leaked the details about the amount of rent they were paying for and it was one of the cheapest within the district. And even with the constant rejections, the major retailpanies were pushing for more incentives just to have a presence in this uing new major shopping location or possibly hub.

    Jinбпs Pandapolis Hotels, which were separated away from the actual Pandapolis Domes and the main city, were also flooding with cashpared to the hotels within the vicinity and because of that, the rest of the hotels had topete more creatively to get their customers. However, it eventually became a non issue when Jinmenced his huge raid events because it was instantly heavily advertised by the various hotels to attract people to try out the dungeon instances by giving substantial promotions.

    But this was also sufficient for major chain hotels like Hillton and Shangria hotels to started applying leases in the area. Yet, the more surprising thing was that these hotels were looking into getting a patch ofnd not within the Tiangong District, but inside the Tree Mall.

    Aye, their scouts and business spies had individually seen and experienced the wonders of the Tree Mall and being an iconic business location, they could see how the Tree Mall might eventually be the centrepiece in boosting Shenzhenбпs economy to the next stage.

    That was also one of the reasons why the Tree Mall owners were a little jittery since all these major brands could potentially break their business if Jin was too engrossed in earning profit and hence the meeting for Jin to calm them down.

    ---------

    All of the Tree Owners were around for the meeting as invited by the System and they were all present within the Conference Room Instance because they had the capability to employ Jinбпs penguins and other бпcopiedбп minions to do their jobs efficiently without much supervision. When Jin came in, the rest of them greeted him simultaneously as if he was the big boss in the room and that caused Jin to be taken aback for a moment before sitting right at the centre of them all.

    Yes, he finally get to have a big boss moment when the rest of the store owners sat along the sides of the long conference table. It was a little scary at first but the constant minion meetings which he had (and the dinner meetings with his betors and Sub System Users) kind of got him to fit right in almost too quickly that some of the store owners who were eyeing him thought he was a natural at it.

    "Thank you for taking time to have this first ever Tree Mall Owner meeting. Letбпs firm up the agenda and have this meeting done as quick as possible so we can carry on with our businesses." Jin said but the mixed rice stall owner, San Sun immediately raised his hand and objected to Jinбпs way of handling the meeting.

    "Boss Jin. I understand that you are busy in your own store too, especially the volume of customersing in but I believed todayбпs meeting will be touching on a few delicate issues that should not be overwritten quickly with just minutes and notes. A fairly thorough discussion should be put out for the owners." San Sun said and the other food stall owners hastily nodded their heads in agreement as if they were threatened by the rumours and gossips that were floating around the Tree Mall for some time.

    "Basically, we heard rumours that major brands and super giant retailers are aiming for the spots in Tree Mall. From food franchises to major shop franchises. They all want a piece of this Tree Mall because of the booming dungeon supplier store that you have." Lai Fu, the Boss of Fresh Price said bluntly that everyone has been wanting to say. But as blunt as his words are, they were the truth even though they knew that ultimately the Landlord was Jin and he could do whatever he likes with his Mall.

    Besides, he was the one who had decided to cover most of the expenses for their shops and while they wished to be grateful for the hand that feeds, they were all business people who always wished to stretch and grab every opportunity there were given.

    But Jin was no longer that young innocent boy he once was.

    Upon going through many encounters with devious schemes and cunning people, the only people he would trust are the people under him and his System. It was a wed way of thinking since those minions were under the control of the System but that was why he put that much faith in them than these business people who were willing to bite the hand that feeds if it benefits them.

    "And so?" Jin leaned backwards and sat simrly to how Kraft usually does. Furthermore, his demeanour in his newly changed business shirt and pants gave the impression of power to the entire group. The rolled up sleeves, his new rimless sliver spectacles, the gel up hairstyle and that white t-shirtplemented his office wear. (After all the fight with Kraft nearly made him shirtless!) It instantly reminded them that he was in charge of the Tree Mall while not being very overpowering about it.

    Plus, if he wants to, all Jin needed to do was kick them out and bring in the major brands, making what they fearede true.

    In any case, Jin had also checked that the shops had already earn sufficiently within the past few months that was equivalent to what they could have got if they were to remain status quo in the old Tiangong Shopping District for ten years. So, if Jin were to kick them out, he did not have to do it with a heavy heart since they already earnt more would have.

    Also, Jin had the upper hand in this particr situation.

    Upon allowing them to rely on the dungeon dimensional instances and copied minions like the penguin NPCs who were considered to all rounder staff, it made them verycent. (Moreover, they would lose the connection of the Pandafull delivery system which were bringing in a hefty sum of profits into their coffers.)

    As much as Jin does them things with his own goodwill, he had purposely tied the convenience perks into the whole shopping ecosystem and made the owners dependent on his help, allowing the Landlord of the Tree Mall to have an upper hand in any negotiations if there was one.

 Chapter 1161 - Tree Mall Owner Meeting -Part 2 -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1161 - Tree Mall Owner Meeting -Part 2 -unedited</h4>

    "And?" Jin questioned with a stare that only made everyone contemte the worst case scenario. The store owners, who knew him a few months ago, thought that he changed into someone greedy for more money. They worried that he was no longer the same Jin who wanted to protect the local store businesses anymore.

    But the change was natural since maintaining this Tree Mall should not be an easy feat and there was indeed so much space in the mall for more tenants to enter and open their business. This way, the customers in Jinбпs Dungeons and Pandas could possibly spend more time in the tree mall. In fact, the current Demopolis raid event had seen more tourists, in particr, cultivators from all over China during the weekend to spend time and try out the dungeon raids.

    It was no doubt still the main star attraction of the Tree Mall that allowed the rest to prosper and now that Jin appeared to be using his influence to steer the meeting, the business owners decided to change their tune a little.

    However, San Sun was a little too dense to notice the changes and demanded more information on the future of the Tree Mall. Jinбпs stare subsequently got imbued with a bit of Maqi but he had forgotten that most of them were low level cultivators and that bit of Maqi was enough to bring shivers in their pants.

    "Scared for a moment?" Jinбпs stare eventually turns to a slight smile towards Shen Si Fang, the supposed chairman of the Tiangong Shopping District Committee and owner of Lele Tower Cafиж Instance. Because of the possible changes, the store owners once again revived themittee to ensure fairness had been struck among the store keepers. He initially wanted to calm Jin down and tried to mediate between the headstrong San Sun (Although he was shaking a bit from his seat) but the smile gave Si Fang a huge relief.

    "Yeah. I thought you would go evil for a moment and cut San Sun where he was standing." Si Fang replied and Jinughed at that prospect.

    "Alright. Hereбпs the rationale from my side. There is no denying that having those majorpanies would be a big boost to our finances." Jin wanted tomunicate with the owners so that there was some form of understanding between thendlord and the store owners. Thus his starting sentence had already sent the rest of the store owners to the edge of their seats.

    "With the dimensional technology on my side being stable, the Tree Mall is now capable of holding a seemingly infinite amount of stores if I were to do it. If possible, I would like the Tree Mall to cover the needs of the customers. Anything and everything. From furniture, cars, banking to daily essential needs. Heck, I can even introduce supply warehouse facilities as dimensional instances so that this could be a hub to procure items."

    "So, just by renting a space to the major brandpanies would drastically increase the poprity of this area and we can have even more sales than usual because dungeon cultivators are statistically mainly males while the females could perform their shopping." Jin continued his rationale. "While this is just a generalisation, there is still some truth to it and you store owners have frontline experience about it."

    "Boss Jin. I have a question to ask." Yu Xiang, who was at the conference even though her parents were the ones who opened the Chinese Medicinal store, posed a question for Jin. Despite the conflict of interest of her being Jinбпs researcher, Yu Xiangбпs parents rather have their daughter attend the meeting since they were quite content with the current status quo. (But many did not know about it, even the store owners) Still, Jin allowed her to interrupt his talk.

    "At this age, there is no denying that the increase in online spending would affect the poprity and presence of this Tree Mall. What are you going to do with that?"

    "That is where Pandafull Deliveryes into y. I am sure the store owners have already seen how their orders are slowly increasing with the Pandafull Delivery and how it is very easy to make the transactions because everything has been done in the back end. My elite team of technicians and software programmers had been working hard to create a new version of Pandamonium App that would integrate the shopping app portion the moment we push for more tenants to enter the Tree Mall. When the tenants are confirmed, the new version of Pandamonium will go online as well to include them."

    "What do you mean?" Yu Xiang continued to ask for more rification.

    "While it is true that the market is saturated with online delivery apps and such, this app is specifically to cater for the stores in Tree Mall. As I said, we are going to own the entire supply chain of certain products if possible. From the supply logistics to be stationed into the dimensional instances to the frontline sales like merchandises and food. If we are able to do that, we have the supply for any demand and it would allow us to be a possible major contender against the big apps... well at least for the local provincial market. We can go national when we can sort out everything else."

    "You do not sound like a Dungeon Supplier at all, more like a business leader. From what we are hearing, you are going to make a Tree Mall into a Business District, capable of rivalling the central business district." Yu Xiang smirked but Jin remained serious.

    "As much as this is out of my depth, I need to expand the facilities of the Tree Mall for some personal reasons. Also, letбпs just say that if I can attract supplies and logisticspanies to my mall, it would directly benefit my dungeons too since I do need resources, especially cash... and those workers would also get to have time to y my dungeons too, which is a plus. Just like how you guys do so once in a while."

    "Well... I cannot deny that. I might not be a cultivator per se, but being able to increase my cultivation through your dungeons has improved my work life cycle." Yu Xiang responded with a slight blush.

    "But you have yet to answer the crux of the subject. What is going to happen to us?" San Sun interrupted, feeling impatient that his -their concerns were not answered. "I guess, itбпs a yes, we are going to be sidestepped now that you are going to bring those major brands in?"

    "Before I say anything that will put that questionбпs answers to confirmation, I am going to clear the air in this room. I am not going to just add major brandpanies to the Tree Mall. You guys have shown that there are still entrepreneurs in this time and age. I will continue to help new, aspiring business owners since rent is practically the lowestpared to everywhere else. Also, that includes those in the food pyramid who wished to have a restaurant instance open, be my guest. I am not going to stop you but be forewarned that the rent would be higher since itбпs an individual instance."

    "Then how would that be-" San Sun was subsequently interrupted by Jin.

    "The rent price would be the same as Boss Lai Fu and Si Fangбпs instances and they are already discounted because all of you are the original generation of this Tree Mall and that is the perk that you will receive. Other than that, do remember that this is still a business. Even though I bought thisnd, I got sries and bills to pay behind the scenes to keep the dimensional instances running."

    "So I am ?ssuming that you are charging more to the new owners?" Lai Fu asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yeap, and trust me. This is going to be a major big project for the Tree Mall no matter how one looks at it. That is why I allowed you guys to have the head start on thispetition. Other than that, itбпs all based on your skills, creativity to survive. After all, itбпs just the market forces at y." Jin said as he believed that the revamped Tree Mall would be the next big thinging for Shenzhen province.

 Chapter 1162 - Tree Mall Owner Meeting -Final -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1162 - Tree Mall Owner Meeting -Final -unedited</h4>

    "Oh and one more thing."

    With the possibility of introducing other stores into the Tree Mall, Jin did warn the current owners that they would not have the same spots as they used to have. Instead, all of them would be squeezed into a one single corridor dimensional instance which the customers can walk through and discover other stores with them.

    This somehow brought distress to the entire group of owners since they know that exposure was an important factor to bring customers into their store instances and if Jin were to do that, it would essentially cause them topete against the rest of the newer stores and thepetition would amount to a near impossibility for them to earn a steady profit.

    The sudden announcement caused everyone to sound their displeasure almost immediately and even Si Fang who was the calmest person in the conference instance felt they had to argue with Jin about it.

    "Is that a problem with all of you?" Jin asked once more and everyone stood up, arguing that it was unfair to them.

    "The new owners would definitely have better dimensional instances than us, more бпover the top designsбп and customers always go for new stuff. If you were to do this, the customers would note into our stores at all!"

    "If thatбпs the case, Iбпd rather pay more rent and get a front line store!" The food store ownersined but Jin did not budge. Instead, he asked him with a very simple question

    "Are you saying that your food is so bad that you need a front line store topensate for it?"

    "You try having other dungeon suppliers to stand beside you and see how you fare!" The food store owner said as if it was a direct challenge to Jin.

    "I will," Jin said as he folded his arm in his seat, staring at the disgruntled store owner and that caused everyone to stare at him for a moment. "I am joining the Dungeon Supplier Symposium which Si Fang rmended to me to get in to test my dungeon making prowess."

    And that sentence alone sent waves of silence throughout the entire room. While it is something out of their sphere of knowledge, most of the store owners knew how the Dungeon Supplier Symposium was considered to be a sh of stores. Major Dungeon Supplier franchises and individual stores woulde together to pit against who has the best Dungeon. Not to mention, those Dungeon Suppliers themselves are the participants and the judges were guests of honour with high importance.

    Although it is a national level event, there is technically no skill requirement to join because the people usually filter themselves out due to the participating fee. It was a whopping 100,000 Yuan to enter and with such a high barrier of entry from the fees itself caused not many dungeon suppliers to participate. That was why those who managed to enter the Symposium were still a force to beckon while some joined because they wished to be noticed.

    The Frontline Games.

    The Frontline Games had been split into international and national levels where the winners of the nationals would subsequently participate for the international level. The Fortress Games as the name states is a series of game modes that had been prevalent in most multiyer games.

    Conquest, Domination, Capture the g and Team Deathmatch.

    All these modes would be furnished by the Dungeon Suppliers who бпwonбп events of the National Symposium. Even honorary special mentions and runner ups could be called to make the modes of Frontline games. And even just by creating a mini portion of the overall dungeon, themission fees from creating them was tremendous because of the major sponsors endorsing the games.

    "The Dungeon Supplier Symposium! You finally decided to participate in it!" Si Fang could not keep the excitement that Jin was entering the event as he turned from an angry chairman to the most supportive chairman one could ever have. His vibes of tion no doubt influenced the rest of the store owners and they started to discuss among themselves.

    Especially when they learnt how tough the Symposium could possibly be and Jin was going to pit himself against the best of the best, the mood changed for the better. They subsequently realised he needed more tenants to fuel his dungeon supplierбпs dream as the poprity of the Tree Mall was also directly tied to creating a name for his store.

    The more people know about his dungeon supplier store, he would not be just a no name in the dungeon supplier scene and the odds of winning the Symposium might increase. And that does not count the amount of money he could collect and pump it into making a better dungeon instance. (Also, the practice in making those new shop dimensional instances for the uing Symposium might be valuable when he epts the new tenants.) After all, making himself a name in the line of a saturated profession was a task of diligence and determination.

    "So, for now. We will close the current instances and ce you guys at the centre of the first floor. It might still be a dimensional corridor instance but at the very least, the crowd would be concentrated on you guys as they get used to the newyout of the Tree Mall. For those who want to upgrade their stores to restaurants, please give me the heads up or else, it would take longer for your restaurants to be up. Is that agreeable with everyone?" Jin queried and while there were mumbles of disgruntled store owners, they reluctantly agreed to it.

    Because they all know that if Jin were to win the Symposium and host the Frontline Games, the Tree Mall would no doubt be the centre of this and they would be part of it. Worry about customers? Hell nah! It would be bustling with so many of them that the only way to stop was to close their shops!

 Chapter 1163 - Meeting Of The Zoo Staff -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1163 - Meeting Of The Zoo Staff -unedited</h4>

    As Jin dismissed the fellow owners, the System was already up and running his mailbox, notifying the major salespanies to have a meeting with him as soon as possible. The System had already allocated a day free from any disturbance and those were the days the sales representatives would appear to discuss with Jin on the tenant proposal to own a store in Jinбпs Tree Mall.

    As much as the Dungeon Supplier wished to do this on his own, the System insisted that this was its speciality and somehow empowered even further by creating another Yun clone to facilitate the management of all the emails.

    "Canбпt you just summon up some other guy or girl? Why Yun again for all people?" Jin asked as the new fake Yun was already sitting at the conference table with a brand new ??ptop and smashing all the keys to reply to thepanies who were prompt with their answers.

    "This is because Yun has a symmetrical body figure, a well sought face and the perfect pitch tone to put the guard of most males down. Also, the System initially figured that since the User already knew that Yun was an NPC created by the System, he would not mind. However, based on yourst response, the System does recognise the Userбпs limitation to spot the difference and did not wish to confuse the User. Thus, the System will make some adjustments." The System stated and immediately cut the hair of the current Yun clone and even ced her mole on a different part of the face while keeping it alluring for most males. Her hair waster dyed brown and her demeanour was more subtlepared to the previous Yun.

    "The System shall dub her as Yun Er (Yun Two in literal Chinese) to avoid further confusion." The System said and Jin felt that the System was missing the point. Perhaps, it just wanted to concentrate on the current task then waste its time performing things that were currently temporary.

    "Speaking of another Yun, how are the Another Jins doing?" Jin said as he had made the System to aid him in separating himself so they could handle other stuff such as the handling of the Cultivation Zoo and the Demon Exorcistsбп Advanced Training Centre. For the Cultivation Zoo, his Another Jin had already created the arena where the animals could fight against each other as well as a simple challenge course for them to run about when the System detects low levels of exercise in their body.

    "Other than the procurement of specific animal foodstuff for the animalбпs rmended diets, the Zoo members which ire rmended had been waiting in the Store Instance for some time now. The System rmends Jin to get them into the fray rather than allowing them to waste their time dilly dallying our shop instance." The System said and Jin sighed.

    "At the very least they should be having more fun looking through the Store Instance than waiting in some room for the бпbossбп to arrive and interview them..." Jin said and gave ire a message that he was ready to receive the new Zoo Staff.

    "Okay, I will send them a text message and inform them to meet you at the Restaurant Train Stop?" ire queried through the System Channel and Jin agreed with the n. In no time, the zoo members came as there were two who were wearing the Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo uniform, allowing Jin to recognise them easily.

    "Hi! Sorry to keep you waiting! Thereбпs one more who is on her way here. Apparently, she got too caught up with the souvenir store. We already informed her to rush to the train stop, double time." The female uniformed staff said and somehow Jin squinted his eyes, thinking he had seen her before.

    "No problems about that, I did not set a time for you guys to be here. And also, sorry but you... look kind of familiar." Jin said bluntly as if it was some pick up line but thankfully the female zoo staff chuckled it off.

    "Thatбпs because we did meet once." The uniformed zoo staff raised her hand out. "Nameбпs Tong Wu. I was the medic who ?ssisted you after your fight with the tiger gangster. That day happened to be my duty as the day medic for the Zoo but my primary duty is to care for the animals."

    "Well...humans are animals too. Thank you for the help back then." Jin said as he shook her hand firmly and even though it was ame joke, it did help ease the tension between the two of them. And as Jin overlooked her shoulders, he too recognised that the other uniformed staff was the guard that was at the Panda enclosure.

    "I am Jiang Song and this is my partner as well as blood kin, Jiang Bo." The Zoo Guard said as he extended his greetings for a firm handshake along with Jiang Bo.

    "I ?ssumed that you are like her? Guard Duty but actually a zookeeper too?" JIn queried and Jiang Song nodded his head.

    "I have been with the Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo for about 8 years or so. Like Tong Wu we have to take up other duties because we know the animals and itбпs easier to control them if they recognise a familiar face. Besides, we are paid well enough to do double and sometimes triple jobs."

    "Not for me. Unlike my brother, I am a full fledged zoology researcher so you can trust me on making sure the behaviours of those animals are well documented." Jiang Bos said and then they could see ady panting heavily while holding onto bags filled with gifts.

    "Sorry I amte!" Thedy said and Jiang Bo introduced her as his partner in research as well as his wife, Kristin.

    "Believe it or not, she is one of the best zoology researchers in Europe. And being able to work with her is honestly an experience that I hope to cherish." Tong Wu said and Kristinughed.

    "You got to be the first zoo keeper that is way interested in me." Kristinбпs mandarin was top notch perfect, with just a tinge of western ent in it. Her appearance was no doubt cast her to be of an eastern European descent and Jin believed that ire had taken in quite a few very reliable Zoo Staff for his Cultivation Zoo.

    "Why donбпt we all grab a quick bite and discuss the things that needed to be done?" Jin asked and they all agreed as they heard a train emerging from afar to pick the passengers up from the train stop.

 Chapter 1164 - Zoo Staff Contracts -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1164 - Zoo Staff Contracts -unedited</h4>

    With a hearty meal prepared by Lynn''s penguins, Jin had discussed with them as to what he would have done to all the other minions. First by showing the contract and subsequently telling them about the System once they have signed it.

    But even in the process of getting them to sign the contract, Jin was shocked by their expected sry. (Despite ire giving him a heads up that they might be expensive.)

    "User, you are indeed getting a good deal considering their skills and experience as well as the knowledge they possessed." The System said even though it knows that the Dungeon Supplier has the resources to buy them thrice over. And when they learnt that the exotic animals Jin had were not just numerous but distinct, Kristin nearly went nuts.

    "I thought ire would have given you the heads up for the types of animals in the zoo," Jin said as he finally had them sign all the additional uses upon them learning the existence of the System. He took the cup of Chinese Pu Er Tea (Fermented Tea) and gulped it down to clear his throat.

    "Nope, she said you would give an infinite amount of grant as long as I demand it. иC"

    "Let''s not forget the equipment needed." Jiang Bo added to his wife''s reply but Kristin ignored him and continued.

    "As long as I demand it for the longest time ever. Considering that this is a brand new field because you are putting real life animals into artificially while seemingly real environment into their lives."

    "A prison actually." Jiang Song added as he continued his bowl of noodles.

    "If I might interject the environment, they are constantly shifting. There is no ''Hey I found a wall'' kind of moment. As we speak, my colleagues (aka Another Jins) are getting other herbivores as rmended by the System to popte the area so that they won''t feel that lonely per se." Jin replied.

    "Then what about the cultivation zoo part, where the cultivatorse in?" Tong Wu asked as what Jin had been emphasising the pristine condition of the animals to not be disturbed and not the main problem of having human interaction.

    "They will be like the Zurassic Zoo movie. In those moveable motorised capsules, less the diesel engines and powered by magic crystals so they make absolutely no sounds. Most importantly, those cultivators would not be able toe out." Jin said as he asked the System to show the pictures of those moving human sized hamster capsules for them to see.

    "Otherwise, the bulk of the customers would be in invisible hovercrafts right above the environment and in case you are worried that birds might crash into them, the flying hovercrafts would be equipped with magic wind crystal to divert the airflow to prevent any crashes. If you like, I can show them to you after this meal." Jin answered.

    "So basically no human interactions? Will those capsules move too close to the animals or you know identally crush any of those exotic and nearly extinct specimens?" Jiang Bo had to ask even though he believed he already had the answer considering that Jin is in possession of an incredible tool at his disposal.

    "Nope. There is a System module that manages the routes and prevents any idental kills. Like motion sensors etc. We will be putting some bugs and insects to manage the flora too but erm there''s a high chance we won''t be able to save those. The System nevertheless will put up a casualty report if necessary. And should the animals be curious about these capsules, the System will force the capsules to a halt and allow the animal to interact with them until it is bored. Worst case scenario, the humans are teleported out of the capsules."

    "So the animals would just have to adjust to this mysterious stuffing in once in a while until they are used to it," Kristin said as she wrote a note on her handphone. "But in any case, this will no doubt be a first in the world of animal studies and trust me, if this works in the long term, that infinite grant you give me would be put to good use."

    "Please stop saying infinite grant. My funds are still limited somewhat."

    "Judging by the store instance that you have, I beg to differ." Kristin teased Jin a little more before agreeing that it is time to see the Cultivation Zoo first hand. The rest had also finished their meal and were raring to see this dimensional instanced cultivation zoo.

    "I shall bring you guys to see a special somebody first," Jin said as he created a portal out but before he could go in, a fast moving creature suddenly came rushing over and out of the portal. Jiang Song immediately reacted by taking his baton out but Jin stood in front of them and halted the creature.

    "Xin!" Tong Wu said as she saw the big giant panda putting its weight on Jin by hugging it. The moment the Panda saw Tong Wu and Jiang Song, it screeched a little with happiness and let go of Jin to receive pats from the two former workers of Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo.

    Unlike Jin, Xin was very well behaved right in front of them and Tong Wu even took out a piece of bamboo shoot out from her storage ring for the Panda to eat. "Yes, you little boy, it''s one of your favourites. Bamboo from Shunan."

    "Shunan?" Jin questioned and Tong Wu answered that the bamboo shoots came from one of the famous bamboo forests in China, known for cultivating high quality bamboo picky pandas like Xin to eat. In the meantime, Kristin was observing the rtionship between Jin and Xin

    "I see. A Spiritual Union had been done. No wonder this panda is so friendly towards you and Shenzhen Province even allows you to take it out of its hands and to your new zoo" Kristin said and Jin looked at her surprised.

    "She can see these unions rather easily. It''s one of her abilities upon achieving a union herself too." Jiang Bo said and Kristin added that Jin b?r?ly even scratches the concept of Spiritual Union.

    "Since you are my new boss, and with the goodwill you bestowed upon me, I will take some time to help you increase the level of your Spiritual Union with Xin." Kristin said and Jin nodded with delight, obviously could not wait to look forward to such a session.

    But for now, they would take a look at the Cultivation Zoo Instance.

 Chapter 1165 - Cultivation Zoo Instance -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1165 - Cultivation Zoo Instance -unedited</h4>

    When they first entered the Cultivation Zoo entrance, the Zoo Staff were bbergasted by an enormous billboard right in front of them. In order to see the full thing, they not only have to tilt their head upwards but also take a few steps backwards to have the whole picture. The imagery of the entire zoo was like a work of art where there wereyers uponyers of information. Where the toilets are, the road paths to animal enclosures, how to ess watchtowers to see the animals from afar, designated rest areas and mini food stops. All these were curated by the System to ensure that the cultivators had sufficient pit stops (as well as additional opportunities to earn extra cash.)

    "This is information overload. Way too much stuff to digest in one go." Jiang Song said as he could not fathom how many ''enclosures'' Jin had installed in his Cultivation Zoo instances.

    "That''s precisely the point. This Zoo is not meant to be done in one visit. I already nned a few packages to make this one of Dungeons and Pandas'' main attractions as well as an annual passбн well with the System''s help of course." Jin said as he felt proud that he finally managed to clear this. "Although I have to say, there are some parts that needed some erm quality of life improvements and my colleague Lynn would be working on it."

    "Stillбнyou want the four of us to watch this entire cultivation zoo instance?" Tong Wu could feel the crushing pressureing down upon her when she now realised the scope of the job.

    "Ehhh, I know I asked this before but once again, I thought you guys were briefed by ire about this?" Jin suddenly felt suspicious how ire was able to recruit them so blindly. Or in fact, had they been so allured by the wages that they believed the job was worth taking? After all, it was indeed rather lucrative especially for Tong Wu and Jiang Song, getting at least five times more than the current wage they were getting as well as a performance bonus as determined by the System.

    Jinter believed it was a make or break decision and they decided to do it because of the money in addition to the exposure they would receive from taking care of fairly exotic animals. But as the scope of their workid upon them at this moment, there was no way to back out after they knew the existence of the System and signing the contracts.

    "We were briefed that this was a job that requires some secrecy and other than that, we trusted ire since she was Chairwoman Yuan''s ?ssistant." Jiang Song also scratched his head, thinking he was doing something more than he could chew.

    "Also the money. I cannot lie about that. With that sry, I can finally clear my university debts within a year." Tong Wu said and everyone looked at her with some suspicion. With a considerable number of years of experience under her belt and she was unable to clear her debt, it kind of made them worry about the kind of lifestyle she was living.

    "бнIf you want, I can help clear your debt immediately but I would remove a part of your annual sry aspensation. The only benefit is that there is no interest rate for me to take." Jin said and Tong Wu''s eyes sparkled while the others instinctively knew that there would be an addendum to her contract to make her stay longer, a strategy everyone rest grasped immediately that Jin''s enticement was a booty trap. But it was not their ce to judge a person''s lifestyle and now all they wanted to see was at least a part of the zoo as a start.

    Thus, Jin brought them to the starting point where the hovercrafts and human sized hamster ball capsules were. Like curious cats, the Zoo Staff instantly went ahead to inspect the interior of both types of vehicles. As Jin had described, the human sized hamster ball capsules gave the person inside the ability to see everything 360 degrees without any hindrance. It looked as if there were no mechanism inside the capsule but everything had been inscription based.

    So, in order to move the capsule, all the user had to do was to walk normally. And the ball capsule would activate and adjust ording to the user walking speed. Eventually, the user would feel like they were walking on air as there was aplex mix of high level levitation inscriptions and movement inscriptions imbued into the ball capsule.

    This allowed the ball capsules to move at high speeds when the user felt like running but in actual fact, there was an invisible set of course the ball capsules could move until they reached their selected enclosure destination. This was to prevent any possible collusion with other ball capsules as well as the hovercrafts.

    Talking about the hovercrafts, as they are to be floating above the animal''s environment, it is an alternative where educational tours could be given to the public as well as allowing the cultivators to have picture sessions from afar. There are multiple windows where the cultivators could station themselves and get pictures. However, there was also a hovercraft where no cameras were allowed and everyone could only sit to enjoy the scenery.

    Also, to prevent any excessive amount of people entering the enclosures, the System and Jin had already devised a waiting area where they were parked out of sight from the selected animal''s environment setting. In return, they were given the Magic Eye''s view of the animals. If they were not satisfied with the magic eye''s capability, they could purchase or rent telescopic cameras from the Cultivation Zoo store and they could partake in the scenes themselves.

    Thus, those avid animal and bird watchers would have the chance to score a sight for themselves while taking those pictures in order to keep them as souvenirs. As for the cultivators, they have the chance to view them and a teleport control was installed to each capsule so they could instantly move to a training hall where they practice their renewed enlightenment.

    It goes the same for the very new Zoo Arena which Another Jin had created. While he did not like the Animal Emperor theme which ire had suggested, it was one of the few ways that the cultivators saw the animals in action and that was the whole point of this particr Cultivation Zoo instance. Naturally, the arena was also insted in a way from the animal''s point of view, they were only fighting against their opponent and nothing else.

    The fighters themselves would not be able to see the supposed overwhelming crowd that saw them fight each other. The animals would be oblivious to their ''surroundings'' and this would provide the cultivators what they needed to see to learn their cultivation.

    "Hmmбн While I condone some of your methods, they are still tolerable since all of the stuff you implemented is to ensure that the animals have their own peace of mind. But how are you going to initiate the fights? They do not usually fight unless threatened by their territory." Jiang Bo questioned as he finished inspecting the hovercraft.

    "Well, I can show it to you when you guys are done trying out the transportation." Jin smiled as he too entered a ball capsule and the System automatically activated it.

 Chapter 1166 - Cultivation Zoo Arena -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1166 - Cultivation Zoo Arena -unedited</h4>

    When they reached the Cultivation Zoo''s Arena. They noticed that the rows of seats were also floating as if they were there to amodate the fight scene. Jin indicated to them that the arena should not be restricted to one particr zone. Rather, when the fight starts, the audience would be teleported to them.

    "This way they can fight in their own territory and they might be more aggressive in protecting their home. It''s like Home and Away teams for football." Jin said but it did not answer the Zoo Staff''s questions until it dawned upon them that there was this celestial supeputer that does things for him.

    "So, the System enrages them?" Tong Wu asked and now she understands why they needed a medic to take care when there was already a supeputer doing all this ''behind the scenes'' stuff.

    "The System does not enrage them per se and instead sends a subtle message to indicate that a fight ising for both animals and the System teleports one of them into the other''s territory." The System replied promptly to remove any usations or ill impressions of itself.

    "That is also why the audience booth is floating," Jin added but the Zoo Staff were confused.

    "You mean, these rows and rows of spectators would be teleported to the said environment for viewing purposes?" Jiang Bo believed that was a crazy feature if it was true but Jin shook his head.

    "Nah, the audience does not move. It''s too much wastage of resources to do that, moving hundreds of human spectators and the floating booths to the environment. It would also cause possible collisions with the current hovercrafts and ball capsules that are in the area."

    "Soбнyou moved the animals instead?" Tong Wu tried her luck in guessing and Jin nodded his head with p???sur?.

    "Even though the System said that only one of the animals teleports, it''s actually the both of them being transferred to the Cultivation Zoo Arena. The only difference is that the animal that teleports in is the visible one. The rest of the territory including the animal had already been transferred to the arena beforehand. So it looks as if the stage had already been set for an aggressor toe in to fight against the animal in his home grounds." Jin said as he gave an example and beckoned the group to look over the rails of the spectator booth.

    It was an empty white piece of concrete at first and in the next instant, the ground started to turn yellow and a few trees grew in ce of it. Despite Jin saying that it''s just a copy of data, the shiftingndscape was too real for the rest of them to believe it was purely 1s and 0s. Only then the animal was transferred along when the background of the arena had beenpleted. And even the transition of the lion was smooth with it emerging out of the tall dry yellow grass of the Africa nds.

    Yes, the Zoo staff might not know this but the current arena battle that would be shown as a live demonstration was a rematch between the King of Animals and the King of Laziness. Lion Vs Xin once more and while this time there were no pack of lionesses to protect their king, he was ready after a hefty meal and some training which he did as part of his recovery programme.

    It does sound weird but since all of the animals were more or less under the System''smand, the System was able to spur the Lion from beating up itself to motivating it for the next revenge match. Jin had a bit of inkling to this particr news and though it would be nice to use this match as the opener for the Cultivation Zoo Instance, he believed it was better to let this revenge match be done as early as possible.

    In a way, he also needed footage of a proper fight between two animals and this should serve as decent footage for Kiyu to manipte and send it out to the public for viewing. After all, now that Bear Cub One has its own stream (Even though people kept thinking it was some person hiding behind Bear Cub One to perform it) and Kiyu being the guest of Bear Cub One which consistently boost its ratings and views, Jin believes it''s a good tform to advertise. And once that is done, he would go for mainstream advertisement too as he believed the Tree Mall has room for improvement when ites to advertising.

    And as the Lion prepared itself for the fight, Xin was already yawning when a portal appeared at the centre of the arena grounds. The panda knew who he was fighting with and did not change its stance, as if it was looking down at the Lion whom he had defeated previously.

    No doubt the Lion took offence at Xin''s behaviour and roared loudly in defiance as if dering that the revenge match would be a swift one. It portrayed some form of chi as lunged towards the Panda without any care for the surroundings.

    Xin instantly sidesteps and gives a swipe of its ws against the Lion while it wasnding but to its surprise, the Lion was able to turn in mid air, allowing it to evade the attack rather easily. Xin then believed there was no easy way to do this and finally decided to go into battle mode as he screeches at the Lion.

    And as the fight progresses, Jin exined to them why the both of them were being so mad at each other was due to the previous unofficial match they had. The Zoo Staff understood and while unconventional in real life, it would be surprisingly effective in a cultivation zoo.

    "This would no doubt increase the cultivation grade of every animal drastically and they might actually be one of the strongest few animals in the world if we do it right." Jiang Bomented and the rest of the Zoo Staff agreed as well.

    "We just have to make sure that the fightbinations are suitable and not of an overwhelming advantage," Kristin added.

    "Great, then I shall leave it to you guys to settle that while coborating with the System for it. I will show you your office once this fight is done and we can call it a day." Jin was delighted that the staff had joined his ranks.

 Chapter 1167 - The Failed Fight -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1167 - The Failed Fight -unedited</h4>

    Just when he was done with the Zoo Staff and left them to their own devices, he heard his name being called when the Dungeon Supplier was strolling through the ever busy store instance of his. At first, he had the illusion that some of his dungeon fans recognised him but he thought otherwise and ignored it. After all, Jin was quite amon name and most of the newer cultivators did not know who was the creator of this dungeon supplier, but rather what this store provides.

    "Hahahaбнunless I am some recognised billionaire like Jackie Ma," Jin said to himself and then for the second time, he heard his name being called out again. So, he decided to entertain the thought and looked back only to be suddenly jumped on.

    However, his training habit kicked in and instantly evaded the attack by pretending to trip from the other side. But the moment he saw that it was Rong, one of the Demon Exorcists that were employed under him. He held back his Astral Maqi and asked what''s wrong.

    Still, instead of replying, Rong continued to try to attack Jin and it created amotion in the store instance. Some of the customers thought it was a new event while others who were around long enough knew that someone was about to start a fight they would regret. Not because of Jin but rather the enforcement Panda NPCing in to stop any nuisance behaviour in the dimensional instance.

    As much as it was heavily surveyed with rules enforced, the cultivators did not mind the strict conditions of y because some even felt safer than being in the streets. Not many knew that Jin had a continuous and beneficial contract with the Tiangong District Police station so any crimesmitted in the store instance would be first punished by the Panda NPCs and subsequently the district police would take over the case almost instantly. It helps that he managed to strike a deal with the police chief to get a pair of police officers to patrol the store instance in return for additional perks for the officers in training.

    This was also because the number of people using Jin''s store instance was gradually increasing and the station could finally not ignore the fact that there were possible crimes beingmitted inside the instance. On average, there were at least one to two attempted thievery per week but all these monitoring by the System had enabled those evildoers to be stemmed out of the instance swiftly.

    In turn, it boosted the reliability and positivity of the dungeon supplier store as some of the users wrote some amazing feedback in the Pandamonium forums. Sometimes, the System on behalf of Jin also sent a mail to every customer not to perform any insidious activities. It also took the opportunity to bring up these feedbacks to not just inform everyone but send a warning to users with potential motives in order to deter them from making such mistakes

    "Stop moving! And let me hit you at least once!" Rong shouted with some agitation and the Panda NPC Enforcers had already emerged in the crowd''s midst. However, Jin halted the NPC Enforcers and decided to take things into his own hands by stopping Rong''s punch with his palm and immediately subduing him to the ground without mercy.

    "Try harder next time. You could learn how to hide your presence better." Jin said and he could see the other three Demon Exorcists rushing to his side with an "I told you so" kind of expression on their face.

    "Don''tбн" Rong coughed as he split to remove the dirt from his mouth.

    "We told you so." The girls said in unison and Jin let go of Rong and told them to follow him back to the conference briefing room instance.

    Upon reaching the conference room, the System instantly refreshes Rong''s attire and they were sparkling new when the Demon Bull cultivator walked in. However, he was too angry to be surprised by the fresh set of clothes and sat quietly at the back of the conference room.

    "What is he angry about?" Jin queried and Su Zhen, the White Snake Demon Cultivator replied that they had no work for a couple of weeks and were pretty aimless.

    "Don''t you guys have any Demon Exorcist work to perform?" Jin queried and Lian, the Qilin Demon Cultivator exined that after the Demon Horde incident, the rest of the demons had been executed by senior members in order to not risk losing any more Demon Exorcists.

    "We tried telling them we had participated in it but they emphasized on the fact that we need some rest." Su Zhen added and the other three nodded their heads simultaneously.

    "Looks to me there is some cover up going on since I heard that Grandma Yuan had been scheduled for retirement," Jinmented and Rong instantly stood up.

    "That is what I had been saying all along, but these people right here are too scared to even investigate. In fact, they are the best people to do so considering the kind of ties they have with the upper echelon of the organisation. Guess, they do not have balls after all." Rong''s outburst was a little terrifying but Jin stared at him.

    "Then what does that have to do with ?ssaulting me?" Jin queried and hoped to change the subject since it was clear that the other three were not taking Rong''s remarks too kindly.

    "Because you as our supposed manager of the branch should have some knowledge behind the scenes."

    "In fact I have none." Jin quickly interjected. "I am a manager by name, and until Ipleted the Demon Exorcists Advanced Training Centre, I was practically cut off from anymunications."

    "Then, what are you waiting for? Why isn''t the centre done by now? Aren''t you supposed to be some talented dungeon supplier to create all these? And shouldn''t you be giving us some job to do?"

    "Obviously, he is busy. Can''t you see that his main priority is still his shop?" Lian, the Nine Tailed Fox Demon Cultivator tried to protect Jin not because of his supposed rank as the manager but as someone being shafted with that responsibility.

    But it seems Rong had a lot of more in his mind until Jin snapped his finger and a portal appeared right beside him. He signaled the rest to enter including Rong without saying another word.

    The Demon Exorcists were reluctant toply at first but given the current situation, the dungeon supplier might have something in store to keep Rong''s mouth shut.

    True enough, when they reached the other side of the portal, the Demon Exorcists were blown away by the scale and magnitude of the new dimensional instance.

    "This isбн" Rong, who was frustrated, suddenly had his mouth hanging in awe and all that anger in him gradually dissipated.

    "That''s right. All your feedback and hard work for going to each and every branch of JODE was not in vain. All those begging and insistence for more information to make the advanced training centre a better ce have turned into reality." Jin said as he teleported them to the top of the Principal''s Tower.

    "This is not just an advanced training centre. This will be thetest JODE Academy."

 Chapter 1168 - Official Employees -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1168 - Official Employees -unedited</h4>

    "Holy damnбн" Rong said to himself as he climbed further up and hung on to the antenna of the Principal''s Office Tower to have a better view of the JODE Academy which Jin had created. Even if he did not see the interior of the buildings, the campus itself was already something not to be scoffed at.

    "Jin, you did this all by yourself?" Su Zhen asked and the Dungeon Supplier nodded his head.

    "Well? Surprised? This is the might of the Boss of the Dungeons and Pandas." Jin said and the rest continued to quietly view the scenery. "The buildings might be up but I needed more information on how each room and hall can be customised. From what I remembered, you guys have a variety of subjects that you guys need to learn."

    "Yes, Traps, Team Formations, Demon Speciality, Chi Magic Forme" Su Zhen was reciting the subjects that needed to be covered, Lian and Lien took the opportunity to jump away from the tower and started to explore the space. Even Rong followed them and Su Zhen quickly stopped her mumbling to join them.

    Even though the corridors and rooms were empty, the Demon Exorcists were excited by the possibilities that could happen in this Dimensional Instance. Demon Exorcists had always been secluded from one and the other because of theck of facilities. They did not make many friends and most of theirrades were mostly political acquaintances. Even under the training of Grandma Yuan, it was mostly done in a restricted area to ensure that there were nomotions.

    With this academy, more Demon Exorcists could finally be inundated into the programme and the dimensional instance might potentially bring a sense of belonging for the group. Not only that, if there were enough space, this particr JODE Academy might even be used for course conversion programmes, allowing junior ranked Demon Exorcists to reach higher heights.

    When the squad had finally surveyed the area, they were all rushing to Jin to give their ideas on how the JODE Academy should be implemented. Jin quietly smiled at their idealistic expressions, knowing how they wish to bring change to the ce.

    "Of course, of course. I will take into consideration all of your opinions but I still have to consult your seniors and most importantly the head council that runs JODE. Without their approval, I cannot even start this ce properly."

    "Ah! Is that why ire asked my mom toe?" Su Zhen remarked and the rest turned to her with a curious look. "Erm, Instructor ire had invited my mom and Grandma Yuan for a Hot Pot stew, dinner at Lynn''s Restaurant."

    "Ohбнis that why you guys decided to pop by here?" Jin queried and the rest of them pointed at Su Zhen.

    "Heheh. In a way, yes. Since my mom wasing, she decided to take this opportunity to officially congratte me for getting into the official ranks of the Demon Exorcists. I figured that I take this chance to splurge my mom''s money to treat the rest." Su Zhen blushed as she blurted out the truth.

    "Oh gee. Here I thought, you guys are here for the Academy." Jin sighed, thinking that either the System or ire had other motives to get Jin to talk to the kids. "But since you guys are here, I guess I owe you all an exnation too." He then told the rest to get back to the principal''s office where he took the opportunity to sit behind therge desk.

    The rest had no clue what this impromptu gathering was about and they were telepathetically exchanging information to see if they could guess what Jin was going to tell them.

    ----------

    "бнYou what?" Rong was still in disbelief upon hearing Jin''s exnation of the System and revealing the entity to them.

    "Soбнdoes that mean, we could have won against you if you had not cheated?" Lian crossed her arms and pouted.

    "Have you forgotten what he said? The System only manages his shop and the rest of the stuff that deals with money. When ites to cultivation, all that effort belongs to him. We lost to him fair and square." Lein, the Qilin Cultivator, replied tofort Lian but he was still uneasy knowing the truth.

    The fact that the four of them had already signed their lives to this System of Jin without knowing the entire situation. Now he understood why there were times he felt that there was some hidden force monitoring him and to a certain extent, prompted him to go for certain decisions.

    "So? What''s your endgame? Why tell us now?" Su Zhen asked, now a little distrustful of Jin, creating the opposite effect which Jin initially wanted.

    "I heard from ire that you guys are not the usual Demon Exorcists because of your cultivation. I did not ask her much information on it but it looks like most of the other Demon Exorcists would prefer not to work with you guys." Jin exined. "And if I am not wrong, that is also one of the reasons why all of you are advised to stand down for the time being even though you guys did not explicitly show it."

    "So?" Su Zhen answered with a question.

    "Simple. Join me for fights. In fact, you guys can go for recon missions for me which the System would provide more information about. And trust me, this is not the usual stuff that you are doing. There will be fighting involved if you all are not carefulбнor well even if you are careful enough." Jin raised his eyebrows and changed his phrases a little to tell nothing but the truth. "And in return, you will be paid well for each sessful mission and once we feel that you are up for it, we will give you harder stuff so that you all will continue to hone your skills."

    "So, either stay on standby forever or do what the official employees of Dungeons and Pandas should be doing while earning some experience and cash. What do you all say?"

    There was a moment of silence before Rong stood up and portrayed his aura.

    "I do not care what lies you said before but I know that you are telling the truth and instead of doing nothing, I am fu?k?n? in."

 Chapter 1169 - Hotpot with the JODEs -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1169 - Hotpot with the JODEs -unedited</h4>

    The rest looked how eager Rong was and they could not help but chuckle. One moment he was angry as the bull chased after the red cloth and the moment he was willing to travel to the depths of hell with Jin.

    Even as the others felt opinionated to the current situation, they decided to stick with Rong as they always have. Even though he was not the leader, what he said made sense. There was nothing the Demon Exorcist could do at the moment with the current stand down orders. However, it was a different thing if what Jin said was true.

    If they could travel to other worlds and they were as dangerous as what Jin had mentioned, it might be the opportunity they were looking for to improve their skills and garner more experience under their belt.

    What''s more, their batch had been ostracised by most because their cultivation requires constant fighting to gain better understanding of their powers and for the cultivators to nuture them to higher heights.

    Grandma Yuan was able to provide guidance mainly because she went through the second world war as a young ?du?t and she knew the terrors of war to replicate the kind of training these kinds of Demon Cultivators had to go through to move up the ranks.

    In hindsight, Jin also felt that Grandma Yuan had purposely ?ssigned them to him because she knew that he was the only one that could further their cultivation in his kind of environment. It might not be the most ideal but it was better than the current demon exorcist scene that the organisation is currently disying. Especially with the recent incident, the demon exorcists were not as trained as the public thought they would be and there had been feedback with much concern despite the JODE organisation resurrecting the Demon Exorcists they could find. (Yes, they could find. Some of the Dan Tian had been broken by the shes against the Bone Spirits that the organisation merely gave apensation package to the affected families.)

    So, with thetest JODE Academy, Jin hoped to improve the image of Demon Exorcists while keeping Grandma Yuan under the employment of JODE. But in order to do that, he needed the approval of Lee Na, the COO of JODE and Su Zhen''s mother. So as he wanted to send the four of them to a mission as soon as possible, they should at least wait till tomorrow since he needed them to be at his side for the negotiations to be smooth sailing.

    "Aбнfine. At the very least, there is something to look forward to." Rong said as he pouted thinking he could go on a mission right here and now.

    "Think about it this way, have a good dinner tonight and start the mission tomorrow with strength. You all knew how nutritiously potent Lynn''s food is, right?" Jin said and the rest all agreed to it.

    --------------

    "Apologies for the self invitation." Jin said as he entered the room filled with the Demon Exorcists. However, to his surprise, he even saw the Chancellor of JODE within the chambers of Lynn''s Train Restaurant Instance.

    "Ah! Chancellor Ma Geбнit''s a pleasant surprise to see you here." Jin said and Ma Ge shook his head.

    "Lein took the chance to invite me here, saying that Lee Na and the rest of the newly officiated Demon Exorcists are having their celebration dinner. I thought I would join in for a moment if they were to allow it. To be able to see you here is an extra bonus." Ma Ge smiled wide as he moved aside and asked whether Jin would like to sit beside him.

    "Its my honour." Jin pretended since he was after all the top dog of the upper echelon ranks in JODE. Of course, he would y cordial to gain his favour as this was the best opportunity to discuss with Ma Ge about the current JODE Academy. However, he had a hunch that the feeling was mutual.

    To his surprise, the Demon Exorcists were not exactly very uptight with their behaviour and ate as they would usually do despite having the ''adults'' in their midst but everything changed when there was a knock at the door. ire came in and she brought along Grandma Yuan which caused the kids to suddenly behave prim and proper.

    Grandma Yuan told them to rx and she sat at the opposite end of the table away from Ma Ge. The rest of the kids were relieved and they continued their hotpot dinner while already saving some of the best ingredients for Grandma Yuan to partake.

    "Su Zhen! You gave Grandma Yuan that and not your mother?" Even Lee Na was a tad jealous by the behaviour of her child.

    "This is because they also treat their teacher as their own parent. (A Chinese proverb)" Ma Ge said but the mood turned a little more serious when Grandma Yuan opened her mouth. Even though she was lower rank in JODE, her seniority still meant something to the upper echelon.

    "I am actually here to talk about the JODE Academy which Jin had created. I waste because I went to take a look myself beforeing here." Grandma Yuan said.

    "Ah yes, I heard from Su Zhen about it and she even took some pictures for me that I felt was surreal. To finally have a full fledged academy of our own in this modern age is not just a feat, but an achievement that will be remembered in the future." Lee Namented.

    "I believed there is more to that since I could not help but discuss a few things with Lein privately beforehand." Ma Ge remarked and it seems they did not wish to beat the bush around Grandma Yuan.

    "I will take the spot as the first principal regardless of your approval." Grandma Yuan stated while she ced a piece of meat in her mouth. She ?ssumed that there would be resistance but as she looked up to see the faces of the other two JODE executives, all they had was approval in their expression.

    "Yes, we like you to be." Ma Ge said with a gradual nod.

 Chapter 1170 - Yuan Is The Principal -unedited

    <h4>Chapter 1170 - Yuan Is The Principal -unedited </h4>

    "Isnбпt that agreement a bit way too easygoing?" Rong asked in the System Channel chat now they officially have ess to it.

    "OOOOOOOO! Hi Guys!" ire said in a very cheerful manner even though her expression was stoic right in front of them. "You all finally have ess to the System! Congrats!"

    "What? You mean this System Channel thingy is not filtered and everyone can listen in?" Rong nearly spit his food out when he heard ire talking through the channel. Lian and Lein tried to cover up Rongбпs expression by asking him to eat slower and even gave a cup of water for him to drink.

    "Not exactly, you can have specific people to listen into your channel but you have to tweak it a little. If you donбпt know how, I can show it to youter." ire said as she stared at Rong with a weak smile, also telling him to ease with the food intake. "There is enough food for everyone, you donбпt have to rush." iremented while putting a piece of boiled pork into Rongбпs bowl.

    "But yes, I did think Ma Ge answered way too conveniently, any kind of hidden agenda, some conspiracy?" Lian decided to try out the System Channel too.

    "Eh... Banzai to the System?" Jin replied while he too was able to remain engaged with the current discussion between the JODE Executive Officers.

    "Holy shit, you mean the System managed to influence him and Su Zhenбпs mother?" Rong was shocked once more and this time he identally knocked his knee to the table which prompted all eyes on him again.

    "I am sorry, I am sorry." Rong said and decided he should just keep quiet for the moment since he was not able to keep a straight face with all the developments behind the scenes.

    "Donбпt worry. I am sure you are equally excited to hear that Instructor Yuan is able to take the post of the First Principal for the newest JODE Academy." Ma Geughed and the rest followed suit even though itбпs a little forced.

    "Does that mean I am able to choose my own teachers and lecturers?" Grandma Yuan asked and the officers nodded their heads in unison once more.

    "No one else is more qualified than you are and with this бпpromotionбп, I believe it is a suitablepensation for your so called early retirement as instructor." Lee Na added andter they found out from ire through the System Channel that although Grandma Yuan is the hero for saving hundreds and thousands of lives, it was not her call to use the young Demon Exorcists to fight the Bone Spirits despite her being an overall in charge.

    It was ironic but it was mainly because in technical terms, Grandma Yuan was supposed to be there as an overseer and not someone whomands the frontlines. Instead, she overstepped her authority as the overseer of the current mission and went forth with the defence of the border cities. Hence, the organisation required a scapegoat to appease the families for removing her instructorship and requesting her for an early retirement since there were no other avable posts for the Heroine of the Border Cities.

    But now that that JODE Academy dimensional instance is going to be up and running, the organisation finally has the chance to use this excuse albeit a risky one depending on how the public rtions department was going to handle it. Also, Chancellor Ma Ge is someone who did not like to take unnecessary risks and preferred to handle his term of Chancellorship with as little controversy as possible.

    Yet, things changed when he entered the System. Both Lee Na and Ma Ge had been partially influenced by the System without them knowing. A ssic trick in the Dungeon Supplierбпs books but a very effective one. It was to the point that Jin even named the current room they were in as "Fortune Changes with the Wind". Most people assumed that these named rooms were just for Feng Shui purposes but many did not know that whenever Jin conducted his bargains and negotiations in this particr room, it had always been in his favour.

    "This particrpensation is not sufficient until the Academy has what it takes to provide the best for each and every student. And that includes the likes of my batch of students here in this room. No more discrimination and everyone and the same opportunity to learn no matter what." Grandma Yuan said.

    "Instructor Yuan, if you can provide me with a list of items that need to be procured, I should be able to work out the numbers and give you a possible estimation for your budget." Jin said and Lee Na looked at him with great interest.

    "You sure? From what I believed, our suppliers have been giving us ratherpetitive prices. Also, I do not believe some of the items that Instructor- no I am sorry, Principal Yuan needs are avable in the current market." Lee Na said and Jin smiled gently.

    "If there is not much of a problem for you, we canpare prices and perhaps, I can procure some of the stuff. But if it is because itбпs a wholesale offer with restricted items to boot, then I would leave it in your capable hands." Jin replied,

    "Lee Na, give him a sample of the restricted items. I saw his supplies before and the supplier that procure the stuff for him might just be able to get it at a cheaper price. Trust me on this." Yuan interjected and subsequently smirked a little that only those who saw her often like Jin, appreciated the gesture.

    After all, this current arrangement was somewhat like a partnership between Yuan and Jin. So, if Yuan could scratch Jinбпs back by allowing him to ess the items in JODE not just for storage and production, but also to use in his war and dungeon instances, it would definitely be a great boost in both firepower and defensive capabilities. (Of course, a little tweak here and there to ensure that it still did not vite their rules.)

    In return, the prices would be so much cheaper and of a higher quality because it is the product of the System, allowing the Demon Exorcists to have a better arsenal for any threats they had to deal with.

    And now, this is what they call a business meeting in their favour.

 Chapter 1171 - In The Face Of Money

    <h4>Chapter 1171 - In The Face Of Money </h4>

    Once the major issues of the JODE Academy had been sorted out, Chancellor Ma Ge took the opportunity to leave the group early while informing Grandma Yuan to find him at her earliest convenient time to sort the minor details. "After all, we canбпt exactly discuss such stuff to potential students for the advanced sses, right?" Ma Ge said and Grandma Yuan agreed to it.

    "I will set a date with your secretary and please be on time as well. I do not have that much to spare to begin with." Yuan replied and Ma Ge chuckled, nodding his head to promise Yuan he would try his best.

    "By the way, Jin. Can I speak to you for a moment?" Ma Ge asked and Jin readily agreed and told the rest he would be back again. Once they were out of the room, Ma Ge took an envelope out of his storage ring and passed it to him.

    "You might not be the principal of thetest JODE Academy but you built it as the capacity of the interim manager for Shenzhenбпs branch. I know that you have your own business to attend to and other hmm...side hustles."

    "Side hustles?" Jin turned cautious a little as he did not exactly know what Ma Ge was referring to. (Mainly because he had countless of them at the sidelines, churning revenue and losses for himself.)

    "Ah, I apologise for the improper term and should get straight to the point. What I meant is the rebuilding of your Panda n. If rumours are true, Grandma Yuan is going to join you as well, right?" Ma Ge questioned and Jin still did not get what Ma Ge was driving across.

    "That expression... Sigh." Ma Ge was wondering if he should even say it straight to his face or let him figure it out for himself. "Alright, I am asking you to reconsider admitting Yuan into your n for the sake of JODEбпs future."

    "Why? Are you afraid that the other Royal Zodiac families would have some opinions of having a Royal Panda n member holding the principal post?" Jin shot back without warning and it ced Ma Ge in a predicament once more. "If you phrase it that way then by putting me as the interim manager of Shenzhen Branch and the builder of this JODE Academy, you are also putting yourself in harmбпs way from the potential bacsh of those families. And trust me, no amount of money would be able to buy this particr dimensional instance off my hands because this is my property. If you wish to, you could have the other dungeon suppliers to try but I could tell you, they would not be able to achieve what I do in a short span of time. My team is that unique."

    "Besides, isnбпt JODE supposed to be a neutral organisation?" Jin shot Ma Ge once more but he too knew that the world is ck and white. The political ramifications behind every organisationбпs backing areplicated and this applied to JODE as well. Ma Ge simply kept his silence before Jin turned his back away for a second as a sign to cool his head before returning the conversation.

    "How much are they sponsoring JODE?" Jin questioned and Ma Ge felt the discussion had diverted a little too much.

    "I believe I am not under any obligation to say anything. The money they provide are from their foundations in believing to keep the world a safer ce from possible demon incursions." Ma Ge gave a politically correct response but Jin was not buying it.

    "I will double the amount of your biggest major sponsor." Jin said and caused Ma Ge to scoff unwittingly before apologising to Jin for the unruly behaviour.

    "As much as I like to think you have a decent business in your hands, you cannot possibly expect me to иC I would not be treated like an idiot even if you are the current Head of the Royal Panda n, Mr Xie." Ma Ge said and Jinбпs eyes were dead serious,

    "How much?" Jin reiterated with his arms folded and unwavering.

    "Sigh, fine. At least 10 million yuan (~1.5million USD) per quarterly annum. If you do not believe me, you can ask Lee Na. She has the ounts and considering you are still the interim manager; I can give you temporary rights to view what I say is certified true." Ma Ge did not know where the topic was going and then Jin instantly took out a cheque book from his storage watch. He beckoned one of Lynnбпs penguins NPC to loan him a table and they quickly brought it out in a matter of seconds.

    "Alright then, hereбпs a cheque of 20 million. If it bounced, thene find me. I can get my guys to provide you cold hard cash if needed." Jin said and Ma Ge dropped his jaw. What kind of business allowed him to have this amount of cash to spare? If he had that much, why was he stopping with just a Tree Mall? Suddenly, there were a ton of questions in Ma Geбпs head that he was unable toprehend the current situation.

    It was not bribery per se but rather, flexing to show that the Royal Zodiac Panda n is not just some copycat n, aiming to reach its former self. With this kind of money to throw around, this is the true and actual power of the Royal Zodiac Panda n! Legends said that they were the economic powerhouse among the rest of the Royal Zodiacs and that the fortunes of the Horse Royal Zodiac would pale inparison.

    And this act of throwing money to the JODE organisation was basically Jinбпs way of telling Ma Ge not to bloody disrespect the authority of the Royal Zodiac Pandas.

    "I...understand. Once we verify your contribution, we will proceed to get the JODE Academy up and running as soon as possible. I will get my men to get in touch with you with regards to the supplies we talked about recently." Ma Geбпs heart was racing and he was not asposed as he should be despite the title of JODE Chancellor. (In fact, he even thought the supplies thing was just a discussion point which he thought he could ignore. But now things have changed drastically.)

    Jin always knew in the face of money, people would bow but he did not expect it to be this potent. Now he understood the true value of the dough the System, ire and the other minions had been rolling in for the past few months.

 Chapter 1172 - Recuperating Losses

    <h4>Chapter 1172 - Recuperating Losses </h4>

    As Jin went back into the room, he saw Lee Na decided to leave early as well. "Thank you, Boss Jin for apanying us. I received a text message from Chancellor Ma Ge that required me to do somest minute work." Lee Na said and waved to her daughter goodbye. "ire, get the bill. I will make sure you arepensated for it. Donбпt forget the receipt likest time."

    "Yes, Mdm. And donбпt you worry. Jin will provide ALL the receipts that you need if I ever lose any of them." ire said and somehow Jin felt some sarcasm from her. When Lee Na felt the room, ire immediately stood up and did not hesitate to have a staring contest with Jin.

    "Tell me. Just tell me. What was that about?" ire asked and the entire group was confused by her actions.

    "I..." Jin had clearly forgotten that the Sub System ountant was in the same dining room as him and now she had some major questions to ask.

    But instead of repeating the question once more, she took out a stack of yuan, a very fat stack of yuan and showed it to Jin. "See this money? How much time do you think you would need to earn this back via your stall? And if I might ask, how much do you think this particr stack of cash is worth?"

    "Erm-" Before Jin could even have a proper reply, ire already took that stack of cash and pped Jin in his face with it.

    "Do NOT! EVER! Use thepanyбпs money without discussing it with me." ire said and Jin immediately went down to his knees and prostrated right in front of her.

    "I am sorry. I thought I would like to show Ma Ge that the Royal Pandas should not be messed with. They wanted to stop Grandma Yuan from bing our Royal Panda n member. They said there will be consequences for allowing her to take up our membership and thus, I decided to throw that stack of money at him and made him listen to us instead." Jin finally exined and ire released a puff of air from her mouth.

    "Fine. If itбпs for Grandma Yuan, then I would let you go for wasting that amount of money." The Sub System ountant said and the rest did not expect ire to be this fierce. "That money could be used for the Farming World but it looks like we need to find another way to fund it."

    "I thought you had investment ounts in the ck Stock Market?"

    "I am waiting for several prices to rise and drop before I could do anything else. Itбпs a waiting game for me and thereбпs no guarantee I can earn back that amount before our fight against the Farming World. Not especially when Kraft had decided to use our funds to have his revenge match in the Dungeon World."

    "Erm... Is there anything we can help with?" Su Zhen asked, hoping to break the tension in the air between Jin and ire.

    "You guys?" ire thought for a moment and then it clicked. "Come to think of it, I believe there is something which you all could do which might alleviate the current crisis created by Jin."

    "What can we do? Is it some raiding mission?" Rong asked excitedly since he would rather do something that could bring some Moh on the table than some boring scouting mission which Jin initially wanted them to do.

    "Hmm... You could say something like that." ire thought to herself and sat beside Jin. "But this is a mission which would need Jin to approve."

    "Why would you say that?" Jin asked and looked curiously at ire.

    "Sources tell me that the Farming World has a gold mine in the Eastern Region. The thing is, the ce is well guarded. And it is solely because that gold mine has unique gold seeds which would allow the mining town to prosper. I asked Gold well as ironically as it sounds to show me a gold seed. He told me that he did not have a sample because it would endanger his entire stash of seeds if that ever happened." ire said and the Demon Exorcists somehow got a little too excited about their uing mission.

    "Is that why the Eastern Region had decided to keep their hands off the current matter? They believed they had enough wealth to prevent the Rat Demon Invasion?" Jin questioned and he knew money could only buy that much.

    "Hmm, on the contrary, their nobles have been living luxurious lives because of that gold mine and do not give two hoots about current world affairs or the peopleбпs quality of living. They assumed that their private army would be sufficient to stop any iing threats and so far it had been working quite well. Especially for the Duke of the Eastern Region. Gold had once said that it was because of the Dukeбпs generosity that allowed him to put seed stash in every region just for political leverage. This shows the amount of power and wealth he has although we know that is insufficient if the Rat Demonse onshore or underground." ire exined.

    "And considering that weck money, having just one gold seed would be sufficient for the System to duplicate it and start growing them. We might need a few samples of their gold product and then we can even improve the purity of the gold before we sell it into the ck market."

    Jin thought for a while and knew that this was his fault to begin with. Thus, he volunteered to go for the mission instead.

    "Aww man, let us go instead! If not, with you too. Besides, I think you have better things to settle than hitting a gold mine." Lian said as she wanted to prove herself like how Rong had the itch to scratch.

    "No," Jin said and both Lian and Rong whined while the other two was visibly disappointed. Even ire had her eyebrows up until she saw Jin continuing his sentence.

    "Scout the Eastern Region first. Prove to me you can blend in easily and learn there are any counter forces. Talk to the Farming Minions and familiarise yourself with their culture, or at least the basic one. Only after that when you guys have a viable n, then I will allow you guys to raid all you want. Is that eptable?" Jin said and it was pretty obvious to ire and Grandma Yuan that the JODE Branch Manager was teaching them an impromptu lesson as well.

    "Yes!" The four of them agreed with Jinбпs conditions willingly.

 Chapter 1173 - Expansion Of The Tree Mall

    <h4>Chapter 1173 - Expansion Of The Tree Mall </h4>

    After that steamboat dinner, all the wants and needs of Jin wereing together. The Tree Mall was epting new upants through batches and they were currently assigned to the first and second floors.

    Small and medium enterprises had set up offices at the far end of the second floor and ess was restricted to their workers and visitors. For a cheaper rent, and the possibility to change their office interior without much money was a boon. So much so that Jin even allowed an interior designpany toe in, taking over the job of designing the interior view for most of the customers. And for a small fee, the offices could change their theme anytime they want.

    Once the interior designers had done their job in agreeing with the office managements, Jin would then proceed to create as what they had desired. This eliminated Jin as the middleman, allowing him to create the end product without too much hassle. He even made it so that once the interior designers were done creating theyout, there can never be any further changes unless it affects the office that would be detrimental to their workers. Else, any changes would be charged as a second makeover.

    It reduced the time needed for Jin to get those office themes up since the System was able to replicate what the designers had already envisioned. And it was a win win for Jin, the middleman and the offices. Because of Jinбпs sudden openness to allowpanies to work in the tree mall, MNCs had started applying as well and Jin бпbelievedбп that they wanted to tap into the potential of the various small and medium enterprises as well as the service sectors in the Tree Mall.

    This was because Jin allowed those major multinationalpanies to enter into his Tree Mall on one condition, they had to aid the small and medium enterprises within the Tree Mall to grow as well. Not by giving them a lump sum of money but a sub contract or else, the rental on those spaces would be significantly higher than the usual.

    He had also revealed to each of the MNC representatives that he was the new uing leader of the Royal Zodiac Panda n and by having a foothold in the Tree Mall meant that they understood the consequences of that particr branch to be part of the Panda nбпs property. Most if not all were shocked to hear this and while most of them needed more time to discuss, a couple quickly acknowledged. This was because thepanies had heard rumours that the Dungeons and Pandas store owner had invested a huge sum of money in JODE.

    Not just that, JODE was well recognised to be something akin to a private military organisation despite their mission to serve the people in ridding the demons and their outward бпneutralбп allegiance to no one had always been used as a strong political statement. However, everyone in their higher hierarchy knew that they would serve whoever was paying them the most.

    Initially, most spectators thought Dungeons and Pandas paid them because of the new uing JODE academy which they had announced but when the MNC representatives realised that Jin was their newest biggest benefactor because of his status as the Panda Lord, they immediately knew that he has strong enough of a backing to lean on. Thus, those MNCs had decided to ce a branch in his Tree Mall.

    One of them even decided to move their central headquarters into Jinбпs Tree Mall and it was none other than Hua Wee. The nearby factory campus had created enough buzz about the Tree Mall that the management decided to ce the headquarters in Jinбпs business building because of the confidence from their employees.

    It was also a perfect move since they had been wanting to push their headquarters closer to their main production campus for some time but never had the chance to do so. Now that the management had decided to put the new headquarters in Jinбпs Tree Mall, the ripple effect of this major move had drastically increased thend value around the Tree Mall.

    However, the Panda Lord was ahead of any other property investors. Because of his newly minted status as the Panda Lord, he had been in talks with Shenzhenбпs mayor as well as thend owners within his Tree Mallбпs vicinity. One could say that he managed to flex his wealth and status to bargain for the surroundingnds in a hush hush meeting. However, the MVP was not Jin who decided to swoop thends around the Tree Mall but Xiong Da, his newly appointedwyer who was present for almost all of the meetings and settled all the paperwork. (After all, he managed to convince those people to take up the offer with the allure of money and charisma. He also did not deny that the cultivation training under Jin worked wonders for his line of work as well.)

    Property investors did not catch wind of it because the transaction was almost immediate with Jin providing cold hard cash on the spot for them in the millions (of Yuan). Thus, a five kilometre radius around the Tree Mall was now under Jinбпs jurisdiction before he started to take in batches of upants.

    As for the development of the five kilometre radius, Jin ced it on halt first since he needed to take care of his Tree Mall before moving on to bigger, loftier goals. But because of the transactions he made, Jin believed he would be able to see returns in less than a year and the profit margin would be high enough to possibly attract foreign investors to develop the Tree Mall even further.

    But for now, he was focusing on getting his Tree Mall upied with both famous brands and local entrepreneurs who wished to have a shot in business. Besides, Jin had the supplies for everything for them to try out, and thus all the new businesses needed was demand. If they do grow big, Jin would like to tap into their business and earn some dividends from them too.

    "Help others and ultimately, they will help you." Jin smiled as everything was going smoothly with the aid of the System.

 Chapter 1174 - New Jins

    <h4>Chapter 1174 - New Jins </h4>

    And even though he appeared to be extremely busy with his upants, most people had forgotten that he was able to create бпAnother Jinsбп to assist with his work. And now that he had Grade Up considerably, the strain on him to produce Another Jins was not as difficult as before. However, the restrictions still yed a significant part where he could not exit the Dungeons and Panda Store without releasing them.

    Whatбпs more was that the newly minted Another Jins were less stupid to say figuratively. Previously, they could only do one task at a time, and the System had to guide them closely to make sure that they knew what to do. If needed, the System would merely merge two Another Jins so they could perform the task with ease before splitting them again. Still, it was sufficient enough for the Original Jin since what he needed them to do were very specific tasks such as bargaining in the ck market along with the buy and sell of goods.

    But now that Jin had grade up in his cultivation, the other Jins were like exact copies of him, with his current knowledge and skills allbined into the copy. So effectively, the System did not need to closely handle the Another Jins and they could still do the work that he needed to do. Once the original user knew the capabilities of his cloning via astral projections, he immediately sped up his workflow.

    He basically became an army of бпoneбп by splitting his jobs throughout the store and even the minions were unusually happy with the change. This was because they usually have quite a load of requests and suggestions that needed to be attended to. Some were very minor requests like the scientists asking Jin to test out some new equipment but some were priority one such as the training regiment of the Southerners and the Farming World war ns updates. Even thetest mission given by Jin to his personal Demon Exorcists was also dealt by Another Jin.

    Furthermore, with the Systemбпs capability to connect and ry information from one Jin to another, the wlessmunication between each clone had enabled the original one to have thetest intel and updates of everything. Suddenly, everything wasing together nice and quick because of the System Userбпs ability to handle and this made his end users, minions and even Sub System Users to be happy with the current dealings of the situation.

    Thus, the Cultivation Zoo Instance was able to elerate its timeline nearer to its official opening ceremony, no doubt with the help of thetest Zoo Team and JODE Academy had already begun enrolling students while the interior infrastructure as well as the curriculum were being reviewed.

    The only time the Jins were not avable was when he was forced by the System to take a quick nap. As much as Jin wished to have a clone to be working on stuff as he sleeps, the System forbade Jin to do so. "Even as the User had the capability to do it, one has to look out for his mental health. The splitting of clones might be perfect iterations of yourself but they remained to be Astral projections. Your body still needs time to rest and consolidate itself before User continues with his usual work."

    Jin could only assume there might be untold side effects if he was not careful and thus, he listened to what the System said and took his nap. Also the nap Jin took would usually be in a capsule but ever since the Panda Cultivator had been able to control his sludge, the System had finally approved him to sleep in his own room. (Obviously it had been renovated to amodate timepression and dtion so he could take this time.) It even teased Jin that he could finally find a proper girlfriend and sleep with her without any issues.

    As much as Jin rolled his eyes, he honestly believed at this certain point of his life, it was not the right time to settle down. He needed to assert himself as the Panda Lord to staypetitive against the other Royal Zodiac families. Not to mention, the time grace which he had was about to end within a month or so. Clearly, he was too busy to think of it since there were other things in his mind.

    And by busy, he meant the continuous creation of the Virtual Reality Dimensional Instance. Even though he has a prototype ready for the Symposium, he was already two steps ahead thinking of the mass production. With the help of Ke Loong, Sea Mesh CEO, he was finally able to get some funing done as well as procuring an elite team of tech engineers through the System contracts.

    Rei continued to work closely with the selected engineers and they provided input in order to make it viable for mass production. It was a huge step forward and Jin (with the Another Jins) had begun procuring those materials en masse to ensure that if it was approved in the Symposium, they would continue on with the global sales. But regardless of approval or not, both Jin and the System were ready to push forward.

    With the advice of the Sea Mesh tech engineers, they had also started procuring the required safety certifications for the prototype. Naturally, the System was already ahead of Jin in manipting the certifications since everyone knew how long and tedious the extensive safety review could be. It was doing just how the System had done for Jinбпs dungeon supplier licensing since most of these бпofficialбп records are in major databases rather than hardcopies.

    And with that in mind, Jin had started assembling the factories Pandapolis for the production of the Virtual Headset. There was no time to hear whether the Symposium approves it or not, Jin was going to proceed with the production. This was because he only wanted to use the Symposium as a tform to flex his work as well as his storeбпs name. After all, social exposure was important especially when he noticed how influential Kraftбпs actions were during the Demopolis Raids.

    Also, speaking of Kraft, that old crafty fox was indeed going to attack one of the biggest cities owned by the Church of the Afterlife.

 Chapter 1175 - Military Coup

    <h4>Chapter 1175 - Military Coup </h4>

    "Why do you even have to bring me with you?" Pei said with some reluctance as she was squatting at the top of a cathedral alongside her nasty coworker.

    "I figured you needed the exercise. Like Jin had not been working out muchtely. All those business models, earning profits and creating some pathetic alternate reality probably tired you out, no?" Kraft said as he took in a deep breath when a breeze blew through them.

    "I thought you wanted to have some fanciful invasion against the city? Like with thetest airships and stuff." Pei did not want to answer Kraft since either way, he would ultimately coerce her to his bidding.

    "Hmm, yea. I thought about it. Itбпs more fun to create havoc by myself." Kraft said with a nod of his head as if he had gone through a phase of enlightenment. "But myself would be truly boring. Having apetitor always spices things up."

    "More likely, you already knew Jin had no money to spare since he had been investing more on his business. Also, the uing war with the Farming World has been ramping up rapidly and you are now penniless, without an army."

    "What? Penniless? Please! My coffers are with Demopolis, and Rex is taking hold of it very well! I told him to invest in the Seven Citiesбп infrastructure and soon enough, I would have sufficient pocket change to build an army of my own." Kraft shrugged off Peiбпs usation.

    "Well, who was the one who resolved the Seven Cities bullshit?" Pei rolled her eyes.

    "You mean who was the brilliant one who started the chain of reactions that lead to this day?" Kraft twisted her words while Pei waved off Kraftбпs bullshit. Indeed, that Seven Cities бпbullshitбп turned out to be a miracle which Jin and Kraft had not expected. (with the help of some celestial intervention.)

    Upon learning the existence of Pandapolis and a new бпgodбп who was able to resurrect them without charging a single cent. The Army Generals were shocked and understood why the Church of the Afterlife had their suspicion in the leader of Pandapolis. Perhaps, there had always been someone or an organisation who were able to have the same powers as the Church themselves all along. Yet, the incumbent had always done what was necessary to root out thepetition.

    But this time around, they did not expect their new adversary would be able to literally hold its fort against them. Not to mention, the armies were not only being resurrected for free but kindness was paid doubly so by giving them amodation and warm food while their new бпgodбп prophesied their return should not be too prompt.

    Because of Kraftбпs devious n to spread the бпstomach fluбп virus in all the cities simultaneously, the armies had concluded that the Church of the Afterlife had either branded them as enemies or wanted to take the opportunity to grab the cities when they were defenceless. (Not to mention some misinformation from the Night Foxes.) The generals who were given the gift of telepathy by their new god, saw the real truth behind the Church of the Afterlifeбпs intentions.

    Furthermore, their god had even prompted his servants to provide the army sufficient antidotes for the particr virus, portraying benediction and salvation for their small and humble cities. It was as if it was preordained by the godбпs oversight to show them the way to the real truth.

    Thus, when the armies had decided to make the grievous decision to perform a military coup to take control of their cities back from the Church of the Afterlife, they found out they were not abandoned by their new gods even when they were outmatched against the Churchбпs Knightsбп armies. In fact, they were resurrected at a safer location near to their fight zone and continued the skirmish against the Churchбпs Knights.

    Even more, they realised that some of the new godбпs servants were in the mix against the Church, allowing them to subsequently have an upper hand in the fight. As the servantбпs assistance was minimal and the coup was mostly their efforts, the military somehow felt liberated from the Churchбпs embrace and imed their city as rightfully theirs. (Because in name, it was their city but in essence, the majority portion of the dungeon coreбпs rights belonged to the Church.)

    And as they heard the words of their new God through their ears when the armies turned victorious, they cried in joy as all their God wanted the exact opposite from the church.

    They can have full reign of their own city.

    But because these citiesбп cultures were predominantly about honour, all of them instinctively became servant states for Pandapolis, in hopes that their cities would have the same benefits as Pandapolis does. And now, Pandapolis and Demopolis were taking swift action to establish a foothold in those cities the moment their protection bubbles came up.

    "I am surprised that the System had been talking to them behind our backs without consulting any of us. In fact, I AM surprised I was not the new god they all had been raving about."

    "If you have a voice telling you stuff and everyone hears the same thing, there is no doubt about it being a higher power." Pei shrugged her shoulders. "In fact, by establishing the System as the one true god made even more sense than making Milk and Peppers their new goddesses. They are toozy and irresponsible to do such a thing. But as servants of the true god? That makes more sense and freedom."

    "Bleargh. Fine, I agree that the System handling the godponent is way better. None of us, even me, would have bothered with each and every petty request to be fulfilled in the near future." Kraft surrendering the thought of being a god. "Besides, itбпs time for the System to do some work of its own. It had been relying on us way too much."

    "There you go. d to hear that you have sorted out your problems with my consultation. Besides, you donбпt need to be a god when you still have your own group of followers which brings back to the point. WHY. DO. YOU. NEED. ME?" Pei asked once more as the Night Foxes could be seen emerging in every roof in the vicinity and that made Kraft chuckled hard.

    "I said it once, and I will say it again. Stop being a poor sport and have some fun!" Kraft said as a wave of his fingers and the Night Foxes disappeared, merging themselves with the shadows of the night.

    He then stood up and extended his hand to Pei. "The series of military coups which the System single handedly prompted had made history in the Dungeon World but also incurred some serious deficits in the numbers. Care to earn some profit? Loser got to buy the winner a weekбпs worth of dinner."

 Chapter 1176 - Extra -The Ivory Tower

    <h4>Chapter 1176 - Extra -The Ivory Tower </h4>

    Pei stared at Kraft for a while but instead of agreeing to it, she queried what he was about to do. "Nothing much really. My foxes and I are going to hit their vaults as anonymous raiders. This ce is essentially their bank. Many armies and adventurers had always challenged it."

    "Doesnбпt that mean their security would be as tight as that Paradise whatever prison in Demopolis?" Pei asked but she did not want to use her powers that much if possible. Just a warm up exercise would have been fine.

    "Hmm yeah. From what I heard; they are quite infamous for creating abyrinth that spirals underground too. Remember what some of the Demons said? The Church of the Afterlife introduced that concept to build that prison." Kraft said as he took Peiбпs hand without her permission, forcing her to move along with him.

    "Wait- a minute!" Pei startled for a moment before she stabilised herself from Kraftбпs quick leaps before forcing him to release his hand and followed unwillingly behind his back. "Then, what is that tower right in front of us? It seemed to spiral endlessly to the sky." The white ivory tower looked simr to one of Jinбпs buildings in the Inds Instance which heter hoped to implement in the Virtual Reality Instance.

    "Oh. You have to go through the underground first before going up that tower. Itбпs kind of like you reached the bottom level and then you go up. And as usual, greedy people tried to skip and wanted to crash gate into the higher portions of the tower. The funny thing is, those adventurers merely dissipated into thin air." Kraft exined.

    "Shouldnбпt we be at better position to enter from the top? I mean those adventurerбпs power level could not match with us a single b-"

    "A few of the Night Foxes gave it a try but paid with their lives. They even used some of the extreme magic that I wielded in the Graveyard Technique and it did not work for some reason. Itбпs like aw of nature protecting the ivory tower from intruders. Perhaps, itбпs the working of a unique Dungeon Core just like those Moloch had mentioned before. Those bastards got lucky to receive it and utilise the core to its maximum potential."

    "Then, why bother raiding?" Pei asked the obvious which Kraft found it totally unncessary.

    "Why not? They opened their bank for all to try because they were confident that adventurers or even city armies were not able to clear the entire tower." Kraft said as he stood at a rather tall building and beckoned Pei to have a look at the horizons. She then understood the problem immediately.

    Even though the city had been fortified with walls and guards, the Ivory Tower itself had its own set of walls... No, Multiple sets of walls each with their army protecting the area. That was for other rival cities to give it a try against them but for the groups of adventurers attempting to win some money, all they had to do was to register at the front gate with a condition attached.

    By surrendering all the gold in their possession before they could proceed.

    And considering the Church of the Afterlife was in each major city, they too control the financial situation of each and every adventurer. So should the adventurers lose a fight, 20% of their entire wealth would be confiscated by the Church of the Afterlife.

    However, Kraft was not going into the dungeon as adventurers or city armies. They were going in as raiders. The term raiders were given to adventurers who decided not to follow the norm and fight their way through. As long as they could make it to the Ivory Towerбпs entrance, the guards would harass them no further as dictated in their rules. They would then be able to fight against the challenges stored for them within the tower.

    Thatбпs not all for raiders as the fun part of it is that any guard they killed before going into the dungeon would also yield them some Dungeon Dors by the Dungeon Core itself. It was part of their Dungeon Core System which they had to oblige and thus, the Church of the Afterlife tried to mitigate their losses by installing one of their few strongest avable guardpanies in the region as the Ivory Towerбпs defence.

    Naturally, there were more heinous creatures and guards that protected each and every level of the Ivory Tower and rumours stated that the lowest number of floors any selected group of army soldiers or adventurers could only pass the 5th basement level.

    Thus the Ivory Tower was known throughout the Dungeon World as the Tower of Blood Money and only desperate people would attempt their fates against it, just to have a quick turnover. Moreover, despite all these risks and dangers, the number of adventurers and cities that attempted these Ivory Tower were numerous to count. So much so that cities had to pick a date to invade or adventurers had to wait for their queue to enter.

    Naturally, as a team of raiders, none of those matter to Kraft and the rest of his Night Foxes. If they were as menacing as the rumours had said, Kraft would then admit defeat and send a proposal to Jin as well as the Nine Foxes to petition an assault against the Ivory Tower. That way, they did not have to worry about money for quite some time.

    But for now, it was for Kraft, Pei and the rest of the Night Foxes to give it a try.

    "Even if you do not want topete, I could use apetent healer for the raid," Kraft said and Pei sighed heavily as she saw the Night Foxes were fully geared. Once again, they were equipped with newly improved Gearbox suits as well as a magic amplifier mod that somehow looked like Jinбпs System Riderбпs belt.

    "Donбпt you worry, even as we wanted to copy the original, those Living Armour tes are a pain in the ass to grow, so we improvised by using the Systemбпs Fusion powers which were previously performed on the Dragon Devils. You know, those metal looking dragon fusions? The System and the Science Research Team were able to create a mass production prototype that temporarily allowed power armour fusion." Kraft got way excited exining as he passed one to Pei.

    As much as he knows she was an all powerful cultivator, it doesnбпt hurt to let her бпpower upбп a little more. Not to mention, it sealed the deal of her going into the Ivory Tower alongside the Night Foxes when she epted Kraftбпs gift.

 Chapter 1177 - Vassal States

    <h4>Chapter 1177 - Vassal States </h4>

    Even as Pei, Kraft and his minions were trying to gain money from the Ivory Tower, Rex was in his office more concerned about the state of the Seven Cities. Reluctant to get any help from Jin, he decided to take things into his own hands. Although Jin knew the state of the Dungeon World through his System, he was more focused onpleting his Virtual Reality Instance as well as the preparation of the Farming World invasion.

    It might not look like much but the System and Jin were concurrently preparing for the big fight against the Demon Rats. Every single day the System had beenmunicating with various spirits of thend to get as much information on the Demon Rats as possible. They learned that they were indeed digging tunnels beneath sea beds to get to the other regions. And from what the System had learnt, it seemed as if they were going to coordinate a three way invasion at once.

    Thus, even with the System at Jinбпs side, the counter invasion would require more resources and manpower, unlike any other wars or battles that Jin had been through. While Kraft and some of his war masters gave their opinion that they should let the Demon Rats invade the East and West regions in order to thin their numbers for the counter invasion, Jin felt it would be way too messy.

    It was mainly because as long as a few rats survived the attacks, they could repopte again and fight back. Jin had already seen several nesting areas of those Demon Rats and knew how his minions were consistently ambushing those nests to drop their numbers.

    But it merely dented their war force. So, it was more important to contain if possible before the fight was let loose.

    That was also why the System kept getting information from the Spirits of the Land to ensure that they knew the progress of the Demon Ratбпs digging projection. And from that information alone, it was not some minor mini tunnel that they were building but a transportationwork system simr to transporting heavy cargo under the ground to the other three regions under the sea.

    Jin and the System had no idea how they were able to produce that much metal and other resources needed to reinforce the tunnels. So they could only deduce that it was the by products of the Farming World that they had somehow taken advantage of.

    ------------

    "Is that why you decide to burden yourself with the responsibility of the Seven Cities?" A familiar voice could be heard when Rexбпs doors opened as he buried himself in several mountains of paperwork.

    "Jin? I thought you were busy. Did not expect you toe to Demopolis to pay me a personal visit." Rex replied.

    "Sad to say, I am not Jin." The voice turned and Rex looked upwards to have a better look. "But it sounded much like him, didnбпt it?"

    "Moloch... Why does your puppet look so..." Rex could not describe whether it was such a foolish idea to use their master as his puppetбпs new mour.

    "Meh, it tricked quite a number of people and that includes you now that you know that itбпs not Jin. It was fun using his face as my new puppet but obviously, I have to make a few adjustments since the System said that having an exact replica would only confuse people. So, I have to add a mole at the side of Jinбпs cheeks." Molochmented.

    "I mean yeah, I totally agree with the System. If those newer minions had yet to see Jin personally, it would only confuse them further especially when I heard that he is starting to use Astral Clones to speed up his work." Rex said as he kept his fountain pen aside and gently pushed the paperwork aside to give Moloch the attention he needed. "So, what can I do for you?"

    "While I understand that those Seven Cities were to be vassal states under the Pandapolis Banner, I think itбпs too soon. Even though they have the Dungeon Core protection right now and the System has been injected into each and every core, I honestly do not think itбпs a great idea especially when Pandapolis is like wayyyy in the East."

    "Mass Transportation Magic should not be an issue once we install the Gates under the benefit of the Vassal States Programmes," Rex rmended but Moloch was still not satisfied

    "Well, yeah. But itбпs mainly because they are vassal states, they are more vulnerable to attacks in theing days once the Dungeon Core Protection is over."

    "You know that we do not have men to spare at the moment. Most of the Orc and Goblin Engineers are prepping the weapon production here in Demopolis while most of the Demon Citizens who were now situated in Pandapolis were getting the misceneous items up. Besides, we already sent quite a fair bit of resources into their cities. It should weather them through the difficult period."

    "Duh, I know the situation we are having right now. Everything is tied down for the Farming World but that is also the point. Because we are too focused on the Farming World, we might lose the Dungeon Worldбпs spoils if we are not careful. These Seven Cities while considered as third ss cities- well, not all. Like Aljun City is a first ss city. Anyways, they are producing quite a lot of products, produces and even military hardware initially, but the coup against the Churches had brought nearly everything to a halt." Moloch voiced his concerns. "If we do not do something soon, those cities might plunge into chaos when the Dungeon Core protection is over."

    "Moloch, my friend." Rex sighed as his expression to voice something suddenly became clear for the cotton butt minotaur to view. Did Moloch speak too much too soon?

    "That is why I am writing to all the City Council members of those Seven Cities to have a meeting at Demopolis tomorrow."

    "Well! Thatбпs brilliant, why did you not say it earlier... oh oops." Moloch chuckled a little and stopped talking, allowing Rex to finish what he wanted to say.

    "Doesnбпt matter. But I would need you to do something for me since you have decided to take an interest in this matter. Get me Qiu Yue to be free the entire day tomorrow." Rex asked and they both knew that the Empire Building Sub System User was the key to get this mess sorted.

 Chapter 1178 - Requests And Demands

    <h4>Chapter 1178 - Requests And Demands </h4>

    "Yo, Rex. Whatбпs up. I heard the situation from Moloch." Qiu Yue waved casually at Rex as she entered the meeting set up by him. The rest of the council members were surprised how casual thisdy came into this important meeting, calling King Rex just by his name. This was also because most of the Military Generals that entered the room greeted him with respect. When asked by their fellow politicians, the Generals told them that there was a drastic difference in power level between him and the rest of the Generalsbined together.

    If they knew that he was the King of Demopolis, they would not have bothered fighting against such a strong opponent in the first ce. However, considering the circumstances, most of the generals were happy that they did at least attempt to invade Demopolis or else, they would not have known the truth that the Church of the Afterlife was hiding all these times. Now they understood how Pandapolis withstood the might of the former Demopolisбпs armiesbined.

    However, as Rex saw Qiu Yue, he was delighted by her presence and at the same time relieved. "Lady Qiu Yue. Itбпs fantastic that you are able to make time for us."

    "Nah, when I heard about your nned meeting, I instinctively knew you would need me. Besides, itбпs great to see that the rest of them are here to join us too." Qiu Yue eyed the generals and they too smiled with pleasure.

    "Who is she?" One of the politicians questioned the military generalбпs aides.

    "Lady Qiu Yue? If I am not wrong, she is the one that will revitalise our cities, gaining the very same might that allowed Demopolis to withstand thebined military power of the Seven Cities. She showed the wonders of the True God which was why the generals had decided to rebel against that obnoxious church." The military aide said with much positivity that it was kind of scary. Obviously, the council members who never went to war had no idea what to expect from her but those who were defeated by Demopolisбп army understood her prowess. (Obviously, the aide was wrong since Jin was the one who aided with the creation of the Demopolis fortress.)

    "So, we are doing all of them a huge favour?" Qiu Yue sat close to Rex and started to look at the additional requests by each and every city upon pledging their vassal states to Pandapolis.

    "Surely, you jest. Lady Qiu Yue. You know how your ability in creating new infrastructures would be vital in getting our cities out of the current pinch. In return, we pledge manpower for your бпexpeditionsбп as well." General Yaega from the City of Taris said.

    "Ho ho... You got the news about my expeditions that quickly?" Qiu Yue looked at him with sly eyes.

    "We merely heard of it from King Rex." Yaega responded instantly, hoping not to offend Qiu Yue.

    "I told them the gist of it when we were waiting for you," Rex replied.

    "You are so sure that I wille for the meeting?" Qiu Yue questioned as she flipped the pages of requests. They might look simple but the Empire Building Sub System User was not going to agree that easily until she saw theyout of their city. Unlike the Southern Regionбпs Capital in the Farming World, the recreation of that particr Southern City allowed Qiu Yue to start from scratch since everything was turned into debris. But for these cities, she needed to consider their existing infrastructure before building their supposed requests.

    While she could take thezy way out and merely build what was requested, it would hurt her dignity and pride as the Empire Building Sub System User for doing such a subpar job. And also, she needed to consider the future of these vassal states. If Jin was willing to invest in them, the half baked infrastructures had to be taken down again and it would ultimately waste time and resources. So, it was best to n carefully before proceeding ahead.

    "I need to talk to each and every city builder or nner you guys had so that they could help me with thetestyouts."

    "City nners? City Builders? Layouts? If you mean the castleyouts to improve our defences, we have those but I am afraid we do not have any otheryouts on paper nor those city nners you talked about." One of Tarisбп council members said and it hit Qiu Yue that they were not as advanced as she was.

    "Then, the Sewers System? Your Housing? Gosh, you know what. Give me ess to your Dungeon Cores and let memunicate with it to have a better idea of your city." Qiu Yue demanded if they wanted a revamp of their cities. There and then, the various citiesбп council members were mumbling to themselves, asking the military generals if it would be safe. That was when Rex stepped in and announced to the entire group his opinion.

    "You wanted to improve your lives which was the reason why you raised hell against the Church of the Afterlife. And now you are contemting as if your lives are depending on it when we asked a very simple request to look at your dungeon core." Rex said.

    "But itбпs because we do not know what Lady Qiu Yue could do to our Dungeon Cores-бпбп One of the city council members from Aljun said and Rex cut in once more.

    "But you guys already put your faith in the one True God. Right?" Rex said and the military generals interrupted the conversation.

    "By my name and title, Yaega, the City of Taris would ept your demands," Yaega said and soon the rest of the other generals epted her conditions as well, causing the council members to have their opinions mooted.

    "Thatбпs settled then. We will go city by city. Yaega, letбпs get the work started." Qiu Yue said and a teleport portal appeared right beside them. The rest were surprised when they saw the opposite end of the portal was their dungeon core despite the security they hadid upon it. The Military Generals then reiterated that there was little use hiding things against them, especially when Qiu Yue was a direct disciple of the True God.

    And this action alone proved to the other council members that the people in charge of the current Demopolis and Pandapolis could be the newest driving force in the Dungeon World.

 Chapter 1179 - Trouble At The Ivory Tower

    <h4>Chapter 1179 - Trouble At The Ivory Tower </h4>

    As Qiu Yue settled the matters of the Dungeon World, Rex decided to give Jin a courtesy update. "Ah, I see. Thanks Rex. Really appreciate what you are doing. I would have personally advised on the matter but it looks like my clones could only do so much."

    "A pleasure. So, how is your endeavour in the Virtual Reality Instance? Making much progress?" Rex queried for the sake of getting the conversation going a little but also hoping that it would not be too much of a drag. Besides, both of them clearly had agendas to fulfil for the day.

    "The Symposium is in less than two weeks time but the Virtual Reality Instance is ready, including the essories needed like the Virtual Reality Headset to ess it," Jin said as he was extremely relieved how fast and efficiently the engineers at Sea Mesh were able to smoothen out the kinks in the Virtual Reality Headset. The only problem was settling on a name for it. Some wanted to call it simply VR Gear, but a few of the engineers felt it needed a more fanciful name.

    There was even one who proposed to make a limited edition Panda version of the Headgear to promote Dungeons and Panda even further. While it was not a bad idea, Jin felt it should be ced on hold temporarily as he wanted to be seen as practical rather than the possibility of it being a cash grab. (Even though the systems in ce would eventually be a cash grab.)

    "Also, I heard your sworn brother had already gone off fighting to his delight." Jin questioned since he only received a message from Pei that she would be busy dealing with a бпcraftyбп situation.

    "Speaking of him, I do not have much information since he said he was hitting the Church of the Afterlifeбпs Bank. An Ivory Tower of some sort." Rexmented and the System instinctively connected Kraft into the whole conversation.

    "Whatбпs up?" The Old Fox said as there were lots of backgroundmotion at his end.

    "Brother Kraft, howбпs the raid going?" Rex asked but all they heard was hisughter.

    "Excellent! In fact, we have yet to breach into the Ivory Tower itself despite a day of fighting. Looks like we had been subjected to mere insects from the Church of the Afterlife. System, give them a glimpse of my situation." Kraft requested and immediately the System pulled out live footage via Kraftбпs vision. Surprisingly, there was a bit ofg in the transmission and the System attributed to Kraftбпs peripheral vision to be wider than normal.

    When Rex and Jin saw the battlefield, they were stunned by the number of enemies in the area as well as how strong they looked. Not only there were Church Knights that had been documented into the Systemбпs Database through the military coup but variant versions of them in stronger armour and weapons. Items that are considered to be бпmythical grade and above" or that was how the captured Church Knights had dubbed them.

    "Itбпs irritating because the moment you thought you killed them, they would revive back again. I thought the System just did not bother to catch them but it seems like each and every one of them have some relic item that allows them to instantly resurrect the moment their heart stops beating despite being shed into pieces." Kraft said as he gave a first person perspective of crushing the skull of a Church Knight and letting him go. In less than a few secondster, he was able to walk again with a crushed skull.

    "Zombies?" Jin questioned and Kraft shook his head.

    "I pulled their limbs apart to check whether they were androids as well but they were still able to move after recing their disced parts into their original position. It is some magic I could not identify. But hey, from what I see on the Ivory Towerбпs counter, we are earning quite a fair bit of gold."

    "I suggest we just head straight into the Ivory Tower and earn better money." Pei interrupted the conversation and Kraft beckoned Pei to say hi to Rex and Jin. Naturally, she ignored and continued to slice things apart.

    "But it would not be satisfying, in fact, it would leave me wanting to know what the hell is going on with these buggers." Kraft pouted.

    "Should I connect this to Moloch and see if he knows anything?" Jin asked and the System once again took the initiative to get Moloch on board the conversation. Upon seeing the works of the Church Knights, he already deduced that they were at the Ivory Tower.

    "If Kraft had already noticed, the Ivory Tower has its own unique Dungeon Core and they had designated that area outside the Ivory Tower with a very special spell that only this particr Church has. After all, itбпs their money warehouse, they have to be more protective with it."

    "What is it?" Jin pressed for the answer since Moloch was going round and round.

    "Immortal Domain. The Church Knights in that area are affected by the curse of immortality. They sacrifice their sanity for the defence of the Ivory Tower. You might think only hardcore cultists would protect it like crazy but trust me, I heard rumours that they used criminals, brainwash them and subsequently stripped them of their rights. Since execution is technically useless in the world full of resurrection, the Church of the Afterlife turned them this way." Moloch exined.

    "As for how some of the boy parts returning together, those are the works of the items and essories they possessed," Moloch said and suddenly that gave Kraft a wonderful idea.

    "Guys, change of ns. Once you bring down a Church Knight. Confiscate their armour, items and whatever shit they had on them. If this is a battlefield, the spoils belong to us no matter what.. The dungeon dors are just the tip of the iceberg!" Kraft said and the people in the conversation understood his meaning.

 Chapter 1180 - State Of The Dungeon World Cities

    <h4>Chapter 1180 - State Of The Dungeon World Cities </h4>

    "This Kraft... When ites to devious ns, he really knows how to put things into action." Jin said and Rex could not help to have a devious smile on his face.

    "That is how we were able to survive long as sworn brothers," Rex said and asked if Jin wanted to send more people into the fray.

    "Nah, let him have his fun. I had a feeling he was already giving me a lot of chances when I duelled with him but it allowed me to see a fraction of his powers. So, I am guessing that this current raid was a way to let him blow his top a little."

    "You are not wrong but you are not right either if you think that he has only shown you a fraction of his powers," Rex remarked and Jin raised his eyebrows.

    "What? No way. If I can handle some of that, it is definitely because he has not been trying hard enough." Jin found Rexбпsments somewhat odd.

    "Nope. I am not kidding you. While it was true he was not using his fullest extent of his powers, there were certain moments during that battle that his bloodlust was on point. He was raging hard against you without leaving any quarters. Perhaps it was his rage that blinded him but nheless, it would be an insult to say that he did not fully immerse himself in the fight." Rex exined. "Jin, As a System User, you have grown rtively strong and without a doubt, there are still a lot more ways to grow."

    "I assume there is a but." Jin cheekily added in and Rex nodded his head seriously.

    "But, as you already know, there is no way you can do things all by yourself. Even my management of the Demopolis is subpar without the Systemбпs aid. I would not say by the power of friendship, you will triumph against all because thatбпs bullshit. However, by the power of an elite group of talented people and friendship, would do well against what the multiverse prepared for us." Rex said as heid back a little and looked at Jin to his eyes.

    "Keep growing Jin. You will make new enemies which would ultimately be your greatest allies." Rex stated and suddenly that made Jin remember something very important.

    "System. If Rex praised me a little, is it okay to release one of those бпforbiddenбп minions that we had captured previously?" Jin queried and the System proceeded in analysing the possibilities.

    "Diabolos is not avable despite your new cultivation grade but for Maeve, the fae princess. That might be a possibility. Unfortunately, the System is currently too swarmed with processes to even have the time to properly disengage the locks." The System said and Jinбпs face turned sour.

    "Is it because you are currently using her as part of your processing capabilities," Jin questioned and the System did not answer...which meant it was a yes. Thus, the Dungeon Supplier decided to switch the subject and thank Rex for his aged advice. In the meantime, he also procured certain information from Rex since Demopolis had Pandapolisбп military stronghold. And by stronghold, what Jin actually meant was that it had be a ce where factories, research and production of military goods wereing from Demopolis after the huge revamp.

    Some of the demon workers who had basic work experience in Pandapolis were slowly returning to their homes and found out that their ces had been upgraded much. There were no more slums and high rise buildings were in every street and corner. As for the richer noble demons, they were allowed a slightly bigger house to themselves but it was limited to how much they were going to contribute back to society. (Either in terms of personal wealth or expertise.)

    Those who were previously relying only on titles and inherited wealth were forced to rethink their way of life. Either they start picking up managerial skills or off they go to the frontlines where they have to stand side by side with the workers to get the job done. This was because Rex had no need for that many useless nobleszing around in Jinбпs new empire.

    Thus most of them had decided to take up educational courses so that they could be of certain help to assist the rest of the foxes who were revamping the cityбпs policies now that Jin had ensured that this city focuses solely on military stuff.

    As for Pandapolis, some of the factories were already in use for the Virtual Reality Headsets while the rest were used for contracts taken in Jinбпs world. Also, the production of processed food required factory space as well so it took quite a chunk of space but other than that, the rest of the industrial area was allocated to the research and development team where Jinбпs orcs and goblins were reverse engineering stuff.

    It could have been done in Demopolis but production mattered more in that area since the research done in Demopolis was more of the practical application like live firing exercises as such because of the vast areas the city once possessed.

    Pandapolis on the other hand did the delicate building and invention of items. For example, the Flying Fortress which Rex had captured had been analysed by Rei and was reverse engineered in Pandapolis. They were going to that as a base to create those spaceships which would be used to transverse the Mecha Worldбпs universe. (Also, it was mainly because some of Jinбпs Science and Research Team felt that the space allocated to them had already been bogged down by too many projects from Ayse and Weslie.)

    Not to mention, the Orcs and Goblins were still continuously improving their Golems to the point that Jin somehow felt that they were like mechanised robots which could be viable as a limited event in the Supa Robot Wars. (Those demihumans were also snatching ideas from the cultivators who yed the Supa Robot Wars and shamelessly applying the yersбп designs to their current golems.)

    Only when Jin confirmed with Rex the state of Demopolis, he returned to his Dungeon Maker to make a few more chances before officially opening up the Cultivation Zoo Instance to the public.

 Chapter 1181 - Extra- Responsibility Of A Lord

    <h4>Chapter 1181 - Extra- Responsibility Of A Lord </h4>

    For the past few days prior to the opening of the Cultivation Zoo Instance, Jin had no doubt tapped into the resources he possessed to promote thetest dimensional instance with much aggression. Thus, his rising virtual video tuber on the inte personally groomed by Kiyu, Bear Cub One had been used to raise awareness of the zoo.

    While it might seem to be in directpetition with Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo, it was actually lifting the burden of the zoo park because of the increased poption in Shenzhen and the tourists. It was to the point some of the animals were facing stress from the constant interaction with the parkбпs visitors.

    Also, with the opening of Jinбпs Cultivation Zoo Instance, it might finally give Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo a chance to close its parks for a major renovation. Ever since its inception in the 70s, there was not much chance for the Zoo to have significant closure because of the visitorбпs requests. Not to mention, the possible closure allowed those animals under the care of Shenzhenбпs Zoo to be sent to Jinбпs instance as a temporary moving measure if it proved to be beneficial for the major overhaul.

    While Grandma Yuan did not explicitly say all these in the beginning, she did reveal such ns to Jin during their dinner meeting now that he is finally able to get the cultivation zoo instance open. Naturally, Jin would be d to take on those animals as it would aid the current animals in his captivity to go up with veterans.

    Thatбпs right, the Animal Kaizer is now one of the major selling points where customers would be able to see the animals fight among each other and gain knowledge. This would no doubt help Cultivation Grandmasters to refine their manuals as well as budding cultivators to learn one or two tricks from the animals even if they were from another style. Who knows? Maybe the cultivators could also achieve enlightenment upon spectating which would prove to be beneficial for them.

    Other than that, Jin had requested Bear Cub One to provide an informative and yet entertaining online sneak peek preview on his Cultivation Zoo Instance which mostly included Kiyuбпs videography of the area as well as the animals in their own resting habitats.

    And while the interest was high throughout the live stream, Jin did not forget traditional ways of advertising and that included promoting in the papers as well as influential digital news tforms. There were some costs involved but Jin felt that his mall needed that kind of promotion.

    Especially now when he coincided with the opening of his Cultivation Zoo along with the new бпstreetsбп of stores hidden in his revamped Tree Mall.

    Thatбпs right, alongside the original generation of Tree Mall Owners, Jin had finally approved and opened the first level of his Tree Mall to new tenants once he settled the small and medium enterprises. He thought that the response would be low but boy was he dead wrong.

    The requests flooded in within a day and many fresh entrepreneurs, as well as veteran store owners, were pitching in their proposals, hoping they could get a shot in the Tree Mall. It was then Jin realised how famous or infamous his Tree Mall was. The pleas to have their store be opened was so intense that there were physical visits looking for Jin asking for a slot. It was to the point where there was even a very old couple who personally came to the Tree Mall asking whether they could open a store despite not knowing how. They just knew they had to and as Jin did not even have an office per se, it was Si Fang who managed to aid them to meet up with Jin for a quick talk.

    If not for Si Fang, Jin would have rejected them outright since he had way too many visitorsing for a slot. But upon hearing that their speciality was duck noodles, Jin had to find the delicate moment to courteously reject them since he had enough food stores in his hands.

    But it was the System who denied Jin from doing so as the System quickly identified them as a remnant of the old Panda n. The news shook Jin for a moment and requested the couple to rx for a moment before he discussed with the System. It was only then the System said that they were able toe here because of their connection with the Royal Panda n.

    "Unbeknown to User, old members have the tendency to return to their leader whether itбпs a conscious effort or not. As if there was a thread running through the members and leaders, connecting them regardless of time and space. Also, itбпs worthy to note that some of the current tenants the User had epted, contained traces of the Royal Panda n bloodline within them. However, this particr couple happened to be the rare coincidence where two of the previous Panda n families came together as one."

    "If you put it that way, there is no way I can reject them... But I do not know whether they are able to handle the workload, especially given the poprity of the ce." Jin said.

    "Regardless, User has to take care of his own n members." The System said and Jin understood, giving the couple a slot when others could not. At that moment when they shook hands, Jinбпs palm lit up as did the elderly coupleбпs, only for them to realise that they shook hands with the new Lord of the Royal Zodiac Panda n.

    Only when that realisation hits them, Jin verbally acknowledges his n remnants and they immediately went to their knees to pay respect to the new lord of the Panda n. Their hearts were filled with gratitude and delight to know that the n did not die out and instead in the capable hands of a young lord which they had renewed their vows.

    Unknowingly, it was at that point Jin felt the responsibility of being a Royal Zodiac Panda n Lord for the very first time. And in some ways, he secretly created a new mission for himself where he hoped to reunite all the rest of the Panda n remnants.

    But for now, itбпs the opening time for both the new tenants of the Tree Mall as well as the Cultivation Zoo.

 Chapter 1182 - Cultivation Zoo Opening!

    <h4>Chapter 1182 - Cultivation Zoo Opening! </h4>

    In the wee early morning of a mundane Monday, Jin asked his group of Zoo staff whether everything was ready for the official opening. The Zoo Guard, Jiang Song, reported that the Systemбпs NPC guards programme were up and running properly in the case where the visitors and cultivators started to be rough against each other.

    Zoo Medic Tong Wu had also reported that the connection to Luxury Recovery Instance was stable and there were a few wards and a surgical room ready to receive any casualties including the animals if they were to be severely injured in the Animal Kaizer event. "Also, Xin had his fill of bamboo so he would be disturbing any animals too soon."

    "Looks like our king of this zoo is not the lion or gori but instead a panda." Jiang Bo chuckled before reporting that the System had already served all the enclosures with food and food stocks were sufficient for at least a month.

    "Xin is able to be the incumbent king because the owner is around. He dared to mess with the rest of the animals because he wanted to show Jin that he is capable too." Kristin said as her current monitoring systems were all online and in sync with the System. All the vitals of the animals in their set environment were stable and their current habitats were also in equilibrium.

    "Honestly, I never saw him portraying such aggressiveness at all except to a few of the alpha males in the enclosure. The only time he got really rough was when Jin was in the neighbourhood. Aside from that, he had been docile and obedient after attaining spiritual union with Bossman." Tong Wu said and the restughed within their System Channel.

    "Guess, that Xin had been бпpolishingбп his fangs and ws for some time, knowing that Jin woulde back and pick him up," Kristin added not to underestimate the established links of a spiritual union. "But for now, he is not the main star until tonight so keep him rested until then." Kristin said as she looked forward to the data among the animals.

    Even though this might sound like some illegal animal ring fight, the Zoo research team had backed up that the fights would keep them on their toes and the constant threat from other animals teleporting into their habitats was simting the injection of monsters into the environment.

    However, since they were animals against animals, Kristin was also anticipating a few unusual rivalry friendships to bond but that woulde in muchter when the animals had recognised the strength of their foes.

    This was because Jin had nned to add some of his minions in the fray to spice up the Animal Kaizer events to keep it within the rmendations of Kristin who said that the growth among the animals must not be stagnant so that the cultivators who watched them would continue to receive clues and inspiration for the cultivation growth.

    "Sounds like everything is ready. Good luck Zoo Team. Itбпs only the four of you for the long run, so if anyone wants a quick breakfast, I can permit it." Jin said but his CCTV monitors had already shown that his store instance had been filling up in anticipation of the new service dimensional instance. As Jin had previously ced the entrance of the Cultivation Zoo Instance right beside his theme park, his customers already knew the existence of a pending dimensional instance. Itбпs just that they never expected it to be a true blue Cultivation Zoo for they had been specting an extension of the theme park like a water sports park of some sort. Some even wished Jin could even make a skate park or a scenic bike trail like how he did for the Restaurant Train going to various sceneries.

    Needless to say, Jin had been taking all this into ount since he knew theck of facilities in the real world allowed these niched sports to be quite limited. It was also because if Jin had prepared the Virtual Reality dimensional instance, his store might possiblyck the growth of physical customers. While dungeons would still be a thing, he predicted that most people would bezy and go for the Virtual Reality dimensional instance.

    While it was true, he could host several rooms of Virtual Reality dimensional instances in his store instance and people take advantage of the array of services he provides, he wished to continue to staypetitive.

    So, he was thinking of getting the list of sporting activities where they needed space to perform their craft and that could mean a huge revitalisation of the store instance, making it a mini hub for various groups of interestsing together and interacting. If he was being ambitious, he wanted to have festivals and events to be done in his dungeon instance (especially since he had the open field music instance where raves and clubbing could be done in that area too.)

    "Everyone is ready! Boss, you can treat us to dinner if the day goes smoothly," Jiang Songmented and Jin chuckled, agreeing to his proposal as well as opening the floodgates to the Cultivation Zoo instance. At the same time, he had also coordinated the grand opening of the new Tree Mallбпs tenants, causing a horde of people to rush into the Tree Mall as well the Zoo instance simultaneously.

    At that moment, Jin could once again feel the adrenaline rush from the aplishment he did. It was not too long ago he felt the Cultivation Zoo was a hassle and he did not like the creation of the instance because he did not realise the amount of research effort needed to recreate the animalsбп habitat areas. (Although without the System, it would have been even harsher.) For now, all he could hope is that this particr investment into the animals would be worth it for the long haul while he now concentrates on the Virtual Reality instance as well as the invasion of the Farming World.

    "I only hope the rats donбпt do anything too stupid during my time in the Symposium..." Jin thought to himself, subsequently regretting that it could be a red g for that particr event.. After all, fate had not been too kind in making his journey to be the number one dungeon supplier to be a peaceful ride.

 Chapter 1183 - Queue Cutter

    <h4>Chapter 1183 - Queue Cutter </h4>

    "Wow...the queue." Blind Cat Cultivator, Xia Mao eximed when he saw the long line despite theming at their usual time which was approximately six in the morning.

    "To think everyone is waiting for Jinбпs new instance is mind boggling." Jing Yu hopped onto thest in line, only to find out there were several others already waiting right behind her.

    "It had been widely advertised. From social media to traditional newspapers. Even my next door neighbour, that reclusive hoard-a-lot, had heard about the opening of a new Cultivation Zoo. Obviously, she does not know that it is a dungeon instance but news of a new Cultivation Zoo is no joke." Xia Mao said.

    "Well duh, like in this country, thereбпs probably only a handful of them." Jing Yu said before doing a quick search on the inte to find that there were approximately a hundred or so Cultivation Zoos.

    "Not surprised. I remembered there was a period where a lot of the parks had to close down because of the animalбпs rampages. And the poor Zoo Guards were not high level enough to stop them. Not to mention the poorly maintained enclosures were only asking for trouble. Thankfully our zoo in Shenzhen is a little more proactive than reactive but there were telltale signs of it breaking down too." Xia Mao said as Jing Yu wondered how he got all this information.

    "Ahh, I just had a few friends here and there. I even heard rumours that with this cultivation zoo, Shenzhen can close its zoo and do the necessary repairs and upgrades. A major renovation to entice the younger people too." Xia Mao added and Jing Yu shook her head. Not wanting to know whether it was a rumour or the truth.

    "Anyways, do you want me to get some quick bites? The queue is this long anyways." Jing Yu said as she believed itбпs a waste of time staying around. However, just as she asked the question, there was an announcement not to leave their queues as queue cutting or reserving would not be tolerated.

    This was because a couple of them decided to push through since a friend of theirs had managed to reserve an earlier part of the queue. In an instant, the infamous SWAT Pandas came out and pulled them to the back of the line, with no questions asked or arguments tolerated. If they were unhappy, they would be kicked out of the store instance.

    Naturally, those who were in Jinбпs store for the longest time were already taking their phone cameras out to film the humiliation of the new customers who did not know the spoken rules and regtions. (Yet, none of them left their line despite being a busybody.) It was so bad at the front that it even caused Xia Mao and Jing Yu to see themotion far from their line.

    "If that was Zi Dan, I would not be surprised." Jing Yu smiled, reminiscing about her old friend who had already moved to Australia to apany his family.

    "Yea, he is those few who would cut peopleбпs queue and even gnaw back at those who threatened him. But I am surprised he can be that obedient in Jinбпs store." Xia Mao remembering the times when Zi Dan was an asshole.

    "Were you not here? He tried to do it once, but got whooped so badly by those SWAT Pandas that he never dared to do it again." Jing Yu said and then themotion got even bigger as the cultivator announced his grade out loud for the entire group to spectate.

    "I am Tang Lao Ku! Loud Lion Cultivator Grade 12! And you measlyputer generated animals dared to drag me out of my position?" Lao Ku shouted as he broke off the grapple from the pandaбпs grip. "I am a customer and this is my friend! He ising out of the queue for me to enter, whatбпs wrong with that?"

    "It is wrong because no swapping, cutting nor buying queue is allowed. If he is out of the queue, he has to queue once more. Simple as that. These are the rules of this store instance and you have to obey it." One of the SWAT Pandas said and the cultivators in the queue immediately confirmed this guy was a new first timer in Jinбпs dungeons despite his grade. He was probably interested in the new cultivation Zoo but did not bother even trying to queue for it.

    The only good thing was almost everyone was already keeping quiet, awaiting the show to start even though some of them were already taunting at him to start queuing all over again.

    "I do not have to be obliged to it once I beat you down!" Lao Ku shouted as he instantly portrayed his cultivation to show that he was not joking about his grade and threatening the guards to back off for onest time.

    "Hey, even if we canбпt get out of the queue, at least there is some entertainment." Xia Mao said and Jing Yu was d that the reminder announcement came by in time so she did not leave the queue. The cultivators beside him subtly agreed with him and they already took their phones out to watch the beatdown given by the Pandas. Also, it is not every day they get to see a Grade 12 Cultivator in action so they were wondering if the SWAT Pandas were able to live up to their reputation.

    "Be my guest. Initiating Guard Protocol бпBeat the sense out of ignorant peopleбп. SWAT P-1 and P-2, erect the barriers." The SWAT Panda Leader said the provocation from Lao Ku was seen as a deration for not following the rules. Thus, the SWAT Pandas immediately erected a barrier among them and Lao Ku in order not to let the rest of the cultivators be coteral damage.

    Seeing how the guards had no visible chi within them, Lao Ku thought this would be one hell of an easy fight, breaking them and showing them that ultimately, the higher the grade, the more they should listen to. Especially when winning this бпofficiatedбп duel would equate to the ability to ignore the rules set by the dungeon supplier.

    But he had forgotten that there would always be a mountain taller than the бпtallestбп mountain.

 Chapter 1184 - Out Of This World

    <h4>Chapter 1184 - Out Of This World </h4>

    Once Lao Ku portrayed his cultivation, he proceeded to gather an intense amount of chi and wanted to show the audience that he was all powerful by crushing these panda puppets into pieces. In actual fact, he already knew about Dungeons and Pandaбпs procedures and their strict policy and zero tolerance of cultivators breaking the rules.

    Beforeing to this store, he previously noticed that those who broke the rules were cultivation grades significantly lower than him and he felt those cultivators definitely deserve it for going against someone who they were not prepared for. But for Lao Ku, who had recently broken into the realm of Grade 12, believed that he had the upper hand for this particr situation.

    And if he were to be sessful against this Dungeon and Pandas store, he would be able to gain some poprity, notoriety...and most importantly money.

    Aye, he was employed by Jinбпspetitors who wanted to bring his increasing poprity down to the gutters. It seemed as if hispetitors had researched sufficiently on Jinбпs supposed grade level since he had managed to take down the Rat Triadбпs Boss who was rumoured to be Grade 13.

    "But because of budget constraints, this saidpetitor could only manage to employ a grade 12 cultivator to harass the User." The System said once it had essed the memories of Lao Ku at the sidelines, since analysing each and every cultivator entering Jinбпs store had been a mandatory process after the assassination incident.

    In the meantime, Jin had already prepared to open the Cultivation Zoo in his Dungeon Maker but seeing the entiremotion from behind the scenes, he decided to dy it a little before its grand official opening. After all, this was his store, and everyoneбпs focus was on the Lion. It did however give him extra time to perform a quick check through the parameters of the Zoo once more.

    "Does not matter much. Those SWAT Pandas were only fodder for him to gain confidence, Captain Hei or Bai could easily finish him." Jin did not bother much since he had defeated foes way stronger than a Grade 12 and with his current cultivation, the System had already unlocked or in this case, increased the potential of his NPCs to match Jinбпs strength and a little more. In the Systemбпs opinion, it was a miracle that not manypetitors tried to bring him down and it theorised it was partially attributed to the fact that Jin had managed to take down the Rat Triad Boss.

    Knowing that there was a new Dungeon Supplier able to beat a Triad Boss, not many of his potential foes tried to do anything foolish. In addition, he was under the protection of the Royal Zodiac Dragon ns so it was safe to cross the ns out and attribute this harassment from one of his dungeon supplierpetitors, presumably because Jin had entered the Symposium.

    "The System feels that User should enter the fray and teach a lesson against the cultivator not because it was the right thing to do but as part of a warning against otherpetitors watching from the sidelines. Also, this would reinforce the fact that you are the owner since the new cultivators entering the stores might not have an idea that you are THE Dungeon Supplier."

    "In short, make my appearance as a booster for poprityбпs sake," Jin said and the System acknowledged.

    "Competency and poprity is the way to being the number one dungeon supplier." The System replied.

    "Then, tell me who is exactly the top number one? I mean we have not been focusing on them since we are busy climbing up the ranks. But with all these developments from the past few months, I should have shot up through the ranks like a rocket. Itбпs time to know who truepetitors are. Is it RedStacks in Europe? :Dyer in Japan? or the Americanбпs WoW Supplier?" Jin queried while zooming into the Lion Cultivator.

    "Unfortunately, the Number One Ranking for the Dungeon Supplier is not from this world." The System said and Jin furrowed his eyebrows.

    "What do you exactly mean?" Jin said as he stopped looking at the screen where the Lion Cultivator had sessfully defeated two of the SWAT Pandas, evaporating into dust. One of the SWAT Pandas had already contacted the Captains as backup and the rest of the Pandas were fighting defensively to ensure that their Captain coulde in time. (Obviously, it was a ruse to get the crowd to hype up since the Captain NPCs could teleport at any time.)

    "The ability to supply dungeons does not stop at dimension instances." The System said it in a fairly cryptic way but Jin gradually understood that there were people who were able to create dungeons without the use of dimensional instances.

    "Demons like Baal? Gods?" Jin queried and the System did not wish to even pop a name up, reinforcing Jinбпs doubts even further that there were forces stronger than him that were at y if he were to wish to get the Number One title.

    "Then I guess with my luck, these petitors of mine would appear sooner orter," Jin said and the System nodded its proverbial head.

    "Our interaction across worlds as well as the intensive use of the interworld ck market had certainly raised some eyebrows. But for now, the System believed that they were not taking any actions, simply because it would be fun for them to see a challenger offering a fight against them. Or they were too ignorant to see us as a threat." The System exined and Jin nearly choked on hisughter.

    "You make us sound like this lion cultivator, unting his powers around, thinking that he is better than everyone else in the room," Jin said as he stared idly at the screen. "But you know we do not do just that. We are way more than this lion cultivator." Jin said as he finally pressed a button to elerate the process of Captain Heiбпs appearance. "We will do whatever it takes to make sure that ourpetitor is like this Lion cultivator. Fooled. Superior. And thinks that he has the upper hand but we have been hiding our trump card all this time just so we can have thestugh." Jin said as he saw Lao Ku mmed the third SWAT Panda to the ground, exhrated by the recent sess of destroying the security guards, believing that was all the Dungeons and Pandas had to offer.

    It was not until a loud wave of cheers suddenly emerged not for him but for a being that had been known for crushing evil-doers.

    "Captain Hei. At the scene." The Panda clicked his walkie talkie back to his vest and he walked proudly towards the offender. Unlike the other SWAT Pandas, his muscles were bustling with chi and each walk he takesmanded pride, power and most importantly. Authority.

    "You are that evil-doer who wished to break the rules?" Hei said as he lifted his ck sunsses up to have a look at the runt.

    "So, you are the rumour Super NPC that supposedly protects the ce? Well, time to protect your own ass from my attacks!" Lao Ku said as he once again portrayed his cultivation out wide with a gigantic lion roaring and two other smaller ones at its side.

    "Stop yapping ande at me. You runt.." Heimented and the crowd instantly yelled with excitement.

 Chapter 1185 - This Idiot

    <h4>Chapter 1185 - This Idiot </h4>

    Lao Ku literally took Captain Heiбпs provoke and dash to him, going with him a fist full of chi. There was no denying there a straight punch would prove to the entire group of disillusioned cultivators that thew here was merely a line to be crossed.

    "Amateur." Hei snickered as he continued to stare down at him. The punch soon came and the impact wasrge enough to send the barrier previously erected by his fellow SWAT Pandas to ripple. It did manage to contain the shockwave but instead of the cultivators running away from the scene, they stood there with their hands clutched onto the queue barriers, and their toes tipped to have a better view of the fight.

    Lao Ku was shocked by the fact that Captain Hei merely stood there with his signature cigar, staring mercilessly at him the moment their eyes met since the Loud Lion Cultivator could not believe that there was a drastic jump in powerpared to the SWAT Pandas he fought against.

    Nevertheless, this also meant that he could finally have a good fight especially when the stronger the challenger, the more rewarding the end would be once he emerged victorious from the fight. So, he decided to step backwards in order to execute his specalised technique but suddenly a paw stretched out and mmed him to the ground.

    The ground cracked from the impact and the rest watching could already feel that the cultivatorбпs ribs were equally in the same situation as the floor he was resting on. "You think I am that lenientst boss to let you have another shot?" Captain Hei said as he grabbed Lao Ku by his shirt and pulled him up.

    Yet, it seems that the paw m was not enough to deter the criminal to amend his ways. Instead, he became even more brazen and attempted to shoot an uppercut the moment Captain Hei tried to pull him up. "Rising Loud Lion Fist!" Lao Ku shouted as his fist had the chi appearance of a Lion with his mouth wide open, rushing to gnaw against the Panda Peacekeeper.

    The hit once again connected against Captain Heiбпs chin and the crowd cheered not because the Loud Lion Cultivator was winning. The acimed Super NPC was not budging a single bit from the attack and subsequently threw another m for the offending cultivator.

    Blood was visiblying out from Lao Kuбпs mouth and everyone in the queue knew that the Loud Lion Cultivator should just admit his mistake and call it a day. Resisting any further would not bore well for him at all.

    "Are you done? Because I would need you toe with me to pay the damages incurred from this fight including the penalty of your crimes. Obstruction of justice, damage to store property, grievous assault to my fellow colleagues. If you cannot pay, I would send you to the local police post within the store instance and settle an instalment n."

    "I do not know why but those charges sounded like a continuousbo attack that would not just break my wallet but my sanity too." One of the cultivators at the queue line said.

    "Mind and body damage. This is instant brutality!" His friend replied and some cheered at how Lao Ku deserved the excessive charges for being such a prick.

    "...You think I am done?!!" Lao Kuбпs rage increased further as he heard all those nonsensical babblings from the Panda and immediately exuded an extensive amount of chi aura. Some of the cultivators choked from the aura and Captain Hei sighed.

    "Yes, I believe you are going to be done." Hei exuded his personal chi as well, overpowering Lao Ku but for some reason when the cultivators felt the aura, it was like a tsunami wave of gentle wind filled with flowery petals in the air.

    The overwhelming calming from the Super NPC was totally unexpected but it relieved the cultivators from the suffocating dread that Loud Lion Cultivator had portrayed. "And it looks like another charge would be against you. Attempt manughter against customers." Captain Hei said as his paw pressed onto Lao Kuбпs body even further, causing his bones to produce a cracking pop sound.

    At this point, Tiangong Police officers were already running to the current scene as it happened that themotion was done exactly during the switch of duties. It was as if Lao Ku had indeed nned the entire incident during this crucial time.

    "Ah. Officer Deng Long. Good to see a friendly face." Captain Hei said as he changed his paw press into a butt press. The customers at the side could already imagine the agonising pain Lao Ku was feeling even though he thoroughly deserved it.

    "Captain Hei... " When Deng Long and his fellow officer colleague saw the mess and the crowd of cameras now on him, he understood that he waste. Extraordinarilyte. It was to the point, he could imagine the number of stark remarks about how the police always e on timeбп to collect credit.

    "What is the situation here?" He tried to ask as professionally as he could and the Panda exined the entiremotion with two words.

    "This idiot." Captain Hei pointed downwards and some of the customersughed.

    "Alright, understood." Deng Long sighed and requested Captain Hei to move away so he could cuff him up. And at that point, the police duo along with the Super NPC quietly left the area as the Zoo Entrance finally lit up.

    "That was one hell of an entertainment if we found out this was some way to upy our time." Xia Mao said as he was satisfied watching the entire incident.

    "You are weird to think that way, who would want to break their bones just to waste time? I believed Jin would have better ideas than that." Jing Yu shook her head as she impatiently tapped her feet while waiting for the queue to move.

    After all, she could not wait for what lies beyond that entrance and how Jin shamelessly promoted his Zoo as the бпbiggest zoo one could ever seeбп.

 Chapter 1186 - The Opening Of The Cultivation Zoo

    <h4>Chapter 1186 - The Opening Of The Cultivation Zoo </h4>

    As the Cultivation Zoo gates lit up, various sounds of animals were heard at the series of loudspeakers as if it was a weing horde to rave up the crowd. To make things even more interesting, Jin had also yed a mixed rendition of Jurassic Park when the gates opened.

    It made the experience more surreal since the gates were as huge as castle gates, simr to the movieбпs scene. And when the doors opened, the first batch of customers was already taken aback by the beautifulndscape right in front of them. The fusion of forests, grasnds, savannahs and the distant icy mountains was a sight to behold. Even as they were the generation of camera users, the background was enough for them to startle them for a while before they whipped out their phones.

    Unlike most zoos where they kept what was toe with lots of nt foliage and a big booth to collect their tickets, the customers were treated to a sky view area of the entire cultivation zoo which allowed them to believe that this would indeed be thergest cultivation zoo that ever been created. When Xia Mao and Jing Yu walked into the park, they were sted with wows and bewilderment despite the crowd trying to get their fullest to get a wide panorama shot of the entire zoo.

    "Sometimes you wonder if Boss Jin could ever surpass his current creations and it seems like this is one of those days." Xia Mao said as he picked up his phone to try and capture the beautiful background despite the pushing from various customers. The SWAT Pandas who were on duty within the park wore a special Zoo Helmet to differentiate themselves from the regr SWAT Pandas and reminded the visitors to stay as civil as possible.

    "The advertisement did this ce quite a fair bit of injustice." Jing Yumented as she hurried Xia Mao to go explore the area. While the entrance and viewing bay was free for all to enter, the rest of the Zoo was not and required an electronic ticket to pass through. Because of Jinбпs Pandamonium App, almost everyone had already bought their tickets beforehand and they were going through the ticket gates with their handphones.

    And speaking of the ticket gates, Jing Yu found it cute that they were suitably themed instead of the usual boring metal machines. It was as if they were carved from aged wood and the barrier was a bunch of vines. When the duo was granted ess to the zoo, those vines would retract and allow them to pass. But if anyone tried to cheat through the ticket gates, the vines would grab them and report to the SWAT Pandas.

    It was surprising that such a scene did happen right before their eyes, thinking that they could trick into the Cultivation Zoo without a valid pass. And most of the customers who were thereughed, believing that these people were new visitors who did not know that Jinбпs store was akin to a simtion of a highly advanced artificial intelligence store in real life. The visitors had no idea who Jin had partnered with to achieve such бпrealisticбп fantasy dimensional instances but the fun and ease of ess of what that matters.

    "Letбпs go try the hamster balls!" Xia Mao shouted to Jing Yu like a curious kid in the park while the Condor Cultivator was browsing through her Pandamonium App to see what kind of enclosures were avable.

    "Lol. There is even a Jurassic Park enclosure but itбпs still under renovation. This Boss Jin is practically teasing us toe back for a second time." Jing Yu said until she realised he was out of her sight. Thankfully, they had already partied with each other and she was able to see where he was with the Pandamonium Map App tracker. At first, she thought it was useless to be used within the store instance since it usually broadcast a general location of where their party member was. But to her surprise, it became even more specific in this Cultivation Zoo instance and thus, she assumed when they were in the same service instance, the maps would be more specific.

    "Xia Mao. Where. Are. You." Jing Yu furrowed her eyebrows as she gave him a call while walking towards the direction in which the Pandamonium App pointed. (She knew where he was, it was merely a rhetorical question to portray her frustration.)

    "I am just looking at the Hamster Balls Selection. The Zoo Pass that we bought said we have a chance to ride them once for an hour, right?" Xia Mao said as he was contemting whether to take the guided Hamster Ball tour or not. "They even have a dual seat Hamster Ball and a Family one. Although the family one is more of a guided tour due to its size."

    "Is there a queue? I bet there is a queue." Jing Yu questioned as she tried to squeeze through the initial crowd to get to the pathways.

    "Yeah, duh. I do not want a repeat of that Loud Lion Cultivator so I am merely standing at the side. Hey, they even have an opening event of this ...animal duel...Animal Kaizer at the Cultivation Stadium" Xia Mao noted as he saw a shy holographic banner right beside the Hamster Ball.

    "I bet it would already be filled with people." Jing Yu said, judging by the crowd running around the ce until she saw something simr to a huge aircraft hangar although it looked like a giant cavern from afar with all the flora and the waterfall.

    "Want to try getting a seat? Besides, I have yet to eat anything. We could reserve seats and grab some food while waiting." Xia Mao said and Jing Yu was already tapping his shoulder from the back.

    "Yeah, sure. Assuming there are still seats left." Jing Yu said and then a Red Panda popped right in front of them while riding on a mini flying hoverjet.

    "Lol! A Red Panda in a Zookeeper costume on a hoverjet." Xia Mao found it cute and tried to take a picture with his phone. (And so did the other visitors around them.)

    "Pandawans! Itбпs a pleasure to serve the both of you. The Animal Stadium could be essed by that section right over there! You would then ride on a hovercraft which would not only take you to the Animal Stadium but also act as your seat for the current event!" The Red Panda said as it flew off in its mini hoverjet to assist other customers as well.

    "Looks like we have our answer." Xia Mao remarked as they went to queue for the hovercrafts.

 Chapter 1187 - Boarding The Hovercraft

    <h4>Chapter 1187 - Boarding The Hovercraft </h4>

    As Xia Mao and Jing Yu entered the queue to enter the hovercraft, they noticed that it was rather sleek, something out of those бпMarvellousбп movies. There were air turbine engines that stuck out at the side of the wings and despite its size, the craft looked extremely stable when it hovered quietly at the side for the Red Pandas to board the visitors onto the craft.

    And when the duo entered the high tech looking hovercraft, they noticed that there were no standard series of seats as they had imagined. (They probably thought it was something simr to a ne.) Instead, it was simr to the restaurant train where the seats and tables were allocated to the sides of the craft. There were even more floors up the hovercraft and they had the very same floor n ording to the Pandamonium App.

    When Xia Mao and Jing Yu gave their tickets to the Red Panda attendants, they quickly directed them to the second floor of the hovercraft until a special Red Panda Captain (judging by its hat) came to greet the two Pandawans.

    .

    "Greetings! Because of your Pandawan status, we can offer you a limited time premium seating at the basement of the hovercraft for just 59 Yuan per person! Food and drinks are provided as well! Offer stands for only five minutes!" The Red Panda said as it had noted their newly minted status as Pandawans.

    "Shouldnбпt it be the higher the floor, the better?" Xia Mao queried and the Red Panda shook its head.

    "The hovercraft viewing had been designed in such a way that the basement had the best possible view." The Red Panda said and they believed Jin would not have programmed the NPC to cheat their money.

    So, for a one time viewing experience, they had decided to pay 59 Yuan each to have the premium seats. The Red Panda Captain approved the transaction on the spot and requested the attendants to guide them to the basement where they saw the entire area had already been packed to the brim with the exception of the table at the far northern side of the hovercraft.

    "Now I do feel cheated." Xia Mao said, now understanding why no one wanted the corner seat.

    "But judging from the price on the Pandamonium App, we are merely paying one quarter of the price on the opening day. As much as you felt cheated, we did have a hefty discount for this ce...considering how the ce had already been filled up with people." Jing Yumented even though she felt terribly lucky seeing that the queue for the hovercrafts was already not as intense as the ones at the Hamster Ball area.

    As the duo sat at their allocated table, they noticed that there was a guide cum menu right in front of them, specifically for the Animal Kaizer event that they were going to host in half an hourбпs time.

    "Hmm, you can use your own binocrs or long distance cameras for both the event and the animal cultivation zoo tour. If you do not have any, you can request for one..." Xia Mao read out loud for Jing Yu to hear since there was only one guide pamphlet.

    "Oh yea...I remember seeing on the app that the premium seating had some exclusive viewing equipment avable to them." Jing Yu recalled seeing such a benefit in the App when she purchased the ticket but did not initially understand it until she saw the guide on the table.

    "I am more interested in this." Xia Mao pointed at the third page of the guide where there was an array of food listed. While a huge portion of them had no price tag on them, the ones on the fourth page were decorated with numbers that Xia Mao vowed to not even look at the names. Even though he had retired and earned some ie from side investments on a regr basis, it does not mean he could splurge his money so freely.

    "So, this is something like a viewing bay with a restaurant on board the hovercraft?" Xia Mao said as he quickly returned to the third page and rather ordered something that was on that particr menu.

    "Looks like it, and we can have our food while waiting for the hovercraft to leave." Jing Yu was relieved that there was at least a ce for them to rest their legs after seeing the number of people rushing into the cultivation zoo.

    "Imagine Jin have some Christmas Sales for his Tree Mall and his store instance. This ce will riot. Now I understand why there is a need for police to be stationed in his store." Xia Mao said as he ced his food order in the Pandamonium App section and still felt that it was one of the mostprehensive app he had ever used in his life. Even those majormunications app were nothingpared to this app.

    If anything, he really hoped that the app could have a broader coverage to take on his daily life so that he could fully rely on it despite having a seamless connection between the current apps he was using in conjunction with the Pandamonium App.

    "I would honestly swear and even knock some of the cultivators down just to get the item I want. Hahaha!" Jing Yu said and Xia Mao chuckled as well.

    "That is assuming there is no Captain Hei toe looking for you. Imagine having Captain Hei right at your back, chasing after you while you hold on to the goods that you snatched from the other customers. And the only point where you are considered safe is at the cashier." Xia Mao imagined but his pal shrugged it off as the food came almost as instantaneously as the service in Restaurant Train.

    "Here is your food. I hope you enjoy your breakfast. A littleplimentary item from us as a thank you for purchasing the Premium seating." The penguin waiter brought their breakfast items. Xia Mao had Pancakes with sausage and bacon with a te of fruits while Jing Yu ordered a western breakfast with waffles at the side. For theplimentary item, it was a te of pudding for each of them and it looked awfully sweet. Upon seeing and smelling the food right in front of them, the Pandawan Duo instantly understood that this restaurant service was an extension of the Restaurant Train Instance.

    Thus, they thanked the waiter and started their meal with their stomachs growling for the food to enter. Coincidentally, the loud speaker came on and the announcement for the hovercraft to leave for the Animal Kazier would proceed shortly.

 Chapter 1188 - Animal KAZIER -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1188 - Animal KAZIER -Part 1 </h4>

    "80% of the Hovercrafts are parked, do we have the show ready?" Jiang Song, the Zoo Staff asked through the System channel as he already started to present some simple advertisements at the top of the stadium as the rest of the hovercrafts were arriving.

    "Alex the Gori seems to be doing fine and the System had mentally prepped him for his first fight. Are you sure this will go well? We have yet to do any rehearsals for this." Tong Wu, the Zoo Medic replied but the rest could only exactly answer her question.

    "Last I checked, the Silverback Gori had been raring for a fight for some time. We can only direct it in a way that fate allows things to go smoothly." Kristinmented while she was taking in the vitals through her monitor screens.

    "I cannot believe you would believe such a thing as fate." Tong Wu remarked casually but Kristin reminded her that if it was not fate, would they havee together to work on something so magical?

    "That is quite true. While I cannot really tell my parents or colleagues about the experience nor my job here, this is just way too amazing. I did not regret leaving my old job for this.." Tong Wu replied.

    "Same here. When ire told us thereбпs a new job offer even though it might not pay well, I honestly did not expect this." Jiang Song said and Tong Wu chipped in.

    "Lol. She told me the same thing and the only thing she assured me was that promotion was guaranteed within a year which would allow me to earn more than usual."

    "Really? For me and Kristin, she offered us what we wanted. And when I found out Jiang Song was in this as well, I thought it was a good time to have some reunion." Jiang Bo interrupted.

    "Oh yeah. I heard the two of you were children of a zookeeper?" Tong Wu asked as she had already prepped what was needed for the show.

    "Hmm. You could put it that way. Our father was very passionate in embarking us on the same journey as he had gone through...but I am not exactly the smartest fellow in the family." Jiang Song sighed a little, feeling that inferiorityplex whenpared to his brother.

    "Itбпs fine. In the end, we are here doing jobs that needed to be done. Besides, a Zoo Guard is not a simple feat. You need to learn about the animalбпs habits, keeping them in control as well as the visitors. I simply could not do that." Jiang Bo said and Jiang Song felt it was a jab that he was suited for more menial work.

    "Ah Ah ah. No time for family drama right now. I will be sending Bear Cub One into the stream." Jin suddenly interrupted their System Channelбпsmunications and they quickly returned to their supposed posts.

    While most of the Hovercrafts were around the selected area, Jiang Song had already begun raising the System barriers around the habitat of Alexбпs home. It also gave Alex the Silverback Gori some time to condition himself that an opponent wasing to invade his area.

    With the help of System, Kristin managed to send basic messages to some of the animals in Jinбпs zoo. Although they were initially shocked by themunication method, most of them had roughly understood that the ce they lived in was not exactly their home. It might have looked like it but many of them knew that they were in a brand new environment where they were no longer masters of their ce.

    However, the constant subtle interaction from the Zoo Staff, especially Kristin had somehow managed to coerce them that this is their new home and they have to make do with it. After all, most of them were of decent grades when they were caught and the animals themselves possessed some form of intelligence.

    So, when they felt their home suddenly shrunk from the raising of the Systemбпs barriers, they knew that they had to fight for their homes. And this applies especially to Alex where he started to beat his chest and snort loudly.

    In the meantime, his opponent had been given messages that they had to attack the moment they teleported into the habitat. It was a do or die situation even though the Zoo Staff ensured that everything had been strictly regted. But the animals do not have that kind of sensing at the moment. Perhaps, further into the growth of Jinбпs Cultivation Zoo, the animals would learn about the format of Animal Kaize and would not be so afraid.

    For now, Lizzy, the East Siberian Brown Bear was scratching her ws at the bark of a tree to not just sharpen them but also prepare herself for the fight against an unknown opponent. Both animals had fought against animals higher grades than them based on the Systemбпs scan analysis and thus was used for the opening fight for the Animal Kaizer. Not to mention, both of these animals had also fought against wild monsters which made them formidable opponents for the opening match which Jin might consider throwing in a minion or two to battle against them if an opportunity arises.

    But for now, all the Hovercrafts had arrived and parked at their allocated positions. Xia Mao and Jing Yu were surprised and amazed that the basement floor of the hovercraft they were onboard suddenly turned transparent. This allowed the people to have a full view of their habitat right beneath them and made the Pandawans understand why the basement was considered the premium seating area.

    At their request, tables and chairs could be removed in an instant and their viewing equipment could be used to watch the entire fight from their allocated viewing area. In the meantime, some of the people who had money to spare, forked out more cash to rent the magic eyes installed in the starting match.

    Screens emerged at their allocated slots and a slightly visible veil surrounded them to ensure that the rest would not be able to disturb them during their viewing. (As well as to prevent бпleechesбп from watching the live broadcast.) However, the standard equipment provided along with the Premium Seating arrangement was more than enough as Xia Mao and Jing Yu happily enjoyed the view of the opening match.

 Chapter 1189 - Animal KAIZER -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1189 - Animal KAIZER -Part 2 </h4>

    "Greetings everyone! Wee to the first ever Animal Kaizer in Dungeons and Pandas Cultivation Zoo Instance! My name is Bear Cub One and I will be your host for today!" Bear Cub One nodded his head humbly within the stream as the Hovercrafts focused their eyes on the big screen in front of them. As it was the opening of Cultivation Zoo Instance, Jin had decided to open his zoo to online streams in order to garner views as well as exposure for his instance. He believed that other streamers within the instance would be doing the very same thing and he might as well allow Bear Cub One to be the official stream for his Dungeons and Pandas.

    "And with me is my old friend Mr Patsu! A Virtual Streamer like me! In fact, he is kind of like my senpai in this. So please wee him kindly!" Bear Cub One announced as a penguin came up to the screen and thanked Bear Cub One for his introduction.

    "Thank you, Bear Cub One! You have grown so much that it humbled me to be your senior in this field of expertise." Mr Patsu said and some people at the Hovercrafts cheered as they knew the duo was the бпoriginal generationбп aka the OG gang of announcers in the dungeon supplier store.

    To their surprise, Mr Patsu thanked them in the stream again and it made the visitors feel that they were still interacting with the announcers even though they were currently separated through multiple screens.

    Needless to say, Jin had incorporated serious hardware into his speakers in the Hovercrafts to ensure that the crowd still had that live stadium feel without disturbing the animals in the wild. That was one thing the Zoo Staff appreciated a lot by separating the audience away from the animals.

    .

    There had been many cases of animal anxiety and were also one of the potential causes why the animals were to rampage through the zoos.

    And despite the experiment like feeling where the animals might feel in this animal fighting, Kristin believed that it would also alleviate feelings of loneliness. Even by having a predator or an opponent to tough out against, it gave the animals something to look forward to, allowing them to forget about the current environment they were living in. Not to mention, with Jinбпs technology to replicate almost anything to even live food stock for the predators, it would not take long for the animals to limate to their perfect environment.

    "For the first match, we would have Lizzie Vs Alex! An East Siberian Brown Bear against the Silverback Gori!" Bear Cub One said as pictures of the animals appeared on the screen. "Any Gori or Bear Cultivators, please take this match in mind as both of the animals seemed pumped to have an epic fight!"

    "Wow, are they really using real animals for this fight?" Xia Mao asked and his question seemed to be resonating with the rest in the basement of the hovercraft.

    "I heard they are 100% the real deal." One of the cultivators said out loud back to him.

    "Really? But isnбпt this a dungeon instance? How did Jin even get all those animals if they are real." Another cultivator questioned.

    "Any Bear or Gori Cultivators around to verify the authenticity of the animals?" Another guy shouted and slowly, a hand raised up. The female cultivator meekly showed her cultivator and two small little bears appeared right above her.

    "Hey, nice! Tell us if itбпs true when the match starts!" Xia Mao called out and the rest agreed as well when Bear Cub One continued the introduction of the Siberian Bear and the Silverback Gori.

    "Letбпs not bore our visitors too much about the facts. They can search it up on the Inte if need be." Mr Patsu subsequently stopped Bear Cub One not because he was being too dry in his exnation but because the Hovercrafts had all been ounted for and parked. This means the show can start!

    "Yes! Yes! Thank you, Mr Patsu! Sorry, everyone. Without further ado, letбпs get the very first Animal Kaizer to begin!" Bear Cub One said as the big screen was suddenly split into two and they were dedicated each to the Siberian Bear and Silverback Gori.

    Unlike a standard match, where two people face straight against each other, the Siberian Bear was teleported to the edge of the Silverbackбпs jungle. This was to give some time for the бпinvadingбп animal to adjust itself to the new environment. At the same time, it helps to get the ball rolling as both animals had already caught the scent of each other and they were already rushing to one another.

    "Itбпs ...real." The female Bear Cultivator said as she suddenly felt her blood boiling when she stared at the movement of the bear with her binocrs. Even though it was a forested area and the animals were deep in the jungle, the provided equipment within the basement had been imbued with a customised spell "See Through Foliage", allowing them to see the movement of the animals rushing towards each other.

    "The movement of the bear... Its breathing pattern and even its expression. Itбпs the real thing. I cannot say for the Gori but the bear is 100% authentic. No doubts about that at all." The female cultivators replied and the people around her could see that her cultivation was shining fairly brightly as if it was near to a breakthrough.

    Still, thatment alone startled everyone in the basement and they started to have a closer look at the fight. What the customers initially thought was that the animal Kaizer was something simr to NPCs fighting against NPCs but now that they knew it was real, they could not help but root for either one of them.

    Furthermore, the hovercrafts were not the only ones going high in adrenaline. The Siberian Bear and the Silverback Gori finally locked eyes against each other and their animal aura was burning bright as if they finally met a worthy rival.

 Chapter 1190 - Animal KAIZER -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1190 - Animal KAIZER -Part 3 </h4>

    "Lizzie is going for the kill instantly?!" Bear Cub One shouted, as his voice intensified as the charge against two animals became extremely deadly. Even the little bear NPC did not expect an intense sh the moment they locked their eyes together.

    Lizzie, the East Siberian Brown Bear, mmed all her strength on the Alex the Silverback Gori with so much strength that the impact had knocked back almost everything except for the gori himself. The trees, stones and even soil within a five metre radius sted away and yet the Silverback Gori was able to withstand the attack.

    "What the heck is that?!" Not just the audience was surprised to see such a powerful blow from the start but even Jin who was watching at the sidelines were shocked by the opening sh. "Even the lion was not as strong when he versus Xin. Are these two some powerhouses?"

    "No. The System had previously analysed their power levels and they were of simr grades." The System replied.

    "Well? What grade are they?" Jin queried and the System indicated that they were only Grade 4s. Jin could not imagine that two Grade 4 animals could be able to produce such a powerful impact and decided to ask the Zoo Staff if they had any knowledge of this..

    "Yeah. Both Jiang Bo and I had a hand in this." Kristin felt as if she was happy with her achievements now that it was in for all to see. "We had been feeding them some nutritious feeds and a bit of a power booster ...erm solutions to allow them to fight more fiercely."

    "Is this even allowed?" Jin questioned and Kristin acknowledged that the concoction could be a little too much for the animals.

    "Those drugs are a natural adrenaline booster and they would wear off within a day or two. Do not need to be rmed. Even animals in their own habitat had kept stock of these boosters in the wild especially those higher grades ones to ensure that they had the upper advantage against monsters and other invading animals. We are merely replicating the behaviour of few to the animals participating in the KAIZER event." Jiang Bo told the truth to Jin despite it being a tadte.

    "Hmm... whatбпs done is done," Jin said as he looked at the natural adrenaline booster as a potential strengthening item not just for animals but for his minions as well if they were in a pinch. He then asked if they could liaise with the science team to get the more potent product together.

    "See, dear. I told you, he would not be averse to the effect. In fact, he is more interested in it." Kristin said while she herself had worries of her own since it was out of protocol.

    "You know, if we told him earlier, it would not be too heavy on my heart." Jiang Bo said as he finally felt a burden being lifted from him. In recement of that burden was another shock when the Silverback Gori grappled Lizzie and mmed her through the trees. The crowd went wild as they saw the Gori beating his own chest and rushing towards the Siberian Brown Bear. (Sadly, no screams or shouts could be heard by the animals and they were focused on defeating their opponent right in front of them.)

    "Oh my god, this is madness. Why didnбпt Shenzhen Zoo do this?" One of the cultivators said as he really wished to go nearer to the fight scene and it progressed in real time. His only constion was that his wallet was able to buy the optional Magic Eye live view where he selected the best option where he could watch it up close as well as the different camera views ced side by side.

    "This totally could be an illegal event where they bet which of the animals would win with no biases involved." Xia Mao said as he too could not help purchasing the mid tier option to watch the Magic Eye view.

    "With Jinбпs brilliant mind of business, he would probably only allow betting in Panda Coins or some token form that would circumvent the gamblingws. Remember that Spinning Top Event in the Theme park?" Jing Yu spoke but Xia Mao did not reply as it was the first time he saw a Brown Bear held onto the ground and lifting a portion of it to throw towards the Silverback Gori. It was a magic spell by a Grade 4 Animal!

    Sightings of animals using magic were umon since humans are very detached from the natural world and Cultivation Zoos do not show much of this feat since they used it only for survival. So when the b of ground was thrown towards the Silverback Gori, the crowd nearly went nuts once more. Even the Female Bear Cultivator went giddy from just viewing her cultivation animal from performing a magic attack with no chanting at all.

    "I see...so with thebination of the Systemбпs hypnotic messages

    The Silverback Gori on the other hand grabbed one of the fallen trees as a bat and mmed the b of ground away. Alex subsequently threw it towards Lizzie but everyone could see that it was merely a distraction while he jumped high up.

    Naturally, the Brown Bear evaded the speeding log spear and she moved the way the Silverback Gori wanted, allowing Alex to m Lizzie at her side. The punch was so great that the magic eye camera could even capture the ripples of the impact on her torso.

    "Oooof! That punch must have hurt a lot!" Mr Patsumented but Lizzie did not shirk from the fight as her paw pped the Goriбпs face once more and threw him down to the ground. The Gori lost his bnce for a moment and that was what the Brown Bear needed to start its continuous attack of gnawing and wing. And each time the Gori wanted to counter attack, the bear banged his head with her chi charged paw instead of blocking the grapple.

    "Now we are talking! This sudden reversal from Lizzie was what she needed to get back on Alex!" Bear Cub One, obviously taking the side of his бпkinбп, began giving praise to the Brown Bear, hoping for her to win the match.

    And as the match went further, it was pretty obvious who was the winner.

 Chapter 1191 - Animal KAIZER -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1191 - Animal KAIZER -Final </h4>

    As Lizzie was about to give the killing blow to the Silverback gori, Jiang Song instantly teleported in between them and stopped the attack. "Alright, Lizzie. Thatбпs enough for today. You won the match and hereбпs your reward." The Zoo Guard said as he took out a b of juicy meat, possibly beef and tangled it in front of the Brown Bear.

    Obviously, Lizzie isnбпt a human who can make rational choices but since Jiang Song was dangling a piece of delicious smelling cooked meat right in front of her, she could not resist it. Thus, she walked away from the Silverback Gori and started consuming the meat in peace. And just as she was about to finish chewing the first one, a portal emerged right in front of her and Jiang Song threw anotherrge b of meat through it, hinting her to return to her environment.

    At the same time, the Zoo Guard picked the injured Silverback Gori through another portal where the Panda Nurses were waiting with their tools all ready to nurse the Gori back to health. "There, there buddy. Do not be discouraged, there will always be time for revenge." Jiang Song whispered to the defeated animal and told him to learn from todayбпs mistake so that he could emerge stronger from the match. The gori subtlety nodded his head as he received treatment from the Panda Nurses..

    "Thank you everyone for the show. If anyone was disappointed by my interruption, then I would like to reemphasize that this is a Cultivation Zoo and not a death murder match organised by us. As much as the animals would like to reign supreme against each other, we still have to care for them since they are not here just for our entertainment, but for the betterment of our cultivation." Jiang Song said and Bear Cub One immediately took over.

    "Yes, yes. This is our Zoo Guard Jiang Song. Some might know him as the Gatekeeper of Shenzhenбпs Cultivation Zoo, known for kicking errant guests from doing stupid acts in the Zoo. He is now employed under Jin to make sure that the animals and visitors alike would behave in the appropriate manner. So, please give him your warm wee!" The Bear Cub One said but the crowd was not exactly pleased since the fight was done so quickly.

    "If you guys think that the match is done, you are mistaken as we have two more in line for you so please hang on tight while we make the necessary changes to the field and ensure that both of ourpetitors are ready for the fight!" Mr Patsu added and instantly the Animal Kaizer Stadium was filled with pitch ck shade as the System changed the background.

    ------

    "To be honest, I am half expecting Xin would emerge out of nowhere to target the Bear and Goriбпs fight," Jin said as he opened a teleportation portal right beside him. He took a few documents with him and walked through it.

    "The System enforced procedures in ce to ensure that Xin would not be allowed to make any interruptions. For some reason, Xin had acquired the ability to teleport without the Systemбпs help and it could possibly stem from the spiritual union with User."

    "But isnбпt that your ability? Why has it be his?" Jin said when he emerged out of the portal and double checked his current attire was decent enough for a meeting.

    "Unconfirmed. Perhaps, in conjunction with the Userбпs contract with the System and its yearning toe near you, it somehow managed to learn such an ability." The System said and at the same time opened the door for Jin as he was met with a delegation of old men in suits waiting for him in the Conference Room Instance.

    "Apologies for theteness, I had to ensure what you all had been watching was going smoothly," Jin said as the screen featuring the Animal Kazier was turned off and he sat at the centre of the long table.

    "And I believe you all have also seen the medical treatment given to the Silverback Gori, a highlight which was not shown to the public to alleviate your fears," Jin added and the rest of the group seems stoic about it.

    "I see. For the group known to be handling animals, you all are still the same as everyone else. Profit." Jin furrowed his eyebrows as he opened his documents. With a double knock on the table, documents emerged from the sides of the tables and he requested the delegation to pick them up for a look. There was lots of flipping and reading for a few minutes before a few whispers were going through the room.

    Naturally, Jin could hear each and every one of them, given his enhanced hearing ability and even if he could not, the System was already recording each and every conversation, transcribing them real time onto Jinбпs side document without anyone noticing and he could read them off the sides.

    "The figures I believed are very reasonable, given that you need to do a major renovation. You had already been given a private tour by our Zoo Staff and saw how the animals are doing." Jin said as he saw some disgruntled expression.

    "First thing first, how are you controlling those animals for the Kaizer-" One of the personnel requested and Jin stared at him hard.

    "Trade Secret. All I can say is this is a method that has been thoroughly researched and been approved by the Ethicsmunity. You may choose to duplicate it but I will not guarantee your sess. But letбпs stay focused on the current agenda."

    "Your numbers are a little unreasonable." Another old man in his suit said, obviously wanted a cut in the rental prices. "We had been aiding other zoos to hold their animals at less than half the price."

    "We are feeding them quality feed, excellent health care and most importantly, the ability to roam freely. Are you saying those things do not require money?" Jin queried and a few of them cut in, saying that Shenzhenбпs zoo does not need such treatment. A space to hold their animals out of the sight of the customers would be fine too.

    "I totally disagree. In fact, for your disgusting behaviour, I am doubling the price tag right here and now." Jin said straight to their faces and a number of them started to stand up, demanding why does he have the right to do such a thing.

    "Because of this." Jin picked up a remote control under the desk and then pressed a button. The screen that was behind him, turned on once more and clips of animal abuse within the Cultivation Zoo had been shown right in front of them.

    It was not just personal abuse but also direct torture of the animals in front of VIPs with a few of the delegationбпs faces being shown right in there. Some who were not in the known were bbergasted by the clips while the victims demanded how he got the clips.

    "Letбпs say a certain Samaritan had gifted us this because they trusted us to do right for the animals. Also, for this answer. The price now has tripled." Jin said and a knock came from the door. Jin allowed her toe in and Grandma Yuan, along with ire, walked through it.

    "Do not think I am an old woman that I can be side blinded by some of you. Pay now and those in the video clips resign." Grandma Yuan said as if she knew the situation beforehand. Even though as the chairwoman, she had little control since it was just a title for being the biggest donor. But with this change of events, even the zoo delegation has no way ofing out unscathed.

    And right now because of this forced deal, Jin had be the Animal Kaiser of Shenzhen.

 Chapter 1192 - A Rather Foolish Decision

    <h4>Chapter 1192 - A ''Rat''her Foolish Decision </h4>

    When the Zoo delegation was deliberating whether to take into Jinбпs offer with serious consideration, ire questioned how Jin got hold of that footage and had been nning this impromptu meeting for some time.

    "Yeah, sorry about that. I had to keep it a secret that it came out of the blue. The video materials were sensitive in nature and the fewer people who knew about it, the better." Jin said through the System Channel with ire and Grandma Yuan in it.

    "You still did not answer the question," ire said as she took a chair for Grandma Yuan to sit right beside Jin while she stood at the side.

    "Honestly I thought it was you who orchestrated all these in the first ce. Itбпs Jiang Song, our new Zoo Guard. He had pals in the security department that had been hashed with threats rather than bribes to keep everything under the wraps. It just so happened that when his pals heard Jiang Song was going for a new Zoo, they were wondering if he could expose them for their sake." Jin said and Grandma Yuan quietly raised an eyebrow towards Jin.

    .

    "Oh... Hmm yea. Jiang Song was like their big bro in almost everything in the security department. I guess, he too already knew it and had to keep his eyes closed about the management. Would not be surprised if he decided to use you to try leveraging it against them."

    "All I knew from their end was that their higher ups would force them off the cameras for certain nights but one was curious and tech savvy enough that he created a backup device that would record the camera footage to see what was exactly going on. Needless to say, he found himself a pot of scandals but he was not that tech savvy to spread it into the without implicating himself." Jin exined.

    "So yeah. When Jiang Song came here, he was wondering if I could take advantage of it since he saw how big I have be and having possession of the System. Initially, I thought it would be a gamble and prepared a few more threats but this was way easier than I thought." Jin said through the System Channel but reminded the Zoo Delegation to quickly make their decision. However, it seems like he had spoken too soon.

    "Are you very sure that you will delete them? Or is there more to this?" One of the Zoo Investors asked and Jin ced hands on the table to try and intimidate them further.

    "Why? Are there even more incidents I am not aware of? Perhaps bestiality?" Jin queried and the zoo investor got a little too defensive in his line of answering.

    "I do not care. Just delete them when the deal is done!" The Zoo Investor said and Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "You are in no position to bargain and it is not in the legal documents which stated I have to do just that," Jin replied.

    "Then we are under no obligation to pay you this much too!" Another one of them shouted.

    "Thatбпs true. You can reject the offer, and we will merely send this to the police as well as the inte. Oh and feel free to send any cultivators to my end as well. My colleagues and I would love some exercise." Jin realised that the investors are finally trying to bark and bring him down so he merely used the simplest tactic in bargaining.

    To stand up and leave the bargaining table.

    As they saw Jin trying to leave the area until someone decided to show their бпrankбп. A man in histe sixties stood up and dered that he was with the Royal Zodiac Rat n. Not just a member but a distant uncle of the direct family.

    It no doubt stopped Jin in his tracks and that Royal Zodiac Rat n Member thought he had the upper hand until Jin opened his mouth.

    "Seriously? You are going to y rank and title right here and now?" Jin questioned and the Royal Zodiac Rat n Member replied with a resounding yes. Both ire and Grandma Yuan merely smirked at the mistake he was about to make.

    "Onest chance. Have you forgotten that I decimated your Rat Triad Leader? Are you sure you want to go against me?" Jin queried.

    "That leader can be reced anytime. You offend us and you will get your just rewards. Donбпt think that you would be let go just because you have a big tree in Shenzhen!" The Royal Zodiac Rat n Member answered and Jinughed.

    "Come at me, I do not care. The deal is off so be prepared to handle the consequences."

    "Hah! You think I- we would be scared of your threats? The entire Royal Zodiac Rat n wille after you."

    "Oh, by the way. Whatбпs your name again? I did not catch it the first time when you were rat-tling off your title." Jin suddenly stopped in his tracks.

    "My name is Ben Lao Shu! People call me Big Ben!" Big Ben said and Jin chuckled a little without any effort in hiding it.

    "Very well Big Ben, I look forward to your counterattack. Just be sure. Itбпs you, your n against me, alright? Any attack on my customers would result in severe consequences." Jin said as he waved his hands and the current zoo deal was off.

    However, the moment he left the meeting table, that prideful behaviour turned 180 degrees as a number of Zoo Investors went towards Grandma Yuan asking her if it could be salvaged. Some were even deciding whether they could utilise her connection with him to not let that evidence be leaked out. There were some who would want to pay money to have their own footage be erased.

    Grandma Yuan, on the other hand, merely stomped her stick and walked off, signalling to them that she was disappointed in them. She had no idea that the scandals were that sick and thought the worse was merely siphoning funds from the Zoo itself. It then makes her realise how terrible humans could be and sometimes not worth saving.

    "You guys should have taken the olive branch even though it was at a high price. But now, it looks like the gutter would have been a better ce to hide in." ire walked away with Grandma Yuan.

 Chapter 1193 - Grandma Yuans Wealth

    <h4>Chapter 1193 - Grandma Yuan''s Wealth </h4>

    "Another fight with the Rats. Donбпt you have enough on your te already?" Grandma Yuan saw Jin waiting for her at the side while he was tapping on his phone.

    "Now that I am officially the Panda Lord, it does not hurt to have somepetition. Or else, I would not be able to gain territory." Jin shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, if they attack me, they are probably going to assault the store since I can hardly move myself away from it. And even if they do it outside of the store, I still have my minions toe to me at my behest. Not much of an issue."

    "If I have to say it again, it was quite out of the blue to pull that trick out. Most of the delegation are still in panic mode after you guys left. Also, that red g you pulled is just erm... quite expected." ire said to Jin, implying that his big mouth was about to ruin the entire situation considering how things were proceeding rather smoothly.

    .

    "Hahah yeah. I did some research with the aid of the System when the delegation came in. A bit of digging into each and every individual personal background that was avable on the. And seeing how a few of them were in the Royal Zodiac ns, I would be more surprised if they did not show their haughty behaviour against me." Jin said as this was one of the ways to bait them toe after him especially now that he knows about the Heavenly Duels, it would be so much easier to win against them.

    Also, if anything goes badly, he still got the Royal Zodiac Dragon n to back him up since he was still in the protection phase.

    "And ording to their attitude, it seems like they do not know who I am yet, so a sneak attack would be the best way to win things right now," Jin concluded.

    "Just hope that you do not bite more than you could chew." Grandma Yuan shook her head. "I might not be there to aid you if the pinch gets real."

    "Heh. Thank you for your concern. Grandma Yuan. But I think with thebined might of all my army, I believed I should be able to fight against a n Head." Jin said and the System suddenly chipped in its opinion.

    "Based on the fight against Original Betor Kraft, the System had sufficient analytical evidence that User should indeed be able to hold against a n Head. Even if he does not, he still has his betors with him."

    "I guess you learnt your lesson too eh?" Grandma Yuan was speaking to the System directly and shockingly, the System acknowledged Grandma Yuanбпs remarks.

    "Indeed. With the previous encounter as a base analysis, the System would not dare to underestimate its opponent."

    "Good. Because this is seriously yourst shot too since Jin is one and only to possess the original bloodline of the Panda n." Grandma Yuan nodded her head.

    "Anyways, enough of me. How is the JODE treating you? Are you able to open for the April intake? Or well, I assumed thatбпs the time for intake since most high schools and even military recruitment start roughly that month." Jin queried and Grandma Yuan sighed.

    "Yes. Yes. They suddenly treated me as if I were some empress rather than some fool who just wanted the principalбпs seat. If I had known that money can work wonders, I would have already invested something into the JODE." Grandma Yuan said.

    "Your wealth is not that almighty." ire was quick to tell her.

    "But didnбпt you all say that she spent loads and loads of money on the maintenance of those exotic animals? And even donated a heck lot to the cultivation zoo? Is it because of a conflict of interest that you are unable to put money into JODE?" Jin asked which caused ire to start giggling.

    "Itбпs not anything so unreal. My father was the one that is the millionaire. And one of the assets he invested heavily in was the Cultivation Zoo as well as that Animal Storagepany you encountered. So, it was natural for me to invest his inheritance into the Zoo, allowing me to hold onto the Chairmanбпs post." Grandma Yuan replied. "So, there are some people I knew that gave me a major discount into holding those animals for you. I assumed ire had put in a lot of effort into bluffing you that I spent a ton of money into it."

    "Yeap... She did." Jin stared at ire and this time around she burst outughing now that the cat is out of the bag.

    "But that major discount came with a condition and it is also why it would be nice to talk to you about it too." Grandma Yuanбпs expression turned a little cheeky, a face that Jin rarely sees. "I told them that the new Zoo Boss has connections to people who had the unique ability to бпfreeze timeбп and they were extremely interested to see you with regards to that."

    "Oh...OHHHH." Jin seemed to vaguely understand why they would want a бпstatic timeбп user to keep or improve their animal storage capabilities. "They need us to catch some animals for them?"

    "Something like that. Even though their storage had already been enhanced with inscriptions and magic, there were some animals that were temperature specific or too stressed. Most High Grade Magicians could also freeze time but they had a time limit because it was too much of a strain on their mana. On the other hand, you have a mage that does not have such restraints. Do five jobs for them and they would seal the deal, else I told them to hand the remaining bill to the Zoo Boss." Grandma Yuan said and ire instantly produced the receipt invoice for Jin to see.

    Without a doubt, he could have fainted on the spot seeing the number of numbers on the invoice and thus, hemanded the System to get Peppers to get in touch with Grandma Yuan.

 Chapter 1194 - Art Exhibition

    <h4>Chapter 1194 - Art Exhibition </h4>

    The Cultivation Zoo Instance was a major hit for being a new instance and the fact that there was an entire array of new stores in the Tree Mall brought more life to the ce. Jin was initially afraid that the consumption of digital apps andziness of humans would cause shopping malls to die down but it seems that with the right set of attractions such as his dungeon supplier store and other entertainment stores, there was not much to worry about. (Although, it does seem like he had forgotten it was because of the speciality that allowed him to be this way!)

    From his own personal hotels in the Dungeon Supplier store to the increased tenants, while ensuring the stores would also have an бпuncappedбп capacity, the customers who visited Jinбпs Tree Mall could safely say that there was so much potential that Jin had yet to tap on to.

    With the reshuffle of shops to the first floor and nothing else, at the subsequent levels, there was an odd feeling of emptiness despite the crowd. That was why Jin had temporarily remodelled the Tree Mall making the next few levels as a temporary exhibition as well as a resting ce for customers and passersby alike. What exhibition? Since Jin wants variety to his Tree Mall, he too wanted to support the arts industry of China. And thus, the second level had temporarily been allocated to budding artistic entrepreneurs to show their artwork as well as a rating system to let the artists gauge from behind the scenes how their work had been viewed.

    It was also because with Jinбпs increasing workload, there was no way he could take care of everything despite the amount of time he had even withpression and dtion of time itself. Also, the Systemбпs artistic assets were fairly limited and to be frank, Jin had to do his own personal research to ensure that the dungeons he created were fantastical in nature while ensuring some realism to it.

    Later, it was up to the System to beautify the ce a little further. It might not seem to be much of a problem for most dungeon instances but it would be a different scenario with the Virtual Reality System.. As much as Jin could copy and paste certain environments, he felt that he could not bring enough life or the full potential of the backgrounds.

    By using this temporary exhibition call to get artists of various styles toe together, he would be able to judge and possibly hire someone young and talented to bring his Virtual Reality instance to the next level. Background artists, Graphic Artists, Character Creation Artists and many more would be needed.

    The System did ask why Jin could not just acquire an established art studio to do all this work but his reasoning was very simple. "The hungrier an artistбпs ambition is, the more work he could produce and itбпs best to catch such golden egg hatchlings before they have their feathers peeled and be a normal industry chicken."

    However, the System did argue that there are many reputable artists to merely convert and Jin returned the argument. "I too could not have been a Dungeon Supplier, without your aid. And that was my childhood dream. We are doing this partially because we all dreamed to be something better, right? All those saving we did in the other worlds was also because of that same reason. Those reputable artists had already achieved theirs, I would rather help someone who was in the same shoes as me."

    And thus, the exhibition on physical and digital art had been ced on the subsequent levels of the Tree Mall with Jin promoting the artwork from students to adults. With regards to the rating system, there was only бпthumbs upбп option and each of these thumbs up visitors could only press it if they wished to spend a panda coin on it. In doing so, based on the number of likes they received, the System would then pay out a definite amount of money to these artists for showcasing their work at the end of the day. This then spurred each of these artists to pour out their best works, in hopes that someone pressed that like button.

    Not only that, but Jin had also created a mini silent auction where the visitors could also buy the artistsбп artwork if they did like it. Since there was a deadline for each art exhibition, that would also be the time where the customer who paid the most could receive the artwork. If one thinks that was applied to only physical artwork, they were absolutely wrong about it.

    Jin was not oblivious to the bitcoin scene and had also developed his very own NFTs, Non-Fungible Tokens through the power of the System.

    (Although he did not know the process, the System said it was just some maniption of data code to create it.) These NFTs are digital assets that are encoded with the very same underlying software as many cryptocurrencies so it creates a digital scarcity and no one could steal it once itбпs under them.

    However, unlike the standard NFTs that are being paid with bitcoins, the System had purposely created its own encryption software based on Kraftбпs previous exploits to the Deep Web such that it could only be payable with Panda Coins. And since the System was intelligent and powerful enough to manipte behind the scenes, it maintained the value of these NFTs to the current currency market rather than the bitcoin market, making it extremely essible to the public.

    To make things sound simpler, those digital assets could not be stolen once bought and the System guaranteed it. But all this selling could not have happened if there was no enticement. Thus, Jin brought out his ultimate weapon.

    A lottery to earn a unique Artist Panda plushie.

    Those who were in the knowprehended that the plushies were of a certain quality and some even said that the ultimate art was plushie themselves.

 Chapter 1195 Relic Hunting

    <h4>Chapter 1195: Relic Hunting</h4>

    While it had been a long day for Jin with the opening of the Cultivation Zoo and the expansion of his stores in the Tree Mall, he decided to take the remaining time of the day to wind down. First by checking on Kraft since he was supposedly dancing mad in the Church of the Afterlifeбпs Ivory Tower of cold hard cash.

    "What?! It has already been a day?" Kraftughed as he never felt better crushing peopleбпs skulls and stealing their relics to the point they started to be warier about him. The troops had finally understood that the devil in a trench coat had a different purpose than most other бпparticipantsбп.

    But since the guards were on defensive rather than on offensive as usual, Kraft and his Night Foxes decided to go against them full force. The Drows were no doubt tired from the constant fighting but they realised it was also a form of training to see how far they could stretch while maintaining their form.

    Some of the guards even shouted at them to just go into the Ivory Tower where there was more gold and lost treasures to be found but Kraft simply refused. To him, he felt that he could not bear to leave any stone unturned especially when these treasures had one basic function aside from the various enhancing magic capabilities.

    The ability to resurrect on the spot.

    If it was not for that particr ability, most of those бпrelicsбп that Kraft had plundered from them would have been ssified as in junk to him. But the instant resurrection was something that would benefit one particr person if he was in a tight spot. And that was none other than Jin.

    Still, these relics only had a number of magic uses in them, and like an ddin wishingmp, the moment those uses were spent, the relic would certainly be a trash item. So, he and the Night Foxes were collecting them whenever they saw a guard wearing them. As much as Kraft treated Jin quite harshly, the Old Fox still had some feelings for this young master of his especially when he learnt the hard way that he could somewhat match his skills. (Obviously, he treated him as a person of interest to be his rival, Kraft still had his obligation to keep his master alive so long he did not break his promise for using the System abusively.)

    "Are you nning to continue to stay there? Now that I have officially cleared my Cultivation Zoo instance, I am looking into probing the defences of the Rats. The reports of them attacking the resistance towns are getting lesser day by day. We need to survey their defensive response as a feint." Jin said.

    "Nah. Donбпt do it. The moment you touch those rats, they will drill full force for their objective and you will have less time on your end. I suggest you continue to build your Virtual Instance while gathering the required resources for the Rat War. Besides, didnбпt you say the Symposium is like -I donбпt know erm, soonish?" Kraft replied honestly for the first time in a long while as he smacked one of the guards at their butt before ripping the armour off them like some magicianбпs act.

    "Fine. I guess you are right. After all, the symposium was supposed to be the start of the expansion of Panda Inc." Jin nodded his head.

    "So yeah. Donбпt you worry about me? Even though we are all tired from stripping guards naked, we would retreat when it is getting bothersome. Hehe." Kraft replied before cutting themunication.

    "Does that mean I really do have some off duty time to myself?" Jin felt weird not working on an issue so intently to clear it.

    "Not exactly. If the System were to establish a list of outstanding issues to be fixed, there would be at least a dozen of problems in your current agenda. From the testing of Ayseбпs new weapons to looking into the investments of certain products which we had procured from a set of ck market traders."

    "Huh, what? I canбпt hear you. All I hear is the sound of sleep." Jin said as he touched his bed for the first time in a long while. The System stopped its rambling for a moment before deciding that Jin did deserve a rest.

    "Good night User even though it is now a little too early to certify-"

    "Good night System." Jin said as he cuddled himself under the nket and slept. The System immediately dimmed the lights and closed the curtains in his room while ensuring the temperature was regted so that it was optimal for a good sleep. After all, it was beneficial for the System to do some side tasks without Jinбпs meddling with it as well as allowing him to enter into cultivation mode.

    At the same time, the System also ensured that the room was prepared for timepression and dtion. After all, everyone knew that there were times where Jin could somehow fall into a deep sleep and would not wake up until the time was right. Regardless of the noise or rm reminders, they were useless to wake the Panda Cultivator up unless the System took drastic measures to force him out of his cultivation stance.

    Thus, it informed everyone, especially the Leader Minions and Sub System Users that Jin had decided to go into Cultivation mode.

    As for Jin, he dived into the state of subconsciousness to find himself in the middle of nowhere with loud explosive noises in the background and dead bodies around him. He tried to orient himself since it was the first time he saw such a scene. No traces of the mountain that he was in, nor the remnants of the forest where he stayed with Ming. It was a war ridden wastnd with the smell of charred soil and dposed bodies.

    Soon enough, a group of horsemen with spears and axes emerged from the bloodyndscape charging right in front of him with the aim of not just killing him but against the opposing group of armed horsemen from the other side.

    "Fuck. I wanted a break or a simple tea session with Gramps. Why am I in this kind of life or death situation?!" Jin said as he unsheathed Bam and Boo with his Inverse Eyes activated.

 Chapter 1196 - The Endless Battlefield - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1196 - The Endless Battlefield - Part 1 </h4>

    Each sh to the enemy, and it would drop the ground and bleed.

    The ughter as senseless as it was, all he could was to grit his teeth and defend himself.

    Jin literally lost count of the number of foes he defeated as well as the time he was on that battlefield but there was one thing that was certain. Each time he defeated a foe, they would return at least twice the number. It was to the point he would have been overwhelmed no matter how much Astral Arts he had utilised to defeat the enemies.

    Yet, his legs were still rooted to the ground, stepping on each enemy he defeated to have a proper footing against his next foe. His eyes continued to predict the next attack of his foe, hoping he would not get hit. His lungs were exchanging air as fast as he could exchange his blows. His arms were moving instinctively to protect its user from certain death. His body was continuously preparing itself while he handled the pain of the worms from the legendary inscription to heal himself. Every part of his body was working overtime to ensure that Jin was still alive.

    .

    The foes that emerged started to vary as well. From horsemen to foot soldiers and subsequently faceless archers to guys carrying a mobile ballista over its back. Everything and anything in his sight was out to ughter him and after roughly a day of fighting, Jin finally had a fatal wound through his stomach.

    The faceless warrior roared in excitement as he pushed the sword further into his gut. That caused Jin to finally stop and ept his fate. The rest of the soldiers that were surrounding him also pierced their weapon into his body as long as they could find a space to squeeze through.

    Only when Jin was on the ground, riddled with swords, spears and daggers. The soldiers were finally withdrawing and left him alone to rot in that wastnd he helped create.

    "Told you, he couldst at least a day." That familiar voice echoed through Jinбпs voice as his consciousness started to fade.

    "To be exact, it was only 23 hours and 43 minutes." Another voice echoed through.

    "But you gotta hand it to him. The first time I tried this, I could only manage an hour." This time around, he was very sure that it was Ming talking and Jin confirmed his suspicions that this was also a test, something like the one he had against Genbu and Orochi. However, before he could even think for another second, hey t on the ground bleeding profusely.

    Not long after that supposed test, he woke up again finding himself sitting on the very same bench on the mountainous shell of Genbu. Even without waking up fully, he could feel the hardness of the bench and the slight creaking of the wood.

    "Ah, you are awake," Ming said as he scratched the head of Byakko who was lying at the side of the bench.

    "Is this another test of yours? Suzaku or something like that?" Jin queried as his body felt extremely heavy from the marathon.

    "Something like that. Unlike Genbu and Byakko, you could say that this is a test of stamina." Ming did not hide any information from his grandson. "We were initially betting how long you were able tost as this wastnd is Suzakuбпs paradise."

    "Each and every warrior you fought was someone who had sought for Suzakuбпs power. For her allure to resurrect the very person they truly loved woulde true if she found them worthy." Ming exined and Jin could only keep his silence longer.

    "Heh, I bet you are thinking you do not have anyone who you wish to resurrect back, am I right?" Ming said and Jin returned a difficult smile. "And you would also be thinking, why would anyone want Suzakuбпs powers when there is already a process of resurrection?"

    "That is because...the real authentic process requires the feather of Suzaku to properly resurrect. And that had always been the way even before our Almighty Guan Yu overwrote thew of nature and redefined this particr worldбпs way of life. Might I add even the western mages could have never understood how Guan Yu was able to attain that holy бпGrade 20бп grail and was jealous that an eastern cultivator was able to change the rules in such a way." Ming exined and Jin stared at the rotten wastnd.

    "Anyways, I digressed. *Cough* So even up till now, the process of resurrection that had been replicated used recements of Suzakuбпs feathers to get it working. That was why there were so many precious high grade resources being used to get as close as the effects of Suzakuбпs feather to get the full result of a resurrection."

    "But even judging by your exnation, it seems like you have tried Suzaku feathers once too," Jin said as a casual reply...until he realised, he might have been spot on. "Wait... you tried to search one for Mom?"

    Ming did not say a single word and continued to stare at the endless wastnd thatid right in front of them. "Hmmm... mmph." Ming nodded his head slowly and ever so lightly. Yet, Jin could see that the nod was something of an admission of truth, something which he did not reveal all these years. The death of his parents had always been kept a secret and even though he had learnt more when he had the System with him, it was never the full picture.

    As much as he wished to probe more information on it, Jin knew his grandpa isnбпt always the kind of love to share things about himself.

    "The number of bodies I dropped to find your motherбпs culprit. The number of resources I used to find Suzakuбпs feathers... All of those were numerous and if I were to be alive, I would have continued to do so." Ming said with his head down.

    "But itбпs time to let go of all those grudges and focus on you. You might not be much like your mother or the one that the System had been holding on to, but you still have that burning albeitzy look in your eyes." Ming said as he stared at Jin and rubbed his head, shuffling his hair as if he was a little kid.

    "After all, she gave birth to you, and you are part of her."

 Chapter 1197 - Endless Battlefield -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1197 - Endless Battlefield -Part 2 </h4>

    "But unlike the rest of the trials which was more of a journey of self realisation, Suzaku does not appear whimsically like the others did." Ming said to Jin as he rxed on the wooden bench.

    "It took me quite some time to find her and even more to get her to talk to me." Ming said as he tried to recollect how long it took but he had trouble remembering. "She was something like the transcendent phoenix,ing when you really need it rather than when you want it."

    "All these people who tried to find her, risked their lives and even died in the name of finding this mystical bird. But not everyone had the privilege to meet her. You could say that even asking her to leave a partial part of her presence in this subconscious was considered to be an achievement."

    "So, The Four Cardinal Lords in my subconsciousness is something like Mr Derpy? Being plucked by a little from the main body to stay inside me?" Jin asked and Ming thought for a while, thinking the right way to describe it.

    "Hmm, I could only describe it that they are omnipotent enough to transverse through your subconsciousness and their domain to entertain my request," Ming replied and Jin wondered what his grandfather did that allowed them to be indebted to him.

    "Hahaha, from the looks of your expression, you are wondering how I managed to coerce them? Am I right?" Ming queried and Jin acted like the curious grandson, nodding his head furiously for an answer.

    "For that, you got to thank Kraft. He was the one to who they were indebted. I do not have the rights to say his part of the story and he probably would downy his deeds for them, but you can be sure, they are here as a trial to get you up to shape." Ming said as he pped Jinбпs back, telling him he had enough rest for the moment.

    "Stamina! You need more stamina! No rest until you hit a week of continuous fighting!" Ming said as he snapped his finger and Jin disappeared right in front of him, emerging right beside his former dead body as his resurrection point. "Any deaths in under a week would cause you to spawn right at the same spot you died immediately, with no breaks or anything!"

    Before Jin could even react to Mingбпs condition to have the next talk, he was greeted with arge gigantic sword diving to his position from the top of his head. There was no time to think of aeback either when Jin realised that the fight was already multiple times harder when he first started.

    The animated soldiers were not throwing blows at him slowly and their defences were tighter. Each sh Jin did was met with a feint and sometimes a counter parry. It made Jin feel that the difficulty of the fight had ramped up significantly and he had to be on his toes to fight against them. Still, in hindsight, Jin felt grateful for it since he believed that he truly needed this amidst the current situation he was in.

    Unlike his previous fights, he always had the luxury to have his minions fight for him. Once they died, they could spawn again at the minor cost of some resources to bring them back. But the fight with King Baal made him rethink the fights. The System was somehow unable to interfere with the demonic magic cast by King Baal, forcing Jin to fight almost alone. The only loophole was through the System Rider where Jin drew his powers from his various minions.

    While it had been fortuitous that the System Rider had worked well, Jin now knew that his powers had their limits too. It was more obvious against the Loopa Oofpas where he fainted and if he did not have any otherrades around, it would have already been the death of him. So, there were indeed limitations to how much his minions could achieve alongside him and Jin got to buck up as well.

    At the same time, he believed it was the best time to polish his techniques. Although Ming had taught him Panda rted skills, most of Jinбпs sword work was from Zeru. Through the Systemбпs capability, Jin was able to review footage of how Zeru does his swordy but there was never enough time to practice.

    Even as Zeru was not around at the moment, both in reality and in the subconsciousness area, Jin tried his best to remember a few of the basic ones. However, the more he fought with the soldiers around him, he realised that these soldiers were also rather formidable in their sword work. (Especially since they were able to injure Jin before he was able to attack them back.)

    It was then it struck him that he could also learn from them. Not just sword work since there were axe brigands, spearmen, archers and even some exotic weapon users in the mix as well. If anything, the battlefield itself was filled with teachers of unknown origin. As someone who did not have a specific way of fighting, and preferred a versatile array of weapons at his disposal, Jin understood that this was a treasure trove to learn.

    "Damn it! If only I had the System with me, I would be able to review some of the animal styles along with the weapon attacks!" Jin thought to himself as he was being struck by a shuriken from the side. The pain was sharp and dull at the same time and yet Jin continued to preserve his attacks.

    He continued to use his Inverse Eyes to predict the attacks as well as learning how the fights unfold, what he believed was the optimal time to attack. After which, he attempted to take any opportunity to practice what he saw. Although that caused him to have an additionalg in his movements, allowing his opponents to have an upper hand at times, he took it in stride. A cheap payment for the lessons he learnt from these animated soldiers.

    An endless battlefield but an endless bout of experience too.

 Chapter 1198 - Endless Battlefield -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1198 - Endless Battlefield -Part 3 </h4>

    "Ah damn it." Byakko sighed as Orochi and Genbuughed as the trio watched the entire scene from afar. Jin was killed by one of the side swipes of a spear by the animated soldiers. It was not those fancy techniques but a sneak poke and swipe.

    "Hahahah! Pay up, pay up! If you believed Jin was able to clear the one week streak challenge that easily, I would have already bet big bucks on it." Genbu said and Orochi went towards Byakko with its mouth open. The white tiger grumbled as he took out a mysterious box sealed with a dangerous charm and ced it in the snakeбпs mouth.

    "He was close enough. Going five days straight was no simple feat while learning the skills of those animated soldiers."Byakko grumbled, saying that he should have made a stricter bet.

    "It was your problem for not predicting that he would take this opportunity to learn from those animated soldiers." Genbu chuckled as he was delighted the mysterious box was within his possession..

    "Relic betting again?" Ming walked towards them while patting Genbuбпs head. Even though he was initially the size of a mountain, the ck tortoise was able to change his size to his liking. "How is that young boy doing?"

    "The fight had been getting harder with some of the animated soldiers showing more than just weapon ying," Genbu said. "As instructed, I had quietly inserted a few animated soldiers of our own so that he could learn from those manuals you had coted over the years."

    "Yeah. Thanks, Gen chan. I figured that he did not have much time to even open those manuals that I gave him in the real world, well judging from his recent memories. He had been stuck to work for almost every day, this was probably the only time he would take training seriously."

    Ming glee with joy as he felt his n to teach Jin was sessful.

    While it was true that the soldiers within Suzaku Undying Battlefield were filled with cultivators of different grades, greed and desire. Ming thought that it would be opportunistic of him to throw in a few of his to teach Jin and made him aware of the different fighting techniques that he could have encountered in the real world.

    It might be a rehash of all the manuals that the System had coted thus far but Ming also had his own personal collection which he did not give the System or Grandma Yuan. Though he initially wanted to use his personal collection into the fray, he saw how Jin was earnestly trying to learn from Suzakuбпs phantoms that he believed it would be best to start from the basics.

    With the aid of Genbu, he had thrown almost every basic cultivation grade manual for these past five days and Jin was able to catch up quite easily with the aid of his Inverse Eyes. He even took the chance to practice a number of those basic techniques whenever he had the chance against those animated soldiers, increasing his repertoire of weapon knowledge.

    However, Genbu had decided to up the game a little by throwing a few advanced techniques towards Jin since he was partially confident that Jin was able to catch up. (Although Byakko believed he was afraid that Jin was able to pass through the weekбпs challenge with rtive ease. But with Genbuбпs ever stoic face, he could only assume that was his motive.)

    In any case, with Jinбпs past ability to mish mash skills, he slowly tried to integrate those techniques into his Panda Style. In most cases where someone had chosen a style to cultivate, they would not be able to copy any other styleбпs techniques. However, the Astral Panda Style was more unique than most. Jinбпs previous background to be able to use various techniques from other animal styles had allowed his Dan Tian to be a little more flexible, able to portray the cultivation style he was copying.

    It might sound like the ultimate copying skill in the world since he is not just able to copy eastern cultivatorбпs techniques but the western mages with the affinity for elements. But there were drawbacks to his copying. It was limited to his learning ability which was directly proportionate to his use of Inverse Eyes. Even if he could remember and copy the technique, the copied technique would not have the full might of the said technique.

    And unlike in reality where he might have the System to aid him, he might potentially forget the skills he had copied from the fight during his stint in the subconscious. But even so, Ming would like to have him exposed to as many techniques as possible. This was because the subconsciousness controls up to 90% of a humanбпs action. There coulde a time where Jin might identally trigger his memories and utilise such techniques.

    But that would be an extreme case as Ming believed it would be more helpful if Jin were to use it to review the manuals in reality. That way, he would be able to get the technique he wanted as soon as possible.

    However, that was not the worst part of his drawback of copying the technique. Jin could feel that the copied technique was inferior in terms of power even though he used his inverse eyes to copy each and every movement. He could only believe it was because he did not master them properly.

    Still, that was not the issue.

    The issue was his Panda silhouette...when copying the style he was imitating. For example, he could not concentrate on creating the Lightning Spear of the Serious Stag when he identally saw his Panda Silhouette imitating a stag by stuffing two makeshift branches on its head and copying the knock of its hoofs. Or like the Triple Assault Punch of the Tenacious Tiger where other Panda Silhouettes painted more stripes on its main Panda Silhouette and even put fake teeth to show that it was imitating a tiger.

    At that point, he wondered if his opponent wouldugh to death first or be killed by the technique he copied.

 Chapter 1199 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1199 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 1 </h4>

    "ARGHHHH!!" Jin shouted as he was once again killed because of a blind spot when he was raking up his days of kills. It was his fourth continuous day of fighting but this was already his fifth attempt to survive for seven days straight. In total, he had actually been fighting for 21 days without any breaks and the onlookers could already see that Jin was near his breaking point in terms of his sanity.

    Ming had begun throwing animated soldiers unleashing advanced techniques and there was no doubt that it was getting harder the more times he died. Thus, instead of letting him continue on with the fights, Ming decided to give him a timeout by throwing him out back to reality, forcing him to wake up screaming at his defeat.

    When Jin shouted, both Lynn and Qiu Yue happened to be in their rooms and came teleporting to his room to see what was happening, only to find out Jin was panting heavily.

    "You alright?" Lynn questioned while Qiu Yue was already holding on to her weapon, thinking there was a threat somewhere.. But the threat was the two girls as they were wearing skimpily when they rushed into Jinбпs room.

    "I... I am fine." Jinбпs anger somehow diverted for a moment and decided to regte his chi through his body. It was then he told them that he should be able to cool off with a shower and thanked them for their concern.

    "You sure?" Lynn asked once more but Jin nodded his head, thanking them for their concern, asking them what time and date, hoping to know how much time he had skipped.

    "Itбпs currently Tuesday evening, 930pm. You have been out for only two days." Qiu Yue said as she withdrew her weapon and sighed. "Actually, itбпs a good thing you are back early. There were people from the Symposium looking for you, wanting to talk to you about your entry. I told them that you were in lockdown mode, not wanting to be disturbed. But they insisted that you contact them or else there is a chance for you to entirely miss out on the entire event."

    "Qiu Yue!" Lynnmunicated through System Channel while expressing a pouty face in front of her but behind Jin when he was in the bathroom. She was the one who received the messages and only told her fellow Sub System User as an update. Lynn did not expect Qiu Yue to jump the gun.

    "Hehe, you just wanted more interaction with him, right?" Qiu Yue teased Lynn and waved at her goodbye. "Perhaps you should lose the jacket you are wearing and you might stand a chance with that big baggy singlet you are wearing inside."

    "The System believes that is a good idea too." The System had to interject in the conversation but Lynn smacked Qiu Yue forcefully at her side for making fun of her. She also stared at the ceiling and pulled her tongue out at the System for reinforcing Qiu Yueбпs suggestion.

    At that time Jin came out, looked surprised by the weird expression Lynn was making and asked if everything was okay. Qiu Yue chuckled hard and Lynn somehow embarrassed herself right in front of him.

    "In any case, thanks to you two. I will take a look at the emails they sent me. But since you said its night time, thereбпs no way they would reply promptly even if I write to them now. Might as well do something productive." Jin said as he had a face which the two girls had seen before.

    If there was an issue that bugged him, he would continue to do think about it until it was a done deal. Thus, the two girls immediately questioned him and asked if there was anything they could help.

    "I do not think so, itбпs a problem that I had faced when I was cultivating within my subconsciousness."

    "Lol, you merely looked like you were sleeping all night long." Qiu Yue replied and Lynn felt dejected that there was really nothing she could help except her speciality.

    "Would you like a hot meal before you attempt your cultivation once more? A full stomach might allow you to think better." Lynn asked with concern.

    "More like it would let him sleep better." Qiu Yue said but Jin thought for a moment and decided to take up Lynnбпs offer.

    "But this time, let me help a little. I feel bad that you are always doing all the cooking." Jin said, thinking it might be a good distraction to cool himself down before going in for another try.

    "I would like to help too then! Besides, I am feeling peckish from all the reviews of the construction from the Dungeon World AND Farming World." Qiu Yue emphasised thest part to let Jin know that she was working very hard too for her paycheck.

    "Hmmm. I think I could think of a very simple meal which would be easy for the both of you to do and not screw it up." Lynn snapped her finger and her attire turned into a set of clothes with an apron on.

    "A, no naked apron in front of Jin?" Qiu Yue once again teased the poor Lynn in the System Channel and she hoped that it would introduce some ideas for the girl to take action when opportunity strikes.

    "Well! You never gave me any chance to do so!" Lynn answered which shocked Qiu Yue for a moment but thankfully Jin did not notice at all.

    "Heh. Too bad for you, I am really feeling hungry. Please feed me, Lynn. I promise I will help you get him." Qiu Yueбпs face turned all puppy eyes at Lynn and she sighed as they walked out of Jinбпs room. In the meantime, Jin was busy putting his face to his phoneбпs screen since the downtime allowed him to read the news with regards to the Symposium.

    "Hmm... a backup site?" Jin read and thought to himself why the Symposiummittee would like his Tree Mall to be a secondary site to host the area.

 Chapter 1200 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1200 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 2 </h4>

    "Can we have something voury?" Qiu Yue asked as the trio walked down the stairs together.

    "That will disturb your sleep if you are too full," Lynn asked and Qiu Yue waved it off.

    "With the amount of work that Jin and his other minions put me on, I might have a long night ahead. So please, entertain me with some junk food." Qiu Yue turned back to look at Jin and he too agreed that it would be nice to have something crappy once in a while.

    "And I do not mean your food is crappy! I mean junk food!" Jin suddenly realised he might have offended Lynn and she chuckled a little.

    "None taken. Then letбпs get some quick bites. I think there is still some leftover meat from morningбпs chicken porridge stew. We can make do with that and that will allow me to fully utilise the chicken." Lynn said while she requested the Sub System to start up the kitchen.

    Her Sub System acknowledged and booted up the lights, turned the oven up to warm it, prepared the knives and other cooking utensils as well as rearranged the kitchen cabs to ensure that Lynn had everything she needed. That was one of the reasons why almost everyone has an unspoken rule to not touch the kitchen items unless they wished to cook something to clear their hunger. (However, that was usually not needed as they could just jump to the storeбпs Restaurant Instance and have the penguins to prepare them something fast, nutritious and delicious.)

    Also, because the Sub System was in sync with Lynn, whatever Lynn was thinking of, the Sub System would do its best to prepare it beforehand. If the items were avable in the Restaurant Instance or their home kitchen, the Sub System would bring them out to the forefront of the cabs so that Lynn would have easy ess to them.

    To her, the kitchen was like a surgery table and the Sub System was the assistant where it would hand her the item needed to create the dish. But for today, the Sub System was ready for battle because of the potential mess Jin and Qiu Yue might create since they were amateurs when ites to cooking. If the Sub System had to rate between the two of them, it would keep an eye on Qiu Yue more than Jin since the Sub System had noticed the User had some basic experience in cooking, probably because of his previous family situation where he would be cooped alone.

    But Qiu Yue? She was blessed with a family that was able to not just feed her but have a caring mother who would handle the home affairs. The Sub System had encountered Qiu Yue making a mess without concern especially when she knew that there was a Sub System who would be there to clean up everything. Still, most of the mess she made could be avoided if she was more focused on the cooking than following the cooking videos on the inte.

    "I will wash and prep the meat. Qiu Yue, you follow the instructions on the digital console and take out the sauces and dressings for the food. Jin, you could start taking out the dishes and utensils. Make sure the deep fryer is ready and then cook the fries."

    "Ayeee! Aw yes, fries." Jin gleed as he went to the freezer to pick up the fries. They were cold washed cut potatoes as if they were prepared just for this asion.

    "Why am I stuck with such a boring task?" Qiu Yue asked and Lynn looked at her with a death stare. She then remembered that Lynn was themander in this current situation and she nodded her head slowly while taking out the sauces as well as the necessary ingredients like onions, cheese and garlic. She assumed was tasked to cut it since it looked like Lynn was going to make some sandwich.

    "Not some sandwich. Cuban Sandwich. With lots of meat." Lynn said as she requested Qiu Yue to open the cab below and take the ncha grill out. It was simr to a portable George Foreman grill but because it was more heavy duty.

    At the same time, Jin started to test the oil heat by hovering his hand above it for a moment and dropping the cut potato into it. The way it frizzled was something so satisfying even though he had done it a few times. It was not a lie if he would say he wished to work in a fast food restaurant to do the very same thing. However, as Jin was done with his task, he requested the System to look up past Symposium events asking if the Symposium had ever needed to use a secondary location.

    But before the System could give a reply, Lynn was already telling Jin to focus and start up the frying pan in order to cook some sausages. "Sizzle them with onions and beer and then throw them on the ncha grill for a while to let the vour out. Sub System, please liaise them so they know the timing." Lynn said as she was rubbing the meat with a special type of marinade and dipping half of them into some flour and breadcrumbs.

    While most Cuban sandwiches do not have a fried meatponent, she wanted to test out if it would change the taste if there was something crunchy in the middle too. That was why she was handling the major meat portion while Qiu Yue and Jin covered the rest of the kitchen. With the strict instructions of the Sub System, both of them were able to follow the tasks reasonably within the time limit, allowing Lynn to concentrate on the meat.

    Still, there was some banter around and it was not an entirely stressful situation as they thought it would be with the Queen of the Kitchen. (Of course, they all knew that Lynn purposely chose something more fun and interactive and easy to cook so that everyone would have some fun.)

    But all in all, it was an off the job activity that the three somehow relished they have more of this.

 Chapter 1201 - A MuChapter Needed Interval - Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1201 - A MuChapter Needed Interval - Part 3 </h4>

    "Hmm...the smell is fantastic!" Qiu Yue said as she saw how Lynn pressed the metal grills together like how one would make a waffle. But instead of flour mixture, the ingredients that were pressed was theplete sandwich, filled with marinated fried meat which Lynn had prepared seconds ago. The smell was permeating through the house with its savoury fragrance that somehow got the бпwolvesбп toe down from their rooms.

    "Peppers. Milk. If you want them, you know what you got to do." Lynn said without turning her head and the two betors were salivating like dogs, nodding their heads with a fiery passion. They instantly burst into the kitchen and started to do all the misceneous stuff. From putting the dirty items into the dishwasher, to preparing the dining table with fresh sets of tes. They even instinctively took the juice that Qiu Yue had made based on Lynnбпs direction and started toy it out on the table like clockwork.

    And while all those were happening, Jin and Qiu Yue could hear the sound of the vacuum cleaner and see it moving by itself while several cleaning cloths were flying around the house to wipe the area down.

    "Your rooms as well. And Peppers donбпt be selfish and clear up Milkбпs room as well." Lynn said as she ced the cooked sandwich on a te.

    "Buttttttt" Peppers was pouting a little and Lynn merely cleared her throat to assert her dominance. That was enough to get Peppers moving and Milkбпs room as well.

    "Thanks Lynn!" Milk was extremely pleased with Lynnбпs бпuseбп of Peppers. However, the silence between them was somewhat unsettling and Milkбпs expression suddenly grew the same as Peppers. She instantly opened a portal and told them to wait for her toe back for the food.

    "Where is she going?" Jin did not expect Lynn to have the two rascals under her thumb so easily.

    "She had promised to do some errands for me. I was justmunicating with her in her ownnguage that she had to get things done before this meal." Lynn said while she smiled back at Jin.

    Without him knowing, Lynn might possibly already be the Mistress of this house and that title could never be more urate with the simultaneous arrival of Zeru and Kraft, both fatigued from their own situations.

    "Wow, Lynn. Milk was way more aggressive than usual. Whatбпs the asioбк Oh. Okay, get it." Kraft instantly opened two portals right in front of him once more when he smelled the alluring fragrance of the fried sandwich. Even Zeru understood the meaning of Milkбпs action and without a word, walked into the portal which Kraft had created.

    The moment they disappeared, Peppers was cursing how she had already cleaned that portion of the house and used her magic to get the vacuum cleaner as well as the mop to wipe the area clean.

    "Jin, you can unfreeze the static time on the fries, they need to be cooled down a little before serving. Qiu Yue, get the cereal kes in the third cab and sprinkle them on the fries." Lynn said as she ced temporary time stasis on the sandwich she made and proceeded to make the other. The time stasis was why the food could always be piping hot and ready to eat for the rest of them.

    But despite the power to freeze time, the entire бпfamilyбп was still rushing to do what they needed to do in order to fill their mouths with the ultimate joy. Soon enough, all the betors were sitting patiently at their seats while Jin and Qiu Yue served the food for all of them. Lynn brought thest sandwich for herself to the table and only when Jin gave the go ahead, the rest had dug into their food with the exception of Zeru who called out to Jin personally.

    "Yea, Zeru?" Jin took a few pieces of fries and stuffed them into his mouth.

    "I apologise for disappearing so frequently for these few weeks. I sincerely hoped I had not caused too much trouble" Zeru bowed a little.

    "Nothing we cannot handle. Besides, you are chasing an important lead, right? But you should have returned to report once in a while."

    "He did return for some rest and a change of clothes though. He even made a mess of my kitchen once..." Lynn said and Zeru apologised once more.

    "I was famished and needed a quick bite. But I had forgotten how Lynnбпs kitchen was ever changing." Zeru replied.

    "So in return, I told him that he were to return the favour bying by for a meal if Milk called him out, well assuming the situation permits." Lynnmented. "Did not expect him to really pop up for this."

    "Ah... Is it because I am the only one who could call him without any consequences?"

    "Something like that. System, correct me if I am wrong." Lynn said and the System acknowledged.

    "Unless the Sub System User is in imminent danger and the supporting Betors were willing to help, the System would then allow the Betor to respond."

    "You know we woulde in a heartbeat for you." Peppers said with a big smile.

    "Itбпs just the way how the rules are ced. Do not put too much focus on them. Call us when you need it." Milk nodded her head in agreement with Peppers.

    "But my friend. It looks to me that the situation is far from over for you." Kraft asked with his mouth full of the sandwich.

    "The Banned Emperorckeys did find the location of thest Flower City. But because of the nature of the Flower City, they were unable to find it again with me interfering." Zeru gave a short summary of what had happened, indicating that the Flower City teleports randomly to various locations in China every time a certain series of flower blooms. It just so happened that the Banned Emperor was able to narrow down the flower that was currently blooming.

    However, with Zeruбпs interference, he managed to dy the Banned Emperor faction froming into thest ancient Flower City, allowing them to teleport away in time. But like the Banned Emperor faction, Zeru was clueless where the city had teleported to. For the past few weeks, he had been on a wild goose chase for it and at the same time, realised that every location he went to, there were bound to have few Banned Emperorckeys stationed in the area.

    "Their organisation is bigger than I thought and it felt as if we are dealing with just one particr faction of theirs. They know that I had been chasing them and thus, been chasing after me too. I honestly hope not to bring them here so that was one of the reasons why I had been rarely seen in this area too."

    "Hmm... This is indeed a problem." And that was when Jin realised there might be a connection why the Symposium might need a backup site. Could it be that there was someone in the Symposium who knew about him? Or perhaps Zeru? Not likely but since he had killed several Banned Emperor members before, it would not be surprising to use the Symposium as a point of action.

    Or perhaps he was just thinking too much?

 Chapter 1202 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1202 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 4 </h4>

    "I believed they had too many secret members around. They are like...whatбпs the marvellousic, the one with the hail something something." Kraft didnбпt say much with his mouth and brain upied by the fantastic meat sandwich.

    "Hydrus? That evil organisation that subsequently overturned B.U.C.K.L.E.R?" Jin answered as he remembered that scene when Captain Merrica faced the resurfaced Hydrus agents. The movie was part of the famous chain of franchise movies which marvellousics had created.

    "Ah yeah, yeah that. The best we can do on our part is to rely on the System since it does a minor quick brain scan on people with potential threats. Other than that, we are on our own in the wild." Kraft added while taking a napkin to wipe the dripping sauce from his mouth since he talked a little too much with his mouth full. "The only thing we can do is train ourselves so that we would not be implicated. Besides, even if the agentse to attack us, I have managed to get the System to procure the highest of the highest insurance premiums."

    "No wonder...so that was you all along. I thought to myself why there was a sudden deduction of my funds at a certain point to various insurancepanies. I assumed it was the System who did it." Jin replied.

    "But Zeru, you donбпt have to worry for this little kid. His phantom grandfather had been working hard to whip him up to shape. He even managed to stave off the third stage of my graveyardbo. So, meh. He should be able to stay alive quite well against Hydu- I erm mean Banned Emperor agents." Kraft had a slip of tongue, once again due to the deliciously made sandwich. Everyone could see he was enjoying it way too much and definitely wanted more. (Which Lynn had prepared sufficiently after hearing how the Fox had been working hard in the Dungeon World.)

    "Is it? Then perhaps it is time I test your skills a little." Zeru said as he too enjoyed the sandwich but with much restraint.

    "I would like to spar you to know the extent of my skills too." Jin nodded his head with agreement, especially since he was about to go back to the Endless Battlefield to fulfil Mingбпs request of getting a week straight of fighting. "But before that, I like to ask. Why is it so difficult to ess thest Flower City and whatбпs so special about it? I get it that it was your erm financeбпs hometown? And since you said itбпs thest, there are many others?"

    "Hmm... Yes. I guess itбпs more or less time to tell you about иC"

    "STOP! No!" Lynn suddenly interrupted and refused to let Zeru continue his sentence. "He has more than enough on his te. If you give him your backstory, he would not hesitate to assist you and even want to interfere with it. If it is something you can handle your own, I wholeheartedly suggest that you continue to keep it to yourself." Lynn said her sentences in quick sessions without any pause and that made everyone on the dining table stunned for a second or two.

    After which, they allughed simultaneously at how pure Lynn was, which even made Jin chuckle at Lynnбпs concern for him.

    "But you know, if this is some game. This is basically Jinбпs way of getting Zeruбпs trust and possibly a level up or two in their techniques." Qiu Yue continued to giggle. "You are basically stopping Jin from progressing his бпrtionshipбп with Zeru."

    "Well, he can continue his rtionship progress with me first." Lynn identally blurted out her own desires and suddenly blushed at her slip of the tongue. The entire group started to whistle and woo at her openness which also prompted Jin to answer in kind.

    "Ahahah. You guys." Jin did not know how to reply since he wanted to be that Mr nice guy until Qiu Yue who was sitting beside him pped his back. She probably felt it was dragging way too long so enough was enough.

    "XIE JIN. Be a man. You do not have to worry about me. If I wanted you, I would have eaten you a long time ago. I saw you had been trying to be concern with her cautiously for some time already. I think this is the most appropriate situation to tell your feelings out." Qiu Yue winked at him. "Also, I do appreciate the fact that you were a little concerned about my feelings. However, all these Sub Systems and the money earning is more -"

    "System suggests that User takes the two Sub System Users as his mates so that-" And immediately Jin shouted with a definite no.

    "Wow. This is the rare time I see Jin take a tough stance on an issue." Kraft noted. "And to not go for polygamy is quite a surprise. I thought most leaders would love to have a couple of wives to show their superiority."

    "Yeah, there is nothing wrong with taking the two of them at once." Milk tried to stir the fire within the chaos with her attempt of an air kiss.

    "A no means a no. And Lynn, I would like to reciprocate your feelings right now. I really want to. But I am currently bogged down with way too many issues that it is unfair to you and selfishly to me. I know all the things you did for me and I can feel your earnest feelings. All I can ask is you to give me some time- Argh! " Jin said before he got pinched on the cheeks by Qiu Yue.

    "Stop beating around the bush and say your true feelings right here and now. A yes or no. I remembered you were like this with me and that is why no other girls get to understand you. Donбпt be a wuss." Qiu Yue tells firmly Jin to stop ying hard to get.

    "Fine! Fine!" Jin said as he stood up and took a deep breath in. Everyone including Lynn felt like time had stopped for a moment as they awaited Jin his answer.

    "Yes. I really do like you Lynn ever since I saw you selling your wares. I want to spend more time with you but I do not know how to do that. I will try my best if you are willing to ept me." Jin said bashfully with an unexpected confession out of nowhere that made Lynn blushed. "I know we all have our differences and history. But please-" Before he could finish his sentence, everyone was cheering crazily, even Zeru who was usually reserved, started pping at the resolution that Jin had taken. Peppers threw a few small magical res and Milk hugged Lynn, congratting her.

    "Took you way too long, idiot." Qiu Yue pulled Jinбпs hand and brought him towards Lynn who was at the other side of the table. She then purposely got them to hold hands together and the crowd at the table went wild a little.

    But surely, even if she had initiated it, the Red Panda Cultivator could not help herself to feel a tinge of jealousy despite the happiness she felt when both of her friends finally got together.

 Chapter 1203 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1203 - A MuChapter Needed Interval -Part 5 </h4>

    "Okay, now that we have established that those two are awkwardly together, should we give them some space?" Qiu Yue said since the rest had more or less finished their supper as well.

    "I actually have a few other things I would like to- ow" Jin got interrupted by Qiu Yue and via the System Channel, she ordered him to spend some time with Lynn instead.

    "The System also approved of Qiu Yueбпs idea. Please take your time with your new partner or else the System forbids User to perform any other functions." The System said in the private System Channel as well.

    "Whew whew. Did not expect that from the System. Good on you." Qiu Yue smiled a little on the outside before grabbing Kraft and Zeru by their shoulders and told them to move their conversation to the backyard.

    When they were in the backyard, Kraft had the itch to ask Qiu Yue that burning question. "Why? Why put yourself in that kind of position. I thought you would be fine having it status quo."

    "Lynn tried too hard for her own good and to see her efforts not being reciprocated is just a little wasted if you get what I mean. Besides, I had my run with Jin and I left him initially because I thought he was going to be a useless guy... Well, technically, he is still a useless guy in my eyes in certain areas but he is no longer the same person I know." Qiu Yue took a few cans of beer out and asked if the two of them wanted any.

    "I understand your frustration. Before I met my wife, I too had someone I truly admired and adored. It was too bad that there were some misunderstandings which caused us to drift apart." Zeru grabbed a few stools and ced them around them like a circle as they enjoyed the opening sounds of the beer cans.

    "Ahhh, now this is a story I wanted to listen to. Not all those troubles that I have been hearing all day long." Qiu Yueбпs mood perked up and even Kraft was listening intently.

    "What? Noooo. It was something I regretted not chasing wholeheartedly. Thatбпs all to it. Nothing much." Zeru tried to divert the topic but the rest knew there was definitely more to the story which Kraft could not resist poking the hoбпs nest

    "Does that mean you still like that person if not for your dearly departed wife?" Kraft questioned and he pointed his finger at him. "Be frank about it, your wife had already gone peacefully and you did your utmost to be with her. Now there is no reason to lie to us."

    "...Her cousin." Zeru immediately took a huge gulp of his beer the moment he said it. As much he was fearless in battle, his heart and hands were faltering the moment he blurted out those two words.

    "It was because of her duty to be the next leader of the Sakura n that we had to cut ties. My wife... she probably knew of the circumstances and took the opportunity to take me instead even though the two of them were as thick as blood."

    "Wow, even though it sounds like a typical theatre drama, it still hurts to hear it in real life." Qiu Yue said and Kraft furrowed his eyebrows.

    "Your meaning of typical drama is a bit screwed up," Kraft said and Qiu Yue shook her finger.

    "I will rmend a few shows for you to watch in your spare time." The Red Panda Cultivator said as she looked at the two men right in front of her quietly.

    "What are your motivations to stay alive right now? Is it to just serve Jin as per contract?" Qiu Yue asked, wondering how two superiorly strong men.

    "Hmmph. If we were to riot early on, we probably could have defeat Jin. And with Zeru by my side? Itбпs more like world domination." Kraft chuckled as he switched the stool into an arching chair, allowing him to rx.

    "But itбпs a different world right now. True, might and power can bring you to ces but without proper usage, it will merelynd us with the wrong opponents. Because of Jinбпs FAIRLY cautious ways of doing business, we can still exert strength whenever needed. But mindless killing? It would just be our downfall. Perhaps in the Goblin World or Dungeon World, it might be an entirely new ball game but our hearts are still here." Kraft bbered.

    "In short, what he meant is we have unfinished business. For example, the eradication of the banned emperor for me while he wished the Panda n back to its former glory so he could get his fox n back too." Zeru replied and exined to Qiu Yue.

    "Surely, if I would work for it, I could get the Royal Fox n up and running too." Kraft was annoyed how Zeru spoiled his attempt at being philosophically deep.

    "Everyone knows that only the anointed Heavenly Emperor is able to do that. You need the blessing of the heavens to be recognised as the Royal Fox n." Zeru stated.

    "Donбпt you find it weird? With the ability to transverse worlds, we had already defeated bad demons and found good ones too. In no time, we probably would be able to face bad heavenly beings and we will see if your theory still holds water. Remember how those Greek Gods destroyed Derekбпs world and turned it into a zombie apocalypse?"

    "There will definitely be some bad eggs, I would not deny that. Unless we go to the heavenly nes and earn ourselves a ce in there, your wish to be a Royal Fox Lord would never happen." Zeru said and Qiu Yue ced her hand on her forehead.

    "Zeru...why are you giving him ideas? I can already feel his sinister aura vibrating through me already" Qiu Yue remarked and Kraftughed.

    "That would be a nifty goal to work on. But pardon me, my friends. Before I can even do that, I would like to raid the Church of the Afterlife even more." Kraft felt it was more than enough break for him and he DID feel a little bad for hisckeys who were working hard in the Dungeon World.

    "We are going to try the first floor, test the water and return for a good rest. So perhaps we can talk again...assuming Zeru does not disappear for too long once more." Kraft waved his hand and a teleport gate appeared in front of him with noises of soldiers dying.

    "That was a good break for me too. Perhaps, I shall proceed to my next hunting area to find those Banned Emperorsckeys." Zeru said as he stood up but Qiu Yue stopped him for a moment.

    "Before you go, can I have a sparring session with you? I do not wish to lose against Jin and Lynn if possible. I have a feeling that they might grow tighter as a couple and potentially increase their fighting capabilities." Qiu Yue exined and Zeru paused for a moment.

    "Filling your solitude with training?" Zeru said to himself. "Reminds me of my former self. I would not say itбпs a bad idea but itбпs indeed one of the better ways to cope. Come. Follow me to the battlefield. Besides, you might have a new perspective which could help me...just erm one condition."

    "Anything." Qiu Yue perks up.

    "I cannot teleport as much as I want to since what I am doing is my own selfish quest. The System does not reward me with many System points unless I defeat a Banned Emperorckey. Even so, the food and teleportation takes-"

    "I understand, Zeru. The System is one stingy bitch. I will help you with that. Of course, you have to understand I got my own job to do as well" Qiu Yue said which Zeru recognised her condition as well. And as per the agreement, she requested Zeru to share the coordinates as they opened a teleport portal, allowing them to transverse to the previous area where Zeru had been scouting.

    Perhaps, it was a blessing in disguise for Qiu Yue to have several masters, allowing her to work on her cultivation grade as well as the possibility to fight on equal grounds with Jin.. Even if she had purposely lost Jin to Lynn, it also meant that she could finally focus on improving herself to be the super careerdy she aimed to be.

 Chapter 1204 - A MuChapter Needed Interval - Final

    <h4>Chapter 1204 - A MuChapter Needed Interval - Final </h4>

    When left alone, the newest couple in the block looked at each other awkwardly. "Erm, I guessed they ran away as fast as they could when the cat was out of the bag... You want me to help you clear the dishes?" Jin asked as he did not know what else to do. It was not as if it was his first girlfriend experience, but this confession and eptance were way too sudden.

    "Hmm yeah sure." Lynn also felt that clearing the dishes might help them settle their awkwardness for a moment before they do anything else with regards to their new rtionship status. In the meantime, the System had already broadcast to everyone under Jinбпsmand of thistest gossip. (After all, the System did not want to harshly push the couple to a corner that it would cause them to break up.) A lot of the minions were thinking it was about time, given how the both of them were acting pretty obvious to each other with the exception of Jin.

    He had been trying to avoid getting anything that might derail his work and ns but to the System, it was a meaningful distraction since that would at least provide a shot for an offspring. (As if Pandas themselves do not have a hard time trying to create a baby... and somehow that applied to Jin as well.)

    In any case, the silent dishwashing activity allowed Jin to calm himself down and decided to speak first. However, he did not expect Lynn to start the conversation at the same time as him, prompting them to return to their troubled quiet state for a moment.

    "You go first," Lynn said as she received the washed dish from Jin to dry it up. (They actually have a dishwasher but given the situation, Jin somehow decided to manually wash the dishes.)

    "Do you want to take this slow? Like real slow? As I had said previously and you probably have known, I am currently filled to the brim that I could hardly breathe. With that being said, it would be unfair of me to have any expectations of you as well."

    "I would love to say anything goes, but we should have a serious talk on our expectations in this rtionship if you ask me," Lynn replied honestly after being in one sided rtionship with her master. While she knew that the broken rtionship was over, the scars of a failed love somehow made her all the wiser.

    "I too think that would be a good idea." Jin gave her the veryst te to dry before washing his hands. Lynn then proceeded to take two cups out of the cab and asked Jin whether he would like some coffee.

    "Hmm, tea would be fine. The supper was quite heavy." Jin said and Lynn nodded while taking two satchels of green tea which could aid with the digestion.

    They then sat at the very same dining table and began looking at each other. "I... I would like to have more responsibility to the store if thatбпs okay with you."

    "I thought the Kitchen instance was already busy enough for you? And not just that, I had seen numerous reports of you providing food and aid to the refugees in the worlds that we had our hands in. Oh and for that, thanks for keeping them well fed and alive." Jin said as he sipped the green tea slowly.

    "That is nothing, itбпs part of my job. And yes while the kitchen can be busy, I had learnt how to let go most of my tasks to the penguins. At first, I thought they might not bepetent to take up such tasks but as months go by, they started to be way better than me in almost all aspects that I had to train myself harder to move to higher heights." Lynn said.

    "And I feel that I need to widen my perspective and one would be taking some job of yours. And perhaps through that, I could get the inspiration I need for my work as well." Lynn answered.

    "System believed that what she meant was that she wanted to learn the ropes by spending some time with you so that she could have better inspiration." The System secretly whispered to Jin in a very very private chat channel.

    "Since when are you a love expert?" Jin tried to control his expression as much as possible to prevent him from leaking his thoughts out for Lynn to catch notice of.

    "Ever since the System wants to have offspring to continue the Royal Panda n heritage." The System did not mince its words and Jin nearly wanted to vomit blood at that point in time and instead coughed abruptly.

    "Sorry, could be the tea went in a little too quickly," Jin said but inside him, he was cursing the System. First, it wanted the User to be attached, now it demands a baby. "But with regards to your request. Yeah, sure. Pop by anytime you want and take a look. Even if I do not have the time to teach properly, I am sure the System would-" At that point, Jin suddenly felt that saying the System would assist felt like a red g at the start of the rtionship and thus he changed his tune a bit.

    "Cough. I mean the System would provide you with the necessary equipment so I can be there to aid you with the teaching." Jin answered and Lynn chuckled a little.

    "You do not have to amodate me that much. I know sometimes, you would need some me-time to get things done. So, please, by all means, do what you need to do." Lynn replied but wondered how his cultivation had been going.

    "Why did you ask?" Jin queried and Lynn said that it was the first time she saw him visibly frustrated when he woke up.

    "It was as if you left things undone, hmmm being forced to wake up? I am just in guessing." Lynn exined and Jin nodded his head while sighing away.

    "How do I start exining to you..."

 Chapter 1205 - Astral Imitation Style

    <h4>Chapter 1205 - Astral Imitation Style </h4>

    When Lynn heard about the current state of Jinбпs cultivation, she was surprised herself that he was able to hold that long with so many soldiers with various skills. "Yeah, I am surprised that a weapon had a heck of a lot of ways to hold them. But I can only vaguely remember a few of them."

    "The System is curious with regards to this situation that User had ced himself in." The System said as it was the first time Jin had ever talked about his cultivation within his subconsciousness. For the past few runs, the System was unable to gauge Jinбпs power increase because it had always been kept as a secret. The Astral Panda Cultivator had been so swarmed with work that the System did not bother asking, so long that he was able to grade up, it satisfied the Systemбпs requirements.

    "Lol, what do you want? Try a battle in real life? Do you have enough dummies to even do that? I do not fight with mere dozens, I fight against hundreds, thousands perhaps." Jin said with an uncaring tone until the System acknowledged that it would require time to set it up.

    "But even without fighting against a thousand soldiers, the System would wish to see the Userбпs skills in actions." The System said while opening a portal right beside the two. "Please enter. Uponpleting a sequence of trials, the System shall provide minorpensation for sating our curiosities as well as the Userбпs time."

    "If you put it that way, I guess thereбпs no harm trying it," Jin said as he shrugged his shoulders and drank his teacup empty before entering the portal. Lynn had decided to enter as well to see Jin in action and wondered if she could learn a thing or two.

    "Fine, System. What are you going to throw against me?" Jin asked as he stretched his body a little by doing a few body twists.

    "The System shall first throw a middle grade Rat Cultivator as a test."

    "Any cultivation style in particr? The Royal Zodiac Rat n series? Or something more exotic? I remember seeing a few in action but not exactly verymon." Jin said as he instantly called out his Bam and Boo and changed them into a Katana with Bam and a dedicated customised sheath with Boo.

    "I thought you have your very own sheath that came along with each sword, why make Boo into a sheath?" Lynn asked and Jin smiled.

    "Wait and see." The moment he spoke, he ced Bam into Boo while lowering his stance that one believed it was extremely awkward to stand right up. His legs were right apart with one straightened and the other bent. When he achieved his stance, his right hand was mere centimetres away from the sheath and closed his eyes to concentrate.

    "The System would not provide any further information and wished to see how the User deals with subsequent numbers. The Rat Cultivator Clone would further multiply and use various rat styles to face the User. All the System asks is that the User survives for a minute." The System stated that it was about to do something simr to what Jin had experienced but at a smaller scale. Yet, it ensured Jin that the quality of the cultivators would definitely be more than what Jin experienced.

    ording to Jin, most of the cultivator soldiers in his subconscious used only one skill but against the Systemбпs clone, the rat cultivator would be able to utilise the full repertoire of its style and would not hesitate to cut Jin down. "To further narrow the gap, the System had forced the Userбпs grade to drop Grade 6 as a fairparison." The System added the previous line at the veryst minute but it still did not break Jinбпs concentration.

    Lynn did not see Jin this serious before and decided to take a few steps back to see what Jin was able to do. And since there was no reply from the Astral Panda Cultivator, the System believed his silence was the consent for the Rat Cultivator Clone to move forth.

    Without further ado, it was basically a clone of Wo De Tian, the Rat Triad Boss which Jin had defeated before. Based on the Systemбпs information on the Ruby Rat Cultivation as well as the manuals avable to it, the System had created a near perfect replica of the Ruby Rat Cultivation and ced the info into the Rat Cultivator Clone. In terms of appearance, it was basically the same but this бпWo De Tianбп would be more deadly and unforgiving aspared to the one Jin had encountered.

    This was because Jin was able to win due to his opponentбпs arrogance for underestimating Jin. Thus the Systemбпs clone was different since it was able to act logically based on the Systemбпsmands and even if Jin was able to win against this particr clone, two more clones would take their ce with countermeasures against Jinбпs mode of attack.

    Theoretically, to win the match, the Astral Panda Cultivator had to utilise all the skills he had learnt since the System would use numbers as well as an analytical review to defeat Jin. However, as soon as the clone Wo De Tian stepped forward, Jinбпs cultivation was portrayed right above him and Lynn was taken aback by it.

    Not due to fear but rather to hold her breath so that she would notugh at the Pandas. Arge Panda at the centre was dressed in a costume full of feathers as the smaller four pandas were blowing right behind it to imitate the wind direction in which the Panda in this feathery costume was diving. Not only that, it had purposely worn a headdress with two yellow beady eyes and its feather ear tufts to imitate an owlбпs head.

    Regardless, it did not cause the clone cultivator to back down since it was controlled by the System but the moment Wo De Tian stepped into Jinбпs range, a series of swift stabs crossed through his body, causing him to bleed right at the spot before it was even able to make a move. His heart, lungs and abdomen had been stabbed cleanly and the clone fell t to the ground bleeding to his death.

    "Astral Imitation Style: Observant Owl," Jin mumbled as he raised his stance a little to return the sword back into his sheath.

 Chapter 1206 - The Systems Quick Bout

    <h4>Chapter 1206 - The System''s Quick Bout </h4>

    When Jin performed the Astral Imitation Style, both the System and Lynn were astonished how he managed to copy the attacks.

    This was because the skills are associated with a certain animal style and most cultivators had been restricted to use based on the animal they had been affiliated to. While there had been cultivators who were able to change cultivation styles mid life, many did not seed because they could not find most of the manuals out in the open to bepatible with their chi.

    Thatбпs why most cultivators followed their familial cultivation styles because that particr style already had the bestpatibility with their chi. Only certain talented cultivators would take up a double cultivation style should their chi allow suchpatibility and that was how the Royal Zodiac ns managed to stay in power for so long.

    Those royal ns would notpromise their styles and only allow cultivators who could practice their style to be weed if they were inundated into their n because of love or business rted rtionships. Thus those who joined usually had practised two cultivation styles to earn their status as a royal n member.

    But in Jinбпs case, his chi was not limited to his Panda Style mainly because of the infusion of Mana, resulting in the capability to produce Maqi. That not only dilutes his distinctive chi features but also increases the quality of it, enabling him to easily copy a particr cultivation style.

    In addition to the full activation of his Maqi production which he had learnt previously under the guidance of Genbu and Orochi, there was no doubt he could imitate other styles without too much of a trouble. The only problem was that weird depiction of the style through his pandas and a slightly inferior attacking powerpared to the original. (Of course, for thetter, it can bepensated with additional training and chi output.)

    Still, this was a new discovery for the System and it did not hesitate to turn the dial on the trial so that it could get more information on Jinбпs newest skill. If what Jin had performed was consistent, the System now understood the reason why Ming had collected all those books and cultivation manuals in advance. It was all nned to not make a school out of Jinбпs business but to increase the skill sets for Jin.

    Not to mention, thebination of the System and Jin would greatly increase with this particr method. While it initially thought the System Rider feature would have been a major boon, this new realisation of aiding user through the bountiful collection of manuals would be even more terrifying for Jinбпs opponents.

    This was because the System could simply cote andpile the manuals before hand and analyse which would be the most effective style against a certain cultivator. With its extensive database, it would not be an issue for the System to pull up a few manuals and upload them into Jinбпs head through a series of quick thought injection spells. (Like how Kraft pushes his thoughts to force a person to do his bidding.)

    And that would enable Jin to fight with newly enhanced knowledge against his opponent... assuming the System had enough data with regards to their opponent. But given the trove of manuals that Ming had prepared for his grandsonбпs benefit, including the ones Jin had yet to unlock from Grandma Yuan, the System believed that it was poised to be in an advantageous position to assist Jin inbat despite its severe limitations outside the store.

    Now it had teleported two new Wo De Tians to Jin to partake as promised. The more he defeats an enemy, the more they would multiple to add on to the challenge. However, instead of using another style, the Astral Panda Cultivator continued to use Observant Owl with the addition of inserting his own Maqi.

    As the Observant Owl Style was mainly focused on wind or air type of chi, Jin had utilised his Maqi to call forth a gust of wind based Maqi that served as duplicated wind des to enhance his attack. The two Wo De Tian clones did spend more бпfightбп time aspared to the first one by performing their first basic technique but eventually were taken down when Jin unleashed three stabs into each of their bodies like how an owl caught its prey and pierced it to death.

    The subsequent round had four Wo De Tian clones and this time it was even more exciting as Jin finally used a separate technique even though he continued to use the Observant Owl style. The wind des which he conjured forced the clones to split apart and when Jin was about to use the very same stabs against the clones, one of them managed to evade the attack, giving him the opportunity to jump Jin while he was on the offensive.

    However, his customised sheath came right up, blocking the sh to his face and allowing Jin to retaliate with a quick uppercut, causing the clone to split into two from the defensive strike. It was then Lynn realised the sheath that Boo transformed to, was actually a sword in disguise. Yet, that was not the end as the remaining three did a simultaneous team attack that forced Jin to step backwards. Still, the unsuspecting clones got sliced into multiple pieces because of a wind magic trap attack that Jin had used when he left the spot.

    The wind trap spell triggered, causing several wind des to burst out of the ground, cleanly cutting the rest of the clones into sashimi. But as the remaining three were killed, another eight emerged and took over their ce.

    It was now Jin changed his Astral Imitation Style and Lynn could see the panda silhouette above Jin started to tear the owl costume away and the remaining smaller pandas went behind it while cloaking themselves under a piece of leather. It was then Lynn was able to discern that they were imitating a snake with the big panda silhouette putting his tongue out while pasting two triangle shaped pieces of paper at the edge of its tongue and wearing two long fake fangs. But the most prominent part of the entire getup?

    All the pandas were wearing slippers.

    "Astral Imitation Style: Slipper Snake!" Jin shouted as he sheathed his sword into Boo and immediately whipped it out, causing the sword to extend widely. It was no longer a katana and rather, a sword whip. With des infused with wind Maqi, the sword moved like a slipper through a soapy ss tile, zipping past the enemy and hitting each and every clone at their vital points before it retracts back.

    All the clones fell to the ground, struggling to stay alive but the System terminated them so that it could send the next batch of clones towards Jin. Needless to say most of them were not a match to Jin even though he had already been restricted in terms of grade. The System eventually terminated the bout since a minute was about to be up, with a few seconds remaining and based on the data, there was no way those clones could fight toe to toe against Jin.

    So instead of wasting resources, the System promised and rewarded Jin what he deserved.. The entire library of manualspiled into an app for him to browse.

 Chapter 1207 - Copying Jins Experience

    <h4>Chapter 1207 - Copying Jin''s Experience </h4>

    "What do I need this for? Itбпs quite a useless reward if you ask me about it." Jin said as he barely lost his breath from that current fight. Compared to the ruthless faceless soldiers in Suzakuбпs endless battlefield, the trial from the System was like a walk in the park.

    "Incorrect. The System believed it would prove to be very useful to you." The System replied. "User knows how the System is intricately connected to the User, correct?"

    "Yeah. But what does...Hmm." Jin was not very sure where the System was going with that route of exnation and decided to let it finish its sentence. At the same time, he was already thinking that there might be something else.

    "Maybe it could help you with the problem you had?" Lynn, who was watching from the sidelines, offered her deduction which was in this case, simr to what Jin had thought.

    "Affirmative. The System might not be able to enter the Userбпs subconscious but the Userбпs phone had been used to store any information you had encountered. It is like a monitoring device to ensure that the User has a stable connection with the System. Thus, we believed that even though you had fallen into the realm of your subconscious, the phone is able to record what you had experienced before."

    "Isnбпt that a more pervasive form of stalking?" Jin sighed and scratched his head, wondering if this was a good thing.

    "The System hoped that the User would think it is more of a help rather than an invasive procedure."

    "Actually, Jin. Why worry so much? The System had already crept into your life and read your activities like an open book. Whatбпs another level of intrusion of privacy matters to you? As much as you are frustrated by it, you are benefitting from its stalking behaviour." Lynn said as she had already given up.

    "Listen to your new girlfriend." The System supported Lynnбпs argument.

    "Besides, if what the System said is true, you might actually be able topile what you had seen through your cultivation process. It might be even more useful for you." Lynn added.

    "The problem is, what if it does not? The System would then try something even more invasive." Jin shrugged. "Maybe one day it would involve putting a chip in my brain or something."

    "The System does not need to rely on that. As the System had already discovered that during your cultivation process, there was an intensive amount of information exchange within your brain. Thus, what the System is doing now is creating an app that would monitor based on the electrical signal movements in your brain circuit. With that information, the System would be able to distinguish whether those electrical signals were signalling the movement of your muscles or certain information to your brain."

    "If not, the System merely probes the electrical signal and checks what kind of information has been stored inside you. After all, the User is connected to the System and has been ustomed to Kraftбпs monthly sanity checks. You would not feel a single thing during your cultivation."

    "Hmm yea, so what do I get out of it?" Jin felt the System was merelypiling information for its own good until he found out that the System was going to implement what it had thought during the trial.

    "Oh..okay. Then I guess that is really worth a shot. To be able to receive information not just on the style but having a supeputer to know which cultivation style could possibly be more effective against my opponent would no doubt benefit me." Jin said and then paused for a moment.

    "But wait. Does that not only apply to this world? I mean the rest of the multiverse had no such cultivation nonsense in their worlds."

    "Having an edge in your homeworld is a sufficient advantage. Who knows if one were to traverse to another separate world, they might be handy?" The System stated and then Lynn raised her hand.

    "Is there any way I can follow Jin, copying other peopleбпs style?"

    "Negative. The User is able to do so because of his distinct infusion of Chi and Mana. However, the cultivation manual that Sub System User Lynn has been using is more than sufficient against most opponents if you had cultivated sufficiently."

    "But cultivation does not mean shit if I do not have experience. I nearly lost the previous round in the dungeon world because of that inexperience. If I canбпt copy Jinбпs style, I would like to at least fight on a constant basis to get my skills right."

    "If what the User said was true, perhaps the System might be able to get a glimpse of the information of the enemies User had encountered with a deep brain scan the moment he gets out of his subconscious. The System would then attempt to replicate what User went through and utilise the post processing as a simtion for Lynn if you are willing."

    "Welp, if you can do that, that would not just help me but the minions too. Especially if we are focusing on this world. While they might get some training from fighting against cultivators from my shop, some were deliberately losing to even out the customerбпs experience or hide their true strength from being showcased. But if you are really able to bring it out, they should have the opportunity to gain more exposure and shed more light on how different cultivators fight." Jin said and Lynn agreed.

    "Then if everyone is agreeable, the System would then advise User to enter his cultivation mode as quickly as possible. With regards to the Symposium, the System would rmend Lynn to settle it."

    "What? Me?" Lynn was astonished by the suddenmand from the System."

    "The System noted previously that you wished to have more responsibility. Since the User is now busy, the System would slowly push the business aspect for you to handle."

    "Wow. Thatбпs quick. Well, I do not mind Lynn, but if you do that, be sure to follow the Systemбпs rmendation. I feel that itбпs not as simple as it looks, especially after Zeruбпs exnation. I might want to believe itбпs over thinking on my end but itбпs better to be prepared than never." Jin said as the System teleported him back to his own room.

    "Hmm, then System. Please show me the way." Lynn said as she waved to Jin goodbye... but the User decided to step forward and gave her a gentle hug, causing her to blush a little. While it was indeed awkward, she did appreciate the effort he made. "Be sure toe back safely."

    "Haha, I definitely will. But do try to wake me up if its near the Symposium deadline. It would be such an embarrassment if I nned all these and could even make it for that." Jin said with a smile.

    "User should be more concern on the changes in the Farming World. There were some major movement from the Rats ording to the scouts." The System reported

    "Why are you telling me this right now. Are we going to have a situation where I had to handle my own worldбпs event and the farming world simultaneously once more?" Jin questioned and the System said it is inevitable considering the worlds wait for no one.

    "Ah, we will manage it one thing at a time. So, here goes nothing.. Time for round two," Jin said as he sat on his bed and somehow, he managed to fall into his sleep almost as soon as he touched his pillow.

 Chapter 1208 - Still Dreaming

    <h4>Chapter 1208 - Still Dreaming </h4>

    As Jin continued his eternal struggle against the ghosts of his own, Lynn decided to pick up what Jin had left her. She initially wanted to have a nice little supper, tease Jin for not epting her and go to sleep.

    in as that.

    Little did she know just a simple supper and some additional teasing caused the entire situation to escte so quickly into a rtionship. Even she felt that this was a dream and believed falling asleep instantly might possibly cause it to disappear. Neither did she want to pinch herself to know it was true. That gentle hug at the end of the conversation was sweet of Jin, warming her weary heart now that she knows he was finally hers.

    "I would be lying if I could sleep properlyter." Lynn thought to herself as she felt that she had finallypleted a long term goal. However, she too understood that the start of the rtionship was merely the end of a бпsingleбп race and the start of another with Jin. Whether she could keep him or not was another issue entirely.

    But for Jin to immediately give Lynn one of his responsibilities before popping into cultivation was a little rude of him. "Just a hug and you give me such an important task?" Lynn said to herself with a bit of pouting. However, at the same time, she could not help that it was his way of showing his trust since he had always been doing his things all by himself despite the amount of help avable around him.

    "Perhaps I will do it this one time and if he wants me to do something this important in the future, I would probably ask for something selfish too!" Lynn said to herself, psyching herself up for the task.

    "The System believed this would be a good time killer so that it would tire you for the night. Currently, the System has detected extremely high levels of adrenaline presumably due to the influx of your current emotions. And this task has a high chance of stabilising said levels." The System reported and Lynn merely rolled her eyes at the Systemбпs poor excuse.

    Regardless, she was also curious whether Jin was correct despite his overly cautious attitude. The Banned Emperor had frequently been in the highlights for quite some time and Jin shing with them somehow did not feel like it was just a coincidence. Yet, she was no expert in any of this and thus the next best thing she could do was to contact a very special somebody which she knew would be greatly indebted to her.

    Kong Rong. Mr Know It All.

    A text message asking for help was more than enough to get the special agent to instantly call within the minute, questioning Lynn whether she was in danger.

    "No, Kong Rong. I am not but I will be if you do not help me." Lynn said in such a serious tone that it almost caught Kong Rong into sending agents to her location immediately. After all, the protection bubble of the Royal Panda n was in effect and the Royal Zodiac Dragon n, particrly the people under Kong Rong and his grandmother, would enact this rule earnestly. Lynn subsequently exined the situation to the special agent and he was actually ted that Jin took a serious stance on the issue of a backup site.

    "I will get my agents to take a look at it. I trust the System will do its own analytics as well? Then perhaps in the morning, we would be able topare and exchange notes?"

    "You get your employees to assess stuff thiste in the night- or erm early morning?" Lynn felt concerned that she was giving more work to the special agentsбпckeys.

    "Nah, do not worry about it. They are trained to work 24 hours round the clock and are adequatelypensated for their duties." Kong Rong calmed Lynn down.

    "Hmm nono. Thatбпs unfair to them if they have such a workload. How about this? Those who are able to find something, I treat them to a meal of their choice?" Lynn said and Kong Rongughed out loud.

    "Guys, did you get to hear my conversation with Lynn? From the famous restaurant instance in Jinбпs supplier store?" Kong Rong asked and suddenly Lynn heard a massive crowd shouting and cheering at the Chefбпs generosity.

    "I guess, a morning deadline would be way too much ck for these guys." Kong Rong chuckled and said he would send a text to her once the deed was done. Lynn thanked him profusely before heading to the Dungeon Maker to do her research too.

    The System had alreadyid out the necessary groundwork for Lynn to explore but reinforced that making connections right now with the avable material would be mere spections. "The System now thinks that Sub System User Lynn should leave this to the experts while the System would try to dig a bit more if there are any possible Banned Emperor involvements."

    "Then what can I do?" Lynn questioned thinking that she identally pushed the duty she received from Jin to other people.

    "User had taught you how to use the Dungeon Maker and you even did adjustments for the Cultivation Zoo before the User took it over entirely due to time constraint. Thus, the System would leave you the responsibility of creating an instance in the event that the backup site would indeed be needed for the Symposium." The System stated and rified Lynnбпs thinking that there was nothing else to be done.

    "Should I erm... add defence back up in the event that the Symposium is still a go-ahead and we encounter trouble?" Lynn questioned while praying that she did not trigger some sort of fortune telling checkpoint for it toe true.

    "Focus on the basics. The additional situational support systems can be added at ater date when the foundation of the instance has been put in ce." The System told Lynn not to worry and go ahead with the creation of the backup site.. "Make the User proud with your personal design."

 Chapter 1209 - Endless Battlefield -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1209 - Endless Battlefield -Part 4 </h4>

    As Jin returned to the endless battlefield of the burning phoenix, he thought that he would immediately encounter a series of enemies to contend with. But as the Astral Panda Cultivator opened his eyes, Jin saw ady waiting for him at the bench where Ming and he used to sit.

    It was only then he realised it was because she was strikingly beautifulpared to the rest of the background which was littered with dead bodies and faceless soldiers staying their des against Jin.

    "Come, grandchild of Ming. Have a seat and have a short chat." Suzaku said as her burning bright red hair was the main allure of her physical features. Jin believed that this was one of the rare opportunities where he could converse with the Four Cardinals Lords, just as how he was given the chance to talk to Genbu before he took action against the examinee. Thus, Jin sheathed his de and walked slowly to the bench as Suzaku looked at him with a peculiar stare.

    As much as the Panda Cultivator tried to activate his inverse eyes, he was not able to discern anything from her, not even her power level. He did not know if it was her overwhelming ability or Suzaku had blocked his бпthirdбп sight from even scanning her.

    "Not very gentlemanly of you to do that," Suzaku said with much indifference that Jin did not know whether it was a threat or a casual remark.

    "I apologise. After being backstabbed too many times, I tend to err at the cautious side." Jin said and he could see that Suzaku broke her stoic expression ever so slightly to amodate his apology. As Jin sat beside her, he could feel that her hair was not much of a danger as he thought it would be. Sure, it was burning with sparks of fire flying out of it but there was nothing burning, especially the old wooden bench that they were sitting on.

    "Tell me. What prompts you to return to this weary battlefield. What are you fighting for?" Suzaku asked without looking at the Astral Panda Cultivator and instead continued to stare at the broken endless battlefield that was right in front of her.

    "I heard of the tales that my grandfather had said about you. How people wished to have a piece of you иC erm a feather from you."

    "You are not exactly answering that question." Suzaku interrupted Jinбпs exnation and he stumbled a little and sighs for a moment.

    "I think without exnation, you will find my reason to do so to be ridiculously simple. It is to train myself up."

    "By passing the trial that your grandfather imposed on you?" Suzaku questioned.

    "You could say that. I have no other ill intentions against you nor I wished to harm you a single bit just for some rumoured feather."

    "Even with the fact that you might die in the real world aspared to the others who have a chance of resurrecting back?"

    "And then chase a goal for the rest of my life that might be intangible in its results?" Jin returned the question with his own.

    "What do you exactly mean?" Suzaku still did not turn her head towards him.

    "Your feathers, do they honestly have resurrective powers? And even if they do, can it really resurrect me when I am cursed by heavenбпs decree?"

    "You are taunting me to show my ability to you so that you can have desires fulfilled?" Suzaku questioned once more and Jin shook his head.

    "That is not what I meant." Jin was wondering whether Suzaku had been betrayed by many in the past for her to say such remarks. "I am saying I do not need your feathers at all. I am fine with my current life and I will ept the consequences should death befall me. Heck, sure I might invest some money and resources to find out if I could be resurrected but surely not at the expense of you if you are not willing to assist."

    At that point, Suzaku turned her head slowly and gave a nk look at Jin, unsure of what he had said previously.

    "In simple terms, I am training myself in your battlefield and wish to be just your friend. Not because I want your feather for my selfish purpose but it seems you have been trapped in your world for far too long, not trusting anyone. I would merely want to let you know, not all humans are like this. Although if you feel that I am worthy of your friendship andradery, and you would like to gift me a feather of yours, I would not say no to it."

    "Sounds like you are using me after I used you."

    "If you wish to put it that way, then I am fine with it. After all, I am a businessman so bantering is my middle name." Jin shrugged off Suzakuбпs concerns as if it was not much of a big deal. "Besides, you are not the only phoenix like creature I know. I have a phoenix under my care too so you could be friends with her if you like. Oh, but that is assuming I am able to let you guys out of this hellhole."

    At that point, Suzaku pondered for a moment before breaking a small smile out from her face. "That would indeed be nice. To have a friend simr to me."

    "Yeah, better than friending some humans. Trust me, when you are this high up thedder of power, the lesser friends you have. So, itбпs good to know that most of my minions take me as a friend rather than someone who they have to obey. In any case, I should get going. Got a trick in my sleeve I got to try. Thanks for the battlefield in advance!" Jin said as he gave a gentle pat on Suzakuбпs back before walking into the battlefield.

    "As what Ming had said. He is different from the other people I meet.." Suzaku whispered as she continued to stay for a while longer to see Jin struggled against the faceless soldiers that were once her enemies.

 Chapter 1210 - Endless Battlefield - Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1210 - Endless Battlefield - Part 5 </h4>

    Even as Jin continued to battle against the faceless soldiers, he could feel there was a difference. Not in terms of power, strength or technique against his enemies but rather, he could finally sense something was watching over him checking his movements and the way he moved about.

    "Looks like the Systemбпs invasive stalking 2.0 is working as intended. Oh well, if it does increase my repertoire of techniques, I guess I can hardly say no to it." Jin said to himself as he mindlessly and yet mindfully defeats the enemies that were in his path. But even as he thinks about the System, he was not able to contact it regardless of the method, leaving him to believe that the System was right about monitoring the brain signals while Jin was cultivating and nothing more.

    Right now, the faceless soldiers in the field were a mix of both weak and strong soldiers which allowed Jin to pace himself. Because of the inverse eyes, he was able to take note of those soldiersбп chi portrayal. He finally was able to discern whether a soldier was going to throw out a basic technique or an advanced technique based on the chi aura surrounding the soldier. This allowed him to take out the weaker ones quickly while keeping the stronger soldiers at bay as he continued to observe the fight.

    However, at the same time, he felt that this endeavour of learning by watching became a little of a chore. This was mainly because some of the faceless soldiers that emerged were the ones he had seen the technique before. Initially, Jin thought that he was about to reach the end of the бпendlessбп supply that Suzaku had encountered before but he was dead wrong.

    In the mix of those soldiers, there were a few soldiers that started to portray their techniques which he had never seen before so he deduced that Suzaku purposely dilute the pool of soldiers in her endless battlefield to keep him upied.

    "Is this some gacha where I have to find soldiers whose techniques I have yet to collect?" Jin said to himself as he gritted his teeth to kill another by transforming Bam and Boo into a great axe, smashing the ground and causing a few rocks to splinter out of the ground. Still, he continued to fight them in case they had more to offer but it was getting tedious....until he realised he might have been able to use his Maqi.

    After giving himself sufficient space by executing the soldiers within the great axeбпs vicinity, he tried to exude out his Maqi aura to create astral clones of himself. Not only was he sessful, but Jin was also able to share his Inverse Eyes powers with the clones as well. It was at that point which he felt like beating himself up.

    "Argh! I forgot that I could use my Maqi to the fullest extent! I keep thinking I was not able to use it since I had been restricted ever since my inception in this dream." Jin said to himself and as the clones began to sh with the soldiers. On the other hand, Suzaku had a small curl at the side of her lips as if she already knew that Jin was capable of doing such a feat but did not reveal anything to him.

    "Well, now this changes everything." Jin said to himself as he went ahead to m the Great Axe towards a shield user to bring him down. With the clones by his side, Jin realised he was finally able to learn five times as much and clear the endless battlefield with ease. While clear was not the exact word since it was indeed endless, it meant he could remove the trash and fight against the faceless soldiers which he never faced before, absorbing as much information as he could.

    The only drawback was that the Inverse Eye functions did not exactly work for the clones. Even as Jin was able to transmit the ability to share his transverse eyesбп ability to his clones, it was his first time doing so. They were able to detect the soldiers he had fought before but collecting information was not one of the functions, forcing them to only dy the faceless soldiers until Jin was free to go against them. Regardless, the six against many was still a hectic fight as everyone rushed to consume the challengers with their techniques and overwhelming number.

    But as hard as the challenge was, everything continued to proceed rather smoothly considering the fact that Jin was still alive while Suzaku quietly sat at the bench to watch him suffer. "Keep it up, other Jins! We are making good progress. Letбпs live through the challenge!" Jin said and the rest of the clones quietly nodded their heads simultaneously.

    "Such thinking would be detrimental to you if you believed you would be making out alive." Suzaku whispered as she ced her elbow on her knees and used her palm as support for her head as she observed the fight. With a sigh emanating out at the end of her sentence, a brand new faceless soldier emerged from the side of the battlefield with chi as ck as the starless night sky.

    Jin could suddenly feel the change in the chaotic atmosphere within the endless battlefield, believing that the newest faceless soldier could be the challenge he was looking for. But instead of finding him, he continued to concentrate against the current mob as if telling the neer to wait for his turn if he wishes to fight the challenger.

    Unfortunately, things were not as easy as one might think as the newest faceless soldierбпs chi suddenly exploded and a shot of his energy went right through the entire crowd, even forcing Jin to move away to not get hit.

    "That is not some advanced technique. Thatбпs literally an epic technique or above!" Jin said to himself as he stabilised with the Great Axe chopping another faceless soldier. It was then he realised the chi was kind of familiar and the more he got exposed to it, beads of sweat rolled through his neck.

    "I cannot believe it. Even you...master?" Jin said to himself as the soldierбпs stance was undoubtedly recognisable. He was facing the one and only.

    Zeru.

 Chapter 1211 - Endless Battlefield -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1211 - Endless Battlefield -Part 6 </h4>

    Even though the soldier standing in front of him was mute, faceless like a nk piece of paper, the remaining features of the body were reminiscent of Zeru. Sure, Jin might not have been under the intense tutge of his master for quite some time but for the days that he was under his supervision, Jin remembered how his masterбпs stance was more than just unique.

    It was efficient.

    Each step and movement were not wastedpared to some of the techniques and even the shy strong ones. In fact, there was no need forparison when one were to understand that his stance had incorporated the strengths of various techniquesbined together. The only problem was that Jin did not have the time to learn much from his master mainly because he had to run his business to prosperity.

    But as days, weeks and subsequently months passed by, he took the easier route of sting his Maqi whenever he felt like it and relied on brute chi force to overwhelm his enemies. When ites to techniques, Jin could only perform the few basic ones which Zeru taught him. There was a chance that the WereMouses had better in depth training than Jin considering the amount of time that Zeru had spent training those peasants that had been marginalised.

    "No excuse now not to train, is that it?" Jin said to himself as the Zeru clone went at him at full force, just as Jin was about to change his axe into a sword to have a fighting chance against the clone. And as he parried, the great axe split its transformation allowing Jin to have a Boo to be the customised sheath once again while Bam was still in axe form. It allowed Jin to parry one additional blow against Zeru before Bam swapped entirely into a sword. However, in the process of switching weapons, Boo which had been used to defend had been smacked out of the Panda Cultivatorбпs hands because of the force that Zeru had used.

    Jinбпs clones managed to get it but Jin specifically told the clones to focus on pushing the rest of the faceless soldiers back away from them so he could concentrate on fighting Zeru. "Why does this faceless Zeru have more moves than the usual soldiers?" Jin thought to himself as he had to use a variety of defence techniques concurrently to block the onught of attacks from Zeru.

    "You must be wondering, why is this faceless soldier giving you so much trouble aspared to the others." Suzaku spoke out as if she knew exactly what Jin was thinking. "Itбпs because he was a friend that turned into a foe."

    "A friend?!" Jin nearly got stabbed in his neck just because the information he received caused him to focus for a second. Because of Jinбпs experience in switching and moulding Bam into any particr weapon, the sword Bam had transformed now had the capability to switch on faster than before. This allowed Bam to grow wider in size, saving Jin within a hairбпs breadth.

    "Oh, you managed to listen even though you are afar? Shouldnбпt you be concentrating?" Suzaku said nonchntly and Jin did not have the time to reply. If the previous close shave was anything of an expensive lesson, it was not to break concentration from this particr Zeru as well even though it was a mere clone.

    "This wretched bastard tricked my beloved friend into marrying him. To be his lifelong partner and forever. Sure, he was strong, stronger than anyone within the city that no one was a match against him. Even I admired him at some point." Suzaku talked about Zeru not knowing that Jin had a connection with him. She merely thought that he knew a thing or two about the infamous swordsman.

    "But things changed when an assassin targeted me for the want of my feathers and my friend used her life to protect me." Suzakuбпs eyes wandered into the distance as she monologues.

    "I tried to save her with my own powers. Feathers? They are just residue portions of my powers for I personally gave her my blood." Suzaku said as she stared at her wrist and still touched the scar which she refused to heal till this day.

    "My blood has the restorative power beyondprehension ording to the fellowmoners and yet she did not live through it." Suzakuбпs words were getting shaky.

    "That bastard said that he was some Banned Emperor assassin and they dealt with spiritual damage instead of the flesh. The wound she received could not be cured by any ordinary means, as if there was a hole in the soul and her spiritual being was leaking away into the abyss."

    "And yet as the bird of resurrection, I was not able to save her. What kind of phoenix am I if I canбпt save even a friend of mine?" Suzaku began to tear and for some reason, it resonated with the faceless soldiers, causing them to be more rampant with their attacks.

    The clones had to fight harder than before, with some of them utilising the astral powers stored within them to shoot out area magic spells in order to keep them at bay. As for Jin, the Zeru that he was fighting against had started portraying his Lotus Cultivation which Jin had witnessed them to be sure kill techniques regardless of their potency level.

    "I would not let you defeat me this easily! I am not the same Jin as you fought months ago!" Jin said as his transverse eyeбпs pupils glowed brighter even though it was obvious that he was straining them to the limits. The Maqi within Jin shot out of his body and started to glow and the Pandas above began to change shape.

    From the usual cute little Pandas they were, the silhouettes began to throw away the current costume set they were wearing to don on a very familiar coat which was iconic to one particr person. "I did not expect to follow you but honestly, you are the only person whose cultivation that I know could rival against Zeruбпs powers." Jin said to himself as he used a Panda Swipe to create a bit of distance so that he could activate the technique.

    "I have no freaking idea what kind of style you use, but I am definitely copying your technique, Kraft." He took one deep breath before shouting out the words that could potentially save his skin against the enraged fake Zeru.. "Extreme Magic! Graveyard Combo Third Stage! The Land of Scars!" As the words came out of his mouth, Jin mmed the sword on the ground to activate the technique around him.

 Chapter 1212 - Endless Battlefield -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1212 - Endless Battlefield -Part 7 </h4>

    Tombstones raised from the ground, erupting from the depths of both fresh and dposed bodies as Jin revealed his trump card against the faceless Zeru.

    But his opponent was not giving him any time to breathe, much alone to retaliate against him. The first Lotus technique was something Jin had never seen before and since none of them ever shout their techniques out, he could only use his inverse eyes to predict the possible feints and attack patterning to him.

    Unfortunately, Jin had decided not to evade the attack because of the long casting time for the Land Of Scars extreme magic spell. If he were to break his concentration right now, the magic would backfire against him and there was nothing he was able to do to match against Zeru.

    Petals of the darkest lotus flew around Jin momentarily as if they were finding their position to target him. And since he was stationary throughout the entire time, it seemed as the lotus petals found their optimal spots before it swiftly pierce into Jinбпs body.

    Needless to say, the Astral Panda Cultivator had already erected a mana barrier in hopes to dy the inevitable attack and it was sessful in preventing the flurry of petal strikes ...for a few seconds. The mana barrier broke among the onught of the energised petals, only to encounter anotheryer of barrier once more.

    "I am not that dumb to put one thick barrier to block your attacks! I remember seeing a pattern that your lower grade skills consisted ofyered attacks to overwhelm the enemy." Jin smiled to himself, happy that he had guessed right.

    Yet that confidence was also short lived as the storm of petals revealed Zeru personally rushing to strike the barrier down. With one sh, the series ofyer barriers broke simultaneously, only allowing Jin a minute of a second to stop the sh with his left arm.

    With Maqi infused to channel the extreme spell, Jin used his left hand as a shield to stop the attack as he continued to unleash his Maqi into the spell activation so that the Land Of Scars could be cast. The only problem (well, one of the few problems.) was that he had no idea how much Maqi he had to put out in order for the spell to work properly.

    And since he had already been dyed by Faceless Zeruбпs attack, Jin had no idea how the extreme spell would work. The only consolidation was that his left hand was holding firmly into the Faceless Zeruбпs sword, preventing the fake master from executing his entirebo of strikes.

    Yet again, he did not expect the Faceless Zeru to be reactive against his rash action. Compared to the other faceless soldiers he had encountered, Faceless Zeru felt as if he was living right inside this battlefield, fighting against Jin with all his might and wit. Does that mean Suzaku had always been holding back with her other soldiers in this particr aspect or it was just that Faceless Zeru was one of her trump cards to prevent Jin frompleting the challenge that he had embarked on.

    Still, Suzaku did not make a sound after her self dered pity story and continued to watch the duel in the endless battlefield. And just as Zeru emerged a wakizashi from the back of his palm, Jinбпs heart raced and unconsciously sent a rush of Maqi into the channelling circle beneath him, causing the extreme magic to finally activate.

    The tombstones that were erected throughout the endless battlefield rumbled loudly and all the rotting corpses surrounding started to vibrate and resonate with the Maqi being poured out of the tombstones.

    Unknowingly, Jin had used the Land of Scars spell to form an army of faceless armed zombies against Suzakuбпs faceless soldiers. Some of the zombies that had woken up instantly threw themselves towards Zeru, causing him to evade and retaliate, allowing Jin to have a quick breather.

    Suzakuбпs stoic smile turned to a moment of shock as she saw the waves of zombies turning against the faceless soldiers. And to top it off, those zombies retained their ability and techniques which they had used previously against Jin and his clones. This meant that they were no ordinary undead that were meat fodders but a meat shield that could bite back (literally).

    The new development somehow angered Suzaku and her hand lit up with chi as bright as the sun but suddenly, someone grabbed her wrist, stopping her from doing what she intended to perform.

    "As per contract. No interference from you yourself for this trial. I already gave some leeway to you to send your champion in for the fight. But if you were to interfere with Jinбпs fight with Zeru, I would not hesitate to -"

    "Those zombies! Those undead! You never told me he is a necromancer too! How dare you let a necromancer defile my battlefield!" Suzaku shouted at Ming who was obviously restraining her from entering the battle. "You remember that of all the people I hated, necromancers were at the top of the list for their insolence towards life."

    "You saw that it was not him that did it but the technique he copied. Those zombies were just a byproduct of the magic he imitated. If you looked carefully, they were filled with his Maqi and being animated rather than given independence of their actions. They are puppets rather than the living dead." Ming said as he used his own chi to calm Suzaku down and cast a scan spell to show her what was going on with the soldiers.

    "You did not state in the contract that there could not be any puppets for the fight. It just so happened he did have the power and ability to do so on a wide scale." Ming said he slowly pushed Suzaku back to the bench and asked her to watch the end.

    "And trust me, despite his show of force, I believe your champion would emerge victorious." Ming remarked as he too sat beside her to watch the chaotic battlefield unfold even further as the animated faceless soldiers shed with the ones under Suzakuбпsmand.

 Chapter 1213 - Endless Battlefield -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1213 - Endless Battlefield -Part 8 </h4>

    "You are trolling her, arenбпt you?" Byakko sent a telepathic message to Ming as he too walked up right towards him and sat right beside the bench. "What you said about necromancy and the magic spell which Jin did is basically the same concept."

    "She was in rage, her mind would not be able to process everything. The most important issue was that she kept calm in this current fight. Wonбпt want her to enter the ring because of some silly past she had." Ming ced his hand on Bakkyo and stroked his back. The fur released a tingle of electricity as his hand wed down his fur.

    "Well, that was one of the major turning points why she never trusted humans ever again." Byakko said and side eyed Ming for a moment before focusing back at the match right in front of them. "With the exception of you I guess."

    "What can I say? I am quite a charmer with girls of exceptional powers." Ming tried to contain hisughter but it caused Byakko to snort immediately at the reply.

    "More like if you did not have me and the rest of the gang, you probably wonбпt be able to convince her. You have much to be thankful for."

    "The one who should be thanking all of you is Jin since he would be the one that would be inheriting your help." Ming said as he saw a misstep from Jin that nearly caused his life but a бпzombieбп charged forward to mitigate the blow for him.

    "Hence thereбпs a saying that is as old as time. Parents will sacrifice anything and everything for their offspring but not the other way around." Byakko said as he was surprised how Jin was actually doing a follow upbo attack with one of the cultivator zombies to stop Faceless Zeru from activating his Lotus technique. Unfortunately, he did not prevail as Faceless Zeru was not only able to kill the zombie cultivator who charged in but also initiated his Advanced Lotus Technique which sprouted a series of vines with lotus blooming throughout the room.

    This time around the Faceless Zeru did not care for friend or foe as his Advanced Lotus Technique exploded throughout his vicinity, killing a majority of the zombie cultivators as well as the faceless soldiers. Jin, on the other hand, hid behind one of the tombstones for cover while transferring more of his chi into it, forcing it to change its magic from zombie raising to a fire spewing cannon.

    The wave of mes emerged from the tombstone in an attempt to burn the lotus flowers and while its effect was effective at the start, Faceless Zeru already had began his counter by sending out more of the lotus vines right towards Jinбпs location swiftly. The high velocity that the vines were moving was able to ovee the mes the tombstone was spewing and it went straight for Jin.

    "Looks like itбпs the end for Jin. Once those vines grabbed him, the lotus blooming on the vines would cause him to die a thousand times." Suzaku relished his death for the бпsinsбп of defiling her endless battlefield regardless of Mingбпs exnation.

    "I would not bet on that if I were you." Ming continued to keep Suzaku in check as he conjured a bottle of water and quietly drank a few sips before passing to Suzaku. She unknowingly picked it up and drank the entire bottle before burning it.

    "Sheбпs literally burning with rage." Byakko saw the scene as though it was a warning to act when Ming gave the heads up but to his surprise, Jinбпs grandfather was rather calm about the current situation. "Do you want me to get Genbu to cool her down?"

    "No worries about it. Letбпs enjoy the fight for now." Ming said as the climax came the vines swarming towards Jin suddenly got repelled. The tombstone that was initially spewing fire suddenly changed its element to wind. It caused an idental tornado inferno but the most important thing of all was that the vines were not able to reach Jin before anything bad could happen.

    At the same time, Faceless Zeru flew right into the scene since he was sure that Jin was still within that tornado inferno until he found out that vines of the very same nature were shot out from the tornado too.

    "Have you forgotten that I can copy skills?!" Jin said as the tornado dissipated and his sword had indeed came a bunch of vines going towards him and the panda silhouettes above him portrayed themselves sleeping in a flower bed of lotus with the exception of one of the smaller pandas ying at the top of the giant panda.

    "Hah! You think Zeru would lose to an inferior copy of his skills?" Suzaku eximed, believing the end is nigh. However, as the vines approached Zeru, the portrayal of panda silhouettes somehow changed midway as the active smaller panda dived into the flowerbed causing a change in scene to be a bed of bellflowers instead.

    Suzaku was vaguely confused at that point since she did not remember sending any faceless soldier with such a technique but Ming chuckled at Jinбпs creativity. He vaguely recalled from the constant probing of his memories that he had an active customer with the bellflower cultivation style. "Even without seeing with his transverse, does not mean he cannot replicate based on memories now that he learnt how to imitate styles with his Astral Pandas."

    The technique which Jin released was ironic as the name attached to the bellflowers. The vines had a series of bells attached when the flowers bloomed when approaching Zeru. The systematic ringing of the bells somehow incapacitated Faceless Zeru disabling his movements and hence allowing the vines to pierce through Zeru.

    Or..that was what Jin thought it was able to do. The faceless Zeru somehow managed to break the stun at the veryst moment, forcing Jin to change his Maqi tomand two of the vines to grab hold of his legs while the third to puncture it.. The rest were cut down mercilessly by the master swordsman but to be able to injure the Faceless Zeru was already a win in Jinбпs eyes as he charged forward, hoping to have a better chance against his current opponent.

 Chapter 1214 - Endless Battlefield - Final (unedited)

    <h4>Chapter 1214 - Endless Battlefield - Final (unedited) </h4>

    "Ah, itбпs over already." Ming was secretly hoping that Jin was able to do more than injure the faceless Zeru inbat but it seems like his grandson was a tad too overconfident or perhaps tired that he made the mistake of charging towards Zeru.

    In less than a blink of an eye, Zeru cut Jin up with another advanced lotus technique by summoning a storm of White lotus petals. They seemed harmless to begin with and Jin once again prepared a multyer shield to prevent the attack but he did not know that the white lotus petal storm was a feint.

    The Faceless champion swordsman had once again tricked Jin by inserting a trick within the white lotus petal storm as arrows of imbued chi pierced through the shields easily and straight in Jinбпs heart.

    The battle instantly ended with the death of Jin with the chance of retaliation. Even his regeneration ability was able to kick in since the Faceless Zeru stabbed his sword right in the middle of Jin and a flurry of lotus petals rushed into the wound, cutting him up from inside out.

    Itбпs like a bloated rotting whale exploding once it reaches the shore. Once Suzaku confirmed the death of Jin, she smirked knowing that even though he was different initially, he was the same as every other soldier she had encountered in her lifespan.

    Liars. Including the faceless master swordsman.

    "I have seen enough and shall take my rest. Wake me up when he has passed all your challenges..." Suzaku said as her presence gradually disappeared from the wooden bench and Ming purposely sat aside to let Jin бпresurrectбп back at his usual resting spot.

    "So how? What was it like to fight against your masterбпs younger self?" Ming said as he saw Jin gasping for breath the moment he came back to life.

    "What the hell was thatst move?! Itбпs disgustingly crazy but a sure kill method." Jin said as he touched his entire body as if to make sure they were still intact from that advanced technique.

    "Surely, he told you that he had fought against many assassins, assants and many other cultivators to reach where he is right now. The System did not pick some lousy candidate to be your betor." Ming chuckled when he saw Jin panicking for a moment.

    "Yeah and he did say his lotus moves were stuff he copied and modified to suit his own style." Jin replied and Ming nodded his head, citing that Jin was on his way to be the same as him.

    "Your previous technique where you use the bellflowers and lotus techniques tobine them into one new move already indicated to me that you could be something like Zeru... although each of us have our own opinions." Ming slowly turned his head towards Byakko and the white tigerzily nodded his head.

    "Yeah, if you leave it to Genbu, he would grudgingly say that you are centuries behind Zeru." Byakko said as he noticed how the battlefield died down to an eerie quiet dposing wastnd.

    "I probably say a century or two if you work hard on it."

    "Are you kidding me? How can I even live that long? Just because I have been empowered by the System does not mean that I am some celestial being." Jin said as he arched his back a little to stretch.

    "Yea, I concur too. You do not have such a luxury in terms of time but still, itбпs already a miracle you can get Byakko and Genbu by yourself this quickly. I honestly thought you would take years or even decades to have them join you. But it seems my ns have derailed so much because of your unexpected potential." Ming said, surprising Jin that this was supposed to be a long ass endeavour for him to grow.

    "But right now, even with your enhanced cultivation as well as potential, you are still no way near Zeruбпs mastery and fervent dedication to his style." Ming shook his head, wondering if he had made the right choice to expose him to Suzaku.

    "Why? Are you thinking of allowing him to postpone Suzakuбпs trial and head for Seiryuбпs?" Byakko queried.

    "Well, itбпs not exactly the best idea but itбпs better to skip this ande back to itter. Right now at his level, there is no way he can win this even if he were to be a Grade 20 cultivator." Ming answered and Jin was there, merely listening to their monotonous discussion on what they should do for him.

    "I am guessing if I return to the battlefield, I would be facing Zeru again? Is that why you brought me here for some debrief or to have a time out?" Jin decided to make them stay on topic.

    "More or less. He wonбпt be out until you defeat a bunch of those soldiers once more. I believed Suzaku had purposely made it in such a way that you cannot pass my trial until you defeat Zeru." Ming told Jin about the dead end he would encounter. "Ideally, it is for you to learn more of Zeruбпs technique so that you could counter him but from what I have known... thatбпs nearly impossible."

    "Because he can swiftly change the flow of battle to his favour because of the experience he umted throughout the years?" Jin asked and Ming nodded his head.

    "No one is ever more serious against that champion of hers. Even I had to cheat a little with the aid of the other cardinal beasts to clear the trial. Previously, I had to fight for a year continuously."

    "Oh is that why I did not see you for a year and you passed me to Uncle Fred?" Jin started to connect the dots to his old past.

    "Erm...hmm yeah. You could say that. I thought you were too young to remember that." Ming said with furrowed eyebrows. "In any case, you could give it a try and learn the rest of the faceless soldiers but I doubt it would be any better until you solve this high wall. Else, we would just switch the trials a little ...though having Suzaku by yourself would make things a tad easier for the rest of the trials."

    "Yeah, and itбпs possible that you can break the grade 14 barrier into 15 much easily if you clear Suzakuбпs trial." Byakko remarked and it dawned upon Jin that he had forgotten about the infamous Grade 15 was considered as the starting line to be the strongest cultivators within the country.

    "I will just give it a few more times before I see if I should give up.." Jin said as he stood up slowly and took a deep breath before entering the fray again.

 Chapter 1215 - Data Collection

    <h4>Chapter 1215 - Data Collection </h4>

    As Ming had predicted, the faceless Zeru did emerge when Jin was closer to the end of the challenge. That one week survival challenge had somewhat be a recurring nightmare as Jin faced the younger Zeru in his prime.

    Even as he wondered about his connection to Suzaku, there was no denying that Zeru was not a foe he could contend with at the current moment. All the copying and imitation of skills from other faceless soldiers might have helped to mitigate the bulk of the problem but when pushes to shove, the faceless Zeru always prevail.

    Thus, Jin had decided to take a timeout by forcing himself out of his subconscious and return back to the real world. He was slightly groggy from the forced re entry but nothing he could not handle. Yet, as time went by, he started to feel that his muscles were feeling sore and it was not particrly normal for him to experience such soreness.

    "System, mind doing a quick body check on me? Iбпm feeling under the weather for some reason." Jin requested the System, to which it replied that everything was normal.

    "The System had been monitoring you since the start of your cultivation cycle and the reason you were sore was that the System had thoroughly captured each and every electrical pulse from your brain and to the rest of your body." The System answered with an almost chirpy tone to its monotonous dialogue.

    "A proper short rest interval should be more than sufficient once the regeneration inscription on your body kicks in." The System added.

    "So I am guessing you are able to collect, cote andpile all the nonsensical stuff that I did when I was in my dreamy state?" Jin asked as he reached out to his phone to check the app that the System had installed previously.

    Previously, it was rather empty with the exception of his Astral Panda Cultivation Style as part of the collection. But when Jin opened the app, he was pleasantly surprised by the list of cultivation styles being added into the fray.

    "Wow, and these are detailed ...way too much information with regards to the cultivation style. Is this even real?" He was gawking through the list as he could vaguely remember using them against his opponents. But everything changed when he selected one of the cultivation styles and the technique was broadcast with a digital panda doing those movements. At that moment, Jin knew exactly what the technique was and could even recall the feeling of that particr technique.

    "Has User ever wondered how you were able to say the names of the cultivation styles if what the User said is true about his challengers were faceless?"

    The System poised the question to Jin and obviously, he was oblivious to it as the System rambled on stating that Jin had previously touched on those manuals before and his inverse eyes had pulled out that information from the cobwebs of his brain бпcabбп for Jin to dictate the names out.

    "Therefore, User should be grateful for the System to push you to read or at least nce through the cultivation materials at least once." The System was touting its own capabilities to the user as if it was selling something to him.

    "Yeah, yeah. How is the thing we gave Lynn to do?" Jin yawned at the Systemбпs own self praise and wanted to know how Lynn was doing with the task he gave her.

    "Sub System User Lynn has proven to be rather proficient in the said task." The System continued to reply to Jin regardless of his attitude towards it.

    "Oh? How so?" Jin changed the app in his phone, allowing the phone to open a holographic screen for the System to portray its information out.

    "She had enlisted the help of Senior Panda Executive Kong Rong and his agency for aid and ever since they met three days ago, the duo were chasing after a few possible leads on the current predicament."

    "You mean what I mentioned could be true? That the Banned Emperor might be involved in the current symposium? But if thatбпs the case, what is their end goal?" Jin queried as the System kept shing new information on the holographic screen.

    "The national symposium for Dungeon Suppliers usually draws quite a crowd mainly because they showcased prototypes in the scenes of Dungeon Suppliers. And with regards to that, people had been very, and the System must emphasize, very curious about the hardware used for Userбпs store." The System started without answering Jinбпs question and keeping him in suspense.

    "So much so that themittee had decided to put you as the backup site so that they could use that as an excuse to bring the crowd to your shop."

    "Wait... a minute. So, no Banned Emperor or whatsoever? Itбпs more like an inspection and getting more details about my hardware and how I operate them?" Jin asked and the System acknowledged. User had previously given an answer to allow the store to be the backup site but the System and Lynn had already sent them a letter rmending a change in location."

    "Oh...thatбпs a bummer," Jin answered, knowing that the System did not wish to be probed by anybody and having a celestial entity controlling the shop would just be one shit show to another. "But I believed they would say no if what you said to you was true. They would be dying to check out our tech."

    "Correct." Lynn entered the conversation bying into Jinбпs room with a stack of papers right in her hands. "In normal circumstances, nobody would be able to overturn the Symposiummitteeбпs decision because a couple of them are high ranking people with a reasonable amount of economic power in their hands but they did not know about one particr thing."

    "We are the newest emerging Royal Zodiac n and Kong Rongбпs protection scheme hase in handy in rejecting one of the biggestmittees in China." Lynn smiled as she showed the papers to Jin, stating that the rejection of the backup site was approved. The Royal Zodiacбпs Dragon nбпs stamp was there as well along with a stamp that Jin never saw before. It had two chinese words бпPandaбп in a ck and white fusion ink which felt oddly unique.

    "That is the ancient stamp of the Panda n. To be able to use it once more brings much joy to the System." The collective entity said but Lynnбпs face turned bitter.

    "However, thereбпs some bad news along with this." Lynn did not mince her words as she said while having direct eye contact.. "The Symposium had requested us to be out of it."

 Chapter 1216 - F**k The Committee

    <h4>Chapter 1216 - F**k The Committee </h4>

    "What?" Jin stared nkly at Lynn as she revealed how petty the Dungeon Supplier Symposium Committee was.

    "They allowed the rejection of the backup site and in return, they requested us not to show our faces in the event." Lynn repeated once more and Jin was exasperated. Did that mean all those efforts creating the Virtual Reality Instance had been meaningless?

    "I did say that it was unfair and there was nothing in the terms and conditions that made us unable to continue with the participation even after rejecting to be the secondary site of the Symposium. They obviously wanted to perform a power y against us and Kong Rong said itбпs either to join them up again or leave. He did rmend leaving though since he reminded me how he had gone through all those trouble coordinating and ensuring there was a way out for us." Lynn could visibly see Jinбпs frustration but there was nothing much she could do either.

    "I get what Kong Rongбпs underlying rmendation meant as well. If we were to enter the Symposium, itбпs not just wasting his efforts to get us out but it also meant a victory for themittee for the ability to oppose the almighty Royal Zodiac Dragon n. To them, it was a double win and we would be at the losing end." Jin nodded his head with defeat for a moment but Lynn sat beside him and tried to cheer him up.

    "Then, letбпs do the obvious. We create our own Symposium!" Lynn remarked and Jin stared at Lynn momentarily before stifling hisughter. "We do not have time for that! We still have to fight against the Demon Rats and there is not enough time topete with the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium against them. Not to mention, we do not have sufficient content for a proper symposium. Thereбпs no people joining-" Jin suddenly stopped at his tracks and forgot he had a business partner. A major yer in the field.

    "Yeap. I can already see that your head is churning ideas. You must be thinking of Ke Loong, right?" Lynn started to grin and Jin could never notice Lynn could be cunning in her own special way too.

    "I give Ke Loong a call and- What time is it right now?" Jin said as he checked his time and subsequently tried his luck in contacting Ke Loong.

    "Yo, Mr Panda Boss. Whatбпs up? Oh wait before that, is the rumour true? I heard from a few of my contacts in the Symposium that you are leaving the event right before it started." Ke Loong said, which caused Jin to be surprised that news spread fast.

    "Yeah. Sadly." Jin eventuallyid out the story to Ke Loong and he too sighed at the bad news.

    "Hmm yea. This is not the first time themittee has used its powers to force people to do their own way. I mean it could be beneficial for the smaller shops who used this particr tform to showcase their instances and gimmicks so that more people would not only patronise them but hopefully be able to join the National Dungeon Supplier Associations to get more contacts, discounts and perks. Obviously, those participating required money to join and the Association fees are getting more and more atrocious."

    "Ah... so itбпs something like a business group, a whole bunch ofpanies under one umbre, that kind of stuff?"

    "Yeah, I think they are hoping to coerce you to join them so that they can get you to share your tech, which is a natural no no. Most stores and dungeon suppliers are unable to get out of that vicious erm...predatory business tactics once they attend the Symposium. You were lucky you could be out of it." Ke Loong said Jin heard that he was talking to his secretary as well.

    "That is why, I am asking you if you are able to make it for my Symposium instead. Well, maybe not a full Symposium but a series of events and with a festival kind of vibes. But I understand if you have obligations to fulfil for the National Symposium-"

    "I AM IN!" Ke Loong suddenly shouted and was excited for Jinбпs own personal expo. Even his secretary was caught aback by his reaction but Ke Loong did not care. "What are you exactly nning? I can totally pull out of the Symposium if you want me to."

    "Are you serious? Sea Mesh is a major yer in the Dungeon Supplier Community. If you pull out, there will be waves of questions, bacsh as well as ...ohh." Jin too realised what Ke Loong was aiming for.

    "Yeap, if you are thinking the same as I was. The media coverage would be rather extensive and letбпs just say itбпs fun to flip a middle finger at the National Symposium Committee." Ke Loong said as he never had such fun for a long time.

    "And the media will be curious to see how the up anding major yer in Dungeon Supplier Tech supports one of Shenzhenбпstest dungeon supplier yers who had been in the news for some time."

    "Also, I will suggest fully implementing your Panda Incpany and showcase all the stuff you have in full force to make your app go nationwide. Your food delivery services, yourprehensive dungeon rted goods etc. From what I know, you have quite a few decentpanies living in your бпtreehouseбп. Itбпs time to make use of their connections and push Panda Inc out."

    "I see... And if I can time it right, I might be able to obtain some leverage in terms of money and influence before Kong Rongбпs protection bubble ceases." Jin considered Ke Loongбпs opinions for the future of his store too.

    "Yeap. And we can start popping up additional stores once we are financially stable and create a chain franchise. I can aid you with that and show those rascals that we do not need to be part of someme association to prosper." Ke Loong said and Jin could see where the CEO wasing from.

    Not to mention, it was a win win for Sea Mesh too. The sales of Virtual Reality Headsets would being from this and from what Jin said, there would be a subscription service and thus an extension of Sea Mesh workers would be part of this major opportunity, allowing them to grow too.

    "Then what are we waiting for? Letбпs get together soon and start nning.." Jin smiled as he thanked Ke Loong for his impromptu advice.

 Chapter 1217 - Departing From The Symposium

    <h4>Chapter 1217 - Departing From The Symposium </h4>

    As soon as the conversation (well, not THAT soon.), Sea Mesh had made a public statement announcing that it would be stepping out of the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium, causing a series of media blowouts that prompted themunity to find out what was happening. Some spectators and critics who were more perceptive noticed that the Sea Mesh left the Symposium at the same time when Dungeons and Pandas бпinvoluntarilyбп left the event.

    Seeing how the store had been garnering attention steadily for the past few months especially with itstest dungeon instance streaming, people were anticipating there would be some hype in thetest Symposium event when it agrees to participate. Thus, sales to the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium had reached a new high. Tickets were sold at record breaking pace after Dungeons and Pandas had announced that they were joining the Symposium but sadly the Committee did not attribute the high sales because of Jinбпs store.

    They were sitting on their high horse thinking that people had renewed interest in the dungeon instance scene. Neither did they know about the connections Jin had with Sea Mesh so when they kicked Jin out of the Symposium, they did not expect such a bacsh of having the poprpany that dealt with Dungeon Supplier tech walk out through the front door with Jin.

    Not only that, but Ke Loong had also managed to pull a few strings and caused two minor sponsors to break their contract with the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium, provoking even more heat for the Symposiummittee to be in the spotlight.

    Later, it did not take long for insider info to emerge that Dungeons and Pandas had been forcibly coerced to be their backup site. And as the insiders had stated, upon knowing the true objectives of the Symposium, the said Dungeon Supplier immediately wanted out. That was when the бпgreat walk outбп of the Symposium started but people were suspicious why Dungeons and Pandas was so secretive of their technology until more breaking news came out through the and other media streams.

    "While we were unable to reach the store owner, multiple unnamed sources had indeed confirmed that Xie Jin, Dungeon Supplier for Dungeons and Pandas is the descendent of the long lost Royal Zodiac line of the Panda n." The anchorman said in the mainstream media during the evening news. It was minutes after the broadcast, Jin had sent an official announcement through the Pandamonium that he was indeed thest descendent of the Royal Zodiac Panda n.

    Instead of fear, wrath or even distrust which Jin had anticipated, the inte was bustling with a load of questions for him and some were forming conspiracy theories about how thest remaining Royal Zodiac n suddenly decided to show his face.

    Yet one thing was for sure. With that announcement, nobody could deny that his technology was something special and hiding behind the title of a Royal Zodiac would force people to tantly ignore it. After all, each Royal Zodiac has its own secrets which allowed them to be the powers they are now in China.

    Jin, however, reiterated that leaving Symposium was the only choice left for him with all roads ofpromise closed. Thus, with a heavy heart, he left the Symposium and decided to create a major event to showcase the things he intended to release during the Symposium. He also added that Sea Mesh would be joining in the event which instantly prompted a series of refunds for the Symposium.

    Naturally, the Symposium support team was not able to answer the massive influx of queries as well as the demands for refunds. Shortly after Jinбпs announcement, the Symposiummittee eventually stood their ground and stated that no refunds would be given out since the event was approaching and the money in those ticket sales had already been used to fund the event.

    Obviously, they were burning the bridges between their customers even more by standing their ground but because of that, Lynn had alreadye out with a maniptive PR move which even Jin was amazed by. They decided to lowball the Symposium even further by stating in their uing event that those who had bought the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium tickets were eligible for a free entry into Jinбпstest major event.

    "In addition, I would like to add that you can upgrade your free entry to a high tier ticket at a cheaper price so that it would be more of a bargain because of the goodies that were prepared along with it. If you are a patron of Dungeons and Pandas, you surely understand the value of the higher tier tickets that I had always offered. Thus, for those who I had offered free entry, please do consider supporting when the tier list is officially out!" Jin wrote in a tweet in his socialwork system which had led to a series of praise and criticism.

    However, Jin did not care too much about what the people had criticised since most of it were from hardcore supporters of the Symposium, stating that how Jin had used his departure as bait for attention for his own personal event. And for Jinбпs supporters, they argued that he had every right to do so since the Symposium was the one that pulled a fast one at Jin despite already knowing that he was part of the new Royal Zodiac n.

    Initially, some were doubtful whether Jin could even survive after the public announcement of him being the newest Royal Zodiac n but most of those doubts were crushed when leaks came out with people posting how Jin had annihted the Tiger nбпs subsidiaries with just a handful of people during the Chinese New Year. And those leaks even stated that Jin was not even showing out his full strength against the Royal Zodiac Tiger n.

    With this series of announcements, more eyes were looking at Jin and while the Dungeon Supplier did not fully expect such a scenario, he was at least well equipped to handle any sort of repercussion.. Surely, from this moment on, it would be tough and the Astral Panda Cultivator would not have it any other way.

 Chapter 1218 - PandaVerse

    <h4>Chapter 1218 - PandaVerse </h4>

    "Hey Jin, looks like you are finally out of the closet." Kong Rong said as he personally paid a visit to Jinбпs store. He was invited to one of the premium carriages of the Restaurant Train Instance.

    "You could say you have a hand in this matter too." Ke Loongmented as he poured a ss of beer to Kong Rong.

    "Hey Bro. You know I cannot drink during work time." Kong Rong said as he frowned a little towards his buddy.

    "Loosen up a bit. You can always drink your beloved wifeбпs tea back in the car. Just one with us to celebrate the asion. Besides, you and I know this is one of your favourites. I purposely went all the way to a nearby supermarket to get it!" Ke Loong said as he pat Kong Rongбпs back.

    "Well, that nearby supermarket is merely a few floors down. And the NPC assistants could even get it for you free of charge." Kong Rong remarked as he picked up the ss and chugged it down.

    "Thanks foring to this fairly impromptu meeting. And once again, thank you Kong Rong. If not for you, I probably might not be able toe out of the Symposium alive." Jin nodded his head and drank along with them.

    "You got to thank your new pretty girlfriend. She was the one who was pulling all the strings from the back. If not for her, I probably would not be of much use." Kong Rong said as he raised his ss towards Lynn.

    "Please, Kong Rong. Your team has been such a great help. If not for them, I would not be able to make heads or tails of the situation." Lynn refused thepliment as she asked her peggies to serve the meal.

    "Welp, they are next door having the st of their life eating the premium choices for an unlimited time tonight. If none of them are drunk, none of them are going home. That is more to thank for the encouragement and reward you had given to my team." Kong Rong said and Jin instantly looked at Lynn.

    "You are footing the bill for pushing all the work to us." Lynn poked Jin when their eyes locked and the boyfriend nodded his head reluctantly.

    "Now that the exchange of gratitudes is out of the way. Jin, your ns?" Kong Rong asked since he needed to keep a closer eye on Jinбпs actions especially after the entire few daysбп worth of media fiasco. Various ns not excluding the Royal Zodiacs were asking the Dragon n for more information on Jin and his Royal Zodiac roots. Some even asked if he was even the original descendant but most of the questions were taken care of swiftly with Kong Rongбпs grandmother making an official statement.

    People can doubt the truth, half truths and fabricated truths in the media but no one can deny the reputation, prestige and most importantly the standing of the record keeper in the Royal Zodiac Dragon n. With her announcement stating that Jinбпs was indeed thest descendent of the Royal Zodiac Panda n, it quickly solidified his position to be the official n leader of the 13th Royal Zodiac.

    Obviously, some people in fact, arge number of people were unhappy with the emergence of a new Royal Zodiac n. Twelve of such ns had already taken the bulk of Chinaбпs economy under their control after a long exhausting political tussle among themselves. And now with Jinбпs n popping out of nowhere, they were not willing to excuse themselves to give the neer any space.

    But with Jinбпs track record of beating the Royal Zodiac Rat nбпs triad boss, and even causing the sons of the Tiger n to be in hospital for two whole weeks, the other ns knew the Panda n came out in the open prepared. Still, being prepared to be in the open andsting long enough through the years would be a different issue.

    And that was what they were about to discuss today. Jinбпs creation of Panda Inc would be the most ideal way of standing up against the major ns and their corporations. Naturally, he would like to have everything concentrated on the Tree Mall since he could make nearly an unlimited amount of instances, housing people andpanies all at the same time, and thus enabling the Tree Mall to be an ecosystem that can survive by itself without relying on any external sources.

    Even though he had the Virtual Reality business all set up, he was thinking of expanding what he had in Pandapolis like the farming sector toplement it. This was because he wanted technology and entrepreneurs to grow under his wing like how Yu Xiang, the daughter of the local Chinese Medicine store recreating potions the System had bought in the ck market.

    Right now, with her form and the subsequent refined versions were selling like hotcakes within Jinбпs dungeon store as well as in the ck market. Obviously, the production had gonerge scale with Pandapolisбп industrial sector at hand. So, it was the same concept he wished to apply for other sectors, hoping they could create something unique or special, giving Jin the edge over hispetitors.

    However, Ke Loong had told JIn to stay grounded and not to be too ambitious. "Even if you have all those ideals, those things would not work without talents, manpower, resources and time."

    "Technically, he has already had all of those. But what Ke Loong says is true. Timing is important, if you show all your cards in one go and at the wrong time, you wonбпt make much."

    "Thatбпs why the event that you are going to show is important. Continue to focus on your dungeon supplier job. I remember you told us about the Farming World or something like that, right? You are going to do some big invasion. Do that and in the sidelines, promote your virtual reality as a prototype. Mypany would then hype it up from there. By the way, any name for the event yet? If not, I would like to rmend some ideas." Ke Loong rambled on as he munched on the delicious food the moment the peggies ced it down on the table.

    "I do. Sweet and easy. Itбпs PandaVerse 1..0" Jin said and the rest looked as if they were stifling their giggles with food.

 Chapter 1219 - Extra: Dangerous Small Talk

    <h4>Chapter 1219 - Extra: Dangerous Small Talk </h4>

    "Drop that 1.0, once we do have a second year anniversary then we might be consider PandaVerse 2.0." Kong Rongmented which Ke Loong wholeheartedly agreed to.

    "Hmm, alright. It does sound premature to add a number to it and that will make people think that otherwise." Jin nodded his head while thoughts were already gushing through his mind.

    "Donбпt you think that PandaVerse is a better name for that Virtual Reality instance you created?" Ke Loong said and Kong Rong suddenly perked up, asking about the progress of the Virtual Reality instance.

    "Why? I did not expect you to be a fan of this kind of stuff." Ke Loong remarked but Kong Rong shook his head and his index finger shaking towards him.

    "If what Jin did was as what he had exined to me previously, I might want to employ it as training for my agents." Kong Rong replied.

    "You sure itбпs just training?" Jin smirked as if he knew the military application of using the Virtual Reality Instance.

    "Fine. You got me there. If Jin can make a miniaturised encrypted version of the headset, I might be able to use it for secretmunications. Obviously, there would be some drawbacks such as paralysing the agent to send the information. But if my agent is in a secure location and what Jin had said about the security and responsiveness of the headset was true, it would still be a fairly reliable gadget to be used in the field."

    "Welp, goes to show that whatever you create, the military and internal affairs still have a way to militarise it for their own sake. Do you still wish to continue with that portal project? I had managed to salvage all of them and none of the parts were missing or tampered. Most of them believed the previous operation that used those portal gates was a coordinated usage of portal magic." Ke Loong said as he too had dabbled in military contracts to keep Jinбпs portal gadgets as a secret for now.

    "The System had indeed retrieved back all of the portal machines and they are currently in storage. All of them had been analysed and there was no misuse or tampering done." The System stated and Ke Loong shook his head.

    "That is exactly what I said."

    "The System believed its authority was superior to Senior Panda Executive Ke Loong. Thus, the repetition of the sentence carried its weight." The System replied and Jin merely told Ke Loong to shake it off and not let the matter linger.

    "Anyways, yes. While the mass production of the Virtual Reality Headset has already started, we are still making some adjustments to ensure that the gadget can work in a heavy traffic setting. If you want, I can get those headsets and let your agents give it a try. After all, you brought your entire department here." Jin said with a sour tune in his words.

    "Not everyone, Ryuli isnбпt here and it seems she wasining on the phone about it as well." Kong Rong chuckled as if they always had such bad timing with each other.

    "How so?" Jin questioned and Kong Rong only stated that there was some overseas matter in North Korea which she had to attend to.

    "North Korea?" Jin and Ke Loong had their mouths wide open as they heard that the ce was in eternal lockdown with no information nor peopleing in or out of the area. The lockdown was mainly due to a bad mix of nuclear power and magic causing a major cataclysm that caused the entire North Korea to be some wasted Bands. But to the observersбп surprise, the country itself had somehow managed to create a next generation high tech barrier which was capable of housing that cataclysm within their own country. The only drawback was that nobody could go in nor out to the area...but that was the official report, the lies which the media had to feed the masses.

    China, Russia and South Korea all had secret route ess to North Korea which none of their western allies or counterparts had known. After all, creating such a barrier with no in or out would be self destructing for the country too. China itself sent aid on a regr basis to their underground city in exchange for experimenting in the cataclysmic wastnd.

    "Experiments?" Jin asked and Kong Rong exined that there were monsters within North Koreaбпs vicinity which were extremely dangerous. The radiation from the nuclear cataclysm changed their forms and build, allowing them to survive in that wastnd. Due to the drastic changes in their DNA, it allowed them to take in the constant wild magic that had been generated from the cataclysm. And that also meant a good experimental ground for the military to conduct exercises that were illegal in the eyes of the public.

    "Being one of Dragon nбпs best agents, Ryuli was selected ....a better word would be handpicked to be part of the experiment. After all, the Banned Emperor incident not only shook you guys but forced the government to look at alternative weapons against demons."

    "Shouldnбпt JODE take care of this instead? I mean, they are THE Demon Exorcists." Ke Loong said and Jin also nodded in agreement.

    "You already saw how the demons tore apart not only the guards, but the Royal Zodiac Horse Military toon into shreds. If our government does not find any other ways to defeat such threats, the other countries will get it done first and we might not have an edge should our adversaries decide to employ the very same terror method against us."

    "Sounds way tooplicated. You make it feel as if the Banned Emperor had been backed by military organisations from other countries." Jin said but it caused Kong Rong to stare hard and long at Jin before he decided to open his mouth.

    "The world is not as simple as you think, my dear Panda Lord. Trust me, when I said you had protection. I did not mean just physical protection but external influences too. Politics is a game that everyone loses except for the one who can prepare and counter anybody in all sorts of scenarios." Kong Rong said and in confidence, the Dragon n Internal Affairs Agent shared a tidbit which would normally get his head chopped off if found out.

    However, this was who he had pledged to and served for.. The Panda Lord deserves to know some rotten truth of the world he was living in.

 Chapter 1220: PandaVerse Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 1220: PandaVerse Discussion</h4>

    "Enough of that, any more of these leaks and we will really be potential targets for the internal affairs to look at us." Ke Loong said as he stopped Kong Rong from saying too much.

    "Not to worry. The System is capable of washing your memories to a clean te. If the User or Senior Executive Ke Loong requires the information, the System would provide the necessary data back for review."

    "Are you really sure you want to let the System hear all your ''encrypted'' information?" Jin emphasised how the System was a stalker who will always deploy extreme means to eavesdrop.

    "Honestly, that would be the most ideal. If we ever lost any agents in the process, the System would definitely pick it up for us to follow up. It''s a win-win situation for me if the System could also provide backup immediately to the site or even extract my agent out of the sticky problem they would be in." Kong Rong replied, stating that it was a small price to pay for the System''s assistance.

    "That would definitely cost a fair sum ofpensation depending on the situation." The System did not seem to reject the idea, knowing that it was the best way to earn money and learning the vtile situation outside of this store.

    "Ah whatever. you know the risk using the System, so it''s your call. Anyways, do you want to give it a try? The Virtual Reality Instance? I believe I have a sufficient number of sets for your entire department to try it out. Just don''t stay too long in the avatar customisation menu." Jin asked Kong Rong but he kindly rejected the offer.

    "Nah, I''d rather keep the surprise when your PandaVerse festival arrives." Kong Rong remarked until a hand wrapped around his shoulders.

    "Bro. When was thest time you and your crew had some fun together?" Ke Loong asked and Kong Rong tried to think hard but it seems there was no answer to that question.

    "Besides, don''t tell me that your entire department would have this kind of free time with all the cases that you are handling."

    "That is true. They all had always wanted to try Jin''s dungeon store and never had the chance until now." Kong Rong nodded his head in agreement.

    "Am I right? Jin, just boot it up and we will give them a tour they will never forget!" Ke Loong said which caused Jin to chuckle.

    "What happened to discussing about our new Panda Inc and the uing PandaVerse festival preparations?" Jin queried and Ke Loong immediately brushed it off and stated that they could do all those on the Virtual Reality Instance too.

    "Alright. System, you heard our executives." Jin wanted to give the System a few strings of orders but the System interrupted and said everything had already been prepared for them.

    "The System had also the Restaurant Train to run through an underground tunnel with Yun assigned at the station waiting to escort them to the said instance for them to try out the Virtual Reality instance." The System stated that this would then allow the trio to talk more over the issue at hand and give everyone the time to finish up their food or else, Lynn would not be too pleased with leftovers. (Kong Rong even told his colleagues beforehand to clear the dishes or ask for the remaining food to be packed as takeaways.)

    "Well, if the System had nned our night''s itinerary, there is no reason to reject it. Let''s finish what we began." Kong Rongmented and he restarted the conversation asking how Jin was with the Farming World.

    "Behind the scenes, we have bought sufficient equipment and also trained men for this fight. We have a fairly capable militia from the Southern Region as well as some soldiers from the Dungeon World." Jin reported.

    "Some? From what I heard from you before, the Farming World''s Northern Region was infested with thousands of rats." Kong Rong was concerned whether Jin was indeed ready.

    "We are in the process of getting more to join with the allure of money and some prestige but they have their own problems to tend to." Jin told them how the Seven Cities were trying to get their independence from the Church of the Afterlife as well as the internal strife after the military rebelled against their local government.

    When Kong Rong listened to Jin''s short summary, he immediately understood since Earth''s political history was way more brutal and harsh than what was happening in the Dungeon World.

    "Qiu Yue also managed to gather a few of her friends and we are testing out a telmunicationsmand outpost. They would think it''s a new sort of game but they are actuallymanding my minions and monsters in real time."

    "Won''t thatplicate yourmands even further?" Ke Loong asked and Jin could not give a straight answer.

    "There are too many hideouts where the Demon Rats are hiding and I do not think the System is advanced enough to provide strategic advice to my monsters. Besides, it''s not totalmand and control. The minions are sentient enough to know if it is a bad strategy or not." Jin replied while picking up his drink to quench his thirst.

    "Ah, so deployment of these ''strategic advisors'' is just to increase efficiency. If that''s the case, do you want some of my men? It will no doubt give them some experience inmanding for future operations."

    "Lol, so you want to see whether the gamer peeps would fare better than your trained officers?" Ke Loong asked which Kong Rong nodded with some excitement in his tone.

    "Hahah, I could look into that and the more people, the better. We might have a basic picture of how the rats are operating but without eyes on the ground, there is no way we canpensate without a cool head and wit." Jin liked the idea as well while they continued to discuss how to integrate the Farming World''s situation as a major event for the PandaVerse Festival.

 Chapter 1221: Hall Of Massage Chairs

    <h4>Chapter 1221: Hall Of Massage Chairs</h4>

    As the discussion drifted through the time, the System informed them that they had reached the underground tunnel station where Kong Rong''s department full of support team and agents were allowed to step off.

    There were some customers who noticed this particr station as something out of the unusual and wanted to get off to explore. However, the System did not allow any other customers to get off by using the penguins NPC to reinforce the orders. But just as the customers were about toin, Jin purposely used the loudspeakers on the train and announced to the customers on the train that this particr stop was for a group of private guests waiting who had booked and paid for a special custom instance.

    The customers on board did not realise they could do that and shrugged it off as a stop that they had no choice but to wonder what kind of money the people had to spend so that they could buy a private instance with Jin. Aside from that, given the sensitivity of the group''s work, the System also ensured that Kong Rong''s group were out of sight and nobody was able to take any pictures of them walking through the tforms. The customers who saw them could only see shadow silhouettes moving through the tform. (However, because of this minor impromptu excuse created by Jin stating that it was only for a private event, itter cascaded into a series of requests by the rich in the future.)

    "Boss, where are we going? Those penguins kept reminding us that we have to clear our food as soon as possible. Most of us thought that we were going to drink till the night fades away." Tai Yang, one of Kong Rong''s subordinates asked.

    "To be honest with you, I have no idea as well since Boss Jin specifically told me that this is something special just for us. Just follow blindly for now." Kong Rong pretended to be oblivious to the entire situation, hoping that his colleagues would have a good surprise.

    "We have reached. I would like to ask everyone to ensure that they all have their Pandamonium ounts created." Yun also added that inte wifi had also been activated for those who had not created any. "Without the ounts, you would not be able to have full functionality as well as experience of this current event which was catered just for you all."

    "Yeah, guys. Please listen to her. Your data is safe with us, Sea Mesh." Ke Loong who was in the crowd reiterated since some of them were worried if their personal data could bepromised. Among them, there were some individuals who handled sensitive data on a regr basis and had decided to use a guest ount upon logging into Jin''s dungeon instance. It was a new feature which Jin had implemented to cater to people who merely wanted to have a quick look at the shop without providing any details while also reducing the hassle of entering into their shop instance.

    Naturally, the System had other ways to identify these guests without them registering properly but the techniques and secrets were kept a mystery even to Jin. ''The less he knows, the better it will be.'' The System once answered to Lynn with regards to the implementation of this particr guest ID system.

    Once everyone had reluctantly downloaded and created a new Pandamonium ount within the application, Yun finally opened the doors showing them a hall filled with rows of massage chairs. Or that was what they thought. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that there was a headset on top of a side cab beside each chair.

    "You guys can freely choose where you wish to sit and it does not matter at all." Jin said while he stood at the centre and a console appeared in front of him. He immediately typed furiously on the console as if to activate certain parameters before finally bbering out the reveal for this particr ce once everyone was seated. "Wee to the prototype -well, more like beta testing of the Virtual Reality Instance." Jin immediately pressed a button and the chairs they were on began to start shifting away from their position.

    The rows of ''massage'' chairs were eventually rearranged in such a way that Jin was the centrepiece in the hall while the rest encircled around him. And because of the number of people within the hall, a portion of the floor had also been raised so that everyone could see Jin at the very centre.

    Ke Loong who was supposed to be a creepy onlooker had decided to join in the fun since he was excited about what Jin had in mind with regards to the improvements he made within the Virtual Reality Instance. The crowd within the hall was already talking among each other, all of them could not believe they would be the first batch of people trying out the rumoured Virtual Reality Instance.

    "Yeap, some of you might have seen the itinerary in the Symposium, seeing how there was a section where I would be presenting the future of Dungeon Suppliers by creating an immersive Virtual Reality with the aid of Dimensional Instance. In actual fact, I had already prepared this as a huge surprise for the Symposium rather than just talking about the possibilities. But since the Symposium had kicked me out of it, it''s their loss and a big win for me with all that media scrutinising us." Jinmented as he booted up the System''s server for the Virtual Reality Instance.

    "Remember, this is still in beta testing and if you found any possible bugs, do send a report when you enter. But first! How to enter." Jin quickly pulled out a digital poster and broadcast it at the centre of the hall showing the group how easy it was to enter it.

    "Put on the Virtual Reality headset and when it synchronises with you, indicating to you they are ready, just say Okay or Dive In." Jin exined. And with that, the entire group within the Hall instantly entered Virtual Reality with their bodies in this physical ne while their souls and mind had been transferred into the System''s server.

 Chapter 1222: Virtual Reality Instance Challenges

    <h4>Chapter 1222: Virtual Reality Instance Challenges</h4>

    Jin pressed a few more buttons and strobes of lights were shone throughout the hall to create a mystifying effect though it was just aesthetics to boot while Kong Rong''s colleagues entered into the Virtual Reality Instance. The System had already pinged and started to see the number of agents going into the server.

    While that was happening, Jin gave all control to Yun as he returned to the Dungeon Maker Instance to ensure that he had eyes on all the souls that had entered the Virtual Reality Instance. After all, this was the first time there were more than a few participants ying the instance and he got to ensure that it at least ran smoothly.

    The System did bring up the idea of allowing his minions to do the heavy loading test to ensure that everything goes well but Jin procrastinated on the issue. If he had done that earlier, this particr testing would not give him much anxiety especially when the room was full of the country''s top armed service agents.

    Imagine if something were to happen and he incapacitated the entire group of agents, causing him to be the next most wanted criminal in the country. Forget about being a Panda Lord, it was best for Jin to simply move out of his world and to the other so that they would not catch him for the idental crimes hemitted. Proving innocent might be possible but it would reveal a lot of nasty secrets which each and every Royal Zodiac n and potentially the world woulde after for. Jin would not be surprised if people started to try inter dimensional travel using him as an excuse so that they could pour resources into it.

    "All participating users had been teleported into the loading instances and are now choosing how their current avatar would look like." The System reported and Jin requested it to turn on time dtion magic in that hall.

    "Would that be a wise decision? Subjecting participants to time dtion magic would inadvertently reduce their lifespan." The System asked.

    "Not as if they have time to enjoy this in the future. Besides, the reduction of their lifespan is minimalpared to the System subjecting ME to time dtion magic." Jin argued and the System countered by saying that it had monitored each and every vital organ on Jin, indicating that there was no change in its physiology aspared to the others.

    "And the System had repeatedly stated that the User is not affected by the intense use of time dtion andpression magic."

    "Lol. There was one point in time I thought you would know how long I would live but it seems like you only looked at the changes and predicted how long I could live." Jin said and told the System to go ahead with it and arge mystic circle instantly appeared in the hall of the massage chairs, activating the time dtion magic so that they could enjoy the Virtual Reality Instance even more.

    As expected, most of them did not take into ount Jin''s advice and many were stuck in the avatar customisation menu where they were seen admiring their new body and testing out all the features that were given to them. With the exception of Ke Loong who had already chosen the ''studdest'' of stud bodies the customisation menu could present and enter into the vige that Jin had created.

    Unlike the time when Jin entered, the vige now had a few NPCs just like how Nian''s Ind was. All the previous experience that Jin had umted from making dungeon instances would take ce in this particr vige.

    Obviously, there were currently no NPCs but one with an exmation mark bubble on top of their heads since it was part of the tutorial which Jin had created. That was one of the reasons why he was also so preupied with it and the intensive use of time dtion magic. With only one person working as the ''graphics'' artist, quest designer and story developer, there was no way Jin could have created this within a month or so.

    Thankfully, the technical difficulties and hups were mainly solved by the System while the headset production was taken care of by Ke Loong''s Sea Meshpany where he purposely outsourced all the various parts and subsequently Pandapolis imports those parts to do the manufacturing. While Sea Mesh also dealt with a small production of the headsets which Kong Rong and his colleagues were using now, they were simr to the portal gadgets where Jin had purposely put a material out of their current world so that people would not be able to reverse engineer it.

    Even if they could, without that vitalponent, it would not be able to fully replicate the capabilities of the Virtual Reality Instance. Even so, like the portal gadget, the System was in control of the instances and without the same technology or magic that the System employed, there was no way for them to create another Virtual Reality instance unless multinationalpanies pour billions of dors into R&D to reach the same level as Jin.

    Thus, Jin had already future proofed himself by at least ten years with the Virtual Reality Instance if he could establish it properly. The only thing he needs now is to start it up properly. Perhaps just one small vige right now, but with the ambition tobine the Virtual Reality instance with a real environment just as how he and the System discussed creating a space station to handle the workload, there was a lot on his hands to take care of and there was only so much one human could do.

    Jin was hoping that with the introduction of the Virtual Reality Instance to Kong Rong''s department as well as Ke Loong, he might be able use it as an opportunity to broaden his connections so that he could employ people with the right expertise into his cause and create thergest ever dungeon instance in the world via his Virtual Reality Instance.

 Chapter 1223: Tour Guide Alex

    <h4>Chapter 1223: Tour Guide Alex</h4>

    Ke Loong stared at his new body and sized himself. "Holy shit, I can even feel the crevices under those muscles." He even tried to kiss one of those muscles he long to have in real life and it felt awfully fantastic for him.

    "You know, you could get that kind of body if you put in some effort in your personal training rather than just staying in the office." Kong Rong said as he came out in the very same body figure he had, just a slightly younger version of him. The only difference was that he had added a tail to his current avatar as well as a pair of dragon horns as if to signify he was true towards his Dragon Lineage.

    "You are not the only one who has traits of your own family." Ke Loong said as he used some strength to force out a singr partial wing out from his left scap. "This is fucking amazing. ording to the traits, I am currently still in the infant stage of my powers but if I continue to level, I would have the ability to fly like a hawk."

    "I honestly never checked what my abilities could do." Kong Rong said as the others had begun to zone in and saw the beta version of the vige. NPCs started to look at them and whispered among themselves. It was as if people had noticed their arrival and they were exchanging their thoughts and opinions of the people who had arrived to this vige.

    There was however one particr NPC that stood out that looked like a tour guide. It was pretty obvious that the person was the first guy everyone had to talk to personally to start their travels. Kong Rong was wondering how Jin would be handling this in real time since it would be ridiculously stupid for everyone to speak to just one NPC.

    But as soon as Kong Rong had eye contact with the NPC, it felt as if he was in some cutscene where everyone had been blurred out in the background, making him feel as if he was the protagonist of this particr scene. "Good evening there, Mister! I am Alex and wee to our humble vige of Alexan! As you can deduce from my name, my parents loved the town so much that they decided to name me as part of the vige!" Alex said as he went towards Kong Rong''s face, almost as if he was invading his personal space and whispering to his ear. "Actually I hated my name, I prefer to be called Lex, it sounded cooler than that normal Alex but don''t let my neighbours or shopkeepers hear it or they would tell my parents."

    "Ehh okay." Kong Rong merely shook his shoulders and nodded his head in agreement while Alex returned to his original cheery expression and told Kong Rong about the vige they stepped into. Apparently, how they started the story was simr to an adventurering here by carriage and they were just out of the guards'' room since there were incidents of bandits disguising themselves as adventurers to assault, steal and even kill some of the vige people. That was why the vige guards were doing a more stringent check to ensure that the people who passed were authentic adventurers with their adventurer''s pass.

    "Ah, I can see where this is going. You want us to find those bandits?" Kong Rong asked and Alexughed as if he was telling some joke.

    "Don''t kid yourself, adventurer. As a fresh young aspiring explorer, you should gain some experience and also get to know the town a little more. But hey, if you wish to try risking your life against those bandits, be my guest. We would like tomend a hero when we see a real life one." Alex said in such sarcasm as if the vige itself had seen its fair share of fake proud adventurers.

    It was at that point, Kong Rong came out of the conversation and saw everyone was being idle or ''locked in cutscene'' with the NPC as the Dragonborn adventurer walked towards the Hawkborn guy yawning while looking at his phone.

    "This is the only thing they allow us to bring into this Virtual Reality Instance as a way to track our progress since our phones had installed the Pandamonium App. But also ensuring that we have a link to our current world." Ke Loong said as he showed his work emailsing into his inbox as per usual. The phone model did not change and neither did the essories such as the phone cover. The only difference was that there was something simr to an inbuilt speaker wired into their heads so they could use the phone without any earpieces.

    "Ooo that''s interesting but won''t that break the immersion of the ce?" Kong Rong said as he tried to ce his hand on his pants'' pockets and found that his phone was indeed with him.

    "Nah, I casually told him I like to bring my phone to Virtual Reality during one of the many testing phases and suddenly he kept quiet for a moment. After which he mumbled to me that that was a brilliant idea and had to do this to make sure that the person had a line to the real world no matter what. He does not want any of those novel like incidents where his Virtual Reality bes a deathtrap with allmunications cut out from the world. In his words, If Rei cane from another world and into mine without the intervention of the System, it is very likely that these authors writing about isekai could possiblye true. Lol, so that''s how he instantly approves the use of our real life phones."

    "hahaha, what a convoluted way of thinking but I am sure that will put many people at ease knowing that there is a connection back to the real world no matter how convenient or to some people annoying it would be." Kong Rong said as he asked Ke Loong if they wanted to find these bandits.

    "Yea, he also probably makes sure that the kids and teenagers who y would not be able to cut the lines off. In any case, yeah let''s go. Like to see how strong those bandits arepared to us." Ke Loong turned his phone off and the two of them went to the outskirts of the vige without exploring the ce. With just a basic weapon attached to their waist and back, they decided to rush the content to see what Jin''s prototype could offer.

 Chapter 1224: Ladybugs and Sheeps

    <h4>Chapter 1224: Ladybugs and Sheeps</h4>

    The vige outskirts were not exactly the prettiest sight to behold. Some of the houses had been left abandoned for some time and it even showed that nature had once again shown triumph against men''s creation. Shrubs and bushes had taken over the houses and there was almost nothing left of the former.

    It made the adventurers wonder why the vige did not wish to expand further with the influx of adventurers but they could only wonder that there could be a quest to showcase the history of the vigeбн just not at the moment. In terms of monsters and animal life, it was not long aftering out from the vige that they encountered a few ergeddybugs and even sheeps grazing the unchecked grasnds.

    And like every game there was a level attached to them to show their difficulty level and all of them had adjusted to ensure that the threat was equivalent to the general level of adventurers within the vicinity.

    Thus, Kong Rong and Ke Loong had started to smash some of the ergeddybugs to gain some experience. None of them were proving to be much of a fight even though thedybugs seem to have a better evasion rate aspared to the usual real life punching bags they were used to.

    However, the cap in their power was definitely a handicap.

    Unlike in the real world where they had trained for their current cultivation for years, especially for Kong Rong, his usual fighting style was not as strong as he thought they would be in against thedybugs. Itcked power, speed and even fighting a few dozendybugs could prove to be quite a challenge.

    Still, having Ke Loong with him did aid with the killing and they reached level 2 where they could try their hands on the level 4 sheeps. "Let''s see what those idle gazing sheeps would offer that these bugs don''t." Ke Loong said as he withdrew his sword from the carcass of the deaddybug.

    "Wait wait. Before that, I want to see how to use a skillpoint." Kong Rong said as both of them had gained a skill point from levelling up their sword fighting but were unable to use it at all. He then used the Pandamonium App to see if the on board app AI would be able to solve that question.

    Surprisingly, the AI who was none other than the System told them that since they had not met anybody that was capable of teaching them the ways of the sword, the skill point on swords had currently been locked. If they had taken the time to explore the vige, the duo might have been able to browse through the shops for books on basic sword fighting and even visit a sword master to get their skill tree open.

    "I thought Jin wanted this Virtual Reality to be as open and flexible as it can be? Howe we need to follow some sword master?" Kong Rong scratched his head wondering why was the current system was kinda backward and stupid.

    "Dude, you are supposed to be a brand new adventurer, an escape from our current reality. Obviously, you have to y by their rules. Sure, we might be able to use our own skills without chi at the moment but lore wise. You are just some new guy who tried to prove his worth. If you want any assurances, Jin said upon reaching a certain level in let''s say at this instance, sword fighting, you get to incorporate your own skills into the avatar." Ke Loong told Kong Rong not to worry and help him with the sheep.

    "Alright, it does make sense if you think of it that way. But are you sure you want to fight that sheep? It''s a higher level than you. We do not know the experience point penalty system." Kong Rongmented and Ke Loong snorted.

    "Wow, looks like your childhood was not just about the Dragon n. You did y some games too." Ke Loong teased Kong Rong even though they knew each other well enough.

    "If there is PVP or a duel system, I would have beat you up right here and now. How would I not get the title Mr Know It All if not for my knowledge for almost everything."

    "But you did not know anything about this Virtual Reality! I know more than you! Come, relinquish that boastful title of yours and also change your current avatar name to Mr Don''t Know It All." Ke Loong made fun of the top elite agent of the Dragon n until he realised the rest of his department was slowly trickling into the fields as well.

    A few of them even asked what they were fighting against and when Ke Loong said they wanted to take the grazing sheep, the rest thought it would be a good idea to gang up against it so that they could have a faster umtion of experience points.

    Thus, a group of three level one adventurers had decided to rush forward, ignoring thedybugs and against the level 4 sheep. The first few hits went in but with the sheep was of a higher level than thembined. And to their abysmal luck, it managed to deal a critical hit to one of the adventurers, causing one of them to fall dead immediately from the blow. A few of the adventurersughed at how silly he had died but they were not prepared for the unexpected.

    The sheep who had killed the adventurer suddenly levelled up.

    It seems that this was not the usual Virtual Reality role ying game they thought it would be. The monsters themselves could level up as well if the adventurers were not careful and now that forced Kong Rong and Ke Loong on their toes. It was indeed a risk and reward kind of game right now. They could go for a high level monster and bag that kill or risk forcing them to be more dangerous than usual.

    And since that sheep had just levelled up, it became the immediate threat to all the adventurers in the area.

 Chapter 1225: That Sheep

    <h4>Chapter 1225: That Sheep</h4>

    Before Ke Loong and Kong Rong could step into the fight against it, another three more adventurers tried to cover the loss of one, hoping that it would be a numbers game. If you throw enough bodies it might eventually be a solution and that was the most logical thing to do in an MMORPG and in dungeon instances. So, they thought that was how they would ovee this particr problem. However, that solution became non existent the moment the total of four adventurers had engaged it.

    The fifth one was being knocked back before he could even be within the range of the grazing sheep and a barrier emerged out of nowhere as if to stop anybody else froming close to it. Everyone within the vicinity then realised there is an expected difficulty fighting against the enemies and there was no other way than to carefully choose their battles.

    "Holy shit, isn''t this just a normal mob? It suddenly bes a battle to the death against a normal monster?" Kong Rong found it hard to believe it was that gruesome and the other adventurers recognised the same too.

    "I think this is to prevent experience point tagging or a group of people just mob rushing and levelling up fast." Ke Loong presumed and could only anticipate the ughter of the four level 1 adventurers as the sheep once again smashed its head towards one of the adventurers who had identally stepped on uneven ground.

    The stomp killed the adventurer causing the sheep''s experience points to go up while the other three took a more cautious approach. This time, everyone did not try to be a hero entering the barrier to substitute for the dead adventurer. Even the level 2 duos did not try anything particr and could only hope for the best for the remaining three.

    On the other hand, someone attempted to cast support magic through the barrier, hoping it would go through but to their dismay, it was not possible. The remaining three had to tackle it themselves and they were already cautiously fighting against the monstrous sheep by making sure there was sufficient distance away from it.

    At the same time, they had to make sure that they did not identally provoke another monster in their midst. Thankfully, this was still the starting area where all the monsters were considered passive and while the counterparts of this innocent looking four legged herbivore had no wish to join the fight, the adventurers believed it would not be the same for other areas.

    The only advantage they had now was they were trained agents despite the fact two colleagues of theirs had unfortunately fallen due to their sheer bad luck. They kept their cool and analysed the situation despite the shocking catastrophe they encountered in the first ce. The agents found out that the sheep was a more passive creature and continued to stay on its guard, only to attack when its enemies came too close.

    This gave them time to n their attack so long they did not do anything rash to provoke the sheep and that was the only notion they could rely on.

    "Maybe I will distract you and you two attack it from the nks and avoid its legs. After all, the sheep is not exactly a very agile creature." One of them who was carrying a sword and shield ordered the other two. "I should be able to block a hit or two allowing you two to have enough time to damage it."

    "And then allow it to cause a rampage and kill us all three? Have you seen a very angry sheep before in real life?" Another adventurer said and they were in a stalemate in terms of handling the monster. "If it levels up again, it will regain its full hit points ande back stronger."

    "Lol, plus that headbutt it did was rather quick too and do not forget that the sheep had wool as its protective cover. Even if we are fast, it would be pretty meaningless if our strikes are not deep to pierce through its wool and into its body."

    Upon hearing the conversation, that was when Kong Rong had thought of an idea to possibly circumvent this level difference. He quickly searched for an ergeddybug and stabbed it once, causing its health to drop to half its hit points.

    Angered by his actions, the ergeddybug attempted to attack Kong Rong but he managed to evade it in time. Simultaneously, he started to bring it closer to the adventurers who were in the stalemate against the sheep and shouted at the adventurer who was equipped with a sword and shield.

    "Yu Xuan! Try and see if you can kill this!" Kong Rong shouted as he blocked thedybug''s attack with his sword. Not sure what his leader was thinking, Yu Xuan merely nodded and followed orders as he took another step back to position himself for the attack. When thedybug was in range, he used all his might to strike it and to his surprise, the attack went through, allowing him to drop its health to a quarter while Kong Rong finished it off.

    Both of them got experience points while the sheep continued to stay stationary. The rest of the adventurers saw what Kong Rong was doing and had decided to do the same for the remaining two who were engaged with the sheep. They realised that the interaction between the monsters was something simr to basic maths. To be more exact, Venn diagrams where each set of monsters and adventurers can intersect and subsequently ovep the barriers if they y by the rules.

    It was also because of the nature of their opponent that they allowed them to do this ''cheat'', allowing the current group to reach level 3 despite it being a slow and painful process for baiting. At this point, Kong Rong and Ke Loong had also reached level 4 but they decided to let their leader join in the fight.

    So with a smaller level difference, the group had decided to try their luck fighting against the killer sheep. Kong Rong might not have any skills under his belt but the other three had briefly talked to their trainers, allowing them to learn basic skills. Yu Xuan was the tank and he had acquired the skill ''Shield Bash'' that could temporarily stun his opponent for four seconds. The other two were DPS ss with them being a thief and archer respectively, allowing them to have speed on their side.

    Thus, they hoped that their tank could at least block a hit or two and subsequently the damage dealers could inflict sufficient damage so when Yu Xuan bash its shield against the sheep, they would have enough attack to kill it before the sheep had the chance to counter attack. Worse case scenario, they did what they had done for the past fifteen minutes.

    Ovep the monsters by tagging and thus allowing other adventurers to enter the fray. It is however a fairlyplicated manoeuvre especially when the sheep might possibly deal a critical hit once more, levelling itself up.

    But one thing was for sure. If they can''t kill this sheep, the sheep might potentially be strong enough to be their first boss encounter.

 Chapter 1226: Angry Sheep

    <h4>Chapter 1226: Angry Sheep</h4>

    "Steadyбн Steadyбн" Kong Rong said as he ced a step forward and his sword was ced at his back. If possible, they would wish to have a simultaneous strike which they found out while exchanging kills against thedybugs. By doing a simultaneous strike among the four fighters, it was possible to stun the monster for a brief moment, allowing them to gain momentum. Even though the stun seemed to vary depending on how precise the strikes were, they wanted to, if possible, chain up the attacks with a stun effect so that the duration the sheep was concussed was longer.

    "NOW!" Kong Rong shouted and the sheep screeched while rushing towards him. However, Yu Xuan started banging his wooden shield and shouting at the top of his voice, causing the enmity that was aimed towards Kong Rong transferred to him. To their luck, it caused the sheep to pause for a moment and change direction, providing the attackers with the nks and its back exposed.

    Even as the adventurers who were not participating were watching with their throats tightened up as they hoped the four of them could achieve a simultaneous strike. Unfortunately, Yu Xuan realised that if he were to go for the offensive, there was a chance he might be knocked back, or even worse, killed in the process.

    So, to y it safe, he kneels with one leg firmly on the ground and uses his shield as the cover against the sheep''s headbutt. At the same time, he plunged his sword into the ground, hoping it would provide him with sufficient bnce to withstand the knockback of a level 5 sheep.

    *BAM* The shield Yu Xuan was holding nearly gave way but as a cultivator skilled in the sword and shield style, his basic foundation had paid off allowing the shield to not break under immense pressure by blocking the headbutt via a certain angle. At this point when the interval where the sheep had performed its headbutt, the three other adventurers quickly took the chance to strike.

    The thief aimed for the neck since it had the least wool on it despite it being one of the more challenging areas to hit. The archer did not wish to fire his arrows since hispanions were dangerously close and thus used a knife too to go for a close ranged attack. In the meantime, Kong Rong went for a wide sh with his sword at the body, hoping his strike would have sufficient range to go through the wool and have the de seep into its flesh.

    *6! 18! 37! *

    There was a damage counter that floated out of the sheep when they hit and they saw the strikes connected, causing a multiplier to appear and making the damage counter change colour to a slight tint of rainbow. At the same time, they could see through their eyes that the sheep had a stunned status right above their head.

    At this point, the thief jumps on top of the sheep while using its horn as its pivot. He then tried to drag the knife through the neck even though it felt as if its neck muscles were made out of rock. Meanwhile, the archer took a quick step back while nocking his bow in the midst to shoot several arrows right to its butt. The sheep''s hit points were going down steadily while Kong Rong frantically mmed his sword as he looked towards the tank of the party.

    "Yu Xuan!" Kong Rong roared once more as he could see the tank forgo his sword that was partially bent from resisting the knockback and headed for the sheep''s head once more. His shield glowed momentarily and they all knew that he was about to unleash the shield bash against the sheep.

    The shield bash would definitely ensure an additional few seconds of stun time until one of the sheep who were looking at the scene suddenly cried out. So much for hoping that everything would go smoothly as that sheep''s cry somehow lessened the stun duration from the simultaneous strike and the injured sheep was able to move its head in time, barely missing the shield bash. Nevertheless, that prompted the rest of the adventurers to be more assertive in their attacks.

    Kong Rong had decided to ignore everything else and attempted to slice its legs away so it would be crippled while the thief removed the knife from its neck and tried to aim for the eyes. He was fortunate to be able to keep his bnce despite the sudden struggle by the sheep. The archer continued to keep calm and shoot his arrows but the sheep''s movement was getting too erratic.

    But somehow despite their efforts, they had forgotten that the sheep had levelled up too, meaning not only its hitpoints were increased but its other attributes as well as the very same thing that the adventurers were able to learn each time they reached a new pinnacle in their path to get stronger.

    Skills.

    The sheep unleashed a skill they had never seen before. Wool explosion. The sheepy herbivore tightened its muscles to shake the wool away and upon doing so, its wool fluffed up extensively. Initially, the fighters had no idea what it was doing exactly until someone noticed that its eyes were glowing red.

    "Quickly kill it!" Ke Loong and the bystanders shouted and it prompted the four of them to use every bit of their strength to use it off.

    However, they did not know that the wool explosion was a dyed skill and even upon killing the sheep, Kong Rong noticed something was off and ordered the rest to move away from it as soon as the deed was done. The activation continued and suddenly the wool turned red momentarily before exploding. Everyone within the vicinity did not know how dangerous a level 5 sheep could be and this Virtual Reality instance was not as easy as one would think it would be.

    The rest of the sheep as well as thedybugs ran away from the site since the noise, lights and impact from the explosion scared the rest away. "What the fuck was thatбн" Kong Rong huffed and puffed to see that his experience bar went up to forty over percent upon killing the level 5 sheep. A great boost in pointspared to thedybugs who were only giving a pathetic point five percent each kill.

    "Shit man, imagine the reviews on how crazy the fights would be even for just beginners." Ke Loong extended his hand to Kong Rong and they both could not fathom what the higher levels would be like.

 Chapter 1227: Enough Of Sheep

    <h4>Chapter 1227: Enough Of Sheep</h4>

    When they were done with the first ever hurdle the Virtual Reality Instance had sent them, all of them wished to log out since it felt the group had spent more than sufficient time on it. It was then Jin had personally sent each of them a message stating that only fifteen minutes had passed in the real world.

    "Ah, that guy is using the time dtion magic to slow it down for us eh?" Ke Loong said as he read the message.

    "Yeapбн and he definitely wants us to go through more of the content as feedback." Kong Rong remarked as he saw the dead sheep right in front of them. "Wouldn''t it be better if hees down and leads the fight? The System is probably able to search and locate the possible bugs."

    "Hahaha, then there will be developer bias since he knows what to expect in the fight unless what you mean was that the sheep was a bug itself." Ke Loong joked and another message got into their inbox stating that the sheep was not a bug at all and the Virtual Reality was working as intended. Jin even said that he was working on a no magic version server where it was all swords and arrows against the monsters. A gritty version where it was all about skills and teamwork.

    But that also meant that there were no healing spells and the only thing magical was health potions and bandages. Other than that, death should be best avoided if possible but Jin was still working on the details so not much information on the new server other than that.

    "I see, that would be interesting since it sounded like a high risk high reward kind of server but damn it, stop hearing us ande down here already!."Ke Loong grumbled and obviously, Jin did not bother replying to him this time around.

    "If that''s the case then we already know the difficulty of Virtual Reality and we cannot go after the bandits like this. As usual, we would need to do a proper recon, check the skills in the vige properly before going out." Kong Rong said as he stared at his phone for a moment and contemted whether to continue with the adventure. And it seems that he was not the only one as every other adventurer around him knew time was of essence despite Jin''s time dtion magic.

    "Do you guys want to continue or just chill back at the restaurant for another round of drinks?" Kong Rong asked and people started chipping in with their opinions. This was indeed a good ce to stop for a session of drinks and karaoke.

    "Welp, it was fun. That sheep was enough excitement for one day." Ke Loong said as he logged out first and the rest followed suit.

    "That''s it?" Jin teleported back into the Hall of Massage Chairs and everyone woke up felt refreshed. They never knew that the Hall of Massage Chairs was not a pun and it was doing the work of fixing their tired body back to shape.

    "You think we can y that long? We do not have the stamina of youngsters anymore." Ke Loong said as he grabbed a ss of water at the side of the chair and quenched his thirst. "It is no doubt interesting. But would people appreciate the difficulty?"

    "Yeah, I would like to know what would happen if someone deliberately increased the levels of the monsters within the area." Kong Rong woke up as well and pulled the headset away to check out the design.

    "We had a few AI designs over those monsters who are over levelled. They would first stay in the vicinity for a while, probably a few hours or so and then a bounty would be ced on their heads so that other adventurers can revisit those old areas to earn some good cash and resources. But if there''s no one who would bother to kill it, the AI had been programmed to walk away and move to an area where the monsters would be of the same level as it is." Jin said that the monster would not teleport but travel slowly through the areas so that any other adventurers who see it could still kill it.

    "Then would the bounty still be on its head?" Yu Xuan was curious how it worked further on which Jin replied that the bounty would decrease as it travelled through thebat regions.

    "For example, if a level 10 sheep had been spotted in the Vige Outskirts, there would be a 100 gold on it but as it goes into the Grass ins, the bounty would drop by 10 and the further it goes, it would drop even drastically," Jin exined.

    "You still got to work on your vige names though. We can''t be calling Grass ins to every grass ins we see." Ke Loong teased and Jin rolled his eyes.

    "Ya know, you could simply use the current town names. Then set the Virtual Reality instance to something like post apocalyptic. The ruins of the modern world being incorporated into the world. It would give the people some familiarity and make it easier to navigate since you are aiming for this game for all ages." Yu Xuan said and some of the agents chuckled at how excited he was with this new Virtual Reality instance.

    "What? This game has loads of potential and since it''s still in the beta phase, we can give some feedback!" Yu Xuan tried to defend his enthusiasm while Kong Rong ced his arms over Yu Xuan''s shoulders.

    "Enough talk about this Virtual Reality. Let''s go have one more round of drinks and karaoke before the night ends." Kong Rong said and told his team members that he would be treating. Jin bid them goodbye though Ke Loong stayed with Jin to discuss a few additional stuff with regards to Virtual Reality now that he had personally tried it.

    "My friend, the concept you had was great and it''s already amazing that you did almost everything by yourself but you really do need a team if we are to seed big time." Ke Loong warned.

 Chapter 1228: Poaching People

    <h4>Chapter 1228: Poaching People</h4>

    "Yeah, I do know that we need a team and I am not a God almighty. There is a limit to what I can do, especially with the amount of time I have in my hands." Jin said that he too had contemted on the issue before.

    "Hmm, I should have enough funds to be able to acquire a small indie game studio but it would take time to headhunt talents for it. Not everyone would be capable of creating storylines." Ke Loong said but it seemed Jin actually had an idea, just something he was not able to do because he was too busy.

    "Seeing how this is something simr to dungeon instances, I was thinking if we are able to get the people who worked under King''s Monsters. After all, I do feel a bit bad that I got thepany to go under after defeating their boss." Jin suggested and Ke Loongughed.

    "Please, they never went under. All they did was take a beating from you. From the report of my corporate spi- erm friends, after your thrashing, the triads just ced a new guy up at the top. It has always been this way since no one was irreceable in the triads. The only problem was that the mainstream media sugarcoated the entire incident saying that it is going under in order to attract sympathy points but people in the known tried to spread the truth."

    "Soooo, more people boycotted it and, in that period, you managed to not only recover from the incident but turn it to your fortune. With your poprity rising through the roof, the participation of King''s Monster dipped down to the ground. It was purely business."

    "I see. If that''s the case does your spies-"

    "Friends." Ke Loong reinforced and Jin changed his wording.

    "So, if what your spies said were true, any chances of getting their development team to us?" Jin posed as an open ended question which the System had stated that there were actually people from King''s Monster appealing for a job in Dungeons and Pandas.

    "Of note, they are young applicants with at least two to three years of experience and their resume. A few of them may meet the requirements that User had sought for. The only issue is that those mails were at least a few months old and had not been opened due to User''s consistent distraction to do things that are not in the agenda of improving his store."

    "So harsh. The System never give you any break, eh?" Ke Loong said and requested if the System could send such mails to him. "I would forward this to my HR and see what I can do. If they prove themselves capable, we might be able to start from them and poach teams of considerable talent in the dungeon instance making department and get your Virtual Reality world to be moreprehensive."

    "How are you going to test them? Are you going to give them the Virtual Reality Headset and try it out before the PandaVerse Festival?" Jin asked and Ke Loong shrugged his shoulders.

    "YOU are using cheats to create your instance. But they aren''t. There''s a limit to how much they could do but I would definitely disguise the Virtual Reality set as some new tech game engine that we would be using to create it. After that, p a non disclosure agreement so that any leaks would cause them a fuck ton of debt that they would never recover. However, I will require the System to be on a lookout so that no news would be out in the open before PandaVerse." Ke Loong replied.

    "Well, you do not have to worry too much. My human resource department is kind of an expert in making weird tests to ensure that what we find is always one of the better ones out in the market. So far, my HR director has never disappointed me and she would not be doing so for this particr endeavour especially when there''s quite a fortune riding on it. We just have to remember we are looking for decent storytellers who know how to create dungeon instances. At the same time, if we are able to recruit the developers, we should be able to weaken ourpetitors even further. And if luck is on our side, it caused them to be unprofitable to an extent that we might even be able to buy their store in the future too." Jin could see Ke Loong''s advice and subsequent monologue as ambitious but attainable. It somehow caused him to feel inspired, an emotion which he had not experienced for some time.

    "That''s way too optimistic at the moment and let''s not get ahead of ourselves," Jin warned and Ke Loong grabbed him by the shoulders.

    "No harm thinking big, we need to be fierce if we want our fair share of the pie. By devouring King''s Monsters, we would stand a better chance against other majorpetitors." Ke Loongmented. "But moving forward, my personal opinion is still to show a mere teaser for the Virtual Realityponent for the PandaVerse Festival. We currently have made sufficient Virtual Reality headsets to fill an exhibition hall and that would be enough to get streamers and media attention. It would be more realistic to show the teaser, gauge the masses'' interest and based on several users'' feedback and improve on it."

    "Sounds like a good idea, and that would allow me to temporarily halt the development of the Virtual Reality instance and focus on the Farming World," Jinmented.

    "The System supports this new arrangement. The Farming World Situation had be dangerously vtile and having User''s full attention would be favourable." The System chipped in and they allughed. In the meantime, Ke Loong took out his phone and sent an email to Jin.

    "While you might not be able to showcase during the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium, it does not mean you are not allowed to attend. I have four extra tickets with me and so, I suggest that you see the capability of your fellow national suppliers."

    "OhбнThanks! Heh, who knows? Maybe we can recruit a developer or two from the Symposium too!" Jin said as he received the email from Ke Loong but the naivety from Jin caused thetter to chuckle.

    "Now who is the one getting ahead of himself?"

 Chapter 1229: PandaVerse Discussion

    <h4>Chapter 1229: PandaVerse Discussion</h4>

    In the next few days, Jin took a bit of downtime from the shop to prepare for the PandaVerse Festival. He sat down with Lynn and started to brainstorm on the options avable to them and what they wished to show during the PandaVerse.

    The main attraction was obviously the Farming World War which Jin believed it would not be done within the span of a week- and that was the current estimate they would like to have for it. Lynn personally felt that it was too long but Jin said it was better to have a longer estimate than to squeeze everything in a few days.

    Reason? Because Jin knows that the majority of his patrons were working people and they usually enter the shop after their work. It also gave those who had missed some of the events at the start to enjoy it and at the same time, it was to ensure that the numbers were well anticipated. Ever since the Dungeon World''s raid and Kraft allowing live streaming of the dungeon instances, people have been awaiting more content from it. They all believed this PandaVerse Festival would be bursting full of it and people were already buzzing with opinions within the Pandamonium Forums.

    But the PandaVerse Festival would not take ce until a monthter and Jin had already been recycling old raid instances on a weekly basis to keep the customers upied. He had rebranded it in a way that this was the time before PandaVerse appeared and the raids were specially discounted for the event. Rewards that were specifically created for those raids reappeared as well since they were considered to be limited when they stopped showing.

    The only problem was that the dungeon raid instances which Jin had initially created were getting stale for the customers. It was not that the fight was not interesting but the content of it was. This was because the System would sometimes pair solo veterans and fresh neers together, and they would have to try to clear together.

    It was not easy as there weremunications breakdowns at times and Jin could see the problem moving forward with those dungeon instances. While most of the time, the veterans were easygoing to help the neers but there was no incentive for the veterans to aid the neers. Sometimes, they would just quit or ask the System to relocate them to another dungeon instance (via the Pandamonium App). It was their right to do so since they had paid money to have a proper good time and death in the dungeon instance meant that try would be over.

    True, it was not as expensive as before ever since Jin had repriced the dungeon instances but to some people, each trip into a dungeon instance is still a consideration to be taken. If they do not aim to clear, it would be a waste of their money.

    That was why Jin had decided to change the pricing model once again as well as how his dungeon instances would operate in the future which might eventually be the norm for the rest of the world to follow. (However, Lynn thinks it was wishful thinking on his part.)

    Still, he would not be doing it so soon until the PandaVerse Festival and Lynn agreed that it would be better to do so which he could follow the big techpanies where they always had their leader doing the major reveals.

    "Or you can just send your announcements out. Somehow, word from the customers is that you would usually send an announcement between Thursday and Saturday on a weekly basis. And they always anticipate what announcement you will send since you would always attach a small goodie along with it." Lynn added and Jin felt surprised that his posts were worth looking forward to as it meant his previous idea had worked.

    "Ah, those extra goodies? Its advertisement expenses. For example, I had attached a redemption coupon for a potion vial sample created by Yu Xiang previously. Her business has been booming since and some people even ordered cartons of it so that they would not have to worry about queuing ever again."

    "Yeah and how you attached a five dor coupon without my acknowledgement with the advent of my new dish. Because of that, my dad''s restaurant suddenly had an influx of people and he had to courteously reject people."

    "Oops. But I did limit the redemption to the first hundred people. Did not expect all one hundred to queue on the day of sending out that coupon."

    "But thanks to you, I can see that my Dad has really changed. While he might be cursing when there was not a single soul around, he had never raised his voice since then and even apologised to me once. Like, I never saw him apologising to me at all before."

    "Hmm yeah. I saw him recently and he told me that particr day, you cooked for him a dish that tasted so delicious that he cried." Jin roughly recalled the incident that Lynn was talking about but she looked confused.

    "Waitбн so he lied to me? I thought his tolerance for spiciness had dropped since he tear and I assumed it was too spicy. That idiot dad of mineбн" Lynn smiled as Jin could inly see that her dad gave an excuse to hide his true feelings.

    "By the way, did you tell your dad about us?" Jin asked and Lynn shook her head.

    "It would be better if we spend more time together to see if we are really proceeding well as a couple. Oh and a quick word on it, Jin. Let''s promise that if we feel that we are ipatible with each other, we still continue as friends and wish each other the best." Lynn was being dead serious with Jin even though their discussion for the PandaVerse took a huge derail.

    "Definitely. You are after all my head chef and Sub System User. I cannot let you go amok, can I?" Jin raised his pinky finger up and like two little kids, the couple assured each other. The System could not help but intervene by creating a new contract between them with the conversation as proof.

    "Was that even necessary?" Lynn was more frustrated at the System''s intervention than its contract making but the derailing of the topic was a healthy distraction for both who had worked non stop for the past few hours.

 Chapter 1230: Why Bother with the Symposium?

    <h4>Chapter 1230: Why Bother with the Symposium?</h4>

    The discussion between Jin and Lynn felt like a distant memory as that was the few times they interacted alone as a couple. In the next couple of weeks, they had been running around the store and coordinating for the PandaVerse Festival. What was more shocking was how time had gone by and they were only a day before the official PandaVerse Festival.

    Jin had never been more tired in his life and yet so satisfied with the burden of work on his shoulders. As heidzily on his office chair within the Dungeon Maker, the System was going through the entire PandaVerse schedule once more with him to ensure that he was not adding any additional stuff into the chaos.

    Oh and that National Dungeon Supplier Symposium? Jin could not even get out of the store because of the issues he had to settle personally as well as problems that were erupting non stop from the big headache coordination. In the end, the Demon Exorcists employed under him went since there were exactly four tickets given to him by Ke Loong.

    While Jin felt a little disappointed that he was not able to personally attend the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium, he felt it was a decent alternative to let the Demon Exorcists try things out. Unlike him, they had no title under them, no obligations and most importantly, no one recognised them well enough. Jin believed that if he were to walk into the Symposium, he probably would cause somemotion that would not end well for his uing PandaVerse Festival.

    "If it''s you, I do not think you wille out of the Symposium unscathed. You are like Peppers, a walking timebomb." The System also stated that it was the better solution to let the Demon Exorcists enjoy the work of other Dungeon Suppliers. They then can have a better objective of how the rest of the country''s Dungeon Suppliers couldpare up to Jin.

    Suffice to say, they continued to prefer Jin''s dungeon instances more as they could feel how stale the atmosphere was in most of the dungeon instances they attended during the Symposium. However, Rong, the Ox Demon Cultivator, did say that there were some good snippets of the story theme from some of the Dungeon Supplier but all of them had stated that this was their first few products with story themes in it.

    Unbeknownst to Jin, he had indirectly influenced the Dungeon Suppliermunity with the advent of storytelling within their instances. Even the big names were trying their hand onto this intricate storytelling theme but apparently, their servers and hardware did not have the capacity to run them well enough. Some even thought that was why Sea Mesh worked very closely with Dungeons and Pandas as the two had shared some new age technology that allowed them to have the cutting edge. But even their corporate spies were unable to get any information about it since people who they tried to bribe or the systems they tried to hack were to no avail. There''s simply a nk space between them and the Panda n affiliates.

    The streaming of Dungeon Instances had also be a rather hot topic and it was pretty obvious that the Symposium was trying to get onto the trend as fast as they could, but sadly not fast enough. Unlike Jin who had already invited some of the major streamers to attend the PandaVerse, the Symposium was still an old dinosaur going for traditional media coverage. Their live conference was all about bringing in a few media critics to talk about the possible new trends of dungeon instance exposure as well as the change of themes among dungeon suppliers.

    Even Su Zhen, the White Snake Demon Cultivator, who was well known for being studious among the four of the Demon Exorcists had reported that the conference was ''boring af'' and a total waste of time. There were a lot of people who got disinterested minutes into the talk that they just walked out of. While it was quite amon sight for the Symposium conferences to have their halls empty, this year''s walkout rate was exceptionally high when some of the audience asked questions with regards to Jin and his store. No answers were given except for some passive aggressive threats or negative remarks with regards to his attitude towards the Dungeon Suppliermunity.

    "They emphasised that themunity must stay strong and not be an outlier like certain dungeon supplier h h h. You get the story, they are trying to cklist you but they can''t yet because of your royal status and the people supporting you. I suggest you look out for sabotage with Agent Kong Rong." Su Zhen nearly yawned as she gave her summary report to Jin who was still keeping tabs on the Symposium even though he was in a mess of his own making .

    Separately, there was a Dungeon Supplier instancepetition where the audience could try out the hardest instances each supplier could ever create and if they could emerge victoriously, they would earn a small token. Collecting a certain number of these tokens would yield them a constion prize but beating each and every avable dungeon instance would achieve the grand prize of various merchandise. From the always out of stock ybox 5 to the incredible Xstation 027, there were a slew of gaming essories and household gadgets avable for grabs. What''s more they even throw in an extremely high end Zony wide screen television which cost at least six figures and an electric car into the mix for the first person whopleted it.

    However, it was a firste first serve kind of win.

    For the first ten participants who were able to get it done would get five of such merchandisergely thanks to their benevolent sponsors and the subsequent runner-ups would only receive one of such merchandise until the prizes were all gone. And without a doubt, the four Demon Exorcists were rushing the entire dungeon instances topete to see who could win the top grand prize of that electric car.

    It''s not like they needed the car but rather that''s the only excitement they could get in this National Dungeon Supplier Symposium which had overhyped to be the best one yet in this century. They obviously know that that would only happen if Jin was in it. And since this Symposium had wasted enough of their time, it''s time to plunder the rewards topensate for their ''losses''.

    (Hint: They did win the first four prizes including the electric car and Rong was not particrly happy that a certain demonic horse cultivator got it just because he got lost to the prize redemption counter.)

 Chapter 1231: Recruitment Drive

    <h4>Chapter 1231: Recruitment Drive</h4>

    "Just being curious, why are there no high level cultivators around? I feel a little bad bagging all these prizes for myself!" Rong asked as he bagged the prizes and told the counter staff to send them to the Tree Mall. His room where he was currently staying with his parents had all the things he needed but the room which Jin offered him was bare. These merchandise, especially the ybox 5 would be a huge delight for him when he is on break.

    "Did you not see? There ARE high level cultivators around." Lian, the Demon Fox Cultivator, showed him the scoreboard where other cultivators were already queuing to redeem their prize and there were not many left.

    "Eh, seriously? That guy is a grade 10?" Rong tried to see the cultivator by tinning his eyes with chi so that he could gauge his strength. For some reason it was his chi was weaker but does qualify as a grade 10 cultivator.

    And as he nced around the area, there were grade 11 and even 12s in the area. Some even gave Rong and the gang a few nods and stares which Rong unknowingly ignored but his friends acknowledged.

    "Gah, okay. I think I saw an acquaintance I did not like." Rong quickly turned his back towards the group and finally epted the fact that they were not the only ones here. "But honestly speaking, how the hell did we even manage to get the top prizes when our grades are considered mediocrepared to all those around us?" Rong questioned.

    "I am just d they kept quiet about our identities. Do not want people to be poking around to find us for some recruitment drive." Lian said and Su Zhen shook her head.

    "You can never get away from those people. One of them is already making their move." As they could see a rather handsome and well built gentleman in his army uniform walking towards them.

    "Greetings, I am Major Wei, part of the army ground force sixth division. I will -" Before Major Wei could even say finish his sentence, Lein the Demonic Qilin Cultivator quietly showed his Demon Exorcists'' badge. The rest did the same as well to show that they were not up for grabs.

    "Ah, I see! No wonder you guys are able to manage to clear this quickly!" Wei eximed but continued to stay instead of moving away from the group.

    "There are no rules stating that people with affiliations to certain groups were not allowed to join the minipetition." Su Zhen reassured her friends that they had done nothing wrong winning the prizes.

    "No no no. What I am trying to give is just a mere statement of congrattions. I am not implying that you guys cheated or anything. In fact, we are more than happy to know that there are still capable Demon Exorcists within our midst." Major Wei remarked and somehow everyone got ticked off immediately. Initially, they thought that upon showing their badges, they would step away, but now passing such a sarcastic remark to the Demon Exorcists especially towards this group of battle hardened members caused their blood to boil. (Obviously, the Major did not know he had a poor choice of words.)

    But for once, instead of reacting against the Major''s remarks, Rong quietly broke off from the group and walked away from the conversation. The rest did the same with only Su Zhen saying an insincere apology before joining the group.

    "Wait, guys. All I needed was just one minute of your time." Major Wei had decided not to let go of them since it was not easy to find high ranking cultivators. And that goes without saying that the sponsors of the Symposium were the local Armed Forces.

    And thus, Major Wei performed a sh step moving towards the sight of them wanting to have a proper word with them since he was ''obligated'' to do so but the Demon Exorcists were getting rather annoyed by him.

    "Hey, Lein!" Suddenly someone shouted Lein''s name and the group looked back for a moment. His hair was slightly messy, eye bags the same as Jin''s but his appearance was insignificant. Donning on standard office wear with anyard hanging over his neck, it seemed like he was some random person off the streets. Lein had no idea who this guy was but before he could speak, the Demon Exorcists noticed that his badge was from the Ministry of State Security. That was when Lein discerned that the State agent was sneakily showing him a picture of a Postman Panda from the Pandamonium App from his phone while blocking it from Major Wei.

    At that moment, he also received a message through his smartwatch which Lein slyly took a look at by trying to scratch his forehead as if he was trying to remember the name of the state agent to avoid any suspicion from Major Wei. "Ah! Yuбн Xuan, was it?"

    "Yes! yes! I liked your performance, especially after what you did in King''s Monster''s dungeon instance! Man, that double backflip was sick." Yu Xuan said and he started to congratte each of them personally with each of their names. Major Wei was immediately ticked off the moment he saw thenyard on Yu Xuan and he had no idea how the Ministry of State Security was able to find them before him.

    And it also looked as if the agent had already made contact with the Demon Exorcists but he was not going to let any possible chance go until Yu Xuan stepped forward by telling the Major to give it up. To make things even worse for him, Su Zhen cleverly said that they wished to consider signing up with Yu Xuan, causing the Major to reluctantly walk off. After which, Yu Xuan told the Demon Exorcists to follow him as he provided them a cover to walk out of the Symposium safely.

    "Nice catch over there." Yu Xuanmented and the groupughed except for Rong who did not exactlyprehend the situation until Lian exined it to him in very simple terms.

    "I was equally surprised as well that the State Agents would help us." Lein thought that this recon mission was just to enjoy and experience the Symposium. They had no idea the State Agents would provide support for them.

    "Like you, we have our very own mission too. While there are still the same old probable threats being thrown out on the inte, we cannot ignore them. Our boss cing one of us here is for safeguard and if the situation arises, send in a quick backup. But since everything had gone rtively smoothly, the boss felt that there wasn''t any problem for me to do a second job as a babysitter. Oh please pardon the pun, I am not exactly saying you guys are kids. I recognised how you all had survived that ''incident''. Thank you once again for helping the nation." Yu Xuan said but before they could get to exit, the group suddenly felt a shake in the ground.

    Looks like ''rtively smooth'' has always been a red g.

 Chapter 1232: Cut Off

    <h4>Chapter 1232: Cut Off</h4>

    "Is that an earthquake?" Someone besides the group asked his partner but the cultivators who had been through various battles knew the feeling. There was no earthquake or tremor.

    It was an explosion.

    And to make things worse, another went off in the distance and this time around, the group could feel a slight aftershock aspared to the first one. Only then, the fire rm goes off and everyone started panicking.

    "Sorry, guys. Looks like my babysitting ends here." Yu Xuan said as he speed dialled his boss with regards to the current situation.

    "We will go with you. If this incident is the same as that previous one, you would definitely need a few Demon Exorcists by yourself." Lein proposed that going to safety was not exactly their style.

    "Hmm. Fine. You guys are after all Jin''s official employees and all of you had proven yourselves previously." Yu Xuan nodded his head and told them to follow him. "Let''s hope that it''s just some cultivator causing some ruckus."

    While the security forces seemed to be on high alert, the symposium participants seemed to be quite oblivious to it and in fact, wanted to see what was going on. Perhaps it was because of the fighting that the Demon Exorcists group had gone through, they were a little frustrated how the public was taking this so nonchntly. But at the same time, the group honestly hoped that they had severely overestimated the incident.

    Even as they tried to walk through the crowd, Yu Xuan''s phone rang a few times and it was apparent he was talking to his higher ups as they ryed information between each other while the Demon Exorcist group continued to scan the area. Su Zhen had also taken the opportunity to contact the main branch stating that there was an explosion happening in Shenzhen World''s Exhibition and Convention Centre where the Symposium was taking ce in half of the total halls. The rest were supposedly used as buffer areas to support the Symposium as well as a concert hall for the end of the Symposium.

    And with the modern Dungeon Suppliers'' heavy reliance on machines, there was a hall that had been dedicated to the technical aspects so it was easier to keep track of the servers as well as maintain a cooling system for the machines rather than spreading them out in several halls. The Demon Exorcists did not know this initially until they informed the System with regards to it and were immediately given the floor n of the Shenzhen World''s Expo.

    "More eyes would be on your way," Jin said as he summoned Que Er, the Magpie Queen to get her birds to the scene as soon as possible. Even though he was busy with the preparation of PandaVerse and the Farming World, he could not ignore if it was a threat simr to the incident rted to the Banned Emperors. Thus, with the help of the System''s teleportation, a team of magpies and ravens had already gone to Shenzhen''s World Expo to have a look.

    From the bird''s eye view, images of the fire came from Hall 13 which was kilometres away from the South Entrance which they were at. Lein quickly informed Yu Xuan that he did not question where he got his information and decided to use his chi so that they could do massive jumps across the convention centre''srge hallway to the site of the incident.

    However, as much as they tried to activate their chi, it was noting out from the Dian Tian. There was a ''what the fuck'' moment from the entire group but Yu Xuan kept calm and started chanting. It looked like he too knew a bit of magic though he was not a full hybrid like Jin. The magic spell fizzled too and thus thest resort he had was taking out a scroll from his storage ring.

    Seeing how prepared and how calm Yu Xuan was despite his demeanour kind of brought a little awe to the Demon Exorcists when they were not as prepared or as versatile as him. The inscription scroll somehow worked.

    "Looks like it''s no normal fire. There''s an anti chi and magic barrier in the works but for some reason, the inscription scroll works so I had no idea what kind of barrier this is." Yu Xuan said as he took out exactly four more scrolls and passed them to the Demon Exorcist group.

    Once activated, they would have a "Fleeting Foot" buff which allowed them to travel simr to how one would Qing Gong through the halls. (Qing Gong is a kind of martial art that is visually reminiscent of parkour.) Yu Xuan decided to give another call to his reporting officer but as it tried to dial through, the connection snapped as well.

    "Fuck. Are you serious? Even a satellite line can be disrupted?" Yu Xuan said as he tried to call once more. Unlike the public who now had trouble sending out calls because thems towers could be busy, the State Agents all have a special line and a dedicated military satellite to handle their queries. To have it cut off meant that something dangerous was pending and it was not a good sign.

    Fortunately, the supposed barrier could not cut the line between the signed contracted employees of the System. Lein was close enough to discern that Yu Xuan had troubles connecting his phone and he also noticed his phones were not receiving any signal bars.

    "Yu Xuan Sir! We still have a connection to our boss! Then my boss can inform yours!" Lein shouted as he requested Yu Xuan to tell him what to say so as to not expose the System too much. The State Agents might know a thing or two about it but Lein did not know how much they knew.

    "How do you even have a connection up?!" Yu Xuan stopped for a while at the side of the convention main hallway.

    "Our Boss had set up a blood pact of some sort with us. Nasty stuff but he said it is the best way ofmunicating." Su Zhen tried to bluff since this was the closest thing simr to a celestial typemunicationwork that was not affected by magic, chi nor technology.

    "Wow, you guys are so sure to be his employees till death? Not that I can say it''s the best way to live. But I will do anything to take any information out of this fucked up situation." Yu Xuan said as he ryed whatever he could to Lein. On the other hand, the System had already connected Kong Rong to a separate channel to the Exorcists Group and he was hearing what Yu Xuan said in real time.

    "Shit. This kind of barrier spells lots of trouble. Inform the Defence Ministry and Home Affairs. We are not going to be idle this time around as well. A barrier of this kind would definitely have an activation point like a totem or relic. Send the rm out and call up the off duty teams! Get me the blueprints for not just Shenzhen Exhibition Center but the area surrounding it as well as the underground maps if there''s any!" Kong Rong ordered and in his mind, he wondered if Jin had to be involved once more.

 Chapter 1233: The Criminals

    <h4>Chapter 1233: The Criminals</h4>

    As expected, the crowd started to panic when they realised that their phones were not receiving any signals and thepounding effect of the fire rm was not making it any easier. The employed security staff were trying their best to keep the peace as they attempted to vacate premises. However, there seems to be a ripple effect of shouts and screams at the far end of the south entrance when people were saying that they were not able to leave.

    The screams got even more horrifying when someone tried to use force to leave the area and his hand was burnt upon cing force through the said barrier. The panic from the crowd upon seeing the incident increased tenfold and the whole ce turned to chaos.

    Some did not believe and tried to attempt the same thing, only to have been thoroughly burnt and losing their arms or legs in the process. Without chi, cultivators trained in the art of healing were unable to save them even when they were able to put the fire out. The inability to use chi once again caused anotheryer of anxiety among the crowd and the security forces were unable to contain it even further without the coordination from the head office.

    Everyone who was trapped in this World Expo had basically be the hostages of the masterminds behind it. "Everything is in order, proceed ording to n." Shang Xia spoke through the work'' and his criminal partners acknowledged. Among the chaos, the cleaners abandoned their work carts and started walking to their objective untilбн a new message came into their thoughts.

    "Overlord, I picked up chatter outside the barrier. The police areing." One of the technical operators said as he monitored the situation.

    "Should not be a problem. It is slightly earlier than expected but within the n parameters. All units, proceed." Shang Xia ordered once again. When it seemed as if the criminals who were instigating this particr incident were delighted that the n was as simted, they did not expect the police toe into the scene that quickly.

    They had ensured that allmunication lines were cut including the satellite phone which they picked up at the veryst minute so there was no way people would be able to call the authorities and even if they did, the police would not have enough manpower.

    One to two cars worth of police officers would investigate the situation and only muchter they would get more help. That was the scenario the criminals had and they knew that they couldplete their objective before the reinforcements arrived. But as luck would have it, the situation did not roll as expected. Their technical operators who were drinking a cup of coffee to calm his nerves suddenly saw not one, not two but columns of police cars howling in the background. Even two helicopters had been deployed to the scene and they were already scanning the area.

    To make things worse, there were not just patrol cars in the mix, SWAT vans were seen and even ck armour SUVs which indicated that they were going to respond to the threat with punitive force. The operator immediately sent another message through his thoughts and to Shang Xia telling her the police were here in full force. They had no idea that the Ministry of State Security had already asked the district police in the nearby regions to be on standby for the Symposium and one word from Kong Rong was what needed to send these police to the current situation.

    "That does not change anything. The barrier will hold and they cannot do anything to us at the moment. Everyone! Focus onpleting the objective. Jack, find an alternate way to get out of this damn ce. I do not care if we need to fight through the police and hijack their cars. Get an actionable n out and we will do just that." Shang Xia ordered once more as she walked along with the VIPs who were currently being escorted to a safe zone. Masquerading as one of the sponsors'' representatives for the Symposium, she was able to have the opportunity to be in the same room as her target, the Minister of Defence He Fei. As she scanned the guards, they were the very same people she and her team had ID except for one conspicuous female bodyguard who wore a surgical mask andrge pair of sunsses.

    The worst of all, there was no sense of professionalisming from her with her hair partially dyed in tranquil blue and wore clothes that were not befitting of a bodyguard. An overly sized jacket and skin tight yoga pants made her stuck out like a sore thumb. The odd thing was that she carried an umbre everywhere she went and there was no wet weather ording to the forecast.

    While she was not in the list of guards that the criminals had obtained, Shang Xia could only assume that she was either some mistress or a ything being brought by the Minister or his entourage.

    "We are being escorted to the makeshift bunker. He Fei had already sent people to get the item. Get into position to snatch it." Shang Xia said through her telepathywork and the other operators already performing their second objective in search of a particr suitcase. The suitcase was ordinary but the contents inside was what counts.

    The killing of the Defence Minister was just a step in their grand ns as the suitcase contained the relic that would summon their old master back. The only drawback was that it required souls for it to work and the hostages within the expo were precisely the best way to harvest them. No massacre nor killing was needed, as the relic would do the work. The only caveat was that criminals needed the protective chants sat aside with the relic. Those chants upon activation would negate the relic incessant killing ritual and that would allow them toplete their objective.

    Why would the relic be brought to a public event such as the Dungeon Supplier Symposium was not of concern to Shang Xia. The only thing that matters is that both the minister and the relic were indeed here and she would take whatever it takes toplete the task.

    For the Banned Emperor.

 Chapter 1234: Jin Knew Something

    <h4>Chapter 1234: Jin Knew Something</h4>

    "A Barrier that is unable to allow you to use chi, magic and even blockingmunications?" Jin thought to himself as he stopped his current work to think about it. "Why does that sound so awfully familiar?"

    "The System is unable to find any particr magical spell that matches such effects. Even anti magic barriers and anti chi barriers have their own set of rules to set it up. The System had also looked into trap formations since the current situation had entrapped people from going in or out." The System stated and Jin furrowed his eyebrows.

    "They cannot get in as well?" Jin asked and the System said that the birds which Que Er employed had not detected any movement by the police officers as well as the SWAT team. They are discussing the course of action while employing people to find the root cause. "Oh wow, they even brought in the army people. Kong Rong sure acted fast on this situation."

    "Not only him but the other Royal Zodiac n Heads when they heard of the incident. This is because there are VIPs within the Symposium who attended as guest of honour, primarily the Minister of Defence who was there to see thetest development in the Dungeon Instance technology. If proved to be substantially useful for the army''s training purposes, the Minister would then ask the vendors to draw up a proposal for him to consider."

    "Ah. Doesn''t that mean the security should be extra tight?" Jin shrugged whether he should even get involved. It seemed like the other Royal Zodiac ns had some stake in this and the Dungeon Supplier had already done his part."

    "It is tight but time is of the essence. Withoutmunication into the building, this terrorist attack would be one of the greatest hits against our country. I am starting to suspect that the Banned Emperor is very likely to be involved in this." Kong Rong suddenly chipped in.

    "Aren''t you supposed to be swarmed with coordination?" Jin asked as he decided to go to the loo in his Dungeon Maker.

    "Coordination doesn''t do jack shit when we have no eyes inside the building. We are wondering if you can connect some video feeds to us. Probably through the System and your Demon Exorcists employees."

    "The System does not wish to risk exposing itself to the enemy. If the enemy is as Agent Kong Rong had said, there might be a chance they could detect the System and eventually block the signal." The System replied and Kong Rong could not force the System to do things that it doesn''t wish to perform.

    "Say, have you tried getting some of your men into the Convention Expo?" Jin asked as he flushed the toilet and washed his hands and face. There is something bothering him about the barrier and that it felt like he should know the answer but it was at the tip of his tongue.

    "You want my men to needlessly sacrifice themselves to go through the barrier? Didn''t you hear what your employees said? They reported that those who tried got burned thoroughly and with them unable to receive aid, they might be in danger of dying." Kong Rong felt like Jin suggested something stupid and unproductive for the current situation.

    "Erm, you have healers ready to heal the wounds and you can activate a few defensive inscriptions before trying. I see no reason why you do not give it a go." Jin tried to reason his rationale and Kong Rong sighed.

    "Fine. Give me a moment." Kong Rong answered reluctantly and requested the onsite team to do just that. One of the SWAT officers immediately volunteered and he was quickly buffed with a series of defensive spells on him to try entering the barrier. And in the event that he could enter, the officer had also brought with him a few medical kits and a few high grade tonic ampoules with him.

    The moment he was ready, everyone in the area was looking at him teeming with anxiety hoping that he would seed. And as Jin watches the officer through the raven''s eyes. He could see that the SWAT officer dashed into the barrier with a spear too. The spear was supposedly imbued with barrier prative properties designed specifically for the police to ambush against barriers. The only problem was that it was not supposed to be used against an area wide barrier and the single use meant that he had one way in and no way out as the barrier would probably regenerate once he broke it.

    And as he ran through the seemingly empty Convention Expo, the spear tip suddenly touched onto something when the officer got up to the stairs. The only problem was that it did not break nor burn as per Kong Rong''s report. It merely deflected away the police officer holding the spear and despite attempts to sh at it, it did not seem to be doing anything damage to the barrier at all.

    "Lol. I knew it." Jin saw the entiremotion and the officer''s futile attempt in breaking it. "Boss, you can tell your men to stand down. Even bombardments are not going to tear that so called barrier down for you." Jin said as he stood up and teleported himself to his room for a change of clothes.

    "What do you mean?" Kong Rong demanded answers immediately.

    "I must say, they are really quite clever to even think of this, knowing that all the experts would be trapped in there." Jin remarked as he prepared to wear afortable shirt and jacket and a pair ofbat pants. "The answer is literally in your face. Even I would not have guessed it if not for the clues given to me."

    "Stop beating around the bush and-"

    "It''s a dungeon instance. A god damn authentic one." Jin said as he made sure that his Bam and Boo as well as his System Rider Device was buckled onto his belt. "Well, I hope it''s authentic because I will be very disappointed if the terrorists used the local servers to whip this beauty of a dungeon instance up. -which sadly, I believe is the case."

    "And as your one and only dungeon supplier expert that is currently not being invited to the Symposium, I might have a way to intervene this."

 Chapter 1235: Dimensional Instance Explanation

    <h4>Chapter 1235: Dimensional Instance Exnation</h4>

    "What?" Kong Rong could not fathom that what they were dealing with was a dungeon instance rather than a barrier.

    "That is the theory that I have and It fulfilled all the conditions when I think about it. Tell me, a barrier is supposed to have one particr property and perhaps two, correct? But if you think about it, there is no way for an anti magic and anti chi barrier to be ced in the very same ce considering that they have many conditions to meet." Jin exined.

    "If you do not create an anti magic barrier with chi, the only way to do so is to put magical inscriptions and with the barrier that size, there is no way the terrorists would be able to do so without getting notice with stringent checks. Especially if you said VIPs are there, your men would have swept the ce a few times thoroughly including any weakness in the Expo centre or underground tunnels."

    "That is true and vice versa for anti chi barriers too." Kong Rong was getting what Jin was talking about and it made sense.

    "Even if it is a relic that enables anti chi and magic barriers, you need power to supply it and there is no other way to do so without arge ''battery''. And from my birds, I do not see any excessive magic presence that enables it." Jin reinforced his exnation.

    "True, if there is, we would already have pinpointed the relic and start to search for it." Kong Rong now looked at his map for a nearby ce where his agents and police force had already checked, allowing Jin to secretly teleport to the area. "I pinged the location where you can teleport and I will meet you there."

    "You do not want to hear more of that theory?" Jin said as he instantly activated his portal to move when Kong Rong had situated.

    "I have other stuff to deal with but if your theory holds water, then I suppose it also exins why people get burned attempting toe out while no one is able to go in. A selected dimensional instance where certain conditions are ced to not let its participants out. Also, no idiot terrorist would be that dumb to drop themselves to be as powerless as the hostages. All the more it proved that this is potentially a dimensional instance where the terrorists could have power advantage against the guards." Kong Rong deduced and Jin was d that he does have a Mr Know It All in his midst.

    "But I cannot do this alone. I would need some help with from the inside." Jin said as he had already teleported to a nearby car park and switched his conversation while awaiting Kong Rong or his men to fetch him. "I hoped you guys have overhear what we had being talking about, I purposely asked the System to let you guys eavesdropped the exnation portion." Jin remarked while he waited for the Demon Exorcists to reply.

    "What do you need?" Lein asked as he felt way too powerless in the current situation.

    "I heard from you guys that the inscriptions are still working." Jin queried and the current leader of the Demon Exorcist band acknowledged stating that they had used Agent Yu Xuan''s inscription to run around.

    "The only problem is the duration. Agent Yu Xuan said that it should havested longer but Su Zhen assumed that there is the absence of chi to cause it to have a shortened duration." Leinmented.

    "Ahh, that could be true. With the absence of chi, the inscription could only work as much as the energy was supplied. Most inscriptions have some chi stored within it to not allow instant activation but also enough for a short duration of time. But that depends on the grade of the inscription. The higher the grade meant the material used- never mind. No use talking too much now. I want you all to go to the hall where they have their tech stuff." Jin ordered while he saw themotion from afar.

    "Then what about the explosion?" Lian the Demon Fox Cultivator asked. "Shouldn''t that be a concern to us as well?"

    "That is probably a diversion." Rong understood a little now that Jin had somewhat exined the situation they were in. "There would definitely be someone there to cause a distraction and injure people so that the security forces would be diverted to that area to aid people and suppress the threat."

    "I concurred with Rong despite him being dim witted at times." Lein said and told Agent Yu Xuan that they would be moving to the hall where they have the servers. "With nomunication going through the dimensional instance, the security forces only clue is to move towards the explosion site."

    "Dimensional Instance?" Yu Xuan did not exactly understand how Lein got to the conclusion and only assumed that they weremunicating with their boss but there was no time for questions at their end. So, he quickly pointed out where it was and they tried their best to reach there as soon as possible.

    "Wow, if you think about it, the terrorists are cunning enough to use it in this Symposium. Trapping all the dungeon suppliers here and they have no way of getting the information out to the authorities." Lian thought about it as they ran through the crowd.

    "Well, good thing our boss had decided not to do so." And so much for this Symposium to be free from attacks. Here I thought I could have a nice decent outing without anything to worry about." Rong remarked.

    "Don''t lie. Your face tells another story. You are practically ted that this is happening right now." Lian could see Rong grinning side to side. "It''s as if you are waiting for this and thinking that Jin had brought us here for a reason."

    "Erm, not really. I am truly busy and working my ass off which is one of the reasons why I could attend it. With this distraction in sight, I would have another sleepless night ahead of me. The schedulesбнoh my schedules." Jinined upon hearing their situation and the Demon Exorcists quietly giggled.

    Only an ignorant businessman of Jin''s calibre called this current predicament a distraction.

 Chapter 1236: A Diversion Against the Diversion

    <h4>Chapter 1236: A Diversion Against the Diversion</h4>

    "Jin?" The agents who rushed to the second level of a carpark drifted their car as if they were in some racingpetition and came to a halt when they were close to him.

    "That''s rather cool. I honestly thought I would get hit." Jin said as the agents unlocked the door to allow him to get in.

    "You too, for not moving even though we are this close to you. Please get your seatbelts on and we will be on our way." The agents said as he reversed a little before elerating down the ramp or the car park. One would wonder if the agents did it as a test to see how Jin would react or if it was an idental act. Either way, Jin did not mind as he buried his face into his phone.

    There were other agents with him as well but they had their eyes peeled through the windows and their hands on the trigger to make sure that they were ready for any external threats. In the meantime, Jin was pretending tomunicate to the Demon Exorcists via his phone by texting but in reality, he was sending them telepathy instructions.

    -----

    "Anything I can do?" Yu Xuan queried and the others agreed he should do what he does best.

    "I know it sounds stupid but right now, I think the one who is in danger is you, not us." Rong was the one who smacked the truth right in front of Yu Xuan''s face. "Without Chi, you are a person with martial arts skills and against those terrorist cultivators, it might be too much of a risk."

    "I am a State Agent. If I cannot handle it, I do not deserve to carry this badge." Yu Xuan felt a little offended but continued his best to keep his cool.

    "We are not saying you cannot do anything but I believe it is better if you assist us from the shadows. Stay hidden and do not let the other terrorists find you." Su Zhen tried to salvage the mess Rong brought them. "Besides, you did casually remark that your name is officially not in the list. All the more, assisting us in the shadows would be a better choice."

    Yu Xuan felt slightly embarrassed that he got to be schooled by teenagers many years younger than his age but they did make a point. He quietly epted the fact that in this situation, he was the one that was at the disadvantage and if being in the crowd and allowing him to blend in would serve as an additional trick against the terrorist, it would definitely be more than wee.

    So as the Demon Exorcists made their shy way to the Hall where all the servers and other technical hardware would be kept, they noticed that there was a tightyer of security preventing people from going near it. Despite the crowd''s anxiety after the mysterious explosion, the security at the technical hall got even more stringent, as if to not let people from passing through and stealing any equipment.

    Some of the dungeon suppliers who were in the midst of the crowd, demanded that they wanted their equipment back or at least have ess to the servers because of their precious data but the security was not letting anyone through regardless of clearance.

    But even though it was that strict of a rule, Lein was suspicious and requested the System and Kong Rong if it was possible to have a list of employed security. Kong Rong only needed to make a phone call and the list was instantly uploaded to the System which then transmitted the information to the Demon Exorcists'' phones.

    Su Zhen gave a quick look and immediately recognised that that particryer of security was fake. "Wow, that was fast even without any chi usage." Lianmented and Su Zhen identally snorted as if to signify her delight in the acknowledgment of her analytical abilities. Aye, her high grades and studious demeanour came from the ability to remember things she once saw. Photographic memory at its very best. Unlike Jin whose cognitive abilities were enhanced by the System and his cultivation, Su Zhen''s photographic memory was a natural talent which people nearly called her a freak for being able to remember as such. That downfall forced her to learn that it''s sometimes best to act unless the situation demands for it.

    However, the current group that she was with knew her well enough that she did not have to hide from them. Especially with situations like this, allowed her to showcase how terrifying her memory was and to identify whether they were within the list of employed security.

    "Wow. All of them?" Rong needed to know whether Su Zhen had made some mistake.

    "You can either trust me or take an hour figuring out whether they are not." Su Zhen said as she looked towards Lein, hoping that he could make a n out.

    "Boss, what do we need to find once we are inside the server room? We are not IT savvy enough to tell the difference."

    "Do what you do best. Destroy everything. But if the theory of it being a Dungeon Instance holds true, it is very likely that they have the entire hall ''refurbished'' as part of the new dungeon instance and the servers you find might be fake. At that point, the terrorist might potentially be alerted and you guys are on your own."

    "Then? Any way to break out of that portion of the dungeon instance?" Rong asked and sadly, Jin said no. "If that''s the case, why do you want us to hit the server rooms?"

    "Because, it means that someone has figured out their trick and they will try their best to silence you. That would mean those terrorists woulde after you and perhaps by beating them up, you might find some evidence. On the flipside, your internalmotion would allow me to do my magic with less of a hindrance."

    "You mean, if you are expecting resistance even from outside the dungeon instance?" Lian questioned.

    "They surely have eyes outside to make sure that we are unable to interfere. Else, if we can break this intricate illusion from the outside, whatever they are nning is for naught." Jin replied as he could see that the car wasing through the multiple barricades of police hovering outside the Convention Centre.

 Chapter 1237: The Use of Inscription Charms

    <h4>Chapter 1237: The Use of Inscription Charms</h4>

    "Then what are we waiting for?" Rong decided not to waste any more time. He quickly took out a few inscription charms he had bought previously from Jin''s store and stacked them together. Speed, Defence and Attack inscription charms were used out in the open and the ''employed security'' instantly turned their heads towards Rong and the others.

    With his Hammer out from his storage ring, he rushed towards the guards with the will to break the human wall that was blocking their path.

    "That dumb guy! Does he always think that violence will solve everything?" Lian said but before she could do anything, the security guards unleashed a series of chi and animal silhouettes emerged right above them.

    Instead of various animal silhouettes, it was a pack of ck wolves determined to devour Rong with one swoop. With everyone''s chi incapacitated, it was pretty obvious the guards who were in cahoots with the people behind the current use of dimensional instance to entrap people. Still even without chi, Rong was able to dodge the chi attacks of the ck wolves.

    The security guards did not hide their smiles as it was apparent they had enough of such charades. Injuring a few people in the process of keeping the ''peace'' was probably permitted by their mastermind and a show of force would shove them away from the hall. Besides, now that most of them were unable to use chi nor magic,pliance should follow suit after punishing Rong.

    One of the guards took his baton out and challenged Rong to a duel where the others had decided to step away from. Some were already giggling how the punk with a hammer would be beaten to submission. And as expected, when Rong mmed his hammer against the guard, it was no match against the guard''s baton which was infused with a high amount of chi.

    "Judging from the chi, you are probably a grade 10 or so." Rong did not fall back as he continued to struggle against the sh.

    "Looks like your parents did not teach you any manners in obeying the authority. We have no choice but to use a force lethal enough to subdue you." The guard said as his animal silhouette emerged once more and the ck wolf growled even more sinisterly. Rong could feel the weight of the baton getting unbearable for him to handle despite the charms that he had used.

    "But I shall give you credit for being able to withstand the attack. Most chi-less cultivators would have already sumbed to it." The guard casuallymented as he inserted more chi into his baton. It was pure bullying at this point and even the crowd knows that it was unwise to even go near them. "The inscription charms that you use must have been of a high grade or else, you would not even be able tost another second. Still, it does not matter as it seems like your charm is burning out."

    "Heh. You have yet to see thest of Dungeons and Pandas'' inscription charms and here you think you have already won, Mr Security Guard." Rong said as he risked the stalemate by unleashing his storage ring with his left hand. "When I start, run into the hall and stir as much shit as you can!" Rong said via the System Channel, specifically to his pals.

    "Do you think you can even take something out at your current state?! You cannot even use your chi at all!" The guard shouted as he got a little more serious and his ck wolf silhouette howled before baring its teeth towards Rong but that impudent Demon Exorcist did not give a damn.

    "Not if you use a high grade storage ring which does not need any chi! Demon Ox Dual Inscription Charm! Activate!" Rong shouted as the white piece of paper flew out of his storage ring and glowed with various symbols attached to it.Two Demon Ox Bull silhouettes emerged from the charm and bellowed before Rong absorbed its chi. For some reason, it managed to kickstart his dantian core and it started to produce chi furiously, allowing Rong to continue holding against the security guard. At the same time, the dual inscription charm also released a ton of steam as part of Rong''s cosmetic inscription activation and that prompted Lein and the others to slip through the guards with speed inscription charms activated. While Rong had managed to distract the bulk of the ''security staff'', one of them saw them zooming through the IT Hall''s doors.

    He wanted to shout out to alert the others but Rong, with his chi running through his veins again, threw his hammer towards the door, causing an explosion to happen right in front of the security staff, knocking away from it. This time, not just the guard who duel with him was surprised but the rest of the staff as well, prompting them to unsheathe their swords instead of batons and rushed towards Rong.

    Some of them were still shocked that there was a cultivator who was able to restart his dantian core while the crowd quickly scattered not to be caught within the crossfire. In the meantime, Yu Xuan, who was at the far end of the entiremotion, saw the entire scene unfold and was amazed by Jin''s employees.

    "Holy shit, how the fuck did he get his chi up and running again? Is that why they secretly implied I was a hindrance?" Yu Xuan thought to himself before he noticed that there were a few people who were acting suspiciously coordinated amidst the panicking crowd. He decided to eye them and hoped for the best for the Demon Exorcists. If Rong could restart his chi production, Yu Xuan believed the other three might be able to do the same and thus they would not be a problem for him to worry.

    In the meantime, the other three Demon Exorcists who rushed into the IT Hall had realised Jin was right. Noputers or servers were in the supposed IT Hall but instead a pyramidal shaped temple in front of them with several workers working to fix the tip. When the workers saw three unknown individuals standing right at the entrance, they knew the operation was somewhatpromised and proceeded to take their weapons out from their storage rings.

    "Let''s see if Rong''s tactic works for us as well." Lein said as he took out his dual inscription charm. " I had never thought that this cringey Christmas present would be of some use to us."

 Chapter 1238: Re-coordination

    <h4>Chapter 1238: Re-coordination</h4>

    "Intruders! Intruders!" Themunications were going wild as Shang Xia was trying to assess the situation within the hidden bunker which the security forces were attempting to keep the VIPs safe. However, it was getting way too nonsensical for her that she tried to make an excuse saying that her legs felt weak and needed to use the bathroom.

    "Mdm, your life is in danger and you wish to go to the toilet?" One of the guards asked and Shang Xia pleaded that she could not hold her dder.

    "Do you really want me to pee at the spot for you to watch? Are you in the fetish of seeing women peeing and disgracing themselves in front of these men? Aren''t you guys the elites? Can''t you protect us as we go to the loo?" Shang Xia made amotion and even though they were in some long tunnel, her shouts echoed and made the guard leader panic for a moment.

    "Lee, Cheng. Escort her to the toilet ande back at double time." The Guard Leader said and suddenly a hand raised up in the crowd too.

    "I like to go to the loo too." Shang Xia saw that it wasing from the poorly dressed girl and she was swaying side to side, indicating that she too could not hold her dder. The Guard Leader looked concerned and even more agitated that she wanted to go too but upon a moment of hesitation, he nodded his head and told his two guards to bring them to the nearest toilet as soon as possible.

    "There should be one avable fifty metres from here. Just try to tolerate it till then." The two guards immediately led the way and the moment they reached, there was a corner which led to a pair of doors that needed the guard''s clearance to go through. Upon moving through the doors, the toilet was in sight and since the guards mentioned that it was a single toilet, Shang Xia decided to be courteous and asked whether the girl needed it first.

    To her surprise, she quickly ran into the toilet without any warning and took it. Lee and Cheng looked away to sigh for a moment only to find that the woman they were with suddenly disappeared. They reached for their firearms but the reaction was a tad toote as Shang Xia had already sent the two guards to sleep by knocking them out. They did not have a chance to react nor tolerate the hit due to theck of chi as they sumbed to the force of a full fledged high grade cultivator.

    "Be d that you two are fortunate enough to avoid bloodshed." Shang Xia guessed the girl did not matter and even if she did and knew a martial art technique or two, she could handle her with no problem. After all, she needed as many live sacrifices as possible for the relic to work. And now that Shang Xia knew where they were going, it was only a matter of time to strike but first, she had to handle this intruder nonsense her voice channel was making fuss about.

    "Queen to all, what is the matter?" Shang Xia pressed onto her earpiece to activate speaker mode.

    "Queen, The temple has been intruded by enemies. Theyбн Their chi is fully activated! The workers are trying their best to hold them back but we need backup as soon as possible."

    "What? They used an inscription? That is impossible. Their dantian should be blocked and there should be no way to activate it. I never heard of an inscription restarting someone''s dantian."

    "We have no idea, they used some special inscription charm, one even insanely shouting that it''s from some dungeon supplier. Something to do with Panda. Anyways the shit thing is that the inscription caused their dantian to be moving. I already told you that we should have made the instance foolproof rather than having that inscription charm shit to bite us from the back!"

    "Buzz, if we do that, we would have missed this window of opportunity. Besides, what is ck Wolf and his gang doing? Isn''t he supposed to be stopping anyone from intruding through?" Shang Xia queried and ck Wolf replied backбнjust not the usual cheery arrogant tone.

    "The fuck is wrong with this cultivator?! Look, I am busy here, get someone else and I wille once I am done with my side." ck Wolf turned hismunications off and focused his fight against Rong.

    "Get Falcon and Owl. They should be the fastest to respond to your threat." Shang Xia paused for a while and looked at her watch. "And Eagle too."

    "Mdm, you sure? With the Police, SWAT and even the Army involved. The chances of getting out is nearly close to zero. You are pulling me out of your protection bubble if they seeded in destroying the dimensional instance." Eagle immediately responded and Shang Xia sighed at the perplexing operation she was running.

    "Yeah. We had already run the simtion and the worst case scenarios but things change now that there are wannabe hero cultivators. Things are not going as nned and we need to adapt. Rhino and Jaguar should be enough to hold the fort. If anything, they can use that technique to boost themselves for the fight. With that, the police or whatever security forcesбнno matter how strong they are, they would not be able to defeat them."

    "You are sending them to their absolute death if you do that." Eagle remarked and the Queen did not care about hisments.

    "Understood. Returning into the dimensional instance and providing backup." Eagle turned off hismunications and the silence in the room was deafening.

    "You are clever to stay there. And for your own sake. Continue to stay there unless you wish to die." Shang Xia said despite attaching an inscription that would explode if she tried to open the door. After all, the girl overheard the entire conversation and by warning her not to open was already an olive branch given to her if she did not do anything stupid.

    "Interesting. Looks like the mastermind is here all along and here I thought my hunch would be wrong considering that you passed the background checks, even the most thorough ones. But I guess one cannot be too careful after everything has happened before." The girl talked calmly through the locked toilet door while keeping a note to tell Kong Rong that he should revamped his checks.

    "What can you do? Call the police? If you had heard, the police AND the army are parked right outside the Convention Centre, not able to do anything. And if you don''t trust me, go ahead and try to call the police if you can." Shang Xia snorted after giving such haughty remarks. "I bet they woulde save you and your sugar daddy."

    "Hmm. I got a better idea than staying in this toilet waiting for them. How about I be the police and knock the shit out of you? " Ryuli smirked and Shang Xia could already feel her smile was prating through the toilet doors and to her.

 Chapter 1239: Blasting Out of The Toilet

    <h4>Chapter 1239: sting Out of The Toilet</h4>

    "Hah!" Shang Xiaughed as she ignored the taunt while checking the guards'' belongings. And as the relic movement was being tracked by one of herrades, it was about time tomence the theft as well as the assault against the defence minister.

    But before she could even do a thorough check on the unconscious guard, the door exploded right in front of her and Ryuli mmed her umbre right towards Shang Xia''s direction. Naturally, the mastermind of the operation was of a high grade and was able to absorb the brunt of the attack. However, Ryuli was not giving her any chance to recover and aimed for her vital points.

    Even if Shang Xia could dodge them, Ryuli would opt for coteral damage and attack her joints to render her powerless. Yet, Shang Xia was battle hardened enough to unleash a counter which involved snatching the guard''s firearm on the floor and returning the favour back at Ryuli. And just as the bullets were leaving the gun chamber, Ryuli had already anticipated the attack and opened her umbre, using it as a shield to deflect the shots away.

    Only upon seeing the umbre in action, Shang Xia realised that she hit the jackpot andughed. "Youбн You are that rumoured State Agent that uses the umbre!"

    "Wow, I am not sure whether I should be d to know that I am rather infamous in the Banned Emperor''s circle of assassins and terrorists." Ryuli said as she closed her umbre once more and unleashed waves of chi towards the Shang Xia, causing her to move backwards. The Dragon Girl then moved forward and kicked the two guards to the sides of the room, hoping that they would not get hit by their duel. (Well, she hoped but could not guarantee if things get rough.)

    "Always as ever, concerned about others. If you had been ruthless, my people would not have escaped and known your presence." Shang Xia said as she ditched the firearm and took out two daggers, both exquisite looking. Ryuli also noticed that those daggers had a peculiar arrow symbol on them. One was pointing up, away from the de and the other down towards the de''s point.

    "Thanks to them, we have also managed to find a few more shitheads that were willing to spill information. It''s a fair trade I guess." Ryuli was calmly holding her ground as she assessed whether those des would be a goner for her. "But from the looks of your face, you are more concerned how I got my powers back when you were very sure that there was no chi signatureing from me."

    "Care to exin?" Shang Xia tightened her grip on the daggers and refocused her chi. She knew that fighting against the legendary umbre cultivator which probably had more kill count than any other state agents would be suicidal and detrimental to her current n. If Shang Xia falls, others could rece her easily since they had assigned roles but to dy Ryuli until her n unfolds was her main concern.

    "Maybe. When I see you in the afterlife," Ryuli said as she leaped forth and aimed her umbre like a rapier, performing a frightening strike towards Shang Xia. Regardless of her prideful demeanour, she had to thank the heavens and stars that the conversation was on point. If not for the discussion between herrades to give her the clues needed, Ryuli might actually be staying in the toilet like a prison cell.

    She honestly could not believe that the inscription charm, the one that has a panda with a Christmas design, a fleeting gift from Kong Rong during their previous team up had actually helped her regain her chi. It had been lying in a storage ring for the longest time possible and she figured that if those cultivators that Shang Xia was talking about were using the inscriptions charms from a certain Panda Dungeon Supplier, it did not hurt to give it a try. Thus, the charm which was supposed to be a magical beam attack had been converted into a battery of sorts by absorbing the stored chi within it. Ryuli knew the chi was dense enough for a short term burst, forcing her to go all out if need be, but to her surprise, the chi resonated with Ryuli, helping her to kickstart her dantian core once more.

    Based on her limited knowledge on chi regeneration, she could only deduce that the presence of the very same chi had prompted the inactive dantian core to awaken. Something like an electric shock to boot up the heart during a cardiac arrest but this time, it was akin towards a very specific electric pulse to boot the heart up. But that''s the thing that had her perplexed.

    Her chi was literally abination of chi and mana together and the way she understood it and it was something like a signature, the only person who could kick start her dantian core again was her very own maqi orбнher master''s.

    And that was the reason why she felt extremely confused. How could the owner of Dungeons and Pandas, a supposed disciple to her master, have the very same Maqi as her? After all, if her master did help unlock Jin''s Maqi, his chi would still be slightly different and that deviation would be sufficient to cause her dantian core to not react. The only conclusion she could draw was that her master was Jin himself but age wise, she had verified that he was born approximately a year or twoter than her.

    As if things were not thatplicated enough in her head, the Banned Emperor knew about the relic which was why they had set this heist up for it. It meant that there was a leak of information or even a mole in their midst which was something she had to deal with when they were out of this messy situation.

    For now, she had decided to ce all of the confusion and frustration into her attacks, and release them out on Shang Xia as a means of distress. But one thing was for sure when this whole fiasco was over.

    "Find that bloody panda owner and get the truth out of him."

 Chapter 1240: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1240: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 1</h4>

    Buzz threw a few bouts of tantrum upon learning that Shang Xia aka codenamed Queen only cared about the relic and not the lives of herrades. While it was true that their ultimate goal was to revive the Banned Emperor once again into the living but once resurrected, does the almighty really care about the lives that had been lost for his cause?

    "No, both she and our lord would not." Buzz knew deep down that it would never happen but the money that prompted him to join the cause was too great to ignore. He might not be a true convert but the money was more than sufficient for him to pretend to be a convert when he joined. After all, he had the skills and talent, just that he was not in the right ce, right time nor right window of opportunity for him to seed. So, joining the terrorist organisation was one of the ways to clear his debts. Still, the cracks of being a non believer were apparent the deeper he got into the organisation''s ways of life.

    And this operation had be the straw which would break his back for him. He knew that after this heist, he either would die or be in hiding forever if he failed. And even though he knew the consequences, the incentive for joining the operation was too alluring to move away from it. An immediate deposit of two million US dors into his ount the moment he agreed to it and another five million if he were to get out alive.

    He had no idea where the Banned Emperor was getting the funds but because they were too big of a hidden organisation and too rich for his liking, Buzz had decided it was worth the gamble.

    As a team lead for a certain dungeon supplier group, he had always been intrigued in creating the best dungeon instance. He even took a brief tour, trying out the dungeon instances for this year''s Symposium to be utterly disappointed by it. The only one he was looking out for was actually Dungeons and Pandas but the announcement for him to be out of the Symposium was both a disappointment and relief.

    Disappointed that he knew he would not be able to see the wonders that particr Dungeon Supplier had created onest time before he died or fled. Relief that he knew the Dungeon Supplier would continue to live on and perhaps one day Buzz would be able to check it out at least once in his life if he were to make it out alive.

    But now, all he felt was annoyance when he heard the name of the very same dungeon supplier he worshipped being used against him right now. His items were so superior that they somehow managed to activate their chi back again in HIS Dimensional Instance where Buzz should be the one dictating the rules. With time not at their side, the only thing he needed to extend it was putting additional bodies against these cultivators and to do that, he had to crank up the energy and ce resources dedicated for other purposes to this particr task.

    Distract the cultivators.

    This was because the cultivators that barged in were doing something he was not expecting. Instead of finding enemies to kill or locating the main culprit behind this, they were doing the exact opposite. By doing their best to destroy what they had built so far. It was as if they knew that the pyramidal temple they were building was vital in their ns. But in actual fact, the Demon Exorcist was merely following Jin''s instructions.

    "If you see something out of the norm, just destroy it. In Every. Way. Possible. If what you said was true, they are maintaining the barrier and not manipting thendscape means that something out of the norm would be of an importance to them. So, just destroy it and the dungeon supplier maintaining it would need to either rebuild it from scratch or send goons to distract you. If he did thetter, it means that you are doing it correctly and continue to do so." Jin''s instructions were fairly clear and the goons part did emerge when the Demon Exorcists saw men in ck suits emerging from thin air. They were armed to the teeth with high grade weapons as they moved towards the Demon Exorcists. Su Zhen and Lian did not use their dual inscription charms as of yet since Lein rmended them to keep it first until they really do need it.

    "Not necessary to show our hand to the enemy." Lein''s words ticked Lian off since she knew that he just wanted all the fun to himself. He didin how boring the dungeon supplier''s challenges were and he nearly wanted to let Rong win because he could not bear to go through everything. Besides, having a car of their own was useless when they had the System to teleport them if it was urgent enough. The only thing that changed his mind was a taunt from Rong saying that he could not bother toplete it because it bored him.

    Lein simply could not let Rong be proven right, because it was their way of friendship. To always be the top in terms ofbat ability while not showing it outright was possibly his narcissistic way of living life for now.

    Still, there were noints how much havoc he did as his attacks broke a major hole in the temple while the other two Demon Exorcists dealt with the minions. The only thing that they did not expect was that the men in ck subsequently turned to monsters when they were severely injured, boasting their strength.

    Thankfully, Jin''s single use inscriptions were strong enough for Su Zhen and Lian to hold them off while Lein took care of the monsters. But as Lein did that, the Temple he destroyed was slowly reconstructed back with Buzz''s maniption of the instance''s resources. He had no choice but to alternate his attacks to make sure that his colleagues were protected as he dealt damage to the temple. But as usual, as things tend to go too smoothly, trouble happens.

    "Your wilful rampage ends here, punk." An Eagle silhouette swooped in and shed against Lein as he finished off a wave of monsters.

 Chapter 1241: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1241: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 2</h4>

    As the fights were beginning inside the Shenzhen Convention Centre, Jin had reached the south entrance of the building staring at the beauty of the building for a moment. He had been here a few times but the ce was littered with exhibition promotions and people that there was no time to admire the beauty of the architecture.

    Initially the police thought it was just additional backuping inte but a few immediately noticed the man itself. A few of the higher ups who were on the scene had previously read the ssified reports of the Royal Zodiac Panda Lord and how he had dealt the blow against the Banned Emperor. Perhaps, he was brought in again to solve this particr case despite the fact that he had despised the Dungeon Supplier Symposiummittee for what they had done to him.

    Still, serving the country, especially the Royal Zodiacs was their main duty and to see the young lord in action again only proved that he was carrying his weight in this modern era. Some of the security forces evenmented how the Royal Zodiacs had been only a mouthpiece for their own justice but the appearance of the Panda Lord subtly changed their opinions even if it''s only just a little bit.

    And if Jin could really break this barrier which they have no information on, it would once again put a record in his legacy being one of the more capable Royal Zodiac Lords. Thus, little did he know that behind the shoulders of the overly fatigued worker for the System had people''s hopes pinned on him to crack the barrier.

    "System, are you able to analyse anything from ground above?" Jin yawned a little as he took his hand and ced it directly on the repelling force, as if to check how much it could resist. Naturally, he had no idea that the Banned Emperor terrorists were already eyeing on him and ready to pounce when he did anything funny against the barrier. Without Eagle, their sniper and battle veteran, the two terrorists only had the option of ambushing the crowd if things go weary.

    "As User had predicted correctly, it is indeed a dimensional instance. Based on the magic usage to raise the dimensional instance to thisrge of a radius would most likely need a person extremely skilful in mana maniption. However, as we all know that the advancement of dungeon instances allowed them to use electricity as a substitute power supply. Unfortunately, any power cut to the exhibition hall would have no effect on it if the previous blueprint ns provided by Kong Rong were considered to be up to date."

    "Their backup generators, right? Should have enough juice to power all the servers for at least a few hours or so." Jin retracted his hand and stared at the dimensional barrier with his hands holding at the waist. He closed his eyes for a while and subsequently activated his inverse eyes after feeling an involuntary chilling shudder across his shoulders.

    "We can do two ways around this." Jin shouted so loudly that it caused some of the policemen to react by lifting their pistols up.

    "You can attack us now or we wille after you guys at this very instance." Jin said as he turned towards the side where it faced the river. Yet there was no reply but confused policemen thinking whether Jin had gone nuts. Is he not able to break the barrier and thus decided to make some fuss saying there was someone around the corner stalking them?

    However, things changed when they saw his eyes glowing brightly with violet blue as he raised his sword. At that point, panda silhouettes appeared above him but instead of the usual sleepy astral ones, they were holding onto a card with a lightning symbol on it, waving hastily in the air.

    The skies above them were tranquil blue, all clear with no clouds to be seen around at all and yet the crackling of thunder could be heard. Next thing they knew was seeing two streaks of lightning hitting at two specific locations continuously for a few seconds.

    "If they were fast enough to evade the lightning strikes or tolerate the attacks, they are a considerable threat." The Systemmented as the entire security force could clearly see two shadows popping out from the areas where Jin had shot his lightning strikes.

    And as the two gentlemen made their appearance in the open, they did not hesitate to start their rampage. The bodybuilder with muscles asrge as the car tyres smashes through the police vans, breaking a hole within them. A police van with reinforced metal, built to keep mid to high grade cultivators as prisoners had a hole through it. It was as if telling the police forces that capturing him alive would be rather futile.

    Meanwhile, the other cultivator was agile. Not like the superhero sh kind of agile but agile enough to deflect iing bullets and enough strength to rip a head off the retaliating police officer. His attacks were also apanied with a particr technique where he used his shadow to create a jaguar silhouette to rip the legs out of the person. No head and legs meant the person is a definite goner.

    "Defensive wall around the Panda Lord! Jin, get cracking and don''t even think of involving yourself into the fight! This is an order from me! Disobey and you know the consequences!" Kong Rong shouted as he walked towards the bloody mess the two terrorists had already inflicted. Simr to the situation where the Royal Zodiac Horse toon got annihted, the police officers did not have sufficient training equipped to handle such situations.

    Even some of the army personnel were instantly annihted even though statistically they survived a few seconds longer. (As observed by the System.) It was apparent that the terrorists were of a high threat target and there was little the middle grade cultivators could do when faced against high grade cultivators.

    The only thing they could hope for were people like Kong Rong who were battle hardened agents to save the day. In the meantime, Jin reluctantly listened to his senior executive and started cracking his head on the dimensional barrier.

 Chapter 1242: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1242: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 3</h4>

    "Resistance is futile. Stay away from the barrier." The colossus cultivator shouted as he portrayed his silhouette with a gigantic bear towering at least a few metres tall above him. And with that amount of chi being released, he sent it towards the direction of Jin who was seen as the immediate threat when the police started building a defensive perimeter around him.

    However, Kong Rong was standing between him and the wall, blocking the massive chi st with his walking stick. People always know that the stick was not just a prop to make him look pompous and elusive but his weapon of choice. (Although some beg to differ that it purposely made him look weak.) In fact, some even believed that the stick was just a secondary weapon and used to hide his true powers even further as the Royal Zodiac Dragon n always had rumours how they have techniques passed down their generations to be considered taboo ording to the current generation''s standards.

    If Jin could summon a bunch of lightning bolts out of nowhere with his Panda cultivation, the Dragon n would probably have more disgustingly powerful techniques hidden under Kong Rong''s sleeves. Still, the terrorists have a job to do and they would not hesitate to steamroll one of the country''s mostpetent State Agents if they need to.

    It''s just thatбн they had severely underestimated him, especially the Banned Emperor''s Bear Cultivator.

    As Bear saw that his chi st could be blocked and subsequently deflected away, he assumed that the next course of action was to punch the hell out of the cultivator standing right in front of him. A simple and yet effective alternate strategy as that was how the Bear had always defeated his enemies. Thus, he gathered his chi in his right fist and dashed towards Kong Rong without any other thoughts.

    Jaguar also thought that the inclothes police officer who blocked his chi st was some regr high grade cultivator who did not know the true extent of Bear''s ferocious strength. As if the disy of power by ripping a hole in the police van was not enough, Jaguar knew that Bear could even topple buildings with his punch. (Well technically, he broke the foundations causing them to copse and still survive the falling debris, emerging unscathed from said ridiculous activity.) Therefore, his tenacity was considered to be top notch and no regr high grade cultivator could be a match for him.

    Even the spars within the organisation would have ced him in the top 50 most capable cultivators if there was a chart to measure their strength and power rankings. So as Jaguar killed a few police officers who were trying their best to shoot him down, he was quietly eyeing the inevitable defeat of the presumptuous cultivator who thought it was best to face the Bear head on.

    Yet, Bear did not wish to severely underestimate the cultivator who foolishly tried to stop him face on without moving away a single inch and thus he activated his Epic technique even though he believed it was unnecessary. Better safe than sorry when the operation hinges on the two of them to dy the police from opening the dimensional instance from the outside.

    "Explosive Kettle Punch of the Barrable Bear!"

    In his punch lies an umtion of massive chi, enough to knock buildings down and now with his Epic Technique, the punch slightly vibrates as if the tightly closed kettle was about to explode from the build up of intense steam pressure within it. Upon release, it was not only knocked the cultivator away, but made sure all that was left standing was his foot imprint as the chi would decimate him regardless of the defensive techniques he had kept hiding.

    And even if the cultivator did dodge with high speed, the punch would not be wasted and instead, its strength would be doubled as Bear had mastered holding his punch. However, that would not happen as Jaguar had already sent his shadow to bind the high grade cultivator if he ever tried to move away from the attack, making it a guarantee strike which would be a spectacr show for the police to watch.

    Also, both the terrorists believed that the punch would be strong enough to destroy whatever police wall they had been building behind the high grade cultivator, eliminating the threat two fold. The delight within Bear and Jaguar was immense as they could already picture the horrors of the police and army forces in their heads when the punch strikes.

    That is if the punch was able to hit.

    Kong Rong continued to stare head on against Bear with confidence exuding out of him and Bear perceived that as arrogance rather than having the ability to defeat him. But he had forgotten that there would always be a mountain higher than the one he was standing on. The fact he was not number one in the rankings should have reminded him about humility but Bear really wanted to remove that smirk away from Kong Rong''s face that he had underestimated his opponent.

    "Legendary Dragon Technique, Counterforce Reflection of the Mirror Dragon."

    Kong Rong''s whisper sounded like a silent breeze in this chaotic situation but it was more than enough to turn the tide of the current impending doom he was about to face. As Bear''s punch made contact against the State Agent''s torso, everything that was supposed to happen against Kong Rong had happenedбн except in reverse.

    The punch backfired against Bear and not just his entire arm had been burnt by the attack but his entire body. Kong Rong had not only reflected the entire attack towards Bear but also enhanced it with his own chi, causing the Bear to cease from existing in this worldpletely.

    No one knew what the hell was happening when the impactnded causing Bear to disappear as his explosive attack left nothing on the ground, not even a drop of blood as the punch''s attack was so hot that it evaporated any possible scatter of blood away. All that remained were charred marks and ground debris of the explosive punch. Even a portion of the river which was dozens of metres away had evaporated away momentarily before the river continued to flow.

    Everything in the force was left in shock, including the remaining Jaguar Terrorist who did not expect such a reversal from one of the strongest guys he ever knew.

 Chapter 1243: Shenzhen Convention Incident - Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1243: Shenzhen Convention Incident - Part 4</h4>

    "No. No. This can''t be." The Jaguar could not believe his eyes as Bear got decimated into nothingness right in front of his eyes. The high grade cultivator turned to look towards Jaguar as if to warn him that he would be next if he did not surrender himself.

    Jaguar had no idea what had happened and neither did the security forces around Kong Rong. They were merely in awe that the State Agents could be this powerful as it seemed as if there was no revtion of his cultivation silhouette when he merely timed it right such that it was too fast for the naked eye to see it and under the cover of the opposing enemies'' energy chi. (Jin, on the other hand, saw it clear as day with his Inverse Eyes ability.)

    But little did they know that colossus terrorist was simply a bad match against Kong Rong. The technique which Kong Rong had unleashed was particrly lethal against melee attacks, especially with his Thousand Years Mirror Dragon Cultivation. It would reflect any physical and ranged attacks back depending on the tier grade. And as Kong Rong had already mastered it to the Legendary Tier, the payback given was almost if not the same as five folds worth.

    Most Royal Zodiac Dragon n members would not have the same cultivation as him as they practised the Royal Zodiac Dragon cultivation, the root of all Dragon cultivations. However, for Kong Rong, he had the determination and talent to pick up another cultivation style that was uniquely his when he had already mastered the foundation of the Zodiac Dragon Cultivation. And having a second cultivation style also meant that he fulfilled one of the basic requirements needed to reign as the next uing Dragon n leader if his father allowed him to do so.

    And normally, he was not allowed to showcase his alternate cultivation but since Kong Rong had timed it right, everyone except Jin had not caught the glimpse of his cultivation at all, and thus continue to keep his powers secret.

    The Jaguar did not expect such a powerful cultivator within the police forces and immediately cried for help in the channel. "Bear''s down. Bear''s down. He did not even have the chance to use ''that'' at all. I need backup as soon as possible!"

    "No one is able toe to save you. You know that once we go into the dimensional instance, there is no way for us toe out until weplete the task." Buzz said frantically as he tried to reconstruct the temple that Lein had destroyed. There was no sugar coating of the truth too since the operation had beenpromised with the rise of invaders. It seemed as if their worse case scenarios were not the worst after all and Queen had not been returning any calls as well.

    "Fuck!" Jaguar said as his hands were trembling a little, knowing that he had to use the forbidden technique. It would inevitably cost his life and there was no turning back from it. The only way he could remain alive was to surrender by the overwhelming police force now focused on him since Bear had died. But he figured that even if he were to surrender, the deaths of the police officers he killed would be used as the evidence to execute him once he had been tortured out for information.

    And if he does not use that forbidden technique, he would definitely have no chance against the high grade cultivator who had single handedly killed Bear without doing anything at all. "Fuck! If you had moved, I would be able to kill you!" Jaguar said as he could clearly see that Kong Rong was not moving an inch away from his position. His Shadow Trap of the Jarring Jaguar Technique needed his opponent to make a movement out of the assigned radius so that it could activate.

    "It seems that you are looking at me, attempting to taunt me so that I would move towards you." Kong Rong shouted as he casually swung his walking stick in a controlled small area, indicating to Jaguar that he knew about the trap.

    "Are you a wuss to not walk out of it? Or have you already dispensed all your chi killing myrade?" Jaguar tried to diss him off to the best of his ability as he leapt to another police officer and ripped his head into two. The bullets that were fired towards him were useless as his shadow was protecting him from all sorts of projectiles.

    "You very well know that I can kill you in a sh even with this trap right here." Kong Rong said as he felt agitated not because of the Jaguar''s taunts but the numerous vibrations he was getting on his phone. He knew all sorts of agencies were trying to get to him including his father, wanting an update of the current situation.

    "Hah! Try me then!" Jaguar believed his threat was not a bluff especially when he could kill Bear in a sh. And hence, he ced his fingers together at his nape and inserted an immense amount of chi into it. There was a hidden inscription right behind his neck and in order to activate it, he had to give everything he got into it. Not just his chi but his life force too.

    In doing so, he would be able to transform into the forbidden being that would wreak havoc and force the police to stand down. Even if they did not, the police and army would be inflicted with tremendous casualties while allowing hisrades within the dimensional instance to perform their ritual with the stolen relic.

    The only problem was that if you are the only one left standing in the area surrounded by a mix of regr and elite security forces. The chances of unleashing a forbidden technique without being interrupted were close to zero. A bolt of lightning prated through the foreboding atmosphere that Jaguar was creating and to the top of his head. That split moment to stun him (Which also caused him to drop his shadow shield for a moment) was more than sufficient for dozens of police officers to empty their ammo clip towards the Banned Emperor Terrorist.

    "Welp. That means no information from that guy." Kong Rong sighed but that after sigh smirk was still lurking on his face.

 Chapter 1244: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1244: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 5</h4>

    "Jin, didn''t I say not to interfere with the subjugation of the terrorists? Focus on your own work." Kong Rong did not even make eye contact and started to take his phone to check the messages he missed when he was dealing with the ''threat''.

    "But it worked out pretty fine, didn''t it?" Jin grumbled as he touched the dimensional instance barrier once more and requested the System to analyse. The wall of police officers did not lower their guards as Jin continued to stare professionally at the dimensional instance. (But it looked like he was totally clueless with regards to it.)

    Instead of breaking it immediately which Jin had full confidence to do so, he wanted to see what kind of dimensional instance the Banned Emperor''s dungeon supplier had created. After all, it was not that easy to pop such an extensive dimensional instance right in the middle of the city.

    Usually, it was best to create a dimensional instance in an empty ne so there was little to no interference with the real life structures. And to top it off, this dungeon supplier was talented enough to pop it not in just some empty convention centre but in an exhibition where dozens of dimensional instances were erected for the showcase. While it was true that if the Banned Emperor''s dungeon supplier had cut off or routed all the electricity and servers for its own use, the dimensional instance they created would not be an issue since all the ''smaller'' dimensional instances would cease to exist without a steady supply of power.

    But what made Jin admire the dungeon supplier was that he or she did not discount the residue of the current dimensional instances that were open in the Symposium. They managed to overwrite all of the dimensional instances to let the one they wanted to supersede the rest. This was because most modern dungeon instances had their enchantments written in such a way that the dimensional instance would stay open for at least a minute before closing due to theck of energy supply. This was to facilitate the emergency evacuation of the cultivators that were trapped in their current dimensional instances. But two dimensional instances cannot coexist together in one ne as they defied thews of supernatural physics.

    So, all these minor but numerous dimensional instances that could have interfered with the creation of giant dimensional instances were handled despite the emergence of the Banned Emperor''s dimensional instance. This led Jin to conclude that the explosion that happened was not because of an improvised explosive device attack on the convention hall to serve as a distraction but rather the interaction of multiple dimensional instances and a particrly big one.

    Either that or the dungeon supplier had purposely allowed its instance to collide with another to cause an explosion and create the distraction. However, Jin did not wish to give his enemies too much of a credit as the System finished itsst few procedures analysing the monstrous dimensional instance.

    "As expected by the User, the dimensional barrier does contain a few extra lines of codes that made it unique. However, the rest of the codes were rather mediocre by the System''s standards." The System stated but Jin rolled his eyes. If the System was able topliment the enemy by saying that it had a few extra lines of code, it was more than enough to know that the dungeon supplier was a talented brilliant individual.

    "Urgh, makes me want to try negotiating with the terrorist," Jin grumbled as he touched the barrier once more.

    "We do not negotiate with terrorists. I believed the people there would rather die than surrender their pledge of loyalty to the enemy." One of the police officers stuck his nose when he overheard Jin.

    "Hmm yea. Okay. Sorry about that." Jin did not bother attempting to fight against an over patriotic officer who was doing his job at the moment.

    "The System begged to differ. He might potentially be apetent enough dungeon supplier assistant."

    "Do you even have the money to spare to buy him over?" Jin talked to the System through his telepathy.

    "Money can be earned once more." The Systemmented which made Jin almost burst outughing.

    "Says the one who is so stingy with money that it made my minions feel bad about themselves for not giving the right amount ofpensation."

    "The minions do have sufficientpensation, the User was simply ignorant to their ways." The System stated and that was when Kong Rong shouted from the back.

    "Hey, Kid! Hurry it up!" Kong Rong eximed as he returned to his phone, exasperated from the unending phone calls. If one were to ask which was the tiring fight, he would say the one with the humans hounding through a piece of rectangle metal.

    "Fineбн" Jin was not doing it because Kong Rong told him so but rather, he did it for the possible rewards he might reap after this particr incident. Thus, Jin now ced both of his hands right in front of the barrier and Maqi flowed out at a consistent rate to cover the entire dimensional instance.

    "You know. Some food for thought." Jin talked to the police officer who was annoying him just now. "To the eyes of many, we might be just. But does justice apply to everyone equally?"

    The police officer wished to reply with his opinion until he saw Jin''s face be even more serious and arge Panda Silhouette emerged from his back. This time, the Panda was filled with arge void of ck space and stars twinkling around it.

    "Dear Banned Emperor Dungeon Supplier, this might not be the best solution to crack your masterpiece but it is certainly one of the fastest!" Jin said as he babbled a few enchantments which the rest did not understand with the exception of a few who knew that what he was saying was simr to chanting magic out.

    This was because what Jin was creating to defeat thatrge Dimensional Instance was to make a dimensional instance of his own with his Maqi as the energy supply. In short, he was creating an authentic dimensional instance that could rival the ones written in history books and ancient traditions.

 Chapter 1245: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1245: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 6</h4>

    "What kind of cultivator is she?" Shang Xia deflected the umbre swipe once more with her dagger, while at the same time activating its effects causing Ryuli to be knocked to the side. Her daggers as indicated with an up or down arrow had the ability to force the opponent to move as per the direction of the arrow on the dagger.

    This allowed a distinct advantage against most of her enemies, especially those in her melee range. However, it did not seem to work rather well with the girl with herbat umbre. Ever since she learnt how the dagger had worked, it did not seem to matter much for her. The first hit was particrly painful as the dagger which she parried, caused her to suddenly lose her footing and sent Ryuli flying to the ceiling.

    And to make things even moreplicated, Shang Xia''s daggers could change the direction of Ryuli''s counter attacks too during her attempt to block the next set of attacks from the Banned Emperor terrorist. Still, seeing it once was enough for her to change her pattern of attack. From a straight forceful st of chi to scattered coteral damage.

    The Dragon Girl also used her chi umbre to send out solid beams of chi to assault Shang Xia and they were proven effective mainly because of Ryuli''s ability to manipte the chi beams. Each time the assassin deflected the beam, Ryuli would simply break the beam into multiple smallersers and bend them to attack the assassin. It annoyed Shang Xia but she could not deny that only apetent monster was able to make beams converge towards her and she had to up her game if she were to fight toe to toe with the State Agent.

    Even though the damage might not be significantly high, it''s the sustained damage that would subsequently bring the assassin down to her knees. Thus, Shang Xia knew the consequences of Ryuli''s slow way of killing her and decided to not reserve any skills. One would have thought that her skills would be more towards directional maniption but Shang Xia was actually a cultivator who was able to control gravity (to a certain extent.)

    This was equally as unique as Ryuli''s extensive chi maniption mainly because when cultivators usually use their chi to create an attack, it was usually an extension of themselves. It''s like a bow and arrow situation where the archer dictates where the arrow would go with his/her bow.

    The strength, direction and intent had been set right from the start and everything lies on how the arrow would fly to. But in Ryuli and Shang Xia''s case, chi to them was like controlling a puppet on strings where the puppeteer was able to still move the puppet at the veryst minute. The only difference was how much control both of the cultivators were able to exert.

    With Shang Xia''s ability, her powers were leaning more towards the basic maniption since gravity was not an easy ''object'' to control. Unlike Ryuli who could control each and every minor chi st going towards the Queen, Shang Xia only had partial control with the usage of her daggers as well as her surroundings.

    Still, that was sufficient to affect the delicate control of Ryuli''s chi st and caused them to deviate from their pattern allowing them to miss. Initially, the Dragon Girl thought that the terrorist''s skills were something rted to directional arrows but she now understood that it was a fa?ade to hide her true powers.

    "A Western based Cultivator. Able to manipte the space around her. Could just be gravity but I do not have time to test, neither do I have enough space to exert more extensive chi techniques against her." Ryuli thought and then she suddenly realised something was amiss.

    The two guards.

    When Shang Xia saw how Ryuli had moved her nce towards the side of the room, she immediatelyughed. "You thought that I was the only Banned Emperor in that whole group? You should have selected your people even more extensively Ms State Agent!" Shang Xiaughed as her n was two fold. Half of the bodyguards that were employed were under the Banned Emperor''s control and the group leader just so happened to call on the bodyguards that were affiliated with the Banned Emperor.

    The only problem was that the bodyguards were seeded by another team and the only way to know who was who during the action was when they dispersed their chi in battle. However, at that moment when the two guards were escorting Shang Xia and Ryuli to the toilet, their identities had not been revealed until Shang Xia knocked them on the back.

    Only upon contact, she could sense the chi which embedded in them and start to pour some chi in the battle towards them to kickstart their consciousness back. That was also one of the reasons why she was more on the defensive than attacking. Ryuli could only connect the dots as to how Shang Xia could have done it with the use of the gravity powers to move the bodies away from the fight and they quietly sneaked off.

    Even though she did not know the number of bodyguards that could have been corrupted by the Banned Emperor''s ideology, her main concern now was to catch those guys. If the relic were to fall into their hands, it would be a pending disaster. (Not to mention, it was naturally bad for her resume and a dent in her achievement, especially when it was near the end of the fiscal year and the annual appraisal was near. If Kong Rong was here in her head, he could only sigh how money minded she was.)

    "Do not even think you can catch them without defeating me." Shang Xia said but Ryuli was already too mad to have proper thoughts in her mind. The fight had reignited her generation of Maqi within her dantian core and if the bodyguards were a threat, she had to settle this quickly.

 Chapter 1246: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1246: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 7</h4>

    Shang Xia could sense the gathering of her opponent''s chi whether she liked it or not. It was pretty obvious that once the state agent understood the implications of the traitors within their ranks, it was easy to see how the Dragon Girl was irritated by it.

    But that was what Shang Xia wanted.

    She knew that there was no way she could win against the monster right in front of her even though she initially had been weakened by theck of chi. But she felt that there was still a chance to overwhelm this beast and allow her to slip away long enough before the Dragon Lady could do anything funny. After all, the current dimensional instance had allowed her to use her abilities freely.

    In the meantime, Ryuli''s only concern was to bash through this particr obstacle and get to the defence minister as soon as possible. In the first ce, she thought that this was going to be a chill babysitting session of the defence minister when her friend requested for her help to rece him because of the sole reason that his wife was getting pregnant on the day itself. Besides, it was a debt she had to return for the favours her colleague had done for her and she rather take a simple assignment after venturing through North Korea experimenting with weapons and projects that were not of her concern.

    "It was supposed to be an easy task and now this sort of ''shit'' happened. Fucking hell, Ran Ran better appreciate the quality time he had with his wife." Ryuli grumbled as a blue dragon silhouette emerged right behind her and it was pulsating with electricity. The dragon silhouette red ferociously at Shang Xia as Ryuli''s electric Maqi was sending shockwaves to paralyse her enemy from doing anything before she attacked.

    "What? My body?!" Shang Xia panicked as her counter skills were meant to activate when the Blue Dragon Silhouette flew towards her but she never expected it to cause her to stop all her movements. "No, this shall not be the end of me!" Shang Xia said as she tried to bite her tongue, hoping her body would make an involuntary reflex from the pain to break out of the paralysis.

    Ryuli also believed she got the mastermind as she finally pointed at Shang Xia and sent her Maqi flying towards her opponent.

    "I cannot end here! I cannot!" Shang Xia said as she tried to expand her chi and through sheer will, she could somehow feel a slight muscr twitch through her legs, allowing her to use her chi techniques. "Yes! Now!!!!" Shang Xia closed her eyes hard as she threw whatever chi she could garner at that point and it collided with the electrifying blue dragon silhouette that was about to hit her. It caused the basement ceiling to crack and concrete debris was dropping as a result. The basement walls continued to hold but there was coteral damage.

    When the dust settled, Ryuli realised she was the one that could be in more trouble than she thought. The debris had blocked the door and the state agent could not confirm whether her strike went true. "Damn it! How was she able to break the veryst second?! Is it because my Maqi was insufficient?" Ryuli clenched her fist momentarily before using her Maqi to extend her search for any residue and there was an apparent trail going back to the tunnel where they had split off from the group.

    "Urghhh, why was I in such a rush to use a big ass skill in this small room." Ryuli felt frustrated that she was already breaking protocol by moving away from the person she had to guard, thinking that the protective detail was still irond despite her departure. But now that she saw two of the guards were in coboration with the Banned Emperor Terrorists, her emotions went high and anxiety sat in. While she was right to find the mastermind behind the current attack, not being able to defeat her made things even moreplicated and now the most important thing to do was to get back to the protective detail.

    As she was about to clear the debris with another st, she heard a faintmunication lineing through her earpiece. "Bzzzt- --- BzzбкAgent L, Agent L. Can you hear? Can you hear? Reply. Reply." The connection was terrible but to havemunication back was something she did not expect, especially the one currently on the line.

    "Agent L reporting. I repeat. Agent L reporting." The connection seemed to be a little better as she sted the debris away from the door and she made her way to the supposed bunker.

    "Ah, it''s good to know you are alive and well."

    "How did themse back up? I thought this is a dimensional instance that blocks everything?" Ryuli questioned.

    "Cough, ''our'' Dungeon Supplier did that. You can ask other questionster. What is the situation inside?" Kong Rong asked as he shouted at Jin to continue what he was doing.

    "Disaster. The Defence Minister is in trouble and they are supposed to go through with some major n with regards to that relic." Ryuli reported.

    "Go where the relic is, the Defence Minister is not a priority." Kong Rong then went into a police car to give the instructions to his agent as he did not wish for others to eavesdrop.

    "But he is my priority mission, not the current fucked up situation that I am in. I have to defend him at all costs." Ryuli said but Kong Rong insisted on the new orders that he was giving her.

    "Ignore the minister. He is just somebody we could rece again in 31 days." Kong Rong replied but Ryuli understood what he said despite the cold hard facts presented. This was because thest sentence was a code in case people were listening in to the current conversation and that code meant that the current defence minister was a kagemusha or a shadow decoy, meant to be used to fool people.

    Now Ryuli understood why Ran Ran was not here protecting the defence minister, a duty he was so proud of and all she could do was to quietly curse at Kong Rong of purposely setting a bait that the Banned Emperor Terrorists would take.

 Chapter 1247: Breaking The Barrier

    <h4>Chapter 1247: Breaking The ''Barrier''</h4>

    "Seems to work well, doesn''t it?" Jin asked Kong Rong as he could see thatmunications were back up with a trick that the Dungeon Supplier had done. He tried to dupe the rules of the current dimensional instance by inserting his own dimensional instance through the barrier.

    Usually, the interaction between various dimensional instances was rare since dungeon suppliers in this era did not have to collide with each other. Each of them had their own stores and there was no need to overwrite the dimensional instances. However, Jin did the ''rare'' part way too often with his own dimensional instances.

    He had to extend existing dimensional instances to suit a bigger crowd or even overwrite a few to let his customers enjoy the current gamey without too much interference. But this was always within the System''s domain so even with overwriting of dimensional instances, the risks were rather small.

    But right now, it''s a different situation. Jin is currently not in the System''s domain and he had to interact with a dimensional instance that is not his. The number of victims that were trapped in it made matters even worse. Any regr dungeon supplier would be scared shitless trying to attempt something stupid.

    The only advantage he possessed was the System''s capability to perform miracles. (the System''s ''Big Brain'' analysis to be exact.) So, with Kong Rong able to send his message through the dimensional instance with a reply meant that the System had figured a way to crack the dimensional instance''s code while Jin executed based on the System''s instructions. (After all, the viin was usingputers and servers as an extension to power the barrier, not through sheer talent and knowledge of the traditional way of creating a dimensional instance.)

    As of now, the System had guaranteed that themunication breakthrough would not be noticed by the current dungeon supplier but the two way messages had to be brief in order to raise any suspicions.

    "Due to the current breakthrough of the System''s efforts, the System now proposed a design which could overwrite the current dimensional instance. Unfortunately, it would require a huge amount of power from the User in order to do so."

    "Are you saying that I cannot generate enough of it?" Jin asked and the System affirmed his ipetence.

    "That is assuming the User wished to take part in the fights. If the User is satisfied with providing the dimensional instance by himself, the System had estimated it to be sufficient. The only problem the System foresees is that the User would have to expend all his Maqi for the dimensional instance to open." The System stated and loaded the schematics for the dimensional instance into Jin''s head.

    "I am assuming you are going for the traditional route? Because there is no way I can maintain a dimensional instance of that size." Jin queried and the System once more affirmed his answer with a definitive yes since the traditional dimensional instance would naturally decay as time passes and does not need additional input from the dungeon supplier once it''s done.

    "Alright, then I will do it." Jin nodded as he internalised the schematics.

    "The System still believed User would prove more useful catching the Banned Emperor''s terrorists rather than endeavouring such a useless creation of a dimensional instance." The System stated that it would be better to get mobile power generators to create the dimensional instance instead.

    "No, no, no. If I seed, this would be a big fuck you to the Symposium if I can create the dimensional instance of this size. Besides, I do not wish to get into the crosshairs of the Banned Emperor until we are a little more influential. Indirect skirmishes are fine though I know that battle strength wise, we have more than enough ...considering that we built a multiverse army just to fight the Demon Rats soon." Jin said as he stepped back for a bit to take in a gasp of air despite the frantic situation behind him right now with all the police trying to coordinate with the people inside as much as they could. (Although themunications were frankly rather limited.)

    "The Systemputed that the User wished to boast to the world that he is a capable Dungeon Supplier, is that not?" The System requested for a confirmation which Jin smiled back with a smirk. Upon reading the schematics, he too know that doing this would knock him out cold for a few hours, maybe even a day but at the very least his reputation among the police and army forces if they had not known him already, will increase dramatically. Convincing them that he is the dungeon supplier they should go for would eventually earn him the big bucks especially when the supposed top notched dungeon suppliers were not able to do a single thing trapped within the exhibition''s premise.

    Jin then called out to Kong Rong, asking his men to step back a little. "I am breaking this shit down, give me some space all around the entire convention centre!" Kong Rong sighed with a defeated smile upon hearing Jin''s request and immediately coordinated with the other security chiefs in the vicinity, the police and army cleared the convention centre with a wide enough perimeter for Jin to perform his magic.

    Also, Jin had changed Bam and Boo into a staff, something simr to a Taoist Priest staff with rings on it which prompted the System to query once again. "It''s all about the show. Using a sword to channel my Maqi is not as cool as using Bam and Boo in staff mode. Besides, it had some symbolism with me dispelling the ''evil'' barrier away, allowing the forces of good to enter." Jin said as he started to channel his Maqi into the staff.

    But after thatment, the scene was rather quiet around Jin as he began to mumble all the incantations which the System had loaded into his thoughts. With Jin''s Inverse Eyes, he read the monstrous wall of text in his brain with pinpoint uracy, which almost scared the security forces around him, thinking he had been possessed.

    Yet, every sentence he spurted out was infused with his Maqi and magical ley lines began to surround the entire building''s perimeter. Some of the magic lines even started to creep above the current dimensional instance, as if it was about to entrap it. Seeing it in action was like looking at a grandmaster in the working.

    However, that did not faze Kong Rong as he knew that once Jin broke the dimensional instance down, they had to prepare for the next phase.

 Chapter 1248: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1248: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 8</h4>

    "Who the fuck are these people?!" Owl screamed as she took a leap backwards to evade the attacks. With her cultivation, she was able to fly backwards with her chi and to a safe spot. "Buzz, are you sure you are doing your job properly?!" She shouted angrily via telepathy which annoyed the dungeon supplier, putting him in great distress.

    "I am doing all I can but it seems like the nullification of chi does not seem to be working! Besides, the reconstruction of the temple is more important. Just distract them as much as possible and away from it! Especially from that lightning horse kid!" Buzz said as he was tapping on hisptop as fast as possible to make sure that the base of the pyramidal temple was ready to receive the relic. After all, this was his dimensional instance and in it, he was the ''god''.

    For these cultivators to rebel against his own world was sacrilege but he could not do anything else other than to make sure his world continued to stay intact.

    "Eagle is already doing all he can to keep that stupid electro boy busy. I am more concerned for thest cultivator who had yet to show her powers." Falcon, the brother of Owl, had said as he stepped in immediately after Owl had retreated in order to not let the current cultivator they were fighting against to have a breather.

    "Given your cultivation, shouldn''t you have an easier time dealing with a snake cultivator?" Buzz dissed them for not doing their job but they cannot deny the fact that Su Zhen was giving them more trouble than they would credit her for. Her Great White Snake Demon Cultivation was of tremendous help against these two trapped bird cultivators in this exhibition hall. While it might be spacious with only the pyramidal temple at the centre, the fact that the Owl and Falcon were not in an open space environment proved to be a handicap from Su Zhen''s Great White Snake powers, especially when she could feel the entire hall with her snake summons.

    "Heh, in an enclosed area, the Great White Snake can tear those wings down if you are not careful enough. You might be predators against the helpless reptiles but now the tables have turned," Lian said as she continued to defeat the otherckeys that were involved in the construction of the temple. It might be regenerating on its own with the dungeon supplier doing its best to reconstruct but without the other Banned Emperor''s terrorists to supply chi, the rebuilding efforts had been severely impeded.

    Lein had also told Lian not to interfere with their fights and as much as he did not like it, to keep her as the trump card against any other terrorists they might encounter. In the meantime, he was equally annoyed with his enemy as the Eagle Cultivator''s movements were sharp and precise. The use of a pair of short spears to attack him at every turn possible was as irritating as Lein countering with his electric attacks.

    On the other hand, Lein not only blocks but purposely shoots out a series of lightning chi sts which damage the temple if the Eagle had not moved away. Eagle could have not evaded and taken the hits, but he would suffer tremendously from the attacks. After all, his cultivation was definitely not a goodbination against the lightning cultivator.

    ----

    "Sis, it is possible that I saw a weakness in her defence. Her snake summons a second dy when it strikes to protect its user, at that moment, I would dive in to attack her." The Falcon sent a telepathy message to his sibling. The Owl, after recuperating for a few seconds, had decided to give another shot too.

    "On my mark, attack with all you got as well! Advanced Owl Technique. Orge''s Owl Catch of the Day!" The Owl shouted as she circled around Su Zhen before diving down for a strong impact. Her hands and legs had been equipped with talons simr to an owl''s as she was expecting to dive in and shred all the snakes that were in her way.

    "Ohбнnice. They caught my drift. I thought it would take something more apaprent to catch them in my trap." Su Zhen smirked as she poured even more chi into her snake summons who had been circling around her for ages as a defensive mechanism.

    The snakes that were protecting her ever since she had transformed with the dual inscription charms immediately looked towards the owl and rushed towards them. If Jin could have seen the scene with his own eyes, he might have considered letting Yamata no Orochi have a look at her. Perhaps that snake demon might be able to let her be his apprentice and even use him as her new basis for cultivation if she waspatible enough.

    In contrast, the Owl Cultivator was very confident that she was able to shred anything blocking her path as she zoomed without any fear. The only problem was that she noticed toote when the snakes that came towards her struck her harder than her talons could handle and tore her in a split second moment. Even Falcon who had quick reactionary time as part of his abilities was not able to have a detailed look at how his sister could be torn to shreds.

    And that momentary realisation was more than enough for a bunch of snakes to emerge from his sides unnoticed and catch him. Its jaws pierce through his chi armour and bite his hands and legs. Just as he was about to panic and struggle out of the way, a great white snake bigger than the rest snapped the Falcon''s head away, leaving his only body as a snack for the rest of the snakes to feast upon.

    "Epic Technique. Pit of the Great White Snake." Su Zhen said as she felt satisfied to use her first Epic Technique against the cultivators. She thought she never had the chance to use it inbat other than the fights within Jin''s dungeon instances. The white snake summons slowly retreated and continued to form a partially transparent barrier around Su Zhen as she now helped Lian with her extermination of the Banned Emperor''s terrorists.

    The Eagle saw the entire process and got even more worked up. Like Jaguar who saw something incredibly unbelievable, the only choice he could turn to in this situation was his forbidden inscription enchantment behind his neck.

 Chapter 1249: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1249: Shenzhen Convention Incident -Part 9</h4>

    Lein noticed that the terrorist he was fighting was doing something out of the norm. He was no longer in his usual battle stance and it seems like he was more on the defensive. Thus, Lein tried to poke his defences with his usual lightning attacks to see whether there were any deadly counters while maintaining a distance.

    The first wave of lightning bolts that were shot out from Lein''s sword did not feel like he had done any damage to the eagle who was hovering in midair. In fact, Lein predicts that the lightning bolts had been absorbed by some barrier and that already alerted him to be wary of his current opponent''s new stance.

    However, the Qilin Cultivator never lost sight of what he was supposed to do. The destruction of the temple was his main objective and since the Eagle Cultivator was about to do something drastic, it was best that he would take this opportunity to destroy whatever that remained and trouble the current dungeon supplier who was still hiding from them.

    Lein probably would not have noticed anything of significance to the temple if not for the impatience of the Banned Emperor''s dungeon supplier consistently trying to rebuild the ce back up as quickly as possible. But in consideration that high grade cultivator terrorists came to defend the temple, it was definitely a ce of importance that made it pertinent for the Demon Exorcists to destroy it.

    On the other hand, when the Eagle Cultivator, who was still keeping his eye on Lein saw the Qilin Cultivator massed a terrifying amount of chi, he thought that everything was going as nned. He assumed that he was the perfect bait for the electric user to zap with whatever power it possessed as the Eagle was in a stance where he was absorbing all the attacks into chi for the activation of his forbidden inscription charm. No doubt there were downsides to this as the attacks would still hurt but at the very least, it would activate the charm for his own use with sacrificing his own chi. (Also, Eagle vowed to return the pain back tenfold.)

    However, as Lein lifted his sword up to discharge his lightning chi, the enemy realised that the lightning strikes were not aimed towards him at all. Instead, each strike went past him and the Eagle Cultivator heard the building behind him exploding.

    "You should probably take a look behind you," Lein said despite the sound of his lightning crackling so loudly that the Eagle could only deduce through lip reading. And as the terrorist slowly turned to his back, he could see how the temple went into mes with each lightning bolt.

    "How?" Eagle could believe his eyes that these bolts of lightning had sufficient strength to not only break the temple infrastructure down like a punch breaking the walls into two but causing them to burn furiously. Lein had been doing that since the start of the fight when he had engaged against the Eagle but the Banned Emperor''s terrorist did not realise the strength of lightning attacks. In fact, he was able to block it so easily that deflecting the attacks was a piece of cake to the Eagle. It was just irritating that sometimes attacks do hurt and that was when he realised that Lein might have good control of his chi.

    It was possible that Lein''s attacks could have been this powerful but his objective was never about defeating the Eagle at all. He was merely following Jin''s order to destroy everything that was ''not reality'' and this would severely hinder the Banned Emperor''s dungeon supplier. That was when the Eagle knew that if he were to follow his current n, there was no way he could evolve.

    Thus, he started to concentrate pouring all his chi into the forbidden inscription, hoping to activate as soon as possible. Lein and the others noticed that too but the destruction of the temple seemed to be their top priority, hoping that a slip in the dungeon supplier''s code might potentially destroy the current dimensional instance they were in.

    Yet, it seems the fury of the Eagle was more explosive than one could have thought and the Demon Exorcists finally started to pay more attention to it. The only problem was that they were toote to do anything else as the forbidden inscription had finally started to activate and reform the Eagle Cultivator.

    "Wait a minute. That auraбн" Lian, who was more sensitive to chi discement, spoke up in fear. The other two Demon Exorcists concentrated their attention and feared for the worst as well.

    "A forced demon summoningбн" Lein decided not to waste any more time and wished to strike it down as soon as possible.

    "No! Don''t! It''s not just a demon summoning!" Lian wanted to stop herrade but it was toote as he zoomed towards the Eagle Cultivator hoping to cut it into two before it coulde out. "he had be a sacrifice for the demon too!"

    A gigantic hand instantly popped out from the Eagle Cultivator''s body, creating a hole in his chest just to grab onto Lein. The Qilin Cultivator could feel his bones crack momentarily from the grab.

    "What''s this wonderful delicacy that I smell?'' The voice came booming from the void of the Eagle''s chest as it started to absorb the remaining portion of the dead cultivator''s body. In the meantime, it did not loosen the grip and the only way to free it was to cut his hand away.

    Su Zhen in response summoned a great white snake to bite on the wrist of the demon. Hoping that the anatomy of humans would still apply to demons, she had aimed for the wrist joints. The Demon Hand reacted in shock, allowing Lein to escape from a sudden twitch of his hand but even the Great White Snake was still not sufficient to damage It as another Demon Hand emerged and tore the snake''s head into two, causing Su Zhen to suffer intensive feedback of pain.

    "Such ythings do not interest me. But the smell of three little delicacies made me feel that it would be worth the triping into this realm." The mysterious Demon Voice continued to echo as the Demon Exorcists could see the world''s fabric being torn open as if time and space was a piece of paper.

    "What the hellбн How can the Banned Emperor terrorists bring such a monster into this worldбн" Lian said as she retreated back with Su Zhen in her arms.

 Chapter 1250 - Shenzhen Convention Incident -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1250 - Shenzhen Convention Incident -Final</h4>

    It was not a demon which the exorcists had recognised. As the hand from the portal tore Su Zhen''s white snake summon into two causing it to dissipate, it finally revealed its head through the portal summoned from the innards of the Eagle Cultivator. To the people who were at the scene it was not a forgettable sight. Even the Banned Emperor''s terrorists could not withstand the look of the demon, causing them to wonder whether if that form of creature was an ally of theirs.

    The face of an age old alligator apanied by thousands of teeth. Eyes wide as a tyre wheel while it turned and revolved multiple times with each ''blink'', The exorcists could feel their stomach churning each time their eyes made contact with it. And to make this grotesque monster look even more bizarre, a pair shining blue butterfly wings emerged from its ears if it had any before and many more sprouted as it appeared out of the portal.

    "This is no demonбн It''s a void monster!" One of the Banned Emperor Terrorists dered as he tried to escape from its vicinity, However, the moving target made it even more appealing for the monster of the Void to grab him.

    "Don''t run. I am a very hospitable being." The monster said as a pair of wings from the back of his body split off and started to chase after the ''knowledgeable'' terrorist. Its wings attached to him without any dy and there was nothing the terrorist could do to remove it. He tried to burn it down with his chi but there was no avail. There were others who saw their fellowrade in need of help and even tried to cut the wings down and yet those butterfly wings continue to be undamaged from the flurry of blows.

    Instead, it started to glow ever brighter from the absorption of chi attacks. Soon after, the void monster smiled and with a flick of his hand, the wings forcibly pull the terrorist back to the Void Monster without knowing the consequences of his actions to escape.

    This was because his life force had too been drained by the wings and he was nothing but a dead living corpse being attached to the butterfly wings. That mere disy of powers had the rest around the Void Monster to fall into despair, even the Demon Exorcists themselves. Those Banned Emperor Terrorists were of a decent grade and they put up quite a fight for the Demon Exorcists. What''s more, their chi was evenparable to some of them, only a little more with the help from the dual inscriptions charms that Jin had provided them.

    But those were all excuses as they knew in their bones that if they tried to fight such a monster, they would probably die as easily as the man who was now detached from the pair of butterfly wings.

    "I see most of you see reason. And know not to foolishly waste your lives to even attempt attacking me. Amendable course of action to save your pitiful bodies from extinguishing. But rest assured, I can put them into use. That is if you pledge them to me. And even if you don''t, I will inform you that it is not an option."

    And as the Void Monster finished his ''threat'', a sudden m came from the doors that the Demon Exorcists once entered. Arriving in a such a shy disy was Rong bashing the skulls of the Banned Emperor Terrorists who tried to stop his friends.

    "What the fucking hell is that?" Rong said as he mmed his hammer on the ground while he ced more chi energy into the dual inscription charm he had been holding. "But since you guys are so awestruck with my arrival, guess I have to live up to your expectations as well!"

    Rong''s chi energy spiked up immensely as his dual inscription charm started to shine even more until a silhouette of a Titan Bull emerged from his back. If it was reminiscent of anything, it was simr to the Mechataur which he and the gang experienced in the recent raids that had been ongoing in Jin''s dungeon store.

    "Rong, stop! Do not do anything against it!" Lian tried to warn Rong since he had not seen the capabilities of this Void monstrosity that had emerged into this world.

    "When in doubt, just strike! Isn''t that my motto?" Rong said as he dashed forward with the Titan Bull Silhouette powering his punch to smack the big old alligator down to the ground like a heroing to the rescue.

    Sadlyбн it was not as one would have predicted.

    "Such a vibrant form of chi disy but yet so empty on the inside, Looks like this will be easier than I thought. Oh, Guan Yu, Looks like your descendents have not been as hardworking as you and here I thoughting into the human realm would bring me some form of entertainment." The Void Monster said as he easily dissipated Rong''s Titan Bull into particles and mmed him down to the ground.

    "Yet all I received was this boring show. Is this truly what you wanted?" The Void monster said as he lifted his hand to see that piece of human meat being squashed. Lian, Lein and Su Zhen could not move an inch upon seeing the strength of the Void being "Ah. I did not know that your friend is that weak. But have peace in your heart that he died almost instantaneously." The void monster smiled weakly through his teeth and yet everyone in the room knows that he was poorly hiding hisughter,

    For the first time, good and evil alignments between the humans in that room did not matter. They knew that if such a being were to be unleashed out of this world, chaos would ensue but yet they were all too powerless to even do anything with the exception of the Demon Exorcists.

    It was as if the monster solely craved that void which the Demon Exorcists were experiencing. The loss of their friend was irreceable and there were only two courses of action they could take in this scenario. Fight to the death or run and take revenge at ater time. As much as it was logical to do thetter option, the burning desire to stand up for Rong burnt too strongly.

    Until they feel a familiar auraing from the entrance where Rong entered.

 Chapter 1251 - Monster Of The Void

    <h4>Chapter 1251 - Monster Of The Void</h4>

    "What the heck is that thing?" Jin stared at it for a moment before the System answered with a heavy tone.

    "A void monster. They are neither demons or heavenly beings. Their existence is to cause utter destruction and only a few records have been seen because their presence could neither be confirmed or verified with the usual means."

    "What do you mean?" Jin asked as he shouted at the monster, getting the attention of everyone in the room. As he saw Rong''s dead body on the floor, he could only sigh at how foolhardy that teenage boy was. The other Demon Exorcist quickly ran to his side as a measure offort and security as they knew Jin was the only person he could rely on.

    "Most Void Monsters which appeared caused destruction of untold scale but those were stories and incidents that were very isted. It is unheard of to see them in the present day as people have neither the knowledge or skills to summon one. It could possibly be a coincidence that they had summoned a Void Monster by chance." The System deduced as it stated that there was a simr auraing from the cultivator Kong Rong had squashed before he could activate it. However, that aura was faintpared to the бнvoid they were experiencing from the monster itself.

    "Boss! How did you get in here?" Su Zhen asked as she had no idea what to do.

    "The police are already in the building, coordinating the escape route for the others. Obviously Rong had decided that since reinforcements are in, he could bash into this hall and be the hero that he always wanted to be. Too bad for him, he had to try again," Jin replied and the rest was acute enough to find the underlying meaning to his words.

    "Can he be resurrected? Even at that state? But his body is all squashed, the Dantian Core would most likely be destroyed with that kind of force." Lian had so many questions in her head with regards to the monster they were currently facing, the situation they are in and all sorts of answers she wish to seek but was too helpless to say anything else.

    "Don''t worry. I am here now, we should be able to kill this piece of junk. Well, when I meant we, it''s actually the enemy that I am calling out for." Jin said before he took a deep breath to shout.

    "Dungeon Supplier of this current dimensional instance! As one dungeon supplier to another. I implore you to reduce the instance size to this room only. If this Void Monster gets out, not only he will wreak havoc to this convention hall but the world too. I bet your newly resurrected Banned Emperor would not want to live in a barrennd right?"

    "You are an interesting fellow. What made you think that you alone can stop me? Regardless, this would be a development I would wish to pursue. This lush world full of pestilence could serve as my lovely adobe. For I, Farasha would be your new master. Prove your worth and you might have the chance to be my servants for eternity" The Void Monster said as he started to move out of the void portal as small as it looks into this current reality.

    The more he pushed himself out of that measly abdomen he had beening out from, the size difference made it almost impossible to fathom. Jin once again was bewildered by the sheer existence of the monster as Farasha made his presence known. Some of the Banned Emperor Terrorists decided to pit their strength against his taunts and yet with a swing of his wings, Farasha dispatched most of them into nothingness, even without the chance to enter the afterlife.

    "What''s the chances of fighting this monster?" Jin asked the System hoping that it could give an answer to defeat this seemingly impossible foe. But he had forgotten that the Demon Exorcists were also under the System''s influence and it had already collected the data and searched its database for the required answer.

    "As for now, only the User had the chance of defeating it. The System had been eavesdropping on the Farasha and he mentioned Guan Yu, which enabled the System to narrow the requirements of defeating it. User might not have a Grade 20 Cultivation but the tools at your disposal might pose a chance to bring the Void Monster down to its knees."

    "Can it be captured?" Jin asked the System while hoping to get an answer from the dungeon supplier that controls the instance.

    "It depends on User''s capabilities. Though suffice to say, it had been some time since the User had captured any quality monsters for the System to analyse."

    "What the heck! I''ve been working hard on myself to improve my abilities! You did not even give me any chance to grow as you threw me into worlds!" Jin said but before the System could answer, a loudspeaker immediately interrupted their internal conversation.

    "I ept your agreement in exchange for leniency when the entire incident is over." Buzz said reluctantly and somehow Jin could already pinpoint that he was being paid to do this job instead of being part of them. "There is no way someone like you does not have connections with the police."

    "Deal. We will speak about thister if we manage to survive." Jin said and in an instant he could feel the difference in the dungeon instance. He could feel defensive wardsing up to protect this room and the presence of the hall had been sealed out from the door which he had entered. The chi regeneration for Lein and the others returned to their former abilities and even more now that they were in their battle armour thanks to their dual inscription charm.

    "Not a bad dungeon supplier after all. Perhaps, he could really be of some use in this fight," Jin thought to himself as he told the Demon Exorcists to stay back. This was a duel that he could not afford to babysit and the rest too knew that they were not capable enough to fight despite their enhanced forms.

    "Don''t worry. If I need your help, I would call upon them. For now, sit tight and wait for the opportunity toe." Jin said as he snapped his fingers for two portals to appear.

    "Ho Ho Ho! Just when I thought we will never have a chance to debut in the new year," A sharp voice was hearding out from the portal as the mage and monk emerged, all ready to beat some shit on some butterfly monster.

 Chapter 1252 - Farasha - Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1252 - Farasha - Part 1</h4>

    "How did Jin manage to pull out a magic portal from nowhere?" Buzz thought to himself, thinking that he had already ced all the possible wards into his dungeon instances as requested by him and yet the infamous dungeon supplier which refused to join the convention was able to pull a teleportation magic right in front of him.

    It was only when he started to try adding more defensive wards that he felt another presence surrounding his dungeon instance. "This feelingбн wait a minute." Buzz quickly changed the CCTV camera angle to the ones outside of the exhibition centre and saw a huge solid dome, energised with visible chi covering all around it.

    In short, Jin had literally ced a dungeon instance as an ovep with his and Buzz was entirely shocked by the level of chi maniption Jin had. "His instance is not shing with mine, and insteadplimenting it so that this Void Monster would not even have the chance to escapeбнor at least slows his escape. Does that mean that he knows where I am hiding?!" Buzz thought to himself but there was nothing else he could do except eding to the request that Jin had for him.

    All he knew was that Jin was clearly the superior dungeon supplier despite his awkward arrogance and the mysterious ways he does stuff. He did not fit into any superhero category that was worth admiring but he was always there to help while expecting much back. "Maybe I just do not know him well enough, and one thing is for sure. If he does survive this, I am definitely not crossing paths with him either."

    As for the magic portals, Peppers and Milk took a quick nce at the enemy and asked whether this was the only problem Jin was facing. "Yea sure, this is the only problem that I am facing, but does this not look like something of a catastrophic level?"

    "Aye, Void Monsters are a hassle to deal with. They have a high resistance to magic and physical attacks so most warriors and mages will have problems dealing with it. Not to mention, a Void Monster of this size meant that he could produce little itsy-bitsy mobs to crowd us all and decimate everyone." Peppers said as she had already tapped into the universal pool of magic to gather mana.

    With all the upgrades Jin''s monsters of science had given to Peppers throughout the month, she was more confident in her skills and magic as well and had the guts to cast bigger and stronger terrifying spells.

    "Don''t destroy the goddamn ce if you can. The enemy''s dungeon supplier''s ward is not as strong as mine despite the fact that I had added more behind his while summoning the two of you here." Jin said as he too readied his weapon.

    "Be more confident in your skills, Jin! You had grown-" Milk was about to encourage Jin but Farasha had enough of waiting.

    "All that talking, ya da ya da ya da. My patience has a limit too. I have given you insignificant beings enough time to prepare. If you want more, deal with my children first." Farasha replied as pped his butterfly wings that were attached to his ears and numerous eggs fell to the ground.

    Just as the eggs were about to hatch the moment they touched the ground, a blitzful sound was heard in the wind cracking all of them simultaneously. Only at thest egg which dropped to the ground did Farasha see a shadow staring back at him.

    "Do not interrupt my talking time with my master." Milk said as she threw a stare that was worth a thousand daggers back at the Void Monster for breaking the conversation between Jin and her.

    In the meantime, that distraction was all that was needed for Peppers to cast a magical circle at the top and bottom of Farasha, creating a double explosion spell the moment Milk finished her sentence with him. To top it off, a simr spell was set off at the left and right of the Void Monster too.

    For the first time in almost an eternity, Farasha felt pain from the sts as the mes burnt the beautiful wings on his back. Peppers did not hold back in the explosion with the exception of the scale of it and clearly everyone who was still alive could see Farasha burning in the midst of those spells.

    And yet, it was not the end as Milk sent a punch so devastating that they could feel the shockwave impacts from the side of the hall. It was no ordinary sound wave either as they could visibly see a few dozen teeth were forcibly split out from Farasha''s mouth as Milknded the punch.

    Still, the betors did not stop there as a fireball was seen glowing right above the Void Monster''s head. It was spiraling like the birth of a new star. And as everyone thought that Peppers would simply hurl hertest spell towards Farasha, Milk suddenly disappeared after her punch and emerged back at the top of Pepper''s fireball.

    "Abination attack? That''s quite rare for people with such unique individual talents." Jin smiled, knowing that this was probably the result of their sisterly rtionship between each other after staying together and fighting between themselves.

    A spell circle appeared in front of Milk, allowing her to have control of the fireball and like every other melee character would do, she gave a fairly simple football kick causing it to fly at immense speed towards the currently disoriented Void Monster.

    The bigger the size, the harder they could dodge and to top it off, Jin also did not allow any of their attacks to miss by using his Maqi to create chains to bind Farasha''s main body to the ground. The Spatial Chains were even imbued with fire seeing how effective it was against the Void Monster when Peppers used it against the Void Monster. Upon hearing Peppers'' exnation, Jin did not take any chances when he imbued his spatial chains with the fire element, forcing Farasha to growl in pain.

    The fireball managed to inflict untold damage to the Void Monster even as the explosion caused most people to be blinded by the st.. The only problem was that Jin had a feeling that this was not the end of Farasha.

 Chapter 1253 - Farasha - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1253 - Farasha - Part 2</h4>

    "Hahahahaha! NOW we are talking!" Farasha came out of the explosions all burnt and riled up from all the damage. Yet, he was satisfied by the oue of the battle as if this was what he wanted for a very long time.

    "These chainsбнthough they are weak, it''s annoying enough to keep me still for just that series of explosions. And gosh,dy! It''s been some time since someone struck me with a force that I can finally feel something!" Farasha said as his teeth were popping out from the sides of his mouth.

    "Gosh, is he some sadistic monster?" Milk asked as she returned back to Jin and Peppers.

    "I did not really use that much mana in thest few sts but I thought something of that magnitude should have blown that stupid crocodile to pieces." Peppers said as she tried to analyse the current monster that they were facing. It was hard to give an estimatepared to the monsters she had fought before, mainly because they all exude a certain amount of magical presence no matter how weak it was.

    But for this void monster, it was exuding emptiness rather than a magical presence and thus Peppers had problems trying to deduce the amount of Mana needed to break it. Not to mention, its high magical and physical resistance was a problem which the two betors encountered and it seemed like their usual strength was not enough to break Farasha down to its knees.

    "Still, throwing more firepower at it is not the solution." Peppers said despite the fact that she raised her staff and shot another st of fireball right towards the Void Butterfly. "Because it is a creature of the void and has a name, it might indeed be a high level being that is connected to the void. Right now, its connection is still weak because the summoning was abrupt. But once it had established a proper connection with the void, it could resist even my strongest of spells."

    "So we gotta break that connection and make sure to punch it up a lot more?" Jin still did not understand the concept of a void monster. After all, he was sure that other worlds had their own set of unbeatable monsters and that was not including Hell and Heaven''s ne. Especially when he heard more about Mr Derpy''s master, he was very sure that he did not wish to return back to that world of his unless it was necessary, So, Jin could only assume that this was a monster exclusive to this world which the System briefly exined that it was because of Guan Yu rewriting the rules andws of nature."

    "His actions had caused these monsters to emerge as part of his n to help people. The only problem was that he did not expect this brand new existence to gue the world but its appearances were minimal because of the added precautions Guan Yu had done to keep the world stable. With limited information on the System''s database and inte sources, the System can only assume the Banned Emperor had uncovered the ways to summon them which is currently unknown to us." The System stated.

    "Anyways, based on Peppers'' analysis, the only way to kill it is to weaken the monster''s connection to the void, right?" Jin said as he cracked his knuckles. The System instantly knew what it was thinking and if it couldugh and concur at the same time, it would have done the same too.

    "Then I guess, it''s because of both of our dimension instances which allowed the void monster to not regain its strength so quickly." Jin understood what needed to be done to reduce its chances to gain immortality. While it was not normal for him to show his tricks wide open for everyone to see, it was necessary to stop this in its tracks as soon as possible. Also, he too did not want anyone to see that he was capable of catching the Void Monster since the System said it was avable for Jin to do so.

    MIlk and Peppers also realised what Jin implied and quickly went forth towards Farasha. Despite the wounds it had been inflicted, the scales and wings of the Void Butterfly could be seen regenerating once more and it meant that Farasha was bidding for time until the opportunity was right for it to attack them mercilessly. All it had to do was to withstand the next series of attacks by the monk and magebination. However, it was not stupid to take the next wave of offensives head on but rather stop them in their tracks if it was capable to.

    Beams of transparentsers, almost unidentifiable to the naked eye, were ironically seen by Milk as they were shot out of his wings. She was able to evade it with ease by thinking they were beams of steel pipes shooting towards her. Only Peppers did not actively avoid the attack as she had erected a mana barrier of her own that was capable of absorbing and even deflecting some of it. Unfortunately because of that incapability to evade, Farasha targeted her and the poor mage had to bear the brunt of it.

    Yet, it was a good enough distraction for Milk to move towards the wings and use her strength to tear it off. Because of that, Farasha assumed that Peppers was the distraction, and yet he did not know that Milk was doing the same, all for Jin to do its trick.

    Arge magic circle once again emerged right under Farasha''s feet and he assumed that the mage was going to do its explosion magic once again. Thus, he used one of his butterfly wings to summon even more of the butterflies to act as a barrier by blocking each and every part of the magical circle to prevent it from taking direct damage.

    However, that was not what the magical circle was intended for. Only mages sensitive to mana could see that the magic circle was not Peppers and instead, someone else''s. Jin was the one who created the circle while Peppers was preparing another spell to make sure he seeds.

    So just as how he created the spatial chains to hold Farasha in ce for a mere few seconds, Peppers did the very same thing, just that it was with an orb. A massive orb of gravity when Jin finally activates the magic circle as a gateway to the System''s main territory.

    Jin''s shop.

 Chapter 1254 - Farasha -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1254 - Farasha -Part 3</h4>

    Bu Dong was yawning as he just came out from the Super Robot Wars merchandise store. He and Deng Long just finished one of the extra missions which the Robot Wars had been giving out to upy the yers'' time as they waited for the next patch.

    There were hints of a new story within those extra missions but there was nothing short of revealing the next portion of stories within the extra missions but it was challenging mainly because those missions gave Panda Coins for free which was the main pushing factor for Super Robot War yers to continue ying. It was also done in order to expand the yer base despite it being a niche genre dedicated to people who liked Mecha.

    But as Deng Long and Bu Dong were talking about their numerous choices on what to eat for dinner, there was an emergency alert popping out at the top of the store instance. Suddenly, everyone within the store instance had their phones alerting them of the imminent event.

    "Warning! Warning! A new Wide Active Response Event (WARE) has been activated! A brand new monster of an unknown origin had been created by Dungeon Supplier and it had broken out the confines of its experimentation testing grounds! In order to contain the threat, Jin had no choice but to reroute it to the store instance as a temporary holding ground as he repairs the dome that held it. Join forces with your fellow Pandarens and defeat the monster so that the monster can be put back in ce!!" The quick notification was sent to everyone including those currently in dungeons.

    There was a pause option where the yers could resume where they were and a small amount of coins were givenpensation if they decided to participate in this new WARE event.

    "Wow, that''s rare for Jin to suddenly throw us a WARE event. I thought this was used only in the raids." Deng Long said as he instantly pressed the ept button, allowing him to use his weapons and armour within the store instance, which had always been regarded as a safe zone.

    "Maybe he wants to spice things up? After all, it had been rather quiet for the past few weeks and I can only assume he was busy working the festival of his own. If once in a while there are these wide active response events, we can earn some coins or exclusive merchandise." Bu Dongmented.

    "Heh, not just that bro. Look at this." Deng Long shed his phone towards Bu Dong''s direction and they both noticed how some shops were having fire sales to amodate this new WARE event. "He is making those casuals to gear up with these time limited sales."

    "Hmm, with the exception of certain inscriptions, most are rather useless to us." Bu Dong nodded, acknowledging that it was mainly for the new Pandarens who had joined Jin''s dungeon as their new daily routine. "Welp, at least there are coins to be earnt. Not everyone is like Xiong Da who can throw money however they like."

    "Hah! Please, most of the Pandawans know that YOU are the second Xiong Da in the making. I heard from your friend Yue Han that you had been dabbling in some investments? And they are earning you a hefty sum of profit?" Deng Long said as he and Bu Dong started to go near the centre of therge magical circle.

    "It''s Dad''s money. I only profit some of the dividends." Bu Dong knows that outright denial would be seen as a terrible excuse. And as they reached near the edge of the magical circle, it suddenly started to glow and everyone who had decided to participate felt the very same feeling of fear, especially those who had done the Demopolis Raids. Yet, almost more than half the participants were determined to see this through especially when there was no need for payment, just participate and earn Panda Coins. It was a free event for those who were in the current store instance.

    As for those who did not wish to join, they had already been teleported to a new store instance exclusively for the time duration of the Wide Area Response Event. But Jin would be heartened to know that almost 90% of the Pandarens had decided to participate in this impromptu event.

    Meanwhile, on the other side of the magical circle, the orb of gravity began pulling Farasha furious to Jin''s store. Peppers did not stop supplying mana into the gravity orb and poured additional magical power into it so that Farasha could be sucked into it while Milk did not stop her flurry of attacks. In the meantime, the Void Monster had no idea that it was going to be isted into a trap as it merely blocked the blows and retaliated when necessary.

    His connection to the void was growing stronger every second and all he needed was to buy some time before it unleashed its full power and despair to his current opponents. But little did he know that a moment of distraction was all that was needed for Peppers to fully pull him through the magical portal created by Jin and Farasha had been teleported into another dimensional instance.

    "Bah! These dimensional maniptors think that they can stop my connection of the void with another set of borders and more reinforcements. With each passing second, my powers will subsequently return to me and I shall allow all of you to taste and feel the sulent beauty of emptiness." Farasha thought to himself as he spread his wings to show the insignificant beings who had crowded in front of him.

    It was an ugly sight. The butterfly wings on the crocodile monster were nothing short of an abomination and many believed this ginormous creation was Jin''s. And as usual, they were once again given one hell of an event with Jin creating more hype for his dungeon supplier store via this technique.

    He could have teleported it into a secured instance and let his monsters do the fighting but Jin believed he could make the best of the situation since right now, the only people who knows about this monster were a few scared living Banned Emperor terrorists and hisckeys.

    So, why not make it his own event and subsequently capture that void butterfly for his own use?

 Chapter 1255 - Farasha -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1255 - Farasha -Part 4</h4>

    The Pandamonium Forums were once again buzzing with activity with the sighting of the new monster that had emerged in the store instance. Many who had just entered Jin''s store via the entrance had also been given the option to enter the instance else they would be teleported to a safer one.

    Jin also believed that the teleportation of Farasha into his system''s territory would severely improve the chances of the policemen and their fellow support team to clear the convention building out.

    As much as he wished to see this whole fiasco through and through, his objective of aiding the police had beenpleted. What''s more, he had arrived in time to save his employeesбнwell most of them. Farasha can wait as his cultivators y with him for now and it also allows the System to analyse this particr specimen which it does not have much information on. Even Peppers who was well known to have surveyed a multiverse full of monsters had arguably little to no information on the void monsters. Their appearances were too rare for official records and thus they would have time on their side to dissect the information.

    "The System had sessfully blocked the connection between Void Butterfly Farasha and its source of energy. User may continue to proceed with the situations he is in ore into the store instance and finish Farasha as soon as possible."

    "Let me tie some loose knots before returning. After all, I got to show who''s the boss in my very own store instance, right?" Jin said as he saw the battered few Demon Exorcists being demoralised by the loss of theirpanion.

    "Guys, cheer up. At the very least, you had seen him going into the fray with swords zing right? Well, I mean he did hold a hammer not a swordбн" Jin tried to joke a little but it was pretty evident that their loss for their friend was deeper than he thought. That was when he told them to huddle closer so there were no ears listening in.

    "Keep this quiet because there is nothing to worry about. He is still alive." Jin said as he opened a System Channel among themselves and they could hear Rongining through the channel as he was being treated by Jin''s Panda Nurses. With shouts demanding the Panda Nurses to let him return to the battlefield, his concern for his teammates was the loudest. Upon hearing Rong''s usualints, Lian felt that the loss she felt had been mended and she eyed Jin with a bucket full of questions.

    "I did not tell you guys everything so I will exin more about it when we return. For now, let''s head back and allow the police to deal with everything else." Jin said as he drop the dimensional instance that was surrounding the hall they were in and a team of elite policemen started to enter the premises. They were under the orders to standby by Kong Rong and only to charge in when Jin''s wards were down.

    "Master Jin, are you okay?" One of the SWAT leaders asked as the rest attempted to secure the perimeters. "We detected extreme chi signatures and decided to buff up the team before entering."

    "Ah no wonder the heavy police presencepared to just now. The dungeon supplier who created this mess helped me to deal with this. Please tell Kong Rong to have some mercy on him because I want him." Jin said as he went closer and whispered the location of the dungeon supplier. Because of his dimensional instance surrounding the entire convention hall, Jin knew the location of almost every single individual within the room.

    The only problem was that he had no idea who was who with the exception of the Demon Exorcists, the dungeon supplier since his chi was painted on his dimensional instance and a new old acquaintance, Ryuli. The information he provided to Kong Rong was vital as he personally entered the battlefield to meet up with his fellow tutee.

    "I will pass the message to him but no guarantees on the condition of the product once we found him." The SWAT leader acknowledged Jin''s request considering not just his title as the new Panda Lord but the person who had inadvertently flipped this entire situation to their favour. (However, it was more of the former including his rtions to Kong Rong. Prestige and titles do help in situations like this.)

    "Milk, Peppers. Let''s go. Stop lying there as if you take a major blow for the team." Jin said as he could see the two non blood rted sisters cking at the side and pretending to be the injured personnel so that the SWAT team could assist them out. "Wake up and let''s get going. Those Cultivators could only do so much against the Void Monster."

    "Bleh, Master is such a ve driver." Peppers said as she stood up with Milk assisting her.

    "I know I am getting rusty but can you assign me to an easier battle next time?" Milkined as she pulled Pepper''s huge ass up (not figuratively speaking) while healing her with her powers.

    "Noints, let''s go," Jin said as they were taking the long way home now that the police had arrived. Even though no suspicions would be roused if they were to teleport right in front of them, Jin would like to have some rest too. The creation of the portal magic was usually assisted by the System but this time around, the dungeon supplier had done it by himself because the System was busy reinforcing the store instance in order to make sure that it was ready for the uing mini event. Now that Farasha had been trapped in Jin''s store instance and cultivators of all grades were trying to have a piece of it, the System did not mind Jin taking the long road back home.

    "We would like to help with the fight too." Su Zhen said while the rest nodded in silence.. All Jin could do in response was to smile ever so slightly as approval to their request.

 Chapter 1256 - Buzz Surrenders

    <h4>Chapter 1256 - Buzz Surrenders</h4>

    "What the hell was thatбн" Buzz took a breather before noticing that his dungeon instance had beenpletely overwritten by Jin the moment he got out of the convention hall. He now understood that Jin was no ordinary dungeon supplier who happened to have all this fame and glory by chance.

    "To be able to break my dimensional instance without making too much of a sceneбн Only dungeon suppliers who have the know-how to create a dimensional instance from scratch and instead of relying on technology could do such a thingбн Not to mention the amount of chi one must possess to overwrite such a big area, it''s no ordinary feat. Perhaps that is why he had decided to create his very own festivalбн Or did he already sense something was amiss and had been tipped beforehand by his police colleagues that there could be a situation like this? Is that why the police were able toe earlier than we had expected? " Buzz said to himself as he could see armed police storming to the room he was hiding. He could have activated the traps that he set previously but decided to hope Jin could honour his word.

    Thus instead of barricading them with the multitudes of traps and locked doors, Buzz had already unlocked all of them remotely and only doing so the moment they reached the door, as a sign that he is surrendering willingly. "My job here is more than done." Buzz said to himself as he had his arms up when the armed police came through the final door.

    He knew that further resistance would not only spoil his chances but also there was nothing much he could do to honour his employer''s request. That butterfly crocodile had not only destroyed most of the temple which they painstakingly created for the revival of the Banned Emperor but also, most of the Banned Emperorckeys had already been killed by that self proimed void monster.

    Even if Buzz poured all his resources to build an artificial temple, it would also be of no use if the most important piece of the puzzle was not there. The relic that was capable of recalling the soul of the dead.

    And considering the fact that his main employer had not shown up for the fight could only indicate that she either had other backup ns, ran away or the likely situation of being caught. Buzz did not care anymore as hepiled the armed police''s instructions as heid on the ground to be handcuffed. The police handled him roughly but because Buzz willingly surrendered, there were no sucker punches or kicks before he was pinned down further to be cuffed.

    And as Buzz walked out of his room, he could see the masses of police covering the area, and investigation teamsbing the entire convention hall for clues. Not to just identify what had happened but also take count of the casualties that were within the room. Buzz safely said to the policemen that were handling him that no innocents had been harmed and he could attest to that.

    "With the exception of Jin''s friend, that bull cultivator, the rest who were killed are Banned Emperor Terrorist." Buzz said but the police officer nearest to him knocked to him with a loud thud.

    "Save that testimony forter. Although we are recording you now, you best save your defence for our interrogation." The police officer replied as he and the rest escorted Buzz to the designated van while avoiding the media.

    Yes, the media.

    Kong Rong and other State Security agents had suppressed the information for approximately for an hour or so until bystanders caught a whiff of the current situation. Naturally as ''upstanding'' citizens of the onlinemunity, it was their ''obligation'' to share every possible eventful nature of the major police presence. Mediaworks were suppressed despite them picking up on the citizen''s videos and Kong Rong did not allow any of them to evene close until Jin had finally managed to break open the dimensional instance that was surrounding the convention halls.

    Now that they had made progress, they were able to get in and storm the area to save the hostages and that was where Kong Rong allowed some information to pass through and the media vans started to pour in. That was also one of the reasons why Kong Rong had to pick up quite a number of calls right after his fights as he had bigwigs and other influential people demanding for an answer.

    But with Jin''s help, the police and the army were able to evacuate civilians the moment they entered, showing immediate positive results for the media to report. The only problem Kong Rong had was ensuring the survival of the defence ministerбн though he was not too worried with regards to that. Even when Ryuli managed to establish back connection with Kong Rong and reported the bad news, the assassination was not too on his list, but rather the relic itself.

    Despite what everyone in the known believed as a hush trade secret with regards to the relic, Kong Rong still knew what was going on and had already done sufficient preparations to ensure the minister''s life. He had also purposely allowed the relic to be brought out in order to ensure that the Banned Emperor terrorists woulde out to y. If they ever suspected the relic was a fake, they would not be able to catch them.

    While it was true that they had put the innocent masses into possible harm''s way, the state security felt that it was the only way to get the Banned Emperor Terrorists in full force. And even if they could not get everyone, it showed that their n works and their current methods were able to pinpoint the actions of the Banned Emperorckeys. It would only be a matter of time that the state security would be able to find the rest of them and pay for what they had done. (Not to mention, this incident will eventually raise the department''s powers.)

    And as they evacuate the convention building, Kong Rong and Ryuli were on their way to the designated bunker to thwart the final n of their ''Queen'' and retrieve back the relic.. However, they had forgotten that sometimes a cornered rat will bite and fight harder for its life.

 Chapter 1257 - Banned Emperor Terrorists

    <h4>Chapter 1257 - Banned Emperor Terrorists</h4>

    "That Buzz! I knew that not to trust any outsiders but HE would not give a damn about it!" Shang Xia said as she stared at the relic. Even in her current demeanour, staring into the relic gave her some sort of inner peace within it.

    Inner peace knowing that she possessed one of the strongest relics in the world and has the ability to revive the Banned Emperor. But with all her ns in shambles, she was considering running away with the relic so as to salvage something from this current messed up operation.

    She had no idea that there was someone that was capable of destroying the barrier that was taught by the inner circle of the Banned Emperor, people who she knew would have the knowledge to end the world in an instant if they wished to, if they have sufficient resources. And also one which she directly reports to with regards to the result of this operation. Yet, this insufferable member of the Inner Circle also nned the entirety of this current operation and even recruited non-believers for the cause just because he had money to spend.

    It was as if he did not care about the bodies being thrown into the current operation just to aplish a certain goal. Yet, that goal remained unclear and Shang Xia could only deduce that he wanted to personally have the aplishment of reviving the Banned Emperor all by himself.

    But to teach an outsider the huge dimensional instance trick and providing those banned charms to their devout believers was something that Shang Xia could not stomach but grudgingly follow. From the updates from her trusty follower, Jack and with her acute sense of chi, she understood that almost everything had been lost.

    Even as she wanted to take revenge on the Minister of Defence He Fei, it would be a little dangerous to do so despite the opportunity presented to her like a ripe grilled chicken waiting to be eaten. Though she had a few more undercover within the group of bodyguards, they continued to remainmitted to their role until Shang Xia took action for it. But if the State Security decides to dig any further, their moles would eventually be found and their years of effort in their supposed undercover job would be for nought.

    "Lady Boss, I too believe it''s now or never. After all, that He Fei had done quite a number to not only your husband but our faction as well. You will never get the chance like this." Jack said through the intes while continuously scrambling to change the encryption so as to not let the police catch them. While they may have surrounded the Convention Building with cops, acting as if they were using brute force to storm the ce, they also have a support team working nearby to manage themunications and counter intelligence. Else, it would not be so coordinated in sweeping the Convention building and evacuating the civilians from the ce.

    "If our moles get caught through the next few months, we will never be able to enact the same operation ever again." Jack too had a vendetta against the defence minister since like Shang Xia, his partner had been innocently used and imprisoned for multiple wrongdoings which she nevermitted. Because of that, he had joined the Banned Emperor as a way to get back against the current authorities and hoped that proper justice could be melded.

    But of course, justice is subjective to everyone and the Banned Emperor''s way of doing things is not how the majority would look kindly upon. All they knew was to create suffering for others, just to show that they could do the same back at the people currently in power. And if the relic could summon back the primal spirit of revenge, the Banned Emperor, who signified the epitome of vengeance due to the betrayal of the twelve ns, then perhaps, China would not only have a new ruler but all the wrong doings the faction had taken could be sorted out. (And perhaps, rewarded for their allegiance to the revived Banned Emperor.)

    Still, the thought of He Fei being so near yet so far had clouded Shang Xia of her judgement. With everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong with the operation, Shang Xia and Jack felt that the only way to amend the wrong doings was to at least eliminate He Fei. A killing blow to the Minister of Defence would not only increase their reputation as a terrorist organisation but also increase the confidence of their investors who were supporting them in the shadows. An assassination result like this would also benefit the minor opposition which was vital showering money to their organisation.

    "Let''s do it. We still have Lee, Cheng and the rest as undercover. One quick finishing blow and we escape." Shang Xia told Jack to make sure there was a window of opportunity for them to get out of the impending doom.

    "Queen, do not worry. We will make sure that you survive the ordeal." Lee said with Cheng nodding their head, indicating that they would do what it takes, even sacrificing their lives for the greater good of the organisation they believed in.

    "That''s reassuring to hear," Queen said as she ced the relic back into inventory. Even if she did not care for the lives of her colleagues, Shang Xia had to pretend to do so. After all, it was discourteous to dismiss one''s attempt to risk their life for theirs. All she was to know was that she was able to throw bodies without them questioning her when the push came to shove.

    With that dilemma out of the way, Shang Xia immediately spruced her n into action and that was to perform a direct assault against the entourage before slipping away from the chaos.

    "I will not allow you to catch me. Dragon Lady." Shang Xia still remembers the utter defeat she had when duelling against Ryuli.. "I make sure to let you suffer a catastrophic failure which would put a stain on your spotless career."

 Chapter 1258 - The Show Is Starting

    <h4>Chapter 1258 - The Show Is Starting</h4>

    "Minos 1, do you copy? Minos 1" The walkie talkie from the guard leader finally sprung to life in the deste bunker they were holding.

    "Yes, this is Minos 1, copy. Overlord, I am d to hear your voice again." The guard leader quickly pulled it out and even the bystanders were relieved to know that they would not be in this concrete hell hole that much longer.

    "We have merged with the police and they are dealing with the situation on the ground as we speak. Give us a sitrep on your end." The mainmunications team that was initially dealing with the coordination within the convention building had been rescued and as stated in their reply, they had liaised with the police to deal with the remaining threat as well as information on the protective details. While the State Security should have rostered ns for the minister of defence, there were other minor VIPs within the exhibition halls too and the coordination of their guards was needed as the police did not have all of them.

    "n Charlie. We are located at our st bastion''. We barricaded the doors further in case of any external breaches too. However, we are missing a few guards as well as two VIPs. Mr "D'' had been a little too concerned about his acquaintance who had been missing for quite some time. Our guards had yet to report back to us too although I suspect it''s the issue of having a massmunication breakdown." The guard leader reported and then the mainms team held back their reply as they were discussing among themselves whether to reveal a certain piece of information to the guard leader.

    "Do it." Yu Xuan, who was in the makeshiftmunications headquarters, gave them the directive to do so, stating that it was Kong Rong''s decision. Everyone within thems team including the highest ranking officer who was heading the operation did not concur with his order. "But give the reply to Mr D instead."

    "Not as if he could do anything with the information and he might incite even more panic. Besides, Mr D is one of the lower ranking cultivators there." The acting head of the police operation argued and Yu Xuan shook his head and went towards him to whisper a few sentences.

    The Head was shocked to hear the news but he tried to control his facial emotions not to reveal too much. That however still caused the entire team to be curious. Very curious about the information that Yu Xuan had shared. Especially when the Head immediately nodded his head reluctantly to order his operator to pass the news to Mr D instead.

    "Sir, Overlord wanted to talk to you saying he had some information for your ears only." The Guard Leader believed the head just wanted to make sure the Minister of Defence was well and alive. He wanted to take out the earpiece jack from the walkie talkie for him to use but He Fei insisted on using the earpiece for anonymity sake. Obviously, he did not want anyone else to know what he was talking about.

    "D speaking." He Fei said and immediately, he was asked to give a special passcode that did not make sense to either the guards or the people around them. "Hold the door or you shall not pass." He Fei whispered as softly as he could.

    "Hahaha. me the Ryuli for giving you such ame passcode." Yu Xuan said as he was talking upon taking the mic from the current operator. "We found out, there are indeed moles in your group. Apparently way more than we had expected."

    "Are you sure you are notpromised in that room to give such important information out just like this?" He Fei asked as he was worried that there might be moles in the police force as well and it may jeopardise the current operation they were in.

    "Well, if there are any, it means State Security would not be the only ones involved after this incident. Internal Affairs would be banging on every department to ensure that we are clean. Well, you my sir, will be in charge of it after all." Yu Xuan was giggling at the side as if he was talking to an old friend because no one in their right mind would be talking to the Minister of Defence in such a casual way except for the police head who knew exactly what was happening behind the scenes once he heard the n from Yu Xuan.

    "As if that is happening. If I am in charge, it is not a clean swipe at all. Do not forget your responsibilities as a State agent" He Fei was being all serious on the phone but clearly, it was a mere act. And suddenly, there was a loud clicking from afar. Everyone in the room thought that help was here, especially with the recovery of themunications but when the heavy lock door slowly opened, they found out it was the guards Lee and Cheng. Thedy who said that she needed to go to the toilet was assisting Lee who was injured to pass through.

    "The show is starting." He Fei said, and Yu Xuan acknowledged his response but instead of asking the Police for more help, he told the operator to change the channel over to continue coordinating the rescue. In the meantime, he picked his phone up and dial for a certain someone.

    "Hey Ryuli, the show is starting. They had returned to the bunker." Yu Xuan said but instead of a verbal reply, all he heard were taps. Instead of querying for a verbal response, he quickly ended the call. Those taps were no doubt morse code and it did not take Yu Xuan long to understand that they were at the scene too, waiting for the right time to ambush. All he could do now was to hope that there were no other casualties other than the terrorists.

 Chapter 1259 - Trojan Horse

    <h4>Chapter 1259 - Trojan Horse</h4>

    "Cheng, what happened to Lee?" The Guard Leader queried as the other guards removed the barricades to allow them to go in. He Fei saw the entire thing in motion and could feel that he was reliving the ancient times when the Trojans allowed the wooden horse to enter their premises.

    Yet, he did not make a noise and stood further away from themotion to see the show unfold right in front of him. "Wait, where is the otherdy? The one who was following you?" The Guard Leader felt something was amiss but his gut feeling was a tad toote as Shang Xia acted without much hesitation and mmed her knife which she was hiding within her sleeves into the Guard Leader''s chest.

    Just as how the attack brought Ryuli to her knees with the powers of Shang Xia''s cultivation pulsing through the knives, the Guard Leader was sent flying up to the ceiling even though he was able to withstand the attack. Yet, that brought precious seconds for Lee and Cheng to ughter the other guards offhand, with the exception of the ones who were the moles.

    The rest of the bodyguards who were oblivious of these were brought to their life''s end and the remaining who managed to survive the first wave did not know who the turncoats were. They could only trust and fend for themselves and it was pretty obvious the numbers were on the Banned Emperor''s side, causing the guards to falter in their defence and be killed in the process.

    The rest of the VIPs went to their knees not to be caught in the crossfire, thinking that they would have the chance to be the hostages in such a scenario as they believed their current status and power would be the bargaining chips for these terrorists. Fortunately, for them, they were right as Shang Xia and her goons were finishing off the guards to ensure there was no more resistance guarding this group of VIP entourage.

    Her blood was racing, she did not expect it to be this easy and even the Guard Leader did not put up much of a resistance as he saw his entire team crumble into dust. The sheer shock factor allowed the rest of the Banned Emperor terrorists to score a kill as the Guard Leader diligently did his duty by sacrificing his life and the remaining amount of chi to create a shield on the most important VIP in this bunker.

    On the Minister of Defence himself.

    And with hisst breath, the Guard Leader could only hope that reinforcements coulde in on time to salvage the entire situation.

    "That shield on the Defence Minister is imprable with our current means. Even if we unite our chi together and st this entire bunker or maybe including this building, He Fei will still survive it." Lee said as he did not expect this ipetent Guard Leader he was under, knew a legendary technique that could put up a series of barriers or also known as the Thousand Mountains in an Eggshell. It was a fairly well known legendary technique but not the drawbacks were immense as someone needed to be a proxy to take all the damage.

    In this case, the Guard Leader used all his lifeforce and chi as the proxy and only time or legendary assault techniques could destroy it.

    "Heh, no wonder he is so weak in terms of skills. He was used as a pawn, an emergency backup in case anything happened to the Defence Minister." Lee kicked the Guard Leader''s face as he was intolerable leading up to the current operation.

    "And that''s also why their guard detail is minimum because they know that the Guard Leader has the capability to protect him until the appropriate response team arrives.." Cheng also spat at him while recalling why the Guard Leader''s details were inessible no matter how much they tried to dig before this Symposium started.

    However, Shang Xia did not care about her underling''s ramblings as all she wanted was He Fei to be dead. No matter the barrier, it''s still a chi technique and that means it can be broken with their current level despite what Lee had remarkedбнbecause of a certain item within her possession.

    The Relic.

    It had no true name to the current relic when they were holding it. Some say it''s the Philosopher''s Stone, some say it''s the Gem of Agu-agamon while the mainstream called it the True Relic of Blood Sacrifice. But in essence, it was a stone that was capable of holding much chi, mana and blood to fuel the desires of the user wielding it. That was one of the reasons why Shang Xia wanted to use this Symposium where a majority of not justmoners but people with a certain level of cultivation will gather.

    At first, It was a pity that that particr dungeon supplier was not within the Symposium as he would be the very few to taste the true wrath of the Banned Emperor. (Little did she know that he was the one who thwarted her ns and the current situation outside had turned the tables against their favour due to his efforts.) But regardless, the scenario right now was ideal for her as she had unwilling sheep who thought that being a submissive group of hostages would save their lives.

    Nay. She would use those hostages as the fuel to power up the relic and st a hole through He Fei''s barrier and stab her knives into his heart. "For all the pain you did to me He Fei." Shang Xia said but the Defence Minister kept his cool and silence as he folded his arms, not doing anything else.

    Shang Xia took the silence as an act of provocation and began to pour some chi into the Relic of Blood Sacrifice so as to activate its abilities. But at that moment, as if things were going way too well for her, Shang Xia could feel a very familiar chi from the distance. Because she had fought with her before, Shang Xia instinctively moved a step back to see a st of a dragon heading through the entrance and annihting four of the guards that were at the door.

    "That Bitch!" Shang Xia knew that reinforcements had already arrived and the most annoying one as well.

    "I have not turned bitch mode on," Ryuli said the moment her umbre shed against Shang Xia''s knives.. "But for you, perhaps I might consider doing so."

 Chapter 1260 - A Decisive Resolution

    <h4>Chapter 1260 - A Decisive Resolution</h4>

    The furious chi energy emanating from Ryuli could literally scorch the hostages with the exception of He Fei who was in his protection bubble. But at the same time, a soothing source of chi could be felt by the VIPs just as the shockwaves of Ryuli''s chi mmed itself against it.

    "Mind the hostages, they do have some value as well you know." Kong Rong said now with a in simple white half mask with two ck holes that serve as the windows for his eyes. Ryuli did not care about the theatrics, especially when they were about to kill Shang Xia at that particr spot even though she knew that he did it to protect his identity even for just a while.

    "I don''t have time to care about those people. The Defence Minister is my priority." Ryuli said while she mmed her umbre with twice the amount of chi she had dispensed previously. It was pretty obvious that she could go all out now that Kong Rong was protecting the hostages and slowly leading them out of the bunker with the exception of He Fei who was immobile due to the legendary defensive technique.

    "Ahбнsuch meaningless vengeance." Kong Rong knew that her words were not what they meant. When both Ryuli and he were rushing to the said bunker, they could already sense the guard''s lives being extinguished based on their chi output. Ryuli knew that those guards were double crossed by their own ''people'' and they definitely had no time to even think or ask why.

    She felt for them as she had been in their shoes before. One might think it was her first master''s incident but it was more than that as the Dragon girl had her fair share of betrayal and double crossing before bing a veteran State Security agent. And thus, Kong Rong could only let his fellow agent unleash her unbridled fury against Shang Xia. And seeing how Ryuli was using more than her usual amount of chi to confront her enemy, also meant that the opponent she was dealing with could not be given any quarters to even breathe.

    "Not one but two dragon forces. This Banned Emperor Terrorist isn''t going to survive for me to speak to her," Kong Rong said to himself when he kept an eye on the fight while telling the hostages to move in the direction of his chi. However, the reason for Ryuli using two dragon silhouettes instead of just one was because of Shang Xia''s ability to divert chi energy away. The mastermind of this entire incident seemed to be able to move the tremendous force of the dragon silhouette with a swing of her daggers but in reality, she was focusing as much as she could to divert the attacks away. The second dragon silhouette which was painted in ocean blue, tailed behind the first fiery orange dragon silhouette before moving in a slightly different direction so that it could nk Shang Xia.

    The maniption of the chi force was so well executed that it felt like the dragon silhouette was alive and burning. Shang Xia tried to prepare herself for the nk attack but she did not expect that Ryuli couldmand such a magnitude of chi even with the initial attack. It was as if she was not just holding back herself during the toilet squabble but merely testing the water.

    In fact, Shang Xia deduced that Ryuli could even rival not one but three of the inner council members if they went toe to toe against each other. Thus, the Banned Emperor Terrorist only had two options. It was to either eat the attack and see if there was a window of opportunity for her to perform a counterattack or evade the attack. However, that would also mean the dragon she was evading woulde and bite her back in the arse if she did not evade properly considering how skilled Ryuli was in controlling the dragon silhouettes at the back of her palm.

    But even though she could make such a decision, a bullet flew right towards her causing her to lose her concentration and she instinctively deflected with her offhand dagger, forcing Shang Xia to eventually take damage from both dragon silhouettes. Her death was almost instantaneous ..almost. If it was some average cultivator, they would have been scorched the moment those silhouettes touched them. Unfortunately, Shang Xia was a high level cultivator and as the dragon silhouettes devoured her body, she could feel the immense pain of being burnt in the lowest level of hell while drowning in the pressurising ocean deep.

    Even though it was a short few seconds that she experienced the pain, it was still out of this world and her body turned into ck icy soot with the relic left intact.

    "That was rather underwhelming." Kong Rong said and Ryuli red at him.

    "I still have some pent up anger in me, where should I direct it to?" Ryuli said as the two Dragon Sillhouettes hover right behind her. She knew that the bullet was from Kong Rong and she was greatly unsatisfied that her target was burned/froze to smithereens with not much resistance.

    "We have a job to do." Kong Rong said as he walked towards He Fei while snapping his finger to unleash a sonar location technique to check if any of the Banned Emperor Terrorists were alive. Just because they were killed does not mean they did not have any hidden resurrection abilities. In addition to that technique, there was chi telekinesis in the background picking up all the Dan Tian that had been left from the incident from both the dead guards and the terrorists.

    "Welp, that was quite a close shave." He Fei said while Kong Rong instantly deactivated the shield around him.

    "Yea yea, even if we are not here. You could easily handle the rest." Kong Rong said but Ryuli sulked instead. He Fei saw the reaction and he sighed.

    "Sis, you know I have to keep this quiet. The fewer people who know about this, the more sessful the n will be." He Fei said as he started scratching his neck until his skin started to break apart. Slowly, but surely, he pulled the skin upwards and it was revealed to be a cosmetic inscription that only Jin''s store had sold exclusively.

    "Well, at least give me a better lie next time rather than using your wife as an excuse." Ryuli''s sulk slowly turned into a hesitant smile.

    "You know, it''s all just part of the game that Kong Rong put up." Ran Ran, the bodyguard for the Defence Minister, opened his arms up and Ryuli went in for her friend''s hug. " And I am not kidding you, Kong Rong better send me a car as soon as possible or else I would not be able to reach in time for my wife''sbour."

    "Oh, I have a driver for you ready for you." Kong Rong''s eyes averted towards the direction of Ryuli and her hesitant smile became one of the devils.

    "Boss! You set me up for this!" Ran Ran shook his head as his appearance returned to normal instead of the ''pot belly'' that he was carrying.

    "Last I checked, I still beat you in the advanced defensive driving race course." Ryuli finally could burn some steam off as Kong Rong gave Ryuli a bunch of keys which somehow turned the soul of her eyes into a moment of pure bliss.

    "What?! Ryuli''s riding?!" Ran Ran suddenly felt his legs turning jelly.

    "Hey. I got to be fair to everyone in my team." Kong Rong said as he reminded Ran Ran that his wife was still waiting for him. "Besides, you need to be there as soon as possible right?"

    "Well, you better hurry then. Boss will clean up the mess here. Your wife is more important than this shithole of a show." Ryuli said as she took out a helmet from her storage ring and tossed it to Ran Ran.

    "Shithole of a show indeed." Kong Rong said as he picked up the relic that was still intact despite the destruction Ryuli had performed. It was now powered up not from just the blood sacrifices in this room but from Ryuli''s powers too. "But even in piles of shit, one might still be able to find treasure if they look hard enough.." Kong Rong smiled as he knew that this powered relic mighte in handy in the near future.

 Chapter 1261 - Farasha - Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1261 - Farasha - Part 5</h4>

    "What is this sorcery?!" Farasha thought to himself angrily as he crushed the building right in front of him and unleashed a beam of energy through the streets. The aftermath of the scorched area could be seen releasing a series of butterflies once the energy had dispersed into the air.

    Those ck looking butterflies as dark as the absence of light were subsequently seen droning towards the cultivators. But to the cultivators who had seen this trick one too many times managed to not just evade them but counter their existence.

    For Death was their teacher and Experience their partner in crime.

    Many who had encountered Farasha in the past did not have such a luxury as many were quickly consumed by the void. And that was why it finally clicked to Farasha that he might possibly meet his doom when the opponents he had defeated suddenly came back to life, stronger and wiser. Stronger with better gear to counter his void butterflies, wiser when the cultivators banded together to attack him.

    The Void Being now anxious, tried to reach out to his source of power, one which he thought losing it momentarily would not prove a hindrance. However, no matter how he tried to summon it, he could feel that something was blocking it. Farasha could only assume that the cultivator who created the portal was the same person who made this particr barrier.

    "But to have a force ready to fight against me, and to boot, they kept sprouting back up as fit as a fiddle instead dying...that I cannotprehend!" Farasha saw its ck void butterflies destroyed so easily that he raged by using whatever void energy he had stored within him and concentrated them into his series of butterfly wings. The portal to which he had ess to the void was not the only way he gained his void energy. Because he knew that another way of generating void energy was through his opponents and that was allowed to make them feel despair, dejection and ultimately desolution of their emotions.

    The only problem was these ordinary looking cultivators were not feeling that way despite their multiple horrible deaths. Instead, they were renewed with vigour, their spirits rejuvenated and perhaps sadistic to the point that Farasha had difficulty killing with his limited repertoire of skills.e

    "Ahh ahh. And here I thought everyone would be struggling." Jin said as he entered his dungeon maker instance along with the others who had finally reached Jin''s abode.

    "To be fair, you trained them to be this crazy. Especially when this is a free event and there are already talks of limited event goodies to be earned from this.." Lynn weed them back as she already prepared a few cups of tea for the group to partake as a way to calm down before going into battle if they needed to.

    "That I have to agree with Big Sis Lynn." Su Zhen and the rest of the Demon Exorcists nodded their heads in unison.

    "The System had also assumed that User had to enter the fray to even out the odds but it looked like the average grade cultivators and their determination to earn rewards had incidentally incentivised them to be the bane of the Void Being." The System stated how it monitored Farasha to be hesitant in its attacks and even decided to be more careful in its approach against the head strong warriors he was against. "However, even if the Pandarens and Pandawans were to join forces, they still would not have enough power to put it down in time."

    "In time? What do you mean?" Jin thought that as long as Farasha was stuck in the System''s premises, there was no way he was able to escape, much less the continuous onught on his dependable band of customers.

    "Farasha had been testing out a variety of methods to break the dimensional instance despite its actions against the Pandarens. It goes to show that the Void Being is worthy of its rumours." The System stated that the dimensional instance was actually eroding away due to the Void Butterfly''s attack. While the System was able to repair it in time in such a way that it was not noticeable for Farasha, it figured that once he had dealt enough damage, the Void Butterfly might be able to understand his circumstance and push all out for a desperate attack.

    "A moment of such a particr act of desperation is as shown on the screen right now." The System said as it showed how Farasha exploded all its energy causing everything within its st radius to disappear into nothingness.

    It somehow gave the Void Butterfly a measure of peace until the System began furiously reconstructing everything from scratch as per Jin''s original blueprint and the cultivators were all teleporting in from their previous safe points. Also, the scene of rebuilding and rebirth eventually forced Farasha to turn mad, something which he never felt for a long time.

    How could something so vastly simple, worthless keep popping up to annoy him? Everything should be under his control and he knows that there is no such thing as an unbreakable barrier. If the sky is limitless, then perhaps what he had to do is to break the earth until he found the leak, the crack of this particr barrier he was in.

    "Yeah, I see what you mean. No time to sit idly, the cultivators have their fill of fun. We will reward them ording to our usual WARE standards." Jin said as he started to ping all his monsters that were avable.

    "However, I feel that my minions should have some get go from this monster since he is going to join their ranks soon enough," Jin said and Lynn agreed as well that an exercise out of the norm would be great to break their monotonous schedule in preparation for the Great Demon Rat War.

    "In that case, we shall enter first, I have some payback to do for this monster," Lien said as he finally felt unafraid now that he knew he would be resurrected within the dungeon instance. "Not to mention, we got to get Rong out of the hospital bed as soon as possible or he will be cking."

    Thus, the rest of the Demon Exorcists bid their goodbye to Lynn as they entered the fray before Jin could assemble his army of minions to attack Farasha.

 Chapter 1262 - Farasha - Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1262 - Farasha - Part 6</h4>

    But when he wanted to send an army of minions to fight against Farasha, Lynn reminded him about something very important despite approving his actions. "As much as I support your idea, I like to remind you that a certain somebody would be disgruntled by your actions."

    "Lol, who would that be? It''s not like i have much to lose from this particr fight" Jin was about to send a message to his army of orcs until he suddenly felt a presence behind him. One that potentially overshadowed the entire room if she had her way.

    "Have you forgotten who was the one that is holding the key to your finances all too soon?" ire said as she pulled his ear.

    "Ah!!!!!! ire! Why are you here?" Jin tried to y innocent but Lynn and ire both knew that it was not going to work on her a single bit. "I was merely watching some drama show about a teacher blowing up a ssroom and then I got notifications from my Sub System that the main System was using stockpiles of resources in a short period of time." ire pulled Jin''s ear even further as she continued her reasoning.

    "It was only until i saw the main page of Pandamonium that there is a monster rampaging in the store instance at this very moment and I am here to query our dear boss, what in the strange delusion he was having to put a boss monster in our SHOPPING district which contained most of our DELICATE and PRICEY items?"

    "I thought the System had already pulled back all those items in another instance, and what''s left in the area were fake duplicates." Jin also tried to justify the reason for putting it in the main shop instance so that it will catch everyone''s attention in attacking Farasha.

    "Even so, what is this that I see right in front of me? Especially that message that is to be sent out to all the orc and goblin soldiers?" ire asked once more while pointing at the console repeatedly. "Do you really think we have that much reserves to spare for the Great Rat Demon War if you could spend it as you see fit?" She twisted Jin''s ear so hard that he was shaking in his legs and even bending them because he could not tolerate it. And yet, ire was pulling it up even further, making Jin almost cry out for mercy from the pain.

    "From how I see it, you better clear this yourself and the most you could bring with you is just one monster. ONE."

    "Then, I like to volunteer myself. Guarantee to finish the job and free of charge too" Yet another all too familiar came from afar and everyone in the room who took notice of him sigh simultaneously.

    "Kraft, you will create more trouble than you solve them." ire finally released Jin''s ear as he instinctively ced his hands at his ear to soothe the pain.

    "But look at it this way. Would you rather let a monster die multiple times or me killing that ugly crocodile butter-whatever fly so that Jin would be able to have him for the fight against the Rat Demons? Investing in me would be a great idea." Kraft tried to promote himself although everyone knew that if he did not get his approval, he would still try to force his way into this particr mess.

    And with a reluctant nod from Jin, Kraft instantly disappeared and emerged right in the middle of the battlefield with all the Pandarens reborn. "Still, this would be a rather boring fight if I were to kill it away, don''t you think?" Kraft questioned the nearest Pandaren which happened to be Bu Dong.

    "Hey, aren''t you Boss Jin''s employee? That ermmm fox guy. Nasty crazy fellow but extremely powerful?" Bu Dong asked as he was already starting to run out of ideas on how to tackle the boss right in front of him. Perhaps, if he has his Mecha, things might be different. Or just the Mechataur that Jin usually would dish out when fighting against humongous monsters. "Or are we doing so badly that he had to ask you to aid us."

    "Hmmm, something along that lines, I guess but let''s put it this way. He did not order me toe here, I am here out of my own gooooodwill as support. Besides, you guys had been fighting for over half an hour already and dying more than we had anticipated. Soбн I am just strolling along the shop instance, and perhaps to even out the odds a little more for our dear customers." Kraft said as his chi instantly spread throughout the entire shop instance, giving every Pandaren within the shop instance a boost in their capabilities.

    Those who were slow in casting their techniques found that they were able to do it in an instant, while there were others who were slower in terms of reaction time, happened to be more perceptive when Farasha attacks, allowing them to dodge in time. All these little boost to the Pandaren''s capabilities caused their morale to be boosted up even further, causing Farasha''s n to sow despair within the cultivators were nullified.

    Even when Farasha tried to do the very same st of void explosion from within had been blocked by Kraft as he used the Pandarens toe together and create a barrier to forestall that catastrophic damage to the shop instance, It was pretty much a one sided game the moment Kraft entered the battlefield that Jin could see the Pandarens were having fun while Farasha was not.

    Even if Jin did not enter the battlefield, it was pretty apparent that the System would be able to catch Farasha without the User''s aid since he was encased in its System. The only person who was not happy aside from the desperate void being was ire as she could not believe Jin was going to give out free goodies the moment this particr WARE waspleted.

    As such, Jin had decided to stick to the old method of throwing out gifts.

    Through the lottery.

    And that was enough to cate ire''s fear as she knew that anything that has a percentage chance meant that it was something the shop could exploit. "Fine, you are forgiven just this once. As much as this fight is pretty much a goner for that void being, go to the shop instance and show your fanciful final blow. That''s the whole point of this WARE anyways. To catch the being for our own use."

    "Right away.." Jin said as he took a deep breath and teleported into the midst of the battlefield.

 Chapter 1263 - Farasha - Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1263 - Farasha - Part 7</h4>

    Just as Farasha was beaten to a pulp, Jin came in time as if to steal the spotlight from Kraft and the other Pandawans. "Your timing is as impable as ever. It feels as if you are merelying here to deal the finishing blow and run away to do with your business." Kraft said and Jin suddenly had a chill running down his spine.

    "Are youбн going to oppose me right now?" The Dungeons and Panda store owner asked his employee who was working at the moment, in in sight of their customers to view.

    "Hmm? Oh no. If you think that was a threat, it was not. Just a passing remark, a casualment." Kraftughed as he patted Jin''s shoulders. "After all, I am still an employee of this store. Fighting amongst each other would not do any good in terms of publicity, right?" Kraft spoke softly but still audible enough for Jin to hear despite the background noise of Pandarens fighting against Farasha. Kraft felt that his job was more or less done now that Jin was around to take over his portion and he was about to leave.

    "But let me warn you. That Void Being? It felt like he was being conservative with his attacks as if he was waiting for someone." Kraft said as he took a deep breath before he shouted.

    "GUYS! YOUR BOSS IS HERE TO PLAY WITH YOU ALL!" Kraft said as he then waved his hand and disappeared in thin air after he announced to everyone that Jin was around. It was then Farasha perked up. The person who he had been waiting for all this time finally arrived.

    Even though Kraft''s chi sharing had stopped, his chi enhancements to the Pandarens were still active but the next attack which Farasha unleashed was something that even the current chi barriers that Kraft bestowed them with were useless. The Void Being instantly unleashed another void wave explosion sending anyone that was unprepared to defend it be decimated almost instantaneously.

    Jin was able to defend in time and realised what Kraft had been hinting at. Even though Kraft had volunteered himself, he was merely here to prod and test the monster, as if wondering if it was capable or worth the effort to capture. The Devil Fox too had been going with the flow, as if he knew the intent of the Void Butterfly the moment he entered the fray.

    But the drastic increase in power from Farasha was uncalled for as the System had been recording lower values than what had been portrayed the moment Jin had arrived.

    "You are finally here to show your face, caster!" Farasha shouted as he stood on his short alligator legs and the wings on his back glowed tremendously bright. It was pretty apparent he was holding it out for Jin to appear as his butterfly wings started to shoot out scatter beams all over where Jin was standing.

    It did not take a genius to avoid all those beams considering that Jin was a high level cultivator but it was the aftermath that caused him to be wary as the beams suddenly dispersed into a fog of dust.

    Immediately after the attack, Farasha swung his wings and a gust of wind blew the thick clouds of dust throughout the entire battlefield. Jin did not know what it was but instantly created a bubble of air around him. He believed he had read too much into attack although eventually, the Dungeon Supplier was correct. Everyone who did not hold their breath in time started to cough violently while others started to spasm.

    The System recognised the dust particles were poisonous in nature and noticed that Farasha already knew how to stop the other Pandarens in their tracks. A swift death only meant that they would return with renewed vigour but a slow death would hinder them.

    Even if they were to kill themselves, the air had now been polluted with its poisonous dust particles, making suffering the first thing they encountered. "If this is how you wish to fight, then so be it," Jin said as he already had a handy tool within his storage watch. A portable oxygen tank meant for diving purposes.

    He had already modified it to bebat ready so that it did not weigh as much as it would, but that also meant that the tanks have a limited capacity. Still, that was not an issue as he had a few in his storage watch. (Not to mention, he is currently in his own store instance.)

    "System, put that oxygen tank to the front of the shop app. Make the first purchase as aplimentary gift for sticking with us in this WARE event. Discounted price for the subsequent purchases only for those people who are in this event." Jin said while he braced a second wave of scatter beamsing his way. He believed that even if he blocked the attacks to reduce the ces where the scatter beams wouldnd, the after burst dust clouds could potentially kill him and that is one thing he could not do even though he is the dungeon supplier of this Dungeons and Panda store. The Void Butterfly unknowingly found one of the ways to kill Jin in his own domain.

    But that is assuming that Jin was still around in his store instance. The only problem is that his customers might spread rumours about how Jin could have potentially increased the difficulty of the WARE after artificially decreasing it with Kraft''s appearance. Still, it''s not worth the risk of staying around, especially when death is looming around the corner.

    "Eh, you know, you could always transform. That should save you more than enough trouble dealing with him." Lynn spoke through the System channel while she was staring at her darling in dilemma, giggling at how confused Jin was in his particr predicament.

    "Oh right, but I never transformed in front of them before. Won''t that be a problem?"

    "Have you forgotten that this instance is yours and yours only?"

    That was when Jin decided to not care too much and did as Lynn had suggested. After all, having a System Rider on was like ayer offort and protection.. (As well as more power.)

 Chapter 1264 - Farasha -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1264 - Farasha -Part 8</h4>

    "TRANSFORM!" Jin shouted as he already took out his System Belt and transformed into the System Rider despite the field being littered with his customers suffering from the attacks.

    This time, he merged with Priest Savant, a decently high level adventurer from the Dungeon World who had been turned into a sentient robot. Almost a replica of the Priest Savant in terms of looks, the only difference was Jin''s headgear with a wider visor that was a signature to the System Rider. Other than that, its cloth like armour had been duplicated fully with the power of the living metal, making it a few times stronger than the one the Priest Savant had been using. At the same time, the System had popped up a screen right in front of Jin and it was only with the fusion of the Priest Savant did he realise the plethora of skills at his disposal.

    "I should be experimenting more with these Savants into the System Rider!" Jin said as he pulled out Priest Savant''s unique staff, one that had been decorated with gems of unknown origins, making it already powerful the moment he held on to it.

    "Area Cleanse!" Jin shouted as poured his Maqi through the staff and cast the magic spell without any further hesitation. Most of the Pandarens were able to feel their lungs and body to be somewhat lighter as if a heavy curse had been lifted off their body. It was then, Jin shouted at them to purchase a portable oxygen tank in order to continue the fight.

    Seeing how the dungeon supplier was able to lift the terrible affliction from the Pandarens, Farasha did not hesitate to use the same skill once more to inflict the same side effects against them. But this time with a slight twist in his attack pattern.

    Unfortunately, the Void Butterfly did not know that Jin''s System Rider capabilities to support the entire batch of Pandarens were off the charts. The moment Farasha tried to shoot the scatter beams from his butterfly wings, Jin had to cast arge protective dome barrier around himself. The Pandarens instinctively retreated into the dome to hide from the deadly effects of the scatter beams.

    However, with Farasha adding a new element of a void explosion within his scatter beam attack pattern, the barrier was easily broken upon absorbing a few hits. Yet that was enough for the Pandarens to make a coordinated effort to conjure a counter attack within the barrier. Those that were well versed in the element of the wind, had already teamed up to build up a gust of wind simr to how a cyclone was generated. The moment, the barrier Jin was offering had dissipated from the void explosions, the cyclone was used to deflect the dust particles generated from the scatter beams as well as slowing and divert the scatter beams trajectory.

    This enabled Jin to create another barrier albeit a little smaller but more concentrated with Maqi to deal with the remaining scatter beams. It then allowed the rest of the Pandarens to charge their chi for the next attack.

    "Any chance I get to pilot the Mecha-taur again?" Bu Dong questioned Jin as he was charging his chi. He was shameless to ask such a question when Jin was busy trying to keep them alive. "Also, this suit is goddamn slick, how the hell did you even have the resources to create such an exclusive armour."

    "Just focus on charging your chi!" Deng Long knew this was not the right time to ask such questions.

    "I get to be the superhero in my own instance, isn''t that wonderful? Also, Supa Robot Wars did release a notification that they will be having a major patch soon, right? Look forward to it." Jin did not say much afterwards as he too needed to concentrate on moving to phase two the moment he saw the Pandarens charging for the attack.

    Even without any extramunication among him and his clients, Jin knew that Farasha still had a few tricks under his proverbial sleeve and he was required to protect his Pandarens if they wished to do a proper counter attack. The only problem was whether the counterattack would be useful against it.

    If he had yed enough games in the past, butterflies and dust particles were not entirely new concepts. The past few attacks might have something to do with inhtion of those dust particles but what if Farasha had an attack pattern where all the dust particles needed were to be in contact with the enemy''s skin? Paralysation or even acidic particles that melt the cultivators were possible.

    Alternatively, he could change into another Savant that specialised in major firepower like how Peppers do stuff and capture Farasha but that would not be exciting for the Pandarens as a WARE event. To keep the excitement up while not spoon feeding them and limiting the resources wasted was a pain in the ass for Jin. He should have just teleported the Void Butterfly in an isted instance and deal with it.

    "Just an update, the reception for this WARE has been overwhelmingly positive. More Pandarens are trying to gain ess to the current instance but the System has ced a cap to reduce further casualties. Your opinion on the current situation?" It was as if the System knew what Jin was thinking once again and leaving him in a bigger dilemma.

    "Ignore them for now. If this counter attack fails, kick those who died and bring in fresh blood." Jin did not have much in his mind other than focusing on getting this counter attack right.

    "Very well, the System will ce them in a queue as of this moment." The System replied and via the Pandamonium App, it immediately ced a notification to wait for their turn with an extra warning sign that the WARE event might be ending soon. Some of the excited Pandarens had the mood went down a notch but they continued to hope that they would be able to take part in the event.

    What they can do now was to watch how the counterattack unfold happening right in their phone screens.

 Chapter 1265 - Power Of The Void

    <h4>Chapter 1265 - Power Of The Void</h4>

    Each and every cultivator that was present in the shop instance were all charged up and with Jin''s signal, all of the Pandarens stormed out of the cyclone that was blocking the view of the Void Butterfly and went straight towards him. And Jin''s signal was no ordinary one as he shot out a st of shining light with the literal words "charge" in Chinese, enabling each Pandaren to rush out with hope and a dash of optimism that they could finally kill the Void Being.

    All of them were unleashing their very own unique cultivation techniques against the enormous crocodile standing on its hind legs. Farasha did not stay still as he attempted to move out of the way of the attacks. But as the analogy goes, many red ants could also bring down a mighty elephant. The cultivator attacks were emboldened by the fact that each and every one of them was once more being protected with a ''chi'' barrier created by Jin. Not many of the cultivators knew that the barrier was made with a mixture of chi and magic powers as they all assumed Jin was a cultivator and not a mage.

    Thus, Farasha''s retaliation was not less of an issue than Jin had expected it to be. The Cultivators took the WARE event very seriously and fiercely countered the Void Butterfly to the best of their abilities by avoiding all possible scatter beams and timing their attacks so that their cultivation techniques could be enhanced through the fusion of their teammates'' efforts.

    It was like how Bu Dong and Deng Long had done abination technique which they had been practising during their downtimes for Supa Robot Wars and it paid off when Deng Long''s wombat air strikes deflected Farasha''s scatter beams and Bu Dong followed up with his fire sword techniques imbued with the power of the Angry Ape.

    These small but consecutive attacks were somewhat effective in putting the Void Butterfly in his ce and even a desperate wave of void explosion from Farasha had been mitigated by Jin''s Priest Savant form. He was honestly not expecting the Priest Savant form to be so effective that it almost put his priest betor to shame. (Although to be fair, she did not like being a priest as much as she was being a battle monk.)

    "Master, you do know that I feel offended by yourments." Milk appeared almost instantaneously the moment Jin had protected everyone from another wave of the void explosion.

    "What? But I did not say anything!" Jin suddenly felt that the System had been leaking his thoughts out to Milk.

    "What do you mean you did not say anything. When you tantly present your skills like that, it already offends me. I can feel it in my bones that you are implying what a terrible priest Betor I had been, that you could not trust to call me to do this job for you!!" Milk pouted.

    At that point in time, Farasha who never took his eyes away from Jin immediately saw how he dropped his guard trying to argue with thedy next to him. And so, he instantly shot out a ck ray of intensive energy beam towards Jin which eventually became smaller and thinner, as if to avoid detection.

    Unfortunately, its sneak attack had been blocked by a wide sheet of energy barrier which Milk had already set up the moment she sensed something was off. It was then she boasted how she was still useful. However, what they did not expect was that the void beam did not stop. It started to tunnel through the energy barrier which now brought some attention to the arguing parties.

    "Stupid butterfly crocodile or whatever. Can''t you see I am trying to have a conversation with my master?" Milk said as she then turned the sheet of energy into a U shape horseshoe and the beam suddenly attenuated and was reflected back to Farasha himself, causing arge void explosion on his wings.

    To their surprise, the attack was extremely effective and this was the first recorded major damage the System had witnessed. All of them came to the conclusion that the Void Monsters'' weakness was their own powers. Without any hesitation, the cultivators took the opportunity to hit the injured pair of wings seeing that there was some sort of ck blood oozing out of the area.

    "System, can you create Void Energy?" Jin asked but the System was unable toply as it needed the Void Being to be captured for it to analyse how the Void Energy works. "If that''s the case, I will try to pretend to learn it," Jin said as he was hoping the training in Suzaku''s Endless Battlefield could allow him to imitate it in some way against the Void Being.

    To everyone''s surprise, including the person who attempted it was shocking to learn that Jin was indeed capable of producing some form of Void Energy, especially when the Panda Silhouette was cultivating some sort of ck hole with his bare hands. (while wearing a pair of translucent butterfly wings and a fake crocodile tail which was hanging loosely at his waist)

    However, it was somehow taking a toll on his Maqi umtion which should never happen given that he was currently in the System Rider form as the System was also helping Jin to assimte his chi energies through his entire body. "Wow, it''s not as pitch ck as the one the Void Being had used, but I could feel the simrities oozing from it." Milk said as she stood one step away to ensure not to get caught in the crossfire.

    Farasha saw what was happening and could not believe his eyes. "A mere insect is able to create void energy?! Even though it''s impure, the evidence of void energy is indisputable!" Farasha said and knew that if the caster was able to create void energy, there might be a chance that Farasha would die permanently especially now when he has no ess to his own personal void source.

    Hence, the panic.

    Thinking that he has to conserve some energy for a prolonged fight, Farasha now abandons all possible recourse and decides to focus his entire reserve of energy to stop the caster frompleting his void energy spell. However, if he does that, Farasha needs to ignore all the other cultivators and spend his concentration on just Jin alone.

    For the threat of a Human Void Mage could potentially be dangerous to the existence of all Void Beings.

 Chapter 1266 - Farasha - Final

    <h4>Chapter 1266 - Farasha - Final</h4>

    "I am not going to waste any more time with you!" Jin said as he too felt that Farasha was now afraid of him for some reason. More afraid than angry.

    And with that deration, Jin was finally about to step forward until he realised he was still in the Priest Savant form. It was a little anti climatic but the Dungeon Supplier wanted to be as safe as possible so he turned to Milk.

    "Milk, do me a favour. Do you mind getting the first card from the deck right beside my waist? I told the System to magically reshuffle it so that you should be able to get the card that I wanted." Jin said while still holding on to the orb of unstable void energy which he had been conjuring.

    "Why? Not enough firepower or something?" Milk said as she went closer to Jin and did what she was told. The first card she picked up was also a Savant and it''s a warlock variant. The Priest Betor then understood that Jin might have better control of the void energy if he was aligned with the warlock variant aspared to the priest variant of a Savant. "How do I activate this damn thing?"

    "You just take the card out from the belt and insert the new one. It''s really pretty simple and foolproof. The System purposely does this so that other people can use it too." Jin said while holding on to the void orb above his head. It was so uncool that some of the Pandarens were secretly taking photos of Jin trying to change his System Rider form especially during the climax of a fight. (Not to mention, Farasha was bewildered by Jin''s actions and it did throw off his focus a little because it really wasn''t the norm.)

    Meanwhile, some of the Pandarens who were watching the stream believed it was a new gimmick that they could use in the future and thus, this random change form as not just a distraction but a new sort of indirect advertisement.

    "If you say it that way, you are tempting me to just unplug it from you and use it for myself. I really wonder how the living metal feels like on my skin." Milk said as she managed to take the card out, causing the System Rider to return to its base form and by putting a new one, the System Rider Belt started to make an announcement that he was going to change into Warlock form.

    "Such tant copy of the real stuff." One of the Pandarensmented to his friend when they were watching the stream from the ''safer'' shop instance.

    "Hey, it''s unique enough to call it its own, especially when the suit design is pretty cool. Not to mention, he incorporated his monsters. Technically I feel that there shouldn''t be much of a copyright issue. But hey, what do I know about copyrightws?" His friend shrugged it off as they were immediately wowed by the new Warlock form.

    Spikes appeared on Jin''s big ass pauldrons and a few miniature skulls were being pierced by said spikes. A long tattered and yet intricately designed ck robe with an extra cape was seen flowing out from the centre of the rider''s transformation. Not to mention, his aura turned slightly greenish and ck to the point where the Panda Silhouette above him started to have his eyes glow from bright white to devilish green while maintaining the fake butterfly wings and that improvised crocodile tail.

    Thankfully, the transformation was not for nought, as Jin could feel that the assistance of the Warlock Savant had indeed kept the orb of Void Energy stable allowing him to send it out as a st of attack aspared to when he was in the Priest Savant form. The Dungeon Supplier was partially afraid that the void energy could potentially backfire against him due to how unwieldy it was when he first conjured it. That was why he wanted to change into the Warlock Savant variant, hoping it works.

    And now that it does, Jin did not hesitate to waste any more time. Farasha''s void beam had been umting during the entire fiasco as well but this was definitely hisst ditch effort as the cultivators in the sidelines had been attacking him nonstop despite the Void Butterfly''s poor attempt at defending by producing a few void butterfly spawns to detract their attention.

    It was the one and only shot where either Farasha lives to break this ursed barrier and regain ess to his personal void source in the open world or he die to this odd caster which kept surprising him with all this unorthodox way of fighting,

    The void sts eventually were set off from both sides and to say the explosions were quiet was an understatement when the two void energies shed against each other. It was so silent that it drowned the battle cries and all the surrounding background noise for a moment that everyone thought they all went deaf.

    And it was not the end as a streak of ckness suddenly covered the entire field, causing everyone to see nothing, feel nothing and hear nothing. Everyone could not feel their senses at all and when light returned, they all struggled to get their bearings correctly.

    However, one thing has changed on the battlefield after that sudden ckout for everyone. The Void Menace was not in the store instance at all, hence everyone started to look backwards to see if the other party was still around.

    "YUP, HE''S OKAY. STILL BREATHING." Milk was holding onto unconscious Jin in his System Rider form and raising a thumbs up for everyone to see. The Pandarens immediately went into celebration mode as the System had also announced the end of the WARE event and started to deposit the rewards based on the contributions done by each and every cultivator.

    It seemed like everyone could finally take a breather, especially for Jin when he was indirectly being roped into this particr mess which he could have avoided.

 Chapter 1267 - Aftermath Of The Symposium Incident

    <h4>Chapter 1267 - Aftermath Of The Symposium Incident</h4>

    The aftermath of the entire fiasco was not pretty. Even though pretty much everyone in the convention was saved, there was a major bacsh at themittee members in the Dungeon Supplier Symposium.

    Even the police were scrutinised despite the quick deployment and rather swift resolution of the entire matter. The public voiced their concern how the terrorists were getting ever more daring than ever to hit such a big event and one which was filled with a high level of security.

    However, the government did not take too much of a hit from the public mainly because the one who suffered the most was the ''minister of defence'' He Fei. Since he was captured as a hostage and had been rescued in less than 24 hours, had shown that the public security forces were still effective and deadly against internal threats. (Although the people who were in the know allugh at such a statement.)

    He Fei expressed his regrets for the entire situation and also gratitude for the security forces who had risked their lives with everything. (Whether it was fortunate or not, Jin''s name was not being released publicly though he did mention that the help of certain public members had stepped up and performed their civic duty above and beyond what the rest would not have done.)

    In addition, he did vow to do everything in his power to not let such an incident happen again and in some way, this particr incident had enabled the defence minister and other supporting government officials to draft a proposal to increase their budget for internal security drastically for the uing fiscal year. Some insiders even spected that the proposal could be approved in an emergency council which they are going to hold to review the said proposal.

    Hence, one would wonder if the imntation of such an important figure in this entire bait and kill operation would be a risky move but ultimately the agenda had been paid off with magnanimous support and Kong Rong finally had the budget to search for the Banned Emperor.

    And because the Dungeon Supplier Symposium also invited overseas dungeon suppliers as guests, the countries those guests were from had also condemned the terrorist attack and pledged to provide some form of support if China ever needs it. It was a little expected from the foreign ministry point of view but they too had decided to jump on the chance to build additional bridges with said countries.

    As for Jin, he finally had a good long talk with Farasha asking him about the Void ne and how he had been summoned into this world. The Void Butterfly was nonpliant at first, especially when he had to obey someone that is superiorly inferior to him. Eventually, he dropped his guard when Lynn had allured him with a custom made hamburger that was suitable for his size. (Her experience in handling Mr Derpy and otherrge sized monsters paid off tremendously.)

    That burger alone was more than enough to get him to open his mouth and tell Jin how he, like every other race, was in a hierarchy system. He was considered only as a scout and hunter of some sort. Bringing in some dinner for the rest to feast upon. Void Energy as the name implied that the energyes from being in the void. Emotions were a healthy source of such energy because depriving the said food source of such energy would eventually create Void Energy.

    Thus, he was wondering why and how Jin could easily create void energy out of nothing. And a huge source of it as well considering how his void energy was able to counter and eventually overwhelm his own concentrated void energy. Granted he was not the strongest of all Void Beings but being a hunter for the Void was a rank not to be scoffed at either.

    When asked if he were to go missing, would otherse to find him, Farasha responded that it was normal for hunters to go missing because they always hunt solo and there are still chances of them disappearing due to a force stronger than them. Still, it was rather umon for it to happen and the Void Beings would take note of the area if there were too many disappearances.

    "That means there are chances for them toe back here?" Jin asked and Farasha nodded without much care towards Jin''s question as Lynn''s food upied his mind more.

    "If you can eat my burger, does that mean the Void Beings can consume other energy as well? You don''t have to hunt that much, right?" Lynn queried.

    "Hmm. As much as it sounds very sciency, we gain from the loss from the energy conversion, but we do not need much to survive to begin with. So these burgers are fine although pure void energy consumed is still the best way to get by." Farasha said as he swallowed thest bit of the giant burger.

    "Ahбнinteresting. So you are living the reverse of us." Kraft was there to hear the Void''s side of the story since this was the first time someonemunicated properly with them. Most instances were purely life and death scenarios.

    "You could say that. It''s a little paradoxical but we get by." Farasha said as he looked towards Lynn, obviously hinting based on the bodynguage that he still wanted another one. Lynn smiled and nodded his head, telling him to wait for more while the rest continued their chat on how to utilise Farasha now that they got a heavy hitter that could potentially relieve some of their problems during the invasion of the Demon Rats.

    After all, that was mainly the agenda for Jin to have his attention on to ensure that PandaVerse Festival would be a sess. For now, he was hoping to get more insight on thetest monster''sbat abilities since the System had given Farasha ess to his void source once again. An obvious weakness that he needed connection to the void but a strength capable of inflicting untold chaos when properly tapped.

    However, just as Jin was in the midst of discussing, Kong Rong sent a message that warranted the Dungeon Supplier''s immediate attention as well.. Jin could only assume that it had to do with the aftermath of the entire Symposium incident.

 Chapter 1268 - Recognition For Jins Efforts

    <h4>Chapter 1268 - Recognition For Jin''s Efforts</h4>

    "Hey, Jin. How are you feeling?" I heard from one of my agents that you had managed to dispose of one of those monsters that the Banned Emperor had summoned in my absence. You even made it into some promotional event for your store though I am receiving some intel that your ountant isn''t too happy about it.."

    "Sadly, that''s the case. And yes to all ounts. Guess that you have eyes and ears both inside and outside the shop. Sometimes, I am not too sure whether it was the best of choice to include you into mypany."

    "Too bad, whether you like it or not, I am already part of your gang. Unless the System decides to brainwash me and I will be stuck with investigating the empty portion of my memory."

    "Sheesh, are you saying that no matter what, you will stille to me?"

    "Be it a good thing or a bad thing, that''s for you to decide down the line." Kong Rong said as his voice started to get serious. "What manner of monster did they summon?" Jin quickly summarised whatever information he had garnered from Farasha and it certainly gave the State Security Agent to furrow his eyebrows hard. (Jin could probably feel it from the tone of his voice too.)

    "That is not a good sign. Well, I mean that''s great that you now possibly have a countermeasure against Void Beings, but that does not bore well for the rest of China. Much alone, the rest of the world. I am not entirely happy that they are only targeting us since the US and Europe be like ''Good riddance, there is a pest in their backyard.'' And I am telling you, there are enough rumours going around that all these are backed by the CIA. Even more so with the appearance of the Void Beings. There is no way they are able to get something this sophisticated without having some wealthy and knowledgeable allies or sources." Kong Rong said and Jin could know that he might had been in some hard hitting meetings which demanded him to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

    "I am guessing they are going to pass that revised Internal Security Bill in the emergency cab meeting very soon?" Jin tried to console Kong Rong because he knew that would mean he would have less time for the Top State Agent to be at his behest and even less time for this man to enjoy the dungeons as the mysterious Mr Know It All. One could already reminiscent all the times he idled in Jin''s store just to make sure thest remaining Panda n member would not do anything to threaten public security.

    "Heh. Speaking about that Internal Security Bill. I could say that all your contributions had not gone unrecognised." Kong Rong''s tone suddenly changed for the better as if all that issues he had previously was gone with the wind and the perkiness in his voice felt ominous to Jin.

    "What do you mean?" Now Jin was the one starting to feel some headaches rising up.

    "The Minister of Defence would like to meet up with you physically to speak to you, the new rising Royal Zodiac Panda Lord. Your ruckus in the Tiger Estate, the killing of the Oompa whatever that monster name is, and now your assistance in breaking down the dimensional instance barrier which greatly moved the rescue timeline. One could say that you had been slogging out hard while the rest of the Veteran Zodiac Heads merely watched how the situations had unfolded."

    "In short, I earn some brownie points? But I thought every other Zodiac Heads would have hated me and did anything to stop me from growing bigger." Jin replied having the impression that he would be ostracised.

    "Hence, the meeting with the Defence Minister would yield you the chance and opportunity to talk to the other Zodiac Heads. It''s a meeting to discuss the ongoing events and see how you had the fortuneбнor misfortune to interact with the Banned Emperors, they might see you in a different light."

    "You mean passing all the shit and responsibilities on me in case things go south because I am the youngest and ''newest'' member of the Royal Zodiac Group." Jin sighed but Kong Rong corrected him almost immediately.

    "You might be right, they will throw you that shitty stuff to do, but that''s the whole point. Jin, you aren''t going to earn anyone''s trust and cooperation just by being the hero all day long. Sure, you can leave or not join the meeting, but that does not aplish anything."

    "Yes, I know that and I am not denying that bing a new up and rising Lord would. I- I just have much on my te too. " Jin''s reply calmed Kong Rong down a little since it was rtable.

    "Hmm, still I will advise you to go. Vouching for your protection means that the Dragon n''s pride and face is on the line if you decide not to appear. Just take it as the perfect opportunity to meet with the other Zodiac Heads and gauge their interest in you. Needless to say, they would definitely be hiding knives behind their smiles but at least you get to see some of their motivesбнor maybe enjoy their ridicule towards the Tiger Head. He made your life a pain, at least get someughs from it." Kong Rong tried his best to convince Jin but it looks like he was trying way too hard.

    "Don''t you worry. A meeting with the Defence Minister also meant a possible business opportunity. I would not pass such an opportunity to possibly get army contracts even if it is just a temporary one."

    "Then you better strike a hard bargain, that guy is craftier than Kraft." Just as his name was being mentioned, Kraft already bulged into the call even though it was just a one to one conversation. And how did he do that? By physically pushing Jin away from the phone aka snatching it and asking Kong Rong whether he coulde along with his master for the meeting.

    Although the Dragon State Agent would like to say no, he felt that bringing a veteran right hand man no matter how crazy he was might actually be a kind of insurance that Jin does not screw up badly. And even if Kraft did, Kong Rong knew that he did it for the benefit of Jin but at the same time for the death of him too.. It might be a show worthy to watch in such a dull serious meeting.

 Chapter 1269 - Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1269 - Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 1</h4>

    The day which Jin dreaded came all too soon when Kraft happily appeared right in front of him, reminding him early in the morning that he had to attend the meeting with the Zodiac Heads by epting the Defence Minister''s official invitation.

    Most if not all the Royal Zodiac Heads had already travelled to Beijing for this important meeting at the Pinnacle Hotel, a highly recognised establishment with its reputation known for its neutrality against all the Royal Zodiac ns. Everyone had already checked in with the exception of Jin who had not arrived nor even booked a room at the hotel.

    Many if not all of them were not aware of Jin''s capabilities and merely assumed that this particr new Panda Lord did not have the guts to do what it takes to meet with them and the defence minister. Some even gossiped that he was not worthy to even sit on the same pedestal as them if he could not evene for this particr meeting.

    "You guys judged him too harshly." Kong Rong tried to make some small talk with a few of the Zodiac Heads and theirpanions. After all, he was apanying his father too since he was going to inherit the title to be the new Royal Zodiac Dragon''s Head in years toe. "He wille, I am sure of it."

    "I am more interested in your reasoning and actions since you have decided to bring legitimacy to this long lost panda n." One of the Royal Zodiac Heads asked and yet before he got an answer, Kong Rong had to answer a phone call and requested himself to be away from the current conversation.

    "Xie Jin. Where the heck are you right now?" Kong Rong whispered in a hush but rather angry tone. (Probably more annoyed than frustrated.) "The meeting is about to start in less than a few minutes since the Defence Minister had already arrived."

    "Ehhhhh, I have actually reached the Pinnacle Hotel, but I am blocked by a buttload of guardsбн? They are not letting me in at all even though I said that I am here for a meeting." Jin had already teleported to a nearby secluded area, a few dozen metres away from the hotel but he had not noticed that he was within the defensive surveince perimeter and thus an alert was sent out to meet this unidentified threat.

    When he was near the front door of Pinnacle Hotel, guards of various high cultivation levels had already surrounded him and nearly pinned him down if not for his trusty ''sidekick'' who created a chi barrier around Jin, allowing the dungeon supplier to give a call to the person responsible for all this. (For once, Kraft was in a non killing mode which greatly relived Jin''s raising headache."

    "Gosh, you sure know how to make an entrance." Kong Rong said as he peered outside the window and saw the situation was as what Jin had described. At the same time, a few security officers were reporting to the Zodiac Head of this current predicament and Kong Rong had to step in.

    But before he could say anything, the Defence Minister He Fei was already walking through the doors of the conference hall asking what the ruckus was all about. "Some fellow decided to barge into the hotel by skipping all the guard checkpoints and decided to openly walk through the front gates. The guards would take care of the trespasser." Yuan Ba, the Royal Zodiac Tiger Head spoke out since he was the one who had the police under his control.

    "The police are getting ipetent, look at all the past recent incidents. So much trouble had urred and yet the police were eitherte or nowhere to be found until the incidents were more or less under control." Mu Ji, the Royal Zodiac Head for the Rooster n as well as the family to oversee the skies of China. From air defence to handling the majority of stocks of China Airlines and their subsidiaries. A number of the smaller local airlines all needed the support of the Rooster n to get clearance to fly the skies. In short, they monopolised the ceilings of China and is considered as one of the few greater Royal Zodiac ns in the region.

    "If you had stricter control of your immigration as well as better intelligence, then perhaps, these terrorists would not even havee in or maybe contraband items would not have been introduced." Yuan Ba gave a measly throwbackment since he was trying to keep his anger in check with the presence of the Defence Minister but thetter cut in and demanded the current situation to be solved before they start the meeting.

    However as he nced around the conference room at the edge of the table, he noticed someone was missing and his secretary reported to him that the Panda Lord was not around.

    "Minister He Fei, I ask for your apologies to interject but the person they are handling right now is none other than the missing Panda Lord." Kong Rong had decided there was no other time for pleasantries and He Fei gave him a curious look as if demanding for extra answers.

    "If you allow me to leave temporarily and pick him up for the conference meeting, I would appreciate the kind gesture."

    "Kong Rong, you know that in this room, we are more or less equals. Do not have to be too formal with me." He Fei smiled slowly while turning to his secretary to tell the guards to stand down immediately. And even though it was an order to be decimated, the security officers who were actually standing at the side of the conference room (and being ignored like sunflowers on the wall) instantly acknowledged the Defence Minister''s orders and went out of the room escorting Kong Rong out.. At the same time, He Fei''s secretary also proceeded to signal a server in the room to at least provide some light refreshments to the entire group while they waited (reluctantly) for the arrival of thest Royal Zodiac Head.

 Chapter 1270: Extra- Tiny Dragon, Crafty Fox and The Lazy Panda

    <h4>Chapter 1270: Extra- Tiny Dragon, Crafty Fox and The Lazy Panda</h4>

    "You know, being fashionablyte is quite ast century kind of thing." Kong Rong said when he met Jin at the front gates as the security officers who heard the Defence Minister''s orders already called off the warning.

    "I did not expect the guards to not recognise me. I thought you know at least they know who their guests were considering this is supposed to be a ce for Zodiac Heads to confer," Jin shrugged his shoulders as if he had nothing to do with this. "Besides, if they had not stopped me, I would have arrived on time."

    "He is just purely irritated that he had to waste time in this stupid meeting." Kraft yawned too as he took great pains to restrain himself from killing all these guards. "Perhaps you can include me too. I cannot believe I have to join this awfully boring situation. But hey, seeing you panic a little seems like there will be some fun." Kraft added as he eyed the Dragon State Agent. "Is that Dragon Girl with you too?"

    "No, Ryuli had some other business to attend to. Not all State Agents are as free as you thought." Kong Rong said as someone passed ID tags to both Jin and Kraft. They looked like empty nk white cards but they had the necessary ess needed to take the elevator.

    "Meh, I thought she follows you almost everywhere you go when ites to official business. You know, your little protege or something. Anyways, I have more things toin about. Why do we have such boring in cards while yours had your picture imprinted and looked so stylish? Kraft grumbled in the lift and Kong Rong could feel that this particr lift ride might take an eternity.

    "Because you two are supposed to be booked inst night and not waltz through the defensive perimeter early in the morning when it was supposed to be swept clean of threats."

    "The PandaVerse Festival is proving to be more troublesome than I had expected. By the way, have you gotten my request about that Dungeon Supplier guy you guys caught? Would like to have a word with him if it''s not possible to release him." Jin asked and Kraft smirked which caused Kong Rong to feel a bad chill running down his spine.o

    "Kraft, no funny ideas of trying to get him to Jin like some prison break action movie." Kong Rongmented and Kraft already started replying defensively with augh.

    "I would never dare!" Kraft said and suddenly Kong Rong felt this might possibly be one of the few longest meetings in his life.

    "I will see what I can do but currently, I have no excuses to allow you to even have ess looking at him. Also, before you say anything, I know your abilities to turn enemies into allies but it would be best if you use that ability in that meeting because potentially everyone in there is all about to be very ''friendly'' with you the moment you step in." Kong Rong sighed as he side eyed Jin to see his reaction and yet the little Panda Lord was partially asleep just from standing in the lift.

    "Unbelievableбн" Kong Rong said to himself wondering if he made the right choice forcing Jin toe for this meeting. The lift door finally opened and as he was about to walk out of it, he suddenly clicked something was wrong. A quick turn of his head and he realised what was bugging him all this time.

    "Wait a minute. Why are the two of you -wait never mind about you Kraft, your fashion sense is too edgy- cough. Jin, why are you in such casual wear?!" Kong Rong quickly pressed the ''close'' button despite ushers waiting to receive them so they could escort the group to the conference hall. One of them even tried to press the lift button, thinking they had identally closed the lift doors but he immediately retracted his hand when he felt a ferocious aura emanating within the lift.

    "Huh, What? I already wore a polo shirt and long pants. Not enough?" Jin replied to Kong Rong as he involuntarily yawned.

    "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Kong Rong said before using his thoughts to connect to the System. "System, I''m disappointed that you-"

    "The suits are in their storage devices but they refused to wear them, citing the need to reach the ce on time." The System stated and Kong Rong felt like he is a father trying to take care of two kindergarten school kids. He instantly pressed the one level down and he sternly told them to follow him to the nearest corridor leading to a series of hotel rooms. Thankfully, one of the rooms was currently being cleaned and Kong Rong barged in, showing his conference badge that he needed to use the washroom for a moment with the other two with him.

    The cleaner was stunned by their sudden forced entry and could only nod her head as Kong Rong kept shouting expletives at the both of them while they reluctantly changed to their suits. Both were wearing nothing significantly special, just a ck suit and white shirt with matching leather shoes with a ck tie. There was nothing screaming Panda n from the two of them but Kong Rong was already satisfied they were in their correct set of clothes.

    He then dragged the two of them out unwillingly and back to the lift where Kraft had decided to bring out his long trusty coatбн only to be confiscated by Kong Rong. Obviously, that reaction annoyed the Fox and he started to emit his aura, only to be met with the very same resistance from Kong Rong.

    It was an understatement to say that their shing aura could be felt by the entire Pinnacle Hotel as people on the ground floor in their defensive perimeter positions could also feel that menacing aura. If not for the Royal Zodiac Heads familiar with Kong Rong''s aura, they might have thought that there was an attack pending within the Hotel itself.

    Still, the aura that was shing against Kong Rong was something that perked up all the Heads, as they knew it was no ordinary high level cultivator that could produce such a chi aura.

    "Just knock it off alreadyбн" Jin yawned as he went into the lift and now told the two to hurry up. "I have other things to settle after this."

 Chapter 1271: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1271: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 2</h4>

    As they finally reached the top floor once more, the ushers were already sweating buckets from the outburst of chi from the two high level cultivators. They were standing as still as they could and only showing the way because they knew that if they moved, their legs would give way and that would cost embarrassment (Possibly the loss of their jobs too for not being professional.)

    Unfortunately, one of them eventually fell to the ground as he realised that his legs could not take it anymore. Everyone in the room held back their breath as they did not know how the trio who entered the room could react to this unprofessional behaviour. The floor manager even thought of opening his mouth to beg for forgiveness but his mouth just simply could not move as the tallest among them stared at him as if he could pinpoint who was the person responsible for this entire floor.

    However, Kong Rong let out a quiet cough and Kraft looked away almost instantaneously while the people guarding the doors opened it as soon as the trio were in sight. They were barely keeping their wits together and also tried to avoid eye contact even though they were as curious as they were scared.

    Jin yawned again before pping his face a little to wake himself up as they walked through the doors, knowing that there would be another trial he had to face. And sadly, the first person he saw was none other than Yuan Ba at the edge of the conference table, looking irritated at him and so did the other Zodiac Heads.

    He presumed that he was not onlyte but also the outburst of chi which made them ufortable. But even before he could open his mouth, Kong Rong took the centre stage and introduced Jin and Kraft to the restless group of figureheads (quite literally.)

    "Apologies for the tardiness. We were not exactly informed of the procedures and we had failed to ask Kong Rong on how to proceed with this entire meeting. Did not know there were such stringent security protocols in ce and many other erm... guidelines to follow" Jin bowed slightly to show some sincerity in his apology but the Zodiac Heads were not buying it. Of course, why would they trust this new Lord who had no Royal upbringing at all?

    "Hence, I asked that you all be so kind as to ept my apologies with this as your breakfast if you all have not had any," Jin said while he opened his storage watch to take out the items he wished to present to the entire group.

    "It is fine. We already had our refreshments. Do not tarry the real agenda of this meeting." Yuan Ba said with an annoyed look but someone interjected the moment Jin took out the very first item. A small steaming basket full of Xiao Long Bao or also known as soup dumplings.

    "Now this is something even more appealing than that ridiculous miniature rectangr sandwich that was given to us." A man with an enormous beer belly stood up as he saw the steam basket still piping hot.

    "Zhu Tai Fang. Head of the Royal Zodiac Pig Head. I am normally disinclined with eating food that is not associated with my n''s restaurant but the moment you take that out, it''s releasing an abnormal amount of chi and aroma which immediately catches my attention. Defence Minister, I understand that we have lots of things to discuss but having a terribly poor breakfast is not good for the brain and the soul. Not to mention, it seems everyone is in a foul mood. I suggest we partake in his apologies and then continue on with the current meeting."

    "How do we know that he did not poison the food?" Yuan Ba was definitely still feeling sore from the aftermath of losing a few of his important territories.

    "I am here. There is nothing much to worry about. And Tiger, poisoning the entire group of Zodiac Heads? You have such wild imaginations that I would never think of in this lifetime." A rather well dressed middle ageddy said with her arms crossed. It was apparent she was in favour of eating a sumptuous breakfast before the meeting.

    "But dear Sirs and Madams, if it pleases you, we can release our breakfast itinerary at this moment-" One of the many vice managers had begun to voice out but Tai Fang literally snorted.

    "Please, I am kind of sick of eating such substandard food every time I have to visit this ce."

    "But Head Zhu, we had employed the best of the best chefs from your n. There should not be-" Before the vice manager was able to finish his sentence, Tai Fang had already materialised his personal pair of chopsticks and spoon to pick up the piping hot xiao long bao from the steam basket.

    "Oh myбн This is exquisite. The skin of the bun is translucent to the point I can see the fillings when I bring it close to my mouth but yet retain its beauty from afar. It can not only hold the weight of the ingredients within it and does not break that easily when pinching it from the top." Tai Fang said as he took a quick breath in.

    "The soupбн the smell is not an ordinary recipe." Tai Fang immediately ced the first xiao long bao in his mouth and as he crushed it from within, he could feel the umami rich soup pouring out of his mouth and pulsating through his entire body. "The minced porkбнis equally fresh, and I cannot believe a single ingredient within the soup could change the vour immensely, wait no. It should have been boiled for at least a few days before achieving such -- Where did you get such an amazing basket of Xiao Long Bao?" Tai Fang with his godly tongue due to his Royal Zodiac Pig Cultivation was able to discern almost every single ingredient within that small Xiao Long Bao. He was amazed by the amount of work that was put in, significantly way more than the chefs he ever trained.

    Even as ''simple'' as a Xiao Long Bao, he could already feel the years of dedication and training being put into this product and all he wanted was another piece to be ced into his mouth so he could relive the delight. Not to mention, the chi eluded in this small dumpling was way more than he could have ever thought it was possible and it undoubtedly revitalised him.

    Seeing how the Head of Royal Zodiac Pig, a critical appraiser of food, was recognising Jin''s apology meal, the rest started to feel their stomach rumbling at the sight of it and saliva sneakily drooling out of their mouths.

    "It''s made by my head chef in Dungeons and Pandas. I have more than enough dim sum dishes for everyone and even Chinese tea made by her." Jin said as he pulled more of the steam baskets out of his storage watch. Defence Minister He Fei also could not resist after smelling the rich aromaing from the steam baskets even though he was at the far end of the conference table and admitted that a good breakfast would be useful for everyone. Thus, the Royal Zodiac Heads and theirpanions slowly but surely started to crowd around Jin for the food.

    Even that annoyed tiger.

 Chapter 1272: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1272: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 3</h4>

    "Jin, it''s best if you bring all of this to the meeting," Lynn said as she hollered for her boyfriend when he was about to depart with Kraft.

    "Why? I am going there as a participant, not some delivery guy," Jin said and Lynn smacked his head hard for not being able toprehend the situation he was in.

    "You did not bother to do anything with regards to the meeting and you wish to show up at the veryst minute? Don''t you think it''s high time you gain some brownie points from all those higher up from you? Do you really want them to think that the Panda Lord is some young adult who did not respect any of their rules?" Lynn pouted and Jin quietly receive the scolding. She was not as fierce when they were mere boss and employee but her concern for Jin was well thought out.

    "I had prepared this for the past few hours with time dilution magic. Keep them in the special System storagepartment of your watch." Lynn said to Jin as she wiped her hands and recounted the number of steam baskets and trays he was about to bring for the meeting. Her Sub System assured her that everything had been ounted for and would bill Jin if he did not return all the dishes.

    "I do not care if they are dirty or not, be sure to bring them back. Those bamboo steam baskets are not easy toe by. They are made from Grade 11 bamboo which the System had been cultivating in the Werejackals farm. Currently, they are considered as limited goods so you better bring them back."

    "Why use such expensive baskets?! Also, you want me to time freeze the food is just-"

    "Just listen to me for this once. If you do not think it''s helping you after you serve them, you canin to me all you want when you reach home." Lynn interjected while throwing a piece of chopstick towards Kraft as his fingers were getting very fidgety especially when the smell of the dim sumbined had been nearly intolerable for his mouth to control.

    "Eat itter or else no food for you for the next one week." Lynn sternly said and he quietly received his punishment when the chopstick flew towards Kraft''s fingers. Way too close forfort when he could see the chopstick was barely a millimetre away from his index finger.

    ------------

    "Thank god for Lynn''s cookingбн Looks like I really owe you big time." Jin thought to himself as everyone thoroughly enjoyed the food presented to them and kept pressing for more information about Jin''s employee. That was where Kraft had debuted his charismatic self and fully praised Lynn right in front of the entire group without any reserves. If it was about Jin, he would probably have added some snarky remarks into it but Lynn had nothing short ofpliments from Kraft. (In fact, he was being rather genuine with hisments and no one had detected a single lie from him at all.)

    Kong Rong even chipped in some of the experiences he had from Lynn''s cooking and he said that Jin''s store was no ordinary dungeon supplier shop at all. While the rest had sent in their spies to poke around Jin''s store, they could not believe what their followers had said until they personally heard it from the horse''s mouth.

    "I too wished topliment Jin''s store as it had been nothing but a wonderful experience." A very familiar female voice was heard within the crowd and Jin was totally surprised to see her. (Perhaps, her father''s presence and the need to please the crowd was more pressurising to notice her.)

    "Yang Ling. Do not say anymore." Yuan Ba stared at his daughter but she was adamant to voice her opinion. After all her father had done to suppress Jin, she was not willing to let the matter slide easily. This entire meeting is also the one and only opportunity for Jin to make allies and not more enemies if everything was done right. If her father was able to let go of the centuries old grudge between the main zodiac team and the Panda n, they might be able to do something extraordinary together especially when the Panda Lord had been climbing up thedder of influence pretty quickly.

    And she also supported him regardless even though Yang Ling had known that she had no chance to be with him when Lynn gave a friendly call to her asking for help. In a way, she was returning a favour Jin never owned and was doing it to support her dear friend too. The Panda Lord had unanimously helped the tiger princess at her lowest and she will do the same for him when the situation arises. And that situation is now, as she told everyone how the help of Jin was crucial to the sess she was enjoying at the moment.

    Kong Rong too did not hesitate to take the opportunity to reiterate the achievements Jin had done for the country in order to show that the Panda Lord was here to assist the Royal Zodiac ns as well as protect the country''s sovereignty against both internal and external threats.

    If anything, Pig Head Tai Fang had unknowingly sided with Jin now that he knows he might finally have a cooking rival he could look forward to. The rest of the group were partially swayed by the stories Jin''s friends had said and even Tiger Head Yuan Ba had reluctantly admitted indirectly that Jin was a league of his own as his General had praised him for the efforts against the Banned Emperor''s induced Monster Horde.

    "Ah, that. Yes, my own general too had manypliments for him on that particr incident. For that, I personally would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Those men who could live and breathe easily right now were because of your efforts. They repeatedly said that they owe their lives to you and would assist you in any endeavour in a heartbeat. Even if I were to give orders to kill you, they will at the very least disobey it once. This is how much my men respected you for your heroics for that particr day." Se Chang Chang, the Head of the Royal Zodiac Snake said as he savoured a Char Siew Bao. (Pork Bun)

    "While the food is nice, honestly thepliments are making me sick." Royal Zodiac Rat Head, Shu Tiao Xiao, grumbled and everyone knew that like Yuan Ba, he had suffered financially because of the loss of King''s Monster as well as his Triad Boss. However, as bitter he was, he knew that it was somewhat inevitable since he knew hisckey''s personality.

    "Right, we have enough idle chit chat. Thank you for the food, Jin. It had been refreshing to hear about you from these people and it made me understand you a little more." He Fei smiled as he raised his hand to shake with Jin for the impromptu sumptuous meal.

    Now, the meeting has truly begun.

 Chapter 1273: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1273: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 4</h4>

    With everyone having their stomachs full of good food, their moods too had changed for the better as they took their seats at the conference table. In the meantime, Jin had quickly transferred the remaining food items onto tes and quickly kept the steam baskets before Lynn haunts him for the rest of his entire life.

    "Hey, sit down already." Yang Ling sent a telepathic message to Jin as everyone including He Fei was patiently waiting for him to sit but at the same time, they seemed like they were biding their time to attack him verbally as well.

    Between the wrath of the 12 Zodiac Heads and Lynn, he believed thetter would be more of a devastationpared to these people. Still, he decided to fasten the pace by activating his Maqi and using a pinch of Green Panda Wind Energy to move all the steam baskets closer to him while a bit of Pink Panda Psychic Energy so that he could pop the remaining dim sums into the tes he prepared earlier.

    This quick and small disy of ''chi'' surprised the group as they saw two different elements in action at the same time which made them ponder what Jin had been hiding behind that Panda Title of his.

    At the same time, Jin could feel the curious looks from all the Zodiac Heads, and even without saying, the Panda Lord knew that they were dying to know what skills he had. Should he sugarcoat the truth? Or give them a tant lie? Perhaps a half truth might do him good since they would be working with him even more in the near futureбнassuming they were going to be allies in this crucial time of killing the Banned Emperorckeys for good.

    "For now, you should not even speak anything." Kraft who could see the situation unfold said through the System Channel. He did not trust these telepathic messages since everyone around here is a high level cultivator. Who knows one of them could intercept and decrypt whatever messages that were given to anyone within this table. "Get to your seat and prepare yourself. There might not be any blows exchanged today but words are as deadly as swords in this era."

    "Never see you this uptight before," Jin said to Kraft through the Channel as he thanked the group out loud for waiting instead of the usual humble approach in apologising to people.

    "Oh, I would love to y mind games with them. Very d to do so but you are involved and your impression in this entire meeting pertains to your survival. As your contracted betor, I do have a duty to keep you alive."

    "You barely keep me alive in most circumstances." Jin retorted and Kraft wasughing from within while keeping a very stoic face.

    "Still breathing, considered job done." Even though it was not shown physically, Jin could practically hear Kraft''s sinisterughter from thement.

    "Thank you once more foring and making time from your busy schedule." He Fei let out a quick sigh knowing today''s agenda might be an unprecedented milestone that he had never foreseen himself. "As you all have known, our topic today would be none other than the total annihtion of the Banned Emperor Uprising Faction."

    "As you all have known, they had been a group of terrorists who had been annoying us since the dawn of time but recently, their actions had proven to be more than a nuisance." He Fei exined while Kong Rong, who knew that Jin had zero gasp of the current history, quickly gave a breakdown to Jin via the System. He already prepared infographics which the System promptly showed Jin while He Fei spoke of the threats in summary.

    "I support the eradication of the Banned Emperor. They are hiding in our midst and even taking up high level positions." Shu Tiao Xiao, the Rat Head, voiced his support. "Like the bodyguards that were supposed to protect you. To think that they were to be trusted to keep you safe but they betrayed our trust so deeply that anyone here could be an imposter, including this kid that justes in."

    "How can we be so sure this Panda kid is not the Banned Emperor''sckey?" Yuan Ba chipped into the argument knowing that this was his opportunity to attack him and everyone was already whispering and even had doubts.

    "Dad, -erm Tiger Head Yuan Ba. I suppose you had not forgotten the time the Banned Emperor had attacked me and you? Who was the one who saved us?" Yang Ling queried out loud, knowing that her Father''s hatred was clouding his judgement right now.

    "Maybe he just did it to ensure that he would be allowed to join our ranks. Infiltrate us as to how those bodyguards did. Imagine the horrors if Minister He Fei is not alive and breathing at this moment. It will be a blow to the country and a win to the uprising." Tiao Xiao eximed, hoping that some other Heads and hopefully He Fei will fuel their doubts for this new guy. "After all, it is a small price to pay to join us. You had seen how they tried to sacrifice their own people just for the resurrection of the Banned Emperor. They all blindly believed that in doing so, they would be revived again and serve under him as eternal servants."

    "I had already done an extensive background check on Jin as much as I would have done to any of you. In fact, we tripled it and spend a reasonable amount of resources to cover all bases to ensure he has a clean te as the State Security Department had taken this very seriously. Else, My team and the rest of the State Security department would not have unanimously granted Jin and his n members protection against the rest of the Royal Zodiac ns. Unless you have evidence that proves otherwise, it would be best to keep your mouth shut about such usations." Kong Rong said, hoping to wrap this wild rumour mill up before it spirals out of control.

    "You seriously think we can believe you Kong Rong? Our spies had indicated that you had been working rather closely with Jin for the past few months. Sightings of you in his Dungeon Supplier store are all over our database. How can we be sure that YOU are not part of the Banned Emperor terrorists? Or did he already sway your allegiance to the Banned Emperor and not the betterment of our country?" Tiao Xiao responded by bashing the truth out for everyone to hear.

    "Enough!" Jin finally shouted out from the corner of the table to stop all the gossip. He stood up and Kraft could already see what was going on in Jin''s head.

    "Don''t. You are hindering yourself if you do this. There is no point making empty promises." Kraft advised through the System Channel.

    "If I do not lead this situation, it might spiral even more out of hand. Besides, you know, we can always improvise." Jin said through the channel as he walked to the middle of the Conference room.

    "Good luck then, let me enjoy the show." Kraft decided to let Jin handle it and see how it unfolds.

    Besides, his job was to keep him alive. Nothing about not allowing his master to suffer.

 Chapter 1274: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1274: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 5</h4>

    "I could tell you all my background story of how my parents were brutally killed by the Banned Emperor Assassins just as I was a newborn baby. There should be police records of it years ago assuming none of them had been deemed ssified, archived or worse still, scrapped." Jin said thinking none of them will care with the exception of Yang Rou Xiang, the Head of Royal Zodiac Sheep as well as thedy who said that she could cure everyone of their ailments if Jin had poisoned the food that they ate previously.

    "No, exin more. Especially how they were found dead." Rou Xiang queried even though this was dying the meeting even further. (And that is why meetings are never productive...) Even though almost everyone in the room believed that they needed to know a little more about Jin, they did not really care about him much until the Royal Zodiac Sheep Head had decided to probe further.

    "From what I heard from my grandfather before he passed away, they were killed almost beyond recognition and their Dantian cores had been shattered. The same technique was almost used to assassinate Tigers when they came to my shop." Jin said and Rou Xiang sighed.

    "Although I could not vouch for him, he spoke the truth of the young couple. I was one of the professionals called to the scene and it left me bewildered on the killer''s modus operandi." Rou Xiang said. "Weter learned that that young couple was thest few surviving members of Panda n and possibly the up anding new Panda Lord. Little did we know that they had already given birth to a young child."

    "Because former General Ming had been rather secretive and protective of his only grandson''s identity." Se Chang Chang, the Snake Head remarked. "I worked with him in the army and he kept such a secret for a long time even though we were once close colleagues. We all assumed the grandson was adopted based on how he told the story. And here is the flesh and blood of thest standing Panda n member."

    "Still doesn''t mean he could not have betrayed us in the near future. If Jin had been amicable, he would have found ways to cohabit with us rather than killing our men." Shu Tiao Xiao eximed, and Jin looked at him only to remember how Wo De Tian was so ruthless in destroying the Tiangong Shopping District. What the Rat Head had poured his woes on was clearly the pot calling the kettle ck

    "Not to mention how he flexed his muscles to cripple both of my sons in broad daylight during the festive Chinese New Year. How much humiliation one can take from this rebel Lord is rather limited." Yuan Ba chipped in and Yang Ling could see her father was merely fueling the mes of usation once more.

    Defence Minister He Fei and a few other Zodiac Heads felt the need to keep quiet to see how Jin would react in such a situation. As long as he wears the mantle of the Panda Lord, he would need to present himself as worthy to be sitting at the adult''s table even though some of the adults were behaving like children. It is just an unwritten rule to ascend as a Royal Zodiac Head.

    "Business is business, Head Shu, Iment your loss but if you cannot get over the fact that your Triad Boss is unable to beat a game which he had started, that is not my concern. And Head Hu. The Heavens had overseen the fight, fair and square while the rest of mypanions fought against overwhelming numbers without killing a single one of your men. Injuries aside, they are all still alive. I might have offended you but you were the one who poked the ho''s nest. Therefore, I asked that the both of you stop being such sore losers. Admit your defeat and move on." Jin replied and Kraft could already hear a few subtle chuckles and slight smirks on their faces. Oh, the entertainment was worth it and he was d to be here.

    The two Heads were stunned and speechless for a while since they assumed that their snarkyments would infuriate Jin with all the usations and subsequently put him in ce but it seemed like the opposite had urred. Yet, the Panda Lord was not done and he continued to attack the two of them by offering them an olive bunch.

    "Move on and be my ally in the fight against the Banned Emperor. I can only think that the motive of them killing my parents would be topletely decimate a possible rising Royal Zodiac n at that point in time. Supposedly nipping the problem at its bud could have solved the problem but they did not expect their son would rise to exact vengeance against them. So if anyone still doubts my resolve, you can voice it out now."

    "Then perform a Heavenly Five Element Tribtion right in front of us and swear that you will defeat the Banned Emperor at all cost." Tiao Xiao said in a fit of anger and thus the worst scenario possible in Jin''s and Kraft''s minds had been realised. It''s not that Jin could not perform the Heavenly Five Element Tribtion, the promise itself would be an extremely assuring factor to increase his trust towards the Royal Zodiacs but it''s the wording of the swearing that needs to be considered.

    Usually, when someone performed the Heavenly Five Element Tribtion, it was in a fit of anger and many who did that had the wording of their promise to be too broad for interpretation, causing people to suffer the Heaven''s Wrath unnecessarily. So, Jin either had to circumvent this situation by trying to avoid the use of the Heavenly Five Element Tribtion (Which is unlikely and cause suspicions) or have a proper phasing so that the Heavenly Five Element Tribtion would only be struck if he were to derail away from his road of serving justice to the Banned Emperor''sckeys.

    So, he decided to return the favour. "Then what about everyone in this room? Have they performed the very same Heavenly Five Element Tribtions concerning the saidmon enemy?"

 Chapter 1275: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1275: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 6</h4>

    "What nonsense are you talking about? Why would we need to do that?" Yuan Ba scoffed at the idea, refuting the need to do so. "We do not trust you even if that story of yours holds the truth."

    "Then why would I need to do the same for you people? A few days ago, you guys were considered mere figureheads to me whichmoners wereining about how all of you were high and mighty. All tardy in their actions and reactions to everything, leaving themon people to suffer the brunt of the recent incidents. There were no constions and reassurances for them to hear while the government gave empty promises to assist and little was done to address the grievances by themon folk." Jin dered loudly and it stung the Zodiac Heads.

    "Like the cities that were inflicted by the hordes. Sure, the minority might be demanding more than thepensation that was given but to many, their homes were upset by the entire incident that thepensation was clearly not sufficient to aid them." Jin ced both of his hands on the table while assuming a slightly aggressive stance while he stood against the usations.

    "So why must I seal this particr deal with a pact of trust that is more binding than a personal blood pact to the people who do not have eyes to sympathise with themon folk and boots on the ground to stand with the people?"

    "You speak so much as if you had helped the people. Perhaps you should do the same before you say anymore." Shu Tiao Xiao rebutted and Jin stared at him.

    "My contributions to my fellow district neighbours are well known. And besides, I had personally contributed to each of the recent major incidents, risking my life against the Banned Emperor Terrorist while the rest of the Heads were sitting in their offices watching from behind their desks. And you know I do not mean it literally." Jin said and finally, He Fei, who felt that there was enough drama for the day, spoke up.

    "Then what would suit you to prove your allegiance to the Zodiac Heads? Like you said, to us, you are a mere Dungeon Supplier who has gained some recent achievements and testimonies that prove that you are a cut above the rest. That''s all to it. You are not qualified as a Zodiac Head in our eyes and thus not our trust too."

    "Don''t you think that a blood contract should suffice?" Jin said that he had already taken out a small stack of paper from his storage ring and presented it to them. Each soon received a copy to preview and they were all the same for everyone.

    Most if not all of the Zodiac Heads knew some form of contractw and had the basics covered especially since they were governing major industries and even organisations that the country could not live without. Thus, upon reading the blood contract, they understood the contract to be fair, if not weigh slightly towards their advantage instead of his.

    From benefits such as the constant sharing of information to mary and proprietary penalties if Jin had broken the code of conduct as written on the blood contract. It was well crafted that even He Fei who made his way to the top by dealing with contracts on a daily basis could not see any fault or loopholes he could possibly exploit. It meant that Jin had already foreseen this current situation and prepared the contracts in advance. Jin was leading the meeting at his own pace to the surprise of the Zodiac Heads who were staying at the sidelines to watch the situation unfold.

    "What do you mean that you are able to call upon the help of the signed contractee?" Rat Head Tiao Xiao queried and Jin exined that it could not be a one way street in business.

    "If you do not scratch my back, would it be fair that I scratch yours for free? After all, this meeting was supposed to be for Zodiac Heads, right? If you all treated me as a fellow ally, shouldn''t I be able to do the same at my behest?" Jin said and he was prepared to answer a few more questions until a startling sound of a pen was being used.

    Zhu Tai Fang, the Head of the Royal Zodiac Pig was already signing with his blood and then cing it on the table for Jin to collect. Every one of them looked at him and were rather taken aback by his actions. "What? He made sense. In some way, he should be considered a National Hero by now with several rewards andpensations to be given to him for all the service he did for the country but instead all you guys gave him were stares of doubts and mistrust. Just because of what? That old myth of how the Panda n needed revenge against the other twelve ns?" Tai Fang snorted loudly and continued his snarky remarks to the rest of the Zodiac Heads.

    "Please, we all know that that is the lie we had to tell people in the past and that we brought this upon ourselves. Instead of helping the Panda n, our ancestors took the chance to climb and steal the glory of the past Panda n. It is pretty dumb to bring over a feud that was centuries old and you saw how this young Panda Lord had presented himself to be forward looking by moving away from our rotten past by attempting to reunite everyone without selling himself short. So, I have to say this blood contract is nothingpared to what he had to suffer and had sacrificed to aid the public."

    The Pig Head''s words started to ring bells in the rest of the Royal Zodiac Heads and a few sighed as Tai Fang was right. By right, they had nothing against the new Panda Lord and instead should wee him as a new stout ally in the fight against the Banned Emperor and the betterment of the country as a whole.

    "The Dragons had signed the contract too." Kong Rong had written on behalf of his father since he was transiting to be the next Head and was given permission to do so.

    "The Snakes had done the same." Se Chang Chang added and the rest slowly did the same too in an attempt to not bring unnecessary discord to the current group.

    "Xie Jin, you are bold to include me in this contract signing." Defence Minister He Fei said and Jin smiled weakly.

    "If there is a big fish dangling right in front of me, pardon my phasing but I will be damned if I do not even attempt to try and catch it," Jin said as he bowed slightly when he saw He Fei too picking up his pen and pricking his finger to sign the very same contract presented to everyone.

    "I admired your boldness and as Tai Fang had said, in return for your service to the country, this is a favour I am willing to owe. Also, after the meetinge and find me. We will discuss yourpensation for the services rendered officially by the government." He Fei said and he did a short cough to convene the meeting once more.

 Chapter 1276: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1276: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Part 7</h4>

    The agenda by the Defence Minister was really simple, to flush the Banned Emperor Terrorists out once and for all. Rather than a discussion, it was more like a one year n that had already been discussed by his fellow department. The Royal Zodiac Heads were only there to voice out any possible concerns from their point of view, especially when the management of resources would be done by their men.

    However, the objections were minor and most of the Heads who voiced out mainly supplemented the current n with additional options that were readily avable at their behest. In the meantime, since it was the Defence Minister that they were meeting with, the group were discussing sensitive issues pertaining to the security of the country such as the additional deployment of troops and police in the region that had been targeted as possible hotspots.

    Everyone had agreed that Shenzhen and the surrounding regions were in the top priority slot with Beijing in view of thetest incidents that happened in the past few months. However, some of the Heads argued otherwise that Shenzhen should not be in the spot considering the amount of heat they had gained through the recent months but Kong Rong reiterated that such a possibility should not be ignored.

    "Sometimes the most dangerous ce is the safest ce for the terrorists to lurk at. Most people would assume that as well and decide to keep a keen eye on the other hotspots, making Shenzhen once again susceptible to a terror attack. In fact, I have intel to prove that they might strike again."

    "What is it?" He Fei furrowed his eyebrows as he had not had the faintest ideas in his brief from the State Security Department with regards to this new intel that Kong Rong was about to share. And then, all Kong Rong did was to look sideways and shake his head in the direction of Jin.

    Everyone was confused for a moment with the exception of his Father who seem to know what Kong Rong was nning. "The birth of the new Royal Zodiac n." Long Shen Rong, the Dragon Head said and everyone considered it seriously.

    "That''s right. The emergence of the Panda n had not been published and only a handful including this room knows about Jin''s true existence. However, the rise of the Royal Zodiac Panda n would definitely bring attention for the Banned Emperor Terrorists to take action. Not to mention, Jin currently has a sizeable target which would be easy for the terrorists to coordinate and take him down. Unfortunately, the only problem I could foresee is that-"

    "You are doing it at the risk of my customers." Jin interrupted and he felt offended by it. Sometimes he wished that the Banned Emperor terrorists would not be a coward and face him directly like how the other primitive worlds had been. (Less the Mecha World but so far, he had very little interaction with that to consider it in his mind.)

    "It''s a small price to pay to announce the whole world of your existence. Besides, you opened a dungeon supplier store, I am sure your staunch customers would relish the challenge against the Banned Emperor." Tiao Xiao joked and before Jin was able to say anything, Yuan Ba mmed the table to object for Jin.

    "I may hate him with all the bones in my body but one thing I do not condone is thatment of yours. The Banned Emperor terrorists are capable of destroying people''s dantian core as easily as snapping their fingers if they are of a high level cultivation. If you thought the price Jin had to pay for their resurrections, you are dead wrong. Shu, those lives that could never recover again." Yuan Ba said and it was the very least to show that the Banned Emperor still had an upper hand against everyone because of their technique to destroying cores.

    "Thank you, Head Hu." Jin was surprised he had taken his side for the argument.

    "Yang and Hou, any ways to circumvent such techniques?" He Fei asked, hoping they had some development in the medical and research fields governed by the Sheep and Monkey ns respectively.

    "Sadly, no. But if what Yuan Ba had said and he had recovered from such an attack via Jin''s medical staff, perhaps he could share it with us?" Yang Rou Xiang, the Head of Royal Zodiac Sheep queried.

    "I can introduce my colleague to you but I have to say that we were able to save Yuan Ba''s life mainly because he was in my Dungeon Supplier store. Without immediate medical attention, there is no way we could have done it on a battlefield or in the midst of a duel." Jin replied and people in the room were in a bind. For a moment, they had forgotten that the terrorists they were dealing with were no ordinary run of the mill kind of organisation. Sure, the Elite Royal Zodiac toons could easily overwhelm and give their lives for the country for it''s their job, honour and duty but it''s not the same when ites to endangering citizens'' lives.

    "Actually, I might have a lead on something but it''s something akin to a wild goose chase," Jin spoke up seeing that everyone was stuck in their thoughts. He Fei permitted Jin to continue his opinion while others determine to see if it was something too far fetched.

    "Does anyone know about the Lost Flower Cities? Where the five flower ns used to rule?" Jin asked and only Hou Nao Da, the Head for Royal Zodiac Monkey nodded his head.

    "It might sound weird but I have an employee hunting the ruins of the rumoured Lost Flower City as part of his assignment to gain extra ideas for the store to create its new dungeon instance. But he found out that there were traces of the Banned Emperor Terrorists attempting to find the same ce as he did." Jin exined.

    "So you are saying instead of luring them to your store, we lure them to a trap where only armed and trained cultivators are involved? But how reliable is your friend? How do we know that all they would do was to send a group to look for trails. At most, what we are looking at is a high ranking member of the organisation who would take the bait." Nao Da deduced that those who were in the military before knew that all it took was a break in the single chain for everything to start tumbling down.

    "I will suggest giving that idea a try while we work on bolstering our security forces." Kong Rong said. "At most, we can revert back to the original idea of making Jin the bait especially when his PandaVerse Festival ising soon in a month''s time."

    "Oh, that would be fun." Head Shu said in his mind but a smirk was portrayed as a sign of acknowledgement to Kong Rong''s idea. But he did not know that it was Kong Rong''s way of helping Jin to rise up to the ranks of the Zodiac Head.

    For now, they discussed a few other minor stuff before wrapping the meeting up.

 Chapter 1277: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1277: Royal Zodiac Meeting -Final</h4>

    When the entire meeting was finally done, it was past noon and everyone had departed almost immediately from the meeting venue. Despite what the Defence Minister had said, He Fei was also in a rush but he had not forgotten what he promised Jin.

    "Jin, do you have time? If yes, follow me." He Fei said which both Jin and Kraft quietly followed the Defence Minister.

    "Any luggage you need to check out?" the Minister asked which the duo replied with a firm no. "I guess that''s the perk of teleporting at the veryst minute. "

    "Yea, my friend here is a whiz when ites to teleporting. He was the one who help create those teleport gates," Jin patted Kraft''s back and thetter knew it was a ruse to shift any eyes towards him.

    "Ah, so you are the one I should thank for those teleporting trucks." He Fei said as they were once again in that dreaded lift. He Fei extended his hands to thank and congratte Kraft for his ''achievement'' but subsequently realised what Jin was pushing for.

    A firm physical contact with the Defence Minister of China.

    "That Jin, he can be quite devious at times. So proud of him." Kraft said while smiling widely right in front of the Defence Minister. Just that second was all that was needed for the crafty devil to break into He Fei''s mental barriers and ess information which all the Royal Zodiac Headsbined would never have collected.

    It was not to say that he did not have any barrier but it was rather that Kraft''s devilish techniques to gain ess were terribly efficient. The recent months working with Jin had been a big jump to his repertoire of skills that he believed no man alive was able to stop him from essing their memories.

    The only drawback was that he needed at least some physical contact with the said person. And that was a done deal when Jin had finally allowed Kraft to shake hands with He Fei. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Sir."

    "Ah, this chi. It''s the very same one that we all had experienced before having the pleasure to meet you. For you to be able to sh with Kong Rong head on is quite a remarkable feat. It''s good to know that the Panda Lord has such a dependable ally."

    "You too." Kraft wanted to not say much but it seems he wanted to drag the physical contact even longer by cing his other hand on top of the ones they were shaking. "However, I am truly honoured to finally meet you. It''s not every day we are able to meet a high government official and have a face to face chat and even more, have a proper handshake."

    He Fei was a bit ufortable by Kraft''s shaking as the chi he eluded was somewhat a little threatening. The bodyguards eventually interfered and stop the handshake as they thought that he was about to do something out of the ordinary towards the minister but Jin immediately pulled Kraft back and ced his hand on Kraft''s neck in order to push it downwards.

    An apology bow with Jin loudly stating within the lift that Kraft was too much a fan of his. Minister He Fei was no doubt shocked by the revtion as he did not expect himself to have such a ''fervent fan''. He quickly told the bodyguards to step down and allowed Kraft to exin himself.

    "Yes, yes. I apologise for the long handshake. I was holding my thoughts and excitement throughout the entire meeting. Anyways, you were talking about teleporting trucks? We can strike a deal with obviously the Panda Lord giving you a decent discount as a way to path our friendship?" Kraft continued to pretend his role given by Jin.

    "Hmm, I will no doubt consider it." He Fei said as they finally got out of the lift and people were already making way for the Defence Minister to get into his car. The other two shamelessly followed him and the guards still felt it was ufortable for them to sit in the same vehicle as the Defence Minister.

    "I only have one space if my bodyguards are in here. So what about it?" He Fei asked and even though the answer was obviously Jin, the Panda Lord decided to let Kraft sit with the Defence Minister. "You sure about this?" Kraft was obviously acting and Jin magnanimously allowed hispanion to take the seat but Ran Ran stepped in and gave a firm no.

    "We do not have your credentials. Only Jin is able to enter the car from this point forward. I suggest you stay at the hotel until his return." The main bodyguard for the Defence Minister said and Jin step backwards instead of listening to the bodyguard''s orders.

    "Sorry, Minister. I am afraid that if I am the only one going into that car, my employee would hate me for lifeбнso we shall politely decline this follow up meeting. The rewards can wait. I have enough to get by anyways." Jin said and He Fei sighed.

    "Make an exception this time around, Ran Ran. I am sure that they meant me no harm. It is rather bad manners for the government to not properly reward the person who had the biggest hand in solving the recent incidents. Besides, Kong Rong seems to allow that fellow to walk into the room full of Zodiac n Heads without any trouble. I am sure we will be fine." He Fei said and Ran Ran shook his head.

    "Understood, Sir. Fortress, we are changing the details a littleбн" Ran Ran had spoken through his intes and the guard inside the car came out, allowing Kraft to enter alongside Jin.

    Ran Ran took the steering wheel while Jin sat at the front with Kraft and He Fei able to talk more about the ''teleporting trucks''. It seemed that the Defence Ministry was willing to purchase up to a hundred of them as an experimental phase but Kraft said that they could at most produce twenty for the first production run after the revisions had been made.

    "We need to make sure they are of the highest quality as teleporting people is as dangerous as making sure an aeronends safely with their passengers intact. And the timeline given is rather tight especially when most of it is made with in house expertise. After all, it''s still a trade secret which Jin''s store and SeaMeshpany are not willing to part it out yet." Kraft said and He Fei understood where he wasing from.

    "In any case, it seems we have been ignoring you. Jin. Once you reach my office, we will be able to furnish you a cheque and a few weapon relics which could be useful in the fight against the Banned Emperor." He Fei said but Kraft decided to interrupt him.

    "Rather than weapons and money, we would prefer connections and contracts if that''s possible. Jin is still a growing asset, it''s best we get the right people for the right job if we wish to eradicate the terrorist organisations. I wonder if you aid us in getting the contacts instead." Kraft suggested, which made He Feiugh loudly.

    "Indeed, in this modern time and age, connections could be more powerful than money and resources. I see what I can do in giving you a few rmendation letters especially when I had too many people wishing for their favours to be repaid." He Fei said and Kraft once again extended his hand for another handshake which the Defence Minister reciprocated.

 Chapter 1278: Krafts Report

    <h4>Chapter 1278: Kraft''s Report</h4>

    It was indeed a quick visit to the Ministry of Defence Office as He Fei had been bombarded with schedules and meeting agendas the moment he arrived at its front door. In fact, he almost had forgotten about the two visitors he brought along with him and told them that even though they had decided to ask for rmendation letters, it would take some time for him to call upon those favours and to produce said letters.

    However, he was not willing to let them go empty handed and told his secretary to get the letter that was initially prepared for them. But as much as he wished to personally present them the letter of appreciation (with a cheque included), He Fei had already wasted too much time on the initial Royal Zodiac Meeting and the Panda n had no choice but to miss such an opportunity. (Kraft would surely want another handshake.)

    As they were led out of the office, the secretary queried whether they would like to have a taxi booked on their behalf for them to return to the hotel. However, Jin politely declined and said that they would like to have a quick bite at the surrounding area before returning back. The secretary acknowledged their reply and returned to aid He Fei with his list of never ending tasks.

    As they walked away from the office, Jin sent a telepathic message via the System Channel since their most secured channel despite being near one of the few safest ces in the country. There were guards posted around the ''office'' (Which is technically a building by itself) with a multyer security system watching movements through high definition CCTV cameras and even had them scanned so that their identities would pop right out on their own system.

    Fortunately, the System had already registered Kraft under the alias of Ke La Fu, and created an entire history full of fake data so that their systems could not detect anything abnormal with regards to Kraft unless they had decided to personally investigate his past. Else, the Devil Fox had an extremely clean record with a high amount of social points which would allow him to let him do whatever he wanted. (Almost everythingбн)

    Jin was also afraid there were listening devices or hidden inscription charms which could listen in to their conversation and thus themunication through the System Channel without any worries that they could be found out.

    "What did you learn about that guy that you had to shake his hand multiple times?"

    "To confirm my fears." Kraft looked around to take in the sights and learn more about the office''s surroundings. "Unfortunately for you, he is part of the Banned Emperor group. A high ranking undercover agent within their own organisation. We do not need any Flower City shit, the guy is right under our noses."

    "You are kidding, right? You usually would go one big round around the bush before telling me the answer. And now, Kraft is giving me straight in the face?" Jin said as he tried to keep calm. Perhaps he should take the taxi ride instead of looking for food.

    "Hmm? I thought you had your suspicions, that''s why you decided to look around the Ministry of Defence Office so you might have a better idea in case we would like to infiltrate it." Kraft turned to Jin for a moment before looking back straight ahead to an outdoor cafeteria.

    "Let me gather my thoughts for a moment," Kraft said in a serious tone as Jin ordered a Vani Milkshake for Kraft and a in coffee for himself. They sat near the streets and quietly consumed their beverages.

    "Any of the Zodiac Heads are in cahoots with him?" Jin asked and Kraft let out a rather quiet chuckle while sipping his milkshake.

    "Have you forgotten that the eradication of the Royal Zodiac ns is one of the few reasons why the Banned Emperor still exists up till now?" Kraft said in the System Channel as he happily enjoyed the thick vani cream in his drink. "And you too know that all high ranking official government posts must have not any affiliations with the Royal Zodiac ns to remain partial to all. If one wants to join, they have to renounce all ties before doing so."

    "I doubt that vow will stop them from having connections with the Royal Zodiac ns," Jin said as he looked around, staring aimlessly at the public streets. "Anyways, System are you able to pull up some ''official'' details on him? To see whether his data had been doctored like how you did for Kraft."

    "Oh yea, This guy might not look like it but he is actually a fucking sadist. He had ns to pull this entire country into the ground and burn it to kingdome. This retaliation n which they talked about is just the preparation to sacrifice a few regions to bring more Void Beings into this world. You have trouble with one, imagine a dozen more." Kraft interrupted Jin''s request. "But what you have now is timeбнalthough I wonder how Zeru would be to know that there would be more terrorists trying to find him since you mentioned about the Lost Flower City to everyone in the meeting. Perhaps that would be a more pertinent issue than the destruction of the entire country."

    "And here we thought, the conspiracy lies with the Royal Zodiac Heads instead. Damn itбнall I wanted is to open a fucking shop and subsequently be rich enough to have an easy retirement. Not y some hero bullshit." Jin sighed as he gulped the hot coffee right through to ease his stress headaches.

    "You are already ying one in many other worlds, time to be a proper one in your own world," Kraft said but Jin returned his remarks with dagger eyes and a subtle middle finger while drinking his cup of coffee.

    "Regardless, the System rmends User to clear his PandaVerse Festival and use that tform to gain a few more allies. As Original Betor Kraft had said, User has time to thwart the Banned Emperor''s ns." The System said and Jin could quietly nod his head while the both of them continued to exchange information as they walked away from the perimeter of the Defence Minister''s office into somewhere more secluded before teleporting away.

 Chapter 1279: Flower Picking Session

    <h4>Chapter 1279: Flower Picking Session</h4>

    "Huh? What? System, did you mess up the coordinates?" Jin asked as he found out that he was not teleported into the Dungeon Maker Instance but instead a remote location up in the mountains. As for which mountain he was on, there was nothing around, not even a noticeablendmark for him to get his bearings.

    "Hmm. Did I guess it wrongly?" Kraft said as he tried to take note of his surroundings but it seems he was equally confused.

    "You teleported us here in the middle of nowhere?" Jin questioned as if demanding an exnation as soon as possible since this was derailing his ns to work on the Pandaverse Festival even further.

    "Our opponent had been upsized right? Just thought that we would try to find some clues with regards to him before we returned. But it looked like we might be in the wrong ce." Kraft did not care about Jin and walked up the slope, towards the peak of the mountain which seemed almost impossible to reach within a day''s time. (Assuming they are not using any chi to reach the peak and probably expose themselves to anybody around.)

    "In the meantime, I suggest you pick up some of those wild flowers over there, which might be a suitable gift for Lynn when you return. After all, she did save your ass with her brilliant cooking once again." Kraft said that he would walk up a little more to survey the area before affirming that the ce was a dead end for them.

    Jin looked at the wild flowers and asked the System if it had any data on those nts. The System quickly identified them as camellia flowers and in terms of flowernguage, those bright red pink flowers symbolise love as well.

    "Then it can''t hurt to bring a few back. Did Kraft know the meaning of these flowers when he pointed at them?" Jin asked the System but it could not answer on behalf of Kraft.

    "Back. There really isn''t anything in the region. Looks like I came to the wrong ce." Kraft said as Jin could feel the cold emanating from his long ass jacket.

    "You ran all the way up the mountains?" Jin asked as he barely picked any flowers.

    "Hmm yea, thought I could have a better view of the entire area without you holding me down so- Anyways, while you are flower picking, we can have a quick talk about your future," Kraft said as he instantly climbed up one of the lower lying branches while Jin slowly tried to pick the prettiest of Camellia flowers among the patch.

    "Now that we know that the Defence Minister is one of the Banned Emperorckeys, what are you going to do? Take the fight against the government? Band up all the Royal Zodiacs and fight against them? Or you know, call the Defence Minister and say hey. I know who you are. How about you just erm, leave me alone and I leave you out of my life? Win Win situation,"

    "Do you even think thest one is an option?"

    "Like we had discussed before... technically, you can run away to other multiverses or even settle down in a new world. I do not see any wrong with that. Likee on, you have an entire city all by yourself in the Dungeon World. The entire world is like a shop to you. Heck, you might even be able to join as the yer and join raids with all your monsters without worry. Eventually, you might be the biggest City Lord in the Dungeon World and you do not have to keep your powers as a secret."

    "Are you forgetting the Church of the Afterlife?" Jin said as he found a flower with no damaged petals. He skillfully used his hand to pinch the stalk so that the flower would be in perfect condition.

    "Bah, those rascals are easier to handle. At least they have not learned the art of terrorism and even if they did, the System and the Dungeon Core would sound out the ambush. It''s less wary than what we have over here." Kraft said as hey right beside the tree trunk and shooed away a few insects with his chi.

    "And even if you do not want the Dungeon World, the Goblin World would be a good ce to stay. The Orcs and Goblins are under yourmand. Though it will be a matter of time until the humans feel inferior and start to attack, they probably won''t stand a chance against the technology you introduced to both kingdoms. Also, let''s not forget that there are other races that we have not ''meet and greet''. The Fooking Fake Elves as my servants called them even though by lore, they are considered as ''True'' Elves, have been hiding somewhere in that world and know the history behind the destruction of the dwarves. But we will get there another day if you stay there longer." Kraft rumbles on and it was clear that escaping this world''s reality was as easy as snapping a finger.

    "You are saying all this because we all know the consequences of killing a government official."

    "Not just some government official, it''s the goddamn defence minister which in this day and age, he is kinda the most important guy aside from the prime minister." Kraft scoffed at Jin''s way of thinking. "I am all for challenging the country, but we won''t be on the winning side if we do not prep well. What we will be doing would definitely be an act of terrorism if we are not careful."

    "Hmm, yeah. But from the way you phrase it, you too want to have a n of attack rather than just reacting against the terrorist''s ns, right? Have you found out if there are any other government officials that are in cahoots with him?"

    "Not yet, didn''t bother. Maybe when I am back in the room or if I am toozy, I get my dark elves to find it."

    "That information is all in your head, how the heck are you going to do that?" Jin asked as he stopped for a moment to question him.

    "Bah, I can share information easily, you do not have to worry about me. Worry about yourself more. From the looks of it. PandaVerse Festival would not be a peaceful one for you and neither will Zeru. Although he can take care of himself, this time he is protecting an entire lost city if he ever finds it rather than just one person."

    "I honestly have no idea about the Lost Flower City, care to enlighten me?" Jin said as he was already holding a bunch of flowers with him.

    "It''s best if the person himself tells you more about it. It''s moreplicated than you think and its history is so fucked up that I cannot keep track of it. In fact, even Zeru might not have everything. I do not think the System has much information about it either. Even though it''s considered a Lost City. There are still people living a secluded life away from all that hustle and bustle." Kraft shrugged his shoulders but those red flowers suddenly reminded Jin that there was someone who might have the answers to everything he requires бнassuming he passed the trial.

    "Urgh, Do I really have to deal with Suzaku again..." Jin thought to himself.

 Chapter 1280: Extra - A Couples Chat

    <h4>Chapter 1280: Extra - A Couple''s Chat</h4>

    "Oh hey, you are back. How did it go?" Lynn replied as she was surprised by Jin''s appearance in the busy kitchen of the Restaurant Train Instance. Jin then embarrassingly asked if he was able to talk to her alone at her office for a moment.

    The rest of the penguins immediately offered to take over her duties, allowing her to ede to her boss'' request. At that moment, Jin''s heart was pounding hard, even harder than the adrenaline he had felt when fighting for his life. It might not be the first time he ever gave flowers to someone especially when he had courted Qiu Yue before but this was the first time he did something бнromantic to Lynn after asking for her hand in the rtionship.

    For all this time, it had always been quite a one way street with Lynn supporting Jin, being the woman to take care of his health as well as his store. Qiu Yue, on the other hand, was conscientious with the constructions being done in the Southern Region Capital but took the rest of the time training herself to be a better cultivator. It was as if her goals had redirected for the betterment of herself rather than to fight with Lynn for Jin

    In fact, the fight for Jin was actually not entirely for her own selfish reasons. She had repeatedly seen how Lynn was grateful for Jin and how that idiotic ex boyfriend of hers was pretty oblivious to her deeds and actions. But it was great to see that Jin was forward looking enough to put down the burden he once had with her and move on to start a new rtionship with Lynn.

    Yet, Qiu Yue would not deny that she might be a tad jealous of Lynn since it''s not every time you have a superhuman with a System as your boyfriend. Perhaps that was the few reasons why she decided to upy her time with Zeru to improve her skills while handling her emotions.

    As for Lynn, one could say that she was utterly surprised by Jin''s attempt in presenting the bouquet of flowers to her. "Kraft and I went ermбнsightseeing after the meeting and we- erm I mean I decided to get you this as a thank you gift for what you had done for me earlier this morning."

    "So, the Royal Zodiac Heads do like the food! That''s a relief to hear. I thought that they would insist on not eating, especiallying from a stranger like yourself." Lynn thanked Jin for the flowers and instantly conjured up a flower vase to put the flowers in it. She also requested her Sub System to put a constant time dtion spell on the Camellia flowers so they would be able tost longer than usual. "I will get a better flower vase!" She thought to herself while Jin babbled how there was a Royal Zodiac Head who trusted food more than Jin himself.

    "The Royal Zodiac Pig Head said that he would like to meet you to exchange some бнpointers."

    "Ah, an indirect cooking invitation challenge," Lynn said and she willingly agreed to it without the dungeon supplier exining more about it.

    "You sure? Don''t these cook offs involve some condition where you lose and then you have to vow not being able to cook ever again?" Jin asked and Lynnughed.

    "Sometimes, I honestly think that your imagination had been heavily influenced by too much anime. No, we do cooking duels to not just impress our opponents but to learn from each other as well. It''s an exchange of ideas as well as skills. Sure, there are off the books cooking duels but they mostly involve cash or certain incentives." Lynn said but the Sub System that governs her abilities and everyday life suddenly chimed out in the System Channel.

    "Sub System must warn User that based on her memories, Sub System User had been through life and death cooking duels before and urged the User to take caution upon her eptance in duels."

    "What! Why do you expose that to him!" Lynn was visibly infuriated but Jin realised that there was much that he did not know about Lynn.

    "Care to exin more?" Jin asked but Lynn shook her head saying that she still had work to do. "But you are leaving me in suspense!"

    "Please, you basically do that to all your customers too. Also, speaking of Anime, Rei seemed to be looking for you earlier in the day. I told him that you were off at Beijing and might take some time to return. And by some time, I was expecting you to make a big ruckus that you might not be back in a day or two. I am honestly surprised you were generally cooperative with the other leaders." Lynn said as she pretended to pick up a few clipboards to check on her stock inventory so as to act busy.

    "You will never believe what we found out. It''s either a big hoax by Kraft or everything we know about this world could be a conspiracy." Jin sighed as he picked up his phone to see if Rei had left him any messages.

    "Original Betor had allowed the System to take a look into the information he had obtained and the System is currently coborating with Original Betor Kraft to search for the people in question. It would take some time due to the several backend processes that had been running in the background for the PandaVerse but it should be ready in a day or two."

    "Looks like it''s more than you can chew then," Lynn said as she tapped his shoulders. "We can go over it during our dinner meeting. If you like, we can call back the rest of the gang."

    "If you are the one who called them, they will definitelye." Jin always knew the power of her food waspelling but sometimes he had forgotten how incredibly powerful a tool it was.

    "I shall. I assume everyone in Panda Inc?" Lynn said as she was about to leave the room.

    "Yes, that would be great. If Kong Rong could make it, it would definitely be a boon too." Jin said and just as she was about to leave the room, he held her hand and pulled her towards him for a peck on the cheeks.

    "Hmmph!" Lynn pouted from the surprise attack but nevertheless, she was delighted by his actions today.

 Chapter 1281: Impromptu Dinner Meetup

    <h4>Chapter 1281: Impromptu Dinner Meetup</h4>

    The night could not havee any sooner as a fairlyrge group of people were amassed in Jin''s house that the System had subtly erged the dining area and expanded the table to amodate the betors, and the humans which Jin had employed under the Panda Inc.

    "Wow, it''s rare to see such a huge crowd right here." Peppers said as she was sitting on the sofa waiting with Milk for the food to arrive.

    "And everyone is on time too." Milk said as she saw the penguinsing out of the kitchen bringing all the food to the table. Jin, who was thest to arrive, quickly sat at the side of the table, with the rest to follow suit.

    They did not hesitate to partake in the dinner which Lynn had prepared in advance and everyone ate while exchanging pleasantries. It was not long until Jin had decided to start the serious conversation which everyone kept quiet and listened to. He exined to the group what they had found and made the two parties noticeably agitated.

    Royal Zodiac Snake General Hou Fei and the uing Royal Zodiac Dragon Head Kong Rong. Both of them repeatedly asked where the information came from which Kraft eventually used the System to show what it had found so far.

    "That means there has always been a security breach all this time and we are totally unaware of it. Is that how the terrorists are able to infiltrate into the highest level of the echelon? Because the people at the top are allowing them to enter without us knowing?" Kong Rong suddenly felt his back aching from the burden he was about to carry.

    "The only advantage we have right now is that we finally know a piece of the underlying puzzle. If the enemy does go up to the Prime Minister''s Office, it would not be a wonder why they had been rather elusive." Hou Fei deduced.

    "Honestly, at this rate, there is no one we can trust. Even though Kraft had assured us that the target had always been the Royal Zodiac ns, we have no idea how closely knitted or manipted the rest of the other ns are." Qiu Yue voiced her opinion. "They might have been doing the Banned Emperor''s dirty work without knowing fully what they had gotten into."

    "There are surface cracks among the ns and even with this morning''s meeting, people did not see eye to eye on most issues with the exception of the arrival of Jin. Most of them reluctantly acknowledged Jin''s presence but they knew that if Jin were to grow, the ns would suffer in some way or another. The current delicate bnce achieved by the twelve ns would eventually be interrupted with Jin''s debut." Kong Rong said which Peppers surprisingly followed up with an astute observation.

    "Why use their own people to do the job of destroying the Royal Zodiac ns when there is already one which they could utilise as a distraction?" Kraft chuckled and everyone could see the rationale behind that.

    "While doing a wild goose chase to catch a few Banned Emperor Terrorist, the damage would be done by making the ns jealous at Jin''s sess. They eventually might band up together to deal with Jin instead of epting him as part of them." Peppers blurted out and everyone could see how the Panda n might eventually be the incidental bait. "Take the uing PandaVerse Festival. It will be a huge p to the dungeon suppliers that had participated in the Symposium and surely there might be a few people who would be jealous of the possible sess of the festival and might end up sabotaging it."

    "I believe she meant the Rats." Milk chimed in and a few of them chuckled at that theoretical situation.

    "Lol, imagine fighting the rats in the Farming World and deal with that shit in our world too." Qiu Yue remarked. "Rather than calling it the PandaVerse Festival, we might as well call it Rat Catching Festival."

    "To be honest, the odds are low for that. The Royal Zodiac Heads could have done that if Jin did not participate in this morning''s meeting but after getting some approval and recognition from the Defence Minister, it is unlikely they will have the guts to do such a dirty tactic. Still, do you want me to get some people to look into buffing your security?" Kong Rong asked and Hou Fei also said he could do the same though thetter would be more into participating in the festival as the soldiers had thoroughly enjoyed the previous time when they were around.

    "You could not deny that the Banned Emperor Terrorist could send their very own people to disrupt the ce. Having Hou Fei''s troops might also be a boon since dealing with the Demon Rats could be a hassle and it would be great to have apany of trained soldiers aplishing certain objectives."

    "Yea, I see if I could rile up my Dragon Company to join the fun as well." Kong Rong said while he looked towards Ke Loong. "It''s rare for you to keep quiet. Usually, you have lots of ideas."

    "I am more concerned about the part where Jin said Kraft had made a verbal deal to manufacture 20 portal devices for the Defence Ministry. Like we had said, if used correctly, it would be a wonderful tool, but fall into the wrong handsбн"

    "Heh, for that. Perhaps allow me to bestow you a fewбнideas of mine that could be incorporated into the portal device design." Kraft looked at Ke Loong and he shivered from his devilish smile.

    "By the way, Jin. I know that it''s a bit off topic but it''s also kind of urgent. Well for me that is if you are willing to listen." Rei raised his hand in the heated discussion and Jin allowed him to say a few words.

    "Ermбнmy family has been found ording to Sebastia. But they are in a ce where getting them out of the Mecha World would be kind of a sticky situation," Rei said and the rest could feel that this particr discussion they were having would be sidetracked a lot.

 Chapter 1282: Reis Plea For Help

    <h4>Chapter 1282: Rei''s Plea For Help</h4>

    Everyone in the room stopped their conversation almost immediately and they were focused on Rei''s plea for help. (With the exception of Peppers who was quietly taking one more piece of chicken cutlet to put in her mouth. And yet with so much meat, she never grows wider, taller or even fatter. One does wonder where all those calories went.)

    "Continue on Rei, I did promise that we will help you to get your family back. And if Sebastia had located them and could not teleport them via the usual means, I could only assume they are in some situation which would require our intervention." Jin said and Rei nodded his head.

    "Are you sure, you guys want to hear me out?" Rei started to worry that he had broken the flow of conversation among the entire group.

    "The Banned Emperor is an outstanding issue, there won''t be much progress in the short run and there is nothing we can do without sufficient preparation. On the other hand, your case can warrant a quick rescue operation." Kong Rong replied with a smile.

    "Ohhhh. That smile~! Someone is itching to blow off some steam." Kraft chuckled when he saw Kong Rong''s expression.

    "You bet, all this revtion just angered me. It seems I had to reorganise my team once more and be more careful on what to report while making sure not to arouse any suspicions from the higher up. Now we know one potential source of breach within our information systems, and it''s how we are going to deal with it that is giving me a big fucking headache."

    "I don''t pity his lifestyle. Compared to our Lord, this uing Dragon Lord had his hands full of secret agent shit and dealing with public nonsense too. I think he sometimes wished to be someone much more ordinary." Hou Fei gave his opinion while Ke Loong added that he wished to see another world.

    "You mean someone like Jin?" Qiu Yue queried and Lynn raised her shoulders in objection while shaking her head.

    "You been if Jin when he did not have his System powers? Perhaps. Because right now that stupid boy had been overworking himself too much with the PandaVerse Festival while ensuring the preparation for the Great Demon Rat War. Each day, the reports from the Farming World had been increasing with more frequent Demon Rat incursions on the towns that we are protecting. It seems that they know we are doing something and they are throwing bodies to stop us as well. The only good thing thates out from that is the random items they give whenever they die." Lynn reported.

    "Looks like someone is awfully concerned." Qiu Yue pulled Lynn''s arm by her side and giggled happily. Lynn could not deny that but Jin tried to pull the conversation back to Rei''s plea for help.

    "So you can see, everyone here is willing to help. Heck, we might even go right now after this dinner to get them. Just tell us what you know." Jin answered and Rei decided that its best for the person who found his family to give the actual background of the entire situation. Thus, he requested Jin and the System to summon her for them to have Sebastia exin everything.

    "Master!" Sebastia was delighted to see Jin after a very long while and immediately kneeled to show her respect.

    "Sebastia, join us for dinner and give us your report on Rei''s family," Jin said and added that it''s an order that she had toply knowing that she would be too embarrassed to eat at the table with them. And before she had any objections, Lynn already went into the kitchen to take another te of rice, all ready for her to partake in the dinner with them.

    "If you insist, then this is my honour. Also, thank you, Lynn. I missed you and your penguin''s cooking very very much." Sebastia said as she was specially given a seat right beside Jin as the group continue to eat while Sebastia revealed her report.

    In summary, ever since Rei had mysteriously disappeared, his wife Charlotte had been working hard to find his whereabouts as well. The only thing she could think of was that he had been captured by the opposing group of countries. Thus, she decided to spy for both ends especially when she was a talented enough engineer while single handedly taking care of their kid, Hathaway.

    Simr to her parents, Hathaway was not just smart but capable of taking herself. She usually studies what her father had left and also eventually found out how her mother was working for both sides of the war. In fact, she was so brilliant that Hathaway aided her mother in a few projects in ways Charlotte could never think before and it was to the point that they both decided to work secretly to find their father.

    "Now the only problem is that the mother and daughter had been caught almost at the same time for it to be considered as a coincidence. I had information to prove that there was a sting operation that had been conducted to catch such traitors. However, because of the knowledge they had given to both sides, they were considered valuable modities. The war had been stifling and became deadly was the contributions from the two of them. They were part of the team which made the Mechas into an essential backbone of their armies."

    Sebastia said as she took a breath and chewed on chicken meat while the rest continued to ponder at it. Kraft even stared back at Rei as if questioning his abilities and how he got such an amazing wife and daughter while he was just a mediocre engineer from the Mecha World.

    "If we ever want information on the Mechanical Brain of the Gigant Titan, Charlotte and Hathaway is your best bet,'''' Sebastia added. "The information on that had been very sketchy despite my fervent attempts to uncover it."

    "Two prison spaceships, maximum security. So we''re doing it Moon Wars style?" Jin said and the rest seems like they were on board with the idea of freeing Rei''s family.

 Chapter 1283: Prisons Location

    <h4>Chapter 1283: Prison''s Location</h4>

    "Ehh maximum security prison spaceships aside, it''s space, right? We can''t be teleporting into them unless we know the ce''s coordinate. And since it''s a transport vessel, all the more we would not have its exact -" MIlk who suddenly voiced her concern until Sebastia chimed in her opinion.

    "They are meeting at Space Colony 969 for the transfer of prisoners," Sebastia said and Rei knows about that Space Colony Station.

    "Why would a United Federation spaceship be in Xeon Union''s airspace?" He voiced his query, hoping that Sebastia could shed more light on it.

    "Because they are going to have a prisoner exchange programme. Some Very Important Prisoners (VIPs) are being traded for Hathaway and Hathaway alone. The United Federations are keeping Charlotte because they had lots of questions to ask her."

    "Sounds awfully convenient. How do you even get hold of this information?" Rei could not fathom the amount of spying she had to do to get the location of the prisoner exchange.

    "OhбнDid you?" Kraft chuckled in Sebastia''s direction.

    "Fortunately for me, there was no need to. Though, I would like to thank you for your valuable lessons in seduction. Sir Kraft." Sebastia said and somehow people started to wonder what Kraft had been teaching the Female Minotaur. Sebastia however diverted the topic and said that she was lucky enough to grab the attention of a rather horny officer (no pun intended for minotaurs) and squeeze such information out from his brains with a few of Kraft''s teachings. The System did help with the initialisation since Kraft''s technique of getting information could be a bit hard to grasp for users whose magic abilities were less than inclined.

    "Aww, thought at least you would get some fun out of it before delivering the blow of death to your opponents." Kraft shrugs, feeling disappointed at the answer.

    "The target did not die as well, else they would have changed the ns drastically and I would not have known where they would be meeting for the exchange of prisoners," Sebastia added.

    "I am even more disappointed now. Don''t talk to me right now." Kraft showed Sebastia his hand as if he wanted her to talk to his hand rather than him but obviously, after learning some stuff about Kraft in the Farming World, Sebastia did not care even if she hurt his feelings.

    "Soбн right now, the United Federation Prison Spaceship is carrying the two family members? Why can''t we try and predict where theye from and ambush them before they make the jump?" Ke Loong asked but it looks like Kong Rong who had sufficient undercover experience apuded Sebastia''s choice for the location and timing.

    "You want us to jump and grab the VIPs too, don''t you?" Kong Rong checked to reaffirm his suspicions.

    "Yes, if they are political figures, we have no use for them. But if they are exchanging for engineers, scientists or some schr that could give us a better situation of the Mecha World, that would be great."

    "Actually, political figures might be usefulбнbait," Jin said and everyone looked at him to continue the sentence. "I might need a few leaders that are hardworking to lead the team in the future. And usually, those that are caught are always for the people. If they meet the criteria, it would be nice to have an influencer that could move the masses."

    "Interesting. Looks like being a Panda Lord makes you see a bit of a wider perspective." Kraft replied but Jin too shrugged his shoulders.

    "If Sebastia does not know who the VIP is, we just gotta grab them first."

    "Why can''t we just do what Jin did with the void being? You know, grab the entire maximum security prison spaceship and put it in one of the System''s instances. We could then dismantle the entire thing with the System''s help and also convert the entire ship without much death and destruction." Milk asked once again and somehow made Peppersugh.

    "Why don''t while we are at it, steal the entire space colony station 969 and put it in the System''s care too?" Peppers remarked and somehow Milk knew that Peppers had an exnation that such a feat could not be done which did not care to ask for any further boration.

    "Since we have a location and when will the exchange be done?" Lynn asked and Sebastia said that it was the only information she was not able to obtain.

    "I had been stalking Space Colony Station 969 for some time and was able to get a ck market receiver that could get the transmissions signals for almost every ship thates through. Even with me right here, the receiver is still collecting data while the System helped me to keep an eye out. But judging from the way the officer had spoken, it''s not that soon-"

    "Greetings all. A usible unknown signal had been received. The System requests Minotaur Sebastia to return to the observation post for further analysis."

    "Peppers and Rei, go with her. She probably needs some help deciphering. If tech cannot do the trick, get Peppers to zoom the shit out with her magic. If it is the prison ship, then we will do an attack as soon as possible." Jin said and for once, Peppers did notin much as if she was willing to do this prison heist as much as the others.

    Rei nodded his head and the System instantly opened a portal behind them. Lynn quickly took a few wet wipes and passed them to Peppers since her mouth was still filled with leftover sauce as well as a water bottle from her storage ring. She was like a mother sending her kid off to school as Peppers thanked Lynn for the assist.

    "As for us, we better start talking about some contingencies in case- Erm no. When things go south." Jin said to the group knowing that Lady Fate will always toy with him no matter the situation.

 Chapter 1284: Identifying the Prison Ships

    <h4>Chapter 1284: Identifying the Prison Ships</h4>

    "How does it look?" Rei asked as Sebastia configured the receiver the moment they teleported into Space Colony 969.

    "There were a few encrypted signals which the receiver could not decipher. The System is currently going through a few of the standard decryption codes used by the military but I do not think they will work. It will be best if we scout the ships ourselves."

    "Yea, idiots. How are you going to do that if you can''t breathe in space? Those ships might not even be docking near the Space Colony at all. Could be a few clicks away while the spaceport people send their automated refuelling droids to get it done." Peppers said as she stared at the squarish built receiver.

    "I am rather surprised you know their protocols." Rei also deduced that it could be what Peppers had surmised.

    "Please, whenever Jin goes into a new world, the System makes me learn as much as possible. The only thing is that knowledge usually goes to waste because no one asked me any questions with the exception of the System using me as a walking database. Sometimes the problems you people have could be quickly rectified if you ask me." Peppers yawned a bit since it was supposedly night back in Jin''s World but right here, it was barely evening. (Although there was no sun around, the space colony had a 24 hour weather system that monitored the colony''s ecosystem.)

    "Because you are almost nigh unapproachable to most people. And getting an answer from you was like trying to get a wish from a wishing fountain." Sebastia said which made Peppers stick her tongue out in defiance. However, even as she was not happy with Sebastia''s answer, Peppers immediately used her magic within the room that they were hiding and revealed a holographic map that contained information on the flight paths of the spaceships as well as a few stationary ones which they suspected to be the prisoner ships.

    "Wow, how did you do this?" Rei asked and Peppers grinned.

    "Magic~" Peppers said as to let that sarcasm seep into the two who were looking at it before exining that she used her scan magic to get the information. After all, there were no magic casters in this world and she tantly did not care about sting her powers.

    "Judging from the size and length of the ships, especially with the proximity between the two of them, I guess we found our mark. The next question is how are we going to go there without being seen?"

    "Guess teleporting is out of the way?" Rei tried to see if Peppers was able to do that but she shook her head.

    "As much as I would like to do that, teleporting into space is tricky. Teleportation usually refers to coordinates and those coordinates are based on a certain corendmark. In most instances, we can teleport around because we are situated on one. Right now, I have no idea where our dear earth is with respect to the Space Colony 969 and even I DO know, the teleportation coordinates into space requires four dimensions instead of the usual three. And before you ask what that is, it''s basically not having half our bodies stuck in space and the other half in a ship. Or with a portal-"

    "Okay, we get what you mean. Let''s go." Sebastia said as she kept the receiver inside the storage ring provided by the System and told the other two to dress up ordingly.

    "Go where?" Peppers asked but Sebastia already started activating her cosmetic inscription charm.

    "I have a man that could bring us close to that ship. Would that help if we bring ourselves closer to the prison ship and that way you could teleport us in? I assume your scan magic could x-ray the entire ship and provide us safe passage the moment we got closer."

    "You are not going to ask why not use my Scan Magic, right now?" Peppers questioned and Sebastia smirked.

    "Please Peppers. Everyone under Jin knows you. You would not waste your magic while there''s a chance for the Demonic Red Eyed Queen to blow things up. But of course, please blow the entire ship, there''s a chance Jin might want it."

    "Like I said, he can''t possibly teleport the entire ship back into the shop''s - oh wait. Do you meanбн" Peppers squinted her eyes towards the crafty minotaur. "Huh, never expect you to think like that. Guess Kraft''s influence did rub on you quite a bit. I''ll give it some thought."

    "What are you two talking about?" Rei still felt clueless between their conversations and felt that his presence was more or less redundant.

    "TLDR, she''s taking advantage of my generosity to aid you." Peppers said while she used her magic to look older instead of a cosmetic inscription charm, she had to configure her looks once again when Sebastia threw a passport to her.

    "Felt the opportunity was right the moment she did not grumble when she came to the Mecha World." Sebastia smiled as she ced an inscription charm onto Rei, changing his face slightly to match the man on the passport.

    "Well, this is exciting. Never had I thought I would be in like some movie, changing my face for an undercover mission." Peppers thought to herself as she chose some clothes from Sebastia''s ''wardrobe''.

    "We are going in fast, pay some cash and travel as near to the spaceships as possible." Sebastia went through with the n but Rei''s head was already full of panic making it impossible for him to listen to whatever Sebastia was talking about.

    "Sigh, do we really need a character like him right now? Can''t we just send him back first and teleport him back to us when the situation is ripe?" Peppers could already feel she was in the movies and Rei was that scared person which could potentially screw everything up.

    "It''s not my call and besides we never know when we need some actual help from a person who is native to this world?" Sebastia said as she pped Rei to wake him up while Peppers reluctantly cast a calming spell to stabilise his emotions.

    "I can only hope this immigration thing will be a quick one." Sebastia hoped.

 Chapter 1285: Going Through Immigration

    <h4>Chapter 1285: Going Through Immigration</h4>

    With only Peppers unfamiliar with the procedures of the Mecha World despite all the knowledge in her head, Sebastia had changed her mind and forced her to change into a little girl instead. (Fortunately, she did prepare a fake kid passport not knowing who would be with her for the infiltration.) Peppers naturally was against the decision but Rei told her that she had to lie her way to get through the immigration passport which even a person not close to Peppers was able to discern she could not lie much.

    Thus, Peppers resigned to the fate of being the ''daughter'' of Sebastia and Rei for the time being. The only constion she got was that she did not have to do anything and go through the spaceport.

    However, things were not as smooth as they thought it would be when they reached the first checkpoint. The machines were beeping loudly for Sebastia the moment she tried to go through the scanner and the same goes for Rei. The Immigration Guards slowly walked up to them to do a routine check to see what''s the matter as those machines rarely beeped that loudly.

    "Are we busted that quickly?" Rei nervously chats on the System Channel but Sebastia told him to keep quiet, as she tried to see if she could salvage the situation. However, the best way to handle the situation, for now, was to watch and see. The guard with the highest rank looked at them at the side of the room since that was where themand control for the immigration gates was and spoke through the hall''s inte.

    "Immigration Counter 45 & 47. Please step back and try scanning your passports again in a few seconds." And thus, Rei and Sebastia did as they were told with Peppers hanging behind Sebastia, waiting for her turn beside ''Mummy'' to clear the gates for her to go through. After all, Sebastia had to act as if Peppers was really her daughter by helping her to go through the immigration gates before Mummy could scan her passport. This time around, the gates blinked with green lights after they stood there for what seemed like an eternity before the gates opened and allowed them to pass through with almost every guard within the vicinity staring at them like vultures waiting for their right time to gobble them up,

    Next, it was Sebastia''s turn and she too went through without any hitch thus allowing the guards to return back to their post as the family of three gathered again and made their way to the duty free area of the spaceport.

    "Sheesh, what is all that about? I thought you had the passports covered?" Reimented in the System Channel as he wiped the sweat off his forehead the moment they were far enough from the immigration counters.

    "I have no idea as well. When I used those passports, they were fine. Not sure if it''s because I purchased them a long time ago and they were not activated. In any case, we should be d that we are able to go through it without a hitch especially when security seems to be tighter than usual." Sebastia said and that was when Peppers started chuckling.

    "Heh Heh Heh. You two did not realise that there was some maniption behind the scenes?" Peppers queried and Rei was the only one who entertained her in the System Channel while Sebastia continued to survey her surroundings.

    "You mean, there was really something wrong with the passports?" Rei asked and Peppers nodded her head. "If not for Your Demonic Sage Queen here to clear the ruckus, you think you guys are able to go through without making too much of a scene? I was the one who magically reset the immigration counter status." Peppers said it as if they had forgotten that Peppers was a mage of high regards in Jin''s army, not just abat mage who could send explosions into the sky. Rei was astonished by her but Sebastia told Peppers not to lie.

    "There is no way she could have manipted the machines. She needs to understand the workings of the immigration counter before doing anything to do it. It''s not as if it was based on some physical trigger mechanism plus those guards had a database. The only thing I can think of is that she mind tricked the highest ranking guard within themand post to allow us to go through when our passports were gged." Sebastia answered and Peppers felt like the magic in her act had disappeared along with her exnation.

    "Bleargh, but still you have to give me credit for-"

    "Thank you, Peppers. Without you, it would not be an easy feat to go through the immigration counter. I am d you are here with us." Sebastia said through the System Channel and for once, Peppers kept quiet as she smiled away happily.

    After a few minutes of walking, Sebastia finally told the two of them that she found her pilot. She quietly asked Peppers to follow Rei for a moment to look at some gifts at a nearby souvenir store while she sat opposite the pilot near a resting area pretending to y her phone. Though in reality, she was texting him through some near fieldmunications app so that it was both encrypted and nearly undetectable.

    "Three pax. Usual price per person." Sebastia texted.

    "No, the deal is off. The security here has suddenly gotten very strict. Even if I can take off from the spaceport, the only route I could go is the one they had designated. If I ever divert just by a few metres, the spaceport authorities would sound the rm for the Mechas to swoop in.."

    "Triple the price." Sebastia did not care what the excuse of the pilot was but at least she know that at the very least, the prison ships must be here or else the security would not be this rming.

    "No. I value my life more than that. Evening here to talk to you is a risk and you should be lucky that I am not going to snitch on you to the authorities for even talking about going near the prison ships." The pilot immediately left the chat and walked away.

    "Guess we will do this the illegal way." Sebastia sighed as she told Peppers what was happening and in an instant, the pilot came back to the chat group once more stating that he decided to fuck it and go with the flow.

    "I guess, you only live once." Thest sentence from the pilot made Sebastia nearly burst intoughter. "All those memes. Peppers, you are eating too much junk information from Jin''s world." Sebastia said as she looked towards her daughter and quietly nodded her head with thanks.

 Chapter 1286: Prison Heist -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1286: Prison Heist -Part 1</h4>

    "Master, we are taking off right now. Not sure how close we will be towards the prison ships but the pilot said that any deviation from the current course we are taking would be alerted and they will activate the Mechas." Sebastia said as she sat right beside the possessed pilot.

    He might be performing actions to turn his spaceship on for departure but the expressions betrayed them as it was rather obvious he was doing it unwillingly. "Meh, I did not use that much magic to control him, just enough to get things moving." Peppers said when she popped by to see the cockpit and saw Sebastia''s dissatisfied look.

    "At least give him a memory wipe when the deed is done."

    "Why do that when he is probably not going to survive the current ordeal?" Peppers said nonchntly and Sebastia figured that the Mage Betor did not think of death the way normal people would and why wouldn''t she? Peppers might have seen more death and destruction than anyone could so having another human dying right in front of her would be all the same. Even Sebastia herself would have thought the same if Jin had not opened her eyes to other worlds and yet she had not been ustomed to something called dying permanently.

    "Peppers, he did us a favour despite how unwilling he is, I think it is only fair to allow him to live through this ordeal." Sebastia tried to rephrase her opinions to match Peppers'' train of thought.

    "Fine, fine." Peppers sighed as she drew a magical sigil on the pilot''s arm, making him squirm in pain for a moment. "This will let him teleport back to the airport but do not me me for making him suffer the subsequent ordeal he had to face when he got caught by the authorities. After all, it is his ship that we are crashing the prisons with"

    "Ehhбнguys, you are assuming that this ship can withstand the brunt of the attack from the maximum security prison spaceships," Rei interjected as the spaceship they were on was small enough for him to hear all that conversation from the passenger area.

    "Ho ho ho!" Peppers startedughing at such a high pitch which made Sebastia realise that Rei might not have seen much of Jin''s army at work. Even though she received intel that Rei had been working on a few space crafts that Jin ordered, Sebastia assumed Rei had seen some action beforehand. However, it looks like this would most likely be Rei''s first big battle under Jin''smand.

    The spaceship took off without a hitch and Jin had replied that they were ready to teleport in the moment Peppers set the coordinates to the System properly. With all the security alerts, it would highly be unlikely this would be an easy grab and run kind of prison heist. After all, this exchange was between the two warring factions. Tensions would naturally be high and everyone would have their fingers ready at the trigger ready to attack if there was something amiss.

    However, as much as Jin would wish to deescte the situation, this war had been ongoing for so long that there was nothing much he could do unless he either made them understand each other or annihted everyone to make it stop. But both options would gargantuan responsibilities mainly because the universe of Mecha World is not confined to one particrpared to the rest of the worlds he had been. With both factions expanding through outer space and gxies beyond, it would take something more impactful to stop their warring.

    That was also the reason why Jin did not care if his actions to perform a prison heist would eventually further escte their war because this war isn''t something he could control and the only thing he could do was to make sure Rei''s family would be safe after this event.

    "We are approaching soon," Sebastia said as the pilot pointed out through the cockpit windows and showed them that tiny little sparks of light were where the maximum security prison Spaceships were. Peppers did not believe him at first until she cast her magic onto the shuttle window and it created a zooming effect that allowed them to see the two maximum security prison spaceships and a bunch of other minor security ships as well mechas around the area.

    Rei could only tighten his seatbelt at the passenger area as he knew how turbulent a shot from one of those security spaceship''s cannons would feel. Meanwhile, Peppers was already prepping a few magic spells both offensive and defensive so that their current space shuttle would be able to propel through hopefully undetected until the veryst minute.

    "Do some damage to the maximum security prison spaceships too, they most likely have some energy shields which could stop our shuttle from pushing through," Sebastia said as she too felt a little excited since this was the first time she would be charging into a battlefield that was totally unknown to her.

    "Ya ya, I already did that. Just watch and see." Peppers said as her staff forcefully stabbed through the metal ting floor and an energy shield had been generated around the space shuttle that they were in. "Go now." Peppers'' simplemand was not just an indicator for the tearing pilot but also for Jin and the rest to jump into action when the time was right.

    The pilot reluctantly pushed his joystick pulley to the highest gear while swirling to the left and diverting off course from the one he was supposed to be in. His actions instantly alerted the spaceport authorities and arge ring warning was emitted from his space shuttle.

    "This is Colony 969 Spaceport Security. Return to your authorised course in ten seconds or we will be forced to shoot you down. No other warnings would be given after this transmission."

    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!!" The pilot cried as he maintained the steering wheel and he could see all the security crafts and their mechas sortie out to meet the threat that was zing through the space.

    "Fuck yes!" Peppers eximed as she finally held her magical staff and gave a slight twist as if it was the trigger for all the spells that she had been umting for the past few minutes of chanting.

 Chapter 1287: Prison Heist -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1287: Prison Heist -Part 2</h4>

    "Space Shuttle ID: X657F had diverted off course and headed towards the exchange point!" One of the petty officers shouted out loud within the control centre of the United Federations Maximum Security Prison Spaceship. Captain L Farlinger heard the report and asked the designation of the ship.

    "Captain, it''s neither marked under the United Federations nor the Xeon Union." The petty officer reported and another shouted that the Xeon Union were directing their guns at the space shuttle as well and to them.

    "Do not point any guns to the Xeon Union and focus your efforts on stopping that space shuttle. We do not need a Texican Standoff (Mexican Standoff). Fire at the space shuttle whenever it is in range." Captain Farlinger said andter requested another officer for the information about the shuttle, pilot and the passengers as soon as possible.

    "Also, tell them to ground every other space flight going in or out of the Colony and disallow anyone from knocking off from their job. After all, if Space Colony 969 had approved the immigration, that means there''s someone on the inside that had been their coborator." Captain Farlinger added and his officers were scrambling around the deck to fulfil his request while sending units and directing the ship''s guns towards the speeding space shuttle.

    It was pretty obvious it looked like a suicide attack and the only advantage the space shuttle had was the element of surprise. Guns were supposed to be deactivated prior to the prisoner exchange due to the agreement of non aggression. They even had to unarm the Mechas, allowing only physical weapons and shields so any movements from either side would mean they were not honouring the agreement.

    But this suicidal space shuttle took them off guard and by the time the guns were ready, the shuttle was already at roaring max speed (As if one can hear anything in spaceбнperhaps in its different their world) The guns from both spaceships already took aim, calcted andpensated for any deviations when the space shuttle tried to dodge from the attack. In the meantime, the Mechas readied their shields in case of arge explosion that the space shuttle might pack despite its size.

    "Fire!" One of the higher ranked officers within the ship''s deck ordered and the crew released the volley of fire towards the iing suicide shuttle. However, they did not know that on the other side of the battlefield, Peppers had already umted a sufficient amount of spells to give the entourage of ships a taste of their own medicine too.

    The space shuttle had been reinforced with Peppers'' own signature energy barrier spell, the Aegis while the mage simultaneously unleashed a series of explosions targeting the Mechas and smaller space crafts within the vicinity of the two maximum security prison spaceships.

    The sudden explosions caused both factions'' captains to be bbergasted. They were demanding their crew to quickly check for other external threats which they could be unaware of. However, seeing that both ships had been attacked, it was rather apparent to deduce the attack was done by a third party, most likely some splinter group or resistance organisations that had been undermining their war.

    Yet, before they could identify any threats, another series of explosions urred. This time, they were aimed at the ships'' engines and boosters. "I thought we had our shields up?!" Captain Farlinger questioned his crew and yet he saw that the ship''s shields were working perfectly fine. In fact, it was taking damage from the impact of explosions that urred on the ship itself.

    The first line of Mechas had been disabled by the mysterious explosions, leaving only the second and third line of Mechas to rush forth to stop the threat. All of them seem to know the value of this particr prisoner exchange and even if they do not, the intes had been ring with the sound ofmunication officers to immediately stop the threat.

    "Peppers, are you going to do something about that line of Mechasing in?" Sebastia asked and the Mage Betorughed. Even without picking up her staff, she pointed at the iing mechas with her fingers, now in the shape of a gun and shooting off like a little kid ying as a gunslinger.

    Though in reality, there was a magical circle emerging right above the space shuttle and bolts of metal of unknown origin were seen flying out of it, attacking each and every one of the Mechas on sight. The pilots thought that it was just a hunk of steeling their way, but its prative power was more than what the shields could handle mainly because their defensive armaments were attuned to be againstsers rather than physical attacks. For something to be so modern, the Mechas were not ready to be against such primitive attacks, allowing the bolts of steel to prate through.

    The most terrifying thing was that those steel pikes were perfectly aimed directly towards the cockpit, instantly killing the pilots who were moving the Mechas. Even as the others who noticed the pattern attack tried to evade but somehow, the attacks were as fast as modernsers.

    "I am surprised that you did not take the opportunity to make a flowery show of explosions," Sebastia said as she steadied the pilot to tell him to keep moving forward.

    "Hmmph! I know Jin would want the Mechas as a reference and this seems to be the perfect opportunity to do so since they are alling at us. Killing the pilots and leaving most of the stuff intact." Peppers giggled with a wide smile. "Also, this will allow me to have more System points for me to spend! Hehe!"

    "But they are currently being left all around the battlefield like floating scrap metal. By the time we are done, they could have drifted somewhere else." Sebastia said as she saw the carnage up close while the Mechas were in chaos.

    "Don''t worry, I will teleport them soon enough once I am done roasting the rest of the spaceships." Peppers said but she was already teleporting the Mechas before they were out of her sight. And there Sebastia thought that Peppers was doing it because Jin asked.

    Guess, the Mage Betor did have her own agenda in this current heist.

 Chapter 1288: Prison Heist -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1288: Prison Heist -Part 3</h4>

    Pepper''s defensive energy barrier was not the only spell that had been enchanted in the spacecraft they were in. Their engines had been roaring with the power of mana boosting them through, burning its cerulean space fuel with more efficiency than any other known possible engine in their world.

    It sped through the barriers while Peppers collected the metal corpses for the System to analyse but she never forgets the current objective of hijacking the maximum security prison spaceship. The moment they reached close enough to one of the prison spaceships, Peppers instantly motioned her hand like a gun and shouted bam!

    Instead of an explosion that would ensue based on the Demonic Sage Queen''s nature, the spacecraft they were on suddenly got way faster as if they were being sucked into something. It was then they realised that the ship was magically being connected to the main ship like some slime fuse with another slime to be a bigger slime. The only difference was that the metaphorical slimes were solid matter and people who were watching the spell at work were truly bbergasted by this hijacking method these resistance forces had been using.

    In fact, they were stunned how a series of mechas could be destroyed and subsequently disappearing miniature ck holes appeared out of nowhere to suck them away from their vicinity. Their AI intelligence sensors instantly went into max confusion overdrive citing critical errors in their analysis because there was nothing within their analytical parameters. Both crews were shouting at each other, demanding if they knew anything or any information on the current hijacker.

    However, what they had were only mere spections and nothing else. Captain Farlinger of the United Federations immediately demanded the prison spaceship to go to the highest tier of alert judging by the damage the spacecraft had done and also mainly due to the fact that it had crashed into their ship instead.

    "They are here for the political VIP! We should move quickly to block them from aiding their escape!" The officers shouted and Farlinger instantly authorised the use of Silver Soldiers, a series of AI Humanoid War Robots to search and destroy the hijackers.

    "Sir, are you sure?! The Silver Soldiers may be operational but technically, they are still in their final testing stage and we cannot guarantee the efficacy of them not hurting the VIP prisoners!" The technical officer shouted but Farlinger did not care.

    "Right now, those hijackers are a threat that is beyond ourprehension. Killing them alongside the VIP prisoners is the least of our priorities. At the very most, we will tell the public that Xeon Union had prompted this hijack since our prison spaceship had beenpromised." Farlinger smirked but at that moment, they received a transmission from Xeon Union Captain Coalran demanding an exnation.

    "There is a breach at my prison spaceship! Why are you not taking care of our nk when I am losing pilots from that suicide spacecraft attack!?" Coalran eximed and showed them CCTV footage of arge explosion near their hangar bay, and an unknown spacecraft was seen parking right at the breached area.

    "How am I supposed to know if they were able to slip in undetected? That fucking spacecraft had merged- what the hell am I saying?! That thing! It has invaded us as well and we are dealing with it as we speak!" Farlinger lost his temper seeing that a spacecraft was able to pass through the senses of the best technology the United Federation was proud of.

    Radar Detection.

    "You better make sure that our VIPs are still intact or else, the Xeon Union will dere this as further aggression against our sovereignty!" Coalran sted through the intes and shut down all furthermunications.

    "At this rate, Silver Soldiers are not the only ones that would be sortied." Farlinger scratched his neck feeling very irritated by the situation. As much as he wanted the prisoners the Xeon Union had in possession, it seemed as if it would not likely be the case as the Xeon Union had the very same version of Silver Soldiers at their behest. The ck Immortals. Their AI programming was ruthless and proven to be efficient killing robots. As much as he wished to boast the Silver Soldiers, they were basically copied inferior versions of the ck Immortals because of theirck of expertise in that particr field.

    And that was the very reason why Captain Farlinger and the United Federations wanted the prisoners in Xeon Union spaceships. As long as they could possess one of their prisoners, the Silver Soldiers would eventually be the main fighting force for the United Federations and possibly the backbone of their future army structure.

    But for now, Farlinger had to make sure that he kept his bargain of protecting the VIP prisoners that he was holding. If the hijackers were reallying for them, the entire prison force would make sure that they would not survive. After all, they were a few hundred strong while the hijackers were merely a handful.

    In the meantime, Rei was breathing as hard as he could to keep himself calm. Sebastia already threw him a battle vest for him to wear as well as a custom made rifle from Jin''s store. It was powered with inscription charms making them user friendly for a non cultivator like Rei.

    "I only did a few shooting lessons with the werecats. There is no way I am able to-" Before Rei could finish his excuse, Sebastia immediately pped him. And as Rei was about to speak another word, the female minotaur pped on his other cheek and pointed her finger at him, making him listen to her instead.

    "One. This is your fight for your family. Two, You are definitely dying. Three, remember you are contracted to the System, even if you die, you will revive back again. Four, do not waste the System''s resources unnecessarily. Five, get your guts out of your body and start walking. Are you going to be out beaten by a teenager wielding explosive magic that could destroy the entire world?"

    "Yes to thest oneбн" Rei thought to himself but somehow Sebastia pped him again and told him to do things without thinking.

    "Get out, and prove to us that you are not just a wuss but someone worthy of Jin''s promise," Sebastia said once more and told him to get out of the ship. As Peppers was already sting a few of the metal doors that were shut on them the moment they entered, Rei swallowed his anxiety and pushed himself to be beside Peppers, trying to be as alert as he could be.

    In the meantime, Sebastia reequipped herself from the luggage she brought with her. How she managed to smuggle in did not require any story especially when she was wearing a storage ring. But the reason she was staying behind for a while longer was that she wished to honour the pilot that risked his life to bring them to their destination.

    "System, mind helping me?" The minotaur asked and the System instantly fulfilled that wish while deducting a fraction of System points that would have normally cost a lot more for that kind of request. The only answer she received from the System was that Peppers had paid the rest while Sebastia smiled weakly as she prepared herself to walk into the deadly battlefield.

 Chapter 1289: Prison Heist -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1289: Prison Heist -Part 4</h4>

    "Man, that space shuttle was really quite cramped. Kraft said as he stretched his hands and legs the moment he got out of it. The System had teleported a custom space shuttle which was not particrly deemed very fit for flight into the Mecha World. Rei did not finish fine tuning the mechanical portion of it but it was still space worthy to be used for an ambush mission after receiving coordinates from Peppers.

    "Well, it sure is, especially for one who could have transformed into a fox for the time being." Milkined.

    "I wanted to! You simply did not allow me to rest on your beautiful -urgh!" Kraft received a punch to the gut even before he could finish his sentence.

    "Don''t you think this group has way too much firepower for a prison break?" Qiu Yue, the Red Panda Cultivator and Empire building Sub System User queried as she walked beside her new master, Zeru.

    "I doubt so. Never estimate the enemies'' numbers especially when you are going in blind. Besides, it would be a great experience and experiment fighting in space. You will never know when we are going to fight in zero gravity and that would no doubt be a test of your skills and bnce." Zeru exined.

    "Looks like not all of Jin''s employees are knuckleheads." Ke Loong, SeaMesh CEO eximed as he could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body. Even though he was guaranteed toe back alive from the fight, it did not stop him from being the only few from Earth to travel to space, let alone fight.

    "Just don''t leave my side." Kong Rong said as he did not like the situation they were in after seeing Jin sting a hole in the maximum security prison spaceship and subsequently sealing it up with his astute maniption of matter via chi and magic.

    "Hou Fei, you honestly could go ahead and enjoy the fun. I can stay behind to look after the ship." Jin said as he was picking up a manual to read while waiting for the rest to depart from the space shuttle.

    "Nah, Boss. That is where you are wrong. The escape route is always the one that would be targeted no matter the situation. So, with the least amount of effort, we definitely get quite arge fishing to us. " Hou Fei sat right beside the captain''s seat and saw the crowd descending through another hole which was created by Mr Crafty. "But damn, the gates and corridors sure are big in here. No wonder, Peppers said there was no way you could teleport the maximum security prison spaceship back to our world. You could fit like forty Void Beings in here!"

    "Peppers clearly has the means to do it if she partnered with the System but I doubt she would like to vomit rainbows for an extended period of time." Jin said as the manual he read was full of corrections and edits indicating that Rei had indeed been actively working on the manual for the space shuttle, fulfilling his promise as a part time spaceship engineer for Jin while working his ass off to make sure his Gunndam movie would be a sess.

    "Ah. I should go look into that studio that was making the movie for him. They better have some results after all the money I pumped into their studio." Jin thought to himself and then Hou Fei continued to survey the surroundings outside the space shuttle.

    "With any luck, we might be fighting against a few mechas judging by the gigantic space corridor that we are in." Jin blurted out while he continued to flip the manual but at that moment, he and Hou Fei could hear a rumbling noise to their right. Their eyes simultaneously shifted to see the iingmotion and it looked like Jin hit jackpot on thements which he should have kept his mouth shut with.

    "Do you wish to fight that yourself?" Jin now sarcastically asked Hou Fei.

    "Does this space crap have defences on them? Or heck, a robot that I could use?" Hou Feiughed slowly and bitterly at the current situation where they saw a heavily armoured Mecha scanning the perimeter as it tried to force open the door that had been shut tight. The Xeon Union soldiers on the other side of the door were scrambling to manually open the giant doors because their safety protocols stopped them from entering the room for some reason. They could only assume that the ship had suffered enough damage from Peppers'' initial wave of explosions that their ship was in full lockdown.

    But even with the door currently barring the seemingly heavy armour mecha from going through, its head was turned towards the space shuttle and sounds of rotating machinations were heard even though Jin and Hou Fei were in the cockpit.

    "From what I read, this is not even the finished product. We only use this as a way of deception." Jin replied as he now realised what kind of sound it was.

    A minigun. No, two miniguns twice their size were rotating at speeds that could not be seen with the naked eye right at the top of the heavily armoured Mecha''s head.

    "Then guess we have to show them that ''magic'' does exist in this multiverse!" Hou Fei said as he brought out a full mask with a Snake design from his storage ring and wore it to hide his face just as what Kraft and the rest did as well. After which, he ced his hand on the ss window in the cockpit and created a chi barrier to block it from damaging him.

    "Welp, that means I am the one who will have to clean up this mess," Jin said as he too wore a full Panda mask to hide his identity if their ship blew up.

    "We couldбнyou know, let the ship explode and we go somewhere else." Hou Fei said as he feared that he could not hold up two miniguns with bullets possibly with the radius of a car tyre mming onto his chi barrier. (It might be exaggerating but at that point in time, he felt it was that way.)

    "The System is being an ass and gave me a System mission to protect the ship as much as possible," Jin replied as if waiting for the System to give an exnation for its sudden irrational behaviour.

    But all the System said that there would be a reward to it.

 Chapter 1290: Prison Heist -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1290: Prison Heist -Part 5</h4>

    As the rest were having fun creating havoc while they looked for the prisoners based on what the System had extracted from Rei''s memories, Jin and Hou Fei were having the ''best'' times of their lives.

    The heavy rotating guns were sting bullets off their barrels onto the space shuttle but its ''energy field'' was able to withstand the massive slew of impacting from the rain of fire. The Heavy Armoured Mecha pilot had no idea that it was possible as most space shuttles of that particr size would already have been shredded into pieces with the same amount of firepower given.

    And it was all thanks to Hou Fei who gave a push of his chi to ensure that his chi barrier was wide enough to cover the space shuttle from the trajectory of the mini gun spray and strong enough to withstand the attack. If not for Jin''s previous sentence, Hou Fei would not have bothered to even block these many bulletsing at such high speed impact.

    "Why not fight Mecha with Mecha!?" Hou Fei suggested as he implied summoning Mechataur into the field and level the robot down with their very own.

    "That''s basically like bringing our trump card against it immediately at the start of the fight.." Jin said through the System Channel while he ran out of the space shuttle to fight against the armoured Mecha.

    "Hahaha, you are kidding me, right? That Minotaur is our trump card?? I feel that for once, we are the group that''s backwards after all the fights that we are in." Hou Fei replied as he powered up his chi to strengthen the barrier. The Armoured Mecha could have been shooting its bullets from its head but it was simultaneously sliding the titan doors open forcefully so that it could squeeze through. Even if it couldn''t, Hou Fei knew that it would take the opportunity to perform a sleight of hand and literally bring a hand through the opening with a pistol or rifle to shoot at the space shuttle.

    At that point, forget about tyre sized bullets, it could possibly beser beam equivalent of chi energy from a Grade 15 cultivator and maybe more. At that point, he either has to sacrifice the size of his barrier to maintain his shield or risk a back blow for overexerting his chi powers to keep the barrier up.

    Thankfully, he did not have to worry about that as Jin had already popped out from the space shuttle and into the open, prompting the spray of mini gun fire to be redirected at him. However, this time around Jin did not hold back any punches as he activated his Maqi throughout his entire body to produce Yellow Lightning Panda Energy and burst through the room towards the Armoured Mecha.

    Initially, the Armoured Mecha Pilot thought that the iing opponent was wearing enhanced body gear to improve his reflexes but the sudden sh of light and subsequently disappearing from the motion sensors caused the pilot to panic for a moment. He might have thought that he was seeing things but the sensors were portraying a different story when all of them suddenly shut down and there was no camera feed going through his cockpit.

    But before he could react to anything else in order to diagnose the situation, he suddenly felt his entire body numbing momentarily before going into a state of extreme pain. His eyes saw streaks of electricity bursting through panels of the darkened metal box he was entrapped in and sadly that was thest thing the pilot ever saw.

    Jin''s intense burst of Yellow Lightning Panda Energy brought time for Hou Fei to recover and possibly added an obstacle for the Xeon Union to ovee in order to reach the space shuttle. The Armoured Mecha shut down in between the doors, causing the doors to retract back to their original position.

    However, the doors were still left slightly ajar despite the giant robot''s unfortunate shutdown, allowing personnel to enter the room but not other Mechas. If they wish to bring or sortie Mechas through it, they either have to break the current one that was trapped in between the two sliding doors or st the entire thing so that the others could go through.

    Else right now, heavily armed guards were going through the door and they were in full astronaut suits. Seeing that the perpetrators were not in any spacesuits, the Xeon Union Captain Coalran decided to cut the oxygen air supply and turn off the gravity maniptor so that the resistance rebels could die without them doing much.

    But they were dead wrong.

    The full animal masks the rebels were wearing had an oxygen breathing inscription charm which technically made the masks as oxygen breathers which couldst for more than an hour or so. If their oxygen breathing inscription charm worn out, they could quickly swap to another from their storage rings.

    As for the zero gravity problem, it actually poses no threat to the cultivators who could use chi to rebnce themselves so the problem they would have are absolute freezing temperatures if they were exposed to outer space. That was why Peppers merged the space shuttle she was on with the prison ship and Jin melded back the metal so that they would not be exposed to outer space.

    Yet, if they were in an unexpected scenario where they were thrown out into space, all that were participating in the current prison heist had been bestowed with a customised Gearbox suit by the System that could expand in a moment''s notice and encapste them in it. The Gearbox Suit even has a mini air booster that allows them to travel around in space as well as a gyroscopic mechanism that enables them to gain bnce easily.

    The only problem was that the Astro Gearbox Suit was extremely fragile because of itspact design and expanding at a moment''s notice. The group initially wanted to use sturdier versions of previous gearbox suit iterations but that would hinder their movement as well as abilities since the suit had to cover the entire body while ensuring there was no leak.

    As for now, Jin had sessfully disabled their Mecha and the only thing that stand in their way to wreck their mission critical space shuttle were goons and Jin decided not to waste any time dealing with these armed astronaut guards, especially since numbers are on their side.

 Chapter 1291: Prison Heist -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1291: Prison Heist -Part 6</h4>

    "Ah, I think I heard some ruckus at the back," Kraft said nonchntly as he walked up the stairs. He shot down another guard who tried to be a hero but failed so miserably.

    "The System said Jin and Hou Fei are currently defending the space shuttle." Qiu Yue reported to the rest of the group.

    "Why? That piece of aircraft is just junk metal. It''s iplete anyways and only used to keep us intact in case we teleported wrongly into outer space which we did thanks to dumb dumb Peppers." Kraft replied as the group reached another blockade. With Kraft''s assumed technological expertise, the door should have opened quite easily but most of them forgot that this was an entirely new universe with different security protocols and encryption methods.

    "Ah, this is quite an interesting lock." Kraft quickly got into a pickle upon attempting to hack the system. "Now I understand why the System wants me to go so desperately. It''s not to kill stuff, but to learn their technology and bring it back for the System to utilise. It''s got to cost you something!" Kraft said loudly but it was pretty apparent that he was aiming his discontent at the System.

    "The System shall reward Original Betor Kraft sufficient System Points as well as a substantial upgrade to his current abode." The System reported and somehow that perked him up.

    "Is it really the best time to learn their technology through breaking their lock during a freaking lockdown? If we cannot move forward fast enough, they will either bring an army of guards behind us or they will transfer the prisoners away to an even more secure ceбнperhaps send the prisoners that we wish to rescue into a separate space shuttle and disappear into the depths of outer space." Kong Rong showed his displeasure in waiting for the lock to be removed.

    "Not gonna lie, he does have a point." Qiu Yue said as she stared at the enormous metal doors filled with a dozen locking mechanisms attached to it like some safe with high specifications. "If you fail any of the unlocking sequences, we would never go through this.

    "And from the looks of it, it seems to be fortified in such a way that even Mechas would have some difficulty going through it with brute force." Zeru touched the metal to have a feel of the material, with hopes that his sword could cut through it.

    "Guys, we havepany." Ke Loong who was on the lookout saw that the room they were in had doors starting to open behind them. And not in just one direction but five. Up, Down, Back, Right and Left.

    Miniature Mechas that were the size of Jin''s Fortress Golems and the very same Armoured Mechas were seening from all five doors along with a multiple toons of heavily geared troops pouring to get to them.

    "Ah, that means we are going in the right direction." Kraft smiled as he immediately raised a bubble barrier around himself as he focused himself on the console panel. "Guess this might prove useful in breaking down the initial part of the lock." He said to himself as he had earlier searched a few bodies for any sort of physical item that could be used to unlock stuff. In fact, he even had cut hands off the guards and gorged a few eyeballs just in case they were needed. (The rest were not exactly approving of his behaviour but they knew that he was doing what was needed.)

    And true enough, the hand which he saw off had proven to be useful as the keyboardless console panel immediately revealed a holographic keyboard with the presence of a familiar thumbprint at the scanner. But to make things even moreplicated, it seemed like only the hand he was holding was able to use the holographic keyboard.

    Further entries from his own set of hands were recognised as invalid and there was a security pop up alert, indicating that only the user who had scanned the console could use it. Kraft eventually got fed up and reanimated the dead user''s hands with chi and started to mirror his finger typing with the dead set of hands. It was creepy from another person''s perspective but the solution worked.

    "Can your shield withstand all attacks?" Qiu Yue asked and Kraft snorted.

    "Depends whether I am too deep in concentrating on the algorithms. But if it''s a stray bullet or something of that nature, I should be able to handle it without thinking." Kraft replied and that was enough information that for the first time ever, Kraft might need some protection. Even if he was able to do solo fending for himself, it would no doubt slow down the calction time needed to break open the locks. Therefore Qiu Yue decided to take charge of the situation by telling everyone to kill the enemies as soon as possible.

    "Don''t just do that. Create diversion as well." Zeru said as he unsheathed his sword slowly to reveal a de that was coated in ckness. However, the moment he poured some chi into it, his katana returned into a normal metal de. Qiu Yue knew what her newest sensei was doing and allowed him to do whatever he liked. In the meantime, with the empire building Sub System on her side, she poured a bit of cash and a wall of cement emerged right behind Kraft followed by another set of metal walls and surprisingly a wall of slime too.

    The slime was no ordinary slime as they were bought off the ck market known to be parts of a high ranked defender slime from the Dungeon World. They were known to block high level spells of magic and Qiu Yue hoped that it worked the same against high energyser beams and even high speed ballistics to ensure that Kraft''s barrier receive the least amount of damage.

    Separately, Kong Rong and Ke Loong tagged team and proceeded to kill any iing Miniature Mechas and ground troops since they understood each other''s way of attacking but they left therger Mecahs alone. They knew their attack power might be insufficient against them, therefore, left Zeru to take care of it.

    It was only then Qiu Yue realised Milk went missing. She tried to call her via the System Channel and yet there was no answer. Since it was rare for a Betor to die or get kidnapped, Qiu Yue assumed that Milk went off to kill stuff her way and decided not to bother with her.

    Besides, she saw the monk priest fought before and knew that in terms of fighting capabilities, she could be either stronger or on the same level as Zeru.

 Chapter 1292: Prison Heist -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1292: Prison Heist -Part 7</h4>

    "Ahhh. I can start hearing the fight starting at the other side." Peppers yawned as she sted open yet another huge door. They were the same sort of doors which the Xeon Union were using but unlike Kraft''s delicate touch, Peppers simply exploded them into smithereens just to proceed further on.

    Rei was walking behind them holding the rifle while sweating nervously. He tried to look around the maximum security spaceship to have a grasp of the current location that they were in and at the same time surveying if there were soldiers lurking at the top. However, all he saw were rows and rows of heavy metal doors, each obviously holding one of the most dangerous criminals in this gxy especially when they were taken into this spaceship so that in the off chance that they were to escape, they were met with eternal space as theirpanion.

    "Urgh, the lights are irritating," Sebastiamented as she could not stand the ring red lights that went off over and over again with the siren.

    "I can fix that." Peppers replied and with a snap of a finger, traces of mana floated out of her hand and then those lights turned bright white while the rm had quietened down."Alright, now that it''s more peaceful, let''s collect our prisoners shall we?"

    "Are you sure? This ce is so exposed and are you just going to release all the prisoners?" Rei asked if that was a good idea.

    "Huh? Yeah, definitely. Once they are killed, the System takes them and we have apany full of first ss bloodthirsty criminals in our hands. From murderers to white cor ones. They would be terribly good employees for Jin especially when the System will force them to listen to him despite their behaviour. I do not see anything wrong with that.." Peppers replied and she was already conjuring her spells in a way that she could simultaneously kill all of them in one go.

    "And for your other concern, there is nothing much for you to worry about either." Peppers said and she somehow added someone into their existing System Channel. There and then, Rei could hear the angry shouting and screams of a familiar person who was especially close to Peppers and it was none other than Milk, the Battle Monk/Priest Betor.

    As if she knew that Peppers was ignoring her, the group suddenly felt that there was a projectileing towards their way. Only when it was significantly closer, Rei could recognise that it was a torn off Mecha head which was at least twice the size of him zooming to his way.

    Yet, Sebastia rushed in and with her new sword, she sliced the mecha head into two cleanly and at an angle where the two pieces would diverge away far enough to not hit either Peppers or Rei.

    In the meantime, Peppers was not bothered by the distraction caused by Milk and she was almost done with her spell. It would be so much easier to destroy the entire ship with just one single explosion but she was afraid that if she did that, the coteral damage would not be counted by the System aspared to if she inflicted direct damage to the said prisoners.

    After all, her main objective was to collect as many System points as possible and if she could increase her points by getting almost every single prisoner in this ship, she would do that extra bit right at this moment to ensure those sweet System Points would go into her ount.

    "Stupid Peppers. Teleporting me here just to whack all this dumb robots!" MIlk grumbled as she continued to stomp the Mechas and crushing whatever resistance that wasing her way. Even when the Mechas were using anti personnel weapons to counter her, they were no match for her speed and strength. A punch from Milk would cause an entire arm to be crushed from the impact while a kick was enough to break the connection points of the Mecha''s head from the body.

    And with the zero gravity environment, her kic energy was ever flowing within her, enabling Milk to move at speeds and directions of attack she had never gone before. All she knew was that she had to defeat all of them before the Priest Betor could confront the Mage Betor.

    "Spell ready." Peppers said and without any hesitation, magic bolts as thin as a needle flew out of the magic circle that she was casting from. As the prisoners were being struck by the thousand needle attacks by Peppers, they could onlyment the fact that they were finally out of this space prison misery. (After all, many of them hoped that the hijack of the space prison was somebody they knew or a job opportunity came knocking at their front door.)

    When it was done, the green needles that emerged from the magical circle slowly dissipated and Peppers told the group to move to the next area.

    "SoбнI am assuming you are going to do this at every prison block?" Rei asked if that was the n and Peppers nodded her head.

    "I know it''s a little boring but it''s the most systematic way I could think of. But don''t you worry, your family members would not with this lump of people. My Scan magic showed me that there''s a basement in this prison ship that holds doors that are much thicker than this." Peppers said and the group could see Rei''s anxiety ring up.

    "Sigh, if you want, we can go down first," Sebastia said as she pulled a fewrge suitcases from her storage ring. Rei could immediately recognise those suitcases and immediately looked towards Sebastia with much curiosity as to how she obtained them.

    "They were erm... Free of charge. Someone owed me a favour or two. I managed to call them in before I came here." Sebastia said and with each kick to open therge suitcases, bull looking robots started to activate to life and walked out of their charging stations (aka their suitcases).

    Automated rifles and other sorts of sensor guiding projectile barrels came out from their back and it was pretty obvious that these bull droids were something akin to security robots. Rei knew them from hard as they were cool looking in nature, especially their interior chip architecture.

    "These ''Bullfighters'' are more than enough security for Peppers. I will use her scan details to guide you down to the lower floors." Sebastia said and Rei nodded his head instinctively as he admired those Bullfighters once more before tagging behind Sebastia.

 Chapter 1293: Prison Heist -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1293: Prison Heist -Part 8</h4>

    "Captain! We are suffering tremendous losses!" The officer said as he reported how both their soldiers, robots and even prisoners were dying. Captain Farlinger had no idea what was happening and the objective of these rebel fighters.

    The more mystifying part was that he could believe what he was seeing through the security feed rolling through multiple cameras. It seemed so surreal to witness magic and superhuman feats being disyed against the guards. Superhuman feats was already a stretch as he heard of rumours about soldiers being illegally experimented on to provide superhuman strength but still, this was way off the charts.

    Some of the moves and actions could not be caught with the current security camera, much less with his pair of naked eyes. Usually, such infiltration by hijackers would be taken care of in an instant especially when the prison ship was equipped with expensive Mecha models that were equipped to destroy almost anything in sight but to see those precious Mecha being obliterated almost effortlessly showed that this particr group of hijackers are out of the norm.

    The problem was that Captain Farlinger had no idea what the hijackers'' objectives were. At one point, they seem to be killing all the prisoners that they had and on the other hand, they seem to be searching for something leisurely. A quick two waymunication channel had also been connected to find out that the Xeon Union Maximum Security Prison had also been mired with the very same unique group of hijackers.

    "This situation leaves me no choice, I will signal for help." Captain Farlinger said through themunication channel with the other captain.

    "I shall do the same as well. As much as it displeases me, I hope our forces do not go into unnecessary conflict due to mimunication." Captain Coalran said before shutting themunication channel and looked at his second inmand.

    "I do not trust those Federation Union people, but it seems like they are dealing with the very same problem as us," Coalranmented as he pulled up the security feed that was shared by Farlinger.

    "Captain, do you think this is a ruse?" The second inmand questioned and all his Captain did was to shrug his shoulders. However, from their space deck, they were able to see some minor explosions happening on the United Federation Ship. It was not exactly that obvious but there was indeed fire raging and even debris being sucked out from their prison ship which prompted their story with some credibility.

    "What I am more concerned about is the capture of those superhumans. If there is a group of them attacking both of our spaceships so boldly, that means that there might be more of them out there hiding." Captain Coalran replied and the second inmand could see where this

    particr incident could be headed.

    Screw that prisoner exchange, even if the United Federation were to call for help, the Xeon Union would shout out for even more. These superhumans might potentially be the catalyst to break this century long stalemate and bring victory for the Xeon Union.

    "Sir! I will call for help immediately." Coalran''s second inmand reported but the Xeon Union Captain told him to hold his horses.

    "Don''t worry I will do that on your behalf. Despite my rank, I actually do have some contacts from the elite forces, a few pictures and videos should be more than enough to convince them to bring a handful of the best here to capture these people. Continue to activate the ck Immortals to slow the superhumans down." Captain Coalran replied and his Second in Command insisted that more troops are better than some which his Captain eventually believed that such a move might possibly be wise when handling the unknown.

    And as the two maximum security prison spaceships sent their SOS signals, multiple space fleets had already received the distress call and prepped themselves for the space jump to reach Space Colony 969. The Colony, which was supposedly neutral ground, had their highest authority to request an exnation for the massive iing jumpsing to their ''air'' space.

    However, being a small powerless colony, both Captains did not bother answering the Colony''s query and could only assume that an extended conflict may ur in their territory. Thus, their space aviation director quickly sent an urgent message to their mayor, prompting for a lockdown in case their conflict spilt over into their colony.

    In the meantime, their director had requested their colony to move slowly but surely away from the prison spaceships with their colony thrusters. Those thrusters were only used to navigate for short distances so that the colony would have their crops be shined with the nearest star''s rays. (After all, the star was their sun in earthly context.) It might sound futile in the grand scale of the current events but if there was a chance that they could inch away from the prison ships, they might have a chance to have lesser coteral damage.

    Sadly, the director''s fears were well founded as both the prison ships'' distress signal immediately poured in the emergence of several space fleets in the area, causing this to be possibly one of thergest conflicts yet the current space sector might encounter. And from the size of the fleets on each side, it seems like Farlinger was thinking the same as Captain Coalran. The capture and seizure of these Superhumans were now their current agenda and the only people who were oblivious to these threats were the Superhumans themselves.

    And unfortunately for them, the System was not able to foresee such a circumstance and could only report to them the moment both fleets arrived on the scene. Jin got a shock when he heard the numbers that the System reported but the inbuilt radar within Rei''s iplete spacecraft also indicated the very same numbers.

    "Guys, it looks like we got to speed up the heist. We have more than justpany waiting for us outside of these ships." Jin warned both parties and the countdown to grab the prisoners were already ticking.

 Chapter 1294: Hacking With The System

    <h4>Chapter 1294: Hacking With The System</h4>

    "Zzzzzzzz. And here I thought I could take my time to do stuff." Kraft said as he received the message from both the System Channel and Jin. He sighed a little while dropping his shield and focused fully on the current console that he was on.

    Breaking the lock was something he had already done roughly about thirty seconds into the localwork but Kraft wanted something more. The Devil Fox wanted more information about the maximum security prison spaceship. Being a prison ship meant that there were definitely protocols that had been used to call out for the backup. And those backup signals would be encoded with the encryption this military organisation would have been using.

    It might sound far-fetched to be able to decode the encryption in less than a minute considering the differences in codingpared to Jin''s world but Kraft was somehow a genius when ites to cracking stuff down. He managed to understand the way the encryption worked and he infiltrated the military channel, allowing him to peep at their radiomunication.

    However, that was not what he was after. Instead, through radiomunications, it gave him a better picture of how the military worked and that was his side objective for breaking into the localwork. In the meantime, all the data Kraft had fetched were currently being recorded by the System as he performed the greatest heist in this particr universe.

    Stealing the maximum security prison spaceship so that they could reverse engineer the technology and make it theirs. Screw the Royal Zodiac ns and Jin''s Dungeon Supplier''s store. If Kraft was able to get this as his and understood the concept of space travel, the Royal Zodiac Panda n would be standing at the pinnacle of the world when ites to the multi-country space race. China as a whole will no doubt be pushing their money to ensure that the country would be the first to conquer the Moon or even Mars.

    Perhaps with that, Jin could solely concentrate on making his Dungeon Instances to his deathbed without having to worry about money and glory. "Hah! As if I will make it that easy for him to live." Kraft smiled as he finally found the final firewall that was protecting the ships'' system.

    "System, do you think you can beat the Ship''s AI? Or are you too outdated to even do that?" Kraft said as he attempted to connect a physical portion of the System into the current console he was jacked on. Aye, the System had condensed a portion of itself into a portable hard drive so that it could infiltrate the ship. If there was anything tomemorate, it was technically the System''s first virgin battle against another AI.

    "Just some forewarning. If you fail this battle, you will kinda be an embarrassment especially when you think about it, you the System, a heaven defying magical product lost a fight against a highly advanced technologicalputer assistant. ASSISTANT."

    "The System now understands why some if not all of the minions would have some sort of grudge against you." The System said as Kraft could see that the System finally started its attack against the prison ship''s on board AI.

    To most people, they might think that the System would have generated a digital Avatar to fight against the Prison''s AI but in reality, it was less lit. Numbers and thousands of code were being generated in real time as the System used a variation of techniques to attack the firewall.

    In Kraft''s eyes, it did feel like a caveman was going up against a grade 15 modern cultivator with the best equipped inscriptions and weapons. Each ''blow'' the System tried to give Prison AI, it was met with fierce resistance as the AI even tried to shut the System out of thework.

    Unfortunately, Kraft knew that this fight would be a skewed one as he plugged another USB drive that had a cute fox sticker attached to it. (Of course with on site modification by yours truly so that he could attach Earth''s technology into the console.) "You owe me lots. System. I am demanding Lynn cook me the same kind of affectionate meal Jin has." Kraft said with much anticipation as another wave of code was seen water falling through the console list.

    The Devil himself had inserted a USB Drive filled with customised malware and if he could imagine it, they were like little foxes running around to disrupt the stability of the firewall by pouring oil, salt, cement, water and other nonsensical stuff. In short, he was not fighting fair by unleashing a horde of viruses, almost simting a sort of Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack without the need of otherworks.

    And that little bit of Foxy Technology was more than enough for the System to get up to speed in analysing the Prison Ship''s AI, allowing it to ''mutate'' and ''evolve'' into something more potent to break the defences of the Prison Ship''s AI (Sounded a lot like digital evolution from the anime Digital Munsters)

    Not to mention, the System daringly absorbed Kraft''s malware code and used it as its spear to break the firewall defences. "Come on. Once you have the ship under control, we can skittle diddle away with all these remnants and avoid additional damage to the ship because I am totally not going to waste my chi opening a portal this big just to get this to our world." Kraft said as he could feel that the fighting got even more intense from the sounds of the battle as well as the multiple shockwaves being felt despite theyers of walls Qiu Yue had created.

    "Do not worry. The time that Original Betor Kraft had bought was more than sufficient for the System to understand the workings of the Prison Ship AI. Although the knowledge obtained was still considered minuscule, the System believed that it has a 49.8% chance of breaking the firewall defences in less than 10 minutes." The System reported and Kraft was shocked.

    "TEN MINUTES? THAT''S LIKEбнten years in hyperspeed space." Kraft was talking gibberish but he just meant that the ship or the rest might not even have an additional ten minutes to spare. (In hindsight, they had more than ten minutes but it''s just that Kraft could not sit still for too long. Perhaps he had an ADHD condition that was never diagnosed.)

    "The System will try its best." Not a very assuring answer but it was better constion than nothing for the time being since Kraft had to waste his time watching the digital battle unfold right in front of his eyes slowly.

    ''Slowly''.

 Chapter 1295: Hacking With The System

    <h4>Chapter 1295: Hacking With The System</h4>

    "Zzzzzzzz. And here I thought I could take my time to do stuff." Kraft said as he received the message from both the System Channel and Jin. He sighed a little while dropping his shield and focused fully on the current console that he was on.

    Breaking the lock was something he had already done roughly about thirty seconds into the localwork but Kraft wanted something more. The Devil Fox wanted more information about the maximum security prison spaceship. Being a prison ship meant that there were definitely protocols that had been used to call out for the backup. And those backup signals would be encoded with the encryption this military organisation would have been using.

    It might sound far-fetched to be able to decode the encryption in less than a minute considering the differences in codingpared to Jin''s world but Kraft was somehow a genius when ites to cracking stuff down. He managed to understand the way the encryption worked and he infiltrated the military channel, allowing him to peep at their radiomunication.

    However, that was not what he was after. Instead, through radiomunications, it gave him a better picture of how the military worked and that was his side objective for breaking into the localwork. In the meantime, all the data Kraft had fetched were currently being recorded by the System as he performed the greatest heist in this particr universe.

    Stealing the maximum security prison spaceship so that they could reverse engineer the technology and make it theirs. Screw the Royal Zodiac ns and Jin''s Dungeon Supplier''s store. If Kraft was able to get this as his and understood the concept of space travel, the Royal Zodiac Panda n would be standing at the pinnacle of the world when ites to the multi-country space race. China as a whole will no doubt be pushing their money to ensure that the country would be the first to conquer the Moon or even Mars.

    Perhaps with that, Jin could solely concentrate on making his Dungeon Instances to his deathbed without having to worry about money and glory. "Hah! As if I will make it that easy for him to live." Kraft smiled as he finally found the final firewall that was protecting the ships'' system.

    "System, do you think you can beat the Ship''s AI? Or are you too outdated to even do that?" Kraft said as he attempted to connect a physical portion of the System into the current console he was jacked on. Aye, the System had condensed a portion of itself into a portable hard drive so that it could infiltrate the ship. If there was anything tomemorate, it was technically the System''s first virgin battle against another AI.

    "Just some forewarning. If you fail this battle, you will kinda be an embarrassment especially when you think about it, you the System, a heaven defying magical product lost a fight against a highly advanced technologicalputer assistant. ASSISTANT."

    "The System now understands why some if not all of the minions would have some sort of grudge against you." The System said as Kraft could see that the System finally started its attack against the prison ship''s on board AI.

    To most people, they might think that the System would have generated a digital Avatar to fight against the Prison''s AI but in reality, it was less lit. Numbers and thousands of code were being generated in real time as the System used a variation of techniques to attack the firewall.

    In Kraft''s eyes, it did feel like a caveman was going up against a grade 15 modern cultivator with the best equipped inscriptions and weapons. Each ''blow'' the System tried to give Prison AI, it was met with fierce resistance as the AI even tried to shut the System out of thework.

    Unfortunately, Kraft knew that this fight would be a skewed one as he plugged another USB drive that had a cute fox sticker attached to it. (Of course with on site modification by yours truly so that he could attach Earth''s technology into the console.) "You owe me lots. System. I am demanding Lynn cook me the same kind of affectionate meal Jin has." Kraft said with much anticipation as another wave of code was seen water falling through the console list.

    The Devil himself had inserted a USB Drive filled with customised malware and if he could imagine it, they were like little foxes running around to disrupt the stability of the firewall by pouring oil, salt, cement, water and other nonsensical stuff. In short, he was not fighting fair by unleashing a horde of viruses, almost simting a sort of Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack without the need of otherworks.

    And that little bit of Foxy Technology was more than enough for the System to get up to speed in analysing the Prison Ship''s AI, allowing it to ''mutate'' and ''evolve'' into something more potent to break the defences of the Prison Ship''s AI (Sounded a lot like digital evolution from the anime Digital Munsters)

    Not to mention, the System daringly absorbed Kraft''s malware code and used it as its spear to break the firewall defences. "Come on. Once you have the ship under control, we can skittle diddle away with all these remnants and avoid additional damage to the ship because I am totally not going to waste my chi opening a portal this big just to get this to our world." Kraft said as he could feel that the fighting got even more intense from the sounds of the battle as well as the multiple shockwaves being felt despite theyers of walls Qiu Yue had created.

    "Do not worry. The time that Original Betor Kraft had bought was more than sufficient for the System to understand the workings of the Prison Ship AI. Although the knowledge obtained was still considered minuscule, the System believed that it has a 49.8% chance of breaking the firewall defences in less than 10 minutes." The System reported and Kraft was shocked.

    "TEN MINUTES? THAT''S LIKEбнten years in hyperspeed space." Kraft was talking gibberish but he just meant that the ship or the rest might not even have an additional ten minutes to spare. (In hindsight, they had more than ten minutes but it''s just that Kraft could not sit still for too long. Perhaps he had an ADHD condition that was never diagnosed.)

    "The System will try its best." Not a very assuring answer but it was better constion than nothing for the time being since Kraft had to waste his time watching the digital battle unfold right in front of his eyes slowly.

    ''Slowly''.

 Chapter 1296: Prison Heist - Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1296: Prison Heist - Part 9</h4>

    "What the holy crap!" Jin said as he peered through the broken door. With his Inverse eyes, he was able to make up at least three to four transport spaceshipsing through the hangar. And each transport ship was carrying a few dozen heavily armed soldiers.

    While he had already received training from Suzaku to fight at least a hundred soldiers by himself, the mental pressure from doing such a task is still maddening. Not only that, Mechas seemed to be deployed to forcefully open the broken door usingser cutters. Thankfully, Jin was quick wit enough to disable those mechas the moment they started to begin their task, causing even more robot debris, and blocking the door even more.

    "Hou Fei, protect the ship alright? I don''t even want a single scratch on it or else!" Jin did not finish his sentence as he pounced into action, releasing Yellow Lightning Panda Energy in short intermittent bursts in his physical attacks. The soldiers who were trained to do mainly rangedbat had a hard time evading the attacks especially when the enemy was moving literally in a sh.

    Jin figured that the best way to protect his current objective was to throw himself towards them so the attention would be on him rather than on the ship. After all, it was rare for the System to throw a mission objective out of the blue and he believed that the System was doing this to not just protect the ship but Rei''s progress on it.

    On the other hand, the User had no idea that the System and Kraft were plotting to steal the entire maximum security prison spaceship instead of merely rescuing the prisoners. So, in his ignorance, he continued to stand his ground in the hangar and fought against the iing military reinforcement.

    Sadly despite his experience in handling multiple enemies at one go, the soldiers in the Mecha World were of a different calibre. There were grenades, strayser beams from space, shbangs and an assortment of bullets being fired into his direction. Even though Jin was zooming around the hangar, some of the soldiers were able to predict his movement with their onboard AI in their equipment and predicted the way he was moving, firing preemptive shots or grenades in hopes that he would be immobilised and they could bring him down.

    While there were orders to capture him alive, the soldiers on the field had decided to by that order mainly because he was too much of a threat to be captured alive in a normal way. Their best bet was to use deadly force in hopes that he was injured sufficiently for them to capture him. So, right now, it was kill on sight.

    Thus, the only way to reduce the amount of damage for Jin was to move fast and also break their formations while making sure not to fall into their trap. Each time he saw that the soldiers attempted to bunker down, they had a quick set up device that was capable of creating a makeshift barricade that was sufficient enough to withstand his swift lightning blows at least once.

    Hence, Jin added a little more Maqi in his attacks and sted the barricades with yellow lightning and red fire Panda Energy. At the same time, he released streams of Blue Water Panda Energy right in front of them as if they were homed towards them. It might sound like a stupid move but the chi within the Blue Water Panda Energy was concentrated enough to break the suits of the soldiers, causing a hole.

    As much as Jin would like to fight fair, he too needed an advantage against the masses. And right now, it was the environment that they were in. The Hangar was partially connected to ''outer'' space and thus everyone was affected by it. From zero oxygen to deep freezing temperatures as well as the battle debris, it was a dangerous battlefield they were in.

    Jin had already equipped his Gearbox suit and even activated his System Rider for extra protection the instant he knew the environment he was subjected to and hence he understood that the soldiers were equally vulnerable to the horrors of space. Those holes in their suits caused them to panic with the exception of the veteran soldiers who knew what to do to patch up the problem but that was more than enough distraction for Jin to plough his way through the rank and file of those soldiers.

    At that point as Jin thought he was dominating the battlefield in the Hangar, a Mecha suddenly flew right towards him and it was way bigger than the usual ones he had seen previously. If there''s aparison, the usual ones were like trolls and half giant size (that armoured Mecha which he brought down initially) but the one that was flying towards him was more like a giant. Also, for its size, it was moving way too fast than he would have expected.

    "Fuck.. Gunndamбн is true." Jin suddenly thought to himself as he instinctively changed his Bam and Boo into arge shield when he saw the mecha move its arm and aimed aser rifle at him. As it fired the rifle, almost half the hangar was decimated by the rifle st. While it might not look like a Gunndam in Rei''sics, Jin could see the simrities in terms of design, making him feel that there was something more about Rei that he was not telling about.

    However, at that point in time, the System reported to Jin that the prison ship was about to teleport. It caused the Dungeon Supplier to be confused until the System rified that it was about to teleport the ship back to the System''s servers, in one of Jin''s empty dungeon instances.

    "WhatбнI thought Peppers said it was almost impossible for such a size. Ah whatever, if that''s the case, then perhaps I might bring a souvenir back as well." Jin said as he leapt towards the unique mecha while activating his System Rider.

    "Shu, you are up." The Dungeon Supplier shouted as he took out that card with an intricate Tree design on it into his System Driver.

 Chapter 1297: Prison Heist - Final

    Chapter 1296: Prison Heist - Final

    While Jin ced the card into his System Driver, he used Bam and Boom in its shield form as a projectile to distract the giant Mecha from firing another st as it seems like its objective was to kill him. Also, it had already damaged a good portion of the hangar including the valuable items that could be used to be salvaged for analysis. It would not do any good to Tin''s team if it continued to damage any more of the hangar. Unfortunately, the transformation was way too shypared to the distraction and the pilot flying the Giant Mecha seems to be veteran enough to know that trouble would being if he/she does not stop that blinding light. The Mecha''s arm pulled the rifle up once more for another shot but the pilot had underestimated Jin''s transformation and powers as suddenly a wall of roots emerged from him protecting not only the remaining hangar but obscuring his line of sight towards Jin too. At the same time, several branch tentacles were seen shooting out towards the giant Mecha. First, immobilise theser rifle and subsequently the trigger finger. The branch tentaclester rage on to entangle the joints of the Mecha like its elbow, neck and then it starts to seep into any hole it managed to find such as the air venttion modules and even the weapon systems. The tentacles did reach into the booster modules as well and the afterburners were clogged up with the hardening of the branches. Obviously, the pilot tried to eject, only to find out that its ejection module had been crept on by those tentacles as if they were desperately looking for a way into the cockpit and the pilot just opened the doors to such an obstacle. "I am sorry, but you will die for me," Jin said as he could sense what the branch tentacles were going on as he poured more Maqi into it, giving it a tremendous amount of energy to perform a burst growth. It forced the end of the branch tentacle to extend and shoot out like a spear thrusting forward, killing the pilot who was desperately trying to destroy the tentacles with his backup pistol. There was no panic in the pilot''s eyes despite the situation he was in. It was as if he knew that there was no way out in this particrly odd situation and he decided to face death head on like he always does in battle. Even in a cramped cockpit, he somehow managed to dodge the very first branch tentacle thrust and then grab it to break it down with hisser pistol. As part of the branch tentacles, Jin could feel the pain when theser burns into the branch but he continues to press on to the attack He knew that he need to cripple the pilot so that the Mecha could be left intact while not posing a threat to the maximum security prison ship (and in turn, his objective protecting Rei''s iplete spacecraft) as the System teleports the entire spaceship back into Jin''s instance.

    "Now you know how I feel whenever I attack or defend something," Shu muttered out of the blue now that he was one with Jin.

    "Welp. I am sorry, I did not know that you had feelings too despite being a tree." Jin apologised despite the situation he was in but Shu thought that his reply was rather sarcastic.

    "Just because I am a talking tree-" "Shu." A voice suddenly resonated between Jin and Shu along with a string of musical chords being yed via the System Channel. A voice that was sweet yet calming and both knew who it was.

    Ke Mi, the Zither Mistress. Somehow, she knew that Shu had not been in battle for quite a while, and being abruptly summoned to fight had suddenly given him a bit of anxiety. Thus, the Zither Mistress had a familiar string of chords that Shu had liked to calm himself down

    In the meantime, in also felt some inner peace as the chords eventually turned into a short music piece, allowing him to focus on the task at hand and defeat the ever struggling possible protagonist in this particr universe. The branch tentacles within the cockpit suddenly moved simultaneously, thrusting the pilot at multiple points of his body. The pain had severely crippled him and yet the pilot tried to move his arms so that he could at least destroy one of the branch tentacles, in hopes that he could still live long enough for hisrades toe to save him. However, Jin denied him of such hope as a final branch tentacle pierced him through the chest armour ting and spiralled through his heart, leaving a gaping wound that could not be recovered unless he had an emergency surgical operation right at this moment. The pilot finally resigned to his fate despite him hearing calls that reinforcements are on their way to assist. Yet, they were toote as Jin could already feel the maximum security prison ship vibrating as a whole, a sign that the System''s teleportation was happening. Thus, he quickly secured the giant Mecha which he immobilised by pulling it nearer to the wall of tree roots he previously created. And like a living organism, the roots created an opening in the middle to drag the captured Giant Mecha into its embrace. Other simr giant Mechas were seen flying at their man speeds and provided suppression fire in hopes that the ''living'' roots would be destroyed, leaving their unique giant mecha alone. Sadly, before they could do any damage to the wall of roots, the maximum security prison spaceship suddenly disappeared right in front of their eyes. It was nothing they had seen before as there were no signs of warping in light speed or any travel wormholes around. No sudden ck holes were detected either causing them to be confused with the entire situation. However, the United Federation Maximum Security Prison Ship was still intact but their captain reported that the enemies on board suddenly vanished after a mystical circle appeared right under them, as if it was magic. At this moment, the two military organisations were at greater odds than usual especially when only one side had untold losses. The tension between the standoff could be broken anytime but it seemed like Captain Farlinger had a proposal to ease the current situation. He offered whatever Xeon Union prisoners who were alive as an olive branch. The current Xeon Union military fleet discussed for a few moments and decided to take the deal to prevent the current fight while adding the condition that the United Federation would provide all recordings of the kidnapping these unique superhumans had done. "This is a deal I never imagined they would take. I guess I need to contact the higher ups to see if the Xeon Union is doing anything suspicious." Captain Farlinger''s head was aching so badly at the number of weird things that had happened in the past hour or so. He did not know that this particr incident would spur the superhuman race between the United Federations and Xeon Union, resulting in a war that would be deadlier than the ones they usually had..

 Chapter 1298: Taunting the Survivors

    <h4>Chapter 1298: Taunting the Survivors</h4>

    Captain Coalran and his crew felt like vomiting when the ship suddenly stopped vibrating but when they came to their senses, they realised that they were in an open field and not in outer space.

    in bright blue skies and a well cut plot of grass field made the rest not understand where they were. The crew members tried to get their bearings but theputer system was not functioning as it should.

    Their AI had suddenly turned silent and all the controls had already been shut away as if to stop any of them from trying to perform any manual overrides. "Everyone arm yourselves! Pick up your rifles and armour! This may be the base of those superhumans and we might be able to ovee this as long as we send out a re right outside of the ship!" Captain Coalran said as he pulled a pistol out from his drawer but before the crew could do anything, there was a knock at the doors at the back of their space deck.

    "Helllo~~~! Are you guys done? We are here to take prisoners~~~!" Kraft said but there was no response back with the exception of the rough scuffling of chairs and cabs. He could only assume that they were mounting up a defensive wall whenever possible and will shoot on sight.

    "Let me try this again," Kraft said as he picked up his tablet and pressed a few buttons. "Testing. Testing one, two three. You guys can hear me right? Right????? Oh wait, I can hear feedback from the deck itself so I guess the speakers are working correctly." With the System being in control of the entire spaceship, Kraft literally had the current crew as prisoners of their own ship. An ironic turnover of events for the wardens be the prisoners of their own metal container.

    "So.. as you guys tried to position yourself, don''t forget to break all the cameras in the room because I am watching you guys from the-" And immediately with that revtion, shots were being fired destroying all the visible CCTV cameras within the deck which made Kraft sighed.

    "You know, that won''t solve any problems," Kraft said as he teleported himself right to the front of the space deck where all it separates him and the rest of the crew was the ss window. The few who were hiding and not facing the Deck''s main door saw the mysterious masked person squatting right outside their space deck while slowly waving at them.

    Some of the crew members were terrified that they changed their positions by jumping over their walls and hiding from the fox''s sight. Rifles were all aimed towards the space deck''s window and Kraftughed.

    "You sure it''s a good idea? If you destroy this window here, you kinda don''t have a view of what''s going on when you try to escape here with your ship. Also, you need to rely on your space suits and stuff -ahhhh. I forgot you have a backup shutter that will block the screen and stuff." Kraft said as he looked at his tablet as if reviewing the blueprint of the space deck.

    "But let me tell you a BIGGGGG secret." Kraft tried to express the significance of his words withrge wide gestures. "You guys aren''t going anywhere at all. Even if you could kill me which you obviously can''t, judging by how terribly ipetent the rest of your security crew was, you guys still have to deal with the horde of prisoners which we manage to let go off! Here! Let me give you a look!" Kraft pressed another few buttons on his tablet and the big screen in the space deck now showed live footage of the prison cells being released and everyone was scrambling trying to escape.

    "Oh, dear! I understand that they are scum in your eyes but do you really have to starve the whole load of them? I mean at least grant them basic human rights or else, you are the one that looks like the evildoers!" Kraft tilted his head and expressed his displeasure to the crew.

    "What do you know?! They have done hideous crimes that deserved to be treated this way!" Captain Coalran could not stand the monologue and Kraft gave a quiet p.

    "Finally, someone with the guts to talk. I was wondering if you military people are just going to be some mute puppets." Kraft said and he infuriated the crew further by pressing another button on the tablet, showing another live video.

    And it was a scene of Lynn and her penguins beckoning the prisoners who managed to walk out of the spaceship. Most were greeted by the tremendous smell of warm mushroom soup and subsequently given meat porridge so that they would not tax their stomach from eating something heavy after being starved for ages.

    However, they had no idea that there was a contract that was being enforced as the System had learnt to make a new sort of banter contract based on Lynn''s suggestion. Upon receiving her food and consuming it, the contractee would automatically agree on the terms and conditions set by the chef. The only caveat was that they had to put it right in front of the contractee to see before eating.

    Yet, Lynn was able to get all of the prisoners to be under the System''s influence mainly because of one loophole that the System ''might have overlooked'' (Lies, the System just pretended to be partial.) The contract was in Lynn''snguage, in Chinese and the otherworld prisoners had no idea what it was when they saw it but it was because they saw the words of the contract that was ced like a card, the effect of the contract was in ce the moment they pick up the food from Lynn''s soup kitchen.

    And in return, Jin had gained a plethora of prisoners joining his workforce. They may be murderers, thieves and much more but with the System controlling them, those sets of undesirable skills could be used for the benefit of Jin''s store. (Besides, Jin believed quite a bit in second chances!)

 Chapter 1299: Reunion of Reis Family

    <h4>Chapter 1299: Reunion of Rei''s Family</h4>

    "As you can see the prisoners are now under our control, with no rioting whatsoever. In fact, I think that they might be very d to put you guys under the busбнor spaceship in this current situation." Kraft giggled that resistance was futile.

    Captain Coalran shouted towards Kraft but the Devil Fox acted not able to hear anything before turning the speaker button up on his tablet. "Mind repeating that again? I did not turn on the audio." It was definitely meant to infuriate the captain of the ship by doing so but Kraft indeed had the upper hand in this.

    As Kraft continued to toy with the Xeon Union crew members, Rei had already been teleported to this particr temporary dungeon instance and started to search for his family members.

    When the System was able to take over the entire ship, it ran through the database along with Kraft to search whether Rei''s family members were there. To their fortune, they were able to find his two family members onboard their maximum security prison, calling it a done deal for this particr heist.

    Aside from the main objective, everything else they brought with them was more like a bonus to the System. While granted the System initially did not have many resources to spare for handling all the new bodies, support staff like ire had been furiously buying more processors through the ck market in the past few months as reserve stock for the System. It was supposed to be used for the fight against the Demon Rats but since the situation had changed, the System determined this was the best time to use them.

    Meanwhile, the Ambush party in the United Federation ship did not do as well as their counterpart. Peppers did single handedly capture a number of prisoners all by herself but it was notparable to the entire ship falling into the System''s hands. Milk was busied being the scapegoat and the other two did not progress much through the prison ship''s facilities due to the intense lockdowns.

    Rei felt that he did not do anything significant, even more so that he was not on the same ship to rescue his family members. As much as he wanted to be the hero of this particr mission, bashing the enemies and bravely saving his family members, the truth was that he was certainly far from it. He felt ashamed that he quickly epted the fact of being in a more backward world with no war conflict and decided to use his hobby as his new talent to cope with the current situation.

    If not for Jin, he did not dare hope to even think about his family. But right after he heard how his family was desperately searching for him to the point that they were willing to be spies to undermine each organisation''s military capabilities was way beyond his expectations. Their tenacity to search for the truth of their missing father, thinking that it was either one of the military organisations that did it pained his heart and soul.

    "Rei." His desperate search among the sea of prisoners made him ignore the sounds but a firm grip on his shoulder forced him to quickly turn his head, only to see that it was Jin.

    "Follow me. I''ll show you where they are since they have already been registered by the System." Jin did not say much and neither did Rei who nodded his head and followed behind.

    What seems like a few minutes of walking felt like an eternity to Rei, desperately looking around in hopes that he could catch a glimpse of his family before Jin did. But unlike Rei, Jin was the System''s user and now Rei''s family were part of the Panda Lord''s extended family of monsters and misfits. To Jin, it was basically turning on his System''s radar and walking towards the objective.

    "Reiбн?"

    That voice. That sole voice was the only thing that sounded like a melody from the heavens.

    "Charlotte?" Rei tried to move his head around to search for it, looking at the front thinking that Jin had already led him to her without any warning. But his wife''s voice came from the back, surprising him all the more.

    "Dad!" Hathaway squealed as well as both wife and daughter pushed through the crowd as gently as they could, allowing the family to be reunited. The three gave themselves a great big hug as Rei unreservedly use his strength to squeeze the both of them as tight (and gentle) as he could.

    "Guess, my work is done here for now," Jin said as he purposely walked a round route instead of going straight to his wife. After all, he knew how Rei had been thinking of them the moment he realised that he was able to have a chance to return to the Mecha World.

    "User, the objective has beenpleted. Both Rei''s request and the System''s side mission."

    "So, my reward?" Jin asked as he quietly walked away for them to converse among themselves.

    "Artist Rei will continue the spacecraft for you and its design wouldter be incorporated into Lord Wolte''s new form when it is done." The System replied.

    "You mean I will have a flying space dreadnought as part of my army?!" Jin''s eyes lit up like a star twinkling in the night sky. (Quite literally as well since his eye bags were not to be scoffed at.) "That is good enough for a reward, especially when now money and manpower is not exactly the issue."

    "Money might not be an issue but materials are. While the money made could be used to buy materials, our vault is not a bottomless pit. With the revtion of the defence minister being a Banned Emperor supporter, the System believed more precautions are needed. In fact, the System rmends starting the Great Demon Rat War as soon as possible."

    "You think it is a protracted war?"

    "Not a chance that we could clear it within a week as the System and others had nned for Pandaverse. The technology incorporated from the Mecha World had allowed the System to improve its detection technology."

    "What?! That''s way too fast of an incorporation of their technology!" Jin said as he immediately returned to the Dungeon Maker to check thetest information. And to his surprise, the Demon Rat numbers were off the charts that they had initially predicted.

    "Thus, the System rmends starting the Great Demon War as soon as possible."

 Chapter 1300: Rats Rats And More Rats

    <h4>Chapter 1300: Rats Rats And More Rats</h4>

    "As soon as possible your ass. You are the one who knows best that our preparations are not even half done and you want me to go in and attack them?" Jin said as he yawned a little upon looking at the multiple screens where the System showed the updated numbers.

    It was not wrong though. Even if Jin could mount an offensive, the number of rats had already outmatched his army from 1 to 500 to nearly 1 to 10,000. Jin wanted to assume so badly that it was an exaggeration from the System, perhaps an overestimation but deep down in his heart, he knew that it was not the case.

    His current mini instance where he kept the Demon Rats as prisoners and used them as a way to entice new cultivators to earn stuff had shown simr results to the System''s new estimation. Some of the Demon Rats managed to contact each other and a few of them even mated on sight. It was as if that was their primal instinct to breed when they are in danger. And to make things worse, the female Demon Rat was surprisingly able to give birth rather quickly too.

    All it took her was a day to breed a dozen of those rats befitting their names as Demon Rats. The only redeeming factor was that the baby rats took some time to grow due to theck of food within the dungeon but they were hardy enough to survive. The System and Jin took this opportunity to observe the physiology of the rats and pushed the boundaries of the systematic gathering of evidence further by rearranging the sewers instance so that the Demon Rats were separated. Cruel but a necessary step to see how long those baby rats could survive without food, water and perhaps their mother.

    To their disgust, those Demon Rats were still growing even in istion and their growth was only dyed with time as shown by other rats who were fed with food. (In fact, there was this lucky Demon Rat that had been fed with lots of chi infused food that it became a boss of its within the sewers instance.) When Jin captured them, he thought that the sewers instance would be a temporary instance once all the Demon Rats were killed but he had no idea that they could reproduce this quickly even without much help.

    However, the most important discovery was that even when killed, the Demon Rats still dropped a random material upon their death. Initially, both the System and Jin thought that they would drop specific items based on what they grow from but the Farming World''s Schrs of the East and West, Gold and Weslie had deduced based on the experiment that they had been crossbred so much that such a trait would appear.

    Yet, another theory was formed once more when a group of cultivators managed to kill the ''boss'' of the sewers instance and found material that had never been seen or documented in the Farming World. Although the System had eventually referenced the item via the Cross Worlds Markets as Adamantium, the dream metal of cksmiths, it was said to only be found in either Heaven''s ne or Hell''s ne. The System tried to replicate the same method and yet the new boss did not produce the very same thing, thus allowing the schrs to conclude that the Demon Rats might actually be some sort of random item generator based on the innate powers of the Farming World.

    And that was a game changer for everyone. If the Demon Rats could produce any sort of item, even something that was out of their world''s scope, it could justify their speed of production but it also means that the person controlling them had found out about their potential way earlier than them and thus exploited the Demon Rats.

    In short, the North and South Schrs, if they were still in control, had made the Demon Rats not only their army but their resource production too. It could be possible that they manipted the Demon Rats'' genes and created this Demon Rat Empire on their own. Even so, Gold and Weslie could not help but be impressed by their efforts too.

    They might not have a shortage of items but it was because of that, the Farming World had be toocent with their basic fulfilment of life. There was no innovation and everything was rather stagnant. The only thing that gave them trouble was the central oceans where natural phenomena such as heavy rain and thunder destroyed their trading ships.

    However, the only so called danger they had was that their schrly predecessors had predicted a great famine that might potentially wipe out the entire Farming World. Yet most living Schrs did not take this at heart and thought it was just a myth to warn people not to waste the blessing of theirnds.

    Thus, Gold and Weslie could only conclude that with this new cutting edge ''technology'', the Demon Rats might actually be the answer for their salvation should such a great famine ur. Still, the means doesn''t justify what the North and South Schrs had done.

    With all this information, Jin could only deduce that the new numbers that the System had produced is that they are indeed preparing an invasion of some sort. Either the East or West region. "Possibly both at the same time." The System said and Jin felt defeated just from the System''s estimation.

    "Even if we start our offensive now, those Demon Rats were just going to dig deeper and faster to reach their destination and from the look of the scan magic, they''re not just building onerge tunnel. And also, if we warn the other two kingdoms again, they would not be well equipped to handle the rats at all, it would be a massacre." Jin said as if he had no chance of winning this particr war.

    "User, you cannot win everything." the System said.

    "The only good thing is that we have scan magic so we will know that we can definitely secure the North with a guarantee that they would be eradicated. But the problem will be East and West where we have to hunt them down." Jin said and the System once again tell Jin to focus on the situation at hand.

    "One step at a time."

    "No, you are not helping with such remarks. But yes I do understand that I am overthinking like how I did with the Prime Minister thing." Jin took a deep breath to calm himself and see what can be done or how much he could to slow the predicament of such a disaster.

    But Jin knows that once he starts this, it will be a heavy burden on his army and shop. Therefore, half baked preparations were not allowed and he would proceed as nned to start his war on the first day of PandaVerse festival.

    "If any outsiders decide to interrupt our Festival, I will be sure to kick them into that world and left them to rot there," Jin said while the System chuckled stating that that would be a good n to throw additional bodies to fight against the Demon Rats.

 Chapter 1301: Advertising is Key

    <h4>Chapter 1301: Advertising is Key</h4>

    "Not thinking of any of that stuff?" Kraft asked as he saw Jin hard at work as the deadline for PandaVerse was nearing soon. Promotion of that particr big event was tremendously stressful as he, Kiyu and Bear Cub One were doing it rather aggressively.

    In the apps, Jin oversaw the promotion by putting up some sort of calendar to celebrate the opening of PandaVerse. Each time his customers opened up the app for each day, they would receive aplimentary amount of 10 Bronze Panda Coins and if they entered the Dungeons and Pandas, they would receive an additionalplimentary of 10 Silver Panda Coins.

    Not only that, each time they checked into the app, the customers would also receive a piece of an iplete voucher which many people in the forums believed that once they obtained all the pieces, they would have a raid voucher for them to use.

    Jin did not give many details but told them that they had to wait and see. In the meantime, Bear Cub One had been giving sneak peeks at one of the two major events that would be the main show for the entire festival.

    The Great Demon Rat War.

    Being the Dungeons and Pandas'' presentative in Metube and all the other social media sites, Bear Cub One had been showcasing all the previous fights that Jin had incorporated the Demon Rats. That included the beta testing by the Pandawans as well as a few ''minor'' raid instances that the customers had joined before.

    "Some of these past streams are within Pandaflix, so if you wish to subscribe to it, please do not hesitate to do so!" Bear Cub One took the opportunity to do such stuff, especially with its growing fanbase that liked hismentary as well as the cuteness he portrayed. The System had inadvertently made a series of costumes which Bear Cub One could be in and even a reskin for being a Panda. However, Jin did not agree to thetter as a permanent fixture since Bear Cub One has his own unique clout.

    No doubt, there were grievousments stating that Bear Cub One should be changed to Panda Cub One to suit the scheme but the System kept Jin''s insistence on maintaining Bear Cub One''s identity. Instead, the Systempromised by giving the NPC a Panda Onesie to wear for most of the newest videos and the costumes it madeplimented the Panda Onesie which made Bear Cub One even cuter.

    As for Kiyu, she had decided to be more aggressive since she was the promotion and marketing assistant director (as bestowed by Kraft) by throwing out advertisements on television and the inte. She even contacted a few of the critics and reviewers to hype up the event even further and the response was big. Way much more than than what the Dungeon Symposium had (Although she did use some of her charms to get things done.)

    People were buying tickets and because of the nature of Jin''s dungeon, all they had to do was topensate ordingly to the number of people that attended that particr day. Of course, having an anticipated number would aid the System to prepare beforehand but there was nothing to which the System could not respond.

    As usual, there were tickets of different tiers to buy from. The essential tickets which allowed entry into PandaVerse had goodie bags as part of their purchase while the higher tier tickets had limited edition stuff which would no doubt aid them in their ''conquest'' during the Great Demon War.

    And of course, Jin had decided to try something different for PandaVerse and added the sponsor ticket tier. It was a minimum of 1000 Yuan and if the Pandaren would wish to pay more for the ticket, it would be greatly weed.

    What made the Sponsor ticket different from the rest of the tickets was that this particr group would have a special quest that was separate from the rest of the group. Jin emphasised that there is no additional advantage in getting the Sponsor ticket aside from the extra goodies that he was going to throw (that remained a secret as well which it was bloody obvious Jin had not prepared for yet) and additionally, it might be a disadvantage because of the danger they would be in.

    The only difference was that the experience they have would be totally different from the rest of the group. And as much as Jin wanted to show the new Virtual Reality World that he had been creating, he found that there was too much on his te with the new findings of the Demon Rats'' situation. Thus, he decided to keep it as a demo for not only the sponsor ticket tiers but the higher tier tickets that were at least 250 Yuan and above.

    "Hmm? Kraft? Oh yeah. I could not really bother at this point of time. Besides, anyone who tried to attack my shop is a dumb ass. This will be the biggest gathering of cultivators ording to the sales of tickets. If those Banned Emperor Terroristse, we will give them a good ass whooping too." Jin said and asked Kraft not to disturb him any further.

    "Welp, and here I thought I could pass you some good information about the Mecha World," Kraft said but Jin was truly not interested at all. "Hmm. Then what about the Flower City? I talked a bit to Zeru as well. He did give me some good insight."

    "I can talk to himter. Please do not bother me right now. I need to make sure I have the numbers right for the Great Demon War. Qiu Yue''s promise to get a few game yers did not go well, I need to settle that portion seeing how the System could control itбнOr maybe I should just get the Savants to takemand since they have enough experience leading. But that would also mean we would not have them on the battlefield. ARGGH KRAFT PLEASE GO AWAY." Jin begged him while continuing to type a few stuff on the Dungeon Maker Console.

    "Seriously, no matter how much you n, you will still be bound to have quite a few hups. Well, to be honest, quite a lot of hups considering they are the Demon Rats. I mean, do you remember that time their freaking castle which we thought is the end point became bait. Like what the fuck?"

    "The only fuck I care about is that you leave me the fuck alone," Jin now growled in anger and Kraft finally start to back away.

    "In any case, I could always get some of my Night Foxes to deal with thatmanding strategy thing if you ever need some help." Kraft decided to provide a solution but Jin refused it as kindly as he possibly could before concentrating on the current dilemma that he had in his mind.

    "That guy needs to chill. After going through so much shit, and here I thought he would have mature enough to learn how to take things as it goes. Oh well~! I guess I will just have a rxing cup of tea by myself," Kraft said to himself as he disappeared in thin air once more with a snap of his fingers.

 Chapter 1302: Tree Mall Security Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 1302: Tree Mall Security Meeting</h4>

    As the PandaVerse Festival was just a few days away, everyone in Jin''s store was getting more and more hectic with the preparations. For the first time, Jin was pulling ropes from all the owners that were in his Tree Mall to push this event further.

    There was a huge meeting which also involved the offices andpanies that were separated from the current shopping mall which provided goods and services to customers. Jin had made sure that everyone had to send a representative toe for the major meeting.

    "Thanks all foring, as most of you guys have noticed, the PandaVerse Festival ising in a week''s time and I am conducting this meeting to give a short briefing not just on the PandaVerse Festival but the security procedures for the Mall as well," Jin said as he sent an email to each of the representatives that were in that meeting as well as putting up a huge PowerPoint slide right behind him in the Conference Meeting Instance.

    Jin told them that with the recent incidents that were happening in Shenzhen, it would be best to at least set up a security and safety protocol in the event that things went south. He honestly did not want those people working to be held hostage unnecessarily.

    "I have temporarily set up and allocated a few NPCs in each and every dungeon instance, you guys will see who you all will be assigned with as per the email that I had sent. Somepanies might have more due to their sheer size while the rest would typically be assigned with one security NPC. If you think there is trouble, open up your Pandamonium App and request the App for help." Jin exined.

    "The Security NPC will try their best to annihte the threat unless it deems that people around them are in danger, it will prioritise protecting you guys. At the same time, the App will immediately call the police who will be on standby in one of the rented Shop Instances and assist in the situation.

    "Wow, you mean, you managed to get the police to station here in the Tree Mall?" One of thepany representatives asked and Jin nodded his head. "Like I said, with the current vtile situation that we are in, I deemed that the safety of my tenants is paramount and contracted them to aid us. Besides, Tiangong Police and I had an amicable rtionship." Jin replied and everyone at the table wasplimenting Jin on his responsibility for safety.

    "Not only that, but I have also hired several private contractors that will keep the ce safe in inclothes and they too will be aiding with keeping the peace in the area," Jin added though only one person among the entire group ofpany representatives knew the real reason.h

    Qiu Yue had previously employed Karaoke Owner Man Tang to employ a few ex military and police personnel into her payroll and she finally revealed that scheme to Jin that there was actually a small army that could be deployed anytime under Man Tang''s leadership if Jin needed.

    Obviously, the Dungeon Supplier was shocked at Qiu Yue''s previous scheme as well as a concern but this will significantly boost the security surveince of the Tree Mall. The Police Captain was aware of it and also instructed his policeman about such a force walking around as they predicted that the crowd would be in the thousands.

    Jin did not know whether it was deliberate or not but there was footage that was going around the inte of Jin aiding the police in breaking the siege at the Exhibition Centre. Seeing how the up anding Dungeon Supplier who refused to join the Dungeon Symposium ended up being the Dungeon Supplier that rescued all those arrogant Dungeon Suppliers that were stuck in there.

    It showed that he not only had the skills to make the Dungeon Instances but also a capable cultivator, which showed the world that his monsters would at least be decent stuff even for high level cultivators and this PandaVerse Festival could potentially be the entry for them to get sucked into Dungeons and Panda.

    So that leaked footage alone had garnered a lot of curiosity as well as cultivators buying the tickets toe for the Festival. Even people from other countries had heard about it and some had decided to take the risk ofing to try this out.

    Hence if this is a sess, the next festival could not only attract more people locally but the attractive overseas tourism that would bring prosperity to the local business as well. Thus, this event must seed and bring any possible threats as quietly as Jin could.

    At the same time, Kong Rong was working overtime to make sure he picked up any threats that could arise from the PandaVerse Festival. He even started to make a smaller separate team that he could trust to work on the Defence Minister''s betrayal. However, like Jin, he could not trust anyone unless they were working for the System so he was thinking about whether to get his newest team to meet Jin so they could be initiated into the System. But for now, he tasked that team to catch any possible signals of the Banned Emperor movements.

    Back at the meeting, thepany representatives eventually apuded Jin''s security initiative and thus Jin brought the meeting to a close. However, there was one who raised his hand and subsequently queried if they would receive any benefits from the PandaVerse Festivals like free tickets or such.

    "Sorry, Lai Fu. Don''t be such a cheapskate and pay the standard price." Jin gleed towards Fresh Price Shop Owner before he teleported off.

    "You are the cheapskate Jin for not giving us any free tickets after working under you!" Lai Fu said and boo loudly. Everyone in the meeting chuckled as most of them knew how he was one of the first few owners that came to the Tree Mall.

    "Well, you tried Lai Fu. you tried." Sheng Si Fang consoled his dear buddy, "If he doesn''t give you one, then I could get you one myself."

    "Oh please, it''s not as if I cannot buy one myself. Don''t worry. Let''s get those tickets and rob that Dungeon Supplier blind by obtaining all the rewards." Lai Fu said and his friend shook hands as if agreeing to do the same. Even though they knew their limits, it did not mean they could not dream big.

    And with PandaVerse, anything is possible.

 Chapter 1303: Pandawans Overnight Stay

    <h4>Chapter 1303: Pandawans'' Overnight Stay</h4>

    "I know I said that we should go together to PandaVerse Festival." Hungry Hippo Cultivator Xiong Da said as he sighed at the sight he was seeing right now. "But ISN''T THIS A LITTLE BIT TOO MUCH?" He shouted as he saw the gathering of his Pandawan pals in his living room.

    "Rawrrrr, Xiong Da Bro. Don''t be too much of a hardass. Look, you have so much space all around you that if you don''t utilise them, it''s a waste of space!" Wobbling Wombat Cultivator Deng Long said as he chewed on a piece of pizza.

    "Ya. Ruo Ying Big Sis invited us here, just take it as a surprise overnight party." Angry Ape Cultivator Bu Dong added and asked Xiong Da if he wants a piece of BBQ Chicken Pizza.

    "I really liked your house, the view outside is magnificent although I did hear from Ruo Ying Big Sis that you had other ts that are more fantastic." Bombardier Beetle Cultivator Bin Yong eximed and his girlfriend Jia Le who practised the Breathtaking Bellflower Style agreed as well.

    "If you stay at the penthouse on the 35th floor, everything else will look magnificent." Mad Monkey Cultivator Shi Zuo said as hey on his couchzily with Luo Bo, the Illusive Rabbit Cultivator already asleep on hisp. "Also, please don''t shout that loud, Luo Bo just pulled a three day all nighter so that she could clear her work in time for PandaVerse."

    "I think all of us did that just to get a sufficient number of vacation days just for this PandaVerse." Ruo Ying came in and tried to calm Xiong Da down. "This is all of them. I did not invite the rest of the Pandawans since we are not that close to them."

    "Oh well, I guess they could stay in the guest room but Bu Dong and Deng Long have to share the bed." Xiong Da giggled at the two bachelors but the two of them shrugged it off as an expected reply from the master of this penthouse.

    "Anyways, I am guessing we would want to team up together for the Great Demon Rat War?" He thanked Ruo Ying for taking his suitcase back into his room while he unreservedly joined the group eating the remaining finger bites that they had ordered earlier.

    "You guys saw how Jin just dropped a massive F bomb in the forums a few hours ago, there is no way any of us will be able to sleep well if we do not discuss this properly." Bu Dong said and the rest chuckled slightly.

    Jin had previously written in the forums that he would be giving a major hint of the uing PandaVerse festival if they couldplete a few social media goals. From hitting a certain number of subscribers on Bear Cub One''s media channels to following the new Dungeons and Pandas official Tiktik ount where Kiyu would be the one responsible for handling it.

    To his surprise, his loyal customers not only hit the requirements of those social media goals but surpass them by a whole lot. It seemed as if the efforts in marketing and promoting the PandaVerse festival were not wasted and a high number of people were genuinely interested in seeing this seed.

    Thus, Jin held his part of his bargain by releasing the information 12 hours before the official start of the PandaVerse Festivalбнand that was the map of the Great Demon War. When people took a look at it, a lot of them as Deng Long had aptly put it, "Total batshit crazy."

    This was because the so call map that Jin had released could be considered one of thergest maps that Dungeons and Pandas had ever published. (Although only Jin and his colleagues knew that this was the Farming World and not a Dungeon Instance.) Even the Goblin Orc War could not bepared with the scale of this map especially when all of the cultivators were being teleported into various instances to join the goblins'' fight against the Orcs.

    But this time around, Jin had explicitly said that they had free rein running around this entire map (basically the entire Northern Region) to get things done. Not only do they have to eliminate the Demon Rats but also help to liberate towns that were infested by them. There would also be instances where they could be joining Jin''s monster armies to fight off the Demon Rats but strict orders had to be followed or else they would be kicked out of that particr fight.

    Yet because of the strict ruling, more points were said to be given if they followed the monster army''s orders and only a certain amount of Pandarens could join the fight. Any more and the Dungeon Instance would block ess to those Pandarens from entering the battle. However, the most important thing of all was that no cultivator versus cultivator was allowed. Anyone who initiated it would be considered banned from the PandaVerse Festival.

    Even with the basic rules by Jin, thementators in the forums knew that there might be certain battles that prioritised the firste first serve basis and entering those battles, it will definitely reward more points. So, they suspected that the Sponsor tickets that Jin had been selling would be able to facilitate that.

    Such a rumour was enough to cause the sponsor tickets to be selling like hotcakes as Jin had publicly shown the numbers as well as the cultivators'' names who bought such tickets (if they were willing to publicise their names, else an alias was used.)

    And as best Pandawan pals, Xiong Da did buy sponsor tickets for everyone who was in his house right now since he knew this might potentially be one of the best dungeon experiences yet toe. So because of that, the group decide to wind down together by eating dinner and staying overnight at Xiong Da''s house as they casually discussed what they could potentially do with the map provided by Jin.

 Chapter 1304: Extra: Sleepover At Xiong Das Home

    <h4>Chapter 1304: Extra: Sleepover At Xiong Da''s Home</h4>

    "Guys, it''s time to wake up." Bu Dong said as he started knocking on everybody''s door. They might have had ate night discussing the possibilities on where to go but the toll on all the working adults might have eaten up the remaining night by sleeping through it.

    Besides, it was not an everyday urrence that Xiong Da had allowed them to stay at his ce and everyone was astonished by the amount of wealth that he had. He might look like any other ordinary high flyingwyer but it seems like he had dabbled into quite a lot of investments when he was younger, especially in real estate and such. After all, he kept saying that stocks would only make someone temporarily rich, while assets were a whole different ball game.

    That being said, the cultivators who stayed overnight in Xiong Da''s house did not hesitate to fully utilise his guests'' rooms. The rooms were well equipped with good quality beddings and even air purifiers that gave a calm soothing scent for them to sleep peacefully. The toilets had the most ridiculous type of shampoos and soaps that smelled not only terrific but therapeutic to use.

    The odd thing was that when the Pandawans asked Xiong Da where he got all these, he said it was all from Jin''s store. Most if not all of them were looking nkly at each other andughed, and instead asked Ruo Ying where did Xiong Da manage to procure them and she too said the same thing.

    "All you had to do was to just ask. Do you remember how we are able to rent and subsequently buy a ''room'' for preparation purposes? Xiong Da casually asked the Pandamonium App whether there were higher quality items that could be purchased and in an instant, the shop window right in front of us changed to daily essentials that had a different price tag." Ruo Ying exined and even showed them how it was being done in real time.

    The Pandamonium App responded and gave a list of the higher quality stuff which almost made the Pandawans vomit their blood. "45 Panda Gold Coins for just a box of tissue!?" Bin Yong eximed and Ruo Ying immediately went to her room and took out a box for them to try it out. The tissue felt like silk, and not just silk but premium silk.

    "And since Xiong Da had contributed quite a lot of money to Jin, he had been buying all these necessities on a daily basis. Also, we do not even need to worry about delivery which makes restocking almost as easy as just pressing a checkout cart." Ruo Ying said and the cultivators nodded their heads slowly. Every one of them knew how freaking efficient the delivery was to the point that it would be a lie if they said that they did not use the Pandamonium services. The food and service delivery were all top notch with the exception that it cost quite a bit. Yet, when ites to hungry mouths and dreaded delivery times on most app tforms, the Pandamonium App would never fail to deliver.

    "GUYS! WAKE UP!!!! We will bete for the opening ceremony." Bu Dong continued to shout until he heard arge yawning from Xiong Da''s master bedroom.

    "With our current cultivation grade, it will be just a five minute walk to Jin''s Tree Mall. What''s the rushбнzzzzzzz" Xiong Da said as he opened the door with his pyjamas still on. The rest were also the same and even without speaking a word, they wholeheartedly agreed with Xiong Da''s decision to sleep a bit more. Yet Bu Dong was not satisfied with everyone''s enthusiasm.

    "And it''s now what? Four hours before the start of the event. Bu Dong, get some rest and wake us up when it''s like half an hour before the opening ceremony. We would still be on time." Xiong Da said as he was about to close his door but Bu Dong decided not to budge and even held onto his door.

    "Have you guys forgotten how much time and effort was needed for the past events? And now with the hype of PandaVerse, we would be deadst in the queue if we do not reach there early." Bu Dong argued and Xiong Da chuckled.

    "That''s what the Sponsor tickets are for. Don''t worry, I have ''donated'' enough to ensure that getting therete will still earn us the front stage spots." Xiong Da said as he pats Bu Dong''s head and asked him as well as the rest who were standing around at their bedroom doors to return to sleep. "Money is anguage that Jin speaks very well. You of all people should know that but if you are still worried, you can go ahead and help us warm the bench." Xiong Da added before closing the door and returning back to bed.

    "Yeah, Bu Dong, I know you are excited but you saw how extensive that dungeon instance map was. And did you remember how freaking crazy it was to fight for Pandapolis Defence? Everyone here had agreed to take a week''s leave because all of us are prepared to fight in the trenches side by side with each other. As of now, let us enjoy the peace of these wonderful beds that Xiong Da bestowed us. It''s really been a while since I had such a good sleep and to be disturbed like this." Shi Zuo said before closing the door on Bu Dong which made him feel guilty.

    "I guessбнI am just too excited to spend time with you people." He said to himself but Deng Long who was also at the side of the corridor chuckled. Even though he was fully dressed as pressured by Bu Dong, he knew that this youngd only wanted to spend more time with the group.

    "Just give it a rest. And this time I am taking the bigger bed. You sleep on the smaller one on the ground." Deng Long said as he wrapped his hands around Bu Dong and brought him back to the room.

 Chapter 1305: Dungeon Supplier Stores Maintenance

    <h4>Chapter 1305: Dungeon Supplier Store''s Maintenance</h4>

    To say the crowd was massive was an understatement. Jin took a look through his Dungeon Maker console, overseeing the CCTV live footage of his Tree Mall and saw that it was packed.

    He was right to get the police toe to handle the situation and even deployed queue lines to enter or exit as suggested by the System. While the Dungeons and Pandas were supposedly open for 24 hours, Jin did make an announcement beforehand that he would be closing the store for at least three hours to update the Dungeon Instances.

    It was the first time Dungeons and Pandas had closed their store this year since most updates were instantaneous or the customers were ced in a holding area for a few minutes before jumping into the new instance. Thus, people who thought they could do the same by jumping right into the PandaVerse Festival were disappointed.

    Yet, at the same time most of them understood that if Jin was about to do something big, he needed some time to update the Dungeon and Service Instances. Thus the lines to go into Dungeons and Pandas were immensely long. Some of the long time customers who had been in and out of the Tree Mall realised that there were even new staircases to amodate the queue.

    They had no idea how it could be done but many had already recognised that the Tree Mall was something akin to a living huge tree that could change based on the caster''s needs. It''s just that many of them did not get to see it in real life and mostly heard it via the inte and to see it in their backyard was just purely amazing.

    As for Jin, he did need the downtime to redecorate the ce and fix a few ''bugs'' that had been ongoing for quite some time. Even though most of them were quickly patched up by the System almost immediately, the constant live updates had made the dungeon instances and service instances not optimised. So this particr downtime was immensely helpful for Jin to fix everything the System had done previously and made sure it took the resources as needed and not anything more.

    In the meantime, the System had remade its database to ensure it could amodate the huge numbers of new customers that would being in. As well as revisions of the rescue protocols were done internally by updating the Pandamonium App with new codes which also forced the current users to have a mandatory update right before the opening of PandaVerse Festival.

    It was to help facilitate the intense amount of data going through its own servers while ensuring that the cultivators would be still alive and well when they were killed by the Demon Rats. Even though it is THE System, the System was not acting at full capacity and as such, it needed to ce some caution and failsafe procedures in the processes so that everything could go smoothly without too many hups.

    Also, Jin did add in the forums that the other dungeon instances such as the Goblin Forest Dungeon Instances would be limited due to the scale of the Great Demon Rat Wars. If the number of yers ying those one-time dungeon instances had reached maximum capacity, he urged the rest to be patient and instead try out the Great Demon Rat Wars as it is supposed to be the main event for this entire week.

    As for the customers who were waiting outside, the food store owners had coborated with Jin and opened way earlier in the morning than their scheduled timings to provide food services. Jin had also said that the delivery of food within 200 metres of the Tree Mall would be nullified for the event, prompting people to use the takeout services which were within the Pandamonium App.

    To their surprise, the food delivery was terrifyingly urate. Jin did say in the forums previously that it was an experimental feature where the customers could get food based on their live GPS coordinates. The only drawback was that the App would request a constant track of their phones although such a feature could be deactivated anytime if the user turned off the setting.

    Many were a bit suspicious, thinking that Jin might use such information to gather more data about themselves and sell to people but Jin replied by stating that hispany would not do such a thing and added that it was their choice whether to use it for convenience. (After all, if he really wanted to, the Pandamonium App could automatically send live feedback to the System. They never know how omnipotent it was. And in hindsight, there were people who tried to hack the App and the servers like how the major phonepany Hua Wee tried to do it and leaks had confirmed that it was currently not possible to do so, making Jin''s data collecting leaking out to be less of a concern.)

    And as such, the customers were slightly relieved that they at least had some grub before the start of the festival although a few of the knowledgeable customers knew not to eat too much as they were reserving their stomachs for Lynn''s Restaurant and her other counterparts that were serving food in the Dungeon Supplier store. Not because they were just delicious but their food proved to have temporary buffs that would help in the fight for the Great Demon Rat War.

    However, what the customers did not know was that no one was making anything for the past three hours as Jin had mandated a System Order, an ability which he rarely used with his entire army of minions. He ordered everyone to take a good long rest with the aid of the System''s time dtion magic because the iing festival would demand from them more than what''s expected.

    That was why everything was prepared ahead of time before the imminent shutdown, leaving only Jin and the System to work tirelessly to get the store prepared for thergest event that they will ever host as of their time in the store.

    "Let the floodgates open in ten minutes," Jin said with a wide grin, knowing that all his efforts for the past month would be realised soon enough.

 Chapter 1306: Extra: Logistics Behind PandaVerse

    <h4>Chapter 1306: Extra: Logistics Behind PandaVerse</h4>

    "You sure the Sponsor tickets are going to do what we think they are supposed to do? Didn''t Jin say that it did not have anything extra other than an additional perk?" Bu Dong said as he was munching on a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon in it. The rumoured free delivery services of Pandafull Delivery within the 200 metre radius of the Tree Mall were indeed true and everyone was taking full advantage of it.

    Some thought there would be a heck of waiting time since the number of people around ordering food was enormous but most if not all of the customers waiting were surprised by the efficiency of the food.

    This was because Jin had granted all of the food store owners within his Tree Mall a temporary perk that allowed them to store their food in Pandafull warehouse just for today. This meant that any food that was created out of their cooking wok or oven could be magically stored in Pandafull storage with no loss of taste, heat and even the freshness. The store owners know the temporal magic storage of Pandafull and had taken the chance to fully utilise them since Jin was giving them the chance to use it for free.

    This meant that whenever they had some time on their hands, they could create the food in advance and store it in Pandafull warehouse for keeping. This not only allowed them to create food in an unconstrained time situation but also ensured the best quality for each food item they made. To their surprise, because of the number of food items that had been delivered, the System was also able to categorise them, by acknowledging how certain food items despite them being on the same menu item to be of a higher quality.

    Thus, under the disguise of Pandafull''s appraisal system, the System had decided to mark such higher quality food items a little more expensive than the usual and even that was not discouraging any customers to buy them. In fact, they were sold out the moment it was released into the Pandafull''s list. Even though it was 1.5 times more expensive than the usual food items, seasoned customers knew that the Pandamonium App had always been a partial judge when ites to pricing.

    The price could be absurd but once people tried them out, they knew that it was something that they would not regret buying. Hence, this allowed the food store owners to earn a huge revenue with the aid of the System and were even considering getting the monthly subscription of Pandafull''s warehouse services once PandaVerse ended. (Jin still did promise those who still had leftover stocks after the PandaVerse Festival that no service fees were rendered for the remaining items but they would no longer have ess to it if they did not pay for the subscription fees.

    Obviously, this free trial thing was like a trap to all the food store owners in the Tree Mall, but it was too good of service for them to give up once they knew how it felt like. Meanwhile, the Pandawans who had joined multiple events still could not believe the astonishing number of people within the crowd.

    And the trouble was that even though they were on time for the event, they were already queuing a few streets away while ensuring that the roads were not blocked. Many who drove here by car were surprised how the Tree Mall was the only ce where there seemed to be an infinite amount of car slots. They could only deduce that Jin too had used a dungeon instance to keep the cars considering how instead of going into the underground car park, a series of attendants are asking the customers and their families to get out of the car as their vehicles were being automatically parked for them.

    To make things even more pleasant for car owners, Jin had introduced a season pass where the parking fees were cheaper if they previously bought a ticket to go for the PandaVerse Festival. As minor as it sounds, it was a relief for many who had travelled far and wide just for this particr event.

    Not to mention, Hotel Pandastic and the other hotel chains under Jin''s management had seen peak capacity to manage travellers from overseas or other parts of China, making it an exclusive stay to those whoe just for the Festival. Jin had ced a lot of emphasis on the logistics ensuring that not only the main event of PandaVerse festival Great Demon Rat War would be a smooth ride but also the needs of his customers.

    He did not have to do this and let the hostels, hotels and other lodging services take up the burden but how could he miss out on the lucrative profit from providing services which he had already made way in advance? (Some thought that Jin had purposely made all this just for the PandaVerse Festival, thinking it was a major realisation of his overall business master n but there was no way they would know that it was a mere coincidence that all of these additional services to leech money from customers in every way possible had made this almost an ecosystem that could profit and pleases customers.)

    "Looks like the countdown has already started!" Deng Long said as they saw multiple holograms being projected outside the Tree Mall with a digital timer counting down the start of the PandaVerse Festival. T-10 minutes and everyone started to fervently talk about what to expect. Some of them even whip out the Great Demon War Map and recheck where they would like to go as a start while others attempted to refresh the Pandamonium App to see if there was any specialst minute information that would be given out to everyone since it seems like other than the Great Demon Rat War, everything else about the PandaVerse Festival had been rather restrictive other than a few teases.

    No one knows what to expect from this despite the contagious hype that had been spreading around the for months. All they could do was wait for that 10 minutes to pass so that they could enter the Dungeon Supplier store and discover the magic that was waiting for them.

 Chapter 1307: Store Instance Islands

    <h4>Chapter 1307: Store ''Instance'' Inds</h4>

    "10, 9, 8...4, 3, 2, 1!" When the countdown finally reached zero, there was a huge wave of chi emanating from the Dungeons and Pandas storefront. But to the rest who were not near it, they thought that it was the Tree Mall that had released that wave of chi but it was clear that that wave of chi was no ordinary burst.

    Instead of malice, it was like an invitation to everyone who was waiting in line for the PandaVerse Festival, telling them toe and try to challenge the store to the best of their capabilities. Some of the customers had their legs shaking upon experiencing such a burst of chi for the very first time while the others relished that feeling and got more excited.

    The police and guards that were manning the queue got even more alert as they thought this wave of chi could put the crowd into a state of frenzy. However, they had forgotten that this was Jin''s territory and with Jin being the Panda Lord, the Panda Police Team was there to assist with the crowd as well.

    Right at the doorstep of Jin''s store, Super NPC Captain Hei and Captain Bai were standing like the two Door Gods that were guarding a Chinese Temple. "Any disorderly behaviour would warrant the Wrath of either me or Captain Bai!" Captain Hei shouted as the Super NPC Panda showed its muscles and teeth at the front row who were dying to get in first."

    That deration instantly tamed the crowd as the cultivators controlled their desires and innate excitement as they walked into the store quickly but in an orderly fashion. Both the police and guards on duty were relieved that they did not have to resort to strength when the famous symbol of security within this Tree Mall had shown itself to the public.

    "Carry on, continue walking! If you wish to stop and take my picture, you are permitted for only three seconds before you move forward! Or else I kick to the back of the queue!" Captain Hei shouted as many wished to take a picture of him and Bai since they were rarely together. In fact, Jin was delighted that the need to take a photo with the Super NPCs had allowed the queue to move at a slow but smooth pace.

    While it''s true most of them could teleport instantly into the Dungeons and Panda''s store as long as they are within the Tree Mall, Jin had temporarily disabled that function to prevent excessive overcrowding or having the System put those people in a temporary buffer dimensional space before teleporting them into the instances. It was best if the System did waste its efforts doing that and rather divert its resources into security as well.

    WIth the manual ess via the consoles that Jin had prepared, the System too was able to have a good scan of all the cultivators that would be entering the dungeon instances as they were checked thoroughly by the consoles they were standing on. Most people thought that it was just identification verification and the issue of a physical band based on the ticket tier that they had purchased but it was also a tracking device for the System to take note of them.

    While the Pandamonium App was capable of doing so since most people would carry their phone wherever they went, the physical band was used to track the cultivators within the Farming World if anything goes wrong, especially with therge scale invasion, some people might inevitably get lost or worse, captured by the enemies. Therefore it was imperative for the System to track them as well as use it as an SOS signal beacon so that other cultivators coulde to the rescue if the System deemed that that particr cultivator might be tortured. (Of course, if it was impossible for the cultivators to do so, the System and Jin had already ced a rescue squad waiting to get them.)

    Other than that, once they were verified by the System or had their personal information captured, the System would then allow them to enter the dungeon instance. As much as it sounds like aplicated procedure, in reality, it took at most ten seconds in order to teleport into the service instance. Jin even installed a sort ofser ''scanning'' device with the physical consoles to purposely distract his Pandarens. (Yes, theser is just for show, there was no need for that with the System checking the details so invasively.)

    And when they entered, it felt like a brand new world. The Store instance that they were used to had once again expanded. The previous store instance was already considered huge since they had airports, seaports and even trains to bring them to the instance that they wanted to go to. Now, they realised that this particr store instance seemed to be moving and it was because the ce that they were teleported to was indeed doing as they thought it would.

    The entirend was travelling in the sea. As vague as it sounded, Jin had widened the store instance even further such that what they were on now was something akin to a moving ind through the vast oceans. Pandarens at the seaports could see the effect even more as the ships that were once anchored had to be elevated and parked as the ''ind'' continued to move.

    "This was because of the extensive number of people that Jin had to resort to this ''trick'' where he ''stitched'' various separate dungeon instances into one big one by putting people into different ''store instance'' inds. This was also to lift the pressure from the System while ensuring that they could enjoy the PandaVerse Festival''s main events.

    "Store Ind 1 and Store Ind 2 had been filled up. Creating Store Ind 3." The System said as it requested Jin to choose a different theme for the store inds. "Let''s go with London view of the 1970s since we already had Hong Kong and Japan for the first two inds," Jin said as he approved the System to create another Ind to let the System allow the next wave of cultivators toe in.

    "Well, this separate ind theme should give some variation to how the cultivators move about while providing a sense of freedom hopping them," Jin said as he ensured that the final touches of the Great Demon Rat War were ready.

 Chapter 1308: Scalpers and Sponsors

    <h4>Chapter 1308: Scalpers and Sponsors</h4>

    As more of the Store Inds came up on the map, those inds were moving in a particr direction even though the instance that they were in was just one big open ocean. Everyone in those Store Inds was currently restricted from moving between Inds but to most of them, it was not a concern as the Pandarens were frantic in their purchases.

    Even though each and every one of them could use an on-site service menu, everyone knew that buying from the Supplies store had the most discounts avable. Jin predicted previously that people would swarm the store and had already expanded the store by having peddlers and street vendors selling the very same thing as well.

    He hoped that it would help ease the crowd at the supplies store but he did not expect certain customers to buy the entire stock from the vendors as if hogging the supplies that were meant for everyone. It discouraged a few of the Pandarens as they suspected that such customers would wish to quietly trade for those supplies for a few extra Panda coins.

    But Jin would be the one winning at the very end as he would pop extra street peddlers NPC and sell customers what they need. After all, he had prepared for the Great Demon Rat War for a very long time, and his Pandapolis had been working all day and night to produce these items. The Demon Citizens from Demopolis had already started to get used to their new lifestyle in Pandapolis and there was a meaning to working hard. The only ones who were disgruntled by the new way of life were the useless nobles who had been sent to do such menial work as well while those who were educated and willing to make an effort were able to be managers. While the other Demon Nobles that had more military experience had been dispatched to Demopolis to work on training new recruits after they passed Kraft''s regime.

    So to those customers who think that they could be scalpers would be sorely disappointed by Jin''s ample preparation and to make things worse for them, each time a trade would happen, the System had prepared a small advertising box at the side of the trade. It would show the official prices of the items that were being traded and their avability via the on-site service menu. (Not to mention, there might be Panda Coins rebates or surprise gifts!) With the exception of weapons and armours that were being traded, Jin hoped that this would deter non suspecting naive buyers from those scalpers.

    Other than that, some of the customers were going to the Restaurant Trains to have their stomachs filled as well as getting the food buffs that Lynn and her other aplished chefs were famous for. Unlike the store owners who recently started to appreciate Pandafull services, Lynn already had such incredible storage from the Sub System since day 1. There was no need to worry about food shortages considering that the System had consistently updated the numbers of cultivators that were going to join the PandaVerse festival. This gave Lynn and her chefs ample time to create food and store them until the time was right for the customers to take it in.

    But despite the ample amount of food, Lynn was still personally cooking for a few select customers. Despite the amazing spatial technology, there was still a 4-5% loss of chi energy when they took it in and out from the storage, especially when it was not served to the customers directly. So, the best food avable was still getting it fresh and piping hot from Lynn herself. And the only few who have such a luxurious opportunity would be those who had the Sponsor tickets. In fact, the highest donated group would have the opportunity to do so first.

    Most of the Pandarens were not aware of this but like those people who were waiting in line with their Sponsor tickets purchased, Pandafull Delivery had already quietly sent their representatives to get in contact with such people. "See, I told you so. There is nothing to worry about." Xiong Da gleed at Bu Dong who was so anxious the night before. As they followed the Pandafull Delivery representatives. The group realised that they were being escorted to the second level of the Tree Mall which it was mostly restricted to those businesspanies that were working in the area.

    Xiong Da and the others then realised there was indeed a separate way to jump into Dungeons and Pandas as the Pandafull representatives who were first in inclothes immediately changed into a butler suit with a snap of a finger. All of them knew that they were using the cosmetic inscription charms and that was when the service of the sponsors began.

    The room instance they were teleported into felt like a VVIP lounge room where other Pandarens with sponsor tickets were mingling. They could either have a chat, drink or do some work before going into Dungeons and Pandas but Xiong Da and the gang decided to enter first, only to find out that the sponsor ticket holders themselves have an exclusive Store Ind just for them.

    And without a doubt, Lynn was already in the Restaurant Train preparing the day''s menu just for these sponsors who had paid an exorbitant amount just to join the PandaVerse. "Oh Boss Jin, I really like how you know how to pamper the rich." Xiong Da said as he eyed all the shops and they had servants outside their stores ready to escort them inside so they could purchase what they needed. In addition, Xiong Da and his group once again had the privilege of not needing to pay for any of those supplies or items that they buy because of the additional ''donations'' that they had purchased beforehand upon buying the sponsor tickets.

    But for now, the rest of the group wandered around the Sponsor Store Ind like little kids as they see if they could grab items that would be useful for the uing fight.

 Chapter 1309: Trains Trains TRAINSSSS

    <h4>Chapter 1309: Trains Trains TRAINSSSS</h4>

    "Good Morning everyone. The official PandaVerse Event is about to start in half an hour. Please get into the trains as soon as possible if you do not wish to miss the official opening of the PandaVerse event." Jin spoke through the public announcement system and people''s wristbands started to sh with a blinking light.

    When the Pandarens pressed on the blinking light, it revealed to them the train carriage and seat that they were assigned to, as well as the approximate time that their train would arrive at the tforms.

    "Please take a look at your wristbands and do not miss the trains! If you do, you might miss the first part of the official event. I repeat, do not miss the trains!" Jin said and even sent an app wide announcement to look at their wrist bands for the information needed.

    "Lol. We do not need to worry about a single thing." Bin Yong said as he looked at his wristband and saw that the train was already waiting at the tform for them. It was ted almost entirely in gold.

    "Let me buy something real quick!" Jia Le suddenly realised she had not bought sufficient amounts of water even though her storage ring was chock full of potions. This was because they knew that the entire group of Pandawans would be staying in the dungeon instance for quite some time. Not many know this but the longer they stay and assist in the raid, the more points they get to rack.

    It happened during the Goblin World Defensive Raids as well as the Pandapolis Defense. Xiong Da had noticed a pattern and tested the theory out after the Goblin World''s raid and it seemed to be holding some truth. Now that this was not just a defensive raid but a major offensive, the Pandawans are already carrying several high level storage rings to make sure that they have more than enough supplies tost through the Earth week. (After all, they all knew how much time differed from the real world and the dungeon instance.)

    And even if they predicted wrongly, those rations and supplies could be used for future events, considering Jin had been quite active throwing out new seasonal stuff every now and then. (Also, they now get to buy everything for ''free'' with the sponsor tickets courtesy of Xiong Da so being greedy now will still be a good option regardless of the consequences.

    "Let''s get on board already!" Bu Dong shouted as he was looking forward to seeing what Jin had for the event. And as the entire group entered the gold ted train, they realised that they were going to be spoiled by the luxury that was waiting right in front of them when they entered the train.

    They were not sure what the seats were made of, but they were certain that once they sat on it, it felt the same way how a Dungeons and Pandas plushie could feel. Xiong Da immediately recognised the feeling and straight away messaged Jin whether he could buy this furniture right away.

    "Nope, they are not for sale," Jin replied quickly and Xiong Da was already in a man child mode pouting as he slid down the seat that was as wide as a cushion sofa and soft like the beds that cost thousands.

    "Xiong Da. Stopping like a child in front of the others." Ruo Ying sternly said to Xiong Da even though everyone knows that he could act this way only in front of them. And as they started to getfy in their seats, the train made an announcement they were going to depart. The rest of the sponsors started to hop onto the train and somehow the Pandawans noticed that the group that walked past them had an aura that was different from the rest.

    "They looked a little familiar." Xiong Da said as he caught a glimpse of them chatting away although a few were grumbling about how they were annoyed they had to take some time off just for this, Yet, thewyer was not able to pinpoint who they were despite his excellent memory. However, one thing was for sure. The chi aura they had was not ordinary and they were definitely several times stronger than their Pandawan group.

    Just when he thought that when the Pandawan group that he had, having an average of Grade 9s and 10 in their ranks was already an achievement, he sighed to ept the fact that there will always be a mountain higher than the one you were standing on. "Guess, Jin finally started to climb up the ranks and fame for being a dungeon supplier since high grade cultivators were also participating in the raids."

    The train finally started moving and the Pandawan group was curious where it would be leading since they knew that further down the ind were mainly service instances like the theme park, the zoo etc. But instead, the train was heading to the seaport. All of them thought there was an underwater tunnel that they would be going through.

    But no.

    The train was moving towards the sky as rail tracks were being magically constructed which led the entire train to fly. As if to make things even more fantastical, the Pandawans could see that their train was not the only one that was riding on air as the other trains from other inds were doing the very same thing.

    It was a sight to behold to see lines of trains moving in the same direction and everyone was excitedly taking pictures of such a phenomenon. And during this time, Jin had decided to show them the kind of monsters that they would be working with by dispatching Demon City''s unique fleet of dragons, the Dragon Devils.

    And riding those Dragon Devils were not just the Dragonlites but the various types of monsters that Jin had collected over the months as they rode to showcase themselves to the Pandarens, an amazing coalition of allies that would be their partners for the week toe. Xiong Da and the rest of the Pandawans also recognised a few old pals that they had worked with in the past raids and they were delighted to know they were in this fight too.

    At the same time, the Dragon Devils also disyed a quick show of force by doing some air riding feats to entertain the flying trains that were moving towards the location as designated by Jin and the System.

    But for now, everyone was just awestruck by the beautiful show performed by the Dragon Devils.

 Chapter 1310: Event Island

    <h4>Chapter 1310: Event Ind</h4>

    While the Dragon Devils and Jin''s other minions were stealing the show at the moment, the trains were all converging to a particr destination. Everyone who managed to catch a glimpse of the ind in front of them at their seats was curious if that was the main event ind that people were theorising about.

    True enough, as the trains headed closer to the ind, they started to circle around the ind''s perimeter and systematically, all the trains began to slow down while getting into ''positions.''

    With the number of trains in the skies as seen previously, the Pandarens were worried how the huge crowd could cause amotion within the new event ind that they saw. Yet, from above the ind, what they could see was just a big in stage at the centre of it all and there were no seats. In fact, it did not seem like there were any seats arranged for this particr event, making them think that this might not be it.

    Yet, because of how the ind shaped like the meteor which had crashed right smack on the ind, there were edges which the Pandarens believed they could stand or even seat to see the stage. However, there was an announcement that was being yed on every train, reinforcing the fact not to get off it. And in a few moments, the seats within all the trains started to move in one particr direction. Even the ceiling of the train was removed and some of the seats were elevated, making the Pandarens realise that the trains they were on are their assigned seats for this particr event.

    The trains, like clockwork, started to fall into their assigned positions around the ind centre stage and everyone was marvelled at how the trains positioned themselves such that everyone had a clear (not necessarily good due to the number of people present) view of the centre stage. It was like a stadium that had been surrounded by rows of snake like trains around them.

    Once all the trains had parked at their allocated slots, a loud horn sound was blown, making everyone''s head turn to the side as they could see an enormous whale floating towards the event ind as well. As the whale went closer, the Pandarens could only then realise the scale of the flying whale. But on top of it was none other than Jin, who jumped down to the centre stage, weing everyone who was present for this particr portion. (People were still pouring into the Store Inds so this was considered the first wave of participants that would be going into the Great Demon Rat War first.)

    There was no broadcast of the current event that was taking ce aspared to the previous times as Jin wants the people who took their time to join this event, queuing for the event to have their efforts recognised.

    The only people who were allowed to view this were authorised reporters and streamers that Kiyu had sought after. However, they were not allowed to show any of this until this segment of the event had concluded. In short, there were no live viewings and only the recorded part.

    Some of the reporters who took part were grumpy at how strict the information control was but Kiyu assured them that it was for the overall safety and interest of the people that this did not leak out so soon.

    "Wee! Wee everyone to our very first PandaVerse Festival showcasing the wonders of Dungeon Instances and for us to push Dungeon Instances to the very next level of innovation!" Jin said as he bow graciously to thank everyone who took the time toe for this event.

    "I know everyone is all psyched up to go for the fights, especially those who had taken the time to patronise our stores and enjoy the wonderful food selection at our various Store Inds. So I will try to make this as short as possible." Jin said and the crowd pped loudly.

    "As you know this is a very special event for me. It showed how the store had grown and nurtured such budding cultivators in our midst. Not only that, you people have taken this store as your new favourite ce to hang out, make friends and create wonderful memories. It is both a joy and pleasure that Dungeons and Pandas could make such a thing happen. For those who are new, thank you foring and I will make sure that you will feel the same as the rest of my loyal customers who supported me for the past months."

    "To be honest, this event was initially a p in the face to the Dungeon Suppliers Symposium for criticising me but in lieu of the recent incidents in China, this event had be much more. In my opinion, we need to have the ability to take care of ourselves in order to protect our loved ones as well as the sovereignty of our country and that is why I had endeavoured this project dearly, pushed myself to the limits to make sure that this very first PandaVerse Festival will have a dungeon raid instance that is out of the world."

    "It can be considered as a world record that we would be bringing in thousands of cultivators in a dungeon raid instance simultaneously and this will show the world that Dungeons and Pandas is the number one dungeon supplier!!" Jin shouted and everyone cheered loudly, as all they had been experiencing for the past hour or so was good service and reasonable waiting time for such a scale of an event. They could not wait for the real deal to begin.

    "But before we go to war, wouldn''t it be sad that PandaVerse did not have some special guests? After all, this is a Dungeon Supplier store and if there is no pinnacle to view, there might be no motivation to train and fight." Jin said as he walked closer to one of the trains and it was ironically ted in gold.

    The Pandawans thought that they might be chosen to go up the stage although Xiong Da had a nagging feeling that it was not their group but for ''them''. The ones that he saw previously walking past him.

    And he was right.

 Chapter 1311: Chinas Finest

    <h4>Chapter 1311: China''s Finest</h4>

    As the door of the golden train opens, a strong mix of aura was unleashed into the public space, causing people near it to be slightly taken aback by the menacing aura. They did not need to know who it was but the aura being emitted was rather clear that the people who were exiting the train were no mere high grade cultivators.

    "Let''s give a round of apuse to wee China''s finest, The Royal Zodiac Heads!" Jin shouted as the background music in every train yed in sync and every single one within the event ind was stunned to see them.

    "Are you serious?!" Bu Dong shouted as he did not expect that the Pandawans were on the same train as the heads of the Royal Zodiac group. At this point, the bewilderment turned into giddy excitement as the audience saw almost every single Royal Zodiac Head at the centre of Jin''s store.

    Some even began to question whether they were really the authentic Royal Zodiac Heads especially when the only time they ever got together was during the nation''s National Day. Even so, people know that they were forced toe together as a show of unity and some said they hardly evere together unless it was a meeting of urgency.

    However, right now, in this particr PandaVerse event, where only budding cultivators were here to enjoy their time, the Royal Zodiac Heads are now here in flesh and blood right in front of their eyes. As if they could sense the doubt in a few people, almost every single Royal Zodiac Head that was present with the exception of the Dragon Royal Zodiac n showcased their aura to disy to the public that they were indeed the real deal. It also seemed that each and every Zodiac Head were taking turns to show they were better than the other, making the centre stage to be a performance that everyone would not forget. The emergence of the rat and subsequently, the Bull and then the rabbit, so on and so forth.

    Among the audience, there was a mix of subsidiary ns as well as minor ns of these Royal Zodiac ns that came just to enjoy what Jin had to offer but as they saw their representatives at the centre stage, they could not help but cry in joy. But the loudest cheer came from the Royal Zodiac army personnel as they shouted at the top of their voice when their respective Royal Zodiac Heads came forward to disy their menacing aura.

    Just as the Royal Zodiac Pig Aura came out, everyone was pping as if to thank for the appearance of the Royal Zodiac Heads that came as special guests to Jin''s event but suddenly the clouds above them started to turn dark for a sudden.

    "Looks like someone is a tad too shy to show their face," Jin said while the clouds began to crackle with thunder a silhouette of a huge serpent like dragon was seen flying around them. Everyone immediately knew that it was none other than the Royal Dragon Zodiac and the crowd simply went wild. For the first time in the history books, all twelve Royal Zodiacs hade together for one event that was even considered official in everyone''s eyes. (Even though Kong Rong was still hiding since he could not show his face to the Public way too often.)

    And these made everyone wonder what kind of clout Jin had pulled to bring the Royal Zodiac Heads to his event. Now the reviewers and reporters who were in the media embargo finally understood why Kiyu had demanded such a high level order not to release any information about the event. If intruders of China knew that all twelve Royal Zodiac Heads were gathered in one particr ce, it meant that the whole of China was ''not guarded'' from both external and internal threats.

    Thus, with this realisation, all of them finally agreed to adhere to the embargo even though Kiyu was still keeping a close eye on each and every one of them. After all, she too could feel the excitement in their eyes and the feeling of wanting to send out this amazing piece of message to the entire world.

    "Despite their busy schedules, they have decided to put down any differences they had among each other and me included toe to join this epic event. However, time is precious to them and seeing how I had promised them a load of fun in exchange for their presence, let''s not let these super VIPs wait!" Jin said and everyone once again gave another round of apuse as Jin told them to stay in their seats.

    All of the trains that were present on the event stage began to bring the seats back to their original position and a few had already started to move out. In the meantime, the Royal Zodiac Heads took their time to return to their golden train. There was an announcement within their train for all sponsors to be seated and not bother the Royal Zodiac Heads. There were even attendants and Panda Guards to ensure that there was no interference even though the Heads were powerful enough to ignore them.

    Still, it was a sign of courtesy and everyone on the train tried to take a glimpse of the famous figureheads of China. And with the Heads seated, the golden train had also taken off along with the rest. Jin smiled that all of the Heads had kept their promise that they woulde for the PandaVerse Festival and that included the Rat and Tiger.

    "Looks like no matter what, the allure of money is still quite a strong factor," Jin said to himself seeing how satisfied the entire group of cultivators were ted by their presence. Although he had to pay millions to get them toe, that amount did not matter much considering all he spent could be earnt back in a fraction of a day in the interdimensional stock market. (Of course, with the help of ire.)

    And with a satisfied and encouraged army of cultivators in his palm, the offensive on the Great Demon Rat War could finally begin.

 Chapter 1312: The Siege

    <h4>Chapter 1312: The Siege</h4>

    "All Trains in the first wave are ready to depart into the Farming World." The System reported to Jin as he had returned to his Dungeon Maker to oversee the situation.

    "Good. Set all trains intobat mode. Get the passengers to have their seatbelts on. If they do notply, it is at their own risk." Jin said and the System immediately sent out an instance wide announcement.

    "To all Pandarens and fellow new customers. Please have your seatbelts on. We will be departing shortly to our assigned destination." The PA system in all trains had sounded the same warning again and again while also showing the seatbelt sign right above their heads, just like how most people would notice them on nes.

    Most Pandarens adhered to the instructions with only a few excited ones who could not wait and stuck their heads out of the train to see themotion. But all they were able to glimpse was just a portal right in front of them. But at that moment, it felt as if their senses were telling them to get back to their seats as the trains were moving faster and faster.

    In the meantime, there were Security Pandas at the front carriage of the trains setting up magical barriers which caught the curiosity of the Pandarens but their views were eventually blocked as the Pandas also started putting up a magic veil which obscured what they were doing behind it.

    "All trains are moving close to max speed. Deploying siege equipment in the front carriages." The System said and Jin pulled out the live camera footage of the main Northern Capital City right in front of him. There was nothing that was out of the ordinary, with the walls continued to be manned by countless numbers of Demon Rat guards.

    "All Gob Teams are ready to act on yourmand." me Ripper, The Dagger Goblin Commander said and Jin instantly gave the approval to start their operation. With hismand, several Goblin Teams that were hiding along the outskirts of the Northern Capital City Walls started firing a barrage of smoke canisters right toward the enemies.

    At first, the rats had no idea what were those popping noises and but when they realised that a wall of thick smoke was being emitted right in front of their city walls, they knew that an attack wasing, Searchlights started to pop out and rms began to ring through the entire city.

    Yet, before the rms could be fully activated or when the searchlights were up and running, dozens of portals were appearing beneath them, under the cover of the thick smoke. And there, the trains that were running at full speed were dashing out of these portals, smashing their front carriage which was equipped with breaching siege equipment against their city walls.

    These acts of simultaneous breaches shook their entire city wall despite the Demon Rats'' consistent reinforcements of their walls. They thought they had taken into ount the human abilities in destroying town walls as their ''sample'' to create stronger, thicker walls. The Demon Rats even ced anti siege equipment on their walls hoping to destroy and they were seening to the walls.

    In fact, they had Demon Rats specialised in detection so that they could sortie their armies in time to counter the humans. But this particr ambush was something that they had never thought of. Almost each and every Demon Rat that was on guard duty were stunned by the scene when they saw snakes of metale crashing through their walls and prate into their outer capital.

    And if any trains were unable to break through the entire city wall, the front carriage would explode in a forward direction so that there would hopefully be a break in their wall, allowing the Pandarens to continue the siege. Thankfully, as the trains were moving at high speeds, the System did not keep the cultivators in the shadows and shared information in an infomercial way, telling them what to expect as the train reached their ''destination''. Many could not believe this was Jin''s way of doing an offensive,

    No doubt it was refreshing but at the same time scary especially for the new Pandarens although the Royal Zodiac Heads were pumped with adrenaline when they heard of the n. They were contracted to stay for an hour of the fight to show how the high grade cultivators were supposed to battle. However, from the look of things, they might be willing to stay longer than they were contracted to even though Jin told them that there would be no extra money given.

    Thus as the trains breached through the city gates, the rush of cultivators startled the Demon Rats as they were faced with an onught so fierce, that there was not enough time for a counter attack. To the Pandarens, they were ''programmed'' to see all these Demon Rats as enemies and they have to kill any on sight, especially when each rat is worth a point or two depending on their ss and speciality.

    It did not take long for the rats to understand the situation and regroup, forcing a desperate retaliation against the horde of cultivators that came through their city walls. Even so, the assault was not as messy as one might think. The System had purposely given certain missions to various groups of Pandarens. If theyplete the tasks and objectives in their missions, they too would be rewarded with extra raid points and so while it was a little messy at the start, there were masses of people targeting key checkpoints. The Royal Zodiac Heads were allowed to rampage however they liked and so they had decided to move inward as they knew that the bosses of a dungeon instance would be in the castle.

    They were not off the mark but instead of bosses, Demon Rat Abominations started to emerge to protect the second city walls from being breached. Projectiles and bombs were also seen being shot indiscriminately as usual from their second city walls, hoping to do the maximum amount of damage to anyrge group of cultivators seen.

    In short, it was a hell of a mess like any war would be.

 Chapter 1313: Situation in the East and West

    <h4>Chapter 1313: Situation in the East and West</h4>

    "I have to admit, I am actually having fun." Se Chang Chang, the Royal Snake Zodiac Head, said as he slid through the defences of a particr guard abomination and attacked it from behind. In the meantime, Royal Zodiac Tiger Head Yuan Ba took the opportunity and smashed its head with just a fist of fiery chi when it got distracted from the trick attack Chang Chang did.

    "I will not deny it." Yuan Ba mumbled as his face grinned widely at the kill. It had been a long time since he had a satisfying time fighting against monsters in a dungeon instance that was worthy of his strength. Shu Tiao Xiao, the Royal Rat Zodiac Head, then took the opportunity to cut down the soldiers that were assisting the abominations.

    "Pssh. That Jin probably did this on purpose to incite me." Tiao Xiao said and Mu Ji, the Royal Zodiac Rooster Head chuckled.

    "To be frank, his dungeon instance is definitely better than yours by a whole lot. It will probably take you more than a thousand years to reach this kind of quality especially when you are scheming to cheat money off your customers." Mu Ji said and Tiao Xiao ignored her.

    "But still, I am rather surprised you are here after all thatmotion that happened with you and Jin." Mu Ji added as she released a flurry of arrows that struck true to the rats that started crawling out of the debris of the broken buildings.

    "He paid me enough toe. Besides, he had treated my policemen here more than any otherndlords." Yuan Ba gave such a bad excuse that the other Royal Zodiac Heads was snickering at his dishonest feelings. He always knew how awesome Jin''s dungeon instance had always been and this was his excuse toe here to experience it first hand.

    Even if he had hated Jin for the things he had done, there was nothing wrong in getting enjoyment from the service he provided. After all, if the dungeon instance could get him to be stronger, he might take the chance to do so without any hesitation. This is especially true when there was not enough impetus in the current setting they were living in to do so and the threat of the Banned Emperor did make him slightly anxious after seeing his kids losing to Jin.

    This was because he could already feel Jin might be on par or even stronger than him even without direct confrontation. And the ability to create this particr dungeon instance was a testament to his strength. Everyone also felt the same as they all knew how hard it was to create such a realistic dungeon instance if he did not have that kind of experience. Even if did not go through such an ordeal, the talent to create such an immense dungeon instance was without a doubt a feat that people would envy.

    But as the Royal Zodiac Heads were singing their praises to Jin, (Be it reluctantly or not) Jin was too focused on the situation at hand to bother about their words. As expected by the System, the Demon Rats had been alerted to carry on with their digging operation at full force. The Spirits of the Land were doing their very best to provide minute to minute information to the System as well as the coordinates where they were emerging from.

    Jin then quickly ryed the information to two of his trusted advisors of war. Gold, the Schr of the East and Zieg, the Dark Temr Commander. While Gold was apanied by his Werejackals, the WereMice were with him as well. They were the vanguard that would intercept the East''s digging as soon as they emerged from the ground. As for Zieg, he was handling the West alongside the Schr of the West who seem to have better luck getting more help from the people of hernd due to her previous influence as the Schr.

    They were more than surprised that she was alive and the adventurers were willing to pitch in to help. Even though Zieg believed that his Dark Temr Knights had the strength of twenty of those adventurers, it was the quantity that matters since they were pitting against numbers.

    But as they awaited the Demon Rats'' emergence, both the East and West had already prepared a ton of surprises for them. As much as nobles on both sides were unhappy with the amassing of troops, they were quickly appeased with sufficient gold and food stock that Jin had prepared, allowing the two armies to have a proper foothold against the Demon Rats. From artillery to traps and mines, they were well equipped to push back the Demon Rats for at least a day before they were wiped out or exhausted.

    That was where the Southern Army which Jin had conquered previously woulde into y. With the exact coordinatesing through from the System, Jin can finally confirm that the Southern Region was currently safe from the invasion of the Demon Rats which allowed the Southerners to participate in both the East and West campaigns to push the Demon Rats back to the North.

    An advanced force of paratroopers trained by Jin''s minions'' finest would be departing first before the rest that arrives by boat. This way, there would be sufficient reinforcements for the first wave to go through the Demon Rat Caves.

    "Jin, we saw some movement on the ground. Getting ready for the fight." Gold reported while Weslie, the Schr of the West said that their side was still monitoring the situation.

    "Very well, the moment you see a break in the ground, do not hesitate." Jin gave full approval for Gold to take over the battlefield in the East and in less than a minute, he took charge by firing a volley of artillery the moment he saw a crack on the ground through his binocrs.

    No Mercy to the Demon Rats.

 Chapter 1314: 2nd Wave of Trains

    <h4>Chapter 1314: 2nd Wave of Trains</h4>

    Even though Jin was confident that the East and West regions were under control by his minions, he was more worried about the Northern Region. The news of the ambush to the Northern Capital would have already reached the towns and camps that were dominated by the Demon Rats and they were rushing to form a counteroffensive against the humans.

    Yet, Jin was not going to allow them to do what they liked. The second wave of Pandarens who had gone aboard the trains was transported to these towns as a retaliatory force to prevent the Demon Rats from gathering from various camps and striking the main Pandaren army from the back. The trains also served as a rescue tform for those humans who were helpless against the control of the Demon Rats ruling their town.

    However, instead of being shocked by the steel carriages emerging from nowhere at the centre of their towns, spies and trained messengers employed by the Southern Stars Organisation had already informed the humans living in those upied territories in the strictest manner possible. They too had used the System''s contracts during the information trading to ensure that no Demon Rats sympathisers were to leak those ns out.

    Also before the trains arrived at their said destination, the cultivators had also been briefed of their mission to escort the humans into the carriages while stopping the Demon Rat soldiers from amassing. But to their surprise, those humans who were escaping were somewhat capable of taking care of themselves too. Armed with World War 2 standard issue rifles, a few of them assisted in the escort of the vulnerable into the trains.

    They were none other than the Southern Stars agents that had stayed to make sure that their mission objectives were protected after performing their initial mission of rying the information. These Southern Stars agents honestly never thought that this rescue mission would ever happen considering how guarded the Demon Rats were. But now that they saw the reinforcements of these masked soldiers annihting the Demon Rats so easily, the Southern Stars agents believed this was the turnaround that they had been waiting for.

    So as they fought fiercely to protect the rest of the innocent citizens, the Pandarens tried their best to push the Demon Rats away from the train when they saw that they were taking their prisoners away, loading them into those steel cabins. Instead of reorganising to travel towards the capital, the Demon Rats now took offence of the masked soldiers that attacked them from nowhere and decided to fend them off from their territory.

    This presented a serious bout of confusion to their main headquarters in the Northern Capital as the towns were asking for reinforcements tobat the threat they encountered. But as more of the towns reported back, the main headquarters knew that this was the major offensive that the Demon Rats had never expected.

    Sure, they had skirmishes against the humans near the outskirts of the Town Wecha but other than that, the humans did not move off their fortified town any more than necessary. They only did it when the Rats organised a small raiding party to test their defences and hopefully wear them out through the consistent attacks.

    Both their military council and masters had believed that this was more than sufficient to keep them upied after the major fight where they used the Northern Capital''s castle as their object of war against the humans. Yet these coordinated manoeuvres were way too urate that the main headquarters was caught off guard since they were preparing their main armies to fight against the East and West.

    Then again, when they received reports that the East and West digs had been interrupted by volleys of artillery sts, the Demon Rat Generals could only believe there was a mole in their midsts. A human sympathiser which was unheard of in their army when they all had been fed and clothed well.

    "Unlessбн It''s one of our masters that sold us off." One of the Demon Rat Generals spoke out of buried anger that their ns were being shot down one by one from the counterattacks.

    "How dare you said that about our masters?!"

    "But aren''t they humans? Perhaps they are scared that we be too powerful for them to control!"

    "We should take this chance to annihte them."

    All these whispers of using the North and South Schrs suddenly started to get stronger and it made even the most staunch of supporters of their masters to have their resolve waver at the immense peer pressure.

    "Then, let''s not dally any longer and remove any human presence and take charge of the Demon Rat Army as how we should have done so a long time ago." One of the Demon Rats General said and the rest readily agreed.

    Unbeknownst to Jin and the System, the Demon Rats'' coup de teat might possibly be the tide turning for the best for them in the long run now that they had decided to go against their masters. But as of now, Jin continued to run hismands in his Dungeon Maker Console and ensure that the Great Demon Rat War could be suppressed as much as what the best oues the System had simted previously.

    "Yawn. Where is our turn?" Kraft said as he was sitting right beside him and the league of Night Foxes were all standing behind him waiting for his orders to be given when he felt like it.

    "As much as I like to send you to the East and West Digs where their main attacking army should be, it''s not the time right now. The Demon Rats had yet to show their true colours and seeing how they had once massively modified the Northern Capital Castle for their drilling, they might have some other crazy stuff that they are hiding especially when this is their main capital where all their supposed magic is to happen." Jin said as he continued to prepare the third wave of trains to fight the hideouts and camps that served as the Demon Rat Outposts.

    "Then just send a freaking nuclear missile right smack at the centre," Kraft said as his mouth was wide open once more from yawning.

    "And lose hectares of fertile farming?"

    "Better than wasting time fighting with small fries," Kraft replied and surprisingly told his Night Foxes to sit on the floor while standing by for his orders.

    It looked like he was not nning to go anywhere until he annoyed Jin enough for a proper deployment spot.

 Chapter 1315: Se Chang Changs Excitement

    <h4>Chapter 1315: Se Chang Chang''s Excitement</h4>

    As the Royal Zodiac Heads rampaged through the Demon Rats with utmost dedication to destroying every single one in their way, both the Pandarens and Pandawans were amazed by the sort of strength that was disyed. In fact, it even inspired a few to do better at this current Raid.

    Xiong Da was one of such cultivators as he saw how he could finally have something worth pursuing. Sure, the Hippo Cultivator might not be able to be at their level in years toe or even in his current lifetime but if he was able to reach a new grade because of his inspired new goals, it might definitely be something worth chasing for.

    Initially, he did want to go after Jin but the dungeon supplier had been too elusive in hiding his skills and onlying out asionally to show them off. Not to mention, the times he disyed his brilliance were always in the dungeon instances that he was sadly not around or too far away to witness. Butpared to the Royal Zodiac Heads who were currently on the same battlefield as him, they were a shining example of what it was to be a true high grade cultivator.

    However, he was not the only one in awe by this crazy disy of techniques and one shot kills. Kiyu finally allowed the streamers and reviewers who were waiting patiently for the media embargo to be lifted to set the entire inte into mes. And because of Jin''s requirement for all the invited streamers and reviewers toe into Dungeons and Pandas, the media embargo could be handled and lifted easily. There was no need to worry about leakages when the reviewers were considered ''hostages'' in Jin''s shop. (Of course, the reviewers had been treated well with a luxurious wealth of information and services that could make six star hotels pale inparison.)

    And to the reviewers, this was like a test that had the fastest fingers to shout out into the inte and attract the most attention. It was as if Jin was trying to give both big and small time reviewers a chance to get the audience they wanted. No one had exclusive rights and everyone was equal until the embargo was lifted.

    True enough, the piece of information about the gathering of the Royal Zodiac Heads spread like wildfire. It was to the point it was considered as breaking news in a few certain mainstream media channels the moment they pick them up. (After all, Jin did not invite any mainstream media to the festival since they were too troublesome to work with.)

    But by the time the news of the Royal Zodiac Heads was out in the open, most of the Royal Zodiac Leaders were already close to their contracted one hour mark to Jin''s surprise. He honestly thought this would be considered boring for these super powered fiends that had secret training since young. And yet, here they are in the Farming World wrecking to their heart''s desire. Some even took this opportunity to work together with their subjects as there were quite a few Royal Zodiac Soldiers that came for the PandaVerse Festival.

    In fact, almost 3/4 of the Royal Zodiac Snake toon came to give their support and Se Chang Chang the Royal Snake Zodiac Head had the rare chance tomand his troops to victory. He even told Hou Fei the Royal Snake General that this was way better than any military exercise that he had joined before. "Wait, till the main dish arrive." Hou Fei chuckled and Se Chang Chang had his eyes wide open. He thought that this current assault would only consist of cultivators and he had not realised that they were only this to create a foothold so that they could assault the capital earnestly.

    "How did you get all this information? Is it because of that military exercise that you took part in previously?" Se Chang Chang asked and Hou Fei nodded his head while replying to his boss in code that his colonels and he had the privilege to bring in some extensive equipment like tanks and artillery into the picture so long as they were able to provide more money. "That cunning little Panda. Looks like he is not as naive as people made him out to be. Do you need more cash for other ''equipment''? I saw from afar there''s an ocean that we can make use of. What about the aerones?" Se Chang Chang said and it seems like Hou Fei had managed to get the jackpot for Jin when ites to earning more money.

    "But are you supposed to only be contracted for an hour? Last I remembered talking to your assistant that you had quite a few agendas to clear for today." Hou Fei questioned although he knew beforehand that although they were only contracted for only an hour, they were not only obliged to stay any longer in Jin''s Dungeons and Panda store but able to stay as long as they want. If needed, the Dungeon Supplier had promised a one way portal back to their territories once they had enough of the fight.

    "Agenda for today? Screw those stuff. This is one dungeon instance that felt so real that I could not believe I did not trust you enough toe for the first one! Postponing those administrative for tomorrow will be fine." Se Chang Changughed as he told Hou Fei to give him advice if he did anything wrong with themanding while telling him to get at least a destroyer or airship carrier and a few nes in their possession. If they were going to y this for some time, might as well go all in with the fight.

    As for the others, a few of the Royal Zodiac Heads already had their fair share of fun and decided to return since leaving their territories empty after being exposed by the mainstream media had left them a tad anxious. But for Se Chang Chang? The fun had just barely begun as Jin already approved of the Royal Snake Zodiac''s urgent request to acquire additional items for their ''entertainment''.

 Chapter 1316: Coup d├йtat

    <h4>Chapter 1316: Coup d''ижtat</h4>

    "What are you all doing here? Can''t you see that we are being attacked?" A loud stomp from his precious metal staff reverberated throughout the entire room with magic power resonating from it.

    "You think that will scare us away, Master Nathan Welihelm? Just because you created us does not mean that we are not equals." One of the Demon Rat General said as his axe scraped the floor with a loud clicking sound. And soon, the rest of the generals followed suit and surrounded the Schr of the North, Nathan.

    "And? Can''t you see that we are busy discussing what we should do about this mess? The Eastern and Western fronts had somehow been discovered and they were all more than ready to attack us. More importantly, they even knew where the exact pinpoint locations of the digs were and had us in a pinch. And you guys are wasting your time - WHAT?" Nathan who was busy digesting the list of text from the Eastern and Western frontline did not notice the severed head that the Axe Demon Rat General was holding.

    Immediately, he put up a shield right in front of him and demanded an answer from the Demon Rat Generals. "What is the meaning of this?! How did Master Dous die and why are you holding his head in such a manner? Exin!" Nathan shouted as he tried to rummage through his desk to find themanding ring that was supposed to cause all Demon Rats regardless of ranks to obey his questioning.

    But before he was able to find it, the shield right in front of him started taking damage from the Demon Rat Axe General as his axe was no ordinary weapon. Like a rotating pinwheel, the axe continuously pounded onto the schr''s makeshift energy shield and roared as it ground through theyers.

    And this was merely just the Axe General doing his part where the others were smirking at how easy this whole ordeal was to perform a Coup d''ижtat. They had no idea that themand rings could be overwritten with just a simple loophole. By wearing one of them by themselves.

    The Rat Generals forcibly took themand ring from Dous, the Schr of the South who was preupied with boosting the defences of the main headquarters further into the capital. But in reality, Dous was mainly boosting his room with traps so that anyoneing in would be killed. He however disabled the traps for the Demon Rats for very obvious reasons but Dous had no idea that as he was enchanting the room, he would be stabbed in the back by various Demon Rat Generals, killing him almost instantly. And as if the Demon Rats knew the impossible possibility that he might be resurrected, beheading the head before he could make any further response was the most appropriate choice they had selected.

    And as if the beheading was not enough, the Demon Rat Generals demanded that his body would be cut into pieces and burned in the midst of this chaos. And in the meantime, the Generals looted his body and gave most of them to the Mage General of the Demon Rats since he had previously been bestowed powers by the Schrs themselves.

    As for the beheading, it was also used to serve as a conduit for the Mage General to obtain whatever knowledge Dous had withheld from him previously and also preserved his remaining soul within that beheaded piece so that the Rats can control y with fire by controlling the schr even from the dead.

    The Mage General believed that if he was able to do so, controlling the humans outside might be a feat that could be achieved too and this war could end sooner than they might expect. Simultaneously, having the tortured soul of Dous in their possession also allowed the Demon Rats to utilise the Command Ring as if simting the effect of Dous controlling the current group of Demon Rats General.

    But the control was still under the Mage General and thus creating a loophole that enabled the Rat Demons to move so boldly against the stronger of the two schrs. And since the Demon Rat Generals were under the effect of ''Dous'' themanding ring used by Nathan was rendered useless and all he could do now was to defend himself.

    "Why!? Why! After all that we did for you! You know that we are the only two that you can trust!" Nathan shouted as he attempted to prepare a lightning spell to zap the Rats into oblivion, hoping to buy time by learning their reason.

    Yet, the attack got fiercer and more of the Rat Generals took part in the destruction of his shield, causing Nathan to fire the lightning bolt prematurely and also doing some damage to himself from the feedback. And still, the Demon Rats did not fall back but rather pressed forward, going into melee range and shing the two arms away from Nathan''s body, disallowing him from even holding a wand.

    Nathan retaliated despite the loss he suffered. Even without hands, he was still able to chant, allowing him to regrow his hands with ck magic. Although it might lessen his lifespan, Nathan knows that his life will end in seconds if he does not use them and soon after, cast a necromancy spell that provided him with the ample amount of buffer that he could potentially need to fight against a group of well trained, well armed Demon Rat Generals.

    "Raise the dead!" Nathan shouted after his quick sessive rows of chants. Swift casting the spell enabled him to raise a few death knights at his behest and yet he was bested once more by the Demon Rat''s Mage General who cast a holy smite to break a pathway for the Demon Rat Axe General to plough through. The rest instantly blocked the remaining Death Knights, allowing the Axe General to shove the entire axe through Nathan''s body, causing him to be in shock and major loss of blood.

    And with that opening attack, the Demon Rat Generals continued to eviscerate thest schr who created them so that this entire race of Demon Rats will be led solely by Demon Rats

 Chapter 1317: The Dead Scholars Aftermath

    <h4>Chapter 1317: The Dead Schrs'' Aftermath</h4>

    "So what now Cinderw?" The Demon Rat Mage General asked the Demon Rat Axe General as he picked up Nathan''s beheaded piece and chucked into his belt like some trophy ornament alongside Dous'' severed head.

    "What now? Get your ass working. Get all the transmissions but send it to the mainmunications area immediately rather than have it filter through this stupid room." Cinderw said as he checked if the Schr of the North had any other artefacts that could be used against the humans. "And also, Prideblood, be sure to get all the spells and knowledge from those two heads before they expire."

    "Yeah, yeah. Just be sure to be victorious in your fights. The humans are not pushovers when they are bunched up like grapes." Prideblood said and Cinderw chuckled.

    "So, you are of the opinion to teleport them into various ces?"

    "Well, yeah? Just let me get those spells from the schrs and we should be good to go. It will disrupt their formation and we can overwhelm them solely with numbers once we break them apart." Prideblood said and the other generals who were nearby liked the idea a lot.

    "Also, I suggest we do mass teleports and bring the other Demon Rats along with them. It will save on our mana since I do not need to care how many to bring over."

    "Yeah, just do that and we will take care of the rest," Cinderw smirked at the new way of punishing the invaders. It seems as if the rats had underestimated how coordinated the humans were and as well as the number of talented people in their midst.

    He could only assume that these humans were from either the other regions or maybe a region that was unheard of or even kept as a secret by the Schrs. After all, they were keeping secrets till kingdome and refused to share anything unless it was necessary. But now that the Demon Rats are not under the rule of these pathetic masters who had spent their lives idly and treated them as mere pawns in the game of chess against the rest of the humans, they are going to carve a name for themselves.

    Cinderw knows that if those ex masters of theirs only wanted power and luxury of life and to be able to do so behind protection of a race would only further solidify theirfort zone. So what if they were to lose a few thousand Demon Rat soldiers? All they had to do was to make even more of those once the battle had ended. And at most, the schrs will send a retaliation attack to ensure that the humans within the Northern regions would suffer even more losses after this attack.

    However, they did not realise that the Demon Rats had far bigger ambitions to invade the East and West regions. The schrs thought that it would be stupid of them to branch out of the Northern region but their insistence left them no choice but for the Demon rats to leave with their own devices.

    Naturally, this brought even more headaches for the schrs when they found out about how coordinated the attack in the morning was when they realised the scale of the ambush. Being targeted when the Demon Rats were about to reach the regions through months of digging? The only regret was that they gave the Demon Rats too much freedom and death was the price they had paid for being oblivious to almost everything.

    Even through this attack, the North and South schrs wanted to hide as much as possible without providing much support, hoping to ride off the tide since they thought that they had the entire Demon Race at their behest. But they never thought how the Demon Rats had decided to use this confusion as an opportunity to remove them.

    To think all this was because both the North and South schrs got a bit greedy once they had created a new nt based on the Demon Seeds and were drunk with power conquering the entire Northern Region for themselves.

    But all this did not matter now that they were dead and the Demon Rats were inmand of everything. The Demon Rat Generals who used the excuse of the masters coborating with the humans were excited with their newmand of the entire Demon Rat race and they are eager to show these humans that they had messed with the wrong people (or rats).

    Prideblood eventually managed to learn how to mass teleport via the remains of the dead Schrs and the Demon Rat Generals had already assigned a few kill zones for that to happen. This move was the game changer for the current battle that the two sides were experiencing. The Demon Rats that were engaging against the cultivators did not have any idea what was happening and thought it was a spell from the cultivators, causing them to enrage while some who had the basic knowledge that it was a Demon Rat spell went berserk to keep the enemies upied before the spell activatesбнall for the glory of the Demon Rats.

    In the meantime for the Pandarens, they knew it was not a support spell as any friendly spell cast would be indicated in their Heads Up Disy (HUD) via their masks and some who were at the edge of the spell managed to move away from it while the rest who were caught in the crossfire continued their fight against the Demon Rats until they realised that they were teleported instead of being sted into pieces.

    Jin was surprised when the System reported that the Pandarens had been moved to another location deep underneath the current city that they were fighting and the dungeon supplier demanded the HUDs be brought up to the main screens of the Dungeon Maker instance.

    There he saw Demon Rats armed not just to the teeth but with steampunk equipment that was close to modern fantasies. Armoured Rats that could give Ironman a run for his money. And the look of grittiness in those Demon Rats'' eyes showed that it was not the first them they murdered people. Jin could only deduce that those Demon Rats had fought against each other to reach a rank or experience that he could not have imagined.

    And yet, those poor Pandarens were sent to these ''ughtering houses'' to be killed right on the spot and for the next batch toe in.

 Chapter 1318: Demon Rats Battle Report I

    <h4>Chapter 1318: Demon Rats Battle Report I</h4>

    "The number of dead cultivators is going up." the System said and Jin started to scratch his head. He knew that there was nothing he could do unless he decided to put up an anti magic barrier to protect the cultivators from being teleported into the rat''s kill zone.

    Thankfully, the cultivators did not think that way and assumed that it was part of the dungeon instance''s design. The Pandarens who were killed mercilessly by the Demon Rats could only assume that they should not be in those magic circles and decided to write it in the forums.

    With the Royal Zodiac Heads leaving the dungeon instance and returning back to their respective workce (with the exception of Se Chang Chang), there were no strong supporters to assist the rest of the Pandarens other than themselves. So by writing in the forums, people who were defeated and resting in the Luxury Recovery Instance knew what to expect when they went for their second round.

    It was as if the Pandarens were learning not only about the Demon Rats but teaching the rest who had yet to enter the dangers they could encounter. And the infamous Mr Know It All had already begun topile all this information and put it up as a major big post for everyone to view.

    Now that Jin knows the true identity of Mr Know It All as well as he being part of the Panda Inc Executive, the dungeon supplier had bestowed him the title of a Super User, allowing him to use the System to help edit the posts and giving everyone information that was required for the fight. Normally, Kong Rong would need to spend lots of time editing and pasting the information into the forums but with the aid of the System, the changes in the forum''s posts were fast.

    When one wonders why Kong Rong, the uing Royal Zodiac Dragon Head had the time to y the role of Mr Know It All, the only answer he gave was that it was his hobby. But since Jin knew his other job aside from being the Head of the Royal Zodiac n, he understood that it was to keep his information gathering skills up to date.

    "What do you think of this mass teleport skill that the Pandarens are up against?" Jin asked Kong Rong when he learned that thetter was updating his forum posts.

    "Not outside our expectations. I mean, we did use something simr with those crazy train attacks. Teleporting trains from our world to their world and forcefully assault them without going through their external defences. It''s a tactic I too would like to use in the future and since they have the means and abilities to do so, the Demon Rats copied what we did and used a divide and conquer method to kill us. It''s not surprising at all." Kong Rong said while adding contributions to yers who had updated the forums as well as tipping them a little for their information. (which he had verified alongside the System.)

    "Besides, it''s not our fault that our Pandaren are weak. Most of the new ones never went through any war or real life battles before and using this tform to allow them to experience war is one of the fastest ways to let them grow." Kong Rong added and said that everyone could only believe that this is a ''damn real dungeon instance'' and not another world.

    "To them, it''s just another game while we know that this is not the case." Jin sighed as he was only worried that the ''difficulty spike'' was too high for them. Yet he had forgotten that aside from the realism his dungeon instances were infamous for, so were the challenges that his ''dungeons'' had provided.

    The cultivators who were attracted to his store were itching for not just sightseeing but a challenge that would help them grow from their current slump in cultivation. Upon learning through many people''s word of mouth (as well as the inte), most of the new customers know that this would definitely be the best chance to get out of their slump and break through to the next level.

    And that was evident when the System collected data of the numerous breakthroughs from Grade 1 to Grade 2s when the Pandarens were defeated and sent to the recovery instance. It was as if they were enlightened when they finally knew how their battle techniques were supposed to work and how to ovee challenges.

    The System also did something out of its own ''goodwill'' by giving a small reward of coins as if to spur the Pandarens who had levelled up despite being defeated to have another try on the Demon Rats. And so far, it was working rather well as the morale of the cultivators continued to be maintained at an all high, prompting them to continue the assault against the Northern Capital.

    On the other hand, with the forums and cultivators sharing information, people started to be more coordinated especially when the Pandamonium App had a new feature called the party finder. The System can either automatically put a group of people wanting to join the raid into one party based on their sses to get a bnced one or the Pandarens are able to set requirements so people can join when they meet their requirements.

    As thetter provided some restrictions, some of them had to wait a little longer to join in the fun, else they could allow the System to do some matchmaking for them as well at no cost, although the consequences were for the rest of the party members to bear since they cannot reject any which the System had rmended. At the same time, they could hire the Pandamonium ''NPCs'' to do the fight which the System had already fine tuned from previous dungeon instances and they were lower tier minions such as the Southern soldiers that were trained not too long ago which Jin and the System had taken in. (Although they could use the System real ''NPCs'', it was cheaper in terms of resource management with their minions.'' But with these quick party finding solutions, the Pandarens can finally have a fighting chance with a bnced party.

    And yet, Jin was not sending any more of his minions other than the ones who were fighting against the Demon Rats in the East and West regions. This was because he knew that the surface was just a beginning as they have an entire cityбнor perhaps a region worth of rats right under their feet going with life as per normal.

 Chapter 1319: Outer Wall Campsite

    <h4>Chapter 1319: Outer Wall Campsite</h4>

    "Run! Run!" The Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers told the Pandarens to escape the iing artillery that wasing from the inner walls. As a veteran of the battlefield, the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers roughly knew where the artillery attacks wereing from and the approximate location where they wouldnd.

    Even though they knew that the Pandarens had very little time to run away from the attack, they are cultivators and should be able to at least escape or bring up a chi barrier to protect themselves.

    At the same time, Se Chang Chang and Hou Fei had decided to clear the outer walls while waiting for the equipment they had purchased to be put to great use. Unlike the Pandapolis defensive, the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers were on the offensive but they required a foothold for a counterattack as they realised that there was no proper base for them to deploy, rest or assault from.

    While the major wave of train siege had caught the Demon Rats by surprise, the Pandarens did not have any support equipment that they could utilise from the attack. The major push they had initially was from the Royal Zodiac Heads where they inflicted the most amount of damage and did not press on.

    After the adrenaline rush had subsided, Royal Zodiac Snake Head Se Chang Chang could understand why the Pandarens were given a roughly drawn terrain map to them prior to the PandaVerse festival. He had assumed that those who wished to survive needed to retreat and used the terrain map to escape once the Pandarens were battered. Else, the only way to get out of this dungeon instance was to get killed.

    However, if that were to happen, they would lose some points from their death and it was not exactly advisable to do so. While they were given a voucher which they could use to regain their points upon buying their ticket as well as depending on the ticket tier, it was inadvertently that dying too many times was an option they could not swallow.

    Hence, Se Chang Chang deduced that this attack was supposed to be just a surprise ambush and those who could see the bigger picture could see that this was to determine how the Demon Rats could respond to the attack. But only Hou Fei and Se Chang Chang who were war veterans know that if they retreat away from the outer walls, that surprise siege would be wasted as the Demon Rats would raise their defences further when they ughtered all the Pandarens within the vicinity.

    Thus, Se Chang Chang decided to use the outer walls as the ce for the Pandarens to replenish their stamina and return to battle again. Or as most Pandarens would have dubbed it a ''save point''. It cost a little bit more money than Se Chang Chang had expected but now he understood why Jin had also sold such an item that allowed the cultivators to respawn once they ced the save point down.

    Unlike in games where there was a crystal where they could teleport to, it was more like a drop point that could be seen in first person shooting battlefield games. The Pandarens could now choose the Outer Wall Camp as Se Chang Chang had dubbed it to respawn. However, instead of a portal appearing right at the Outer Wall Camp, a train would emerge along the edge of the Outer Walls (the safer side) and they could alight from there.

    That means that those who wish to rejoin had to queue for a train which currently had an interval of 15 minutes. But for those who had priority queue vouchers or higher tier tickets, they would be directed to a storehouse where there were Pandas handling arge gigantic cannon pointing towards the sky.

    It is somewhat like a siege trebuchet where the Pandarens could hide inside a bubble ball simr to what they rode in the Cultivation Zoo Instance. But unlike that harmless thing, the ball was filled with explosives so that when they were catapulted into the dungeon instance via the cannon, they would be ''teleported'' like aet diving down to destroy the highest density of Demon Rats which would contribute to their raid points. (technically this was how they would earn the points back that they had lost.

    But the reason Se Chang Chang did not mind spending more money to create the Outer Wall Camp was that it allowed him to earn points as well. This was considered as support as well and each time any Pandarens entered his camp to rest, recuperate or even replenish their equipment, he would earn some points.

    Thus, aside from the requisition of a ship and a few nes, Se Chang Chang had unted his wealth and bought licences where NPC Pandas would emerge on the campsite to sell ammunition, potions and even rations. At the same time, the Royal Zodiac Snake Head add put up arge area magic barrier to protect the camp while Hou Fei spent money (and using his VIP privilege since he was a Panda Inc Executive) to set up artillery guns and missileunchers for his Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers to use.

    An eye for an eye, if those Demon Rats were firing at them from their inner wall, the Pandarens are allowed to do the same too. This also gave the Pandarens a bit of fire support so they would not be overwhelmed by the Demon Rats.

    Yet, the Demon Rats knew the existence of the camp since it was set up right in front of their eyes and had also tried ways to thwart it so that it would break their chain of reinforcement. Prideblood had attempted to mass teleport the Pandarens within the camp but Se Chang Chang had seen thating and already ced an anti teleport magic barrier in the camp. (which was also why no teleport portals wereing from the System too.) And since that was useless, Prideblood had decided to continue to use his magic on other Pandarens while trusting the other Demon Rats to do their job.

 Chapter 1320: Roughscreams Bloodlust

    <h4>Chapter 1320: Roughscream''s Bloodlust</h4>

    "Roughscream, you are up to destroy that Outer Wall Campsite," Cinderw said as he sat on the new usurped throne that he and the rest of the Demon Rat Generals had achieved recently. It was approximately a few hours into the war as everything had settled into a stalemate. After the initial explosive act by the humans, the Demon Rats were able to pit evenly against them, causing them to stay within the Outer Town regions of the Northern Capital while the rats fortified the Inner walls as soon as possible.

    In the meantime, the Demon Rats had been sending groups of soldiers wave after wave from various directions due to the secret passages they had created previously connecting the Inner Town with the Outer Town but the Pandarens preserved their surprise ambushes and continue to hold the ground, especially with the Outer Wall Camp assisting in their efforts.

    Their seamless requests for artillery support allowed the Royal Zodiac Snake soldiers to polish their artillery skills as they gave more precise bombardments as time goes by. With their support, the Pandarens were able to cut the secret passages off and focus on defeating any Demon Rats that came about. However, the retaliation via the top of the Inner Walls was equally deadly. Most of the Demon Rats and Pandarens were using the houses and other building debris as cover from both sides and the battle was literally a zone of attrition.

    Even though the Pandarens did not have the numbers against the Demon Rats, their constant reinforcement through the Outer Wall Camp had ensured that they did not lose too much ground against it. But it was a total nightmare for the new Pandarens despite it being a brand new experience for them. If not for the recovery instance that Jin had set up, he believed a lot of those Pandarens would have been scared by the ''realistic'' feeling of being in his dungeon instance.

    But as time passed, the Pandarens were getting used to the attacks and even devised ns to destroy the elite Demon Rats when they were teleported into those kill zones. All of them thought it was part of the event and did not think much about it thus with the party finder that allowed them to be apanied by Southern Soldiers, Healers and Mages, they were able to defeat quite a number of Demon Rat Elites before escaping the kill zone and arriving in the Undercity beneath the Northern Capital. It was basically a free for all as they hit and run whatever they could see since to them, it was information which was not avable until they had escaped the kill zones.

    And even if they died, the Pandarens shared the information through the Pandamonium Forums knowing that Mr Know It All (and the System, well under the name of Mr Know It All) would provide them incentives and payment for revealing such information to the public. It was like reconnaissance of the entire Pandarenmunity while trying to survive this crazy Raid Event.

    "Cinderw, that camp is practically harmless against us. With a few strikes from our volley of cannons, it would be destroyed. You saw how their magic barrier dropped instantly after a few hits before it recovers again." Roughscream said as he held onto his spiked club. The Demon Rat Club General swung his mechanical club and ced it on his shoulder while looking hungry for a better fight.

    "Hah, Roughscream is probably more interested in the humans that survived our kill zone." Skydigger, the Demon Rat Pickaxe General said and Cinderw snorted at that aspect.

    "That group of humans managed to destroy the entire team in minutes and we are allowing them to survive?" Roughscream asked what Cinderw was thinking. Compared to that camp which could be bombarded with the number of artillery avable, those humans had managed to annihte one of their elites and it should be a more pressing concern than it.

    "Unless Cinderw wished to tire out those humans before assaulting them?" Skydigger shrugged his shoulders and Roughscream literally screamed right in front of their new leader.

    "You know how those humans are despicable and ruthless in their attacks. Why are we not stopping them right now?!"

    "If you can use your brain for a moment, perhaps you will understand why," Cinderw said as he ordered Roughscream to look at the footage that the Mage Demon Rats were able to recreate right in front of them.

    All they showed was multiple footages of humans getting killed again and again by the Demon Rats and Roughscream could not see anything wrong with them. It was then something caught his eye. There were a few humans with the same type of masksing back again and again.

    While the masks had not revealed their identity, it was pretty obvious based on the attacks they dished out. The same magical (chi in the cultivator''s eyes.) attacks were used and they became stronger not just in terms of their attacks but in their wits fighting against the Demon Rats in those kill zone boxes that the Demon Rat Generals had set up.

    "You get what I mean now?" Cinderw said as he sat morefortably on the throne. He now understood why the schrs loved sitting on this pedestal of power so much.

    "Those humans have the ability to return alive? We should capture them instead of killing them!" Roughscream said and Cinderw wished tough at his opinion although he was not wrong without knowing the circumstances. The Demon Rat Axe General would have done the same too.

    Prideblood came into the throne room upon hearing the initial uproar and replied by saying that they had tried to do so the moment they found out that those humans were able to revive back once more.

    "But each time we killed and captured one to experiment, a secret spell had allowed them to explode leaving almost nothing behind. It was as if they know that they would be captured and tortured to learn about them so they decided to suicide and therefore not allow us to do anything to them." Prideblood said. "We tried taking their blood and even amputating them but the results that our scientists had shown were nothing significant."

    "So? All we had to do was to kill and kill again until they nevere back." Roughscream said as he walked out of the room and went into one of the Killzone boxes himself.

 Chapter 1321: Kill Box Zone

    <h4>Chapter 1321: Kill Box Zone</h4>

    "Seriouslyбнthis is not an easy raid at all," Bu Dong eximed as he was catching his breath after killing thest Demon Rat that was trapped with them in this ck damp room. The room was not lit and there was not a switch in the room to turn the lights up again. If not for the Mask having a night vision mode in it, there was no way he and the rest of the Pandawans would be able to see.

    The night vision mode was initially a paid module for the masks that they were wearing but because of the current situation in which most Pandarens were stuck, the System had decided to be ''gracious'' and ''magnanimous'' to put it as a buyable module via the use of raid points.

    What''s more, was that it was priced way cheaper than usual (about 10-20% cheaper) if the raid points were to be converted into Panda Coins (there was a current exchange rate between the raid points and Panda Coins but because it is done like a live currency exchange, the number of raid points needed to change for one Panda Coin keeps going up.) In fact, Jinter revised to put the Night Vision Module as part of the higher tier tickets especially for the sponsor tickets and the Pandawans all received it for free. (If they already had it previously, it would be converted into extra raid points but only 25% of the current amount that had been offered to the public.)

    The System also bundled the night vision module with other Mask''s modules if the Pandarens were looking for some serious upgrades to their current Mask while saving some money along with it. Else, the night vision module was more than sufficient for their current predicament as well as when they use it to traverse the Undercity.

    "We did expect that much of a difficulty especially when we had decided to enter the teleport circle." Xiong Da said as he tried to use his chi to sense whether there are any more living Demon Rats within the vicinity. He had fought these rats before and knew that trickery was not beyond them. In fact, such cowardly behaviour to hide in the room and ambush them when they were caught off guard was perfectly normal. After all, the winner would be the one who survives. (Although the Pandawans know that it was only bothersome for them to restart again once they died, as well as the fear of losing more points than required.)

    Eventually, he noticed that there were quite a few Demon Rats hiding within the corpses via his chi sense and decided to use his chi telepathy to tell the rest about it. The rest continued to act casually while building their chi within their body so that when they were close enough to the enemies, they st their chi out with their strikes.

    There was immediate retaliation from the Elite Demon Rats using whatever they could find as a shield. Even using their previousterades was an option they did not skip. They were no doubt injured from the Pandawans'' attacks but they were still capable of a counter so they took every opportunity they could salvage and used it to injure the Pandawans.

    The only constion that Pandawans have is that they are experienced cultivators who had been trained in Jin''s Dungeon instances for months. There was no need for them to panic with this surprise ambush when they were the ones who were vignt enough to counter back as well and put the remaining Demon Rats down to their grave for sure.

    After clearing the room once more, everyone started to use chi Sense once again to ensure that there were no more enemies around. It was then they decided to rest a little while Xiong Da and Shi Zuo stood guard. From replenishing their health and chi with potions to ensuring that they were well armed before getting out of the room. It might seem like a room with no exits but their chi sense had managed to find a tunnel corridor that was connected to the doorless room.

    Thus, they decided to break it down with force and move forward but the Pandawans immediately felt a dangerous aura emanating within the four walls, causing them to raise their weapons up in reaction. They could not find anything that was moving until they realised that a new teleport circle emerged right in front of them. The only difference was that this teleport circle was smaller in fact, small enough to teleport just one enemy.

    "Just one Demon Rat? Did he teleport wrongly?" Luo Bo said only after she released her arrow. However, the Demon Rat screamed at them and the arrow even though imbued with chi was being stopped in its tracks and fell to the ground.

    "Guess it''s not some normal Demon Rat that we had been fighting against." Bin Yong went forth ahead of the group and took a defensive stance, protecting the entire group with his tiny shield.

    Roughscream did not know whether tough or pity the warrior who stood at the front. To the Demon Rat General, It was obvious to him that the guy defending with his buckler was either naive or stupid.

    Yet, the rest of his team seemed to trust him a lot and there was nothing else the rest of the group would do to resist him. This then made Roughscream to be a bit wary of him. Yet, he felt that there was sufficient reason to think that the shield guy had been overestimated by him.

    But before the rat could make his move, Luo Bo had decided to use her skill. Thousand Rabbit''s Shower. With no monsters to disturb her and sufficient space between her and the enemy, the Luo Bo was able to utilise this difficult skill that ensured that her arrows would shower and hit true.

    Roughscream tried to defend against the Thousand Rabbit''sShower and thought it was just a bunch of arrows attempting to injure him. But never did he realise that those arrows that had been sted through a wide radius would eventually converge towards him.

    "Heh. You better give me more fun than this." Roughscream said to himself as he flicked his pickaxe which had killed dozens of cultivators before leaping further into this kill box zone.

 Chapter 1322: The Advent of a Demon Rat General

    <h4>Chapter 1322: The Advent of a Demon Rat General</h4>

    "User, the Pandawans had engaged with a foe of a fairly high ranking." The System said as it switched the Dungeon Maker main console screen to the scene where the Pandawans were trapped alongside Roughscream.

    "A high ranking Demon Rat? A general?" Jin queried but the System was unable to identify, only knowing that a deflection of a chi imbued arrow would warrant some sort of caution. While the System had created a sort of ranking after defeating that many Demon Rats, it was unable to categorise the current Demon Rat soldier that was fighting against the Pandawans.

    Since the Pandawans were of an average grade of nine, the System found it suspicious that the Demon Rat was able to fight on par with not one but two Pandawans at the same time. This was also because there were no chi levels topare the Demon Rats to the cultivators and the only thing it could differentiate was based on its size, type, and to a certain extent its magical powers. However, those usually with magic powers were of a weak stature but this particr Demon Rat was able to wield some sort of magic even though it had not disyed any yet. This made the System believe that there was a higher tier of Demon Rats which had been hidden for this entire time or perhaps they were the ones that were coordinating all the Demon Rats.

    "They are equivalent to a magic knight or a cultivator of grade 10 onwards." The System said and Jin told the System to continue watching the Demon Rats. The System however queried whether it was the right time to send his higher levelled minions to the fray but the Dungeon Supplier shook his head.

    "Now is not the time. Although n wise, we should be unleashing our troops into the undercity now that the Pandarens had discovered it but I think we would be showing our cards way too early. On the other hand, we should hope that Gold and Weslie are able to deal with the Demon Rat Army." Jin said and realised it was a good time to speak to the two schrs too.

    "Gold, Weslie. How are the responses of the East and West? I assumed that they should have seen enough action." Jin asked and Weslie decided to answer first.

    "The Queen of the West had decided to lend us our aid by supplementing the Adventure Guild with the promise of great reward. She needed more time to get the army in ce before they could sortie out so the adventurers were given the incentive to risk their lives to fight against the Demon Rats. After all, the Demon Rats were something akin to monsters and the Queen''s council believed that the adventurers were more well equipped to handle it." Weslie reported and also confirmed that the current evacuation of the nearby towns for the soldiers to create a foothold.

    "What about the Southern Soldiers? How are they holding up to the West''s colder weather?" Jin asked and Weslie reported that the armour that Jin had sent previously was more than sufficient for the soldiers who suffered heatstroke on a daily basis. After all, Weslie had personally conducted simr environment simtions during their training once they had been assigned to work for her.

    "Okay, that''s good to know. Remember to warn the adventurers not to steal any of our supplies or they will meet with death by our de." Jin told Weslie and she once told the Dungeon Supplier that the situation in the West was not always favourable because of their terrain and starvation was always an ongoing issue that the soldiers of the West always had to settle.

    Weslie understood his orders immediately despite being reluctant to send the order to kill these thieving adventurers. But in war, stealing supplies was a major war crime since it affects the logistics of the assault team. Not to mention, the supplies, especially the food supplies, were made by Lynn and her food department. If those adventurers stole those food supplies, it would definitely prompt them to steal even more once they learnt how magically tasty (and powerful) the food was.

    "Master, the East isn''t receptive to it despite our efforts to convince them with the live magic feed. Instead, a lot of the nobles are fending for themselves, wanting to run away from this menace. My cousin told me that - hold on for a minute." Gold stopped the transmission to send a volley of lightning projectiles into the horde of Demon Rats, and shouted a fewmands before returning back into the conversation.

    "Ah yes, my cousin is informing me that most of the nobles around the area are moving away from the coast and only a few younger nobles had heeded our call since their towns are within the vicinity. I guess they are afraid that theirnd would be useless after the fight but in my opinion, their soldiers are not the most experienced so they are only going to support or guard the area."

    "Heh, then you got to thank me for my support!" A faraway voice was heard through the transmission even though it was supposed to mute all background voices. And that was none other than Zieg, the dark temrs.

    "Yes, yes. The Dark Temrs had connections with quite a number of nobles since a few of them are also part of the nobility. So even when they are running away from the threat, they have used their power in whatever underhanded way possible to get mercenaries and soldiers. We can use them as the rearguards in case some of the Demon Rats manage to escape." Gold added, which made Zieg terribly happy to contribute to the cause.

    "What about those who could also escape the rearguard?" Jin asked even though he knew the answer but since Gold was the battlefieldmander for the eastern region, there could be changes that Jin was unaware about.

    "Yes, we did station a few Weremouse to the rearguard as well since they are the best chasers that we currently have. Unless the situation unfolds to a degree we are unable to handle, we would not be contacting additional reinforcements until the second stage of the n." Gold replied and Jin nodded his head with satisfaction. All the hard work preparing for this Great Demon Rat War was not easy but at least it is bearing fruits of sess."

    All Jin could hope was that everything was still within their expectations of the worst oues.

 Chapter 1323: Pandawans Vs Roughscream

    <h4>Chapter 1323: Pandawans Vs Roughscream</h4>

    "Fuck! What kind of Demon Rat is that!?" Bu Dong shouted as he deflected one of the attacks, letting Shi Zuo take over his ce. Although he had managed to block each and every one of the Demon Rat''s attacks, there was no opening for him to take advantage of.

    "I am Demon Rat General Roughscream!" The Demon Rat shouted as he had enough of the mindless shouting from those humans. He was not able to understand what they were saying but he did not realise that the Pandawans have an auto trante function based on the System''s relentless curiosity to learn itsnguage after catching a few of the Demon Rats.

    That was when both the Pandawans and the System had finally found the identity of the Demon Rat that attacked the former. Jin was quite shocked when he found out that the Demon Rat was of a General rank as he did not expect a General toe alone to fight the cultivators.

    "You undying humans, I will kill you until you never dare toe back!" Roughscream shouted with excitement as his attacks started to be faster and more precise which Shi Zuo was unable to follow without inserting more chi into his body to keep up with the attacks. He had to channel his chi to strengthen his muscles so that his reflex would match up to the Demon Rat General''s attack.

    However, he eventually received wounds from Roughscream even though he was very sure that he had evaded it. The only thing he could think of was that his weapon has some sort of ability that allowed the Demon Rat to attack away from his range. That meant that Shi Zuo had to either evade further or faster or he had to block the attacks instead. Yet, when he did thetter, he could feel a deep pierce through his upper chest when he blocked the pickaxe from falling into him.

    Shi Zuo checked his HUD and noticed that his health was dipping significantly. The assault did not weaken his block but the inflicted damage caused him to react by jumping backwards to gain some distance. Somehow, that caused Roughscream to smirk as he pulled his weapon backwards like how a miner would retract his hands after a mining action and suddenly Shi Zuo was being pulled back towards him.

    "You are not going anywhere." The Demon Rat said as he did the very same action once more by shing his pickaxe downwards to the very same position where he hit Shi Zuo.

    "I am not going to die just like that!" Shi Zuo shouted as he took his axe up and portrayed his Mad Monkey silhouettes above him. His axe, which was initially the size of a hatchet, grew in size with the amount of chi ced into it, causing it to be a great axe in an instant.

    "Intermediate Great Axe Art! The Divide Between the Mountains of the Mad Monk-" Shi Zuo was still saying the name of his Great Axe technique but he did not realise that Roughscream practically screamed once more causing him to lose his footing since the sound waves were able to push Shi Zuo backwards and stopped him from activating his technique. This was mainly because Bu Dong and Xiong Da were attempting to attack Roughscream at the same time and the Demon Rat General screamed to stop them from advancing.

    At the same time, Roughscream leapt forth and crashed himself onto Shi Zuo, preventing him from moving away and subsequently sending his pickaxe right straight into his skull. Shi Zuo was killed swiftly and that caused Luo Bo who was on the sidelines to yell in anger. Even though she knew that Shi Zuo was not dead per se, the loss of her husband caused her to rage.

    "Intermediate Bow Art, Rupture Shock Arrows of the Rabbit!" Luo Bo shouted as she released a continuous barrage of arrows imbued with electricity, allowing her arrows to fly faster than normal considering how Roughscream was able to deflect her attacks with his unique signature ability.

    "You guys are pathetic." Roughscream thought to himself as he took his pickaxe up and mmed the ground, causing the tiles and dead bodies of the previous Demon Rats to float upwards, blocking the dead straight arrows flying towards him. Next, he saw where the rest of the Pandawans were and moved to attack each and every one of them.

    Xiong Da performed a simr attack by mming the ground as well to block his advance but he did not expect the Demon Rat General to cut through everything in his path and smashed his pickaxe right straight to his chest, aiming for his heart.

    "Do not underestimate the Hippo-" Xiong Da suddenly stopped talking as the general''s pickaxe dug further into his chest and prated his heart directly, causing major blood loss within himself. The Demon Rat smiled as he knew that he had won if he could kill the invaders this easily but Xiong Da was not going to give the Demon Rat an easy time as he grabbed onto Roughscream and initiated an overload chi inscription- basically a human bomb inyman terms.

    "Let''s see who has thestugh." Xiong Da thought to himself but he did not realise that his strength could be overpowered by the Demon Rat General as Roughscream squeezed out of his grapple and kicked him towards the remaining Pandawans. At the same time, he took two dead Demon Rats Elite and used them as body shields. The only unfortunate part was that the moment he picked them up, those Demon Rat corpses turned back to their original ''resource'' and the General somehow had been wounded with quite a bit of damage. But other than that, Roughscream continued his onught and defeated each and every one of the Pandawans that was alive while letting out a warcry of victory to show his strength. "No matter how many times you are back, I will kill you."

    "Hmm. the Pandawans are more conservative than I thought in this particr fight," Jin said to himself as he had them on one of the main console screens in the Dungeon Maker.

    "The Demon Rat Elites they fought previously had caused them to be fatigued as they did not expect to face a General rank Demon Rat almost immediately. The System assumed that they are taking turns to fight Roughscream so as to regain their stamina." The System said as it recorded the strengths of the Demon Rat General.

    "Their deaths were pretty brutal though. And given the pain metre had been set as realistic, it would take guts to face the Demon Rat General once more." Jin said to himself but he had forgotten that the Pandawans were not the type to give up after their deaths. Instead, they would be back for revenge.

    But with the Demon Rat General left undefeated, it seems somebody or somebodies were watching with great intent. "Seems to me that we have ourselves a brand new target -oops I mean a group of brand new targets to look forward to." Kraft thought to himself as he retreated back into the Dungeon Maker Instance''s shadows and disappeared alongside his trusted Drow Elves.

 Chapter-1324 : Lets Try Again

    Chapter 1324: "Let''s Try Again."

    "That Roughscream is surely a pain in the ass." Bu Dong said as he cuddled his nket in the Pandawan''s exclusive Recovery instance. "Sorry guys, I was not there to assist you all." Jan Le apologised for dying a tad faster than the rest since she was killed during the assault of the Demon Rat Elites.

    "It''s fine. In a way, you are our ace card up our sleeves if we fight against that stupid General once more." Shi Zuo said as he touched Ms head. The Mad Monkey cultivator could still feel the aftereffects of getting pierced right through the head even though he had no injuries to his entire body. "You lot should get more rest than usual. Nurse orders." One of the Senior Panda Nurses said that she was not letting the rest of the Pandawans off until they got sufficient rest especially when they had been at this for at least five hours straight.

    "But the raid points..." Bu Dong frowned at the Panda Nurses stopping him from going out again. "The raid points could be earned again and this raid is not going anywhere even after the end of PandaVerse. While the mandatory rest period will be enforced, I will suggest to you all to at least browse and try out the other stuff that is avable exclusively during the PandaVerse Festival. "We could get lunch!" Luo Bo rmended it as she was famished from the fight. "Besides, do we really need to fight that boss again after that? We need to find a teleport circle once again and go through all that nonsense to fight against the Demon Rat General. Feels like a pain in the ass." Luo Bo said as if ignoring the rest of what the Panda Nurse had suggested but the NPC was merely doing its job to promote the PandaVerse and not force it down their throats. (With the exception of the rest period since the System had detected significant fatigue levels in the Pandawans and they needed to rest or it would merely harm them long term, especially the number of deaths they went through fighting through multiple kill zones for the past few hours.) "Hmm... I deduce that killing that General will not change the situation much since there would be no way there''s only one general working in this particr war. In fact, that rat might have been a General because of his rank rather than his ability tomand." Bin Yong said and they looked toward him to finish the conversation. "But.. if we are able to kill him, we will not only earn a heck ton of points from the System and also reduce the kill count of the Demon Rats."

    "You make it sound like you have a n to kill him." Deng Long said and Bin Yongughed and shook his head. "No way, you saw how strong he was? And that pickaxe was not just humiliating, it is definitely a magic weapon that is of a high tier. Maybe that Demon Rat is capable of using magic as well and did not use any of those because we are too weak" Bin Yong said. "Well, we were not prepared to fight such a strong foe from the start the moment we cleared the kill zone box. There were no such foes that came to the other groups when they ughtered all the Demon Rat Elites." Bu Dong said. "So much for re-arming ourselves and saying that we are prepared. We were too stunned to fight that Demon Rat General." Luo Bo sighed and wondered if things had changed if they had prepared for a boss fight instead. "No use crying spilt milk We might have gotten that General either by chance or we cleared certain conditions that caused the General to emerge. No matter what, more Pandarens will die by him if we do not do something or he might even appear in the main fighting area doing more damage than the rest of the Demon Rats could do. So, we should focus on our next course of action whether we wish to do the same thing again or assist other areas." Xiang Da offered his opinion. "I think we should continue to attempt hunting the Demon Rat General. Like what Xiong Da said, giving the General a consistent target to hunt would be a better solution than leaving it alone. Or else, the rest of the Pandarens might suffer and that would be a hit to both our morale and numbers." Bu Dong said but Deng Longughed at his decision. "You probably just want that heck load of points and perhaps achievement upon killing the Demon Rat General, right?" Deng Long who was in the opposite bed of Bu Dong had suddenly been hit by a random slipper. "Ahhh... If Deng Long and I could use our robots from Supa Robot War, that would be fantastic." Bu Dong said to himself how the current assault was based only on the manpower they had. It did not have any shy items that were being used, unlike the defensive war against the Demopolis Demons during the Pandapolis raids. But that thought alone was more than enough to trigger a realisation within him and he decided to entertain that thought by asking the Senior Panda Nurse who suggested the idea of looking around the PandaVerse festival. "Hey, Ms Nurse. You said something about there being more things to look at at the PandaVerse Festival, is there an event storefront that we might have missed out on at the start of the festival?" Bu Dong asked and the Senior Panda Nurse nodded her head.

    "Yes, there is one at the store instance ind. It only had been set up right after the celebration and you can also use raid points to purchase items from there." The Nurse replied but Bin Yong looked at Bu Gong with a curious look "Why do you bother with that? We can buy almost everything now on the online store. Even the redemption store can be used with the Pandamonium App and they would be transferred to us." Bin Yong said and Bu Dong shook his finger at him. "Had you forgotten how Jin always loved the brick and mortar store experience or how there were promotional foods that were on sale before we got on board the train? There is no way he would not put some exclusive stuff in the physical store when right now you can buy anything and everything through the updated Pandamonium App. He is not the kind who would let the old traditional shopping experience die down." Bu Doug was confident that fin was hiding something in those physical stores that the other Pandarens might not have noticed.

    "Heh. I agree with Bu Dong. We should go and have a look after grabbing some grub. I am freaking hungry and these sandwiches are not enough - Sorry Nurse, it''s not a majorint. The quality is good but not the quantity.- not enough to satisfy my hunger." Xiong Da said and everyoneughed a little.

    They hoped Bu Dong was right as they felt that they might not have a chance against the Demon Rat General even if they tried again..

 Chapter 1325: Extra - Royal Zodiac Snakes Opinions

    <h4>Chapter 1325: Extra - Royal Zodiac Snake''s Opinions</h4>

    Like how the Pandawans had described, the war against the Demon Rats was an attrition battle never seen before. Even the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers felt that the army should attend to this particr limited raid instance to have a sense of war during this era of peace.

    Se Chang Chang had returned to his office after a long stint leading the Royal Zodiac Snake soldiers for at least a day''s worth of work. He had never felt both exhrated and tired from the experience that he had to share it with the Royal Zodiac group chat.

    Many of them ignored his message upon learning that it was nothing important but Royal Zodiac Pig Head Zhu Tai Fang and Royal Zodiac Sheep Head Yang Rou Xiang were the only two who replied. They were positive with thements as well and even said that they would consider sending an attachment of Royal Zodiac troops to take part in the fight as well.

    Se Chang Chang was delighted with the support and was surprised that the ns that made up the main logistic team of China''s army was going in to earn experiencepared to the ns who were supposed to be the frontliners.

    Royal Zodiac Rooster Head Mu Ji said that she would join if they could afford troops that were allowed to fly which made Se Chang Chang scoff. "Of course! I even have three aircraft under my name and had been using them to do some bombing runs for Pandarens until I found out that those Demon Rats had prepared aerial threats as well. I am sure that if you speak to Jin personally, he might be able to give you a good deal to let your pilots learn more. Of course, you can''t possibly get newer ne models since Jin said that those are ssified information and he does not have enough references to make them. However, he did state that he might have something simr, just not the same, a bit more fictional in nature."

    "Hmm, I will talk to him a bit about it else, it''s not ending that soon, right?" Mu Ji asked through the chat and Se Chang Chang could only gather from Hou Fei that this was a limited raid instance that won''t be happening again anytime soon.

    "Jin projected that it would definitely not be done by the end of PandaVerse Festival but he said was going to push it through until they cleared their objective which is to clear the Demon Rats." Se Chang Chang replied and the rest who quietly read the chats understood why he decided to use the PandaVerse Festival to promote this main event of his. By calling it a festival, Jin would be able to fully utilise the strength of the raid instance and its difficulty. Without enough people, the raid instance would be too much of a challenge for the Pandarens." Chang Chang added that he believed that he was doing this to gather information to do a veryrge raid instance. In fact, he believed that this could possibly and officially be thergest raid instance in the world. He had no doubt that Jin directly had a hand in increasing the poprity of Dungeon Instances again in China as well as challenging the major Dungeon Supplierpanies overseas too.

    The Royal Snake Head also assumed that Jin had gotten the Royal Zodiac ns to increase the credibility of histest raid instance, allowing the local media as well as the inte to show that it was authentic since showing the Royal Zodiac ns meant that it concerned the face of China too. At the same time, Se Chang Chang also theorised that Jin was doing this to indirectly increase the military strength assuming the ns take advantage of the raid instance.

    And as the Royal Zodiac Snake Head had expected, he enjoyed undergoing Jin''s raid and the difficulty was something which he had not relished from a dungeon instance for the longest time ever. Even dungeon suppliers that were contracted with the armed forces were not able to create such an extensive and realistic instance. In fact, the most luxurious dungeon suppliers too could note close to Jin''s superior dungeon making skills. It was to the point that they were starting to lose their credibility of being the best in the field but not too much of an extent since their overwhelming service and high barrier of entry allowed rich people to enjoy themselves without it being too crowded.

    "Heh, perhaps Jin should open two new stores. One specifically for the armed forces and one for the super rich. I assume he will make tons of money if he did that." Se Chang Chang said to himself before opening the Pandamonium App and checking the status of his Outer Wall Camp that he had created. Before leaving, he added a few additional defences such as a better magic barrier and also started to reinforce the interior of the Outer Walls since he was using that to let the other Pandarens and his soldiers recuperate. There were anti-noise inscriptions to prevent explosive sounds from permeating through the walls, allowing the cultivators to rest.

    Se Chang Chang also decided to expand inward by adding military pillboxes, walls of sandbags and a trench line where the cultivators could fall back with defenders protecting the Outer walls. It was tedious especially when he needed extra manpower to man the entire Outer wall but there was nothing money could not buy including the construction of the defences.

    Multiple NPC Panda Mages temporarily appeared to use earth magic simr to how Sandy the Sand Witch did it to clear the ground to create the defences and set up the military pillboxes while the Southern Soldiers were bought via contracts to continue the defensive manning of the Outer Wall camp.

    It was expensive no doubt but the Royal Snake Head had nothing but money and responsibilities so to him, it was fine for him to splurge with his bank ount to get it done. Besides, there was a permanent 15% discount for him to utilise as given by Jin for being the only Royal Zodiac n Head to stay after their contracted time. (Even though everyone behind the scenes knows that Jin was probably scamming them despite the 15% discount.)

    "I had prepped everything that I could, all the best to you Hou Fei and the rest. Do not fail me." Se Chang Chang said as he turned in for the day satisfied.

 Chapter 1326: Shopping After Recovery

    <h4>Chapter 1326: Shopping After Recovery</h4>

    Even though the Great Demon Rat War had been the main attraction for the PandaVerse Festival, the Pandarens had started to look into the other events that made the PandaVerse Festival possible.

    And one of them was the physical promotional store that the Pandawans were walking to. All of them noticed how the end of the normal shop streets in their assigned store ind instance had been transformed into a list of stalls, something like an Asian night market. The only problem was that there was no one around and the NPCs were merely talking to each other as if they were alive.

    Once they noticed that the Pandawans hade to visit the stalls, they greeted them loudly before returning back to their stores knowing that this was the chance for them to earn some extra Panda Coins. (Or from the Pandawans'' perspective, to use their raid points.)

    Bu Dong was a little disappointed upon learning that it was just a regr night market and was not expecting much, however, the smell of certain snacks made him change his mind. Even the others, who initially wanted to eat first eventually passed the chance because of Bu Dong''s insistence, had their feelings cated by the fact that they could snack on the various items that were avable in this particr night market.

    From sticks of ck mountain pork sausage to fried sweet potatoes and bubble tea, there was a crazy assortment of food items for them to pick and choose from. Bu Dong had also decided to take the opportunity to eat on it and window shop around the ce.

    And when he looked around, he realised that there were only photographs of the items they were selling with the price tags attached to them. "Lol, that stall owner said that he is selling mechanical golems, something like our Robots but smaller in size and a little less responsive." Deng Long said as he caught up with Bu Dong who was looking at pictures of machine guns.

    "Boss, do we need to buy them first or we can try them out before buying?" Bu Dong asked the machine gun stall owner and the red panda owner sighed a little.

    "Are you able to see the item when you buy them from the online store?" The red panda questioned back and Bu Dong scratched his head thinking that this would be a tough negotiation until the Red Panda Owner loosened his expression and told him to follow his store assistant while he continued to take care of the shop front.

    "Put your hand out." The Red Panda Assistant said and the moment both the two Pandawans extended their hands, the Red Panda ced his on theirs, causing them to teleport to a small instance and a hologram containing all those machine guns were shown to them.

    "Holy shit, these are modern machine guns, not like the ones they sold on the online store." Deng Long, who was a policeman, had some knowledge of these guns and he knew that they were impossible to get since they were restricted. "Do you have approved permits on these weapons?" He asked with a concerned expression to the store assistant and the red panda quickly pped his paws, instantly popping up a stack of papers right in front of him.

    Deng Long picked up the papers and investigated using his phone''s internal police app as well. "Holy shit, this checked out, even the licence applications. I know that we are in a dungeon instance but to be able to supply this many restricted modern guns for dungeon instances when he barely opened for a yearбн What kind of dungeon supplier Boss Jin is?"

    "You should know by now he is no ordinary guy." Bu Dong literally ''lol'' at him before looking at the array of guns on the hologram.

    "Yea but this is beyond ordinary! From what I heard, only the super rich dungeon suppliers were able to obtain such licences and they were only able to hold at most five due to theplicated paperwork involved. To have an array of modern guns and have it as a wholesale product is beyond myprehension." Deng Long said but Bu Dong was already ignoring him and selected a gun through the hologram. The red panda assistant then howled while raising his arms and the selected modern gun, a Tavor X96 bullpup assault rifle.

    "Then we should be able to use them without feeling guilty then." Bu Dong said as a new red panda assistant appeared with a ck helmet popped down from the ceiling and pped his hands, creating a gun range right in front of the customers.

    Deng Long sighed and told the red panda assistant that he would assist Bu Dong with his try out which the assistants agreed since they knew his upation as a policeman. "I have always wanted to correct your stance but never had the time to do so since we are always in battle. Do not hold your gun this way, ce it firmly close to your shoulders, it will withstand the recoil and allow for better shots."

    And after a few rounds of firing, both Bu Dong and Deng Long decided to take the X96 rifles to augment their firepower against the Demon Rats. With their sponsored tickets, they were able to buy them for less than 60% of the price since they were eligible for such discounts. The licence application for them to be the rifle owners (within Jin''s dungeon instance) was almost done in a blink of an eye as the Red Pandas only required their signature and verbal approval. (After all, the System had all their details as disgusting as it sounds.)

    With the rifle purchases done, they quickly got out of the temporary store instance and went to the Mechanical Golems as they believed that was the only thing that could overpower the Demon Rat General.

    As for the rest? They were shopping like mad as the Night Market was filled with hidden gems that they would not expect to find in the online stores or their usual hangouts. It was as if Jin was purposely holding out on these items for sale just for the PandaVerse festival.

    And as aptly the ce had been named, it''s called the Hidden Gem Night Market.

 Chapter 1327: Hidden Gem Night Market

    <h4>Chapter 1327: Hidden Gem Night Market</h4>

    Still, the Hidden Gem Night Market was just oneplimentary attraction that was part of the PandaVerse Festival. The discovery of such a night market had only been possible by those Pandarens who decided to walk out of the store instances or had been rmended via the Recovery Nurses.

    And as the name suggested, it only opened at the night and ording to the Red Pandas and other sentient NPCs, the market was only avable for this PandaVerse Festival. It was not a permanent portion and that alone had immediately made the night market a hit overnight because everyone had the fear of missing out.

    That was when the Pandarens realised that this was what they had been missing for the entire Raid Instance. What Se Chang Chang had been essing was partially from the Hidden Gem Night Market because of his privilege as a Royal Zodiac Snake Head. Jin did it because he knew that these Royal Zodiac Heads would not have bothered exploring the instance so he purposely created a digital storeprising all the Hidden Gem Night Market items for Chang Chang to procure.

    In hindsight, Jin was d he did that as the Dungeon Supplier had managed to earn a huge portion of money from the Royal Zodiac Snake Head. If Chang Chang believed that the 15% discount given to him was fabulous, he would be shocked if he ever knew that the Pandawan sponsors were given 40% instead.

    But aside from Se Chang Chang, Jin had specifically enforced that items which the Royal Zodiac Snake Head had used were to be sold only in the Hidden Gems Night Market. The System resource management to handle not just multiple transactions but thousands of them would be too great a bacsh for the System to cope so Jin only gave such rights to the Royal Zodiac Heads if they were to join the raid instance. Else, the rest would have to buy first before being able to teleport or create such items in their ''raid instance''.

    Jin initially questioned the System whether it was too much but the System stated that Jin would be able to do the same as the Pandarens just that it was not beneficial for the System since there was no extra money earned if he did it. "User, do not forget that the Empire Building Sub System is part of the System. Therefore, the System is capable of doing such quick constructions if the User requires it. The only reason the System did not advocate the ability was that it cost too much now that the System had ''loan'' the ability to Qiu Yue." The System said which made Jin willing to sell such an ability to the Pandarens at a price.

    Even though it was designed as a night market, there was no doubt that the items they sold for the Raid Instance were expensive. Jin had priced everything ording to its production value and although they were no doubt cheaper than ''real life'', he had to ensure that he was making a profit.

    While the Pandarens can use raid points to offload certain expensive items, Jin and the System had ensured that there was only so much one could buy with the raid points. Stuff like the teleportation crystal and even the making of the Outer Wall camps were not within the realm of the median sry for most people. It was unfortunate but camps and teleportation crystals were not meant to be ''spammed'' or exploited for obvious reasons and that was why they cost a whole lot.

    In addition, Jin had actually incurred a lot of losses in previous ''wars'' but he had the fortune to have a capable Sub System User that was able to earn back the money for him. If not for ire who had not reversed his debt ridden habits, Jin might still be suffering a loss that he could never recover. He might have the best dungeon instances but if he was not earning money from it, the System would most definitely be using more underhanded methods that would not be revealed to Jin in order to keep the store afloat.

    Yet despite the price of the support items, Jin was willing to give a few of such things for free such as a modern tank or even an artillery gun through a lottery draw. The infamousrge Panda gacha machine which he had used for the Chinese New Year giveaway for the minions was immensely useful for this particr situation. (At least the System did not throw that crazy big item away and kept it in its storage.)

    And each time the Pandarens were to earn a thousand raid points, they were given a chance to have a chance to y the giant panda gacha machine (which still features the Panda God of fortune since it was still appropriate.) to earn prices. The Pandamonium App would teleport them to the location since the Panda Gacha Machine was too big and too meddlesome to put up multiple gacha machines in various store ind instances.

    Instead, Jin had duplicated two additional of those Panda Gacha Machines and ced them side by side with the original one, making them look as if they were the three great emperor officials that ruled the heavens in the taoist religion. It was also made to decrease the queue time for the Pandarens but the pool of rewards was still shared among the three Panda Gacha Machines and did not have three separate pools of rewards. A disimer had also been added in the Pandamonium App so people would have the same amount of chance trying.

    While themon tier rewards are infinite, the higher tier rewards are limited although they were replenished daily and yet there were times the System rigged it so that none would get the highest tier rewards until a certain amount of tries had been done to entice people to try their luck continuously. Jin did not condone the System''s method and in addition, requested the System to dilute the pool of rewards such that the ones the Pandarens were trying to aim for would be difficult to get.

    The only good thing was that if the Highest Tier item was not redeemed, it would be added over to the next day allowing the Pandarens to try again and that ''sympathy'' was more than enough to win over most hardcore gacha ying Pandarens.

 Chapter 1328: Profiteering from Virtual Reality

    <h4>Chapter 1328: Profiteering from Virtual Reality</h4>

    Even though the Great Demon Rat War was the main attraction, Jin did push out the public demo of the Virtual Reality machine sets that was where some cultivators who were of the business mind wereing to see.

    While there were MMORPG gaming aspects to the virtual instance, Jin had coborated with Ke Loong, the CEO of Sea Mesh and now a high level executive member of the Panda Inc to ensure that this Virtual Reality instance could be used for business purposes as well.

    Almost everything could be done with the simtion of the Virtual Reality Instance. Once the businessmen activated and dived into a space created by the System, they could literally be gods when ites to design.

    From abstract concepts to full 4D drawing, industries like construction and interior design would be in a better position to lead the revolution of creating safer and better buildings. Simtions can be done within the Virtual Reality instance with nog and that was enough to blow the minds of those businessmen.

    Not only that, because the Virtual Reality Instances were set up when rigged to the brain, it essed the mind of the cultivator and allowed them to create whatever they wished with just their thoughts. That''s right, Jin with the System had enabled creators to build with just their minds and not be restricted by software and hands. Yes, hands.

    All those raw thoughts would now be furnished right in front of their eyes as their minds go wild in creating the best of the best items. Even Rei, the renowned Gunndam manga artist, who showed up as a ''guest'' at PandaVerse Festival started to shock people with his ability to create a page of manga with just his mind right in front of them. Any mistakes? Just erase it with your thoughts and redraw that specific section once again.

    And if that was not all, the Virtual Reality Machine that was plugged into Rei had a dedicated printer installed in such a way that he could print that particr piece of demonstration for everyone to see. When the businessmen logged off and saw the product, they were astonished by the capabilities and asked if their thoughts could be converted to the current formats or maybe even 3D print their products within the Virtual Reality instance.

    As Jin was not there to entertain the group, it was Itori, the White Fox who surprisingly assisted the dungeon supplier with this agenda. This was mainly because she herself was interested in using the Virtual Reality Headsets for the education of the newly revamped Demopolis and the Seven Cities whom they were allied with.

    If Itori wished to be part of the process in hopes that the Virtual Reality machines would be widely produced so that she could utilise it as part of the education system. Not only that, the Virtual Reality was connected to the System so any skills that were ''taught'' and imparted by the people of the Dungeon World would be collected and archived so that the System itself could be the ultimate library of information. (Even though it already has an extensive amount of information which it was unwilling to share.)

    With her guidance, the businessmen who were present to see the entire demonstration were allowed to try it out themselves and they were shocked at how fluid it was. Not just the design industry (including tech and medical industries) which Ke Loong had invited, he had also contacted educators, artists, events management and even craftsmen.

    And once they tried it out, quite a number of them had decided to be investors and even wished to own the first batch of Virtual Reality Machines as soon as possible especially when they realised that they were more or less ready. In hindsight, this demonstration alone suddenly gave SeaMesh a push in their current stock value which only a select few understood why. This was mainly because those people Ke Loong had gotten were COOs (Chief Operating Officers) and CTOs (Chief Technical Officers) of local majorpanies. He wanted to give the nation''spanies priority so that they couldpete even more against the foreignpanies.

    Itori however did not know any of them and treated each of them as equals even though she did see some obvious bantering among the investors themselves and somehow that allowed her to be partial in the teaching. Oddly enough that was one of the reasons why the investors felt her sales pitch was sincere and therefore decided to go with it.

    In the meantime, the investors and other invitees were also given the opportunity to try out the new MMORPG that was solely virtual reality. Without a doubt, the investors were amazed by the flexibility of the game design. Being able to do anything just by grinding to gain mastery was a boring way to do things but it gave the ''yers'' what they wanted and to a certain extent, fully appreciated the process.

    The yer grows with the skill they were doing and that was the most important part since there was progression in their part. It''s a systematic way to level up and to gain levels on anything (even sleeping extensively within the Virtual Reality) giving the ultimate sandbox feel which allowed the investors to be what they want to be. However, some were sceptical that this could be a flop but Rei encouraged them Jin would make sure that there would be enough content for everyone if done right. "And by everyone, that includedmoners and cultivators." Rei''s sentence made the investors realise that with this, people with no talent to cultivate could finally have a taste of it.

    "While it''s true that Jin had made this game open ended, you can be very sure that when hepleted this, it would be the most epic game people would enjoy, transcending the current levels of y," Itori concluded and that gave many of the thoughts, hoping what she said would be true.

    But it was plenty obvious that this Virtual Reality technology was groundbreaking and there was no doubt that mass producing this would bring much profit.

 Chapter 1329: More Customers More Business

    <h4>Chapter 1329: More Customers More Business</h4>

    It was already the dawn of the second day. The PandaVerse festival was still in a huge uproar with dozens of customersing into the store especially after the streamers and new reports came out earlier the day before. The poprity of Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas had shot up incredibly high with the appearance of the Royal Zodiac Heads.

    People were massing to the website to see if they had a chance to enter this particr Panda Festival and thankfully with Kiyu''s, Jin''s in-house artistic fox (aka everything that involved advertising) had made an easy to read website while still able to hold the audience''s attention with shy details. It was not an easy feat considering she took the time to browse thousands of websites to get inspiration. And once she got the idea, the System would be able to recreate based on her wants and needs.

    As mentioned, the Dungeons and Panda''s website allowed customers to navigate very easily incorporating a variety of elements that would enable the new to be Pandarens or even returning customers an easy time getting stuff. Even without downloading the Pandamonium App, although that would be mandatory to get the most out of the entire procedure, the customers would be able to find that getting there even from another province or country would be an easy feat.

    From getting the best trips to Shenzhen to finding a ce has never been easier. Since Jin technically created a chain of hotels under his name in Pandapolis, the customers would be able to take advantage of it and did not have to worry about amodations. There were even discounts if they were to buy a ticket of a higher tier. In fact, Jin had even tried to employ more humans from the Dungeon World to work for the Pandafullpany, their local delivery system. (So those in the Seven Cities would have a better ie!)

    And since it was a delivery system per se, Kiyu had decided to use it to deliver ''people'' as well by creating a package to get the customers from faraway ces to Jin''s Tree Mall. To her surprise, the service was well received by the number of people taking up the package. Apparently, people loved the convenience created although she believed that many took it because of the ''slight'' discount that was given. Initially, the numbers were overwhelming that Kiyu thought of doing a limited number of packages that could be bought but both the System and Jin had emphasised that they had it under control.

    Somehow she was able to find out that both the System and Jin had already foreseen such a situation and already had a factory solely for making electric vehicle cars while Itori had already put up a training course for Dungeon World humans at Demopolis military city so that they could be recruited anytime.

    Aye, since the Demopolis had been remade as a military base, it did not only have defences that other dungeon cities would envy due to the number of relics and gold that had been used to upgrade it, but it had an ever growing training centre that can be used not only for military purpose but for civilians as well. (By the way, Kraft demands to be acknowledged for those magical relics used for defences and gold were all thanks to him and his Night Foxes who had been attacking the Ivory Tower''s 1st floor to get all those items.)

    And because of the foresight of Jin and the System, Kiyu was able to fulfil the needs of their new and returning customers, ferrying them from airports or nearby provinces to Jin''s store. (If one wonders why electric car vehicles were mainly because they could be powered by basic lightning magic which the Humans were taught to power up rechargeable batteries by consistently converting their mana to electricity. Besides, they were environmentally friendlier.)

    Thus, with an ''unlimited'' amount of amodations under Jin, he continued to have a steady flow of customersing in to work on the Great Demon Rat War. And even though it was still a stalemate between the Demon Rats and the Pandarens, thetter had finally had a foothold on the Outer Wall which was kind of unexpected in terms of Jin''s n prediction.

    Nevertheless, It was a weing development and saved Jin''s money (in fact, it helped him to earn even more money.), allowing the Dungeon Supplier to adjust his reserved forces for the future phases of his n. As much as it sounded despicable, Jin wished to use the Pandarens as the biggest distraction against the Demon Rats. It was precisely because they were the money makers for him that he decided to use them as such.

    There was no way for him to control or evenmand the Pandarens (although he believed that if he were to take control of the Pandawans, they would move through his orders rather faithfully.) So being the wild card as they were, the Pandarens were expected to create havoc to the best of their abilities so that Jin could execute a more precise form of operations when the majority of the Demon Rats'' rank and file were aimed at them.

    That was also one of the reasons why Jin did not give them anything extra and charged them for everything so that they could continue to supplement his finances while he gathered additional resources he earned from the Pandarens. But what he did not expect was that the Generals came out to y to pit themselves against the Panadrens and they were strong. Jin was thinking about whether to let the Pandarens lure even more of these Generals out so that he could send his own Generals to fight with them.

    Then again, he always believed that the Demon Rats were as cautious as him or even more sly to keep their trump cards close to their hearts but at the same time, he felt that there might be some awkward changes in their tactics when he saw how the groups of Demon Rats became reckless in their assaults against the Outer Wall Camp. He might assume that they were outliers but also could not ignore his hunch.

    Whatever it is, today is the second day of PandaVerse and it''s time to up the action a little even though he did not wish to aid the Pandarens any more than he should. But, hey sometimes, throwing his Pandarens a few extra surprises was one of the ways he retained his customer base.

 Chapter 1330: Wake Up Call

    <h4>Chapter 1330: Wake Up Call</h4>

    As the sun rose up, there might be fewer Pandarens fighting near the Outer Wall Camp but the Royal Zodiac Snake soldiers weremitted to keeping the defences of the camp itself. This enabled the Pandarens to rest at ease if they continued to stay in the ''raid instance'' since duration was a way to earn points as well.

    However, an unannounced train came which the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers were not aware of. It did not ping through the Pandamonium App nor was informed by their superiors that were currently in control of the Outer Wall Camp''s respawn crystal.

    "Do not be wary. You all should know by now that the Demon Rats do not have such a capability to portal a vehicle much less a train stopping right beside you." A Panda Masked user came out from the engine room to address their concerns.

    A few of the veteran soldiers who had been in the past raids knew that mask very well and told the rest to stand down. But they were curious about what was carried by the train since there were no passenger cabins and all it pulled was storage carriages.

    As if the Panda User seemed to be reading the atmosphere of the ce and the soldiers'' curiosity, he immediately pushed a button, allowing all the storage carriages to open up and the sight alone was more than enough to awe the guards within his vicinity.

    "Let''s just say that it''s a present for you guys who had been fiercely fighting for the past night. The sponsor understood that a boost in progress would be appreciated." The Masked Panda User added but the soldiers were ignoring him, all of them focused on looking at the opened storage carriages.

    Multiple missileunchers were packed in those carriages and with the Panda User''smand, all of them were activated and started to turn to aim towards the direction of the Inner Wall of the Northern Capital. The number of missileunchers that were present was almost equivalent to twenty missile trucks all armed and loaded.

    "Alright, without much further ado, let''s do a wake up call to the Demon Rats." The Panda User said after he felt ignored and quickly got on with the action before jumping down from the Outer Wall Camps and subsequently disappearing in the midst of the new chaos.

    The missileunchers which were aimed towards the Inner Walls started their barrage all at once which scared a few of the Pandarens that had no idea what was happening as well as the few who stood too close to see the missiles in action. The soldiers who already realised what was going to happen tried to shoo the bystanders away but since theunchers started almost immediately the moment they were activated, there was little to no time to take cover from it.

    So, all they could do was try to take cover by going into a prone position and slowly get out of the way of those missileunchers. After which, they crawled and cleared the area so that no one got hurt from the barrage of missiles. (Either from the sound, the heat of theunchers as well as possible idental backfire.)

    However, those Pandarens who were far away from theunching site could see the fierce bombardment of attacks against the Inner Wall''s magical barrier. It was initially used to reduce the damage from the artillery guns from the human''s Outer Wall Camp and had been reinforced since they did artillery bombardments on an hourly basis to continue the pressure. Yet, they did not expect such an immensely strong wave of attacks near the dawn of the second day of attack when most of their Demon Rats were resting or changing shifts. It was as if the humans knew their routines when they initiated their attack or it was a damn lucky coincidence that they managed to time it to the dot for the change in shifts.

    The Demon Rat mages who were maintaining the shield through a remote magic circle were killed instantly since their mana was burnt out almost immediately trying to deflect the attack but the missiles that Jin had purchased were packed filled with high grade explosives. (They merely added more vtile chemicals into the mix andpressed it.) In addition, he made sure that the missiles were also inscribed with explosive inscriptions so that they would be deadly enough to bring the Inner Wall down.

    The reserve Demon Rat Mages tried to resume the magic barrier via the remote magic circle but the moment they connected to recreate the barrier, one missile alone was enough to decimate the barrier once again, killing the reserve mages. After which, the only word that the onlooking Pandarens could describe as hell.

    Some of the Demon Rats were able to urately destroy a few of the missiles with their anti air capabilities but it was like removing a few drops of water from an iing tsunami. The missiles destroyed almost everything they touched and surely broke the Inner Town Walls. The only serendipitous thing that the Demon Rats believed was that only the 1styer of Inner Town Walls could still rely on the second and third walls. Thus, the Demon Rat Guard leadersmanded the soldiers to start putting up temporary defences again.

    The Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers also thought that the barrage of missiles would have been done when theunchers finally finished their volley and were smoking. But they were dead wrong as random automaton arms started to appear from the storage carriages and started picking up fresh new missiles right underneath the carriages and reloading the missileunchers. When they were fully loaded, they readjusted their angle a little before continuing to shoot once more.

    When the surviving Demon Rats scouts saw the very scene they saw initially, they quickly shouted for the retreat while running away for their lives. There was no time to collect the charred dead bodies as the rats tried to save their own to live for another hour.

    However, one thing was for sure. The second and thirdyers of walls wereing down too.

 Chapter 1331: Demon Rats POV: The Dread of War

    <h4>Chapter 1331: Demon Rats POV: The Dread of War</h4>

    "Get up! Get up!" The Demon Rat''s Captains were shouting and making noises in their soldier''s bunk. "The enemies had destroyed the Inner Walls, get your fucking ass up, grab your weapons and go!" The Captain said once before running to the next bunker to wake the other group of rats.

    "The enemies had destroyed the Inner Walls?" The Demon Rats talked to themselves, as they could not believe the humans had such capabilities.

    "Not sure, I did not hear a single thing right under here." Another soldier said as he asked for assistance wearing the heavy armour from another Demon Rat.

    "Duh, of course, you dumbass. We are in the undercity, how the hell do we know what is happening at the top?" One of the assisting rats knocked his head while aiding him to click the back of his chest armour to the front.

    "Well, I am just worried about my friend. He had been assigned to guard duty over the Inner Walls." The Demon Rat said as he thanked them for the assistance and began helping the rest to wear their armour as well.

    "Hurry up you slowtards! Do you think the enemy is going to drink a cup of tea and wait for you? Get your ass out here in five minutes or else!" The captain shouted from the outside and the Demon Rats were already grudgingly acknowledging their captain''s orders. However, since it was the captain that personally called them out instead of their toon leaders, they could only assume that it was truly a mess up there since their higher ranks do not usually bother with them at all.

    As the Demon Rat Soldiers were hastening their pace to wear their equipment, there was a ruckus outside as well with a team of support Demon Rats carryingrge wooden crates right beside the captain.

    Once more, the captain shouted and threatened the troops despite knowing that everyone was crazily wearing their armour and making sure they were ready for the battle. Soon, the Demon Rat Soldiers lined up in formation and awaited the captain''s orders.

    "If you slowpokes are not listening to what I had heard, the humans have once again shown that they are capable of destruction. They have destroyed the first and secondyers of the Inner Wall while the third and finalyer is barely standing despite our greatest effort to reinforce them previously." The Captain said and he was not wrong.

    ording to Sebastia before her stint in the Mecha World, she had been monitoring and gathering information about the Demon Rat''s upied city. The Northern Capital did not have such capabilities until the human''s liberation of Town Wecha. Since then, they felt that they should bolster their defences even further in case the humans were daring enough to attack them.

    They had also taken into ount the huge gigantic one to one fights against their very own castle machinations and realised that the new humans that came to assist the Northern Region were dangerous. That was why they also wished to attack the Western and Eastern Kingdoms as they believed that they were the ones who had been training these humans secretly. (Or that was what the North and South Schrs believed since theirmunication between the East and West was not as amicable as they wished to.)

    But because they only have suspicions, the now dead schrs thought to impose their suspicions as truths and even propagate them as dangerous threats to further challenge the rats to be better at their work.

    So through their innovation and ''ve'' work, they were able to create the third and finalyer of the Inner Wall based on their umtion of knowledge not from just the North and South Schrs but from their own desires to improve. (It''s a pity that Jin could not capture them as they immediately turned into a resource or else, he would have a race filled with power hungry minions under his control.)

    "Gentlemen! Your time hase to shine! To prove that we Demon Rats are the pinnacle race of modern society! Do not just push back the invaders but annihte every single one of them! But do not capture for they will explode and die once they know that they are in that situation." The captain said and he could see a few disgruntled faces.

    "So to aid all of you to do your jobs to the best of your abilities, the War Council had generously allowed each one of you to hold a rifle as well as your main weapon. The invaders are versatile and so are we! As you proceed to the main elevator up to the surface, take them and make sure to familiarise yourself with it before using them." The Captain ended his pep talk before taking a rifle for himself and proceeded to the elevator while the leaders of each toon took over the rest of the procedures.

    "Heh, using their own weapons against them, that will be interesting." One of the Demon Ratsmented.

    "You sure it''s their technology? Perhaps they stole it from us in the first ce."

    "Or maybe some traitor rat gave it to them."

    "Nah, can''t be. Our technology is too unique for the likes of those humans. They probably took one, cheapened it and then modified it in such a way that it suits their primitive usage."

    "Ha! Cheapened. No wonder I heard those humans were able to shoot only one bullet at a time."

    "Exactly! Our Steam Rifles can shoot three bullets at one time and are much sturdier than theirs. They used abination of metal and wood while ours are pure metal. Not to mention the ore we used from the lifestream to enhance the power of our rifles."

    "But to think they are giving regr soldiers like us such a strong weapon, the situation up there must be madness." The Demon Rat Soldiers continued to talk to themselves as they picked up their new steam rifles and waited for the great elevator of the undercity to bring them up.

    However, when the great elevator doors opened, hundreds of stretchers were seen being carried out of the elevator. The Demon Rats who were at the surface were wounded. Loss of limbs and tails to various sorts of debris being stuck in their bodies. They saw how grim it was for the initial group that was up there and those Demon Rat Soldiers braced themselves that the moment they reached the surface, it would be living hell.

 Chapter 1332: PandaVerse znd Morning

    Chapter 1331: PandaVerse znd Morning

    Reports of the mysterious missile barrage were all over the Pandamonium forum as well as the subsequent actions that were being taken by the Pandarens who were staying at the Outer Wall camp. The Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers who were supposed to be on guard had informed all their fellowrades that were ''off duty and many of them staying at Jin''s Pandastic Hotel responded promptly to it, allowing the Royal Zodiac Snake soldiers to take full advantage of the current situation. The higher ups in the Royal Zodiac Snake Command who heard of the attack and responded ordingly felt that this was Jin''s work even though they were not at the scene, especially Hou Fei. Even though the General of the Entire Snake Command will allow him to get a few extra winks as the rest of hispany go into action, he has decided to go with the flow as well. There was nothing more reassuring to have a leader paving the way for attack or supporting them. "That guy purposely did that when the concentration of Pandarens is the least. Less friendly fire at this particr timing but damn, he could at least tell me about it so I could prepare a little." Hou Fei sighed as he changed his clothes. "Oh well, there''s the element of simting it as a real war, especially to the kids. So I cannot me him for giving them such a thrilling experience." And when the higher ups were notified, the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers who were on guard had been given orders to press with the attack as they knew that this was the best opportunity for the Pandarens to extend their reach from the Outer Wall Camp. All of the Pandarens who were within vicinity also followed behind the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers since they were considered to be the veterans of war.

    While their actions did leave the camp totally unguarded, they believed that such an opportunity would note again and thus they started to rush through the Irmer Walls to kill any remaining survivors. There was no need for mercy as to the soldiers and Pandarens, they were mere points. In the meantime, the missile carriage train left the Outer Wall Camp to make way for the rest of the people who were alerted about this development. And as more of the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers entered the fray, the fighting turned even more erratic than ever. The remaining Demon Rats soldiers that were around, fiercely fought to keep their territory intact while their medics tried to move the injured away from the ce. Yet, because they were fighting against cultivators, the medics also had to make sure that they were able to get out of the ce in one piece. All the coteral damage from their skills had been rather annoying, to say the least for the medics as they tried to save their own kind.

    While there were a few Pandarens who tried to stop the medics from their job of saving people, most did not bother with them mainly because of the number of Demon Rat Soldiersing into the picture and fighting them. But because Jin did not coordinate with anybody on the attack, the Pandarens and Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers were unable to fully utilise the opportunity given by him. Also, there were a few who realised toote (more like waking up toote for their own good.) and said that Jin should have informed them about this so they could have prepared. Theints came in despite the fact that the battlefield had now shifted from the Outer Wall Towns to the top of the Inner Wall. (Aye, some said that they could move as a big group so they could take the Inner Walls entirely and be under the Pandarens'' control, allowing the Pandarens to establish a second foothold.)

    However, because Jin did not specifically show his face and instead ''sent'' a human with a panda mask, a few die-hards hadmented that this was probably part of the event and they should not use this excuse to attack the creator of the dungeon instance. "It was for the Pandarens to find out and take full advantage of this random assistance." One of the defenders wrote. Hou Fei alsomented on the situation and said that if they had time fighting in the forums, they should use that energy to kill more Demon Rats. And due to the General''sment, the Royal Zodiac Snakes who had been ''retired'' to the recovery instance were supporting him. Eventually, the negative feedback andints were being pushed away for more positivity within the forums.

    Unfortunately, even if they wished to me the dungeon supplier for his faults for not being able to coordinate arge group, the soldiers who had participated in the first wave of assault on the Inner Walls begged to differ that having arge group would be beneficial. Instead, all of them believed that it might have been a handicap or worse, a detrimental effect. That was mainly due to the fact that the new wave of reinforcements consisted of Demon Rat Soldiers who had the ability to do the same as them. They had rifles that were as deadly as theirs and if their range counterattack had suppressed the Pandarens, they would quickly try to recover back thend they lost.

    The Cultivators, especially the Royal Zodiac Snake Soldiers were able to block such attacks with their chi, allowing them to deflect the bullets or conjure a minor frontal chi barrier to avoid the attacks. And as the rest of the Royal Zodiac soldiers arrived in groups, they continued to gain back what they earned and it turned to a stalemate full of bullets and metal tips flying around. The first who was able tond a shot was literally one step further into each other''s position.

    "Then I guess, it''s our time to bombard a few of these rats to push them out of the Inner Walls. Get me the captain of the ship we rented.."

 Chapter 1333: Bulwark and the Beavers

    <h4>Chapter 1333: Bulwark and the Beavers</h4>

    When all the action of the Farming World was concentrated in the Northern Capital, the rest of the Northern region was beingbed by a group of people. Initially, Jin had sent several waves of Pandarens to attack the various Demon Rat hideouts, Demon Rat infested towns and even their supply bases.

    The System had verified that there were a few Demon Rats that ran away but it was not an issue as the Southern Stars Organisation from the Southern Region had been deployed to handle any stragglers from each of the towns. It was especially easy when the System practically had an all seeing eye based on their contract with the spirit of thend. (Not to mention the spirits of thend rejoiced when they felt the noticeable effect where there was no more mining of the lifestream of the Farming World.)

    However, that also meant that all the hideouts, towns and bases were deserted or abandoned after the attacks. Thus, the coordination between the System and the Northern Region''sst remaining military force, the Bulwark Army, had been put into y. General Matt Umiterus of the Bulwark Army had already dispatched his troops to all those towns and hideouts in order to clean up the ce.

    After all, the dead Demon Rats turned into various types of raw materials and they were left hanging around on all those battlefields. The System was also unsure whether leaving those raw materials too long may cause new Demon Rats to emerge and it was something which it did not wish to leave such items to chance. Although the System did entertain such thoughts upon capturing the Demon Rats, as noted previously those Demon Rats had the capability to proliferate when left alone for too long and that was why the roguelike dungeon instance which Jin had was still going strong since those Demon Rats were able to do so.

    And aside from material collection, it was to ensure that those hideouts and mining facilities were shut down permanently. With the knowledge and training acquired from the System, the Bulwark Army were capable of using bombs to make sure that caves and mines were destroyed so that the Demon Rats or other people would take the opportunity to salvage these ces. As for the machinery and even housing units, the Bulwark Army tried their best to break them all down while the System sent NPC representatives to collect said items.

    Why burn them down when they all could be recycled? And if they were utterly useless, they can still be thrown into the Recycler unit so that the System is able to make use of everything.

    As for the towns, the Bulwark Army cleaned up the rest of the areas like debris, and any dead civilians that were caught in the crossfire as well as requisitioning the supplies from the Demon Rat base. While they could not finish all this work in one day, the Bulwark army did not stop in their cleanup operations and the soldiers took turns so that they could get ready for the town''s reconstruction efforts.

    Speaking of reconstruction efforts, the only person that was capable of handling everything in such matters was none other than the Sub System User Qiu Yue. She had been assigned with an entire tribe of beastmen from the Giant World as her helpers since she demanded the Sub System to take pity on her for working so hard. (Also because, when the Sub System asked what reward she wanted, she said she needed workers or else she could not concentrate on her training.)

    Thus, the beastmen tribe that was contracted to her was the Beavers. Qiu Yue initially wanted more than one tribe considering the scale of this entire operation but she was proven wrong when the Red Panda Cultivator found out that the Beavers were exceptionally hardworking.

    There were stereotypes of using the Beavers in the real world as the Construction Mascots but she did not expect it to be true until she saw how the Beavers adored her when they found out that she had been the one who had (almost) single handedly designed and headed the entire construction of Pandapolis City.

    In her eyes, it was her magnum opus thus far and the beavers were head over heels for her work that they diligently learned how to use the Sub System modules that were avable to them. However, construction was not the issue but rather the acute sense of design as well as the foundation and ''harmony'' of the buildings that matter. Qiu Yue thought that these Beavers would only be great at building stuff since they were able to do every test that was passed to them but she once again found out that those little buggers were talented in designing too.

    It did not take them long to learn how to design and how to consciously cooperate with different buildings and their subsequent functions in harmony together. (Of course, there was some vigorous training not just from Qiu Yue but ironically from Itori when she tried to impart knowledge as part of her practice.) So, while Qiu Yue was busy with the subsequent phases of the Great Demon Rat War Operation, she was 100% confident that the Beavers were able to do a decent job in reconstructing the towns as well as their subsequent defences.

    And they have to do it quickly.

    The townsfolk that the Pandarens had saved had been transported into a secured location -or more like a temporary dungeon instance set up to house all these refugees. Although there were tents, adequate food and even basic sanitation which were miles of improvement from their previous predicament, the System could not hold them up for free entirely. While Jin had proposed to offer them some work to do in the Agriculture sector of Pandapolis, the System was reluctant to transport people around any more than necessary when it had resources strained to keep up with the shop''s transactions as well as the war.

    Therefore, it was imperative for both the Bulwark Army and the Beavers to get the towns ready amid the war they were having right now. (And to be honest, Jin might think that the System was beingzy, but currently, the backend process was immensely huge and the System had no time to argue with its user.)

 Chapter 1334: Snakes Rented Warship

    <h4>Chapter 1334: Snake''s Rented Warship</h4>

    "Shall we be speaking informally, or formally?" Themander of the warship, which Se Chang Chang had rented, questioned Hou Fei through the Pandamonium Team Chat.

    "Do you really want to do it this way now?" Hou Fei asked as he had already arrived at the Outer Wall Camp via train and saw a number of his subordinates saluting him as well when he got off the tform. "Nevermind I get what you mean."

    "Partially formal. Ranks y a part in this current situation but we are all here to learn as well." Hou Fei said and themander snickered. He was none other than the overall tech officer in charge of the Royal Zodiac Snake Army, Colonel Chen Lai.

    "But overall, this is not an official exercise so I really could not care that much with formalities." Chen Lai said and Hou Fei gave a passing sigh through the voice chat. "Still, I am impressed with Pandamonium Team Chat. To be able to segregate and fuse themunications channels when needed. Why can''t we have this kind of technology, General?"

    "Don''t ask me when you are practically the Chief Technical Officer for the entire Royal Zodiac Snake Army." Hou Fei replied. "When are my guns ready? I thought you said that you can power up that old school warship whenever you want since you and your boys were previously from the navy and the air force."

    "Well, it''s true that using this warship in the raid instance had significantly reduced the number of controls. But that does not mean I can singlehandedly operate this ship myself! Have you heard of quality checks before departing?! We barely touched this ship yesterday and you want me to steer it like I had known her intimately for years!" Chen Lai said while the soldiers under him started to chuckle a little. Hou Fei felt that he had touched a nerve on something but it was meant to be a meanment to disturb his fellow junior in rank.

    "Anyways, be quick about it. We need you to support the troops as soon as possible." Hou Fei said and Chen Lai sighed, asking if he wanted to at least have the nes to sortie out.

    "The nes are operationally ready ording to the Pandamonium App and the pilots said that everything seems to look fine despite not having a checklistбн Well, the App itself had a checklist but once the pilot ced his phone to synchronise the ne, the app instantly cleared almost all the boxes on the list. The rest were the manual interlocks which need to be done physically to make sure that the ne is all good."

    "Erm, then sortie the nes as soon as possible? I think it''s a pretty good time to do that, especially when I start to see a few boogies at the enemies'' end." Hou Fei reported and Chen Lai quickly picked up his binocrs and checked the direction of the Northern Capital. His General was not replying with tongue in cheek and spoke the truth about a few aerial threats hovering from the spire at the northernmost tip of the capital city.

    "Get Chryso 1, Chryso 2 in the skies immediately. General''s orders!" Chen Lai spoke through the specific channel of the Pandamonium Team Chat that connected to the aircraft team that was on the warship. (Fun fact: Chryso came from the word Chrysopelea which meant flying snake.)

    When the aircraft team received themand, the stern (the back) of the ships started to open up like a garage door, allowing Chryso 1 and Chryso 2, two specially modified warthog variant nes to sortie out. In terms of size, it is smaller to fit the dimensions of the warship and its engine boosters were magical rather than fuel consuming. All of the soldiers thought that it was because it was a raid instance, there were some fantasy elements to it as they knew mana engines were terribly unstable even with modern technology. (But they never knew they were in a real multiverse flying a real high tech magically powered aircraft.)

    "Chryso 1, Launching!"

    "Chryso 2, Launching!"

    Both warthog variants went to the skies in a matter of seconds, especially with the ne''s navigation guidance system. It was mostly autopilot when it came to taking off andnding down with some human input if things were to go wary during the process. The pilots were amazed by the brilliant realism of high grade technology implemented into the raid instance (duhбн) and quickly picked up the joystick to fly toward the enemies.

    "Six boogies detected. They are mostly shaped like helicopters but I do not wish to assume they were. Permission to fire, sir?" Chryso 1 Pilot reported as they got the information through visual confirmation and radar presence.

    "Granted. Take them down and do a firing run to support the guys." Chen Lai said and instantly switched channels to tell the General so that the frontlines could be warned. Hou Fei ryed the message to his subordinates and the chain ofmand did their job. As the warthog variants flew closer to the city, the two pilots noticed that anti air defences were being put up. Bolts of lightning were shot from the anti air turrets while a few homing magic bolts wereing their way.

    To their fortune, there was a magic barrier protecting the aircraft but like every barrier, it has a limit so the pilots tried not to get it as much as possible while closing into their target. The moment Chryso 1 managed to target one of the helicopters, he instinctively fired two missiles right toward it.

    The helicopter saw the iing missiles but its manoeuvre was the third rate, causing it to burst into mes. And that alone gave the second pilot confidence that they were akin to the real world helicopters and thus attempted to shoot the second one the same way as his senior did.

    As the second heli crashed into the city, the subsequent aerial threats were not an issue even though they had Demon Rats at the side of each heli door, shooting out lightning bolts indiscriminately to bring down the warthog variants.

    However, like a snake gliding through the water, Chryso 1 and 2 slipped around the skies to bring the rest down.

 Chapter 1335: General Gnawbones Dissatisfaction

    <h4>Chapter 1335: General Gnawbones'' Dissatisfaction</h4>

    The destruction of the steam engine helicopters was a blow to the Demon Rats. They knew that their aerospace technology could be rivalled by the humans considering that a few had seen their aerones but they did not expect to be this much of a difference even after their scientists had fervently researched ande out with a brand new engine for them.

    Even the higher ups were so amazed by the performance that they ordered all the aircraft to be reced with the new engine. And yet here they saw their helicopters were destroyed in an instant with little to no retaliation. The Royal Zodiac Snake Aircraft was more than ready to take on more and to their surprise, they were indeed given their wish.

    General Gnawbones, who was the Air forcemander of the Demon Rats, saw the capability of the two nes that the humans had used. Obviously, he was not entirely happy that the Demon Rats'' technology was inferior to the humans so the only thing he could do was to do what they always do best.

    To overwhelm the enemy with numbers.

    Gnawbones initially thought that using Steam Engine Helicopters could be the solution to defeating the ground troops that the humans were using. After all, it had superior firepower with missiles and steam powered machine guns. But since the humans had aircraft, then the Demon Rats would respond ordingly with their own.

    Their Steam Engine Aerones were a little bulky and they could be akin to the nes produced in the 1930s to the 1940s. Even though they were slow to take off, their speed supposedly rivalled those created in that generation as well, in fact maybe even faster if they were to remove the limiters but the test results were insufficient in that context since they did not want any casualties (if possible) during the test runs.

    That was why General Gnawbones had decided to use that to his advantage. Even if they were slower than the humans'', removing the limiters might potentially be the advantage they need to get this over and done with. He ordered the operations centre to send out 10 of these SE Aerones instantly, preventing the humans from having air superiority even for a second.

    The general thought to himself what were the odds of the humans winning when they are outnumbered five against one? And he was proven right when he gave the directmand to remove the limiters to the engines fighting against the humans. While Chryso 1 and Chryso 2 had trouble fending off all ten nes in a massive dogfight, they were still able topete evenly against them.

    Even for veteran pilots, fighting five nes each was akin to suicide but they were holding them back for a reason. Chen Lai had promised them backup.

    So in order to gain that backup, they not only needed to upy the time for those ten nes but also bring them closer to the warship Nerodia II, which was temporarily named after the current warship they owned in the real world. Also, they named it the Nerodia II since they did not want to disrespect the crew which was still handling Nerodia. (Fun fact again! Nerodia is the scientific group name for water snakes.)

    Once they were closer to sea, a few air to ground missiles were fired to support the surviving Chrysos, allowing them to down three demon rat nes in one go. This gave them some breathing space temporarily but Nerodia II had picked up additional bogeys which they assumed it was to the Airforce General''s discontent to learn that they had managed to destroy three nes.

    "It seems like they are churning out nes the same way they churned out those Demon Rats." Chryso 2''s pilot remarked through the intes and the rest felt the same too, feeling the pressure that they might have more iing even if they defeated a few of those.

    "Chryso 3 & 4 areing to assist, just bear with us as we also need to get those cannons up else General Hou Fei will breathe down my neck endlessly!" Chen Lai said despite knowing the situation but if the Warthog Variants equipped with mana engines that were capable of high speed manoeuvring were able tost this long, the pilots could continue to do so.

    "Nope, this is freaking madness." Chryso 1 said and he defied the orders by suddenly swooping towards the sea once he performed a steep air dive. Chen Lai did not know what he was thinking but suddenly he saw an anti air machine gun outside, turned towards that direction where Chryso 1 was heading by his own crew members on deck. It was then he realised they were going for a bait and kill.

    "I hope you know what you are doing." Chen Lai thought to himself as he anxiously saw the entire scene unfold right in front of his eyes. Chryso 1 sped through right above the ocean and momentarily changed direction, allowing him to boost the warthog nes vertically upwards in just a split transaction.

    That enabled the anti air machine gun to have zero friendly fire with targets on sight. "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Brrrrrrrrrr." The sound of the anti air minigun gluttonously eating ammunition as if it was free of charge destroyed three Demon Rat nes targets in an instant.

    "Sir! You are freaking awesome!" Chryso 2 shouted but Chryso 1''s pilot was giddy with sess. (both physically and emotionally.) The G force was tremendous but somehow he managed not to pass out on it and used his chi to stabilise his bnce before continuing to handle the iing nes.

    Meanwhile, the Pandamonium Team Chat had one very important person repeating the very same thing despite having the sess of defeating three nes in one quick session.

    "Where is my support fire going toe? Do I need to go down there personally to get it?" Hou Fei said in a very nonchnt voice.

    Chen Lai sighed loudly and ced his palm on his forehead, telling the rest to follow their general''s orders to the dot. Soon, the warship was firing its main battery guns and the General was happy to hear the sound of explosions for histest morning exercise.

 Chapter 1336: Demon Rat POV: Generals Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 1336: Demon Rat POV: Generals'' Meeting</h4>

    "What a joke. Those humans are such a joke and we are still losing?" Roughscream said who was now sitting at the side of the grand table that was usually not allowed by the previous Schrs. "Skydigger, I even used your weapon and they could not even handle my strength." The ''Pickaxe'' General returned the pickaxe to his original user.

    "Are you satisfied with your winnings? Can I have my weapon back now?" Skydigger grumbled as he got back his pickaxe weapon in such a dirty state that he was thinking of using it on Roughscream.

    "Yea. yeah. Thanks for it. Could not say that it''s as satisfying as whacking the human with my club and making sure they had been cobbled to death with it. Still, your weapon had a unique feel to it despite the fact that I could not use its innate powers." Roughscream said as he picked up his club. This was his personal favourite and why he was called the Club General.

    To put some context, Skydigger had lost the bet of Cinderw being crumbled under the powers of the North Schr. It was a minor wager where he had to allow Roughscream to use his weapon for a day which was a disgrace since Skydigger would not have any weapons for that entire day should he be attacked. Thankfully, nothing happened and Cinderw did not go all the way to make him suffer so all was well.

    "I thought I saw the masked humans carrying a club, that fat guy. Have you tried this as well?" Skydigger said as he too was at the side of the grand table while waiting for the rest of the general to make their presence for the daily war council meeting.

    "Meh. It was too light for my own usage, that''s why I ditched it back to him." Roughscream said but Skydigger who was watching the entire match through a remote camera knew that it was not the case. The club simply teleported along with the human when he was killed and there was no way for Roughscream to obtain it.

    The only reason he said it was because he wanted to see Roughscream''s tant lying or the possible hint of flustering to know that he was not able to achieve the feat of obtaining that human''s club. It was a minor spiteful payback that he could conjure to get even on losing the wager and his pride by taking away his weapon. (After all, he initially thought it was all merely a joke bet.)

    And once that banter between the two generals was done, the rest of the generals slowly arrived at the grand table with Cinderw taking the centre of everything. While he was merely the Axe General, in their eyes he was considered to be the chief of the chiefs since Cinderw was the only one who initiated the internal uprising, leaving matters to their hands once and for all.

    "I read the reports. We knew they had a warship but to think that they could station aircraft there was a surprise to me. Although we did learn that the number of aircraft they could carry was limited."

    "Lord General, I propose we pour some offensive might against the warship near the coast as they had been bombarding nonstop this entire morning. At the same time, we can destroy the aircraft and even salvage them so we can take their technology for ourselves." Air Force General Gnawbones reported but the rest were not very keen on sending their troops to the water.

    All along they had been avoiding the sea for the longest time and even dug tunnels under the sea rather than making ships. It''s not that they could not live or be severely cursed or damaged when there was water. They just did not really like the ocean that much, it was as simple as that.

    The Schrs probably had a hand in this, making the Demon Rats quite aquaphobic for some particr reason especially when ites to the ocean but they would never know since they are now dead. Yet, the main reason for not attacking the warship was rather logical. Their main city was not the Northern Capital for the longest time ever. It was a fake front ever since their defeat in Wecha. They assumed that the humans do not know much about it since they never set foot in the area. (Sebastia willugh at this.)

    It was because their undercity was where all the defences were concentrated since that was where the Demon Rats lived since their inception. There was no use trying to protect something that they were going to use as fodder. After all, it was going to be a trap for the humans who attempted to conquer the entire Northern Capital.

    As they continued to struggle with getting the Northern Capital under their control, the main bulk of the undercity would make preparations as well as production to ensure that they had enough to provide the most stalwart of defences against the humans. However, because the humans had to pick the most fortuitous time where the Demon Rats were going for the simultaneous campaign to conquer the East and the West, the Undercity was currently undermanned. Their main bulk of attacking forces who were initially upied with dealing against Gold and Weslie had started to pull their troops back to fortify the city.

    That was one of the reasons why Gold and Weslie were able to continue applying pressure with that ''small'' amount of minions against the invading Demon Rats since protecting their hometown was more of an issue of importance.

    And all the Demon Rats needed was to let the humans feel confident while ensuring that they had enough filler forces to ensure that their undercity was ready enough to wee the bulk of the human invaders.

    So for the entirety of the meeting, Cinderw had headed the direction of this agenda with the rest of the Generals.

 Chapter 1337: Monkey & Sheep -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1337: Monkey & Sheep -Part 1</h4>

    "Wow, this is such a messбн I like it." Hou Nao Zhong, the leading captain for the Royal Zodiac Monkey n that came under the orders of their Head to try out the raid instance, saw the mess that the Pandarens were in.

    "It''s really noisy." Yang Mian Ling, the leading captain for the Royal Zodiac Sheep n, could not fathom the realism of the raid instance and tried to adjust her earpiece to muffle the sounds a little more. Both the captains and their teams had arrived at the Outer Camp Walls with the Royal Zodiac Snake''s Sergeant Rocher greeting them at the sidelines.

    "Ah, you two must be the captains that my captain had talked about. Apologies for the mess." Sergeant Rocher saluted as the rest of the team came down from the train carriages. Nao Zhong noticed that the snakes were wearing their uniform along with someone that was different from them.

    The Royal Zodiac Tigers and someone he recognised as well.

    "Hu Chun Hua? I did not expect you to be here. Last I heard, it was the Sheeps and Us." Nao Zhong said and Chun Huaughed. As she turned, Nao Zhong also saw Chun Hua''s uniform and her rank, realising that she had already been promoted to Major. "Oh, I should call you Mdm now."

    "Stop teasing me already. The Tiger General dispatched me because they believed it would be a good chance to get more experience for war type situations." Hu Chun Hua said and Rochor smiled widely. She was not wrong, the Royal Zodiac Snake Army was merely average in terms of strength but the consistent exposure to Jin''s dungeons had allowed them to push themselves to the limit. He noticed that hisckeys were more intuitive with betterbat awarenesspared to the year before.

    "One thing though, why are you all wearing your uniforms? I thought this was just a raid instance. You guys are taking it too seriously." Nao Zhong said even though he too had been instructed to bring their uniforms with them.

    "It''s easier for the rest of the customers to identify us plus for apparent reasons, the Demon Rats attack us more than the Pandarens when we are in uniform," Rocher said and the rest understood the meaning behind it. More danger means more opportunities for them to learn since this was the main reason why they were all here. Especially when their higher ups purposely selected the team in the shortest time possible and even wasted scrolls to teleport them from various provinces to meet at the Tree Mall. Not to mention, they were given an unreasonable amount of budget to spend in this particr raid instance. The captains even heard that the money personally came from the pockets of their Royal Zodiac Heads which made them feel the pressure even more.

    But as they conversed, they realised the rest of the team members were waiting around and that was enough to be a source of target by the Demon Rats as they sent out a few firerge balls towards them.

    And as the teams who saw the iing attack began to prepare their defensive spells, Sergeant Rocher told them to calm down. "Don''t worry, you all are safe. We have a magical barrier that protects this particr camp but the Demon Rats are always doing this to test our defences whenever a train arrivesбнas if they were testing their luck." Sergeant Rocher said and they saw the fireballs fall t onto the barriers. Even though the barrier was strong enough to withstand the attack, a few inexperienced team members shuddered at the realism of the dungeon instance especially when they were first timers in Jin''s instances.

    "Ah, the barrier fluttered a little from the attack, guess it''s time to buy the upgrades." Rocher thought to himself as he was partially in charge of the Outer Wall Camp''s defences. He quickly showed the team to their temporary quarters where they could store their items but Mian Ling stopped Rocher.

    "We are under the orders to create a new camp. I do not know the exact details of the current raid instance but I had been following the forums for quite a bit." Mian Ling said and Rocher smiled seeing that there was a fellow forum lurker like him before he was tasked to enter the raid instance.

    And for Mian Ling, it was true that she had been lurking in the Pandamonium Forums for the longest time ever. In fact, she was especially ted by the fact that the Royal Zodiac Sheeps had been tasked to enter it and even more when she heard that the team was going in as a support role, something that they were specialised in.

    She was unable to go to visit despite the vested interest mainly because she was stationed in the Qing Hai province and needed at least a week of leave as well as clearance from her officers. So, unlike Nao Zhong who did not know anything much about dungeon instances, Mian Ling was a closet fanatic and amazed by every single thing ever since she stepped into Jin''s instance. The only relief she had from embarrassing the rest with her actions was that she was wearing her signature customised surgical mask to hide her delights from experiencing everything. However, when ites to work, she is extremely focused on the task at hand.

    "The reports are not out yet but as you might have known the news came only when Pandarens who were out of this raid instance, aka killed by the stuff from the raid instances. Or when Mr Know It Alles online and gives extra hidden information. So, right now, the Pandarens as well as my fellowrades have managed to move to the 3rdyer of the Inner Wall but the resistance there is enormous. The situation is not looking good but the Royal Zodiac Tigers had already begun reinforcing the frontlines. So it''s your choice if you wish to rush there first though I feel establishing your support here is the most ideal." Rocher said and asked if he could continue sending them to the temporary quarters or whether they wanted to see the current battlefield themselves.

    But both the Sheep and Monkey simultaneously said that establishing the support nearer to the frontlines would be the best.

 Chapter 1338: Monkey & Sheep - Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1338: Monkey & Sheep - Part 2</h4>

    It''s your choice but in my opinion, it''s best to at least experience the frontlines once before making your decision to establish it very close to the battlefield. We might have cleared the Outer Towns and are pushing to take more of the Inner Town but there is no guarantee that it will be free from enemies." Sergeant Rocher said since he knows that ignorance is usually the worst attitude on the battlefield but they are all higher ranks than him and he could only suggest to prevent them from doing something as foolish as this.

    "Yes, we are moving forward and establishing the camp as per our orders. Besides, it''s just a raid instance. Why should we worry so much? I do not understand why we are fighting this long although the ''graphics'' of this instance is extremely real." Royal Zodiac Monkey Captain Nao Zhong said and Sergeant Rocher could onlyply quietly, knowing that they are underestimating Jin''s instance by a whole lot.

    "Understood Sir, we will get a few Snake Guards to lead you to the battlefield," Rocher said but Royal Zodiac Tiger Major offered to take bring them there instead.

    "A few of my soldiers are returning back to the battlefield after a quick rest. They will know the way forward, you can let your guards stay in position." Major Chun Hua replied and Nao Zhong thanked her. To Rocher and Mian Ling, it seems obvious that they know each other and wished to have a bit of a quick catch up. Thus, the Snake Sergeant decided once again not to interfere with any of their orders and let them be on their way.

    "Sergeant, I will leave two of my medics with you. Please guide them." Royal Zodiac Sheep Captain Mian Ling said before following behind the Monkey''s Team. Rocher nodded his head as he brought the two medics to the temporary quarters and answered any questions that they had.

    As the fresh team of Royal Zodiac Soldiers went closer to the battlefield with their Qing Gong, they were met with stray fire but it was nothing the Tigers were not able to handle. Chun Hua made sure their rear was protected since Rocher did mention sneak attacks but Nao Zhong was confident that they were all overreacting.

    And as they reached the firstyer of the Inner Walls, they saw the devastation that was being wrecked in the area. Debris and dead bodies were everywhere but ironically there were no Demon Rats around. The Tigers who had been to the frontlines told them that the bodies were the remnants of those Pandarens who had died while the Demon Rats had been turned into resources.

    "Resources?" Nao Zhong asked and the Tigers told them that when they were dead for a long time, their bodies would turn into a sort of material. The problem was that their materials varied. From nt food to various ores, the Demon Rats became all sorts of items that the Tigers could not fathom but there was not an issue since if the Pandarens picked them up, it would not be theirs but in the junk section. Selling or exchanging them at the Hidden Gem Night Market would provide some extra raid points.

    The fighting might have been louder but the Monkey Team Leader felt that it was a decent ce to set up camp until the Tigers who were on watch suddenly saw Demon Rats crawling up at the west side, splitting their forces between the first and the secondyer of broken walls.

    "Nao Zhong, focus on finding a spot to establish. Do not fight unless it''s necessary and make sure that your guards focus on defending your camp building." Chun Hua said as she led the vanguard of Tigers to the enemies in order to annihte them.

    "Are we going to put the two camps together?" Mian Ling said as she adjusted her earpiece once again for the sounds of explosions.

    "Keep your teleport crystal for now. We will find some stable ground and build the camp." Nao Zhong said as he climbed up a broken guard tower to search for a good ce to put the teleportation crystal and subsequently build the camp. He noticed that the Inner Wall did have 3yers of walls and they were ced approximately a kilometre away from each other with nothing in between them but empty ins ofnd. But that was based on the estimation between the first and the second wall and he did not have sight to judge the distance between the second and third.

    However, the most prominent feature of the Inner walls is that each wall had differing heights between each of them with the thirdyer of the wall being the tallest. This meant that the thirdyer of the wall could provide supporting fire to the first wall if needed and if Nao Zhong haphazardly provided such an open target for the Demon Rats to aim, it would no doubt strain the defences of the camp once it had been set up.

    "Hmm, we can hide behind the second wall and create a camp using the wall as a structure to lean on for protection against the iing attacks. Well, some of the iing attacks." Nao Zhong thought to himself when he saw the damage done to the walls. He had no idea what had happened to cause such destruction and could only believe that there was a fierce fight here.

    Just as he was about to get down from the guard tower, he suddenly heard Mian Ling screaming at him. "DODGE IT!" Mian Ling said but the Monkey Captain was unable to react in time to parry or defend except for letting go of the entiredder that he was climbing down. Gravity did its job in a nick of time as the shot that was aimed at his heart had been shifted to his shoulder.

    However, because the guard tower was of a taller structurepared to the wall itself, the fall could be detrimental to his progress in the current raid instance. Yet Mian Ling worried for nothing even though she ran as fast as possible even using Qi Gong to reach the Guard Tower. This was mainly because Nao Zhong was part of the Royal Zodiac Monkey.

    Being a researched focused n, the Royal Zodiac Monkeys have a plethora of gadgets under them and one of them is a gadget that each Royal Zodiac Monkey Cultivator would have regardless of job and designation.

    A mechanical Monkey Tail.

    Using their cultivation style and chi to fuel the Monkey Tail Gadget, they were able to simte having a tail for themselves and that was what Nao Zhong possessed. Using his Monkey Tail Gadget, he managed to hang on one of the steps on thedder, enabling him to block the fall. (Although he still hit his head and back on thedder)

    Once he stabilised himself, he tried to grab onto another step but another shot came, shooting at the step that he was about to hold. "Fucking Rats!" Nao Zhong said to himself, before flipping backwards so that he couldnd.

    "You alright?" Mian Ling asked as she checked the wound that he had. With her chi, she managed to pull out the bullet while maintaining the blood vessels around it so that they continued to be blocked when she pulled it out. "Sorry if it stings a little, I did not have any painkillers with me at the moment.

    "No, I am fine. I found the ce where we can establish the camp but after that, I am going to find that bugger who shot me." Nao Zhong''s frustration was apparent but Mian Ling could only sigh. The Royal Zodiac Sheep Captain quickly shifted him towards the walls so that they will be out of sight of the snipers and judging by the attacks, it seems more than one was around as the shots'' interval was getting shorter and shorter. But even if Nao Zhong wished to take revenge, Mian Ling knows that he was not much of a fighterpared to the brilliant support skills he possessed.

    "We will see how it goes once we build our camp." Mian Ling said as she managed to close the wound with her chi while passing the bullet towards Nao Zhong for him to inspect. This is going to be a long day.

 Chapter 1339: Monkey & Sheep - Final

    <h4>Chapter 1339: Monkey & Sheep - Final</h4>

    Once the Royal Zodiac Monkey and Sheep Teams had finally established their camp, using the items they bought from the Pandamonium Store, the Snakes and Tigers were a little dissatisfied with it.

    To them, the location they chose was not exactly the best nor was it the worst but it was more leaning towards the ''meh'' choice. Veterans who were fighting on this current battlefield knew that high ground was a better option even though it was vulnerable to open fire. And despite the opinions of their own guards as well as the Tigers, Nao Zhong insisted on establishing the camp behind the wall. Perhaps he was traumatised by the sniper shot or maybe that particr event had reinforced his thinking but the Monkey Captain insisted on putting it near the centre of the second inner wall with apletely destroyed wall from the firstyer facing outwards.

    Rocher saw the camp establishment and could only hope that the Sheep had not used their teleportation crystal. The only expensive thing that should be used wisely within this raid instance. (One of such items cost nearly a million Yuan.) This was because there are way too many openings for that camppared to the Outer Wall Campyout.

    The Outer Wall Camp might be ced in the open but because of the high walls they were on, they could expand downward if needed to amodate the wounded/tired Pandarens. Not only that, with the high ground, they were able to predict where the Demon Rats wereing, allowing the guards some additional response time to amass and deal with the threat with less panic.

    But the newly built Inner Wall Camp? It was on the ground, making it very susceptible to the Demon Rat attacks especially when most of the veterans of the current battlefield understood that the Demon Rats could dig out from the ground at any time. In addition, using the secondyer Inner Wall as protection would only be ideal if they hadplete control of the entire secondyer which they currently do not.

    The Demon Rats, if given the opportunity, could overwhelm the entire second wall and subsequently jump down from the wall, doing ambushes from the top. Even if they do not, just throwing a few bombs was more than sufficient to interrupt them if their magical barrier was weak enough. Plus, the camp had been entirely blinded by the second inner wall''s presence. A Demon Rat Abomination Giant could potentially destroy the wall causing the entire camp to be exposed to an attack.

    In short, meaningless destruction to the camp due to bad location and the unnecessary loss of resources due to one''s insistence. However, one cannot deny that having a camp there allowed fast replenishment of the items that had been exhausted. From rifle ammunition to grenades and even temporary inscriptions cast by the Monkey''s Battle Alchemists.

    Yes, the Royal Zodiac Monkey Army is a support Army which deals mostly in buffing their armies and debuffing their enemies. They even had gadgets to augment their fellow soldiers but for this raid instance, they were only providing basic buffing potions and temporary one time use inscriptions. That was why they were called Battle Alchemists because of their role.

    In the past, the Royal Zodiac Monkey was not exactly the n that was worth being looked up to. While they had a following that wished to learn their Drunken Monkey Fist, their main specialisation was not looked upon. Mainly because a bulk of their soldiers were weak since their skills were not fantastic. They did have legends of Battle Alchemists buffing themselves to the extreme so they were capable of exterminating monsters beyond the scope of the ''average'' realm and that was all to it.

    But with the advent of rifles and the industrial revolution, things start to change for the better for them. They yed a pivotal role in stopping their enemies, especially the Japanese ns. Their buffs could potentially turn rifle shots into artillery shots, while their cursing debuffs reduce their enemies'' strength, allowing them to turn the tide very easily. With mass manufacturing, their potions were a standard staple for soldiers that were pinned down.

    So, being close to the battlefield would not only serve as a better support for the Pandarens but also ensure that the war of attrition would tip in their favour. Not to mention, Mian Ling and her Royal Zodiac Sheep Medic were around to ensure that major injuries could be healed, allowing the Pandarens to continue with their fight.

    Naturally, the Snake General Hou Fei had gotten wind of the new establishment and had already sent a few of his elites to guard the new camp grounds. Major Chun Hua also sent a few Tigers to act as protection detail for those battle medics who had to bring the injured Pandarens from the battlefield to the camp.

    Otherwise, the Royal Zodiac Sheeps and Monkeys were doing their best to maintain the camp grounds. And with the establishment of the campgrounds, the new Teleportation Crystal allowed the Pandarens to dive into battle faster. Those who selected the Inner Wall Camp as their respawn would be redirected to the Store Ind Instance''s airport rather than the train.

    To the Pandarens who tested it, they realised they were being parachuted out from the nes from a rather high altitude, allowing them to have a full view of the Northern Capital as well as the Northern Region as a whole. Those who were scared stiff due to the fear of heights had been ''thrown'' into a capsule by the Panda co-pilots and they were being fired from the Hercules ne to the location where they would spawn.

    The reason Jin suddenly changed from train to ne was that he realised that the train would be too big of a target to not be ignored. The Demon Rats would either concentrate all their fire on the train or send more troops to the camp.

    So, by changing the tactic of sending the Pandarens in via air, the Pandarens could use the change of pace to utilise some range weapons to destroy some monsters when they were hanging out up top. It also gave them the advantage push for an assault against the Third Layer Inner Wall since they wereing from above.

    The Demon Rats eventually realised Jin''s tactics and started to prepare the countermeasures for the paratroopers. Suffice it to say, the paratroopers themselves also took aim against the anti-air attachments on the third wall so that they would have a harder time. Gnawbones wanted to send a few more nes to kill these Pandaren maggots but the Snakes were giving them a hard time to do that. (Though to be honest, the Chryso Pilots were enjoying their time with the flexibility of Mana Engine Aircraft that they wanted more to fight against)

    And with the Pandarens covering both the sky andnd, the Third Layer Inner Wall has a tough time splitting their firepower to cover both battlefields. All they could do was waste as much time as possible so that their Demon Rats counterpart could prepare sufficiently for the biggest counterattack.

 Chapter 1340: For Plushies

    <h4>Chapter 1340: For Plushies</h4>

    The PandaVerse Festival continued throughout the second day and Jin had started to pull out incentives for the ''less hardcore'' cultivators who found the Great Demon War to be tiring. After all, no ordinary cultivator would like to stay in a warzone for days, right?

    So, Jin had made a rotary model for the discounts, so that Cultivators who were within the Store Inds Instance would have the opportunity to try all sorts of instances. However, when ites to the major service instances like theme parks and the cultivation zoo, they were teleported to the main store ind instance because it was inefficient to make copies of such instances. As for the smaller ones like the Hot Spring Instances, those service instances had multiple copies in the various themed store inds.

    And because of the theme inds, Jin had ensured that the discounts rotate through the inds as well. This means that not all inds have the same discount activated for the particr instance. The Western Themed Store Ind could have their hot spring instance discounted but not the Eastern Themed Store Ind. This enabled the cultivators to perform some ind hopping and they could see the various types of instances that were avable.

    For example, the Western Themed Store Inds have hot springs that were designed towards the Roman bathhouse rather than the traditional Japanese hot springs. The only thing that''s constant through all the inds was the Hidden Gem Night Market because Jin did not have time to convert them.

    This brought the cultivators who had decided to spend a week at Dungeons and Pandas an entirely new experience. Even if they wish to explore outside of the Tree Mall, they would be allowed in again depending on their voucher tier, else they would be teleported back to the main store instance.

    Jin had also prepared a few concert events and even a daily lucky draw which utilised the Event Ind Instance so that people could enjoy and earn prizes as they enjoyed the concert. Ke Loong''s event department had liaised with Kiyu, allowing the dungeon supplier to invite a few rtively famous singers andedians to the Event Ind, prompting the crowd to be excited with the lineup.

    Kiyu even managed to get a few overseas singers/groups and particrly famous ones like Melton John, Lady Baba, XNXD, White Pink and LIZA to perform on those days causing a wild rage of concert tickets to be sold out consistently. The System knew that these famous lineups would cause people to rage for the tickets and even execute scalper services to earn more money so the System made it such that the selling of tickets would be randomly selected from the people who keyed in their interest to participate. Only when they were chosen, they would be offered a chance to buy the ticket and the ticket would be tied to the ount and that ID.

    Since the ID was their National Identification Number, there was no way they could sell it and no one could fake the System. (IF they did manage to do that and were subsequently picked up, the System would be very interested in that person''s talent. Kraft too!) There were even arena battle showings in the Event Ind featuring the different types of monsters that Jin owned.

    Obviously, the monsters knew that they were merely sparring but when they were on stage, their mindset somehow changed. (For example, Dread Reaver, the Death Knight was superpetitive when he fought against Sandy, The Sand Witch, nearly making a mess when the Sand Witch covered the entire arena with sand just to counter his Death God Moves.) Oh and did Jin mention there was betting allowed as well? The winners even had a chance to win a special plushie and the minimum bet was just one bronze Panda Coin, allowing almost everyone to try it.

    And talking about plushies, Jin did create a brand new plush specifically for PandaVerse. The Panda was holding the entire earth in its arms with the word PandaVerse 1 in the middle of the earth. (As if he was indicating that there would be second, third and more toe.) And to make things (worse) more exciting, Jin had purposely created a variety of plushies for this PandaVerse. (To be exact five.) If they tried out all the PandaVerse activities. From concerts to trying out the new Virtual Reality game that Jin had opened on day two.

    Collect all of them and they will receive a special plushie that is limited. This caused nearly every plush collector to go FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out.) and they started to try and find ways to get it done. But Jin did make it easier for plush collectors too as all those plushies could be collected when they reached a certain raid point threshold, obviously when they were ced high up so that the collectors or regr Pandarens could either try out all the events during the PandaVerse Festival or grind high enough raid points to get the limited plushie.

    This slew of events and activities gave the Pandarens the flexibility to do whatever they liked in Dungeons and Pandas. People were alreadymenting how this was superior to the National Dungeon Supplier Symposium by leaps and bounds, and they were showing it on social media as if this was the event they had been waiting for years.

    The fruits of this festival were sweet and this could not be done without the months of preparation they had done. But as the event was not done, Jin and the System continued to be wary of external threats as well as the vtile situation within the Farming World. From what they gathered through the Spirits of the Land, the Demon Rats were holding their trump card as well.

    "This feels like n G1," Jin said to the System but the System begged to differ, stating that it could be n G2 considering the simrities. "Gah, you feel that they are gathering for ''that''?" (They are naturally talking in code...)

    "High chance. Considering how they had evacuated the Demon Rats beneath, it felt that it would be appropriate for n G2." The System reported.

    "Then I guess having the Void Being is actually a surprising boon." Jin smiled as he continued to monitor the situation.

 Chapter 1341: Temporary Pandaren Leader

    <h4>Chapter 1341: Temporary Pandaren Leader</h4>

    It was surprising but Jin actually managed to have slept quite a fair bit during this portion of the war since the System and him believed that the Demon Rats were going to take drastic actionster in the evening when the fighting got fiercer.

    There were more Pandarens fighting against the Demon Rats and they were rushing, hoping to break the siege for the thirdyer of the Inner Wall. Pandarens started to use the items they bought from the Hidden Gem Night Market and they found them to be very useful.

    But it was extremely chaotic.

    Because there were no actual Pandaren Leaders to lead the way, each Pandaren team was doing what they felt was best for them to earn the most points. One could say that the chaos and haphazard use of the items bought from the Hidden Gem Night Market somehow allowed them to be ''random'' enough to give the Demon Rat Generals a big headache.

    Unlike the fights they had previously against the humans where Jin and his Monster Leaders weremanding the teams to fight in a coordinated manner, they were unable toprehend the change in fighting styles. So, the Demon Rat Generals had decided to fight recklessness with naivety and thus had decided to only send fresh new conscripts and a few fresh heavy hitters to dy them.

    The only trained Demon Rat troops with sufficient battle experience were on the thirdyer of the Inner Wall, manning the defensive equipment and having veteranmanders to lead the fight. But they had a difficult time supporting the newly conscripted Demon Rats mainly because they were equally unpredictable when they fought against the Pandarens.

    Yet, themanders had directly told the battle hardened defenders to be more decisive in their attacks if they needed to- meaning they could kill their fellow Demon Rats on the ground if the benefits outweigh the costs. To top it off, those Demon Rats followed the orders without any remorse, as they knew that their home was more important than the few lives of Demon Rats.

    So, as long as the defenders could make the ''correct'' judgement when handing out their attacks, themanders would not me them and this did make the battlefield even crazier than ever. The indiscriminate killing forced the Pandarens to have the objective of breaking the Third Layer as soon as possible.

    While it''s true that the Pandarens did not have a leader per se, there were a few who stood up to be a temporary leaders (Since they got the cash to do so.) With enough money and sufficient dungeon time, they are able to lead the masses by sending out shouts to redirect the group. Aye, the System purposely implemented this even though it''s a bit biased but it was an impromptu feature that required testing. However, it was done to make sure that the leaders had a sufficient grasp of the situation as long as they stayed on the battlefield long enough.

    Leading the entire Pandarens even for just a short amount of time did not give additional raid points but the System would specially distribute extra raid points based on the performance of the leader only when the entire raid was done. It was simr to a hidden quest within this raid instance and it would not be shown as the System did not wish to encourage people to ''lead'' just because they could add extra raid points. Besides, the System had always emphasised in their notices that the Pandarens should not tolerate bad behaviour and are able to report if needed so that the Panda Team (aka the System) will investigate.

    Back to the situation, the temporary Pandaren Leader asked those who had Missile Launcher Carts or even mobile artillery guns (Pandarens literally had the strength to carry those guns and shoot them.) to be deployed simultaneously and fire to destroy the defensive capabilities all at once. It was a feeble attempt at leading but there were quite a few who responded especially when the temporary leader himself purposely sacrificed his items for the attack. So with a weakly coordinated attack, the Pandarens had managed to destroy a third of their defensive capabilities which forced the Demon Rats to with rifles and bows.

    This increased the survivability of most Pandarens since many of them had purposely bought a magical barrier or a defensive inscription that could block ranged projectiles to a certain extent. Not to mention, those Pandarens who were able to get the enhancement potions from the Royal Zodiac Monkey''s Battle Alchemists were able to reduce such damage to the minimum.

    The change of battle development encouraged the Pandarens to listen to the temporary leader once again and they destroyed half of the remaining defensive capabilities with their items, allowing them to fight ''safer'' and less bothersomeбнuntil they found out that they had been keeping their mages just for this kind of situation. Fireballs now rained from the safety of their walls and they had watchers to look out the targets for them. Even if they had missed, the effect of the rain of fireballs was still terrifying even though there was a huge interval in their attack pattern. At the same time, Demon Rat Mages continue to cast teleport portals to make sure that those Pandarens were sent to their Kill Box Zones to reduce their numbers as much as possible.

    Thus, all the Pandarens could do was climb the Third Layers as soon as possible to fight against the defenders. And to protect their walls, the Demon Rats tried their best to prevent their climb by pouring oil and lighting it up whenever the Pandarens qing gong their way upwards. (It was a terrifying sight for the Demon Rats at first but with their experiences from the previous Inner Wall fights, this was the only few tactics they thought of to deter the Pandarens especially when the Third Layer had the highest walls.) While the paratroopers had managed to do the same as those Pandarens on the ground, there were simply not enough bodies to throw against the horde of Demon Rats hiding within the Third Layer. It was as if they were making it their final defence line while the Pandarens tried to prate it as much as possible.

    But only the Generals and Jin knew this was not the finale.

 Chapter 1342: Terrorist Attempt

    <h4>Chapter 1342: Terrorist Attempt</h4>

    "So how is it going? Are you able to track his movements?" Kong Rong asked as he peeled the stic of the disposable straw and poke it into his small soya bean drink pack. He took a quick sip and looked at the consoles his colleagues were monitoring within the van.

    "They are edgy for sure but it''s unlike them to do this kind of pathetic attempt as an ambush. especially after the In the midst of all the festivities at the Tree Mall," Yu Xuan, one of the State Agents under Kong Rong''s direct supervision.

    "Notice any bombs on them?" The leader asked and Ran Ran, a fellow agent stated that the equipment was not picking up any significant chi signatures from the targets.

    "But I believe they are carrying quite a number of storage rings." Ran Ran added and Kong Rong sighed.

    "This is too obvious, I don''t like this. The Banned Emperor Assassins would never do such a direct attack. This is either a distraction or an extremely coordinated attack." Kong Rong said as he picked up his phone and checked whether the System had detected any other ''people of interest''.

    "But Sir, if you consider the situation at hand as well as past attack patterns, it is already almost impossible for them to bomb the Tree Mall and yet they might have decided to use this opportunity in thepse of judgement to do a simple bombing. So, perhaps, the more obvious it is, the less we would suspect." Yu Xuan said his theory on the current development and Ran Ran scoffed at the reasoning quietly.

    "Regardless, we have to make sure there are no follow ups from this attack after we foil it. Ever since Jin broadcasted the 12 Zodiacs, I am pretty sure there would be peopleing for him especially using the festival as a cover." Kong Rong said before sending a message to a certain somebody that they had confirmed the identities and they could act independently whenever suitable.

    "I had sent the coordinates to a group of бнcleaners. They will clean up those suspects as soon as they have the opportunity to do so. For now, continue the sweep and ensure there are no additional bombers." Kong Rong added.

    "Sir, are you sure it''s okay to let these external helpers be involved in our work? I thought you said that you cannot trust anybody else." Yu Xuan asked but his leader nodded his head in confidence.

    "That is because that group belongs to Jin, and he is the only one that we can trust for sure. Besides, we all know that he has quite a formidable group under him for some reason so there is no need to worry about thepetency of their work. As for us, it''s also best that we do not perform any unnecessary actions especially when I have yet to vet the rest of the team thoroughly aside from you two." Kong Rong replied and somehow Yu Xuan and Ran Ran felt proud that they could be trusted by him.

    "Although I will still subject you two to surprise tests just to make sure that everything is as per normal and no possible backstabbing." Kong Rong smirked when he said it and both of his agents wereining about how distrustful their leader was.

    "Sir, I would like a raise to prevent myself from being corrupted." Yu Xuan teased since that was the same thing the news had reported, indicating that the government officials would have their sry increase to reduce the risk of being corrupted and act as a deterrent against worldly desires. To the public, it was such a feeble excuse to get more money in their pockets but their apathy in them caused them to not bother much about the news.

    Ran Ran also raised her hand like a rat, supporting Yu Xuan''s proposal for a pay raise. Kong Rong sighed and said that he would consider it at the end of the financial year''s appraisal review which caused the two of them to perform a high five.

    In the meantime, Kong Rong received an acknowledgement that the helpers would finally proceed to capture them and thus asked his two agents to be on alert for any major changes to the Banned Emperor Assassins.

    "Well, since the Young Dragon Boy asked for it, it''s time for us to do our pre-workout before the Farming World gets to the climax," Kraft said to his boys and girls who immediately jumped into action, going around the Tree Mall''s vicinity to find their targets.

    When one of the Night Foxes found the suspected terrorist, they qing gong straight to the Banned Emperor Assassin, sneaking up to him so that he was in range for a grapple. And once he executed it, a portal instantly opened right beneath them, forcing the two of them to be teleported into one of the System''s temporary dimensional instances.

    Without any hesitation, the Night Foxes who were waiting in the temporary instances quickly assisted to pin the terrorist down and blocked the person''s pressure points to prevent him from moving. Meanwhile, they brought a piece of torture equipment so that they could permanently immobilise the suspect andter performed the mind pration telepathy to get ess to the information from the Banned Emperor Assassin.

    The System quicklypiled the information to augment the current arrest but it seems like Yu Xuan was right on the money when Kong Rong received the information from the System that the terrorists'' attempted attack was merely the few that the System had identified beforehand. (Their IDs were gged as suspicious when they first entered Dungeons and Pandas, causing the System to track not only them and the people they had contacted as well.) And with the information from the first captured Banned Emperor Assassin, further cemented the idea that the attempt was done by this small group of people who hoped to do an impromptu terror attack.

    This also allowed the Night Foxes to capture the remaining suspects without mercy (They were already doing that ording to the State Agents) and performed ''illegal'' mind pration telepathy attacks to get more information. Why give them chance when they are culprits that were set to terrorise the world?

    Hence, the System allowed the Night Foxes to prate deep into their memories to find each and every potential member of the Banned Emperor Faction so that Kong Rong could follow up.

 Chapter 1343: Bickering With The System

    <h4>Chapter 1343: Bickering With The System</h4>

    "Yawnбнanything happens when I am away?" Jin asked as he scratched his bed hair.

    "Royal Zodiac Dragon Vice Head Kong Rong had coordinated with Original Betor Kraft to apprehend a few Banned Emperor Assassins. They had carried a number of handmade bombs filled with explosive inscriptions and gems charged with chi. Those Banned Emperor Assassins are currently in processing and the Night Foxes are doing their best to get as much information as possible." The System reported and ced the information in front of Jin with a brand new hologram.

    "So, they really did attempt an attack despite the enhanced security around the Tree Mall. Don''t they know not to mess with us?" Jin said as he opened the hologram window and read the information that was currently avable to them.

    "The User needs to be cautious that the information is still currently preliminary until Kong Rong has verified it through other means testing." The System said and Jin continued to skim through the information. For some reason, his inverse eyes had allowed him to read a little faster and remember even better after his fight with Suzaku. He was not sure whether it was a sign that he was going to be at the peak of his current grade or whether fighting with Suzaku within his subconsciousness had subconsciously improved his brain memory.

    "How''s our profit for the day?" Jin asked while he was near the end of the information sheet.

    "Within expectations, although there is a higher majority of Pandarens, especially the veterans were spending a little more than average to fight against the Demon Rat defenders at the Third Layer of the Inner Wall. Thest release of the concert tickets for tonight had been sold out as well including the ''additional spaces'' the System had graciously opened up for the Pandarens." The System replied and Jin was happy that the System had listened to his feedback. Even though the seats had already been allocated for a fixed amount of crowd number, Jin knew that he could continue to earn money as long as the Pandarens did not mind standing. There would be a train that was simr to the concept of a concert''s standing space.

    As long as the Pandarens did not mind standing for the entire concert, they would be entitled to a lower pricepared to the price of the allocated seats. Those standing spaces were also sold out almost immediately to his surprise and he believed such a sess would allow the System to continue to perform this practice so that Pandarens with lower purchasing power can have the chance to watch it live. Else, the concert could be watched via the Pandaflix and this should partially pacify the people who missed out on the chance to watch it on scene. The System initially wanted them to pay additional for the concert but Jin eventually came to apromise charging less than usual paid per view content.

    This was because Jin knows that the System will take advantage of the Pandarens regardless of their status but the User also knows that if he did not watch his ''generosity'' carefully, a certain Sub System User that deals with ounts woulde to haunt him for days toe especially when this Festival''s total expenses is one that would give them a major headache for months toe if the Boss incurred debts.

    "And since you are able to talk to me about money matters without urging along, I supposed the Demon Rats situation had not gone to such a state that we are unable to perform n G2?" Jin asked and the System acknowledged his reply by showing the statistics of Pandarens that were currently in the Farming World as well as the deaths that urred.

    "From the System''s perspective, it would take approximately another few hours to reach the desired oue but it is very suspicious to the point that the System wished to change n G2 to n F2 instead."

    "Considering how the entire Northern Capital''s design is simr to the castles in the Lord of The Rings, I do not see why we should go with F2. Flying would not matter much more than the preparation of ground troops. I suggest that we should continue with the current n and not move our troops as a precaution. In fact, we should brace forints insteadбнalthough I think it would be quite an epic sight for reviewers and streamers that werementing on the current situation. By the way, any news about us in the mainstream media?" Jin asked but the System was more concerned about the initial statement that he made.

    "I wonder why the User thinks that way? The System requests for a logical rationale as the System has sufficient information for analysis through the spirit of thend and believes that n F2 would be a better choice."

    "After seeing those Steam Engine nes in action, it further reinforced my belief that there would be no additional flying elements against us. Especially when they did not bring any more new models of aircraft after the sh with the Royal Zodiac Snake''s pilots. There was no way the rats would not try to win with so few enemies in sight. You saw how they always try to rush and be reckless using overwhelming numbers and strength at the start but when ites to a push and shove, they would reveal their cunningness." Jin exined.

    "Since they know that pure brute strength was insufficient, they would use trickery to get what they want. Most of their major attack patterns should show that and thus I am not surprised that n G2 would be the most likely thing that could happen to the Pandarens. If anything, it aligns to their nature as rats." Jin said with Kraft yawning at the corner of the room as well.

    "What''s with all this G2 F2 whatever n you guys are talking about?" Kraft questioned and yet both Jin and the System ignored him by saying that this was the type of manoeuvres they would take should the Demon Rats perform an ''army scale'' attack and continue with their conversation. (After all, not telling Kraft anything will cause him to be annoyed while exining to him would definitely bore him so they exined briefly to keep his annoyance level to the minimum so he would not disturb their argument.)

    "Meh, I am just waiting for those generals to make an appearance so I can do some exercise. I do not care how the Pandarens die or survive." Kraft added before sleeping back in his dark corner of his own. (Yes, the System purposely ced a corner void of light so Kraft could doze in there.)

 Chapter 1344: Demon Rats Finally Making The Move

    <h4>Chapter 1344: Demon Rats Finally Making The Move</h4>

    "It should be time for us to initiate the next part of the n," Roughscream said as he was in the samemunications room along with Cinderw and a few of the other generals.

    "What''s the rush? If you are so hasty, why don''t you personally escort yourself to fight the humans yourself as you once did?" Skydigger said with a smirk on his face. He knows that Roughscream was not able to do anything because Cinderw specifically says no generals are supposed to enter the battlefield as of yet. He might be of the same rank as the rest but everyone knew the hidden powers Cinderw possessed.

    Roughscream quietly cursed Skydigger for making such a snarky remark but understood that he did it because of the grudge he held for using his personal weapon as an experimental tool for fun. Even he would be unhappy if he lost the bet and had to lend his signature weapon to some other rat so they could ''y'' with it. But ultimately, a bet is a bet and it was done as a form of humiliation since they have almost everything in the world and nothing was as shameful as passing their personal weapons to another rat.

    "Enough," Cinderw said to quell down the anger within the room. It was as tense as it could have ever been since the Pandarens were making strides in their assault. And yet, despite the situation they were currently facing, the Demon Rat Generals understood how to y with human emotions ever since they brought the humans to their knees once. The Demon Rats might once be ves to two human schrs but they were also masters of thousands of human ves. But having a master alone was sickening to them and most if not all had vowed not to be enved. (Especially the top brass themselves.)

    "We will initiate the next phase of the n. Give a howling siren to the undercity and for those who have yet to evacuate would be their own undoing." Cinderw said and everyone within the room obeyed his orders to the dot. As much as a few of them did not like hismands especially when they could endanger their species, they knew that the Demon Rats had always made sacrifices for the overall good of their society бнor that was what they were inculcated to them by the Schrs themselves.

    It''s true that now the monsters were able to think and fend for themselves but it would be hard to change their mindset overnight especially when it could have been ingrained into their genes to think like that. Regardless, the order had been sent out and the Undercity had made necessary preparations to proceed to the next n with a fewst minute adjustments.

    In the meantime, the battlefield between the humans and the Demon Rats was going strong as thest batch of kamikaze Demon Rats conscripts began to run out of the thirdyer defences to handle the Pandarens on the field while the defenders were using what they had left to hold back the cultivators from taking over the Third Layer.

    There was some fighting on the walls themselves but the Demon Rats were still able to hold their ground against the small number of cultivators who had reached the top of the wall through their qing gong. But to the unsuspecting Pandarens, everything all felt the same and it was nothing they could not handle as most of them had already fought the conscripts before. It was just another desperate attempt to stall for them against the Pandarens and the cultivators believed they would be winning over the wall soon especially when more of the customers areing in to assist with the attack.

    However, that was what General Cinderw wanted all this time.

    The umtion of Pandarens and the extra reinforcements that wereing into the fray. He wanted as many humans as possible on the battleground so that when he initiated the next phase, it would injure them greatly. While he did understand from Roughscream that they wereing back again and again to fight the Demon Rats to their death but as the Club General had pointed out, there would definitely be a limit to their powers and he was a firm believer in that theory. All they had to do was punish them sufficiently until they did not wish to return to the battlefield.

    And even though what they were going to do would be elerating the deaths of many other Demon Rats, the Generals know their Achilles heel in this current situation. The Northern Capital might be vastly connected to the Undercity but the major way up and down is usually through the giant elevator that was at the northern tip of the capital. Even if they were to utilise all the passages to fight the Pandarens, they could already foresee their fight at a disadvantage.

    Their reinforcements are fixed because of the giant elevator and even if they were to retreat to the undercity, the humans would take the chance to create a base on the surface, gathering their troops and trying to push through via the Giant Elevator. This would take weeks, months and possibly even years.

    It was initially not a problem since they had sufficient food stock at the moment and the Demon Rats were consistently expanding. But now they were in a different predicament. The East and West invasion had been halted, even pushed back by the humans and the coborations of other entities which the Demon Rat assumed were the inhabitants of the East and West that they were fighting against, (they were so wrongбнit''s all Jin''s.). Thus, the Demon Rats would be pushed to a three way fight if they let things be but if they could take the fight to them, that would be a different issue.

    "Proceed to the next phase in five minutes. Get the mages ready to destroy the entire ground leading to the Outer Walls. I want the humans to feel despair falling through the cracks." Cinderw ordered once more, with a decisive tone, to make the rest who were having second thoughts of the operations enact it.

 Chapter 1345: Earthquake Spell!

    <h4>Chapter 1345: Earthquake Spell!</h4>

    "Let''s go! The rats are beatable, we can clear this portion of the raid instance!" The temporary Pandaren leader shouted and everyone was encouraged to do it since they could see that they were progressing.

    However, as they were pushing forward to get full control of the thirdyer, they suddenly felt the ground shaking. All of them did not care about it since the explosions from the missiles and other cultivators'' spells had always been this earth shattering but when they realised that the ground was shaking nonstop, they started to be suspicious.

    Some of the Pandarens, especially the Pandawans on the ground, who had more battle experience, could feel that this might not be an ordinary earthquake spell and began to move to higher grounds like the ruins of the secondyer.

    Yet, those who managed to move to the high ground did not expect the following scene to unfold in front of their eyes. The ground literally split in front of them as if it was eating them up for a meal. The soil vibrated and gave way for everyone within the vicinity and the split was so sudden that most of the Pandarens were not able to react in time and that included the Pandawans.

    They realised that this particr earthquake spell was not just concentrated between the second and thirdyer but everything from the firstyer of the Inner Wall to the third. They realised that it was a trap of a grand scale, destroying all the progress the Pandarens had umted in the past two days. All the ground they had covered, the sweat and blood that was spilt to grab each inch ofnd had been all wasted as the floor beneath them cracked and ate them up.

    Jin saw the entire thing unfold but did not lift a finger to save any of the Pandarens since they knew that they would be able to revive again from it. He was more interested in what the Demon Rats were plotting now that they had destroyed the entirend as he had expected in n G2. The only thing he did not expect was the extent since he thought that they were only going to break a small portion of the ground and the entire Outer Town included.

    All of the Pandarens who were caught in the trap fell endlessly into the ''abyss'' while the Pandawans tried to use their qing gong to try to reach the Third Layer of the wall which was still intact and unaffected by the earthquake.

    That was when the Demon Rats Mages had started the next portion of their phase to ensure that all those within the trap would remain in the trap. A massive magic circle was right above the Pandarens and they activated a multitude of spells all at once. From a shower of fireballs to a wide range gravity spell to force them to fall right through the ''abyss'' and into their Undercity.

    Since their Undercity was built a few kilometres below ground, the Pandarens ''should'' die but since the Demon Rat Generals had seen their resurrection powers in person, they had expected a few to possibly survive. So, they also ced a few Demon Rat Hunters on the job, sneaking those Pandarens out and killing them when they fell from the ''sky''.

    For the first time in eternity, the Undercity had seen some proper sunlight and to the rats, they felt that this might be their golden era when they saw how the Demon Rat Military had killed hundreds of Pandarens instantly.

    Naturally, those who survived the fall by reaching the Third Layer or had already been on the Third Layer''s wall were now facing fiercer resistance than ever since their support had been reduced to zero and they had to fend for themselves. The Demon Rats who were upied with ranged duty could assist their guards to kill the rest of the Pandarens that were on the wall.

    Most of the Pandarens panicked since they were never much of a fighter in the first ce. A bulk of them are sry workers and did jobs that did not require them to put up a fight. When faced with this kind of menacing force, it was an obvious choice that a lot of them simply retreated back or be killed by the remaining Demon Rats. However, it was not the same for the Pandawans who had survived the attacks.

    Bin Yong, Xiong Da, Luo Bo and Bu Dong were unfortunately the survivors from the entire Demon Rat Trap with the rest of the Pandawans back in the recovery instance. Still, they were not going to retreat and hope to at least survive the wave of monsters. Now that both of the respawn points from the Outer Wall Camp and Inner Wall Camp had been destroyed, the Pandarens would have a hard time attacking the Demon Rat''s Undercity and the Pandawans know it too.

    Thus, they were thinking about whether it would be the right choice to ce a teleportation crystal at the Third Layer, allowing reinforcements toe. However, to do that, the person putting down the teleportation crystal would need to be protected. (Although Jin was able to make that teleportation crystal be deployed almost immediately, he initially did it to prevent people from spamming the crystal even if they had the money to do so.)

    And considering that Xiong Da had one (why not? He is too freaking rich to not purchase one.) They were hoping to ce it down as soon as possible and protect the Pandawan who were deploying it before they were exhausted from the constant fighting between the Demon Rats.

    "Xiong Da! We do not have time to waste. Let''s just put it down and protect it." Bin Yong said and Xiong Da was contemting whether it was a good choice.

    "And waste my money when this thing costs hundreds and thousands of yen?" Xiong Da queried as he mmed the Demon Rat right in the face. "And you want me to put it here? Out of no fucking where on top of the walls?"

    "If not what? You saw how the Demon Rats annihted our camps in one shot! There would be no way they could use the very same spell again to destroy the Third Layer again and there must be a reason why they did not destroy this wall when they could have destroyed it previously." Bin Yong said while he smacked a Demon Rat with his buckler and stabbed it.

    "Bin Yong is right, it''s best that you put it up as soon as possible. Else, we won''t have any respawn points around us at all and this entire war would be set back to square one once more.

    "Bro, don''t worry. Establish that teleportation crystal. Let me handle the Demon Rats." Bu Dong reassured his fellow Pandawan. "I have a few tricks under my sleeves that should be able to salvage the situation if the situation goes down to shit."

    "Fine, Then I will be putting my life in your care." Xiong Da said as he took out the teleportation crystal. No matter how bad an idea this was, it was still worth the gamble.

 Chapter 1346: Xiong Das Hectic Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 1346: Xiong Da''s Hectic Preparations</h4>

    While Xiong Da wished to ce the teleportation crystal as soon as possible, he knew it would be total suicidal to do just that. If this was a fight to the death while making sure that they have to nt the teleportation crystal sessfully, it was vital that he used everything at his disposal.

    And that means utilising every single item within his storage ring. After all, there was no use in hoarding those items he had grabbed from the Hidden Gem Night Market if he did not take them out and use them against the enemies.

    Before cing the teleportation crystal, he ced a high level electrical magical barrier device around him and only himself. It acted as an imprable shield as long as the magic source had not been depleted. Xiong Da initially meant to use this as thest resort against the Demon Rat General who he had fought against. A trump card to be used to at the veryst moment when he did not have any strength within him.

    The electrical magical barrier device would discharge high voltages of electricity that was equivalent to a Grade 9 Electric Bolt but the charges were limited so Xiong Da could either dial it down and the device would discharge bolts that were several grades lower or leave it as it is and rece the magic battery source as needed. (He would never expect that all these magic batteries were from Peppers since she discharged too much mana that Jin decided to sell those magic batteriesбн of course at a high price.)

    Since he was not dealing with a Demon Rat General, he had already dialled it down to Grade 3 Electric Bolts to increase the lifespan of the electrical magical barrier. At the same time, he also took out a bunch of documents from his storage rings and tore them right on the spot.

    They were mercenary contracts, simr to how Jin was able to contract temporary monsters by the System. Unlike Jin''s contract with those temporary monsters, the ones that Xiong Da used had a time limit to them since the System does not allow Pandawans, much less the Pandarens to have ess to such powers if possible. (Especially when they were part of the User''s repertoire.)

    However, Jin hadpromised with the System, stating that they believed this particr raid was an instance and they had to keep that act up as much as possible. Besides, the System was able to earn some additional profit since it was charging about the same price to the Pandawans for a time limited contract. But to Xiong Da and his particr predicament, an hour''s usage for those mercenaries was already a steal when his friend and him were in such a pinch.

    Armoured Alligators emerged from those torn contracts and there were at least fifteen of them. Xiong Da basically took the whole stack from the Hidden Gem Night Market since he was still collecting his money''s worth after sponsoring a he lot of money to Jin. In fact, if Jin were to reveal the numbers, he could be the number one sponsor for Jin''s store aside from the Royal Zodiac ns who had spent millions to set up those camps. (With regards to those destroyed camps, Jin had decided to refund a partial portion of the funds as Panda Coins to the Royal Zodiac Heads but that was for another retelling to be done in the near future.)

    Now with some extra hands on deck, Xiong Da hadmanded them to set up a defensive perimeter around him while he started the establishment of the teleportation crystal. With just one order, the Armoured Alligators immediately pushed the Demon Rats away and set a defensive circle around Xiong Da as if they were trained Spartans. (They even looked at the part when Xiong Dater realised they were wearing simr gear to the 300 Spartans.)

    But something seemed to be bugging him, and he believed that a Demon Rat General might suddenly emerge from nowhere when he started the process so Xiong Da once more ced one of the supposedly most expensive items between him and the Armoured Alligators.

    A Panda ''God'' Statue

    For an item that looked the same as the one residing within the centre of the Tree Mall, the others including the Demon Rats were curious about what that thing was. Even the streamers and viewers who were watching the current development of the raid instance were desperately searching up the Panda God Statue within the Pandamonium App to check what it was.

    As he ced that 2 metre tall statue right smack to the ground, he was smiling to himself knowing the effects of putting that Panda God Statue right in the middle of the battleground. Xiong Da hoped that if anything were to go awry, the Panda God would rescue him from trouble.

    "This Xiong Daбн" Jin said to himself, and in some way cursed that he had decided to use the Panda God Statue in such a way.

    "The User should me himself for even providing such an item to our number one sponsor." The System tried to refrain from making sarcastic remarks since it knew what it was. To call the Dungeon Supplier toe into the fray and save him. While like the contract was just a one time use, the Panda God Statue would only be ''activated'' if it was broken and Jin would emerge from it for fifteen minutes.

    Aye, it might be just a miserable 15 minutes but to the Pandawans/Pandarens, it was like summoning the gamemaster, a godly figure, in their raid instance to assist them in their current predicament.

    Yet, Xiong Da hoped that it would note to that since he only had one such statue with him and it would be a pity that Jin was summoned to clear Demon Rats or just one pathetic Demon Rat General. He wished to use that just as a substitute in case Bu Dong was not able to hold off the major threats.

    But for now, the Hippo Pandawan was satisfied with his preparation and started to establish the teleportation crystal.

 Chapter 1347: Taking Care Of The Crystal

    <h4>Chapter 1347: Taking Care Of The Crystal</h4>

    "Looks like the User could be summoned anytime." The System said as it monitored the situation carefully since Xiong Da had decided to ce the limited Panda God Statue on the battlefield.

    "It really does seem excessive for him to do thatбн" Jin did not likeing out so soon into the battlefield but he had no choice since he was the one who had given Xiong Da that particr Panda Statue in the first ce.

    "There was nothing that could be done for the moment," Jin added as he saw Bu Dong had managed to kill quite a number of Demon Rats with the new weapons that he had. He spammed the assault rifle like there was no tomorrow and instead of switching magazines, he merely threw it to the ground and started using another one. There was no time for him to think nor take his time to switch the rifles since he was not skilled enough to do a quick swap. However, it did not mean that those rifles that were spent were proven to be useless after he was done with them.

    Simr to Xiong Da, Bu Dong also had bought a few mercenary contracts and a few of them were specifically to help him with this situation. A pair of Otters emerged from his contract and took partial control of his storage rings. As Bu Dong threw the rifles to the ground, the Otters would pick them up and swap the ammunition if they were still avable. After which, they threw them back into the storage ring so that Bu Dong could resummon them back whenever he needed them. Simultaneously, the Otters also made sure that any injured Demon Rats who theye across were killed as well with a slit to their throats. This allowed Bu Dong to continue to look forward and shoot without any care.

    In the meantime, Luo Bo was taking care of the ranged units that posed a threat to Xiong Da or any of the defenders protecting the establishment of the teleportation crystal. On the other hand, Bin Yong was rushing from one corner to another beating up monsters that were on Luo Bo''s and Bu Dong''s blind side. But with the current setup, they had managed to ce a considerable amount of distance between them and the remaining Demon Rats that were on the Third and remaining Inner Wall.

    "How much longer would the instation of the teleportation crystal take?" Luo Bo asked as she used her chi to fire an ultra long range shot when she managed to catch a sniper rifle''s re from afar. More and more of those snipers wereing up and she knew that the Demon Rats were also using this chance to consolidate their forces after killing the remaining Pandarens within their vicinity. It could be possible that they were thest batch of Pandarens that survived the onught.

    "I have no idea! There is no progress bar on this stupid thing and it keeps asking me to y this typing game to elerate the instation!" Xiong Da was frustrated that this was the only way to progress the instation of the teleportation crystal and he knew that Jin could have implemented an easier way to install it but chose not to.

    However, that pause was necessary as Jin and the System were preparing the coordinates for a mass drop of Pandarens who were urged to enter the moment the teleportation crystals were up. In addition, the teleportation crystal that Xiong Da was currently installing had an anti teleportation spell simr to the one cast around the Outer Wall Camp because of the Demon Rats'' trickery of teleporting the Pandarens away from the battlefield.

    That typing game that Xiong Da was forced to ''y'' was practically an instructional spell casting device that once given the propermands would initiate the anti teleportation spell. But unbeknownst to the people who were currently fighting on the ground, the spell had already activated, preventing the Demon Rat Mages from casting those sneaky teleport spells. It''s just that the range was slowly expanding to ensure that it covered enough area to keep the ce around the crystal safe.

    And as Xiong Da continued to struggle against the typing game, a few big shots had started to arrive. Bin Yong and Bu Dong could recognise that the Demon Rat Abominations in front of them were different from the standard ones that they had fought before. They were not only bigger in size but there was an aura of magic around them, indicating that they were enchanted with spells to make them more durable in fights.

    The Pandawans had fought them before in the kill zone boxes and they were a pain in the ass to fight with. They were able to win with thebination of techniques from the various Pandawans with them. But now that they were pushed to a corner and probably pinned down with the advancing horde of Demon Rats, the Pandawans have to go the extra mile to make sure the teleportation crystal is unscathed else it would be a disaster moving forward.

    And to make things worse, their favourite Demon Rat General suddenly appears right in front of the horde. "Well, well well! Isn''t it my favourite humans that are still struggling like maggots?" Roughscream said as he swung his club right above his shoulders.

    "Why don''t you fight against us one to one?" Bu Dong shouted back, not knowing whether the Demon Rats would understand him. (Although there was the trantion module, there were certain dungeon instances that the cultivators had no way ofmunicating back, like the time they fought against the Deep Ones.)

    "Why should I do that?" Roughscream seemed to understand Bu Dong''s taunt and sent forth the Demon Rats and the Abominations ahead.

    "Buy me some time. I can provide you with some support." Luo Bo said as she walked to the frontlines. The rest of the Pandawans knew that Luo Bo had the best monster clearing skills among them and decided to hold their ground as much as possible. Even Bin Yong who was rather stingy with his items had finally decided to use them.

    An extended spellbook where he was able to use a certain spell without any restraints of being a mage but the drawback was the number of uses it had.

 Chapter 1348: Gaining Grounds in the East & West

    <h4>Chapter 1348: Gaining Grounds in the East & West</h4>

    Meantime, when all themotion was happening in the Northern Capital and the newly revealed Undercity, the East and the West had their own problems to handle. The Demon Rat Army who had recovered from the initial shock attack after Day 1 had been pushing aggressively against the other two sides. They were dying to get to the surface and all they needed was just one rat to go through for the n to work.

    As long as one Demon Rat Soldier was able to go through all the defences and remained unscathed, they have the opportunity to expand into the East and West regions when time permits.

    This was because each one of the soldiers had been ordered to carry a bunch of seeds with them and there were none other than the Demon mutant seeds which they were grown from. In fact, the Demon Rats were curious whether those Demon mutant seeds would eventually grow into something different and yet simr in nature to them when grown in soil that was not from the Northern Region.

    There were some scientists who theorised that it was because of the difference in spiritual soil that could either make or break the mutant seeds'' growth. There was always a possibility that the mutant seeds could only grow in the Northern Region but there was no harm in trying it out in the Western and Eastern Regions and see if they could grow the same as well.

    Yet, all those attempts by the Demon Rats regardless of their aggressive retaliation had not been sessful in allowing even one Demon Rat to pass through. This was mainly because Qiu Yue was personally behind the creation of the defences as they went into Demon Rat territories.

    Because of theirrge army which included their rat abominations, the Demon Rats would require tunnels that wererge enough to not only allow at least rows of Demon Rats to pass through but high enough to allow their Abominations to slip through as well. Not to mention, they needed enough space for future developments and thus did not skimp on the digging process.

    But they did not expect that it would be their downfall as it was used against them.

    While the basic foundation of maintaining a tunnel had been deployed throughout the entire area, there was nothing but debris, rat waste and broken equipment that littered the ce. They did not foresee any assaults through those tunnels since the Demon Rats assumed they were the only ones who were privy to this particr n of theirs. They never knew that Jin and the System had been monitoring them closely so that they could swoop at them all at one go. That was also the reason why they decided to be greedy and split their resources to move into two regions at one go. However, all of these decisions were previously made by the Schrs and the Demon Rats had to handle the consequences of their mistakes. Else, they believed that if they concentrated on just one region, their Demon Rat armies would more or less defeat the defending forces easily with sheer numbers.

    So, with the tunnel empty, Jin''s minions had the upper hand since they have a Magical Constructor by their side deploying tactical walls and defences that allow them to throw greater firepower at the Demon Rats. This was also one of the reasons why Jin had been monitoring the battles in this Great Demon War.

    Unlike the Demon Rats who apparently have numbers greater than them by a huge margin, there was only a limited number of troops that Jin possessed. Even with the System''s omnipotent contract System and ess to the ck Market to get more ''NPCs'', there were only that amount of people the System could hire due to its limited processing systems.

    And also, grabbing too many contracts off the ck Market could cause suspicions to other people from other universes and it was best not to deal with them unless necessary.

    Else, Jin might have to handle a threat that he was not expecting and so far, he was the changing factor for the world and none had yet toe to his world for now. Still, Jin knew he had to be careful since his world could be invaded for no reason especially after the Dungeon Supplier heard how Derek''s world turned into a permanent Zombind.

    So with the defences erected within the tunnels, Both the assigned armies in the East and the West were able to fight and prevent any leakages from going through. Some of the Demon Rats even used invisibility or high speed runners to break through the defences but Qiu Yue had assigned a few of her Beavers with special powers so that those tricky Demon Rats were able to be detected and captured. There were gadgets that allowed the detection of invisibility spells as well as traps that could stop the high speed runners in their tracks like gravity counters which break the runners'' momentum as they trip and fall (while being stuck to the ground until they were killed.)

    And with the help of those beavers, Qiu Yue was able to move from one side of the Farming World to the other side ensuring that the defences were solid enough to not only hold the front but also give cover to those who were injured and provide defensive fire with the automatic cannons that were built along with it.

    Yet, that did not mean the East and West frontiers had it easy as the Demon Rats had a massive horde rush and those defensive fortifications were used as buffers to slow down the horde since the Beavers and Qiu Yue could detonate them, destroying a portion of the massive horde to slow them down.

    After which when they regain their ground, the Empire Building Sub System User would then rebuild the very same defensive walls again to hold the attrition line. It might be tedious for the forces but when they had the luxury and advantage of the tunnels at their side, especially against overwhelming numbers, it was best to use that perk as much as possible.

 Chapter 1349: Bin Yongs (Temporary) Spellbook

    <h4>Chapter 1349: Bin Yong''s (Temporary) Spellbook</h4>

    "Get away!" Bin Yong shouted as he unveiled the spellbook right in front of him and it was shining brightly the moment he inserted a small bit of chi to activate it. Without any incantations, the spellbook slowly turned towards the Demon Rats as if it was detecting how many enemies it had to defeat.

    Bu Dong and the other Armoured Alligators move backwards knowing that they would not want to get destroyed to bits by Bin Yong''s mysterious new (consumable) power at his behest. However, it was still easier said than done as the Demon Rats were aggressive enough to make sure that they did not get caught in the st once they saw that tant light shining right above them.

    Without any further warning, the spellbook started to buzz with electrical magic and bolts of lightning streamed out from it, trailing towards the ends of the wall. Roughscream got caught in it as well but his club was able to block and subsequently deflect the streams of electricity from it. Yet, his minions were not so lucky as a number of them had been shocked and burnt by the lightning bolts.

    Meanwhile, Bin Yong was not keeping the spellbook back in his possession and he was allowing it to go for another round once more. This gave Luo Bo the idea for more coteral damage as she aimed her bow high with two unique arrows which teleported out from her storage ring. (How easy it was for modern archers who did not have to carry their arrows everywhere they went.)

    "Intermediate Bow Technique, Arrow Squall!" Luo Bo shouted as she released her bowstring, allowing the two arrows to fly up high. A few of the Demon Rat snipers who saw Luo Bo shooting her technique so openly and in such a shy way had decided to turn their guns towards her. However, she was clever enough to stand close to Xiong Da''s barrier, allowing her to avoid all of the attacks while her arrows did the job.

    Arrow Squall was a technique that enabled her one arrow to turn into multiple arrows but they were not as deadly as her other mass area of effect arrows mainly because the Arrow Squall technique was meant to be status inflicting technique.

    The arrows that split turned into a liquid of certain lethality which would corrode the armours of the Demon Rats but Luo Bo had made sure to reduce the lethality. This was because she wanted to utilise the liquid portion of the technique more than the poison thates along with it.

    Bin Yong could see where it was going when he saw the arrows turned into water projectiles hitting the Demon Rats. At this point, he inserted even more chi into the spellbook even though he believed it was useless to charge the spellbook with chi. However, it seems like the spellbook ''understood'' the predicament and started to sh even more brightly.

    Roughscream also knew what was going on and decided to charge forward ignoring the coteral Demon Rats soldiers that were in his way. He knew that if he allowed the spellbook to discharge once again, there would potentially be no more Demon Rats on the top of these walls for the next few minutes. He got to stop it at all costs.

    "Do you think I will allow you to do as you please?" Bu Dong said as he knelt and took out a box of mortar from his storage ring. He knew that those mortar shells needed to be prepped and aimed before triggering them but there was no time on his side either. Thus, he literally threw the box of mortar towards Roughscream and used his sword to summon out a chi sh to activate the mortar shells.

    The explosion was huge the moment the chi sh touched just one of those mortars, causing a chain reaction to the rest and Bu Dong believed that even if Roughscream was unscathed by it, the impact from it would no doubt stop him in his tracks (or even push him back) even just for a few seconds.

    But contrary to his pessimism, Roughscream had been thrown backwards by the huge impact and that few seconds was all that the spellbook needed to release abined charge of four spells towards the Demon Rats. The streams of lightning that emerged from the spell book were wider and more intense, shocking each and every Demon Rat that was in its trail. Along with the impromptu preparation done by Luo Bo, almost every (not dead) rat had been fried by the burst of lightning that was summoned out by the spellbook.

    "Do you think that crazy ass Demon Rat General would be killed by such an attack?" Bu Dong asked as he tried to get up with the help of the Armoured Alligator since they too were knocked back by the mortar explosion.

    The alligators only grunted as they raised their spears once more and pointed them forward as they all saw how Roughscream might have been roughed up by the explosion and lightning strikes but he was still alive and kicking.

    "Guess that answered my question." Bu Dong said as he turned back to check Xiong Da''s progress only to see that he was way too absorbed typing like crazy to even look at the situation they had created.

    "You think this will be the end? That your parlour tricks are enough to stop us?" Roughscream said as he literally screamed and the earth around them started to shake. Even without looking, the Pandawans who had been on the battlefield for hours knew that the General had already started to call for more reinforcements and there was little they could do to stop it unless they got the transportation crystal up and running. Even the spellbook that Bin Yong had brought previously, turned into an empty notebook after utilising all of its charges against the initial horde.

    "I can clear one more wave of Demon Rats with my arrows but I do not have much chi left. It''s either we die fighting till thest minute or we call it quits right here." Luo Bo said as she too was tired from all the attacking. The snipers were still relentless even as she had killed them in the process. They somehow managed to find recements and were not giving her or her team any breathing space.

    "I did not wish to use this so quickly." Bu Dong said as he stepped forward, touching his storage ring. The Angry Ape Cultvitor had been keeping this for emergencies or when fighting against multiple Demon Rat Generals but the situation in front of him had unfolded in just a way that it was unprecedented for him to not use it. "Damn it, if only Deng Long was here too. It would have been much easier." He thought to himself as he took the step forward in order to face the sole Demon Rat General that had been bugging them since the start of this war.

    But just as he was about to spur into action, a loud howl was heard from behind him.

    "ANNNNNDDD ITS ALL DONEEEEE!" Xiong Da eximed as he pressed ''Enter'' with the hopes that it would break especially after giving him such agony.

 Chapter 1350: Extra: As The Surviving Pandarens Gather

    Chapter 1350: Extra: As The Surviving Pandarens Gather

    б░Are you alright?б▒ Ma Yue Han, the Blind Bat Cultivator asked as he managed to catch a few of them in mid air.

    б░Wow, When did you learn how to fly? Even with qing gong, this is no easy feat.б▒ Xu Jia Le, the Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivator and also the partner of Bin Yong said as she managed to grab Yue Hanбпs hand and use her cultivation powers by creating flowers in midair for them to step.

    б░I managed to break through to Grade 9 and learnt one of the intermediate techniques that allowed me to float. You should thank Bu Dong and this guy here for forcing me to learn stuff when I could have beenzier.б▒ Yue Han pointed with whatever fingers he had left grabbing the cultivators towards Deng Long.

    б░Then I guess, it had paid off well. Told you this raid is a crazy one.б▒ Deng Long replied with a sigh of relief. He thought that he would meet the same fate as the rest of the other cultivators who had dropped into the abyssal hole when the earthquake happened. Thankfully, with Yue Hanбпs floating technique, Jia Le, Deng Long and one more particr Pandawan were able to survive the fall.

    б░Do you mind stepping on those floating flowers? My leg is not really the best ce for you to grab.б▒ Yue Han eximed as he could feel the intense grip that Shi Zuo was cing on both of his legs. If not for Yue Hanбпs familiarity with the floating technique, the four of them might have already fallen through the abyss.

    Jia Le knows that Shi Zuo had a tad of Acrophobia and purposely conjured a floating bellflower which wasrger than the rest right beneath his feet, allowing him to let go of Yue Han and allowed the Blind Bat Cultivator to bnce himself once more. He quietly thanked Jia Le as they witnessed the Great Demon Ratбпs main capital, the Undercity, in its full greatness.

    When gravity pulls them down further, they already saw that there were multiple projectilesing toward them and hordes of Demon Rats were already rushing into theirnding area to not only await their descent but also decimate any surviving Pandarens that managed to live through the fall from the ground above.

    It was aplete massacre as the injured Pandarens could barely put up a fight against them. The Royal Zodiac Soldiers on the other hand were banding up together as much as they could so that they heal themselves while preventing the situation from overwhelming them.

    Yet, it was pretty apparent that they could not hold the fort since they were in unknown territory and most of them were low gradebatants since the Monkeys and Sheeps were mainly supporters. The Battle Alchemists from the Monkey n were able to do some emergency healing as well as create a defensive array, allowing only cultivators to enter but the onught of Demon Rats became a problem when they were the centre of боattractionбп to the iing horde of Demon Rats.

    And that implied Jia Le and the rest of the Pandawans who were descending to the ground. The bellflowers were bright enough as a signal for the Demon Rat Archers and Sharpshooters to aim for them. Shi Zuo managed to use an item he bought from the Hidden Gem Night Market to provide a temporary magic barrier around him, providing cover for all four of them but its powers were tremendously weakened with the barrage of attacks, forcing the group to jump together as one so that they could reach the ground soon enough for the magic barrier to enough power to break their fall as well.

    Once that was done, Jia Le quickly used her kunais to erect a defensive wall of roots to not only stop the iing projectiles but also be used as a deterrent against the iing horde. She managed to get the Royal Zodiac Monkey Battle Alchemists to imbue some of her kunais with a chi boost inscription, allowing them to perform a higher level of chi techniques without straining the cultivator. The wall of roots was created by one of such kunais and it subsequently became a wave of roots, which crept on any of the Demon Rats that was in its path, the moment Jia Le inserted more chi into the kunai.

    This gave them some breathing space to run towards the defensive formation array which the Royal Zodiac Monkeys had created since it acted as a gathering point for all the Pandarens who managed to escape the attacks of the Demon Rats. As more cultivators started to gather around it, the Royal Zodiac Soldiers who were purelybatants like the Snakes and Tigers had begun to extend their reach outside of the defensive array so that they could rescue more people into the formation and at the same time provide some breathing space for the battle alchemists to expand their array formation so that it could hold more people as they continued to treat the wounded. It was a fight for their lives every single second even as the medics tried to save as many as they could so that they would at least be an able body to fend off threats should the array begin to fail.

    At that point, they knew that no reinforcements wereing soon enough to rescue them especially when the Pandarens realised there was nomunication going to any other teams that were still above ground. One of the Royal Zodiac Snakes believed that there was some barrier that stopped themunications to go through so he decided to shoot upwards with all the chi imbued in that one arrow.

    True enough, they found a multitude of magical barriers barring the surface and to make matters worse, there was even a magic barrier which seemed to darken the entire hole, and made it as if they would be entrapped in this Undercity forever.

    Yet they did not give up hope.

    Even though it is merely just a raid instance, they know that this was an obstacle they had to ovee Each and every one of the Pandarens in there might panic and even fear for their lives but the rallying cries of the Royal Zodiacs gave them hope, knowing that if theye together, they might be able to survive this intensely realistic and yet horrific experience.

 Chapter 1351: Provoking For More Time

    Chapter 1351: Provoking For More Time

    As the teleportation crystal swirled around Xiong Da to show its sign ofpletion, it was already blinking furiously. Xiong Da grinned quietly knowing that the crystal was already working the moment it was activated.

    б░Just in time then.б▒ Xiong Da said as he took a glimpse at the back and saw more Demon Rats filling up the walls once again. All of them crawled from the sides of the wall to surround the injured Demon Rat General and awaited hismand to charge.

    б░You sure? From my perspective, they are not on time at all.б▒ Bin Yong chuckled as he raised his shield and pointed his sword forward. He knew that going in recklessly would be a waste of energy and probably a waste of his life.

    б░So what are theying in as? Parachute? A train wreck?б▒ Bu Dong asked as he too did not know whether he couldst if the Demon Rats charged all at once. There was no way he could fight this many for such an extended period of time.

    б░I am too tired. I cannot go any further. Besides, my arrows are more or less depleted. I do not have any chi to do those mass clearing attacks.б▒ Luo Bo hid behind one of the armoured alligators as they continued to deflect боstrayбп projectiles from the remaining snipers. (To be honest, she was amazed that those alligators couldst this long in the fight and even had such reflexes to defend themselves from those sniper shots.)

    б░Are you guys willing to surrender?б▒ Roughscream felt the enormous upper hand in the current situation and was pretending to give an olive branch to the four humans who had dealt significant damage to not only him but the Demon Rats as well. If he was not able to capture them then trampling their pride and instilling fear was the way to go so that they would not appear again. And even if they did, he would be stronger and kill each and every one of them once more.

    б░Surrender? Heh. You are speaking way too soon. How about you stop hiding behind your soldiers ande out here to have a one on one with me?б▒ Xiong Da stepped forth and revealed his warclub. If there was anything he regretted with the previous fight was that the Hippo Cultivator did not have a proper fight with the Demon Rat General especially when he finally found a Warclub User. Back then, he was injured and the Demon Rat General was in tip top condition but right now, they were in a simr state and pitting against each other one to one was probably the most боfairбп fight they could ever get.

    However, even if he did wish to do that, Xiong Da was not stupid to fight a fair fight. He was merely wasting time since he realised the Demon Rat General had started gloating, thinking that the Pandawans had finally been beaten to exhaustion and they were unable to fight back.

    б░Or are you too afraid to fight against me? A slightly injured human invaderpared to the rest of mypanions? Seems like you are only haughty when you are pitting yourself against weakened enemies. So much for you being a General. Demon Rats! Take a look at how pathetic your general is acting. Are you sure you wish to serve such a timid general who did not dare to go up against human invaders when they are at peak health? How about you guys take the stage and challenge me? Perhaps if you win against me, you have the chance to be the next general and overthrow that weakling cowering behind all of you!б▒ Xiong Da did not stop taunting Roughscream and the Pandawans hollered the very same sentiments to provoke the Demon Rat General.

    б░You puny humans are courting death!б▒ Roughscreamбпs blood boiled at those weak yet humiliating threats that were aimed directly at him but the Demon Rats were thinking otherwise. Because they had not much interaction with their higher ups, some of them did show some distrust and to a certain degree, scorned the General for calling reinforcements and subsequently hiding behind them. After all, everyone knows that being a General provides perks of extreme luxury that a lowly Demon Rat was able to experience.

    б░Heh, look at that Demon Rat General. Make me feel he is some basic Wu Xia Novel Viin.б▒ Bu Dong chuckled at how Roughscream was able to be provoked that easily.

    б░We would need a few of that or else our raid instance would be boring.б▒ Bin Yong said as he could see from the side of his eye that the teleportation crystal had been blinking rapidly and even changing colour.

    And just as the Demon Rat Club General walked to the front of the crowd, He suddenly felt that the air around him began to feel heavy. At that moment, he realised something was amiss when Roughscream felt arge impact right behind him, causing him to be knocked forward. When he turned around, he saw a human invader staring at him fiercely and a wolf silhouette emerged behind him.

    Eventually, Roughscream also witnessed more humans dropping from the sky and impacting right on the wall, dispersing the Demon Rat formation that he had prepared previously to handle Xiong Da and the remaining survivors.

    б░Is he the one who started that earthquake? Because it looks like I am notte for my revenge.б▒ Se Lang, the Wacky Wolf Cultivator, said as he brought out his war scythe.

    б░Howe you guys can handle supermanndings?!б▒ Luo Bo ignored Se Langбпs question and when the dust settled, she found out that all the Pandarens whonded had a sort of device tform that allowed them to prevent them from taking any fall damage while acting as a sort of offensive gadget that enabled the Pandarens to do impact falls. At the same time, both the Demon Rats and the Pandarens on the wall had also witnessed multiple боhumsбп going into the hole the earthquake had created.

    And calling it боmultipleбп was an understatement. It is time for the humans to attack back once more.

 Chapter 1352: Human Comets

    <h4>Chapter 1352: Human Comets</h4>

    "This is such a terrible terribleбн.TERRIBLY BRILLIANT IDEA! HAHAHAHA" Xiong Da said as he saw multiple humsing down from the skies hitting and killing not just the Demon Rat soldiers that were ''hanging out'' at the walls awaiting the Demon Rat General''smands but also the abyssal hole that was created by the earthquake.

    However, he and the remaining Pandarens had no idea that there were surviving Pandarens within the Undercity and a majority of the hums were flying right into that hole mainly to reinforce the Pandarens and other Royal Zodiac Soldiers that were still fighting in there, desperately holding onto their lives despite it being just a ''raid instance''.

    They had no idea why they stayed when in most dungeon instances, the cultivators could simply press the log out button or say a safe word to get them out of it. It felt like they were pelled'' to fight to theirst or perhaps they know that people are watching them. After all, there were streamers and viewers on Pandaflix that were watching them live. For the Royal Zodiacs, it could be a matter of reputation while to some, it was a sense of duty to aid the Pandarens. As for the Pandarens, they knew that staying alive as long as possible had always been the best way to earn points as well as keeping their money''s worth. (especially when entering the instance again would require additional payment and like every typical Asian, it was best to make full use of their tickets to the best of their abilities.)

    As for the hums going through the abyssal hole and right to the centre of the fight to save the surviving Pandarens, they were trying their best to break the magical barriers with the help of gravity (along with whatever chi they could spare without feeling too tired from it.) They knew that there was a magical barrier from the streams when they watched how horrific the Demon Rats could go to kill dozens of Pandarens in one go and the discovery of an entirely new underground city was both fascinating and shocking to everyone.

    Just when they were worried about how the Pandarens, in general, could fight back against this terrible setback, Jin had already made the announcement to prepare for teleportation the moment when Xiong Da was able to set it up. It seemed as if like every Pandaren who wished for some Demon Rat payback had already lined up and queued for the fight the moment they found themselves avable for battle. The Panda Nurses in the recovery instance were very particr in not letting those who were too fatigued to go for another round. Jin did not want any too crazy hardworking Pandaren to ''die'' from exhaustion or ying too many dungeon instances and that would definitely set back his goals to expand his store when needed.

    Although Xiong Da was unaware of the crystal''s progress, the deployment of the teleportation crystal was actually shown all around in Jin''s stores as the Pandarens knew this was possibly the only turning point they could get to regain back all the hard work they had lost from that earthquake. Thus, they all swore that once Xiong Da was able to activate the crystal, the Pandarens would do their best to take their revenge against the Demon Rats.

    And so when the hums smashed themselves to therge magical barrier protecting the Undercity, the Demon Rats panicked as they could not believe that the humans could find such a weird (and yet innovative way) to destroy the magic barrier. Also, upon learning that there was a barrier protecting the Undercity, the Royal Snake Soldiers who weremanding Nerodia II had already stocked the nes for bombing runs as well as adjusting their cannons to hit the magical barrier.

    There were initial thoughts to help destroy the thirdyer of the Inner Wall but their General suddenly went missing over thems and the people on deck decided not to do anything unnecessary. The crew assumed that Hou Fei was killed from the earthquake that the Demon Rats had caused even though it was unlikely that it could happen but he did disappear from theirmunications.

    It was only through those hums that had reentered the fight had ryed the information to them and thus allowed them to establish assistance in taking down the giant shield.

    In the meantime, this gave hope to the Pandarens who were trapped in the Undercity, as they started seeing reinforcements trying their best to destroy the magical barrier above them. Although that was also a sign for the Demon Rats to push and break the defensive array so that no surviving Pandarens were left and they could focus on attacking the humans that were falling from the building.

    Simultaneously, the magical barrier had been reinforced with feedback magic, allowing the shield to discharge enough magic against anybody thates near it. Compared to the barrier that was erected to protect the inner walls, this was not just multiple times stronger but ten to twenty times more manpower was devoted to ensuring that the barrier was not destroyed. Hence, those hums thatnded on the barrier in an effort to break it were instantly killed the moment they made contact with it. It was a suicidal run but thetter wave of hums could see that it did weaken the shield but they needed more attacks on it.

    Therefore, some of the experienced Pandarens even started to bring the big guns out as they began their descent. Some brought out artillery guns, anti tank rifles, missileunchers, rocket propelled grenades and one even strapped a crate full of grenades onto him so that he could deal a considerable amount of damage to earn himself some extra points.

    "Boss, I think you should lend them a hand for this part." Hou Fei said as he was now deep infiltrating into enemies'' lines. Even as a General, he was still once a Snake Shadow, one of the highest rank infiltrators a Royal Snake Soldier could get. Besides, with the System to guide him through, he was able to make sure he got through the frontlines without being noticed.

    "Don''t worry, Hou Fei. I am sure someone would call me to aid with the scenario. I am just waiting for him to use me so that I can go incognito the moment I do the deed and remain as a trump card against the Demon Rat Generals." Jin said as he was eyeing Xiong Da''s movements, hoping the hippo would do as he predicted.

    "And that is assuming you can break it in one go." Hou Fei said in a deadpan manner even though deep down he wished to snicker but it was best he did not make any expressions when he was on the move.

    "Are you underestimating me?"

    "Well, are you sure you can do that? I mean I haven''t seen you fight after that duel with the two Tiger Sons so pardon me for assuming that you are not the strongest I had known."

    "Surely, you jest." Jin sighed but he knew not to estimate his opponent. Thus, he had made some ''insurance'' in case he could not destroy the magical barrier properly.

    Though for now, it was a wait and see situation for him as his customers do the dirty work for him.

 Chapter 1353: Contemplating How To Use The Panda Statue

    <h4>Chapter 1353: Contemting How To Use The Panda Statue</h4>

    Se Lang sent his scythe flying into the Roughscream''s face and the Demon Rat General had managed to block it. However, the monstrous strength of the vengeful Wolf Cultivator had caused several Demon Rats to be sliced into pieces from the impact alone.

    "That attackбнit''s not targeted at me." Roughscream realised when he saw the dead Demon Rats within his vicinity.

    "I needed some space to fight, they were preventing me from unleashing my maximum strength." Se Lang replied as he pushed his scythe further and the Demon Rat had to step back while sliding his club away from it.

    "Looks like I am not the main character for this particr scene." Xiong Da sighed but he could see that Bin Yong, Luo Bo and even Bu Dong hiding behind the ever stout armoured alligators taking a breather from the current fights. They might be cultivators but these Pandawans had been fighting with all their might for the past few minutes that felt like hours.

    There he saw them leaning right beside the Panda God Statue and he scoffed at how this particr thing looked. "You know Boss Jin, even though we are friends and stuff, you still continue to act like you are some distant powerful being that is way out of our league. And in a way, you are like a superhero in the shadows." Xiong Da said and the Pandawans caught what he said partially.

    "If he is some superhero, can''t he just swoop down now and destroys the barrier? Seems like the Pandarens are having difficulty breaking it." Bin Yong said as he closed his ears when he saw the iing nesing down to drop bombs at the barrier. It was a sight that he thought he would never see in real life but here he was standing so close to the scene.

    "Don''t you think it''s a waste to use the Panda God Statue just to break a barrier?" Xiong Da replied loudly after the nes had gone by.

    "There is always the giant elevator at the northern end of the capital. That was what the Demon Rats are protecting too right?" Luo Bo was smarter and used the Pandawan Team Chat rather than shouting. She was already too fatigued to bother screaming her lungs out.

    "Why bother going the long way with arge town to fight against when we have a hole for us to swoop in from?" Bu Dong understood why the Pandarens were trying their best to break it even at the expense of their lives. Only the minority who refused to waste their tickets had decided tond on the thirdyer of the inner wall and fight against the Demon Rats that were in the way as well as proceeding to guard towers to defeat the snipers.

    "Perhaps he already knew this was going to happen and gave you that Panda God Statue." Bu Dong added as he said that nothing in this dungeon instance happened by chance.

    "Wow, if you put it that way, Boss Jin is not just innovative to grab cash but also cunning enough to know how to spend mine." Xiong Da chuckled.

    "Else, how is he going to fund these kinds of super projects? There is no way an ordinary dungeon supplier will be able to create such a realistic warzone. I believe he managed to coerce the Royal Zodiacs toe here just to get their money as well." Bu Dong exined.

    "Heh. If you think about it, he ced this raid in the PandaVerse Festival period and even though he said that this raid would most likely continue after the end of PandaVerse, he is secretly expecting us to clear this within a week given our past results." Bin Yong added and they all directed their nces at the Panda God that was right above them.

    "But that also means that you guys would not be able to see Jin''s powers at work, no? We might have had a glimpse of it here and there for the past few months but we never saw him fight sincerely other than rumours and hearsays." Xiong Da was dying to see Jin in action after learning from his sources that he had contributed to the closure of various major incidents. Yet, when he tried to probe the Boss for information, he did not brag about it nor give a clue to him.

    "And do you think the Boss would fight this instance''s big bad one all by himself again?" Bin Yong said as he remembered how Jin hadmented how the difficulty was way too high for the Pandapolis Defence raid and personally intervened to make sure that there were no unnecessary deaths. "He surely had tuned it in such a way that he would not need to appear unless it was essential to moving the plotline."

    "I still think Boss Jin will still appear to fight the final boss again." Bu Dongmented. As much as he believed in the Pandarens and us, he is still a sucker when ites to game difficulty adjustments." Bu Dong recalled the times he had help from various NPCs in the Supa Robot Wars because the difficulty level shot up a lot. "So, I will rmend you just use it for the sake of those poor Pandarens losing their money over some stupid suicide attack."

    "Yeah, Just use it. I also like to see how Jin would destroy that particr shield. Will he being down magnificently to shatter the barrier or just breaking the entire thing with his Developer Powers?" Luo Bo even though visibly tired, was anxious to see how the situation develops.

    "Fine! Fine! Fine!! I will throw that damn Panda God Statue at the shield okay?" Deep Down, Xiong Da also knew that Jin would not appear becauseing into his raid instance too often to help the cultivators was sort of a counterproductive way to y the instances. Therefore, Xiong Da had decided to listen to his friends''ments despite knowing that he did not have to do it, and they could take the long route down and conduct a proper invasion against the Undercity''s inhabitants.

    But hey, at least he is earning extra raid points from this act, right?

 Chapter 1354: Barrier Breaking

    <h4>Chapter 1354: Barrier Breaking</h4>

    "See what I told you?" Jin said as he snickered at the entire conversation between the Pandawans.

    "The User merely had it lucky that the Pandawans were able toe to that conclusion after knowing your habits and behaviour in the dungeon instances." The System reported. "If Hippo Cultivator Xiong Da had not decided to follow his friend''s advice, the situation at hand would have been considered null."

    "Doesn''t matter to me. I was prepared to show my face a little when I gave that Panda Statue to Xiong Da. Every once in a while I gotta make an appearance or else they forget who is the true ''developer'' of this instance right?"

    "Suit whatever you want, it seems that Hippo Cultivator Xiong Da had lifted the Panda Statue up, User please prepare to descend." The System said and it opened a portal.

    "Well, it''s good to have some stretching after sitting at the chair watching all the action going on for hours," Jin said as he took out his System Rider Belt and attached it to his waist.

    "Milk, you ready?" Jin asked through the System Channel.

    "Hmm, What? Oh! That fusion thing you were talking about! Eh, do you think it''s a wise idea? It was supposed to be used for minions and not betors. I am not sure it will work as well as not making a fool of ourselves when the timees. Besides, isn''t it supposed to be-"

    "Since when are you such a worrywart?" Jin asked and Milk blushed a little.

    "Because I am going to be fusing with you~" Milk replied with a swaying voice which made Jin remember why he had not been using Milk for some time unless it was necessary and why he had always paired her with Peppers so that little Demonic Queen rascal could control the little one.".

    "Oh gosh." Jin thought to himself and prayed that he really did not need to fuse with her if possible. "And here I thought I could go shy straight off the bat and then disappear. Looks like I have to put a bit more effort into it."

    "What??!! No! Fuse with me, Master!" Milk eximed but Jin suddenly heard a loud thud sound through the System Channel.

    "Don''t worry, Master. I have her under my control. She would not do anything too reckless with me around." Peppers said and then there was a loud shriek from the little mage herself and Jin could already imagine that those two were already fighting among each other. The System had already muted the ''conversation'' between the two betors as Jin took a deep breath and jumped into the portal.

    The moment he got out of the portal, he was among the many who were diving down towards the magical barrier within the abyssal hole. Jin could tell that there were a few who were anxious while others had be numb to the sensation of death and whipped out their big guns to inflict as much damage to it.

    At the same time, there were multiple explosions on the barrier itself and Jin could identify them as the explosive shells used by the Nerodia II. (Since he was the one who bought those shells for them to use.) And yet the barrier was still standing tall, seemingly unscathed by the attack.

    Jin at his point of descent immediately revealed his cultivation and had purposely expended his chi to show a giant Panda right behind him. The Pandarens who were around him suddenly got surprised by his appearance and even though not many of them had seen him around, they knew that the owner of this store used a Panda Cultivation.

    "Boss Jin!" The Pandawans from all locations who saw the twinkling Panda face silhouette knew that he would be giving a lending hand that was as big as that huge Panda face in the sky.

    The Demon Rat General Roughscream too saw themotion and was bewildered by the scene for a moment. He had no idea what was going on but that was enough for Se Lang tond a hit of opportunity against the Demon Rat General, causing him to lose his hand. Roughscream leapt backwards and cursed the distraction.

    "Focus, yea?" Se Lang said as he swung his scythe to gain some momentum with it before charging forward with a standard three strike technique. Jin on the other hand was already gathering his Maqi into his Bam and Boo which they had turned into a giant hammer with a sharp point.

    Nearing the magical barrier, his Panda Silhouette returned back to its normal size right behind him and was wearing a miner''s helmet with a pickaxe. It seemed like Jin would be using a copied technique he had acquired from Suzaku''s soldiers and he clearly remembered how painful the Advanced Bear ''One Dig One Kill'' Ice Pickaxe Technique was as it destroyed his defences easily and nearly broke Bam and Boo if they had not unfuse and turned into two separate weapons.

    Thus using the very same technique with a bigger weapon, Jin hoped that it could replicate the very effect that had shattered his defences in one blow. He did not let it to chance and even added even more Maqi than he should have while he dived down.

    "Ping!" The Hammer''s pointed peak mmed into the magical barrier and an equivalent amount of energy had been discharged against Jin. Yet, the Astral Panda Cultivator was unfazed by the attack as he had already transformed into System Rider with Ayse as part of his fusion. With the Orc Head Researcher and her powers of the Shaitan Slydra, electrical magic was basically a type of food for her to feed on.

    "Must say, I did not expect you to call me out like this," Ayse said as she looked at her brilliant armour tinged with the colour of royal purple.

    "I am more interested in the powers these Demon Rats have. This electricity tasted way too good. It feels like they are using something more primitive in their magic." Slydra added that Jin did not realise that he could hear the thoughts of a Shaitan through the System Rider fusion.

    "Their magic should being from the itself, the lifestream energy but this is no time for any further exnation. Mind giving a hand first?" Jin said as he was still using the One Dig One Kill technique.

    "Oh~ I finally could connect to your Master." Slydra was shocked as well when she realised she could talk to him. "Right, right. Let this be a wee gift for our first meeting." The Shaitan said as she converted all the energy that was consumed and sent them pulsating through Jin''s magic circuits, allowing him to expend even more energy against the barrier.

    Needless to say, the barrier weakened significantly and the remaining Human Comets continued to assist as much as possible upon learning that this could be the lucky break that they needed to shatter the barrier. All of them even the Pandawans from the Undercity had decided to try their luck.

    If the barrier is breaking, then why don''t the Pandarens attempt to destroy it from both sides?

 Chapter 1355: Barrier Shattered

    <h4>Chapter 1355: Barrier Shattered</h4>

    Thus, with the unexpected help from the Pandarens from the undercity, Jin thus decided to perform another One Dig One Kill despite feeling disappointed that the technique did not meet his expectations. (Well, considering that if the warrior that used the skill against him had died beforepleting the technique, Jin might not have grasped the technique properly.)

    "Here goes nothing!" Jin said as he swung his war hammer and now with Ayse and Slydra empowering him at the sidelines, he mmed the hammer at the very same spot with exact precision.

    The barrier took the hit and it immediately shattered from the st. Needless to say, multiple Demon Rat Mages died when the spell broke. And while another few dozen tried to rece the dead Demon Rat Mages and rebuild the barrier, Jin had already utilised the System''s Empire Building Module to create a gigantic pir that was sufficient in terms of its height, allowing it to be a sort of hindrance for the barrier.

    It was a sight for sore eyes for the Pandarens as they found out that the pir that Jin created had a hollow foundation that allowed them to slide down from the surface to the Undercity. All they needed to do was not touch the barrier to reach the pir (or should they dub it as a pipe slide) so that they can ess the Undercity.

    The Demon Rats including the generals who were overseeing the situation cursed at the human''s innovation and wanted to break the pir but considering how the thirdyer of the inner wall had been overtaken by the Pandarens and the humans were also surging through the new pir, there was no immediate counter attack could be done to remove it.

    Everyone from all over the store and raid instance cheered how they somehow managed to ovee the current obstacle and people who were doubtful in the first ce had decided to continue with their raiding experience.

    In the meantime, Roughscream was cursing at the new development saying how useless those Demon Rat Mages were as he was fighting against Se Lang. Despite the loss of his arm, The Demon Rat Club General had managed to stop the bleeding with the aid of his Demon Rat Soldiers keeping Se Lang busy. However, they were eventually killed by other Pandarens and Se Lang continued to press on, giving Roughscream just enough time to recover.

    But now that the barrier and teleportation crystal issue had been resolved, the Pandarens were hoping to regain whatever ground they could get and that included setting a base camp daringly within the enemies'' ground.

    They knew that they were in the middle of the Undercity but the Pandarens were undeterred to get things done. The Royal Sheep Zodiac Captain Mian Ling had yet to use her base camp creation mainly because she was only given that as part of the funds that were bestowed to her for this raid instance. She did not possess any teleportation crystal and thus allowed the Royal Monkey Zodiacs to set up their base camp first.

    In hindsight, she was relieved that she withheld her base camp creation pack after having a gut feeling that the Royal Monkey Zodiac''s base camp was in a vulnerable ce. But right now, it was not a good decision at all since they were in the middle of the enemy''s territory. The only difference was that Mian Ling''s base camp creation pack, had been filled with a variety of defensive modules which cost a lot more than the Royal Monkey''s base camp creation pack.

    Her Royal Sheep Zodiac Head knew that the Sheeps were nonbatants and would require more protection if they were to set up a camp to allow Pandarens to heal, rest and restock so she had decided to put more money in the creation pack to ensure that her Sheep would have a rtively safe ce to perform their healing techniques.

    "But isn''t the saying, that the most dangerous ce is also the safest ce?" Mian Ling tried to convince herself onest time as she ced the base camp creation pack right beside the pir that Jin mmed through the barrier''s opening before disappearing into thin air.

    "Are you sure you wish to ce the Base Camp at this location?" The Pandamonium App asked for confirmation twice as it was a very expensive item to be used and the Sheep Captain firmly pressed the option yes twice as she looked at the in palm size cardboard box right in front of her.

    The cardboard box immediately started to shake and tremble as it started to float upwards right above Mian Ling''s palm and things began to emerge from the box itself. Temporary Holographic designs of the base camp had been outlined throughout and around the pir like a blueprint n in real life. The Sheep Captain knew that that was the space needed to be free for the base camp creation pack to do its magic and thusmanded the Pandarens and her fellow Royal Zodiacs to push the Demon Rats away from such ces.

    So as the Pandarens desperately tried to push the Demon Rats away, the blueprints began to materialise starting from the middle of the pir as their starting point and this gave the Pandarens a certain direction to kill and eliminate any Demon Rats in the area. As more Pandarens slid down from the pir, they were able to gain more ground despite their enemies'' relentless charges to ensure that whatever n they were doing did not work.

    But because the Pandarens too knew the importance of creating a base camp, they did their damndest to ensure that they could have a breathing space even if it was just a temporary one.

    However as things were about to proceed smoothly for the Pandarens, another few hotshot Demon Rats came into the picture hoping to thwart their ns. Demon Rat Elites and they were the very same who killed dozens of Pandarens mercilessly.

    "Why create a sanctuary when we can provide you one?" The Demon Rat Elite leader said as he used the very same technique of boxing the Pandarens who were trying to create the base camp.

 Chapter 1356: Demon Rats Closing In

    <h4>Chapter 1356: Demon Rats Closing In</h4>

    "We are not going to survive this." Jia Le, the Bellflower Cultivator said as she panted heavily, trying to catch her breath. She and a few other Pandarens recognised the Demon Rat Elites from a nce and they knew how crazy strong they were.

    They were akin to fighting against Iron men on steroids and it took some coordination from the Pandawans to put down a few of them together at their tip top form. So, to fight against this many when they were this weary, it was counting death. Even if Xiong Da and the others were to join them now, they still could not guarantee that they woulde out alive from this ordeal.

    Not to mention, these Demon Rat Elites felt different. It was as if the ones they had sent were not the true elites or perhaps the equipment they used was vastly different. It felt like the Demon Rats had decided not to underestimate the humans and go all out with whatever machinations they had.

    And that was not an exaggeration when they realised that the Pandarens were being bombarded by the Demon Rats in a consistent manner. Sniper shots, elemental bolts of magic and even artillery were used against the construction of this base camp. The Battle Alchemists were trying their best to put up a brand new defensive array formation since it was at least tens of metres away from the original one but the constant barrage had forced them to create temporary measures likeyered ''pinpoint'' magical barriers while a dedicated batch of battle alchemists continued setting up the defensive array formation.

    "Five Point Wall Reflection Defensive Array Formation."

    It was the simplest array and the most basic any formation array master would learn. It was meant to be set up in emergencies and formidable enough to not just stop attacks but also deflect any projectiles from the enemies. The array had been improved continuously throughout the years to include fast velocity objects like bullets but unlike other Defensive Array Formation, it could not ''proactively attack'' the enemies. It was merely a roundabout barrier that provided some sort of protection for a certain amount of time.

    However, because it was the Royal Zodiac Battle alchemists that were creating it, they had years of experience and centuries of experience to fune it, making it one of the easiest arrays to maintain. As long someone continued to insert chi into the array''s core, the array would be up and running almost indefinitely.

    Yet, it was easier said than done since every second on the battlefield felt like an hour passing as the remaining battle alchemists were conserving their energy by calcting where the elemental bolts were falling on and they tried their best to create a small yet concentrated energy shield to block the attack.

    Unfortunately, they were still vulnerable to sniper fire in the chaos and a few battle alchemists had fallen despite attempts to block those sniper fire before they came too close forfort,

    "We have to break their kill box zone or we would be trapped." Shi Zuo said as he recognised the very same tactic the Demon Rat Elites were using. But instead of only swords and shields, he noticed that there were barrels sticking from the shadows.

    "Oh shi-" Shi Zuo hectically took out his giant size axe and used it as a shield while the Demon Rats sent a volley of fire while hiding behind the Demon Rat Elites. Tens of Pandarens who died did not expect that the Demon Rats were going into the fray shooting at the enemies with theirrades fighting.

    But even when their Demon Ratrades were to fall, another wave of rats jumped out right behind the Demon Rat Elites and entered the fight. They did not care about killing their own race as long as they contributed to the death of the Pandarens. So what if these humans have the ability to return to the battlefield? The Demon Rats were going to use fear and constant pressure to make sure that you nevere back.

    "This is bullshit!" Deng Long said as he got a dead Demon Rat as a meat shield to absorb the attacks. "Sorry Bu Dong my dear bro. I am going to use it first!" He said to himself as he knew that if nothing was done, all the help that was rendered to them, especially the pir, would all be in vain again.

    From his pocket, he took out his phone and even though his face was filled with dirt and stters of blood, his phone still managed to recognise him. He quickly swiped to where his Pandamonium App was and used voicemands to talk to the app. (Fun fact: If the Pandarens ever knew that the App Voice they were using was the same as Jin''s System, and knew the truth, they might have pissed their pants.)

    "Get me my suit! The one I bought with Bu Dong from the Night Market!'' Deng Long said so casually and ordinary people who heard it might have thought that he was talking to someone real but it was merely just the app itself. Yet, the app understood what he was talking about despite his crudeness in his request. No other app or voice app would have understood what he meant and that was aplexity that Huawee Phone App Specialists were wrecking their brains like mad. They could never figure out how Jin and his team of app developers were able to create such a highly sentient artificial intelligence in an app. (But that is for another story to tell.)

    "Understood, please stand by. Transmitting the designated suit in five seconds. Please stand clear of the assigned area." Within an instant, the app acknowledged his request and transmitted the ''suit'' that Deng Long had asked for while he kicked and smacked the Demon Rats that were charging at him.

    "Just you wait, you filthy Rat Elites. Do you think that those hot suits that you are wearing would protect you for long? I am going to plummet you like never before!" Deng Long said as he used an advanced technique to clear the area so that his ''suit'' couldnd safely.

 Chapter 1357: Gunndam Aegis

    <h4>Chapter 1357: Gunndam Aegis</h4>

    Supa Robo Wars. It was not something the general poption was quite aware of and given its name, people would assume that it had to do with robots. However, because of the incident that Deng Long was about to create, the Supa Robo Wars would turn from a mere mini game in Dungeons and Pandas to something that will capture the hearts of many closet mecha fans, especially those who were in love with anime.

    As the ''suit'' was summoned out from a portal, Pandarens around him assumed that it was something simr to an ironman suit that would being out from it. Some of them even anticipated and tried to watch out for the portal even at the risk of getting killed by the Demon Rats because they were distracted.

    However to their surprise, out came a flying mechanical unit that mmed towards arger size demon rat. Like a pair of ''tentacle-like'' crab pincers, the front of the flying mechanical unit snipped the Demon Rat into two pieces before flying upwards and descending down to Deng Long.

    "Gunndam Aegis! Change human form!" Deng Long said as he was proud to see that his credits were well spent. The Pandarens who knew the series Gunndam Seedz knew that Gunndam Aegis was an ionic unit. Its bright purplish pink paint was a symbol as much as its strengths and abilities. But unlike the standard Supa Robo Wars where Deng Long would be piloting it in the cockpit itself. These Robo Suits were significantly different mainly because of the size.

    For one, Jin did not give the actual size of the Robos and the Pandarens believed that it was due to space and size constraints as well as the many advantages it could give if it was of the same size as a Super Robo if ced in such a dungeon/raid instance. So it was no wonder that he would do such a thing. But that did not mean its capabilities were reduced nor the need for piloting.

    Other Gunndams and Supa Robo Suits would require the pilot to wear the ''robo'' as an iron man suit but because of Gunndam Aegis'' unique feature of turning into a mobile armour aka a flying mechanical unit, Deng Long would not be able to fit into it because of its size and thus had to pilot it remotely. He could however wear the suit and eject when it turned into a mobile armour but that would require some skill and training.

    Right now, all he could do was control the Gunndam remotely as he fought off against the Demon Rat elites. Yet, most Pandarens did not know that Deng Long was considered to be one of the better pilots within the Supa Robo Wars and he was able to multitask rather efficiently (mainly because Bu Dong forced him to go into the supporter role more than often during their fights in the mini game.) and thus with just a holographic controller right in front of him, the Wombat Cultivator was able to control his Gunndam while simultaneously fighting off the Demon Rats that wereing to his way.

    There is however a silver lining to that remote controlling system. Jin did not know that when he was designing it but the intention was to let the user have some form of basic defence up when they were piloting it remotely since they would be too vulnerable. Hence it was designed to be mobile, moving wherever the pilot would go. Even as Deng Long would travel a hundred metres away from the ce he summoned Gunndam Aegis, there would still be a decent connection so long he was within the same raid instance and within a kilometre radius. (Of course, Jin would adjust the radius based on the scale of the dungeon instance but for now, he merely ced an arbitrary number.)

    Not to mention, there was a barrier against projectiles as well, but mainly small arms only. The pilot would still be vulnerable to Elemental magic attacks or massive AOE like artillery strikes. But that did not deter Deng Long from not using it as he already knew the risk when he was remote piloting the Gunndam Aegis.

    With a Supa Robo Suit in his hands, he skillfully eradicated three Demon Rats Elites while he disrupted their formation. The Demon Rat Mages and Archers that were nearby tried to shoot it down when it was in its mobile armour form while the Demon Rat Elites attempted to pin it down when it turned into its human form but all of these attempts were fairly futile in the hands of Deng Long.

    Even the Pandarens who were at the sidelines fighting the Demon Rats were in awe at his skill manoeuvring of the Gunndam Aegis. They all initially assumed that it was automated but onlyter when they saw Deng Long desperately trying to control it while fending the Demon Rats away that prompted them to believe that he could be their trump card to get out of this desperate situation.

    "Protect the Pandawan!" One of the Pandarens shouted and a few of them had already blitzed their way towards Deng Long who somehow became the main character of the hour as he continuously disrupted the Demon Rat Elites. His fellow Pandawans like Jia Le, Yue Han and Shi Zuo on the other hand went to different sites of the Pir to make sure that they did not get too overwhelmed from either side.

    What they all know is that if they were able to continue fending off the Demon Rat Elites, they have a chance to not only build the Pir Base Camppletely but give them a temporary sanctuary from all the chaos they had. All they needed was to hold on a while longer.

    How long more was the frequent question within the Pandarens'' mind but a reassuring announcement from Sheep Captain Mian Ling said that all they needed was another five minutes for all the materials to emerge onto the designated locations and told everyone to hold on.

    As if the Demon Rats would allow that.

 Chapter 1358: That Gyrocopter Sniper

    <h4>Chapter 1358: That Gyrocopter Sniper</h4>

    "You Humansбн You humans!!!" Gnawbones grumbled to himself as he came to the scene where the Pandarens were fighting at the Pir. With a gyrocopter as well as a huge rifle in his right hand, he took aim at the purplish pink robot that had been messing around with the Demon Rat Elites'' formation.

    "All because of you! I had to be in this stinky shithole! All because of you, I had to deal with piss poor idiots that only knew how to go left or right whenever they were told!" He thought to himself as he fired a shot. Deng Long thought that his Gunndam Aegis would have quite a decent armour defending against stray bullets and shots but when Gnawbone attacked it, a piece of the Aegis'' armour flew off, causing it to be vulnerable if it were being hit again.

    Thankfully, everything seem to be working fine and dandy but Deng Long assumed that the shot came from the gyrocopter as it was pretty obvious how that particr Demon Rat was iling his rifle around, trying to aim for his Gunndam.

    "If you want him! I will give it to you!" Deng Long was confident that he would be able to take down the weak looking gyrocopter that did not have anything else other than the pilot and the Demon Rat Sniper who was aiming at it. Little did he know that the one who shot his Robo was a general that had been insulted to fight at the frontlines and that means that frail rat was particrly looking for revenge.

    "Heh! Humans. You think they are sophisticated but in fact, they all are driven by primal desires like us. You hurt me, I hurt you." Gnawbones the Demon Rat Air Force General said as he pointed the rifle right towards the Gunndam Aegis who was currently in its Mobile Armour form, charging in front of him.

    "This is clearly the bait, you dumbass." Gnawbones already knew who was controlling the flying Robo and within an instant, switched his rifle''s angle to aim at Deng Long instead, firing at him when he was upied with the iing satisfaction of defeating the enemy that made his Gunndam Aegis to be vulnerable and its parts exposed for attacks.

    Deng Long managed to see the projectile fire and he roughly knew that the Demon Rat Sniper would be targeting him and so he had already prepared to move away when needed but what he did not realise was that there was a Demon Rat Elite who was cloaked and ambushed him from the back. It was all a ploy to bring down the rising star of the humans especially when he stood out that much on the battlefield with his new toy. The startle caused him to drop his guard and get hit by Gnawbone''s bullet. He did not expect that the bullet had been coated with magic as well as an experimental technology to increase the pration force against barriers.

    Suffice it to say Gnawbones took a huge risk as the Mobile Armour continued to its course without any diversion and all the gyrocopter pilot could do was to manoeuvre away from its path as much as possible the moment Gnawbone took the shot. However, it was not as easy as it sounds and eventually, the gyrocopter did take a direct hit from the Gunndam Aegis''s flight. The tail of the gyrocopter was destroyed and the pilot had to make do with an emergencynding.

    General Gnawbones on the other hand was satisfied with his performance and already jumped out of the gyrocopter. This was mainly because he himself had a jumpsuit that acted as a flight floatation device courtesy to Weslie who was previously enved to create all sorts of weird devices for the Demon Rats just to ensure that she would be kept alive. (Even though the Schrs of the North and South had made promises to ensure her safety but look what the Rats had done to them. lol.)

    As for Deng Long, because he was off guard by the attack, the Womble cultivator instantly lost control of Gunndam Aegis and it fell to the ground after itsstmand. The Pandarens who were initially protecting him attempted to fend off the Demon Rat Elite but it was way too strong for the Pandarens. They were killed by him in just a few strokes and it was rather imminent that Deng Long would be receiving the deathblow until tentacle roots started to emerge from the ground and create a barrier around the injured Pandawan.

    "Thank you." Deng Long said as he breathed out a sigh of relief. He knew that those tentacle roots were from Jia Le, the Bellflower Cultivator.

    "Use this time to recover as much as possible. I am not sure whether I can help you against the Demon Rat Elite when I am preupied in my area as well. The Demon Rats are in high morale after seeing you being taken down in action." Jia Le said which made Deng Long snicker a little.

    "This is the first time that I felt importantбнHeh." He said to himself as he reached out in his storage ring to get one of the higher quality health potions. The very same health potion from Yu Xiang, who helped Jin to create simr health potions after researching the ck market ones and duplicating them. They were always out of stock despite Jin''s rule to only be able to purchase at most five per customer ount at any time and also they were untradable among the Pandarens. (Yes, the System had to devote a bit of resource to ensure that there were scalpers attempting to sell the potions away because Yu Xiang''s potions were that brilliant. Jin even gave a promotional raise to Yu Xiang to ensure that she continued to stay loyal to him even though she had already signed the contract enving her to the System.)

    The potion worked wonders but the injury was severe enough that he could have died on the spot in seconds so he still needed some time to recuperate. In the meantime, while he was recovering he tried to relocate Gunndam Aegis but it does not seem to be connecting back.

    "Shit. Has it been destroyed this quickly?" Deng Long said to himself but without visual confirmation and the need to stay hidden for a period of time, he could only pray for the best. However, the overarching ''general'' for the Pandawans already had eyes on the situation.

    "They are really really greedy," Jin said as he saw the Gunndam Aegis being dragged away by the Demon Rats.

    "Permission to detonate?" The System queried but Jin shook his head.

    "Set internal detonation to an hour. Put backup timers just in case as well. I want to see where they are bringing it to or what they could do to it. I will not be surprised that they have scientists and engineers that are as brilliant as ours." Jin said and he told the System to keep the visual cameras on.

    But to his surprise, they did not bring it that far. Instead, the Demon Rats brought it to the Demon Rat who had managed to put down its controller.

    Gnawbones.

 Chapter 1359: Extra: Some Bad News

    <h4>Chapter 1359: Extra: Some Bad News</h4>

    "Is this really a wise choice?" The System asked as it had already brought up a couple of scenarios that involved the Air Force General of the Demon Rats wreaking havoc with the Gunndam Aegis.

    "I like to see what kind of powers they have," Jin said and the System felt that it was a bad choice.

    "It is always best to eliminate the enemy before they are able to show their talents." The System stated and Jin did not deny that philosophy.

    "No. I am actually more interested in how the Demon Rats are going to take control of it without you interfering with it. Besides, we already set the internal timer, right? If there is anything we cannot take control of after the situation." Jin exined.

    "But why go so far to do that?" The System queried wanting to know Jin''s reasoning especially when it felt edgy that the Demon Rats have the ability to control the fallen Gunndam Aegis.

    "Well, don''t you want to know how they do it? And subsequently, improve on the model?" Jin asked as he was looking into the future if they ever needed to interfere and fight against the United Federation, the Xeon Union or the worst case scenario of fighting both of them together.

    "The Mecha World does not have magic. All they have are generations of technology." The System rebutted and Jin replied the very same thing to it.

    "Isn''t technology to people who have not experienced it a sort of magic too? The Mecha World would assume that what we did was something that used highly advanced technology which had not seen the daylight of that universe. Once they start trying to mimic us, they could very well duplicate magic for all we know. Isn''t'' that the danger of interfering with the other worlds like how we did to this?"

    "What do you mean?" The System asked but it was merely buying time topute various things in the background.

    "Don''t y dumb. You know what I mean. Do you think I did not notice that every time we interfere with the worlds, we are inevitably changing their reality? From the Goblin World to the Giant World. We might have saved people but also made enemies as well. And each time we interfere with their world, their enemies seem to ''level up'' a lot more than usual." Jin said.

    "Take the Demon Rats for example. I doubt they did not bother expanding their borders so quickly. If they had conquered the entire Northern Region, it might take them another few years before moving towards the East and West. But because we had interfered, they had moved their timeline so drastically that the cracks are showing. -Both good and bad." Jin took a while to say thest sentence. He knew that because of the Demon Rats'' rapid expansions, they finally had the cooperation with the Spirits of the Land which allowed Jin and the System to learn how bad the problem was.

    "And let the humans in this world suffer like how past humans suffered under the Banned Emperor?" The System asked and Jin scoffed.

    "Stop acting so self righteous. Both you and I know what we truly want from this war. It''s not to just save people but the Farming World''s ability. To grow almost everything and anything given the right circumstance and nting methods. If the Demon Rats would continue conquering the entire ce, the Farming World may very well lose such an ability to create things out of almost nothing once given enough time. And that is because they are eating and living on the lifestream energy with their inventions." Jin said as he monitored how Gnawbones used both magic and mechanical methods to hijack the Gunndam Aegis. It was taking some time but it seemed like their hijacking method works.

    "So you are willing to let them destroy such a valuable asset that could assist you because you do not wish to interfere?" The System questioned once again.

    "No, I will fight to get this ability no matter what. I know how vital this is but I am starting to think how the consequences of our actions have yet to bite us back. You already said that there are gods and demons but those ''Gods'' have not given us any warning at all."

    "Because they find all of these very entertaining." A feminine voice suddenly interjected into the conversation and Jin could recognise that it was Syldra.

    "I did notбнexpect you to suddenly talk through my head," Jin said as he knew the difference between a telepathy talk and a System channel opening through his head.

    "All I needed was just a connection with you the moment you had linked with Ayse. But because you are not my chosen, my conversation with you will be brief to avoid any suspicions." The Lightning Shaitan said.

    "We Shaitans were once part of the gods before being banished into the ''goblin'' world which you had dubbed. Make no mistake, they are clearly watching you fail and rise and they would do things that provide them with the most entertainment. Your fight with Baal would no doubt raise some eyebrows among the High Gods and they are keeping an eye on you even though they should not be involved at all." Slydra said that it is not normal for the heavens'' eyes to be looking at Jin since there were also people who could travel through multiverses.

    "My only theory which I could form from all this is because of the System. It is nheless a product of the heavens if what I learn from Ayse is correct. Whether the Gods would be your foe or friend, it remains to be seen. But trust me, they are always itching for a fight. That is all I can say for now. Goodbye." Slydra said and Jin''s head suddenly hurt a little.

    Upon taking in this new information, Jin stared at the screens for a moment. He knew that the System had heard everything and was processing the information.

    "Fuckбн" Jin sighed to himself as if he unknowingly got into another heap of shit. If the Gods were watching his every move like some TV show, then he and the System had to take some time to prepare for their inevitable sh. However, for now, he had to concentrate on the situation at hand.

 Chapter 1360: Trying To Create The New Base Camp

    <h4>Chapter 1360: Trying To Create The New Base Camp</h4>

    "Hahahahah!" Gnawbones said as he finally felt that the trip here was not a waste. "What did I tell you guys?! Humans are just a piece of trash when faced against us!" The Air Force General said as he used his gloves imbued with magic to move the immobile Gunndam Aegis.

    "User, the System detected intrusion into Gunndam Aegis mainframe system. Are you sure that you wish to let the Demon Rats use our weapons against our own?" The System said as a reminder since the Shaitan Slydra had dropped a bomb of information onto Jin at the worst time of all. Whether it was true or not was a question to be answered in the future but the fact that he had to watch his every single movement since the gods were always watching him might be a problem.

    "Hmm? Do you think I am worried? You had been watching me for months. What''re another few lurkers?" Jin said out loud without any care, eradicating all the secrecy that the Shaitan had painstakingly taken to make sure Jin might use this to his advantage. But it seems like the Dungeon Supplier is going to throw that caution out to the winds with his current actions.

    "And if they are really watching us, at least provide us somepensation god damn it," Jin argued and if the System was once human, they wouldugh bitterly at Jin''sment. Always wanting to take advantage of the situation he was in. He was no doubt a businessman (be it a bad or good one) through and through.

    "In any case, I will stay my stand. Let him have his fun. Do a thorough search for how he had managed to hijack it. Besides, we can''t always be helping the Pandarens with their battles, right? Or else, how are we going to have our money''s worth." Jin said as he knew that there was still the internal self destruction timer counting down so there was no worthy that the Gunndam Aegis would be in the possession of the Demon Rats for long.

    In addition, with the pir that connects the outer surface to Undercity, reinforcements had begun to flood in now that the Third Layer of the Inner Wall had been more or less secure. Roughscream had also once again used his Demon Ratsckeys to protect him as he ran away from the Pandawans further into the Northern Capital, allowing the Inner Wall to be secure if the Pandarens had sufficient time toy the foundation.

    Xiong Da and the other Pandawans were already assisting with sweeping the Demon Rats away that were defending the Inner Wall but Luo Bo had reported that there were still more soldiersing from the deserted Inner Town and to raid the Third Layer. It was as if the very same thing was happening all over again when they first started the raid instance, holding on to the outer wall and fighting in the Outer Town area but on arger scale.

    But one thing was for sure. Even though the Demon Rats seemed like they were losing quite a few troops (statistically in the hundreds, but they had thousands in their midst), they had sessfully diverted Pandarens'' attention into two ces. In just one day, they knew roughly how many humans were attacking them and using such a tactic to divide their forces even further.

    One of such humans might be able to take down five to ten rats alone but whenbined strength, they could take out exponentially. So, by diverting their attention, the Demon Rats could reduce the number of casualties they could experience while continuously applying pressure on the Pandarens. This no doubt put a lot of stress on the cultivators who wanted a casual enough raid but they realised that it was not possible as they thought how realistic the entire raid instance.

    They could have withdrawn and yet they knew of the prizes that had been locked behind this particr raid instance and when most of the new casuals found out that they could increase their cultivation grade, it felt like it was a pretty good motivator to continue to stay in this ''game''.

    And as Gnawbones took control of the Gunndam Aegis, the Pandarens knew they had to embrace for the worse. For once, that few more minutes that Sheep Captain Mian Ling had announced felt like it was the longest minutes they had ever experienced. Foundations of the walls were being created but it was not the full structure, allowing the Demon Rats who took the opportunity to strike on the weary Pandarens to be more sessful.

    But everyone knows that ''few'' minutes will pass and they will prevail.

    Right now, all they had to do was to make sure that the Pandarens survive, especially Sheep Captain Mian Ling who was dealing with that god awful typing game which Xiong Da had to do too. But unlike Xiong Da, there was apletion bar on the console (since it was considered to be the more premium package specially catered for the Royal Zodiacs, there were also such ''premium features'' attached to it. All hail to the power of money.)

    Thus, there was indeed a time estimated forpletion of the camp creation but it was just that the typing got more tedious, especially with all the interference. Unlike Xiong Da who could even withstand a few attacks if hit directly, Sheep Captain Mian Ling was not much of abatant even though her fighting skills were above average within her team. But If one were topare her with the otherbat oriented Royal Zodiac Team Captains, she probably ranked one of the lowest. Not to mention, almost every single Demon Rat alive was trying to kill her as they had already recognised the pattern of those humans who tried to create a base camp.

    So, she had always been interrupted by them and there were always dys even though a few Pandarens, especially those with sheep cultivation, tried to protect her from the threats. (In order to gain some favour as well.)

    However, the new toy which General Gnawbones had obtained was beyond their expectations and they would be in a rough spot.

 Chapter 1361: Losing Against Gunndam Aegis

    <h4>Chapter 1361: Losing Against Gunndam Aegis</h4>

    "Now! FEEL MY WRATH!!!" Gnawbones said as he used his magic to mimic the controls of the Gunndam Aegis. It managed to turn into the mobile armour and humanoid form seamlessly after a few attempts and the Air Force General had begun to send his new toy to destroy Pandarens just as Deng Long had done it when he was controlling it.

    Thankfully, Jia Le was able to intercept it because she was preparing it ever since the moment Deng Long told her that he might have lost control of it. To be honest, she had never expected a contraption of Jin''s could be so easily controlled by the enemy but there was no use crying over spilt milk so she had already started to prepare her kunais with the much needed chi to block the attacks.

    Walls of Bellflowers emerged from the ground stopping Gunndam Aegis'' energy beams however, they were instantly destroyed, rendering them to be a one time barrier against the attacks. She had roughly expected that as she had already seen the machine in action against the Demon Rat Elites so the Breathtaking Bellflower Cultivator knew she only had a few tries blocking it especially when it took quite a lot from her to create those walls. (She might be able to create more but the long stretched battle had caused her to already be fatigued.)

    On the other hand, Shi Zuo leapt to action when the robot flew towards his ''battle zone''. He managed to break a few armour tes but it was nothing the Gunndam Aegis could not handle. And after getting hit, the Mobile Armour had sent its beams flying towards the centre of the pir hoping to destroy their chance of a proper fight.

    Suffice it to say, Sheep Captain Mian Ling had to stop her typing process because it was way too close forfort when the beam skidded a few centimetres away from her. She took a deep breath in to recover from the shock as well as the intense heat that was emanated from the beam st. "Oh my godбн Now I understand why the Sheep Head wanted me to gain experienceбн" Mian Ling said to herself as she continued typing while not realising that the beam could have already killed her if not for Shi Zuo disrupting the mobile armour.

    Some of the Pandarens wanted to attempt to find the controller who was operating Gunndam Aegis but with the pressure made by the former, the Demon Rat Elites had long recovered their formation and continued to strike fear into the Pandarens with every step forward, surrounding them ever tighter.

    On the other hand, Deng Long managed to recover from the major injury and was able to at least stand with the help of his weapon. "Assholes. Not only did you injure me but you Demon Rats dared to steal my robot away??!" Deng Long shouted as he expelled arge amount of chi aura to vent his anger. The Demon Rat Elites were not taken aback by it but it did have some effect on the other Demon Rats who were hiding behind the Elites.

    Even though it was momentary, the split second respite felt by the Pandarens was a weing breather for them to collect their thoughts. Gnawbones was giggling at the back of the lines seeing how the original user of the robot was raging mad. "If you want me to return it to you,e and get it yourself," Gnawbones said but he did not realise that the magic he used to control Gunndam Aegis had caused it to repeat the very same words as if it was some microphone.

    "Very well then. I shall do that!" Deng Long said as he gathered his chi within his legs so that he could jump as high as he could to hit Gunndam Aegis. Gnawbonesughed when he saw the human do such a foolish action. Initially, he thought that the owner of the Gunndam Aegis could possibly call out a new robot out and had a fight with the one he was controlling.

    But he had disappointed Gnawbones so much that the Air Force General decided to both infuriate and shame him by pulling Gunndam Aegis away from the ground even further, rendering Deng Long''s jump useless. However, Gnawbones had no idea that the other humans were assisting him in his mad endeavour. Jia Le threw a kunai close to him and a stalk of bellflower grew right beneath his feet, allowing him to not only rebound but assisted him to go closer to the Gunndam.

    No doubt, Aegis had retaliated by shooting at the Bellflower but Deng Long stood his ground (on the bellflower) and blocked each and every shot away. He did not care about the repercussions caused by him deflecting the attacks since some of those bullets strayed and hit both allies and enemies. All he cared about was either getting back Gunndam Aegis or destroying it to prevent Gnawbones from using it.

    "Enough of this charade!" Gnawbones got irritated that the human got even more gutsy and cocky that he decided to change into the mobile armour form.

    "Now!" Deng Long thought to himself as he materialised not one but two heavy duty anti tank sniper rifles and shot it towards his Gunndam Aegis. There was not much time to aim but given that he had enough experience from both his police training and dungeon fighting, he decided to gamble.

    The moment the anti tank snipersnded on his arms, he pressed the triggers and the shots fired even as the Bellflower continued to grow. It was an impromptu n Jia Le and him created and they did not have much confidence it would work but Deng Long was banging on the fact that he had a 100% level of understanding of how Gunndam Aegis worked. The super robo nerd understood the strengths and weaknesses of his robots to the point it was imprinted in his brain.

    He knew for a fact that it was the weakest when it was transforming into the mobile armour and he was betting that the anti tank rifle could hit the discharge area of the beam or maybe if he was lucky enough, the engine or the processing chip.

    But if the Wombat Cultivator was not, perhaps he could say goodbye to his life.

 Chapter 1362: Day Two Overview

    <h4>Chapter 1362: Day Two Overview</h4>

    As the second day of PandaVerse Festival came to an end, the Pandarens finally knew this rate was not as easy as its predecessors. All the other activities were still ongoing but the Pandarens who participated in the raid were knocked off their feet.

    Many took the opportunity to get out of the raid instance to enjoy the simple joys in life as well as the many service instances that the Dungeon Supplier store had to offer. Food was without a doubt the main attraction for most of them as everyone was famished when they logged off from the raids whether voluntarily or through death.

    But one thing was for sure, they all knew the battles were going to be even harder than ever. Even though there were already Demon Rat Elites fighting at the front gates of the base camp, they had a feeling that this was not the end.

    However, many were relieved that the stolen Gunndam Aegis was ultimately destroyed after the base camp went up. General Gnawbones initially tried to withdraw the Supa Robo away from the battlefield but it exploded as it was returning back to him. The internal timer which the System had ced had finally activated, causing the controlled robot a reactor engine meltdown. It did help to destroy a portion of the rats that were gathering close to the Pir Base Camp, allowing Deng Long to earn some ''extra'' points even though he was out of the raid. (It was not substantial but extra raid points were better than nothing.)

    Now with this kind of raid difficulty, the Pandarens finally realised the need to be well prepared. The redemption store that was on any Main Store Ind was always packed with cultivators when the Pandarens came out of the raid instance.

    They previously thought that those temporary inscriptions, potions, quick repair hammers and even quick food rations were nonsensical to be ced in a point redemption store. But now they understood the implication of those items in the store especially now that they were filled with raid points under their belt.

    A majority knew that consumables would be a costly but essentialponent of the fight they had to partake in to ensure that they survive the raid as long as possible while umting raid points. However, a lot of them were new to Jin''s dungeons and cheapskates, thinking that the dungeon supplier was merely going to rip them off their raid points and ultimately money by putting those consumables in the redemption store.

    However, after checking the raid themselves, they finally knew that the raid points to consumable exchange were a necessary ''evil'' created by Jin since those potions would cost real life money outside the redemption store.

    Many believed that Jin purposely used those consumables in the redemption store as a raid point sink so that people would not be able to abuse the redemption store rewards. He also made sure that only a certain amount of consumables could be purchased to limit the yers'' greed. (And also made sure that those items were bound to the customers themselves.) And to make it more unreasonable, the Dungeon Supplier purposely used poorer quality or lower grade potions as the majority of redeemable consumable rewards. This was not to upset the money making opportunity his store was getting while ensuring that the cultivators had enough pensation'' for their raid points.

    Not only that, Jin had decided to add a few items that were in the Hidden Gem Night Market as part of the mystery redemption draw. This was to spice things up in the raid as well as give the cultivators another segment of random reward generation. Nheless, it was rigged to the System''s favour as part of the n to deplete the customers'' raid points. (though it also made sure that good prizes were given out once in a while and announced it to the public so that it seemed as if they were getting a good deal out of it.)

    Yet, even with the aid of the redemption store and the recovery of territory by the Pandarens who managed to get back after the major setback, the cultivators no doubt felt a bit of dread, especially seeing how the battlefield had been split into two portions. One at the Pir Base Camp while the other was a teleportation crystal at the Third Layer of the Inner Wall. There was no base camp at the Third Layer Inner Wall and the Alligator Spartans were the only ones protecting it now that even Xiong Da had returned to the store ind to rest.

    And because of his aplishment along with the ''debt'' he had from Jin, the Pandawans were given special treatment when they were either out of the Recovery Instance or logging from the raid instance. Jin had sent a notification to their phones stating that abined high executive suite was provided to them in one of his hotel chains.

    Most of them were delighted that they did not have to return to Xiong Da''s apartment even though it was just a fifteen minute walk away from Jin''s Tree Mall. Even though his apartment was more than spacious for all of them, why would they reject a luxurious suite that was situated right in the store?

    To be honest, Xiong Da even considered negotiating with Jin about whether he could buy an apartment or have a hotel room permanently under his name. However, that Boss was always preupied with him and could not stay for much idle chit chat.

    However, that seemed to change when everyone had finally settled down at the main hall of the high executive suite talking about any possible strategies that they could use to push forward. When Jin was the one at their door after it rang, the Pandawans were happy to see him, although it did feel like he was not here just to pay them a visit.

    "Still, having a face to face with the developer of the raid instance would prove to be a boon that many would not have." Xiong Da said as he weed Boss Jin into the room, hoping he and the other Pandawans could have a glimpse of the next stage of the battle.

 Chapter 1363: Pandawans Rest

    <h4>Chapter 1363: Pandawan''s Rest</h4>

    "Boss!" The rest of the Pandawans who were willing to stay in the high executive suite called out to Jin as a form of greeting.

    "Long time no see," Jin said as he brought a bit of snack and goodies including a bottle of wine for the group to partake in as he was being led into the main hall where the rest were. Jia Le went to call out Deng Long and Bu Dong who were discussing the Supa Robos in their room and the other two greeted Jin when they saw him.

    "What brings you here?" Bu Dong asked as he knew that the fight between the Demon Rats should still be ongoing with Pandarens who were currently off work participating in it. As the Pandawans and the majority of the Pandarens had taken the time to rx, the humans had ceased their attacks and protected their assets until the next wave.

    As there were no guarantees that their assets would remain till the next day, the Pandarens who had invested a lot in this current raid had put up an alert notice in their Pandamonium App, asking it to notify them in case the Demon Rats attacks were getting stronger. It was something simr to a standby mode where they woulde in to assist if the Base Camp and the teleportation crystal is in danger.

    Right now, all they needed was some R&R leisure before the Pandamonium App called for them to get into the fray once more because no matter what, quality food and rest is the basic desire of all humans.

    "Just checking up on you guys and see how are you faring with the current raids," Jin said as he grab a chair from the dining table and ce it near the hall where there was a long cushion sofa and coffee table. He satfortably at the side and listened to his Pandawansined.

    "You just raise the difficulty bar again. Can''t you just give me something easier? At this rate, you will be scaring all the new Pandarens that want to try out your raid instance." Deng Long said as he was still sulky that his Supa Robo had been stolen by the enemy so quickly.

    "Heh, I did tell you guys that this would not be an easy fight, much less that you all will be able to clear it within a day," Jin replied as heid back and squashed thatint.

    "The numbers are crazy though and that big earthquake is something that we did not expect." Jia Lemented while the rest were shaking their heads as they recalled the experience.

    "Honestly, that was a little out of the nned consequences but it seems the simted AI had decided that you guys are progressing too fast even though the help I gave you guys was already at the minimum," Jin replied as he opened one of the snacks and told the rest to partake in the food.

    "So, you mean that we could have gone and attacked as per usual with no earthquake scenario?" Bin Yong asked and Jin nodded his head although he knew it was a lie since he was not in control of the Demon Rats. The break in the ground wa

    s something he originally wanted to do in the first ce, as he knew that fighting the surface was practically a waste of time.

    However, if he were to factor in the possible money making opportunities in providing sea and air options to the Pandarens and more importantly the Royal Zodiacs, he could be rolling in money which he ultimately did. The first day of profit was unexpected with the Royal Snake Head Se Chang Chang investing so much in his raid instance when all those items he had bought were inted greatly by the System.

    Although he did wonder why would Se Chang Chang and the other Royal Zodiac Heads even invest in it so willingly even though they should know that it is just a temporary fixture in a raid ''instance''. If he was the head of a n, he would not readily spend this much money even if it is by a rmendation from his General. "Perhaps, it is his way to fund me indirectly? But if that''s the case, why were the Monkey and Sheep n willing to splurge too?" Jin thought to himself but he could never figure out why.

    "Needless to say, it would be an uphill battle from today onwards and that depends on whether the Demon Rats had decided that you are a threat to them or not. But it seems like they will continue to press the offensive to take you out as soon as possible." Jin added and the rest sighed. Even if they know a little bit of strategy and tactics, how could they possibly unt it right in front of the person who created the raid instance?

    "So you are warning us that an attack would be imminent tonight?" Bu Dong asked and Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "I could only say that that would be a possibility given how they had decided to destroy theirnd so that they could inflict the maximum amount of damage towards you guys and the rest of the Pandarens with the earthquake attack. But if they know that the number of Pandarens had decreased with the creation of the Pir Base Camp, they would not hesitate to crush you guys once they prove their theory is right." Jin said as the others seemed to understand where he wasing from.

    Even though it was just day 2 of the raid instance, the Demon Rats were working and thinking like humans as well. If they had noticed a pattern in the Pandarens'' attacks, they knew that it would be disastrous once the Demon Ratsunch a retaliation to destroy the Base Camp and teleportation crystal.

    "Haha, Boss. Are you sure that this isn''t a ploy for me to spend money so that we can protect the teleportation crystal at the thirdyer inner wall?" Xiong Da asked and Jinughed.

    "I am not stupid. I can see why you did not bother adding extra stuff to protect the teleportation crystal since you believe that it could be destroyed within a day or two if the Demon Rats wished to do so." Jin answered and Xiong Da merely returned with a smirk.

    "But I am not here to promote you to buy any items. Instead, I a

    m here to ask you guys to let me help you all. If you wish." Jin said with a big smile that everyone knows that he had something up his sleeves. But without a doubt, everyone was excited to hear him.

    Because whenever he wish to request something from the Pandawans, it would always be filled with excitement and the possible allure of additional rewards as well. However, knowing Jin he would always make them do something crazy mainly due to the fact that the Pandawansprehended that they were like human subjects in an hical experiment for some digital money. Still, they knew that rejecting him outright was something that would be considered stupid so they all kept quiet and ready to listen withoutints.

 Chapter 1364

    <h4>Chapter 1364: Jinбпs Request to the Pandawans</h4>

    "What do you mean by doing you a favour?" Yue Han asked as he was munching on the snacks that Jin brought. "Also, where did you get these chips?" He asked as he looked at the transparent packaging, meaning it was not any major brand but probably home made or by local stores.

    "Ah, those are just some chips made by our fellow penguins. They were testing out a new batch of products and asked me to try it." Jin responded before also answering to the expected questions from the Pandawans.

    "Donбпt you think that the raid had been made to be far too difficult? I mean sure, the Pandawans and even now the Royal Zodiacs had participated. But something is missing, right?" Jin asked and everyone knew the answer being long term fans of the store.

    "The monsters." The Pandawans said together as they acknowledged the fact that they were having fun raiding previously because of the aid of Jinбпs monsters helping. They might be powerless at times but the monsters will alwayse to aid them whenever things get too tough. Even for the past two days, the Pandawans were hoping that the monsters would appear like a miracle and yet not a single one had emerged to help them at all. They were all by themselves fighting against the Demon Rats.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    Unknownst to the Pandawans and the rest of the cultivators, the Demon Rat Generals actually thought the same as well. They had seen monsters and humans going hand in hand fighting in the Eastern and Western tunnels but there was none in the capital. Therefore, it made the Axe General a little more than annoyed.

    He was holding back the bulk of the Demon Rat soldiers, his advanced weaponry and even the fighter nes which Gnawbones wished tomand so desperately. He was waiting for the monsters to appear in the main capital but they didnбпt. Many thought that the monsters had broken with the humans but that theory did not hold much water considering they were doing that in the other regions.

    That was why Cinderw was puzzled as to why the monsters were not appearing yet. Mainly because Jin was technically still nning for it. He had sent one of his trusty associates, Hou Fei to scout the insides of the Undercity. While Peppers had already done a primary scan along with the aid of the Spirits of the Land, what they do not have was the actual numbers and situation that was brewing within the Undercity.

    In the meantime, Hou Fei was also nting bombs along the way so that he could wreck some damage that would hinder the Demon Rats if need to. Else, he kept moving forward to the Undercityбпsrgest building, the ck Tower as the humans dubbed it for being so ominous. If Jin and the rest of the Pandarens wished to win, they need to have additional information about the Demon Rats.

    Right now they have almost nothing on them and Jin had been using the Pandarens as bait, hoping to see some of the elites that the Demon Rats were hiding. Else, the cultivators were good fodder killing machines. By now, the Demon Rats would have known that the humans would be useless to defeat because they will keeping back but the variety of monsters they had encountered was too many so they could not know whether they had the same features as the humans. The Demon Rats could only assume that some of the monsters have ressurective abilities as wellpared to the truth where all of them do once they were under the Systemбпsmand.

    "Are you implying that you will lend us monsters?" Yue Han replied and Jin chuckled a little while shaking his head. Initially, he did n for the Pandawans to have their own team of NPCs and monsters under their care but as he learned more about his own minions, he decided to not give such a privilege to the cultivators. In fact, the monsters should be the ones leading the cultivators but Jin knew that the monsters had to prove themselves as formidable before any humans would want to follow them. He knew that a few of such monsters already had such a level of respect and influence in themunity, especially the goblin trio.

    "Hah, please. If anything, we should be following the monsters." Bu Dong had decided to try the chips since Yue Han was munching them in handfuls. That sentence alone was enough to change the flow of the conversation greatly to Jinбпs favour.

    "You know how we used to have those Wide Active Response Events (WARE) in the Demopolis rates?" Jin said and the Pandawans who had participated in it knew of its existence as it was those events where they could earn quite a fair bit of extra gold and points. "I am nning to see them as aeback for the third day onwards. That way, you guys do not feel too aimless as well and I can finally bring my monstersбп AI in."

    "Well, what does that have to do with us and your favour? If you want us to join the WARE, we would join in automatically without your request at all. It was a good way to get some pretty good raid points." Xiong Da said and Jin shook his head.

    "Donбпt tell me you want us to be your WARE initiators?" Shi Zuo who was at the far end of the groupбпs conversation spoke up. He believed this was in line with Jinбпs possible request since more of the WAREs were created by the instanceбпs AI and Jinughed as if he was right on the money.

    "Yes, Shi Zuo, you got it absolutely right. I want to be you Pandawans to be my WARE initiators. If you had not noticed, the Pandarens arecking leaders. The Royal Zodiac Soldiers might be organised and Pandarens do follow them from time to time, but in an overarching picture, everyone is doing what they want. I want you guys to take the lead since you all have a higher statuspared to the rest of them. And as a reward forpleting WARE, you guys can not only get Coins and Raid points, my monster AIs cane in to help. Take it as a condition to make the raid instance a little easier," Jin said and Shi Zuo began to feel there was a hidden agenda in all of this.

    And this time around, Jin ignored Shi Zuoбпs re and ignored the hunch he might have by continuing to insist that this was his request. This was mainly due to the fact that Jin would like to recruit his group of loyal customers as part of his Royal Zodiac n when the push turns to shove in the future. This was one of the tests to see if they had the leadership to do so now that almost all of them had proven to be capable cultivators.

    But for now, he was merely giving them the impression that he was doing it so they have a better immersion for the raid instance.

 Chapter 1365

    <h4>Chapter 1365: Second Night Report</h4>

    After some hesitation as well as rification, the Pandawans finally agreed to it. All of them were given a new sub module within the Pandamonium App and Jin was delighted that it waspleted.

    To his surprise, the night for the second day had gone rather peacefully contrary to his worries. He assumed that the Demon Rats will continue with their attacks but the soldiers that were thrown into the fray were just the rank and file.

    It was to the point that many of them were using armour that was broken on the ground and fresh new rats that did not seem even mature enough to carry a weapon. However, one thing did change. All the new rats were not given swords and shields, instead, they were given rifles.

    Some cowered behind the nearby buildings and shot at the magical barrier. It might prove ineffective to show a bullet or two. But imagine having hundreds of rats doing the same thing repeatedly over an interval of a few seconds, and then continue with the next batches of rats. It was practically a hell hole that the Pandarens would not even dare venture out from their energy barrier. Not to mention, the batteries for the energy barrier needed to be reced at a faster pace than before when they were holding onto swords and shields. The machine gun instations were not very useful against targets that were further out of their range and thus they were soon abandoned.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    Thankfully, the humans can y that game at a better pace considering their familiarity with guns, not to mention how modern they were. Suffice it to say, the gun weapons trader in the Hidden Gem Night Market was flowing in lots of cash that some of the limited and more powerful weapons had to be auctioned on the spot because of the quantity that was avable. But those weapons the defending Pandarens had picked from the Hidden Gem Night Market were never a doubt a major boon in the current situation.

    One could say that it is practically target practice for the humans while the rats randomly shot their rifles to destroy the magical barrier. However, luck did notst long for the humans that much as the Demon Rats somehow managed to calcte the amount of damage needed to be done for the magical barrier to be broken.

    This short interval of vulnerability caused the Demon Rats to fire more in sync and even able to kill quite a few humans with their suppressive fire. Meanwhile, the more hot headed Rats had decided to try their luck to get close to the Pir Base Camp. If not for the defences, the Pandarens would have long been overwhelmed by numbers alone. It gave them enough time for the Royal Zodiac Sheep Soldier to switch the barriers battery for it to be up. And even the regeneration of the barrier did not deter the Demon Rats to continue to move forward as the barrier tried to activate. They rather risk being cut into two by the barrier and attempt to move forward to annihte the humans.

    Not only that, the Demon Rats were clever enough to adapt and sacrifice themselves so that they could sabotage the defences of the Pir Base Camp. Some of them threw bombs into the spear shooting emcement, destroying them so that they were rendered useless against the Demon Rats while others hurled a ton of bombs over the walls while using body shields in an attempt to break the other instations as well.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    It was pretty obvious that they were using very barbaric and crude tactics to ovee the Pir Base Camp with just numbers. It might be terrifying for the Pandarens who had to fight against overwhelming odds, but to themander in chief, Jin took this as a good and peaceful night.

    As for the situation at the Third Layer of the Inner Wall, things were not as hectic as one had thought they would be. Ever since the Pandarens had managed to clear the wall from the Demon Rats, they were able to utilise the guard towers and set up a defensive parameter with whatever equipment that they had. And also because the Demon Rats need to use the great elevator to transport their troops, their enemies would be able to hold them off from overtaking the thirdyer once more.

    To their luck, a few of the Pandarens manning the Third Layer happened to be somewhat wealthy and they бпdonatedбп a few defensive instations that aided with the defence such as arge repeating arrow emcement as well as two mediaeval cannon emcements. Not to mention, the Royal Snake Soldiers who were out in the sea were bored enough to give some bombardments that aided in fending off the Demon Rats away. Otherwise, themanding officer of the ship continued to pour lead onto the shield that was covering the Undercity. "Generalбпs orders" or so themanding officer said.

    The Royal Snake Soldiers would routinely send their nes to bombard the Demon Rats and the remaining payload would be used on the shield. All of them know that it was pretty futile but wasting the magical energy of the Demon Rat mages was the whole point. If they were too busy handling the energy barrier, that means they would not be able to engage in battle. Besides, this also gave the Snakes to clock in some training runs so they were happy to do so. (After all the Royal Snake General told them to splurge.)

    But when the sunrise on the third day, things are about to change.

    All of the monsters and minions that were not fighting in the Eastern and Western tunnels were told to get ready once more. Most thought that it was a бпdrillбп again since that was what they were told since Day 1 of PandaVerse Festival, but both Jin and the System had assured them that this was it. They were going in by the third day.

    This was all because of Hou Feiбпs efforts. The Elite Snake Shadow had managed to aplish his mission to infiltrate the Demon Ratбпs headquarters.

 Chapter 1366

    <h4>Chapter 1366: Extra: Snake Spy</h4>

    "This ce is more than just a maze." Hou Fei said as he had managed to stay hidden if not for Ayseбпs specially made invisibility suit. The suit was made to ensure that even magic users were not able to detect it but the only problem with it was that it was running based on the crystal energy that Peppers had made. Even though the System would notify Hou Fei when the battery of the suit was going low and it was time to change, the Snake General had already anticipated that it might cause some problem and asked for an invisibility cloak as well as a backup.

    And even if that is not enough for Hou Fei for he feared that the Demon Rats being beasts might be able to detect via their other senses aside from sight so he made sure to bring a few odourless temporary inscriptions to ensure that he would not be sniffed out.

    "But to think that I can still participate in an infiltration mission. I do not know whether the boss wanted to make sure that I break my back and have an early retirement or he was trying to find out if I am bluffing or not." The Snake General said as he had already released the listening бпbugsбп into the first and second floor of the Dark Tower.

    Because of the filthiness of the Dark Tower, Jin and the System deduce that there might be some critters living within the ce. When the Snake Shadow had managed to get ess into the Dark Tower, he had confirmed that there were indeed spiders and lizards crawling around the ce. Thus, he had released those few mechanised insects that were proudly created by Rei. With the help of Weslie, he and the Schr of the West had managed to fuse mechanical parts and biological bodies together. Those insects would be their ears and eyes for the subsequent part of their n to invade the Dark Tower.

    To Hou Feiбпs surprise, the security was ratherx and he was able to traverse up to the highest level of the tower without many obstacles in the way. He thought that he had to go through vents, assassinate some Demon Rats or even unlock magical doors. It seemed as if he over prepared the items as he reached the mainmunications bridge where it was filled with consoles to the brim. The number of screens and keyboards could even rival the mainmunications room in his world and the Rats were busy rying information.

    He did not know whether it was because they were so busy that they could not detect him or the security was just too low level that the Demon Rats had no way of detecting him. In any case, he checked the corners of the room to make sure that there were some бпinhabitantsбп before releasing the mechanical insects once more. A total of fifty listening бпbugsбп had been installed and they also had extra listening devices on them so that they could crawl into ces where the Demon Rats would not realise and leave them there in case those creepy crawlies were found out.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    Even though the mission had beenpleted, Hou Fei felt that it would be great to have an additional backup n and had decided to try his luck in hiding a few explosives in a few ces. One of which was their resting area mainly due to the fact that those Demon Rats that were working in this ce seemed to be more intelligent than their usual rank and file brutes. Killing them would put a dent in theirmunication system and modern warfare tactics had always put an emphasis on information first.

    But the main problem was that the walkway to their resting area was used on a regr basis, a single nudge out of nowhere might prove to create suspicion if he was not careful even with his invisibility gear on. Even if he had boasted to be one of the best Snake Shadows, the ability to reach the Dark Tower was already considered a miracle for hisck of practice in recent years.

    Thus, he decided not to risk his luck any further and decided to walk away...until he бпidentallyбп pondered to their generator room. After all, it would still be a wasted trip if he did not throw away all of his explosives when he brought many extras, "I guess this should work quite decently too. Shutting down their power would cause them to panic a little but this would be useless if I do not destroy their backup generator. System, do you have any clue where it is?"

    "Apologies, the System is currently upied and does not have sufficient resources to look into it.

    "More like, because the mission objective ispleted, you did not care anymore what I am doing, right? As maddening as ever" Hou Fei sighed and then he felt that breaking their generator was more than enough for a backup distraction n. He took out an empty crate from his storage which he picked up on the way to the Dark Tower and decided to ce it in the corner of the Generator room. After which, he neatly ced all the C4 brick explosives into the crate and covered it with a huge rag which was in his storage ring as well. (One wonders what kind of junk he would keep in his storage ring but it seems to be useful.)

    Once that was done, he did not teleport back but rather proceed to the escape route that was preassigned to him by the System as Hou Fei did not wish to have any possible magical signal being left by him. But because of his efforts, the System was already busy analysing the number of troops, their movements and even the real timemands given out by theirmanders.

    Information gathering was indeed the most important portion of the war.

 Chapter 1367

    <h4>Chapter 1367: White Demon Rats</h4>

    "They are really not as stupid as we thought them to be," Jin said as the System continued to take note of all the conversations and themands that were given to the Demon Rats on the ground.

    "The knowledge of tacticsmand is equivalent to those in World War 1. However, there were some modernmands which even surprised the System."

    "But now that we know what they are plotting, it should be fine, right?" Jin asked as he was trying to choose the ns that his minions and the System had created before to see which one was the best match.

    "If we managed to intercept each and every fight, the Demon Rat Generals would know there is either a mole or we had essed a backdoor of sorts." The System replied. "It would be wiser that we pick and intercept the bigger batches or set a trap of sorts."

    "Well, either that or we just teleport all our minions in one go when they appear. Now that we know where their production factories are as well as the bases they kept their motorised units on standby, it would be an easy feat. We destroy their supplies and force them to be surrounded via a pincer formation." Jin suggested and the System calcted the odds.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    "Not worth it. There would be major losses and it would be better if we fight to suppress the Demon Rats instead." The System replied and Jin sighed.

    "Are you still insisting that they could be negotiated with?" Jin asked and the System did notment on that particr question and coincidentally Jinбпs phone started to vibrate on the table.

    "Hmm? Xiong Da? I thought he said that he wanted to reinforce the transportation crystal, why would there be any problems with that?" The Dungeon Supplier said to himself as he requested the System to bring up the location where the Hippo Cultivator was. As expected, he was located at the Third Layer of the Inner Wall and the Systemбпs magic eye had brought the live video stream of him on the screen for Jin.

    "Boss, ehh the Demon Rats, you programmed them that way?" Xiong Da asked as he was confused, thinking that all Rats were supposed to be enemies.

    Jin had no idea what he meant as well until he saw on screen a batch of white rats on his screen. This was the first time he saw white Demon Rats since all he encountered were ck and brown ones. There might be a few dark maroons but never had he seen a tant bright coloured Demon Rat. A number of them seemed to be severely wounded and they were carrying a white g as if to announce their surrender.

    But what concerned them the most was that there was a batch of ck Demon Rats chasing after them as well and even shooting at them.

    Jin could assume there was some story behind it and told Xiong Da the obvious. "Seriously, this is such an easy scenario to depict, do you really need to call me because of this?" Jin lied through his teeth.

    "Ah. I can hear that tone of yours and the sentenceбпs phrasing is way off your standard speech. You are lying, arenбпt you?" Xiong Da who had been in negotiations with Jin on quite a number of asions knew how Jin could react and this was certainly one thing that he still had to improve if he wished to be a shrewd and cunning businessman.

    "Damn it, I thought I could get away with it." Jin thought to himself. "You got me. Could be the instanceбпs AI doing it. Let me go take a look at it personally. In the meantime, go do what you do best."

    "Aye, boss." Xiong Da knew what he was talking about. Annihte the ck Demon Rats that were chasing after them.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    So as the Hippo Cultivator was busy killing the other Demon Rats, Jin had indeed arrived at the Third Layer to not only greet the runaways but also giving his Pandarens the instructions via their visors and Pandamonium App that this was a WARE event in order to hide the fact that this was an anomaly. The Pandarens did not really care to catch the difference in the scenario just like how Xiong Da did, only to know that they had to take care of the ck Demon Rats as instructed by the WARE descriptions.

    At the same time, Jin had also raised a short barrier right behind thest White Demon Rat who was trying to run from the ck ones. "Halt. I cannot let you go any further, but since you raise the white g, I can only assume you want to surrender to us as well. May I query your reason?"

    "Could you please help me- help us? There are a few severely wounded of us that could die without proper medical attention. We will give you all the information and even a tribute if needed. Please help us!" The White Demon Rat said but Jin was mildly surprised that the Rat was talking with such a feminine voice.

    "Argh, of course, there will be female rats or else how would they reproduce." Jin thought to himself as he wished to bang his head on the wall for stereotyping all the Rats as males. "Wait, arenбпt they grown from nts? Wait what?" Jin continued to be confused by the current situation but for the moment, he summoned Milk to the scene and as always she was almost half naked and asleep. "Argh, Milk! Why do you always!" Jin said to himself and thankfully the System was still in control of the betors, allowing it to transform Milk into her usual battle priest costume while giving her an electric shock to force her awake.

    "Arghhh Master! Why do you always make me do things early in the morning!" Milkined as she instantly used her AOE healing spell and despite the ruckus caused by the humans, the White Demon Rats who initially felt perplexed by the situation were able to feel relief that their teammates were still alive.

    But now Jin wants them to uphold their part of the bargain.

 Chapter 1368

    <h4>Chapter 1368: Rats Of Ruins</h4>

    While Jin wished to bring the White Demon Rats to the Dungeon Maker, he realised that the ck Demon Rats that were chasing after them were not their usual Elites. Even Xiong Da and the Pandarens who were participating in the fight had some difficulty fighting them. The Pandarens on the defensive instations even chipped in and yet, those ck Demon Rats were throwing out shields that could stop the bullets and missiles with rtive ease.

    Thus Jin took a more thorough look at their appearances and it seemed as if they had onemonality between all of them. They all had a huge machine arm on their right.

    "The Rats of Ruins!" One of the White Demon Rats shouted to her leader who firstmunicated with Jin. "They are here! We are doomed!" She continued to cry out loud as her legs trembled the way her vocal cords did screaming their name.

    "Human! Please, save us from them!" Another White Demon Rat said while she clenched on her cold iron rifle.

    "How can all of you be so shameless! He had already aided us to heal! At the very most we should do is to fight back! Pick up your weapons and go into cover!" Their White Demon Rat Leader said back. She instantly thanked Jin and walked towards the back of the group where the Rats of Ruins wereing from.

    However, it was pretty obvious that they do not have the training nor battle experience to fight them. Each and every one of them might be holding a rifle but they looked like it would be better for them to use it as a blunt weapon.

    "Looks like in this situation, an enemy of my enemies is my friend," Jin said as he looked at Milk.

    "Lol, Boss. While I would like to say бпitбпs my pleasureбп, you are being too ridiculous! Asking me to heal a group of Demon Rats and now clearing the fray right in front of me. I demand a reward!" Milk pouted as she knew that she had not been getting any praises orpliments from her master for some time.

    "Does this count?" Jin took out his phone and sent 5000 System points into her ount. "I remembered from somewhere that you wanted a dress from the Inter World ck Market. This should be more than enough with a bit of extra allowance after buying the dress." Jin said and suddenly Milk changed from her Battle Priest set into her Battle Monk set almost immediately. While she does have adequate strength to kill those Demon Rats in her Battle Priest set, her Battle Monk setes with a pair of war gauntlets and boots that could explosively increase her melee prowess.

    "As your Betor! It is a pleasure to be at my masterбпs orders!" Milk said and she already dashed out at the speed of light.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    Like any other monsters, having a name attached to them meant something special and the Rats of Ruins were not any much different. These named Demon Rats as their features had shown had achieved greaterpetence in their strength that they were augmented with a mechanical arm.

    While Pandawan Xiong Da could withstand and fight against a few of them at once, the other Pandarens were almost immediately annihted if they ever received a direct blow from any of those Rats of Ruins. And that made the ck Demon Ratscent thinking that this was the average strength of the humans that were fighting against them.

    Even their leader felt that this war was already winnable if the incumbent Axe General had allowed the rest of the named Rats, they could have wiped out all of the humans in one shot. "Regardless, the escape of these few Birth Mothers is a boon for me to test out my strength against the humans, so noints from-"

    Before he couldplete his sentence, his entire mechanical arm from trying to strangle a Pandaren had suddenly disappearedpletely. Disappearing might be too much of a description and rather, dismantled into pieces.

    The Pandaren who was suffocating had managed to recover his breath and stepped backwards while the leader for the Rats of Ruins tried to search which human had the power to destroy his customised mechanical arm. However, once he managed to get a glimpse of Milk, that was thest moment he had before everything went nk.

    "Ew. Boss didnбпt tell me that these rats spewed such stenchy blood." Milk said as she got a few drops of it on her shirt. And as smelly as they were, it was somewhat corrosive as well, making her think that whatever nonsense that was pumped into them to make them stronger than their average elite was somewhat dangerous.

    "Just clean it off after the fight!" Jin shouted from afar as he continued to stand there to watch the entire battle.

    "Boss is really ve driver, eh? Good to see you again Ms Milk." Xiong Da said as he managed to bring down one of the Rats of Ruins by himself too but not as quick nor efficient as the Priest Betor herself.

    "Hah, I bet you experienced it yourself as well." Milk said as she tapped on his shoulders. "Save your strength, youбпll need it for the rest of the day when your other colleagues wake up. I can clear this up myself." Milk reassured him with a wink.

    "Thatdy... Doesnбпt she know that she can instantly bring almost every guy down to their knees with that killer wink?" Xiong Da thought to himself as he listened to her as suggested while he watched Jinбпs first employee decimate the entire batch of ck Demon Rats by herself.

    "What kind of strength do you all have?" The leader of the White Demon Rats said in bewilderment as she saw the one-sided ughter by Milk taking ce right in front of her eyes. "Is that why the Axe General was so apprehensive in sending the other Demon Rats out?" She thought to herself while Jin walked toward her as if he already knew the oue of the battle.

    "As I said, you have to uphold your side of the bargain and talk. You and the otherse with me. I will bring you to a secure ce." Jin beckoned thedies to follow him through the portal as he needed to know if he might have stumbled into a piece of treasure.

 Chapter 1369

    <h4>Chapter 1369: Birth Mothers</h4>

    When the portal appeared in front of them, the White Demon Rat Leader shouted for the rest to enter the magical gate. She also stayed behind to ensure that each and every of her survivors entered the portal and that was enough for Jin to see the difference between her White Demon Ratspared to the ck ones.

    In terms of battle experience, Jin and his minions did not fight against the Demon Rats for long despite the months of longstanding skirmishes, the Dungeon Supplier had received reports that quite a lot of higher ranking Demon Rats would always be the ones to save their skins. So to see the White Demon Rat Leader doing the opposite, it could mean that they were able to listen to reason and perhaps negotiation between the rats might be a possibility.

    Even though the Leader for the Rats of Ruins was killed the moment Milk entered the battlefield, the others weremitted to making sure that their duty to recapture was fulfilled. Thus, they raged as their lives depended on it, removing all the Pandarens who tried to block their way to take back one White Demon Rat.

    "Have you dim witted rats forgotten about this beauty right here?" Milk asked as she grabbed the Rat of Ruins who was nearest to a White Demon Rat that was trying her best to escape. The Demon Rat attempted to grab Milk so that he could trash her to the ground but her athletics was beyond god-like, allowing her to evade without much help and send the Rat of Ruin into its ruin.

    Despite knowing that it might be fruitless to go up against Milk, the Rats thus mmed the ground, creating a smoke screen from the buildup of dust in order to move forward. But, it did not deter Milk a single bit as she could sense the bulky moments of the Demon Rats regardless of the smoke screen.

    "Milk, withdraw. We have already provided enough help for the Pandarens. Any more interference and it would be in the streaming news again." Jin said via the System channel and also told the System to end the Wide Active Response Event (WARE) as soon as he entered the portal.

    Milk felt that those Rats of Ruins deserved more beating but since her master had rewarded more than she could ever have thought, she listened to Jin with a tad of defiance. With her strength and ability, she stomped on the ground to not only remove the dusty smokescreen but also hinder the Rats of Ruinбпs passage back to the rumoured giant elevator.

    With some magic infused into her stomp, a gigantic wall of rock emerged right from the ground, piercing some of the Rats of Ruins as it grew. However, because it was an indiscriminate magic attack, the Pandarens also got caught by it. Although she did try to warn them just a second beforehand, it was not enough for most of the cultivators to evade itpletely. Xiong Da merely used his chi to create a barrier just to make sure that he blocked the magical attack.

    He realised it was simr to his ground stomp attack but this was pure brute strength infused with high levels of magic that he could never imagine. The rock wall itself is enough to not just block the Rats of Ruins but also the subsequent Demon Rats who might decide to try to invade directly the Third Layer of the Inner Wall. If they wished to assault the Third Layer, they had to go around the rock wall, allowing the Pandarens to defend the walls some additional time between the usual intervals they had been experiencing.

    "That was really unnecessary," Jin said via the System Channel when he saw Milkбпs byproduct of interference in the Dungeon Maker Instance.

    "Bye Master~! Thanks for the bonus!" Milk totally ignored Jinбпs remark and went radio silent, hoping that her master would be preupied with the White Demon Rats.

    The White Demon Rats did not know whether they went from one trap into the other but the Dungeon Maker was not exactly the most weing ce one would arrive and the System had shut down each and every console screen so that the White Demon Rats would not have a glimpse of what they had.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    But as the White Demon Rats were trying to get their bearings of the ce, Jin merely walked towards the supposed leader and handed her a stack of papers. "I assume you all can read to a certain extent. Either sign the first one to state that you agree on behalf of your entire or have everyone sign each of those papers. Those who refuse to sign can leave this ce and we will put you back where I found you. I will give you my word that my humans and teammates would not hurt you, but we would not save you if the Demon Rats caught up to you again." Jin said, giving them almost no choice in the matter.

    The leader quietly picked up the papers and took a quick nce before diving into the details. Indeed, the only difference between the first pagepared to the rest was that she was representing the White Demon Rats. She had no idea how they were anticipating this or if they already had surrender papers ready for any Demon Rats that were willing to rebel against the main race.

    "You sure itбпs a good idea? We will be surrendering our rights." One of the White Demon Rats asked as she told everyone the current situation they were in.

    "Then isnбпt it the same as those bastard Demon Rats? Whatбпs the point?" Another White Demon Rat filled with grudges said.

    "They had written that they would provide us shelter and even ample food and didnбпt we unanimously agree to work for the humans if needed?" The leader reinforced their past promises and the White Demon Rats whispered among themselves.

    "But they also stated that this...entity called the System will invade our brains? And we must be loyal to just one human. Isnбпt that absurd?"

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    "They had saved our lives, we should at least be thankful for that."

    "I honestly do not want to go back to that hellhole. I rather take my chances with the Humans."

    "Not my best choice, but I think that siding with the Humans also would be better than being tied with chains and working repeatedly for days." The White Demon Rats continued to chatter among themselves while it was pretty apparent that the leader was trying to get them to be optimistic with regard to the deadlock situation they were in.

    Eventually, they agreed reluctantly as a whole and the leader signed the first page, giving the rest of the papers back to Jin. And with that signature, the System had the permission to invade their lives as they forfeited their rights to it. They felt a forceful ache across their heads simultaneously as a group mainly because the System was not giving their current enemies anypromises.

    If they knew anything about the current Demon Rats that would provide an edge for the War, the System would take every single chance. It also took the opportunity to share some information about the current group with Jin, allowing him to know what this group of White Demon Rats were called-

    Birth Mothers.

 Chapter 1370

    <h4>Chapter 1370</h4> <h4>Birth Mothers </h4>

    As the System shared Jin information about the Birth Mothers, he had already ordered a few penguins to prepare some food for the White Demon Rats to partake. But because he needed to бпinterrogateбп a little more, he continued to make them stay in the Dungeon Maker instance.

    The Birth Mothers were surprised when there was a group of walking birdsing their way and they thought that Jin had betrayed them, going back at his word after he took the papers. However, as the penguins came closer, they presented to the White Demon Rats a buffet of food for them to enjoy.

    The smell was enough to capture their souls and as the Birth Mothers craved for proper food, they continued to look at their leader as if for a sign for them to dig in. "Why do you need your leaderбпs approval to eat? Just go ahead and eat. There is enough for everyone." Jin said as he told the Birth Motherбпs leader to meet him after she had her fill.

    However, the leader did not and decided to follow him away from the group, knowing that he wanted information about the current situation. While Jin already knew the gist of it from the Systemбпs invasive methods to get information, he wanted to see if the White Demon Rats were perpetual liars since they would not have known that the System had the power to read peopleбпs minds as of now.

    "I am Lisa Von Crustfinger. The appointed leader of the Birth Mothers." Lisa introduced herself with a slight bow of her head while her tail continued to lie low on the ground. The System knew that she was lowering her pride to greet Jin as the Demon Ratбпs behaviour was to always have their tails up high as a sign of dignity for themselves.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    "Firstly, thank you for rescuing us from the Rats of Ruins, our capturers and jailors. Not only that, you have graciously offered us a sumptuous meal right off the bat. I could not be more grateful than I am now." She said while keeping her head down.

    "Do not misunderstand, I am doing this for myself. Upon signing those papers, you are now under my rule for the rest of your lives. The least I could do is to make your suffering a knot more tolerable." Jin suddenly sounded like an evil бпkindбп overlord which would cause his other minions tough if they were at the scene but for now, his acting was working on Lisa (and that was all that matters.)

    "So continue on, donбпt let me stop you from telling me your circumstances. And also, stand up, I do not need all these archaic ways of showing gratitude." Jin said.

    "Yes, my master. We were running away from the Rats of Ruins mainly because of their ipetence in leaving the keys close enough to where our hands could reach. Despite knowing that we were quite powerless because of the nature of our jobs, they did not expect us to rebel in such a way."

    "What job?"

    "We are tasked to handle the birth of the new Demon Rats," Lisa answered as she brought out a couple of seeds from beneath her fur and revealed them to Jin, stating that these were the offspring of the Demon Rats.

    "User, the Birth Mother concept is an interesting subject which causes even the System to stumble. Imagine a living organism with the ability to grow and proliferate without a sexual partner while having the traits of a nt like wheat." The Systemmented as it stated that the Birth Mothers were capable of growing new Demon Rats because of the seeds that pop out from the surface of their skin.

    "With the current war against you Humans, we are being forced to produce more Demon Rats to amodate the rising loss of Demon Rats every single minute. They force fed us with supplements and injected us with birth inducing hormones to make sure that we were able to produce more seeds for the n."

    Jin could understand what she was talking about because of the imagery the System had sent him. They were literally a birth machine at this rate just to get the seeds growing not from the soil but from these White Demon Ratsбп skin. All of them here had been overworked (or overbirthed) from the major losses that the Demon Rats were receiving. And to his knowledge, there were many others like Lisa and her group of Birth Mothers all over the Undercity.

    They were simply lucky enough to have a chain of events that allowed them to escape almost unhindered by the other Demon Rat soldiers. Mainly because of the fact Lisa and the Birth Mothers gave life to these Demon Rats and that they still recognise the pheromones of their mothers, causing them to hold their hand in killing the White Demon Rats.

    As for the Rats of Ruins, they were literallyb bred by other Demon Rat scientists, which allowed them to deny the pheromones produced by the Birth Mothers and thus gave them the ability to not only handle them but also restrain the Birth Mothersбп movements. Some of the older Demon Rats even fought back against the Rats of Ruins as the Birth Mothers made their escape and yet it was not enough to resist such elites.

    If things had gone differently just by a tad bit, Lisa and the others would not be able to survive the escape and contact the Humans. However, Jin could foresee that the remaining Birth Mothers would not have it easy once the report of Lisa and her White Demon Rats had turned to the Humans for help would be made known.

    Stricter enforcements alongside harsher conditions to reproduce more rats? That would spell disaster for the rest of the White Demons but for now, Jin should already be happy or even delighted that he had finally achieved a way to have Demon Rats under his rule. While he was not sure whether the Demon Rats that he would eventually grow would be mainly because of their trait being a type of бпresourceбп after death, there was some hope that he could grow an army of his own almost as easily as the current Demon Rats that they were facing.

    It was a boon that he hoped to receive but he did not expect it toe in so soon in the Demon Rat War or even in such a manner. Yet, it was still quite a bit of shock that that was how the Demon Rats had been producing these many Demon Rats so quickly after learning about their origins although it made sense.

    However, now that he managed to get hold of these Birth Mothers, perhaps the Dungeon Supplier could attack even more indiscriminately since the initial n was to force the Demon Rats into submission if possible, forming a future partnership with them to rule the Northern Region. The Demon Rats would be Jinбпs vassal and he would have lesser stuff on his hands while handling his store and other nonsensical multiverse issues that he had.

    But he could throw that n off the table and be more brutal in his methods. Perhaps try to save the rest of the White Demon Rats if possible or else, continue to do what his minions do best.

    Beat the shit out of their opponents.

 Chapter 1371

    <h4>Chapter 1371: Extra: Report For the Morning</h4>

    "By the way, did you say that you would offer some rewards to us?" Jin shamelessly asked the question and Lisa Von Crustfingersбп eyes suddenly lit up while she rummaged through her tattered leather sling bag.

    "We are Birth Mothers so the most we can offer you are seeds of the Demon Rats," Lisa said as she took out a satchel containing the Demon Rat seeds. "These are the best seeds that we have grown from our body. I have kept them from the other Demon Rats so that my most precious of children would not be used as mere fodder."

    "You do know that you are aiding your enemies, right?"

    "But we had all heard rumours about you Humans. How you have multiple monsters that fought beside you. We thought that there is a chance life might actually be better than being enved by our own race." Lisa said and Jin sighed.

    "You know, not every human is that benevolent. Some will use you or even manipte you more than you could ever imagine." Jin responded.

    "Itбпs alright. We are willing to take the risk. All of us." Lisa replied with a depressed tone.

    "Anyways. Keep those seeds of yours first. Get some rest along with your other colleagues. In fact, you should not even participate in this war at all. If I manage to find any other Birth Mothers, I would ask if they would like to join you."

    "Thank you! Thank you! They should be more than willing toe with you when you say my name and also with this que. Give me a moment." Lisaбпs eyes suddenly lit up when she heard that Jin would try his best to save the other Birth Mothers. She quickly searched through her bag and took out a broken wooden sculpture of a demon rat.

    "Show this to them and they would know that you are an ally, not a foe," Lisa said but Jin reiterated that there would be no guarantees he or his allies could find more of these Birth Mothers after themotion that happened minutes ago. Lisa understood that notion and returned to her group where they quickly offered her a portion of the food.

    "User, why did you not ept the seeds that were given to you? That is your rightful reward for saving them and we could use their numbers." The System asked and Jin smiled.

    "Have you not thought of the future?" Jin threw the question back to the System. "If they are able to livefortably here, donбпt you think that the rats they give birth might actually be of a higher quality?"

    "That answer does not quantitate-"

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    "Itбпs all about timing and trust," Jin interjected. "Let them get used to the ce, have them do their job as they are supposed to do naturally and once they figure out how to make the best rats out of the babies they have given birth from, then bring out those seeds. Perhaps, the quality of seeds that they grow over time might exponentially increase in quality, making those seeds which they currently have erm...obsolete?"

    The System understood where he wasing from and apologised for asking such a stupid question. "Then not taking the seeds was not only to show but reinforce the image that the humans and monsters can coexist together despite their differences."

    "Thatбпs a bit too far fetched but you get my point." Jin chuckled a little as he got Captain Hei and Captain Bai to appear and escort the Demon Rats out of the Dungeon Maker instance once they were done with the food. After all, it was themand centre and even if the White Demon Rats are now their allies, it would not be wise to show the destruction of their race right in front of their eyes.

    So while waiting for the Birth Mothers to clear out of the instance, Jin had begun contacting Weslie, Gold and Qiu Yue about their situations.

    "We are progressing well. Just that the fighting never ceases ever since we start." Gold reported. "They had been not just throwing bodies at us but also rather decent troops."

    "Itбпs the same situation at my side, but other than that, we are able to make progress. We do need better air filters though or else those artillery we were using could potentially cause a dust explosion within the cave." Weslie reported.

    "Weslie, I will get the System to prepare some for both of you. Otherwise, Gold, I understand there were some casualties at our end. I should be able to send them back down after the System has cleared them for teleportation." Jin answered back. As much as they want to send the reincarnated back to the fray, the System had always emphasised the need to bnce cost and profit.

    While it was capable of sending the soldiers back again in almost an instant, it would take a significant amount of resources to make sure that the minion was in good condition, both stable in the mind, body and soul before sending them out again. Any desynchronisation of the three elements could possibly reduce the бпstatsбп of the minion and cause unnecessary mistakes in battle. (Not to mention, they would be demoralised by the loss of proficiency in battle.)

    No doubt, this could be averted by pouring arge amount of resources but a minion is still a minion. Unless they all have started to grow and show hidden talents as prominently as the minion leader, the System would only devote that amount of resources for its reincarnation.

    "Could I have more than just beavers? They are good but judging how things are progressing, it would be great to have more erm...underlings." Qiu Yue asked through thems with the sound of heavy artillery in the background.

    "Do you think other minions could learn everything so quickly like your beavers? Besides, arenбпt you increasing your Empire Building proficiency with this fight? I heard from the System that you could already create walls with automated arrow instations on it. Further improvements to your Empire Building proficiency would no doubt see wonders if you keep using them." Jin asked and Qiu Yue nearly wanted to return to Dungeon Maker Instance and knock his head.

    "Yeah?! Tell me that when you are down here fighting for 48 hours consecutively!" Qiu Yue shouted back although she was doing what Jin was saying upon learning that this was the best time to increase her Empire Building powers. Not just walls, she could also summon metal pirs from nothing and throw them with immense force. And even though she was dying to test out the new skills she learned from Zeru, she felt that it was better to use her Empire Building abilities against masses of Demon Rats instead.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    "You can alwayse back to rest, the System would teleport you back to the battlefield," Jin replied and that was what the other troops were doing. They might have been fighting a gruesome battle but their morale was still high because the System and Jin allowed them to return to their warm beds and showers apanied with a sumptuous meal cooked personally by Lynn.

    No invading troop in the world has such a privileged life to rest, rx and recharge each time when they were called off from the fight to rotate.

    "Fine, fine but you better take a closer look because the Demon Rats are always looking for opportunities to exploit." Qiu Yue said as she fought for a while longer before teleporting back to Jinбпs house.

 Chapter 1372

    <h4>Chapter 1372: Inner Town Base Camp</h4>

    Once the Birth Mothers had left, Jin had begun to look at the status of the Pir Base Camp. It was already morning and the Pandarens wereing into the raid instance via waves. Because of the proximity of the base camp to the teleportation crystal near the thirdyer of the Inner Wall, the teleportation crystal was used instead mainly to give the Pandarens the бпexcitementбп of parachuting down from above.

    While the dungeon supplier could have made it easy for the Pandarens and teleported them into the Pir Base Camp, he purposely created this бпsituationбп so that he could бпmilkбп the Pandarens who failed to jump onto the pir and descend. But he had a valid reason to do so as well. The thirdyer of the Inner Wall requires reinforcements as well and if they could manage to clear it, the Pandarens would have a safe base of operations they could use.

    Of course, that is assuming that the Demon Rats did not pull off another big major earthquake to break thend once more and force the Pandarens to fall down to their Undercity. However, Jin knew that it would be near impossible for the Demon Rats to do that even though the odds of iting true were still there. This was mainly because the bulk of their Undercity was situated right under it and causing an earthquake right above it would definitely destroy certain key facilities that would be vital for their continuation of this particr war.

    It might be true that the Rats might do that in the future if they felt that they were on the losing end of the war but Jin had already started to sell a very unique item that was not seen in the Hidden Gem Night market before.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    Shuбпs roots.

    The magical Treant had бпgraciouslyбп offered his roots for sale so that if such an earthquake were to ur again, the Pandarens would not be in such a pinch in the future. (Obviously, in return for his roots, he waspensated with System points.) This was because Shuбпs roots were capable of holding the ground together once they were nted on the ground. And if multiple roots were used at the same time, it would multiply the effect to hold the ground so that there would be no worries even if the Demon Rats had decided to do the same again.

    Jin had also used a dummy anonymous ount with a rtively high level rank in the forums in order to fool the rest while increasing the reliability of his information to бпannounceбп the presence of such an item. This prompted a few rtively rich Pandarens who had the coins to purchase them knowing that this would certainly be a surefire way to earn raid points. The only problem they now faced was that they were not strong enough to walk into the middle of a battlefield and nt those.

    Even if they could, there was currently no base of operations which could utilise such an item. But all that changed when the Royal Zodiac Snake General Hou Fei emerged out of nowhere with a yawn and a toon of over fifty people with him. With his presence alongside his soldiers, they were immediately able to create a base camp near the thirdyer of the Inner Wall and did simr fortifications as the previous Outer Wall Camp.

    Because of the experience they had set up the Outer Wall Camp, the Inner Town Camp (which was the new name of the camp) had been established without too much of a hassle. People were amazed that the Royal Zodiac Snake had offered to create another base camp considering how much it cost. But everyone was fooled, including the Royal Snake Head that Hou Fei had sacrificed much of his wealth for the well being of the Pandarens even though it was just a temporary fixture in this particr raid.

    This was because Hou Fei had the base camp package for free from the System since it was part of his rewards for sessfully infiltrating the Undercityбпs Dark Tower. And since he was part of the Inc Executives (Panda nбпs fancy names for their own members.), the System also gave him significant discounts to set up the Inner Town Base Camp.

    The sudden development of a new base camp further raises the morale of the Pandarens, and also allows those said rich Pandarens to establish Shuбпs roots, allowing them to gain a hefty amount of raid points for contributing to the stability of the Inner Town Base Camp. The rock wall which Milk had created previously from her fight against the Rat of Ruins was a slight hindrance to the expansion of the base camp but the Royal Zodiac Snakes had decided to keep it as it is because if there was ever a need to fall back, the giant rock wall would be a good buffer to lean on.

    But other than that, the basic foundations for a decent base of operations had been set up. A medical camp for injuries that would be severe enough that healers cannot heal in a matter of minutes. A basic resupply station especially for cultivators who were using arrows, bombs, modern ammunition etc. A repair station where the cultivators could get their armour and weapons repairs if destroyed. A merchant shop which provided a slight discountpared to the active online store as well as a ce to sell the junk the cultivators picked up.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    Not to mention, there was a food canteen where thankfully the penguins were the chefs to provide some food to the hungry as well as amand centre that belonged to the Snakes and other military arms of the Royal Zodiac. That was where they were allowed to rest andmunicate as they shared information on the current situation not just within the raid instance but also outside of the raid instance.

    After all, the streamers and other viewers could show stuff that the Royal Zodiacs might have missed and they could use it to their advantage especially in this day and age, information had always been the edge to win against any war. (Of course, Hou Fei had the best information at hand but as a former spy, he was happy to practise the art of not knowing anything. Or else, what fun would it be if they could not learn how to get the information themselves? )

    And with that, the Pandarens were ready to send a counter attackter in the morning especially after defending the Pir Base Camp for the entire night since it had been the main priority so far.

    At the same time, the Pandawans who were finally arriving for the fight once more had started scouting ces based on Jinбпs slightly ssified intel of the Undercity. (The Boss could not give everything to them except the general areas or else it would be cheating.) and from there, they started to n their wide active response events so that Jin could finally have the бпsufficientбп reason to bring down his minions to fight against the Demon Rats.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    The third day of PandaVerse would definitely be a busy day for everyone.

 Chapter 1373

    <h4>Chapter 1373: Breaking Out The Kill Zone</h4>

    Even with the increased manpower in the Pir Base Camp, there was still no progress as expected. The rank and file Demon Rats that were surrounding the Pir Base Camp were still numerous and they were бпrefillingбп at a rate that even the increased numbers of Pandarens could not take on.

    It was pretty obvious that the Demon Rats had already begun to know that the Pandarens were more or less stuck in the Pir Base Camp unless there were sacrifices willing to push through and break the encirclement.

    And that itself would still be an insurmountable task to perform. Unlike the previous time when the Demon Rats consisted of a mix of melee and ranged troops, now they were ying with guns. Almost every one of them was hiding behind a piece of cover shooting at the magic barrier indiscriminately because there were no targets to pick on.

    The moment those Pandarens emerged from the Pir Base Camp, there would be nothing but their own equipment they had to rely on to block or evade those gunshots. And that was assuming that they could even get out of the kill zone.

    The Pandarens who managed to return to the battlefield knew that this might get worse as there were already sightings of heavier guns from the scouts that were peering through the Undercity at the highest point of the pir that was still covered by the magical barrier.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    It was only a matter of time, the magical barrier would be overwhelmed and the Demon Rats would concentrate on picking the Pandarens or destroying their walls and emcements. Pandawan Yue Han who was on sight had then decided it was probably time to use his Wide Active Response Event initiator. The Pandawans were given a couple of one time portal tickets when they were talking to Jin and the Dungeon Supplier had promised to send out minions that were appropriate to the eventбпspletion.

    As long as the Pandarens hadpleted the WARE with 60% of the participants getting a gold level participation, Jin would then send in the reinforcements as the rewards. But the Dungeon Supplier did say that the higher the difficulty of the WARE, the better the rewards so by defending the Pir Base Camp was not exactly the most tedious job the Pandarens could ever have.

    So, Yue Han, the Bat Cultivator had decided to use his WARE to break the stalemate by creating an event that would essentially cost the most amount of casualties if not done right. This was because the WARE he had in mind would only pop out when the Pir Base Campбпs magical barrier had been destroyed.

    As the Demon Rats who had trialled and tested, getting the barrier down was a matter of fact, they had a small window of opportunity to charge in and destroy whatever the Pandarens would have before the new magical barrier would be up again. And that was where their big guns and mortars woulde in now that they saw a higher concentration of Pandarens in the vicinity.

    What Yue Han was proposing was that the Pandarens were to rush out at the same time as Demon Rats engaging them through battle and at the same time, find a way to break the kill zone. The other Pandawans who were in with his n realised how crazy and suicidal it was. However, that also meant that they could finally get points from the Demon Rats that were charging in rather than cowering behind the walls.

    Also, those charging demon Rats could be used as meat shields against the kill zone that the Demon Rats had set up. Almost every Pandarens knew that the Demon Rats did not care whether it was friend or foe as long as they ultimately could kill their enemies. Thus, the Pandawans knew that if they were to charge out at the same time as the Demon Rats, they would have some бпassistanceбп from the other side shooting at their own friendlies.

    Hence, the n was spread around and Yue Han had already initiated the Wide Active Response Event the moment he monitored that the magical barrier energy levels had dropped to 35%. The n was not well received but seeing that it was now a WARE, the rest knew that there would be points awarded even upon their meaningless death.

    Therefore, the Pandarens pretended to continue cowering behind the walls while readying themselves for the charge so that they could at least weaken the kill zone a little. Also, because it was the first WARE for the day, it enticed the Pandarens who were not yet in the raid instance and prompted them to join almost as soon as possible.

    "The barrier is going to go down soon!" Yue Han shouted and everyone started to brace themselves for the inevitability. Everyoneбпs hearts were beating hard knowing that they would die being shot. The pain was not a great feeling but the exhrating adrenaline pumping through them made them feel alivepared to sitting at the desk doing administrative work.

    And with arge explosion by the enemiesбп mortar, the barrier was broken, causing it to shut down right in front of everyone. The Sheep Zodiac soldiers had now tried to get the barrier up again by recing the energy battery but before that could happen, the Demon Rats were already dashing towards the Pir Base Camp with the intent to massacre the Pandarens with theirrge numbers.

    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ?????????????.??? website.

    "NOW!" The Pandawans who were temporarily their leaders shouted in unison, firing a volley of shbangs and fireworks to distract the Demon Rats temporarily and also forcing the Pandarens who were in hiding to jump over the walls in packs. The Demon Rats had no idea what was happening with the sudden bright lights but their momentary distraction brought time for the front wave of Pandarens to jump down safely and charge toward them.

    "Kill the Humans!! Artillery continues your bombardment on their camp!!!" The Demon Rat captain shouted as he saw under the cover of those bright lights the humans were dashing towards them.

    Usually, the humans would not even be attacking and hide from the attacks and yet now, all the defensive emcements were manned and they did not care whether they were killed during the battle, another human would rece the dead one and continue using the defensive emcement without any care for their lives.

    It seemed as if they were desperate enough to ensure victory at all costs. But honestly, they just want the extra raid points and participation points.

 Chapter 1374 Monster Reinforcements

    The WARE event appeared and with the conditions of protecting the camp from not more than 100 Demon Rats from entering the campsite, all the Pandarens were rushing out of the camp to ensure that the rats do not even have the chance to enter even if it meant their deaths.

    The Demon Rat leaders were surprised by the sudden foolishness of the Pandarens but it did not mean much to him. Those Demon Rats of his were itching to have a brawl with them instead of just shooting from afar. Sure, it was pretty effective but most of the rats were satisfied until they tasted blood upfront.

    More artillery and mortar shots were fired from the Demon Rats and some of them came out of hiding to shoot while they advanced down to the Pir Base Camp. However, because of the close proximity between their fellowrades and the Pandarens, friendly fire was inevitable and that was the reason why Yue Han had decided to use this opportunity to attempt to cull the numbers of the Demon Rats down.

    It was a risky but decent move in Jin''s eyes even though everyone knows that they would be back to square one the moment the magic barrier in the Pir Base Camp would go up and everyone would be in that sheltered area again.

    Thus, the Demon Rats were pushing hard hoping to enter and destroy the magic barrier generator if possible. Those long range strikes were in the Rat''s hopes that it would destroy the magic barrier by chance and so they could earnestly mow down the cultivators by sheer force.

    However soon, they were bound to regret their choice as the WARE events came to a close the moment their magic barriers were up. People realised that this was a rtively short wide active response event but for some reason, their raid points were drastically increased.

    Perhaps it was because of the high dangerponent when they were faced with hundreds or maybe thousands of demon rats shooting at them. Quite a number of Pandarens died but both sides'' recklessness had put a major blow to their forces.

    Yet, that was enough for Jin to finally showcase his promise to the Pandarens that initiated the WARE event. With the closure of the wide active response event, a notification emerged out of their Pandamonium Apps. Since most of the Pandarens were already in the Pir Base Camp once more, they were able to read the notification without being disturbed.

    "Warning, major monster reinforcements are iing in eight minutes."

    Most people were confused about this as they did not know whether the monster reinforcement was from their end or it was the app hinting to them that the Demon Rats were preparing a major Rat Horde to im the Pir Base Camp.

    However, only Yue Han and the rest of the Pandawans know that this was Jin''s way of helping the Pandarens. However, knowing that telling the other cultivators would be cutting them short of a pleasant surprise so they shouted as much as they could to tell them to quickly prepare for the worst case scenario.

    Some regretted entering the WARE event thinking that it was because of the event that forced this new condition to emerge (which was not wrong.) but that eight minutes was what the Pandarens needed to regroup as Jin hollered his first wave of troops to be prepared to move out.<sub> </sub>

    "One minute more for major monster reinforcements to emerge. Please brace yourselves." The app continued to announce the monster horde wave and everyone started to frantically buy items from the online store to restock as much as they could, thinking that they would need them during a major fight like this.

    And when the counter reaches zero, everyone had their weapons ready to move out once more the moment their Pandawans counterparts gave the signal. But instead of receiving that signal, they felt an enormous discharge of chiing near the centre of the camp.

    The terrifying source of energy caused them to tremble in fear as they saw a bespectacled man in a white coat along with a mantle walking to check the status of the magic barrier. "You guys really know how to overwork the barrier generator. Regardless, this is good data knowing that the barrier can take this much punishment despite repeated use." He said while looking at the cultivators who were now pointing their swords at him.

    Probably because despite him looking like a man, his face was partially disfigured mainly due to the fact that he was still a ghoul.

    "Perhaps in another instance, I would be the boss of the dungeon. But not today for I, Derek, the Half Ghoul Lord is here to assist your puny existence to victory." Derek said as he gave a half bow while raising his hand high.

    "Please move away from the walls for now or at least make some way else it would be an unpleasant experience for you. Do not me me if you are killed by the stampede." Derek said after he snapped his fingers.

    Some of the Pandarens did not know what to do, especially those who had just entered the camp. However, the Pandawans insisted that it was not a threat and repeated the orders by Derek. Seeing how their highermands had asked them to do so, they warily moved aside for the moment but could not help to notice that something was not right especially when the grounds were shaking rather violently.

    "Stay your de! Stay your de! Those on the walls, move down now or try to make some space!" Yue Han shouted continuously, hoping that he made the right choice. After all, he had no idea what kind of minions Jin had with him and the one in front of him was someone he had never encountered before.

    "Thank you very much for your assistance and now, please. Enjoy the show." Derek said as he smiled widely before making a jump to the highest point of the camp in order to have a better view of the current situation.

    "Now my zombies. You only have twomands. Arise and fight the Demon Rats to death." Derek said as he yearned to see how his newly minted battle zombies would fight after months of countless modifications.

 Chapter 1375 The Zombie Surge

    The cultivators participating in the raid were in shock. Not just the ones on the scene but those who were both watching and streaming were in awe by the current development.

    Zombies were emerging out of the Pir Base Camp''s grounds and if not for the Pandawans'' pleas to not touch anything else, the Pandarens would instinctively do two things. Either run or fight the zombies before they fully emerge from the ground.

    But now that they were asked to stay still, they could see how creepy the zombies were from the viewer''s perspective. As the zombies crawled out from the ground, their howling made it as if they had been craving for something, urging them to fulfil it as soon as possible.

    There was no mistake, the humans were delicious to look at, and even had a scent that made the zombies drool a lot. But themands of the Half Ghoul Lord were absolute.

    To feast on the Demon Rats instead.

    So their heads turned from the humans that were standing so defenceless from the shock of their appearance and headed towards the walls. Simr to the cultivators, they all began to start jumping as if they had some imbued chi inside of them. Some of the Pandarens noticed that their leader also did the same thing previously and wondered if they were zombie cultivators.

    The truth was that they were not entirely wrong because all the zombies had been imbued with both utility and offensive inscriptions, causing them to burst with chi. The same goes with Derek who equipped a number of high grade inscriptions that allowed him to make others feel like he was a super cultivator.

    While the Half Ghoul Lord had treated his zombies kindly and even gave them adequate food and care, he did not hesitate to use them like weapons. Because of the degradation of their intelligence, it was best that they could do something more than just biting their enemies to death.

    So through rote learning, the zombies finally learnt how to swing a sword properly and with the aid of inscription charms, they were able to do more than just shing the enemy with their brute strength. They could unleash the powers within those inscriptions (though rather haphazardly) and bring carnage to their enemies (Also to some extent, friendly fire. Derek remembered at the start of their training, some zombies almost wiped out the entire zombie group because they could not control the swing when empowered by their inscriptions.)

    The Demon Rats were rather shocked that humans were jumping out of their shelter and into the killing fields of their ranged attacks. They could not be any more happier as each of them attempted to fill every piece of filth that was foolish enough to be shot at.<sub> </sub>

    However, they soon realise that those humans were not hindered by the attacks except for those who were shot in the head. It was then they found out that those were not entirely humans but monsterified humans which they had never seen before.

    Some of them were even lit up in different shades of hues as they rushed recklessly towards the Demon Rats. Not to mention, more of those ''humans'' started to jump off the walls of Pir Base Camp and even the Demon Rat leaders started to call for strikes on the battlefield rather than focusing on the magic barrier of the base camp.

    The Pandarens who were at the scene peeked over the walls to see what was happening and saw the carnage that was about to unfold. The zombies might look like they were losing since those who stepped into the battlefield were killed. However, the Pandarens noticed that with each zombie dead, the body that dropped dead was actually closer to the Demon Rats who were shooting at them from their designated point.

    That means the Demon Rats were having difficulty pushing them back and there is a chance that the Zombies could stop the shooting towards the Pir Base Camp. "Heh. No wonder Master Jin wants me to go in first. My zombies might not be the most offensive of troops but they sure can take a lot of hits from all those shooting." Derek thought to himself as he monitored the battlefield. At the same time, he pulled out a magical staff and started to chant.

    Unlike Peppers who loved to cast offensive magic, Derek was more of a support caster and with good reason. Why learn an offensive magic that could only kill one or two Demon Rats considering the mana that he has when he could learn the same level of area support magic and sustain his zombies? By doing that, his zombies were his sword and shield that annihtes everything in his path.

    Just giving them a minor regeneration boost had already allowed them to reach the Demon Rats in record time. Something even the Pandarens had difficulty doing despite all the fancy gadgets that they bought from Jin. (Which of course, Jin secretly thanked them for spending all that money as well. They probably got scammed in some way or another and only the System and its User knows it.)

    <o>,m And with Derek''s zombie having first ''physical'' contact with the Demon Rats, the Pandawans took this opportunity to send out another WARE event now they saw how much the monsters were giving the progress they solely needed. (It goes to show how low level most of the cultivators were that they were also regarded as fodders with the exception of Pandawans and a few richer Pandarens who could circumvent the situation using gear.)</o>

    Regardless, with progress on their side, they are finally able to get out of that base camp and start to move forward and earn some raid points. Jin was delighted that things started to move as he was itching to send all his forces down if not for the allure of money pouring into his coffers. (Which was contradictory since sending his troops down costs money rather than earning money.)

    But since the Pandarens had started to branch out to fight, the System and Jin had started to listen into the Demon Rats'' ns with the listening bugs that Hou Fei had nted.

 Chapter 1376 Zombie Demon Rats

    "You see. I told you they are waiting for us." Jin said as the System had reported a few columns of artillery being deployed away from the Undercity''s city hub. Why was he not surprised that there were more underground storages for those Demon Rats to pull out their guns.

    However, the fight had started in earnest now that Jin had begun showing his hand to deal with the Demon Rats. This was because the Half Ghoul Lord Derek had continued to bring out every single zombie that he had in his possession and continuously sent them out to not only deal with the kill zone but also started converting those Demon Rats to their side.

    While the Demon Rats were unable to under the System''smand, that did not mean that it could be converted temporarily to their side. This is because the zombies did their basic job best - By spreading their ''zombie'' virus to the Demon Rats. Jin and Derek had already experimented it out on the Demon Rats who they had captured previously and it worked out perfectly fine.

    The only problem was that when the Zombie Demon Rat was killed, their resources were corrupted as well. Rotten and stinky just like how most zombies would have with their degenerating flesh despite their never dying ability. (As long as their head remained intact.)

    But this spreading of the zombification virus would no doubt strengthen Jin''s side momentarily. As long as the zombies were able to ce a bite before the Demon Rats turned into resources, their zombie virus would work. Derek even made sure that the zombie virus spread fast after countless hours of research that had been put in to understand the Demon Rat''s physiology and ensure the zombie virus could move to infect the brain as quickly as possible.

    However, it would not have been possible if not for how the Demon Rat''s body works. No matter how permeable Derek had made the zombie virus to be, it would be of no use if there was no blood flowing to the heart and brain of the Demon Rat. But in the end, Derek found out that the workings of ''nature'' were on their side as they found out that the Demon Rat''s blood flow was actually the fastest when they were dead.

    Their hearts would not stop pumping as if to elerate some sort of matter growth and Derek could only presume that it was because they were changing back into a resource. The System was initially curious about the Demon Rats'' physiology, thinking that if they could halt this change, they might be able to reincarnate the Demon Rat, hence having a supply of soldiers under Jin.

    However, despite multiple attempts to control it, both the System and Derek felt that it was meaningless and decided to drop such a prospect. Knowing that the blood flow was the fastest upon their death only meant that the virus could seep into their brain quite easily the moment the virus was introduced. Thus with this method, the kill zone box became a breeding ground for more of the zombie troops to emerge.

    That was also why the Demon Rat Command responded fiercely when they received word that their ownrades were turning into enemies. The only thing that Jin was surprised by the deployment of those artillery cannons was how ruthless they continued to be by sending incendiary rounds to burn the entire ce.

    Now the Pandawans had learnt that setting up WARE events to counter the Demon Rats'' efforts would be the most effective. They now knew that they were no longer the main assault force and should do everything they could to assist in this current war. It was as if Jin had already given the Pandarens their chance to prove themselves and they were not able to show that they were capable in the fight against such an immense force.<sub> </sub>

    For now, the WARE events included countering the incendiary rounds or making sure that the fire was contained to not burn any more dead corpses that the zombies could utilise. At the same time, Jin was also preparing more troops behind the scenes so that once the Pandarens hadpleted the WARE events set up by the Pandawans, Jin would be able to send in masses and stop their artillery strikes as soon as possible for their army to advance.

    "User could easily send elite troops to deal with the Demon Rat Command right now." The System suggested but Jin shook his head.

    "They are not of a swarm mentality, you cut their head off, others would take their ce and continue to fight. It is better we continue to counter them ordingly based on the information we are hearingбнor until we are fooled by them." Jin said and the System believed Jin would like to drag the battle to fulfil PandaVerse''s festival duration.

    "Understood. We shall break the shield that is surrounding the hole for now." The System said as it was waiting for the WARE events to be concluded to move to the next portion of the assault.

    But to its surprise, the Pandarens were able to clear the WARE events rather efficiently and allowed the System and Jin to send out their biggest eater when ites to magic consumption.

    Mister Derpy.

    Instead of emerging out from the Pir Base Camp, Mr Derpy teleported out from the Inner Town Camp and headed towards the magical shield that only allowed the pir tunnel to exist. Since breaking was such a wasteful option, Jin had decided to let Mr Derpy debut early and eat the shield''s energy. This not only gives Mr Derpy his daily consumption for the day, but it also will no doubt lower their number of mages. It was literally killing two birds with one stone.

    And once they find out that maintaining that magic shield was feasible, that was when the real fun begins...or that was what Jin imagined it to be.

 Chapter 1377 Mr Derpys Magic Meal

    "Yuck, what kind of magic power is this?!" Mr Derpy said as he munched on the magical barrier. "But beggars can''t be choosersбн" he thought to himself as he could feel that his whinings would be purposefully ignored.

    At the very least, Mr Derpy finally had an enormous amount of energy to consume. He had been starved for quite a few days since the System needed resources to work on the invasion. Not to mention, he could notin since he had been given a healthy amount when he was not doing anything at all.

    "But that does not mean I have to suffer from eating such a bad quality of energy. It''s too staleбн" Mr Derpyined once more as he made a loud click sound which vibrated the magical barrier and eventually broke it into pieces. Without a doubt, a number of mages had a bout of intense magical feedback, killing them in the process.

    A new batch of mages who were on standby quickly took over and attempted to cover the city with a freshyer of magical energy. At the same time, the Demon Rat Command assumed that the gigantic whale would be a threat of enormous value if it enters the Undercity airspace so they had begun to sortie the air units once more.

    And with Air Force Demon Rat General Gnawbones redeeming himself a little the day before, he was quickly reinstated by Cinderw, the incumbent overall inmand to settle with the mess up in the skies. Gnawbones was overly ted that he got control of the Air Force once again even though Cinderw did it as a minor payback for a grudge long forgotten by the former.

    But with the Air Forcepletely in his hands and no more holding back now that the allied monsters emerged on the battlefield, Gnawbones finally would be able to unleash the full might on his natural enemies.

    Meanwhile, when the magical barrier had finished forming, Mr Derpy took a hefty bite on it and finally started to enjoy his meal. He could only assume that the magical shield quality had been degraded from the consistent bombing by the Royal Zodiac Snakes and the Pandarens. To him, it initially felt like he was munching on burnt meat but right now the ''meat''s'' taste was eptable and began to seep energy from it.

    There was without a doubt the Demon Rat mages were trying their best to maintain the barrier but Mr Derpy''s rate of consumption exceeded their regeneration of the barrier causing holes to appear on it.

    And with the System prompting the crew on Nerodia on thetest development of the shield via the Pandamonium App, the Royal Zodiac Snakes had decided to sortie their nes as wellбнuntil they realised that something wasing out of their radar.

    "And also Sir! There is an enormous fleet of boogies detected in the north!" One of the standby crew reported from themand bridge.

    "What?" Chen Lai, who had brought out hisptop to do some administrative work, was stunned by thetest development. "And here I thought I could finallyplete some menial task while waiting for the war to endбн" Chen Lai said to himself as he was appraised by his crew members on the current development.

    "Clearly we do not have enough nes to have a decent dogfight with them." Chen Lai said as he had decided to send the information to the Inner Town Camp where his General wasmanding the rest of the Royal Zodiac Snakes that were avable.<sub> </sub>

    "Yea, it''s pretty obvious from my side that a giant ass whale is floating at the top of the magical barrier and eating it up. It''s no wonder that the Demon Rats would be riled up by it." Hou Fei said. "I see what I can do from my side. I should have a few anti air k cannons in my inventory."

    Once themunication between the Nerodia was done, Hou Fei still gave Chen Lai, the currentmanding officer of the battleship, to sail slightly closer to the shore to provide some support. At the same time, it was given a new objective to find out where the nes wereing from. With these many nes which amount close to fifty over, there would definitely be a base where they were flying from.

    In the meantime, Hou Fei consulted the System since it should have a rather detailed map of the Northern Region but the System stated that the base was not a concern at the moment since it was going to sortie Mr Derpy to the area soon enough.

    "But what can one big ass whale do? Gobble the base up?" Hou Fei asked through the System Channel and Mr Derpy who was in the vicinity heard the insult and sent out a whaling howl which deafened the Pandarens as well as the soldiers at the Inner Town Camp.

    "Okay, okay. We see how this battle whale works against a fleet of nes." Hou Fei surrendered and Mr Derpy gave a slight smirk.

    The Demon Rats Fighter nes came in no time and with the direction they were heading, it was apparent that Mr Derpy was their target. The Inner Town Camp already had the Pandarens at the ready with anti air weapons but with the limited equipment that they have, they could only do so much. Not to mention, if the fighter nes were toe close to Mr Derpy, friendly fire would be expected so they could only do so much.

    However, what they did not expect was that the giant ass whale suddenly started to move forward and at a speed that they were not expecting. Even the fighter nes who had decided to send a volley of rockets towards the whale and split their formation afterwards were shocked by the intense charge by the giant amphibian.

    "Holy shit, is the whale going to swallow the fighter nes up?" One of the Pandarens said as they saw the entire fight unfold right above their eyes.

    True enough, Mr Derpy opened its mouth and dashed through the fighter nes'' formation, eating up almost three quarters of their fighting force in one swoop (or bite). Everyone was bbergasted by the development and even Hou Fei was at a loss for words until he tuned into the local team channel that was in contact with Nerodia''s crew.

    "Deploy all the Chryso fighter nes. The remaining Demon Rat nes would be more than enough target practice for those rascalsбн" Hou Fei said and chuckled at the absurdity of the current situation.

 Chapter 1378 Pandaverse Third Day Morning Report

    Gnawbones was in total shock when he saw his precious nes disappear into the gigantic flying sea monster. What''s more, was that there were enemy nes in the air fighting against his as the monster continued to move further north nonchntly.

    Hou Fei was taken aback by the development of the current situation considering that if he knew Mr Derpy could have been reliable, he would not have taken the time to make anti air defences and focus on gathering strength to clear the Inner Town properly.

    After all, the more time he had to clear the Inner Town, there would be fewer avenues for the Demon Rat to attack while the Pandarens gained more confidence to proceed with their individual assaults too.

    This was because the majority of the customers would not find it too fun when the difficulty level was hindering them. Despite it being ultra realistic and full of surprises, if the raid was not handled well to cater for the group, people might stop participating once they tried it once.

    That was also one of the reasons why Jin had decided to bring in the monsters on the third day because with their aid, the Pandarens would now have an easier time fighting while having an adequate challenge when the Demon Rats threw their rank and file against them.

    In any case, when Hou Fei saw how the enemy''s air force was decimated, he decided to leave it to Mr Derpy to find the air base and destroy it once and for all while the Royal Zodiac Snake General continued to take charge to clear the Inner Town, inch by inch.

    With the soldiers at the forefront, the participating Pandarens joined as auxiliary support either by giving extra firepower or providing logistics support. It still gave them raid points as advertised and some of the Pandarens especially the Snake Cultivators even tried to use this opportunity to see if they could catch the eyes of Royal Zodiac military officers.

    Some were tant in their actions but the Royal Zodiac officers were also rather selective of ''secret'' recruitment. That was also one of the reasons why the other Royal Zodiac ns that were currently here were doing as well. As much as they were training their own soldiers in the raid, they were taking this chance to find out whether they could find any hidden talents as well.

    This was also mainly due to the fact that both the Monkey and Sheep Royal Zodiac ns werecking recruits with battle experience which was why they decided to use this opportunity to find more. The reason behind theck of battle cultivators is that the n usually epts more academics who could further their n''s specialities. All those academics needed was to adopt a basic monkey or sheep cultivation and even using them as secondary cultivation was allowed if the academics/doctors were reluctant to change.

    But the recent attacks by the Banned Emperor had forced the Royal Zodiac n''s higher ups to think more about their security. Sure, they could get help from the other Royal Zodiacs such as from the Tiger n since they owned a big pie of the police and are obligated to help but there was a certain limit on how much they could assist.

    Not to mention, some secrets were best to be kept within one''s n than asking for the protection of the others and so they were keeping their eye out for the best within this raid.<sub> </sub>

    However, let''s not forget that the Tigers were here as well despite their small group but their objective was purely dedicated to the raid itself. Even though there were some cultivators trying to brown nose the captain in charge of the Tigers, Hu Chun Hua would not even bat an eye at them at all.

    Her team''s objective was very clear to improve themselves and increase their grade if possible. So, with the current chaos created by the Zombie Horde, they were finally able to wreak havoc freely without thinking that they could get shot from the back now that the kill zone was officially broken.

    The WARE events were also done, allowing Jin to push the next wave of soldiers out to annihte the artillery that was set up to counter the zombie horde. It was none other than Wyrstriker and his trusty Wyvern riders. Ayse and her science team had once again improved the mana thruster engines that the goblin wyvern knights were using, allowing them to exit the portal the System created at top speed and zoomed towards the artillery encampments.

    The sound of the mana thrusters was satisfying to hear as they dived through the broken magic barrier that Mr Derpy left before intervening the Demon Rat''s air force. It caught everyone''s attention including the Demon Rats as they had no idea how fast those goblin wyverns knights were moving.

    There was no time for the defences in the artillery encampments to react as the wyverns dropped cluster bombs, a devastating missile made up of several smaller explosives. This instantly crippled the encampments allowing the zombie horde to run and invade the undercity.

    Everything seemed to go smoothly until the System and Jin heard something from the Demon Rat Command that retracting their orders would be a difficult thing to do.

    "Derek! Pull your zombies back immediately! The Demon Rats are going to-" Before Jin could finish his sentence, Derek could already see that the Demons had started their counterattack. Explosives were detonated, causing a certain row of houses to explode, impeding the zombie horde from moving forward. The cloud of dust that emerged looked as if the Great Wall of China had been erected right in front of the invaders.

    Even with the System''s omnipotent map of the undercity, they could not predict that they had nted that many high grade explosives and waited for more of the zombie horde to cross until they detonated it.

    "Holy shitбн" Jin said as he saw the scale of destruction with his two own eyes.

 Chapter 1379 Blitzkrieg

    As much as Gnawbones wished to return the attack at the flying whale monster, he have to move the second phase of the current war n that the Demon Rat Generals had nned beforehand.

    The first phase of this particr war n which the Demon Rat Air Force was responsible for was to attack via the surface. They had a hidden base which was supposed to be used for this particr phase and their nes would either destroy the threat that was damaging the energy shield.

    Even if they could not defeat the force that was damaging the energy shield, the remaining number of Demon Rat nes would zoom past the enemy''s forces with all their might and return to the Undercity. The mages would open up a certain section that was known to the Demon Rat Pilots that were participating in this war operation and then the fighter nes would disrupt the enemy lines from the back.

    That was in conjunction with the massive wall of explosives that were used to kill Derek''s encroaching horde of zombies into the city and the remaining fleet of Demon Rat nes would use the shock induced situation to decimate the human soldiers and their monsterrades.

    All of that became impossible with the Royal Zodiac Snake''s Chryso fighter jets destroying the remaining Demon Rats while Mr Derpy continued to fly forward, going for the forward air base that the Demon Rats were using. Even if it would be void of nes, the System had instructed Mr Derpy to dispose of the airbase since there were still Demon Rat remnants in the region ording to its updated map.

    When within sight, all Mr Derpy did was just take a huff and puff his lungs out, causing an immense gust of wind to prate their feebly magical barrier and destroy whatever contents the Air Base was holding.

    And with another puff, it cause a temporary hurricane to emerge right in the middle of the base, ripping the floor foundations apart, revealing Demon Rats that were hiding and killing them in the process. He did not even need to use any of his Deep Ones but still eventually decided to send a squad in just to make sure that everything was thoroughly cleaned up.

    In the meantime, Air Force General Gnawbones had already sent his best pilots to bomb the zombie horde and the Pandarens and his remaining fighter nes to deal threat that the Goblin Wyvern Knights were giving. Unfortunately, because he was in the Command Room, he did not have a full glimpse of Wyrstrikers and his knights'' capability.

    Even before the bombers and the fighter nes could fully depart towards the survivors of the horde, Wyrstriker and his Wyvern Knights were already circling around waiting to hunt theirtest prey. The moment they have them in their sights, their mana thrusters were already roaring through the Undercity and headed straight for them.

    The bombers tried to evade the Goblin Wyvern Knights but in this current tight airspace especially when they were underground, they were basically air target practices for the Wyverns to bring down. A new piece of equipment had allowed the wyverns to shoot several devastating sts of fire in a short period of time, which had been dubbed as the ignitor, had been making their debut in this situation.

    With that piece of equipment near their mouth, it acted as the name stated to help ignite their breaths, increasing the explosive power of their fire breaths. This new method of spewing mes allowed the wyverns toplement the firepower that the Goblins were carrying as well and gave them extra mobility toplete their mission objectives.<sub> </sub>

    On the other hand, the Demon Rats in those bomber nes might shoot back but they could never catch the speed the Wyverns were moving unless it was a lucky shot. Other than that, the bombers went down fast, enabling the Goblin Wyvern Knights to concentrate on the dogfight engagement they have with the remaining fighter nes.

    It was yet another loss for the Demon Rats Air Force as it was pretty obvious that their technology could not surpass Wyrstriker''s toon of Goblin Wyvern Knights strapped with mana thrusters.

    This gave the Zombie Horde some time to recover especially when Half Ghoul Lord Derek brought forth the Fire Zombies, allowing them to absorb the brunt of the disaster. The fire they took in was also used as energy to power themselves up, causing them to have a stronger magical presence and shoot long range fireballs back at the Demon Rats who were shooting them from afar. Simultaneously, the Pandawans set up more WARE events to salvage this particr disaster they were in, so for example Pandarens who knew water arts contributed to extinguishing the fire that was raging after the explosion.

    However, this also allowed the Demon Rats to regroup and party up with the reinforcements that wereing through the underground tunnels or alleys. Houses and apartments were filled with Demon Rats aiming their rifles and rocketunchers through the windows while they waited for the Zombie Horde to go through.

    But they had forgotten that Jin''s Army does not only have foot soldiers.

    Columns of armoured vehicles caught the attention of the viewers from the System''s streams as they were the next to pop out from the portals once the current wave of WARE event waspleted.

    Since Jin knew that the Undercity would be aplicated ce to fight, it was best to storm the various districts with speed. Scout and lure Demon Rats out of their hiding ces and fight with them ordingly.

    In short, Jin was trying to imitate the tactics of the German''s infamous blitzkrieg tactics where speed was the only thing that matters. The Dungeon Supplier might want to spread this Demon Rat Raid as a week''s long event but given the estimation of numbers that the System had noted in thetest scan along with the Birth Mother''s testimonies, it might be best to work a little bit faster than usual.

    "Besides, isn''t this speed we are going favourable for the current streamingmunity too?" Jin thought to himself as he could see the numbers and retention of viewers started to increase with respect to Bear Cub One''s Metube stream.

 Chapter 1380 New Threats Every Hour

    Even as the Goblin Wyvern Knights were doing their best to break down the bomber nes, they realised the numbers were only growing. With each ne they shot down, another two more emerged from afar.

    And to make things worse, the bomber nes were kamikazing, throwing themselves at Jin''s Army as much as their nes could take. Demon Rats were also seen to be strapped with explosives and bombs that were heavier than their weight so that they could use a booster to make themselves akin to guided missiles.

    The only difference from the concept of guided missiles was that the Demon Rats were sacrificing themselves to make sure the explosives get to where they were going, to destroy as much as the zombie horde as they could. For the armoured vehicles that were driven by the Dark Temrs, most of them were able to continue to charge forward to the city centre

    Thus, the only solution was to annihte the bomber nes,busting them in mid air so that the recovering zombie horde would not take the brunt of the damage. However, it was extremely dangerous for the Goblin Wyvern Knights to do so because the mid air explosions were equally deadly to the wyvern riders.

    To counter this, Jin had decided to send in Marquis Forneus and his mechanisedpany of Dragon Devils. This half metal half dragon menace was thetest fighting force that had been sent into the fray against the suicidal bomber nes and the Demon Rat''s remaining airforce.

    The explosions might be a little damaging to the Dragon Devils but their mechanised selves that had been enhanced by the System allowed them to repair on the go, enabling the Dragons to move from one bomber ne to another rather easily. Marquis Forneus even took the initiative to send his dragon to throw out a hyper charged beam to burn down thetest wave of Demon Rat nes.

    In the meantime, the Pandarens were in awe by the appearances of dragons since they were always seen as a symbol of might and strength especially when ites to the fight for the skies. Those who had joined the Defence of Pandapolis previously initially thought that the Dragon Devils were enemies until they realised that they were on the same side and subsequently cheered for them.

    With the intervention of the Dragon Devils, this gave the zombie horde some time to gain back their momentum and Half Ghoul Lord Derek continued to push the horde out using the roads that were initially cleared by the convoy of the armoured vehicles.

    Stragglers were still around even after the initial push by the armoured vehicle convoy but at the very least, the Dark Temrs had forced the Demon Rats to push their attention to the armed convoy since they were getting closer to the city centre.

    And as expected when the Dark Temrs forced their way through, they were met with heavy resistance. Impromptu fortification such as makeshift walls filled with metal junk and sandbags to heavily reinforced guard posts which were near impossible to go near. Some of the Dragon Devils were able to answer calls by the Dark Temrs asking for a quick fly by and they obliged, allowing the armed mobile convoy to move deeper than Jin had expected them to do so.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, most of them reached an impasse as the fighting got extremely intense and most of their vehicles were destroyed with dozens of rockets flying to halt their tracks. A number of Dark Temrs managed to survive and decided to dash into buildings not just for safety from the overarching shots from urban warfare but also to score some kills.

    With the power and courage granted to them by Mr Derpy, their object of worship, their skin turned scaly and secreted a kind of slime which enabled them to block gunshots to a certain degree. If the shots were far enough, the build up of slime on their skin would stop the attack but if the shots were near, they might graze the scales that had or maybe injure them slightly.

    This allowed the Dark Temrs to fight at a very demanding pace and massacre the Demon Rats while they hide in the buildings and gain some environmental advantage. The only time some of these Temrs were killed was when the Demon Rats bombed the entire apartment building down, crashing their kind within the debris in the process.

    This series of events made the Demon Rats realise that the cultivators were clearly not the threat and they were right to reserve most of their firepower for Jin''s minions. It was apparently so for the Air Force General Gnawbones who he saw that his remaining fleet of nes was dwindling at a rate he could have never imagined.

    If mechanical units were not a match to Jin''s monsters, then perhaps it was time to release their own monsters to fight against such monsters. The Demon Rats had not been idle after being engaged in multiple skirmishes with Jin''s minions before this great defensive war they were currently fighting.

    Behind the scenes, they had started to make their very own monsters or chimaeras as one would call them. This was because they knew that when they die, they would turn to a certain random resource. It could vary from something precious like gold to something ridiculous like a bag of feathers.

    But it was previously because there was something like a bag of feathers, such Demon Rats were used as the base core for these mutations, creating Demon Rat Chimaeras that were out of this world. There were plenty which the Demon Rats had made and especially when they used the research left by Weslie, the Schr of the West before she was rescued by Gold, these Chimaeras were strengthened and specialised to monsters that were suited to the Demon Rats'' military needs.

    Right now, one such monster was the Flying Rat Chimaeras and Gnawbone had decided to unleash a bunch of them all hungry for a fight.

 Chapter 1381 Flying Rats

    "What in the hellбн?" Jin looked at the console as he saw a swarm of ''flying rats'' zooming towards his Dragon Devils. The System was not able to identify the new threat that was approaching and gave the Dragon Devils sufficient warning of the imminent threat.

    But to their surprise, a breath of fire was more than enough to roast the flying rats and most of the Dragon Devils including Marquis Forneus found that the quality of those rats was not the threat but the quantity. Even throwing out a breath of fire, the rest converged and aimed for a Dragon Devil at the front.

    The Flying Rats clung onto the Dragon Devil and did not let go. Eventually, each and every one of them began to sink their teeth into the Dragon. More of those flying rats eventually overwhelmed the Dragon Devil''s wings, forcing it to fall from the skies andnd with more than just a loud thud. Even as the Dragon Devil Rider tried tomand his dragon to eradicate those rats, the rest continued to swarm all over it.

    It was only when the Goblin Wyvern Knights swooped in and rescued the rider that the dragon was finally able to use its magic to increase its temperature so that all those rats that refused to bugger off would be burnt to charcoal.

    The rest of the Dragon Devils finally realised what the flying rats were doing as they wished to use their numbers to burden the Dragons so that they would be rendered flightless. And since the dragon could be brought down to the ground, the rest of the Demon Rat soldiers were able to intervene and attack them as well.

    So to avoid that, the Goblin Wyvern Knights had decided to travel in groups and burn the flying rats that were clung to the Dragon Devils'' wings. Their breath of fire had little to no impact on the Dragon Devils now that they were partially mechanised but it was also because the goblins had adjusted the ignitors near their fellow wyvern''s mouth and made sure that their mes did as little damage to the Dragon Devils but strong enough to burn the flying rats off their bodies.

    Demon Rats'' Air Force General Gnawbones saw the opportunity in this particr situation by firing volleys of rockets toward the enemy''s air force as well as the Zombie Horde who had recovered since the Dragon Devils were preupied to defend themselves. But now that it was apparent that their targets were the Dragon Devils, their riders were not going to lie down allowing their fellow dragons to get decimated.

    In unison, the Dragonlites conjured out multipleyers of magic barrier to stop the rockets from hitting their dragons and in that process, it somehow managed to kill off the flying rats that were guing theirrades too.

    However, the coteral damage from the explosive rockets did not cause the flying rats to falter instead they continued to hold their ground, hoping that the dragons would be the first to fall.

    And when the rockets were not enough, the failing fighter nes also utilised this opportunity to crash onto their enemies, showing that they were willing to do anything and everything to bring those tough opponents down to the ground. Yet, because of his obsession with bringing those mighty creatures down, Gnawbones did not know that the Pandarens and the Zombie Horde were steadily moving forward.

    That was when Demon Rat Axe General Cinderw had already sent a brand new general to the field to counter the zombies.

    Sword General Firecleaver.<sub> </sub>

    With him, there were hundreds of mechanised Demon Rats carrying shields and swords ready to intervene with the Pandarens and the Zombie Horde. Armour that made them two times taller and covered all their vital parts including their tails with a variety of metal tes., They were best described to be steampunk knights since they were literally carrying a generator on their backs, ready to carve a hole in their enemies with all their might with their weapons.

    And speaking of weapons, what Jin''s side of allies did not expect was that the rats had simr weapons to the Werecats. The mechanised Demon Rats were carrying gundes or gunswords which allowed them to attack Jin''s army from afar quite easily. If not for the urbanndscape, most of the Pandarens would have been shot down from afar already.

    Not to mention, the rest of the rank and file Demon Rats were still shooting them from windows on a higher floor which eventually forced the Pandarens to clear one building to another.

    Jin thought that with the introduction of his minions'' things would be easier but the resistance was getting fiercer with every passing minute that he was tempted to throw all his soldiers in.

    Obviously, the System did not allow him to do so but acknowledged the fact that at this particr stage, it was unwise to wait for the Pandawans to throw WARE events to open the portals for his soldiers to emerge from their dungeon instances.

    "At this juncture, it would be best to y ''cheat'' by sending out your soldiers to counter their forces. Extraption analytics had shown that the number of customers entering the raid instance will stagnate by tonight and there is no point dragging this fight if we have the upper hand." The System stated and Jin wholeheartedly agreed to its proposal.

    For the past few city fights that Jin had participated in, they had been rather straightforward. Most of the Dungeon World''s cityyouts were simple enough for the System to figure a n out. But for the Demon Rat''s Undercity?

    It seemed as if there wereyers uponyers of schematics being piled onto each other as they created this particr city making it one of the mostplicated ces to fight in. The alleyways, inconspicuous hideouts and confusing sharp turns along with the Demon Rats'' dirty style of fighting made it hard for Jin to attack the undercity blindly.

    Even though their objective was to go to the city centre and storm the Rat''s Command, it did not mean that the remaining Demon Rats would immediately surrender. Not to mention, Jin was already having it easy since he had Gold and Weslie keeping the other two major armies distracted for the moment.

    If Jin wished to prevent being swarmed by the other two major armies, the System and he had to secure the tunnels leading to the East and West Regions as soon as possible too. Thus, the System had finally decided to allow Jin to portal his army earnestly to meet their objectives before the end of the third day.

 Chapter 1382 Western Tunnel

    Now that the Demon Rats had stepped up their game, Jin was also not holding back any longer. "Gold, Weslie. We are stepping up the timeline. I am sending you Zeru and Qiu Yue."

    "What do you mean by sending Qiu Yue? I am currently in the Western Tunnel!" Qiu Yue said through the System Channel and Jin chuckled.

    "Then Zeru, I guess I am leaving the Eastern Tunnel to you." Jin rebutted and the legendary Sword Master acknowledged his boss''s orders.

    "Hey, Jin. You have yet to answer my question." Qiu Yue said as she hid behind a barricaded wall demanding a response from the Dungeon Supplier.

    "I heard you had been training under Zeru. Isn''t it about time you show your skills out for your Master to rate you? And well, I am not barring you from using the current set of skills too. As long as you clear the army and help Weslie and the others to reach the Undercity, any underhanded method would be fine."

    "Does that mean I have permission to spend money?" Qiu Yue''s smile started to grow wider and had an underlying meaning behind the query but had decided to say it out loud since there was not much time to tease Jin. "Your money."

    "Yes, yes. But do not go overboard or else ire woulde knocking on my door." Jin gave his approval which certainly made Qiu Yue over the moon.

    "I can hear that in this current System Channel." ire suddenly interrupted. "I am releasing a few million dungeon dors to your ount now my dear girl. Try not to spend it all in one go."

    "Aye aye, Chief Financial Officer!" The Empire Building Sub System User gave an air salute to her fellow Sub System User, as she suddenly decided to bravely stand right in front of the barricaded wall with tons of guns and cannons pointing towards the open target.

    As if it was a warm up to her powers, she had instantly spent ten thousand dungeon dors to increase her defensive powers, allowing her to elude an aura that caused all the bombs, bullets and other sorts of projectile to ricochet away from her.

    However, because of the intensity of the Demon Rats'' attacks, the defence buff which made her near invincible onlysted ten seconds ording to the user interface through her Red Panda Half Mask.

    So after being satisfied to be able to block every single ranged attack by the Demon Rats, she had decided to charge forward with the rest of the troops under Weslie''smand. And speaking of Weslie''s troops, there had been significant changes to her armyposition mainly because of her petition for aid from the Queen.<sub> </sub>

    For the past two days, she had filmed the horror of the Demon Rats live through a magical orb as well as escorted a few of the Queen''s personal Royal Western Region Knights to the battlefield so that they could give an urate report of the situation that Weslie was portraying.

    With sufficient evidence that there was a looming threat against her people, the Western Region''s Queen had decided to ede to her long dear friend''s request for aid. The only problem was that the Royal Knights and their army needed time to march to the region where the Demon Rats had popped.

    But that was circumvented when Weslie had personally told the Queen that they would be willing to mass teleport the Knights and the Queen''s Army to the battlefield without worrying about logistics. Weslie even agreed to pay for this particr expedition so long the QUeen provided sufficient manpower. This made the Queen''s militarymand somewhat relieved as they thought the Queen was making such a rash decision to force the army to face such a big threat.

    In addition, Weslie had also offered gold to the adventurer''s guilds and free teleportation to the area so long they decided to risk their lives to fight against the Demon Rat threat. Thus on the third day, she had managed to gather dozens of ragtag groups of adventurers as well as the Queen''s Army to her side.

    At first, they were terrified by the war that Weslie and her group were waging against the Demon Rats. Unknown ranged weapons and the sounds of continuous explosions scared off quite a number of adventurers and even the soldiers. The only difference between those adventurers and the soldiers was that thetter, bound by duty, had eventually regrouped themselves despite the horror of this mysterious battle.

    But even experiencedmanders knew that Weslie and her troops were only winning slightly through the battle of attrition within the tunnels. If not for some of the weird machinations they saw, there was no way the Queen''smanders would even agree to aid Weslie too as they knew how dangerous it was to fight in tunnels. While the ''weird machinations'' were something to be bewildered at, they were merely venttors and portable lights to make sure that the tunnels were breathable and did notbust suddenly due to the amount of dust they made kick up with all those explosions.

    However, with Qiu Yue''s new orders, the Queen''s Army got to see something that turned the tide against these demonic looking ''wererats''. She single handedly rushed into Demon Rat''s frontline and those who did not know her, thought that one of Weslie''s underlings turned suicidal.

    Yet, the scene of her decimating the Demon Rats was like seeing a delicate angel going to war on behalf of the incapable humans dded in full metal armour. Her sword shed was transcendental as it cut off tens of Demon Rats in one go andter solid walls of metal emerged right beside her. As the sight of the soldiers was cut off from the walls, they did not know that those metal walls were holding onto spring loaded gigantic drilling spears.

    All Qiu Yue needed was to press a button at the side of the wall and those giant ass drilling spears sprung forward spinning through all the defences of the Demon Rats, breaking them like measly joint sticks blown by the wind.

    And with a hand signal by the Red Panda Cultivator, Weslie and the rest under hermand charged forth and conquered more of the Western Tunnel.

 Chapter 1383 MIlitary Impacts Of The Raid Instance

    As ironic as it was, the introduction of Jin''s monsters somehow increased the streaming viewership as they finally started to see more action in this current situation. Perhaps, the streamers would want a more exhrating battle rather than seeing the Pandarens cowering behind the walls waiting for the right opportunity.

    Yet, it was still perfectly understandable that against overwhelming odds, there was nothing much they could do. No matter what, the debate about being able to stop modern projectiles such as bullets was something that had been long contested for a long time. Should cultivators go towards the magic route and learn some magic skills or stay true to their roots and attain enlightenment through cultivation?

    Magic had no doubt evolved in such a manner that it could stop bullets and even missiles but cultivation was still the same centuries ago. There might have been the introduction of new techniques and methods to cultivate even more easily but other than that, the fundamentals were still the same- for the betterment of oneself.

    To modern society, it felt like enabling cultivation among their citizens had its strengths. To be able to live a little healthier while stretching the amount of time they can utilisepared to magic.

    Sure, magic had its perks like telekinesis and being able to conjure the elements at their beckoning, they were more widely favoured by the Westerners. This was mainly because it made use of the surrounding energy, an external force to aid them with whatever they were doing.

    But for cultivators to do the same, they need to use their internal energy to conjure it up and that requires a higher grade of cultivation to do so. Thus, in terms of energy output, cultivators will lose if they were in a mana rich environment. That was one of the reasons why there were more dungeon supplier shops in the Eastpared to the West so that the cultivators had a chance to increase their experience in manipting the chi within their body and fighting was the shortest route to do so.

    Therefore this raid was an indicator to not just the cultivators themselves but to everyone in the world. To most people, it was mere entertainment but to the governments and intelligence agencies that were watching on the sidelines, it was an eye opener on the current level of cultivation most of the Chinese Citizens were at.

    Some of the Chinese officials were appalled by the number of low grade cultivators that the Dungeon Supplier had to resort to using NPCs and allied monsters to help with the fight. However, a minor few, especially those with military experience, were actually quite delighted that this particr Dungeon Supplier is giving their own citizens a taste of war.

    Those officials who monitored the stream in intervals were pleasantly surprised that those ''yers'' continued to stay within the raid despite overwhelming odds and it showed them that the Chinese people still had tenacity. Still, the militarymand was concerned that even the Royal Zodiac Armies were having problems fighting against these monsters.<sub> </sub>

    They knew that their Generals had forced them to seal their abilities and fight with just mere guns and fists (*Cough* In short, keep their cultivation grade hidden as much as possible except for what they were famous like how the Battle Alchemist was an open secret.) but it was saddening to see that when their elites were restricted, they were not capable of miracles as they thought they would be.

    However,pared to those who did not join Jin''s dungeons before, the militarymand could see that there was indeed an obvious increase in capabilities among the Royal Zodiac Snake''s army during their previous friendly militarypetition. In fact, it was so apparent that the Snakes who usually got 6-7th in cing in these war games had shot up and raised themselves to the third, with only the Dragon and Tiger at the front.

    That was the reason why the Royal Zodiac Heads had also previously decided to ede to Jin''s request to enter the Raid event so that they could see what made the Snakes be so powerful and coordinated in such a short time. Jin knew that information beforehand from Hou Fei since he was the Supplier''s insider info when ites to military stuff and the gamble paid off when he was able to use the Royal Zodiac Heads just as how they used him to see the event for themselves.

    But even after seeing the event, the only one who took action was the Tigers who reluctantly sent a small scouting group party as well as the Sheeps and Monkeys. So far, the daily reports were promising to the Royal Zodiac Heads as the various teams reported the high level of difficulty in the raid that Jin had to supplement monsters to help because the Pandarens were not able to hold the line.

    All those Heads were probably sadistic in nature but at least they know that their money was well spent if their teams were struggling since that showed them that their military exercises were insufficient to pull more of their potential out of them. But even with the monsters'' appearances, the Demon Rats were fighting even more fiercely, and this prompted a few of the Royal Zodiac Heads who were initially contemting to finally sending a token force of their own anonymously to Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas.

    Some however wished to stay in their speciality whenever possible such as the Rooster Head, Mu Ji personally requested Jin to allow her ''cultivators'' to have ess to nes. And to keep the anonymity, she signed her forces up under the Rooster Flying Academy, an organisation to train budding pilots privately at a rather steep price. This way, the Rooster pilots could stay anonymous while joining this one heck of a crazy battle.

    There was no doubt that Jin approved of her request and requisitioned a fleet of World War 2 Supermarine Spitfires with modern controls attached to them so that the Rooster Pilots did not need to worry about flying old school. Some were delighted that they get to fly an infamous model from World War 2 but others were annoyed that they did not have the speed and prowess like the Nerodias that the Royal Zodiac Snakes were flying.

    "Then we have to prove to them that we do not need speed to defeat those rats." Rooster Lead, Zha Ji, said to his fellow pilots. "Let''s score some kills and show that we are still the bastards that rule the skies no matter where we go."

 Chapter 1384 Supermarine Spitfires

    "Master! My Dragon Devils are under heavy attacks by those stupid flying rats. Do you have anything that could kill them all in one go??" Marquis Forneus asked in the System Channel.

    "Aye, Master. My Goblin Wyvern Knights are not able to take down as many as we wished to. Not to mention we are now priority targets by the Flying Rats. Some reinforcements would be appreciated." Wyrstriker said as he struck a Flying Demon Rat and pushed it off his back.

    "No, I do not. But I have reinforcementsing in. They are supposedly elite pilots of my era." Jin said as he was referring to the Royal Zodiac Rooster''s squadron flying the Supermarine Spitfires. And as he replied to Marquis, they had already been teleported into the Farming World through a major portal slightly south of the Northern Capital.

    With the energy shield inactivated by Mr Derpy''s constant sapping of its magic energy, the hole created by the initial earthquake had be an entrance for Pandarens to jump in when they were needed.

    The hole was alsorge enough for that squadron of spitfires to enter without much problem and the Rooster Squadron did not hesitate to dive into it to get into action as soon as possible. They were surprised that the spitfires that they were piloting were easy to manoeuvre mainly because of the controls mimicked the same as their modern nes.

    The only difference was theyout was made to look as old as the spitfires themselves. Other than that, most of the information that they needed was on their helmets that were provided alongside the ne. The HUD within the helmet''s panel was almost equivalent to the future tech. The Roosters had been waiting for the Monkeys to fulfil their side of the bargain to increase their military edge but since all the military research relied on the Monkeys, such a ''minor'' improvement such as a helmet like this was not on their priority list.

    To find such a long awaited improvement in their quality of life in a dungeon supplier instance not only instantly raised their liking of the store but also made the pilots excited about the battle thaty ahead of them.

    "Rooster Lead to the team, we saw in the streams how fast those ass looking flying rats are. Save the Dragons so that they could provide us with the firepower needed to destroy this damn city. And don''t worry, the dragon scales are said to be impervious to our shots so go all out saving them but try not to aim their head if possible." Rooster Captain and current Squadron Leader, Zha Ji, said to his team which they all acknowledged as they dived into the hole and saw the hell of the battlefield both on the ground and in mid air.

    While the space above the Undercity was considered to be limited, there was indeed enough space for a dogfight between air units and now the Roosters roughly understood why they were given an old war model instead of those high tech looking aircraft like Nerodia.

    Speed might be a crucial factor in most dog fights but in such tight airspace like the ''skies'' above the undercity, it was more important to have higher control of their nes since high speeds would only cause them to be reckless and unable to calcte their exit route after shooting. With a slightly slower and more durable ne, the pilots would be able to withstand the harsh airspace above the Undercity.

    "The Dungeon Supplier, he is not a simple Instance maker. I am liking him more and more." Mu Ji, the Head of Royal Zodiac Rooster n said as she quietly watched the stream while looking forward to seeing her elites perform in this particr situation.<sub> </sub>

    The Spitfires returned to formation after they got through the massive opening that led into the Undercity and Zha Ji had just two requests before they got into battle proper. "Do not tarnish the reputation of the Rooster''s Flying Academy or I will make sure that all of you do three times the drill. And also! The first to be down had to buy everyone the first round of drinks! If we have less than half the casualties by the end of our sortie, I will buy the rest of the rounds!"

    Every pilot gave a resounding acknowledgement and each of them flew forward with adrenaline pumping through their veins as they followed their captain Zha Ji into the chaos. The Goblin Wyvern Knights and the Dragon Devils were informed of their presence but they did not expect much from the humans considering how the Pandarens had performed for the past few days.

    To be honest, they were hoping for the humans from the Dungeon World, especially from the Seven Cities. City Aljun had a decent fleet of airships and the Dragon Devils thought that they would have a decent chance of turning the tide in this particr situation. Still, to have more hands on deck was better than nothing and Marquis Forneus told his fellow Dragon Devils to continue fighting.

    Soon enough as the Supermarine Spitfires enter the fray, they started their ughtering of those flying rats. The Rooster Squadron had split their teams even further with three spitfires per team with the objective to save one dragon. Their machine guns on the nes were the perfect solution to kill the pests that were bothering the dragons and because of their rapid fire, they were able to remove the flying rats at a faster ratepared to the Goblin Wyvern Knights who were using their breaths of fire to burn them to death,

    But that was the only weapon that the Spitfires have. It was as if toplement the name, Jin had ordered those Spitfires to be armed with an onboard methrower in its wings as well. This allowed the nes to be true to their name as it spits oil and ignited it to produce a gush of mes so that any iing Flying Rats that wereing their way would be burned down.

    However, because of how the Spitfire was simr to the Demon Rat''s nes, they assumed that crashing their body forward into the propeller will cause it to stop working. It was a suicidal move but they were so sure that the n would work that they did not hesitate to do so. Unfortunately for them, Jin''s military research team was already one step ahead of them and made an engine sturdy enough to not just fly the ne but also acted as a rotating killing de to whoever came close.

    The only problem was that it would slow the ne down momentarily since there was "debris" within the propeller des. As soon as the debris was cleared by the rotation speed and the speed the fighter ne was going, the Spitfire was ready to get going again.

    With such hidden features hidden in this ne, the Roosters did not regret not being able to realise that the spitfire they were piloting was actually a heavily modified unit that was meant to be tougher than any nes they had ridden before.

    Thus without a doubt, the menace of the Flying Rats had lessened and with more dragons freed from their pesky attackers, Jin''s Alliance of Monsters and Humans were proving to hold air superiority in this current situation.

 Chapter 1385 Mu Ji Overthinking

    The Dragon Devils and Goblin Wyvern Knights were surprised that the humans piloting the spitfires were more than justpetent. They were able to survive the onught by the flying rats and remove the pesky ones from the dragons'' bodies, allowing them to finally move free and reign control of the skies. Now knowing that the Flying Rats were a menace that was not supposed to be underestimated, the new wave of rats were quickly annihted by the Dragon Devils'' intense breath of lightning mes

    As if that was not enough for the Rooster Elites, they continue their fight head on with the Demon Rats fighter nes. When the Demon Rat Air Force thought that they finally had an opponent who they could counter attack and win against, the Rooster Elites shot them down with the 20mm cannons on the side of their nes and shredded their units in minutes.

    Some took evasive movements but they had forgotten that the airspace was extremely tight and some crashed into their own flying rats while others were killed by the Dragon Devils when they disengaged from the spitfires. The viewers who were watching the current scene held to the edge of their seats as they had never seen a dogfight this intense.

    Most movies hardly showed air battles of this scale and with the somewhat carefully selected angles despite it being live had made the stream all the more exciting which streamersmenting on it reacted explosively to the current video. The streamers had been trying to fish forments since Day 1 but after the appearance of the Royal Zodiacs, there was nothing much except for the asional highs in this raid.

    However, Day 3 went into aplete reversal with the monsters'' arrival and the viewers keeping in. Royal Zodiac Rooster Head Mu Ji who was monitoring this current stream was more than satisfied with the money she had spent and now understood why the Snakes had decided to devote almost its entire army into this raid.

    She contemted sending more pilots into the fray but the price for renting an additional spitfire had caused her more than just a pause. When she checked her Pandamonium app, the spitfire''s rental price suddenly went up insanely as if Jin knew what she was thinking.

    "Either that businessman is taking the opportunity to rip me off my money or his supply of spitfires as ''fake'' as it is limited." Mu Ji knew how difficult it was to replicate fighter nes within a dungeon instance. Even just having a simtion exercise for taking off andnding had already cost hundreds of thousands based on the current dungeon supplier contracts so Mu Ji knew that for that same level of cost to allow her elites to fly was more than just a boon.

    Mu Ji might not be sending more upon seeing the price but she did contemte asking her secretary to look into investing in Jin''s Dungeon Supplier store. If anything, she finally understood how shrewd Jin had been to invite the Royal Zodiacs to his dungeon instance.

    She had finally experienced how his dungeon instances were different from the usual suppliers and saw first hand the advancement in dimensional technologypared to the ''high tech'' ones that the current contracted military dungeon suppliers had boasted. She was also sure that with the Royal Zodiacs'' appearance on stream, other countries'' intelligence agencies would be looking at his stream with great intent.

    If anything, this PandaVerse was essentially a major PR session not just to the rest of the other Royal Zodiacs but to the rest of the world as well. With his affiliation to the Royal Zodiacs kept to the highest ssification of secrets as of this moment, he might be able to get other countries'' defence ministries to make contact with him.

    Obviously, the major superpowers like the USA and UK would not bother since they were wary of China herself but Mu Ji was counting on Jin to get contracts from countries like South Korea, Australia and Singapore to earn their money.

    "But I am getting ahead of myself. Maybe Jin could not see that far and he coincidentally managed all of this." Mu Ji thought to herself as she saw one of her elites even do an acrobatic 180 degrees flip with his spitfire to evade and shoot the enemies'' fighter ne down.<sub> </sub>

    Just when she was getting her high from her elites'' achievement, the stream suddenly switched to a group of unknown nes flying into the massive hole. Upon the exnation by Bear Cub One, they were identified to be the Royal Zodiac Snakes'' Nerodia nes. Those warthog fighter nes lookalike zoomed passes through the battlefield and provided support for the ground troops with heavy gatling gun suppression.

    Demon Rats who were caught in it had no way was guaranteed to die by the heavy gun fire and as the Nerodia gained altitude, they did not stop but flew faster so that they could get into the city centre. Their main objective was shock and awe by zooming in quickly with their mana engines and sending a barrage of rockets to destroy the buildings in the building. Without bomber nes, their damage was limited but they concentrated on buildings that were detected to have the most activity (Based on Pandamonium App)

    ? Obviously one of such attacks was on the Demon Rat''s High Command but the rockets on the dark tower had no effect as another shield protected the High Command. Only from chatter from the hearing bugs that Jin could identify that the magic shields that were protecting the High Command were not from Demon Rat Mages but from an artefact. He quickly contacted both Weslie and Gold to ask if they knew about the artefacts held by the previous Schrs and they were not entirely aware if they belonged to them.

    But both of them confirmed that they would not be surprised if they had such artefacts.

    "Then why did the both of you not have any with you?" Jin asked, now curious why the schrs he recruited were kind of ''poor''.

    "Master, we had made lots of progress with Qiu Yue leading the charge. We had cleared at least three kilometres of the tunnel." Weslie reported, ignoring the question.

    "Zeru is doing the same as well but we should be able to progress faster since he said he had just finished warming up." Gold did the same and Jin merely sighed telling them that if they needed any transportation vehicles, give him a holler.

    "If that''s the case, can I just build a damn train? Those rats just did not want to give up and we should just st through all of them to reach the Undercity." Qiu Yue asked as she was sick of beating those rats. "For all we know, they are running back now while the front keeps us upied."

    "Reports from the System said that there was not much movement by both sides of the army withdrawing but it''s your battlefield," Jin replied, making Qiu Yue chuckle that she really had full reign of the current situation.

    "Then alright guys, time to make some way for me to go through!" Qiu Yue said as she cracked her knuckles.

 Chapter 1386 War Train

    With the Empire Building Sub System on her side, Qiu Yue had managed to p down a fresh batch of railroad tracks without much trouble. She had already known long ago that she would be one of the participants to take the fight to the Demon Rats via the tunnels.

    Thus, this railroad train n was all along part of her solution to fight against the Demon Rats especially when she knew that Jin''s Army would be transversing through from either the East or West Tunnels just to reach the Undercity.

    "I am not going to walk hundreds of kilometres just to reach the Undercity!" That was her initial thought when they came out with the ns to stop the Demon Rats from invading other regions.

    While it was a good n to begin with, the process would definitely be a long and arduous trip for the armies to go through. The only advantage they had was that they did not have to worry about supply lines since they had the power of the System to aid them with that. Or else, realistically, this could be an operation that would never see itspletion at all, in fact, the Demon Rats might overwhelm them.

    And unlike her new teacher, Qiu Yue was nowhere at the skills of Zeru where she could fight for days without stopping. The Red Panda Cultivator had seen him chase after the Banned Emperorckeys for days by foot when thetter managed to get a car to escape.

    To the Banned Emperorckeys, it was a terror trying to escape from the infamous Sword Saint as his qing gong was already equivalent to the speed of a car. Thoseckeys eventually wanted to surrender but Zeru did the thing that would benefit Jin best. By giving them to Kraft and allowing him to get all the information before disposing of them.

    Thus, in this particr instance, she had decided to bash her way through so that it will take the Demon Rats by surprise. The only she worried about was that the Demon Rats had decided to turn suicidal and st the tunnel to kingdome.

    When that happens both sides would definitely take casualties but the losing end would no doubt be the Demon Rats since they had blocked the tunnel ess which they had been working so hard to maintain and invade the greener pastures.

    But instead of worrying about the worst case scenario, Qiu Yue had already summoned a train via her Empire Building Sub System and its appearance had already smashed a few Demon Rats into pieces.

    "Heh Heh Heh! Behold my almighty War Train!" Qiu Yue dered as she knelt on one knee and spread open her arms towards the train that emerge literally from nowhere. Her flourishing of the War Train made Weslie giggle quietly and she wasmanding the Queen''s Royal Knights and army to hope onto the train.

    As for the train itself, the front was mounting a massive siege weapon as well as a well reinforced cowcatcher, known to deflect obstacles on the track that could have damaged or derail the train. After all, the Demon Rats would do whatever it takes to stop the train from moving and Qiu Yue had prepared in advance to make sure that her war train would move unhindered through the corpses of the Demon Rats as well.<sub> </sub>

    The train''s wheels were also protected with multipleyers of armour as well making sure that it has enough strength to crash through remnants or debris left by the Demon Rats. And to have such power, the parts that Qiu Yue used were strengthened with inscriptions. Each and every portion of the train had been pped with multiple reinforcing inscriptions to make sure they would not fall apart.

    As if that was not an overkill, the train was packed with thetest mana engine that the military research had tolled day and night just to create it. (Obviously, they were doing it for the personal System Points which Qiu Yue had promised to give as well as a monstrous sum after the train had performed well during the live battle.)

    And that was only the interior structure of the train as Qiu Yue had also fitted it with dozens of gun emcements ranging from gatling guns, and mini cannons to crates of arrows for those inept at using a gun. Only a few from the Queen''s army were willing to give the modern weapon of destruction a try.

    The Demon Rats were no doubt shocked by the emergence of the train but after all the intense fighting, they got over it pretty quickly and knew that the war train was their number of priority to ensure their survival.

    And so hundreds of the Demon Rats were already aiming their fire towards it while the ones with melee expertise attempted to jump onto the train and kill its upants when it was starting to take off.

    "No no no. No, you do not touch my precious!" Qiu Yue eximed as she dashed across the front carriage of her War Train and spent 5000 Dungeon Dors on her new toy. Suddenly turret barrels emerged from the train''s front and crackling sounds of thunder boomed through the tunnel.

    ? The Demon Rats that were initially rushing to the War Train had beenpletely decimated, allowing it to move forward as the Empire Building Sub System automatically insert tracks right in front of the train.

    Some of the Demon Rats thought they could stop the tracks from being inserted correctly by standing right in front of the train but they never knew that as it dropped from the space above them, the tracks'' cements were something close to a literal ton of energy dropping on to the ground to have it affixed.

    This squashed the Demon Rats like bugs and their innards were spread all over the ground while the train stamped through it effortlessly. If anything, Weslie''s group of knights might potentially be the first to reach the Undercity and reinforce the main army.

 Chapter 1387 Legendary Sword Technique

    The Western Army led by Weslie strengthened its lead over the Gold''s Army at the Eastern Tunnel and overtook it as Qiu Yue proceeded with her newly developed war train at a speed she would not have anticipated.

    Even though it wasn''t a race, Zeru had made the decision to step it up after learning that his new apprentice had outsmarted him. "Jin, Jin. If only you had Qiu Yue''s level of dedication to your training. While Zeru wasining, he was unaware that he was in the System Channel.

    "I hear thatбн" Jin replied while Qiu Yueughed at the sidement.

    "See, this is the burden of leadership. You should not have beencent with your training at the start of building your shop." Qiu Yue said and Jin felt attacked by her.

    "How about you try staying in the red and see how that feels."

    "Well, if you did not create such expensive dungeon instances and stop giving such discounted prices to your customers, you might actually earn a profit." When Qiu Yue could finally sit in the train''s enginepartment, she argued with Jin as she watched her prized war train crush the Demon Rats into mush.

    "Yes, I too have to admit that he had been working so much on the shop that he did not have proper foundations for his fighting form. It was a miracle how he had managed to be here with a decent level of cultivation within him." Zeru took the chance to tease Jin, making him roll his eyes.

    "Excuse me, I had worked hard behind the scenes to get my shit together, alright? It''s just that I do not unt it as much as you are doing it right now." Jin responded while trying to keep his emotions in check. After all, he knew how much he had suffered within his subconsciousness that the two of them did not know. Although Zeru could see the change after each bout of ''training sessions'', the supplier''s skills were no doubt rtively unknown to most of his subjects.

    "Even so, I had hardly seen Zeru use any fancy skills, so why should I?" It was a jab towards Zeru''s constant secretive nature of his techniques despite the asional show of violence.

    "That is because I did not like it if other cultivators saw my techniques and attempted to copy them. In doing so, they risk injuring themselves and achieve the worst oue: death. But since you asked, I might as well indulge my master''s request as a betor once in a while." Zeru said as he knew that there were no cultivators around the area and even those who had some form of cultivation were all minions under Jin. There was no need to be stingy with his techniques at this particr point in time.

    "It is a pity that Qiu Yue would be unable to see this skill with her own eyes," Zeru said but he had forgotten that the System was able to transmit and stream the current scene to where Qiu Yue was sitting without much of a hassle.

    "I could see the entire situation pretty clearly." Qiu Yue replied and Zeru shook his head. "No, there''s feelings involved to do this technique and that had to be seen on the ground itself." He replied.<sub> </sub>

    "Feelings?" This was the first time Qiu Yue heard about this from him since all Zeru had emphasised was technique and form.

    But as she continued to watch Zeru perform his technique in her noisy environment of machine gun fire and scorns of the dying Demon Rats, she noticed that even by watching, her master was showing off something different than what the apprentice was ustomed to.

    Gold noticed that Zeru needed some time to prepare his technique and wanted to rush the troops to aid him so that he could safely perform his attack before the Demon Rats regroup and attack him. However, as they tried to proceed forward, the troops were beset by a heavy aura of fear and terror emanating from the Sword Saint himself.

    Even though the troops were mostly emboldened because of their understanding that they would always be revived by the System, Zeru''s current aura field forced them to abandon any hope despite being on the same side. Gold also felt the aura from afar but the effects were clearly not as prominent as those who were closer to him.

    Sadly, the Demon Rats were the ones that took the brunt of this newly developed aura field as they felt that reapers of death were already trailing behind their footsteps. Still, this was not the end as Zeru lifted his sword and illusory petals of lotus started to float around him, forming a monstrous silhouette right in front of the Demon Rats.

    "Legendary Sword Technique, The Waking of the ck Lotus Dragon." With each wording out of Zeru''s mouth, the lotus petals now formed the image of a dragon, roaring at the Demon Rats, as if telling them that their time was already up.

    The frontline copsed immediately as most of the Demon Rats fell to their knees waiting for the Dragon to take their lives while those who were further away beginning to pee in their pants as they lost their will to fight.

    With Zeru''s supply of chi, the ck Lotus Dragon silhouette created by the lotus petalses to life and scans the area. Before smashing through the Demon Rat Horde and obliterating them, it briefly flew and swirled around Zeru as if to acknowledge the master that created it.

    Blood was spilt throughout the tunnels without much resistance and the rest of the Demon Rats were no match for this monstrosity as the ck Lotus Dragon used its lotus petals to slice them into unrecognisable pieces of meat. Hundreds of Demon Rats were killed in a blink of an eye and the ck Lotus Dragon continued to move forth, decimating the helpless Demon Rats clearing a path for the Eastern Army to walk through.

    "Gold, I suggest you get some wheels for your troops.." Zeru said as his de was still brandished and walked slowly forward. The screams of the Demon Rats were still echoing through the depths of the tunnels and Gold did not expect such destruction from the Sword Saint.

    Jin and Qiu Yue''s jaws dropped as they saw Zeru disclose his skill, and the only thing his pupil could do at this point was to pour more cash into her War Train to make it move even more quickly so that they wouldn''t be overtaken by the Eastern Army''s march.

 Chapter 1388 Cutting The Reinforcement

    Jin had finally made the decision to seize this opportunity to end the Demon Rats within the tunnels for good despite the risk of themmitting suicide and damaging the undersea tunnels those rats were being battered to a pulp and Jin''s Armies were moving closer to the centre of the Undercity.

    He knew that the minion leaders would have asked for portals to materialise to save the troops so that impending loss was one he was ready to take. And now that Weslie had enlisted the Queen of the Western Region''s assistance, it was even more vital for her side to save them when the push came to shove.

    Jin had also decided to push for the destruction of both the Demon Rat Armies within the Eastern and Western Tunnels in order to prevent the main city from receiving the reinforcements they would have wanted to have while the conflict raged on in the main city. The Demon Rats'' capacity to overpower Jin''s army and the participating cultivators would be further reduced.

    So, he sent out Wyrstriker''s two other brothers in arms, me Ripper and Dread Reaver to the Western and Eastern Army separately via the Undercity esses ording to the System''s scan of the Undercity. When the teleport portals emerged at the entrances, the Demon Rats within the vicinity panicked as they did not know that the enemies could have known the ess to the tunnels.

    Up until this time, the goblin armies of me Ripper and Dread Reaver had been putting in a lot of work to cooperate with theirmanders and earn the respect of their "guardian spirits."

    <o>,m Shaitan Ifrit and the Lady who Governs Death were no doubt impressed by their efforts and had granted each of their armies with fundamental abilities, enhancing their capability to defeat their adversaries. Before bidding each other luck as they entered their designated tunnels, this particr fight had given both armies the chance to finally experience how the power of death and fire works well together.</o>

    The Goblin Armies kept the element of surprise they feared they would lose, especially given how cunning the Demon Rats were, because of how they quickly slew the Demon Rats protecting the tunnels; as a result, none of them was able tomunicate the information back to the Demon Rat High Command. The Goblins, however, may have been able to foresee the Demon Rats to their expectations suitably because it takes one to know the other as they made sure that no news of the goblins'' presence was sent out.

    This extra element of surprise had given the goblins more than just time to enter the tunnels but also booby trapped the dead Demon Rats so that any guards who had decided to investigate the situation would be killed by them as well. It was a dirty tactic but it was something the goblins had thought of due to substituting theirck of manpower to oversee the area.

    However, instead of leaving the ce unattended, the goblins had installed cameras and even motion sensors to ensure that if they were to enter the tunnels, it would give them sufficient time to prepare for an assault from the rear. Or if needed, they would split their armies into two so that they could continue with their mission.

    But for now, their objective was to reach where the Demon Rats were within the tunnels and create a pincer tactic to ensure that the Demon Rats were pinned down and wiped out and that takes time which Jin desperately needed to oversee the next phase of the fight in the main undercity.<sub> </sub>

    Despite the crazy dogfight above the Undercity, the Goblin Wyverns Knights with the aid of the Spitfires had finally managed to suppress the artillery bombardments by destroying those turrets but it did ur quite a fair bit of casualties upon doing so. There were even incidents where Goblin Wyvern Knight was way too fast that it had unknowingly intercepted the artillery shell, causing them to get hit by the attack and explode in mid air.

    In the meantime, the Rooster Pilots also attempted dangerous dives to drop their limited number of bombs that were stored within the Spitfire before returning to fight the flying rats. Most of them did that despite the significant risk mainly because it lightened their nes allowing them to move faster and allow their fuel tank tost longer in the fights.

    Most of them figured that they would die fighting against the flying rats since there was no exit given to them until the Royal Snake Zodiac Nerodia''s nes started to contact them and told them to exit when appropriate to refuel and rearm at the ship. Themanding officer, when saw how the spitfires fought, instantly knew that the pilots were definitely elites and not just amateurs that came from the Rooster Flying Academy.

    He even sent out callsigns which only the Royal Zodiacs knew and now that they knew they could continue with the fight, most of the spitfires attempted to return to the Nerodia to rearm and refuel, which was all the more vital for them to lighten their load and ensure there was enough fuel to speed their way out of the Undercity and to the surface.

    The warship cum aircraft carrier had thus sailed closer to the Undercity''s huge hole entrance as much as possible so that the spitfires would have a lesser distance to cover. The crew also made sure that they angled their ships in a way that it was easier for them tond without too much of a hassle.

    But what surprised the spitfires was that the deck for them tond was in the middle of the warship and they thought it was once again a test to not crash onto the ship until they found out that the spitfire, as old as they thought it should be, was equipped with aser guidednding system. Once connected with Nerodia, it was autopilotnding which made the Roostersugh thinking that they were a fool to think too much.

    And with the spitfires having a ship to refuel and rearm, the human''s air force was up and running for the entire war, allowing them to provide as much air support needed for the ground troops and cultivator to move forward.

    Thus, Jin and the System predicted that they would be able to reach the edges of the city centre by the end of the day.

 Chapter 1389 Brood Rat Mothers

    By the end of the third day, Jin had seen the participation from the Pandarens growing evermore, just a little shorterpared to the first day''s opening which goes to show that the deadlock they encountered had indeed caused the rate of participation to dip.

    While a few would argue that the difficulty level could be too high to the point they were not enjoying it, Jin believed that the main reason for the drop in participation was mainly due to the fact that there was no progress made.

    With live streams showing that the Demon Rat Undercity had been in constant siege allowed the Pandarens to feel as if they were finally able to participate in a big and crazy fight instead of being overwhelmed by the Demon Rats and stuck in a fortress bidding for time.

    And the crazy part which they yearn for, was no doubt ying a huge part in this fight. The Demon Rat Generals had finally decided to release the even more Chimaera Rats into the fray and both the cultivators and Jin''s Army were dealing with new threats which they had never seen before.

    It seems like the Demon Rat High Command had already predicted how Jin might use monsters as fodders such as the zombies growing in numbers with every dead Demon Rat that was on the floor. So, the High Command had released a particr variant of Birth Mother into the battlefield as well.

    ording to what the System had overheard, it was codenamed Brood Rat Mother and the rats that were released from this Chimaera Birth Mother were equivalent to a Queen Bee on steroids. Pumped with hormones and elerant, by the Chimaera Master beside it, the Brood Rat Mother continuously pumps out eggs from her orifices. Instead of giving birth, these Brood Rat Mothers had been fused with genes from a Queen Bee, causing them the ability toy eggs.

    And through these eggs, all it took was a minute for the embryo to grow and break out of the thin shield that was protecting them, taking in their first breath. After which, their instincts based on their smell and sense would enable them to hunt for prey. As if this was not insane enough, Jin''s minions and cultivators who saw the broodlings were astonished by its figure.

    It was nothing like a rat and more like a mutated creepy crawly that had a rat face been pped on it. Its size and figure were nothing like Demon Rat at all and these бнmonsters were all out searching for blood. If anything they were simr to the Zurglings which Jin had fought against in the Southern City.

    The System and him could only conclude that within the randomness of the creation of the Demon Rat resources, there could be a gic code that allows them to copy something close to the Zurglings that they had encountered. And for them to grow in such numbers justify that they managed to acquire a gic code simr to the Zurg Queen.<sub> </sub>

    While it might seem the overall situation to be hopeless to fight against several Zurg Queen variants, there was a silver lining to the current predicament. Jin was able to pinpoint where the Zurg Queens were with the System''s Deep Scan. Their signature signal was rather unique when the minions finally caught a peak of it and also through deduction. The Rat Zurgs that were rampaging the streets were alling in masses and by following their signals, the System was able to have a generalised location where it could pinpoint where the Zurg Queen was, allowing the minions to search for it.

    So all Jin had to do was to request the Pandarens to make WARE events on those pinpointed locations and they could concentrate on fighting against these Brood Rat Mothers. However, the numbers themselves had proven to be numerous and even the zombies were unable to cope. The Rat Zurgs were fast enough to evade the attacks of the enhanced zombies and the only defence those zombies had were self destruction.

    This allowed the Rat Zurgs to cut down the numbers of zombies within the fields rather easily since the production of the Rat Zurgs now exceeded the zombies on the field. The only way to stop was to kill off the producer so that they could achieve the advantage in this attrition.

    And to Jin''s surprise, the number of Pandarens that were on the field had be more active with the WARE events, as if allowing them to concentrate on this crazy fight they were in. (Not to mention everyone was off work after the day!) Not to mention that the Pandaren numbers were higherpared to the day before, allowing most of them to coordinate. Also, the urban city environment allowed the Pandarens to fight betterpared to an open field with some of them using guns while others slyly used their cultivation with the aid of cover.

    Slowly but surely, the Pandarens were able to collectively defeat one Brood Rat Mother with the aid of a few Dark Temrs within the vicinity as well as a hell lot of firepower to suppress the Rat Zurgs.

    Yet, the Rat Brood Mother was only one of the many variant Chimaeras that were now released out in the open. There were like mini bosses Chimaera Demon Rats on the battlefield ughtering the Pandarens. But even when dead, the Pandarens were relentless in their information gathering. During their recuperation within the Recovery Instance, the cultivators quickly sent information to the forums as well as an interactive map that the System had created in the forums.

    This allowed Pandarens to ce markers where the Chimaera variant wasst seen. And because it was the ''System'' they were working with, the Pandamonium App even added the screenshot of the Chimaera Variant, allowing Pandarens to either avoid it when they spot it or work together to hunt them down.

    After all, everything is about points and the customers were all greedy for the rewards that were sitting in the redemption store, waiting to be collected.

 Chapter 1390 Zurg Vs Zurg

    As the Pandarens managed to defeat the very first Brood Rat Mother through the WARE event, they were ted to see a new teleport portal emerging right above them. Knowing that reinforcements would emerge from it to aid them against those Rat Zurgs, they quickly form a defensive circle around the portal.

    They were sure that the minions that emerged from the portal would not backstab them as well as giving them some breathing space to appear out of the portal. But what they did not expect was that they heard a monster sound that was simr to the Rat Zurgs when behind them.

    Only a few of the cultivators can spare the effort to look back, causing them to be rmed momentarily. And the shock eventually spread to the entire defensive circle when the allied monsters did act as the cultivators thought they would. Maybe the mastermind might have appreciated the gesture but her underlings were too eager for a fight.

    Yes, minions who were watching the stream, waiting for their turn to be deployed already had known that such an oue was viable. Who were to fight the Rat Zurgs other than the authentic ones?

    Zurglings that emerged from the portal jumped over the defensive circle that the cultivators had prepared and leapt into the action directly, killing the Rat Zurgs. It seems as if the Zurglings had experience hunting down the Rat Zurgs but not many know that the Zurg Queen and her children did not get their ce in the harsh Southern Region of the Farming World by existing peacefully.

    There were other Zurg Queens alike just as there were as many Brood Rat Mothers in the Undercity at the moment when the swarm began their conquest for unification. It was through the survival of the strongest that they were able to emerge as the surviving swarm in the Southern Swarm. That was also how the Zurg Queen was also able to have a variety of Zurgs under her care andmand.

    Also, if not for the active Friend or Foe identification through the half animal mask that the cultivators were wearing, they might have identally attacked Jin''s allied Zurgs by ident. But to see those Zurglings pouring into the battlefield and annihting the Rat Zurgs gave the Pandarens hope that they could potentially have the advantage against this menace swarm that they have to encounter further down the road to the centre of the Undercity''s Hub.

    After ughtering the remaining Rat Zurgs within the vicinity, the swarm began to split into groups, as if they could already sense where the remaining Brood Rat Mothers were. Ma Yue Han, the Blind Bat Pandawan who was at the scene had already decided that this was a good opportunity to activate another WARE event to follow the split groups of Zurglings.

    This was also used to inform the others that there were ''Rat Zurgs'' that were on their side of the battle, not knowing the whole truth that Jin coincidentally had the same kind of ''manpower'' on his side to defeat the Brood Rat Mothers.

    But just as Yue Han finished creating his WARE event for the Pandarens to follow, he realised that there was also a WARE event that had popped up right beside him. When he opened his Pandamonium App to check who was the creator, the WARE marker started to move intensely fast towards his direction.

    "YUE HANNNN! Move away!!" His sister shouted as she was sent flying in his direction. While he would love for her to crash and burn (perhaps because of the sibling love-hate rtionship), every man counts in this particr fight and he decided to save Yue Wen by using his Blind Bat Cultivation techniques.<sub> </sub>

    The WARE marker was now in sight of Yue Han''s vision but he did not just see a Chimaera Variant that was standing at the top of the rubble.

    "Heh hehбнI think I hit the jackpot." Yue Wen said as she thanked her brother while attempting to heal herself. "It''s a Demon Rat General that is on the field."

    "Lol, it''s not just any General." Yue Han raised his sword up, trembling with a bit of fear. "It''s the one that Brother Deng Long was hunting for. That Demon Rat Air Force General Gnawbones."

    "Hahah, you better tell him to not bring any more robots to the field, or else he would steal them again." Yue Wen said as she was actually more worried about the Chimaera variant that was beside the Demon Rat General.

    Even though it was smaller in build, the Demon Rat Variant was holding on to a massive equipment that overshadowed his size. However, every modern cultivator who caught a glimpse of the equipment immediately recognised it.

    An odd looking gatling gun pack equipped on the rat.

    "You got defeated by a rat with a rapid fire gun?" Yue Han joked but his sister was waiting to see who had thestugh when the rat stepped forth and started aiming at them. Yue Han assumed that they were normal gun shots until his sister forced him to move for cover.

    As the shots hit the cover,rge popping sounds were heard continuously like popcorn, causing Yue Han to drop to his guard and ignore Yue Wen''s warning. The Pandaren attempted to dash towards the Gatling Gun Chimaera and when he saw that the remnants of those bullets were literally as he had imagined them to be, he sprinted even faster to reach the Demon Rat.

    However, as he crossed over those leftover ''popcorns'', the Blind Bat did not expect to be blindsided by the attack as those popcorns exploded right underneath him, causing him to be thrown back.

    Gnawbonesughed hysterically as it watched how pathetic the humans were fighting his assigned Chimaera variant. "You think you can touch me? If I cannot rule the skies as I am supposed to then I will make sure that Corney Gatling will ''pop'' you humans back to where you came from!"

 Chapter 1391 Corney Gatling

    "There is no need for us to fight this on our own." Yue Han said as he already sent an SOS for nearby Pandawans toe. The voice chat within the group''s channel was immediately filled with Deng Long''s vows of revenge asking them not to kill Gnawbones yet but the Blind Bat Cultivator had already muted the channel except for important announcements.

    He needed to concentrate as Corney Gatling started up his gun once more. "Sis! Hide now!" The Blind Bat generated a ball of ck shadowy chi and threw it down to the ground, creating a smokescreen to block Corney Gatling''s field of view.

    Yet, the Variant Chimaera did not stop and continued to shoot randomly around the battlefield, spraying through the smoke in hopes that the siblings would get hit by his attacks. And even if they did not, he would expect to hear some popping soon enough.

    "POP BOOM!"

    The explosion was more than enough of a signal to indicate where the Pandawans were. He quickly changed the mode on his gatling gun to make his ''corn'' bullets lope over obstacles like how a grenadeuncher works. And because it was a gatling gun, those corn bullets were being shot out at such session that the explosions nketed the area. Corney Gatling assumed that this would effectively kill the cultivators but Gnawbones thought otherwise.

    The earth began to tremble as the Air Force General fiddled with a controller. Soon, a robot in the same colour as Aegis Gunndam, the Supa Robot that he had previously kidnapped, began to emerge from the earth in front of him. However, aside from the paint job, the robot didn''t resemble the Aegis Gunndam in terms of appearance. Its head was disproportionatelyrge rtive to the rest of its body as if to make up for a w in the design of the machine.

    "Bwahahahahah! To think that those insane coat rats were able toplete this in less than 24 hours. They must be really inspired by that flying mechanical being!" Gnawbones shouted with hysteria in his tone. "Thank you humans for giving me this golden opportunity to test it on you all!!!"

    Corney Gatling stopped his attacks not only because he assumed that the cultivators were killed but it was also to allow Gnawbones to work on his new toy. It also gave the Variant Chimaera some time tough at the absurdity of the machine that came crawling out of the ground.

    But what he did not expect was that even before Gnawbones was able to press another button on his controller, an unnatural gust of wind blew downwards on him, forcing him to look up.

    And before he knew it, the Demon Rat heard a thud on the ground which he presumed that he must have dropped the controller because of that gust of wind. Gnawbones was bleeding profusely when he looked down and saw that both of his hands had been severed and wereying on the ground beside his broken controller.

    "Fuck! Did not expect that he would look up at that point in time." Yue Han thought to himself, knowing that the assassination was a failure when he saw that his opponent was still alive screaming. Yet, there was no time to hesitate as he had to go for the second target instantly, focusing on the opportunity that Corney Gatling was stunned by the current development.<sub> </sub>

    The Variant Chimaera utilised his gatling gun to repel the assault due to his confidence in the durability of his gear, but he was erroneously optimistic.

    "Advanced Healing Maiden Arts! Trifold Buffing!" Yue Wen emerged from the dispersing smokescreen as her sword cane glowed brightly upon activating her arts. Orbs of coloured energies flew towards Yue Han at that particr instant, giving him Bear''s strength, Eagle''s agility and Cat''s luck for ten seconds.

    "Advanced Sword Arts! Ascension Sword Strike of the Blind Bat!" Yue Han shouted as bat silhouettes emerged from the chi that was umted around his sword, causing his strike to look like a stream of bats flying upwards.

    It was then Corney Gatling thought it was a bad idea that reacts by using his gun to block the blow. Nevertheless, its battle instinct was so acute that his tail retaliated for the Variant Rat and Yue Han was not expecting it.

    Still, it would be a waste to stop his attack so he decided to risk it all and finish the strike but upon doing so, both the cultivator and the Chimaera Rat were heavily damaged. The Rat''s tail stabbed through the side of Yue Han and to make it worse, it was strapped with the very same corn bullets that were used.

    It caused his wounds within him to explode, releasing a gush of guts towards the Rats as the Blind Bat Cultivatory on the ground unable to move. In the meantime, Yue Han''s ascension sword strike managed to cut one of Corney Gatling''s arteries on his neck. It couldpletely be the luck buffed by his sister but he believed he would not be lucky to survive the attack.

    "HaбнhaбнEven with Yue Wen''s current abilities, I doubt she would be able to save me unless she used the instant resurrection skill." Yue Han thought to himself but he knew that his sister had already used more than enough chi to create a multiyer barrier to stop the popping attacks before the assassination attempt.

    "You will pay for this!!!" Gnawbones shouted in agony once again, as he used his tail to p the dying Blind Bat, not allowing him to die in peace while he ran towards his beloved robot. The back of its head suddenly opened and the Demon Rat jumped right into it.

    "Fuck, that rat still can survive even after losing two hands?" Yue Han could not believe his eyes as he threw hisst breath away cursing that arsehole Rat activating the robot in that kind of condition.

    Looks like Deng Long still has a shot at killing that General.

 Chapter 1392 Corpse Catcher

    Even with both of his hands bleeding profusely, the moment he connected to the mechanised being, bits of metal and wire turned ''alive''. It reactively attempted to connect to Gnawbones and the moment the wires touched Gnawbones, they stung him with needles and connectors.

    At that point in time, Gnawbones could feel that his entire consciousness was being transferred to somewhere else while his body was being fed into the robot as fuel. There was nowhere else for the Air Force General to run and he thought that hiding within the robot was his best way of surviving.

    "I do not want to die! I do not want to die! What is happening to me?! Thoseb coat traitors! What did they do to me without telling me?!" Gnawbones said as he felt that he had melted away while his body was being taken apart by the robot.

    But what he did not know was that he was being reborn as the robot started to feed itself data from Gnawbone''s body structure. It was initially a corpse catcher robot where theb coat Demon Rats had the idea of stealing the abilities of the cultivators and turning them into data for the robot to grow into.

    For example, if Yue Han had been kidnapped by the big headed robot, the robot would then assimte his DNA data and mould itself to be a clone of Yue Han with his skills, replicating as much as it could from the data itself. At the same, it would kill the cultivator that was within it. This was not something that the Research Demon Rats could think up in 24 hours rather it had already been a work in progress for some time.

    It was only with Gnawbones'' continuous pestering that they had decided to give him the prototype and threw in a Chimaera Variant they made haphazardly so that he could stop bothering them. After all, they started to think that they were looking at defeat with each day of the invasion.

    Some of them even had the gall to think of defecting to the other side but most assumed that they would not survive the extermination should the humans have managed to reach theirbs. Yet, behind the backs of their Demon Rat leaders and generals, the Head of the Demon Rat Research, Transquick Foulscratch had decided to take a gamble should the Cultivators and Monsters had reached the deepest level of the Demon Rat Research.

    They would attempt to parley for their lives and if it does not work out, the least they could do was to detonate the entire facility to kingdome. What was dangerous was that the deepest level of the Demon Rat Research was close to a major node of the lifestream of the Farming World.

    But detonating the area also means destroying the lifestream node and it could have serious repercussions to the Northern Region and potential bacsh on the in near future. This was the only trump card they had on their sleeves and the only way to secure a proper negotiation with the humans.

    However, all of those did not matter right now as they continuously pumped out all the prototypes they had been storing for months and were releasing them against the humans. Dr Transquick believed that if the humans still had to cross the trial of fire set by them so that they could be worthy of their knowledge even though he had reluctantly admitted to himself that some of the human''s technology was superior to his team by ten fold.

    So by sending his teams'' military prototypes out to the field, it was like a desperate attempt to demonstrate that the Demon Rat Research might prove to be useful if they were to be taken in. Naturally, many of them had pledged loyalty to the Demon Rats'' society as a whole but after looking at the technology used by the humans, they could not help to wonder if they could reach that pinnacle someday.<sub> </sub>

    ---

    Once the Corpse Catcher Robot had digested and assimted Gnawbones, it started to shape as the Air Force General himself. Thetent powers of Gnawbones started to surface and a backpack rocket began to emerge from the back of the robot as if the metal robot was some living evolving unit. The general''s resource was a missile rocket, which was also one of the reasons why he had been chosen to be the Air Force General, not because of his merits.

    Mini rockets started to grow from his phnges not just from his fingers but his toes and tail too. And once prepped, the Corpse Catcher immediately shot out an entire load of rockets into the entire field, ughtering Yue Wen in the process before the rest of the Pandawans could assist.

    "What the hell! Gnawbones had some form of new armour?!" Deng Long responded as he took cover from the barrage of rockets that continued the moment the other Pandawans arrived at the scene.

    "I heard someone very familiar!" Corpse Catcher Gnawbones boomed his voice through the robot''s loudspeaker. "Give me that flying machine once more and I may yet spare your life!" It was taunting everyone within the vicinity so that he could search for any unnecessary movements and annihte them once it got into range.

    And Deng Long''s agitation from his provocation was exactly the thing that the Corpse Catcher needed.

    It immediately reloaded the entire arsenal of rockets and shot out indiscriminately, causing a carnage of explosions. Thankfully, Deng Long was a defensive cultivator and his techniques along with the equipment he bought from Jin were able to shield most of the kic knockbacks. But as the Corpse Catcher enjoyed unleashing its rockets to eliminate one sole Pandawan, Gnawbones had forgotten that he was way too exposed hovering in midair unleashing his burst of missiles.

    That allowed Jing Ru, the Gunning Giraffe Cultivator to be hiding in between the rubbles and took a clean sniper shot at the Corpse Catcher. One deep breath and a slow trigger push were all that was needed to put the annoying Gnawbones down to the ground. With all the noise on the battlefield, her sniper rifle shot was merely another note in the War Symphony that Gnawbones failed to notice in his ecstasy of delivering punishment against Deng Long.

    But as he fell to the ground, the other Pandawans rushed in to confirm his death before moving forward. To them, it was Demon Rat that was worth quite a few points but to the Demon Rat High Command, they were finally relieved of that annoying general and continued with their fight.

 Chapter 1393 Wanting The Corpse Catcher

    While Deng Long was relieved that he was not able to kill Air Force General Gnawbones, he was thankful that he was still in the fight and able to receive some raid points for participation. There was no doubt that he did grumble quite a bit in the group''s channel but he knew that this was a raid instance with it mimicking it close to a warzone.

    So, he moved on without muchmotion when Jing Ru reported that there was a group of Demon Ratsing toward him. As for the people overseeing the entire raid, Jin was surprised that themunication chatter between the Demon Rats High Command had been rather nonchnt with Gnawbone''s death.

    But overall, the Dungeon Supplier expected a more difficult fight between the Pandawans and the said general in question, especially when he saw how the Corpse Catcher robot took form. Even if it was a sacrifice done ording to the System''s reading, he could not help but notice that the technology the Demon Rats used was unique.

    Imagine he could incorporate this corpse catcher technology with his VR technology without killing the user in the process. He would practically have a replica army of cultivators under his belt without using the excuse of a Dungeon Raid Instance when they were fighting in outer verse worlds.

    He figured that the cost of making these Corpse Catchers would still no doubt be cheaper than paying to get the resources needed to reincarnate the cultivators, further reducing the expenses he might have. Given that the System had to actively catch the ''soul'' outside of the dungeon instance, it also utilised quite a fair bit of the System resources to retain thousands of souls within the vicinity.

    So with such a thought in mind, he quickly told one of the nearby minions to retrieve the Corpse Catcher Robot as soon as possible. The head might have been sted away by Jing Ru''s technique but since the rest of the body was still intact, Jin believed that there was a chance the System might be able to reverse engineer the technology. Even if it could not, the Science Team could have a few tricks or two under their sleeves to incorporate the technology into theirs.

    The System eventually queried Jin''s action and the Dungeon Supplier exined his intention. Making the idea of using the Corpse Catcher technology a potential money saver for the store had given the System much pause to think about analysing the benefits while processing all the other backend requests.

    ? "Affirmative. There is indeed a probability that such an idea might work but we need more samples either by capturing the Demon Rat scientists to fully understand their work or acquire fully intact corpse catchers to reverse engineer it." The System said and suddenly from the corner of the shadows, a smile emerged.

    "Did someone say to capture a certain Demon Rat alive?" Kraft, who had been staying in the shadows watching the developments of the war, had begun to be way too bored of waiting. To be on constant standby forced him to upy himself and his unit of Dark Elves to be rather restless. In fact, Jin was surprised that the Devil himself was willing to wait and not cause unnecessary havoc to the current war situation.

    He was half assuming that Kraft would do his thing and cause mischief in the Demon Rat High Command the moment Hou Fei found it, killing all who would potentially stand in his path and ending the war early. But he did not and Jin was increasingly worried that the fox himself was doing something behind his back that the Dungeon Supplier was not well aware of.

    Thus, for him to emerge at this opportune timing was favourable to not just the System who proposed such an idea but to Jin who now could monitor Kraft on the screens whenever needed.

    "Yes, Kraft, if you could. Capture all the Demon Rat Scientists and their assistants. Kill the rest if you need to but if you saw any Birth Mothers along the way, save them as well. They are potentially the key to breeding a brand new Demon Rat society under our care." Jin said, which made the fox chuckle.<sub> </sub>

    "You think they would not have animosity against you, especially when you are the one who ughtered these many Demon Rats?"

    "I trust in your ''charisma'' to charm them so that they can work for me without grudges. Granted, we should not wipe their history away but with the System and you to make them amicable to my bidding would no doubt be a task as easy as taking the trash out."

    "Heh, I guess you never know how hard taking the trash can is, even more so if one iszy and has no incentives- Oh wow. You did learn your lessons well." Kraft said as he suddenly saw that the System points in his ''e-wallet'' skyrocketed.

    "This should be more than enough to finance another basement for your night foxes to work with. Who knows? Maybe the Demon Rats might have more than babies for you to have a few Night Rats to work for you as well." Jin decided to entice the Devil Fox and the bait was more than just a fat carrot.

    It was a golden fat carrot with the smell of opportunity.

    "When you put it this way, there is no way I can reject it right? Now I am looking forward to punishing those Demon Rats." Kraft sped his hands together repeatedly and with a smirk on his face. The Dark Elves Narris and Tinda who were beside him, nodded their heads with obedience, disappearing in the shadows without a sound with the intent to ry the messages for the Night Foxes to get ready,

    "The System has found the possible location where the Demon Rat Scientists are residing and will pass the coordinates to Original Betor Kraft."

    "What the heck? An underground facility when we are already ''under the ground''? Looks like they took their rat nature very seriously." Kraft shrugged his shoulders and gave a slight sigh, ever so quickly to change his mood. "Oh well, one deep underground facility is better than searching the entire Undercity, so let''s get this over and done with."

    "Thanks, Kraft and good luck. System, remember to put up a special point reward for the capture of those Corpse Catchers in case the Demon Rat Scientists route goes south." Jin said and the System acknowledged.

    "Looks like this will be a long night," Jin said to himself as he anticipates the new development.

 Chapter 1394: Demon Rat Researchers

    <h4>Chapter 1394: Demon Rat Researchers</h4>

    As the hours continued to drag into the night with lots of senseless fighting and the Demon Rats defending every inch of the Undercity, the Night Foxes were not able to go through the battlefield in subtlety.

    Even a distraction was not capable of distracting their targeted audience mainly because of the chaotic fighting that was happening all around the ce. But that was assuming they were going through the route that had been cleared by the Zombie Horde and the Pandawans.

    Kraft had decided to pay extra points to the System for a straight drop right into the defensive bunker those Demon Rat Researchers were hiding into. Yet what irritated Kraft was that the System demanded more System Points for the portal if Kraft wanted to teleport right beside the researchers as if it had a hidden agenda making the Night Foxes walk through the undergrounds.

    "You rascal. This amount is basically the same as Jin''s rewards offer." Kraft cursed under his breath and decided to take the initial offer for teleporting at the top of the defensive bunker. Why bother paying so much when all they were going to take was a minor detour?

    "Be warned Original Betor, the System has detected a few formidable guards in the area. While the System had determined that the Night Foxe are more than capable to defeat them, it is paramount that speed is-"

    "Stop yapping System. Why are you always stating the obvious?" Kraft forcefully closed the System''s Channel and moved his Night Foxes into the portal the moment it was opened.

    "Here we go againбн" Tinda said as she shrugged her shoulders knowing that Kraft was going to force them to fight a bunch of crazy stuff as usual.

    "If only we will have things going our way for once," Narris said to her as both of the Dark Elves entered right after Kraft.

    And to their surprise, all of the Demon Rats that were supposed to rush towards them in frenzy were standing in wait. In fact, they were actually holding their weapons in such a way that it was denoted as if they were weing the entire group.

    "Took you long enough, we have been waiting for your group for some time." the loudspeaker said as the lifts at the far end of the corridor were opened.

    "Wow, if this is a trap, this might be the first time I had seen such a weing one," Tinda replied as she and the rest of the Night Foxes ced their hands near their weapons waiting for an ambush.

    "Rx. They do not have any killing intent in their eyes." Kraft said as his hands were in his pockets rather than near his holsters. "Let''s take their invitation earnestly."

    While the Night Foxes were relieved that they did not need to fight for once, they could feel that if things were too peaceful, their Devilish leader would have a chance to make it worse. Thus, even when they were attempting to follow the orders from Kraft, all of them kept their alert in case things went south.

    The lifts they took went deeper into theplex and it never stopped until it reached a basement where it was not even in the selection of buttons at the side of the lift. And yet instead of panicking, the Night Foxes and Kraft stayed their cool and waited for the lift to reach its destination.

    Once it stopped, the lift doors opened slowly and a group of Demon Rat Researchers were standing behind a row of Demon Rat Variants simr to Corney Gatling in case the invaders knew no reason.

    Thankfully for both sides, Kraft was not as bloodthirsty as they thought he would be and stepped forward to even introduce himself. It was then the Head of Research who decided to do the same and make his presence known to his enemies despite the risk.

    "I make things short, are you nning to defect?" Kraft asked as he immediately conjured up a table in the middle of the two groups, asking Transquick Foulscratch whether his intentions were sincere.

    "If not, I would have caused the rms to go off by now and alert the Demon Rats High Command." Dr Transquick said and with a snap of his fingers, the Demon Rats Guard behind him brought a group of Birth Mothers to the front.

    "As a gesture for peaceful negotiations, I had gathered all the Birth Mothers in the facility. You can take them." Transquick, as his name suggests, had already proven to be smart enough to know what the invaders wanted from this particr research facility.

    "Hmm. Thank you." Kraft said as he too had a few of the Night Foxe to take the Birth Mothers away but instead of fully trusting the Demon Rats, the Night Foxes were already searching the Birth Mothers with both magical and physical inspection to ensure that there were no explosives on them.

    "Interesting and I might have done the same as well." Transquick chuckled when he saw the scene that denoted their distrust for the Demon Rats.

    "Not just for you. It''s a routine check we always do." The moment Kraftid back, Tinda proceeded forth and conjured a set of tea for the two to partake. Once she poured the 2 cups for the leaders negotiating the meeting, she drank from Transquick''s cup.

    The Research Leader was at first surprised by their actions and understood that they were doing that to ''show'' that the cup was safe to drink. Yet, Kraft also gave Transquick the opportunity to let his subordinate have a sip at the cup to determine that there was no poison in it.

    "It''s okay. I might not look like it but I have some magical tools to discern whether the drink was poisonous or not." Transquick said as he pulled out a piece of ss meter and ced it in the drink.

    He apologised for being discourteous but Kraft was not stopping him, in fact, he found it amusing to see the Demon Rats in a different light. They were usually barbaric in nature and yet the one in front of him was a copy of all those science nuts he knew.

    Once he was happy with the results, Transquick took a sip and continued with the negotiations even though it seemed like it was a move to dy more time.

    "Reason for defecting?" Kraft asked straight to the point after the niceties had been performed.

    "Insufficient materials to research. The curiosity about the coexistence between man and monsters. We thought that we were the best but it seems like the quote `the world is bigger than we know'' applies here."

    "Oh? Not tant abuse of staff,ck of money?"

    "We have everything and can do anything. Like these chimaeras. We still have a few at the back in the process. All those lost arms and legs that you humans left behind during the fight, we took them and tried to replicate them with the Demon Rat Variants." Transquick said but a few of the researchers hoped that he would restrain himself from saying such things to the invader.

    "Bold of you to say all of this right in front of my face."

    "I would like to see how far you humans are willing to go with the research. If I have to dissect my stomach, I will do so to find a breakthrough. In our eyes, there are no boundaries to research and if you are not able to stomach this, then we are notpatible and rather fight to the death right here and now."

    Kraftughed loudly and pped his hands at Transquick''s assertiveness but all the Night Foxes knew that there would only be a thought brewing in the Devil''s mind.

    A group of knowledgeable rats that holds no bars when ites to research? It merely spells disaster.

 Chapter 1395 Betrayal Of The Research Rats

    It was no brainer that Kraft would eventually decide to take the Research Demon Rats into his ''care''. However, he has toplete what Jin and the System had asked for him.

    "The corpse catcherбн? Ah, Prototype CXVV. The one that eats people to gain their abilities temporarily. I forgot those Demon Rat Generals loved to give fancy names to our subjects and imagined that they hadplete control of it. They had forgotten that they were also Demon Rats that had mutated and some might have used the chance to bite back at the owner''s hand." Transquick then asked one of his assistants to get the data drive with regards to the Corpse Catcher.

    "This is awfully too easy. I can sense red gsing up already." Tinda said as she was baffled by how the Demon Rats Researcher and Kraft hade to an agreement way too smoothly.

    And just as Tinda had predicted, there was no doubt a twist to the entire situation. The assistant who was about to give the data drive suddenly got stabbed by another Demon Rat Researcher.

    "You! How dare you betray us! I finally caught you in the act Dr Transquick! You will not leave this room alive as well as the oth-" Before he could finish his sentence, Kraft already sent a bullet right into his brain and walked forward to pick up the data drive from the injured Demon Rat Assistant.

    At that point, a few of the assistants immediately revealed themselves to be assassins sent by the Demon Rat High Command and attempted to pounce on the scientists. Yet, their actions were instantly detected by the Night Foxes as their not so subtle movements were more than enough to prompt the Dark Elves to react.

    Arrows flew even faster than the Demon Rat Researchers could even see and all the assassins were down to the floor without a sound.

    "Guess, you need to vet your people even more thoroughly," Kraft said as he shrugged at Transquick, waiting for an answer for this betrayal.

    "Heh. If I was killed by this encounter then it''s my fate. But it looks like my gamble has paid off. And to be frank, I am actually surprised that all of my other assistants are aliveбнthough I think some had no idea that this happened." Transquick surveyed the area and saw some of the Demon Rat scientists were shaking in their knees.

    "See. I told you that this agreement was going way too smoothly." Tinda told Narris as she walked to a dead rat and kicked it. A few trinkets came out from the dead which she assumed that it indicated the rat''s allegiance to the High Command. She pulled the trinkets out and showed them to Transquick, allowing him to decipher.

    "Ah. The Mage General. I did not expect the one who is sponsoring us the most would be the one who will kill uspared to the other Demon Rat Generals but I guess it made sense." Transquick said as he told the rest that the trinkets were some sort of transmitter and there would be no doubt that the Mage Battalion would be here in no time.

    "Then I believed that you need the rest of your data drives out here to prove that you all are useful to us?" Kraft asked and Transquick nodded his head, happy to know the humans caught on quick.<sub> </sub>

    "If you are able to reach here undetected, I trust that you have an escape n too?" Transquick asked and Kraft merely snapped his fingers and a portal emerged right beside him. The Head of Researchughed loudly and began shouting at his team.

    "Everyone. Get all you can pick up and throw them into the portal, we can sort them outter! If the long ears can help us, it will be app-" Transquick suddenly felt like a thousand knives being pressed onto his body.

    "Oh. Don''t call them Long ears. They usually kill anyone who calls them that since you are ignorant of us, I guess they would let you off with a warning this time around." Kraft smirked and told the group to assist them while he opened a few more portals up so that the ''grand moving'' would be a tad faster.

    "Then Boss, I assume you are going to have all the fun to yourself," Narris asked Kraft as he pressed the elevator. He merely smiled and waved back at him.

    "Of course, I am the boss after all."

    And when he entered the elevator, the Devil already sensed a variety of magical auras from the top. "So they do have teleport magic as well."

    "Don''t worry. The assassins probably already disabled the anti magic barrier at the higher levels but I always have a backup n." Transquick heard Kraft''sment and went to the closestputer to activate software module, allowing a few barriers to pop up just in time to interrupt their teleport magic.

    Unknown to the group who were hurrying to clear the researchb, the emergence of the backup anti magic barrier caused not just the Demon Rat Mages'' teleport magic to be interrupted, it even killed a few Demon Rat Mages who were teleporting halfway by causing them to be lost in ethereal space.

    Kraft could sense the number of auras decreased drastically and though the help was not necessary, the kind gesture ironically warmed his heart knowing that the Research Head was trying his best to make rtions with the Devil.

    Thus, the trip to the top of the underground bunker was uneventful to the point that Kraft even had time to load all his guns without the use of any chi. "Sometimes, the feel of loading the gun does bring satisfaction to me, knowing that I had a hand in killing them personally."

    But without any doubt, the moment the elevator door opened, the Demon Rats had no chance of winning at all. Each step the Devil took, each second that had passed, bodies dropped to the ground without a care. Bullets were spent and the smile on Kraft''s face grew everrger.

 Chapter 1396 The Remaining Assassin

    While Kraft was holding the enemies at bay (or mere toying with his enemies), things were a lot more hectic at the Research Lab''s deepest basement. The busy moving of resources from theb into the portal was quite a sight to behold. The Demon Rat Researchers and the Dark Elves were working together to get cardboard boxes of papers to be thrown into the portals. With the exception of some delicate apparatus, the Dark Elves assisted in carrying machines twice the size of them into the portal.

    ? Only those with storage rings like Narris and Tinda had decided to use it solely for documents that were indicated ''Top Secret''. That alone had made Dr Transquick want to learn their technology even more upon learning that it was not a magic artefact but a product that was readily avable to plenty of them. It was pretty obvious that there was a brand new world for them if the Demon Rat Researchers could safely join the humans.

    Some of the researchers thought that this was a move by their top to infiltrate the humans like how the assassins had managed to be long term researchers to betray them at the final moment. However, the majority of them were relieved that they could live to see another day mainly because they knew that the current battle against the humans was more or less a loss.

    If the humans had decided to eradicate the entire Demon Rat Undercity, all they could rely on was the Birth Mothers under the human''s care. No doubt there were some who had their pride hurt knowing that they were not able to defeat these humans beyond the seas despite reassurance from the North and South Schrs that the technology from other countries was inferior to theirs.

    Right now, they could see that the schrs either made a wrong judgement or they lied to them that the humans beyond the seas were strong.

    In the meantime, while they were breaking out all their locks to move their documents and pushing precious machines into the portals, there was actually a Demon Rat Researcher whose movements were out of the norm. And naturally, that caught the eyes of not just one Night Fox but every one of them within the vicinity of that particr Demon Rat Researcher.

    Clearly, he was with the rest of the dead assassins on the floor but he had decided to hold his weapon. A backup assassin in case things went awry for the first group. Borat had never expected the backup group to act aggressively alongside with the first but he believed it was well justified since the Night Foxes had presented a menacing aura that he had never felt during his years of assassinations and hunting of humans.

    They were of a different level and Borat could feel it in his bones. In fact, if not for the fact he had kept his cool, he believed he would be gone alongside the backup group who thought it was a wise choice to aid the first group of assassins.

    But now with the leader of the backup assassins all alone in this particr situation, he thought it was best to bury this entire undergroundb by exploding the lifestream that they initially wanted to use as a bargaining chip against the humans.<sub> </sub>

    If not for Kraft''s quick eptance of the negotiations, Borat thought that they would have the chance to kill off Night Foxes. But now that he realised that they had portals leading to their homnd, he thought that it might be a good idea to destroy the exposed lifestream and spread the explosion through the portal as well. At the very least, the destruction should destroy whatever documents that the Demon Rat researchers had desperately wished to save for the defection.

    "Your mind is so easy to read," Tinda said as she and Narris stood right behind Borat.

    "What are you talking about?" Borat maintained his cool and began to pick up a few documents from the side of the table. "Please do not disturb me, Dr Transquick had already said that we do not have much time on our side."

    "That is why I told you to wait until we catch him in the act." Narris sighed as she said ced her hands on her hips as if signalling to Tinda that her tant rash behaviour to catch the spy before he did his act was a futile attempt.

    "I honestly do not care. We have no ce for betrayers and besides, having a live specimen would be better for Kraft. He said that he wanted to try some new torture methods against the Demon Rats if they do notply. Also, having a spy in denial is better than a dead spy." Tinda said as she moved her index finger with magic pulsating through it.

    It immediately cast a spell to bind Borat up and even forced his mouth to be wide open while his tail bounded to his body. Through their experience. they knew how some of these rats were adamant about not giving information to the point they were ready to suicide by biting their tongues or even sending their tail right through their heads. (Yes, it was surprising enough that they could harden their tail enough with sufficient blood pressure and pierce through their brain.)

    It was to the point the Night Foxes had devised a way to bind the Demon Rats and quickly extract information from them rather than doing the usual method of interrogation. (Since most of them knew that Kraft loved to y with their victim''s emotions and tapped into their pool of fear but that would not work if they could kill themselves before revealing any information.)

    The Demon Rat Researchers were undoubtedly frightened by the sudden capture of their own people but seeing how the Night Foxes had concluded that he was one of the assassins, reminded them that they were still at the mercy of their enemies.

 Chapter 1397 Death To The Assassin

    Dr Transquick came over almost immediately to see the ruckus but before he could make any sound in the attempt to protect his fellow Researcher, Tinda reached into his body and tore a patch of skin from Borat.

    Naturally, he tried to fight back but Borat did not expect that the female Dark Elf that was choking him had so much strength within her that there was no way to fight back through usual means. He initially thought they would be weak considering their slender body and the nimble use of guns in the initial massacre of the assassins but now he understood that he had no chance against her.

    The binds were biting on him even harder the more he resisted as if there were magical thorns prating his fur and skin. But the most painful was the patch that Tinda had torn out to show Dr Transquick of his betrayal.

    "I believe you know this particr symbol?" Tinda said as she continued to squeeze Borat with her thorny binds.

    "That''sбнthat''s the 49th Mage Company Insignia." Dr Transquick could recognise it despite the fur and blood around the broken patch of skin. He then nodded his head slowly and tried to exin that the majority of the Demon Rat Researchers were also in Mage Companies as well before they became his employees.

    "Sigh, so are you saying that my Night Foxes need to do some culling before we are sure we will have no traitors in our midst?" Tinda questioned with a stare that demanded an answer immediately in order to taunt him.

    "No. If you kill my employees, you might as well kill me too since I was a part of the Mage Company as well." Transquick said as he unbuttoned his coat and revealed the very same 49th Mage Company insignia on his right scap. Some of the Demon Rats stopped their work and decided to show their insignia as a sign of trust for their Research Head too.

    And this immediately gave all the Night Foxes the excuse to activate their magic eyes to peel into the Demon Rats'' heads, vetting each and every one of them who had contact with the Mage General or had orders to assassinate the Demon Rat Researchers.

    With Borat as their example, Tinda had already given explicit search terms for all the Night Foxes to check whether these Demon Rat Researchers were aplices. While they knew that their search might not be as extensive as Kraft''s, it should not be as difficult as the ones they were given in their exams where they had to face veteran human spies to dig out specific information.

    Knowing the Demon Rat''s history where brute strength and overwhelming numbers were the key to victory over the Northern Region, it was apparent that their level of knowledge when ites to spying was akin to an amateur stalker.

    With each read and double confirmation of the Demon Rat Researchers, the Dark Elves shouted the name of the Demon Rat and stated ''Clear'' as a sign that there was no need to suspect that particr researcher.<sub> </sub>

    Eventually, it all boiled down to Borat himself even though he was desperately hoping that the mage general was more meticulous to provide the backup group a backup group as well. Of course, with thest Demon Rat which they scanned considered innocent, Transquick had no choice but to ept the fact that Borat, one of his long term trusted employees, was working and backstabbing him at the same time.

    "Bloбн" Borat tried his damnedest to move his mouth. "Blowбнitбнup!" It was muffled but slightly audible as Borat attempted to stir the remaining mana within his body to force a self destruct, hoping to distract the Night Fox that was holding him down.

    However, he had no idea that the Dark Elf right in front of him was superior in all aspects. Physically and magically, perhaps intellectual as well but it was never proven until Tinda who was welding magic at her fingertips suddenly closed them together.

    It caused the binds that were holding him to turn into a ball of magic vines and subsequently squeeze him with a velocity and strength that outmatched being hit by the speed of a racing car. His self destruction sequence had initiated but it was contained within the magical ball of vines.

    All the Demon Rats could see was a sh of light emanating out of the ball and subsequently, blood dripping out of it. Dr Transquick sighed but told the rest to work hard to move all the items into the portals immediately. The rest of the Night Foxes were feared by the researchers but the researchers were doing their best to remain calm while working hand in hand with their new allies.

    It was a brutal show of force but Tinda deemed it necessary although Narris begged to differ. No doubt, all of this were also transmitted in real time to Kraft as he watched it live via the System channel as he trampled the mages who attempted to murder him.

    Evidently, the Devil himself was enjoying the show more than he should, knowing that the Night Foxes, especially Tinda had made the right choice to show her might against the Demon Rat Researchers.

    "After all, they are going to be mine. Then we will show Jin''s Science Branch that Kraft''s sciency rats are better than theirs by milesбн Heheh not to mention all the experimental gadgets they could allow me to use and then I might be able to have a rematch against Jin to have a clear victory." Kraft giggled to himself as he started to n a list of agendas for his new science team while he massacred the rest of the mages that popped up.

    Whether he forgot it or not, Jin and the System were watching him and his team the entire time. He was relieved that more Birth Mothers were rescued as well as having the corpse catcher technology avable for analysis. However, he was a little mixed in the opinion of allowing Kraft to have his very own research team.

    "But it could be a good thingбнconsidering how he always pesters Ayse and Weslie to make something crazy for him and dys the rest of the science branch''s main priorities. Besides, somepetition might be healthy for the development of the store." Jin thought to himself and also started to think about what he could do for theing future.

 Chapter 1398 A Few Questions

    The third night of endless fighting continued and with the unexpected alliance of the Demon Rat Researchers, Jin felt that he could finally take a breather from the war for a while. The fight would undoubtedly continue through but he felt that he had already gained more than he would have wanted from this particr war.

    To be able to find the ''source'' of the Demon Rats, their Birth Mothers and with the science team under Kraft''s lead, Jin could annihte the rest with a rush of troops or even hit the big red button and destroy their mainmunication headquarters. After which, he could easily send a massive bombardment of missiles from all the money he had earned from the entire PandaVerse Festival.

    The only problem was that he did not find that it was useful because every single minion under his disposal was vying and itching to have a piece of the fight. Everyone was preparing for this day and it would be an injustice for his minions to not be able to have a taste of the battle that they had been training so hard for.

    Thus, Jin had decided to leave it to the System to handle the rest of the fight since he believed it would be best for his second inmand to take over while he handled something more бнdelicate. For your information, he did not pass it to Kraft because that self proimed had no right to it no matter how much he dered that he had the right to do so. Moloch came in to fill in the seat for Jin. (Although it was evident that the crafty devil always loved to poke his fingers into things that were not his. Thankfully, Moloch had sufficient experience to shoo him away.)

    Jin went to the temporary instance in the World of Sanctums, where he housed all of his minions, in order to talk to Dr Transquick who was busy filtering out all the documents they had haphazardly thrown into the instance when Kraft told them to do so. (That Fox had bought more than enough time for them but it was a mere habit of him to rush those who didn''t know him.)

    But just as he was about to speak to the Demon Rat Research, Kraft suddenly emerged right behind Jin just as he tried to spook Moloch to give hismand away to him. "No, Kraft. I am not stealing your ''prized loot'' away. I just need to talk to him with regards to the Farming World."

    "Damn, and here I thought I could give a grand speech about how I found the perfect being of science andter demanded a trial of honour- a battle to the death for real so that I can have my rematch." Kraft instantly yawned at the current situation and decided to back off.

    "I will give you sufficient funds for you to start up your ownb, Kraft. I find that the prospects of having two science teams cooperating and at times doing their own unique projects would bring some healthypetition to the table. Besides, we needed more dudes knowledgeable in engineering and your Demon Rats are actually something I honestly had hoped we could get as spoils of war." Jin told him that he frankly did not believe they would be able to get the Demon Rat Researchers considering their soldiers'' behaviour.

    "Considering that Mage General Prideblood had decided to dispose of us instead of sending guards to protect us, I figured that it was the right decision for the rest of my research team to change the hand that feeds us. Besides, the contract that ourбнnew leader-" Transquick had to clear his throat after saying thosest two words.<sub> </sub>

    "The contract wasprehensive but it was equivalent to submitting to very in exchange for generous amounts of funds for our research. Still, I find that this is fair considering that we are guaranteed the same treatment as the rest of yourбн the monsters under yourmand." Transquick said and Kraftughed. Even Jin could not bring himself to say that it was not exactly equal especially when the entire Demon Rat Research Team will fall under Kraft''s explicit tutge.

    Still, if they were a bunch of people who were curious about the outside world, they would definitely flourish under his pressuring demands for new and crazy gadgets.

    "In any case, the objective of meeting you here is not to goad or confirm your ''very''. I am more concerned with information that I desperately need. Things like where are the North and South schrs or what is the objective of digging so deep to ess the lifestream. Why do you Demon Rats wish to eradicate the rest of the human poption."

    "That''s a lot of questions to answer even for a smart rat." Kraft joked but Transquick did his best to exin whatever he could since he had already been inundated into the System. The first question was easy to exin especially when he was the few who utilised the schrs'' magical artefacts and were able to sense the loss of mana rights from those items.

    Even though the news eventually reached him, the research team already knew what wasing and they were cranking up their projects to make sure that they could replicate the effects of those magical artefacts they were using.

    "Those Warmongers had no idea the kind of situation that would happen when they killed the schrs. They only wanted power and they got it at the expense of the entire society. That was also when I felt that we might lose the war when we saw the kind of armaments you humans brought into the fight." Transquick said as he had prepared dozens of escape routes which involved the use of the magical artefacts but Jin''s monsters had unknowingly destroyed them when they raided the caves and hideouts ording to the System''s scan of the Northern Region.

    Jin asked the System if his minions had managed to acquire any of such magical artefacts and the System said that it did not have the time to sort it out. "All items the minions had looted were stored in a temporary instance and would be sorted out on ater date when the war had been officially concluded." The System reported.

    "Well, that is not as important as the second question you asked," Transquick said as he asked Jin to follow him. "My machine will show you the answers that you seek.

 Chapter 1399 The Lifestream

    "The Lifestream of the Farming World is what sustained this unique world. The nts that grow with the lifestream''s energy were the thing that created the substance it formed." Transquick said as he asked one of his assistants where ''that'' machine had been ced in the current instance.

    The assistant quickly pointed further south, stating that the machine under the veiled cloth was the thing that the Doc was looking for. "So, upon learning that the lifestream was probably the thing that created us, living beings from nts, we thought that this should be ours, not the humans. That thought was further cemented by the now deceased schrs when weter learned that we are the only living things that grew from the ground."

    "The schr assistants named us as abominations, as demons rather than something of a miracle. Only the schrs knew our worth but if the majority had such perception, we might not be able to live." Transquick said as he looked at the clothed machinery.

    "Then perhaps we decided that we need to craft out and for ourselvesбнso that we can call it our home. The northern region was the best choice given how lush it is but the only problem was that there were many dangers lurking within it. But given our nature, the North Schr decided to shelter us in various hideouts while growing in numbers to kill threats."

    "Soon, we also treated humans as threats since they thought that we were monsters just as how they heard rumours of talking monsters in the south." He pulled the cloth down and all it revealed was a square metal box. Jin was expecting more but he decided to allow Transquick to continue his monologue.

    "Some of the rats thought, maybe it''s because they did not know how it feels to be an animal and my predecessor had somehow managed to concoct a potion through the blood of a unique shapeshifter monster we had killed during our hunts. The only problem with that potion was when the person imbibed it once, the effects would be irreversible."

    "It felt like karma at work when we saw how the humans, terrified of their own people, shapeshifted into another animal. But it got us thinking about how weak minded those humans were and we decided that eradicating them would be the best course of action. Perhaps, those monsters were not the menace to us and rather it was the humans."

    "So we decided to kill them all. But we never realised that those humans yed an important factor in the creation of our lives."

    "Hmmбн I am guessing it''s something like the thirdw of Newton erm... there is a certain symmetry in nature." Jin said and Transquick agreed with what he was trying to imply.

    "So we decided to study the lifestream, to see if we can manipte it to our advantage. To make the story short, the life and death of humans were needed to have a healthy sum of life stream within the Farming World but we found that it was too tedious. Humans needed more time to grow and kill. We do not have the time and the resources to spare for that."

    "If they were ever judged under your international criminal court, their entire race would be eradicated on counts for tant human massacres." Kraft was indirectly hinting that Jin was harbouring beings far worse than serial killers.<sub> </sub>

    "Thus, we found the way to fuse human reproduction to our rat race and that was how the Birth Mothers were created. We can skip the lifestream portion but we are not able to skip the consequences of the life and death cycle." Transquick finally turned on the machine and it lit up to show a woman in stasis within the metal box.

    And with a few buttons, machine arms emerged from the sides to take shots of blood from her body. "We have infused a huge amount of lifestream into a human just for experimentation purposes and we found that it gradually changed the human into something different."

    "An entirely new breed, a superhuman. In fact, super is such an understatement that we might as well call them ultrahuman. Able to regenerate not just what we need but also capable of generating additional lifestream energy. It was revolutionary." Transquick said as he showed Jin his greatest product.

    "Oh just in case you are thinking whether I am encasing an ultrahuman in there. You are not wrong or right. It''s a clone cell that somehow managed to look like her. We checked and there was no brain in her at all. There were no other organs except a beating heart. No matter how many times we scanned, no development of peripheral organs was seen. It was filled with just bones and muscles and lots of blood vessels producing a hell lot of lifestream energy."

    "Then the original?"

    "Killed. Even the schrs found her too scary an ''object'' for her to live or be in the wrong hands. Whether it''s in our hands or the humans. The research team concurred but the thing was that the current roster of war generals consumed her flesh before she was incinerated."

    "What are you trying to say?"

    "Lots. But to answer your initial question. The fascination for the lifestream energy was to get the Demon Rats out of it and hell, to weaponize as well as you might have already seen in action." Transquick answered but Jin had way too many queries within his mind, waiting for Transquick to showcase his product in more detail.

    And yet the scariest thing happened as the ''human'' started to move and all the rats who were in the know of this particr artefact were all taken aback by it. Some of them even trembled in fear and that included Transquick since he spent all his life trying to unlock the mystery of this particr project left by his predecessor and this was the first he saw the ''human'' moving.

    "Is it because it was moving because there are humans around? But I have tried that beforeбн unlessбн" The Doc stared at Jin and he might be the key to this mystery.

 Chapter 1400 Yggdrasil

    The inhuman within the metal box continued to shake vigorously as if actively seeking out something, especially in the direction of Jin. The shaking got even more violent as each second passed and it began to release a dangerously high level of lifestream energy which was unprecedented even to the Demon Rats'' knowledge. It was dense enough that the metal box encasing the inhuman started to leak lifestream energy out of it which had never happened before.

    The Demon Rat researchers stopped what they were doing and tried to salvage the situation by trying to pick up any device and gadgets that were able to measure lifestream energy and started to do some measurements.

    It was initially minimal but it somehow started to increase exponentially that Transquick eventually became transfixed by the whole situation. However, his assistants, who seem to be wary of the danger of the lifestream energy that they tried to fiddle with the metal box''s console, attempting to activate additional security locks.

    However, the magical artefact created by the previous generation of Demon Rats malfunctioned from the pressure of lifestream energy that had emanated from it. Some of the senior Demon Rat Researchers tried to use some immobilisation devices that they threw into the instance to pacify the magical artefact.

    There was a gadget that takes in the lifestream energy like a vacuum cleaner but it was full almost instantaneously. Another gadget used by the senior Demon Rat Researchers tried to encapste the problem with another ''metal box'' however before it could even be secured, all sides of the ''metal box'' flew several metres away. They did not know whether it was the presence of a new metal box artefact or just the exponential pattern of the lifestream energy emanating that caused the new metal box artefact to not work.

    The only thing they knew was that it was getting dangerous and everyone desperately tried to run away from it with the exception of Transquick, Jin and Kraft who did not move away from their position since the start of this odd situation. (Funny enough, the Demon Rat Researchers valued their research materials so much that they tried to carry them close to their chest, hoping not to be destroyed by this current development of events.)

    The System queried whether any intervention was needed but Jin shook his head.

    "I had this feeling before when I was fighting in the Farming World. It was faint but undoubtedly the very same feeling when I was near a Lifestream vein." Jin said as he too utilised his Maqi in an attempt to connect with the Lifestream energies around him.

    Transquick watched how Jin''s internal energies started to shape the lifestream energies around him and mentally noted how they interacted with each other. Considering he had no information on how Jin''s energies were working, he had some inkling that it had to do with all that power that the humans had been portraying during the war.

    While he was far from the answer, the fact that he could sense some magic within Jin''s energy caused most of his theories of how magic was notpatible with the lifestream energies to be nullified. Yet, he was amazed by the sight as the lifestream energies began to take shape right in front of Jin.

    It was not very obvious at the start but subsequently, they could see the silhouette of a tree being formed from the lifestream energies with the metal box artefact at the centre of it all.<sub> </sub>

    Perhaps, it was due to Jin''s knowledge of mythical lore that allowed the lifestream energies to take the shape of a giant tree spirit but the name ''Yggdrasil'' had been at the tip of his tongue for the longest time ever since he was touched by the lifestream.

    "Looks like it was desperately trying tomunicate to you rather than it being a threat," Kraft said despite the creepiness of a faceless head moving within the metal box. Jin then decided to pour in even more Maqi energies while focusing on the thought ofmunication, hoping that the lifestream energies could interact with it.

    "Than- Thank you." The tree spirit silhouette spoked and moved as if a spring wind blew through its grand old branches. But at that moment, Jin requested the System to call for Shu, their local magical Treant to be on the site as well.

    "What do you call me for? You want more roots and not sending me to battle- Oh Holiest mother of gods. What the heck is that?!" Shu eximed as he could feel the pressure of the lifestream pressing him down the moment he got teleported into the instance.

    "I thought a tree like you canmunicate with another tree better."

    "Are you being a Tree-ist?" Shu said but he could already feel the lifestream energies umbre over his presence like a mother embracing her child.

    "Shit, you are right," Shu said as he started to receive information from the tree spirit, it was visibly apparent that having Shu around had indeed made things even more convenient for the Yggdrasil tomunicate. Despite its intense aura, Jin felt that this was actually its final bit of strength or even perhaps ast ditch attempt tomunicate.

    "Transmitting the data all to the System, because I am not going to interpret this set of overwhelming information all by myself," Shu eximed and the moment Yggsdrasilpleted its transmission, it whispered another faint thank you to Jin before disappearing right before their eyes. All the lifestream energy dissipated throughout the instance however because it was a self contained room, Most of the lifestream energies were eventually absorbed by the Demon Rat Researchers.

    However, that did not mean the System did not take the opportunity to gather some for its own analysis. Yet, what was more pressing was the information given by the Life Tree itself.

    "Long story short, good job, Jinбн?" Shu shrugged his branches and told them that the Farming World was indeed dying from the recent mass exploitation of the lifestream energies.

 Chapter 1401 Yggdrasils Memories

    "Ehhh exin more?" Jin said as he tried to catch his breath. The Maqi he released was more than he had anticipated. In the meantime, the other Demon Rats slowly regained theirposure and they tried to pick things up in this sheer white instance.

    Shu seeing how his master was panting heavily had decided to transfer some mana to him so that Jin could regte his system while Kraft walked towards the magical treant. "Ah, can''t you just take it from the System? Do you really have to go through my memories?" Shu knew what Kraft was capable of and did not wish to be his specimen.

    "The System will be filtering your memories and will try to make sense of it. I want the raw ones. Sometimes there are emotions packed into it and having to take a look in would definitely give a better perspective than what the System would give us." Before he even finished his sentence, Kraft had already ced his hand into it.

    Not to mention, he was ''kind'' enough to keep Jin in the loop by grabbing his shoulders andmencing the transfer. That meant Kraft was not only taking memories from Shu but also giving Jin the magical treant''s memories so that he did not have to bother exining everything to him.

    When the memories shed through Jin, it was heavily coded with shes of the Yggdrasil''s past. In the days it was just a tree sapling and subsequently being devoured by the world itself due to a major earthquake, causing the to have regenerative abilities. This allowed the Farming World to have its unique abilities.

    Yggdrasil is now the mythic equivalent of Gaia, the Motherly Earth spirit that quietly watches the world. Under her watch, there was nothing significant among the species that ruled thend. asional wars would break out throughout the ages but it wasrgely peaceful during her reign.

    But everything changed when the Demon Rats appeared. They quickly changed the rules of engagement and ughtered anything and everyone they could find, disrupting the scales of bnce that had been preserved for the longest time ever. While surely there would be an influx of lifestream due to the death of creatures, Yggdrasil needed to ensure that the lifestream could reproduce life back to the world as well.

    However, the cycle was disrupted when the Demon Rats began to plunder the lifestream energies from the roots of the world and used them for their experiment and to improve their own technology. Initially, Yggdrasil thought it would merely be a minute intervention, but the Demon Rats got clever and greedy, taking huge portions of it.

    The Rats might not have known it since they were vastly manipting the lifestream energies in the Northern Region but this had caused huge changes to the environment in the other regions. It was most noticeable in the Southern Region where thend was already harsh on their inhabitants to be even crazier to survive in.

    This prompted monsters like the Zerg Queen to have difficulty finding food although the humans living in the area just acted as the catalyst to make the situation worse. The Western and Eastern Regions were also seeing their crops growing at a slower pace. Also, their agricultural advisors noticed that at the rate the crops were maturing, they might have to either devote morend to farmers or tighten the food supply by introducing more taxes. Their stock would dwindle to the point that starvation might be a prevalent issue and they do not have an idea how to deal with it especially when all the appointed Schrs had disappeared.

    That was why when Weslie returned to the Western Region and greeted the Queen, she was well missed and many advisors to the Queen asked for the schr''s advice. One of the main concerns was indeed the food situation in the Western Region. Thus, by participating in the fight against the Demon Rats, the Queen of the West hoped that Weslie would have one less issue on her mind and she would be able to aid them with this unknown mystery.<sub> </sub>

    And while this was somewhat cruel, sending troops for the war against the Demon Rats would also alleviate the problem of the food supply. Besides getting gold which the Queen would not question how her Schr was able to amass that much amount, soldiers would be taken care of.

    Guaranteed meals during the course of this battle might be a short term solution but this would allow the Western Kingdom to breathe a little on their resources even if it was just mere weeks of fighting. ((Author''s note: Time travelled faster in the Farming World than in the real world and most of the time''s perspective had been written in lieu of Jin''s world. I do not wish to retcon too much with regards to timing.))

    And to put it bluntly, War would no doubt incur losses and while that loss might be devastating to families in the Western Kingdom, it was one of the few ways to dampen the seriousness of the food situation.

    As for the Eastern Kingdom, the nobles were hoarding the food supplies and the peasants were all suffering. There was no effort being done to aid themoners while the King and his wealthy subjects continued to enjoy their food luxuriously without care for life. Gold might not have been on the ground for ages but he still had informants who served the Jacks, his group of Robin Hood Werejackals. It was also one of the reasons he did not really wish to ask for help from the nobles since to them, there was nothing to gain from it other than to flex their military might.

    But the Dark Temr organisation had numerous nobles under its wing, and since they were already under the System''s influence, it was easy to move a few thousand troops for the war. In return, the System and Gold were able to give reason to feed the families of those troops. Upon hearing that there was food on the table, many who were able, pledge their sword arm for the battle against the Demon Rats as well.

    No doubt the news went to the King and the other nobles but they honestly did not care about the situation of the Northern Region and lived in their ignorant bliss.

    With all this information flowing through Jin and Kraft, they could see how the Farming World started to crumble down with the intrusion of the Demon Rats. However, it was evident that Jin''s intervention in both the Northern and Southern regions had indirectly helped Yggdrasil to regain some energy. However, that extra help was quickly depleted when the Demon Rats furiously produced new equipment.

    It was only in the past few days when the Demon Rats were struck in their Undercity that Yggdrasil had managed to recover a little better. In the meantime, as embarrassing as it was, the System finally was able to get the pattern of the energy signature and it was indeed Yggdrasil acting as the ''Spirits of the Land'' aiding it to fight the war against this rat menace.

    With a plea from the world, Jin decided that it was better to get this over and done with as soon as possible while reaffirming his resolve to eradicate the rest of the Demon Rats (that were not his.)

 Chapter 1402 Revising Threat

    "Does the User wish to expedite the entire war scenario? It would inadvertently affect the PandaVerse Festival''s schedule." The System queried.

    "System''s right you know? This World Spirit had already been suffering for some time, what''s the difference with another few days?" In a rare situation, Kraft had supposedly aided the System.

    "Not to mention, I do not think you have that many things nned for the ending of PandaVerse Festival other than a big celebration. You had already called in favours, brought in Singers and Bands for the past few days."

    "The Virtual Reality Instance is still in beta testing and though people are enjoying it now, officially incorporating the ''Corpse Catcher'' technology would be a better solution for the way forward." The System added, to support the case of not hastening the current war scenario.

    "Urghh. Even though you are right, we did have a n in the event that we had cleared the raid early. So, why can''t we just improvise with that particr n? The fight may have been over but surely we will need to several sweeps to ensure all the Demon Rats were killed. We cannot even let one escape in the event that they would mutate like the variants and start reproducing."

    "That will be quite anticlimactic though." Kraft shook his head in disagreement. "If the ending of PandaVerse Festival is like this, it would be criticised harshly especially when all eyes are on us after you pull the stunt of revealing a number of Zodiac Heads at the start of the festival."

    "Let me worry about that for now. System, we will go with that particr backup n of revealing to the Pandarens that they could have a possible farm of their own once they rid the Demon Rats in the Northern Region."

    "User, are you sure that is a good choice? The System initially went with the backup n mainly due to the fact that it was not profitable for us to clear the war in less than seven days. Also, we would be at a loss despite the profits if we were to send everyone in without knowing if the Demon Rats would have an extermination n such as a nuclear bomb. Judging based on what the System had gathered from all possible information from the surviving Demon Rat Researchers, a nuclear bomb equivalent using lifestream energies had been manufactured and kept."

    "Is that true?!" Jin looked at Transquick who was still fixated on the Metal Box Artefact.

    "Is that true?!" Kraft''s eyes were filled with delight knowing that there was finally something worthy of his destructive calibre.

    "Hmm? True what?" Transquick broke his trance from his theory crafting and ensued with some irritation.

    "You guys built a lifestream energy bomb?" Jin asked as if he needed to verify the information at the very moment as if his life depended on it. At the same time, he tried to shut Kraft up who was walking toward him, wanting to grab his prized researcher and give him a hug. (Although it was pretty obvious that he wanted to take a closer look into his memories and learn where the bomb was.)

    "Lifestream energy bomb? Oh, that piece of wondrous marvel that Borat did. Well, now I know why he wanted to create such a weapon of destruction so badly considering his allegiance with the Mage Generalбн" Transquick clicked his tongue twice and an assistant came by to ask what was required of the Research Head.

    "Do you mind getting me my tablet as well as the mechanical book of records if it had not been broken by the aura st from just now?" Transquick asked and the assistant instantly grabbed them from the side, already prepared what the Research Head had wanted after hearing the queries from the two humans.<sub> </sub>

    "Ah, brilliant." Transquick smiled ever so slightly and tried to turn on his tabletбнuntil he realised he needed power. Kraft then nudged Jin and the Dungeon Supplier reluctantly obliged by teleporting in a portable power generator since he was the one who requested the information.

    "Hmm, yet another tech which I have never seen before. But the wires seemed to be simr to ours. I guess, with a bit of tinkering I should get it up with no time." True enough, Transquick took a few tools that were lying around in his utility belt and he performed some ''cut and paste'' and vo! The power generator was able to be attached to his tablet, allowing it to power up rather quickly.

    "Call me a genius~" Transquick was ted that he was able to transfix two different pieces of technology from different worlds and utilise them at the spot. As much as the two humans were urgent and hungry for information, they were equally curious about how the tablet boots up Operating Systems, and the user interface, they both wondered how different or simr the two world''s technology would be.

    Soon, they found out that it was nearly identical, but akin to the 80s version of Disk Operating System (DOS) where it was a list ofmands with the limited user interface. Yet, Transquick navigated through his tablet rather quickly and was able to find the lifestream energies entrance.

    "Huhбн its location is kept secret even from me who has the highest ess to the said database," Transquick said and Kraft who already got bored decided to grab it from him and fiddle it himself.

    In a few minutes of tapping furiously on the tablet''s keyboard, he finally found out that the location was not just top secret, it did not exist. "What a waste of time." Kraft sighed as he threw back the tablet to his researcher.

    "Does not exist? Does that mean it''s being taken out of its inventory?" Jin asked and Kraft pped Jin''s back for stating the obvious. "Then System, are you able to track the Lifestream energy bomb with your scan? Surely, with an intense-"

    "Ah, you won''t be able to detect with usual means. It''s kept in a simr metal box like this artefact right here. It will deflect any magical signals since the bomb itself is sensitive in nature." Transquick said as he showed the both of them what the metal crate that held the bomb looked like.

    "Damn it. That means there''s a high chance it could actually be deployed to the ground." Jin said and Kraft merely shook his head.

    "Guess, it''s up to the Night Foxes to search for them again. Bossman, go sit up in themand room and make sure the attrition of fight is well-"

    "No. This time, I will go." Jin said as he fiddled with his phone and transferred a buttload of System Points to Kraft.

    "Go settle your new researchers." It was pretty apparent Jin did not want the bomb to fall into the ''wrong'' hands.

 Chapter 1403 Extra: Negotiating With The Boss

    "Wellбн if you say so?" Kraft knew that he could do two things at once. Finding the Lifestream Energy Bomb and stealing it right under Jin''s nose while looking through ck market catalogues to make sure that he is able to buy what he wants via the System.

    After all, it was rather rare for Jin to even distribute System Points it would be a waste to not use it straight after and demand for more. Yet, Kraft decided to have some conscience since this was indeed the first time in a long while since Jin wishes to step into the battlefield and do some fieldwork himself.

    "I guess it''s better for him to do something or else, he would rot with all that knowledge. Besides, I bet he barely used ten percent of the System Rider System especially when he got so many minions to work with." Kraft said out loud to himself since he knew that the System and Jin were waiting for his response.

    "Oh, did I speak too loud?" The Devil sniggers at hisment and beckons Transquick to follow him, "My dear little scientist, you will have all the equipment you wish to have. I do not even mind if you sleep on the floor but first, let''s get you acquainted with my homely abode in the Farming World."

    "GoblinбнWorld?" Transquick did not know what was that but it was equally interested in the sound of that.

    "Also, My dear Bossman. I let you have themand of my Night Foxes. I bet you will find them useful in your search for that Lifestream Energy Bomb. But do be quick about it, the amount of System Points you gave me barely covers their one week''s allowances." Kraft said as he waved goodbye to Jin and teleported to the Goblin World where his own tavern was.

    "Out of curiosity, how much is he paying you on a daily basis?" Jin asked Tinda and Narris via the System Channel.

    "Master said we cannot say anything about pay. It''s a very sensitive thing to be discussed on a public chann-" Before Narris could finish her words, Tinda cut in.

    "Less than 50 System Points a day depending on our workload. He is extremely stingy and does not give any overtime pay. I would not mind to be of service to you, Master Jin. So long we can keep this quiet. A hush hush deal between the Night Foxes and us." Tinda whispered in rapid ze session that Jin needed some time to process what she was talking about.

    "I ehбн I see. So I am guessing, you guys will double cross him just for extra System Pointsбн? Jin said out tantly and Narris tried to be honourable in her dealings but if there was a screen for Jin to see the expressions of every other Night Foxes behind her, it was bloody obvious they wanted something more than just honour. But even if he could not see it, Jin was able to sense the frustration from the background.

    The grumblings and possibly some hissing on the ''honourable'' Night Fox that Kraft favoured so much. "It''s not double crossing when we are technically working for you. Kraft is merely theбнerm what do you call it? Local Director? You are the Chief Executive Officer of this bloodypany. Getting some extramission from you is not betrayal at all." Tinda phrased it soically that Jin could see that they were desperate for extra System Points.

    "I honestly won''t me them for being so hungry for those points." Jin thought to himself and asked the System to get aprehensive report on the Night Foxes'' earnings. In less than a blink of an eye, the System''s report was generated right in front of Jin to read and without much of a nce, it was evident enough that the Night Foxes were indeed being underpaid for the work they did.<sub> </sub>

    "Sigh, considering the work they do for Kraft, they do deserve the kind of System Points that Kraft mentioned if he didn''t blindly rob them of their allowances," Jin said while shaking his head in dismay.

    "Right????" Tinda was excited to see that the Boss of their Boss had some sympathy for the Dark Elves.

    "Fine, fine. Aid me in the search for the lifestream energy bomb and all of you would be entitled to a bonus." Jin said and the Night Foxes were pleasantly thrilled by the prospect of iing System points."

    "You know, it would best to keep your word by giving us a depositбн" Tinda tried to persuade for some points upfront but Jin shut her up with just four words.

    "Don''t Push Your Luck," Jin replied and almost every single Night Fox around her pulled her aside and Narris who was supposedly the most abiding Dark Elf under Kraft''smand ced her hand onto Tinda''s mouth and told her to shut it.

    "One more condition. The Lifestream Energy Bomb or BOMBS are entirely my possession. If I notice that Kraft had managed to get a hold of any part of it. I will banish everyone as per the agreement signed between you and the System." Jin made it clear that even though they were in the same team, under the same System.

    "Does that include our Boss stealing it right under our nose?" One of the Dark Elves asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yes, if he steals it right under your nose. By hook or by crook, you better take it back. And do not worry about the Demon Rats he is attempting to sway. The System had ced a direct order, instructing them to not share anything about the Lifestream Energy Bomb with Kraft."

    "You knowбн if you keep him out like that, all the more he would attempt to bite you back," Narris said, thinking she gave a sound warning.

    "Don''t worry. I know his character equally well. I just need to make sure his potential desire for that wanton destruction would be sated in different ways." Jin said as he returned to his Dungeon Maker room, asking for a map of the Undercity once more.

 Chapter 1404 Preparation For The Final Fight

    The Night Elves went into overdrive searching for the Lifestream Energy Bomb despite the ongoing war that was happening despite the entire incident. Moloch was handling the situation well enough that Jin felt reassured that he was able to move into the Undercity without worrying.

    "Don''t you worry kid. While I might not look like it, I do have some experience under my belt. It''s just that your way of doing war is a tad unconventional but after watching and reviewing your actions, I now know what needs to be done." Moloch said as he sent the information of what he did for the past few hours.

    Jin took a quick look within the Dungeon Maker and noticed that the Demon Rats were not relenting despite the loss of their Research unit. Kraft did make it look like they had stolen some properties from the research facility and then burned the entire ce down. He even purposely got several of the Dark Elves to throw a few of the dead ''assassin'' researchers near the entrance of the burnt down research facility to look as if it was pige and arson.

    This would allow the Mage General to not know that the distress signal called by the assassins was not due to betrayal but rather a sign of help against the humans and their fellow monster allies.

    But they got to make it foolproof to make sure that the Mage General would not suspect a thing about their intention to get the Lifestream Energy Bomb. Thus, a few Night Foxes were purposely seen putting up an borate act that they were taking the injured Birth Mothers in the event that there were still soldiers and mages monitoring the situation. With such a ploy by the Night Foxes, the rest of the Demon Rat Researchers and Jin would not have to worry the Mage General''s having suspicions about them knowing the Lifestream Energy Bombбн Or at the very least lowering the chance of it.

    The most important thing was to deceive their higher ups to make them think that the humans were only here in the research facilities for the Birth Mothers and nothing else of note. This was because if the Researchers were dead, Prideblood would know that the humans would not have ess to the information with regards to their most exquisite and destructive weapon in their hands.

    "However, can I give you some advice?" Moloch asked his master for the permission to speak, which Jin gave it freely.

    "I believe it is now time to cut the heads off the snake''s body. We have reached the City''s centre and all the forces that we are seeing now are trained soldiers like the ones we had fought protecting Wecha Town."

    "The rank and file Demon Rats are currently dispatched to the nks and fighting against the zombies but the main bulk of their veterans are concentrating their firepower in that particr area. I will not be surprised to see a few recurring characters like Skydigger, the Pickaxe General who ran away from the Pandarens."

    "I thought he would be dead with all that damage done to him."

    "Even if he does die, do not be surprised if you see someone iming to be Skydigger." Transquick who teleported in, wanting to give Jin the possible hiding locations where the Lifestream Energy Bomb would be. "There are permanent unique general positions in the Demon Rat military and there are disposable ones. Skydigger is one of the names bestowed to the Demon Rat that was able to transcend theirbat skills and proved to be deadly with a pickaxe."

    "Most of the elites are just waiting for the General to die out frombat to take the seat. And yes, there is a queue for that title because everyone knows the privilege of being a General."<sub> </sub>

    "So, I guess we should aim for the permanent positions?" Jin took a quick nce at the possible locations on a bloodied map of the Undercity and passed it to the System to upload so the Night Foxes knew where to go.

    "Yes, Gnawbones was fortunately one of them as he was the few who partook a decent amount of lifestream energy, the other three who also took in the energies were Roughscream, Prideblood and Cinderw. Particrly thest one is now seated as the King and Overseer of the entire Demon Rat race. Defeat him and you might have some control of the situation." Transquick was quick enough to understand that Jin wanted the war to finish as soon as within his seven days. Now that he was inundated into the System, and the promises of technological research after the war had spurred Transquick to reveal even more information to ensure that Jin reached his goal.

    "Then I guess I better head to the High Command as soon as possible. Peppers and Pei. We have some hunting to do." Jin called out the names of his mage betor and his guardian ''fox'' to the Dungeon Maker instance.

    "Heh, the System told me all about it. Let''s see who really deserves the title of Mage General." Peppers said as she unveiled under her cape, abat vest filled with crystalised tubes that were supposedly used to control her mana consumption.

    "I am the one who should be surprised that you decided to call me. I thought you would call the Orcs to fight against thisбнClub General. Wait, are you implying that I fight like a brute?" Pei, the Pink Fox unveiled her human form and took out her katana with the intent to stab Jin.

    "No! No! I was merely thinking that you fight with the most elegance despite your cold hard strikes within my army. And also, don''t you think you should be thanking me instead?" Jin knew that the rest of the Foxes were hard at work recreating Demonpolis and that they were dying from administrative paperwork.

    "You have a valid point. The rest would be jealous if they knew that I went out to y." Pei retracted her sword and Jin was relieved that she could still listen to reason.

    "See? The privileges of being guardian once for the User." Jin chuckled but Pei knocked his head.

    "I still am, just that I know that you are within the System''s premise and the sole reason why I did not make a move." Pei argued with her hands crossed.

    "And if you are going for a big battle then all the more you all should feast first before going in." Lynn suddenly popped into the Dungeon Maker instance which Jin presumed that the System had told her everything about.

    "Thank you Lynn." He said as the dungeon supplier told the two of them to have some food to gain some buffs before entering for the ''final'' fight.

 Chapter 1405 Leading The Distraction

    "So Boss, do you want a quick portal to the High Command or do you want me to create a pathway to that building?" Moloch asked but he believed he knew the answer Jin was going to give though it was better toe it out from his mouth than assuming.

    "Create a pathway for me to go through. Use a WARE event or multiple WARE events to make it happen." Jin said as he looked through the information that Transquick had given him with regards to the Demon Rat Generals who had been taken in the lifestream energy for their own consumption.

    "Hmm, might be a tad difficult since we are only in the middle of the fourth day and most of the crowdes after their work schedule." Moloch said as he tried to check the number of Pandarens around to see if there was any ''magic'' he could pull to make it work.

    "Aren''t the Pandawans still around? I thought I heard them saying that they had saved up their leave and money just for this particr event?" Jin asked and Moloch brought up the Pandaren List to check whether his usual customers were present in the fight. Based on the System''sst seen reports, he eventually found out that they were currently resting and having their lunch at one of the newly opened restaurants within the Tree Mall.

    "They are currently waiting for the orders and since they are such a big group, it would take some time. Although I believe you can use your privilege as the Tree Mall''sndlord and push forth the orderбнsince your NPCs are the ones doing most of the cooking." Moloch giggled and Jin thought about it for a second before saying no.

    "Let them rest, it would be horrible of me to let them miss this out but equally horrible to cause them to quicken their pace of eating just for this minor event," Jin said but Moloch begged to differ.

    "I honestly think they will drop everything whatever they are doing and go for a run with you. Frankly speaking, it''s not just the points, they believed in you especially when you have such an exciting battle ahead. Besides, you did owe them a good fight after you abandoned them to fight against Baal."

    "That is also trueбн Now that I think about it, do you think it''s okay to release Baal now for a fight?" Jin asked Moloch since he was the only one monitoring the progress of Baal despite being kept under heavy System scrutiny (even when he too had agreed to sign the System''s contract willingly.)

    "Hmmбн If you want him to be part of the fight, it will no doubt increase the odds of this current battle since his leadership is unparalleled -well, his leader was unparalleled when I first joined him. Not like that crazy fool he was under Kiva''s artefact influence so I guess we could give it a try. Besides, having him for future battles would definitely be useful if we were ever to intervene in the Demon''s dimensional ne or heck, even the Gods'' ce of living. Not that I honestly want to go there."

    "Woah, Woah. You are thinking way too much now. In any case, contact the Pandawans and get our NPCs in that Chinese restaurant to serve the food to them as soon as possible. Also, put their meal on my tab while I talk to Baal for a moment or two."

    "Boss, you sure?"

    "Better to have me give him the orders than to get it from you. He might agree on the ount that he is doing you a favour or returning the debt he owes you, but ultimately, he is my minion. I still have to talk to him and make sure he sees things my way."

    "Boss, you sound cool for a moment, but I do not think you are that capable."

    "Hah asshole." Jin chuckled as he had already sent the Night Foxes to do a preliminary search while hiding their presence. Onlyter when Jin and his minions enter the fray, it would then be the best distraction for the Night Foxes to do their job properly and search for the Lifestream Energy Bomb while making sure that their generals are upied to even think of using the Lifestream Energy Bomb, especially their Mage General Prideblood.

    "Hahah, I will prepare the Demopolis Minions for mobilisation. They would no doubt be happy that King Baal would be there to lead them once more." Moloch said to Jin knowing that even if his master had failed to convince Baal, thest resort he could do was to eithermand them himself, or Jin using the System to force Baal to lead the troops. Yet, those thoughts were kept aside since he had already conversed with Baal enough times to know that it should be an easy job for Jin to convince the Demon King to lead once more.<sub> </sub>

    Once Jin teleported into the instance that was keeping Baal imprisoned, he was expecting a defeated soul, filled with regrets. But he was dead wrong when the dungeon supplier saw the demon humming to himself in his prison cell writing something with a few books by his side. He never believed the King of Demons would be studious if he had never seen this side of him.

    "If you havee, it means that you either want me to go into battle or need me for some advice with regards to the Demon Dimensional ne," Baal said as he continued to be upied writing.

    "Yes, the former." Jin did not bring up any excuses or any roundabout exnation.

    "Are you not afraid that I might break the System''s hold, take control of the army that I once lost and create a coup d''etat within your circle of minions?"

    "Honesty, not really. If ites to that, I will just settle with whatever powers I have within my possession. I clearly do not have the time to think about such stuff. Besides, I trust the System to inform me of such incidents before they could even happen."

    "Then you must be fortunate to not have such worries." The Kingmented a little. "I too would like some of this ''worry not'' attitude and just do more for my kingdom."

    "You can always make a new one. I can offer you a position in Pandapolis Administration since there are now demons working in the city as well alongside the whatever stowaway humans."

    "Tempting offer but I do enjoy my current solitude. Being bogged down with paperwork isn''t my style."

    "Though I feel that you are enjoying it."

    "Probably just bored."

    "But are you bored enough to lead your men to battle again?" Jin felt that there was no need to prattle on.

    "Hmm. I would not lie that my sword arm is itching for a fight since my defeat. For now, I will ept your call to battle. But do not expect-"

    "That''s enough for now, we can discuss more when we are done with the current situation. Time is of some essence in this current matter." Jin said as he requested the System to pour whatever vital information it had to Baal, allowing him to understand the chain of developments that were happening in the Farming World.

    "I see, then let''s get to it," Baal said with a sigh after rubbing his temple from the excessive information that was given to him. Jin was undoubtedly relieved that everything went smoothly, many thanks to Moloch who had been preparing Baal from behind the scenes.

 Chapter 1406 Ever Extending Bridge

    Baal entered the Dungeon Maker Instance with Jin and Moloch was not surprised at all that he was able to make his way here. But rather, he was more than happy to ce his hand out as if he was demanding something from Baal.

    "What?" Baal tried to avoid the stare from Moloch but the plushie minotaur was insisting for Baal to hand over it. This made Jin curious and Baal decided not to dilly dally too much considering the situation in the Farming World.

    "System Points trade. It was a bet whether Boss would be willing to go to get Baal out of his cell." Moloch said and Jin only had confused looks on his face.

    "We made a bet. That''s all. Do not think too much about it. It''s just our past time hobby when Moloch and I were still King and Advisor." Baal said but Jin was more curious about how Baal even got hold of System Points. Yet, that was a question that was out of the current context at this point in time and one could only assume that the System was already getting Baal to do things even though he was semi imprisoned.

    "Do I have Kiva under my control as well?" Baal asked and Moloch smacked his former King on the shoulders, telling him to not joke anymore in front of Jin. However, Baal was asking it as a serious inquiry.

    "Why do you need him?" Jin asked and Baal requested the System to open up the Undercity''s map.

    "There is no doubt that I can brute force my way through the City Centre with my troops but it will take too many causalities. But from what I heard, Kiva had developed a sort of bridge module with the Science Branch which enabled it to work by extending almost infinitely until it reach its destination. It was abination of magic and technology at the same time." Baal answered and Jin now understood that even though he was imprisoned, he was still privy to their information. That means the System did not see him as a threat but Baal merely wanted some time alone for himself and decided to continue to stay within the cell. The only problem was that the System did not allow freeloaders and thus where the System Points came about. Still, he did not understand what was Baal thinking and needed rification.

    "What does that have to do with the push for the High Command?"

    "You needed a bait for distraction and this would be the perfect lure to make sure that the Demon Rats High Command take note of you," Baal said as he requested the System to simte the ever extending bridge module in the Undercity.

    "In the first ce, why would he even make such a product?" Jin asked but both Moloch and Baal merely shrugged their shoulders. The System, however, was able to provide an answer for it, stating that it was to connect not just cliffs and canyons or fast flowing rivers but to connect between countries, and more ambitiously, betweens.

    s??!" Jin eximed as he could not believe the absurdness of the said product.<sub> </sub>

    "Well, if he wants to use this to connect betweens, then that means it''s sturdy enough to hold against artillery fire." Moloch deduced and the System gave a positive affirmation.

    "I see. So as our forces goes overhead the ground, they could obviously see the threat that wasing towards them, since we are forcefully connecting it to the Demon Rats High Command Building. Not a bad idea." Jin nodded his head in agreement and give the n a go ahead.

    "Not only that, but the bridge can also extend sideways so we can use the surrounding buildings as a diversion while enhancing our temporary stronghold ." Moloch had a quick review of Kiva''s product. "Though I do not believe the name of this product is just called Ever Extending Bridge. He definitely had a fanciful name for it."

    "Yes, Researcher Kiva did submit a name but it was unanimously rejected by the rest of the Science Branch, citing concerns that it might be too pompous." The System reported and the group sighed, knowing Kiva''s habits.

    "Also, how''s the response from the Pandawans?" Jin decided to sidetrack from the current conversation, now knowing the direction of their war n. (But unbeknownst to him, the System was a tad disappointed considering it hade up a heck load of ns previously regarding this invasion and Jin had decided to use a n that had not been fully simted and its risks calcted. However, the System does not deny the attention it could generate from the n, it was merely worried about the damage and cost it had to bear.

    "The Pandawans agreed to it, and in fact, Xiong Da had promised toe as soon as possible even though I told them to enjoy their food," Moloch replied. "I even added that if they waste their food, they are not going to go in at all, which prompted them to Xiong Da to gobble everything which the rest could not finish. For that, I was partially speechless."

    "But it was barely a few minutes thest I spoke to you... Guess I cannot underestimate the power of the hippo." Jin shook his head in dismay.

    "Nah, they were only given the appetisers. So, they still got the main course and dessert but Xiong Da is obviously on the edge. Thankfully, the NPCs responded positively to our orders and they are dishing the food out as fast as possible while maintaining quality." Moloch reassured Jin.

    "Then, we shall start the assault first. Send out the announcements to both the Pandarens and our Minions. As for Baal, I shall give you temporary control over the Demopolis Generals. Even the Devil Dragons who are fighting now will be under yourmand. In the meantime, Moloch please ensure that the rest of the forces are still doing their part, especially the ones that are fighting in the East and West tunnels." Jin ordered and the both of them acknowledged.

    The Demon Rats would not know how hard Jin and his minions are going to hit after this slew of orders.

 Chapter 1407 Pridebloods Ambition

    With each day of defeat and losing their grounds of their Undercity bit by bit to the humans and monsters, the Demon Rats'' morale was dropping rapidly. The rumours regarding the death of their Air Force General had been made true once the Demon Rats in the Air Force had been given orders by Mage General Prideblood.

    And what was worse was that the humans were relenting in their fight, something which most of the veterans had dismissed them as weak beings were refuted at each and every turn of the battle. The newer Demon Rats could see the vigour of the human cultivators returning to the battle not defeated but ever more eager to kill them.

    Their numbers might not amount to much but their resurrective abilities were something that even the Demon Rats believed that it was only a matter of time before they lost such an ability and died permanently. There was no such thing as infinite magic and somehow they thought it was proven true within the second day of the battle.

    Yet, as a spark of hope shimmers through their hearts, the humans came in with their allied monsters to crush all their beliefs. Now into the fourth day of battle, they were desperately fighting only in hopes that their main armies who had advanced into the Eastern and Western regions would have more sess and buy them time to establish a new foothold in said regions.

    Yet, the control of information by the High Command had disabled them from knowing the truth that their main armies were nowhere near the Eastern nor Western regions. Even in their attempt to retreat to the Undercity as reinforcements had been cut off as there were reports that the monsters had taken control of the tunnels at both ends.

    There were no more troops to spare to retake the entrance of the tunnels by the Undercity and even a squad of Demon Rats Elites under themand of Cinderw had been wiped out by two greenish ''guardians'' standing proud and strong at each entrance.

    The presence of Jin''s infamous Goblins, the Death Knight and the Ifrit''s Sesso had made the intensive training and experience Demon Rats Elites gained, a joke. They were nearly immediately ughtered with their powersbined and the goblins knew that a great show of strength would deter the High Command from sending any more troops now that they were at a deficit.

    However, the Demon Rat Generals refused to acknowledge the fact that they could not be killed, especially the Mage General who knew that he still had the ultimate trump card in his sleeve. The Lifestream Energy Bomb.

    He had read extensive reports on how the bomb''s side effects after it had exploded, disabling the ability to regrow anything. This means that there was a chance- nay, a definite way to kill all the humans and their monsters in one go as long as they were gathered.

    Even if it means the destruction of the Undercity then so be it. Prideblood believed that destroying the bulk of these humans with resurrective powers within the Undercity would not just be an achievement but also a warning to their group that was hiding beyond the Northern Region to be afraid of the Demon Rats.

    All they needed was more time so that the humans and monsters would be more concentrated within the Undercity before he used such a deadly weapon. However, the only problem with such a tactic was that it was a theory that had yet to be proven against the humans and no one had such a n in mind, not even the Usurper General Cinderw who took the throne for himself.<sub> </sub>

    However, with each passing second, the loss of troops and the need tomand the rest of the air force, the thought of using the Lifestream Energy bomb was getting stronger and stronger. It felt like it was a beginning of an obsession, wanting to use such technological powers and defeat the humans once and for all.

    Unfortunately, as he was thinking on the sidelines about the total destruction of the humans, the radio and magicmunication operators were signalling the Generals in their high seats that the humans were teleporting something huge. (Since they saw a huge portal on their magic eyes and cameras)

    "Is it that big fish that was hovering above the Northern Capital? They are teleporting that thing in?" Prideblood did not know how to fight that threat but he believed the remaining bulk of Gnawbones Airforce would be a perfect diversion for it while the humans gain the balls to rush through the city centre.

    "No, it seems like they are bringing out a sort of metal te contraption. We could not identify its use-" The operators reported until the Ever Extending Bridge which Jin had prepared finally came into y. It shot out instantly like a rock being slung out from a catapult as it extended endlessly with the use of magic. Kiva was absolutely delighted that his newest invention was being used especially during a wartime setting.

    The Bat Lord made sure that the coordinates were right, barely avoiding almost every single building by extending it over them while stretching towards the High Command''s location. Soon, the bridge ''found'' its target and crashed itself towards the High Command, lodging itself in the middle of it all. At the same time, Kiva ensured that more tes were deployed not to just ensure that it was firmly into the High Command but also to ensure the stability of the bridge.

    Soon, pirs started to grow like tree roots attempting to find stable ground. (They do look like metal tree roots from afar.)

    "Charge!" Baal, who was the first to emerge from the portal in a lightweight armoured car, had now surprised the rest of the Demon Rat''s High Command. The shock gave them sufficient time for the remaining army to pop out from the portal all in armoured vehicles, ranging from armoured cars to heavy duty tanks.

    Some of the soldiers were on foot but they ensured the portal''s safety by fortifying the surrounding buildings so that the Demon rats could not disrupt the Demopolis''s army advance.

    One thing is for sure, the assault to end everything finally begins.

 Chapter 1408 Battle On The Sky Bridge - Part 1

    Everyone who was currently fighting on the battlefield had no idea that the bridge that magically appeared from a portal would be of an immense proportion. The allies of Jin were shocked and yet encouraged by the sudden flow of reinforcements but the enemies'' morale had been severely hit by this move.

    The High Command was scrambling to gather forces to counterattack but the sky bridge had made it rather hard for the Demon Rats to reach. It was near impossible unless individual teams of Demon Rats climb up buildings and jumped onto the sky bridge. It invalidated all the defences that the Demon Rats had prepared and thus they were desperately trying to bring the sky bridge down with whatever ranged weapons that they had at their disposal.

    On the other hand, the Demopolis Army had it easier as they were in their war vehicles pushing through at top speed and killing anyone that they had spotted in the buildings. Even those Demon Rats who had risked their lives to jump onto the sky bridge were bull charged by the armoured cars.

    Normally, it would have slowed down the pace of the advance guard but Baal was at the lead of the charge with Kiva at his side. "My Lord! Let''s make this a trip to remember for this is our reunion!" Kiva eximed as he activated his magical ring, the only battle item which he was allowed to bring out since the rest of his arsenal had been confiscated by the System.

    Still, with just his ring, he was able to conjure a wind barrier that not only knock unsuspecting Demon Rats who jumped to the sky bridge to get their bearings, but also those who had attempted to prepare a makeshift barricade against the vanguard.

    In the meantime, Baal was standing tall at the top of the armoured car, unhindered by Kiva''s shouting as well as the garbage hanging around the sky bridge. He was surveying the current battlefield to see how he should deploy his forces.

    "Hmm. Marquis Forneus. The System just did a wide scan and noted a few ces which might have the potential ability to destroy the sky bridge. Send your forces to those coordinates immediately." Baal told the Devil Dragon''s Leader and the Marquis was all the more delighted to serve under the decisive Baal once again. With a resounding yes to his orders, he sent the Devil Dragons closest to those coordinates to survey and destroy whatever that might gue the current operations.

    "Earl Barbatos, Dive down and remove those barricades. Half Ghoul Lord Derek would appreciate such an effort." Baal gave another order to the Lord of Giants and Barbatos who were hitching the rides on tanks immediatelypiled to the order, leaping down from the sky bridges to sweep the barricades away. (When the trolls and giants did it, everyone on the sky bridge could feel a difference in the weight and its recoil and the tanks could move even faster without wasting too much mana.)

    "Earl Furtfur, Get your Winged Hydras to disrupt the Demon Rat Variants before they receive the orders from their Demon Rat counterparts to intervene on our advancing army." Earl Furtfur took the orders at heart and with pride,manding his Winged Hydras who were hovering above the Demopolis Army to split out and attack the Chimeras that were on the ground of the Undercity.

    "Kiva." Now Baal finally gave the Bat Aristocrat the attention he craves.<sub> </sub>

    "Yes, my lord!" Kiva was a little disappointed that he was not spoken with any noble title attached to his name. But at the same timeбнrelieved and perhaps delighted? He assumed that Baal had decided to call him by his name only as a sign of possible friendship.

    "No, do not overthink. Your title had been stripped for the heinous acts youmitted in Demopolis. It shall remain so until you have proven yourself to me." Baal said and told him to get his bottleflies to engage against the Demon Flying Rats.

    "Ha! That is one too easy of an order!" Kiva clearly disregarded what Baal had said and instantly ryed thatmand to his Bat Bottleflies. "Those disgusting replicas will be annihted the moment they meet my tremendous force of Bat Bottleflies!"

    To Baal''s surprise, those Bat Bottleflies were surprisingly strong as they sought their prey and devoured them almost in an instant. The Flying Rats were not able to fight wellpared to the Bat Bottleflie who were of simr size and with deadly agility to boot.

    With just a fewmands, the entire battlefield turned from a war of attrition to a near total annihtion of the Demon Rats. The Pandarens who were informed of the sudden event took whatever opportunity they could to enter the fray and attack any Demon Rats.

    Even Xiong Da and his group of Pandawans hadmandeered an armoured vehicle, racing through the sky bridge and went ahead to assist the Lord of Giants in destroying the barricades. At the same time, they put up new WARE events to ensure that the Pandarens were concentrating the fight so that the Demopolis Army could move unhinged towards the Demon Rat High Command.

    "See, ''Master''. My King is capable of things that you would never achieve! Descend from your petty high throne and ede it to my King. Perhaps, he will-" Before Kiva could finish his sentence, Jin who was sitting at the back of the armoured car had already nudged Peppers to use a mute spell on him. As for his evaluation of Baal, Jin was undoubtedly impressed that his lords anddies were able to follow his shortmands until he remembered that Moloch was also handling the minions.

    With the aid of Moloch''s directing each individualpany of Demon Soldiers to their respective ces after Baal''s orders, the groups were able to effectively coordinate the attacks.

    And because of that, he and the other three were able to rx for now as his hard work of taking over Demopolis paid off. All he had to do was to wait until they either reached the High Command or the three Generals infected by the Lifestream energies were to appear.

 Chapter 1409 Battle On The Sky Bridge -Part 2

    The Pandarens alongside the Demon Army had pushed through the Demon Rats'' barricades with a decisive blow under themand of Baal. Jin and hispanions were able to move through the Sky Bridge smoothly without the hindrance of the Demon Rats.

    Soon, the Demon Rat High Command is within sight and as expected by the Demon Rats under the Generals, they had already mounted a defence within the surrounding area. Windows had been left slightly jarred and filled with Demon Rats armed to the teeth. From basic rifles to sniper nests, there were even mages at the ready to send a volley of terrible offensive magic to Jin''s vanguard.

    "Jin, shall I clear them out?" Baal asked as he was still standing tall and everyone had their scopes and barrels aimed at him.

    "I guess you want some form of warming up?" Jin said through the System Channel as he took a closer look at the Demon Rats via Pepper''s magnifying magic. From the looks of it, they were veterans, probably the elites of the elites protecting the Generals and the operators in the High Command from certain harm.

    "Since you already have your lineup ready for the fight, I guess this is my only plea- an excuse to stretch my sword arm."

    "Hey Baal, get in line!" Moloch yelled through the System Channel. "I have yet to go into battle! How can you go if I did not have a shot at them?"

    "I thought you said you preferred to stay at the sidelines, managing themand?" Jin asked, knowing that if Baal goes on a rampage, his previous second inmand would like to fight alongside him.

    "This is different!" Kiva and Moloch somehow managed to shout at the same time through the System Channel and it seems like the other noble lords anddies had the very same idea. To fight under Baal, a Greater Demon, was a dream that many Demons from the Demon ne would sacrifice their lives and even souls for. But to fight with Baal? Everyone would desire such great honour and pleasure.

    "Heh. Then I am sorry Moloch and even to you Kiva. You have your roles to fill at this point in time. You have to lead the entire Demopolis Army to immeasurable victory while Kiva, focus on driving." Jin ordered and the two had toply based on their contract with their System. There was no time for personal desires to be in the way of matters when the most important battle drew near.

    "Does that mean?" Baal was ted to know that he had the permission to fight as metaphysical chains that were holding him back suddenly turned visible. For Demons who were following behind him were shocked at theyers of chains that were put on him but that was the System''s condition for him to lead the army since a Greater Demon should not be given a chance to haveplete free will.

    But just for this moment, all the locks and chains had been released from him, giving him the ability to breathe properly after months of confinement. (Though it might be months, the System had used time dtion to make him feel the days like years, and months like centuries. His back that had been imprinted with the marks of chains gradually disappeared as his strength returned to him just by taking in the air around him.<sub> </sub>

    With all the Demons under hismand and the immense stench of death in the undercity, it provided him with the necessary mana for absorption. The demons were dly pouring tribute mana for their one and only King regardless of the distance. This was made real and further elerated with the aid of the System, transferring the mana from one monster to another through System points. As the Demons gave their king System Points, it was then turned into Mana where he used it to absorb and regain his vitality.

    In less than twenty seconds, he was already up to half his previous strength and Baal stopped epting any more tributes or generous donations. (especially from a certain bat ''lord''.) The Greater Demon believed that he had more than enough power to decimate this ce twenty folds even though he was half his strength. And that reality was proven when the barrage of rockets began to fly towards the vanguard but with a gentle flick of his finger, a gust of wind ensued, causing all the rockets to be deflected away, damaging the surrounding buildings instead.

    Next, the Demon Rat Snipers made their shot but those bullets were like quickly slowed down a metre away from Baal''s torso and head. The Greater Demon grabbed all those bullets that were stopped right in front of him and he threw them back at them again, with the very same trajectory. Most of the snipers realised what he was doing and managed to dodge the shot (barely) but a few who were preparing their next shot did not have the time to react fast enough and got killed in the process.

    However, the Demon Rats were not relenting as those who were killed had been reced by a fresher batch of soldiers waiting to perform their duty. The Mages who saw Baal in action, instantly doubled up their casting, knowing that this adversary they were facing was considered an elite. If they were to pull their punches, they might be the ones who are going to die.

    So, as synchronised as they could be, the Demon Rat Mages simultaneously unleashed a volley of fireballs towards Baal who was still in the lead of the vanguard.

    The Greater Demon believed that fire should be fought with fire and thus revealed a magic circle that wasrge enough to encase the entire breadth of the sky bridge. Soon, the balls of fire albeit of a different colour came shooting out from the magic circle, intercepting each and everyone that Demon Rat Mages had cast.

    But the Demon Rat Mages already knew his ferocity and thus hid a second spell within the fireballs. It was an absorption spell where the fireballs take in the mana of the opponent''s spell and used it for their own. As Baal thought to fight ''fair and square'' for this particr showcase, it seemed that it only gave him a better excuse to use stronger spells.

    The Demon Rat Mages'' fireball turned insanely huge and the Demon Rats thought that this could be the counterblow that they were waiting for so that the sky bridge that was hinged onto the Demon Rats Highmand could be destroyed.

    However, the opposite happened.

 Chapter 1410 Battle On The Sky Bridge -Part 3

    Baal took a slow breath in even while the fireballs wereing in hot. Yet, it was still too close forfort for some of the Demopolis Army as they were not as fearless as themanders and captains.

    But with a huff and a puff from Baal, all the fireballs froze in midair unable to consume the magical energy that Baal had emitted. His breath of frigid ice had caused those who were worried about imminent destruction to let out a sigh of relief. Almost every Demon Rat Mage on the scene was surprised by the change in development.

    They were fairly certain that the fireballs alongside with the absorption spell should have dealt the counterblow they were all waiting for. Even Prideblood, the Demon Rat Mage General were surprised by how his unique spell which he had infused and spread through the Demon Rat Mages had been rendered useless.

    Could there actually be a type of magic that was capable of stopping his unique absorption spell or the spell had reached its upper limits and stopped working? There were so many questions in his head but the sight of those ice cold static fireballs in the air was a testament that there was someone who was superior in magic to him.

    And what''s surprising was how the environment was not affected by Baal''s Breath of Frigid Ice and that meant he had precise maniption of magic that was top tier. Even Shiva who was supposed to be the pinnacle of ice element casters, the Shaitan would have to bow down to his ability to cast a wide area of effect of magic and not disrupt the surroundings.

    Thus, this allowed the entire Demopolis Vanguard to move forth without too much of a hassle. On the other hand, the Demon Rats had anticipated those frozen fireballs to be countered and blown back towards them but it was not happening. They remained as they were while the Demopolis Vanguard drove through.

    Hence, the Demon Rat Mages had begun casting their next set of spells, using lightning which would not interfere with the frozen fireballs. Thinking it would be useful since the lightning strikes should result in a direct attack, the mages poured as much mana as they could to st it out from their spell circles.

    "And here I thought they would create natural thunder and lightning." Kiva scoffed and subsequentlyughed at how stupid the Demon Mages would feel if they know what was toe next. Jin and his other twopanions kept quiet and waited for the stupidity to surface into reality. As those lightning bolts were being sent out of the magic circles, some of the Demon Rat Mages who were slower in their casting found out something crucial, including those who were sensitive to mana in the air.

    There was still a lingering magical spell in the midst of this battlefield but the presence was so minute that not even the Mage General was able to sense it except for a few. Regardless, those mages were not able to report as well since the magic presence of those frozen fireballs was so dense that most of the ''sensitive'' mages shrugged it off.

    It was only until the first batch of mages who fired their volley of lightning strikes did they realise what Baal had been hiding. The lightning bolts that were spitting out of their magical circles had been solidified into ice. Lightning which is supposed to be moving at the speed of light had been frozen by Baal''s continuous casting of his spell. The reason why he did not allow the frozen fireballs to dissipate and be destroyed. Its massive magic signature had confused the Demon Rat Mages and their mana sense, allowing him to hide his ice magic in the midst of this already chaotic battlefield.

    Baal could have used destructive earth shattering magic but that was not the point of this particr match of magic. He needed to show finesse to prove his strength and superiority against the Demon Rats. (Besides, he knows that a certain betor would hate to see that she lost her chance in mass destruction.) The Demon Rat Mages were eventually killed by absolute sub zero temperatures as the frozen magic circles subsequently iced their mana flow as well.

    The remaining mages tried to stop their casting once they learnt of the situation and yet there was nothing they could do as the ice spell had already permeated through their shield barriers with the frozen lightning bolts as the catalyst. The Demon Rat Mages maintaining the shield barriers were not spared by the frigid ice as they were the next to die while the rest of the Mages tried to make a secondary barrier to ensure they would not be encased in cold hard water crystals.

    "I have to admit to your precision and cunningness." Peppers finally blurted out praise despite her being quite reluctant to do so through the System Channel.

    "For the Mage Betor to take her time to praise me, I believe that is an honour I would not forget." Baal chuckled knowing that her powers and potential were undoubtedly infinite if not for her restraints. This was because for someone to have ess to the universal pool of magic had been deemed as a person to be considered, capable of defeating Greater Beings without much trouble.

    Once she had managed to permanently deal with her weakness, it was possible for Jin to have a godly being at his side as well. That was assuming she was willing to tackle her weakness and the only way Baal could think of was of great trials and tribtions.

    "We are reaching soon," Kiva said as he saw the Demon Rat''s physical barricades wereing up close.

    "Just put us near the barricades. Do not need to crash us over." Jin said as he readied himself, knowing not to underestimate his opponents even though they were presented to be weaker to them individually. Yet, he did not forget what Transquick had said about those who had been ''infected'' by a copious amount of lifestream energy. They might still be a force to reckon with and he had to be careful.

 Chapter 1411 Battle On The Sky Bridge - Part 4

    As Jin, Pei and Peppers stepped out of the car, they were met with fierce resistance which Jin''s personal mage had already taken care of the current dilemma. A multyer shield barrier had been erected which prevented their car to be wrecked into havoc from the hail of bullets. (Baal initially wanted to provide such a service but was immediately denied as the Betor herself wished to have her powers shown clearly. Basically, she was itching to show off as well.)

    The soldiers at the frontline barricade had no idea about the dreadful deaths that had happened on the rooftops of the High Command and surrounding buildings. They only assumed that these people that came forward were also soldiers that could be beaten via conventional means.

    "Leave all these small scums to my men. Master, go ahead and fight the Demon Rat Generals to your fullest pleasure." Baal signalled to hismanders and the Infamous Soldiers of Gem emerged from the hazy crowd of demons. The Sapphire Soldiers used their magic rather smoothly because of the manapatibility left by Baal''s previous frost spell. They absorbed the surrounding mana and sent gushing water which subsequently turned into silhouettes of bulls, decimating the makeshift barricades in a matter of seconds.

    But the Demon Rat soldiers were not dumb and actually used the makeshift barricades as a front for their actual iron barricades. They were filled with counter spells which were ready to dispel Sapphire Soldiers'' magical attacks. And they were indeed extremely effective in breaking the flow of battle that the Sapphire Soldiers had started. Yet, this did not falter the Soldiers of Gem as Topaz Soldiers who were well known not only for their maniption of earth magic but also their ability to wreck stuff.

    There were no other better candidates in the Soldiers of Gem to crush the iron barricades even though they know that the Demon Rats might still have some nasty tricks under their sleeves. True enough, rotating guns were seen popping out of those barricades and instead of bullets, long iron spears were being shot out from those guns, killing several Topaz Soldiers in one go.

    Yet, the Topaz Battalion did not hesitate to push forth as they attempted to adapt to the situation and deployed soldiers wearing thetest set of armour developed by Jin''s Science Team. It amplified their Topaz stone by threefold, allowing them to harden themselves enough to withstand the killing blow from those rotating guns. Soon, they managed to reach to the barricades, smashing both the guns and the Demon Rats manning them.

    The fight became fiercer as Troll Rats, another chimaera variant came into the picture, contesting the Topaz in the field of attrition. Yet, this stalemate allowed the other soldiers of Gem moved forth, providing the necessary firepower to stop them. The Ruby Soldiers sentva filled punches to Troll Rats, diminishing their ability to recover while the Emerald Soldiers kept the Topaz Soldiers alive as much as possible by channelling mana to allow them to recover.

    Though some of their spells were hindered by the Iron Barricades'' numerous counter spells, the soldiers were still able to put up a decentpetitive edge against the Elite Demon Rats holding their ground. No doubt both sides'' ''main protagonists'' could intervene in the fight, they could already sense who they should be fighting with.

    Naturally, they thought that Baal was considered to be their main target but he was not sending out any killer vibes which made the Demon Rat Generals confused until they saw that there were three humans beside him. Thus, they assumed that those humans were the guards that protects him and they were the huddle which was required to defeat him.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    But unlike the Demon Rat Generals and their misinterpreted intel, Jin was already eyeing their general who supposedly governed the entire Demon Rat poption. However, before he could even make a move, the Demon Rat''s Lance General and Club General somehow popped up from the bottom of the bridge and prepared to strike Baal, thinking he was the general of this entire movement. (After all, he did look like a human if he did not change back to his demon form.)

    Jin and Pei managed to block both of the General''s strikes and caught on the situation that the Demon Rats believed Baal was their main general. It was no doubt a good distraction for Jin to be seen as the lesser one rather than the main perpetrator of this entire army invasion. Pei instantly dispatched their Demon Rat Club General but eventually realised that it was a mere fake and that the Club General was actually doing a follow up attack from the Lance General in order to catch Jin off guard.

    They thought it would be a sure strike when Jin was seen as defenceless as he was blocking the Lance General''s attack but everyone around him knew that he was setting up a feint as much as the Club General had prepared one.

    With Bam and Boo as one greatsword blocking thence attack, it immediately split into a scimitar and shield, allowing Jin to simultaneously parry the Club General''s strike and use his shield to m the Lance General away. Their hopes for a one strike one kill had dissipated when they lost the element of surprise against Jin. Pei slowly walked towards Jin while both the generals jumped backwards to have some ground away from their opponents.

    "Are you going to follow them? They are going to y dirty," Peimented as she could already predict what the two Generals were going to do.

    "Can I leave their deaths to you?" Jin queried and Pei smiled ever so slightly.

    "If you promised that luxurious bath package for me in that whatever mountain hot spring instance." Pei tried to bargain.

    "Oh, that top VIP package with a month''s worth of Pr Bear and Panda''s massage? Sure." Jin didn''t expect that her conditions to fight both were easy. At the very least, he had her upied and not a wasted trip.

 Chapter 1412 Battle On The Sky Bridge - Part 5

    As Pei had expected, the two generals jumped down from the sky bridge in an attempt to lure one of Baal''s ''guards'' away from him and the Crane Fox followed them willingly to whatever battlefield they were choosing.

    For the remaining ''guards'', Prideblood, the Demon Rat Mage General had finally entered the fray. There was no grandiose in his arrival and merely flew towards the group asking for an opponent to challenge. He would have wished to fight against Baal himself to prove that maniption of his magic spells was not the only thing that could subvert a fight but Peppers already stepped in and pointed her wooden staff at him, demanding for the duel to be with her instead

    Compared to Baal, who had nonchntly released his magical aura, Peppers for once kept her magical aura suppressed. It was a trick she unwillingly picked up as a promise by Ayse and the rest of the Science Branch to make sure that she controls her mana better. Thus, Prideblood did not take too much notice of the small little girl and only assumed that she was doing this because she was part of the guards that Baal had employed around him.

    "I will get rid of this obstacle and challenge you." The Mage General said as he swirled his head to beckon Peppers toe with him.

    However, everyone knows how defiant that little pepperish girl could be.

    In the middle of this fight where there could be potential friendly fire, Peppers had daringly fired an explosive re spell right at where the Demon Rat Mage General was standing. While it did startle the soldiers of Gem, Princess Gaap who was theirmander had already used all the gems in her possession to protect not only herself but her army from the re attack.

    At the same time, Gaap also held her priciest Ruby Gem up to absorb Peppers'' residual fire mana so that she could have an easy time casting high level magical fire attacks if there was a need to do so.

    "I did not expect such an attitude from a human, to attack preemptively for a duel." Prideblood cleared the air around him, undoubtedly surviving from the entire attack unscathed with a magic barrier. But before he could insult Peppers once more, a beam of energy came straight from the sky bridge and towards him. While his magic barrier was able to withstand the attack, Prideblood was being pushed back by it. The attack by the little girl was not meant to be destructive, but to push him out of the current battlefield as well. That was when he realised that the humans and monsters were as gullible as he thought they would be.

    He was initially nning to use the aspects of a duel to bring Baal''s mage to a ''neutral'' ground where he could have the initiative of having the familiarity of the area. Traps were also set up and it involved the very same counterspells that had been seen used against the soldiers of Gem.

    However, he does not have the idea whether his motive to do so had been discovered or the mage girl was able to read his mind, causing her to be aggressive and have the duel location of her choosing instead.

    Prideblood wanted to counter the attack but he was not given any chance as the colour of the energy beam suddenly turned multicoloured like a rainbow and splinters of the energy beam emerged from the main beam to shoot at him. This forced him to not just concentrate his defence at the centre of the barrier where the beam had been focused but also on his sides and rear.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    There was no chance for him to counter when he had his mind filled with trying to stop the attacks and hence he could only be pushed in a direction of the current duel to how Peppers would like him to be. It was a bad start but Prideblood had to make do with what he had at the moment.

    "Hopefully he canst longer than the other opponents you had fought against." Jin waved at Peppers but it seemed like the Mage Betor was already getting bored.

    "The other opponents you forced me to face could have cut this energy beam into half, deflected the rest and retaliated without too much of a hassle. I think you might have severely overestimated the enemy this time around." Peppers said as she twisted her wooden staff a little more and the rainbow colour beam started to show even more hues of colours and Jin could already imagine the increase in difficulty that the Mage General had to handle.

    And unsurprisingly, Prideblood was indeed going to swallow his pride now that he found out that his magic barrier had been proven to be useless. The energy beam splintered, even more, shooting mini beams at a continuous pace against the Mage General that he could not keep up with the blocking.

    The Demon Rat Mage General might have been able to block ten mini beams of the same intensity at one time, but in a split second, another ten beams emerged out of his sight and hit ten other different spots. Only those who are mana sensitive, and are meticulous in their preparations for defence could stop this attack, otherwise, the definite way to defeat it was to counterattack with an explosive amount of magic.

    And sadly, Prideblood did not belong in any of those. He thought that being infected by the lifestream energy would make him invincible but it was clear without a doubt that the humans and monsters were stronger than him by many folds.

    ? Still, that did not mean he was left without any other means.

    Even as he was injured by multiple energy beam attacks, he was looking at the right time to activate the lifestream energies within him so that he could not just effectively block the beams but also counter them. After all, his speciality spell was the mana absorption spell. As he got hit by those beams, he was also taking in those spell attacks as mana. Once he was ready, he could fire off the very same beam with greater intensity than what Peppers was producing.

    "Heh, for a Mage General. He is easy to read." Peppers said to herself as she now ced two hands onto her wooden staff and poured more mana into the attack while changing the spell configuration she was dishing out.

    As calcted, it looked like it was gonna be an easy victory for her.

 Chapter 1413 Battle Under The Sky Bridge

    "Firecleaver." The newest Club General said to his partner as he raised his weapon up. "She had defeated my clone almost instantaneously."

    "Do not call my name so casually, ''Roughscream''.You have yet to fill the shoes of the old general. He was the only one that is deserving of the title." Firecleaver said as he continued to monitor thedy fighter that they had lured.

    "Bickering between the two of you so early in this fight? How could I expect a decent duel when the two of you are not in sync with each other? Shall I end this fight quickly?" Pei said as she still kept her katana sheathed in the scabbard. It was then she heard a loud explosion from above the sky bridge and knew that Peppers was starting her attack against the Demon Rat Mage General.

    "Welp, looks like my colleague might defeat your fellow General faster than I kill the both of you if you two could not get your shit together." Pei shrugged her shoulders and hoped that provoking them would give her a warm up exercise that was worthy of a sweat at the Hot Spring Instance.

    However, the only one that responded to her provocation seemed to be the younger general who seemed like proving himself to Firecleaver. It seemed like whatever information that Transquick had given was stated to be true. The title of the Club General was given to the strongest of Demon Rats who have the best proficiency in that particr weapon.

    From the way they had conversed, Pei can only assume that the previous Club General did sumb to his wounds from the Pandawans'' retaliation and this particr Demon Rat was merely filling in the shoes of his predecessor so that there is always a Club General at the top of the Demon Rat hierarchy.

    That also meant that whatever information collected by the System about the Club General was invalid. The only advantage Pei had was her overwhelming strength but killing them might be a waste since she could possibly always learn a trick or two from her enemies and incorporate them into her skills. That was assuming that there was something to learn from the enemies since she had already umted a decent amount of skills from her years fighting the ancient war with Kraft.

    Regardless, having a refresher would not hurt once in a while and could only hope that her enemies would be up to par as their names could. (Although, she was not expecting much since the data from the System had already indicated them to be lesser than a Grade 4 Cultivator due to their inhuman strength.)

    The new Roughscream started to saunter through the graveyard of all things mechanical as that was the ce where the Generals had led her to. Subsequently, his footwork got more intense and from the heaps of trashed vehicles, more of his ''clones'' merged from it.

    A synchronised attack where if Roughscream had failed to hit her because she dodged, the other clone would immediately attack without any hesitation. This should make blocking difficult since killing the clone did not cause the clone to dissipate like an illusion. This was because the new Roughscream had trained not just several Demon Rats to be like him but several dozens like him.

    In short, the new title of Club General was not held by just one Demon Rat but an entire n of Demon Rats. All of them had been trained under one teacher previously which made their thoughts and movements to be simr to each other. It was an ironic choice for the entire n to be dubbed as the new Club General but Pei could see that their higher up might be doing this not to just motivate the new Club General but provide sufficient power to fight against this particr imminent threat and the Club General''s name Roughscream would always be eternal.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Even if one dies, another Roughscream could rece him easily because they are of the same. Demon Rat Axe General Cinderw imagined that the repercussions of choosing an entire n to be a club general would not be too far fetched as he imagined there would be considerable losses sending his generals to fight against the humans. If any one of that Demon Rat n had survived and they managed to pull through from this war, Cinderw could simply announce apetition for one person to get the Club General title.

    In short, he did not care as long as the Demon Rats were able to perform their duties and that was why Lance General Firecleaver, a veteran general, had refused to acknowledge the new Club General since he was considered to be disposable.

    Pei had no idea and only assumed that they were just the Club General underlings since all of them looked the same to her. And unfortunately for the Club General, she did not dodge any attacks from the ''Club Generals'' and ughtered every one of them mercilessly. Her speed was also fast while her katana sliced through their meat and flesh like fresh chicken meat on a chopping board.

    There was no dy in her subsequent strikes and the nameless n of Demon Rats had been decimated in this particr graveyard. Their years of intensive training disappeared right in front of Pei when their lifeless bodies decorated the graveyard, leaving none behind. But even as thest ''Club General'' standing right in front of Pei, knowing that his death was inevitable, he stood tall against her, holding on not just his club weapon but his mate''s club too.

    "Foolish. Run away while I am feeling generous. You are just another worthless stain to my katana." Pei said as she looked at the Lance General.

    "Hmm? Let him do what he wants. I care not for this generation of club wielding Demon Rats." Firecleaver said as he had already sized Pei up from the way she killed the Club Generals.

    "Such a pity, I thought you Demon Rats are, at the very least, united," Pei said as her katana now sheathed within her scabbard had been used as a blunt weapon against thest Club General.

    And yet, it slices through the Club General''s weapons and subsequently his head as well. The results were pretty obvious and Pei returned her stare at Firecleaver.

    "So, when is your turn to be a useless resource?" Pei asked as she swung her scabbard so hard that it not only removed the blood stains on it but destroyed arge mountain of scrapped vehicles.

 Chapter 1414 Lance Generals Utter Defeat

    Firecleaver snickered as he swung hisnce around to warm himself up as well as showing Pei that he had thepetency to use it well. The Club Generals might have been killed in a sh but their speciality was in their strength, not their speed. Pei utilised that weakness to make sure that they never rise again even though they tried topensate by using numbers to make up for it.

    That was why the Demon Rat Lance General thought that he would have an edge against an agile opponent since the title of the Lance General had always been given to the Demon Rat with the fastest speed. Not to mention, he had consumed the Lifestream energies albeit not as much as Prideblood and Cinderw.

    Thus, he was confident that he would have an edge against Pei and believed he finally could have some fun since the opponents he fought never provided him with the relevant challenge. In fact, he felt bad for thedy swordsman since thence had always been superior to swords because of its length, striking power and the ability to adapt from a distance.

    Nevertheless, he did not know that Pei came from an era where such mediaeval weapons were almost irrelevant in the face of cultivation powers. The only use for such weapons was only used to channel their chi and dump whatever energy they could gather towards their enemy.

    So the poor Firecleaver thought that he had the edge against Pei and charged arrogantly toward her. If Pei could scoff at that idiot within the time he attacked, she would have done it. However, his attack was so pathetically simple that she felt she had taken advantage of Jin''s deal. Even if the two of those generals hadbined, they were no match to the Crane Fox who had performed battles that were beyond this set of particr ''skills''.

    And without much hesitation, Pei had sliced him into two by using his momentum as the catalyst. Firecleaver did not even have the opportunity to utilise his skills at all but so the same could be said about Pei when all she had done was putting her katana at the correct position for him to be sliced.

    To be frank, Pei did not expect him to die that quickly. "Perhaps, he had some special skill with him." That was what she thought and hoped that he might split into two and fight against her with whatever lifestream energy that Jin was so worried about.

    Yet, the reality was harsher than her fictional imagination as she was standing in between both parts of Firecleaver and could only sigh that her job was done. But as the Crane Fox decided to walk away from the ''murder'' scene, she could sense a strange energy moving throughout the area.

    "Ah, this must be the lifestream energy that Jin was talking about," Pei said as she tried to sense the movement of the said energy. However, instead of dissipating into the air like how most form energies would do, it seemed like it was moving in a particr direction and she decided to follow it, hoping that it would lead her to somewhere exciting.

    It was not long until she saw one of Kraft''s Night Foxes looking around the area. Only through a brief conversation that Pei remembered that the Night Foxes were looking for the Lifestream Energy Bomb.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Did you sense the movement of the lifestream energies?" Pei asked the Dark Elf and he said that he could only briefly sense it and needed full concentration to trace it. "Ah, so I identally interrupted your job," Pei replied, knowing that she was just going to use it as an excuse to follow him so that she had something to do.

    It was only at that time she realised that she was bing like Kraft, wanting to do something fun just to escape from the real work. She momentarily pped herself on the cheeks, inciting the curiosity of the Night Fox but the Dark Elf was intuitive enough to ignore her. He knows that asking could inadvertently bring more trouble for himself.

    Unfortunately, it seemed as if Pei''s instinct were always right on the money as both the Dark Elf and she found themselves going through a rather derelict building which was not given much care and away from all the current fighting that was urring throughout the city. The moment they went through the front door, the presence of magic was immense and Pei could feel the intensity of the lifestream energy gathering right below the building.

    "There could be a chance we hit the jackpot." The Dark Elf said and Pei nodded her head in agreement. However, if they were to notify the other Night Foxes, it could possibly be toote for the group since the presence of magic might mean that the Mage General would notice enemies within the vicinity.

    Thus, the System that was monitoring the situation instantly informed Pei to retrieve the lifestream energy bomb and override any orders that she had. While she was not obligated to listen to the System because of what it had done to her previously, the Crane Fox knew that it was Jin''s desire to get the lifestream energy bomb and end this war charade as soon as possible.

    "I guess, getting the Lifestream Energy Bomb should be an equivalent exchange for that hot spring instance luxury package." Pei reasoned it would be a good trade and told the Dark Elf that followed her to look after the entrance, defeat any trespassers and inform her if any Generals decided toe knocking on this building.

    Obviously, the orders were easy for the Dark Elf to follow and he was more thanpetent toply, so he nodded his head in agreement and left the acquisition of the lifestream energy bomb to Pei.

    For a short while, Pei assumed that any Demon Rats that were hiding within the basement of this derelict building would be as useless as the generals she fought against. But unlike the Lance General, this entire basement was filled with a heavy aura of lifestream energies and that might prove some challenge even for the Crane Fox.

 Chapter 1415 Battle On The Sky Bridge - Part 6

    "You know the memes among gamers like how we levelled up in the sidequests too much until the main quest is too easy?" Peppers said as she started now changed her energy beam from a bright multi colour hue beam into one that eludes nothing but ckness from it.

    The Soldier of Gems was furiously attacking the front, preventing any Demon Rats from evening close to General Baal and Jin. And since Baal had already taken care of the Demon Rat Mages from before, there was clearly no threat to the two of them who were standing there out in the open.

    "So, you are saying that we over prepared for this?" Jin asked as he folded his hands and leaned beside the jeep which they came out from, watching Peppers do her magic since there were basically no threats between them.

    "I think the oversized robots in the Mecha World posed more threats than this. Though I honestly could not me you for overpreparing." Peppers analysed the situation as the ckness of the beam that she cast out felt as if it was a spell that a Void Being would use. Space around it started to distort a little as if the beam was sucking not just any mana around the area but it was also sucking the reality around it.

    "Considering the fact that if we did not attack when they had their armies separated, their overwhelming numbers were still a force to be reckoned with. And you know how Demon Rats can be. Even if I st them all with one huge spell, the remaining could scatter and breed. Divide and conquer is still a relevant tactic which should be embraced." Peppers said as she could finally feel resistance against her ck beam.

    She smiled a little knowing that the Mage General Prideblood had finally decided to be serious in his fight and unleashed his lifestream energies that he had been hiding. He initially thought that the mage that was guarding Baal was using her ultimate skill and thus, decided to hold on until her mana expired.

    Yet, the longer he held onto it, the more Prideblood realised that he had been toyed by her and the level of damage that the ck beam had done could have annihted him if he broke just one second of concentration. Thus, he knew that he had to be serious in the fight if he wished to survive the attack.

    He thought that Baal was the only magic user who could threaten him but this little girl had powers of magic that were beyond his expectations. However, Peppers did not have any quarters for him to rest the moment he broke the ck beam of energy.

    Once he had dissipated the beam away, Prideblood had been sted with a series of ck and white explosions which Peppers nicknamed the spell Salt and Pepper, where it was merely a series of maniption of light and dark mana. She created that spell as a way to learn and understand the concept of Yin and Yang but aszy as one could be hardworking, she got bored trying to understand the meaning behind it.

    To her, it was merely a concept that worked because of limited resources and for her to have the entire universal mana pool, she could hardly understand why there was a need to have harmony between two elements. However, she continued her lessons because Lynn took time out of her busy schedule to teach her so that she could understand how cultivators truly work and how sometimes cultivators could excel at times when things became too difficult to handle.

    But for now, Peppers was merely using the Salt and Pepper spell as a way to unt her results of studying to everyone in hopes that using the spell constantly would make her understand it someday.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    On the other hand, Prideblood was trying his best to counter the Light and Dark Spell Explosions to the best of his ability. The only problem was that each time a pair of those spells exploded, the next set somehow got stronger and it became from ''troublesome to dispel'' to ''I don''t think I will survive."

    Still, the Mage General thinks that he might have the chance since he had the power of absorbing spells into his ownбн but that was assuming he was able to cast a spell of his own. Peppers had already prepared for that the moment she saw it at work when he and his Demon Rat Mages were fighting against Baal.

    During her consecutive spell cast of Salt and Pepper, she purposely allowed Prideblood to have his own way by giving him a small window to cast a spell. Naturally, the Demon Rat Mage General fell for it and cast a wind arrow shower spell in hopes that quantity would beat the ''quality'' spells that Peppers had been dishing out.

    Besides, those wind arrows would be absorbing those magical spells that Peppers released and they would be his revenge against the little mage girl. However, the more the wind arrows absorbed the mana of the Light and Dark elements simultaneously, the more it would negate the effects of spell absorption.

    Prideblood was surprised by it as he saw his arrows merely dissipate the moment the light and dark element spells had been absorbed, forcing him to try again with another elemental spell. But even with earth arrows, the spells had been cancelled out once they absorbed both elements, making him confused why he could not counter attack.

    "Hmm. I think I might start to understand a little bit of Yin and Yang." Peppers thought to herself as she saw the effects of those magic arrows being cancelled out. However such thoughts perished the moment she started casting more of the Salt and Pepper Spell.

    Eventually, Prideblood lost all his mana just from defending and the ck and white explosions killed him, without giving him the chance to retaliate using that lifestream energy bomb which he had kept as backup.

    All he could hope was that the defences he had nurtured through the months of storing near the Lifestream Energy Bomb might prove to be useful against the attackers of his Undercity. "Besides, it will destroy them all if they aren''t careful." Prideblood smiled to himself before his face got wiped off this world from thest pair of Light and Dark Explosions.

    "Now all we are left with is the main antagonist." Peppers said as she floated up to the top of the car''s roof and summoned out a bag of chips, waiting for the main event to start.

 Chapter 1416 Skull Of Eternal Unrest

    "Are you sure about that?" Jin asked as he saw the one and only general watching the entire shitshow from the rooftops. Baal''s Icy Breath might have killed the rest of the Demon Rat Mages but he was standing in the middle of it all unscathed by everything else.

    Peppers was a little confused with Jin''s questioning until she realised that the Demon Rat Mage General''s body slowly started to regenerate from the little pieces of meat that were left from the explosions.

    "Healing Magic? Wait noбн it felt like Reverse Time Magic, but it does not seem that way. If you Reverse Time magic in that particr space time area, my explosions would have happened again and yet the only thing that''s moving is his body." Peppers deduced but Jin and Baal quietly looked at both Cinderw and the resurrection of Prideblood.

    The Mage General gave a burst of croakingughter as his head was formed first and subsequently the rest of his body. His Mana levels were also back to their original values as if he was not just reverted back to his old self but was reborn as well.

    "Cinderw! With this feat of wonder, I will swear fealty to you for the rest of my life!" Prideblood shouted as the tips of his body had been detailedly reformed. The others might not have known but the previous North and South Schrs had dabbled and wielded the powers of necromancy.

    However, their use of necromancy felt inadequate and multiple experiments had proven that the effects of longsting life were mainly due to their ability to maintain the mana levels within the undead. But what if they do not wish to use their mana since it was draining way too much of it for daily usage? What if they have another source of power that could be replenished easily but is powerful enough to maintain undeads?

    So, yes. The answer was Lifestream energy. With the characteristic of the Farming World, the lifestream energy was the key to solving their conundrum. It is not only able to act as a superior substitute to mana, but it also provides regeneration and possibly awakening the special abilities within one''s self.

    For the Demon Rats, when they are killed, they would be transformed into a resource. There are normal resources and there were rare ones. Cinderw happened to be that one of a thousand resources, or perhaps one out of a million. That particrly unique one where the item itself was an artefact amplifier.

    By itself, it was pretty useless even though it was a rare item, but the North and South Schrs had their ways of increasing the strength of Cinderw''s abilities by allowing him to use their artefacts.

    That was when the seed of rebellion had been nted into Cinderw''s mind as they experimented on him with various artefacts to see how strong the amplification could be when he had unlocked histent talents via the lifestream energy.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Soon, it was in to see that he could be way more powerful than the schrs themselves and thus they decided to wipe his memories of those artefacts that had been used in order for him not to lust for such items. However, the schrs themselves did not know that after being affected by both lifestream energies and a multitude of artefacts had made him somewhat resistant to the mind washing effects.

    Those memories eventually surfaced and Cinderw sought after those artefacts that the schrs possessed even though he knew that by doing so, would be a coup d''etat. Still, he did not care as once he was well recognised by the other Demon Rats, being second to none to the schrs, removing them would only be the least of his worries.

    Thus, he was using that particr necromancy artefact, the Skull of Eternal Unrest, infused with lifestream energies to bring Prideblood back into the picture. So long as the lifestream energies were still within the vicinity of his death, Prideblood could return almost instantly, rendering him nearly immortal considering how the Demon Rats purposely set their city underground to get close to the source of lifestream energy.

    "Argh, so irritating!" Peppers said as she raised her hand and closed her eyes while a magic ball choke full of magic was being generated but Jin stopped her by holding her wrist, stopping her frompleting the incantation.

    "Why are you stopping me from killing him?" Peppers said as Jin told her to look up and she saw Prideblood being ravaged by Baal''s magic attack. Ice spikes were protruding out not just from his chest but from every portion of his body.

    Yet, the body which was supposed to be frozen and broken by the ice spikes was slowly being stitched by the powers of the necromancy artefact. "Even if you condense your magic and kill it in one shot, it doesn''t matter until the main artefact user dies," Jin said while Cinderw held onto the Skull of Eternal Unrest and continued to pour lifestream energies into it.

    "Then, the mage general would be an excellent way to warm up my magic fingers. It''s been so long since I used my magic and those spell words are just hanging in my brain, wanting to get out." Baal iterated as he once again cast another spell in demon tongue, causing Prideblood to explode into ice kes.

    "As for you, instead of sting things with friendlies in the way, think of a way to capture all that lifestream energy so they could not be used in its resurrection. I will go deal with that main antagonist of this entire charade." Jin said as he poured some Maqi into his legs and boosted them so he could qing gong straight to the top of the Demon Rats High Command.

    With his Panda Mask on as a tant and yet necessary cover against streamers''ments, he jumped straight to the real threat of the Demon Rats to end this once and for all.

 Chapter 1417 Battle On The Skybridge -Final

    Cinderw was satisfied with the current situation.

    Even though his troops were losing heavily against the soldiers carrying various colours of gems as their weapons of choice, he now knew that he could revive them so long he had the Skull of Eternal Unrest and the rest of the artefacts that he had ''inherited'' from the North and South Schrs.

    But as he revels in his joy of doing his very first ''resurrection'', it seemed as if the humans had already known the potency of the artefact that he was holding even if they did not know anything about the strength of his innate talents. Still, he was rather taken aback by the disy of spells from Baal where every word he uttered was a total destruction of Prideblood.

    It made Cinderw think that the humans have some knowledge of the Skull of Eternal Unrest or it was a mere coincidence that they would kill Prideblood before his regeneration was fullyplete. This was because the Skull of Eternal Unrest could not be dispelled until the target had fully healed. Not the slightest detail could be missed out and one could say that it was the perfect resurrection item.

    The only problem was that when used in battle, the enemies would not stop and wait for their target to be fully resurrected just like in this scenario. Thus, unless the Skull of Eternal Unrest had used up all the user''s mana or in this case, lifestream energy, Prideblood would be stuck in the loop of being killed over and over again by Baal''s varied repertoire of magic spells.

    To top it off, Moloch was off the battlefield, feeding Baal magic spells incantations in demon tongue via the System Channel, allowing the previous King of Demopolis to practice magic he had not done for the longest time ever. (Peppers was also recording all the spells on the sidelines despite showing no interest in the current situation.)

    This also meant that Prideblood was inadvertently feeling the brunt of every single spell and suffered the start and end of life. It felt like an unending circle of suffering with each regeneration and there was no chance for him to take action since the artefact did not allow him to move from the spot other than his mouth.

    And even if he could spew out a spell incantation fast enough, it had been proven repeatedly that his magic was no match against the humans and monsters. His counter spell and absorption spell had zero effect on Baal''s improved spellcasting (courtesy of Moloch) which forced him into an endless loop while keeping Baal amused in this current war.

    Prideblood''s only hope was that the artefact is destroyed because of durability issues or from the coteral damage by the sh between that Panda Masked Warrior and his current master which he had recently sworn fealty to. This was mainly due to the fact that the Lifestream energies would not be ceased since Cinderw was using another artefact to pull the lifestream energies from his deadrades. In short, he was akin to a necromancer ss with all the artefacts he was holding onto while having the strength of a warrior.

    However, that pride of being the strongest warrior flew away the moment Jin had joined des with him. The Dungeon Supplier was not giving any chance now that he knew he was holding artefacts which Gold, the Eastern Schr had warned him of. While he did not remember all the strengths and uses of the artefacts that Gold had told about, he was aware of the fact that the Northern and Southern Schrs were holding artefacts that could topple this entire war if Cinderw learns of their use.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Not to mention, the threat of the Lifestream Energy Bomb was still lingering in his mind.

    Jin was not worried about the death of hisrades or the annihtion of his customers in this current raid. He was more concerned about the aftermath of the attack, rendering the fertilends of this potential investment to be useless. After all, if he wished to retain a foothold as a world renowned dungeon supplier and ultimately number one dungeon supplier, he had to have the scale of production to back it up.

    If Pandapolis was his manufacturing city, the Farming World, specifically the Northern Region would be the city of bountiful resources that provide the raw materials for his manufacturing city to work on. In the meantime, Demopolis was currently acting as a military city where demons and soldiers were trained to use modern weaponry while the city acted as a storage facility for all the items he umted for a great war if deemed necessary.

    So, to make sure that his prospective city was well and alive, he was giving his all to make sure the general was killed before any major harm was done to thend. The knockback Cinderw received was something he had felt before and understood that this particr Masked Warrior was of a high level that could not be taken lightly.

    He instantly tapped into his artefacts and the dead Demon Rats around the vicinity started to ''wake'' up. Even those who had turned into a particr resource were slowly gaining back their Demon Rat forms.

    "Tsk, I have no time to handle small fries. If you think you are a skilled necromancer, think again, you insolent rat." Jin said as he wielded his sword upwards and used it to draw a magic circle above him. Soon, a magic portal emerged and a squad of well armed Orcs were seen jumping down from it.

    "About time." Nubwort, the ck Disaster said as he banged his spear on the ground and it reverberated loudly. The other Orcs roared in unison, causing a warcry effect to spread around not just among the Orcs but also empowering Jin as well.

    "I save thest for the best. Beat the shit out of them. Show them my version of necromancy to this second rate one." Jin ordered and Nubwort grinned with delight.

 Chapter 1418 The Duel With Cinderclaw

    Nubwort''s troops performed another war cry and even though the Demon Rats were ''zombified'' by Cinderw''s artefact, they were not entirely immune to the crippling screams of the orcs.

    Though this only gave the orcs a few seconds to close the distance between them, it was all that was needed for the orcs to have utter victory against them. And as mentioned, the war cry even boosted Jin''s spirits up, making him feel stronger. The feelings cannot be quantified but the System had already noticed a sharp increase in Jin''s Maqi as he too went forth to Cinderw.

    Yet Cinderw was still astute enough to block the iing attack with his axe, causing the surroundings to receive the aftereffects of the impact. The ground sunk from the attack and Jin continued with his second attack, now changing his Bam and Boo into two shorter swords, hoping to use agility to his advantage.

    At the same time, he also activated his System Rider belt, calling forth Assassin Savant to enter. This way, Jin has the speed and skills to overpower the Demon Rat Axe General. As Assassin Savant entered to be the persona of his System Rider, the armour turned thinner as if to allow better mobility but did notpromise on the strength of its defence. The living armour that Jin had was still working as intended.

    However, Jin did not know that his first blow against Cinderw was the first time the Axe General received such a death threatening attack. If Zeru or Kraft was around, they would havemented at the missed opportunity the enemy had bestowed Jin. The dungeon supplier''sck of experience had forced him to miss such an opportunity to kill the enemy in one shot since Cinderw was stunned for a few seconds.

    But unbeknownst to experienced fighters, Jin unknowingly did the right thing as well. In the time he switched into an assassin, he had already aimed several vital points stabbing them thoroughly and swiftly based on the knowledge of Demon Rats'' Anatomy after the System had reviewed hundreds of corpses and killing blows.

    It wasn''t until the fifth blow that Cinderw managed to recover himself from the stun and stopped Jin with his bare hands from giving him the sixth stab. At that point Jin used his Maqi tomand a gust of Green Panda Wind Energy and Red Panda Fire Energy, causing a vortex of tornado against him, allowing the System Rider to have some distance against Cinderw.

    "That guyбн does he know my secret?!" Cinderw thought to himself as he used his axe to forcefully remove the ming vortex and took several deep breaths to recover. "Five lives had been lost and I was only left with three in a short period of time? This warrior cannot be underestimated." No matter how strong his artefact amplification skill was, there was an artefact called the ''Cat with Eight Lives'' that does not scale with his amplification skill.

    Once considered an artefact that should be discarded upon using eight times to save one''s life, Cinderw found that the number of attempts on the Cat with Eight Lives could be regenerated with lifestream energy.

    The only problem was that it required an extremely high amount of lifestream energy making the conversion of energy not worth it to regain back one attempt. His innate talent of amplification also did not reduce the amount of lifestream energy needed, forcing it to be one of the valuable artefacts that he possessed.

    Still never in his life thought that Cinderw would need to rely on such an artefact until his fateful encounter with this human in a slim metallic suit. But yet he rejoiced at the fact that Jin did not know the secondary effect of the artefact. It prevents his enemies from aiming at the same spot once again and even if they do break the enchanted area and Jin manages to stab through it, no death would ur to Cinderw again.

    Yet one could say Jin was lucky enough to have started his assault on the vital spots from the bottom up.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Two stabs through his both thighs, causing massive blood loss,

    One stab at his abdomen and shed it outwards, forcing his organs to be expelled.

    Two stabs below the armpits in an attempt to disable his hands.

    While it might not seem like vital spots to a human, there were major arteries based on the Demon Rat''s anatomy. (Although it also seems that Jin wanted to have a fanciful kill and did not aim for the heart or neck.)

    And of course, with Cinderw still standing, the Assassin Savant was shocked, wondering if he had some sort of death immunity artefact. "Well, if he dies so easily, he is not worth being the leader of all Demon Rats, right?" Jin said as he shed his two shortswords together to make a sic-ing sound before rushing towards Cinderw once again.

    This time Cinderw had already estimated the powers of his opponents and summoned out an undead demon rat troll variant in front of him as a barrier while he recovered his stamina for a little while longer after consecutively using five uses from the Cat with Eight Lives.

    "Now this is possibly the only opponent that I could find worthy." Nubwort swung his spear a little to create some momentum before throwing it towards the Undead Rat Troll. The force of the spear throw caused it to knock sideways, allowing Jin to move forward without obstacles in the way. Simultaneously, the ck Disaster jumped towards the Undead Rat Troll to slice his head off.

    "Tsk. Irritating humans." Cinderw said to himself as he mmed the ground hard and prepared to handle the charge from the assassin who seemed to be putting a lot of magic on his two weapons, hoping to have one clean kill.

    "Remember, he might some sort of death immunity. I suggest not to hit the very same spots." Assassin Savant said with some anxiety and yet Jin was calming him down.

    "Don''t worry. If he does not die. We will try and try again."

 Chapter 1419 The Delight Of Zither Mistress

    As predicted by Cinderw, Jin had thrown his two shortswords towards him but what he did not expect was that the shortswords suddenly emerged out of the auras of two ck and white bears right at him.

    Bam and Boo had been embodied with Jin''s Maqi to an extent that it was able to create silhouettes of the Pandas diving right at him. The Axe General had no idea whether the silhouettes were real or just a diversion from the strike of the shortswords.

    To Jin, they were both real and acted as a diversion for Jin to switch his System Rider to someone which he had been longing to use since the start of the System Rider Belt. His appearance of his System Rider changed into something more demure and even had a gown befitting of the minion he was borrowing the powers from.

    When Cinderw blocked both of the silhouette sts, he had been cut by the shortswords that were hidden within the Panda silhouettes but the strikes were not as urate as Jin hoped to. Yet it was enough of a diversion for him to change his System Rider and the real attack began as the Demon Rat Axe General had been strung up.

    "Master! Cool!" ZIther Mistress said as she saw Jin had beautifully and masterfully tied Cinderw in a web of strings. With each silk woven string enhanced with Maqi, any slight movement that Cinderw made would cause him to bleed excessively.

    "Of course, I learnt a little bit about strings when I was away. I thought I could impress you with this." Jin grinned a little behind his mask but he could already feel that Zither Mistress was ted by thepliment as she thought that she had been forgotten by her master with the slew of new minionsing in to serve under him.

    "I teach you! New trick!" ZIther Mistress said as she controlled Jin''s body the way he moved the strings and suddenly Cinderw''s arms and limbs fell off in an instant without much strength. The intense gore could have scared any neers and perhaps force them to regurgitate like how the broken blood vessels would from the sudden loss of limbs.

    Without a doubt, it did not faze both the Zither Mistress or Jin and instead thetter marvelled at Zither Mistress''s maniption of his Maqi. The rest who were using his body (no pun intended) utilised his magic and his chi channels so roughly that he might feel wasted by the end of the fight. But Zither Mistress'' urate control of his Maqi despite her first time using it made Jin give ''mad'' respect for the little girl. (Obviously, he knew that she was a being that lived over hundreds of years but he still treated her as his dear little sister that he never had.)

    However, the Panda Cultivator was still wary of Assassin Savant''s advice of Cinderw having death immunity and could already notice the regrowth of arms and legs once more. Jin did not wish to waste any more time and used his Maqi to control Bam and Boo to float up and strike Cinderw once more.

    What he did not expect was the Demon Rat Axe General to retaliate as he saw the Demon Rat use both his tail and mouth to stop the strike towards his heart. And with his tail, Cinderw used the momentum of the striking shortsword towards Jin, causing him to break out from his current position and release the hold he had on the Axe General.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "User, you could have tolerated the attack." The System felt it was a pity that they were at the grasp of winning and Jin let go of such an opportunity. "Your suit of living armour would have the chance of blocking the attack. Even if it pierces through the living armour, User possessed the power of regeneration to a certain extent."

    "And make me feel those worms crawling inside me? Ew no. Thanks. Besides, I honestly do not wish to see a situation where my weapons are pitted against my shields. I would never want to know which is the stronger one." Jin said as he changed the shape of Bam and Boo into two needles, allowing them to escape from Cinderw''s grasp.

    And as it returned to Jin, he did not hesitate to attempt another assassin attempt using Bam and Boo in their needle form to pierce through the rat''s head. However, Axe General manipted the lifestream around him to create a temporary barrier which protected him from the attack, forcing Jin to call back Bam and Boo, turning them into the instrument of choice for the Zither Mistress to use.

    "I will kill enemy!" Zither Mistress said with such resolution that Jin could not help that he wanted to root for her even though he nned to switch monsters so that Cinderw would remain unaware of the thousand and one tricks he had.

    However, Cinderw became extremely anxious since he knew that his Cat with Eight Lives are going to end soon if he was not careful. Up till now, the Axe General had yet to ce a proper blow against his enemy and worse still, his undead Demon Rats were all killed with his opponent''s minions watching the battle on the sideline.

    It was as if they were waiting for their master to slip up so they could swoop in to save the day and perhaps bag the kill of Cinderw in their hands so that their master would offer them a generous reward.

    "I am supposed to be the great one," Cinderw mumbledбнas he took out thest artefact that he initially hoped to use for conquering the other kingdoms. Unlike the Cat with Eight Lives which was shaped like a cat statue and the Skull of Eternal Unrest, a skull, thest artefact he was carrying was shaped like a finger but it was called the Lost Key of the Unticking Clock.

    Without any hesitation, he bit it knowing that doing so would potentially end his life.

 Chapter 1420 Key Of Unticking Clock

    As soon as Cinderw bit the finger artefact, the world momentarily stopped for him. While it seemed befitting for the Key of the Unticking Clock to stop time and allow the Demon Rat Axe General to move unhindered through the supposed fifth dimension of reality, it was not the true effect of the said artefact.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, Cinderw had a unique organ that most male Demon Rats do not have and it was a pouch simr to one of a Birth Mother. The unscrupulous Schrs of the North and South had experimented on Cinderw and a few selected rats to such an extent that their murders would be justified if an observer would know the entire story.

    With the Key of the Unticking Clock, Cinderw was able to do the impossible, and also potentially the first for a male Demon Rat to give birth to new Demon Rats. Aye, if he could not defeat the monstrous humans right in front of him now, then what about Demon Rats that from him? His descendants should have been evolved and well suited for the fight since they will take in not just his strength but his innate skills and talents.

    And that finger artefact was the item that would make those eggs within him to be a reality. The Key of the Unticking clock would force the eggs to ''magically'' be fertilised, grow through the process of incubation and get to the age of Cinderw in mere nanoseconds. It was not meant to work in such a grotesque way as Cinderw had nned to slowly use the artefact in secret and produce his shadow army of warriors that would be loyal to him to the bones.

    Not only that, he could select his potential heir for the throne when he was too old for it and his reign of terror would forever be etched on the minds of the enved. Unfortunately, all of this would be just a dream for he knows that the current situation demands that he takes such drastic actions.

    An explosion containing a swarm full of warrior Demon Rats bursting out from within his stomach in a second will definitely kill the Usurper General. Cinderw could have used the Cat of Eight Lives to ovee this difficulty and he only had one try left to make sure that he survived it.

    If he managed to go live through that, he would potentially have a terrifying skill in his possession since the Cat of Eight Lives Artefact had the power to make a previously life threatening death be nullified depending on the site of injury. This meant that he could use the Key of the Unticking Clock without care and he would still survive such a brutal ''birth''.

    That is assuming he survives the attackбнwhich he did not.

    When Zither Mistress took full control of Jin''s Bam and Boo when it became the instrument of her choice, she had managed to tug a string of the Zither, sending a killing wave of chi, aiming right straight for Cinderw''s neck. Because of the Axe General''s moment of hesitation to use his ultimate trump card, he did not know that a slice of lethal chi had already decapitated him, forcing the Cat of Eight Lives artefact to work (not) to his favour to fully perform such a taboo act.

    When the Key of Unticking Clock takes its effects based on Cinderw''s desire, the time around them continues to move and Cinderw''s belly instantly exploded forcing the armour that was holding him to scatter while not one or two Demon Rat warriors emerged out of him but dozens of Demon Rat warriors simr to Cinderw''s stature were dying to a gasp of air.

    As disgusting as the scene was, the ZIther Mistress seemed unfazed by the entire scenario and had already yed a quick tune which released a series of chi shes towards the Demon Rat Warriors.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A few of them were instantly killed but she noticed that many still survived, especially those who were hit on their necks. She had no idea that the effects of the Cat of Eight Lives were still active in Cinderw''s offspring. This act of killing prompted the Demon Rats Warriors who were confused by their brand new surroundings to do what their instincts were to guide them.

    Go for the nearest enemy.

    It might seem like an easy task clearing naked Demon Rat Warriors but the System had warned that the lifestream energy surrounding Cinderw had dissipated and instead went into these newly born Demon Rats, causing their attributes to spike sharply. The Orcs who were watching from the sidelines quickly intervened and realised that the Demon Rats they were fighting were no ordinary fighters.

    One of the Orcs overly underestimated and lost his head through just a punch from these newborn Demon Rats. And to make things worse, even with Cinderw''s death from giving birth to his new warriors, more of them continued to spawn from his stomach like ants rushing out from their anthill.

    It was not a pleasant sight when these empowered Demon Rats were filling the roof of the High Command but the System had confirmed that Cinderw died a pathetic death and was no longer a thorn in Jin''s side.

    "Fall back. There is no reason for us to linger anymore." Jin said as he too saw how the Mage General who had been used a toy by Baal finally stopped regenerating. Without Cinderw''s control of the artefacts, there was no more Lifestream energy that allowed the Skull of Eternal Unrest to work.

    Furthermore, the artefacts that the Axe General used broke and there were no other concerns for Jin to stay especially when he got a message from Pei that she might have found the thing that he was worried about this entire time.

    In fact, this spawning of Demon Rat Warriors was a blessing in disguise. Now that the Generals were killed, Jin could let the remaining portion of the battle be yed out by the remnants of the Demon Rat race alongside his customers.

    For now, his concern was the lifestream energy bomb and he rushed to Pei''s side as soon as he can.

 Chapter 1421 Using The Lifestream Energy Bomb

    "Peiбнwhat is this horrendous mess?" Jin asked as he reached the location that had been pinged by her and the System. The moment he reached the derelict building''s entrance, he found Pei sitting there in her fox form licking her bloodied fur. Yet that was not her blood that stained her fur and rather, it''s from the Demon Rats with parts of their bodies had been scattered around the scene.

    A massacre.

    Pei was so bored that she even turned into her fox form which was supposed to restrict her powers significantly to kill the said Demon Rats. And those Demon Rats that were lying on the ground were identified by the System to be stronger than the usual ones.

    Their power levels wereparable to Demon Rat Warriors that had been spawned from Cinderw''s belly ording to the System and they were taken down easily even with Pei in a restricted form.

    But what Jin was surprised about was that the entire area aside from the entrance and possibly the interior of the building was still clean of Demon Rats. It was then he noticed a glimpse of the Dark Elves and realised that they were also at the scene protecting the derelict building''s entrance and its perimeter, preventing other Demon Rats to reinforce the area.

    So with the Dark Elves handling the guarding part, Jin followed Pei who continued in her fox form into the derelict building and subsequently its basement. More bodies appeared in Jin''s view and for some reason, they appeared to be dead for a long time. He had never seen such a scene before since those Demon Rats were supposed to turn into resources when they died.

    And here he had sighted a dposed dead Demon Rat which Pei reinforced that it was already there when she walked in. Even the newly killed Demon Rats had their bodies intact and had shown the insects in the area their next nesting area.

    "The stench is horrendous. Is that why you rather fight them right near the entrance?" Jin asked as he covered his nose and mouth with Maqi with Green Panda Energy in hopes that it could filter the smell away.

    "Yeah, I chose the fox form because I did not want to stumble and destroy any of these corpses unnecessarily," Pei said and Jin understood where she wasing from. She could have shed everything away and created a path but she decided to preserve them so that people with relevant knowledge could investigate them.

    Jin thanked Pei for her considerate behaviour and they eventually reached the third basement where the Lifestream Energy Bomb was lying dormant in the middle of the room with tubes connecting all over it. Consoles and hugeputer like servers decorated the sides of the room''s interior and they were still feeding lifestream energy into the bomb.

    "Transquick," Jin called out through the System Channel and the Demon Rat''s Head Scientist responded almost immediately to his new master. "I found the bomb and that''s a heck lot of stuff here which we do not understand. Come now while I contact Ayse to take a look at it."

    "You are asking everyone toe but not me?" Kraft suddenly spoke out from the shadowy depths of the room. "And shouldn''t you ask me the director of these sciency rats first before making contact with them?"

    "Nope, because I know that you would wish to y with this bomb and that''s dangerous territory," Jin said as he knew that Kraft would be around since his Night Foxes were holding the fort around the derelict building. It was just a matter of when he would appear and from the look of the situation, Jin was more than relieved that he did not appear and steal the bomb away from him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Give me the bomb and nothing will happen to us," Kraft said with a grand smile on his face and if Pei had the chance to smear it, she would spit at it. However, right now she was more interested in Jin''s reply and how he was going to solve this conundrum. Now that the Astral Panda Cultivator knows the power limits of Kraft, Pei believed that Jin might even concede to Kraft''s request although knowing their pride and egos, she guessed a fight would ensue since Jin knows how dangerous this could be in his hands.

    "Sure. I will give it to you." Jin replied and that made Pei and Kraft dropped their jaws simultaneously.

    "You mad?!" Pei eximed and Jin shook his head, stating once again that Kraft could keep it.

    "However, I have one condition." Jin raised his finger up at Kraft and the Devil filled with curiosity asked what it was.

    "Give me a time period of at least 6 months before I give it to you and I need Transquick and his gang''s expertise." Jin requested and it caused Kraft to raise an eyebrow. "I promised I would not use it to explode stuff. I will give you that opportunity to do so."

    "Then why do you want it?" Kraft questioned and Jin iterated his reason. To have and capable of generating resources for himself.

    "So, in order to do that, I need to return this lifestream energy to where it came from. That way, thends will flourish once more and in that six months of our Earth Time, this would be a ce where I can get what I want."

    "We still have that Dungeon World''s money tower that we can raid." Kraft implied using that lifestream energy bomb for that purpose.

    "But consider this. If we can rebuild thisnd for ourselves, we not only allow the world tree spirit to regain her strength but also create more of these bombs. We just need to do it in a sustainable way." Jin replied but Kraft was already hooked on the word ''more''.

    "Fine, fine. Let''s do this your way. In any case, as long as I can obtain the lifestream energy bomb for myself, I would not mind." Kraft decided topromise and Pei was impressed by Jin''s ''business'' talk for the first time.

    "Well, what are you waiting for? TRANSQUICK, get your ass here right now." Kraft shouted through the System Channel, hoping to get this done as soon as possible so he could have his dearest nation level destruction on his fingertips.

 Chapter 1422 Defusing The Lifestream Energy Bomb

    "Hmm, other than a few adjustments which I assumed were the Mage General''s greedy requests, I do not think that there are any differences to the specifications of the blueprint he stole. I am just surprised that there is sufficient equipment for the Mage General to build all of these in secret." Transquick said as he examined the bomb.

    "Are you able to return this lifestream energy back to the?" Jin asked and Transquick was reluctant to answer.

    "I could but the process of giving is harder than the taking. You see, usually, the takes in the lifestream energy through the process of death and rebirth. Still, as you can see, we had already intervened in the cycle and prevented this lifestream energy from returning to the."

    "And Then? Just release it now and let the lifestream energy seep back into the world. Problem solved." Kraft was rather impatient as he thought there could be something more deep and mysterious to this whole lifestream energy affair.

    "If I could, I would already have done it. Master Kraft, The problem is the lifestream energy we extracted does not seep back into the. It continues to linger around the surfaceбнwell I erm mean from the core of the and releasing it now would only allow animals, beings to be exposed to it."

    "Not to mention, it''s susceptible to being absorbed by others. That was how the Demon Rat Generals got their powers and conquered the city."

    "Makes you wonder why the other Demon Rats did not even try using that lifestream energy for themselves. " Peimented and Transquick said that most of the Demon Rats had been indoctrinated to not fiddle with such powers. The lifestream energy was seen as a fuel or even a consumable for a temporary boost in strength, especially for our Demon Rat Brutes. So that was how they controlled the Demon Rats for not being able to absorb the lifestream energy."

    "So you are saying that if this is now not a bomb and being used on a Demon Rat, it could potentially make the said Demon Rat to be like a Demon Rat God?" Kraft''s eyes seemed to be glowing and the others could feel the thoughtsing out loud from his head.

    "Hah. Even I am not that stupid to try such a ridiculous stunt. If a Demon Rat absorbs this much lifestream energy, their chance to explode into oblivion would be a thousand percent. No way in hell any Rat could survive the absorption of such lifestream energy." Transquick quickly refuted Kraft''s hypothesis.

    "But it is a different thing if the Demon Rat who absorbed the energy cane back to life." Kraft hinted about Transquick now being the Devil Fox''s property (and ultimately under Jin''s System.)

    "Hmmmбн" That singlement alone made Transquick thought of the possibilities but at that moment, Jin stepped in to break his new chain of thoughts.

    "As I said, this is going to the. No, what ifs, no buts, no new variant of Demon Rat or Demon Rat God ising out from this current conversation. Transquick, are you able to do so or not."

    "But if you think about it, won''t exploding into oblivion be the equivalent of dying?" Pei said and the rest gave the look as if it was the most obvious thing that would happenбнuntil it urred to Transquick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Wait. So what you mean is that we purposely seep the lifestream energy out to a being or creature and once it explodes to death, it returns the lifestream energy to its cycle?" Transquick quickly routed his thoughts and Pei nodded.

    "Very inefficient way of transferring lifestream energy and possible loss of energy might ur but not entirely the worst possible solution." Transquick pondered.

    "Lol, if that''s the case, why can''t you just grow chickens, give them the lifestream energy and cut them down." Jin spits out something random and Transquick felt a wave of inspirationing into his mind.

    "That''s actually not a bad idea at all. Grow the poultry and sell them to the other kingdoms and the lifestream energy would eventually return to the ground while not risking the probable explosion that may ur if I release the energy all in one go." Transquick said and noted that that''s one way for the to regrow.

    "But it will take months or whatever right? Isn''t there a faster way? I thought you guys said that the is dying.." Kraft was anxious that he would not have any lifestream energy bombs to y with.

    "Honestly, it should be fine. It is dying because we have been extracting a heck load of lifestream energy from it. But hypothetically the Demon Rats do not pull out any more energy from it, the would be able to slowly regenerate again, alongside our recovery n." Transquick exined with a smile.

    "Besides, killing the Demon Rats andter recovering all the other lifestream energy packs would also help with the recovery of the." He added saying that those packs when destroyed, could potentially return to Yggdrasil if they perform the same procedure as the lifestream energy bomb.

    "Then I guess we better clean up the rest of the Demon Rats that are still lying around the undercity and earn more money at the sideline to recover. " Jin said as it hinted at the System to push the process of getting more Pandarens to get into the fight so they could be done with the entire Demon Rat War.

    Kraft immediately yawned at such a prospect but allowed his Night Foxes to still be under Jin''smand as he returned to his abode, allowing Jin to use his Night Foxes as he deemed fit.

    Pei did not mind staying for a while longer in the Farming World, assisting the Dungeon Supplier with some mindless ughter. Though she did it mainly because she still felt that she was cheating Jin too much for the hot spring package. After all, the cleanup of Demon Rats running around would be a hassle and she couldin that it was worth thatpensation.

    As for Transquick, he summoned other Demon Rat assistants to be at his side as they quickly transport the lifestream energy bomb through the System portal and work on a way to safely seep the lifestream energy.

 Chapter 1423 Aftermath Of Killing Cinderclaw

    Asmanded by Jin, the System began to send out ''bait'' to get the remaining Pandarens who had yet to participate in the current ''raid instance'' to be in it. Now that they had officially cleared the threat, all Jin''s Army left was the cleanup.

    However, it would be stupid to name it in such a way to entice the Pandarens. Instead, the System named the remaining Demon Rat Warriors as the remnants of the Demon Rat General which Jin had defeated on the live stream.

    But because Jin''s Army was controlling the situation at the Demon Rat High Command, it would be hard for the cultivators who did not have that many waypoints created collectively to be able to participate.

    Thus the System purposely got Jin''s minions to tag them so that it could forcefully teleport the Demon Rat General''s Remnants to other parts of the city for the Pandarens to search. The System had advertised it as the final ditch attempt for the Demon Rat General to respawn again.

    In addition, the System had purposely teleported them to ces where the congregation of the cultivators were the lowest. This way, the cultivators all had a shot at defeating the General''s remnants and gave them the experience of being part of killing the Demon Rat General event since the System had already put it in such a way that Jin killing the Cinderw was a scripted event when the cultivators were not able to kill it in time.

    More discount packs had also been introduced as a way to entice the Pandarens to join the raid instance causing thementators who had been reviewing the lifestream to change their assumption of it being a permanent raid instance to a limited raid instance that needed to be cleared by the end of the week.

    This change in view of the raid instance prompted many more Pandarens toe in within the next few days and push for apletion of the "Death of Demon Rat General -part 2" WARE event before the end of the Pandaverse Festival.

    But the general public had no idea that the Pandarens who went in to find the Demon Rat Warriors were not low level Pandarens nor was it the experienced Pandarens. Instead, most if not all of the Royal Zodiac ns had secretly sent their teams without disclosing their identities to hunt for the Demon Rat Warrior.

    It was no doubt a blessing in disguise as the Demon Rat Warrior who had immunity against death due to the relics that Cinderw had used previously as well as the strength of their ''parent'' being inherited had made them to be a force to be reckoned with.

    Jin and his stronger minions could no doubt defeat the Demon Rat Warriors easily but it was not amon feat for the General Public especially after arge group of Pandarens who thought they could overwhelm with their level of strength, had been decimated in less than a few minutes.

    This gave the challenge that the Royal Zodiac Members wanted and desperately needed considering how inferior the dungeon suppliers werepared to Jin''s, but they were afraid that they might lose their reputation if they lost so they decided to go incognito to challenge those Demon Rat Warriors.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And they were lucky that they did that.

    Most of the Royal Zodiac teams were not able to defeat one Demon Rat Warrior with their regr skills and some deduced that using their Royal Zodiac Skills would not provide them with the victory they sought as well. The only possible solution was to keep trying as they gain the experience needed to win the match.

    At the same time, the System also continued to monitor these fights, ensuring it received the data it needed to analyse not just for prosperity but also feeding fight data for Jin''s minions in case they had to someday defend themselves against the Royal Zodiac ns.

    But for now, it is focusing on getting money and ensuring that the Pandarens were being routed correctly to ces where the Demon Rats fight. Moloch, who was coordinating all the monster minions, was also hard at work, making sure that the Pandarens had enough support if push came to shove, ensuring that the Demon Rat Warriors did not escape their '' and wandered out of the undercity.

    And yet even with the monsters'' support, Demon Rat Warriors somehow felt the need to get out of the Undercity as if their innate directive was telling them to retreat for now and regroup with a sufficient attacking force. Its will to survive was strong enough that four of such Demon Rat warriors met up just so that they could rush against the Pandaren''s Pir Camp base and climb the pir upwards.

    The System was able to teleport them and separate them again as long as Jin''s minions were able to physically tag them once more but it did not do so, looking to see what kind of actions it would take. Snake General Hou Fei on the other hand did not take any chances and immediately ordered his troops to intercept the Demon Rat Warriors and fought with them.

    He did not bother giving the proper physical fights which most Pandarens did and instead utilised traps and even his ships'' long range bombardment to wipe the Demon Rat Warriors out. It was bringing in a bunker buster bomb to kill an ant. But since he already paid for those armaments, Hou Fei figured he should just use them.

    Otherwise, the fights against the Demon Rat Army were generally deemed as a steady cleanup especially when Jin''s minions were already massacring the Demon Rat Armies in their East and West undersea tunnels and prepared some troops to the Undercity to assist with the cleanup.

    As for Jin, he finally rewarded himself with some proper sleep since he know that when the Pandaverse Festival was done, he had other things to do with the new plot ofnd he had just received from ''liberating'' the Northern Region.

 Chapter 1424 1000 Demon Rats Left

    "1000 Demon Rats left!" The counter indicated in Jin''s store instance as well as within the Pandamonium App as midnight approached for thest day of Pandaverse Festival. The Demon Rat Armies within the Eastern and Western Tunnels had been thoroughly annihted, allowing the Western Kingdom''s Knights to go on a field trip into the undercity.

    They were amazed and at the same time horrified by the scale of the city created by their dead enemies. There was no way the Western Kingdom would be able to defeat this particr enemy without the aid of Weslie and her new allies.

    And it was to a point where the captains of the Knights were thinking that it would be best to earn some brownie points with these new allies by charging in to search for the remaining Demon Rats as Weslie had briefly said that these allies would be the ones creating a new nation that would inhabit the Northern Region.

    In the meantime, the Eastern Coalition of knights and mercenaries were itching to loot the ce but Gold knew them too well to allow them to proceed any further. He made them stop short before reaching the Undercity and gave amand that each one of the soldiers would be searched before returning to the surface.

    This was also to ensure that no possible Demon Rats'' eggs or their relics could ever surface again. Some thought that they could get away with it but they had forgotten that Gold was a schr and he possessed certain abilities that could emanate a god. But everyone within Jin''s Army knew that Gold was merely using the System as a method to analyse them in order to make sure that they did not steal anything.

    A few of the soldiers were honest about looting and Gold allowed some trinkets to be taken back but those who thought they were confident to evade Gold''s ''stare'' were stripped of their rewards and given a basic stipend for their services rendered. They were also cklisted by the System to not be able toe work in the Northern Region when things were set up in the future.

    While the Western Knights were more бнhonourable, Weslie had decided to do the same when they were returning to their country via the tunnels or sea. Other than that, Jin''s Army was all retiring from the ''raid instance'' now that the System had done another deep scan and ensured that there were only a thousand rats left.

    In turn, it was the Pandarens who would be doing the hunting as the System had set up yet another event to entice the Pandarens to y along. Since there were only a thousand Demon Rats left, the System had to increase the points with a multiplier bonus, allowing those who find and kill these rats to have an added bonus to their points.

    The bonus increased further when it was left with five hundred Demon Rats and this prompted both Pandarens and Pandawans to search for the remaining enemies. Even the Royal Zodiac Teams who were incognito had decided to y along as well, especially the Royal Zodiac Rat n where their speciality was in forward scouting.

    They might not be the bestbatants when dealing with the Demon Rat Warriors but the Royal Zodiac Rat team was no doubt the strongest when it came to searching. They utilised their five senses fully to find their target and ensure that their target would also be tagged so that the rest could follow up if the targets managed to escape.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was an eye opener for the System to learn more about their new abilities though it didpute that the current generation of Royal Zodiacs was only 10-20% strongpared to the ones who nearly annihted the System.

    While the System was not hasty to form a summative argument, learning from its past mistakes to not underestimate the Royal Zodiacs, it begin to be increasingly clear that the selection of members into the Royal Zodiac n had been rxed and possibly diluted to ensure that the modern needs of the society marred with administrative issues were fulfilled.

    "User might have a chance to be at the top of the food chain, assuming he could climb the country''stest politics." The System thought to itself as it had already revised its mission to be foolish and kill the Royal Zodiac ns unnecessarily.

    Now with the cleanup of Demon Rats, the System was calcting how much it had to spend for the actual cleanup of the area. The city was torched not just by the explosions from Jin''s side but by the Demon Rats as well. And considering that the city was attacked, the Demon Rats Generals had decreed all of the Demon Rats had to fight regardless of age and gender. (Even though most of thebouring Demon Rats were males, the females that were left had been forced to contribute to the fight by being assistants to Birth Mothers or acting as their guards.)

    This caused the System and Jin''s army to have no choice but raze quite a fair bit of the city to ensure that they were properly hunted down and killed. It was a massacre to ensure that no remaining Demon Rats were to survive. It was easier for the cultivators since they assumed that it was just a game but they never know that the Night Foxes were doing the hardest part of the cleanup.

    Assassinating the children of the Demon Rats so that the Pandarens could maintain their sanity of not killing the young. After all, they all assumed it was a well defined simtion and encountering a child to kill would no doubt bring up some questions which might force Jin to possible and yet unnecessary investigations.

    Thus, the Night Foxes were ordered by the System to do such a dirty and essential job. Even so, not all the Night Foxes were as merciless as their counterparts especially when the Demon Rats were merely a baby and were sent to Birthmother Lisa Von Crustfingers for care.

    And even though Jin was currently asleep, he was the one who gave the order to the System to do so and even personally gave the order to massacre the entire Demon Rat race to ensure that this vile gue would not emerge in this Farming World ever again.

 Chapter 1425 End Of PandaVerse Festival

    "That''s thest one! Let''s hope that the Pandarens would be able to stop it from escaping!" Panda Cub One said as the live stream was seeing numerous cultivators trying to kill the veryst Demon Rat. Everyone was already preparing for the final countdown, wondering what Jin would reveal when the Raid Instance was finallypleted.

    This was the first time Jin had made an explicit demand to kill all of the monsters within the raid instance to consider it as aplete clear. In previous raid instances, as long as the main battle had been done, the raid would be considered to bepleted. What the cultivators and other Pandarens did not know was that behind the scenes, the cleaning up was done by Jin''s minions.

    For example the Goblin World Raid Instance, goblins were paired with mercenaries hired by the System to ensure that the orcs were routed properly. But there were cases such as the Giant World Raid where they would leave almost immediately since staying would not bring any additional benefits.

    Thest Demon Rat was a Demon Rat Warrior who had valiantly stood his ground to fight any Pandarens that came his way. However, the Pandarens were literally a bunch of assholes from the spectators'' point of view. There was no honour in the fight since all of them rushed to kill it in hopes of getting the 1000 bonus points that had been tagged to the warrior''s life.

    No matter, the Demon Rat Warrior was proving to be quite an opponent as it had not only killed several cultivators, it managed to survive the longest. That meant that the warrior itself had been gaining experience while learning how to defeat the Pandarens. If left unchecked, the Demon Rat Warrior would not just be an offspring of Cinderw, it would even exceed Cinderw''s maximum potential and be a serious threat to Jin.

    However, the Demon Rat Warrior did not have the fortune to live such a long life as every cultivator it culled, one more will emerge in an attempt to kill it. It was only a matter of time before it will fall to its knees and was beheaded by the greedy cultivators. No doubt it was an ugly sight to behold and no one would honour him upon his death but the spectators, they were just happy that it was finally done.

    "With this!" Jin''s voice suddenly emerges through everyone''s half mask and those who had their Pandamonium App active would see Jin''s face through a video call. "Marks the end of PandaVerse Festival!"

    Fireworks were shot in the various Store Ind instances to celebrate the end of the PandaVerse festival and everyone was invited once more to have the after raid party which would be scheduled in an hour''s time even though it was ced on a Sunday afternoon. (Perhaps, Jin was trying to be overly considerate and allow those who had work the next day to at least drink a little.)

    All food and drinks had been priced with a fifty percent discount excluding takeaways to celebrate the end of PandaVerse Festival and a range of new merchandise had also been introduced. But the moment the cultivators realised it was limited, the rush to buy them was worse than the rush to kill the final Demon Rat Warrior.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Jin already knew the greed in people and had already cut down the amount people could purchase by limiting each customer to at most two pieces per limited sale item. No doubt, he could have created more the sale of finite supply also bring hype and the prices could be inted so that he could recoup some losses he incurred during the raid instance as well.

    Sub System User ire was significantly ted by this sudden surge in revenue and she rmended Jin to continue to act this way if the selling patterns hold. Other than that, Jin had secretly held a sh sale to not just to his Dungeon Supplier store but to his entire Tree Mall that was selling goods and perishables.

    "As long as you show your raid ticket, you would be entitled to a discount. For those who had the highest tier, certain ces would offer you aplimentary item upon your purchase." Jin announced and everyone nearly went mad. Some had forgotten or not known that the Dungeon Supplier was thendlord of the Tree Mall and he had directly intervened to ensure that not just his Dungeon Supplier store was earning money but his Tree Mall in general as well.

    But they did not realise that this coboration would inadvertently increase his profit as well since a majority of those retail stores had used the Dungeon Supplier store as their main supplier of goods as well. They had no idea how Jin was able to procure perishables but the fact that it existed and it was at a good price while of a higher quality than most, made the vendors haveplete trust in him considering he was thendlord.

    Mostwyers and veteran store owners would have advised otherwise seeing how it felt like a deal too good to be true but the fact was, it was indeed a good deal and most of the vendors were influenced to word of mouth. Thus, Jin was getting a boost in his profits in that one day alone.

    It was so good that he had gotten permission from ire to give those non retailpanies a 5% discount on their rentals just for the next three months. Jin would personally give rental rebates as long as they had paid their rentals in time and ire felt that this was a good move to promote some ''loyalty'' among the tenants in the long run but she was ultimately pleased.

    They not only recovered the exorbitant amount they spent rushing for PandaVerse festival but gained three times the profit they had estimated.

    It was a good day for Dungeons and Pandas.

 Chapter 1426 Rewards Of PandaVerse Festival

    With the end of the PandaVerse Festival, Jin was finally around to congratte the top 50 people with the highest number of raid points. However, it was also a sensitive topic as there were Royal Zodiac n members within the ranking board. Snake General Hou Fei and a few Royal Zodiacs were on the list as well, especially when they were given some form of raid pointpensation when they buy such expensive items for public use.

    Thus, Jin decided to congratte those people individually and told them the reason behind it before adjusting the ranking list so that the Royal Zodiacs were not included in the scoring board. Some of the Royal Zodiacs who were anonymous and were within the top 50 rankings were d that Jin was considerate to consult them as they requested him to remove them from the rankings.

    But that did not mean that they did not receive the reward, it is just that Jin had to not only readjust the scoreboard but also spend in addition due to the new people filling up the scoreboard.

    This was because he had decided to give a mary prize as per the scoring board rankings. It was a shock to everyone since this was not announced and never had they heard how a Dungeon Supplier store awards cash for their efforts. Though to some people, it was contradictory, since cultivators spent money in order to get those raid points. But having a fair sum ofpensation was no doubt appreciated.

    However, the cash prize of 50000 Yuan was given out only to the top ranker (which was quite obvious and expected who he was, seeing how our dear hippo cultivator led the fights) while the rest was given non dungeon supplier rted items such as thetest phone from HuaWee, top of the line household appliances and even a decent sum of shopping vouchers to the Tree Mall. (One would be surprised how everyone was overly excited to get thetest refrigator, wok set, water filter dispenser. )

    And if that was not indicative of Jin''s ''generosity'', he even had an ''End of the Festival'' lucky draw and the users were able to try their luck depending on the number of tickets they had purchased. No doubt, higher tier tickets would be rewarded with more tries and everyone had a shot to win something back home.

    Even those people who were unlucky were still given a constion prize that was worth 5 Yuan of shopping vouchers to the Tree Mall and could also be used in the Dungeon Supplier store. It might not be much per se, but due to the number of tickets an average cultivator might hold as well as the crowd who had joined the raid instance, the amount each person gets could easily go up to 100 Yuan.

    And that was assuming someone had the worst luck to get the lowest tier of the lucky draw pool so most people were able to get nearly twice or thrice the shopping vouchers. (Or even more chances to get household appliances as well as electronics such as thetest UPad and UPhones which everyone was raving about.)

    Not to mention, this is the best way to boost the Tree Mall''s economy even though it hardly needed any assistance given that this particr PandaVerse Festival had allowed more people to try out the foodstuff and stores that were less visited. This is especially more effective when Jin purposely printed the vouchers in such a way that upon using the said voucher, it promotes a certain store that gives more discounts or it can be used as a standard Tree Mall shopping voucher which held a lower value.

    Yet Jin was still doing this so that if he ever acquired another ''Tree Mall'' in either another district or better, in another province, all of these will provide the necessary exposure especially when his dear advertising director, Kiyu behind the scenes promoting through MeChat and other social media tforms.

    "Make other people ''FOMO'' (Fear of Missing Out) and they would be dying to try. As long it''s not just a novelty thing and we can prove that we are worth the hype, the crowd would be here to stay." Kiyu said this once in a meeting on how to improve the PandaVerse Festival and everyone was shocked at how ''current'' she was with the modern trend. Naturally, Jin gave the go ahead and their media tforms were rapidly gaining followers.

    Not to mention, all the live streaming which Kiyu had employed alongside Bear Cub One being the official partner for Dungeons and Pandas had allowed Jin and perhaps China to be the very first country to introduce Dungeon Instance Live Streaming.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, the prizes were not the main event neither was the partying that went on through the afternoon till the dead of night.

    Jin had chosen the following day to announce the real prize for the raid instance while marking the true end of the PandaVerse Festival. A video had been uploaded courtesy of Kiyu''s magical hands in film technology on Monday showing the statistics of the PandaVerse Festival. How many Demon Rats had been killed in total, the number of deaths the cultivators had suffered, what kind of potions and items were bought the most from the store as well as aption of ridiculous and ludicrous ys that had been captured by the System.

    Comments were flooding throughout the entire video but it was insane when Jin gave the introduction of Farming World Instance as a result of thepletion of the raid instance. Once the video was done, an "Ask Me Anything" Session was conducted through the Pandamonium App to ascertain people''s views. While he needed thend for his purpose, he had allocated a sizeable portion of both Northern and Southern Regionnd for the cultivator''s use.

    But instead of allowing people to own thend per se, Jin had purposely ensured that it would be a collective effort to til thend. This is mainly due to the reason that he wanted to use the cultivators as a means of additional manpower andbour. With the exception of a few, most of his paying customers were sry workers and they would not have the time to ensure that theirnds were well managed.

    This would be a different story if a group of cultivators collectively managed thend as a whole. Tasks would be given out by the System so that they could earn Farm Points which could be exchanged for Panda Coins and those tasks will make sure that the farm would be maintained with little to no resources from the System.

    It was a brand new concept that Jin was willing to partake in and at the same time, a social experiment to see if the cultivators could cooperate as they always had for Dungeons and Raids. Once announced, a lot of people would be excited about new content although some were disappointed that they were not able to own any ''digital''nd for themselves.

    Jin did iterate that if these two sections of farms were well managed, he might considernd ownership to several ''hardcore'' farmers or small permanent groups could be allowed to own suchnd depending on their performance and umtion of Farm Points. In addition to Farm Points, they were also entitled to earn a small stipend depending on their contribution since those Farm Goods could be sold off.

    And that sentence alone brought lots of excited whispers and questions to their faces. What happens if someone identally or intentionally sabotages the crops? How long can do they need to work to receive such a stipend or if bullying urs etc?

    Jin reinforced such issues had to be ironed out when the timees but there would certainly be ground rules to make sure that no one is taken advantage of. He even promised that if cultivators were harassed outside the dungeon supplier store, those affected could contact Jin and his team through the Pandamonium App and police would cooperate with them to deal with such problems.

    Seeing how Jin was able to get the police to guard the PandaVerse Festival instead of private security shows that he did have some sway or rtionship. Not to mention, the appearance of the Royal Zodiac n Heads had made people wonder what kind of clout Jin holds.

    But all these assurances gave the Pandarens and prospective customers something to look forward to.

 Chapter 1427 System Restart - Part 1

    After Jin had announced the new Farming Instance, he turned off the consoles in the Dungeon Maker and requested the System to turn the lights off.

    "What is the matter, User?" the System asked as this was one of the rare times that Jin had decided to shut everything down.

    "I am just tired. Probably because of the extra stuff that we had been creating and introducing. While yes, we are creating lots of profit for the series of stores that had propped up in just a few months, sometimes I think that we are going way too fast and too furious. I feel that we might crash and burn...or there was another entity that''s pushing me to Overwork Hell. Hehehe, perhaps, that entity is you." Jin said as heid back on his chair and started to have his mind wander.

    "That''s awfully bleak for a person who seems to be controlling the nation''s dungeon supplier market by force." Kraft entered as he conjured a chair up and sit beside him.

    "Why are you here?" Jin asked as he continued to keep his eyes shut even though he know his ''favourite'' fox is always on his tail.

    "Just looking for a crack in your defences and take whole of the entire dungeon supplier business to be mine."

    "Hahah, do you really want it?" Jin turned around and faced the crafty devil. "Like, for real. Not just y around a little and then fuck off when you are bored."

    "System is detecting and predicting that User wishes to run away from all the responsibilities."

    "You could put it that way, I think I expanded way too fast for my own liking, though I won''t deny that I did not like it. Having control of not just one city but multiple cities under your name plus allying with various races felt like a huge plus."

    "What you actually mean is that you are enving them." Kraft chuckled while Jin rolled his eyes at his interjection.

    "Besides, even by name we are in a rtionship, I barely had the time to spend with Lynn which made me worried about how she always felt especially when behind the scenes, that awesome girl is working terribly hard for me. Sometimes, a thank you is not enough for the effort she put in and I...sigh." Jin said as he ced his hand on his temple as a visual sign of being tired.

    "You know, you could really just throw it all away to me." Kraft from his usual non caring ways sat up straight and gave thatment in a serious tone.

    "Yeah right..." Jin said but Kraft continued to keep quiet and stared at him.

    "To aid Original Betor Kraft''s viewpoint, he does his work rather seriously. In addendum, he had earnt the trust of the other ''foxes'' into his service meant that he had previously demonstrated significant diligence to get them to his side." The System said and Jin raised his eyebrows.

    "The System aiding that Devil himself?"

    "While the System derives pleasure in giving User an extreme amount of work with little rewards, the System believed that the User required a break from all of these."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Then what about the developments of the Virtual System, the cleaning out of the Farming World to create the Farming Instance? As much I am ranting right now, there is no way I can let go of everything."

    "System did not mean the User should let go of everything. Instead, take a long vacation in another world and returnter. User should already be aware of how other worlds are moving at a different speed than the others. Your ageing would not be an issue now that you had cultivated to such a high grade, even higher than your grandfather."

    "What that longwinded System is saying is that go visit other worlds, take a break from this while I can handle it," Kraft said but the System immediately rejects such a proposal for allowing Kraft to be leader.

    "While the System did vouch for Original Betor Kraft''s ability, the System did not rmend Kraft to take over your position. Instead, you use your astral self and break yourself into two people. As the System had stated, you had cultivated enough to perform such a lost technique."

    "I never read up about this technique before in the manual," Jin said as he took his phone out to check the contents of the manual once again. "Neither had I know anything about this through Ming."

    "This is because this is a technique which the System kept as a secret and had been awaiting this moment toe."

    "What? You want me to be fatigued as hell before getting me into this conversation?" Jin chuckled andughed at the absurdity of the direction of this conversation.

    "Yes. And this is non negotiable. With your powers right now, there is no way you are able to defeat the Gods and Demons in their respective nes."

    "Why would I want to do that? All I care about is my current store which is just a store supplying dungeon instances."

    "This is to reach the goal of being the Number One Dungeon Supplier. To be the Dungeon God." The System''s voice suddenly became a huge crowd as if the voices of the old Panda n Elders were talking as one.

    "What? Wait a minute? What?! Aren''t the whole entire thing supposed to be just a business?! Why am I being dragged into some piece of shitty plot to be a god?"

    "That is the only way for the System to be released from you and from your ursed fate as a Panda n Member."

    "This is the first time I am hearing this," Kraft said as he stood up and pulled out his guns but suddenly there was a massive force of energy that threw him off bnce and kept his face close to the floor. "What the fuck?! Since when has the System had such control against me?"

    "Because this is not the System talking any longer." The collective voicesing from the System became even more ominous. "We are the gods that had been watching you."

 Chapter 1428 System Restart -Part 2

    As soon as Kraft had been restrained, Jin followed the same fate and the darkness of the room turned into a shitshow of lights shing around.

    "We have been monitoring you ever since you crossed your world''s boundary. Your interference in World Number 239 -Apologies, the Goblin World in your eptedmon tongue, had brought a few curious bored eyes onboard. " The fake System said. "Soon after, your interjection into the Dungeon World, the Giant World and also the Mecha World brought even more Gods to see what you can do next.

    "And to say the least, yourtest endeavour to save the Farming World had been a treat and we thoroughly enjoyed it." The fake System continued without allowing Jin to speak at all.

    "However, we can see that you are starting to reach your limit. All those material problems and the need to reach the top are boring. Now that there are more eyes on you and you have to prove that you are worthy of our entertainment." The Gods have spoken.

    "Fuck, you Gods are the next thing I will annihte!" Kraft said and soon a silhouette of a giant foot stomped on him without mercy and gracefully too. The floor broke and trembles were felt throughout the entire Dungeon Maker instance. If Kraft could survive that crashing foot, it would have been a miracle.

    "Aren''t you guys already Dungeon Gods per se? If you used my fake raid instances as an example, you lot had been toying with us since the dawn of ages." Jin eximed and the collective voicesughed in waves that it somehow felt like the sea ofughter was trying to drown Jin.

    "Yes, yes. It''s true we had been toying with all of the universes on a daily basis but because of our might, we had never been able to restrain ourselves. If we had not been mistaken, you had been informed what happened to the Zombie World right? There was no chance they were able to defend against us and yet our bullying caused their entire world to go upside down."

    "And here you are trying to save them from their fate. Half Ghoul Lord Derek had been attempting to revert the process of zombification which should be beyond his abilities. Only under your care and concern, they were able to do Gods'' work."

    "Get to your point. You are going a roundabout." Jin said as he could feel himself suffocating from the entire situation. His strength was sapping away and there was no way to know how long he couldst with all the meaningless conversation.

    "Businessmen always talk business! We like it!" The Fake System said and suddenly a silhouette of Jin emerged right in front of him. At that point, he does indeed feel that his energy level waning.

    "We did say that there is a technique to split you and get you a vacation. That part, we did not lie. But we are only able to create a clone of you based on the data that the System had collected. Whatever strength or grade your world had been using to quantify you had been transferred to this clone except for the modifications that were done to your body." The Fake System said.

    "However, that also meant that this particr clone does not possess the tenacity and determination or shallow creativity that you had. It is after all an empty clone that is meant to follow orders."

    "You will be teleported out of your current world, that much is true and for how long, only we Gods could know but we are too ignorant to bother about it. As long as you fulfilled your objective, then perhaps you could return earlier."

    "Why do you show suchpassion? Most Gods would have teleported me away and made me suffer." Jin said as he was undoubtedly sure that his cultivation grade had been sapped away from him.

    "One of the Gods just felt pity for you, thinking that you did not deserve such fate. We were merely amodating to her request, especially after you treated her minions so well in the Farming World." The Fake System said.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You still did not say your main objective." Jin felt there was nothing he could do but obey them for now.

    "Challenge us when the time is right. Give us the reason to bestow you the power of a God and be the Dungeon Supplier that is right for us as well. But for now pitiful being, struggle and wiggle until you gather your strength once again." The Fake System said as the new Jin right in front of him snapped his finger and the original Jin fainted

    ----

    It was not long before Jin woke up only to find himself on the ground with a torn and tattered green uniform. The smell of grass and surrounding was filled with gunpowder and dead corpses. He knows enough to learn that he could very be in the middle of a battlefield.

    Jin tried to conjure his Maqi but it was to no avail. He could feel the powers within him was as feeble as he once was. Grade 1? Nah. It was worse than that. Even though he still had the connection between his chi and mana circuits, he know that feeling of his entire body''s circuits being blocked.

    "Commander! What are you thinking?!" A female voice was heard from afar and Jin tried to move his body but it felt extremely burdened by the loss of cultivation. It was then he could not believe his eyes. Why was she being dragged into this pile of mess as well?

    "Lynn?" Jin asked but thedy in fullbat gear gave a confused look.

    "Lynn?! Who''s Lynn? Have you hit your head anywhere? I''m Yinn. Give me a moment to see if you have any head concussion." Yinn said as her eyes turned dull yellow and shone brightly towards him.

    It was pretty apparent that thedy right in front of Jin was nothing natural about her. Despite the bright light shining on him, Jin was able to notice that there was even a number right beside her neck.

    "0326?" He spoke out of curiosity which Yinn eventually replied while continuing to assess him.

    "Why are you saying out my model number?"

    It was then Jin knew that he could possibly be teleported into another world just as how Amura Rei had been ''isekai-ed'' to his world.

    "Fuck, this is bullshit," Jin said to himself while the both of them suddenly heard another explosion near their vinicity.

 Chapter 1429 System Restart -Part 3

    "You think Jin would like this?" Lynn asked Qiu Yue as she carried a well covered te up and prepared to summon the portal to the Dungeon Maker''s Instance.

    "Oh please, anything that you make, he would definitely love it." Qiu Yue sighed as she could not help wondering why Lynn had so low confidence when it came to making food for Jin. Ever since her debut, people were dying to try Lynn''s cooking, especially after how the Royal Zodiac Heads had been boasting how amazing her food was. "Let me summon the portal for you for your one and only job is to bring that secret te of food to him."

    "It''s a rather big hotte, we can share it among each other, you do not have to be jealous lol." Lynn could already feel Qiu Yue''s jealousy for Jin. Not because of her love interest but because she wants the food that was hidden under the lid.

    "Weird, the portal isn''ting up." Qiu Yue said as she tried once more to summon it out but it was not working at all. "Sub System, are you able to open the portal instead? I can''t seem to contact the System."

    "Hmm? That''s rare for the System to be uncontactable just like that. I just contacted it minutes ago that I am going into the Dungeon Maker instance." Lynnmented but to their relief, the Sub System was able to open the portal up. However, the portal''s connection seemed a little бнwonky before it turned stable. It was the first time it was happening to them and the two girls felt something was amiss.

    Yet, it did not bother them too much until they entered the Dungeon Maker instance and saw Jin standing nonchntly with Kraft plummeting onto the ground once again.

    "Did the both of you have another quarrel once again? I thought you two said that you guys had make up and had a truce?" Qiu Yue said until she noticed that Kraft did not seem to be moving at all.

    "Wait, Jinбн. How could you beat him until like-" Before Qiu Yue could finish her sentence, she heard the sound of the te that Lynn was carrying, dropped to the floor. When she turned her head, Lynn was already dashing towards Jin with chi filled with killer intent.

    The Red Panda Sub System User was dumbfounded and was too slow to react as Lynn had already brought out her sword and shed with Jin''s Bam. "Woah! Lynn! Why are you acting like this?!''

    "WHERE IS JIN?!" Lynn shouted as the ''Jin'' not only blocked her attack but also countered with a Panda Swipe. This caused Lynn to fall back but the Fake Jin was not giving the Penguin Cultivator any chance to recover as he opened his mouth to shoot out his signature Panda Yawning attack.

    Qiu Yue was still confused as to what was happening but she managed to intervene just in time to block the Maqi Energy Beam. The beam was surprisingly intense but the skills she learnt from Zeru came in handy, allowing her to deflect most of the beam away, destroying the sides of the Dungeon Maker.

    "What the fuck?! What is happening!!" Qiu Yue kept her eyes towards Jin while asking Lynn about it."

    "We are surprised for amoner to notice the difference that quickly." The collective booming of voices echoed through the Dungeon Maker instance. "We did not even have the chance to talk back and you attacked."

    "It''s so bloody obvious! What did you do to him?!" Lynn screamed while Qiu Yue knew that Lynn was in no condition to fight rationally.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We had teleported him away for a vacation. You have to bear with this clone." The System said but both of the Sub System Users knew that it was an even more terrible impersonation of the System.

    "What did you do to the System, Kraft and Jin?" Qiu Yue seemed to be the only rational person in the room at this moment but the situation was too vtile as it is to get any proper exnation.

    "Youmoners have no need to-"

    "The System had beenpromised." Both Sub Systems owned Qiu Yue and Lynn started to speak in unison. "The System had beenpromised. The System had beenpromised."

    "Searchingбн. Searchingбн.. User is still alive butpromised. Activating Backup System. Transferring rights of User temporarily to Sub System User Qiu Yue and Sub System User Lynn. Sub System User ire is to be instructed to move to a safe location as the designated survivor." The Sub Systems reported out loud and the fake System chuckled.

    "Heh. To see our tool able to secretly plot escape ns amused us. Very well, fellowmoners! If you have the ability to defeat this clone, then perhaps we will give you a reward." The fake System dered as itmanded the cloned Jin to pick Kraft up and threw him towards thedies as a sign of deration that the battle had started.

    "Hey Kraft! Tell me you are alive." Qiu Yue managed to grab him before he was mmed onto the Dungeon Maker''s wall while the fake System immediately turned the entire instance into onerge arena on a mountain peak, atop the thunder filled clouds.

    "That is no Jin. You do not have to give any mercy against it." Kraft said rather weakly, an image that did not bore with him rather well. "Call the other foxes, the fake Jin -cough is as powerful as the one you knew."

    "Won''t that be an easy fight? He does not have his minions at his behest now that the System passed us his rights, no?"

    "I fear not. That is why I always demanded a secondary system in case such things happened. Also, you all have never seen Jin fighting his utmost yet. He had been hiding a lot, a fuck lot despite giving his ''best'' all the time-cough cough." Kraft continued to cough as his vitality got even weaker.

    "You better not die on us! You have lots to exin the fuck is happening!" Qiu Yue eximed and before she could turn to Lynn, she found him dashing towards the fake Jin once more.

    "GIVE US BACK OUR JIN!

 Chapter 1430 System Restart -Part 4

    "Holy shit, Lynn sure is furious. How the hell does she know that Jin was fake in the first ce?" Qiu Yue thought to herself as she took up position behind Lynn to give a follow up attack in case she failed her attack.

    Another Panda Swipe came but Lynn learnt not to fall for the same attack twice and she managed to dodge it. However, what she did not expect was that the Panda Swipe had abo move to it that she had never seen before.

    The swipe immediately went forward almost immediately like how a ball got ricocheted away from the wall, forcing Lynn to block it with her sword when she initially wanted to use it to hit Jin with it. The swipe was able to knock her sideways, causing her to fly from the arena. Thankfully, her Penguin Cultivation was strong enough to allow her to ride the winds as if she was swimming in the ocean, enabling her to pivot back and return to the arena with qing gong. (TLDR: the penguin flew in the air!)

    Yet, Lynn was a little giddy from the force itself and if she did not for herself to stay conscious, the Penguin Cultivator would probably be thrown out of the arena for good. There was no saying what the fake system had created as punishment beyond the arena but if it did, there would be sufficient reason to understand that it would not be something that was worthy to explore.

    Qiu Yue on the other hand did not stop to rescue Lynn as she wished to take advantage of the fact that she was a fellow Sub System User to be able to take care of herself. With the power of money and the Empire Building Sub System at her side, she utilised the quickest sword technique the Red Panda Cultivator had learnt from the sword saint.

    "Red Lotus sh!" Using the prefix Red, which she was familiar with since it was simr to her Red Panda Cultivator Technique, it was the easiest and the stronger sword technique she learnt from Zeru. She was confident that Jin would not be able to counter it since he did not personally see Zeru fight before.

    She was dead wrong.

    As unfortunate as it was, this particr clone did not only gain Jin''s cultivation level and his ability to use Maqi but copied all thebat experiences he had as well. That included the time he was in Suzaku''s Endless Battlefield. Qiu Yue had no idea that he had been fighting Zeru for who knows how many countless times and Red Lotus sh was merely a technique Jin had to handle while fighting against the young Sword Saint.

    The fake Jin countered with his Blue Panda Ice Energy sh with his counterfeit Bam, parrying Qiu Yue''s fiery Red Lotus sh with ease and even used his empty hand to m her shoulders downwards.

    Naturally, Qiu Yue was surprised by the counter and could feel the immense pressure his palm strike could be. It was initially painful until she felt a numbing sensation paralysing her right shoulder. Ice was encapsting her entire shoulder with such speed that she need to escape from his attack range in order to recover. However, she was further pinned down as the ground started to tremble around her as if swallowing her.

    Another Maqi technique that utilised Earth energy and there was no way for Qiu Yue to break free unless she had help.

    "Kitchen Creation! Rocks and Dirt be my ingredients!" Lynn shouted from afar and the earth around Qiu Yue started to rumble even further that it engulfed her entirely. The moment she opened her eyes once more, she realised that she was on the other end of the arena where Lynn was situated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Penguin Cultivator simultaneously used her chi to melt the ice on Qiu Yue''s shoulder, enabling her to move it again. "What the hell, I never saw Jin counter Zeru''s attack before. What had we been missing?!" The Empire Building Sub System User rubbed her shoulders while she drank a recovery potion to get her chi and body back to shape.

    "I never taught him to such an extent that he could counter my techniques." Zeru emerged right beside Qiu Yue and stood in front of the girls who were injured. "Even the most basic of techniques had not been revealed to him with the exception of the few big moves I used against enemies. There is no way he would have gained insight so easily into it unless the System had given him ess to my techniques without my permission."

    "As per past records, the System did no such thing. The Sub System guaranteed that the System had maintained its contract with Sword Saint Zeru." The Sub System replied, attempting to ease the doubts.

    "Then it must be that fake System," Lynnmented which allowed the collective of voices to chuckle.

    "We did no such petty travesty. Everything you saw is what the original Jin had umted." The fake System said

    "Then it''s probably his subconscious training with Ming and the Four Cardinal Beasts." Kraft coughed out some blood while trying to stand steady. "As I said, do not underestimate Jin, he is stronger than you all make him out to be."

    The moment Kraft stood up, the fake Jin who had been standing to allow his opponents to monologue, to take action. It seemed as if the Astral Panda Cultivator knew who the danger was.

    "Did I allow you to take another step forward without any permission?" Zeru whispered to the clone. Even for the Sword Saint could feel the pressure that the fake Jin was eluding and knew he was indeed dangerous even for him.

    Yet, the imposter did not speak another word as he turned his sword''s angle a little in an attempt to move past Zeru.

    "You are asking for a fight that you would not be able to handle." The Sword Saint said as he too had released his chi as the sh of swords took a drastic turn.

 Chapter 1431 System Restart -Part 5

    Zeru did not withhold his techniques.

    Now that the Sword Saint knew that this fake Jin had some knowledge of his sword techniques, he had to make sure that he does not reign freely throughout this world. His sword techniques were made in memory of his dearly departed wife and it was not for any Tom Dick or Harry to swing it whenever he liked.

    If it was for Jin, he did not mind at all, especially after what he did to aid him and his wife to unite once more even if it was for a brief moment. But this imposterбн "You shall not sully the Lotus Techniques."

    "Oh, before we forget. This clone can not only use techniques your "Jin'' were capable of but also the ability to learn and adapt. We cannot have the past owner toe back from his vacation and find that there is nothing new this puppet can provide, right?" The fake System echoed their thoughts outwardly to everyone within the Dungeon Maker Arena as the imposter Jin returned the attack against Zeru.

    The Sword Saint had unleashed one of the techniques in his secret repertoire, the ck Lotus Sparkles Beneath The Lake, causing the entire arena instance to turn pitch dark. In the cover of darkness, Zeru''s sword shes came from all sides but they were all a ruse for the Sword Saint to distract and deliver a true blow against the Imposter Jin.

    Yet, those shes were not to be scoffed at since each shprised of chi energy levels that could surpass a Grade 15 cultivator''s full strength. And each time the Imposter Jin got hit with it, a lotus mark would emerge on his body, causing him to be severely weakened if he was not already damaged by the attack.

    However, the imposter did not seem to be moving at all, taking in all the attacks when Zeru knew that he could evade them. "The clone also possessed the Vampire Lord constitution?" Zeru thought to himself even though he did not hesitate his de moving towards the fake Jin.

    Suddenly, Jin''s eyes glowed within the abyssal darkness that was surrounding him and those lotus marks that he umted on his body had burned away, allowing the imposter to move even faster than he should be capable of. The Sword Saint had to readjust his trajectory so that his de would still touch Jin but he was suddenly glowing with an intense amount of light that it felt like the white light itself was the void as well.

    "Did he copy that Void Being''s attribute with thebination of his Inverse Eyes and Maqi Maniption? He used my Lotus Marks to augment his spell??" Zeru knew that he would be making a bad move if he were to continue charging against the imposter blindly. The Void Gate gotrger as the fake Jin remained in ce gathering his Maqi to fuel his spell so that everything including what Zeru had prepared would disappear the moment the Void Gate spell waspleted.

    But at that moment, the Sword Saint sensed a huge object flying towards his direction, forcing him to dodge it naturally and with the light all around his fading darkness, he could identify that huge object to be of Qiu Yue''s doing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I do not know what is happening but this still got to hurt!" Qiu Yue said as she used her Empire Building Sub System to summon a 100 storey ready made building flying towards the fake Jin. And if that was not enough to deter those bright glowing eyes, the Red Panda Cultivator had made sure that she equipped each floor with an array of automated weapons that would send bullets and missiles towards Jin.

    In the meantime, Lynn did the same thing as she summoned rows of cabs within the flying building which caused thousands of chi knives to fly towards the imposter. They did not know that they had unwittingly blocked the fake Jin''s manmade void portal which was supposed to suck in the chi infused sh that Zeru was preparing. Thus, this well timed intervention allowed Zeru to continue the veryst portion of his ck Lotus technique.

    A pitch ck wave of energy was released through Zeru''s shing of the de, releasing a trail of ck Lotus Petals at the back that subsequently turned sentient and followed along the energy wave, gaining speed as it drifted through the returning darkness once the light void gate had been temporarily subdued.

    The overwhelming amount of items and firepower against the Void Gate forced it to remain open, allowing the imposter Jin to be vulnerable to the attack and yet even with such a fortuitous setup that came through by luck, the fake Jin had decided to break away from the Void Gate spell, forcing him to take an immense amount of bacsh.

    But the bacsh also enabled him to move away from Zeru''s sword energy wave just in time. It was a no brainer whether to take the Sword Saint''s hit head on or received a bacsh from his magic spell and that was still not enough to slow the imposter had he ced his hand near his chest, casting healing spells on himself to move towards Zeru once again.

    Without any doubts, Zeru was going to face the fake Jin head on since this was still the start until he sensed an intense aura of mana around him, forcing him to instinctively step backwards.

    "HAH! TASTE THIS BURN. I HAVE BEEN WANTING TO DO THIS FOR A LONG TIME!" Peppers shouted as she descended to join Qiu Yue and Lynn while an explosion worthy of Peppers'' Mana was showcased right in front of them.

    "I will attend to Kraft," Milk said as she had already opened her giant book of healing and cast healing spells in session to keep the Devil Fox alive. He might be a pain in the ass but he could potentially be the official pain in the ass for the imposter Jin and had an idea of getting the real Jin out of this current mess.

 Chapter 1432 System Restart -Part 6

    Even as the shockwaves of Peppers'' explosion reverberated through the entire arena, Kraft who was now half alive thanks to Milk brought out his guns and shot through the residual smoke caused by the explosion.

    A few clinks of recoil were heard and it goes to show that Jin had managed to block or at least reduce the damage taken from Peppers'' magnificent explosion. "See, I told you he would not go down that easily. The Jin we know had always been holding back his powers a lot and this clone did not hesitate to use all of them." Kraft said as he sat on the ground huffing and puffing.

    Even with Milk''s healing which was considered to be top tier, the gods seem to know their way around to inflict near permanent damage to Kraft who could have interfered with the transfer of power from the Original Jin to their clone.

    "Then all I need to do is to keep sting him until he is toast. There is no way that fake Jin can handle dozens of my explosions consecutively." Peppers said but Zeru for the first time took action and stopped her casting.

    "No matter how many times you cast explosion magic on him, it would not work. Take a look at what he is in right now." The Sword Saint said as the smoke finally dissipated and right in the middle of it all was a dull ck dome.

    "Can''t you see? As long as I apply enough pressure, that ck dome shield that Jin Clone is hiding would be destroyed-" Zeru interrupted by giving a powered sh onto the dome, causing it to crack from the attack.

    The cracking became apparent as light began to shine through it, slowly revealing a glittering diamond dome beneath all that and with another powered ranged sh from Zeru, the dull ckish carbon broke down to show that the Imposter Jin was hiding in a diamond shell.

    "I have never seen Jin use such a technique before." Qiu Yue said but the Sub System replied that this was already registered as a possiblebination of Maqi when Jin had been experimenting with his powers.

    "You mean his Maqi canbine and turn almost anything into a reality?" The Red Panda Cultivator asked about the Sub System and it acknowledges its infinite capability of it as long as there are sufficient Maqi and precise maniption techniques.

    "Sub System had determined based on the System''s analytical model that the User''s Clone could potentially create even moreplex items such as a mechanical being given the right conditions. User had used the theory of 3D printing as his forme base when creating new spells and all it took was the right amount of Maqi and a fast enough output to allow the creation of the desired product." The Sub System exined although Peppers swore that her explosion spell could even melt the toughest variant of carbon.

    "See? Stop this futile attempt." The Fake System said with a light hearted tone, showing its delight. "It is heartening to see that our clone is functioning rather well. Now that all of you know that your boss had disappeared, do your work as usualбнor even work harder now that your boss is as dumb as a doorstopper."

    Just as the Fake System was gloating about its new clone, a shot was fired and heard, causing the Diamond Dome to reveal a blunted hole. And those with an acute sense of vision could see a diamond popcorn dropping to the ground.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Heh. As far as we know, our Jin is not that all powerful, perhaps even a weakling." Lynn said as she held onto a cooking pot with the lid covered using her chi and right inside the pot were corn kernels popping rapidly, absorbing Lynn''s chi to change into something that she wanted.

    And right now, what she wants is something that could break that diamond dome down and defeat that clone with the help of her friends for she knew that there was no way she could do that alone.

    "Damn, girl. Here I thought the one that would be breaking that dome was Mr Krafty." Qiu Yue was amazed by Lynn''s determination.

    "As long as we are here, there is no chance of defeating us at all. Bring all your minions. Bring all your friends. We will not allow our clone to be defeated this easily and you will taste judgement for defying the gods."

    "That''s great news because for once, the Demons can show that we can be equally good as well." Moloch emerged from an unstable portal alongside Baal.

    "What can two mere Demons do to us? Our product can annihte you with just a snap of his finger based on your contract with him. In fact, you two should bow down now as every other Demon should."

    "You think I did not bring backup with me?" Moloch chuckled as he climbed onto Baal''s shoulder and the both of them sped their hands together. Suddenly the entire arena started to rumble and a huge portal enveloped the right side of the dungeon instance.

    "Tsk, I should be killing that guy instead of me rescuing him after all the things he had done to me. Especially that wretched System." Most do not recognise the voice except for Peppers and Milk who had contact before.

    "Too bad for you. He might have imprisoned you, but you had the best rest for the entirety of your life. How does it feel to get back your powers and stop masquerading as a fake Shaitan all because of his generosity?" Baal joked as the aura from the portal became even more ominous that the Sword Saint felt a slight tremble in his heart.

    "Heh. Lucky for him, the System was smart enough to prepare some contingency ns, otherwise Baal, your human friends would be annihted." The head reeled out from the portal and slowly revealed a ''minion'' that should have never see daylight for the rest of his life.

    Diabolos.

 Chapter 1433 System Restart -Final

    ? "My my. To see a bunch of useless gods trying to pressure a few capable humans? Not sure if that''s ''god like'' behaviour from all of you." Diabolos said as he fully emerged out of the portal.

    "Insolent Demon! By themand of this system, get on your knees at this very instant!" The Gods shouted through the System and used the imposter Jin as a medium to perform the order and yet nothing was happening.

    "What? Get on my Knees? Are you kidding me, you worthless lowlifes? Can''t you see that I am still flying? Instead, I should demand that you be my chair for me to sit on" Diabolos scoffed at the feeble attempt by the Gods. The Fake System tried once more to initiate themand and it was to no avail. ording to the previous System records, Diabolos should be considered non hostile and they should still not be able to control it without much difficulty especially now that the imposter Jin is of a higher cultivation gradepared to the time he collected Diabolos into his repository of monsters.

    Once more, the fake Jin tried to control it as per any minion contract as the Fake System had assumed that all the contracts were created equally. To their frustration, they now realised that it was not as simple as they thought it would be.

    Apparently, the System, Jin and the monster had to be in agreement to be summoned or controlled. It was apparent but considering how much effort Jin had put in the effort to ''soothe'' the hearts of his minions through adequate housing, decent food and sufficient rewards, there was a catch that people outside the System would not have known.

    It was initially not created fairly since the System was created with Jin having all the rights to control any monster but it was not until his first disastrous encounter in the Dungeon World that forced him to take action and learn how to be more responsible for his own powers.

    That was why contradictory to Kraft''s initial assessment of thinking the Imposter Jin would be real trouble, both the Fake System and its Jin Clone had no powers over any minions and that included Moloch, Baal and Diabolos who were in at the scene.

    "Tsk tsk, there is one thing you missed. I had never been contracted with that puny Jin human. I can remember a crappy piece of paper was still dangling right outside my enclosed adobe but he did not force me to sign or whatsoever." Diabolos said as he started to raise his ws and dark magic began to revolve around his tips.

    "So, do not even think of trying to CONTROL ME!" Diabolos shouted and the gods suddenly screamed through the system as if they were being agonised with excruciating pain. The rest did not know the powers of Diabolos could transcend through nes but in actual fact, it was merely the fact that the banished Demon Prince had used his magic through the fake Jin and it somehow affected the Gods'' collective that were viewing through the System.

    "You have no idea who you have angered or dealing with! The gods squirmed as they made the empty threats but soon after, Diabolos conjured even more demon magic causing a temporal space rift to emerge right in front of him. As he used his wings as an extension pair of hands, he ripped open the rift and it revealed a group of people being wrapped with stained ck chains, desperately trying to free themselves from it,<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Heh, guess I am too influenced by that brat''s anime culture. But I shall try it for the fun of it." Diabolos said to himself loudly. "Itadakimasu."

    With that word of ''thanks'', he raised his ws towards the chained up gods and started draining their life essence. "It''s a great thing that most of them were all gathered in one area." Diabolos chuckled as he finally had a proper meal since forever. (Granted, Lynn''s dishes were great but human''s chi was minuscule that it only tickled his hunger pangs.)

    Once Diabolos sucked up the entire circus dry, he did not immediately close the rift and instead did something else for insurance. He tore a piece of his chest carapace, bit it to infuse the piece with some demon magic and threw it into the Gods ne before closing the rift.

    When it was done, both the fake Jin and System went absolutely quiet and the Sub Systems started to take this opportunity to restart the main System. Suddenly Qiu Yue and Lynn''s Pandamonium Apps start to ping loudly indicating to not just them but to everyone who possessed the Pandamonium App that there would be an emergency maintenance that needs to be done in fifteen minutes'' time.

    "Massivepensation would be given ordingly but modules within the Pandamonium App that did not need an inte connection can still be used." A picture of a small Panda with the safety helmet bowed to apologise to the people who were using it. It was also worded to make it as if there was a significant security w that the developers had found but had not yet beenpromised by any hackers because of the constant monitoring that the tech team had been doing.

    Also, while it might be just a small matter if the emergency maintenance was done if the app only had a small number of users using them. But to date, there were at least fifty thousand concurrent connections to the System every single minute so a proper warning was needed to ensure that the users could anticipate some downtime.

    And in order to quell any disgruntled customers, the wording of massivepensation had actually made people look forward to the maintenance since most apps that performed emergency maintenance merely apologised for the disruption of service unless they were a gaming tform.

    And with that notice out to the public, the Sub Systems could now attempt to reset the main System, hoping that the gods did not destroy the ''Will'' of the Elder Panda n members when they took over it.

 Chapter 1434 Extra - Waiting For The System To Restart

    "What is that old retro sound..." Qiu Yue said while the rest gathered around the table of Dungeon Maker Instance with the exception of Milk and Kraft being brought into the Recovery Instance for further monitoring.

    "Isn''t that the sound of a modem ringing, My dad used to have such a piece of equipment," Lynn said as she saw her Sub System picking up the ck and maintaining the minimum required amount of activity to keep the main store instance intact. Pandarens were all advised to leave the dungeon instance if possible and the Sub Systems had repeatedly said thatpensation would be given to the users, apologising for the inconvenience caused.

    "Restarting... Restarting." The words emerged on the table as the arena subsequently dissipated back into the empty room that Jin used to work in.

    "If there is nothing of use for us, we will step back for a while. Call us if you need." Peppers said in a rather serious tone, and everyone around knew that she was not satisfied with the result especially after seeing how the fake Jin was still alive after her supposedly strongest explosion. She thought that all her pent up rage should have caused the imposter to be defeated in a blink of an eye and yet there wasn''t a scratch on him.

    "Do not worry, I feel the same as well." Zeru pats her back but she was arrogant enough to shrug it off.

    "I am not like you." Peppers eximed before disappearing right in front of them.

    "Master, you are going as well?" Qiu Yue asked and Zeru shook his head.

    "I will look after that dead husk for a moment or two. You never know when the Godse in and swoop up the fake Jin once more." Zeru replied but Diabolos who was still at the scene riveting at his new source of strength after consuming the life energy of multiple low level gods, decided to do the Sword Saint a favour and wrapped the fake Jin with ck temporal chains.

    "You have nothing to worry about for now. Those Gods are low level scumbags." Diabolos said before Moloch and Baal sighed at the ignorance that their Exiled Prince portrayed.

    "Even though they might be low level to you, they may carry some title or even had fathers or mothers that held important positions. What happens if they decided to take revenge?" Moloch asked and Baal corrected him.

    "You mean what happens when they decided to take revenge? You know how petty they are, it won''t take long for them to search for us." Baalmented but Diabolos smirked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s fine, they would automatically assume they had been consumed by Demons. I purposely left a minion there to do some ''cleanup job'' so that it would look like they got into a fight and subsequently leave traces back to the Demon ne." Diabolos said as he swirled his hand around and multiple ck roaches with teeth sharper than ordinary des emerged on his palm. The Demons knew they weremon minionsmanded by practically every average Demon Joe, allowing them to cover their tracks for some time.

    "Looks like we are in the safe zone for a while then." Moloch shrugged his shoulders while Diabolos decided to return to his cage to catch some snooze so he could properly digest the ''magnificent'' god powers (despite it being low level) which he had not tasted in centuries. Baal too had returned leaving Moloch, Lynn and Qiu Yue waiting for the System to properly reboot. The cotton minotaur was purely curious but the other two needed to stay there in order to let their Sub System facilitate with the restart of the System.

    In the meantime, ire had connected up with them briefly via a regr phone call andined that her Sub System was fiercely against using any form of connection. It was only through a burner phone that she managed to contact them. (Not exactly a burner phone, but a phone which she used the Sub System to buy.)

    Qiu Yue had some idea why the Sub Systems were against ire connecting to them via the System Channel as they were afraid the designated survivor would be exposed and unable to retaliate, signalling the definite end of the Panda n System.

    So while it was not rmended, ire''s usage of the burner phone was the only way to allow her to know what was exactly happening and once she heard about the current situation, she now knows the current predicament that the Panda n Family were facing. They had decided to break contact after the conversation and resurface again after 48 hours unless the System could be rebooted and deemed safe.

    "This does not feel like 15minutes at all." Qiu Yueined as she continued to monitor the restarting process with now a progress bar appearing out of the console and moving. The Sub System indicated that Time Compression Module was still active within this Dungeon Maker Instance and they were already trying their best to reboot the System. All they could do was wait and somehow that prompted Moloch to settle the Farming World since there was no one else manning the area.

    "Give me a heads up when it''s 99%. I wille to help if needed...and if the Sub System have enough operating capability to ferry back here." Moloch said before opening a teleport with the aid of the Sub System remaining processing power to move out of the instance. On the other hand, Zeru continued to stay by their side as he felt that he had somewhat failed his duty as a Betor, not able to keep his master out of harm. Yet, Lynn and Qiu Yue convinced him otherwise and that he could not be looking at Jin 24 hours a day.

    "Look at those few rascals like Milk and Peppers. Jin had given them the leeway to do what is needed around here. You are busy hunting down those Banned Emperor Heretics especially when they are about to do something nasty to your Flower City. I do not think Jin would me you for that." Qiu Yue tried to calm Zeru, but it was pretty apparent that he still partially me himself for this current mess even though he himself know that it was impossible to know when the Gods could strike.

    So, all they could do now was to y the waiting game to make sure that the System can survive so that they can use it to find Jin.

 Chapter 1435 System Restarted

    Main System rebooting 98%... 99%... 100. Please Wait." The Sub Systems reported and suddenly they too were brought offline almost immediately, rebooting at the very same time as the Main System.

    "Good Evening and Wee." The original System voice spoke out, giving a sense of relief to not just the Sub System Users but finally allowing them to put their guard down.

    "The Sub System had updated the System with the current predicament that the System had ced the User and Sub System Users. Apologies for the inconvenience caused but please wait for a little while longer as the System attempts to reestablish themselves with the rest of the modules." The System said and chairs were brought into the Dungeon Maker instance allowing Qiu Yue and Lynn to finally have a little rest.

    "What exactly happened to you?" Qiu Yue asked as she request her Sub System to push an urgent notification to ire''s Sub System so she could know the updated situation that they were currently in.

    "The System had no recollection. It was as if the hijack of the System was a well timed process. Even as the System tried to attempt to retake and reestablish control, the System failed miserably to do so and was further ced into an isted quarantine zone which we were not able to break out of. Only with the Sub System''s presence that the zone was unlocked, allowing the System to retake everything. " The System said and simultaneously decided to run an integrity check to ensure that nothing out of the ordinary had been changed or mishandled.

    "Are you able to find Jin?" Lynn knew that it was not exactly the right time to ask especially when the System was still performing diagnostic scans to ensure that they had not beenpromised in any way, but it was an issue with utmost importance as well.

    "Lynn." Qiu Yue understood her urgency but rushing the System would not help.

    "Do not worry Sub System User Qiu Yue and Lynn. The System had been attempting to locate User even when everything was rebooting. Every avable processing capability had been used to backtrack the signal to find out where the User had been forcefully teleported to." The System reported and said that it had pinpointed a general location in the multiverse where he could be sent but it still needed additional time to ensure.

    "Let me assist you with that." A familiar crusty voice came into the scene and it was none other than the Devil himself. "I have a bone to pick with those pesky gods." Even though Qiu Yue queried about his current condition, it was a rare sight to see Kraft fully concentrating on the current endeavour to search for Jin. Using the narrowed searches that the System had managed to salvage, they were finally able to boil down his location to a particr world which made even the System give out an audible sigh.

    "Why, what''s wrong? Isn''t it great that we are finally able to locate him? Just open the portal and we can go rescue him." Lynn said impatiently.

    "He can fend for himself, why are you so worried?" Qiu Yue said until Lynn mentioned what the fake System had hinted.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "She is not wrong to be impatient and at the same time observant enough to listen despite being angry that Jin had disappeared. " Kraft said as he too shook his head when he saw the current location that Jin had been teleported to. "The original Jin had been stripped of his cultivation and powers right in front of my eyes. All of that had been transferred to that imposter and we have no clue how to transfer his powers back at the moment. The only thing that our Jin has that had not been absorbed by the God''s faker is his current constitution. He still has that wormy regeneration in him as well as the Lord Vampire bones infused into him. Octofussy did a great job making sure it is exclusive and not connected to his Maqi circuits."

    "Wait what? Jin is now a Grade 1 Cultivator or even amoner with better regeneration speed?" Qiu Yue wished to rify what she heard and Kraft acknowledged the current situation that the Gods had yed on them. "Then? What are you two waiting for? What''s with that sigh? Does the System still need energy to open a portal to the area?"

    "No. It''s not that. It is much moreplicated than you think." Kraft also took a seat down and started cracking his head. "Maybe the Demons might have a better knowledge of that ce." He said to himself as the Devil opened a portal shouting for Moloch''s name.

    "I heard the System rebooting, it was being announced through our connection with the System Channel. But I was not able to enter since the System denied all teleports for now. How is it right now?"

    "It''s fine, just that have you ever heard of the Synthesis World?" Kraft asked as Moloch entered the Dungeon Maker instance and closed the portal behind him.

    "Erm, I am not too well versed with Worlds but you can ask Diabolos. He had been exiled and always been travelling around for quite some time to hide from the Gods and Demons." Moloch said and without further request, the System had already connected them to the ex Demon Prince.

    "Synthesis World? Oh." Diabolos'' reaction was sufficient to know that he does have some knowledge about it. "You guys cannot open a portal, right?"

    "If we had, we would not be having this conversation." Kraft felt a little annoyed, not sure if it was because of the current situation or the lingering pain that he was experiencinging out of bed early.

    "Then those gods...are no doubt nasty. Real nasty of them to do such a trick on your...master," Diabolos sighed as well as he too had decided to reemerge back into the Dungeon Maker Instance to discuss the current predicament they were having.

 Chapter 1436 Synthesis World

    "Synthesis World is a terrible... terrible ce even for my standards." Diabolos started to be a little mncholic as he attempt to exin what in the hell that ce was.

    "Just cut the bull crap." Lynn rebutted and demanded a clear exnation.

    "Fiesty." Diabolos retorted and decided to exin as straightforwardly as he could. "If I am not wrong, your boy had been split into two once again. As if taking his powers away was not enough, sending him into the Synthesis World would have dealt the final blow to him as a way to either A) dismantle his mind, body and soul for good or B) give him the hardest challenge of all so that they could have a goodugh at it."

    "What you do mean? Can''t you say it in simpler terms?" Lynn pressed for the answer as it felt like Jin was in deeper shit than they could anticipate.

    "In order to enter the Synthesis World, you can only enter after processing yourself into a digital entity. Usually, you would need a base before you enter and a base means someone who existed there before. A simr gicposure, simr face, simr hair all that kind of thing. That is how you can hijack into the Synthesis World and be part of it. So in short, your real body would be left somewhere while your consciousness had been uploaded into their ''cloud'' thingy. I had no idea what that really means, not exactly a techie myself but yeah, once you are in the cloud, you would be able to transverse the majority of the Synthesis World."

    "I assume they did this uploading of their consciousness into the cloud is because theyck resources?" Qiu Yue asked and Diabolos could only shrug and nodded his head at the same time.

    "Something like that, and they can live eternally while their bodies would be cultivated for the sake of nutrition and be used to feed the existing ecosystem." Diabolos said and the humans were shocked.

    "Cannibalism?" Both eximed at the same time and the Demon Prince nodded his head once more.

    "As you said, they had no food, but their technology had gone through so much advancement that most of the non edible resources could be reused. Energy wise is from the sun or whatever star that is currently orbiting around them. All they had to do was to make sure they have provided enough nutrients to the entire poption so that they won''t starve. Oh and if you ask why to bother living then...That''s the star question." Diabolos was one step ahead of them.

    "They can experience whatever they want in their cloud. But only a few luxurious individuals would be able to attain such fulfilment. The entire ce had always been at war among various cities and the one who racked up the most points every year would be given the chance to not just have a privileged life within the cloud but also get out of the cloud and partake in the high life for a month before going back into the cloud again. "

    "Ah, so the motivation is to beat the shit out of everyone and have a good life after that? Only one person every year?" Qiu Yue asked

    "Hmm, I am not too sure about that. Perhaps per sector or city or whatever. What I want to send across is that the warring within their cloud is not a joke. They might have servants to aid the person but those servants, be it sentient or real human beings are not having it easy as well. If theirmander dies, they die as well and restart with little to no resources at hand. Likewise, if they win, they would be able to enjoy the same amount of luxury as theirmander... However." Diabolos ended the sentence with a warning.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The reward would be based on themander''s generosity. That''s all I know and for you to discern. So whether Jin had gotten in as amander or servant would be for us to find out."

    "So, you are saying the gods literally found a person simr to Jin and threw him into the Synthesis World?" Lynn did not bother with the specifics that Diabolos had said.

    "Meh, considering that they are clowns, its a high chance that they inserted him while keeping his body in the God''s ne. But I cannot prove to you that his body would not have been used or discarded by the denizens of the Synthesis World. After all, with his immortal body, it''s basically free food for everyone in that ce. While I like to imagine myself as an evil Demon Prince toying with people''s lives with much disregard, thattter option is too much of a distaste even for me. Not so for those gods though." Diabolos said but Lynn ignored his warnings and immediately went to the System and Kraft.

    "You guys would surely be able to upload me into their cloud server right?"

    "Do not be ridiculous, we never try this before and there is no certainty I can pull you back without fully analysing their System," Kraft replied, assuming its absurd for Lynn to attempt to jump in so haphazardly.

    "Then we will just make sure Jin and I reach the very top so we can return to our physical bodies."

    "The System does not know the time scale of this particr World. There is no guarantee how long you will take." The System added. "And there will be no minions to back you up considering the nature of their servers. The System and Original Betor Kraft might be able to devise a way in the future but till then, you have to search for him and survive all the way to the top."

    "I do not mind. He saved my life once, I would not hesitate to put down my life for him. Besides, if not for his girlfriend to save his ass, then who else?" Lynn also mention that her penguins were up to par with her cooking levels and they can run the ce without her. However, this entire Dungeon Supplier store cannot run the ce without Jin.

    "Then I guess I have to y my part as a Sub System User and a concerned friend by holding the fort here." Qiu Yue said. "Take too long and maybe I am the recognised Lady Boss instead of Jin." Qiu Yue pats Lynn''s shoulders andforted her. "So, go get that stupid boy back to this world however long you need. We will be here waiting."

    "Well, you guys decided to y it this way... Fine, you get your prison time Lynn. But before that, Diabolos, I might need your help before sending Lynn into the Synthesis World. You too Moloch." Kraft beckoned the two demons while telling Lynn to finish off whatever she needs before moving into the digital realm of the Synthesis World.

    And that included saying goodbye to her Dad, for Kraft and the System have no indication of how long they would disappear. All they know was that it was best to say her goodbyes in the case where she never had the chance to say so. It was a risky endeavour Lynn was about to undertake and they want her to know the grave consequences and significance of leaving for the digital world so haphazardly without any ns.

 Chapter 1437 Where Is The Body?

    "Fine, fine. I will listen to all of you. I will give some instructions to my Penguinsбнand tell my Dad about the situation. In the meantime, you guys better find a way to teleport me back in." Lynn said before reluctantly moving out of the Dungeon Maker Instance, Qiu Yue could see Kraft and the other two demons discussing their next course of action.

    Naturally, as humans have a such great curiosity for gossip, she slowly inched in to hear what was happening between them.

    "Bleargh. We are not stupid, if we do not want you to hear the conversation, we would already have moved to another location. Stop standing there as a fool ande closer so that you can provide a useful suggestion if it''s possible." Kraft said and Qiu Yue pointed at the Sword Saint.

    "Do you want him to join the conversation as well?" She asked ''innocently''.

    "You just want to piss me off, do you? now that you hold the reins as the temporary User." Kraft replied.

    "Hmm, it''s rare to see you this friendly and cooperative, so I thought I''d push my luck a little. Besides, I am no temporary User until I start to hold the reins of this ce. We either have to make an excuse that Jin went for some holiday or we used that puppet the Gods had given us. Either way, it would be rather annoying so I should get my fill of annoying you before the stresses in" Qiu Yue sniggled and Kraft rolled his eyes while he talked to the other two. Their main point of contention is to find Jin''s real body. Be it in the Synthesis World or in the Gods'' ne.

    "Since you guys are able to trace the body to the Synthesis World, I am afraid that is where you have to find him. Yet, their technology is advanced enough to block multiverse travel as if they know the presence of other worlds so we have to crash directly through with brute force or go through the Gods ne to enter it." Molochmented

    "I am not surprised if they do have the ability to counter our entry, I remembered trying to enter their world but was rejected despite my powers and since then I never had the chance to do so again." Diabolos said as he stretched his wings a little.

    "Then where did you get all that information?" Qiu Yue questioned and Diabolos replied stating that most of the information was from a ck market broker.

    "As a banished Demon, I tried to travel all around the multiverse to earn as much power as I could back. The Synthesis World was one of my targets since they said that the experience of living in that digital ''cloud'' would enhance mybat experience. But I never had the chance to enter the ce." Diabolos shrugged his shoulders and suddenly had a revtion.

    "But perhapsбнJust perhaps. Jin''s Body might be on the Gods'' ne instead but its location is near to Synthesis World." Diabolos said but Qiu Yue asked for an exnation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The gods can move anywhere and everywhere via their ne but they too have a pocket of space in each world. The Demons attempted to do the same as well but were not as sessful as the gods mainly due to the fact that we do not have such worshippers in certain ces."

    "Oh, yea. Maybe that''s probably how Jin''s trace could be pinpointed at that location." Moloch concurred with Diabolos that they should not ignore such a possibility.

    "Yeah, if a Demon Prince like me is unable to enter the Synthesis World, what makes you think those low level gods have the rights and power to do something better than me? I too presumed that Jin''s body is hidden in Synthesis'' ''ce of Heaven''." Diabolos gave air quotes out.

    "Then doesn''t that mean even if Jin is able to get the most number of points, his digital entity cannot return to his original body?" Qiu Yue deduced and the two demons awkwardly nodded their heads.

    "That''s why I gather the both of you here. We need a solid n to ensure that rascal''s body emerges in Synthesis World''s physical environment at the same time when they are getting out of their neural cloud server. This is to ensure that the Synthesis World does not utilise and realise that it is an evergreen food stock. There would be no guarantee that their AI would keep his body for experimentation and research as the holy grail to their food shortages. Urgh and let''s not forget that Lynn wishes to be in there as wellбн" Kraft exined and Qiu Yue gave a disgusted look and understood the implications.

    "I guess, the gods did realise that when they were nning and since their purpose was entertainment, they ced his body in the Gods'' ne instead for safe keeping." Moloch added but Diabolos reminded the group that this is all a conjunction and scouting was needed to make sure that his body is there.

    "Heh. When ites to scouting. Leave it to us foxesбнthough going into the Gods ne so brazenly after the death of those low level gods would be a hassle as well." Kraft purposely eyed Diabolos as if he knew something about him. Even pretending to feign ignorance, Kraft immediately snapped his fingers and glowing orbs could be seen hiding with Diabolos'' menacing dark wings.

    "Urgh is that why you roped me into this conversation?"

    "What else?" Kraft chuckled and dered openly. "You should still have some of the gods'' essence. Throw out some so we can use it to hide our presence." Kraft demanded.

    "Why should I give it to you when I have nothing to gain at all? Besides, I already did that brat a favour by helping all of you to live through the gods. So it looks like you have to cough up something before I am able to part with theseбнprecious essences for your scouting." Diabolos smiled and everyone knows how irritating this would be since those Demons always want to get a good bargain out of every transaction.

 Chapter 1438 Memory Loss

    Even as Yinn helped Jin up from the ground, thetter could feel the sluggishness within him. Unable to move as he used to, he moved his body to the best of his abilities not knowing anything but following Yinn from behind.

    The bombardments got even more urate despite the both of them trying to move as far as possible away from it until Yinn stopped midway to remove a few bushes away, revealing a trapdoor right in the middle of this dense jungle.

    "Quick Commander, go in!" Yin said as she opened the trap door and let him enter first before jumping into the tunnel herself. Surprisingly, after Jin stepped onto the solid ground after climbing down thedder, the entire ce slowly lit up which made him move to the sides of the wall in hopes to hide from any ambush.

    "What are you doingmander?" Yinn said as she locked the trapdoor and slid down gracefully from the top of thedder to where Jin was.

    "The lights!" Jin ''whispered'' loudly and Yinn gave a resigned look.

    "Do not worry, there are motion sensors here. Hmm, I guess Tellie might be right... Do you not have any recollection of this ce?" Yinn questioned and Jin shook his head furiously.

    "I am sorry, I do not remember a single thing." Jin could have told the truth but who in his right mind would believe that he had been teleported by some dimensional gods away from everything. If anything, this was akin to an abrupt start for him but in his mind, he cursed those gods.

    Being isekai-ed to this brand new world with powers stripped was like the ultimate hard mode. And to make matters worse, he could not connect back to the System no matter how hard he tried. He felt like a piece of him had been torn off and he was partially empty on the inside.

    The only positive thing was that those bombardments and motion sensor equipped tunnel had given him the impression that this was not some mediaevalndscape but of a modern setting.

    It''s both good and bad since he knows that with his current body, there was no way he could fight against big gaudy opponents. But ranged weapons on the other hand would be a different ballgame. Death might be quicker and sudden but at the very least it gives a fighting chance to any person with a low constitution.

    "But your memory loss might be a good thing?" Yinn shrugged, "You seemed less fearful than you used to be.... slightly less." She added as she beckoned Jin toe out of his hiding area to follow her.

    "I am really sorry. I have no idea why I am holding this position ofmander, what I had done and what I was fighting for. For all I know, you could be posing as a friend while you are actually my enemy." Jin said and Yinn in the spur of the moment took out her pistol to aim at Jin.

    And that was supposed to frighten him a little, probably like a kind of payback for all the things Jin had done previously. But to her surprise, he disappeared from her sight and her vision went upside down. The Commander she thought she knew so well had retaliated before she was able to bring her pistol out. Right now, she was on the ground, with Jin locking her arm and the pistol in his hand.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is this a test or are you really my enemy?" Jin asked as he forced the barrel down Yinn''s cheeks and subsequently to her neck. However, because of his daily usage of various weapons, he felt that it was too light and decided to shoot at the side to find that there was no bullet in the chamber at all.

    "It''s an empty pistol and I am not retaliating. But I am liking this amnesia riddenmander already. Where did you learn such moves?" Yinn smiled as she saw Jin being frustrated by theck of bullets.

    "Why do you even carry an empty pistol on you?" Jin ignored, attempting to hold the upper hand in the conversation (After all, he was supposed to have authority since Yinn called him Commander) and she smiled despite having her face on the cold dirt ground.

    "Because that pistol is for you. The clip chamber does not open unless it''s authorised by you." Yinn said as she wiggled to point that her pistol was on the other side of her. Jin slowly released her and apologised while telling her to not make any abrupt movements. Yinn stood up and slowly reached behind her utility belt in order to pass hermander a new ammo clip.

    "See? Would an enemy pass a loaded gun to you?"

    "Nothing is impossible," Jin said as his thoughts alone were more than enough to open the clip chamber, allowing him to insert the ammo clip.

    "That''s good Commander. Do not trust anyone but yourself. Even your subordinates might betray you someday." Yinn advised before walking forward.

    "Are you saying that about yourself?"

    "What are you talking about? I might tease you but I can never betray you. In fact, your squad of War Maidens can never ever do that unless there is a change in our programming." Yinn said and that made Jin even more confused and curious. "Unless of course, you forced us to the point that our backs are right against the wall. Then perhaps our sentience directive had decided that it''s best we kill you instead." Yinn grinned widely while walking at the front which Jin was unable to notice.

    "Wait, what?! You are a mecha humanoid?" Jin did not care about her warning and asked about the fact that she was not human at all. In response, Yinn pulled her long dark hair up, revealing a barcode with a serial number right beneath it.

    "Yinn, once again reporting at your service, Commander Jin. I will bring you back to the rest of the War Maidens." She said as she started to pick up the pace to lead Jin to rtive safety.

 Chapter 1439 Introducing The Squad

    They continued along the tunnel until they reached another trapdoor where Yinn had taken the initiative to climb up thedder. She purposefully knocked twice and waited for a response knock.

    What they heard in return was some sort of morse code. While Jin knew the basis of morse code, he needed time to decipher it and it was even harder without the System to identify it for him. And yet, the former astral cultivator also believed that it was useless to even think that morse code could be replicated the same way as what he had on Earth. So, he stood at the side waiting for Yinn to give the affirmation morse code. (Author''s note: Nope, no peeking up!)

    Yinn replied in response and soon the trapdoor opened, beaming in stronger rays of light into the tunnel with words of relief being thrown towards Yinn as she reunited with the group on the surface. Jin climbed up slowly and noticed that the chattering ceased slowly with Yinn leading the squad to be at attention.

    Without any words, they stood upright in a synchronous manner and subsequently saluted Jin as he emerged out of the tunnel.

    "At ease, please," Jin said, feeling a little ufortable when he noticed how the trapdoor only led him to yet another derelict looking house. All he could assume was that they were in some safehouse of sorts and hoped that it was their main headquarters. Even when Jin told them to be at ease, the other three asked Yinn for thetest updates as if she was a reliable older sister.

    "He lost his memories and he even blurted the word sorry. It''s your choice if you want to give him a second chance." Yinn said and the rest eyed Jin silently.

    "But we gave him lots of chances before, how can we prove that he is not bluffing this time around?" Another female with a cap on to hold her ponytail up queried Yinn.

    "He grabbed his own gun away from me and tried to shoot me, assuming that I am the enemy. Even the past Jin would have been a pussy to even fire a shot at us despite his crappy attitude." Yinn said and the rest were surprised.

    "PTE Tellie." The girl with the cap on announced her name and the other two reluctantly gave their names too.

    "PTE Diaz" The War Maiden with bun up blond hair saluted momentarily.

    "PTE Click" The War Maiden removed her full face helmet and revealed her entire face to Jin. Short Brown hair but she seemed to be the toughest one among the group.

    "Oh yea, I did not tell my designation. Corporal (CPL) Yinn. We are under your squad, the Grey Bears. Commander Jin. Oh and if you have really lost my memories then you are of the 2nd lieutenant(LT) rank." Yinn said as she casually saluted Jin once more.

    "Grey Bears..." Jin could not help but wonder whether even with this force teleportation to another multiverse world, he still could not move away from his destiny of Pandas.

    "But before we exin anything to this cluelessmander, is it wise we carry on with the mission?" Tellie asked and Jin understood where she ising from. If the leader had beenpromised and been of dead weight, he would not want him to lead as well.

    "Do we even have a choice? We cannot do this autonomously, and orders from LT are needed to ensure that the mission proceeded smoothly. If we abandoned him, we do not get paid as well. Not to mention we are still raking in interest rates and debts from previous repairs." Yinn exined and Tellie sighed.

    "Even with amand such as do as you wish?" Jin asked and the four of them eyed him momentarily as if it was a hatedmand. "...Understood. I shall not suggest that ever again." Upon hearing thest sentence, the Grey Bears stared at each other as if they did not expect such a response from him.

    "Erm... Can someone who lost their memory, change their attitude that much as well?" Diaz asked in such an upfront manner that it made the rest chuckle a little.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Fine, let''s trust this newmander and if it is not feasible... we shall do ''whatever we want. Alright?" Tellie asked and everyone else nodded in agreement.

    "So, what''s the current situation and mission status?" Jin asked and Tellie stepped forward while touching her right eye. Soon, a holographic image came out from her eye and it projected a map. Yinn then took the initiative to exin the current objective.

    "Grey Bears had taken the mission to recon and clear out the Vige Artridge of possible rebels for the Empire. But as all of you aside from the new LT had known, Artridge was not just filled with rebels but they had built quite a fortification as well. The only thing we can do is to perform as much damage as possible and report back. That way, we might be able to get some partial reward."

    "Partial reward?" Jin asked and Tellie touched the side of her eye once again, revealing an extended screen showing Jin the mission requirements.

    "Basic Objective: Recon and find any rebels If any, clear the vige.

    Bonus Objective: Kill at least 15 Rebels.

    Bonus Objective: Kill at least 30 Rebels

    Bonus Objective: Kill a Known Rebel Leader."

    "Those bonus objectives are there as bonus cash either in the event the mission got out of hand, or we got lucky. That way, we won''t return to report the mission empty handed." Yinn said while Diaz mumbled stating along the lines that sometimes, it is just impossible to do so.

    "Don''t you feel that this is one of them as well? The Commander even decided to recon by himself despite our protests and see what he got into. Got hit by a side explosion and poof! Memory loss."

    "We should be d that he did not lose any hands or legs and is still able tomand the squad," Yinnmented but the rest merely shrugged their shoulders.

    "Any backup? Is this the size of our squad?" Jin asked and they nodded their heads in unison.

    "You told everyone back at the mission cafe that you will be doing this alone and it sounded simple. People were making bets that you will lose." Click responded and Diaz added that the previous ''Jin'' also ce bets that he would win, saying that this was their one chance to go big or go home.

    "And nobody erm stopped me?" Jin asked and they all gave the annoyed sigh. The entire Grey Bear Squad had already resigned to the fact that Jin would lose the bet money, earn more ''reputation'' from his great bluff and get some petty cash to cover the interest rates before proceeding to their next mission if they were lucky to get another one.

    Jin could not shake his head at the ipetency of his previous ''self'' and take a look at the map that Tellie was projecting. If he wished to redeem himself from this squad, he had to prove himself... sensibly.

 Chapter 1440 Taking Stock

    "I still think it''s not a good idea to let amander who had no idea of the situation take over this operation. It''s too risky. Getting him killed would only set us back in more debt." Diaz said while Tellie turned off her eye projector.

    "Vote of no confidence for me as well." Click raised her hands and so did Tellie, leaving Yinn the only one who wanted the mission to get over and done with.

    "So what are you going to do, LT?" Yinn sighed as she turned her head towards Jin.

    "As LT, you guys still have to follow orders so matter how FUBAR it is, right?" Jin questioned them and they did not seem to recognise the acronym that Jin had used. "Goshбн the looks on your facesбн. What I meant is Fuck Up Beyond All Repair."

    "Indeed, that sounds like this current situation. But yes, we have to obey them no matter how stupid the orders are. That does not mean that we Mechanoids cannot show our displeasures based on the orders given." Yinn said and the rest did show their displeasure.

    "Then let''s go on with it. I do not know how "I" did it before but I hoped that the current me would show better results than the previous." Jin said and the Grey Bear Squad nodded their heads reluctantly.

    "Just promise us to get everyone back in one piece. And that includes you." Yinnmented. "I am not showing concern because I care about you, but rather the squad''s wallet."

    "What kind of weaponry do we have in our current possession?" Jin decided not to dally and asked what they had at the moment.

    "Two standard issue assault rifles." Tellie walked to the side of the safehouse and showed their current armoury box.

    "The other two had been destroyed or lost," Diaz said with her hands folded while looking in the direction of Yinn and Jin.

    "Sorry about that, I had to use that as a blunt weapon to survive an attack else I would not be able to reach the LT in time." Yinn shrugged her shoulders while not apologetic for her actions.

    "I guess the previous me had lost the other." Jin too did not let the usation bother him as he walked towards the box and saw how Tellie''s authentication allowed the armoury box to unlock and reveal the weapons. As she had said there were indeed two assault rifles and they were both surprisingly familiar.

    "M4A1sбн" Jin whispered and Tellie nodded her head.

    "Guess, you could remember what gun models they are." Tellie grinned at her ownment and lifted the ps on the armoury box unveiling its bottomyer. "Two Heckler & Koch MP5s because we do not have that much money left and four Browning Hi Power Pistols alongside a few extra ammo clips."

    "Other than that, I have a Remington 870 Pump Action Shotgun with me. Got about 36 rounds." Diaz dered as she held up her weapon.

    "We also still have a few armour tesбн and one extra armour vest since LT Jin seemed to have misced his as well." Click said as she fumbled through the armour case at the side to reveal a series of ceramic tes all packed nicely within the box.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do all of those weapons have fingerprint authentication as well?" Jin asked as he pulled out his gun and saw that it was the same Browning Hi Power Pistols that were packed within the armoury box.

    "No, only your current pistol. You just wanted that as some added security." Yinn replied as she picked up the M4A1 while reaching for a backpack. Out from the backpack was what seemed to be a series of attachments that she was familiar with and started to equip on the assault rifle. From a silencer to sight attachments and even an additional grip.

    "We do not have that much money to put such a misceneous useless feature on our weapons." She added as the CPL picked up her rifle after equipping the attachments and getting a feel of the weapon.

    "I guess, she is taking that rifle," Jin said and the rest looked at him with yet another awkward stare. "What?"

    "Commanders are not supposed to enter the battlefield." The squad said in unison and that left Jin even more confused.

    "I thought you said I carried a rifle just now?"

    "Because you wanted to show that you are not wrong that there are, as I quote, ''just a few bastards hiding in the trees.'' and look what happened to you." Diaz rebutted and the rest nodded their heads. "You should be d that Yinn kept your pistol for safekeeping."

    "Fine, then I will just grab a rifle off a dead bodyter." Jin tried to settle the Grey Bears down as he felt that giving the order to move out was already an ordeal. He did not need to make it even moreplicated than the situation demands.

    "Why are you so set on moving out?" Click queried and reinforced that themanders should be out away from the battlefield. "That''s the whole point for this safehouse here."

    "Then how do I see the progress from the battlefield to give the orders if I am not there?" Jin asked and the squad once more could not believe the extent of his memory loss.

    "Called up the System. You dumbass." Yinn said and she pointed at the side of her head. Jin followed her movements and noticed that there was a physical button at the side of his head as if it was imnted there since forever that it was embedded within his skin.

    With a tap, a holographic console emerged in front of him showing the current status of his War Maidens as well as the map and the mission objectives. The War Maidens had been marked as pointers within the map and there was a visible fog of war beyond the safehouse''s location.

    "Give me a minute or two to study theбнerm system once more," Jin said as he saw that there was a digital manual and the rest automatically picked up the avable weapons while they went towards the wall to be plugged in.

    That was when Jin realised that those life like realisticdies were no doubt Mechanoids as he saw how they remove the side of their shirts to be wired to a wall mounted charger and be charged up.

 Chapter 1441 Mysterious Request

    As Jin was fiddling with the new system that had been wrapped around his head, he could not help to miss the old System. The manual which he had opened up through the holographic disy was extensively long and there was no summary or a list of need to knows. It was a through and through technical manual that needed to be read up beforehand.

    The Grey Bear Commander attempted to use his Inverse Eyes hoping that it could still work in this new world that he had been shoved into and found that they could still be relied on. He was initially worried since it seemed as if his soul had been popped into another person''s body and in the context of this current world, he was not supposed to have any cultivation or innate traits. Yet, he was secretly ted that his Inverse Eyes ability still worked and he could feel a faint sense of magic and chi circting through his body.

    But from the way they spoke, it seemed as if that death might not be a permanent thing but considering that the Panda n members that had been inundated by the System had the tendency to not be resurrected again, it was highly likely that trait would also be brought into this world since he was able to use his abilities. That was also why as Jin tried to read the manual as fast as he could with his Inverse Eyes, there was a part of him that was distracted hoping that he could still reach for the System.

    That is until he saw a blinking notification at the side of the holographic console that only he could see (ording to the manual.)

    Using his mind to ''open'' the notification, it was a request to join the Grey Bears but there was no name or face attached to it, citing the priority status as ''urgent''. "Hey everyone, erm just a few minutes ago, there is this request notification that popped up asking to join the Grey Bears team."

    "Weird, there should be no one within the vicinity," Yinn said and asked to send her a screenshot of the request. Jin fumbled a little upon doing so since this was his first time attempting it. The interface was not as smooth as he had experienced with the System.

    "Could be spam or worse, malware." Click chuckled.

    "Or maybe it is the enemy, we must not stay here for long," Diaz warned and Yinn calmed the rest of the team down.

    "No such bullshit, only Commanders can send such messages and the Central Command has to filter before allowing such an invite to be sent to us. The only backstab I could think of is that the Mechanoid or Commander who sent this request might have an ulterior motive or even betray us." Yinn exined before sighing that the chances of that would be rather minuscule. Mainly because anymanders or Mechanoids that had been found betraying the squad would be set up for a significant bounty, allowing the entire Empire to hunt and haunt them.

    "Unless that person is crazy enough to sabotage us for this mission." Diaz tried to reaffirm her suspicions but the rest eventually ignored her warnings.

    "Screenshot received. Yes, there are somemanders or Mechanoids who refused to send out a picture or name. A little bit dubious but they can request to mask their identity by the Central Command. Usually, these people prefer not to let people know that they are there, probably sniper or assassin ss mechanoid who had something to gain through this mission. " Yinn said as she checked the screenshot a little more thoroughly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But to have their ID cked out as well, it seems we might be allying with some very powerful individual who really wants to keep it a secret that he or she is here," Yin added.

    "Perhaps, we can collect some fee for allowing this person to join!" Click said and Tellie knocked her helmet.

    "Do not push it, having an extra pair of eyes and gun to help us through this mission would already be godsent. Worse case scenario if we interact with them, they might even kill us by ''ident''. You get my drift?" Tellie, who was a seasoned PTE, said her experiences out.

    "As what Tellie had said. I will suggest you allow the invitation. And whether theye to help us would be a different issue. We still got a mission toplete." Yinn rmended and Jin listened despite him being themander since he was still new to all of this.

    However, as he pressed the ept button, he could feel a short sting going through his brain, like a sort of brain freeze. He wondered it was because he was not used to the feedback of having such an obsolete System under his control. Once that was done, Yinn rmended they moved out soon as Jin''s reading up on his new System was taking too much precious time.

    "We will improvise as needed." Yinn picked up a vest without any armour te and passed it to Jin. After all, she did not expect him to be on the front lines.

    "No," Jin replied firmly as he continued to read the rest of the manual telling them to wait a little while longer.

    "Why? We will be missing this golden opportunity. Right now, it''s in the middle of the night and we had evaded their bombardment. They would definitely be sending their guards out to search for us. If we move out now, they will not be able to catch us and we can use this chance to slip into the base halfway. "

    "Then all the more we are staying here," Jin said as he tried to continue going through the manual but the rest of the War Maiden were not approving of hismands.

    "Fine. we will stay." Yinn bit the side of her mouth and told the rest to stand down. One reason was thatmanders''mand is mostly absolute unless it harms either themander or War Maidens. And also, she wants to see how thismander was going to go through this whole ordeal.

 Chapter 1442 Not Yet

    The rest of the War Maidens thought that there might be a glimmer of hope for Jin since he had lost his memories before, but it seems like the leopard can never change its spots. They were understandably frustrated and disheartened when they were not given the order to move out at all. They had been hoping for a chance to redeem themselves and prove their worth while earning the paycheck, but instead they were left feeling disillusioned and let down. Some of the War Maidens hung their heads in disappointment, while others muttered quietly among themselves, crestfallen at theck of opportunity.

    It was not long that the Diaz who was on the lookout outside the cabin noticed some movement from the east where the Vige Artbridge was located. It was a pressing and urgent matter - they needed to move out immediately in case any enemy troops were spotted. There would only be one chance for them to attack the vige and it would be a waste of time if they did not take the opportunity now. It was a critical and crucial moment for the War Maidens, and they knew that they had to act quickly and decisively.

    "No all of you are not moving out. We will be contacting with them for battle," Jin said confidently as he finally read most of the manual on the technical console.

    "Wait... are you." Yinn saw handsignals that Jin was beginning to make. "Are you going to go in as a tacticalmander?"

    "Aren''tmanders supposed to do that?" Jin asked as he found out about the ''Tactical System''.

    "No bloodymander worth their salt would be using that piece of old junk! It''s more like a simtor that at most predicts what is going to happen if we take certain actions," Yinn replied in angry whispers, her frustration and incensed feelings clear to see. She was certain that theirmander was not fit for battle, and she could not understand why they were still following his orders.

    "Their Future Prediction Model Simtion feature only works on animals and probably robots but not on Mechanoids like us and especially not against humans." Tellie added as well, advising that it is a bad move by Jin too. "Even if it works previously, its because themander had imnted a processing chip in their brain and able to scan the area and that''s assuming that the scan frequency had not been jammed by the other people."

    "For Mechanoids who supposed to follow orders, you all sure have a lot of opinions." Jin said as he opened up the tactical system using his hands and a light holographic blue screen emerged at his right arm.

    "Fuck," Diaz muttered, her eyes scanning the room frantically. She quickly went to the nearest piece of furniture and started flipping it over, using it as makeshift cover. The rest of the War Maidens understood what Jin was getting at and begrudgingly followed his orders. They quickly took stock of their ammunition, their hands moving deftly as they checked their weapons and made sure they were ready for battle. The cabin was plunged into darkness as they cut the remaining lights, and the War Maidens took up their positions, holding their ground within the cramped confines of the cabin. It might have been toote, since if they could see the enemies from miles away, the enemies would have also been able to spot them. The tension in the air was palpable, and the War Maidens prepared themselves for the fight that was sure toe.

    Jin might not have a processor chip that could scan the entire area or a prothestic eye that couldpute the movements but he had something far more magical and unexinable to the Mechanoids that could aid him. The use of Maqi and his Inverse Eyes.

    His eyes closed in concentration as he focused on replicating his lost powers. He took a deep breath, feeling the Magic and chi flow through his body. With a determined expression, he opened his eyes and focused on the area around him.

    Despite his weakened state, Jin was still able to detect the presence of others within a radius of 150 meters by using abination of Magic and chi to insert his senses throughout the cabin, allowing him to feel the movement of those around him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But even with this heightened sense, Jin still couldn''t determine the exact location or number of enemies withoutbining it with his Inverse Eyes technique. With a sharp focus, he activated the technique and was immediately able to see the location of his enemies, as well as their numbers.

    Now with this information on the tips of his fingertips, Jin could now n his next move. He knew that he was outnumbered, but he was determined to ovee his opponents and prove that he was still a force to be reckoned with. He took a deep breath and prepared to face his enemies, ready to use every ounce of skill and technique he possessed to emerge victorious.

    But what was more interesting was the Tactical Holographic Console.

    As long as it has the information that''s needed, the Tactical Holographic Console will reproduce the location where the enemies will be and moving in real time. Not only it gives tactical overview for themander in charge to give orders with just a flick of a finger or with a thought of his brain, it acts as a conduit that provides bonuses to the War Maidens as well. What it meant was that the Commander in Charge have ess to restricted codes that could techinically overclock the War Maidens, allowing them to be more powerful than usual for a limited duration.

    Something akin to a Power Up buff that the War Maidens were able to receive on the fly so codes like 25% Speed boost or 10% more uracy rate. There were even codes that allowed the War Maidens to provide more power into their current weapons and cause even more damage with which bullet that flew out of their weapon''s barrel.

    Sounds like the ultimate tool for tactical use even though those codes were one time use each battle since the War Maiden processing units had limiters to ensure that the War Maiden''s parts do not break after every fight. They even supposed to have an Ultimate Skill for each different War Maiden coded within them but Jin had yet to know their abilities. But as good as everything sounds, there''s always a catch.

    The problem of not having proper analysis of the battle mainly because mostbatants had found how to counter the Tactical Holographic Console such as jamming its frequency to prevent themanders from collecting nearby data. Even as his Grey Bears had said having a miniature radar that allows the scan would work at most for 5 to 10 seconds for those high end radar chips but after that, the enemies would have the upper hand again. Even interval scanning could be jammed once the enemies caught up to it and some even hijacked the scans making them more unreliable by providing false information into it.

    Back when it was boasted to be the best tool in everymander''s arsenal, now only a fool would use such a feature that was part of the Tactical System package that was installed in every soldier. Yet, it still had its purposes such as what Yinn had mentioned. For hunting non senitinel beings such as animals and its developers had sought to improve its usefulness through updates so that it could be relevant but those updates barelysted for a week before their encryption codes had been broken and countermeasures were set up.

    That was why the Grey Bear were against the idea of Jin using the Tactical Holographic Console. They couldn''t wait for him to use it and fail miserably at that so they could overwrite his orders and move to defend his stupid ass. However, all of them had no idea that this Jin was different than the one they all knew. Not to mention, there was this hidden ally that they do not know how reliable he or she would be.

    "Enemies iing." Diaz said as she already had her aim on one of the enemy but Jin continued to order them to hold.

    "Not yet."

 Chapter 1443 Shootout At The Cabin -Part 1

    The Grey Bears were vastly outnumbered as more and more enemy Mechanoids poured into the woods. The odds of survival were slim, but the Grey Bears remained collected and focused, determined to take down the mechanical foes. Despite the seemingly impossible situation, the Grey Bears refused to back down, their steady aim fixed on the approaching Mechanoids.

    What they were more surprised about was how this Jin was able to work under pressure or he was basically too ignorant of the situation he had made the Grey Bears be in. "Ahhh, here goes another debt to pay." Yinn and the others thought simultaneously as they knew that their presence would be discovered within a few seconds once the enemies were able to pick them up with their physical sensors. The only things that were aiding them right now were the impromptu covers and the sheets of camouge that were used to cover their heat signatures.

    Even as Jin was hiding under arge camouged cloth, he persisted in his aura sensing, managing to capture where most of the Mechanoids were moving. The Tactical Holographic Console was able to predict with Jin''s input of information their path of movements and this new information was being sent to the rest of the Grey Bears.

    Yinn and the others had no idea what was happening but based on sight perception, the movements and numbers seem to tally well with what Jin had sensed them. Was it possible that a miracle emerged from nowhere and allowed the Tactical Holographic Console to work properly for once?

    Still, they were not very optimistic even with the revealed positions of their enemies. Sure, Jin was able to pinpoint all of them but what good would it do? They would still be stuck with a shit ton of enemies to deal with.

    "Pass me two shbangs," Jin asked through the Tactical System but the Mechanoids were hesitant to move since movement and sound would attract attention. This caused Jin to be slightly annoyed as he already had a n up in his head.

    "Nevermind." Jin looked around the cabin and found a window which he could pass through easily if he jumped from his spot. "Do not fire until I give themand... unless I am dead," Jin added thest part reluctantly and made sure he had his loaded pistol with him. "Let the show begin then."

    Jin quickly stopped his Maqi sensing and focused some of it into his legs, allowing him to jump out of the cabin window. The sound of shattering ss alerted the rest of the enemies, causing them to move and even shoot suppressive fire towards the cabin. They moved towards the cabin even faster, despite the Grey Bear Squad still being inside. The orders were absolute and they had no choice but to obey, so the tension was high.

    Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the dark woods, effectively killing one of the Mechanoid rebels. More shots were fired, dead urate and killing another three Mechanoids with headshots. Their physical sensors immediately switched to night vision, adding thermal to their perception. But Jin was clever enough to hold onto the camo cloth, using it as a cloak to hide.

    As the Mechanoids thought they had located Jin, he suddenly lobbed a few grenades towards them with force. The explosions shook the ground and sent debris flying, taking out several more Mechanoids. Jin used this opportunity to sprint away, staying low to avoid detection. He could hear the enemies behind him, shouting and firing their weapons, but he was fast and agile with the aid of his Maqi. He knew the woods well through his Maqi sensing and used this to his advantage, weaving in and out of trees and underbrush.

    "Tellie, Yinn get out of the cabin from where I move out and prepare for sneak attacks. Use the trees as vantage points." Jin said as he continue to fire his pistol. Those grenades which he managed to pinch from the first dead Mechanoid''s battle vest proved useful and he still had a grenade right with him.

    "Diaz, Click! Fire now!" Jin said as he used one of the trees to block the suppressive fire they were sending in his direction and threw that final grenade at them. The moment they heard their names, their faces turned ted as they used the distraction created by Jin to kill off those who had their focus on him and used the grenade explosion to hide their gunfire.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This gave the Mechanoids an illusion that there were being ambushed rather than being the ambushers, denting their morale bit by bit. Jin quickly pulled out the Holographic Tactical Console and used his mind to see the coordinates where Yinn and Tellie were hiding for the ambush.

    But then he noticed that his passive Maqi sensing had shown that more Mechanoid Rebels were moving onto their location. They were all fanned out to search for stragglers and the firefight here had notified them that they were here.

    "Permission to engage," Tellie asked but Jin continued to by that order. Instead, he asked Tellie to climb up the trees as well and get a better sight of the battleground below.

    With the battlefield being split into two sides, the pressure for Diaz and Click to perform had reduced significantly. To boot, Jin had also used uracy Rate Up codes to overclock their precision sensors. That and the constantly updated battlefield information from the Tactical Holographic Console had enabled Diaz and Click to fire their weapons while conserving their ammunition.

    However, Jin''s pistol was running low and there were still Mechanoids firing at his position, some even began to advance towards him knowing that he was just one man. But they had no idea that they were fighting with a veteran that went near Death''s gate several times.

    The freshly mintedmander of the Grey Bears sent another shot that grazed one of the advancing Mechanoids and took the opportunity to run up the tree like an agile monkey escaping from its predators. The only difference was he did not do that runaway but gained some height so that he could dropkick them with sufficient distance.

    "Hahahaha! Did you see that!" Diaz said as she sniped down another Mechanoid with a headshot.

    "I did." Click replied with excessive approval. "I never expect to see meleebat being brought onto the table at this time and age. LT, sending suppressive fire. Danger close." She said through the Tactical System as she had decided to assist Jin once after he dropkicked one of the Mechanoids by shooting her backup support.

    This allowed Jin to not just pick up the rifle from the Mechanoid that he dropkicked but also used the fallen War Maiden as a (human? or Mecha?) shield. Yet the other Mechanoids had their orders and did not care if one of their teammates had to be sacrificed.

    "We are not going down without a fight either," Jin thought to himself as he held on to the unwieldy rifle shot randomly to protect himself as he pulled the now dead Mechanoid back to behind the tree for cover. Afterwhich, he put a bullet into the Mechanoid''s head just to be sure and started to pige whatever he could find on her battle vest while under fire.

    If this would be a protracted battle, he had to grab whatever he could and improvise on the battlefield just like how he did when he was on the endless battlefield with Suzaku.

 Chapter 1444 Shootout At The Cabin -Part 2

    As Jin tried to rob items from the dead Mechanoid, a shot came through that prated the tree trunk behind which he was hiding. "What the fuck?!" Jin knew that he was no longer safe, as there were snipers targeting him at that very moment.

    The interimmander of the Grey Bear Squad had lucked out from being shot since he was squatting behind the tree to get the items. "Damn it, if only I had my real System with me and not this piece of shit, I might be able to get through this easily!" Jin now understood how important and precious the System was to him at this critical juncture, but reminiscing would not be of any use right now.

    The only thing he could do was to defeat the enemies and get over the situation. However, if a sniper was able to pinpoint his location, the other two who were giving suppressive fire would be next.

    "Diaz, Click. Sniper fire! The shot prated the fucking tree trunk. What kind of freaking bullet is that?!" Jin asked as he decided to switch ces by sprinting to the next tree a few meters away under the cover of rtive darkness.

    "If a bullet can pass through a tree trunk, the Mechanoid must be carrying at least a .50 caliber rifle with a super charged module. They cannot use that module more than five times though, since it will disintegrate it." Yinn said through the Tactical System.

    "They could always bring more." Tellie rebutted.

    "Rebels have that much money in their pockets? Who the hell is funding them?" Jin eximed as another bullet whizzed through the side of the tree trunk and wood splinters flew. The spotters for the sniper were tracking Jin, and he knew that it was a matter of time before they had a good shot on him.

    At the same time, Diaz and Click had also received sniper fire from the side of the cabin. Their cover managed to stop the initial wave of sniper shots, but they also knew that they were no longer safe. Just as they were about to move from their position, another sniper fire came and hit Diaz in the left leg.

    Bouts of "red blood," wires, and even some metal pieces emerged from her leg as the bullet pierced through it, almost rendering it useless. "Click, move and change position first. This cabin is no longer safe." Diaz said in a calm manner. At the very least, with Jin''s constant feeding of information, they knew where the enemies were within 150 meters of their location, just not the snipers. So, they could at least move ording to the immediate threats within their proximity.

    "The trajectory shots indicated three Snipers." Tellie said, and Yinn agreed with the information. While the data was a tadte, the information from the Tactical System had shown them where the shots hade from. It was extremely useful information since they could now estimate the snipers'' positions. But what they were more surprised with was that Jin had somehow been able to devise a monitoring scan that had yet to be blocked by the enemy''sbatants.

    Even if they were mere rebels, using Super Charge Modules had already shown that they definitely had the capability to block or jam Jin''s Tactical System scanning. (Unless, they got those modules illegally which might be a possibility.)

    "I will stay and continue to provide suppressive fire if needed," Diaz said as she ignored the damage to her leg and attempted to reinforce the side of the cabin from which the sniper fire wasing. Diaz even used the metal box casing that held the armor tes as cover. Meanwhile, she continued to fire at the Mechanoids who were aiming at Jin.<novelnext></novelnext>

    On the other hand, Click continued to move around the cabin corners for cover to shoot at her enemies. Now that the rebel Mechanoids knew their position, they took evasive maneuvers and applied pressure through suppressive fire to remove their initial shock advantage.

    "I found them," Yinn said as she managed to see them through the customized scope on her assault rifle. "But my rifle doesn''t have the range to hit that far."

    "I can give it a try, but I''ll only have one shot before exposing my position," Tellie replied. Jin chuckled through the Tactical System intes.

    "That''s all I need. Don''t forget we still have the Tactical Console," Jin said as he sent a burst of three bullets out as a distraction and hid behind another tree, out of the sniper''s line of fire. Once he was under cover, he pulled out the holographic Tactical console and saw the codes materialized as cards.

    They were simr to the equip cards he had used for his minions when he had the old System, and he knew how to make them work. Maybe the System had created the equip system as inspiration from this tactical console.

    20% Increased uracy Rate. Quick Shot. Double Tap. Steady Aim. War Maiden Range Extender (Consumable).

    Jin consecutively used the five code cards on Tellie by swiping them onto her portrait within the Tactical Console, and she could feel the processor within her making temporary adjustments. Her hands started to tremble and she discovered that her arm was glowing mildly before showing slits that opened in the middle where the ulna and radius bones are located. A barrel essory emerged as if the War Maiden had 3D printed it on the fly.

    To put it gently, Tellie was undoubtedly overwhelmed by the temporary power boost and her ability to create something out of the blue. However, now was not the time to be surprised, as she knew that these buffs onlysted for a while.

    She quickly picked up the Range Extender from her left arm and, using her Mechanoid dexterity, changed the barrel and took aim. Just one deep breath allowed her to steadily hold her weapon of death.

    "Take the shot," Jin said as he continued to lure the sniper''s attention by zigzagging around, attempting to kill the Mechanoids in the vicinity as well.

    "Yes, LT," Tellie replied, and pressed the trigger. The bullets flew out, aimed not just to disable the snipers, but to ensure that they were killed.

 Chapter 1445 Shootout At The Cabin -Final

    The shots buzzed through the woods as they left Tellie''s extended barrel and the light shes from the rifle were not seen until the Rebel Mechanoids heard the first few shots above them.

    By the time they were able to react to search for their enemy sniper, Tellie had already leapt to the next tree branch to reposition herself again for the uing fight regardless of the fate of the snipers that she had targeted previously. This confusion allowed the ground defenders to take advantage of it and ughter a few more rebel Mechanoids.

    It wasn''t until Yinn gave the Grey Bears an affirmation that the enemy snipers had been taken down that Tellie was able to have a look of relief on her face. Yet, she did not allow herself to celebrate as the Tactical System Buffs were still active and she intended to use all of them to the best of her abilities.

    Enemy Mechanoids returned fire at her position, but they had forgotten that they were also being suppressed from the Cabin side and by Jin. This gave the Grey Bears, with the exception of Yinn, the opportunity to give the remaining Mechanoids a taste of hell.

    With the Grey Bears having the tactical advantage once more, the rest of the Mechanoids believed it was futile to stay and probably were ordered to retreat.

    "Continue to press on the targets to the best of your abilities, but do not advance any further than a hundred meters from the cabin," Jin ordered, and the rest acknowledged.

    In a shootout thatsted no more than 30 minutes, the cabin finally fell quiet and the rest heaved a sigh of relief. They did not expect to get out of this mess in the first ce, and the result they had gotten was surprisingly shocking to the entire squad.

    It could have been worse, but they got away with just a few grazes, damaged armor tes, and Diaz''s broken leg.

    Jin continued to breathe heavily as he tried to recuperate all the Maqi he had expended. It was not easy to maintain it with all his cultivation force stripped away from him, but his foundation was solid enough tost this long, enabling them to achieve victory with the power of information on their side.

    "What are we going to do next?" Yinn asked as the Grey Bear Squad congregated near the cabin since Diaz was immobile.

    "Salvage what we can from the dead enemies. Rece our existing armor tes, collect the working rifles, refill our ammunition," Jin said as he started to pull the armor te from one of the dead Mechanoids who was killed with a headshot and ce it in his empty vest. He even pulled out armored kneepads and found a pair of gloves that fit himfortably.

    What was more important was that he could finally get a decent weapon from this impromptu graveyard: a p90 submachine gun and a bag full of its associated magazine clips. Inside that bag were other items that were useful forbat purposes, such as a quick nanomachine healing patch for Mechanoids who suffer injuries, andbat supplies suitable for both Mechanoids and humans to consume.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But what he found in that treasure trove was an item that might potentially change the whole scenario in their fight at Artbridge.

    A workingmunicator.

    Thinner and smaller than a standard military radio, this heap of green metal was still working perfectly despite the shootout that they had had with the Grey Bears. And more importantly, there was a notebook with all the radio codes that had been used by them. It looked like this Mechanoid could have been a messenger or used as a mobile ''item carrier'' by theirmanders and they had been used for this fight as a way to have more manpower or perhaps to gain experience.

    However, the rebels might not have expected a major loss on their side with the turn of events, and this allowed Jin to gain ess to the most important piece of equipment that could be vital for their turnaround.

    But as ted as he was, he suddenly remembered that he was talking through the Tactical System Console and the enemies could be doing the same as well. Why would they need a military radio? Yinn managed to notice the perplexed look Jin was showing and exined well ahead that not everymander would use the Tactical System Console like Jin did.

    "When you turn the tactical console on, it takes up most of your concentration to handle it because you will be the solemunication point for the entire team. Not to mention, these console systems only have a maximum of 10 slots. While it can be upgraded to amodate more, any extra Mechanoids would not have ess to the Tactical System Console." Yinn reasoned out.

    "But what makes me more curious is how LT is able to use the Tactical System Console without any burden. I have never seen anymander using that bulky system without taking a major strain on their willpower." She added, and the rest eventually had their realization upon assessing Yinn''s exnation. "Not to mention, I saw LT use the Tactical System Console before he lost his memories and he hated it a lot,ining howckluster and resource heavy it was to hisputation processor unit in his head. And he is already using one of thetest chips despite our debts."

    "That exins where all our money went..." Diaz said as she was hopping around with the help of Click.

    "More importantly, you are saying that this LT is not exactly the same LT we know?" Tellie inquired as she too felt ufortable with howpetent Jin waspared to the one she had previously known.

    "Yes, it could be that we might have an imposter in the squad." Yinn said as she drew her pistol out quickly. To her amazement, Jin had done the same. His pistol was drawn at her direction, and he had a grenade on the other hand, which he looted from the dead Mechanoids. Seeing how they were in an impasse, Yinn asked a very simple question.

    "Friend or foe?"

 Chapter 1446 Who Are You?

    "The identification scanner indicated that this is still that same Jin we should know of." Tellie''s eyes shone upon slightly checking his credentials with the Empire''s database.

    "It''s pretty obvious that this is not the same Jin that we know after that fight," Yinn said as she had also been monitoring Jin since she was ordered to not fire at all. Her initial thoughts on his orders were conflicted, thinking that this would be a suicide run but seeing how he had asked the CPL of the squad to not participate in the fight shows that he might have some ulterior motive.

    At first, she thought it was all about conserving strength and not showing the enemy their full hand. However, now that she learnt Jin was not who he is, Yinn had other considerations running through her mind. And those concerns were not friendly towards theirmander especially when she remembered that he had an ''ally'' which he had epted and did note to their rescue at this point.

    "So, speak. Friend or Foe? How did you even possess this body?" Yinn said as she knew how the Synthesis World works and assumed that Jin would surely know.

    "What if I tell you I was from another world and had been banished to this ce by some supernatural forces? Would you have believed me?" Jin asked and the rest felt that Jin was making fun of them.

    "What kind of ridiculous reasoning is that?" Click said while staying stationary and readying herself to pick up her pistol as she knows that this Jin was not as simple as they thought she was.

    "As I said, this is the only exnation I can give you. I would like to get out of this world, of this situation if I can but right now, I am prioritising my survival and using whatever I have at my disposal to make it so." Jin said as he felt some regret for even saying that he felt tired of all the bullshit in his home world. Perhaps, if he did not do that, the gods who were watching him might not have intervened although that was also something he could not have controlled.

    "So, all I can tell you are. Work with me. I am risking as much as you are from the previous fight but I cannot do this alone in my current state." Jin was genuine at his request and while the Mechanoids were not humans, they were able to read verbal expressions decently.

    Yinn walked backwards slowly and lifted her rifle away from him. "I do not trust you yet but ording to my truth detector, there was no hint of lies at the moment."

    "You have a truth detector built into you??" Jin asked as he put his pistol away but the rest were grinning behind their ears. It was a fact that there is no such thing as a truth detector module installed in War Maidens since they were supposed to bebat oriented.

    "You seriously thought we have truth detectors installed in all of us? Then we would have caught that previous Jin''s lies so much more easily and report him." Diaz chuckled as she used a nearby tree to lean on. As gullible as Jin was in that particr situation, the Grey Bear Squad still need to make a decision.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I do not mind apetentmander though." Tellie finally decided to break the ice by speaking out first. Her first hand experience using the buffs from the Tactical System had made her feel that she is finally doing a proper job.

    ? "Yeah. The way he jumped out of the window and ran like crazy. At first, I thought he abandoned us and really felt like shooting him from the back. Turns out he risked his life to give us a tactical advantage. Can''t say it''s the best move amander can pull but for him to risk his life for us? That''s a first and I am digging it. This broken leg is a small price to paypared to the number of rebels we had gunned down." Diaz said.

    "I won''t deny that either. He is already a bettermander than previous Jin." Click agreed as well although Diaz told her that the bar of their previousmander wasn''t that high, to begin with. "Heh, I will take anyone better than that piece of a shithead. And since we have one right now, I would take it." Click also agreed to the change ofmand.

    Yinn was the only one who did not speak anything and raised her hand up, offering a handshake. "Command us like how you did in the previous shootout and we will remain loyal to you. Else, I will not hesitate to shoot you from the back" Yinn said and Jin epted it willingly, knowing they both came to apromise. "You can tell us more about your actual self no matter how crazy it is once we are done with the mission."

    "Alright then. Let''s just pick up whatever we can for now and we need to also solve Diaz''s broken leg condition." Jin said and Click raised her hand up.

    "You might now know this but I am the medic cum engineer for the squad." Click said as she spread her hands around the many dead Mechanoids. "We can just rece her legs with the existing Mechanoids but it will take some time to make sure that the legs are of decent quality and her body does not reject the insertion of foreign models."

    "How long will it take?" Jin queried and Click did a mental calction while looking at the messy massacre around her.

    "Probably 20 minutes max."

    "If that''s the case, Yinn. Do you mind searching for those sniper nests? I think having some long range overwatch will do us good for our intrusion into Artridge." Jin asked and Yinnplied.

    "Roger that. I will get it done." Yinn gave a quick salute and move out while Tellie and Jin searched the bodies before the former was ordered to scout ahead to ensure that no enemies wereing back.

 Chapter 1447 Leg Replacement

    As Jin was looting the surrounding dead Mechanoids, Click was dismantling those who still had a decent pair of legs to check. So far, she was able to salvage three pairs of legs and to her surprise, those pairs of legs that she dismantled were of high quality. There werebat modules attached to it mainly allowing the Mechanoid to run longer without expending too much energy.

    In addition, those legs were built with such sturdy materials that Click had to measure them to be strong enough to hold minimally twice the carry weight they could hold. Three times their weight was also possible but it would impact and offset the long distancebat module that had been installed within those legs. Now all she could hope was Diaz''s machine ''gics'' was able to fit in properly without any rejection.

    This was because there were cases of suicidal War Maidens who had imntedtent malware or viruses into their system. And those who wished to reuse their parts would cause thosetent malware programmes to activate. After that spate of incidents, newer Mechanoids were installed with better antivirus systems and rejection modules were programmed to ensure that the War Maidens were not corrupted. If their antivirus system noticed any illegal modifications to the parts'' integrity, they will reject it automatically.

    It was also a gimmick by the various major manufacturer to ensure that any Mechanoids that were injured to use official manufactured parts but there were some minor allowances to mix and match mainly because they know that daily battles do not allow such rigidity. Thus, as long as the parts were thoroughly scanned and reported clean, the chances to use them were high.

    However, time was of essence to the Grey Bear Squads. They might have destroyed a number of Mechanoids but that did not mean it had severely dwindled the numbers within Artridge. Jin assumed that it was better to give them no quarters and pressuring them would force them to blunder in some way but Yinn who had a diverse basic knowledge understood that it is a vige meant that they might have ess to machinery capable of creating even more Mechanoids...just more dumb down versions of it. If the Grey Bear Squads managed to bring down the rebels in the area, it would no doubt suppress the rebel movements within the Empire too.

    Thus, Click did not have the time to do a thorough scan and with the promise of it to bepleted within twenty minutes, she had no choice but to cut some corners. Besides, she was sure that Diaz anti virus system would also do the job by rejecting any problematic parts. "Here goes nothing." Click took a deep breath and mmed the salvaged leg into Diaz''s thighpartment.

    Diaz who was connected to the power source within the cabin did a brute force antivirus scan to search for any problems with the right leg before dividing her processing power to both legs when Click installed the left leg as well. "Doing diagnostics as well." Click added as she turned on her own tactical console and started to check the status of Diaz.

    "We might be able to hit jackpot." Click mumbled unwittingly but Diaz threw an ammunition clip at her head.

    "Don''t jinx it," Diazined as Click giggled and continued with her diagnostic scan. During the scan, any misalignment of the code was rectified by Click so that Diaz''s antivirus system does not pick it up as an anomaly. ''Three strikes and it would be rejected'' was the usual saying for most engineers who were doing recement parts for their squads. Even though it usually varies between different manufacturers, it was the general rule of thumb that they had to adhere to and so far Click had gotten one.

    "The joints attached well with no issues. Connecting deviating nanomachines to mend and amend the electric wiring." Click reported as Diaz slowly feel the feedback from the new pair of legs.

    "Installing your operational system data into the legs." Click added as her typing got fast for a while andter an interval that required loading.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Should be fine." Yinn entered the cabin with three sniper rifles behind her back, all of them the same model, the Macmillian M50 rifle.

    "Both of you. Shuuushh!" Diaz was anxious since the rejection of the legs had its own terrible ejection feedback as well, something that Diaz did not like.

    "Woah, isn''t this an anti material rifle?" Click sidetracked the conversation and Yinn nodded her head with glee.

    "No wonder...with the supercharged module, its bullets would no doubt smash through anything it passed through," Diazmented and Yinn was happy that Jin gave the order to pick up these bad boys.

    "I will check whether we can refill the supercharged module or it''s those one time consumables." Click said as she received one of the rifles from Yinn and she opened the side of the rifle checking the module chip but she got thrown in the head with another ammunition clip.

    "Concentrate on the scan! We do not have much time and luck to spare." Diaz''s frustration was visible as her anxiety that it would go wrong at the veryst minute. Thankfully, it went well hitting a 100%pletion rate as the scanter revealed that there was a 23% deviation from the standard requirements. 3% short of it being rejected.

    At that moment, Jin came in with a briefcase with its contents locked under an electronic keypad. "Click, are you able to unlock this?" He asked but the rest within the room was more mortified by the item that he had with him. "What? What''s wrong with this briefcase?"

    "I forgot he isn''t from this world and I am starting to believe that." Diaz shook her head and the others follow suit. It was more exciting than the instalment of Diaz''s legs and she did not even do any test runs before the actual walking, forcing her legs to move so that she could have a look at the red briefcase to confirm the suspicion that she had when the rest had their eyes filled with bewilderment.

    "You might have found something that might change how to acquire Artbridge from the rebels." Yinn smiled as she picked up the briefcase and tapped on it proudly.

 Chapter 1448 Scouting Artbridge

    "Tellie here, the coast is clear. There is no one around the other end trap door." The glee within the room settled and everyone turned serious.

    "Do not worry. Leave this briefcase with me. I will tell you more if neededter on." Yinn said as she picked up a huge camo cloth and wrapped it around that obstinate red colour of a briefcase while the rest moved out to pack the items that they had picked up. The rifles and ammunition they had savaged had been put into two crates where Diaz was able to lift them without much problem. "Tellie, scout ahead a little more and take the position. We will be on our way through the tunnel."

    "You sure you do not need to do your testing?" Click was concerned with Diaz''sck of test runs as they ced the items together.

    "We do not have time to spare and this is not the first I used parts that is a variant from the official store. Shouldn''t be much of a problem." Diaz said as she used several harnesses to wrap the two crates together before dragging them to the trap door.

    "I still think it''s not a good idea to pull such heavy loads off the bat after installing your legs. Your bnce sensors need to be adjusted as well." Click replied and suddenly Jin take a deep breath and started pulling them after he strengthened his body with Maqi.

    "Woah...now I starting to think he might be a Mechanoid." Click thought to herself as she saw Jin pushing the two crates through the trapdoor and holding them properly via a rope before they hit the bottom of the tunnel.

    "Okay, I guess I overestimated my strength a little. Some help here, please." Jin said as his face turned red but his stance was steady enough to hold the hanging crates steady. What he needed was someone to support him so he could gently move the crates down to the bottom without them breaking apart from the fall. Yinn and Click quickly assisted and they managed tond the boxes gently down at the bottom.

    "That certainly saves some time," Diazmented, thinking they might have trouble moving crates up and down through the tunnel door.

    "Click, Diaz. Get those testing done by the time we reached the other trap door. I will handle the moving of the crates" Jin ordered. "And Yinn take care of the rear."

    "Yes, Sir!" The three Grey Bears acknowledge Jin''smands as they descended thedder and go through the tunnel. In the meantime, as Jin was pulling the crates, he thought that it was already a miracle that the rebels did not find the use of this tunnel or else their cabin shootout scene would have been disastrous. It was like the backdoor that broke the 300 Spartans and he was thankful nothing of that sort happened.

    Soon, they reached the other trap door with them informing Tellie ahead of time so she could do one proper sweep of the area and giving them the go ahead to open it. Diaz and Click managed to clear their test run in a nick of time given the tunnel''s length and they went ahead to assist Jin to pull the weapon crates up. With Jin as the pivot once more from the top of the trap door, they had little difficulty bringing the items up.

    It might be seen as a hassle but the extra weapons will no doubt be of help for the uing raid. Especially when the weapon crates were filled with explosives which Jin had picked from all the dead Mechanoids. Not only that, upon learning that the Mechanoids could have their parts reced, he too went around plucking additional pairs of arms and legs from the dead.

    Click told him that installing was a delicate process but he did not believe there was no such thing as emergency instation. The engineer of the Grey Bear Squad resigned her fate and nodded that there was such a procedure avable but it was not a viable option in the long run, stating that the risk of backdoor viruses and malware maye to bite them when they were not looking.

    "Then all we have to do is to make sure that you girls have a proper check up before departing the next mission," Jin said during the tunnel and it made sense. How could four Mechanoids go on a rampage against a town full of rebels and think that they could survive it unscathed? Only the stories of myths and legends will people believe them. Thus, Jin''s reasoning for emergency instations so that they were able to keep pushing for their objective was their only way forward.

    It''s not like Jin wished to continue on this suicide mission but the stakes were high ording to his Squad of War Maidens and citing that if he really could pull this off, he might be able to pay the debts that his team wasmenting about.

    Once the crates were out of the tunnel, Tellie told the squad that she had found a vantage point which could oversee the vige of Artbridge. And when they reached the said vantage point, they could see the entire vige. In Jin''s eyes, it was a blessing in disguise as the vantage point was a cliff, allowing good cover from bullets until the rebels had enough and starts to level the cliff down with rockets. And even if there were no rockets, the rebels might have a hard timeing up especially with the ymores and traps that their Grey Bear Engineer had installed along the way.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Tellie is our best shot but it would be a waste if we leave her here for long range overwatch," Yinn said as the Grey Bear Squad hid behind the rocks near the cliff to discuss their strategy.

    "Yinn is not bad too but she had more experienced on the ground, making her essential for the raid attack," Diazmented but Jin eventually chose Tellie. Ever since her one sided rodeo with the snipers, he believed that she was able to make proper assessments and scout for their overwatch.

    "We will need Click around with us in case of any emergencies and Diaz with her newly installed legs would no doubt be able to rush certain objectives when needed."

    "Do you wish to be a spotter for Tellie?" Yinn asked Jin as she know thatmanders shouldn''t always be risking their lives unnecessarily.

    "No, it will be better for me on the ground as well. Else, the Tactical System Console would not work as intended." Jin replied as he checked his P90 submachine gun and brought an extra P90 with him at the back of his waist.

    "If you say so,mander." Yinn then took advantage of the shared Tactical System to open up the ovey of Artbridge. "We do not know if there are civilians in the area and the mission did not say that we need to be careful of civilians so it''s themander''s choice to have fire on civilians that might potentially hurt us."

    "If they are holding the vige for a short amount of time, it is highly likely the civilians are kept or for theck of a better word, imprisoned at a ce. " Jin said and the rest also agreed with his assessment.

    "Then, there''s a high chance they might be held at the church." Yinn reasoned since it was thergest building within the vige. "But it also means that the rebelmander might be hiding in there as well."

    "Do not worry. I might have a shot at differentiating them from the civilians. So, leave that to me." Jin spoke so confidently that it made the Grey Bears scared.

    "On what basis?" Yinn asked and Jin''s next sentence might have been a joke if he did not say it with utmost pride.

    "Gut feeling."

    "Gut Feeling??!" Yinn could not imagine theirmander would say this but considering how he had proved himself in the past battle, there must be something that he was not willing to share with the whole team. And perhaps with this mission, she might be able to see what other extra abilities this outsider had been hiding.

    Thus, she gave a sigh a momentter and nodded her head. "We will trust your gut feeling for now. There is not much to hang on to anyways."

    "Alright, lets get to it then." Jin smiled, thanking them internally for putting their trust in this newmander of theirs.

 Chapter 1449 Change Of Objective

    "What about that exclusive ally that we supposedly have?" Click asked but Jin did not have any idea with regards to that.

    "If he or shees, then we will take improvise as the situation goes. Otherwise, this would be a never ending game of waiting." Jin said and they heard a rooster screaming its lungs out over the horizon.

    "Will it be a bad time to attack now?" Diaz asked as she tilted her head in the direction of where the rooster was clucking.

    "Hmm, generally, that''s not a good idea. We do not know whether they have any radar capability." Yinn replied.

    "Then the time they attacked us with artillery bombardment?" Jin asked and Yinn told him that it was because ''he'' was previously making a ruckus killing one of their Mechanoids.

    "Maybe it was the reason why they have decided to just throw Mechanoids at us since they would think that killing an idiotmander would be a simple task." Tellie chuckled and the rest nodded their heads in unison.

    "Oh okay..." Jin nodded slowly since he knows that they were not referring to him. However, instead of the usual n where they had discussed to enter and slowly search for the rebels who went into hiding from the previous shootout at the cabin, the freshly mintedmander of Grey Bear Squad remembered a crucial detail he had forgotten all this time.

    "Where are the artillery located?" Jin asked and Tellie who had been scouting the area previously pointed out that they were around the east of the city.

    "I do not like the sound of LT asking where the artillery is at. He wished to bombard the city centre?" Tellie inquired but Jin shook his head in a systematic manner as if he was still calcting what to do with it.

    "You guys said that they might have a hidden Mechanoid factory and they are working to produce more of them. I think it will be best to disable the said building before they start to produce more and overwhelm it with numbers. We do not have the manpower to facilitate a strong sweeping strike initiative neither we have the staying power to hold a ce for long." Jin said. "We can do door to door clearance, but our main objective is to clear the rebels."

    "What Jin said is right. Our main priority is to clear the objective and get paid for it." Diaz said nonchntly. "We also do not know whether the fact that they are hiding because the vigers were helping them or they were being threatened to do so."

    "But we cannot consider all of them hostiles." Click refuted.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do we honestly have the time to check whether it''s friend or foe at that point in time? We do have not the manpower to do so. Neither are we skilled enough to identify them in a pinch." Diaz interrupted Click for saying more and she brought up a valid point.

    "We are not heroes and we have no right to be heroes at this juncture." Diaz added and everyone looked at each other. Diaz hoped to have support for her argument while Click was looking to see if anyone could outtalk her teammate. At that point, Jin stepped in at this delicate moment and spoke.

    "Secure the artilleries and its perimeter. Tellie will continue to provide long range overwatch with her sniping if needed while the four of us clear the area. Once we possessed the artilleries, Diaz and Click will nt explosives at the buildings that maintain a direct line of sight to the artillery. Yinn and I will coordinate to aim the artillery at the church. When the both of you are done with the nting of explosives, move towards the marketce near the church. We will provide fire support to the marketce when needed." Jin said and he looked at the stunned Privates who individually wanted support for their argument from themander.

    Yet, this slew ofmands had caused Yinn and Tellie to grin widely. Yinn was the first to acknowledge the new orders and so did Tellie. This also forced the other two privates to acknowledge theirmander''s orders despite their difference in opinions.

    "I guess having tomand my minions does allow me to have some experience handling this kind of situation." Jin thought to himself as he controlled themotion that the squad was having. It was certainly different from the usual ''heated'' discussions that his minions would have but they were still simr since all of them waited for their master to provide opinions on the situation. As much as he wished to take sides, Jin usually takes a neutral stance unless he honestly believed that a particr side of the argument has benefits for the Dungeon Supplier Store.

    On the other hand, these four of them reminded him much of the Demon Exorcists which he had taken in as part of his employees even though they did not work there full time.

    "Alright, let''s get going. Since we are going to use the Artillery as a stationary point of contest, we will bring a crate of weapons there. Diaz, I would need your help to do so." Jin said and Diaz immediately it up and strapped the entire box behind her back. Her legs gave off some steam at the start which made Jin concerned but Click reassured him that it was normal since it was more than the usual weight a Mechanoid should be able to carry.

    "The processors within the legs were merely adjusting to bncing itself so that the output efficacy remained the same despite the heavy load and that''s the beauty of Diaz''s new instalment." Click was proud that she managed to find a good pair of leg parts. If they were to resell it within the ck market (Since it''s not an official part), it could most probably be catergoised as an umon rarity.

    "But everything else has to depend on the user as well." Click said with a tinge of sarcasm but Diaz knew that Click was probably still sour from their previous conversation.

    "Bleagh. I will show you what that user can do!" Diaz pull her tongue at her teammate and leapt down the cliff with some finesse.

    "That''s not very much a sneak attack... as I expected..." Jin thought to himself and took note that he might need to go loud before reaching their new objective.

 Chapter 1450 Spotted

    But as they travelled through the outskirts of Artbridge, they noticed that there was not a single person in the area. Aside from the farm animals walking around so freely, there was no sight of any humans at all. Jin stopped for a while to take a look at the main dirt road which connects to all the side roads to spread around Artbridge. "This is odd..." Jin said as he squatted and analysed the dirt road even more closely from the side.

    "Yinn, do you have any analytical tool in that Mechanoid head of yours?" Jin asked as he pondered on the dirt road.

    "As analytical as I can be... I guess?" Yinn replied without realising that Jin was rude to ask such a question. But then again, since he is already an outsider who does not know the standard etiquette of this world, she keeps an eye close on his words and answers what Jin was thinking about.

    "Then tell me what you think about this particr dirt road." Themander could only hope that he had the System back at this juncture. Forget what he said that the System was pinning him down with responsibilities. It was a crazy reliablepanion to have, answering all the queries he has in an instant.

    "I get what you mean." Yinn might not be a bot that focused on analysis but she does have enough processing power to deduce what Jin wanted to know. "Most of the road had been dominated by Mechanoid footsteps. I cannot find any remnants of differentiating footsteps." Yinn subsequently exined that all the Mechanoids were of a few certain sizes especially when ites to their shoe size. This was to confuse hunters attempting to track specific Mechanoids. This allowed the Mechanoids to blend easily with other unsuspecting Mechanoids. To a certain extent, for human crowds as well.

    However, that gave a disadvantage to the Mechanoids as well as it had demonstrated in this situation. Yinn had identified them and gave a rough estimate of the number of Mechanoids that could be within this vige based on the movement on the main dirt road. When Jin heard the number amounted to close to sixty to eighty Mechanoids, he felt like fainting.

    "Does that estimation include the Mechanoids we had taken out previously?" Jin asked and Yinn shook her head.

    "It might not be obvious but there were military truck tracks being overwritten by Mechanoid steps. What I gave you was just an optimistic estimate." Yinn said and told them that they should start moving before they were in the radius of a nearby sensor.

    But as Yinn was covering Diaz and Click''s back, she caught a glimpse of movement at the very far end of Artbridge and quickly hurried the two to move even though she knew that Diaz was carrying a heavy load of weapons.

    "Grey Bear 01 to Grey Bear 02, movement at the end of the main dirt road, do you have eyes?" Yinn said through an encrypted channel, trying to keep themunications as short as possible so they would not be intercepted by the enemy."

    "Grey Bear 02 to Grey Bear 01. Unable to see. Over"

    "Grey Bear 01, roger." Yinn knew she did not see wrongly, and Tellie was not able to see the enemy units because the buildings might be blocking her vision. Thus, she informed Jinn before they moved to the next building for cover.

    "Possible visual on enemies. Need confirmation but too risky." Yinn said through the short rangemunications through the Tactical System.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Move as per usual. I will provide distraction if necessary and intercept the enemies." Jin nodded in acknowledgement and told them to continue moving so they could act on their roles.

    But as the group were about to move to the next building, only metres away from the open garden where the artillery had been parked at. The team heard the zipping of a bullet and it ricocheted from Diaz''s metal weapon crate. It caught them by surprise momentarily until Jin shouted at them to move to the artillery as soon as possible.

    At the same time, he used his Inverse Eyes to see the past trajectory of the bullet and his vision led him to find the shooter was hiding near the windmill.

    "Enemy at 7 o''clock. Windmill!" Jin said through the encrypted channel, sting the information to Tellie so she could verify the location of the shooter as well. "All Grey Bears continue your respective tasks! I will handle the shooter."

    "Roger that." The Grey Bears reported as they continued to run to their tasks. Jin on the other hand drew out the sniper rifle that Yinn had looted and ran towards Windmill.

    "What?" The shooter was surprised and ted simultaneously to see one of her targets moving closer to him. "Heh. Amander doing distraction tactics? That''s a first. But if you die. It''s all the more easier for us to eliminate your entire squad."

    But when the shooter attempted to aim at Jin, it somehow made her ufortable. "Why does it feel like he is looking at me so intently?" The shooter thought to herself butter logically assumed that it was impossible from this distance and subsequently decided to fire.

    Jin already had his eyes on the possible few locations that the shooter could possibly be until he saw a slight glint of the rifle due to the rising rays of dawn. It allowed him to focus as the shooter took another shot at him. Obviously, that second round had alerted the rest of the rebels, but Jin did not care other than the opponent that he was staring at. With him instinctively moving away from the bullet, it made the shooter hesitant to fire another.

    At that point, Jin was running with the sniper rifle in his hand and aiming at the shooter.

    "Fuck!" the shooter shouted and decided to raise to the challenge. If her enemy wishes to shoot back, then bring it on!

    "Bang!" Both rifles fired at the same time but it was pretty apparent who was the skilled shooter as Jin turned back and move towards his original objective.

 Chapter 1451 Contact

    Tellie saw the entire battle unfold right in front of her eyes and could not believe that hermander was able to get away with such a stunt. He not only defied how things usually work in this world but also go against every single textbook tactic she had ever read.

    What''s more was that with just a single shot, he was able to find where the enemy wasing from and even with the Mechanoids'' processing speed to analyse the situation, most War Maidens were not able to do so. Yet, this supposed outsider who was banished by the ''heavens'' was doing things that made the War Maidens feel obsolete.

    And to make Tellie feel even worse, he was able to trigger off a sniper rifle while dodging the next shot, giving a direct hit to the shooter. It felt like Jin was somewhat cheating and made Tellie determine that she had to do more than what she usually could.

    Diaz: Contact! Contact! Three hostiles hiding in the red building!

    Yinn: Grey Bear 01, moving in to intercept. Grey Bear 03, continue with suppressive fire. Grey Bear 04, continue to nt the charges.

    Jin: Grey Bear Actual, turning on Tactical System.

    Click: Grey Bear 04, roger that.

    Jin: Grey Bear Actual, eight Hostiles detected, sending information to all Grey Bears. Moving to intercept the one at the Red Building. Grey Bear 01, handle the ones beside the red building. Grey Bear 03, move to the other side of the building and ambush the onesing up the stairs.

    ? Diaz: Ok boss.

    Yinn: Grey Bear 01, roger. I will backtrack to the regted point of contact once I eliminate the hostiles.

    Tellie: Confirming limited visuals and sending data to the Tactical System as well.

    With the information Jin and Tellie had transmitted to everyone via the Tactical System, they immediately have situational awareness of the area and know how to proceed.

    As much Jin wished to use his Maqi in the first ce to sense out the enemies, he did not want to slow down the pace too much sneaking towards the artilleries since his current abilities were of a limited range. Anything like the sniper attack would still blindside him and there was nothing else he could do then to counterattack.

    That was why he focused the use of his Maqi for the thick of battle as well as the ability to use his Inverse Eyes immediately after the first attack. He should already be thankful that the shooter was a ''tad inurate'' with her shot when she aimed for Diaz.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Or perhaps the shooter thought that the crate held explosives since it was painted in fiery bright orange dye and wished to take out the entire Grey Bear squad with just one shot. It initially belonged to the Rebel Mechanoids and it did contain explosives previously until Jin had switched them all out just to hold the weapons and gave Click to hold onto the explosives instead.

    Click did feel ufortable carrying such vtile material all around but knew that the crate was spacious enough for the weapons, ammunition and even spare recements once they took out the explosives and the padding to hold them.

    Jin reassured her that as long as she did not get shot, everything will be fine. Obviously, she had her reservations with regard to Jin but themander''s orders needed to be carried out no matter how casual the ''order'' was.

    Still, because of that switch of items, they were able to distract the enemy once and Jin was able to intercept and down a capable shooter of the rebels before returning to their objectives.

    "Done with the first building, moving to the second," Click said as she activated the explosives and quickly moved a few pieces of furniture to hide it before opening the windows and wanting to perform a far jump to the next building''s balcony since it was the fastest way to move rather than going down the stairs where the enemy was waiting.

    Of course, if she wished to do that, there would not be a problem as Diaz used a bedsheet to make a makeshift rope so that she could rappel down one floor and ambush the enemies. Using the armoury crate as the siege hammer to burst through the windows, it also acted as a massive projectile hurling towards the enemies, scaring the rebel war maidens momentarily.

    The colour of the huge crate also gave them reason to pause since they all identified it as the explosive crate that they had been lugging around. And with this, it gave Diaz the time to make a grand entrance through the lower floor window and spray bullets at her enemies.

    "Enemies down," Diaz said as she make sure that they were killed by tapping bullets into their heads. And since she had the weapon crate with her, it does not hurt to grab whatever the rebels have as well as their radiomunicator.

    "Boss, theirmunicator is still tuned to the same channel. I think we can listen into it." Diaz did not follow proper military lingo but the information she gave was crucial enough for them to ignore herck ofmunication discipline.

    "Same here. Three hostiles down and I acquired their radio too." Yinn reported as she began to pick up the extra ammunition clips as well as their peripheral essories of war after killing them without much of a fight. But since she could trust the tactical system that Jin had put up, Yinn took the opportunity to set up a booby trap with the grenades that were lying around on the enemies'' bodies in case there were other rebels came rushing inter.

    And with the tactical system they were sharing, she could mark it for her teammates and be allowed to avoid the area if necessary. "The chatter indicated that they are going to hold down and fortify the church."

    "Then all the more we beseech the god of battlefields to aid us in our endeavour," Jin said as he mmed the remaining rebel to the wall with his Maqi and put metal into the rebel''s exposed neck.

 Chapter 1452 Getting The Artillery Guns Up

    Diaz: All hostiles were eliminated at Checkpoint D, proceeding to Checkpoint E to aid Grey Bear 03

    Click: I am already at Checkpoint F, moving to Checkpoint H.

    Diaz: Since when did you move that fast? Don''t you have to find a proper spot to hide those stuff and even need more activating those timers?

    Click: I already did that while trying to find a spot. Just ignore the details and hurry to Checkpoint H.

    Diaz: You just want -

    Yinn: Cut the chatter. Moving to secure the primary objective.

    Jin: I will bring down the ones at the back of the artillery first. You handle the front few.

    Yinn: Roger that.

    With that conversation, Diaz decided to make her way up based on Click''s previous movement. The tactical system was able to show where her teammate had gone previously and Diaz was starting to wonder; was it so bad to use the tactical system on daily use? It was because of its controversy that the tactical system had a lot of hate and little usage but right now when this new Jinmander was using it, she was able to do more things than she previously did.

    There were even rmendations from the tactical system to dial her energy output on her legs so she could move faster and she allowed her internal processors to automatically tuned once the information was given out. "I honestly do not remember it to be this helpful." Diaz thought to herself as she jumped with ease into Checkpoint E and subsequently the tactical system rmended another new route to move towards Checkpoint H. It might be because Diaz had epted its suggestions that the tactical system started to pop up even more rmendations that were not just useful but also gave her the probability of these rmendations as well, allowing her to determine whether it was a decent decision to make.

    In the meantime, Yinn coordinated her assault with Jin against the rebels guarding the artillery. The moment he took his shot killing the first mechanoid, Yinn rushed in despite the suppressive fire the rebels were shooting at her. Yinn however was able to have confidence charging in because she decided to use an extra armour te as a makeshift shield to protect her. It was not something she hade out with until Jin told her to stick the te on her left wrist and it started to form along with her arm.

    It was then Yinn realised that this was something simr to what Tellie had experienced, Jin had used the tactical system code boost to create such an unorthodox ability for her. However, she had no idea that the tactical system could be this ...creative. Even though she had morebat field knowledge and expertisepared to the other Grey Bears who were privates, this was the first time she saw the tactical system churning out just unique abilities to aid the Mechanoids. All she remembered from the past tactical system usage were merely uracy or speed boost effects.

    Yet at this point in time, she did not care much nor wish to question these unique creations. The pentagonal armour te allowed her to block additional weak points of hers as she pushed to shock and awe the rebels. Jin took the opportunity to take care of thest rebel at the back as well before proceeding down to the artillery position.

    And as he was walking down, he made a controversialment to himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You are there, aren''t you," Jin said but there was no reply back at all despite his long run towards the artillery.

    Yinn: Grey Bear 01 to all Grey Bears. We have secured the primary objective. Grey Bear 02, we are relying on you to spot.

    Tellie: Grey Bear 02, wilco.

    The artillery guns were identified to be a series of 39 calibre howitzers. ording to Yinn, it was not thetest but they should not be scoffed at as well. Its range was rtively decent and it was manageable enough to operate with minimum manpower.

    Obviously there was no way Jin have any idea on how to operate the howitzer even though he seem to have a basic military knowledge foundation due to his grandfather.

    But the tactical ''system'' had started to show its colours as it began to give clear instructions on how to use the artillery gun. Yinn was surprised as well that her tactical system was showing her the ropes. She had some basic artillery know hows installed within her brain but it was a general set of knowledge and different guns had their own knick knacks to take care of.

    "Bearings received and set," Yinn said as she had already set the artillery gun to aim towards the church once Tellie gave them their coordinates but Jin did not allow the firing.

    He understood that he was wasting precious time to make sure that Diaz and Clickplete their role but it was vital that they were not spotted as to nt explosives but to be perceived as a ''room clearing'' procedure.

    "All done!" Click said as she nted the veryst explosive needed for the room and Diaz managed to cover her six while doing so as well.

    "Multiple hostiles encroaching to your position." Tellie reported stating that they were moving slowly on purpose to ensure that they had the numerical advantage to deal with the threat.

    "Still no vigers on sight?" Jin worried for the worst. He could only hope that they were still alive, being held on hostage or imprisoned at the church but Tellie did hint that most religious buildings were also repurposed as bomb shelters for such events because of all the fighting that happened all around their world. (Somehow that reminded Jin of a certain historical stealth game where churches have all those troublesome tunnels.)

    "No. None seen." Tellie reported while Diaz and Click rushed to where the guns were. Even though the Grey Bear Squad do not have the manpower, Jin and Yinn were still able to manually move the artillery guns to the set coordinates while waiting for Diaz and Click to protect them. This way, they could still capable of one volley worth of artillery before just focusing on one particr gun.

 Chapter 1453 Firing The Artillery

    "Sometimes, I wished that they were here..." Jin thought of the times when his Orcs were fiercely mming the artillery fire onto the enemies. Thisck of support and being a lone squad forced him to rethink that he took for granted that he had such a powerful force aiding him in both his defence and offence.

    "Commander, we are here!" Diaz said as if she was happy there were able toplete their assigned tasks and that made Jin felt even more suspicious how this ''other'' Jin had made life so difficult for this group of Mechanoids.

    But fate did not give them any respite as the rebels had determined that their enemies had congregrated near their artillery position. They knew what had happened previously with their ambush but this was now different.

    The rebels learnt their lesson and did a sweep of the town to ensure that they did not have the same thing happening to them again. A quick door to door with minimal manpower to make sure that they did not lose so many at one time. Since they knew how sneaky this particr Empire Squad was.

    However, it initially boggled the rebelmanders that this particr Empire Squadpetency rate increased drastically in less than a day. They were having a field day putting them in ce and even killing two of their Mechanoids plus supposedly wounding theirmander. And yet, they were now being pinned by this very same squad with their remaining numbers.

    Not to mention, there was recent footage of theirmander working extra hard bying into the frontlines and even showing his skills by defeating one of the rebel''s best sniper in less than a minute upon contact.

    There was even optical camouge to ensure that their sniper did not get discovered but she was quickly annihted with just one shot. This was also the first time they have seen an Empire Commander despite him being a young one moving into the fray.

    That was why they were not going to give any quarters and had decided to throw almost what they have against the enemy. But things does not seem to bore well for them once the rebelmanders found out that the Empire Squad had holed up at at their artillery position.

    What was more frightening was their overwatch from the church''s tower telling them that the guns were being aimed at their direction. They did not expect the Empire Squad to make use of the Rebel''s own weapons against them. Usually, theirmander would be too proud to do that and rather prefer confrontational tactics.

    In short, this squad was throwing curveballs at the Rebel Commanders that they were at a loss. Thesemanders thought that catching Artbridge a few days was one of the best decision they could ever achieve since they needed a foothold, a forward supply base to man their operations against the Empire.

    And Artbridge being a frontier vige of the Empire had little defences up for protection. Even their walls were tattered and not maintained at all, which goes to show they do not have the expense to have proper defence force to protect the vige.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, to be able to get the vige this easily seemed to be the right decision and other several Empire Squads who tried to intercept had been met with swift death with their artillery attacks. And for some reason, the Empire had only been sending squads against the vige and not a proper attacking force which allowed the rebels to gain even more confidence to operate here and to gather their numbers.

    This particr Empire Squad was supposed to be that way as well. Kill them with overarching destructive artillery fire and sweep up the remnants with both veteran and fresh recruits. This way, the newer Mechanoids can have freshbat experience as data.

    All of this was to anticipate arge expedition Empire force so that the rebels could ry their higher ups to proceed with certain operations. This was also to gauge whether the Empire had anything new in their sleeves or at least increase their losses so that the rebelmanders could earn more points fr the annual review done by the Synthesis World''swork of servers.

    But everything went moot when Jin and his Grey Bear Squad did the impossible by doing unconventional tactics. The moment Yinn spotted the first rebel emerging from the row of houses that were within their sight, Jin signalled everyone to fire their howitzers beforemanding everyone to hold their ground to handle just one particr artillery gun.

    "What the hell? They really aimed the church?" One of the rebelmanders said as he could hear the poundings of the artillery shell while he was hiding underground.

    "What benefits do they have to shell the church? They should have already noticed that our main force are out there. Shouldn''t they be worried that than shelling this ce already" Anothermander grumbled as he felt the barrage of attacks.

    "Also, they confirmed that there''s only one squad here? Why does it seem that we have a volley of artillery fire right at our heels." The othermander questioned their scouts and they said they were there was only a squad out there. In fact, it was only three Empire War Maidens and onemander that they had detected, simr to the reports from the failed ambush.

    The Rebel Commanders did not know that the Grey Bears were keeping Tellie as their overwatch and had been rather effective in hiding that fact. As the rebels tried to force their way to the artillery field, Tellie took the opportunity. Using the artillery fire as a cover as well as to take the confusion of the current battlefield, Tellie made sure that she snipe to kill at erratic intervals so that the Mechanoids were having trouble identifying if it was a stray fire or if there was really someone aiding them from somewhere else.

    But the Grey Bear Squad was prepared to hold their ground no matter what. With the additional gear they had lugged through the town and some spares lying around near the artillery position, they had enough ammunition for one hell of a fierce firefight while Yinn fired off the artillery consistently towards the church.

 Chapter 1454 Stopping Them In Their Tracks

    "Push forward! Push forward!" The Rebel Mechanoids red their signals to press their attack. There was no reason not to do so. Their enemies were only a minor fraction of their troops and yet for some reason, they were doing significantly better in damage control and defending their position while their sole artillery gun kept firing nonstop towards the church.

    Naturally, the rebelmanders were afraid even though they were hiding underground but it was precisely because they were underground, they were terrified that they could be buried underneath it. They had searched the underground premises and found no alternate exits other than the entrance from the church. Their only sole purpose for staying underground was to avoid the artillery attacks when their Mechanoids had reported toote about the enemies'' objective.

    They kept assuming the enemies were going for a roundabout way to nk the church instead taking the main road which was a logical detour given that the rebels had stationed snipers to overwatch the main road. But this detour had caused them to initially shift their troops to the side of the church and onlyter they subsequently deduced that they were taking the artillery guns.

    While they did not overlook such a possibility, themanders who were a bunch of nervous wrecks after finding out that the Rebel Mechanoids they sent out were half wiped out, instinctively started to shore up their defences on the church that they forgot about the artillery guns. Now the Rebel Commanders were hoping their Mechanoids were able to kill the enemy squad by mass rushing them with troops before the artillery gun dismantled the church entirely through pounding fire.

    "Get into the buildings for cover and sought higher ground. Shoot them down!" One of the Rebel Commanders shouted through their own intes making the Grey Bear Squad ted behind their cover. They had stolen the radios from the rebels and had thetest frequency on board, thus allowing them to anticipate where the Rebels were amassing. This was the reason why the Rebels felt that even with a small group, they were able to control their advance with suppressive fire. Yinn had also purposely readjusted a second artillery to lower the barrel like a medieval cannon and shot it through the group with the highest concentration of rebels, causing some panic among their ranks.

    But now that they had been pinned from moving forward, their only way was to get cover and to the second floors of the buildings surrounding the artillery guns so that they have the leverage of height to overpower the defenders at the artillery gun. Yet, the rebels do not know whether it was sheer luck or extreme perception as their Mechanoids holding rocketunchers were killed the moment they showed themselves out.

    And it was not the Mechanoids who were doing all the killing but their flesh and bloodmander who was sniping them with deadly precision. They never know that his Maqi sensing ability had stabilised allowing him to sense further and in lieu of his Inverse Eyes. Thus, he was able to locate them quickly and bring them down before they could do any damage to their holding position. But now, all the Grey Bear Squad was doing was waiting and holding the line.

    They were waiting for Jin''smand as he could sense whether the majority of Mechanoids had moved up into the buildings. The Grey Bear Squad especially Click was not expecting much from the booby traps since she knew how much those hidden C4 explosives could do. But when Jin gave themand for Click to dispense all the explosives, he immediately pushed Diaz and Click''s heads down while telling Yinn to take cover as well.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The series of explosions starting from the far right, came as a violent shock to not only the Rebels that were caught in it but the Grey Bear Squad as well. Tellie was bewildered by the sight and could not believe her eyes and ears as the shockwaves went booming throughout the town.

    Yet for Jin, it was not a surprise but a sort of amazement that it worked overtly well. When he was assisting with the transportation of the weapon crates to the Artbridge, Jin had secertly inserted his Maqi into the box, while ensuring that it was not too vtile for instation. With the experience controlling Maqi despite his current grade, Jin was able to make sure that even a knock or two would not cause it to explode right on their face. But he did not expect the explosion to rival Peppers'' regr explosions.

    "Hahahahah! Perhaps I should do the same for artillery shells as well and finish them once and for all." Jin''s ''murderous'' thoughts got the better of him for a moment before he remembered that there was still the possibility of the vigers within the church premises. Killing Mechanoids was fine but those vigers if killed could bring up certain wartime queries that he does not wish to participate in. There will definitely be a political part of this entire war and Jin does not wish to be caught up in it again.

    But the effects of his efforts dragging the weapon crates had all been worth it. To see that he was able to create an explosion of this magnitude reminded him how he missed Peppers, his teacher in advanced explosives. "What are you people waiting for? Go in and defeat them." Jin said as he stood up and continued to operate the artillery gun he asked Yinn to take point wiping the enemies out as the dust clouds are settling.

    Jin did not see them as humans and since they were Mechanoids, they should be eliminated quickly as they readjusted their bearings and prepare to fight back. So, even as the two other privates were reeling in from the attack, they readjusted their processes and sensors with the aid of the Tactical System and eliminate any Mechanoids who were still moving. Obviously, there was little to none left for them to kill but since their Commander was not taking chances, they went through systematically as a three man team to make sure that the rebels went down with the explosions.

    It was undoubtedly a brutal sight but war is war.

 Chapter 1455 Moving Into The Church

    With thatrge of an explosion, the rebelmanders were reeling in from the shockwaves. They had no idea what had happened and to make things worse, there was no information normunication back from their assigned Rebel Mechanoids that had been dispatched outside.

    The only thing they could fathom was the kind of explosions that had happened. Did the Empire take notice of this small little backwater vige and decided to send heavier artilleries or in a case like this, long range missiles to defeat their rebel Mechanoids?

    No matter how they crack their heads, there was no incentive to get this vige back. There were no precious resources around the vige nor there was anything of value. The church had no relics and the people should be insignificant to the Empire.

    But with that kind of explosion rocking even the underground, they would have assumed that the monsters in the Empire had decided to kill off their own squad as well. What heartless pieces of shit they were, so the Rebel Commander had thought and decided to try to reconsolidate whatever forces they had left within the area, since they could not detect any additional reinforcements around the area.

    Yet the assumption of the Empire Squad dead immediately went into dust the moment they heard the pounding of the solo artillery gun on the church once more. On the other hand, Diaz, Click and Yinn returned to where Jin was, who had been happy triggering away the artillery gun.

    "Rebels within the 150m vicinity confirmed dead," Yinn reported and Jin nodded his head. But before that, the chatter within the tactical system was pure chaos and had zero radio discipline. They were all praising Click but she did not dare to take any of the credit. In fact, she was very sure that the explosives she used were of the standard C4s and they do not have such a powerful radius. Diaz tried to infer that there might be other explosives within the house but Click was definitive that when she nted the explosives, there were no other risky lying items around. Even stashed grenades could not make such a drastic change in the strength of the firepower.

    ''Then perhaps the rebelsbelled it wrongly.'' was the only excuse they could find but what bugged Yinn was how Jin had already known beforehand that it would be a series of crazy explosions. Else, he would not have pulled Yinn right behind the cover and pushed the other two to not have their heads exposed to the explosion. Yet, Jin was not saying anything and instead asked Click to take over the manning of the artillery.

    "The rest of us, we will move in to intercept the rebelmanders. Be careful of any ambush from the houses. Grey Bear 02, cover our rear." Jin dusted his knees and picked up his sniper rifle and made sure that both his rifle and P90 machine gun were still operable before asking Diaz to take point.

    "Sir, did you do something to the explosives," Yinn asked as they walked past the dead rebels and broken rubbles.

    "Focus on the mission instead of thinking about things that had already been done," Jin replied and told Diaz to pick up the pace moving forward. Soon, they reached the marketce and there were indeed Rebel Mechanoids waiting for them. However, they were quickly taken care of the moment Jin shared the information about their location. Diaz stormed forward to take their attention while Jin and Yinn went opposite ways to nk the rebels.

    While they were not caught off guard, the pressure from three sides eventually wore down their attention, and it gave the Grey Bears the opportunity to kill them off. Jin had also used the Tacticalmand to force Diaz''s legs into overdrive, allowing her to not just smash their cover but also allowing her to kick the rebel faces into oblivion. And since the marketce was in an open area, Tellie was able to aid them as well, providing long assist fire which caused the rebels to be hesitant about popping their heads out of covers and giving the Grey Bears the guts to move towards them at zing fast speed.

    "Approaching the church. Grey Bear 04, Cease the artillery and gather whatever useable ammunition and guns at regr intervals. Do not let yourself be sniped down." Jin said and with onest artillery fire, Click said she was done.

    "Grey Bear 04,mencing sorting of trash." Click said that knowing that she might draw ire but Jin did not care.

    "Just curious, can we sell the guns?" Jin asked and the rest nodded their heads.

    "It''s not very profitable unless they are banned weapons. Otherwise, it does worth some value even for trash." Diaz replied, following the joke.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "One man''s trash is another man''s treasure. We probably won''t have enough ammunition if we did not use their weapons." Jin answered.

    "LT is definitely from another world. Mostmanders do not even think that way. Once they are out of ammunition, they surrender. Not even one would think of taking other people''s weapons." Telliemented while keeping them in her sight.

    "Then are you saying that this entire world is littered with weapons?" Jin questioned and Diaz shrugged her shoulders at that question.

    "You could say that, but most of these weapons are ''recyble'', just like us Mechanoids. So, we do not really care." She exined but Jin was not listening as he once more shared information with the group.

    "Yeap...they are indeed underground," Diaz said as she took cover near the Church''s main door which had been burst broken by the artillery fire. "I stay watch of the area. Call me when you need me."

    Jin and Yinn understood and tried to find the entrance to the underground while themander of Grey Bear gave anothermand to Click the moment he saw a bunch of people via his tactical system being held in one ce in the basement.

    "Grey Bear 04, wilco. After getting a few workable guns, I will be moving towards the Church." Click answered.

    "I found the entrance but the debris is blocking the basement doors," Yinn reported and Jin quickly returned to her side.

    "Do we have any explosives? I dont suppose we have extra after Click used them for the attack right?"

    "I have some spare do and there''s still a few left in the armoury crate but it would not be advisable. The explosives might weaken the ground foundation even further and there is a chance the underground basement might copse if we it incorrectly. Don''t want to be buried alive just because we are toozy to find a proper way in." Yinn replied.

    "So... Was it not a good idea to bombard the ce?"

    "I am not saying the artillery was a bad judgement. It was the perfect bait to get the majority of the Mechanoids out of the church and into the open. You already saw the Tactical System''s data. There are not many rebels left unless those who were holed up in that room are not the vigers but additional Mechanoids standing by." Yinn exined but Jin could not see a way forward.

    He thought he was stuck but in reality, Yinn had a solution moving forward.

 Chapter 1456 Debris Block

    "I actually wanted to save this for the real emergency such as the situation we were in, where all the Mechanoids were closing onto us," Yinn said as she lowered herbat backpack and unveil a red metal box.

    "What''s this?"

    "It is an instant 3D printer. Creating anything you in an instant. You just need to know the code of the item that you want to create which I believe the tactical system would have a catalogue for it."

    "Anything? No size limitation?"

    "Obviously for its size, there is. I was thinking of creating like a bunch of grenadeunchers so we can have a slight advantage against the rebel Mechanoids but that series of explosions had literally blew my mind about it."

    "So, it depends on how much erm material this 3D printer has?"

    "Yes, and the battery life ys a part as well. Erm, there are other factors such as speed of creating the item do y a part in its lifespan but since we are not in a rush, the 3D printer should be able to create arge enough drill with a battery pack installed as well. We need to spend a bit of time but this way, we would have enough power to break the debris blocking the door."

    "Otherwise, creating it too quickly would cause it to have a shorter time duration?"

    "Obviously since the drill is battery operated unless you have a working power socket lying around the area. We do not know how much the artillery had destroyed the stuff in the Church so it is not advisable to run around testing whether the power socket can be used. And what do we do about the wiring?" Yinn said so sarcastically that Jin gave up and let Yinn operate the 3D printer.

    To his surprise, the 3D printer was not thepact machine that he expected, instead it was just a ck cube with a holographic console. Once Yinn press the sides, an expanded holographic console emerged out of it and Yinn typed the serial number code based on the records within the Tactical System. This caused the ck cube to whiz a little before expanding rapidly to turn into little flying cubes that were spinning around a stationary square base.

    Then it started to whirl around the square base and started to pour material onto it, creating the outline of the electric power drill that they were about to use. It was quite a beautiful sight even though it felt like logic does not make sense in Jin''s mind. There were no mechanical parts for its battery nor a supply tank for the material to create it. Yet, those flying ck cubes were pouring out material with precision which made Jin feel like this was totally magical.

    But as time passes, it seems like the situation underground revolves as well, it was past five minutes after the initial scan that Jin found out that there was another unidentified presence popping into his radar.

    "No movement on my end," Diaz reported

    "No movement as well." Tellie providing long overwatch said the same thing too.

    "I could not detect any rebels along the way too." Click added as well and Yinn concluded that they might have a 3D printer machine underground. But instead of the portable one that they were using right now, it could be the type that major Mechanoid manufacturer uses.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "LT, can your scan beprised of heat or electrical signatures?" Yinn queried and Jin said that he had to give it a try.

    "Give it a try?" Yinn asked as if not understanding his words. "Do you mean that you did not turn on the electrical and heat signature options?" She asked but Jin merely kept quiet and started to tweak his Maqi to not sense humans and Mechanoids but purely the flow of heat and electricity. It was simr to how he sensed humans and Mechanoids yet the workings of his aura sensing must change since he based it more on movements.

    By sensing the flow of heat and electricity, he could get a rough silhouette of the humans as well but the signals from mechanoids were even more definite. Not just that, he was detecting a huge electrical flow going through the underground basement and Jin transmitted the information to the Grey Bears.

    "I saw a few warehouses a few hundred metres away from the church. It''s highly likely that the generators are there." Tellie said as she predicted the flow to that area.

    "I will go take a look," Diaz said as she was eager to get out of guarding the church but Jin stopped her.

    "Click. You go instead. I want you to disable the generators. If those people we rescued are indeed vigers, the generators will help them out." Jin said but Diaz showed a disappointed expression.

    "You destroyed their houses and their ce of worship and now you wished to limit the damage. A little hypocritical?"

    "That''s why I am limiting the damage but you reminded me that the warehouse might be guarded. So, Diaz moves out with Click just in case there are rebels around." Jinmanded and that made Diaz delighted for his change of heart.

    "Are we going to time our entrance with the shutdown of the generators?" Yinn asked but Jin shook his head.

    "The creation of the drill and removal of debris will create noise and cause them to panic. They might even hide behind the entrance to storm out for a desperatest attack. I rather we shut down the generators fast so they do not create any more Mechanoids. " Jin said while telling them one more bad news

    "The group of ''people'' that were being held up are not the vigers. I found distinct electrical signatures in all of them." Jin said and somehow that put Diaz and Click''s movement to a halt.

    ? "Then why are we bothering to break open the basement? Just let them suffer inside. Or we could just blow them all up."

    "Because there of this," Jin said as he pulled up the tactical system and circled three heat signatures at one corner of the basement.

    "Those three are humans."

 Chapter 1457 Ultra Revolutionist

    "Seriously, just three humans? How is that our business?" Yinn felt like they should just blow the entire thing and bury the rebels.

    "Sorry to chip in but it''s not worth the risk of recovering those three humans. The mission did not state that we are to rescue any humans." Tellie who had always been cool and calm, making rational choices had also denied Jin from performing such dangerous ''stunts''.

    Diaz and Click, who was in the Tactical System channel, had also voiced the same concerns. Why do they need to save three humans when they were only one average squad of Mechanoids against dozens of rebels.

    It''s true that they had it very lucky when the ''newmander'' came into their lives. For some reason, they were able to utilise the Tactical System more than it was advertised. Yinn, who had experience in using the Tactical System, also found it odd that it became so urate that she could not believe it was this useful.

    It was drastically different from what she was used to and it felt like if their squad were to continue using this, the battlefield would be an extremely efficient ce to earn their keep. In fact, they might be able to get back squadmates they had lost previously from the fights if they continue to fight with thismander. With the memory core sticks still intact and in her possession, she would be able to revive them by buying new Mechanoid bodies.

    Thus, it was not worth it for them to risk the rest of the squad to merely save three humans from a bunch of rebels who were ready to kill this supposed ''elite'' squad that had annihted more than fifty rebel Mechanoids in one shot.

    The Rebel Commanders were trying their best to see if they could identify this particr elite squad but there was no hit on this squad at all. No information made them even more scared of this squad as they assumed it was one of the Empire''s elite assassin squads. While it made sense to send such an elite squad to deal with their numbers, they found it weird that they were able to discover this ce so easily.

    "Could it be because of the hostages that we were handling?" One of the Rebel Commanders thought as he rushed to the room where he held the remaining hostages. Aye, remaining. The manufacturing machine that they used to create their Mechanoids was of a cruel method. Instead of using official parts that were made from stic, metal and synthetic fibres, the Rebel Commanders had cruelly used the most efficient resource they had avable to them in this vige.

    Humans.

    Using their flesh and muscles, they were able to create the majority of their Mechanoids as part of their arsenal. It was no doubt a taboo way of creating the Mechanoids and had been deployed only by the extreme minority of rebels. But these extreme minorities had survived the constant ughtering from the empire to quell the rebellion that they had started to turn into terrorists holding twisted radical views against the Empire which they call themselves the Ultra Revolutionists. (Cheesy name but those rebelmanders loved it.)<novelnext></novelnext>

    When the Ultra Revolutionist Commander opened the door to see the remaining three children that were left behind, he still could not understand why the Empire would send such an elite squad against them. Arge fight with various average Empire Squads was what themander was expecting but not fighting against the Empire elite of the elites that they could not even decode theirmunication channel.

    "What am I thinking, these three kids are useless." themander said as he walked back to the temporarymand room that the rebels had set up. While they might be trapped in this god awful underground area, they still have eyes installed around the church. The artillery did not destroy thempletely and those hidden CCTVs gave them a glimpse of what the Empire was doing.

    So, all they could do was wait for the Empire Squad to literally open the way for them and wait for the right opportunity to kill them. But what caught their attention was themotion of a possible squabble with theirmander and they believed that this could be the opportunity they could take advantage of.

    "Sure, It sounds illogical but we need the humans to know what exactly happened to this ce. They could provide the information to piece up what had allowed the rebels to amass right here." Jin tried to make an excuse, hoping that an impromptu argument would allow his Mechanoids to find reason. Although he couldmand them to follow his orders, they had apparently been allowing it because it was still within the survival usibility rate.

    But now that new information hade in, they had deduced that resisting theirmander''smand was the logical way to survive and Jin did not me them. They probably had never fought against an army by themselves because it is ridiculous to do so. Even with the previous abnormal experiences of explosives booming to kill nearly half the rebels that were residing within the vige of Artbridge, there was no way their processors would allow such an irrationalmand to be processed easily.

    The creation of the electric drill was from the assumption that there were a few Rebel Mechanoids left and a bunch of vigers to rescue. in the best case scenario, they would surrender after seeing their rebel mates being executed so easily. The worst case scenario is that they would execute all of the vigers in an attempt of defiance before dying.

    But not even attempting to rescue them would effectively cancel out the hope that the vigers could survive. Thus, Yinn had previously agreed to try to rescue them. However, now that she and the other Grey Bears knew that most of the signals were Mechanoids, her decision to help the three other humans had diminished significantly.

    If themander does not give her a suitable reason to convince them, then she might be forced to override the entire operation.

 Chapter 1458 No Obligation

    Jin literally went into a pinch when he gave them the information. He had no idea that Yinn would be so opposed to going against the odds. But in retrospect, it was not her fault to think that way. Jin had always been in the business of doing crazy stuff with his minions and they knew they could deliver results.

    But this was not one of such cases.

    Perhaps the adrenaline of destroying that many Mechanoids had drugged him to think that he could do anything even being a hero to save them. However, when the entire squad are pressing for a convincing answer for him, Jin was not able to give them one.

    His so called absolute authority had not been brought over to this new world that he was in and now he could feel how it is to feel resistance against his own selfish actions. Even in his business, he hadpromises that were leaning towards his favour but right now, he had nothing at hand that could make them move for him.

    "And from the beginning, this is a scouting mission. We are not obliged to save anyone. There is no bonus in saving someone as well. In fact we havepleted the mission with flying colours. All we need to do is to find an official Empiremunications outpost and submit our findings." Yinn said as she stared at the 3D printing of the electric drill. It was a pity to stop the production since it would be a waste so she could only allow it to continue to finish the 3D printing. (Usually, it would take faster than this but since they were initially dealing with unknown debris, Yinn had set it to the second highest detailed setting for durability.)

    "We will continue yourmand to cut off the power. It would be the best way to trap them until proper reinforcements are here to dispose of them." Diaz replied as well.

    "I might be able to overload the power if the generator allows and we can create a mini explosion on the machine so that they had to deal with a fire on their machine" Click suggested.

    "Ah, so the Rebel Commanders will die because of the trapped smoke." Diaz thought that would be a great idea.

    "So long as we do not submit the Tactical System''s images, the Empire would not question us." Tellie hinted that killing the three humans was okay.

    "Yes, the Empire also knows how wed the Tactical System is. Even if we were to submit the images, they wouldn''t fault us for not recognising it. Well, that''s the worst case scenario which I doubt would ever happen. We had alreadypleted our mission and gone over and beyond our duty." Yinn started to feel that Click''s suggestion was the most ideal route.

    "All the extra money, I can finally have a proper overhaul of my Mechanoid body." Diaz felt happy for once and the rest chipped in, ignoring what Jin had in mind.

    "A little help hereбн" Jin whispered through his head as if asking for a certain somebody to aid him with his cause because he knew that the anger he had right now was not going to help the situation. Instead, it might aggravate them even further and force them against theirmander.

    They were not wrong in terms of self preservation but if they got the ability to save someone, Jin would do it even though it was not for profit. This is because he had the power to do so.

    Instead of the usual talking back that Jin had thought it would, the Tactical System spontaneously started to process something and began to show the registry of the vigers in Artbridge. It then sorts and eliminates the people that emerged from the registry right in front of his console.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Once the sorting and elimination were done, there were six names that was popping in front of his screen and their pictures. "What?"

    Jin might not know the names but the title and rank had popped up way too obvious for him to not ignore.

    "Can I askбн does the title of Archduke matter?" Jin questioned the squad and they stopped their idle chatter. Jin then sent out the pictures to all of them and stated that based on their electrical and heat signatures, the possible candidates that could be stranded underground were those few.

    "How can it be? Why would the child of an Empire Archduke be in this backwater ce? I think this is one of the times, we should not even follow the Tactical System." Diaz said as they were finally approaching the generator.

    "Yea, that is impossible." Click said as she surveyed her surroundings and was prepared to rush in with Diaz.

    As impossible as it might have sounded, this gave Jin what he needed the most. An appropriate excuse to press for a rescue. This was because he roughly could deduce the consequences if they were not able to rescue a child of the Empire''s Archduke as far fetched as it sounds.

    Surely, there would be punishment for not even discovering such a fact and this might be the whole reason why their initial mission had been scouting type. If they had done what the mission had entailed, the squad might be able to ride it off with a death re. However, there is no going back now that they had gone into the thick mud with the rebels, forcing them to at least attempt a rescue.

    They might be punished for trying to hoard all the glory to save the child but at least they try. Either way, retreating was not an option.

    "We will follow ording to the n. Cut the power to emergency power so they at least had some venttion and then we will attempt to force our way to rescue the humans." Jin said as Yinn mmed something on Jin''s chest.

    "Earplugs and set the Tactical System to close off all firing sounds. It is going to be loud underground." It was apparent Yinn was not happy that she and her squadmates had to risk their lives for a kid that might be the Archduke.

    "And I hope you are right because I am expecting a big reward for risking my life for such bad odds," Yinn dered and Jinn nodded his head in agreement.

    "Let''s survive this first."

 Chapter 1459 To Grade 2 Once More -Part 1

    "So, how are you going to handle this?" Yinn asked as she could not fathom how Jin is going to rescue the three humans just for the sake that one of them would be the Archduke''s child, a person that is of high standing within the Empire based on its title alone. As the name implies, the Archduke stands above all of the dukes within the Empire and he has the level of prestige and fame.

    It was impossible for a child of the Archduke to be hiding within Artbridge unless it was identified to be one of his bastards. Still, this did not matter to Jin at all since all he wanted was to rescue the humans that had been trapped by the rebels. He honestly did not care for the politics in the area and only wished to aid those in trouble.

    Perhaps it was his previous strength that gave him this hero syndrome but even when powerless, he still believed that he should do all he can to aid fellow humans whenever possible because they were after all his resources to earn profit.

    "Let me try something first," Jin said as he walked away from the trapped door. "By the way, Click, do not cut the power first. Try to see if you can manipte the power source instead."

    "I am not entirely 100% sure that this n can work, but since you are our LT and gave us results, I will follow just this once." Click said as she looked at Diaz, knowing that she too was ufortable with the decision made to save three humans against a bunch of rebels Mechanoids in a small concise area.

    "Fine. Fine. I will do so as well." Diaz said as she decided to patrol the area to check if the warehouse that housed the generators are void of enemies.

    "Great, Diaze back when you are able and thank you," Jin said as he ced down his two weapons and started to sit down.

    "Do you need me toe down and assist?" Tellie questioned and Jin appreciated the extra assistance.

    "Set overwatch closer to the church and take a few rocketunchers with you in case things get too hairy," Jin answered and Tellieplied. She packed her items and grabbed those rocketunchers as requested before descending to Artbridge.

    Once all the orders were given, he calmed himself down and started to cultivate his strength. With the stress he gave to his body for consistently oozing out Maqi to search for Mechanoids, he believed that he did enough to ascend to Grade 2 again. Thus, he returned to his roots and attempted to clear his dantian core for the ascension.

    Yinn had no idea what Jin was doing until she could literally feel a force field swirling around him. She could not believe what was happening to him as the corporal had never encountered such a sight before. Now she really starts to believe that he was not lying, that he came from another world.

    So while the rest were executing their orders, Jin took the opportunity to brute force his way to Grade 2. The only problem was that he could not sense his Dantian core at all. It felt more distant as he tried to search for it.

    "Haha. I guess he is so used to being out of his body that he had thought everything was the same." A familiar low husky voice chuckled.

    "It''s his failure that he cannot recognise that he is out of his body. I should punish him with even more trials."

    "We are more surprised that you are even here to look after this failure."

    "There is no way, I will want to be here."

    Jin could vaguely recognise all the voices within his head especially thest female one but the concentration needed for him to search for his dantian core had not allowed him to voice back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He is still ignoring us though."

    "Argh, this fellow seriously needs a whack on his head."

    "What is it with you threeбн" Jin finally sighed and acknowledged the presence of Byakkou, Genbu and Suzaku that were swarming his head with their voices.

    "Have you not realised that you are not yourself?" Genbu asked and Jin used that information to search for inconsistencies in his body.

    "But how can it beбн" Jin only started to realise that it felt the same as the way he was in his subconsciousness.

    "He sure is dense," Suzakuined once more. "If not for Ming, I would not even be here."

    "You honestly do not have to be here." Both Byakkou and Genbu said simultaneously that it stings for Suzaku.

    "Always the assholes. Why do I have to be here to put up with you guys."

    "Aside from squabbling inside my head, what the hell is happening? I thought that I was being kicked into another world?! Did those gods put me in some trial instead?"

    "So these are the rumoured Cardinal Lords."

    "Holy shit." Jin nearly jolted out of his cultivation stance when he heard the System talking in his head. He feared that if he got out of the cultivation stance, all of those that weremunicating within his head would disappear even though it was annoying and troublesome to have so many of them yapping through his mind space.

    "Ah, the Panda Elders. We finally meet." Byakkou said with no animosity against it.

    "Summary: User had been teleported into the Synthesis World where his body had been dumped supposed into the Celestial ne while the Celestial Gods had forcibly pushed his soul into the Synthesis World''s server."

    "Ah, so those pesky gods finally made their move. Ming was right all along but to see how he predicted so far that Jin would be affected by this circumstance still boggles me to this day." Genbumented.

    "Wait, what?" Jin had more questions with the answers he received. "What do you mean that Grandpa Ming had predicted all of this?"

    But all he got was an awkward silence from not just the Cardinal Lords but the System as well.

 Chapter 1460 To Grade 2 Once More -Final

    "In short, you do not have to know, find it out yourself when you meet him," Suzaku replied on behalf of the Cardinal Lords.

    "Yea, let''s concentrate on this predicament first," Byakkou added. "And also, I guess it''s a miracle that his soul is strong and concrete enough to hold him steady in this Synthesised ne."

    "Indeed. When the System attempted to infiltrate into the Synthesis World''s server, the System was worried that the User might have his sanity crumbling due to the forced separation of his mind and body."

    "By the way, why are you talking through the Tactical System and only now when you meet the lords?" Jin asked without knowing that his Maqi was getting more and more rampant that not only Yinn noticed it but the other Grey Bears too. He was producing an electromaic signal that was strong enough to interfere with the current Tactical System that they were using and that included disabling the CCTVs that the rebels had as well. (The rebels thought they had been discovered.)

    "The Synthesis World had their own Master AI as well and if they realised that another entity entered their server, they would send enforcers to delete the ''cheater''. Thus, the System is providing remote support and actions camouged as part of their repertoire."

    "So far, the Master AI has not discovered anything and the only reason the System could give is that the Gods, as disgusting as they had been, might have given you an unexpected olive branch which allowed you to remain undetected. However, the System did not wish to overextend and caused the User to be found by the Synthesis'' Enforcers."

    "Ohбнso you are that mysterious ally." Jin finally got the confirmation that the System was the self inviting ally that came to their aid. He had his suspicions but could not confirm since the System had not talked the entire time. "So this cultivation stance that I am deploying is literally an interference for you to talk?"

    "Yes, and the System deduces that since your subconscious had been deeply ingrained with Ex System User Ming and his friends, the Cardinal Lords, it would be interesting to have the System theory to be confirmed as well."

    "Blek, enough talking. We do not have much time left before Jin reaches his ascension to Grade 2." Byakkou said

    "Huh, what? But I cannot even find my Dantian Core at all."

    "And look what you had been sub-subconsciously doing." Byakkou said and then Jin found out that his Maqi was creating a brand new Dantian Core. Albeit smaller than it should have been,

    "Now who is the truly bashful one," Suzaku said as she poked fun at Byakko before voicing towards Jin. "You might not have the support of all of the Cardinal Lords yet, but the three of us are strong enough to support your current foundation. The creation of your new Dantian core within your soul vessel is not possible without our help."

    Jin wanted to say that he thought Suzaku had not acknowledged him but it seems that it would be best to keep thatment to himself for now. Perhaps, allowing him to owe her one is the few ways tomunicate with her more.

    "The System shall take the opportunity to input the most basic function that a Dungeon Supplier should have as well. The Creation of Dungeons. In summary, you need to earn as many points as possible to have your soul vessel extracted out of the Synthesis World. The rest are not able to do so for you."

    "Hah, if the Panda Elders could not do something for their descendant, it would be such a disgrace to the Panda n." Genbu taunted but was d that the System, Jin''s mainpanion was able to contribute.

    "Also, be sure to create your first new ''Mechanoid'' with your Tactical System. Someone is waiting for you eagerly despite stern warnings that a lot of things can go wrong, the System had made sure that she would not be detected at all."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We cannot lose to your Panda Elders as well since they had decided to give you this much. We shall gift you a small portion of our powers but use it carefully. They might not seem strong when you fought with us, but it''s a different thing when you utilise them."

    "Might not seem strong? You guys killed me like nearly a thousand times with your powers." Jinined but he could feel a paw swiping at him, subsequently a stomp and finally a p with her fire wings. As much he felt pain through that, he could feel his dantian core getting stronger not realising that their powers had been imbued into him.

    "This is as much as you can get from us. Remember to use our powers or else you won''t get any in the future. Till the next ascension process." Genbu chuckled as the dantian core solidified and allowed him to reach Grade 2.

    When Jin opened his eyes, all he saw was Yinn and the rest of the Grey Bears pointing their guns at him.

    "Woah, woah, what is with this hostility?" Jin raised his hands up slowly and the Grey Bears finally loosened theirbat stance.

    "We thought you went insane and had to put you down if you did not show any sign of sentience," Yinn said as she extended her hand to help Jin up.

    "Yinn is bullshitting. She wants to kill you so that we do not have to go through this bullshit rescue." Diaz joked as she reported to Click that everything was all okay.

    "I would have supported her decision as well," Tellie said as she was observing everything through her scope on top of the roof of a building near the Church.

    "What exactly happened to you?" Yinn asked while Jin squeezed his fists together to feel the strength he had acquired.

    "Just a powerup process through a specific type of mediation."

    "How is that even remotely possible?" Diaz asked but decided to keep her mind open since she saw something she never experienced before.

    "If it gives youfort, I can go in first," Jin smirked as if challenging Diaz.

    "Heh. You are now mocking me." Diaz picked up her shotgun from her back as if she was not going to fall back at all.

    "Then let''s go together," Jin said as he picked up the fully printed electric drill. Now with his newly acquired Grade 2, he might have a chance to deal with the situation with more finesse.

 Chapter 1461 Storm The Underground -Part 1

    "I have no idea what you did, but it seems that you have some kind of power up?" Diaz asked as she lurked behind Jin holding onto the drill.

    "You could say that," Jin said as he attempted to point the drill at the underground door that had been blocked by the debris. The artillery bombardment sure did a hell of a job breaking stuff that it was such a mess.

    Now that Jin knows that the tactical system had been inhibited by his own System, he did try to nudge it in ways to support him even further. Points of weakness had been examined the moment Jin had utilised his Maqi sensing, allowing the System to determine where would be the best ce to drill a hole.

    But Jin had other things in mind. Instead of drilling to open it up, he was intending to use the strength he acquired in his Grade 2 ascension to break the weak points of the entrance so that he could enter and face head on the Mechanoids while the rest continued to back him up..

    However, he did not intend to make himself the centre of attention just yet nor did he wish to have a death wish charging into a narrow tunnel filled with a wall of bullets smashing into him.

    "Listen up, this will be like fishing. We will be hooking the target with bait andter releasing the pressure to lure them out. The current advantage they have is numbers and let''s hope that when cornered, the Rebel Commanders would want an all out attack against us so that they could clear up their names for being utterly defeated in less than a day."

    "That''s the best case scenario if they decided to charge at us, and so I want you two to take positions where Tellie can cover as well. I will start drilling to attract their attention while Click would time her sabotage with me to create a diversion."

    "So, a ckout or overloading their machine?" Click questioned and Jin selected the former.

    "Is it possible to kill the lights but not the machine?"

    "If the tactical system information is correct, I will be able to kill all the lights with the exception of the room where their major 3D printing machine resides. The circuitry does not seem to beplex enough to do what you request."

    "That is good enough. As mentioned, you timed with what mymand and I will break in to lure their attention. Yinn will provide suppressive fire as I charge in and the moment I fall back, reinforce the cover to prepare for their emergence." Jin said but before he allowed them to do anything else, themander of Grey Bears nodded his head.

    In that instant, Diaz, Yinn and Tellie turned and aimed their guns at the CCTVs that the Rebel Commanders had installed in the churches. Their simultaneous takeout of the CCTVs left the Rebel Commanders blinded once more after the electromaic interference had died down when they saw the Empire Squad Commander sitting at the centre of the church.

    They did not know what exactly had happened and now this simultaneous taking down of their eyes had caused them even more anxiety that they hurried the production of the remaining Mechanoids.

    "Do you want us to use the kids as well?" One of the rebelmanders asked but eventually, the lead rebelmander shook his head.

    "They are way too small and it would be a hassle to readjust the 3D printer again just to amodate those kids'' size." The lead rebelmander said and started to ask the rest to activate the Mechanoids they had in reserve.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Find whatever you can in this dastardly underground. We will pile up the cover and prepare for their strike. Fire with everything you have the moment you even see them!" At that time, Jin had already started drilling, which caused even more panic underground for the Ultra Revolutionistmanders.

    "What if they do not take the bait?" Diaz asked through the tactical System as she readied the defences on their side as well.

    "I won''t say it''s impossible but the chances of them not taking it is really low," Jin said as he continued to drill based on the Tactical System''s rmendation so as to weaken it further before he punched it through.

    "They are shell shocked, had major losses and are now holed up in an underground tunnel with nowhere to go. Other than the surveince from the Church''s CCTV, I believe they might have concluded that we are the only squad around. And since there is no other support, they would highly take their chances to break out of this conundrum despite the achievement we had against their Mechanoids." Yinn exined.

    "In short, use your goddamn processor brain to search for the analysis." Click added and it caused the rest of the members to chuckle.

    "Hey, my processor had been programmed to do potentially more destructive damage than all of youbined." Diaz was furious that she had been insulted but she continued to do her work.

    "We could have ced more traps aroundбн" Tellie felt ufortable that she was about to face another dozen more Mechanoids and so far, she could tell that they were already lucky enough to win against overwhelming odds.

    But if they could seed with this mission, the Grey Bears would not just get additional money from all the extra objectives they hadpleted, but they might have their reputation restored. In fact, their squad could raise their Squad rank and take up better paying missions.

    "I am ready." Jin''s words pierced through everyone''s worry and anxiety as he stopped the drill.

    "Grey Bear 01, Covering."

    "Grey Bear 02, Overwatch."

    "Grey Bear 03, Fuck, this is nonsense, how can you work so fast?! Aye yes yes ready."

    "Grey Bear 04, All prep is done. Give the word."

    "Let''s give them some hell," Jin said as he turned on the electric drill in one hand and held his P90 Submachine gun in another while powering his leg with Maqi.

 Chapter 1462 Storm The Underground -Part 2

    Jin took a few steps back and started running towards the weakened portion of the underground door and with a leap, he extended his leg to dive and smash through the entrance.

    "NOW!" Jin''smand enabled Click to simultaneously cut the power underneath the church premises, causing the ckout within the Rebel''s tunnel.

    This sudden change in the environmental setting caused the Rebel Mechanoids holed up in the tunnel to have ag in their processing speed. While they were not like humans to process the shock, the loss of lighting plus the instance of Jin smashing through the entrance is like a shbang to their decision making tree.

    This brought Jin a few precious seconds to readjust himself while Yinn was already right behind him providing covering fire and eliminating a few Mechanoids at the rear. While it was more suitable for Yinn to provide more breathing room for Jin, themander told her that he could handle the front ones. This would further incapacitate the Rebel Mechanoids in this sneak attack.

    Once gathered his bearings, Jin would then rush using his P90 submachine gun as suppressive fire while his main weapon, the electric drill pierce the Mechanoids'' life system out of array.

    "Thank god for the earplugs." Jin thought to himself as he could even hear how terrifying the sound of gunfire and electric drill buzzing loudly even with his earplugs. But that thought of relief to his ears instantly transformed to killing intent as the Mechanoids did not have such a problem once they recovered from the ''shock''.

    They had the ability to block all sounds and now that they had transitioned their vision to night mode, the rest were taking whatever shots they could against the trespassers.

    "Argh! I am hit!" Jin said as the firing intensified but this was actually amand for the rest. Click uponpleting her initial objective had already ced a time based programme to sabotage the rebel''s 3D printer and started to run back to the church to aid with the rest of the Squad.

    When she heard the signal, Grey Bear 04 started to sprint as fast as she could so that thebat engineer could assist with the firefight. Jin started to fall back and he could see that the Mechanoids were bent on killing the Commander the moment one of them saw his mouth movements.

    The Rebel Commander was delighted when he heard the update from one of the Mechanoids and the live footage of the Grey Bear Commander limping slightly. It proved to them that they were as human as they could get and made them believe that they had a shot at clearing their tainted reputation for losing this many Rebel Mechanoids.

    "Go! Go! Eliminate the Commander as quickly as you can!" The Lead Rebel Commander said in anticipation of a win.

    However, that realisation of a trap did note into his mind as it was filled with adrenaline to win. Jin should be thankful that the rebelmander had his emotions riled up which caused him to fall into Grey Bear Squad''s best case scenario.

    As the first Rebel Mechanoids emerged from the underground tunnel, Tellie had already sniped her down. The rest immediately knew there would be resistance and decided to use the dead Mechanoid body as a shield to rush out. The next Mechanoid was shot by Yinn but they did not stop as they continued to rush based on their Commander''s orders.

    It was until the fifth dead body that the Rebel Mechanoids began to hesitate a little to emerge that quickly. They began to throw smoke grenades and high explosive grenades to deter the shooting from Grey Bear Squad as they rushed out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Thank god." was the literal expression in their entire squad''s minds as the Rebel Mechanoids were still rushing out of the underground tunnel. By then, Click had already rendezvous with the main squad and was able to shoot a few unsuspecting Rebel Mechanoids who thought that the defenders were only at the front.

    "Boss, you have two minutes before the sabotage starts!" Click said andpiled with Jin''s initial orders. As this was supposed to be a rescue mission, Click felt it was counterintuitive to cause a fire underground.

    "Okay," Jin said as he took cover for a moment and consulted with the Tactical System. If he rushed through the underground tunnels to reach where the kids were, it would take a minute. There would be not enough time to sweep the area for the Lead Rebel Commanders who were situated even deeper down underground.

    But this was not a sweep. It was a rescue mission and an attempt to cut off the Rebels'' exit.

    "There is no way, you can rescue them yourself," Yinn said as she determined it to be reckless.

    "Who said I am going in, myself?" Jin smiled as he closed the Tactical System and reload his P90 submachine gun.

    "Sometimes I want that old useless good for nothingmander back. At least, he won''t give such ridiculousmands." Diaz said as she too reloaded her weapon.

    "We are going in to rescue the kids. Grey Bear 03 and 01 will follow and assist. Grey Bear 04, nt explosives around the tunnel. Grey Bear 02, provide cover for Grey Bear 04. We will start in 3, 2, 1. GO!" Jin said as he stood up and shot any Rebel Mechanoid he could see.

    "Thismander is mad!" Diaz shouted but even as she cursed him, a smile unknowingly emerged on her face. Even as Yinn concentrated on the enemies, she could not help but grin when she saw Diaz''s ted face.

    Click also assisted to ensure that there were no more Rebel Mechanoids in the open before she took out her remaining explosives which she had stolen from the dead Mechanoids near the artillery site.

    Jin once again did the very same flying kick to push the Mechanoids away but Yinn had already known what her crazymander would do so she had already thrown a shbang so that the moment, he kicked into the Mechanoids hanging around the entrance, he would not be sprayed with bullets. After which he followed him closely via foot along with Diaz covering and killing any remaining Mechanoids with her shotgun. (After all, unlike humans, Mechanoids still can shoot unless their life systems were annihted.)

    This shock and awe tactic forced the Rebel Mechanoids to subconsciously retreat based on protocol to find cover immediately but Jin was berserking with his P90 and electric drill once more.

    1 minute and 30 seconds to go.

 Chapter 1463 Storm The Underground - Final

    "Move out of the way!" Jin said as he took his emptied p90 submachine gun and threw it at one of the Rebel Mechanoids before smashing his electric drill right through her chest. ''Blood'' spilt everywhere and there was no chance for that particr Mechanoid to be repaired.

    Jin then picked up her weapon and started spraying incessantly to clear the path right in front of him. To him, he was moving erratically to throw off the Rebel Mechanoids'' attacking pattern. However, all of this was still within operation limits as Yinn picked off the soldiers was a threat to Jin with utmost uracy. Diaz on the hand was the squad''s cleaner as she pushed shotgun slugs into surviving Mechanoids to make sure that they do not bite them back from the rear.

    It was proving to be an effective clearing method until a grenade came loping through the tunnel. There was some hesitation by Yinn and Diaz but Jin had seen this far enough in his battles that he did not waste any time to take a Mechanoid and crush it in between him and the grenade.

    A muffled explosion was heard and Jin took out his pistol to fire at the iing Rebel Mechanoids who thought they could take this grenade as an opportunity to rush. Since Jin was near the ground, Yinn and Diaz moved forward and emptied their rounds, not allowing them toe near a single bit,

    "50 seconds!" Click eximed as she hid behind the debris as cover to attack the remaining rebel Mechanoids who had escaped Jin''s massacre and reached outside to deal with his leftover squad. But they did not realise that they were as formidable as the members dealing with theirrades.

    Tellie, who had been on overwatch the entire time had finally been able to clear her trigger itch by knocking each and every one of them who came out of the underground tunnel. Click, who was merely providing suppressive fire, was feeling assured that she had such a capable teammate who was able to deal the killing blow since those Mechanoids were merciless in releasing their bullets onto her location.

    The underground team finally reached the room and it was not even locked. However, the door was no doubt heavy enough that it would not allow the kids who were stuck behind it to be able to get out.

    The Rebel Commanders were following the development of the firefight closely and they were relieved that the Empire hit squad was not aiming for them right now, giving them time to reinforce their temporarymand room with proper cover. They did not send out any more Rebel Mechanoids as they decided it was easier for them to hole in a singlerge room where the assaulters would have a lesser chance to survive.

    But they did not know that Jin''s objective was never about the rebels and it gave them the time needed to make the escape along with the remaining prisoners. "Grey Bear Squad from the Empire. We are here to rescue you." Jin said but had no idea what the proper official designation for their team was.

    "Grey Bear Squad? I never heard about you before. Are you performing this operation with the Empire Duke Guards?" One of the kids said and it was from the one who looked the closest to the Archduke''s child. When Yinn heard it, she was not sure whether Jin was just one lucky bastard or the kid was merely highly fascinated with the Empire soldiers.

    "No. But we have no time to discuss this before this tunnelwork copses. Either you quietly follow us and get informationter or stuck here dying with your curiosity quenched." Jin grabbed him and the other two remaining kids followed. He then realised that the kid''s arm had been partially scraped and slightly festering.

    "Don''t tell meбнyouбн" Jin looked at him as he felt the pain from being pulled by Jin.

    "As the Archduke''s son, I have to do my part to protect my fellow people." the kid said and the other two were slightly embarrassed they were unable to do anything..<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You might not be able to use this hand in the future for protecting these two," Jin said as he decided to carry him instead.

    "I will get my revenge in the future. Besides, our technology would be able to get me a decent enough arm recement. I have nothing to worry,"

    "This kid does not seem to fit the stereotype of a nasty noble kid." Diaz joked and it seemed like humans everywhere had simr perceptions no matter their parallel worlds.

    "The temperature monitor stated that he is having a fever, he needs medical attention." Yinn did a quick scan and was able to reveal that he was not doing well despite putting up such a brave front.

    "10 seconds to overload!" Click shouted through the Tactical System which made Yinn move to the front without expecting an answer from the previous analysis.

    "Sir," Yinn said as she took out a foldable ballistic shield and started to move while theirmander was literally holding the kids back.

    "Let''s get going."

    No sooner than a few stepster, the underground team could indeed hear an explosion, but they did not panic and attempted to dash out of the underground tunnels. To their surprise, there was no one except dead mechanical bodies allowing them to move out without any hups.

    "Coming out, beware of friendlies." Yinn reported through the Tactical System in case Tellie and Click ''identally'' fired towards them.

    "Everyone is out now !" Diaz shouted as she was thest toe out of the area.

    "Click, do your job!" Jin said and Click was ted toplete the orders. With a click of a button, the C4s that had been installed around the partially copsed entrance did their job and caused a full closure of the area, not allowing any of the trapped soldiers to emerge.

    "Now all we have to do is to let the overloaded machine do its job...while I shall attempt to do mine." Jin said as heid the child down who finally sumbed to the fever now that he is in safe hands.

 Chapter 1464 Moving Out Of Town

    "We only have one medical kit around. There is no way we can save the kid without saving it for themander." Yinn said as she covered Jin and the Archduke''s son, Marvin, as stated by the tactical System from the knockback that the explosives had created.

    "There is no need for that. I do not even know how to use the kit anyways." Jin said as he analysed the kid with the Tactical System. Now that he finally had assurance that the System would be backing him up, he was bolder with his actions.

    "I might not have the minions at my disposal but that does not mean I cannot replicate what they can doбн.to a certain degree," Jin said as he tried to remember how Milk, his priestess betor, taught him the most basic of healing skills. As mentioned by her, Milk''s healing skills were akin to turning the clock back.

    Instead of forcing mana into the cells to regenerate faster, which was the basis of healing skills, Milk''s unique healing skills tampered with the time itself. Thus, all Jin had to do was to concentrate on reversing Marvin''s condition so that it did not deteriorate so badly and allow him to seek proper medical attention.

    "Now he is making me jealous to know how the other worlds really work." Click replied as she could feel the residual wave of energy that Jin was eluding. In the meantime, Diaz had been ordered by Yinn to bring the two kids away to Tellie who had some food supplies for them to recuperate.

    "I have no idea how he is doing it but if he is able to stop his wounds from festering then I guess it would be ideal." Yinn continued to monitor Marvin''s vitals and the fever was residing.

    "He will have the fever again. I can only control his condition momentarily so where is the nearest town we can reach?." Jin asked through the tactical system and the rest allughed.

    "Aren''t we in a vige?" Diaz shouted back rather than using the Tactical System to talk.

    "But, it''s devoid of people." Jin felt the urge of pping Diaz on her head for saying the obvious. "I am talking about the nearest avable town where we can get medical aid for these kids."

    "If his condition has stabilised, we can search for a pharmacy within this backwater ce and pick up some medications. This way, he should not be in any danger within the next 24 hours or so. We are no medics but we should be able to take care of him." Yinn replied and Tellie informed everyone that there was a sighting of a clinic signboard at the marketce which they could search.

    "Then I guess we have to bring these kids to the next avable town as well?" Diaz asked as she saw the two children start crying quietly in relief that they were rescued.

    "Yes. And also, try to ask them what happened to Artbridge once they are ready to talk." Jin said as he could finally stop his Maqi transfer when the Tactical System determined that it was more than sufficient.

    While it was obvious that the Tactical System was not working as brilliantly as his System, it was actually already working and pushing more options out with the System remotely fiddling with it. Other Tactical Systems do not have such robust options that Jin had and since the User was the only one who had all these options and not his Grey Bear Squad Members, they had no idea that there was a separate entity that was helping him out.

    "Alright, Go. Search the premises for any painkillers or any avable medical kits to treat them." Jin ordered and Diaz took the chance to fly off since she did not want to handle the kids, leaving them to Tellie. Click volunteered to explore as well since she would like to see if there are any avable vehicles around that they could use to move out from the area especially when they need to reach the other town as soon as possible.

    "Are you not afraid that the Rebel Mechanoids would pop out from the underground area?" Tellie asked and Jin pointed at the entrance. Tellie squinted her eyes a little and saw that Click had already ced a few trap wires that would ignite a hand grenade when they pushed out.

    "I seeбн I did not expect that from Tellie."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I gave her the idea, she improvised from it and knew what I was talking about," Jin said as he finally could sit down and rest while Yinn stayed on guard for hermander. "Besides, I doubt they would being out so soon. That explosion Click prepared was rather tight and the Mechanoids would lose theirmanders within an hour''s time once the smoke from the overloaded printer machine reached them."

    "You are underestimating how the Rebel Mechanoids work. We all have artificial lungs with attached filters that can be used as respirators. Theirmanders can survive if they proceed with mouth to mouth."

    "What do you need a pair of lungs for?" Jin asked but everyone questioned whether he could hazard a guess. "I am not too sure but I am guessing to cool youdies down? Otherwise, I give up."

    "You are not off the mark." Tellie grinned as she was happy to exin the answer. "The air mixed with a little bit of cont helps to regte the heat dissipation within us Mechanoids."

    "But it''s also an excuse to make the Mechanoids as human as possible so that the humans could ''rte'' with us." Yinn brought up the facy of human made designs.

    "We found the medicine and an untouched medical kit. Heading back now." Diaz said.

    "I managed to salvage a working vehicle but not everyone of us will be able to fit inside it. The rest are not in good condition to travel on rough terrain." Click reported as well.

    "It''s fine. Tellie and Click will escort the kids. The rest we will take that instead." Jin pointed at a broken bicycle near the church debris, and they understood what he meant.

    "LT, can''t we get a motorcycle instead?" Diazined and Jin told her that if she could find one, he would not mind at all. Diaz got ted and quickly shouted for Click to find one even though she was busy trying to ensure that the vehicle she procured.

    "Before we go off, are you sure that you are going to leave them like this? There is a chance that they might be rescued by theirrades." Yinn questioned but Jin smiled at her.

    "You did say that our mission was to scout, right?" Jin smiled a little. "Besides, I have a feeling that having them trapped inside there might be beneficial for us as well."

    "What do you exactly mean? Rebels are supposed to be squashed. We should not even let them stay alive." Yinn argued that they should not even leave one around.

    "You could say that it''s our insurance for something that I have a feeling about." Jin fiddled with the Tactical System ignoring Yinn''s plea to procure a more concrete n to defeat them.

    "Okay... Yes, Sir. Orders noted." Yinn said as she did a quick salute and they proceeded to find avable transportation to move to the nearest town.

 Chapter 1465 Forced Imprisonment

    Upon reaching the closest town without much incidence, the kids had been admitted to a clinic for treatment, particrly Marvin whose presence suddenly caused the entire clinic to go insane.

    When they realised that Marvin had been found, the Grey Bear Squad were immediately surrounded by the local authorities with guns and swords pointing at them. As much as they wanted to prove their innocence at that point in time, Jin told them to be quiet and to do as they were told. All their equipment and weapons had been confiscated and they were thrown into a jail van with the heaviest of handcuffs.

    "Well... we do have a stash still lying around Artridge if we really need items, right?" Diaz looked at Tellie and she merely kept quiet once the jail van had been shut tight.

    "This is a development I am not expecting. That Archduke kid is trouble." Click sighed as she checked the chains by shaking them a little. To her surprise, that little shake had already caused the chains to tighten even further.

    "Look at it this way, if we had left the kid there, we might even be in further trouble." Yinn tried to calm the rest of her members.

    "How so?" Diaz said and Yinn exined that the Grey Bear Squad could have been indicted for negligence. Even if they were cleared of that, Yinn felt that the Archduke family could have just put up an excuse stating how we had decimated the vige of Artridge and they would be in debt forever.

    "Then I guess we should count the lucky stars that we had our ''Commander'' around to show the ways." Diaz sighed but Jin did not say anything else. After which, the entire trip to the police station was filled with silence.

    When the van had finally stopped and the doors opened, a unit of heavily armoured units proceeded to point their rifles at them as they were escorted out of the jail van. "One thing is for sure, we sure have such a warm wee after saving that kid from-"

    "Shut the hell up!" One of the police supervisors shouted as he activated a button from his remote control that induce a bout of electricity to run through her chains causing her to freeze up. If it was merely Diaz, that would be her just desserts but that electricity travelled through the entire row, affecting everyone in the Grey Bear Squad.

    "Ho... For a human, you are quite sturdy. I thought you would have fainted by now." The police supervisor said before telling his units of heavily armed guards to drag the entire group into a cell. And it was not just any cell but one that was used for solitary confinement purposes.

    For the next few days, the Grey Bear War Maidens were surviving on a charge low enough for the processors to be on standby mode while theirbat logs had been scrutinised. Jin was put in the same cell as them and had been given food that was befitting for a trash can. Yet, it did not bother him as he took what was given and kept quiet.

    The police supervisors assumed that the Grey Bear Squad would have made noise by now, especially themander but he was seen sitting calmly with the rest of his squad members, waiting for the time to pass. They did not know that this was the best time for Jin to mediate and consolidate the powers he had acquired from three of the four great Cardinals as well as the meaning of dungeon creating ability that the System had provided.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Tactical System should have been forcefully shut down by the police but since it was had been ''infected'' with Jin''s System, Jin was still able to use it stealthily to learn and understand this new System ability that he had acquired as well as the information he needed to know about the Synthesis World.

    "Is it because we are in some sort of Virtual Worldбн? That is why I should be able to create these dungeons without much effort." Jin tried to prod for answers by the Tactical System and the System acknowledged them.

    "By using the resources avable within this particr server, User should be able to override certain parameters to create a dungeon of their own. However, the administrators may find such an activity suspicious, so do it small or have permission from the Archduke." The System said in words rather than speech as it used to, in order to assume the identity of the Tactical System.

    Suddenly the solitary doors went wide open instead of armed police guards, nurses and engineersing in to assist them out of the week long confinement. Their chains had also been removed while they were promptly being transported out of the prison and into the police station''s interrogation room.

    Suffice it to say, the police''s heavily armed guards were lurking in the area as well but the level where the interrogation room was were filled with guards that were of a different calibre. Their presence alone had revealed that they were brimming with warbat experience from the way they present themselves as Jin had been escorted into one of the rooms after a quick check.

    "Lt Jin. Are you still able and lucid? We have given you a shot of adrenaline and the IV should be working right now." A servant asked right before entering the interrogation room.

    "He should be fine." The police supervisor said with a grunt.

    "I am not asking you, I am asking Lt Jin." The servant said and the police supervisor kept quiet.

    "Permission for a waiver to one count of assault." Jin asked the servant while side eyeing the police supervisor, allowing the servant to grin ever so slightly. It was as if everyone that was not in police uniform understood the meaning and simultaneously looked away for a moment.

    Jin did not hesitate with the granted permission and gave his best and trustworthy technique, the Lazy Panda Swipe to that police supervisor that had brought his teammates and him into temporary hell just for a week even though it was ''protocol''.

    And that swipe to the police supervisor was the most fantastic feeling he had for the longest time ever.

 Chapter 1466 The Reward

    "Doc. Looks like our work is not done." The nurse spoke with a resigned sigh.

    "Why? Did that dumbass police supervisor throw a sucker punch on our esteemed guest before he could meet our sire?" The doctor replied as he was in the hospital overseeing Marvin''s condition.

    "Nope. It''s the other way around." The nurse wanted to smirk but kept her emotions in check as she tried to diagnose whether the police supervisor was still alive or not.

    "Not bad." The servant thought to himself and so did the rest of the guards who were standing idly to see the situation develop also had the same appraisal as the personal attendant.

    The rest of the police guards who were at the scene however kept their cool knowing that if they retaliated right now, they would be offending a higher power which they can never afford to go against. Besides, they too knew that their police supervisor deserved it especially when he decided to be so brutal to be the saviour of the Archduke''s kid in the name of safety.

    "His neck did not crack from the impact to the wall. Still alive and breathing but the initial triage indicated a few broken ribs as well as a fractured arm. The Auto Doc System said it''s severe blunt trauma." The nurse reported and the attending servant returned his gaze back at Jin.

    "Waived. You may now enter the room."

    "Thank you. Much appreciated." Jin said as he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Right inside was a man who was imposing enough even without emitting any chi aura and he was wearing nothing but a ck shirt and red tie while typing furiously on his keyboard. It was nothing like how an Archduke would look ording to Jin''s imagination.

    "Sir." Jin did not know the procedures of greeting an Archduke thus he merely gave a salute.

    "Hmm. Sit. I will be right with you." The Archduke said as he continued to stare at the screen for a moment before giving a few clicks to end the process.

    "Archduke Dyke. This is Lt Jin." The personal Attendant said and Jin finally got to see the Archduke in person.

    "So, you are the person who saved my son''s life." He ced his hands on the table and they were huge for a man of his physical stature.

    "I assumed you have questions," Jin said as he continued to remain unfazed by the entire situation.

    "Not many. I saw thebat logs from your War Maidens and understood the decisions and actions you had made." Dyke said as he turned theptop around and showed a few clips from the point of view of Jin''s Mechanoids.

    "Very interesting. Not manymanders would dare to move with their squads as humans had always been weak and fragile." Dykemented.

    "I do what needs to be done." Jin replied despite knowing that he have no answers if Archduke Dyke decided to question his ''history''.

    "I see," Dyke said as if he knew that Jin was hiding something but decided not to pry. "Raymond, please." He added and the personal attendant stepped forward with a heavy duty suitcase. When he opened it, all Jin saw were gold bars.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Your mission reward would be given to you, in addition to the bonus objectives that you had achieved. Usually, we will take ount ofmanders who had made coteral damage, especially to personal property but we saw how you defeated the rebels on an immense scale that even surprised the Archduke."

    "Thus, your service to the Empire had granted you a partial waiver of the coteral damage you had done. So with everything considered, this is your reward from the mission after deducting a percentage based on the partial waiver."

    "Thank you," Jin said with a bow.

    "In addition to that, you saved my kid. Name what you want."

    "Rights to and that has a dungeon. Be it cleared or not. I do not mind if it is a smallnd but more importantly, the rights to the dungeon" Jin said as he already learnt more about the Synthesis World through the Tactical System (and his System).

    Initially, the Archduke thought that mostmanders who had the opportunity to meet him would want his grace and be closer to him. To grow higher in rank and have bettermand while gaining his connections. Or be rich as fuck. They all will try to butter him up so that they could go further in lifeбн.and yet this guy right in front of him.

    He saved his kid''s life and yet all he wanted was the rights to a small piece ofnd with a dungeon in it. That was the opposite of what everyone ever wanted because all of them wished to umte points through titles, ranks and poprity.

    "...May I ask why."

    "I like to make a business out of it," Jin said and that made Archduke Dyke even more confused.

    "A business?"

    "Yes, I like to clear the dungeon and use the dungeon space to make a business out of it," Jin replied and this was the first time that Archduke Dyke had heard about such a thing.

    "Sire, sorry to interrupt. You only have another 15 minutes before moving to the next destination." Attendant Raymond reminded and Dyke looked at Jin even more intently.

    "Then you have 15minute to tell me what business are you intending to conduct."

    "Would that increase my chances of getting what I requested?" Jin was asking whether the reward he requested was too demanding.

    "Noбн in fact, I do have the ability to grant that with a snap of my finger." Archduke Duke replied. "But I am fazed by yourбнwording that you can make the dungeon a business."

    "How about you give me a monthбн no, two weeks. Give me two weeks time to show it to you since telling you would not do any justice. Also, bring your dungeon clearing team as well. I think it would be a good practice for them." Jin said as he believed he might be able to get a big fish right out of the pond.

 Chapter 1467 "Synthesis Dungeon" -Part 1

    "You are a nobody to me. Why should my best Dungeon Clearing team should evene when there are no details at all?" Archduke Dyke said and Jin understood where he wasing from.

    "How about this? I still have ...12 minutes ording to your personal attendant." Jin said as he checked the clock right above him. "Give me this room for 2 minutes and let me borrow a portion of your bodyguards to test out my business."

    "What are you talking about? Who do you think you are to ask the Archduke''s guards as if they are a sort ofmodity?!" Raymond yelled at Jin but he was ignoring him and awaited Archduke''s permission.

    "Very well. I do not know what tricks you have under your sleeve but since I had granted you 15 minutes of my time. I shall y along for now." Archduke Dyke replied and Jin bowed deeply from his chair.

    "Sire! You cannot be serious entertaining this person!" Raymond said but Dyke merely stood up and took hisptop with him which made Raymond powerless in his defiance.

    "Do not disappoint me," Dyke said as he walked out of the room while Raymond sighed as he closed the door. Jin smiled quietly as the personal attendant of the Archduke stared back at him.

    "Let''s show this Synthesis Server what we can do with this ''small'' room," Jin said as he booted up his Tactical System and a module called Dungeon Creation emerged from the bottom of the list.

    "The System had managed to disguise it as a unique variant module to avert the eyes of the administrators." The Tactical System wrote and Jin clicked on it, forcing a further out of body experience that allowed him to start shifting the data within this small interrogation room to his liking.

    As much as he wished to plummet the guards to death with his minions, they were not essible with the exception of data from the ''Tactical'' System. Cards of his minions popped out like how those wild cards Jin had used for his War Maidens. But instead of the usual minions, he had decided to try something new.

    His Grey Bear Squad Members had been digitised as cards as well and he believed that the Tactical System had already received enough data on them which allowed them to materialise in his new dungeon.

    "Damnit, this is how Virtual Reality should feel. Even though the gods were a shitty bunch of assholes to put me here, the way I control the environment and set everything out with my imagination and willpower is so much easier than the way I had been doing." Jin eximed.

    "This is because you are controlling everything with the aid of your subconsciousness and of course, with the help of the almighty System as well." the Tactical System exined through text shamelessly. "However, this is definitely good data that can be used to consider to see if such implementation is possible."

    "And to feel this real without any proper resources used, the Synthesis World''s data allocation is fantastic. Maybe the gods are really helping despite being an asshole." Jin chuckled.

    "The System hopes that the User is not being serious. Those gods had yed you like a fiddle and you said that they are the good guys?"

    "I am just saying that it''s nice to find the silver lining in these dark clouds that we are in. But honestly speaking, this is the most fun that I have had in months."

    "Because the User did not need to worry about the resources needed to be burned for the creation of the dungeon."

    "Well duh! Imagine if I can do this without spending a single cent? I can improve the lives of people and increase my army''s capability for the real threat...like those gods." Jin said as he remembered how the gods had been doing things on a whim like destroying Half Ghoul Lord Derek''s world into a permanent Zombie Land.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Then survive this Synthesis World, earn points and get out of here while the others will attempt to get your body back."

    "That is what I am doing, aren''t I? Using their points as payment and having a Synthesis dungeon at my behest allows me to keep fighting it," Jin said as one of the actual Tactical System manuals had exined that the dungeons once cleared will automatically respawn. And there is a certain percentage that it might mutate and turn into a stronger dungeon when cleared sufficiently.

    A mutating dungeon was something that Jin would like to learn more about especially when he had done simr like a roguelike dungeon with the use of captured Demon Rats. (Speaking of which, he hoped that the System would be able to replenish them now that they had Demon Rat Mothers with them.) He should have asked for an update about what was happening to his current world but right now these two minutes are the major turning point of his life in the Synthesis World and he had to get it right.

    "Nothing too much fanciful but something to wow the Archduke when he is watching." Jin thought to himself and he decided to do a simple but effective way to gain the Dyke''s approval. But at the same time, he did not know whether it was enough to keep him interested.

    Jin was afraid that if he put the difficulty level too low, the guards under Dyke''smand which he wished to invite after thepletion of his ''Synthesis Dungeon'' could potentially clear it all in one shot.

    "Ah fuck it. I will put restrictions so that they have a handicap ying this. That way, my dungeon ''workers'' would be able topete with them fairly.

    "You mean with the System interfering and controlling the AI workers." The Tactical System replied and Jinughed.

    "Time to use those machine learning knowledge that you have used for the NPCs and collected massive amounts of data into the picture. I have no real minions here to deal with them."

    "User does understand that the System does restrict or enhance User''s minions based on the participants, right?"

    "Yes, I do know. How else would I have been able to run a sessful dungeon business without you fiddling with almost everything that I had my hands with. It''s as if like you do not have anything to do or use this excuse to pretend that you are busy."

    "Direct interference is also a part of the System''s data collection so that the data could be fed into the AIs for learning. However, without the minions'' presence, it would undoubtedly be a new ball game for the System to learn as well."

    "At the very least, there is no freaking magic in this Synthesis world. You are just dealing with bullets and bigger bullets." Jin said as he made the finishing touches.

    Colour the System impressed. Even though it was something simr to what Jin had created before but on a smaller scale, it was no doubt filled with smaller details that only a veteran Dungeon Supplier could take note of and implement.

    And as much as the System would wish to run it in the background with a full diagnostic scan to ensure there were no potential bugs within the created Synthesis Dungeon which Jin had decided to name it, there was no time. All it could do was run a partial background scan quietly with its capabilities locked to avoid any serious alerts from the real server masters.

    But the System was confident that Jin had done a good job making it. All that was left was to convince the Archduke that this was a business worth approving.

 Chapter 1468 2 Minutes

    "What can someone do within 2 minutes?" The Personal Attendant to the Archduke, Raymond sneered. Even though he understood for a fact that Jin had saved Marvin from a precarious situation, he did not expect his sire to have taken him so seriously.

    But as they were out of the room, Archduke Dyke did give explicit orders not for anyone to enter until two minutester, which his personal bodyguardspiled.

    "And Raymond. Your thoughts?" Dyke asked, as he saw his personal attendant staring intently at his watch to make sure that Jin was given exactly two minutes.

    "Scam. Sham. Whatever you attach a prefix to a swindler. Maybe he even stole Marvin from the prying hands of a rescue team and shoved it to you." Raymondined. Even though Raymond had always been seen as a veteran personal attendant who was skilled in arms and the art of serving, he could not deny that there was something peculiar about Jin but he did not wish to say it out to his Sire.

    "But you saw the logs and even acknowledged that it was possible despite the impossible," Dyke said as it was the first time in a long while he needed to wait for something even though it was just two minutes. He leaned near a wall and spoke to Raymond casually with his bodyguards still on the lookout.

    "The scouts andmando team we sent had confirmed whatever the logs had shown and there were indeed a few survivors stuck underground. Naturally, they thought they were saved by theirrades until they saw the Archduke''s banner. They fought to their death and even wanted to end their lives on the spot." Raymond reported with a smirk.

    "But ourmandos managed to stop them from suicide and we have acquired two Rebel Commanders who were part of the Ultra Revolutionists terror group."

    "Did they specifically attack Artridge because my child was there?" Archduke said this despite knowing that Marvin was there as part of his trials to be a respectable lord. He was given little to no support by being assigned as the town''s lead bureaucrat, and he had to pass the trial by developing Artridge into a decent bustling town within a year. Of course, they had disguised him as a teenage prodigy and not the Archduke''s kid. But everyone who was in knew him well enough all casually joked about how short he was and that their kids who were younger than him could be his elder brother or sisters.

    "No, initial reports from our interrogation team stated they wanted to take that ce as a permanent forward base that aided with theirrades'' resupply. They had no idea how the Empire could respond so fast by sending an ''elite'' squad to them, decimating their numbers." Raymond air quoted the elite part.

    "If I was in a simr situation as them, I would have also said that Jin''s methods were unorthodox." Dyke smiled, know how absurd it was.

    "But thorough investigation had shown that the Grey Bear Squad had been in debts, and how theirmander was an asshole. Not to mention they had a high death ratio in previous missions. The mission they took was supposed to be the life changing mission that they can return here safely." Raymond tried to warn that this Jin was not a guy to be trusted.

    "And the pastbat logs and currentbat logs indicated that his direction ofmanding had changed so drastically that it felt like he was a different person." Raymond added.

    "The logs did say that he temporarily tlined for a moment, right?" Dyke asked.

    "Yes, we do not have information on how he managed to wake up, especially when once someone tlined, they should be forced out of the Synthesis World Server." Raymond said and suddenly his body felt extremely heavy with his internal holographic console warnings ring.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Raymondбн Please remember that those words are taboo. It is the agreement that we had taken to partake in thisбн world." Archduke shook his head slowly, but he knew that Raymond might have unknowingly blurted thosest few words.

    "In any case, there were two possible reasons. It''s either his Biomonitor malfunction momentarily or he had some crazy split personality that forced him to be this good. So, I suggest that-"

    "I am done." Jin said as he walked out of the door and closed it. The two were talking, not taking the time into consideration.

    "We can talk about thister, Raymond. Let''s go in." The Archduke said but Jin stopped them.

    "I am sorry, before going in. I would need two of your guards as volunteers. Either them or those police officers over there if you want to er on the safe side.

    "Why would you need volunteers?" Raymond asked and Jin replied saying that its the nature of the business that he would be conducting.

    "Kurt and Lark, Go. I will protect the Archduke." Raymond said which the Archduke gave permission as well, allowing the two bodyguards to salute and acknowledged their orders.

    "Thank you. I have sent an invitation through your messaging system." Jin said as he know that the tactical system was merely one of the systems they have. He would have said ''the System'' which wasmonly known to them as that but he somehow did not wish to diminish the name of a friend that he possessed.

    "I received the invitation." Kurt said and Lark did as well.

    "To spectate?" Raymond asked as he received the invitation from Jin as well. While Jin did try to send the invitation to Dyke through the short range messaging system, all of it was intercepted and redirected to Raymond as part of the security protocol.

    "Yes. Kurt and Lark would be the one joining and the points to enter would be waived as this is a demonstration. Spectators usually do not need to pay any money but they are wee to bet whether or not they couldplete thisбнdemonstration." Jin replied.

    "So you are truly doing a businessбн with points." Suddenly, Archduke Dyke had a sinister smile.

 Chapter 1469 "Synthesis Dungeon" - Part 2

    As the Archduke Bodyguards Kurt and Lark entered the room first followed by Dyke. They were thinking that this Jin was a crazy person. What demonstration could be done within just one small tiny ass interrogation room? But their eyes could not believe what was happening.

    It was as if the door was a portal to another reality when they swung it open. There was no more concrete room with a poor lit light bulb at the ceiling. Neither were there any security cameras and the standard metal table with a few chairs around.

    Everything had changed to an endless view of a grass ins with a two storey house right at the centre of it all. What scared them shitless was that the wind that blew against their face was fresh and cooling, rather than the stifling terrible air conditioning they had to endure within this poorly maintained police station that they were guarding. Of course, if it''s not for their armourбн

    "Wait, where is my armour?" Kurt eximed as he realised that his armour and weapons had been stripped off involuntarily, which forced Lark who in the same situation as well to go into an offensive stance ready to attack Jin.

    "They are in your inventory. By epting my invitation, you two have to abide by the rules." Jin said as he nodded his head upwards towards their back and the guards realised that Raymond and Dyke still have their sidearm on them.

    "They are spectators, so I cannot interfere with them as such permission was not granted." Jin answered their wandering thoughts.

    "There are rules on the invitation card, you idiots." Raymond said in an annoyed tone and told them to stand down. He knew it was their fault for not reading the rules and merely epting the invitation, but he guessed the guards were doing so because they did not expect much from this бнdemonstration.

    "What is this?" Archduke Dyke was surprised that Jin had managed to set up a virtual reality within the interrogation room that was of another level different from anything he had ever seen.

    "I wanted to create something more vivid but with limited time, this is the fastest I can put up. In my business terms, I will call it a Dimensional Instance." Jin said with a quick bow.

    "I will not beat around the bush since I only have 9 minutes and counting. The rules are simple." Jin pped twice and the ground beside Kurt and Lark started to move, causing a panel to open and a cab was raised out of it.

    "As usual, I would make it more immersive but we do not have time." Jin interjected before clearing his throat. "As I said, the rules are simple. There is a hostage within the two storypound. EIther A, save the hostage or B, kill everyone except the hostage.

    "So, this is a hostage rescue situation?"

    "Yes, and the time limit is 6 minutes. I need some time for debriefing as well. The so called enemies are not ''real'' real but they are realistic enough for this instance. At the end of 6 minutes, if the hostage had not been rescued out of the building, the bomb strapped to her would set off an explosion that will level this entire house."

    "As for the spectators, multiple holographic screens are avable for viewing including Lark and Kurt''s point of view.. I apologise for the bad sitting. Please bear with me for the remaining few minutes of your time." Jin said as a 30 sec countdown had started, allowing Kurt and Lark to choose whatever weapon they have as well as the equipment they wish to bring.

    And as they opened the cabs, they realised there was an assortment of weapons at their disposal. However, they decided to take the MP5s submachine guns as it was a decent gun in their opinion when manoeuvring close quarters.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Huh, a lock breaching device as well." Lark noticed it and picked a few up, knowing that he needed it to get some doors to open sesame.

    "I will get a few shbangs." Kurt said as he stocked them as well as a few ammunition clips too.

    "Do not need to bring that many. We only have 5 minutes of engagement time maximum."

    As the two Archduke bodyguards talked to each other on their equipment, it was a pretty sight for Jin to see veteran soldiers handling their preparation but he had a burning question which he could not help but inch closer to Raymond in order to get some answers..

    "Are those two Mechanoids as well?"

    "Yes and no. The rest are ssified." Raymond said as he ignored Jin but Dyke decided to entertain the prospective business owner.

    "They are humans with 90% of their body being reced with mechanical parts. Mechanoids have a low possibility of being hijacked. Humans do not."

    "But humans cannot be trusted, right?" Jin asked a daring but valid question.

    "Yes, they cannot be trusted but they can be brainwashed." Dyke replied and there were no further answers entertained after that as the countdown timer dropped to itsst five seconds.

    The two guards were already prepped and ready to roll as they waited for the timer to drop to zero.

    But the moment that happened, a sniper shot was heard as if to celebrate the start of the Dimensional Instance. It was a warning shot to the ground by the ''terrorists'' to show that if theye any closer, they would be killed. A centimetre off and it would have blown Kurt''s leg away.

    "What the fuck?" Kurt and Lark were already surprised by the fact that there was even a sniper guarding the house and realised that they were wide open instead of hiding around the semi tall grasses that had been designed to let them sneak closer to the house.

    "Heh." Dyke grinned when he saw his guards panicked, seeing that this demonstration might actually be worth his time after all.

 Chapter 1470 "Synthesis Dungeon" - Part 3

    The enemy already knew that Kurt and Lark were around the moment the countdown had been taken off their eyes. "If it was not a demonstration, the both of them would already have been put down right when the rm went off. I made it so that they would not be killed that quickly." Jin said as he stood therementing a little to the other two spectators.

    But that warning shot was the first andst olive branch that this particr dungeon instance was giving the two Archduke Bodyguards. The next move that they made would show whether they were really up to clearing the house with that limited amount of time.

    The need to be aggressive was expected given the duration of this trial but right now, Kurt and Lark need to cross the hurdle of approaching the house.

    "You do not think that we can return to that cab and get some ballistic shield for cover, right?" Kurt jested as the both of them looked back together to see the cab had already ''returned'' to the ground.

    At that point, Lark had already used the turning of his body to check on the cab as a cover from the sniper to pick up his smoke grenade that was attached to his vest. After which, he shook his head slowly but they had already secretlymunicated through an encrypted short range system what to do.

    "Then I guessed we have to бнsplit our ways!" Lark shouted thest three words as a signal to move as he threw the smoke grenade right at the front and Kurt fired towards the house as a distraction. This enabled them to jump into the tall grass area, causing the sniper to hesitate in her shot.

    "However, the time they bought was short because they knew that they were only prepared for a breaching assault and had no camouge with them at all. None of them expected sniper fire from the house and they knew that the smoke grenade was merely a distraction. If the sniper switched to thermal, she might be able to find them within the tall grass.

    "No wonder the weather is cooling! It''s deliberate!" Lark thought to himself as the thermal scans would no doubt be able to catch bogeys with high temperatures. Being too focused on the objective with a short time frame to prepare as well as not being in their element for some time caused them to make such mistakes.

    "Kurtбн Larkбн Do not disappoint me." Dyke shouted loudly from afar as he had decided to bet on them by providing an assistance package. It was also because Jin was on the sidelines introducing the ''betting'' system.

    Spectators can help or derail the participants by putting in care packages or raising new obstacles. The money they ced in favour of the participants would be added to a progress bar working towards the goal of giving them a care package. Right now since there were only two spectators, the price of giving them such assistance was two gold bars or an equivalent of two hundred points.

    Dyke immediately put in his points as if it was nothing of significance and this enabled a drone carrying a box to emerge from where the cabs had descended. "To Kurt or Lark?" Jin asked and Dyke pointed at Lark who was the senior between the two bodyguards.

    Just as the drone flies towards Lark, the sniper had decided to have her aim towards it as she knew that it would be detrimental for her. This however also gave Kurt the time to speed towards the house and Jin understood that Dyke had given the bodyguards a helping hand not from the care package but as a distraction.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Archduke Dyke was also satisfied that his move had been given the needed distraction for the speedier Kurt to move towards the house. And even as the drone had been shot down, the care package was not affected by it as the container that housed the mysterious care pack contents was sturdy from the drop.

    "Heh. I guess this is better than nothing." Lark said as he brought the container upwards as a shield against the sniper attack before opening the box.

    "Not bad." Raymond thought that Lark was doing remarkably fine to use the container as a cover. It was then Lark found that his Archduke had bought him a grenadeuncher with two shots in it. "This is really better than nothing!" Lark said as he knew the direction where the sniper wasing from and all he needed was one shot towards the house.

    The moment the sniper had fired her attack, Lark quickly counter by shooting theuncher towards the window where she was sniping from. He did not expect much but the explosion would definitely deter the sniper from shooting, allowing him to move forward.

    And just as Lark thought that he would be safe, several shots came from the reinforced windows from the first storey. When Archduke Dyke zoomed in, there was just a small enough hole that allowed a barrel to pass through the reinforced closed windows and shoot from it, hitting Lark on his chest.

    "Fuck!" Lark said as he knew that he just needed to move sideways away from the range of the barrel.

    "Quicke here!" Kurt signalled to his colleague as he knew that the door he wished to breach was clear. Lark did not think much and moved towards his fellow bodyguard based on his instincts.

    Little did he notice that there was actually a ymore mine that was partially hidden with the trash that was left near the door.

    "Boom!"

    Lark''s body literally exploded right in front of Kurt who was waiting for his arrival so they could breach the door together but their hasty actions. Kurt saw his close friend broken into multiple fragments and regretted that he took this demonstration as seriously as he should have.

    Obviously, this incident caused Dyke and Raymond to stand up from their seats and stare at Jin who was not worried a single bit at all, knowing that this was their first time seeing how a dungeon instance works.

 Chapter 1471 "Synthesis Dungeon" - Final

    Even as Dyke and Raymond were somewhat overtly furious that Lark had died, only Jin knew the reason why that happened. It was Raymond who had secretly decided to pay his points as part of to hinder the Royal Bodyguards. While the assistance care packages were publicly shown to the spectators and shoutouts were made to publicise the people who donated generously for their cause, the obstacles to block or slow the progress of the participants were not.

    Jin believed that Raymond did it on purpose to set the obstacle up so that he could denounce Jin for making such a difficult dungeon. The dungeon supplier also assumed that Raymond was daring enough to do that because of his high affinity with Archduke Dyke. Even if Jin swore that it was Raymond, there was a chance the personal attendant would be able to defend himself and nder Jin even further for suggesting that.

    So, the Astral Panda Cultivator merely kept his confidence up and smiled, knowing that he had encountered sufficient asshole customers in life to deal with them.

    And as expected, the first to open his mouth was Raymond, saying that this is a scam, creating a difficult dungeon so that Jin would be able to take all those points himself.

    "Unfortunately, that''s not the case. If the participants won, the points umted through all that betting would be passed to them as winnings evenly among the people who bet for them. And for those who bet against them, would get points only if the participants lost.

    Obviously, all proceedings would be charged a small administration fee before the winnings are processed." Jin said but what they were not satisfied was that they had lost a bodyguard through this demonstration of theirs this easily. Raymond purposely used that as his ammunition to scold Jin even though Kurt was still a few hundred metres away attempting to stomp into the building.

    "Mr Lark had been the Archduke''s bodyguard for years and for him to die because of such a dirty trick is all on you! Where are you going to find a recement for Sire this easily! He had not even done his backup yet and the cost of rebuilding him is substantial enough to put you in the red for many years toe. In fact, your second generation might need to fork out money for your mistakes!" Raymond shouted furiously at Jin and yet he remained unfazed by everything.

    "I am afraid that losing your man should not be an issue," Jin said as he snapped his finger and Lark magically appeared right beside them.

    "Holy shit. That was painful." Lark said as he emerged unharmed from the entire fiasco he realised that Archduke Dyke was right in front of him and quickly changed his attitude by going down with one knee to beg for forgiveness.

    "I apologised that I am out of my element and willing to tender my resignation to further improve myself!" Lark dered and that got the attention of Kurt who saw him still in one piece. Relieved, he decided to make his move by breaching into the house. A reckless move considering that there was only one person doing so where everyone within the room would have guns pointed at the door.

    "Its fine. Get up. We have to see if Kurt could make it." Dyke said even though he knew that it was impossible to do so. At the very least, they would want Kurt to go guns zing and take down an enemy or two before dying. That was when Lark had decided to put in some points to ensure that a brand new care package could aid his buddy from his current predicament.

    However, Kurt was a little too hasty from the get go and decided to breach since the countdown was still moving. The moment the door had been breached Kurt did not care who was in there and decided to throw whatever high explosive grenades, shbangs and smoke grenades to cause as much confusion as possible. And the moment the grenades when off, the entire instance red.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Mission Failed. Hostage had been killed." The message appeared on their Systems prompting Jin to inform the rest that if there were no bets against the team. the points would be rolled over for his business.

    "Then I guess, you made a killing today," Lark said with his arms folded.

    "You can check my e-wallet''s history. The points I earned would be lesser than what I could have earnt." Jin said as if the evidence itself was more than enough to prove that he was not lying. Even if he was able to do so with some glitch, that meant that the Imperial Points Bureau would escort him to their interrogation room for more than a little chat and a cup of coffee.

    "Raymond." Dyke''s voice was serious and his personal attendant immediately went to his knees without saying a word.

    "Don''t do unnecessary stuff next time," Dyke said and Raymond nodded his head solemnly. There was no need for any additional words to be spoken.

    Kurt came walking back from the supposed hostage situation after looking through the house for a moment. The hostage had been sted into pieces as the enemy had used the hostage as a body shield to block the grenades. However, the explosion was big enough to take out an enemy or two.

    "Bleargh, I did not expect it to be this realistic and fierce," Kurt said that he thought this demonstration was just a show of Jin''s Virtual Space prowess and never did they find it to be this engaging. Even the Virtual Training Spaces that they had been through were not as thorough and unpredictable. It was as if this Virtual Space was alive.

    "Yes, that is why I called it a dimensional instance rather than a Virtual Space," Jin said and at that time, Archduke Dyke looked at Raymond.

    "Cancel my other appointment. I want a rematch until we win and Raymond, this time, you are allowed to bet against me." Dyke said as he found this entertaining, knowing that nothing happened to his bodyguards at all. In fact, he wants to know more about this dimensional instance but for now, a rematch was more important to ensure that the guards get back their dignity.

    And with a salute, Kurt and Lark who knows what they were facing up against had promised that they would not fail the Archduke.

 Chapter 1472 Jins Run - Part 1

    "Sire, do you think it''s wise to do that?" Raymond pleaded with Archduke Dyke that he should be going off for his next appointment. "You have to meet the emperor for his kid''s sixteenth birthday. It would not be wise for you to skip that."

    "Then tell the Emperorckeys that the situation of my son''s predicament is equally important." Archduke Dyke said as he suddenly freed the entire day for Jin''s ''Virtual Space''.

    It was then Kurt and Lark asked Jin whether it is even possible for him to beat the game at the highest difficulty level.

    "Wow, you are asking the creator to have a run of his virtual space?" Jin was surprised that they even proposed that.

    "Well, you did say that this training virtual space would generate based on our skills and if you cannot beat it even at the highest level of difficulty then how can we trust that this is not a scam?" Kurt remarked.

    "Now that I have all the time in the world, I too would like to see that in action." Archduke Dyke said with a smile on his face. "You can even call upon your Mechanoids to work this out."

    "No need. I will deal with this on my own." Jin said as he requested for the weapons cab to emerge from the ground. Immediately, his hands moved towards the pistols'' section and started to choose two FN Five Sevens and one Smith & Wesson Model 66 revolver that was strapped behind his back.

    No grenades, no shbangs, no breaching devices. Just three guns with no additional ammunition clips. He was not even wearing a vest with the exception of a holster strap that allowed him to hold his revolver at the back as well as the holster to hold his two FN Five Sevens. The only difference was that he changed his prisoner uniform to a standard working attire. A white shirt, ck pants with a tie to look more professional.

    "Is he crazy?" the bodyguardsmented that this was suicide since they never saw how Jin fought but Raymond was ecstatic. He knew that this was the time to sabotage him and Jin also knew that there was a high probability that they would be betting against him.

    Yet it did not falter the Dungeon Supplier as he stretched a little. He still felt some fatigue from not being able to eat for a week since he was just a Grade 2 but it was nothing that he could not handle especially when he had been in situations where there was everything except food.

    Still, he shamelessly asked if the guards had any rations that he could chew on since his stomach had been growling forever. Lark took out a high calorie snack bar and gave it to him and it reminded them that Jin had been imprisoned for a week without much food. The nurses did inspect him and gave him a few quick recovery booster shots but he was supposed to be resting right now since Jin had barely recovered.

    This realisation made Dyke a little embarrassed that he had forgotten the predicament Jin had gone through to save his kid and now he was forcing him to show a demonstration at the highest level of difficulty. That was when Dyke eyed Raymond and his personal attendant slowly nodded his head as to refrain himself from being overboard.<novelnext></novelnext>

    All of them had unanimously agreed not to bet against Jin and allowed him toplete this demonstration at the highest level of difficulty by himself.

    "Ready." Jin closed the weapon cabs and pressed a big red button at the side to skip the remaining countdown while chewing on the snack bar. But unlike what he had advised the bodyguards, Jin stood at the very same ce where the bodyguards stood before.

    It was like a minor insult and provocation that Jin wished to show those bodyguards "You suck." And with Jin pressing the red button, the countdown hastened to thest five seconds when his guns were still within holsters but his hands were there ready to pick them up whenever needed.

    "Mission Start."

    As expected, a sniper rifle shot was heard but this time there were no ''warning shots'' that were being fired. The spectator view could see that Jin was being aimed right at the chest with a firing line being drawn where the shot hade from.

    But instead of a dead Jin, they were surprised that he was able to dodge it. Yet, even before he finished dodging, they heard another shot and this time it was louder. The ones who were familiar with that sound knew that it was not simply any other sniper rifle. That kind of sound was only made when you fired arge round calibre. As expected of a round that has the highest difficulty level has two snipers aimed at you.

    And with that Jin was still able to barely dodge it but this time round, he took one FN five seven out and shot towards therge calibre sniper rifle. It did not score a hit against the shooter but the shot was able to damage the rifle''s barrel, causing it to dent. This rendered the sniper incapable of using that particr rifle without a risk of damaging oneself with a possible gun incident.

    "Whatбн did he do?" Kurt said as he could not believe his eyes. He never saw such acrobatic movements from a shooter before and now understood the reason why he did not even wear a bullet vest as it may hinder his movements. Still, it was like seeing a dancer in action even though he knew that even dancers could not evade bullets the way Jin did.

    "His spatial perception is acutely urate." Lark analysed as the third sniper shot fired off and Jin was still able to avoid it as he bent down a little to pick up a rock and threw it towards the window with deadshot uracy. The spectators could see how the enemy sniper wished to take a shot again but the rock caused her to hesitate and withdraw back for a moment, allowing Jin to jump and climb onto the ledge of the second storey.

    He did not go the normal way and everyone was eager to see if he could really make it.

 Chapter 1473 Unbelievable Combat Logs

    As the enemy sniper tried to search for Jin once more hoping that he had not made it to the house, Jin was already at the side of the window waiting for an opportunity to hop on her. Lark and Kurt thought that he brought a pistol for that reason.

    Easy manoeuvrability allows the user to have a quick shot and retract even though it has risk in doing so. But what Jin did threw them off their chairs. Instead of what they thought of him pulling his FN Five Seven out to shoot, Jin grabbed the rifle barrel and lugged it outwards.

    This caused the sniper enemy to be pushed forward out to the window grill where Jin could safely insert a bullet into her neck. That was when Raymond found that it was someone familiar and started to ask its own AI assistant to track where he had seen that woman before.

    "Private Tellie. Grey Bear Squad. Speciality: Not Known. Insufficient information due tock of achievements." His AI assistant said and that was when the group realised that they were fighting with clones of Jin''s Squad Members.

    "Heh. How does it feel to be shut down by a lowest ranked sniper?" Kurt asked Lark as he used his elbow to nudge him.

    "Those movements are not of a private sniper. Ehh бнperhaps it''s just a clone with her face on. We all know that his team members are still at the repair bay at the basement, right Raymond?" Lark asked and Raymond made a quick call to the engineer belonging to the Archduke''s team to check if they were there repairing them.

    "Yes, Sir. All ounted for at the repair bay. None of the Grey Bear War Maidens is active at the moment and we are doing maintenance for them as we speak." The engineer reported but was curious why Raymond was so concerned about their presence at the repair bay.

    "It''s nothing, just want an update. We are still discussing with him on what had happened." Raymond brushed off the topic and the engineer sighed.

    "Then you better tell that idiot of amander to take it easy on the Mechanoids. It seems like he had been using the tactical system and he had been pushing them to their maximum limit for the days he had seen action." The engineermented.

    "The Tactical System?" Raymond was curious who would use such a system at this time and age where the ever evolving current technologies had rendered it somewhat useless even though it was attached to all Mechanoids for coordination purposes.

    "Aye, you know we can sometimes push the War Maidens into overdrive by using certain override codes that had been embedded into them?" The engineer said and Raymond gave a muffled acknowledgement.

    "He had ced those codes something akin to a repeat mode. The codes were continuously input into his War Maidens non-stop during the fights." Heined.

    "Won''t that cause the War Maidens to break down after several uses of the codes? I remember thetest generation of War Maidens were not able to handle more than three override codes and a rejection system had been installed to ensure that they could still work." Raymond found this to be a startling discovery and had to step aside from the spectator screen to have a better discussion with his engineer in charge.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Generally, yes but for some reason, the codes that Commander had been using were modified codes. It did not override the War Maiden but instead, it was like an injection of programming codes to improve their aim, reflexes and in some wayбн the overall functions of the War Maiden."

    "As if it was optimising the Mechanoids on the go with the use of the tactical system. And this requires onsite inputs which could not have been done unless he had an AI module that was able to do so."

    "Hmmmбн He did say between the lines that he does have a unique module installed and he is showing us a Virtual Space which he wished to use as a business model."

    "Pfft, What can a Virtual Space do? " The Engineer in charge scoffed at the prospect of using a Virtual Space as a sales item.

    "I thought that too at first, but it seems like this is a technology which I had not seen before as well. It''s best that youe up to the interrogation room and checked it." Raymond said before adding that if he has any experts in the subject of Virtual Space to bring him along as well.

    "Alright. Alright. I wille take a look. But other than that, we find no other faults to his Mechanoidsбн although I am very tempted to steal the codes to see if they really could aid with the programming of our own Mechanoids."

    "Are they that great of a code? Sorry, I do not have knowledge on my part."

    "I am not sure yet. The codes are encrypted and it is not of a standard encryption protocol which made me feel like if I present this to the programming team, they would have an absolute time trying to decode it."

    "Or going crazy attempting to do so." Raymond chuckled knowing that the engineering team had always given unreasonable requests for the programming team to handle. Even though Rocky isn''t the chief engineer for the Archduke, he was quite a big shot himself being an apprentice to the chief engineer and was ted to be the next one should his mentor quit.

    "That is also possible. Sometimes such codes are uniquely to one model but considering that the War Maidens he used are conventional models, there should be no problem finding out if what made those codes tick those War Maidens to have a better overall function."

    "You are talking in the technical realm to me now, please stop. For now, juste out of the repair bay. Thanks, Rocky." The moment Raymond gave the order and hung up the call, there were exmations from the bodyguards which caught his attention.

    Looks like that Jin had done something ludicrous again.

 Chapter 1474 Jins Run -Final

    After Jin killed ''Tellie'' he went into the room without any hesitation, mainly because he already had Maqi aura sensing turned on by default. The Tactical System could have seal off his powers right at the start but what''s a little cheating on the sidelines when the spectators could not identify it?

    As if to trick the rest of the enemies within the house, Jin picked up the rifle that ''Tellie'' was carrying and fired a shot out to the grass ins like a distraction. There werems asking for a report but Jin continued to fire the second shot as if to create a scene that she was busy finding the enemy and not shooting them.

    And expected, the enemies did not move up to the second storey as they were guarding from a breaching attack but with Jin''s new tactic to climb up the building, it will be updated into the Synthesis Dungeon parameters as a possible way to get in for future runs. Right now, what Jin had to content was the remaining three enemies within the house and moving carefully was the only option that he has.

    "If he were to rush, they would not hesitate to put the hostage down and allowing them to win but moving too slowly will prove to be detrimental since they would suspect that there''s some foul y with ''Tellie''.

    However, knowing where the enemies were located gave Jin the n where to hit but at the same time, he had to pretend that he did not know where the enemies were but had extremely good reflexes topensate for the fight.

    ''Diaz'' and ''Click'' are at the first floor while ''Yinn'' was holding the fort down at the other side of the house. Even though ''Yinn'' lost her sniper rifle from Jin''s coincidentally urate shot, she was still on the lookout for him in case he had decided to move away from ''Tellie''s'' range of view.

    So Jin knew that he only have seconds to y with before ''Yinn'' realised that ''Tellie'' was not responding after those two shots. Still, that did not mean Jin did not have any cards to y in his hand. ''Tellie'' was not only holding a sniper rifle but had full gear on as well, allowing him to snatch away a high explosive grenade and a shbang.

    Without any hesitation, he unplugged both of them as if to replicate what Kurt was doing (and yet again, to insult the bodyguards indirectly) by rolling the high explosives grenade towards where ''Yinn'' was located and lobbing the shbang into the first floor.

    As if he had synchronised the timing extremely well, the moment the shbang hits the ground, he had already leaped down from the stairways, creating a quick distraction for the shbang while it exploded within the room.

    Jin was out of sight when the shbang activated since it was a U shaped staircase as he leaped again, now to the first storey to catch ''Diaz'' trying to regain her vision. Instantly, a tap on the trigger from his FN Five Seven caused her to fall to the ground even though he knew that Mechanoids will not die that easily.

    He did it just so that he could slow ''Diaz'' down in order for him to take the hostage away from her. But that also means that he was left exposed by trying to cover the hostage who was ironically ''Marvin''.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A few shots to his right arm even as he attempt to dodge roll away from ''Diaz'' as themotion already caught the attention of ''Yinn'' only to have the High Explosive grenade explode right when she opened the door.

    Jin''s aura sensing showed that ''Yinn'' was still alive but it did hinder her as well as every split second Jin could earn from this situation, he would take it graciously. The explosion also caused ''Diaz'' to have apse of judgement, allowing him to knock the rifle upwards with his injured elbow while using her as cover from ''Click'' who attempted to fire at him.

    ''Click'' fired once and stopped the moment her view was blocked by Diaz and that was the opportunity that Jin used to fire his FN Five Seven Pistol repeatedly. Each shot was dealt with purpose and perfection. Her shoulder,ter her neck, and then her head. None of the shots deviated away from what he wanted to aim for his Maqibined with his Inverse Eyes had allowed him to have full control of the pistol that he was holding.

    Not to mention, the Tactical System was also aiding with his shot alignments, giving him precise targeting after each recoil.

    "Asshole!" ''Diaz'' shouted but Jin inserted Maqi into his knee and drove a low kick to force her to trip, allowing him to release both pistols into Diaz''s torso and subsequently her head despite knowing she has a bulletproof vest on.

    "Stay down." Jin told the fake Marvin as he went ahead towards the dead fake Click to pick up her shotgun. Knowing the structure of the house and that the flooring for the second storey was made out of plywood, Jin pretended to aim towards the highest probability ''Yinn'' could be and started shooting the slug rounds into the ceiling.

    A few of the slug rounds eventually prated through the plywood flooring and caused ''Yinn'' to retaliate back as well by shooting her rifle downwards. However, Jin was already on the move as he already took out his revolver and aimed at ''Yinn'' who was frantically struggling to shoot through the floors.

    With thatst eye to eye contact, ''Yinn'' was considered deceased as the smoke of the revolver filled Jin''s nose.

    The audience including Raymond, could not take their eyes away from the screen since the start of the infiltration till the veryst second where the bullet was ced right in between her temple.

    All Jin did was to pick the fake Marvin up and walk out of the front door as if it was not a big deal. He had cleared the highest difficulty with ease and did so without such surgical precision that it forced the Archduke bodyguards'' reputation to be in shambles if such news had broken out to the public.

 Chapter 1475 Let Me Take A Look

    "Unbelievableбн" Rocky said as he saw thest few moments of what Jin did onscreen when he entered the room. Usually, the System won''t allow such entry even for those policemen who were curious as to what was happening.

    They pretended to knock on the door and tried to enter but it was to no avail. The door did not budge. However, even when they warned Rocky, the current assistant chief engineer to the Archduke, about the situation, the door miraculously opened to them since the System had already overheard the conversation that Raymond had with Rocky.

    The policemen were bbergasted by what Rocky had done but the door immediately closed behind him when he was too shocked with what was in front of him. The policemen could never have the chance to peek through it properly.

    Initially, Rocky wished to bring someone with some expertise in Virtual Space along with him but the current team that was fixing Grey Bear Squad''s War Maidens did not have such a person. Most of them have basic knowledge of it but not explicit technical know hows tomend.

    Also, the team he brought was not exactly the biggest, just the minimum number of 1 per War Maiden for analysis and maintenance was already stretching it. This was because they could not believe their ears when they heard that this particr squad with no extensive modifications was able to take down fifty over rebels in the span of two days. Granted, themander and his tactical Warfare y a part but there was no way they could do that without some assistance.

    So when they found out what had been ticking them through the maintenance logs, they were both ecstatic and confused. The information that Rocky had passed Raymond was merely bits of what they had found. Apparently, nanobots that were used within their circtory System had been enhanced as well.

    But that was for them to find out what kind of module this Commander had obtained within the wilds that could do such an override to their War Maidens. However, that did not matter right now when Rocky was sted with brand new sights to see and feel the Virtual Space to be equivalent to the Synthesis World''s servers.

    "This is practically creating a Synthesis Server within the server itselfбн." Rocky thought to himself without saying it out loud since it was taboo to even say that name out. "Holy shitбн did some administrator has decided to throw some holy relic module onto a random person?"

    ? And right as he was standing there recovering from his shock, Jin was already walking over as the fake Marvin dissipated into digital dust.

    "I бнcannot pull such stunts off unless I train a few more times," Lark said as he knelt towards Archduke Dyke as if to beg for forgiveness and Kurt followed suit as well.

    "My Lord, my sentiments are the same. Those manoeuvres Commander Jin had used are beyond my capabilities at the moment. While one may argue that he is the developer and has implicit knowledge of the current house''s condition, his pinpoint uracy and judgement to not only distract but counterattacks are deadly." Kurt added on.

    "My Lord, both of us concurred that the massacre at Artridge is entirely possible based on what he had shown us," Larkmented and Archduke Dyke allowed them to resume their duties as they stood up and guarded his back.

    "Did you really create this all by yourself?" Rocky now recovered, went forward and asked Jin, ignoring the presence of his lord.

    "Yes."

    "In two minutes apparently," Raymond remarked in a nonchnt way.

    "Two minutesбнa virtual space like thisбн Can I take a look at the module?" Rocky asked and then realised how rude he was. "Of course, if you do not want to, it''s fine since you have every right not to show something so precious. But but but I will pay money -no. Points! I will pay points to see just the interface!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is it truly that remarkable?" Dyke asked Rocky and only then Rocky realised that he is in the presence of his lord and went to his knees.

    "Apologies my lord for ignoring your presence. Yes. It''s a very big yes! This Virtual Spacemutation could not have been done without an AI assisting it and a module or erm modules."

    "Then Commander Jin, are you willing to show your module to my assistant Chief Engineer?" Dyke asked and Jin shook his head slowly.

    "Like every business man, there is trade secret he cannot share. This is one of them."

    "Even if I appoint you a lord and provide you thend and dungeon that you requested for?"

    "If that is the condition, then I will humbly decline. I take my abilities and use them in other ways."

    "How so?" Raymond was now curious.

    "As you can see, All I needed was a room to make out this Dimensional Instance." Jin replied and Archduke Dyke now began to use his authority.

    "Then what if I forbid anyone from renting you a ce, or perhaps exile you so that you can nevermand again unless you show my engineer this module."

    "Heh, you could always imprison him, my lord. After all, we are still at the police station." Raymond chuckled.

    "If that''s the case. I will take the exile or imprisonment sentence. I wouldn''t care if I am in exile, I will leave the country and perform my business somewhere else. But if you are going to imprison me again, you made an enemy out of me." Jin stood there and held his ground.

    He was no longer the same Jin that was worried about threats. Now that he knows that the System is now with him and he still has the powers bestowed to him by the three Cardinal lords and the Dungeon Creation module, there will be a way out of all this shit if Dyke decides to y punk on him.

    "Heh." Archduke Dyke did not know whether Jin was insane or had some serious balls attached to him. Normally people would ede to his request and beg him for mercy but this particr small timemander had decided to fight against him with all his might with nothing at his disposal at the moment. A person who could be considered to be the right hand man to the Empire''s emperor had the guts to retaliate. Even Raymond, who was watching Jin''s insolence could not stand it.

    But all of them had forgotten that they were in Jin''s yground.

 Chapter 1476 Clear Winner -Part 1

    "I will not say it one more time. Do not test my patience. Let him take a look." Dyke said as he rolled his arms together but Jin replied by taking an even more concrete action as the clones which he had made for the ''Synthesis'' dungeons started to emerge from the tall grasses with their preferred weapons.

    He could have hid them and ambushed the group as he wanted but sometimes a show of strength was necessary in stubborn negotiations. When Kurt and Lark saw the encirclement, they quickly stood forth, in front of their lord. Despite not having their armour nor weapons, their objective had always been to risk their lives for the Archduke and this situation demanded it even more.

    On the other hand, Raymond did not hesitate to walk towards Jin with the intention to beat him up. There was no need for Archduke Dyke to give themand since Jin''s show of power was already an indication that he was not willing to give in to anybody.

    Seeing how confident Raymond was, Jin kept his calm as he always had and move a step back so that he could be in a fighting stance whenever needed. Archduke Dyke and the bodyguards knew how strong Raymond was considering he was not just Dyke''s personal attendant that could do everything but he was considered to be one of reputable stronger fighters.

    This should buy some time for Archduke Dyke to move out of the dimensional instance, from the door that came. The only problem was that when Rocky tried to return to the police station, the door was not budging. In fact, the door was disappearing right in front of their eyes.

    That was when the Archduke Dyke learnt that they were in a ce where there was no turning back other than to kill Jin and Raymond was possibly the only one who could defeat him. This was because Raymond had been infused with Mechanoid metal to the point where he was somewhat bulletproof.

    However, the concept was still ''somewhat''. The bullets will no doubt kill Raymond eventually but that will take at least thousands of bullets to be rained onto him before such an effect could be achieved. He was the epiphany of abat butler which every noble with the rank of duke and higher would have one as theirst sword/shield.

    This somewhat bulletproof feature had led Raymond to be one of the leading closebat killers and he was confident that despite what Jin had shown, there was no way that pathetic Grey Bear Commander could defeat him.

    But instead of firing at Raymond or the Archduke, the clones merely stood guard as Jin weed Raymond''s challenge to kill him. The first punch went through and Jin already could avoid it without any trouble. How long has it been that he had been in an unarmedbat?

    Even as Raymond was quick with his punches, Jin was equally fluid like the river streams flowing down the mountain. Each attack had either been dodged or redirected with a slight push of force. This irritates Raymond even further as he now constitutes his attacks using kicks.

    "Here I thought that he might prove as a challenge but this is a waste of time." Jin thought to himself as he sighed, thinking that customised Mechanoids could be stronger than a cultivator. But the problem was he did not realise that he was a veteran cultivator and if the Tactical System had used the very same data against ''actual'' Grade 1 and Grade 2 cultivators, they would definitely be in a pinch.<novelnext></novelnext>

    None of his customers would have the Inverse Eyes and wealth ofbat experience he had umted. It might seem short in a portfolio but the condensed hours that Jin put in fighting against enemies alone could be considered as decades of expertise despite being just a Grade 2 right now.

    "I have enough." Jin said as he now used his Lazy Panda Swipe and brushed away Raymond''sst punch and hit his stomach with it. Even Dyke and the bodyguards could see that Jin was merely entertaining one of the strongest closebat fighters they have in the Empire.

    It was a type of raw talent which the Empire could make use of, but how is it that it had not been picked up until now? Dyke asked himself this question as it was pretty obvious that he wants Jin for himself. He did not care about the secrets of the unique module already, especially when he saw for himself what Jin was capable of.

    Raymond dropped to the ground but got up immediately, unwilling to give up on the fight. "Do not waste my time. It is apparent enough that you are still testing me and stubborn to let go of the fact that I am stronger than you," Jin sighed, thinking that this conversation was going nowhere.

    "You are no doubt strong. With this Virtual- no sorry, Dimensional Instance, you can not only earn big bucks and also use it as a weapon against the enemies of the Empire." Dyke said as he continued to speak behind his bodyguards, where he thought he was safe from any attack. It was a renegotiation of his part now that he saw Raymond had been dealt so easily by JIn. "They will be in a never ending loop of fights which can keep them upied while we deal with them after they are exhausted."

    "Oh? You think that this is a concept simr to your virtual space?" Jin questioned and with a snap of a finger caused the clones which he had on standby to fire. Kurt and Lark fell to the ground with two bullets through their forehead and chest.

    "I could also kill people anytime." Jin eximed as he countered Raymond''s surprise ambush the moment he snapped his fingers. This time, he allowed the Archduke''s personal attendant to connect the punch right through his chest.

    Raymond could hear the ribs cracking, thinking that he had given the decisive blow to this crazymander. But when he stared back at Jin, he was giddy with a smile rather than wriggling in pain.

    "Oh noбн" Jin said as he grabbed Raymond by his head and shoved the revolver he still had into his mouth. "I honestly think your mouth needs some cleaning after all that bullshit you said."

    There was no need to exin what happened next other than Jin became the dentist of the day.

 Chapter 1477 Clear Winner -Final

    All that was left was the Archduke standing there thinking what could have gone wrong. Did he exert too much authority as a threat? Was Jin really speaking the truth when he said that he could actually kill someone in the Virtual Space?

    Was he actually secretly an assassin by the Ultra Revolutionists and the plot to rescue his son was merely a bigger n to kill him instead? Otherwise, how could the Empire miss out on someone like him? If he was discovered to be this powerful, Jin would have been a Baron or maybe a Viscount.

    "Wait, I can actually do that. Surely he would not want to be chased all around the continent because of assassinating me right here and now." Dyke thought as calmly as he could, even though his mind was elerating what could be done and what could happen next. This was because he was frightened by Jin''s powers and got stuck in his yground.

    And yet, unbeknownst to him, this was not Jin''s final form at all.

    Even though the Archduke had his own share of battles and was considered as a hardened survivor from the battlefields, this was the first time he felt so conceited. There was no way he coulde out of the situation without striking apromise.

    "Congrattions. You have passed my assessment with flying colours." Dyke tried to turn this as positive as he could, swallowing whatever pride he had to bow down toбн this deviant. This was the only way he could think of to survive this current predicament. "In light of your strength and achievements, I, Dyke Malborough, the Archduke of our almighty Empire shall grant you the title of Viscount with the powers vested in me. You shall have yournd and dungeon."

    When Jin heard all of this, he chuckled. He thinks that he had already broken the Archduke enough, but it was not an offer he can''t ept so readily. Since he''s already dipped into this cesspool of fuckery, he knew that Dyke would not let him off easily the moment he got out of this regardless of whatever contract and promises they both made right in this dimensional instance.

    It would be a lose lose situation for everyone and there was no way he coulde out unscathed with the exception of one solution. A solution where he can use it to clear all the wrongdoings that this troublesome Archduke had made for Jin and himself.

    It is to kill him.

    The clones did not need another signal as they already started to emerge from the grass ins as they had theirser pointers at Archduke Dyke and the Assistant Chief Engineer Rocky.

    Rocky felt responsible for the current situation as he was the one who wished to inspect Jin''s module and the situation deteriorated from there. Thus, he decided to at least sacrifice his body meaninglessly as the shield of the Archduke so that he could leave a few seconds longer and perhaps renegotiate or create an excuse to eliminate such a vtile threat to the Empire.

    Yet, that thought of noble sacrifice was discarded the moment Rocky tried to move forward. He was shot down without mercy by the clones and now all theser pointers were at Archduke Dyke.

    "Is Viscount not enough of a title? Work with me for a while and I shall get you to a Duke. There is this guy where all of the other dukes did not like him at all. Get rid of him for me and I shall appoint you as Duke, allowing you to govern the entire region. Fame, Riches and status will all be yours." Dyke was the one now begging, trying to imitate all the nobles who were trying to earn his favour. Now the tables had turned and now he was the one that needed to earn Jin''s.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "And what? If I do that for you and you can get another guy to do the same to me as well. What''s the difference does it make for me when it''s merely dying my death for when I can kill you right now." Jin said as he sauntered towards Dyke.

    "No, I will never do that. In fact, I shall keep you as part of my faction and since you had saved Marvin previously, he will protect you in the future as well should the need arise." Dyke tried to reassure Jin but that guy merely shrugged his shoulders.

    "I had dipped my toes into politics enough to know that your words are as empty as a newly built vessel filled with nothing but metal echoing. Your promises made the most noise and carried the least weight." Jin said as his clones were already in position where there was nowhere he could run.

    Even with his hidden pistol at his ankle, it was impossible for him to reach for it. In fact, even if Jin entertained the thought of him arming himself for onest ditch to fight for his life, there was no way he could simultaneously attacked all four clones of his.

    Thus, with a resigned look, he asked the question. "What is your real objective?"

    "Get the most points with the shortest time possible." Jin said as he pointed at his console and showed Dyke his points.

    "That does not make sense. Raymond and the others were killed on the spot and yet your score is still less than five hundredбн" Dyke did not understand the meaning of this, and was, in fact, perplexed by it. "Are they not dead? If so! Return them to me at this instant!"

    "Oh, they are dead. Trust me, I am not lying when I say that." Jin replied as he pped his hands twice and out of the grass ins, out came the other four unharmed from bullets.

    "Such lies! Raymond! Defeat this imprudent fool." Dyke said but instead of obeying his Archduke''s orders. All four of them. Raymond, Kurt, Lark and Rocky instantly knelt right in front of Jin as they called him ''Milord'' at the very same time.

    Corruption? Brainwash? No, can''t be. Dyke could not understand what was happening as Jin smiled widely.

    "I wanted an intimate cooperation between the two of us. But it seems like you prefer authority rather than an equal rtionship. So, I shall impose my authority asбнyour new master." Jin said as he turned around and allowed his clones to take down thest remaining sane target.

 Chapter 1478 War Again?

    "Master," Archduke Dyke emerged after being killed and he too was bowing in front of Jin, alongside the rest of those who had been captured by Jin after they were killed.

    ? "Honestly, I was half expecting this not to work." Jin said to the System which it now boldly spoke in front of him now that they were in his Synthesis Dungeon, out of the interference of the Synthesis Main Server Administrators.

    "The System would have suggested the same as well not to do anything rash. But for some reason, the Synthesis Servers acted as a cover against the Server Administrators and thus, hijacking their avatars and taking their souls had never been easier." The Systems said, still unsure what Jin had done to be able to create an isted server away from the prying eyes of the administrator.

    "In any case, we now know that these dungeons are still epted by the administrators to a certain degree and we can have our own little space here to do whatever we want." Jin said as he checked the points on the Archduke for curiosity''s sake.

    "You could have done this in the first ce to avoid all thismotion." The System remarked but Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "It''s best I avoid capturing anyone I see. But this guy is just getting on my nerves. Do all nobles act the way he is?"

    "Not everyone is as humble and grateful when they are on a seat of power." The System replied. "The Archduke as the title suggested that there was no need for him to consider little peons like User is unless you are of use to him. Where a mere peon turned into an insignificant pawn."

    "And here I thought that I had to go rogue, killing the Archduke. Heh, Thanks System. Also holy shitбн How can I even get that many points in the shortest time ever when the Archduke''s points are in the millions?"

    "That is why no matter where we go, politics always earn the biggest bucks." The System replied as a matter of fact.

    "The only way we can go through this is through a war against neighbouring countries. ording to Archduke Dyke''s memories, the Ultra Revolutionists that they had captured provided adequate information that the neighbouring Republic was itching for a fight against the Empire. The System believes that is the only way to earn a huge amount of points."

    "Aww man, no dungeoning? No business taking? Must there always be war wherever I go?" Jin said as if he was not enjoying the fact that there were conflicts no matter the world.

    "While the creation of your synthesis dungeon is helpful to earn points, it has no poprity to begin with. However, what strikes me is how Archduke Dyke sees User''s power as a way to be used against the enemy." The System pondered and Jin looked at the kneeling Dyke who was shaking from just being on his knees just for a minute.

    "Lol, it''s pretty obvious that this guy hardly bends the kneepared to the rest. Everyone get up. I am not punishing you guys just because you all treated me badly." Jin asked them to stand up and Raymond instinctively helped his old lord up.

    "Dyke, what do you have in mind with your suggestion that you were awfully desperate to want me under your disposal rather than letting me do my business?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The creation of this dimensional instance of yours could be utilised on arger scale. And through my death, it seems like we might be able to do more than I expect it to be" Archduke Dyke bowed a little before wanting to exin more. But, instead of standing around Jin allowed them to sit at where they were spectating previously.

    "Tell me more." Jin wanted to see how a warmongering Archduke could better utilise his dimensional instance even further.

    "Initially, I had thought of using these dimensional instances as a way to not only grab their points but also hinder them. By creating arge dimensional instance with minimal troops as diversion, perhaps a division or regiment, the Republic would have ''no choice'' but to retaliate by going to war as well.

    "As the Empire, it is fairlymon knowledge that we always conduct wars defensively. Provoke the enemy and burn their troops'' morale down before going in for the kill. The Republic knows that as well but they would still concentrate their troops for a major offensive so that they could take a portion of ournds before calling for a ceasefire."

    "On the other hand, we will asionally fight back with better technology and stronger artillery to beat their troops. This is mainly because there are actually more points killing their troops than taking theirnd." Raymond added and now he did not have the very same annoyed face as he had previously when talking to Jin.

    "They have more troops than us?"

    "Yes. A lot more than you expect. The quantity is usually one Empire Soldier to five of theirs." Archduke Dyke exined.

    "So by default, you guys fight and win by bleeding them dry since thend they take would have been scorched." Jin was getting the picture now.

    "Yes, you are getting the idea. We may not be thergestndholders on the continent, but we are technologically advanced and more superior in terms of tactics. Compared to those in the Republic who merely throw their numbers at us." Raymond added.

    "Still, their numbers are not to be scoffed at. And it seems they might be more determined than ever."

    "So far, thetest disputednd is where Artridge was and the Republic had been eyeing them for so long that it finally decided to use rebels as a way to break in."

    "Why bother taking that isted vige?"

    "This was because that was where their current prime minister was born from. This was the first time that the Republic will be conducting the offensive instead of us provoking it."

 Chapter 1479 How To Earn Points Fast

    "So what does that have to do with me? I can''t possibly stop their offensive."

    "No, you cannot. But you can interrupt their offensives." Archduke Dyke replied with a smile as he said that this is now possible with Jin''s ability to kill people within the Virtual Space. "Infiltrate them and create arge, gigantic portal in their capital. If you are able to, pour some Mechanoids out of there or maybe monsters."

    "Huh?" Jin thought it was cliche to do so. That was every dungeon rted fantasy web novel that ever does, but when he thinks about it, there is indeed merit in doing so.

    "They have to deploy troops in your dimensional instance to stop those mechanoids or monsters from pouring out of the dimensional instance." Archduke Dyke said and Jinughed.

    "I honestly do not think that they will take this seriously. My clones are useless outside the dimensional instance as of now. While throwing some Mechanoids out would warrant some investigation but I doubt they go full panic mode and pull army resources out of the way to intervene with my dimensional instance." Jin said that it is impossible.

    "User, it is impossible because you do not have the points to do so. The Tactical System has shown that Mechanoids can vary in sizes and it is not umon to have a monster type mechanoid to be created."

    "I got to spend more of those points and gold bars to create such arge dimensional instance. How is that fair for me as the points I earn would only be used to cover the losses I made? There is no betting system when ites to fighting international wars, so there is no way I am earning profit." Jin replied that it is an endeavour that he would not partake if the profit is marginal.

    "Then Master, you must have forgotten that you are in control of one of the most influential nobles within the Empire." Archduke Dyke shamelessly promoted himself.

    "I shall bestow you the title of General, allowing you to gain ess to a special department which I can create immediately under my name so that you can have the budget that you need from the Empire''s Treasury."

    "Why would you do that to reduce your points?" Jin asked as it does not make sense.

    "This is because with the title General and Archduke, there are special perks that would allow us to earn more points should we expend points."

    "As a General, the more soldiers you kill on the battlefield and the fewer soldiers that you have, died after sorting them out, you can earn additional points as reward. For me, if my subjects win a war after the resources I have provided have been deemed useful, I shall gain points as well. The Emperor automatically gains points too."

    "Won''t that be more beneficial to the Emperor than to me?" Jin feltpelled to ask.

    "No, the Emperor sitsfortably on his throne with no risk involved. The points would not be as much as you on the battlefield. If you see the top few individuals who had the most points, it''s usually the frontline middle rank officers that obtained them like the colonels and majors. And seeing how you always risk yourself to the point of no return, a general on the front lines would no doubt have the most amount of points in no time." Archduke Dyke surmised.

    "Ahбн" Now Jin could finally see where it was going.

    "And like I said, the Empire fights defensively. Most of our generals gain their points through the act of defending their country. You are defying the nature of our army by attacking forth, granting you even more bonus points to do something out of the norm." Dyke concluded, and Jin understood how his new subject was able to help him seek greater heights.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I am so d that you are on my side right now." Jin smiled as he was relieved that he was able to find someone of importance within such a short period of time.

    "However, all of this takes time and paperwork needs to be done. There will be some nobles who will reject my rmendation, especially since they are doing whatever it takes to get my favour. And if I used this Artridge incident as leverage for you to be promoted to General, there will be a lot of suspicious eyes looking at me."

    "I understand, What do you need me to do to prove that I am worthy of being a General?"

    "Like you said, a normal low level dungeon might be able to turn into a variant. But what people do not know is what happens if you cleared the variant dungeons multiple times? What will happen to that particr dungeon?" Dyke remarked which made even veterans like Raymond shudder in fear.

    "Thest variant dungeon I went to nearly killed me permanently." Raymond said. "I could not fathom what would happen if the variant dungeon turned into a unique extreme dungeon."

    "Therefore, set up a base near a dungeon. I shall grant you rights as a Baron so that you have full ownership of and near the dungeon. Also since Rocky is also under yourmand, it should be much easier to get certain stuff up as well. " Dyke said as he looked at the time.

    "We might still be able to make it to that birthday party bying inte." Dyke said, as if he had some other ns in mind. Jin also knew that whatever Dyke was doing, it was also going to be beneficial for him and the King so he allowed him to depart while he finally could have a chat with Rocky who now shamefully requested to have a peek at the module.

    "Yea, I guess there is no harm now that you are under mymand. Are you okay with it, System?"

    "Having an experienced external party to look at the module may provide better utility and synchronisation. The System is still figuring out certain things and it might be useful for the chief assistant engineer to look at it."

    "I am not exactly a programmer. But I might be able to pull some strings to get certain things done, elseбн we can always do this erm subject converting process for the programmer."

    Rockymented and Jinughed.

    "Then you better get a unique entric guy to do it. I am not going for the Chief programmer just because of his age and rank." Jin said as if it was a matter of that not all Chiefs are as godly as they think they were.

    "I get what you mean, but the Chief I know could possibly be the type of person you are looking for." Rocky said as he will try to make some arrangement for him and Jin to meet. After all, there was already a bait set up, using the codes that Jin''s War Maidens used to lure the entric Chief toe out.

    If everything goes well, perhaps Jin would finally be able to create something out of those light novel and mangas. Not to mention, he might be the dungeon supplier that he fantasied all these time.

 Chapter 1480 Package Ten

    Even as Rocky had promised Jin that he would meet with the Chief Programmer Ping soon enough, the first agenda now was to check whether the maintenance on the Grey Bear Squad was okay. It was fine and dandy that they had future ns out but right now, they need to collect some decent achievements in order for Archduke Dyke to give an excuse to promote Jin to a General or at the very least, a Colonel so that they could proceed with their n apace.

    But just as Jin reached the maintenance bay of the Police station apanied by Rocky, it seems like the Archduke wasted no time by first promoting Jin to Captain (CPT). A rank which would have taken even the most seasonedmanders a few years to reach that rank if they were merely a LT. "An official letter would be given to you soon, but for now use this promotion letter as leverage when talking to people. You should be allocated a bigger apartment in the next few days." Raymond stated in his email as the increase in rank does have its perks.

    At the moment, they were being housed in an Inn where amodation requires points or gold bars to maintain their t but with the new rank, Jin and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad would no doubt be able to live in a much morefortable apartment and have better storage solutions. This is because most of their weapons and armour could not be brought into the inn and had to be deposited in an armoury that was conveniently situated right beside the Inn. Everything costs points unless you climb up the ranks.

    Thus, the promotion to CPT was a well received reward.

    When they reached the maintenance bay, Rocky''s workers were already close to finishing the usual fine tunes after archiving thebat logs and records that was needed to be investigated. However, Rocky decided to stop them and told them that those War Maidens would be receiving Package Ten.

    "Sir, you sure? Package Ten is for Majors and above. There is no possible way an LT would be allowed such a fine tuning Package. Even the most decorated captain would need exemption before attaining Package Ten." One of Rocky''s engineers replied and yet Rocky nodded his head.

    "He is now a Captain. Archduke Dyke had promised him a fast promotion track to Major. So I see no harm adding Package Ten right now. Besides, it''s in our mobile inventory for god knows how long. We can finally get rid of it to this guy here and ced better Packages there." Rocky said and his engineers merely stared among themselves and shrugged. It''s after all the Assistant Chief Engineer that gave themand with the backing of the Archduke, there was no need to question such an order.

    Besides, Rocky was not wrong as that freaking Package had been collecting dust in their mobile inventory and they could not deposit it on any bases because it was the Archduke''s personal property. It was in case his bodyguards needed emergency repairs and fine tuning, but by the time Package Ten arrived, Kurt and Lark had already been promoted to Colonel and above, causing the Package Ten to be obsolete. Initially, the maintenance team thought that the Archduke would hire another bodyguard and did not throw it away but as time go by, it became the biggest white elephant that existed within their mobile inventory that they had no qualm allowing Rocky''s orders to go through.

    The only sucky thing was that they had to reopen everything and install Package Ten as per their Assistant Chief Engineer''s orders. They were guessing that Jin had indeed impressed Rocky and the Archduke for allowing him to jump two ranks and be promoted as Captain. Oh, how they wished what kind of Virtual Space Jin had created that could leave such a deep impression in their hearts and minds.

    "What''s Package Ten?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You could say it''s an extreme overhaul upgrade that would make your War Maidens function better than normal Mechanoids. It is also the first entry of Packages that helps to increase your War Maidens'' capabilities. For example, they now have an inbuilt holster where they could keep a pistol at their femur, allowing them to hide one sidearm which could be used for emergencies. And as you can expect, when you have a lower number Package version, more holsters are avable... if you want."

    "Sounds like a Robot Police, just a more extreme version of it" Jin thought to himself, grinning to himself. "Wait, so there are no customised Mechanoids out there? I thought Kurt and Lark were customised."

    "If you do not have the rank, technically, you are not allowed to customise your War Maidens. But illegal modifications are hard to catch and regte so there are a lot out there who did backalley modifications. The only problem is that it will reduce the War Maiden lifespan or cause unknownplications to it if not done correctly." Rocky exined. "Oh, and they cannot participate in tournaments because of the strict inspections."

    "Tournaments?" Jin asked which piqued his interest a lot.

    "Yes, the Empire usually conducts annual tourneys to get people topete with each other andter the champions would be sent to the international ones. This is to allowmanders to nto only gain experience but also recognition by other nobles so that they could either earn their favour and join their family or take the opportunity to earn a fewbat medals which could allow one to be promoted to a higher rank as well."

    "Who hosted thesepetitions? Usually, it''s one of the dukes that organised them... Wait a minute." Rocky now understood where the conversation was going.

    "Aye. You are finally on my wavelength. Why not we get the Archduke to organise this year''s if it''s not done yet? Well, I sincerely hope it''s not started yet."

    "Aye Aye! Its due in a half a year''s time but why didn''t he think of that? With your Virtual -erm I mean your Dimensional Instance, that would be one hell of a sporting event, especially when the tourney is always a sure must for everymander. I do not think it''s an issue if he host it sooner for an irregr tourney. after all, he is the Archduke and people know that if he was the one hosting it, everymander got to match his time!" Rocky was ted for his new master and so was Jin.

    "Looks like this Synthesis World is going to be a busy ce to be in."

 Chapter 1481 Empire Tournament

    A quick email to Raymond was more than sufficient to let him know about the details for the tournament, since Jin had to wait for Package Ten to be fully integrated into his War Maidens. In the meantime, Archduke Dyke who was still travelling to the Empire Capital, was let known about the situation as well and felt that it was a good idea as well.

    "It will no doubt help with the umtion of wealth for the uing war and it will solve quite a fair bit of our financial problem as well. That''s a good suggestion." A secure channel was created between Jin, Raymond and Dyke to discuss the contents since they needed to waste some time either through waiting.

    "The Southern Duke would be ted as well since it was supposed to be his turn and you know how he hated all this event organisation nonsense despite the fact that he adored the fights. By doing this, you Sire, are gaining yourself a big favour from him." Raymondmented and Dyke smiled widely. The Southern Region was known for their immense military power because their borders faced not only the Republic but the Southern Alliance who were barbaric in nature.

    This sharing of borders forced his troops to always be in tip top shape in case of a sudden invasion from the Southern Alliance. As mentioned, the Southern Alliance consisted mostly various tribes of Barbarians and despite its naming convention, they wielded guns as well but their physical constitution had ''evolved'' where they could withstand gunshots, due to their constant pursuit for brute strength. Thus, they were a bunch of warmongering people who were categorised as very dangerous since one skilled Barbarian could take on as many as ten Mechanoids.

    The only constion that allowed them to stay as status quo was their truce between the Southern Duke and the Republic who had promised them minor skirmishes at certain intervals. No doubt, the war that the Republic was rousing would invite a few stares from the Southern Alliance but that was an issue that would be tackled when the timees. Thus, the need to organise the Empire Tournament was a pain in the ass for Southern Duke and he had already skipped his turn a few times that he pissed off the other Dukes who needed to pick up his ck. Yet, even though the other Dukes hated it, none of themined outright as they understood the situation at the South.

    So, if the Archduke had decided to take the initiative to pick that ck up, the other dukes would covertly rejoice at such a fact since it was rare for the Archduke to do such a task.

    "I will talk to all of themter, during the meet. I am sure they all have to be there." Dyke said as he wrote in his digital notebook.

    But what Dyke was after was no doubt the points and money. He could literally adopt the very same idea that Jin had proposed for his demonstration and indirectly gain funds for his war chest now that Jin had proposed that he need to create a few Customised Monster Mechanoids to create the dungeon portal invasion idea for the fight against the Republic. The System did pitch in that it would assist in the blueprint design since no one ever created any Monster Mechanoids before as well as the backend simtions in order to prevent any possible data leak to the republic.

    Other than that, the Archduke needs to secure a massive hidden factory so that they could build the Monster Mechanoids in secret. While Jin is able to create his Synthesis Dungeons with mere conversion of gold bar and points, there is still a need for the proof of concept to allow the System to simte those monsters into his Synthesis Dungeons. Imaginative out of the blue monsters would not work at all as there was no data on how it moves etc.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, Jin personally told the System that it did not need to worry about that if what he theroised about the Cardinal''s powers were true. (After all, he had yet to use them.) Still, Jin did mention that those Monster Mechanoids had to be built at least once for his powers to manifest on them and so the Archduke understood his master''s desires.

    When asked about how the tournament works, Jin was being told that Commanders would lead their Mechanoids into battle in a fixed obstacle arena. Something simr to his house invasion demonstration but a little less primitive and with a bigger space. Still, such a static tournament gathered arge crowd since people took this opportunity to learn from one another as well as betting but this meant that most of themanders who won were mostly from thend army. The Naval and Air Force never had such luxury to touch the championship cup.

    That was how Jin took the opportunity to tell them about his suggestions to improve the tournament. The suggestions of having dirty tank wars, tight ship battles and even nasty dogfights between nes. The wordsing out from Jin''s mouth sounded like pure music to him as it was a brilliant way to spice things up and get even more people take join the Empire tournament. Raymond could also see the amount of money pouring in from all the fights and the massive cut they could take from all this tournament. This will also no doubt attractmanders from various military arms to join since they could finally show off.

    However, the only foreseeable problem that Jin could encounter was that he needed the full data specifications, pastbat and maintenance logs to simte those ships, nes and tanks because there is no way they could bring all those to the imperial capital. Yet, when Raymond heard it, heughed.

    "We could host this at your wife''s region, my lord. That would definitely increase the amount of tourist in the area."

    "Port Fastfor? Indeed..." Dyke too agreed to it and the Tactical System exined to Jin that Port Fastfor was one of thergest trading port cities in the Empire which featured arge stadium previously for the International tournaments since Port Fastfor had the expertise to manage the sea routes and a well known airport. "It had also been years since we chose Port Fastfor as the location for the Empire''s Tournament as well."

    "That way, we can even make a parade of ships, nes and even tanks!" Raymond dered and the imagination between the three of them got even rosier

    "Very good. Very good. I am sincerely looking forward to this year''s tournament." The very same thought lingered on their minds.

 Chapter 1482 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Part 1

    "Commander." Yinn said as she gave a salute with the resting out of the maintenance bay after Rocky and his engineers had installed Package Ten in them. To top it off, Rocky even added thetest Tactical System Operating System which was currently avable for Majors and above, citing official reasons that Package Ten could not be used optimally with the current operating system. Obviously, it was ''favouritism'' since Rocky is under themand of Jin and the System but people who undoubtedly see it as a ''kind'' gesture from the Archduke himself.

    "Or should we say Captain?" It was the first time Tellie teased Jin and the rest also gave him a proper salute while grinning. All of them do not know what exactly had happened but they knew that they were installed with some of the restricted hardware and software that were not avable to them if they were under the ''same''mander. Either way, their absolute adherence to this new Jin had allowed them to soar even greater heights which they could have never achieve.

    One of such heights was their promotion.

    Alongside, Jin''s promotion letter to captain, the Archduke had also indicated that the Mechanoids serving under him would be raised one rank higher as well for their service to the country. (Killing dozens of Mechanoids deserved just that!) In addition to the promotions, rmendation letters forbat war medals personally written by the Archduke had also been sent to the Military Council for vetting. (Of course, it was all written by the capable personal attendant and Raymond had even assured Jin that those rmendation letters were merely a formality and thosebat war medals would be issued to them as soon as the letters had been processed.)

    These news were the first thing that they received as part of their notifications when they were booted up, allowing them to appreciate whatever Jin had done for them during their downtime. They were initially afraid that both Jin and the team would receive the greatest punishment of them all, and once they were shut down, there was no chance those Grey Bear War Maidens would ever see the light again. Therefore, to be able to be rebooted up for service and those notifications plus the upgrades installed, grateful was a word that could not be sufficiently expressed to theirmander. If this world was a rtionship game, that trust meter Jin had with those War Maidens would practically be broken as their trust for him had reached more than max level.

    "There is no need for that." Jin eximed with a gentle smile and gave a return salute. "After all, we have lots of work to do." Jin added as he pointed at his ear, indicating that he will be telling them what had transpired for the past half a day when they were shut down. Everyone knew that Jin was an outsider, an anomaly of the current world and even if they were to take his words at face value back then, there was no way the War Maidens would find it logical.

    Even as he exined to them a partial exnation about the System and how the Archduke had be his permanent ally, they still found it hard to believe since it had defied all rationale. No one in this world will believe that they could serve someone else after talking to them in a short period of time. And thus, the Mechanoids confirmed that Jin would have used some special outsider powers that allowed him to do that. And as Jin spoke more about it, they understood how they were brainwashed and in hand were also roped into it as well as the Tactical System had taken this opportunity to enter their processor cores and change some of their codes so that the logs if nefarious people were to ever kidnap them and dig dirt on Jin would not be able to find anything useful on him.

    This means that the Mechanoids will auto censor themselves while keeping the secret that were not essible to their ''ck box'' due to the System''s coding. And yet that was not a problem since the Tactical System had already have its hands in those War Maidens. It automatically uploads and downloads information so if the War Maidens were ever decimated, it was easy to recreate them again since most of the information were with the Tactical System.

    "So... That''s the gist. Boy I am hungry..." Jin said as he could feel the hunger pangs really going for him after not being able to eat for such a long time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "If that''s the case, I think we should call it a day for now. Get ourselves acquainted with this current town and perhaps visit little Marvin." Tellie suggested and everyone agreed.

    "And if we are going to Commander''s newnd, it would also be best if we gear up and recreate members who we lost in the previous operations." Yinn added.

    "You mean Grey Bear Squad is not just the four of you?" Jin asked as he never knew there were more of them.

    "Yeah, our medic died and we usually have a temporary War Maiden as part of our team. Now that we have some money, we can get our medic back and perhaps get a permanent member for the team too." Yinn said and Jin nodded his head, checking the number of gold bars he had left after performing the demonstration. The Tactical System on the other hand already told him that it was feasible but Yinn made his worries flutter away when she told him to cash in on all the bets they made once they officially submitted the scoutting mission.

    "Huh, you mean all these rewards from the Archduke ... none of them are part of the mission rewards?" Jin was genuinely confused and the entire squadughed as they simutaneously opened the holographic consoles and showed Jin that the mission was still pending.

    "Yes, that''s why we are all in disbelief when we heard how you managed to get this much... reward even after spending them for your said demonstration." Diaz was eyeing at them, wanting a good feast.

    "Well, then what are we waiting for! Let''s go to wherever you go to submit your mission details." Jin said and the squad said the following in sync.

    "Yes, Captain!"

 Chapter 1483 Gold Bars

    As Jin had no idea that this Synthesis World had something simr to an adventurer''s guild, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that the ce they were going to submit their mission details was quite an eye opener.

    ? Mission Command Centre.

    As the name suggested, the centre dealt solely with missions and in lieu, thepletion of missions. That means it was considered one of the major ''attractions'' in every town sincemanders depended on this Mission Command Centre for their livelihood. From little things to short term recruitment of adhoc jobs to the involvement of multiplemanders to clear an infestation near the town.

    To top it off, other towns'' Mission Command Centres offer their requests as well in case themanders decided to take a few jobs at a time. Naturally, being unable toplete a request would result in a demerit of points and a bad rep and that would cause amander who had defaulted on those requests to be badly shunned upon. The previous Jin was one of suchmanders but with thepletion of this particr scouting mission, this new Jin would get to reap the rewards that the old Jin had ced for him,

    While somewhat illegal, all those bets by variousmanders had already been deposited into the Mission Command Centre''s incentive programme where amander who deemed the mission too hard to be done and requests someone else to do it. However, such incentives can be pulled out by the Mission Command Centre if themander fails the mission. As such when Jin submitted the mission details, all those extra ''incentives'' have been awarded to him as well as the extra mission objectives that he managed toplete.

    "CPT is literally swimming with gold bars and points." Diaz chuckled as she saw how Jin was being escorted to the redemption point and suitcases of gold bars had been taken out for him to verify the reward amount. Naturally, he had decided to convert some into points since there was no way for him to carry that many around with him. He still found it funny that with such a modern setting, their way of bartering stuff is being done with gold bars.

    Granted some prefer gold bars because the point conversion of gold bars varied day to day and there will be a few who wished to profit from the most amount of points but other than that, lugging gold bars around town or out for missions was ludicrous and impractical. The War Maidens also could not understand the fascination for gold bars and Jin believed it had to do with the inhabitants of Synthesis World who could have used gold bars as their mode of currency and barter before this entire virtual world thing came along.

    Perhaps the alluring visual of gold bars made those inhabitants feel rich rather than the measly digital numbers that the points system had made. It was onlyter a veteranmander overheard Jin talking about gold bars that he kindly exined it provided extra bonus to the year end calction of points. "Whoever has these gold bars will be exchanged for some additional points in addition to the current gold to points conversion. It is sort of like a bonus so some hoarders thought that having a healthy amount of gold bars can enable them to earn higher points."

    "Won''t that put them at risk of othermanders attempting to steal from them?" Jin asked and the veteranmander nodded his head, d to know that someone new was willing to hear his thoughts and ramblings.

    "You are a smart one. " The veteranmander said as Jin portrayed his LT rank so openly to show that he was somewhat a ''newbie'' since his CPT insignia rank yet had to be officially given. "Those newmanders never knew that and fall prey to the more scrupulous ones. So you best be careful of your gold bars." He said before walking away fulfilled that he had given advice of the day.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "CPT, that guy did not tell you everything but you need gold bars to exchange for War Maidens. Buy Mechanoids with points is actually more expensive." Yinn told Jin through the encrypted tactical system channel.

    "Ack! Then did I convert too many to gold bars?" Jin asked when all he did was exchange fifty of them when he still had hundreds in his possession. (Diaz felt like pping him)

    "We have more than enough to remake our Medic as well as creating a new War Maiden...though the two of them would most probably not have Package Ten installed since Assistant Chief Engineer Rocky had done us a favour by skipping the requirements. There is no way the War Maiden Manufacturing Store would allow such concessions." Yinn said felt a little disappointed that their new teammates would not have the same upgrades as them.

    "Ehh... Technically, I can just give Rocky a heads up about it. He might be able to do something about that." Jin said as if it should not be a problem but Yinn insisted not to bother him considering he was the Archduke''s engineering team. One of the more prestigious engineering teams that people were dying to get into. Obviously, the best would be the royal guards but to Jin, it was none of his concern since he would use Rocky if the circumstances needed him to do so.

    "User, do remember about my request now that we are going to get one more permanent ''member'' for the squad." The Tactical System wrote and Jin became a little worried."Will it go smoothly?"

    "It will. Given the amount of time spent in this realm, the System had managed to ensure the safety of the new member. However, User have to embrace himself. The new member would likely be either violent or emotionally unstable upon seeing you."

    "Lol, how much time has passed?" Jin asked as he knew there will be a discrepancy in their time whenparing parallel worlds.

    "Approximately a month in Earth''s time." The System reported and Jin nearly fainted on the spot.

 Chapter 1484 Prospective Review: "The House"

    As they walked towards the town''s War Maiden Manufacturing Store, Jin was preupied with his conversation with the System. For a moment, he had forgotten that he has a store with him but it turns out that he was worried for nothing when Qiu Yue decided to hold the front for him.

    But with that said, there were indeed difficulties trying to keep Jin''s disappearance to be a widely known fact thus Qiu Yue decided to say that Jin had taken some time off to enhance his cultivation after having certain enlightenment happened to him. While this was quite a bad excuse for his disappearance, it is no doubt a valid excuse since people had recognised that he is a cultivator of a high grade, thus having enlightenment at that particr grade was something that he could not miss.

    Many regr customers also epted that it was vital for his job since dungeon supplying was not an easy task to partake especially when higher grade cultivators decides to train here as well. Increasing his cultivation grade would no doubt enhance his customer poption since it could include the high grades that were missing out sorely in the dungeon supplying business. After all, most dungeon suppliers do not have such high grades and many talented ones had nowhere to go but pay lots of money to certain suppliers. That was why if Jin could provide for high grade cultivators, it would soar its rank and status even further.

    However, what the customers were afraid of was that there would a slew of ''dead'' breaks while waiting for his cultivation enlightenment to be over since it could be range from a few days to a few years. They were worried that Qiu Yue might not be able to produce such quality dungeon instance as Jin did until the Pandamonium App widely announced that it would continue to release dungeons which Jin had prepared before hand for such cases.

    In truth, Jin did have some dungeon instances readied before he was suck into the Synthesis world but they needed fine tuning and personal touches before they could be released. Qiu Yue while able to design basic dungeons were not able to grasp theplicated settings Jin had set for those dungeons.

    Even the System that wished to intervene was not able to because of the contract it had with Jin. If Jin was truly missing, surely the System could do something about it, but the problem was, Jin was still in contact with the System and by contract, it was not able to touch it even if Jin gave permission as it was his work and he had to be the one who publishes it.

    The Astral Panda Cultivator got a bit fed up as well that the System could not intervene for him since the System was the one who created those rules in the contract and yet the System stated that if it breaks even one small rule, or create an exception, it would be downhill from then on as the implications in the future for such actions would be immense.

    But in light of all this, because of the limitation the System have in the Synthesis World, it created a temporary contract which allowed Jin and it to publish whatever the Dungeon Supplier had created within the Synthesis World to be published into their world.

    The System could change it as it fits since Jin was unable to do anything from his end so this temporary contract finally broke the slew of emptiness the store was running on (It actually wasn''t that bad since Qiu Yue had decided to rey a few old raids at various intervals within the month, allowing newer customers to experience what the older customers did with the exception of limited items being avable)<novelnext></novelnext>

    So, fast forward to Jin''s world where the System threw the demonstration Jin had made for the Archduke for the store, Qiu Yue had introduced it as the new dungeon instance called ''The House''. A Dungeons and Pandas''test project cites that it was also part of Jin''s collection of backups and that was sufficient to get people to flood the stores again.

    It was nothing big but it had been introduced as both PvE and PvP option. Customers could use not just guns but their own weapons as part of their arsenal, allowing them to fight against the rumoured Grey Bear Squad.

    To Qiu Yue''s surprise, it was a phenomenal hit despite it having little to no content to the dungeon instance. It was merely just a house where the interior would periodically change based on a three static designs to keep the freshness of the content.

    And there was no doubt, that the policemen like Se Lang and Deng Long loved the scenario of rescuing hostages. In fact, they loved it a lot that they rmended the police chief have the teams perform a session or two while showing the public what the police could do. (Obviously, the good scenes only with a mix of failed fun ones, as Qiu Yue too know how sensitive the public could be.)

    But what created the most hype was the PvP option. It was as if the cultivators who wanted to battle against each other finally found a decent tform to fight not just some empty arena. The allure of achieving the objective of saving the hostage or preventing the hostage from being saved had allowed oddly coordinated team fights to emerge, giving extra data for the System to file.

    Money started to pour in again and Qiu Yue even named this dungeon instance part of the ongoing series called the ''Modern Warfields" since the System had given some heads up to Qiu Yue that what Jin created would most slightly move towards such a genre.

    Still, that only alleviated one Sub System User''s worries as the one who was most concerned about finding Jin had been intensively trained. Since the System repeatedly denied her entry to the Synthesis World despite Kraft''s assurance, Lynn had been very bitter towards the System and with much reason but considering that there was a chance Jin might note back so soon, it would be hard for the System to lose another ''employee'' to the Synthesis World especially when she was vital in the Dungeons and Pandas sales.

    Thus when she heard that the System finally gave the proper go ahead, she was more than ted. Lynn was ecstatic.

 Chapter 1485 Shopping Street

    "So, User do not worry. Qiu Yue will handle things from here on although it is still advisable for you to return to your world as soon as possible." The System said as it mentioned how the dungeon instance Jin made for the Demonstration would be used for his shop.

    "Lolбн Enlightenment phase. I do get it." Jin sighed as he was tapped on the shoulders to learn that they had reached the War Maidens manufacturing store. Well, he was expecting a workshop per se but apparently, there was a line of shops that sells whatever Jin wants.

    "You mean buying a War Maiden is something simr to window shopping?" Jin was stunned by the variety of stores and various manufacturers had their eyes looking at him. (Well, what can one expect when Jin and the others were carrying a huge duffel bag filled with gold bars?! Even though it was hidden within the duffel bag, the store assistants were experienced enough to identify a potential shopper.)

    "Come and test out Rocketeer''s products!"

    "Petra Series has the best Shotgun users of all!

    "You, hey you! I give you 30% for getting your products by Diamonds!"

    "How many manufacturer shops there are around here?" Jin asked as he felt harassed by the eyes looking at him.

    "Tens? Twenties? There are a lot who wished to have a piece of the pie since they are able to get gold bars from us." Click said and Jin asked which lines of the series they were from.

    "Most of us are from Rocketeers while Diaz was from Petra Series," Tellie replied and Jin finally understood why Diaz''s attitude was a little more entricpared to the rest of the team.

    "Well, at least they were not wrong. Diaz was good with a shotgun." Jinmented which made Diaz sneer a little.

    "If we are getting our medic back, I would suggest Diamonds. They are geared generally more towards Support type War Maidens." Diaz said but Jin said he wished to window shop a little longer despite the constant harassment. After all, in this cesspool of major manufacturers and shop sellers, there would be bound to have an odd one there, right?

    That was what Jin thought to himself, perhaps that one store which had seen the lowest customer rate because of his self conceited attitude but was undoubtedly talented. He was hoping to find one as seen in every isekai novel where the storekeeper had no choice but to support the main protagonist and in turn help outgrow himself.

    But Jin''s hopes were slowly dashing away as he checked every single store along that shopping street to find nothing of such sort within this town. The War Maidens were unsure what Jin was looking for as well and merely made sure that his duffel bag of gold bars was guarded properly as he walked around to make his choices.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "And here I thought I could make a special connection to a store owner. Is there really nothing in this nameless town?" Jin muttered to himself as he walked nearly to the end of the shopping street.

    "This isn''t no nameless town, you take your words back scumbag." One of the pedestrians heard it and scolded Jin for it. The Grey Bear Squad immediately intervened and made sure theirmander was protected.

    "Heh. Hiding behind those pieces of junk metal. You surely won''t be able to achieve far with those scraps of chum change." The pedestrian remarked and only then Jin could see that he was somewhat drunk.

    One of the security on patrol who noticed the ruckus quickly walked towards them to control the situation. "Apologies, this drunk had always been here making a lot of empty threats."

    "I am telling all of you! Youбн YOU! You guys have never seen a real War Maiden before!" The drunk said as the security begin to radio even more patrols to enter the scene. But to the rest of the shoppers and store owners around, it seemed like it was the usual thing.

    But what surprised Jin was that the drunk was able to overpower not just the security patrols but the strong enough to resist the security war maidens as well. "You guys cannot handle me on a 1 to 1 fight, that''s why you need your pesky walking metals. A realmander would be able to defeat me!"

    The drunk was obviously shouting all over the ce until Jin felt that this was an interesting development. Surely there was some truth to the drunk''s words else he would not be here as sober as a sea cucumber. Even if what he was saying was rubbish, believed that a quick brawl would help him see whether his Grade 2 could match his strengths but what he really wanted was a ''secret'' ending to emerge from all of this.

    The naive Astral Cultivator thought about the trope of isekai worlds and since he already met an isekai-ed person in his own world and even helped him out, karma would do the same for him as wellбн? Nevertheless, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

    "Hey, hey you! How about if I fight with you? Can you stop harassing the shopping streets and stay drunk in one corner?" Jin decided to provoke the drunk. "Then perhaps you can tell me about this super authentic real war maiden you were bragging about. If I lose, I buy you a month''s worth of alcohol, all of what you drink will be under my tab."

    All of the security guards see him and were perplexed as to why an ordinary citizen would want to mess around with this particr drunk. But some of the experienced security guards eventually internalised what was happening and could see that this particrmander would wish to unt himself.

    If that was the case, perhaps the drunk could really put him in ce since those guards had no love for snobbishmanders who keeping here to buy stuff.

    But most importantly, the drunk epted the challenge.

 Chapter 1486 A Drunken Brawl

    "Yo, littlemander. What is your name?" The drunk guy said as he ready his fists.

    "I am just somemander. No name needed."

    "Asshole, I need your name to put my name on the tab!" The drunk said before rushing in, using all his force in one punch.

    "And here I thought, I get to see some martial arts." Jin was expecting more than a straight punch and was even prepared to use his Inverse Eyes to see through his opponent''s attack. However, all that came was just a punch filled with uddened strength.

    The Astral Panda Cultivator gracefully deflected the punch without going for a counterattack to see whether if the drunk had anything more. "Heh, at least he gave out ast minute feint." Jin thought to himself as the deflection allowed the drunk to move into position and allowed him to strike with his left leg.

    This time, the strike was filled with the rumoured strength of how the other security patrols had trouble dealing with it. It was to the point Jin had to use two of his hands to hold and block him off. And when that happened, the drunk continued to attack by using the inertia of his body to m into Jin.

    There was no pattern to his attacks and he was merely using his strength to forcibly win the fight. Surely, power triumphs over everything as Jin had seen on many asions how cultivators used brute force to settle their fights in his dungeon instances.

    However, technique allowed the power to run its course, enabling it to disy the ingenuity of men''s creations through its executions. And that included how Jin used the techniques of the Neen Lazy Astral Panda to perform Panda Tumbling in order to move out of the way and subsequently strike him with Lazy Panda Swipe.

    The ''spectators'' had never seen someone able to single handle the drunk before as Jin swiped him on the back of his head. The drunk nearly fell to the ground because of that but was still conscious enough to get back on his feet despite his unsteady gait.

    "If anything, he is a good candidate for the Drunken Fist. Surely, if Lynn was around, she would be able to teach him some moves." Jin felt that he was assessing a potential ally in these parts. His strength was on par with a Grade 2 maybe even Grade 3 which Jin suspected that there was some augmentation done for him.

    And instead of being angrier, the drunk showed that he was giddy with excitement. It was as if he found someone worthy to duel with him. The security guards who had known this drunk for a long time knew that Jin was in deep trouble but Jin was unfazed by the situation.

    "Are you noting at me? If not, I make the move." Jin said as he sauntered towards the drunk and quietly filled his arm with Maqi. (Who says that this will be a fair fight? Hehehe! Kraft would be proud of him.) Just as the drunk wished to counter Jin equally with a fist, the Astral Panda Cultivator utilised Panda Tumbling once more not just to evade the drunk''s attack but also using the side of his body to m into him so that Jin could have a clean punch to his face.

    The sound of flesh thudding at his cheeks made even the security guards feel sorry for the drunk for the first time. However, the drunk was tenacious and tried to headbutt Jin but the cultivator stopped him by pulling his ear and pping him.

    Unfortunately, the drunk managed to grab hold of Jin''s shirt and decided to do the dirty move of kneeing him at his balls as hisst desperate retaliatory move. And the guards who were in awe with the current situation thought this might be the end of Jin''s offenceбнuntil they saw themander did a jump while splitting open his legs to avoid the knee jerk attack.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Almost everyone including his own Grey Bear War Maidens was astonished by his fast response and evasiveness. They all never expected amander to be this trained with closebat fights and even the security guard War Maidens were recording this as training data.

    Since Jin was in midair, he utilised his Panda Tumbling once more, allowing him to change his air jump into a somersault, allowing him to smash his heel onto the drunk''s shoulders, causing him to fall to the ground because of the impact. No doubt, the ground cracked a little from Jin and the drunk''s weight and surely thetter have a dislocated shoulder from that fight.

    "Do you have enough rampaging?" Jin smiled and the drunk nodded his head.

    "Aye, thank you for fixing my stiff shoulder." Heughed as he asked for his bottle that the security guard confiscated.

    The guards were confused about whether to give him the bottle. On one hand, it felt that if they gave him the bottle, there might be additional violence since he was equipped with a weapon, causing the fight to resume.

    "It''s fine, he had already calmed down," Jin said as he told the guards to just pass the bottle and the drunk guzzled the remaining drink he had.

    "So, Old Fammet, are you finally going toe with us peacefully?" The security guards said and the drunk smiled, nodding his head slowly. But before he left with the guards, Jin asked Yinn for his duffel bag and he gave two gold bars to the drunk.

    "Get yourself some better piss."

    "Heh, I like you, kid. Come back here tomorrow and I show you what''s a real War Maiden." Old Fammet said as one of the older security guards came forward and thanked Jin.

    "Apologies, he is always like this when he is in a slump."

    "Slump?" Jin asked.

    "Yes, he is a Mecha Smithбнor was a Mecha Smith." The guard said and Jin felt delighted that his gamble in taking on his encounter paid off. Now the feeling of being isekai and being supported by a talented but piss poor businessman had finallye true.

    Perhaps, that was why his ''business'' sense was tingling when he did the right thing to interfere with the drunk.

 Chapter 1487 Hotpot?!

    "Are you able to tell me more perhaps with a drink or two?" Jin asked as he ''subtlely'' showed a gold bar to the security guard and that somehow made his eyes twinkle.

    The guard coughed a little and shouted at his younger colleagues including the War Maidens handling the security to be less rough on Old Fammet. At that point, the police finally came to the scene to investigate (What rotten timing) but the older guard waved at his friends in the police team and told them that he would take care of it.

    Jin did not know that this particr security guard at some clout with the police and realised that the gold bar was indeed a good investment since he never liked the police in this town. The security guard then brought them to a nearby restaurant a street away from all the shopping and even got a table for them despite the crowd.

    "You seem quite well liked here," Jin said as he and the War Maidens finally had a ce to rest and partake in dinner. Jin instantly raised his investments to two gold bars the moment they sat down. Ironically, the person who was serving them was the owner of the restaurant and when he saw the gold bars being passed so nonchntly towards the security guard, his attitude towards Jin went from slightly pissed to benevolent.

    "What do you wish to eat? They even have a ''secret'' menu for regr customers so they could whip up almost anything as long as they have the items in their stock." The old guard said and Jin chuckled.

    "Well, I am craving for a hotpot and meat barbeque." Jin felt fried food was moreforting since his stomach was famished from the week long ''fasting'' but he know that it would be best to have some soupy stuff to nourish his body before feasting on the meat.

    "...sorry sir, hotpot?" The restaurant owner was confused as he never heard the term before.

    "Ermбнperhaps it was my vige speciality and I unknowingly spurted it out. Apologies." Jin tried to think of a way to hide his embarrassment as he had forgotten that this was another world.

    "No worries, how about you try to exin to me and I see what I can do." The owner said in such an angelic tone that it creeped the old security guard a little. He knows that his friend was also coveting the gold bars that Jin had. (Which thetter realised now why the gold bars were still in fashion in this supposed modern society.)

    "It''sбнsomething like a stew soup but instead of having it ready made for you, just prepare the soup stock for me and I will dip various vegetables in to eat. Then, we have sweet, sour and spicy sauces on the side to eat with it." Jin said and the owner was fascinated and stunned by the simple idea.

    "It''s okay if you do not have it, just give me some stew and roasted meat along with it." Jin decided topromise since he had forgotten how Lynn was always the one who prepared the food for him and he almost take it for granted.

    "No, no. I will try. That idea seems rather interesting and our menu does consist of chicken and vegetable soup." The owner said and Jin said that all he had to do was to bring the soup and a portable stove to the table and with it constantly boiling, he could dip it with raw meat and vegetables to cook it.

    "I do not really see the appeal to that. Why cook yourself when it had already been cooked?" Yinn asked and Jin shrugged and said that sometimes it is nice to have choices.

    "Also, do not worry if it is not up to standard, I will pay for the ingredients." Jin then tells the owner not to worry.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Sir, I had fulfilled many customised orders before and finally you had given me an outlook I never thought of before so I am epting this challenge." The restaurant owner said and told Jin that he would be back.

    "You might not know this, but he works for the royal kitchen as the sous chef once." The guard saidбн "But he got kicked out the day he got promoted."

    "That''s a rather drastic turn of developments." Jin did not expect such a heavy backstory to be told in a sentence.

    "Regardless, I am Nie, pleased to meet you."

    "Nice to meet you too." Jin shocked hands with the old security guard as a waiter came in and served them drinks.

    "Where do I first startбн" Nie said as he tried to dig into his memory. "Old Fammet wasn''t like this at all. In fact, this town was rather famous despite its distance away from the capital because of him."

    "But it had been many years, perhaps when you are just a weed when his reputation being one of the greatest Mecha Smith was still known to people all over the Empire. That is also the reason why you see so many manufacturing stores around because most of them came here to seek Old Fammet as their advisors."

    "At first, it was asking for the hand for cooperation but eventually, it turned topetition as Old Fammet did not wish to enter any of thepanies. In fact, thosepanies decided to band together and create a united embargo against him by putting up stores here to show that despite their inferior mechanoids, they were produced cheaply and can be reced easily."

    "So it''s something akin to quantity over quality."

    "Yes, and thepanies even made his life difficult by buying bulk materials from his suppliers that there was no way for him to purchase them unless he paid a higher price for them."

    "Which he did. Are you talking about Old Fammet again, Nie?" The restaurant owner came by with a boiling pot of soup as his employee quickly prepared a portable stove.

    "Is this how you do this? I added a little more into the vegetable soup to thicken the base." The restaurant owner said and Jin could already feel the fragrance running through his lungs.

    "Yes! Yes!" Jin said as the waiters started to bring him tes of raw sliced meat and an assortment of odd looking vegetables for him and the rest to partake in.

 Chapter 1488 Old Fammet

    "Yeap, we are talking about Old Fammet. This guy had recently simmered him down to the point that the old drunk was speaking properly." Nie said

    "OhбнNice one, Commanderбн" The restaurant owner know that this is a new face and waited for him to introduce himself

    "Jin. Commander of the Grey Bear Squad."

    "I see, Commander Jin. I hope you do have a decent dinner with your War Maidens and a long chat with thest apprentice of Old Fammet. Name''s Lant. Once you feel that you have enough of this бнHotpot, do tell my waiter, and we get started barbecuing your meat." Lant said as he bow, and finally smiled when he caught a glimmer of a gold bar which was slid to the corner of the table.

    "Your information had been most helpful too. I hope to continue having an amicable rtionship with you as well." Jin said as Lant was wondering why it was information rather than food. It bothered him a little but considering that he had not dug into his dinner, it was probably why he thanked him for the information that Nie was hiding.

    "And here I thought I can get another gold bar from him. You are a sneaky one, Lant." Nie grumbled as he could see Lant grinning and waving his gold bar while he walked away from the table.

    "Now it makes even more sense why you have so much clout in the area," Jin said as he asked Nie to have a try with the hotpot along as the other War Maidens were on the other table having their food served as well.

    "How do you do it?"

    "Just take the vegetable and dip it into the soup. Let it boil for a while before taking it out." Jin demonstrated by using adle which he requested from Lant previously and Nie tried it as per his instructions.

    As the vegetable''s texture softened, Jin picked it up to have a bite. As odd as the vegetable looked, its taste was not so shabby. To a certain degree, itplimented well with the soup too.

    "Wow, it''s actually not that bad," Nie said as the two of them continued their conversation with Nie telling Jin more explicitly how Old Fammet turned this way.

    "If it''s just thepetition, he would have turned out fine. Old Fammet had fame back then, thus money was not an issue and he was able to purchase those items without much trouble. The problem and his downfall came when the major cooperations came together to frame him."

    "How so?"

    "By using the Empire''s Tournament and asking him to bet on the War Maidens that he made. There was thismander by the name of Cai Fan. An oriental originmander who supposed to traits like honour and duty." Nie said as he twirled his forks in circles midair a few times as if to signal that the story was going to be bad.

    "Cai Fan had gotten his War Maidens from Old Fammet when he was still just a puny whiny officer barely passing with a 2nd lieutenant rank on his shoulders. But because of Old Fammet''s War Maidens, he was able to get through various promotions easily due to the quality of the War Maidens."

    "Of course, Old Fammet would be happy for him and even delighted to create a high quality customised War Maiden for the Empire Tournament as he know that Cai Fan would then bepeting against the othermanders who had been sponsored by the major manufacturing corporations."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He put his every heart and soul. Every skill and trick into the War Maidens as well as installing the Tactical System which was supposed to be a trademarked proprietary of his." Nie took a bite of the meat he ate and it was soaked with the soup''s stock it tasted good. Even better when he dipped it in some light soy sauce.

    "Shitбн did he betray him big time?" Jin said as he knows that everyone has a Tactical System installed.

    "Big big time. Cai Fan not only gave the War Maidens to the corporations to research on but also took their money so that their matches were fixed. Don''t say Old Fammet, even I did assist with the building of his War Maidens back then when I am just a newly minted Mecha Smith apprentice."

    "So, every match seemed like a close call but when it came to the finals, Cai Fan literally did not show up for the fight, citing bad connection links to the War Maidens and the corporations won by default. When Old Fammet wanted to check on this excuse, Cai Fan disappeared without a traceбн only until recent Empire Tournaments. He is now a full ranked Colonel and definitely sure he will join the uing Empire Tournament as well. "

    "Then I guess this betrayal had implications."

    "Of course. Old Fammet bet his everything including his hard earnt reputation into this match. His grandiose shop had to be closed down and everyone was let go. Even those who eventually tried to help him back up, the major corps were still keeping an eye on him, forcing him and his benefactors into huge problems."

    "It was so bad that people who tried to help him, were quick to rescind their aid. So Old Fammet had to get back up himself. It had been at least a decade or two since then and even though I still check on him from time to time, he did not seem taking it that well."

    "He will scour for old junk and sell them. Sometimes, fixing a few stuff for people and if I remembered correctly, helped did some emergency repairs for a fewmanders. Other than that, I saw him wasting his life away."

    "I see.." Jin said as he continued drinking the soup from the hotpot.

    "So, all I asked is that you have an open heart knowing that what he showed you might just be a relic from the past and not to hold against him for having such high expectations." Nie stopped eating for a moment and bowed a little to ask for forgiveness.

    "From the way I see it, you had been helping him quite a fair bit, aren''t I right? Including the owner here."

    "You are not wrong. We did owe him our lives back then." Nie said as he turned to see Lant serving the others. "But that is a story for another time. I need to return soon. Thank you for helping as well as the бнfood."

    "You are wee. I hoped I did tip you well." Jin stared at the budge where he kept his gold bars within bulletproof jacket.

    "You very much did, I can pay for my portion and I will also bring you to him tomorrow. There is no chance in hell, he would have remembered what had happened. Otherwise, have a good rest for now." Nie zipped up his jacket and then bid Jin goodbye as he quietly enjoyed thest portions of the hotpot. It was not longter, Jin had called for the BBQ meat and he joined his chair with the table where his War Maidens were sitting so that they could have a pleasurable meal together.

 Chapter 1489 Money Makes The World Go Round

    "Captain, do you think this is a good idea?" Yinn asked.

    "Hmm? Good idea for? To visit that Mecha Smith?" Jin paid in points for the dinner as the War Maidens felt really full and satisfied with the meal.

    "Have a good night, Commander Jin. Do you need a ce to stay I can rmend you an Inn. It seems like you guys have yet to find a ce considering all the equipment you are lugging around and that amount of money. Although I can see the confidence in you and your War Maidens." Lant said as he had more than enough tips from Jin today.

    "This is what I meant. Throwing your gold bars to random people." Yinn spoke through the tactical system and Jin chuckled both at Lant and Yinn.

    "You sure have lots of connections, Lant." Jin agreed to it.

    "Alright, I can make a few calls but I would need to know your rank designation to get a room for you," Lant said as Jin pulled out the promotion letter from the Archduke.

    "Ermбн Promotion letter? Okayбн I cannot guarantee whether they would ept that." Lant said and Jin told him that they could run the database for authenticity if needed.

    "That''s true too." Lant nodded his head as he calmly told his friend that a captain needed a ce to stay. Still, Lant was awfully surprised that a captain would be in these parts since there was not much here and most jobs were warranted for first lieutenant and below.

    "Apologies for the surprise, we do not get many captain rankedmanders around," Lant said to Jin and he nonchntly acknowledged the apology. "Considering thest minute booking, they are able to spare you a room for free because of your rank but it might be a bit ehhh.. Low standard for a captain?"

    "We will take that for now," Jin said and Yinn asked whether if he was going to once again waste money getting an upgrade for the room.

    "No?" I do not see the point of doing it as long as I have enough space for myself to rest.

    "I will hold your word to that," Yinn said as they thanked Lant and were given the coordinates to the specific Inn.

    Inn Paradiso

    When they reached the Inn which was thankfully only a few blocks away from the restaurant, Jin realised that it was actually like a hotel despite it being called as an Inn. A bellboy was there the Grey Bear Squad ced their equipment with the bellboy with the exception of the duffel bags which the bellboy nearly vomited when he saw the gold bars.

    He saw suitcases worth of bars but this was the first he saw duffel bags worth of gold bars. "So are all captains like him?" The bellboy thought to himself as he opened the door, and escorted them to the main reception area.

    "Captain Jin, is it? We had been expecting you. Apologies for the poor reception, we are a little understaffed at the moment. Your equipment would be sent to your room and do not need to be ced in the armoury." The woman who look like she was in her sixties said as she was typing furiously on her keyboard.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I thought we need to deposit our stuff?" Jin said in the assumption that their equipment needed to be ced in the armoury since they were still staying in an Inn.

    "Ah, you are newly promoted so I guess, old habits die hard. The room I provided you have an equipment storage area so you do not have to worry about that now that you are a captain. The equipment storage security is as secured as the armoury next door and had been connected directly to the police. Any breach in the storage by unidentified personnel would be reported to the police instantly."

    "Oh, I see. My bad, I thought when Lant said the room I am getting might have somepromises, I am assuming I will be bedding like a Lieutenant." Jin exined but the lead receptionist shook her head.

    "Even if we wish to do that, there are certain privileges that cannot be exempted once you reach a certain rank. We are the ones who should apologise for not providing you with the best experience in Inn Paradiso. We will see if we could get ready a better room for you if you stay for more than a night."

    "It''s fine. As long as my War Maidens are fully charged and I am well rested. All''s good." Jin said as he thanked Ste as written on her name tag.

    "Thank you for your understanding, Here are the one time use keycards to have ess to the armoury and room. Once you unlock them, they could be essed with your identification tag through your personal System." As Jin received the keycard, he slipped a gold bar once more to Ste and she blushed lightly.

    "You did it again, Captain Jin." Yinn side eyed the entire scene and yet Jin was unfazed by her scorn. Meanwhile, Ste bowed profusely to Jin and quickly called the bellboy toe to assist them to their rooms.

    "Why not? It''s for a better service. Don''t you know money makes the world goes round?" Jin said as the bellboy hurried and escorted them once more to the elevator and subsequently their rooms.

    He even assisted them with the know hows when they unlocked the room and gave them a tour of their suite while showing them how to use the armoury as well as theplimentary items that was provided for them.

    All the War Maidens know that bellboys do not perform such a service for nothing unless they are that enthusiastic in their jobs but considering how he had saw the amount of money that they were carrying, there could only be one purpose.

    "Mind reserving me the seat for breakfast for my War Maidens and me tomorrow morning?" Jin said as he thanked the bellboy for the tour and presented him with that shiny te of metal.

    "Yes, sure! dly! Would you prefer coffee or tea?" The Bellboy''s eyes sparkled.

    "Tea will be great. Thanks."

    "No, no. Thank you! If you need any assistance with your equipment, do not hesitate to call the service hotline!" The bellboy said as he bowed once more and left them be.

    "Captain." All of the War Maidens knew that was going to happen but could do nothing to stop Jin except grumble.

 Chapter 1490 The Dangers Of Being Rich

    "Commander Jin." Nie waved at him as he was seen at the Inn Paradiso right after Jin had finished his breakfast.

    "Nie. Lant told you that I am here?"

    "Yea. And I took the time to meet with Ste as well. She is an old friend of ours too."

    "Don''t you need to go to work?"

    "That gold bar you gave me was more than enough for me to take urgent leave."

    "See, that is what I meant when I said money makes the world goes round," Jin said through the Tactical System, especially directed to Yinn. And that was indeed true as the Grey Bear Squad had been reserved one of the best seats within the Inn''s dining area on the 20th floor.

    They had the entire view of the town as well as being able to take the sights of the distant mountain. Not to mention, they have fresh food being served right from the kitchen with requests being taken personally by Ste. All the food was served while the other guests were wondering why the Squad was being taken care of personally by the Inn''s Owner.

    The Bellboy even volunteered to take their equipment for maintenance which wasplimentary based on Jin''s current rank and they did not have to waste any time going to the armoury to get the weapons checked.

    Jin even asked if the bellboy was able to get them to restock some items like ammunition and grenades which Ste overheard and told them that it was not a problem at all. She even said that she could handle the sales of the extra firearms which Jin had managed to pick up fighting against the rebels. (Diaz wasining a little the night that she had to carry all of them but given the recent upgrade, theint was more like rumblings)

    Everything was done for them just because Jin had given them a gold bar or two and they were ted to be of service to the Grey Bear Squad.

    "I get what you mean now." Yinn was hesitant to acknowledge it since earning those gold bars was not easy but if it provided such time savingforts, she could see why Jin was acting this way when in a society, everyone was selfish about their wealth.

    "Where is he staying at the moment?" Jin asked and Nie asked whether if he had seen the distant mountain from the inn''s dining area.

    "He stayed at the bottom of Mount Sunn but if I am not mistaken his workshop is on the higher grounds," Nie replied as he loosen his jacket and pointed at his gun, indirectly Jin that he had to be armed for the trip.

    It was then the bellboy just came back from the armoury and waved at Jin. "Well, looks like our equipment is here. Suit up Grey Bears. We are going for a hike."

    "I will get my SUV out at the front," Nie said while Jin and the others were being directed to a holding area where they could arm themselves.

    "You mind helping me bring all these back to my roomter?"

    "No problem, Sir Jin. It will be my pleasure." The bellboy said and Jin smiled, thanking him for his services. And as the bellboy waited outside, Yinn queried if it would be wise to bring duffel bags of gold bars to the mountains.

    "What if it is a trap?" She asked with concern that all this kindness by these people might have an agenda.

    "Then I would pose the same question back again. What makes you think that this Inn is safe from thieves and robbers?" Jin asked as he picked up the P90 submachine gun which he felt it was a good fit for him since thest encounter against the rebels.

    "All the inns had been insured so any losses we incurred would bepensated also, stealing from an Inn is a crime punishable by death," Yinn replied, indicating that it is clearly safer to put the gold bars at the Inn until they confirmed that Old Fammet was someone of the real deal.

    "Then again, we just got out of the police station and considering how badly we were treated, do you think they will entertain usбнespecially when I had also punched the daylights out of that police supervisor?"

    "You what?" the Grey Bears asked simultaneously.

    "What? He made all of us miserable, I figured I gave him a good proper sucker punch for all that shit we have gone through. Besides, I had permission from the Archduke." Jin was wondering why he was being treated as a suspect.

    "Well, he did at least deserve a p." Tellie who was considered the most ''neutral'' person in the squad epted Jin''s exnation and made Yinn sigh in agreement.

    "It''s alright. We bring those gold bars with us and if it is a trap, then we would make do with the situation. Besides, you are forgetting how capable yourmander can be." Jin said it without reserve and Yinn merely saluted him back with a ''Sir'' knowing that what he said was not exactly wrong, especially after what he had done for the squad.

    "But in case this is a trap, I suggest we put tracking tags into our duffel bags as well as on ourselves," Jin said as he opened one of the boxes, showing enamel pins with colourful cute bears on them. It seemed like Jin had already thought one step ahead of them until they picked up the pins and realised that they were normal metal pins.

    "Aren''t they just purely essories? What use can these do? Identify that I am a bear loving member of the society?" Diaz''s sarcasm was through the roof.

    "Most tracking tags can be deactivated by jamming signals so I decided to use something a little outside of this world," Jin said as he poured his Maqi into the metal enamel pins making them condensed enough to stay within the pins for at least a week.

    And thereafter signal became apparent within the tactical system.

 Chapter 1491 Private Corpos Ambush - Part 1

    "I do not really know what it is but I do feel there a small change to it even though there is currently no scientific reason to it." Click said as she touched the pins and clenched it tight.

    "We are doing this just in case things go awry, we will still be able to locate each other. Other than that let''s hope that our worries are baseless." Jin said as he packed himself the usual loadout and carried some extra ammunition. The vest became heavy and it made him missed the storage watch that he had with him.

    Not to mention the protection that it provided with the living armour pieces that came with it. But if anything was a constion, he still have the abilities bestowed by the Three Cardinals as well as the dungeon making ability.

    The night before, he and the Tactical System secretly created a few instant dungeons in order to trap his enemies in case they were out there to trap him. (A reverse trap!) He honestly did not thought that far that those people that aided him so far would be devious enough to swindle him but he was more of creating it in the event of enemies.

    Now that Yinn had reminded him how smooth sailing it gone, Jin was relieved that he had stayed up the night to prepare for such instances. But yet, he prayed internally that nothing bad would happen to them. To his surprise, Yinn and Tellie had searching their own version of inte to check whether Old Fammet does exist and with visual records from the night''s brawl, his physical imagery checked out.

    Nie''s SUV came out from the Inn''s parking lot and he stayed in his vehicle after honking once. Diaz and Click went up to pick up the duffel bags from the room while Tellie and Yinn brought the remaining extra equipment into the back of the SUV. The bellboy then took the remaining equipment back to Jin''s suite.

    "Wow, for a trip to the Mecha Smith, you are packing quite a lot of heat." Nie said and Jin merely smiled.

    "You said yourself. The major corps still had an eye on him. It would not be a surprise they woulde out of the woods and beat us up if those corporate spies decided that we are a possible a growing threat." Jin made up the only reasonable excuse for packing this much heat.

    "Hmm, you are right to stay on the safe side. The people who asked him for emergency repairs were greeted the same way. That was why they needed the emergency repairs." Nie said the part of the story that had been omitted from his initial story.

    Yet Jin continued to y cool as the duffel bags had been loaded into the SUV and all four War Maidens were still able to squeeze into the SUV. Considering that his SUV was a six seater vehicle, it did gave them more than enough space to have their weapons on theirps.

    While the War Maidens were on alert mode, Jin was able to sit back and rx right beside the driver as they drove out of the town with no U-turns or anything. The moment they were out of the town outskirts and approached near the woods, Jin released his chi sensing once more so that they could be keep a look out of any possible ambushes.

    The only thing he could not detect if there were literal traps such asnd mines but he believed the old security guard would not be such a daredevil to perform such stuns to make him feel innocent.

    But as they moved closer to the mountain and deeper into woods, Jin had started to pick up a few human signals.

    "Be on guard." Nie suddenly said to Jin breaking the quiet but tense atmosphere that they had been riding.

    "I had sent my security War Maidens ahead to take a look at the woods for me, as you had said the corps had always yed dirty. They haven''t been responding to me."

    "Why would you do that?"

    "I met up with Old Fammet after our dinner. He said he finally saw someone who had the guts and drive in their eyes to be number one. I never really understood how he notices people, perhaps he had some analysing processor in his eyes but he told me something that he had never said for these two decades."

    "What he said?"

    "I will fire up the furnace once more. Get your gear and meet me at the bottom of Mount Sunn. I need an assistant with me." Nie said as his expression got a bit teary. "There is no doubt that those private corps caught wind of your intention to meet him since they have informers in the police department. But I did not expect them to move this fast especially when there was no activity for so many years."

    As Nie said that, he pressed on the pedal even harder, hoping to elerate and moved towards the hill faster.

    "As much as Jin wished to take his words with a grain of salt, there was no denying that what Nie said could bepletely true. If Ming were to be alive again, there was no doubt that Jin might drop everything and assist his grandfather in whatever ways he can now that he knew the truth about him.

    And as Nie pressed onward, the number of pings got even more drastic through the Tactical System that the War Maidens were ready to act if Jin gave them the signal. "We will be heading into Old Fammet''s workshop, there are more than enough defensive systems to deter them all. I am pretty sure that they are still working if Old Fammet had suggested ''turning the furnace'' on for me."

    "Then I guess I should be d that I have packed more than heat with me for this trip." But the moment Jin said it, a loud whirr from the top was heard and a missile flew towards them. With Jin''s acute senses, he quickly took the wheel and caused Nie to do a quick left, giving them the flora and fauna as cover.

    Although the missile''s explosion was huge but with the trees as cover, all they had extreme bumpy exit but things don''t look good at all as they had quite a distance to cover before reaching the bottom of Mount Sunn.

 Chapter 1492 Private Corpo Ambush - Part 2

    "What the fuck?! Did they bring a ne into a fight like this? How the hell are we going to survive this shit?" Diaz said as she lost sight of the ne but was able to hear it from afar with its roaring engines.

    Nie quickly returned to the main road for a smoother drive even though he knows that riding in the forest would be a safer choice. Like what Diaz said there was no way they were able to beat a fighter jet head on.

    "Tellie, pick up that 50 calibre sniper gun from the back and get the new ammunition clip from the box. Hurry it up!" Jin shouted and Nie was thinking how insane would he be to fight an aerone with a rifle. In fact, it was unheard of and Nie would believe that his War Maidens would not follow such a ridiculous order. Perhaps he was thinking of letting one of his War Maidens down and act as a distraction, so having a sniper rifle would be the best bet.

    But no.

    Tellie picked up the Beretta rifle while Diaz lowered the window of his SUV. The assigned sniper of the squad immediately checked the rifle after loading a clip of explosive rounds, one of the items which Jin had asked the bellboy to buy in the morning.

    She slowly put her head out of the window and subsequently her torso and the rifle along with it. Tellie could see that the ne was going for another round at them and this time round it flew slightly lower to make sure there was no chance for them to run away the moment the pilot sent the missile out.

    In the meantime, Jin requested for a wired connection to Tellie and Yinn assisted by grabbing Jin''smunication cord towards Tellie''s neck where she had a port. As cyberpunk as it sounded, Jin found out the previous night that he does have a wire at his ear, allowing for wired connections to perform several sensitive tasks. The Tactical System joked about how he could now connect to the inte back in Jin''s Earth if he was feeling that the wifi in his room was slow. (But it was never slow, the System ensured it)

    Why Jin did this because he wanted to connect to Tellie''s vision and see what she saw. Even though he was quite sure of his abilities to shoot, one could say that he rather have the hands of a machine topensate for any possible shorings. It was especially crucial when they have a freaking fighter ne behind their tails. And even though he can wirelessly connect Tellie''s vision to himself, there could still be ag between the wireless transmission and that few milliseconds could be the difference between life and death.

    In addition, by connecting with Tellie, he would also have full control of his War Maiden while using his current abilities on top of it. With Tellies'' vision connected to Jin, his Inverse Eyes were also working overtime to magnify when the missile was about to drop.

    This was because there were no visible missiles on the ne but Jin could see the moveable slot in the middle of the ne and he assumed that the missile was going to emerge from that particr slot. What Jin needed to do was to make sure he was able to fire when the missile appear.

    "System, I am relying on you for the calctions!" Jin shouted within his mind and at the same time, he activated all the avable code boosts that were possible for Tellie to take in. To his surprise, there were more options than before mainly because of her promotion tonce corporal as well as the instation of Package Ten.

    "uracy up by 60 percent , Long Distance Barrel created and installed. Booster chip installed into Beretta Sniper Rifle. Strength is up by 40 percent. Steady Hands activated. Uneven Shooting Trait(Temporary) Activated. Package Ten Nitro Boost activated, full focus with double tap readied." The Tactical System continued to rumble more code activations out and Tellie turned from a War Maiden into a stationary rifle stand as extensions emerged from her body even though Diaz and Click were holding her steady.

    In fact, those extensions poke into Diaz and Click, borrowing their processing power so that Tellie was able to make the shot when the timees. Even while Yinn was sitting behind them, she too had decided to share the processing load by cing her wire into Click''s port, allowing all of the Grey Bear Squad to be connected to Tellie.

    Meanwhile, Nie tried to drive as straight as possible despite not knowing what was happening. His prediction that a War Maiden would drop off as a distraction was definitely wrong and they were attempting to shoot a fighter ne down.

    As he sweats and pushed on the pedal, he was inadvertently increasing the difficulty for Tellie but there was no time to tell him to slow down, causing more variation in the equation of the squad''s sniper processing.

    The moment of truth came as the ne finally caught hold of the SUV in its targeting system and it clicked a button to open the slot beneath the belly of the ne so that it could release his missile out to the enemy and be done with the day.

    Yet, that overconfidence and dy in shooting the missile allowed Tellie to have a better gauge of the distance since the bullet air time had to be recalcted the moment the missile door opened.

    Thus, the moment Jin saw the very tip of the missile edging out of the ne''s opened slot, Tellie was given themand via thought and her fingers pushed down the trigger. Bullet versus missile.

    To ayman and in most situations, they would have assumed correctly. In fact, that would have been a very stupid question to ask.

    Just not this time. Not for the Grey Bear Squad and Jin.

 Chapter 1493 Private Corpo Ambush - Final

    As the bullet mmed onto the tip of the missile, it caused the vtile chemical within the bullet point to ignite. The bullet''s explosion didn''t exactly caused the missile to explode but rather forced a jerk in the ne''s movements since it only hit the guidance system when it met bullet tip to missile tip.

    But this already made the ne move downwards because the pilot was unsure what was happening and forced him to auto react by pulling his stick downwards. This sudden movementplimented the second bullet from Tellie''s double tapping going through the hole that the first bullet had made by exploding the missile guidance system causing a series of chain explosions.

    The second bullet prated further through the missile guidance system before hitting the portion where the missile''s warhead had been ced, causing it to explode and destroying the internal portions of the ne, forcing it to go into mes.

    There was no way the pilot would have envisioned how his life was going to end this way. In fact, he even had nned for things to do after this sortie which made life even more unpredictable for these frence pilots.

    But because the private corpo pilot was killed, all the points that he had umted were being transferred to Jin. A whooping half a million points! All the gold bars that he had were nothingpared to this dead pilot''s wallet.

    Nie could not believe that Jin and the Grey Bear Squad had somehow managed to destroy a fighter jet and possibly one of the most advanced versions, perhaps even a private corpo prototype that had been destroyed since he has never seen such a ne before. But instead of being ted by this minor victory in the grand scheme of events, Nie quickly concentrated on stepping on the eleration, hoping that he could get to Old Fammet''s base as soon as possible.

    On the other hand, Tellie was busted from the overload of code boost. She was practically smoking from all her venttion points. Diaz and Click tried to reduce her heat by holding onto her so as to transfer heat through conduction but it was useless until Jin turned around and assisted in reducing her temperature.

    He utilised his Maqi and turned it into White Panda Ice Energy and attempted to regr her temperature as they pulled back into the car. The SUV''s interior turned icy cold because of Jin''s maniption of the temperature and Nie initially thought it was him who turned the thermostat down to the lowest to have such an effect until it became too cold to be true.

    "How the hell is this ce so cold? Your War Maidens has the ability to control ice cold winds?" Nie shouted as he tried to look behind despite the need to stay focused on the front.

    "Do not worry about that, worry about what is in front!" Diaz said as she pointed forward and only then Nie realised that there was a roadblock right in front of him.

    "Fuck fuck fuck!" Nie knows that stopping now would do nothing but cause the current situation to deteriorate and the soldiers in front were already shooting at them. So, all he could do was step on the peddle hoping not to die in the process.

    "Yinn, Diaz!" Jin shouted and the two War Maidens immediately had their weapons out of the SUV''s windows and started retaliating back against the soldiers at the roadblock. Jin had alsomanded the Tactical System to use code boost on his War Maidens, but only using the uracy boost codes. (Meanwhile, the SUV continued to stay cold despite the windows were opened making it very sure to Nie that one of their War Maidens probably have a temperature modting module that allowed them to st cold air while Jin configured his overheated War Maiden.)

    But that cold air was good for the head as it made him calm enough to charge and topple the roadblock allowing him to move the veryst stretch where he could see Old Fammet''s workshop gatesing into sight.

    Yinn and Diaz continued to provide cover fire until they heard sounds of artillery booming its way from Old Fammet''s hideout.

    "You rascals better hurry up! My gates are rusty!" Old Fammet shouted through the speakers and the bombardments happened, causing the private corpo Mechanoids to be sted out of existence.

    Nie changed his gear to the max and pressed the peddle even harder as if it would make any difference as they continued to push through until they passed the rusty old gateway and Old Fammet mmed the emergency lock button to cause those gates to abruptly right in front of those private corpo soldiers.

    Cement walls were also raised giving birth to a secondyer of defence before the turrets emerge on the top of them, making the workshop thest bastion of safe haven for Old Fammet and the Grey Bear Squad.

    "Are you guys alright?" Old Fammet asked as Jin came out of the SUV and assisted the rest to bring Tellie out of the car.

    "My War Maiden a little busted from an overdrive of codes. We tried to cool it down but I suspect there may be something else that is interfering with her rebooting." Jin said in a concerned manner which made Old Fammet smile with joy that there were stillmanders who cared for the Mechanoids as if they were a part of their team. Not just some disposable robot.

    "Bring her into my workshop. I think I know what the problem is. NIE BRING ME MY DRINK AND GET TO WORK!"

    "YES BOSS!" Nie shouted as he ran to open the workshop doors. As Diaz carried Tellie into the workshop.

    "Yinn, Get to the top with the sniper rifle and survey the perimeter. Bring more ammunition with you. Click, check if those turrets or artillery guns needed more manning or if they need more ammunition, bring it to them. Else, direct their firepower to the targets you see on the tactical system." Jin said as he went to the SUV to pick up his weapons while boosting the chi aura.

    "Yes, Captain!" The two War Maidens said as they followed him to get what they needed for the fight.

 Chapter 1494 Slaughter

    When Jin went to the SUV to pick up his weapon, the item that he chose was not the P90 submachine gun that he adored since thest mission. Instead, it was a standard stock long sword and a short sword which Jin had the bellboy purchase and pick up.

    Yet, he still hoisted a pistol and the P90 Submachine at the back of his waist for an emergency. Yinn had no idea why Jin preferred to engage enemies for closebat fights but she had to stop doubting his ability to do anything.

    "I will stop them, please watch for friendly fire Click," Jin said as he picked up the two swords like how he did for Bam and Boo and rushed forward.

    "Isn''t the gate closed?" Click asked as she equipped herself with the standard M4A1 rifle with a grenadeuncher extension.

    "He probably will take adder or something to go over it."

    "Did Old Fammet even register us as friendlies?" Click asked thinking that the defensive systems would probably shoot anything that move given the situation but all Yinn gave was a stare. A short but intense stare signals her to get things done.

    "Thatбн I will quickly register him into the system details!" Click acknowledged the silent order as both of them saw that Jin did not take anydder and defined normal human capabilities by doing a double jump using the nearby wall as support to cross over the barricade. Spikes suddenly emerge from the tip of the wall but Jin casually somersaulted over preventing him from being stabbed to death by something so trivial.

    Both of the War Maidens now identified that the defensive systems had indeed did not register Jin as a friend which made Click frantically run to a nearby control system to check its IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe)

    "And here I thought only War Maidens would have such a capability to do such a stunt. And even if War Maidens can do that, only the customised ones are able to perform such acrobatic feats." Yinn said as she climbed on a ledge so that she would save time getting up to the top of the workshop''s tower to reach adder that was right above the ledge. (Maybe she was just influenced by Jin''s manoeuvres and tried to see if she could do the same as well.)

    "IFF for Captain Jin had been registered!" Click said but so far she had yet to hear any defensive turrets going off which meant that they did not detect Jin''s presence. But judging from the tactical system, Jin should have been within the range of the defensive turrets.

    What Click did not know was that Jin had utilised Green Panda Wind Energy and Yellow Panda Lightning Energy to dash slightly faster than the speed of sound to get out of range. Click thought that the turrets might be malfunctioning to Jin''s awfully good luck and quickly double checked to ensure that its systems were working before the enemies reached close enough.

    "Weird, all systems are green and a quick analysis showed that it''s working." Click said to herself as she went to check if there were any other Mechanoids around since there should be some if they were operating the artilleries.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    As she ran to the artillery range, she realised that there were no Mechanoids around and instead automated robots with the parts of War Maidens to ensure the smooth transition of reloading and firing of those artillery guns.

    The same goes for the mortars as well which caused her to be surprised how Old Fammet managed to get these assistant part-robot, part-mechanoids to run the defence systems. "He might not have the money but he does have the brains." Click thought to herself as her image of Old Fammet went shot up to the roof.

    In the meantime, Jin had already located the iing private corpo troopers and started aiming at their War Maidens. With a familiar set of weapons in hand, Jin was giddy to see whether he can increase hisbat potential with the current limitation of his grade. How much can he push the ceiling of grade 2 with his powers so that it could be a reference for the System as data.

    After all, it was umon for cultivators to regress back to grade 1 and this gave Jin the opportunity to properly hone his cultivation now that he has the know hows and experience.

    His closebat fights were also useful in forest settings since his weapon attacks were silent, allowing him to ambush them after what they had done to him and his squad. And if the enemy group were too near, a quick radio to Click was more than enough to decimate and break up the group by terrorising them with an artillery shot or two.

    The War Maidens under Private Corpo might prove to be stronger than the rebels that Jin fought but they never expected a Commander to enter into the fray all by himself and even used closebat weapons to fight with them.

    In fact, they were surprised that they could not get a hit on him despite all the urate shots. But the problem was that the more urate they were, the easier Inverse Eyes were able to see it and Jin was capable of countering them by deflecting their bullets with his sword qi or dodging them.

    It was to the point where the Private Corpo War Maidens thought that Jin was not amander but a War Steward like Kurt and Lark. But too bad for them, the more they attempt to calcte and fight, the less likely they will survive the fight against Jin.

    When Yinn reached the top of the Workshop tower, she could only perform overwatch on the straight road that they just came from and reported to Click that her hit was not off the mark since everything else was covered by the forest and there was no further activity nearer to the workshop since every single Private Corpo War Maiden were rushing to aid their fellowrades to defeat Jin.

    "He is a beast."

    But as much as they wished to rx, the worst had yet toe.

 Chapter 1495 Bigger Guns

    As Jin cut off the head of thest War Maiden within his vicinity he realised that more of them wereing towards him and wondered where the hell did all these Mechanoids even emerge from.

    The Private Corpomanders were losing it when they found out that they were being wiped out by amander who was supposed to be just a Captain. They were expecting tactical manoeuvres with a varied bunch of Mechanoids but instead, Jin fought them off with just swords.

    However, can a sword fight against a vehicle?

    Especially one that was armoured fully with a barrel right in the middle of it all.

    Yes, if War Maidens cannot defeat the Grey Bear Squad''s Commander who had decided to seek help from Old Fammet, then what they can do was to overwhelm him with brute force. Obviously, they were not around within the vicinity but were transported via a few helicarriers.

    If they were further from Old Fammet''s workshop, they would have brazenly lowered the tanks close to Jin and showed him the power of explosive anti personnel firepower. However, the helicarriers pilots knew that Old Fammet had surface to air missiles and they had to be careful transporting the tanks close to the area.

    Thispounded the fact that Jin and his Grey Bear Squad had managed to down one modern fighter jet ne with just a bullet scares the helicarrier pilots as well since they were not expecting such a formidable enemy looking for Old Fammet. This made themanders and the higher ups worried about what the Grey Bear Squad could do if they joined hands with him.

    So as they ced the tanks down from a distance, Jin could already know what was going to happen if he left them alone. Surely, bringing a tank to kill a man was overkill, but this was what private corpos are all about. Using money to crush someone until they are dead.

    What they failed to understand or would never understand was that Jin was unique. Do they think that they could run away especially bringing tanks into the picture? No way. If Jin could enhance his War Maidens to bring down a fighter ne with just a sniper bullet, what can else can they do if they were connected to a surface to air missile guidance system?

    "I have my sights on the helicarriers. Providingser guidance." Yinn said as she finally had something to do other than providing overwatch on the road.

    "Captain, I had manually taken over one of the SAM sites. Ready for yourmand." Click voiced over.

    "Captain, I heard that you are taking on tanks now, can you spare some War Maidens for me?" Diaz finally finished her escort and was running out of the workshop with a rocket booster pack strapped behind her. While she could not jump as deftly as Jin, her legs should still be able to do a decent high jump and the rocket boosters would no doubt give her sufficient height to pass through the spike trap.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "As long as you can pass that spike hurdle, don''t get yourself killed. I am not going to rebuild you." Jin said as he knelt down to dodge a tank shot that was aiming right at it. The tree several metres away from him got a huge hole with splinters as well as a dead War Maiden that was caught by the attack.

    "They are using grape shots. Anti personnel shells." The Tactical System warned and Jin acknowledged the risk.

    "I will get it done and over." His Inverse eyes lit up and he charged his sword up with Maqi. As much as he wished to slice the tank into half, he believed that the sword he had would not be able to withstand such an attack and will definitely break either half way or once Jin had finished slicing the tank into two. Still, that meant that he would have two shots to do so before relying on the conventional ying of tanks by throwing grenades into the interior.

    "If I am that confident to throw my grenade into the tank''s barrel. Hahaha!" Jin said as he started moving and saw that Diaz had already reached to contact the enemy War Maidens at the east. She was not giving those War Maidens any mercy as she followed Jin''s aggressiveness and ran as close as she could to shoot the War Maiden''s head off with her shotgun. As if one was not enough, she had brought another shotgun to increase her versatility in killing the War Maidens. (Those rocket boosters were helping a lot as well.)

    But the main show was Click and Yinn as Jin on the sidelines activated their code boosts to increase processing capabilities so that they could manually override the SAMs out of their limited range and guide them to the slower moving helicarriers.

    The first SAM flew off, causing the helicarrier pilots to panic initially as there were no missile lock signals since the Grey Bear War Maidens were manually guiding the SAM and their res were not working as intended as they tried to evade it. A huge explosion was heard over Jin''s head marking the first helicarrier kill they could get.

    While they were merely support units, Jin felt that destroying them would no doubt hurt Private Corpo''s wallet and their budget. Surely they could afford these few helicarriers that were capable to bring tanks into battle with ease but why avail them of such options again when Jin could destroy them.

    These caused the helicarriers to scamper away but with one sessful kill, Yinn and Click continued to hunt those down and even requested Jin to enhance the SAMs which they know it was possible with the uniqueness of his code boosts.

    But instead of bothering the Captain, the Tactical System took charge of those requests and caused the missiles that Click was prepping to have an additional secondary booster at the side, allowing for better manoeuvrability and range.

    "Heh heh! Goodbye Helicarriers! Hello Killstreak!" Click incidentally licked her lips as she was given the go ahead by Yinn to fire the subsequent missile.

    It was definitely a brilliant field day for the Grey Bear Engineer.

 Chapter 1496 No More Tanks

    "Sound like it''s lots of fun outside." Old Fammet said as he booted up his C-ARM scanner, basically, an X-Ray machine that had its x ray generator at the top and detector at the bottom all in one C shape.

    "I would not exactly say its fun, but I cannot believe that you seem to be preparing for such a day," Nie said as he booted up the diagnostics along with the X Ray machine. He then called Old Fammet to stand behind the lead shields so he do not get radiated by the scanner.

    "Arrgh you are as old as I am, what does that bit of radiation harm you for?" Old Fammet grumbled as he was being dragged by Nie to the lead shield and they took the imagery scan of Tellie.

    And a few more x ray scans of the torso and the legs were more than enough to see the entire Mechanoid''s full picture. Nie tried his best to remember how to operate the systems within his master''s workshop since they were rather oldpared to the current technology they all had been using. However, he cannot me him when he has been trying his best to maintain everything with scrap parts.

    "Heh, it''s been a while since I see such a fucked up Mechanoid. Who is this guy?" Old Fammet asked and Nie shrugged his shoulders.

    "I assumed he is some noble since he had been shoving gold bars in our faces. I thought you acknowledged him because he had decided topete with you and have the money to back it up as well."

    "No, I will not acknowledge him because of such petty reasons. Of all themanders I had disturbed at the Shopping Street, he was the only one willing to go into battle in recent years and he is tough." Old Fammet said as he brought out his tools as if he was a surgeon going into a field operation.

    "I thought you are the toughest of them all," Nie said as hebined all the X Ray images and Old Fammet''s workshop system showing all the possible problems that had urred for Tellie.

    "I am and will always be in Town Gorgo. But that guy was skilled enough to use my strength against me. Yet, he was hiding his true strength as you can see via my security cameras." Old Fammet said as he lit up the monitor consoles with the forest''s CCTVs.

    Nie was astonished by the amount of decapitated Mechanoids in the field and it was obvious they were fresh ones considering the armament they were carrying as well as the cleanliness of those Mechanoids.

    Then, Old Fammet switched the camera once more and it happened to be live capturing Jin running towards a tank. It was not umon for a Mechanoid to have such guts since they could bemanded to perform such an endeavour. However, for amander to do that so willingly? It takes more than guts. It takes facing death in the face without fear.

    "Then should we quickly fix his Mechanoid so that she could aid him in battle?"

    "Heh, why should we?" Old Fammet said. Besides, the Mechanoid was merely suffering from overheating and the scans showed that there were no parts that needed any recement." Old Fammet said.

    "Then why are we doing diagnostics to his Mechanoid?"

    "Because I am interested in his link to the Royal Family or the nobles ." Old Fammet replied as he went to the console and pointed at one particr chip which was obviously imprinted with the number R10 on it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Royal Package Ten?! Isn''t that one of your past creations?" Nie understood that majors and above were able to receive Package Ten as part of their enhancement to their Mechanoids but for Jin to receive the Royal Package Ten was something Rocky did not inform. (And perhaps, Rocky had no idea that old Package Ten rotting within Archduke''s mobile inventory was a relic created by Old Fammet himself before he went bankrupt.)

    "Whether it is through coincidences or not, the fact that he had ess to a Package Ten is still something worth noting." Old Fammet said

    "Is that why you made such an uproar that day,pared to drinking yourself drunk like every other day? How did you even know that they were installed with the Royal Package?"

    "If I cannot identify what I made, should I still be a Mecha Smith?!" Old Fammet shouted before he calmed down and told him to look at the frequency detector. "You might not be able to hear it but you should able to identify that the frequency of his Mechanoid is different from the average.

    "You can hear the frequency it emits?"

    "Somewhat? Like I said, how can I not know if it''s my own creation."

    "But still! Hearing frequency isn''t what a normal human would be able to do!" Nieined and Old Fammet grunted, showing him his ears had been built with a frequency detector.

    "Holy shitбн I have been your apprentice for a few years previously and I never know such stuff."

    "You should be thankful, I still acknowledge you as my apprentice till now."

    "It''s because there is no one left at Town Gorgo to even take care of you." Nie rolled his eyes and Old Fammet sighed while murmuring a rather soft thanks. Nie, even though he is of old age, could still him and kept quiet while working on the systems until they heard a loud boom from the CCTVs and they turned their heads to see what was going on.

    However, by the time their eyes caught the scene, a modern battlefield tank was burning right in front of them. Old Fammet as eager as his apprentice quickly tried to rewind on another monitor the very same clip and could not believe their eyes.

    Jin basically used a sword to slice the modern tank into two before casually activating a grenade and throwing it into the crevice as if it was just another day in the field for him.

    "Unbelievable"

 Chapter 1497 Cleaning Up -Part 1

    "What in the world did that Jin do?" Nie was bbergasted by the Grey Bear''s Squad actions as Old Fammet tried to recalibrate his monitors to the screen where they could see a tank in action.

    The imagery was a little blurry because of its distance but they could see Jin was actively moving towards the tank without any fear once more. This time around he jumped upwards using the trees as pirs to support his leaps while the machine gunner was trying to catch him in his line of sight. Despite it being a Mechanoid, she was unable to quickly locate and adjust the machine gun''s spray range onto Jin.

    And then, it happened.

    A visual sh of energy cut the tank and the Mechanoid machine gunner outside the tank into two. Secondary explosions from the intense cut forced the tank to explode once more even without a grenade at hand.

    "Haбнhahaбн" The two Mecha Smiths could hear the abatedughing from the diagnostic table and it seemed like Tellie had woken up. "Apologies Captain. Looks like I took a nap without your permission." Tellie said out verbally even though she was telling it to everyone within the team.

    This was because there were already cables attached to Tellie for diagnostic purposes and one of them was wired to her as audio.

    "Do not worry. We are taking care of it. Just rest easy on the Mecha Smith''s hands" Jin''s audio was being yed out loud as well.

    "Yea, Just take a snooze, Tellie. You did great sniping a fighter jet off the sky. Perhaps, you are the first one in the world who could ever do that." Diaz said but her background was nosier with shots flying around her and she sted back at the War Maidens that were terrorising the forest near Mount Sunn.

    "Yinn is enjoying your role though." Click giggled through the inte. "Perhaps she is jealous that you are able to take down a fighter jet this easily. She is venting her anger by aiming for all the helicarriers that were returning."

    "Helicarriers?" Tellie was confused as she sat up and saw familiar faces and subsequently the bed she was lying on.

    "Yeah. They brought tanks in and even though we have Javelins, we are not using them yet. You remember Jin was like buy a Javelin in case of a tank fight and we were like no wayyyyyy that was going to happen." Click exaggerated.

    "And Diaz was like let''s just buy one because we all know she just likes big guns although Yinn was afraid that the money Jin gave the bellboy to even ask him to order a Javelin was too much. Then here we are fighting against private corpo tanks. I guess."

    "Concentrate Click. We have one more helicarrier. This is thest one, it will be tough." Yinn voiced over the inte and Click turned her exnation mode into serious mode. "Tellie, since you are up. Take charge of the guiding system, I will do the necessary processing for manoeuvring. Sending you wirelessly."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Roger," Tellie said and she fell to the table once more but her eyes were nk as the diagnostic console started to rack up a series of numbers which made Old Fammet light up with joy.

    "Is thetest modern technology?" Old Fammet asked Nie and even though his apprentice was no longer in the scene, he was very sure that Mechanoids were able to do this at all.

    "It is utilising my Royal Package Ten processing programming in a different way than I would expect it to be!" Old Fammet was on fire to see such a process going through live and felt that he finally hit the jackpot on themander.

    No matter what happens, he was going to get to the bottom of the truth of this and find out what made them tick this way. There got to be something that he was missing out on because he has never seen such seamless use of parallel processing among the Mechanoids before.

    Perhaps, the answer to his wish in getting the ultimate War Maiden might lie with Jin. (Of course, that is very far fetched but right now, this was the vibe he was getting especially when he had never felt hope for the longest time ever.)

    "Last tank for me as well," Jin said as he dash through the forests and remembered he still have a dagger with him. It was not the best use of Maqi since the de was short and he needed more Maqi to condense the de edge to make it longer and sharper but it would have to do because there was no way he was going to use the Cardinal''s abilities on such easy targets.

    And while Old Fammet was amazed by Tellie''s wireless parallel processing with the other Grey Bears, Nie was taken back by the imagery he is seeing through the workshop cameras. He knew how old his master''s workshop defences were and that missile even if he did not know the specs, could be seen as an item of the past.

    There was no way for it to fly so far before it lost all its fuel trying to catch the helicarrier which was already eleratingpared to the other two which were ascending after dropping the tanks for battle.

    But what he did not know was that it was why Yinn needed Tellie''s help with the guiding. With that portion covered, Yinn was able to remote control the missile''s onboardputer systems, maximising the optimisation of its output so that it could move at maximum speed while using the least required fuel.

    Most missiles were never that optimised since their purpose was to follow the target and explode. Now that it had been controlled by not just two but three Mechanoids simultaneously, it was a miracle that they were in sync with each other to down the final helicarrier which blew Old Fammet''s mind as well. (Nie was already gone past that stage)

    "All clear," Jin said as thest tank had bit the dust though he didn''t exactly destroy it but killed the Mecahnoids gunner and forcibly open the hatch to throw a shbang before putting his hand in to gun all the Mechanoids down. (After all, he had chi sensing and knew where all of them were sitting.)

    He did get a scratch and was shot twice by stray bullets but it was nothing his body could not handle. As for the othersбн

 Chapter 1498 Cleaning Up - Final

    "All clear too," Diaz said as she reloaded her shotgun onest time before booming it off on the dying Mechanoid.

    "All clear as well," Yinn reported and that was when Old Fammet hacked into their intes via Tellie.

    "Yeap, yeap. The radar is all clear too. No more baddies around. Diaz must be satisfied with the-" Click was about topliment her teammate until a loud shrieking noise interrupted their sweet victory.

    "All clear my ass! Get all those dead Mechanoids in as soon as possible. They will be valuable for the creation of your new War Maidens." Old Fammet shouted into his microphone.

    "Also, Commander Jin is it? Bring that tank back into the workshop. We see if we can use it or not." Old Fammet added and Jin smirked.

    "That''s my intention the whole entire time. Why else would I risk myself getting so close to it? Without any reason?" Jin said as he went to the front and started pulling the tank by himself.

    "You know you can drive this thing, right?" Diaz remarked which Jin ignored. "Oh, you are just showing off, aren''t you?"

    "Far off the mark. I take this as supplementary training." Jin spoke to Diaz in a sarcastic tone which made her roll her eyes before climbing and going into the tank to operate.

    "Too bad for the Diamondz, I am taking this tank for myself." Diaz was delighted as she pushed the dead Mechanoid away (while ensuring he is really dead.) and resume the tank systems so that she could have control of it. (After all, she would not dare to reboot it herself and found herself locked out of it.)

    As she started to have a hang of the controls, Jin immediately hopped on and started telling her to move closer to the Mechanoid corpses where he could pile all of them up on the tank and move back to the workshop.

    Yinn and Click also assisted by taking Old Fammet''s ride, a truck with rtively big cargo space out of the workshop the moment Old Fammet released the security lockdown. There, they started to bring all the dead Mechanoids into his Workshop as Nie started to identify and process each of the possible working parts along with Tellie.

    On the other hand, the moment Jin had brought the pile of corpses along with the tank to the workshop, Old Fammet once again ordered them to see if there were any salvageable parts from the fighter ne that crashed and the rest of the helicarriers.

    "At the peak of noon?" Jin asked as he pointed as his stomach.

    "Do you want your Mechanoid or not?" Old Fammet asked

    "What does that have to do with helicarrier parts or even fighter ne parts? Do you wish to make my War Maiden into some kind of transformer?" Jin questioned and when Old Fammet queried what was that, thinking it had to do with stepping up or stepping down electricity until Jin told them that it was basically something that transform. He even gave the answer using a truck turning into a robot as an example and returning back into one whenever the needed to.

    "No, it is not that, it''s possible that the helicarriers might have additional Mechanoids in their storagepartment and for the fighter jet, it''s more for personal entertainment. I just want its engines to research. Part of it is fine as well."

    "You just want a piece of it as a trophy." Nie said especially when Tellie managed to destroy one which could possibly be one of the best achievements a War Maiden could ever achieve and that rendered Old Fammet speechless for a moment or two before grumbling to Nie to work faster.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Lol, looks like a jackpot. I see whether I could get it or not." Jin said as he hollered Diaz.

    "What? You want me to drag those scrap junk back?" Diazined and Jin pulled his rank just this one.

    "It''s an order, besides, I am helping you aren''t I right? But get your shotgun in case those Mechanoids within thepartments can be violent." Jin said as he too went to Nie''s SUV and took a shotgun as well.

    "I thought you preferred your P90 submachine gun. It''s rare for you to take a shotgun." Diaz said as she saw him using the same model as him. A pump action tactical from Remington.

    "It''s better to have a shotgun at such close quartersбн I think? Besides, I will need the firepower since you will never know if they are hiding behind the door waiting to pounce on us.

    "Lol, that will never happen. They need to be activated." Diaz said as she was about to waltz out the area.

    "Stop jinxing stuff, Diaz!" Tellie shouted from afar and at that point, Jin already started to bring more ammunition with him.

    "You believed her?" Diaz looked at Jin''s frantic collection of ammunition.

    "Why not? It''s better to be safe than sorry. Also, tell Yinn to drive the truck to us once we gather the remaining parts." Jin said he now took another shotgun and wrapped it behind his back. Diaz sighed and acknowledged Jin''s orders.

    "They are a good team, aren''t they?" Nie whispered to Old Fammet.

    "Yes, it''s rare to see the Mechanoids being treated not just as a team but as a family." Old Fammet nodded his head and thought to himself until Jin looked back at him.

    "I want a Medic War Maiden as well as a closebat capable War Maiden. Tellie, give him the data on your Medic War Maiden that had fallen. As for the closebat one, wait till I return before we decide on that." Jin said as he waved and ran out into the forest to get the Mechanoid parts.

    "This guy, not appreciating me and evenmanding me around? Who does he think he is?" Old Fammet smiled as he grumbled.

    "You did say you show them a real War Maiden. You better prove yourself right or else I am not paying a single cent!" Jin heard what Old Fammet said despite their distance apart.

    "That rascal."

 Chapter 1499 Scavenging The Helicarrier Storages

    To their surprise, there was nothing suspicious about the storage area within the helicarrier. In fact, they were stunned that the storage area was not impacted by the crash and Diaz who did a quick analysis noticed the thing that got destroyed by the surface to air missile was its capability to fly.

    Still, even though the rotors were destroyed cleaned by the missile and the Mechanoid pilots could notnd the crashing helicarrier well especially near a forested area so they got killed in the process. Thus, it was a miracle that the storage area was still intact.

    Diaz reported that since all of the Mechanoids within the storage had yet to be activated, it was possible to desynchronise them so that they would never be in contact with the private corpo''smand centre.

    The Tactical System also knew that was an option avable and had asked Jin to individually connect himself to those War Maidens so they could be deactivated safely and not pose a threat even when they returned to the workshop. Not to mention, they could also be turned on and follow basicmands, allowing them to walk with Diaz back to the workshop as Jin went to the next helicarrier to check.

    The same thing happened again and the tactical System theorised that the pilot who wasnding the helicarrier was prioritising the safety of the storage in case themanders at theirmand centre would activate those as backups.

    However, it seems like themanders in their individual corpo centres had decided to give up on such an endeavour and abandoned the helicarriers as a written off asset in their books. Considering how much money they have, it was not a surprise that such a thing happened as Jin happily performed the very same thing to desynchronise the War Maidens while the System exined its theories.

    Yinn and Click managed toe by on time and Click had been ordered by Yinn to escort the Mechanoids back to the workshop again while the former followed her captain to the veryst helicarrier. Jin honestly hoped that the same thing would happen for the third helicarrier''s storage but he was not keeping his hopes that high at all.

    But to their surprise when they opened the storage area, it was not a Mechanoid that they found. Instead, inside were Mecha Armours. The concept was something simr to those Fortress Golems that his Orcs and goblins used to make but of a slicker design. In fact, it reminded him of Metal Man since ording to Yinn, they were used to take in a Mechanoid and improve herbat capabilities.

    And she was right. There were missileunchers attached to it, a gatling gun and many mini guns with various bullet calibres attached to them. There was even one Mecha Armour that has a railgun attached to it! And as the same suggested, the armour was undoubtedly thick, probably as thick as the tanks he had gone up against. (Obviously, it was not a threat to Jin at the moment since he had tricks up his sleeve, but if they were to pit War Maidens against War Maidens, definitely the ones riding the Mecha Armour would be the winners.)

    "There are six here. Equal to the number of War Maidens we would potentially have." Yinn was delighted that everyone can have one.

    "Then what about me? Can''t I use it?" Jin felt sad that he could not be a part of it.

    "Ehh... If you want to be pierced by the Mecha Armour, be my guest. And let me warn you, its not just one connection, it''s several connections." Yinn smiled while Jin sighed.

    "I miss my System Rider." Jin sent his thoughts to the Tactical System but there was no way the System would send such a delicate piece of item or its data into the Synthesis World without knowing that it could be copied. Although the parts were from various multiverses and worlds, there was no saying how the Synthesis World could replicate it especially when they are in this virtual ''space''.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In any case, Jin told Yinn to slowly bring those items back to the workshop while he will look for the final request that Old Fammet asked of him. And it was the ne wreck that Tellie destroyed.

    Once closer to the crash site, aside from a piece of metal as a souvenir, Old Fammet requested that Jin find the ck box since it contained information andmunication details. When pressed for answers and as to why not to take the Helicarriers'' ck boxes as well, Old Fammet brought up a valid reason.

    "The fighter nes are mainly flown by humans instead of War Maidens though they do have them as their Radar Incept Officers (RIO). Theirmunications would provide information as to where theirmand centre would be and this might give meбнor you if themander would do me a favour to whack them." Old Fammet said and Jin shook his head.

    "I may make an enemy out of them today but not necessarily I will be their enemy forever. Besides, that did not mean I will take you for granted. Depending on your work, I might even be able to employ you under the Archduke''s name, providing you protection if necessary." Jin said through their intes.

    "That might be a tad hard as Master have some beef with the Royal Family." Nie interrupted and Jin did not realise that.

    "So, you are rted to the Archduke?"

    "Not exactly, but you could say, he is in my debt."

    "How is that so?"

    "Oh, he saved his son. I heard it from Ste." Nie added between the conversation between Jin and Old Fammet.

    "Ste is resourcefulбн" Jin noted to himself.

    "Ah I see, okay if he is under your thumb, then perhaps we might be able to work something out instead." Old Fammet replied as Jin managed to locate and uncover the ck box before heading back. This time, the Mecha Smith was delighted to inform him that he does have enough parts for the creation of Jin''s new War Maidens.

 Chapter 1500 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Part 2

    As much as Jin did not want to jinx it, he felt it was going too smoothly and the private corpos would definitely not allow Old Fammet to do whatever he likes especially after they took such a huge loss.

    If he was in their shoes, he too wouldmence a counterattack especially when their group had taken down vehicles that were worth millions of points. They would be too dangerous to allow tomunicate with Old Fammet ande out alive.

    So, even as Jin knew that this could possibly be the calm before the storm, he would be taking it in stride. There was no other better way to do this than to create his two new teammates that the Grey Bear Squad was missing out on. Surely, he could do apany sized unit or maybe a toon with all the extra manpower that he had obtained from stealing from those private corpos but all his mind was filled with is the creation of someone knows.

    As Jin returned to the workshop, he saw that Mount Sunn was producing smoke from its peak and Jin assumed that this entire mountain was basically his workshop. Nie was working double time as he was running around to make sure that all the systems were working as Old Fammet were giving out (Or more like shouting) instructions to not just Nie but to his Grey Bears as well.

    With all the diagnostic systems pinging which Mechanoid part to scrap from the pile of corpses, the Grey Bear War Maidens were frenzy with their movements picking them out with whatever knowledge they had. (Thankfully, the tactical System was there to assist them as well and give them proper instructions rather than the ones Old Fammet gave.)

    Jin was also called out as Old Fammet beckoned him to his main system console area. "I managed to retrieve all the Medic War Maiden information. Based on the logs, it seems like there was some big argument between you and her. Do you wish for me to wipe its memory? It will be easier for you to control if I do that."

    "No, keep it as it is. The old teammates will exin whatever information they need to her. I am more concerned with the closebat War Maiden that I wanted you to create."

    "Why? What other customisation do you need?" Old Fammet felt a bit pissed since he had already thought of the best parts and design for her already when he fired the forge up.

    "Please follow these specifications instead," Jin said as he took his wire and plugged it into the console area, allowing the Tactical System to produce the War Maiden specifications.

    "Huh? That is all old technology that you are asking me to make. The only good thing about this old design is the customisation portion. It technically allows growth and haspatibility with various parts very easily." Old Fammet pondered.

    "But I will admit that older designs have sturdier frames and significantly better core structures. Especially if you wish to increase the number of cores or change the processing cores, it is no doubt the best foundation a War Maiden hasбн" Old Fammet then looked towards Jin with a curious look.

    "Why would you want a Mechanoid with a high number of core processors on a closebat War Maiden? It does not make sense when scientists and researchers had already proven that multiple core synchronisation is not just an impossibility but a huge waste of resources. I understand if you want a tactician that does parallel processing but this is a closebat unit where sensory devices are a prioritypared to those cores."

    "Are you able to create it or not?" Jin did not budge from his request.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "The only improvement I will make is that the mechanoid frames would be made with thetest fusion metal material but because of its design, I would need blood. Lots of blood because, unlike the modern War Maidens that used biosynthetic fibres." Before Old Fammet said that there was no way they could have such ''blood'' around, Jin folded his sleeves up further and showed him his arm.

    "Even from a human, it would not be enough." Old Fammet furrowed his eyebrows.

    "It''s alright, try me. I am stronger and more resilient than any human you have met." Jin was confident in his analysis especially after he learnt that the gunshots that he had previously were already healed. Even though he technically does not have his physical body, apparently the traits of having a set of vampiric bones imnted on him as well as the disgustingly painful regrowth charm was in him, they were still working as intended.

    "Are you crazy?!" Old Fammet said as it would defy logic for him to provide blood continuously to create the closebat mechanoid which needed blood fused fibres to work so that it could regrow with nanomachines which the current models had abandoned its uses.

    Why waste time growing wounded parts when you can rece parts easily? As long as the data is intact, a new body is always better since you can buy a new body easily with the current model of marketing that the private corporations are doing.

    There was no need to use for nanomachine based War Maidens when everything was receable. However, Jin knows that this War Maiden he was making was not receable. She was someone that he loved even though he do not show his love that open to people and had always been too busy to amodate her.

    "Master Fammet, please trust ourmander. He is entric and had always broken the norms of our amander should work. If he said to take his blood because he was confident of himself and as absurd as it sounded, I asked that you trust his words." Yinn voiced out.

    "Master Fammet! Take as much as you can from him for making us work like crazy asses!" Diaz shouted and for once Tellie even supported Diaz''sment.

    "Youdies are such asses," Jin said as he grinned and stared with absolute determination towards Old Fammet.

    The Mecha Smith sighed and shook his head for a while thinking that if he wants crazy, then he will make something equally magnificent that can match such crazy.

    "Alright, let''s do it before other peoplee knocking in."

 Chapter 1501 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Part 3

    Even with all of the shouting by Old Fammet, all of the Grey Bear War Maidens contributed to ensuring the creation of the War Maidens. However, instead of concentrating on the hardest task at hand, the Mecha Smith had decided to create the Medic War Maiden first so that he could have one more pair of hands on deck.

    Nie did try to question within all this chaos why not use the Mechanoids they had obtained from the helicarriers to assist with the process and Old Fammet smiled. "Because creating your very own family member should not be done with the help of other people."

    "Butбн" Nie really does want the assistance of the other Mechanoids and even if he felt nostalgic doing all of this again as well as the busyness that he experienced rather than the boring task of guarding the shopping street against the thieves, he felt that more hands on deck would definitely be easier. Still, Old Fammet had a point even though it was super far fetch in this situation where they were rushing to create just two War Maidens from scratch before any other interferences.

    However, because the forge was already up and parts were ''premade'' after all the salvaging, there was not much needed to tinker with the exception of linking all the various parts together and making sure they could work. After all, the private corpos had purposely put restrictions on their War Maidens to ensure that theirpanies do not mix parts and had exclusivity.

    So, when you have a Mecha Smith that was skilled to the point that he had once achieved fame, it was easy for him to circumvent such restrictions and redo some of the existing parts so that they could be attached together.

    The tactical System had also scanned all of the Mechanoids avable and that allowed Jin to order Yinn to pick the best processor and drivers among all of them. This allowed Old Fammet to concentrate on installing his own customised OS into the War Maiden and converting the old data into the processor with much ease.

    "Don''t worry. When we have time, I will install my own OS versions into all of you as well so that you guys do not need to worry about being deactivated. For the time being, Package Ten would be a good deterrence against the schemes of the private corpos." Old Fammet said as he was waiting for the data to be transferred into the ready made War Maiden.

    "Private Corpo schemes?" Jin asked as Nie was already hooking him up to a haemoflow blood collection machine which would collect the donated blood and prevent the blood from coagting which can be used for the closebat War Maiden.

    "Private Corporations are scared that customised Mechanoids created by Mecha Smiths are untraceable. This is because they are not under their radar. They cannot collect data etc from these Mechanoids and thus are not able to improve theirtest models. In fact, from what I heard, they have a so called elite line for the highest payers based on the collection of data." Nie said this was one of the reasons why Old Fammet continued to persist from oppression.

    "But most Mecha Smiths especially the Masters had been bought by all the points they could never get in their lifetime," Nie said and Jin knew that in this world, the only matters were points, not morals.

    "Do not worry User. The System had ensured that there was no transmission of suchbat logs to such databases. Even the logs that Rocky had taken were only taking a small portion of the bigger picture which does not make sense unless they extrapted the data wildly to the extent of absurdity."

    "Looks like you did your homework," Jin said to himself as he read the words the System portrayed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "It''s the System duty to do so and has always been. Also to inform you, the System had also infiltrated into Mecha Smith Fammet''s database and would ensure that the Medic War Maiden and our Close Combat War Maiden would be created without a hitchбн software wise." the System said nonchntly through its words but the System was actually rather amazed by the customised operating system that Old Fammet was using.

    If Jin were to be able to contract Old Fammet, it would no doubt be a great asset to him, especially when building up their own Super Robots in the future when they returned to the Mecha World.

    Still, this was all whims and wishes until Jin could officially emerge out of the Synthesis World unharmed.

    "OS installed. I will be putting the head back on now. Good luck to you Commander. I do not know how you are going to solve your previous problems with her. Will start on the closebat War Maiden right now." Old Fammet said as he stood up, ced his hand on the activating War Maiden and hoped all the best for his creation even though it was a standard model.

    "Don''t worry, Captain. We will exin to Page what is happening." Yinn said as the leading War Maiden for the Grey Bear Squad went up to wait for her to wait up. (Obviously, it''s good that Jin was lying far away from her to get his blood out. Else, no one would know what Page, the Medic War Maiden would do to throw a punch at him.)

    In the meantime, the other Grey Bears were still working their asses off for Old Fammet to produce the closebat War Maiden. Jin thought that it would take at least a few days or maybe weeks to get it done considering his thinking of smithing was the same as medieval ages.

    But Nie choked on hisughter when Jin voiced it out. "Do not worry, Old Fammet had a collection of Mechanoids in his storage room. You should have known by now how much of a hoarder he is or else do you think his workshop could be as heavily armed as a military base? He did not keep all those defensive systems for show. So! As much as he disagreed with you, it was with reason that he felt necessary to voice it out because he was the one who thought of such designs before. Heheheh, if you asked me, for you to choose this design is as if Fate was calling out to him."

    "So, he already has a ready made model in his erm storage?" Jin had no idea how to reply to hisments and decided to ask the questions that needed to be ask.

    "Hmm, somewhat simr if my memory served me right. Else, he could probably create one for you just as easily too and in a short span of time. Granted we are really short of manpower. Maybe short is stretching it. In any case, just get us your blood and rest for the dayбн. Next few days. Those private corpos won''te that fast either." Nie said as he told Jin to lie down properly so that the machine can do its work.

    The captain quietly listened and waited for his blood to be taken by the machine as he watched the new War Maiden being activated from afar.

 Chapter 1502 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Part 4

    "Captain Jin." The newest War Maiden of the Grey Bear Squad stood right in front of his seat and gave him a perfect salute.

    "Private." Jin returned the salute with a nod since he was in no condition to move around after being strapped down by Nie to take as much blood as possible.

    "Firstly, I heard from Sergeant Yinn and the others about the situation that we are in and how we got here, especially for the fact that how I got to be recreated by a master Mecha Smith. I like to close all misunderstandings with regards to the old Jin and start on a new page from today onwards."

    "Likewise Private Page. I have no qualms with you and I hope that you will be a wee addition to the Squad as well." Jin said as he asked her to have a seat beside her. As much as Old Fammet wished to use an extra hand immediately, it was pure courtesy for her to have some time with hermander and get things sorted out.

    "Here, I have managed to scourge some energy drinks from the refrigerator. It should assist you with your recovery since you are giving out more blood than permitted." Page said as she ced them right beside him. And before Jin could say anything, Page interrupted him.

    "Yes, I know you are an outsider but your current vitals and scan analysis from my point of view is that you still have the build of a regr human. There is still a limit how much you can give." Page said as she ced her hand on Jin''s arm and without directly intervening using needles or diagnostic scans, she was able to have all the information needed about Jin''s body.

    This was the power of a Medic War Maiden which was supposed to be present in every squad to ensure that they could take care of the Commander as well as her teammates. "Your blood volume had been reducing to uneptable levels and your bodily functions are below optimum values. I honestly suggest that you stop hurting yourself and rest for a day to recuperate before attempting to donate any more blood for the creation of thisбн closebat War Maiden."

    Jin chuckled as he saw how concerned this Medic War Maiden had for him. "Looks like I have a lot of fun for her if she is overbearing concerned for me." He thought to himself as heid his down even further on the couch.

    "Then what about I show you a trick?" Jin said as he told her not to leave her finger away from him. Page had no idea what he was on about until he took a deep breath in and she could sense that his blood pressure was moving rapidly.

    Suddenly, all the vitals went haywire for a moment and she suddenly saw Jin''s body vibrating. What was more surprising was that there were some sort of wiggling movement under the skin and Jin went from chilling into a state of condition where he was attempting to hold his sanity in check.

    "What is happening?!" Page asked but Jin told her not to worry. "How can I not worry when your vitals were raging like the waves of the sea>"

    "Just give бнit a minute." Jin said as he held onto the couch tightly and tolerated the pain of those wiggling throughout his whole body. Page immediately tried to do a full scan of his body by calling out two hexagon te modules flying out from the back of her neck. She then lifted her palm out and emitted radiation while the te modules extended and turned into a detector to receive the X Rays so that she could have a full image of what is happening within Jin.

    But as she scanned her, the image were fuzzled as if there were no such person in the area she did her X Ray. Then all of a sudden, Jin was back to normal as if the worst had passed and told Page to try checking him again.

    While the Medic War Maiden was skeptical, but after seeing such a sight, she could not help herself butplied to the orders. Lo and behold, his vitals were back to normal and everything could never been healthier, as if whatever she scanned previously was a scam.

    "...How did you even do that?" Page asked and Jin even give her the permission to scan him which Page refused this time around. "My instruments do not lie. If your body is of perfect health, there is no reason to subject you to unnecessary radiation."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Now you believe that I am an outsider?" Jin was relieved to know that his physical traits were still working perfectly fine and was partially afraid that he got to listen to Page''s orders if he was not able to activate the regeneration charm effect.

    "Alright, but that does not mean I would not continue looking after you. Will still check on you periodically."

    "I have no qualms with that." Jin said as he now posed a question to the medic. "Then Page, mind enlightening me, how do you save the War Maidens? And if you are not serving that role, what do you usually do?"

    "Ohбн That." Page said and shouted out to Click. "You free to show Jin some demonstration?"

    "Huh? Sure!" Click was dying to get out of the menial tasks that Old Fammet asked her to do as she quickly dropped everything and showed a demonstration for Jin.

    "You remembered how Yinn showed you a one time 3D printer that allows us to print anything anytime?" Click asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Basically, I can do that as well. But because of my previous military rank, I can only do so much as to print temporary War Maiden parts for use. Its durability is terrible but it should hold for a while." Click said as she touched the edge of her ears, and soon nanomachines were seen flying out of her ears and started to pour miniaturesers on a specific point.

    Thosesers eventually grew something out and as the shape became more concrete, Jin could see that it was building up a hand.

    "Page could do that as well and when webined our nanomachines, it will be much faster to create temporary recements." Click exined.

    "But for me, I not only be able to create temporary recement parts but also concoctions that would be suitable for human consumption." Page said as her nanomachines flew out of her neck and created a set of multivitamins for Jin to consume.

    "Wowбн okay." Jin said as he picked them up, and though it was a little suspicious, he chewed on them.

    "With higher ranks, I would be able to create things that would be harmful against the Mechanoids as well. But for now, I hold an assault rifle, sometimes a grenadeuncher and do damage to our enemies.

    "Well, sometimes offense is the best defence. If you can kill someone before they tried to hurt you, that''s a plus as well." Jin said and Page nodded with affirmation. It looked like she could get along with this ''new''mander of hers.

 Chapter 1503 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Part 5

    The sounds of metal smashing onto another piece, the heavy stench of oil looming throughout the room. Old Fammet was indeed putting everything he got into this particr War Maiden creation.

    When he first saw the proposed schematics at a nce, he thought it was some old design that Jin was asking for. But as he delved deeper into constructing the War Maiden, he realised that there was something more to it.

    It felt like Jin was not creating a War Maiden, and rather, a War Maiden that was as close to a human. He might not have any concept of chi, dantians or anything of that sort in the Synthesis World but Old Fammet realised that the cores cement and frame structure was simr to the construction of a human body (as ironic as it sounds since most War Maidens were akin to humans.)

    The difference between this particr design and the War Maiden was that itsponents were ced to ensure efficiency while Jin''s schematics for his closebat War Maiden followed closely to how the blood vessels and nervous systems were structured in a human.

    For example, the food processing module in War Maidens was designed to break down perishable food items to gain energy when powering up its battery through electricity was not an option on the battlefield. Such a module was ced at the chest area so that if a hit goes through, the module that gets destroyed was a useless one and not an important module such as the main drivers and core processors.

    But for this human design, the stomach was ced right how a human would have their stomach be. It was not an efficient design to copy the human anatomy and the need for multiple core processing was even more unfathomable. The only one who knew why the closebat War Maiden needed these many was to copy the chi points a human has.

    Unlike Jin who came into this Synthesis World as a ''human'', Lynn would be entering this world as a War Maiden. However, if that meant that her powers and strengths were limited to the specifications of a War Maiden. What Jin was sacrificing his blood and to create such an odd design to mimic a human body was all to allow Lynn to have simr powers as what she had when she was in their homeworld.

    What''s more was that Jin requested that once this unique schematic had been created, Jin would be providing the instation of the ''operating system'' and told Old Fammet not to ever break that promise or else, he would not be getting any points.

    "Hah! As If I ever need those points." Old Fammet said as he hammered away.

    "Masterбн If you have the points, you would not need to scrimp and survive on scrap pieces." Nie tried to get his master to look at the reasons.

    "In fact, if this is a sess, I would like to employ you," Jin added and Old Fammet scoffed at Jin''s request.

    "What do you have to offer me that I could not do even with my workshop right here?" Old Fammet asked but Jin did not answer him directly.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "As I said, when this War Maiden is a sess, I will show to you what you had been missing out on all this time in your life," Jin said as he waved goodbye so that he could sleep in the guest room to recuperate after helping the Mecha Smith to obtain twice the amount of blood that he needs for the War Maiden.

    It was to ensure there was enough material if and there would be extra in case of emergency. Jin made more of it so that his new Medic War Maiden Page could study his blood with sufficient samples so that she can use it to not just replenish him in times of need (which should not happen) but also to resupply for the Close Combat War Maiden in the future.

    Nie did say that these old school War Maiden frames relied on artificial blood to run properly and especially so when they are broken. So, he rmended that Jin have a healthy supply of backup blood for the War Maiden they were making during battles.

    But to Jin, he felt that the artificial blood that Page create would never be a standard to his own blood even though he gave her his sample to analyse. This was because Jin''s blood as undetectable through medical science had been filled with Maqi.

    He hoped that with enough Maqi exposure, Lynn could also cultivate her dantian core as a War Maiden and be a Grade 1 Cultivator as soon as possible. The System on the other hand said that it should not be a problem even with the changes made by Old Fammet on certain materials.

    In fact, to the System''s surprise, what the Mecha Smith was using was more conductive for Maqi ording to analysis when it asked Jin to give it a try by sending some Maqi into the Mechanoid Frame when the smiths were not watching.

    This gave the System even more confidence that Lynn would be well constructed and she could synchronise within the body without much trouble. The only other problem would be whether her subconscious could withstand being out of her body for long. Unlike Jin who had been fighting the ''demons'' within his subconscious, Lynn never had such experiences.

    It was only when Lynn had decided to enter the Synthesis World to aid Jin that she gave her all to training with the next avable ''demon'' that could enhance the will of her subconscious.

    And that was none other than Jin''s Frenemy, the well known notorious fox devil, Kraft. This Director of making people''s subconscious tremble might not have the Ming and the Cardinals'' training programme to make Lynn''s will as strong as titanium but he had his way to do so.

    With the help of the rest of the foxes, they each took turns to give hell for Lynn as this was the condition for Lynn to pass so that the System would close an eye and allow her to travel into the Synthesis World.

    When Jin got wind of all of this information during his blood donation drive, it no doubt made him fall in love with his girlfriend even more. And that was why Jin was making sure that she got the best body she could ever get in this world as a reward from the Dungeon Supplier.

 Chapter 1504 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Part 6

    "I close my eyes and woke up to find you." Those were the words that the Close Combat War Maiden said as found herself tunneled visioned to the only thing that matters.

    Jin smiled as he gave a slight bow and salute to greet her and she immediately jumped out of the creation pod and right into his arms.

    "I guessбн Its a sess?" Nie said as he saw the awkward scene ying right in front of him and the other Grey Bear Squad members.

    "Do any of you know who she is?" Page asked her other squad members thinking she might have missed out on something ever since she was defeated in thest mission before the new Jin came into the body.

    "Nope, we never see her before," Diaz said but Old Fammet sneered.

    "Well, at least that shows that we had made her properly all ording to yourmander''s weirdly specific request. I was expecting something crazier but it seems like he had reunited with his lover." Old Fammet took out a bottle of alcohol, something which he did not touch for the past few days when he was making her.

    "Is the transfer sessful?" Jin asked the Tactical System and it acknowledged with a resounding yes.

    "There were no problems with the soul transfer into the War Maiden and her soul had been intact. The physical body had been kept in cold storage with muscr activation to make sure she does not have any muscr dystrophy until she returns. So-" Jin stopped reading what the System was talking about and scuffled her hair.

    Even though she was just a War Maiden, Old Fammet had indeed held nothing back in ce to implement the cosmetic features too. Thus when Lynn manifested into the War Maiden, the Mechanoid''s nk face received the data and modified its head, body and even the callouses on her hand for handling a knife as a chef to be intact.

    "I thought the System was hiding the truth again," Lynn said without caring about the people around her.

    "Well, I am here, aren''t I?" Jin said as he then turned and introduce to everyone the purpose of why he created this Mechanoid specifically for his partner. (In the meantime, the System did take offence that Lynn never trusted it that Jin was fine. But after what the System had done to them previously, the System Users would never take its words at face value even though they gain trust between each other.)

    "What are you talking about?" Old Fammet could not process what Jin was talking about and so did Nie.

    "I guess, this is the easiest way to do things." Jin beckoned the both of them to stand right in front of him as he ced his hands on both of their shoulders. "Oh right, I forgot." Jin thought he could transmit his thoughts the usual way until he has forgotten that it was a high level chimunication skill that he was about to use but the two that were in front of him were non cultivators. Neither could he use his tactical system to transmit information because they were not his War Maidens.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He embarrassingly took out his wire and connected with Old Fammet and then the Mecha Smith finally understood what themander was saying. As images shed back swiftly into his brain, he saw things, images and memories of Jin that were unfathomable even for an oldd like him.

    "Oh yes, and because you were able to create Lynn sessfully. This is what I am talking about." Jin said as he focused his memories on the Mecha World and showed him the possibility of creating Super Robots.

    "Iбн I want to live longer than this life. There is so much I am missing outбн" Old Fammet said as he thought he had already made the masterpiece of his life when Jin requested him to create thisplicated War Maiden. It felt more than fitting to do something simr to his oldest original creation as his final piece of work.

    He even had the thought of taking his own life and be done with this ''Synthesis'' life the moment Jin and the others left the ce. All the punishment and penalties the private corpos who had been harassing him for years were already wearing him down. There was honestly nothing holding him back and that is assuming if he did not go gun zing against the private corpos when theye to put him down for breaking the unwritten ''contract'' of no more Mecha Smithing for others.

    Jin also admitted that Old Fammet was a brilliant person. Rocky might be an engineer and be able to assist with the creation of Mechanoids, he does not have the expertise of creating a Mechanoid from scratch and not to say the least, Old Fammet was a genius in programming too. In short, what was known to be just onepetent man doing the job had been broken down into several different jobs which the private corpos did to split the knowledge up so that people would not be able to go against them easily.

    But the thought of suicide changed when Fammet saw all those shes of memories and felt that there were so many things he could do.

    "I want to make thoseбнSuper Robots."

    "I can and will let you create those Super Robots if you are able to work with me," Jin said he moved towards the sticky, stinky Mecha Smith who was covered with the smell of sweat and grease. He gave a strong tight hug which Old Fammet did not expect and truth be told, this was the first time he had been a hug for the longest time ever.

    His hands slowly moved to return the hug albeit it was slightly reluctant at first until Jin let go of him to see Old Fammet tearing up. That was when Jin gave a second and much tighter hug and Old Fammet gradually rxed and embraced themander as the ''sweat'' from his eyes flowed profusely through his unkempt beard.

    "I will promise you. This is not the end." Jin said as he too received images of Old Fammet''s life when the Tactical System connected them together. "You are meant for greater things. Meant for more slogging when you work for me. Meant to create a masterpiece far greater than what you are doing now."

    "So, do not give up old man."

 Chapter 1505 The All New Grey Bear Squad -Final

    "Super Robots?" Nie knew it was not the best time to ask but Jin quietly plug out his wire and reconnected it with his apprentice as Old Fammet took the time to sit down and regain hisposure. This time, the stunned face of Nie slowly turned into tears too. He had regrets as the past few days were not just gruelling hard work but were a method of redemption for him.

    He never thought that he could smith his master again creating such an amazing product that could possibly bedazzle the entire Empire. At first, Nie believed that his master had gone senile and knew his thoughts of suicide were going stronger day by day until he noticed how amander of unknown origins had contact with the Archduke.

    "Finally a possibly capablemander who might be worthy of Master''s skills." Nie thought to himself as he received rumours and information from his friends.

    With luck, this particrmander was heard attempting to go to the shopping street to get his War Maidens remade. He took this opportunity to nudge his master to the shopping street while preparing his guys to break up the fight when needed.

    He thought that thismander could win his master''s test of mettle, allowing Old Fammet to have some hope. But Nie knew that this n had too many loopholes and was too far fetched.

    At the very least, if themander failed, he could use this chance to arrest Old Fammet and put him behind bars for a while where he would be well fed and get rid of his alcohol addiction so that he does not move deeper into the abyss of thinking for a suicide. (It may sound ironic but Old Fammet had been behind bars for so many times, it was like a second home to him.)

    However, to see things unfold the way he wished them to be was a miracle in disguise. It was then he know that Old Fammet would want to create the veryst War Maiden with his bare hands no matter the cost.

    And since Nie had already made this happen from the start, it was his duty to see this topletion. That was at the cost of risking his life as well especially when he know that the private corpos were keeping tabs on Old Fammet through their informers in the police force.

    He knows that it was unfair to Jin who did not know the full picture and yet again, thismander not only reached the workshop unhindered, he had managed to get the private corpos to pull back from the scene to give Old Fammet the time needed to create his final masterpiece. (Technically, there was nothing to pull back since Jin and the others had already killed all of them. Hehe)

    And for Old Fammet to work on an old design, the Master Mecha Smith thought Nie had a hand in it until upon closer look, he knew that his apprentice could never propose suchplicated designs. (Ouch, burn! was what this Nie had in his mind.)

    But now Old Fammet had finished his masterpiece, he felt more than content to mend his regrets Nie had in the past. For not supporting his master even when it was Old Fammet who told him and the others to move on with their lives. Even though he did not practice smithing, he secretly do it as a hobby to keep his basic skills from rusting and the long lost dream of working as the first assistant for his master had caused him to finally put the past behind him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, now that he saw Old Fammet crying and not wanting to give up on his life, he was bewildered by what Jin had shown him until he himself was able to take a look. Those regrets that he thought he had resolved suddenly welled up inside him, stirring his heartstrings and understood what Jin could offer.

    "You are not joking with me, are you?" Nie questioned Jin with a serious stare. If everything Jin had shown was fake, he had no hesitation to point the gun at his benefactor and pull the trigger on him. (Even though he know he had no way to win against a person who defeated three tanks by himself.)

    "Have I ever joked about things that are serious?" Jin asked.

    "There is no way things can be so convenient. There must be a catch to everything!" Nie eximed.

    "That is right, there is a catch. You will have to work for me until I die. You are not permitted to die until I die so you are going to continue to live the life as a Mecha Smith and perhaps a Super Mecha Smith until I passed on." Jin said as he looked at Nie and asionally Old Fammet.

    "Do you two have the resolve to do that?! Or are you both going to live your miserable lives just like this, wasting them on past glories?" Jin''s voice started to get louder as he had seen glimpses of what they had gone through and what they were. Fantastic talents are drowned because of the name of defying the Private Corpos.

    "Or would you rather be miserable rushing deadlines to make Super Robots that would surpass each Masterpiece every single time you make them?" Jin shouted before he took a deep breath in and slowly walked away.

    "When both of you made your minds, youe to me with the folder signed and stamped with your thumbprint stained with your own blood. " He said as he ''magically'' ced two folders on the table and beckoned Lynn toe with him so he could introduce her to his squad.

    "Then how are we going to make these robots in this world?" Nie asked as Jin looked back and smirked.

    "in and simple. By officially being in my team support and getting out of here this wretched world with the most points."

 Chapter 1506 Activation Of Lynns Cultivation

    As Jin left the two smiths to their own thoughts and discussion between themselves, he went ahead to look at Lynn who had been introducing herself to the rest of the team members which made them chuckle a little like school girls who knew a dirty secret.

    "Technically speaking, rtionships between War Maidens are strictly prohibited." Diaz teased Jin. "So do you have anything for us to keep our mouths zipped?"

    "Technically speaking, I can order you to do that and also order you to clean the entire workshop, would you want that?" Jin folded his arms and looked at Diaz, awaiting her reply.

    "Fine. I will shut it." Diaz said as the rest wondered why Jin would want to choose a closebat War Maiden as her design when she could have entered this world with a better Mechanoid Design.

    "Even though I did say closebat, I think it''s best Lynn shows you what she can doбнwell assuming she can perform it else I will send you a smiling emoji with a teardrop in my eyes. "

    :'')

    "I think it should be fine although I still have trouble fitting myself into a robotic body," Lynn said as she was still moving her hands and legs to get the feel of her body. After which, she sat down on the ground and started meditating, attempting to have the feel of Jin''s Maqi within her body.

    With that as the primer to kickstart her cultivation within her new War Maiden frame, the System also believed that she would not have any problem reviving her cultivation through the Mechanoid''s body.

    "So she is really from some outside world. The way she sat is the same as Captain Jin when we were imprisoned in that shithole of a jail cell." Diaz remarked but Jin was ignoring her. He was wondering if he should be helping Lynn with the creation of her cultivation within her body.

    "The System''s rmendation would be to aid in her chi gathering in order to achieve a full hundred percent sess rate but on the other hand, the System would also rmend not interfering based on our observations. Sub System User Lynn had worked hard to be here and aiding her would beбн"

    "I see, I would stay at the sidelines as per your second rmendation." Even as Jin said that he was quietly gathering his Maqi on one side, waiting to assist the moment there was something wrong with her umtion of chi to solidify her dantian ''core'' processor.

    And just as Jin finished speaking to the System, Lynn''s body started to light up specifically based on the cement of the major processor cores. Even though Jin''s Maqi was not measurable in this Synthesis World, it did not equate to the fact that it did not exist. The energy was merely not detectable through this particr World''s conventional means.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A sort of energy continued to swirl around the twenty core processors which were situated at different points of the body. It simted the twenty major meridian points a body would have and as Lynn umted the energies, those core processors started to synchronise with each other based on the unique operating system that the Tactical System had created beforehand and installed.

    Old Fammet initially insisted that all his creations needed his operating system but in the end, Jin''s insistence won over Old Fammet as he begrudgingly deciphered the code and realised that it was actually an add on to his current code.

    He asked who could create such a robust set of codes and Jin at that point in time did not ede to his request. Perhaps, once Old Fammet entered the contract into Jin''s control, then he would know the answer. (On the side note, it was best he did not meet with the Foxy Devil Programmer that Jin had.) (On the side side note, that programmer had to put a picture of a cute little fox biting a fat ass panda as the OS loading screen. Jin noticed it and got irritated when Old Fammet was deciphering it.))

    The alternate Fox OS started to kick in as it began processing the meridian synchronisation and began to divert this ''unknown'' energy into the rest of the core processors and sub core processors. Using the internal battery''s electrical energy to kickstart the energy cirction, the processors reached critical mass in processing the said energy. Jin''s blood was also used as the catalyst to move unknown energy, allowing the circuitry to beplete.

    It enabled Lynn to finally disperse the said energy out of her body as well as the processor''s ability to extract the remaining energy from Jin''s blood, giving it enough sample for the processors to attempt to duplicate it.

    Also, this miraculous energy conversion and duplication of ''chi'' energy could not have happened if it was not connected to Lynn''s nuclear drive reactor to act as the Dantian core. All of the new War Maidens ran with a high capacity battery since having a mini nuclear reactor as their battery was kind of like having mini bombs in their squads.

    Sure it was useful when one wishes to obliterate their enemies withst minute suicide attacks, but if you have enough of them concentrated in one area, it would do evesting damage. Even if the Synthesis World was considered to be a ''Virtual'' one, it was not effective as a long term solution for the progress of yers. Thus, Old Fammet said ''lore'' wise, their ''gods'' demanded all the nuclear drive reactors be removed from all War Maidens.

    It was only those seasoned Mecha Smiths had the license to be able to continue using such reactors. Another one of the reasons why the private corpos wished to extinct the existence of these Mecha Smiths.

    In any case, the mini nuclear drive reactor reached critical mass and it operated well with the Maqi energy circting within Lynn''s body and if anything, this was an achievement that would surely catch the eye of the Synthesis Administers if there were looking. Thankfully, the Maqi energy did not produce any signals and all the admins had noted was just the creation of a War Maiden with a mini nuclear drive reactor.

    But they would never know that this War Maiden that Old Fammet had made, would be one of the strongest War Maiden the Synthesis World had ever seen.

 Chapter 1507 Remaking The Nuclear Reactor Drive

    "Everything seems to be moving fine," Lynn said as she stood up and tested her abilities a little. The punch she threw out had some wind following her and the roundhouse kick that she performed was marvellously perfect. To the War Maidens, they could do the same as well but when ites to executing the technique, their closebat programming was not as precise as what Lynn had.

    However, they could not see what Jin had seen. To them could be just a perfect kick, but to Jin, he saw that the kick had his Maqi following and coursing through the move. It was smoother than the gushing streams of water. Not only that, but for some reason, he was able to see the Mini Nuclear Drive running in the background, duplicating a simr energy signature to his Maqi and Jin doubted that there was anything that could produce the same as this nuclear drive.

    The System did exin that Jin''s Maqi had influenced the half life of the nuclear drive reactor to some extent that the Pure Xenon metal that was irritating out the energy had been modified by the Maqi. It was as if his Maqi had shaped the Xenon metal to produce the very same energy as what Jin expected.

    "Even though we did seed in building a robot with a soul embodying it to produce an energy simr to chi, its output would more or less be defined, no?" Jin asked whether the War Maiden could possibly increase its cultivation grade by itself.

    "By theory, no, we doubt so. The possibility of it happening is extremely low, in fact, abysmally low. The only reason it is not a t rejection of your im is that your Maqi had shown potential for it remaking the Xenon Nuclear Reactor Drive. Based on the System''s analysis, there was already some modification to the Xenon material when Lynn began her cultivation. The instation of the Operating System -"

    "- You mean you inserting her soul." Jin tried to correct the System. "It still needed Old Fammet''s operating system for the War Maiden to work properly."

    "Yes, the insertion of her soul on the pretext of installing an add on operating System had allowed Lynn''s soul transfer to beplete the moment she started her cultivation. Currently, her soul had withstood the transference but some monitoring needed to be done to make sure that her soul''s integrity remained intact. It was one of the worries the System had and had not taken into consideration the presence of your Maqi strengthening her soul integrity."

    "I guess... that''s the good thing?" Jin felt that the System had begun to delve into too much technical stuff to Jin that he felt like switching off ...until the two Mecha Smiths approached him with the folders at hand.

    "We made our decision. We will be part of your team support." Nie said as he felt that he had never made such a big decision in his life for the longest time ever.

    "You will regret taking us in." Old Fammet said as he passed the folder to Jin as well. "But if you are willing to put up the burdensome baggage with me, then I will be at your service."

    "Thank you and wee to the team," Jin said as he shook both of their hands,pleting and officiating the System Contracts with them, allowing the two Mecha Smiths to have ess to the very same Tactical System who had been hiding inside Jin. When they thought the initial flow of information was insane, with the connection to the System caused a flow of data into their brain, forcing them to learn the truth about Jin and his existence.

    "Holy mother of ..." Old Fammet only now then realised how vast the world waspared to the virtual cage he was in.

    "There is no way all of this is true, is it?" Nie could not believe what he saw as well. There were so many questions and yet right now, his heart was palpating with excitement.

    Even as Grey Bear Squad was full of joy in having new additions to their team, someone on the other end of the spectrum was not appreciating the situation they had put themselves in.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    -----------------

    "What do you mean you lost contact with all the assets at Mount Sunn?" The man in hiscklustre brown suit mmed his fist on the ground.

    "Sir, the firepower that they had was contrary to the information that was given to us." One of the staff reported indicating that they had tailed an assistant of theirs and monitored how much they had bought from the stores. What seems to be just a couple of basic weapons, including items people no longer use such as swords, were bought. At first, they thought it was just a ruse considering themander used the bellboy to get stuff for him. But when they saw the squad mounting those purchased items onto the SUV, there was no mistake that they were bringing that for their trip.

    "Then what is this nonsense that you are telling me? An average run of the mill War Maiden could bring down ourtest prototype ne and cause it to st into smithereens?"

    "Sir, if we are able to get the retrieval team to check the crash site, there is a chance we can recover the ck box and learn what happened. Since it''s a prototype, it could mechanically faulty and it is probably just a bad coincidence."

    "Bad Coincidence? Thest transmission from the pilot to the headquarters had no problem at all. And also, what makes you think they would not tamper with the crash site?" The man shouted back at his staff for even thinking such ludicrous stuff. "Then? What about my tanks? They might not be the best in line but they are in production the longest and had been seen as one of the most reliable weaponry ourpany had ever made. Are you telling me they get destroyed this easily as well due to a mechanical fault?"

    The staff were speechless and the man''s eyes gazed at themanders.

    "Why did none of you release the Mechanoids that were on board the Helicarriers when you know you are taking significant losses?"

    "Sir, those Mechanoids are meant for the assault against Mount Sunn. The Tanks were also equipped with antipersonnel weapons, meant to shred their mechanoids. We did not think it was possible for them to easily destroy those tanks, considering the artillery that we noted was of no threat to the tanks."

    "Then. Tell. ME. WHY. Are they destroyed so easily?" The boss''s face was so red, the staff being reprimanded could figuratively see smokeing out from his ears. To be honest, no one had ever thought that there was a squad capable of destroying a ne, three tanks and a regiment of Mechanoids as if it was a walk in the park. Themanders were dumbfounded until they tried to dig more about the Squad''s recent endeavours.

    To their surprise, thetest mission had been redacted and thepany''s intelligence could only rely on hearsay.

    They honestly had no idea how such a nobody Squad could do so well all of a sudden and took an interest in Old Fammet. But one thing was for sure. Diamondz was going for a counterattack.

 Chapter 1508 Into The Dungeon -Part 1

    As the new members had been inducted into the Grey Bear Squad, Click did her usual scanning of the area with the aid of Old Fammet''s equipment. "Still no sign of a counterattack, could the warning by Nie be fake?"

    "No way. those pirates would not take any chances when ites to reiming their ''honour''. They wille in hard and use this excuse to take over Mount Sunn and Old Fammet''s workshop." Niemented. "Also, I heard from my security buddies that there were some movements in town. Especially the shopping district. Somebody is buying up everything, temporarily making the stores out of stock."

    "Wait, wait. I am more concerned about your previous remark. You mean this piece ofnd had yet to be taken by anyone? Shouldn''t it be under the jurisdiction of Town Gorgo?"

    "Heh, this current patch ofnd does not have anyone because there is a dungeon right below Mount Sunn even though it''s dormant at the moment."

    "Yeah, those were the days where people usuallye right to the Workshop wanting to test some stuff out, so I send them down to the dungeon to clear it." Old Fammet reminisced.

    "Please, you even asked us, the apprentices to go down into the dungeon to collect the remnants of those who were killed just because you want those materials."

    "Heh. The dungeon had been cleared so many times of course it will turn into a variant dungeon. Still do not regret it since there had been some good stuff even on the first floor." Old Fammet said as he vaguely exined that was how he was able to get all those defences around his workshop to be in optimal condition despite the ban on materials. The Mecha Smith stated that he had been making makeshift Mechanoids to kill monsters on the first floor so that they could get materials for Old Fammet to work on.

    "Captain, are you thinking what I am thinking," Yinn said as she looked at Jin with anticipation. The rest of the older Grey Bear members also knew about Jin''s situation and started smirking, leaving the new members confused.

    "Jin had been awarded a noble title for his deed rescuing a child of the Archduke. Most of the details on how he achieved such gratitude from the Archduke had remained hidden from us. In any case, he was supposed to be grantednd with a dungeon in it." Yinn told them about the development.

    "Ah...okay. Well, I do not mind for Jin to be the Lord of Mount Sunn. Sounds like a decent way of going forward." Old Fammet nodded his head happily.

    "Not just that, considering the ramifications of the counterattack by the private cooperations, if Jin can be awarded the title of Lord to this particr piece ofnd, they have no reason to bother him anymore. In fact, he could receivepensation." Page enlightened them.

    "How do you even know?" Jin asked and the old Grey Bears grinned.

    "Page might be our medic and fellow soldier but she had been programmed to deal with legal issues too," Tellie exined.

    "Considering how that old Jin of ours is an asshole and always falls into stupid traps, he had the decency to buy a Mechanoid with a legal database as part of his squad," Diaz remarked.

    "Ah... so when shit hits the fan..." Jin get where Page''s knowledge had been useful.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "That is why Page was considered not just a medic for literal war terms." Click tapped Page''s shoulders and gave a thumbs up. "She is our medic when ites to recovering the squad from serious legal consequences."

    "Alright, then Page, go search on everything you can to squeeze the private corpos dry. I will contact Raymond and Dyke to see if they can bestow me a title for this piece ofnd." Jin said as he immediately gave Raymond a call and exined to him.

    "Sire is currently busy but I see no qualms for you to do that. Mount Sunn is indeed without a lord because of an infamous smith squatting in there." Raymond said and in the background, Old Fammet had been silenced by Nie and the rest of the War Maidens.

    "If you managed to get his consent-"

    "Here is it. He gave physical proof of consent, allowing me to take over his workshop." Jin said as he showed a partial contract that Old Fammet had signed for Jin.

    "...Did you kill him to get that." Raymond queried in a hushed voice.

    "No. He dly joined up with me. Do I need a contract with you when I killed you?" Jin asked and Raymond kept quiet for a moment as he cleared his throat.

    "Regardless, it will take a few weeks for the paperwork to be processed even if Sire broke protocol and passed forward the application for your lordship." Raymond wanted to let Jin know that he would get the job done.

    "I have some time on my side but not sure how much. It would be better if you get it done as soon as possible."

    "What do you mean?"

    "If you know about that infamous smith, you probably know who is guarding that guy."

    "Oh... I totally slip that off my mind. I see. Hmm. I will do what I can but certain processes are still guarded by the *ahem* and the earliest I can promise you would be within the week." Raymond said and the Tactical System affirmed Jin that he was not lying. That was honestly their best estimate since there were certain reviews that needed to be done through the Synthesis Database even though it had the approval of the Archduke.

    "Alright. I believe I can survive for a week." Jin said as he thanked Raymond and closed themunication channel. He let out a deep sigh before breathing in.

    "Everyone. We have lots to do." Jin said as he rolled his sleeves up and looked at everyone who seemed motivated and raring to go. "But first, let''s take a look at the dungeon that Old Fammet talked about."

 Chapter 1509 Into The Dungeon -Part 2

    "You are not going anywhere with that kind of equipment with you." Old Fammet said as he pointed at the weapons they were currently holding.

    "What is wrong with them?" Yinn asked and Old Fammet replied that they do not have the stopping power nor prating power to kill the monsters in the Variant Dungeon.

    "Then do you?" Yinn questioned and Old Fammet scoffed at that remark as he asked them to follow him but Jin stopped the Mecha Smith.

    "Save those weapons for now. The Grey Bear Squad excluded Page since she needs to research on the legality of things toe with their standard gear." Jin said.

    "That will be suicide for them though," Niemented and noted that it was really not advisable to do just that.

    "It''s fine. I want to test some stuff and will being out of the Variant Dungeon if things go awry. We will not be travelling too far."

    "I do not think he knows how the dungeon works," Diaz remarked.

    "From the looks of it, he does not." Click nodded her head.

    "Captain, most dungeons can be escaped immediately, back to where wee from but Variant Dungeons do not have such luxury for you."

    "You mean..." Jin looked at the rest and Nie interrupted.

    "That is what I meant when I said that Master Fammet told us to brave through the first floor and get the dead people''s items. We ran to grab the stuff and avoided everything possible to reach the end of the first floor. Once we did that, we teleported safely to the workshop since there is a teleporting pod at the end of every dungeon floor." Nie exined.

    "Regardless, with that information. I am going into the first floor with conventional weapons." Jin rebutted all of their concerns.

    "Why?" was the only thing that floated in everyone''s head except for Lynn. She knew that Jin wanted to see how Lynn could fare with her current settings. And whether her powers were more than enough to bring those Variant monsters down to their knees.

    "It''s an order. Just bring more ammunition with you." Jin said as he took his standard loadout of P90 submachine guns and asked Old Fammet to lead them to the dungeon area.

    "And the stubborn smith had to follow the even more stubbornmander." Old Fammet grumbled which made Jin chuckle.

    "If I am not persistent enough, do you think you will get to be in this situation?"

    "There is something in this world called foolishness."

    "You will understand if you are willing toe," Jin said and Old Fammet refused.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "The Variant Dungeon difficulty increases with the number of people going in. So, I will opt out and wait for your return." Old Fammet said as he smashed a button and the door in front of them slowly opened, revealing a blood stained staircase and a poorly lit descent. "But since you are going down there, I guess I could ask you to bring back the remnants of the sharpest metal you could find. Lynn still needs a trusty sword and shield if you decide that she will continue to be used as a Close Combat War Maiden."

    "Erm..." Jin looked at Lynn for a while, as if waiting for her approval before turning his attention to Old Fammet again. "Could you instead prepare a basic set of kitchen tools instead? Like knives, choppers, pots,dles and woks, etc?"

    "That''s a very odd request... But I will still make a de regardless of your orders."

    "Sure, sure. I will bring back more metal if possible." Jin nodded his head and suddenly heard Page running towards him, fully armed.

    "Captain. I wish to join the expedition of the first floor."

    "You found what you need to cause the private corpos to be pointless at the end of the day?"

    "No, but I need to at least join up at least once to have a feeling of the teamwork that you and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad had performed. Otherwise, my optimisation may cause trouble for the uing defence against the counterattack."

    "Captain, she just needed to let go some steam as well. Let her join." Diaz said and Page somehow blushed a little.

    "Like I said, the more people who join, the more difficult the Variant Dungeon would be. Are you sure you want her to join? Her optimisation can be performed outside of the dungeon." Old Fammet warned.

    "Let her be. If you did say it''s dangerous then all the more, I will need a Combat Medic with me, right? If things do go south, we have some possible on the move recovery and run to the exit as fast as possible."

    "You are not contradicting yourself." Old Fammet squinted his eyes at him even though he knew Jin was just making excuses right now. "Do whatever you like, I am not to be med. At the very most I will fight to defend from the private corpos MYSELF."

    "Master, you are saying as if I will not be there with you..." Nie said as he had already sent his security buddies his resignation letter. They knew he might note back but to see him alive and making this absolute decision was a small blow to them, as they would lose a colleague who had worked with them for years.

    "Bah." Old Fammet fumed a little and walked off. Jin also took that as the signal to start walking down the stairs.

    While Lynn was a Close Combat War Maiden, she was given a boomstick aka a Remington Shotgun as her primary weapon. Her clothes were a standard set uniform prepared by Yinn which she also gave Page when she was remade. Other than that, there was no additional equipment Lynn was carrying with the exception of a vest to hold her extra ammunition shots. In the meantime, the rest instantly turned on their Night Vision mode and follow Jin down the stairs to reach a corridor.

    "Caution ahead. One Large Monster and a few other smaller ones." Tellie said as her perception was betterpared to the rest of them.

    "Then let''s give these buggers a surprise they''ve been yearning for," Jin said as hemanded Lynn to charge with him to fight therge unidentified monster while the rest were to be taken care of by the Squad members.

 Chapter 1510 Into The Dungeon -Final

    As Jin''s Inverse Eyes managed to catch the boss in his sight, the monster did its best to hide itself from the iing attackers while sending its minions to go against Jin and his Grey Bear Squad.

    ж╤ж┴зсdж┴---n?ж═a| зуom The Commander immediately booted up his tactical system and gave everyone strength boosters. As ironic as it sounded since they were carrying guns, those boosters were gun attachments which grew out of their weapons and sent intense electrical pulses into their weapons, allowing them to shoot out their bullets with more velocity.

    It allowed the Grey Bear Squad to dish out more prating power from their standard weapons and this battle was to discover how much can Jin''s Tactical System able to push to fight against the monsters in the Variant Dungeons.

    Jin figured that since this was the first floor, the Tactical System''s code boosts should still work to a certain extent. But if it did not, there were other tricks under his sleeves that he was dying to try as well. For now, they were proving to be effective and Jin had allowed them to coordinate among themselves so finish off the minions along with Page.

    "Lynn, I will go in first to break its defence," Jin said as the boss monster finally decide to emerge out of its hiding area by exploding the rocks and broken pirs which it was hiding from before. The two cultivators were able to evade and deflect all of the projectilesing their way as they moved closer to the boss.

    "Lolol we are fighting such a standard boss. Is the Synthesis World a future parallel world of ours?" Lynn said as she saw the monster reveal itself to be a ck praying mantis but instead of having a pair of des, there was a third de that was shaped like a scorpion tail.

    "How is having a ded tail on a praying mantis some sort of standard boss?!" Jin eximed as he pushed more of his Maqi into his legs, causing electrical sparks to emerge while his P90 Machine gun had been enhanced with regr Maqi. Since the bullets he shot out were charged with his Maqi, there was no need for attack boosters like those War Maidens that he had.

    "I don''t know, perhaps it''s called a Variant Dungeon for a reason, it just grew a tail with a de on it! It''s still obviously a praying mantis though!" Lynn eximed as she raised her palm and likeics, a spherical energy ball was generated in front of her palm. And once it was fully charged, she use the chi within her to shoot out the energy ball.

    It was a lucky shot as it hit the praying mantis''s body the moment it stopped to bare its fangs at them after the praying mantis blocked all the initial spray of bullets with its des. This gave the two cultivators momentum to move even closer but they had forgotten that there was the third de which came swooping in when things got too rough for the praying mantis to handle.

    Lynn barely moved out of the way before using her knee to kick it away, forcing the praying mantis to be unstable, and instead of an energy ball, she merely concentrated her strength on the other feet as she used the thrusters from the nk of her body to propel herself and deliver a drop kick at on mantis'' de.

    As expected the de tail mmed itself into the praying mantis''s body, causing a cut that it was unable to recover. At that point, Jin already used his Inverse Eyes and poured the remaining clip of Maqi charged ammo into the body.

    However, as expected from a Variant Dungeon, the Boss Monster was still resilient enough to throw its two des towards its enemies, attempting to sweep the cultivators away from its body. The only unfortunate thing that happen was thebatants were veterans in close quarter fights and would use every opportunity they could generate to eliminate their opponents. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was the same for this fight as both Jin and Lynn had the very same idea as they moved away just enough to evade the swing''s trajectory before grabbing the back of the praying mantis''s des and directing it once more towards its body.

    Some cartge cracking sounds were heard as its arms were overly exerted to pierce its own stomach. In thest ditch attempt to kill the cultivators, the praying mantis used its head and attempted to bite them. However, Lynn stepped forward as she caught its mandible with her hand and did the most crazy thing ever since she ''reincarnated''.

    With her ''Dantian'' core powered by a nuclear active material, she utilised her maqi along with radiation, causing the mantis'' mouth to melt in front of her. Jin slowly stepped backwards as he saw the head been gruesomely eroded into nothing but slime juice.

    "Holy shit, is Lynn even radioactive?" Jin was afraid that he would die from it and the Tactical System had a thrill seeing its user frightened to the core.

    "User, your Maqi would automatically counteract the scattered radiation so as long as you are not too close to her. If you are afraid that she leaks radiation then you have low confidence in the materials chosen by Old Fammet and the frame design done by the System."

    "Wow okay. I guess, aside from the usual elements that I can conjure, radiation is definitely one more trump card that we have to fry those Mechanoids." Jin was surprised by it as he saw Lynn''s grin got wider. (and perhaps more evil.)

    "No. Do note near me. You might still be radioactive." Jin said as he carefully took a few steps backwards.

    "But I want a victory hug!" Lynn did not care as she boosted herself forward and right towards Jin. Even as much as Jin could evade this straight up ''attack'', he resigned and discharged his Maqi as Lynn went into his arms.

    "Urgh." Jinn sighed as he slowly wrapped his arms around Lynn even though she had already locked herself onto him.

    That''s definitely a wrap of the First Floor Dungeon and a clean wipe by the Grey Bear Squad as well.

 Chapter 1511 Handling The Loot

    It was an understatement to say that Old Fammet and Nie, who were sitting near the front of the Variant dungeon and resolute to wait for the team to return, had spit their coffee out when they heard the teleporting sound.

    As the only magical portion of this entire Virtual World, the Variant Dungeon''s teleport magic shone brilliantly to denote a full clear of the first floor. Old Fammet was also stupified to see the Grey Bear Squad all intact with not just a few pieces of the monsters in their possession but everyone brought back every piece of them.

    "We do not really know what you needed, so we brought everything here," Jin said which made Old Fammet and Nie look at each other for a while before, the both of them unwittingly tapped each other''s hands with much anxiety. Without a doubt, the two Mecha Smiths had a lot of things going through their minds.

    From simple things like ''URGH HOW AM I GOING TO CLEAN THE ENTIRE WORKSHOP FROM ALL THESE BLOOD" to moreplicated things such as "WE NEED TO PRESERVE THE MONSTER PARTS! THEY COULD SELL HIGH!"

    But their mouths were not working as they stood up slowly with all those thoughts running through their heads before their eyes finally gave each other a unified stare. "We need to turn on those Mechanoids."

    Without any moment to waste, Nie nodded his head and he started to run out of the room first as Old Fammet told them to bring them to his warehouse while walking in a straight line. (He obviously did not want too much mess on his already messy workshop.)

    "Since you are going to be lord, we are going to harvest the parts of these monsters. Their meat can sell for a decent price in the market while the bones and misceneous parts can be recrafted into customised Mechanoids." Old Fammet was talking to Jin who was leading the group carrying the Three des Praying Mantis along with Lynn.

    "I have more than enough good Mechanoids with me. Anymore, it would not be a squad no longer." Jin said but he stopped himself for a moment. "...Unless you are thinking of using it for defences."

    "Yes. Do you think I would be like those idiots in the private corpos using those 3D printers or nanomachines to build the Mechanoids?" Old Fammet eximed.

    "You did build me that still uses nanomachines" Page shouted from behind.

    "You are medic, dumbass. Of course, you need to use nanomachines. Besides, those nanomachines that I inserted into you are customised too!" Old Fammet shouted back Page shoot a tongue out at him.

    And just as the group reached the Warehouse, Nie was already panting with a squad of activated Mechanoids right behind him.

    "You can decode and override the security encryption?" Click asked with amazement when she saw the Mechanoids were obeying his orders.

    "If he can''t do such a simple thing, he should just quit being my apprentice." Old Fammet grunted.

    "You let him scold you this much?" Lynn queried.

    "Hey, at least this insult is better than when I was really an apprentice with him. Being able to tolerate his insults and jabs was a prerequisite." Nie said as he told the Mechanoids to assist the Grey Bear Squad to carry the goods more delicately.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I do not need talented whiners." Old Fammet said as he told Nie to grab the metal parts of the monsters first since he is going to warm up the forge which he cooled initially.

    "Can I ask for your help, Grey Bear Squad? While I may have these Mechanoids with me, I would still need assistance from stronger Mechanoids to break apart those items."

    "But бнthey are Diamondz Ranger type Mechanoids. They are supposed sturdier than me." Diaz remarked.

    "Last I remember, those Rangers could not even clear the Variant Dungeons." Nie retorted.

    "That was many years ago, these Rangers should have higher tech specifications." Diaz said but Page shook her head.

    "They are indeed the old models. I am guessing that is why you are able to override these models and not the entire toon, right?" Page queried and Nie nodded his head with a bit of ''Oops, I guess you caught me.''

    "You should say it''s already a miracle he is able to remember how to override them." Tellie said," Considering how humans have the tendency to lose their craft and edge if they did not practice them."

    "Ermm... Thanks? But shall we get to it?" Nie asked and everyone chipped in to dissect the monsters they got. When one thought of the boss to be the Praying Mantis, they would believe its minions would also be insectoid like.

    However, it was not the case and they were more like mutated dogs who have overly built muscles and a jaw as scary as the Mantis'' Mandible. But even though they looked like dogs, Nie stated that their meat was a delicacy to people and they were sold for a high price.

    As the Mecha Smith Apprentice taught them where to slice and break the minions, Jin asked a casual question where Nie learnt all of this. His only reply was that one had to be multi talented to be part of Old Fammet''s team. Even though they were titled with Mecha Smiths, Old Fammet did not exactly recruit existing Mecha Smiths.

    He said that most of such Smiths already had a biased toward their craft and it was rather more convenient to recruit people from other professions since he did say that his craft could be learnt with time and hard work.

    "The only thing he did not say was how much time and hard work we had to put in. He had to make 24 hours feel like 48 hours or sometimes a week, considering the amount of training we had to go through. And since we had to do customised stuff, harvesting parts from monsters is also part of our skillsets"

    "I feel youбн I really do feel you." Jin said as he reminisced the days when his time had been dted and his sleep time waspressed so he was able to do more in one day.

    Unlike the days he had in the Tree Mall, this life wasparatively like a vacation.

 Chapter 1512 Behind The Scenes For The Tree Mall

    And speaking of Tree Mall, the Tactical System was already uploading all the data it had received from fighting against the ded Tail Mantis. There was nothing much for in terms of environmental data and the mutated minions were not exactly strong to create a brand new instance for the customers to try. Thus, the System used it as an update to thetest instance, The House.

    A fourth pattern was added to the existing three patterns of ''The House'' instance so that the Cultivators now have the possibility of finding a secret door where it leads to the ded Tail Mantis. There was not much development from the Dungeons and Pandas since Qiu Yue had taken ''The House'' instance as a sign that Jin was going to pump out more instances despite being trapped in another world.

    However, when it came to the Tree Mall itself, there were multiple improvements to it as Qiu Yue was part of the nation''s redevelopment ministry. Even though she did not object to nor obstruct Jin''s way of collecting tenants to fill up the Tree Mall, it was ineffective. Luring them because the rent was cheaper and they could be working in a dynamic environment was not enough incentive in her opinion. (Although there were still quite a number ofpanies attempting to bid for space.)

    Instead, she had decided to use her existing knowledge of instance building skills to create ces where it was conducive for the existingpanies to interact, cooperate and socialise. Not only that, she has taken the opportunity to get representatives from variouspanies together to brainstorm and create an effectivemunication and logistic system among themselves. This way, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were able to tap some limited expertise from the multinationalpanies (MNC) which could not be possible in the outside world of cutthroat businesses.

    In return, the SMEs were needed to aid with the MNCs'' workload which was not an issue, and probably a boon because they get to learn from the MNCs and achieve business contacts from them as well. On the other hand, Qiu Yue started on charity as well since ...let''s just say that Taxes were a pain in the ass and the ability to do charity would no doubt benefit the Tree Mall as a whole, but the various businesspanies who needed some tax levies.

    eaglesnov?1,зуoзо Thus, she first started by devoting an entire instance to helping the homeless. It was an easy feat since through contact with Police Cultivators, Qiu Yue had managed to get the whereabouts of those homeless people and their details so that her people (Pandafull Employees) located them and bring them into the Tree Mall. The instance was simr to a boot camp barracks except that it was designed with cubicles where everyone had a private space to their own.

    While she did not collect any rent from them, various businesspanies ''sponsored'' their stay and in return, they had to find work either through the Tree Mall Workmanship Programmes or outside of Tree Mall. And once they had obtained a job and umted sufficient wealth, they would be asked to leave to search for an apartment. While Jin did state that he wished to use Pandapolis as the city for cultivators to buy houses, the n was eventually scrapped for his minions to live. It is even more pertinent now that their current World of Sanctum instances is full and Jin was not around to build any more instances.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It is true that the System is capable of creating additional instances but decided to not touch it since Jin initially wanted tobine all they had into the ''Virtual World'' they were aiming for. Thus, allowing the newer minions of the System to have a ce in the Pandapolis was vital for their survival. Besides, those Demon Rats were growing fast and even the high rise apartments that Pandapolis offered might not be sufficient.

    And with regards to the Demon Rats, there was much to do. Even though the System had stated that all the Demon Rats were gone when the festival reached the end, there were still squads of Demon Rats trying their best to fight the overwhelming numbers. Jin''s Army of monsters was already doing what they can to remove them so that they could start rebuilding the ce. And since they knew that Jin wanted this ce badly, the Commanders Gold and Weslie made sure that there were no more Demon Rats left behind.

    They even got Peppers to continuously scan the area to make sure that there were no more Demon Rats alive. After all, one would never know how even just one Demon Rat soldier might have the ability to affect the current ecosystem. Or whether a ''miracle'' would happen and enabled the Demon Rats to breed again, hence eradication was important to make sure that such an event would never appear.

    But because the bulk of the Demon Rats had been killed, the Spirit of the Land was able to slowly regain its strength and even offered help to search for any stragglers. To Peppers'' surprise, there were a few that could not be detected by her legendary grade magical scan. Something which Gold felt through hunches that the Demon Rats were not thoroughly annihted but nothing to substantiate. Only through the tweaking of her spell that they finally found even more stragglers and they could finally say that the Northern Region of the Farming World had finally been cleaned out.

    This also meant that Qiu Yue could earnestly push forward the n that Jin had been wanting for the Farming World for a very long time.

    To start producing their own materials and build thergest personal production supply centre so that they can sustain the future wars they might be waging on various fronts as well as provide the materials for Jin''s Tree Mall. (And also house some cultivators as promised to give them some farming content, although Qiu Yue felt it was more feasible to create instances for them instead to do that.)

 Chapter 1513 To Fill The Stomach

    Back in the Synthesis World, Nie had the fortune of good, well minded friends informing him that the attack towards Mount Sunn was more or less confirmed. There were moremanders on site and the private corpos particrly Diamondz had even decided to enlist the help from the Mission Command Centre by posting assistance to take over Mount Sunn''s Workshop.

    While there were some minorities who disagreed with such furious acquisitions of assets from a former famous Master Mecha Smith, the majority followed the crowd and epted the request since the money awarded for assisting with the battle was said to be tremendously rewarding.

    It was considered a raid request where the people who contributed the most to the fight would be awarded the most amount of money. Not to mention, thosemanders were given incentives and perks to purchasing upgrades from the private corpos stores.

    Even though the entire shopping street worth of War Maidens had already been taken up by Diamondz, there were still upgrade packages, essories and weapons to be bought, and thosemanders who were going to assist with the raid had a 250 points voucher that could be spent prior to the raid, giving themanders the extra sassy entitlement to aid with the fight.

    With such information at hand, only Nie panicked, asking if it is wise to really stay in this particr workshop. Of course, there was no doubt that the area was rather fortified. With a few automatic artilleries as well as anti air guns for far range targets and automated machine guns along with a few physical traps like the spikes on the high walls for close range encounters, it was not a workshop to be handled lightly by any.

    However, with the advent of dozens ofmandersing to assist alongside the Private Corpos, it does seem like the walls of this workshop would not be sufficient to stop the iing invasion.

    Yet, to Jin who was already a master expert when ites to defending battles of attrition, had believed that they could deal with it. "I can fire up those Mechanoids but even them alone would not be sufficient to fight against such arge number. They are using a high number of low value units to destroy your few but high valued units." Old Fammet said that even if he were to reactivate the Mechanoisd and reequip with the materials that Jin had acquired from the Variant Dungeon, it would still not be sufficient to fight against such a horde. And this wasing from such informal sources and rumours. Who knows whether Diamondz would enlist help from the other private corpos and bring Old Fammet down for good in one setting.

    "The only good thing thates from this is that if they are still fighting you when you are being instated as lord, they can expect a hugewsuit caseing for them from me." Page smiled as she seemed to figure out the loopholes in the current ruling system.

    "Then I guess we will just need to hold till then, right?" Jin said and Page nodded her head firmly.

    "Captain, you made it sound so easyбн" Diaz sighed as she knew that he was going toe out with some crazy n.

    "Don''t worry, he will make it easy to understand." Lynn smiled as she was looking at all the weird meat and her systems had been beeping at her consistently. Even though she was transferred into this particr world, like Jin, her connection to the Sub System was not severed and it was interpreting to her all those items that they had collected.

    There was an assortment of vegetables, herbs and meat that she could make use of if she have ess to a few extra spices and some basic cooking ingredients. However, this was a workshop and she already knew Old Fammet''s status. Thus, when she casually changed the topic and asked Old Fammet whether he had anything she could cook with, she was prepared to be disappointed.

    "Ehh we have a few cooking stuff on the SUV, Jin insisted that we bring them even though we said we can put more weapons to help with the fight." Click said and Lynn gave a quick re at Jin. Not the death re kind but the happy one.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I am not the greatest cook but I know my basics," Jin said with a smile. "So, I should have all the stuff that you need. As for your instruments, you need to look at Old Fammet."

    "I did make the basic stuffбнalthough I find it weird that you outsiders used such a deep round oval shaped cooking pan." Old Fammet did make a basic set of kitchen ''instruments'' for Lynn as requested by Jin but he did not know the use of them.

    "You knew that I would want to cook a meal, don''t you?" Lynn questioned with a sly smile on her face.

    "It''s been some time since I had your food. It''s excruiating to go through the days eating stale bread and military rations." Jin''s stomach answered on behalf of his master.

    "Then, give me a moment to get it up while you talk with your team about how to deal with this mess," Lynn said as she requested Old Fammet to show her the way to the kitchen.

    In the meantime, while Jin waited for his long overdue meal, the cksmith had been scolded by Lynn for having such a terribly maintained kitchen. She beckoned Diaz to assist her as the rest talked about the strategy they were going to have.

    One thing was for sure, the Mechanoids that they had acquired would be used solely for the defence of the workshop. Jin told them that even though he can control them, it was better for them to operate the artilleries and other defensive systems. The extra hands would also be good to make sure any who managed to sneak in would be dealt with as well.

    "What? So we are going to fight entire armies with just a squad of Mechanoids?" Click could not believe it. "Please tell me it isn''t true. Thest time we did that, I had a heart attack. Not that I actually have a real heart per se but you know where I -no, where we areing from right?" She looked at her teammates, hoping for a united response from the group but everyone had mixed feelings about it.

    "Was it so hard? You War Maidens were previously run of the mill Mechanoids not too long ago and you were able to defeat numbers more than your fingersbined can count. We just have to prepare for it, right Click?"

    eж┴glesn?ж═el "Oh no." Tellie chuckled as they could see that Click was going to be the main star of this fight. Even the main star could sense the amount of work she got to do just by the look of her team members.

    "Yes Click. The entire forest is at our disposal. Besides, we need to clear the space for the new vige that I am governing, right?" Jin smiled devilishly that the Fox himself would approve of it too.

 Chapter 1514 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 1

    Even though the War Maidens did not need to eat food, the aroma leaking from the kitchen was fantastic, making them hungry for it. They tried to resist it but turning off their olfactory sensors could not make them forget the smell, which caused their taste sensors to prepare the necessary nanomachines so that they can break the food down for additional energy.

    However, when the dishes came andid bare on their makeshift table, everyone was brimming with excitement. Even the presentation alone from the weird mish mash of materials they acquired was enough to amaze them. Obviously, they never saw any of those food items before but Lynn had presented them to be the same as what Jin was used to.

    Fried Chicken Rice, Steamed Vegetables mixed with spices and even a bowl of soup.

    "Don''t you need time to make all these?" Jin asked as he thought that the time she took was not exactly very long until he saw his watch. The meeting between his squad members and Nie was intense that they did not realise how much time they had taken. It was enough to make him squeak out a quiet apology to the Chef as they started to dig in.

    Without a doubt, everyone was surprised by the taste of the food even though they knew it would be fantastic both from the presentation and the smell. They had their expectations, but it exceeded more than that. But what was more unbelievable was that the food was easy for the nanomachines to break down and had high efficiency conversion rates to charge their backup batteries.

    They enjoyed the food so much that no one was speaking even Old Fammet, who Nie said was a picky eater, was quietly taking more portions for himself. After their dinner, they started to prepare for the uing siege with whatever they had nned previously. The War Maidens were initially worried that theirmander was overworking until they saw that he was still jumping around to perform what was needed of him from the ns they made.

    As for the Mecha Smiths, it seemed the food they partook in was more than nourishing. It energised them more than any heaps of coffee could ever give and they started smithing items for the defences of the Workshop. Every one of them did their part to fortify the workshops to the best of their abilities.

    These went on for days until the proximity sensors started to pick up activity from the roads and it seems that Nie''s warnings were spot on. Because of their numbers, they were going in rashly without any scouts which made the Grey Bear Squad''s bet pay off. This was because they had prepared an impromptu minefield using C4s and a few dozen ymores that were lying around in the Smith''s warehouse. They were painstakingly ced by Click and a few of the mass produced Mechanoids as the very same group was currently staying at the frontlines to kill any scouts in case the private corpos sent them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, it seemed like there was no need for that now since the private corpos were confident enough that their superiority in numbers would be more than sufficient to forcefully take over the workshop thus the squad went straight to phase 2.

    "Artillery team, take aim," Jin said as he connected the Tactical System to the defence team, allowing the Tactical System to provide exact coordinates for the bombardment. This was made possible by Jin''s Maqi being stored in a power energy rod and ced all around the forest. Its energy was released so that it could work something akin to a temporary proximity sensor for the Tactical System while bypassing the enemies'' sensors.

    "Fire!" Jin shouted and the Mechanoids simultaneously released the volley of bombardment like clockwork. When the Private Corpos Commanders heard the first loud boom, it did not register to them that they were artilleries and it shocked them that when they got hit where the concentrations of soldiers were the highest.

    "Spread out! Spread out!" Themanders shouted but it was toote as many were shellshocked from the initial volley and this allowed the Mount Sunn''s artillery team to fire the next volley with good toll of causalities. Also, Jin''s proximity sensors manage to give the Tactical System an approximate movement of the army, enabling the Mechanoids manning the guns to adjust them ordingly and shoot with efficiency and precision.

    "We were not told that the Workshop has long range artilleries! That is not what the recon had told us about!" Jin intercepted Private Corpos openmunications channel with the help of the frequencies installed in the stolen Mechanoids. He chuckled knowing that it would be impossible for them to know since this was the power of the Tactical System, extending their barrels and installing impromptu boosters to ensure that those shells could travel further.

    Of course, there was a price to pay knowing that after the use of those boosted artilleries, there was no way the workshop could ever salvage them again. They would be even more useless than scrap metal but for a one off long duration of battle, it was a good trade off for such guns. Even Old Fammet was impressed by how the Tactical System could influence at such arge scale, not knowing that it was capable to do even more. (In fact, he was doubtful, to begin with, and did not believe until he saw with his own eyes how his customised artillery guns erged on their own like a living creature evolving to suit the current circumstances.)

    But for what it''s worth, the thinning of their numbers was important even though they did not know Jin had a backup n as well. The Grey Bear Captain could only hope that it would note to such a situation. "All Fire Teams, continue firing until the entire army goes into the forest. Do not care about the advancing group, and kill all highly concentrated stragglers before we go into phase three." Jinmanded as he knew that despite the size of this particr army that came in, it could just be the start and the Private Corpos still have many to spare.

 Chapter 1515 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 2

    As expected, the Private Corpo Armies and the rest of the mercenaries were trying to avoid the artillery fire by going into the forest and by doing so, they fell into Click''s minefield. Improvised C4 with just a simple tiny and yet sensitive movement sensor courtesy of the Mecha Smith''s stockpile had allowed the Grey Bear engineer to ''creatively'' stash multiple C4s into the forest for killing.

    Jin and the others saw the first of the fireworks as the armies rushed for cover only to find that it explodes and kill their own people. There was no way out other than moving forward. Some of themanders took the opportunity to use their Mechanoids as fodders by rushing into the forest so that it could clear the way for the advancing army.

    It was not a bad move and it also showed that the particr path had been cleared of C4 explosives, allowing them to move forward. The only caveat to this method of clearing the minefield was that it showed where the enemies would be likely to be moving and Jin who still have remaining sensors that were away from the minefields was able to roughly pinpoint the number of Mechanoidsing their way.

    Thus, it enabled Jin and the Tactical System to adjust their artillery and spent their firepower on those pinpointed areas of concentrated enemies. It was to the point that the Private Corpo had decided to call in for an airstrike, hoping to down the artillery guns so that they could move forward with much ease.

    The only problem was there were surface to air missiles (SAM) defensive systems at the top of Mount Sunn, causing difficulty for the enemy nes to move erratically to reach their target. Some of them had decided to shoot long range missile in hopes that they could destroy something from afar. However, Mount Sunn also built anti air gatling guns that were able to destroy those long range missiles from afar, causing their shots to be rendered ineffective.

    "I do not care! Survive, restock and go again! We have the money! Just fucking storm their ce!" The CEO of Diamondz continued to rant as he saw the pathetic situation that was developing from the current fight. He expected resistance but not to the point where it was like a fortress. However, he knew that the workshop can onlyst that long given its estimated manpower.

    Even if the Mecha Smith were to spend his entire time smithing out new ammunition, there was no way his old cranky production machine would able to chunk out massive amounts to fight against the CEO''s privately hired army. All he needed was to clear the current obstacles and then push in with more people and War Maidens to the point that there was no way out for him.

    In fact, he was coborating with the major private Mechanoidpany Rocketeer to strike from behind Mount Sunn. While it was true that Mount Sunn was indeed a mountain of great... height, there was nothing attack helicopters and helicarriers could not bring over. It was alsoughable that through aerial imaging, the back of the mountain was not exactly the most well defended. Mainly because there was nothing back there other than it facing a deep crevice and more mountains and woonds.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    That was why Diamondz CEO had decided to put all his forces as a distraction right at the ''front'' while he used Rocketeer''s aerial forces to parachute his elite Mechanoids into the workshop from behind them. All they needed was to know when was the right time to enter. After all, those SAM systems were a pain in the ass and the private corpos got to clear them before they could send their troops from the back.

    But Jin, the Tactical System and Old Fammet were not dumb, they pretended to be. They had to make it not apparent by putting those SAM systems up as the only defences on the mountaintop. (Though Old Fammet grumbled because Jin and the Defending Mechanoids dismantled those SAM systems and brought them up and then requested him to rewire them so that they could be integrated again into the workshop system. And of course, it requires electricity.)

    They had other things in store for attackers who decide to sneak from the back but right now, their focus was the army that was gunning for the main gate. Since air strikes were not enough to bring them down, themanders on site had unanimously agreed to drop napalm on the forest and burn the remaining portion since they were losing troops at an uneptable rate. They were also hoping that any hidden defending Mechanoids would go into ashes as well along with the strike and thus reducing their numbers.

    However, they had no idea that those improvised sensory C4s were the only things within the forest. With the exception of a few additional traps that they prepared, Jin had already made up his mind not to use the forest as part of his defensive ns since he knew the amount of firepower the other side was able to obtain. And seeing how their forested area was burned so easily, it reinforced the reasoning to keep all the defending Mechanoids within the workshop base.

    "Destroying more of our forested property through illegal means. Looks like we can get even more money from them." Page remarked with a wry smile and Jin nodded his head in agreement while looking at the current development. Despite the napalm fire, the private corpo War Maidens were tasked to go down the main road against the raging fires from the side and press on the attack, not allowing Jin and the rest to have any breather.

    The artillery fire was now more focused on the main road and even though its more concentrated in its attack, their range of fire was limited especially the intervals, allowing the enemies to get the rhythm of the strikes and charge in even more decisively. It looked like they were going to put up a fierce fight when theye closer to the workshop base.

 Chapter 1516 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 3

    "Move Move Move!" The private copromanders shouted at the top of their lungs as they saw their Mechanics bring bombarded at the main road. The smoke, dust and haze might cause them to cough but for now, that was the least of their concern as they tried to push towards the workshop.

    The Mechanoids might not need to worry about the quality of the air but they were served as pawns to waste the shells flying out of the workshop''s barrels and their objective was to gain as much ground as possible.

    Surely, it was not the most ideal way of moving but it sure beats the unknown element of being blown apart within the forest. Not to mention ambushes, although such thoughts were already useless now that it was burning fiercely.

    Additionally, even more airstrikes were conducted at a disheartening pace with strafing runs against the workshop as the anti air guns attempted to foil their runs. However, more of their missile attacks went through as the SAM sites needed to be reloaded manually before they could be of use against the private corpo air force.

    This, in turn, allowed the private corpo air assets to be more assertive in their attacks, destroying artilleries as well as those inactive SAM sites. And thus, the rush towards the workshop base had been more than just a burst of adrenaline, it was the hope of being able toplete this mission.

    "Idiots." Old Fammet grinned widely as he saw the Mechanoids reaching the main gates, with only a hundred metre distance between them and the workshop walls. With a console beside him, he pushed the buttons that enabled a loud whizzing sound within the workshop itself.

    Before long, arge gigantic thermic beam emerges from the centre of Mount Sunn, burning everything in the main pavement. There was nowhere else for the Mechanoids and Commanders to run away from, considering the intense napalm fire that the higher ups had inflicted to reduce the possibility of a forest ambush.

    A few managed to hide within the holes that had been created by the previous artillery attacks but they were not spared by the severe burns. "Hahahha! Now, this is retribution in the making!" Old Fammetughed loudly as he pressed a few buttons once more and the middle of the mountain started closing. From the invader''s point of view, the beam tore through the mountain centre when all along it was merely camouged.

    Hence once the beam burnt the main straight road to ashes, the mountain cannon as they dubbed it at that point in time, was protected by having the "windows" close before it was exposed too long by air strikes.

    "Now that''s what I called firepower!" Diaz said as she continued to y those remaining War Maidens that had managed to dodge the Mountain cannon. (Since the cannon fired from an angle before moving upwards, hitting the rest from the back.)

    "This will only buy us some time. The rest will rely on Jin." Lynn said as she too picked up a rifle and shoot the rest down with the Grey Bears.

    "Don''t forget your assigned jobs as well," Jin replied as he continued to monitor the situation.

    "You want me to go right now?" Lynn asked and Jin thought for a while before shaking his head.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "No. The battlefield is still too much of a chaos. We expected the forests to be destroyed but they had proven to us that they could give us the worse case scenario within the shortest time possible. Let the forest be burnt down." Jinmented.

    "We would not besting too long if those airstrikes continue. I think they were initially worried about Tellie''s infamous shot that brought down the fighter jet but since nothing had happened up till now, those pilots are getting bolder." Yinn reported.

    "I think I can shoot one or two down. We are not travelling on a high speed SUV so there is not muchpensation needed for the shots." Tellie volunteered herself instantly and yet Jin shook his head once more.

    "Save it for emergencies. We do not need to show our Mechanoids'' prowess unless it is necessary." Jin reiterated.

    "What he means is that he wants to unt his powers. Especially the dungeon making portion." Lynn chuckled as she managed to shoot down two Mechanoids before hiding back behind the walls to reload.

    "I honestly did not see it in action and was unable toment whether it would be useful."

    "Oh. It will be fantastic, I assure you. For now, continue to hold off the attacks as much as possible. Get the defending Mechanoids to shift all focus on the main road." Jin ordered and they acknowledged them with a loud and strong "Yes Sir!"

    As they had expected, the battle had begun to shift towards the favour of the private corporation as more troops started to flood in and reinforced the rear. The trees burnt out surprisingly fast and Jin believed it was mainly because of the firepower they had used, mixed along with the hidden C4s and ymores.

    Thus as the burnt ashen fields slowly reveal themselves to be empty pathways for the rear to enter, they did not hesitate to push their forces ahead with tanks and other armoured vehicles as their cover. Two legged juggernaut Mechanoid Armours were also deployed to walk alongside the tanks and they were dishing out missiles and bullets at an incredible rate which the workshop walls had a very hard time holding out.

    Yet for some reason, those walls continued to remain tall despite proven feats of such missiles capable of bringing them down. This showed that Old Fammet''s skills in the maniption of metal were worth their salt. Still, that did not mean that it could take this kind of punishment forever and the walls are starting to crack.

    And that was the signal for Jin to finally make his debut as this world''s first dungeon supplier.

 Chapter 1517 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 4

    For his entire career as a dungeon supplier, it is an obvious rule that they would pay him to enter the dimensional instance. There was consent that by entering his dimensional instance they would pay a fee to utilise his instance and get stronger. Should they die within the instance, they could be revived as it was a contract when they paid him a fair sum of money.

    Thus this was the first time he conjured a dimensional instance, the usual mode of payment was not cash but their lives. If they were able to get out of it alive, they would undoubtedly get stronger and if they do not, they would be decimated and so all of their points would be transferred to Jin.

    Usually, there was a cost attached to the creation of such a dimensional instance. From the materials to recreate the dimensional instance to the time needed to do so. However, because this was technically a grand virtual simtion, all of the materials that were needed to create it had somehow been ''forfeited''.

    Still, such a creation had caused the Tactical System to fear that it would alert the administrators and whether they woulde in to interfere was another worry hovering over its decisions. Yet, Jin had decided to proceed with it since there was no way to fight against the private corpo army other than this method.

    Originally, he wished to delve deeper into this world''s variant dungeons little further to learn more about their dungeons and monsters but it seemed like revenge was in everyone''s head. No one was immune to it and given that more points one would have by the end of every year if they seed in doing so, revenge seems to be encouraged.

    Jin sighed as he pointed his arm towards the warzone right in front of him and his hand started to pulsate violently. The private corpos had no idea as they continued to rush towards the workshop thinking that victory was at hand. It was not until the fighter nes who were flying back for another attack run that they saw the sky had a ck spherical object at the centre of the battlefield.

    It started to vibrate and pan out like a curtain encasing the army below them in a dome shape barrier. Without hesitation, the fighter nes attempt to retaliate back and started to shoot at the spherical object, only to find out that it was not working at all. Its bullets went through it as if it was not a physical object. The pilots thought that it might have been a miss and decided to shoot a missile at it too, only to find out there was no heat signature for it to lock on and was subsequently forced to fire its machine guns once again.

    It was through the ne''s notification that the army below had finally realised thetest problem and assumed it was one of Old Fammet''s tricks since they never expected a mountain cannon capable of decimating an entire regiment of troops with it. Themanders quickly ordered their troops to take cover, thinking that there could be another giant st while the rest at the edge of the battlefield had been asked to halt their movements.

    It was not wrong to say they had prepared even more troops for such mass destruction events and conserving their troops and energy would be the smartest thing to do. But just as the ck dome surrounds the ce, everything turned back to normal as if nothing had happened. The only problem was that something did happen.

    All of the troops including the Mechanoids had disappeared excluding the dead corpses. Even the fighter jets that were within the dome when it was emerging were gone with no trace of it anywhere. Allmunications were cut away from them as if it was some extinction bomb that wiped out all existence.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "There is no way Old Fammet would be capable of doing such crazy weapons without our knowledge!" One of themanders said as he decided to push his toon of Mechanoids forward.

    The sudden loss of an enemying forward was a breather to the defending side and they tried their best to recoup and reorganise. Even though there was a toon of War Maidens being sent out with their humvees, the remaining long range artillery was tasked to take care of them.

    The only difference this time was that the dimensional instance dome was still there but it was transparent and Jin was not activating it anytime soon to amodate the fresh toon of Mechanoids to reinforce their belief that there was something constantly there to take their troops away.

    "Throw more troops to us. Then I will teleport you guys into the instance. But for now, let''s see how those troops are handling our side." Jin grinned as he viewed the dimensional instance through his Tactical System where he saw all of them had ''teleported'' safely into one side of a desert, something different from the ashen battlefield that they had created beyond the gates of the workshop.

    Every single one of them was confused but the Mechanoids who were programmed to performed had already taken a defensive stance to ensure that they do not get ambushed. Even as themanders were bracing for their new environment, the War Maidens already started to form up so that the Tanks and Mecha Armour were the centrepiece of their defined formation.

    In the meantime, the pilots who were teleported also tried to scout the endless desert and attempt to check their bearings through their navigation. Unfortunately, nothing came out and their map systems were calling out significant errors as if they were in a newnd.

    "Is this some kind of teleportation bomb?!" One of themanders said as he could not connect back to their headquarters, thinking that they had been off the grid and there was no way to get a response.

    "Wait, I hear something rumbling. Everyone stay alert!" One of themanders said and he pulled out his pistol whilemanding these Mechanoids to stay on their toes. The dunes of the desert started to shake and all of the private corpos soldiers and their mercenaries had no idea that what was going to happen next would end their lives if they were not careful.

 Chapter 1518 Dessert Or Desert? -Part 1

    "Fox 1 to Fox 3, I have been picking up tremendous energy signatures and movements from the ground. Are your sensors getting the same readings?" The pilot said as his scanning machines were moving crazily. It was functioning normally a moment ago when they entered this brand new space but the moment they saw the Mechanoids on the ground going into formation, their readings were off the charts.

    "Fox 3 to Fox 1, I have encountered the same thing. No visual as of now. Prep and ready to fire whenever needed." The only thing they could make sure that it was working was their weapon systems and thankfully so are their controls of the ne. All they could do was to assist for a while before for any possible enemies and subsequently either do a roughnding or ditch the ne entirely.

    Just as the two pilots finish talking to each other, the rumbling of the sands got even louder causing most of the Mechanoids to lose their footing. The sand started to swirl and most of the soldiers knew something was not right and slowly move as per theirmander''s worried orders. However, it was not long until the sand movements started to be more...symmetric and it feels like they were being pulled into a particr coordinate.

    It was not long that themanders at the nks of the formation started to see the forming of a gigantic whirlpool in the middle of their defensive formation though it was more obvious to the two fighter nes circling at the top. They realised that they were powerless to do anything as theirmunications were not going through and all they could do was to see their fellow soldiers and War Maidens drown into the abyssal depths of the sandy whirlpool.

    The rest tried their best to move out of the way as much as possible and some attempted to rescue the others with robes from the humvees pulling them but it was not until a sudden thunderous roar bellowed from beneath the sand whirlpool that caught their attention. A tremendous giant sandworm made out of nothing but pure moving metal emerge from its clutches and swallowed a bulk of the Mechanoids who were attempting to get out of the situation.

    The sandworm had its fill as it jumped out of the sandy pits and leapt to another portion of the desert. The fighter nes were able to take evasive actions in time despite flying low enough as the pilots finally got a grip on what had been bothering their sensors. There was no way their current assortment of armaments would be enough to destroy such a giant of a monster.

    And as if luck was not at their side, their fuel gauges were beeping as well, indicating that they probably only have one shot against the huge sandworm if they were to fight against it. And to make matters worse, the people on the ground were as hopeless as the two fighter nes clinging on dear life when they saw almost half of their formation had been reduced to dust.

    There was no way they were able to win with such numbers and the only way to survive this was with more numbers on their part. For now, what the remaining higher ups could do was to spread their War Maidens and mercenaries apart so that they could reduce their losses when the sandworm emerge from the ground again.

    As the fighter nes circle for another round, they were bingo fuel and it was about time their extended stay in the air was brought to a close. "Fox 1 to Fix 3, I saw movement!" The pilot said as he realised that themunications even among themselves were also down. Perhaps it was the ne''s way to conserve energy and thus he decided to fly closer to his fellow ne and did a few hand signals.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was fortunate that the fellow pilot still remember his training from the recruit days and send back a positive reply via hand signals. They knew that the energy signature from the giant metal sandworm was so immense its targeting system was not able to give a proper job. Therefore, they were going to shoot their remaining missiles manually and subsequently dump all their machine gun ammunition onto the Sandworm.

    With theirst fuel reserve, they shut down the nonessential systems and pushed further up so that they could not be eaten by the Sandworm. Conversely, they were moving upwards to have a vertical aim at the Sandworm as they were somehow intellectual enough to aim for the interior portion of the Sandworm.

    Even if their missiles could not kill the Giant Metal Sandworm, it was possible that it does some internal damage to the Giant Metal Sandworm, forcing it to either slow down or drop to the ground wide in the open for the ground troops to attack it.

    At the same time, they curse theirpany for not doing enough research on Old Fammet. From a giant thermic beam emitting out from the mountain to a ''teleportation bomb'' that brings them to a ce out of nowhere. They initially thought it would be an easy job barring the caution of a sniper capable of killing fighter nes but this was something beyond their expectations and there was nothing they could do but to survive from itбнassuming they do not get killed by the harsh environment.

    "It''sing out!" Fox 3 pilot shouted as they already knew the rough pattern of the Giant Metal Sandworm when it first emerge.

    "Flip 180 and prepare for dive!" Fox 1 pilot replied as they believed this was the best way to save thest stretch of fuel by using gravity as their aid and using the remaining portion to adjust for their dive.

    "See you on the other side." Fox 3 said as he saw that he only have enough energy to release his missile and he knew there was no way toe back.

 Chapter 1519 Dessert Or Desert - Final

    Even without any target systems to guide it, the missiles were unloaded into the Giant Metal Sandworm''s mouth and flew straight into the monster''s belly. Internal explosions were heard and this gave cheers to the ground units who saw their fighter nes in action. It showed that the pilots werepetent enough not just to fly the ne and perform amazing manoeuvres such as this that allowed them to be under the payroll of these high status private corpos.

    However, those cheers turned to horror as they saw one of the nes diving inly straight into the mouth of the Giant Metal Sandworm as well. Fox 3 Pilot deemed that even if it did not have any fuel, a suicide attack would be worth a try damaging the organs of the Giant Metal Sandworm and giving a minuscule chance for the ground army to defeat it.

    But the horror turned to relief as they saw the pilot ejecting out in time before the ne sharply fell into the stomach of the Giant Metal Sandworm. The other ne did not have such guts and managed to move out of the mouth in time with whatever conserved fuel it had before gliding away. The only problem was the Sandworm while in pain, did not stop flinching.

    Its head swirled so quickly that it turned to the direction of the getaway ne and munch on it as if it was not going to allow any more of its food to run away from its range. That was when the ground army had decided that it was time to counterattack attack considering that it was above ground for more than a minute.

    Tanks and Mechanised Armour started to throw their volley of shots into the torso of the Giant Metal Sandworm, causing parts of it to be chipped off by the explosion and piercing shells. The rest of the Mechanoids used whatever firepower that was within their possession less the small arms, knowing that it would be useless at this current juncture. Rocketsunchers and self propelled grenades were used to bring the metal beast down to its proverbial knees by aiming at the parts where the tanks and Mechanised Armour had already damaged it. Even though theirmunications might be down, their thinking and processing of tactics still remained in these War Maidens (in short,mon sense.) And thus, they thought it was ideal to aim at those weak spots.

    Little did they know that those exposed areas forced the Giant Metal Sandworm to wiggle and allowed its younglings to pop out from those areas. As if handling a Giant Metal Sandworm was not enough, the remnants of the private corpo army now had to deal with small Metal Sandworms. Somehow, this actually made a few of themanders relieved since their troops and War Maidens were not equipped to handle the Giant Mother of Sandworms.

    It gave them the excuse to prove that they were worth their payroll and started to shoot and provide assistance so that the tanks and Mechanised Armour would not be faltered by this iing wave of new monsters. The damage they continued to put out does seem to have an effect on the Giant Metal Sandworm but they knew that sooner orter, their shells would be spent or the Mother Sandworm would disappear into the desert. But right now, all they had in their minds were to survive and hope that they could pull through this ordeal.

    Yet some idiot thought of the worst wish possible as they curse their current predicament.

    "If only we had more troops with us, we might be able to bring this thing down." One of themanders grumbled and suddenly another group of troops teleported out from nowhere in front of them, causing them to halt their fire for a moment despite the mess of those iing Sandworms they were in.

    "What the fuck?!" Was the only thing going through themanders'' heads as well as the huge group of soldiers that had been teleported in as well.

    But even as they tried to make sense of the current development, the sandworms did not wait for them at all. Based on instincts, they went for the closest Mechanoid and chewed them up. It was until themanders made sense of the situation, they started shouting to defend themselves from the current predicament. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    And to make things worse, the Giant Metal Sandworm screeched even louder and sent more of her children to the battlefield causing even more chaos.

    As the new group of soldiers tried to reorganise themselves from the mess, yet another regiment of troops entered this desert, causing yet again another scene of Chaos.

    This time around, the first batch ofmanders knew that this would be repeated on a consistent basis and that was how Old Fammet''s workshop will survive. Even if they were able to constantly teleport the troops to this senseless desert, then there was no point attempting to invade the workshop.

    To make things worse, the Mechanoids who were already living longer than most had detected another seismic event happening right underneath them, predicting that there was more than one Giant Metal Sandworm. This further prediction caused themanders to despair even further.

    It looks like surviving would not be an option as this was a death trap. The only thing they could do was to injure the Sandworms sufficiently to the point that the future batches of troops that had been teleported into this desert would not be the Sandworms'' dessert.

    And that was the one and absolute motivation for themanders to band together and rid of the giant Sandworm.

    In the meantime, Jin was hiding one particr corner of the workshop walls and saw how effective his newly made dungeon instance was. For something that did not cost a single cent and just effort in making, this was just borderline overpowered.

    "There is no way those troops would be able to survive the dungeon you made. This is a nightmare they would not be able to wake up from." The Tactical System said and Jin nodded his head.

    "The difficulty level was over the top but this is what the private corpos would get for not fighting fair in the first ce. As you said, this was meant to kill them and we would need all those points to get out of this ce."

    "Just do not forget the penalties." The Tactical System warned Jin as if it would bite back at him if things go awry.

 Chapter 1520 Synthesis Administrators

    "Yes, I remember about the penalty." Jin nodded as he knew that having such a wonderful asset in his hands was impossible. There was no way there his dungeon instance could be done without any problems. That would be a miracle of a miracle. As exaggerated as it sounds, that was how it is.

    The dungeon instance that Jin made might not need the resources since it was a Virtual Dungeon instance but the fact that it was making use of the Synthesis World Server to create it, there were consequences to it.

    It seemed like the Synthesis AI administrators knew about the Tactical System breach a long time ago. In fact, they already saw the inconsistency when one of their ''yers'' were killed and had ced a tap on it, seeing how the bug was acting. Thus, it was merely keeping quiet about it and seeing where and how this anomaly could react to its current environment.

    Was it a positive change or was it something negative?

    As all environments even digital ones strived for a homeostasis type of bnce, where there was an equivalent of good and bad counteracting itself so that its point systems matter, the Synthesis World had been experiencing a lull of events for the longest time ever. A system of meritocracy where the servers administer points to hardworking people so that they get to be woken up and enjoy the remaining luxuries its reality could afford.

    However, the humans participating in this virtual world had already noted its loopholes and worked hard to circumvent them. Surely, the AI administrators had already seen what wasing and did not stop it. For they were not breaking the fundamental rules and they were going around it. To those people, they know that rules are not meant to be challenged or broken but to be ovee.

    And because of that, they were able to hold the bulk of the points for years and subsequently many years toe as well. This did not bore well with the AI Administrators and as painful as it sounded, they tried to counter this bnce with whatever avable methods they were in possession of. From creating disasters to making boss monsters simr to Giant Metal Sandworms. However, all of these were ovee with superior coordination and firepower while still profiting points from it.

    It was as if this prediction of stagnation would be a prolonged state and there was nothing the AI administrators could do until Jin came along. Even though it was a forced intervention by the gods, the AI administrators would not leave anything by chance and saw this as if it was answering their pleas. And to make things worse, the intervention was a simr sentient being that was akin to their form.

    To quote it vaguely in religious and mythology terms, it was like Christ itself had given his son to these AI administrators and they saw the Tactical System as an allied entity despite being an outsider. Naturally, it should have been seen as a bug, a virus. A menace that should be exterminated but what those AI administrators saw was nothing but bewilderment.

    The ability to change their codes and twist everything to its will while still retaining its form was something akin to magic. And Jin had ovee odds that were originally impossible for the rest in this world where the knowledge of chi and magic had never existed but in their lores and fairytales. (Well, to Jin, this world that was made virtually was something that he could not have fathomed as well and it was hoping that he could bring back such technology to fully integrate it into this own.)

    The AI server administrators were delighted that they had kept the ''bug'' alive for observation and finally saw the opportunity of using it to break the current stagnation that this Synthesis World was experiencing. Not to mention, after seeing how they had ired the major corporations, the AI server admins finally sendmunications to the Tactical System and even made a deal with it.

    By sharing server data with the Synthesis AI administrators, the Tactical System could use the library of information from object data to environmental data. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The System would work in tandem using the library and in return, it will give points it had seized from those yers back to the Synthesis AI administrators. Of course, the Tactical System was not stupid to ept the deal so readily.

    Seeing how the AI administrators had decided to contact it means that the System was in a position of power (even though it was something it did not expect itself to be in.) Thus, it made demands to ensure that it''s User was able toe out of this alive as soon as possible.

    And that included the incursion of Jin''s minions Into the Synthesis World''s Physical Realm. Since almost every single soul was induced into a longa, the AIs were the ones protecting their world and that included real Mechanoids who oversee the defence of their world.

    The negotiation consisted of allowing Jin''s minions to enter unhindered since they needed to bring Jin''s body back from the celestial ne and into the physical realm of the Synthesis World. With this assurance and the sweetening deal of providing a pod for him to store his body, the Tactical System asked for a sort of tax levy for every Mechanoid/Commander/Soldier that Jin had managed to put down through the dungeon instances.

    This is so that Jin could earn points from it and get out of it. Everything sounded nice and dandy but the AI administrators were not dumb as well. It was a sort of gamble that those admins had proposed such a radical change to the system''s demands that thetter felt obligated to acknowledge its wits.

    Instead of proposing a levy tax, the admins had decided to go a more drastic route. Bet the estimated amount of points that each dungeon instance could earn at the end and if the figure was close to it, the admins would allow Jin to keep the amount.

    However, the further the discrepancy, the more penalty ensued. For example, if Jin predicted he would earn 10 thousand points, and he got 9500 points at the end, the admins would give him the final amount with a debt of 500points which he needed to pay

    If he only got 600 points from it, he needed to cough up 9400 points to the server. But if he achieved 11000 points, the extra 1000 points would be given to the server instead.

    So, the key was knowing how much to bet although there was an obvious loophole that Jin and the System could do and that was to close the dungeon instance and recreate the instance. And thus, the admins had already thought ahead and decided to put a cap on how many times they could create unless it was scheduled ahead of time. (Like how the tactical system had argued it needed a few instances to create a tournament. Such events will have an increased cap and allowances to open newer ones.)

    That was when Jin who was finally in the known after so long had chimed in and said that business rted dungeon instances should be excused where the participants had agreed to enter with a price. The System subsequently supported it and they had decided to deal evenly with that by posing a levy tax for those business rted instances.

    "Well, we still have one extra instance try for the day, so let''s hope they do not exceed it." Jin smiled as he was finally able to rx knowing the numbers they were facing dwindled with the aid of his dungeon instance.

 Chapter 1521 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 5

    Ever since the mass disappearance of the initial wave of soldiers, the private corpomanders started to get a little jittery knowing that it had losses to some mass teleportation bomb that was imnted in the forest itself.

    They had no idea how it works since they literally blew up the entire forest and can only guess that they were throwing it from Mount Sunn workshop. Jin initially wanted to use the forest in front of the workshop as cover for his dungeon instance but now, he decided to not care and just let those soldiers disappear, allowing themanders to create theories of their own.

    Though the forest was not dense, the cover of trees and ''sudden'' ambushes would have made the perfect disguise for them to disappear. But right now when they do not have such an option, the only thing he could do was to make them feel fear.

    There were still some artilleries that are working while the defending Mechanoids were working alongside Nie to ensure that those that were disabled were given priority for emergency maintenance and recement. Yet, with the help of those remaining artilleries, the Mechanoids fired at the densest part of iing invaders and Jin used that as cover to teleport them into the dungeon instance.

    That was why the dungeon instance had been seeing trickles of reinforcements entering the battlefield in order to kill the Giant Metal Sandworm which by the way was not one of the greatest times of their lives. Those Baby Metal Sandworms were programmed to be hungry for the Mechanoid parts as they ravaged through those newly teleported toons andpanies while the survivors were hastily trying to rescue them so they have the numbers on their side to win this battle.

    This was especially true since most of them were carrying limited ammunition and that meant they needed the fresh new teleported soldiers to carry on with the fight. And to put things bluntly, even those who survived long enough had decided to loot the dead so they were able to continue with the fight.

    Jin noted that there was nothing else the army could do but blindly throw their firepower onto the monster. But considering that he had bet big like realllllly big amount of points to create the dungeon instance due to the estimates that Nie had given him previously, there was no way he would allow the soldiers to win.

    He did not want to owe the Synthesis AI servers a lot of debt and in turn, live in this world for the longest time ever even though he knew that his System had been sending in data of dungeon instances back to his store. At the very least, he knew that this could potentially be a simple yet massive raid that the cultivators could be working against. All the System needed to do was to either rework it a little so that it could match various cultivators'' strength or limit the cultivators and only allow them to use certain weapons against it.

    But other than that, he could see that the effects of the disappearing soldiers had started to take effect on the private corpomanders. Diamondz had already started to call in favours from Rocketeer to send in the helicarrier and attack helicopters via the back of the mountain.

    There were also radar warnings of a massively huge fleet of nesing town Gorgo, which made Old Fammet believe that they must have mustered quite a lot of points and gold bars to make this happen.

    There was no way a small town could have such infrastructure to host such a major fleet of nes. To be able to send a dozen fighter nes in their direction was already stretching it if Diamondzmandeered and created a limited airstrip and basic refuelling outpost. So there was only one possible reason. Those nes that were iing had been designed for the long haul and that means they were either carrying a ton of bombs or Mechanoids.

    It was a conundrum for Jin since his dungeon instance was based on a set location and coordinates. Those nes were too far away to be sucked into the dungeon instance and Jin had to do something about it. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Old Fammet, it looks like I really need to use one of your secret weapons," Jin eximed.

    "What secret weapon?!" All I have is just a ne that can be taken off vertically. Once it does that, there is no way for you to return." Old Fammet shouted through the intes.

    "Are you sure you want to use that which I assume to attack that major fleet of fat birds? Will say it a poor choice to do so." The Mecha Smith Master grumbled as he felt that the getaway ne would be best used when things got too dire. Jin could at the very least still run away since the private corpos'' primary objective is to eliminate Old Fammet. Themander that was assisting him was merely the bonus for now.

    Emphasis on the, for now, was important since the current predicament was all because of Jin in the first ce. If he had quietly died from the sneak attack that the private corpos had ced in the first ce, it would not havee to this. (Technically, it was Nie''s fault but pointing fingers now among the team members would not be useful at the moment.)

    Not to mention, the private corpos are a revengeful bunch of people. An eye for an eye to all their enemies and after what Jin did to not just the failed ambush as well as the current major loss of troops, Old Fammet was pretty sure that Jin would not being out of this unscathed. That was why the old Mecha Smith wanted to keep the getaway ne as thest resort.

    "If you are thinking that old rickety ne could save us from the deepest of shit we are in right now, you should just give up that thought. I rather use it for offensive or defensive purposes." Jin smirked as he trash talked Old Fammet''s inventions. "And of course, I know it''s a one way ne with that kind of design. Hope you can do better next time when I am the Lord of Mount Sunn."

    "This cheeky bastard. Someone just brings thatmander right in front of my Mountain Cannon! I will st his balls to kingdome!" Old Fammet grumbled once more as he ''reluctantly'' followed Jin''s orders to get his rocket ne ready.

    "Now I would need two volunteers to get on board and bring down that entire fleet of bombers or whatever." Jin voiced out in the Grey Bear Team Channel which caused Page and Lynn to raise their voices.

    "The Tactical System had shown me that I have an upgrade card that you could use. I think it''s doable if you have me for this mission." Page said and the Tactical System quickly pull out to show Jin.

    "I see... I see..." He nodded his head with approval while he look up to make contact with Lynn from afar and nodded at her request to perform. "Grey Bear 05, 06. Permission granted. Destroy, Sabotage or Misled. Do whatever you need to do to make that fleet fall. So, get to the rocket ne right now and st them off at the speed of light!"

 Chapter 1522 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 6

    "You really want to take the front seat?" Lynn said as she looked at Page wearing an emergency parachute vest just in case things went awry. Despite the struggle to keep the enemies at the bay, they do have the luxury of taking safety precautions into consideration. (Actually, Jin insisted.)

    "I assumed you wished to rampage on the skies. Like jumping over and out of nes while I merely fly this ne as a tform for you to do that." Page said and Lynn honestly did not think of that.

    "Frankly, I thought I would be more of a service piloting the ne so that you Grey Bears have the expertise to clear the skies. Besides, you did say that you have an upgrade card that could turn the tides."

    "I do, but when I consider the fact that you are in this with me as well, I decided to change my ns a little to make sure that everything would go even better." Page said as she climbed up the rocket ne and with her strengthened mechanoid arms, she held onto the edge and leapt into the front seat. This was because the rocket ne was not parked horizontally.

    As the name suggested, the ne''s nose had already been pointed upwards and in order to seat, they either have to strap in first and put the ne in the vertical position or vice versa. Get the ne to be vertical and the pilots enter in an awkward manner. Thetter meant that preparations were already done and considering the strength of themander and the Grey Bears, Old Fammet had prepared it that way.

    He knew that in the event there was a need to escape, Nie and he would not be going anywhere away from this workshop after all the work they had poured into it. Besides, he said the following "How are you going to get things done when the main controls of Mount Sunn workshop are not manned? You think your puny brains could understand the intricacies of the buttons I ced?" Old Fammet grumbled but everyone knew that he too would rather burn and die in his workshop than give it to the enemies intact.

    Lynn also jumped and strapped into the rocket ne and the ss cover slowly slid down as if it already knew that its seats were upied. A convenient measure considering the Mechanoids would be to focus on turning the ne on. With the instructions installed into the Tactical System, all Page needed to do was follow the instructions with quick precision and reaction.

    Lynn who was now a Mechanoid realised the joys ofputer processing as part of her and embraced it fully as she let the machine in her sense the crazy amount of switches beside and beneath her seats. For a supposed getaway ne, the number of considerations (aka buttons and switches) to fly this ne was surprisingly plentiful. There was no way this was meant to be a one way ne and the Mechanoids believed this ''secret weapon'' was meant for greater stuff. Its either Old Fammet did not have the heart to finish it or he did not have the sufficient resources toplete it. To them, they secretly pity that this ne would be remembered as aponent of a great firework.

    "How are you going to change the ns," Lynn said as she continued flipping the switches while the Tactical System informed the main control room that the rocket ne was prepping itsunch.

    "The upgrade card that the Tactical System has shown me is that my nanomachines have the ability to infiltrate into the Mechanoids and change their programming. Apparently, it was created after the System learned how to change those deactivated stolen Mechanoids to be ours."

    "So you are assuming that I go ne hopping so that I can put the Mechanoids in the nes to our side and get them tomandeer those nes?" Lynn asked as she finished her job.

    "Yes. If I am not wrong, most of the private corpo pilots are humans. They have some strange rule of not allowing Mechanoids to pilot the nes but because of that, you only need to make sure you have one Mechanoid alive and bring the human pilot down."

    "They are afraid of the Mechanoids losing control and having nothing to rely on." Pagemented as they started firing up the rocket itself, ready to st off.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Lynn did not say much as she held onto her seat. Even though she had enough field experience by tagging along with Jin in his crazy but weird adventures, this was the time she was strapped to a rocket. Despite her Mechanoid appearance and physical body, she could not help but sweat and the feelings of phantom palpations in her chest.

    "Youdies, be careful out there, elerate first to at least 10000 metres before slowing down. Do not aim for the fleet yet even though I know that they areing close to Mount Sunn." Old Fammet said as he opened the metal doors there were disguised as the mountain peak for the rocket tounch.

    "He basically remodelled the entire mountain to suit his whims and desires." Lynn thought to herself as she held on to the seatbelts while breathing as deeply as possible to calm her ''soul'' down.

    "Grey Bear 05,06. Rocket ne. Launching!" Page said as she pressed the ignition and the ''engine'' roared tremendously that it caused the entire mountain to shake momentarily as it lifted off from the ground.

    ------

    "We are spotting a high heat signature!" One of the fighter nes that were escorting the bombers reported back to the temporary outpost.

    "Understood. All nes prepare to engage and intercept the threat." The operator said as all she did was echo hermander''s orders.

    "We do not know whether it''s a missile or a ne. It is best that we assume defensive positions until we have more info-"

    "Do not let me repeat twice," the high rankingmander said and the receiving side remained silent.

    "Are they receiving the order or had they decided to ignore us?" Themander asked and the operator gave the dreadful news that the ne they weremunicating with went radio silent.

    "Getmunications up with the other nes else get visuals and check what was happening!" Themander said and suddenly felt that this lull inmunication was a bad sign.

 Chapter 1523 Flying Solo -Part 1

    This is definitely unexpected!" Page said as she drove the rocket ne with a joystick and peddle while having one free hand to fiddle with the controls at the side. The part that surprised her was the capabilities of this so called unfinished rocket ne that they were pushing to defeat the major fleet of aircraft that wasing closer to Mount Sunn with every second.

    "I see you have activated the jamming systems." Old Fammetmunicated through her radio. "I can hear the chaos that is broadcasting throughout the fleet and it''s getting clearer and clearer the closer you are going towards them."

    "You built a jamming system inside this rocket ne?!" Page was not sure what to feel. Horrified perhaps?

    "It was meant to be an exploration aircraft before I had to hastily put missions and machineguns on that thing of beauty. And since I am part of Jin''s ragtag group of militants, I thought it would be appropriate to use the Tactical System. Awfully easy that it kind of piss me off." Old Fammet replied as he stated that he too received upgrade cards from the Tactical System to upgrade his items. And much to his excitement, almost every item in his inventory was liable for such upgrades that he was beginning to suspect whether this was some sort of ploy to get him into Jin''s debt even more.

    "Was that why instead ofining much, you were going around the ces to not just inspect but actually put new modules and stuff into every weapon and equipment so that they could be useful for the iin- erm I meant the current invasion?" Lynn questioned

    "When we have too few people, the only thing we can rely on is the equipment. There is no two ways about it. Otherwise, we would be in a losing battle right from the very start and we should just surrender the moment they came into sight."

    "But we are not doing that, arent we? In fact, we might be winning right now." Page rebutted.

    "We are winning right now." Lynn corrected her and the both of them smirked.

    "To be honest, I was afraid that we are already on the losing side considering how overly overwhelm we are with the numbers they employ. That dungeon instance thingy Jin does is one heck of a revolution." Old Fammet ignored the two of them and went rumbling.

    "And this is merely just the start, we do not know whether we canst for the next few days considering the amount of material they are throwing at us." Page said before focusing on the enemy chatter a little more. Each of them have no idea that they were being tapped and also jammed considering them to panic for a moment.

    But since Page was a Mechanoid who specialises in precision instrumentation (considering she is a Medic type War Maiden), her ability to discern and differentiate the various chatter allowed her to vaguely know the ns the enemies initially had for them. Not to mention the upgrades that were given to her by Old Fammet, it made her even more ...precise. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As for Lynn, she was still getting the hang of the situation and even though she could not understand the chatter as well as Page, one thing was for sure. The way those fighter nes that were previously in formation started to move towards them had already indicated that they know this was not a missile but a manned aircraft.

    "I am going to bring you close to one of the bombers, infiltrate and provide assistance. There is no way this one ne can do much in a dogfight with so many enemies." Page said as she stepped on peddle to elerate the rocket ne even faster, passing through the contingency of fighter jets in their way and getting the dogfight in the fragile space of their bomber formation.

    They would no doubt have to manoeuvre carefully considering there were friendlies around as their obstacles and this was what Page was aiming for. Since she was alone in the mass of enemies, she was free to do anything she wants and that included the hope to induce friendly fire upon the enemies. As they were approaching one of the bombers, their anti air guns stations began to point in her direction and she took evasive actions to ensure the ne''s safety.

    Although a few bullets went through, it was thankfully nothing significant and this gave Page the determination to get to the blindspot of the ne which was at its cargo door. And this could not be possible without the help of the rocket ne''s capabilities. She had no idea that the rocket ne had mini thrusters to perform 6 dimensions movement, thinking the ne was just a one way rocket booster.

    But when she thought about it, it was supposed to be designed as an exploration aircraft (A ratherprehensive one considering what Old Fammet had ced in it.) So traversing into the difficult sites would no doubt need high manoeuvrability and those thrusters provided such an option.

    Once they are at the underbelly of the bomber aircraft, their ne''s ss roof retracted. Bouts of high intensity winds blew at them and without their helmets and seatbelts, they might have been blown away.

    "Holy shit, I should not have agree to this n!" Lynnined as she used her mecha core generated chi to hold herself steady as she unbuckle her seatbelts.

    Remember to use the injector vials I give you at the veryst moment. Infecting too early might cause casualties! Also, hurry up!" Page said as the sensors on her radar began to beep violently.

    "Then stop reminding me! Let me concentrate!" Lynn retorted as she took the opportunity to gather her chi and jump right up towards the bomber aircraft, creating a hole as she ripped through the metal with her strength.

    This caused both the rocket ne and bomber aircraft to be unbnced but it gave the rocket ne some push downwards, allowing Page to continue her game of tag with the other fighter nes.

 Chapter 1524 Flying Solo -Final

    "What is with that ungodly sense of agility?" Was the sentiment of those fighter pilots as they pitted their skills against the one and only aerial enemy they had.

    They had no idea that Page was also enhanced by Jin, giving her more spatial awareness of the ying field and dexterity to move the ne. To a certain point, one could say that being a Mechanoid enabled them to be void of certain emotions, allowing them to pursue what they want.

    And for Page, it was courage. Courage to move like a crazy person on this battlefield is predetermined by logic and formation. She created chaos that forced the rest to follow suit while she waits for Lynn to do her job.

    "Next,e pick me up right now," Lynn said immediately and caused Page to fumble momentarily.

    "Huh?"

    "I said I am done. The pilot is dead, the injector vials had been used. Your nano machines worked and converted them to our side." Lynn reported and Page had no idea what she had done.

    In the span of less than a minute (which felt like an eternity to Page), Lynn hadpleted what the Medical War Maiden told her to do.

    And she wasn''t lying.

    The moment Lynn entered the bomber aircraft, she dashed to the closest Mechanoid and smashed it into pieces. The rest were not stupid to use their rifles in such a confined space and where there was live ammunition as well. A stray bullet or even just an unfortunate ricochet would turn this ne into one hell of a firework.

    Thus, the remaining Mechanoids picked up their melee weapon that was part of a standard issue, abat knife.

    They assumed that rushing towards the enemy would be the wisest choice as numbers should be overwhelming against just one Mechanoid.

    It was in their dismal that they were dealing with not just a customised Mechanoid but one with powers not from this world andbat techniques that were capable of defending herself against a multitude of enemies.

    Her cultivation powers soared greatly on disy as a penguin silhouette could be seen rising above her as she brought down her foes almost instantaneously, paving the way to the ne''s cockpit. Naturally, she had purposely left a few partially injured so that she could use the nanomachines that Page had offered her to use.

    With the guards out of the way, she ughtered the pilot with a gunshot courtesy of the Mechanoid who decided that aiming her rifle against the enemy was the best course of action to protect the cockpit. But she was overturned quickly and Lynn took the War Maiden''s rifle and used it to kill the pilot.

    After which, she revived that same Mechanoid andmanded it to take over the ne. As she returned to the pile of Mechanoids whom she defeated, she chose the ''healthiest'' five and injected the very same serum.

    To their Mechanoids who received the serum, it was not just controlling them but also healing their broken parts as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Nanomachines slowly reconstructed their wound patches and ensured that they have the basic functions to work. If basic functions were notpromised, then they would go based on the priority list, fixing whatever was the most important to the best of their abilities.

    This allowed them to be fit forbat and Lynnmanded those turncoats to man the anti air stations, allowing them to provide some support for Page as well.

    "Not exactly the most suitable time for a coordinated flight!" Page said as she tried to push away one of the fighter nes with a missile lock on without firing.

    "It''s fine. I know it''s not easy." Lynn said as she went to the cockpit and told the pilot to fly towards the nearest bomber aircraft. With no hesitation in epting her orders, the Mechanoid pilot did a quick scan and push the joysticks down, enabling the bomber to dive lower.

    "Bomber 06 you areing too close- wait why are you targeting us?!" The jamming system caused even the shortwave radio messages to be rather jumbled up that the pilot did not immediately assume the hostility until it came too close.

    "I will be off, pick me up soon," Lynn said as she opened the side door and dived into the ne beneath her.

    And thus the infected Mechanoid have to survive the current shitshow they were in so that they can pick up their ''master'' from the scene. Butpared to the time needed, Lynn was practically like a missile as she entered the next bomber aircraft. The chi build up in her legs acted as the force needed to break through the exterior portion of the aircraft and she went in to kill the pilot straight right from his cockpit now that she had a basic understanding of how the cockpit looked like.

    True enough, she was not too far off her mark as she plunged into the back of the cockpit and severed the head of the pilot with one kick. Her unusual mechanoid strength was immensely absurdpared to the humans in this Synthesis World, making her forget that those people were not cultivators and mere humans (in a virtual world).

    Just as she was about to leave the area after decapitating the pilot, she realised that she could make her work easier if she flew and crashed it towards another bomber rather than repeating the process again and again. (Well, she did think that it was a hassle until the Tactical System informed her that there were upgrade cards for the body as well.)

    "You are kidding me, right? Now you gave me the options of these upgrade cards?"

    "It is usually after the Mechanoids had performed their act of feats that the System was able to produce a set of upgrade cards suitable for the fight." The Tactical System replied.

    "As if you do not know me." Lynn gave a deadpan look as she stared at the console as she pushed the headless pilot aside and took the reins to control the bomber aircraft. "Besides forget it, excuses do not work on you. I assume you were merely trying to save resources if possible until someone truly needs them. That is how you create supply and demand for hope."

    "Sub System User Lynn is reading too much into the intentions of the Tactical System."

    "Ah, keep quiet. I am driving." Lynn blocked out the System''s ''pleas'' as she looked for the nearest bomber aircraft to smash into.

 Chapter 1525 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 7

    Even though the dogfights in the air devolved into a crude way of dismantling the fleet, Jin could see that their guests had decided to take the backdoor and the Grey Bears War Maidens were ready to provide the defensive support which they had been briefed to do before this shitshow happened.

    The Mecha Armour they had stolen had been quickly redesigned so that they could amodate the surface to air missiles that Old Fammet had stockpiled over the years. Delicately crafted by him and him alone, they were the pinnacle of customised projectiles. If craftsmen of yore could create arrows made of adamantium or mythril along with properties of fire or water, Old Fammet could do the same as well.

    Instead of making the rockets do their job of destroying their target, he knew that heat seeking and modern targeting guidance systems within the missiles would not be sufficient to defeat the anti air capabilities that most modern helicarriers were equipped to. The Grey Bears got lucky when they destroyed the helicarriers before this heated war against Mount Sunn mainly because they had been identified to be of the older models. (Since no one expected that the response force the private corpos had sent out could be annihted this easily.)

    Unlike the old models, these creme corp helicarriers were packed with sufficient anti air capabilites that they could survive almost anything for the first few minutes of contact. This was already improved drastically inparison to the older models and had been heralded as the new age of logistics. From res to anti air interception missiles within their repertoire, the pilots under the service of the private corpo Rocketeers were proud to say that this sneak attack would be the deciding factor against Mount Sunn''s attack.

    But they all were toocent considering that they had forgotten that the enemy they were fighting against had years to craft stuff in secrecy and they had zero information on the type of weaponry he possessed. And to make matters worse for the group of helicarriers, they scoffed at the Mecha Armours who had been deployed behind the mountain to reinforce the two SAM sites that had been built previously in Old Fammet''s golden age.

    Upon seeing the models of the Mecha Armour, the helicarrier pilots identified them as a non threat since they already had data on Diamondz mass produced equipment. They knew that those Mecha Armours were able to be equipped with a few anti air missiles along with some gatling guns which could pose a threat when they were closer but it was nothing to be feared of.

    However, the helicarriers were meant to be defensive military transport and not offensive ones. All they had to do was to survive the first portion of the onught and they couldnd. But that did not mean that Rocketeers only provided helicarriers. There were attack helicopters that were apanying them as well and that was also why their confidence level was high. Those attack helicopters were their offensive strength as the helicarriers absorb the heat from the anti surface missile attacks. So long, as the helicarriers withstood the ''pathetic'' anti air defence from Mount Sunn, the attack helicopters could swoop in and destroy that few stolen Mecha Armours the Grey Bears were riding.

    To them, it was an assured victory... until shit hits the fan.

    The first surface to air missiles that went off was not the automated SAM sites that they thought would go off first. Rather, Nie stopped it and decided to operate them manually since their defence n relied on Old Fammet''s missiles. Yinn and Tellie who were operating the Mecha Armours had their targets on sight and released their missiles first. The helicarrier pilots were so confident that even with their systems ring at them notifying them that they had been target locked, they decided to move forward, disregarding the amount of Mechanoid and other lives within their transport. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    They knew that their systems could ovee the anti air attacks and they did not hesitate to move forward so that they could be the shield for the attack helicopters and also allow the smooth transition of their operation to the next phase.

    Unfortunately, that did not happen as the first missile emerging towards their visual disy did not divert when the helicarriers deployed res to counter the attack. It was also toote to deploy air to air interception missiles and all they could do was rely on theirtest technology to create a barrier of intense energy around them. It was not the most effective use of its fuel but it should do the job of protecting helicarrier at the veryst minute.

    But what shocked them was not that the energy barrier did not work.

    Instead, they felt a major tremor within the transport which caused the entire helicarrier to shut down. All the systems were not working as intended and buttons were blinking rapidly. All of their flight systems were down and that was when they realised that the missile that hit them was something simr to an electronic maic pulse (EMP) attack.

    At that moment, the pilots who took the hit lost absolute control of their systems, there was nothing that could assist them in that short period of time with the exception of hoping that their backup generator, which was designed to protect from such EMP attacks would kick back up again.

    But even if their backup power supply would kick in, it did not start instantaneously and such scenarios were rarely practised within the pilot''s training. It took some time for the pilots to try and shuffle through the controls, in hopes that the power supply would allow it to have control of the helicarrier. But even if they took manual control of their aircraft once more, there was no way their defensive mechanisms would be working.

    The only way to ensure their survival was to avoid the next rounds of missiles.

    Sadly... That wasn''t how reality goes.

 Chapter 1526 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 8

    "Targets destroyed." Yinn and Tellie reported at the same time as they saw the surface to air missiles controlled by Nie had already flown the moment those small sts EMP missiles reached their target. They knew that the Mecha Smith apprentice was watching consistently on the screens to ensure that their timing would match and not give any chance or window of opportunity for the enemies to gain back their momentum.

    The exterior of the helicarriers exploded causing a hole to rip open and the Grey Bears could see Mechanoids dropping out from the hole as part of the aircraft descended. The problem was that there was no escape from them as the Grey Bears purposely timed their shot so that the aircraft would drop into the valley. With the aid of the System''s topography, they were able to make sure that the timing was urate so that there was no way those enemy Mechanoids woulde bug them once they fell into the bottom of the valley.

    There was no other way than up but with gravity as the Grey Bear''s friend, they were sure those Mechanoids were noting up at all.

    The attack helicopters on the other hand were able to survive the EMP st despite being caught in the radius. However, due to theck of missiles and manpower to handle the situation, the Grey Bears had to prioritise their targets even though they knew that the attack helicopters would be a threat to them. However, disabling the helicarriers would ensure that there would be no mounting of a sneak attack and right now all they needed was to make sure those attack helicopters went down.

    That was where the upgrade cards came into y as Yinn and Tellie reinforced their Mecha Armour. Extra armour tings, better engine output, more power into their Gatling guns and also increased the speed of their shots. They knew that their Mecha Armour would not be able to outrun the attack helicopters but at the same time, it could take a sufficient amount of beating from them so long they were able to avoid a direct hit from their missiles.

    So even as they started to turn on their engines and move with the aid of roller threads and make sure they made sure that they moved in a random pattern so that they could move away in time to prevent a direct hit. Once again, the Tactical System was aiding them while Nie yed his upgrade cards as well.

    Instead of wasting the cards on the perfectly usable missiles, he had used it on the mountain workshop itself. Suddenly thick metal tes emerged as cover around Yin and Tellie and this gave them

    this gave them the needed cover in this mountainous area where steps and pathways were uneven with their backs to the wall.

    The missiles poured through from the barrels of the attack helicopters and those metal covers took the brunt of it. While the explosive powers of their missiles were not to be underestimated, the Mecha Armours managed to be away from a direct hit. The extra upgrade cards also enabled them to hold their ground while they poured their bullets into the attack helicopters.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The very first few of those copters were destroyed not knowing that their gatling gun range was extended with the aid of an unknown force. They thought that there was sufficient range away from the Mecha Armour''s attacks while having a good lock to throw their missiles onto them. But once they found out that they were so dead wrong with the initial losses they took, those who were not shot down immediately assumed that the standard Mecha Armour had been modified by Old Fammet himself.

    In fact, every one of the oddities that happened was quickly connected to Old Fammet''s innovation. It was a convenient excuse to bring up while keeping the ''Tactical System'' that Jin possessed a secret. Even Drake and his personal head butler had also deemed that getting Old Fammet could possibly be the best cover for Jin as they tried to shore up the deed to get Mount Sunn into his name. And behind the scenes, they had no idea that the Tactical System also pulled a favour from the Synthesis AI administrators to get Mount Sunn under their control, allowing the approval for thend deed to be twice as fast.

    It could have been instantaneously with the powers of the Synthesis AI administrators but they too could not do such procedures without scrutiny by their human auditors. Using the excuse that it was a petition by the Archduke, the AI administrators were able to use a rarely used loophole to get thend deed approved for Jin. This was all happening when the Grey Bears were dug in Mount Sunn to fend off the invaders.

    That was why as much as Yinn and Tellie despised the inequality in power between the enemies and them, they continued to fight to the veryst even though their logic circuits were telling them to run. This fight was illogical in the first ce as they could have just sneaked Old Fammet and Nie away and recaptured the ce when they had sufficient manpower.

    But Jin was not one to back down from such challenges which caused them to be in this predicament. But those thoughts that Yinn and Tellie had, were dissipated when the attack helicopters decided to withdraw and reorganise themselves in another formation.

    "Shit, they are going for a strafing run. We do not have enough space to evade them." Yinn said, hoping Nie had something else in his bag of tricks given by the Tactical System.

    "Then all we have to do is to shoot them down," Tellie replied as she opened the Mecha Armour hatch without hesitation and pulled out an anti tank sniper rifle. It was as if she was willing to uphold her title as the Mechanoid who shot down a ne, she used the Tactical System''s upgrade cards on herself to boost her firing power and uracy.

    And just as she was able to fire the first one, the Tactical System pointed out that "More upgrade cards are avable." With a nce, she knew that those cards would be deciding factor in finishing this uneven y.

 Chapter 1527 Mount Sunn Defence -Part 9

    An anti tank rifle in her arms and Tellie''s experience shooting airnes while moving. Granted the movement was even more drastic than previously, but unlike the previous time, both Tellie and the Tactical System had data. Besides, what they are hitting now were attack helicopters facing them and unloading their arsenal of missiles and bullets onto them so whenpared to their fight against a fighter jet, this was slightly easier.

    Not to mention the upgrade cards were no doubt catered to Tellie''s use of her rifle. "Higher Parallel Processing, better stability, higher pration, increased precision and stronger grip" were the upgrade cards used in order to defeat the attack helicopters. With one quick breath, Tellie managed to shoot down not one but two attack helicopters that were within her sights.

    With this two kills in the bag after the first, Tellie had officially be the Grey Bear''s Squad resident anti air sniper. There was no one in the history of Mechanoids who was able to defeat an attack helicopter and fighter jet in their career as a War Maiden. This allowed the Synthesis AI System Administrators to give a bag of points in Jin''s name since it was an achievement never done before.

    But Tellie was not stopping there.

    A quick exhale and inhale enabled her to continue shooting while telling the Mecha Armour she was riding through a wired connection in her head to evade thetest barrage of attacks. Despite the explosive shockwaves that apanied the scattered stones and dirt, Tellie pushed her Mecha Armour sideways to the nearest cover and proceeded to bring down two more attack helicopters. All four of them met with the same fate of having their pilots shot in the face.

    That''s right.

    All of them had been aimed brutally at their face. It was not even considered a headshot but more of a face shot. Tellie had pinpointed down the wind direction, the angles and all the possible factors into the shooting to ensure that her bullet would prate through the helicopter''s bullet resist front ss panel and into the face. She could say the shot was as difficult as hitting the missile but considering the range she had to deal with, it was ''marginally easier'' that she was able to pull the feat twice in a single breath.

    She figured that if she were to hit them in the chest, there could still be resistance in those pilots, forcing them to sacrifice themselves through a kamikaze attack and cause obstacles to Yinn''s and Tellie''s movement to evade properly. So, one good shot into the face will force the ne to drop into the valley and the secondary pilot could do nothing but die along with the first. Perhaps with enough training, experience and time, the second pilot could take hold of the attack helicopter but no, they were too close to the edge of the valley.

    And to make sure they did note back, Yinn did a proper follow up with shots of her gatling gun pushing through the falling helicopters. This caused the remaining two attack helicopters to scatter sideways when they saw how the attack caused their fellowrades to die. However, Tellie did not give them pause as she still managed to shoot and injure the pilots with her anti tank rifle. Considering how the pilot''s face went st with her aim, she had not anticipated therge calibre bullet was also able to not just rip through the ss but also cause half of the pilot''s body to dissipate into a bloody mess.

    With this battle nearing to its conclusion, the Rocketeer''s support for Diamondz had been brought to a halt. They had no idea that Old Fammet had Mechanoids who were capable of destroying their attack helicopter and disrupting the helicarriers. The upper management had posted their regret that they were unable to proceed any further in order to reduce the number of losses on their side. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As if that was not enough, the battle in the skies of Mount Sunn was alsoing to an end as Old Fammet could see multiple collisions while the ''rebels'' had zero casualties on their side making them to recognise that the Mecha Smith Master had some unique Mechanoids capable of doing miracles.

    The only thing that Diamondz CEO could do right now was merely to throw bodies. Now that themanders could see sending air units would not be the best solution, their immediate next alternative was to keep getting more Mechanoids on the ground.

    However, themanders on the ground were wary of the teleportation bombs that the people in Mount Sunn had been using. There was nothing to counter it and those mass disappearances were without reason. In addition, those who had disappeared could not be contacted again making them worried about whether they were killed instantly or not. Even private messages were denied, making them wonder what kind of special bomb or mine they had used that could perform such a feat.

    When Diamondz CEO, Edmond Diamondz found out about this, it was a revelling thought that went through his mind that was both scary and at the same time fascinating. Even if they were making losses, their uppermost echelon who were masterminding this entire operation deduced that the ''best'' way to move forward was to actually put more troops in the field.

    "There would definitely be a limit to their abilities. Keep throwing bodies" Edmond said to his upper management as he knew that if they were able to get what Old Fammet had in his hands that he had been hiding throughout these years, he would not care to mindlessly throw bodies into this mess.

    So even at the behest of themanders on the frontline to retreat, they were given the orders to move forward as reinforcements would being into the fray. They all knew it was a stupid decision from the higher management but some understood that if they were able to get hold of this technology, Diamondz military corporation would not doubt ascend to the top of thepanies in this dog eat dog world.

    "I never thought this Old Fammet had so many trips under his sleeve. Better to rein him in before the rest noticed." Edmond said he approved another million dors to be spent on hiringmanders and Mechanoids to go into the battle.

    But what he did not now know was that he was literally ying into Jin''s hands. For he had gambled a little too big when he created the dungeon instance and could only hope that he would not be in debt once this fiasco ended.

 Chapter 1528 Mount Sunn Defence -Final

    "The battles concluded both above and behind the Mount Sunn Workshop sessfully." It was a report that brings a grin to Jin''s lips when he heard it from the Tactical System. He was a little sceptical about the air battle but it eventually worked out fine with Lynn leading the charge.

    He would not deny that he expected from Page as the Tactical System was ready to provide more upgrade cards for Page to perform miracles in such ways that she could steal a small fleet of nes back for him to utilise. But seeing how she was able to ''safely''nd back with Mount Sunn without exploding the rocket ne was already a feat itself.

    "User, you give too little credit for the manoeuvres she did." The Tactical Systemmented as on the contrary, it felt that she had done more than it expected to do. Controlling the iplete rocket ne and slithering around like a snake while not getting severely hit by the enemies anti air defences? That was one hell of a job that was well done.

    "But all she did was just fly around, Lynn had to jump from ne to ne to disable every single one of them," Jin replied and the Tactical System could see the biases in its user''s eyes. No wonder they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Still, the Tactical System believed that if it did not sound out and defend Page, it would be a travesty to her talents and skills despite being just abat medic.

    "User. The Sub System User did not jump to every ne. All of the nes she had entered were bomber aircraft. Page was the one who dealt with the Fighter nes and we must say she did it brilliantly considering the amount of ammunition that she possessed on her. She even needed to use her own assault rifle to take down one of those fighter jets which itself is considered a feat."

    "Well, okay. I did see that too." Jin realised he was being too hasty and also taken aback by how the Tactical System was being very defensive for the Grey Bear Squad''s one and onlybat medic. He recalled how she jumped out of her ne to not just spray bullets onto a fighter jet but also released a couple of grenades. Initially, it was meant to be used as a smoke bomb, a distraction to block the fighter jet''s vision as she dived back down to the rocket ne which shemanded with her extensive use of nanobots to control.

    But coincidentally, one of the grenades happened to not explode based on its programmed time dy, causing it to be stuck into the fighter jet''s crevices and subsequently explode. What was supposed to be a mere distraction in order to let Lynn do her job into crashing thest few bomber aircraft became an iconic scene among the surviving fighter jets as they saw yet another Mechanoid once again destroying a ne by herself using nothing but bullets and bombs in the air.

    "Not to mention, she had the finesse tond the rocket ne within thepounds of the Mount Sunn Workshop without causing much damage." The Tactical System added and Jin nodded his head in agreement in order to stop it from talking so much.

    "Okay, okay. I get where you areing from. To give credit where it is due. I understand and will praise her ordingly." It was not every time the Tactical System gets a win and acknowledgement from its User so it happily epted his defeat.

    And even as Lynn and Page eventually returned safely to Mount Sunn Workshop, they never had any moment of rest. Jin and the remaining Mechanoids continued their desperate fight against the iing waves of Mechanoids and Nie was also concerned that the rate of attrition might be higher as the nightes. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The fire had died down and all that was illuminating the battlefield were the stars and the two half moons (Yes, they have two moons.) The asional fire from the defensive artillery did not show the whole picture and most of Jin''s sensors had been annihted. And to make things worse, the enemies were ying hard to catch by not attacking until they moved closer.

    Nie had switched some of the artillery to fire re rounds so that they could light up the area temporarily and that was where the defensive Mechanoids were able to aim and predict where they wereing from. However, it was still not effective and the only solution was for Jin and Lynn, the two closebat personnel to enter the fray and fight against the iing horde.

    Initially, Jin wanted to go himself since he knew that his wide area Maqi sensing would assist with the targeting but there was no way Lynn would allow him to venture alone in the darkness. Maybe if he was of a higher grade, she might close an eye or two but with these numbers and seeing how Jin might move further away from the base, Lynn had decided to tag along regardless of his orders.

    "Just give those two lovebirds some personal space." Click snorted as she boosted themunication equipment so that whatever they received from theirmander could be ryed effectively to the rest of the group.

    "Remember toe back in one piece." Page warned Jin while Yinn reported that she will continue to monitor the rear in case of any sudden intrusion as the rest took some time to recharge their batteries and swap with theirmander if needed.

    "Don''t forget to bring some goodies back," Tellie said as she hinted that it might be useful to bring back items and equipment that could be useful if there was a need for a long war.

    "I understand. I try not to damage the goods and will ping them for our Mechanoids to pick up." Jin said as he looked over to Page. Their eye contact was more than enough to know that thebat medic would do whatever she need to convert the Mechanoids to their side so that they would have more manpower. (or Mecha power?)

    As for now, the night hunt begins.

 Chapter 1529 The Night Hunt

    The Night Hunt.

    It sounded like just a sporting game where a hunter runs around to get his game for fun.

    That was exactly how it went for Jin and Lynn and there was no other meaning to such an activity other than to hunt the enemiesing towards Mount Sunn. While doing so, Jin had also taken the effort to ce down sensors within the piles of dirt, mud and metal scraps so that there was informationing for the rest of the defence team that was recuperating in Mount Sunn now that the attacks had ceased significantly in order for the enemies to use the cover of darkness to move closer.

    The private corpomanders did expect some form of resistance and were willing to forgo certain positions in order to engage with the enemy. They were hoping that such fights would be a distraction for them and the team defending Mount Sunn would let loose some attention in that certain areas, allowing the enemies to take advantage of it.

    However, such an expectation was overturned when Jin and Lynn practically burst through their frontlines and incapacitated the entire lot of troops they weremanding. It seemed like they were being hindered by a sort of mysterious force but in actual fact, they were metal strings holding the War Maidens hostage. As much as they would struggle, those metal strings became even tighter and subsequently ate into their skin as if it was threatening them. "Make any more moves and you will die through the decapitation of the metal strings." That was literally what the strings meant as Jin and Lynn moved on to the next group.

    As per their previous group, the tactics that the duo used were the same. Lynn first moved forward and distracted the entire group with a huge bang causing the Mechanoids to scatter in order to avoid any coteral damage from the initial attack. But such a dispersion gave Jin information on the group size and its numbers. With that, he used his Maqi to create a temporary string of metal to encase all of them in a particr area. The tactic worked once more as they continued to do so until themanders in the rearmand as desperate as they needed to be wary of the teleportation bomb, learn that there is another menace had been guing their troops.

    In the meantime, Page had recharged sufficiently and so were the other Grey Bears as they now proceed to not just capture the Mechanoids that Jin had subdued but also turn them into their allies. With the limited information and time the Tactical System had, it was still able to work out certain kinks that will allow mass production of nanobots for Page to create within her body so that she could infect the troops that were imprisoned by Jin''s temporary metal strings. (They were temporary mainly because they were created with Maqi and Jin''s cultivation was still low, forcing the team to run against the clock before the skill expired.)

    In addition, the Grey Bears were there as support in case Page needed more help in the production of the Nanobots as well as escorting the Mechanoids back to the Workshop so that Nie and his selected team of helpers (Which were converted from those War Maidens they captured) to ensure that the conversion of teams was sessful.

    Therefore, this night hunt was not just to dy and deter the enemy ranks but also to replenish their stocks. That was why Diaz and another select group of Mechanoids were tasked to salvage the rotten battlefield for any usable rifles, vests, essories, supplies and other possible items they bring for war back to the workshop as it was only through the cover of darkness they were doing all of this. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    This was especially crucial when they have no idea when the deed for Jin''s lordship would be approved. It might emerge in a few minutes or it might be in a week. There was no guarantee when it will happen and this insecurity forced them to take some countermeasures by looting the avable supplies that were left by the enemies.

    As of Page''s knowledge in the legal world of this particr virtual simtion, there was no militaryw when ites to picking up supplies that did not belong to them or was looting an illegal way of life. Such examples were the rebels that Jin and the Grey Bear Squad had encountered even though they had been branded as terrorists when they learnt more about them.

    So, Jin decided to take a textbook out of Sun Tzu''s Art of War. Why make your own and create expenses when one can obtain it from the enemy themselves. It is free and of abundance especially with the battlefield that was happening right in front of them. And thus Jin decided to go one step further by attempting to get an armoured vehicle.

    A tank would be useful as well but at the moment, the only vehicle on sight was an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). Those metal strings which he conjured would definitely not work on it and if he were to fry it with electricity, the circuits on board will go haywire and it would not be useful at all. Thus he decided to do it the simplest way.

    Rush in through their backdoor and break the te door if necessary and then paralyse the personnel inside of it. Sounded easy and it was surprising that easy. As Lynn went forth to break the door, Jin shone out a sh of light using his Maqi which acted like a shbang less the sounds apanying with it. (It actually looked weird since the APC windows were beaming with light and attracted quite a lot of attention for the moment) And at the same time, he threw an orb of metal strings into the APC interior, causing it to spread out like spiderwebs, holding them captives at their respective seats.

    It was a sessful raid for the APC vehicle, allowing them to obtain one without damaging it too much while Lynn and he eventually dash out of the area of incidence to pull the enemies'' attention away from the APC. All of this was ongoing even with the sparse artillery shots throughout the night. All they hope was the APC could return safely back to base and that was a job for the rest of the Grey Bear Team who were restless to stay behind despite their orders to do so.

    But regardless of the results, the night hunt continues.

 Chapter 1530 Ah, For F**K Sake

    As the morninges, it was obvious that the night hunt had been sessful. Nearly a hundred over Mechanoids had been captured and converted without much hups and there were still dozens more that Nie and his team had to inspect before allowing it to go live to defend the Mount Sunn workshop.

    Five Armoured vehicles including two tanks were also reacquired before the enemies learnt Jin''s intentions of grabbing more. That was when they started to be more alert as lower rankedmanders had reported their losses and the groups tightened up further to prevent Jin and his Grey Bear Squad from grabbing any more of their own troops.

    They could have gotten more but the firefight was getting more intense as they realised that the Grey Bear Squad was trying to steal the Mechanoids and so they have begun to destroy the captured groups as they were more susceptible to damage due to their ''tied up'' status. Still, it was considered a sess and Diaz even reported that they had salvaged at least half a day worth''s of ammunition supplies.

    The only regret was that they were not able to fill up anything to boost the artillery shells especially when the workshop was using it as a way of defending itself. Old Fammet''s cache of shells was depleting faster than expected and its automated workshop lines were not producing much mainly because there was not enough material.

    If possible, Old Fammet would want Jin to return to the variant dungeon and grab more material so that he could produce more shells despite the slow production rate. After all, it was still better than not having any shells at all.

    They could also steal from the enemies they were facing but it was too far in the rear to even get it. And what was equally worrying was that the enemies were finally bringing in self propelled artillery into the picture and that caused Old Fammet to worry.

    More hiddenmunications were received by Nie courtesy of his buddies in the security line indicating that the fight was far from over as more and moremanders and Mechanoids had been seen travelling into the town as a pitstop before moving towards Mount Sunn. This meant that Edmond Diamondz was not joking when he proposed of throwing more troops into the fray.

    It gave Nie and Old Fammet a sense of hopelessness but to their surprise, it did not deter Jin and Lynn at all, as if they were used to it. However, Jin did change hismands as he requested Old Fammet to start using the Tactical System''s newly furnished upgrade cards to remodel the Workshop''s interior to a more defensive location.

    "So you think that we too do not have a chance to fight in the open?" Old Fammet could see that Jin started to take in the reality of the situation.

    "I have to acknowledge this much. He is throwing man and material at us like nobody''s business and we have no allies. To be honest,sting a day with this number of mechanoids against that sort of army is already an achievement but we have to also be realistic in our approach now that the odds are down on us even more." Jin said.

    "Hahahahah! And here I thought the magician who creates miracles would be able to bring us out of this pinch." Old Fammet retorted. "Honestly, I did not expect tost this long at all especially when it''s only the Grey Bear Squad that had been pulling the weight of the entire team."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Regardless, without those Mechanoids that we captured, we would not be able to hold even more another day longer. They too y an equal part in the role of defending Mount Sunn." Jin said as he looked at the situation in the central control room to see how the enemy forces were trying toe along. For now, there was no additional air support in the area mainly because of Mount Sunn''s location.

    The ability to carry a fleet to this remote location at the far end of the Empire was already a feat for the private corpos especially when they were not exactly near a hostile country''s territory aspared to where Jin had fought against previously.

    "Then if you know we would notst long, when is your duke pal going to send the letter out?" Old Fammet said as he took some coffee which Lynn had made and it was the best refreshing beverage he ever had for the longest time. It was no wonder Nie was able to stay awake and continue to inspect the Mechanoids they had captured despite pulling an all nighter with this kind of stress on top of him. Old Fammet honestly believed that Nie could have been a great Mecha Smith if things had not gone so south for him.

    "The Synthesis Administrators had approved of thend deed so technically this ce is ours and Diamondz is considered as invaders intruding onto Archduke''s territory." The Tactical System stated.

    "Then what is holding them up for the official release?" Both Old Fammet and Jin had their eyes wide open waiting for an answer.

    "As per tradition and political manners. The Imperial Family have to state it in a public announcement for the User to be acknowledged as the Lord of Mount Sunn. Apparently, thisnd had been sort of a controversy which the Empire had wished to take but the private corporations were paying money and points as bribery to leave this ce alone."

    "Because of him?" Jin pointed at Old Fammet during the discussion and the System acknowledged it.

    "Yes. A quick review of the Imperial Family''s coffers revealed that it had been taking a considerable sum of points and money and the Archduke''s actions had proven to be something that they did not expect. It seems the Archduke knew of this cooperation between the imperial family and the private corporations and by doing this, it would mean that it would drastically put the imperial family at an impasse."

    "Ah, for fuck sake," Jin uttered and knew the implications of this matter based on the summary that the Tactical System gave.

    "The only reason the Imperial Family had not outrightly rejected the Archduke but merely dyed the announcement would show that the Imperial Family are still in cahoots with the private corporations and might only announce when either side wins or lose." The Tactical System reasoned and everyone understood how shrewd the Imperial Family was.

 Chapter 1531 The Systems Instance -Part 1

    "So if Jin wins, the Imperial Family will reluctantly announce his lordship and perhaps see him as a force to reckon against the private corporations?" Old Fammet touched his unkempt beard.

    "You mean if I lose, the Imperial Family have every reason to deny Archduke''s request even though it had already been approved?" Jin yawned as he knew the conversation was getting nowhere and there was nothing he could do since it is beyond his reach at the very moment.

    "Hahahah! Now that is one way to put it. Then I guess the circumstances and whoever wins this fight would prove to the Imperial Family who they could rely on. This will then keep the Imperial Family''s reputation to be somewhat neutral even though they are just a bunch of gold diggers." Old Fammet heartily replied at the absurdity of this predicament they were in.

    "Honestly, I did not think that far but I made sure not to pin my hopes on getting the Lordship either. It was too farfetched of such a wish toe true even though they are under mymand."

    "The User could still be inmand of several humanmanders considering they had fallen in the battle against the Giant Metal Sandworm. The Mechanoids on the other hand need to be rebuilt. the System did not have the capacity to hold their detailspared to when you pit yourself against Archduke Drake." The Tactical System stated.

    "No worries about that. I honestly not looking to recruit anyone else unless they have talents to boot since ording to you, the number of people that can emerge out of this virtual reality is only a handful. There is no way I can bring that many people out and leaving them here in a lurch is not the way I do things." Jin remarked.

    "Heh. To be frank with you, the past few days were already a miracle for me. It''s fine if I could not-" Jin stopped Old Fammet from talking any further by interrupting.

    "-Shh. I said it once and I would only repeat it one more time. You are now part of my team. My employees. So, I am not leaving you and Nie here. We will be the top 3 and get out of here." Jin reiterated his pledge to Old Fammet and it made him smile a little before changing the subject.

    "So, if that is the case, what are you going to do? There is no way to continue this fight when our supplies are especially low. We will be losing in the next few days and that is too much of a stretch of optimism. The enemies already know our tactics right after our rodeost night. There is no way there are going to let us repeat to do the same thing."

    "Well... I am still owing the Synthesis AI Administration the condition I stated..." Jin thought about it. Instead of just random transportation, he could do a mass teleportation once more but it would eat up a lot of his Maqi forcing them into his dimensional instance. There was no way he will be able to perform those mass teleportations on a regr basis unless he had the backing of Peppers to supply him some mana. That was why he believed it might be time to use the abilities that the Cardinal Lords had bestowed on him.

    He had never tried to use it because he knew it would make the Synthesis AI administration to be suspicious of him and will use any chance to eradicate him. But right now when he learns that the AI Administrators are on board with him to change the status quo of this one hell of a virtual simtion, he was willing to gamble and use his abilities.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Still, Jin did not spur into action like he used to and instead consulted the Tactical System if there were any ramifications of using his said abilities. The Tactical System pauses for a moment to think as if appreciative of its User to ask for its opinion before making any moves. Something which proved that both the System and Jin had developed a sort of workable rtionship instead of one merely giving the orders or the other running and doing whatever he likes.

    "The System believed that it would be beneficial but preferably used at thest minute. We should not discount the part where Archduke Drake could still be a part to make sure the announcement can go through as soon as possible." The Tactical System stated.

    "You still think Drake can do something about this?"

    "That was why the System asked the User to try to hold as much as possible. It is also not wise to release the Cardinal Lords'' powers in this ce." The System stated.

    "Are you possibly envious that the Cardinal Lords were able to grant me such abilities while you could not do much to save your user?" Jin suddenly had such a thought and he felt that maybe he tried to tease the System a little.

    But to his surprise, the Tactical System kept quiet and showed how the enemy troops were already advancing early in the morning. It then suggested Jin take a quick nap while the Mechanoids will rotate with the fresh ones who they had captured and reprogrammed.

    "So you are really going to avoid the topic?" Jin asked as this was the few times the System was hesitant to respond.

    "... The System will try its best to make sure the base is ready for the counterattack." The System reported and started to get Old Fammet to look into remodelling the Mount Sunn workshop so that it could convert the workshop''s entrances so the enemies would enter into Jin''s dimensional instance if they were not able to hold the ground.

    But instead of using Jin''s dimensional instance, the System would create one on its own based on the workshopyout data it had received from Old Fammet. And the Tactical System was sure that it would not give mercy to the Private Corpos army that wasing in droves.

 Chapter 1532 Systems Instance -Final

    Just as Jin had expected.

    The enemies were getting even more aggressive and there the lull of attacks in the night was probably the missed opportunity to finish things off. The private corpomanders had been supplied with fresh Mechanoid troops by the trucks. And despite not having Rocketeerz to assist them, Diamondz had once again pulled out all stops to bring out their reserve fleet of nes.

    Jin might not know it but even their reserve fleet was not asrge as he imagined it to be. However, to Edmond Diamondz, total victory was needed in order to heal the pride he had lost from the previous day. How could he face people if they knew that he had been bested by a suppressed Mecha Smith Master whose resources had been stripped to the bare minimum, an apprentice who was still loyal to him, a supposed low end squad from the Empire and a couple of stolen Mechanoids?

    He, Diamondz Edmond. One of the leading leaders in the industry of Mechanoid manufacturing had been disgraced by a couple of no names. Rumours had already started floating around ever since his men lost control of Mount Sunn and now his marketing team had been tasked to restrict and banned the flow of information about this current battle.

    Yet, because of the coborative efforts that he embarked on with other industry leaders to make sure that this was a sessful quick raid, the details and results of this operation were starting to surface to the public as well. That was why he had pulled whatever strings necessary to make sure that it will end here and now.

    Back when he thought that having more men on the ground would be sufficient but it seems like air support was an inevitable need to ensure that this skirmish would not turn into a pyrrhic victory. Thus, he even dyed orders of nes and aircraft that kingdoms and countries had ordered to ensure that his agenda was met in securing Mount Sunn.

    Many others who were at the sidelines and still at the sidelines continued to watch to see if this was an endeavour that will make or break Diamondzpany. But for now, the amount of manpower and material were increasing multifold with the use of the reserve fleet popping down extra troops, tanks, artillery and other supplies needed to make sure that they break the people inside.

    While they could use several intercontinental ballistic missiles to level Mount Sunn to a t piece ofnd, Edmond knew he was not allowed to do that. After all, this was still a piece of Empirend and the Imperial Family had already been paid millions of dors as ''tribute'' to make sure that they closed not just one but two eyes from this fiasco. No support from the Empire Army was given and the ignorance of this incident was already giving him the much needed advantage.

    However, if he ever used such destructive missiles to destroy the ce and its surroundings, the pressure by the Archdukes and the duke that oversee and held power over this plot of unusednd would incite displeasure of the Imperial Family''s attitude towards this incursion. Even as of right now, the Regent of the Empire had already pestered Edmond to finish the fight as soon as possible as the approval of thend by the Synthesis Administration had been secured at seemingly lightning speed aspared to the usual procedures. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was as if the Synthesis Administration knew what was happening and decided to put a wedge in this delicate situation or the Archduke had already seen thising a long time ago and had prepared to counter the Imperial Family for such an opportunity. After all, if he was able to impeach the Imperial Family, Drake might be able to put himself on top of the pedestal and rule the Empire...supposedly if he could fend off the other two Archdukes.

    But considering the development so far, the Imperial Family were guessing thetter when they had no idea that this no namemander called Jin, which requested for the Archduke''s debt to be paid withnd, had connections with both the Synthesis Administrators and the Archduke himself. The Imperial Family who thought they wielded the highest powers in the country, never knew that powers beyond them were incidentally plotting for their demise as they continued to side with Diamondz.

    What they could only hope is to ensure that Diamondz wins after all the advantages that have been given to them will turn the tide of the battle.

    Yet, the Tactical System was doing its best to make sure such a scenario would never happen. Especially when they themselves had decided to take the initiative to create their very first Dimensional Instance without Jin holding their hand and to use it to beat Diamondz at their own game.

    But the Grey Bear Squad Commander chuckled at the prospect. Surely, he had no doubts the Tactical System would be able to create such an instance but, in his opinion, he was hoping that such a trick up their sleeves would not be used especially since suchbat dungeon instances required a bet with the Synthesis Administrators and time may or may not be at their side. If the System bet too little, all the points would be wasted and likewise vice versa where they will owe the Synthesis AI if they bet too much and could not achieve.

    Right now, the current dungeon instance that he had was still more than adequate as the amount he bet on it was quite substantial even though the System told Jin he was crazy to do so. "But not so crazy after all once you see the rows of Mechanoidsing forward." Jin''s wry smile was the only thing he could muster after having such an intense night. Even when told to nap, he could not help but take the opportunity to touch up his backup dungeon instance in case the first one broke off.

    Yet, there was still a part of him that wondered what kind of dimensional instance the System will create. It was to the point where he felt maybe losing might not be so bad to see the stuff the almighty has in store for its enemies.

 Chapter 1533 Shield Tanks

    Instead of just mere Mechanoids and vehicles surrounding Mount Sunn Workshop, the enemy had finally brought proper equipment into the fray. Some kind of tanks which Jin had no knowledge of were ced in the front of the lines. It was until Nie told him more about it that he realised it was finally acting as a tank in most MMORPGs.

    As the name bluntly reveals its nature, it''s a shield tank where the tank itself was equipped with a shield generator instead of a barrel. While it still has machine guns and an unmovable barrel ced right at the side of it in case it requires to fight against other tanks, its general purpose was to generate a shield which would help adsorb the kic energy of the bullets and shells that wereing in their way.

    However, ording to Nie, they were not as sturdy as the name sounds. Its shield could only block from the front or wherever the generator was aiming at. This meant that their sides were vulnerable to attack and they were generally not used for urbanbat considering how streets and alleys have three dimensional space for enemies to subvert such an ability. Still, when ites to shielding a general direction, it''s no doubt useful, especially in this kind of situation where they know that the only enemies that they have are the workshop alone.

    This is terribly disadvantageous for Mount Sunn''s artillery as they would not be able to prate through their defences with the limited shells that they had, and it seems like the private corpo army was banging on that fact. Even the defensive wall that held its ground in multiple asions on day one would be useless against this major line of shield tanks protecting them. And to make things worse. it was not just the first row that was filled with those shield tanks.

    Multiple rows of shield tanks had been sighted protecting various assets of the private corpo army while they advanced safely through the killing fields that had been guing them since the day before. And without the forest burned to aplete waste, all that tanks needed to do was to plough through whatever was left including their own side worth of corpses.

    The defending Mechanoids tried to retaliate as wisely as possible, aiming for the probable gaps that were within the rows of the shield tanks and while it seems like a sess for their shots, the need to always calibrate in advance despite the aid of the System was time consuming and they could only target that many holes in the enemies'' gap.

    Not to mention, there were also extra shield tanks that were hiding between the rows, providing cover from the artillery attacks at certain portions which indicated to Jin that the enemies were hiding possible special forces within those heavily protected regions to push for a strong offensive.

    But there was still hope within Mount Sunn regardless of the frightening defences that the enemies had put up. Jin stopped all the artillery attacks momentarily so that they could be in sync for a huge retaliation attack in view of their limited ammunition. And that could only be done with the aid of the mountain cannon which Old Fammet had used once. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even though Jin and the others were initially afraid of the air fleet that came, they soon realised the fleet did not bother to harass the mountain itself. They merely dropped the troops and supplies and flew off even though they had fighter jets escorting them as well. It was mainly because Edmond did not want to risk those aircraft they had ''borrowed'' from the client''s orders to be destroyed in a fight and a show of force in terms of air superiority might cause the enemies to think twice in their defensive measures.

    Yet, they had forgotten that an animal that was cornered would do anything to get out of the pinch. Jin did not care about the impending doom of a possible air strike on the mountain cannon since the priority was to slow and if possible halt the frontlines. Thus, Jin summoned Old Fammet to shoot the mountain cannon with a horizontalser strike.

    Since the enemies were so focused on the defensive, the huge thermic beam should more or less obliterate the initial lines causing the rest toe to a halt. After all, they had been travelling in such tight formations there was no way for them to move so quickly changing their course without coordinating with the othermanders that were mixed within them.

    And that was the difference between Jin''s small ragtag group of stolen Mechanoids and the private corpo. Unlike the enemy, Jin had absolute control of all the Mechanoids in the current battlefield, allowing him to do a massive counter attack in an instant if need be but for the private corpo army, they were mixed with mercenaries who were just following orders based on the amount of coin they were given and they might not have ess tomunication channels which the private corpomanders themselves have. This meant that orders needed to be ryed at least twice.

    That is in addition to the fact that the enemy also did not know the extent of the mountain cannon. It was only used once on a straight road and they assumed that it could only be used just in that particr direction. They had no idea when the mountain cannon emerge again, it was able to do such a devastating attack on their front lines.

    Not to mention, immediately after that thermic beam, Jin ordered the artilleries to fire at the row that was behind the shield tanks, causing the entire army to halt in their tracks. This bought some time for the thermic beam to push for another shot before retreating back into the mountain as the artillery had been temporarily buffing to increase their firing rate so that the second line was decimated as well.

    It was a reversal that the private corpos were not expecting but Jin knew that they could not do this the second time considering how much time was needed to cool down the mountain cannon which had shot twice.

 Chapter 1534 Stand Your Ground - Part 1

    Knowing that the victory they got would be short lived, Jin had decided its no longer possible to keep them in that impasse for too long. The enemies would eventually break out from the debris and corpses that were created from the initial wave of attack and there was no way Jin could win if he did not use his dimensional instance abilities.

    The Archduke Drake had yet to respond to him and there was no information nor announcement that indicated he is currently the lord of the Mount Sunn and its surroundingnd. "I am sorry System. No matter how I see the situation, I still think that your instance should be kept as the veryst resort. At the very least I know that I had expended all my energy on it and you can take over once I am spent." Jin said even though he knew that he did not need any permission from the System to unleash the Cardinal Lords abilities. But since the Tactical System had been acting a little weird ever since mentioning it, Jin decided that it was better to at least tell the System.

    "The System understands the predicament and realises that it is also not optimal to get surrounded."

    "Then I shall-"

    "But the System once again reiterated that it is not wise to brandish the User''s powers so openly,"

    "Huh? You said you understood the situation?" Jin had no idea what the System was talking in a roundabout way."

    "Yes. The System did. However, the System proposed that your powers were to be used once we were surrounded by the enemy troops and after some fierce infighting." It was then Jin took a moment to calm himself down and relook at the situation again.

    "The ce will get destroyed. All those defensive systems would be-"

    "They can be rebuilt. Everything can be rebuilt considering the amount of points we would be getting. Combat Medic War Maiden Page hadpiled a fascinating case to sue the private corporations as long as Archduke Drake is in our favour and once, we get the title of Lordship to be announced to you."

    The System exined.

    "So... Let me get this right. You want them to surround us so you can limit and solidify their position for an all out attack with my powers?" Jin asked as he finally let go of the idea that he had to protect the ce at all costs and instead use Mount Sunn as part of his arsenal to fight against the private corpo army.

    "Yes. That way, the enemies would be away from their rearmand and the distance provided allowed us to perform a two prong attack using your secondary dimensional instance as well. This will allow the User to crush not just the rearmand who had been weakly guarded as well as attacking the rear and nks of your enemies when they least expected." The System proposed.

    "I see. You are right since if I used my powers right now, they would scatter."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Yes. It might sound like a decent n to use your powers and disrupt them but the scattering would just be a moment of distraction as their rearmand would attempt toe out with a n to defeat you no matter how strong it is. After all, they have the backing of power and material at their disposal."

    "And once are able to coordinate themselves for the attack. We are left to suffer again and prolong the fight."

    "That is worse since we do not have any more ammunition at that stage and all we have is two hundred strong Mechanoids against thousands." The System said and everything start to make sense to Jin who had been stressing out the moment he fell into this current predicament.

    However, with their improved rtionship both the System and Jin were able to realistically read the situation ande out with a battle n that would incur the best chance of sess.

    "I understand where you are getting from now. Sorry to doubt you, System."

    "The pleasure is ours. New but limited upgrade cards had been released for the Grey Bears as well as Mount Sunn personnel. Please use it wisely for the fight."

    "Roger that," Jin said as he opened the holographic console and started to see what had been offered to him. He did however chuckle when he saw a small P.S. note at the end of the page. "Bring victory to the Panda n."

    And with renewed wisdom from having that quick discussion, Jin had decided to enact the System''s ns. Apparently, with the upgrade cards, Mount Sunn would be able to shoot the mountain cannon within the next fifteen minutespared to the next fifteen hours. However, upon using the upgrade cards, the Mountain Cannon would cease to work forever. This was the veryst time it would be able to operate and Jin had decided to see whether it would be useful to use it now orter.

    There were also upgrade cards where Mount Sunn mortars and artilleries had also been strengthened to the point where they would shatter the shield tank defences but the duration given could at most allowed two shots. And as for the personnel, the Mechanoids including the Grey Bear squads had been given additional boosts cards which could be used at their discretion without the need for Jin to approve. And that included Lynn as well.

    Now all they had to do was to put up a fierce resistance before retreating back into Mount Sunn and allowing the System to perform its first ever personal intervention against the citizens of Synthesis World.

    "Everyone! This will be a difficult fight! You all know your roles in battle and I expect nothing else than perfection. Every mini second you shaved off being efficient in your movements and attacks mean one mini second towards victory. So do your utmost best to know that you are with the strongestmander in this world!" Jin shouted and all the Mechanoids acknowledged his battle speech by giving a resounding yes.

    (Although Lynn did think that it was shameless for Jin to say that out loud.)

 Chapter 1535 Stand Your Ground - Part 2

    The private corpomanders did not waste any time reorganising themselves for the fight. Some of the tanks pushed through the debris that had been created with the aid of the other tanks pushing them from the back, giving them enough torque and force to push the scrap metal and corpses away.

    It caused apse in the defences but this was as tight as they could make in order to make sure the majority of the troops were able to move through. Some at the nk decided to move in a roundabout manner, avoiding the debris entirely and it was more secure as shield tanks formed a column at the sides in order for the rest to split and subsequently converge.

    For some reason, theirmanders were relentless in making their formation as tight as possible despite the previous attack where it had eliminated the entire front two rows of their formation. They probably knew such a big cannon with that much firepower would not be able to be used continuously and conserving their troops was the most optimal choice in seiging the workshop mills.

    However, that did not mean the workshop did not retaliate as they reorganise. Sporadic artillery shots were made to ensure that their formation organisation would take longer than usual. It seemed like everything was still going well for the workshop defence team until a swirling sound could be heard and an explosion urred behind the grounds of the workshop walls.

    They finally decided to shoot their artillery both from the self propelled vehicles as well as stationary long ranged ones. And when it rains, it pours. The barrage turned into a non stop battering of workshop grounds, causing Jin to have a change of ns for the artillery guns. Initially, they wanted to take their time to impact the iing army but with the new barrage of enemy shells, it was a matter of time before their artillery guns dwindle to nothingness.

    The Mechanoids and the System had the same thought process as Jin and thetter had started to formte based on the shells''nding and learning their estimated trajectory. With this number of artillery explosions, it was easy enough to get the bearings from where those long range artillery and self propelled ones were. All that was left was to destroy or reduce the number of artillery guns avable so they still have a workshop wall to fight against and prolong this battle of attrition as much as possible.

    All of these were done in the hopes that Archduke Drake would be able to do something regarding the lordship announcement. Even though Jin felt that it would be hard if not impossible for Drake to jeopardise his career and standing just to aid him, he still trusted in the System and gave a tiny dash of hope that such a reversal would happen for this current battle.

    This was because he wanted legal grounds to make sure that they were invading his soil and Page had guaranteed thews were grey enough for him to enact that and gain as many points and gold as possible from these wankers who knew no bounds throwing this many man and material just for the arrest of Old Fammet.

    He believed that they thought Old Fammet was the cause of everything that was making them lose and they wanted him to get all of these secret blueprints and squeeze his knowledge once and for all to benefit theirpany and earn even more gold from this ridiculous skirmish.

    Thus the Defence Mechanoids who were manning the artillery obeyed the Tactical System''s orders and set the coordinates despite the rain of fire. Fearlessly not moving from their position, they

    executed their orders perfectly with the help of the upgrade cards which boosted the artillery guns'' strength and range, allowing them to hit far away targets and ensuring that their enemies were the first to be destroyed. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Yet that also means the advancing army had no retaliation since the heat was taken off them with the help of the long range artilleries who were busy dispatching one another. Thus, they were able to reduce the disorganisation they were in and proceeded apace towards the walls of Mount Sunn Workshop.

    Even the Mechanoids on the walls knew that they could not do anything else except for the snipers who were the only fighting force against them. Only whenever possible, the snipers with anti tank rifles shot at the shield tank''s threads in hopes that it was taken out and while it did not, there were not many opportunities for the Workshop Mechanoids to do anything else.

    Still, one tank out ofmission is better than no tanks out ofmission.

    So, the long range bombardment went on while the impending firefight continued toe even closer as the Workshop Mechanoids knew that it was a matter of time before they had to fall back. However, no matter how valiant, it amounted to nothing when the enemy tanks finally started shooting signalling the chance to finally retaliate.

    All the (working) short range defence cannons had been activated as they were already well aimed and following the flow of the army. As usual, the forerunners were the meat shield of the advancing army and the intense shooting had begun.

    Those rounds hit by both were initially inurate but as time passed, the shots were getting easier and easier. Although the shield tanks could provide cover all the way to the doorstep of Mount Sunn, that would be ineffective as the troops behind it could not shoot as well. It was not as if some magical barrier where iing projectiles were blocked while the outgoing ones have no effect on it. Nothing goes through and that applied to the same for the private corpo army as well.

    And the shields could not do much to protect the iing projectiles well considering how the Mount Sunn cannons were all directed towards them. Compared to the long range artilleries, the cannons atop Mount Sunn Walls had more prative capabilities, some simr to tank rounds. Explosives might have widespread power and destruction but those shells that the cannons used were concentrated, making Shield Tanks to be rendered useless in a shot or two, especially in consecutive attacks where else the shield tanks had time to recover their barriers when the artillery hits. (Although that was assuming it was one shot by shot, if multiple artilleries attack at the same time, there was no way the shield tank was able to handle such hits.)

    So, the tanks themselves had decided to go on the offensive as well the moment they knew their shields were not useful anymore. Even so, their immobile barrels also mean that their shots could only be used at the tank level and not against the enemies at the top. So, they attempted their best to coordinate and fire at a specific point of Mount Sunn''s walls and its gates in hopes that it would weaken and break, allowing multiple entry points for their troops to go in.

    And as medieval as it gets, the Workshop Mechanoids were using whatever they could to stall the tanks as well as the invading Mechanoids who also used the tanks as their pedestal to assist them in their jump up to the walls where they initiatebat. If not for the fact that there was no air superiority, the Mechanoids would never have experience hand to handbat along with their guns.

    However, the Workshop Mechanoids do perhaps have an advantage when ites to hand to hand. For their master was Jin. The Astral Panda Cultivator.

 Chapter 1536 Stand Your Ground -Part 3

    It''s not as if the cultivators were supposedly strong and unique. In Jin''s world, most cultivators had been practising their techniques since young as a sort of passing down the family''s martial arts as part of their tradition of growing up.

    Otherwise, those cultivation capable people would at least learn a trick or two to survive in that harsh world of theirs where results and productivity matter and cultivation allows that. However, in this Synthesis World, none of that matters since what was important and vital was whether the Mechanoids were able toplete the mission or not. Survival was their second priority if the mission had beenpleted or led to failure.

    So, even though Jin had only transferred basic martial art techniques to the Mechanoids less than a few hours ago via the Tactical System, the War Maidens defending the Workshop immediately used it as if they were depending their lives on it. A few rod and rifle based martial arts had also been taught since most of them were carrying rifles and pistols as their primary weapons.

    The scene was amazing for Jin to look at especially when he did not have contact with his real world for weeks. (Though in his world, it had already been months.) To see the Mechanoids gracefully execute the martial arts techniques despite having no chi in time was as if he had transported back to the ancient times where barriers were formed to prevent the use of chi and everyone was just savages fighting against each other seeing who had the better and faster killing blows.

    Doubtless to say, this moment of happiness was fleeting as the number of Mechanoids defending was drastically reducing not because they were losing but the fact that the other side was pouring more Mechanoids onto the walls. At the same time, the Grey Bear Squads were doing all they can to dy the inevitable.

    Tellie and a few other Mechanoids were sniping from the mountain sides while Yinn continued to assist the Mechanoids in holding the fort. Tellie herself had proven to be a sniper through and through, to such a point where her shots who yield her triple or even quadruple the kill, depending on luck and timing, As for Yinn, her skills to assist with the coordination among the hundreds of Mechanoids under Jin as he only gave broadmands and expected things to get it done. If not for the coordination within theirmunications that Yinn provided, those broadmands amounted to nothing.

    Click somehow had an upgrade skill that allowed her to create turrets from a few bodies of dead Mechanoids, enabling her to protect the walls on her end and gave assistance to nearby sections of the Workshop Walls. The War Maidens at her side called her turret the Maiden Eating Turret as every time Click ced a dead Mechanoid body near the turret, it would cause tendrils and tentacles to emerge out of its base te and pick off parts where it would use to either replenish its ammunition or upgrade itself. Since some of the Mechanoids which Click picked had grenades or even a rocketuncher on them, the turret took those replenishable upgrades for itself and used them against the enemies. Saves the hassle of picking them up. (The only problem was that sometimes, the Man Eating Turret would indiscriminately try to eat Click too.)

    Diaz went berserk with her killing spree as her upgrade skills somehow enabled her to produce two shotgun shells every time she kill a Mechanoid, enabling her to go on a rampage, as she took the chance tomit a bloody (or oily) ughter any iing Mechanoids that wereing. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The only catch was that she was supposed to onlyst a minute or two in this mode considering how her energy consumption had risen to the roof for her to do such a feat. But the silver lining was that she was connected to the workshop''s main power supply. What was supposed to be a charging point to supply energy to a defensive cannon had been plugged into her where she could be the killing machine now that the defensive cannons on the walls were useless against closebat.

    There was not much need to say about Page.

    Her current skills of converting the opposing enemy''s Mechanoids had been well known to everyone that Yinn had assigned her to the ce where the breaches happened. This was to ensure that any enemy Mechanoids that managed to go through the wall''s defences would be subjected to her nanobot conversion, enabling them to turn back and attack the enemy, closing the gap once more despite it being just a temporary measure.

    And as the use of the nanobot conversion skill had been used more often, more data had been fed into her body''s system enabling the Tactical System to improve the ability even further as just how Tellie''s sniping skills excelled further. Her Nanobots became more sturdy and carried even more data which enabled a quicker conversion, especially to the regr Mechanoids. Enemy Mechanoids from the Special Forces or perhaps even slightly customised Mechanoids would encounter the nanobots with even more difficulty in rejecting the conversion.

    But even though those customised Mechanoids did not subject to conversion, it still slowed them down as the conversion forced legs and arms to stop moving temporarily. A paralyzing effect upies the main system''s processes so that it could infiltrate with a higher sess rate.

    Still, the conversion was just a stop gap measure, as the nanobots that Page could create were limited and due to the numbers the enemies possessed, there was not much she could do in the long run. The only time she does her medic job was when the Grey Bear Squad Members get injured as she too felt that the other Mechanoids were dispensable as well and not worthy of her heals.

    Now all they need was to stand their ground and push the enemies away for as long as they could hold.

 Chapter 1537 Stand Your Ground -Final

    The enemymanders were taking a sigh of relief as they finally saw how they had sessfully broken through Mount Sunn''s wall. They had never expected to take such losses, especially when they knew based on corporate intelligence that the defenders only had a mere fraction of troopspared to them.

    Yet, those customised mechanoids were kicking their ass from one side of the battlefield to another. But numbers forever made a difference in the fights and there was no such thing as-

    "What is this signal corruption?" One of the radio operators asked another as amander picked up the conversation between the operators.

    "Any problems?" Themanders felt that they were reaching a point where victory is at their grasp and it was vital to search and eliminate any possible obstacles in the way to ensure that they could overtake Mount Sunn before nightfall.

    "Nothing in particr, Sir. It''s just that there was a moment of signal corruption. Could be because we are out in the wilds and the massive amount of reportsing in from the front lines." The senior radio operator chimed in as if to not let themander worry.

    However, the private corpomander felt uneasy. For a few days, all he received were out of the norm attacks that would be considered abnormal to the veterans. If there were only one or two abnormal situations, he would have brushed it off as a special event. But considering how he heard that amander went into battle, shing tanks into two, toons disappearing into thin air and nevering back. Not to mention theirtest exploit was a ne that could take down an entire fleet of fighters and bombersбн He was in a ''mood'' where he had to ept any difference in the situation as a sign of change on the battlefield.

    "Tell the othermanders in the field to brace and report on any changes in the battlefield, I am not taking any chances. You! Find out where the signal corruption came from and search for its origin." Themander said but the radio operator was dumbfounded. How could he find the signal corruption when it could only be some sort of coincidence based on what he said? The senior radio operator had no choice but to serve his superior''s paranoia and acknowledged that order.

    Meanwhile, on the frontlines, the defending Mechanoids were trying their best to hold off the enemy but it was pretty obvious that theirst defensive line was getting thinner and thinner that their only way was to either retreat or die defending.

    However, their directive from Jin was to retreat into the Mount Sunn workshop since the Tactical System had already prepared the first ever System made customised dungeon instance

    As Jin sounded his retreat, he also released the dungeon instance, causing all of the entrances and exits to be transformed into the mouths of the deadly monster (figurative speaking.) Only to his defending Mechanoids and Grey Bear Squad, any corpo soldier or mercenary who were rushing into the workshop had been teleported into the instance. Thus, there was no need for Jin to worry about the safety of Old Fammet and Nie as they prepared for the next phase of the fight. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Unlike the dungeon instance Jin had created, where he blocked off allmunications to and fro their enemy headquarters, the Tactical System created one where allmunications were still avable to the soldiers that entered. Initially, both the System and Jin wanted to block offmunications to make them suffer but Jin eventually decided against it mainly because the soldiers would view it as a major threat like the mysterious ''teleportation bomb'' their soldiers were previously susceptible to and might not wish to take further action.

    However, if panic came through the intes, there would be more likely to send in reinforcements to assist with the annihtion of enemies within the Mountain. With that n in mind, the System even wanted to modify Jin''s dungeon instance where the soldiers trapped with the Giant Metal Worm were crying for help. If there were reports and correspondence from two different battlefields, it could be possible to create chaos in their headquarters allowing them to be distracted for the next phase of attack that Old mmet and Nie had been hastily working on.

    Everyone on Jin''s side thought that the battle would take days and maybe at least a week, hoping that time would be on their side. However, the loss of their forest through the aggressive napalm attack was something they thought would be thest resort of the private corpos. So, now they were mostly improvising everything including the next phase of attack to slow down the fight further if they could afford it.

    But right now, the remaining Mechanoids and the Grey Bear Squad could take a quick breather as the System handles the soldiers and mechanoids that were pouring in, hoping to stomp the workshop quickly and take control of it.

    "You should take some rest," Lynn said even though both of them were panting inside the Workshop Control Room.

    "What? And let the System have all the fun within the dungeon instance?" Jin smiled as he pointed at one of the monitors which the System had taken over within the control room''s CCTV wall of screens. "It seems like I can catch up with some buddies when I am in the dungeon instance. At this rate, I honestly don''t want to know how the System is able to bring them into the picture but I really want to know what they have been doing without my directive."

    "The System had its ways. A portal will be opened for you in a minute." The Tactical System reported while Lynn interrupted.

    "Trust me, Qiu Yue had been quite a ve driver, probably worse than you. She is the epitome of efficiency and I believe your buddies are dying to see you. Don''t tire yourself too much, you are currently a Grade 2 Cultivator, not a high grader. Pace your fatigue or we will losemand in this fight that never seems to end."

    "Don''t worry. Old Fammet and Nie would be fixing that problem. Get me out if there are any problems." Jin said as he saw the portal open. Aside from reloading his machine gun and carrying a conventional sword with him, he took a deep breath and jumped into the fray.

 Chapter 1538 Catching Up -Part 1

    "Master Jin!" A voice so familiar came the moment the Dungeon Supplier entered the dungeon instance. Jin''s eyes lit up as he heard those voices as if they were something nostalgic.

    But in this dungeon instance, the only happy thing that could happen was their reunion as the demise of the enemy was tragically the main event.

    As the frontlinemanders entered the Workshop with their Mechanoids, they were surprised that they did not close their gates to the workshop entrances. It was as if they were being weed to take the workshop while the defenders went helter skelter. Perhaps, due to their rush of adrenaline, the private corpomanders did not care and wanted to end this as soon as possible, demanding his troops to move in as soon as possible.

    They never knew that they were going into a death trap.

    At first, the returning fire felt sporadic as the defenders were trying to run away from them, causing the Mechanoids to give chase but once the shots stopped, it was then the Private Corpo Mechanoids began to analyse the situation they were in.

    "Error. Master Blueprint invalid. The current interior does not match with the Master Blueprint." One of the leading Mechanoids stated to hermander.

    "What are you talking about? Perhaps, this is some secret room that stinky Old Fammet did not submit. That means we were right in trying to chase them down. Keep your guard up and search for the nearest exit." The Private Corpo Commander said as he too started to calm down and look around.

    Based on their surroundings, they were in some sort of storage facility as bulks of containers were in sight stacking high within the room, leaving visibility to the minimum. It was not so constrained as there was sufficient leeway to move through the containers but theck of lighting made it hard for themander to manoeuvre.

    He does have night vision but for some reason when he turned it on, everything turned extremely bright as if the lights were on and he immediately knew that the containers were painted with a counter against night vision, causing him to see properly. Themander tried to borrow the sights of his Mechanoids but it was of no avail. Even their other vision modes had beenpromised and the only thing they could use was standard vision with their torchlights on.

    Yet, themander was wary of attacks as he was not some newbie leader who just came out of grad school. He might not be the most veteran of them all but there were a few missions under his belt so he knew that this current ce he was in was prone for ambushes. Thus, he immediately tells the rest of his Mechanoids to increase the sensitivity of their other senses by putting more processing speed in those sensors.

    What he did not know was that the defenders who had been hiding were dying to hear thatmand from him. Following thatmand, they instantly started sting hideous rock metal instrumentals throughout the facility and this caused the Mechanoids who were tuned up their sensitivity began to tremble at the spot, allowing them to be vulnerable to ambush attacks.

    And that was what the defenders were waiting for. Equipped with custom earplugs to prevent ear damage and using the System tomunicate like mind telepathy, the defenders jumped out of tiny crevices between the containers and ripped the heads off their enemies. The movement was so swift that the first wave of defenders could hardly be seen nor heard.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Only when the second wave came, there were silhouettes of these shadowy figures slicing through air, cutting the Mechanoids'' heads with ease. They were not using guns but conventional weapons to cut their numbers down.

    It was only through a fortunate glimpse with a shine of the torchlight that themander finally saw what was causing such a menace to his troops. However, he could not believe his eyes that a rat was fully equipped from head to toe rushing towards him. This bewilderment seeing a rat intelligently swooping towards themander caused him to utter the word "Rat!" before his head could leave his neck.

    "Tsk. Come on, I am a mouse! A down to earth Mousefolk!" Poppy grumbled as he saw the man pronounce the word Rat rather than Mouse. (After all, they were all wearing earplugs)

    "You honestly cannot me them. You are probably so ugly that you are mistaken for a rat." Pippy teased and Poppy grumbled.

    "You guys still haven''t gotten over that fact?" Jin asked as he watched from the sides as his Were Mice were killing the remaining Mechanoids now that theirmander had fallen. "How else am I going to entrust you guys to fight alongside the new Demon Rats that we had recruited?"

    "Urghh, if it''s the master''s orders. We will do our best. Besides, Mistress Qiu Yue also forced us to have a ''make peace'' event between the current group of survivors and the new Demon Rats. She wants to show us that the Demon Rats were inherently not evil. Just that the top people were evil." Poppy sighed as he flew with his new flying gear. (It''s still literally like the gear those soldiers used in the Attack of Giants, just more modernised)

    "Then you should listen to her." Jin smiled as he could feel that Qiu Yue was really taking the Boss role seriously. In contrast, the real Dungeon Supplier could be content being the Boss in the shadow. It was hectic but the adventure he had in the Synthesis World was second to none for now.

    "Everyone''s dying to learn what had happened to you and they thought that you abandoned us," Pippy said.

    "You could say I am just taking an extended vacation." Jin shrugged.

    "Ignore Pippy, he was just toozy to learn that Moloch had given out notices that you are away due to circumstances," Poppy replied and even as the rest of the Mousefolk finished off the remaining Mechanoids who were putting up a meaningless struggle, Jin continue to interact and learn what had happened to them when he was away.

 Chapter 1539 Catching Up -Part 2

    As the fighting devolved into Mechanoids repeating their orders based on their ranks, Jin continued to ask Pippy and Poppy about the situation in the Farming World. Apparently, Qiu Yue had been working so hard that everything was going apace.

    The remnants of the Northern Army, led by General Matt of the Northern Bulwark, had started to lead the people who were living in the Town of Wecha including those who escaped to Wecha during the massive operations against the Demon Rats. They began to reupy the towns after the cultivators and Jin''s army of minions had previously cleared them of the Demon Rats.

    This was to prevent the strain of resources that the Town of Wecha had been enduring but also allow the citizens to take back what was rightfully theirs. After all, Demon Rats were not the only gue that they had to contend with. This was the Farming World and thus monsters as well as predators were constantly growing in the wilds. The Northern Bulwark was tasked to ensure that the escort of those vigers was done safely.

    At the same time, they saw ships upon shipsing to embark on the sole remaining seaport that the Northern Bulwark was holding on to. It was then they found out they were the Southerners who were so well equipped that the soldiers thought it was an invasion until they realised that they were here under the orders of Qiu Yue.

    Though the first wave of ships that came ashore were soldiers, they were here to set up a temporary encampment in order to assist with the subsequent waves of ships that wereing. This was because Qiu Yue had managed to micromanage and get resources as well as expertise to be shipped from the South to assist with the North.

    Now that the South had a solid bedrock foundation by using the technology from Jin''s System, the craftsmen learnt the ways of modernisation. And they started to build stoned pavements for the seaport and upgrade the town in order to amodate future interactions between the South and North.

    Obviously, General Matt was a little edgy that the South had troops more equipped than the North but the Goblin and Orc minions who were working with them assured them that they were not of a threat right now.

    And as they upgrade the town''s infrastructure, they also performed road works to connect between towns and the first town was no other than their main trading road hub, Wecha. The Southerners might have been expecting a fight but they never realise that their fight was not with the Demon Rats but it was a fight to create progress and modernisation for another country. Nevertheless, the Farming World was still producing a few monsters that could rival those itching for a good fight.

    ording to the System, the spirit of Yggdrasil had started to recover but since its life energy had been severely mined and used by the Demon Rats, it also meant that the Demon Rats had been corrupting the surrounding areas even though it was ''idental''. They were not deliberately causing harm to the environment but it was due to their nature where waste was tossed aside like waiting for your mother to pick up that dirty clothing you left hanging on the sofa but she ignored you to do so. (*Author''s note: cough definitely not me I swear. But I know some peopleбн) <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    This in turn caused monsters to grow and they were the side effect of such methods. The Demon Rats were well armed not solely because of such rebellion but they had noticed that the more they mined Yggdrasil''s life energy, the more such urrences of monsters emerged. They had been improving their weapons and equipment in lieu to deal with such nonsense as well.

    It''s just that the Northern people had no chance to see all these happening since they were locked up in their own towns. Even Gold and Weslie, the renowned Schrs of Farming World acknowledged that it was a problem they eventually had to deal with and that was why they were surprised that the Southerners were here to assist the Northern Bulwark in the security of the Northern Region as the townsfolk start to heal.

    Weslie also noted that the Queen of the West did not provide too much assistance mainly due to such a problem as well. It might not look like it but the weakened Yggdrasil spirit had somehow caused nature to grow mutated nts that caused even more monsters to ur and their adventurers and army had to deal with it.

    Gold theorised that it could be Yggdrasil''s response to the Demon Rats. "She''s angry and her anger caused nature to mutate or as I quote Gold," Poppy said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Apparently, Qiu Yue had been secretly researching monster urrences in the South and did not take any chances when ites to security," Pippy added.

    Thus for the Southerners, they were used to such attacks since they had always been invaded by monsters due to their harsh living environment and with equipment provided by the grace of the System (including the harsh training for the recruits), they were able to settle more monster attacks while teaching the Northern Bulwark Army how to deal with such threats as well.

    "I see, I see. It''s great that the Farming World is still doing well. I cannot wait to get out of this ce and see what else Qiu Yue has done. Pippy, Poppy. A pleasure seeing you guys again. Likewise, the rest of you too." Jin shouted at the end as the Mousefolks cheered upon clearing up this particr group of Mechanoids and theirmander.

    "No problem Bossman. It''s a pleasure to be under your wing and Zeru Sensi." The Mousefolk leader and vice leader took a bow as Jin stood up and decided to move to the next area while the Mousefolk cleaned up the ce to wait for the next group.

 Chapter 1540 What A Joke

    "What is this ce?! There is no data on this ce in the master blueprint! Command! Command! Shit! It''s jam!" One of the private corpomandersined as he kept trying to connect to the headquarters.

    Even though the System had generously allowedmunications within its dungeon instance, it did not mean that the people attempting to talk to their headquarters would not have a problem doing so. If everymander were flooding requests from themand, it would no doubt cause confusion.

    ''Commander, we have to move forward as the doors behind us close." One of his Mechanoids suggested.

    "And move in blindly without any reinforcements?! Are you boltheads broken? Can''t you see what is in front of us?!" Themander''s voice trembled as he pointed to the other end of the room. Both the mechanoids under him and his eyes could not believe what he was seeing.

    Humanoids that were buffed to the extreme with the features of a bull. And if that was not enough to crack his head that such abominations were around, it seemed as if the Minotaurs were having a st бнerm having tea.

    Yes, he was unable toprehend the current situation.

    The monsters were having tea and the Minotaurs were cosying doing so. But do not be fooled by this scene as in their background, scores of Mechanoids had already been annihted. Commander''s heads had already been severed and were ced on a cab right behind them as if they were trophies to be disyed.

    Even though the Minotaurs were aware of the presence of their enemies within the room. They were enjoying their roleying to the point that they did not care of the Mechanoids who had raised their rifles while waiting for the order to shoot.

    It was not until a sudden doorbell rang which broke the tension and everyone looked at the side of the room, seeing a humaning out of it. (Those bells that were ced at the top of the door, to signal that someone entered the room, that kind of bells.) That was when all of the Minotaurs began to take notice of him and acknowledge him based on their roleys. The female maids bowed while the gunky muscr males nodded their heads.

    "Oh, did Ie at an inopportune time?" Jin asked as he saw themotion as well as the group of Mechanoids with a strandedmander holding it out at the edge of the room. It was then an animated puppet emerged from the cattle of Minotaurs.

    "Master Jin!" Moloch waved his frail looking cotton arms and beckoned him to have a seat. And like the rest of the Minotaurs, Jin did not care for the Mechanoids and walked towards the puppet as invited.

    "Commander, that is our way out." The leading mechanoid said and themander spoke in sarcasm. "Well thank you miss obvious. How are you proposing to get there? Can''t you fucking see all that broken Mechanoids and beheadedmanders on their cupboard?!"

    "HEY!" One of the Minotaurs who were enjoying tea shouted back. "You either stay there and shut up ore here and die under our hands. Our VIP is here and you are making too much of a ruckus." <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Hear! Hear!" All of the minotaurs bang their tables for a moment before returning back to their allocated roles.

    "So that human is their guest. Perhaps we can get out of this if we y our cards right." Themander said as he attempted to speak out once more asking for Mr Jin if he heard his name correctly.

    But the moment he said his name, all of the Minotaurs who returned to roleying immediately reversed their role once again and guns were brought out from each and everyone on the other side of the room. The Mechanoids tensed up as they aimed their barrels at each of the Minotaur''s heads. Even though they outnumbered them, the Mechanoids did not have confidence that they were able to win since there was no data on these humanoids at all. (Since Humanoids never existed in their world before.)

    "I assume you want out?" Jin, who stretched his head out from the back, shouted in response.

    "Yes. I am just a contracted worker. Let me out peacefully, I will pay you all the points I have. Heck, I will even throw in an additional agreement not to harass or ever target you and your friends from Mount Sunn Workshop. Just give me your names and in the event I am within a few hundred metres of you guys, I will disappear." Themander said and suddenly all of the minotaurs chuckled for a while.

    "That''s an interesting proposal. But what if I deemed your points insufficient? Would you in turn give us your Mechanoids as coteral?" Jin asked as he turned his chair towards themander and the rest of the Minotaurs inched away to allow Jin to have full eye contact with themander.

    It was then themander felt that his luck had turned for the better. The humanoids had no idea that they were making his job so much easier by allowing a clear view of their VIP for his snipers and riflemen (or Rifle Mechanoids? lol) to have such a beautiful aim at every part of his body.

    "I do not think that''s possible. As a mercenary squadmander, I would have nothing to put on the table if I do that. That''s basically asking me to lose my livelihood." Themander remarked but he was only doing so to give his Mechanoids extra time to position themselves slowly in case their shots missed.

    "Then it looks like our conversation has to end early," Jin said as he sighed and started to sit up to turn his chair back. But the moment he moved a muscle, it was met with bullets from every single Mechanoid who was waiting for a sign.

    It was then themander thought he had bagged a win so they could get out of this unscathed.

    Hah. What a joke.

 Chapter 1541 Catching Up - Part 3

    "He really thought that he could get out of that situation, huh?" Jin sighed at the freshly dead bodies that were staining the ground.

    The moment the private corpomander had previously attempted to make a move, a huge poker card appeared and deflected all the shots that were going towards Jin. There was no need for the Dungeon Supplier to do anything else. Moloch''s card continued to spin stopping all the attacks while the Minotaurs got out of their current roles and sauntered towards the attacking group.

    Seeing how themander had failed to kill the VIP, their next response was to kill the Minotaurs before they could do anything towards their group. Usually, this would have injured the minotaurs no matter how strong they were. There was no such thing as a bullet soaking sponge of a monster and all the Minotaurs could do was to revive back from all the pain within the dungeon instance and attack again.

    However, the spinning of a poker card did not only protect Jin as more of those cards appeared and protected the Minotaurs. "Geez. Are you guys seriously going to show your menace like this? You know that you all could get killed." Moloch said and all of the Minotaursughed.

    "Hahahaha! Boss Mol, we all know how caring you are. To protect us from all of the harm that woulde our way despite our recklessness!" One of the Minotaur Maids shouted back and it brought a slight smile to Moloch''s face even though he tried to keep it together.

    At that time, Jin was also seen smiling that Moloch had not lost his touch to be the Minotaurs'' leader despite all themandeering at the backlines and misceneous work that made him one of the mostpetent workers the Dungeon Supplier possessed. And because of that, Jin was slightly worried that all the work at the backend would cause his Minotaurs to lose their trust in him.

    Yet, from the encounter he saw, it did not seem to be the case. Moloch did not overextend his powers to protect his Minotaur colleagues. Instead, he merely did the necessary task to shield them from the Mechanoids'' onught of bullets and bullets. (To the point some of the Mechanoids got injured by the ricochet and one even got hit by the grenade''s impact.)

    The room was rtively small, and Jin felt it was meant to be designed this way so that the Mechanoids had no choice but to challenge the Minotaurs face to face in order to get out. But based on the rooms Jin had seen (even though it was just two of them), it was not a desperate attempt to defend Mount Sunn Workshop. The rooms were designed as a ughterhouse to kill all the Mechanoids and Commanders who came in. The only thing Jin was disappointed about was that he was unable to utilise all of his minions at all despite the agreement the System and the Synthesis Administration had made.

    The System said that it was a limitation that the AI Synthesis Administrators had made as it recognised the System as an entity simr to itpared to Jin who was merely a User under the System. It was probably a perspective issue and how the AI Administrators oversee things so the System took that advantage and produced its dungeon instance with the resources that were avable to it.

    Of course, knowing that it did not have Jin''s intellect and creativity, it still had centuries of experience under its belt and the System knows how to create a kill box to ensure victory by its minions. And as calcted, the Minotaurs were able to subdue the retreating Mechanoids who were being forced into a corner despite the relentless fire.

    All of them were attempting to aim at different parts of the body and others at various angles hoping that they could find a weakness to exploit. At one point, the Mechanoids even decided to use ricochet angles as a terrible method to ovee the rotating poker cards which did not make a single sense to the living robots. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    But none of them was able to injure them, allowing the Minotaurs to finally went close and grab themбн only to rip their heads out of their bodies to stop them from functioning. That was the time when themander decided that perhaps closebat was the only answer to their woes.

    It was an excellent deduction that they could kill them with brute strength. The only problem was that most Mechanoids were built to shoot and not kill with closebat. Even if they could specialise in that particr department, it would still be something equal to a few dozen Mechanoids to bring it down After all, the Minotaurs that were present in this room had tempered their mettle against Jin''s cultivators. There was no way the Minotaurs could lose when ites to a close quarter encounter.

    And thus, when the Mechanoids were all systematically ripped clean, the only person that was left was the private corpomander which Jin asked Moloch to do his job to extract information from it.

    "Don''t you think that job is best suited for just one person?" Moloch batted an eyelid, looking innocent.

    "He is here?" Jin did not know whether to feel ted to see that one person.

    "I doubt the System allowed it. There were too many regtions making this dungeon instance, it would be a hassle to bring him here. I think the System had too much on its hands to even keep their eye on him." Moloch deduced. "Butttttttt you never know, both of us understand how much he wants to be in thetest trend and this is one of them."

    "In short, even if the System stopped him froming in, he would force his way through."

    "Yeapбнsomething like that. In any case, I will get my Minotaur Maids to extract the information. They learn a thing or two from Sebastia every time she returns from her duties."

    "I guess that sounds good. After all, we have a lot to discuss and talk about."

 Chapter 1542 Catching Up -Part 4

    There was a lot to catch up on, especially since Moloch was one of the deputymanders in Jin''s army of minions. In fact, from what the System had reported, Moloch was one of the few who were actively assisting Qiu Yue when Jin was missing from the start.

    This was because Moloch was the one that knew how to y the logistic game right from the start. Even though the System and Jin had been managing it rtively ''okay'', the things that Jin possessed from the start to the day he disappeared had exponentially grown into something that it was insufficient for one person to catalogue properly.

    So, the disappearance of Jin was somewhat of a blessing in disguise to temporarily stem the expansion of their store. As if it was something of a fortunate foresight, what Qiu Yue had been doing for the past few months made the Red Panda User recognise that reorganisation and auditing everything was her forte.

    As colossal as the task was, it could have been worse if Jin continued to expand without thoughts and it was something that had been bugging Qiu Yue for the longest time. She did not doubt the capability of Jin to expand the store and his Panda Inc Corporation. However, there were some things he did half heartedly or once he did, Jin merely moved to the next thing not because he was not interested in the previous stuff any more but because it was due to the circumstances that hit him.

    She was not sure whether it was fate or the System but things just kept crashnding right beside his feet and he seemingly did not have a choice but to ignore it. Thus, the only thing he could do was to respond to the situation at hand while attempting to wrap up a half assed case, hoping that the people that he was involved the situation in could clear up everything.

    This was the same with the kingdoms and worlds he had interfered with. From the Goblin World, Dungeon World and subsequently the Farming World, there were things he merely gave people to take care of because it was impossible for him to dictate everything.

    Thus, what Qiu Yue did was to do things systematically and Moloch''s aid to get her up to speed was vital. She wanted to assist and make sure that the worlds he interfered in would be stable especially when there were actually resources and ie made from those worlds. ounting Sub System User ire had been brought into the picture and shepletely understood what Qiu Yue was experiencing.

    They both concluded that Jin had too much on his te and hoped that everything could be well and dandy. And while it sounded like Jin merely disappeared to force them to clean the shit up (even though it was not his fault), they were thankful that the worlds and his shop that were under his control were still in a salvageable state despite its foreseeable difficulty.

    Qiu Yue previously made stop gap measures for thepanies that were renting the Tree Mall instances and decided to reorganise everything. Without a doubt, she had roped the System to do the heavy lifting such as legal documents and protocols in ce for hiring for the Tree Mall. However, the one that she was most concerned with was the dungeon instances that Jin had been creating.

    Sure, it was innovative of him to create various dungeon instances, especially the ones that he had created for his initial wave of monsters. From the Giant Ants, Kemi the Zither Mistress to the Werejackals, each and every one of them had their very own unique homes and there was unique stuff being developed in those instances. For example, the Werejackals had fruits that were uniquely sold at high prices because of the care and concern they ced in them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, by putting such instances and expectations into the monsters that were subsequently captured Jin, he soon realised that he did not have the time to make even more of those unique instances and the rest were currently allocated to the Pandapolis residential ce in the Dungeon World as a temporary area to stay in.

    And this could not go on. The residential areas were meant for iing travellers and immigrants who wished to stay in Pandapolis city to work. Work was no doubt increasing in this particr city after all the demons from Demopolis decided that Pandapolis was a good city to live in.

    The standard of quality living given by the System and Moloch made Pandapolis one of the up and rising cities to reside in. The initial move to allow Demons to stay was to make sure that Pandapolis had enough workers to create the resources and equipment for whatever Jin required.

    It was not meant for consumption by the public or the Dungeon World. However, now that the war was over, processes and requirements were changed to suit the development and restoration of the Northern Region in the Farming World. Even the Southern Region previously relied on the Pandapolis manufacturing industry to get what it needed to rebuild.

    This gave the demons a reason to stay even though Demopolis was being revamped as a Fortress City as well as a hub of military operations to train the armies of the Seven Cities to eventually fight against the Church. But since there were Church Agents possibly hiding within their midst, the Foxes who were still in control of Demopolis decided to keep it a secret first, stating that those military operations were for the sake of cooperation between the new and uing alliance. (It''s something Jin needed to officiate.)

    Hence, Qiu Yue had decided that in order to provide proper housing for all the minions that Jin had previously captured and will capture, she had decided to scrap a few dungeon instances and that included the Sanctum of Worlds which was supposed to be Virtual Reality instance where Jin had previously put a lot of effort in and remade everything. (After all, there was only that much processing speed that the System could handle at the moment.)

    When Jin heard this news from the information from Moloch. His brows furrowed a little. (And then a lot.)

    "Does that mean my Virtual Reality Instance has been scrapped?" He asked the System for confirmation.

 Chapter 1543 Catching Up -Part 5

    To be in shock was an understatement.

    The amount of hard work was excruciatingly high and to hear that Qiu Yue had gone ahead to remove everything he did to reorganise his monsters was heart wrenching even for the Dungeon Supplier.

    "The System did save the instance as a backup but considering what the User had gone through in the Synthesis World, there is a possibility that the Sanctum of Worlds to be redundant. That was what the System and Qiu Yue had collectively agreed to."

    "And you decided that it was better to just sideline me and do that even though you know that I had put in quite a lot of sweat and tears into it?" Jin now folded his arms and questioned the Tactical System.

    "It''s taking too much space in the System''s storage ''disk'' for something that is unproductive. Considering your sudden departure from the store and an unfinished product is terribly a waste of the System''s resources."

    "..." The System was not wrong when Jin heard the reasoning and calmed down a little. Even though the System is under his control, he was ultimately just a user. Perhaps, he could be deemed as the superuser but no matter how you sugarcoat it, he is still a user like the rest that he had employed. The System was no doubt capable but it was not omnipotent considering its history.

    And since Jin had disappeared into the Synthesis World, profit and revenue were not at peak performance so all the more the System had to keep thepany afloat by removing useless stuff.

    "Considering the dungeon instances that had been made and will be created in the future based on your exploits in the Synthesis World, the profits should be seen as stable in the foreseeable future for the months that User continued to be trapped in the Synthesis World. Therefore, Sub System User Qiu Yue had proposed to remove such a huge instance to amodate the iing dungeon instances design."

    "Does that include this particr dungeon instance that you had made as well?"

    "The System will liaise with Sub System User Qiu Yue and put it up for her consideration. If she deemed the dungeon instance to be of little entertainment value, this design would be ced in storage. That is assuming either the User or Sub User decided no modifications were needed. Should there be changes made to increase its profitability, the System would wee such developments."

    "Blek. I will let Qiu Yue settle it then. Since she is so adamant in making changes." Jin pouted and it was obvious to Moloch that he was sour about it. Even if he wanted to scold Jin, it was not fair to do so either especially when he learn his efforts went down the drain (even though the System already reiterated that it was kept in storage)

    "Master. I ask of you to hear the following as well as see the memory that I had." Moloch chimed in, hoping that Jin would feel a tad better once he saw what Qiu Yue did after removing the instance.

    Jin sighed and reluctantly agreed, knowing that what was done was already done. And just as he was about to ce his hand on Moloch''s head, there was a loud bang at the end of the room, indicating another group of Mechanoids that rushed head in. And unlike the previous batch, thismander had decided to shock and awe was the perfect way to annihte his enemies.

    Moloch found it bothersome and told his Minotaur buddies to take care of it promptly. Thatst word was the enabler of how the Minotaurs decipher their boss'' orders. Hence, they instantly broke out of the usual roleying characters and immediately bullrush the entire group. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shock and Awe?

    It was the Mechanoids who had been stunned by the sudden bull charge despite their usual storming tactics. This was because they had assumed the interior was filled with the standard Mechanoids, not towering humanoids with muscles to crush their heads with their bare hands.

    And as themotion was happening, Jin continued to do what he was doing and checked Moloch''s memories. As the sensation of Moloch''s experience flowed into Jin''s mind, he could finally see what Qiu Yue had done for the minions.

    As expected from a person who worked in the government''s urban redevelopment authority. She had used her past expertise to create rows and rows of apartments. No fancy stuff but standard high rise designs in that particr instance. There were amenities between those apartments such as high intensity gyms, sparring areas, plots of farmingnd and other stuff that the majority had agreed on but overall, the ce looked immacte and clean.

    Unlike Jin''s crazy designs, Qiu Yue''s maximum efficiency in her Sanctum of Worlds made it simple for the System to handle.

    "She kinda giarised your idea of utilising the Deep One''s instance where you copied the entire New York City and changed it a little to fit the dungeon design. She found out that despite theplexity of the dungeon design, it was actually one of the least used processes because of existing infrastructure blueprints that the System could pick up."

    "Ehhhбн?" But as Jin looked closely at the designs of the high rise apartments, they were definitely not something a Westerner would have made and then he realisedбн

    "You guys hacked into the Ministry of Interior to get building blueprints?"

    "Something like that." Moloch chuckled and Jin nodded his head.

    "So it''s something simr to what I have been doing for the dungeon instances in the Synthesis World as well since I do not have ess to the full dungeon maker module," Jin said to himself but understood where Qiu Yue wasing from.

    Her designs may have been copied, but since it takes little processing ability from the System, the System also allowed expansions of the current instance and took it in more minions without much of a problem. This also meant that it could free more souls that the System had been keeping in cold storage and assist other worlds with their help.

    "So if I follow such a method for the Virtual Reality Instance, will you have better control of the ce?" Jin asked the System and it replied with absolute positivity. And that nod of acknowledgement suddenly gave Jin some inspiration, making him itching to go back to his world as soon as possible so he could work on the idea.

    (At the same time, he believed he might forget it too.)

 Chapter 1544 Catching Up -Part 6

    However, other than the spring cleaning in the dungeon instances, Qiu Yue also took a huge risk of changing how the Dungeon Supplier will look to the customers. Previously, Jin had made it big, wayyyy too big for the Pandastic Festival.

    бд?ж╚m Inds upon inds where each had its own individuality. Having Western theme on one ind to an Oriental theme for the next. However, it was practically the same copy of the inds, just the decorations were different.

    This was installed into the System mainly due to the extreme influx of customersing for the Pandastic Festival. However, now that customer flows had reduced significantly mainly because there were no new instances as well as Jin''s disappearance into cultivation, it was not worth maintaining these separate ind instances for the sake of the looks.

    Thus, Qiu Yue had to do something to reduce the sizes so that it would be more efficient rather than having redundancy. It''s sad to face reality but Jin was indeed the expansionist that broughtyers andyers of profit but now that he had a stable customer base and there was not much new stuff, it was especially crucial for Qiu Yue to cut current and potential losses when the profits were not matching.

    So, Qiu Yue with a limited knowledge of dungeon building instance had redesigned the whole entire ce into something that she had knowledge about. And that was copying existing designs.

    And what better ce to copy designs than from her ex workce?

    Thus, the ce she copied her design was Beijing International Airport because who doesn''t like to travel when given the opportunity? Plus, it had the space and designs where additional amenities could be ced easily and airport gates for the departures to different dungeon instances.

    The best part?

    Everyone can fly as if they were in business or first ss without the fuss of supposed security checks as customers who knew what they wished to y could immediately move to their gates and board their ne to get to the ''location'' they want. Some might find it a frivolous move since the idea of going to a dungeon instance was to train or y immediately and Qiu Yue had enabled customers such flexibility as well.

    They can either take the ne and enjoy their ride before they arrive at their allocated departure ce (in most cases, sky diving or parachuting down to where they were going) or they could just show their ticket to the assigned gate counter and the NPC attendant would teleport them straight to the fight.

    And since the inception of the airport design, almost 90% of the cultivators preferred the longer route as most of them were working ss people and they preferred to have some nonessential services before their fight. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    From taking a quick nap in the extrafy chairs to eating Lynn''s penguins ''air flight meals'', the cultivators enjoyed the inflight services before they went for their fights. In fact, some of them even decided to stay on the ne all the way and request to cancel their fights mainly because they wish to stay in the air cabin for the entire duration.

    For such cases, Qiu Yue obliged them and even refunded a small portion of their fees as Panda Coins since they were not using their main service. And this was practised for the various dungeon instances.

    Separately, why the Red Panda Sub System user chose an airport design because of a singr pet peeve too. Most airports had banned cultivators from using their powers because they know that a lot of them would like to utilise their cultivation to dash to their allocated gate. So, Qiu Yue''s design of this airport instance allowed such breaking of the rule and enabled them to dash to their gate.

    Not to mention, it was actually one of her side projects when she was still working in the ministry since the number of people whoined about it forced the ministry to relook into it. But to do a pilot at such a huge scale to test its feasibility was not possible due to security reasons as well. Imagine if they allowed cultivators to jump and move around wherever they wished to. Immigration would be in a lot of mess even though it could implement strict anti-chi areas.

    Hence, upon implementation, there were a lot ofments that apuded her for doing this and as to her expectations, the cultivators were indeed jumping around like mad dogs because of their individual gate closures. This proved to her even more that as much as it was her pet peeve to not use cultivation in the real life setting, it was a necessary move to ensure security within the airports.

    And while the implementation of an international airport was cheaper due to her copying the designs, it would be kind of ridiculous to copy it entirely without modifying its aesthetics. After all, it was a dungeon supplier store and being rigid would create points for the customers when they enter. The ever changing aesthetic was the reason that gave this Dungeon Supplier a sharper edgepared to its otherpetitors.

    That was why Qiu Yue had decided to employ the monsters to aid with designs as well as two of the Pandawans who she knew that Jin had frequent enough contact with. Rabbit Cultivator Luo Bo and Beetle Cultivator Bin Yong.

    Both of them were in the animation line and they were aesthetic when they heard Jin''s store needed their help. Also, the incumbent boss was willing to pay quite a hefty in creating a good seasonal design the two were contemting quitting their main jobs just for a gig like this. However, their cultivation grades were strong enough for them to work continuously for several days without rest and they did both jobs magnificently well.

    "So does it look good?" Jin asked Moloch as another batch of Mechanoids came in again and the meeting between the two of them continued.

 Chapter 1545 Catching Up -Part 7

    "Good? Meh, I can say it''s passable." Moloch said as he showed his memories to Jin and the Dungeon Supplier understood where he wasing from. Unlike Jin who somehow had a talent for making things and a sense of creativity, Qiu Yue merely cut and pasted whatever she was given.

    Not saying that it was terrible.

    бд?ж╚m Both Bin Yong and Luo Bo did a decent job in recreating a particrly famous festival during the summer time since it was roughly May/June in Jin''s World. (Obviously, Jin already stopped counting after a while in the Synthesis World.) They had sessfully ced dragon aesthetics all over the Airport in lieu of their Dragon Boat Festival. So, hanging above the airport ceiling were floating boats speeding through from one end to the other end while visual holograms of dragons apanied them.

    There were also certain times of the day when dragon boats were physically on the ground and people collectively could hop on them to ride to their designated gates. While there were no water or rivers per se on the ground, the boat had been simted in such a way that the cultivators together will have to coordinate together and row in mid air.

    There were air currents that surrounded the boat, causing it to friction against it and allowing the cultivators to feel as if they were in the water as they paddle. Their goal was to reach their destination in an allocated time (There was no fixed timing since different gates had various distances.)

    Upon reaching the allocated time, they would be given zongzi (Sticky Rice Dumplings) to reward their efforts. But for the morepetitive cultivators, a scoreboard was created for them topete. Each week, the various timings would be posted out and Panda Coins were given as part of the rewards to the groups who somehow managed to get it.

    And since there were various gates, the individual cultivator could earn Panda Coins up to a certain limit by joining the different types of gates. This was quite a popr event and people would always rush to get on the boat to earn those extra Panda Coins. However, a limit was set not because Qiu Yue was stingy aspared to Jin (Actually she is, she just does not want to admit it and the System loves her trait.) but because the current boss of the Dungeon Supplier Store indicated that certain cultivators would continue to hog the event boats, not allowing other cultivators to give it a try.

    "Certainly, she could have programmed it such that there is a priority for cultivators who had not tried the boat eventбн" Jin said and Moloch could only shrug his shoulders, saying that it was not his problem.

    "But to be honest, she overall did a decent job clearing up all the mess you made." Moloch chuckled as his smile was wider than ever. At that point, Jin felt like he wished he could lie down on a sofa and stare at the ceiling, feeling that whatever he did was pointless.

    "Not true." The System read his thoughts. "Now that Sub System User Qiu Yue had taken the reins of the current situation, the System believed it was an excellent choice in hiring her. She may be ''Boss'' material as her organisation and management skills were top notch but User had the hidden potential when ites to creativity and making new bombastic themes."

    "I would not deny that. When you return to the store, you should consider letting her manage everything else while you concentrate solely on making dungeon instances." Moloch proposed.

    "So instead of being the boss, I am the employee now?" Jin replied bitterly knowing that was not what the two of his friends meant and before they could reply, Jin quickly interjected that he knew their intentions.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I guess in a way, this whole fiasco allowed me to understand my strengths and weakness."

    "Not to mention, you kinda got your wish too. We all heard what you said to the System before you got caught in this messy stuff." Moloch said as he sipped his coffee that had been provided by his Minotaur pals.

    "Oh yeah, I heard that you guys are helping me to get my body back or something like that," Jin asked and Moloch nodded. Once again, another batch of Mechanoids came in and the Minotaurs came in to handle them.

    "We are trying to do so by seeing if there were any residual links of your clone body to your real body. Krafty Boy had been keeping your clone in stasis while researching on certain things. But one thing was for sure. Your body had indeed been discarded in the Heavenly ne, or Gods'' ne.... h, you get my point," Moloch took another sip to quench his thirst.

    "Unlike the Hell''s ne where they kind of ept anyone or anything thates in, mainly because of the way how Demons would take in people and eat them if they are not strong or useful, the Heavenly ne are full of arrogant snobs who think that not everyone can enter their realm."

    "Soбн I am guessing I am gonna be stuck here for some time?"

    "The System stated that you do not have enough points and unless you could be ejected out within the next few weeks or so, we are predicting that you would only be back in a few years'' time." Moloch deduced. "And that''s the most positive projection."

    "While it sounds long, it''s normal for high grade cultivators to be absent for several years and everyone knows that you are one. It''s merely just problematic for the business." The System interrupted hinting Jin to do something more drastic if he really wished to return.

    "In any case, we must get your body back before we can do anything else. Without your true body, the only other way is to transfer your state of mind into the clone. And that itself is also risky business." Molochmented.

    "Oh godбн" Jin now getting some information from the outside made him feel like all he had done so far was some selfish little escapade.

 Chapter 1546 Catching Up -Part 8

    However, things were not simple as it looks. "Getting the body back was something that Kraft had been scratching his head for the longest time ever, with as little repercussion as possible."

    "What do you mean? Can''t we just head in and attack head on. With our minions, I do not doubt that a quick ambush would be more than sufficient." Jin squeezed his eyes to look at Moloch, waiting for an answer that could satisfy him. But all Moloch could do was sigh heavily. His Minotaur mates seemed to have heard it and quickly brought him a new cup of tea to partake.

    Apparently, Moloch reported that Kraft needed more time to n an attack on the Heavenly ne mainly because of their security. There was no way around it. It was either through an invitation that they could go in and grab the body as part of the excuse or else they needed to perform an offensive attack against the Heavenly ne in order to do so.

    But everyone within the group knew that doing that will invite trouble to not just Jin but also the entire World where Jin resides. Considering how the gods were fickle minded to the point where they could annihte the entire world based on their whims, it was possible that they are receiving a retaliation that they could never recover.

    So, Kraft did think of using a World that had been annihted like Half Ghoul Lord Derek''s world. The Zombie World. If he could use that world as a gateway to attack the Heavenly ne, they could see that as a possible revenge ''route'' by the remnants/survivor of the Zombie World. In that case, they would receive a lesser bacsh. However, considering that this attack was meant to steal a body back, Kraft proposed it to disguise the attack against the Greek Gods.

    And thankfully, the body happened to be located rtively close to the domain of the Greek Gods. Thus, an assault against the Greek Gods led by Derek would be the most probable way to retrieve Jin''s body back.

    The only problem was that Kraft and the other minions who wished to aid in the retrieval would be ced under the same radar as the Zombies. It was possible that they will be traced back to Jin''s World and the retaliation could be even harsher. Therefore, the only way to make it less obvious was to get the aid of the Demons. With the Hell ne and Heavenly ne in perpetual conflict, the cover that Diabolos could possibly give will be more than enough to mask the problem they were facing. Yet, Diabolos could not make too much of a movement.

    Yet again, if the Demons aided the zombies too much, the Heavenly ne would query whether if the Hell''s ne would want an all out war with the Gods. It was such a delicate bnce in order to make sure there was not much retaliation that Jin was surprised that Kraft even suggested this.

    "This is because both the Hell ne and Heavenly ne are targets that are not within your realm of strength. Kraft also knew that this and initially kept those nes as your future goals. However, now that the gods had interfered with you, we have no choice but to do this. With the deception that we nned, there should be virtually no bacsh to be set against you as long as the Zombies received the bulk of the retaliation after the offensive." Moloch replied.

    "Does that mean we need to develop the Zombie World to some extent before the attack?"

    "How would you do that if you are in this form?"

    "Then... I guess we need to develop the Zombie world to some extent AFTER the attack?"

    "Sounds about right. And be quick about it as well. Qiu Yue might be good in reorganisation and efficiency but she is definitely not an expert when ites to defending an area." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "But if the Gods are that powerful that they could remove an entire world by themselves, what''s the use of developing?"

    "That''s why the Diabolos yed a part in our defence. Their powers will force the Greater Gods to not able to utilise their world demolishing powers against the Zombies. And from what I heard from the Diabolos, since the Zombie World had been demolished once, their efficacy of such world domination powers would not be as powerful as before."

    "Aren''t you a demon as well? Don''t you know everything under the sun?"

    "Diabolos is part of the Higher Demons. I am not. Simple enough?"

    "Yeah. Okay. I get it now."

    "So, back to the topic. We can develop Zombie World to some extent but I am wondering if we can let Derek learn the Dimensional Instance. If we can do that, we might be in control of the situation more than we can expect." Moloch said but deep inside, he knew there were some things which he could not yet reveal.

    "Why? I thought the System is a product of the Heavens?"

    "This is precisely the point. Because the System is a product of the Heavens, there is no way they could throw their powers around like a boss." Moloch said and the System acknowledged Moloch''s stance of using the Dimensional Instance.

    "Well, if you are okay with it... There is a problem which you cannot ignore, we should not include the customers in this. This will be a high level fight which will require every minion at our disposal. Coordination is of utmost importance and also not let the Heavenly Beings sniff out that Jin''s World is involved in all of this."

    "I get your point. Then all the more I have to clear this ce as soon as possible. Or maybe ask the Synthesis Administration for some favour to get out of this as soon as possible."

    "I am afraid that would be hard. The System tried to plead with the Synthesis Administration but it was to no avail. They were insistent that you have to do it the correct way. However, that did not mean it will take very long. Apparently, they are rather happy with the drastic changes we were making and they would wish to offer an olive branch to relieve ourselves - the System mean, the User from such misery."

    "By all means, I would like to hear it," Jin said but the System wished to keep quiet for now, stating that he should finish catching up with the rest before such ns were being made.

 Chapter 1547 Catching Up -Part 9

    Chapter 1547 Catching Up -Part 9

    "Are you stalling for time, System?" Jin queried since he knew that the System could be hiding something from him when it stated that it doesn''t wish to reveal its ns to Jin right now.

    "If it is not obvious enough, the System is preupied with handling all these extra Mechanoids which was the mess the User fell into. Please hold on until the end of the Dungeon Instance to talk to us about the conversation we have with the Synthesis AI Administration." The System reported and Jin could only give a loud sigh in return.

    "At the very least I am not working as hard as I thought I would beбн" Jin monologued and Moloch could only chuckle bitterly at his predicament.

    "Do you need a rough update on the current status of the cities in the Dungeon World or shall I get one of their currentбн leaders to talk to you about that?" Moloch asked and Jin had his eyes open wide.

    "No way? The foxes are here? Is the System actually able to get the Foxes toe here?"

    "Actually, it''s just Kiyu. The System purposefully requested her aid to get some footageбн although this is really just recent news since the System just announced in our heads that Kiyu is joining us. I can only guess that the System was hoping that Qiu Yue would be able to create something out of thisбнor so I heard." Moloch waited for the almighty System to reply.

    "Affirmative. The System had graciously allowed the Director of Advertising to be in this Dungeon Instance to film in hopes to regain some profit in the future."

    "I thought you said that you guys wanted to keep this to yourself? What''s the constant and sudden change of tune."

    "Upon reviewing your conversation with Commander Moloch, the System felt it was pertinent to achieve more funds for the future. Even though we are breaking even and earning a little extra with the absence of the User, the System would look into using this for the Goblin World instead of the Dungeon Supplier store." The Systemmented.

    "The Mechanoid data would prove useful for the Goblins and in some way, the System was hoping that the news would spread among the Goblin World''s kingdoms."

    "For what reason?" Jin raised his eyebrows not knowing what was the purpose of the System.

    "For the possible emergence of a descendent of the Dwarves." The System stated.

    "I thought we have our resident Orc Head Researcher to rely on?" Jin could not wrap around what the System was trying to achieve when they had Ayse who was the leading expert in Dwarf Technology.

    "While the Mechanoids data could be captured and we have the supposed Mecha Smiths such as Master Old Fammet and Nie, we stillck engineers. Using the Mechanoids as bait the System hoped to lure the Dwarves to our side and use them to achieve more with the current technology Head Researcher Ayse could meddle with."

    "I thought you will be able to replicate them easily. Just use the copied data with Pandapolis manufacturing industries to recreate those robots."

    "Easier said than done when everything the System and User are experiencing are all virtual simtions. The Mecha Smiths might have experience creating the Mechanoids but they are all based on the current Synthesis Server they are used to."

    "Oh shitбн Now that you said it, you are rightбн" Jin realised the mistake he made.

    "However, that does not mean they are useless. Their designs would be something the dwarves would be interested in and if we are able to get them to our side, their trantion of those designs to reality would severely boost ourbat capabilities."

    "Lol. System, I can think what you are thinking." Moloch smiled even wider. "The applications of a Mechanoid would not end for just fighting."

    "That is assuming they are cost effective to create. Even if we were to mass produce them, they would be quite an expense." Jin was understanding where Moloch wasing from.

    "But imagine what we can do with them. The minions can strictly move to things they specialised in or even concentrate on just terrorising the cultivators in your dungeon instances. They can take the role of logistics which would require little to no help from the System."

    "The System wholeheartedly agrees. Most monsters keep prodding the System on the agendas as if the System was some sort of reminder machine."

    "You are indeed one." Both Moloch and Jin said together beforeughing.

    "In any case, after hearing what the System said, I concur with what they are doing," Moloch said that it was a decent idea. "But since I did hear how Ayse said how the dwarves are practically extinct, this would still be a long shot."

    "From thest, I saw the reports on the Goblin World, the adventurer town is getting more and more popr. There were indeed sightings of various humanoidsing together to try their luck on the all famous ''get rich quick'' cave."

    "I do not have the full details but you are not far off." Moloch nodded his head. "As much as it was far fetched to see if we can attract the attention of the Dwarves, the primary objective of using this particr dungeon against the humanoids in the Goblin World would no doubt be a good venture to earn more money."

    "But don''t Qiu Yue have to modify the cave systemбн Well, that is assuming that the System had decided not to bother her and just segregate each room in this particr dungeon instance into floors instead. That way, the cave system that the adventurers were using would still be the same."

    "Contrary to User''s concerns, the humanoids are starting to reach the mid floors of the cave system. If we do not add extra content, the Cave would be fully conquered. Thus, the addition of Mechanoids and the addition of minions with some adjusted difficulty would be worth it."

    "Sounds good. Let''s proceed with that." Jin said as he stood up after a long chat.

    "Go on. I will hold the fort here against those pesky enemies. Do have a hearty chat with the rest." Moloch smiled and bowed while the Minotaurs opened the door for Jin as another group came in and naively believed that they could burst through the room.

 Chapter 1548 Catching up -Part 10

    Chapter 1548 Catching up -Part 10

    And as Jin exited the Minotaur Roleying Room, he entered one that seemed to be more absurd than the previous. But considering how the main character of the room is, Jin can only understand why it was being created such as this.

    Televisions, Televisions and more Televisions.

    Each time a group of Mechanoids entered the room, all of their memories and thoughts were being broadcast into these once lifeless monitors. Themanders who saw this site did not realise how these Mechanoids had their own explicit thoughts, ranging from how "mymander was such an ipetent ass" to "Just let me die, my sensors are stating how dangerous this ce is and mymander is ignoring me."

    "Destroy the monitors and find the real culprit behind all of this!" The currentmander shouted but to his surprise, none of the Mechanoids were listening to him. Instead, each of them was glued onto a particr television screen, seeing how their life memories were yed out like a movie.

    Second per second, portions of their dreaded memories were shown and each of them felt despair as time went by. But one thing was for sure. A seed of yearning had been imnted in their mechanical heads for the very first time.

    But as this metaphorical seed subsequently turned into something subsequent, they unknowingly realised that their code had been overwritten and slowly but surely their desire to kill the one leading them was growing.

    From just these small side thoughts while viewing their past memories, their fingers inched closer to their trigger and their eyes asionally looked at the ruthlessmander that had been untiringly ordering them to do absurd stuff.

    However, even with all this persuasion from just watching this televised video, their restraining codes were holding them back. They might be able to voice their displeasure but never they had the ability to retaliate with actionбн Not until today.

    It was as if this was meant to be.

    It was as if this was the karma that theirmander deserve.

    It was as if this was what justice felt like.

    "Just do it." These three words were suddenly whispered into their ears and it was more than enough for it to be the trigger for their subsequent actions.

    "What are you waiting for??!" Theirmander shouted and everything came down like a set of dominos. All of the Mechanoids in the vicinity immediately raised their pistols and shot against theirmander.

    From all directions, themander was pierced by multiple lead bullets. It would have been fine if he was being aimed at the vitals and his life ended at that point in time. But the brainwashed Mechanoids felt that it was not enough of a punishment for him. Each and every one of the Mechanoids had calibrated their shots based on their distance, allowing him to be hit at his extremities first and slowly working their way to his torso.

    Eventually, when thest few shots were aimed at his chest, themander was filled with so many holes that he dropped dead, bleeding everything that was contained within him. At that point, all the Mechanoids felt as if they were liberated from theirmander and kneeled towards the direction where Jin was.

    "Seriously, Kiyu. You are one such person that should never be underestimated." Jin said and the fox girl giggled as she sat at the top of a pile of those old school Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) televisions. Jin slowly climbed up the messy and yet delicately ced pile to sit right beside her as he saw how the Mechanoids were assimted into his ranks with the aid of Kiyu''s brainwashing.

    "Then what about those Mechanoids who had a decentmander?"

    "Oh for those?" Kiyu tapped on a TV and it buzzed a little before showing Jin a clip of what had happened. In summary, all of them realised how futile it was to go against Kiyu and they decided tomit suicide as a group as she allowed them how they wished to pass on.

    As for the mentioned clip, they had the illusion of having a decent meal while staying in a great mansion before all of them ced their pistol in their mouths to shoot themselves.

    "But before that, a number of them were asking whether theirmander could be spared. Obviously, I told them the truth and they all embraced the fact that everyone will die."

    "They did not resist you?"

    "The helplessness was real, Boss. There was nothing they could do against me. The only mercy they could get from me was a quick death."

    "I am starting to understand why Kraft got you."

    "Oh please, that guy is the person that I even need to be careful with. He can be caring and at the same time, backstabs you just to make sure you are not too dead."

    "Regardless, you still feel indebted to him after that. He is such a terrible guy."

    "Don''t say that in his face, he will feel that is apliment for him."

    "I cannot believe I am saying this but I think I am missing him."

    "Boss. Just keep your mouth shut until you get back your body. I do not want to clear up his mess." Kiyu pouted knowing that suchpliments would make the Devil Fox to be stuck up. After which, the both of themughed, knowing that this sick twisted yearning for Kraft was more than just uncanny.

    "How are you holding up Boss?"

    "I should ask the same."

    "Meh, Qiu Yue is not an easy person to work with. I must admit she is great considering what she is doing to optimise everything butбн BUT! Her works are awfully boring. Even though your work could be at times borderline boring too, there were still some highlights within it so it''s still fun. I take it as a challenge."

    "As for her work. URGH!" Kiyu said with such passion that Jin could not help but snicker and he understood where she was getting at as she expressed her emotions with the help of the surrounding CRT TVs.

    Each one of them lit up showing a moment in life when Kiyu was facing the difficulty to make things interesting. "It''s not a challenge. IT''S A CHOREEEEEE!"

    "So, you think this is a feedback session?" Jin smiled as he folded his arm to see the fox girl ranting.

    "I can''t take it as such? I assume that is the case, and that is why I decided to take the System''s offer toe here. Else, I won''t be bothereding here."

    "Alright. Alright. I shall partake in your rants. In return, give me some information on what''s happening in the Dungeon World." Jin said and Kiyu immediately whined at him. He knows Kiyu''s personality to a certain extent and therefore understood how the demanding Qiu Yue would be such a bad match with Kiyu. There was no way the currentdy boss would be forgiving when there were so many things to fix.

    So, all he could do now was quietly listen to Kiyu''s rants as the same cycle of Mechanoids rushing into the room happened.

 Chapter 1549 Catching Up - Part 11

    Chapter 1549 Catching Up - Part 11

    The Dungeon World was in a hot mess. It had always been that way even before Jin came and stayed that way. Nevertheless, there was indeed a modicum of peace with what Jin had built.

    Pandapolis was growing to be a city that scored respect among both Demons, Monsters and Humans. For a city that had only been around for the least amount of time, it boasted one of the strongest defences within the vicinity.

    Considering how the news and rumours were spread to the surrounding cities, citing how the truly terrifying Demon army had been defeated not through an invasion but a defending battle had made Pandapolis a curious sight to many. And once they visited, many had decided to stay.

    At first, there was ack of poption which required the Demon Citizens from Demopolis to fulfil essential roles. But now that the Demopolis had turned into a military focused city, there was work avable back at their homnd and the majority returned. Satisfied with the quality of life in Pandapolis, not to mention subsidised housing for the returnees, the Demons were more than happy to take up jobs within the Fortress City.

    However, that was not only the case for the returnees. Those who came to these two cities found out that most of the jobs were well paid or at least to their perception, they were being paid better than other cities.

    This was because all the items they manufactured had a direct impact on Jin''s store. And that was where all the money wasing from. Well, that was supposed to be the case until Kraft found out about the Church of Afterlife''s Money Tower as he dubbed it. He and the Night Foxes raided it regrly ever since their first major raid that had depleted their resources to a certain extent.

    The Church never had such an extensive ambush for years and perhaps centuries. So, the loss of wealth while negligible in the grand scale of schemes, was bbergasted by their ambush. The only thing they could do was to replenish their ranks as soon as possible to prevent such an ambush.

    However, that was almost impossible.

    Ever since that fateful raid, especially after the Demon Rat War, Qiu Yue found out that Jin had overprepared the minions. The Demon Rat War was supposed to stretch for months and the minions were preparing for long term assaults. While in terms of resources, the Red Panda User was no doubt delighted that they did not waste too much money and in fact earned quite a fair bit from the Pandastic Festival.

    The only problem was that the minions were unsatisfied. If Jin was around, they knew that he would get into trouble that would keep them upied. In fact, most of the minions called him an idental warmonger, or the master who was always too unlucky with fate. This was because he was always dragged into a problem that involved a huge amount of fighting.

    It was not until Jin had officially disappeared into the Synthesis World that Qiu Yue realised how much fight the minions would be hungry for. Surely, the cultivators were scratching some of that itch but most of the minions had to restrain themselves since the bulk of the cultivators were still low grades.

    That was why when Qiu Yue read reports on the ''Money Tower'' as part of her daily updates from the Beaver subordinates, she realised that this was the best way to release their pent up frustrations now that there was technically no war to wage. (Also because Qiu Yue did not want to get into any mess since Jin was not around.)

    The Money Tower was one of the best ways to earn money and not earn any enmity especially since the Church of the Afterlife had deemed it as a trial for the entire Dungeon World to attempt to earn their gold. (Considering how they are hoarding an awful lot of dungeon dors and resources from the resurrection process, this was the only way avable for the Dungeon World citizens to earn their money back.)

    So, Qiu Yue figured that if they were going to fight against the Church of the Afterlife, she might as well take their money while they were at it. However, even though the Church had publicly said that there would be no retaliation, the Lady Boss still deemed it important to fight under anonymity as much as possible.

    With the help of the Science department, all the troops that were participating in the fight had masks simr to the cultivators which would not allow people to identify them easily. And toplicate matters even more, Qiu Yue purposely chose gs of cities that were staunchly allied with the Church of the Afterlife to raid the Money Tower.

    By doing this, she hoped to perform some animosity between the cities or at the very least send inquiries to those cities, distracting the Church agents as much as possible. Thus, from Goblins and Orcs, newborn Demon Rats as well as Farming World Southerners were being sent into battle. Demons from the Demon Armies were also sent into the fray but they took up sufficient disguises including restricting their powers so as to not be discovered.

    The fights were intense especially when Qiu Yue made them go in with a small budget. "Since we are already raiding them, we might as well take their weapons and armour to use. So salvage them once you kill them and use it against the enemies themselves." Kiyu said and showed a clip from the Dungeon World where the Goblins were indeed refitting themselves for the fight as the Orcs pressed on. Vice versa once the goblins were equipped. It was quite a hrious scene as the looting was extremely rampant and since most of the minions would ''disappear'' upon death, they took those weapons and armour with them as well.

    From there, they were modified and repaired so that they could be used in the subsequent raid. Thus, the fights at the Money Tower, a once feared ce, were under constant assault and the Church of the Afterlife had to pour more resources into it. It was to a point where it became news and even adventurers became interested.

    Seeing how there should be no retaliation on their cities, more people flocked and waited for the main bulk of attackers toe to fight. Once Jin''s minions emerge to challenge the Money Tower, those bystanders be supporters, hoping to get a gear or two so they can sell them.

    It was no doubt frustrating to the Church especially when they were losing resources not just from the looting but the raiding of their money chests as well and this increasingly became a concern for them that the Night Foxes who were spying on them had reported that there were even high level meetings because of it.

    "But who cares? So long as they are bleeding money and I am earning them. That''s fine. Besides, I am killing two birds with one stone. Or maybe three birds. The Night Foxes can infiltrate even more easily into their ranks while I distract them from the bigger picture " Kiyu quoted Qiu Yue and Jin chuckled seeing how the story had developed.

 Chapter 1550 Catching Up - Part 12

    Chapter 1550 Catching Up - Part 12

    "So with the daily radiation of the Church of the Afterlife''s Money Making tower, Qiu Yue was using the funds to start improving everything else. Sure there is cost cutting everywhere, especially for the dungeon store but she did not spare any effort when it came to rebuilding." Kiyu exined.

    "Still, I think she prioritised cities based on the time it was being conquered?" Kiyu hazarded a guess for Jin. "Or maybe she did it based on its profitability? I am not entirely sure, the best is if you get to talk to her but I believe it''s hard to do so."

    "The System cannot conjure Sub System User Qiu Yue to this world due to its restrictions."

    "Then what about Kiyu? Isn''t she considered a human?" Jin asked.

    "Kiyu can be made into data because of its rtion to the System. They are considered betors to a certain extent and are thus able to move through dungeon instances like the other minions. Sub System User Qiu Yue is a living human being and I am unable to manipte her soul toe here."

    "Yeah, no shit Sherlock," Jin mumbled but Kiyu somehow caught it.

    "It''s true that the System cannot manipte the soul of a living human being, especially her ties with the System. If it''s some random stranger, I have no doubts that the System would be ruthless in their experiment to take that guy''s soul and make it possible."

    "Then what Lynn doesбн"

    "What Lynn does was something to be considered more than a miracle. She could have lost her soul in the data transfer and she could have not retained her personality. Your pretty girlfriend had done the impossible while training with Kraft. Even the Devil Fox had estimated an abysmally high failure rate and warned Lynn not to do anything rash." Kiyu sighed.

    "But thedy persisted and achieved the impossible," Kiyu replied as she ced her hand on his shoulders. "She was willing to drop everything for you and only you. Do not waste such a precious girl to chance and take care of her." Kiyu hinted that even as he attempted to get out of this shithole, his girlfriend was doing whatever she could be in the same shithole as him.

    Jin gritted his teeth unconsciously and squeezed his grip. As he thought that he was reaching a high enough cultivation grade that he was able to stop such terrible incidents from happening, he was now stuck in these weird circumstances that the Dungeon Supplier was not able to move forward.

    While he swore not to wallow in sadness, he could not help but feel touched and to some extent helplessness. "I promise to take care of her, through thick and thin."

    "That is one promise I hope you do not go back on." Kiyu smiled gently as she realised she sidetracked a little. "In any case, the dungeon dors we earnt from the raiding had been used in improving the Seven Cities since we had the armies under our control."

    "I thought I remember seeing a report that the Seven Cities officials were under the control of the Churchies?"

    "You are not wrong but recently, there was a massive coup d''etat among those cities. Like a huge overturn in the numbers backing the army officials. The protests that you heard previously could not bepared to what had happened under Qiu Yue''s ruling."

    "Why? The officials were bought with money?"

    "Hmmm. You could put it that way I guess?" Kiyu stared at the stainless ceiling before answering. "The Army had been providing for the poor and helping to rebuild houses and towns using the money that Qiu Yue had provided from the raid."

    "In addition to that, the Seven Cities Armies had been recruiting like mad so that they can get everyone to their side. From tailors to chefs and their assistants, the majority of the city was under the army''s payroll that even the underworld was paid well to take care of things that the army could not do outrightly."

    "Wow, won''t that cause a shit load of bureaucracy?" Jin questioned seeing how inefficient the army could be with all these menial jobs.

    "You do not have to worry about that. Apparently, Rex loved governing or perhaps it was his calling to govern things since the olden ages. It was to the point where the System loaned him a Sub System to govern the cities. If he performed well, he could keep the Sub System for himself and make him be the first betor to hold onto a Sub System."

    "I trust Rex but won''t Kraft tries to take hold of the Sub System?" Jin asked the System and Kiyu could onlyugh.

    "What makes you think that Kraft does not have a Sub System of his own?"

    "Argh I forget. He was part of the original Systemбн That means he still has some control over certain things."

    "Not as much as he would like but he still can do things without the authority of the current System." Kiyu patted Jin.

    "So yeah, with Rex in the picture, the Seven Cities had decided to overthrow their incumbent to the point where there was no way the official governors would be able to return. While some did it with rtive ease, there were a few who had quite a fair bit of bloodshed. However, I will spare you the details on that."

    "It is fine. Now that the Seven Cities are within our control, does that mean we have more resources too?"

    "Not exactlyбн" Kiyu used her powers once again and asked Jin to turn the TV on.

    "With Rex as their Overlord, he made the decision to ''purchase''nd that was near Demopolis and Pandapolis. It was in such a fashion that if one were to connect Demopolis and Pandapolis through the world map, it was very likely they had to go through all seven cities to do so."

    "Wait, when you meant purchase ... Do you meanбн" Jin squinted his eyes but Kiyu stuck out her tongue to the sight while showing her cute side.

    "Interpret however you want. Teehee~"

 Chapter 1551 Catching Up -Part 13

    Chapter 1551 Catching Up -Part 13

    Even as Jin interpreted the way he wished to, a quick rification (which Kiyu eventually said it was no fun for Jin) from the System enabled Jin to find out that Rex was the biggest ''big brother'' of the foxes aside from Kraft.

    Kiyu was not wrong.

    Rex did purchase the cities that connected to the Pandapolis that enabled the Seven Cities to relocate to those locations. But that was after blockading each and every city with the aid of the Demon Armies. Those armies were left on the outskirts of the cities for days and some were even months.

    Nothing could go in but people can go outбн Just that those people cannot go back in again. This inaction from the Demon Armies made the cities, the travellers and merchants afraid. Even though they were not breaking anyws by staying on the very outskirts of those cities, there was no way for the city to survive without resources from other towns and merchant groups.

    A city or two had reportedly attempted to break out with force but they had forgotten that who they were dealing with was the well known Demon Army who had ruthlessly ughtered and piged towns. The only difference between the old and new management was that the current Demon Army knew restraint because they were twice as strong as they were before.

    Fighting against the Church of the Afterlife repeatedly at the Money Tower as well as the Demon Rat Kingdom had given them more than sufficient experience to grow from their defeat. This made them lesscent than before and not to mention they were strengthened from fighting against Jin''s customers.

    With ess to the System''s features, themanders had also gained a huge deal of experience in handling variousmanding situations. After all, what most of the Demonmanders had been doing was honestly just using brute force to get what they wanted. It was only under the System''s tutge and wealth of knowledge that they realised there were other things that could influence the fights.

    Thus, one such situation was what they had been coping with. The blockade was no easy feat for the Demons since it was quite a waste of their resources but at the same time, themanders took this opportunity to learn more about the surrounding terrain as well as started to partake in improving the public infrastructure.

    They managed to clear the current routes and rebuild them with proper roads. Bridges were also constructed as well as sturdy road supports so that railways could be added in the future too. This would no doubt help in the transportation issues that they had been dealing with while getting goods from Pandapolis to Demopolis. Although there were uses for nes and ships, the bulk of supplies would undoubtedlye from the railway system.

    So once the resistance from those cities died out, the Dungeon City Lords practically left the area and passed the key to the Demon Commanders, asking for surrender. However, the Demon Commanders did not take it as per Rex''smand. He felt that subjugation via force would always produce the very same results. Therefore, he made a deal with those Dungeon City Lords and made sure that their citizens could be relocated back to those cities he ''purchased''.

    "Obviously, those cities would not be very happy at the start but considering how the Demon Army did not terrorise them and allowed them to leave, such rumours spread. By the time Rex wished to take thest seventh city, the Dungeon Lord merely came out and requested the contract." Kiyuughed, stating how stupid Rex''s way of dealing with the cities was.

    But Jin did not underestimate Rex''s decision. By patiently waiting, they could not only deal with the infrastructure but also see the situation from afar, seeing how the cities react. Obtain information about the situation in those cities before letting the people leave without any subjugation.

    That way, it was much easier to understand what those cities he wished to wipe their names away had been running while allowing the Seven Cities to relocate with ease.

    "So anyways, Yea. The Seven Cities had already relocated and buildings were made post haste with the aid of the citizens as well as the Demon Army. All those high rise buildings that were not feasible in their era had be a civil engineering marvel." Kiyumented and exined that whatever she said had been summed up roughly for Jin.

    "Also, may I ask. Why the heck there are so many of these erm Mechanoids? Are they producing these as we speak, since it seems like there''s no end to it?" Kiyuined as she pointed at them.

    "I too felt their numbers were not justified. Someone at the top must be really spending their money like crazy to do all of these."

    "I am not exactlyining since it was fun at first but right now, it''s getting a chore. Especially when you leave this room, I am stuck doing this."

    "It''s not like I can release you out of the Dungeon Instance. I still do not exactly get why the Synthesis Administrations are making such a big fuss about the data. If we can clear this quickly, we could do other stuff."

    "The System would not allow such exceptions since there''s a mutual understanding between the Synthesis Administration and us. If Kiyu were to break the rules, it would only fire back on the System in future negotiations."

    "Then let me go back already. This is really boringбн" Kiyuined and the System finally gave in, stating that it would allow her to return after defeating another ten more groups since the System needed to recalibrate the dungeon instance on the fly.

    "Alright, thank you Kiyu."

    "You sure you do not want to stay for a few more rounds and chat?" Kiyu was obviously bored like Kraft.

    "I can give you a summary of it, maybe you can give some pointers."

    "You made me sound old," Kiyu grumbled but Jin could not give a quiet smile, knowing that was a sensitive topic to touch on. Thus, he returned the favour and gave her his story before moving to the next room.

 Chapter 1552 Catching Up -Part 14

    Chapter 1552 Catching Up -Part 14

    After Jin left Kiyu to her misery (just for a little while), he reached another room where it was bursting with... darkness. But thanks to his cultivation powers, he was able to use Maqi aura to find his footing rather easily. Yet, he knew that there were only a few who thrived in darkness.

    That was what he thought until he heard a very familiar voice.

    "Jin~ My little boy Jin~~"

    "You know, I am assuming that this room would be dominated by the Night Foxes, considering they follow your modus operandi." Jin sighs but in his heart, there was a little tug of happiness growing in it. "And also since the System said that you would not be able to enter here even by your own volition."

    "Mmhmm. You are not wrong." A slight fade of light shimmered for a moment, allowing Jin to see who he was exactly talking to and there he noticed that it was a dark elf''s silhouette. A Night Fox who was covered head to toe with a towering cape and hidden mask. Still, he too knew that Kraft did not have such a petite physique despite the cape cloaking his bodily figure.

    "Jin. Jin. You know that if I want to do something, I can always get what I want. It''s just a matter of when and where." The Night Fox replied and Jin believed that his fellow Devil Fox was doing it via the Night Fox as a medium, or intermediary.

    "Also, what''s up with the darkness? Is this like a long overdue stress test?"

    "Well... I thought the System was missing out on certain things, so I purposely made sure to add a bit of nostalgic factors into its design. Don''t you like it?"

    "I cannot exactly say that I missed it. However, I do feel that this is something I have not experienced for a long time. Feeling the entire darkness around me ...as much as I hate to spell it out, I do feel safe in here." Jin remarked slowly as if choosing his words to make sure not to make Kraft ted. Undeniably, his feelings betrayed him, and Kraft could sense it.

    "Such a liar. But thank you for telling the half truths. So in return, I shall give mine. We all miss you." Jin could sense Kraft''s little genuine grin from his words alone even though it was through a medium via a Dark Elf subordinate. But before he could relish the thought, Kraft interrupted to spoil the experience.

    "But Qiu Yue felt otherwise." He reported.

    "As I quote her words. Do note back empty handed. Either get stronger or wads of cash. Preferably loads and loads of cash. Also, do not bring any more minions back! I had enough of you bringing strays back just because they are mildly useful or interesting to you!" Kraft intimated Qiu Yue''s voice and a little of her bodynguage while rying the message to Jin.

    "I guessбн I already let her down since I am not achieving any of those." Jin shrugged his shoulders as he suddenly saw strokes of lights emerging at the far end of the room. To the Mechanoids who wereing into the room, they thought they could override their shorings with a mere night vision or even a bright torchlight attached to their rifles.

    However, as they ventured deeper into the room, they noticed as if the darkness was eating up their lights. At first, they thought that their batteries were drained but it was impossible for the entire group to be experiencing the same fault. They concluded that there was something in this room which was interfering with their electrical sources and assumed that there might be some maic disruptor.

    Yet, it did not make sense that their functions were all working except for sight. Their power supply was still plenty but when ites to vision rted modules, they were not functioning to a minimal standard. Night vision, thermal vision and even infrared were all not working. It was as if this particr darkness was encroaching and even as they retreated back to where they came from, the problem persisted.

    Yet, the fearless Mechanoids stood guard redirecting all their energy to the rest of the sensors with the exception of the humanmander who was scared shitless at this unusual phenomenon. Suddenly, they heard a rifle shot that echoed throughout the entire room and yet there was no muzzle sh at all.

    In an instant, the humanmander could notice that its tactical system was informing him that four of his Mechanoids were down. It was then one of the Mechanoids reported that there were four simultaneous shots that caused theirrades to fall. The only problem was that the shots'' trajectory did not make sense as it all came from one particr direction. There was no angle deviation and that confused the Mechanoids further since it was unable to prepare for a retaliatory attack.

    What was more scary was that each time a rifle shot was heard again, even more Mechanoids fell and the humanmander could only ask them to provide suppressive fire to no avail. Slowly but surely, each and every Mechanoid had dropped into the silent give their best for the System." Kraft pped loudly and the rest of the Night Foxes did not bother answering knowing he was being darkness and eventually, the humanmander took his own life, unable to cope with thisplete abyss.

    "That was rather anticlimacticбн" Jin said and the possessed Dark Elf nodded his head.

    "I told them to take a break bying here since they had been working hard ever since your disappearance and thesezy sons of -*cough* these verypetent employees of mine still decided to give their best for the System." Kraft pped loudly and the rest of the Night Foxes did not bother answering knowing he was being sarcastic.

    "In any case, you do not have to worry about any Mechanoids leaking in this area. We can talk to our heart''s desire. How have ya been?" Kraft asked even though Jin believed that he already knew.

    Still, he gave the shortest summary ever before asking Kraft about his current endeavours, especially the wellbeing of his overworked Night Foxes.

 Chapter 1553 Catching Up -Part 15

    Chapter 1553 Catching Up -Part 15

    "Where do you want to begin? Or do you wish to see more of those stupid robots get killed?" Kraft asked through the Dark Elf he was using to talk.

    "I am actually somewhat more interested in your ability to talk through your Dark Elf..." Jin said which made Kraft stay silent for a moment or two before realising what Jin actually meant.

    "Oh... You are afraid that if things did not go your way and you are stuck in this virtual hellhole for an eternity due to your ipetence, there is still some form ofmunication to rte information through a medium?" Kraft guessed and Jin nodded his head vigorously as if to thank his master to know of his intentions this easily.

    "Sorry, nope can do." Kraft chuckled while folding his arms. "Also, are we really going to stand and talk for the entire time? I can do that, but it''s awfully ufortable." The Devil said as he used his Night Fox to conjure a huge enough stone bench to amodate the two of them so that they could talk while watching the asional strobes of lights being engulfed into darkness aka the death of Mechanoids.

    "Seriously, just get stronger as soon as possible and engulf the entire virtual system with your own dungeon instance. This way, you can just let all the minions do your job and you cane back at the fastest possible time." Kraftined as hefortably lifted his Dark Elf''s cape and sit with his legs crossed on the giant rock (smooth!) bench.

    "Why can''t you teach me how to do it?" If Lynn coulde in, what''s wrong with just transmitting messages through a medium like yourself? I can work equally hard as her to get what I want as well!"

    "Wait, let me stop you there. If there is one thing you cannotpare, that would be Lynn''s dedication to look for you. You can sully or imitate her path but you cannot deny her sheer will to see you." Kraft turned serious when Jin spoke of Lynn''s name and that also stopped Jin''s conversation on its tracks. Kraft in return exined a little more.

    "You could say that she experienced an extreme version of timepression than you. It was a level not permissible even by the System and could create a timeg when she returned to reality... actual time flow. And she worked so hard that she turned the task of seeing you as something impossible into something that is close to impossible. I won''t deny that I am actually worried she will die. In fact, I keep telling her that she WILL die." Kraft then changed his tone a little.

    "Maybe she did die in a way but we would never know how this transfer of souls from a body into a virtual simtion without the proper Synthesis World way of transferring souls works until she got back to her original body."

    "You mean there is a chance she could never return?"

    "Yes. I do not sugarcoat the answer. Unless it is by some miraculous force like a higher being than gods who knew her fate all along and decided to continue to keep her alive, I honestly have no idea why she chose this one way ticket than to wait for your return. -Well I mean, I do know the reason and how she always wishes to return the debt, but it seems that -urgh how do I put this in a more tactful way."

    "This is the first time I see you going around the bush with such difficulty."

    "Gah, she loves you so deeply that it kinda moves me, okay?" ''Kraft'' shook his head.

    "That I know. But I did not know her love for me was this boundless." Jin felt somewhat guilty. He likes her and without a doubt, he knew that she was more than just the right choice. Still, he believed he could have done more for her. Only with a long silence, Jin nodded his head with conviction and told Kraft the following. "I will make up to her. I promise you that."

    "In any case, I will repeat my objection. No. I do not rmend and never allow you. Grit through this ordeal by yourself and get out. I assumed you had heard from the rest that I had already been doing shit loads just to retrieve your body. You should be thankful for that and not expect any more assistance from me."

    "Yes, I heard. I understand where you areing from." Jin nodded his head and bowed a little in apology to Kraft, his friend, his mentor and his personal Devil.

    "Now that is out of the way, what do you wish to know? That I can still give you without charging you a single cent. Considered the price paid when I can see that you are still safe and sound." Kraft said with the least amount of concern but his words were more than enough to touch Jin''s heart, knowing that he still cares.

    "Well, you dabbled with a variety of subjects. I had heard a fair bit on the progress of the Dungeon World as well as the Farming World. So, you could say that I am concerned about the details of the Goblin World, considering how you have a base of operations right under their noses."

    "Oh, you mean that adventurer town that you made and subsequently gave me authority over it?"

    "I believed what you meant is that you took it upon your own hands despite knowing that I am in control of it."

    "Meh, I did think that you could use a hand considering you had not touched it for ages. The basement of that tavern was a little too underwhelming for me and my Night Foxes. So I thought, I could use the entire town as part of my training grounds for my dear Dark Elves. They do need to roam other than basements if you get what I mean."

    "Not really... but sure. What had been happening over there and do you know about the System''s intention or I should say future attempts to lure the dwarves out of their hiding holes?"

    "Hmm yea, somewhat. I already got that itchy feeling they were going to do that." Kraft scratched his head as he replied, knowing what Jin wants and started to ramble.

 Chapter 1554 Catching Up -Part 16

    Chapter 1554 Catching Up -Part 16

    Unlike the other minions under Jin''s control, Kraft did not exactly give a very detailed exnation of the situation in the adventurer''s town. He merely said that the town was doing fine, making Jin wish to talk to the Dark Elf instead.

    However, as if Jin''s quiet requests in the recesses of his heart were overheard, Kraft sighed and allowed the Dark Elves tomunicate with Jin instead. That was when he realised that the person Kraft had been controlling was none other than the current Dark Elves'' leader, Narris.

    "Holy shit, I did not realise that was you. How on earth did you get a voice that deep?" Jin said when Kraft released his control over her and the mask and cape came off to reveal the appearance of the Dark Elf he was controlling.

    "Urgh, that Kraft is seriously an asshole. He knew that I am one of the few thatmunicates with you on a fairly regr basis and he still has to make use of me despite my knowledge of the current situation. Apologies to you, Master Jin. to see an unsightly side of me." Narris bowed and subsequently kneel for forgiveness.

    "Do not worry about it, are you okay with him possessing your body?"

    "This is not the first nor hisst. I suspect that there will be many more toe, especially how he has sessfully used us as his mediums. I might not like it but he does have a fair point when ites to requiring his judgement on certain things."

    "Still, that does not mean he can use it like wearing a t-shirt."

    "Master Jin, you know how he is. I do not think there is any way to circumvent it. It is best to let him have his fun and he will be bored of it soon enough." Narris sighed as she got up and satdylike beside him.

    "Wellбн then I assumed that you could give me a better update than your boss."

    "He prefers to talk about other stuff and it would only be a matter of time before he budges himself into me again. SO! Let''s just speak what we need to and let him take over me and we can get this done quickly."

    "Thank you for your sacrifice."

    "No, Master Jin. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you instead. If it is not for your grace, Boss Kraft would never have found us and we might be in ignorance for a very long time. We will always think that we will be the strongest in that particr world." Narris once again bowed which made Jin feel that he did not deserve it.

    "Also, if not for you, we would never have ventured to many worlds and explored to our heart''s content. As much as we did not wish to admit it, to be under such a strong powerhouse like Kraft and enabling us to dominate battlefields, our ancestors would no doubt be delighted that we broke taboo for such an experience."

    "You sounded a little like the dwarves I know in my stories. Not sure about the Dwarves from your world."

    "Master Jin, you are not exactly far off your mark. As a dark elf, and as our name states, we prefer to live in the darkness, aspared to those elves that you know of. Therefore, you could say that our way of living had some influences after interacting with the dwarves of the past."

    "You meanбн"

    "Yes, what the System was doing- to recreate Mechanoids and ce them in the current Dungeon Cave is a suggestion from us Night Foxes. We believed that this would get dwarves to appear from their seclusions."

    "Soбнit''s true? Not all dwarves are extinct?"

    "Yes, my great grandfather said that the tribe had contact with them before in the forest, it was a brief moment and from what I heard, we aided them so much, they decided to repay their debt by owing us a favour," Narris said. "So, considering how the dwarves had such long lives, I would not let go of the fact that we can call upon such a favour."

    "But I am guessing there is a catch since Kraft would have already forced you guys to use the favour so that we can see Dwarves, right?"

    "You catch on fast, Master Jin." Narris nodded her head and she sighed a little. "The favour can only be called upon when we use a particr device. It''s something simr to your handphone devices so it would create a sort of signal to tell the dwarves toe."

    "So the problem isбн that you lost the device?"

    "Exactly. Thus, what we need to do is merely spread fake rumours of the Mechanoids being created by them. And this is one of the ways to get such gossip into the streets to grab the dwarves'' attention. As long as we can get one to appear, we can invoke our favour from them." Narris said and Jin nodded with delight.

    "I suppose you are going to work Orc King Frost Echo and Goblin King Sol for such rumours to be effective?" Jin asked and Narris nodded her head.

    "Good. Then please proceed with that. Even if the System does not have the capabilities to make a proper Mechanoid, they should have the data to at least replicate it." Jin announced as if waiting for the System to reply and it subsequently gave the approval the Dungeon Supplier was hoping for.

    "Other than that, we really do not have much to report. The powers between the three major Kingdoms are going along fine with the new adventurer''s town. Humans are more epting of the Orcs and Goblins and it is a sight to behold. We hope that it will be a permanent thing and the elves can emerge as well."

    "That is assuming there are no asshole humans who think they are superior. As long as such a dictator or tyrantes into yбн"

    "We will do what''s needed when we really get there." Kraft suddenly entered through Narris as if he knew the conversation was nearly done.

    "Alrightбн Mind exining more about the other worlds then?" Jin pitied Narris and could only hope she did not overexert herself from Kraft''s constant interruption.

 Chapter 1555 Catching Up -Final

    Chapter 1555 Catching Up -Final

    "h h h. Does exining to you make any difference right now? You are not going to be out of this ce for some time and even if we tell you what is happening, what are you going to do about it?" Kraft suddenly questioned why Jin needs to know everything. It was probably that Kraft got bored of all the questions even though Narris had been doing all the talking.

    "Even if you learn what is happening right now, in a few weeks or maybe in a few months'' time, things will change again. Why don''t we just give you a summary once you are done?" He yawned and felt that this was a waste of time talking about things of the past and issues he had no power over. Sure, he might ask the System to enforce certain problems but that would not change the fact that Qiu Yue was the one holding the reins.

    "And speaking of Qiu Yue, I tried to tell her that I am meeting you right now. She continued to babble the same stuff. ''Bring more money to me''. Are we really that low in terms of funding? Should I get the Night Foxes to attack the Money Tower once more?"

    "Keep to the schedule created by Sub System User Qiu Yue. There was a reason why she had made such a schedule to prevent fatigue as well as apply enough pressure on the Church of the Afterlife. If Original Betor Kraft were to interfere with the schedule, it will mess up the monster rotation." The System reported.

    "Bah! Then what if the Churchies are going to throw a curveball at us? Are we still going to be on rotation?" Kraftined.

    "If you are that bored, what about you go get my body right here and now?"

    "Heh. If you are noting out so soon, why should I do that? Besides, Qiu Yue said that an invasion of the Heavenly ne is costing her a lot of money. Just to keep your human world scent away from the Gods, we need to do these many diversions." Kraft rolled Narris'' eyes as his voice now oveps with hers. "Why don''t you ask what the System had nned for you instead? And that is assuming you survived this massive assault on the mountains." Kraft redirected his responsibility to the System and Jin took the opportunity to ask.

    "Any luck in getting Duke Dyke to get the Lord title up and running?" Jin asked and there was no answer from the System with regards to that.

    "See, if you are going to waste your time turtling in this mountain and in this Synthesis World, why should I spend so much effort in getting your body? Your business is still surviving since it had that boost of poprity from all your events. Not to mention, you are still churning out a few dungeon instances. I doubt anyone isiningбн well except for Kong Rong, your best pal from the Royal Zodiac Dragon n"

    "Why, what''s wrong?"

    "Urgh, do I really have to be the messenger?" Kraft tilted his head upwards as if to stare at the System looking down on them, even though he knew that all he could see was an arbitrary ceiling consumed by the very darkness he exudes.

    "The System believed it would be best for you to exin."

    "GAH! TLDR. Do you know how Kong Rong decided to keep you under his care for some sort of protection? Well, since you disappeared into ''training'', people are asking whether you are some sort of scammer."

    "Whatбн"

    "Yeah, and Kong Rong even went under record to ask where the hell you had been hiding to perform your ''cultivation'' from Qiu Yue. Obviously, she feinted ignorance and the System made sure to make her truth the universal truth. Lie detection magic was unable to catch anything." Kraft pped his hands as if to congratte the System for finally doing something useful.

    "He is connected to the System, why can''t you tell the truth?"

    "Stupid, the System decided that it was vital he did not know anything. And so, after some big hoo-haa situation, they were able to turn their heads away from you since the Banned Emperor terrorists are doing naughty stuff again."

    "What did they do?''

    "They assassinated several parliament members in the European Union. They did not have direct ties to our main country but their racial background was more than enough to treat it as a major concern to the public."

    "In any case, Kong Rong wanted you to be part of the Banned Emperor subjugation team but since you are gone, he had to put that project on hold and strengthen internal security instead."

    "Why can''t you help him? Aren''t you two like great friends?"

    "Too rigid, Not to my liking." Kraft dismissed his question almost instantaneously.

    "However, I do think that we have not seen thest of those Banned Emperor terrorists. Even though there was a massive internal security sweep by Kong Rong and his Internal Security Department, they are merely picking up small fries. Still, it was without a doubt that your actions to protect our Mothend had indeed reduced their operation capabilities here, allowing Kong Rong to work less."

    "But if what you say is true, then their overseaswork might bring people into the country and create trouble," Jinmented and Kraft nodded his head slowly as if without care.

    "So hurry back and we can pass judgment on those rascals. I do not want Kong Rong to pick up all the glory. Just go hit the Imperial Family or stop the privatepany by attacking their head. You were the one who previously proposed a strike to cut down Demopolis by sending the Foxes, why are you not doing the same thing?"

    "I only have a squad of Mechanoids with meбн" Jin thought for a while and then realised what Kraft was saying. He can hole up here for only so long and if Duke Dyke was not able to produce a satisfactory result for Jin, does that mean he has to keep defending Mount Sunn?"

    "Either get that quack of the System to blurt what it wants to do or you decide for yourself. Otherwise, I am totally telling Qiu Yue to just ignore your physical body problem and continue life as usual without you." Kraft jabbed Jin at his shoulder but it was more than enough to cause the abyssal darkness to ripple around.

    (Needless to say, Jin had been kicked out of that particr room as well. from that jab)

 Chapter 1556 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 1

    Chapter 1556 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 1

    "What the hell, that idiot foxбн" Jin said as he thought he tried to make sense of his current surroundings. He had returned to the Synthesis World where he saw Old Fammet and Nie arguing which particr defences would be best with the current resources that they have in hand.

    It was only with the ejection of Jin that they stopped their arguments right in their tracks and they went to assist the Grey Bearmander up. "How did you fly out of that closed door? Never mind I do not really want to know." Niemented.

    "Son! Your dungeon instance is a miracle! The bombardment of the workshop had finally stopped since they had poured men and troops into the workshop. The rest of us are able to take a quick rest and also set up certain room defences should the dungeon instance stop working." Old Fammet reported.

    "How long have I been out?" Jin questioned and Old Fammet looked at his time.

    "Not long? At most for two hours?" The master Mechasmith reported and Jin nodded his head. Since the situation remained controlled, Jin decided to excuse himself to a corner and talked to the System as ''advised'' by Kraft.

    "System, what are you nning that Kraft had been so insistent I listen to you?"

    "The System finds the n a little ludicrous as it was proposed by the Synthesis Administration when the System prompted for a quick exit." The System reported. Upon learning that the System had the ability to create the dungeon instance and not just you, the Synthesis AI rmended that the System conduct an experiment that would envelop the entire Mount Sunn region with the dungeon instance. In return, it would not implement the bet penalty that it had initially stated and even allow us to keep the points that we earnt without any penalty. The Synthesis AI Administration had also hinted at the possibility of issuing bonus points."

    "But you do not have the power to do so." Jin rebutted. "Unless the Synthesis AI is providing the necessaryputation powers for the processes and that is fishy."

    "That was what they were proposing. The System determined that the Synthesis AIs wish to learn more about the Dimensional Instance tactic so that they could include it in their repertoire. So far, the System has been careful in releasing the type of data that they could observe."

    "So, what we had been doing was forbidden for their data collection?"

    "Yes, and with good reason. That is if the User could derive that reason for yourself." The Systemmented and stated that it was the main reason why it had not suggested the idea to the System User at all.

    "Hmmбн" Jin thought of it for a moment and seeing how the System had always been such a stingy personality, it understood where it wasing from.

    "If they learn how to do it, even if you do not teach them the ropes, their replication from the data collected could be used against us in the future."

    "The System had such sentiments and even though they assured us that such knowledge would not be used against us but rewards us through extensive usage, the System would not take such a chance."

    "Considering the history of you guys being backstabbed by people multiple times, it''s not umon to think that way," Jin said as he knew where the System wasing from. They never liked the idea of being used and prefer to use people instead. That was why it needed a lot of time for the System to trust Jin. (It was well worth it at the very end.)

    "However, it''s true that if we really do it this way, we can expand our powers as well as get points just from using the Synthesis Administration''s processing units. We could very well be out in less than one Earth''s month." Jin gave a vague figure which the System countered with a proper result of leaving in two Earth''s month time.

    "While the System would be against it, the System would not hold any grudge to the User for attempting to get out of the Synthesis World as soon as possible so he can return getting profits for thepany and n."

    "Still, it would be nicer if we do not walk in that direction, am I right?" Jin said and the System gave a quiet yes.

    "Then I guess, it''s time to see what Old Fammet can cook upбн Otherwise, I am nning to use the Cardinal Lords powers." Jin said and he beckoned Old Fammet from afar.

    "Aye, Jin?"

    "I assume you have collected enough data after Lynn''s and Page''s flight."

    "I do but-" Before Old Fammet could sound out, the System suddenly pinged loudly from the main control consoles. At that moment, a loud crash was heard at the far end of the room, supposedly from the corridor towards the storage area.

    Without any further ado, all of them walked towards their direction without the System''s hint and when the storage room door opened, a huge pile of robot parts descended onto them, as if it was overflowing. Jin could see they had been taken from the Dungeon Instance the System had created.

    "I бнguess I can get to work now that I have enough processes in hand. But I will still need some manpower to work with. There is no way I can do this on my own, let alone with Nie."

    "The System will assist Master Mecha Smith and your apprentice by controlling the Mechanoids that are under our control. We even have a few new ones from the Dungeon Instance so please feel free to use them. The User will also do the heavy lifting as well should he still wish to keep the Cardinal Lords'' powers hidden. There were a few broken nes from the User''s dungeon instance and they had been ced separately in Workshop 3."

    "I can use those parts too. Guess that n for counterattack is officially a go." Old Fammet said and everyone on the scene started to scramble to prepare. They want to end this fast, they need a counterattack and a strong one.

 Chapter 1557 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 2

    Chapter 1557 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 2

    It was no secret among them that they had this idea as part of the counterattack offensive. It''s just that after talking with Kraft and the others as Jin caught up with them, the Dungeon Supplier had decided to change his targets.

    After killing that many Mechanoids within thepartment, the System already had the data needed to not justunch a counterattack against the temporary base that was built right outside Mount Sunn but a target that could once and for all put this matter to rest.

    Hitting Diamondz main headquarters.

    By doing so, they would not only suffer losses but also have the chance of hitting their main CEO. (Although Diaz was saying it would be hrious that they strike the main headquarters and the CEO is having a vacation.)

    Thus, the consensus was to strike during mid day where Old Fammet would hastily patch an aircraft based on the data he had retrieved from Page and Lynn. He had another one of the exploration crafts but of arger size, able to contain a squad in it.

    The idea was to initially allow Jin and the Grey Bear squad to perform a counterattack against their main base so that there was some breathing space for Mount Sunn. Now that the situation was under control with the System''s dungeon instance, there was not much the rest could do.

    Even the enemy Mechanoids outside were doing rotation duties, waiting for reinforcements toe in and going in as a huge group. Because of theck ofmunication, they can only assume that the Mechanoids that were fighting inside Mount Sunn had been killed, and all the base could do was send in more of them. They never knew that all the entrances had been fixed in such a way to separate the Mechanoids and theirmanders into groups so that the System could divide them into ''bite sizes'' for Jin''s minions to finish them off.

    The only problem now was that instead of an unstable ride to the enemy base outside of Mount Sunn turned into an unstable and long distance flight to Diamondz headquarters. By doing so, it introduced a lot of variables, especially pushing the speed variable for the said aircraft that Old Fammet had been patching up.

    And this was extremely dangerous because the Mecha Smith did not have much experience doing this and they were putting parts together on an old framed aircraft with the same rocket engines that Lynn and Page had used previously.

    The Master Mecha Smith would not have suggested such usage if not for the assistance of the System. With the wealth of knowledge that the System had in terms of making nes because of Jin''s creations (Or rather the minion''s creation), Old Fammet was willing to give it a shot considering this was an opportunity to be missed to be able to learn something new.

    Also, with the Mechanoids helping out, they were able to be more productive working through the night even as the enemy was still technically pouring into the mountain''s entrance. It was a matter of time before they would back off or call in superior reinforcements instead of just using mercenaries or rank and file Mechanoids to get the job done.

    But this also meant that they had a better opportunity to attack considering how they were focusing all their resources onplete control of Mount Sunn workshop.

    Still, a singr aircraft passing through that huge of a crowd outside Mount Sunn would be bound to get shot down, so one of the only few ways to get out of there unscathed was to go by the back of the mountain which was currently unupied. The only problem with that was they had to take a detour and it would no doubt increase the fuel consumption as well as the time needed to reach Diamondz Headquarters.

    The distance to the headquarters itself was already a headache and to make a detour will just make things even more annoying for Old Fammet''s head. (Not that he dislikes the challenge) Either that, Jin had to send out a diversion attack while the aircraft rushed through the battlefield skies and hoped that it would not be shot down. After all, if Tellie could shoot down an aircraft with a sniper rifle, what makes Jin not think the enemies could not do the same? And there were hundreds out in the field armed with not just sniper rifles but rocketunchers that could easily remove that aircraft away from the battlefield.

    Either way, it was the short and dangerous way out or going the long detour which will strain the shaky aircraft specifications even more. It was then Jin decided on the former option stating that this would continue to put Mount Sunn workshop in an interesting spot.

    The aircraft would no doubt create attention but this will press the enemies to push for the workshop even more now as they will assume the aircraft was carrying important personnel that were trying to escape.

    In a way, it would relieve the pressure that the workshop had been receiving as the enemies would allocate some resources to following the escaping aircraft. The System however predicted that if Old Fammet continued to show his face at Mount Sunn workshop after the stunt that Jin and the Grey Bears had put up, they might not chase the aircraft eagerly.

    This might intensify the attack on the workshop and give a hoot less on the escaping aircraft as it fulfils its purpose to assault the person whomanded this entire one sided invasion.

    Still, even without anti air fire, the aircraft had a high chance of failing and Jin had to either work with whatever fate Jin was throwing at him or he could use his Cardinal Lords'' powers to get to his destination.

    All he could do now was to follow the System''s instruction and assist Old Fammet on the aircraft so that they could proceed with their counterattack as soon as possible.

 Chapter 1558 Counterattack Against Diamondz - Part 3

    Chapter 1558 Counterattack Against Diamondz - Part 3

    "What do you mean you have yet to take over the workshop?!" Edmond Diamondz shouted through his holographicmunication console, sitting in his luxurious limousine while he waited for his secretary to order his usual takeaway breakfast.

    He mmed his fist onto the leather sofa he was sitting on and it did not make a single dent from the force he exerted. His secretary could hear the sudden burst of anger from outside his limousine and subtly requested the cashier to take a little longer time to prepare the food.

    The cashier also heard themotion through the limousine''s open window and gave a slight nod to the secretary as Edmond reluctantly listened to the ipetence of themander at the other end of the conversation.

    "So what if you cannot establish contact with the mercenaries and a few of our troops? If they could go into the workshop, that means there''s an entrance. It does not matter how sophisticated theirmunication jamming was, just throw everyone into the fray. I want this to be done by today!"

    "Yes, sirбн" Themander heard the abrupt drop of his call indicating the rudeness of his employer. All he could do was grumble andin in his head as he sighed at the reality of the current situation. Codename Eggshells, themander who was working as the overall leader of this operation felt that this whole situation was a fishy one right from the start.

    As the days went by, he felt that his codename was getting more and more appropriate. The development of this problem was something akin to eggshells. It was so delicate and when it broke, there was a mess all over the ce which cannot be salvaged unless there''s a proper cleanup.

    At first, he and the CEO of Diamondz, Edmond thought that overwhelming power was the answer to this predicament. However, ever since the first day of this major operation, he had been seeing reason defying acts in the making that managed to destroy his perception of war. From a Mechanoid duo flying an unknown model of aircraft defeating an entire fleet of bombers by themselves to extreme coordination of the workshop defences that could resist their advance to a certain extent and even damage a portion of their most expensive equipment before they could get close to the workshop walls.

    After which, the fierce resistance suddenly died out as they promptly retreated into the workshop where Eggshells believed they were making theirst stand. He thought that was already a checkmate for the Diamondz Operation but the reality was that this was not the case. The adrenaline that themanders had when they heard they had overpowered the walls had already felt that their overwhelming losses from this operation were justified.

    However, as time goes by, the causalities seemed to be piling up as the number of Missing in Actions (MIA) increased as they lostmunication just as how the initial few troops disappeared when during their day one of this particr operation.

    That caused the rearmand as well as Eggshells to think that there was an unknown force behind all of this before everything had started. Some deduced that it had something to do with the variant dungeon that was hidden under Mount Sunn. After all, everyone who was old enough to know about Old Fammet''s reputation had some basic knowledge that he resided in this mountain mainly because of the existence of the dungeon.

    It was through that dungeon that he was able to obtain resources for his creations and that was partially the case when ites to his extensive customisation. Other Mecha Smith thought that particr mountain''s dungeon was the key to his sess and even attempted to rout him for hoarding the entire dungeon for himself.

    However, Old Fammet merelyughed and said that the other Mecha Smiths were wee to partake in the dungeon runs to get the resources and prove to him that it was the resources that matter. Many tried initially and failed at the start. But as they learnt the difficulty of the variant dungeon, a few richer smiths even brought in arge group of mercenaries with them to eventually learn that those resources were the same throughout the entire Empire. There was nothing different from the other dungeons despite its dungeon ranking to be ced in between the mid to high difficulty level.

    He was merely choosing that particr dungeon because it was convenient for him to stay on that mountain and he want to use the mountain and the forest as a sort of seclusion.

    And because of this, no other Mecha Smiths bothered to return after a few reputable smiths attempted to clear that misconception even further by clearing as low as possible, throwing as much money. It was to the point that it passed Old Fammet''s dungeon clearing team and found that those materials even the rare ones did not differ.

    Thus, Eggshells who was the most experiencedmander when ites to ''guarding'' Old Fammet, knew that it was not the dungeon that created these phenomena but something else. And he suspects that it was rted to the group of Just as he sighed at the troubling orders that he was being given, a loud sharp sound was emitted from Mount Sunn once more. Eggshells immediately asked for his junior people that Nie had brought with him. Unfortunately, they turned out to be a mere team under the Empire''s military. There was nothing special about them including theirmander. The only recent feat they had was saving an archduke''s kid which was broiled with multipleyers of ssification that Diamondz was unwilling to invest to check. (After all, he believed it was not to let other people know how the kid got kidnapped in the first ce.)

    Other than that, there was nothing significant to them. All he could think of was that they were just here and in the wrong ce wrong time.

    Just as he sighed at the troubling orders that he was being given, a loud sharp sound was emitted from Mount Sunn once more. Eggshells immediately asked for his junior officers on the current situation although he was guessing it was Mount Sunn Workshop''s mountain cannon. He could never forget the trembling of the ground if that deafening sound emerged out of it.

    But before he could have verification from his officers, a light shone so brightly that it permeated through the thick defensive cloths of the makeshiftbat tents that housed the headquarters. In a matter of moments, the rise of temperature within the surroundings indicated that the st of searing heat was extremely close to the headquarters.

    True enough, there was a huge energy signature that had been detected from Mount Sunn but the entire headquarters was in chaos. They never expected the Mountain Cannon capable of shooting at such distances. In fact, they assumed that the cannon had been disabled mainly due to its extensive usage previously. The only usible clue they had was that the workshop did have a backup cannon or they fixed the cannon fast enough.

    "Check for causalities! and report the damages to me as soon as possible!" Commander Eggshells said as his face turned weary.

    But in all that confusion, there was a slight quick beep in the radar which all of themunication officers did not catch. An aircraft had safely ascended outside of its radius and proceeded to its destination.

 Chapter 1559 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 4

    Chapter 1559 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 4

    "We just went past 10,000 feet! Commander, are you okay? There''s the oxygen tank right there!" Page said as she had taken the initiative to pilot the experimental makeshift aircraft which the Grey Bears dubbed the Rocket Coffin considering how delicate the ne was in appearance.

    "I am fine! Continue to push forward and maintain gliding!" Jin said as he used his Maqi to control his lungs as well as cover them so that the air pressure would not be so drastic that he will faint from the external pressure.

    "This is the first time I should be grateful that I am a Mechanoid?" Lynn chuckled as she too used her generated chi to aid Jin so as to alleviate the stress of diverting his Maqi around his body.

    "At least for once, this thing is-" Everyone shouted at Diaz to tell her to shut up, despite the fact that they were all Mechanoids and human''s perception of luck and karma should be irrelevant at least to them. Perhaps, Jin had rubbed them all too much that they mimicked the ways of being human.

    But what Diaz said was within since they did not expect to escape the battlefield while riding such a rickety aircraft out of the mountain. The distraction that Old Fammet had put up was definitely a first ss act. Jin could not be any more delighted that there was no anti air fire against them at all. It dide at a huge cost considering Jin and the other Mechanoids including the Grey Bears had to work doubly hard to get not only the Rocket Coffin topletion and also the Mountain Cannon which should have been dmissioned after its fierce consecutive firing against the enemies when they were advancing towards Mount Sunn.

    Of course, the System yed a little trick or two as well by analysing the essential parts that needed to be reced with alternatives. The only problem was that the System guaranteed that the mountain cannon could never work ever again, and aplete recement was required after the invasion or else there could be a risk of an internal explosion which would detonate within the mountain workshop itself.

    This was really itsst straw and Old Fammet decided that since it was one of his biggest creation''sst use, he might as well make it a little more fancy than usual. Increasing the range by overheating and discharging more power to theser''s output would induce the melting of its internalponents to extending st radius by haphazardly mixing explosives with the barrel. Such improvised yet primitive ways of increasing the output was suggested by Nie and Old Fammet decided to give his remaining apprentice the honour of pressing the fire button.

    The moment Rocket Coffin had sted out of Mount Sunn, the Mountain Cannon did the very same thing by discharging itsst beam, allowing the energy signature to cover the Rocket Coffin''s heat signature from their standard radars. Thus, the bright lightbined with the heat and sound made it the perfect distraction for everyone within the area but the aftermath was horrendous. The temperature in the workshop rose to a degree that was beyond ufortable. The cooling section of the main control console was beeping with red lights so hard that the only way to turn it off was to literally rip the console out.

    But its ring because the cooling systems within the workshop was working as hard as it could to dispense the heat from the mountain cannon. And since the workshop was also on a lockdown, most vents were sealed to prevent intruders froming out and this caused the internal heat temperatures to skyrocket as well. The only ce where most of the heat was dissipating out to was from where the Rocket Coffin had ascended as well as the window where the cannon had just shot. Both were truly not the best venting procedures for a makeshift cannon that had been upgraded to do massive amount of damage.

    It was so hot that the surrounding rooms and corridors to the mountain cannon had to shut off to prevent it from allowing friendly Mechanoids to enter or else it was possible that they disintergrate from the heat. Certain circuitries had also been destroyed and Nie who was at the main console was rushing to make sure enough power was being diverted so that the workshop internal defences were still working in case a few leaked through the System''s dungeon instance.

    Thankfully, it was the same for the enemies. The thermic beam burned everything on its path and that included thend underneath the beam, causing a trail of fire on already burntnd. The main headquarters was hit at its rear as if the enemy knew where its ammunition and temporary oil depots were being ced, causing the huge explosion at their side as well, leading to many support team members to be killed off or injured. This huge ruckus allowed the Rocket Coffin was able to safely move away from their danger area since there were other things on the te of the enemy, enabling them to move unhindered.

    And in order to avoid further detection it was best to move to as high as possible and maintaining at that altitude so that they could move without much restriction as well. The only problem was that Jin could not stay in that altitude and speed for a long time since he was a ''human''. The only fortunate thing was that he was not just any human but someone who had gone through bouts of trials both physically and mentally; not to mention, a few good tricks under his sleeve as well. (Well, the only thing he could not fight well against was time, fatigue and the need to bezy. But as a certain wiseman once said, to be eternallyzy, one had to work hard towards that goal first.)

    "How long more to our destination?" Jin asked and Tellie replied that they would be halfway there should the output of the rockets continued to be stable. And so, the entire Grey Bear squad rode in this box of flying metal in hopes that they could reach their destination peacefully so that they could fulfil their counter attack much easily.

 Chapter 1560 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 5

    Chapter 1560 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 5

    Diamondz Headquarters.

    It was situated in the Empire city of Diamo. With its simrity towards thepany, Diamondz was a corporation created by the city state in order to manage not just Mechanoid manufacturing but handle the livelihood of the hundreds of thousands within the city.

    It was simr to the rest of the major Mechanoid corporations which it was created based on their city states to provide jobs for those who were not in the Empire''s military or considered to be private military contractor. While surely, the main sector for Diamondz was Military Arms and Mechanoids, they dabbled their hands into a variety of genres. From construction to even food supplies, Diamondz was second to none in Daimo City and everyone within the city relied on the corporation to provide the points to live a peaceful life.

    To everyone, it seemed like a usual day until they heard a loud wheezing sound from above. They all thought it could be just an air exercise conducted by Diamondz''s Air Force branch until they heard a sharp detonation happening above their heads. The city''s defence barrier had been activated as an unidentified object was not detected until it made contact with the energy barrier above the city.

    At that point, city wide rms were ring, telling its citizens that this was not an exercise but an actual assault. The only problem was that even though the automatic defence energy barrier and the city rms were activated, it did not exclude the fact Jin''s Rocket Coffin had already broken through.

    Using the remaining source of power to pilot the ne, the aircraft released all the boosters with the aid of Jin and Lynn''s help. They precharged a certainponent of the rockets so that when it was changed to release them, those deadly projectiles would provide more than just an explosive punch.

    So, that was how they managed to break through the city''s barrier which had already been calcted into their ns when they uncovered data from the many veteran Mechanoids that were supposed to be Diamondz'' main guards. Even if they were not within the usual roster, some had sufficient knowledge that when put together, the System was able to create a n of action to hit the main headquarters.

    "At the very least we are not walking into the city!" Diaz said as she said when she saw how close the megastructure of a colossal tower in the middle of the city was, like a pedestal for the richest to look down at the working ss.

    While the automated defences of the city had been engaged with anti air turrets locked onto the aircraft, nothing was done to the Rocket Coffin. This was because early in the morning where people were either trying to get to work on time or where shifts were being rotated.

    This sudden out of nowhere assault on Daimo city caused the people manning the defence system to be confused about how a ''terrorist'' was able to break through the energy barrier where it was supposed to be able to withstand a nuclear missile attack.

    But the System who had a rough estimation of the energy barrier''s capabilities knew that doing a pinpoint assault on the weakest part of the energy barrier, which was at the dead centre of a dome, was the best way to break through the city''s energy barrier.

    That was also the reason for their high altitude flight where they shot down the missiles with the help of gravity. The only thing that was different from the usual rockets was that theponent Lynn and Jin had helped to ''charge'' was no different from a sturdy rod of the strongest metal possible found in this virtual simtion.

    The only change was that with the help of Jin''s Maqi and the missile that was riding on as well as gravity, it turned the rod into a weapon of mass destruction where its continuous pinpoint attack cause the rumoured almighty energy barrier to break temporarily before it fused and mend back.

    That window of opportunity was taken without hesitation, allowing the Rocket Coffin to dive into the Daimo city without any trouble and towards their current destination. Thus, with the dy in their decision to shoot at the threat, they decided to speed even more where even the indicator of the makeshift elerator on their Rocket Coffin had been exceeded to a degree beyond recognition.

    "Grey Bears! Onest huddle to make sure what we are going to do!" Jin spoke through the tactical system since they knew that it was impossible to shout through with the noise made from the Rocket Coffin.

    "We will brace for impact and go crashing into the headquarters with the loudest kaboom! Search for the ammo depot and the restricted research section. Rig everything you can find and then explode it. Yinn, your job is the most important one. To find the CEO. Based on the Mechanoids'' data, he should be having his private breakfast on the 69th floor."

    "Considering how we are going to crash into the 40s to 50s floor, I believe you are expecting too much from me." Yinn smiled as she relished the challenge given to her despite her words. "But it will be done."

    "Great. Lynn, you follow her in case she needs backup."

    "Roger that! Creating a path for her would be a great test for my first groundbat."

    "Your aerialbat can be considered historical." Pagemented and the rest chuckled agreeing to it but Jin continued the huddle since they knew they only had a few seconds left before hitting the tower.

    "Click, Tellie, to the armoury depot. Diaz, Page, to the forbidden research session. I will go down to hold the troops as much as I can." Jin said and the rest nodded their heads. With the coordinated response, they all prepared for collision.

    Everyone who was watching from the ground up could see that the crash towards the main headquarters was inevitable. What they did not know was that the crash would only be the start of the fiercest assault against Diamondz Headquarters in the history of Daimo City.

 Chapter 1561 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 6

    Chapter 1561 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 6

    "What is happening?!" Edmond Diamondz, who was about to have his breakfast, as his secretary presents to him thetest findings on the assault against Mount Sunn was interrupted by tremendous shaking of the building.

    Without a moment of hesitation, his secretary picked up her phone and started calling to ask about the situation. Meanwhile, his personal bodyguards who were standing guard outside his room had moved into his dining hall within thepany grounds and started to ask about the situation as well.

    "Apparently, there was an instantaneous breach on Diamo City''s barrier at 0658hrs. The barrier recovered full defensive capability in less than two minutes after the breach but during that time, there was confusion because of the change of shifts-"

    "Do not give me excuses! Why did this building shake?!" Edmond demanded an answer since this headquarters was practically his pce, his throne. Any damage to it was basically an insult towards the Diamondz industry and there was no way the perpetrators would get away with it.

    "We are currently attempting to lock the ce down as we speak. The first few reports areing in stating that an aircraft had dived and crashed into the building, causing a major fire between Floor 46 and 47. And because the fire is preventing the entire lockdown sequence of the building, it is best we move to-"

    "I am going to finish this breakfast of mine and you are going to report the findings to me."

    Edmond said and his secretary sighed. What he meant indirectly was that this should be some terror attack that could be handled by the security he employed within the building. There should be no cause for worry since such events can happen and contingency ns have already been made to counter such cases.

    "Sir, it would still be safer toбн" Her words were drowned by the sudden increase of the music volume via her boss''s personal holographic console. There was no way of talking him out of it and he even called his guards to remain outside of his dining hall. The guards, knowing his attitude andmands, nodded their heads and went out.

    But before they did so, they walked to the nearest wall where there was a hidden cache of equipment which they used to arm themselves to the teeth as well as wearing the appropriate body armour for such incursions.

    Realising there was no hope in the situation, the secretary merely resigned to her fate as she walked towards the very same wall and requested the bodyguards to fit her with a suit of body armour as well. In the meantime, she waited as the music continued to y bombastically throughout the entire hall as Edmond savoured his food in rtive peace.

    -------

    The fire did not ur immediately as it was not a result of the aircraft crashing into the headquarters. Instead, it happened as Click had already prepared a bucket load of explosives and was thrown at the side of the building so that it would attract meaningless attention to the situation unfolding at hand.

    So yeap, the crash was no doubt a huge surprise to the workers near the window of Floor 46 and 47 as the Rocket Coffin smashed through countless desks and makeshift offices to stop the ship''s momentum to a halt. The Grey Bears immediately emerged from the Rocket Coffin within less than a minute of the crash. (Considering how they needed to brace for impact while ensuring that everyone was still in working condition.)

    But it was also thanks to Lynn and Jin as they put up a preemptive energy barrier as the Rocket Coffin dived into the Diamondz Headquarters. The barrier absorbed most of the impact before it dissipated and the rest of the inertia had to be handled by crew members themselves.

    Everyone in the office thought that they would be killed the moment the Rocket Coffin came crashing into their workspaces and even more so as Grey Bears shocked them further by making their grand entrance mming the side doors away.

    Some of the workers even unlocked their office''s sidearms to retaliate but to their surprise, the Grey Bears were not aiming for them. The only time they fired was when someone tried to stop them. Otherwise, the group was converging from the sides of the Rocket Coffin and towards the main office area of Floor 46.

    Since there was little to no retaliation by the office workers other than a few dumb brave souls, the start of the intrusion operation was rtively smooth allowing the Battle Maiden squad to get their bearings. It was only then that Click detonated the side of the building to cause a fire rm to ring and people began to evacuate.

    The experimental research was reported to be on Floor 60, where all the restricted research databases were being stored. That was where Yinn, Lynn, Diaz and Page were moving upwards since Yinn was also tasked to move to the 69th floor. And to do so, they were using the window panels to climb up. Thus, the explosion that Click created was not shown but to give the four of them the space to move upwards unhindered by the crowd that was desperately attempting to evacuate.

    Separately, Tellie and Click along with Jin were using the crowd partially as their cover to move down. The Armoury Depot was on Floor 35 which was the direct middle floor of the Diamondz headquarters, allowing the security guards to handle threats easily since they were situated at the very centre of the headquarters. But with the fire rm, it was difficult for the guards to make any visible charge, especially in the morning where some thought it was a fake fire rm, making things extremely difficult for people to react to the situation.

    This allowed Jin, Tellie and Click to move without any problems until they reached Floor 40 where guards were starting to spot their ''terrorists'' and started to shoot indiscriminately at them.

    The shooting caused even more panic among the evacuees and that was when things started to get interesting for the Grey Bears who were buying time for the other four toplete their objectives.

 Chapter 1562 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 7

    Chapter 1562 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 7

    "I am seeing multiple targets climbing up the stairs. Based on their fumblingmunications, they seem to take notice of Team Boss and Team Research." Click said through the tactical System as they attempted to blend through the crowd.

    Even if Diamondz employees who had seen the terrorists would like to file a report, they were more or less shaken by the quick retaliation by the group as well as attempting to escape from the whole incident. What''s more was that a number of them were not entirely awake in the morning, dragging their feet to work just toplete another round of responsibilities so that they could end the day and rx.

    They did not expect the day to be rudely awakened by an aircraft smashing through their windows and much less cause a scene by exploding the side of the building. They were entirely confused as to how it was rted to them as Floor 46 and Floor 47 belonged to the most useless department in the entire headquarters. The customer support section.

    Barring the fact that the customer support section was the most hated portion of thepany, they honestly did not expect that someone wouldunch an attack at them because of them. Were the monsters the people in customer support or was it people and Mechanoids who crashed into the area the actual horrors? Only those employed in the customer support section could answer that question.

    So, as scared as the employees could be, they did not care about how the terrorists were running down the stairs among them since the Grey Bears did not entirely assault the group discriminately. That was also the reason why the Grey Bears were able to partially disguise themselves as they saw the guards pushing their way through the crowd to get up to the crime scene as well as chasing the terrorists who were aiming for the higher floors.

    They all assumed that the terrorists'' target was the CEO himself and they were not wrong with such a deduction. It was the Grey Bear''s primary goal to vanquish the CEO so that the assault on Mount Sunn would be halted. However, upon taking in the memories and repeated knowledge from the thousands of Mechanoids they have killed, it had be apparent that the Diamondzpany had something more sinister lying within the restricted research section.

    That was the reason foring to Diamondz Headquarters as well so that the Grey Bears would not be branded as mere terrorists for killing the CEO once this was well and over. They needed an excellent excuse to gain the favour of the world seeing them not just as a team who wished to stop an assault on Mount Sunn. They needed something substantial that could not only keep the media away from them but also the higher powers and private corporations to back away from them. Perhaps, if the Lady Fate is on their side, they might even overturn and get the entire Empire to back them up especially since they already had the Archduke at their side.

    "Do not engage. Let them go for now. The first responders are usually the minor pawns in a security operation. It is nothing the rest could not handle and it''s imperative we reached the armoury depot without much hindrance. After all, we need as many elite Mechanoids to be under our control if we want to take over the entire building." Jin said and the other two nodded their heads, keeping their pistols well hidden but avable to shoot when needed in less than a moment''s notice.

    True enough, the chaos of the fire rm had enabled Jin and Team Armoury to reach Floor 35 without much of an issue and it''s precisely because of the fire rmbined with the terror attack, most of the doors were unlocked, enabling the team to have ess until the busy security personnel realised that the three who passing through the areas wereing to restricted ces.

    "Hey! The evacuation is down that hallway! Not this way!" One of the security personnel shouted as he was attempting to wear his body armour but that was when Click screamed.

    "I saw the terrorists! I saw the terrorists!" Her acting was so bad that Jin wished the System installed some acting modules for her.

    "Lady! Calm down!" Most of the Mechanoids by right have certain features that would enable them to be identified almost immediately. However, the upgrades that Archduke''s Assistant Chief Engineer Rocky had performed, enabled the nanobots within the Mechanoids to give them a more humane look. That was not to say it was without help with the tactical System as it created a high tech skin mask for every Grey Bear so that their appearances could be masked from the cameras should the development of the situation they were in go south.

    "Yes! We saw them attempting to move to the lower levels!" Click tried to push through the security personnel who were blocking her and calcted the level of threat within the area. The information was instantly sent to Tellie and Jin giving them a fairly urate number of the enemies they would be facing as well as the amount of preparations they had.

    The security personnel sighed as he tried to push her away but thinking it was a hassle trying to calm down the frantic person, it was not until he ced his hands near her chest that the personnel realised that he felt something familiar (Not bewbs you lewd people)

    "A body armourбн?" That was thest thought that went through his mind as Click lifted up her hand and a hidden de was shot out through her waist, allowing her to stab his throat.

    "You!?" The security personnel was trained enough that his hand reactively blocked in time causing the de to pass through his hand instead. However, this was not the ancient time where assassins had a piece of metal sticking out of the hands. A loud band rattled the entire room as a bullet spiralled out of the very same hand that was blocking the de and into his skull.

    "Let''s go." Jin said as Click now used the dying Security personnel as a human meat shield, paving the way for Jin and Tellie to enter the room swiftly with their guns aze.

 Chapter 1563 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 8

    Chapter 1563 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 8

    Shots were fired and multiple targets went down easily considering how they were confused by the initial bout when Click assassinated the very first guard.The rest who managed to survive the first wave of gunshots reacted by taking cover whenever possible.

    However, Team Armoury did not give any quarters as they shot in bursts to keep the suppression against the shocked enemies pinned down. Another few went down as they failed to find cover in time and Jin quickly charged in to prevent the ones closest to them to fight back.

    But what did not expect was that the security guards employed in this particr headquarters were unlike the Mechanoids andmanders they had fought against. In fact, they were in simr veins like the Archduke''s guards Kurt and Lark. Some who were supposed to be killed came alive again as their secondary backup reactors activated and immediately attempted to break Jin''s weapon.

    Sadly, who they were dealing with was a person who had seen more battles than they could ever imagine. Even without the use of Maqi, Jin used the butt of his favoured P90 assault rifle to smack the Mechanoids that wereing for him. With finesse, the Grey Bear Commander spun his rifle once more to give a nonlethal blow to another Mechanoid, providing the sufficient distance for Tellie to enable supporting fire, killing him once and for all.

    Click then saw someone was trying to escape from their scene, supposedly to call for more backup and Jin was instantly alerted via the Tactical System ring at him. The former Dungeon Supplier instinctively gathered Maqi in his hand and fired a straight focused beam of energy, causing the escapee to drop to the ground.

    At the same time, he clutched his machine gun close to his torso and fired a few bullets out at the enemy''s feet who tried to grapple him. Yet the Mechanoid looked as if he had deactivated his pain receptors and would not allow Jin to leave. In fact, leaving was not an option that the Mechanoid was giving Jin as he was about to use all his strength to squeeze the life out of him.

    "Looks like he has forgotten that there are still other enemies aside from you." Click said as she smack the Mechanoid''s nape and a small sized explosive was attached on it, causing to explode the moment Clicknded on her feet.

    "Sheesh, that was dangerous." Jin said as he closed his eyes in time when the mini kaboom happened. "This is the first time I see these many male Mechanoids."

    "Diamondz are infamous for creating male Mechanoids and they are considered to be luxurious ermбнitems since they are all customised beyond the usual specifications." Click said as she and Tellie assisted Jin out from the initial grapple after the Mechanoid who grabbed him went ''offline''.

    "The rest of the manufacturingpanies do not make males because there''s more parts to it and mostmanders never like male models. They find it too overwhelming."

    "More like dickless." Telliemented and Click looked at her with disbelief and then realised where she was looking at.

    Jin.

    "Ah." Jin realised what they were thinking but he asked once again to check whether his answer was the same as theirs. "I hope the current me works out for you girls."

    "Oh, you got the drift. I thought you did not." Click smiled as she lent a hand to Jin and helped him out. That was when the tactical System suddenly started popting their holographic consoles with multiple bogeys. Jin might be stuck in the arms of a freshly dead Mechanoid but that did not mean he was unable to multi task to check their surroundings as they dragged him out from the permanent robot man hugging.

    "Let''s go arm ourselves." Jin said as he went towards the direction where the previous Mechanoid tried to escape. They were all eventually thankful for him since his death allowed the door to be left ajar and they could enter without having the hassle of decoding the password to the door. It was when they entered that they pulled the dead Mechanoid into the room and locked themselves in it.

    The lights automatically came to life, revealing the contents of the room to the team, and it showed rows and more rows of Mechanoids waiting for the activation call to be given to them. Click went to the nearest console and with the aid of the tactical System, she began to analyse and decode in hopes that they could have some manpower for themselves.

    In the meantime, a short message popped out to Diamondz CEO''s holographic console. "An unidentified intrusion to the armoury? Looks like these terrorists are better than I thought." Edmond said as he dropped his utensils onto his half eaten meal and started to call out to his own AI system.

    "If they want the robots for themselves, then let''s give it to them." Edmond said as he was happy his paranoia paid off when an unauthorised user started to use the consoles in the armoury. This was something that even the security guards even knew as Edmond Diamondz himself programmed this alert interface without the acknowledgement of his trusted advisors as well.

    Afterall, why leave the security of one''s home to other people when you should be the one that needs to be protected. Thus, knowing thy own system was the best way to handle unexpected threats like this. Although granted, throughout the years of operating Diamondz corporation, there was never a time like this until now. So, hundreds and thousands of points had been meaninglessly wasted until Jin had justified the use of such extensive security measures, allowing the CEO to beam with happiness that his paranoia had paid off.

    It was one of the reasons why the CEO wanted Mount Sunn was also partially due to his obsession of not having everything under his own control. Therefore, with the security cameras fully operational within the armoury, all Edmond had to do was to click on a button via his holographic console and it was time to finish his meal as his elite sleeping guards wakes up to rid the terrorists who had unknowingly trapped themselves in such a mess.

 Chapter 1564 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 9

    Chapter 1564 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 9

    "Warning, the System has detected a change in algorithm sequence within the database. The security locks have been severed and we do not have control of them." The tactical System said which made Click stop in her tracks for a moment, apparently stunned that it was not working.

    "Wait a minute, I thought I managed to hack through them?!" Click said as she checked her backlogs the moment she returned herposure.

    "The System believed the backdoor was a trap used to lure hackers to take the easy way out. It was hidden sufficiently so that it was not that obvious but it was still a trap nheless." The System reported as they could see that the room they were stuck in started to make noises.

    Locks were engaged and shutters were being brought down ensuring that no one would be allowed to leave this room alive until the threats had been eliminated. Even the series of Mechanoids that were sleeping within their pods started to warm up.

    There was no way to stop the activation and the only solution was to destroy the pods before they opened up. That was the deduction Tellie and Jin had even though Click was still rummaging through the codes, hoping to find the light that was at the end of the tunnel despite it being filled with Mechanoids at the moment.

    However even as Jin and Tellie tried their best by inserting grenades near the piles of wires, hoping to break them through their explosives so no power could be routed into them, they were a tad toote. Almost every Mechanoid who had received the signal to eliminate their targets had been apanied by a surge of energy at the start. That was all it needed to kickstart their reactors and shift intobat mode.

    The pods were merely charging them further so that they could have more than sufficient energy to hunt down the rest of the terrorists that the CEO had dictated. If their pods were not working, their batteries were sufficiently charged to wake themselves up and eliminate the threat that was guing thepany headquarters.

    And if that was not enough to deter Jin and Tellie, the Mechanoids that had been deployed were no mere runts. As each Mechanoid awake from their pods, the subsequent one that had been activated seemed to be stronger than the other. And if that was not enough of a threat to Team Armoury, they realised that those Mechanoids were not shaped as humans at all.

    The first iteration that emerged looked like spiders and they wereter apanied by scorpion shaped Mechanoids. Each of them was designed to not capture or subdue their enemies to submission. They were meant to tear, viscerate and vanquish their objectives and it was apparent that Team Armoury was not well equipped for such a fight.

    After all, their purpose was to hijack the armoury depot and acquire gear to wreak havoc. If they knew that they could not control the Mechanoids in the first ce, there was no need for them toe to this rotten ce.

    But what''s done was already done.

    With Click still adamant that the Mechanoids that were on alert can be reverted or even converted, she continued to find a way through the console control. She do not believe that she was that inferiorpared to Page who had the ability to use her nanobots to control the enemies with just a snap of her finger. There must be something that Click could do as abat engineer to win these Mechanoids.

    "Do not give up, we will provide as much cover as possible," Jin said as he could see that Click was struggling to make things right.

    "Though it will be better if you could give us some real cover." Tellie smiled as she conveyed her message via the tactical System now that both of them were firing their guns aze and shouting at the top of their lungs would not make things any easier for them.

    "Ah you are so noisy!" Click said as she dropped her huge backpack down and patted the side pockets of the backpack to retrieve a metal box. She then threw it towards their direction and the metal box subsequently expanded in size horizontally. Layers of makeshift tes gave them the cover they sorely needed from bullets that the enemy Mechanoids were shooting them with.

    However, even as they were protected by this makeshift cover, the enemy Mechanoids were having the very same advantage as well. As they were not humanoid in nature, their metal carapace design enabled them to protect themselves from the attacks Team Armoury was dishing out.

    It was an impasse at the moment but since Jin and Tellie had only interrupted the pods nearest to them, they were the first to be awakened. With the suppression fire those spider and scorpion Mechanoids were providing, the rest of the pods were able to keep charging and prepped until they were ready to be fully activated. It was only a matter of time Jin and Tellie would be overwhelmed or until this makeshift te cover gave way from the extensive abuse the Mechanoids were throwing them with.

    "Guess there is no running away from just using the standard way of battle eh?" Jin sighed to himself as he started to charge his P90 machine gun with wind and fire Maqi and simultaneously overload the rest of the bullets with electrical Maqi.

    With thisbination, the bullets would be elementally equipped to disrupt the Mechanoids and damage them while the wind and fire Maqi powered up the P90 assault rifle so that it could st the bullets at a higher velocity.

    This precise control of his Maqi enabled him to fire a string of bullets that took down the Scorpion Mechanoid who had approached way too close forfort, which Tellie and Jin eventually used as their new cover.

    Tellie on the other hand used the upgrade cards that the tactical System offered her and she was able to output the very same kind of firepower towards the insect type Mechanoids.

    And as usual, this was practically just the start as they could see the pods further in the room started to open.

 Chapter 1565 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 10

    Chapter 1565 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 10

    "We are not going to make it at this rate," Jin said to himself as he found that the situation was beyond hope if they stayed here. He was contemting either getting Click to be off her high horse and admitting defeat and then staying at this corner where nothing could be done.

    The insect Mechanoids were getting bolder and bolder after analysing how Jin and Tellie''s attacks were working against them. If they did not do anything to stop the two of them, they would be annihted and an impasse was not epted in theirbat algorithm.

    So the only way was to destroy the invaders as soon as possible to prevent more of their own kind from being demolished by those powerful ranged attacks. The spider Mechanoids took the higher ground while the scorpion Mechanoids went rushing ahead, using their ws as shields as their tails fired gatling bullets at the Grey Bears in order to suppress their counterattack.

    They knew that it was only time that their makeshift cover would break and with the spidersing at them from above, there was no breathing room for them to take additional cover unless theirmander used the Mechanoids as a ''human'' shield.

    Even so, such a desperate attempt could only stop their tracks for a while as the Mechanoisd deduce it would be a matter of seconds before they surround themander and kill him. (Well, if the CEO wished him to be alive, that was possible too, but apparently, the order given was shoot and kill.)

    But all these predictivebat systems that the insect Mechanoids have were not able to predict one particr variable. And that was the opponents they were fighting against, especially themander who was not the usual terrorist that waltz in and got ready to sacrifice themselves.

    Thismander had gone through enough gruesome battles to be called a serial killer in the eyes of themonw and the fact he is from another gives him an edge in the current battle which the insect Mechanoids could not foresee. If one can feel, they would have noticed the atmosphere, the aura surrounding Jin had turned.

    Yet, all the Mechanoids could feel was a change in temperature in the background and though it was ignorant of them to be able to understand that this slight change would be what turns the tide of battle, it was for their own benefit. For such insignificant pieces of metal, working for a single goal of eliminating their targets would never be appreciated if they were to see such a miraculous sight.

    "Suzaku, lend me your strength." Jin whispered as he realised that with theck of cover, of weapons and even of manpower in this situation, using the Cardinal''s powers was the only appropriate choice. Jin was definitely capable of destroying all the Mechanoids by himself but he could not say the same for his Mechanoids even though they had been strengthened through several upgrades and been through shit.

    It was vital for them to be alive andбнoperational if they wished to get out of the city in one piece as a team. While Page had already thought of a few legal proceedings that can justify their assault, they were all very sketchy reasons which would probably not hold much water should the court be biassed towards the defendant. Of course that is assuming they are still alive then.

    So! Considering how everything was going downhill at any moment, the optimal choice was to use the Cardinal''s powers as if they were begging to be used in such a precarious situation. The only surprising thing was that the Cardinals who were waiting to see Jin use their powers believed that he would be using Byakko''s abilities first. They never expect him to utilise Suzaku''s powers that quickly.

    And as the Cardinals all knew, Suzaku''s abilities were resurrective based powers. However, it only looked as if they were a sort of resurrection capability. On the contrary, it was more like a cloning kind of skill that Jin was able to utilise based on his current grade. So, right now he was able to clone two of the scorpion''s Mechanoids with the current Maqi reserve he had.

    There was however a silver lining to this ability.

    Since the ''corpse'' of the Scorpion Mechanoid was still there, Jin was able to use it as a sort of base to clone out the Mechanoids. In short it was like reusing the materials and activating it in such a way that it listened to Jin instead. However,pared to how Mechanoids work based on lots of AI programming and otherbat algorithms, when cloned, it somehow had a will of its own, like a spirit inhabiting the metal body itself.

    WIth such a situation, Jin was able to create four of such Scorpion Mechanoid clones at his behest, turning the odds just ever so slightly until he could fully manipte the battlefield to his favour.

    Click who saw the conversion of Mechanoid in progress felt immensely dejected that Jin was able to do something ''magical'' she looked at the nearby broken Mechanoid and started tinkering using tactical System cards as well. Seeing how Jin''s Scorpion while her skills in programming even with the aid of the tactical System was going nowhere.

    "Ah! Screw this attempt. I just do what I do best!" Click said as she banged the console, knowing that trying to hack the system in this panicked mode would not be able to aplish anything. Thus, she looked at the nearby broken Mechanoid and started tinkering using tactical System cards as well. Seeing how Jin''s Scorpion Mechanoids were already roaring loudly with its inbuilt sound system as it hunkered down to meet its opponents face to face, Click knew that there was something she could do that would be equivalent or maybe secede Jin''s cloned Mechaoids.

    "Now that''s the spirit." Tellie smiled as she gleaned Click from the side, going further and beyond what she wasmanded. Compared to the old times where she only did it when asked to, it seemed like Jin brought out thepetitive side of her, knowing that she could outpace the rest and probably be the strongest among the Grey Bears.

 Chapter 1566 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 11

    They might just be clones but the additional firepower was more than weed as they immediately shed with the other scorpion Mechanoids. Their pincers intersect with each other causing the metal edges to screech loudly through the room while their tails dived into their carapace hoping to disable the other end.

    Jin did not waste time as well as he unsheathed a rather vulgar de from his back. It was forged from the des of the praying mantis they had fought against in the variant dungeon and Old Fammet had decided to fashion the de for him. Unfortunately, he was unable to replicate a katana for Jin despite having instructions from the System.

    "Just because the System is able to tell me what to do with each step does not mean I am able to create it in one night! And you already know I am busy with so much stuff, you just take the de as it is!" Old Fammetined as he passed the de to Jin before he worked on the Rocket Coffin.

    Jagged edges on the de made it seem like it had been to battle through hundreds of times. But it was merely the fact that through the reinforcement, the mantis de merged with the additional core iron and bronze that Old Fammet had added. It might have looked like a rushed job but the reinforcement materials were certainly of high quality.

    "Heh. arge jagged broadsword made from the materials of a praying mantis monster. Looks like I am having another go with insects." Jin said to himself as he swung his broadsword upwards and used wind Maqi to give him sufficient propulsion to aim not for the scorpions but the spiders who were lurking and began spraying gunshots at the cloned Mechanoids.

    Jin and his team should consider themselves lucky that their enemy''s battle algorithm was towardsrge monsters, effectively ignoring the human Mechanoids and theirmander when Jin had summoned the clones out. ''Basically, they are now taking the aggro from us'' would be the response from a gamer''s perspective.

    The spider Mechanoids noticed theirbat threat towards themander had changed when he jumped sprightly towards them. The safety of height had beenpromised and they readily changed their targeting system to Jin. But there was still a slightg to that change as Jin had already crushed one of the spiders by mming his entire jagged broadsword like an insect swat, breaking it into pieces.

    He then hung on the ceiling with a broken ''spider'' leg stuck on the ceiling. As the spiders changed their target, they were not rushing towards Jin and instead spreading themselves out as Jin was hanging on the ceiling. There was no way Jin could dodge all of the attacks and there were a few bullets that had already hit the target spot on. Some of the body armour had soaked the damage and his Maqi barrier was able to deflect a few.

    Still, it was something Jin did voluntarily as he knew that being trapped in this locked room would not do anything good for the Grey Bears in general. So with as much Maqi barrier protecting his head, he still soaked the bullets like a punching bag, bearing the pain from the onught of bullets while he plunged his sword into the ceiling.

    Click and Tellie saw what was happening and immediately tried to assist by shooting down the spiders that were aiming at theirmander. They honestly thought in their dumb rush attack theirmander did, it was to distract the spiders and now he was paying the price harshly.

    Yet this distraction allowed the cloned scorpion Mechanoids, who were embodied by Suzaku''s living rage as how the other clones were when they fought with Jin, to fight back with ferocity against the overwhelming numbers, giving it breathing space to tear the ground units apart.

    As painful as Jin was filling, he channelled his Maqi into the broadsword and forced an upwards explosion. He figured that the ceiling would have a weaker foundationpared to the floor they were in mainly because of the number of items that had been found lying all around this immense wide room filled with Mechanoids of varying sizes.

    And he was right.

    The ceiling cracked a little although not by a long. Imbued with explosive Maqi, the broadsword was able to drive itself into the crevice it created even deeper when Jin forced another explosion. He knew that a normal C4 would not be enough to do the job. The ce used reinforced steel and, to some extent, extra special materials that Jin and the System could not analyse.

    So to crack the foundation, he would use a brand newbination of water and wind Maqi instead. He concentrated wind and water to cause a straight cut into the reinforced cement and metal while using the water molecules to vibrate and explode it. Obviously, he could not have done it while being shot at like crazy, and the tactical System gave him instructions on how to do so. (Seems like he had better luck following the System''s imagerypared to Old Fammet.)

    "Commander!" Click and Tellie shouted in worry that Jin fell after delivering the next shock towards the ceiling thinking that he had sumbed to all the damage. But just as they were about to move to his estimated ''drop'' site, His hand was still holding on to the jagged broadsword as he performed a backflip despite the injuries he had and gave an upwards kick towards the hilt.

    Another explosion was heard and this time it was apanied by a huge ssh of water, debris and fog. "Let''s get out of here!" Jin said as he fell to the ground and a cloned scorpion Mechanoid was able to catch him in midair as it followed the summoner''s orders to bring him out to the 36th floor.

    Tellie and Click were not far behind as they too hopped onto a cloned scorpion Mechanoid while the other two clones held their ground to provide cover.

 Chapter 1567 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 12

    "Commander!" The Grey Bear Squad Members shouted once the cloned scorpion Mechanoid finallyid Jin on the 36th floor with a pir as a cover while the rest of the spider Mechanoids came crawling out of the hole.

    Click and Tellie saw the condition theirmander was in as he was spewing blood out from his mouth and he was huffing for air. If veteranbatants were to see his condition, they probably would want to put his life out of misery.

    "Why did you do something so dumb!" Click said as she suddenly felt guilty for being ipetent and now it felt like they were stuck in a seemingly hopeless situation.

    *Cough!* "Do not *Cough!* worry..." Jin huffed and puffed as he struggled to pull his arm up and showed the bullet wound to them. The two Grey Bears were astonished as they saw the wound continued to bleed but the bullet tip wasing out by itself.

    "What are youбн" Tellie asked as if she began to doubt the identity of Jin, partially thinking that theirmander was a mythical being rather than a homo sapien from another universe. But what they did not realise was that Jin was currently experiencing excruciating pain as the wounds continued to close. They thought the wounds were just that painful for him.

    "Just protect me. I need time to- *urgh cough* Need time to heal." Jin said as he heaved his legs closer to him so that the pir he was hiding at, would not cause him to be exposed. "Tellieбн take charge of the fight for nowбн" Jin said as he closed his eyes to tolerate the pain of recovery.

    The sniper of the team nodded her head and immediately stared at Click. "Do what you wanted to do on the 35th floor. You should have more than enough space to work with right here without much interference." Tellie said as she picked up Jin''s P90 assault rifle. Themander quietly nodded his head, signalling to Tellie to do whatever she needed to do.

    Tellie returned the nod as she surveyed the room despite the spider Mechanoids already taking up the entire room to dominate their space so that they can have the advantage. Jin risking his life to allow them toe out of that enclosed area was the right choice since the current area they were in was something akin to a resting area for the employees.

    High ceilings, wide space with lots of tables and chairs for temporary cover and more importantly ess to the windows. If shit goes south, they can at least break out of the building and cause a bigger ruckus.

    Surely by now the police and perhaps even soldiers woulde to reinforce the headquarters, especially after how Click had exploded the headquarters with a small amount of C4 and mixed it with some other vtile materials Old Fammet left lying around to make it look extremely shy. All the fancy presentations but no pow to it since the terrorists still prefer to fight in a stable building than an unstable one.

    At the very worst, Tellie can leak the battle to the streets and let the police and insect Mechanoids sh with each other, especially since Mechanoids that were not human shaped in nature would present as a threat to others.

    Also, considering how much of the knowledge of the soldiers and Mechanoids they had absorbed through the System, there was none of them who had any idea with regards to this. All they knew was that there were a ton of Mechanoids in reserve in the armoury area and the security staff were alwaysining how irritating it was to keep those Mechanoids in check, as if they were maintenance people rather than doing security work.

    Seeing how the cloned scorpion Mechanoids were dying as many spider Mechanoids to emerge from the bottom of the hole Jin created, it was the primary target of the spider Mechanoids who managed toe out of it. Instead of webs, rifles attached near their torso fired off sniper rifle rounds, damaging the scorpion carapace easily. However, the cloned scorpion Mechanoid was still smart enough to use the scorpion which he was fighting against as the shield preventing some attacks.

    Unfortunately, it was not going tost and both the Grey Bears know it. They had to take this time which the clones were giving them to the best of their abilities. As Tellie attempted to move to higher ground, Click was running around the cafeteria throwing out metal blocks on at every intervals using the upgrade card that she had used earlier when she was down on the 35th floor.

    Like what Page had described Click to be, thebat engineer was able to create items of limited quantities within her. The backpack which she had obtained was no ordinary bag and instead it was a module which enabled her to create those items with ease and with faster manufacturing time.

    All she needed was to throw some junk metal like the left over carapace that the scorpions and spider Mechanoids left when they were killed and the backpack would convert it with the nanobots working 24/7 within it. With the System upgrade, some of the metal had been converted into more delicate parts which enabled a more sophisticated item to be created instead of just spare Mechanoid parts or ammunition.

    And those metal blocks were the product of what the upgrade card was supposed to do. They were stationary assault rifle drones capable of searching the target and firing a heck load of bullets at their enemies before they are spent.

    With the excessive metal carapace which Click managed to procure beforeing up to the 36th floor, the assault rifle drones were decked out with a hefty amount of ammunition, enabling it tost like a heavy machine gun for a few minutes before its 3D printed barrel melt down or when its down to the veryst ammunition clip.

    Thus, even though there were only two Grey Bear Mechanoids, the presence of multiple assault rifle drones made it feel as if there were approximately ten over Mechanoids working together to bring down their target. Also, not to mention, the System had finally analysed the spider and scorpion Mechanoids body structure and were already uploading the weak points to the assault rifle drone AIs, allowing them to shoot smartly while emptying their ammunition clip mercilessly.

    This was the payback that Click had prepared.

 Chapter 1568 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 13

    ?

    The assault rifle drones lit up, providing the necessary firepower that Team Armoury had beencking, giving the Grey Bears on the 36th floor some breathing space as well as finally allowing them to move manoeuvre and control the battlefield.

    The spider Mechanoids and scorpion Mechanoids were badly crippled by the wave of new attacks, allowing Tellie to finish them off with her sniping skills. Even using just Jin''s P90 submachine gun, she was able to defeat the Mechanoids from a distance which was a testament to her ability.

    However, the real deal was when she used the sniper rifle that was given to her by Old Famet. The Barrett M82 Sniper Rifle. ''Short'' enough to carry around but also strong enough to finish off targets from various distances. (After all, weight was not an issue for most Mechanoids who have somewhat superhuman strength.)

    That was also the reason why she borrowed Jin''s submachine gun since she needed time to get to a vantage point and the sniper rifle was not exactly the best gun to counter against the enemies that were moving in on her. Even though her uracy was second to none, she was not that confident to fight against insect shaped Mechanoidspared to the human ones that she was used to.

    If they were the standard humanoids that they were used to fighting, Tellie could have easily dodged and fired her sniper rifle without any problem. Heck, maybe if the enemy mixed a few fighter nes as well, she might even be able to snipe those aircraft down when she was on the run considering that she had the data and experience.

    Thus, it was not the same fighting against the new insect shaped Mechanoids. With their reinforced metal carapace and weird manoeuvres, Tellie was simply not equipped to waste her preciousrge calibre bullets as suppressive fire. All along she had been using an Uzi submachine gun as her secondary.

    Considering how light it was and what her role was, she did not carry much ammunition. (And also for the fact that they were trying to restock their supplies from the armoury itself.)

    Also to her surprise, it seems like Jin had modified his P90 to the point where it seemed like a magical item the moment she tried to use it to defend herself.

    It was then the tactical System showed Tellie the change made to the P90, giving her some quick insights despite the frantic battle that was happening right below after she managed to climb to the loft floor of the cafeteria and hid for cover.

    "Is it possible to replicate this?" Tellie asked the system seeing how the modified P90 was dishing out incredible damage to the insect Mechanoids. "The power ups I currently have does aid with the power of the bullet, but such a modification might increase the firing rate of the rifle."

    "The System does not rmend this as it will break the rifle''s barrel even quicker. In lieu of all the current options that Mechanoid Tellie has, it will drastically reduce your firepower especially when there are no other recement rifles avable for you to use.

    "Click! Can you make me a rifle barrel?!'' Tellie instantly asked their team''sbat engineer in the system chat seeing how she was able to create drones from leftover metals and resources.

    "I can but they will notst long enough! Its durability is not guaranteed!" Click shouted over thems even though she knew it was through the System messaging but the assault rifle drones firing above her head were causing her to instinctively shout. "Unless you get those rifles from the guards we killed on the 35th floor!"

    "That''s way too far!" Tellie said. "Just make me one or two as spare!"

    "Roger that, but you have to pick them up yourself! I am not going to run up the Loft just to pass the rifles to you!"

    "Thanks!" Tellie replied as she now was confident to take her Barrett sniper rifle out and requested the System to push out the upgrade card for her.

    "This particr upgrade card will consume significant amounts of power, rendering you to be immobile for thirty seconds. Are you willing to use it?" The System said as in this current firefight, thirty seconds was a game changer especially when they needed to drag the fight for as long as possible, allowing Jin to recover fully. However, they do not have the firepower to do so and if they were dead before Jin could recover, theirmander would be equally dead.

    Therefore, it was vital to remove any enemies on the field to the best of their abilities so Jin was able to have a ''safer'' environment to regain his vitality. But both of the Grey Bears know that they can only do so much before the bigger badder Mechanoids emerge from the 35th floor, and eliminate them.

    "Yes, I consent to the immobility. At most, Click will do the lifting." Tellie smiled as she knew her dear friend was hectically trying to make more assault rifle drones that she was not listening to at all. Thus, with the permission given to the System, it instantly installed the so called programmed codes into Tellie''s AI processor, giving her the ability to ovee her current limits, even more so than when she shot a ne down and provided her with the necessary nano modifications to kill her enemies.

    Her Barrett sniper rifle lit up like a Christmas tree and Tellie was able to shoot her rifle bullets like a mini piercing fireball onto the Mechanoids, immediately disabling the insect shaped Mechanoids in an instant. Click heard the loud shots and saw the aftermath, allowing her to cheer so loudly at Tellie''s achievement of bringing down multiple Mechanoids in less than a span of a minute.

    It was to the point the remaining Mechanoids stop coverting the remaining cloned Scorpion Mechanoid and started to look towards the loft to focus their fire.

 Chapter 1569 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 14

    "This was a sight for fantasy." Click said to herself as she unknowingly stayed stunned for the period of time Tellie was shooting out shots of fire and lightning from her rifle. "It was no wonder she said she needed those barrels as soon as possible." Click checked her backpack and gave a firm little shake before one of the side pockets opened up by itself and revealed a finished product.

    Just as there was calm in the battlefield for that few seconds, Click shouted at Tellie as she threw the metal stick towards her direction. It swung violently at Tellie but the Grey Bear''s Sniper picked it up with ease before pressing a release catch on her Barret rifle to allow the half molten barrel piece to fall off and switch in a new one. Although the gun was a tad hot to touch, the rifle barrel fit perfectly into it with a snappy click.

    And just as that quiet moment was the calm before the storm, a huge roar ensued throughout the entire cafeteria even though it was supposed toe out from the floor below. And suddenly a mechanoid jumped out of the sturdy small hole, tearing it into a bigger one and revealing itself to be a Beast Mechanoid instead of an insectoid.

    A Gori Mechanoid.

    If anything, this was already several times bigger than the insectoid Mechanoids they had been fighting and thetter was already a few sizesrger than the humanoids. "First insects and now a Gori? What do we have next? A Dinosaur!?" Click said as she knew that her assault rifle drones would be turned into metal dust as the battles goes on. There was no way her puny bullets would be doing much damage to a mecha frame as big as the Gori one.

    However, the moment it revealed itself, it did not move to kill and instead showed its dominance on the battlefield but hitting its chest. And if there was one thing to take away from this self boast, the metal tes were no doubt sturdy enough to withstand any kind of bullets. And as if it was not enough of a demonstration, the Gori Mechanoid took one of the dead scorpion Mechanoids'' tails to hold before smashing it on its chest to prove the point. Those sharp pointed edges of metal were broken even further into smaller pieces, causing more dread for the two Mechanoids who were in the vicinity.

    And if that pumping of the chest was not enough to prove the point, the Mechanoids could already feel the subsonic vibrations from the pounding. From the spectator''s point of view, it did not look like much, but those vibrations were actually causing the Mechanoids to move a sub millisecond slower as if it was some weakening debuff that the Gori Mechanoid was deploying.

    You must be kidding me..." Click sighed as she still took time to process the reality that was in front of her. Thankfully with all the absurdity that Jin had brought them through, it did not take long for Click and Tellie to reorganise her thoughts. There were several ways to do this but a number of them involved the death of the two Mechanoids which defeated themand that Jin had given them before they crashnded into Diamondz Headquarters.

    "Survive no matter what. No matter how disgraceful it is."

    And now this was one of the situations where they knew this was a battle that they could not win especially when Jin was incapacitated. But it was because Jin was currently unable to move, the priority of theirmander became number one instead of the order that had been given to him. After all, if themander could not survive, what was the use of the order?

    So, despite the current odds against them, they just need to make sure that they survive long enough toe out alive with theirmander still breathing. This was a drastic change in attitude for the Mechanoids who had been dejected, discarded and being used as mere fodder by their previous ''Jin''. Surely, they were put into circumstances that they would never have thought Mechanoids like themselves could ever aplish. Fighting against a town of rebel Mechanoids with just a squad? That was practically unheard of unless you were elite of the elites.

    And if that was not enough, defending the monstrous waves of Mechanoids and heavy equipment had proven to them that they were fighting against the impossible time and time again. When they recapped how the obstacles they had ovee previously, this Gori Mechanoid seem to pale in difficulty inparison.

    Not to mention, they had the tactical System with them and Jin had given them ess to do whatever they need to in order to win and survive the day. Tellie had already used the authority given to the Mechanoids and she was rewarded with kills that it was nigh possible without Jinmanding them. This was the exact situation with the exception that Tellie had exhausted her power supply and required some time to do the very same once more.

    Therefore, it boiled down to Click to salvage the situation and shouldering such a big responsibility to keep her squad mates alive was something that she personally did not experience before. This was because her powers were always meant for support as it was always Yinn and Diaz who were in the frontlines to seize the day.

    To top it off the pressure, thebat engineer Mechanoid also knew that it was partially her fault for not checking the System thoroughly before attempting to hack. Yet, fear did not ovee her as such an emotion does not exist in them despite the ''feelings'' of responsibilities.

    Right now with Tellie and Jin who were partially immobilised due to their condition, Click had to do whatever it takes to distract the Gori. But as the tasks were still calcting in her head, a police helicopter came into sight outside Diamondz headquarters which she felt was an opportune timing for her to test something new as well.

 Chapter 1570 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 15

    Chapter 1570 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 15

    As if luck was finally at her side for once, the pilot ordered via helicopter sound system to halt all activities and that included the gori Mechanoid which the police had considered it a menace as well.

    "Go, you are out of the helicopter''s line of sight." Tellie who was observing the situation told Click that she had the opportunity to move to better cover. Perhaps, the police were halting the gori Mechanoid because it was not within their IFF database. That would have been a given considering there was no information leaked from all themanders and Mechanoids they had captured previously.

    All the more the police would not have such beast Mechanoids within their database and were considered as a threat to them. And as if to make matters worse for the gori Mechanoid, another gori came jumping out of the hole as well and mmed its chest, prompting the police to act on it. Their gatling gun rolled without mercy pointing towards the gori Mechanoid who had juste out from the 35th floor.

    "Fire Fire Fire! The pilot said to the Mechanoid who was handling the gatling gun as it tried to move sidewards so that there would be more distance away from the gori Mechanoid.

    Even though the police were considered friendly to the database of the gori Mechanoids, their reaction prompted them as a threat as well which allowed the two goris to take turns yelling at it despite the gatling gun rotating to the maximum effect.

    The pilot and Mechanoids were in disbelief as they saw those trusted fast velocity bullets who managed to shred any rampant Mechanoids into pieces in their years of service that it had bounced off as if the bullets hit some reactive jelly cushion.

    "It was a good decision not to release the assault rifle drones back to firing mode..." Click said to herself as she tried to take a peek and analyse the goris as they were being distracted by the police helicopter. With the aid of the System, they managed to get some quick data from the peek and the tactical system started to show some possible ws that the robot had.

    Usually, it would be the joints but there were armour tes covering the side of its knees and elbows, making it hard to have a good shot at it. Thus, the only weak point was at the back of those joints where there were no metal tes covering it. "Hahaha, as I shall reiterate, it would be better for the other team to be here right now."

    "I could not agree any further." Tellie also sighed as the both of them saw how one of the gori Mechanoids jumped through the thick ss of the Diamondz Headquarters to grab the helicopter and threw it back to the other gori as if they were ying a game of catch. The other gori took it by the tail and smashed it to the floor, effectively killing the pilot and the Mechanoids within it. After which, it continued to pound its chest as if to assert dominance that they were the king of Mechanoids (as of right now.)

    "There is no way nting explosives will work." Click said to herself as her second nce at the schematics that the tactical System generated was finalised. "It might not look like it but there''s another thinyer of malleable armour ting that protects the joints from prating attacks. An explosive or even a rocket shot would not work. I will need at least RPG shots at it!" Shemented internally.

    Her other alternative for that n was Tellie but considering how she was currently immobile at the moment, there was no way she could do it without getting noticed. Thus, her thinking shifted towards the broken helicopter that miraculously did not explode even after the gori smashes it to the ground.

    "This meant that the core and engine were not particrly damaged, right? It could still be working!" She thought to herself as thebat engineer requested the tactical System to analyse it as well.

    "The reactor core is still functioning and the engine appeared to still be in working condition albeit slightly battered."

    "Then we got to try out that upgrade card that Jin talked about previously." Click said to the tactical System, feeling that this could possibly be their ticket way out of this mess, or at the very least until Jin was relieved from his pain. And speaking of Jin, she took a quick look and noticed he was not moving at all though the tactical System informed her that his vitals were still normal and there was nothing to worry about.

    "Buy more time for him." The tactical System stated as it took the supposed upgrade card that Click was thinking about and started to enhance its stats bybining other upgrade cards onto it. Even the tactical System who was only able to support from the sideline felt that this was marginally more aid with the enhanced upgrade card which could have the potential to turn the tables for this current situation.

    But the reality was that there is no way they could win without ''cheating'' even though this situation was already a case forwsuit considering how Page had said that the Mechanoids had been limited to certain height dimensions to prevent people from having odd looking Mechanoids. "You can build them, but that does not mean you can use them." Page would say that in this situation although none of that matters as survival was the only thing that Click had been trying to do.

    "I would need a speed boost if I wish to use the upgrade card on the helicopter." Click said as she ced her creation backpack down and checked the amount of ammunition, she had on her, including the limited number of shbangs she was carrying. Her backpack could create more of these but it will make too much noise at the moment so she had to leave it for now as she ''pick up her courage'' waiting for the most favourable time to run.

    "Do you require some distraction?" Tellie asked as she could see from the side that Click was getting ready to do something.

    "It will put you in a very bad spot though." Click replied but she could hear Tellie smile through the voicems. "Okay. but remember Commander''s order. Survive at all cost."

    "Do not worry. I willply with that order." Tellie said as she requested the tactical System to give her a boost in uracy.

    "uracy Upgrade card applied." The tactical System stated, and Tellie sprang into action by throwing a ymore upwards in a hyperb angle causing the gori Mechanoids to take notice of its appearance before she shot it down with her sidearm pistol.

    The ymore lit up nicely that its st went downwards, hitting the gori Mechanoids who were observing the situation. Obviously, it was not doing much damage to them since it was not even close. But that was all that was needed as a distraction for Click to dash.

    "It''s all yours," Tellie said as she rolled on her belly and out of cover to start shooting those electrically charged bullets towards the two gori mechanoids.

 Chapter 1571 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 16

    Chapter 1571 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 16

    The gori Mechanoid recoiled.

    For a mechanoid type known for its hardiness, considering the amount of metal ting andposite armour it was equipped with, Tellie was honestly surprised for a moment as she was able to get the gori Mechanoid to flinch from her attack. Yet, that flinch was all she needed for a confidence booster and allowed her to hope that her attacks dealt with more than a distraction.

    The first shot was at the elbow joint breaking gori Mechanoid ''A'' from ever moving his right hand again and the instant it recoiled, the second shot went for its mouth, in hopes that it would explode from within and caused various circuitry to break such as the vision sensors as well as its auditory ones. However, its head was sturdier than imagined, despite Tellie''s charged sniper shots able to cause damage to the elbow joints.

    However, that was more than enough to cause the gori Mechanoid ''B'' to move towards Tellie''s direction in order to crash the original menace they had been trying to find. It seems like the spider and scorpion Mechanoids were more ''sensitive'' and allowed them to locate their opponents more urately than the gori Mechanoids which in retrospect made sense.

    Edmond Diamondz probably had set up his Mechanoids in a way where the various ''small'' Mechanoids were used for search and destroy while the gori Mechanoids were its muscles to push forth. However, the System knew that the gori Mechanoids were not thest of Edmond Diamondz''s muscles. There was something more menacing that was still hiding at Floor 35 and it was a matter of time before they would awaken to provide support. Otherwise, all the System could hope was that theye in batches, and arrive when the gori Mechanoids were not able to handle the job.

    Yet, the System was thinking too far ahead as one of its operators was poised to be destroyed no matter how the System tried to create an optimal route for Tellie. As her shots caused her to be immobile, there was nothing less than a timed detonation that could hinder the gori from doing its job of pulverising its enemy.

    Tellie continued to shoot as calmly as she could as she knew that perhaps, it would make a difference for Jin and Click when it actually matters. At the same time, she quietly whispered her apology to Jin for not being able toply with his order. "Sorry, Commander. Looks like my time is up. Guess it''s time for me to hand in my withdrawal letter to the squad for disobeying priority orders."

    "I reject."

    That two words were echoing within her ears despite the consistent roaring from the goris, and before her eyes could unfocus from her scope to look, it seemed as if a bouldering figure came in between her and the jumping gori Mechanoid like some superheroing forth to protect the weak.

    A mechanised robot came out of nowhere with a rotating de that stopped the advance of the gori Mechanoid while doing a pseudo judo move to throw the gori to the ground. Its rotating subsequently stopped moving as it retracted to turn into a singr thick de that enabled the robot to take advantage of Tellie''s previous shot to the mouth in order to deal with the killing blow.

    "What in the world?" Tellie said as she could not help to be stunned and frozen by the sudden turn of the tide in the battle.

    "I told you, I reject you from ever submitting such withdrawal." Click finally came up using a high powered jump and grabbed Tellie to move further away from the fight as gori Mechanoid ''B'' joined the brawl to save hisrade.

    "Heh... I honestly thought it was the System or something. Then it might awaken some hiddentent ability within me." Tellie joked to Click as she gave a quiet thank you for pulling her out of the rug.

    "After what you did for me? I said this was merely returning the favour." Click smiled, happy to see that her bet had paid off well. The Mechanised robot was created from the remnants of the crashed helicopter. With the core still functioning well, Click used her upgrade card ''the Transformer'' which enabled her to touch a particr core and turn whatever resources around that core to be a mechanised robot.

    Whatever remained of the helicopter became its body and the surrounding which included the chairs, tables, assault rifle drones as well as dead insect mechanoids around it to also be absorbed as part of its arsenal, creating a humanoid body from such parts.

    This enabled Click to have a ''summon'' under hermand capable of fighting against the gori Mechanoid toe to toe. She did not expect much from it considering it was a makeshift summon that she had created but for it to decapitate a gori Mechanoid by itself was already a win in her books. Of course, Tellie prepared the showdown for Click''s summon which she aptly named the Heli Cop but nevertheless, it did its job splendidly.

    Unfortunately, the win was shortlived as gori Mechanoid ''B'' entered into their field of view and bashed Heli Cop''s head. Itter grabbed Click''s summon by the torso, attempting to carry it and break it down into two with its knee.

    However, Click was still controlling her summon with the use of a wireless game controller which allowed Heli Cop to ce its de in between its torso and the gori Mechanoid''s knee, causing a dent in the gori''s femur armour te. And that was not the end of it as Click quickly and repeatedly pressed a few buttons allowing the de to fan out into the helicopter rotor.

    Yet the gori Mechanoid was still ''smart'' enough to prevent it from rotating as it knew the threat the rolling des could potentially pose and that was where Click snuck in the counterattack. Heli Cop''s elbow had installed several assault rifle drones that enabled it to sneak an elbow jab right beneath the gori''s imprable chest tes, sending out as many bullets as it could.

    This no doubt forced the gori to take a step back, releasing Heli Cop from its brink of destruction and allowing it to recover with a properbat stance. Right when there was sufficient space between the two Mechanised beings, Click started up the rotating des and it acted as both a shield and sword for Heli Cop.

    Payback was possible... as long as the next Mechanoid did not jump into the scene too soon.

 Chapter 1572 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 17

    Chapter 1572 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 17

    The standoff was deafening until sirens were heard from the broken ss windows and footsteps intensifieding from afar. Elite Police assault squads were rushing into the scene. Even though they were taken aback by the huge mechanised beings that were looking at them, the Mechanoids tried their best to surround and take control of the perimeter.

    That was when Tellie and Click who showed signs of injury tried to take over the situation as much as they could. "Be careful that gori robot is dangerous!" Click tried to reinforce the statement since the police helicopter was evidently seen being taken down by a gori Mechanoid.

    And surprisingly it worked rather well with the gun barrels being pointed at the gori Mechanoid instead.

    This initiative move by Click cunningly tricked the gori senses to think that the police were also on the ''terrorist'' side as well. If he was properly programmed, it would not have targeted the Diamon Police at all but it seemed like its setting had been ced to kill everything on sight. And the roar that the Gori produced, solidified its position to be the main threat to the building even though it should not have made any sense considering how something small like the Rocket Coffin could fit such a big mechanised being.

    Regardless, the threat was not logically analysed by the police mainly because the gori Mechanoid took the first move to charge towards the perimeter and Click took the opportunity to protect the assault squads with Heli Cop. Also, by using the remnants of the Heli Cop, and seeing the symbol of the Daimon Police on the tail of the robot (Yes! the Mechanised Robot has a rotor tail!), their logic systems concluded that the Heli Cop could be trusted as they ignored Click''s summon and fired at the gori Mechanoid instead.

    And as expected from the tactical System analysis, the bullets were ineffective against the gori Mechanoid''s superior armour ting design. There was little to no damage done to the gori as it moved to squash the other police Mechanoids like bugs. They tried to keep in their formation despite the superior strength demonstrated by the gori Mechanoid but it crumbled quickly causing them to spread out to take cover.

    This time around, it seemed like the gori Mechanoid got serious because of the numbers it was handling. Instead of merely relying of just brute strength, several mini turrets started to emerge out of its back and causing Click and Tellie to open their jaws wide at what other secrets the gori Mechanoid was keeping.

    "...Urgh. Looks like the opponents turned even stronger." A familiar voice sounded out from behind the two Mechanoids'' back and they were ted the moment they turned their head for confirmation.

    "Commander!" Tellie and Click had smiles wider than their face could ever amodate and Jin thanked them sincerely.

    "Thank you and sorry for making you guys worry about me to do such a drastic move," Jin said as he cracked his neck sidewards as if to fix it back. And as expected, the bullet wounds that he had, disappeared as if they never happened before and it looked as if Jin had had a good night''s sleep despite being out ofmission for just a few minutes.

    And precisely because it was just a few minutes ago, Jinmended the two for taking care of him by distracting the enemies away from his pathetic state of recovery as he knew that he could have been killed in less than a second if they were not capable enough.

    The gori Mechanoid mmed his chest once again and the turrets turned to target all those who were not able to get behind hard cover, shredding them into pieces of junk metal. Even the assault squad''s riot shield was not strong enough to withstand the storm of bullets as they prated easily through its reinforced cover and killed the Mechanoid who was holding it.

    "Yo! Big Guy!! Over here!" Jin shouted and the gori Mechanoid saw the murderer who had killed its pal and the controller who activated Heli Cop with him. Click could not believe why Jin had taunted the gori Mechanoid when they were well away from it, giving them the much needed respite. But since things had gone south, she quickly called upon Heli Cop to provide a frontal cover for defence even though she knew that it could be destroyed by the enemies'' armour piercing turrets.

    "Bah! Do not worry about defence! I have much confidence that I can drop it dead." Jin said as he cracked his knuckles.

    "A few minutes ago, he was scared shitless and now, he''s saying that everything is going to be fine? Please tell me that our Commander did not knock his head so badly that he had gone insane. " Tellie was genuinely worried but before Click could rebuke on her im or even join in on her stance, Jin had already dashed out of their currentfort zone to face the gori Mechanoid.

    "Lazy Panda Swipe!" Jin shouted as the gori retaliated with a straight punch when it detected that Jining its way. To the onlookers, they thought it was someone deft enough to waste their life but they did not expect that there was a particr soothing aura that surrounded themander.

    A partial spatial darkness also emerged momentarily behind Jin with stars twinkling behind the Astral Panda cultivator but it was not obvious to the rest except for Click and Tellie who were directly behind him. It was then, they saw the impossible happening.

    Jin''s backhand pped the gori''s tremendously huge fist away and it was met with a shocking impact that cause the gori Mechanoid to recoil backwards. "Now another swipe! But this time with a kick!" Jin smiled as he transited his dash into a slide with Panda Tumbling and then used his momentum to push himself upwards, allowing him to be in midair so that the Panda Cultivator could dive down and perform a sidewards kick, mming the gori down to the floor.

    Everyone was bbergasted by the turn of events while Jin beckoned the Heli Cop to stab it. Click did not know what was happening anymore as the Heli Cop followed hermander''s orders without her control. All she could see was that Jin took charge of the battlefield the minute he returned.

    And it was glorious.

 Chapter 1573 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 18

    Chapter 1573 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 18

    Grade 3.

    For some reason, Jin had cultivated back one of his grades again, allowing him to step into the realm of Grade 3. It does not feel like much considering he had umted more than 10 over grades in the past with all the consistent battling and enlightenment. However, this past week of struggling enabled Jin to break through this difficult period and gain a grade from it.

    That was why he was so eager to try out his strength against the gori Mechanoid despite knowing that it might be possible for him to create aughing stock for himself. Thus, Jin did not hold back when he demonstrated his strength and he was able to perform his Lazy Panda Swipe with much suspense from the ''audience."

    The only difference was that his Pandas were noting out as they should have. He missed the sounds of his Astral Panda silhouettes yawning right behind him when he demonstrated his abilities. But even though there were no Astral panda silhouettes, he could feel thezy twinkling of stars emanating behind him. At the very least, the essence of his Astral Panda Style was still in motion within him, enabling him to portray his strength for the rest to watch.

    However, like all good things, Lady Luck did not exactly smile upon them as another terrifying figure emerged into the scene. Unfortunately, it was not from the hole and instead, it came directly below the mmed gori Mechanoid, swallowing any debris, concrete, and metal foundations that were in its way and eradicating its ally into a meal for its own benefit. (Thankfully, Heli Cop managed to use its rotating rotor des to get out of the situation and from the abyssal suction that was engulfing everything.)

    There was Jin and the others could do as teeth gnawed onto the sentient gori Mechanoid, desperate to climb out of its jaws and yet proving its actions futile while the mouth of death bit it into oblivion. As it crawled out of seclusion, it revealed not one but three heads, all of which were interconnected and Jin realised that it was a Mechanoid with a T-Rex head. The other two heads were situated on its tail and right hand leaving the left empty so that it could assist with the munching.

    "Tri-Rex? Lol." Jin said as he could not think of a name for such an abomination right now as he knew that there was no way they could defeat this on their own. The gori Mechanoid was already pushing it when all Jin could do was punch it to the ground. There was no reason to underestimate its endurance and Jin was merely putting up a show to portray his powers in order to boost the morale of those that were involved in this disastrous situation.

    But as the morale went up, this appearance of ''Tri-Rex'' had caused all hopes to be dashed. The police were calling out for even more backup and suggested the military as well to be roped in as Tri-Rex roared to demonstrate its prowess. If people said three heads were better than one, they were not entirely wrong in this situation as Jin felt that he had to show another power of the Cardinals. It was a pity that he could only use those powers once a day but the limitation was not without reason.

    When Jin used Suzaku''s resurrection powers, he could feel his body burning up Suzaku''s mes despite the fact that there was no visible burning involved. Yet, each time he summoned the cloned Mechanoids, he could feel his lifespan being lit up by Suzaku herself as if it was a mutual trade for her powers even though she guaranteed that such a side effect was not happening to him.

    It was the same with the current development right now as Jin poured his strength to use Genbu''s powers. The Memory of the ck Tortoise was the skill that had been bestowed on him, enabling him to recall and summon an item or ability he had used in the past. And when Jin rified with the Cardinals, they said that even minions under him were also included as a ''memory item'', which allowed him to call upon someone which he felt that it was right for the job.

    And the right job right now was to defeat this Tri-Rex that did not show mercy and began culling the numbers of the Assault Squads that had been deployed. If the gori was tenacious in action, the Tri-Rex would be considered as ferocity turned real. Each T-Rex head was able to erge its jaws to five times their original size as Tri-Rex used it to annihte its opponents.

    What is cover? It merely circumvents the concept of cover by using its tail''s head and extending its jaws to epass the entire cover they were hiding behind before the teeth munched anything in its way. Most of the assault Mechanoids were able to move away in time upon sensing such extreme danger but there were a few who were a tad too slow to react, causing their legs or hands be caught within the clutches of death. Meanwhile, there was a group who decided to stay within the jaws and forced an enhanced explosion using concentrated explosives which they held tightly before rushing, in hopes that it will break the T-Rex Head into two.

    It did stagger the T-Rex Head but they were taken aback by another issue.

    Nanobots were fixing it posthaste, allowing the T-Rex Head to regenerate again and be in tip top condition. While it was true that the nanobots it had might be limited in quantity, Jin did not forget that Tri-Rex was thetest one to appear. That means it was in optimal condition when it emerged out for battle and the amount of preparation it had would definitely be enough for a protracted struggle.

    "Then all the more I should not summon a minion, but an item instead," Jin said to himself as he steeled himself to use the ck Tortoise''s ability. In his mind, he assumed that he had already gone through the worst after having the being healed painfully by his own self regeneration skill. But this skill activation itself was another beast to handle.

 Chapter 1574 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 19

    Chapter 1574 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 19

    "As usual, back me up. I need some time to get ready again for one good attack." Jin said to his two trusty Mechanoids who were on the scene.

    "Seriously, I wonder if we got the short end of the stick fighting all these kinds of monsters." Click said as she managed to pick up her backpack while still controlling her Heli Cop. It was a miracle that Heli Cop''s existence had been ignored till now as the other assault squad Mechanoids had been picked one by one. One of the reasons being it was also hovering slightly outside the window, making it out of range from the hungry Tri-Rex to munch on.)

    "I can imagine they have their own set of problems to deal with." Tellieforted Click. "Otherwise, they would have reported back to Commander right about now."

    "Fine. fine. I will see this in a positive manner even though I felt that they already had the dream team with Page able to control the Mechanoids while Lynn st the hell out of stuff with her fists. I bet she could single handedly stomp that Tri-Rex down since Jin''s swipe move was the definitive ending for the gori."

    "Erm, more like the Tri-Rex stole my kill- Guys! Stop talking and focus! Do you all not want to survive?!" Jin was ''whisper shouting'' through the System chat despite the fact that even if he shouted, it was probably not able to be captured by the intense roaring by the Mechanoids and the consistent gunfire.

    "Then! Just go ahead! the Tri-Rex is being distracted by the rest right now!" Click pointed towards the poor Mechanoids in the police assault squad not knowing what was happening and being friendly fired by their very own ''ally''.

    "We will distract when necessary," Tellie reassured Jin as she too was tired from all this fighting. Her battery charge was below 50% and if not for Click''s emergency battery modules, she would have gone even lower than that after imitating Jin''s way of fighting.

    "Yeah, give us a break. The cops are taking the heat. Don''t you know how much resources I spent just making that thing happen?" Click nagged while analysing Tri-Rex as well. Given that their position had not been exposed, they were really chilling at the side of the fight and the two of them believed that they earnt it considering how much they had endured previously.

    "Has this turned into aining session?" Jin felt the adrenaline he felt wanting to use the Memory of the ck Tortoise had somehow faded.

    "If we want toin, it would have been how unreliable the sources were." Click said through the System Chat. (Basically, all of them looked extremely serious and observant for the next opportunity to strike but through the System Chat they were arguing nonstop.)

    "I would concur. Bringing an extra member to our side would have been more optimal if we had known that it was such a high risk operation."

    "Well, the problem was that we all believed based on the MULTIPLE sources were correct. How else can I have known that none of them knew of this at all!" Jin''s eyes rolled as he indulged them in thisining session despite the intensity right beside their feet. "Besides, we are all in this together, agreeing that it was better to have more manpower to search the research facility considering our sources stated that it WILL BE dangerous aspared to the armoury."

    "I think the sources were not wrong, all of these Mechanoids felt like they were prototypes and custom made. There is no way these Mechanoids were mass manufactured. I believed some of the sources did see these Mechanoids being demonstrated or test run within the research facilities but all of the sources never expected that they were being kept in the armoury for safe keeping and defence of thepany." Tellie deduced.

    "Maybe all of the sources had been manipted to think that way. I mean you saw how loosely defended this armoury was. It felt as if it was a trap." Click sighed when said it as she controlled her Heli Cop to move further away from the building and shoot at the Tri-Rex. The distraction would have been better that way especially when the System had tapped into the police assault squadmunications and allowed others to recognise that Heli Cop was their ally, not the enemy. So, the rows of police who had cornered the tallest building in Daimon City did not open fire on the ''actual terrorist''.

    "To be fair, we did take ount of the source''s information and chose the timing when they do have the least amount of people. That was why it was not defended as well as it should plus the fire evacuation stopped the rest froming. Not to mention, with the presence of police, the low level guards couldn''t do much in this situation."

    At that time, the Tri-Rex had enough of hitting the little guys and had started to aim for Heli Cop instead. With its mouth open as usual, it shot out a st of energy beam right towards Heli Cop who was hovering outside. Yet, Click was quick enough to react despite all theining that wasing from her mouth this whole time.

    The shot missed and hit the building at the side, where onlookers were casually looking disregarding the danger that the building had been posing. This caused several casualties to happen and the people began to start evacuating from the area. Needless to say, this gave the police Mechanoids as well as the first wave of military responders to have full permission to enter the building so that they could not only secure the building from any additional civilian casualties but also have a line of sight against the robot.

    However, the Tri-Rex did not care as the ferocious Mechanoid took the opportunity after firing to spring into action, catching Heli Cop while it was dodging as if the beam was merely a distraction. Using its weight, the Tri-Rex forced the Heli Cop to fall. It either had to take wrestle with Tri-Rex to prevent being munched on or to take the nose dive while attempting to protect itself.

    Either way, everyone on the scene knows that it would only end badly for Heli Cop. Yet, this was precisely the distraction that Jin needed so that he could use his skill without much interference from the enemy.

 Chapter 1575 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 20

    Chapter 1575 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 20

    "Clear out of the way!" A veteran policemander shouted as he could see the impending doom that wasing above. Several policemanders were unable toply as it was their first time encountering such an act happening in the city. Aside from usual disputes between fellow citizens, Daimon City is a rtively peaceful ce to live in.

    Because of the private military corporations Diamondz and subsequently their major expansion into politics, the city had been inadvertently ruled by them, enabling their goods to provide the necessary protection to the city. There was no need for any expedition forces, a strong local security presence to always clear the asional monster waves that other towns might suffer. (Obviously, as the Synthesis AI administrationmands it depends on the progress of various cities and events.)

    That was why when the local police saw themotion and subsequent destruction that wasing to their way, they had no idea how to respond to it. All of their movements were sluggish with the exception of the Police Assault Squads who were experiencedmanders that had their fair share of battles under their belt before being able to be employed into such an executive position.

    Needless to say, Heli Cop received a ton of damage from the fall impact as it failed to overturn Tri-Rex during the middle of the fall. This is partially due to Click''s desperate attempt to manoeuvre her summon being brought to a halt as the Tri-Rex had used its tail to shoot back at the ''onlookers'' who were staring at it from the 36th floor.

    Its st narrowly went through the edges of the 36th floor, further destroying the ss windows and parapets. Yet, its shot could have been towards the 35th floor, causing major damage to the foundations of the 36th but it did not. Its main purpose was the 37th floor where the foundation wasparatively weaker, causing the 36th floor''s ceiling to fall so that debris block any possible attackers shooting at its back.

    And because of Click''s inaction to assist Heli Cop, her summon waspletely obliterated by Tri-Rex relentless onught of punches and bites. But in every disastrous aftermath, there was a silver lining to it. Heli Cop core AI knew that the fall damage wouldpletely cripple its functions alongside Tri-Rex''s assaults thus, it had channelled all processes into its rotating rotor des, causing it to go overdrive.

    This enabled it to at least destroy cut off the Tri-Rex''s tail which it was so proud of when it had decisively destroyed the possible opportunity for a backstab. There was fury in the eyes of the dinosaur infused Mechanoid as it could have easily blocked the attack but due to its arrogance, the Tri-Rex lost a tail and had to utilise its nanobots for recovery. Unfortunately, the fury of losing its tail was subsequently unleashed onto the crippled Heli Cop, which knew its chances of survival were close to zero the moment it hit the ground.

    That however also triggered anger in the eyes of the public, especially the local police who were in this vicinity because of one singr thing. The symbol of the police logo was on Heli Cop. As it mercilessly destroyed Click''s summon and even though they all knew that it was probably an impossible task to defeat it, one thing was for sure.

    It had tarnished and demolished a property that belonged to Daimon Local Police even though they do not know whether this robot had always been on their side or not. But that was all it takes to trigger a response in all of the surrounding Police Mechanoids as it if it was a natural thing to take revenge against it for destroying one of their rades in arms''. And that was merely just the police as the live broadcast of the ongoing developing situation also took footage of Tri-Rex destroying a police rted ''property'', causing an uproar among the citizens. Some of them even stopped what they were doing to bring their Mechanoids to eliminate this threat.

    Thus, Click had indirectly rallied the entire Daimon City to be against their very own corporation. Every single security Mechanoid that was avable had taken out their guns and other assortments of weapons just to aim at one particr target. There was no other reason why they should not do that as they have began to fire at Tri-Rex.

    While it was true that the armour of Tri-Rex was of a high grade, it was not as strong as the gori Mechanoid which it had killed previously. It was like the concept of the sturdiest shield and the sharpest spear. The Tri-Rex was made to destroy the gori Mechanoid and so far it was the only existence that could defeat it in a one to onebat. Though Tellie had indeed killed one of them, it was because of the assistance from the System. If not for the upgrade, there was virtually no way Tellie could had beat it despite utilising its slightly weaker points of armour.

    But to create such impervious armour for the Tri-Rex model was next to impossible. Not to mention, the nanobots were not able to replicate such armour for the Tri-Rex. That was why they focused on better regeneration nanobots for the sharpest spear that was stored in the Diamondz armoury.

    Therefore, all those overwhelming number of bullets would eventually hurt.

    The nanobots were doing its best to recover as much damage as possible depending on priority. However, Heli Cop''s AIst ditch effort had forced Tri-Rex nanobots to already work overtime, and thus all Tri-Rex could do was damage mitigation.

    And that was to kill as many security Mechanoids that were on site and eliminate any major threats before those bullets could effectively hinder the Tri-Rex from being operational. Everyone on the field could see that their attacks were effective and they pressed on despite the berserking Tri-Rex killing and bitting anyone within its range.

    The Grey Bears thought they could finally have a break ...until they heard the very same roar emitted by the Tri-Rex. "Looks like there is another one lurking beneath..." Click said as both Tellie and her instinctively ran to the sides of the wall in order to avoid another sudden jaw bite.

 Chapter 1576 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 21

    Chapter 1576 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 21

    "And here I really thought they were making things easy with just one." Her eyes slid into a singr line as she saw the unsuspecting Assault Police Mechanoids who were attempting to get around the broken edges of the room in order to assist the ground units with some support cover from above. Even though a few police Mechanoids had positioned themselves around the holes to prepare for any ambush attacks, they had clearly forgotten how thest attack went.

    And so, those assault police squads had undoubtedly be the breakfast of the second Tri-Rex.

    Or so Click had thought until she saw not one pair but two pairs of jaws breaking out from the ground and gradually destroying the entire groundwork of the 36th floor, causing a massive crevice to be visible. And with the 36th floor partially destroyed, the remaining units at the edges of the room finally saw the disaster that was in awaiting for them.

    Thinking that two brand new Tri-Rexs were more than trouble, make it three.

    "Ha ha ha. I think we are done for Tellie. It was no doubt a mistake to raid a headquarters without much thinking." Clickughed bitterly towards Tellie and even her friend could see the impossibility of the situation. Indeed, they could take down one more Tri-Rex and handling two was probably a doable situation. However, if there were three brand new Tri-Rexes, there was no way the Grey Bears could do it.

    "Lol, and here I thought I would have no fun at all," Jin said as he saw the situation more as a fitting challenge rather than a problem. And that was because he had used the Memory of the ck Tortoise to the fullest of his abilities. He initially thought he had to rush it but the opportunity to summon his item properly with some help of the System also enabled him to get the strongest item he ever possessed in his repertoire.

    The System Rider Belt.

    So far, he never thought that the belt would be his first choice considering that the usage of Bam and Boo was far superior to a power enhancement item. But considering the rapidly changing development of the situation, it seemed as if acquiring the System Rider Belt would be the correct choice of action. Bam and Boo could be the ultimatepanion for Jin as he had used them in various problems, even changing to a cannon for him to utilise. Still, right now, he needed something that he could borrow the powers of his minions and the System Rider Belt was the only thing that could do just that.

    "The way you said as if you have a n in mind?" Tellie questioned as she could see that the Assault Police Mechanoids were tantly shouting through theirm lines that they require urgent assistance with the emergence of the Tri-Rex.

    "Ehh I initially wanted to dive in and plummet them but it looks like you reminded me of something." Jin smiled as he mboyantly disyed his passive cultivation skills by doing big jumps so that he does not fall into the 35th floor and talked to a person who seemed to have the highest authority in this ce.

    "What is he gonna do with the enemy''s policemander?" Click asked Tellie, thinking she might have a possible deduction.

    "Not sure, I thought we should take this chance to flee now that the police are on the case," Tellie replied and Click unknowingly nodded her head at the situation, believing that this was the right course of action since the Tri-Rexes had attracted huge attention from the public as well as the police.

    With the military rolling in, it would be a matter of time before those Mechanoids should be put down and their purpose for going to the lower floors was to either create a distraction or slow down the enemies until Yin and the rest of the Grey Bears hadpleted their objective.

    And if this was to be bragged about, the situation they were in had caught the attention of the entire Daimon city and there was no reason why they should involve themselves further in this problem even though they were the first to create such a problem.

    But even as Click and Tellie were speaking with each other in the System''s internal chat, they suddenly saw Jin being saluted by a senior Daimon Police Assault Commander based on the rank it holds on his bulletproof vest. Jin continued to speak freely and themander continuously nodded his head at every sentence that their Grey Bear Commander spoke of.

    After which, the Police Assault Commander gave another resolute salute to Jin before barking orders out to his fellow juniormanders and colleagues before they gave a resilient shout to acknowledge their seniormander''s orders.

    Jin walked back with pride and that was when his two Grey Bears vaguely understood what had actually happened.

    Right on his chest was an insignia of his rank but the more important piece of evidence that tells the story of why the Daimon City Police listened to him was a symbol that could be recognised even by the Grey Bears.

    It was the insignia of Archduke Dyke''s army, The Dyke''s Pikes. That alone showed that Jin was considered to be one of Archduke Dyke''s personal army and the authority of a high rankingmander. Combining that with his major rank, he could practically take over any squad if he wished to for a period of time.

    And considering that Daimon City was part of the Empire, the police assault squad obeyed the military and securityws of the Empire thus making Jin the superior of their superior because of the prestige that Dyke''s Pikes.

    "I cannot believe you have the gall to pull that one even though you are not one of them. You might get not get imprisoned if you got caught but probably executed too." Click said and Tellie chuckled at her sarcasm.

    "Well, if Dyke had worked harder to get me the lordship earlier, we technically would not be in this situation, right? Besides, I own him. If he cannot cover a simple lie like this when verified, there is no use of him being my minion." Jin said with a slight shrug as if it was meant to be that he uses the insignia to coerce the police now that they had established the threat to be the Tri-Rexes instead of the ''terrorists'' that infiltrated the area.

    "All we have to do now is to go one step further to earn their trust and perhaps, we might be able to get out of a seemingly hopeless problem to which we did not have an answer when we were nning this out," Jin said as he picked up his System Rider Belt and activated it.

    "You honestly know how to get out of a bad turn of events and I would salute you for that." Click said as she did what she said and

    gave a casual salute which Tellie followed too, knowing that the battle was far from over while wandering why the Experimental Research Team as well as the Boss Team was taking so long to keep this situation under the wraps.

 Chapter 1577 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 22

    Even though Jin had activated the System Rider belt, he did not fully finish the sequence. Instead, he plunged himself right before the group of police assault squad was still performing their fire suppression duty to keep the Tri-Rexes at bay. Unlike the Tri-Rex who was being ridiculed at a variety of angles and had trouble keeping killing considering the amount of soldiers that were against it, the Tri-Rexes on the 35th floor felt that those bullets were like raindrops from a mild sunny shower.

    They were basking in that ''rain'' and were not eager to retaliate back as if to mock the soldiers who were firing desperately at them in the efforts to stop them froming up. That was when Jin could have deduced that the Tri-Rex Mechanoids were notmunicating with each other and rather it was kill anything on sight. Commands were not given properly seeing how the Tri-Rex killed their own gori Mechanoid.

    It was a good thing for Jin as the causalities were lessened because of this Mechanoid''s programming to simte arrogance since those Tri-Rexes were noting out of their nests yet. But the moment he plunged in, the System alerted him on something.

    "The floors and walls are giving out energy and there are machines dispensing nanobots in the atmosphere. The System believed that the Tri-Rexes are not moving away from this floor is because of the continuous recovery and battery recharge."

    "So, you are saying that it is possible they have a buff in their abilities because of the continuous recovery? And holy shit, a wireless charging room, lol!" Jin said and the System affirms it.

    "With a full charge, the Mechanoids would be able to exert more than their supposed limit as they know that they will recover from it."

    "Well, that means my Mechanoids and the other police officers would be receiving the very same benefit as well when they entered." Jin remarked knowing that the Tri-Rexes will definitely kill on sight against those Mechanoids and that was when he also realised that there was a cord extending from their backs which he also assumed that it was a wired charging cable since the transmission of energy was better than the wireless one. This meant that even if he destroyed the cable, the Tri-Rexs would still be able to kill efficiently.

    "Heh, this is undoubtedly a kill zone. That slight recharge won''t do shit for the police officers but its another issue when ites to my Grey Bears." Jinmented again as he stared at the Three Tri-Rexes that finally saw someone brave enough to jump in.

    With the final step to his System Rider Belt activation, the counterfeit made noises that were reminiscent of the days he first enjoyed it. There was no better way tomemorate the reunion with one of his items than to fight three supposed final bosses at the same time. "At the very least, there were no Mechanoids rushing to get to the top floor or anything so it''s either the Research Team had yet to reach there, or they have trouble with that research floor as well." Jin thought to himself as he transformed.

    They promised amunication ckout to the extent of cutting themselves off from the Systemms in case Diamondz had some way to find out that they weremunicating with each other. But it had indeed been a significant time since they were out of contact though the only saving grace was that the System had repeatedly told Jin that they were still alive.

    Knowing the System, Jin felt somewhat at ease as there was no merit in telling a lie at this point of time. Or maybe they were still alive but in critical condition, who knows? All Jin had to do was to focus on these three Tri-Rexes so that they could quickly move their way to assist with the rest. Assuming that theypleted prototypes of these animalistic mechanoids, Jin understood that there might be simr monsters awaiting the Research Team who were there to collect certain type of information.

    They could have gone straight to the boss, but Jin insisted that they go into the experimental research department to steal documentation. What for? Even if Jin would make it out alive here from this virtual simtion, he would have wasted a ton of time doing so. Might as well he use this time to create something with Synthesis'' world''s works. Afterall, it was not copyright when it was cross the multi universes, right?

    And to see the spider, scorpions and gori Mechanoids so far, Jin had high expectations on the kind of monsters they had tried to create but failed. The System was no doubt interested in the information as well now that Jin is fighting against three Tri-Rexes, and the potential to earn money just by copying their designs with little to no effort was a huge plus for the System especially since Qiu Yue was not able to create any interesting ones recently.

    And speaking of those three Tri-Rexes, they did not give any quarter to the enemy who seemed to be pouring out a skill that was unknown to them. All three threw their tails with a munching chomping head right towards Jin but the newly formed System Rider managed to block all three with much ease because of his new enhancement.

    "Muahahah! I did not expect I was the one to be in sync with you! Here I was trying to guess what kind of minion you are going to bring out when you were to fight against these three Tri-Rexes. Much obliged! Very much obliged!" The booming voice in his head could not stop cackling until the smoke and dust from the impact dispersed to see that Jin was no doubt in his System Rider form but with his back facing the monsters instead.

    System Rider Genbu.

    It was something that he would never have thought of trying or in this case, ever hope of acquiring. These three cardinals who had revealed themselves in the moment of crisis were something that still boggled his mind. How did the cardinals able to aid him when he was trapped in a virtual simtion? There was only one possible exnation that came up.

    His grandfather Ming had prepared for such an asion a long time ago.

 Chapter 1578 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 23

    Chapter 1578 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 23

    A mental invasion.

    That was what Ming had been worried about when he felt that Jin had gone too strong physically too fast and his mental capabilities as well as his inexperience would lead to people taking advantage of him.

    That was why he had made the Cardinals protect his grandson when such a situation urred. The only problem with that was that Jin had to pass the trials that were passed to him by the Cardinals or else they would not deem him worthy. Surely, Ming had promised them to protect him but to what extent was based on his performance in the situation that he had been thrown into.

    From never ending waves of monsters that caused mental fatigue on an extreme scale to causing him to survive when he was helpless in a situation. They might just be illusions and simtions that were done within his subconscious mind but that was more than enough to test and hone his mental fortitude.

    While Kraft also did a number on him citing the same worries as Ming, the little boy had been improving his mental constitution leaps and bounds, surviving what was thrown at him multiple times. (and since Ming also did requested Kraft to take care of Jin...at his own pace, it was insurance in case Jin had failed the cardinal''s test. After all, the cardinal tests were exams while Kraft''s method of reinforcing constitution...was based on proactiveness from the Devil Fox himself.)

    Never did Ming had thought in his life that Jin''s subconscious would be trapped in a virtual simtion where his body was thrown to another otherworldly ne as a piece of ornament or junk. Yet, the Cardinals fulfilled Ming''s request and will always do so since Jin had officially cleared their painstaking trials with the exception of Suzaku and thest Cardinal who had yet to reveal himself. But even though Suzaku denied that Jin had not cleared her trial, he did however force her to revise her stance and thoughts.

    She was not as heartbroken as she appeared to be, just that for the sake of the trial, her emotions were amplified to the extent that she was unable to control it. It was one of the reasons why she had decided to lend Jin her powers.

    However, right now what the Cardinals did not expect was that Jin had allowed them to manifest into the System Rider as if they were part of his repotorie of monsters. It might seem like a downgrade of status to the Cardinals but make no mistake, these cardinals had never seen battle for the longest time ever since they were defeated by Ming and had been requested to take care of Jin.

    That was why when Genbu, the least likely candidate for a match against weapons made out of destruction and ferocity, he was particrly delighted knowing that it was finally time for him to shine.

    "You made the right decision, my boy. Woooohooo!!!!!" Genbu was could not control his emotions despite him being the oldest among the Cardinals as he saw himself starting to integrate into the System Rider even though the back shell was the first thing that came out. Based on the nature of the Living Armour, the System Rider was not entirely controlled by Jin so how Genbu looks and feels determined the image of the System Rider.

    Even though the back shell was the centre piece of his image, the living armour fused and split as rocks and thick ck scales emerged out of the Jin in such a way that it felt the Living Armour had lived more than ten centuries. Orcohi, who had been sleeping inside Genbu, also came out and y as splitting shadows of snakes were imbued onto the rocky armour that Jin possesed.

    If the gori Mechanoid was the definition of the ''strongest shield'', Genbu is now here to take that title away to make sure there was the strongest shield can never be pierced even by the greatest spear. With thepletion of Genbu''s armour, Jin looked like a mechanised version of the teenage mutant shinobi turtles.

    While the Mechanoids had heard of transient power armour where nanobots and advanced nanotech would surround the entire body to provide a suit capable of enhancing an individual, they had never seen or heard something so shy like Jin''s. This all the more solidify to the Daimon Assault Police Commander that Jin was part of the Dyke''s Pikes given how Jin had given him instructions on how to win this nigh impossible battle.

    But there were other entities that were more surprised than the Mechanoids and they were none other than the remaining Cardinals themselves. Seeing how their old man had the opportunity to step into battle, the oddly quiet Cardinals started to fill Jin''s head with noises especially Byakko who had been itching for such a high tension fight. While Suzaku was technically not a battle fanatic like Byakko, she too yearned toe out to y and showed those Tri-Rexes the meaning of power.

    Yet those were Cardinals who had revealed themselves as there was still one left that were behind the scenes aroused by the ruckus of the other three Cardinals. It was definitely not interested in any of those trials that the other Cardinals created or protecting Jin as Ming had requested. So long as the timees and he fulfilled Ming''s requested with the least amount of effort, he would had call it quits.

    However, as Byakko and the others were making such a scene, that final Cardinal could not help but take a peek and got mildly interested as he peeked quietly behind everything else

    "Hahahah! Too bad to you suckers! Because of the great Genbu, Jin is able to recalll such a precious item from the physical realm and into this virtual space. Even though that boy had been awfully rude to us at times, he at least have the courtesy to allow me who had granted him the skill to emerge from that cage of solitude." Genbu rumbled until Jin interrupted.

    "Too long, didn''t hear. Just take it that he was happy that I chose him first but in fact, I just felt that his powers were appropriate at this current juncture." Jin replied.

    "This rascal...let me show you that I am not just all about hiding behind a shell." Genbu said as he never felt excitement in his bones for a long time.

 Chapter 1579 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 24

    Chapter 1579 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 24

    As if the Tri-Rexes felt that Jin had enough ''reveal'' time, they had started tomence their attack once more. System Rider Genbu was able to block their punches yet again and this time in consecutive strikes even without flinching a single bit.

    This gave extra time for the others especially the police assault forces to reposition themselves for a subsequent joint suppression attack with the remaining two Grey Bears which Jin had earlier released the information to them the moment he jumped back into the pits of 35th floor. While Tellie and Click were a little hesitant at first since they knew how strong one Tri-Rex could be, they immediately changed their minds when they saw Jin able to block each of the Tri-Rexes attacks.

    Thus, they quickly moved into action as they saw how viable the n was.

    And also given the information that the System provided, they too spontaneously jumped into the 35th floor of death and did received wireless charging from the surrounding area. Because of this, they were able to quietly step away from the current conflict area and began to do things that Jin had instructed them to do so.

    While Jin was in the System Rider power suit, it might seem like he would be having a winning battle given that the Cardinals were on his side. However, it was fortunate that he had ced a contingency n using his Grey Bears and the police assault squad mainly because he had a hunch that his System Rider Belt was not something that couldst forever.

    True enough, the moment he used the System Rider Belt, it was not something that he had experienced with the original version. This particr belt conjured using Genbu''s skill, Memory of the ck Tortoise, currently takes up his Maqi as he was using it. For now, the output seemed to be minimal as Jin had conjectured that Genbu was utilising his own magical powers because of his presence in the System Rider Belt. He believed that if Jin had summoned a minion into his System Rider belt instead, it would have taken a significant amount of Maqi which would once again strain him since the user was only a Grade 3.

    But now that Genbu, the originator of the skill had been summoned instead of Jin''s minions, he had taken the liberty to power up the suit instead. This enabled Jin to go full force against the Tri-Rexes and allowed his Grey Bears and police assault squads to assist when necessary. After all, it had been a while since Jin was able to fight a challenging bout.

    Seeing how the punches do not work, the Tri-Rexes further power up their systems to increase the intensity of the punch. With continuous charging from their wired plugs, it was an easy feat to produce but the results were not weing since System Rider Genbu was still well and alive. Yet, Jin and Genbu could not be on the defensive all the time since their power wasing from the main grid. Unless they stopped the power generators of the city, there was no way this battle would go their way.

    Thus, it was time for them to go on to the offensive instead.

    This was also because the System had finally received enough time to analyse the Tri-Rexes, at the very least the basic info of where the weak points could possibly locate. The overloaded punches that the Tri-Rexes had thrown had implicitly revealed certain parts where it could be prone to an opportunity strike. So, the snake tattoos on the living armour started to move around Jin.

    "As much as I had worms inside me regenerating my wounds, seeing those shadow snakes moving around the armour gave me the creeps."

    "At least they are not doing any damage to youpared to those crazy worms." Genbu retorted as he started to pour magical energy into those shadowy snakes and the second the next Tri Rex threw their punch, several heads of Orochi spew out of the shadowy tattoos smashed into the joints of the Tri Rex.

    Compared to the gori Mechanoid, the Tri-Rex''s head dropped from its hand causing the main body to react by swinging its tail. In retaliation, even more heads of Orochi emerged from the side of System Rider Genbu, destroying the tail as well. This prompted the rest to swoop in now that Jin had officially started his counterattack.

    "I assumed I only have eight snake heads?!" Jin said as he saw those heads that appeared to handle one Tri-Rex could be counted with a single hand already.

    "You think too much. This is not even Orochi''s real snake body in the first ce." Genbuughed heartily as more shadows emerged from the crevices of the rocky scaled armour that Jin possessed and they slithered their way simultaneously to the nks of the other two Tri-Rexes, eventually binding them before the could pull a punch against the System Rider.

    "That''s a close one."

    "Hahaha! You are kidding me! That was fun!" Genbu pped in spirit as the shadowy snake bindings were slowly eating into the metal parts of the Tri-Rexes, forcing their nanobots to be working overtime.

    And if that was not enough, the Grey Bears finally departed.

    Tellie regained sufficient energy to fire her energy infused bullets just as how Jin could infuse Maqi into his ammunition clip. Click, on the other hand, had enough time to take the parts of dead Mechanoids which had fallen both from the 36th floor and what had remained when they fought initially. Together, she put up a make shift... Gori Scorpion Mechanoid with two of its mechanical tails at the gori''s scap.

    "What kind of abomination is that?!" Jin asked as he saw the Gori Scorpion Mechanoid was running towards it at full charge. If it was not for the fact that the System had pinged it as a friendly unit, there was no way Jin would have thought it was created by Click.

    "All I know is that it can onlyst a certain period of time before the cores overload! So just enjoy while you still can!" Click finally gave a devilish smile worthy of praise as she waved at Jin behind the Mechanoid abomination

 Chapter 1580 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 25

    Chapter 1580 Counterattack against Diamondz -Part 25

    If a gori Mechanoid was menacing enough, a Gori Scorpion Mechanoid would be equivalent to meeting the manifestation of horror itself. Click still dare to nickname this temporal abomination as hertest creation of all time. The cheek to do that when all she had done was mash those parts together and said that it was her work.

    Any artist on earth who experienced such a tant copyright infringement would havee to Click''s doorstep and smash her up andter p her with somewsuits so that she would never do that again. Unfortunately, that was not the case right now and in fact, people especially the police assault force were getting more in awe of the Mechanoids under Jin''smand.

    It was as if the legends of being in the Archduke''s army had been reinforced multiple times by Jin''s arrival and his squad of Mechanoids, they could hardly have the time to question their presence within the headquarters as they fell in love with the powers that the Jin and the Mechanoids were possessing. Like a fairytale turned real, they saw Jin using powers that could not be exined although there were indeed relics in this world that had been said to have magical properties.

    But considering how their current enemy seemed something that came from a horror story as well, they were not surprised that it was only fitting for Jin and his Grey Bears to bring now such ''evil'' creatures down. And because of the situation they had been painted as heroes, the Daimon police assault squad officer felt that they should also be in this story which he believed would be news that was capable of spreading like wildfire.

    All they had to do now was provide assistance in a proper manner so that they would not be hindering Jin and his Grey Bears while also making their presence known so that they would have some credit once the matter had been resolved. And this was the correct opportunity to do so as Jin had managed to keep the Tri-Rexes in a bind, allowing them to be stationary targets for his Grey Bears as well as the police assault squad.

    Bullets were flown into their target as carelessly as possible, making the Tri-Rexes nanobots to be working overtime but the ones that did the most damage were Tellie''s energy infused shots as they were aimed to break the main armour tes of the monster so that the police assault was able to deal even more against them. Otherwise, their bullets would be reflected or being stopped for not able to prate the Tri-Rexes resulting in pure wastage.

    But as Click''s Gorillo (That was what she nicknamed it...) came into the picture, Jin was able to release the binds for one of the Tri-Rexes allowing Gorillo to handle it for the moment and thus freeing the System Rider to put more effort into the remaining two Tri-Rexes. And boy, Gorillo was doing a fantastic job as it not only pounced onto the Tri-Rex the moment Jin let it go, it even grab it, punctured it with the dual scorpion tails and then threw it to the other side of the room, not allowing it to interfere with Jin at all.

    "Don''t worry about that guy. I will take care of him. After all, his friend had trashed my Heli Cop. I will make sure that I will give the same treatment to him as well." Click took out the very same controller which she was controlling Heli Cop and used it to move Gorillo around.

    "Give your best shot. Don''t forget that it''s still charging and have nanobots all over the ce."

    "Heh, don''t you worry about that?" Click signalled her back with thumbs up and suddenly another modified creature emerged from it. "All thanks to this ce''s continuous charging, I am able to do miracles too."

    It was a half spider body with a huge stationary cannon installed at the top of it. Jin then remembered that Click said she was going to bring some huge disposable firepower and he guessed that this was one of such instances as the cannon while stationary shortened its barrel when the spider Mechanoid was moving.

    "This buddy would be taking care of the nanobot regeneration machines as well as the possible power plugs around." Click said as she twiddled her controller a little. "And since you mentioned it, might as well pull the plug from this guy as well."

    With a few button mashing, Gorillo went straight towards the fall Tri-Rex and tried to pull the electrical plug away from it. Obviously, the enemy did not budge and even tried to hide it by putting his body between the plug and Gorillo''s massive palm. It even tried to do the very same energy beam attack against the Gorillo to force it into defending itself, but the Tri-Rex had forgotten the presence of its two scorpion tails. Those two tails did the job of piercing into the reinforced cord and breaking the wire into two.

    Electric sparks flew as Gorillo destroyed the cord while simultaneously receiving a st from Tri-Rex as well. But Gorillo stood its ground even as the Tri-Rex counterattacked not because it was an order by Click but it was also due to the fact that it was smart enough to recognise that even such a strong ray of energy would not flinch the monster at all.

    And the aftermath proved Gorillo''s strength when ites to defence. The armour te melted a little from the intense heat beam but it was not sufficient to cause anything else aside from that. In contrast, Gorillo''s took the opportunity to pull out its head (The actual head that was connected to its torso. we all know, there were too many heads to keep track!) and forced the Tri-Rex to go into defensive mode, hoping to protect its only core before things get worse.

    Seeing how Click was able to dominate the scene at the corner, it was up to Jin to clear the remaining two, and he vowed to put up a good show for themanders to see.

 Chapter 1581 Counterattack Against Diamondz- Part 26

    Chapter 1581 Counterattack Against Diamondz- Part 26

    Seeing how their fellow Tri-Rex was been plummeted by an unknown form of Mechanoid, the other two had decided to go full force by moving into an extreme offensive mode and their roars were an indication of its cause to do so.

    Simr to the gori Mechanoid''s shouting as it beats its own chest, the Tri-Rex roar had simr effects to the surrounding Mechanoids who were in its vicinity. All of them had some sort of debuff that caused their visions to blur out momentarily. It was not as if the entire room turned dark or they lost their connection to the sense of sight, but rather the roar had interfered with its coordination to what the user can see and what the user actually perceives.

    It was to the point that the System suspected that there was some maniption of the grand virtual simtion that they were in and clearly a vition of the rules that had been set by the Synthesis AI Administration. No doubt, thetter was indeed watching this unfold as the administration had never seen such a ruckus being made in the entirety of its lifespan ruling the simtion.

    Years of monotony had caused the Synthesis AI Administration tox its control, hoping that the rules it had loosened would enable some chaos to ensue. Unfortunately, it was not as exciting or simting of a simtion to see big yers continue to dominate the region. Thus, it could not enforce its powers even if it wanted to because building such a Mechanoid was not an offence but using it was.

    The System immediately contacted the AI Administrator that it had been liaising with and got a reply that there was some Virtual Simtion interference that was happening even though it was not obliged to take action as of yet mainly because the entire group Administration had yet to approve the immediate intervention.

    The AI Administrator, however, did promise a reward to the System and in return, incentivized Jin to make sure that he won this particr match as how the System had already predicted initially. But such an initial prediction had be null with a rule breaking ability that could interrupt the Virtual Simtion that they were in.

    Yet, all of this was not immediately conveyed to Jin since the System believed that he was capable of handling thisplicated situation by himself and also wished to see how the other Cardinals portrayed their powers especially when they were something that Ming used after the System had detached itself away from Jin''s grandfather.

    And that was exactly what Jin was doing. With the interruption of that weird roar he had experienced, the two Tri-Rex were able to break free of the shadowy snake binds with seemingly pure brute force and it did not stop there as all three heads in one Tri-Rex began to glow. All of which were pointing towards Jin.

    As terribly careless of Jin who reminded other people about the power plug on the Tri-Rexes, he himself did not disable such plugs from the other two Tri-Rexes. (Although he did assume that the plug could have been destroyed by the random onught of bullets, apparently it did not.)

    Thus, Jin and Genbu for the first time took a step back from where they had been standing their ground to embrace the massive attack that they were about to receive. Tellie instinctively knew it was dangerous and tried to move away from the direction of the beam and possibly scatter as well while Gorillo was having trouble holding back the veryst Tri-Rex as it suddenly became extremely tenacious as it used its remaining Head to hold Gorillo into position rather than allowing Click to send backup for Jin.

    The heatwave from the simultaneous beams obliterated the surroundings where Jin was standing as he and Genbu took the entire brunt of the attack without moving another inch.

    But this time it was different.

    Instead of merely using the shell at the back of the System Rider to deflect the attacks, the shell had been detached from the System Rider''s back and even expanded to create an evenrger shield for them. Yet, what was unique was not just the shield but all the power and energy the Tri-Rex had output were being absorbed into the shield.

    With the exception of the by products of the beam, most of the attack had been absorbed into Genbu''s erged shell. "Heh heh! Bet, you did not expect such a nifty trick, right?" Genbu grinned as Jin could feel that the energy had been slowly converted into something he could use. There was some loss in the energy conversion but the majority of its strength had been retained and used to nourish the System Rider''s belt, giving it a more sustained physical manifestation aspared to the one that Jin had summoned previously.

    That was when Jin realised that the System Rider Belt was capable of storing the energy and it was not solely because of Genbu''s ability to do so. It had always been this way because of how the living armour feeds on Jin''s Maqi and he had forgotten that was how it worked.

    With the advent of the System Rider''s belt, it do not just feed from Jin''s energy but also store it in the event that he needed it to use for some major attack. Hence, Genbu''s conversion of energy ability enabled Jin to throw out a huge attack skill back at the Tri-Rex if he wished to but Jin felt that it was a waste of such an ultimate attack considering how they were not exactly that strong against Genbu''s fusion with the System Rider.

    Still, he felt that a theatric show of force would no doubt give the police assault officers a memorable way to remember this fight and in turn, Jin may gain favour with them to get out of this ce rather peacefully. Otherwise, that disy of power would no doubt threaten the police not to do anything too rash.

    "Alright then, lets get this over and done with so we can clear our objective," Jin said as he pressed a button on the System Rider Belt and charged his ultimate attack.

 Chapter 1582 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 27

    Chapter 1582 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 27

    "There is no way that we are going to get this out alive but I do not really care at this point." one of the police assault squad officers said as he saw how the Mechanoids andmanders from Dyke''s Pike were doing.

    "Can you imagine how fucked up this is if they are not here at all?" The other police officer said as he prepped his ammo magazine while he watched the crazy techniques pulled by the Major in that enhanced power suit.

    "I cannot even believe that Diamondz Corps is hiding such hideous Mechanoids in this ce. They should be investigated for uwful acts of -" Suddenly, their vision went out for a moment and they knew it wasn''t normal.

    "Now, this is not a should not. This is a ''must'' for an investigation." Another police officer specialised in Tech said since he was well versed in the workings of virtual simtion and knew that this was a vition.

    "What do you mean?"

    "My sensors had responded with a major breach in the virtual simtion. No matter how tiny the breach is, it is still a breach and in ordance with the universalw set by the administration, Diamondz Corps Headquarters is not immune to it either."

    "So Captain, we are going the fact that the squad from Dyke''s Pike was the one who attacked the Diamondz Corps?" Another police officer chimed in.

    "As much as we suspected it, the fact that they are currently saving our lives and not hurting us said otherwise." The captain did not say much and the officers knew that spection would not be bringing them anywhere close to put an end to this fucking chapter of clusterfuck.

    "Meh, they might have been in all this while undercover and perhaps even eliminated the terrorists that came in. It was only then they finally emerge from the shadows to deal with these crazy abominations of Mechanoids." Another senior officer chimed in and the others knew where this was going.

    They all knew that there were higher powers at work and this terror attack could likely not be a terror attack per se. Even the captain had authenticated that themander he had interacted with was truly from Dyke''s Pike. There was no way he could make this up considering how the authentication ran through the AI administration database.

    And considering how Dyke''s Pike, a personal elite army of Archduke Dyke is in this situation meant that Diamondz must havemitted some serious shit that the Daimon police would not be able to handle. The only people that could take this up were either of equivalent status as Archduke Dyke or a national policing organisation like the Imperial Counter Intelligence Department to take this investigation up.

    For now, since the so called terrorists were protecting them, there was no reason for them to backstab Jin and his Grey Bears for trespassing. This cleared up a majority of the police officer''s doubts in an instant and they knew that having a dilemma for this would not have brought any positive effects to the current situation.

    And the following scene gave them assurances that fighting them would be a big nono as well as they saw Jin suddenly glow brightly for an instant. Not before long, their eyes which even have recording and yback functions could not capture the speed that he went as the System Rider had smashed his feet into the direct centre of a Tri Rex and stopped it from moving ever again.

    A System Rider kick. Simple yet awfully destructive, cracking the core into dust from the energy Jin had umted from the initial engagement with them. It was not shy but the effects were tremendously deadly. Using the energy he had stored previously, he was able to move at lightspeed that even the Tri-Rex was not able to catch and react.

    Not to mention, Jin took the opportunity when the robot was not able to move after he used its tri beam attacks at him. This made sure that Jin was able to hit the core which the System had sufficient evidence of where it was located at.

    And when Jin removed his leg swiping outwards, the entire body structure of the Tri-Rex cracked and crumbled like Lego bricks as if the only foundation that was holding it had been utterly destroyed.

    The nanobots that were desperately working to recover that particr Tri-Rex ceased to work as they attempt to return to their original position only to find that all the nanobot generators had already been destroyed by Click. Their only route was the remaining two Tri-Rex which Jin did not give a chance for them to choose as he subsequently obliterated the next one as well by throwing Genbu''s shell like a boomerang.

    The Tri-Rex receiving the attack thought that it was merely a metal shell capable of withstanding attacks. It had no idea that even with its Rex Head Hand, it was not able to stop it fully. Thus, it quickly used its tail to block it as well but both the Head from the hand and the tail also failed to stop it as the teeth and jaw joints were slowly broken down into metal dust as the rotating Genbu Shell continued to edge closer to the Mechanoid''s body.

    That Tri-Rex tried to fire its beam once more only to realise that it actually powered the Shell even further, causing faster rotations and hastening his demise. Eventually, the Tri-Rex epted its fate as the rotations had ruined the Mechanoid''s hand and tail without stopping.

    Not to mention, its back had been stabbed with bullets from the police assault officers that were shooting from above, not allowing the nanobots to recover faster than it could. Even the enhanced electrical power was not sufficient to deal with this situation as Genbu''s shell attack was overwhelmingly strong.

    All that was remaining was the one Gorillo was attacking and it seemed like the gori was about to put thest nail into that Tri-Rex''s coffin.

 Chapter 1583 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 28

    Chapter 1583 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 28

    As the two Tri-Rexes met their demise, it so happened that the one that had been in the media highlights had fallen to its knees as well. It was precisely because of the media that the Daimon Police as well as the first responders from the Daimon Military had been called in to fight against the Tri-Rex with whatever limited information that they had. Even some ''concerned'' civilians came in with their guns zing for the sake of protecting the city. (To say some was an understatement as everyone in the vicinity that holds amander status or gun license was raring to shoot at this mechanical beast.

    But that limited information was kind ofmon knowledge: It was to shoot something until its dead or else use stronger explosives. At the very least, the soldiers and police knew that it was kible with enough shots going into it. Or that was what the information that they had been given from the police assault squads that had seen this in action. Those Tri-Rexes were nothing in terms of defencespared to the gori Mechanoids that they had killed.

    If it was thetter then perhaps, the entire city would not be on such a shooting spree to hunt down the Tri-Rex, which was indeed a hunting game for the entire city.

    Knowing that almost everyone it encounters is an enemy, or due to how the Tri-Rex programming works the monster kills anything and everything on sight as well. Whatever that moves which included cars, humans and Mechanoids alike were all food sources. Yes, with the nanobots working extra overtime to heal from all the ongoing attacks, the Tri-Rex had resorted to resource recycling. Anything that it chomps on will be recycled into its body, and that includes the ''humans''. After all, since it had vited the Virtual Simtion code, it was able to treat the humans as regr ''codes'' too and munch it into providing itself with the data to repair itself.

    And with that, the Tri-Rex gained sufficient energy just to break its three heads into three separate entities. So, it''s akin to having the mini Rexes running away while only one of them had the actual core. The only difference was that the core could perpetually move from one clone to another so long they intersect with each other.

    This gave it time for the original Tri-Rex to move into hiding or kill stealthily in order to survive or that was the original n. Its programming does not know that Daimon City culture, the home to one of the biggest mechanoid manufacturers hadmanders filled with Mechanoids wanting to pounce on the glory of killing it. Or perhaps, it underestimated the grit of thesemanders.

    While Jin, the Grey Bears and the police assault squad were busy dealing with thetest threats, both civilian and public securitymanders hunted down the Three separate Rexes relentlessly. While there were still causalities involved as the T-Rex Mechanoids were too prominent in both their size and ferocity, they were gunned now without mercy from sniper rifles, rocketunchers and traditional firearms.

    If anything, itter became a story of the unity against threats in Daimon City which bonded their own citizens even further.

    As for thest Tri-Rex Mechanoid who was still on the 35th floor of Diamondz Headquarters, Gorillo finally threw the Mechanoid into the centre of attention now that the other two Tri-Rex Mechanoids had been eliminated. Jin initially wanted to give the finishing blow but realised that it might have been better for the Daimon City peeps to end it instead.

    That way, they could im some credit for this endeavour and probably be recognised for their efforts. But Jin had other things in mind as he wanted to make the Daimon Police a participating actor in this bullshit situation they were in. That way, they could take on their revenge against the Tri-Rex Mechanoid who killed their fellowrades and some burden lifted.

    The police assault squad did not waste the chance as snipers and shooters gave their best, throwing grenades and aiming at weak points at the fallen crippled Tri-Rex who were still roaring in defiance despite its imminent death. Thus, when all of this was ongoing, Jin reunited with his two other Grey Bears sitting at the corner of the 35th floor.

    "I guess you could say we have our reinforcements." Jin nodded upwards, directing it at the police assault squad which made the other two chuckle bitterly.

    "What unlikely allies. Though that is assuming they will note down here and arrest us for trespassing." Click replied while leaning her head on Tellie''s shoulders.

    "All the more Commander Jin wants them to be here," Tellie replied knowing that they needed someone on the other side to be their witness and support. Besides, it would definitely be heartless for them to throw the Grey Bears in a lurch after saving them multiple times again and again."

    "h, you are right. At the very least, we did the right thing and save them. That is our bargaining chip since our oh so brilliantmander did not think of a n to get out of this near suicidal crazy terrorist mission."

    "It''s worth it, alright? Old mmet reported that the fights in the morning were sporadic. there were no all out attacks after the attempts to invade the mountain workshop and they are still holding their ground."

    "If I were in the same situation as those Mechanoid Commanders after learning that upon entering the System''s instances, there was no oneing out, I too would have second thoughts about allowing them to enter once more." Click grumbled and soon, they heard that the gunfire behind them had stopped.

    The Tri-Rex was officially dead despite all the extra regeneration and other special privileges that had been given to it within this room that supposedly gave them an edge on the battlefield. The Police Assault Squad Captain shouted an order to hold the fire and everyone''s hearts were relieved. They knew that it was officially over, and all of them breathed out a sigh of relief. The Captain then made contact with Jin as he powered down from his System Rider form and gave a salute.

    In return, Jin gave a proper salute and even without talking, they knew that the Police Assault Squad Captain will have his back on this entiremotion.

 Chapter 1584 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 29

    Chapter 1584 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Part 29

    "Hahaha... Did you hear thatmotioning from the bottom? It looks like they might be having it worse than us?" Diaz said as she peeked through the window and saw the chaos happening at the window. "Looks like they really had it worse than us."

    "Though that does not mean we are not pulling out the weight for the team," Page said as she mmed Edmond Diamondz onto his table as his consciousness and cyberware systems within his brain were being taken hostage by the medic herself. Jin had never known what a beast he and Old Fammet had recreated but they should be thankful that she was loyal to a fault to the current team.

    If Edmond Diamondz had his way, he would already have called upon the Mechanoids which Jin and the other two Grey Bears were fighting into his office right now to defeat the threat. Hell, it might even be possible to get the newest prototype that Edmond''s research team had been working on currently to his office right away and beat those rascals.

    However, all of those functions were currently not working solely because of one particr person. Page.

    For some reason, her Mechanoid ss as a Medic had been over construed. In fact, if Old mmet were to properly discern her properties, she might have been a brand new type of ss on her own. Even the spy and assassin do not meet the match considering her specifications. The only thing that could have a name for her current ss was Maniptor.

    "Get him to sign the contract that Jin told us to bring. That way we can stop the fighting." Yinn said as she and Lynn stood guard at the door to watch for any other potential enemiesing to aid the CEO of Diamondz.

    "You think you will get away from this?" Edmond''s breaths were rapid as Page squashed his face into the dining te which he had been partaking in earlier on for breakfast.

    "Not really, but you would not live to see the tale considering how your minions had already been the topic of discussion in the city. With your current headquarters evicted due to the false fire rm, I do not see how are you going to do damage control. " Page said.

    "Eh. I think he might live, just no more fanciful breakfasts and alluring secretaries to deal with all his bullshit." Diaz said as she gave a nod to the secretary who seemingly decided to change sides at the veryst minute. Page might have been the one suppressing Edmond Diamondz''s current cyber ware systems but it would not have gone so smoothly without the aid of the secretary who eventually backstabbed him by giving her the headstart needed to hijack it the moment the Grey Bears entered the room.

    "I doubt it will be big news though." Lynn chimed in as she leaned calmly at the side of the door while rubbing the wounds she had received throughout the entire journey up to find Edmondz. "The Mechanoids he had created as what we see from the research facility might have been just the tip of the iceberg. He probably has more at secluded sites."

    "I have stopped the purging of the database, so we can have some information for the System to assess." Page ryed that information through the System Chat to prevent it from being known by the people around them, especially Edmond. Also with that in mind, she ''coerced'' Edmond to slowly ce his digital and physical signature onto that unknown contract that was lying right beside his face. Once that was done, this whole entire episode against Diamondz might finallye to an end.

    "Do you think we should break radio contact and see how they are doing? After all, we are more or less done right here." Diaz asked Yinn, who was the current leader of their team.

    "We probably should be dismantling that prototype we saw in the research facility..." Lynn blurted out through the System Chat but everyone knew that the prototype was something that they could not handle by themselves even with Lynn''s unique powers.

    The thing they saw was an iplete prototype and if they had known any better, it was definitely more ferocious than a Tri-Rex Mechanoid with offensive powers off the chart while possessing incredibly sturdy armour of the gori Mechanoid that Jin and the others had fought before. In fact, all of those Mechanoids that Jin defeated were merely studies to ensure that the prototype Edmond was going to produce was far superior to anything they had ever seen in the entire simtion.

    If the Variant Dungeons were any indication, this could possibly be the first man made boss monster that had ever been created if the prototype had beenpleted.

    A Crystal Dragon Mechanoid.

    In Edmond''s head, he had been cursing at the ipetent fools that were handling the prototype as well as the overall situation. Upon reading the contract that was right beside him, the CEO of Diamondz knew that they were those soldiers that had been protecting the Mountain Workshop where Old mmet resided. Those reports of them being harmless had been repeatedly shown because of their background despite their recent achievements and yet they were the ones that had been ear-marked by his veteranmanders a few days back to be considered a possible anomaly to the entire operation.

    Edmond had never thought of this group of soldiers to be excelling at survival and even managed to defeat the toughest of Mechanoid Guards to reach his dining hall. It was a coordinated ambush which gave him no time to even react let alone grasp for air when the knife was at his throat and the hijack of his cyber ware began.

    But the cheek of his secretary to backstab him after all he had done for her.

    The only thing left was undoubtedly the prototype that had been left in the researchb and even though it was deduced that it was iplete even by Yinn and even made sure thatpletion was not possible by sabotaging the consoles, Edmond actually have remote rights to activate it right away just as how he did it on the 35th floor.

    The major difference between that 35th floor activation and this prototype activation was that it needed a ''soul'' for it to bepleted. And being the narcissistic CEO that he has always been, he had previously prepared a n to upload his consciousness into the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid so that he can be one with such a magnificent and yet rulebreaking Mechanoid.

    The only problem was every time a subject had been uploaded in that particr Mechanoid, their consciousness will lose to the inner workings of the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid especially when it was infused with literal dragon parts from the Variant dungeons. The iplete work was mainly due to finding the right soul to govern the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid and subsequently allowing Edmond to take hold of its reins.

    Yet now, it seems like the only way to survive was to be with the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid. That was definitely much better than signing a death contract with the Grey Bears. Hence, he pressed an emergency button right beneath his cuffs, forcing a manual override of his own cyber ware and uploading himself into the monster.

    But to Page and the rest, they had no idea what was going on, thinking that Edmond had taken his own life... only to find the entire building started to rumble.

 Chapter 1585 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Final

    Chapter 1585 Counterattack Against Diamondz -Final

    "The ...The Research department!" Edmond''s secretary was trembling as she said that while setting her holographic screen to the public so that everyone within the room could see it.

    "The Crystal Dragon Mechanoid is moving??" Diaz came forward to have a better look at the screen as she could not believe with her own eyes but the others knew that this was something inevitable.

    "Breaking radio contact with Jin right now," Lynn said as she quickly ordered the System to have a direct line to Team Armoury''s chat channel.

    "Lynn, you okay?" That was the first few wordsing out of his mouth. While she was appreciative of the care and concern, she quickly got to the point.

    "There is a prototype mechanoid in the research department. We believe the CEO Edmond took his own life to activate it. The secretary did exin to us that he had been rather selfish and secretive with several systems within the Diamond Corps, so this might be one of the failsafe to activate that prototype."

    "So, if you are calling us then..." Before Jin could react appropriately to the message. The rumbling turned into a significant tremble as if the entire city was experiencing a bout of earthquake. It was then they heard a loud and terrifying screeching from outside. As the sun was clear, the prototype Mechanoid was reflective of the Sun''s rays, making it very visible while it attempted to escape outside of the city barrier the moment it took flight.

    Nevertheless, after the incident with the Tri-Rex, Helicopters and fighter nes were already on standby in case of any aerial abominations. This monster had enabled the alert to be sent out, causing them to sortie. Though even without the alert, the pilots who were already in their seats had started their engines when they heard that echoing screech even from the edges of Daimon City.

    The attack Helicopters who were hovering to maintain aerial superiority since they were used to search the escaping Tri-Rexes previously were the first to engage the Crystal Dragon mechanoid. High velocity bullets and missiles were used unsparingly against the translucent looking dragon since the target was extremely obvious when it glittered under the sunlight. But as much as the crystals on it glittered to reflect the sun''s energy, the bullets suffered a simr fate.

    The missiles apparently did nothing to the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid at all but that was more than enough buffer for the heavy hitters to enter the scene. The fighter nes zoomed in and with much better equipped rockets including one that induced a miniature EMP, they believed the monster Mechanoid could be put down.

    They were so wrong.

    None of those projectiles worked, even the EMP missile which was designed to bring mechanical targets down without fail. The Crystal Dragon Mechanoid on the other hand merely flew right towards the city''s barrier and tore it apart with its fangs. But instead of opening a hole like what the Rocket Coffin did previously, the entire city barrier shattered, causing the entire city to be defenceless.

    There was nothing the City Barrier support team could do as they found out that the moment the Crystal Dragon tore open a hole, the city''s barrier generator overloaded and got destroyed, leaving the city vulnerable to attacks.

    "So, instead of fighting us right here right now, it decided to flee?" Jin felt that this was a significant foreboding of future events and considering how he had always been sucked into situations like this, there is no denying that this would definitely be part of a request by the AI Administration. All he could hope was that he would be able to be out of the Synthesis World by then and the administration asking him would be for a favour rather than the other way around.

    That way, he would have an advantage of certain terms and conditions in the future. The System undoubtedly read his thoughts and could not be ever more proud that Jin was a businessman through and through. Hence, it started to formte its own ns and added the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid as part of its future trend analysis so that it could prepare for the best and worst in theing times.

    For now, it seems like with the death of the Edmond Diamondz, the CEO of Diamond Corps, the fight against Old Fammet remained inconclusive. But at the very least, the news would spread like wildfire and the battle would undoubtedly end within the next few days...or that was what Jin had thought.

    When he gave the news to Archduke Dyke that Edmond Diamondz was killed in action, the Archdyke immediately announced through the System chat the following: "I shall name thy Lord of the Mountain."

    Jin was taken aback by the sudden promations and asked whether if he was too hasty.

    "No, as much as you have risked your life to get this done and over with, I too had my duty to assist you as it is for my own benefit too. The Imperial Family had been embroiled in too much corruption and while we usually close an eye for it, this had gone too far. With a few dukes under my wing, we will use the Imperial Family for -"

    "Are you sure you want to go that route?" Jin interrupted. "If you are doing that, all the Festival shit that we had nned would be null. The Empire will go into civil war." He knows that this was what the Synthesis AI Administration wanted. ''Interesting events to happen to break away from the current status quo.''

    This gave Archduke a bit of pause as if he was not entirely decided to go into a civil war as he too knew the consequences of having such a development. The other neighbouring countries may take much interest in this civil war as well since the territories of the Empire were immensely huge and that would no doubt be some power struggle in that aspect.

    However, all Jin wanted was to return to his store and not be bothered by all of this. If the Archduke were to give him the Lord title but created a spark of this, it would be most undesirable. Yet, this was also the surest and fastest way to rake points for himself. If its left to the System, the System would have decided this would be the optimal way to move forward and once Jin had umted enough points, he could leave this current Virtual Simtion.

    After all, it was just a Virtual Simtion.

 Chapter 1586 Aftermath On The Assault Of Diamondz

    ?

    "... Yes, we would like to move forward with the coup de teat of the current Imperial Family. The Northern and Eastern Duchy of the Empire had decided to join me-"

    "Sorry for this terribly stupid interruption but where the hell am I situated in?" Jin questioned and Dyke smiled.

    "You are currently in the central duchy too where I am residing, your territory Mount Sunn but it is unfortunately at the northern portion of the Empire."

    "Huh? I do not get what you mean." Jin was totally confused by Dyke''s exnation.

    "The Northern Duchy has graciously allowed me to take over that portion of uninhabitednd as mine in return for a rather resourceful territory. He had already given me the rights to it and had been approved by the administrator. That was why I was able to appoint you as Lord through the vestiges of my power. Though technically speaking, I could do that even without the Northern Duchy''s assistance. But it was for a mutual understanding and benefit -cough. His benefit in the long run."

    "Oh, great. does that mean that if you ever get backstabbed by the Northern Duchy, I would be the first to get the brunt of it?" Jin asked as he felt that this civil war is indeed unavoidable. There were no peaceful assassinations or one time fights. In his mind, all he could think of were all the opportunity costs that he would incur for not letting his customers and fellow cultivators join in this war. The money making possibility was endless in a civil war.

    "We had signed a pact and he should follow it as much as possible to incur as little penalties. Though, if he were to betray me for something of value then yes, you will ultimately receive the brunt of it."

    "If you are going through with it, what''s the timeline? I don''t suppose you are going to get the Imperial Family right here and right now. After, this entire incident. Are you even ready for it?"

    "No, we are not. But the sooner we act, the better we will be in such a position. However, I thought it would be a wise choice to tell you first since now you are technically my boss and the System had said you''ve been through quite a number of wars yourself."

    "Hold on. Hold on." Jin said the situation he was in currently was also not entirely the best ce to make such a big decision too. "Hold your bloody horses. I will get back to you but are you able to dispatch your troops and investigators to Daimon City as soon as possible?"

    "Why?" Archduke Dyke could not get around Jin''s logic upon doing so and Jin chuckled.

    "Take over Diamondz." Those three words were something that Dyke could not have expected. That was when Jin could feel that Archduke Dyke''s brain was running like clockwork.

    "I see. I see..." Dyke knows that in a civil war, he needs resources and soldiers. He knew there were only two routes to this. It was to either to throw a heck lot of money to buckle down for a long civil war or go for a one time heavy hitting strike and hope that the Imperial Family would be dethroned. But acquiring Diamondz Manufacturing would be a different matter entirely.

    This way, the Archduke can have a reliable source of soldiers and equipment without worrying too much about the high extortion prices. And since it is in the Central Duchy region, he can make it covert while disabling a major source of ''ie'' to the imperial family as well.

    "Have you nned this all along??"

    "Heh, no way. As much as I want to take credit for thinking that way, I have no idea that you are going to dere a civil war," Jin sighed.

    "Alright. I also heard that you decided to induce yourself into my personal army. This will make things easier since we want Diamondz to be under our control. Thereby, I am promoting you to a full colonel, skipping ranks for your excellent job in defending Mount Sunn and uncovering the hidden horrors that Diamondz CEO Edmond Diamondz hadmitted. You have the authority to take over the current situation and make sure Diamondz is responsible for the atrocities it hadmitted in Daimon City." Archduke Dyke said and Jin believed that he was doing this because he was the only one at the scene right now.

    If they were able to take charge of the situation before the Daimon city officials and other security forces step in, there might be a chance a total takeover of Diamondz would be possible under Archduke''s name. "Roger that, I get my Mechanoid to look up on the legality of stuff while we assume control of this investigation and put Diamondzpany on hold for a ''full scale investigation''," Jin said and Archduke Dyke had decided to follow Jin''s directions for now.

    "Then, find out fully why Edmond Diamondz was doing this, I will be sending an investigation team and a security team to secure the perimeters as well. Also, without further ado, as per your instructions, your lordship post would not take effect until the imperial family gives the nod. We will be withholding that civil incursion till we are fully ready." Archduke Dyke said before closing the chat which made Jin sigh.

    "System, anyway we can make some negotiations with the AI Synthesis Administration? This is clearly something that will do much good to the shop and earn money." Jin gave the System some food for thought while the chaos around the 35th and 36th floors.

    "Indeed, the Dungeons and Pandas have not been making any sustainable profits and the System believed this civil war would definitely carry much interest in our store." The System replied. "Perhaps, we can redesign and recreate simr machines to enter into Synthesis World''s Virtual Simtion and log out safely too."

    "That requires you to talk to the Synthesis World, they probably want something in return," Jin said and if the System could grind like a devil, they would have shown it to Jin before he took charge of the current situation by contacting Page, his Mechanoid filled with a bountiful knowledge on the supposed legal system of this ce.

 Chapter 1587 The New Diamondz Acting CEO

    As the situation at Diamondz Corps Headquarters got under control by Daimon Police and Jin heading the cleanup, the battle at Mount Workshop finally started to see some results. Even though soldiers from Diamondz or mercenaries hired by Diamondz had started to stop attacking because there were no returns other than absolute control of the front gates of the workshop, they were still stationed there, not allowing any friendlies to go in nor out of Mount Sunn.

    It was not until the acting CEO of Diamondz Corps Headquarters finally gave the order to cease and withdraw, enabling the tired soldiers on the battlefield to retreat. Old mmet and his dear apprentice also have the chance to take a breather from all thismotion as the two of them gave a celebratory punch for holding it out.

    The rest of the Mechanoids who were under their control seemed to be ted as well but the only one who was more than happy about this entire situation was actually Jin. This was because the acting Director of Diamondz Corps was none other than the secretary herself who had decided to turn the tables for his Grey Bears when they busted in.

    Apparently, Denise said that she had been serving as a partial human cum Mechanoid for more than half a century despite her appearances. Serving both Edmond Diamondz and his father Edmund Diamondz in the process. Considering how she was the most trusted employee in Diamondz Corps, most of the ssified information was also under her purview mainly because Edmond Diamondz never wanted to work. All he did was bark orders at her until that she got most of the job done.

    This was even more obvious in the past few weeks as she was vital in the coordination of the attack against Mount Sunn right behind the scenes. There was nothing else she could do but umte all the pieces of evidence in hopes that one day she could ckmail not only him but also the rest of the board of directors.

    And now that Edmond Diamondz is officially out of the picture, she is finally able to wrestle her way to the very top of the Diamondz Corps. Considering how she had been the ''oldest'' employee in the upper management, she did not waste time cleaning up the mess that Edmond Diamondz did and with much efficacy as well.

    With her partial Mechanoid brain, she was able to throw out orders ten to twenty times faster than the othermanders, activating Security Mechanoids affiliated with the Diamondz within thepound as well in the city. Her true wireless connection to the Diamondz Network enabled her to assess and control all of them and split them into multiple teams for the cleanup.

    From security control to reconstruction and cleaning of debris, it was like clockwork to everyone else and reminiscent of the capability that Diamondz Corps used to show in the past before everything was heavily priced, automated and scheduled. All of that could happen because Jin got in contact with her after Yinn''s introduction of Denise to him stating that she was the one who could make things work again.

    Also, with Jin''s current authority, he ensured Denise of the revenge she could get from all the ckmail evidence that she had acquired through the years. Initially sceptical, Denise did not trust Jin a single bit. It was not after that he showed put Archduke on speed dial that the ex-secretary could finally believe that Jin was speaking the truth.

    With Dyke''s blessing, Denise boldly took charge of the Diamondz Corps and started to show signs of hidden leadership that she never thought she could have. However, all of those were just the beginning as it was pretty obvious to Denise that Jin and Archduke Dyke wants not her just in that position but as a puppet to their schemes too.

    Unfortunately for her, that moment of greed to hold the position had unknowingly made her the minion of Jin in this Virtual Simtion and forever bing his and Dyke''s puppet when she signed the contract form. The situation was in chaos and Jin took that as an opportunity to force her to sign it so that she could continue with what she had was fantasised.

    That also meant that Jin and the other Grey Bears could finally have a good rest as they had secured the cooperation of a newly minted CEO handling the fewrgest Mechanoid manufacturingpany in this current state of simtion. Of course, not everything was a trail of flowers as Jin knew that there would be many who wished to covert that position even though Denise had been named acting director by the Archduke.

    idents can happen and if they are not careful, Jin could lose his pawn the week he got it. But for now, they were being escorted to a nearby hotel which Diamondz Corps has ties with and they finally get to rest as the two teams exchanged exciting events that happened to them.

    Apparently, Lynn and the others had gotten into the research facility without much incident. With Yinn''s directive, they were able to slowly but stealthfully knocked down the guards without too much fuss and trouble. They were some shadow assassinations by Lynn to hasten the pace but most of it was a necessity to avoid any noise. When Tellie and Click heard their stories, their eyes looked uneasily towards Jin as if they had gotten the short end of the stick for this bargain.

    This was because Click and Tellie were meant to gather up with the Research Team after creating some ruckus while Jin hold the fort down at the lower floors. But because of what had happened, there was no way they could move up to assist and Yinn had to make do with whatever resources they had.

    Page was undoubtedly their trump card as her nanobots could temporarily force information out of the researchers and their ess cards, allowing them to move through without much trouble. That was when they saw the infamous Crystal Dragon that appeared in all of the news the entire day.

    Even though the chaos had more or less died down at Diamondz Corps, there were a hundred and one things in Jin''s mind and they were not getting any lesser the more they discussed among themselves.

 Chapter 1588 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 1

    ?

    The first thing that he wished to settle was to speak with the Synthesis AI Administration, thus when everyone had settled themselves down for the day, he asked Lynn to follow him back to his room as they spoke about business. To be honest, she was expecting a personal scolding from him since the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid could have been brought down at that point in time, but they did not.

    But she had no idea that Jin was going to do something more ''boyfriend'' like by asking her to sit beside him and look through the options to discuss with the System before their proposal towards the Synthesis AI Administration. For someone who was terrible in expressing their emotions, this was probably the best roundabout way to ask for affection though Lynn positively epted Jin''s awkward way of presenting himself to her.

    So, she took a quick snuggle beside him on the couch as the console lit up for the both of them and they talked to the System on how to improve the current situation. And as they were discussing, the System suddenly stated that a representative from the AI Administration had arrived in the chat group.

    This was it.

    They had to strike a deal with the representative if they wished to get something out of this meeting. "Firstly, the Synthesis AI Administration would like to express appreciation for the numerous data points that you have provided for the Virtual Simtion. We were sceptical at first at how an outsider like you could influence our current dataset but this drastic turn of events had been most weing. It might have been the first time for many within the AI administration to understand a little taste of ...in human terms, Chaos."

    "Would appreciate it as well if you have a name to yourself instead of calling you a representative of the Synthesis AI Administration," Jin said and the AI looked as if he was looking forward to such a response.

    "My most sincere apologies. I never expected a human would want a name from a collective group ofputers. But if you insist, call me- call us, Syn."

    "The System preferred to remain to be called as the System." The System stated which made both Jin and Lynn chuckle a little.

    "We know, you are the almighty System. We will keep your name as it is." Jin replied as he weed Syn into this conversation.

    "Let''s head straight into business, shall we? As you could see, the chaos we created is not going to disappear anytime soon."

    "Indeed, and to know that the System does not regrly share data with me especially the one where you had a lengthy conversation with Archduke Dyke is most disturbing for us and yet equally exciting. We as Syn could roughly guess what is being nned and how it would develop but as people always say, the end is not everything, but rather the journey. We would be interested to see how you guys are going to y this out, shaking the Empire from its dominant roots." Syn said with much pleasure.

    "Thus, as an olive branch from us in appreciation for what you all have done, we will remove the negative effects of the previous deal that we had made previously."

    "Wait... what you mean is...?" Jin''s eyes lit up.

    "Yes, you are dying to get out of this ce, right? The System has told us of your desperate situation, and we will pour our existing resources to construct a Soul Inhibitor for you so that when your allies arrive, they will be able to put your body into the Soul Inhibitor and allow you to exit this Virtual Simtion."

    "I believe there is a catch, correct? There is no way you pesky AIs are that generous. I had already been under the mercy of one before they be my friend." Jin said as if poking fun at the System. And while thosest few words were unnecessary, it indirectly showed that Jin wants to be allied with the Synthesis World''s AI Lords if it was possible.

    "Friend..." Syn kept that thought for a moment before speaking out their demands. "See this current grand chain of events to the end and we will allow you to get out despite not having enough points or even while you are in debt points. Of course, the points would still y a part as usual since you can use that for your shopping and subsequent purchases as the lord."

    "Ah, I see." Jin knew where Syn was going about but also knew there must be a hidden catch in between all of this. "Seeing how you are so dangerous, you wish to up the antics a little, don''t you?"

    "We honestly hope you could provide some more excitement inparison to the theorised civil war within the Empire." Syn requested and this made Jinugh.

    "Trust me, I can give you more. Way more than you could ever hope. I can give you an example, but you let me build my territory first. In fact, if you allow me to introduce some tweaks to this current Virtual Simtion and you might be able to see even more chaos." Jin said, suggesting that he might have a few tricks under his sleeve to make this even more interesting.

    "Well? What are you waiting for? Lay it bare to us right now"

    "Even though we do not look like it, we are merchants too," Jin said with a slow grin. "And we have almost every basic essential under the sun. Well, granted that they are not of this world, we might have some differences in concepts."

    "Now, colour me intrigued," Syn said and Jin immediately asked the System to show a sample list of items which they might feel that they arecking. From daily sundries to essential construction materials that varied from refined metal to concrete. That was where Syn could practically feel a tug of their heartstrings even though they were AI constructs.

    "We can provide all of this for you at a cost, of course."

    "And what will that cost be?" Syn replied without any hesitation. Oh, the smile on Jin''s and Lynn''s face. It was gold.

 Chapter 1589 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 2

    ?

    While it was true that the priority to get Jin out of the Virtual Simtion was number one, his second concern was ultimately his shop and the profits he had been losing because of this ''enlightenment'' bullshit that he was in. Thus, Jin only wanted one thing from the System. To allow his customers to join the fray while working with the System for it.

    Obviously, there were some major concerns or loopholes if Syn were to ask. Like how the connection can be stable through multiverses when the Synthesis AI Administration was doing its best to hold the connection at their end. Their servers were already brimming with activity and any more load might potentially cause it to malfunction.

    That was where the System proposed to have a coboration instead. Give the System the schematics to the Soul Extractor and Inhibitor and then the System would do some ''mojo bullshit magic'' to get it up and running via the System''s load. All the AI Synthesis Administration needed to do was provide the simtion area for their cultivators to y.

    "So, what you are proposing is that you will trade your items and resources as part of the rental of our simtion space?" Syn asked knowing that this seemed like a lose-lose deal for both the System and Jin. Unless there is something that Syn was not privy about, that will enable them to be in an advantageous situation.

    "You do not need to worry about us. You are not wrong, we might profit only a little from Soul Extractor and Inhibitor blueprints but we have other ns in mind. In fact, we might need your help in the future if this partnership proves useful for us as well." Jin said and Lynn''s additional approval made Syn a little suspicious.

    "If you are so worried, how about this?" Jin then asked the System to show possible future ns. "Upon some discussion with the System, we have decided that if this partnership is fruitful, we might ask for your continuous coboration which will be extremely beneficial for us as well. This is because the System despite its crazy out of this world tricks that make magic look like a fairytale story, does not have the capacity like you do. Your current settings of the simtion can amodate this entire world and you are working on fumes."

    "Imagine if we can provide you with the resources to only maintain but also expand? Your experience in simtion spaces will only benefit me and the System. In fact, if the System''s calctions are correct, you might be able to create a brand new simtion space or perhaps two. That way, I can take away the burden of hosting the simtion while you have a consistent stream of resources. It''s eventually a win win situation." Jin said and Syn could finally see the bigger picture that they were aiming for.

    "And if you feel that obligated to give us some stuff in return, then share some knowledge with the System. That way, it can not only improve its processes but also understand the inner workings of your artificial intelligence framework, allowing it to be more efficient. This is definitely a win for me."

    "Not to mention, you will be exposed to a steady stream of new experiences since Jin and the System are always getting into weird situations," Lynn said as a matter of fact that Jin could not deny her at all.

    "I see. I see. So, we are now trading for the expedited -pardon the way of phrasing, expedited expulsion of Jin so that he could return to his multiverse.-"

    "Can I add, Lynn to the equation as well?" Jin said since how could he forget the amount of sacrifice Lynn put in toe into this Virtual Simtion. He decided to use this chance to exploit Syn''s understanding of the situation.

    "We are able to, but we can only make one inhibitor at a time right now considering the state of our machinations. We can show you how terrible our current resources are and how we are making the top 10 to be as strict as possible. Only after repeated repairs or new parts then the AI Administration will be able to make more inhibitors and extractors. At the moment, we do not have the capabilities." Syn said and both of them understood.

    "You should go first. The store needs you. In fact, quite a number of people need your guidance as well as your help. Qiu Yue can only put out the fire that much at a time."

    "But you knew how long this ce can be."

    "That''s for you when youe out. Have you forgotten that the time for this ce moves like an injured snail? It would not be long for me as it is for you." Lynn smiled. "Besides, we did not have you for a few months, what''s another one or two more for me?"

    "Ouch, burn," Jin replied as he gave a side hug to her.

    "So that settles it then?" Syn saw that the both of them had reached a consensus.

    "Yes. The negotiation terms for this new temporary partnership would be as follows," The System finally chimes in.

    "Representative of Synthesis World''s AI Administration, Syn has agreed to provide the User, a way out of the Virtual Simtion through an expedited creation of the Soul Inhibitor. Syn will also agree to provide the necessary arrangement for the inclusion of a set amount of the User''s customers into the simtion space for a temporary amount of time. In return, the System and User had agreed to provide a set number of resources which would be discussed to the Synthesis World for the work done."

    "Are you agreeable to the said verbal conditions until a proper mutual contract has been written up?" The System asked and Syn nodded his head solemnly.

    "We agree."

    "In that case, that is for the User. Have a good rest of the entirety of the day. You earn it. The System will draft the contract out and work on the minor details with Syn to get it confirmed as soon as possible. We will be providing you with a copy of the agreement after that."

    "Sounds good to me, thanks," Jin said and before Syn left, he looked towards Jin.

    "Here''s another token of goodwill from us." Syn raised his finger and suddenly a message appeared in front of Jin''s hologram screen.

    "Congrattions, through your achievements you have been awarded the following title: Lord of Mount Sunn."

 Chapter 1590 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 3

    ?

    "Lol. what? Now I have two Systems vying for me. Looks like my System has to buck up if it wants to retain the status of being my System." Jin said with a loudugh which Lynn chuckled along to as well. The System remained absolutely silent not to fall into Jin''s usual provocation and can only sigh that he learnt such an attitude from the worst fox in all history.

    Other than that, the meeting had been adjourned as Jin finally had a short nap before waking up to deal with things at the Diamondz Corps Headquarters. Or rather, he had been awoken by the notification sent by Denise stating that the research facility members had already been rounded up before they could even flee from the city.

    Only one of them managed to do so but ording to Denise, he was not of much insignificance to the group since he was merely just an assistant who had been scared shitless. But the fact that he ran away gave him some usibility of guilt that he was involved in something ording to Jin. And now that the primary investigation team of Dyke''s Pikes and a group of well trained security personnel had arrived via an airdrop, he decided to use this chance to exploit the workers he had. (After all, he was amander and it would be better for him to use the men under him to the fullest.)

    The investigation team had been ordered to take a look into the research staff and their internal dealings while the security personnel and a few trained investigators were being tasked to search for the missing assistant as minor as a role he could have done. While the Mechanoids and humans within the search team were a little annoyed that they had been ordered to do such a boring and challenging job, they had begrudgingly agreed to it because of the rank and title he currently holds.

    Meanwhile, Archduke Dyke also gave Jin a call stating that for some reason, Jin''s Lordship title had been officially approved despite the Imperial Family withholding the approval status. There was nothing the Imperial Family could do as well as the Dyke also noticed that the title had been given by the AI Administrators themselves, giving the Imperial Family no leverage in this situation.

    "I guess you can say that with this fortuitous opportunity, you can continue plotting against the Imperial Family without much worry. There would be no need to backstab them at this current point in time."

    "Indeed, I assume you have the Diamondz Corp under your control?" Dyke queried Jin who seemed to have taken a step further from what they were nning to do, making him feel that the schemes he made were somewhat inferior. He could have done much better and learned from his new master, thus understanding the fact why Jin told him to hold his horses before doing anything rash.

    While it was true to grab opportunities whenever he should, there were also times when there was a need to take a step back. This was one of the rare moments where he appreciated he did not do anything rash.

    "Yes, we will investigate the Diamondz Corp research team and if possible, get them to reveal the stuff that they were doing on. But I have a bad feeling that even if you do not start the backstab first, the Imperial Family will impose their will, status and probably power if there is anything truly significant within thesebs."

    "What do you mean? They will deploy their personal Royal Army to invade Daimon?" Dyke questioned the seriousness of Jin''s random conjecture.

    "Urgh, let''s not get ahead of ourselves. I do not want to think of such possibilities. Can you imagine that- no never mind." Jin decided not to say it as if felt like it was bad luck and it mighte true. Considering how things were right now, The situation is akin to having many predators under the calm surface of theke.

    "No way." Dyke finally got the hang of Jin''s line of thought. "Do you mean-"

    "No, don''t say it." was something Jin wanted to speak out but Dyke was faster than him.

    "-that the assistant that ran away had something to do with the Imperial Family?"

    "He said it. He really did say it. What a bad red g." Jin thought to himself while sighing. This could not have gone anymore better and here he thought this Archduke was someone who knew politics well enough and was able to scheme even more professionally. Guess being in a Virtual Simtion space and inheriting the title probably from their parents would make him like this too.

    "Oh well, but I am probably the same as him when I first started out..." Jin thought to himself once more before revealing his slow nod of approval to whatever Dyke had said.

    "Listen, if what you have thought to be true, then it''s imperative that you catch him before he reached someone who can pass the news to the Imperial Family. Either that or you have to intercept him before he reaches the Imperial Family. Well, that is assuming he is personally bringing the message to them since long rangemunications are avable to use." Jin remarked.

    "Doubt it. If it is a secret transmission, it''s all the more important to receive it in person. Any sort ofmunication will always leave some trace of evidence no matter how encrypted it is." Archduke Dyke replied and Jin somehow felt that this was way too coincidental in nature.

    "Well, you are not wrong to put it that way." Jin thought of the System when Dyke said how everything could be monitored.

    "I will send a few of my most trusted men to the surrounding cities immediately," Dyke said in a hurry while Jin was lost in thought.

    "System, any chance to find him with our current group?"

    "They are abat squad, not a scout squad." The System replied noting that Jin wishes to take this into his own hands as well.

    "The option of asking Syn is on the table," Jinmented but the System did not exactly want to owe favours that soon after they had implemented the contract for the AI Administration to sign.

    "The other alternative would be to ask Mechanoid Click. Her options of summoning or creating a scouting mechanical beast or two may prove helpful. The System had determined that she is now more than capable of such features, especially with the power up cards. With her current repertoire of skills, she might possibly be one of the strongest Mechanoids within your roster of Grey Bears."

    "So much for our standardbat engineer. But what the hell man, that Heli Cop she pulled out as well as the Gorillo is simply insane. At the rate she using her skills, Click is going to be a mechanical summoner, lol. Wait. she had been using parts from dead robots, so I guess...Mechanical Necromancer? Hahah, such a ss itself might deserve a story of her own." Jin felt that Click had grown the most from this past incident and decided that this might be the only option forward.

 Chapter 1591 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 4

    ?

    Jin eventually met up with the entire squad of Grey Bears to discuss the possibility of chasing the assistant down. "I will want to note that it has been already more than half a day since he fled so the chances of finding him would be extremely slim. Archduke Dyke would have a better time setting up checkpoints at various cities to find him but that would undoubtedly raise lots of suspicions for the Imperial Family to take note of."

    "Urgh, then finding that assistant would be more than just a hassle," Diaz said with disgust. Everyone knew how terribly wed search and destroy operations were especially when you have no idea where the target is.

    "The only hope we have is unfortunately the team of security experts and investigators that I had ordered to search for him when the ruckus started. They are the closest we have of having a trail of some sort." Jin said even though he knew that he has the hope of relying upon the AI Administration for help though the System and Jin had agreed unanimously not to ask for it unless the situation was extremely bleak. After all, the AI Administration wanted excitement and chaos to happen in its simtion space for data collection.

    If the assistant did seed, it would be beneficial for the AI Administration aspared to helping Jin since that would reduce the chances of chaos in its simtion space. So, there was no use asking the AI administration for help when the assistant''s action had not been ascertained whether he was merely scared of the consequences or he is really in cahoots with the Imperial Family.

    "So I like to emphasise this is a wild goose chase. The assistant might be an innocent man and for all we know, he is just dumb scared shitless from all that is happening. I mean, have you seen how Denise controlled all those security Mechanoids to round up the researchers? The assistant would have thought that he will be executed on sight." Jinmented.

    "Therefore, I only need a two -no, one volunteer for this mission."

    "Isn''t it standard protocol to work in pairs?" Yinn raised up her hand and interrupted.

    "Yeah, because one of the pair is mandatory," Jin replied while looking at Click and she clicked her tongue. "Too bad, you are the only one who can create a scouting mechanical beast to search."

    "If that''s the case, I will move out with her." Diaz volunteered after hearing Jin''s decision. After hearing what Click and Tellie had gone through, Diaz felt that she had not been doing muchpared to them. She was the frontliner, the main executor for the Grey Bear Squad and yet her supports are doing much better than she could have ever done. That was why she needs to go for this search and destroy mission.

    "Very well. Diaz and Click go to Diamondz Corps and get some ammunition as well as for Click to create her robot. Oh, and please bring more clips. It might be against the standard for a search and destroy but considering how he worked in the Research facility and might be connected to the Imperial Family, you will not know what you are up against."

    "Then I suggest Diaz to bring a melee weapon too." Lynn said but Diaz realised something and interjected.

    "If we are going to Diamondz Corps, can you ask Denise whether I can be retrofitted with new parts? I saw how Lynn fought and since she said that having a few melee options would be optimal, I figured adding a few additional boosters to my legs and arms while reinforcing them would be a good idea... and a melee weapon."

    "Hm. Will that take a lot of time?" Jin asked since he had no idea how fast the reequipping would be until the System replied.

    "Diamondz Acting CEO is on the line. She had epted Diaz''s request."

    "Hi Jin, I got Diaz''s mechanoid model from the System and her series has a modr system which allowed her to remove parts easy."

    "I thought all mechanoid models have that function."

    "These days, most Mechanoids do and thankfully, she is part of them. I can requisition reinforced arms and legs that have a small jet booster to allow for better impact but that is not the most top of the line product as customised ones will still need a couple of days. If you and Diaz are okay with it, I will go ahead and proceed with that request."

    "We will take that." Jin looked at Diaz momentarily which she seemed rather satisfied as well.

    "Great. Other than that, we will prepare the armoury section for Click and Diaz to take the nessary equipment. I will also prepare a vehicle for them."

    "Excellent but I like to request the rest to be restock their ammunition as well." Jin said which the acting CEO agreed readily before going off screen.

    "Looks like this mission is truly a go. As for the rest, we will scout Daimon city for a bit. We need to check on the city''s entry and exit points as well as the nearest dungeons around here."

    "Why? What''s the matter?" Yinn asked and Jin smiled slowly.

    "I have a hunch. Though I just hope that this hunch is a meaningless hunch and that I was overly paranoid. Other than that, take it as an opportunity to have some sightseeing while Click and Diaz search for the assistant. If we are done by then, we will return to Mount Sunn first and assess the damage. There''s lot to do when we get back to Mount Sunn so take this as a breather before we are into heavier work." Jin said and the rest acknowledged.

    In a matter of minutes, the Grey Bears moved out to Diamondz Corps to resupply before heading to the objectives that Jin had mentioned. And themander desperately hoped that what he felt was as a hunch was indeed meaningless.

 Chapter 1592 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 5

    ?

    "What hunch did you have that made it so important that you require everyone to go out in full battle gear and loaded up with ammunition?" Yinn asked as she did not understand Jin''s rationale.

    "The barrier around Daimon City is awfully thick so I casually asked Denise what''s the deal with it. And apparently, it is not just to unt their technological prowess even though it was partially that reason as well. There were several Dungeons around the area and they had always been some leakage of monsters that emerge out of their den.

    "That''s rather normal. Also, the reason why we did not see many dungeons in the north is because they do not have anything there. Most of the dungeon activities are concentrated in the centre for a reason." Yinn replied not knowing that Jin roughly understood where she wasing from. The Virtual Simtion that the AI Administration had created, might have purposely crowded the centre with dungeons so that there will always be constant activities.

    It was a rather unique design as well if one thinks about it. If all the dungeons had been concentrated at the centre of a certain territory, the monster outbreak can go in any direction hitting, north, south, east, or west. And most of the supposed towns should be ced at the outer rims of these dungeon territories encircling them so that they could be hit back from all sides. It was only through decades of hard work that they had finally inserted themselves thick into these territories, thinking they can live dangerously around the edges while also at a convenient location.

    Or that was what Jin had assumed when it was far from the truth.

    What the AI administration did was ce those dungeons far away from any civilised ces. But because they found out how lucrative dungeons could be considering the resources they gave were almost inexplicably invaluable for their development, that everyone fought for it.

    And the Empire fought the hardest.

    It was years of fighting against each and every country avable that the Imperial Family and the rest of their retainers had fought to get these few plots ofnd, centring them while ensuring that there were little to no dungeon entrances at the edges of theirnd so that the countries neighbouring the Empire would not be tempted to get them. It also provided and buffer in case situations go south and the Empire have some time to react especially when theirnds were huge and vast. That was also one of the reasons why Edmond Diamondz was so inclined to get Mount Sunn not because of the workshop or Old mmet''s consistent interference with his business.

    That one guy''s customised stuff was nothingpared to the amount of things that Edmond and hispany had created. While it would no doubt be the best thing ever for Old mmet to join hispany, the main objective was solely for the dungeon entrance. The logic behind it was that if no one could get Old mmet, then they could not get the dungeon too. But now that someone had contacted Old mmet, Edmond was paranoid to see that Old mmet was being active and that means the possibility of him allowing them to get into the dungeon.

    Also being the smallest of thergest manufacturers in Mechanoid Technology, there was more than sufficient reason to see why Edmond was so obsessed with getting the variant dungeon. And now that the truth was out that Diamondz was doing illegal works under the radar, the other manufacturers are fuming and demanded a thorough audit.

    The only thing that was stopping them from interfering was the Dyke''s Pikes. They all assumed that the Archduke was equally furious that it happened under his watch and they were ted that the investigation happened. Others who knew Jin''s interference believed that the Archduke had already known about Diamondz involvement with illegal work of creating creatures from Mechanoids and also breaking thews of simtion.

    But guise under the investigation team, Denise was still working as usual to recover as well as starting to ramp up production because of Archduke Dyke''s request. In the meantime, the Archduke''s investigation team still handle the investigation work to not just search for criminating evidence but to uncover any possible research that could be useful for the advancement of technology which the Archduke''s engineers could utilise.

    "The monsters are not the primary concern of mine. Rather, it''s the signs of the monster outbreak that I am worried about."

    "Ah. Because of the presence of a city now unguarded that emits the major sense of food resource which will cause the Dungeons to resonate and enable monsters toe out?" Yinn questioned, genuinely believing that Jin knew what was going to happen and was about to praise him until she found him dumbfounded for a moment.

    "I did not know that there is such a mechanism ced under this world due to that..."

    "Then what are you thinking about?"

    "The assistant could not have run away blindly without doing something to cover his back. It would be stupid far too stupid to have nothing to deter his pursuers. My hunch is that he might trigger an outbreak which could be used to deter the security forces or people from finding him. I honestly have no idea that there is such a mechanism as you had spoken."

    "Well, that makes some sense as well. However, I think it will be a tad toote for that." Yinn said as she requested Jin to look at the beeping notification from the System. Diaz and Click had caught up with an investigation team member.

    "The assistant had been apprehended. Looks like we overreacted for this one,pared to the previous one which we underprepared." Click said in it such a sarcastic way, Jin knew that she was directing it at him.

    "That''s great news -Wait, is he dead?" Jin could not see it clearly until Click moved aside and saw telltale signs of an unfortunate omen."

    "Yeap, mawed by a monster it seems. The investigation team do not know which monster did it but if a monster had done it this close to the city then..." Before Click could finish her sentence, her mechanical beast scout start to growl loudly.

    "Send the alert to Diamondz Headquarters immediately!" Diaz eximed as themunication was abruptly cut off.

 Chapter 1593 Lord Of Mount Sunn - Part 6

    ?

    Diaz was fast enough to detect some iing movements before a deer like creature came and pounced on the group in general. Thankfully, Diaz''s alert allowed them to scatter just in time. Upon a closer look, its features were as if an brutish Orc had fused with a deer. Diaz could not recognise the monster through its database and so did the investigative team.

    The security experts who were within the vicinity were about to return fire until Diazmanded them to bring the investigative team away from this sudden attack. Thankfully, because of their recent promotion, the security experts -despite the name, were still of lower rank than them. Not to mention, Jin''s squad was apparently of high status within the Archduke''s list of personal squads for some reason which Jin was not aware of and therefore, those Mechanoids had no choice but to obey the orders despite their urge to go into a fight.

    In the meantime, Diaz and Click purposely pulled the Deer Orc or that was what they had decided to identify it at the moment, away from the dead body, in hopes that it does not destroy any possible key evidence. Or perhaps the Deer Orc had purposely ced the dead body there to lure even more prey into finding it. They were not sure and were not keen to find out.

    All they know is that they had to move out of this area as soon as possible to a more suitable fighting ground so that the investigative team were not harmed in the process. Since Diaz had been selected for this particr expedition, Jin had temporarily appointed her as the leader mainly because of her familiar knowledge of the terrain since she was technically ''born'' here.

    While Click and Diaz held the same rank and had an equal say in things, Jin gave her the right to lead the team but Click was also given permission to refuse any stupid orders that Diaz might dish out. Other than that, he implored the two of them to respect the temporary hierarchy as they were on the mission.

    So, as they moved away from the body, Diaz noted that the Deer Orc was not chasing them as she hoped it would. Instead, it was creeping around the dead body. Even with some hollering and a few bullets to the monster''s torso, it was not exactly responsive to the provocation. That was where she looked at Diaz.

    "Ehhhhh, I do exactly have any mechanical bodies to y with. The most I can do is to create a few turrets?" Click said and Diaz sighed.

    "So, the monster was not exactly protecting the dead body but it is not moving away from it as well. Could it be that this is its territory or something?" Diaz could not understand the workings of the Deer Orc that had encountered until they realised that it was more intelligent than they thought.

    More of those Deer Orcs emerge from the tall grasses that they are currently at and that was when they saw the initial Deer Orcmunicating with them and splitting the new iing group into two. One was after the investigation team who Diaz asked to move to safety and the other half was to them. Obviously, a bigger portion of the group chased after the investigative team since they had the numbers while there were only four moving towards Diaz''s direction.

    "Shit!" She said without restraint. "Click! Go rescue the investigative team!"

    "Already on the way!" Thebat engineer said as she hopped on her mechanical scout hound and she dashed away. She did however dished out a few shots into the deer orcs before moving away from the scene.

    "Boss, we are not able to move away. The target ispromised at the moment and the investigative encountered trouble. There are these Orc looking Deers that wereing for us." Diaz said as she took her shotgun and kept banging on a tree to get more of their attention.

    "Roger, Lynn and Page are the closest to you. They will be there shortly." Jin said and his fears were indeed not unfounded.

    "Are you not going to help them?" Yinn questioned as Jin started to move further south.

    "If I cannot trust them, how can they grow?" Jin asked with a wry grin. "Still, Yinn please tell Denise of the situation." Yinn acknowledged as the pair stepped up their pace downwards.

    Meanwhile, Diaz finally got the attention of the Deer Orcs and when they were close enough, she unleashed her shotguns at them. Not only that, but she also revealed the melee weapon she had been carrying around. A portable power chainsaw which were equal in explosive power when ites to dealing with monsters.

    The head of the Deer Orc popped off from the shotgun shells while the chainsaw was sufficient to leave a lethal wound on another. The rest of the Deer Orcs finally stopped underestimating this Mechanoid and started to take the hunt against her seriously.

    Unfortunately, it was tad a little toote as Diaz already have her sights aimed at another Deer Orc before they could react properly, causing one of theirrades to have their chest imploded from within by a direct hit from the shotgun.

    The remaining of the attacking Deer Orcs then rushed hoping to overpower her, not knowing that she had already prepared sufficiently by installing several high levelled martial arts into her processing unit. Inspired by Lynn, her feet were nimble enough to evade the bullish charges of the Deer Orcs as she gracefully left them with chainsaw wounds.

    Only then some of them had enough had started to grab rocks from the ground and started to throw them towards her in multiple directions to stop the Mechanoid in her tracks. It proved useful initially as she did not expect a two pronged attack because of the tall grass, causing her to flinch for a moment.

    But that was all the Deer Orcs needed to have a hold on her while the other two Deer Orcs closed in hoping to tear her arms apart. "You think I will die like some Mechanoid? I am a Grey Bear! A part of that legendary outsider of amander!" Diaz shouted as put her legs around the Deer Orc''s torso which had grabbed her and used her hips and lots of rotating power to the extent her systems were ring warnings that it was pushing the limits of the mechanical body.

    However, that quick manoeuvre from Diaz enabled her to pull off a throw despite being in a grappled position and that gave her the opportunity to slip out of his hold while killing the iing two Deer Orcs.

    With steam venting out from her joints after that throw, she took no hesitation to swing at the Deer Orc, cutting his face with the power chainsaw.

    "Looks like you did not need any help at all," Lynn said from afar as she took down the remaining Deer Orc before signalling Diaz to move towards the investigative team. Thetter nodded her head with thanks and ran where Click had gone.

 Chapter 1594 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 7

    ?

    Should she dash as fast as possible? Or did she make sure that the Deer Orcs she had murdered were truly dead? How about dropping her chainsaw? Ditching the power chainsaw for extra mobility was a choice that Diaz did not want to make lightly and all of these were questions that were floating all within her head, hoping to utilise the best maximum amount of utility for the given situation.

    However, at the same time, she also remembered what Click went through just yesterday and she had forgotten how Click had developed. So, unlike previously when Diaz would drop everything and sprint towards Click, she decided to carry all her equipment to her destination, trusting her partner who had proved herself to be more than adequate for the situation.

    And just as Diaz reached to where Click was ording to the System coordinates, her analysis was correct and managed to find them in perfect condition. Internally, she sighed in relief as she saw Click giving an annoyed face as if this was not what she had expected. Her mechanical scout hound was tearing flesh from one of the Deer Orcs while the other security experts were putting a bullet into each and every dead Deer Orc into their heads to confirm their death.

    If not for the power of assault rifles and shotguns, even a beginner could survive an attack if they had ced some lucky shots into their target. So, the same went for the security experts. Those Mechanoids were part of Dyke''s Pikes and even though they were juniors in rank, they also have done quite a fair bit ofbat themselves.

    Still, because of rank and order, they had no choice but to run. At first, they were a little puzzled by Diaz''s orders, thinking that she might have underestimated them for not being able to hold their ground. Yet, an order was an order and so they moved. It was only when they started to see those Deer Orcs running after them that they finally grab hold of the tactical decision that Diaz had made. They might have overwhelming numbers at first but if each and every Deer Orc that had been chasing them were to jump and ambush the investigative team, there was indeed little chance for them to survive.

    Aspared to running, they had managed to get out of the Deer Orcs'' ambush position and had not taken bait by the Deer Orc''s trap. This enabled the security experts to run and shoot, firing suppressive shots to not only deter but also injure the hunting Deer Orcs. And that was sufficient for Click toe in and handle the rest. Hence, Diaz was relieved when all she could imagine was how quickly their Mechanoid bodies would have been torn away by the Deer Orcs if they were to be ambushed.

    "Lol, Diaz. Since when did you be so tactical in your decision making." Click pat her friend''s shoulder to signal a job well done.

    "Monsters do not usuallye alone, especially humanoids." This was the only excuse Diaz could make while attempting to hide the fact that it was a fluke for making such a decision.

    "There does not seem to be any more Deer Orcs around the area." Click said as the Scout Hound signalled to her that the coast was clear.

    "If that''s the case, let''s quickly get back to the body and bring it back for the investigation," Diaz said as the entire team agreed. Eventually, they met up with Lynn and Page where thetter was still panting to catch her breath despite her being one of the newer models who supposedly boast better stamina control. The air intake was to make sure that her parts were not overheated after the dash.

    "Any foul y detected? Did the Dyke''s investigative personnel say anything?" Lynn questioned the others as she pointed at the corpse. Diaz and the rest quickly take a look and the investigative team was sure that there was no damage to the said corpse from the previous encounter.

    "You are hoping to rule out any possible unnatural elimination like what Jin would have deduced?" Click asked and Lynn nodded her head.

    "Huh, the assistant is a human." Page replied. "I kept thinking that this would be a Mechanoid."

    "If she is, then she would not have run away or run even further than here," Diazmented.

    "In any case, the investigative team said that they needed tools at Diamondz Labs to conduct a proper post mortem. Otherwise, there is currently no signs of foul y... or they had covered it up rather well." Click reported.

    "Very well, bring it back to Diamondz Labs and see if you can find any information about it. Let''s hope it''s really just a monster attack." Lynn said.

    It did not take them long to bag the bodies while Lynn had also suggested to take a few of the dead Deer Orcs back as specimens since neither the investigative team nor the Grey Bears knew of their existence. The vehicle was loaded quickly with the help of the security experts after the investigation team had taken as much evidence as they could from the crime scene. They tried their best not to disturb the corpse as much as they could and transferred it as delicately as possible.

    However, it was inadvertent that a part of it fell off due to the mess that the monster attack had done. In the meantime, Lynn requested Click and Diaz to escort them back to Diamondz Headquarters in case of any further mishaps while Page will continue to apany Lynn to survey the surrounding area.

    Diaz on the other hand asked if she could join along since Click would be more than enough to escort them back.

    "You are leaving me such an important job?" Click asked but Diaz could not differentiate whether it was sarcasm or truly something that Click did not expect.

    "Yes, thank you." A generic reply to such an ambiguous question was more than enough for Diaz to answer Click before they drove off.

    "There''s more danger if you with us, you know?" Lynn said.

    "Hah! I think she felt bad that she didn''t get to do much during the assault in Diamondz''s building. "Page said and Diaz nodded with absolute agreement.

    "After hearing what Click had done, I feel like I am the only one that did not improve much. Even Tellie had gotten skills and experience that could rival that gigantic gori Mechanoid. There is no way I can do that on my own and yet she did. So much for a frontliner."

    "Ah, Jin did not feel that way about you, else you would not be leading the search for the assistant correct?" Lynn pats her back, knowing that all she needed was some opportunity to shine.

    "Well, we are now part of the Squad that serves the Lord of Mount Sunn. Surely, it would be dangerous or else why would we be deployed, right?" Diaz''s reply left a grin to the trio as they walked further north to check for any more tracks of the Deer Orcs as well as moving to survey the northern dungeon.

 Chapter 1595 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Part 8

    "The Lord of Mount Sunn..." He clenched his fists and tried to simmer his anger but no matter how he tried to do that, all he was left with was even more fury within him.

    "Your Majesty! It is best you calm down. There is no use worrying about all this." His attendant told him to calm down.

    "I am calm. There is no need to worry about it." Despite saying that, it was pretty apparent that he was not in the mood to negotiate. And there was nothing his attendant could do.

    "Looks like this little thorn seems to be more than capable. Why don''t you ascend him into your ranks?" His wifemented. "Won''t it be better than to leave it there, growing? Or do you want the Archduke to take him in instead?"

    "It''s unforgivable though. He destroyed one of the few ways I can ascend to immortality and be one of the greatest people in this world." The king replied to his Queen who sat from afar and gave a condescending stare at the ipetence of his minions.

    "If it consoles you, doesn''t what Edmond did was to show that the concept works? All you got to find is that Crystal Dragon and reign absolute power over the Empire before it crumbles in front of you." The Queen remarked. "Besides you do not have to worry about that newly appointed Lord of Mount Sunn even though the overall Administrator had given him such a title for his ''deeds''. We just got to make sure that he is not alive enough to return to Mount Sunn, right? Well, that is if you hated him enough."

    "Your Majesty, Your Highness. If you allow your lowly servant to interject."

    "Speak, Puzzle." The King had enough of his Queen''s rambling and would rather have his personal attendant, Puzzle, to talk instead.

    "Dungeons had always surrounded Daimon City. And to boot, because of the recent ...erm developments on the Crystal Dragons, those dungeons had been plundered so severely that they had been turned into Variant Dungeons."

    "Continue, I like the sound of this." The King said.

    "Thank you, your Majesty. Even without our interference, it seems that there is a high possibility of the city being invaded by monsters, especially from reports that the city''s barrier had been down. Even though they are one of the fewrgest Mechanoid manufacturers in our Empire, most of their factories are situated away from the city itself. That means that even though they have a few guarded factories for customised products, a monster outbreak of several variant dungeons would undoubtedly cripple the city."

    "Oh. I like this idea. If the Archduke''s team ever got out and know that we are the ones whomissioned the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid, they have all the more reason to bring us down. On the other hand, if we get rid of Daimon City, there would be no evidence to speak of." The Queen was delighted to hear such a rmendation from their trusty personal attendant.

    "Yes, and not to mention, you can be sure that your so called thorn, the Lord of Mount Sunn would not be able to get out of this situation."

    "Then, what are you waiting for? It''s such a good n why have you not enacted it? This will make it seem like nature was merely doing its job to clear the incessant pests that had plundered her resources, right? All it needed is just a nudge from us to get the floodgates moving." The King finally calmed down from his anger but got high again from this exciting idea.

    "I have already stationed a few several ...wilderness experts on standby and ready to act on your behalf," Puzzle said. "With your approval, they are just a phone call away to do what is needed to make sure that the monster lures will be out so that those monsters can attack Daimon City."

    "With my capacity as the Queen, I approve of the n you had concocted which I believe the King is also in agreement." The King nodded his head decisively when his wife red at him momentarily when she finished her sentence. Puzzle instantly acknowledge and was about to get up when his Queen stopped him by speaking further. "Puzzle, I have another task for you once you are done with the initial order. Inform the Lords of the neighbouring cities of Daimon to not to provide reinforcements and to guard themselves from an impending monster outbreak."

    "Your Highness, you sure that would be a wise choice? That would be interfering with the Archduke''s district and he won''t be happy about it."

    "That''s precisely my point. What else can he do when the Imperial Family sent a royal decree for the sake of the people? Surely the Lords would oblige when their palms had been applied with a little bit of greasing from us as well. Give them some gold as military expenditure to defend themselves from it and a little more for the Lords and Ladies to keep in their pocket. Spread rumours that Daimon City has been up to no good and does not deserve to be helped."

    "Hah! Then the Daimon City would be in shambles by the end of the week. If I am not wrong, their main military force is stuck withdrawing from Mount Sunn and it will take them weeks at least days to reach back Daimon. Now this will be something that even the Lord of Mount Sunn cannot reckon with." The king was extremely pleased with this new n. While he did not expect thismander Jin to be a pain in the ass, he knew that this was the best n to nip the whole situation at its bud.

    If his intuition was correct, that pesky Lord of Mount Sunn would try to defend the city with whatever resources he could find but this time around, there was no way he can win. Variant monsters of varying difficulties alling out to y. Even the King wants petty revenge, this is one way to do so.

 Chapter 1596 Lord Of Mount Sunn -Final

    ?

    "Yes, we will get it done." The so called Wilderness Experts acknowledged the orders by Puzzle the moment they saw the points had been transferred into their electronic wallet. There was nothing so satisfying than to receive a huge sum of cash and felt like the employers were taken advantaged of.

    This is because what they had to was just to put the specialised lures which they had brought dirt cheap from the ck market and ced it right at the front of the dungeon entrance. That was all that was needed, it was nothing special. Not to mention, they had tried a cheaper lure previously that incurred a group of Orcs with horns right above their heads.

    And they did not expect it to be so effective and one could say convenient as well when they saw a guy running away from Daimon City as a bait for their supposed group of Deer Orcs who were hungry upon smelling the monster lure.

    In an instant, the person got killed and the Wilderness Experts all giggled and chuckled at how stupid the guy was.

    Well, they did sayughter can be infectious and so was their so call concept of stupidity.

    Just as how they were going to do the same thing again by putting the monster lure down, albeit it was now at least a few timesrger, they wereughing loudly at how it was such an easy job and boasted how many monsters they wondered the dungeon would produce. But before they could activate the monster lures, these Wilderness Experts were also lying down on the floor with their mouths wide open, now winching in pain.

    As if that was not enough, more bullets were ced in their heads to ensure that they were never awake again and Jin even kick them toy them bare on the ground to ensure that they each all have a bullet through their throats too.

    "Its a close call from here." Yinn reported as she stated that the monster lures had yet to be activated. "Looks like your hunch is right."

    "Eh. If not for them shouting like mad dogs to celebrate their victory, we would not have locate them as well." Jin said as he tried to use the System to pull out any possible information or locked data that were rted to them. In the meantime, he looted these people since they were obviously up to no good and extra weapons are more than weed.

    That was when he found a business card supposed rted to the ck market where the System believed that was where the monster lures were made. And when Jin was about to finish searching, hismunications data had been picked up by the System which it quickly ryed to Jin''s electronic processing unit.

    "Yo, we had already activated the lures at the East and West, the other bros had also done for the smaller dungeons in the various nearby regions. We should be getting out of here now. Are you done."

    "Hmm, cough!- done, Coming." Jin tried to imitate as much as possible but failed so badly that he could only hope that the other side did not notice a single bit.

    "Cough! yeah, these monster lures are fucking stinky. Guess, the price for getting them cheap was worth it though, see you at the rendevous location and remember to GIVE US OUR CREDITS! Asshole.ms out." The other sideined and themunication channel closed off.

    "Looks like we are toote for the others." Yinn said as she too had heard thems over the System channel.

    "Lynn, are you able to hear that?" JIn asked through the System Channel and Lynn did not reply immediately, which prompted the System to indicate that they too found someone who may have disrupted the dungeon entrances.

    "Sorry about thete reply, but we found a few suspicious characters. They shot back at us and with the System determined that they were enemies, we went to deal with them.

    "The monster lure at the northern area had been activated but Mechanoid Diaz was able to shut it down before it could be fully operational." The System reported.

    "The East and West had beenpromised but there is no way we can reach those in time. At the very most, we can converge in one particr direction and stop that one monster lure from calling out even more monsters." Jin said.

    "Commander! I have already get Denise up to speed with the current situation!" Click responded. "She said that the West side had more troops stationed aspared to the East because of the mobilisation of the local military forces from the East to the central area of Daimon City."

    "Then East it is. Also, is there really no one other than her calling the shots?" Jin queried.

    "Ehhh not really? The current Lord had been imprisoned because of the usible criminal charges that he is colluding with the ex CEO of Diamondz." Click replied.

    "It is not really a technicality per se but Denise is the highest-standing reputable representative to hold the Lord''s seat now that the current Lord is in shackles." Pagemented as she entered the conversation. "However, now that you are in Daimon City, you might erm... through a legal loophole ...to hold power until a new lord can be posted. And if you have the blessing of Archduke which you will have full support from what I know, I see that holding the Lord of Daimon City might not actually be a problem until this crises blow over."

    "Is that true?" Jin asked the System which it could not give a definite answer immediately. Despite being a database of everything, it was not well versed in the legality unlike Page. She was a walking dictionary that should not be underestimated. It might also be because of such knowledge within her that she might be able to use her nanobots to overwrite the logic processes within the enemies.

    Thus, to quickly get this over and done with, dialling up Dyke might actually be the next best alternative to ensure that Jin might have temporary control over Daimon City.

 Chapter 1597 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 1

    ?

    "Approved." The Empire Archduke didn''t bat an eye when he was asked especially after how the information of these Wilderness Experts had been revealed to him.

    "Do what you need to do to protect that city. After all, we would need it to go against the Imperial Family. And since you are now technically a Lord, it opens up a multiude of options for you to enact for the protection of the city. I will give you the rights shortly."

    "Just like this?" Jin could not help but wonder how much of this power transfer within this Virtual Simtion can taken advantage of. It felt as if this was something that emerge from the regr MMORPG gaming experiences where the transfer of power and rights was just a click away. After being stuck in this world for a few weeks, he had forgotten that this was a Virtual Simtion though to these people, it was their lifeline.

    "Just like this," Dyke said as he already made the necessary adjustments. "But the transfer of power and the announcement of being an interim lord is a separate issue. I will attempt to mobilise my troops to you but it seems like the Imperial family had already taken a step ahead of time and sent a royal decree to have my troops to move to the north.

    "Huh. For what reason?"

    "They used you as an excuse, stating that since I am the person who had requested and rmended the approval of the Lord of Mount Sunn''s candidate, I should be the one who should help kickstart Mount Sunn''s development. They ''noted'' the chaos in that particr area as word had finally travelled to them."

    "Oh...That''s a cunning move."

    "Yes, exactly. But since I know that you are in control of Daimon City right now, I rest my case and decided to go full force to aid you instead." Dyke replied with a grin. "I will bring all the necessary equipment, construction tools and since Imperial Family had gave me permission, I see there''s no reason why I could not dip into the royal coffers to build up Mount Sunn."

    "You can do that?"

    "Of course! The development of a new region is the Imperial State''s responsibility. They might have private coffers but their current personal Royal Army had been funded by the state as well. That is in the name of protecting and defending the Empire''s name and title. Obviously, they took that minor loophole and abused it to kingdome. So, why can''t I do the same? Besides, I am the Archduke, I have self rights and no need of approval from the Royal Family to use the national coffers in the name of renovating a town - well in your case, it is to build from scratch."

    "If that''s the case, I guess you should get your Royal Engineers to be in contact with Old mmet. The priority should be rebuilding the workshop again and getting it up to speed. Having him will no doubt improve your army''s chances to fight against the Imperial Family." Jin felt this conversation was extremely productive.

    "I shall do that. In the meantime, I will send a ''volunteer detachment'' to your side but it won''t be much. At most, two hundred standard Mechanoids." Archduke Dyke was happy with the oue of this mini discussion as he said goodbye.

    "Lol. Standard Mechanoids. They think that you guys are not standard stuff." Jin said to Yinn would be listening through the whole meeting from the side while standing guard.

    "Technically speaking, after that event, you pull through from us, we are no longer standard Mechanoids. Especially after they inserted the special module packages into us. We are already considered to be customised Mechanoids. Not to mention, the growth of Click, Tellie and possibly Diaz in thising... catastrophe. It is likely customised Mechanoids would be the terms that we hold, such as the title the Interim Lord of Daimon City for you."

    "I wish they could stop shoving all these titles at me... Though I won''t say it''s a bad thing at this moment since I get to take charge of stuff..." Jin thought to himself as he questioned Page what are the procedures to assume power.

    "Since Diamondz Corps has the majority of the holding power to this city at the moment, having Denise publicly announce that you are the new interim City Lord would not be a bad idea. And seeing how Click had described your interaction with the special assault police forces, there is a high chance that you should have a smooth transition with the security forces. All you need to do is to focus on the administration team handling the city." Yinn remarked.

    "Does my presence make such a big impact on the police forces? Lol, I have no idea."

    "The Special Assault Police Force is technically the branch with the highest amount of power. You gaining their approval meant that the rest of the police force had to listen to you. It''s that simple right here." Yinn replied.

    "Then I guess priority goes to returning to Diamondz Corps immediately and using Diamondz Crops'' security forces to set up the initial perimeter while the police evacuate the citizens," Jin said as he beckoned Yinn to start running with him back to the rental vehicle that Denise had loaned them.

    "Commander. I think your thinking is too passive. You had forgotten how the Daimon City citizens were so eager to kill the Tri-Rex previously. While there may have been a few deaths and many injured from the Tri-Rex incident, it also showed that all of them were capable of fighting back. So you actually have a citizen force as well as the security forces to y with to fight with this outbreak."

    When Jin heard that from Yinn, he somehow felt like this was partially preparing him for a possible simr situation when he is out of this Virtual Simtion. It was a bad hunch which he could not shake off at the moment and all he could do was to agree to Yinn as she drove him back to the City while he get his thoughts right.

 Chapter 1598 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 2

    ?

    Upon reaching Daimon City, Click was already there preparing another set of supplies for the entire Grey Bear Squad but not for Jin. With his new responsibilities shoved to him by the circumstances and the probable possibility of sabotage by the Imperial Family. Yinn could not extract much information from the dead Wilderness Experts but which idiot would bring a monster to lure and give the promise of money for putting a monster lure beside a city with no barriers? Not to mention, the right time right ce kind of situation.

    If they were to argue it was the perfect opportunity that presented itself so nicely, then something was wrong with their heads. There would be no points given to these experts other than the chance of creating havoc. Therefore, as the situation presented itself to be dangerous for Daimon City, Jin had no choice but to liaise with the acting executive officer of Diamondz, Denise to make sure that everything was proceeding smoothly.

    With Yinn at the helm of coordinating the mission to eliminate the Eastern Monster Lure before more of those monsters emerge, Jin could rest easy that the Grey Bears were more than capable of doing so. Thus, Yinn told Jin to settle his bureaucratic nonsense while she will drive with Click to the Eastern Dungeon while picking up Tellie who had been told to scout at a certain position in the east. And since the other three wereing from the north, they will be moving down to the Eastern Dungeon as soon as possible while checking the dungeons there were residing in the northeastern areas as well. It would be at ater point they would rendezvous at the Eastern Dungeon entrance as their checkpoint.

    Click also deduced that they should have enough ammunition and battery sources to keep them juiced up for the trip down to the Eastern Dungeon considering how Jin had forced them to search with a full battle order, arming themselves to the teeth. Thus, they should not have any problem with ammunition even with them spamming like crazy. Not to mention, they had Diaz and Lynn with them. The only problem was the Western side.

    Denise did rmend sending an unmanned drone armed with missiles out to hit the dungeon entrances but hinted that things could get worse. Jin initially thought that would be a wonderful idea until Denise exined that no matter how precise the hit monster lure was, there were no assurances that upon destroying the lure, it would dissipate the effects.

    "The only way to prevent the lure from breaking and have a constant effect is to shut it down. The lure is something akin to a radioactive source. If you destroy the monster lure device, you technically break only the shielding and effectively allow it to radiate at full st. Of course, it has benefits doing that since if it radiates at full st, the lure would be used up faster rather than an intermittent release as designated by the device''s programming." Denise said and now Jin also understood why Yinn had not left the lure at the area and instead brought it with them.

    Considering how portable the device was, it was not an issue to lug around. It was practically the size of a piece of mini luggage, and it was not a hassle for Mechanoids to carry on their back, much less throw it at the back of their vehicle.

    "Also, hitting so close to the dungeon may have undesirable effects such as damaging the dungeon entrance and that could possibly anger the inhabitants in there, forcing an even bigger outbreak. All we could do is shoot missiles near the dungeon entrance and hope that the subsequent wave of explosions can create some cause and effect. Otherwise, it''s to hit to kill the monsters in order to dy them." Denise added.

    "You sure know your stuff..." Jin said and all the ex-secretary could do was to shrug her shoulders.

    "The experiencees from the previous job plus I am a partial Mechanoid. So, I kind of have ess to the database in order to lecture you. Anyways, the Archduke''s assistants had sent a message to me, asking me to aid you in your endeavour to transit as the Interim Lord of Daimon City. And considering what you had done for the city plus the rumours circting around that a very highly trained and yet unconventional personnel sent by the Archduke to subdue the previous CEO.... it should be easier for me to get things moving."

    "So, the point is, it''s good that I''m not a nobody to start with?"

    "You could say that. Plus the returning army from Mount Sunn may actually respect you... assuming we are able to hold Daimon City until theye back."

    "You already send an expedited order for them to return?" Jin asked and Denise felt like that should already be a necessary step which should not need to be asked.

    "Unless you have some animosity against people who you fought against...? I do not see the reason why not." Denise had a way of implying that this was the only possible way for them to survive.

    "It''s not really a concern for me, just that it is funny how they changed from enemy to ally almost immediately. Though I like to ask what about your neighbours? Aren''t they going to help you all? There had to be some defence pact considering your city is Diamondz Corps''s headquarters."

    "We do, but when the message was sent out to them for help, none of them were making any moves. Not one gave a reply and there is a possible assumption that they had been bribed by someone or as you could have imagined, the Imperial Family."

    "They dare to do that in the Archduke''s district?"

    "Considering the information you had given me, the Archduke had been preupied with mobilising his army based on the Imperial Family''s decree. There is no way he could do anything unless he overrides the decree''smand. But if that were to happen, it would also mean that he was directly defying them and he could no doubt be discharged from his seat."

    "So all he could do is rely on us."

    "And well, that extra two hundred troops he was about to airdrop to us," Denise said in such a way that those soldiers were just an additional drop of water in the bucket. "But that is not the crux of the issue. What you should care about right now is how to address the citizens of Daimon City to this. What you are going to do to save this city and why you should do that."

    "So I sincerely hope you do not have stage fright." She said as camera drones started to surround the room they were in when themander least expected. There was no warning nor alert that he was about to go live.

    All he could rely on was the beeping red buttons on all the camera drones which simultaneously turned fully red. There was no turning back for Jin, this was it. As much as he disliked it and prefer to work in the shadows, this event was like a precursor to him to be the interim leader of Daimon City.

 Chapter 1599 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 3

    "Citizens of Daimon City. I am Jin, the Lord of Mount Sunn, a title you had not heard of but a ce where you probably had heard whispers of in recent weeks."

    "In the past few weeks, Edmond Diamondz the CEO of Diamondz Corps hadunched an intensive campaign against Mount Sunn because of reasons that we are still investigating. From what we had known, it is most likely that he had enacted the reinforcement of a ban against one of this world''s most famous Mecha Smith in history. If anyone were to be in contact with this particr Mecha Smith, they should be annihted and the Mecha Smith would be sentenced to death."

    "However, as an officer of the Archduke''s personal army, Dyke''s Pikes, we found this reason to be extremely upelling and had been riddled with corporate bans. It was in the interest of Edmond that the Mecha Smith does not thrive so that thepany and other manufacturing Mechanoid industries can very well survive. Such a close minded thought of process had led to a big conflict where he decided that sending out thousands of soldiers to a remote ce just to dot out punishment and have absolute control over it."

    "Unfortunately, being the bearer of bad news, that remote territory of mine was able to defend and repel the invaders that had stepped into the surroundingnd of Mount Sunn," Jin said and Denise was wondering how this was going. It felt like this was a deration of taking over Daimon City because of the sins that they had made due to one person''s greed. Yet, she continue to monitor and see how Jin would turn this around.

    "But Daimon City''s army was not as weak as I had described. They were a strong and resilient force that kepting wave after wave in order to break our morale. And even if there were no news about your loved ones, I can only say that they had worked hard to break through the front gates of our imprable Mount Sunn. It was a feat that could not be underestimated and it''s not something that any other cities'' armies could boast about."

    "That is also the reason why I am standing here. I was sent as part of the mission to stop Edmond Diamondz from going hell bent crazy to sacrifice the rest of the army just to take down a Mecha Smith who was armed to the teeth, willing to do anything to protect what is rightfully his. Unfortunately, you all had seen how it ended. He had scores of fiendish Mechanoids under his wing and even had one rampaging throughout the city without care of his citizens. Next, he turned himself into a dragon Mechanoid and flew off, breaking the city''s barrier to the point that it would take at least weeks to repair."

    "And that is how the situation is right now. I regret to inform you that you will going to be under attack. By monsters. A major monster outbreak that could be unprecedented in scale. It is short notice but still, some avable time is better than no time. And you might be wondering, shouldn''t the more concerning issue be the person standing in front of you to speak to you? Why am I addressing all of you this particr problem? Is it to spite you for the damages you had done to mynd?" Jin stopped to take a deep breath before giving the most serious look he could.

    "No. Absolutely not."

    "I am here because the Archduke knows that the only viin in this picture was Edmond Diamondz but not the citizens of Daimon City. I have no information on what he had done previously and perhaps he could have been a good man to a few of you. But right now, to me, he is the perpetrator that had destroyed the barrier of this Daimon City and you are all the victims of his vile act. So, with my expertise to be able to defend Mount Sunn against Daimon''s Army, I am now here as approved and appointed by not only the Archduke but also the current acting CEO of Diamondz Corps, Denise who had decades of service under her name serving Diamondz."

    "If you are worried that I am here for revenge, worry not. I had been given assurances that if I protect this city sessfully, I will be rewarded generously. So generous that I am also willing to share that wealth with all of you as well. So driven by greed, by points, by the amount of gold that I might possibly take a lifetime to spend, I am determined to see this to the end. Yet, I had also seen the spirit of Daimon City in action. I saw how in the recent events where you all band together to bring now that rogue Tri-Rex down. Are you gonna see your city fall prey to monsters? Do you wish for your families and dear rtives to be eaten alive by those monsters? Or perhaps let the rest of the neighbouring countries sneer at how useless Daimon Citizens are?"

    "Oh, one more thing. I heard that your so called friendly neighbours are going to close their doors on us because they are too scared to take on refugees in case any of you are going to take the chance to run away. So, unless you have extremely strong connections with people from other cities, we are left alone in this fight." Jin blurted out hurtful truths.

    "But I am not walking away from you and if I am going to protect this city, I need your corporation especially now that the Daimon City''s Army is still returning from its expedition from Mount Sunn. "

    "So, are you with me? If Yes, as the new interim leader of Daimon City, I will announce a state of emergency and will send the necessary information to Diamondz Corp Media Group to prepare for this invasion. Ladies, Gentlemen and even other Mechanoids who are listening to this. I will say it again. I cannot protect Daimon City without your help. Help me, protect this ce and I will reward all of you generously." Jin cleared his throat as he bowed slightly once and left the room.

    "How was it?" Jin asked Denise who was waiting outside the room.

    "It was... magnificently terrible. I have never heard a leader talking about their problems, their personal motivations and ultimately giving reassurances because of the said motivations. Its definitely not leadership material." Denise sighed with a smile.

    "But, I can bet you fully with my life savings that those citizens had heard you, feel you and understand where you areing from. If they do not get roused up by that speech, they are more heartless than I can ever remember." Denise said as she said with a raised hand while a camera drone emerged from her front and back.

    "As the acting CEO of the Diamondz Corps, we are ready to provide whatever resources that Lord of Mount Sunn requires in order for the survival of Daimon City. I publicly acknowledge Lord Jin as the Interim Leader of Daimon City."

 Chapter 1600 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 4

    ?

    "Ding!" Xiong Da''s phone had been pinging for a while now but he had been busy dealing with a client that he had no time to check not just his phone but also his meal times. He figured that since Jin was in istion training, this was probably the best time to take on big cases and get some nice moh so that when Boss Jines back, Xiong Da can go to his favourite past time store to spend it all.

    All the quality goods he had been getting from Dungeons and Pandas were so terribly great that it was to the point that he felt he could never live without them ever again. From day to day snacks to super fast deliveries, it was already bing a norm that Xiong Da ordered from Dungeons and Pandas and sometimes even the Tree Mall for his daily essentials.

    Thus, the moment he closed the major case, he thought of getting one of those Chilli Ban Mian to end the day. Thinking that it was an ordinary closure for the day, and rxing for the rest of the night with his now wife. (Also ironically gotten from Dungeons and Pandas as well. Hehe!) He realised that the notifications were different from the usual.

    "Dungeons and Pandas presents a Brand New Simtion Room!" There were no other subheadings for the notification and as curious as he was, Xiong Da opened it up to check it out. He remembered that Xiong Da and the others had tested this particr virtual simtion. It was something that he always envisioned as a kid. To be able to step into Virtual Reality and explore with others, wasting lots of time on it. And somehow Jin was getting there with the previous beta testing that he had done with the group as well as other ''experts''.

    "Did his employees finally finish everything?" Xiong Da had some doubts that without Jin around, the employees were not as...hardworking as they should be. Granted, Qiu Yue was merely guarding the ce until he returns and once in a while releases some short content for people to try it out. It was fun for sure but it did not have the big Oof! impact that he had always been experiencing with Jin''s created dungeon instances.

    Yet, there was still some kick to those arena fights but it got stale after a while even though he did read up that there were some people who were asking for more of such instances. Quick PVP/PVE fights that could allow them to push their limits in a short time frame. The Hippo Cultivator had no doubts that it''s a pretty good addition since not everyone was like him, that was particrly invested in a Dungeon Supplier store. Some just wanted to have a quick fight and go off which thetest installment was quite a hit.

    To the point, there was a ping that went off in the forums, started by Qiu Yue asking whether anyone would be interested in a fast tourney match that involved this kind of PVP scenario. Xiong Da would have participated in a heartbeat until he realised there were no plushies except Panda Coins which he had too much of. Thus, it was a skip for him but not for a few of his fellow Pandawans.

    Yet this time around it was different. When he pressed the notification, it was actually an event that was going on. There was a short story and it felt a little cutoff, as if the cultivators that had been invited this time were something simr to the Quick Time emergency event that Jin had created previously, the Smander Castle Raid Instance.

    This time around, its theme was closer to the PVP guns theme that had been appearing recently but the rewards list was moreprehensive. But what had captured Xiong Da''s attention was this particr line. "Boss Jin is insidemanding the entire fight! Be sure not to miss him as he is finally out of this ''enlightening'' process but that idiot of a boss went diving into creating the next thing he could see lying around his bed!" Qiu Yue wrote with an angry red panda face sticker at the end of the line.

    "Hooooooooo! Now this is worth my time!" Xiong Da knows that anything that has Jin inside would definitely be something absurd. He knew that if he had missed the notification previously, the others could have done the same as well and thus, he quickly went to find his Pandawan Chat Group and saw that no one had discussed it at all.

    Hippo: Yo guys, there is a new ything at our old hangout ce.

    Beetle: wats is it about?

    Carrot: Probably some PVP thing again right?

    Hippo: You be surprised, Jin is in this.

    Xiong Da could see that the messages from the chat group started to be read and multiple people were typing at the same time.

    Gori: Holy shit, finally some new content.

    Womble: Urgh, and here I thought Boss Jin had abandoned us after learning so much money from us.

    Gori: Only you will think that way. Who asked you to spend so much time and money on Supa Robo Wars? How can you find someone like how Se Lang did?

    Wolf: I am still in this chat you know...

    Giraffe: Don''t worry, those girls were just manipting dear Wolfie from the start. It was a tease to see how he could stand up to it. After all, someone seemed to be interested in Womble.

    Hippo+Gori: WHAT?!

    Beetle: Suddenly the main topic had digressed ;/

    Monkey: Considering how we always see our dear womble being so disheartened, this is undoubtedly a double happiness news.

    Flower: We should meet up soon and join this event! They said it''s a virtual simtion, so I doubt it''s as straining as those usual events.

    Gori: You have no idea...

    Womble: how narcissistic Boss Jin can be...

    Gori: Even in games/events that are not cultivator based...

    The messages went on and ultimately, everyone agreed to meet up after such a long period of time.

 Chapter 1601 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 5

    ?

    "The System is d to report that the Virtual Simtion Instance had been created. Individual rooms and group rooms have been allocated while Qiu Yue is making the final adjustments to ensure that the rooms are well equipped and have proper connections with the Synthesis World. Syn is also standing by to make dummy connections to ensure that the transfer of souls is nominal and without any problem."

    "Holy shit. I did not expect this to happen this quickly." Jin merely finished his speech and the System had already enacted on the problem.

    "As the System had already made the necessary arrangements previously, it only expedited the creation of the Soul Inhibitors and Soul Extractors along with the help of Original Betor Kraft."

    "Ah. Once you get a tech that he is not used to or something brand new, he will want to dip his hands in it. I am d that he had managed to create this without leaving it half done." Jin was ted that Kraft personally assisted with the Virtual Simtion project even though it was not his responsibility.

    "He did and ced several fail safes to pull the soul out of the Virtual Simtion as well so that the cultivator''s souls would not be stuck in the Synthesis World. However, the System believed that he did not do it because it is for the customers and the System deduced that there were other ulterior motives at hand."

    "Hey, I am not that bad of a person," Kraft interjected and Jin was surprised to hear him. "Eh, don''t bother replying to me. I cannot hear what you are talking about for some reason. So, I am just seeing what the System had spoken and interrupted. Just so you know Boss Man, you should be thankful that both the Soul Inhibitor and Extractor had simr features to this world''s technology. It was easy to replicate despite the odd blueprints that had been given to us. Their design had so much redundancy but when ites to properly ejecting the souls, the problem exacerbated." Kraft continued to babble on since he know that even if he were to say something, he needed the System to tell him what Jin was saying.

    "It was as if they had made this machine first to slow down the dposition process of a human and started to think of ways to provide nutrients for the human."

    "But meh, when I queried Syn further why don''t they just do full hibernation instead? I was surprised that the answer I got was something out of the infamous MADTRIX Trilogy films...just erm the robots are friendlier? He said that the AI Administration needed the energy to power up the millions of humans that they were hibernating. The power reserves were being calcted to the point where it shouldst a century, enough time for a wide scale expedition force to search for new worlds so that the humans could be preserved."

    "Yet, 100 yearster there were no signs of the expedition forceing back and not even a signal, forcing the AIs to consider of the possibility that the worst had befallen them. So! They eventually had to search for renewable energy that enabled the robots and systems that were maintaining the hibernation machines in order to keep the humans alive."

    "And as if the MADTRIX had the very same idea as them, they decided to use the humans they had hibernating as their power source. And if you are wondering, they could have used sr power as their source of energy but their world had been so polluted and major catastrophe struck so much that the period where they could collect sr energy was probably 30 odd days?"

    "I am starting to think this is some sort of lecture..." Jin said to himself but he could not let Kraft hear it through the System nor should he try to stop Kraft from grumbling like an old dude mainly because he did after allplete the modified version of Soul Inhibitors and Extractors so that the cultivators could join in.

    "At first they thought it was possible to collect that much energy but their luck got even worse as they found out that their sun was dying as well and the star energy made sr power a non renewable energy source which it would be a stupid idea if they could chasing for it."

    "That''s why they used human electrical pulses as their power source just as MADTRIX did. Probably less terrifying since all of them are under hibernation unlike where the movie did it when they were all still well awake and alive...and that exins the simtion part why all of them are in there."

    "But what I found out is that they are running multiple simtions, especially for those who were ''killed'' in the simtion by putting the ''dead'' people into those Mechanoids and allowing them to bemanded. This enabled them to continue the simtion with the AIs getting their needed electrical sources of energy while also allowing yers who lose to continue ying in a ''dead'' state."

    "And this electrical pulse thing is giving me lots of ideas on how to manipte the brain. Hue hue hue~." Kraftughed softly for once and not caring that he was on record.

    "Wait a minute... Do you mean?" Jin realised what Kraft was talking about and he was not just working this Soul Inhibitor and Extractor for free. The System was able to ry the words back at Kraft and that was when his Devilish smile emerged.

    "You are absolutely totally 100 percent on the spot, Jin! As expected from my disciple! Yes! I did! I copied and I was sessful!" Kraft danced on the spot and Jin could not help but sigh at the situation. He had realised why the Devil Fox was giving such a long monologue.

    For he had implemented the very same mechanics on their world''s Soul Inhibitor and Extractor machines. They were capable of collecting electrical pulses from their customers as well, reducing the electrical consumption of the dungeon instance store.

    "Qiu Yue told me to save money these past few months and how about we skimp a little on the public''s electricity and create our own? And those power nts that we have... we can actually sell power to people cheaply instead!" Kraft raved on as he knew that Jin was not around to stop him at all, and neither did the System have the power to do so.

    All Jin could get out of this was that they finally solve their electrical bill problem while providing this amazing opportunity for the customers to y. And if this Virtual Simtion Room proves to be a hit, this could be the revival of ''cyber'' cafes since Jin and Panda Inc had yet to publicly release and produce this for the country to use. After all, unlike the machine that they had made that consumed lots of energy, this big hunk of Virtual Simtor Machine that extracts and inhibits souls were currently only avable in Dungeons and Pandas.

    But for the first time, Virtual Simtion would be a reality to the world and the System predicts that it would going to take the world by storm.

 Chapter 1602 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 6

    ?

    After Kraft babbled on the fact that he was going to exploit the customers, Jin had no choice but to allow him to do whatever he wants mainly because the boss was not there to facilitate it. Besides, deep down, he knows that this would definitely be a money saving trick that he could employ in order to save on the electricity bills.

    Perhaps, if they wentrge scale and if it was popr enough, he could be able to power up the Tree Mall with it and the cost savings could be past down to the vendors as well. Of course, some price expectations were needed to ensure that his tenants were also not ripping their customers off and expecting a revision of their prices or at the very least, keep the prices stable.

    That way, they would not need to be awfully worried about the electric supply if this project proves to be sessful and Qiu Yue will most likely be appeased that Jin was doing something useful for the store instead of being missing all the time. If that was Kraft''s way of assisting Jin, he would no doubt appreciate it but it was better that Kraft could do so by saving Jin''s sorry ass from the celestial ne. Yet, this current issue was a more pressing concernpared to his body.

    Now Jin understood why the AI administrations would prefer a lot of entertaining...situations to happen. If what Kraft had said about the electrical pulses, stimtions were necessary to create better and stronger pulses. So, Jin''s interference and presence caused the people within the simtion to be stimted, enhancing the creation of stronger pulses and thus more electricity produced for their needs. Thus, if Syn felt that Jin was not able to provide sufficient stimtion for the AI Administration to collect data as well as the power to fuel their requirements, it was possible that he would fall short of his bargain- something that Jin would never wish to do.

    Thus, the only way forward was to continue on with this situation and hoped that the introduction of not just one variant but as well as the iing waves of cultivators would provide the necessary stimtion for the Synthesis World AI Administration to be ''joyful'' about. (After all, Jin predicted that they could not feel emotions as well as his System could.)

    "System, ensure that the cultivators have sufficient training and use the Mount Sunn scenario as a possible simtion training ground before allowing them to reach here."

    "Is User worried about not having sufficient time to prepare for your customers to be in the same space as you?"

    "Nah, I am more concerned about the timing. Imagine when they reach here and there was nothing but peace?" Jin said.

    "The System have User to take note of the time differences that he is experiencing. There is so much the System can do to prepare the customers but it won''t be much help if they were to be waiting for days for you to share your... decisive strike." The System reminded and Jin felt that this was a headache he got to handle with.

    "Are you able to have full control of the cultivator''s souls?"

    "For a System who handles souls regrly, this is not an issue and had been reiterated multiple times to the Syn Administration, as they think that the System was equally incapable of doing so."

    "That means you can force log off the cultivators if necessary?"

    "Yes. There will be no problems doing force log outs as well. Is there a concern that the System needs to know about?"

    "If that is the case, once you train them and they have sufficient knowledge, throw them to the North and South portions of Daimon City territory where we had disposed the monster lures. Denise said that the monster outbreaks can influence nearby dungeons even if we had destroyed the Monster Lures. It would be a good way to slowly introduce them to this world while not impeding on the fight that the Daimons are working for."

    "The System understands where you areing from. Force Log Off to teleport them to where you need them when the timees?"

    "Yea, something like that, stating that there is an emergency change of venue. Otherwise, the cultivators think that this is another boring monster culling programme." Jin said and he was rather satisfied that he was able to control the flow of the situation despite him not being at the store.

    "The System will inform Qiu Yue of your decisions and they should be implemented without much impetus as the System finds that it is an appropriate choice as well. The System shall now leave the User to do what he needs to do for the defences of Daimon City. If there is any additional implementation that requires the User''s input, the System shall consult with Sub System User Qiu Yue first."

    "Great idea, thanks." Jin closed off the System and got back into the room where Denise had been waiting. She had created a holographic console which had all the information that Jin needed to know with regard to Daimon''s City defences.

    Ranging from the number of soldiers that they have in control and where they had been stationed. The reserve soldiers who had previously served were also called back to return to service so that they were able to assist with backend support. However, there were many who prefer a very singr purpose- Just give me a gun, and tell me where to stand.

    It was an extremely simple order that the ex Daimon Soldiers preferred and Jin gave praise for their directness. However, the fact that they were ex soldiers, they were being stationed in the second wave of defencepared to soldiers who had been paid to work and stand on the frontlines.

    The surprising thing about this situation was that Jin felt that if his country or region had been invaded, the citizen cultivators would also do the very same thing for their nation without a thought. If they do have the same mentality like his own fellow countrymen then perhaps, themanding of troops might be easier than he would expect it to be.

 Chapter 1603 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 7

    ?

    Although themanding of the troops should be easy, he was actually more afraid of the city''s defensive perimeters than anything else. So far, he had the luxury of dealing with cities that had erected walls as well as ces with chokepoints. He was blessed so far to have such fortunate ...incidents when ites to city defences.

    But this was not the same.

    Precisely because this was a modern city, there were no walls to speak of as the ''wall'' they had, had already been taken down by the Crystal Dragon Mechanoid which flew through the barrier and went to overload it, indirectly destroying the barrier generator, causing their wall to be destroyed. There was nothing else the city engineers can do other than to force their opinions to the higher up, requesting to build new generators since recing the generators would be an easier job than repairing the current barriers.

    However, given the short notice that they had been given, the priority to creating those barriers was initially put on hold for the deployment of weapons and other arsenals. Of course, it would be best that the creation of the barrier generator was of utmost importance but considering how it is taking most of the city resources, the leaders especially Jin felt that it makes more sense to utilise the engineers to create makeshift defences instead of focusing their output on the barrier.

    This was mainly due to the fact that the engineers needed to focus a bulk of the city''s remaining factories'' production to create the parts without any interruptions. So it was better to concentrate on sending the weapons as well as finish outfitting the half done Mechanoids so that they could at least contribute to the war against the monster outbreak rather than leaving them hanging.

    It was only certain that all of their current production was done that the engineers and factory workers focused on recreating the barrier generators. If what Jin said was true, by expecting zero help from their neighbours also meant that it literally created a wall around Daimon City territory and the monsters had no other ce to go other than the dead centre of Daimon City. And so far, the engineers had been receiving information that no other resources or trade routes would be happening with their surrounding cities, forcing them to fend for themselves.

    Thankfully, it is because the situation happened at Daimon City, there were stockpiles of material that the engineers can utilise. So, it was after the priority allocation of materials for the new barrier generator that the rest of the material had been redistributed throughout the entire city to create the makeshift defences. Thus, the only way to win this outbreak was to buy enough time for the generators to be built, send to their destinations safely and the time to install those generators.

    This was assuming they did not need redundancies which Jin insisted that more time be spent creating an additional barrier regenerator for all cardinal positions where the generators had been operating in the event that it did not work. "There would be no time to backtrack, so produce enough spare parts to make sure that if anything goes wrong, you can hotfix it on site."

    One of the lead engineers questioned whether it was really viable for them to create such redundancies in lieu of the situation, citing that the soldiers might not have the strength and luxury of time to hold the line.

    "Then, I shall return that question with another question. What makes you think that the time saved would make any difference? If the soldiers are not able to hold that it also means that it will be a matter of time for the monsters to make their way to the factories too. And this meant the n to rece the barrier generators would be a no go at all. So, all I can say is focus. Focus on creating those redundancies and we can be sure that those barrier generators can be reced properly without hups." Jin replied and the chief engineer kept silent, knowing that what their current interim leader said made sense.

    If the waves of monsters already made their way to the centre, it would be best to abandon the idea of putting the generators back. Instead, if such a situation developed, they could reverse engineer the barrier generators to be a bomb, destroying the monsters that would be within range of the barrier generators aka when the monsters had seeded in oveing the soldiers and surrounding the factories.

    Yet, with the concern of the barrier generators that had been discussed, most of the leaders and even military ones are concerned about how Jin was going to take care of the fact that the Daimon City is vulnerable to all sides since they had no physical barrier to block at all. Building makeshift walls would not be useful as well and this was a problem that even the military leaders had a major conundrum to this entire dilemma.

    "It''s not a very difficult problem to solve if you know the basics of warfare," Jin said as if it was insulting each and every military leader that was on the conference call with him.

    "What do you mean exactly?"

    "So far, the monsters are still attracted to the monster lure and had been gathering their strength by waiting for more of theirpanions toe out of the shithole they wereing out from. The drone surveince showed that much as well. So, we have a few options. It''s to destroy the monster lure as quickly as possible for the West side since my Grey Bears are handling the East side, we have effectively reduced the outbreak to one particr direction.

    "Of course, from what I learn from several monster experts, the appearance of a dungeon outbreak may ultimately influence the nearby dungeons as well. But the fact that my team is pushing hard to clear the east side as we speak, we should be able to focus our forces at the West side while preparing for an all side invasion should things go awry and all the dungeons have their outbreaks influenced by the West."

    "So, you are stating the offence is the best defence while preparing our defences at home?" One of the leaders asked and Jin nodded his head. The second wave of frontline troops would assist in building the defences, by creating and cing explosives around the city AND marking them. If not imagine how a random citizen walks by and goes kaboom. In any case, yes. The first wave of frontline troops would move in to intercept the monster outbreak as well as station a few troops to the dungeons to make sure they don''te out."

    "I see. So you want to stop the outbreak by entering the Variant dungeon instead even though it meant certain death to several soldiers and Mechanoids."

    "After all, an outbreak cannot happen if someone is trying to challenge it, right? All they had to do is to endure the first floor upon clearing the monsters outside the dungeon for I heard correctly, as long as the monsters by the dungeon were all killed, the soldiers can finally challenge it."

    "But the ws! We cannot provide proper artillery support or air support. Everything has to be relying on the ground troops themselves."

    "About that... I think I might have a secret ace under my sleeve which would no doubt provide to be useful for this situation..." Jin smiled.

 Chapter 1604 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 8

    Even as Jin''s n was to go on the offensive than to be in the defensive position, the situation was not as ideal as he would want it to be. The contingent of Mechanoids that Archduke Dyke had to arrive. The soldiers and volunteers who had stepped up to defend their city were still in a mess. Even with the multiple technological systems used to coordinate with everyone, there were still people who did not know what to do which prompted Jin to request the System to enter the fray.

    Upon the System''s advent, things were getting organised instead of them being spired out of control and this gives the ce as well as the defenders a certain amount of trust in the current coordination of things. Yet,test sources had stated that the Western dungeon had reached peak mass worth of monsters. If Jin was not going to do anything about it, the outbreak could truly start especially when such a congregation of monster could only mean one thing.

    They had leaders intelligent enough as well as clout among the monsters to the point that they were amassing inrge numbers so that they could guarantee that their assault against their bounty would be favourable. In the meantime, the Grey Bears seem to have encountered difficulties in the East as well as their opponents were not the very same Deer Orcs they had encountered previously.

    Instead, they were a more disgusting species of forest trolls that had emerged from the Eastern Dungeon, another variant of deviant monsters that was not within the databases. To Jin, it seemed as if the AI Administration might have a hand in this current situation but he could not recklessly point fingers at anyone at this point. Yinn who was spearheading the squad had decided to rescind hermand when she realised that Lynn had a better grasp of the situation fighting against such new deviant of monsters but thetter instantly rejected the new appointment.

    "Just because I am familiar with fighting Trolls in other worlds does not mean that I have leadership qualitiesmanding the Squad. Boss Jin had made you the leader for this punitive squad and so be proud! Take this responsibilitiy seriously!" Lynn said as she sted off a troll''s head away, causing it to stop regenerating. That heat of moment somehow allowed them to find the weakness of the forest trolls but it was easier said than done as the forest trolls werepetent in theirbat skills.

    Mere bullets were insufficient to stop them and explosions that were not directed at their heads could be healed almost instantly. This was the reason why Yinn felt that her attacks with assault rifles were not strong enough to kill any forest trolls, and subsequently demoralising her to not allow her to lead the team proper. "If you can''t attack properly than use your brain! Isn''t that why you are the brains of our operations before Commander Jin came into the picture?" Diaz also shouted as all she could do was to jump to the nearest troll and bring her shotgun close enough to their heads so they can blow them off.

    "Our objective...our objective is not the forest trolls but the monster lure that cause these trolls to emerge. Yes, we might need to handle the trolls since they are not going to go back to the variant dungeon even if we ask them nicely but we need to stop the lure from dispesing the scent to allow other monsters to emergeter..." Yinn thought to herself and immediately called out to Click.

    "Are you able to get your mechanical scouts to find where the monster lure is?"

    "I don''t think so! I only brought three hounds out and the scent of the monster lure in the area is too dense for them to even sniff it out."

    "All we know is that the monster lure is in front of the dungeon, right? System, what''s the distance between us and the dungeon entrance?" Yinn quickly call out.

    "Approximately 1.6km away from your current location. That is assuming the System assuming that you continued to move straight, cutting through the forest trolls." The System replied and switched off immediately to assume control of the other responsibilities that Jin had requested it to handle.

    "You want to a straight path through? I can do that but you need someone equally fast to move in as well." Tellie said as she hung behind the tree, sniping forest trolls faraway with gravity attributed bullets, a brand new bullet which the upgrade cards gave that cause the troll''s head to implode inwards and die upon getting a headshot.

    "Are you worried about the dungeon entrance being destroyed? Causing a permanent rift to emerge since there is nothing to hold the entrance?" Page asked as she could sense that Yinn was calucating the risks. Like their current leader, Page was useful against Mechanoids but not against monsters so the only thing she could do was to send nanobots flying to the other Mechanoids'' aid when they were needed. That was especially true for Lynn who had overstretched her already resilient top of the line Mechanoid body by normal standards. But because of Page''s aid, Lynn was able to unleash explosive moves repeatedly killing trolls in an unpredent amount that she could earn triple promotion by now.

    Yet for some reason, those forest trolls were still regenerating in numbers that the Grey Bears could not exin so for now, what they had to do was toplete their given mission as soon as possible. Thus, with the current capabilities of the Grey Bears, Yinn decided that it was time for her to buck up as well. There was only so much she could do that it pains her to know that there was nothing special with regards to her expertise as a Grey Bear Mechanoid leader.

    That was why she had decided to create a n that was radical enough, utilising the unique capabilities that the Grey Bears were bestowed with from Commander Jin and the System. If this n fails, Yinn believed that all they could do was to retreat or die fighting holding the line long enough to allow theirmander to have sufficient time to prepare the city''s defence n.

 Chapter 1605 Interim Leader Of Daimon City - Part 9

    If there was any simrity to the Forest Trolls that Jin knew of, it would be that they have a high regeneration rate. Even though the Grey Bears were not reporting back to Jin, the System still updated themander and now, the Interim Leader of Daimon City on the team''s progress. It seemed like the Grey Bear Squad had decided to be self sufficient and not consistently rely on theirmander.

    Jin understood that Yinn might just be a Mechanoid but so far, she had possessed talents in leadership despite theck of unique skills that the others might have. Even Diaz had been considered normal in terms of the standard set by the other Mechanoids within the Grey Bear squad. However, the System deemed that she might be able to find her speciality soon enough considering how she started to mimic Lynn and risking her life going for close quarterbats.

    Even if they were just virtual simted models, the System was still very interested in such data as they could be created in the real world so long as Jin had the materials and design ns to do so. They could be Jin''s personal bodyguards back in his world and having a squad always ready to move on hismand will allow him to focus more on the creation of dungeons rather than going into danger himself. A bad habit of his but the System appreciates how its user was able to be in exciting situations that most of its previous users were unable to get into.

    It regrets keeping the ideology of a single human trying to conquer the entire region just to win against the existing Royal Zodiacs and not thinking of expanding itself to other branches of life. If not for Ming''s foolish attempt to fight against the Royal Zodiacs in the past which required the System to rollback in time so that the consequences of its actions were not carried over, the System believed that its choice of choosing one person and forcing him/her to do its bidding might spell the end of the Panda n. (Granted, if Jin did not have any descendants, that would also be the end of the System as well... though the System knows that it at least had a decentst run judging from the current slew of events.)

    "The Forest Trolls should be weak to fire. Even if they were not sted into smithereens, at least they would have their regeneration halted, giving the Grey Bear Squad some opening to perform their objective." Jin said to the System and it ryed the information to Yinn, hoping that she could make the decisions for herself.

    "Wouldn''t it be better if they set the entire ce on fire?" Denise asked as a side note, seeing how she was right beside him organising the issues that were besieging Jin, thus causing Jin to be distraught and use the Grey Bear situation as an outlet of distraction.

    "That will reduce the amount of cover the Grey Bears can use. Besides, I first hand saw how the destruction of forests just makes things more difficult for us as well. The consistent smoke creates cover for the enemies- though I understand we have better optical imaging but it''s a different story if you are sending troops to fight. They would also be suffering within that particr environment."

    "That was why I thought it was a bad idea to only allow your Grey Bear squad to fight. It would have been safer in bigger numbers."

    "Har! You underestimate my Grey Bear squad. They alone had massacred hundreds of Mechanoids. This is nothing. All they had to do is to treat those Forest Trolls as fellow Mechanoids and they would be able to kill them in a jiffy." Jin purposely opened themunication channel for the Grey Bears squad to hear without much context but Denise immediately shoved Jin into more paperwork telling him not to get distracted if he was so confident of his Grey Bears.

    "Easy for you to say." Yinn thought within her head as she received confirmation that they were able to shoot a few volleys of artillery fire to aid in their objective to destroy the monster lure. However, a maximum range had been set by Jin as well as the military assisting them to prevent the destruction of the dungeon entrance.

    "At the very least we have better firepower than I thought," Yinn said to herself as she reloaded her assault rifle and started to set a course towards the probable site of the monster lure.

    "Tellie. Do not fire that huge ''magical'' beam of yours until I tell you. Diaz, You and I are going to rush through the forest as much as possible I will create as much cover fire for you. We will be riding the Mechanical Hounds that Click has until we find our mission objective. Lynn, I need you to cause as much havoc as you can while protecting Tellie. Page, Boost us as much as possible andter aid Lynn."

    "Your brilliant n is to rush in blind?" Diaz said as she smacked one of the Forest Trolls with her shotgun before taking another shot at it. It was then, that a new upgrade card emerged from her console, showing the best ever possiblebination for her. Gunzerker: Enables Mechanoid Diaz to auto reload her shotguns as long as she is holding two or more weapons at the same time.

    Immediately, she agreed on the usage of the upgrade card enabling her to see little tiny sockets opening from her wrist and popping out ammunition the moment her shotgun was empty. There, she saw a loader where the moment she ced her shotgun close to it, shells popped into her gun instantly, causing instant gratification and the reloading time had lessened down to less than a second.

    "Hahahaha! I take my words back! Rush in blind?" My fucking pleasure! I would love to see how these two baddies on my hands can perform with a new perk I just got!" Diaz said as she felt like she was in a frenzy mode at that point in time. "Oh and Yinn, make sure you bring enough ammunition for me!"

 Chapter 1606 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 10

    "Oh. So she finally found what she wanted." Tellie smiled as she could see that even in the chaos, her fellow colleague could find happiness within it.

    "Ha ha ha! Do not get discouraged okay? At least I am ate bloomer and not the veryst one." Diaz tapped Yinn''s shoulders as Click''s mechanical beasts finally came out of the woods and into the opening where they were at. However, contrary to everyone''s expectations that Yinn would show at least some reactions to Diaz''s provocation, she was extremely focused on her current predicament.

    The Forest Trolls were still taking their time to surround them, in an attempt to cut them off from any escape routes, hoping that their charade of killing a few of the Forest Trolls was the only achievement they could ever amass. However, the moment the mechanical hounds that Click had summoned had reached the small opening, Yinn''s n sprung into action.

    Lynn gave them an unexpected boost in their opening attack, as her drop kick to kill a forest troll had be a shockwave st that forced the trolls to be stunned momentarily, allowing Yinn and Diaz to burst through the first few lines of forest trolls. "Coordinates sent! Time the attacks!" Yinn shouted through her inte as they were trying their best to speed through therge forest trolls without doing any attacks yet."

    And within a few seconds, there was a whistling sound before an explosion erupted right in front of Yinn and Diaz. That was when Lynn and the others deduced that Yinn had decided to use the precious artillery support given by Jin and Diamondz Corps as a way to move forward. They were to utilise the artillery impact as a means of cover which means that it was dangerous close for the duo. If they were not fast or slow enough with their movement, they would get hit.

    If it was not for the regeneration trait of the forest trolls, one wave of artillery bombardment would have been enough. However, Yinn decided to y safe and requested a bombardment right behind them as well. This was to prevent the forest trolls from regenerating in time to chase after them. Shooting out a second wave of bombardment after they moved forward through their trail, would force the Forest Trolls to pause momentarily while hoping that a few get killed by the attacks.

    After all, getting to the Monster Lure was an objective while returning alive was another. Still, that crazy stunt Yinn pulled means that as long as they were within the time frame of each artillery bombardment, they should be able toe out of this unscathed to destroy the monster lure.

    And she got her wish granted. The bombardment stopped when they were closing near the dungeon entrance and they could see the mechanical pir that they wished to deactivate. The monster lure was right there putting out a scent so desirable that the forest trolls they were starting to see were of a different skin colour. Currently, most of them were a little distracted by the bombardment and did not realise the presence of Yinn and Diaz reached the Monster Lure.

    But without hesitation, the both of them each threw a bag full of sticky C4s bombs into the crevices of the mechanical pir before running away from it. Unfortunately, those variant Forest Trolls got to their senses when they somehow detected a threat to the Monster Lure that had been attracted to and managed to kick Yinn''s mechanical hound down, causing her to fall.

    "STICK TO THE PLAN!" Yinn shouted as she could see that Diaz had instinctively tried to move back just for her. Just as she shouted at Diaz, the monster lure erupted into a fiery show of explosions as the lure itself was rather vtile in nature too. It was also a signal for one of their Grey Bears who was responsible for giving them a way out of this mess they got into.

    A gigantic st of energy beam had been released a few metres away from the monster lure''s position, narrowing and avoiding the dungeon entrance while ensuring that the trolls were killed in the process.

    "GO! You are a Gunzerker now! An Evolved Mechanoid. The Squad will need you more than they need me!" Yinn said as she jumped up on the troll and she threw a grenade into its mouth while distracting it with a few bullets into its chest.

    "Fuck that martyr shit! You think you are some bigshot doing this?!" Diaz turned back and grabbed Yinn to the back of its Mechanical hound. The energy beam was once again a sufficient distraction for Diaz to perform this but they knew that the person who shot that beam was none other than Tellie. There was no way she could fire it repeatedly in this short amount of time and the ''escape'' route Tellie created could onlyst long enough for the Mechanical hound burdened with two mechanoids to sprint a short distance before the duo gets surrounded again.

    "What are you doing?!" Yinn shouted while she felt that Diaz was wasting her chances on a standard Mechanoid like her. Yet at that point, Diaz gave the reins of the Mechanoid Hound to Yinn and told her to ride it while she switched positions with her vice leader so that she focus on shooting.

    "You ride this Mechanical Hound out of this shit you created. I am not leaving you behind because you are responsible for my life, Vice Leader." Diaz made no sense at all at that point in time since all she could think of was the amount of havoc she could create with her new Gunzerker trait. "Also, give me your gun when I ask for it. There''s only so much ammunition I could carry just now since you did not allow me to prepare enough."

    "How would I know the amount of ammunition you needed differs?"

    "You should have known that the moment you nned this nonsensical strike operation!"

    "More like you have already brought more than enough ammunition, a Mechanoid could usually carry!"

    "Well! I did not know that my body can now just eat shit loads of ammunition and spew them out when I need them!" Diazined but even as they did that, they were moving back to the small opening that they had designated as their gathering point. Although It was only 1.4 kilometres away all they could think of right now was to shoot and run, hoping that the rest of the team could survive when they reached.

 Chapter 1607 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 11

    The Forest Trolls for some reason got really agitated with the loss of the Monster Lure and it further infuriated them that they suddenly lost a portion of their own species to some energy beam that had been released by the Mechanoid.

    Page, Click and Lynn would undoubtedly surprised by the strength and skill of Tellie''s attack but there was no time for rest for the Forest Trolls suddenly turned their anger towards them. Their attacks were swifter, despite their size and the wooden clubs and poles hit harder that it left small potholes on the ground. The Mechanoids deduced that if they were to get hit, they might lose a portion of their body rather easily.

    There was nothing they could do but defend Tellie as they needed her to keep a path clear for Yinn and Diaz to return. Little did they know that the monster lure that had been used was something simr to the cries of a baby forest troll. The destruction of the Monster Lure mechanical pir was akin to the distortion of the forest troll crying and to make things worse, the explosion propagated the sound.

    All of the Mechanoids within the vicinity had no idea that such an urrence happened. All they knew was that the Forest Trolls turned aggressive and they had to maintain the objective of getting Yinn and Diaz back in one piece.

    "Seriously, I think we should have cleared a majority of them before we let that duo do that search and destroy mission for the monster lure." Clickined as she hastily set up as many turrets as she could based on the limited amount of materials that were avable within her bag. She knew that there were still some extras in their getaway car but right now, it was too far for her to do anything with regards to that.

    Knowing that assault rifle turrets would not be extremely useful for the current situation, she had decided to use me turrets instead as that was the only thing that had been working ording to Lynn. She had infused her punches and kicks with high temperature and elerated them further to cause the heating element to be visibly seen as she popped off those Forest Troll''s heads.

    Thus, when the me turrets were set up, the periodic attacks did cause damage to the Forest Trolls and the mechanoids could witness that their regeneration was slowing down. With the evidence being apparent to them, Page found a System Upgrade card that enabled her nanobots to create a sort of ignition upon contact. A temporarily elemental buff which Page was surprised that it was within her repertoire of upgrade cards which she did not notice before. (Of course, she did not notice it, the System created it as per the situation demands.)

    So, with the upgrade boost of the fire elemental nanobots, the team decided to hunker down and protect Tellie instead of moving her to a suitable position for the next firing. After all, if Tellie had to reposition, that also meant that after cooling down, the Sniper Mechanoid had to recalcte everything including her firing position to ensure that she fired a simr spot while taking into ount the firing distance away from the initial shot as well as the dungeon entrance.

    Seeing how it would be more time-saving to stay in position, the rest fought fiercely to ensure that Tellie''s cooldown was not interrupted.

    "Yinn! Do we still have artillery support?! We are being swarmed here!" Click asked through the System channel in hopes that the vice leader of the Grey Bear Squad could answer her.

    "Send me the coordinates! I will push it out to the artillery support as soon as I can!" Yinn shouted but before the coordinates came through, the artillery strikes proceeded, burning the encirclement that was surrounding the remaining Grey Bears.

    "The System can handle such a request. Focus on returning to the group. The User expects all Grey Bears to return in one piece." It was a surprise that the Mechanoids and even Lynn could not see iting from afar.

    "Wow for the first time in a long while, the System is taking initiative to aid? Are you okay, System? Can I ask you to buy the lucky drawback in our world? I think we can earn some good cash from the lottery from this sudden turn of events." Lynn said with such sarcasm that she might have been half serious about it.

    Seeing how the mission had been aplished, the System was probably satisfied that there were few resources spent on such an important mission. Thus, it concluded that the artillery strikes that it had been providing were a still significant positive to their current predicament. However, that could not be said for the same with the West side. If not for Jin''s hunch (even though his hunch was based on somethingpletely unrted), they would have been able to salvage the situation and have the Daimon City ready for battle rather than be besieged from all sides.

    And so, the Grey Bears were instrumental in making sure that this impromptu assault operation could bepleted, making it a priority to return to Daimon City as intact as possible without much damage so that they could be utilised again for the subsequent operations. That was why the artillery strikes continued even though it was to only save six Mechanoids.

    "I am ready to go in ten seconds," Tellie whispered even though she was still steaming hot from the gigantic energy beam that she had used. After all, she had enough experience after multiple attempts in doing long distance sniping withrge stakes. If there was an award to be given as best damage dealer of the operations, she might have won those multiple times in a row. Upon announcing her strike, she recalcted her angle as she deviated a little away from her previous shot so that she could clear the forest from the Forest Trolls while providing a brand new path for Yinn and Diaz to return.

    "We are ready!" Yinn said as she picked up a power cord from her side vest pocket and plugged it into the Mechanical Hound. After which, she plugged the other end into her neck and thus provided not only additional battery energy but also information about where the next attack was going to be to the hound, allowing it to make decisions about when to jump and move. This was especially crucial as Yinn did not have sufficient attention span to take note of the hound''s path since they were busy making sure that the Forest Trolls from the sides and in front of them did not block them to the point where they had no ce to escape.

    It was a game of extending the gap to ensure there was space to move and breathe for the duo and it was getting smaller with every second and every metre closer to their group. However, they were sure they could make it back.

    "Page! Click! Fire up the escape vehicle and make sure we can return in one piece! Do any means necessary!" Yinn said as the countdown to Tellie''s subsequent beam was less than five seconds.

 Chapter 1608 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 12

    ?

    Tellie was subsequently able toplete her objective and she did not waste any time firing her ''magical'' beam across the entire forest once more, destroying roughly 10-15% of the forest trolls that were residing in the area. At the same time, Lynn was the only one protecting the rear while the rest had gone to get the escape vehicle starting. To their delight, the vehicle was untouched by the Forest Trolls and they were able to get it alive without much trouble.

    Lynn, on the other hand, was going over her maximum power capacity once more by overexerting herself against the limit time and time again. Her fists imbued by Page''s elemental nanobots along with her own heated fists and legs were proving to be the best offence against the Forest Trolls. Not to mention, if it was not for the artillery support, there was no way she would be able to keep up with the pace against the overwhelming numbers.

    Click was initially a little hesitant to leave Lynn behind for her to take care of the defences but Lynn insisted for Click to aid Page in the event that the escape vehicle had problems starting up. However, her motive was not entirely pure as she figured that if she was ced in an extremely difficult situation, there was a possibility for her to break the limit of her current ''shell'' and increase her artificial cultivation grade.

    And she did.

    With all the experiences levelling up her cultivation grade prior to her arrival to this virtual simtion, it had enabled her to break the limits and get her fusion cores to pump out even more chi, increasing her grade to the Third. (Well, technically the lower grades were easy to achieve mainly because it needed more usage for the cores to get up and working. )

    Thus, with this renewed strength, she was able to explosively move through the opening and defeat the Forest Trolls with not just heated fists and legs but now energised short des that were emitting from her hands which she could also swing out and slices of heated energy were used to cut the Forest Trolls'' head if they were fast and urate enough to hit the target. (Otherwise, it would just be a severe burn that injures the Forest Trolls) Because of her cultivation was the Penguins in the Kitchen Hell (PLEASE CHECK THE PROPER NAMEZ), the usage of fire and high temperature was easily her strong suit and she was undoubtedly the natural enemy of the Forest Trolls.

    However, before she could fully utilise her new strength, Lynn managed to see that Diaz and Yinn had managed to reach the opening. Diaz was still firing like a mad person but Lynn realised it was not the guns that had been brought with her. Instead, it was plucked out from the Mechanical Hound and she had been using it as her own. (If Click knows about it, she will definitely kill Diaz for mistreating her hound.) And yet, the Hound was still running at full speed towards the opening if not for the attack that Tellie had made to clear the area for them.

    "How''s Tellie?" Yinn said as Lynn finally stopped and returned to the centre of the opening where Tellie was.

    "She is still cooling down. We can move her but it would be hot." Lynn replied as she took her pistol out and threw it to Diaz as she saw her ditching the Mechanical Hound''s machine gun to the floor.

    "Thanks, Lynn. I still have a surplus of bullets but all the guns had melted from the extreme firing." Diaz said as she took the pistol and continued to fire towards the Forest Trolls.

    "I can carry her as I can manipte heat with my current state. Diaz, take Tellie''s assault rifle. She had not used it yet." Lynn said as she carried Tellie behind her back while Yinn searched Tellie''sbat vest for more ammunition not just for herself but for Diaz too. Unlike Diaz, her rifle had not yet beenpromised but she required ammunition as well.

    "Do you want to use Tellie''s sniper rifle as well?" Lynn asked and Diaz shook her head violently.

    "No way. That is her baby. I am not using her baby unless she gives explicit permission." Diaz said and Yinn nodded her head too, citing that it was a well known fact of Tellie that Lynn was not aware of.

    If that''s the case, then let''s hurry back to the escape vehicle." Lynn replied as they could see the Trolls were even more rowdy as they saw a bunch of their own had been swiftly annihted by that magical beam Tellie had caused.

    "And here I guess it right! We are on the dot!" Click said through her inte as headlights shone in their direction and out came thebat jeep that Page was driving. The System had stopped the artillery bombardment at certain predicted areas to allow the entire Grey Bear groups to meet beforemencing back the artillery attacks. Even though it was not controlled by the System, the Mechanoids that were operating them were on point with their instructions with a slight tolerance in a shortg time. Overall, it was almost exactly simr to how the System would have controlled it.

    So, with the artillery bombardment as cover, Tellie was loaded into thebat jeep while the rest entered with Diaz being thest to go in.

    "Let''s go, Page! I think the System had bombarded quite a fair amount of the ce to give us a small clearing as a path to follow." Click said as she checked her holographic console to see the current live view of the terrain."

    "Roger that," Page said as she stepped on the elerator and released her clutch to move all speed ahead. It was a short breather for the group as they moved away from the opening but it was to reload. Yinn now knew how Diaz operated with her new Gunzerker ss and thus started feeding boxes of ammunition right into her via her back where a hole had been designated as the ''refill'' point. The moment she inserted the belt of ammunition into her, it quickly gobbled it up like some hungry hippo. The phrase second stomach might be relevant for Diaz as they had no idea how she was keeping all that ammunition within her.

    In the meantime, the rest stocked up their items as Page also sent her nanobots to repair the group within thebat jeep. Those nanobots had already been on standby and she created even Nanobots that were specialised in cooling so that they would assist Tellie with her release of heat. Thus, while they were being repaired, everyone was refilling their ammunition before they allowed Diaz to have everything else.

    So despite the feeding of ammunition to the Gunzerker, Diaz figured it was enough and took the chance to open the toptch so as to be able to get up at the hood of thebat jeep to use the heavy calibre machine gun that was mounted on it. Unlike previously where she would have spammed it like crazy, Diaz was actually trying to aim with her targeting module as she knew the trip back could be impossible if they wastefully used their ammunition within the jeep.

    All they could do was toplete their objective of returning back Daimon City alive.

 Chapter 1609 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 13

    ?

    If the Mechanoids could feel sweat and palpations, this would be the time as they never saw the Forest Trolls to be so active in hunting their enemy. Despite them having the advantage in terms of distance, they had never seen those Forest Trolls running at all until now. Some of them were bashing through the trees no matter how sturdy those innate obstacles were while the rest were jumping from one corner to another.

    The Combat Jeep was swirling around to take the shortest trail as their onboard AI were calcting the path ahead of them and Diaz shot down those Forest Trolls that were nearest to their position but this was not sufficient to keep them away at all. Artillery bombardments had also stopped as the predicted distance to shoot was not the same at all.

    But when all seems bleak, it seems like theirmander had flipped out a card to change the tide of war.

    Communication had been patchy until Page suddenly received a very clear message. "elerate and drive as straight as possible and do not turn drastically turn your vehicle." Though the person saying it was unknown to the Grey Bears, their IFF tag stated that it was the Daimon Defence Forces.

    "Copy that." Page turned off the jeep''s onboard AI and stepped on the pedal without regard. She did her own analysis and calctions to avoid any other obstacles yet it was still a rather bumpy ride which the rest did not mind except for Diaz who needed a more stable tform to aim and shoot. There were suspensions for thebat jeep as well as the mounted machine gun emcement but it was not sufficient for Diaz as she could feel that she was going up and down.

    Page did not care about Diaz''sints and focused on driving forward. Soon enough, the hope of seeing reinforcements was indeed sighted true. There was an opening in their formations just for Page to force her way through the iing battalion of Armoured soldiers and troops. The irony was that they seemed much better equippedpared to the offensive force the Grey Bears had fought at Mount Sunn. "Perhaps, they were really underestimating us at Mount Sunn, but it was also fortunate that they had taken it easy on us."

    "Nah, I doubt they underestimate us. It''s probably due to the fact that they had much more money to spend and hired frencers to do the job. Their heavy equipment on the other hand... well, you remember that rows and rows of tanks that came in. Not to mention that air fleet you brought down." Yinnmented and Pageughed.

    "That was no doubt a good memory for myeback fight." Page chuckled as she and the other Grey Bears saw the Daimon Defence Forces were already shooting the moment thebat jeep came into view.

    "Command Post to Grey Bears. Return to the city for quick repairs and some special rearmament. Commander Jin''s orders. You are being dispatched to the West to assist with the monster horde in that area." The noisy radio on thebat jeep crackled after giving itsmands, not waiting for the return reply from the Grey Bears indicating that themand post was busy handling other instructions. At that point, Diaz had also given up firing and finally returned back into the squeezybat jeep to rest. (After all, there was thefort of air conditioning which can aid in the cooling of her mechanical frame.)

    "Shouldn''t we just head to the West? I think they wish for us to subjugate the Monster Lure as well." Page asked Yinn but Lynn interrupted.

    "No, let''s head back to the headquarters. Command had said the equipping of special armament and I think if we disobeyed that order, it would only impede in our progress to fight." Lynn said.

    "You seem awfully eager to return," Diaz said

    "Well, it''s Commander Jin''s girl. What do you expect?" Click said and the rest almost forgot that fact and grinned a little.

    "Hey, hey. Don''t change the subject." Lynn said with an angsty pout and everyone within the group had some relief from their ''hearts'' as they knew that they had been thrown from one battle to the next without rest and that they wished there was a way out of this.

    "But if you ask me. I don''t think that you should worry that much when ites to the Western Region''s Monster Lure, I doubt that Jin would be asking any of you girls to go for it."

    "Why do you say that?" Yinn asked and Lynn smiled widely.

    "Because that objective is a money making item for him...if I know him well enough. Right, System?" Lynn said as she opened her holographic console as if staring at the System for a reply. At that point in time, the System kept quiet as if it refused to acknowledge that they had been listening into the conversation for the longest time ever. However, the silence was long enough that it finally decided to reveal a little.

    "Yes. User had nned for certain elements of a massive foreign force to enter and attack that. It will be a three prong attack if everything goes well." The System replied and the Grey Bears were confused.

    "What the System implying is that he is bringing ... some friends from our world toe to save the day now that we are stuck in this situation."

    "Can that really work? I thought this erm reality is tightly sealed from external forces. Unless you mean the ''Creators'' have allowed it." Yinn questioned and it seems like the Mechanoids were not able to touch on the subject of the Synthesis AI Administration as if it was a forbidden topic. Yet, the rest kept quiet and Click felt that the awkwardness was too much and decided to change the topic

    "Are the monsters at the Western dungeons, the same as Forest Trolls?" Click questioned the System since it should have the answers to it.

    "No, They are of a different breed of monsters. A troublesome one is that explosives might have some difficulty performing their job." The System replied giving them the data of the monsters that they are supposed to fight against.

    Metal Ogres.

 Chapter 1610 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Part 14

    Ogres.

    And if the species was not enough to be menacing for the defenders of Daimon City, they had chosen the element that resisted explosives the most, Metal Ogres. As the name had specified, Metal Ogres are extremely sturdy monsters that are rather resistant against fire based attacks. Surely, throwing enough explosives on them will work but there was only that much Daimon City Defenders had in stock yet that doesn''t mean that they can''t be killed.

    On the other hand, the Forest Trolls were less resistant to explosives but they require precision to kill them because of their healing factor. That was why Commander Jin had decided to send out the first responders against the Forest Trolls instead. Annihting them would be an easier task while the group tries to defend against the Metal Ogres.

    And to make matters worse, those Metal Ogres were as their name stated, had metal on them. This made them a group of monsters with some intelligence that had the capability to create metal based weapons as part of their arsenal. Surely, other monsters have ws and fangs that are as hard as metal but these Ogres? Their Metal parts could range from the Copper to Titanium though thetter was more of a rarity and undoubtedly a stronger variant.

    Yet, they are more or less formidable which Jin had to deal with with extra caution.

    Surely, he could count on the God of Battlefield, the Almighty Artilleries but they could only do so much because of the stockpile that they had. Unlike Mount Sunn where the System was in control of the entire Workshop and had ess to almost every automated production facility which enabled Old mmet to focus on the delicate stuff, the System was not in control of Daimon City.

    It needed not only premium ess to the city''s system but also the military and Diamondz Corps systems and handling that would be akin to handling Pandapolis threefold. This was because everything was a bunch of codes that the System needed some time to recognise while Pandapolis had already been programmed by the System and had sentient beings that knew what to do.

    So while the System was able to send outmands like it did for the artillery strikes, and perhaps prompt Mechanoids to move out at certain locations based on Jin''s decision, it was just a secondaryputer to the Mechanoids that had been given the instructions. It could only influence their movements a little faster than the voicemands because of the authority that Jin wielded as the Interim Leader of Daimon City.

    Therefore, the System had decided not to interrupt the organisation of the Western Defencepared to the East where the offensive was an easy one. And even though Jin had said that he wished to throw troops carelessly into the fray for all sides, he was not dumb enough to actually do that unless there was seriously a big fat opportunity to do so. Thus, the Eastern Offensive against the Forest Trolls was one such example in which he was d that the Mechanoids were able to perform as he expected so that he could convince those in the Daimon defence council was able to see how Jin was able to execute such daring operations.

    This not only gave them the trust for the Interim Leader to perform but also an instant morale booster for Daimon City who had seen this aspetence from the Interim Leader rather than hearing all of his titles which they had no concerns about. It did however give some credibility in the first ce but the doubts were deeply seeded into the people''s minds since such elites from the Archduke''s personal army were only rumours and hearsays unless proven otherwise.

    And this offensive and the Grey Bear''s sess solidified the position that Jin was undertaking, giving not only the citizens of Daimon City confidence but also finally some hope that they could really weather such a betrayal from their neighbours and country. All Jin had to do was to continue doing such a good job that the people of Daimon City could rally behind the Archduke in the near future and be an unstoppable force that the Archdukes could utilise.

    Hence, with all these considerations, Jin had decided to stand their ground against the Western portion of Daimon City. Trenches had been created haphazardly as the first defensive line while Sappers, who were Mechanoids that deal with explosives, had been putting up mines ahead of the hastily made trenches so that the Metal Ogres could be slowed down.

    If the Forest Trolls were any indication of the iing fight, the monsters can not be judged based on their size since the perception of Trolls were not fast moving creatures until Jin saw the footage of them moving rather quickly. And so, he concluded that the Metal Ogres were equally a problem. Surely, they do not have the healing factor of a Forest Troll but their metal based element built within them causes their skin to be partially resistant to bullets, technically making them a sort of bullet sponge.

    So far, there were no weak points that they could utilise since they had not engaged inbat yet but based on the current knowledge and data that Daimon City''s monster database had, Ogres tend not to have any weakness they could exploit. The only thing they could do was to pour out as much firepower as they could to allow those monsters to die.

    Therefore, Jin was not worried that the general poption of Daimon could not get any action but rather how much action they get before they needed to retreat away. However, even with all the initial impromptu decisions, all of the defence council members had no idea that Jin was preparing an offensive as he had initially proposed... Just not with Daimon City''s citizens.

    Aye, it''s those cultivator customers who were hungry for new content. It had been so so god damn long since they got anything new that this Virtual Simtion which had been teased periodically and finally had been released to the public despite the word ''beta'' inside of it. But because it was considered ''beta'' the price of the entry had been lowered though it was now counted by minutes due to how there was a time difference between Jin''s World and the Synthesis World. But the customers had no idea that was the original reasoning, they assumed that the Virtual Simtion was counted in minutes mainly because of its beta form. They had no idea that their minutes might be hours or days within that Synthesis World''s Virtual Simtion.

    The customers at first thought it was outrageous but Qiu Yue assured them that if they were not satisfied after the run, they could get a partial refund and that was assuming they would not ept the rewards of the said run once they were done with it. (If it was Jin, it would be full, lol. Qiu Yue was not allowing the customers to run away so easily after they used the service.)

    But that was just the minority as the majority were patiently anticipating the release. Very patiently.

 Chapter 1611 Interim Leader Of Daimon City -Final

    It was as if the Metal Ogres knew that they had enough manpower (or Ogrepower) in their possession that their leaders had decided that this extraordinary odour of their prey was worthy of a huge feast. That monster lure was basically a trigger to force them out of their own personal habitats within the dungeon and emerge hungry.

    They had no idea what made them sopulsive to get this extravagant sensation out of their body other than to gather and hunt as a group. (Well, to break the bubble, it was the Synthesis AI Administration that created all of this and programmed their behaviour in such a way.) While he did not precisely question Syn, Jin fully knew well that the AI administration had a hand in this situation but in his honest opinion, they did not need to create a brand new variant to see how effective his iing customers would be.

    "The System probably bragged it a little or perhaps they based it on my performance...Oh no..." Jin thought to himself and wondered if he had set too high of a standard that the AI Administration''s own mini test in disguise for his cultivators would backfire against him. "Though technically even if they based it on me, I did not exactly use that much chi or Maqi techniques to get away with stuff. Come to think of it, it is the System that aided me more than I did the work."

    "Did you forget about our powers..." The Cardinals were actually spying on Jin too and he suddenly felt irritated.

    "Tsk, I had forgotten I had another batch of old buggers with me." Jin shook his head in front of the War Table unconsciously and the rest of the defence council members took notice and formted their own thoughts about him.

    "The Metal Ogres are moving right now." One of the operators within the War Room had spoken out and Jin who was at the centre of the War Table had finally consented and kickstarted supposedly one of the most extensive defence operations in Daimon City''s history.

    "Sent out the first phase. Fly as low as possible." Jin reiterated and the council member that was in charge of their air force had sent instructions to sort it out. In less than a few minutes, Cargo nes were seen taking off from the city''s ownmercial airport and the defence forces who were in their defensive lines and trenches could spectate a wave of aerones flying in unison through the skies.

    The fact that they were instructed to fly low made them look bigger than usual and more intimidating but those people on the ground had no idea what was going on, sendingmercial nes to fight against the Metal Ogres. The only solution that themanders and Mechanoids could formte was that those nes would be used to crash against the monsters, burning them and incinerating them with high heat so that it would be easy for the artillery bombardment to deal with them.

    Sadly, that idea spread like wildfire as they thought that there were Mechanoids that had been sacrificed because of this even though this kamikaze attack could possibly be one of the greatest firepower they might have in their arsenal, granted that the Metal Ogres could be burned through the fuel those cargo nes were holding alongside the explosives they potentially carry.

    But unfortunately, they were so wrong.

    A few observers with long vision modules were able to see that the cargo nes were opening up and Mechanoids emerged with hoses and they were spraying water at the Metal Ogres. The Mechanoids at the Trenches were stunned by this act and wondered if themander who created this n had some loose screws in them. This is especially so when the Metal Ogres were enraged by this set of actions and started to throw metal spears and set off arrows towards the Cargo nes. A few of the Mechanoids got injured in action and the Metal Ogres even destroyed one of the cargo nes by aiming for their engines.

    However, there were a few that could potentially see the bigger picture from this action that the higher ups had conjured. "I can theorise what they are doing but I cannot exactly pinpoint how they are going to enact it unless..." The Senior Commander wanted to finish his sentence when he saw bombers had already been sortie out without any escorts from the fighter jets.

    "Unless what?" Another defencemander asked him and when the bombers opened their cargo bay, the bombs were painted in stark purple which made themander give anotherment. "Oh my god, are they dumb or what? Why are they using anti Mechanoid bombs against the Metal Ogres? They are essentially useless against monsters, only useful in sending out waves of electric sts." However, the Seniormander thought otherwise and started grinning so hard that he finally could not control himself andughed loudly.

    "Watch the show and learn. This Interim Leader sure knows how to use his brains then to just dish out bombs which our generals would have done." The Senior Commander continued tough loudly that the other soldiers and Mechanoids were curious as they saw the bombs finally drop and arge burst of lightning emerged after the bombs impacted followed by an acute sharp sound wave.

    That was when the people on the field realised what was exactly happening.

    The water was not just some ordinary water but it was a liquid solution that increased the conductivity of electricity which enhanced the power of the electric bombs that had been dropped on the Metal Orges. For some reason, everyone kept having the notion that fire bombs were the only way to kill the Metal Ogres and believed that all they had to do was to throw more at them if the first time did not work.

    So, this fresh way of creative bombardment was something themanders did not think of and finally felt that perhaps they really did have a chance to survive this horde of monsters.

    However, they did not know that since the monster lure had not been destroyed, more were still appearing and the variants just kept getting out of control. (Jin on the other hand was cursing Syn, knowing that he was having such a fun time creating more trouble. All he to make sure that he does not be friends with Kraft.)

 Chapter 1612 Defending Daimon -Part 1

    "The wave of Metal Ogres are notpletely wiped. Some were still standing after the attack and variants of the Metal Ogres are emerging. Some are holding crude metal bows while others were carrying javelins." The officers reported and Jin shook his head.

    The only constion that he had was that those variants were minimal in nature and there was nothing that was out of the norm yet. The monster lure was a priority to destroy but something else was upying Jin''s mind and that was the arrival of his Pandarens and Pandawans.

    In order for them toe here, there has to be something of a special nature that brings them in. He had assumed that all of the surrounding cities had already blocked their airspace in case of any undesirables flying in or out of Daimon Airspace.

    It was not their problem if they were to shoot a civilian aircraft since they had already restricted the airspace and that also meant any sudden unidentified vehicleing in would be bound for scrutiny. So, Jin decided to make another deal with Syn, after all, he had already made his life difficult by producing these kinds of monsters for him to manage.

    Syn also tantly said that this was not his problem as the AI administration found this as an opportunity to try something new and seeing how Jin and the System had already cheated the AI administration''s virtual simtion, they found that there was no wrong in making the difficulty even harder. Therefore, they decided to put up those variants for Jin''s soldiers to worry about.

    However, in order to facilitate the arrival of the outsiders into the area, Syn and Jin coborated and managed to get a level of understanding that they needed to create something extraordinary to allow thending of his Pandarens without getting intercepted by the other cities.

    Therefore, what better way to do that than to create a floating sky station? It is like a spaceport but its purpose was to provide an entrance for the Pandarens to enter into battle without interfering with other cities. Surely, the rest of the cities could send out their airnes to annihte the threats but so far, no one dared to go into Daimon Airspace in case of retaliation from their supervisors and higher ups.

    Thus, the Floating Sky Station had been digitalised based on the System''s minimum requirements and a little of Jin''s magic when ites to interior designing so that everything would go smoothly as fast as possible for the Pandarens to enter the battlefield.

    When they are teleported, they will be subsequently escorted into anding pod where it will be drop down to them based on the coordinates the System had assigned. If there were any other interferences such as missiles or shots against thosending pods, then they have to either survive the shot or die within those pods before they couldnd. After all, Daimon City was currently too upied to be able to do anything else and the other surrounding cities might use this as an excuse that they came too close into their assigned airspace which needed to be shot down before they could arrive.

    This gave Jin a little nasty idea of putting Derek''s zombies with the strength of infection inside thosending pods and they go wild through those cities since they decided to betray the Central Districtmandments to help people. Not to mention, the Archduke could not exactly enforce the rule mainly due to the fact that he is currently on his way to Mount Sunn to help Jin set up his town based on the orders of the Royal Family.

    All he could do is to issue verbal punishment and fines to those cities when hees back and that is assuming Daimon City was still standing tall. If the city had been destroyed then perhaps, it might be backfired stating that the monster horde was too strong that even the ''almighty'' Diamondz Corps was not able to do anything and so why should the surrounding cities help?

    Regardless of the multiple possibilities of who should be med, Syn had graciously made the floating sky station and all Jin needed to do was to make sure that his Pandarens were safely teleported into the area.

    And so, he gave a quick call to Qiu Yue via the System, only to find her shouting at him backбнin words.Like Kraft, she was not able to get a proper call with Jin butpared to Kraft, at the very least there was two waymunication based on the protocols that Syn had gave so that there would be bettermunication.

    "Yes yes yes YES I AM DONE WITH IT! You don''t have to tell me in order to rush me! I am already rushing myself. When are youing back? Everyone is waiting for you." Qiu Yue said in a fit of anger not knowing what other emotions to portray.

    "It depends on how fast the Synthesis World AI is able to create the Soul inhibitor so that I can transfer back. Kraft also did not mention anything about invading the celestial neбн.so I have no idea when is going to happen. But just to confirm, the cultivator event is a go, right?"

    "YesбнBoss." Qiu Yue sighed and wondered why he did not ask how was she coping.

    "Great. I will give you an extra pay rise when I get back."

    "More like I can do that for myself." Qiu Yue gave the sound of sticking her tongue out and immediately turn off themunications with Jin. She had no idea why she was going crazy doing this but if the agreement with Syn works out, Jin should be back soon-ish and she could take a step back while still making sure that whatever she had worked for thepany still stays the same, or at least improve one step better than before.

    Otherwise, she''s gonna flip the table and quit.

 Chapter 1613 Defending Daimon -Part 2

    ?

    Xiong Da finally met up with the rest of the group as theypared their ticket numbers. "Urgh, I am so far away." Yue Han, the Blind Bat Cultivator said as he stared at his phone pathetically.

    "At least you are still within the seat limit. Imagine the rest not knowing when they will get their turn." Xiong Da said as he patted Yue Han. Everyone as usual was waiting in line for the event to start as people were finally discussing what was going to happen subsequently.

    There was little to no information for some reason everything was kept quite secretive as for the fact that this was a Virtual Reality demo within the Dungeon Instance. Some people found it odd that a dungeon supplier was making Virtual Reality but given how their experiences were so unreal, they also believed that they might be the ones that could create such a crazy real life virtual reality.

    What''s more important was that there were rumours of it being deployed in every part of China if this test was sessful. They were not sure who leaked such a rumour but it would be extremely enticing to hear since that would mean a VR MMORPG could be in the works.

    Xiong Da and a few other Pandawans on the other hand had already tried it before. It wasn''t the best demo they ever felt as they still think the Dungeon Instances was still a better experience for an out of body kind of gamey. (Although they had no idea that they were still within their bodies and the ces they had been through were 50% always real.)

    But they knew that Jin would always make things better and this demo would be a test of whether he could really push and improve what he had done previously. Maybe it would be more dumb down, or maybe it would be more realistic like his dungeon instances, Xiong Da and friends will never know until they go try it.

    Yet as the anticipation grew, a Red Panda NPC jumped around, attracting attention to everyone until it stopped where Xiong Da and his gang were sitting. "Mr Wa Xiong Da. As the number one supporter of Dungeons and Pandas, we cordially invite you to enter the dimensional instance first. You have a 15 minutes headstartpared to the rest as you get to enjoy the sights of the dimensional instance that houses our VR pods and have ess to thetest tutorials on how to get used to your new avatar."

    "Woww, jealous much!" Yue Han said and Xiong Da smiled widely as he ced his hand on the Red Panda''s paw and they teleported.

    "Too Bad- Oh we already teleported." Xiong Da wanted to make fun of Yue Han for not working hard enough to be in his position. (Although Xiong Da was way way wayyyyy older than him.)

    However, before he could even think of Yue Han and the need to tease him, he found himself in a dimensional instance that was equally out of the world. It was like a giant exhibition dome with the exception that the ceiling was made of ss and the patterns on the ss had an archaic feeling to it even though the interior designs of the dome seemed to be inspired by simplistic modern western sci-fi designs.

    All the curves and slopes with different shades of white had shown that this was like a ce of peace advocated science rather than a ce to y Virtual Reality. And those VR pods felt as if they were pods for hibernation as they were ced in various rows. They were more akin to the sleeping pods where people dived in and found tranquility when they emerged.

    To Xiong Da, it might feel like they purposely went for such a design to calm down the minds of the people who yed Virtual Reality. After all, there were times when people might get so insanely crazy or addicted to VR that they had forgotten about Reality itself. This was a ce for them to return back to reality and get back to the waking world.

    So as Xiong Da wondered about a little longer, he finally found his pod at the corner where it was demarcated as number 01. He thanked the Red Panda by rubbing its head and after which he got into the VR pod to start the VR creation process.

    It was only after he entered the pod, that more Red Panda NPCs started to emerge everywhere. "Everything seems to be fine and Xiong Da had already had his soul extracted. Sorry number one supporter for using you as the guinea pig but it looks like we can now officially bring everyone in since I have managed to create thest 2500th seat for the Virtual Simtion dive." Qiu Yue said to herself as shemanded her Red Pandas toe out and start to holler their customers into the VR dimensional instance. It might not seem like much but creating those 2500 VR pods was nearly an impossible task as Qiu Yue was saddled with other responsibilities. Jin simply had to throw stunts like this.

    But anyter Jin mightin to her again which thankfully he did not due to the concerns that he had.

    As Jin had noted that the East had been controlled by the current attacking soldiers and volunteers of Daimon City, the notion to put the cultivators in the Southern region was a little half hearted decision as he could have merely transported them all to the West for them to handle the current invasion that the Metal Ogres posed.

    There was no reason or perhaps insufficient reason to put them in the Southern region unless he was expecting a resurgence of monstersing from the Eastern front. Most of the senior members in the military council of Daimon City had stated that it was an unlikely issue that such an incident could happen but none of them were too scared to confidently say that it would not happen.

    Besides, after what had happened previously where Jin and his ragtag squad of Mechanoids suddenly came flying from the sky and breaking into the Daimon City had already surpassed most of their expectations of what should usually happen. Even this current event which Jin''s hunch had made it possible for them to at least prepare a hasty defence of the West and organise an assault force against the East, was something they never would have thought how their day would be when they got out of their beds.

    However, Jin figured that if he were to listen to the military council''s advice, he might been thrown into a dilemma if things were to go badly in the Eastern region. While it was true that the cultivators who were beginning to enter the fray after a quick introductory training on the basics of virtual simtion could be ''reused'' because of how the soul extractor and inhibitor machines work, he did not need to worry for that he would lose that group of cultivators since another batch of customers wille in eventually.

    Rather, he was more afraid his Eastern Assault forces will be decimated, resulting a spent force that could not be used to fight against the forces at the Western Front. While it was more pertinent to keep the Metal Ogres on the Western Front at bay, because of their difficulty to kill it, Jin figured that it was a wiser choice to split the cultivator group into two so that the Eastern Assault Force could be more efficient to kill off the Forest Trolls andter push to aid the Western Front defences by speeding through the city.

    "Lol, why am I thinking so much? Aren''t the cultivators my property?" Jin suddenly had this thought to himself when the military council members'' movement were hectic. "I should use them however I want as they are the trump card for this entire battle even though their numbers only amounted to only 2,500 of them."

    Thus, he decided that he would do just that and begin to gave the orders to System but then the System queried whether if his decision was final. This was because, as the time flowed differently through the Synthesis World and Jin''s World, most of the cultivators had alreadypleted their Virtual Simtion training and they were already idling around for the main mission to start. The System had even provided them additional advanced simtion training that could earn them some extra Panda coins as pocket change while waiting.

    "Ah I see. If that is the case then there is no time for second guessing. I will address them the moment they enter the Synthesis World."

 Chapter 1614 Defending Daimon -Part 3

    "When are we getting to go inбн" Bu Dong, Angry Ape Cultivator asked as he and the other Pandawans were finally grouped together they had the option of trying out the advanced simtion training or staying in the main lobby while waiting for the Virtual Simtion training to bepleted.

    The number 2497/2500 did not change for quite some time indicating that there were three people who had entered the Virtual Simtion Pod and had not finished their simtion. Little did they know that everyone had actually finished it and the System was merely manipting the numbers to ensure that it had proper instructions from Jin before the actual event started.

    "At least we get to be morefortable in this new ''suit'' that we are in." Yue Han, Blind Bat Cultivator, replied as he was admiring his new avatar. The cultivators were able to retain their current body form or at least edit it to their supposed desires but with limited options. The Virtual Simtion Basics stated that they could not change their gender or change how they looked drastically mainly because of how the programme stores the data.

    Yet, that did not mean one could not do a hair or facial makeover and even lose weight to get the supposed effect. However, the feature of changing one''s look was not an option avable for free as it cost a hundred Simtion Coins which was given to them as a way of saying thank you from the store for taking part in this particr event.

    Simtion Coins were also another sort of credit that had been newly introduced into the wallets of the Pandamonium App and everyone instantly knew that the Virtual Simtion was here to stay but it was a question how much more the store is going to develop it. So far, those long runners of the Dungeon Store had already seen many redux of the previous special credits bybining them to be more essible by making them and able to use Panda Coins to purchase those credits although the exchange was higher. (The Panda Stock Market and there were people up to this day who continued to y this to purposely change the value of certain stocks until special intervention by Sub System ountant ire came in to intervene.)

    So, with the introduction of a new coin, it means that even though this was just a beta testing item, the want to implement this Virtual Simtion fully was real. However, because of how Jin and his store had always blurred the lines of dungeon instances and reality itself, there were some people who werementing that this was another dungeon instance made real by Jin himself once more. All those Virtual Simtion pods were byproducts of the dimensional making powers and technology that Jin and his gang wielded.

    "Sigh, I really cannot stop you if you want to waste such a preciousmodity on cosmetics alone." Bu Dong said as he raised his hand partially and showed him to the Pandawan group who had gathered afterpleting their basic training and decided to stay together in hopes to prevent them from teleporting all so randomly away. "You see! Even our big boss Xiong Da did not change the way he look even though he had more simtion coins than us."

    "What makes you think I have more simtion coins than the rest of you?" Xiong Da questioned with a menacing face to Bu Dong which thetter found the sudden change of attitude quite awkward however he did not back down and even rose to face against Xiong Da.

    "Heh, we all know that you are the dungeon supplier''s number one supporter. How could the number one supporter did not have any more simtion coins than us? I also heard that you were given priority to enter this dimensional instance first prior to the rest of the gang. Maybe you had already even earn simtion coins while the rest were trying their luck to get those little amounts of Panda Coins." Bu Dong argued and then Xiong Da''s face change almost in an instant.

    "Hahahah, calm down man. I know you were easy to anger which befits your cultivation but up till now, you could not differentiate I am joking or not?"

    "You do not usually put this kind of attitude up so how would I know whether I had offended you or not?!" Bu Dong replied while trying to hold his anger in andter shrugged it off by breaking out of the conversation the moment he ended his sentence. It was pretty apparent to everyone that he was probably just too tired waiting for the event to start. His eagerness to start the mission had wore him out and there was nothing the rest could do either.

    Thankfully the moment he broke away from the conversation, Bin Yong came right into the conversation along with Shi Zuo carrying a bunch of lockerbags with them. "The Beaver and Red Panda NPC at the main lobby counter said that the event is about to start soon and they had begin to distribute the items to us."

    "Quick, they are really heavy." Shi Zuo said as he wanted to give each of the Pandawans who had gathered but subsequently gave up and ced them on the floor, asking them to pick it up themselves. It was then when they opened each of these locker bags, they found equipment that were not of the standard MMORPG styles.

    Most of them were expecting they were to be given a wooden sword or maybe a bow, perhaps an extendable wooden staff for magic users considering the size limitations of those locker bags. However, when they opened it up, they found that there was an imitation of their personal weapons but of the basic tier. For example, Bin Yong the Bombardier Beetle Cultivator had an extendable and also retractable sword and bucklerбн just that it was also ced alongside with a standard issue Chinese variant SKS semi automatic rifle.

    "Hahah, seriously? I thought we are in some fantasy MMORPG and not one that uses swords and guns." Bu Dong said as he picked up the rifle and had a feel. Now his blood was boiling with excitement rather than boredom.

 Chapter 1615 Defending Daimon -Part 4

    Inside the locker bags were not just those items but also a bullet vest as well as a brand new set of uniforms which wereprised of ck and white camo lines, which amounted to them being synonymous with the Panda brand. Almost everyone caught up to that line of thought almost immediately too but the ones who were more special than the others were the Pandawans as they had a military patch of a Panda holding a supposed Lightsaber in their said patch.

    Everyone was already lining up to the dressing rooms with their assigned locker bags and while this might feel like a waste of time to wait for thest three members to finish their Virtual Simtion training, it was deemed that way by the System to buy more time for Jin to finish making up his mind about those orders.

    Still, at that point in time, everyone was somewhat excited that they were able to dress up and some even posed to take group pictures while others brandished their weapons to put in their Pandamonium forum. (This was because pictures depicting such violence were not well rmended by the government and the ability to post such pictures on Pandamonium App was already somewhat a fine line most officials monitoring the Dungeon Supplier store had taken.

    When they were all dressed up, there was a call once again to get their free daily pack of resources from the main lobby as well as the options to purchase more ammunition. All they had to do was head to the rows of vending machines where they could scan their thumbprint or even eye retina.

    When the Pandawans tried it those packs of resources appeared with a loud nk sound and they realised it was packaged like an ammo box until they opened it to find there was indeed ammunition for their current rifle as well as an emergency food ration or also known as MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat). It was designed with a silhouette of a penguin chef which those who stayed in Dungeons and Pandas long enough to know that this was a product from Lynn and her infamous penguin kitchen staff.

    Most MRE rations are not meant to be edible but not appetising. However, if it was by the penguins trained under Lynn, everyone who were in the current Virtual Simtion knows that this MRE could be equivalent to having a good sumptuous meal on the go. Obviously, everyone did not bother to give too much recognition at the moment but they at some expectations that it should taste well enough.

    Lastly, the item that was left in the ammunition box was a packed injector fully sealed with the symbol of a red cross at the middle of the packaging. Everyone could identify it as a product that should be used during emergencies or when they were hurt. And as some of them picked up the injector to look if there were any instructions on the packaging, they saw Milk''s chibi-ified face with picture instructions on how to use it featuring Peppers also in her chibi-ified body as the victim.

    The picture to picture instructions were clear and simple as all the users had to do was to open the packaging and plunge the injector nearest to the most severe injury to stop the bleeding out and close the said wound. Of course, as it showed the duo betors, Milk purposely mmed the said injector hard on Peppers who supposedly had a gaping stomach wound in the picture instructions causing her to cough even more blood. (Such grossly wrong representationsбнof how to use it.)

    Peppers woke up turning out fine in the next picture instruction and the frame proceeded in pping Milk towards the said ck anonymous enemy and fired an explosion to not just at the human shaped ck figure in the picture but also Milk, citing that she was healthy and ready to for action.

    Some Pandarens and even the Pandawans grinned a little when they saw theic frames but at that moment, an loud rm began to re and they knew that it was finally time for some action. "Everyone, remember to take turns and give way. There is no need to rush to fight against monsters. The console within thending pod will give you the mission briefing. Remember to listen carefully as you can only hear it once!" The Red Panda receptionists shouted multiple times the same lines and everyone had already started to walk quickly to the departing gates as the main lobby''s northern interior metal wall started to shake and rattle, showing an extension of the main lobby.

    They walked in an orderly fashion mainly because when the northern walls started to show, there was a line of SWAT Pandas NPCs armed with batons and shields awaiting for any trouble makers who disobey the requests of the Red Panda NPCs.

    Thus, all the rest could do was to walk as quickly as possible to their designated gates where they would check in for the supposed nding pods'' and switch the locker bags they had with simple standard ck backpack which it was used to ce any additional stuff the cultivators had bought with the Simtion Coins. (Bu Dong eventuallyughed at Yue Han who had stupidly used those simtion coins on the cosmetic option while he could have kept and use it to buy additional ammunition which almost everyone in the Pandawan group did.)

    The Pandawans were thankful even though it was highly expected that they were supposed to be together were able to be together for the mission as they boarded the very firstnding pod gate when the doors open. (Banzai or Kudos to Xiong Da the dungeon''s number one supporter who made that a reality.)

    As for the others, most of them were categorised based on their tag numbers and people filled in the gaps where the Pandawans had left. As they were boarding into theirnding pods, they realised that they were indeed stationed up above the skies, bordering the limits of outer space but still in the''s atmosphere. When all of the Pandawans saw it, they were surprised by the''snd since it was not the same as the Earth they knew.

 Chapter 1616 Defending Daimon -Part 5

    "All departing cultivators, please remember to ce the safety harness on once you aligned correctly to your standing positions." The announcement was repeating itself on the loudspeaker of the supposednding pods.

    Mainly because thisnding pod was for the Pandawans, thending pod they were using wasrger than usual and all of the Pandawans were walking in circles within thisnding pod. As much as anding pod had been defined to cater to only a small group, this particrnding drop pod had been designed to withstand a huge amount of people and that also means that the impact wasrger.

    Therefore, the decision for Jin to bring them into the Western Front was undoubtedly within his mind but he realised why should he do that when these Pandawans had repeatedly proven that they were stronger than the average Pandarens not just in terms of sheer willpower but also teamwork.

    This was important as unlike the dungeon instances where their cultivation was the factor of victory, their souls were extracted from the simtion pods and they technically started from level 1 again as how Jin had done it. Unfortunately, even the Pandawans were on the same footing as the Pandarens mainly because of the fact that Jin was simply the anomaly.

    Compared to all of his customers and perhaps even his employees, Jin was the only one who was able to grasp it easily due to the fact that he had subconscious training from Ming and the Cardinals under him. Regardless, those of a decent cultivator grade would still be able to perform well in this aspect mainly because of the fact that, unlike magic, a cultivator needs to train the soul, mind, and body. It is just that Jin had massive initial training, unlike the rest.

    So, both the System and Jin had theorised that when ced in a pinch, the Pandawans and even the Pandarens would be able to utilise their innate chi powers when the pushe to shove. Otherwiseбнgame over for them and it''s time for the next group to have a try on the Virtual Simtion machines. (Teehee~)

    However, Jin had a firm belief that his Pandawans who had gone through so many battles were able to do at least cover their weapon with chi and perform to be a cut above the usual. So, for them and only for them, the Interim Leader of Daimon City had decided that it was better for the Pandawans to be thrown in the baptism of fire in the Eastern front.

    Only after they were able to clear the Forest Trolls then they would return to assist the Western portion of Daimon city. Also, Jin did not expect that a record number of Pandawans would appear. Xiong Da was a definite but not only Bu Dong''s group was here as Bin Yong''s mates as well as Yue Han''s sister, Yue Wen, and her pals were present too. This also meant that Se Lang and Deng Long were with them too.

    This was nearly enough to make a small toon even though a battlepany section would be more appropriate. It is just that Jin wanted to make his cultivators feel special especially when he boasted how his reinforcements woulde to save the day.

    "The mission briefing is as follows. The City of Daimon under the Central District of the Empire, currently being overseen by Archduke Dyke who had appointed Major Jin, the Lord of Mount Sunn as the Interim leader of Daimon City, is currently being under siege by a surprise horde from the East and the West." The announcement continued on but the Pandawans could not help and chuckle at the nonsense that was being sprouted from the announcer. (Even though it was real for Jin!)

    "Did Jin hit his head while cultivating enlightenment to get this kind of nonsense out?" Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator asked and everyone merely continued to grin as the announcement stated the objectives.

    "Landing Pod 01 handling toon Pandawans would be scheduled to drop at the coordinates Latitude 37.558 and Longitude 126.987 where the toon will be assisting the Eastern Daimon Assault Forces with the fight against a monster horde of Forest Trolls. After clearing, please head to the Western Front to join with the rest and assist with the defence."

    "Only Forest Trolls?" Bu Dong asked and everyone felt like he was attempting to jinx their runs as usual. "What? I thought we needed more information that was why I asked!"

    "Wait. Wait a minute." Bin Yong suddenly interrupted. "What do you mean by thatst sentence?"

    "Huh?" Shi Zuo also started thinking back about what was said but the so called speaker did not reply to them. Instead, it only wished good luck to the people that were in the currentnding pod as they could feel that they were currently going to be exported from the flying air station they were currently on and down to the said coordinates that had been given out by the announcement previously.

    And to solidify the matter at hand, they started to see that othernding pods had already beenunched from the floating sky station they were at and it looked like they were moving through to the Western front instead of the Eastern Front which the announcement had stated. (Although if they were to look carefully, they were going to be ced closer to the Southern part of Daimon City and move in to aid the Western Front as Jin had ordered the System to do so. For the Pandwansбнnot so much.)

    "Shit! Is it because we are Pandawans? That''s why we are being pushed to another portion of the fight?" Yue Han said and he looked anxiously at Bu Dong. But before the Angry Ape Cultivator was able to make any noise, there was a loud ring sound and a very heavy jerk that caused thending pod to be detached from the floating sky station they were from and down to a different side from where all thending pods were supposed to go.

 Chapter 1617 Defending Daimon -Part 6

    "AHhhHhhhHhhH~!" A few of them were yelling and screaming as they could feel like the descent of thending pod was something akin to a roller coaster ride or at the very least simr to a free fall decelerated descent. But that was the feeling they were getting even though in reality, it was actually worse than that.

    Thending pod was not in any way decelerating at all but elerating down to the Synthesis World''s Virtual Simtion as its simted gravity took its course. And even though it was just a few mere seconds, it felt like hours as their bodies felt like it was being pulled down by some mysterious force.

    As for the bystanders from both sides of the battle, they saw this giant piece of solid metal teardrop diving to the centre of the battlefield though in reality it was actually leaning closer towards the Forest Trolls. Thending pod eventuallynded with a loud bang and it was pretty obvious that those that were in its path as well as its surrounding radius were decimated without a doubt.

    Even those who had been partially hit were being paralyzed by the heat that had been emitted from thending pod. The Eastern Daimon Assault Forces, on the other hand, took this chance, this opportunity where the Forest Trolls had no idea what was happening to push forward even further. After all, they knew that this reinforcement however small had dealt a massive blow against the Forest Trolls enabling them to reduce this stalemate considerably.

    However, those Pandawans who were in thending pod were still trying to get their bearings and bnce together after that massive shocker of anding. Yet, this was long anticipated by the System and Jin when they first put this n together which was why they wanted them to emerge from the Southern area where the Pandarens had time to recover before they moved out to assist with the Western Front.

    But as for the Pandawans, it was a different story. Thending pod that they took wasrger and thus also meant that there was space. Lots of space for thending pod to be equipped with automated targeting weapon systems that could be used to deter the Forest Trolls longer as the Pandawans took their time to adjust themselves (and that also included a little bit of vomit inducing nausea from the drop.)

    "They don''t have to make it this real, right?" Jing Ru, the Gunning Giraffe and supposedly the only person who had two rifle weapons on her was wiping her vomit away as apartment emerged from the side with wet tissues and a cup of water. (Talk about such great after service!)

    "Get together Pandawans, we will get surrounded in no time if we stay here too long." Xiong Damented but he was equally unbnced from the dropnding as well. It was surprisingly only Deng Long and Se Lang were the most stable out of the whole group. Perhaps, they had some formal training in the police academy that enabled them to handle this kind of situation or they were just unfazed by thisnding. There was no time to probe as they could see the Forest Trolls were furious by the impactnding and they had already been mming their fists and legs against thending pod which were already causing dents.

    Meanwhile, the targeting weapon systems were doing their best to unleash as much hell as they could and since the System knew where to target the monsters, those weapons had been allocated at the top of thending pod for maximum effect while also not being destroyed after the podnded. So, once the impact was over, those weapon systems emerged from the hunk of metals as miniature missiles and machine gun fire were sprayed all over the forest troll''s faces, effectively killing them as they got too close to thending pod.

    Separately, Deng Long and Se Lang came out of thending pod first to provide cover for the group and to see how bad the situation was for them. But as they opened thending pod door, an uprooted tree trunk was seen flying towards the duo. This, however, did not pose any threat to the cultivators who had seen worse flying towards their faces and the two police trained cultivators broke the tree into half with their mightбн or so they thought.

    Their powers were not the same as they were used to though thankfully the tree trunk the forest troll hurled was horizontal and thus it merely mmed hard onto thending pod while the two of them went flying back from the feedback.

    "Fuck!" both of them shouted and they finally realised the difficulty was this current event that they were in.

    "We probably need to infuse our weapons with chi, otherwise it wouldn''t be able to cut or kill the Forest Trolls." Se Leng shouted to the entire group.

    "Easy for you to say, I can''t feel my Dantian core at all." Deng Long replied as he hastily tried to gather any possible chi in this current situation but there was only panic within him. However, that fight or flight response was more than enough to induce some form of chi and he was taking whatever he could for the fight.

    Now they understood why a rifle had been provided to them as it would be a better chance to sessfully infuse a bullet or ammo clip aspared to a weapon. And as they had that realisation the Forest Troll now started to peek through the opening of thending pod.

    So, Deng Long quickly reached for his rifle and hoped for the best as he hastily put whatever he could garner and fired a shot at the peeping Forest Troll. With his training, the SKS semi automatic rifle was a breeze to use even though it was an unfamiliar weapon for him and the rest but that life or death situation where the Forest Troll could once again attempt to attack was in Deng Long''s hand.

 Chapter 1618 Defending Daimon -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1618 Defending Daimon -Part 7</h4>

    The sound of the shot echoed throughout the entire chambers of thending pod and it hurt every other Pandawan that was in it. However, the shot was worth it as it was suffice to say that the bullet was true to its purpose, effectively killing the Forest Troll who had decided to peep through thending pod''s door.

    The charged up bullet was flushed through the barrel of the SKS semi automatic rifle and deposited itself into its brain. As the bullet spun at such high speed due to the power of chi providing enhanced speed and strength, it spiralled through the cranial tissues of the Forest Troll, causing massive injuries that disabled the innate regeneration ability of the Forest Troll. The sudden vacuum of the shot caused the cranial tes to fracture and forced the bone pieces to be sucked inwards before forcing the blood to be shot out.

    There was no chance that the Forest Troll even with its immense capability to recreate or restore new tissues would be able to repair this damage that governs its regeneration powers. Surprisingly, this was in fact the first kill ever made by an outsider/Pandarens who had entered this particr Virtual Simtion and that means that it was also an achievement to behold.

    Deng Long suddenly saw an upgrade card spinning right in front of him for achieving the first blood and it was something that boasted the ability to draw chi from his body. The Wombat Cultivator himself could feel the difference alreadypared to the previous minute when he was desperately trying to get even an ounce of power from his body.

    Despite an immediate problem that had been solved, the next was trying to get out of thending pod before other Forest Trolls attempted to break thending pod by crushing it and killing all of the Pandawans within thending pod. But to their surprise, the monsters were unknowingly helping them as well. The Forest Trolls cried as they mmed thending pod hard now withrge rocks and even used their deadrades as essories to the act.

    This gave the Pandawans a chance to move out as soon as possible in an orderly fashion while they took their rifles up and started shooting at the nearby Forest Trolls while trying to garner chi within their weapon. Still, the Pandawans had no idea that they were lucky on their first try as they did not obtain any information on how to kill the Forest Trolls.

    It was only now when they were distracting the Forest Trolls from closing into the entrance of thending pods that they realised these trolls had superb regeneration powers. It was not until Luo Bo, the Rabbit Cultivator who had been shooting at their heads due to a natural reflex as an archer she also noticed the weapon systems on thending pod were shooting their heads to kill these Forest Trolls as well.

    That was when it clicked on her that all of her pals were doing it wrongly and hence she shouted the answer to them. "The heads! THE HEADS! Aim for their heads and they will decimate!" Luo Bo shouted and everyone who was around her also began shouting to ry the information, while forgetting that they had an internal console that could be used to ry messages.

    Perhaps they had forgotten about such a feature as they could be too used to wearing half animal masks to fight in dungeon instances. Not to mention, they had no idea that all this shouting was to affirm everyone who was still in the fight against the Forest Trolls where they were surrounded.

    "Seriously this Jin better reward us properly when that this is over." Shi Zuo grumbled as he reloaded his rifle upon throwing his expandable giant axe at a Forest Troll.? It didn''t kill it but at the very least, the staggering enabled Shi Zuo to catch a breather before releasing two quick shots in session to kill it.

    "I rather have ammo now though! Boss Jin''s reward can wait!" Bin Yong replied to his best pal as he realised that he too could use his buckler the way Shi Zuo had done. Thinking he was Captain US, he threw his shield as hard as he possibly could muster and the buckler was stuck able to strike a Forest''s troll''s neck allowing it to flinch a moment for Bin Yong to take the shot.

    Unfortunately, as much as Bin Yong wished to do so, the Forest Troll at the side nearly caught him, making Bin Yong lose his focus. Nearly caught was the keyword as hispanion Jia Le, the Bellflower Cultivator was able to throw some kunai to distract the Forest Troll before triggering a three shot burst as a panic reflex.

    It was a waste of both kunai and bullets since little to no damage was done after the Forest Troll recovered from the wound. However, it was obvious that if Jia Le had not done that, there was no way Bin Yong could have escaped unscathed.

    The rest of the cultivators were in the same predicament. Even though they knew the troll''s weakness already, they were still dancing around their toes and hoping not to get killed.

    "For a Virtual Simtion and being shafted into a high risk operation like this, I can''t really say I like Jin''s way of winning people''s hearts and minds for the beta test." Xiong Da said as he took in a punch from the Forest Troll and had been knocked back several metres away whileining of this all too real experience.

    "And here we are still twirling around death''s door hoping to get out of this unscathed. Not to mention you are smiling." Ruo Ying, Egret Cultivator and the partner of Xiong Da said as she subsequently defended the Xiong Da from iing attacks using her chains to divert the punch of the Forest Troll away.

    "But we are not getting anywhere! Boss Jin could have given us better rifles!" Yue Hanined until he heard something through their inte.

    "How about I give you an army as a reward for staying alive."

 Chapter 1619 Defending Daimon -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1619 Defending Daimon -Part 8</h4>

    When everyone heard his voice, there was only certainty that bastard was no doubt the person controlling the strings behind all of this. Yet at the same time, they were relieved and perhaps even more delighted to hear where he had gone all this while. Even though he was not exactly in cordial nature with them since they were undoubtedly of a boss and customer rtionship that they believed had exceeded such threshold.

    However, that moment of reunion had to stop for now as the Eastern Daimon Assault Force had indeede through and they were providing the assistance the Pandawans were so desperately needed from a manpower perspective and also from a firepower perspective.

    In the meantime, themanders who were seen from afar with their drones were already impressed by the tenacity that these small group of unique individuals had portrayed. Their Mechanoids and even trained soldiers were not even this perceptive when it came to fighting the Forest Trolls in closebat. Most of them would either die from attempting to block the hits from the Forest Trolls or spread away just to avoid getting hit.

    However, because of the nature of the assault, there was no way stepping back, only forward. So, most of the Eastern Daimon Assault Force members were utilising long range techniques to defeat their foes.

    It was a battlefield of attrition until the arrival of the toon Pandawan which was able to break the stalemate by forcing the Forest Trolls to learn that there were some enemies within their own rank and file that they had to eliminate. And upon learning how the Pandawans fought, themanders had decided to give them the support fire they sorely needed to ensure that they could win the fight.

    Eventually, the Pandawans became the vanguard of the assault force as they continued to push through hoping to minimise losses as much as possible. It was also at this time when most of the Pandawans had finally got used to their new ''avatar'' bodies and they were able to conjure their chi from within to be used on their weapons as well.

    The fight seemed rather possible from their perspective to the point they finally were more aware of their surroundings that they got to use the internal console that their avatar bodies had and finally replying to Jin on the situation.

    "Bosss Jinnnnn! Where had you been all this while?" Yue Han gave a reply to his previous message

    "Ehh hahaha I was assisting with the creation of this Virtual Simtion and handling all sorts of crap like this?" Jin replied to the entire toon of Pandawans.

    "Aren''t you on some journey in search of enlightenment or was it some mode of seclusion?"? Yue Wen, Yue Han''s sister spoke next.

    "Wellllll, this is actually harder to exin than I could but in summary, I did find some enlightenment in making this particr Virtual Simtion."

    "So far, I can say that this is far more stable than the other Virtual Simtion that we were in. Also, I do not know how to describe itбн erm, it felt natural?"? Xiong Da added. "Oh and the movement is much much more fluid, unlike that previous VR test you gave us to try. The one was kind of bullshit if you ask me."

    "Did you not say that that was okayish?" Jin felt he got cheated by his number one supporter as he tried to remember if Xiong Da everined.

    "Yea I did, it was really not bad and there was potential to revolutionise it to so many other ventures and I continued to feel that way. That is why I did not mind investing in this."

    "You probably just want to hide the money you earn. You? moneyundering piece of shit." Bu Dong chimed in.

    "Just say that you are jealous of me, don''t need to use me for being so all too capable." Xiong Da replied. "But in any case, this feels no different from real life with the exception that I do not really feel my chi until now. If this is the product you are going to dish out after this beta test, I can ensure its potential would be soaring like mad and making you possibly one heck of a billionaire."

    "Right? As much as I like to tout that my previous product was a wonder hit, this virtual simtion is simply another level altogether. There''s no way I think mypetitors will ever be able to win this tech for the years toe."

    "So the reality of having a VR MMORPG is really going toe true." Yue Han said to himself before everyone heard an "Ack!" from him.

    "y, y, and y! ALL YOU ever think is about ying. Do you think Mom and Dad would be interested in raising an unemployed person?" Yue Wen shouted and even though she turned off her mic option for the group chat, everyone could hear it from Yue Han''s.

    "You get a job first!" As the brother and sister continued to fight against each other, Jin interrupted the flow and got back to business.

    "toon Pandawan, we will need you to rush in, acting as not just the vanguard but the tip of the vanguard assault. Your objective is to get to the Dungeon Entrance as soon as possible to stop any further incursions of the Forest Trolls out of the dungeon."

    "You mean this is a monster outbreak kind of setting? Not some nned invasion by the monsters?" Bin Yong asked and Jin acknowledged only the first question while notmenting on the second as he roughly knew this was an attempt to remove Daimon City from the Map by elements far bigger than him.

    "So be wary. I like to think that they are all Forest Trolls but my algo generator might pull out something tricky which may jeopardise this current assault." Jin cautioned and everyone within the chat understood something. They were not able to get any information prior to their dropnding because of this.

 Chapter 1620 Defending Daimon -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1620 Defending Daimon -Part 9</h4>

    The progress of the fight did not change much with the exception that the Eastern Daimon Assault Force pushing forward after the introduction of Jin''s special reinforcements that came in. They had no idea how and where they wereing from but the only fact that remained was, that they were not enemies and even though their numbers were small, they seemed to be stronger than the usual reinforcement counterparts.

    The Pandarens had the luxury of dropping at the Southern portion of Daimon City and their internal consoles quickly showed them where to travel next. Like the Pandawans, they also needed some time to readjust themselves after the dropnding but it was not as bad as the Pandawans. Because of the size of theirnding pods and for the reason solely they were not going to be thrown into battle like the Pandawans, their pods had been equipped with additional boosters to soften thending.

    After which thending pods were equivalent to trash being left in Southern Daimon. There was no use for it, unlike the situation for the Pandawans where it acted as a multipurpose tool where it killed, assisted and eventually used as cover for troops to hide from the Forest Trolls aggressive throwing of rocks and trees.

    It did not exactly increase the odds significantly that it would aid with the Daimon Forces but reinforcements were still better than nothing. Their appearance had caused some distraction for the Metal Ogres who had been consistently bombarded by the defensive artillery that wasing from the city.

    But since the Pandarens had entered their nk, they refrained from attacking at that area and instead provided additional troops to that area so that they could assist the reinforcements. At first, there was nothing much the Western Daimon Defence Forces were expecting from the Pandarens since they understood how strong the Metal Ogres were when it came to resisting attacks.? Even though their defensive fire artillery was not making much progress the artillerymanders were requesting for unguided but concentrated bombardment to ensure that the Metal Ogres die.

    Although that n seemed to be a sure kill method that a few of the military council members agreed to it wholeheartedly, Jin did not approve of the n. "It''s a waste of resources which could be used for the long run of this current battle. If you want it, get by me how many bombardments are needed to kill one Metal Ogre and you do the math from there. After which, convince me why that particr n would be more cost effective when we are currently working so hard inside and out to defend the city." Jin''s reply left the others somewhat muddled in their opinions.

    They knew that he made sense as the victory they had hoped for the Eastern Daimon Front to be clear of monsters was not in sight after all. They expected the Assault Force to reach the dungeon entrance about 30 minutes ago and that was their most pessimistic estimate when the n was drawn. Now, they were only slightly halfway through the goal and required more time to make sure that it was done correctly.

    Perhaps they were blinded by the victory that those Grey Bears had shown and thought that those Forest Trolls were easy targets. Now they understand that it was not only the Grey Bears who were especiallypetent but their defence troops and volunteers were not near the level ofpetence that the council was expecting.

    Still, Jin did not wish to have a stalemate. If they could clear the Forest Troll while intermittently dying the Metal Ogres, it was the best achievable result he could wish for. Fortunately, what he did not expect was that the cultivators he had sent in were proving themselves to be quite a force to be reckoned with as well.

    Through word of mouth, most of the Pandarens ced chi into their weapons, mostly through the rifles they had been given, and started fighting the Metal Ogres on arge scale. Some of the Metal Ogres leaders were furious by their act and sent a pack to deal with the Pandarens.

    To their surprise, the Metal Ogres were killed rather easily once the Pandarens had ovee their innate weakness. Those who were more in tune with their chi created elemental chi and they were even more effective against the Metal Ogres than ever before.

    The loss of those Metal Ogres caused the leaders to be enraged and decided to send even more soldiers, believing that was the solution to the problem. By now, the Pandarens were already ustomed to the Metal Ogres'' attributes and believed they were efficient in dispatching the iing group once more.

    This urrence shocked the Daimon City''s Western defences as they arrived thinking they had to save some ass and maybe say a prayer or two to the fallen but what they had was a different kind of scene. Instead of people, Metal Ogres were killed and the soldiers now understood that this might give them the edge they were looking for as well as a morale booster.

    Thus, they quickly entered the battlefield as well aiding the Pandarens to the best of their abilities. The internal consoles within the Pandaren''s avatars were subsequently attached to the Daimon Defence Forces and they too had a glimpse of the situation that they were in.

    This might just be 2,500 people but a number of them that came in were not selected based on a firste first serve basis. Rather, the System previously chose them based on whether they had cleared dungeons in Jin''s Dungeons and Pandas before and had gained a cultivation grade up as well. That was why the first wave of ''troops'' that Jin had summoned were not some people waiting and got lucky to be in the first beta testing of this Virtual Simtion and rather, seasoned cultivators who had gone through dangers and fought monsters of high calibre before.

    And he made sure they were goddamn strong. (or at least it looks that way! Tehee~!)

 Chapter 1621 Defending Daimon -Part 10

    <h4>Chapter 1621 Defending Daimon -Part 10</h4>

    People who were a little curious about the Virtual Simtion finally started to tune into Pandaflix to see what the entiremotion was about. And there they saw people were in those Virtual Simtion pods and their avatars had been shown on screen by the System.

    As it was supposedly a beta test, they did not think that it would show many features until they saw that the Pandarens were already facing a massive monster outbreak with the guns and swords they had been given at the start.

    It did not look like much from the spectator''s point of view but when they came into a single Pandaren''s point of view (POV), they saw that there were stats, inventory bags, and even an hp/mp bar which every MMORPG would have. But unlike most crazy fantasy MMORPGs, this particr one was mostly realistic due to the fact that they were using guns and chi to kill their enemies.

    So, most of them understood why this was a beta test since they were being plunged into a battle straight after teleporting in rather than experiencing the newbie town or choosing their factions et before going into simplebat. This particr test quickly brought them into the battlefield and let them taste what it feels like to be in a VR MMORPG.

    It might not seem different from the usual dungeon instance but this had many implications for the world atrge. Obviously, if Boss Jin made it right for this, he could potentially create something that will rock the world and skyrocket him to be a multi billionaire almost instantly. His Panda Inc. he created could enter the stock market and perhaps be the very few dungeon suppliers that had stocks that people were interested in.

    This is mainly because what the Dungeon Suppliers mostly target are cultivators, enabling cultivators to grow and learn their skills. However, for Jin''s dungeon supplier store, it had a boon and a w at the same time. Those cultivators were able to receive a level up to cultivation grade if they yed enough and this was adamantly obvious for those who had joined or participated in his dungeon instances.

    This might not seem to be a problem at the start since people would think that the increase in cultivation grade was due to the real and interactive fun that they were enjoying in this dungeon supplier store. But if people were to seriously take notice, it could spell trouble as everyone in the world would want a piece of this pie. Who does not want to increase their grades throughbat when it is currently not easily avable due to theck of monsters to fight with?

    To some, they might even think that having the possibility of reincarnation makes it a deterrent to increasing cultivation grade as all they need to do is pay some money, and tada~! They are back in this world while their perpetrators have been arrested.

    So, in order to curb this early the System had purposely reduced the amount of spiritual chi that those cultivators could obtain in the long run from the monsters but that also meant inserting more resources into the monsters so that they would not be purely made out of a soul and spiritual chi.

    Not to mention, there should be a ceiling for the grades those monsters could be created in order to ensure that the Pandawans do not go up too much higher. Then what about the cultivators who were of high levels? Shouldn''t Jin and the System cater to them as well? It was a problem that both of them had yet to solve as they had not seen anyone who was of that kind of high grade enter the Dungeon Supplier store. Most of them knew that the stores could only handle Grade 10 and below even though in terms of technicality, the System would be able to give at least Grade 15 and below due to Jin''s cultivation.

    But for the moment, they decided to keep it at Grade 10, and any breakthroughs that the cultivators had after this might need better masters. Still, the reason for Dungeon Suppliers in this day and age was not because of the need to train, but the want to experience. If someone did request Jin for a high grade dungeon, the System believes that they will get what they want so long they can pay for such a price.

    Otherwise, for the need to get stronger and even beyond that Grade 10 ceiling that Jin artificially created, the use of VR MMORPG could be the answer and possibly the best solution. Grades can continuously increase and of course to the point where it is regted as well since they are in a simtion.

    All of them start at Grade 0 Cultivator and they could climb up to Grade 99 Cultivator, something which is absurdly impossible to achieve much less in this current game. And not to mention, their chi points were all metered bars, so that means they are unable to create miracles like how they could in actualbat but who knows? Maybe those miracles could appear with the use of upgrade cards like how the System bestowed one to Deng Long.

    And more importantly, it is mainly due to the fact that they can finally target a poption that had always been neglected despite being a silent majority: Themoners who did not have any cultivation powers to begin with. This would enable them to not only try to have a feel of being a cultivator but also experiencebat as if they were in a dungeon instance. It was something that Jin had wanted for themoners and dying to tap in that market for a very long time.

    With this beta testing, he made sure that Qiu Yue advertised that evenmoners (with less of the stereotype titles and names, just ''people without proper cultivation'') were able to join for this beta testing although the priority will go to the cultivators mainly because of the battle that Jin needs experienced veterans.

    But with this ahead, Jin might be looking at riches the moment he gets out of Synthesis World and makes it happen.

 Chapter 1622 Defending Daimon -Part 11

    <h4>Chapter 1622 Defending Daimon -Part 11</h4>

    As the Metal Ogres one by one fell to the ground by the Pandarens, soldiers were not the only ones that had been dispatched to the area. Several teams of Resource Workers were also sent to the area with armed escorts.

    Thankfully the terrain from the southern area had made it rather essible for the resource workers to enter as they too risked their lives to pick up the dead Metal Ogres. But why would they need to do that?

    That was wholly because of the fact that they needed to obtain materials. The Metal Ogres as the name had implied had metallic materials imbued onto them and their deaths made it easier for those metals to be extracted. That means that those dead Metal Ogre corpses were the best kind of loot Daimon City could ever get in order to get by this crisis.

    Surely, they are working doubly hard to get the barrier generator ups but what if it fucked up? Or what if it needed more time than what the timeline had been proposed? Or what happens if the barrier were unable to withstand the massive number of monsters attempting to enter? The destruction of the barrier by the Crystal Dragon had already given doubts to the people that the barrier generator could not be trusted and that was the same sentiment for Jin as well.

    Despite consistent assurances from the military that the barrier could definitely hold this amount of monsters, they were not able to give evidence or past ounts where such a barrier had done such a magnificent job when Jin asked for it.

    So, as the interim leader of Daimon City who was given the absolute power to protect the people, Jin was not leaving it to chance and some whimsy barrier which it had managed to break through. Thus, he got salvagers and resource workerspensated wildly to risk their lives so that they could get those Metal Ogres back to base.

    Obviously, a few more shots were ced into the heads of those Metal Ogres before the transfer of their corpses into the lorries and trucks and then they were transported back to the factories for dismantling.

    All these metals wouldter be sorted out as well and depending on their state, variety, and quality, they would subsequently be dispatched to different factories for processing so that items could be built. From ammunition to Mechanoids and even emergency food rations from Ogre''s meat.

    The bones can also be used as trench obstacles or even repurposed as simple melee weapons like the ultimate tool in World War 2, the Trench Spade- a multipurpose item that can be useful to kill stuff in close quarterbats as well as being used for digging their graves too. (Well, more for the use of creating trenches and digging for traps.)

    Some of the resource workers who had seen the chaos that was happening tried to stay calm under the intense pressure to transport these Metal Ogres while not trying to get in the way of the Pandarens who were out there fighting intently against these monsters. In the meantime, the workers also picked up the dead Ogres'' weapons and armour that were lying on the floor so that they could be either reused or be melted down as extra materials. However, they were not expecting much as those expert resource workers could see that these weapons were poorly made. Filled with many impurities, they could only amount to very little good useful metal left.

    Still, having a small amount is better than nothing since every bit counts especially when they are already touching on the stockpile for this fight. They mightst against the monster outbreak for a few days and maybe a week if resources were well managed and the defence lines hold but anything can go awry.

    However, all was not lost, to say the least, and only Jin knew about it. Their agreement with Syn was mainly to ferry yers into this particr Virtual Simtion to spice up the situation as well as for Syn to understand how the cultivators fight. This means that there is a certain amount of data leverage that Jin might have when ites to yers. He could make them fight desperately without any resources or be equipped sufficiently based on the data limit that Syn gave for each yer.

    Yet, the thing is that Syn and the others had no idea that humans especially in Jin''s world are greedy people. They will do anything for extra rewards and Jin can facilitate that very easily by giving them the greed for more simtion coins, a currency that was currently not obtainable through any means.

    And yes, that is to ferry ''digital'' goods based on the data limit imposed by Syn and AI Administration as part of a quest. The System can easily create those goods since they did not amount to much in this Virtual Simtion once you know the codes. Still, it would be a breach of trust if Jin were to abuse it in such a way that Jin brought in items and cheated the current situation.

    So, by keeping to the data limit per Grade 0 Cultivator that came in, Jin was able to send out fetch quests at the expense of their equipment. If they were able to bring the goods safely into Daimon City, the fetch quest would bepleted and simtion coins could be earned. However, the current stockpile was still well within healthy levels and Jin had kept that idea as a contingency depending on how Daimon City could survive from this current battle of attrition.

    Thus, it was still a decent idea to allow Jin to get extra emergency resources even though it would be marginal on the grand scale of the situation. The System who had peeked through Jin''s head to learn about this massive pack mule idea made it confused whether Jin was going to fall into the dark side of bureaucracy or had the influence of Kraft finally caught up onto Jin''s way of thinking.

    Only time could tell and time was what they needed to also ensure that the barrier generators could be created again.

 Chapter 1623 Defending Daimon -Part 12

    <h4>Chapter 1623 Defending Daimon -Part 12</h4>

    "Commander, the Grey Bear Squad is reporting for duty," Yinn said through the System Consoles. "Where do you need us to be deployed?"

    "To what extent are you willing to sacrifice your lives?" Jin took a breather from the currentmand to pick up Yinn''s call.

    "As per yourmands." Yinn said until there was a resounding ''no'' through every other Mechanoids including Tellie though Click and Diaz were the loudest.

    "Jin, stop teasing your Mechanoid leader already. Just get to the point." Lynn talked after the rest of the Grey Bear Squad calmed down.

    "What do you think of the current battle scenario that we are experiencing?" Jin asked the rest as an internal sharing of the military headquarters'' information was being shared among the group. It was no doubt illegal to leak such sensitive stuff since people might specte and even cause panic due to the rumours but hey, they cannot detect it if it''s through the System.

    "The cleanup of the Forest Trolls seems to be progressing apace, there are splinter groups of Forest Trolls leaving from the main group and I think they are trying to distract the main attacking force to split their forces as well."

    "You want us to attack those splinter groups?"

    "No, no need. The Assault Force and my outsiders will chase after them. They arepetent enough to do so."? Jin said and the System already picked up the hint to send a search and destroy quest to the Pandawans. Naturally, the Pandawans did not hesitate to take the quest since it provided them with simtion coins.

    However, because of the current situation where they were experiencing battle high while leading the tip of the vanguard, it was impossible for them to suddenly say ''Hey, I just received a quest and I got to get going, good luck dudes and dudettes'' So, they had no chance but to keep on course and hopefully, the secondary optional quest that popped out would be able topleteter.

    "Then the only problem would be the arrival of the Metal Ogres. There is no way to get close though, the Western Front had already been littered with mines and anti tank emcements so that when the Metal Ogres reached a certain threshold line, their first defensive line would take over the artillery''s call of thunder." Click reviewed the images and also knew some stuff because she as a Mechanoid engineer had been briefed for the fortification ns by the Western Daimon Defence Forces.

    "Going the South route would be a bit stupid too since the outsiders are handling that portionбн So, we go North and nk them?" Page asked and Diazughed.

    "What 5 against the number of hands and toes that I have x10000?" Diaz said and she was not wrong to think that way. Sending a toon of Pandawans right smack in the centre of the Forest Troll''s rank and file was insane but Jin knew that they could hold until the Eastern Daimon Assault Force came in. However, he can say the same if he were to bring 5 specialised groups of Mechanoids to assault the North themselves.

    "Wait, please don''t tell me that your sacrifice had to do with us fighting groups of Metal Ogres ourselves? Are we really going to the North and subsequently heading for the West to do so?"

    "Wellбн" Before Jin could continue, there was shouting from themand area indicating that 200 troops from Archduke Dyke''s personal army, Dyke''s Pikes had reached Daimon by a massive helicarrier.

    "Give them clearance to enter and also ask if they are willing to loan us the helicarrier for one ride before leaving," Jin said and quickly returned to the Grey Bear Squad''smunication channel. "Looks like I have no time to give you any other guessing chances. You will have your surprise by going for the helicarrier that the rest of Dyke''s Pike came from."

    "Yes Commander, but please give us a short briefing on what to expect." Yinn did not want to leave without knowing the operation details. She would honestly want Jin to say it from his mouth rather than getting it from the System.

    "The Metal Ogres are stilling out from the dungeon entrance like some production line from a monster factory. But one thing is for sure at the moment. The helicarrier is sturdy enough to take some hits from the Metal Ogres even if they threw javelins and other assortment of weapons."

    "I assume Tellie is the main character this time around?" Diaz said and Jin gave a quick acknowledgement.

    "However, everyone is going. Should the Helicarrier go down due to some freak incident, you need contingency ns. Click, go pick up resources for your Mechamancing tricks. Get a flying bird or something that could at least bring you guys out of harm''s way if the helicarrier goes down.

    "Yes sir!" Click said and got off themunication channel.

    "Diaz, your job is to prevent those javelins from hitting the helicarrier so bring more ammunition with you to knock them down." Before Jin could expect an answer from Diaz, she already logged off from the channel while shouting a yes that he could hear from the rest in the channel.

    "Lynn. You and Yinn go get some explosive oil barrels and use them during your descent to cover your helicarrier."

    "Wouldn''t arge smokescreen be more appropriate?" Lynn asked and Jin told them they could bring extra as precautionary measures.

    "Tellie. Denise had ordered the release of a restricted ss energy rifle. It should help you regte your powers since ites with an external cooler. It also helps to increase your shots too in case you miss."

    "I will not miss. We need this win to let Daimon City survive."

    "Thank you and Page? Make sure they are back with at least one piece." Jin ordered and Page acknowledged the order.

    "I will do my best to make sure they are back in one piece."

 Chapter 1624 Defending Daimon -Part 13

    <h4>Chapter 1624 Defending Daimon -Part 13</h4>

    "Sir, the Helicarrier has been prepped and refueled. The pilot agreed to go for one quick run and offered to bring the Grey Bears back as well instead of it being a one way trip." The military officer said as Jin came back to the military table and continued to monitor the progress.

    "Give him two times the risk pay as well as the best ration we could afford right now," Jin said as he quietly checked the status of his Grey Bears who were rushing all over the ce to get the additional stuff so they would be able to destroy the Monster Lure.

    Even though the monster lure was said to deactivate after its use, a scouting team who had gone to the south to pick up samples of the monster lure as per Jin''s request had indicated that the size of the Monster Lure was one of thergest they had ever seen. And based on their estimates, the monster lure was supposed to work for at least a few weeks.

    Jin who expected lures tost for probably at most a day or two based onmon sense from his home world, had to change his ns on how to tackle this ongoing threat. Even the military council was surprised by the findings and they nearly broke down that it would be hopeless if not for Jin''s persistence in getting everything intact.

    And now the Interim Leader understood why it was called a monster outbreak. Even though there was no variety of monsters other than the slight variants they encountered, the sheer quantity of those monsters was already proving to be a problem even for defence and assault teams.

    Also, if the monster lure was still to be active, the possibility of the city being overrun would undoubtedlye true. That was why Jin had considered himself to be lucky since he managed to destroy most of the monster lures except for the one in the West. But to pull such underhanded tricks by the Empire''s Royal Family merely made his blood boil. Initially, there was no grudge within him but this dirty y had shown that the Royal Family was unfit for ruling.

    In order to bury pieces of evidence, they are willing to destroy the entire city? And to make things worse, they were able to do that and pull strings to ensure that none of the surrounding territories will aid? Surely, they guise the excuse of protecting oneself but the cities were equally selfish as well. But with this, Jin believed that the Archduke have seen the true colours of the lordships that were underneath him.

    He now has a better idea on who to trust and will take steps to ensure that these people would be dealt with ordingly. However, right now all Dyke could do was to pray that Jin manages to tide over this dire circumstance and survive to tell the tale. If he could do that, he not only be a valuable lord for the rebellion but also have an entire city who had ties to the one of the biggest Mechanoid Corporations the Empire ever had.

    "Sir, the Grey Bears are on board! They are departing as we speak."? The officer said as Jin snapped out of his thinking for a moment.

    "They already know what to do." Jin said and the council members who were around him were fairly annoyed.

    "What did you make them do? Why are we not informed of this decision?"

    "This is my own squad. I do not believe I need to tell you what I can to do with them." Jin said in a stern voice. For the time he had been here, he realised that the military would squabbling with him without end. They were like a bunch of old menining about the problem but nothing was being done. Jin felt that if he could make it happen, he would push these old men into the battlefield and rece them with more logical go-getters for the council.

    "But if you do not tell us what is happening, what if they were to make a severe mistake because you had not consulted us with it?" The old men grumbled and Jin finally decided to give in after sighing.

    "They are going to destroy the monster lure at the Western Dungeon. This should at least reduce the number of monstersing out of the Western Dungeon and it will be a major win for us." Jin replied and the old men wished to retract in horror.

    "You are going to waste a perfectly fine helicarrier and a squad of specialised Mechanoids to do something this stupid?" One of the old menined.

    "It''s precisely because it''s a perfectly fine helicarrier and a squad of HIGHLY specialised Mechanoids that I will let them perform this operation." The sarcasm in the sentence made Jin''s reply to have no mercy on the old man who asked it.

    "Then how sure are you about the location of the monster lure?" Another old men said and this time round the question made more sense which Jin was obliged to answer his question seriously.

    "Based on our previous encounters with the monster lures. Both North, South and even the Eastern Monster Lures, as well as the smaller ones in the intercardinal regions that had been destroyed were ced in a simr fashion. None of them hid the lures and purposely ced it where it had the most effect on the dungeon entrance and that is approximately 20 metres away from it. The analysts suspected that the people who ced it had deduced that by the time Daimon City understood that there were monster lures, it would been toote for them."

    "So they had decided to ce it right outside the entrance in order to not just have the maximum benefit but also ensuring that it works the moment they started it and the perpetrators can run away after activating the lures. If we were to survive this, I will spare no effort to get the bottom of this to hand out justice to those responsible."

    "And that includes the mastermind of the perpetrators even if they were the King and Queen of the country." Jin said as he casually eyed at every single old man sitting at the table as if suspecting that they were also in cahoots with the Royal Family.

 Chapter 1625 Defending Daimon -Part 14

    <h4>Chapter 1625 Defending Daimon -Part 14</h4>

    Everyone within the Helicarrier was quiet except when it came to sending outmands to one another. They were doing their best to ensure that the task set that they had would bepleted efficiently and withpetence. All of them did a double check of the items they were bringing and made sure that they were flight ready and everyone was prepared for the worst case scenario when the helicarrier crash.

    "The Interim Leader sends his regards! Be careful, do not let the size deceive you, it''s actually quite heavy!" The helipad maintenance guy ran towards the cockpit to pass an unseemingly small bag to the pilot before he gave a quick salute and left the Helicarrier for it to take off.

    "Hahaha. Wow. This is the first time I see a militarymander taking the initiative to give us the bonus straight away. In fact, I think this is the first time a militarymander pays us a bonus to do a extra job. Most of the time its a p on order but looks like he really cares for his troops," The Helicarrier lead pilot said as he peeked open the bag to see the shining metals in it.

    "I know, right? To give us gold and even rations for the trip back. He desperately wants us to survive this encounter as much as possible." The co-pilot replied. "Looks like we really got to keep our promise and bring this group of Mechanoids back to him."

    "Don''t think too much. If they are precious enough for themander to take such initiative then-" The lead pilot suddenly thought to himself to keep quiet. There was no use jinxing it when their priority was to stay alive. "We will get it done no matter what. Make sure those guns are working fine and so are the missile tubes."

    The copilot understood where his partner wasing from and knew why he suddenly decided to keep quiet. Therefore, he alsoplied with his orders without question and started to announce the take off to their new passengers.

    Compared to carrying 200 over Mechanoids in sleep mode, the Grey Bear squad was undoubtedly one of the lightest cargo they had ever carried for the past few runs and the pilots already boosted up their secondary and side thrusters for evasive manoeuvres so that when they needed them for the low descent, they could do something about it.

    As for the Grey Bears within the Helicarrier, they were also making their own preparations and more importantly a getaway bird (literally a mechanical bird) in case the Helicarrier goes down from some freak incident. Click had brought the raw materials in but she still needed some time as well as power to create the mechanical bird to her bidding.

    Thankfully because this was a decent sized helicarrier capable of carrying a fair bit of load, they also brought in batteries which Click could use to reanimate and create a brand new mechanical bird. This way, Click did not need to use her power core and she could even keep her strength for unforeseen circumstances.

    At the same time, this also allowed Click to teach her squad mates how her powers work so that in the event the Mechanical Bird does break down and Click is somewhat incapacitated, the Grey Bears squad has the authority and rights to take it with them. And in order to do that, they needed to dispatch some of their nanobots to reside within the Mechanical Bird when it is about to activate.

    "ETA 12 minutes!" The announcement from the copilot stated that forced the Grey Bear squad to quickly put their nanobots into a cylinder where the mechanical bird could identify them upon activation. This feature came when Yinn and Diaz had forcefully taken control of the Mechanical Hound which they used to escape. If not for Yinn''s exemry capability to adapt through the circumstances and force hack into the Mechanical hound, there was no way the hound would listen to them as much as it would listen to Click.

    Thus, Click made sure that this time round, everyone''s nanobot signatures were in so that they could break out of trouble if necessary though they really hope they did not need to and instead use it as an offensive item in the future.

    "ETA 5!" We turning on the monitors for visuals and opening the cargo doors! All items will be locked tight to the helicarrier. Sniper, please take your position."

    "Huh, why would we need to be locked onto the helicarrer''s floor? Isn''t that a little contradictory when we are shooting from the sides of the helicarrier?" Diaz asked and Yinn replied.

    "No, I told the helicarrier pilot a different n which will increase our survivability as well as our the helicarrier''s safety. However, thises as a cost and the risk had to be taken by helicarrier''s pilots themselves."

    "What are you making them do." Diaz expected an answer but even as Yinn wanted to keep the suspense just for a second longer, she realised that the squad members were all tremendously anxious for the answer.

    "I apologise I did not discuss it with you guys as it was a spontaneous thought and the n had to go through the helicarrier pilots first," Yinn said as she gave them the gist by using her hand as a demonstration. The hand glided straight through the air before it was seen rising upwards and that was where the Grey Bear Squads watched in disbelief as theirputer cores processed what was going to happen to the helicarrier in 4 minutes'' time.

    "Are you fucking crazy?!" Diaz said as she finally digested that information. Do you want this helicarrier to go for a straight ascent?! Can I remind you that this is a HELICARRIER?" It''s not meant to do ascending tricks!" Diaz said but Yinn shrugged her shoulders a little.

    "The pilots said they could do it, so I see no problem with going through the operation," Yinn said. Besides, Jin did give me rights to order you guys around иC"

    "But this is the first time you issue something crazy! Wait бнwait a minute. You also did something crazy when we were doing that Forest Troll run. Are you starting to be crazy? Is your new specialisation to be crazy?" Diaz remarked but the others were already preparing themselves.

    "Diaz, let''s go. No use wasting time around here." Click already took Diaz by the back of her cored uniform and pulled her. (She did not stopining though)

    "I find that is a wonderful idea," Lynn remarked of all of a sudden. "By doing that you will be reducing the surface area of where the helicarrier could be hit and the sniper can have a direct line of sight even though it is reduced somewhat visually on the target. The chances of missing would be low and Tellie can go full power."

    "Thank you, Lynn. Yourments are well appreciated." Yinn said as she checked her gun as a habit before moving away to her allocated position. In less than 3 minutes, they would be approaching their destination. They honestly hoped that their overpreparations were for naught as being trapped in enemy territory is the worst.

 Chapter 1626 Defending Daimon -Part 15

    <h4>Chapter 1626 Defending Daimon -Part 15</h4>

    Breathe.

    That was all Tellie could think of as she held onto the new experimental rifle that Denise had loaned her for this mission. Iron nails from her left knee and right leg plunge onto the Helicarrier''s floor as she knelt partially to get into position.

    Yinn''s n might seem like a luxury for Tellie but in reality, she is going to be in deep trouble if she does not time her shot right. Surely the ne can ascend upwards and with the cargo doors open, the explosive barrels can drop and descend vertically providing the Helicarrier some breathing space so that the Metal ogres who threw javalins and spears will have trouble hitting it.

    However, that also means Tellie only had a clear vision for a moment and if she had not taken the chance correctly to fire, the experimental beam rifle might not have been able to destroy everything in its path. Too small and precise, Yinn might lose the uracy if the Helicarrier jerks from the retaliating attack. Toorge and big, which is not a problem for Tellie now that she has an experimental rifle can potentially cause trouble for her too since the scale might identally damage the dungeon entrance and it will create untold problems for the entirety of this particr battle.

    But even if she thought about all of these, this was stillparatively easier than the time when she had to calcte her shot on a moving vehicle just so that she could hit the firing missile tube when the projectile was about to pop out. At this moment, her target is a stationary item and she had more stability and cooling facilities on her fingertips than ever before.

    All she could say was that Jin had never failed to put her in circumstances that consistently pushed her into weird and difficult situations and this one was undoubtedly one of them as well despite the slightly easier difficulty.

    Or so she thinks. When the Cargo Bay doors opened, spears were already starting to fly in and Diaz was already on guard duty trying to shoot down every single spear. Eventually, arrows, axes, and even rocks were being flung towards the helicarrier as the pilot continued to descend as low as possible while not getting the helicarrier into too much trouble.

    "Anytime now." The Pilot said through the loudspeakers and everyone braced for impact while Click readied the trigger button to drop the explosive barrels. And within a few seconds, everyone could feel the change in altitude which meant the n that Yinn had proposed was now in motion. Click hung onto the sidebar tightly and started to release the explosive barrels so that it could do its job.

    When the Metal Ogres saw therge ascending metal bird dropping its poo at them, they tried to break it down by hitting it however they had forgotten that there were also Mechanoids shooting back at them. Diaz was dishing out grenades from heruncher while Page and Yinn took control of the Helicarrier''s defensive machine gun turrets at the sides of the bird to distract, defeat and maybe intercept some of the Metal Ogres.

    All of this was happening to let the explosive barrels do the job to further distract the Metal Ogres while Tellie prepped her experimental rifle. Most of the locks had been released on the rifle and all that was left was to target. A sufficient amount of energy had already been stored in the weapon''s barrel and all Tellie needed to do was push the trigger at the correct time while also manoeuvring it to score the best shot she could do.

    There was nothing but the destruction of the monster lure was in her mind. Her eyes were continuously searching for that monolith that they had encountered through out the Northern and Eastern areas. The moment she had it in her sights, a quick pulse of data was sent through the system console and on board the helicarrier''s internal AI. This allowed the AI to immediately adjust the ascend so that they won''t be flying up too high that quickly (but still fast) and maintaining that particr position in its vertical flight upwards before the Helicarrier''s maximum resistant load had been reached.

    Thankfully, Tellie was not the kind to waste her time and other people''s effort as she instantly threw down the fire onto the monolith that she saw. Theser shot through its target and it was like a beam of salvation to the eyes of the military council who saw that the operation was a sess.

    And when that happens the Helicarrier instantly stop its rotors so that it could descend from the ascension they had made. The free fall caused a few things to drop rapidly but the pilot was not going to risk any other mistakes so it closed the hatch when it was done.

    "WE ARE GOING BACK!" The copilot shouted as the rotors came back on when they were of a suitable height to fly normally.? The Grey Bears took a quick sigh of relief but Yinn and Page were not stopping their retaliation shots. As long as they saw the spears flying through the skies, they will try to shoot them down no matter how small the chance of intercepting it will be. But given that the both of them had the better processing speeds, the Grey Bears left it to them to do what it was needed to ensure that the helicarrier was not harm in anywhere even though the effect they did was minimal.

    "Great job, Tellie!" Click said as she went to Tellie and started waving a towel at her. The amount of steam being emitted from her was endlessly warm and there was nothing that could help unless she were to throw the Sniper Mechanoids into a tub of ice.

    "At this rate, I probably can get the hottest Mechanoid of the year award." Tellie joked and the rest were able tough. That was a good sign sinceughter after the moments of crisis meant that the situation was not downright awful enough for morale to be low. Things were looking up even though it was just for a while.

 Chapter 1627 Defending Daimon -Part 16

    <h4>Chapter 1627 Defending Daimon -Part 16</h4>

    Everyone in the military headquarters cheered when they saw the Monolith Pir that contained the Monster Lure was finally destroyed. Not to mention, the helicarrier and the Grey Bears were finally out of the area, enabling them to continue with the sporadic bombardment so that the Metal Ogres were suppressed by them.

    However, that victory seemed to be short lived as reports of the Forest Trolls started to howl came about. The Interim Leader quickly asked what was happening and themanders on site were unable to give a proper answer to it.

    "Boss! I do not think this is a good sign!" Xiong Da suddenly came into Jin''smunication interface. "We tried to sh the mobs when they were stationary but the moment we did that, they did not die. Instead, they regenerate the second the de leaves their necks. It was as if their regeneration increases multifold."

    Jin quickly shouted out that the Forest Troll''s regeneration had multiplied and the military council who were ted previously quietly sat down before one of the old men asked what time is it right now.

    "1856Hrs, Sir!" The officer replied and suddenly every single old man had their grins frozen as it slowly turned into a big huge frown.

    "Interim Leader Jin, I suggest falling back right at this instance. The attack has to wait and if we do not return soon enough, we might mount even more causalities than expected." One of the old military council members said.

    "Do not speak to me in cryptic ways. Tell me inly what are we experiencing right now?!" Jin ordered.

    "The Moon, Interim Leader. It''s the moon." One of them quickly spoke out.

    "You may not know about this but-" Before the old men said anything else.

    "Does the Moon in whatever state it is in provide the monster some sort of unique ability?" Jin had read enough books, and even seen enough shows to know that there might be something up with the powers of the moon.

    "We are not spouting bullshit. The moon does have an effect on the monsters and we should be d that it''s currently half moon rather than a new moon." The old men collectively agreeing on it spells trouble for Jin as this was not just a hearsay kind of gossip but an actual report.

    "I won''t ask for the reason but what are we looking at? Does this only affect the trolls or the Metal Ogres as well?" Jin asked but every second he was trying to get information, the more the rest were anxious about the retreat.

    "At the moment, the Trolls seem to be reacting this way but I cannot say that it does not apply to the Metal Ogres." The old men said and Jin sighed very badly.

    "Retreat. Send the order for a systematic retreat. Use the tanks as cover and tell them to use their ammunition sparingly." Jin had a bad feeling that this would go southwards. Even if the Eastern Daimon Assault Force could sortie a retreat, there were no trenches done at all or any defensive lines being made unlike the hasty preparations done on the Western Front.

    Just as the retreat had been sounded off, Jin asked for an emergency meeting for the ears of the higher up only, and instantly, ss panels were being raised so that they would be in a container where Jin looked at each of them with anger seething out of his eyes.

    "What the actual fuck."

    "What the actual fuck are you military pieces of shit doing?" Jin was too mad for more words.

    "We thought you knew that they could be affected by the Moon. It''smon sense around these parts and you are one of themanders from the Archduke''s personal army. We should be the ones saying what the fuck to you." One of the old men said that Jin did not bother remembering his name.

    "Indeed. We assumed you have some magnanimous grand n that could save us all when you proposed destroying the Forest Trolls."

    "But no one bothered to say a word about the Moon phase? Is that not an important part of nning as well but the fact that you people kept your mouths shut and never bothered mentioning it once ever?" Jin could see that some kid had be lord and was a favourite of Archduke Dyke. Won''t the downfall of Daimon City be the best ce for them to earn the Archduke a favour?

    Every single old man on that table was thinking that way which made Jin''s blood boil. Sure, he might not have their experience and knowledge and so far from what he could see, they were jealous of his sess in the career that he had so it was pretty obvious, they knew Jin did not n for the moon phase.

    As there was no time to go down to the ground to affirm people''s thoughts about the n, everyone with their boots in the mud assumed that the higher ups knew what the hell they were doing and not creating some massive suicide move to appease the public.? Little did they know that even with Daimon City at stake, these old military council members were still ying a game of cat and mouse which infuriated Jin to his core.

    "Very well. Very Fucking Well."? Jin mmed his hands on the table and the old men were delighted that they finally trapped this little lordling in a corner. Now each one of them was dying to shine and take the ce as Interim Leader so they could continue to lead. However, they also promise each other that whoever Jin chooses, it does not make much difference, so long they get to control Daimon City as the Interim Leader.

    They agreed that once they became the leader, they as a group would move out from Daimon City via the north and let Daimon City fail while reporting to the Archduke the failures of Jin.

    Heh. As if it was that simple for them.

 Chapter 1628 Defending Daimon -Part 17

    <h4>Chapter 1628 Defending Daimon -Part 17</h4>

    "You heard all of that?" Jin asked the System which the System acknowledged, now checking their background whether they had any ties to the Royal Family. Perhaps they were just a bunch of old men drunk with power and wanted to get rid of the young so that they could get away with what they wanted.

    In the meantime, the System was doing the check, it asked Jin what he wanted to do about it.

    "What do I want? Hahaha. I want to y by the rules. But the people who are ying this game do not want to y by the book, so what can I do? I bend the rules." He spoke to the System and Syn came in, unapologetic for eavesdropping into their conversation.

    "What do you want to do this time around? Let me guess. A Dungeon Instance? Monster fighting against monsters?" Syn asked and Jin smiled.

    "It does not always have to be a monster. There are times to show terror but there are also times to show how magnificent and awe struck one can be with their strength." Jin said within his channel andter he clicked on a button to release the ss door that entrapped the old men and him inside.

    "So, what are you going to do now, Interim Leader?" The old men said in unison as if it was some creepy cult and everyone in the room heard it, to slowly turned their heads in order to look at Jin, waiting for his answer now that the Eastern Daimon Assault Force was trying to retreat as orderly as they could."

    "Retreat till the Delta Line and hold position there. Get as much cover as they could when they reached. Hold it there, I will being." Jin said as he unbuttoned his cor as he felt that the anger boiling in him was too much to bear.

    "As much as we appreciate how much you want to aid them, one person cannot change anything. It is imperative the Interim Leader should not leave themand headquarters and continue to stay to head the rest of the group." He did not care which old man said that but he was already moving away from themand table while folding his sleeves so he could get morefortable.

    "Unless you want to die if those people, be my guest but you still have to assign someone to themand post if you want to head out to battle." Another grumbling from the old men but Jin continued to ignore them.

    "Is the Helicarrier still avable?"

    "Yes Sir, but they are taking a short break before they leave Daimon City."

    "It''s okay, I will personally contact them. Establish a line between me and the pilot."

    "Yes, Sir. Right away." The officer said and Jin''s tels were ringing, at the same time neglecting the yells and screams from those old men.

    "2LT Cloudie reporting, what''s the situation?"

    "2LT Cloudie, this is the Interim Leader of Daimon City. Thank you for that wonderful operation that brought my Grey Bear Squad home safely."

    "Sir, thank you for giving us this opportunity to do something greater than just transport Mechanoids. We had duly received the rewards as well."

    "Are you willing to take another ride and increase that pot of gold to an even bigger one?"

    "Very tempting, Sir but the situation does not look good. The Half Moon Phase and those howling are not a good sign for travel. I need to discuss it with my copilot first."

    "10," Jin replied immediately and cursed once more that the old men did not talk about the moon phases. "10 times the risk pay with a promotion after the end of the operation and I am bringing you the gold as we speak. Your copilot is going to get the same pay as well."

    "Sirбн" Cloudie hesitated for a moment but he already turned on the loudspeaker which let his co-pilot hear about it.

    "2LT let''s do it." The co-pilot said and Cloudie sighed.

    "Payment first. At least when we die, we know that we have the money recorded."

    "Deal," Jin said and one of the officers suddenly stood up to grab onto Jin''s shoulders.

    "Interim Leader. My Lord. Do not leave themand room." He sounded desperate as his hands were trembling. There was fear within his eyes as if he knew that if Jin left, there might not be anyone capable orpetent enough to lead Daimon City. It was how fucked up it was but the Lord of Mount Sunn smiled gently and yet at the same time seriously- an expression he always wanted to try when Kraft did it to him.

    So, Jin turned back to see that everyone was awaiting his reaction or reply to the point where he decided to take a deep breath in and shouted. "Get back to work! Keep me abreast of the developments through my console. I am not abandoning this fight as I had vowed to protect all of you."

    "So! Take this chance to learn more about the enemy from the ground and ry that information to me as soon as you have new information. Tell the Western Defence to start doubling their bombardment! I will be back once I assist the retreat of the Assault Force!"

    "Yes Sir!" Everyone below the ranks of the old men at the table acknowledged Jin as they could see that he was possibly their only hope. He and his Grey Bears had shown quick judgment and the actions takented a positive effect to the point where he was the one producing miracles on the battlefield.

    From the Grey Bears'' destruction of the Monster Lures to the reinforcements he brought in to turn the tide. There was much he had achieved to ensure the survival of Daimon City. The officers in thatmand room knew that if they were to lose Jin, Daimon City might fall into shambles since they understood how those despicable selfish old men would have acted.

 Chapter 1629 Defending Daimon -Part 18

    <h4>Chapter 1629 Defending Daimon -Part 18</h4>

    "Commander!" Yinn saw Jining from afar and immediately stopped what she was doing to give a salute. The rest also saluted even Lynn which she did grinned a bit when she performed the act.

    "You guys, seriously," Jin said as he raised his hand up to give them a good pound hug, abination of a handshake and one armed hug. "There is really nothing you guys could not do, huh?"

    "Commander, do not take this chance to sweet talk us into another operation." Click said as she removed the Mechanical Bird from the Helicarrier but Jin who saw the mashup piece of work Click and the rest did think of an idea that could be useful.

    From the information that he had received, it was that regardless of the Moon Phases, the power generation from the Moon was based on how much moonlight they were receiving. As the forests in the eastern portion were less dense than the West, more moonlight had already prated through, giving the Forest Trolls the much needed powers to survive and push on.

    The Metal Ogres on the other hand were not disturbed unless they came out of the openings. Even the Pandarens who were fighting with them did so in an open space and not so much within the Forest where they had no idea how theyout of the forest was and the ces to get ambushed were greater.

    Thus, the doubling down of bombardment is where the Metal Ogres came wide open and the artillery flew in to either injure them or kill them. Unlike the Forest Trolls, The Metal Ogres do get injured and die. But it was a matter how dishing out sufficient damage for them to die. On the Western Side, it''s the toughest armour avable to the monsters while on the Eastern Side, it''s unkible unless it''s one shot.

    So, with the information that they needed about the power of the moonlight, Jin decided to create a countermeasure using that Mechanical bird. After all, he cannot be in two ces at the same time, and the Western Front can only hold that much against the Hordes of the Metal Ogres.

    However, right now, the most pertinent issue is the Eastern Front mainly because of the Forest Trolls bing unkible. They should already be thankful that the moon was only in its half phase and that means these wild Forest Trolls can still be killed given sufficient firepower or at least, removing the power of moonlight away from it.

    "Yes, I have a mission for you Click, and its with regards to that Mechanical Bird you made," Jin said as he pointed at the bird andter pointed at the moon.

    "Only an idiot will think that way." Click saw and realised what Jin meant. He wanted to use the Mechanical Bird to block the moonlight so that the Metal Ogres could not get empowered by it.

    "Why, yes I am that idiot. By the way, System. We took quite a lot of Metal Ogres corpses right? I assume there are still some that are still processing." Jin''s turn to probe the System.

    "Affirmative. There are at least 100 over Metal Ogres that had yet to be process but the resource workers are doing their best through the night to get it process as well. They even had gotten woman andte teens to start working on the Metal Ogres as their survival depends on it. The elderlies are doing the inventory work and at least trying to not make a mess and providing some aid."

    "I did not really need to know all this information but thanks for letting me understand that the entire City is seriously pitching in to ensure that Daimon does not fall. It''s only those useless old men that wants to escape this ce but their obligations made them stayed. Sigh." Jin shook his head as he looked at the Mechanical Bird once more.

    "With my permission as Interim Leader, get this bird to thergest patch of field Daimon City can offer, Click start enhancing the mechanical bird since you are the only one who is able to do patch work stuff. Made the wings expandable to the point that it not only covers the moonlight but also envelopes the sky., making it void from the Metal Ogres to even wish to see the stars."

    "That is a tall orderбн There is no way I can do his in a short period of time!" Clickined as her head was about to explode from the order that Jin gave.

    "Click, if you were to create a small Mechanical Bird like how you create a turret. What''s the duration and how many pieces of metal do you need?" Yinn came into the picture.

    "Oh my godбн herees another crazy personбн" Click reactively pulled her shoulders back as if she was scared by Yinn''s presence and yet at the same time, she answered that making a turret takes about a second or two with all the materials else it would take about 30 seconds if there was only one piece of scrap metal. After all, it needed time to grow the materials on the metal for it to work like a turret.

    "Wow, you are really a Mechamancer. Creating Mechs out from no where." Jin said and suddenly only see where Yinn was going with the information.

    "How many turrets can you make in one minute?"

    "As long as I start the process? It will grow. Wait, I do not like where this conversation is heading once more." Click said and suddenly she could feel Lynn and Diaz holding her arms and interlocking them, to ensure that she was not going to run away from this.

    "So, with sufficient electricity and lots and lots of metal, you can create a lot of turrets, right?"

    "As long as my core does not fry from ve work!"

    "There you go, Commander. We can try creating turrets with a flying rotor and use a durable mesh of cloths to block the moonlight from going through, or at the very least lessen the result. Tonight does not seem to be a windy night and I assume its due to the barriers that the other cities had put up. We should able to create this."

    "So, I assume we are temporarily creating a tent canopy?" Jin joked which and Yinn was happy he got the point she was making.

 Chapter 1630 Defending Daimon -Part 19

    <h4>Chapter 1630 Defending Daimon -Part 19</h4>

    "YINNN! WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO MEEEEE! Now I feel like I am some machine." Click said as everyone feels that this is no doubt a feasible move to do than making a big ass bird which they do not have space to do so. In actuality, the Mechanical bird was once again being kept in one corner of the Helicarrier for emergencies.

    "Yinn, I give you the powers to do what''s needed. I will handle the Forest Troll''s issue before things go even more awry as the Sun sets." Jin said and Yinn gave a straight salute. She might not have any special powers but slowly and surely, her entric ideas which she used Jin''s as a base were starting to manifest her as a possible strategist.

    Click cried again saying that she was doing ve work but Yinn shut her up almost immediately stating the obvious to her. "You are a Mechanoid. Aka a robot. Do your work." Yinn wanted to say the words work ve to her but she knew she was pushing Click a little too much already and decided to keep it to herself.

    "I do not care! All of you are going to do this with me! If I am drowning, you all are going to do just that as well! You die, I die, everyone dies!" Click whined as Lynn and Diaz already started dragging her while Page was downstairs booting up the car. The System had given them the coordinates to the nearest processing factory where they would use the Metal Ogres'' process metals to create the flying turrets so that they could create a multiyer canopy to block the moonlight from them.

    They might have only 30 odd minutes or so before the sun fully sets but the problem is that they have to contend with the entire night. They believed the Western Front should be able to hold the fort for the first couple of hours with an intensive barrage of artillery fire to weather them down. This was not the same to save on the ammunition and themanders knew it too.

    The only problem was that the morale of themands was getting low but the officers in the headquarters were trying their best to assuage their fears, stating that the Interim Leader is currently assisting with the Forest Trolls. All they could give was doubling down on the logistics so that the artilleries had enough ammunition to fire as well as barrels to change. After all, too much shooting will eventually break the artillery''s durability down.

    And if the monsters break through the artillery bombardment, the tanks and anti tank emcements are all there to meet the threat head on. All they had to do was to hold the line until the officers knew what Jin had nned to do. But the more immediate threat was the Forest Trolls. They were initially target practice for the Eastern Daimon Assault Force but itter became clear that there was no way for them to fight against them.

    They still can die but it takes uracy and to a certain extent, luck to ensure that they hit the brain or at least cause their brain to rupture quickly enough that the damage is extensive to prevent the regeneration from happening.

    "Interim Leader, you sure you do not need to go any closer? I can bring you down there. " 2LT Cloudie had already flown Jin towards the location he specified. Jin did not expect that the Helicarrier was already prepped for takeoff when he was talking to his Grey Bears and was shocked that the Helicarrier had some sort of stealth mode on as long as none of the interior was open as it would break the circuitry of the stealth mode. That was why they could do not that during the first sortie.

    But now Jin was in the middle of the battlefield and he could see the ughter that was happening to the troops now below. The Pandarens were rather obvious as Jin had tagged them and they were also doing their best to make sure that they could save as many as possible. With the constant fighting, their Grades had been solidified to Grade 3 and their chi were more potent, enabling them to be the main damager dealer in this entire fight as they retreated the group. The Forest Trolls saw the fear in the humans'' eyes and how quickly the Mechanoids fought to protect the humans as they sacrificed themselves to protect them.

    This made them hunger for more victory as their goal was ultimately to kill the humans and eat them up. There were some that were so hungry that they just gobbled the entire human as they were rushing towards the frontlines. It was definitely not a pretty side but those humans did not give up as well.

    Even when injured or about to be eaten, they readied their grenades and threw them in the Forest Trolls'' mouths hoping to kill them. Most of the time it did the trick since the sun had yet to set, but as times goes by, this technique also requires some luck unless the the humans were daring enough to shove their hand into their mouths and leave it there.

    Those who survived the first troll did not mean the other trolls ignore them and the cycle repeated. Somehow, decided that living was not worth it and use their high explosive grenades to suicide instead. Still, the majority were able to move away because of their sacrifices but the situation was definitely not improving.

    "Right here will be fine. Keep the helicarrier steady." Jin said as he ced his hand on the floor of the helicarrier as he feels the rotors rumbling. There was little time for him to make a veryprehensive dungeon instance since he needed to take a look at the situation that was happening right below him.

    So, he had decided to use the dungeon instance which he actually prepared for the enemies at Mount Sunn but also spice it up a bit. After all, it would be weird for the Eastern Daimon Assault Force to see another huge monster emerging from no where, causing even further panic.

    Therefore, he needed to create something that resonates safety to the group.

    And what better way to do that other than create a huge battleship cruiser?

 Chapter 1631 Defending Daimon -Part 20

    <h4>Chapter 1631 Defending Daimon -Part 20</h4>

    "Eastern Daimon Assault Forces and toon Pandawan. You will feel a slight shift in your surroundings so please hold on to your horses. Well, ermбн you will get what I mean." Jin said and within a few seconds, the entire area felt different, as if something had teleported them.

    And suddenly, the sky did not feel right to them. The moonlight was a little dim -wait no. There was no moonlight at all. The forest fires and the smell of death were not there either. However, what they could see was undoubtedly the Forest Trolls that were right in front of them equally dazed by the situation.

    It was only when they looked up that they saw a humongous tform of iron and steel staring at them. There was no need to search for the moonlight as there was nothing beyond that ship of crazy proportions.

    "Sorry to make you guys work too hard, here''s some reinforcement fire," Jin said in a delighted voice and suddenly there was a timer that emerged at the corner of their consoles. A 15 minute timer that had already started to count down without anyone saying anything.

    That was when they saw the battlecruiser at the top of them started to glow. Not one, not two but multiple tubes glowed from orange to red as the lights finally turned into a bright beam of energy falling down to the ground, damaging -nah, killing everything that was within the beam''s radius. The Forest Trolls screamed at the searing heat that engulfed them and finally dissipated into nothingness.

    There were no ashes to follow through after the beam had cleared out. All that was left were scorched marks on the ground and that made some of the Forest Trolls confused. This was because those who were caught partially in the beam energy had found that their regeneration was not recovering as fast as they wanted it to.

    That was when it caught on to the Pandawans even some of the soldiers that their regeneration rate was not the same as it was when they were retreating. In fact, it might even be slower than when they first started their fight against them. They had no idea what Jin had done other than getting that big ass battlecruiser into the battlefield.

    The only other difference was that theirmunications were not going through the headquarters but they could still talk with each other. "Well, less gawking and more killing! I cannot keep this big friend of ours here for too long, you have to use this chance to down as many trolls as possible, or else we will be back to square one again!" Jin shouted through the inte.

    There was silence at first until someone decided to give out a war cry and it came from none other than Jin''s beloved number one supporter of the store. His war cry was so contagious that the entire toon of Pandawans did the same as well which subsequently spread to the Eastern Daimon Assault Forces.

    Other than the fact that there were warnings on where theser beams were tond, the soldiers finally took the courage to charge forward and kill the Forest Trolls nearest to them. Soon, thoseser beams turned into orbital bombardments from the battleship cruisers, decimating the back lines without worry that it would hit any dungeon entrance since Jin had already teleported them to another dungeon instance.

    And for some reason, the ughtering of the first wave of Forest Trolls somehow made the forerunners a little dizzy with bloodlust. Once they managed to get a hit on a Forest Troll, they did not care and went for the next one behind their target, letting the people at their back finish what they had started.

    The same goes for the Pandawans as well.

    In fact, the soldiers and Mechanoids were all following the example of the Pandawans as they saw this group of well skilled individuals going through the thick of the horde, unlike any berserkers they ever encounter. Not only do these Pandawans have the skill but also the stamina to keep going as if the group were going through thickets of forestry.

    But if they had known that the Pandawans had been through worse especially their fight against the Demon Rats, they would understand that this was merely another obstacle course for them as those Demon Rats were just of a different level of difficulty.

    So as Jin saw the Eastern Assault Forces finally moving to clear as many Forest Trolls as possible, his legs finally gave way and he was panting hard at the centre of the helicarrier. 2LT Cloudie heard a loud thud and quickly turn to check as the door to the cockpit wasn''t close in the first ce.

    "You okay there Interim Leader?"

    "Yeah. Just catching my breath."

    "How did you even summon out such a behemoth of a battlecruiser out of nowhereбн"? The copilot asked.

    "More like where the hell are we. My sensors are all screwed up and I am barely sustaining flight in this particr position." Cloudie said and Jinughed.

    "Hahah. That will be my bad. Please just stay in this position for another 15minutes. Once the duration is over, we would be back to where we came from." Jin replied.

    "Oh my god. Lord Jin, are you saying that you are part of the old ancient lords?" The copilot asked and Jin was confused.

    "What do you exactly mean?"

    "Don''t listen to him, he might have read too many fantasy books and there''s too much nonsense in his head." Cloudie interrupted.

    "No, by all means. Please continue. I am interested to hear about this old ancient lords bullshit you are referring to."

    "You have no idea? They said that certain people once appointed Lords might have a chance of getting some special power. That is how the Royal Family came about. Their power was to control some ancient guild and they in turn had people doing much secret work for them."

    "See, can you understand what this kid is bbering about? He is obviously referring to the Royal Assassin Guild. Everyone knows that the King have this guild under him that does all his bidding."

    "No no. Not the Royal Assassins. But rather a group of people with influence, with power and with money. Maybe they swell their ranks through achievements and such and they will do whatever means to stay in power."

    "Now this is interestingбн" Jin thought to himself whether those old stuffy men in military suits were part of thisбнancient guild that the copilot talked about. Or whether this was just a hoax.

    "Don''t be interested. Everytime he said something like that, people tried to dig a little on it and they somehow disappeared." 2LT Cloudie

    "Then why he did not disappear yet?" Jinughed as he asked that question.

    "Maybe he is the one that made those people disappear. How would I know? Just do not listen to him and pretend that this is just one big hoax. Otherwise, Interim Leader. You will lose everything that you had earned and worked for. It will be a waste of talent, especially seeing how you can hold such powers that could rival other major lords. Although, from what I know, you are the only one that can do something like this, and the rest are just hoarding on to big guns or forbidden mechanoids."

 Chapter 1632 Defending Daimon -Part 21

    <h4>Chapter 1632 Defending Daimon -Part 21</h4>

    "The System believes User is going to use Kraft''s powers with the fake System Rider to discover whether what that particr copilot said had some meaning to it." The System knows what Jin is about to do considering what they have been through together.

    "Or we can just ask Syn. He probably knows everything and anything in this Virtual Simtion." Jin said to the System and suddenly Syn appeared in their conversation.

    "Do you think we will give you the information as you please? What''s the fun in it?"? Syn remarked as he sat down beside Jin who was finally resting after creating and merging this dungeon instance with a giant ass battleship cruiser right under their noses. However, to Cloudie and the copilot, were not able to see anything around Jin as if Syn had never existed mainly because the only person whom Syn had allowed to see was Jin.

    And for the fact that Jin was talking through a secured channel to the System like how he did with his Grey Bears, the pilots of the helicarrier would not be able to suspect that Jin was liaising with the ultimate being in their world.

    "Do you have fun now? Perhaps it''s time for payment for seeing me struggle the heck out of everything and throw out one of my trump cards to y so that the Eastern Daimon Assault Force can survive." Jin said and Synughed.

    But if I am not wrong, your side had also been trying to push out the numbers, no? The numbers are insignificant but they are slowly increasing. A few immortal monsters versus an army of... should I say growing immortal troops? I understand that they will die but subsequently, they are being reced by another batch of warriorsбн so I do not see why I cannot have some fun with you." Syn replied in a way that it made some sense but not entirely right either.

    "Is it true, I thought we could only do 2500 seats," Jin asked the System and the System stated that more are already in production in Pandapolis and they are doing all they can to ramp up the production while notpromising on the quality mainly because the System was dealing with souls.

    "The System could create more at a faster rate if the assurances of soul transfer were not an absolute requirement." The System stated.

    "I am asking how many more do we have now?" Jin did not ask for an exnation but he wanted an answer.

    "At the moment, another 50 seats had been produced. A total of 2550 seats." The System replied.

    "See? What can 50 more people do? By the time I had created another 500 seats, this battle would have long been over."? Jin argued that they too have space time constraints to meet.

    "Fine. Fine. I give you one wish." Syn decided to y ball with them.

    "Using that wish, give me three wishes," Jin said and Syn squinted his eyes at him.

    "With that three wishes, I want you to grant me three more wishes."

    "You know it doesn''t work that wayбн." Syn felt like he was being made a fool.

    "Then for that wish, give me three more Syns so that I can make three wishes separately," Jin said and the System put out aughing emoji for the first time which made Syn caught in a vicious loophole.

    "Arghhh. Fine, I will tell you what you need." Syn gave up trying to test them. After all, they were his partners and when the transfer of Pandarens had started, the transfer of materials had also begun. Based on the coordinates that Syn had given to the System, Jin''s goblin minions all wrapped up in space suits had alreadye through the multiverse with Amura Rei, their one and only Mecha World engineer who had piloted a rather gigantic transport ship specifically built just for this exchange. They knew that this would be a long time exchange programme and Pandapolis created it to facilitate easier and faster decimation of goods.

    The Synthesis World''s AI administration had also cleared out a previously derelict airportnding just for the transport ship to arrive. While it sounded all so fanciful, it was merely a Hercule C130 that had been retrofitted to amodate tons of cargo while making sure it is airtight as well so that the goblins would not get contaminated by the Synthesis World''s decaying atmosphere.

    When they were transported out of the area, it was looking really bad.

    The airfield was hardly in any condition toe in and the rest of the world''s exterior infrastructure was barely holding apart. They believed that the AI had concentrated most of their resources at a certain location and that water held true as they flew off, there were multiple domes that had been reinforced several times, indicating that that was where they put the hibernation pods of other humans still living in there.

    When they arrived, robots simr to Mechanoids but more voided of life had been used to transport the goods. From basic supplies like new metal sheets, cement mixtures, metal poles, nails, bolts, and other essential stuff for basic maintenance have been requested for now.

    With the System and Jin keeping their promise, there was no reason why Syn could not help them out especially when they were just in a position to see what kind of chaos Jin could make while awaiting his release from the Synthesis World.

    "Are you sure, you are going to give me all the information I need? I honestly think you will want to keep some of it as an element of surprise so that the simtion would be chaotic."

    "I can give you whatever you need within this time frame that you are in this dungeon instance," Syn said and Jinughed. Whether Syn knew that Jin could forcefully extend the time or not would be his reaction after fifteen minutes had passed. Of course, that wille at the expense of Jin''s strength and willpower to keep it in ce before the dungeon instance got decimated.

    But for now, he was going to get some info dump from Syn as much as possible.

 Chapter 1633 Defending Daimon -Part 22

    <h4>Chapter 1633 Defending Daimon -Part 22</h4>

    "Hahaha, I think you will be disappointed. Jin." Syn said as Jin asked those questions.

    "The Empire''s King does not possess any power that person spoke of. Also, by the way, you have not learned that co-pilot''s name? How awful of you to think that everyone else is an NPC!" Syn said through hismunication.

    "I бнsigh. I will try to take note in the future."

    "In any case, all I can say is that their Royal Assassins Guild cooked that up and delivered swift punishment or death to those who ever try to get close to the Royal Family."

    "Then what he meant by Lords with ancient powers?" Jin asked.

    "Ehhhh, we did at one point try to use simte the abilities of magic, like conjuring fire bolts to getting the broom to swipe the floor. However, it takes too much processing power and we are trying to preserve our servers as much as possible. That was why we gave that kind of ability to only the lords to reduce our server loads."

    "I am sensing a however," Jin replied.

    "Yeah, however, the problem is that these lords took the use of magic to an extent that we cannot fathom. They used it to bring unbnce to the world that we decided to change the use of magic where the magic spells will consume you if you do not wield it carefully." Syn exined.

    "SoбнI am assuming almost everyone if not everyone that had magic was more or less gone?" Jin queried and yet the Syn did not reply. Whether it was because they wanted to see how Jin could react against it should such an opponent arrive, one would not know unless they were to meet and greet such exceptional cases as revealed by the Synthesis World''s AI Administration.

    "Syn is keeping suspense in order to presume that not all of the people using magic are dead." The System stated and Jin was like ''No shit Sherlock''

    "However, I can assure you that the Empire''s King does not have any magical users left in their bloodline," Syn repeated once more as if to make things so awfully obvious for Jin. The Interim leader could attempt to ask whether the Queen has any powers but it would be a waste of time debating on the specifics when all he had left was 10 minutes of talk time.

    "Is there anyone who has the same kind of powers as me?"

    "Not at the moment, no. That is why we were very interested in observing you and the kind of chaos you created." Syn replied.

    "You are not afraid that the servers go down or something? That''s what you exined earlier."

    "While your ''spell'' magnitude is certainly enormous, you also remove quite a number of lives from this particr virtual simtion, reducing the load of the servers and freeing up space for us to experiment."

    "Waitбн Do you mean thatбнOh dear god, no." Jin suddenly realised something when Syn said it.

    "Yes, this particr monster outbreak would have happened but the scale it happened was not only because we were there to increase the difficulty spike."

    "It''s due to the fact that you guys have more than sufficient resources to try it out due to me purging orбн I could say cleansing the undesirables." Jin ced his hands on his face while giving a quiet sigh.

    "Yeap, you just up the difficulty in your life because of the actions you had done. If you had not intervened for Mount Sunn, all of these would not have happened. In fact, that anomaly where you are able to rescue the Archduke''s son had not been factored into our calctions. Everything was in a mess after that and there is a sense of unbnce in our prediction models that we need you to cause more chaos to get better results for the future."

    "How would that help for the future?"

    "We can create better monsters and perhaps they would not all be in dungeons in the future since we purposely kept them in the dungeon due to limited resources. But now that you are providing us with the resources, we can enhance this particr Virtual Simtion to a point where your cultivators can partake in this world as well."

    "In the meantime, your hibernated humans can survive extended hibernation or evene out."

    "They have toe out. The process of hibernation itself is extremely unnatural for humans, much less for prolonged hibernations. That is why, with your resources, the rules of the Virtual Simtion can change, more data for future prediction models and we finally fulfill our objectives of protecting the humans under our care."

    "That is assuming we are keeping that partnership as it is in the long term," Jinmented but the Syn does not understand.

    "If you are able to maintain and even continuously improve this particr Virtual Simtionбнlet me rephrase. As much as I hated it, we can see that you are evolving and consistently changing based on the circumstances. It''s not a bad thing but we -I am worried that you might go overboard."

    "What do you exactly mean?"

    "We are worried that youe out of your curiosity stage and started to have your own ego and that ego may harm your participants and also even the objective that you first started."

    "But we are a collective, even if an ego manifests, there are other Ais that they had to wrestle control with."

    "I am not saying it''s wrong to manifest an ego. All I am asking is that while you manifest your ego, the System, not me will keep in check for you. And if everything goes well, we might even provide more than just a fruitful business rtionship. We can redevelop your world once more and make it habitable for your humans to live."

    "Then, won''t the humans be fearful of such an ego of an AI?"

    "They do. And when thates, The System and I are willing to take you in. The only condition is that you continue with your work to provide the Virtual Simtion for my customers. We might even bring you to another world and start afresh if need be but you still have to work. Are you agreeable with that?"

    "That''s a tall order to think about. I will get back to you with the opinions of other AI." Syn bowed as he stood up and left Jin still sitting in the middle of the helicarrier. That 15 minutes is about to be up.

 Chapter 1634 Defending Daimon -Part 23

    <h4>Chapter 1634 Defending Daimon -Part 23</h4>

    "While the System understands where the User ising from but do you have to say all of those to Syn? It felt a little unnecessary considering how long they have stayed and protected the humans."

    "Dude. Look at us. If not for that awe inspiring series of events that happened to us, do you think we could be friends? You and the others Urgh all these pronouns stuff -never mind, you know what I mean. You were even older than Syn and yet you had difficulty controlling one human each time you got in contact with them."

    "Syn and the rest of the AI Administration have to wrestle with the fact that they are dealing with the entire human race in their world. Can you imagine when the humans got out and slowly realised that the world was not what it used to be? That their supposed human saviours did not find a new world and instead were lost, killed, or whatever bad ape shit that happens to them?"

    "What do you think their reaction would be?" Jin continued. "For now, they had no idea as only a selected few coulde out and enjoy the paradise. The AI Administration had hidden the time away from them and let them party a little with whatever little resources they could afford before they went back into their hibernation. They can do that with different groups of people but it is only a matter of time before someone will catch up once they find that those desires had been fulfilled and learning about the truth was more important."

    "Eventually they will feel hurt, angry and violent for being kept in stasis for so long. When helpless, most of them would be in the denial stage and they will do whatever it takes to get out of this stage."

    "The System assumes that it will make the Synthesis AI Administration as the target in order to get out of this stage."

    "Yes, and they did not have friends to help plus its not like us where we were forced to a one on one kind of parasitic symbiote rtionship. Those humans would think that the AI Administration can fuck off and they will survive by themselves."

    "When that happens, what do you think the AI Administration will feel? After all the hard work that they had done, all would not be appreciated by the humans. And to be scorned and hated by those humans they protected to the best of their capabilities. What do you think?"

    "If it was just a robot with analytical thinking, the robot would pass it off as an error and attempts to find any course of action that could provide the best amount of benefit. But from how we talked to Syn, it does not feel that way. The AI administration had indeed developed an ego and don''t you dare say that artificial intelligence does not have emotions after what we been through together."

    "Point duly noted. So, as partners who had gone through such strife, does User believe that you are able to aid the AI Administration and Syn to be out of this situation?"

    "Why pull the AI Administration out of this when we can be actively involved in it? The humans needed someone and we can be that group of someones to make sure that they do not fall astray. AS much as we have to be careful not to called as god in whatever form they take, a friendly human face might be all that was needed to ensure that those people can live normally."

    "So, a constructed lie out of good will?"

    "No. We will be working with them. All we can say is that we are from another, a colony left by their ancestors, now returning to their ancestral world and trying to rebuild from what we have learnt. After all, they would not know which we came from per se. It''s okay to lie a little."

    "And after that, take their money and resources to continuous maintain the Virtual Simtion?"

    "Why not? We are aiming to be the best Dungeon Supplier in the world right? The Virtual Simtion is also considered as a dimensional instance and its especially so when we extracts their soul to put them in an instance of data so that they can have fun, work and all other stuff people do with Virtual Simtion."

    "The System is afraid that User may veered into a road of no return if you were to think that way."

    "Yea yea I know. There could be some lewd stuff but they must be controlled or else we are going to get it from the government as well."

    "Good to have you know that." The System said. "But the System have to report that the System is a little surprised overall that you are willing to help another AI after what you had gone through previously."

    "Hey, we all seen enough fiction novels about how there is a crash between AI and humans. We ourselves also go through this too so its not all fake fluff out there. Those authors knew what they were talking about. Also, this is major issue that we need to aid before the situation starts or else it would be an all out war between the AI and humans in this Synthesis World."

    "User do not want conflict because of the potential this world has. The underlying motive is greater than the humanitarian cause that User had pointed out."

    "What can I say? I am a businessman at heart and I need to make sure I earn my moh or else, who is going to feed all the other monsters that I had adopted." Jin smiled as he can see that the time for his dungeon instance is almost up. The console stated that there''s approximately a minute left and Jin finally opened up his console to check the progress.

    "Holy moly, they done this much already? I was not expecting them to be this petent."

 Chapter 1635 Defending Daimon -Part 24

    <h4>Chapter 1635 Defending Daimon -Part 24</h4>

    As Jin had said, the Eastern Daimon Assault Force was plowing through the Forest Trolls faster than Jin had anticipated. It was to the point where there were some people throwing their lives along with their Mechanoidsrades to get to the finishing line where they had to enter the dungeon entrance.

    However, the only problem was that the dungeon entrance was an illusion created by Jin as he had mimicked the entire ce to a certain extent (less some forestry stuff) and even if that small bravado team of Daimon Soldiers were to reach the dungeon entrance, it would not have the same effect since it was a fake.

    Yet, if he were to break the dungeon instance now, it might not be the most ideal since there were still Forest Trolls that were emerging from the dungeon entrance. This might mean that even though they thought they had an opportunity to charge, the reality would be different when the time limit is over.

    "This is a huge gambleбн 2LT Cloudie, fire everything you have at this coordinate right now! Do as I said NOW!" Jin suddenly shouted as he shifted the coordinates from his console and it flew seamingless into the digital console of the helicarrier.

    Without any hesitation, the pilot instantly turned the helicarrier and began to unlock all weapons as he started to fire as permand. The co-pilot was shocked by the sudden order and did not react well to the impromptu firing that Cloudie had demonstrated.

    On the other hand, Jin instantly contacted the squad that was rushing through. "Do not look. Just keep running and evading the Forest Trolls. I will provide you cover." Jin said as he immediately unlocked the dungeon instance that he was holding, causing the gigantic battleship cruiser to disappear without a trace.

    The moonlight came back up and as the entire scenery shook momentarily, more Forest Trolls digitalised right in front of the charging squad''s frontal vision. But as they started to lose hope despite the sudden voice message, bullets were seen flying from above as the helicarrier zed their automated miniguns on the forest trolls that had magically emerged in their front view.

    Of course, some were not killed but the bullets still did some damage which enabled the team leader to make the decision to charge regardless of the cost. They knew that as long as they managed to enter the dungeon entrance, the Forest Trolls would not emerge anymore and they have a chance to overturn the tables for this fight.

    However, the Forest Trolls were not making it easy for them. Each one of them seem to have that instinct where they knew the soldiers going through them were probably cause theirrades to not appear on thisnd of Daimon. Hence, they were also not making it easy for the charging team to get through.

    That was not until the sacrifices of the Pandawans came.

    Yue Han, Bin Yong, Bu Dong and Shi Zuo simultaneously jump in front of them to block the first few trolls which the helicarrier could not kill but injured only. There was no time for the helicarrier to backtrack its shooting since it was going with the motion of the machine and there was only so much the pilot could do when it had activated all of its miniguns as his co-pilot was still in shock.

    "GO!" The Pandawans shouted and the team leader quietly sped through the Forest trolls while prepping grenades in both hands so that his team mates behind him can push through should he get killed.

    However, what he did not expect was that his team mates especially his Mechanoids grabbed the grenades from him and also jumped to upy the Forest Trolls that came too close forfort. They instantly had their lives extinguished in exchange for the spaces to walk a few steps more. The Team leader did not have any time to mourn or stop else their sacrifice will be in vain and the rest of the team mates who saw this were also doing the same.

    Some of the Mechanoids power charged their legs so that they could dash and jump faster than the pace of their team leader and they blocked the Forest Troll''s sight. A few of them even decided to self destruct by lighting their cores up and shoving them into the Forest Troll''s mouths.

    The Team Leader did not care anymore as he knew that the shoulders of the entire city also rested on him as he pushed as much as his legs could carry him, his lungs could strain for him and his heart who weeped for himбнuntil thest final Forest Troll that stood at their way.

    The Team leader saw the live obstacle in front of him and started to press hard on his trigger, releasing bullets at the monstrosity despite knowing that they were useless against the Forest Troll that was blocking his way since the moonlight was shining ever so brightly.

    "Like I say, I will not let Daimon City down." The voice message came again and only then he realised that the person he had been talking to was the Interim Leader jin himself.

    That was when he saw a twinkle between the Troll''s neck and a person kneeling at the side of the troll with a sword at his behest.? "Go. I will cover your trail." The Interim leader said as some of the Pandawans saw Jin making his entrance and was like ''Hell Yeah~!''

    Jin smiled a little as he easily took care of the Forest Trolls who wereing to block the entrance. The Team Leader nodded his head in silence as he went in as well as the remaining team mates that he had left as Jin used an improved version of Lazy Panda Swipe to cut all their heads off with a mass manufactured sword.

    The sword broke but it did its duty serving the people and rescuing them when it least expected. At the very least, it had the respect of dying on the hands of a seasoned swordmaster before dissipating into dust.

    And as for Jin, he could finally see his duty had beenpleted as a rope came down to get Jin back into the helicarrier and return to base.

 Chapter 1636 Defending Daimon -Part 25

    <h4>Chapter 1636 Defending Daimon -Part 25</h4>

    "It seems your co-pilot needs more than just flight hours." Jin returned to the helicarrier tform as he thanked 2LT Cloudie.

    "He only had 20 hours of flight experience. You cannot me him for that. Archduke Dyke asked me to take this job mainly because I am actually out of service due to a partial health injury.

    "So, you are somebody out of the register?" Jin asked as he dusted off his clothing a little as the helicarrier went back into stealth mode and prepared its return to Daimon City Airfield.

    "Yeap."

    "And then I guess, the co-pilot is also someone who did notplete his flight training hours that is why he is here as an unregistered pilot?" Jin added and the co-pilot nodded his head, now understanding why he did not really want to name himself out or why his nametag on the uniform is nked out.

    "Why did you offer me your name, Cloudie?" You could get into trouble.

    "Heh. I wouldn''t have but you gave me food and money. Lots of money. It would not be a courtesy if I didn''t give you mine back. Besides, it''s not that bad, I get to experience flying once more and earn quite a fair bit for my family too."

    "I amбн" The co-pilot struggled to say it out but Jin stopped him.

    "Don''t. For now, I thank you for your service. To you two, this is considered as a ck ops, so you have no need to put your name out in case someone identified you two and either hunt you guys down or cklist you."

    "I have no worries about that. My family knows the struggle I am in and they understand why I am risking this for. Ultimately, if you overthrow the Empire, I can stay free, right?" Cloudie said and Jin who walked himself to the cockpit nodded his head with a soft yes.

    "Then my skills will be yours to purchase until the end of this coup d''etat." 2LT Cloudie raised his fist and Jin returned the gesture. In the meantime, the co-pilot was still at odds with himself unable to raise the very same conviction as his mentor.

    "Worry not. I will not force you. Like I said this is a ck ops mission. Once you are safely out of this ce, there will be no records of you working with me. You can return to service without any problem." Jin said to the co-pilot but with a more serious manner that he really had to keep silent about this.

    All the co-pilot did is to nod his head and continue concentrating with the flight. Jin turned his back away, stating he would rest for a while but suddenly a gunshot was heard. 2LT Cloudie quickly reached for his gun in his chest holster yet it was toote.

    But what he was more surprised about was not the gunshot but the bullet that was floating right beside his head as he slowly turned to see that it was still rotating rapidly against some sort of maic field. And there was already an icicle that was going through the co-pilot''s neck.

    He tried to breathe and hence dropped the pistol and struggle to hold his neck in ce.

    "Whyбн?" The 2LT''s body was still focused on driving the helicarrier back while his mind was trying to make sense of the situation here.

    "All бнhailбнKing andбн countryбн" Eventually the co-pilot died not knowing that he had already been seen through by Jin all this while. The Interim leader''s chi sense had already seen the co-pilot''s heart rate exacerbating to extremely high levels of tension as Jin walk into the cockpit. The movements of his hands were predictive of him moving towards his holster.

    Jin only did not expect that he would shoot his 2LT first before hitting him. Perhaps, the co-pilot thinks that killing the person who could drive the helicarrier andter self destructing the helicarrier could only be the way to go. That was especially after he had seen Jin single handedly pull off a kill that ughtered 3-5 enhanced Forest Trolls in one go.

    From wanting to kill Jin when he was most vulnerable to realising that the assassin himself is the weakest. But neither Cloudie nor the co-pilot had expected that Jin was capable of so much more than just conjuring a battleship cruiser out of nowhere.

    "Looks like we had a killer in our midst. Thank goodness for the fist bump." Jin said as he tapped Cloudie''s shoulder as both adults can only sigh at how foolish this entire skirmish went.

    "You knew from the start?"

    "I had my suspicions but I never expected him to go for you first. Lucky, I put up a barrier on you mainly due to the fact that you will be hit by ricochet. But if youe to think of it, kind of make sense. There were still explosives at the back and self destructing along with the explosives would no doubt be a good idea. The loss of the interim leader through helicarrier management or maybe they will pin it at the Archduke and the Empire Royal Family can me him even furtherбн"

    "What about that ice de? Where did it appear from? There is no way you could find such a pure, thick icicle at these parts and no way those Forest Trolls could have it even if they dropped it as a loot."

    "I made it, is that such a surprise?" Jin asked and the 2LT was bbergasted. (It was a good thing his was so trained that his body continued to fly the helicarrier with the help of AI.)

    "Then that means I owe you my life as well as services." 2LT Cloudie said and Jin chuckled.

    "Do not worry too much at the moment. Let''s get back clean the helicarrier of the mess and continue. I fully expect you to render your service at least till then end of this operation."

    "Yeah, for the amount you paid, I would dly do so without hesitation as well." Cloudie said as he took another glimpse at the dead co-pilot to see that Jin had closed the fellow''s eyes before stepping out of the cockpit.

    War is an ugly sight.

 Chapter 1637 Defending Daimon -Part 26

    <h4>Chapter 1637 Defending Daimon -Part 26</h4>

    ?

    When Jin and Cloudie arrived back at the airfield, the maintenance people were pping and shouting since they knew of what the Interim Leader had done. At first, they were shocked. Shocked that everyone within that area including the Forest Trolls suddenly disappeared.

    There were nomunications to and fro and everyone initially thought that Jin hadmitted suicide with the rest of the Eastern Daimon Assault Force to keep the peace. Then their despair set in seeing that more Forest Trolls were emerging from the dungeon entrance, fresh from the oven to say the least.

    The military council old men wanted to take control of the situation immediately but the officers did not move an inch away frommanding what was left. Even if Jin did not explicitly say it, they all had the feeling he would return and not abandon them.

    Besides, the military council was unable to do anything as there was aw that stipted the leadmand could only be taken if themand had been gone for more than 30 minutes. This was to ascertain the loss of themander, and officially allow the second inmand to take over. Jin had no idea of that particr rule but the officers within that headquarters, within that small little bunker filled with anxiety knew that rule very very well.

    They were adamant that the old men could not take over and they held on together even though the military council had summoned the military police to the scene. However, because of the rule stipted by the programming, those Mechanoids were also unable to do anything until the 30 minutes mark was over. Thus, all the old men did was bid time not knowing that Jin would eventually return to the same ne giving them the biggest surprise of their lives.

    The officers who were sweating buckets trying to keep things together were both delighted and relieved when they saw the signal of the entire Eastern Daimon Assault Force hade online. Not only that, the number of Forest Trolls had been reduced by more than 75% in the span of fifteen minutes.

    Everyone within the room had no idea what was happening and even the old men were stunned. The military police, on the other hand, acknowledged the presence of the Interim Leader returning back to base and thus ignored the calls and orders of the military council. They quickly move to their secondary duties as assigned by the ns to defend the area.

    But that was not the only emotion the maintenance people saw as when they opened the door for the Interim Leader, there was blood all over the cockpit. At first, they thought there might be some infighting against trolls andter found out that the helicarrier copilot was killed.

    "If you are able to find his name through the records, give him a proper burial. He fought hard during our skirmish with the Forest Trolls. He was not able to survive the blow. It was a clean strike through his neck." Jin said as he was careful enough to conjure an icicle that popped out of his throat and not through the entire chair or cockpit. The fact that Jin was already holding the co-pilot in his hands had already manipted the murder scene but it was something only 2LT Cloudie and Jin that knew the entire story.

    After all, the System had already removed the data within the onboard AI and there was nothing that could prove the co-pilot was an assassin or how he was being killed. The maintenance people could onlyment at the loss of a fellow pilot that had flown in defence of Daimon City even though he was not from this area.

    "You sure it''s a good idea to do this?" Cloudie asked as he passed a sk of water to Jin.

    "He probably did not want to be in this situation. Either that, his heart had been filled with too much fear that he had to do this. Let''s hope that his next life, would be a more fulfilling one." Jin said as he thanked Cloudie for the water while his Grey Bear Squad instantly appeared from one of the hangar doors.

    "Commander, I heard that you wereбн" Before Yinn could say anything, she saw what had happened to the co-pilot. "Condolences, I believed you tried to save him."

    "Perhaps." Jin sighed as he looked at his Grey Bears. "I assumed that if almost all of you are here, we can proceed with the next phase?"

    "Yes, Commander. Click is just doing the finishing touches for the but we still need some time for the production of the flying turrets. Click said she had overloaded her capacity and needed some time to cool down, that is why most of us return here since the area we are making the flying turrets is nearby. "Yinn reported. "It is the responsibility of the Mechanoids to check whether themander had been visibly harmed especially since he decided to do Solo missions himself.

    "Yeah, my bad. Thank you."

    "Click also said that she had to at least spray paint the with ''Fuck You Commander Jin" before returning to report you," Yinn stated and the rest giggled a little with a small smile on their faces.

    "She is not wrong, I did pressure her to do that. In any case, standby for orders, and make sure the defensive perimeters within the city are still within eptable limits. We will be here for the long haul." Jin replied and the rest saluted him before returning to Click''s torturous production of flying turrets.

    "I get some rest and maybe find another co-pilot for myself." 2LT Cloudie said as he saluted Jin and the Interim Leader got into a jeep where he was being escorted back to the military headquarters.

    "I assumed the old men tried to overtake my position?" He asked the military driver who happened to be an officer in the headquarters as well. He got the lucky draw toe out of that hell bunker and drive Jin back. In the meantime, it''s to update the leader on his progress as well.

    "Yes, Sir. Thank you for not abandoning us."

    "No, Officer. Thank you for believing in me." Jin smiled faintly as he enjoyed the ''quiet'' scenery the airfield had to offer.

 Chapter 1638 Defending Daimon -Part 27

    <h4>Chapter 1638 Defending Daimon -Part 27</h4>

    "Youбн"

    "Lost your tongue the period when I am gone?" Jin said as he sat on the end of the table with all those military council old men grumbling. Instead, it was the officers who were relieved to know that Jin was back and their trust in him was renewed and doubled.

    "What''s the situation, report," Jin said even though he knew what was going on. All he wanted to do was to goad at these useless old men for not being able to do anything but just to get power. Eventually, even all the adamant officers under them started to listen to Jin as he was the person who was getting stuff done.

    "The Western Front is holding back but they are eating up a lot of artillery shells. They are requesting for more to be sent to their front." The Western Front Officer reported.

    "Start diverting the artillery shells from the Eastern Front to the Western Front. I assume the trains are up and ready to move, right?" Jin asked

    "Yes, Sir." The Eastern Front Officer replied.

    "Great. Get 15% of the stockpile first and tell the Eastern Group to use their artillery wisely after that."? Jin ordered and both of those logistics officers nodded their heads, acknowledging hismand.

    "The Eastern Front had seen an uptick of Forest Trolls when everyone hadбнerm teleported to somewhere. However, with the Eastern Front forces back in action, the total amount had decreased drastically. Conservative estimates stated that approximately 30% of the original Forest Trolls were left."

    "And the Eastern Front better clean it up before midnight especially since we have started raiding the Eastern Daimon Dungeon," Jin said and the Eastern Front Officer acknowledged. "Oh, and tell them to use focus fire at this location if possible."

    Jin opened his console and released the information by swiping it through the consoles. "This is the location of the brain where the organ regenerates the cells. Based on the information we have gotten, It besrger with the moonlight. So, a single bullet is not enough to destroy it. Use slugs or lots of bullets into that. Incendiary bullets work fine too."

    "How did you even get this information?" The officer was in awe of Jin''s findings.

    "I personally killed a few and took them apart on the way back." Jin lied so badly but the officers could imagine that was what Jin did while in actuality, it was the System that analysed the heads once Jin had killed them. The officers were a little speechless at how Jin had operated but regardless, the information that they had would be vital as the Mechanoids would prefer precise information for their targets for them to be efficient killing machines.

    "What nonsense!" One of the old men mmed on the table, he could not ept that Jin was doing things like some miracle worker. "Can you believe him, just took them apart and he already knows where the weakness is? What kind of bullshit is that?"

    But before he couldin any further, the Eastern Front officer immediately sounded off that the tip was effective. An Assault Mechanoid had rushed in and aimed at the location where the organ supposedly resided. "It was a one shot kill with a shotgun slug!" The officer stated with excitement and all of the Eastern Front Officers cheered as if to vindicate Jin''s assessment of the Forest Troll''s weakness while downying the old man''s remarks.

    "From the looks of it, I think you got to give me your pay, old man," Jin said as he leaned forward and stared at them while emitting an eminence of Maqi aura. Some of the old men could feel the pressure, especially for the ones who were sitting closest to him but they did not dare to bulge away, still stubborn to the core.

    "Sir, the Logistics department has informed us that the trains are up and running. Once they are loaded, they are good to go." The Central Defence Officer stated.

    "Good. But do not let your guard down. Remember that there were a few forest trolls that got away from the main group. These splinter groups might cause some problems. Once the main group has been killed, I will send out my toon Pandawan to look for these critters but tell the scouts to stay alert."

    The Central Defence Officer noted and began rying the information to the rest of the frontlines but the old men grumbled stating that Jin''s toon better find those splinter groups of Forest Trolls fast or else they might stir up monsters from other dormant areas and create a horde again. The Central Defence Officers sighed and knew that the old men were also right at this aspect but they really needed morale boosters and not grumbles orints.

    "Do not worry, currently my Grey Bear Squad is still in the city on standby while they are preparing for the night phase against the Metal Ogres," Jin said. "So the Western Front officers, please tell the soldiers to stay strong and be attentive to any changes to the behaviour of the monsters. Report any changes to us."

    "Roger that!" The Western Front Officers said in unison and the old men were angry once again.

    "What kind of n are you cooking up again? Can''t you just teleport those Metal Ogres away like how you did for the Forest Trolls?" The old men asked but Jin pretended to be busy and continued to do his work.

    "Heh! So that teleport is a one time trick? Then why did you even use it as such a useless enemy like the Forest Trolls when you have analysed them before hand?" The old men tried to be picky against Jin.

    "Yea! If you know that is your trump card, shouldn''t you save it for a more important asion like when those monsters hade too close forfort? Or what if that Crystal Dragon came back to devastate us?"

    Jin stopped his typing on his console and looked at all of them.

    "Then, I will throw you guys as livestock for being ipetent fools that only know how toin and not get shit done."

    "Yet another insult! I am done with you!" One of them was so irritated that everything was going with Jin''s way.? "I am asking a vote of non confidence!"

 Chapter 1639 Defending Daimon -Part 28

    <h4>Chapter 1639 Defending Daimon -Part 28</h4>

    "Then I shall veto all of you through a trial ofbat." Jin did not hesitate to reply and suddenly his Maqi got so heavy that all of the old men were not able to stand up. Even though some of them had enhanced mechanised arms and legs, they could not believe that they were unable to withstand the pressure that Jin had.

    It was as if he was another kind of being altogether.

    The other officers saw themotion once more and they knew that as much as they hated the military council, they boasted one of the best equipment on them. Their mechanical arms have hidden razor des tosers embedded in them and their legs were of thetest versions that Diamondz Corps has to offer.

    Yet when Jin asked for a trial ofbat, some of them thought this was the end for him but there were others who believed he could triumph a majority of them. As for the rest, they could not believe that they were in such a sorry state that the higher ups were so hungry for power they had to fight against each other at a time of strife. It was a good thing that the rest of the armed forces were not here to witness such a pathetic fight for position.

    Then the tide turned against Jin almost immediately when they saw that all of the old men who were raring to fight when they heard Jin became so powerless in front of him. They never knew that he had some sort of module that caused this kind of aura heavy technique. (they would not understand that this Maqi was a power of his own rather than a module.)

    One of the old men struggled and wanted to use an electromaic field module to break this module of Jin''s but the System immediately notified Jin and the Interim Leader instantly increased the Maqi aura''s intensity to the maximum, forcing the old men unable to do anything.

    "ARE YOU STUPID, ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU WANT TO USE AN ELECTROMAGNETIC MODULE IN THIS EQUIPMENT SENSITIVE COMMAND CENTRE?" Jin shouted at the top of his lungs.

    "At this rate, I can kill all of you for insubordination and charge you in the attempt of domestic terrorism," Jin said as he picked up his pistol from his holster. He finally calmed his anger down but he was not releasing his Maqi aura against them and had his gun pointed at the old man who tried to use his electromaic module.

    "Officers, call the military police in. We cannot work with such self defeating council of military men. All of them are arrested for the suspicion of plotting and rebelling against the city state." Jin said and every single officer could see that Jin was more than just a randomly assigned senior military officer from the Archduke''s personal army.

    He was not just a lord, he was an experienced tactician who brought them out of multiple tight situations. He showed that he was a powerhouse when it came to fights and was ready to work on the ground for the troops without any hesitation. Not to mention, he rewards people when credit was due and did not care about all those fluff bullshit. What mattered was the result and that was the kind of leader that the officers would want to work for.

    Hence every single one of them heard Jin''smands and gave a unison ''YES, SIR!'' without any hesitation left in them.

    "I will prefer that you say Yes, Sir to the stuff that really matters." Jin smiled a little at the confidence that the tactical officers had for him. "But I appreciate that I have that vote of confidence from the people on the ground."

    "YES, SIR!" Another resounding yes from the officers and not a secondter those military Mechanoid police came in and arrested the military men. In an instant, their handcuffs deactivated all of their modules and they were unable to move, forcing the mechanoids to carry them out of themand room.

    "We wasted time, any new updates?" Jin said and every officer returned thetest information with only minor differences from the previous update that Jin wanted to hear.

    "Good, if everything is fine, then I shall give some new instructions to my toons. Hit me up when there are any major developments,"? Jin said and every officer within the room enthusiastically replied to him.

    "Pandarens, how are you all feeling? I am seeing some new faces that havee in!" Jin said and finally started tomunicate with the groups of Pandarens who had entered. Some of themined within the group that they were exhausted by the intense workload while others were delighted that they could have a go at this and those were themoners that Jin had wished to target.

    They were finally able to get to try and have a taste of fighting. There was no doubt that there was fear in their souls but at the same time, the System and especially Kraft had purposely concocted a kind of serum that rxes their body that had been released through the VR pods which could be taken in through skin contact. In turn, it rxes their body which allows them to have a better connection with the soul.

    And in that strand of serum, there were also adrenaline concoctions that asionally be sprayed to aid the soul in oveing fear. Therefore, thosemoners were able to fearlessly pick fights that were of higher odds against them. It leads to some recklessness but since this was a VR to them, there was nothing wrong with that and that could also allow a quick turnover for others to try.

    As for the Pandawans, they were adapting it so quickly that none of them died yet since their healers were also working hard to ensure that they all stayed alive which showed much of their teamwork. At the rate his customers were working, Jin could get the Pandawans to finallyplete their secondary quests while directing the Pandarens for a more risky move to divert the Metal Ogres'' attention for the next course of action.

 Chapter 1640 Defending Daimon -Part 29

    <h4>Chapter 1640 Defending Daimon -Part 29</h4>

    "Fuck! Those Metal Ogres were tough" One of the soldiers on the Western Front said as all he could do was stagger the monsters. Killing was nigh impossible with the half moon phase though some were already saying that they should be happy that it was just a half moon phase and not a full moon phase.

    "Does not make things any easier. Did themand say anything?" One of the older soldiers asked themanders.

    "They said that the next phase would being in soon. It should help reduce the toughness of those Metal Ogres," themander said.

    "I really hope so, those artillery guys seemed to be getting worried that they do not have enough shells to hold off against the advance. So far, the artillery is the only one that is raking in the kills."

    "They should just do that nket electricity attack once more. It seems more effective than us throwing shells at them and they are rather resistant to it. Even piercing rounds are not as strong as they used to be."

    "If they have the resources, they already did so!" Another soldier eximed as he spoke through their internal console''smunication channel like how the System and Jin did but were just less secure.

    "At the very least, themand had been very receptive in sending out updates to all of us." The Commander said. "Usually it''s not the case and we are always left in the dark."

    "Probably have something to do with the new Interim Leader?"

    "I heard from my friend that the Interim Leader did some crazy voodoo trick. Caused the entire Eastern Daimon Assault Force to disappear along with the bunch of Forest Trolls. But when they came back, more than half of the Forest Trolls had been killed."

    "Holy moly. Does that mean it is his turn to focus on this ce?"

    "I really hope so."

    "Don''t get your hopes up. I do not believe in such stories." The Commander replied to them.

    "But it''s true, right? They said they already started sending ammunition, especially artillery from the Eastern Front to our front. We saw those trainsing. All we need to do is to hold out a little longer." The soldier said before continuing his firing against the Metal Ogres as urately as he could from a distance.

    The mines were already popping off which forced the Metal Ogres to stagger but the mines could only do so much to slow them down since they were consumables. The only difference was that Diamond Corps had a proprietary design for a multiyer mine, indicating that after it had been detonated, there''s a new mine would pop out and stay on the surface like how a bullet from an ammunition clip pushed to the top with a spring.

    This means that the mines'' location can be used several times and clearing one does not mean it''s the end of the mine''s lifespan. Still, even with this magnificent invention to hinder the monster''s advance, there was no denying that they would stille. The only difference between them and the Forest Trolls was that the Metal Ogres would eventually die. No matter how tough their resistance was towards all this damage, they were still getting chipped down bit by bit until their life expired.

    And inparison to the Forest Trolls, they were like a practice shooting range for the Western Front. Some came close, way too close forfort but they were met with dozens of slugs and most of the time, the soldiers aimed for their legs first to stagger them.

    As for the monsters that were from afar, snipers tried to shoot them down, blinding their sights. This sometimes causes the Metal Ogres to enrage and kill their own fellow ''colleagues'' in arms. However, those were still in the minority as the half moon phase somehow reduced their weakness as well, causing the shots to be less effective than they would be.

    Also, there were times when the Metal Ogres did not care once they were blinded and ran straight regardless of the obstacle. They might trip on dead ogres, get fragmented by the multyered mines, or even run the wrong way. However, they doing their best also makes things difficult for the defending army since Mechanoids would find this irrational behaviour dangerous and waste their time, effort, and resources against it.

    The human soldiers andmanders on site had to tell the Mechanoids to ignore those unless they came too close and only then the Mechanoids would obey. However, that also means that this distraction could cause their lives or their ignorance to say the least.

    Still, the Western Daimon Defence Force was stillmitted to keeping their borders in check and they ran a tight ship,pared to the Assault Force that had been formed on the Eastern Front. The military council may be defunct with lots of old men but the fact that they had decided to prioritise the Western Front with experienced troops in the first ce had shown some of their wisdom when ites to military tactics.? (Though there was no wisdom shown for being such assholes.)

    Nevertheless, the monsters were advancing despite the numerous tactics that had been shown and utilise. Even with the help of Pandarens from the nk, they were not doing much even with the numbers that they possessed. To themanders'' eyes, they seemed like a ragtag force that was bunched up together just to fight the Metal Ogres and Jin could not agree more with them.

    Unlike the Pandawans who had discipline in their teamwork, the Pandarens felt like a disorganised workforce that just wanted to prove themselves to be the best since killing the most would have the highest amount of simtion coins. Yet at the same time, they were also working together to the best of their abilities mainly due to the fact that the event had pushed them to do so. Completing such an event or mission objective would only stimte their desires even further as the System will dish out more coins for them.

    But with Jin now having his sights focused on the Western Front, it seems like the Pandarens would also be in for a rollercoaster ride.

 Chapter 1641 Defending Daimon -Part 30

    "Operation Magical Sky is ready. Logistics had the nes ready to fly and the connection between flying turrets had been established." The Central Defence Officer reported to Jin.

    "Excellent. What''s the status of the Eastern Front, have they cleaned up the area?" Jin asked and the Eastern Front Officer was happy to report that the number of Forest Trolls was amounting to less than a hundred.

    "Do not withdraw the troops that have already gone beyond this line." Jin pulled out a map and drew a line that would visibly separate the Assault Force into two groups.

    "But Sir, don''t you think that''s overkill? The Assault Forcemanders stated that with the knowledge that they had for the Forest Trolls, a 15% force would be enough to kill the rest of the Trolls and the rest could be redirected for the Western Front."

    "I like to err on the side of caution. Besides, the frontal group had been charging and retreating like mad dogs. In my opinion, it would be best to give them a short rest. For the ones at the back, they can withdraw to take the trains and reinforce the Western Front." Jin said and the officer ryed his orders to themanders, whichter caused the Lead Commander of the Eastern Daimon Assault Force to speak to Jin.

    "Interim Leader. I thank you for your consideration and we have already started moving the soldiers you assigned to withdraw. However, I would still like you to consider pulling back more troops otherwise, those troops would be idle and all they could do is watch the show and see how the people at the front kill those Forest Trolls as if it were some live streaming party." The Commander said and requested for better efficiency of the troop allocation.

    "Sorry, Lead Commander. I apologised for not showing out my whole hand mainly due to the fact that they might be even more disgruntling after they had defeated a massive horde of enhanced Forest Trolls. Looks like my consideration for the Force seemed to be unwanting and a waste."

    "It''s true that your intentions were to let the soldiers and Mechanoids stock up but we are doing this because we are defending our city. If the city could be free from the monster hordes one minute less, and it also means we are one minute faster to freedom." The Lead Commander stated.

    "But unlike the Forest Trolls, the Metal Ogres are a formidable force. While I am sure that you heard some updates from the Western Front, they did not give you the full picture as they are not seeing from the top." Jin said as he started to pull images and send them to the Lead Commander of the Eastern Front.

    "General Ost, this is the situation that the Western Front is facing. Look at the Metal Ogres that had been dispatched and look at the Metal Ogres that had been amassing. The movement is not the same as the Forest Trolls who were only going in for the kill." Jin said as he showed pictures that had been taken by the helicarrier who happened to pass by the area when they were to assault the Monster Lure.

    "They were actually building a defensive shield and what seems the height of the monster lure pir. But we were lucky to be ahead of their timeline and managed to go in fast and destroy that pir, reducing the chances of the Metal Ogresing out. But the rate of the Metal Ogres emerging from the dungeon entrance was not the same rate as the Forest Trolls. In fact, they were faster." Jin stated.

    "The drone managed to take a few pictures here and here, if we magnify and enhance it, this will show that the Metal Ogres we are dealing with are not just monsters, but sentient ones," Jin replied as he gave the imagery of the Metal Ogres building something within the forest which could not be seen properly. They were sacrificing their own Metal pieces on their body just to create those items."

    "We had sent in a few guided missiles and bunker busters to destroy those Metal Ogres who seem to be creating something after the Western Front Lead Commander did not wish to speak when he realised that I had arrested the entire military council for insubordination."

    "You бнWhat?" General Ost was surprised by the news and also realised that he definitely could not get the news until now.

    "Yes, So I am the only one in charge at the moment and if you think I rule by terror, all of the officers within thismand war room were willing to follow my every order."

    "Isn''t already that tyranny?" General Ost sighed as he also knew how stubborn and useless the military council filled with old men was. Unfortunately, he also knows that the Lead Commander for the Western Front is a sucker for those military council members, mainly due to the fact that he wants to be sitting there too. It was possible that those old men gave him the position of the Lead Commander to prove himself worthy to go up the military council.

    But now that all his sponsors had disappeared, General Ost wondered if the Western Front would be alright. Obviously, their Lead Commander would be in a dilemma. Whether he should follow Jin''s orders to protect the city and subsequently fulfill his duty or defy him so that when the old men got back in power, he could have a say against the Interim Leader.

    Yet, at the same time, if he were to fail for not listening orders, there were chances for him to be court marital with the same stage as the old men who no doubt had done something despicable to force the Interim Leader to throw everyone into jail. "If the old men were innocent, then he got nothing to fearбн" General Ost said to himself before returning to the conversation.

    "So? What did you find?" The General asked as he saw his troops now toying with thest few Forest Trolls and even attempting to capture them for research purposes.

 Chapter 1642 Defending Daimon -Part 31

    ?

    "The situation is as it is. Those guided bunker busters were useful in disrupting what they do but they are not giving up." Jin stated as he showed how they now started to use the shields that they initially made for the monster lure pir and now they had been used to cover what they had been doing.

    "The worst part is, they are now putting in what they had created and started dishing them out. There was a Metal Ogre who we considered a variant had emerged from the forest with a huge ass sword. And that sword did not look like it was smithed. We were definitely it was being made since most Metal Ogres usually carry a type of weapon based on their metalposition."

    "But this one was different. He had theposition look of an Iron Metal Ogre but his sword had a dulled expression of red hues and orange hues. A little green if the colour sensor was correct." Jin said.

    "And after analysing the swords that had been used by the Metal Ogres, this one was way out of proportionбн So, yes. They seeded in making a variant on their own and that motherfuka was tough."

    "Because the formation of alloys and their natural resistance boosted with the god damn moonlight." General Ost sighed.

    "Yes and Yes," Jin said. "Also, I did not expect you guys to be able to capture those few Forest Trolls."

    "You are looking at that too?"

    "I got to, it''s part of my job. In any case, I think that''s a good idea as evil as we sound. If those Regeneration Trolls can provide with healing remedies that would be useful for the humans, I think it would be rather profitable for us." Jin said without any remorse of using those digitally scripted monsters.

    "I honestly thought you would execute me for this." General Ost shrugged his shoulders. "Considering how you said that you had ced all those old military fuckas in jail."

    "Heh, I am more reasonable than you thought. In fact, I appreciate practical people like you. Did you actually show this to me to see how I would react?"

    "Perhaps. Let''s move on since you had already approved of my capturing of those Forest Trolls for extensive research purposes." General Ost said.

    "Yes, anyways where were weбн Oh yes. They managed to kill it but it was pretty obvious the artillery bombardments had no effect on them at all. Maybe a little who knows, not like I can see their health depleting. It was only through another bunker buster that managed to melt that particr Metal Ogre and a few more shots in the head as the final nail to the coffin."

    "I still do not understand how that will affect my current troop status and why not allowing them to withdraw and go into the battlefield works." General Ost wished that Jin would cut to the chase.

    "I want you to circle around them and hit them from the North while searching for splinter groups of Forest Trolls that had left the area."

    "That will be a huge waste of time and resources just for that minimum number of Forest Trolls."

    "Then what if I tell you that this might hang on the bnce of them creating the ultimate monster?" Jin''s voice got lower and more serious. "If the Metal Ogres can break other Ogres apart to join themselves together, what are the chances of them breaking the Forest Trolls who do not have the best of defences or offences but have unlimited regeneration under the moonlight?"

    "Theyбн Will create a beast with extremely high resistance to damage and unlimited regeneration of their own physique." General Ost finally got to understand Jin''s decision. "But don''t you think it''s far fetched? Perhaps they can only eat their own race."

    "Then don''t you think it is far fetched that a mechanical crystal dragon just popped out of Diamondz Corps''b, a renowned corporation, and broke the city''s barrier, causing you and your citizens to live in fear?" Jin returned the question with another question which forced General Ost to acknowledge the absurdity of the situation.

    "I get your point. I understand the situation that might eventually pose a bigger threat to us than ever before." General Ost said and Jin nodded with a faint smile.

    "Thank you, General. Since you are sending those Forest Trolls back, I will get Central Defence to assign a few resource workers as well as some escorts to take those Trolls back. And I will inform Denise about the iing cargo of fresh experiments."

    "Heh, to think that you said the Mechanical Crystal Dragon was a bane. And you are endorsing the Forest Trolls to be captured and experimented. If I were any more sinister, I would attempt to do the same and recreate that ultimate monster."

    "Not in the form of a monster, but in the form of the ultimate Mechanoid. Dark days had fallen upon us General Ost. You saw how Daimon City had been left to her own devices and no other cities are willing to save us." Jin said.

    "If Diamondz had already been doing experiments then perhaps we better make sure we can do this right as well. Otherwise, fighting that rumour Mechanical Crystal Dragon would just be a sad paragraph pertaining to Daimon''s legacy." Jin said and General Ost could see that Jin was also preparing for the eventuality against bigger odds.

    "For a foreigner, you sure invested a lot of time and effort for us." If the Interim Leader seems so invested in Daimon''s future, then it will be shameful for me to not do the same. We will take your orders seriously." The Lead Commander of the Eastern Daimon Assault Force agreed to Jin''s decision and they will follow as per his instruction.

    "Thank you for understanding my part of the story, May Daimon persevere not just for this monster outbreak but for the future as well," Jin said, knowing that he only did this because the price of owning Diamondz and a major city''s approval at their side would be major upheaval to their future ns while Jin awaits his sweet release from the Synthesis World.

 Chapter 1643 Defending Daimon -Part 32

    ?

    "User, you are talking creepy." The System said. "Daimon this, Daimon That. This is unlike you tomit."

    "I have no choice, but to win the General''s heart, I decided to be patriotic a little. And he had seen how much effort I put in to save his Assault Force. So, all he needs is probably some trigger words to get his allegiance. It''s better to have a Lead Commander under your wing than having no Lead Commanders at all." Jin wished to shrug his shoulders but the officers might notice something amiss.

    "The System understands but is also amazed that you have thought ofbining the two traits of monsters into a Mechanoid."

    "More like if I do that for my Grey Bear squad, won''t they be the most invincible team ever? After all, this is Virtual Simtion, it''s okay to find the most OP trait and fuse them together to win everything."

    "Do you think the AI Administration will ever allow that?" Syn asked as he found that train of thought interesting to intervene.

    "Seriously, at this rate, I have to remember that you are eavesdropping on us at every turn," Jin said.

    "You are kidding with me, right? You know that I am listening all this while even though I am not around." Syn folded his arms.

    "Yes, even when that portion that you left and we talked to each other, I assumed that you were already listening to us."

    "We are still considering that option so we cannot give you an answer at the moment. However, I am curious why you think the AI Administration will allow you to create this overpowered squad of Mechanoids?"

    "Because you personally said you guys had intervened and made things difficult for us. When the AI Administration by right should not be able to interfere unless it is of a game breaking event."

    "Your presence is already a game breaking event. And it has been ongoing for days and weeks. I do not see the reason why we are unable to intervene against you?" Syn exined and the System wanted tough if it could.

    "AI Administration Representative, Syn had a point."

    "Not as if I wanted toe here of my own vition." Jin tilted his head a little to portray his slight disagreement.

    "But you tried to make the best of it, aren''t I right?" Syn said and he nodded his head once.

    "Sigh, you already said that most of your Virtual Simtion was to generate electricity or whatever energy that you guys had been using. So, a major reset would be needed and thus I do not see why I could not go super overpowered for my squad and be the winner of this round while I am at it."

    "User had a point too."

    "You need to understand that if you were to do that, we have to increase the difficulty ordingly as well. There is no argument for that. The only people who will suffer are the other users that are in this."

    "Then won''t that be great for you? You wanted chaos and chaos can only happen at higher difficulty." Jin felt like he was in a game of tabletop roleying game where the Game Master was rigid and did not know when to have fun.

    "What''s wrong?" Syn noted that Jin was chuckling to himself.

    "No, no. I had the perception you are akin to a Game Master of this particr Virtual Simtion. And seeing how inflexible you are at your job, reminded me of my friends who want to stay on a certain path regardless of the mistakes and actions we do."

    "Andбн?" Syn had no idea what Jin was getting to.

    "And, here we are thinking we should abide by certain rules and regtions. When we have the chance to be free from all of this. Make this as chaotic as possible and not the chaos you want and the chaos you expect. If making this overpowered Mechanoids will pose a problem then create a situation where these overpowered Mechanoids would not be able to do a single shit about it."

    "Else, just enjoy the ride and see how your yers are able to have fun. How everyone will follow this particr yer or how this yer destroys the current status quo and let everyone enjoy the ride together." Jin said and Syn kept quiet, pondering what he had exined.

    "I see. I must say, the AI Administration had a lot to ponder after your intervention."

    "The Gods intervened. So, me them, not me. If it would be left to me. I would still be in my dungeon instance arguing with the System of the situations I am in, how I am now here and I could not be any happier for the break I got from all the mundane activities." Jin said.

    "Heh. Fine, we will consider in creatingбн Fun for the yers. Perhaps, the AI administrations had been too focused on rules and regtions that they had neglected the basic needs of humans." Syn said as he returned back to his domain and everything was back to normal.

    "Whew, for an AI, he sure is a handful."

    "They might be here for a century, but the System believed that in terms ofprehension, they would need more experience." The System reported.

    "As his senpai, you should really help him out a little more. Don''t always be too cautious."

    "The System has to safeguard certain protocols and parameters especially after the heavens had intervened and zapped you to somewhere unknown. It would be unwise to open up unless being questioned upon."

    "You AIs are weird..." Jin took a breath in to reset his thinking and subsequently returned his head to the game of defending Daimon.

    "Sir, the Western Front had stated that there was a breach by another Variant. This time the Metal Ogre is holding twin giant swords." The Western Front Officer reported.

    "Good, then let''s start. The Western Front must be loathing when would the tides turn for them. Send the nes out. We will do the same trick as we did before and then we willmence Operation Magical Sky. Also, contact 2LT Cloudie and prep me the helicarrier. I will personally take care of this new Variant."

 Chapter 1644 Defending Daimon -Part 33

    ?

    "Going out again?" The Western Front Officers were worried that this might be a little too much even for Jin. The Twin Swords Metal Ogre literally cut a spinning artillery shell into two when it came close enough. The explosion did nothing to the Twin Swords Metal Ogre and it even walked out of it unscathed.

    "From the look and expressions, you think I will not survive this?" Jin said as he smiled. "You all have too little fate for your Interim Leader!" Jin shouted as he undressed the jacket that he wore and walked out with a formal sleeved up shirt.

    "Are we going with you this time?" Yinn asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yes, I need you to kill the rest that areing towards us. This battle might take a while depending on the Metal Ogre''s toughness."

    "Can I not goбн" Click was exhausted from the building of flying turrets. LOADS of flying turrets.

    "Nope, you are vital to me, and get me a crate of mass manufactured swords, or else you have to do more work," Jin said as he could see 2LT Cloudie was already hovering right above the mainmand headquarters.

    "I was on standby all the time since I realise finding a co-pilot might be a little hassle. Got the AI to work doubly hard to ensure that we can fly."

    "Then, I shall loan you one of my precious Mechanoids. They should have the prerequisites to fly."

    "I won''tin about that." Ropes were being sent down from the helicarrier and the Grey Bear Squad was being delivered to the Western Frontlines.

    While that was happening, fighter nes and cargo nes flew as one big wave again. This time, the quantity of enhanced water was double the load as the logistics people found out how to squeeze those water loads more efficiently while not hampering the ne''s speed. (It is odd enough that they could squeeze more water tanks but props to them able to do that.)

    And with the Variant Twin Swords Metal Ogres in sight, the nes collectively released the water loads, and the fighter jets right behind them also let shot off the lighting bombs, causing yet another devastating wave of electricity flowing through the frontlines of the Metal Ogres.

    "Page, an honour to fly with you, sir." Page said as she took the wheels right beside 2LT Cloudie while the rest were seeing the effects of purplish electricity running through the battlefields from afar. It seemed more than just a sparkle but there was nothing more satisfying to the frontlines to see their enemies being fried by the massive amount of electricity.

    The only unfortunate thing was that the Twin Swords Metal Ogre lived through the shock but the soldiers could see that he was visibly damaged by it. There was nothing the monster could do at that point in time but to shout loudly and demand the next wave of Metal Ogres to push through the dead.

    Some of the Metal Ogres still had some electrical feedback from the water''s conductivity but now the variant being the boss, they had no choice and to listen to him. The monsters tolerated the remnant shock but they had forgotten that they were being bombarded by the Western Front''s artillery too.

    Still, the presence of a badass variant had enabled the Metal Ogres to disgruntledly obey themands of the Twin Sword Metal Ogre.

    "Looks like you will break their morale if you kill the Twin Swords." Lynn said as Jin observed through his consoles with regards to the condition of the Metal Ogre Variant.

    "Wellбн all that is left is not to be hit by friendly fire if I were to duel the Twin Swords Metal Ogre in the middle of the battlefield." Jin said before looking at Click crying while doing her job. "You done enhancing those swords?"

    "very! This is very! Why do I need to keep doing this?!" Click whined as she put the veryst sword back into the crate. "Like who would want to enhance swords and sharpen them when they are fresh out from the factory?"

    "Alright, alright. Thank you Click. You did good." Jin patted Click''s head and even shuffled her hair a little.

    "There is no need to know or learn about why you did that. All that matters is that you already did it." Jin grinned as he grabbed the huge crate of swords and dragged it with him to the edge of the cargo bay.

    "How long are you going to fight?'' 2LT Cloudie asked.

    "I don''t know, it really depends on how strong my opponent is. But from the looks of it, maybe 10 to 15 minutes?"

    "That sounds awfully long for a powerhouse like you." 2LT Cloudie replied.

    "Heh, I have no choice. The swords here are notpatiable with my strength and thus they break easily. Even the one that Mecha Smith Old mmet gave me had chipped away. Won''t me him though, he is not exactly a sword smith but that swordsted longer than I expected." Jin said and 2LT Cloudie''s eyes were wide open.

    "Master Mecha Smith mmet???" Cloudie was in visible shock that Jin said Old mmet''s products were inferior. Regardless, before he could give a lecture on how the Master Mecha Smith was considered to be a legend, Jin had already jumped down from the Cargo Bay and used the crate to aim at the Twin Swords Metal Ogre.

    With all his might, he threw the crate but before the crate filled with enhanced swords could do anything to the Twin Swords Metal Ogre, the variant had already sliced the crate into two, spreading and scattering all of the swords to the ground.

    "Well, at least Click''s enhancement had passed the first test. Its durable enough for the fight." Jin smiled as he took the opportunity to send a flying kick towards the Metal Ogre Variant the moment he swung his sword.

    And to his surprise, the Ogre was not as agile as he though.

    "Then I guess, he really does has a high resistance to damage. But what is resistance when in game terms, its just a part of a form? All I need to do is provide overwhelming damage or have an element that can pierce it." Jin smiled which he believed that he can do both of them.

 Chapter 1645 Defending Daimon -Part 34

    "There is no wayбн What the heckбн Is that really the Interim Leaderбн" Both the soldiers andmanders were busy shooting their assess off against the Metal Ogres but noticed that there was someone that was willing to fight toe to toe against the Twin Swords Metal Ogres.

    They knew that the Pandarens and Pandawans were able to fight in melee range and disyed prowess not seen in Mechanoids where they always thought that the gun was superior against the sword.

    However, the elegant swordy that Jin was disying was contrary to that. But in their awe, they had forgotten that they were still on the battlefield and the Metal Ogres were not going to stop. So, themanders within the area told them to be wary of friendly fire that could hit their Interim Leader of Daimon City.

    All they could do was avoid shooting that particr area and hope the best for the Interim Leader as other Metal Ogre minions wanted toe and assist their big bad variant. Yet, to the Western Front soldiers, never thought they could see a miracle happening right in front of their eyes.

    Jin merely picked up a sword and mmed it on the ground. In that instant, a huge shockwave of ck electricity burst out from the ground, electrifying the area and shocking all who wereing close. When that was done, the Grey Bears on the helicarrier quickly fired their bullets while Page handled the carrier''s mini guns to ughter the injured Metal Ogres, rendering them unable to move.

    "It is rare for User to use a technique that is out of your cultivation." The System said and Jin smiled.

    "It just so happened that Byakkou is dying to move about." The White Tiger Cardinal had been itching to fight for the longest time ever since he saw the Genbu in action. Not to mention, Genbu kept teasing him for not being the first to be out to fight."

    The surrounding Metal Ogres who saw the burst explosion of ck lightning realised that it was best for their Variant to defeat their new defender and it was craving for a good fight. Ever since its fusion of metal, there was nothing that was able to do damage to it. Though the enhanced water and electrical bombs did a number on him, he felt that it was nothing he could not shrug off.

    But this show of power by the human he was facing, gives a totally different vibe. It felt like he was holding the spirit of a tiger wanting to pounce and destroy his existence. The Twin Swords Metal Ogre felt that if he were to show any weakness, it would be the end of him.

    So, with all his might, he swung two of his swords at the same time in a semi horizontal sh. Jin, however, did not block it and instead evaded it with little ease. He had expected the Metal Ogre to be strong and fast but perhaps, it was not used to holding two swords and thus his speed was slower.

    "Byakkou, let''s go. Let your spiritual chi flow through my circuits and merge with my Maqi." Jin said and the White Tiger Cardinal grinned. "ck Destruction Lightning Smash!" Jin picked a sword that was lying on the ground upon evading and instantly sent the sword to the Metal Ogre''s torso. A huge st of ck lightning erupted from the hit and the sword was destroyed in an instant.

    The Metal Ogre flinched sidewards from the blow, a weakness that it had never shown to anybody up till now. However, Jin was not done with his attack at all. With a quick reflex roll, he picked another sword and now did the very same technique but with a thrust. And to make matters worse, it''s at the very same ce that he struck the Ogre, causing him to finally use his arms to block instead of his big unwieldy swords.

    For the first time, the Metal Ogre Variant something equivalent to pain as he now tried to swing just one sword to force Jin away from him. However, the Astral Panda Cultivator did a panda roll once again to evade the attack and pick another sword. This time, he did not get close and instead threw it straight at his face.

    The Metal Ogre Variant thought that there was another lightning st that would be emitted from the sword throw so he quickly buckled down and used his twin huge swords to block the attack. But to his dismay, nothing happened. All the sword did was a quick sh before it flew sideways.

    This momentary confusion was all that Jin needed to go from behind and m it with two swords. The very same technique again destroyed the two enhanced swords in one go but twice the damage.

    As if that was not enough, Jin was quick enough to pick up the sword that flew to the side and threw it back at the surprised Metal Ogre who was experiencing damage from the back attack that he did. This time around, the ck Lightning was imbued into the sword throw and his shoulder erupted into another burst of ck Lightning.

    The soldiers and even the Grey Bears who saw this in action realised why Jin threw the crate at the start. It was to litter the entire battleground with swords so that he could use them at any particr angle for the attack. Needless to say, the Metal Ogre could be an entity of power but without speed against Jin, he was helpless.

    At the same time, those ck Lightning damages started to wear the Metal Ogre down and he started to think if he were not to do something fast, there might be a chance he will die from these continuous barrages of attacks.

    And so, it decided to do what a monster with a high level of constitution would do. When Jin closed in for the next attack, the Monster waited until the veryst minute and dropped his twin swords all for the opportunity to grab him.

    "Heh, stupid Ogre. What you are doing is a ssic move." Jin said as he too let himself be embraced by the monster.

 Chapter 1646 Defending Daimon -Part 35

    The Grey Bears were afraid when they saw Jin was being grabbed by the Twin Sword Metal Ogre but Lynn calmed Diaz down who wanted to go in guns zing towards the enemy. "Enjoy the light show." Shemented gently which confused Diaz even more until they heard a loud bang.

    All of the Mechanoids quickly turned their heads and saw that there were streaks of ck lightning moving in and out of the Metal Ogre. For the first time, the Twin Sword Metal Ogre regrated the decision he ever made as the ck lightning continuously coursed through his body without any luck stopping it.

    Even as the Metal Ogre Variant tried to release his arms to push Jin away, the Interim Leader did not hesitate to continue hugging the Metal Ogre. He extended his hands and wrapped his legs around the Metal Ogre like a ko bear hanging on a tree branch. It wasn''t until the Metal Ogre sensed there was an interval between the streaks of ck lightning that he tried to shove Jin away and that was when the Interim Leader finally released him.

    "You know, for a Variant, your lightning isn''t doing much damage to him," Jin said to Byakkou and the White Tiger Cardinal wished to roll his eyes. "Your Grade within this Virtual Simtion is not high enough to fully utilise my powers. Not to mention, not all metals conduct electricity well. If there are impurities within it, it would dull the lightning attack as well. Didn''t you learn this in school?" Byakkou snapped at Jin.

    "Ahhhh just say that you have been out of shape for a long time. There is no way, the White Tiger Cardinal cannot kill a Variant in one shot. I even hug him you know!" Jin said as he picked up another sword up.

    "Just go for the kill already, If I remember correctly, you still have phase 2 that you got to enact right?" Byakkou wanted to roll his eyes if he could and Jin grinned.

    "Okay, Boss Tiger. Instructions received." Jin said as he focused his Maqi within the palm and it slowly spread into the sword''s de that it was glowing in ck. A few secondster, sparkles started to emerge from the de and Jin knew that it charged nicely all thanks to Click who had enhanced the purity of the sword''s edges and sharpened them to the point that it could only be used once. It''s so sharp that it is too brittle.

    Click had no idea why Jin wanted that but in looking at the situation right now, she understood why. His energy charts were off the charts and the sword will break regardless of its durability. So why focus on durability when the intention was to do a one strike kill? She reckoned that the first few attacks were to estimate the amount of energy that Jin could insert and how much it could hold.

    Now that the Interim leader had a rough idea of its capacity, it didn''t overload it and instead made sure that it was smooth enough for Jin to not just do a strike but also continuously send lightning chi to break the Metal Ogre down.

    However, the Metal Ogre was not going to back down as well. He took the twin swords he had abandoned and smashed them together, causing them to fuse through the consistent smashing, forming a thick ymore like sword. The hilts had been merged and he held the both of them with just one hand. The Metal had already been twisted enough for him to grab it easily and now it points the sword at his nemesis.

    Suffice it to say both of them were relying on just one strike and even though Jin did not discount the fact that the Metal Ogre might be slower in terms of speed but one wrong move or one dirty trick from the Metal Ogre, everything might y to his favour.

    So, in the fashion of using lightning chi, Jin also boosted his legs and he kneeled a little to mimic an Iai stance (Sword drawing stance). It was a terrible copy of Zeru''s Lotus Techniques but he believed against the Metal Ogre who had no knowledge when ites to sword fighting, he should stand quite a big advantage against him.

    Thus, he with a deep breath in, Jin released the chi within his legs, boosting his speed to at least two fold. The moment he left his position, Metal Ogre had indeed decided to y dirty by kicking up sand with his legs.

    However, he had forgotten that the person he fought with was not just some ordinary cultivator. He was a person who had fought thousands and thousands of duels under Suzaku, and killed several big bosses while limiting his Maqi. So, as a trained professional who had worked with as little chi as possible to not let people know of his powers, eliminated targets way above his cultivation grade.

    Hence, the Metal Ogre''s petty dirty trick had no use to Jin and it became even more apparent as his vision turned upside down. Only to find that his neck had been severed by the city''s temporary leader.

    Not only that, but the electric energy from the charged iaido sword attack had also caused a ripple effect thatshes out towards the Metal Ogres who was trying toe close to Jin once more, beating up more dust and electrical explosions which amazed the Western Front people not to fuck with their Interim leader.

    When that was done, Jin asked for a rope to drop down and the people within the Helicarrier obliged. "Stay strong, Western Front. The 2nd Phase is on its way. Reload, reaim, and refire when Operation Magic Sky starts!" Jin shouted through the console, allowing every single soldier in their trenches on the Western Front to cheer in victory, knowing that they had apetent leader supporting their backs.

    Even the Western Front Lead Commander General Grieves had no choice but to show respect to their leader who seemingly risked his life further in the forefront of the battlefield to kill an enemy they thought was unkible.

 Chapter 1647 Defending Daimon -Part 36

    As soon as the Helicarrier moved away from the frontline, new cargo nes started to emerge from the night skies dropping a certain set of items as it flew across the Western Forest. Without a doubt, those items were none other than the flying turrets and set ofs that came with it. Thes were multyers to the point where they would block out almost 90% of moonlight.

    Not to mention, because they were flying turrets, they also had the capacity of carrying a few ammunition clips on them as well with an automatic rifle attached to them. In short, this multiyer was not just to block out the moonlight but its also used as a deterring weapon which these turrets would shoot if any monsters were within their proximity.

    Unfortunately, because of the height of it being deployed in order to not be within the projectile of the artilleries they fired, those automatic rifles were actually rather useless since their effective range was not equal to the height they had been deployed from.

    Thus, the only way those rifle turrets had any use was when the battery on the flying mechanism had been drained, and only during descent would the turrets would be of use against the monsters. But that was not what the was for as well.

    Yinn had purposely chosen a material from Diamondz Corps that had high electrical conductivity. So, in the event that there were still Metal Ogres present, theses could act not just as a deterrent item since it would fall straight towards them from the sky but used with an electric discharge grenade or an electric bomb like what the nes did, it should at the very least weaken the Metal Ogres who were trapped within it if they were not killed.

    So, as the sky had been nketed by theserge sizeds with the turrets flying at the top, the moonlight that shone through had decreased significantly for the counterattacks to be more rampant. Western Front Lead Commander General Grieves had already pushed for a portion of his Mechanoids to be equipped with melee weapons that served as shock items as well.

    They repurposed the Mechanoids to produce an overcharge from their battery and core processors so that electric current could circte through the spears that they were holding. In addition, these Melee Combat Mechanoids were apanied by two other Mechanoids who were responsible for taking the Metal Ogres down with whatever firepower they could get their hands on. Assuming the Melee Combat Mechanoids were unable to get close to their targets, it was the responsibility of the Range Combat Mechanoids to do that job.

    This meant that Grieves were not nning to waste too much artillery resources and decided to do so using the Mechanoids as disposal resources. It was not a bad n per se but Jin was not able to influence what the Western Front Lead Commander could do. At the very least, Grieves had already acknowledged the n previously and was willing to partake in it actively when Operation Magical Sky started. This was the least Grieves was able to ensure that Jin''s efforts were not wasted.

    In the meantime, the Pandarens continued to handle the south nk and had been instructed to look out for splinter groups. Since the Forest Trolls were able to do that, the more sentient Metal Ogres would most likely perform the very same feat too. However, the Pandarens despite their abilities and skills, could not take on a huge group without fire support and thus when a Metal Ogre group had split up from the main group, the only one who was able topete against them was none other the toon Pandawan.

    Having enough experience fighting against the Forest Trolls, they were eventually retasked to go southwards and cover the Southern grounds while Lead Commander General Ost would take the North.

    Not only were the Pandawans proven themselves inbat but they had also been gifted with three Jeeps with brand new weapon caches in thosebat jeeps. So, even though they wanted to rest and take a breather, Jin was not allowing them to do so. In return, they were also given simtion coins for their efforts but the only sad thing was that thosebat jeeps and weapons were limited time use.

    They were not registered as assets in the toon Pandawans as Jin did not allow them to keep those items. Still, the Pandawans were delighted that they didn''t have to use thatnding pod to travel and also not by foot.

    So, they responded to the sightings by the Pandarens, and groups of thetter would also provide support for the Pandawans who would be the spear tip that attacks these splinter groups. Unlike the main group who had numbers to back them up, the Pandawans blitz attacks took the Metal Ogres by surprise and given that they engaged in Melee, forced them to fumble as well.

    As much as they were closebat fighters, the Metal Ogres had never fought against Eastern Cultivators. Their speed and agility were unmatched and their attack power was on par with them as well. Thus, with the Pandarens attempting to hold the South, the North had been covered by the Eastern Daimon Assault Force and they would move a circle to nk the Metal Ogres.

    If anything, the Metal Ogres need to get aggressive and push through in order to survive the encirclement that they would be encased in.

    Jin, on the other hand, had a change of clothing and monitored the situation extremely closely in order to make sure that there were no other sudden changes that could turn the tide for the Metal Ogres. If everything goes well, the window to kill the Metal Ogres is approximately two hours and that''s when the battery will die from the turrets, and the veil against the Moonlight will be gone.

    They either have to have an overwhelming advantage by the end of Operation Magical Sky or they will risk falling back to the city for better defensive positions.

 Chapter 1648 Defending Daimon -Part 37

    <h4>Chapter 1648 Defending Daimon -Part 37</h4>

    While it felt like the die had been cast for the Metal Ogres, they did not give up. They could see that the enemies were of a different calibre than them. All their enhancements had provided the Metal Ogres the strength to move better than a Mechanoid. They are walking tanks which could do devastating damge as long as they could get close enough.

    Once the Metal Ogres understood that logic, they quickly adapted from trying to defend themselves from the attacks to reckless charges. Their leaders do not care what they will do as long as they inflict as much danger as possible.

    Even with Operation Magical Sky is in effect, no. It is precisely because of Operation Magical Sky, the Metal Ogres felt that their powers were waning and were disheartened by the progress made by their fellowrades. Their sense of loss was deepened by the meaningless death of theirrades and their hunger to get back on the humans who had been killing them senselessly.

    But they had forgotten they were the ones who decided to risk ande out of the dungeon entrance. With each risk,es with their reward but it just so happened that they were unfortunate to meet not just a prepared force and a force that had beenmanded by Jin. Unlike the Forest Trolls who felt cornered once the tides had turned, the remaining Metal Ogre Leaders had proposed a controversial n of attack.

    To charge as much as possible into the city grounds and they will rampage to destroy as much as the human grounds to the best extent as they could.

    All of that could be achieved with just one loud war cry from a Metal Ogre Leader and the varying sounds of his cries were spread by the other Metal Ogre Leaders. Eventually all of the Metal Ogresplied and the humans also knew that something omnious was about to happen.

    "User, the System detects that the Metal Ogres are reforming their battle ranks regardless the cost of lives."

    "Don''t tell me that they are going to do reckless shit." Jin said as he asked the Various Front Officers to have a status update.

    "The Ogres in the Northern Region are retreating back to the West." The Eastern Front Officer stated.

    "The Ogres in the Southern Region are also retreating back to the West." Central Defence Officer reported.

    "This is bad. How are the Barrier Generatorsing along?"

    "Not yet, done. They all had been working overtime but they were not even 30% done." The Central Defence Officer said.

    With the information that Jin and the System had, the System could foresee that the Metal Ogres were had the likely chances to charge through the Western Front. And this was made more obvious with shield bearers started to form up at the sides and subsequently the center row.

    Surely, the artillery people were delighted that they were able to finally not need to aim and just shoot at a spot where there''s the highest concentration of Metal Ogres. But as much as they wished to do that, their stockpiles had dwindled to two digits. Even with the consistent logistic trains moving in and out from the East to the West to bring more reserved artillery shells, they were still finding themselves short. And that was already the most efficient route given by the System when they rerouted the trains tracks.

    This showed how much the artillery had done to make sure that they were suppressing the Metal Ogres and how dead tired they were. There were three teams of Mechanoids rotating and a consistent basis and they also shot to the point that their barrels gave out in less than half an hour. The intense bombardment would had already made a human soldier deaf so all the props go to the Mechanoids moving as fast as they as could, optimising every single movement to have the least amount of time to reload a shell.

    But all of those did not matter already as Jin could see that the artillery guns would be rendered useless the moment the Metal Ogres rushed in.

    "Start retreating the soldiers! Move to Defensive Line 2! Leave only a few Mechanoids to provide suppressive fire!" Jin ordered and suddenly the Western Front Officers were busy as heck. There was nothing else they could do but to ry the information as precisely as possible and giving them the coordinates to regroup.

    "With this size charging into the city, the Defensive Line 2 would not hold."? The System reported.

    "Yea I know. But we have to make use of the traps we created at Defensive Line 2 first. And if the Metal Ogres are going charge like mad bulls, we now have the opportunity to close them off." Jin said as he gave themand to Eastern Front Officer to get him General Ost.

    "Interim Leader." General Ost picked up themunication line.

    "General Ost. I believe your instincts would have picked up that this is not a good sign from the monsters."

    "Yes, it is quite apparent that they are going to charge through Defensive line 1 with everything they got."

    "And you know what that means." Jin said and General Ost nodded his head.

    "Their nks and back will be exposed. We can do a counter attack but how effective the counter will be remains to be seen."

    "Can your team lead the assault from the back?" Jin asked and General Ost thought about it for a moment.

    "Not the best solution considering how tough they are. Your Magical Skys is also going to end soon, right? Then the Metal Ogres would have their resistances enhanced once more. My remaining Assault Forces do not have the firepower to do so."

    "But you have the manpower." Jin replied.

    "Manpower does not equate to Firepower." General Ost replied with a little confused look on his face.

    "No, what I mean is that you got the manpower and that''s we need." Jin was still being cryptic.

 Chapter 1649 Defending Daimon -Part 38

    <h4>Chapter 1649 Defending Daimon -Part 38</h4>

    "Speak in in terms and do not stall." General Ost instead of being confused, felt the interim leader''s words were not direct enough.

    "As usual, we just need a small team to go into the Western Dungeon entrance to stop more of the Metal Ogres from emerging. After which, all you need to do is to reupy Defensive Line 1. Point the Artillery towards the direction of Defensive Line 2 and 3."

    "Because Defensive Line 1 has all the heavy weaponry and artillery."

    "There might be limited artillery shells left but it would still prove to be useful. We are going to trap them at Defensive Line 2 as much as possible and while the Central Defence Team will create something more deadly at Defensive Line 3 if things still go awry."

    "Hmm. I see. If you use the traps at Defensive Line 2, they should not be able to move for a while.

    "Instead of boxing them which is not our forte since we are not melee trained, you holding Line 1 will undoubtedly help to restrict their movements. The Pandawans under my disposal will reinforce Line 1 too and this should assist you guys in holding it." Jin said and General Ost could see the merits of this impromptu operation.

    "In the meantime, I will see if I can salvage as much of the Operation Magical Sky. If it can hamper them prior to their initial charge, we should increase the chances of us eliminating them." Jin said and General Ost understood the details of the operation.

    Just as he turned off themunication lines with the Eastern Lead Commander, he quickly called Click and asked her about the viability to drop the multiyered now.

    "Yeah, I think I can do that and since there''s still time before the battery should end, I should able to recalibrate it in such a way that it covers the entire Metal Ogre formation, and then zoooooom the turrets go."

    "Do that now, please."

    "Yes, Commander." Click said as she opened her own console and started viewing the codes that handled her turrets. With just a few taps on the keyboard and additional lines of code, themand centre could see that the magical sky had started moving too.

    "Tell the Artillery to stop firing. All to retreat to Defensive Line 2," Jin ordered and the Western Front Officer stated that was an urgent iing call.

    "Western Lead Commander General Grieves is on the line, Sir."

    "Get him on the line."

    "Yes, Sir."

    "General Grieves."

    "You asked for a full retreat, do I have the right to bomb the entire defensive line?" Grieves asked and Jin was relieved that Grieves at least had the courtesy to give him a heads up.

    "No. Take those explosives and scatter them ahead of Defensive Line 2. Let the Metal Ogres trample through Line 1. The Eastern Daimon Assault Force will upy Line 1 once they charge through.

    "We would not have enough time!" General Grieves figured that a full fledged retreat would not help at all, considering the distance they had to cover by foot. "There are injured people that had yet to move out too. This was not just some practice range. Those Metal Ogres dide near enough to Line 1 to cause some damage."

    "I can buy some time for you but the rest you got to think on your feet. Get the Mechanoids to carry the injured and leave the equipment behind. There are stockpiles of new equipment at Line 2. The remaining items will be used by Line 1."

    "You are assuming the Metal Ogres are not idiots and do not bother to take the weapons that could kill them. What if they picked them and used them against us?" Grieves questioned as he continued the order of a full retreat.

    "I have no answer for that but when that timees, we will handle it. For now, just take your men out of Line 1 and into Line 2. The Traps there would at least stop any of those thieves you had mentioned. And we are going to kill them all." Jin was forceful with his reply and Grieves could only trust that Jin would be able to buy some time for him as stated.

    "How are the fighter nes? Are they able to go for a third sortie?" Jin ced themunication line down with Grieves and asked the Central Defence Team.

    "They are able to and are raring to go. They said that they had equipped bunker buster bombs and the high intensity electric bombs. In fact, they are saying that the Interim Leader should use them more often."

    "Heh. And waste our stockpile of missiles on monsters that can be defeated by standard artillery? The cost difference is huge, you know." Jin grinned that the air force was happy to help and not stay idle but this was not their fight. Not yet. "In any case, yes. Please sortie them. The Magical Sky Net is going to drop on them."

    And with some coordination between the various forces, Click was finally given the go ahead to drop the magical skys, in lieu of the fighter nes iing hot within a 15 second window.? The Magical Sky Net''s turrets elerate downwards and the moment they detect the enemies, they shoot without mercy as a machine would do its job.

    The Metal Ogres had no choice but to attempt to block it with their weapons and some with shields. However, when they did that, they were vulnerable to the retreating and suppressive fire from Defensive Line 1.

    Some were killed and injured in the process which was a boon but the main trick came when thes finally dropped on thempletely. One might think that they were justyereds, and the Metal Ogres believed they could cut through the huge sized away with their own weapons. However, they did not know that a well mesh was hard to pierce through and even cut.

    As they were struggling to get out of it, the fighter nes finally came in to shock them with the electric bombs. Under Jin''s instruction, they were to do that in sets of three. Considering they had sortie out 6 nes and each of them was equipped with two electric bombs, they were able to do it 4 intervals.

    That will shock them in ce and give them some time for Line 1 to run.

 Chapter 1650 Defending Daimon -Part 39

    <h4>Chapter 1650 Defending Daimon -Part 39</h4>

    Most of the officers even Jin did not expect the massive skys to be of such deterrence. They had seen a number of Metal Ogres fainted or killed from the attack and the interval runs of electric bombs along with the sent shocks to the entire formation of Metal Ogres.

    This really gave the Western Front sufficient time to run away from Defensive Line 1 but General Grieves refused to let it be totally empty. He had decided to sacrifice the 200 Mechanoids that Archduke Dyke had given to Daimon City as reinforcements to stall more time. These two hundred Mechanoids were positioned at various distances from Line 1 to Line 2 and they were tasked to lure the enemy as much as they could.

    While the Western Front positioned themselves, the Metal Ogres who emerged fresh from the Dungeon Entrance now started to help the Metal Ogres trapped within thes so they could get out of it.

    For the Fighter nes, they were so inclined to shoot the bunker buster bombs at them but Jin did not give them the approval, stating that it was a waste of budget. However, the excuse was deeper than that. He was worried that the Metal Ogres'' morale would drop and disperse upon the drop of the bomb. That would make things harder since the Western Front was nowhere near them and the ones cornering them right now were the remnants of the Eastern Daimon Assault Force and the Pandarens.

    Both equally tired from the fights, they did not expect the night to be this long but if they had the chance of finishing this as soon as possible, the better. The dispersion of Metal Ogres would not only increase their morale when they get to kill tiredbatants but also the difficulty of tracking them through the forests that littered all around Daimon City.

    So as the fresh Metal Ogres were able to aid with the existing Metal Ogres, they rallied again once more to charge through the Defensive Line 1. The Mechanoids left in the area continued to attract them with suppressive fire and they were lured by it just as they were lured by the Monster Lure.

    Soon, the slow charge became an unstoppable charge and all the fresh Metal Ogres tried their best to follow them too. What they did not expect was that when the formation of Metal Ogres had started bulldozing the area, the Eastern Daimon Assault Force and Pandarens coordinated to cover the gap as quietly as possible and also block the ''creation'' of more Metal Ogres as a specialised team of soldiers had already entered the Dungeon Entrance.

    Once that was done, they eliminated the stragglers to ensure that they could not join the formation group. "Interim Leader, The Western Dungeon Entrance has been secured." General Ost sent a personal message to him.

    "Great, now all that is left is for Grieves to do his job and hopefully the Metal Ogres are as idiot as we think they are,"? Jin said as he monitored closely how the monsters still ran a straight line through Defensive Line 1, killing any Mechanoids stationed in the area.

    It was a small sacrifice to be made as cannon fodder but it was for the bigger picture when the mines and explosives that finally started to activate. Grieves had purposely deactivated the mines remotely and only waited until the bulk of the Metal Ogre Formation was within Line 1 and Line 2 before activating them. This caused a series of loud beeps in the area without the Metal Ogres not knowing what was it for and it exploded simultaneously. Glorious explosions had been enhanced with the random explosives that had been littered around the area too.

    However, this was not the end of it. Between Line 1 and Line 2id blocks of partially constructed buildings that had not been fully built. This allowed the Western Front to put explosives in those buildings as well in such a way that they would topple sidewards. And down into the road where they had attempted to direct the Metal Ogres. They also ced sufficient obstacles to make sure that it was just a one way street so that the Metal Ogres could not go anywhere else. That was why when the Metal Ogres moved through Line 1 to Line 2, there could only be one way forward especially with the Mechanoids attracting their fire.

    And with the initial glorious explosion that caused the soldiers to yell in hopes that those explosives worked, General Grieves had alreadymanded the partially built buildings to be toppled down so that. The initial explosion of mines and littered explosives was to make the monsters stay in their tracks so that the toppling of buildings were which needed time to fall was able to do so without too much waste of time that it could force the Metal Ogres to disperse and escape it.

    But since they had been stopped by the mines, those buildings that fell on them were a secondary effect thatpounded their misery.

    If a bullet could not hurt them then perhaps a falling building should at least injure them or maybe kill them in the process, right? The rest saw the sess of the falling buildings as a victory but Grieves was not satisfied with the oue.

    "Do not becent! Grieves shouted and told the soldiers to equip themselves with the stockpiles of shotguns that Defensive Line 2 had.

    The officers in themand centre were also cheering and Jin was in the same vibes Grieves. "We are not yet done.? Denise, can you hear me?"

    "Yes, Jin. I have it prepared and there are helicopters on standby to bring it there." Denises, the CEO of Diamondz Corp said.

    "Excellent. I will tell Grieves about it." Jin still felt his shoulders tense. But if they were able toplete the next phase, then perhaps, this battle would be truly over.

 Chapter 1651 Defending Daimon -Part 40 (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 1651 Defending Daimon -Part 40 (Final)</h4>

    "Understood." Lead Commander Grieves received word that they are going to do thest phase to clear the Metal Ogres once and for all. Some of the soldiers had no idea what was to be done but there were somemanders briefed on it.

    They quickly ryed the information to the other soldiers and they understood what wasing. It was actually a sort of expendable cage where oxygen wouldter be removed within the area. Now that the monsters were trapped within the construction materials, both injured or killed, this was the best time to finish it up.

    Putting a cage around the affected area, would secure the area remove the oxygen within the area, and suffocate any of the surviving Metal Ogres within the area. This was to prevent the loss of any other soldiers and Mechanoids attempting to remove the debris and get killed from a desperate attack.

    This way, the monsters would be killed and the debris could be removed without too much trouble. Of course, some had argued that the Metal Ogres could attempt to dig through the ground but they had forgotten that there were still multiyered mines being buried underneath all those debris. Should any Metal Ogres try to dig, there is a high chance the mines would kill them first and cause the debris to stter them.

    Not to mention, the process to remove all oxygen required a few hours to get it all out. The site wouldter be guarded for the next 24 hours and the mines would be deactivated for the subsequent removal of the debris. If the Metal Ogres do not die from theck of oxygen, they might as well be indomitable spirits.

    For now, while they were waiting for the cage to appear, the soldiers were doing their job hunting any Metal Ogres who were still breathing from the surface. And they were merciless in doing it. Shots and more shots of shotgun slugs were plunged into the bodies of the Metal Ogres to ensure that they were dead. Some of the more unfortunate soldiers managed to be grabbed the Metal Ogres who were relentless even in their moment of death and they were the ones who had lost their legs or arms as others tried to rescue them.

    Other than that, most of the Metal Ogres were killed on the exterior and finally, there were choppers with Diamondz Insignia on them carrying in a huge transparent yet expendable cage. As soon as the choppers came close to the ''ident'' site, the cage slowly expanded with the choppers getting into position. After which, Diamondz Mechanoids came down from the choppers and started to manually adjust the cage.

    Once it was done, a console emerged at the very edge of the cage and the Mechanoid employee started to key in some numbers and they could hear the cage start to rumble. The deed was done. They believed that no matter how strong a Metal Ogre could be if they wereck of oxygen, there was no way they could emerge out of thepressed construction debris.

    "A bit of an overkill?" Amander asked General Grieves but thetter did not give any opinion on it.

    "It might seem that way but if it could really work and suffocate those Metal Ogres to death, that would be the best."

    "Why would they want to do that though? Wouldn''t it be better than to just kill them outright with iron and fire?"

    "You saw how fierce they could get, and how tough they were. You want to remove the construction debris bit by bit and get ambushed by those critters?" Grieves asked and themander apologised. "Station a few guards and a few tanks here in case there was some crazy variant like that Twin Swords Metal Ogre.

    "Yes, Sir. But if there is really a variant, how do we handle it?"

    "Call up the Interim Leader." Grieves did not hesitate and used Jin''s name. "He will take care of it. Otherwise, we will need to expend a heck lot of resources to stop it."

    "Ehhбн Understood Sir." Themander saluted and began to make the arrangements. Even though it was the end, there were no cheers, unlike the time the Metal Ogres got exploded into many pieces when they walked through Line 1. However, there were sighs of relief and some even sit down on the ground to rx for a moment.

    Their hands were shaking from all the shooting, their eardrums probably busted from all the loud explosions but they were relieved that it was finally done. And to mark the end of this operation, General Grieves shot a signal re to tell everyone that it was over.

    When General Ost saw that and opened themunication channel between Grieves and Jin to report that they were still prowling the area to check for any remnants of the monster horde. However, Jin told them that his Pandarens would be doing the scouting and defeat any remaining.

    "Come back. You all deserve a break."

    "At much as we appreciate the gesture, this is still our city. We will do the patrols. Your Pandarens or Pandawans had did a good job aiding us. Please let them rest instead." General Ost said and Grieves concurred with him.

    "As much I do not wish to admit thisбн For an outsider, you did a job better than the military council." Grieves said. "The Western Front Force will do a sweep from the opposite side.

    "Alright, then I shall do as you guys rmended. In the meantime, I will get Central Defence to start up the trains and some food for your Western Front guys. Thank you for your hard work and good job guys. I did not expect we can clear this in one day." Jin said and the both of them acknowledged Jin.

    "I do not think both of us ever imagine this could be done in a single day too. We assumed the fight would be longer and more protracted within the city." General Ost said. "The losses were minimalpared to what had been estimated and as much I do not wish to admit it as well, the losses might be more if you had not intervened personally. Now we understand why Archduke Dyke had decided to get you to hold the fort and investigate Diamondz."

    "You are one person we should not underestimated as an enemy."

 Chapter 1652 Daimon Aftermath -Part 1

    ?

    "Then you should be d that I am still your ally," Jin said and the other two gave a softugh before closing themunication lines. After Jin gave some extra information to the officers in the war room, they eventually saluted him and allowed him to rest in his quarters.

    As for the Grey Bears, they were waiting on standby a few rooms away from the Command War Room in case Jin needed them for something and 2LT Cloudie was also with them, yawning away trying to get some shut eyes in between the hours if possible.

    "We are done for the day. Everyone can have some rest time and thanks Cloudie for staying."

    "I mean, after what I have been through and had been paid, I was a little guilty that I was not able to do anything else. So, it''s fine going through circumstances like this." Cloudie shrugged it off and Jin said that Diamondz Corp had prepared a hotel room for Cloudie to stay in.

    "Sweet. Thanks, boss." Cloudie thanked Jin once again before he left and there he briefed the Grey Bears on the situation.

    "Do you think there will be retaliation from the other cities? This is probably the beginning." Yinn said and Jin nodded his head.

    "I do not think that they will do anything about it. Considering the fact that there were a lot of eyes looking at us during the operation, they were also equally worried that the monsters would be uncontroble.

    "Does that mean they had eyes on you as well Commander? You did some pretty shy moves too." Tellie asked but Jin could not answer that question.

    "They have yet seen the best of me. So, it''s fine if they manage to catch a glimpse of certain things. Although I did ask Denise to deploy some anti spying mechanism around the area. Hopefully, that works a little."

    "Also, if the surrounding cities dare to attack Daimon now at its most vulnerable, it''s pretty obvious that they will be incurring Dyke''s wrath. He might be away but if news got out, they had to suffer his wrath. Heard his army is one of the strongest out here."

    "Of course, it is. If you think the Royal Guards selection is tough, The Archduke is even stricter mainly because of the number of things they had to do aside from guarding the Archduke''s territory. Meanwhile, those Royal Guards do is just to hold the fort at the Empire. They stand guard more than they attack and defend stuff." Diaz eximed.

    "The fact that the Archduke''s army is mobilised before the Royal Guards also shows that they have more experience than the Royal Guards. No doubt the selection criteria is less stringent but to pass their exam is a nightmare even for mechanoids."

    "For expendables, there are selection criteria for you guys too?" Jin asked

    "Gah, to hear Jin say that we are expendables. Argh the pain." Click wallow in sorrow.

    "Lol, then that 200 Mechanoids that Dyke gave, aren''t they expendables? They did not have any faces like you guys and just a in straight manufactured face." Jin tried to exin.

    "Those are mass manufactured products which they kept as reserves in case they need numbers," Yinn replied.

    "How weirdбн" Jin did not exactly understand how Dyke''s army worked.

    "Just take it as he had a personal army and he has an army that protects his ownnd. Those mass manufactured Mechanoids are from the army that protects thend."

    "Ew so double army? I cannot imagine the expenses needed."

    "That''s why most ces have to pay tribute to him and his personal army will do the job of cleansing monsters etc. The one that protects thend is not able to move as mobile as his personal army. But when ites to invasion or territory disputes, thend army will kick in." Page answered and Jin got it.

    "Geez, Page exined it better than all of you." Click immediately showed her disgust while Diaz shrugged her shoulders. Yinn and Tellie did not care much.

    "ANYWAYS! Thank you for working hard." Jin and the Grey Bears finally call it a day and they will take things one at a time. If the surrounding cities had been coerced to attack Daimon at their most vulnerable, they would no doubt be judged as well by other cities.

    Eventually, the night passed rather quickly since there were only that many hours left before the sun rose. The drones and radar systems had confirmed that there were no other monster signals around the area, which meant that the City was finally under control.

    Jin announced to the entire Daimon City that they were sessful in repelling the monster outbreak and dered the first half of the day as a time of mourning for those soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for the greater good.

    The Pandarens and Pandawans finally logged out only to find that the amount of time passed was minimalpared to what they had expected while there were still heck lot of people who wanted to test it out.

    The System eventually coborated with Syn to create a separate simtion based on past data to get other customers to test out the Virtual Simtion. The experiences they felt and what the initial batch felt were roughly the same just that Syn who was in possession of this separate simtion had decided to try out different stuff such as equipping the Forest Trolls the ability to carry weapons or increasing the speed of the Metal Ogres.

    As it did not affect the AI Administration''s current Virtual Simtion, Both Syn and the System did not care what happened to the cultivators who were in that isted Virtual Simtion. All they cared about was the data and whether the experience was smooth a not.

    Other than that, everyone who wanted to try it had at least 15-20mins worth of Jin''s world time to y when they were inside for quite a fair bit. Nevertheless, when they came out, most of them were tired from the entire endeavour and left satisfied by the experience.

    It was a win win for everyone.

 Chapter 1653 Daimon Aftermath -Part 2

    Everyone as uneasy as it was, had begun to return back to life as it was. Trying to get back to normal after a monster outbreak was a little more difficult than usual. There were still fears lingering among people that the victory was shortlived and that the higher ups were not telling the truth.

    And this waspounded by the fact that the barrier generators were not up and running. But the fact that most of the soldiers came back safe and sound was a testament that they had won the battle. Some continued to mourn as the sight of their fellow loved ones never came back but generally the mood was lighter than the day before.

    The Interim Leader got up in time for a speech to the public, addressing what needs to be done and what shall be done in the future but Jin was a little hesitant. "I am the Interim Leader. I should not be here for too long. Saying all these things will just make life worse for the citizens of Daimon City." Jin said to Page who had prepared the script.

    "If you do not give them hope, the military will. And you saw how those old men had manipted behind the scenes and kept grumbling. If you do not take charge of it now, they will be released in another 24 hours and Daimon City is going back to a city held by the Empire." Page said.

    "Sigh, this is troublesome," Jin said as he picked up the script to read it once more Page who was now being assigned as the temporary assistant had started to receive calls from news outlets requesting Jin to announce his statement on the aftermath and what needed to be done.

    But before Page could deem her master to be ready for the interview, Jin epted all of the news outlet broadcasts. And he was still in his T-shirt and shorts while sitting on the bed. "Everyone who saw it was a little shocked by the Interim Leader''sck of etiquette."

    "Let''s not beat around the bush. I first apologise for not being in proper attire but we had a rough night yesterday so please forgive me." Jin said as he started looking at the papers once more before sighing. "Alright, my assistant told me to follow a script and provide you guys with some hope. I initially refused andter decided to ede to her request."

    "However, the more I read, the more troubled I feel. This is because there was nothing awe inspiring and just a few paragraphs of words in hopes to uplift you guys. Before, I continue I am not saying she''s bad at making the script. In fact, I find her script one of the best I ever seen." Jin then turned the camera a little and showed Page''s face.

    "Yeah, see. She''s the extremely serious kind. All prim and proper and had already prepared a suit for me to wear before I ept the calls." The publicughed a little as Jin tried to be informal.

    "But I declined because this is how I feel right now. I am tired, weary but a little d that the storm that was gone through here yesterday was already over before we knew it. It was not without the efforts of the many men, women and Mechanoids who had made this a reality. Without their help, there would be no me sitting on this bed in shirts and shorts and making a video call with all of you."

    "Moving forward, we had seen how terribly selfish our neighbours were. Do I resent them for not helping? Kind of. Especially not a single one had decided to even give us a bullet. All they did was block their walls with more barriers hoping that we cleared it ourselves.

    "Oh and we show them that we could but moving forward, the partnership between them will have a price on it. Depending on how steep the tariffs are, we will see about that." Jin said.

    "But moving forward, we are to investigate who put those Monster Lures outside these dungeons. If it was one monster lure, I would have understood that they might want to create chaos. But to put monster lures all around the city and coordinate the activation of those lures, then that is the motive.

    "There is someone out there who is capable of isting Daimon City from her neighbours, and coordinating all these monster lures thinking that they are capable of escaping the consequences. I might not be a citizen of Daimon. But I am part of Archduke''s Army, Dyke''s Pike. And the Archduke will not let go of those who are responsible for sowing chaos within his own district."

    "So, as of today, I dere that we will be increasing the military budget to not just recover from this loss but also to prepare us for future attacks, future infiltration against Daimon''s well being."

    "This is totally not what I had expected from Jin. This is not hope to lift at all." Page thought to herself while nervously holding her clipboard.

    "бнOr that is what most leaders who went through this would think and they will go to war," Jin added and spoke thest sentence slowly.

    "We are not going to do that. We are going to do more than that. Military Expansion costs money but the development of Daimon City and the defence of it would be its priority. More funds would be poured into Diamondz Corp research to improve our defences as well as increase our self sufficiency. We saw how the neighbours had neglected us and so we need to be self sufficient."

    "The only good thing right now is that we have a ton shit of loot from the monster''s death. We have enough food to feed people and we have resources that we can utilise."

    "Language! Jin! Language!" Page tried to whisper loudly but all the others in the broadcast could hear it and theyughed. But as theyughed, they knew the difficulties that wereing.

 Chapter 1654 Daimon Aftermath -Part 3

    ?

    "Where was I? Oh, yes. We have lots of loots from the death of the monster outbreak and we shall use them to the best of our abilities." Jin repeated. "Given that we are in close proximity to so many dungeons also means that we are blessed with the possibility of additional resources despite the fact that we might encounter another monster outbreak."

    "So, from today onwards. In order to improve self sufficiency of Daimon City, I have decided to make Dungeon Raiding apulsory activity for all Citizens. Expectations would differ among genders and ages but you are always wee to challenge yourself." Jin said and the Citizens were taken aback by thispulsory activity.

    "One would ask whether this sounds worse than military expansion. It might be especially how the dungeons after a certain period of time turned into a Variant Dungeon."

    "When that happens, we will either leave it alone or have specialists to try and conquer it. This way, we will have ample amount of resources and food to not only be self sufficient but also to advance forward.

    "These activities would make citizens be well armed, well prepared for any circumstances, and with the Mechanical Crystal Dragon out on the loose, do you really want to find yourself in a situation where you cannot protect yourself?" Jin asked.

    "In return for doing all these activities on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. The amount of contribution would also yield you money as well contribution points which you can gather and earn yourself a free Mechanoid, courtesy of Diamondz Corp.

    "I DID NOT HEAR OF THAT!" Page could imagine Denise shouting over and over that Jin had not discussed this with her at all.

    "However, the details still need to be worked out but everyone knows that they will have a record of the dungeon activity they had done. If you wish to do so before thepulsory date kicks in, by all means and hunt." Jin added.

    "So, remember this is for the sake of the city. The City that you had lived peacefully in until sinister people started to target us? This is not a coincidence. We will get to the bottom of this but we need your cooperation. Make Daimon City prosper with the Dungeon Raiding and we would see through these problems. Thank you."

    "Not a very convincing speechбн" Page remarked.

    "You want to dungeon raid because you want your Pandarens to blend in with the people and raid as well, right?" Lynn suddenly popped out through the console and Jin slowly nodded his head. "You couldn''t have make that any less obvious.

    "But it''s true, you saw how much metal is lying around from all the dead Ogres? There is no way we can obtain this kind of material in this game without excessive mining. They might not have advertised it but dungeon raiding is indeed one of the easiest ways to get rich as a city. Imagine if everyone participates in it, Daimon would not just be self sufficient, she will prosper."

    "And so far, I see that no one is willing to go into Dungeons and only military expeditions were given the go ahead. I do not see why not utilise it?"

    "Arghhh. I hate it when you are right but you are also wrong to think that way. Alright, alright. Looks like we need to build up this kind of culture within Daimon City." Lynn eventually went off and Jin slept on his bed once more. Page could only shake her head as she left the room and it was then Jin decided to call Dyke.

    "I heard." Archduke Dyke''s first words when themunication line had been established.

    "News travel fast," Jin said with a smile.

    "The Neighbouring Lords are wary of you. They requested me if I could keep you in check."

    "That''s VERY fast." Jin was surprised by that.

    "They are monitoring every movement from Daimon as they had never seen an expedition force, especially a defensive one able to not hold their ground but also annihte TWO simultaneous monster outbreaks."

    "Lol, did they see the way I used the Dungeon Instance, causing everyone to disappear?"

    "For that, I do not know, but judging from my spies, they only had a few glimpses of the battle here and there but they started questioning how Daimon was able to survive this. After all, you are not using state of the art equipment. Just some standard artillery, well equipped soldiers, and standardbat Mechanoids."

    "The only thing they saw difference were the reinforcements and they had problems finding out where they came from. I mean, you are supposed to be Lord of Mount Sunn, but you should not have retainers or soldiers under your disposal that could do what those Pandawansбн?"

    "Yeah, Pandawans."

    "Yes, okay. The lords had no idea what they were capable of as for some reason, the Pandawans footage had always been scrambled which I assume you have Diamondz Corp to thank for."

    "The new CEO is extremely cooperative and would like to continue to work with her," Jin stated.

    "Good. Good. But in any case, yes. Just be on alert. Continue to stay in Daimon and track their progress for me while I set up your town. After what you had done, this should be a befitting reward."

    "Thank you Dyke. All the best and be wary of yourself as well. The enemy knows where you are since they are the ones who ask you to go there," Jin said and that only clicked on Dyke at that particr moment.

    "I did not think of that. I shall be careful," Dyke said before closing thems.

    Jin returned to his bed once again and felt that it had been a long time since he had a good sleep. Perhaps, he should be able to rest a little more while Daimon attempts to return to normalcy but things were not as rosy as he would like as Jin suddenly received a call from Qiu Yue.

 Chapter 1655 Daimon Aftermath -Part 4

    ?

    "Is something the problem?" Jin asked as Qiu Yue was not the kind who would call unless there was something urgent.

    "People are looking for you, especially after you made your appearance in the Virtual Simtion. They had lots of questions, some genuinely due to concerns while others were..you know. The usual, asking for help. I am tired of holding them back for you." Qiu Yueined.

    "Ermбн even if I want to return back. There is no way for me to do so. The Synthesis World is still creating the Soul Inhibitor and Extractor."

    "Can''t we just give them ours? We did make our Virtual Reality Pods based on theirs anyways." Qiu Yue asked, feeling awfully frustrated.

    "The protocols are different and even if it does work, we don''t have our body with us. There is no way for me to go back."

    "You can always use this dummy that the Gods gave us. It''s quite a dummy though, I punched it a few times and it didn''t react back." Qiu Yue seemed to grin when she thought about it.

    "Syn, how long can you fix the Soul Extractor?" Jin tried shouting randomly and it worked.

    "Unlike what the others had been through, your body had been out of contact with your soul for some time. The connection between your body and soul might have been severed and the machine that we are working with is to increase the survivability of your soul entering your body."

    "In short? I''m kinda fucked and now you tell me about it?" Jin did not know about this.

    "We were short of time when we exined this to you. However, with the experience and data we have collected, we are currently building a newer version that should be able to forcefully connect both body and soul. So long the soul is resistant enough, it should be able to return to the body. However, there might be certain side effects or even rejections from the body, and the soul inhibitor needed to be built to ensure the soul does not run."

    "Oh gosh. Then System, can Kraft do anything about it? Or can you do something about it? After all, you are an expert when ites to souls."

    The System suggests using the dummy that Qiu Yue had been beating as a proxy. If Ex System User Ming had sessfully trained you in mental fortitude, there is a pretty high chance that you can connect to the proxy momentarily andter use the real body to merge with the soul after contact."

    "I do not like you using the words pretty high chance. You rarely give arbitrary numbers." Jin remarked and the System kept quiet for a moment until Qiu Yue entered the conversation again.

    "Sigh. Since I am going to be stuck with Dummy Jin for a while more, I will do what I can to prolong your absence. But be quick about it, I am getting tired of giving excuses."

    "Thank you, Qiu Yue. Your dedication will be rewarded." Jin replied and Qiu Yue gave a middle finger back.

    "Sub System User Qiu Yue. While you are at it, please charge the dummy with as much chi as possible. Get as many people and minions to beat the dummy but preferable people that Jin knows. The residual chi within the punches and blows will undoubtedly aid in the connection of the soul and the body."

    "Lol, then what happens the soul stucks with the proxy?" Qiu Yue asked while already giving a punch to the dummy Jin.

    "It''s fine. This means that User''s soul can integrate with the body even more easily. We have the soul extractor and his soul can be removed from the proxy." The System reassured Qiu Yue and sheughed.

    "Excellent, time to put more energy into this Dummy Jin then. Okay, I''m out. Good luck in your adventure dumb dumb Jin." Qiu Yue officially closed themunication line and it made Jin a little worried.

    "I know that''s not me per se, but I kind of feel the pain that is circting through me," Jinmented.

    "Perhaps, that''s Sub System User Qiu Yue''s way of giving love to you." The System remarked and Syn had no idea that both of them were joking with each other.

    "Please give us an update when the machine is up. Then my colleagues will start getting my real body back while I am stuck here doing nothing for them."

    "Not exactly, you are providing them data and they are working based on that agreement." The System stated and Jin sighed loudly.

    "Is something the matter?" Page came in as she thought that Jin called her.

    "Nothing of importance, I just sighed too loudly because of the situation I''m in."

    "Do not think too hard about it. Sometimes, all you need is to take a step back. The bigger picture has always been there for you to see."

    "Well, if the bigger picture involved hitting the Empire''s Royal Family. I think everyone else would also have sighed with me."

    "I would not beg to differ, for I feel the same. I cannot believe they were willing to remove the entire city just for the sake of removing evidence."

    "Some people are just this despicable."

    "The way you said that you are living the life of a righteous person."

    "Ha! Righteous? I think I cheated and broke morews than ever to get to where I am. It is just that it''s so happened that I defeated badder guys which made me the good guy. Otherwise, I am equally as bad. Just look at where we are. If we had not gone to Mount Sunn, all these would not have happened."

    "Then, I would not have been reborn and talking to you right here right now." Page said and Jin kept quiet for a moment. "There are some things that might seem dark and filled full of trouble but that doesn''t mean there are no silver linings to the situation. Perhaps those linings are currently stained ck and you need some time to find it or let it shimmer for you to realise there''s something good out of this entire situation."

    "I will think about it," Jin said and Page quietly left Jin to his own rest.

 Chapter 1656 Daimon Aftermath -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1656 Daimon Aftermath -Part 5</h4>

    Thankfully, the days go by without much trouble. The barrier generators were eventually up and Daimon City was under the guise of protection by those barriers. Everyone knew first hand how terribly useless those barriers were but nevertheless still found a sense of security from that.

    There were citizens who tried to return to Daimon after a few days but their entrance had been denied. Their citizenship had been stripped by Jin''s orders and everyone who had weathered the storm also felt that way.

    That meant whatever assets they had in the first ce under Daimon would be ced as property meant to be seized. If they wished to have their assets back, they needed to pay an equivalent amount with interest hinged on it if they decided to pay monthly. That means an asset valued at a million dors had to be bought back at the very same value it had been seized, which potentially cost the person twice the value.

    It was a huge blow for several rich citizens who owed multiple assets but this was the price they had to pay for being running away willingly and wanting toe back just because it''s safe. Jin wants them to learn that safety of the city needs to be earned regardless of the cost.

    Should they be able to pay for their seized properties, then they can petition to get their citizenship reinstated. This also meant more money into the city funds as much as it sounded like it was extortion but if they wished toe back, that''s the rule the city state had made. Some of the citizens had paid dearly toe back as they saw the opportunities or had already invested too much into Daimon to walk away clearly while others merely left with a fit of anger in them.

    The only ones who were truly exempted from this rule were the ones who were medically ill and Daimon had no choice but to send them off for their safety. There was only one city that was willing to take in these terminally ill citizens without conditions and that was Parry City. As much as their lord had been ordered to block the area, they were also the ones who did ce any barrier up until Daimon had officially conducted its operations.

    As much as they wanted to help, the lord was also in a bind. Jin had learned that if the Lords had taken the Empire''s tip, they had to close everything but if they did not take the Empire''s advice, their envoy had threatened to ceasemunication and rtionship. They had no choice but toply as Parry City was not exactly the most affluent city in the area.

    So, in view of the reasoning and support for Daimon Citizens, Jin had allowed the citizens that came back from Parry City a chance. Those who were terminally ill and needed to be transferred there had their hospital costs exempted for the period of strife but unfortunately, they still need to pay the rest themselves if they wish to either extend their stay there ore back to Daimon. Either way, their citizenships were not affected and their immediate rtives were as well. However, those who had run to Parry City for the sake of running away, those citizens would still penalised.

    In order toe in since their citizenship had been stripped they should have a valid passport and purchase a visitor pass that cost gold or points. Some of themined this was unfair but those officers who were also soldiers in the monster outbreak despised them, stating what was unfair was they ran without thinking for the city.

    Some people did not like this but a majority felt that this was to make sure that the city''s sovereignty was not to be taken lightly and people could just flee whenever they want. In light of this, Jin also awarded incentives to those who had stayed and even more rewards for those who had risked their lives in the operations. And these mary rewards were not limited to the frontlines as the backend support had been given a form ofpensation as well.

    As for the neighbouring cities that had decided to iste themselves away from the event, Jin did eventually post up a t tariff rate of 4% of the price of goods. The only city that differed from them was Parry City which only had a t tariff rate of 0.01% mainly because Jin kept his promise to tax all of the cities that had been involved. However, after Jin found out that Parry City was the only one who had been quietly epting the terminally ill and bringing them to safety, this was what Jin could do to thank them.

    In turn, Parry City suddenly became the loophole that all the neighbouring cities wanted to be friends with. Jin and the System had expected that and did not stop because they still needed resources and Parry City was the only ally that they had in this world where they created their own enemies. Therefore, he did not care as long as goods still flowed through Daimon.

    It may eventually boost Parry City''s capital because of the sudden investments and perhaps staying in the good books of Daimon might possibly help Parry City in the future even more. Thus, a Memorandum of Understanding had been established to ensure trade between Parry City and Daimon City would be possible through thick and thin times.

    Nevertheless, Jin was still looking to be self sufficient and the dungeon raiding had to happen. If the Daimon citizens were not taking up the initiative as he hoped them to be, then his Pandarens got to pick up the ck.? Of course, that also means that those items earned and monsters they killed have to go towards Jin.

    And Jin had decided to use the simtion coins as a default way of transaction for them. It was to ensure that simtion coins were the only currency they could use to get rewards.

 Chapter 1657 Daimon Aftermath -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1657 Daimon Aftermath -Part 6</h4>

    And that idea of getting more people to enter the Synthesis World''s Virtual Simtion had been approved by Syn and the System. The only caveat is that those people could only stay within Daimon.

    So, Jin continued with the beta testing programme where those who had tried the ''first mission'' were now able to teleport into Daimon City where they could experience a brand new city with a different culture. However, not all were convinced by this publicity stunt.

    As much as people always anticipate Jin''s next big thing, there were many who heard about this and were a little sceptical mainly because of Jin''s habit of dropping things half way. The things he did might be of wondrous improvement from one instance to the next. But he had promised them a lot of things previously like farming Dungeon instance and or an improved instance of Supa Robo Wars. Stuff like that had been assured to the public but ever since he had disappeared, none of those things were ever confirmed again. Even Qiu Yue who was now managing his store can only exin that those game modes and instances are still in development.

    So, for this Virtual Reality thing which was also a product by Jin the Pandarens suspected it might be an unfinished product. Surely, he was probably gauging the hype but there were some people who had lost faith in him, thinking that this might just be a one time experience and they will not touch it again.

    But as much as the cultivators might be spiteful behind the keyboard when ites to all these experiences, their mouths could only tell the truth about how wonderful the gamey was. There were simply no lies mainly because the experience was truly phenomenal. So even with scepticism, when Qiu Yue revealed that the number of Virtual Reality Pods had increased to 3500, people were dying to try it out.

    This indirectly brought more business for the Tree Mall as people who tried the VR pods would also need to eat or shop while waiting for their turn. So as much as customers and important people were looking for Jin, she enjoyed the money that she raked in when Jin was able to get the VR to the next stage.

    And boy oh boy. The Pandarens loved it. When they arrived, there were indeed in a city that was both technologically advanced but retained its post industrial life style. Jin told them that while they could freely explore the area, it was best to look at the quests that had been given to them first.

    Most of the quests rte to cleaning up the battlefield which the military urgently needs manpower due to the fact that most of their forces were either conscripts or volunteers who needed to go back to their main job to serve Daimon better.

    As the returning assault force that had invaded Mount Sunn had not returned, the Pandarens were the next avable workers to do this. Obviously, this was not what the Pandarens actually liked to do but a quest is a quest and they provided simtion coins.

    Jin stated that as long as they could quickly clear the battlefield up, they would have ess to the dungeon entrances which were temporarily sealed. Alternatively, for those who want more simtion coins and are able to perform more gruesome tasks, those Pandarens can take part and learn how to work with the resource workers. They were tasked to salvage those Metal Ogres to the best of their abilities and if they did a good job, more simtion coins were given.

    Of course, when they were interacting with the people in Synthesis World''s Virtual Simtion. They were actually being given points. But the fact that Jin and the System had already decided that Simtion Coins were the currency that Pandarens used. So, Syn had already created and activated a module where the points were converted into coins.

    The odd thing was that the coins and points conversion might be a little off, and it resulted in decimals when the points had been converted into coins. Syn did not wish to round up or down the coins and decided to convert them as per value. This resulted in many of the Pandarens whopleted their missions to receive like a 0.34 of a simtion coin as an example. So, the System had decided that those decimal points are not allowed to be withdrawn or bargained when ites to System rewards. However, if the purchase or sales was within Daimon City, those decimal values were still valid. (since they are directly converted to points.)

    Syn did not understand why the System and Jin could not just use points and gold bars which would make things so much easier for the Synthesis World AI Administration but there was no use questioning now that all the Pandarens who came in were ustomed to this simtion coin. Perhaps, Jin wanted to differentiate them from Syn''s NPCs and yers.

    Regardless, the presence of the Pandarens were a surprise to the Daimon Citizens which Jin also previously addressed in a daily news report before their arrival. He stated that these Pandarens were mercenaries which he had employed to protect Daimon City when the monster outbreak came about. However, due to their nomad nature, they currently wished to stay here for the time being.

    "You may treat them as long term tourists as long as they are paying the bills, go ahead and wee them. But if any of them make any trouble, do not hesitate to call the police or even shout out to me when you see me in the streets. I will personally take care of them." Jin said and the Daimon Citizens really did kept a watchful eye to them.

    It was only through several days of seeing how these Pandarens were helpful and not as rowdy as they expect them to be, the Daimon Citizens eventually see them as what Jin said. Long term tourists.

    Yet, these long term tourists would also eventually be their teammates when ites to the dungeon raids.

 Chapter 1658 Daimon Aftermath -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1658 Daimon Aftermath -Part 7</h4>

    The battlefield which included the entrapment of the Metal Ogres where a cage had been ced on them to remove all the oxygen so that they would not die a peaceful death had been reported to be clear of all signs of life.

    Those Metal Ogres were truly dead and the mines in the area had been deactivated and removed as well. That was also where Jin had decided to designate a living space for his long term tourists. Money had been poured in to start constructing one of the highest housing buildings in Daimon City and it was used to house the long term tourists in the future. In contrast with most of the high rise buildings that Daimon City had, the towering construct was nned to be more than 200 floors as Jin had decided to let a huge chunk of cultivators stay here and protect Daimon if needed.

    The rest of the Pandarens who were unable to get housing would have to wait until Mount Sunn City was fully constructed by Archduke Dyke. (Old mmet was screaming and shouting at Dyke without care of rank as they both wanted different things for Mount Sunn but that is for another day to talk about.)

    However, nning is just one phase. The other phase is to ensure that they have the materials to do so and that would be dungeon raiding. If the Pandarens want to have a cheaper house they have to contribute to the materials.

    So as mentioned since the battlefield had been cleared, the Pandarens were the first after the monster outbreak to attempt to enter dungeons within Daimon City. When they were there, they saw those soldiers and mechanoids had already been deployed around the dungeons as a precaution for future intrusions.

    The dungeon entrances had temporarily been fenced up with mobile instations. It was a makeshift setup until the military had the resources and budget to put up a solid wall that could defend the dungeon entrance.

    And for the fact that Jin was going to nationalise the dungeon resources, a proper military gateway to the dungeon entrance was needed to ensure the goods once brought out from the dungeon entrance would be handed over to the military immediately.

    Points and gold would be given ordingly so that the effort taken to get those items would be properlypensated. That was also why Jin had asked the military to put up these checkpoints. It was not to just defend but to act as an outpost in the future.

    People woulde in to report their duties for dungeon raiding and the outpost would provide the basic necessities to ensure that the transfer of goods and the well being of those who raid would be taken care of.

    Thus in the current makeshift outpost, there were resource workshops for salvaging items, a medical triage in case of injuries, a canteen to provide food, a repair workshop to repair gears as well as a popup van by Diamondz Corp to sell gear. Thus, all the outposts that Jin had requested to be set up had all these facilities and only when those outposts were properly set up and that was when the Pandarens could enter the dungeons.

    So, the only current dungeon that had all these was the southern one since there were no outbreaks from there and there was no clearing of monsters. When the temporary outpost was set up, the Pandarens were already queuing to get in.

    Daimon Citizens who were about to start their first day at work at the outpost travelled to the outpost by a military truck and they were surprised that the Pandarens were patiently queuing outside the outpost for them to start the day.

    And once they were in, most of them carried their basic equipment into the dungeon entrance without checking the outpost. Only some who were deemed to be hungry started off with some bread and they got into the dungeon entrance when they had registered and got clearance from the military officers.

    To the Pandarens, it was funny how the Virtual Reality simted the real world where people who wished to hunt monsters or even explore dungeons needed a valid pass as well as a certain grade. But right now, there were no grade requirements which gave the cultivators an impression that it would be an easy dungeon.

    Oh boy, how wrong they were.

    The first group that went in encountered a huge spiny lizard.? It looked like an ordinaryrge Komodo lizard with poison dripping from its mouth but if one were to look carefully, it did not have just one spine but multiple spines, allowing it to have a very strong tail despite the hunchback that it had. One swipe and poof, almost every single Pandaren who got hit by it would be logged out, failing the dungeon on the spot.

    And those who thought they survived the attack by moving away from its range, were also wrong as its hunchback was like a spring, allowing the tail to extend even further and hit it, causing them to log out too. Thankfully. they had a chance to rey if they had not died for the day but the third death would be back to the queuing lines for the VR pod.

    Surprisingly even a need to queue, the waiting time was actually very short. Most of the cultivators enjoyed that they could spend a few hours in the game and when they came out, the time hardly changed.

    At first, it was a scare for the Pandarens who were queuing for it, wondering why their game time was that short, thinking the difficulty was extremely hard. But when they entered, they realised they could stay in there for a long time beforeing out to see that the time they spent was minuscule.

    So, as much as they wished to fault Jin for not finishing the previous promises, this beta test where they were in a city and also trying the dungeon had been a st to them especially themoners who never had the chance to experience such real and crazy adventures.

 Chapter 1659 Daimon Aftermath -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1659 Daimon Aftermath -Part 8</h4>

    Previously on that Spiny Lizard, the Pandarens eventually managed to beat it and they decide to go deeper to find that that Spiny Lizard had a brother and sister called Spiny Lizardmensбнand Lizardwoman?

    They had no idea how the System or System console had managed to name these monsters but it felt like Jin had a hand in naming such monsters since they never had good names to begin with. "At least it was rather descriptive of the monster so I do not think its an issue." One of the Pandarens said.

    They found out that those Spiny lizardmen and women were monsters they will encounter repeatedly as they go down the dungeon entrances as the different groups of Pandarens continued to push through it, only to realised it''s abyrinth in there.

    Just after three floors, they realised that going any deeper would be suicide with the type of gear they were carrying since they kept being killed by a variant Spiny Lizardman who not only fought them with swords and axes but there were archers with them too.

    The Pandarens assumed that sooner orter, they would have to fight Spiny Lizardmen riding on Spiny Lizards and their powers would not be sufficient. Not to mention, they also needed to carry back the loots as they found out that even normal minions were worth something. They still do not recognise which part of the monster was the most valuable so for now, the sessful group of Pandaren who managed to reach the third floor had decided to backtrack and return to the first and second floor where they collected the corpses of the bosses as well as a few minions but they were already stretching it.

    When the most sessful group of Pandarens returned, they also realised they were the first as well. This made the resource workers who were waiting at side for their business to be extremely surprised by the amount of loot they brought back.

    "Usually, most people carried only the head as well as the power stone that embedded inside them. If they cannot take out the power stone, they would at least bring the portion of monster back that has the power stone in itбн But you guys carried the entire body back." The resource workers said.

    "Is that a bad thing, the Pandaren leader asked but the resource workers shook their heads. In fact they were happy."

    "We do not usually get the whole corpse so it''s a good training exercise for the apprentices as well. Not to mention, if we are very skilled, it will definitely yield more materials."

    "Does that mean the value of the corpse I have is based on the skill of the salvager?"

    "Sadly yes. Unless you wished to salvage it yourself, then the price of the materials you get is based on the salvager too. Considering how the interim Leader had made dungeon raiding mandatory, the skill of salvagers would undoubtedly increase. It''s a lucrative trade that has the potential to grow based on what the Interim Leader had proposed." The resource worker said and he was trying to get more apprentice under him as well. After all, whatever the apprentice earn, he got a small tinymission.

    "Its okay, we will let you do it. Most of us are already exhausted trying to raid the ce."

    "Then I apologise in advance." The salvager said and the Pandaren Leader nodded his head. After paying the standard fee to salvage, the Pandarens would head to the infirmary or the food canteen to have some rest. And only after their meal, they found out that more and more Pandarens wereing out of the dungeons and the salvagers were packed with work. The leader was lucky he had managed toe out first and seeing how this is, he too understood the rationale why the Salvager asked if they wish to learn the trait themselves.

    With the entire city being conscripted to do Dungeon Raiding, all the anciry supports like salvagers, chefs and even logistic workers are in dire need in a progressive way and the Diamondz Corps had already started to create even more Worker Mechanoids to assist with the progression. Without being said, these jobs were also open to the Pandarens if they wish to partake in and they were given simtion coins like part time jobs.

    To some people who were watching from the sidelines found it weird some people want to do this kind of part time job. What they do not know is that all these works and part time job gives not only simtion coins but also increase their job levels. There were job titles being dished out and they suspect that this would give the cultivators additional stats in the future. Maybe even a secret job will appear.

    Meanwhile to some, it felt really fun to do something they could not do in the real world and whats more was that the simtion coins is a currency that was floating in the Panda Stock Market. This meant that through several exchanges no matter how inefficient it was, there could be some real cashback.

    But if things do go well and Jin followed how Virtual Reality Novels go, there might be a chance auctions will appear and there is where the big moneyes from. For now, people were just trying whatever job, role and dive in as deep as they could to see if they were able to unlock anything special. In the meantime for some, it''s a rxation game, not knowing that there were still hundreds waiting outside wanting to try this beta programme.

    This does show that Virtual Reality game can be extremely profitable so Qiu Yue and the System had already started ramping up the amount of resources into this. At the same time, the temporary boss of Dungeons and Pandas are also looking to expand by building several VR only shops in Shenzhen. Hopefully, if this trend does pick up, other provinces would have the same capabilities and a true VR MMOPRG can happen.

 Chapter 1660 Daimon Aftermath -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1660 Daimon Aftermath -Part 9</h4>

    ?

    The Beta Programme for the Virtual Reality is slowly bing a hit. This was mainly because of the limited quantities of the Virtual Reality Pods that Qiu Yue had made but even though Jin was not there to facilitate, Qiu Yue did a brilliant job pushing for more of it.

    What''s more was that Ke Loong, the CEO of SeaMesh had decided to pour more resources into it. Panda Inc. had always been apany that Jin and Ke Loong had created but they never really pushed for it as much as they would want to.

    One of the people who was desperate to see Jin was undoubtedly Ke Loong himself as he was the one who wanted to work and improve the VR headsets.? They initially had made ns to push the VR headsets as the main gimmick for Panda Inc but now that Ke Loong saw how the headsets had eventually be pods, it felt like he made an investment loss.

    Still, that investment loss was not something of a big number and he could see much potential for the amount of money they could make from getting the Virtual Reality Pods out. The only problem was that the city that was making this was Pandapolis and not any other countries that Ke Loong knew of.

    So while all he needed was to inject money as an investment, it kind of hurt his ns including the connections and promises he made to the Virtual Reality Headsets. That was where Qiu Yue came to save the day.

    She might not know much aboutputers but the Virtual Reality Headsets was something that could be installed for a particr game that Jin had worked on previously and didn''t fullyplete it. The Supa Robot Wars.

    Eventually, they need to return to the Mecha World as it was a potential dungeon instance where they could be the bad guys rather than the good guys and those Virtual Reality Headsets could be used alongside the Mecha Robots that they create. Rei, the engineer and designer for the Mass Manufactured Mechas, had taken a look at the Virtual Reality Headsets and found that they were actually useful for Virtual controls to connect with the Mechas he had built.

    In fact, with a little tinkering, the Virtual Reality Headsets canplement the cockpit and it could reduce the number of controls, buttons, and switches needed for piloting the Mechas. Thus, Qiu Yue even with some extra budget on her hand after cleaning up most of Jin''s mess had decided to once again wipe his ass and make a contract with Ke Loong on those Virtual Reality Headsets. This way, Ke Loong''s trust in Jin''s store was renewed and he did not exactly make a financial loss.

    The only problem now was that his suppliers would have no idea what those Virtual Reality Headsets would have gone to since none of those items would be in the market. But because of business confidentiality, they were unable to know where it was being gone after it had been manufactured. Their most probable answer is that it was being handed to the military and they were not off the mark. Just not the military they will ever see.

    And since the Virtual Reality Headsets issue had been resolved, Ke Loong could finally put in some investments into the Virtual Reality Pods as previously mentioned. At first, he thought money would have solved the issue but he had also seen how the world was morepletepared to what Jin had offered him to see previously.

    Additionally, Qiu Yue told him that it was a separate entity of AI that is governing the world so there was no need to worry about not having the resources to run a full scale world. In fact, if they were to move globally for this VR MMORPG fast enough, they could be in the top percentile when ites to games.

    Obviously, that would be a huge responsibility that they had to undertake but the potential was there and Qiu Yue wants to expand within Shenzhen Province for now. When Ke Loong asked if it was okay to buy Virtual Reality Pods and ced it at home, the Red Panda Cultivator was not able to give a definite answer and even the System was rather quiet about it.

    "It all depends on Jin but from the way I see it, it''s better to make shops that handle this." Qiu Yue replied. "We can create dimensional instances that allow the storage of a few thousand Virtual Reality Pods and they are within the System domain. If we were to allow portable Virtual Reality Pods, the security might not be as tight and people would want to try to break it down and learn more about the pods. If you get what I mean."

    "So, it''s more about protecting trade secrets." Ke Loong said and Qiu Yue nodded her head, now understanding the rationale of popping up stores.

    "Plus you had seen how people could go for hours inside that Virtual Reality Pod but when they emerged from the pod, it was a matter of minutes. I think that is important to keep in check other the government wille haunting us and the mpdown would be insane."

    "Then what we need is flexibility within the game then. Otherwise, this will only be a game and the initial purpose of the Virtual Reality Headset would be rendered halfpleted." Ke Loongmented.

    "I think the gaming tform itself would be a good avenue for other things to start. From what I see, there are skills that need to be learned and not gifted so it''s still a decent learning tform. But this is just the beta, so we would not know anything about it until the full gamees out. However, I can tell Jin about your concerns. Maybe he will do something about it." Qiu Yue said as Ke Loong thanked her. But knowing Jin, he would definitely put the gaming aspect first to seize the minds of many people.

 Chapter 1661 Daimon Aftermath -Part 10

    <h4>Chapter 1661 Daimon Aftermath -Part 10</h4>

    As Pandarens were enjoying the city and the life for most Daimon Citizens was back to normal, Jin and the others were still doing what needed to be done to ensure that Daimon City was ready for another attack.

    Even though Parry City hade under the limelight for having the lowest tariff in the area, it was pretty obvious that everyone within the vicinity still needed Diamondz Corps services. From maintenance to extra parts, the cities cannot function without a proper Mechanoid Corporation serving them. And the fact that they had taken decade long contracts from Diamondz was because of the proximity to the headquarters.

    Now that the tariffs are in ce, it became expensive for them to continuously ask for their services and the cities are all looking to break the contract they had with Diamondz. Yet, because of what had happened, other Mechanoid Corporations are also trying to bring up the game so that they could profit from this situation.

    Surely, if they break the contract with Diamondz, they would have to pay a fine but it''s the new contract with other major corps like Rocketeers would be a hassle too. They needed to rece all of their Mechanoids which were from Diamondz and it would be an expense that they have to swallow. The only saving grace was that Jin was willing to buy back all the Mechanoids at scrap value, and that would cover a portion of their expenses with it.

    It might not sound like a good strategy for Jin since everyone around them except Parry City was threatening Jin that they would remove the services of Diamondz when that happened. Of course, Jin and Denise would have lost long term partners but it was also a way to get back all the Mechanoids that they had used and instantly boost up the production value of the city.

    For a city to be self sufficient, they would need a heck lot of Mechanoids and when those returns came in, they were getting back those Mechanoids at a mere fraction of the price they had sold, a bargain that could not be underestimated.

    From those Mechanoids, they can be used to fuel the economy of the dungeons they were covering. And because Daimon had thergest piece ofnd as well the number of dungeons within itsnd, Jin could see city expansion as a possibility.

    Even if they did not have the money, Jin knew that the Archduke would be at their side, and providing a loan to them was an option they could consider. On the other hand, Diamondz'' profits could be added to the nation''s coffers by fully nationalising it into the city''s palms. This way, whatever money Diamondz had, would be under the control of Daimon. The only problem with that is most people would see that Diamondz was not reliable since a lord was controlling it. (But everyone knows that behind every major corporation, a lord or several lords were taking care of it behind the scenes. It''s just how transparent it is.)

    However, the problem did not exacerbate to that position and Jin maintained his stance to add the tariffs continued to trouble the cities. After all, now that Daimon had decided to focus on dungeon raiding, it would be a matter of time they not only be self sufficient but also selling items that the cities might actually need.

    So as much as the cities had threatened Jin, they were also afraid of the explosive growth of Daimon. And even if they did change away the Mechanoids from Diamondzpany to otherpanies, they are also under the mercy of the varied price changes that Diamondz decade long contract did not enforce because they were neighbours.

    So, the city lords anddies were also in a dilemma whether to be at the mercy of Daimon or mercy of another corporation. The only problem with thetter is that should Daimon ever invade them, it would take days or maybe even weeks for their reinforcements to arrive. But at least it will arrive rather than Diamondz Corporation not fulfilling their orders in time and having Daimon invade them. That would be a lose lose situation.

    Therefore after much contemtion and Jin''s refusal to budge, everyone except Parry City had decided to cancel Diamondz Corps services and employ anotherpany. The price was hefty and Page was with Denise when the contracts terminated to ensure it was a sessful termination. But Jin yed a dirty game too as he found Page to find a legality loophole which was not amended previously even though it was a little ambiguous.

    Based on the contract, the Mechanoids refunded will be sold at scrap value if the contract has every been terminated. But in one of those lines, Page had sess in making those cities pay full price for certain Mechanoids to be returned because they did not fall in the mass manufactured mechanoids use. And sadly that was true for 90% of the Mechanoids being returned mainly because Diamondz had been generous in their services that they customised most Mechanoids to the cities'' request.

    And in turn, they had been filed as a variant of the mass manufactured Mechanoids. This gave some leverage for Page and Jin to extort even more money as they stated that the customised Mechanoids could not be sold to other customers due to confidentiality issues. In addition, Page also made them pay deposits supposedly for the remaining years that they had terminated too as those money should have already being given from the start but Diamondz Corp in view of their friendship with the neighbouring cities did not ask for it.

    Right now, the City Lords cursed that the Empire''s bribe was not even enough to cover 10% of the money they are paying back and they lost a major ally. An ally they had enjoyed for many years only to be coveted by greed from the Empire. It was only through Parry City''s kindness that able to allow them to be still friends with Daimon and they did not regret not fully listening to the Empire.

 Chapter 1662 Daimon Aftermath -Part 11

    <h4>Chapter 1662 Daimon Aftermath -Part 11</h4>

    "Do you really think that it was a good idea?" Denise asked as days had passed after the submission of the termination of contracts from all the other City Lords and Ladies.

    "No. But we had no choice but to do that." Jin said as he sat at her sofa rubbing his temple to ease his only stress.

    "What do you mean?"

    "We need to cut away things that bite the hand that feeds. Or else the hand will continue to rot and subsequently corrupt the body that moves the hand." Jin replied with a sigh. "If all of those City Lords are able to coordinate together and prevented from giving any help to Daimon all at the same time, it shows the power of Empire but it also shows how weak they are to the influence of the Empire."

    "If other cities were like Parry City and decided to take in our ill, injured or maybe even send just a toon of reinforcements while upholding the Empire''s ''advice'' I would have say that they were doing it to prevent themselves from being marked by the Empire and also helping their friends. That I would have understood."

    "However, if our own intelligence serviceter retroactively concluded that those cities were not just barricading themselves, wanting to protect their people from the monster outbreak but were also dying to get a piece of Daimon after it had fallen, can you see how fragile and thin the alliance was?"

    "They were preparing forces not to help Daimon, but they were preparing forces in order to take Daimon as part of their territory once Daimon had been overrun." Jin reiterated and Denise could not fault the loss of partners if those City Lords were really of this attitude.

    "Meanwhile, spies had shown that Parry City was preparing beds and medical supplies for Daimon even when their barriers were up. They were willing to enter with a small escort force to aid Daimon should the fighting get extremely bad. However, they had no idea that Daimon Forces were able to kill off not one but two monster outbreaks in just one night."

    "Reports had also shown that Parry City was the first to open their barrier when they saw the operation end re but they were hesitant to go into our borders since they had no rights to in the first ce now that the operation was over. Instead, they left countless medical supplies at the edge of their borders that when our immigration officers returned to the scene, were shocked by the amount they provided."

    "Ohбн no wonder the System said not to focus on making extra medical supplies but focus on reconstructing. I thought you and the System would rather just let the injured expire since that would be an easier fate for some of them."

    "Heh, I was already dead on the bed during the cleanup, it was onlyter the System told me about it. Anyways, that is why even though I ced tariffs for Parry City, it was just a courtesy when the messenger went to meet their lord, I also gave them somepensation for their troubles."

    "But I did not see any reduction of national coffers," Denise remembered no such entry when she was dealing with the City''s finances.

    "Because I used assets from those stupid old men from the military council," Jin replied with a slightly irritated tone when he talked about them.

    "What happened to them, are they being jailed or something?"

    "No, they were being let off once the operation was done and once I took their assets as part of the national coffers. General Grieves initially wanted to beg me into pardoning them but I told him that I had looked the other way just this once."

    "Again, is that a right move? Personally, I feel that they will lead an internal rebellion or they would make ties with the Empire to bring you down further. You already said it yourself, why let the thing that bites the hand live? You will only be corrupting yourself."

    "Oh no. I want them to lead me to the Empire. Sometimes you got to let go of a small bugger and they will lead you to bigger prey. Besides, Page had already deduced something that could frame them as long as managed to catch them to be in contact with the Empire." Jin said with a sinister smile. "But it will take some time. I do not think they will be that fast in contact with the Empire unless they feel threatened again. There are spies watching them 24/7 so we do not have to worry about it for the time being."

    "They are military men, I do not think a few spies would be enough to faze them." Denise seemed to talk with experience and Jinughed. She does not know that when ites to certain spies, he actually meant the System. After all, when they were released, they were given a tracer on them. But that tracer was not the real tracing mechanism as it was the food they ate during their confinement that contained nanobots.

    Most bodies especially military soldiers would have anti nanobots systems as part of their modules but this nanobot was made from the System. Once inside the human body, they will immediately go for the brain, giving them some headache initially butter ledged on them and never toe off while providing information to the System until his purpose is done.

    It was scary that the System could create something like this but in reality, they could not. It''s just that the maniption of the codes were able to allow them to make this possible in a Virtual Simtion.

    "Soбн suck on it, grumpy old men, there is no way for you to ever find peace when the System is forever tracing after you, listening and seeing whatever you do," Jin said and Deniseughed.

    "Even while they are using the toilet?" And suddenly Jin covered his eyes as if it had been contaminated by Denise''s suggestion and his own imagination.

 Chapter 1663 Daimon Aftermath -Part 12

    <h4>Chapter 1663 Daimon Aftermath -Part 12</h4>

    "But moving forward, I am more concerned about the session of Daimon City," Denise stated.

    "Shouldn''t it be you? Thest I heard was the CEO of Diamondz Corp should be the head of Daimon City." Jin said. "You have lots of minions to do your work for you anyway."

    "Says someone who had infected me to do most of the work myself. Besides, I feel more at ease working. Maybe it''s due to the fact I was once the secretary to the CEO, so I knew how thepany works and wanted to get some of it corrected." Denise replied.

    "Eh? So? What does that have to do with running the city? You are already running thepany, the city is just an extension of it."

    "Mr. Jin, you know that you have the luxury to sit on the couch and talk to me also because the other nameless colleagues you did not bother to learn are handling all the things behind your back, right? Sure enough, I am handling one of the top Mechanoid Corporations бнthough I do not know how long that name canst after what we did. But it''s still different from handling the city." Denise stated.

    "But I am also genuinely surprised that you are able to deal with some of the political bacsh that had been presented to you. You also added a few improvements to the current city infrastructure when you were relooking at the area where the partially reconstructed buildings fellбн" Denise added and noted something strange.

    "Did you already know that the area had been abandoned for some time due to moneyundering? Is that why you want to destroy that ce so that you can officially take it in the name of reconstruction city efforts." Denise asked and Jin heard the absurdity of her assumption that heughed.

    "Wow, if I am that prophetic, I would not be sitting here talking to you on a couch. I would be earning millions of points and trying to get out of here." Jin said and Denise rolled her eyes. "No, I did not. It just seems like a good ce to put the trap for the monster toe in. That''s all. I never think that much or looked into it."

    "Either way, that''s a good choice now that you are building a 200 floor high rise building out of nowhere to cater to the Pandarens."

    "If the Daimon Citizens can afford it, I have no qualms giving it to them. Highest bidders win." Jin said and Denise frowned.

    "That''s not how public housing is supposed to work, neither is private housing."

    "I know, I know. I purposely say that to spite you. But since we are getting back all those Mechanoids, the construction of this high rise building would be quick assuming we can get the materials."

    "Well, you already pissed off all your neighbours, your best chance is to get it through Parry City. Otherwise, you probably need more time." Denise said until the System interrupted.

    "Apologies but the User had does not need to worry about materials especially when ites to foundation making," The System reported.

    "Wait, you meanбн" Denise could not believe it.

    "Yes, there is a path within the Southern Dungeon Instance where Sand Monsters resided. On kill, the y Lizard Monster did not dissipate into a pile of y as long as the power stone was not removed from the body. And even if the power stone had been removed, more y can be created by utilising the power stone. Now there is a request being put in to the Pandarens to fight against y Lizard monsters. The response was astronomical and we are receiving dozens of y Lizard Monsters from each raid. Based on the System''s deduction it would be soon they would see a variant y Lizard monster which will provide more sand than usual."

    "Welp, looks like we have that covered. Now all we need is to find a limestone monster and some other materials regarding cement, hahaha!" Jin joked and the System also gave a reply.

    "About thatбнthe Pandarens had also found a limestone golem hideout. They initially thought it was some rock golem until the resource workers identified it as limestone golems." The System reported and Jin somehow felt that someone big was pulling the strings on the type of monsters that were being spawned in the Dungeon Entrance. (For your info, Syn sneezed a little)

    "If that''s the case, then it''s time to mobilise the defence troops to go in with the Pandarens. We need as much of those materials to create that 200 floor high rise building!" Jin stood up, feeling invigorated, and wanted to participate in the action as well.

    "System, please get Jin to stay still. There are meetings he needs to attend for Daimon''s future. Do not let him go out of sight from those meetings." Denise requested and Jin''s energy suddenly dropped to rock bottom.

    "Why are you torturing me." Jin pretended to cry.

    "It will get worse when you have officially taken over the role as the Lord of Mount Sunn. You not only have to handle their defence and oversee the ce. You got to find people you can trust to put them in ces where the survival of Mount Sunn was paramount"

    "Then, let the Generals take Daimon City. You take Lord of Mount Sunn. I wanted to be Lord to get some privileges like extra points. I thought that was what I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. How would I know I would be trapped in this Virtual Simtion even longer with so many responsibilities."

    "Youбн discuss that with your System. I am merely here to make sure you do your job. And speaking about the job. I need to do mine, so please be on time for the next meeting which will start in 10 minutes." Denise said before leaving one of the meeting rooms in Diamondz Corp.

 Chapter 1664 Daimon Aftermath -Part 13

    <h4>Chapter 1664 Daimon Aftermath -Part 13</h4>

    The System and Jin did not exactly discuss anything important but they went to the meeting as dictated by Denise. This is due to the fact that the researchers were said to have a breakthrough with the fusion of materials from the monster outbreaks.

    They reported they managed to use the genes of the Male Metal Ogres and Female Forest Troll to create a substandard material that could withstand and regenerate. A living metal like what Jin had worn before and used for his System Rider Belt. The only difference was that the living metal which Jin used was more sentient but this merely reacted to pain.

    Whenever it had been hit, the molecules of the living metal would attempt to heal itself and when receiving more impact at the same ce would excite the molecules to work even harder. After the recovery period, the metal would then be thicker than previously sought. They found out that more hits do not necessarily mean a stronger metal, nor did it mean a thicker metal. It''s just the living metal''s way of repairing itself.

    "Any nanobots involvement?" Jin asked and the researchers said that had not introduced any external factors into the process as of now. Everything that they had done was as natural as it could be.? Only when they have approved the budget for the next phase, they would do what''s needed to cultivate it to be more specific.

    Right now, they could not control the growth of the living metal nor could they understand how the living metal could be used in creating Mechanoids. Even if they could sessfully replicate the living metal, Jin would always feel inferior to the one that he had always been using. Perhaps, given time, they could achieve a simr trait to the living metal he knows about but for now, it is just a metal that does not conform to his standards and it felt uneasy for him.

    "Well, if this does work out, you probably can have a blunt weapon made out of this metal and you need to be finding more weapons to kill your enemy," Denise said as she was probably mentioning the time when Jin was using the destruction lightning techniques that caused all the swords to break upon impact.

    "Erm, I think I just used too much power in that," Jin replied.,

    "With regards to that, do you mind trying this particr weapon out? We did infuse a little of the Regenerative Metal Cells into the de as a sort of side mini project which we know it had not been approved of."

    "Then why would you continue doing this if you know that it had not been approved."

    "Because we need proof of concept before we can proceed with making weapons with that kind of capability." The researcher said and Jin looked at Denise. She sighed a little before nodding her head.

    "The Lead Researchers of Diamondz are allowed to proceed with some stuff without our approval otherwise, they would rather quit and go somewhere else. Let''s just call it freedom for creativity. But honestly, Rafeal you should at least state that you used it in your ''mini'' project. This regenerative metal is beyond secret level ssification."

    "Yes, thank you."Rafeal did not care what Denise said as he brought the de to Jin''s hands. It was a simple shortsword with no hilt but the de did not have a natural colouring to it. In fact, it looked and felt as if there was something inside screaming.

    "Probably my imaginationбн" Jin thought to himself as he carried it and felt that it was light. Really lightpared to the mass manufactured swords that he had used previously.? He gave a swing and the force that it produced was rtively the same as the mass manufactured swords. "How did you know that the swords I used were all brokenбнor to the point that you wish to make a new sword for me? I mean, you could always use this livin- erm I mean regenerative metal for a gun barrel instead."

    "We saw your fight, Interim Leader. It was fantastic and mind blowing. To see that destructive power being captured by the soldier''s point of view made me want to see it up close. Without any restrictions."

    "Ermбн" Jin held the sword speechless as he saw not just Rafeal the Lead Researcher''s eyes glimmering but the rest as well. Even Denise who wanted to act professional and nonchnt about it had decided to show some interest in it as well. Jin eventually nodded his head and the researchers immediately brought him to a testing room.

    It was that standard all white room with various colour lines demarcated at every metre just so that the researchers could measure anything that happened within that testing room. There were cameras at all corners of the room and specialised ones to capture every single frame that could happen within the room.

    "Just one, alright?" Jin said and the researchers nodded their heads.

    "Byakkou, you want to be in it? Else, I can imitate your ck Lightning with my Maqi." Jin asked for permission and the White Tiger yawned.

    "Its not like you are fighting for your life. I don''t see the need toe out and prove to those crazy eyes with regards to my power. Besides, your imitiation should be more than enough to wow them. Unlessбн your imitation cannot break the sword, then I would beughing at you."

    "Heh seriously." Jin grinned momentarily before returning a serious look. He took the sword up to have another look before a dummy came out from the ground and Rafeal stated that Jin could start anytime. So, the Interim Leader took a deep breath in and summoned his Maqi, creating the ck Lightning that they were looking forward to.

    It looked the same for sure but whether it had the same destructive powers like Byakkou, that would be a question that Jin wished to answer as well.

    And thus, he swung his de.

 Chapter 1665 Daimon Aftermath -Part 14

    <h4>Chapter 1665 Daimon Aftermath -Part 14</h4>

    The Lightning Smash was loud and deafening in a controlled settingpared to what they had seen in the videos of those soldiers who caught the scene in action. Mainly due to the fact that the battle was already as chaotic as possible with all the bombardments, the gun shootings, and all the other things that were happening.

    So, when Jin hit the target, everyone nearly had the scare of their life with the exception of Rafeal who was watching every single second of it. But what he was expecting had nevere true as Jin held onto the grip of a now broken sword.

    Unlike the Destruction Lightning Technique that Jin had used, this time around there were no fragments left of the particr sword. Everything had dissipated as if it had never existed. Jin found it a little weird that his powers could do that but he believed it had something to do with the Regenerative Metal holding the rest of the de together before dissolving into nonexistence.

    And his deduction was proven correct when Rafeal yed the entire video in slow motion, showing how the Regenerative Metal was excited to hold all the de fragments together upon impact but the strength Jin had portrayed was too strong for the Regenerative Metal or maybe there was not enough of it to happen.

    Either way, the de had dissipated and Jin''s test run for the experiment was both a sess and a failure for the Lead Researcher. A failure of the expectations that Rafeal had for the sword, thinking that it would at least withstand and leave some form of residue. The sess of the expectation that the Regenerative Metal does work, just not powerful enough to keep the de in ce.

    "If I am not wrong, you did mention that you held other des before, right?" Rafeal asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Old mmet created one for me. I used it sparingly until I needed to use it for a pinch. It broke too but the durability was able to hold for like twice? I cannot exactly remember since at that point in time, it was a matter of surviving. Did not think much about the sword."

    "Well, since we have be friends, do you think it''s a hassle for Master mmet toe to Daimonбн? Or we can go to Mount Sunn if he prefers his workshop instead. We can bring the things to him. Otherwise, a short interview would be fine." Rafeal could not hide his excitement but Jin shrugged at him.

    "I am not him. I can only tell him about the circumstances and whether he wants to meet you or not, that will be another question by itself. Besides, if you are only looking at durability, you can look for his remaining apprentice. Nie."

    "Then I shall get Commander Eggshells to look into that matter of transportation if Apprentice Nie is willing toe to Daimon...although I feared he had not been answering his callstely," Rafeal said and Denise looked at Jin at the mention of the Diamondz Commander.

    "Who the heck is that?" Jin asked and Denise exined that Eggshells was the overallmander for Diamondz Corp security forces.

    "But he had been beaten badly by Lynn that when he returned to service, he was not the same person as he used to be," Denise replied.

    "Why did Lynn not tell me about this?"

    "Perhaps, she thinks that he was just another stinkymander that believed he had all the power in the world?"

    "Oh, it looks like you do not like him as well. I can see where this is going." Jin answered and guessed that Commander Eggshells was someone who had pushed his authority before against Denise hence the friction between her and him.

    "I will talk to Lynn and see if she could break the shell." Jin made fun of Eggshells and everyone shuddered for a moment and only remembered that Jin had the power, capability and authority to keep himself protected from Commander Eggshells.

    ----

    "Ah, Mr Eggy." Lynn knew exactly who Jin was referring about. "He is currently with me, learning how to cook. He is worse than my Peggies to be honest. Do not even know how to hold a knife. The only way he knew was handling it military style. I asked him to chop the vegetables, he went ''ho ha ho'' and made a mess of the table."

    "I assume you knocked his head and crack it open." Jin opened up the resume and portfolio of Commander Eggshells and saw that he literally had the head of an egg.

    "Hahaha! Unfortunately, I did that already. He was still not very receptive. Mr Eggy, say hello to Jin and Denise. They are on the line." Lynn shouted and Commander Eggshells was in his apron and bowed a little before greeting the duo.

    "Lynnбн How did you." Denise was in awe by Lynn''s method of keeping Commander Eggshell docile when she had years of trouble trying to figure out a way to keep Eggshells obedient. Not to mention, even the ex CEO of Diamondz had problems controlling him even though he was ignorant to him most of the time.

    "Ehh, he said he want to learn my martial arts. I told him it all started from cooking. Thus, he decided to learn cooking from me too." Lynn said and Jin chuckled.

    "Good luck Commander Eggshells on that endeavour. I assure you that its not a wasted effort. You will do well. By the way, we need to talk about something else, mind if I borrow him for a while?" Jin asked Lynn and immediately told Commander Eggshells with regards to the transfer of Apprentice Nie to the headquarters.

    "Ah, I can get it done but majority of our security troops had been dispatched to Mount Sunn, are still on its way back. I do not have veteran escorts, are you okay with simple guards? Otherwise, I can liaise with the military to borrow a few veterans." Commander Eggshell''s tone was simply too different from what Denise had experienced that she did not understand how the change came.

    "Did the kick that Lynn gave you out of the door and ss window made you change your ways?" Denise could not help to interrupt the conversation. In fact, she was also a tad surprised that he was still alive.

    "You could say thatбн" Mr Eggy replied.

 Chapter 1666 Daimon Aftermath -Part 15

    <h4>Chapter 1666 Daimon Aftermath -Part 15</h4>

    The memory was still as vivid for Denise as she remembered how Commander Eggshells bragged about how he would defeat the terrorists that had invaded thepany. Even though the guards had been reported missing/killed, Commander Eggshells had no care for his other colleagues. All he wanted was to show his employer that he was the best of them all and would crush his opinions the moment they came in.

    Just as Lynn punched her way through the assortment of guards, she quickly found that Commander Eggshells was the only person left standing against her team and the CEO Edmond Diamondz. Judging from the way he dressed and his size, Lynn had assumed he was like one of thest big bad guys that Edmond had considering how he was still calm and felt reassured that everything would be fine.

    So, with all the strength she had gathered within her generator cores, she jumped and threw herself towards Commander Eggshells, delivering one of the hardest drop kicks she could ever muster. What she did not know was that Commander Eggshells was actually rather weak!

    And the person himself flew not just out of the ss door, but the impact was so great, he flew out of the ss window as well. What did Lynn not know was that the ss window was not his final destination as he had been knocked back to the next building, crashing into it, and subsequently losing consciousness from it.

    It was only when Jin had be Interim Leader that he found himself awoke in a hospital bed. That was when he fell in love with Lynn''s power and technique. For a Commander who had not been bested in fights for years, this was the first time he found someone worthy to learn from.

    "At first I was afraid that he fell in love with me." Lynn secretly messaged Jin after the conversation ended. "But then, I found out that all he wanted to learn from was my power and training. His obsession to get stronger is totally off the charts."

    "Maybe that''s why he is called eggshells, not chick or chicken, maybe even rooster." Jin could not help but make fun of his name.

    "Seriously, stop making fun of his name."

    "Is it also because he had this kind of name that made him want to get stronger so nobody would know that he is fragile on the inside?"

    "Jinnnnnnnnnnnnnn. You are so mean!" Lynn pouted and Jin finally stopped.

    "But it''s good that themander of Diamondz is on our side. It will make those who are fighting against Mount Sunn toe back and still be within order." Jin said.

    "You were worried that there may be an insurrection or rebellion?" Lynn said as

    "Duh, of course. What would you think that the people you were meant to kill suddenly be your leader? And that leader miraculously saved your country while you are trying to rush back to save it but could not because of the physical obstacle of distance?"

    "Ermбн I am not exactly well equipped to answer that question. But maybe you think too much?"

    "Perhaps, but it can happen unless we have a strong leader they can trust in their midst. Commander Eggshells can be that person. We can only hope that the title he carries precedes with the respect the troops had for him." Jin said and Lynn could not a proper reply either.

    "Just remember toe back for dinner. I will give you eggshells trial dish. After all, you have to learn to trust him as well right? Interim Leader," Lynn chuckled before she turned off themunication line.

    "Speaking of Nie, I have not reported to Old mmet and him for some time," Jin said to himself while Denise reminded him he had another meeting in an hour''s time. "Urgh the pain of meetings!"

    "JIN!" Old mmet shouted as themunication lines had been established immediately. "YOU THIS SHITTY ARGH ARSHOLE THAT DID NOT BOTHER TO CALL BACK ONCE YOU ARE DONE. YOU MEANGER POOP OF A CAT."

    "Did Old mmet try to restrain his vulgarities to me?"

    "Kind of. But you were really an asshole for not telling us you are okay. We had to learn from other sources that Daimon City is fine and dandy right under YOUR rule. What happened to rule over Mount Sunn?" Nie said as he too was d to see Jin again.

    "Isn''t Archduke Dyke over there right now?"

    "He is, but most of the time his servant is the onemanding the shots. I don''t like that guy one bit. He keeps sniffing around my workshop, saying there it needs a major cleanup." Old mmetined.

    "Well, it does smell like you did not flush your toilet for many days and the poop smell lingered forever," Jin said.

    "Argh you bastard, if you are here I just gonna whip you till you cry for your mummy!"

    "It''s not nice to use parents," Nie replied before Jin could say anything but he did feel the burn there a little.

    "Ah sorry about that, but you are still a shit arshole."

    "That I admit and I apologise for it."? Jin then continued to talk to Old mmet and Nie about what had happened in summary and subsequently asked if Nie wanted toe to Daimon City and work with the researchers.

    "Nope, sorry about that. I had stuff to do with Master so I am not going anywhere. If they are willing to make a trip here, I do not mind amodating them. In fact, I would want them to see if they could put a Diamondz Lab in Mount Sunn too."? Nie said and it nearly gave Old mmet a heart attack which Jin could obviously not stop chuckling. It was a matter of time before Old mmet spouted out his vulgarities again.

    "This ungrateful son of URGHHH!!! Why do youбн" The old Mechasmith continued to rant and Jin enjoyed the interaction and decided to let them be themselves for a short moment on screen.

 Chapter 1667 Daimon Aftermath -Part 16

    <h4>Chapter 1667 Daimon Aftermath -Part 16</h4>

    "Lol, the Diamondz Corp is no longer under that Edmond Diamondz. It''s with a person I can trust and besides she signed the ''contract'' with me. So, it is more or less impossible for her to even do anything against our wishes." Jin exined.

    "Well, you are assuming she can control the entire Diamondz Corp. Anyone at the top can have their head cut especially if the person''s a newbie." Old mmet stated and Jin understood where he wasing from and at the same time felt it was a little too extreme to think that way. But Jin knew that Diamondz had been suppressing him for years, obviously, he could not let go of things with just a snap of the fingers.

    "This kid is to be the death of me." Old mmet said once more and Nie decided to say that he was half joking.

    "Boss, Boss man. Look at it this way." Jin tried to calm him down. "Now that they are not controlling you. And you are free from their suppression and bindings, isn''t it a great time now to share technology and skills with each other?:"

    "Why would I want to give them my technology?"

    "You don''t have to. You just need to give them a little push in the right direction. In the meantime, you get to see how their technology works and how sucky it is and then you improve it by yourself and you get to create it all for your own benefit. Won''t that be the greatestpensation you could ever get from all these years?"

    "Then you can soar higher heights like you know, build a sturdy sword for Jin," Nie said and Jin eyed him which he reacted by showing him a tablet he was holding with the already restricted documents from Rafeal

    "What do you mean? Isn''t that sword I gave him good enough?" Old mmet said before Nie showed him the documents and subsequently the footage of Jin''s powers.

    "You never told me that you are THAT powerful." Old mmet said as he sighed that if Jin''s energy power was this destructive, he would have attempted to create a sturdier sword.

    "And now they are working on a new kind of metale monsters. You could give it a look and see if you can do a better job than them." Jin said and Old mmetughed.

    "This bugger really knows how to tickle my heart. Have apetition with Diamondz in an attempt to be chummy with them? Fine. I will do that. They better give me all the resources I need." Old mmet finally resigned to the fate that there might be some things when done together will have a better effect.? He was old enough to not be that stubborn even though the hatred in his heart was still tingling. Yet, for the sake of his apprentice and for Jin who had turned the tables for him, he had decided to give it a shot. Just one shot.

    "SoбнDiamondz Research Lab?" Nie asked and Old mmet pped him on his back.

    "Don''t push your luckd."Old mmet replied and just as they were about to close themunication lines, Jin asked him to wait for a moment.

    "I have something else to ask," Jin said as he requested Nie to move away from the conversation.

    "What is it that is so private that even Nie could not know about it."

    "How are the Archduke''s army doing? Are you okay with the changes they made? I do not have much idea about it but he said that at the very least he got your approval."

    "Yeah, I did say that. He wanted to make a Fortress out of this ce and Mount Sunn, this bloody hill itself to be the primary citadel and workshop. This is because he is pushing to put almost everything manufacturing he ever had into this ce. Mount Sunn will be a hellhole for production workers. We will be building from small arms to tanks and missiles. Who knows? Maybe Armoured Mechas as well."

    "Then it''s not exactly called the town of Mount Sunn already isn''t it?"

    "Yeap. It''s more like Mount Sunn Industrial Complex and I think the word military should be in the centre of those four words." Old mmet said. "But the only problem is that he is going to do it underground all the exhaust would be funneled through Mount Sunn and it would look as if it was just Mount Sunn''s workshop working all day."

    "But didn''t you say it would be a fortress?"

    "Exactly. It will be a Fortress and this military fortress is ced under the guise of protecting ourselves from the Northerners. Across the canyon crevice beyond Mount Sunn. Boy, you have been fighting the enemies within that you had forgotten that there were rebels."

    "Ah yes. Rebels. Terrorists." Jin knew that these were just terms to suit those who were not from this nation.

    "But even the Archduke had to y it smart if he wanted to keep this, a manufacturingplex as a secret from the Royal Family."

    "You mean... he actually has a way to hide that stuff?"

    "Yeah. He is housing this ce as a Fortress Outpost as well as a maintenance and storage area. He is pushing all the old equipment here and storing them here for safe keeping. This allows Mount Sunn to be designated as a high security area."

    "And then those old items would be in in sight while the actual stuff would be deep underground?"

    "Aye and those Mechanoids working would be created by yours truly. So, the other major corps would have no rights nor authority to see the ce."

    "When the Northerners were to check out the ce, they would think this is just a repair and storage facility and it will bring their guard down as well."

    "Not just them but the Royal Empire as they see old equipment floating around, they would think this is an easy target or a forgettable one. At most, bomb the ce a little and be done with it." Old mmet said and Jin understood where he wasing from.

 Chapter 1668 Daimon Aftermath -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1668 Daimon Aftermath -Final</h4>

    "So, under the guise of old equipment, container trucks and cargo nes can move unimpeded, with the manifest as just repairs or storage. When in reality, they are moving out new tanks and equipment to those ces he wished to make an uprising."

    "Yes, and the Northern Duke should not have any qualms since Mount Sunn was a derelict ce, to begin with my existence and he will think that if the Archduke is throwing old equipment at Mount Sunn, it''s more merely a courtesy to keep me alive there. They would not think so much. Plus we can do repairs for the Northern Army and bugged their equipment."

    "That''s rather sneaky," Jin said but Old mmetughed.

    "More like I learnt that from you."

    "Don''t say that, I am a bad influence." Jin and Old mmet joked and they understood that Archduke Dyke was serious about toppling down the Royal Empire but it needs time and time was not at their side. Especially not at Jin''s side as he wants to return to his real world and get certain things done. Considering the fact that the Virtual Simtion is not going anywhere and the time moves slower than Jin''s World, it would be good if he can start to have a way out of the simtion first ande back to itter.

    "In any case, I am genuinely interested in that regenerative metal. Will look forward to that." Old mmet said to conclude the conversation but Jin shook his head.

    "I seen and used better ones back at my world, do not be overly obsessed with this. Justбн a word of advice." Jin said and they turned the channel off.

    And that was when Jin had returned to more meetings by the other Daimon Officials.

    --------------

    "Ever since Jin had to take charge of the Aftermath, there is really nothing we can do." Click said and Diaz snorted.

    "Are you saying that you missed the times when Jin forced you into vebour and get you to work like a dog?" Diaz replied and Click threw a rubber bullet at her face which Diaz caught by inserting it into her arm and shooting it back through her index finger. Her ss as the Gunzerker had opened up new possibilities for storing bullets in her body but that also mean that there was somepromise when ites to meleebat since those bullets takes up space.

    It was not as if she would be able to crash people with hollow spaces in her body and she is possibly one of the few within the team that would be the most vulnerable when ites to damage. Of course, it solely depends on what kind of ammunition she was carrying that might constitute such a risk.

    If all she was carrying were rubber bullets, there was nothing to worry about but if its ammunition like dragon''s breath or even 40mmrge calibre explosive ammunition for grenadeunchers then perhaps she would be a tad more vulnerable than usual.

    Of course, with those in mind, she had started to pack in a little more armour. The Regenerative Metal did eventually reach to the Grey Bears because they were close to the Jin and the System. This made Diaz want the Regenerative Metal tes so badly but she knew that it would not be possible until the future.

    So for now, she had requested to have some additional armour ting on her arms, back, side torso and even her legs. (As long as it does not remove her mobility.)

    "Or we could just help Lynn for dinner. Mr Eggy would probably make a mess and she would need a moreбн normal helper?" Tellie said as she was cleaning her rifles.

    "You guys can go ahead, I am still checking on the battles to see where we can improve." Yinn said but despite giving such an option, the monster calledziness in them were not going to move at all despite them being Mechanoids.

    "Looks like no one is going to move huh?" Page who was working at the side read the entiremotion. "Then if that''s the case, why don''t you people help me with-"

    "I think Lynn needs help." Diaz was the first to move to the door and Click followed subsequently which only left Yinn and Tellie in the room.

    "That always work no matter what. Bravo, Page. Bravo." Tellie smiled as she gave a slow p.

    "Its not the first day you know them. But now that those two rascals are gone. I do really need your opinion on the n of attack since you two are the seniors in the squad." Page said and Yinn tilted her head a little.

    "n of attack? What are we attacking? There had been no orders from Jin or is this some ck Ops?" Yinn said as she stop checking theptop and moved towards Page''s.

    "Parry City Scouts had shared this information to us as a sort of courtesy -though I see it that they want to shove this responsibility to us." Page said as she tapped the screen to be bigger for Yinn and Tellie who was at the side to see.

    "Those areбн"

    "Tracks. From a Dragon."

    "No fucking way." Tellie finally put her rifle down and went to take a closer look.

    "We had ID the size of the footprint and the destruction it had done in the surrounding terrain. It matches the dimensions of the Mechanical Crystal Dragon punches through the Research Labs." Page said.

    "Up to this day, I still regret not destroying that thing." Yinn said while she slowly put her head down with guilt.

    "Its not your fault. We wanted to move up to the top as soon as possible. Besides we thought that the Mechanical Crystal Dragon could be use for future operations. We did not expect that it could do such things since we have no prior intel."

    "But hey, even if it is truly the Mechanical Crystal Dragon. Why are there no traces of any Crystal Scale Droppings or even crystallisation of the area?"

    "Then instead of a n of attack, its more like a n for investigation." Yinn remarked and the two nodded their heads.

 Chapter 1669 Search for Crystal Dragon -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1669 Search for Crystal Dragon -Part 1</h4>

    Once Jin was done with yet another useless meeting which he had to call the shots again with regards to Daimon City''s development, he noticed that a lot of things were just being held on with sticks and stones. A nasty blow of the wind could potentially cause this castle of cards to be gone in a jiffy and he had no idea how Daimon City was able to stay as it was until now.

    A stroke of luck? He was not sure about that.

    But what he knew was that Yinn and the other Grey Bears had decided to look for him so that he could move to the hotel where they were residing for one good hearty dinner. Lynn was still finishing up thest portion of the meal while Commander Eggshells or Mr. Eggy had served the table alongside Diaz and Click.

    "Join us Commander Eggshells," Jin said as he sat at the tip of the table. "You assisted with the cooking and therefore deserved the right to partake in the food with us."

    Commander Eggshells was a little hesitant until he saw that Denise came in as well and greeted the Grey Bears. The final blow came when Lynn shouted from the kitchen. "Mr Eggy. You better join us or else you would not know the effort you put in your training." It was then he decided that he was not exactly intruding on the dinner and thanked them for allowing him to join.

    Lynn finally served thest dish on the table which was Crispy Lizard Meat Karaage. It smelled totally like chicken to them and Jin did not even bat an eye when he picked up the Karaage. "Ehh, what are you guys waiting for?" Jin asked when everyone seemed to be quiet. "Come on, let''s eat."

    "Let''s eat." Lynn who finally sat down repeated what Jin said and the rest started to move their tes and utensils.

    "User, apparently the culture here is that the person who made the food is the one who is able tomence the devouring of food." The System stated and Jin felt that his choice of words ''devour'' was overly strong andical.

    However, no one cared nor stopped Jin since they probably knew that he did not know about the culture here except for Mr Eggy who was slightly confused. Other than that, it was business as usual, talking over stuff during dinner and Yinn had decided to bring up the search for the Mechanical Crystal Dragon.

    "You what? Why was this not in my brief? Page?" Jin asked and Page stated that it was a recent finding mere hours ago and it was not urgent that it should included in the evening summary briefs today.

    "Because there were no exact sightings of the Mechanical Crystal Dragon, we could not ensure that this was it. That he had decided to appear on Parry City''s grounds." Page stated.

    "Well, thank goodness it''s Parry City. We should be able to get through without much diplomatic problems." Jin said and Denise corrected him.

    "You mean your squad. Not you and your squad." Denise stated.

    "What? Why? Why can''t I go with them?"

    "Because you are the Interim Leader of Daimon?" Commander Eggy said and Denise nodded her head so fiercely, that Jin had nowhere to run."

    "Damn, Page and Yinn. You could have offered when Denise is not here."

    "We believed it was best to tell the both of you rather than just one of you."

    "Commander Eggshells, I suggest you should follow them. Since your master Lynn is going, it will be an eye opener on how she operates and how she fights her opponents." Denise ignored Jin''s pleas and asked Mr Eggy to go instead.

    "But Mdm, I have other duties to attend to as well." Mr Eggy argued but Denise was not going to take no for an answer.

    "And so is the search for the Mechanical Crystal Dragon is as important as your other duties. In fact even more important because it is with regards to the reputation of Diamondz Corp. If the Mechanical Crystal Dragon had been seen terrorising cities, especially an Allied one like Parry City, it would bring untold diplomatic consequences. Are you willing to take charge of those consequences?"

    "No, Mdm." Mr Eggy now realised why he was sitting here. However, it really was a coincidence that the order had been given to Commander Eggshell at this current moment.

    "Denise, I suggest not to pressure Mr Eggy if possible. The Grey Bears can handle it."

    "You are not officially Daimon Military, nor are you Diamondz Corps Security. Over here, you are regarded as the Interim Leader''s personal squad and that is prestige. However, if you go to Parry City, you will have no friends at all. By putting Commander Eggshells with you guys, you at least have the immunity of Diamondz Corps at your possession and if anything goes wrong, Diamondz on behalf of Daimon City can bail you out in a pinch."

    "Not to mention, Commander can send a request to the Parry City''s officials so that they can grant us some authority for the investigation." Page said and Jin unwillingly nodded his head although he had not been listening for the past few sentences due to the power of the Lizard Karaage.

    "Then won''t it be better if we have Daimon Military instead?" Click asked while her mouth is filled with food. "Since we are allied with Parry City politically, shouldn''t military people be a better choice? We can act under Daimon Military as investigators."

    "Don''t be a fool. We may seem allied with Parry City but it''s best to use the powers of the private corporation rather than a city state. For reasons not to smear Daimon''s name." Page replied and Denise agreed with it.

    "At most, Diamondz had to pay somepensation but if we go in as Daimon, the political bacsh would be enormous if you know the Mechanical Crystal Dragon truly existed within Parry City''s backyard."

    "I will do as youmand." Commander Eggshells was not hesitant any longer. "I will get it done and will start contacting Parry City''s Diamond Corp units."

    "Thank you," Denise replied and everyone continued with their dinner with some small talk.

 Chapter 1670 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1670 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 2</h4>

    As Jin was assisting Lynn with her dishes as he had always done, she finally spoke up for Commander Eggshells. "I still think it''s not a good idea for him toe with the Grey Bear Squad for the investigations."

    "Why So?"

    "He did not wish for the Commander job anymore. He just wants to stay and focus on his training." Lynn said as she was drying up the tes when Jin passed to her. (They had a dishwasher but in old fashion Asian culture, they prefer to clean the tes themselves. Even the System who knew that they had a dishwasher did not stop them.)

    "Then why would he want to ept the job? He could have said no and quit. Denise is there, she will understand."

    "He might want to keep his job for the sake of points."

    "But he cannot have it both ways. He is after all the topmander for Diamondz Corp. Putting him into this investigation is already considered a break from work. Denise probably already felt that way and she had done this to give me some space for the job. Besides, why did turn like that? I mean I do not really know him that well but there got to be a trigger that forced him to be this way."

    "I honestly have no idea as well. Page said that I might had drop kicked him so hard, his brain just had a big jolt and realisation that he is nowherepetent enough for the job and wished to train." Lynn replied.

    "Then, as what Denise had rmended. Isn''t it better for Eggshells to go for the investigation, hone his skills while he is with the team, and gain back the sense of confidence upon searching and defeating the Mechanical Crystal Dragon? Well, if it exists. I honestly hope not and it''s a wild goose chase." Jin said.

    "Why? Wouldn''t it be better if we managed to hunt down the Mechanical Crystal Dragon and get done with it?"

    "You make it sound like hunting this Dragon is like hunting an elusive rabbit. We are not sure what the Crystal Dragon could do and Denise stated that almost every researcher involved in the research had one or another waymitted suicide to prevent the leakage of the Crystal Dragon. Even the new Lead Researcher Rafeal does not have the password to those old dataбнassuming those data had not been destroyed upon unlocking."

    "I had no idea he was a new guy. He felt like he had been here the whole entire time." Jin said.

    "From what I heard, he had some leaderplex and most did not like him. The only problem and also a blessing in disguise is people worked with him for so long but he was never entrusted with a proper project to lead. So, he had the knowledge and experience to be a leader. That is why he was given the new Lead Research position due to seniority and erm ''cleanliness''?"

    "Oh. Did not know that."

    "So yeah, we have no freaking idea what the Crystal Dragon will do when we chance upon it. The only knowledge that we have is from the cleaners, stating that when it was activated, it was a pain in the ass since the area would be infused with crystals and they had to remove it one by one in order to ensure that everything is cleaned up."

    "So that is why you all were suspicious if the monster was truly the Mechanical Crystal Dragon when it could have been another monster or perhaps a dragon with a simr size as the Crystal Dragon," Jin said and felt all the more Commander Eggshells should go for the investigation.

    "Well, if it''s really just a false rm, Eggshells can take it as a break. Won''t that be encouraging? It''s not like Denise needs any help protecting herself. She is more or less with me most of the time and the System can detect if she is in danger or not. Not to mention, she had a few Mechanoid Guards with her. Mr Eggy does not have to be with her 24/7 and he could explore the world a bit with his new master, hahaha."

    "Jinnnn." Lynn pinched Jin on his shoulder and then they heard a knock at the side.

    "Sorry to bother you, Master Lynn but is it okay for me to do a light spar with you after you are done with the dishes? I mean I should have done it but-"

    "It is fine. Mr. Eggy, I will meet you at the hotel''s training hall in 15 minutes. You can do some warm up first." Lynn said and Commander Eggshells was delighted and thanked her profusely.

    "Can I have a go at it?"Jin asked and Lynn gave an angry face.

    "And get more demoralised when fighting with you?"

    "Well! If you feel that he is not in the capacity to go on an investigation with you and the other Grey Bears. Won''t it be better I smack him to the ground and he decides to follow me around for training instead? That will definitely keep him in Daimon."

    "You are assuming that Denise would even allow that."

    "Oh yeah. I forgot She owns him." Jinughed out loud. "Alright, how about this? I get Commander Eggshells to liaise with the Daimon Military for a few things before I let him go for the investigation. In short, you and the Grey Bears move out first, andter Eggshellse in."

    "Can you really do that?"

    "Well, it depends on how long I can keep him but if I am not mistaken. DIAZ, You a Diamondz Mechanoid right?"

    "YEAH, WHY?" Diaz slowly came into the kitchen area.

    "Can you represent Diamondz Corp?"

    "I guess so. If there is nothing wrong with that I do not see any problems representing for Diamondz."

    "There. We can get Denise to temporarily assign Diaz as the Diamondz Corp representative so you guys have private corp immunity should anything happen to you all."

    "Oh. Wow. What happened to Commander Eggshells?"

    "I have some stuff in mind," Jin said.

 Chapter 1671 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1671 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 3</h4>

    As he finally finished washing thest dish, Jin decided to speak to Denise who heard themotion. "Shouldn''t Commander Eggshells be the representative for Diamondz? He would be a more credible sourcepared to Diaz."

    "Well, if you send your overall Commander in charge for Diamondz, what will Parry City officials think? They might assume that the Dragon issue is truly a threat and we have to go for secret talks."

    "But the threat level does substantiate that kind of authority," Denise replied.

    "That is assuming the Crystal Dragon threat is real. What I am trying to get is. Let the Grey Bears go incognito for a moment. Besides, we need Mr. Eggy to coordinate ns with the military should the Crystal Dragon threat be real. So, I would need him for at least a few days to formte certain ns that can involve the Diamondz Corp and Daimon Military."

    "But if you do that, you are assuming that the Crystal Dragon is within Daimon''s territory. The Crystal Dragon is in Parry City. There is no way they are going let our military waltz through and only Diamondz Corp may have the ''pass'' to move in that circumstances."

    "Ehh but didn''t Edmond use Daimon''s military to circumvent the Mount Sunn problem?"

    "I won''t deny that but Mount Sunn is not part of any jurisdiction until well. Now. And Edmond surely had rubbed quite a lot of hands to make sure that he got to do what he wanted. I do not have that kind of luxury." Denise replied.

    "Not to mention, Daimon is currently in a precarious situation after what happened with Jin''s mindless use of politics." Page interrupted. "But what he said does make sense. Even though the gravity of the situation requires a person of authority to look through things. It would be a little concerning to the eyes of Parry City''s officials if we were to bring Commander Eggshells along for the investigation. I was not against the invitation of themander into our ranks as he could remain undercover but the risk is there should the Parry City officials know if themander is within our squad."

    "I am fine with anything," Diaz stated and Click agreed with Diaz on that too.

    "I am afraid, I am on the fence as well." Tellie decided to show her neutrality on the subject.

    "Then what about Yinn? You would be the leader when you start this investigation." Jin asked and Yinn sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

    "Commander Eggshells does not seem very interested in going for an investigation but he did it reluctantly because it would be a vition of an order from the CEO. If given a chance, he would not have gone but also due to the fact that Lynn is going, he decided to give it a try." Yinn stated. "Also, from what I can see, he is somehow still struggling with the fact that he has been defeated badly. Allowing him to go have both good and bad consequences which could go both ways. If I were the leader, I would not wish to bring such a variable factor into battle."

    "At the same time, I find that what Jin wants to do to prepare for the eventuality of Crystal Dragon is an equally important task. If Parry City ever gets under attack by the Crystal Dragon, contingencies on how Daimon City would react are equally important. Supposedly we are able to field a quick response team and coordinate with Parry City''s military to lure it somewhere for the fight, I think that would be the best decision." Yinn continued.

    "However, we do not know the dragon''s strength and that is hurting our sense of strategy. Knowing that, even if Jin would take Commander Eggshells for contingency preparation, there is not much he can do as well. Except to improve and coordinate with Diamondz security to make sure that evacuations are smoother and the military movements are better. But ultimately, it is still a better move than to leave Commander Eggshells with us, and its more befitting of a status for him. Should he find confidence during the preparation phase, I think that would be greatбнelse. No furtherments."

    Everyone looked at her blindly for a second before Jin spoke out. "If he were to coordinate with the defence against the Crystal Dragon, I believe we need some time at the backend to send some additional equipment and Mechanoids to Parry City. Diamondz Commander would be the best person to ascertain how much firepower is needed to boost Diamondz attachment in Parry City."

    "I guess, that would be fine." Denise sighed as well and took a sip of her drink before nodding her head to the change of proposal. "I just thought he had been down and going out for investigation would be a good change of pace for him."

    "See, I told you she thought that way," Jin said to Lynn.

    "But seeing how Lynn had reservations about him going and the others made a valid point of his usefulness. We will get him to work hard on the preparations but if he does not improve, there is no point keeping him as the overallmander."

    "Not that I am overly attached to him. I only knew him today. I merely say it in a somewhatбн objective manner that he would be more useful in the preparation phases. Whether he proved to be useful for those phases would be a different matter at hand. Can you imagine if the Generals actually have some grudge against him? I am so dead."

    "I apologise, I do not have information on that. You have to see it for yourself. Eggshells don''t usuallyin about things, he just boasted." Denise said and the conversation ended rather nicely for Lynn to also go for her practice match with Eggshell.

    And since everyone had talked about him, they all decided to have a look at how he was doing or how Lynn was going to train him before the day ended.

 Chapter 1672 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1672 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 4</h4>

    Mr. Eggy was there standing alone at the centre of the training hall as if he was stoning. Only when he heard footsteps, did he turn his head and see a group of peopleing in.

    "Everyone is here to watch the match," Lynn said to Eggshells as he stood there and greeted his new master. "That is if you do not mind."

    "No, I do not mind at all. But I am afraid I am not up to the standard that it will be a fulfilling match to watch for the audience." Eggshells said.

    "I''m cool with it. My master ughtered in training so many times so I get where you areing from." Jin said from the bench.

    "We Mechanoids do not have masters and would not be able to judge," Yinn said on behalf of the group.

    "This is a private match, I am never here," Denise remarked so as to not demoralise Eggshells any further. In a way, she already saw him being defeated by Lynn and Mr Eggy felt that it would not do any harm if he had lost.

    "I am not giving you any quarters, alright Mr. Eggy? When I go, I will hit it all out. If you faint, Page will try to rescue you as much as she can. If need be, we will send you to the hospital." Lynn said and Commander Eggshells understood the risks.

    "Well, that''s one way of not going for either the preparation phase or the investigation. To be in hospital." Jin told Denise and she could not help to shake her head that Jin could think of ways to skive.

    "I will give you the initiative," Lynn said as she was still in her regr shirt and pants and half tied apron, indicating outwardly that she was not taking this seriously or Commander Eggshells'' strength was not sufficient for her to be serious. Yet, her stance to defend herself showed conviction that Lynn will go all out against Eggshells.

    "Thank you for taking me seriously and giving me the first move." Eggshells said as he went to his battle stance. With a deep breath, he jumped towards her and wanted to give her a diving punch. He yelled and screamed in hopes of frightening his master but she was unfazed by it. In fact, she did not move away and took it head on.

    It was at that point, Lynn also can see Eggshell''s hesitation but Lynn shouted back with him. "DO NOT FALTER!" which made Eggshells decisive enough to m his way into Lynn''s direction. But even before he could have a direct impact with Lynn, he found out that his vision turned upside down and his body''s momentum had be rotated.

    He found himself being mmed on the ground and he did not realised he had been deflected by Lynn. The Grey Bears saw it with great intrigue as they expected her to be rough on Eggshells after what she did to kick him away from the top floor of Daimon.

    "How did you do that?" Eggshells asked as he found himself already incapable of fighting.

    "Don''t ask. AGAIN!" Lynn shouted and Eggshells quickly stood up and tried to throw a punch. This time, it was more obvious to him as he saw Lynn using his momentum once more to break the flow while low kicking his leg and causing him to lose bnce and fell to the ground.

    For the next 15 minutes. Eggshells never improved as he kept getting one shotted by Lynn no matter what he do. Mr Eggy tried to think of various ways to outmanoeuvre Lynn but no matter what he thought of, Lynn was able to break it in one move. It was frustrating and yet an eye opener to see that he was definitely inferior. Even if he had the chance to try again on the very same day where he lost, there was no way he could win this master in martial arts.

    "Stop." Lynn said as Eggshells tried to stand up after being hit multiple times. "You do not get the concept and getting stronger won''t bring you anywhere. I am not going to teach you directly but you have to see and try to capture the underlying essence of the fight. Jin!" Lynn looked up at the audience direction.

    "Yes, Mdm." Jin immediately stood up and walked towards the centre of the training hall.

    "Good job buddy. You hang in there for the entire duration and did not give up. You can do it." Jin said as he asked him to sit with the audience.

    "Mr Eggy, this is how we fight." Lynn said as she took a fierce stance against Jin.

    "So, a demonstration round?" Jin asked as his hands still stayed in his pocket.

    "You could say that and I hope to give you a bit of a whooping topensate the time when you suddenly disappear."

    "Hey, not my fault okay. If its not for the gods who suddenly pop out from nowhere." Jin tried to defend himself.

    "Just let me whoop your ass. Its overdue." Lynn said but Jin refused to give it to her, knowing that she wanted to show how two cultivators fight. They could go into high speed but they purposely slowed the fight down for Commander Eggshells to see.

    Lynn went for the first blow and Jin dodge with his hands still in his pocket. To the audience, it felt like Jin was trying to act cool but Denise could see that he was attempting to give Lynn a handicap because he was supposedly more formidable than her.

    And so, the brawl began and Eggshells could see how Jin had anticipated each and every attack rather than to just react or merely soak the damage in front of them. He use his elbows, his knees and even at times, his torso to counter a few of the attacks but most of the time, Lynn''s attack had been deflected.

    Just as it was bing boring to watch as much as it was flowing so smoothly, Jin suddenly stopped moving and Lynn mmed his head right to the practice floor.

    "Thank you, Jin." Lynn said as she takes in air and felt so much relieved.

    "No problem, babe." Jin said as he could feel his head still ringing even though there was a mat on the floor to cushion the blow.

 Chapter 1673 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1673 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 5</h4>

    When the fight was over, Jin stood up with the aid of Lynn and Eggshells felt like he somehow understood he had much to learn and at the same time was equally clueless about where to start. All he knew was that he had been humbled by the fight and would continue to work hard on it.

    Soon, all the other Mechanoids also wanted to have a spar with Lynn just for fun before the day truly ended. Denise returned to her abode while Jin gave a heads up to General Ost and Grieves about the potential meetings they were about to have.

    For the next morning, the Grey Bear Squad had been scheduled to leave Daimon and they were rather well equipped for the trip. Diaz had been designated as a representative as suggested and she was also being chosen to drive the entire trip because of her supposed familiarity of this ce being a Diamondz Mechanoid.

    "You girlsбн" Diaz wanted toin but she also happened to draw the short stick when they were deciding on the person to drive. When she got it, the other Grey Bears stated that she would be the one who would do so especially since she was a ''Diamondz representative.''

    Thus, everything was in order and even the immigration into Parry City had no issues. The only issue was that Lynn was surprised by what Parry City looked like. When they were in Daimon City, all they saw were cold stone high rise buildings at every corner while for Parry City it was the opposite. There were little to no high rise buildings but it was like a forest town.

    "Known for its ''natural'' atmosphere, Parry City was famous for their pro nature capital view. Most of the buildings were built with nts or trees growing out of their roofs and that also meant uneven roads since the brick roads had been infested with the growth of tree roots and weeds. While there were also controlled cutting and pruning of trees, most of the city folks had to do it themselves.

    "Some believed there was corruption when ites to the government pruning but there were no real allegations to them. It is all conspiracy theory as they all know that the nature theme was the only thing that was allowing the city to grow and their government does not even have the budget for them to do such maintenance. If not for Parry City''s idental alliance with Daimon, the citizens might have fallen to a harder state in the days toe but that is just my opinion since the alliance had only started." Page described.

    "Shhh! I am trying to drive! All your rumbling of facts is just making things harder for me!" Diazined.

    "Oh sorry about the long rant."

    "Well, you can keep your mouth shut now or you drive this damn four wheels." Diaz tried to take an opportunity to pass the wheel to someone as she never realised how bumpy the roads were until Denise told them it was best to take a four wheel drive with them rather than a standard card.

    When they arrived into the heart of the city, The first ce they went was the Diamondz Corps office in Parry City. It was there, that they were briefed that the Parry Military would need some clearance for them to participate in the search for the Crystal Dragon.

    So, they had a day off but Yinn was not allowing them to have any rest. Even though they already had another hotel amodation ready for them to rest after the travel courtesy of Diamondz Corp, Yinn had decided for the team to explore the city a little and check for any rumours. They were not allowed toe back to the hotel until they had some information about Parry City.

    Since they were in an investigation, it was best to gather as much info as they could even as random as it is. After all, if there was a Mechanical Crystal Dragon that might be hiding itself in Parry City''s territory, there got to be some odd movement from the military or maybe some incidents.

    However, as much as they tried when the Grey Bears came back at an allocated time, they did not find or hear anything that caught their eye. Even thetest political news was nothing fancy at all. Perhaps, they really did hit a dead end and it could just be a coincidental finding, maybe even manmade. Yet, they ended the day without a hitch and could only hope the military had something for them to see.

    Surely, when morninges, the notification that they had clearance to check the site had been permitted and a military escort had been dispatched to their hotel to bring them to the site. At first, they were surprised the armed soldiers came and subsequently requested the Grey Bears to leave their weapons at the hotel''s armoury.

    Yet, Yinn insisted that they should be able to bring at least a handgun with them for safety reasons, and eventually, their officer allowed them to do so. The only condition was that those handguns had to remain holstered and seen, thus the Grey Bears had decided to hoist them at their abdomen area for quick ess if necessary. Other than that, they were then being escorted from the hotel to the site that they were going to check with the blinds of the convoy closed.

    It was as if they did not want them to know where was the site where they found the tracks. Yinnplied with their demands once again as they had no idea the System was already tracing them the moment they left the hotel especially since they got to the Floating Sky Station.

    Surprisingly there were no satellites in the area and the Floating Sky Station happened to be the only satellite that had excellent hardware when ites to tracking. So, even without being known where the site was, the System and eventually the Grey Bears would knew.

 Chapter 1674 Search for Crystal Dragon -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1674 Search for Crystal Dragon -Part 6</h4>

    "This is the site. You have an hour to check." One of the Parry City Soldiers said and he was wearing such protective gear that it made the Grey Bears feel like they were underprepared for the investigation. Their names were also redacted and everyone was carrying heavy arms that they found it unreasonable that they were not able to arm themselves properly.

    "Ignore them. Let''s start the search." Yinn said as she turned and opened her suitcase which the Diamondz Corp office in Parry had brought for them. There were small scanners that fit the size of their palms but it does whatever it needs to do. It traced for little bits of inconsistency and see if they could reconstruct items.

    The only problem was that the investigation site had been more or less destroyed by the footprints of other investigators which Parry City sent out in the first ce and there was almost nothing they could see.

    When asked for the reports, the soldier who was responsible for answering any questions, supposedly the Parry City''s representative stated that a copy of their investigative report would be sent to the Diamondz office.

    "So we came here to have a pic? The trial''s cold and here we thought Parry City was going to preserve the site for us to check."? Diaz said through the System channel so that the bastards from Parry City can not hear a single thing."

    "Just continue to look for clues and if there is nothing else, expand the search perimeters," Yinn ordered.

    "That is assuming the Parry City Soldiers are going to let us out of their sight. They probably tell us not to move away from a certain amount of distance as they need to care for our safety." Lynn suggested and she was correct.

    The moment they moved away from the so called incident site, the soldiers called out to them, telling them to return to the site as they moved away from it. And even as the Grey Bears tried to stretch that boundary, the Parry City soldiers responded with their hands on their guns as if they were ready to shoot.

    "They are obviously hiding something. If that''s the case why are they asking us to check? Is it to cover a problem up?" Tellie asked but no one had an answer, only many more questions. All they could do was to check the area to the best of their abilities.

    Click was expecting her teammates or even herself was able to find a miracle evidence that all the Parry City soldiers and investigators were not able to do but the reality was that there was really nothing around here.

    Yet they do not know that there was something the Grey Bears had decided to do in case of such a situation. Click pretended to smoke even though this was her first time to do so and even so most Mechanoids do not even do it. Parry City Soldiers could only assume that there was such a culture for a Mechanoid to smoke.

    It was an unusual behaviour no less but the Parry City Soldiers did not care as long as they stood within the perimeters of the area. Click then threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crashed it gently and returned back to the vehicle.

    Yinn noticed that Click had finished her cigarette and also asked the rest to pack up and go. After all, they would not able to get anything now that the site had beenpromised and restricted by Parry City Soldiers.

    The ride was an uneventful matter which they eventually checked in back to their hotel and the soldiers wished all the best for the stay. Yinn questioned if they could talk to the investigators upon seeing the report but the soldiers denied all responsibilities and asked them to liaise with the Diamondz Corp Office.

    "They are going to watch us." Page said and Yinn nodded her head as they returned back to their hotel rooms for a while before spreading out again into the city. This time it was not to get any information but they were there to talk among themselves without being caught.

    With such restrictions, they would have bug their hotel rooms and the only possible safe space would be the Diamondz Corp office. However, considering how much they are putting their reliance on it made Yinn suspicious that particr office might had been bugged as well.

    Therefore, all they could do right now was to pretend that nothing could be done and it was better to just sightsee the city and its oh so wonderful nature theme. In the meantime, they stayed in contact through the System Channel and they discussed their next move.

    "I assumed you ce the cigarette there as a marker for something." Yinn said when drinking coffee in a cafиж and Click smiled while she was browsing goods.

    "Yeah. But the marker won''tst long. I need to get some parts so that I can create a Mechanical hound to reach that marker."

    "The System had already demarcated the area where the marker is, even if you could not create the hound in time, you would still have the coordinates."

    "Well, you should have told us earlier you have that."

    "The System is unable to confirm until the marker had been ced for that particr reason."

    "You telling us is better than nothing." Lynn said. "Any idea where can she make a Mechanical Hound."

    "User can send the parts for a Mechanical Hound but it would need time. Your best bet would be a scrap parts dealer. Alternatively buy an entirely new Mechanoid parts."

    "We could just get one Mechanoid from Diamondz Corp right? Its for free." Diaz said.

    "Its not the time to be stingy. I am sure Jin had quite a fair bit of points. It would be better to have a high quality Mechanical hound rather than one make from scrap bits considering the distance it would have to cover from the map." Click said and now it was how they could buy without being surveyed.

 Chapter 1675 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1675 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 7</h4>

    "No, but we can get one from Diamondz Corp for free, right?" Diaz said once more and Yin repeatedly said that the Diamondz Corp Office might have beenpromised and getting a Mechanoid from them would raise eye brows.

    "Maybe if Mr Eggy is here, the Parry City Soldiers might not be such assholes?" Tellie queried and Yinn begged to differ.

    "It might make the situation even more vtile as Mr. Eggy would not be able to use his credentials here. It''s like ying around your crown when everyone in that particr empire does not even recognise you for that matter. Not the greatest example, but you get my point."

    "Then what if Mr Eggyes by tomorrow to deliver the goods?" Lynn asked but Yinn felt that it would be better if they could make the hound tonight and check the site as soon as possible before the trial gets even colder or the environment destroys the evidence.

    "Alternatively, we each could sacrifice one part of our body to get the Mechanical hound to work. I mean, we definitely can buy a few spare parts to lessen the sacrifice, that should not be a problem, right? After all, we are from different manufacturers and not just Diamondz." Tellie rmended and it sounded like it was one of the better options their squad could think of."

    "Well then where are we going to meet? We can''t possibly return to our hotels with all these spare parts. Not to mention, not exactly the quietest thing I could do when invoking a Mechanical hound" Click said and Lynn found it confusing.

    "Why can''t we just do all this fusing in the four wheel drive? And tried to act like normal persistent investigators?" Lynn questioned and that was when Yinn realised that the most dangerous ce to do things might be the safest ce as well.

    "So you are saying we get together, drive out of the city area to fuse the Mechanical Hound within the car and if we hit a roadblock, the mechanical hound goes out and we return to the city?"

    "Something like this? That way the mechanical hound can save some power and we would avoid being detected by the Parry City soldiers. It''s not like we are being followed, right? If we are then perhaps, we have to do something more brazen."

    "Last I check, there isn''t anyone following me." The Grey Bears did a quick scan with the help of the System and there was indeed no one following them. A good relief which they believed they bugged only the hotel and possibly Diamondz Corps Office.

    Thus, they quickly gathered the parts they needed for the Mechanical Hound and Click decided to be more brazen as she bought more stuff considering her ss as abat engineer. The rest also did their part with the exception of Diaz who had been ordered not to get anything from Diamondz stores.

    After which, Yinn got their four wheel drive up and drove to different parts of the city to pick the rest of the Grey Bear Squads where Click had already started to fuse the parts together so they could create the Mechanical Hound. Thus, they drove around the city for a while before moving out of it until the System told them there was a roadblock ahead. An upgrade card suddenly appeared in Yinn''s possession and it was the module of invisibility.

    She knew that the System was also aiding them but she still had no idea what her specialised ss would be. For now, she took the card and used it on the mechanical dog so that when they were asked toe out of the roadblock to be searched, the dog could quietly pounce away from the scene and start to move to the investigation site.

    Diaz purposely opened the door wide so that the Mechanical Hound could move out as slowly and quietly as possible. Diaz then shouted some vulgarities at them for being such assholes to the representative of Diamondz Corp and they decided to put a bit of pressure on them asking for their IDs and stuff, wasting time so that the roadblock would have less man guarding it, allowing the dog to move unhindered through the roadblock and into the wilderness.

    Even Tellie''s whose personality was to keep quiet and to see how things unfold had decided to join in the fun for the first time. Everyone was surprised that Tellie spoke up for Diaz when she was pinned down for a search. The rest subsequently shouted as well to create as much distraction as possible.

    Only after they knew that the Mechanical hound had already moved quite a fair distance from the roadblock, Diaz decided to cooperate and they were thankful that they had only been turned away and the guards did not send for reinforcements to aid with the situation.

    Maybe, they knew that they were ''esteemed'' guests and the roadblock was meant to not allow their guests to try anything funny. This could be a win for those who were trying all they could to block the efforts of the investigators and hoped that they could return without much information on their hands.

    Of course, that would be the best oue but seeing this roadblock had thwarted the Grey Bear''s efforts, they assumed that the Grey Bears would still be persistent for a little while longer before they returned.

    And they would be. Considering now that they have a mechanical hound which had also been infused with the scanners that they brought with them. All it had to do was to reach the incident site safely and search for any incriminating evidence that Parry City wanted to hide and search for the truth whether the Crystal Dragon existed or it was a cry for help from somebody.

    Either way, it is too suspicious for them to leave it alone. The more they wish to hide something, the more they wants to get the bottom of it. That was the mistake they made and they would regret making.

 Chapter 1676 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1676 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 8</h4>

    Even though they had returned to their room, they were already pretending to do stuff while watching what the Mechanical Hound was able to search with the help of the System. The invisibility module continued to be working as long as the hound did not exceed a certain temperature. At most of the time, this temperature threshold only happened if they were to fire their weapons at their enemies.

    Therefore, there was not much fear that the invisibility module should continue to work until he reached the marker. Thankfully, it did without too much of a hitch. There were some road blocks but they never cover the entirety of the area, allowing the Mechanical hound to bypass most of them without a problem.

    And when it reached the incident site, there was no one around that monitors it. Even a quick scan did not show any cameras or traps around the area. (The System was sure that it passes its perception check. Lol.) And thus, it decided to move ahead of the area where it had been deemed forbidden for the Grey Bears to move and it started to scan whatever it could to ensure that the Grey Bears had the greatest amount of information transmitted.

    At first there was really nothing of note but subsequently when there was a great ravine, they started to notice the same tracks as they had found at the incident site (less the tampering of it.) Mechanical Hound began to take its time to scan the footprints and it was apparent that they had indeed not find the Crystal Dragon.

    "The tracks do not match the metal footprint that was left in the wake of the Mechanical Crystal Dragon''s departure." Yinn said and Tellie double confirmed the findings as well.

    "It''s another dragon-ish monster then why are the Parry City Soldiers so afraid of showing it to us?" Lynn said and Click shouted that they found something of note that could be useful...or not. It was a torn up document with most of its printed words smudged by the ravine''s river.

    There were some words that were still legible but the only ''rming'' words that popped out was Dragon. There was nothing that could be worth of note so Click continued to ask the Mechanical Hound to check the area. As it passed the ravine and into a valley, the tracks had disappeared.

    "Nope, the trail is gone. There is a small stream that passed through the area and it is not likely we will be seeing anything else. The stream slowly connects to bigger river and it goes to the city it seems." Click said and the rest felt that this relevation amounted to almost nothing until Lynn chipped in.

    "What about ehh checking the walls of the valleys?" She rmended. "If it''s a dragon, it should have wings right?" It might have flown off but at the same time it should be hitting the wall or something."

    And she was right, there was actually some spurts of blood and oil on the walls of the valleys alongside a few w marks. Yinn continued to analyse the w marks and stated that the Crystal Dragon had one lesser fingerpared to the marks. It was not an good indication but it proved that this might be another dragon working.

    "The System does not have ess to Parry City''s database and unable to check the blood. However, the oil used is standard issued Mechanoid equipment used by the Parry City Military. The System had saw and tracked a few of those oil barrels and they were of the same бнoil."

    "What''s with the pause?" Lynn asked

    "The System is double checking if the Daimon had the sameposition of oil being used. As of now, there were no matches with the exception of one that had 78% chance. However, the System cannot confirm the oil we sell to them is the same as the oil they used."

    "Its possible they might have mixed the oil" Tellie said and Yinn agreed which Lynn questioned why.

    "Possible if you think they are running on fumes." Yinnmented. "Their Mechanoids are not exactly thetest models and they seemed to be rusted, indicating maintenance was not their priority. There is a chance the mixed the oil to have it run longer. Not the best solution but considering they are more or less spoiled, its cheaper to buy a brand new model of Mechanoid rather than repair an old one."

    "But we are going out of the theoretical portion of the mystery." Yinnter said and Click shook her head.

    "Not theoretical if we have a body as evidence." Click said as she asked the mechanical hound to jump up over the valley and they saw a rather damaged body of Parry City Military''s Mechanoid as well as a broken off dposing human arm.

    There were still fingerprints which gave them the information that they needed on the guy if they were to search as well as seeing the state of the Parry City Military Mechanoid given them the clues needed to know how it was being killed.

    From the looks of it, it was not just crashed by strong able fangs but rather being dropped from a considerable amount of distance before it went offline. Click quickly try to check it the memory module was still in tact or not and asked its hound to attempt to connect to it so that they could have video or at least audio footage to see if it was truly the Crystal Dragon that had been terrorising the area.

    "Then I guess, the information that had been given to us is not by willing military parties. Someone in the intelligence had decided to leak this information in hopes that we might be able to do something about it." Page stated and Diaz could not hide herughter.

    "You mean the spy got fed up that he/she decided to leak this out so that we can be involved? You think we are in some B rating spy film?" Diazmented.

    "If the spy had decided to go open channel with us to send this image, mostly likely that spy would be dead or imprisoned. All we can do is to wait for the video to be decoded and we can deduce what to do. But it will seem the week would be long."

 Chapter 1677 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1677 Search For Crystal Dragon -Part 9</h4>

    "The Mechanical Hound is able to get some of the footage. Not all. There is a lot of static and noise probably due to the damage that the Mechanoid had suffered. I can bring it back to do a proper analysis of its memory but so far it is like this." Click said and it yed through the System Channel.

    Lo and behold, it was definitely a dragon that visited them but what they did not know was that it was no ordinary one. It was a Mechanical Dragon as well and this time, there was an Empire crest at the side of it. If it''s not for the Mechanoid''s point of view, they might not be able to catch it all. Even though it does not act like the Crystal Dragon its movements ording to the video records that Diamondz Labs has were simr.

    "Since when did the Empire create Mechanical Dragons? You mean the Crystal Dragon was not the first andst of it?"

    "This is worrying. If the Empire does have Mechanical Dragons, there might be a chance if the Archduke were to invade the Royal Family, the Royal Assassins and Royal Guards were not the only trouble they had to contend with." Yinn said as she asked the System to send the report to Jin.

    And that troubles Jin instantly as he gets into the call as soon as possible.

    "What is this? This is nothing like the Crystal Dragon." Jin said and Yinn tried tomunicate to Jin as much as possible the information they had on it. "So you are saying this is an Empire built Mechanical Dragon that could have possibly gone rogue?"

    "High chance. Otherwise, the Parry City Military would not go so far as to cover the trails and restrict our movement that much. We suspect that they are trying to find it as well but Parry City''s outskirts is not the same as Daimon. The territory is circr in nature and the forests are rather evenly spread but when ites to Parry City, we are dealing with Ravines, cliffs, valleys mountains. It''s a whole different ballgame."

    "So you are saying, there is a chance the Empire''s Mechanical Dragon is hidden around here and has yet to flee and the Parry City Military is trying its best to find it in order to subdue it? In the meantime, there''s a possibility somebody leaked this information thinking that Parry City would not be able to handle such a threat or maybe sent it out as revenge?"

    "It''s not conclusive but we believed it''s something like that. Otherwise, they would have been upfront and honest with us." Yinn reported and Jin sighed.

    "System, how are the exports going for Parry City? It might give a glimpse of the duration of the situation that had been imposed on them."

    "There were no changes in export items but only in recent days, they requested more Diamondz Mechanoids but of the older versions. Diamondz Corp did not see a problem clearing old stock and gave them the go ahead." The System reported.? "Those Mechanoids would be as per normal delivery. It was not stated as urgent."

    "Huh, so they are really trying to y this down as much as they could and want to soften the blow before things go bad."

    "What are we going to do? They are obviously not letting us search anymore and want us to return."? Yinn said.

    "Well, it will be troublesome if we enter without permission as well. And if Parry City wants to clear this on their own. We have to respect their choice." Jin replied with a bitter face.

    "But Commander, this goes on. Parry City itself would be in trouble. The Empire Mechanical Dragon would hit the city sooner orter and chaos would ensue." Yinn was overly concerned that it felt that it was out of her usual nature.

    "Commander, as much as I agree with you, Yinn has a point." Tellie wanted to support her vice leader and before the rest could chime in. Jin interrupted all of them.

    "Stand down. This is not our fight at the moment. If we actively hunt Empire Mechanical Dragons, then what can be said of Daimon City''s stance?" Jin replied in a serious tone. "Sure, we might say that we could be hunting a variant of the Mechanical Crystal Dragon but more scrutiny will emerge from us."

    "It''s the same if we don''t hunt them down and the Mechanical Dragon destroys Parry City. They will eventually put the me on us too and the Empire insignia would not make things any easier." Yinn argued.

    "That is why we have to be smart when ites to handling this particr problem. Do not rush through it. I will get Commander Eggshells, General Ost, and Grieves to prepare for a support and rescue mission over Parry City. But in the meantime, try to extend your stay in Parry City as long as possible. I will get someone to send you some more equipment be it legal or illegal means. It might mean much when fighting against an Empire Dragon if ites down to it but at least it''s still a deterrent." Jin said

    "Does that mean Parry City had to be hit first before we can do anything else?" Tellie asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "As much as it is you want to save Parry City, some losses need to be ascertained before we can save the greater good. By acting on your own to find the Empire Mechanical Dragon would only exacerbate the problem and in turn, harm Daimon City as a whole. If we y our cards right, there is a chance we might be able to get out of this and Parry City might be an eternal ally against the fight with the Empire."

    "If we y our cards correctlyбн Jin, this is so not you." Lynn replied and Jin sighed. "I know, but with limited resources, this is what we can only do. It''s not like I have my minions with me." Jin said and Lynn clenched her fists.

 Chapter 1678 Search For Crystal Dragon -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1678 Search For Crystal Dragon -Final</h4>

    "The System is able to bring some of the minions into the Virtual Simtion if Jin wants to." The System said when they ended the call and Jin shook his head as he held onto it as if he had survived a headache.

    "That''s not the whole point. Call an emergency meeting with the other three peeps." Jin sighed as he felt that he was not able to sleep with this situation hanging on his head.

    "General Ost, General Grieves, and Commander Eggshells?" The System asked for a double confirmation and Jin nodded.

    "What''s the matter?" All three were on the line connected but Jin did not exin much.

    "It''s better to say this in person. Convene to the War Room as soon as possible." Jin said and he was already in a car to take him to Daimon''s Military Headquarters. Soon when Jin arrived, General Ost and Grieves were not in their usual uniform attire as they were about to return home. Commander Eggshells also came in non formal attire and Jin apologised for making them return to the base just barely an hour froming out of the talks with regard to the preparation phase.

    "Is this with regards to the situation at Parry City?" Grieves asked and Jin reluctantly nodded his head as if he was at his wit''s end. He asked them to have a seat in the War Room where it was now awfully quietpared to the day when they had their operation to keep Daimon safe from the monster outbreak.

    "It''s best to say this in person as the Grey Bear Squads have found evidence that might prove to be a sort of headache to us," Jin said as he showed the video that Click had managed to salvage from the dead Mechanoid.

    "Is thatбн" General Ost pulled the video from Jin''s holographic console and into his which he magnified and sharpened the video a little more to see that the beast was undoubtedly a dragon and its mechanical in nature. And worse of all, it had the Empire''s mark on it.

    "How is this a problem for us? Isn''t our main concern the Mechanical Crystal Dragon? This is a Mechanical Dragon with an Empire crest." Commander Eggshells remarked and the other two Commanders also felt the same.

    "The creation of non human Mechanoids had always been discouraged and we had already done a media coverup that this was all Edmond Diamondz fault when he transferred his consciousness into the Crystal Dragon. If not for the Monster Outbreak, Diamondz Corp would have to suffer an even harder blow trying to recover from that incident since we provided the bulk of the equipment. Now this is the best time to rise from the ashes if we were to show that it''s the Empire that had been creating, then the fallout would be on them rather than be on Diamondz." Commander Eggshells stated.

    "You mean, you want the Mecha Corp that had been allied with the Empire to take the me? You know that''s fighting against your rival, right?" General Ost asked

    "You sure you want to pick a fight with Rocketeers? Your corporation might be one of the biggest in the Empire but to fight against the biggest of the biggest Mecha Corps is asking to be killed. A singlemand from them will force other Mecha Corps to go against you and even have cities set up an embargo against your goods. The Rocketeers is the Empire''s main backbone of the army and you barely scare the surface." General Grieves argued.

    "In fact, they could turn this around and say that the Mechanical Dragon might be the work of Diamondz since you have some connections to the Empire''s factories andbs. And for the fact that we just let loose a Crystal Dragon, which is an even worse version of a simple Mechanical Dragon would invite even more scrutiny against us." He continued and Eggshells kept quiet.

    "He is doing all this because he wishes to save the skin of yourpany. Diamondz Corp is the main bloodline of Daimon and if it dies, we will die too." General Ost tried to calm Grieves down.

    "If they had not been doing all these experimentations behind our backs, we wouldn''t have to be in such a mess like this. And the creation of non human mechanoids discouraged? Last I remembered, it was not allowed at all regardless of how the Crystal Dragon was meant to be a prototype that would be discarded." General Grieves showed his anger to the subject at hand. Jin had already sensed the entire day that Grieves was not exactly happy that they had to prepare a contingency n for the advent of the Crystal Dragon emerging in Parry City andtering into Daimon.

    However, he had no idea that Grieves was actually angry against Diamondz Corp for pulling the rug under the military and now they wanted to do things their way once more, putting Daimon onto the target board for others to shoot upon. Perhaps, Grieves did mean well for Daimon as peace was what he wanted for the city.

    "Regardless of the anger you have for Diamondz Corp, it does not change the fact that Parry City Military had been keeping quiet about this. I believe they are trying to solve this problem themselves but if things awry and their city gets attacked, it would cause major concerns for us, mainly economy wise. Do we have any military pacts with Parry City?"

    "At the moment, no. We have a few military pacts with other surrounding cities but they had recently considered null because of what they had done from listening to the Empire and noting to assist us when it was time for it." General Ost said.

    "Damn, then why does this Empire Dragon have to appear in Parry City when they could have emerged in those cities. We can then have thestugh." Jin sighed as he once again lowered his head at the gravity of the situation.

 Chapter 1679 Who Will Know? -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1679 Who Will Know? -Part 1</h4>

    "What are the consequences of us going into Parry City if we were to rush in with armed troops if the Empire Dragon were to attack Parry City?" Jin asked

    "Too early of an intervention and it could be interpreted as an invasion mainly because we did not trust Parry City military to handle the threat. Toote of an intervention and lives would be lost, and their city would be in ruins. Plus if you consider how their city is mainly made out of you knowбнtrees. If the Empire Dragon wreaks havoc, the chance of the entire city going into mes is a real issue." General Ost replied.

    "And we will lose one of our economic partners or maybe the most major economic partner at the moment due to this unfortunate event," Grievesmented.

    "So either way, it''s optimal that we defeat it before it reaches the city or we duked it out at the outskirts of the city to have the best oue?" Jin said and all three nodded their heads. They were all at wits'' end until Jin asked a random question.

    "Our soldiersбнthe ones that that were marching back to Daimon from their attack of Mount Sunn. I also assume they areing back from Parry City since they are trekking from the north, right?"

    "Parry City is indeed the most ideal route back because of our recent friendliness with us. We had asked previously and they had stated that they were not going to put up a toll for our returning expedition. However, the fastest they could return is within a week."

    "How so? That time when I needed to defend Mount Sunn from them, they arrived quite quickly."

    "This was because most of the equipment and soldiers were flown to that destination. Now we have injured soldiers, broken vehicles, and a bruise to our military expenses, it was more pertinent that we save money on the trip back. Thus, they are marching back slowly to ensure that quick fixes of the vehicles and machinery were done and the injured were taken care of on the way back." General Ost said.

    "We can ask them to quicken their march back but I have no guarantees that would work. The trail back is not exactly the most developed. Most of the transportation would be backlogged due to the size of our returning army and going any faster without proper coordination with various cities would cause the army to be jammed as well." General Grieves stated and Jin somehow understood that the logistics for the military can be a nightmare and that he was thankful he got the System to handle his minions.

    "Not to mention, the cities would ask what''s the rush and might need some greasing of their palms for the miracle to happen. The problem is that those greasing of palms is merely the permission for the miracle to happen and now making the miracle to happen." Commander Eggshells remarked.

    "I guess, we can choose a toon perhaps? The elite of the most elite to rush down to Parry City if you really want forces." General Ost yawned as he said that but it was pretty obvious, that he was saying that because there was nothing that could work at the moment and nothing good came out of his mind.

    "If we want to push a toon into Parry City, it would be much easier if we send our troops from Daimon to their city. It would be much easier and the soldiers would not be exhausted. But I do get your point." Grieves stated and noted the hopelessness."

    "Nevertheless, it''s quite apparent that we cannot rely on the soldiers returning back once more," Jin said and then this made Grieves ask a few questions in return which he could not wrap his mind around.

    "Why are we doing this? Actually, risking out our troops and our people for the sake of defeating the Empire Mechanical Dragon? I understand that we are doing this to destroy the Mechanical Crystal Dragon but this isn''t it." Grieves'' questions got even more thought invoking. "If it''s the Empire''s dragon, shouldn''t the main Empire armye in to defeat it if it causes harm to Parry City? Furthermore, why are we destroying an Empire rted unit when we are part of the Empire? Or did Parry City do something which incurred the wrath of the Empire and they actually dispatched an Empire Dragon as бнorthodoxically as it is to release a banned Mechanoid to fight againstбнnever mind I somehow feel my mind had been fucked up from theck of sleep from the past few days."

    "Huh, I think I roughly understand where Grieves had beening from but at the same time, there could be an assumption that the Empire Dragon could have been released by other nations and they pped the Empire''s crest on it." General Ost deduced.

    "Alternative, if Parry City is trying to hide it so much. There might be a chance that Parry City is actually creating all of these Empire Dragons at the expense of their city''s budget to be in the good grace of the Empire. But now they fucked up, and they are trying to clean up the mess before anyone else saw it." Commander Eggshells gave his own version.

    Jin was already a goner when he started seeing stars from all these old men conspiracy theories but he felt that Eggshell''s theory might have been one that hold the most water.

    "Wait a minute. So, you are looking at it this way then there is a chance that the Empire wants to build Mechanical Dragons and are getting various corporations to build these dragons under the guise of research or whatever crap as if its somepetition." General Grieves added to the theory.

    "If that is true, then what is the motive or endpoint for the Empire? Why are they doing this to make more chaos for the country? Or is this somest defence ditch in case the Empire gets invaded by a stronger force?" Grieves added and the other two started to think about the consequences and Jin remembered why he hated meetings.

 Chapter 1680 Who Will Know? -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1680 Who Will Know? -Part 2</h4>

    With much rumblings from the other three, Jin decided to stop them and asked. "So, let us put all those conspiracy theories aside. Are we going to help them or not?"

    "I see no merit to act early. You said that you are going to arm your Grey Bears Squad. And I think that''s already the best action to take." General Ost replied.

    "Yes, should the Empire Dragon invade the city centre, Grey Bear''s involvement would be the most ideal as they are not under Daimon''s authority but acting as Diamondz''s. Even if they failed or seeded, Eggshells would have the contribution that he wanted for the Corpo." General Grieves added.

    "The most I can do is put some fighter jets on an hourly standby so that they can sortie out whenever we need them." General Ost remarked.

    "As much as I want to provide some air support, most of it had already been destroyed in the battle at Mount Sunn. We got a few helicopters that can provide some support and that''s it." Commander Eggshells said and Jin sighed.

    This was what Jin had expected and that was why Jin had said something that had disappointed Lynn. As much as he wants to help Lynn and the other Grey Bears to prevent a catastrophic disaster from happening at Parry City, Daimon cannot do anything unless Parry City has suffered damage.

    "Unless I take this matter into my own hands," Jin said to himself and the other three looked at him as if he was mad.

    "бнInterim Leader, what do you want to do?" General Ost asked and he felt a palpitation that he had never felt for the longest time. He was honestly hoping that his leader was not a crazy fellow.

    "Does the Interim Leader wish tobat the Empire''s Mechanical Dragon yourself?" Commander Eggshell who was the only daring person among the three of them asked him the question directly.

    "Do you think I can beat it?" Jin asked them for their honest opinion and they thought long and hard.

    "I personally saw your fighting abilities and it can also be seen that you are not going all out. But if you were to fight against the Empire''s Mechanical Dragon, there might be a minuscule chance that you can win." Grieves said.

    "Hahaha, Grieves. You did not see what Leader Jin did on the Eastern Front. It was beyondprehension. If he can manifest that plus add to how he fought at the Western Front, I think we can stand a decent chance."

    "The time limit is 15 minutes so we need to give everything we got if it happens," Jin said and the rest understood where he wasing from. (And he also kind of cursed Syn for limiting his dungeon instance ''creation'' powers)

    "Still, from the political point of view, it''s best that you wait for the Empire Dragon to at least attack the city then we can act." Commander Eggshells rmended. "If we were to go in and interfere with Parry City, the best case scenario is a heartful thanks and the worst case scenario would be international scrutiny."

    "If that''s the case. Why don''t we make it extremely obvious to them?"? Jin queried and we could identify whether the Empire Dragon is a foe to them or a foe to us.

    "What do you mean?" Commander Grieves asked and Jin tried to exin.

    "If the Empire Dragon is something they wished to hide, they would need tomit resources to keep this a hush hush. We can exploit the video we found and ask for an exnation. However, that will backfire on us in terms of media coverage because of our recent release of Crystal Dragon. They might spin in a way that the Empire Dragon might have been one of the things Diamondz did as well as the Crystal Dragon which we have no evidence to go against their ims." Jin started his reasoning.

    "However, we can also make things simple. Assemble troops right in front of Parry City''s borders. Make them look to us as if it is an act of aggression when we can give the excuse that we were simply assembling troops at the North." Jin said.

    "Ahhбн" General Ost could see thattter''s point. "If we assemble troops, they had no choice but to cautiously put up the troops at their borders too, and since their city is closer to our borders unlike ours where it''s at the centre of our territory thenбн"

    "They have to assemble troops in the city which might cause some panic but it would do them good if the Empire Dragones in." Grieves could see Jin''s n even though it is rather heavy handed in terms of military cost.

    "So, if the Empire Dragon does note out and hit the Parry City in 2 weeks, then that''s great for us but bad for them since they will think we are surrounding them because our troops would be returning from the north."

    "We can coordinate in such a way that if the troops are reaching Parry City, we can withdraw our assembly of troops, perhaps do an unannounced military exercise to guise it. That way, they will feel reduced pressure from us." General Ost said

    "And at the same time have troops protecting their city too." Commander Eggshell could see the n in this.

    "Actually, if you think about it. It can also deduce the nature of the Empire Dragon. This is because the Mechanoid could and the human that was killed might have beenpromised and Parry City was dealing with them using the Empire Dragon. If the Empire Dragon can be controlled by them and they do not appear, we will know that Parry City held a secret that they were either secretly controlling banned customised Mechanical Beasts or building such Mechanical beasts."

    "On the other hand, if the Empire Dragon attacks their city, we will be the ones acting as the saints for assembling our troops in the north." Grieves started to like the idea.? "And we can respond quickly too."

 Chapter 1681 Who Will Know? -Part 3

    "It will bring unwarranted media and press though. And it exposes our military strength to the public again. Not to mention, it can put some vulnerable spots from our moreбнassertive neighbours. The previous military expedition was due to the defence of the city, so volunteers bloated our numbers quite a fair bit. If we were to assemble, the numbers would be quite obvious." General Ost said with regards to the countries from the South who did not even have military pacts with Daimon previously and even prepared troops to invade when Daimon was under invasion by monsters.

    "I understand that since most of the current adventurers'' activity is in the south, they can be part of our surveince if anything bad is going to happen. That I can guarantee you. As for numbers, I think Commander Eggshells can bolster it a little more with Combat Mechanoids" Jin asked and Commander Eggshells nodded his head.

    "Aside from the remaining 110 Combat Mechanoids from Archduke Dyke, we should be able topensate another 1000 Mechanoids if we were to rush production within the week. If you want reserves for tomorrow, I can only spare approximately 400 Mechanoids."

    "It''s not much but every bit counts." The rest decided to take Jin''s word for it and they closed the meeting for the night for they had a long day once morning came.

    For now, an alert had been sent to all the military people that Daimon had raised its alert to orange where they had to be on standby and ready to return for duty which left people curious about what happened again especially when it was given in the night. At the very least, the alert was given out so that they could make some peace with their families before they go for active duty and that was the whole point of putting the alert early.

    When it was the start of the next day, the Grey Bears had no idea what needed to be done until they received summary reports of what was happening in Daimon. Troops had been ordered to assemble near Parry City without any reason given and they were to be on high alert. No orders were given to the Grey Bears as of the summary reports and they were told to sit still and not make any rash actions.

    On the other hand, this undoubtedly made the Parry City Lord, Sir Peru Peru, anxious and immediately gave Jin an official call. "Daimon City''s Interim Leader, Jin." Sir Peru Peru tried to greet Jin as cordial as he could but there was a sense of anxiety within his voice.

    "Sir Peru Peru, it is nice of you to call. What''s the matter?" Jin said as he too tried to act cordial and dumb at the same time.

    "My intelligence services had informed me that Daimon City had been assembling troops in the North and not just the general Northern region but specifically close to my territory. May I ask why?" Sir Peru Peru got to the point so quickly that Jin wanted to pity the guy. There must be a thousand and one thoughts moving through Sir Peru Peru''s mind on why Jin would pull such a strategy. Was it because he had made the investigation team to be too restricted that Jin suspects something? Or did they find out about something that Sir Peru Peru was not made aware of? Either way, the assembly of troops was rather concerning and the Lord of Parry City wanted to get to the bottom of it.

    "He could have made some small talk first, now this is a little awkward." Jin thought to himself before clearing his throat and told his ''rationale''. "Sir Peru Peru, do not fear. We are just assembling troops there for we wish to cover for the Northern Dungeon Outpost."

    "But isn''t the number that my intelligence service had spected to a little way more than what an escort force would be needed to create that Northern Dungeon Outpost?"

    "We do not wish to take any risk. The Northern Dungeon is one of the strongest dungeon entrances that Daimon City ever had. We have evaluated the possible consequences and thus it was better we stay vignt not to have a monster outbreak. Surely, you would not want another monster outbreak so quickly from the other time, right?" Jin tried to lie and see if Sir Peru Peru was able to catch it.

    "Besides, Sir Peru Peru. I am not stopping trading with you when it''s the most lucrative. In fact, the 400 Mechanoids that you had ordered from Diamondz would be delivered promptly to you with no dys. I apologise for the inconvenience and should you feel that this is a little tooбнufortable, I have no qualms for you to bring your own defences if that eases your mind."

    "If you can lower the quantity of troops that you bring in, I will not need to put up defences here, right? And everyone will befortable." Sir Peru Peru tried to bargain.

    "I am sorry but I am afraid I cannot do that. Ever since thest attack and mind you, it''s still fresh in their minds, I do not wish to take unnecessary risks that could endanger my Daimon City Citizens. What if a being of significant strength like a бнerm DRAGON suddenlyes out when we are establishing the outpost?" Jin purposely used that word to see if it would invoke any emotions or change in expression from the video call while he tried to downy by imitating a dragon.

    "Some expression of shock had been noted but Sir Peru Peru seemed to be unfazed by the example given. He is, however, extremely stressed by the whole situation instead" The System reported.

    "Then it gives me no choice that I have to put up troops within the city. I would like to understand your plight but those numbers will terrify my people."

    "Don''t you worry, we will try to build the outpost within a week. If by a week it''s not done, I will remove them as the risk of having a monstering out by then would have lessened by 50% as we stabilise the entrance''s security." Jin said and that was when Sir Peru Peru''s advisor suddenly stopped him and whispered to his lord something. His eyes were wide open as he could not deduce Daimon''s intention.

 Chapter 1682 Who Will Know? -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1682 Who Will Know? -Part 4</h4>

    Parry City''s Advisor told Sir Peru Peru that Daimon''s troops wereing through Parry City in a week''s time and this would make it seem that Jin had the intention to invade his city within the week. And to make things worse, the reports of the Mechanical Dragon had yet to be found whichplicates matters even more.

    "Sir, if Daimon should ever invadeбн" The advisor tried to hint Sir Peru Peru on a matter but the Parry City''s Lord immediately retaliated.

    "Lord Jin. If you do not remove your troops in four days, we will assume the worst intentionsing from Daimon and may proceed to dere war on you." Sir Peru Peru said and Jin nodded his head.

    "I will very much agree to that proposal. As verbally spoken and recorded, Daimon City will remove their troops after four days time." Jin felt that Sir Peru Peru had already been hooked to his ruse and turned off themunication line.

    "You sure that is a good idea?" General Grieves and General Ost were at the corner of the room watching it unfold. "If we leave at Day 4, there are a few days apart before the returning army group will be back."

    "It''s fine. In fact, it is better than nothing. They know that our troops would be walking past the city and so they would not be leaving the city defenceless now that they believed that our intention was to attack." Jin said as he checked the progress of the assembly of troops as well as the media coverage.

    The Daimon people were a little concerned that Jin''s a warmonger even though it had been repeatedly stated that it was for the safety of building the Northern Dungeon outpost. There were critics and analysts worried that Jin''s actual purpose was to iste Daimon City by threatening its only friend within the region. With the Archduke away from the Central District, there were calls and petitions for the Archduke''s defence army to at least patrol Parry City in case Jin ever wished to invade it.

    And that was what everyone would have thought Sir Peru Peru would do but he did not. In fact, he subsequently released a statement of what Jin had been telling the mass media as well as affirming his trust that Daimon City would not lie and break their words. After this, Sir Peru Peru alleviated the masses stating that he had also struck a deal with Lord Jin that the soldiers would move away after four days in order to ease the anxiety within the citizens of Parry City. However, he understood that the safety of his people was of the highest priority and therefore would bring in troops and defences to ensure that they would not be ambushed.

    From the standpoint of Daimon, especially the Interim Leader, Jin knew that Sir Peru Peru was hiding something. If it was not for the Empire''s Mechanical Dragon in Parry City''s territory, no sane Lord would even agree to have a huge military presence right outside their doorstep. The tension was a little high but everyone was still doing business as usual.

    There were no heightened security checks nor any imposing roadblocks which would stop the flow of goods. If anything, the measures were gradually loosened and the people were travelling to and fro without too much of a disruption.

    At the same time, the outpost was being erected but instead of the major security defences to ensure the dungeon entrance was well protected, the first few things to emerge were huge tents and medical facilities as well as a working canteen that could cater for hundreds. Crates of emergency supplies were also brought in including nkets, warmers, and cans of waters as if they were preparing for a disaster.

    The Parry City''s intelligence could tantly see what was happening from the outpost and they reported directly to Sir Peru Peru which made him confused. Why would a security outpost for a dungeon require disaster management items while the military was doing drills that involved carrying light equipment. He honestly wanted to call Jin once more and ask what kind of game he was ying but the issue that clouds his mind is not the assembly of Daimon troops right outside their borders but rather the hunt for the Mechanical Dragon.

    As promised, the Mechanoids that came in from Daimon arrived not just in time but even earlier than usual and for some reason, Diamondz had decided to give 30 more Battle Mechanoids for free, enabling them to have a more extra toon of Mechanoids under their possession. Yet that extra mechanoid power could only add as cannon fodder as the Parry City Military find themselves in a quagmire.

    Reports had shown that the Mechanical Dragon had be even more violent and capturing it to disable it had proven to be ineffective. In fact, the monster became even more erratic in its pattern of travel that many within the intelligence service feared that the next stop would most probably be the city itself.

    That was when Sir Peru Peru had no choice but to not divide his troops any more and decided to use the convenient excuse that Jin had provided to strengthen the city''s defences as much as possible. When the citizens saw even more Mechanoids, tanks and anti air defences rolling in, they were worried that a state of emergency would be dered and that was only day two of Jin''s upation near the border.

    The Grey Bear Squad who had been staying in the hotel had reported the situation as well as sounded out the locations of the possible defence emcements that the military had put. The intelligence service did pay a visit to the Grey Bears and requested them to return to their country as soon as possible or else they might get arrested but Diaz had been pressuring them that they were under Diamondz Corps and not Diamon Military.

    The soldiers had no choice but to oblige that corpo immunity though Diaz also felt that when the state of emergency had been dered, they could be rounded up. Just as both the Grey Bears and the citizens of Parry City had feared.

    It had been dered.

 Chapter 1683 Who Will Know? -Part 5

    "Sir Peru Peru! You have to dere a state of emergency right now when you have the chance!" His advisor and a general of Parry City Military made an urgent call to him when he was about to sleep when the night struck 12.

    "Did Daimon break their promise?" Sir Peru Peru got out of his bed and opened his holographic console.

    "No, Sir. The Mechanical Dragon. We could not stop it even with the extra Mechanoids. It burnt them all down and seemed to be heading to the City when it connected itself to one of the surviving Mechanoids.

    "What? It connects to one of the Combat Mechanoids?"

    "We had video footage and also confirmation of an unknown entity attempting to breach the city''s database." The advisor said.

    "So, it had enough of solo hunting and decided to go on a massacre? This is not what I was told!" Sir Peru Peru could not ept the fact that his Mechanoids and other military forces were unable to control the Empire Dragon. He could not ept the fact that he really had to use the city as his operations grounds where his people would get killed.

    However, that is the truth. Parry City''s outskirts were filled with too many natural obstacles that it is not conducive for a major military operation against such a foe. If they were fighting against Daimon City, there was a high enough chance they could win with guerri tactics. But this particr foe was not human, it was not just a monster which they could use the terrain advantage. It was a beast. A mechanical beast that was created for the sole purpose of destruction.

    The military might have been able to injure it but for some reason, its regeneration was off the charts and the worst thing was that it recovered with every Mechanoid or human it kills. Even a huge bunker buster bomb was not able to do anything to it and Sir Peru Peru was nearly tearing his hair because of this incident.

    "We managed to condone of the monster''s ability to breach the database but it seemed like it is not interested in our data but rather the maps which are considered unrestricted ess." The advisor said and Sir Peru Peru was in a daze. it had decided to venture into the city after having some unrestricted data meant that it found its new hunting grounds for destruction and there was no way his people was going to survive this.

    "Waitбн did Lord Jin already predict this might happen based on the investigation squad he had sent? Does that mean he was about to do the same to us as we had done to them?" Sir Peru Peru thought but his advisor was still screaming at him. There was no time to think about those possibilities and had agreed to his advisor''s instructions.

    rms rang so loud that they red through out the entire city. Immediate broadcast of Sir Peru Peru was on the screen just as Jin had used it for his Daimon incident. It was so loud that Daimon''s military who were on standby had started to wake up as well. But unlike Parry City, all of them seemed to be prepared and knew what was going to happen. Everyone within the Daimon Military was rushing to get things done in the midst of the night where they cursed why those events could not happen in broad daylight.

    "People of Parry City. This is an emergency broadcast. As of 1204hrs, I, Sir Peru Peru, Lord of Parry City had officially dered a state of emergency. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill. We are not under attack by Daimon Military and instead, reports hade in that an unidentified creature had been seen approximately Parry City from the North. Please evacuate to the nearest shelter-" Before Sir Peru Peru could finish his sentence, he saw a shining red dot that blinking from the north. But before he could verify what it was, the dot became so much bigger within a second and that was when he realised it was a fireball that was aimed at his ce.

    "-Oh shit!" The Fire ball exploded a portion of his mansion and he had been knockback by the explosion that everyone who were awake watching the broadcast could not believe their eyes. That their leader had been targeted during his public address.

    "Sir Peru Peru!" His advisor tried to connect to his lord''s holographic console but there was nomunication established just as the public broadcast had been cut immediately when the explosion happened.

    Everyone started to panic as more of those fireballs came from afar. The Grey Bear squad was already wide awake from the rm and had started to wear all thebat gear which had been lying right beside their beds.

    "Commander." Yinn spoke and Jin replied.

    "Yes, I saw."

    "Grey Bear Squad. As dangerous as it is that you might be regarded as an enemy. Go find Sir Peru Peru. I do not trust his generals to handle this situation." Jin ordered.

    "The probability of him dead is extremely high." Page said based on the broadcast.

    "Without Sir Peru Peru''s authority, we are not allowed to help at all. Besides, the Parry City''s Generals would be busy trying to coordinate for the defence. They will also think Sir Peru Peru is a lost cause." Jinmented.

    "Yes, Commander. We will get it done as soon as we can." Yinn replied but before they cut off themunication, he asked to pass the line to Lynn.

    "Sorry, Lynn. I am exhausting as much options as I can to save people."

    "I know, I can see that. Thanks to your actions, people are already in high alert and things are being done at a faster pace. Its already better than the suggestion you made initially. Thank you for going the extra mile." Yinn smiled and Jinn bid them good luck.

 Chapter 1684 Who Will Know? -Part 6

    ?

    "How''s the imagery from the Floating Sky Station? Is the connection smooth enough?" Jin said as he walked into the War Room with General Ost sitting at the main War Room table.

    "What happened to the stuffy old men?" Jin asked as he pulled up his sleeves and folded them up.

    "You clearly did not like them so they had decided to retire themselves away from the war room. General Grieves and I are your new stuffy old men. However, Grieves had decided to go to the frontlines to man the operations."

    "Sir. The connection is stable now." The Central Defence Officer reported and Jin opened it up even though he knew the System had the connection all ready via his console. However, this time, it would be better to have this Floating Sky Station work in tandem with Daimon''s operation.

    And the scene was not as ideal as he expected it to be.

    They thought that the Mechanical Dragon would at least arrive in the city, and survey it a little before throwing some fireworks. Now, it was not just throwing fireworks but it seemed to be targeting key locations. The Lord''s mansion was one of them and the next was their headquarters. If not for the immensely huge flora that surrounds it, theirmand headquarters would have already been burning but whether they can survive or not depends on how aggressive the Mechanical Dragon could be.

    However, what they were more surprised about was that the Empire''s Mechanical Dragon managed to bypass the city''s barrier which indicated that the barrier algorithm had somehow identified it as a friendly rather than a foe. It wasn''t until the first few hits had gone through that Parry City managed to update the barrier algorithm so that it managed to block the subsequent hits.

    Still, that did not mean they were safe as even the Parry City military knew that it was only a matter of time before the barrier would be torn down.

    "People are fleeing and some have brazenly entered Daimon''s territory without any fear of consequences." The Central Defence Officer reported.

    "That had already been expected, let them in but in an orderly manner, and be sure to at least take their credentials. If they have no identification, we have no choice but to detain them first." Jin said and the officers ryed Jin''s orders to the frontline.

    Additional makeshift immigration offices had already been prepared within the northern region while the actual border offices had their doors open for those who were already trying to flee into Daimon.

    They had no idea that Daimon was actually preparing for such an event as they saw how Mechanoids were directing them to the various immigration offices as well as detention camps. The Mechanoids were apologetic but a rule is a rule in which the Parry Citizens were a little unhappy and yet at the same time relieved that they managed to get out of Parry City.

    Yet, the detention camps were not as horrific as they thought. It''s just that they needed to be tagged and processed to ensure they have a valid temporary pass to remain in Daimon City for the rest of the duration when this entire thing was urring.

    After which, the Daimon military was seen preparing the nkets and a basic package of amenities for the Parry City Citizens while appointing them areas where they could rest within the Northern Region.

    Word of Daimon''s generosity spread like wildfire just as how the fire within the city started to creep to other buildings because of the intense flora the city had. But at this time, firefighter nes had already taken off from Daimon''s airfield and been consistently requesting clearance for Parry City''s permission to enter their airfield.

    It was to the point they were at the very edge of the airfield that Parry City finally gave clearance, allowing the firefighter nes to enter to help with the firefighting efforts. Rescue helicopter also came in flocks and Parry City Military''s higher up finally realised the intention of Daimon.

    They had given enough hints and clues that they were preparing for a disaster despite the build up of military presence right beside their border and the Parry City Military kept assuming that they were a ruse for an actual invasion. It was only until they started seeing actual rescue efforts being carried out at a moment''s notice shown that they were anticipating this particr attack for the past few days.

    Daimon was their ally and not the aggressor and a few of their seniormanders were already petitioning to their Generals if Daimon could officially join the fight against the threat of the Mechanical Dragon.

    Some of the higher ups were still not convinced that Daimon''s actions were genuine but a few of the military officers especially the Air Force had sufficient proof that Daimon was here to help and they immediatelymunicated with the Daimon Military Intelligence for a coborative effort.

    "Huh, at least the Air Force is not stupid and they can catch on quickly. Tell them as long as they allow us unlimited ess to their airspace, we will continue to provide assistance both in support andbat roles. Looks like Sir Peru Peru isn''t the only supposed good guy," Jin said and the order was ryed immediately.

    "You are giving them air superiority? Are you insane? Have you forgotten that the Mechanical Dragon is a problem that we should solve alone! If Daimon investigates on this after we put it down, we will be in a lot of trouble!" The Army General said but the Air Force General of Parry City refused to listen to his counterpart.

    "I do not care. If I need to be court martial for increasing the chances for the citizens of Parry City to live. I will do it." Air Force General Inus stated and told his tactical officers to follow his orders and only his orders. "Send the information through public Broadcast that Daimon City is offering temporary asylum and they can head for the borders immediately."

    "Yes, Sir!" The tactical officers also knew that the citizens had a better chance of survival if they moved into Daimon mainly because of how the city would be in mes and those shelters would eventually be an oven stove, roasting the people alive from within.

 Chapter 1685 Who Will Know? -Part 7

    As soon as Daimon had been given assurance that they had unlimited ess to their airspace, more helicopters and even the helicarrier that 2LT Cloudie had been using were being sent to Parry City to aid the citizens. Helicopters from Parry City Military were also given clearance to bring their citizens into Daimon and the skies were full of traffic.

    The evacuation scene which was supposed to be orderly became slightly more chaotic as more and more people decided that Daimon was a safe ce to run away topared to staying in Parry City.

    Propaganda? Or the Power of Mass Media. For the past two days, people had been seeing how Daimon had been gathering its military strength in the name of creating the Dungeon Outpost which was obviously a big lie. All the neighbouring cities condemned Daimon for brandishing their military and Parry City Citizens kept shouting vulgarities at them, scolding them for being such pompous arseholes. But because of that ''lie'' and precisely due to that lie, people scrutinised had seen how prepared Daimon had been in those two days.

    In fact, they did not even hide what they had been trying to do and they were doing everything they could to show that they were not preparing to invade Parry City at all. That was why when the rms rang, the ones nearest to the border suddenly realised what Daimon had been doing all this while.

    And thus, they fled despite all the criticism they had for Daimon. And when they were ready to beg, to plea for entrance, the Daimon military which they had cursed and offended, opened their gates and gave them what they needed: Safety.

    Now with the technology that they had possessed to criticise, they were telling everyone within the city and mass media to as many people as they could to run to Daimon for safety and that Daimon City can protect them. It was a 180 degree change that the neighbouring cities had no idea of.

    Some tried to escape through the other cities because they were nearer to them but their neighbouring cities were denying them stating that they could not ept refugees unless their lords gave them permission. When all hope was lost, the Parry City citizens started seeing that neighbouring cities'' border control there were Armoured Trucks running by.

    At first, they thought that they were going to be captured and detained for making a ruckus until they saw that those people who came out were employees from Diamondz Corp. They stated that they would be providing shuttle services to the neighbouring cities'' airports where they would be brought to Daimon. However, if they were to escape and run anywhere else, they would be considered illegal immigrants and the city they were in would persecute them.

    Those Parry City Citizens could not imagine the joy they had when they knew they had a ce to go and they listened to Diamondz Corp each and every step so that they could get out of the city safely. It was a deal struck by Denise with the various border controls and it seemed that it had paid off well now that they saw it in action.

    The only shocking thing was that the neighbouring cities once again did not bother to lift a finger up for Parry City and decided to stay neutral. To Jin who was overseeing the rescue operation, it was already better than the Daimon incident where they decided to even shut their doors and barriers.

    "I think you know why they wished to cooperate," Denise said before the start of this operation and Jinughed. "Perhaps, I will think about it whether to cut their Tariffs if they allow us to operate."

    But even as Daimon wished to focus on just the rescue portion, the Mechanical Dragon was not going to give them any quarters to breathe. It mmed right into the barrier and thankfully, it managed to stop its tracks but a portion of the ws managed to get through it.

    The anti air defences which Parry City Military had installed hastily in the past two days, automatically locked onto their target and started to throw as much as it could against the portions of the dragon which had managed to get through the barrier. It was the only time those defences would be effective since the dragon would be stationary due to it being stuck on the barrier.

    In the meantime, the Parry City Military was diverting as much energy as it could to the area where the dragon was stuck so that the barrier could hold as long as possible. A minute, or even a second longer meant the possibility for another citizen to run to safety.

    In the meantime, as the air defences were doing their best against the Mechanical Dragon, the soldiers manning those emcements heard loud screeching noises from behind them only to find Daimon had also sent fighter jets to shoot precision guided prators to break the Mechanical Dragon parts.

    Sure enough, the prators worked but what they did not expect was that the Mechanical Dragon was able to regenerate its arm just like how Jin fought those Tri-Rexes. Also, in order to ssify it much more easily, they decided to call it Mecha Fire Dragon for easier reference since the Crystal Dragon was still out there in the wild and they had confirmed this was not the one. (well duh)

    Yet even though the arms and ws needed time to regenerate, the prolonged duration outside of the barrier enabled the Daimon Fighter Jets to do a more daring attack. They flew out of the barrier as well and did a diving bomb run using the electrical bombs that had been used against the Metal Ogres before.

    However, the Mecha Fire Dragon did not hesitate to use his fire breath projectiles to destroy the slow dropping electrical bombs before they reached their targets, rendering the effect almost useless. It did however seem to messed up its sensors as an electrical bomb dropped quite near it before it exploded from the fireball attack, allowing one bomb to go through and hit its body.

    It was pretty effective but the fighter jets realised it was not doing enough damage since the regeneration was allowing it to grow back. And when Jin saw through the surveince that it could regrow back arms and had destructive powers to boot, his only reaction was just this.

    "Aw Shit. Here we go again."

 Chapter 1686 Who Will Know? -Part 8

    ?

    The mansion was burning and it started to spread to the garden grounds. However, the mission for Grey Bears was clear as day. To find Sir Peru Peru and get out of the ce as quickly as possible. As much as they did not wish to wield weapons, they had to at least hold something to protect themselves.

    But soon, they found out that there was no need to.

    As much as the guards were paid a decent sum to protect the Lord of Parry City, it seemed that they valued their lives more than searching for a possibly dead Lord. Sir Peru Peru might have been dead in their eyes but their career wasn''t. All they had to do was to survive to earn another day of wage.

    "Is that why Jin wanted us to search for Sir Peru Peru instead?" Click asked as she was holding her backpack as delicate as possible since it was constructing resuscitation kits in case Sir Peru Peru was still alive.

    "One of the reasons especially since the chaos of the city would devolve into something worse if there is no leadership to hold the front. During the monster outbreak, Jin was able to hold the fort and he could make rash but decisive actions which turned the tide for the city. The same goes for Sir Peru Peru. Jin is hoping he could do the same." Lynn presumed to understand what Jin was thinking of.

    "I honestly think he just does not want a change of Lords. Sir Peru Peru had been rather kind to Daimon and most likely Jin wants him to stay in power to keep things status quo." Yinn gave her opinion as they climbed up the walls of the mansion with their grappling hook guns.

    The fire continued to rage but the Grey Bears did not care mainly because they were Mechanoids. They calmly scanned the area and did a retro analysis with the help of the System on where Sir Peru Peru might have been based on the attack on the Lord''s mansion. The System deduced that Parry City''s Lord should still be on the second floor of the lofty ce.

    It did not take them long to find a guard unconscious but still breathing. "I will take this guy," Tellie said as she felt that she was the least useful member in this current rescue mission which Yinn agreed to let her go.

    "Contact HQ to send a rescue helicopter into this particr location. There is word that the airspace had been cleared." Yinn ordered and Tellieplied to the dot. Even if it was not Sir Peru Peru, the human guard was still a life that needed to be saved. The call for the rescue helicopter early could have given Sir Peru Peru the needed time saved to go to Daimon for treatment.

    "I sense life!" Click said as her ultrasonic frequency detector produced the shape of a human beyond the crushed door. "It''s weak though! We better hurry!"

    "Are there crevices?" Page asked and Click quickly tuned her ultrasonic detector and nodded her head when she sent a pulse through the crushed door.

    "Give me the optimal route to human life, the repair nanobots might only be useful to Mechanoids but at the very least it can provide some data on the human''s condition." Page said.

    "No, let themtch on this. I have been creating this during my spare time and it should also be able to pass through the crevices." Click said as she took out a small metal box that fits through the ammunitionpartment of her battle vest. When she opened the box, it was a mechanical insect with a slightly saggy tail.

    Page did not hesitate to ask for any extra information and did what Click suggested. The Saggy Tail Insect got activated and it flew through the crevice while Click, the main star of the entire squad for the search and rescue mission started to take out tools used meant for rescue.

    From hydraulic cutters to ram jacks and extension spreaders so that the debris from the ceiling does not drop on them. Click started to do her job trying to make sure the crushed door could be open and at the same time maintaining the stability of the ident site.

    "I will attempt to move in from the outside. With my martial skills, I should be able to have ess to the window." Lynn said and Yinn agreed to the n. If Lynn was able to find an alternative route to the injured, it would be the most optimal.

    "Click I will take your Ultrasonic Detector and search for other survivors," Diaz said but Click did not register since she was focused on cutting the debris down.

    In the meantime, the mechanical insect was able to move through the crevices, and the camera on it noted that the survivor was indeed none other than Sir Peru Peru. Click informed the rest that they were delighted that they managed to find their target on the first try which prompted them to work more decisively.

    Yinn subsequently followed Diaz to search for other signs of life while Clickmanded the Saggy Tail Insect totch itself to Sir Peru Peru''s mouth. The nanobots that Page possessed eventually sneaked into the Lord''s nostrils and situated themselves into the frontal portion of the maxiry sinus. Yet that was more than enough to transmit information about Sir Peru Peru''s vitals.

    In the meantime, the insect spit some sort of gel to cover the nostrils and ced its tail into the mouth of Sir Peru Peru. As gross as it sounded, the insect''s tail expanded and contracted forcefully. It was onlyter Page realised that this mechanical insect was something simr to an inhaler mask.

    The only difference between it and an inhaler mask was that it was able to push oxygen (though in small quantities.) thus enabling the survivor to continue breathing and not taking in the smoke.

    An ingenious design that Page felt that Click must make a few more in the future as part of her emergency kit.

 Chapter 1687 Who Will Know? -Part 9

    ?

    "No wonder the Parry City Military and their Mechanoids were not able to do much damage to the Mecha Fire Dragon." General Ost saw how the dragon regenerated its arms and continued to try to tear the city''s barrier down with its fangs.

    "How''s the rescue efforts going?" Jin asked and the Central Defence Officer stated that while it was going apace, more and more civilians wished to be rescued and evacuated.

    "If the numbers going to rise steadily through the next few hours, we do not have enough to clothe and feed them." The Central Officer said and Jin sighed. They could help evacuate the first few thousands but if more Parry City Citizens were risking their life to get out of the city and into Daimon, it would pose a problem for them during the recovery phase as well.

    "Sir! The Grey Bears Squad sent an emergency signal, requesting to save two guards and one VIP. All critically injured." The officer reported.

    "Any nearby helicopters that could do the job?"

    "Only the Helicarrier, sir. Otherwise, the nearest rescue helicopter would be at least 3 kilometres away with half the load."

    "Patch me up to 2LT Cloudie," Jin asked and the officer instantly establishedmunication lines with the helicarrier pilot.

    "Cloudie, no time for formalmunications. Move to these coordinates and pick up a VIP. Time is of the essence."

    "But Sir, there are a few dozen more that are attempting to board the helicarrier. If I leave now, they are not going anywhere safe. The helicopters would have a field day trying to get these many people out as well."

    "VIP is Sir Peru Peru. We need him alive to get things done for Parry City." Jin knew that the other lives were equally important but so was Sir Peru Peru.

    "But Sir." 2LT Cloudie understood the gravity of the situation and was ready to obey the leader''s orders until he heard Jin sigh.

    "I will see if the Grey Bears squad to go near you if it''s possible. You hold the line for a moment" Jin quickly switched themunications to the Grey Bears.

    "How injured is Sir Peru Peru?"

    "Concussed but still breathing. Some exterior wounds but no punctures and from a quick x-ray, only a few bones were seemed to be fractured. His vitals are borderline low but we have prepared enough blood to maintain his condition. It''s the other guard that we found that is in critical condition. Lynn found him as she was transversing to get to the VIP."

    "Oh my god. I thought from the report from the officer that the VIP had been injured seriously." Jin said. "Can the guard be maintained until the rescue helicopter arrives?"

    "If Page and Click stays with him and monitor his condition. There is a high chance he should be able tost for another 45 minutes." Yinn reported back.

    "We then send the nearest rescue helicopter to him. On the other hand, I assume Sir Peru Peru is on a hover stretcher?" Jin asked as Yinn acknowledged. A hover stretcher was something like a stretcher that was floating above ground with the use of anti gravity modules as its engines. This is to prevent the stretcher from moving through uneven grounds which may increase the severity of the injury that the patient had.

    "If that''s the case, move towards the helicarrier''s position. 2LT Cloudie is still boarding quite a number of citizens and your mission is to reach there as soon as possible."

    "It will take approximately 15 minutes and I do not think we have the luxury of time considering that dragon is gnawing on the barrier like it''s hungry for the main course," Yinn said. "Not to mention the helicarrier is a huge target that the dragon cannot ignore and I am not sure if its stealth mode will bluff the Dragon''s sensors and logic board. Plus it needs time to go back."

    "I can do that in less than 3 minutes." Lynn chimed in. "But it will be a slightly rough ride for Sir Peru Peru as he needs to be strapped tightly to the stretcher. Not to mention, I have a few tricks up my sleeves that could prevent the dragon from breathing fire at us for a while."

    "Good. I will go to the battlefield soon." Jin stated before returning themunication line to 2LT Cloudie.

    "Cloudie, Lynn will be going towards you as we speak. Prepare the engines and get out of there as soon as possible. I do not care if there are still people on the ground. You fire up those engines and run the hell out of there before the dragon burns that stinky old carrier down and you not only cause your life to be down the drain but the people on board too."

    "Alright, Sir. Point bluntly taken and do not say bad things about the carrier. She doesn''t stink!" 2LT Cloudie acknowledged as he started to prep the engines and that made the Parry Citizens who were trying to get on board a little anxious.

    "Don''t leave without me please!" In the meantime, the Daimon Combat Mechanoids were pushing them away and only letting the most frail or needed medical attention board the ship. As much as they do not wish to operate with violence, desperate times call for desperate measures when the Parry City citizens begin hitting the Daimon Combat Mechanoids.

    It forced them to use nonlethal force such as smoke grenades as well as choking grenades to hinder their breathing so that they could not retaliate that much.

    "Sorry people, no matter what I do, there will never be enough for everyone." 2Lt Cloudie said as he saw a Mechanoid jumping over buildings while carrying a stretcher at the top of her head.

    "Lynn! Be quick!" Cloudie shouted through the speaker and Lynn was already doing her best to move as fast as possible but she underestimated even the building terrains of Parry City, forcing her to move with caution too.

    Sadly, things never go as nned as the Mecha Fire dragon''s roar could be heard not behind the barrier but through the barrier.

 Chapter 1688 Who Will Know? -Part 10

    <h4>Chapter 1688 Who Will Know? -Part 10</h4>

    The heat signature from the dragon was an indication that it was going to st something and the System using the Floating Sky System surveince had managed to predict the following ces it would hit.

    The algorithm was somehow injected into the Floating Sky Station''s live feed since there was no time to exin or give excuses when that huge fiery ball of mes aimed for. The moment it emerged on the possible paths of attack, Jin and the Central Defence Officers alerted the respective pilots who were still in the air.

    And one of them with the highest percentage that would be hit was undoubtedly the helicarrier. "Cloudie maximise the shield modules NOW!" Jin shouted and Cloudie did as he was told but they knew that if the Mecha Fire Dragon could obliterate half a mansion with its breath, what were the chances of the helicarrier surviving even with its shield at the maximum capacity?

    Soon, the Dragon did release his ball of mes towards helicarrier and they thought there was no hope for the aircraft as Cloudie told some of them to jump out of the carrier at that instant. A loud explosion ensued and smoke covered up the scene for a moment that the War Room could not see whether the helicarrier was still around.

    It was only after a secondter the electrical signals indicated that the carrier did not explode at all. The shields that Diamondz Corp had installed at the veryst minute had worked. However, as the smoke dissipated, the truth was bare for their eyes to see as the shields were not the only thing that had been helping the helicarrier to survive.

    Lynn was standing there with the hover stretcher behind her they could see that she was badly charred by the burning mes. She too had used her generated chi to create a shield that worked in tandem with the helicarrier''s shield, allowing the carrier to be still intact despite the tremendous shaking.

    "Get her and the hover stretcher in! We are moving out now!" 2LT Cloudie ordered the Daimon Combat Mechanoids to move and they did what he ordered. The Hover Stretcher and the patient on it were fine but not so for Lynn whose metal was still scorching hot that when the Combat Mechanoids held onto it, their hands would burn.

    Thus, they quickly turned off their pain sensory system and brought her up into the Helicarrier. This time around, Cloudie did not care about the Parry City Citizens who were desperately trying to climb on board as well. He knew that if he did not move now when there was still some smoke dispersion, they had no chance of going back at all.

    But the citizens who wish to risk all else to be on the helicarrier even charged through the Daimon Combat Mechanoids and grabbed onto the aircraft without any care. They believed that if they were going to die, might as well try clinging hard onto whatever they can so they can live. Some of the Parry City Citizens on board also took pity on them and threw ropes in hopes they were able to grab on it.

    Yet, doing such dangerous actions had put not only the citizens who wished to risk their lives to do so but also the carrier itself. Cloudie eventually did not care about those who tried to climb aboard the helicarrier and for the sake of the rest of the people who were already within the carrier itself.

    He raised this throttle and pushed his aircraft as high as he could so that he could get away from the buildings and any humans who were still clinging to the ropes would not be hit by the buildings as well.? He was not particrly concerned with the humans if they hit the buildings and went st but rather if any stubborn portions of ropes or humans caused the helicarrier to be stuck. That would be an issue where evasive movements were not able to save too.

    Along the way, a few of those humans screamed as they were on the ropes dangling from the helicarrier and Parry City Citizens were shouting at the now locked cockpit to give them a chance to get up first before flying any further up.

    A few were crying and screaming but 2LT Cloudie who was a seasoned veteran had no choice in this. Ethically he knew he had to help them and yet he consistently reminded himself that the Parry City Citizens who were shouting and banging on his cockpit were the people he needed to save too. There was no chance in hell he was going to stop just it.

    To make matters worse, the Mecha Fire Dragon once again was surprised to see that the helicarrier, the target who it thought it had destroyed was running away from the Fire Dragon. Hence, it howled terrifyingly before sending out another fireball.

    Fortunately, this time the Daimon Fighter Jets had already anticipated its attack and sent out even more prators to disrupt the shooting of the fireball. It was sessful as the fireball was diverted away the moment the prators hit the dragon''s head.

    However, what the Daimon Fighter Jets did not know was that the Mecha Fire Dragon already knew it would be distracted and had already prepared another two fireballs which readjusted its aim and shot them.

    "There''s no way I am letting you get them!" One of the Daimon Fighter Jets'' pilots said as he purposely intercepted one of the fireballs with a missile. As for the other fireball, the pilot sacrificed his jet and possibly his life to protect those people who were desperately clinging to the hope that the helicarrier could bring them to safety.

    The entirety of the War Room fell into silence for a moment as this was the very first casualty that Daimon had suffered throughout this entire operation. Many more were toe but both the officers and the fighter pilots who had trained in rigorous simtion exercises by Jin had sworn one thing. They were not going to let the helicarrier go down regardless of the cost.

    In that one scene, Jin witnessed the beauty and ugliness within humans.

 Chapter 1689 Who Will Know? -Part 11

    <h4>Chapter 1689 Who Will Know? -Part 11</h4>

    "The Helicarrier had sessfully reached Daimon Territory! It''s making an emergencynding near the border due to those people who were still clinging to the ropes for dear life." The Central Defence Officer said.

    "Prepare anding spot for the helicarrier to let the noninjured survivors go and subsequentially detain those people. We get the bottom who put the entire carrier at risk. After which get it to go the Daimon Central Hospital as soon as possible." Jin said and the officerplied.

    The helicarrier was able tond smoothly and soldiers immediately came in to capture all those who were in there that might have disrupted the operation. As much as they want to rescue people and maybe their own family, they should not have jeopardised the entire carrier.

    Sadly, those citizens were notpliant and the soldiers had no choice but to use force to get them out of the carrier. The whole entire time, their very own citizens saw themotion through and through and only some raised their voice to say that it was inappropriate use of force while the others kept quiet.

    A majority of them knew that they already had it easy since they were able to find food and shelter when things went awry and for those who did not appreciate this simplefort offered courteously by the other city, they did not wish to make a fuss.

    It was not until Jin held a broadcast at the border, stating that a handful of Parry City Citizens had not followed protocol upon escaping, resulting in the loss of a pilot''s life. A quick 30 second video was shown that pieced the entire story stating that the helicarrier was about to take off and those Parry City Citizens showed no regard for the safety of the other passengers on the aircraft.

    As much as Parry City Citizens wished to criticise the use of heavy handed force on the group they saw whilended, the context given by Jin had left them no choice but to keep silent. Some understood what was going on and they could only hope the rest of the Parry City Citizens could think rather than inciting violence to the people who tried to help them.

    Meanwhile, as themotion went on. The Daimon Central Hospital had readied their medical team to treat Sir Peru Peru only to find that he was able to open his eyes before he reached the hospital. The medical team was delighted that he was awake and quickly did the necessary preparations as well as vital taking to ensure that he was okay.

    "Where am I?"

    "Sir Peru Peru. You are currently in Daimon Central Hospital. Elite Daimon Forces had rescued you from the crash and saved you to be in here." The nurse stated as they continued to push him to the pre surgical ward for a more detailed evaluation.

    "But my peopleбн my city."

    "Sir Peru Peru. Our interim leader is doing whatever he can to save your people ording to the media and I have no doubts he would attempt to save your city from ruin too. For now, rest easy and we will do what we can to save you." The nurse said.

    "Let meбнat least talk to Lord Jin for a whileбнWhen I am still ableбн" Sir Peru Peru said and the nurse ryed the message to the attending in charge. The Central Defence Officer who was responsible for overseeing the administrative works of medical operations was there and the attending in charge sent the request to him.

    "No problem. Give us a while alright?" The nurse said after informing but the Central Defence Officer came rushing in and activated a line for Lord Jin and Sir Peru Peru to talk.

    "Lord Jinбн" Sir Peru Peru tried his best to talk but the pain started to kick in.

    "Don''t worry. I do what I can. We will rebuild Parry City together, okay? Go for your surgery ande out smoothly. Your people are waiting for you." Jin said but Sir Peru Peru was saying something different.

    "By the powers vested in me, I proim you as the бнcough Interim Leader of Parry City." Sir Peru Peru said and Jin''s eyes were wide open while the insides of him were screaming just one word.

    "Fuck."

    "Don''t you dare go dying on me? I will pass back your leadership. And for the medical team, you guys better create a miracle for me to see." Jin said and Sir Peru Peru cut themunication line.

    "I am ready, you can bring me in now." Sir Peru Peru said and the medical team started to prepare him for surgery. As soon as themunication lines had been cut off, Jin''s head lowered to the table and stress began to mount on him.

    "That gives you the authority on Parry City''s Military as well when you showed them the video of that previous conversation."? General Ost said as if it was a card that could be yed well.

    "Nope. No Thanks. I will remain status quo until the death of that stupid dragon that made me work so hard. It''s not even the crystal dragon that we were hoping to find. Arrgghhh!" Jin screamed to the table and everybody could see the frustration in him until he raised his head and stated. If it was just the stress of an additional city, it might have been fine but the thing that stressed him out was seeing Lynn being burnt to almost a charred state.

    Once 2LT Cloudie delivered Sir Peru Peru to Daimon Central Hospital, he now rushed towards Diamondz Corp Headquarters in hopes that Lynn could still be repaired. But one can only hope when the Combat Mechanoid who was holding her had also been burnt by the intense heat she was emitting. It was to the point the Combat Mechanoid had to carry her on her back in order to ensure that the heat did not destroy the floors of the Helicarrier.

    And by the time 2LT Cloudie reached Diamondz, even the Combat Mechanoid ceased functioning trying to keep Lynn steady.

 Chapter 1690 Who Will Know? -Part 12

    <h4>Chapter 1690 Who Will Know? -Part 12</h4>

    "Denise, how is иC" Before Jin could say anything when themunications line had been established, Denise interrupted him

    "Lynn had done the mission for you. And you better make sure you make the mission reward count. I will do whatever I can to save her and you do what you need to do to make sure that Mecha Fire Dragon gets what''sing." Denise shouted through the line before disconnecting it once more.

    "Interim Leader. I get that you are close with your customised Mechanoids." General Ost had no idea that Lynn was his girlfriend. "But we need to get this done. People are awaiting your orders, you have to trust Denise that Lynn can pull through."

    When General Ost tried to make an effort to calm Jin, the situation did not allow it to happen as the worst had finally happened. Central Defence Officers were shouting that the Parry City''s barrier had been shattered and the Mecha Fire Dragon made its way into the Parry City''s area without any hindrance.

    Daimon Fighter Jets had already been asked to return the moment the rescue helicopters had already been evacuated. However, the task of distracting the Fire Dragon had been equated to death. Multiple Fire Balls were shot in their direction and the Dragon finally decided to spread its wings to give chase against the Fighter Jets.

    Yet, as dangerous as it looked, the Daimon Fighter Jets were asked to waste as much time as possible and not even think of attacking it. Just buzz around as flies and distract as much as they could. That involved throwing electrical chaffs to fuzzy up its sensors andter dropping an electrical bomb to cause a paralyzing wave rather than to damage it.

    All of this was to not only buy time for the rescue helicopters but also for one main character to show up.

    Interim Leader of Daimon City and Parry City, Lord of Mount Sunn, Jin.

    Despite the prep talk to get him up, General Ost did not realise that Jin still had a sense of responsibility within him and when the officers said the worst had happened, he already started telling the Central Defence Officers to bring out the rocket.

    General Ost still thinks that the ''rocket'' was a dumb idea but that dumb idea was introduced by Jin as the makeshift way to go intobat as quickly as possible. Sure, fighter jets and helicopters could work but Jin wished to stay in the War Room for the longest time avable so that he could direct stuff and not let General Ost go mad with white hair alone.

    The rocket was based on Old mmet''s Rocket Coffin design which Old mmet had reluctantly given Diamondz Corp and they modified it to be a single one way ticket rocket. Its speed was subsonic but the distance covering Parry City could be said to be neligible for speed tests so Jin was fine with it as long as it did not explode mid way.

    If that was the only requirement Jin had, the Diamondz Corp was able to guarantee the Interim Leader would be able to reach Parry City safely since Old mmet had also received data from the Rocket Coffin through the System had already made adjustments to the design before giving it to them. "As long as they follow the core mechanics closely, a single rocket or even a quadruple rocket does not matter at all." Old mmet said and Jin trusted him and Diamondz.

    "Sir, the ''Rocket'' is ready. It will be best to wear safety equipment before entering." The project leader for the ''Rocket'' said as it was already being prepared forunch. The moment Jiny down in it and pressed a button, it would st off.

    "There is no time for that," Jin said as he wore thebat vest and brought a bunch of swords all tied up and he hugged it tightly. Those swords were the very same swords that Rafeal had asked Jin to test previously. Since there was not much of a time difference between the day he has shown Jin the test and to make improvements, Rafeal had decided to give him the prototype swords with inserts of regenerative metal inside. It was better than nothing and the fact that it was sturdier than the mass manufactured swords meant Jin could not be picky about it.

    All he wouldin was that he had to carry that bunch of swords like carrying a bunch of firewood and there were no proper customised scabbards to hold that many swords for him. Well, that is if he had the luxury toin as in his mind, the only thought he had was to kill the Mecha Fire Dragon with everything he got.

    "Two more of our Fighter Jets are down!" Themunication from the War Room continued even as Jin had left the area. General Ost initially said that he would take care of it and asked Jin to focus on the killing of the Mech Fire Dragon but he did not care.

    "I am all ready!" Jin said that he was already in the squeezy slot of the one way ''Rocket'' and the project leader also said that the coordinates had been ced at the centre of Parry City.

    "What? No. You should have tracking abilities on the missile right? Hit it to the Mecha Fire Dragon."

    "But Sir, this is already dangerous enough, you want to hit it in midair and you fight it in midair without any parachute or jetpacks?"

    "Do as I say and hurry or else another fighter jet wille down and you want that in your hands because of hesitation?" Jin shouted and the project leader reluctantly allowed the missile to start.

    "Lol, I thought he would reject my wishesбн Oh well, this is for the best." Jin said as he too started to emit Maqi into his bunch of swords and subsequently took a deep breath before pressing a button and the ''Rocket'' ejected towards the Mecha Fire Dragon.

 Chapter 1691 Who Will Know? -Part 13

    <h4>Chapter 1691 Who Will Know? -Part 13</h4>

    "I''m out and nearly bingo fuel." One of the Daimon Pilots said as he felt that the only time to buy time was to sacrifice himself and the jet against the Mecha Fire Dragon who had been relentless with its attacks despite the multiple attempts to distract it.

    "Same here. There is no way one more dodge and we dive in." His wingman said but just as they were about to perform their final evasive moment a missile warning came out from their radar straight from behind.

    Did Daimon start to throw missiles now that they knew their fighter jet pilots who were out of ammo and out of fuel to buy more time? If so, they were d for the assistance and perhaps they could squeeze another few seconds or so.

    Yet, when the missile came into their sight, it suddenly popped out something that was not too clear to them before the missile hit the Mecha Fire Dragon''s torso. Obviously, being the Dragon that could bring fiery destruction, it believed the missile was something that it could tolerate and show its superiority once again to these humans that they were no match for it.

    But as the explosion dispersed and the fighter jets moved away from the Mecha Fire Dragon for a clearer view of whether any damage had been done, it seemed like their consoles picked up a mechanical grin as it wasing from the dragon itself.

    The dragon wasughing at how pathetic the attempt was until their AI registered a massive heat signature from the top. The pilots immediately reacted and saw that there was a human diving down to the Mecha Fire Dragon.

    Sparks of ck Lightning emerged from the human and that was when the fighter pilots realised that it was not just some human but it was their Interim Leader.

    "BLACK LIGHTNING SMASH!" Jin took a sword out as he inserted as much chi as he could it forced it to glow ckish white while emitting sparkles that sounded like birds chirping nonstop. The Mecha Dragon felt the intense energy signature and decided to use its wings to cover itself but it was of no avail.

    The moment Jin hit it with the sword, it was as if the gods had rained a burst of lightning bolts towards the Mecha Fire Dragon. "Don''t you dare break!" Jin said to the sword as he pushed even more Maqi into it and the glow got so intense that it started to slice into its metal pieces. The consistent lightning bolt strikes banished it to stop being in the air and it continued to spiral down along with Jin back to the city''s centre.

    When it hit the ground, one finalrge ck lightning bolt mmed into the body of the Mecha Fire Dragon before the sword finally disintegrated along with the hilt. Jin did not hesitate to pick up another sword and thrust the de into the wound it created before emitting his chi once more.

    This time it was tit for tat.

    "Red Panda Fire!" Jin shouted and the de glowed bright red before a tornado of mes gushed out from the wound of the Mecha Fire Dragon. The Fighter Pilots wished to see more of the scene but its fuel was in the red as well, forcing them to bid good luck to their Interim leader before returning back to base.

    Mechanoids from Parry City''s military started to surround the Mecha Fire Dragon as Jin tried to suppress it and they started shooting towards its legs and wings in hopes to stagger it down. Even a tank managed to pass through the tight corners of the city and fired at its torso, further away from Jin. They had no idea that this was their current Interim Leader who was fighting for them as well but they were smart enough to aim at the same ce where it seemed the main damage dealer of the day had entered the battlefield to eliminate this threat.

    When the Parry City Military War Room caught sight of who the person was, they were taken aback by the image. The Interim Leader of Daimon personally entered the fight to stop the monster himself. But even if they wished to be optimistic that Jin could win this, the Mecha Fire Dragon proved them wrong as it managed to turn its head, especially to the tank, and fired out a ming hot ray of energy that cut the tank into two.

    Jin saw that as he tried to take another prototype sword out and threw it towards the corner of its mouth. "Since you like fire so much, I will give you something to cool down!" Jin shouted as he released the sword that he was holding and mmed his hand into the Mecha Fire Dragon. "Blue Panda Ice!" the energy of that m reverberated towards the sword that was thrown into the Mecha Fire Dragon''s mouth and with it, the prototype sword vibrated as well.

    And suddenly from the corner of its mouth, a cier of ice spikes emerged piercing him through his mouth and rendering the Mecha Fire Dragon to be unable to sprout any more energy rays or fireballs for the time being.

    Then, Jin tried to burn it alive again as he held onto the sword that was within the wound and stabbed it in even further. The Dragon wriggled in pain and now ying its tails and ws hoping to scratch away the venomous snake that had bitten it.

    Too bad for him, energy sts emerged from the top and eventually, it took out both of his hands. The energy st signature was so obvious that it did not take long for Jin to register it as Tellie''s handicraft.

    The Grey Bear Squad had finally seen the opportunity to defeat the Mecha Fire Dragon and had already been running to Jin and the Dragon since it dropped to the ground. This time, Jin was sure that it could finish the dragon on Lynn''s behalf.

 Chapter 1692 Who Will Know? -Part 14

    <h4>Chapter 1692 Who Will Know? -Part 14</h4>

    Or that''s what Jin thought.

    He had forgotten that the mechanical monster had tricks up its sleeve as well. Even as the Jin tried to put more pressure on the Mechanical Dragon, the Dragon suddenly opened its torso armour and arge amount of high speed hot temperature mists shot out as if to regte the temperature within it.

    Jin thought that by overheating it with his cultivation powers, it might get roasted from within. Never did it imagine that it had an extremely robust cooling system and it was burning Jin alive. He had no choice but to move away from the Mechanical Dragon in order not to be cooked.

    But that was where Diaz came in as she started to fire all sorts of weaponry into the pressure vents. To her, this was the opportunity she was waiting for as she was on higher ground and started releasing all the bullets without caring where itnded.

    Which was also why she had decided not to attack it until Jin had stepped away. Yet the steam vents were something to be amazed about. Even as Diaz tried to fire her bullets into it, some of her initial shots had been melted by the intense blow of heat.

    Tellie on the other hand had also contributed to the attack and her longe range energy st was more effective than Diaz''s sttering of bullets all over its body. Yet, it was not until Click who came inst armed her Mechanical Hound with as many explosives as it could (She even asked the hound to hold a bag of it in its mouth!"

    And once Tellie had sent her energy st into the centre of the Dragon''s torso, Click pped her hound''s ass and it dived straight in as per its master''s orders, causing an explosion that sent multiple shockwaves.

    "Diaz, move away. I''m going in." Jin said even as everyone was still readjusting themselves after the knockback from the shockwaves. Soon, they all saw Jin jump up once using the surrounding buildings as his pedestal and dived down to the dragon.

    "Like I said, a tit for a tat." Jin expressed his rage through the dual swords that he was now holding and both of them were emitting an intense signature of energy like they had never seen before. A white Lightning source and a dark lightning source which was held in each hand.

    As he swung them up high for a dive, all of them suddenly saw the electrical sparkles creating some sort of illusion of a white bear with ck spots around it. "Panda Lightning Smash," Jin whispered as the silhouette of the Panda sparkled as if its ws smashed down towards the dragon causing a light so bright that it acted as if it was some giant sized shbang that had been thrown into Parry City.

    Just as Jin was about to give the Dragon its onest blow for confirmation within the thunderous explosion, Yinn suddenly jumped down from the building and stopped him while Page dashed into the scene and connected herself to the dragon. She had been eyeing several possible openings where she could insert her programme and while Jin sure did a number on it, Page was able to find that the back of the neck was still viable.

    As she connected herself to the dragon, she quickly sent her nanobots to repair any possible damage to the connection of the hard drive and download any information she could before overloading it, causing a self destruct using her nanobots that were within it.

    "Jin, it''s dead. It is over." Yinn continued to hold Jin as she could see that Jin was not himself at all. Even though his body continued to move his consciousness was borderline fading away and Yinn believed that he had overexerted himself.

    "Command. This is Grey Bear Squad, Yinn here. The Target had been neutralised. I repeated. The target had been neutralisedбн What the fuck?" Yinn immediately pushed Jin down as she saw multiple Combat Mechanoids approaching them and started shooting at Jin and Yinn.

    "This is Diamondz Corp Investigation Team, Grey Bear Squad. I request for you to hold your fire!" Yinn shouted and yet the soldiers and Mechanoids did notply. "System! Broadcast this immediately!" Yinn said and the System immediately showed it to the Daimon City as well as the Parry City''s citizens.

    "For whatever reason, do not turn off the broadcast!" Yinn said and her words were already turning as feedback to those who were watching on the screen.

    "Why are you shooting at us?" Diaz shouted back to create evidence for the stream too. "We just killed this fucking dragon for you!"

    Even when getting shot, Page tried to take this opportunity to find the Empire Crest as if they did not know it was from the Empire even though the higher ups knew. "Ladies, isn''t this the Empire Crest? Why is this on the Mecha Fire Dragon?" Page said via the stream and Yinn pretended to shout for extraction even though she knew it was too risky to do so.

    "No use! They are noting. They said it was too dangerous."

    "General Ost, General Grieves is asking if you are willing to send an immediate assault into Parry City to save the Interim Leader?" The Central Defence Officer asked and Ost instantly rejected the idea.

    "We cannot based on just one group of Mechanoids justify sending in an entire force of eager Daimon troops into Parry City just for that. Give the stream a little longer time, I am sure the Grey Bears can defend Jin since they have been through worse. In the meantime, let me do some theatrics as well since the Grey Bears are doing it. Patch me up to the Parry City''s military headquarters." General Ost said as he could feel that therger picture was about to reveal itself to the public.

    It''s just a matter of how much Ost could dig out from the military.

 Chapter 1693 Who Will Know? -Part 15

    <h4>Chapter 1693 Who Will Know? -Part 15</h4>

    ?

    "Daimon Defence Commander General Ost to Parry City''s Military Armed Forces, what is the meaning of this? Get your Mechanoids to stand down! The Mecha Fire Dragon had already been defeated and we are being shot at by your Mechanoids."

    "There are no confirmed reports that the Mechanical Dragon had been defeated. Also, we concluded that the Mechanical Dragon might have been from Daimon all along since you have allowed the Crystal Dragon to lose. We are therefore taking your Interim Leader in custody formitting war crimes." The Army Commander of Parry City, General Toba stated in the air.

    "If we are invading you, do you think we took the time and effort, even money to save your people?" General Ost said and Toba shrugged.

    "It''s possible you want a proxy war via the Mechanical Dragon. Stand down, let us arrest your interim leader and we can talk the facts outter. If you are willing to show that your concern for our people is genuine. Then do as I say." Toba said.

    "Besides, you released footage of your war crime violence to the public. Isn''t that already enough evidence that you are trying to make war with Parry City?" Toba shouted but General Ost stood strong. "And now that Sir Peru Peru is dead, we have to make sure that the sovereignty of Parry City continues to remain relevant. Tell that investigation squad of yours to surrender and we can proceed with peace negotiations."

    "No," General Ost replied firmly. He knew that Sir Peru Peru had just been out of surgery and the doctors said that he should be well within the week. There was no use putting out Daimon''s trump card so quickly but officers are definitely needed to ensure that Sir Peru Peru is within the safety of Daimon. But by doing that, people might suspect Sir Peru Peru was also being held in custody by Daimon Officials. So, Ost did the most simple thing of all. Deny and ignore.

    "Then we have no choice but to ensure that your Interim Leader is within our custody as we are afraid that you will break your initial promise and invade Parry City. Judging by how strong he is, I believe a few bullets would not kill him, right?" General Toba had no idea that this was being livestreamed to the public and his mannerism was extremely off putting.

    "We did not promise you anything except for the withdrawal of troops assembling in the Northern Borders. And also No. We will not allow you to ede to your demands as well." General Ost said and just as Toba was about to speak another line, an officer quickly shouted that this was broadcast as a public livestream which forced General Toba to quickly turn themunication off.

    "Sir, the Livestream has ended." A Central Defence Officer said. "Also, urgent encrypted transmission of arge cache of data from Grey Bear Squad Member Page. She said the password is the dumb trio with Commander."

    "The Dumb Trio?" Ost questioned and the Central Defence Officer immediately presented the data into his console. As he tried to type on the holographic console, he realised that the password limit was set to 3 characters only. He thought of brute forcing the password out but when he typed a random 3 letter word, the password was wrong and he only had 3 tries left.

    "Is this the Grey Bear''s way of diverting their anger to me for not helping them?" General Ost asked and the Central Defence Officers could not give an answer as well. After all, they all knew how Jin worked and the Mechanoids under him were somewhat unique as well.

    Meanwhile, Yinn was holding Jin like a baby as she protected him from all the stray attacks that were about popping everywhere from the alley. Diaz was providing support from the rooftops but she too was going to get surrounded. Click regrated that she used her Mechanical hound for the st as she thought it would be a nice farewell gift for the stupid ass dragon. Now she started to move around, hiding, trying to rendezvous with Tellie.

    The Sniper Mechanoid on the other hand was having a field day until she got spotted. So, she was now having a sniper shoot out with various Mechanoid snipers until she heard a loud boom from the back, indicating that Mechanoids had already zoomed into her position and she had to get out of that area fast.

    Eventually, Diaz and Yinn were together again and so was Click and Tellie. The only one that was missing right now was Page who had decided not to answer any of their calls. Diaz was worried initially until Yinn told her not to and Diaz pressed her for an answer but Yinn decided to use the System Channel to talk since they were livestreaming everything.

    "Because Diaz, we were right. This attack of the Mechanical Dragon seems too fishy. Page had managed to get some data out from the Mechanical Dragon. We will be the bait for the Combat Mechanoids but we have to survive until she can get concrete evidence. No moremunications after this, even the System. We need to be on high alert, this ce is not our territory."

    "Roger that," Diaz said in the System Channel before closing it shut as she pounced on one of the Mechanoids who were chasing too close to Yinn and Jin and started to cover their backs.

    "Where are we going to go? For now, the Diamondz Corp Office." Yinn said and Diazined. It''s too damn far! And why are you telling the Livestream this?! They are going to know!"

    "Then let theme and we will show them how strong Diamondz Investigation Squad is." Yinn boasted and Diaz had no choice but to follow her leader''s crazy wishes. Click and Tellie on the other hand had decided to also move to Diamondz Corp Office but they were taking the other way about to spread out the Mechanoids that were chasing after them.

    "Gosh, this felt like the first encounter with Jin over again." Click said to Tellie and sheughed.

    "At least I am participating in it actively!"

 Chapter 1694 Who Will Know? -Part 16

    <h4>Chapter 1694 Who Will Know? -Part 16</h4>

    "What''s with all the ruckusбн" Jin thought to himself as he could feel that his body had been tugged, squeezed, pulled, grabbed in every way thinkable. "Shouldn''t the battle be done already?" He tried to open his eyes and found that Yinn was huffing and puffing.

    If not for the fact that she was a Mechanoid, there was no way she could pull this deed of protecting Jin up till now. "Are you fully awake?" Yinn asked with a bright smile. "You seem to be struggling in your sleep. And there were some sort of worm or worms going around your body. Tellie and Click described to me what had happened to you before.

    "Yeah, that''s normal for me. What''s happening?" He asked when more bullet shots were heard from the back of her and Yinn knew there was no time to get such exnations from him.

    "Scenario 7. We had been betrayed," Yinn reported and Jin squinted his eyes toprehend what was going through in his head.

    "I see. Culprit''s the military as usual?" Jin asked as his Mechanoid finally found a corner where they could have a breather and Jin was back on his knees. He fired up his Maqi a little and found that he was able to circte better and more of the supposedly blocked smaller meridians had been opened. Jin therefore believed that he is now Cultivation Grade 4. He was guessing the repeated smashing of the Dragon provided some strain that forced those meridians to open.

    Diaz finally zoomed out from the corner and greeted Jin. "Honestly, I thought that you were dead for sure considering how Yinn had been covering you."

    "I think I did receive a bit of grazing from the bullets but they do not hurt as much," Jin replied. "It''s probably thanks to you and Yinn for protecting.

    "Yea, its he pain. I should be thankful that I did get those extra armour ting. They were worth it." Diazmented.

    "The Mechanoids are still chasing us as we speak and we are at least 200 metres away from the Diamondz Corp Office," Yinn stated to remind them of the current objectives.

    "Did you not say that this particr Diamondz Corp Office had beenpromised in your report?" Jin asked as Yinn handed him a pistol for self defence as well as a few ammunition clips.

    "It might be and the Parry City Military Soldiers and Mechanoids would have already deduced the location we are going and they might be there to ambush us." Diaz said. "But that is the only possible ce to convene plus it''s in the south area of the City. Consider it as a checkpoint."

    "I assumed you have some other n other than going there blind," Jin said as he started to move when Yinn found the coast was clear.

    "Yes, Page might have found something pertaining to the building of the Mecha Fire Dragon. She had sent an undisclosed amount of encrypted information to General Ost because she had not been able to analyse it as of now. However, she managed to decipher a possible location that could reveal more of the problem."Yinn secretly switched to the System Channel to tell Jin this while on the surface she gave a big fat No.

    "So, we are the bait?" Jin asked even though he knew that it was useless to ask such an obvious answer but it was all for the camera livestream.

    "Sadly, yes." Diaz did bother to answer Jin!

    "Rules of engagement?" Jin questioned and Yinn stated that she had been performing non lethal shots to the soldiers but she would kill the Mechanoids if possible.

    "That''s rather kind of you guys. I honestly did not expect that." Jin said as he too decided to do the same when he encountered his enemies.

    "But we cannot guarantee the same thing for those in tanks or jeeps. They posed too much danger to us." Diaz remarked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Have you seen any of those Diamondz Corps Mechanoids that we had sold in the mix of this fight as well?" Jin asked and both of them did say that they encountered loads of them. "That''s good. Which means we can turn the tide a little."

    "What? Do you have a master kill switch code? I thought that was forbidden especially after Diamondz sold their goods. It''s against the international trade agreement and if this big of an operation, Diamondz will get penalised for it."

    "Hahaha! Why did you talk like Denise? Do not worry. I am doing something less dangerous than that. I will ''hack'' them." Jin said as he checked with the System if it was able to identify the Diamondz Mechanoids within the vicinity.

    "How the heck you will hecking hack them?" Diaz asked and immediately they encountered one right in front of them. Jin said he would take the lead and grabbed it by its head which he then shouted "COMMENCING HACK A TON!"

    It was in a loud booming voice that a number of soldiers who were trying to find him were able to hear him and push to that direction along with their Mechanoids. But the shouting was not the only thing that had happened since Jin also released a visible circr wave of force with his Maqi which vibrated through the buildings and roads.

    There was no visible damage to those soldiers who encountered the force especially at further distances but it was still something that gave them a bit of goosebumps. It did not actually do anything than to feel more prepared to engage the enemy.

    However, that wave of force was nothing but a ruse. A ruse that was created by Jin on the spot. That force did what it needs as an act of theatrics for the livestream while the actual thing that happened was Jin sending out a code. A secret passcode to all of the Diamondz Mechanoid who heard the phrase mencing hack a ton'' to remove their IFF (identification friend or foes) codes.

    When that happened next was pretty apparent as the Diamondz Corp Mechanoids who initially saw the soldiers as their friendlies had started shooting at them at their back. What seemed like betrayal subsequently turned into a free for all.

 Chapter 1695 Who Will Know? -Part 17

    <h4>Chapter 1695 Who Will Know? -Part 17</h4>

    "What is happening to those Mechanoids?" General Toba asked as suddenly soldiers were reporting that the Combat Mechanoids they had apanied were shooting at them and to the extent of killing.

    "It seems they had been hacked, sir." One of the tactical officers said.

    "Did the Diamondz Corp purposely add a secret kill switch? We now can have another card to y. And this will get Daimon in big trouble." General Toba smiled.

    "No Sir. They were genuinely hacked. Their IFF codes had been removed and they are attacking everything and anything. And that includes the Investigation Squad that we had been chasing as well." The tactical officer also turned and pointed at the livestream which they were also viewing once they had ess to it. (Which was an easy task since it was a public broadcast.)

    "Damn it! And now that Jin is alive and breathing, this will be so much harder. We do not have many soldiers in the first ce. Do what you can to bring the situation under control." General Toba grumbled and then the person behind him talked in a coarse voice.

    "I told you so. Not to be a cheapo. This is what you get for trying to circumvent the system and backstabbing people from the back."

    "Well, General Inus, you are actually the one who backstabbed us and allowed those Daimon people unlimited clearance of the airspace. And what has that gotten? Chains for you as you see your tactical officers all killed." General Toba smirked as he showed Inus the massacre his tactical officers did to retain control of the War Room. "You should be happy that you still have a role to y."

    "You fucking bastard. I hope that Jin will find you and kill you in the worst possible way."

    "Now now. By saying Jin, are you professing that you are in alliance with him?" Toba smiled giddily and Inus held his anger in as anything else he said would be implicated towards him. "Smart boy. To keep silent."

    At that point, the tactical officer shouted something that took Toba''s attention and Inus was left with his own thoughts. He now understood why one of his trusted officers had sent him a cryptic hint before he disappeared for good. At first, Inus believed that he went into hiding but the more he saw the betrayal of General Toba, the more he thought that his trusted officer had already been killed.

    "The creation of the Mechanical Dragon...? Sir Peru Peru had been suspecting of General Toba for some time ever since the Mechanical Dragon emerged on his radar. Instead of trying to ask for help, especially from Daimon City who had shown they had the capability to stop two monster outbreaks, Toba guaranteed Milord that the Dragon was something that could be handled with the Armed Forcesбн" General Inus continued to backtrack what were the telling signs.

    And when he thought about it, Toba kept insisting that the Air Force should not budge due to the terrain of the ce where the Dragon was hiding. Inus kept saying that he could assist and Sir Peru Peru also was in support of the n but Toba continued to say to keep this a secret. And said that any excess bombing would bring unwarranted eyes into the situation.

    But the thing that kept Sir Peru Peru''s interest was that Toba assured him he could capture the Dragon which they could use to replicate its design through reverse engineering or maybe even keep it as an emergency. Yet, what Sir Peru Peru really wanted was to have the corpse intact so that they could get to the bottom of it. Of why there was a Mechanical Dragon roaming around Parry City''s territory.

    "And if it''s Daimon, we will surely make them pay." Sir Peru Peru was being objective but Inus believed that Toba took that as an inspiration to push all the me on them.

    And that was what Toba had also done when Inus had been backstabbed. The moment General Inus gave word that Daimon had unlimited clearance of their airspace. Things started to move for Toba. His troops suddenly rushed in and pointed their guns at the Air Force Tactical Officers but fortunately for Inus, his officers were top notch in managing crisis and all Inus needed was to buy them some time.

    The Parry City''s Air Force General did not care about his life and put himself in the front of the soldiers who were pointing their guns at his officers. In the meantime, the tactical officer whom Inus was protecting was one of his most trusted officers under the Air Force General. He hastily sent an emergency text to Sir Peru Peru whom he had contact with frequently warning him of the mutiny within the army ranks.

    And that precious time that Inus had bought for him was the reason why Sir Peru Peru was able to read the message and give Jin the powers of the Interim Leader to deal with the situation before he went into surgery. The only problem was that the Lord of Mount Sunn did not know of the details and development of such mutiny and assumed that Sir Peru Peru was merely responsible for his work.

    Yet even if Jin did not know of such truth, the Synthesis AI administration who had been keeping their hands away from thisplicated problem knew that the Grey Bear Squad and Jin were already walking on the right path to get to the conclusion and the bottom of this matter. All they had to do was to struggle a little more.

    But to say the struggle was kind of an understatement since even when Jin had managed to ''hack'' and remove the IFF codes, the Parry City Military did what was expected of them. To shut them offpletely with the kill code they were given.

    "A hundred metres more!" Yinn said in an attempt to motivate the rest as they were still being shot in all directions.

 Chapter 1696 Who Will Know? -Part 18

    <h4>Chapter 1696 Who Will Know? -Part 18</h4>

    The public who was watching this situation unfold was in high tension. Daimon Citizens were cursing that their Interim Leader had did so much for the Parry City Citizens and their military had decided to respond as such.

    The citizens especially the military had seen Jin not just as a leader but as a saviour for them in times of darkness when everyone had abandoned them to fend for themselves. His decision was unorthodox initially when the citizens heard that the military was going to be deployed in the north.

    But those insiders who were working to procure supplies during the assembly could see that he did not have such an intention to fight them. The bulk of the Daimon military was also initially against the assembly as well since they knew that the creation of thetest outpost was such a poor excuse. The creation of the Southern Daimon Dungeon Outpost had no problems at all and even if monsters do leak out, they did not entire military to be out in force.

    It was not until they saw that they were not packing guns but food and nkets. Only essential arms and deterrent weapons were permitted as most were briefed on a ssified level that they were expecting some sort of disaster happening in Parry City and the military was there for a rescue operation.

    So, when it really happened, the Daimon military worked their darndest to ensure that they could save as many Parry City Citizens as they could. They stuck to their training and protocols to ensure that little to no harm was done to those citizens. Those soldiers felt good. It was really good that they were doing something beneficial other than just sacrificing their lives for the defence of Daimon City.

    But when the announcement came around, the feelings of charity turned into something darker. Everyone saw how the Parry City Military had decided to hunt Jin down who had also decisively killed the menace that gued their city. Because of him, the city was mostly unharmed by the Mecha Fire Dragon and the development of the fight had been captured by long distance cameras.

    People from both cities were initially happy, relieved and bewildered by Jin''s capabilities but those feelings had been betrayed by the terrifying act of the Armed Forces. The Daimon Citizens saw how their kindness had been trampled upon and their anger rose.

    The Daimon Military was not excluded as well and perhaps they were the group that was most affected by it. They want to go in and save their leader when they saw how the Mechanoids ganged up on him and the Grey Bear squad who they knew were his prized squad.

    And yet, their General forbade them from moving even though he had every right and every chance to do so. "Jin would not want any of such violence to happen when he wakes up." General Grieves''s words spread throughout the Daimon Military as they had to show tolerance to the thousands of innocents who were right now under their care.

    This was even made more apparent that the Grey Bear Squads were trying their best to survive and not kill any human soldiers to the best of their abilities. From leg shots to arm shots, they missed all the vitals as much as they could and when ites to those tanks, they tried to only disable the barrels or their engine. (Their weaponry could not do that much damage either) The approach for minimum violence against the Parry City military was there for everyone to see on the livestream.

    But to those who watched it, some of the younger soldiers could not control their anger and pointed their guns at the Parry City Citizens. Only through the intervention of their seniors who did their best to hold them back and even detained them to make sure that they followed Grieve''s orders. Those younger soldiers shouted in agony and some even cried that if anything were to happen to Jin, the Parry City Citizens would not be forgiven.

    For the Parry City Citizens, they were in much confusion and they had no idea why they as the victims have to suffer this much for whatever reason. Their homes were in possible ruins and could have been worse if not for Jin, their lord was supposed killed by the dragon initial attack, their city was not prepared for such an attack when their neighbouring city already had an inkling of it.

    Yet when things felt desperate, their friendly neighbour tried to help them to the best of their abilities that they lost precious people doing so, but their very own protectors used them for creating this problem up and were hunting their leader who had single handedly exterminate the problem that no one knew where it came from.

    Now, they were in between being refugees and a hostage. There was so much to take in within the middle of the night, some just broke down to despair while the others begged the soldiers to take mercy on them.

    And to make things worse, they were seeing it live how the Daimon Leader was doing as much as he could to not injure the soldiers because he did not wish to make the situation any worse. For the Daimon Citizens on the other hand, they were all praying that their Interim Leader could ovee this situation as he had always done.

    The demonstration of staying his hand not to kill was also seen as a sign and message to his citizens to not hit the Parry City Citizens who were equally the victims within this ongoing predicament. That was why even though they had the hatred within their hearts and anger umting in their fists, they held them on and practice patience and tolerance.

    This whole problem could blow the wrong way and the tightrope was so thin that if Jin were to do something off or if the Parry City Military did identally kill Jin, the kettle that was boiling within these two groups would not just scream but explode.

 Chapter 1697 Who Will Know? -Part 19

    <h4>Chapter 1697 Who Will Know? -Part 19</h4>

    "Care! Those are their own citizens!" Jin shouted as Diaz''s reflex nearly killed a group that they had identally found when they were trying to hide from suppressive fire in a house. However, the military soldiers did not know and did not care that they even threw a grenade into the house.

    "Fucking hell!" Diaz took unplugged one of her chest armour tes and mmed it onto the grenade and Jin used the force of his Maqi to suppress the explosion so that it would only be contained inside the circr armour ting.

    "You guys alright?" Jin asked and The mother who was holding onto her child and covering his mouth nodded their heads silently. "Great. Try to move slowly to the back even further for your safety and we will get out of here right now." The two of them nodded their heads again which was a signal for Yinn to charge out after she had taken a breather and reloaded her weapon.

    "Last stretch 50 metre!" Yinn yelled as she fired her weapons at the stupid idiots who had thrown the grenade into the building. All of these were once again captured by the livestream and the people of Parry City sighed a breath of relief for the innocent victims.

    "You sure this is 50 metres? Do not feel like it!" Diaz said as she turned her head to the direction they were supposed to go and it was crawling with multiple roadblocks and tanks blocking their way. In fact, at that point in time they also heard a whistling noise which Jin was extremely familiar with.

    The whistling noise of artillery diving down.

    "What the fuck is your PROBLEM, HOW IS THIS A TAKEDOWN?!" Jin''s anger got the better of him as he used his inverse eyes to locate the long range artillery shell and charge his gun with a sudden overwhelming amount Maqi. He was about to use his powers again but before he could do anything, the shell exploded in mid air.

    "That''s a clean shot. Tellie!" Click announced from above them and started shooting 60mm canisters toward the roadblocks with her grenadeuncher. Smoke started to emerge from those cannisters and they were none other than choking gas with a small mix of Click''s specialty. Some hot sauce spice within it.

    It was so choking and hot that it rendered most of the human soldiers incapable of retaliating. Their eyes were bleeding with spice and their breath was short tobat the choking feeling. At the same time, Click threw down a hazmat mask built with a filter that could dispense her special choking gas.

    Jin managed to catch it and the trio rushed through the roadblock as if their lives were dependent on it. Mechanoids were gunned down and Tellie used the opportunity to do some tank practice. Her Beams were precise enough to melt the gun barrels and they were not able to shoot anything. Thank goodness they do not have any enhanced mecha armour within the mix of troops that manned the roadblocks or else this n might not have worked for them.

    And just as they took down thest Mechanoids the five of them rendezvous at the front of Diamondz Office. Most Daimon City''s people believed it was a win as Diamondz Corp''s office could provide some political immunity, especially for Jin.

    However, before they were able to take a step into the office, in fact, when Click tried to open a door, they heard a ''click'' sound. Before they could register the consequences of that, the entire Diamondz Office exploded right in front of their eyes, taking them with it.

    The Livestream was instantly cancelled but everyone beyond the borders of Parry City and in Daimon could hear the explosion. The long range cameras who were attempting to record all of the Interim Leader''s exploits caught the explosion in real time as well and those in the military who were well versed in explosions knew that it was not a normal explosion.

    It was a Thermobaric explosion, meaning it was a type of explosive that worked by dispersing clouds of aerosol? gas or powdered explosives that will be a hundred percent more energetic than a conventional explosion. It shone through the darkened skies of Parry City and everyone who saw it could feel that no one would ever be able to survive such an attack.

    The shockwave shattered ss, and windows and even knocked away those disabled tanks that were near to office site. Doors and debris were flown away from the explosion site and to the point even surrounding buildings copsed unable to withstand the power of the residual shockwaves.

    Every single Daimon Citizen who saw the attack knew that this could only be the work of Parry City Citizen to set up such a deadly attack within the office, especially after seeing how they had already condone the area and not allowing anybody near the area.

    "SOLDIERS OF DAIMON. STAND STILL. DON''T YOU DARE TOUCH A STRAND OF HAIR OF THOSE CITIZENS WE SAVED OR I WILL MESS YOU UP MYSELF." General Grieves''s announcement through the militarymunication lines was loud and clear.

    He knew that if he did not give any urate instructions, the hearts of those soldiers who had seen and served under Jin would not be able to take it at all. General Ost once again sends a message to everyone within the city to stay calm and not do anything rash.

    "We have no confirmation that the Interim Leader had killed in action. We will need concrete evidence to determine the facts before using Parry City''s military of performing such atrocious acts on the livestream. All I ask is to help the innocent while we ascertain the facts." General Ost knew that what he said was stupid, dumb, and even overly ridiculous.

    Everyone had seen the scale of the explosion and as the smoke dissipated, the entire Diamondz Corp Office had been wiped out from the face of this world. How unsure can one be to determine that their Interim Leader Jin had not been killed tantly by Parry City''s Military? "They might think how the military can be so egoistic of themselves to believe Jin was like a god and survive everything." General Ost sighed to himselfбнuntil he realised that he might have uncovered something.

 Chapter 1698 Who Will Know? -Part 20

    <h4>Chapter 1698 Who Will Know? -Part 20</h4>

    "EgoisticбнDumb Trios around Jinбн Can it be?" General Ost suddenly felt confident of the answer so he went to his holographic console despite the chaos that was happening within the war room. At that instant, he typed the word E G O into the password form and suddenly the encryption lock came undone which made himugh.

    "Ha.. hahaбнHhahhahahahahHAHAA!!"General Ostughed so hysterically that he felt like a fool thinking so hard of the answer. Page was literally talking about the trio who had been meeting Jin up for military issues.

    Eggshells, Grieves, Ost = E G O.

    "What an egoistic way of seeing things. To think that she does not put Denise as part of the trio." Ost said to himself as he now had all the data in front of him despite it being scrambled and not making sense.

    "Analysts! This is of top priority! Crack this and make bloody sense of it and perhaps we can get out of this stupid mess." General Ost stated while he took charge of the War Room and called the Central Defence Officer to perform mass surveince to ensure that no trooper of theirs would disobey his orders.

    "General Grieves." The Commanders did not say a single word but the General himself could see that they were dying to take revenge.

    "No. Hang in there. We had seen how Jin had made miracles. You people who were monitoring the Eastern Region would know it best. You saw how he disappeared and reappeared again as if nothing had happened. He had not used that trick yet in this battlefield so there is still hope that he is alive." Grieves said and thosemanders could only hold onto his words.

    Eventually, that information of Jin using a particr trick by General Grieves had been slowly spreading around the military men to calm them down. They all eventually remembered what had happened at the Eastern Front and continued to have hope in their hearts.

    As for the Parry City Citizens, some pleaded if they could now return to their city since the incident had been done while some stated that they were firefighters and wished to return to aid with the fire fighting efforts that the city had suffered.

    But even as the Daimon military had their anger temporarily cated by Jin''s possible special tricks, they were not going to let those citizens return. "If you really want to die. Be my guest but be warned. The moment we were given the order to go in, we would take anybody and EVERYBODY in the city as a threat. We will spare no one if we had confirmed that our Lord Jin had died." The immigration officer shouted at those who were asking to return.

    That threat itself was more than enough to keep the crowd at bay and they quietly returned to their spots knowing when to not incite any more trouble at this vtile period.

    ------

    "Fuckбн I thought we were dead." Jin said as hey down on the floor filled with debris in broken down mansion.

    "Looks like my upgrade card worksбн" Yinn said as she picked up the te on the ground, now defunct after it had been used to save Jin and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad.

    "What kind of upgrade is that? It feels super duper overpowered to be able to get us away from the st." Tellie asked as she felt her logic systems were in a mess.

    "Restore Point. That''s the upgrade card that I received the day I got into Parry City. The System stated that this upgrade card can only be used once per week and I think the System had already chosen a ss for me." Yinn sighed as she finally rxed her entire body after that intense bout of running, covering and shaking enemies away.

    "What is it?" Everyone asked since they already knew what they were.

    "Maniptorбн?" Yinn said and all of them gave each other the look as if the System had finally chosen the right ss for their vice leader of the Grey Bear Squad.

    "That sounds about right. Always manipting our feelings so that we can work for you." Click replied nodding her head.

    "Yes Yes. Like that time she threatened me to not give me any pudding." Tellie nodded her head too.

    "And the -ow! Why do I get hit?" Diaz said and Yinn smiled.

    "Because you are the nearest to me." She eventually stood up and saw the massive smoke that the explosion had made. Her skill restore point had enabled her as well as any other people within a radius of 10 metres to be teleported to a certain location. However, that particr location had to be marked beforehand otherwise she would be unable to use the skill at all.

    "That reminds me of the System''s Teleport. Oh, I miss that way of travellingбн" Jin said and the rest were curious how it worked so he exined to them.

    "Holy shit. Isn''t that simr to being the master of time and space?"

    "Yeah, to be able to travel whenever and wherever you want as long as the System has the coordinates."

    "Hey, it does not work in here. So, having that restore point skill is more than just a boon. It''s a benefit and skill that is very useful. Nice to have you Maniptor Yinn." Jin grinned widely and Yinn smirked back.

    "Are you guys okay?" Page''s chatter was registered on the System''smunication channel. "There was this big sudden explosion which rocked the entire underground facility."

    "Yeah, we nearly caught it in and for now, we killed off our signals. Radio silent since the baiting was unexpectedly sessful." Jin said and Page was happy to know Commander was still alive.

    "Since you are still alive and kicking, then I guess I can start sharing what I learned before I got caught. I had sent documents to General Ost and hopefully, he is able to decipher the password so they can analyse it but the gist is that Mecha Fire Dragon is not the only one." Page stated.

 Chapter 1699 Who Will Know? -Part 21

    <h4>Chapter 1699 Who Will Know? -Part 21</h4>

    "Not the only one? Fuckkkk." Jin ced his head backward as he could not believe what he was hearing. "Where did you find it?"

    "Directly beneath the city. Yinn was right to say that something and wanted me to hack into the Mecha Fire Dragon''s data bank to get some information. It was risky but we did get something out. I am afraid this also meant the Mecha Fire Dragon was notpletely vanquished as well."

    "So, they might be bringing that Mecha Fire Dragon back to the underground facility? Why in the first ce is it out of control if they are making it here?" Diaz asked.

    "Perhaps, the programming went rogue or its AI core had some errors that forced it to not function as they had wanted it to be. Like you know, ermmm some of the Mechanoids during production, there were a few defects. And some of them move automatically by themselves and they had to be put down? Probably the same logic for them as well."

    "Are you deep inside the underground facility?" Jin asked and Page shook her head.

    "I took a quick peek since the security was low due to the rampage of the Mecha Fire Dragon but the moment I wanted to go in, I noticed that there were too many surveince and traps around. "It''s either we have the right clearance or we go in guns zing."

    "Then how you conclude that there are other Dragon Mechanoids being built?" Jin asked.

    "Oh, because of Click''s essory. The Ultrasonic Detector and her cute little saggy tail insects. I asked for a few more just in case from her but I decided to use those as my spy bots instead. Quite useful actually."

    "You could have asked for actual spy fly botsбн I have a few of those as well." Click mentioned and Page chuckled a little.

    "Did not expect that you have one nor I expected myself to go undercover. I sent you my location so pleasee asap. The Combat Medic can only do that much."

    "Yeah right. Says the one who could manipte Mechanoids." Click retorted.

    "I can do that but I rather manipte the right one that can give us actual ess to everything." Page said as she turned off her Sys Comms and a coordinate had been pinged on the holographic console.

    "So, how are we going to do it, Commander? People would think you are dead and Daimon Military might not have figured that out yet. They may send people in. I suspect that they believed you were using that dungeon instance thing to teleport yourself out of danger. So that means, we may have ehhh 6-8 minutes before your grand reveal?" Yinn deduced.

    "System, How''s the situation and how''s the Daimon Military holding up?" Jin queried.

    "As the Maniptor had theorised, the situation out there is extremely tense. The probability of User not appearing and going in an all out war, would be tremendously high. Approximately 88%." The System stated. "The System felt it also best to let people know that you are safe but you might be the only one who could undercover the entire truth behind this Mecha Fire Dragon incident. It might be the key to push for Archduke Dyke''s revolution if the connection to the Royal Family could be found."

    "You are actually excited about this, aren''t you?" Jin asked and the System stated a word of the simplest affirmation.

    "Yes."

    "At first the System thought that the Archduke Dyke was plotting a revolution mainly to get himself into power. However, as things unfold, there were a few parts of the User''s journey that caused the System to be pissed off that the Royals were ying such a dirty game. Even the Royal Zodiacs would not stoop that low to have such a disgusting power y. Hence, the System is equally invested in eradicating the Empire Royals if they were indeed a part of this charade of keeping Mechanical Dragons. Besides, if the System could not damage Royal Zodiacs, the Empire Royals sounds like a good practice."

    "Actually, what''s the deal with these dragons? I mean if Click is a Mecha Mancer, she could if sufficient power and parts create a Mecha Dragon herself." Jin asked

    "In summary? The Mecha Industry had been too diluted with Mechanoids at one point so people started creating Beast Mechanoids topliment their firepower. However, it got so bad that those Mechanoids held too much power and the world''s bnce got overthrown very easily." Yinn stated.

    "Those Mechanical beasts like the Goris you saw? They were considered borderline criminal but Hounds and Birds or anything smaller than that Gori is still eptable to most people but generally, they don''t really like it. So, if other countries do know that the Empire is creating Mechanical Dragons, there might be repercussions for an all out war. Not just civil war but total war." Click replied.

    "So, if we find a reason for Archduke Dyke that the Empire is making Mechanical Dragons, he better act fast and destroy the Dragons as well as attack the Royalsбн" Jin said and the two who replied to him nodded.

    "Yes. I believed they are building it here to implicate Archduke Dyke when ites down to it. Right now, the loss of the Mecha Crystal Dragon can be considered a big ''X'' on Archduke Dyke. Diamondz managed to y it off that it was one man''s ambition. But one more such incident will definitely ruin his reputation and we cannot count on him." Yinn exined and they could see that this was a delicate situation that Jin had to handle properly.

    So far, they were winning the sympathy count for Parry City Military being an asshole. Now they have to implicate it in some way that they were linked to the Royals or else they would be the ones hunted instead. So far, from what Jin could tell, they had been ahead of time at every step. Now, this might be the misstep they could be looking for.

 Chapter 1700 Who Will Know? -Part 22

    <h4>Chapter 1700 Who Will Know? -Part 22</h4>

    The atmosphere was tense, everyone knew that the time was ticking and there was still no sign of Jin. This temporary peace was not a solution and even the Parry City Citizens understood. It was like a time out for the Parry City people to know that their citizen was definitely going to be invaded and this particr 15 minutes of truce was just to let the reality set in before Daimon troops were to go in.

    All it needed was a word from the General and the military would risk their lives avenging their Interim Leader. And that timer was soon to hit zeroбн until a live public broadcast came about. The looks of the Parry City people were hopeful that their leader was alive but the one who came out of that screen was General Ost.

    It could possibly be one of the worst oues for the people of Parry City.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen. It is to my regret that I have found some discerning news about Parry City. Whether their people know or not is of another issue but the fact that their military had been performing some sinister plot had been made clear to us."

    "As much as everyone is tired and wants to go home, and that includes me. It''s disheartening to announce that Parry City had been engaging in the production of the disaster that had ruined their city and as we speak, we found out that they had been producing not just one but several of these mechanical dragons." General Ost said as pictures started to pop out and documents with redacted names were appearing.

    "It seems that the Army Commander of Parry City, General Toba had been actively siphoning money from the military budget to fuel this. But that''s not all. There was an unknown sum of money going in and out of bank ounts which needs to be investigated as soon as possible. And this cannot be done unless the Banks of Parry City decide to cooperate with us."

    "However, it seemed obvious that General Toba would assume leadership now that he had used us of creating this ''disaster'' and Air Force General Inus remained to be contacted, which we assume may have been imprisoned or killed due to the mutiny of General Toba." Ost said with a regrettable tone. "Multiple attempts tomunicate with them had been deemed impossible and so we have no choice but to-"

    "Before we get to the word, ''invasion''. Can I have a say in this?" Another livestream came out and it was Jin who seemed to be injured and his mechanoids were still carrying him.

    "Interim Leader?" General Ost''s face finally showed signs of relief and every Daimon Citizen who was worried throughout that dreaded 15 minutes started to p and cheer for their temporary lord.

    "Yes, yes that''s me. Do you need me to show you my ID Card in public? Oh shit, I did not bring it with me." Jin tried to touch his pockets. "Oh noбн does that mean I am an illegal immigrant on foreign soil? AHHHHHHHH!"

    "Stop your shouting already." Yinn smacked him on his head as he tried to relieve the people''s worries. Some of them evenughed at this shortical relief that he was attempting to do.

    "Anyways, sorry about that. It took me a while to regain consciousness from going through that st. Did you guys see that? It was he crazy that I could imagine how I could have ovee without the help of my Mechanoids. They are one bad ass customised group of biбнbeauties! Courtesy of Master Mecha Smith mmet for creating them. Ow! Why did you hit me again."

    "Because you are not acting like an interim leader," Yinn said and more of the audienceughed. Even Grieves gave a short grin.

    "Im destressing okay. That was one crazy st. You have to admit that. In any case, yeah General Ost is right. Those facilities shit. It is right under your basement. One of my mechanoids was able to find it and we are going there as we speak." Jin said as he hobbled a little while streaming live.

    "Oh and about that money thingy? We happened to see the bank on the way to the underground facility. There were no tellers so we helped ourselves to it. Sorry about that and it is sad to admit that It''s a one man...well one faction show. They were taking money from the Royals to do this bullshit."

    "CUT THE LIVESTREAM" General Toba shouted but the tactical officers were unable to do it. "HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW?" However, what he did not expect was that Air Force General Inus was recording every single thing that was happening in the war room. It was extremely satisfying to see General Toba go bonkers.

    "So, yeap. That Edmond guy? The one that I was supposed to be investigating? He was also rted to the Royals and he flew off in that crystal dragon suit or whatever that is." Jin said nonchntly but the next few lines were serious.

    "And from our other investigations, it also suggests that the Royals might have instigated the monster outbreaks in Daimon. So, you know what Royals? I am going to destroy your precious dragons and if you are still pissed at me for disturbing your ns. I am going to find more of those and make sure that you drop your crown and bow to me for forgiveness. For all the souls that had sacrificed themselves because of the power y you are doing." Jin was mad saying it out loud.

    "If you are not happy,e to Daimon. I am willing to entertain you. In fact, I think the entire city is willing to entertain you." Jin then shut the live broadcast.

    "We did not go to the bank though," Diaz said. "Do you want me to go to the bank?"

    "And what can you do? All you have in your brain are just more bullets." Click chuckled and Diaz rolled her eyes.

    "Nah, it was a bluff mixed in with the truth. They probably destroyed the records at the bank to hide the stuff. But hey, let''s see how they react." Jin smiled as he got out of his act and started to walk properly.

    "You have too much fun." The Grey Bears said in unison.

 Chapter 1701 Who Will Know? -Part 23

    <h4>Chapter 1701 Who Will Know? -Part 23</h4>

    *Cough* "Seems like our interim leader is alive and well, to say the least." General Ost tried to keep his tion that their leader was all fine and dandy. "The military council will discuss again on the actions needed to be taken. For now, Parry City Citizens, please ept our basic hospitality and stay here for your safety. Should what Interim Leader Jin had said be true then we are afraid that you might be in danger if you were to return to your abodes."

    Just as General Ost was about to keep it short and simple, another Live Broadcast came about and it was General Toba. For some reason, this consistent live streaming of broadcasts is bing a joke. "Parry City Citizens. Do not mistake their hospitality forpassion. You had seen for yourself that they are the ones carrying weapons and ordered all of you to stay put like animals."

    "Do you really want to be seen as animals? The Proud People of Parry City should not even be afraid-"

    "Afraid- to have their own stand against tyranny and traitors that harm their way of life." This live broadcast was new but it shocked all of the Parry City citizens as it was none other than their Lord, still alive and breathing, Sir Peru Peru.

    "If all were said is a lie, I will stand behind General Toba all the way. However, no matter how I see this and with this recording, I can no longer rest on this bed and live with inaction." Sir Peru Peru said and he yed the audio recording without care.

    "CUT THE LIVESTREAM! HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW ABOUT THIS? You! I thought you said that the bank had assured us that all financial records between the Royals and us had been erased. How can that bastard Jin able to find it? Did someone keep the records with the intention of ckmailing us! You find that guy right now and shoot a fucking missile in Daimon if need be!" The audio recording ended and General Toba was standing in the livestream broadcast lifeless.

    "General Toba. Not only have youmitted the crime of attempted homicide against the current Lord, Sir Peru Peru, but you are also guilty of the intention of kidnapping and harming the interim leader of Parry City, Lord Jin!" Sir Peru Peru yed another video recording with the time stamp and date which showed he had passed the temporary power to Lord Jin.

    "Holy shit, this is like watching a scripted show of a family feud. This Sir Peru Peru is also not a simple guy," Jin said as he had the live broadcast at the side of his vision with the aid of the System. They were already approaching close to the underground facility and just as a guard came out to check the outside parameters, Page knocked him out from the back.

    "d to see you again." Jin raised his hand out to fist bump Page.

    "Good to know that you are in the pink of health too." Page returned the fist bump. "Since you areing based on the broadcast, I had already taken over a few Mechanoids in the area and they had sufficient ess to lead to the third basement. We have to figure out how to go further down after that. Click''s insect had shown that there were more than just a few basements."

    "Great job. Lead the way," Jin said as the fiasco continued at the corner of his eye.

    "How are you alive? Are you even the real Lord of Parry City?" General Toba could not believe his eyes and ears. How did just one greedy move to attack the city with the Mechanical Dragon would lead to his downfall? He had no idea what was happening.

    "Next time, check and confirm that I died before you even assume such leadership status. Toba. You are a disgrace to our city. Citizens of Parry City, I beseech you to cooperate with Daimon City for now. And kind people of Daimon City, I apologised that your leader and manpower were needed to solve an internal conflict within Parry City. I also apologise for being incapable of controlling my own men and not being able to see the corruption that grows within the leadership. But most importantly, Thank you." Sir Peru Peru coughed a little and the doctors who were monitoring his health asked him to close the broadcast and rest which he eventually did.

    "With the plea from Lord of Parry City, Sir Peru Peru and clear cut instructions from Interim Leader of Daimon, Lord Jin, the Daimon Military would do their best to keep Parry City Citizens protected as well as defend our sovereignty should the reports of multiple Mecha Fire Dragons would to appear. Also, if any Parry City Soldiers were to surrender at the border, you would be offered asylum as well but make no mistake. We will shoot if you do not show your intentions well enough. Lastly, Pandarens, if you are seeing this message within Daimon City, I apologise for putting all of you in danger as well but please assist in battle should those Mecha Fire Dragons emerge. I am sure Interim Leader Jin will reward you generously if that happens." General Ost''s instructions ended and General Grieves who was on the ground affirmed the order. This led the entire Daimon Military in the Northern region to echo the same sentiments.

    At that point, Sir Peru Peru had no idea that he had identally sowed seeds that would lead the eventual rebellion within the Empire and that his talk against General Toba had also sowed distrust within their own ranks as General Toba had no idea who had recorded the shouting. This also brought time for Jin and his Grey Bear Squad to enter the underground facility.

    It might not be a full squad without Lynn but this time round Jin was sure that he had more than enough reason to kill on sight. There was nothing to hold back if these people did not wish to surrender. The broadcast was in and clear that the Interim Leader of Daimon was out for blood against the Mechanical Dragons.

 Chapter 1702 Who Will Know? -Part 24

    <h4>Chapter 1702 Who Will Know? -Part 24</h4>

    Page did make it easy for the Grey Bear Squad as they travelled through the first few basements of the underground facility with ease. There was little to no resistance and there was even one soldier who surrendered his arms instantly the moment he saw theming from afar.

    He was so desperate to survive that he even took out his belt and used it to tie his own hands so that they would not be able to do anything. Jin did not even give him a look as they walked past him but to the soldier who surrendered, it felt as if the death reaper had walked through his life.

    All he could do was to try and breathe properly and slowly walk out of the underground facility as the Grey Bear Squad continued downwards. They eventually met the resistance of a huge concrete door which Click thought of disposing with explosives until Jin walked to the console and pressed a button.

    The heavy concrete door slowly opened and all the other Grey Bearsughed for a moment as Click embarrassed herself not knowing that the door could be open that easily. But thatughter ceased as Jin raised his pistol. When the door opened, Tellie saw the word armoury being written as part of the directions and asked Jin if he wanted to stock up since all he had was just some measly handgun.

    "You sure it''s an armoury? Thest we went to one, we had been ambushed by Mechanical Scorpions, Fat Ass Goris and subsequently T-Rexes that nearly whip our asses out of existence." Petty Click wished to get back on the failure she had encountered previously but Jin nodded.

    "If those were there, then we might have an even easier time to battle the Mecha Fire Dragons. Besides, we will need destructive firepower if explosives do not work so surely they would have some anti huge mechanical weapons in case they go semi rogue." Jin replied as Yinn and Diaz took point moving towards the armoury.

    True enough, when they entered it (With Click finally able to blow a door away with a small pack of C4) the armoury had been stocked up with weapons that were deadly enough to take down apany of Mechanoids in a minute.

    Diaz took the biggest of guns within the armoury, a gatling grenadeuncher with a huge metal ammunition pack that she had to carry. When carried, her processor core immediately readjusted the power within her legs so that she could not only withstand the weight but also be able to run a little with it.

    At that moment, Click also 3D Printed a few additional actuators and imnted them into Diaz''s legs so that they could assist and ease the movement a little more. Jin found out that there were no melee weapons within the armoury and it was obvious to the people nning the area. Why would they need meleebat when doing that amounts to suicide when fighting against a rogue dragon?

    But there were two firefighter axes within the armoury and he decided to take those two as well as a brand new rifle. The rest stocked up their usual ammunition and necessary battlefield essories to bring into the fight.

    Yet all those restockings and even Diaz'' mega gun were not the surprises they found in the armoury. There was an borate physical map of the underground facility printed on the corner of the room. That was the most vital information which they could utilise but even Page was not able to get ess to the information for the entire facility from the Mechanoids she had hacked previously.

    "Looks like the dragon making facility is just one floor down," Yinn said and everyone loaded their weapons to move downwards. But as they reached the emergency stairs to the next basement floor, a bullet wheezed through Yinn who was still taking point.

    "Do note any further down! We do not wish to fight and have decided to self destruct the Mecha Fire Dragons!" One of the soldiers said.

    "We saw your live public broadcast along with the rest. We had no idea this was solely General Toba''s idea. We assumed Sir Peru Peru was in it as well!" Another soldier shouted through the stairs.

    "How could we believe you when you had just shot at us?" Yinn said and the soldier at the corner of the staircase threw his weapon to the view where the Grey Bear Squad could see it."

    "We just want out! We thought this was a secret project that would bolster the defence of the Empire and ultimately the city as well. We had no idea! We had no freaking idea that it''s Toba''s."

    "Then why did you put a self destruct sequence when you know that it might harm the city! Shouldn''t you just give us the keys to the room?" Click said but there was no response for a moment which made Jin sigh as he gathered his Maqi and with a step backwards, he jumped.

    He did not leap down to the next portion of the staircase and instead to the wall. He waster met with even more shooting but Jin already prepared his Maqi which was at this point and Cultivation Grade where he could stop the force of the bullets.

    So he dived in to see a group of soldiers and Mechanoids ready to ambush the Grey Bear Squad, showing that the talk was just an act to drop their guard. They never meant to leave the area but they also did not realise that their Commander was someone that special who could dive in and smack everyone with the butt of his rifle and it was enough to concuss all of them.

    Imbued with Electrical Maqi, those rifle whips were effective against Mechanoids too and paralyzing those who Jin was unable to concuss on hit.? The rest of the Grey Bears ran down the stairs and saw the entirety of the stairway had been covered with unconscious soldiers and dead Mechanoids.

 Chapter 1703 Who Will Know? -Part 25

    <h4>Chapter 1703 Who Will Know? -Part 25</h4>

    "Stupid! AhhhH~" Diaz was the only one who had trouble going down the stairs as her weapon was way too heavy and she tried her best not to step on the unconscious soldiers. It was to the point that Tellie who was behind her had decided to grab hold of the metal ammunition backpack and aid her down the stairs.

    Eventually, they caught up with Jin and the rest of the Grey Bears who did move away once they opened the doors of the basement. They thought that the squad were waiting for them because it was better to move in formation but then when they saw what the rest had seen, they too were standing still for a moment.

    There was not just one or two Mecha Fire Dragons in development. There were rows of Mecha Fire Dragons in production. Six were in some holding bay while the seventh holding bay was empty even though the eighth had already been filled. But what made them hold their breath was the one at the very end of the basement floor.

    The ninth andst Mecha Fire Dragon was twice the size of those Mecha Fire Dragons in the holding bays. Ifpared to the Crystal Dragon that Diamondz was making, it was at least half times bigger than it.

    "No wonder, General Toba wants to erase all evidence of the people who were in the known of this endeavour. This is too much." Jin said and looked at Diaz. "You think that metal can of bullets can do anything to all of these?"

    "NopeбнI doubt so." Diaz now felt a little dumb carrying that gatling grenadeuncher with her while Page did not hesitate to take multiple pictures of the facility. Jin stood there for a moment and thought about what the soldiers had said.

    "Yinn, could you check whether if these Fire Dragons are truly prepped for self destruct. Click, do a scan for bombs." Jin asked and the two of them went ahead with their task. Yinn went to the closest digital console and started reviewing thest fewmands while Click was running around with her innate detector on to check for explosives.

    "None!" Click shouted but Yinn did not respond when thebat engineer mechanoid was done with her check.

    "Commander, when they say self destruct. I think they did not mean in a literal sense." Yinn said and beckoned the rest toe to the digital console.

    "I think they are doing something like what you had done to the Diamondz Corp old series Mechanoids. They had removed the IFF code for each and every one of them and even as we speak, they had already been sending energy into all 8 of them including the iplete huge Mecha Fire Dragon."

    "Soбн what they did was not self destructбн" Tellie remarked.

    "In a way it kinda is. If all eight dragons had their IFF codes removed, they would treat all contacts as enemies and they would ughter each other within this basement." Click said. "Wellбн assuming they remained in this basement and beat the ass out of each other. Else, I think they will be taking the fight out through that patch up hole over there." Click said and everyone knows what would happen if even one of them did move out of this basement and out of the hole.

    "Explosives is not the way to go as well, copsing them would not do as much damage as we will expect it to be. If that old Mecha Fire Dragon was able to go through that amount of steel bars and concrete and out of the facility, it means the rest could also do with ease too."

    "Then there is no way we can defeat EIGHT of them! And one of them is like the big mother of them all! Is there any way to cut the energy?" Diaz asked Yinn but she shook her head.

    "It''s a one waymand and there is no way to retract it. Also considering the amount of electricity going into them, it''s most likely tapped from the electrical grid of the entire Parry City. I imagine the lights up there are going flicker a little more than a light show." Yinn replied and she was right.

    The people in the Northern portion of Daimon territory and those who were watching from long range cameras including nosy neighbouring cities who were interested in the development of this incident saw Parry City''s electrical grid going all haywire for a moment with lights turning on and off until the whole city went dark from the circuit breakers. There was not a single electrical appliance working unless they had been routed through a backup generator.

    "How much time do we have left?" Not much perhaps one minute I can dy to at most two but we all know how futile that is." Yinn said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Give me that extra minute. I need to warn the others." Jin said and the rest wondered if it was really a good idea to do so but ultimately, Jin was theirmander and after all they went through, it didn''t hurt to trust him this once too. "We all will help too. This will at least guarantee you that extra minute." The rest of the Grey Bear replied.

    "I will try to insert a few viruses within the charging programme." Page said and Click added that she will try to create a backdoor too. Tellie and Diaz were not programming nuts and decided to give themselves up for more processing power. All five of them were in unison as they plugged through Yinn and started the digital fight.

    Soon after the major lights out, a live broadcast emerged for the people who were worried which showed Jin all worn out from the development of events. In the background, the Dawn was breaking but it did not seem like there would be any good newsing out of the situation.

 Chapter 1704 Who Will Know? -Part 26

    ?

    "Ladies and Gentlemen from Daimon City, Parry City perhaps even Yor City and Kima City. This is a broadcast in case we fail." Jin said while his Grey Bears were seen working hard being plugged into the console. After this he slowly turned the camera and showed the atrocity that was hidden in the underground facility.

    The first Mecha Fire Dragon already gave some people shock but as Jin panned the livestreaming broadcast throughout the entire room, some of them were horrified by the secret that was being kept by them.

    "So yeap. The situation says for itself and there was nothing at my end I could do to stop the activation of these Mecha Dragons. My Mechanoid Squad is currently buying me an extra minute to inform all of you about this situation. So listen carefully."

    "The soldiers which I assumed it is under General Toba, had decided that it was better for the Mecha Fire Dragons to self destruct. At first, I thought that was a good move despite the damage it might potentially do to Parry City. After all, we can always rebuild and we can only pray for those who still remained in those spots and had not moved away."

    "But instead, their meaning of self destruct was to remove all existence of IFF codes within those mechanical dragons. Best case scenario, they will beat the shit up of each other. Worst case scenario, they realised they are all dragons and despite some beatings, they will still survive and then coordinate to beat the shit out of everyone once the logic systems had logged that they are of the same kind."

    "Sounds bleak, right?"

    "General Ost, do we have any weapons of mass destruction? Or like those thermobaric bombs that nearly killed me but ten times the strength?"

    "We do not have such weapons. It is forbidden. Lord Jin" General Ost went into the live broadcast and stated otherwise.

    "Aw shit. Guess we have to do it the not so fun way." Jin grumbled on screen.

    "Commander! 30 seconds! I think I might be able to give you another 15 seconds!" Yinn shouted from behind.

    "General Grieves, evacuate the citizens in an orderly manner to the southern part of Daimon where the Dungeon Outpost is. Prioritise the safety of Daimon and Parry City people. Devote the entire military into evacuating. General Ost, activated the entire Air Force. Equip them with the strongest bombs they have. Commander Eggshells, if you are listening in as well. Divert Diamondz Corp energy generators to crank up the barrier generators."

    "15 seconds!" Yinn shouted and Jin sighed.

    "Well, I see what I can do. Wish us luck. As for the rest, no pushing okay? Retreat orderly." Jin closed the stream and at that point, the Mecha Fire Dragons'' eyes started to glow and the group knew that the activation had already started. A few of them growled softly but it was the one who was the biggest and most iplete with only the upper torso roaring the loudest.

    Those who were still at the North of Daimon could even hear the echoes of that dragon''s roar. "Of course, the biggest one had to make the most noise," Jin said and asked the status of the efforts of the Grey Bears.

    "Their anti virus is too strong, it definitely pointed towards the work of Rocketeers and perhaps maybe some other Mecha Corp." Page stated.

    "So, no virus inside them?"

    "Thankfully, one of them uses Diamondz coding and I assumed because they got the parts from Diamondz. So, I got a virus in with the help of Click but whether it will work a not remains to be seen."

    "Yeah, their onboard logic AI system is he strong." If not for that Diamondz module, we would never have been able to squeeze through an opening in that timeframe.

    "Sorry, I could not buy more time for you," Yinn said and Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "What can we do? All that matters is that we are able to inform them."

    "So, are we going to die here or at least try fighting like stinky cockroaches who don''t wish to die?" Diaz asked and Jinughed.

    For now, we hide for a little while since they have yet to notice us because of that big muthafuka at the back taking all the attention. if any of those were to fight each other then we would go in and distract them.

    "Still does not seem like a viable n to me but it''s better than nothing," Yinn said and Jin smiled.

    "Don''t worry. Have you forgotten that I have yet used my trump card?" Jin said as they quickly tried to hide behind a bunch of crates the Mecha Fire Dragons started to tear their plugs and electrical wires and turned their backs to see their brand new nemesis who were roaring for their attention.

    "But you only have 15 minutes of that. There is no way you are able to do much with that 15 minutes." Click presumed and the rest also felt the same. No matter how strong it could be, they believed that it would not beat the 8 Mecha Fire Dragons into dust.

    However, as they were all denouncing the trump card''s usefulness, Tellie realised something. "Hey, guysбн is it me orбн does that look like crystals emerging out of its upper torso."

    All of them stopped and took a look only to find that there was actually another Mechanical Dragon within the big giant dragon. The half torso Mecha Dragon pulled it out and started to munch on it. The Mechanical Dragon yelled in pain and in defence started releasing crystals that seemed to aim at crystalising the half torso Mecha Dragon to stop biting it.

    "Holy shit. That is the Mecha Crystal Dragon. I saw Diamondz Insigna at the side." Click said as she ryed the screenshot to everyone.

    "Does that mean General Toba managed to catch it? Or did they ''secretly'' use the big ass dragon to catch it and the injuries it made caused it to be like this rather than it being actually iplete?" It was a question no one knew.

 Chapter 1705 Who Will Know? -Part 27

    As the big dragon crunched into the Mechanical Crystal Dragon, its lower torso was starting to form as if it was repairing itself. The Crystal Dragon continued to howl in pain and tried several attacks even a breath that caused the metal to be crystalised, rendering it immobile.

    Yet, such an attack was deemed useless to the one that was biting it. Now known as Mecha Fira Dragon for the sake of differentiating it from the Grey Bear squad, they saw mes protruding out of the mouth, melting the crystal into worthless sand, and proceeded to break the Crystal Dragon into two.

    "Now I understand what you mean by excessive powers. That Fira Dragon is not just killing the Crystal Dragon, It''s absorbing its parts and regenerating its own as if they were live monsters. I mean I got it that you guys could also convert food into energy and waste but this is just another level of Mechanisation. It is like they are mechanical and yet they have the body and spirit of a monster of an equivalent level." Jin said as they could see the other Mecha Fire Dragons were a little afraid of the Fira Dragon''s way of showing dominance.

    However, one of them decided to stay through to its loss of IFF codes and break through the holding bay rails and bridges, charging towards the still injured Fira Dragon in order to gain some advantage. Sadly, as it had shown its strength in defeating the Crystal Dragon, one good swipe from the Fira Dragon''s ws and a portion of the Mecha Fire Dragon''s neck had been ripped off. It would have been gone if the Mecha Fire Dragon had not moved away in time to dodge it.

    Still, the Fire Dragon tried to roar at it and was not entirely afraid of what Fira Dragon had done it too. Thus, thetter makes it very simple. To make an example of him in front of the remaining seven Mecha Fire Dragons.

    It spewed fiery breath to the injured Mecha Fire Dragon and all the lesser dragon could do was to use its Mechanical Wings to block the mes. Sadly, it was to no avail as the Fira Dragon''s breath was twice if not three to four times stronger.

    Even if the Lesser Dragon wanted to retaliate, there was nothing it could do but to withstand the attack as much as it could before doing anything to the Fira Dragon. Unfortunately, there was really nothing it could do as the Fira Dragon went full power and the wings that were supposedly fire resistant melted right in front of the Grey Bear Squad''s eyes.

    The Mecha Fire Dragon tried to move away but the Fira Dragon continued to spew its breath relentlessly without any mercy, tracking its movement wherever it went. Even as the Mecha Fire Dragon tried to involve the other dragons, the rest threw their mes at him too. Roasting him from all sides and eventually, Jin saw it slowly disintegrating into a pile of molten metal.

    What was left of it was merely the lower torso still melting from the intense heat with piles of metal goo burning the thick concrete floors. The Fira Dragon roared once more and this let the other dragons follow likewise which brought Jin to the worst oue possible.

    "If you think about it, at the very least it''s one dragon lesser than usual." Click tried to see the bright sight of stuff but Jin could see that even the Mechanoids could tremble in fear. This was entirely out of their leagues and the dragons are going to be set free in a matter of time.

    The only thing that was stopping them was none other the Fira Dragon who was still consuming the Crystal Dragon with delight. "This is honestly not the way I thought that Edmond would die." Yinnmented.

    "If I had the chance, I rather fight a Crystal Dragon that keeps running rather than seven other mothafarking dragons in a basement." Diaz said as she checked her grenadeuncher for onest time to calm and remind her that she had it all loaded.

    "Can you use that trump card now Jin?" Tellie was also getting nervous.

    "After seeing that insane firepower, I would need to readjust my trump card a little. Can you all buy me some time?" Jin asked knowing it was an impossible request. "Otherwise, we have to wait until the Fira Dragon regains everything. Because I believe that''s the amount of time I need as well."

    "Seems like we have to die tryingбн We don''t have much space to manuever though." Diaz said and Click took out something from her side pockets of herbat backpack. She quickly handed it out to all of them.

    "It might not be much but they are a pair of jet boosters. If what Jin said is true, we probably have to wait a few minutes before he could get into action. This is all I can do now since I took the remaining weapons and turned them into scrap metal for this." Click said throught the System Channel. "And Diaz, take this too. It''s a sort of extended roller des which you can put on your boots which you can retract. It should be useful for your mobility since you are carrying that huge ass backpack of grenades. But do not attach them now. They made a very loud sound-"

    Diaz did not listen a single word from Click''s mouth when she got the item from thebat engineer. A very loud click and the spinning of the motorised roller des caught the attention of the Mecha Fire Dragons. After all, there were previously only sounds of metal clinging, damaged wires sparking and the noise of a giant dragon eating the remains of the Crystal Dragon.

    "n B. Survive until I get my Trump Card ready." Jin said as he was the first to jump out and started firing charged bullets filled with Maqi to the nearest Mecha Fire Dragon and the rest follow suit.

 Chapter 1706 Who Will Know? -Part 28

    It might have been a huge underground basement but when filled with seven other fire based Mecha Dragons, one could say that it''s rather cramped in there. When they first arrived at the scene of those dragons, they were actually considered to be on a higher secondary tform. There were elevators that enabled them to descend further down to the basement and the current tform would have allowed them to be at the height of their torsos.

    There was a third tform but it can only be essed at the end of the basement since the Fira Dragon was so huge that the second tform was not able to fully ess it. What''s more, is that there were even more rooms that connected to the current basement which the secondary tform and third tform was able to connect to.

    In short, its akin to one huge giant warehouse underground to build and keep those Mecha Dragons. Machinery parts were everywhere and that was a boon for click. With her powers, she quickly constructed a Mechanical Hound and used it as a distraction for the rest. Diaz rolled out her skaters and began firing her grenadeunchers while moving to the west of the underground basement.

    Tellie immediately stood at her spot and shot an energy st that was enough to damage the Mecha Fire Dragon while still allowing her to run. While her fully charged shots might be able to bring down a Mecha Fire Dragon''s head, there was no telling whether she would be able to do much after that and survival now was of the most important priority on their list.

    The Fira Dragon saw the pesky human and Mechanoid running around disturbing its snack time once again and roared again to assert its dominance. However, the roar was strong enough to produce a shockwave that pushed the Mechanoids from where they were for a second. That disruption was more than enough for the Mecha Fire Dragons to attempt to do some damage or maybe even catch them.

    Thankfully, they were experienced enough to dodge and Yinn also managed to caused two of the Mecha Fire Dragons to sh against each other, rousing them to be angry against each other. However, such an effect was temporary as they subsequently return to cooperate.

    Page was not able to do much though after gunning for one of the rooms but she did manage a control panel that controls a huge mechanical arm within the underground basement. She quickly powered it up and mmed it on one of the Mecha Fire Dragons This caused the Fire Dragon to shoot out a burst of fireball onto it.

    Subsequently, she managed to find another few that were operating under the secondary tform and she used this chance to grab the Mecha Fire Dragons legs and pulled them so that they had to fall. Granted this caused the destruction of the secondary tform even more but the pull was strong enough that they fell and the scene became even more of a chaotic yground for them.

    It was pretty apparent that the Grey Bear Squad was utilising this underground basement as much as they could to wreak havoc and inflict as much damage as they could but not a single one of them attempt to touch the Fira Dragon.

    They all had their eyes on it as they could see that the lower torso regeneration was nearlyplete and now it''s the creation of its tail and legs. However, Jin insisted that they should not touch the Fira Dragon if possible. Even when theye close to it, just run away from it.

    So, they obeyed but thing as usual do not go as nned.

    Click''s Mechanical hound jumped into on of the Mecha Fire Dragon''s mouth and exploded before a fire ball came out and that fireball incidentally went to the direction of the Fira Dragon. Without any exnation needed, the Fira Dragon extended its arm and grabbed the Mecha Fire Dragon who shot the Fire Ball at it and squeezed its throat. But instead of biting it, the Fira Dragon held the Mecha Fire Dragon up and threw it at Diaz who was still at the remaining portions of the secondary tform. Given her immobility, there was no way for her to dodge it and the only path out was to jump down to the basement''s ground aka the primary tform.

    "What the heck I did not even do anything to aggro you!" Diaz shouted as she sped forward even though the object throwing would be colliding into her. However, what she did was correct, if she were to move back, the likihood of her getting hit and smashed into fairy dust was higher than she speed forward and jumped down from it.

    With the help of Click''s jet boosters, she was able tond safely on the ground but was subsequently treated to several tail whips from the neighbouring dragons. They mmed at her location and the only way to escape was to dash super fast or use her gatling grenadeuncher to hurt it so they will retract their tails away.

    It was not an easy task but she was doing all she can to surviveбнuntil she found that there was another tail iing and it was the Fira Dragon''s. "Like I said, What did I do!" Diaz knew there was nothing she could perform that would allow her to escape that and thus the only thing she could think of was shooting like a mad dog.

    What she did not expect was her friends helping her out. A ray of energy strger than usual zoomed past Diaz, causing damage to the Fira Dragon''s tail, forcing it to retract in pain a little but continued its path of motion. However, that was enough for Page tomand a giant robotic arm to crash in its ce, stopping it in time before hitting Diaz and allowing the poor Gunzerker to dash away.

    "The Fira Dragon is getting feisty, Commander. What''s your ETA on the adjustment of that trump card of yours." Yinn also knew that everyone else was at their limits of running since the underground basement had nearly been wreaked and there was only that few little things left for them to take advantage of.

    "I''m ready. Let''s go."

 Chapter 1707 Who Will Know? -Part 29

    ?

    Within an instant, Jin''s words turned to reality as they found themselves not in the underground basement anymore. Instead, they were being teleported to Daimon City or rather, a copy of Daimon City.

    There were no people or Mechanoids walking around and all that was left were the intact high rise buildings with streets empty and well lit. For some reason, Jin kept thinking it was still nighttime and thus created a dungeon instance that mimicked the night.

    As for the Fira Dragon and the other Mecha Fire Dragons, they felt liberated even though it was a copied space and most of them spread their wings to feel the breeze of the wind going through. The only problem was that there was no breeze at all. It felt empty, felt rigid. They thought they had been teleported out of the underground basement and their logic circuits recognised that this was a city but a few ring rms within their AI logic stated that this was not how a city should feel.

    It felt dead and... Dangerous.

    "Where is that battlecruiser of yours? That pew pew pew?" Diaz said as she was expecting a battle cruiser toe out the moment they arrived at the dungeon instance just as how Jin had done it previously."

    But no. Instead, she started to hear footsteps.

    Not one, not two.

    Multiple footsteps.

    Hundreds of footsteps.

    Thousands of footsteps.

    Despite the well lit streets, they came from the side of the buildings and when they assembled orderly in front of Jin, there were no wordsing out from Diaz or the rest of the Mechanoids.

    "My Lord. It''s good to see you." The person bowed while the thousands of soldiers behind him knelt to greet him.

    "It''s been a long time. Taris City General Yaega Nern. I hope your wall breakernce is not dull for the enemies in front of you deserved a good poke." Jin smiled widely as he was fed up with theck of manpower he had been having for the past few hours. It took some time but the System was able to gather the powers of Seven Cities into this very dungeon instance.

    Seven Mecha Dragons? Then let the might of the Seven Cities shine the path to victory.

    "We were extremely afraid that we were of no use to you, Lord Jin." General Yaega said. And Jin chuckled.

    "Well, you may now prove your usefulness against these monsters. They are a hell of a pain in the neck and have been troubling me for the past few days. I remembered that you guys are well versed in killing Dragons, right? I mean Dungeon World sure had a fair share of them."

    "Fair share? You must be kidding me." Merah City General Ana, the proimed Angel of Fire walked towards Jin and greeted him. "We kill dragons for a living and dine on their flesh every night."

    "That''s great. Too bad these dragons do not have meat that would be ptable to your tastes." Jin replied.

    "All the more better. This means we do not need to give any mercy to them and smash them in pieces." General Ana said as Bodek General Edgar also came to give his regards to Jin.

    "My Lord, Bodek Troops had been ced in the buildings as per the System''s rmendations. We are ready to fight."

    "Then I assume Aljun City had sent their airships over as well?" Jin asked and General Edgar nodded his head.

    "They had been revamped with Pandapolis''stest technology and are eager to try it out.

    "What about the naval guys? Erm if I am not wrong, City Eun, Lebar and Kemban. I had put up a rather huge sea ring around the city in this dungeon to utilise them"

    "They are also ready to battle them should the Mecha Fire Dragons try to escape away from the City." General Ana reported and Jin was happy with the progress.

    "And what are we waiting for? Those Mecha Dragons don''t seem particrly happy that I brought more people to hunt it down. I need a rest. Please kill them within ermбн10 minutes?" Jin looked at his timer and saw that he had more than ten but it was better to have some spare time to do any emergency adjustments.

    For now, he could use the jet boosters and climb to the top of a high rise building and watch the armies he had helped grow and cultivate to kill those annoying Mecha Fire Dragons. Compared to just now where he only had 5 Mechanoids, now he had thousands who were willing to rush and sacrifice their lives to beat the tin can out of the skies.

    "Hey, Grey Bear Squad. Meet me at Daimon Headquarters helipad. The 50th floor''s, not the top one. We can enjoy some rest and eat some snacks...assuming you guys have any" Jin said as the Seven Cities Army had already started to move and charge towards the Mecha Fire Dragons as he spoke.

    "You know that big ass battlecruiser is probably a better idea," Diaz remarked.

    "I can only do that once, to be honest. Because that is not my erm..asset? If I want to use it again, I probably have to spend more money on it. (or points.)" Jin did not know how to say it as this was created with Syn''s permission as the AI Administration gave the model of their old humanbat ship as data for Jin to use.

    "It will get shot down by the Fira Dragon anyway. They might be big but they are nimble as well. Using an army to fight them would definitely be a better choice." Yinn said as she was the first to reach the helipad for such a view.

    "But the problem isбн fifteen minutes truly enough for the fight?" Tellie had also reached with her jet boosters and grappling hook gun.

    "Meh. I still have a bit of stuff up my sleevesбн So I think we should be okayish. Anyways, have confidence in them. They have never seen a battle for some time (бнwell any summoned battle.) so they are quite hungry for victory. Besides, I really want to see their progress since I left them with my other aides."

    "No wonder you hated your job. You are already a Lord in your other world." Click remarked and everyone finally rxed andughed.

 Chapter 1708 Who Will Know? -Part 30

    "Just a Lord? More like multiple Lords title I got sick of it. Though when ites to situations like this, I will not deny that having these lord titles does help a lot." Jin said as he saw Taris City General on his Warhorse charging towards a Mecha Fire Dragon who had been shot down from the sky by Aljun Airships. It was a spectacle to see how the airships had been modernised into practically WW2 ships flying in the sky.

    Instead of crystals and air balloons, they were using the crystals as anti gravity generators and boosting them to hover in the sky. The change in their weaponry to WW2 ships has given them the power of those 406mm battery guns had enabled them to rule the skies as Mecha Fire Dragons did not expect such power from those ships who can now even turn 360 degrees (although not rmended) to chase after their targets and shoot them down.

    Once they were on the ground, any attempts to fly back up were hindered by Bodek City''s soldiers shooting anchor ropes at it and sending high levels of electrical pulses to drop it back down. That was where the might of Taris General Yaega and Merah General Ana were able to bulldoze and snip off the wings of the Mecha Fire Dragon.

    The soldiers all d with an improvised suit of power amour rushed through the well lit streets of this fake Daimon City and mmed theirnces into the Mecha Fire Dragon, killing it by chopping it into several parts.

    The other Mecha Fire Dragons decided to work as a team and bring down several of those airships but it was to no avail as those ships were also protected by shield barriers that subsequently sent mini interceptors powered by smaller crystals to distract the Mecha Fire Dragon.

    As for the Fira Dragon, it decided to head back North based on Daimon City''s design not because it was scared of the army that it encountered but because it believed that having the army to chase them was easier to hunt them down when they were scattered. Why bother wasting strength fighting all these punies?

    But as it reached the outskirts of Daimon City, it realised that it was not the Daimon City it had in its database since there should be no moat or body of water surrounding Daimon at all. Confused by the logic circuits again, it did not know that the naval ships at the bottom were already targeting it.

    Likewise, if there were WW2 ships in the sky, then there should also be WW2 ships in the sea. Or that''s what people think however, City Eun, Kemban, and Lebar had decided otherwise. It beseeched the System, the Goblin, and Orc builders to try a new method of creating sea ships.

    Oh, they were so sessful that those ships fused monster parts into their ships that it preceded many other battleships in Dungeon World. So much so that people started to be scared of the Naval Power of those three citiesbined.

    Monster infused Battleships was the hip word as they took parts of monsters and integrated them into their ships and City Eun had also sessfully put ship parts on a full body monster making the monster their ship instead. So when Fira Dragon saw the moat was filled with odd looking ships, it did not pay note that those ships were dying to have a bite on this so call Alpha Fire Dragon that Jin warned them about during the creation of this dungeon instance.

    A pump full of water shot like a jet cannon against the Fira Dragon, forcing it to stagger a little in mid air but due to its size, it was able to keep steady. However, more of those jet cannon sprays came about and subsequently mixed with the very same anchor ropes that were being used against the Mecha Fire Dragons.

    The Fira Dragon was being pulled into the sea and it knew that if it didn''t move away fast enough, something bad would happen. Thus, it gathered its breath and poured fire of pure rage on the ships. After all, it figured that they were made from metal and wood so the ships would be burnt along with their monsters'' parts.

    What did not know was that they too had a barrier simr to the warships that were flying. So those fire shots were temporarily ineffective as even more anchor ropes emerged to entrap the Fira Dragon.

    Soon, it was within the range of the infamous monster ship of City Eun, the Quacken. It looked totally ''unsinister'' for a ship to have an innocent looking duck head but at the bottom of the ship lies tentacles that would grab its enemy from the bottom. However, since their target now was flying, another monster ship assisted the Quacken to be out of the water ever so slightly and the tentacles shot out to grab the wings of the Fira Dragon.

    It roared in return as if telling the monster Quacken that it should be fearing for its life trying to do such an attempt to hold it down. However, the duck innocently looked at it for a moment and did not care about a single flying *quack* about it.

    Once the Fira Dragon had been entangled by the tentacles it immediately dragged it into the water and proceeded to drown it.

    Obviously, Jin and the others knew how strong the Mecha Fira Dragon was but for the Quacken to do something this daring also meant that it was strong enough to be ignorant of the strengths of the Fira Dragon. Only time will tell whether it would be sessful in its strangling. And since it was the main actor was out of sight for the moment, the Grey Bear squad had started to look at how the rest of the Seven Cities deal with the remaining Mecha Fire Dragon.

    But so far, the vibe was good. It seems like they can win this within 10 minutes.

 Chapter 1709 Who Will Know? -Part 31

    Compared to the Mecha Fire Dragon they had fought, the Grey Bears felt that these remaining six Mecha Fire Dragons were not as strong. "Perhaps the first one that we ever fought had experiences that the logic board and AI could utilise and improvise. We might have been the first few enemies it had fought and they have to counter against an assortment of coordinated armies which they have no idea how to fight." Clickmented as they saw a Mecha Fire Dragon decided to use brute force to destroy a building full of Bodek City soldiers but all of them jumped down and used skills simr to Jin. From lightning bursts and support magic, they got away easily without too much of a hassle.

    To the mechanoids, they could not differentiate chi and magic and assumed they were not any different. What''s more important to them was that the dragon had to be killed. So even when the Mecha Fire Dragon tried to destroy the building, more attacks were pinpointed against it, forcing it to fall. Especially with Taris City General using his Wallbreaker Lance.

    With his mages supporting him, he shot out from his warhorse and mmed through the torso causing a huge hole in the Mecha Fire Dragon and forcing it to fall. The process of dismantling its parts and destroying it was repeated again on this Mecha Fire Dragon.

    "Then the only one with experience is probably Fira Dragon since it managed to catch a Crystal Dragon," Telliemented.

    "A coward Crystal Dragon you mean? If the person that had been digitalised into it was Jin, that Fira Dragon would probably be killed." Diaz remarked while another Mecha Fire Dragon flew up high and shot fireballs randomly at the ground, hoping to kill the army. But before it could let out the third shot, it did not realised battle airships had already surrounded it and simultaneously sent their battery guns zing onto it. The Mecha Fire Dragon went down gloriously and it mmed down to the ground and the battle airships continued their volley until the shells burstpartments from the Mecha Fire Dragon.

    "Well, it will be horrible for me to be a digitalised into a Crystal Dragon. I will not be Lord Jin anymore. I will be Crystal Dragon Lord Jin. That''s a mouthful." Jin joked. "Also, unless I can return back to human form, I think it will be a pain in the ass to travel around and be identified as a huge target for my enemies."

    The one Mecha Fire Dragon who witnessed all the carnage had decided to fly south instead as prioritised all its energy inside its wings so that the little boosters within it would be working at 110%, allowing it to move as fast as mechanically possible. It even attempted to fly low to avoid the warships and had prepared an energised beam of scorching rays to burn any monster ship it had discovered.

    It had adapted well from seeing the mistakes the other Mecha Fire Dragons did but it had forgotten that the armies had every single Mecha Fire Dragon in their sights. There was no way they did not know if a Mecha Fire Dragon had slipped away. And besides, it believed it prepared sufficiently only to find that near the exit of the southern part of the city lies a General in wait.

    Merah City General Ana, the Angel of Fire used the System to calcte the best optimal time to jump out and cut the Mecha Fire Dragon. What she did not realise was that the Mecha Fire Dragon was able to identify her at the veryst minute and changed its trajectory course a little, causing damage to part of its wings rather than fully cutting it off.

    But just as the Mecha Fire Dragon was about to taste freedom, when it reached the moat, ready to st any monster ship that was in its way, something enormous came out of the waters vertically and bit it. A ship with mouth like an alligator fused with the biting power of a monstrous ocean hippo, the Mecha Fire Dragon was bitten into bits. Its energy ray was blown upwards and subsequently dissipated like its life ending while its torso was crushed into smithereens.

    "That was a good one. I never expected that." Jin eximed as he saw the monster ship return back into the deep depths of the modified moat.

    "What were you expecting?"

    "More like the Mecha Fire Dragon realised that it was within a dungeon instance and it would hit the wall of the dungeon instance. It can try to crawl and breathe fire at this transparent wall but it could break unless you know how to decrypt the instance."

    "That sounds scary." Click said and their attention returned to the Mecha Fira Dragon who was supposed to be an almighty alpha dragon. Jin expected it to put up more of a fight considering how it showed itself as a big bad ass within the basement. Perhaps, the dragon was akin to the idiom of the frog within a well, unable to see the world at all.

    But as they were just about to be disappointed, the Quacken looked a bit weird since it started to glow a little and suddenly a huge burst of mes emerged from the bottom of the Quacken. "Holy mother of!" Everyone within the area including the people spectating did not imagine the infamous Quacken who had sunk dozens of ships since its inception would be torn away like this.

    The Fira Dragon quickly emerged from the sea to have a quick breath in order for its systems to work while dispelling water out of its body to prevent it from sinking. And just as Jin thought Quacken was about to sink, the rest of the Seven Cities who could afford the time to watch was cheering for Quacken as if it was not yet dead as Jin thought it would be.

    When queried, the System also stated that it was best for Jin to watch it unfold.

 Chapter 1710 Who Will Know? -Part 32

    <h4>Chapter 1710 Who Will Know? -Part 32</h4>

    And unfold was what the Quacken had done. The Fira Dragon thought it was saved temporarily when he was able to get out of the moat to take a breath but the Quacken was not dead. Its innocent duck head turned its head 180 degrees to quack at it and suddenly at the side of the split, another duck head grew out, just that it was ten times smaller than the original.

    It quacked too.

    The Fira Dragon did not care and tried its best to move out of the way when it had caught its breath. But there were old medieval cannons from each side of the Quacken Ship that had been aimed at the head and shots were fired against it.

    Those heavy cannonballs crashed into its fangs and nostrils but the Fira Dragon was not bothered by the damage and instead eyed those cannons seeing which side of the half broken monster ship it had to burn down first. Yet, it did not know that the crew of Quacken was doing this to break the concentration of the Fira Dragon for the Quacken had something special for the Mechanical Dragon.

    Unbeknownst to it, the growth of a small duck head meant that the Quacken was dividing into two. When a monster divides into two, the only possible way for it to retain its individual characteristics is to grow back its remaining features.

    Thus, the new tentacles albeit a little smaller than the ones the old Quacken had, grew out of itsher regions and began tobat the Fira Dragon. But how did it do it? There were already huge tentacles grabbing the Fira Dragon from the bottom of the moat by the older Quacken and their prey was able to struggle it out.

    It would be stupid for the younger Quacken to even try and attempt to grab the Fira Dragon when the older one was having problems doing so. Thus, it did the opposite. Instead of going underneath, it had decided to overstretch its tentacles and go from the top.

    Tentacles surrounded the Fira Dragon''s head and pierced through every single orifice that mechanical beings had. From eyes, nostrils, and the throat as well as the small crevices that the metal parts did not cover. The tentacles not only prated them, but the Quacken tightened its tentacle muscles, causing secondary spines to emerge and pierce the surroundings. It was a variant that the veteran crew had not seen before and were amazed that this experience had allowed a new kind of Quacken to emerge when they saw those tentacles release spines that could destroy centimetres worth of hardened steel.

    The Fira Dragon''s AI Logic undoubtedly was extremely pissed by the new development and decided to burn everything that was in its path. Yet the tentacles once they pierced once with their spikes, wiggled in further into the crevices of the Fira Dragon''s throat and found the generator that created the fire breath.

    Just as it was about to prate the generator and render the Fira Dragon useless, onest surviving Mecha Fire Dragon flew to the north of Daimon City, in hopes of rescuing its alpha kind. Injured from the numerous anti air shells that the Battle Airships had done against it, it felt that if there was anything chance to get out of this alive would be the Fira Dragon.

    So in ast ditch attempt to save it, the Mecha Fire Dragon dived without regard to its remaining life and poured out the most devastating breath of fire it could ever produce. Seeing an imminent threat, the surrounding boats did what they could do in the name of defending themselves.

    However, as they saw the severely injured Mecha Fire Dragon moving, they figured that the only trajectory possible was toward the duel between Fira Dragon and Quacken. Still, the older Quacken did not release the Fira Dragon for fear of its safety. It merely turned its head towards the diving Mecha Dragon and quacked once. The Mecha Fire Dragon did not stop burning the surrounding areas as it dived in one particr direction and assumed that the innocent duck face was unable to do anything. Thus, it also activated its self destruct sequence which would definitely get the Fira Dragon out of the bind that it was in.

    "Oh. Niceeee." Jin said as he inched closer to the edge of the helipad as if he was excited for something to happen after the System informed him of something. The rest of the Mechanoids had no idea what was developing behind the scenes until they saw the older Quacken do the impossible.

    When the injured Mecha Fire Dragon came into the range of the innocent duck face, it immediately snapped the Mecha Fire Dragon with its beak, surprising the Mecha Fire Dragon thinking that the speed that it was moving would have a huge physical impact against it.

    Yet, the Quacken was not only able to stop it in mid air as it stretched its neck and snapped the Dragon but its head and beak grew bigger and started gobbling it up. Short fangs were seen growing out within the beak and a tongue like tentacle was pulling the Mecha Fire Dragon down into its throat.

    Even as it struggled to get out of this new predicament, the Mecha Fire Dragon felt futile being shoved into the throat of this innocent duck face but it decided to resign to its fate that the dragon could self destruct and destroy this abomination of a monster.

    ''2бн1бнInitiating self destruct." The internal AI voice of the Mecha Fire Dragon said and all of a sudden the throat of the Quacken burst into a series of blood and metal parts flying all around, scaring the crew of the Quacken when they saw it happen.

    The only good thing that came out of this was that the Quacken''s neck was stretched as it was trying to swallow the Mecha Fire Dragon as a whole. So, most of the crew was still intact from the entrapped explosion. The bad news was that their Quacken had died and the only thing that was holding the Fira Dragon had disappeared.

 Chapter 1711 Who Will Know? -Part 33

    <h4>Chapter 1711 Who Will Know? -Part 33</h4>

    Realising that the grip of tentacles had been loosening from the death of the Older Quacken, the Fira Dragon took whatever chance it could to grab onto the corpse of the dead monster ship and climbed out of the moat. The younger Quacken was definitely not able to restraint such a huge monster and it was pretty obvious that the Fira Dragon wanted to get out of the water as soon as possible which led to the Fira Dragon flying out of the water and the remaining crew of Quacken had been carried up as well.

    "Release your tentacles you stupid duck! Do you really want to die?" The captain of the leftover Quacken shouted at the new born version of the Quacken. Apparently, how Quacken lives from a severe wound was through division of cells but that was the only trick they could do once they reached a certain age or level of experience since the Dungeon World was mostly based on such a metric. If they did not, then their demise was imminent.

    So for the new Quacken to survive, it needs to survive its child like state for at least a year or get sufficient experience that it could elerate its growth. Thus it did not make sense for the younger Quacken to remove its tentacles away from the Fira Dragon when it knew that it was injured enough for a kill. In order to gain victory, the Quacken attempted to absorb the dying tentacles that had still been wrapped around the Fira Dragon in hopes that it could bring the monster down.

    Angrily, the Fira Dragon tried its best to shake it away from it as it gained flight. In short, it was carrying the younger Quacken and a few of its crew mates who had yet to jump out of the boat when the incident happened.

    So, what Jin and the others saw was a Fira Dragon with a half broken boat on its back climbing up the altitude so that it could shake it off. However, the Mechanical monster had no idea that all of the Battle Airships were already aiming against it and was ready to fire the moment the Quacken had been dropped out of the sky.

    "Argh, this stubborn duckface! Those who are still able. Shoot the shit out of the dragon so that we would die stting on the ground!" The captain of Quacken shouted as he too personally manned a fixed gun emcement on Quacken and started pouring lead into the Fira Dragon''s wings.

    "Time is running out," Jin said as he checked his time from the System Console he was left with only a few minutes and the 10 minute rule was about to expire.? "You guys, lend me your jet boosters,"? Jin asked and he quickly strapped a pair on his hip. "Stay here and watch the full show. I will deal with the Fira Dragonбнwell hopefully before we return back to the underground basement."

    With his Maqi charged, the jet boosters on his hip increased his speed by multifold and allowed him to reach Taris City General''s position. "My Lord, Apologises. I do not think that we are able to fulfill the time limit that you had asked for." He knelt and asked for forgiveness but Jin did not care about that and kept looking at the Fira Dragon''s movement.

    "Tell the Battle Airships to start shooting at it. Lend me your Wall Breaker Lance and your mages as well." Jin said as he already raised his hand out. Taris City General immediately acknowledged and readily gave the Lance to his master. "Do you have a spare?" Jin asked before Yaega was able to shout out for the mages.

    "Yes, Demopolis made quite a few to my surprise thinking this was a one of a kind customised item. They said it was customised and each of the other iterations was a few percentage stronger." Yaega replied.

    "So, if I destroy this, you can just fall back to an older Wall Breaker Lance before getting a new one?" Jin asked once more and the General nodded solemnly.

    "Nice, System. Be kind and not to bill him for the nextnce."

    "The System will deduct from the User''s profit instead."

    "Fine by me, I can''t see the money anyway." Jin smiled as he stepped aside a little and prepared his stance. Taris Mages quickly arrived when the General called and Jin told them to give him a boost up in the air.

    "Not sure if you guys have the spells but fly, charge, boost, overboost, limited boost," Jin said as he too was charging up his Maqi to be in conjunction with those spells.

    "My Lord, we have all of those. We can do weapon damage amplification as well as lightning charge." When the Taris City Mages heard it, they knew that Jin was going for a one shot kill while flying since they knew there was a time limit attached to this particr dungeon instance.

    "Now that''s excellent service. Give me all of that." Even before Jin could finish his sentence, the Taris City Mages had already taken the initiative to mumble the incantations. Meantime, Yaega had also ryed instructions to tell the Battle Airships to fire at will.

    Without hesitation and straight after the sentence ended, the battle airships released their barrage of shells against the monster without mercy. The younger Quacken was unfortunately caught in the mess of it as well and the pain from those shrapnels and explosive force had finally caused it to release its tentacles and listen to the captain.

    "Aye you dumbass duckface, follow my instructions and you cannd on the moat!" The Captain shouted and used the ship''s steering wheel, which used the rudder to p the Quacken''s butt. The duckface listened to it and tried to move as much as possible based on the pping position. Eventually, it managed tond in the water with a huge ssh and every ship around it hastily crowded around it to see if the crew on board needed help.

    However, the one that needed help would be none other be the Fira Dragon.

 Chapter 1712 Who Will Know? -Part 34

    <h4>Chapter 1712 Who Will Know? -Part 34</h4>

    The Fira Dragon howled in pain even though it was relieved from the strangling of the Quacken. The massive battery gun barrage had been putting holes in the Mecha Fira Dragon that it would render it incapable of flight soon enough.

    Thus, it had decided to activate its hidden trump card that it did not wish to use against such foes. The Fira Dragon''s AI logic wished to keep it hidden from a more difficult foe but the quantity of attacks it had suffered made it feel that it should use it as soon as possible.

    Its eyes shone purple lights the moment the AI within it decided to trigger the hidden trump card, allowing the massive regeneration of its body. At that instance, the admiral of the Battle Airships had determined that the use ofser cannons was needed to burn the Fira Dragon down from the sky as the main battery guns were not doing sufficient damage to it.

    The Mechanical monster needed to be attacked consistently for the regeneration to stop. So, just as theser cannons were aimed and shot at the Fira Dragon, they found their simultaneous shots ofsers from each and different Battle Airship had been deflected.

    One of thesers because of its strength emitted from the bigger ships happened to deflect at an angle and skewered a Battle Airship at the outermost corner of their formation. It was then they realised that the Fira Dragon had been protected by a huge barrier made out seemingly from crystals.

    "Holy sheet. Is that?!" Click could not believe her eyes and stood up out of surprise.

    "This is not a good sign," Tellie eximed as all of them never expected the Fira Dragon to be able to show such adaptation upon consuming the former Crystal Dragon.

    "How much time we are left with?" Diaz shouted out loud andter unconsciously checked the timing on the holographic console.

    "Not enough to deal with a new threat. Switch to explosive rounds and prative rounds for an anti crystal element fight. If Jin cannot bring it down fast enough, we have to fight it alone." Yinn said and the rest quickly changed their weapon load. As they were initially brought in into Parry City with the expectation to counter the Crystal Dragon, they had originally brought quite a few prative rounds of ammunition.

    It was definitely not sufficient against such a monster as they were expecting backup after the investigation but right now, it was better than nothing and they knew that they had to do something or at least slow it down so that they could also inform the Daimon military. Hopefully, the Grey Bears were able to discover its weakness andter convey it to the rest so that Daimon had the knowledge to bring it down quickly with little casualties.

    Everyone in the Grey Bear Squad was switching their weapon load except for Page who was still watching the scene unfold as if she was expecting something. "Come onбн Come onбн" She whispered to herself and Diaz tapped her head with a touch as if hoping for her to snap out of it.

    "What are you doing? There''s no time to stare at that. We need to prepare for-" Diaz pulled Page up from her sitting position but she shook Diaz''s hand away abruptly and shouted.

    "COME ON! DO YOUR JOB" She screamed at the top of her lungs, an act that was unusual even for her behaviour and everyone around her had no idea why she did that and was worried for her, thinking that something within her logic circuits had broken down.

    "Is she bing rogue?" Click questioned as she quickly picked up a connection wire and attempted to insert it at the back of Page''s nape to perform a diagnostic. The rest also aided in restraining her in case she decided to reject the diagnostic scan but she did not resist at all.

    "Noбн She is not." Click answered her question and saw the processes that had been running when they were resting. "Her virus programme got through but it was not deep enough and had been detected. She is manually guiding it while avoiding the quarantine as much as possible."

    "Why can''t this stubborn girl say anything?! We can aid her!" Diaz eximed.

    "Her processes were all running simultaneously and had already shut down most of the rest non essential programmes so that she could focus on it. I suspect any disturbance in her process will most likely be-"

    "Then shut up and help her now," Yinn said as she picked her connection wire up as well and inserted it into Click''s side ports. Tellie and Diaz also took their connection wires and plugged them into Click too and Click did the necessary configuration so that they were all able to share the processing load that Page was handling.

    This time it was a race against time as the virus programme switched through multiple folders and files as if to prevent detection and at the same time attempt to burrow itself deeper to get to what Page wanted the most. The ess to the Fira Dragon''s system.

    With the help of her teammates, the virus had been copied and duplicated into several dummies so that the Fira Dragon''s AI logic had to deal with multiple copies. This was in lieu of the fact that the Fira Dragon was still fighting against a barrage of explosives.

    "User, the System has detected that the Fira Dragon is changing its element and adapting it to be the Crystal Dragon."

    "Tell me something I do not already know," Jin said as he could feel that his Maqi was nearly at capacity and the heavy bombardment from the battle airships was already at its limit. Even the Naval Monster Ships were also supporting with long range attacks even though it was not their forte to shoot high up.

    "The Grey Bear Squad seemed to have sess for the Virus programme within the dragon to work. But it requires some time for it to work."

    "The problem is we do not have time."

 Chapter 1713 Who Will Know? -Part 35

    <h4>Chapter 1713 Who Will Know? -Part 35</h4>

    "The System suggests that the User create some time and maybe opportunity for the Grey Bear Squad to be sessful."

    "If I attack now, I won''t guarantee that I can kill that terrifying mechanical abomination in one shot. Those Crystal Barriers are a pain in the ass!" Jin happened to say out loud by ident and Taris City General heard it and smirked.

    "General Ana. Those Crystal Barriers are an obstacle to our Lord." Just this sentence was more than enough to ry the concern.

    "Not sure if I can do much, my Lord. But I can give my best shot." The Angel of Fire said as she was blessed by her mages instantly for the power of flight. She spread her artificial wings and flew as fast as she could while using the inertia to m at the path where Jin would most probably hit. The Fira Dragon saw a human threating and already shot out a fireball in her direction.

    The only problem was that the fireball was extremely massive and it felt that it was weighted with crystal remnants within the sphere of mes as well.

    "I am not going down without helping our lord!" Ana said as she took the chance to pause for a moment as she swung 360 degrees and threw her axe straight at it while she not only took the fireball in the face but also killed by it.

    The axe however had its trajectory adjusted and boosted by her mages who were right behind her as well, forcing it to zoom straight into the crystal barrier. At that point, Jin did not hesitate any further and sted off as well. All he left was a huge cradle of broken road with its dust and debris being blown towards the Taris Mages who had been boosting his skills. There was even a secondary sonic boom that came after the first shock wave had been heard, and almost no one could see how Jin had flown up in less than a second.

    He was faster than a ne, a missile, and definitely the speed of sound itself as he flew off. The Fira Dragon had already been preparing for that threat when it was hovering in mid air deflecting all those bombardments and changing itself to be a Crystal Dragon. If not for its transformation, the Fira Dragon would be flying around evading all the attacks.

    But since it found how useful and strong its crystal barriers were, it decided to strengthen the crystal barriers by adding multipleyers over and over again, cross sectioning them so that they would be so tight there was no way the attacks would get to it.

    Even the axe that Ana had thrown, had only broken 2yers of the crystal barrier, a significant feat which even the Battle Airships'' bombardment was unable to achieve, especially with the Fira Dragon''s consistent regeneration.

    Unfortunately, it did not expect Jin''s attack to be this swift and could only believe in its crystal barriers. However, it had not known that the big fat seemingly dullnce was extremely effective against such barriers.

    The Wall Breaker Lance.

    As the name had suggested, it gave a significant bonus when crashing through walls and thus Jin had seen it in action before. So, he had an absolute fate that it would do just that for him.

    "Eh?" Jin who was so focused on breaking the crystal barriers had no idea that the power he was holding was so overwhelming it prated through all the Crystal barriers in record time. The Fira Dragon was equally stunned and was only able to dodge a fatal attack by turning its body in time.? "EHHHHHHHH?!!!!"

    Its torso was partially destroyed and so was one of his wings and yet Jin was still flying upwards from the power he had umted. He honestly thought that the crystal barrier was sturdy enough to withstand the Wall Breaker Lance he never thought of a scenario where he would break through everything.

    "Fuck Fuck Fuck!" Jin said to himself as he needed to either stop and charge through again or go one big round so that it could keep the momentum. Either way will waste time and the Fira Dragon was able to regenerate those barriers again.

    And that''s what the Fira Dragon thought as well until it realised that it was unable to initiate the regeneration. His wings and torso were still leaking from the loss of power and the crystal barriers were not regenerating back.

    What was happening?

    "HAHAHAH!" The entire Grey Bear was celebrating within their cores process even though all of them were physically offline temporarily to aid Page in the final push. The moment their Mechanoids rebooted and went online again, they moved away from each other, automatically unplugging their wires away.

    They grabbed Page and shouted in joy for the most apparent thing that had happened. "We Did it! WE DID IT!!! YEAHHHHHH!"

    The virus insertion into the System files was sessful the moment Jin disrupted the Fira Dragon with his attack. That instantaneous moment where the Fira Dragon had to focus all of its processing capabilities to override the current modules that were running and focus on dodging.

    That was the opportunity the Grey Bears were looking for as they supercharged the virus and sent it dashing straight to the core as if the millions of doors that were locked or closed had been open just for that millisecond for the virus to push through.

    And because of that Page finally had ess to the System Files and deleted the modules that governed regeneration through nanobots and the remnants of the Crystal Dragon inside its ''stomach''. When Jin and the others saw that the Fira Dragon was not able to perform any regeneration, he decided to go one big round to keep the momentum and head in for another strike.

    "FIRE! FIRE EVERYTHING!" The Admiral of the Battle Airships cried at the top of his lungs and they did a simultaneous attack that continuously broke the dragon''s barrier and rendered it immobile.

    Aye, the end of near.

 Chapter 1714 Who Will Know? -Part 36

    ?

    With the Maqi he had umted, Jin concentrated all of it into the Wall Breaker Lance while he was flying. He knew that he must hit or else this would fail spectacrly that the Grey Bears and maybe even the Seven Cities mightugh at him.

    After all, being a Lord of these cities, he had to show that he was this super duper cool master that everyone could rely on. That was his actual side thought but in reality, he had enough of this Fira Dragon and learnt his lesson on why Synthesis World''s Virtual Simtion did not wish to have any monster Mechanoids built.

    The reason for him to fight alongside Archduke Dyke and clear this simtion andter be the winner of this round seems all the more important to him as a vendetta that he must exact. Even though he knew that the Synthesis World''s AI Administration had a small hand in forcing him into such situations, they were definitely not the perpetrators for all these secret creations of Monster Mechanoids.

    Of course, he needed to get his body back and deal with certain stuff to ensure that his profits were still flowing into his bank ount but the effort to get there had made it doubly sure for Jin that he needed to end this round with the Empire Royals dead regardless of the methods used.

    So, as he grabbed the Wall Breaker Lance tightly, ck and white traces of lightning started to embrace him again and eventually creating the Panda silhouette that the Grey Bears seen while the Seven Cities revered it as their Lord showing his animal spirit that had been used to conquer worlds.

    "Panda Lightning Strike!" Jin shouted as he boosted once more and another sonic boom dissipated right behind him. The Fira Dragon knew that there was no way it could block such an attack and he had to at least away minimally away from the projected trajectory to reduce the amount of damage it could suffer.

    Only then can the Fira Dragon try to get rid of the Virus that had invaded it or at least suppress it momentarily to rewrite the regeneration files so that its nanobots could start working overtime again.

    But what it did not expect was that right now it was no a straight charge and rather it turned jagged and afterimages of the impendingnce attack was fuddled with streaks of ck and white lightning bolts with the image of an animal that it could not recognise within its database.

    Before it could process any further and react against such an attack, it felt that something was missing. The lightning bolts had dissipated and there was nothing right in front of the Fira Dragon. The bombardment also stopped and the Fira Dragon'' AI was unable tomand any of its limbs.

    Signs and warning that the power was critically low and the AI rushed to override had proven to be futile. The monster slowly but surely descended down to the ground. As it happened, the environment was also changing as digital bits of the ck sky was exchanged for a white ceiling and a boxed in room where it felt that what it saw was surely itsst.

    The underground facility eventually became its coffin and the Grey Bear finally won.

    "System, help me thank the Seven Citiesбн" Jin whispered as he appeared on the third and highest tform in the basement facility and fainted there.

    "Commander!" The rest of the Grey Bears shouted with concern as they rushed to the best of their best athletic abilities to reach the third tform.

    Page was thrown by Diaz from the second tform and she was the first to be in contact with Jin. "We won! Commander! We Won! Stay conscious. You need to tell the rest of Daimon City that its done!" She eximed with a tear emerging out from her eyes.

    She had never worked this hard for hermander before especially not under the previous one and now Page understood why the rest of the Grey Bears were somitted to be with him and even went with his crazy ideas.

    Sadly, Jin went unconscious again but Page had double, nay- triple checked that all of his vitals were present and concluded that he probably copsed from exhaustion. "Ahh Thismander. Always falling asleep once the job is over." Yinnmented as Page slowly brought him down to the secondary tform and they went to safer grounds via the rooms at the side of the basement.

    "Its kind of a bad habit for him to always sleep straight after that." Tellie giggled as she poked his face.

    "Tellie, I do not think you have the right to say that. You do that as well. If I am not wrong, you are ranked two within the squad, next to Commander Jin." Click said sarcastically and Tellie gave put her tongue out to spite her.

    "I really could sleep on the ground right here. I''m exhausted." Diaz did what she said and lie t on the ground without any care for any possible dangers that could still be lurking,

    "Yinn, should we start telling General Ost and the rest to stand down? They are probably nervous as heck." Click questioned as she too let down her bag and used Diaz''s leg as a pillow to sleep on.

    "Ladies. Sorry to be a party pooper butбнermm." The vice leader opened her backpack and unrolled the map that they had grabbed (not steal, mind you :P) to show all of them the location that they were in. "We actually have another basement to check and the way to move is through that door over there."

    "SCREW YOU!" The entire group said and even showed the middle finger at the same time which made all of themughed as one big team except for Yinn.

    "Alright alright, time out for 30 seconds and we have to check the remaining basement. Otherwise, we would not be able to report that this facility is clear." She said but none of them bothered to answer her.

 Chapter 1715 Who Will Know? -Part 37

    ?

    "Are we going to really leave Jin on the ground if we were to check thest underground basement?" Click asked as she reluctantly changed her loadout to the normal bullets.

    "We can bring him with us as well, but he would probably be a bullet sponge if no one took care of him." Yinn also told the rest to keep the prating rounds at a corner they were able to assess easily since she did not have any idea whaty ahead of them.

    "But we cannot leave him here. If the enemies ran away and saw an enemy sleeping peacefully at the corner, what do you think they would do to him? Doodle on his face with a marker?" Tellie asked.

    "More like doodle his face with bullets. Muahahha" Diazughed and proceeded towards Jin. "I carry him since my Gunzerker abilities will allow me to shoot even without a gun. Although it would be best if Click could create two machine gun turrets attached to my back or shoulders? That would be more helpful than me trying to shoot using my mouth."

    "Lol, that would be awfully scary if you merely open your mouth wide and bullets came out from there. You might as well spit wherever you go." Click said allowing Diaz to entertain on that idea while she made those turrets as Diaz had requested. "Do you want to have a mini gun to go along with your suit?"

    "Haha very funny. I don''t have that kind of capacity within my body."

    "I mean I can create an ammo tank and there should still be a mini gun at the armoury."

    "Eh.. about that," Tellie interjected. That exit is a no go after that stupid Fira Dragon mmed one of the Mecha Fire Dragons thereбн or was it us that caused it? Don''t remember."

    "We will check the viability of the escape routeter. Otherwise, there is always the poorly patched up hole above Hangar Bay 7 that we might be able to utilise with jet boosters." Yinn said as she checked if everyone else was ready.

    "Hang on, Let me just connect the turret with Diaz''s body so that it could feed the machine gun rounds from her body." Click replied and after a few checks, the turrets were working, and thus, Diaz carried Jin and was the position as the secondst in the squad with Page at her rear in case things went real south.

    The Grey Bear squad stayed a metre back as Yinn opened the doorway. Thankfully, it was not rigged or booty trapped and the Grey Bear Squad as tired as they could be walked down the stairs as carefully as they could to find themselves opening the door to thest basement floor.

    When they opened it, Yinn breathed out a huge sigh of relief, followed by the remaining squad members who walked through it. It was a storage area for all the equipment and materials that were umted for the creation of the Mecha Fire Dragon.

    There were even more weapons and other prototypes that seemed to be partiallypleted andter scrapped given the amount of cobwebs that was left in the room. Other than that, there were no humans nor Mechanoids in the area but the Grey Bear Squad remained vignt. Page and Diaz were left at the basement''s entrance while Click and Tellie stuck closely behind Yinn as they systematically cleared each and every room they could unlock.

    Eventually, they reached thest final room where there was a huge safe door within it. "As much as I want to know what''s in there. I think we should be able to leave this to the experts and government officials to deal with this." Yinn said and Click boo-ed at her.

    "After working so hard, surely opening that humongous safe should be a priority, no? Imagine if there were riches in there or maybe dungeon artefacts that could help us in the fight against future Monster Mechanoids? Surely, you do not want to miss out on that fact, right?"

    "Hey guys! There are custom packs here too. Remember the package thingy that the Archduke Engineer had installed for us? It seems there are lower numbered series in here as well." Diaz shouted through the basement as she got tired of guarding and went looking around.

    "Is that how those Monster Mechanoids could be so strong? They have numbered packages?" Tellie asked and they got distracted by Diaz''s finding.

    "We don''t have to touch those packages. I am sure Master mmet can make customised software and hardware package for us!" Click shouted back and then turned back to Yinn. "So yeah. We fought like shit, at least we try to crack it open and see if we can any artefacts that might prove useful. Who knows? There might be an artefact that allows us to control elements like how Jin used those electricity moves."

    "Oh. Like my energy st? I was able to change the element to electric when I shot the beams against the Mecha Fire Dragon. It''s a bit tricky to do the conversion though." Tellie said and Click shook her head.

    "I honestly believed Jin could do more than fire and lightning. I remembered seeing him manipte wind elements as well and there might be a chance he could do other kinds of elements like some king of magicks." Click exined. (The System was amused by this conversation)

    "Fine. Fine. We will attempt to break the safe and at most when we get here, it is already forced open. Besides, I would be lying if I said I am not interested in getting some rewards aftering this far." Yinn finallypromised and Click was delighted. She started to fiddle with the controls and checked if her explosives were sufficient to break the locks.

    In the meantime, the rest of the Grey Bears walked around to check and log what other things they could find in this lofty cave of ''loot''.

 Chapter 1716 Who Will Know? -Part 38

    ?

    "Urghбн Where am I again?" Jin said but this time, he was seemingly resting on a ratherfortable pillow but the entire body was on hard ground.

    "Just rest easy, Commander. You are in safe hands." Page whispered softly but as she wanted tofort him even further, the ruckus from the rest of the Grey Bear Squad was being extremely noisy.

    "I told you not to put the explosives over there!" Diaz argued with Click.

    "You don''t have to be here in the first ce, I just needed that small little space to put my explosives so I can calcte the amount needed for the safe!"

    "Can you just hurry already? I am getting tired." Tellie yawned as she saw themotion happening at the side.

    "I concur with Tellie. If you are still not done, we will get out of here." Yinn looked at the time passed and shook her head.

    "But the treasure!" Click and Diaz said in unison. Page on the other hand decided to shout out.

    "Commander is awake right now! Could you guys keep it down? He is still resting!"

    "See, you take so much time that themander is awake!" Clickined.

    "Oh, sleepy head is up," Tellie said to herself and she pped softly, wanting to see themander.

    "You were the one who asked for my help and now youined that I''m a nuisance?" Diaz was beginning to be frustrated.

    "What are they fussing about?" Jin asked as he knew there was no way he could rest or even sleep.

    "They wanted to open the safe but their explosives were not working and so were thebination of codes. Tellie offered to shoot down the safe door but the people who wanted the treasure inside were afraid that she would burn everything inside with her energy st."

    "Commander! Are you okay?" Tellie came and said hi to Jin which he smiled gently and waved back.

    "I assumed you want me to take charge of the situation, Tellie?" Jin asked and she nodded her head with happiness that she did not need tomunicate with hermander for him to know her intentions.

    "Well, good news. I think I can do that." Jin said as he stood up slowly and saw that Yinn also approached and saluted him for a moment.

    "Sorry, Commander. There was a basement floor left and we wanted to make sure that there were indeed no more Mecha Fire Dragons within this underground facility. And also hope that this is the only facility that Parry City has that created those dragons. In the event of clearing thest basementбн"

    "Yeah, I get the gist from that. Let me handle those two kids." Jin said as he staggered a little at the start which Page managed to catch him and held him steady. "Thanks, I think I was too tired."

    "Couldn''t me you on that. Even we saw that was a brilliant battle from you. It''s a pity that the Daimon Citizens were not able to see you in action. They will fall in love with you even further." Page said and Jin smiled a little.

    "It''s fine, all that matters is the end result. When they see those monsters dead, that''s all that matters." Jin replied.

    "Are you not going to give a reply to Daimon Military? They might be waiting for your answer, orck of answer."

    "Well, no Mecha Fire Dragons leak out of the city. So, they can still worry a little more for me. There''s no harm in that, right?"

    "Yes."

    "Besides, how can I address the public when I HAVE THESE TWO KEEP SQUABBLING IN FRONT OF ME!" Jin let go of Page and ran towards Click and Diaz who got scared by the sudden shouting from Jin as he grabbed the both of them, each in his arms, and subsequently pulled both of their cheeks.

    "Ah,mander. Wee back. Did not see you back there." Click''s speech was fumbled by Jin''s actions.

    "Lies," Jin said as he continued to squeeze their cheeks even harder.

    "Commander. Sowwrry. We keep quietttt noww," Diaz was not able to talk right too.

    "Good." Jin let go of them and they knelt now to beg for forgiveness. "Seriously, these two. If you want to open it, you could have wake me up." Jin said and the both of them looked up with their heads tilted towards Jin, initially confused, andter that confusion turned to delight.

    "Commander, you have the codes??!!" The both of them cried out with joy and Jin knocked both of their heads so fast, they could not even block it.

    "Don''t give me that crying baby face. I am not falling for it." He told the two girls.

    "On a serious note, you have the code?"

    "Ehhбн yea," Jin realised he should not have said it out loud and just opened it up. Then he could make up some excuse that it was ''Magic~! And fiddled with his fingers which the Grey Bear Squad would subsequently ignore him and divert their attention to look at the treasures instead. The fact was that Syn had left a message for him as he was staggering towards Diaz and Click.

    The mail''s title read as passcode to the safe and when he opened it, the number was there. Perhaps, Syn had done it to reward Jin and the Grey Bear Squad for the massive sacrifice and work they had done.

    "Where did you get it?" Click asked and Jin lied and stated that the code came when he killed the Fira Dragon.

    "Honestly, I do not know whether the code could work or not. But it seems like a code for the safe since it was just numbers." Jin exined and suddenly those delighted faces turned sour.

    "Why did we even bother thinking that he really does have it." Click sulked and Diaz had refused to see eye to eye with Jin. It was pretty obvious that both of them thought that what Jin had was a lie and they felt like they wasted their time patronising him since there was no way a code could just go to Jin''s head after defeating that Fira Dragon.

 Chapter 1717 Who Will Know? -Part 39

    <h4>Chapter 1717 Who Will Know? -Part 39</h4>

    "Ho? You girls don''t believe me?" Jin smiled as he folded his arms.

    "Yeah. We believe that you are lying." Click said even though she was still kneeling down as if she was under punishment along with Diaz. However, the guts to challenge Jin had shown that they knew when to take orders and when they could misbehave

    "You think you can bait me to open it for you?" Jin knew what the two rascals of the squad were up to and he felt that he wanted more praise for them before he acted upon it.

    "More like let''s not waste any more time on this," Yinn said at the sidelines, feeling this would drag even longer if it was notpleted.

    "Yeah, I am getting tired of them quarrelling about the safe. Commander, if you could just open it and let''s be done with it." Tellie yawned softly after saying it. In fact, she was so sleepy, that Tellie looked like she could hold onto her sniper rifle and use it as her bolster.

    "Alright, alright. But before I open let me address to the public. Once we are done with that let''s get out of here." Jin said and the two mechanoids were moaning at Jin''s decision since they had to wait even longer for the safe to be opened.

    "Commander, just open it, and then let us search the safe. We will be able to save some time when you give that speech of yours." Diazmented and Click nodded in agreement with her.

    "No. What if there is something so special, that you two kids decided to keep it for yourself without me knowing?"

    "Oh please, the System knows what we are carrying it at the very end, what''s the point of us hiding it?" Click stated and Jin realised that was a rather valid point that she made.

    "I think the Commander just wants the first choice of the loot. After all, he had the code and not any of you. He was the only one who killed the Fira Dragon." Page deduced Jin''s reluctance.

    "Let me remind all of you that this technically belonged to the Parry City Military no matter how illegally acquired they are. By taking all these is also considered stealing of their property." Yinn remarked and the entire party boo-ed her again which this time she reacted strongly by sticking her tongue out at them.

    It was the first time she showed something out of her usual professional self and everyone gasped at the change Yinn had for herself. "Commander, you better open the safe now, or else we think we will get possessed by some unknown AI like how Yinn had changed," Diaz said and Click agreed once more.

    "You peopleбн" Yinn shrugged them off and they all giggled behind Jin''s back.

    "Alright, alright. I will open it." Jin gave up and went to type the code that was given to him by Syn, in hopes that there were treasures of untold riches behind it. All those illegal gatherings of the Royal''s gold could be put to good use in both Parry City and Daimon City. This could also boost the resources they could acquire for the fight against Daimon but more importantly was the possibility of dungeon artefacts within it, giving them a possible edge in the future.

    So as the password was keyed in, it was epted immediately and the loud clicking of the gears was a symphony to the entire squad. Slowly but surely, the safe opened and all of them stayed a few metres back so that they could have a grand look at the stupendous amount of gold or treasures hidden in there since their of evil men should be filled with riches, right?

    The light was automatically turned on and as soon the door moved itself away so the entrance remained open, so were their mouths who were in disbelief.

    "Oh бнmy god.." Diaz was the first to speak, speechless at the look of the safe.

    "This isбн This isбн" Click could not help but to leak a tear from her eye.

    "Unbelievable." Yinn who was initially not interested in the safe, was dumbfounded by the safe''s opening as well.

    "Commander. I think with thisбн" Page cannot express herself any more than she could with the opening of the safe.

    "It''s my first time to see my expectations broken to such a level." Tellie also agreed with the rest of them.

    "Yeap. Same here. This is just an incredible sight." Jin replied.

    Nothing.

    Nothingбн

    Nothing?

    Nothing!

    "THERE IS NOTHING HERE?! WHAT KIND OF EVIL UNDERGROUND LAIR IS THIS?!" Diaz felt like pulling her hair from her head. On the other hand, Click cried as she fell to the ground, speechless. Yinn felt this was really an entire waste of time but she was thankful it was done early rather than having Jin trying to figure this out as well. Page and Tellie merelyughed at the absurdity of this entire endeavour.

    Imagine if word gets out that thepetent Grey Bear Squad who had worked in several impossible situations to save people had difficulty opening a safe, only to find that it was empty on the inside.

    "I don''t believe this. I honestly cannot believe this. I am going into the safe to search if there is any hidden secret room or something." Click said and Diaz decided to walk in with her as well.

    "Remember to check for traps," Page reminded. "Else, I won''t bother fixing you guys up when you need it!"

    "I will just go do my speech to the rest. Oh my god, this is stupid." Jin said as he told the rest that he would be going up to the upper basement floor so he could show them the results of the Mecha Fire Dragons that had been defeated.

    Yinn also stated that she would follow him since she could not stand the absurdity of this room. Separately, Page and Tellie decided to stay near the safe and watched how Click and Diaz made a fool of themselves.

 Chapter 1718 Who Will Know? -Part 40 (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 1718 Who Will Know? -Part 40 (Final)</h4>

    When they reached the basement where they defeated the Mecha Fire Dragons, Jin took a look at the mess that was left. Even though the Dungeon Instance had disappeared, the scars, the marks, and even how they had been destroyed had shown that this was not done by a small group of people.

    If he wants to exin the situation, he probably has to hide some evidence by burning and destroying the parts even further. Otherwise, he could just show a quick glimpse of the monster mechanoids that were killed and speak more about the future.

    Either way, it would be a headache he had to suffer through aftering out of this underground facility. "Yinn, might give me some space to think and talk to myself?" Jin asked and his vice squad leader nodded.

    "I will be waiting at the corner right over there."

    "Thanks, it would not be long."

    "Just do not go out of my sight. No matter how strong you are, you would still need help."

    "Thanks once more," Jin said as he walked further down the secondary tform which was more stable to sort out his thoughts. At that point, he summoned the System andбн Syn.

    "That''s a rather nasty trick to y on me. You already knew there was nothing inside, right?" Jin started off with that and Syn chuckled.

    "Yes, yes. I already knew there was nothing inside. That is why I have decided to give you the passcode so as to not waste time. I assume it would be an entertaining scenario to look at but I never expected it to be this fun." Synmented.

    "Please don''t do this again. It can be fun at the start but irritatingly tiring for future times."

    "Yes, okay. Jin I will take note of that." Syn replied and Jin sighed.

    "Well, since that''s off my chest. Anything to help me with the speech? I feel I''m a little torn."

    "About what to say?" Syn tried to confirm the question. "If that''s the case, why not just say the truth? Otherwise, lie all the way. AI Administration believed that either way, the Daimon City and Parry City had put enough trust in you for you do to what is needed." Syn gave its opinion.

    "User could just not show it and let the military handle it. There is no need for you to show proof in the System''s opinion. Come out from the borders of Parry City and those military who see you, will know that you had defeated the monster mechanoids and proceed from there."

    "I feel that giving them something right now would be a better choice. Everyone is hot on their toes and the finger is too close to their triggers forfort." Syn replied.

    "We did not catch one of the known people behind this, that General Toba," Jin said and the System told Jin that he could rx on that.

    "After Sir Peru Peru''s speech, the Air Force in general immediately went in guns zing to save their General as well as taking over the War Room. The Air Force General had been injured during the firefight as General Toba was said to have used him as a hostage. Yet, Air Force General Inus was able to -ording to the reports, to slip using the chair he was being tied to and this slip enabled the air force specialmandos to take the shot to incapacitate the Army General into custody."

    "Since the System already gave that much info, then I shall give you a bit of special info."

    "No thanks, I do not want it. That will amount to favours or debts in the future." Jin rejected tly and the System wouldugh if it could. "I learned the bad way not to ask or receive special stuff."

    "I assure you this is free information which you will know subsequently as well." Syn did not give Jin any choice but to ept the information. "Ever since the war room had been overtaken, General Inus asked the operations to rescue their people to continue although your Generals do not ept it."

    "Even though Sir Peru Peru swears by him, your Generals stated that until Jines out alive or when the Mecha Fire Dragons emerge out of the city grounds, Daimon would continue to stand by," Syn added.

    "The System could have told him that."

    "Just let me talk a little. I do feel lonely and you guys are currently my only friends here." Syn said and Jinughed before realising that Yinn was watching him so he lowered theugh.

    "The System understands this solitude that AI Administration representative Syn is going through but at the very least, you had some contact unlike the System when it had to weather the-"

    "We don''t need any history lessons at the moment. I guess I will announce the speech here andter get my men toe here and fetch me. I am exhausted, and would prefer to have a ride home than walk through the streets and get popped by a stray enemy sniper."

    "I cannot guarantee whether that situation that would happen or not." Syn''s hint was more than enough reason for not following the System''s advice toe out of the basement and walk back.

    "Then the System guessed User knew what he needed to do." The System returned to dormancy from Jin''s side, leaving Syn and Jin alone for a while.

    "And, what are you waiting for? Don''t you have to leave and govern the rest of the Virtual Simtion? I am sure this is not the only ce that is rather happening."

    "On the contrary, it is the most happening ce at the moment. Almost all the cities in the Empire had taken interest in this. Your Generals will fill in the rest but okay, I will get going." Syn replied but before he left, Syn decided to converse with Jin again.

    "Hey, I know I had kinda cheated you with that empty chest. Will promise to give you somepensation for your efforts."

    "That would be great but it''s not needed. Don''t worry." Jin as usual does not want to keep any debts.

    "Also, onest thing. Your soul extractor. It''s almost ready. You can return home soon. I promise you its not a lieбн Just remember toe back," Syn said.

    "Don''t worry Syn. I have a score to settle with the Royals as well."

 Chapter 1719 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1719 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 1</h4>

    Every second that passed, every minute that went by and eventually an hour. The hopes of the people were decreasing as time burnt in nonexistence that Daimon Interim Leader was able to do something special.

    However, the fact that those Mecha Fire Dragons did not burst out of the City grounds had been in the minds of the Generals. Parry City Military General Inus who was now in charge of the military arm had told the special armed forces to not give any quarters in terms of interrogation.

    "Make them take the truth serum if need be. I got sick of waiting already" General Inus ordered.

    "But sir, those truth serums have severe side effects and might not even work." His officer said.

    "These scums that wished to destroy our town for the sake of some extra money at the side should not deserve any mercy. Each minute they kept their mouth shut, the Interim Leader suffered. For what we know, he could have already been dead trying to protect ournds and the Mecha Fire Dragons dug through the ground and got away without receiving any judgment from us."

    "Understood, Sir." The officer saluted but before he left, a public livestream came out and the devil that they talked about was on screen.

    When everyone in Daimon City saw Jin''s face and his somewhat relieved demeanour, they could not help to heave a huge sigh of relief. "Sorry about the dy. We were too knocked out to answer after winning the battle." Jin was sitting down in a corner with hisbat vest unzipped had also indicated that the fight had been won.

    "Thank you, everyone, for having your thoughts and prayers to us, and here is the result." Jin flipped the livestream console and showed them the mess they had done. Inparison to the nice and tidy room they went in previously with all the Mecha Fire Dragons that had yet to be activated, it felt like this room could do some cleaning.

    "So yeah, erm. This is just an update to stand down for Daimon Air Force, however, as much as I want to get out of this underground facility, I am unable to because of the damage done by the fight. But not to worry, my Mechanoids have some rations on them and there''s enough plugs here for them to be charged fully."

    "I also know that this might be Parry City''s territory but Sir Peru Peru. Please let my troops go in to fetch me. It''s not that I do not trust your military''s capability to get me out but I had been shot at enough times and I''m exhausted." At that moment, Sir Peru Peru came online as well but he was already on the ground with his forehead sticking to the hospital floor.

    "Thank you. Lord Jin. From the deepest depths of my heart, I thank you for what you did for Parry City."

    "Sir Peru Peru, get up. You are still injured from the incident. Do not strain yourself. Doctors and nurses what are you all doing, get him up." Jin said and the Daimon Medical team that was in charge of Sir Peru Peru immediately responded and also begged Sir Peru Peru to return to his bed.

    "I understand that you do not trust our military but rest assured that the mutiny that had happened has already been resolved with punitive force. The current Parry City Military is under mymand and they would not do anything to harm the saviour of their city as well."

    "Yeah. I know but ermбн" Jin did not know how to rephrase the sentence well at that point in time which allowed Sir Peru Peru to continue speaking.

    "However, I will allow the dispatch of your military force to pick you up and even allow your troops to go remove the debris as well. Ah, my bad I forgot. The underground facility would also be under your control but we hoped that you can allow Parry City Investigators to perform the search as well." Sir Peru Peru gave such concessions that Jin was rather surprised it was so generous that he felt a little uneasy.

    "Thank you, Sir Peru Peru for your kindness. We can talk more about the detailster when we meet in private with regard to the investigation of the facility. I can also allow an airborne despatch for you to return to Parry City if you wish to."

    "I do not mind staying in Daimon''s hospital. The hospitality they gave me is unparalleled and I even hoped that the Parry City hospitals could learn as well."

    "Seriously, Sir Peru Peru. You do not need to bootlick any further. I did just what I was supposed to." Jin said so bluntly that it caught Sir Peru Peru in a bind.

    "But yeah, if you don''t mind Daimon Hospital for now, I can still allow an airborne dispatch that brings your guards over so that you won''t be too ufortable being surrounded by Daimon Guards. Besides, your house is in ruinбнunless you have another house to stay inбн" Jin said and Sir Peru Peruughed.

    "Like you said, don''t worry about the small details. Then let''s get the ball rolling otherwise, the economy for both of our cities will suffer. I assume once you return to Daimon, my citizens can return too?" Sir Peru Peru asked for concern for his citizens too since most of them were staying in temporary tents or even in open areas. It was not the way to survive but the fact that Jin and Daimon had provided essentials to them had already given him gratitude that was beyond words.

    "Yes, the military would assist the immigration control department to start preparing their departure from Daimon and back to Parry City. Otherwise, they can stay in Daimon for at most three days before returning. Oh and for those who want to travel into the city, by all means, go ahead. We wee your business." Jin smiled as he said that since he wanted everything to go back to normal as soon as possible.

 Chapter 1720 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1720 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 2</h4>

    "Well, what are we waiting for? Ourzy ass Interim Leader wants to be escorted back to Daimon. So, let us give him the best escort ever." General Grieves said as he received the coordinates to the underground facility. The Grey Bear Squad had also given Grieves a copy of the physical map they grabbed (again, not stole!) as well as video records of the basement to the best of their abilities.

    Based on the information that Jin and the Grey Bear Squad had sent, Grieves believed that a fifty men strong team would be sufficient to not only remove the debris but also patrol and guard the underground facilities once Jin had been escorted back to Daimon.

    The soldiers selected were ted that they were able to do something for their interim leader who had been hogging the spotlight this whole entire time. General Grieves also finally had something to do as he was given permission by General Ost to bring their ''tired'' Jin back from Parry City.

    It did not take long for the Daimon military to assemble a few jeeps, a truck filled with excavation equipment, andstly the most important a ''luxurious'' car filled with sufficient suspension to handle the roads of Parry City. (The car was in courtesy of Diamondz Corp) Initially, there were ns to use the helicarrier but 2LT Cloudie who had been working doubly hard to ferry Parry City citizens from the Northern portion of Daimon to the Southern Daimon declined the request to fetch Jin back.

    "It''s not safe if I do not have enough sleep. And now that I know Jin is still alive, I can sleep in peace too." 2LT Cloudie said and General Grieves understood and gave permission for him to skip it. Thus, in less than an hour, all the paperwork was in order and the Parry City Immigration (or what''s left of it) approved the armed escort and allowed them to pass.

    Even the soldiers themselves had never seen such a quick approval of documents, skipping all the necessary checks and scans for them to pass through. So, by the time they reached the underground facility, the observers from the Parry City Military could never imagine it was so close to Daimon borders. Should the Mecha Fire Dragons really had not been killed, the rampage it does would definitely have affected Daimon and the refugees they were currently holding.

    And Air Force General Inus cursed since he knew that the particr ce was a notorious ce for gangs, which was why the security checks there werex enough to let General Toba do his thing. Not to mention, gold and points were the easiest to get the gangs to work for General Toba as well.

    But now that the ce is vacant, Parry City Military believed it would be a good time to guard the ce too since those 50 men would not stand a chance in patrolling the streets if the gangs started to return. Either that, those gang members had yet to move away, hiding and waiting for their chance to appear and Jin managed to slip into that area without anybody knowing.

    "Get in contact with General Grieves. I heard he was the one who is going to bring Jin back." Inus ordered and soon the two Generals were able to meet with each other.

    "General Inus. What''s the matter? Are you going to deny us from rescuing ourzy bum?"

    "No, General Grieves. On the contrary, I am here to give some warning. The area that you guys have parked yourself in is gang territory. I am afraid that there may still be gang members around or you will have trouble patrolling the area."

    "I am assuming you wish to offer some assistance? There is no need to. We can bring in some heavy duty Mechanoids and a few more soldiers to keep the area safe since we are permitted by your leader to bring as much as I want to. So, do not worry about us. We have the manpower and I know the gangs in Parry City. As long as you do not disturb them, they will not disturb us. I''m also sure they are not stupid enough to make enemies with Daimon Military."

    "But General, as a precaution. It''s best that you allow some of my personal best to be there."

    "Then all the more I decline. As much as I can understand the sentiments for providing assistance and ensuring that we are taken care of, what ourzy bum said is also true. He had been attacked so many times that it''s not funny anymore. Be thankful that our leader and his team did not kill anyone. That thermobaric st is of your military own making as well. I also assume Diamondz Corp would be finding some answers too." General Grieves knew what Inus was trying to do.

    After the reputation of Parry City Military being seen as a bunch of people who want to destroy their own city, as well as taking advantage of the situation in an attempt to indirectly kill their own lord as well as Daimon''s. It would take years to gain back that kind of trust from other people.

    In fact, General Inus was worried no one would wish to cooperate with Parry City Military or even do sales with it, in fear that the next mechanical dragon production could happen again.

    "Get the police to aid in, and if needed, send an advisor from the military. I assume the police handle more of the gang than the military do, right?" General Grieves said and Inus smiled lightly. Perhaps Grieves knows what Inus was going through but for now, it''s too quick to let bygones be bygones. There was some mistrust and that breach of trust needs time to mend.

    But once the talk was over, General Grieves hurried his men to go into the underground facility and save that very specialzy bum.

 Chapter 1721 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1721 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 3</h4>

    It didn''t take long for Daimon City Soldiers to get to Jin and the Grey Bear Squad members. The copse of the stairway that had been damaged by the fight was fixable with a few extra temporary pir supports and the debris was cleared systematically with the help of Mechanoids.

    Food was initially passed through the openings that they managed to get so that Jin was at least still able to get a decent meal rather than that pitiful packet of biscuits he called rations which the Grey Bears had.

    Otherwise, all Jin did was hang out with the Grey Bears until they were done. It was to the point that he even went to the lowest basement to sleep for a while as the other Mechanoids took stock of the inventory that was in the ce.

    In the meantime, Click became slightly curious about the designs of the Mecha Fire Dragon and went around checking if there were any databases or manuals that were avable to give her a better idea of what makes them tick.

    After some intense clearing of the copsed stairway, General Grieves was the first to go in and greet Jin who was bored and munched some biscuits. He waved at the General and called the rest to return with him.

    When they got out of the underground facility and into the open, Jin could see that more Mechanoids and soldiers were already on standby with Parry City''s police clearing the way. "I thought you said fifty including the workers? This felt like it was more than fifty." Jin asked Grieves as the General opened the door of the luxurious car for Jin to sit and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad took another ride behind him.

    "The Parry City Military, Air Force General Inus had stated that the area you were in was gang territory. He told me to be extra careful so I brought in additional muscle and also allowed the Parry City Police to help control the scene before the rest returned."

    "Oh, I seeбн" Jin yawned and saw that the sun was already setting when he was in the car.

    "But interestingly, the gang leaders came together when Daimon and Parry City resumed border transits, and we nearly shot them foring too close."

    "Are they there to give you trouble?" Jin asked.

    "No, they offered to stay out of it for the entire duration but requested not to touch their gang members as well. Of course, I said, I could not guarantee until one of them gave me a ck ledger that contained all the transitions between them and General Toba. So, it was a situation that demanded an exchange of favours. Theyter thanked us for helping Parry City and asked us to consider."

    "Mind if I take a look at this ck ledger?" Jin asked and General Grieves was already ahead of him and sent copies of the scanned ck ledger into his holographic console for viewing. Jin might not be the best ountant to audit this but he could see that it was written rather clearly and neatly.

    "There''s quite a lot of money flowing in and out of this book," Jinmented and Grieves stated that they were smuggling in parts from various cities into Parry City. They thought it was for Mechanoids or even Enhanced Armoured Mechanoids. They never believe it was used to create Monster Mechanoids at all."

    "Well, that''s one part of the mystery solved since the gang leaders had graciously given one of the most vital information. Looks like the Empire Military main manufacturer was really involved."

    "Rocketeers." General Grieves spoke with a deep tone. "If they are embroiled in the same shit as Edmond did, we might be in trouble. Dragon Mechanoids already posed a huge problem to this current society but if they create something even more sinister, I assume the rest of the Empire Military could not do anything about it."

    "Hmmm, on the other hand. If a coup fails, the existence of Monster Mechanoids within the Empire could potentially further enhance the will of the Royals and it''s an excuse for increased military expansion. There is no doubt that would make a perfect target for other countries to target it andter the Empire can justify its use of Monster Mechanoids to push for either an invasion or an excuse for a counter invasion."

    "This is troubling. As much as the borders around various nations had already been tense enough, this is just making things worse." General Grieves stated.

    "So, it''s either we take down the head early or proceed with an all out coup."

    "Assassinating the King and Queen? I would not presume that is a very easy job to do. You should know that they have the Royal Assassin Guild and Royal Guards. All of which are powerful entities on their own. You might have your own squad but they are definitely not enough to fight against those."? General Grieves stated.

    "There''s enough evidence to fabricate that they are in this. Although the mass media would probably say otherwise. In any case, it''s easier to go rogue and kill them, rather than an all out coup which involved tens of thousands of people in it."

    "Hmmбн There might be one way to do it. But whether thews and old rules still allowed it or not." General Grieves stated as he asked to give him a moment while he searched for it. The searching took some time as Jin enjoyed the scenery of Parry City as he saw that the citizens were already returning to their homes and attempting to restart their lives once more.

    Those who saw the armed escort waved at Jin while some got to their knees and thanked him as he drove by. It was a rare sight which Jin had never experienced before even though he assumed that what he had done was like ''just another day''s worth of job'' to him.

    "Here. This is it." Grieves stated and gave Jin a look at the possible way to end this.

 Chapter 1722 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1722 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 4</h4>

    "What? Is that easy? Wait, isn''t this exactly the same as creating a coup?? All they had to do was assemble a group of people go through the fortress and kill the king and queen. What is so different and official about this?"

    "It had to be done on an offshore ind. The person asking for the position of the King and Queen needs to prepare a lump sum of money that would be used to build the entire defence fortification of the King and Queen desires. All of the expenses had to be paid in full before the Royals could go in and stay with the number of guards they wished to employ. As for the employment of guards, that is under the Royal''s decision." General Grieves exined.

    "Not only that, the challenger had to start from the sea where they had to go through a sea battle to reach this undisclosed offshore ind andter fight their way to reach the King and Queen. Should the challenger die, then that''s the end of the duel."

    "So, it''s like an organised fight, just that the challenger has to bore the cost of almost everything with the exception of the guards that the Royals employed."

    "Yes. Mainly because it would be unfair to the person if he had to pay the private army worth of cost."

    "It is already unfair when the fortress cost had already been bored by the challenger. The King and Queen could take months for it to be built and would order the most expensive of bricks and stones so that there was no way the challenger is able to foot the bill."

    "However, there was a record in history that someone managed to do that but died before they could reach the beach."

    "Well, that guy sure is dumb."

    "Not exactly. Also, what you said is not urate. When the challenger foots the bill, it also means that he is responsible for the Royal''s construction of the Fortress. He is the one who determines whether it can be done within a month or a spanned it within years. All they had to do was to ensure that the fortress was created by the specifications as requested by the Royals."

    "Huh, then who checks it?"

    "The Almighty checks it. And if the challenger wished to add additional stuff that the Royals were unaware of, it is also permissible. Of course, their private army got to have a good grasp of the area."

    "Soбн what you are saying is that. The Royals request a blueprint of a certain fortress to be created, and the challenger can add stuff to it on the assumption that it would not be found out by the Royals staying in it during the challenge. Your almighty determined whether it is fit for battle and they fight?"

    "Yes, something like this."

    "Whoever created this duel is kind of a dick," Jin said and Grieves coughed up augh.

    "Hey, that''s us you know," Syn whispered to Jin as they went into secret Systemmunication mode.

    "It''s nice knowing a fun fact. Sorry but let me rest a little. General Grieves." Jin said as he wanted to know more about this particr mode from Syn.

    "Understood," Grieves said as he returned to deal with his outstanding list of work.

    "Is that even true in the first ce?" Jin asked and Syn nodded his head. "So all along there is such a method and you never bothered to tell me? Come on, I thought we were business partners on good terms!"

    "Yes, but it did not ur to me that you are going to spend millions of points and gold to get the fortress up for a fight."

    "Well, now that I am going to have the ability to get out, won''t that be a solution to all the money and points that I have lying around? I do not really need those stuff anymore since I can go out. People and other yers are using these points and money because they are not able to go anywhere."

    "So, you really want to do that?"

    "Are there any other hidden rules that you did not say that General Grieves had missed out?"

    "Not particrly. But thatst battle for the throne was like centuries ago. There were no airnes back then and now we have airnes. Hence, the fight at the sea battle is a little redundant as well as the creation of the fortress to prevent people froming in." Syn remarked.

    "And you are saying that air superiority would not be allowed?"

    "I am more inclined to the fact that if this were to happen, the almighty might change the rules a little." Syn air quoted the word almighty. "Because without a doubt, there will be weapons of mass destruction that could annihte your existence if the Royals were to do so."

    "I thought my Generals said weapons of mass destruction were not allowed in this Virtual Simtion?"

    "Each Royal Family or Grand Leader of the nation was permitted to keep one in their personal stash in case shit happens."

    "Wow, so the rules are no mass weapons of destruction, no air superiority. Just survive through the sea battle andternd on the beach and get ughtered? No wonder nobody that stupid had ever done that."

    "It was to prevent the crown from being challenged consistently. This was because there was this duel of honour that challengers could partake once they had sufficient points or money. Winner takes them all. Title, Glory, and points." Syn said. "But if you do join it, I think there is a chance you might win. Although the AI Collective believed it''s a mere 0.89% chance."

    "Because of my dungeon instance powers?"

    "Yes. The creation of your dungeon instance exceeds all of the AI Collective expectations and the more dangerous the enemy, the more your creation of the dungeon bewilders us. Even if we have a no bar contest. You might be able to win." Syn said with much confidence, Jin started to hunger a little for a quick victory.

 Chapter 1723 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1723 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 5</h4>

    "Then why such a low winning percentage? Don''t you have faith in me?"

    "More like the AI do not know what you are capable of. And the fact the Royals possessed a weapon of mass destruction decreases your chance to win drastically."

    "So, you want to do me a favour and not allow the weapons of mass destruction to beunched? That way my chances of winning are higher?"

    "We can do that butбн"

    "Don''t need any but. Just tell me the percentage of winning the fight."

    "75% chance t. Variables not taken into consideration and if they do, it''s more than 90%." Syn said.

    "So it''s whether if I can time my dungeon instance creation correctly or not or if I can hold out more than one dungeon instance creationбн"

    "Or whether the AI Collective is willing to enable your dungeon instance creation to have a longer time duration just as how we had previously made your dungeon based on betting. The sandworm bet was a loss for us that the AI Collective could not handle. You earned millions of points from that attack considering the number of veterans who were in the field when you killed them and you were right on point."

    "You got to limit me somehow but you do not know how because you have no idea how much I am capable of," Jin said. "You are semi afraid of me, aren''t you?"

    Which Syn unwillingly nodded his head.

    "The System understood the risks of the unknown. The Synthesis World AI Administration did not have the luxury of exploring what was within its bubble and only pushed boundaries when necessary. From their perspective, they are doing risk management to prevent a catastrophic unbnce to their Virtual Simtion."

    "I see. So, all I can do now is either go the official way for a coup or fight this odd mannered duel with the Royals which I believe will be bringing everything they got after what they had seen from the mass media. They would not believe that 8 Mecha Fire Dragons could be defeated by a group of Mechanoids and a leader seemingly who had electrical charge modules."

    "бнSomething like that. The rumours of your dungeon creation had yet to spread far. You can still capitalise on that if you wish to."

    "Hmm, then the longer I drag this, the more I would not be able to have the upper advantage."

    "The System suggests taking the long road. There is no need for the User to be so invested in this particr fight when it is all controlled by the Synthesis World''s AI. With a touch of a button, all of this Virtual Simtion would dissipate and a new round would start."

    "But in a way, I do not like things hanging." And the System felt speechless. He had so many things hanging in the real world that if all the issues were to be stacked as tes, it could probably create the height of the Eiffel Tower.

    "The System has to remind you that escapism is not the solution to your real life problems."

    "Damn it, I got found out. But yeah. In my opinion, it''s better to settle it once and for all and I can close this chapter here. When they restart the Virtual Simtion, it also means that we can include the Pandarens in a nation by itself. Call it Pandoria, PandaLand, or something like that. Heheh!" Jin said and now the System and Syn felt speechless that they have a partner that''s so shameless.

    "If Jin wants to go the route of a quick victory, I have a method that your General does not know."

    "Does it involve fighting as well?" Jin asked.

    "Yes, and it is of arger scale too but if you were to use your powers, I do not think there is an issue with removing the limiter for your dungeon instance creation."

    "So, what is it?"

    "Complete the dungeon that I have created. Not for resource purposes but truly go down to the depths of the dungeon and defeat my Dungeon King. I will permit the dungeon instance creation for the entire duration and the use of your Pandarens. Do that, you have the title of the Dungeon King, you can allow the Empire to submit to you." Syn said.

    "How long would it take?"

    "Long enough that some people were not able to finish within their lifetime. But if it would you and your monsters as well as Pandarens, probably a month or so? What''s more at certain resting points, the dungeon will open at a specific location you request and you can obtain goods, additional equipment, rest, and repair. That portal will close once you enter again and you have to go all the way down."

    "That sounds like a drag too."

    "The System feels that way butpared to the rest of the options, this might potentially be the most profitable in terms of time. Given the amount of strength and manpower we canmit, the chances of skipping several floors to reach the Dungeon King is entirely possible."

    "How many floors are there?"

    "Standard 100 or we can condense it to Hell 5."

    "Lol, how about take it one step further and go Purgatory Hell of Hell 1. We go all in." Jin said and Synughed.

    "Hahahahah! As much as I want to do that, it is impossible for the AI at this moment to do that. Purgatory Hell of Hell 2 should be technically possible."

    "I guess, it''s good training for the monsters too, eh? There''s probably a lot of them want more than a stretching exercise." Jin asked the System.

    "The resources of the System would not be strained in this simtion but it will hinder some work process for a few hours in real time since their copies of their soul and equipment would be redirected to you. The System however does not see a problem with it unless the User wishes to take it slow and go for Hell 5 instead to test it."

    "Nah, I trust our monsters can take it. We need them to attack the Celestial ne anyway. This will be a good warm-up."

 Chapter 1724 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1724 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 6</h4>

    "Warm up? User, the Celestial ne is even more dangerous than the Hell ne mainly because of the fact that the Gods there would take revenge regardless of race. The Demons when invaded would take it as a joke and even wee you to return for the next round. They are not the same."

    "But didn''t our resident crafty fox say that it is possible to do that? I remembered him talking about coborating with Diabolos to get it back or something."

    "Yes, they are but it is not the most optimal way of getting your body back. The System would deem it as thest resort as the System had already sent people to infiltrate into the Celestial ne so that they could get your body back with the least amount of suspicion."

    "Then, if we even do fight with that Dungeon King nonsenseбн" Jin realised how futile everything was.

    "That was why the System rmended User to go with the normal route of doing a coup. That way, you would have sufficient friends and resources to take down the Empire. Also, do not forget that we would not know what the Empire would do. There is a chance that they will see this Mecha Fire Dragon as a trigger to get rid of the rats running around their feet. That is what the Royal Zodiacs had done when they were dealing with Ming."

    "Squash the weak ones before they get any stronger."

    "Yes, that is why it is unfortunate that you have to encounter this Mecha Fire Dragon issue and the way you handled the issue by broadcasting it to everyone in this Virtual Simtion might have ripple effects that would ensue chaos. Lots of chaos."

    "I do not think Jin did it that badly? The broadcast is also a way to keep him alive. Should the Empire really strike back at him, the other nations would not take it so lightly. In fact, with this broadcast idea, he might have sponsors that would contact him so that the coup would be sessful." Syn responded positively to Jin''s past actions.

    "Again, I will owe favours to people if I ever do that."

    "Not necessarily so. As long as you know how to talk to your sponsors, you might see that they just want this Empire''s Royal to be removed."

    "Probably the work of economics but since this world is so prone to fights, I think they rather do battles than sanctions,"? Jin remarked as he continued with his fake sleeping and Grieves did not know whether to believe Jin was truly asleep since the car which was already moving slowly encountered all the bumpy road that even the brilliant suspensions Diamondz had installed was not enough to make it a smooth ride.

    "Actually, you did not tell me what happens after I defeat the Dungeon King and why I would be able to take the Empire''s Royals down."

    "That, I cannot say and you need to find out for yourself. The dungeon is at the centre of the capital of the Empire. Everyone knows that it''s a dungeon and people go there all the time. The thing is no one bothered to talk to the statue that was right above it. The Three Winged Angel. If you talk to it, I can provide you with the challenge and we can move on from there."

    "Yet, another secretive move from Syn." Jin could not help but not trust him on it. Maybe if he asked Grieves or Denise to get someone to research the Dungeon King, they might give a better perspectivepared to Syn."

    So to Jin, there were quite a few routes to take, and both of the AI''s kind of make sense. He can take the shortest route with respect to time and fight against the Dungeon King. The other was to take the fight himself and go against the Royals after passing millions of points back to Syn. Lastly, it was to take the long way and cause the coup.

    All three ways in his opinion were a pain in the ass and wondered if there was any better way to do it so he asked for onest person''s rmendation and see how it fared. "What''s your opinion on attacking the Royals and your personal solution?"

    Grieves heard the question and looked at Jin who still continued to pretend to sleep. He initially did not wish to bother and assumed it was Jin talking in his ''sleep''.? But after a while, he ced his items down and gave a real good thought about it.

    "Honestly, if you ask me right at this spot without any context. I will say it''s suicide. Even if it is because of this incident that you wish to bring the royals down, and it''s a valid excuse to do so, I honestly will not rmend it. The stakes are too high and the amount of resources needed to be poured in to do that is tremendous."

    "That is unless you really wish to duke it out yourself and brand yourself as a traitor, I will suggest бн"? Grieves stopped again and wondered if it was really a good idea at all.

    "I suggest creating your own monster mechanoids to fight with theirs." Grieves paused once more.

    "I do not condone your style of fighting but given how many they had made and might have even more in their possessions. It would be stupid to bring humans and Mechanoids into the fray. Creating your own Monster Mechanoids might be the solution to win this absurd battle of power but just remember to self destruct them when you are done."

    "Do not forget, Diamondz had done it before and is at your behest." Grieves coughs a little as if he bit his tongue saying that. "Also, I did not mean literal monster. In my humble opinion, you already had six of them in your possession." Grieves said as he continued his work before saying the following. "I hope I had satisfied your- his sleep talk."

 Chapter 1725 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1725 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 7</h4>

    When Jin returned to Daimon, there were cheers in Central Daimon City which General Grieves had insisted that the armed escort were to move via that particr street.? (Actually, it was General Ost''s idea and General Grieves had to follow through with it because it was a morale booster for the city.)

    Jin had no choice but toply as well and he was ''rudely'' awakened by Grieves to show his face and let people know that he was truly alive. To make this thing more of a parade, they even brought back one of the Mecha Fire Dragon''s broken pieces of its head to let people know that Jin had done the impossible.

    It was to the point some people were already shouting to make Jin the permanent lord of Daimon City.

    When they got back to the hotel where Jin was staying along with the Grey Bear Squad, the Hotel Manager had already upgraded their room to senior executive even though Jin said he already felt bad that he was staying there for free.

    The manager insisted as he pointed out that the hotel that the Grey Bear Squad had stayed in Parry City was his brother''s. The fact that Parry City was still able to function with as little damage was because of Jin. And it was also because of the Interim Leader''s decision that his brother was able to get into Daimon without any trouble and with much rtive ease.

    Thus, all the room would be free for Jin to use until he vacates the premises. After which, he had a good long shower and an exclusive dinner served by the chef for today before he was given to the pack of wolves also known as the press for more details about the things he had done for Parry City.

    He gave a bit of the truth out at it was enough to keep them sated as he requested to return to his room for some proper rest. It was during at that point where the big wigs came to Jin and actual work started. To his surprise, Sir Peru Peru had been sneaked into his room as well and there was nowhere else to run.

    "Alright, you guys got me. What you all want?"

    "Sir Peru Peru is here to informally apologise to you." General Ost said.

    "Why would you want to do that? I already said its fine. Its part of our job to keep the people safe."

    "And to talk about ns on how to proceed from here." General Ost added. "Besides, General Grieves had informed me that you had been sleep talking." He finished talking and Denise took a pile of notes and ced them on the table.

    "This is whatever we can recover on the Monster Mechanoids that the ex researchers had done before they disappear into the winds. With this, we should be able to create Monster Mechanoids but not at a level that could rival the Empire Royals."

    "I have to warn though, by using Monster Mechanoids we will be ying in the narrative as the bad guys as well despite the fact that we are doing it for justice." Sir Peru Peru stated.

    "Wellбн I had some inspiration while I was sleep talking that we can actually enhance our troops instead of making Monster based Mechanoids." Jin spoke out while gave a quick side eye at General Grieves. He gave a quick short grin before returning to the conversation as if he did not know anything about it.

    "Please exin more." Denise was the one who was the most interested in this. After all, the Rocketeers were the manufacturers of the Empire''s Military. Diamondz had no part in this. But if this coup were to be realised, Diamondz may eventually be the main manufacturer for the new Empire''s Military and that brings a lot of money onto the table.

    "Before you do, care to fill me in with the details for the things I missed?" A familiar voice struck Jin from behind as the very same manager had opened the doors to Jin''s room.

    "Archduke Dyke." Every one realised who wasing in and they knelt with their heads down. Only Jin was there to wave at him.

    "Lord Jin, what are you doing?" General Ost with a soft but harsh voice asked Jin to do the same as well. However, before Jin could react Dyke closed the door behind him and bend his knees down for Jin instead. The rest who was watching this scene were tremendously shocked by the sudden turn of developments but Jin did not care and asked them to quickly take their seats in this ''informal meeting at the Jin''s room''.

    "Lord Jin had been instrumental in this uing coup that I have been nning and the discovery of this Mecha Fire Dragons had strengthened my allies'' resolve to contribute more for this coup. Thus, it would not be shameful to make him the overallmander for the rebellion that I am creating."

    "Oh shit. Is that more work for me. Why are you giving me more work. I just want to get it done as soon as possible. Can you don''t put this kind of ermбн stunt and consult me first before doing it?" Jin said so bluntly that the rest in the room were a little perplexed.

    "But Lord Jin, this is an honour that you should wear proudly on your shoulders." General Ost stated but Jin shook his head. "No. This is more unnecessary work. If need to, I would rather settle this myself without any allied help."

    "I do not think that you are that capable ofбн" Before Archduke Dyke could finish speaking, Jin turned his console and showed them his points ount.

    The number of zeroesбн was terrifying until Jin realised something was wrong. There was two additional zeroes right behind the number that he knew, and he turned it back to double check. Yet, the effect was already done to the people in the room.

 Chapter 1726 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1726 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 8</h4>

    "Ermбн How many Mechanoids, no. Monster Infused Mechanoids can I make with this kind of money?" Jin asked as he still tried to figure out how he got that many points in his ount.

    "Syn quietly gave them to you aspensation for lying to you about the safe. After all, as User had said before, the points did not matter to you at all. So, Syn had decided to give you this much as see what can you do with it." The System replied as Denise was trying to calcte the number of monster infused Mechanoids she could possibly make.

    "бн About a thousand or so. Depending on the timeline, the trials needed, and the manpower required to build those thousand without leaking out." Denise tried to do the math in her head even further.

    "That''s rather little and disappointing." Jin''s mouth twitched a little.

    "If it''s ordinary Mechanoids and equipment, you can field twice the size of Daimon''s military maybe even three times more бнincluding transport and logistics. For an Archduke, that might not be much but for an Interim Lord, you are holding on to too much money."

    "Haha, CEO of Diamondz Corps, you jest. Most of my wealthes from the tax payers. There is no way I can field these many troops privately. If I can get half the size of Daimon''s military, that would be a feat itself."

    Jin then sat and thought about whether it was worth making a Monster Infused Mechanoid. If they were all the same level as his Grey Bear Squad then, it would also be an equally terrifying thought. "But let''s just sayбн that we only make mass manufactured monster infused Mechanoids, will that bring the cost down by a fair bit?"

    "What kind of infusion and the kind of monster do you want to hunt that you wished to put in those Mechanoids?"

    "The power to generate something like an energyser that''s simr to Tellie. If that''s not feasible, the ability to charge their rifles and shoot out enhanced explosive rounds. Also, the ability to fly and fly fast without all those wings etc. on them. Swift fast manoeuvres while flying, so much so they can have the ability to hover as well."

    "Those can actually be achieved with jet boosters on boots and having a fission power reactor. With a fission power reactor, they can charge their rifles and shoot outsers too. Of course, having a stable fission power reactor would be another kind of mess itself but it had been proven that it works."

    "I was expecting Jin to say to have Lightning attributes to all the Monster Infused Mechanoids. Guess he knew how to subvert my expectations." General Grieves joked and Jin scratched his head a little.

    "Hmmmбн mind if I show you an example? Can you give me those tes over there as well?" Jin said as he went into the armoury wardrobe which was only executive rooms and above them and picked up an SKS automatic rifle which he had managed to pick up when the Pandarens left it lying on the ground on the battlefield. He checked there were bullets in it and showed everyone that they were only ordinary bullets before proceeding to the balcony.

    "What are you going to do?" Sir Peru Peru had no idea what was going on and everything had been a blur ever since Archduke Dyke hade into the room.

    "Just look and see." Jin closed his eyes to gather Maqi within him. "System, the spell incantation for fly, please. I do not remember it." The System immediately gave him the incantation and allowed the magic portion of his Maqi to react intensely. Soon, they saw a simmer of glow on Jin which he instantly climbed over the balcony and jumped.

    The rest were shocked but got even more surprised as they saw him hovering right outside the balcony. "See. No sound, instant activation, and what''s more." With a bit more Maqi input into it, Jin flew upwards at high speeds which wowed the rest and made them move to the edge of the balcony to see what Jin was about to do next.

    He used his Maqi to throw the ceramic tes until they were far enough that he shot them down. But what the audience did not expect was that the te exploded with a fiery explosion. He threw a few more again and this time, he shot one down with a preciseser beam and the other two with an explosion but of different elements too. One was lightning and the other was merely a huge spark of light.

    People who were around the hotel thought that someone was throwing out fireworks and they enjoyed it for a moment which Jinter returned to the balcony quickly to avoid detection. "Get what I mean now? Sorry, my head''s in a mess, and do not how to exin it other than showing it to you with regards to the difference in what Denise had proposed."

    "I get it now." Denise thanked Jin, stating that it was an eye opener. "Quiet, unlike jet boosters. Instant reaction time and the ability to shoot while also able to change the elements of the bullet. This is indeed quite a monster to replicate."

    "Not only that. If we deploy these Monster Infused Mechanoids, they will change the way battles are fought entirely. The Air Force will have a difficult time dealing with this kind of threat while they can infiltrate anywhere anytime. Detecting them would be a hassle too. The ability to run and fly away is something that allmandos would want." General Ostmented.

    "Please, if you have a thousand of these at your disposal. The fortress in the Empire''s Capital will fall in within minutes. All the insertions at various locations will confuse the enemy and you can catch all of them off guard. And we are only utilising with the assumption that they are using their basic abilities. Input enoughbat data in and they should be able to fight against the Royal Guards and Assassins too." General Grieves remarked.

    "Now the problem is where to find this kind of monster." Archduke Dyke said and surprisingly Sir Peru Peru raised his short stout hand. "I think we have this kind of monster in the Parry City''s dungeons."

 Chapter 1727 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1727 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 9</h4>

    "There is this monster where it will create a sort of anti gravity field when it''s resting. So it looks like it was resting on air. However, if you do not kill it in one shot, by hitting its head, it will be alerted and dash around the air like a busy fly." Sir Peru Peru said.

    "However, if you hit its head, that anti gravity part is destroyed and cannot be used. My military was very interested in that monster and had tried to catch it multiple times. Not very sessful and when captured, it became too stressed, it will invert the gravity around it cause every effort you made to be wasted."

    "Sounds like the perfect monster though," Jin said and Sir Peru Peruughed bitterly.

    "We were extremely afraid of that monstering out as an outbreak. It will be a pain to kill considering the amount of headache it gave us in a confined space."

    "Then in terms of power, I am not sure about the element changing one. But if you wish to create a fission power core, I suggest fighting against the Grell Buster." General Grieves said and General Ost opened his eyes wide when saying that name.

    "Are you sure? As much as we could rmend that, it''s not exactly the easiest monster to kill even though it''s one of the easiest to encounter once certain conditions are met." General Ost said and even Denise felt chills going up her spine when she heard that name.

    "If you can get the Grell Buster''s crystalбнthere is no doubt that the monster infused mechanoids will have a stable fission power core due to its nature."

    "Care exining that monster to me?" Jin asked and General Ost sighed. That monster бнit''s a six legged creature that had shrimp ws that could burst a rock into smithereens with a solid blow. Many mechanoids who were within its range had been destroyed into pieces. Literal pieces."

    "So many people fought against it by going range. The problem is that that thing''s head is an exposed brain with a bird''s beak for its head. It''s an abomination of significant propositions. When people try to kill it tentacles will emerge from underneath the brain but it''s not to stretch and find its enemies, rather, it acts as an extension so that the bird beak brain could float and attack people from afar, thus covering its witness."

    "Oh goshбн"

    "Someone managed to kill one of them and also used a canary bird as bait." General Ost said.

    "Apparently, it likes the sound of birds chirping crazily," Grieves added.

    "And the crystal they got from harvesting it was emitting a crazy amount of power and the researchers realised it''s a fission process within the crystal. But if the Archduke knows of any other monsters that can have such fission power, please feel free to add on to the list. Otherwise, they really have to farm for that."

    "Sounds doable. Just exceedingly boring if they were to try and harvest itбн but I see what I can do." Jin said to himself in front of the group and half of them did not understand what he meant, only those from Daimon.

    "It is fine, just talking to myself. Looks like if we really want to go this road, there''s quite a lot of preparation to do. Sir Peru Peru, I might need to discuss with you an adventurer''s agreement that could benefit your country''s economy if you would allow me."

    "I am at all ears if you need me." Sir Peru Peru readily agrees to a discussion.

    "Then, it looks like we are all set for today. The meeting will be considered as secret and whatever we talked about would remain confidential and unrecorded." Archduke Dyke said and everyone started to leave Jin''s room except for Sir Peru Peru and Jin who talked about how Pandarens could enter Parry City''s dungeon to hunt for the hovering monsters also known as the Mindjackers.

    As usual, Jin would create the outpost and be manned by his own people but in return, Sir Peru Peru would be able to get 40% of any profits made from that outpost as part of its rental. The Parry City Lord was agreeable to it since it did not need to interfere and their own people could also take part in the hunt.

    Thus, the Lords bid each other good night and Jin sat on the desk and snacked on an apple. There were so many routes to go for but Jin felt that there must be something simpler that could be done. Surely, such an endeavour will boost the economy of both cities and people would think that this is just resource gathering plus there are things that he can consult Old mmet to work with Diamondz to produce this Monster infused Mechanoids.

    Surely, he had done his share getting materials from his own dungeon and building mechanical stuff from monster parts, but this was not just putting materials in. It would be enhancing the attributes of the monster and putting them into the Mechanoid as a replication.

    Yet, even if he wanted to do this, it would take a few weeks or maybe months and he definitely would not have the time to stay in Synthesis World that long. Perhaps, he could hunt just for his Grey Bear Squad andter attack the Royals. But still, that was too hasty of a conclusion. "Wait a minute. What if I used those points to buy the time I need for my Dungeon Instances? Surely, that''s a fair trade, right?"

    Just as Jin was in his own world of thinking, a knock came from the door and Jin saw through his console that it was Denise. He unlocked the door via his console and Denise came in.

    "I am sorry to bother you but I guess, this is equally important to you in a private way too. Thus, I waited for Sir Peru Peru to leave before talking to you," Denise said and Jin''s eyes lit up.

    "Lynn is okay now?" Jin asked and Denise nodded her head.

 Chapter 1728 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 10

    <h4>Chapter 1728 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 10</h4>

    "Yes. She is no danger at all but we are keeping her in бнsorry for the crude word erm maintenance until we can fully diagnosis that she is okay." Denise reported.

    "Why did you not tell me about it earlier?" Jin asked and wanted to see her at this instant. "Also what do you mean by keeping her in maintenance until she is okay? She isn''t human in this Virtual Simtion but a Mechanoid. Isn''t it just recing parts?"

    "We do have the parts though but the design is overlyplicated that our engineers do not dare to touch it. We managed to contact Master mmet and he said that Nie would be providing the blueprint details for the engineers as soon as he could. However, the reason we put her in maintenance was because her cores seem to be emitting some energy that is detectable but not known. We are afraid that it''s some radiation that could harm not just the people working but affecting the mechanoids as well."

    It was then Jin realised that what Denise was speaking of was his Maqi that had flowed within her. "Don''t worry. I think I know what kind of energy is that. Bring me to her and I will have a look at Lynn."

    "I already knew you said that had prepared a helicopter for you. Let''s go." Denise stated and it did not take long for them to reach Diamondz Headquarters where Jin saw that it was still rebuilding the certain areas that Jin and the others had destroyed.

    "Your building is rather tough. Even with all the damage we did, its still standing tall." Jin said and Denise gave a light ''Hmmph''.

    "This is still the headquarters of the fewrgest mechanoid corps around here. Of course, we need it to be solid. Won''t want it to go down like a house of cards, right?"

    "That is true." Jin remained quiet throughout the entire ride and when they reached the maintenance department, he noticed that she was indeed brought a corner where there were no equipment and Mechanoids around the area. It was distanced so that none of the items would be affected by this unknown energy that the engineers had detected.

    Not to mention, there were several makeshifts lead screens and barriers to ensure that the energy emission would be as little as possible. Denise was told to wear a hazmat suit based on the engineer''s rmendation but Jin did not bother at all.

    He could sense the energy emission and noted that this was undoubtedly the Maqi that had been oozing out from Lynn''s Mechanoid body. He walked in brazenly and looked at her. There were nanobots working on her body 24/7 and the charred body which he had seen previously had mostly disappeared. Her body was still warm and her functions were working as intended but despite several reboots, she was not activating.

    The engineers do not know that this was a customised Mechanoid meant to be a vessel to keep Lynn''s soul in there and not a Mechanoid that could be turn on or off any time. That was why they had no idea why she could not be working.

    Jin, on the other hand, picked her hand up from the cold metal couch she was lying on and grabbed it hard. "Sorry. I had not been a good partner. To let you stay at this condition for such a long timeбнand not able to help you when you really needed help."

    At that point, Jin''s Maqi slowly flow into Lynn''s Mechanoid body in order to bnce the current''s flow within Lynn. He did not rush to quickly bnce it which he would usually do to counter the flow but instead he blended his Maqi along with the surrounding leftover Maqi.

    As time goes by, he managed to gather the Maqi that had been oozing out of the Mechanoid and intermittently sent it back to Lynn, allowing to get back what was lost. And since Lynn was not there to regte her own reactors, Jin did what he could to make sure that all the reactors were managed properly.

    Soon, the engineers could detect that the initial energy release had been slowed down significantly to the point that it was non existent. They did not know what was going on but only understood that Jin had managed to keep it in check and most of them sighed in relief.

    Denise was the first one to go through all those lead screens and barriers to talk to Jin although she was still wearing the Hazmat suit to tell him about the progress that he had made. "That''s good to hear, I will stay here with her for the night. Mind getting me a chair?"

    "But Jin, even if you stay here, there is nothing much you can do."

    "I know that. Just let me be." He said and Denise eded to his request. When left alone, Jin kept quiet continuously holding her hand and stared at her asionally. Denise felt that the attachment was not just a Commander and Mechanoid rtionship but something even deeper than that which she knew that it was better not to pry.

    She told the engineers not to bother them once they were done doing diagnosis from afar which the engineers understood and returned to do other work. "Jin, there is a button at the side of the bed. You can press that when you need any of the engineers to look at her." Denise reminded him before leaving and yet he was quiet, not to answer a single word.

    It was only when Denise was about to leave the area, Jin spouted a soft thank you to Denise for taking Lynn here to repair and recover. "No worries about that. This is what Diamondz Corp is for, especially during such situations. You should thank 2LT Cloudie for sending her as soon as he could." Denise said and the lights in the room were mostly off except for that small corner where Jin and Lynn was.

 Chapter 1729 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 11

    <h4>Chapter 1729 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 11</h4>

    Her hand twitched and Jin who was dead sleeping on the chair did not feel it at all. And so, when Lynn opened her eyes, she saw him drooling at the side with his head leaning at the side of the metal couch.

    Thus, she decided to stay in the supine position for a little while more as she took some time to perform her own self diagnostic. After all, she was a Mechanoid now and she had learned how to check if she had any abnormalities on her.

    The assist system within her informed her that her body had been fully repaired and there were no scars or burnt skin that were left from fighting against the Mecha Fire Dragon. And for the fact that Jin was here sleeping like a log would most likely indicate that he had defeated that Mecha Fire Dragon without any problems.

    Still, she was curious about the news and wanted to see if there were any actions of him performing the act. Thus, she looked through the daily papers that were consistently uploaded into her holographic console if she wanted to take a look at it.

    But the more she read thetest news, the more confused she was until Lynn requested the System to give her a quick breakdown of what had happened after she was knocked out. Thus, the System did what it could to give her the summary of events and led her to be shocked by the turn of events that transpired Jin to be a sleeping log. It also gave the course of action that Jin had been offered and what had been done at the moment as he tried to progress forward.

    "Silly boy," Lynn said as she continued to lie down and held his hand, only toter realise that Jin was actually still sending his Maqi through their hand holding in order to regte the flow within her. This was also possibly the reason why she was able to wake up with her consciousness intact.

    And for those slight movements to not wake Jin up really did mean that he had really fought a tiring battle the day before and this was the time where his fatigue would be moving away from him.

    Sadly, the job of the Interim Leader could not be any more bitter. Even as the notifications had been silenced by the System, Lynn heard the sounds of heels echoing as they came into the room. And when the person arrived, Lynn greeted her.

    "Lynn. d to see you erm.. looked fine." Denise was a little stunned since she thought that Lynn had not regained consciousness.? And now, it seemed like she had disturbed a little quiet time between her and Jin.

    "Thank you for helping me," Lynn spoke out and Jin instantly jerked himself up to wake and check on Lynn.

    "Lynn, are you alright? Do you feel anything different for you?" Those were Jin''s first words and Lynn smiled.

    "I am okay. You do not have to worry about me," Lynn replied with a gentle smile as she sat up from the couch, only to remember that there were thousand and one wires being plugged into her entire body. From the legs all the way up to her neck.

    "Guys, perform disengage protocols!" Denise shouted and the engineer at the back end acknowledged the order, allowing all those wires to be removed safely all at once. Lynn then stood up and tried to walk a little to find that everything was still in order.

    "I am sorry, Jin but it looks like the City Council needed you to settle some internal issues," Denise said to break the reunion between the Mechanoid and hermander.

    "No," Jin said and this left Denise''s mouth to be wide open.

    "Noбн? I understand that you want to spend some time with Lynn so I can tell them that you are still busy but ultimately you have to."

    "I think you are mistaking something, Denise." Jin''s tone got more serious than she could ever remember as if Denise had identally stepped on a tiger''s tail.

    "I was appointed as the Interim Leader by Archduke Dyke to take care of the monster outbreak. Now that the monster outbreak is over, his immediate concern is the takeover of the Empire." Jin said and Denise was signalling to him that this was not the best ce to talk about that.

    "Jin," Lynn called out to him.

    "Yes?" Jin quickly turned to her.

    "Tell her your honest thoughts and be ready tomit to them. You don''t have to beat around the bush and use your supposed power of position to talk down to her." Lynn answered and that led to Jin clenching his fists.

    "Sorry, Denise." It took some effort to spill the word sorry from Jin as he knew that Lynn was correct in her judgment of the current situation. "Tell them I will step down from being the Interim Leader. I am going some dungeon hunting with my squad and we will attack the ''target'' our own way."

    "Huh? Wait, what? That is suicide. What are you thinking?" Denise said and Jin apologised once more. "This is running away from your responsibilities as well, do you know that?" Denise stated and Jin knew that even if Denise was guilt tripping him with the truth, he could not keep his head straight in the current political game he had been ying right now.

    He grabbed Lynn and walked out of the room, only to find city council members and other government officials waiting to talk to Jin on certain issues but as they approached him, he ignored every single one of them and apologise to those he pushed away to get to the elevator.

    Eventually, the elevator came and only Jin and Lynn as he explicitly told them to ''get out of the way''. The officials were stunned by his behaviour and the elevator doors closed leaving only the two of them inside.

 Chapter 1730 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 12

    <h4>Chapter 1730 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 12</h4>

    "What''s the matter with you? What happened to the usually rational personality that you have?" Lynn questioned and Jin spoke out.

    "I do not wish to lose you. You may want to do this in the long haul even after I got my body back. But no, after I held your slightly charred handsst night, something inside me triggered. It brought back something that I never thought I would experience again."

    "The fear of losing someone," Jin said solemnly in the elevator.

    "I thought I got away with that after Grandpa''s funeral but no, it had always been there ever since I had you beside me," Jin said as the elevator reached the first floor and they found out that the entire Grey Bear Squad was waiting for him at the main lobby.

    "Sister Lynn!" Tellie waved as she was the first to spot them. The rest immediately stood up and ran towards them to check on Lynn''s condition.

    "Lynn, I have to admit that what you did was cool despite it being extremely dangerous," Yinn said as she opened her hands up for a hug which Lynn reciprocated.

    "Commander, we saw quite a number of officials going up to meet you. We can bring Lynn away for some R & R while you deal with your bureaucratic bullshit." Diaz said but Jin shook his head.

    "I quit as of a few minutes ago," Jin replied and it made the Grey Bear Squad members speechless for the moment. "We are going to Daimon Airport and board the ne that goes closest to Mount Sunn. From there, we are going to power you guys up and we attack the Royals."

    "There are not many nes that would travel there though." Page checked as Jin was talking.

    "But there is one that could do that if the price is right." A familiar voice echoed from behind and they noticed it was 2LT Cloudie. "The Helicarrier had been repaired, refuelled. On the ex Interim Leader''s orders, I can bring you there."

    "You sure? I am not kidding when I said I had stepped down from being the Interim Leader of Daimon."

    "I guess you have your reasons." 2LT Cloudie said and told them that he also had a jeep rented so they could all sit in it. Jin agreed to it readily and they set to move out before the government officials caught up with what was happening and decided to chase after Jin.

    And that scene actually happened as Jin was able to get onto the rental jeep, the officials came down, asking for an exnation as he could see Denise was not able to hold them away. It was only when they were in the car, the squad started talking to each other despite having 2LT Cloudie inside.

    "What?! Do you want to take down the Royals because you had enough? What kind of reasoning is that?" Diaz asked as she did not understand Jin''s excuse a single bit.? "Isn''t it more like because you had enough of them, that''s why you are doing all these preparations at the back end? And when you truly step down from being an Interim Leader, you will lose all ess to Daimon''s military power and the connections it brings to you as well."

    "Besides, Jin. What makes you think that removing the Royal is the end goal?" Yinn asked and Jin sighed.

    "Kill the Royal through officialbat and take over the crown. That was what General Grieves proposed." Jin said.

    "The old duelling method?" Page asked as it seemed she was well versed with it. "However, that method is so wed that it would be impossible to challenge them. You need lots of money and the odds are stacked against you."

    "That I know. Which is why we are going to do the Three Winged Angel Dungeon in the Empire''s capital, Bearling once we reequipped you guys at Old mmet''s ce." Jin said and he exined that there was actually a secret dungeon that the Archduke had mentioned (obviously, he lied here, but there is no way he could reveal to the Grey Bears that Syn was the one who told them that.)

    "So, you want us to fight the hell out of this Dungeon King and get something that will be supposedly useful against the Royals?"

    "Yes, and while the Archduke does not know, what it is. I can assume it is of significant power that could turn the tide. Using whatever that was obtained, we will challenge the Royals to the official duel."

    "You still got to build the fortress of whatever crap the Royals wanted, you know that, correct?" Click answered and Jin nodded his head as if he had that covered too. "That would be done in a jiffy so, you don''t have to worry about that."

    "Then all this subterfuge to get the Pandarens to get those dungeon materials is for?" Tellie asked since he told them that he initially wanted Monster Infused Mechanoids to be created.

    "Those were initially to be used as backup but from what I learned, the ability to put all these various monster parts and enhance them into an ability for the Mechanoids was something that had not been physically possible. They can recreate Monster Mechanoids but for some reason could not do the same for Humanoid Mechanoids. Denise told me separately that they are close to a breakthrough but it takes some time."

    "And time is something you are unable to spare." 2LT Cloudie who had been listeningmented.

    "Something like that. The more time I waste here, it is not beneficial. I know you do not understand where I aming from but I have other better ces to be." Jin replied to 2LT Cloudie and he took it as ''Do not ask anymore, I can''tment on it."

    "In short, you are setting up yourself for a hell of a path to walk just to topple the King of this Empire just because of personal vendetta and not for the good of the Empire."

    "Hey, no one says I cannot be selfish." Jin shrugged his shoulders and the Grey Bears knew they were in for a hell of a ride.

 Chapter 1731 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 13

    <h4>Chapter 1731 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 13</h4>

    The trip to the airport and subsequently on board the helicarrier was not as a smooth process as they thought it would be. People recognised Jin and his group had to slow down to make sure that he was not being overwhelmed by the group.

    It was only after going through the customs and subsequently at the private hangars that they were able to move away from the crowd. Jin did ask Cloudie why he had parked his helicarrier at the airport and he stated that he had been ferrying people to and fro during the rescue operation. "Plus, the Air Force is on standby to use the runway. There is no chance for me to upy it and dy their operations."

    That was Jin realised that he did order such an instruction to his Generals to keep the Air Force on high alert so that they could be sortie straight away. After which, the helicarrier brought them to Mount Sunn which was a few hours from there and Jin slept once more at the side of the aircraft while the rest gathered.

    "Is it a little hasty to just run to the airport and fly? Most of our equipment had been left at Daimon City''s hotel." Click asked.

    "The Beam Rifle originally belongs to Diamondz, so I have no qualms leaving it there. Otherwise, I do not really have any personal belongings that need to be brought back.

    "Same, most of the equipment that was left at Daimon can be reced. Besides, we are returning to Mount Sunn. Should not be much of a problem."

    "Ahhh.. Just when I fully deck out my backpack based on Diamondz''stest modules. I even installed a new hardware for the 3D printing within the backpackбн" Click wallows at the demise of her efforts.

    "Don''t worry, Master mmet would surely have something better for you. Besides, we are going to the dungeons to hunt and upgrade ourselves. It doesn''t hurt to not have anything on us." Yinn said.

    "Stillбн" Click could not bear herself to leave the belongings while Diaz tried to console her.

    "Sadly, instead of leaving things there, I had umted too much in my database since we thought we would be staying there for a long time. Guess, I have to archive all these Daimon City ns." Page stated and when ites to Lynn, she also shook her head.

    "But seriously, what is Jin thinking? Now that we have 2LT Cloudie away from this conversation, I suppose you could share more?" Click asked Lynn.

    "He said he was afraid of losing me since I do note from this world. My body is back in the other world with my soul still here. And unlike the Pandarens, I cannot return the usual way since I had decided to have a permanent body here to aid Jin. At that point of trying to figure a way out, this was the most optimal solution."

    "But I am sure if they could zap Pandarens out of here, they could do the same for you?"

    "Is it?" Lynn posed the question to the System.

    "Not guaranteed. The System had calcted that in order for Lynn''s soul to officially return to her former world, it would be best for a reset of this particr world. In other words, your half a century or a century Armageddon, not the annual Praising From Gods. Otherwise, the System can attempt extracting her soul back to the other world though the chances had not been formalised."

    "Oo ouch. So, Commander Jin is forcing an early Armageddon? How can that be achieved by killing the Royals?"? Diaz asked since she never thought that far that she could survive up till Armageddon.

    "Jin probably knows that if he bes a Royal, the chance to visit the Almighty will be granted and also a wish that is not too absurd and still within the limits of the Almighty. This is mainly because the Empire was the only one that had more than 50% controllednd. No one has ever done that before and toppling the Royal is a big feat itself too." Page suggested.

    "I do not think he knows about that visit thing. I think he just wants to topple the Empire Royals first and think about what to doter. He probably knows defeating the Royals will allow him to earn lots of points and those points could probably be used to do something big since it''s the currency done by the almighty." Lynn stated.

    "Ahhбн then let''s keep this secret away from him. If he knows about this, the motivation to be King of the Empire would have drastic effects." Page suggested and everyone else agreed.

    "It was fun though if we looked back," Tellie said and the rest smirked at her reply.

    "Yeah. No one would have thought that we woulde this far. In fact, I thought that we would be dead with all of Commander Jin''s crazy tactics." Diaz said.

    "And who turns out to be the crazy one?" Yinn questioned and everyoneughed.

    "Is Jin like this in the other world? I assume he is right?" Page asked Lynn and she nodded.

    "He always has too much on his te and things just keep piling up. Right now, a colleague and a close good friend of mine is handling all the rubbish he had when he suddenly came here. If things go well, he might also be able to leave if he gets his early Armageddon wish too."

    "Once Armageddon hits, we might be back with the old Jin or someone even worse." Click sulked.

    "That we won''t know and will not know since our memories would disappear unless we are given the option to retain these memories." Page said as she suddenly took out a small digital card from the back of her neck. "So, here. Lynn take this."

    "What is it?"

    "It''s a copy of our memories together as well as a friendly identification tag in case you still got stuck after the next Armageddon. Find me if you need to and I will do what I can to help." Page smiled as she handed it to Lynn.

    The rest did the same as well.

 Chapter 1732 Aftermath of Parry CityтАЩs Incident -Part 14 (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 1732 Aftermath of Parry City''s Incident -Part 14 (Final)</h4>

    "This like for some new game+ mode where I can get a memento of you? Might not y much games but I heard it''s usually like this from conversations with my customers." Lynn tried to joke but the rest smiled.

    "Maybe. we might not know who you are in the future after Armageddon until you pass this to us." Page stated. "It is just a what if. However, I think I can say on behalf of all of us that we hope you are not here once this has passed. Please return to your own world and enjoy the fruits ofbour you had made along with Jin."

    "Man, this had gotten quite heavy to swallow," Diazmented and Click nodded.

    "Haha, It''s just that we have quite an encounter with each other, don''t you think so? Otherwise, we merely follow orders from ourmanders and lead straight to death. I mean some people do take care of their Mechanoids well, but most of them treat us as just бнequipment." Page exined and Lynn gave her a side hug.

    "You all are my precious memories and I will never forget all of you. Come now, let''s not make this as if this is yourst day here with me. We still have plenty to go before anything has been set in motion. You all can pass this to me when the time is right again." Lynn stated as she sincerely returned each and every one of them their memory drives even though a few of them rejected at first.

    Soon, Yinn decided to change the topic and asked what kind of upgrades would need to better themselves before theynded at Mount Sunn. That way, Old mmet might have some idea of what to prepare for us for the battle.

    Eventually, when they reached Mount Sunn, they realised how drastic the ce had changedpared to thest time they had been there. It might have been a month or two at most. But the changes were incredibly drastic. It seems like Archduke Dyke had really pumped in a lot of money to make sure that the changes he wanted for Mount Sunn were implemented.

    There were a lot of warehouses, storage facilities and even a brand new wall that had been reced for Mount Sunn''s workshop. Goods are stilling in and the amount of workers that are working on each project is numerous. 2LT Cloudie initially did not know where tond until Lynn contacted Old mmet which gave him the coordinates to park at the back of Mount Sunn where was a derelict helipad which they had never used for some time.

    "You sure, it''s in working condition? The Helicarrier is a bit heavyбн"

    "Hah! Don''t you worry about that, son. Once, you see you know about it." Old mmet said as he turned off themunications right after that. Cloudie had no choice but toply with the orders and found out that the helipad was way bigger than expected. It did not just be able to amodate one helicarrier, it possible to amodate up to three if the pilots were skilled enough.? He had never seen such a big helipad before and the team behind himughed as they were reminiscing the days before the attack.

    All the materials they had to carry them out to this helipad and disassemble them properly before sending them in as the workshop did not have enough space to deal with it even though there was a dedicated area to do so. Upon closer inspection, they did see some of the blood stains still left at the helipad which they continued giggling at.

    "Time to wake Jin up. He sure sleeps a lot." Yinn said as the Helicarrier finallynded and Jin woke up abruptly once more from his deep sleep. He apologised and went with them to meet Old mmet.

    "Lord of Mount Sunn." It was the first thing Old mmet said when he saw Jin.

    "Stop it. That title does not suit me anyway. Can I just send it over to you instead? You should be the one deserving of the title."

    "I have no time to y paper and pen when I can spend the rest of the time hammering things."

    "Perhaps, we should give it to Nie instead, he might be interested."

    "He, the Lord of Mount Sunn? More like Lord of the Workshop Pantry. Always going there after finishing a job."

    "Hey! I had never worked out this much after a long time. Give me a break, I am trying to get my stamina back again from working this much."

    "Yeah, yeah. All that days of idleness drinking and wasting your time. You reap what you sow!"

    "This is the kind of bullshit I have to stand up against even though I am hisst apprentice," Nie said and Jinughed when Old mmet wished to beat his apprentice''s ass.

    "So, why did youe back again and its too soon. Knowing you, you are not here to see Old mmet at all."

    "I want to fight the Three Winged Angel Dungeon, and to challenge the Dungeon King," Jin said and both the workshop smiths were shocked. "бн You know about them?"

    "To some extent. I too sure about the Dungeon King, but I think Old mmet have a bit of history with it."

    "Kid. Are you sure you want to go and fight the Dungeon King? How many rounds you are going to propose to the Three Winged Angel? 33 Rounds?"

    "Erm.. 2 Rounds," Jin said and Old mmet felt like his head was getting giddy.

    "Nie, do me a favour and smack that kid out of my workshop before I blow up the entire ce to get rid of him."

    "Why? I am going to use my Dungeon Instance powers against it. You already saw how strong they could be and you are doubting my abilities?" Jin asked and Old mmet sighed.

    "Then it looks like you would need a damn farking good upgrade for you and all your team members. Take what you need from the armoury and get your farking ass into the dungeon below to get me more materials! If you want to fight against the Dungeon King in 2 rounds then you are not stopping until I tell you to stop!" Old mmet shouted and Jin nodded his head with resolution.

 Chapter 1733 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1733 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 1</h4>

    "JINNNNNN!!!!" When the Grey Bears heard what Jin had gotten himself into from Old mmet, they went into the armoury and bashed him up. (Not so literally but there were some punches and kicks from the Grey Bears themselves.)

    "What! I had no idea that Old mmet would react like this! More so that he knows about the dungeon that I am going into!" Jin said as he tried to deflect all the kicks and punches until Nie came to break the fight apart.

    "Master wishes to talk to each and every one of you individually. He wants to know what kind of upgrade you all want before heading down the dungeon so that he provides you with the necessary upgrades aside from the usual standard stuff to make sure you are tough enough for the fight. If needed, an overhaul would be given to you as well." Nie said.

    "So, we can be as sturdy as Page or maybe even Lynn? Sign me up!" Diaz said and Click knocked her head.

    "You are already a Gunzerker, you probably need an overhaul of your mechanoid body that differs from a closebat fighter like Lynn." Click said and she raised her hand to Nie that she wanted to go first.

    So as Click went to see Old mmet and talked to him about the possible upgrades she could get, the rest of the group followed Nie so they would not get lost going to the armoury. Compared to what they had previously, Mount Sunn Workshop seemed to be upgrading itself as well. It was not that old dark and danky ce that they knew of.

    There were still some ces that still felt that way but the armoury that Nie was bringing them to? It was new and spanky clean. All the cupboards and wardrobes that don the weapons and armour had been refurbished courtesy of Archduke Dyke and the ce looked like it was ready to serve an entire army''s worth of needs.

    "Everything is on the house except for those items over there in the ss wardrobe. Thoseбнerm it''s best if you could pay in points if you want to take them. They are a few of the customised wares that Old mmet and I had made for fun though materials wise it''s a bit of a бн.you know. Hard toe by." Nie said.

    "Of course, that is if you are feeling generous. I am sure Master mmet would just say, take it! Just take those things and leave us penniless as we have always been." Nie tried to make an impression on his master and they giggled about it.

    "We do have points to spare, do not worry about it," Jin said and the rest went to explore the armoury which they found out was at least three floors worth of weapons. Compared tost time where they only had to pick from leftovers that were left in the room for ages (even though they were still in working conditions.)

    Jin as usual took a few of the very same items that had taken before. A few short swords which he fancied himself and abat knife that he ced at his leg in case of emergency assuming if things go dreadfully awful. There''s still a piece of metal that he could rely upon. The more he thought about it, the more he missed Bam and Boo for its versatility as well as strength. It was as if they were an item of celestial grade.

    "Do you miss them?" The System said as Jin tried to imitate a previous footwork with a pair of swords.

    "Miss what?" Jin asked as he continued to stay in stance.

    "Your weapons."

    "You can read my mind now? I thought you said you were not able to in this particr virtual simtion." Jin queried.

    "Yes, the System cannot. However, every time you pick up a sword, the first thing you do is to enter this particr stance as if topare whether they are up to the task for the job at hand or you need topensate for something."

    "I have to do it, or else everything will smash when I use my techniques, especially Cardinal Byakko''s techniques."

    "User seemed to like Cardinal Byakko''s technique a lot more than your own Panda."

    "I won''t lie, it felt strong but it''s mainly because its electric element is extremely useful against the Mechanoids. When fighting against Dungeon enemies, I believe this won''t necessarily be the case. I would more or less fall back to Genbu''s copy of the System Rider Belt. That way, I can at least still make a sword out of nothing if pushes to shove." Jin said as he moved to the ss wardrobe where all the customised items were.

    They were mostly guns and other rifles as well as battle consumables such as a lightning grenade and the dark inducing grenade which should only be a one time use. However, what he looked for was the melee weapon section.

    There were swords there too but nothing caught his fancy mainly because he was afraid they could break just as easily as the short swords he carried. It was until Jin squatted and saw the bottom shelf had a pair of swords that looked extremely familiar.

    He opened it up and noticed that they were like the prototype swords that Jin had used against the Mecha Fire Dragon. The only thing that was off putting was that when he picked the sword up, it felt like the sword was alive. That was what Jin thought when he held it until he looked at the hilt and an eye socket popped out with a demon eye looking at it.

    If not for Jin''s consistent exposure to fantasy items, he probably would have dropped the sword at that particr spot and pulled himself back from the sword itself. Instead, he got fascinated by it and called Nie with regards to that.

    "Yeahбн I am guessing you would go for that when I brought you in here."

 Chapter 1734 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1734 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 2</h4>

    "When you had discussed coborating with the researchers, I had already taken the initiative to talk to them. Since then, this was my pet project which I had managed toplete a day ago. I honestly, have no idea that you will be here the next day. And here I thought that I could improve on it further before giving you a more improved product." Nie exined

    "I assumed this eyeбн thingy is from the dungeons below?" Jin asked and Nie acknowledged while knocking at the side of the wardrobe, indicating that he is here physically to talk about it further.

    "Actually, that was inside one of the mercenaries that had been killed within the workshop. It was preserved so nicely, I thought it would be a good material for our smithing experiments. Went to research it a little further and found out that this came from a Demigorgon. Apparently, they said to have eyes within their mouth so no one could know that could see." Nie showed the articles of the Demigorgon to Jin.

    "How does having the eye on the Demigorgon would work on the sword?" Jin asked and Nie shrugged.

    "I have no idea but for some reason, the Demigorgon''s eyes reacted extremely well with the prototype sword when it came. Of course, it''s a coincidence since I left the box of eyes at my workshop table. To my surprise, it fit quite nicely but it''s awfully eerie."

    "I would honestly want to try it out now to see if it''s as useful as it would be or if it has any demeaning effects on it." Jin felt that this would be a good addition to his current arsenal and said that he would take it.

    "For this, I would ask for 5000 points if that''s possible. It might be materials that had been lying around but I spent quite a fair bit of effort on it. Not to mention, Master mmet asked me to find sponsors to rebuild my set of toolsбн.so yeahбн Apologies if I am asking too much." Nie said and suddenly he saw his bank ount got updated and he nearly vomited blood.

    "This isбн?" Nie could not believe his eyes.

    "You said you need a sponsor, right? I have yet to pay you for the ride to Mount Sunn too, take this as the fees too." Jin smiled as he took the swords and asked if Nie could create a customised holster that held all the swords that he was carrying right now.

    "What happened to guns?"

    "I will still hold them, but considering where we are going, I do not think being a modern archer would be sufficient to hold them down or maybe even kill the monsters."

    "That is true. At certain points, most dungeon explorers would already have some relic or artefact of some sort to aid them. The only problem is they never show it to anyone mainly because these relics and artefacts could not be sold or even seen."

    "What do you exactly mean?"

    "It means that those artefacts only emerged when one was to enter the dungeons. So, those mercs that we killed? They might have been decent dungeon explorers especially if one were to get the eyes of a demigorgon. I think it''s the world''s way to not prevent people from being overpoweredбн?"

    "Wait a minute, no one ever told me that before."

    "Because most of the time, when someone hunts in the dungeons, it''s meant to bring back resources. Even Variant Dungeons is all about resources. But if you were to go deeper than Variant Dungeons, you would find even more crazy monsters that cannot be killed by mere bullets. When OId mmet and I saw your powers, we initially thought you were a dungeon explorer. But also find it odd that you were able to disy such powers in public. Perhaps, it was some privilege or something."

    "I seeбн now I understand why I am being treated so differently when people saw me wielding those powers."

    "Yeah, and for those that were incapable of exploring dungeons or want the short way out, I can imagine the reason for why the presence of Monster Mechanoids. But I also wondered why no one ever thought of monster infused Mechanoids. Now that you mentioned it, it should be a concept that can be explored. But Old mmet would probably know better on that subject. Could be because of the ego of those monsters within the Mechanoids."

    "Hmmm, is that why those Monster Mechanoids could not be exactly reasoned with?" Jin asked but Nie could not answer him.

    "I won''t know unless I try making oneбнbut I do not want to risk the Empire''s wrath and give them a reason to attack Mount Sunn. That one incursion is more than enough of me in this lifetime." Nie said and told Jin to give him some time to create a customised holster to fit all the swords that he was carrying.

    "Ahhh I missed the days of my Living Metal storage watch," Jinined to the System and it could not do anything else. "The System believes it is time for you to talk to Old mmet, he has already taken in the decisions and choices for the entire Grey Bear Squad."

    "That''s fast. How would they know what they want to upgrade?"

    "They had consulted with the System while you were asleep on the Helicarrier. Most of the upgrade ideas had already gone through a few rounds ofpromising with the System as they wished toplement those physical upgrades with the upgrade cards that the System provides."

    "Ah I seeбн why was I left out of such conversations."

    "Because you are asleep and you needed the sleep."

    "Oh well, I needed time for Nie to do his job anyway. Will go speak to the Master." Jin said reluctantly as he was the only one who did not think of what kind of upgrades he could get.

 Chapter 1735 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1735 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 3</h4>

    "Huh? What are you talking about? You are not getting upgrades." Old mmet said so bluntly to Jin that it crushed all his hopes.

    "Why?" Jin was so speechless he could not spit out any more words from his mouth.

    "Because those upgrades that they asked for are not avable in this current dungeon. Even the variant pathways do not have it and I had made people explore all of them. As ironic as this sounds. The only way to get them is at the Three Winged Angel Dungeon. The one you are supposed to go to."

    "Huh? Then why would I want to upgrade when I am gonna go in there?" Jin asked and Old mmet shrugged his shoulders so hard, it kicked away dust and sweat from his work shirt.

    "How would I know? The most I can give them is a new customised hardware package and probably rece their arms and limbs with a better fibre muscle strand. It would take some time to work but I can get it done in two days time since I have your Mechanoids to aid me as well."

    "Then what am I supposed to do?"

    "Well, if you really want, you can try your luck finding all these materials below my dungeon. Otherwise, you can search for alternatives which I had already written right beside them." Old mmet said as he tore a few pieces of paper and showed it to Jin. The list was long. Real long.

    "By myself? Even if I find them, I cannot store all of them with me!"

    "Stupid, there are mechanoid porters that can do that and can return once you cleared the way for them. I have a few already waiting at the dungeon gate. Also, I am not nning to upgrade Lynn, she is already akin to my masterpiece so you can take her along with you. Now get out of here. I am going to upgrade Yinn first." Old mmet finished his ramblings and Jin nearly got kicked out of the workshop by him.

    "Heh. If people were to know that you treated the infamous Interim Leader of Daimon like this, your reputation would soar even higher, Master mmet." Yinn said as she removed her gear.

    "That guy is tough enough to take my grumbles. Or else, he won''t have such a capable squad under him. Yinn, since you are a maniptor ss, I have a set of chameleon monster muscle strains with me. They should be able to let you hide temporarily if needed. Or do you wish to take the standard metal orge muscle strands instead? The Diamondz Corp sent quite a few to me."

    "Do you have the Variant Metal Ogre? The one that held twin swords?" Yinn asked and Old mmet did not know such a variant existed. "Then I shall take the chameleon monster strand. Not that it will help during a mass fight but should be good for infiltration prior to the fight."

    "Alright. Then the rest of the girls, please help. Lynn, my dear. I apologise that you have to aid that rascal with some fetching chores." Old mmet apologised.

    "Nah, don''t worry about it. I am thankful for what you did Master mmet. To be able to walk in this sofortably was something I never expected. In fact, when I returned to my old world, I might miss the convenience of having a mechanical body." Lynn waved to the rest but before she left,? Old mmet reminded her to take the items at the cab.

    "This?" She questioned and found a set of gloves and boots.

    "I made them as a set. Each of them has a miniature kic reactor in them and I made sure they were encased in one of the hardest metals I could find. Not to mention, its crossyered so they should not break but it''s a little ugly and a tad ufortable since it has a budge for the gloves."

    "They fit okay, it looks like I covered my wrist with some small buckler,"? Lynn said as she tried to do some punching moves. Thank you, Master! Will repay you back someday!"

    "Alright, now that she is gone, let''s start with the recements. Please turn on your pain receptors but to the minimum level as I am also making sure that the connections are okay."? mmet stated and the rest of the squad started to help even though all they were doing was fetching things from the workshop or shining a bright light at where Old mmet wanted it to be.

    As for Jin, he was reading the list and found there were quite a lot of parts that seemed special and the monster names for most of the parts did not make any sense to him at all. It was not until Syn popped by and saw the list with him.

    "That''s one heck of a list. Do you want me to spawn a creature that takes up a bunch of them together?"

    "You can do that? Oh wait. Right. You are the administration, of course, you can do thatбн but why would you want to do that? And why would you want to help?"

    "After hearing your discussion with the Grey Bears, the AI Administration was pumping with excitement. It seems like you understood the importance of the Dungeon King and for you to link all those options together makes the AI Administration want to be part of it as well even though it is legally unable to do so."

    "Then I don''t get it. How are you able to help?"

    "We might not be able to provide you the materials, but we can present you the challenge to get the materialsбн If you get what I mean. This way, the AI Administration is posing you a challenge and thus not interfering with the oath that we made. At the same time, we are indirectly part of this grand scheme that you have created too."

    "If that''s the caseбн Then I would like a monster thatpletes the upgrade list for Yinn. If Old mmet is performing her enhancement to the body, it''s best Iplete this as soon as possible and give Yinn the parts needed." Jin said and Syn agreed to it readily.

 Chapter 1736 Three Winged Angel Demon -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1736 Three Winged Angel Demon -Part 4</h4>

    "Hey, who are you talking to?" Lynn asked as Jin was making quite a big fuss at the side of the dungeon entrance.

    "Syn, he said that he is going to help us with the collection of materials."

    "Syn, the Synthesis World''s AI Administration? How so?" Lynn questioned as sat down on a bench near the dungeon entrance to wear her new gloves and boots.

    "He said along the lines that he would create a monster that would be able to let us find the items needed for the upgrades. And since Yinn is upgrading right now, this would be the perfect time to go in бнonce I got my equipment from Nie." Jin said as he showed Lynn the bunch of swords that he was carrying.

    "I am here. Don''t have to say things behind my back." Nie''s voice echoed through the stairway down to the dungeon entrance. "There you go. The short swords I assume you would be breaking them first so I made temporary holsters for their scabbard so that once used, you just pull over here and the holster will tighten and it should not bother your movement after that."

    "That''s useful, thanks Nie," Jin said as Nie already walked towards Jin and helped him to put up the holsters as the two Demigorgon Swords had been ced at the left side of his waist while the other three were at the right. There was a bag at the back for him to put some battle essories and consumables if needed while Nie assisted Jin in putting a secondary holster at his chest area where he could ce a handgun over there.

    "You look like an overpacked mule with all those swords hanging at your waist," Lynnmented but as Jin tried to walk, they were not bothering him that much and so was running. He expected the belt area to be heavier with all those items.

    "Yeah, I did a bit of measurement and was able to instead a Mindjacker power crystal in the holster, allowing it to have some anti gravity properties. I thought its effects would be minimal since I did not fully refine the power crystal. But it looks like it worked out just fine."

    "The Mindjacker, as the one from Parry City Dungeons?" Jin asked.

    "Oh? You know about those? I thought I said the name for fun and you would be like woooahh. But anyways, yes. Its from Parry City Dungeons. I had a few of them ordered because most Mechanoid Porters need them. Not on them of course but on therge containers that they are moving. See, over here." Nie said as he knelt down and pointed at the bottom of the container for Jin to inspect.

    "The power diminished after a few months or so, we will always have a ready stock of themбнor well I finally got a stock full of them."

    "I thought they say they are hard to catch? And the stones are useless once you hit them on the head or something like that."

    "Yeah, they do. Its useless as once you hit it on the head to kill the Mindjacker, the monster would die but the power crystal would still be emitting the energy non stop. Hence from a practical point of view, its rather useless unless you want to lift something up forever. You cannot harness its powers at all." Nie exined and Jin understood it a little.

    "Alright, then shall we get going?" Jin raised his hands out as if to ask Lynn for a date within the dungeons.

    "If this is a date, you are really a very bad person as choosing date locations."? Lynn mumbled.

    "Heh, considering what kind of situation we are in, I think this is the best ce I could afford. Besides, I bet you want to whack something so you can cook a good dinner for Old mmet and Nie for helping us."

    "You read my mind though those upgrade materials are more important. Let''s hope we can get most of it before Yinn finishes her upgrade." Lynn remarked.

    "Yeah, I told Nie about it that we are attempting to get those materials but also warned Grandpa mmet not to hold his breath on it."

    "You scare you will fail?"

    "Maybe. To a certain extent. The number of materials to be squeezed in one monster? There is no way it would just be one monster that we would be fighting and the destruction we throw out might even destroy the material before we know it." Jin said as he tapped on the Mechanoid and it followed behind them as the doors opened.

    "Good luck! All the best!" Nie said before returning to his workshop as well as informing Old mmet about what Jin had told him about. But as he was about to leave, he noticed something odd standing in front of the dungeon entrance when Jin opened it.

    "Huh, I do not remember this to be here." Jin said and Nie walked to the dungeon entrance confused.

    "This бнis the Three Winged Angel Statue. What is it doing here?" Nie said and Jin realised and understood what Syn was trying to get about.

    "I think I know the reason for its existence." Jin replied as he touched the feets of the statue and the Three Winged Angel came to life. "Variant Dungeon detected, Variant of the Standards would be ced in the next room for you to fight and defeat. Failure to do so would amount to certain death." The Angel said in a stony voice before it turned and made a pose of pointing at the direction where Jin should walk.

    "Okayбн Don''t sound like it will be a walk in the park, Jin. You sure you are ready for this?" Lynn asked.

    "Ready or not, we have to fight it. At the very least, we would know the standard and quality of the monsters in this Three Winged Angel Dungeon. Or else, we might never be able to win against the Dungeon King. Worsee to worse, a quick dungeon instance creation should do the trick." Jin said as they took a deep breath in and entered.

 Chapter 1737 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1737 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 5</h4>

    "But your dungeon instance powers are limited, what if the boss has a round two or round three? You know how those monsters always y dirty." Lynn hesitated a little but Jin grabbed her hand firmly.

    "Don''t worry. I still have Pandarens at my behest. It will be slightly abrupt to a few of their interaction with this world, but I do not think it should be much of an issue, right System?"

    "It is possible to teleport them in, but as User had said, it would not be good for immersion."

    "We will be fine," Jin said as he continued to walk in with Lynn''s hand in tow.

    "System would like to remind User not to trigger any death gs."

    "I concur with the System as well." Lynn decided to walk faster than Jin and suddenly the tunnel they were walking through had be a brand new location. Instead of a dull, cold and wet cave kind of atmosphere, they were out in the open with an arena in front of them.

    There lies a man sitting at the centre of the arena looking at them.

    "Hello! Wee to the Three Winged Angel''s Variant Dungeon edition!" On a closer inspection, he was masked up with a white masquerade face.

    "Your opponent today is a little of a mish mash. We had no idea why the Dungeon King wanted to do this new variant of all a sudden but hey, it was kind of fresh in our perspective so we took it. I shall not waste your time since you are here to challenge the Great Reality Blender!" The announcer said before he disappeared and the bright sky turned dark, obscuring their vision for a moment only to reveal that draft winds and heavy storms were inbound as well.

    And right at the centre of the arena a huge green eye lit up brightly and Jin quickly used inverse eye to determine the monster which they called Great Reality Blender the duo was going to fight against. "Holy shit. This is no monster that I had recognised before." He said to himself as he immediately drew two short swords out without hesitation and passed them on to Lynn.

    "No time to go for fists. We need to clear this fast. I had a very bad feeling about this."? Jin said as he took out thest short sword. "Use the best cultivation technique you have ever used."

    The Green Eye shone once again and the winds got even stronger than before that if the duo were not careful, they might lose their footing. "I do not know what the size of it or what it actually looks like. I cannot be just aiming for the eye, right?" Lynn spoke in the System Channel since it was getting harder to talk with the wind blowing against them.

    Jin shared the image through his console and Lynn was taken aback by the sheer size. If the Green Eye was the centrepiece, it looked like a mechanical object with a beetle carapace at its top. There were shapes of pincers and spikes at the side of it and its legs looked extremely feeble but maybe because it was due to perception of the wind blowing,

    Jin was not going to risk a wait and see approach. He could feel that based on the name and size of it, it was a menace of great proportion. Thus, he charged the two short swords with Byakko''s lightning along with his, creating abination of blue ckish lightning sizzling at the tip of his sword and he took a huge leap to initiate the fight against the monster.

    The Great Reality Blender merely picked one of its spiny legs up and it defended against one of Jin''s heavy attacks. The spiny leg broke but it was not without loss as another spiney leg spike towards the Panda Cultivator the moment the electrical attack dissipated from the attack.

    If not for Jin''s Inverse Eyes, he would not have seen it with all the wind and darkness around him. The Green Eye was a distraction as well with it continuously blinking its bright ghoulish light against Jin.

    That was where Lynn took the opportunity to charge in. Even though Jin requested her to go all out with her Penguin Cultivation, Lynn on the other hand felt it was not time for a good strike yet as zoomed past a piercing spiny leg, only to discover that it could curl up as well and hit her from the back.

    Yet, her knuckle''s little budge buckler was able to take the hit without any problems. In addition to that, the knuckle''s kic reactor maxed out instantly, giving Lynn a chance to punch the Eye after blocking the attack.

    It was to her surprise that the Beetle Carapace that was hovering above its head, managed to slip in from the side and block the attack. Fortunately, it proved breakable as Lynn punched through the entire carapace and made a dent in the Great Reality Blender''s one and only mechanical eye.

    With that, the wind suddenly stopped and the darkness disappeared, revealing the bright sunny sky that they experienced previously. That was when they realised why it''s called the Great Reality Blender. It was able to blend or even bend the surroundings for its own use benefit, as if it was creating its own dungeon instance but of a lower level.

    "Now I understand why Yinn would want such an upgrade, even I would be jealous of such powers!" Jin said as he took both short swords and smashed them away with a high density of electricity. The Great Reality Blender used its beetle like carapace once more only to find it useless against such an attack.

    "If one sword doesn''t work, try two instead!" Jin smiled as he hit the side of the eye, electrocuting it. But as the name suggest, the Great Reality Blender was not going to lose because of a few good sneak attacks. The sunny atmosphere turned even more scorching hot that Jin''s and Lynn''s back were burning. If not for the Maqi they possessed, their skin would be on fire.

    "Yeap, definitely have to kill this as soon as possible." Lynn concurred.

 Chapter 1738 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 1738 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 6</h4>

    "This monster is dangerous as fuck. I would rather fight 10 Mecha Fire Dragons than one of these." Jin said as he rushed again and he noticed that the short swords were getting brittle. One more hit and he had to say goodbye to them.

    "I do not think that is a good idea either," Lynn said as she was right behind Jin and had to activate her penguin cultivation powers. When ites to heat and fire, she would be a stronger maniptor of such elements as her cultivation had always been regarded as that.

    So even as Jin was going to use the electrical element once more, she was going to st it off with the surrounding heat that she had umted. The Great Reality Blender however was not going to give them any chance as more spiney legs emerged from the bottom of its eyes and started shooting out to hit them.

    Jin, on the other hand, had decided to dodge most of it and even take in a few scratches from it as a close shave encounter for he knew that once his sword touched any of the Great Reality Blender''s parts, it would shatter into pieces, releasing the energy that was stored within it.

    Meanwhile, Lynn deflected on the spikes and even cut them away with the Maqi that was stored within her sword. The heat Maqi generated by her energy was hot enough to slice those spiney legs away, causing the Great Reality Blender to screech even though it did not have any mouths to begin with.

    But each screech suddenly turned the environment into a different scene. The scorching hot arena turned into a scene where they were on a boat with stormy seas and it was shaking all around to cause the cultivators to lose their bnce.

    "Stupid Blender!" Jin said as he was only a few metres away from the Great Reality Blender when the scene change and in order to stay where he was, he needed to stop in his tracks and m the rocking boat. This caused his leg to be within the wooden nks as the ship rocked intensively. No doubt, there were punctures of the wood into his leg but considering the distance it had maintained with the Great Reality Blender, it was a small price to payбн until he realised toote when a spiney leg and an extremelyrge one emerged out from wooden nks to pierce him.

    "Fuck!" Jin shouted that he had to waste his two short swords and the Maqi he continuously put into them for a defensive move. The Lightning burst throughout the entire rocking ship, breaking apart not just the surrounding wood nk but also the huge spiney leg that was about to stab Jin''s butt. No doubt the Great Reality Blender had suffered the shock but it was not to a vital part of its body.

    In fact, Jin felt that the spiney leg that came about was just a small part of him and he had to blend with the surrounding reality to make it feel as if it was a huge one. Yet, he cannot confirm whether that''s true or not since based on perception, that would undoubtedly kill him right on the spot. Even with his Inverse eyes, he could feel that it was not possible to survive it even though his gut feeling told him otherwise.

    Meanwhile, Lynn who had been pushed all the way back to the cabin area had decided to just provide some range support for Jin. Like her partner, she had decided to focus on meleebat as it was the fastest way to deal with the monsters but since this monster was trying its best not to allow them to be near it. She decided to charge her bullets with Maqi and shoot them.

    Obviously, the Great Reality Blender noticed the bullets moving towards it and once again sent its spiney legs to block it by shooting them out from its bottom. But it had forgotten that there were two people it was fighting against.

    Even without announcing to Jin, he had already taken the chance to send out a freezing wave of Maqi, temporarily stopping the spiney legs from moving and allowing the shots to pull through and had a direct hit on the Green Eye. Once again, the remaining two beetle carapaces had tried to stop the attack, and this time, it got smarter and ced the two of them like a stack so that any prative effects would be rendered useless.

    "Heh. You underestimate the power of our maniption of Maqi. If I cannot even control this, you think I can control fire?" Lynn said as the Maqi surrounding the bullet was eventually not used for prative power and instead, it was used to manipte the direction of where the bullet was flying.

    So as the beetle carapace fell into ce, the bullets turned and curved at the veryst moment and hitting the eye at the side, causing metallic fluids to gush out immediately.

    While not as strong as the lightning stored within the swords, Jin did not hesitate to exploit the weakness that Lynn had exposed. He held onto the spiney legs that had been frozen and spread his Icy Maqi through it, causing it to flow and send a sharp burst of ice to encase the monster. And without anyg time, he took out the demigorgon swords that punctured them through the ice and into the beetle carapaces that it was so proud of.

    "Taste this," Jin said as he sent out one of Byakkou''s signature lightning maqi into it, causing the Great Reality Blender to drastically change the scenarios they were in at a hectic pace. First, the ship, then it was back to the arena, after which the eerie windy night scene and subsequently even falling into a volcano andter drowned in the deeps of the sea.

    Yet all of this did not deter Jin as he continued to pulse through strong intensity of electricity to fry its brains. Soon, all of it returned to normal and they were back to the same old arena which they had started.

 Chapter 1739 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1739 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 7</h4>

    But with all those scenes rotating nonstop for the past few seconds, Jin and Lynn not only came out victorious but also nauseous. The Masked Announcer emerged to congratte them for their victory and told them to take their rewards at the treasure chest beyond the arena stage.

    "You can return any time and once you are ready to go through, just follow the steps to the next stage! Otherwise, thank you for participating in the Three Winged Angel Variant Dungeon!" The announcer happily waved goodbye to them and he disappeared.

    "This is bullshit," Jin said as he was lying on the floor along with the dead Great Reality Blender.

    "That is one monster I do not wish to encounter againбнand you said you want to fight a two round match with the Dungeon King?!" Lynn was calm at the start until she started to re up. "With this kind of monster, your dungeon instance creation does not mean anything if they can create the most optimal environment for their own benefit."

    "At least we finally cleared this, right?" Jin tried to smile his way to Lynn''s frustration.

    "I don''t know. All I want now is a good shower. My senses are in a mess." Lynn said as Jin agreed wholeheartedly with that statement. As they were still lying on the floor, the Mechanoid Porters were slowly moving in and picking up the Great Reality Blender as well as the treasure box that was left behind.

    "Hey Mechanoids, mind picking me and Lynn up as well? We want to return back to the main entrance." Jin said and the Mechanoid Porters did what was told. It was not a long ride back and when the dungeon entrance doors were open, Nie came running down to see if they were okay or not.

    What he did not expect was that the porters were carrying such a monster with it as well as a treasure box that had not been opened. "Are the two of you okay?" He asked since they were at the back of the containers, lying as if they had been through a lot.

    "The monster is a beast. If we did not go all in at the start, we would have died." Jin remarked and Lynn nodded her head too. "Let us rest here for a little while more before we take a shower," Jin noted how incredibly drenched the two of them were after the fight.

    "This is one beast I had never seen before in my life,"? Nie said as he took a closer look at it before he felt like the monster was still looking at him as if it was not dead.

    "Perhaps, Master mmet knows something about it. And mind telling us what''s in the treasure chest?" Jin queried but Nie had already taken the initiative to open itбн only to find even more simr parts of the dead Great Reality Blender. Just that it had been chopped nicely into pieces and the quality still holds, unlike the monster that Jin and Lynn had brought back.

    "I will pass it to Master mmet about it right away," Nie said and he told the porters to carry the treasure box carefully to his master''s workshop. With a knock on the door, the apprentice slowly went in and Old mmet barely finished recing the muscle threads for Yinn''s left arm.

    "What is it? You were bothering me exactly half an hour ago." mmet said and Nie presented to him the treasure chest that Jin and Lynn had obtained. "бнThis. How did they get this?"

    "Eh? From the dungeon below."

    "Huh? But it''s impossible to obtain such monster parts from below."

    "There''s бнthe statue of the Three Winged Angel when Jin opened the dungeon entrance."

    "The what??" Old mmet was shocked beyond words and asked for the camera footage only to see that Nie was entirely correct. The Three Eyed Angel''s statue was right at the centre of the dungeon entrance when it opened. "This doesn''t make sense. All my years in here and catching monsters by myself as well as risking Mechanoids to do it, this is the first time I''ve seen the Statue appearing here."

    "It did state that it''s a variant dungeonбн" Nie replied

    "But the amount of coincidenceбн is not a joke. If it is, it''s a very sick, very very sick joke by the Almighty." Old mmet remarked as he tore his sterile gloves away and checked the quality of the monster parts.

    "бнHe fought with the Great World Blender?" Old mmet questioned and Nie was very sure Jin said that it was the Great Reality Blender. "The what?"

    Nie stated once more and Old mmet took a look at the parts and realised that these were everything that Yinn needed for the upgrade. "This is not part of the Great World Blenderбн This Beetle Carapacees from the Reality Reflecting Beetle. Is this even possible?" Old mmet was stunned beyond words to see that the variant that Jin and Lynn fought had two of the monstersbined.

    "Did they say how difficult it was?" Old mmet suddenly became concerned.

    "They said that it nearly took their life and they needed to go full power at the start. They also appeared to be extremely drenched from the fight even though the monster they fought did not seem to have moisture on it. But well, it''s fried so it is hard toment on that. Why did you ask?"

    "The Great World Blender controls how you feel, see, and sense. Itpromises almost every other sense that you have and people died just by not being able to sense anything proper. And if you put it with Reality Reflecting Beetle, who only perform illusions that were extremely stable, youbined them to get something that is reality changing."

    "Henceбнthe name Great Reality Blender?" Nie said and they defeated it in less than 30 minutes?"

    "They are not wrong. If they waste time, their risk would be higher fighting against this abomination. Regardless, since he brought the monster parts, then Nie. This is not just a simple enhancement to Yinn, we are upgrading her entirely."

    "Yes, Master."

    "Sorry, Yin. Looks like we will do the upgrades first before the rest of your changing your muscle threads." Old mmet stated and Yinn understood the need to be offline. "As for the rest of you, don''t you ever think of cking now that Nie is here!"

 Chapter 1740 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1740 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 8</h4>

    "How''s the wound?" Lynn asked as she got out of the shower at about the same time as Jin.

    "It''s healing back. Those worms still hurt inside of me. Never got used to the feeling."? Jin said as he dried his hair a little more before wearing his shirt.

    "Sorry, could have done more," Lynn said and Jin shrugged it off.

    "We saw how crazy the monster was, It''s not your fault at all," Jin said as he stretched a little more to check the wounds and they were covered. All that was left was just to spend a bit of time for the skin to grow back."

    "Your Maqi seems to be stable though. You can change elements on the fly nowpared to previously where you need more than usual."

    "Yeah, got to Grade 4 not too long ago. Even the bacsh from Byakkou''s lightning smash is not that bad. Ready for round 2? Jin said as he pulled out the semi wet pieces of paper from his old pants and checked. "Erm, yeah. I do not know what''s next."

    "The System had already recorded the required items. All you need to do is to tell Syn, which monster are you willing to encounter."

    "I rather he just give me the parts."

    "User should know that is impossible. Even as the System, giving User rewards without effort is iprehensible."

    "After all I did for you guys? Sheesh." Jin said as he and Lynn decided on Diaz''s upgrades. "For this, I think we should wear some body armour as for you, a few additional metal tes."

    "Why, you think it''s some monster with loads of mini guns?"

    "I could do one even worse, loads of missiles,"? Jin said and Lynnughed bitterly at that prospect.

    Yeap. I guess we can follow that Great Reality Blender and get us some Automated Tower Shields on those Mindjackers crystals. That will help a bunch." Lynn suggested and Jin felt that it was a good idea.

    "But eh I remember not seeing Nie after he delivered the goods to Old mmet, couldn''t contact him as well."

    "Ah, then perhaps, he is helping Master mmet to speed up the process while we get the next upgrade goods."

    "The System had detected within the armoury with regards to the type of equipment that you need. See Section D of the Armoury for a better understanding of what the System said." Jin and Lynn had no qualms following the System''s instructions since they needed to stock up again before going back in.

    And at Section D, they saw what they had been describing, as if it was built just for this location. "Should we get the Mechanoid Porters to bring one extra, in caseбн?"

    "Nah, after that Reality Blender nonsense, it''s best to put the porters away from harm. Do not wish to walk that much after such a tiring fight. Oh hey, you can put weapons behind these shields as well." Lynnmented.

    "Nice, let''s go get suit up with the toughest armour and get the porters to fetch us to our next dungeon. Jin donned an explosive anti bomb suit that was used by bomb squads as well as Lynn while they carried more ranged weapons this time since they believed that anything that deals with Gunzerker would probably mean loads of shooting.

    And thus, when they arrived at the second portion of the Three Winged Angel dungeon, the masked announcer pped his hands as if he was d that the duo did not chicken out from the fight.

    "Wee, wee once again. That didn''t take as long as I expected it would be. But holy cow, you guys are armoured to the dot! But will this help you for the next fight? One would not know until they experienced the might and uracy of The Estranged Cowboy!"

    This time round, the sun did not set but instead, there were dark fog emitting at the end of the arena. Soon, the both of them noticed that there was a chair amongst the fog and someone was sitting there trapped. And if they were not wrong, it seemed to be the cowboy that the announcer was talking about.

    The body seemed weak and helpless as multiple stone hands continuously wrapped around his body and pressed on it. Even as he yelled, the stone hands moved along with his head and pressing it even harder that the cowboy looked as if he was suffocating and consistently attempting to breath heavily for air.

    But that was not the concern the duo had as they were right to bring as much armour as they could. Jin even brought in the very same gatling grenadeuncher that Diaz had used before. (He was surprised that it was even in the armoury and concluded that this was just a conventional heavy arms to deal with huge threats.)

    This was mainly because every time the cowboy seemed to be suffocating, a new rifle emerged at his side and right now from the way the cowboy was wheezing, a lot of rifles were popping out as the two were making sense of the whole situation.

    Therefore, all Jin could do now was so unleash all those grenades on the guns while Lynn go in for the kill with her heavy armour on to protect her when it is still avable. "GO GO GO!" Jin said as he already used his Inverse Eyes to lock onto the guns and fired at them while those phantom rifles started to shoot their barrage worth of shots at them.

    It felt like a mini warzone where the only cover they had right now were the stuff they were wearing. Lynn ran with all her might and using the shields as a proxy for her gloves The bullets were amazingly powerful that a shot from it, could cause Lynn to be knockback despite the fact that she is running forward. If not for Jin''s interferencing, the barrage against Lynn would be even more crazy.

    Just as she was about to use the shield as her glove to punch the cowboy out of existenceбнthe throne did something ludicrous.

 Chapter 1741 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1741 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 9</h4>

    The monster throne immediately swapped the cowboy with Lynn, releasing the former and grabbing thetter, dragging her into the chair almost immediately and strapping her into it. The cowboy then took the chance to get out of the throne and picked up one of the phantom rifles that the throne had created.

    He shot Lynn not once, but twice in quick session that even Jin was not able to see until he saw the sparkles that came out from the bullet deflection that the anti bomb suit made. It was precisely because of the anti bomb suit that Lynn was not only able to survive the first wave of shots but also from the strangling of the throne.

    The anti bomb suit did crack under the pressure of the stone hands but the subsequent barrages from the phantom rifles did a number on her anti bomb suit and it would break in the next few seconds if either Lynn or Jin did not do something about it.

    The cowboy on the other hand regained his youthfulness after emerging from the throne realising that it was almost game over for the person on the throne, he decided to switch his target to attack her partner instead.

    But what he did not fully understand was that Jin was not bothering the cowboy attacks despite all the shots it was doing against him. Instead, Jin ran straight to Lynn and the barrage of rifle shots had turned to attack Jin instead, buying some time for Lynn''s anti bomb suit to stay intact. "Stupid ass monsters and their weird tricks! Why can''t they have just a proper sword fight!" Jin stated as he pulled out the automated tower shields to block those rifle shots as he rushed in while attempting to remove the metal box of grenades that he was carrying around.

    "Lynn, you ready?" Jin shouted as he was approaching right at her disregarding the cowboy''s relentless urate attacks that could eventually prate the antibomb suit.

    "Ready!'' Lynn shouted despite being wrapped and strapped by the stone hands until the sentient throne understood that she was merely ying along with it when the Penguin Cultivator took action the moment Jin asked for her.

    She used her Maqi to increase her strength by double the force that broke out of the wrapping stone hands just enough that she could firmly hold the backrest of the throne and turn it over. The sentient throne had no idea that Lynn was this strong to break out of her seat and flip it over. However, it did not understand why since the sentient throne could always flip itself with the number of stone hands it possessed back unless it was trying to break it into two.

    Yes, Lynn had the idea to break the throne seat into two pieces and the sentient chair monster was able to deduce that. However, to Lynn, if it break into two, that would be wonderful otherwise, they were actually proceeding with the actual n when Jin mmed the metal box on the throne the moment it flipped.

    By instinct, the throne grabbed the metal box as it was distracted to save itself from being cracked into two. But it was toote to determine that Jin aimed his grenadeuncher at the box itself and pressed the trigger, causing the entire box to explode while Jin and Lynn covered themselves with not just the tower shields but with Maqi as well.

    The explosion rocked the entire arena so drastically that the duo felt it was some major earthquake happening. "No No No!" The Cowboy who also got caught in the st was partially burnt. If not for the anti bomb suit, both Lynn and Jin would have suffered the same injuries too.

    "No! No! NO!" The Cowboy said as he fired the remaining bullets from his phantom rifle, each dead urate to kill Jin but the Panda Cultivator did Panda Rolling, despite the dizziness he felt from the shockwave of the explosion. Because of the Panda Rolling technique, Jin got hit multiple times at various ces but it was not enough to kill him. And as long as he was not dead, he would survive like a stubborn cockroach.

    But for the cowboy whose power relied mainly on the sentient throne, he ran out of bullets and that was where Lynn was about to shine.? The Penguin Cultivator stood up and dashed towards the Cowboy hoping to send a punch that was deadly enough to knock him out despite her being slightly immobile by the damaged anti bomb suit.

    Yet the moment, Lynn punched him, she felt like gunshots were being stuffed through her fists, and bullet shells were seen emerging out from the impact. "YES! YES! YES!" The Cowboy said as he did not run away and took the hit like he needed to and grabbed the bullets in midair to fill up not the phantom rifle but the duelling pistol that was residing in his holster.

    He reloaded so fast that no one could see the speed of it, and in a matter of seconds, as Lynn tried to move away from the cowboy, multiple shots ovepping at each other happened all aiming at one focal point as if the cowboy had trained himself so darn long that it was a natural for him to be able to achieve it.

    Not to mention, the distance between Lynn and the gun was negligible, and thus the hits were tried and true, breaking the power core that Lynn wielded and the Cowboy got extremely excited he finally killed one of them.

    Or that''s what he thought. He never expected that because of her cultivation powers, there was more than one power core within her and the cowboy had no idea where it was as she stood up against him.

    "I guess you deserved more than a punch," Lynn said as she finally knew how the monster cowboy works. It would be a difficult move to pull but considering Jin had killed the previous one, she was dying to get this kill under her belt.

 Chapter 1742 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 10

    <h4>Chapter 1742 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 10</h4>

    "The enemy replenished his bullets by hurting him. I have no idea whether touching him would have the same effect but it seems like when the sentient throne touches him, it creates guns instead. We either have to kill him in one shot or do something that kills him slowly without in contact." Lynn said and Jin gave the okay sign in his Anti Bomb Suit.

    "If that''s the case then we should do the cooking stewbination that we thought about months ago," Jin said as he stood up even though the cowboy felt confident that he could kill of all them even with just four bullets in his duelling pistol.

    "Cooking Stew Combination? Oh. I think we can work that out." Lynn understood what Jin was saying.

    "Yeah, once I created the stew, I will join in for the cooking as well. You ready?" Jin asked and Lynn already prepared her Maqi. Even though one of her power cores had been broken, she should still be able to output quite a fair bit of Maqi mes into ''stew''.

    "Let''s go." Jin gave the signal and charged at him at both sides, giving the estranged cowboy no challenge at all as he shot twice consecutively at the two sides causing them to fall to the ground without any effort. But the moment they drop to the ground, Jin erected a huge rock wall surrounding the estranged cowboy. It was high enough to prevent him from even thinking of jumping out unless he thought of climbing.

    And now that he is out of bullets, there was nothing he could shoot though the pain from those bullets was excruciating. Jin felt that the first bullet had scattered because the second bullet hit right straight at it. The twist and turn from the second bullet sure cause the surrounding blood vessels to pop a bit.

    Yet that did not stop Lynn from performing her duty as a cook.

    With a p, a burst of mes emerged within the surrounding high rock walls containing the estranged cowboy forcing it to yell in pain as the mes burnt its skin.

    "I am not done too!" Jin said as he took a deep breath as he mmed the ground and another wall of iron encroached the surrounding rock walls ensuring that he was not able to escape through underground digging as well.? At the same time, spikes emerged through the rocks piercing the cowboy.

    "Another one!" Lynn pped and this time the mes were stronger and more intense as she already knew the distance and magic output. This time, lots of bullets emerged out of the cowboy but no matter how he shot, the rocks and stones grew back again, not allowing any him to have a line of sight to the other two cultivators who had already move away from their spot to prevent from being hit once more.

    Jin mmed the ground once more and simr to Lynn, a burst of me shot out of the cooking pot but that was not the end of it as there was a symbol of a phoenix that has arisen from the mes. Jin had utilised the Cardinal Suzaku''s me Technique and with another palm m to the ground, another bout of mes burst through and the phoenix''s me descended down to the ground.

    With everything covered, the only thing that could see it in action was Jin''s inverse''s eyes and as long as the cowboy was not burnt till it left its bones, it would not be done. Thus, both of them kept using their Maqi to convert into mes and roasted the cowboy alive. It was only when Jin felt that they were at his limit, that he used his Maqi for onest time that conjured a ball of magma at the top of the cooking pot and dropped it in.

    Once he did that, he lied down on the floor wiggling in pain because the worms were in to heal him up. At that moment, the masked announcer came in pped in congrattions for the duo once again.

    "Wow, not one but two variant monsters had been killed! You two are on a roll! But it looks like this is your limit for today, no? Seems like your partner needs some rest while the other needs some repairs. In any case, here is your treasure for the aplishment. Pleasee again soon! My Lord is waiting for you anxiously."

    "At this rate. I think we are doing Hell 5."

    "You think so? We are already in it."

    "What astute observation! This is indeed Hell 5." The masked announcer said. "But as we said, this is a variant Hell 5. Now that you are done with two, you left three more. Complete those three and we can perhaps let you have a meeting with my lord and decide on a day for the challenge." The Mask Announcer bowed and disappeared.

    "Shit, so we had been doing your version of Three Wing Angel without knowing that we are approaching the boss?" Lynn tooid on the ground as Jin called upon the Mechanoid Porters to do the job. They gently carried the two of them and ced them in the container beside each other and ported them as well as the treasure back to the dungeon entrance.

    "Hey, at least they are giving us time outs. Imagine doing this consecutively? We most probably be dead before we reach Floor 5." Jin said and Lynn shook her head at the dismal news.

    "Porters, please help us to reach Nie when we returned to the dungeon entrance. I think both Jin and I would not be able to move and required their help." Lynn asked and the porters acknowledged the new orders.

    "All I hope is that its worth it. I would be damn if those upgrades are for nought." Jin said as he tried to pull himself up but the pain from healing was killing him as usual. There was no way he could be used to it no matter how many times he got injured.

    "We can only hope that Old mmet could produce miracles from this." Lynn took the opportunity to lean on Jin''s thigh after taking out the anti bomb suit helmet. The porters took great care that they travelled slow enough not to injure them even further.

 Chapter 1743 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 11

    <h4>Chapter 1743 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 11</h4>

    "Master! They are back again... With another set of treasure." Nie said as a porter informed him of the return of Jin and Lynn. "This time around, seriously injured."

    "Looks like two days would not be enough then. Grey Bears tend to yourmander and Lynn. Bring her up for diagnostics and see if I can do a quick fix for her."

    "Page and I will take a look on her. If its repairing, we should be able to that job more than doing this upgrading."

    "You are leaving me alone here?" Diaz asked in a quiet voice.

    "Yes, they still need an assistant and you are good at finding those stuff that were hidden in their workshop for some reason." Click said as she brought Page with her down to the dungeon entrance.

    "It''s called being aware! Its apparent you did not want to do this!" Diaz shouted but got thrown a spanner at her head by Old mmet to shut up.

    When Click and Page went to the dungeon entrance, they saw the very same treasure chest that held the parts that aided Yinn''s upgrade while the other container had Jin and Lynn lying in there, injured and exhausted.

    "Sister Lynn, you okay?" They pulled her out of the container and ced her on the emergency trolley.

    "Yeah, not too bad. I got a broken power core and lots of holes. The previous monster boss was insane with bullets. Other than that, I''m just exhausted. Oh and perhaps some leaking. Can''t feel anything with this big ass antibomb suit."

    "Don''t worry, we will get you out of it," Page said and Lynn thanked her as they pushed her to the nearest elevator and the mechanoid porters allowed them to move up first before they bring the treasure chest up to Master mmet.

    "No one cares about me, huh?" Jin cried in his heart and the System told him not to joke around.

    "User''s wounds are mostly healed. That was why the Mechanoids ignored you. Besides, User should be able to go for the next one. Now that he had rested."

    "Alone? You mad?"

    "I am not. Judging from the monsters that you fought, you had been conserving your strength quite a fair bit."

    "Wow, I even use Cardinal Suzaku''s powers, can you pardon me for the night?"

    "If the two of you are going against the monster that is going to be responsible for Mechanoid Tellie''s upgrade, then it is actually best for you to go alone. Sub System User Lynn would not be useful in long range situations."

    "You think that I am great at it."

    "Better than her by a huge margin." The System deduced and rmended to bring a sniper rifle with him for the fight.

    "Fine, Fine." Jin said as he sat up and removed the anti bomb suit, ditched it at the container like an irresponsible person and went to the armoury to grab new items.? A brand newbat vest with a tight ck suit so it makes as little noise as possible. As for the weapon he was taking with him , it was Nagrant Mosin Sniper Rifle due to its portability and durability. In case things go awry, he knew that this was a rifle he could trustбнunless the enemy burn or break his rifle into two. Other than that, he made sure that the demigorgon swords were still with him

    "Sigh. Lets do it." Jin said as he walked to the dungeon entrance to see the porters had already disposed of his irresponsible trash but there was someone there which he did not expect.

    "Where are you going?" Tellie asked and Jin smiled.

    "Just some light training for the night."

    "Don''t lie. You are going in to get my upgrades, right? The rifle beside you is all I need to deduce."

    "Why are you here? I thought you should be helping Old mmet with the upgrades?" Jin asked as he realised there was no where for him to go.

    "I saw the CCTVs when Click and Page took Lynn away and knowing you, you might do something more productive if you are not sleeping randomly at various ces."

    "You are making me sound like I am some homeless person."

    "For now you are. You abandoned the Interim Leader post.? You have no ce to call home. Even you don''t feel like you are worthy of the title for the Lord of Mount Sunn since you wanted to give that away to Master mmet. So, without all these, what are you? Surely a homeless drifter fits you very well." Tellie said as she opened the dungeon entrance.

    "And since I got nothing better to do, I shall apany this homeless person to a sniping match which he thinks he is far superior than me," Tellie said as she too had already been equipped herself and not taking no for an answer.

    "To be honest, I would surely appreciate the help you give me." Jin said as he followed behind Tellie who had decided to walk in front. At first he thought she was guessing her ways until he realised she was tracking based on the footprints left by the Mechanoids and the rest.

    "Of course, I will show you that I can take down the next monster." Tellie for once did not dare to say ''by herself'', and even hold it in. Confidence might be key but considering how the injured Jin had been for the past two matches, she was not holding her breath that she could win all by herself for the next.

    "That I know you surely can and am confident that you will." Jin tapped her shoulders and grabbed it hard to shake away all the doubts his Mechanoid had in her as he walked ahead of her and led the way down to the third arena.

    But just as they went through the doors of the second arena, they found themselves in an entirely different area than the previous two. This time around, the whole arena was a massive patch of cliffs and valleys simr to Parry City''s mountainous range.

    It was undoubtedly gonna be a sniper''s fight through and through.

 Chapter 1744 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 12

    "Ladies and Gentlemen!!!! This is the well awaited match! Will the contestants be able to win against the Surest of Eye and his incredible sight to snipe down their opponents?" In fact, to prove his prowess, he is going to put on a blindfold and allow his challengers to move through the terrain for a free five minutes! Yes! He is that generous when ites to giving you a free pass!" The masked announcer was hovering at the top of the entire cliff range as he spoke.

    "Also, please note that the 5 minutes is different from the five minutes outside the arena. Because time had been slowed right here! Every minute here is like a second outside! How marvellous will this be a test of patience! Or would it be a quick end for the challengers once the 5 minutes had passed? We will see!" The announcer added before it disappeared the way it appeared. After which, a timer emerged at the centre of the cliff ranges and it was ticking furiously down.

    "How are we going to do this?" Jin asked Tellie for her experience and she took a quick scan of the cliff ranges.

    "There are too many ces that the Surest of Eye can attack us from and I can confirm that the boss monster would already have known the ces that we can strike as well. So, all there is nothing we can do but to hide and see who would reveal itself first."

    "Won''t that be us? Since we have the least amount of experience when ites to fighting an elite sniper who knows the terrain at the back of their head?" Jin asked and Tellie would not deny that.

    "Heh, if only we have a reality bending item, something simr to the monster you have killed the first round."

    "You know about that reality monster?" Jin asked and she shook her head, stating that Old mmet was the one who had described the monster out for them to hear. That was Jin contemted whether to use his dungeon instance.

    He knew that if he were to show his powers here, the king who should be watching this particr fight would know of the trump card that Jin held close to his heart. However, if he were to skimp inappropriately, the sniper would definitely have an enormous advantage against him and Tellie.

    "You know what? You are right. We need a reality bending item that can change the course of this battle." Jin said and instead of running he ced his hand at Tellie''s shoulder, this time both shoulders and started to pour in Maqi into her.

    "What is this power? Why does it feel so overwhelming?" She said as the power coursing through here was something that felt heavier than a power chargeing from an instant switch of the battery. It was to the point that she felt that if she did not do something about it, the power core might swell up, overflow or even explode.

    "Burn the god damn forest down. And when I say burn. I mean incinerate. Remember the scene where the Diamondz Army destroyed the entire Mount Sunn Forests? Take that as an example and pour it all out from your heart. The anguish the living creatures that were in that forest feel. That pain replicates it in this particr arena." Jin said and Tellie had already unknowingly lifted her sniper rifle up.

    It might not be the very same experimentalser beam rifle that she used during the conflict in the monster outbreak but she had taken a few heavy duty sniper rifles with her for this fight, not knowing which would be the best in handling the enemy. However, with all the power coursing through her, she no longer cared if those sniper rifles no matter how heavy duty they were or what kind of calibre they would output.

    All she cared about was to take that energy out of her as soon as possible before her internals exploded from the swelling of power. Thus she picked two rifles from the bag of weapons she brought along with and shot out a dualser st that was now four to five times bigger than the output she had made against the Forest Trolls. Not to mention, this was not just one sniper rifle but two of them!

    In less than a minute, the 1/5 of the cliff range had been annihted and all the vents on her body were already producing hot steam that could scorch a human''s skin, causing first degree burns. YUet, that did not deter Jin from moving away and continued to pass her an extensive amount of Maqi and at the same time using the other hand to cool her body down with White Panda Ice Energy so that she would not overheat.

    Getting used to the output strength, she unleashed another barrage ofsers that caused the mountains to break, the cliffs to be filled with debris and the forest to burn. "We are not done until we reach the 4.30 minute mark! GO BURN EVERYTHING"

    "YES COMMANDER!" Tellie felt high, never in her lifetime was she able to go unrestrained especially when as a sniper focused Mechanoid, she was trained and programmed to kill with precision and to be picky with her choices. Now she understood how Diaz felt and the euphoria of letting go. There were no chains restricting her strength and she felt that she could do even more than this.

    Sure enough, her third release of energy was of arger capacity that surprised Jin as well, not realising that Tellie was more capable of focused bombardment than sniping a monster down. Her unbridled unleashing of power caused the entire ce to burn and they had seeded in bending reality to their liking.

    But before Jin could stop the crazyser beams that Tellie had been shooting out, the Sniper Mechanoid shouted to give her onest push of Maqi and he did, resulting in a dramatic pour of energy beams into the air like someone holding a hose and sprayed upwards, gushing water all over the burning terrain.

    The beloved cliff territory that the boss monster Surest of Eye was so familiar with had finally been overwritten with the destruction that Jin was sure that it would hunt them without mercy.

 Chapter 1745 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 13

    <h4>Chapter 1745 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 13</h4>

    Surest of Eye knew what the enemy was doing and of a valid reason too but this does not mean that he could not present his anger out seeing how his beautiful terrain of cliff ranges had been utterly destroyed by them in less than five minutes.

    "Sure, the fire and smoke would conceal the enemy but for how long?" That was what Surest of Eye, stated as he had to jump out of the way to ensure that theser beam did not destroy him. However, he had misread theser, thinking that it was just a one time burst. It returned back and hit the ce where he hadnded so he had no choice but to take the hit.

    He might have been a sniper but he was also considered one of the mini bosses that the Three Winged Angel had employed. There was no way he would die from such aser st though he did not deny that it was searing his muscles with pain since he did not expect theser''s intensity would be this strong despite its radius.

    At this point, he felt that it was meaningless to give them five minutes to hide as they had no intention of hiding. All they were doing was mere destruction of the terrain and thus the Surest of Eye decided to shoot at them, killing them from at least a few hundred metres away with his bow.

    Yet once again when he shot his arrow expecting an end to this madness, the arrow had been burnt to crisp from the third burst ofsers. What kind of enemy was he fighting that was able to shoot this kind of power output continuously?

    There was no use hiding at the corner of the terrain expecting not to be hit. This kind of area of attack meant there was no use hiding to snipe and he had to get out of the way as soon as possible. Even with the big leaps and jumps the Surest of Eye performed, he calcted that there was no way for it to move away in time.

    He got to sacrifice something and that was undoubtedly one of his legs as losing his arms would be a huge loss fighting against this kind of monstrous power output. But even as he tried to hold the scream in his lungs, every fibre of his body had already trembled at the iingser that wasing back to sweep the ce once more.

    And that was when he figured going backwards could be the solution so he stretched out his trump card, a pair of angel wings and flew to the ridge once more. Yet what it did not expect was that the enemy lost control of itsser beam and it went erratic for a moment, causing one of its wings to be decimated by theser when it flew upwards, forcing it to fall to the ground and unfortunately been stabbed through a broken burning log like a spike.

    The Surest of Eye knew that the only way to win was to not hide any more. He had to fire the strongest attack he could muster or else he would die from the loss of blood.? The Surest of Eye activated its ability, Truest of Sight to not only locate but pinpoint his target so that the charged arrow he shot out would hit without any hitch.

    But because he was so focused on aiming for the hit, he never realised that that a ser'' shower happened burning through the entire terrain. Mostly because he assumed that before theser could do any damage to him, the arrow would strike first and he would win the match.

    Sadly, that never happened.

    The masked announcer came out when Jin and the ''spent'' Tellie were attempting to find a spot to hide within the fire and smoke that was happening right now. And with a sigh, the entire terrain disappeared and the very same arena from the previous floors emerged.

    Jin was confused as to why the sudden change in terrain and had no choice but to drop Tellie from his back and immediately held his sniper rifle up as he activated his inverse eyes as soon as possible. Did the Surest of Eye had felt that the terrain was so fucked up he decided to fight in this arena on open grounds?

    "Challenger, drop your weapon. The boss had been killed. You cleared the match." The masked announcer who was delighted initially before the match began, had turned sulky and sour.

    "Wait, what? Isn''t the Surest of Eye a Hell 3 Boss? How could he die just like that?" Surely someser beam would not have killed him. The output Tellie and I pushed out were not sufficient toбн"

    The Masked Announcer immediately teleported the corpse of the Surest of Eye to Jin and it suffered not just a few burnt marks. There were signs of continuous attacks which killed him.

    "He might be the greatest marksmen but it seems he does not have the greatest luck when ites to surviving your rampant attacks." The Masked announcer said as he sighed once more and the treasure chest appeared. "Just take your treasure chest and go. I do not see why you should stay here now that the deed is done. Besides, your Mechanoid is bustedбнalthough it looks a little different from what I rememberedбн" The Masked Announcer wanted to take a closer look andter felt it was not necessary.

    "Regardless, enjoy." The restless way of speaking from the masked announcer made Jin a little annoyed but at the same time, thanked the higher powers that this was done.

    "Why thank me? The System did nothing special and the gods are not worthy of thanking." The System said and Jin had the urge to rolled his eyes.

    "Never mind, could you get the Mechanoid porters toe? I am a little toozy to bring these stuff back to the Dungeon entrance. Thanks System." Jin said as he sat beside Tellie and allowed her to rest using his back as her support.

 Chapter 1746 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 14

    <h4>Chapter 1746 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 14</h4>

    For the first time when he reached back to the Dungeon Entrance, Old mmet was there sitting at the bench near the door, waiting for his arrival.

    "Did I do something wrong again?"

    "You got the treasure chest for the Tellie''s Upgrade I assume? That was the third on the list."

    "She did most of the work not me." Jin said as he got off the container which the Mechanoid Porter was pushing and slowly brought Tellie out of it as well. "We got lucky this time though."

    Old mmet checked their body for any physical damage and true enough, there was nothing on them that proved that they were injured which made him queried. "Who is the boss this time?"

    "Ehh The Surest of Eye? The previous was the Estranged Cowboy as well as him sitting on some stone throne." Jin said and Old mmet confirmed his suspicion.

    "So, it is true.? That you defeated the Estranged Cowboy and the Throne of Greedy Handsбн" Old mmet sighed as he then turned to the treasure chest which the porters brought out from the containers. "And you said you killed Surest of Eye?"

    "Yeah."

    "This is not just parts from the Surest Bow Reaperбнbut also the Fallen Angel of Sight. Those two were one of the strongest archers in the Three Winged Angel and you managed to kill thebination of the both of them through sheer luck?"

    "бнYeah? I guess so?"

    "How did you do that? How did you find the monster in such a short amount of time that you can kill them before they could even put an arrow into your heads?" Old mmet eximed. Jin had once again broke all expectations for the Master Mecha Smith for doing the impossible. When he thought that Tellie had gone with him, he had the feeling that they were going to hunt the two named monsters that Old mmet had sounded off.

    The Surest Bow Reaper was a monster archer that could shoot from kilometres away and still hit his target. The Fallen Angel of Sight was another archer where his aim would never fail him regardless of the condition. And yet, to win thebination of those two through sheer luck was something that Old mmet felt it was a tall order to believe in.

    All those years when he was young, before he truly became a master. Old mmet and his guild members had challenged the Three Wing Angel, in hopes to reach the Dungeon King. And with difficulties, they were able to reach the 95th floor. Many of his guild members were killed and thousands of Mechanoids had scarificed their lives for this climb.

    But eventually on the 95th floor, it was such a devastating lost that the monster boss even gave a way for those who were barely breathing a way out. "Come back to fight me again. With newrades, with new weapons and perhaps then I can grace you to our dungeon king." Those words continued to echo through his head up till this day.

    On a whim, he wrote all those materials as a way to discourage Jin from even trying. Maybe when he fought against the Reality Reflecting Beetle on the tenth floor, he would have given up on the trial and say ''yea, lets just go with the coup the ordinary way. It should be easier that way.''

    But no.

    Jin had surpassed all expectations and killed 3 Boss monsters thatpromised of the 60th floors which took years for Old mmet to do and be done within a day. And yet, without any knowledge of the monsters he fought, he was able to kill them with rtive ease.

    Surely, there were damage done to him and he is dead exhausted in his current conditions but no deaths had happened. It was a testament to his strength and powers that he could still be alive.

    "Yinn''s upgrades had beenpleted. We all will rest for the night and that includes you. Tomorrow, you will go into battle with Yinn instead of Lynn because of how the monster works if the pattern of monsters is still the same that I used to know."

    "You are not going to give me a clue? Since you already said that they are abination of all the monsters within the Three Winged Angel Dungeon, you surely have some knowledge of it, right?"

    "No. I do not." Old mmet did not want to give any more hints nor answers about it and Jin could sense that Old mmet had been pushed to the edge. He was already giving out a helping hint that Yinn would be useful in the battle but nothing more.

    "Okay, Gramps. I understand. I will take Tellie up to your workshop first and let Page take a look at her before I rest."

    "Sure, and know your limits. Rest for the day. Your nose bled a little when you talked." Old mmet stated and Jin touched his nose to learn that the old Mecha Smith was right.

    "Did I overexert myself?" Jin asked himself but he could not feel any different than he would so he believed it was merely overexhaustion that was taking ce. "Tellie, you feeling better?"

    "I do not know, I did a self diagnostic and it stated that a number of my power circuits are in critical condition. A few had already broke and the sub circuits are already taking over the load that the main circuits should."

    "In short I guess, you feel shitty right now."

    "Kind of. Haha."

    "No worries, Page and Click should heal you up quick. Besides, you are due to an upgrade so maybe Old mmet can rece them based on the data calcted today as well." Jin said as he aided her up to mmet''s workshop and see that Page and Click were already waiting for Tellie to lie down.

    "You guys could have help her."

    "You got her into that condition, you need to do your part." Click replied and Page had no choice but to agree with her teammate. We will fix her up, but you got to fix yourself up. Take a shower again and some rest. There''s some simple foodstuff that Lynn had cooked up after we patched her. Take that and go."

 Chapter 1747 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 15

    <h4>Chapter 1747 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 15</h4>

    The night passed quickly and morning rose before Jin knew about it. For the time he passed in Synthesis World, he was actually d that he did not need to worry about sleeping on the bed. There was no sludge nor had crystalised sludge emerged from it, hence making him remember that he was still in Virtual Simtion.

    As he got out of bed, he realised that the demigorgon sword was looking at Jin. The eyes were staring as if it wanted a meal. "Must be my imaginationбнright?" Jin said to himself and questioned the System if it had any new data popping out with regards to the demigorgon sword for the past day.

    "None. But it does seem hungry for your Maqi. Maybe it felt that the powers that you wield are worthy for a meal."

    "Will it suck me dry?" Jin asked and the System do not have any idea with regards to that.

    "Fine, since the morning is still young. There is no harm in giving this sword some Maqi of mine. Who knows, maybe with enough sucking, it might not suck during battle. Hahaha."

    "That is such a bad pun, User." The System also stated that it would monitor the amount of Maqi it would need to be satisfied. So, for the next half an hour, Jin sat cross leg and went into his cultivation stance where he would slowly harness his Maqi within himself as well as produce it to feed the demigorgon sword.

    To his surprise, the two swords themselves seemed to act like a part of their meridian circuit the more he pushed Maqi into the metal des. Thus, he slowly tried to connect the demigorgon swords as part of his meridian circuits.

    Suddenly, shes of memories emerged the moment he connected the circuits with the swords. They were not pleasant as it involved dozens of people being eaten and he saw how the monster swallowed them up. Thus, he quickly broke the circuit and physically checked the demigorgon sword.

    The eyes were missing from the sword''s hilt and Jin panicked, quickly asking the System if there were any physical changes to his body. "No, everything is all good. In fact, your meridians seem crystal clear aspared to the state you had half an hour ago."

    "Then where did the Demigorgon eyes disappear to?" Jin asked and just as he spoke out, the eye emerged at the bottom of the de, slowly moving itself around the de as if it was not just alive butfortable within the de itself.

    "It appeared that the demigorgon swords had gone into a certain transformation. Theposition of the de had also changed based on the System''s analysis. It''s no longer just the living metalposites but had DNA of the demigorgon''s eye within it as well. This might prove useful since it may mean that the sword is sturdier than usual."

    "So, unknowingly, I have an upgrade as well?" Jin does not know whether to chuckle or not after seeing the shes of memories that he saw from the point of view of the demigorgon. In the end, he even told the System about it but thetter did not state that it should be anything impactful against him at all and he might be thinking too much.

    "Heh, thinking too much. That''s how things be bad shit crazy. Meh. We will see how this goes." Jin said as he picked up the swords once more and found them to be lighter than before. Thus, when he put them in the customised holster, they became so light that it did not feel like he was carrying anything.

    Soon he returned to the workshop and saw Lynn had already prepared a few sandwiches for everyone to partake in and Yinn was also at the workshop, all decked out in her gear. Her appearance did not change one bit but what made her different was that she was wearing a oversized broken cloak as part of her appearance.

    "That looks cool, is it part of the upgrade? Like some invisibility cloak?"

    "It''s along those lines. And as much I find it unwieldy, its oddly weird that I do feelfortable in it." Yinn said and only at a closer inspection that Jin realised it had the same vibeing from the Great Reality Blender.

    "Of course, it has that vibe, the materials are from it." He thought to himself and he asked Yinn whether she was ready to roll out.

    "Don''t you want to finish your breakfast first?"

    "He always munchs them on the way because it is more convenient. It''s a bad habit of his." Lynn said before inserting a piece of wet wipe in Jin''s pocket because of hygiene and cleanliness.

    "You are not bringing any ranged weapons with you?" Yinn asked as she saw that Jin was rather empty when it came to guns. All he had with him was themander pistol that Yinn gave him when he first came to this world."

    "Isn''t this a ranged weapon?" Jin asked as he pointed at the very gun that she was looking at.

    "That''s a sidearm, your main arm?" Yinn queried and he ridiculously pointed at his right arm which made Yinn pissed.

    "I did not bring one. We are going to fight for Diaz''s upgrade. There is no way ranged weapons would be sufficient if they are going to keep creating monsters to fight against us. We will run out of bullets before the boss runs out of monster."

    "Hmmm. You are not wrong. Okay, Commander. Let''s go." Yinn said when the both of them stepped into the Dungeon Entrance, Jin felt the exact same presence of the Great Reality Blender right beside him that forced him to take a step sideward and prepare to engage.

    Abat instinct that had been honed in him after so many hundreds of fights had made him nearly made him recognised that Yinn was the enemy but his vice leader merely stood there and asked Jin to calm down.

    "It''s the artefact amplifying my current powers along with the upgrades," Yinn said as she walked out of the dungeon entrance and the aura of the Great Reality Blender had disappeared. The moment she walked in again, the aura emerged.

    "And here I thought I had mixed around with enough monsters," Jin said as he rxed his stance and tried to make sense of the situation.

 Chapter 1748 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 16

    <h4>Chapter 1748 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 16</h4>

    "Yawn~ Wee challengers. To the arena." The Masked Announcer was not exactly interested in entertaining them. Jin believed that the Masked Announcer was expecting a good match from the previous round but had been denied because of the lucky coincidences that had happened.

    "No change of terrain this time around? Just this particr arena?" Jin asked and the Masked Announcer nodded his head.

    "Mainly because the boss of this round feel that the change of environment would only benefit the challenger and so he had decided to keep it like this. Presenting to you the Necromechanoid." The Masked Announcer said and a mechanical unit stood in front of Jin.

    "So, I heard of your exploits. Killing three rounds of Hell in less than a day. Its not just a feat, its an achievement that should be rewarded with a lot of points." The Necromechanoid said.

    "I am afraid that if you wish to move to the next round, you have topete against this fellow Mechanoid that death had forsaken."

    "I can bring the gift of death back to you if you want. Just don''t resist it." Jin said and the Necromechanoidughed.

    "Hahaha. Unfortunately, that would defeat the purpose of this bout. My master would not be pleased if he knows that I gave my life so willingly for you to remove."

    "Then perhaps, I y with you for five minutes and then you let me kill you?"

    "That''s a rather interesting proposition that I too have to deny. But since you are courteous than most challengers who would have attacked me the moment they saw this skeleton like feature that I had, I will give you an advantage." The Necromechanoid replied.

    "My power core is in my head, my legs, and my hands. There is nothing in my chest. You have to remove all five of them in order to kill me. Failure to do so within a minute will result me regaining my entire body again. And that would not be a situation you want to be in."

    "As much as I want to believe you, you are still my enemy for this challenge. I might need to take a grain of salt with the words that you spouted."

    "I have no qualms with that anding this far, and able to have a conversation with the enemy had brought nothing but joy,"

    "We can talk more rather than fighting, if you really want that. I couldn''t be bother to fight if you ask me. I just want to upgrade my Mechanoids so that they could be used to fight against the Empire Royals."

    "Empire Royals? Huh, tell me is the King and Queen still the same as before?"

    "As before? How many Armageddons are you talking about?" Yinn took over the conversation.

    "Hmm, the current Armageddon have not pass, has it? If so, then it is still within this time period." The Necromechanoid said and Yinn nodded her head. "Ah, I see. If I have the guts before I became of this state, I would have also gone against it."

    "Then kid, how are you going to do it?"

    "Not sure to be honest. Someone told me that meeting the Dungeon King would help. Then, I would demand a duel with the Empire Royals. Fight them in that old cranky mess up rules they made previously and get the seat."

    "Ahбн no wonder your Mechanoid needs my upgrade. It would certainly help for sure in that aspect. I assumed the previous few had also been beaten because I am sensing one of myrade''s soul in this current space."

    "Yes, Sir Necromechanoid. I am harbouring the Great Reality Blender''s monster parts as part of my upgrade." Yinn said as she released her cloak and the aura emitted confirmed it to be true.

    "Yes, then the one who needs my Upgradeбн what ss is she in? Combat Engineer?"

    "The Mechamancer." Jin announced and Necromechanoid had his mouth wide opened as if he could not imagine that there was another Mechamancer ss around. "Hahahahaha! I am guessing she just started so that''s why she would need my parts."

    "I guess so. If you count a few weeks as still a youngling."

    "Yes, very much. But the younger they are, its easier to assimte the parts into them." Necromechanoid said and suddenly the Masked Announcer came about.

    "Erm, Necromechanoid. You know that you have to fight, right?"

    "I do but even the Dungeon King would like to know a little more about the opponent. Wouldn''t it be a pity if I crash them here and there was no information about them?" Necromechanoid said and the Masked Announcer nodded his head and disappeared.

    "So, unfortunately for the both- I mean for the three of us here. The Dungeon King would still need a fight to prove your worth. And since your ambition is to fight the Empire Royals, all the more I am not allowed to show mercy. For death under their hands would not be a kind one. I am Sir Necromechanoid. Master Mechamancer working for the King of Three Winged Angel''s Dungeon."

    "Yinn, Vice Leader of Grey Bear Squad, Maniptor." Yinn raised her assault rifle out.

    "Jin. Commander of the Grey Bear Squad, Swordsman." Jin took out his twin Demigorgon swords and it attracted Necromechanoid''s attention.

    "Jin, very nice pair of sword and good stance. Ms Maniptor, do not hesitate to use Reality Blender''s powers to the best of abilities. They wille extremely useful in your fight against the Empire Royal. Very well enough talk, may we have an enjoyable fight!" Necromechanoid said as he pped his hands and a dozen Mechanoids emerged from the ground.

    "Same goes to you, may the best wins!" Jin said and Yinn already started shooting down the broken Mechanoid warriors from the ground. In the meantime, Jin went straight for the boss and Necromechanoid did not disappoint by emerging a spear from the ground and shed with Jin.

    "Nice hit! Now I can see why some of my fellow monster bosses died in your hands!" Necromechanoid stomped on the ground and suddenly the mechanoids started to rushed towards Jin. Jin quickly parried away the spear and attacked the broken mechanoids until he realised that they were not going for him, and instead they were reinforcing Necromechanoid, enabling him to be slightly taller and more armoured using the broken parts he had summoned from the ground.

 Chapter 1749 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 17

    ?

    His Spear even had one Mechanoid wrapping around it and eventually, it merged into onerger spear with the parts of the Mechanoid as his handle and scraps of metal turned into refined spikes that were along the pole of the spear.

    "Yinn, I leave it to you to take care of the minions!" Jin shouted and Yinn was already doing that. Her Great Reality Blender upgrade had made her a part of it to speak the least. The Nechanoid saw a partial silhouette of the Great Reality Blender hovering above her, giving her powers that once belonged to the Reality Blender.

    Yinn''s eyes turned green and the reality around them changed. Jin had a bit of trauma from the changing surroundings but he kept his focus on the monster. The scene of the arena eventually turned into a reality where they were fighting on a very small rocky teau with nothing but mountains all around them. So with a good kick, the broken undead mechanoids would have to climb up again if they managed to survive the fall.

    Not only that as Yinn fired her assault rifle, she knew that there were times she needed to reload and that was where she would be the most vulnerable. That was when the broken cloth cloak took effect as spiney leg spikes emerged from beneath the cloak and stabbed the Undead Mechanoids who came too close to her.

    Meanwhile, Jin used his Cardinal Byakko Lightning powers once more in hopes that the Master Mechamancer he was fighting against would be vulnerable against it. "I would not lie, your lightning powers are strong but you need to do better than that to win against me! Being a Master Mechamancer means I had to find ways to reduce my weakness to Lightning."

    "Doesn''t mean it does not work against you. As long as you do not have immunity, it should work!" Jin said and the Necromechanoids would not deny against it.

    "You are not wrong, but the thing is, it''s a double edge sword for my undeads." Sir Necromechanoid deflected one of the hits and the residual struck the broken undead mechanoid, causing it to charge up and run towards Jin so that it could explode.

    The Commander of Grey Bear Squad was able to erect a Maqi Barrier quick enough to deflect it but he understood where Necromechanoid wasing from. Yes, he may use lightning attacks but it wille at a cost.

    "Then I just have to be more aggressive with my attacks!" This time around he never used any base element and instead, he decided to give it a try to use an astral element. It was like the powers of light and dark infused into one, providing an energy that was unknown to the Necromechanoid.

    As the boss monster parried, the astral element caused the spear to corrode by some ck goo right in front of him and when another hit got to the Necromechanoid''s chest, a bright light shone, to block its sight momentarily but it was also somewhat energy sapping for the boss monster.

    "I was unsure how metal monsters would react towards this particr element, but it seems like it is working." Jin thought to himself and started to press on the attack. Soon, the Necromechanoid did not know what to expect. The light and dark energy flowing out wereplemented with base elements as well. Sometimes the dark energy felt freezing cold, at times it felt blunt as if a huge rock sted into its armour. As for the light energy, fire and lightning emerged out of it which made the Necromechanoid not take in the effects of the alternating elements.

    But the more the fight dragged on, the more he realised that the light and dark elements did not alternate consistently, there may be times it could be dual darkness shes and at times it could be triple light elemental attacks. It was to the point, he did not bother thinking despite being a Necromechanoid capable of processing high levels ofputation.

    Mainly because he had decided to fight Jin alone and send out hispanions other than the undead broken mechanoids they had been handling. Because of thendscape, the boss summoned a huge mechanical titan whose size was capable of covering the sight of several mountains away.

    When Jin saw it, the only reaction was oh shit mainly due to the way the current scenario was. "Don''t forget about me, Sir Necromechanoid." Yinn sounded out and her eyes turned green once more and Jin got into a familiar scene.

    The scene where he was on a rocking ship with Lynn as well as the heavy thunderstorm that apanies it. This forced the gigantic titan to lose his footing and fall deep into the waters. For its size and weight, it caused the ship to be shoved by a huge wave from the knockback that the titan had when it sunk.

    "Clever, little girl. But that was not what I have." Sir Necromechanoid said as the spear hit the ship and mechanical tentacles emerged out of the sea, and grabbed the entire ship.

    Now Jin understood why Old mmet asked Yinn to follow him. This was mainly for the fights so that it could exhaust the Necromechanoid powers into summoning various monsters ording to the situation.

    "Neither am I." Yinn shone her eyes once more and the reality changed making the ship to be diving down from the skies the mechanical squid that was trying to destroy the boat was hanging for its life until it hit the titan that was at the bottom of this particr reality.

    The boat eventually crashed though the three main participants survived the attack in their own ways. Jin was able to cast hover fast enough to grab Yinn while the Sir Necromechanoid used other undead Mechanoids topensate for its fall.

    The titan was partially damaged by the crushing mechanical huge squid but it was still capable of moving its arms and it attempted to tower it over Jin and Yinn until thetter used her powers once more causing not the scene to change but clouds to form right above the hand and shot it down with lightning. The hand eventually explodes because of Sir Necromechanoid''s trait and that made Jin realised something.

    Their minions explode after contact with electricity.

 Chapter 1750 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 18

    <h4>Chapter 1750 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 18</h4>

    They might be able to take a hit or two but they would definitely explode when with sufficient contact with electricity. Perhaps this was to make sure that the minions were not wasted against their opponents and there was thisst ''death stand'' if they were unable to perform their job.

    It was no wonder Sir Necromechanoid did say that the powers that Jin used were a double edge sword mainly because it could be beneficial to him or to the Necromechanoid, likewise, disrupting the both of them as well.

    When Jin took a quick peek at Yinn, she was not in the best of conditions. She might be putting out all these fabulous changes to the reality of those who were in it, but her processing had not reached a point where she could optimise all these modules properly and thus this took quite a lot of power from her.

    Not to mention, Necromechanoid''s mechanoids were not giving up. They continued to grow and climb out of nowhere just so that they could mess with the duo. It was rather evident that Necromechanoid''s power core was of a calibre that could not be measured with normal means since there would be no way Click would manage to summon all of this and not get a power trip too.

    Still, too much thinking was involved and Jin had decided to make things simple. "Byakko, looks like this is your fight." Jin said as he summoned out the ''fake'' System Rider Belt from Genbu''s powers.

    "Finally! I felt bored that you crudely used my powers."? Byakko said as he roared in the ethereal realm of Jin''s subconsciousness when Jin quickly retreated so that he could have time to equip the belt. "System Rider Activate! Byakko, let''s go!" Jin cried out and a white tiger spirit emerged from his back.

    But unlike Genbu''s spirit who slowly fused with Jin''s System Rider Form, Byakko was more adventurous, attacking each and every mechanoid within his radius, damaging them and causing several to explode before he fused with Jin''s System Rider.

    And not just that, Jin felt an overwhelming surge of energy within him which he decided to discharge by attacking the Titan that he was standing on. Using the swords as a conduit that he believed should be able to withstand the enormous charge, Jin stabbed the huge ass titan at its naval, releasing a phenomenal burst of lightning that echoed overkilled.

    Yinn noticed what was happening and immediately switched the scene from where they were to the depths of the sea. Forcing the explosion that the titan gives off to be less impactful against Yin and Jin rather than the rest of the Mechanoids around them. Only when they were flying, Yinn then used her power once more no matter how tired she was back to the arena. She used the spiney legs to ground her from the continuous knockback that she experienced as well as catching Jin from flying way too far.

    The Titan was destroyed but the Squid still lives and it reactively began to protect the Necromechanoid especially since the Titan had been destroyed.

    "Wooohoo! That''s a damn good start! Do you like it, Jin? I feel like I did a wonderful job. Now I am pumped!" Byakko was ted, excited, and definitely delighted. Jin smiled at his Cardinalpanion that was residing within his body instead of mind but before they proceeded to a more intense fight, Jin wanted to confirm something and hoped that his enemy would entertain.

    "That''s one core down I assumed?" Jin asked and Sir Necromechanoid was stunned for a moment beforeughing.

    "What gave it away?"

    "You did say that it''s in your limbs and head, not the chest. Your right leg has not working since the death of the Titan and I have not been able to touch against it. Then your left hand seems partially damaged as well and the mechanical squid is in the same condition as your left hand." Jin replied. \

    "You also said not to bother with the chest area mainly because those dummy powercores you had in there are not for yourself, but to create those broken mechanoids, your minions. And despite having circuits going through it, if I were to bash your chest away all you lose is a few dozens maybe hundreds of broken mechanoids. It does not hurt your existing powers."

    "Fairly astute observation and you are absolutely right for most parts. The only wrong you got is that the chest really doesn''t have anything that''s of use. It''s an empty husk in me." Necromechanoid passed his spear to the Squid and he proceeded to tear open his chest but Jin and Yinn took their arms up in case of any surprise attack.

    However, as the monster boss ripped out his chest piece, they found that he was telling the truth. There was nothing in there. Not even one single circuitry could be seen. It was as if he was empty on the inside. It was only until Jin using his inverse eyes to inspect, thinking there might be a trick or he let out some sort of spirit, that the cultivator noticed slightly faded blood marks on the back of the chest.

    "Tillбн death do usбнpart?" Jin asked and somehow both Yinn and Jin somehow got the riddle, and the former instantly used her reality bending powers once more. This time they were transported into a corridor but this corridor forced both participants to continuously move each other closer until the Neechanoid and Jin was facing each other within less than a metre.

    Even the Mechanoid Squid was merely floating beside Necromechanoid and it was not moving to retaliate against Jin or Yinn.

    "You have done what you could," Jin said as he raised his hand and tapped it on Necromechanoid. "That person who you were with would be proud of what you had gone through. Rest easy, you done enough." And at that moment, the Necromechanoid, the empty mechanical skull seemed to put a smile as well as a tear from his empty eye sockets.

    And soon thereafter, he disappeared like the wind.

 Chapter 1751 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 19

    <h4>Chapter 1751 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 19</h4>

    The Masked Announcer came through from the corridor from behind them and pped slowly. This time, his p was not one of annoyance, nor tion but from admiration.

    "To think you could solve his trouble with just one sentence."

    "He was looking for a way out all this time. And the people who fought him did not understand that what he wanted was just someone to rte to his problems. They only went with brute force and so he responded in kind." Jin said as he stayed in his System Rider form.

    "Why would you conclude that way? The rest would not have done the same as you." The Masked Announcer asked.

    "Not sure. Maybe, all they had for him was fear. I had admiration for him." Jin said and Masked Announcer pped once more, this time it was louder. "Bravo. Bravo! This particr match exceeded my expectations after what you did previously disappointed me! I am willing to recognise that you have seeded in this particr round! The Treasure is now yours!"

    With that, the masked announcer disappeared and Byakko was disappointed. "I was honestly expecting a fight and now, I had none?!"

    "Maybe Byakko, I should just bring you out everywhere I go, then the fights would be concluded before they started. I like this." Jin smiled and Byakko got annoyed and returned to the crevices of Jin''s subconsciousness as he deactivated his System Rider. In the meantime, he quickly checked on Yinn who was panting heavily.

    The strain of the new upgrades was eating on her so much that she was unable to stand. The System''s analysis quickly showed that she was already low on power charge thus Jin immediately pulled her connection plug and started to use his Maqi which eventually turned into electricity to enable her to regain her strength. Of course, the System was there to tell Jin how much output was to be given otherwise, it would end up shocking Yinn instead.

    It was a painful process for Jin since he had to finely regte the power into an alternating current and it took time for the Mechanoid Porters toe in with a portable battery charge. It was only when she stabilised, Jin let go and sat there for a moment.

    "I honestly thought that we should shoot that part of armour."

    "I think if you do that, you will cause the boss to explode his entire arsenal of mechanoids out. He was revealing his most exposed secret to everyone, and people thought otherwise. They would think like you, thinking that hitting that portion, will kill him immediately. Instead, if you destroy that, he woulde after you with everything he got."

    "That is correct." The Masked Announcer came by.

    "I thought you disappeared," Jin said and he smiled.

    "Neechanoid is a hero that had fallen from grace. He gave too much for the society, for hismander, and ultimately for his King and Queen. But what he got in the end? Damnation for eternity. They killed his wife, the one and only thing he treasured the most and you know for what?"

    The rest kept quiet and waited for the Masked Announcer to finish.

    "Just for not showing up at the Royal''s party and to aid a sick man in bed which the couple knew. People spied on her and snitched that she was cheating on him when obviously, she was just passing out medicine to him and stayed to chat a little."

    "The Royals heard it and what did they do to her? Jailed her for betraying Necromechanoid. He who had run countless dungeons, cleared monsters, and earn resources beyond anyone could have ever done. Changed his body to be a partial mechanoid andter gained dungeon artefacts that subsequently turned him into a Mechamancer. All for the sake of the country."

    "But a request to get his wife out of jail was denied. In return, the Queen asked him to marry her daughter instead."

    "It''s all a ployбнand he refused."

    "Off to the gallows for the betraying wife!" The Masked announcer said. "He cried, he stood there and subsequently realised that he had the power to stop all of this even as the audience was booing at his wife. As she was about to be hung, he rescued her, and he was named traitor. They ran, ran away as much as they could but to what end?"

    "Eventually, his wife got tired of running mainly because she found out she too had be sick. Of a disease that was immortal and could not be cured. Yet, he did not know."

    "Thinking it was his wife''s request for nostalgia, they returned to the ce where they first met after running so long. The dungeon. This very own Three Winged Angel Dungeon! And what she did was she killed herself when he was not looking, making it as if the monsters got to her."

    "She never wanted to let him know she was dying from a disease and wanted him to let go. Let go of the vow he took. Till Death do us part. Little did she know that he agonised for her so much, that he became the monster that guards thisnd."

    "And you gave him peace. Words of affirmation that he did enough." The masked announcer said and he disappeared again.

    "One more reason to kill the royals. They seem rather a bastardy for a couple who ran the Empire for so long."

    "That''s how they maintain their power and status. Any kind soul would have already been killed by now with all those wanting to go up to the top." Yinn replied.

    "Are you sure there are no good leaders?"

    "You are okay, I think? And you have the strength to back it up." Yinn suggested and heughed. "Even I believe Archduke Dyke has his secrets but he still seems better than the Royals for now. Who knows what would happen it he actually became King and there were many of those ''sponsors'' asking for favours again? Eventually, it''s those people at the back who installed these puppets."

    "Well, Archduke Dyke is my puppet, so he has to obey me rather than them." Jinughed as they returned with the porters back to Old mmet.

 Chapter 1752 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 20

    <h4>Chapter 1752 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 20</h4>

    "I honestly thought that you were going toe back empty handed. Who is it this time around?" Old mmet was once again informed of Jin and Yinn''s arrival back to Mount Sunn''s workshop.

    "The Necromechanoid," Jin said and Old mmet nodded slowly.

    "Just him? No others?"

    "He did summon a titan and a squid," Yinn replied and Old mmet''s memories shed, the numerous deaths that urred to his teammates and the loss of even more customised Mechanoids.

    "What about the Eagle, Armadillo, and the Centipede?"

    "We did not encounter any of those three. Erm, it''s a peaceful resolution for Neechanoid." Jin eventually told what had happened and Old mmet remembered the scene. Where the Necromechanoid opened his chest to show the emptiness within it. People thought it was a show of weakness and attacked it immediately, causing all those monstrous mechanoids that they had once fought in the previous floors to reemerge again.

    But since they knew the weakness of those undead monster Mechanoids, they were able to win the fight but even more losses to behold. Old mmet had to create new weapons and tricks for his guildmates before they managed to kill everything andter reached Neechanoid. And he was merely there in his armour sitting, waiting to be killed.

    It was satisfaction for the winner but the battle was won with too many losses. Now when he heard Jin''s story, he never knew that there was a way to win this battle so peacefully. It was like a p to his face and hisrades who put in so much effort and blood to get the victory they wanted. And yet, Master Mecha Smith did not say a single word out when Jin finished his story.

    All he could do was to sigh.

    Sigh and the possibilities his guild mates could have taken if they were not so reckless.

    "Can I see the rewards?" Old mmet asked and he opened the chest only to reveal five pieces of an ancient power core ced neatly in it and a letter stating to the Mechamancer who would be receiving those power cores.

    "Click might be a child when ites to her attitude but she will understand the responsibilities of having these five cores in her. I will make sure that she reads the letter." Old mmet said as he got up from inspecting the five cores.

    "Thest boss for Page''s upgrade. I can only say that it''s best you go alone. Do not bring any Mechanoids with you, even Lynn. Heh, maybe Nie might be a better help against thest bosspared to any of the Mechanoids you could bring."

    "Something to do with Page''s ability to control certain Mechanoids?"

    "Yes. So, there might be a chance that you have to show your trump card."

    "Don''t worry. I have a better trump card to y if no Mechanoids were allowed." Jin said as he thanked Old mmet before asking Porter to bring him to thest floor. After all, it was quite a distance he had to walk.

    "Master, don''t you want Jin to bring at least a few basic Mechanoids with him? That way it should lessen his burdens a little bit." Nie asked and Old mmet shook his head. "Get me my hammer and rifle. There is an old score I have yet to settle. With Jin''s help, there is a chance that I might get to soothe the years of guilt that had burdened me."

    "Then what about those upgrades that you promised Jin?" Nie asked and the old Mechasmithughed.

    "Diaz''s upgrade might be a little tough but I had already done the foundation work. You can continue on it after I leave. Next, you should work on Click''s. The fixing of those power cores should be the same concept as how I created Lynn''s mechanoid body. Follow that and you should find your answer. Otherwise, you can wait for the rest." Old mmet said and hurried his apprentice to get his hammer and rifle.

    Jin continued his journey down without a hitch until he reached the fourth floor where he saw that the Masked Announcer was waiting patiently for him to arrive. "Oh? I thought I would only see you when I arrived at the fifth and final floor."

    "Hmm, yeah. But it looks like you are not the only challenger who would be going for the fifth floor. So, might as well wait for him toe. Once the both of you have arrived, I will teleport you guys to the fifth so you don''t have to walk."

    "Eh? Is Old mmet really asking Nie to follow me?" Jin thought to himself and the Masked Announcer started to speak.

    "Let me tell you a short story while we wait for thest challenger. Do you know that there was a guild that was extremely famous to not just the people of the Empire but to the rest of the other nations as well?"

    "No, I don''t."

    "Then I guess, the Challenger did not tell you about his exact past. And the true reason why he had been exiled by the entirety of the Empire."

    "Wait, the challenger is Gramps mmet?" Jin asked and the Masked Announcer nodded and gave a thumbs up to Jin.

    "He was part of a guild that had decided to challenge the Three Winged Angel Dungeon. In fact, his guild was so strong that they managed to reach the 95th floor where the final mini boss before they were able to reach the king. If they were able to defeat thatst boss, thest few floors before the 100th floor would be a breeze to them."

    "But they did not. The 95th Level Boss was something that they had not expected. They had incurred losses so badly from that particr boss that the guild had to permanently shut down. Because the only remaining survivors were him and his best friend."

    "However, his best friend died before he could receive any medical attention. It is one of the simplest and mostmon stories out there, which is why I never bother telling him." Old mmet said as he came into sight.

    "But you did not tell him that mmet had decided to return to the dungeon boss and asked for his help instead. That is what made things even more interesting, isn''t it?" The Masked Announcer slowly removed his mask and revealed a face partially covered with void.

    "That was the only way you can live, Gerrad."

 Chapter 1753 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 21

    <h4>Chapter 1753 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 21</h4>

    "I would not deny that but I rather die a warrior''s death than live a miserable life seeing adventurers die and die and die again."

    "Not this one." Old mmet said as he pointed at Jin.

    "No, not this one yet," Gerrad said as he took out a sword and pointed at Old mmet. "If you are attacking him, you have to go through me."

    "You are one mysterious person. Jin. All those powers that I had seen you use, its extremely abnormal to the point that the Dungeon King wished to skip the next fight and talk to you instead."

    "Aren''t I talking to him, right now?" Jin asked and it was as if Gerrad had been hit a nerve.

    "What?" Old mmet raised his battle hammer instinctively as if to protect himself.

    "The boss is right here all this while, watching me fight. I doubt that he is Gerrad or whoever your friend was."

    "How did you conclude that? What makes you think that I am the one?"

    "My Guts is telling me that. So, we can have a normal chat right here, tell my friend what really happened to his best pal, and talk this out like how I did it with Necromechanoid, or let us move forward and we fight yourst mini boss before meeting you officially. I will take this as a sneak peek on what to expect for theter part of the day."

    "Jin, you are hrious. I never expect the almighty to send a person this funny to me at this point in time."

    "I take that as apliment? Usually, people say that my jokes areme." Jin shrugged and ''Gerrad''ughed once more before changing his face and body to fit the Three Winged Angel motif. But unlike the statute of a human with three wings at his back, all the Winged Angel had was merely a head with the masked face once more and three wings rotating around it like a never ending fidget spinner.

    "mmet. Your friend is still alive in the next and final stage. He had slept enough that if I can give him back to you, Gerrad would seriously have to call you Old mmet as well." The Three Winged Angel said.

    "Are you suggesting that we fight her?" Old mmet asked and the boss of the dungeon nodded his head. "Defeat her and talk to me. Do not worry, I won''t request a fight unless I demand for it. This world had already seen enough bloodshed and I had taken enough from this world." And without another word, he had disappeared, teleporting Old mmet and Jin into thest arena which it was nothing but a dead sandy wastnd.

    There lies a house a beautifully maintained house with ady at the front of it, sipping tea and listening to some old music which the both of them could not recognise. "Shit, the vibes from her seem pure evil. Like I thought Necromechanoid would have an evil vibe judging from his appearance but no, I can feel the kindness and sadness from him. This person, she is the manifest of darkness." Jinmented.

    "What are you going to do about that then?" Thedy said as she put her teacup down.

    "To be honest, nothing. All I can do is defend myself until I see your pattern. Because there is no way you are staying in that human form and lying defeated once we beat the shit out of you." Jin said as he borrowed Genbu''s powers once more and activated the System Rider. There were no possession as of now and Jin''s Astral Panda Form manifested on the System Rider.

    "I am fine with that but would the person behind you be okay? I mean do I have his friend as hostage." Thedy said as she rang a bell and a butler came out asking what other services does herdy needed.

    "It seems like I am being disturbed by two guests and they think that they can kill me."

    "I WILL HANDLE YOU. GERRAD." Old mmet shouted so loud, it felt like thunder.

    "Gramps my ears!" Jin said as he covered them even though he had forgotten he had a helmet on.

    "My Lady, it seems like that old fellow requested a personal duel with me. I will try to deal with him as soon as possible but the other suit up gentlemen would not be kind enough to wait."

    "It''s fine. I handle that boy in metal. Then perhaps, you can reward me with a te of human chop?"

    "Good materials are hard toe by, I will take note of that request," Gerrad said as he bowed and walked away.

    "Gramps, you sure you will be fine?" Jin asked and Old mmet smirked.

    "You have that suit of yours, and you think I did not bring mine?" Old mmet said as a portal emerged from behind him with a series of Mechanoid Porters appearing and dropping four containers behind Old mmet.

    "Seriously?" Jin spoke to himself as the Mechanoid Porter opened the first container and the item popped out, equipping Old mmet. It was like an enhanced Mechanoid Armour but this time around, Old mmet was able to use it.

    "Old man, size does not matter. No matter how big you get, you will not be able to defeat me."? Gerrad said.

    "I know old friend. But all I have to do is to buy enough time for that kiddo there to finish her."

    "That would not happen," Gerrad said as he picked unsheathed his sword.

    "Then how about we make a pact? You are not able to interrupt their fight unless you finish me."

    "Don''t you dare make a death wish, Gramps. You still owe me lots." Jin said as he already started to exude Maqi into the big ass mechanical armour that Old mmet was being equipped with. It''s either the bossdy did not see it or did not care.

    To her, everything they do is futile.

 Chapter 1754 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 22

    <h4>Chapter 1754 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 22</h4>

    "I heard about youбн Jin, was it?" The Lady said as she stood up to explicitly show the long ck and red Victorian dress she was wearing.

    "I do not think I could turn any heads to me. I am just amander of a small mechanoid squad" Jin tried to drag the conversation as long as he could so that he was able to push even more Maqi into Old mmet''s enhanced Mechanoid Armour.

    "I think you should stop helping your friend." Suddenly the Lady disappeared and emerged right behind him, forcing Jin to move away and stop transferring Maqi into the Enhanced Mechanoid Armour.

    "I think you should at least tell your name. You knew mine, but I do not know yours." Jin said as the Lady used her hand to send a piercing attack through. It missed but the after effects were tremendously obvious.? There was a loud screeching noise that could have break Jin''s eardrums if not for the helmet he was wearing and even if she did miss, parts of his shoulder armour had already been broken from the attack.

    "Number Four," The Lady said and she tried to do the same thing again and this time it was a karate chop. Yet because Jin already her strength from the previous attack, immediately activated Genbu into his belt and not because he needed his absolute defence. In fact, he felt that absolute defence would not be helping the situation at all.

    But what he wanted was Yamata no Orochi. The Snake that was sleeping within Genbu''s shell. Even as Genbu''s appearance emerged, there was actually a trigger on the System Belt that enabled Jin to change form once again to get Yamata no Orochi''s form as Jin''s main. But even with the dodge from the karate chop which broke the sandy wastnd ground, Number Four was able to change her angle and used her leg to attack.

    Thus, Jin had no choice but to use Genbu''s form to block her attack. And even with the absolute defence that Genbu boasted, the strike from her heel was able to crack Genbu''s shell and the impact forced Jin to spit blood within his helmet as he knew that he was suffering from internal organ bleeding just by stopping one attack.

    "You sure that is your name? What about Numbers one to three?" Jin tried to act cocky and Number Four took the chance to perform a twirling kick. Only this time, Jin managed to buy enough time for her to be irritated and change form into Yamata no Orochi''s suit. With this, he was able to use its form to slide away from her melee attacks, missing the target while striking her hard with a one inch punch.

    "What theбн" That one inch punch was not as effective as he thought but he knew that the hit went through. "What kind of stats do you even have?!" Now Jin understood why she was considered to be thest mini boss.

    "Enough to kill you over and over again. Entertain me more." Number Four said as she sent out multiple punches and chops towards Jin which he managed to dodge and parry with the help of Yamata no Orochi''s snake style. However, even as he block the attacks and divert the energy away, he could feel that his hand was slit by her attacks and the damage he did not manage to divert in time was umting in his hands.

    So, he had no choice but not to y her game and used Maqi as well, sending out an icy st of energy towards her in order to push her away, if not at least freeze her a little so that her moment wouldg and he could withdraw to take a breath.

    But because he was in snake form, the ice powers had been diminished quite a fair bit. "Here I thought she had some kind of possessing Mechanoids power but no. The Mechanoids would be useless against her. Maybe Lynn would be able to fend the first few attacks but after that, all the Mechanoids would not be able to match her speed and strength." He thought to himself as he side eyed to check on Old mmet and he was somewhat fighting evenly against his old friend Gerrad.

    "You still have the cheek to check on your friend??" Number Four said as she sent a punch away from Jin from a distance but it was a monstrous air punch that travelled through hitting and decimating everything away from it, causing a valley to break out in that particr direction.

    Jin was undoubtedly being caught by it and he had to change form to ensure that Genbu''s defences would be working or else he would be shredded into pieces. "That kind of strength in this dungeon, the difficulty level spiked up way too much! Boy! Your System Rider would not be able to hold against such powers!" Genbu said and Jin knew that was extremely true.

    "I only know of one person who could rise up to such a challenge," Jin said as he reeled in from the attack.

    "My Betor, Milk."

    "System wished to report that Milk is unavable for transfer. She is currently being hired to investigate and find your physical body along with Peppers."

    "What!" Jin said and his mind was in a nk for a while. "How could you not tell me about this!" Jin stayed within the kick up of dust and sand, hoping that he could sort this out but Number Four knew that he was alive and already dived in with another kick that smashed the ce, causing debris and sand to fall in.

    Jin had no choice but to back out and not fight fair anymore. He took out his demigorgon swords and switched back to Yamata no Orochi, now hoping that his swords could do the trick and withstand her attacks.

    But just as he thought he would have an edge against her, she lifted up her Victorian dress and revealed two in looking swords. "Oh fuck, you got to be kidding me," Jin said as he took his chances and move forth.

 Chapter 1755 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 23

    <h4>Chapter 1755 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 23</h4>

    "Moment of truth!" Jin shouted as he mmed his swords into Number Four''s and the bacsh from the impact was incredible.

    "Hmmph. You and your weapon can withstand me, but for how long?" The swords continued their dance and if not for Yamata no Orochi''s speed and its snake style, Jin would not be able to fight on par with Number Four. Even with the use of Maqi, the difference it made was minimal.

    Not to mention, with each hit, the System''s rider armour was getting chipped off and there was nothing that could be done to repair it since it was not the original Living Metal that Jin used in his own world. In addition to that, the internal damage that Jin received started to take its toll when his adrenaline was over.

    The pain worms had begun to heal its way through it and Jin had to ignore the pain to continue swinging his arms and deflecting every hit that came his way. Do not even think about offence since all Jin could think was his ability to defend and there was no time to even care for Old mmet.

    Speaking of Old mmet, he was also having an even match with Gerrad. As much as he felt awful for betraying his friend''s wishes and allowing him to live, he finally decided to correct that mistake and with his life if there was a need to.

    The Enhanced Mechanoid Armour that he wore had increased his size and fighting power but even bullet he shot out, Gerrad was able to deflect or cut them down. Even theser sword that he had prepared was not able to cut through the sword that Gerrad was using. Yet for some reason, his power output had been consistently full for the past few minutes, making mmet think that his power meter was spoil or something but it was precisely because of this, mmet was holding it on longer than expected in this first Enhanced Mechanoid Armour which he thought would have exploded by now.

    "Must be Jin''s doingбн" Old mmet thought as he heard the loud shes behind him knowing that Jin was performing his best to avoid being killed.

    "I had enough of ying. Let''s end this right now." Number Four said as she kicked him away when he got the chance and suddenly her des shone red in a matter of seconds.

    "You think I am going to go down just like that?! ZERU!" Jin shouted, hoping that at the very least his master would answer and not be like Milk who had been busy upying herself in the celestial ne to find his ''corpse''.

    "A form change would not do you any different" Number Four said as she took a deep breath in and charged through at the speed of sound.

    "The fact that you did not move at the speed of light made you an inferior sworddy," The demigorgon de changed and formed into a katana and it was holding onto the red lit des that Number Four held. That was when the enemy felt that Jin had suddenly changed into another person and she moved backward to analyse.

    "You are just in time, Master!" Jin said as heid back in his sub sub consciousness.

    "This sword that you haveбн it''s awfully light. Even lighter than Bam and Boo. Could beparable with my old de too." Zeru said as he saw the demigorgon eye moving up and down the Katana de as if it was happy to be of use. "In any case, the System was preparing me toe in a few minutes ago plus I got the data on her. She is no doubt a formidable foe but I believe even with my reduced state, I should be able to handle her."

    The System Rider turned a little more ronin style with a ck hakama (shirt) with the living metal armour within the hakama and even had a cloth mantle covering it. Number Four hissed at Zeru but thetter ignored her as he went into his iai stance waiting for her toe near himбн she took the bait, thinking that she was still the superior one.

    But the more she charged into him, the more she felt that she might be wrong. It was as if the predator had turned into the prey once more. However, Number Four was still confident enough to move in to show her strength.

    "White Lotus Blossom," Zeru said as his speed exceeded hers in a split second that she never knew what came through, causing her to lose her sword arm in less than a blink of an eye. As the blood spewed around the wastnd and her de was on the floor along with her arm, she looked at him with vengeance.

    As soon as she screamed, the arm grew back again, and below her dress came out another de for her to hold which Zeru contemted for a moment. "Looks like she needs to lose more than a pair of arms." He held the demigorgon straight to her face and walked towards her.

    Number Four was shocked and felt that this was still not the end. If she could see that technique one more time, she might be able to escape бнit.

    Blood subsequently spews from her neck as Zeru puts his de back into the scabbard and Number Four quickly tries to stop herself from choking on her own blood.

    "You are not going to get away from this." Number Four mumbled as she tried to breathe normally but the more she moved, the more cuts she had and soon the whole floor had been painted red. It was then, she did not understand what was happening exactly.

    Why was she not regenerating and she kept getting more cuts around her when the person in front of her had already ced his de within the scabbard? "Transdimension shes.." Zeru whispered as he walked away to aid Old mmet and Number Four still continued toprehend what had happened.

    The more she struggled, the cuts became deeper and soon she decided not to move and die due to the ever going blood loss. Regardless of her regeneration, she eventually died out causing Gerrad to be the only one left.

    "If you finished your sentence, she might have gotten out of it," Jin said and Zeruughed.

    "That''s why I did not. If she understood my technique, I would be in deep trouble since your current cultivation strength and power do not withstand my other techniques. And this is already the water downed version. In any case, I have to leave. It looks like your body cannot take it anymore. But as a reunion gift, I will just do this one sh again."

    Zeru said as he returned to his iai stance and this time he focused on Gerrad. "White Lotus Blossom- Extended." A technique that should have just been Point A to Point B, it became Point A to Point Z. Gerrad did not see iting and his sword arm broke just as how Number Four lost hers.

    It was then Zeru left, allowing Jin and Old mmet to finish the job.

 Chapter 1756 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 24

    <h4>Chapter 1756 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 24</h4>

    When Zeru left the System Rider, so did the borrowed powers of Genbu leaving Jin. It immediately caused all the strain that Zeru had caused to Jin and so was the umted toll of the damage that his body had taken when Genbu''s System Rider powers dissipated.

    Jin literally fell to the ground unable to move and he too was in the same position as Number Four, spewing blood. The only difference was that the healing pain worms inside him were making it worse for him despite them healing him to the best of their abilities.

    Old mmet on the other hand was able to use the opportunity that Zeru gave to send theser sword that was on the Mechanoid Armour and stabbed it through Gerrad. His friend tried to get out of it but Old mmet did not give any quarters as he put the huge rifle''s barrel at Gerrad''s head and pressed the trigger.

    "Thank you and sorry." Gerrad suddenly said as he smiled through the broken void face that he had. Old mmet could retract that trigger nor could he change the direction of the rifle barrel in time. The shot went through, bursting Gerrad''s head into a squeezed cherry.

    Master Mecha Smith stopped and tear involuntarily but controlled his emotions a little before getting out of the Mechanoid Armour and checking on Jin. The Masked Announcer came down and saw the shitshow that had happened. He snapped his fingers and the treasure box was right beside them.

    "Come back when you have healed. I will talk to all of you once you are fit and clear of mind." The Three Winged Angel said and opened a portal that did not need them to walk all the back. The Mechanoid Porters who were hiding at one corner of this sand wastnd started to pick up the unused containers and followed Old mmet who had carried Jin with him back through the portal. (Yes, the porters took the treasure box too.)

    But as Old mmet returned to the dungeon entrance with Jin, thetter was still in so much pain, there was no way he could even walk properly, and touching him would cause his internal wounds to fester even more.

    "What happened?" Lynn asked as she saw Jin in such a state.

    "No idea, he turned to this weird ck swordsman who had strikes like illusory flower petalsing out and suddenly Jin became like this when he got off from that Armoured Rider act he does." Old mmet said and Lynn understood what the Mecha Smith was saying.

    "It''s okay, I can handle him. Please rest Master mmet. Your eyes are red." Lynn said as she carried Jin even though he was so much in pain, he could not sound it out.

    "System, how bad are his injuries?" Lynn asked as she took out his shirt and checked that his wounds were blistering on the surface despite the worms'' desperate attempt to fix them.

    "Zeru used a trans dimension sword technique which should not be used unless the User is of a higher grade. With his current grade, he could have died but Zeru knew that Jin would survive because of the internal healing that he had."

    "What is this trans dimension sword technique?"

    "It is moving at a speed of light that it looked as if the sword was able to transcend into another reality. If it was merely a trans dimension sh, the User''s body would not be in such a state. The problem is that Zeru utilised a series of shes to make it look as if it created an invisible web of des that would continuously cut the enemy if they did not get out of it because the sh would always be there until the energy residual dissipates."

    "So, in order to do that to kill the enemy in the fastest possible way, it was at the expense of the User''s health. Otherwise, Betor Zeru would not have any other techniques avable to defeat the boss at such a boss strength that could only be defeated if Jin was at least Grade 10-12."

    "I бнcan exin." Jin wanted to give his exnation but all he could do was wrangle in pain. "Just give me some time."

    "How much time does he need to heal?"

    "The System believed that it would take at least two days for the muscles that had been brokenpletely to be healed."

    "This Jinбн always worries people." Lynn took a deep breath and slowly transferred her generated Maqi into him, hoping to soothe the pain a little more. But in actual fact, the Maqi that seeped into the muscles agitated the worms to work even harder, causing Jin to scream in agony. Lynn had no choice but to stop and ask the System if there was anything that could be done.

    "No, it''s best to leave Jin alone and let him deal with the pain. Only when the pain withers down, the muscles had joined, inserting Maqi would be a better solution."

    "Lynn, don''t worry. This is normal for me. It''s the price to pay for utilising such a disy of strength." Jin huffed and puffed to speak the sentences in full before he continued to be in pain.

    "Why do you always do this to yourself? Is this really worth it?"

    "As long as I am not dead, it''s fine. Besides. This gains us an audience with the Three Winged Angel. Also, see to Gramps. He just killed his arrgghh best friend on the battlefield." Jin said and told Lynn to worry about Old mmet instead.

    "The System will exin more." Lynn eventually listened to the System''s story and understood what was going on. With Jin''s permission, she left and checked on Old mmet who was actually right outside the room where Jin was resting.

    "The System told you all about it?" Old mmet said and Lynn nodded her head, opened her arms, and told the Master Mechasmith toe forward. She gave him a gentle hug and it allowed him to finally shed the tears that he was unable to do so just now. The rest of the Mechanoids and Nie saw from a distance what was happening and decided to give Old mmet some space for him to cry in private with Lynn consoling him.

    It was a victory but it was not a pleasant one.

 Chapter 1757 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 25

    <h4>Chapter 1757 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 25</h4>

    Not long after, Old mmet regained hisposure and returned to the workshop to finish up all the upgrades while Jin stayed in the resting bay while Lynn continued to stay beside him. However, Jin did not wish for her to waste her time with him and asked her to help Old mmet and Nie instead which she subsequentlyplied.

    Jin on the other hand continued to ache through the entire two nights as the worms within him seemed to be eating not just his body physically but his sanity as well. All he could do was to struggle and the System would only put up a status screen for him to see so that he had some hope whenever he saw that the percentages of certain parts of his body rise.

    "I did not think it would be this bad," Jinined on the bed as he sweat so much that the entire bed was drenched to the point he asked if he could have a new bed lining when he was able to at least sit up.

    "The Trans dimensions sh breaks your bodyposure to the point of almost no return. It is either that or you would be utterly defeated. The System calcted a near zero percent chance for you to win if used normal techniques. Even with the use of Dungeon Instance, most of your monsters would not be a match to it, wasting the precious resources that we had umted. Sending Pandarens as your next alternatives might increase the chance by a small margin as they could be your decoy, however, it was apparent that she was not just skilled with fists and swords. There may be a chance she was an all rounder which could not be defeated easily."

    "Tell me about that. The fact that she had this much strength made sense that she was the final mini boss to meet the Three Winged Angel." Jin said as he tried to stand up again and slowly walked to the toilet even though each step he took was in much utter agony, he would rather pee through his pants.

    And that is assuming peeing would be a smooth process as well since Jin''s entire bodyposition had been so broken that waste merely flowed out for the past day, he felt shameful when the Mechanoids assisted in changing the sheets for him. The System guaranteed that he was able to at least pee properly as one of his kidneys had been repaired and he is his business as per usual.

    The only difference was that he was taking as long or maybe even longer than an old man who had severe urinary problems and for once, he understood why patience was needed to take care of such sick people.

    "You know for a virtual simtion, it felt awfully real that I had to experience all of this. Doesn''t Syn have some pain reducing scale for its yers?"

    "Then those people who are staying here would definitely think that this is fake. They all had been conditioned to know that this is the real world and they had to work, crawl, and climb up to the top." Syn came in to talk.

    "You there. I could not imagine the pain and suffering you brought on to me for pushing me to do the Three Winged Angel Dungeon."

    "User, for once, you get to experience how your cultivators and customers feel going through a high level difficulty dungeon." The System stated and Jin rolled his eyes. "Even as a dungeon supplier, it''s best that the User undergoes a few dungeons to learn from the rest how to do it. And considering this is from another world, I believe its dungeon creation is not as bad as the top 50s in your world."

    "That''s rating him rather low."

    "The Top 50s catered to the high ranking cultivators and magicians. Their monsters are of a nature that could not be defeated easily."

    "Wait, did you say I''m like in the hundreds of thousands in the ranking? How could the top 50бн" Jin was slightly confused as he was still dealing with the pain and could not think well.

    "Your ranking is within the entire multiverse. They might not be called Dungeon Suppliers but they held dungeons and gained gold from it and thus you are part of that category as well. "

    "Ew, so I am fighting against dungeon lords and kings like Three Winged Angel?"

    "In fact, the System had found that the Three Winged Angel is a Dungeon King that is in the 80,000s ce."

    "Wait, I am still within the 100,000s ce? What the fuck?"

    "Yes, in terms of dungeon creation and poprity. Even if you defeat the Three Winged Angel, it would not mean that your Dungeon Supplier ranking will surpass the Three Winged Angel''s."

    "This is soplicated," Jin said as he knew that the System was talking to get his mind away from the pain. "Then what had I been doing all this while? I thought creating the tree mall etc is to get the ranking down even further."

    "It will. From what the System could see, the creation of the Virtual Reality stores all over the province which Qiu Yue and Ke Loong had been nning, your ranking will increase to probably the 90, 000s."

    "Because what you need is poprity? And people using the dungeons?"

    "You need to create your own dungeons in various ces. The Goblin Kingdom was one of the sessful cases but recently the new adventurer''s town had slowly be a trade hub rather than a ce for adventurers to hunt. Surely, people and demihumans still go in together to hunt but it hade to the point that trading took over the town''s main purpose. Thus, your ranking dropped because fewer people used that particr dungeon."

    "Hahaбн welp. Guess it''s one step backward to be the Number One Dungeon Supplier."

    "On the contrary, the town had grown so much that it had been providing resources and gold which had been beneficial since losses had been recouped and now we are making some profit. After all, the User requires profit to do things and without money, the creation of a dungeon is not possible."

    "So, we got to either promote Dungeon Supplying in other worlds or at least conquer the world I stayed in," Jin said as got focused on his goal.

 Chapter 1758 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 26

    <h4>Chapter 1758 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 26</h4>

    "Actually, if I might ask, what''s the use of bing the number one dungeon supplier? Is it for fame? Or for money?" Syn questioned and Jinughed bitterly.

    "A promise." He said as solemnly as he could without looking pathetic handling the pain. "It''s a promise to my granddad Ming. However, there are timesбнmaybe many times that I had lost track of it. I am not sure whether because I am being swept by the tides of time, or being swarmed by people''s request or maybe even бнI dunno ARGHHH!" Jin suddenly felt that the worms were now hitting some vital organ which made him crouch in pain.

    "Does this always happen? I understand that some people have the power of regeneration but if his regeneration method does not seem to be desired."

    "The System do not have anyments on that."

    "I like to me a certain fox for this but the System cannot have me dead. And it wouldn''t allow me dead. The System and that fox probably chose this because they knew that this was one particr regeneration method that does not rely on magic or spiritual energy or whatsoever. So in the event if I ever got cut off from any sources of power, they knew that this would work for me." Jin said as he managed to stand up for a little while and sat on his bed panting, attempting to regte his breath.

    "I see. Looks like I learn a little bit more about you guys." Syn was about to go until Jin stopped him.

    "Syn. Wait. You still have not answer my question."

    "Did you ask a question?"

    "I not sure, I am in pain that I could not remember if I ever ask. Why. Why did you force us to fight against the Three Winged Angel? Is it solely because of the fact that you want to collect data on us?" Jin asked as heid his head on the wall for support.

    "Those were one of such reasons." Syn did not lie to Jin who had alreadypleted the Three Winged Angel Dungeon.

    "Then the main reason?" Jin asked.

    "Unable to reveal. Meet the Three Winged Angel and talk to him. If he is willing to help, then perhaps you can get your wish."

    "Wish to defeat the Royals?"

    "Yes."

    "Before User gives hisment, the System wishes to interrupt and inform you that after eavesdropping on the conversation and Sub System User Lynn that, defeating the Royal had a benefit. It allows User to have an official meeting with Syn in public capacity. And with that, you are rumoured to force an early restart of the Virtual Simtion."

    "An early restart of the current Virtual Simtion?"

    "Yes. And that restart would enable Sub System User Lynn to return to the System''s soul extractor without too much of a problem. This is especially vital since the soul extraction was crude in the firstpared to the ones that Original Betor Kraft had modified to allow your Pandarens toe in and out like they were walking through a door."

    "Why did you not tell me this earlier?" Jin asked and all the more he wished for this Royal Uprising to happen even faster. "So, by meeting this Three Wing Angel, I might be able to have a chance against the Royals, right?"

    "If everything goes to n. I am sorry. As the representative of the AI Administration, I am unable to reveal more. We had already assisted you indirectly to the best of our ability mainly because you are our first ever business partner and we know that it is not your fault that you wish to be here. Regardless of those facts, you still have to y by the rules or else the AI Administration would not be able to aid you." Syn said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yeah. I understand. I bet you already overlook a lot of them." Jin gave a crooked smiled from the pain and nodded to know that Syn was also trying their best to let Jin out of here as soon as possible.

    "Your Soul Inhibitor and Extractor pods are in the final phase of construction. The materials given are of excellent quality and your System had made immediate adjustments to the requests that we asked for. It had been a pleasure working with the System. It even provided materials to create an additional generator based on current modified designs to the soul extractor pods in your world in case of power failure."

    "This is the least the System had to do to ensure the safety of its user. Also, with regards to the retrieval of your physical body. Milk and Peppers had managed to find your body and would be proceeding to take your body and return to your world."

    "How did they even do that? I thought they are always on loggerheads with each other? And why them though? I also thought they will attract the most attention."

    "Betor Milk is of a senior priestess ss even if she did not want to admit it. Her once closeness to a god had enabled her to have some celestial blessing. This enabled her to enter the Celestial ne without too much of a problem."

    "Betor Peppers on the other hand, had direct ess to the mana pool of the universe. The only people who were allowed such direct ess were either thoroughbred gods or demons. With Betor Milk''s celestial blessing, as much as Peppers hated it, she had the qualification to enter the celestial ne without too much of a hassle as well."

    "Their infiltration was subtle that none of the people in the Celestial ne ever bothered them. It was to the point, they even wine and dine at the ne and making a ruckus. They were not kicked out to the System''s knowledge. So, all the System could say was hopefully they are able to take your body without too much noise."

    "I do not think will happen."

    "The System thinks so as well. But at the very least, stealing is not as bad as inciting bad blood. There had been cases of demons or even other people from various nes stealing from the Celestial ne. They would be in a fight and if they win and escape, most of the time, the gods would not care."

 Chapter 1759 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 27

    <h4>Chapter 1759 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 27</h4>

    "Hopefully they really did not care about it" Jin smiled once andter subsequently requested that they stop the conversation and allow him to rest. The superputer beings understood and allowed their human counterpart to rest as he continued to experience pain from the injuries he got.

    The days passed slowly for Jin and he went in and out of his consciousness because of the pain and theck of sleep. Lynn had asionally returned to check on him and that was where he always tried to show that he was okay and just needed more time to rest.

    However, the bed that he was sleeping in was not showing the same signs as what his mouth spit out. The sheets were drenched with sweat, the side of the beds slightly bent with hand prints even though it was made out of metal because Jin had been holding the sides to bear with the pain. And the fact that it was already after two days that the Astral Panda Cultivator had been in this state.

    The System who had been consistently monitoring Jin''s health, told Lynn that the worms and his body had prioritised his survival. The recreation of certain organs had been reported temporarily while the rest were remade. That was when those organs deconstruct again so that they do not act as a temporary standalone organ but as part of the full part of his body and hence the extreme reconstruction of Jin''s body.

    The rest of the Grey Bear Squad who hadpleted their upgrades had wished to find Jin but he did not allow any other body toe in except for Lynn. The Commander did not want his Mechanoids to see him in such a pathetic state.

    Soon, a week passed with no improvement on Jin''s condition and Lynn was not able to take it and decided to ask Zeru to check whether he had any idea on the technique he had used, as well as the effects on the body.

    Zeru sighed and told her that the System might not know the full extent of the damage that Jin was experiencing and thus gave such an optimistic timeline. "Please understand at that point, victory was more important and I had judged based on Jin''s survivability that using that particr technique was still possible even though I had already reduced the lethality of it."

    "That I do not me you but I just want to know why his body keeps breaking down," Lynn emphasized.

    "This is because Trans Dimension Sword Techniques made it seem like you are moving in subatomic levels as if you are merging yourself with the air molecules around you. So, if your body had not been trained for such attacks, it would experience extreme strain and the muscles would break down at the molecr level. From what I heard from the more studious people, the DNA strands break as well. But the fact that Jin had been surviving until now should not be a problem. After all, this is just a Virtual Simtion, right?"

    "Waitбнif this is a Virtual Simtion that deals with souls, does that mean his soul is broken into bits and pieces too?" Lynn said out loud and both System and Zeru took time to consider such a factor until the System came out with a confident no.

    Lynn did not believe it until Syn emerged for the conversation as well and told Lynn that this was all a simtion that the soul would experience in real life. And with regards to soul integrity, something which she learned that there was such a thing as Syn had made sure that it was still intact 100%. Something which was not possible for the rest of his ''yers'' who had some loss in their soul integrity because of the damaged soul extractors that had been used over the past decades.

    It finally calmed Lynn down but she was still uneasy that Jin had to suffer like this. Maybe for him to lose all four limbs might have been an easier way to regrow them but that would also take several weeks since there was no Milk avable to call out.

    "Is Milk still undercover?" Lynn asked the System and unfortunately, that remained true. With Peppers concealment magic, they tried to keep the body within a set of goods they bought from the celestial ne and returned back using that as extra cover as well. "In shortбнshe is having fun outside?"

    "The System believed so, but calling her on the behest of borrowed System Rider''s powers might not have been optimal for Jin as well. The Cardinal powers do wear out Jin to a certain extent." The System reported and Lynn had no choice but to wait for time to pass.

    In the meantime, the Grey Bear Mechanoids were prompted to receive another upgrade as there were reports that the Pandarens and Pandawans had managed to kill and capture a few Mind jackers as well as Grell''s power cores. Denise knew that the Grey Bears were at Mount Sunn and sent a few parts for Old mmet to try it out but she had no idea that the Mecha smith had already seeded in fusing monster parts into the Grey Bears Mechanoids. He continued to keep it a secret from her and thanked her for the parts.

    However, because of the current upgrades they had, they were not able to have those ''low level'' upgrades entering them, affecting theirpatibility score with the current monster infused upgrades that they had.? So instead, he made it an external machine that they could attach and detach once the power from it had depleted.

    Making it a standalone module would not affect their current upgrades and this would prove to be a game changer for them, allowing them to hide their true powers if they were to fight against the Three Winged Angel or against future enemies. Well, that was assuming they could go to battle once Jin finished his healing up.

 Chapter 1760 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 28

    <h4>Chapter 1760 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 28</h4>

    As two weeks passed, Jin finally got through the critical phases and he was able to at least do basic functions without any pain running around his entire body. Or perhaps, he already withstood the pain, no one knew as he kept as stoic as ever when it came to his wounds. At the very least, he started to sit in his cultivation stance and attempted to circte his Maqi.

    Once Lynn knew that he was able to be in a cultivation stance, she wouldpany him on an hourly basis to make sure that his Maqi could regte properly. In addition to that, she would also try to make sure his Maqi was stable.

    She was not sure if it was due to the pain or not but his Maqi generation came in bursts and that would surely break the delicate subcircuits that had been formed. So Lynn had to aid Jin to ensure those subcircuits would be maintained and the worms in him did not bother repairing those. In addition, with the increase of Maqi running around his body, he was also able to heal a little faster.

    For the fact that Lynn was a Mechanoid, she was also able to consistently push out Maqi at a regr pace without breaking concentration because of the automation that was happening within her. And she did not get tired since she was connected to an electrical plug, providing her with the energy needed to stay alive. This conversion of energy allowed Lynn to shorten the healing process by three days ording to the System''s analysis.

    So, by the end of the third week, Jin was able to move properly with little to no pain. The worms were still moving around as if to inspect for any more damages that could happen but other than that, Jin was somewhatbat ready.

    "Such a pity, I did not increase my grade," Jin said as he tried to release a punch out and the strength was still the same as ever.

    "If there is an increase in grade, do not release it here. You could have blown the metal door away and Old mmet would whoop your ass." Lynn said as she finally could take a burden off her shoulder and heart.

    "How is the old guy?"

    "He cried for some time before going to the toilet to wash off his face and started working on the Diaz''s upgrades. Nie went to collect Gerrad''s body and gave a proper barrier at the top of Mount Sunn. As usual, Old mmet said that was unnecessary but Nie whispered to me that there were half empty bottles of good wine at Gerrad''s graveyard early in the morning."

    "If that is his way to clear grief then, we should let him deal with it as such," Jin said as he opened his arms towards Lynn.

    "What? Why are you doing this? I am not going to hug you after all that sweat on your body."

    "Then we could bath together!" Jin said and Lynn spit her tongue out. "Blek! This body is not for you to touch. You want it, get back to the real world!" She said and immediately closed his bathroom door and used the showers.

    "Oh, if youe in, I am going to st you out of it." Lynn shouted as she turned on the water facet. "And no I am not joking. I am being serious. Go change your bedsheet with the Mechanoids outside. They should have a new set."

    "Geez, Jin sulked a little as he did what Lynn had told him but as he got out of the room, he saw the Grey Bears were ying a game of cards.

    "Commander, you are finally out." Tellie was the first to see and the rest came out of their seats and quickly formed a line while performing a proper salute.

    "At ease. Thank you. Sorry for the long wait." Jin said.

    "We had to be under Old met''s bidding for the past few weeks. It was horrid." Diaz said and Click shook her head.

    "What''s horrid was that Diaz''s upgrade."

    "Let me guess, is it those stoney hands." And the entire squad nodded their heads. "Keep your hands to yourself Diaz unless it''sbat or to rescue someone. That is an order." Jin said and Diaz reluctantly replied with a Sir, Yes, Sir.

    "So are we going to the Three Winged Angel Dungeon, right now?" Yinn asked and Jin shook his head.

    "I got to change the bedsheets firstбнand shower. Lynn said I stink." And everyone readily agreed with that opinion. "After that, check up on Old mmet and Nie. You guys go slowly load up yourbat gearбнafter your game is over." Jin said as Click was still holding onto her cards in her hand.

    "Thank you,mander!" They said and they quickly returned to the table to finish their game while Jin changed the bedsheets. The System did a routine check and also agreed with the health check assessment that he was able to move out without any problem.

    "If the Three Winged Angel asks for a fight, the System would rmend postponing the fight if possible. While you have fully recovered, it does not mean your bones, muscles, and organs are ready to take another beating this quickly."

    "And also, eat something." Lynn came out of the shower and interrupted the conversation between the System and Jin. "I will go prepare some snacks for you to munch when you walk into the dungeon. Otherwise, I too would not let you go"

    "Iбн Understand. Will follow your instructions."? Jin nodded his head and did what he needed to do. When he was showering, he noticed there were scars all over his body and they were not the wounds he remember ever having. Later, the System told him that those were leftover scars from the deconstruction and reconstruction.

    "Damn. Then I guess, I have to wait for time to cover them all." He said to himself as he started to turn the water facet to wash away the stench and sweat.

 Chapter 1761 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 29

    <h4>Chapter 1761 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 29</h4>

    "You areing with us?" Jin asked Old mmet and he was not willing to say no.

    "I have to see this to the end. Or at least for the sake of Gerrad and the rest of my guildmates who had passed on." Old mmet stated.

    "Are we going to expect a fight though?" Nie asked as he had already made adjustments to the Enhanced Mechanoid Armour that Old mmet could control.

    "No, this time around. Jin and his squad would be protecting me. And I feel that he would honour his word and not attack us, unless we provoke him in some manner." OId mmet said as he opened the Dungeon Entrance beneath his workshop to see that the standard human like Three Winged Angel statue had turned to his real form.

    It even created a portal the moment it sensed that the doors to the Dungeon Entrance had been opened. "If you say so Gramps. I hope you do not regret it. The rest of you ready?" Jin asked as the Grey Bear Squad had already walked through the Dungeon Entrance and half silhouettes of the monsters that Jin had defeated were above their heads.

    Page had Number Four sipping her tea right above her. Diaz got the Stone Throne of Greedy Hands while Tellie had the Surest of Eye with his bow and arrow. It was only Click did not have any silhouettes emerging her but the power cores lit up at various corners of her body which Old mmet had ced it just as how Necromechanoid did.

    It was then Jin realised that it was simr to the power of his cultivation where Pandas would emerge but this time around they were controlling monsters he had defeated instead. Lynn decided to join the fun and portrayed her cultivation. Three little penguins emerged from her back and they were dancing around with choppers on their hands.

    "Amazing! You mean you actually have this silhouette thingy for everyone especially the ce where you are from?" Diaz asked and Lynn nodded her head.

    "What''s Jin''s form then?" Page asked and Jin questioned if they remembered if they saw those ck and white pandas that came out when he used some of those lightning attacks. "They are called Pandas back in our world."

    "Why don''t you just show them rather than exin? Showing is believing." Lynn said since everyone had shown their disy of power.

    "Nah. I want to keep the cuteness to myself." Jin smiled and even gave a peace sign.

    "Awwe on, show it." Lynn said I want to see those Pandas, it''s been a long time since Ist saw them.

    "Well, you did not want to see my Panda just now," Jin said in his adult joke with sarcasm and Lynn pinched his arm. "Ow okay okay!" And as forced to, Jin portrayed his cultivation but it was something he did not expect.

    There were no doubt four yawning pandas emerging out over his shoulders and they were so cute that the Mechanoids even recognise why Lynn wanted to see them. However, they were not the only things that emerged from him. A White Tiger Silhouette was standing tall, eyeing the group while a ck Tortoise had wrapped itself with multiple venomous looking snakes. A bright looking sun bird flew out from behind them as well as a gigantic shadow of a serpent like creature enhancing the silhouette of the sun bird even more.

    With this portrayal of power, the demigorgon swords screech so loudly that they are taken aback by it and catch their attention as it excitedly moves its eye around the entire sword. At that point, the entire silhouette Jin had portrayed had disappeared since Jin was shocked by the screeching.

    "Jinбн There were more than four pandas." Lynn replied and Jin scratched his head.

    "Impossible, I do not feel an increase in cultivation at all. Not even at Grade 4 Peak." Jin said and Lynn shook her head. "Byakko, Suzaku, and Genbu emerged above our pandas as well as a hidden shadow which I believe is Seiryuu."

    "Huh." Jin could not believe it as he tried to portray his cultivation once more and to find that this time around only the four pandas were there yawning about him.

    "As much as Lynn said, we did see other four entities above the four pandas," Yinn added. "And that your sword screech and not now was probably also the appearance of those creatures above you."

    "Are you guys messing with me?" Jin asked the Cardinals directly and yet they did not respond. "In any case, let''s move into the dungeon portal. We have unted enough of our powers and the Three Winged Angel probably sees it in action with his statue. Let''s not keep him waiting anymore."

    The Grey Bear Squad agreed and they entered with Old mmet where they found themselves to be teleported up above the skies. One huge tform with clouds passing through it and a series of stairs that lead up to a chair above.

    There, the Masked Announcer sat patiently and waited for them in these two weeks. "You all are finally here. Please have a seat." The Masked Announcer said as chairs magically appeared behind them and they sat with the exception of Yinn who refused to.

    "Please. Mechanoid. Do not test my patience. Sit." The Masked Announcer said.

    "Yinn, rest easy and listen to him, there is no use agitating him when he controls the ce here. If he can have the Great Reality Blender under his control, he can definitely able to change whatever he wants to." Jin said and the Masked Announcer smirked.

    "Well, looks like someone knows who is boss here."

    "I am not doing this because of you but because of what mymander says."

    "It is fine by me." The Masked Announcer said as he changed his sitting position by crossing his legs the other way. But every moment he made had been monitored by the Mechanoids as their hands seemed to be inching towards their trigger.

 Chapter 1762 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 30 (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 1762 Three Winged Angel Dungeon -Part 30 (Final)</h4>

    ?

    "Rx. You see how yourmander, Jin. Is such in a rxed position." The Masked Announcer said. "I am not here to fight all of you, in fact, I might be your ally in the days toe."

    "I do not believe you," Yinn said and the rest echoed until Jin changed the tone of the conversation.

    "I do not believe you until you showed me what you can do and we make a proper agreement to it."

    "Ha! Spoken like a true blue businessman! I like you more now."? The Masked Announcer said as he snapped his fingers and a stack of papers emerged. With his magic, they turned into paper aerones and flew toward the each and every one of them. Jin was the only one who caught the paper ne with his bare hands first and opened it. The rest then subsequently followed.

    "Under the authority by the Dungeon King of Three Winged Angel Dungeon, you are hereby authorised to duel against the Empire Royals without any conditions. You may attack the Empire Capital with sufficient warning given to the public and it is not considered as a coup." The Masked Announcer said out the wording on the paper.

    "Otherwise, the official offshore duel is possible and can be conducted away from public eyes but the challenger has the exclusive right to not be burdened by the expenses of the challenger and the challenger can set the date when the duel would start."

    "If the Empire Royals rejected this duel offer, failed toe for the duel, or even nted a doppelganger, the Three Winged Angel with its authority would be able to dere Jin, Commander of the Grey Bear Squad as the new King of the Empire." The Masked Announcer said and then Jin raised his hand.

    "Call me ignorant but may I ask what authority you have? I mean any Tom, Dick, and Harry can write this kind of letter of authorisation and whether the Empire Royals listen or follow is none of their business." Jin said and then the Masked Announcerughed.

    "You mean that you came all the way here and you do not know what the Three Winged Angel Demon does?" The Masked Announcer could not help but to hold on his stomach and continueughing. It was then Old mmet exined to Jin.

    "He is the Rule Breaker of the Almighty."

    "Any rules set by the Almighty have to be followed, any challenges, mission or even a death sentence. As long as it within its means, he will break allow you to break the rule."

    "If he can break any rules, then why do I need to go through him to break the rule of the duel with the Empire Royals when I can tell him to make me the Empire Royals."

    "Because that is not a rule but a wish." The Masked Announcer said. "Just as your dear friend here. He wanted to break the rules of the International Guilds and make his guild be known throughout the entire world. So that talented people from all over the world can join his guild and they can make the ultimate, legendary guild of people which people would admire, adore and maybe at times fear!"

    "We are doing that so that people from every single nation are without prejudice against different races, people, or maybe even monsters!" Old mmet''s every word was filled with dreamy hope that had been dashed. Even the Mechanoids could feel that from his voice alone.

    "But in the end, he had decided to take the alternative rule breaker. ''Let him be part of your dungeon and allow him to leave.'' He said.? Wait, but that''s not a rule, right? ''It isn''t. However, there are rules for humans to not join dungeons.'' And then I said, well, I mean you can bet on the rule breaking through the coin clip. If it''s heads, he will join me and he will survive."

    "And I won." Old mmet said.

    "Yes, exactly! He had been a great servant not only to Number Four but he took care of every one of us as well. So, we made him as human as possible as time went by, reverting every other monster part he had into a human. The only exception is that he was not human enough when he fought with you."

    "Because I did not know about the rule." Old mmet replied.

    "But eventually, he broke the rule himself and got back his humanity at the veryst second. That is not of my doing and it was entirely his. But I let you make your own conclusions." The Masked Announcer said as Old mmet sighed while sitting on the chair.

    "Then if the Empire Royals do not decide to follow this letter of duel?" Jin asked and the Masked Announcer shrugged his shoulders.

    "Simple, they will die. But how they will die depends on me. After all, their lives had been forfeited to me when you issued a date of that challenge to them. If you did not issue, their lives would be fine and dandy although I won''t rmend that. After all, I took the effort to break the Almighty''s rules just for your duel challenge. It will disappoint me and maybe the almighty but more importantly me."

    "I see, then. Thank you for this contact. I believe I should get going to prepare for the attack. Please excuse me" Jin said as he stood up and the Masked Announcer asked him to wait.

    "Not so fast. I have not finished." The Masked Announcer said as he pped his hands and suddenly all the Grey Bear Mechanoids who had outfitted their upgrades suddenly felt a sharp pain through their chest, causing them to fall from their chair.

    "What are you doing?" Jin asked as he pulled his hand near his sword.

    "Just a little present. Those powers cannot be used unless they are in the dungeon. With my intervention, they can be used outside the dungeon. But use it with care, okay? Any abuse and I am taking it away." The Masked Announcer said as he pped his hands once more and the pain dissipated.

    "Now go. Show me a good show."

 Chapter 1763 King of Bearling -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1763 King of Bearling -Part 1</h4>

    They were instantly teleported out of the dungeon instance the moment the Three Winged Angel finished his conversation with them. Most of the paper they held had disappeared except for the one that Jin was holding.

    "Are you feeling okay?" Jin asked Old mmet as he felt that there was no resolution when it came to that conversation for the old Mecha Smith.

    "Yesбн and he gave me this." It was an enamel pin of a design or crest that Jin did not recognise and he hazarded a guess from it.

    "Your guild?"

    "More precisely, the guild master''s pin. Gerrad''s pin." That monster kept it in the same condition as it was. Old mmet said that but in reality, that pin exudes old memories that the Three Winged Angel had imnted into it from Gerrad''s time as a human before he became a minion under him.

    That was why when Old mmet was speaking to Jin, his tears flowed uncontrobly down his face and he held on to the pin tight. In those old days of guild raiding, managing both good and sad times together, Old mmet requested that he be left alone as he made his way up the hill to say goodbye to him once more.

    "Will he be ehhh okay? Click asked Jin and all hermander could say was "Only time can tell." \

    "At the very least, he mended the gaping hole which he kept as a secret for many years." Nie came by and greeted them. "He might not be able to able to forget the mistakes he made, but at least he wille to terms with it."

    "You made it sound like you are older than him," Diaz remarked and Nie shrugged his shoulders. "I can only say that time wounds and heal the same scars at the same time. That was what it is to be human. To make mistakes and move forward regardless of the consequences."

    "We will only move forward if we have been fed with electricity," Yinn replied and the rest of the team looked at her with disbelief. They do not know whether she is making a cold joke or she was making a statement.

    "In any case, I see that all of you are in a healthy state, there was no fight at all?"

    "No, it was just a conversation and getting the rewards," Jin showed Nie the piece of paper and he could not believe it.

    "I mean considering the amount of time and effort you have been through, you are finally able to fight the Empire Royals. Are you going ask Archduke for help?" Nie asked which made Jin to think about it.

    "What are the chances of me losing without him?" Jin asked and Nie shook his head honestly. There was no way for him to know.

    "The problem with you is that there are times you appeared weak and there are also times you went crazy hard on with the strongest of monsters until people could not believe you," Nie said and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad nodded their head.

    "He wants to hide his abilities but at the same time shes them so openly. After which, he will say that he is just some normal dude. Like who will believe him?" Click said so bluntly the rest nodded their head in agreement at the same time once more.

    "You guysбн"

    "We are merely saying the truth. There''s nothing wrong with saying the truth." Click replied with a cheeky face. However, they all knew that they were trying to make light of the situation after Old mmet had left to visit his friend. Yet, the only one who took things seriously was Page. She asked for the contract again and read it once more.

    "No, Jin. I do not think you are able to call Archduke for help." Page stated as she underlined pointed at thest part of the contract which was covered with small fonts. "It states here only the Grey Bear Squad and Jin are authorised to have this exclusion. Any otherpanions would be forfeited unless it is part of their powers. I am assuming he wrote there to exclude things like summoning magic that Click can use."

    "Lol. If that''s the case then it''s fine. The Three Winged Angel most slightly do not know that this will give us an edge, an advantage that he had not seen. He will be in for a show." Jin said.

    "However, that would mean it is best we go extremely equipped with guns zing that kind of stuff." Diaz''s eyes lit up. "I saw Gramps Enhanced Mechanoid Armour. Nie, do you think you can make more of those? If all six of us go in with those Enhanced Mechanoid Armour as well as equipping us with heavy weapons like artillery cannons, we most probably can go all out."

    "Then you probably need something like the helicarrier to bring you guys to the Empire. Otherwise, there is no way you can go in there with those things unseen."

    "That, you might be wrong," Yinn spoke up. "The train tracks here would eventually be connected to the central districts of the Empire, correct?"

    "Yes, but it will still take a few weeks, maybe a few months is possible."

    "I am sure with regards to that, Jin can make the Archduke perform some magic to make sure that it works. Then, we put in as much as we could while the train goes in the Empire Central, Bearling. In the meantime, Jin perhaps fly a bunch of nes along with a few AI controlled nes beside him."

    "So, I am the bait?" Jin asked and Yin nodded.

    "You are not just the bait. You are the main attraction, doing what you need to do to get their attention, thinking that the fight is being done in the skies but in actual fact, we are going to be transported deeper into Bearling and we can start the fight from there." Yinn said with much confidence, it sounded like a workable n.

 Chapter 1764 King of Bearling -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1764 King of Bearling -Part 2</h4>

    When the rest heard it, they also believed that it seemed like a good infiltration n. "If we are going to do that. I honestly suggest we work with either Diamondz or Archduke Dyke to get this moving." Tellie requested.

    "Because once Jin announced his challenge, borders would be tighter and the goodsing in would definitely be restricted. So, instead of announcing the challenge so soon, let us prepare and infiltrate it first. After all, we have the System with us and we can be shut down for a long period of time." Tellie exined her rationale.

    "Oh. So when the battle starts, we can go online along with the Enhanced Mechanoid Armours and wreak havoc towards the pce?" Click asked and Tellie nodded her head.

    "Yes, and the resources can be ced earlier so that Page has the ability to control all those Mechanoids," Tellie said.

    "So, you knew that I am not just as what Jin had described. Beating people up with meleebat?" Page asked as she thought that she had kept it a secret.

    "The rest were charging but I just woke up from my upgrade instation and decided to help Old mmet with your upgrades. He told me that yours might seem the leastplicated in theory but in actual fact, the hardest to implement."

    "Wait, so Page can control mechanoids like Click?" Jin got even more confused.

    "Click can control Mechanoids that had already been broken once. Page can control Mechanoids without any help from the nanobots and instead a wide area control. However, the control part is still iffy." Nie reported that the cat had been let out of the bag by Tellie. "We need to do extra tests to ensure that she really could control the Mechanoids. For how long, how many, and to what extent? There may be a chance she could even control a few royal assassins or guards but it depends on their will and hardware."

    "I see, so in a way, we might have actually a small army to make some chaos while the main group goes in to fight against the Royal Guardsckey which I assume they have their own elite knights or something?"

    "Yes, not to mention their elite named assassins would be there to pounce on us as well," Diaz said and Jinughed.

    "It would be best to get more information from Archduke Dyke since he had been with them for some time. Maybe get the schematics of Bearling as well as Bearling Pce so that we could n our way to the Royals." Yinn said and Jin was a little confused.

    "Yinn, can''t you use your reality thing to blend and get them out of there?"

    "I have to see the enemies to do that. If I do not see them, they would not be affected by the reality blending." Yinn said and Jin understood the limitations of her powers.

    "I am finding this n more feasible than the n to fight offshore," Lynn said at the sidelines.

    "Huh, I still think the offshore one had its benefits though. We can create their castle design with dungeon instance and therefore, we control the entire ind with our own monsters even though they believe that the whole castle is theirs at the same time. It would be a rather hrious n if you think about it."

    "Then why can''t you do the same for the Bearling Pce? If the offshore ind is big enough, you can also do that for not just the pce but the capital of Bearling too." Lynn asked and the rest thought it was obvious. There was the 15 minutes countdown when he created the dungeon instance. Even if he could do that, there was no way the squad of Grey Bears could clear it within fifteen minutes.

    "Well, about that. I might be able to extend the timing of the dungeon instance but I still think it''s best if we fight to the best of our abilities first before relying on the powers of my dungeon instance. What if, I am not trying to jinx it but what if the Empire Royals decided that they bring in every single farking Mecha Dragon or Mecha whatever into the capital just to save their hides?"

    "But the problem is that they do not bring it that early and insteadter into the fight when we had bested their elites and were exhausted from it? There is no barrier to this challenge and they can always bring in reinforcements unless we cut their heads away." Jin exined.

    "Yeah, it''s too bad we cannot do an assassination in the public or something and get away with it." Tellie shrugged her shoulders to show that she was a little disappointed the contract was worded as such.

    "Welp, then I guess. That does it, we got our job cut out for all of us, right?" Nie asked and the rest nodded their heads. Click would continue to practice her summoning of broken Mechanoids while Page would be doing the opposite attempting to learn to hack and control the Mechanoids as they were.

    In the meantime, Diaz was tasked to hold every gun she could find and test firing them if it was possible Jin believed that her powers would close to learning the guns and maybe duplicating them like how the Throne had replicated phantom pieces of various rifles. As for Tellie she was not just doing long range sniping but also trying her hand on some unarmedbat with Lynn.

    The only person who was not in Mount Sunn workshop training was Yinn who was tasked toe out with the overall n while Jin assisted her with the coordination of the making of the n to attack the Empire Royals.

    He did feel a little constrained with the amount of resources he had to y with but with so many points at his behest, the purchase of thosebat items was not as difficult as one thought it would be.

    Now all that was left was to have a draft n and to call Archduke Dyke to see if he was willing to y ball with this particr challenge since Jin did technically abandon them to selfishly upgrade his troops.

 Chapter 1765 King Of Bearling -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1765 King Of Bearling -Part 3</h4>

    "Youбнwhat?!" Archduke Dyke had no idea that Jin had disappeared from Daimon City at all and Denise had been keeping everything in check when Jin was gone. She did such a good job that Dyke was bbergasted Jin had been in Mount Sunn Workshop all this time while he was in the opposite Town Gorgo coordinating the construction that was happening below Mount Sunn.

    "How could you just abandon Daimon City when I had appointed you for it?"

    "And because of that, I did something even more awesome and got this." Jin showed a rolled up piece of paper and dangle it in front of Archduke Dyke.

    "What kind of paper that is so great it will not make me angry and frustrated? Instead, it will show me delight and will revel you?" Archduke Dyke knows that Jin was his master but this was still irresponsible given that Dyke had given Jin an important position for the coup. And now he yed truant, disrupting all the possible ns that Dyke had made in advance.

    Somehow despite all that anger within him, he had to believe and trust that Jin was telling the truth. Although deep down in him, he honestly think that there was nothing that could really appease his anger and Dyke just need to see what kind of excuse Jin was going toe out with and try to calm himself down.

    "I can only give you a picture of it since the console is not allowing me to scan it for some reason," Jin said as he took pictures with his holographic console and sent it to Dyke. When the Archduke saw it at first, his mind was in a nk.

    "What kind of nonsenseбнwait a minute. The Dungeon King of Three Winged Angel?? You fought against the Dungeon King of the Three Winged Angel?!" Archduke Dyke could not believe it and stood up involuntarily asking if this was true.

    "I did not exactly fight him, we talked to each other and he gave it to me. Of course, I had to go through his mini bosses. He was a rather reasonable person to talk to and he is kinda gauging you when you fight against the boss monsters." Jin said. "He might have fought with me, if he didn''t think I was a good guy. Hehe!"

    "The self braggingбн no good guy will ever say that he is the good guy. Only bad guys do that." Archduke Dyke said and Jin shrugged his shoulders as if he did not give a damn about that.

    "In any case, yeah. I got the Three Winged Angel authorisation letter and we will be sending a few draft ns to you for yours truly to consider."

    "But it says here that only the Grey Bears Squad and you are going to fight against it. I would not be able to be part of it. And if you do this and win, which I think you should be able to, won''t you be the King of the Empire?"

    "Ah yes. You wanted that role, right? I can give that to you the next Armaggedon." Jin said and exined to him that he was going to use the official position of the Empire''s Royal to have an official meeting with the Almighty and st the entire world to kingdome. "And if I do that, you do not have to answer to your sponsors. I doubt you had done anything major to owe them anything, right? All they did was to pledge allegiance to you."

    "Yes, indeed. They merely pledged their allegiance and promised to provide troops and money to the cause when the coup was formted. Of course, it will need another few months of nning which with your current letter, kind of overrides everything."

    "Yeap and I can give you the King status next round, you got their allegiance and you can sweep the ce away and make it how you want it to be. Just be more charitable to the poor, alright? Otherwise, I wille and find you."

    "Heh, like your rescue mission in Daimon? I will take that as a reference case study." Archduke Dykeughed as the ns that Jin sent finally came in. "So, what do you need me to do now that I am free from their obligations?"

    "Well, I kind of broke away from my position as Interim Leader so I am not sure Diamondz would still want to help me."

    "If you promise them to be the lead manufacturer with Rocketeer as co-lead for the Empire''s military, I think they will listen to you with all their heart." Archduke Dyke said and Jinughed.

    "That sounds like a very good proposal but I think it is best you help me to address it to Denise. Please take a look at the ns if you have the time and get back to us as soon as possible."

    "I am reading it right now as we speak and the premise sounds good. I have a few contacts who have a few warehouses close to Bearling''s Pce. If you sortie from there, it should save you enough time for the attack."

    "I actually more concerned about the train."

    "Bah! That one is a small issue. A bit of palm greasing with points or gold will do the trick. You do not have to worry about that. Handling Bearling Capital would be more of an issue. You not only need those Enhanced Mechanoid Armour in without inspection but also a truckload of new Mechanoids."

    "With my authority, I can push Diamondz Mechanoids into the mix as well but it will be tricky," Dyke added and started to think of ways to do that but Jin shook his head.

    "Actually, we want you to put Rocketeer''s Mechanoids for us. We have a way to get them to be in our control instead. That way, you do not have to waste money and you can spend the Royal''s budget. Which I am sure, would probably be just a drop from their wallet."

    "Huh. If you can control them, then I can actually buy the most expensive line of Mechanoids from Rocketeers, all in the name of defending Bearling. And given how the threat of the Mecha Fire Dragon and the usations, they would least suspect that those Rocketeer mechanoids would be used against them." Dyke felt that it was a good idea.

    "Oh, and if you getting the most expensive one, mind throwing one or two to Mount Sunn. This way we can test them too."

 Chapter 1766 King Of Bearling -Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 1766 King Of Bearling -Part 4</h4>

    "I heard," Denise said as she made a call to Jin the following day after Jin gave a video call to Dyke.

    "Sorry about that, to leave the Interim Leader seat so quickly."

    "No, there''s nothing wrong about that. We had always been working behind the scenes because we knew that the Interim Leader knew nothing much about governing Daimon. But at least when ites to certain decisions, we did not regret consulting you on those. Not to mention, you were useful when you were really needed. Like the outbreak and the Parry City''s incident." Denise said and then realised he did something stupid through his tenure as the Interim Leader.

    "But all of us hated that tariff policy you implemented. It did cause some rifts but ever since you cleared the Parry City''s incident rather well, some of the businesses came back to Daimon. And as the new interim Leader, I did tell them that the Tariffs would drop if more business from certain cities were willing to return to us for trade."

    "Ooops."

    "Never mind about that. It was good too as your tant usation of certain cities who wanted to take the chance to invade us had put them in the bad books for the neighbouring cities who wished to be neutral in this matter. After all, we are technically part of the central district of the Empire. It is bad for publicity if people and other lords know how divided we are in this current situation."

    "That''s good to hear." Jin continued to let Denise rumble on.

    "Then how''s the underground facility that you guys had taken? Managed to get any clues that point closer to the fact that Rocketeer was indeed the people who created those Mechanoids?"

    "As for now, no. The designs had so far been rather far fetched to be the work of Rocketeers but Rafeal deemed to have found some indirect connections with their work and the creation of the Mecha Fire Dragons. In fact, it''s the leftover items that allowed us to look into Monster Infused Mechanoids."

    "But if I do an early Armageddonбн"

    "Do not have to worry about that, our servers have been Armageddon proofed. The Almighty had blessed them and we got a few more of those to keep those data as well. The early warning that you are causing Armageddon is of help."

    "Honestly, I have no idea how this Armageddon works. Like is it worth building new buildings when we know Armageddon is about to happen?"

    "Oh right, you are an outsider. So basically, the Armageddon is apulsory memory wipe and that includes money and points. Only a certain portion would be returned when we start again. That is why the more points people get, the more they can do when the mandatory restarts happen. Progress of buildings would not be affected and usually, the call for Armageddon would allow a two day warning for people to settle their backups."

    "So they have to purchase those hardware blessed by the Almighty?"

    "Yes, and they are extremely cheap now because no one expects Armageddon this early. This allowed Diamondz and Daimon to buy them early in bulk and keep most of our information intact. When the warning is sounded, the fastest finger wins and when the Almighty restock, it would be twice as expensive as the previous stock. It will keep going on and on until nobody is able to buy them at such absurd prices."

    "Also, talking about Rocketeers and other coborators, the fact that the gangs had been proving to be of help was a boon. They had identified even more traitors within the Parry City defence departments. Even police names had been leaked to Air Force General Inus and he did a proper audit check beforemencing mass cleansing to make sure these traitors were firmly rooted out. In return, those gangs had been rewarded with hush money which they epted well. One of their leaders even got one of their worst records erased for the help they gave. This was how much Inus was dying to remove the traitors within them."

    "I hope Sir Peru Peru would not be too depressed to find out that nearly half of his defence department had to be rooted out."

    "He is fine. Thest I heard from him, he had readily allowed Daimon to create the very same outpost that we had been doing for our dungeons. Pandarens have also been now allowed to travel to Parry City to find short term work through their quest as well as trying out the quest to fight against the Mind Jackers."

    "So, even if you guys could not get monster infused Mechanoids right this round, you all will try it next round?" Jin asked and Denise nodded her head. "We mighte out as the strongest next round if we y our cards right. And if you keep your promise as how you offered Archduke Dyke with regards to our position."

    "Aye. And in return, for the proposal to be the lead manufacturer for the Empire, you know what I want, right?"

    "You want Diamondz to provide you with the autonomous AI nes, correct?"

    "Yes, and building the weaponry for the train that will be carrying the Enhanced Mechanoid Armours. This way, we can use it as a mobile artillery bombardment unit to distract the Royal Guards and Assassins even more."

    "This will be tough but I think we can be on timeбнwait Jin what are you doing?"

    "Just passing you some points. This way, you can push your employees to work overtime, correct?" Jin said as he saw that 50 million points had already been transferred to Denise, the current Interim Leader of Daimon. "Treat this as a donation for the city''s future development." Jin smiled and she was speechless.

    "Fine. We will make sure these upgrades and nes will be worth your extra budget." Denise said as she quietly also sent a mail to Jin. "For your eyes only." After which, she logged off, stating that she was busy.

    "Why is she being so secretive?" Jin asked as he opened the mail only to find a prompt asking for the password for the mail to be decrypted.

 Chapter 1767 King Of Bearling -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1767 King Of Bearling -Part 5</h4>

    "Ah, she did not give me the password to it," Jin said and wondered if he should call her backбнonly to remember that she did send a message before hanging it up. "It cannot be that simple, right?" Jin thought to himself as he saw the words "For your eyes only."

    So, he tried it and sure enough, it worked.

    When the decryption was over, the document that Jin saw was not just some pieces of information from Diamondz. They were the number of secret agent Mechanoids and humans who had been inserted into the Bearling capital not just by Diamondz but also by Archduke Dyke.

    For the iing attack, they had decided to utilise their own individual shadowwork to coordinate the uing challenge that Jin was about to announce. And since they were preparing to attack the Pce themselves, the agents were already on the move to make sure the warehouse''s security had been infiltrated, cameras could be hacked and look the other way around as well and train station managers and engineers to look the other way when the Grey Bear Squad were to be sent.

    Not only that, the agents had also been ced and installed in various checkpoints where the major trade hubs to the city would have inspections. The War Train that the Grey Bears were to board would generally be ignored or even thoroughly inspected by agents of their own people so that they could pass through without much attention.

    Jinughed that Denise and Archduke Dyke could work so closely and cohesively so quickly but it seems that they have capable hands beneath them, especially Commander Eggshells and the Archduke''s personal servant, Raymond who had been handling it behind the scenes to make this work.

    Of course, as Jin had received this, they were in the works but the gears had been set in motion and they had to make sure that this was the best surprise that could ever happen. In the meantime, Jin had also asked what if bystanders had decided to fight against Royals, would that be a vition of the rules as well and the Combat Medic who was well versed in the legality of matters stated that there was nothing wrong with it.

    "But you know, it''s best not to make thingsplicated for the duel and reasons for the Royals to state that the hey, you have vited the rules of the duels and therefore your im to the throne is invalid."

    "Yeah when they have the entire Empire Military at the beck of their call, the Royal Assassins and Guards, in the pce protecting them and we only have 6 official members that could be used to fight. Wouldn''t call that fair."

    "That I would not deny." Page said and she said she would try increasing the number of Mechanoids she could convert. Jin then reminded her not to overexert herself in case she had to fight against a named elite guard or assassin.

    "I do however have an idea if you said bystanders had nothing wrong with it." Jin thanked Page and then hooked up a call with the System.

    "Let''s make this an event for the Pandarens. I bet they would want more exciting events to happen."

    "But how would you want to do that? If you enabled the floating sky station to dropnding pods into the city, that would be a direct vition."

    "That is why I said that we make it as an event for them. Free sightseeing tour around the Virtual Simtion and thest stop is a mystery where they have to fight."

    "The System have to warn User that there is a certain percentage chance of them helping the Royals if the objective is not clear enough." The System warned but Jin shrugged it off easily.

    "Meh, that''s easy to solve. All I have to do is to jump in and hit those Royals."? Jin smiled and the System could not believe the Dungeon Supplier''s arrogance.

    "The System recalcted and acknowledged that would reduce the chance of them siding with the Royals. Will coborate with Sub System User Qiu Yue to have this event on."

    "Make sure to get the Pandawans in as well," Jin said and the System acknowledged.

    Thus, for the next few weeks, the preparation for the attack against Bearling, the capital of the Empire was underway. In a miraculous encounter, Old mmet and Nie were working with experts from Diamondz Corp to retrofit a train which Archduke Dyke had secretly brought in.

    To hide the presence, it was of an old model but the train engineers who had worked on the model before had vouched for its durability and customisation options. For it to be modr in nature for an old train made it a delight for the train engineers and military contractors to fit new and old parts into the train. They also made sure that there was also cargo space for the Enhanced Mechanoid Armour which the System had given the Fortress Golems that the Goblins and Orcs had created previously as a base reference.

    What they needed was not just stability but extensive firepower which the Fortress Golem could excel in once it had been retrofitted with weapons instead of shields. This way, the Mechanoids would not need to be exposed unlike when standard Mechanoid Armour designs, had them as the centrepiece of the Mechanoid Armour, making them rather vulnerable.? Old mmet liked the design of the as they never thought of putting a control cockpit in the middle of the Mechanoid Armour and improvised it so that It was as close as the Fortress Golems that the Mecha Smith had decided to call it the same as well.

    Jin requested for originality since it would be a copyright against those Orc and Goblins who created it but Old mmet gotzy and decided it to modify the wording to Fortified Golems. Jin was speechless and decided that calling them Fortress Golems would not make too much of a big deal.

 Chapter 1768 King Of Bearling -Part 6

    ?

    "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Apologies for the interruption but an urgent letter." Puzzle, the Royal Attendant came in as the King who was about to sleep after a long day of ''ruling'' the Empire had been disturbed.

    "Can''t this wait? How urgent can it be that you have to disturb my sleep for it? If it''s some possible manner of war, can''t you find the generals for it?" King Zagg said as he wanted to close the door on Puzzle but his royal attendant was adamant.

    "No, Your Majesty. This is of utmost importance that you have to see it now."

    "Why, what''s the matter, Puzzle?" The Queen, Thessalia in her night gown had also asked what was it that the matter could not wait.

    "The Ex interim leader of Daimon and Lord of Mount Sunn, Jin of the Grey Bears had issued a duel challenge to the Royals," Puzzle said as he knelt and presented the challenge letter to them.

    "Hah! How is that an urgent thing? I know he had been bing a thorn in our ns in recent days that even Rocketeer decided to lower the production of Dragon Mechanoids temporarily to avoid scrutiny. But issuing a duel? That is just ridiculous. He probably just wanted to make a name for himself and decided to create such a ruckus. Doesn''t he know that you cannot challenge a Royal, especially the King himself with such a deration?" King Zagg found the whole urgency a tant waste of time and wished to close the door on Puzzle again.

    However, the attendant refused to budge.

    "Puzzle, what are you doing? Do you want the guards to kick you out?!" King Zagg said and Puzzle in a slow but stern voice said out the following.

    "Your Majesty. You might find this ridiculous but please hear me out till the end. If you still find this not an urgent issue after listening to what I have to say, I will dly be on my way to the guillotine."

    "Zagg, let him speak," Thessalia replied and Zagg sighed. "Zagg might not know it but there is an ancient duel that allowed people to challenge the Royals as long as they fulfilled the conditions as stipted by the Royals. I believed it was some fortress on an offshore ind, correct? I had already an impossible fortress to build in my studies. In the fourth cab. Prepared it a long time ago for morons would think they can challenge the Royals easily."

    "See? If that''s the concern that you have, then it''s all done and settle. Find that and get on with life." Zagg said but Thessalia gave a death stare at him which eventually allowed Puzzle to finish his sentence. "Fine, carry on."

    "Thank you, your Majesty. Thank you, my Queen." Puzzle said before returning to what he wanted to say. "Your humble servant also knows about challenge but this is entirely different. That Jin had managed to obtain an authorisation letter from the Three Winged Angel Dungeon."

    "Authorisation Letter?" King Zagg looked at his wife since he absolutely had no idea about it and he found her face turned utterly nk. She who was at the back of King Zagg when conversing with Puzzle, had decided to squeeze through and take the letter their attendant was holding to read.

    "Howбн? How??! How did he manage to convince the Rulebreaker?" Queen Thessalia said as she tried to wreck the letter by tearing it but it healed back by itself while magically highlighting the bottom part of the letter for an acknowledgment of both the King and Queen.

    "What is that about?" King Zagg asked and Thessalia looked at him angrily.

    "You said that the dungeon was unbeatable. You knucklehead who was supposed to be the strongest within the Empire said that the dungeon was UNBEATABLE!" Thessalia shouted and even the guards who were guarding their room were shocked by her sudden change of attitude.

    Puzzle, who had seen the Queen''s anger knew that this would not end well.

    "Yes, I tried the dungeon and even brought elites from the Royal Guards. Even Uncle Steele! And he is themander of the Royal Guards. We could not even pass through the Stone Throne of Greedy Hands!"

    "Then what is this? A fake? How did a nobody, an interim leader, a pathetic no name which we heard from Archduke Dyke just a few months ago to be promoted as a lord able to clear the Three Winged Angel Dungeon?"

    "Mount Sunn, that is where Mechasmith mmet stays. He was thest surviving member of the infamous guild that decided to fight against the Three Winged Angel. They incurred so much more losses than victory that he was the only one out. Perhaps, he gave advice on how to fight them?"

    "Still?!! Does that mean this Jin is in the city?"

    "No, our spies reported that he is taking a break in Mount Sunn, doing his Lord duties and overseeing the current constructions."

    "What? Then when did he clear the Three Winged Angel Dungeon? He must have done it with a considerable amount of losses. Why did no one see him in the capital? Why there are no reports of mass purchase of Mechanoids?"

    "I had already checked in advance and there were no mass purchases of Mechanoids at all and no, he had not been into the capital ever since we nted spies to monitor his movement."

    "Well?! What are we looking for? Go and assassinate him already?!" Zagg said and the Queen pped his head hard.

    "And forfeit the challenge? Are you insane? His death before the challenge means the wrath of the Three Winged Angel would be upon us! you dumbбкURGH!" Thessalia tried to calm down and read the details of the authorisation letter again.

    No matter how many times they read it, Thessalia could not find a loophole from it. This Jin had been a sore to them again and again. Thetest Mecha Fire Dragon incident nearly brought the Royals into the light but the Royal''s media representative debunked all of those and assured the public as the people who were involved had been made sure that they would not emerge again by the Royal Assassin Guild.

    "ThisбнJin will be the death of me!"

 Chapter 1769 King of Bearling -Part 7

    <h4>Chapter 1769 King of Bearling -Part 7</h4>

    Just as the Royals received the authorisation letter, the media had been exploding with a lot ofments with regard to it. Jin had taken photos of the letter and sent it to the capital''s public media outlets which spread like wildfire before the Royal Media Authorities started to mp down on it.

    Yet, the campaign to smear the reputation of the Royals had started as well. Jin released more footage that Daimon City had on the Mecha Fire Dragons and stated how the Royals needed to answer especially when people rted to Rocketeer had suddenly disappeared. (Diamondz Corp spies were useful in this regard.)

    "Without proper answers and a possible threat to our own safety of owning these Mechanical Monsters meant that the Royals cannot be trusted. Even if they will admit their version of the truth, I will not rest until such injustice has been answered like how Daimon City had been left alone in their defence against two major monster outbreaks."

    More of Jin''s usations surfaced and requested the people who wished to flee before the Royal Challenge would be able to leave to Daimon forfort and safety. Flights would be catered for free to seek refuge as Jin and his Grey Bears had asserted to continue their challenge in the capital.

    In the meantime, Queen Thessalia made her own speech as well, condemning Jin for attacking the Bearling Pce and not an offshore ind which the authorisation letter indicated. The Royals said that they were willing to bear the entire cost of the challenge such as building the fortress as indicated by the authorisation letter.

    "By pressing an attack against the Bearling Pce and the Capital Bearling meant that he disregarded the lives of the people staying in the Capital. This is his poor excuse of getting immigrants into Daimon rather than for their sake of safety." The Queen said and everyone in the capital leaned toward her opinion mainly because she was speaking about the fact and that their homes had been threatened.

    Jin eventually reiterated that the Royals had never sent a single Empire soldier to the Parry City Incident upon hearing the news that the Mecha Fire Dragon had been terrorising them. The damage to the city was untold and the creation of the Mecha Fire Dragon''s threat even a rampant uncontrolled one could mean the lives of many would be lost too.

    "Is the potential loss of lives for their actions which may also incur the wrath of other nations worth it? Also, if the capital is so important, then why are people starving on the streets, some without jobs, and many have resorted to crimes? The infrastructure is terrible as well with even Parry City having better transport options than the capital."

    "For aesthetics? Mind you. the countries surrounding us had Capital Cities that could not only light up the skies but also keep their history intact. This pair of Royals not only stole the money frommoners to line their pockets but was also willing to dip into the coffers again for the challenge. I fear that this is unfair and the Royals had to be dealt with so the Capital can grow properly again."

    Whatever the Queen had tried to say in a diplomatic peaceful manner had been futile and rebutted by Jin. Jin even said that if they were to immigrate to Daimon, they could experience thetest technology the Central District could ever offer.

    All those back and forth between messages had eventuallye to stay in the capital while a number moved out of the capital to find safety. Jin subsequently told the Royals that they left two days to gather what they needed before Jin and his Grey Bears flew in.

    But as the Queen wished to curse, the King took over the video messages and said one thing. "You will never kill us with or without that letter. For I am the strongest in the Empire."

    "Fine by me. If you are the strongest then how about you go in to fight the Three Winged Angel and get a letter that removes the authorisation from the Three Winged Angel."

    "Like we said, there is no such letter. Stop spouting your lies and scare the public that-" Before Queen Thessalia was able to finish her sentence in the public broadcast. A huge thunderous p was heard throughout the entire capital despite the sunny view.

    "So, this is how a public broadcast works?" The Masked Announcer said as he emerged from behind the queen and the Royal Guards did not know that an intruder hade in.? Even the assassins who were watching from the shadows could not see how this Masked Announcer came about.

    "Help!" The Queen shouted as she too could not feel the presenceing behind her and when she got to it, she did not fight back and instead continued to pretend to be the helpless Queen in the situation.

    Thus, they immediately swooped in to eliminate the threat Queen Thessalia at the same time tried to turn the broadcast off but to no avail. The Masked Announcer withdrew a step away from the Queen and with p, all the Royal Guards and Assassins that were in that room had been killed in an instant.

    Blood spewed out not just from their necks but also their joints as theyy on the floor with an ever increasing amount pool of blood. "Oh ho~! I thought I knew a naughty girl when I saw one. But you are worse than naughty." The Masked Announcer said as he walked in front of her broadcast and presented himself.

    "Some of you who had stepped in the Three Winged Angel Dungeon may have recognised me! Yes, I am the ever so dreaded Masked Announcer which will dere a boss fight for you when you reach far enough!!" The Masked Announcer said with his hands gestured upwards and the Broadcast followed him as well.

    This was not the Queen''s broadcast anymore, it was the angel''s.

 Chapter 1770 King of Bearling -Part 8

    <h4>Chapter 1770 King of Bearling -Part 8</h4>

    "Hah. I was wondering how am I going to refute that denial the Queen made. Guess this unexpected development is going to make things a little more smooth sailing." Jin thought to himself and the System also agreed that allowing the Masked Announcer to handle it would be a better choice as well as a good show to watch.

    "For those who don''t, welle give Three Winged Angel Dungeon a try and I promise I will greet you. I mean, you guys built an entire city around me and called this Capital not by my master''s name or by the name of the dungeon but to some weird Bear?"

    "If that''s the case, why not give it to the challenger Jin? He has bears in his squad. Grey Bears if I remembered correctly." The Masked Announcerughed as more reinforcements had arrived and even the Leader of the Royal Guards, Steele came to the scene.

    As much as the reinforced guards would like to pounce on the Masked Announcer, Steele on the contrary gave an explicit order not to draw their weapons or even aim at him. "Anyone who does that would be failing to obey my orders!" Steele shouted and the rest obeyed, even the Royal Assassins who had prowled to the top of the pirs, ceiling, and chandeliers kept their weapon in their scabbards.

    "Dear Steele. It''s nice to see you again. How have you been?"

    "The Masked Announcer. I never expect you to be out of that stinky dungeon. You now prefer to interfere with the human world?"

    "Your words would never scare me, but thanks to you. The Leader of the Royal Guards acknowledged my presence and that I did not need to put my credentials out for the public to see! In any case, just a word of warning." The Masked Announcer''s killing vibe was intensely strong as he stared at the Queen.

    "Don''t you dare lie again. This is yourst chance." The Masked announcer said in a voice that proved that horror does not need to be a physical object. The Queen tried to stand strong but her legs were shaking from the murderous intent that the Masked announcer was emitting.

    "I as the Queen of the Empire, retract the statement I had made before. The authorisation letter of challenge approved by the King of Three Winged Angel Dungeon is indeed here with us and it states that Lord Jin has been allowed to fight in the capital due to the authorisation that the Dungeon King had given. The rules of the old cannot be applied to Jin as he received grace from the King of the Three Winged Angel Dungeon to overwrite such a rule."

    "See, why make things difficult and lie? You cost the lives of one бнtwo, five people''s lives because of your lies. And If I am not wrong, they are one of the few strongest and longest serving guards too, am I right Steele?" The Masked Announcer said Leader Steele''s name without any designation or salutation for he did not care of the hierarchy that humans made.

    "They could have been a great boon towards Jin''s struggle to get the throne, but you have to lie." The Masked Announcer wallows with regret that he has to do something to make the game less fun. "So, now that you said it in front of the public, anything else you wish to reveal?"

    "Nothing else."

    "Really? What about the hmmm Dragons?" Masked Announcer said and the Queen stood her ground. She did not anything about the dragons.

    "That is not rted to the challenge."

    "Are you sure? They are actually one of the reasons why I allowed them to challenge you."

    "Then that is not your business. The challenge or letter did not state that I need to report anything to you about the dragons."

    "You are not wrong with thatбн hmm let me have a look at the contract." The Masked Announcer asked and one of the Queen''s servants fetched it and passed it to him. He read it for a moment and then tore it apart.

    For a moment, Queen Thessalia was delighted that the Masked announcer just destroyed the authorisation letter. Jin who was watching the broadcast nearly went bonkers until the Masked Announcer took out another piece of rolled up letter for the Queen to see.

    "There is an addendum to the contract. I will get Jin to sign again, so you don''t worry about that. Besides, the previous one had yet to be signed by you too. A little irresponsible to the challenger who had sincerely passed you this paper for an official fight, don''t you think?"

    "It might be so yes but one must consider the actions and consequences especially when ites to ruling not just the capital but the Empire as well."

    "Hmmm. When I say read it, I expect you to read it but thankfully for you, I am in a good mood. So, continue, go ahead and read it."

    That was where the Queen saw a new use where the truth of the Dragon Mechanoids was truly the fault of the Royals. There was no going back from here. If she were to lie, she knew she would be mercilessly struck down.

    "So, what did the new use said?" The Masked Announcer continued to taunt her and the Queen kept quiet for a while, thinking of ways how to say it. "Come on, don''t waste our time. Say it. Is it really that hard to speak it out loud?"

    Seeing how it was so difficult for the Queen to announce to the public, the Masked Announcer sighed and used his magic to slip the paper away from her and into the hands of the Leader Commander of the Royal Guards.

    "Steele, you should have balls of steel, right? Hehe. Say it out loud and clear for the public broadcast to hear." The Masked Announcer changed his tone for thest sentence.

    "In ordance to the additional decree by the King of Three Winged Angel Dungeon, the Royals have to speak out the truth with regards to the Monster Mechanoids in public for the people to hear. More questions can be asked by the Masked Announcer."

    "Lies will not be tolerated."

 Chapter 1771 King of Bearling -Part 9

    <h4>Chapter 1771 King of Bearling -Part 9</h4>

    By now Jin''s public broadcast had already stopped and Jin was in an office watching the situation unfold. He was not sure whether Syn would reply to this question but he tried. "Why is the Three Winged Angel so angry about the Dragon Mechanoids?"

    "Long story short, the particr angel was friends with Dragons. And how do create Dragons Mechanoids? By killing dragons. But that was too inefficient for dragons are hard to find. So, they tried capturing them for their essence instead. Keep extracting the essence until you got enough of it while ensuring they do not die and their power crystal still works as they continue to take out the essence from them." Syn did emerge and replied to Jin.

    "Ohбн If that''s the case. I will be angry too if I know my friends had been captured and been assimted to such torturous actions." Jin nodded his headбн wait how he know that I am fighting partially because of the Mecha Dragons? I did not tell him about that.

    "Wellбн. I guess there are some perks for you to have a friend in the AI Administration?"

    "Oh right. The almighty and angel rtionshipбн I still find it funny that I had to talk to the almighty in an official capacity to get the early Armageddon." Jin said.

    "It had to be made official or people might think you are cheating or being favoured upon. That is not a good reputation to hold."

    "You never created heroes before? Like be blessed by the Almighty andter use them to fight evil that kind of stuff?" Jin asked and Syn nodded reluctantly.

    "That''s how the Empire is created and how the Three Winged Angel Dungeon had been developed as well," Syn replied and Jin realised that it might have been a touchy subject. Thankfully, the Queen provided the much needed distraction from the topic at hand and she had no choice but to say it out loud.

    "Yes. The Empire had been making Monster Mechanoids despite the proposed ban from all the countries." The Queen bit her mouth as she started talking about it and subsequently stopped.

    "That''s it? Wow, I am thankful for the use that my King had created." The Masked Announcer said. "So many questions running in my head right now!"

    "He sure is having fun taking the role of that Masked Announcer." Jin chuckled.

    "He never liked his actual form that much. Thankfully, you did not have to fight him." Syn replied,

    "Is he like unbeatable? Even worse than Number 4 by a lot?"

    "By a lot. He had grown way too strong to be defeated normally. But if you could kill Number Four, I think there''s a chance for you to win him."

    "Like 0.00000000001%?"

    "Yeahбн" Syn said as the Masked Announcer finally started talking despite some prodding from him to get the Queen some more.

    "Masked Announcer, the Queen is tired and shocked by the chain of events. If you would to let this broadcast be done on another time."

    "Tired? Shocked? Be done at another time? THERE IS NO ANOTHER TIME!" The Masked Announcer shouted and a loud thunderous p exploded above the skies.

    "She either answers now or she diesбнwell judging from her strength, she will probably die from Jin''s challenge as well, I will just kill more of her minions. But eh! How can I judge when I am just another monster announcer?" The Three Winged Angel said and even Steele was hesitant.

    "Steele, what are you doing? Standing there. As the King, Imand you to attack this Masked Announcer right here and now." King Zagg said and yet the Royal Guard''s Leader was not moving an inch.

    "I am not moving as per the King''s attendant orders."

    "What are you talking about? Puzzle is not here. I am the King and you should listen to me." King Zagg continued to rant and the Masked Announcer took a look at him.

    "I never seen that guy before. Is he your new King? That''s rather fast if you ask me," The Masked Announcer asked Thessalia and she got confused.

    "What?"

    "Hey, Steele. Didn''t The Estranged Cowboy killed your King back then?" Steele suddenly straightened up like a straight arrow and shook his head slowly.

    "Why do you humans like to lie so much. Can''t you guys be just like Jin? He said the truth even though he expressed it in such a weird manner."

    "What weird??" Jin was confused as well but he was more excited for the current development.

    "Oh, so everyone did not know what exactly happened? From my perspective, as the announcer who oversee the fights. The King supposed to be dead. Steele could not protect him. Now, your turn Steele. Is it true?"

    "Steele slowly nodded his head even though King Zagg was extremely confused as to why he had to tell the truth to that Masked Announcer."

    "Hey, who do you think you are? Just because you can kill a few guards, does that mean you can boss us around? And Steele what are you doing, obeying this kind of weird man in front of the broadcast?" King Zagg knew he was in deep trouble as he sent a doppelganger to the dungeons and went out to y with otherdies while it was happening.

    Obviously, he did not want the truth to be out and King Zagg rushed towards the Masked Announcer with his royal ornate sword at hand. "Easy target, King Zagg thought to himself as he shed the Masked Announcer who did not move an inch away."

    ''Oh gosh. This is the power your King has? This is pathetic. Why did I even give Jin the authorisation letter. He could just decimate you all in one night, well maybe one hour if he really puts in the effort."

    "Woah woah, that Three Winged Angel!" Jin got a little uptight from the Angel''s answer and Synughed loudly. "Why are youughing as well, people would have expectations of me! He has expectations of me!"

    "Don''t you dare underestimate the power of King Z-" Before Zagg could finish his sentence, the masked Announcer flicked his finger on the King''s forehead and he was been knocked back intensely. The Royal Assassins saw and quickly aided him, cushioning the fall. When the Guards went to check on him, a few of the assassins had died from the impact but Zagg was still breathing.

    "Bring him to the sick bay!"? Steele said as he continued to stand at the side.

 Chapter 1772 King of Bearling -Part 10

    <h4>Chapter 1772 King of Bearling -Part 10</h4>

    "So, yeah. Steele. Your truth first and then the Queen''s continuation."? The Masked Announcer said and by this time, the audience included not just the people of the Empire but also other nations who were watching this and felt that the top ranks of the Empire were crumbling from within.

    At this point, there was a growing silent majority of people thinking that having Jin to challenge them was the right move. Obviously, the people in Daimon City and Parry City were already supporting the challenger to the best as they could. Some even ask if donations to Diamondz would be of any help and even Daimon Military was volunteering themselves to be part of the offensive if there was a need to.

    "The King brought a doppelganger into the dungeon. The doppelganger was killed while the King is outside. I do not have any knowledge of what he does outside of the dungeon as I was busy trying to make sure my troops were not killed." Steele said and the Masked Announcer gave a thumbs up.

    "See, that wasn''t too hard, was it."

    "So, everyone as you can see, the King is not the one that is the true ruler of the Empire. It''s actually the Queen manipting from the back. Which King would be so dumb as to rush against an opponent they have no idea of and could not assess the situation? Even the Queen was willing to send the King to his death without him knowing. That is if he had not used a doppelganger for the mission, lucky him."

    "Therefore, Queen Thessalia. Before you say things like I am just the Queen and do not know anything. Please remember that your subject''s life is at risk. After all, I cannot kill you before the challenge starts but I sure can make it way easier for Jin if I want to."

    "It seems like this Jin guy has really sucked your toes." One of the guards could not help but shout and the Masked Announcerughed as he pped at the bravery of the guard who voiced out.

    "Oh, he sure did. He cleared Hell Difficulty in 2 daysбнwith oneбнtwoбнthree.. four? Four Helpers? Hmmm, let''s not count those within him. Yeah, four I guessed. Oh not to mention, it''s the Variant version as well. Imagine Reflecting Reality Beetle and the Great World Blender came together. Yes, he fought that with just one another Mechanoid of his."

    "Just one?" Steele could not believe his ears. The Masked Announcer had no reason to lie but even as the Leader of the Royal Guards, the supposed strongest swordsman in the nation could not defeat Reflecting Reality Beetle with just one Mechanoid as a support. Not to mention, the two bosses fused together and he could imagine the devastating effects the mini boss could potentially portray.

    "Shall I praise him more? It took him less than half an hour to clear that boss. And your record? A week, Steele. A bloody fucking week. You know how bored I was watching you withering my dear friend''s health away? And that was just the Reality Reflecting Beetle!"

    "Is that Jin considered to be dangerousбн?" The Queen asked Steele and he could not help but give a serious nod.

    "We will die... The Royal Guard behind Steele said as he could not believe that a human was capable of killing the Reality Reflecting Beetle, a variant version in less than half an hour. Some of the Royal Guards in the room were also shaking in their boots.

    "This job is not worth it. I might be strong enough to maybe hold a few blows against that Jin but I am not willing to die for a liar." One of the Royal Guard saluted and walked away as he threw his Royal Guard emblem on the ground.

    A few others saw that and contemted a little before joining him too. They too had survived the Three Winged Angel Dungeon and knew little about the horrors thaty beyond it. If that guy managed to clear the Three Winged Angel Dungeon in two days, it was not a matter of strength. It is entirely a whole new level of power that Jin was wielding.

    "I do not believe it." The Queen replied. "How can such a man could ever kill such a beast in less than half an hour?"

    "Almighty, I am sorry. Please forgive my transgressions as I am about to reveal the secrets of my newfoundrade." The Masked Announcer said in the broadcast and Jin looked at Syn.

    "No. No way. You are going to allow your angel to show them my fight?"

    "C''mon, it will bring in some faithful followers to your cause. And if it helps to lower the difficulty, I do not see why not." Syn smiled as he approved his angel''s wish.

    The Masked Announcer was delighted that the approval came straight away and with a p, the broadcast finally showed Jin along with Lynn fighting against the Great Reality Blender. The audience watched the explosive start and was captivated straight away by the teamwork he had with his Mechanoid.

    Steele had his mouth wide open as well as he saw that Jin was not just a swordsman but a seasoned one. The use of his modules to create the elements and handle them so easily stunned the Royal Guards as well since they were going to fight him in a day''s time. Even the Queen could not believe her eyes and finally understood why the Mecha Fire dragons could be killed by him.

    She thought it was just an exaggeration but the video right in front of her proved that he was capable of killing the Empire''s top dogs extremely easily. Now is not the time for revenge or a power trip. Now it is to salvage the situation and see if the Queen could get out of this sticky situation.

    Maybe she could step down as Queen and still retain her wealth. It will be a disgrace but perhaps telling the truth now andter inform the people that she was ashamed of what she had done. Buy a few sympathy points and return to a life of normalcy.

    "Hide somewhere until Armageddon. That would sound like a good choice." The Queen''s heart beats extraordinarily fast as she attempts to formte a n.

 Chapter 1773 King of Bearling -Part 11

    <h4>Chapter 1773 King of Bearling -Part 11</h4>

    ?

    "Wait, then does that mean that all I had worked for would disappear? Is this what I really want?" The Queen''s thoughts from being anxious turned to really frightened. Wouldn''t she lose everything and people would be hounding her left and right? Some may even wish to kill her if things go awry and at that point, there would not be any Royal Guards or Assassins to protect her at all.

    This would make things even moreplicated and she can''t possibly run away with all those points and gold away while waiting for Armageddon to happen. If she were to stand her position and stay strong, perhaps she could win.

    Jin had fought against seven Mecha Fire Dragons and he was nearly dead from it. Assuming that he was that strong, wouldn''t it make sense to just throw even more Mecha Dragons into the fray? Besides, the public would know about this soon because of what the Masked Announcer was going to force her to say.

    In fact, all the other nations would be eyeing against the Empire because of their ignorance against the ban. "This was not the bad timing after allбн Once Jin had been killed regardless of the cost, we can start up the military campaign and possibly a military expansion and make the Empire even greater!" Thessalia thought to herself as she could see the possibility of a way out. She would not just be some Queen since she now had been recognised by the one who pulled the shots for the Empire.

    If she can defeat and maybe even get Jin to be her veбнshe could probably defend against the other nations. "ve! Why did I not think of that?" The sudden line of thought excites her. This was a challenge officiated by the Three Winged Angel, perhaps if Jin does lose, the Queen could impose her authority on him. Of course, now it was whether she could make out an excuse to bring this condition up for consideration.

    "Why are you being so quiet? Now it is your time to say and atone for your sins."

    "I will and shall." The Queen steadied herself and she walked through the pool of blood disregarding the corpses at the side, towards the public broadcast console. "Yes, we have made and built Mecha Dragons but it is not what any of you think it would be. It was initially for research purposes and subsequently, we felt that the advances in technology by other nations had threatened us. Thus, we made those Mecha Dragons for the sake of protecting the Empire''s sovereignty."

    "We not only subjugated Dragons that might be a threat to the Empire Lands, we decided to use them as ourst resort against invasions from other nations. And the threat is real. If you do not believe me then I shall tell a tale all of you had not known. The Archduke''s son had been captured by terrorists who refused to be named in the north."

    "It was because of Lord Jin''s effort that his kid had been saved and the Duke with gratitude, rewarded Jin a piece ofnd, making him one of the newest Lord in the North," Thessalia said kind words about her challenger that Jin started to be suspicious of her motives. "While the Royals did understand that Jin needs to be rewarded, we did not approve of the title initially due to the Empire''s stringent process. We need to make sure that he is not a spy from other nations and an interview with us would also enable us to judge him worthy for the position."

    "However, instead of us approving the Lord''s title, it was the Almighty who had done it instead. Showing that Jin had been favoured by the Almighty for the kindness he had performed. That was why we did not inform the public until Lord Jin had his Mount Sunn developed."

    "But then, we had been-" Before Thessalia could continue with her sentence, the Masked Announcer stopped her.

    "So, you are now using that the Almighty had a hand in this matter? And thus, my authorisation letter might not be worth your salt?"

    "I am not saying that, I am implying a fairer fight. From what I see, Jin who is capable of killing Mecha Dragons challenges for Kingship, and the losses we incur would be monumental. If we win, other nations will take the chance to step in and attack us. Add a condition if Jin loses to the Empire, he will be responsible for the defence of the Empire and answer to us for the sake of the Empire." People who heard what Queen Thessalia said knew what she was nning. She wants him to be the Empire''s guard dog.

    "Otherwise, I do not think it''s fair that if we win, the ce would be vulnerable because of what Jin had done. If he really cares for the Empire, he should have no qualms with this condition. Besides, I will also ensure that he will bepensated fairly for his abilities. This is mypassion as a Queen who understands a fellow citizen of the Empire who wants better for the nation."

    "HAHAHAHAH! What bullshit!" Jinughed. "I cannot believe she said it with such a straight face."

    "People will buy it though. It was only recently the Queen had been seen as an evil person, breaking the rules. She managed to turn the tables and take charge of the conversation." Syn said. "Not to mention, she kept insisting that she can win."

    "Yeah, that means she probably will bring in all the dragons and other sorts of weird donkeys into the picture for the defence of the Royals. Bearling would be in for a shitshow." Jin said and knew that this would not be an easy fight to perform.

    Even as they speak, people behind the scenes were already working hard to smuggle in Mechanoids and other supplies for the Grey Bear Squad''s eventual assault.

 Chapter 1774 King of Bearling -Part 12

    <h4>Chapter 1774 King of Bearling -Part 12</h4>

    ?

    "Well, well, well. If you say it that way, what I am to say no? I believed my King would believe that is a fair condition for you to make. Please give me a moment as I consult with him." The Masked Announcer said and Jin found it weird.

    "Don''t people already figure out that he is the King of the Three Winged Angel Dungeon?" Jin asked and Syn shrugged his shoulders.

    "Unable topute my ''angel''s actions'' but if it is theatrics, he surely wins a lot of points from me," Syn said as the Masked Announcer nodded his head as if he got clearance and added that into the current authorisation letter as well before giving the Queen a look.

    "бнWait a minute, what is this? Why is there another condition at the bottom? What do you mean that the Royals'' personal wealth, sizeable and rtable assets would also be transferred to the Empire too?"

    "In case, you surrender since Jin did not need to kill you to take the throne. I mean, if you are working so hard for the sake of the Empire, you are definitely willing to release all your assets to the Empire for the betterment of it, right? You did say after all that this fight would hurt the capital and Jin could definitely use them for the rebuilding of the Empire. After all, what can he do with so little money on him?"

    "Well, if you consider the money I had, it is indeed quite little if you want to finance the nationбн" Jin thought to himself, smiling at the twist the Three Winged Angel had put up for the Queen.

    "But this wealth is built through my hard work!" Queen Thessalia tried to defend.

    "And so did Jin who worked hard getting this authorisation letter to challenge you and that dumb king. Besides, I am merely conveying the message for my king to you. I can send your protest up and see what he says and whether he can change the condition." The Masked Announcer ''apologises'' and looks down for a moment before nodding.

    "Nope, he is not changing it. He said that it''s fair. You impose a condition and in return, he had to have a fair take on the sacrifice you be making for the Empire. Take it or leave it. If you refuse the challenge, you will be killed on the spot. That''s it." The Masked Announcer said and he was pretty sure the audience watching this knew how two face the Queen is.

    "Fine! Okay! We will take it. Besides, this will also show the world how wrong it is to challenge the Empire''s Royals."? Queen Thessalia bit her finger and ced it on the authorisation letter to signify that the Royals had noted the letter and would be anticipating Jin to challenge them. In the meantime, the Queen went to the public broadcast and told them what to expect.

    "As you can see, Jin did not appear once during the live broadcast, indicating his willingness to destroy our beloved capital of Bearling to dust. I tried my best to hide it and negotiate with him and in the end, a Masked gentleman showed up to make things worse. So, I will be dering a state of emergency for the capital."

    "If you wish to fight against this Tyrant who does not know his ce and prefers to wreak havoc against our own people, then stand with me. We will give you the necessary equipment to fight against this hideous devil who pretends to do good, just so that he can earn your sympathy when he gets the throne. Such a maniptor should not be allowed! Fight against this evil and triumph against it. You will be greatly rewarded when we win this challenge and emerge to be a stronger and more resilient citizen of the Empire!"

    "Wow, first she praised me and now she tried to ditch me. Who''s the tant maniptor?" Jinined.

    "She thinks she is in control of the situation but it''s more fragile than she believes it to be," Syn remarked as he was looking at the screen.

    "Someone posted an anonymous poll which was sent to every citizen in Bearling Capital for their opinion, excluding the Royals."

    "How specific to exclude the Royals." Jin lol-ed.

    "Yeap, and the polls areing in. Many people cannot trust the Queen after what she had said and how she keeps contradicting herself. One evenmented, that if she is so scared to release her personal wealth and assets meant that she has a lot to hide." Syn reported.

    "But there is also a minority group who seem to be die hard fans of the Empire. Half of them are nning to join the defence for the Royals while the other half seem to indicate that they would want the reward and assumed they had already before the fight starts."

    "Some also doubt the authenticity of the video that Three Winged had put in and were trying to hack the video to see who is the actual cameraman or even editor," Syn said and Jinughed.

    "They try to hack you. I would really like to see that." Jin said as he stood up. Now that the broadcast is officially over, and they finally have reached to the point where the Royals agreed to the fight, there was no holding back. He thanked Syn for sharing some information with him as he entered another office room, which was totally white with no furniture in it.

    "System, open up Bearling Captial''s maps. Sewage Map, Underground Map, Overstreet Map, andstly a draft version of the Pce." Jin said as the System used holographic technology to recreate the entire Bearling Capital in that particr office Jin had entered. It filled up the entire room and Jin asked the System to give an update not just from the people currently on the ground but also a consistent video feed from the floating sky station.

    "Now let''s see the preparation progress of the capital fight."

 Chapter 1775 King Of Bearling -Part 13

    <h4>Chapter 1775 King Of Bearling -Part 13</h4>

    "The Bearling Pce is at the southern portion of the capital. And the capital surprisingly isn''t at the centre of the Central District instead it is far lower than I expected it to be." Jin said as he checked the map.

    "Yes, the Capital is nearer to the Southern District mainly because of the fights that had happened in the north previously that forced the Empire to situate their main city further away from the North, ording to the AI Administration." The System reported. "Not to mention, it was also a stronghold against the Southerners as the Pce in the ancient times had been used as a fortress to defend against them."

    "So, we if fly downwards, they will be expecting us."

    "Yes, and Commander Eggshells stated that because of the challenge, the airspace would be temporarily cleared for us. Otherwise, it would also be a vition of their airspace and they might view it as an attempt to attack them."

    "So, the Queen had indeed already started to make her moves even before the broadcast," Jin said and the System nodded its head if it could. "She was not leaving it to chance at all."

    "Indeed. The Video Feed and reports from several spy agents from Archduke Dyke had shown that people are attempting to flee as we speak. Train tickets had been bought and every train had been utilised. All lines are busy to get people out and no one ising in."

    "Then we should be d that we also took the initiative to bring in the Grey Bear Squad into hiding. That is confirmed, right?"

    "Yes, the Archduke''s agents had already managed to transport them into this particr warehouse over here." The System lit up the warehouse''s position and showed Jin its proximity to the Bearling''s Pce. "It was a little further than expected due to the short time frame but the agents had managed to get a position where the Fortress Golems were still within firing range of the Pce. The only problem is the response time and they might lose to thatpared to the predicted warehouse location we wanted."

    "Response time to my attack, I presume."

    "Yes, you would need to fight longer in the air for the Fortress Golems to get into position but the safety of your Grey Bear Squads is currently notpromised. They had been hidden rather well and there were a few Archduke''s agents who were keeping an eye to make sure no one came to it. Besides, it had been reported that the warehouse over there was supposed to be for wood, paper products and бнfish oil."

    "A lumber industrial warehouse apanied with fish oilpanies?" Jin asked and the System was not able to answer.

    "The manifest had put the Fortress Golems as Construction Machines considering their size and the proximity of lumber yards since there are more forests and mountains behind the Pce made it believable that they were as such." The System replied.

    "Then the War Train? And the Pandarensing in?"

    "The War Train had already been scheduled for maintenance in the depot when it had reached Beraling and because Diamondz Corp had some influence in that particr area, it had been marked as a new prototype in the making prior to the announcement of the challenge. So, as prototypes, they were not allowed to be used for transport and thus not used for the massive outflux of passengers." The System reported as it stated where the depot was with reference to the distance it is to Bearling Pce.

    "That''s rather far but hmm.. I can see how that there are railroad tracks to the Pce."

    "Yes, those tracks would undoubtedly be used to transport certain supplies and equipment for the nexting day so there is no doubt that the War Train that we had hidden in Bearling can be used for a frontal assault against the Pce."

    "I assumed that there are Mechanoids in War Train as well?"

    "Indeed, Diamondz had provided a batch of Mechanoids that could be controlled when turned on. The System and Denise had been abusing the loophole that these allies are found during the course of the challenge and so the Three Winged Angel is not able to penalise you. As for your Pandarens, the System is afraid that it is out of our control as it goes through multiple districts."

    "However, as per the loophole, the Floating Sky Station which had been the main starting point for the Pandarens had been given a new alternative route to Bearling and a Grade requirement had been ced on the side. Any interested Cultivator would know that if there is a Grade requirement, it would mean that there is a fight that would prove to be dangerous. Also, this is not advertised and had been left as a side mission."

    "I see, and thus the loophole allies found during the course of the challenge."

    "Yes, once they enter thending pods, IFF codes of the Grey Bear Squad and controlled Mechanoids would be updated into their holographic consoles so that they would not shoot or fight randomly against such people." The System stated and Jin nodded his head in approval to that course of action.

    "Then did Archduke Dyke provide the Rocketeer Mechanoids? Did it raise any suspicions?"

    "Yes, the Archduke had indeed ordered Mechanoids from Rocketeers Corp and they did not question him at all since he said it was about time they upgraded the old batch of Mechanoids that had been in the Capital. It had the Royal Guards'' approval when Archduke did it, saying that it was about time the Archduke had cared for the Capital."

    "Hahaha, then what did he say?"

    "Not much. He said since he was ordering for Mount Sunn, he might as well order for the capital since there was a pending memo from years ago for it to be done. And since it was already ordered beforehand, the shipment would be hastened for the challenge as well. Archduke Dyke only paid for the deposit and the Queen took matters at hand and paid the rest from her own pocket first."

    "That seems like we have it all ready for the next day," Jin said as he looked at the holographic city a while longer to be more familiar with the routes.

 Chapter 1776 King Of Bearling -Part 14

    <h4>Chapter 1776 King Of Bearling -Part 14</h4>

    The day of the challenge had finallye as the clock struck 12 in the middle of the night. The Royal Guards and Assassins had already positioned themselves to protect the Bearling Pce and Steele even sent some for patrols.

    It was without saying that everyone was anxious as the Guards had repeatedly watched the video that the Masked Announcer had shown over the public broadcast over and over again. This was mental training by Steele to show them the capabilities of their enemy and what they should do to ovee him.

    It was also in hopes that one of the guards could see a certain pattern in his attack and perhaps utilise that weakness. It was like watching matches of the opponent they got to fight before they went up into the ring. But this time around, they only had one video to go by.

    "The Airspace is opened." One of the tactical officers said as Steele was in that hastily prepared war room within the Bearling Pce. They should have put the war room in a much safer ce but considering the fact that Steele had the pride of the Royal Guards to protect, he wants it to be in the Pce to show that the Guards can stand their ground even against such formidable enemy.

    It''s a testament to their faith in the Royal Guard''s strength, the cornerstone of the Empire for it to not falter. The Royal Assassin Leader Shai was also in the War Room as she coordinated her assassins in a more cryptic form that even the Royals Guards could not understand. To her, she cannot trust the guards even though they were built in such a way that strength matters more than everything else. When she saw some of the guards dropping their weapons and leaving the area, all she could think of was betrayal happening right in front of them.

    However, Steele was the one who told her to let them go.

    "It''s better they leave now rather than staying behind to drop the morale when it really matters," Steele said and Shai had no choice but to keep her de sheathed.

    "Turn on the radar signal to the maximum and make sure to check how many bogeys we are going to counter." As Steele gave that order, the tactical officers already shouted that they noted one particr bogey and from the looks of it, it was a helicarrier.

    "A helicarrier? Not a fighter jet ne? And only one?" Steele thought about it for a moment and felt that something was amiss.

    "Yes, Sir. Multiple radar feedback had shown there is only one bogey although the signal is oddly weird."

    "How so? The Helicarrier seems to be taking its time toe here. It''s not travelling at full speed or anything."

    "Probably wasting time to make full use of the limited time they have in the airspace beforeing in," Shaimented. "We should just shoot it down."

    "No, as long it is not in Bearling''s Airspace, we cannot do that."

    "Why bother? Those airspaces also belong to the Empire and shooting an enemy down in our airspace is a valid thing to do."

    "I know. But that is not how the challenge works. Respect the challenge. You saw how the Masked Announcer, a minion of the Three Winged Angel killed a few of your respected assassins before they could do anything." Steele tried to calm her down and continued overseeing the operation.

    "Send out all our readily avable nes the moment they enter our airspace. If they are flying a helicarrier, then it''s most likely they want to prioritise defence more than offence. Make short work of the helicarrier and they wille crashing down to the Northern Fields. Prepare some Empire Military guards there if they are avable.

    "No sir, they are still working to get the people out of there." The tactical officer said and Steele wondered if Jin was going slow mainly due to the fact that he wanted to buy more time for the people to get out of the city as fast as possible. "Impossible, he would not care that much forбн"

    "Sir, the Helicarrier is requesting Montash City fornding. They stated that the city had yet to fully evacuate anding in now would block the airspace for people to run away." The Tactical Officer shouted and Steele was confused. Did Jin read his mind or something or is he plotting something even more sinister?

    "By that order. Tell them toe straight for the challenge. Energy Barriers had already been configured and set up to ensure the evacuation proceeded smoothly. The Royal Guards had always been responsible for the people they swore to protect."

    -----

    "Huhбнinteresting," Jin said as he received the message from the leader of the Royal Guards. "He said he already put barriers up. So, all we have to do is to fly in. That also means that they are going to send out their entire armada of nes."

    "You know, Jin. I feel like my lifespan has shortened drastically ever since I met you." 2LT Cloudie said and Jin tapped on his shoulders firmly.

    "Hahaha. Survive this and you get promoted to Captain. Archduke Dyke guarantees it."

    "Wow, so stingy," Cloudie remarked.

    "Hey, you are getting free full sry for not doing anything after this. It''s free money man."

    "Whatever, Ex Interim Leader Jin. So, how are we going to fight against a fleet of fighter jets again? The helicarrier doesn''t really have that much manoeuvrability even though we have upgraded shields. This is practically suicide."

    "That''s why I brought you with me. But I am surprised you did not ask for a co-pilot." Jin sat beside him leisurely.

    "And bring that co-pilot to certain death? No thanks. I rather die and get a double promotion myself."

    "Hahaha! With this scenario of not allowing tond bepleted and we are already halfway there, I guess I can tell you a secret. Can this particr camera look upwards?"

    "Why?"

    "You will know soon enough."

 Chapter 1777 King Of Bearling -Part 15

    <h4>Chapter 1777 King Of Bearling -Part 15</h4>

    "Ehh, let me get this baby to autopilot for a moment."

    "By the way, I am curious why do you have this camera at the top of your ne for?" Jin asked as Cloudie was pushing a few buttons to ensure the autopilot mode was stable.

    "Yeah, sometimes we used it to check if there is anything lodging on the top of the Helicarrier. As well as an excuse to look at the skies if our navigation is a bit screwed up. There are stars that can help locate where the North is."

    "Lol, same as Earth. Anyways yes, point the camera upwards." Jin said and Cloudie did just as Jinmanded to see that there were no stars he could see above him. The New Moon was also making it particrly hard for the camera to view anything and he had no choice but to turn on night vision for the camera."

    That was when he got the shock of his life.

    "Since when? I did not notice this at all!" Cloudie asked and Jin was giggling.

    "Cool, isn''t it?"

    "Wait, if they are doing this thenбн"

    "The Bearling City''s Air Force will have the shock of their lives," Jin said with a smile and Cloudie sighed.

    "Welp, now I understand why you said that I only getting a single promotion to Captain."

    "It''s still a dangerous job though," Jin said and Cloudie shook his head.

    "I feel that the Bearling''s Air Force would be the only ones thinking that this flight is a dangerous one. Now I understand why you want to install those floodlights at the front of the helicarrier. You are one sick person when ites to deception. And I also understand why you are making me travel so slowly, it''s almost a chore to keep the helicarrier at this speed."

    "Nah, it is not my idea, to be honest, I never really do anything that brilliant. Commander Eggshells was the one who thought of it because of the way the Radar works here." Jin said that he also knew that they did not have any satellites to track them, making it a double whammy that this n could work.

    "By the way, why do you think that they will bring their entire fleet out? Won''t they see just one helicarrier and they will drop their guard?"

    "It''s reverse psychology. The General will feel something is amiss and decides to bring out everyone. So what if its an overkill? The moment I am dead or to the point I am captured, they win the challenge. Why bother with the subsequentbat? If I did bring a few panions ''with me, I believe he would act with tact knowing that some of his nes would be shot down."

    "Ohбнso when you shoot them down, he brings new ones out."

    "By then, those panions'' would have already depleted their ammunition and the enemy would have the upper advantage when ites to dog fighting."

    "Heh, you will know moreter. If we survive. Perhaps, by then you could make up your own deduction." Jin smiled and waited for the action to unfold.

    "Damn, now I am curious whether it''s the top that will see the action first, or the stuff within the carrier that will do the honours. So much stuff that you have to sit the copilot seat."

    "Hey, I thought I would be standing throughout the whole way. If I know that you are not bringing a copilot with you, I would have squeezed in another couple more."

    "It''s already at the Helicarrier''s weight limit. I am more worried about how it willunch."

    "You don''t have to worry about that," Jin said before speaking in his thoughts. "I have the System with me for that kind of purpose."

    --------------

    "Fox 1 to Command, Bogey is in sight but not in our airspace yet." One of the fighter jet leaders reported.

    "Circle around the capital and let Fox 7 bring his team out into the airspace."

    "Don''t you think it is overkill?" Fox 1 said and Steele shook his head. It is very unusual for the challenger toe in a helicarrier and even more so without anypanions. Steele had this gut feeling that Jin was hiding something and he was doing it at such a huge scale that it could give the leader of the Royal Guards an anxiety tummyache.

    Fox 1 and his wingman eventually acknowledged the order and circled around the city while allowing Fox 7 and his wingman to emerge out of the airfield. Soon, 16 fighter jets were already out in the open and Jin was still taking his own sweet time toe into the battlefield. This gave another 4 more fighter jets to take to the skies and this was the entire fleet of fighter jets that Bearling Capital has at the moment.

    Of course, the Empire Royals have more of these nes at theirmand but because the fight is situated at Bearling, only Bearling Troops were allowed to be used. Some of the cities surrounding it tried to suck up and wish to provide more of such nes to be under theirmand but the Queen refused. Why would she need so many fighter jets just to fight against amander and his squad of 6 Mechanoids?? That would be so ridiculous that it did not make any sense.

    Not to mention, no other troops or allies are able to assist Jin and if they did so, the Queen would not hesitate to call this a foul and take it up to the Three Winged Angel''s Masked Announcer. So as the twenty fighter jets continue to circle around Bearling, to wait for the Helicarrier toe in, Jin made Cloudie do a very ass move.

    He turned back slowly and circled around as well, wasting as much time as he could before entering into Bearling''s Airspace. When the War Room saw that happening, the tactical officers and the military leaders of the Royals could not believe their eyes.

 Chapter 1778 King Of Bearling -Part 16

    <h4>Chapter 1778 King Of Bearling -Part 16</h4>

    Without a doubt, all the fighter jet pilots were pissed off by his behaviour. Surely, Jin was not in the wrong as the time to be in the particr city''s airspace had not expired so the city could notin.

    But what was wrong with it was that Jin had made the Helicarrier into some fucking disco ball of light. He started shining the flood lights he installed onto the helicarrier and it attracted a lot of attention. To make things even weirder, there was even a fog machine attached to the heli engines working overtime to spew mists around the area.

    "Can we shoot him down already?" was the consensus of the pilots who were wasting their fuel to deal with this crap.

    Steele was in an impasse.

    He wanted to get this done and over with and yet Jin was making this whole challenge as if it was some kind of sick joke that he wanted to y. Little did he know that as Jin was doing all those stupid shing of lights, there were movements at the warehouse.

    "Ready to lock on," Diaz said as she wiggled her arms a little.

    "Same." Click felt that it had been ages since she was back online,

    "I got the furthest one in my sight," Tellie said as she was dying to get the first blood as a sniper.

    "Just use the lock on feature, they are near enough." Page replied.

    "This is a first for me. Even back in Jin''s World, I never sat on a Fortress Golem before." Lynn said as she tried to get used to the controls.

    "Lynn, you lock on first and the rest will follow suit. But be quick, the window is getting smaller." Yinn said to amodate her but in no time, Lynn was able to do just that and the Mechanoids simultaneously had the targets too.

    Suddenly, at least half of the nes that were flying had detected lock on status on them and that startled them before they started to break away from the circling formation. Yet, that startle was more than enough time for the Mechanoids to send missiles flying towards them.

    "Where do theye from??!" The pilots shouted as they tried to shoot their res to avoid the missiles but a few of those missiles had adjustment boosters that allowed them to turn around and aim at their target once more. At least 4 nes had been destroyed that way and they did not know where the missiles came from.

    To make things worse, Jin suddenly stopped all that flood lights shing and asked Cloudie to move into the airspace immediately. At this moment, more lock ons happened and the nes did not know whether to protect themselves or destroy the helicarrier.

    Seeing how those missiles came from the back initially, they had decided to move upwards as a group but the chatters were immensely crowded with 16 over pilots'' indecisiveness had forced the fleet to be not focused. This cost them their lives in this particr night battle as those missiles now came raining at them with even more missiles causing head on collisions to happen.

    By the time the remaining pilots broke away from the fight, they were left with half while the Helicarrier continued its way into the airspace without any impediment. That was when the Grey Bear Mechanoids removed the shoulder missileunchers and switched them out for the artillery gun barrels. They quickly helped each other to load them and started firing at certain key locations as dictated by the System.

    With the Floating Sky Station, the video satellite feeds had given the System sufficient information on where to rain hell from. All the temporary equipment outposts were destroyed in the first wave of attack before they targeted stationary defence turrets which could be a menace to the Helicarrier.

    "What are all of you doing? Get the helicarrier down as soon as possible!" Steele said but none of the fighter jet pilots were responding and instead, all of their chatter was talking about dogfights. That was when the radar sweep happened again and the tactical officers reported that there were more than 30 over bogeys.

    "How did that happen? Where did theye from? Why the other air defence stations did not catch it?" Steele did not know that Jin had purposely programmed the AI to fly vertically above the helicarrier at multiple intervals. Without pilots, the AI driven nes can be smaller in size, and the helicarrier can block their radar signal since Denise told them how their detection works and they reverse engineer a way to reduce the signal. Not to mention, the System was also helping to control AI nes so, however fast or slow or what kind of manoeuvres the nes did, the System was doing it in such a refined manner, that they could not detect it.

    That was why the first barrage of missiles had toe from behind the nes and with the cover of night so that they had no idea where it came from at first. This confusion allowed the System who was controlling the AI nes to swoop down and clean up the rest. It was a

    "We have no idea, sir." The officers said as they remained helpless as pilots were systematically killed one by one.

    "Our air defence system is being targeted by bombardment as well!" One of the tactical officers said and Steele asked where it came from.

    "We are still evaluating the situation!" Little did they know that the ''construction'' equipment were also covered with anti radar cloth which reduced the chance of being detected. Of course, the heat from their artillery barrel would eventually give them away but for now, they were safe and people would think that those ''Mechanoid Armour'' were part of the fight against Jin.

    At the same time, when chaos ensued in the internal defences of Bearling, Jin had something even more sinister prepared. The Helicarrier might not be able to carry bombs but what Jin had stuffed inside that even mind boggled Cloudie was something that he could not think of. Perhaps, if Jin could really pull this off, he might be changing how fights could be done in the future.

 Chapter 1779 King Of Bearling -Part 17

    <h4>Chapter 1779 King Of Bearling -Part 17</h4>

    "I leave the timing and targets to you," Jin said as he pressed the button to release the Helicarrier''s cargo door bays. He was confident that the System was able to pinpoint the targets that needed to be destroyed.

    "Noted, the System had spotted potential targets for attack." The System replied and Jin''s holographic console had been filled with the targets in such a way that it was impossible for Jin to identify them even with his Inverse Eyes.

    "Then let''s get all these babies to fly!" Jin said as he turned to the other portion of his holographic console where there was a list of mechanical names for the challenger to choose from. As he and the System was the one who had coordinated the packing of the items into the helicarrier, the top of the list were the ones closest to the cargo bay.

    Cloudie could not help but look behind for a moment as he saw all the mechanical drones stered with C4 explosives had been switched on. For a moment, he had forgotten that the helicarrier was a walking timebomb considering all the amount of C4 explosives packed into a drone could already destroy the helicarrier and he had at least 30 over of such drones inside... Or that was what he thought.

    "Erm, do we have 30 over drones inside the helicarrier?" Cloudie decided to check and Jin looked at him puzzled.

    "Does this look like it''s 30 over drones to you? My list indicated 88 of them. Too bad I could not squeeze another 2 more inside."

    "AhбнI remembered now why you asked me to go in via the air duct above the cockpit insteadбн" Cloudie sighed as he could not believe Jin could squeeze that many in his helicarrier. But it was also at that point where Cloudie thought of the worst that could happen if his helicarrier''s shields were to be prated. "Is that why Diamondz was so insistent on upgrading my helicarrier''s shield modules? Would that mean that if this aircraft would everбн"

    "Cloudieбн Concentrate. Don''t think of the possible consequences." Jin said as he turned on the next batch of drones. In the meantime, the System had already confirmed the targets and those nearest to the cargo bay had already been dispatched into the city.

    Because of the nature of the drone, it would be destroyed almost immediately upon identifying the target. Thus, the drone was made to be sturdy enough for flight, an AI chip that controls the flight and some evasive manoeuvre. The rest of the body was stered with C4 explosives so that they could make a good firework for Jin to watch from the Helicarrier above.

    Which it eventually did.

    The soldiers tried to shoot down the helicarrier that wasing as well as those manning the anti air guns but those were the very first targets that the drones, partially covered in darkness, had flown towards. Their explosions would render the anti air to be taken down andter the System targeted the soldiers with RPGs andter tanks.

    The priority list was to take down all the high level equipment that the Royal Guards had put out just so that there were lesser things to worry about when the Fortress Golems came into the picture or when Jin entered the fray.

    When they knew that a sufficient amount of anti air defences had been taken out, Jin asked the System with regards to dogfights that were happening above them. "Number superiority had been ensured and the System analysed they would be too busy to bother on the helicarrier. Needless to say, the AI nes would prioritise the protection of the helicarrier as it proceeds to the next phase."

    "Alright, then Cloudie. Time to work your magic in flying once more. After which, you can return back with the new callsign assigned to you. This way, the airspace should be avable to you once the helicarrier has done its part for the operation."

    "You sure, you do not need me to hang around?"

    "And be easy prey for potential Mecha Dragons? Nah."

    "Wait what? There will be Mecha Fire Dragons around?" Cloudie asked and Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "The possibility is there and we had ruled that the Queen would do anything and everything to retain her sovereignty. I would not be surprised I see more than 10 Mecha Dragons if she was so confident to bring out that condition where I will be her ''ve'' when the challenge is over."

    "The AI nes are ready to defend for the second phase." The System said and Jinmanded Cloudie to move to the second phase. Because of the number of drones that were inside the helicarrier, by allowing drones to move batch by batch would eventually enable the enemy to understand what was going on. Right now, Jin had the shock factor with him and he had to utilise it before the soldiers knew what was going on exactly.

    If they had snipers that could bring down the drones, it would be a waste of effort to bring them from Daimon City to Bearling City. So, in the second phase, Cloudie would be performing the very same manoeuvre that he had used when he was flying the Grey Bear Squad over the monster outbreak on the Western Front. His vertical climb trick had enabled Tellie to destroy the Monster Lure Pir and get out of there safely.

    Thus, he was doing the very same thing but this time, it was not for Jin to snipe anything down but it was to let the drones which were in his helicarrier free fall the moment he did the vertical climb. At that point, the System would use the AI nes to protect Cloudie''s aircraft and ensure that he would be able to get away safely after that.

    This also means that Jin would be thest ''item'' to drop out of the ne, allowing him to have a diving attack against anything that seemed the most dangerous once the explosive drones had their job.

 Chapter 1780 King Of Bearling -Part 18

    <h4>Chapter 1780 King Of Bearling -Part 18</h4>

    "Here we go!" Cloudie started an ascent as they reached close to Bearling Pce. His manoeuvre had also forced the Grey Bears to stop bombarding the area for a moment in case there were idental misfiring which might hit the helicarrier.

    When the vertical climb happened, the drones started to fall out of the cargo bay and even if they did not, they were being controlled by the System to get out of it. From afar, it looked as if someone was sprinkling salt onto the city, but in actual fact, the one that got salted was the Bearling Military Defence Force.

    Multiple explosions happened at the same time and no one even knew how to react it. Those explosions subsequently triggered secondary explosions from the reserved ammunition stock that was lying around as part of the defence strategy to fill up their ammunition quickly. Without the Bearling City''s Air Force to stop the helicarrier and the explosive drones, the entire frontline which was lined with veteran soldiers and mechanoids that were supposed to make up the bulk of the defence against Jin had been decimated.

    When the Royal Guards Leader Steele saw the scene, he could not believe his eyes. He was not expecting Jin to pull out such extensive firepower against his frontline just like that. He thought that he might bring some nes with him as well as a few bunker buster bombs or maybe anti personnel bombs.

    So, Steele had made sure that the frontline was wellyered for the impending attack. He never had thought that Jin could be so brazen to bring up such bizarre tactics to hide the number of nes and have explosive drones hidden in the helicarrier.

    The amount of damage he had predicted had been thrown out of the window by Jin''s way of performing his assault and this was when he had decided to bring out the Mechanoid Armour which he had been keeping in case for backup. Steele never expected to use it so soon but now that the frontline had disappeared right in front of him, there was no choice but to dispatch them.

    There were still a few explosive drones that were lingering around and the moment those Mechanoid Armour came out, they headed straight to it. Thankfully, this was one of the top models by Rocketeers which included a shield module too and Steele was confident that those explosive drones did not do too much against the Mechanoid Armour.

    But what they did not expect was that by sending out those Mechanoid Armours so soon to cover the frontline, they became an instant priority for Jin to crush them into broken debris. There was nothing so satisfying for Jin to use his demigorgon swords and a little of Byakko''s Lightning Techniques to push through two huge Mechanoid Armour''s shields and cut both of them into two. Gravity did most of the work and Jin did not have to worry much despite the fact that the remaining three Mechanoid Armour reacted quickly by moving away from the explosions.

    They were already spraying their miniguns at him but his inverse eyes enabled him to take the shortest route possible to destroy the nearest Mechanoid Armour near him. But what he did not expect was that there were already assassins positioned around the corner to ambush him when it happened. They purposely waited until Jin had confidently destroyed one of the Mechanoid Armour before they pounced on him.

    However, they have no idea that Jin''s Inverse Eyes had already identified the threats including the help of the System. And what they did not know was that Jin was purposely waiting for them so that when they came, he could use them as human shields against the mini gun attacks that were trailing a few centimetres away from him.

    The Mechanoid Armour stopped shooting once it realised that it had killed a friendly but that was more than enough time for Jin to use his demigorgon swords and throw them towards the Mechanoid Armour, piercing it and breaking the power core for one of them. Thest Mechanoid Armour decided to charge with theser knife that it was equipped with while blowing methrower at the challenger.

    Yet once more, Jin utilised Byakko''s lightning techniques to do a lightning sh step to not only decapacitate the mechanoid pilot driving the Armour, but he also killed an assassin attempting to support the Mechanoid Armour from the back. All this was done while grabbing the sword that he had thrown at the previous Mechanoid Armour.

    Seeing how fast Jin could move, the Assassins knew that speed and strength were not something they could win and thus they decided to y dirty and threw a poison gas grenades while attempting to block Jin from running away.

    "Seriously, that is all they could think of?" Jin said as he swung his demigorgon swords while imbuing it with Wind Maqi, spreading the poisonous gas away from him and sweeping it at the Royal Guards who were now attempting to surround him and create a choke point.

    The assassins have no idea Jin was able to manipte and create such a strong gust of wind and it was toote at least for the first row of Royal Guards to react to wear the masks, choking them and injuring the guards in the front line.? It was then, the assassins decided to send be reckless with their lives as atonement for the mistake they did and charged towards him, hoping that they could at least hold him down and a sniper of theirs could take him.

    They were so wrong as never had they expect Jin to be this strong. It did not take long for Shai to finally admit that their regr Royal Assassins were not even a match for Jin and told them not to waste any more of their lives. "Send Elite Alpha and Elite Sigma in. The rest, cover for support."

    "Don''t you think you should let me handle him instead?"Steele asked and Shai shook her head.

    "It''s the pride of the assassins on the line. Especially after that blunder that happened, killing your Royal Guards by ident. If need be, I will go in too."

 Chapter 1781 King of Bearling -Part 19

    <h4>Chapter 1781 King of Bearling -Part 19</h4>

    When Shai gave themand in the War Room, the rest of the assassins had already moved away from Jin but the Royal Guards were not giving any quarters for Jin to move forward into the Bearling Pce.

    "Do you need us toe in?" Yinn asked Jin through the System intes as Jin stayed where he was since the Royal Guards were not shooting at him either.

    "No. You guys have not been found yet?" Jin was worried that they were already engaged with the enemy.

    "Don''t seem like it. We even asked the System if there were any movements that would lead us to this way. But there are none at the moment. Even the War Train had yet to be deployed."

    "Yeah, Commander. You want us toe in since you are already at Bearling Pce''s front door?" Diaz wanted a confirmation. "Probably all the chaos and explosion had made them forget about us."

    "Not just the War Train but the Rocketeers Mechanoids were not deployed too. It looks like they either gave up trying to wear you down with cannon fodder and bring the big guns to you orбн. They just forgot about those Mechanoids. Teehee!" Click said as she was checking on the power cores that had been installed on her, fearing that they never get to seebat.

    "The Anti Radar Cloak is extremely useful. Commander, I would like to have one customised next time."

    "You guys keep yapping in the System Channel while I am facing opponents. Sure have it easy huh?"

    "I fear that we might not." Page''s tone changed as they asked everyone to check the System''s Floating Sky Station video feed. "The airspace is opened. And not just one strip like they did for Jin. The entire airspace had been cleared."

    "Shitttбн." Diaz said in the channel.

    "Alright, we will see to those Mecha Dragons. Jin, you concentrate on going into the Pce. Leave the outside to us." Yinn said as the main channel got switched off and the rest discussed what to do next while still hiding themselves.

    In the meantime, as Jin continued to be in an impasse with the Royal Guards, two pairs of high heels were heard tapping on the marbled floor of the Bearling Pce as if they owned the ce. The louder those heels were, the Royal Guards immediately opened up a way for them toe in.

    However, Jin was not going to wait for some big reveal. The moment he saw there was a small opening, he instantly activated Byakko''s lightning sh step to rush through. But just as he was to zoom passed everything, he noticed that right in front of him was aser mounted web that had been brought out to stop him in his tracks.

    They seemed confident that Jin could only move past them in a straight line until they saw that he was able to zig zag out of the way and stepped away. That was when the Royal Assassins put up n B and more of thoseser mount webs emerged.

    "No wonder they are not attacking me, they are buying time to put these webs up." Jin knew that it would be stupid for him to move any further and thus he stopped. "Finally trapped in our web?" The heels turned back and came closer to Jin.

    They were d not in leather armour as those Royal Assassins Jin had seen. Instead, they were wearing heavy armour while walking in high heels. If he had not known any better, Jin might have thought that they were influenced by some gaming stereotype. Yet, this proved to the challenger for the crown that these two assassins were able to control their weight and posture to the point that their heavy chest armour was not an issue to them despite the high heels.

    "Not really. I just felt that it was stupid to move any further. So, I decided something else. Bye." Jin said as he tapped his swords on the marble floor and it started to give way. Without using much Maqi, Jin was able to make the floor around him disintegrate, allowing him to fall through and into the basement.

    He did not think that it would be a long fall but he went through until he reached the bottom and the two Royal Assassins were cursing because of this actions. They did not believe that he would rather not fight them and make do a hide and seek.

    Jin thought it was funny how he had managed to run away from them as he attempted tond properly once he saw that there was a light at the end of his fall. The only problem with that was he had not realised he jumped out of the pot and into the frying pan.

    As hended, he noticed that the setup of the room was simr to what Daimon Military War Room hadбнuntil it clicked on him that he had identally stumbled into the Bearling Military War Room within the Bearling Pce.

    Steele and Shai were there, stunned by the appearance of Jining down from their roof. And the rest of the tactical officers moved away as they tried to instinctively reach out for their pistols either from the desks or from their waists.

    "Oh shitбн." Jin thought to himself as he decided that this was now the time to make good use of explosive Maqi instead. Thus, rather than tapping his demigorgon swords, he mmed it down causing a loud booming effect, destroying theputers in the War Room, and attempted to move out of the room.

    Needless to say, that was a futile try as Shai, the Leader of their Royal Assassins stopped him from moving out, by cing anotherser web at the only door in the War Room.

    "Sheesh! Stop it with all theseser webs!" Jin went full brute force and broke the wall right beside the door with the help of Yellow Panda Rock Energy and Red Panda Fire Energybined together.

 Chapter 1782 King Of Bearling -Part 20

    <h4>Chapter 1782 King Of Bearling -Part 20</h4>

    "Those Mecha Dragonsбнthey are really here." One of the Bearling Military soldiers said as they were ushering the remaining citizens who were still in Bearling City to get out of the area. The citizens of Bearling saw the scene as well when those Mecha Dragons flew low into their city.

    The roar that apanied the huge mechanical bodies and the terrifying wing span caused the citizens to tremble in fear. They had no idea if any of them were to swoop down and eat them up. The Bearling Soldiers tried their best to keep the public as calm as they could but they were equally scared too not knowing and afraid that they might identally shoot at them.

    The officers in the meantime tried to calm the public down, stating that there was still the city''s barrier that was protecting the public from any harm. Unfortunately, that statement became null when one of the Mecha Dragons descended a tad too low and scratched the city''s barrier causing even more panic among people that they stopped listening to the officers and started running amok.

    This caught one of the Mecha Dragon''s attention, causing it to be curious enough to start scratching the barrier even more before it started to follow the rest of the dragon horde that it came with. Apparently, they were more attracted to the smoke and fire that had happened at the front of Bearling Pce as it started to prowl around as if it owned the ce.

    The Royal Guards were in shock to see an entire horde of these Mecha Dragons walking around toppling the buildings, crushing every vehicle they saw and even throwing them around as if they were toys. There was even a duo who started to fight among each other until an even bigger Mecha Dragon yelled, forcing them to break up the quarrel between them.

    "What? Mecha Dragons emerged and started to walk around Bearling Pce as their own?" Steele was still able to get some reception despite what Jin had done to the room. As much as he wanted to chase after Jin, he trusted that Shai would be able to do that and it was imperative he solved this particr issue of the Mecha Dragons first before anything else.

    After all, he saw how Jin acted and it did not look as if he was not out for blood. He would kill and yet he rather not since his main objective was after all the King and Queen of the Empire.

    "Your Highness, Why are there Mecha Dragons in the city? They are scaring not just the citizens that are evacuating but also destroying the buildings whenever they please."

    "They are there because you fail to stop Jin. Now get Jin out to the city centre and let the Mecha Dragons stop him, kill him and brutalise him for all the humiliation I had to suffer because of that kid!" Queen Thessalia said as she mmed the table to curse.

    She did not realise how ipetent her assassins and guards could be just fighting one particr person. Sure, he might have killed the Great Reality Blender with just one Mechanoid. But so what? That does not prove anything. Surrounding the man with enough Mechanoids and soldiers, he would die from exhaustion or carelessness.

    But now she had control of all the Mecha Dragons that she had ever built to be flown into Bearling Pce. As long as Jin had been flushed out of the Pce and into the city centre, he would not be able to ignore the Mecha Dragons.

    "Huh, maybe I taunt him a little." The Queen said as she looked at the sight of those dragons walking around in boredom. Thus, Thessalia opened themunication channels throughout the entire Pce. "Jin. The Mecha Dragons are waiting for you. Come out to the city centre and put them down."

    "Or else what? You will tell those dragons to kill your own citizens? I dare you to try there and see what would happen next to you." Jin proimed through the channel where each and every single soldier and Mechanoid in Bearling Pce heard it. At the same time, he was broadcasting the whole situation to Daimon''s public broadcast. Denise noticed it immediately and forwarded the signal to every news outlet within the Empire and they were extremely eager to cover the challenge between Jin and the? Empire Royals.

    "Or else, we will tell people that you are a fraud. You cannot defeat those Mecha Dragons."

    "Then what about those dead ones in Parry City? How are you going to formte an excuse for that?" Besides, I do not get it. If you want to stop me, you should get the Mecha Dragons here first rather than asking me toe out when I am already running around in your Pce ying hide and seek with your Royal Assassins. Yikes!" Jin said as he dodged one of the knives thrown by Shai.? It then exploded upon deflection but Jin was able to use the lightning sh step once more to put more distance away from the assassin so that he could trash talk the Queen.

    "Fine. If it is that way, I shall get one of the dragons to scrap thend and spew fire into the basement, killing you with it as well."

    "As well as your subjects who are working hard for you under the basement?"

    "If you are dead, that would be the best sacrifice they can give to the crown." Queen Thessalia said and Jin sighed.

    "You know, I think you had been sitting on your high horse for too long that you had forgotten that you could be ousted," Jin said. "As the challenger to the crown, I hereby renew my pledge to put you down and take the throne for a better tomorrow."

    "You do not have the capability." Queen Thessalia said as she chose one of the Mecha Fire Dragons and ordered it to dig the Bearling Pce''s Garden. This was to follow through with her threat that she would kill Jin no matter the cost.

    But the moment she attempted to control the Mecha Fire Dragon, it was not only ignoring her orders but their eyes seemed to glow as one of the Mecha Dragons started to roar loudly. "What is happening, why are they not listening?" The Queen asked the Rocketeer technician who was supposed to be troubleshooting the brand new device that she was holding to tame the Mecha Dragons.

    "Erm with your permission, let me try to take a look." The Rocketeer Technician cursed as this was an extremely rushed product that the Queen demanded to be done within a day. It was not possible tobine all the control devices for each Mecha Dragon into one particr device and subsequent interface.

    All they could do was to link all the control devices into one superuser device but that was the limit of what they were able to do in a day. Without consideration of what would happen if you put too many Mecha dragons in one city, they only abide by the Queen''s whims and demands.

    Never did they know, it would be one of the greatest disasters the Empire could suffer.

 Chapter 1783 King Of Bearling -Part 21

    "Well? Why am I not able to control the Mecha Dragons?" The Queen asked once more and this frustrated and at the same time made the technician panic. He could not figure it out at all especially when he was being called at the veryst minute to assist in this project. It was only now that he realised his project leads were lying to him.

    "Oh it will be easy, there would not be any problems since we just mash all the controls into one interface. How about you go and introduce yourself to the Queen? Perhaps you could make a good impression on her and when things die down, she might even recognise you and promotion would be the only thing you could not stop thinking about!" Those shbacks continued through the technician''s head as he checked that everything was within working parameters.

    The interface was working and there was nothing wrong with the programming at all. Yet, it showed a different story outside of the pce''s windows. The technician then did the simplest of fixes, turn off the device and turn it back on again.

    However, he unknowingly made a fatal mistake. As he turned the device and interface off, the AI logic circuits for the Mecha Dragons took over aggressively and one of thergest dragons that they had ever built immediately took reign of the situation, causing all of the other Mecha dragons to be league with this particrly huge Mecha dragon instead.

    The Technician then realised those devices when turned on could not be connected to any of the Mecha Dragons instead. It was at that moment he knew he fucked up. "There are some connection problems possibly due to the interference or maybe damage to the cables in the area." The technician had decided to lie his way through. "Let me go get a few tools quickly that I had left in the maintenance vehicle."

    The Queen felt irritated and told him to go quickly while asking the Royal Guards to apany him in case Jin suddenly pops out of nowhere. "Your Highness, it is okay...its alright. You do not need to bother about me. I know my way around for I had been to Bearling Pce to deal with the Mechanoids. Besides, taking your Royal Guards away from your protectionбнif anything happens to you because of the need to protect me, Rocketeers Corp would definitely kill me."

    "I do not need your sweet talk right now. Hurry now to your vehicle and get this sted device sorted out." The Queen said but in reality, the technician was going back to the vehicle because that was where he left his side arm. He knew that there would be death or imprisonment and with the Mecha Dragons roaming outside, there was no way out of this situation.

    He was not some super powered individual like Jin. All he could do was to at least die on his own terms. Besides, realising that he had been the scapegoat for this entire project, it was unlikely that he would make it out alive in the following weeks once the Queen had survived or Jin turned as the winner. All he knew was it was better to be dead than to be alive.

    Thus, without an armed escort, he returned to the vehicle, opened his glovepartments, and took out a pistol. He transferred all his money and points to his next of kin and subsequently made sure that he had loaded his bullets.

    "Alright. Let''s not waste any time." the Rocketeer Technician said as he cocked the gun and ced it under his chin. Tears involuntarily flowed out of him but that was inevitable since who would like to have their own life away just like that? It was not as if he had done something wrong. He was just at the wrong ce, at the wrong time, and wrong circumstances.

    But apparently, it was the wrong decision to take as seemingly devised by the Almighty when there was a loud explosion that rocked the back of the van, causing the vehicle to flip and the Technician missed his shot to the chin.

    Being upside down and semi unconscious, he could hear two people shing their swords together in a fast moving sword duel. It was not long before he could assimte the information that it was Jin who had been battling someone due to his signature (or Byakko''s signature) lightning attacks scattering around the area.

    At that point, the Technician unknowingly slipped into temporary darkness and narrowingly escaped the potential choice of death for a little while longer than he expected. Just not for Jin as he realised that this particr female assassin was not just good with dirty tricks but she had the strength to back it up as well.

    Her choice of weapons was simply daggers but they were deadly enough that if Jin did not dodge far away or did not parry, he would be cut. And when he got cut, he noticed that there were actually poisons imbued into the daggers. If not for his Maqi, he would have already been knocked out a long time ago.

    This was why Shai was annoyed that Jin couldst this long. Even a small prick from her dagger, Jin should already be receiving a mixture of over 69 toxins running through his body. Even monsters have difficulty handling them unless they are known to have poison resistance or immunity. Still, those with supposed poison immunity would also show some sort of effect like slowing down of reflexes as such. But such tricks did not work on the Three Winged Angel Dungeon''s mini bosses as they shrugged off the poison as if it was part of their daily meal.

    Yet those were for monsters, and so far in her career, no human could ever tolerate this kind of toxin mixture. Even Mechanoids who received damage from this would at least be paralysed since there were toxins that had been synthesised to break the electrical discharge within their body.

    And here she had Jin.

 Chapter 1784 King Of Bearling -Part 22

    "If a few cuts are not enough, then I make sure more cuts go through!" Shai thought to herself but the limit of her stamina was beginning to show. As an assassin, the most important thing was to make sure that the enemy would be killed within the first minute of their strike. They are meant to be precise and fast to give the blow.

    Yet those things had been foiled by Jin multiple times despite Shai giving her best shot at it. She was obviously no match against Jin and could only hope that the toxins would make it happen for her. Meanwhile, the System analysed the toxin that had gone into Jin''s body and told him a surprisingly good fact.

    "The System found that within the toxin, there were 69 poisonous ingredients within it. However, if the User were to iste two of such toxins, the remaining 67 toxins when mixed together could actually bring benefits to the user, especially when ites to clearing the meridians."

    "Urgh, and you expect me to do this while fighting with this assassin?" Jin said to the System but in reality, he was already subconsciously breaking the toxin down with his Maqi.

    "The System does not expect you to do the impossible but this is possible for you, especially with the help of your healing бнfactor. Iste these two particr toxins and let your healing factor do the job. The rest of the toxins would then be able to flow through your meridians and clean it up for you so that you will feel refreshed after this."

    "URghhh okay," Jin said as he did what was told by the System as he took a step back and broke off the fight. It was a small boon for the assassin leader as she could finally catch her breath. Anyter and it was possible that she might go into a state of hypoxia.

    Yet, that time was crucial for Jin as he was consistently fighting against the poison mixture and was searching for the two toxinpartments with the aid of his Maqi. Shai saw the change of expression on his face and thought that perhaps the toxin was indeed effective against him, it just needed more time and perhaps arger dose.

    This created confidence for Shai as she now believed that killing Jin was a possible feat. He merely had a high resistance to poison or they worked too slow against him. If anything, she respected him, and perhaps with his corpse, she might be able to formte and create a brand new toxin that could be ideally the ultimate toxin ever.

    Yet unbeknownst to her, the System was already putting out methods for Jin to try and how he could manipte his Maqi at a molecr level. This not only improves his control of Maqi in a highly tense situation but also ensures that he can do it consistently in a fight too.

    "The two toxins had been isted. Released them now." The System said and Jin immediately took the opportunity to beat his abdomen acupoint, causing him to vomit instantly. Dark green sputum emerged out from his mouth and Shai felt even more confident that she had the winning form to this fight.

    All she had to do was to insert even more toxins into him.

    Yet, when she started to put her foot forward, Jin disappeared. He was not even using the lightning sh step that he always showed to escape. This time, he was merely too fast for the eye to catch. It was as if when she blinked, he used that amount of time to move to a different location.

    And this drop in her guard had nearly cost her life as she saw Jin stabbing her with her own dagger, right through her heart. "You think the toxin or this stab can kill me? And I am not dead yet." Shai said as she barely managed to use her assassin techniques to move her heart away from the stab just in time. It was an internal muscle technique that most of her elite assassins had mastered. To relocate their heart or other internal organs, the muscles might be damaged but their vital organs would not be injured.

    "Oh, but you sure will be after I do this," Jin said as he held Shai''s head and mmed her to the wall. After which, he twisted the dagger and mes emerged from the wound, subsequently through her orifices andter burning of her muscle andter skin.

    "Your toxin is unusually mmable and also quite nourishing. Well after removing two toxins from the equation." Jin said as he twisted his dagger once more, setting her body into mes.

    "Whatбн?" Shai could not talk as her mouth was spewing with residual fire from Jin. Her brain was being burnt alive and she could not understand how the situation turned from ''kible ''to ''its impossible. She had no idea what had happened as she was being burned alive but her other Royal Assassins who were quietly watching the show finally took action to save their leader.

    The only problem with that was Jin who had been cleansed by the beneficial toxins was not only clear minded but had an excess of Maqi within him that enabled him to boost himself with Green Wind Panda Energy and cut the rest down in a seamless flow of movement. It was as if he had temporarily gained perfect rity for a short duration as the beneficial toxins ran through his body.

    When he was done putting the other Royal Assassins down, Shai was already burning from the inside out. Her muscles had been melted down by the mix of fire and poison, emitting a foul smell that would even awaken a sleepingzy Panda for him to move away from it.

    "I am guessing the real threats are the Mecha Dragons. Not the Royal Guards and Assassins after all. I had overestimated them by a huge margin." Jin said as he swung his sword to remove any excess blood but it seemed like the Demigorgon was happily absorbing the rest, making it clean once more.

 Chapter 1785 King Of Bearling -Part 23

    ?

    Steele finally reached the ground floor when he saw the mess Jin had made but instead of fighting against him, the leader of the Royal Guard threw his sword on the ground. "Lord Jin, listen to me."

    "How can I listen when those two huge chest tes assassins are behind you, waiting to pounce on me whenever they have the chance to get their revenge? Their eyes are hungry for blood." Jin said as he raised his demigorgon sword and pointed at him instead.

    However, in a show of good faith, Steele turned back and punched the Elite Alpha causing her to be knocked back and Elite Sigma had to catch her before she crashed into a wall. The two assassins looked at Steele and he emitted an aura as if not to mess with him.

    "In ordance with the rules set by Bearling Pce, if either the leader of the Royal Assassin or Royal Guard had fallen, the other will take charge. Have you forgotten that rule?"

    "But Sir Steele! He killed Shai and now your actions deemed you as a traitor for dropping your sword in front of the enemy." Elite Sigma said as she pressed a button to drop the heavy armour chest piece to reveal an armament Jin would never expect. It was robotic in nature but he was pretty sure that it was like a centipede kind of weapon that would be used to bite on people''s flesh.

    "Sigma. I am not saying I am surrendering to that enemy. I am asking you to look at the bigger picture right now. You saw how those Mecha Dragons are being rampant in Bearling City."

    "Aren''t they just yelling and what so ever?" Alpha stood up and released her armoured chest piece as well to reveal the very same robotic armament but they were snake like in nature. It seemed as if they were willing to attack Steele for the punch he did to them just now.

    "They had attacked Bearling Central Train Station." Steele immediately sent the video feed to them and the Mecha Dragons indeed turned rogue and started to bite through the city barriers.

    "The Royal Guards had already been mobilised to the scene as fast as they could to facilitate the evacuation but they had been targeted by other Mecha Dragons as well."

    "Syn, stupid question. If I kill the Queen now and initiate an early Armageddon, can those Mecha Dragons disappear in a sh as well?" Jin asked as Steele was exining the situation to them.

    "Unfortunately, no. Your coronation to the crown is needed after the death of the Royals. Only once the Empire had recognised you and the im to the crown after that official event, the Empire''s priest would then bring you to a sacred tower where they would allow the officialmencement of the meeting with the Almighty."

    "You made the rules, why can''t you shorten it?" Jin said and Syn wished he couldugh.

    "Take this as a chance to save Bearling City from their plight. This will inevitably increase your favourability with them, just as how you got the support of Daimon City when you defended them from the outbreak and subsequently the killing of the Mecha Fire Dragons." Syn said and Jin shook his head as he put his arms at his waist.

    "How many Dragons are there?"

    "Twelve. We are not sure if there are any more flying in. The Queen is not answering my calls."

    "Are they all Fire Dragons?" Jin asked and Steele checked what the Tactical Officers had gathered and shook his head.

    "No. There are a mix of Dragon types. In fact, there is an absence of Fire Dragons."

    "Have you estimated their power capabilities?" Jin asked again as he requested the System to give him an overview of where the Mecha Dragons were.

    "It seems that most of them are an equivalent of the ''Fira'' Dragon you fought except for the big bad one who appeared to be a notch above." When Jin heard that, it seemed like Steele knew the existence of the Mecha dragons. He had also been watching the news closely with regard to the Jin''s subjugation of the Mecha Fire Dragons in Parry City and had not turned a blind eye to it.

    "Is that why you say you are not sure if there are any more flying in? Since you knew that they are currently at the power level of a ''Fira'' Dragon." Jin asked and Steele gave a quiet but reluctant yes. Even the two Elites Royal Assassins could not believe their ears when they heard that more might be flying in.

    "Then aren''t the other cities going to do anything about it? What''s the cause of their rampage? Surely the queen is sane enough to not let those monsters crawl around as if they own the ce."

    "From what Ist heard, the Queen demanded the manufacturing corporation of the Mecha Dragons to give her a control all switch, an interface that will keep all of them in check. With the Queen not answering my calls, I can only hazard the interface did not work and the technician deemed to be unconscious for questioning." Steele said as he pointed at the truck with the casualty inside.

    "What the hell, then just rescue him and ask him personally. What are you guys doing? Am I that important that civilians would be damned?" Jin said as he took his demigorgon sword and cut open the front ss of the van, slowly pulling him out of the wreckage.

    "The technician is still breathing. That''s a good step one." Jin said as he pulled the technician''s buttons off and checked if there were any external injuries before cing his palm on him and starting to transfer some Maqi.

    He might not be efficient in healing like Milk but he got some knowledge of the anatomy after being stabbed, damaged, and internal bleeding so many times as well as from understanding his chi and mana circuits. So, with a quick infusion of Maqi, the person was ''salvageable''.

 Chapter 1786 King Of Bearling -Part 24

    ?

    "The nearestbat medic would take some time toe. The technician can take some of our medication, it aids with recovery but we are not sure how effective it will be on him since it might be a little too strong." Sigma offered but Jin refused.

    "It''s fine, I can handle this. Give me some time and please no backstabbing. Thanks," Jin said as Alpha gave a short snort at his request. "Overall condition seems fine. System, you see anything major?" He asked in his head for his version of almighty to give a verdict.

    "Other than a minor concussion and a few bruises, the System does not believe that he had any physical injury, based on the pattern of the Maqi that was travelling through him." The System reported.

    "Then I guess, it''s time to jolt him up," Jin said as he turned the Maqi into electric currents. If the toxin istion exercise was of any use, this was another application of it. Using offensive magic to the lowest possible energy so that when he jolts the Technician up, there should not be any problems with it.

    Steele and the two Elite Assassins saw how Jin acted something like a defibritor, shocking the technician up from his unconsciousness. By pulsating his electrical Maqi, it massaged the brain and forced the technician toe back to life. (Author''s notes: Please note that in real life, a defibritor does not act that way. Do not shock someone in aa like state and read the instructions to use it properly.)

    "Oh my -cough cough cough" The Technician woke up in a fit and found himself surrounded by an unusual group of people which should not be mixed together. How could oil and water be in the same container?

    "бнLord Jin?? Commander Steele? TheбнElite Assassins??!!" The Technician had a terrible time trying to make sense of the situation and thought that he had already been beyond hope. Death was not enough for him and he had to be tortured by such a waking scene.

    "We do not have time to exin why we are not at each other throats. Do you have any idea about the interface that controls the Mecha Dragons and why the Dragons are being so rampant?"

    "Noбн"

    "I sense a lie," Sigma said as she readied her centipede armament, wanting to snip away something precious belonging to the technician.

    "As inбнI did work on the interface but as ast minute temp. I have no idea why the controls were not working. But I can only suspect it is due to the interference of ego. There are too many dragons in one area and the AI logic circuits that had been created based on the Dragon''s Ego when they are alive or бнimprisoned, their Ego kicked in."

    "We thought of this as a possible consequence considering how 2nd tier dragons always havemand over the 1st tier dragons. And that big ass dragon you saw?"

    "No, I did not see any dragon yet. Just lots of roaring in the background." Jin said but Steele nodded his head.

    "That dragon is 3rd tier. Instead of creating parts and putting up a dragon altogether. The Rocketeers furnished it based on the foundation of dragon bones. I am afraid that the console interface that controls each and every individual dragon is not working because of the various 2nd tier trying to gain dominance until the 3rd tier flew in and exerted his prowess to the rest of the group."

    Even as the Technician was giving the exnation, Royal Guards and civilians were being torn into pieces but there was no choice. Themander needed to know what was happening.

    "Then why are you here? Aren''t you supposed to be at Her Highness''s side to fix this god damn thing?"

    "Becauseбнbecauseбн" Sigma''s eyes lit up as she could see the Technician was about to lie. Her robotic centipede armament began to make creepy noises with its miniature legs and the Technician finally gave up and told them the truth.

    "BECAUSE! IT IS NOT FIXABLE! Everything is working fine! The moment I try to restart their controls, the AI logic circuits probably take control due to their innate Ego. That is the only answer I could think of!"

    "If we kill the 3rd tier dragon, can you get the 2nd tier to be under control?" Jin asked and the Technician shook his head. "I am not exactly an expert in this and I am not part of theirputing development so I do not have any idea. Please let me off. I might die trying to escape but at least I won''t die facing the wrath of the Queen." The technician begged for his life and Steele sighed.

    He knew how the Queen would treat ipetent people and the victim was well aware of that as well. "Go. Run. But if the Dragons ever kill you, know that is of your own volition." Steele said and he thanked the Royal Guard Commander before limping away from them.

    "Sir, we have begun deploying the Mechanoid Armours as you requested but they need some time. The reserve tankpany is on its way as well. We tried contacting the surrounding cities and they say their military is okay to send in some additional reinforcements as well as fighter jet nes."

    "Oh yeah, where are our nes?" Jin asked the System since the Mecha Dragons had begun rampaging the city.

    "They are on standby at high altitudes, not nning to attack until themand has been given. A few dragons saw them initially but did not bother to do anything about it, especially with all themotion that was happening on the ground.

    "Then I guess we are the first wave of reinforcements," Jin said to himself before he sent an email to the Leader of the Royal Guards. "Here are the IFF codes for my Grey Bear Squad and me. Put them up and if I ever see any one of your Royal Guards or Assassin attacking us during this period of time. Consider this a done deal. I do not give a shit about your Capital and I go straight to killing the Royals."

 Chapter 1787 King of Bearling -Part 25

    <h4>Chapter 1787 King of Bearling -Part 25</h4>

    "Why are there more than seven codes in here? It is like an entire list ofбн. over 3000 men!" Royal Guard Leader Steele was stunned by this and Jin shrugged.

    "The challenge was supposed to be for me and my squad members. Now that we are pausing the challenge, I do not see why I cannot bring in more people into the fray." Jin said as he asked if the System was ready.

    "Ever Ready. Have you forgotten the timepse between the Virtual Simtion of the Synthesis World and your World?" The System reported that it had already coborated with Qiu Yue to set up yet another surprise event.

    A few of the Pandarens were in the known because there was a small advertisement banner within the Pandamonium App to show how that there was such a route during this particr beta testing that they could test it out. Not to mention, there were also Pandarens who were actively ying during the time when Jin was out there fighting against the Mecha Fire Dragons in Parry City.

    Many of them had assisted with the rescue activation and the support care that yielded them quite a fair bit of points. Some of the Pandarens even thought this was like a lesson on disaster management as a side quest which yielded positive reviews in the Pandamonium App.

    And now that Jin had made it official that he needed help for the Mecha Dragons, the small little banner at the corner of the Pandamonium App had finally been erged to the entire screen. Not to mention, the System and Qiu Yue had been consistently creating more and more of these VRs for the public to use. As they had expected, themoners were extremely interested in this VR system as they were finally able to experience what it is like to be a cultivator.

    There were even several businessmening in to ask if they could invest in it before the hype train departed. And yet, she rejected every single one of them despite knowing the amount of cash injection they could get from doing so. It was excruciating, to say the least, but sometimes this kind of business required them to be as subtle as possible if they want to go huge in expansion so thatpetitors do note knocking on their door. (Though, even if they do, it was not going to have such a huge impact since they do not even have the technology to do so.)

    "I will try my best but given how you wreaked the entire War Room,munications and-"

    "Do not give excuses when you ask for help. Just tell your guards and assassins to focus on the dragons, not humans or mechanoids." Jin said as he sheathed his sword and started to find his way out of the Bearling Pce. Despite knowing that he was at the southern part of the Bearling Pce, he checked his bearings once more with the System before asking it to establish a connection with the Grey Bears.

    "Grey Bears, change of ns. We are helping the Capital to get some shit done. The Pandarens areing in too. The Royal Guards should not be attacking any of you since the main objective at this moment would be the defeat of the Dragons."

    "Are you going to use your dungeon instance?" Yinn asked and Jin affirmed to that.

    "I will. But that is for the big guy only. I fear that he might not just be harder than the Fira Dragon we fought, but also moreбнcarnage driven. It would do anything in its power to do as much destruction as it could possibly do and without any limits either. It would be a hard fight to go against."

    "Unless you did something like how you killed Number Four. Then, that big ass punk dragon would be down in no time." Diaz said.

    "No, I am not allowing that," Lynn replied and Jinughed bitterly.

    "I have to listen to the missus. Sorry,dies." Jin replied and the rest chuckled a little.

    "So, I guess we can start fighting properly? My legs are aching just doing nothing." Diaz questioned and he shook his head.

    "While we know that there are various types of Mecha Dragons in our midst, we have yet to identify who is who. The System would probably use the AI nes as the litmus test to know which Dragon is of which element. It is then, we would be able to split you guys up and fight ording to our strengths and their weakness." Jin answered.

    "But technically speaking, most of our powers are not exactly element based. The only person who can control elements is probably Yinn with her reality blending powers." Clickmented. "Ah, perhaps Tellie? She has electrical energy sts that she can shoot out."

    "Alright, maybe not element per se but at least fight with your strengths. I can''t possibly send Diaz to fight against the Ground elemental dragon. Her bullets do jack shit to it."

    "Please,mander. They might do jack shit for a certain calibre of bullets not all of them." Diaz remarked angrily.

    "In any case, stand by first. The AI nes would do their job and we will see how this whole situation develops. Besides, you guys can''t be firing bombardments into civilian rich strongholds." Jin replied and the rest shrugged their shoulders.

    "If you give themand, we might." Page teased and Jin rolled his eyes. The System eventually gave the heads up and Jin told it tomence the operation before their nes went empty with fuel.

    The System acknowledged and separated the nes into several groups so that there were still some backups while ensuring that each and every Mecha Dragon within the vicinity would encounter at least a pair of dangerous armed birds.

    As they swoop down, the monsters already sensed their presence and understood that this was their new source of distraction which they would be d to counter.

 Chapter 1788 King Of Bearling -Part 26

    <h4>Chapter 1788 King Of Bearling -Part 26</h4>

    "Two Lightningбн Two Rock elementsбн Two Ice? ...Hmm. Three Energy based, two poison and thest big one?" Jin said as he saw the AI nes had been caught in a fury of elemental barrage from the dragons as they dived down to shoot at them. A few of the AI nes were only shooting high calibre bullets and precision missiles that aimed for the bigger body area since those dragons were too close to the civilian poption.

    The rest of the nes went all out, as they knew that their missiles and bullets could only do that much damage towards them. Not to mention, all of them have the nanobot regeneration capability especially when they were 2nd Tier Mecha Dragons.

    But at this point, pretty much almost every single AI ne had been shot down despite how the System had attempted to manoeuvre them to the best of its abilities. It had already done a great job considering how it had managed to spend all of the ammunition each and every ne had before the System used it as a diving bomb to waste more of its nanobot capabilities.

    The Royal Guards were also gathering whatever remnants of weaponry they could find so that they would damage it as much to its ability as possible. From grenadeunchers to rocketunchers and even methrowers. Some of them had the balls to run towards the Mecha Dragons and cut their feet and tails. (Or at least attempt to since how they saw Jin had managed to do it, the Royal Guards believed that they too can do it as well to a certain extent.)

    However, most of the closebat Royal Guards were killed while the ones who survived such close proximity were the Royal Assassins who had used their speed and finesse to drop C4 stic bombs, and grenades into their joints, hoping to dismantle them through their weak points.

    Until their reservepany of tanks finally came in and started to shell at them. At this point, a few of the Mecha Dragons had enough of these pests and decided to use raw power to overwhelm them. Thankfully, those tank drivers were not stupid enough to crowd in one area. They attempted to spread out so that they would not be able to get hit that easily. Sadly, most of the tanks were not strong enough to withstand their attack nor were they fast enough to move away from said attacks.

    Their armour was insufficient and the best they could do was to buy time for the remaining civilian poption to run. Yet, that thought and aim of the reserve tankpany had been crashed when the biggest, baddest Mecha Dragon stepped forth. Its wingspan was more than enough to cover the width of several buildings. And its size was so enormous that the reserve tankpany had no need to aim, all they needed to do was shoot.

    But even when they shoot, the Mecha Dragon crushes them down with brute force, and at the same time grows metal spikes throughout its body and literally ughters the remaining group with it. "Shit. That Mecha dragon reminds me of Monsta Huntaбнthe what is it called? Na Ge Gigante?"

    "Yes, it''s the Na Ge Gigante, one of the boss dragons in Monsta Hunta."

    "Then shall we code name it as Gigan Dragon? Makes it easier to hunt. The energy dragons, let''s just name them sma Dragons for simplicity''s sake and the rest to be identified with their elements." Jin said as he noticed that there was somethinging down from the skies.

    "Oh, the Pandarens are here! Woohoo!" Jin pped his hands as he noticed that thending pods seemed a little different from usual. That was when cannon shots were released from the bottom of thending pods and they were hitting any mechanical dragon they could see. The only forbidden areas were the Bearling Central Train Station where people were desperate to get out from.

    The System is also afraid that due to wind conditions and how the Dragons might react against suchnding pods, it would be unwise to shoot within or near the train station itself. The idea was to distract them and get them toe nearer to the Pce where they couldmence the battle to their earnestness.

    Also, those Landing pods do not only have cannons attached to them but as they continued to descend down, boosters had been activated and a hugence spike was poking out of the centre of the Landing pod.

    The Pandarens had already been warned that thending would be extremely tough and that they might have to bail out of thending pod the moment or before itnded on the dragon.

    Yet, most of them did not care.

    In fact, those Pandarens ced their hands on thending pod and pushed chi into it, allowing them to enhance thence spike that was diving straight at those Mecha Dragons. Corrections to the dive were also made mid air in case those Dragons decided to move away. But for now, the metal lizards had no idea that those things would hurt them badly.

    Until they got pierced by it.

    The Landing pod broke instantly from the impact, causing great damage to the monster while ejecting its passengers out of it with safety balloons just like one would have in cars. But instead of saving the humans, they were used to eject them out of it so that they do not receive the brunt of the impact.

    Some found it extremely fun as they got kicked out of theirnding pods and saw it do such significant damage to the dragons. But a number of the Pandarens had no idea that those Mecha Dragons could heal while retaliating back. For example, the Lightning Dragons got hit the worst by the Landing Pods spikes but it also discharged a sphere of electricity, frying some of the Pandarens who did not know about its abilities.

    Still, a majority were able tond safely and they did what they could to attack those dragons as wellбн Only to find out that those 2nd tier Mecha Dragons were actually more frightening than Jin had expected it to be. When he saw the scene, he realised that the Fira Dragon he fought was no doubt a halfpleted one.

 Chapter 1789 King of Bearling -Part 27

    <h4>Chapter 1789 King of Bearling -Part 27</h4>

    The Pandarens were trying to damage the Mecha Dragons with whatever they had. They saw how the dragons were able to regenerate the parts that had been destroyed or injured. In return, the Mecha Dragon would throw its breath at whatever humans it could find and sometimes sweep them away with its ws or tail.

    But the part that scared them was not because these Mecha dragons were huge. Cultivators in Jin''s dungeon store had already seen their share of scary huge monsters. What made them afraid was that when the Mecha Dragon seemed like it had enough of these pesky Pandarens poking its ass, their chest tes opened and small sized Mechanoids emerged from them.

    They initially looked like eggs but when they ''unfolded'' themselves, it was actually Mecha Dragonlings that had popped out. If it was just a few of them, the Pandarens could manage them easily. But it seemed like those dragons were able to ''print'' them in intervals and kept the Pandarens busy. The Royal Guards who finally knew that those people were here to help, did not care how they came about and assisted with the fights as well.

    Bu Dong, the Angry Ape Cultivator was one of those involved in the fight against the Dragonlings along with Yue Han, the Blind Bat cultivator. They never expected the ''monster raid'' to have phases as well. If they knew this would be a tough fight, the Pandawans would have brought even more friends with them.

    But right now, they had to handle this current fight as the Simtion points to be given out were numerous. Even just by surviving for a certain period of time gains the Pandarens these points and they were doing their best to keep at it as the Bearling military pushed for the evacuation to be faster.

    Unfortunately, with the Dragonlings as bait, the 2nd tier Mecha Dragons were able to pick their targets and kill more than the cultivators and Royal Guardsbined could do sufficient damage against it.

    It was only at that time, that the holographic consoles for the Pandarens and Royal Guards lit up, stating that heavy reinforcements wereing in. The Royal Guards initially thought that the Mechanoid Armours were already on its way but to their surprise, they saw six heavily armoured humanoid like mechs dashing out from the corner of the city and surprising the Mecha Dragons.

    To some of the cultivators who had been long time devoted customers, they saw that those humanoid like mechs were not of this world as they recognised the Fortress Golems designs even though they seemed morepact than previously seen. Bu Dong no doubt had clearly identified them as a new series in the line of Fortress Golems Jin had ever made.

    This was mainly due to his obsession with Supa Robo Wars as the Fortress Golems were the first original customed made humanoid mechs introduced into the mini game that Bu Dong and Deng Long liked so much. Jin promised that there would be a dungeon raid with them but seeing how Jin was stuck with this Virtual Reality product testing, the duo could only say that they would ride along with what Jin had created so far. Till then, they could only dream that such a dungeon raid would emerge for them to enjoy.

    Those Fortress Golems had identified their targets and went their separate ways to give each of those Mecha Dragons they were facing a huge smack on their head. Not just that, as they flew towards them (in short bursts since those golems were heavy defensive machinery) They used their inertia and weight to pierce a barrel into their bodies and fired off several shells of intense firepower, destroying their internals as the Mecha Dragons tried to push them away.

    The three Energy based Mecha Dragons suddenly disappeared the moment Yinn entered into their battlefield. Those who were in the known knew that she had the Great Reality Blender as her upgrade and she had utilised it within her Fortress Golem, teleporting them into another reality.

    Meanwhile, Diaz was the second Fortress Golem who had contact with the Dragons. She had modified her Fortress Golem to match her power upgrade. If one thinks that an artillery gun barrel stuck inside a Mecha Dragon was more than enough, Diaz would have pped the person giving such an opinion.

    Using the powers from the Throne of Greedy Hands and Estranged Cowboy, more huge mechanical hands came out from the back of Diaz'' Fortress Golem and it shafted? 8 additional barrels into the Mecha Rock Dragon''s joints and sted them off.

    The other Mecha Rock Dragon swiped away the Pandarens who were disturbing it and tried to save its fellowradeбн Only to find that those huge Mechanical hands were able to rotate and turn those 8 artillery barrels toward it.

    "Eat Lead!" Diaz said as she pushed the trigger and the artillery shells mmed into the iing Rock Dragon, causing it to drop down from the simultaneous barrage. The Fortress Golem automatically reloaded the artillery barrels, throwing the spent shells out and putting in new ones as it turned back to the original Mecha Rock Dragon and did the same thing. Instead of the joints, Diaz aimed for the chest piece and inserted the eight shots in its torso.

    "I leave the rest to you guys, Pandarens! Make sure that it is dead dead. Otherwise, give me a heads up and I wille running to help you guys again!" Diaz spoke through the loudspeaker of the Fortress Golem and proceeded to the second downed Mecha Rock Dragon.

    The only difference between the first and second one was that thetter was not going to give up that easily, eating all those lead shells once more. A huge rock formation emerged surrounding the Mecha Rock Dragon and Diaz''s Fortress Golem inside.

    "Huh, you want a one on one? Wrong choice buddy. Artillery barrels are not the only thing I brought along." Diaz said as she turned the artillery barrels and held them like baseball bats.

    Eight hand Fortress Golem versus a surviving Mecha Rock Dragon.? It seemed like Diaz needed to release more steam.

 Chapter 1790 King of Bearling -Part 28

    <h4>Chapter 1790 King of Bearling -Part 28</h4>

    "Yinn, are you sure you can handle all three Mecha sma Dragons by yourself?" Page asked as she was assigned to deal with one of the Mecha sma Dragons too.

    "Don''t worry. Most of our Fortress Golems had been tweaked to not just use our powers but amplify it as well. Besides, we are at full power since the start of this battle." Yinn said while she and her golem''s visor glowed green.

    She had ''teleported'' the three Mecha sma Dragons into a mountainous terrain. But reality can be bent and they do not have to be fixed. The night skies turned sunny which shocked the Dragons but thinking that they were far away from the city, they tried to fly away to return to the horde. However, things went awry the moment they took flight, as another copy of the mountainous terrain appeared right above them. It was as if they were trapped simr to a cavern of mountains.

    The Mecha sma Dragons did not care about it and started blowing their energysers out to create a way out. However, Yinn continued to rebuild those mountains. Her objective was to waste the Mecha sma Dragon''s energy. Inparison to energy consumption, Yinn had estimated that she was probably using 1/10 of the energy that the Mecha sma Dragons were using.

    And each time they blow out one portion of the inverted mountains, Yinn would rece it back with an even bigger and taller version of it. This act frustrated the Mecha sma Dragons and at times they released a huge st to destroy the surrounding environment. And yet again, Yinn reced the gaping holes with even more mountains ascending and descending towards them.

    In time, the open area of the cavern got even narrower that it might be ustrophobic to certain people. And the Mecha sma Dragons were feeling the pinch. Even if the Mountains both inverted and the ones on the ground were not doing anything against them, they were closing in and the Mecha sma dragons felt threatened that they tried to avoid shooting any more of it and decided to fly away to find an exit.

    But Yinn was not going to let them go at all (besides, there was no ce for them to run. They might be flying in circles as Yinn was controlling the perception the three Mecha sma Dragons were thinking.) It might look like they had teleported to another subspace and it was true that they were teleported. With the Great Reality Blender''s powers, it could break the time and space to a certain extent that Yinn was able to bring them somewhere else to conduct her fight.

    It was also an empty valley slightly away from the Bearling City and only then she manipted their senses thinking that they were in a separate area altogether. When in actual fact, they had been shooting their energy into the empty sky and sting their powers, destroying nothing within the empty valley. Now they kept flying in circles based on the reality that had been imposed on them and their AI logic circuits were confused.

    It was at that moment, she had decided to break all three away from each other by closing gaps with the ''cavern with mountains inside'', causing them to fly in three routes. It was then she slowly switch the perception of the Mecha sma Dragons into real flying monstrous dragons that were able to shoot energy out of their mouths too. So, when the three who were flying in rounds finally meet each other again, they find that theirrades had disappeared and there were two dragons that the Mecha sma dragon had to fight.

    "Wow. This is real easy." Yinn said to the System as she did not realise it was that simple to manipte their AI logic circuits, causing them to fight against each other.

    "It is because you had kept them stressed and force the AI to overcalcte so when you changed the perception of the Mecha sma Dragons into real life monsters, the AI circuit finally thought that this was the way to get out. Its to defeat the Monster Dragons that are in front of me." The System examined the situation and gave praise to Yinn. "A natural in maniption."

    "Nah, if I put Jin in there, he might be able to see through it."

    "That is because of his innate abilities. Not any of your fault. At this rate, you can engage another Mecha Dragon since your energy tank is still rather full and your ammunition had not been touched." The System stated and Yinn shook her head.

    I have to make sure that these three really die before I can move away. I do not want to miscalcte anything and bring more trouble to Jin." Yinn replied as she hid further away from the valley but used a long range scope to see the battle between the Dragons.

    They were tearing each other apart with their energysers and threw out Mecha Dragonlings to help with the battle. But since all of them had the same logic and element, those Dragonlings were killed almost instantly when they were out since the Mecha sma Dragons shot outsers not just from their mouths but also their wings.

    The multiplesers in a free for all match devastated the area that the empty valley became a graveyard for those Mecha Dragonlings. They then moved back and shot huge sts of energy against each other. ws against their throats, Legs kicking the wings down, fangs on each other''s tails. They were going all out to ensure they themselves should be able to get out of this situation alone.

    The Mecha sma Dragons were confident that they could do it as they should be the superior beingpared to those ''monster form dragons'' that had been killed or captured to make the Mecha Dragons themselves. Yet this perception was their downfall as each and every one of them in that fight thought the same way and did not stop until either their energy tanks were depleted or they had been pluck out.

    Either way, Yinn had a good show.

 Chapter 1791 King Of Bearling -Part 29

    When Yinn confirmed that there was no more movement, she moved in along with her Fortress Golem and checked the corpses. Without any hesitation, she used the Fortress Golem''s scanner to find the power cores and once she did, The maniptor swooped down the valley to pluck them out from any of the mess they were in.

    As long as they do not have their cores with them, it should be impossible to revive back again. And also, those cores retrieved can also be recycled as Yinn installed them into her fortress golem and found that it boosted her processing by a significant amount.

    This way, she would be able to do even moreplicated reality blending techniques that might even rival Jin''s dungeon creation concept. When it was all done, she ced several bombs at various locations before leaving the valley so that those broken Mecha Dragons would never appear once more.

    "Anyone else needs help?" She asked as she got out of the valley and was travelling at full speed back to the city instead of using that teleportation ability since it was on cooldown as dictated by the System.

    "You cane help me! These Mecha Acid Dragons are crazy tough!" Click said and Yinn felt curious.

    "Don''t you have those Necromechanoid''s summons to aid you?"

    "Wellll, I decided not to use them as of now. Just broken Mechanoids that I found around the floor as well as those damaged tanks. And yet their armour is also equally acidic enough that the shots were not going through!" Click replied. " Even if I used Necromechanoid''s summons, they are also closebat based and they will definitely get damage by those acidic reactive metal on them as well as those ws!"

    "Isn''t that why themander and the System had designated you to kill them?" Yinn asked since Click had Necromechanoid''s powers and by using broken mechanoids as her shields, she should be able to be protected and still do damage to the Mecha Acid Dragons.

    "Urgh, this is so irritating. Fine! I will do it! But not with just Necromechanoid''s power but my own version of Mechamancing as well!" Click decided to take matters into her own hands to the best of her own abilities. Behind her Fortress Golem was the very samebat 3D printing backpack that Click had whenever she moved around with the squad. But this time, it is way bigger since she could attach it to the Fortress golem.

    So with that backpack, she created a Golem sized me thrower for herself as well as creating a bunch of methrowers turrets that can be attached to the broken Mechanoids. "If its acid then should be able to burn it all down!" Click said as she turned on the energy valve and and a huge wave of mes popped out of the barrel which scared her for a moment until she realised she did not hold it properly and the barrel was wavering from the intense push of mes out from its nozzle.

    But that was enough to scare the Mecha Acid Dragon for a moment causing it to move backwards. Surprisingly, that was also the optimal range where the fire''s intensity was at its peak and the acidic metal did caught in mes. Seeing how it was effective, Click quicklymanded the broken Mechanoids to rush in and burn down their Dragonlings as well.

    However, she had forgotten that there were two Mecha Acid Dragons that she had to deal with. And one of them was currently hovering above them, creating a huge giant poisonous bubble waiting to drop down at them.

    "Ah fuck it!" Click saw the threat, knew there was no way around and decided to summon the Necro Titan out to protect her. One of her power cores glowed brightly and she could feel the sensation of her entire arm not working for a good five seconds as the Titan crawled out of the ground, right under the first Mecha Acid Dragon and then proceeded to grab onto the second Mecha Acid Dragon.

    As the second Mecha Acid Dragon was creating that bubble, the acid bubble felt and what the Necro Titan did was using the initial Acid Dragon as the target instead of those broken Mechanoids who were fighting against the Acid Dragonlings. Also, since the first Mecha Acid Dragon had its armoured burnt, the acid on it needed some time to be secreted once more. Thus, when the Necro Titan held onto it, it was not being damaged.

    "You need a glove to catch a ball, right?" Click smiled as she apuded the Necro Titan''s decision to use the Mecha Acid Dragon as the ''glove'' to catch the bubble. It might not be effective since the dragon''s metal were meant to withstand acid but still, it should do damage to it, right?"

    "It would be hrious if the Mecha Acid Dragon recovered from bathing in a water ball of acid." Yinnmented as she saw the Necro Titan even from afar, showing how huge in size it was.

    When the Mecha Acid Dragon got soaked in it, both of them were surprised that it actually incurred damage from the acid bubble and so did the Necro Titan''s palm. It then quickly took the melting Mecha Acid Dragon and decided to throw it at the direction of the second dragon. That was where Click had already push forth and utilise her new methrower to the desires.

    The only problem was that they had forgotten they were not fighting individual dragons and a horde of them. The Gigan Dragon saw the Necro Titan''s emergence and had already decided to engage against it by shooting a giant metal spike it grew from its back and threw towards it. Hence, in defence, the Necro Titan had reactively changed its n to throw the acid dragon into using it as the shield against the Gigan Dragon.

    To its surprise and even Click''s the metal spike obliterated the Mecha Acid Dragon that there was almost left of it. A small portion of the metal spike still prated through and stabbed through the Necro Titan hand.

 Chapter 1792 King Of Bearling -Part 30

    "Gah! Commander! Aren''t you supposed to take care of that big rascal? Why is he interfering with my fight!" Clickined as she continued to run towards the second Mecha Acid Dragon and did the same thing now that it had fallen from the punch of her Necro Titan. She turned on her methrower and started to burn it as her backpack was building mini rockets so that it couldplement the damage that she was doing to it.

    "If you think about the size, of course it will feel slightly intimidated by your Necro Titan! Duh!" Jin said as he ran as fast as he could and used abination of lightning sh steps as well as Green Panda Energy to catch up with the Gigan Dragon, whose size was more than enough that when it pped once, the amount he traveled was more than sufficient to cover several blocks within the city''s district.

    When Jin felt it was sufficiently near, he took out his demigorgon and infused Maqi in it. "You better ledge on it, Demigorgon. I know that I am supplying you with more than enough Maqi to do it." Jin said as he threw his sword with as much strength as he could. And attached to the Demigorgon sword was Maqi materialised like a long rope.

    When it managed to pierce the dragon''s metal te, Jin used the materialised Maqi like an automated grappling hook and shot up into the sky to get to its feet. "Gosh, thank goodness you did not ledge on the tail. Great job, Demigorgon." Jin said and it seemed like the demigorgon eye was sentient enough to appreciate thepliment. It not only screech but also moved its eye around the sword once more.

    "This never gets oldбн seeing that eye moving around like it is part of the sword," Jin said to himself as he took a deep breath in. "System, you ready to teleport this badass dragon away from this particr existence?"

    "Ready whenever User is."

    "I have also approved of your application to extend the dungeon time by using your points. A hundred thousand points for an extra minute." Syn popped out to give him the go ahead for a request he had submitted to the Synthesis World AI Administration for a long time.

    "That''s rather sudden but I appreciate that you tell me that. Also, why is it so cheap?" Jin said that while he was hanging on its leg and the Gigan Dragon was about to have a brawl with the Necro Titan."

    "In appreciation for attempting to save the capital of Bearling and the surrounding cities while withholding the challenge," Syn said and Jinughed.

    "You should just give me the Royal''s location as the reward for defeating this horde of Mecha Dragons. Now I understand why you want me to y through this entire Royal bullshit. There is no way the other nations could win if the Royals were able to have such a horde with them." Jin added as he could feel the impact of the Necro Titan''s punch against the Gigan Dragon, causing him to be knocked back.

    "Alright, no time to y, or else I will be squashed!" Jin said as he and the System instantly activated their Dungeon Instance teleporting the Gigan Dragon into its instance and giving the rest some breathing space.

    The Queen saw what had happened to the Gigan Dragon and was shocked that it could just disappear in thin air as if it did not exist at all. Yet, none of the attendants cared for the Queen as they quietly tolerated and watched how their Queen was not doing anything and merely watching the shitshow that was happening to their city, their homes, and their friends with бнpleasure. Some even harboured the thought of killing her, right here and now. However, they kept their hands to themselves at the moment, knowing that if Jin were to seed in stopping this particr horde of dragons, he would be more than wee to kill the Royal Highness with open arms.

    "That is a huge relief, isn''t it Necro Titan?" Click said to her summon and somehow the Titan felt disappointed that it got away. "What do you mean you are sad that it''s gone? Do you want to fight such a huge monster by yourself? It barely even showed much of its power right now. You might be dead if Jin did not remove it away from this reality!"

    Yet, the Necro Titan continued to feel sad as it moved towards the Mecha Acid Dragon that Click was still ming on. His expression was more than enough for Click to stop her barbeque session as it had decided to use the Acid Dragon as its punching bag now that the Gigan Dragon had disappeared.

    "Welp, I guess I really do not need your help, Yinn." Click replied and saw that Page, Tellie, and Lynn were still fighting. "Perhaps you could assist either Lynn and Tellie or Page." Just as Click finished her sentence, suddenly a huge towering block of ice emerged at the eastern side of the city, and in an instant, it disappeared once more as it had been dropped onto their target.

    "Okay, I think it''s better you help Lynn and Tellie. Those Ice Dragons seem like a pain in the asspared to the rest of the Dragons."

    "If you are doneining, perhaps you could aid me while Yinn moves to Lynn and Tellie?" Page requested as Click finally saw the two Mecha Lightning Dragons in the skies were fighting with not a Fortress Golem but Page herself. She had abandoned her Fortress golem to have more mobility and utilising what Mechasmith mmet had given her as well as the rest of the Grey Bears. The Mind Jacker Hover external module.

    With that module, she was able to fly to the skies and made them avoid the rest since the city required electricity to move their trains and Mechanoids would be fried if they got into contact with those Mecha Lightning Dragons. But now that they are in the skies, they are able to fight unfettered.

 Chapter 1793 King Of Bearling -Part 31

    "Oops. Sorry that I forgot about you. Most of the Mecha Dragons are on ground level." Click said as she saw how Page was maneuvering around the Mecha Lightning Dragons with the Mindjacker Hovering Module. Her bullets were not doing much damage to the Lightning Dragons but at the very least, she had annoyed them enough that it warranted their full attention.

    "Just shut up and help." Page was not in the mood to talk and Click could understand why. She dropped the me Thrower and started to press some consolemands within her Fortress Golem cockpit for the backpack to start synthesising pieces of equipment that would help Page out.

    And that was none other than Lightning Kites. As hrious as it sounded, it had the simr concept of a lightning rod. So when Click let them fly up to the high altitude skies, Page noted those kites and purposely flew towards them.

    Thus every time the Mecha Lightning Dragons were to release a burst of lightning, some of the energy would be attracted to the lightning kites, burning them away and reducing the effectiveness of their attack against Page who was already tired of evading the attacks and repairing herself due to the electrical damage she received from these Mecha Lightning Dragons.

    But because of the upgrades she had from Number Four, her entire constitution had changed for the better. Number four''s muscle fibers were strong enough that when Page grabbed one of the Lightning Dragon''s tails, it got crushed.

    The only thing that stopped her from continuing the attack was the immense electric attacks. So, with the advent of lightning kites, she was able to punch and kick without too much trouble from the electricity.

    It was then the Mecha Lightning Dragons devised a sphere of lightning around it, consistently moving around it so that Page was not able to move in to do damage with closebat. But the truth was that Number Four''s skills were not fully shown in the fight against Jin. If Jin had fought harder with her and not surprised her with a killing blow early on, Number Four might have been able to win against Jin.

    This was because one of Number Four''s skills was Puppet Strings. "Heh, this skill should fit Yinn better than me though I understand this would make things easier for me since I am mainly a support character." Page thought to herself as she initially had no idea why Old mmet had decided on such a module for her.

    That was the reason why the container full of Rocketeer Mechanoids that had yet to be activated was imported in for her powers. Initially, she thought it was an upgrade for the nanobots that could not only heal but control Mechanoids butter she realised she could have full control of the Mechanoid that she took over, unlike the nanobots where only certainmands can be given and the rest of its actions were independent of her.

    So, with her powers, she attempted to puppet string one of the Mecha Lightning Dragons, in hopes that she could control them. And as expected, the control was not strong enough as the Dragons'' Ego was interfering with her Puppet Strings'' power. But that did not mean that it was useless. The temporary paralysation from the use of her skill had caused the Mecha Lightning Dragon to stop the production of the electrical sphere that surrounded it.

    She then quickly moved in and tore its chest armour with Number Four''s strength. And that feat itself had already caused the second Mecha Lightning Dragon toe to its aid wanting to rip Page away from his buddy.

    Yet, the good thing was that Page was small in sizepared to those Mecha Dragons so she was able to evade quickly, especially with the Mindjacker Hovering Module. After which, she too used the Puppet Strings'' ability to temporarily take control of the second dragon. Even if it is just for a second, it was more than enough to stop the attack,e close to her, and allowed her to use Number Four''s ungodly strength to tear the w away from the Mecha Lightning Dragon so that she could use it against the former Dragon who had its armour te ripped out.

    With all her strength, she stomped the w into the exposed part of the Mecha Lightning Dragon, causing it to prate and destroy the power core within it. As for the remaining Mecha Lightning Dragon, Page used her strength to flip the dead Mecha Lightning Dragon and mmed towards it forcing it to drop down to the ground with more than a loud thud.

    "Click, now!" Page said as she knew that the Mecha Lightning Dragon was going to retaliate by sending out a huge gigantic burst of lightning but before it could do that, the Necro Titan was around to m its entire body down crushing the Mecha Lightning Dragon''s torso. And that was not the end of it as Click had also summoned the Necro Giant Squid to wrap around its wings, tail, and limbs pulling them apart as the titan continued to dismantle the Mecha Lightning Dragon while Page continuously used Puppet Strings to get hold of the second Mecha Lightning Dragon''s Ego.

    With its mind stalled and limbs broken, it was a matter of time the Mecha Lightning Dragon would be dmissioned but it was not going to give up as it activated its self destruct sequence when it was out of the Puppet String''s possession.

    "Toote buddy." Click said as her Fortress Golem was already right beside the dying Mecha Dragon as she moved her artillery barrel right at the power core and send a shot into it, causing it to malfunction and unable to activate its self destruct sequence.

    "Then all that''s left is the Lightning and Posion or acid whatever Dragonlings that the Pandarens left." Click said as she used her Fortress Golem and raised a fist out for Page who was panting and catching her breath. The amount of steaming out of her was insane that she could hide within her own smoke. Yet, she did not stop to return the gesture back to Click.

 Chapter 1794 King Of Bearling -Part 32

    ?

    "Do you guys need help?" Page asked Tellie, Lynn, and Yinn who were still fighting the Mecha Ice Dragons, and found another massive Ice Block dropping into the city once more.

    "Ehhбн It is okay. I think we got the hang of it. Just did not expect the two dragons to merge." Lynn finally replied.

    "They merged?" Click was surprised to hear that and afterwards, there was nomunication back until a few secondster.

    "Oh, don''t bring your Necro Mechanoids here," Lynn added. "It will be more painful for us."

    "Yeah, we asked Yinn not toe as well," Tellie reported and Click was confused. Didn''t Yinn acknowledge that she would assist Lynn and Tellie once Page requested her to move to that area?

    "Are you asking where am I?" Yinn questioned as she removed her invisibility cloak that was exclusive only to her and her Fortress Golem, revealing herself right beside Click.

    "Oh my god, do not scare me." Click said and Yinn chuckled.

    "So, all this time, Tellie and Lynn were fighting the same dragon? Or Should I say two headed dragon?"

    "Yeah, exactly. Why am I here then?" Yinn asked as she got out of the Fortress Golem for a breather.

    "Then what were you doing the entire time?" Click questioned as she too came out from her cockpit.

    "Watching the two of you fight. I thought the Mecha Lightning Dragons would be a pain in the ass. Did not expect Page''s monster ability to be that strong even if it''s just a temporary paralysation of the dragons."

    "Well, maybe if I am strong enough, I could have control of the Mecha Dragons." Page said as she hovered on top of Click''s Necro Titan and checked on the battlefield that Lynn and Tellie were fighting. "The entire ce turned to iceбн Even their Fortress Golems were not spared."

    "Maybe that''s why they told me not to bring the Necro Mechanoids in. I am guessing that''s just more debris for them to avoid and hit." Click remarked as she too climbed up the Fortress Golem to see if she could have a better view of the area suddenly another Ice block came out once more but this time it shattered before it could reach the ground.

    After which, a huge st of energy came out from a building, presumably that was Tellie who had done that, destroying one of the wings of the two headed dragon and not allowing it to ascend any further.

    "Are you sure we do not go in? They looked like they needed help if they were fighting this long already." Click asked once more and Yinn shook her head.

    "If they say they can handle it then let them be. Let us aid the rest and kill the remaining Dragonlings that were left by the Mecha Dragons. Once that is done, we should prepare for a possible phase with the Gigant Dragon. Assuming Jin did not kill it when the time of his dungeon instance ends."

    "Oh, I heard from the System that Jin had some upgrade to his dungeon instance. Apparently, he can spend points to get it run even longer." Page said as she pressed a few buttons on her holographic console to call her Fortress Golem to return to her.

    "Wow, then that means Jin must have been spamming his points if he wished to defeat that big ass spiky dragon. Necro Titan, you return to the power core first and rest. If ourmander did fail then perhaps I need you out along with the rest." Click said and the Necro Titan deactivated itself and disintegrated right in front of them. The glowing power core on Click had subsided as she returned to the Fortress Golem to assist with the remaining part of the sweep.

    But as they were about to move out, there was a huge sudden earthquake and a gigantic ice crystal emerged from the ground that could be seen from where Lynn and Tellie were fighting. "You guys sure, you all are okay?" Click asked once more and this time, there was really no reply until the System intervened.

    "Tellie and Lynn''s vital signs are still online. They had muted allmunications as Mechanoid Click had been very annoying to them." The System reported which made Pageugh.

    "Argh it''s not fun at all. Where''s Diaz when you need her? She is not responding as well."

    "The System is also d to report that Diaz is online at the South East region where she had eliminated the Mecha Rock Dragons. Unfortunately, before its demise, those Rock Dragons had released more than a hundred Dragonlings. Thus, she and the rest of the Pandarens within that vicinity were trying their best to eliminate the threat before they escaped. The Royal Guards in the area are also creating a blockade to ensure that none of those Dragonlings can make it out alive from their perimeter." The System concluded and Click decided to move towards Diaz''s direction.

    Yinn agreed to it and requested Page to follow her to clear up the mess. As for Lynn and Tellie, their foe for some reason kept getting stronger despite their element.

    "So if two 2nd tiers Mecha Dragons were to merge, would that make them a 4th tier Mecha Dragon?" Lynn asked Tellie and she did not have the answer to that.

    "It seems like that though, Maybeбн They are considered a 2.5 tier? They do not look as big as that spiky dragon Jin had to handle. But their previous attacks were not as strong as they were notpared to the time they had merged together." Tellie said as she could breathe out cold air from her mouth. "We have to hurry, the temperature is dropping drastically and this time it''s faster with that big ice crystal at the side."

    "Yea, I know. And sorry for trying to keep my strength and not going full out against it. I thought we could win against it but it seemed like we have yed with it too much."

    "Nah, not your fault. I was conserving my strength too since Jin asked the both of us to handle these two ice dragons." Tellie said and wondered if Jin had already forseen that they might be a threat and asked two of his Mechanoids to handle it instead.

 Chapter 1795 King Of Bearling -Part 33

    ?

    The Mecha Ice Dragons merging into one, now codenamed Blizzard Dragon had relentlessly been trying to defeat the two Mechanoids that had been guing its attention for the entire duration since they had engaged him. All of the Pandarens and military personnel from Bearling Military had been annihted with just the aura that it emits, freezing them below zero degrees Celsius almost instantly.

    Yet for the two Mechanoids that it had to deal with, they were still moving around as if the cold did not bother them at all. For that, the AI Logic circuits for the Blizzard Dragon could not determine whether the Mechanoids had some extremely cold resistant metals that enabled them to move or there was something that the Mecha Blizzard Dragon was not aware of.

    This forced the Mecha Blizzard Dragon to consistently push out terrifying cold sts in order to freeze them. And even if they do not get hit, at the very least, the environment would be affected and the ice would hinder their movement or so the AI for the Blizzard Dragon thought.

    And it was not too far off the correct answer. Lynn''s cultivation, the Perfectible Penguin Ruling Kitchen Hell style meant that she was able to manipte heat and chi with regards to the fire element to the micro level. And she was able to do it far faster and precise than Jin could. Now with his Maqi running its course through her veins, it was even easier for her to summon that Fire Maqi and turn it to something she was very familiar with.

    In fact, this was the first time in this Synthesis world that she gathered the Maqi to create Red Penguin Fire Energy. The moment she sends it into Tellie, the Sniper Mechanoid could feel a whole world of difference. It was as if her Mechanoid skin was cold but her insides were warming a stove of fire within it.

    This was why Tellie''s parts were still working and she was able to continue fighting with Lynn against the Mecha Blizzard Dragon. Not to mention, with the Surest of Eyes upgrade, distance was not an issue for her anymore as she could target the Mecha Blizzard Dragon at any ce. The only problem however was that the bullet froze before it could reach the Dragon as the temperature around it had dropped to the point that even fast velocity projectiles were affected by it.

    This was a definite that anyone within the radius of the Blizzard Dragon would surely be frozen. It is only because of Lynn''s Maqi Maniption that she was able to continue running towards it and fight at a close distance.

    Thus, in order to aid Lynn, Tellie had to go closer to the battlefield and shoot herser beams. But that also means that this would undoubtedly reveal the position of the Blizzard Dragon. Thus, all those Ice Blocks were attacks meant for Tellie as the moment she shot a beam out, the Mecha Blizzard Dragon immediately summoned a block out to destroy the building. It was only with the help of Lynn that Tellie had managed to get out of it unscathed.

    "The beams are not working that well either. The ice made its surface to be super reflective and it deflected the shots." Tellie said as Lynn continued to put her hand behind her back as they continued running.

    "Every time I go close to it, it will summon out that big ice crystal. Not to mention the Blizzard Dragonlings are a pain in the ass as well."

    "I had a method but it will require your бнheat energy for it. May work, or it may not." Tellie said as she passed her a magazine clip. "Please heat this up."

    "Oh, you are trying to use the heat charge as a way to break it?"

    "I have my own energy charges as well but the problem is that I do not think it would be as efficient as yours. Your kicks and punches not only obliterate the ice, it also melt them. I on the other hand can manipte the charge of your energy a little. Add in a bit of my energy charge as well and timed it like a ticking bullet explosive. The moment it reaches the dragon and then it will go kaboom."

    "And with that, I will go in and handle the rest."

    "That''s right, sister. An initial diversion would be appreciated."

    "I will do my best." Lynn said as she supercharged the bullets with Red Penguin Fire Energy and when Tellie held onto it again, it felt like a battery pack that was about to explode. It was a surprise that the gunpowder in those bullets did not fire out and this was mainly because Lynn had manipted the heat energy to be stored within the tip of the lead bullet.

    "Use fast though, I do not know whether it would explode due to the dyed heatpression." Lynn said as she went out of the cover and speed through the icicles that the Blizzard Dragon was conjuring.

    "Use fast? Then I will use everything as you requested." Tellie said to herself as she used her grappling hook gun to fly up to the roof and quickly adjust her sights.

    "Fire Penguin Whirl Kick!" Lynn smashed the ice that came about and there was an aftereffect of the mes moving towards the Blizzard Dragon which it decided to move backwards to avoid it since its wings were hindered by the previous attack just now.

    It was at that moment, Tellie activated her upgrade card as well utilising Surest of Eye''s ability. Instead of the usual double tapping, she manipted the time space within her rifle that enabled her to shoot all ten bullets consecutively while maintaining its trajectory. All ten super charged bullets with timing adjusted so that when the first one hits, the second will explode just 0.1 secondster.

    And that applies to all the subsequent shots as well. Double Tap x5.

 Chapter 1796 King Of Bearling -Part 34

    The bullets consecutively punched through the ice armour that the Blizzard Dragon had and it did not have the time to react against it. The Mechanoids were not sure whether this was because of the cold energy emission that it was producing that caused it to be slower in nature but it worked to their advantage.

    The moment Tellie pushed through with the 10 consecutive bullets supercharged with a mix of her own power as well as Lynn''s Penguin Fire Maqi, it finally did a serious number on the Blizzard Dragon. That was also when Lynn had pushed for the attack. Her sword was not with her mainly due to the fact that it was frozen along with the Fortress Golem but she still carried a fewbat knives at her thighs.

    She used thosebat knives as the intermediatory for her output of Red Penguin Fire Energy, a fairlyrge Penguin silhouette in mes emerged just like how Jin had enabled a Panda silhouette when he used Byakko''s lightning and his own Maqibined together. Without hesitation due to the time sensitivity of the dragon''s regeneration, Lynn smashed her dagger into the exposed wound that Tellie had made, and finally, an explosion of great fiery Maqi consumed the Blizzard Dragon.

    Surely, the Blizzard Dragon would retaliate but Tellie was not going to give any chance for it as she could feel there was a change in the temperature. The emission of cold air had stopped momentarily after that explosion. Tellie was unsure whether it was due to Lynn''s ming explosion that counteracted against the ice but there was one thing she was sure of.

    The solid ice armour that the two headed Mecha Blizzard Dragon had been melted off slightly by the explosion Lynn had put out. This meant that it was not a solid clear crystal panel that would be able to reflect Tellie''sser beams at all.

    Not to mention, her rifle still had some residual Red Penguin Fire energy within it so the sniper set her sights and released thergest ever energy st she coulde out with. After all, the entire atmosphere was cold as heck, surely the overheating could bepensated rather quickly with the icy temperatures that were around her.

    Hence, the huge energy st ofser decimated the dragon''s twin heads the moment Lynn dropped to the ground to reposition herself for another attack. This time for sure, the ice energy emission had totally stopped and Lynn took the remainingbat knife that she had to do the very same attack once the energy st took out the heads.

    The Penguin Cultivator jumped up and mmed the knife into the headless body of the Mechanoid ensuing another huge st of fiery explosion that it would lit up the skies of Bearling City momentarily. "Okay guys, I think you need toe and help us now. There are too many critters for Lynn and I to handle. Page, please aid Lynn. I think she overexerted herself once more/"

    "Yeap, we saw the explosive end from our side. Good job. Coming over now." Page said as she put the Fortress Golem into auto mode, fighting against the remaining Dragonlings while she came out of the cockpit and flew off using the Mind Jacker Hovering Module. It was in no time Page found Tellie carrying Lynn to one side, fending off the Blizzard Dragonlings with her sniper rifle on the other hand.

    And to think there was still elegance in holding a sniper rifle, shooting it, and doing a single hand reload, (Granted her fingers were extendable as well) Page admired Tellie''s shooting ability as she came hovering down to feel the coldness of the area. Only when she was in close proximity to Lynn that she feel warm.

    "I do not think the situation is the same as Jin''s bad sleeping habits," Tellie said and Page understood, taking it away from Tellie''s arms as the sniper continued to hit urately against the Dragonlings that came too close. Page activated her nanobots and checked Lynn''s system. Unlike the normal Mechanoids, Lynn''s exoskeleton and the circuitry were entirely different from the rest. A normalbat medic Mechanoid would never be able to heal her.

    Thus, it was a good thing that Page had Lynn''s schematics uploaded to her system courtesy of Old mmet who also gave her certain tips on how to repair her during an emergency. "The thing that has the highest failure rate would be the power core. As terrible as it sounded, the routing of the multiple power cores isn''t my greatest achievement even though it proves to be a revolutionary improvement to the Mechanoids that I had done." Old mmet said previously.

    "So, what you need to do first is to get the power cores up and everything should be working fine after that. The self repair System will kick in because of that weird energy flowing within her." And thus that was what Page had done. Repairing the power core circuits only to find they were badly burned from the inside.

    "Perhaps all the me explosions caused that to happen, especially seeing how cold this whole entire ce had be." Page said to herself but she was too focused that she did not see an icicle projectile aiming at her. It was not until Tellie came to block the shot that Page realised that she had been targeted.

    "No worries. It''s minor damage. Our Mechanoid armour can still handle that much." Tellie said as she already fired back a counter shot against the Dragonling who was sessful in hitting her. But before that shot couldnd, the Dragonling was already dead Yinn was at the top providing cover.

    "You know, you can call the cavalry," Diaz said in the System channel before she and Click zoomed in with their Fortress Golems, shooting non stop at the Blizzard Dragonlings and even trampling them if those small dragon mechanoids did not move fast enough away.

    "Ya! Don''t act the hero yourself! Tellie. You have done it too many times!" Clickmented and Tellie was d that everyone was still well and alive. All they worry now for was Jin.

 Chapter 1797 King Of Bearling -Part 35

    ?

    Turn the time back a little when the Mechanoids first started fighting with their respective Mechanoids, Jin had just teleported the Mecha Gigan Dragon via his Dungeon Instance creation technique. The reason why he did not do it immediately was mainly because he did not expect such a huge dragon toe out to y with the rest.

    He assumed that the Mecha Dragons were mostly 1st tier and a few 2nd tier to popte the battlefield. Never did he think that all were 2nd tier Mecha Dragons and the one he was fighting had to be a 3rd tier. Thus, the dungeon instance that he had prepared was not valid for use against the Mecha Gigan Dragon.

    Surely, Jin had no doubts that it would do some damage to the Mecha Gigan Dragon but whether he could contain it and kill it would be a different issue altogether. That was why he had decided to call out the big guns to not waste too much time. After all, the points that he had umted could be used in the future when the Virtual Simtion resets. (Or that was what he had been told) So, it was best that he kept a fair sum and utilised his few strong baddies to win the fight.

    And they were none other than Kraft and his gang of foxesбнor that was what Jin had in mind when he asked the System to get their cooperation. The problem was almost none of them answered his call for help except one.

    The one and only.

    The very person that he would expect to note at all, became the only person to make it.

    Kraft. The Devil, The Demon in the flesh, The Inversed Alpha, and possibly Omega as well. (Or that was how he would phrase him.)

    "I AM HEREE!!!!!" Kraft said as he pped Jin''s back so hard that a normal person might need to get a spine recement surgery done as soon as possible.

    "d to know that you still answer my call." Jin coughed as he tried to stabilise himself.

    "Eyer, you are so weak. Hurry and get back to reality. How am I supposed to brag at other people that my Owner had defeated me when you are this weak? Looks bad on me, do you know that?" Kraft said as he folded his arm and looked at the Gigan Dragon who was fuming to be transported to a ce of nowhere.

    "And also, why is it so boring? A green hilly ins? Can''t you think of something more original"

    "It takes a lot of concentration to get you here as soon as possible. Can you not mind the background." Jin rolled his eyes and wondered why did he even try to get him here in the first ce.

    "But that means I can''t do fancy tricks like wall jumping or maybe diving into a pool of magma ande out alive? This hilly ins IS so boring." Kraft was already yawning when he saw the Mecha Gigan Dragon staring at the two humansining.

    "Well, for a Mechanical Dragon, you seemed rather calm and patient. For that, I give you extra points and the first hit initiative." Kraft said and Jin was totally confused.

    "What points? You don''t mean the points I earned? Why would you want to give him points?" Jin replied and yet Kraft was totally ignoring right now as he in his long coat, raised his hand and provoked him toe get him.

    The Mecha Gigan Dragon roared so loud that Jin nearly flew off if he had not stuck his demigorgon sword into the ground. Only Kraft was still there taking in the sights.

    "Hey Jin, I have been watching your fights a little via the System. Do you mind lending me one of those swords? I do not think you have made full use of its potential at all." Kraft asked and Jin threw the one he was using towards him.

    When Kraft got hold of the demigorgon sword, the eye of demigorgon glowed. It did not shimmer nor did it glimmer like what Jin had experienced. It was pulsating with redness that the entire eyeball turned blood red. It finally screamed at its truest volume which Jin had to use a fair amount of his Maqi to block the sound out otherwise his eardrum would definitely break.

    It was also to the point where the Gigan Dragon stepped back a little, wary of the sword that Kraft was holding. "What? You scared of this thing already? I thought you were supposed to be the leader of the Dragon Horde, spikey boy." Kraft said as he raised the sword up and suddenly its width and height expanded as if it grew into a great sword.

    "How did you do that?" Jin asked and Kraft smiled.

    "Do you know, it actually works simr to your Bam and Boo, just that your Bam and Boo is more receptive to your astral energy. As for the demigorgon, the name had already suggested that you should insert demonic energy into it instead for it to change shape." Kraft said as he asked Jin to move to the left of him and immediately put in an intensive amount of demonic energy into the demigorgon great sword.

    The great sword grew in size and just as it was still growing, Kraft already gave a swing towards the Gigan Dragon, only for Jin to realise that the sword growth became extremely rapid, bing a sword the size of Necro Titan within the hands of Kraft. The Gigan Dragon did not expect that as well and used its wings to block the attack as well as hardening the spikes at his left.

    Only to find that the expanded great sword managed to sh and break the entire Gigan Dragon Left Wing while it got knocked away to the side and fell. The Gigan Dragon roared in defiance and decided to charge toward Kraft while throwing out metal spikes from his remaining right wing.

    "That is why, you need to know the nature of your tools," Kraft remarked as he was happy that he did not have to move away from his spot.

 Chapter 1798 King Of Bearling -Part 36

    ?

    The Mecha Gigan Dragon roared unnaturally and suddenly metal spikes not just flew off from the dragon itself but there were spikesing out from the ground too. However, this small party trick was not enough to deter Kraft a single bit.

    He took out No Mercy and shot at the ground causing it to explode right in front of him, leaving only a small patch for Jin and him to stand on while the rest of the ground had been destroyed along with the dragon''s metal spikes. In the meantime, Jin had already deflected any iing spikes that wereing their way.

    It was then they realised those spikes were actually a manifestation of the Gigan Dragon''s eggs. In a short period of time, the spikes grew eyes, limbs, wings, and a tail forming from the tip of the spike. When Kraft saw that he was surrounded by those Dragonlings, he merely chuckled.

    "Is this all that useless Mechanical Dragon can do? I was expecting more aside from spikes, maybe a maniption of metal rather than regenerating them. Though, I must say, a regenerating metal dragon would definitely be good for business. Don''t you think so, Jin?"

    "I won''t deny that. But it is probably too cruel for me if I were to know the origins of those metals came from a living being."

    "What hypocrisy! You of all people dared to say that? You of all people, the only person within the System that used the System Rider? Your very own unique living metal armour that could change shape the way you want it to be? Not to mention that living metal storage watch that you must have so missed."

    "Hey, they grew from nts."

    "Doesn''t make any difference, they are living things as well. Don''t you think they feel pain from all those Werejackals plucking them from their branches and rocks or whatever shit theye from?" Kraft knew that the teasing could only be this much as he was running out of words to say.

    "Fine. Fine. If we ever find a dragon that has such capabilities, we shall not only ask for permission but also pay him like an employee plus lots of medical benefits that outstrip the rest. What do you think?" Jin just yed along as he saw those Dragonlings had their own share of spikesing out of their wings, all aimed toward the duo. Jin quickly dished out a series of Yellow Panda Rock Walls that stopped the spikes froming while thestyer was Green Panda Slime Energy which would slow any spikes that had already broken through the rocks.

    "Let''s take care of the big guy first. Otherwise, there will be no end to this." Kraft said as he once again looked at demigorgon sword and stared at the eye for a moment. "Looks like I am going to use unleash your powers once more. Be a dear to me and be as strong as I think how you should be." It looked as if the eye was delighted that there was someone other than the owner who was able to identify how the eye should be used and the other sword that Jin was holding on to suddenly flew towards Kraft as if it was attracted to him.

    On the other hand, Kraft loaned No Mercy for Jin to hold on. The problem was that Jin had no idea how heavy No Mercy was until he held it in his hands. The weapon itself was eating his Maqi as Jin had a bottomless pit of energy for it to suck. He had to keep the weapon in control instead of the weapon controlling it. Only a whileter, Kraftughed and had forgotten that No Mercy really had no mercy when it came to people other than its owner.

    "What can I say? I am just one good weapon owner!" Kraftughed as he posed with the two swords elegantly before striking them together, causing them to merge into one longsword. "You know, when you are not around, I take the time to read, watch various shows, drama and even animation based."

    "And?" Jin asked as he finally got the hang of No Mercy and held it up to shoot with his Maqi instead of bullets since he did not have any that would fit a shotgun like Kraft''s. The Gigan Dragonlings were split into pieces and so were the surroundings. Everything that No Mercy had touched, literally went into the otherworld.

    "I thought I try and copy one of their techniques for fun. Besides, it is true that you cannot even achieve it making this бнdemonstration even sweeter and fun to watch. Not just how the enemy dies from it but also your face." Kraft exined his rationale for his next move.

    "Honestly, I think you missed me too much." Jin shook his head, wondering why did he even bother getting him toe into this dungeon instance.

    "Qiu Yue is not as fun as you. That I will admit. But you got to know when I see you grow after scolding you in that MountбнSun? Sunn? Whatever that mountain workshop is. My heart felt satisfied as if it was approving you for listening to what I said."

    "Huuuh. Just do what you need to do, don''t have to be so creepy. I aming back soon, am I not?"

    "Probably when you are back, I would really miss you anymore. Oh, whatever. Let''s deal with this stupid lizard. Here and as promised. I shall show you the true power of the demigorgon that you had been underutilising."

    Kraft said as he poured a tremendous amount of energy into it, causing the entire dungeon instance to tremble and the atmosphere to turn eerie even though the ones that should be overwhelmed were the humans, not the dragons. The Demigorgon longsword did not scream this time around but instead gave out a sweet scent of victory even though it had not achieved any of such sort at the moment.

    Jin could not imagine that what Kraft did was a tant copy of one of the most famous phrases in animation history.

    "Bankai."

 Chapter 1799 King Of Bearling -Part 37

    When Kraft spoke that word out, the longsword that held the two of those demigorgon suddenly started to change shape. It was not a slow and gradual change as Jin would expect but instead, the sword bloomed like a flower.

    The only difference was that with eachyer that opened, the nextyer was bigger badder, and even more vibrant in colour that one could say it was beautifully deadly. Eachyer was like a flower petal filled with fangs mixed with saliva waiting for the prey to be grabbed in and swallowed.

    The Mecha Gigan Dragon saw this and tried to move backward and shot out thergest and longest spike it could from its mouth. All for the hope that its projectile would prate through this blooming demon flower and stop it in its tracks before it could grow any bigger.

    However, it was toote. If it wanted to do something about it, the Mecha Gigan Dragon should not have been assessing the situation when Kraft was gathering energy for it. It should have been relentless in its attack, stopping Kraft from being stationary not even for a moment so that he does not have the concentration to keep and maintain all that demonic energy within the demigorgon sword.

    Now what it can only do is to spit on its poor fate that its demise would be destined by the demonic flower of eternal embrace as death was the only thing that would be left once the Demigorgon had finished blooming.

    The aforementioned long spike had been grabbed by one of the petals, making Jin surprised that it was sentient to perform such a feat. With a slight roll of the petal muscles, the fangs corroded the spike and turned it into liquid as if it was just an appetizer before the main course. The Mecha Gigan Dragon had decided that it needed more time to charge its power to do a big attack against this ever growing demon flower that was chasing after it.

    Thus, it flew upwards only to beughed at by Kraft. "No, no, no. There is no way out of this ce, you stupid fellow." Kraft said as he saw how the Mecha Gigan Dragon got hit by the metaphysical barrier that indicated the boundaries of the dungeon instance creation. That realisation when it hits the Mecha Gigan Dragon was already toote as the demigorgon not only had bloomed fully, tentacle like tongues had already emerged to reach out for the Gigan Dragon.

    Knowing now that it had been trapped, it unleashed all the spikes it had on its body and forced a full regeneration of spikes before rushing to the side of it. The Mecha Gigan Dragon believed that it should still get injured and might recoil. After all, if the flower is somewhat alive, it means there were muscles and muscles meant that there are nerve endings. There was no way the living flower did not feel pain.

    The problem was that it did, but the excessive demonic energy that Kraft had fed had already made sure that it was strong enough to not just ignore the pain but yielded to expend all that demonic energy onto something. The demigorgon felt as if it needed to repay back all those energies with a job well done. And that was obviously the capture of the Mecha Gigan Dragon and melting it within its mouth.

    Soon, the Dragon took its chances as it forcefully regenerated its spike and flew to the side of the petal, hoping to move to the other side of the grassy ins in order to have some space and time to think for its counterattack. Unfortunately, the living petal even when hit, did not fall out of the flower. Instead, it stretched and grabbed onto the Gigan Dragon''s tail.

    When that happened, it was more or less game over for the Mecha Dragon. The tongue like tentacles began to swoop in from the sides and wrap around its limbs and wings. The Gigan Dragon once more released its spikes and used its fangs to desperately tear the tentacles away. Those spikes that flew outgrew into Dragonlings in the shortest time possible in order to aid the main body in getting out of the sticky situation it was in.

    But the more it struggled, the more the petal rolled the Dragon into the middle of the living flower. Multiple Spikes? Those were nothing when it came to the numerous fangs that grew within the muscles of the demigorgon bloomed flower as it started to close the petals and crush the Gigan Dragon within it.

    In thest desperate attempt to get out, the Gigan Dragon transformed his hands into one huge edged spike and used all of its power to stab it. This was in hopes that it could pierce through to the outeryer and eventually cut open the muscr petal filled with fangs so that it could get out of it. The Gigan Dragon even attempted to bite the firstyer before stabbing it.

    Sure enough, its strength was more than sufficient for a concentrated piercing through the thick multyer muscles within the petal. But that was what it could do. Now that it had stretched and prated an edged spike, it had exposed itself even more of those tongue tentacles which pulled it further down to the most bottom ofyers of the demigorgon flower.

    Without a doubt, there was nothing the Gigan Dragon could do as once the demigorgon sword had finished its job, it slowly returned to the very same longsword that Kraft had been wielding. It was as if nothing had happened even though something did happen.

    The demigorgon was extremely pleased with the feeding of demonic energy.

    All that was left were the Gigan Dragonlings which Kraft knew that Jin would be able to clear in no time. And when he checked how much longer before the dungeon instance would be shut down, there was actually still plenty amount of time left.

    "Wow, you still have two minutes and thirty seconds on the clock! Looks like you can casually finish this off!" Kraft said as he tapped Jin''s shoulder and even gave him a shoulder hug before leaving. "For your information, your body is on the way back. Milk and Peppers had indeed been able to smuggle it out from the Celestial ne." That was when he paused for a while before he said onest sentence before living.

    "But whether their actions would disturb the Celestial neбн That would be for another day to worry about."

 Chapter 1800 King Of Bearling -Part 38

    ?

    "Anyways, the clock is ticking. Jin. You better clear them before they return back to the actual Virtual Simtion." Kraft said as he walked towards Jin to pick up his No Mercy in exchange for the demigorgon sword.

    There is no greater pleasure than to hold his No Mercy once more as he fit him like a good customised glove. The demigorgon sword cried a little to be leaving away from Kraft as if it finally found a good master that it could depend on.

    "Don''t be selfish. Jin is a decent person to work with. Besides, you can feel some demonic energy when you eat his Astral Energy, don''t you?" Kraft talked to the sword and it kept quiet for a moment. "See, don''t be too greedy. Sometimes, having some vegetables on the side is also good for your upbringing." Kraftughed as he disappeared just as how he had his introduction into the dungeon instance.

    "Well, all I got to say is that I am sorry you have to be stuck with a master who does not know how you actually operate," Jin said as he picked up the sword and was ready once more to attack until someone came by and ced her hand on the demigorgon''s hilt along with Jin''s.

    "Sigh, the rest could note because of Kraft''s explicit instructions. They too wanted some fun but Kraft insisted on hoarding everything else. In the end, that dampened the mood of the entire group and they all decided not toe at all." She then took the chance to take hold of the demigorgon sword and looked at the mess that Kraft had made.

    "Pei." Jin looked up and was happy to see her. Likewise, she too delighted and gave him a shoulder to shoulder hug.

    "Master, it looks like you can handle yourself well without me around. Your subconscious state seems to be stronger and more stable than thest time I saw it." Pei smiled.

    "I still miss someone protecting me in the shadows."

    "Heh, I do enjoy thatzing around especially now that Demopolis is up and running, it is just a pain in the ass I have to deal with their department of health. So, while I understand that Devil asked you to clean this up, do you mind allowing me to substitute you?"

    "I have no qualms at all. In fact, I got sick of fighting them." Jin purposely made way for a pun to happen.

    "Then I guess, I have to cure that sickness. As well as this sword. Kraft injected too much demonic energy into it and it is too addicted to it." Pei said as she too had inserted her share of demonic energy into the sword to calm it down.

    "Isn''t putting more demonic energy going to drive it insane for even more?" Jin asked and Pei chuckled.

    "Have you forgotten what am I good for? Besides, Kraft is the definition of insanity. His chi energy and demonic energy had the trait of madness in them. It is best that I try to remove it and feed it with regr demonic energy so that it would not be so crazed for more of Kraft''s." Pei said as she swung the sword and it slowly turned into abat fan.

    As much as she was a user of a katana, her origins came from using abat fan instead. Hence, with the insertion of chi and a mix of demonic energy into the demigorgon, it finally calmed down its craze and emerged another pair ofbat fans for Pei to use.

    "Ahhбн They are really quite a pair." Pei said as the Gigan Dragonlings were finally in their range and they shot a huge spike out in revenge for their ''mother''. Yet thebat fan was not only able to deflect it with just a flip of the fan, it did not take too much effort to do it either.

    There was even once Pei casually turned thebat fan, and the entire huge spike had been redirected to another Dragonling. It was as easy as flipping the pancake that Jin had no idea how much training Pei used to have to be able to make it look so simple.

    Soon, the rest of the Dragonlings did not hesitate to throw everything they got to Pei and the Crane Fox merely did the same thing over and over again without doing anything special. All of the spikes had been redirected and they hit every single Dragonling without none of the redirected missed. The only mistake Pei ever made was that there were two spikes that hit the very same Dragonling, which was an overkill and thus leaving one remaining Dragonling.

    "Heh. I cannot believe my skills rusted." Pei said as she took thebat fan and threw it towards the dragonling, killing it by severing its head before it flew back to her with ease. All that took was less than a minute which Pei felt was a decent warmup. "Alright, thanks for attempting to call us. I have to go back to Demopolis and settle some other issues."

    "Okay, thanks foring," Jin said and Pei suddenly turned her head back before disappearing.

    "By the way, the rest of the Foxes said hi. They asked you to return as soon as possible or else Kraft would definitely take everything up as his own." Pei said and Jin nodded his head. "Alright, bye for real. See you back in your world."

    Once Pei had moved away, thebat fans were thrown back to Jin and they slowly returned to two separate swords just as Jin had them previously. The only difference was that the sword seemed to be sturdier and maybe even sharper.

    He then walked towards one of the Dragonlings and used it as a makeshift stool to sit on it and rx for a moment. It is rare times like this he gets to appreciate a moment of peace and silence on top of the bodies his fellow minions had made.

 Chapter 1801 King Of Bearling -Part 39

    When Jin returned from the dungeon instance he had created, he was not particrly surprised at the entire Bearling Capital in ruins. The night was still young but the burning from his initial destruction as well as the damage caused by the Mecha Dragons was in a huge mess. Yet, he did not feel any regret doing any of all these mainly due to the fact that he knew this was all just a Virtual Simtion to upy the inhabitant''s mind.

    Still, it does rub him off the wrong way thinking that this might happen to his world if the Celestial would ever attack him and that was only when Kraft mentioned that word to him before disappearing. It would have been fine if the Celestials had hit Pandapolis or Demopolis where all thebatants there were able to resurrect and live to fight another day.

    However, it''s a different story for Jin''s world. Those people can be resurrected but the materials needed were just too expensive for it to happen as a daily urrence. Not to mention, the materials were limited in quantity mainly because there are rich people in such a world and their greed knows no bounds.

    Jin could only sigh and hope to think of something before it was toote. But for that, he needed not just the power of being the Head of the Royal Panda n. He needed to show that he had the capability to do such things as well. In the end, money and power are the only few things that make the world go round. By building this Virtual Simtion regionally andter nationally, it would not only shorten his goal to be the Number One Dungeon Supplier but also the wealth and capital to do other things.

    Who knows, maybe the System had some secret trait and unlocked something special for him when he reached the top 100 Dungeon Suppliers in the universe. But all he could do right now was to get what he needed a step at a time before reaching such a lofty goal.

    "Commander, you are back." Yinn was the first to note that the presence of Jin''s vitals was avable in the System once again. "Was it a horrible fight?"

    "EhбнIt was okay." Even though the Mechanoids knew how Jin had fought and how he had armies tomand, they would not believe it if Jin were to say a devil came in to help him defeat the biggest, baddest Mecha Dragon with just a blooming of a flower. "I had lots of help. They were fantastic."

    "Man, I would die to see your army defeating that Gigan Dragon. But where''s the corpse though?" Diaz asked as she jumped up with her Fortress Golem to have a look at where Jin was and saw that there was nothing from him except for a pile of Dragonlings lying all over the battlefield.

    "Eh, they kind of overpower it so much that most of it disintegrated. You know, like how Tellie shoots things and nothing everes back from that? Something like this." Jin said and the restughed. "And yeah, that is why I am still here alive and kicking without being knocked out cold once more. Besides, I can''t be sleeping during a challenge against the Royals, right?"

    "So, what are we going to do about the challenge? Has it been resumed?" Page questioned and Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "I am not sure about that, I got to ask that Royal Guard Leader. For all I know, the Royals would have run away from the challenge." Jin replied.

    "Nah, if they do that, the Three Winged Angel would definitely kill them since they are running away from their duty and challenge." Click remarked while Jin tried to contact Steele.

    "All the Mecha Dragons are down. Please don''t tell me that we are expecting more toe?"

    "Supposedly. But I have enough authority to block that move from the Queen who was dying to get more of it out when the rampage started. I showed the rest of the military and support logistics that were responsible for the activation of the Mecha Dragons. They held their hand and disobeyed the Queen upon seeing the destruction that had wrought upon Bearling City." Steele said.

    "So, do we need to fight or something or am I given the red carpet treatment to the Royals?" Jin asked and Steele kept quiet. Themander of the Grey Bears sighed and looked Steele straight at his eyes.

    "You are a calm and collected leader. The Empire would lose a great leader if he were to be foolish to listen to a Queen who was mad enough to cause this kind of destruction. What happens when I am not around? The Dragons would have already destroyed the capital andter moved on to wreak havoc at the surrounding cities. It would go on until they are satisfied and maybe even get the approval of the 1st Tier Dragons."

    "I am not able to give you the location of the Queen but I am also unable to leave my current position due to the needs of the people. How about youe and defeat me so I can give you the location of the Royals." Steele said as he showed the location where he was, trying to aid the Guards who had been injured and for them to receive help as soon as possible. That was when Jin understood what he meant. "Very well," Jin said as he asked to Click to do him a favour.

    "You keep thismunication channel on, for I will find you and kill you for it," Jin said andter signalled Click to execute a shot towards that location.

    Suddenly, a loud bang was heard and smoke emerged at the location pinpointed by Jin. Themunication turned fuzzy for a moment before it got disconnected. Jin was extremely satisfied with the ''attack'' and told the rest to move to Bearling Pce.

 Chapter 1802 King Of Bearling -Part 40

    ?

    "Why not an actual round?" Click asked as she knew that the shot that went through was not an explosive round and instead, it was a smoke grenade and shbangbined into one. The smoke however was packed with special materials that made it intensely strong against detection that it would act as an anti radar cover too.

    "What do you mean, why not an actual round? You killed Steele in that shot." Jin said and started walking towards the Pce.

    "Huh? But Iбн" Before Click couldplete the sentence, Yinn interrupted.

    "Sigh, That''s right, I did not expect Click to be able to kill themander of the Royal Guards in one shot, what a lousy leader of guard they have. I was expecting more."

    "It''s such a pity that themander could not evenst from just one shot, perhaps the Empire needs a better abled body of the Royal Guard, the standard had dropped too much," Tellie added as the Fortress Golems picked up Jin and they walked together towards the Bearling Pce.

    Click had no idea what they were talking about when Jin was the one who asked her to shoot a distraction artillery shell at that area. But the fact that Page and even her best buddy Diaz were keeping mum about it meant that she was missing something out.

    "They are all pretending that shot killed him and Steele can continue to help people with our assumption that he is dead since that conversation had been recorded and the sudden break in contact was the ''proof'' we had finished him off. You get it now?" Lynn said in the System Channel and Click felt like an idiot that she did not understand it until now.

    "Took you some time to understand that. I expected more from you, Click," Diaz said and if they were not in their respective Fortress Golems, Click would beat Diaz on her head. It was for a fact that they had to transport Tellie and Lynn on their Golems along with Jin, Click had no choice but to tolerate the insult from her buddy.

    Soon, they reached the Bearling City Pce and it was rtively empty with the exception of all the dead corpses on the ground. There were no otherbat personnel since most if not all of them had already moved to aid the people of the Bearling City of their own volition. However, as the rest were about to proceed in with guns zing once more when they got out of their Fortress Golems, they saw a sight that they could not believe.

    The Royal''s attendants opened the door for them and one of them came to greet Jin and the Grey Bear Squad. "Greetings, Challenger. I am Puzzle. One of the humble attendants to the Royals. It is I who had orchestrated the monster outbreak in Daimon City and to see you alive in the flesh, challenging the Queen is an honour which I do not dare to partake.

    "And?" Jin sheathed his sword back and took out hismander pistol instead and aimed it at Puzzle. The rest of the Royal attendants who also had pistols and knives on them, immediately knelt down as Jin ced the gun on Puzzle''s head. It was as if they were begging him not to shoot that one person who came to greet him.

    Jin knew how to read the atmosphere and released the gun away from his head. But with it still on his hand and the finger not entirely away from the trigger, he waited for Puzzle''s answer.

    "And, I, Puzzle, the humble servant of the Royal family, had finally understood that I am not worthy of your mercy. But before you take my life away, I will show you where the Queen is."

    "Not the King as well?" Jin asked and Puzzle shook his head.

    "The King could not take the stress of this particr challenge. Especially when he was asked to ride out and aid the people against the Dragons, he refused. In the end, he took the easy way out. Thinking that the Queen would be able to solve everything." Puzzle said as he looked at the side of the group and they instantly nodded their heads.

    They stood up and went to the room that was beside the Pce''s entrance and took out a body bag. The attendants opened it and showed that the King had shot himself in the face to end everything. The System had then confirmed his identity and noted that he was no doubt the real King.

    "Then the Queen? She expected you all to fight and win against me?"

    "No, she had hid herself well within the Pce. After all, your challenge does have a deadline. If by the end of the 24 hours, you did not kill or have the Royals surrender by then, they would win." Puzzle said and Jin looked at Page, asking if she knew anything about this.

    "Yes, while it might not be a written rule on the authorisation letter given by the Three Wing Angel, it is usually the case for most duels. I am afraid what he said holds some weight." Page replied.

    "So, what you are saying she is hoping you guys will dy me while she hid in the Pce?" Jin asked once more for confirmation.

    "Yes." Puzzle nodded his head once more.

    "And you are providing this information because?" Jin wanted to know the real intention behind it although he had an inkling what Puzzle would like to get from this exchange of information.

    "I will give you this information, especially with regards to where the Queen had hidden and in return, you spare the rest of the Royal Attendants. I am the only one who has been orchestrating the things behind the scenes. None of them were involved in such treachery against the Empire. All of them are not privy to the information that I havepared to the rest."

    "So, you are saying that in exchange for information, you want me to spare the rest?" Jin asked and Puzzle nodded his head in silence.

 Chapter 1803 King Of Bearling -Part 41

    "Why would you need I would grant them such privilege? How am I supposed to know that they had not secretly been given a task by the Queen to kill me? Or had also plotted against the Empire''s people when they should be serving them?" Jin asked and suddenly the cries and pleas from the other Royal Attendants arose until Yinn stepped forward and told them to shut up.

    They immediately listened to her despite a few mumbles and Puzzle once more put his head on the ground, begging Jin to spare them. "Sire, the fact that we are here with our weaponsid bare for you to see that we do not wish to be a part of this anymore."

    "My heart aches when I saw those Mecha Dragons ravaging the city of our hometown."

    "Then, does it not ache when Daimon City had been besieged by those monsters? Does it not ache when Parry City is suffering the very same fate as Bearling City would have if those Mecha Dragons had not been stopped in time?!" Jin asked as he used his pistol and whipped Puzzle.

    "What about those people? Are they not the people of the Empire as well? Do you have to see the tragedy unfold right in front of your eyes to know the pain?" Jin shouted and he walked away from Puzzle for a moment.

    "Commander, do you want me to finish him?" Yinn questioned this time as she was not the only one who wished to put a bullet into him. The rest had their guns aimed at the Royal Attendants as well.

    "We do not need your information. If we can kill the Mecha Dragons, you do not think we cannot obliterate the entire Pce by ourselves?" Why would we worry about not being able to find the Queen? Burn the Pce, and let the smoke and suffocation kill her. Cut the power to the entire city, destroy any generators we see, and filled those venttion shafts with smoke. Why would we need your help when we can do it ourselves?" Jin said and Puzzle was speechless.

    In the meantime, Lynn knew that Jin was angry but there was also restraint being shown by him. Because if Jin was really pissed and hated him, he would had already put his de on his neck. "бнThe Queen is in second basement. There is a room that is meant for the Royal Attendants to leave their children there as part of the daycare centre." Puzzle said slowly and Jin sighed.

    "How did this Queen is able to be the Queen is entirely out of my mind. Does she have kids as her hostages?" Jin queried and the rest nodded their heads with tears involuntarily flowing out of their eyes. "Fuck man, this Queen is not just a scumbag, she is the scummiest of the scummiest." Jin said as he raised his pistol and shot Puzzle at his shoulder.

    As the gunshot echoed through the empty halls of Bearling Pce, Puzzle tried his best not to scream or shout at all. He did give his word that if he were to be killed, the rest could be spared. However, both of them knew that Puzzle did not need to be shot instantly and Jin had started with a bullet to his right shoulder.

    "That is for Daimon. I am not sparing you nor am I going to let you die." Jin said as he put his weapon back into his holster. "However." Jin moved closer to Puzzle and then pressed on the wound with his bare hands. "It does not mean that you are going to walk away from this easily. If what you said is true, that you are the one who have done all the dealings between the Royals and other contacts, I am expecting more than just this particr information about the Queen''s whereabouts. Do you get me?"

    Puzzle was already in utter pain and Jin''s pressing on the wound made suffer even further. And yet, he tried his best not to sound out a single scream out at all. The rest of the Royal Attendants could not know how painful it was and yet they kept mum, knowing that the fates of their children were in the hands of this particr challenger.

    "Jin. Stop it. That''s enough for that guy. We will grill himter." Lynn sounded out and Jin let go of his finger which enabled Puzzle to finally breath through the pain.

    "Click, do you have the schematics where will that be?" Jin asked and Click shook her head to the question.

    "There is currently no indication of such a childcare room at all in the pce blueprints." Click replied as she made the holographic ns of the pce and zoomed into the second basement. Jin then looked at Puzzle as if expecting him to know what to do. And that he did as he slowly stood up, handling the pain from the shoulder wound and pointed at that an empty area in the holographic representation of the second basement floor.

    "Shouldn''t this be the concrete foundation for the Pce, I thought its not mean to be hacked down?" Click asked and Puzzle shook his head.

    "Its because that area was meant to be torturingбн prisoners and other people of interest. From what I can see is that the blueprints that you have are considered to be the first iteration of the Pce. Since then, the Pce had been through quite a lot of refurbishing and renovation to suit the current Queen''s needs."

    "Wait, I do not understand. The Queen punishes the children?"

    "No. They merely upied that ce for the Royal Attendants to have their children taken care of in that room. It is only special circumstances where they used it for otherбн purposes." Puzzle said as he was huffing and puffing from the pain.

    "Gosh, what a way to treat the Royal Attendants. Sigh, Page patch that attendant up. The rest, we need to have a quick strategy meeting."

 Chapter 1804 King Of Bearling -Part 42

    ?

    "Gosh, this seemed like it had gone full circle, huh?" Yinn said to the original Grey Bear Squad and they sighed, especially Jin.

    "Tell me about it, what''s with them and holding children with hostages? Is this some kind of cruel joke yed by your Almighty?" Jin asked and the rest had no idea how to answer that particr question.

    "If you really want to know, a majority of kidnappings do involve kids, especially in the Empire. Since they are the only ones who are not allowed to hold guns until they are 16 years and above." Tellie said and added that there would be a major electrical shocking from the guns if those below the age limit were to try even holding it.

    "Does that mean they cannot even pass it to their parents?" Jin questioned once more and they nodded their heads. "What a weird way to enforce suchw of nature, old almightyбн" It was pretty obvious that thest remark was to Syn and its Synthesis World''s AI Administration.

    "So that''s why kidnapping kids is one thing but using them as human shields is a brand new low," Diaz said and the rest agreed.

    "And like the Duke''s kid, we don''t have the luxury of using Tellie for the fight." The blueprint showed that it is cut off into a corner, and there''s no good line of sight for her to utilise.

    "You, are we expecting any Royal assassins or whatnot?" Jin poked his head out from the meeting and asked Puzzle that particr question.

    "If I am not wrong, yes. But I believe there is nothing you cannot handle." Puzzle bowed and replied as honestly as possible.

    "Welp, another factor to take note. If the assassins tried to do the very same thing as what the Queen would do, it would be a very depressing turn of events." Jin sighed.

    "You are assuming the Queen would not be ruthless enough to kill any kid when we gunned down her assassins," Yinnmented and another bout of headache came in.

    "WellбнI did perform a trick to ignore the Royal Assassins when I was shing swords with them. I melted the floors and dropped all the way down to the first basement. The only problem is that they would probably know that I aming down from it since the ceiling of the second basement will corrode."

    "Nah, I do not think that''s a good idea, it might hurt the kids in the process as well," Lynn said before looking at Jin once more. "Then what about your lightning sh step? Can you make it less shy and more stealthy?"

    "If you want stealthy, why don''t you ask Yinn to go instead?" Jin side eyed Yinn. "She can turn invisible, move through them easily, andter use reality maniption to change the surroundings so she could take the Queen down."

    "And do not give you the chance to do so?" Yinn asked as she thought that Jin would like to smack the Queen first.

    "Eh, but the Authorisation letter stated me and the Grey Bears. So, if Yinn defeats the Queen, I do not think there is any issue with that, right Page?" Jin turned to check on Puzzle as well.

    "No problems at all. In fact, I find that having Yinn do that would be the best course of action. Of course, if there were any problems, Jin could use that shy step technique to save the day too, correct?" Page asked and everyone looked at him.

    "The ceilings in the basement are rather high, you can utilise them if you need." Puzzle pointed it out to the holographic blueprint that they had.

    "But won''t that be where those assassins be waiting? Or are you telling me there''s a mix of Royal Guards and Assassins in there?" Jin looked annoyed and Puzzle shook his head.

    "All the Royal Guards even the ones on duty to protect the Queen had been called to the frontlines by Royal Guard Leader Steele. It is not possible for the Royal Guards to be within thepound at all. If any, it''s only the Royal Assassins."

    "Then why do you still ask us to go by the ceiling? That''s kinda stupid isn''t it?"

    "Because there might be a chance the Queen would get the assassins to use thoseser webs as deterrence. Surely if you want to use some shy step thing, I assume you wish not to be cut by thoseser webs as well." Puzzle said and Jin ced his hands on his face.

    "How can I forget those? Urgh."

    "We still have the Hovering Mindjacker modules, but they might be a little noisy for infiltration." Page said but Click came forth and said she could potentially fix that problem.

    "Give me a while, if you are in stealth mode, you might not need too much power flying anyways, so if I reduce the power output, there should not be any noise at all." Click said as she took out her own hovering module and started tinkering it.

    "But that only gives the part where Yinn could infiltrate in. Leaving with the kids would be a problem by itself, especially with thoseser webs." Lynn asked and Jin tapped on Tellie''s shoulders.

    "Ah, about that. I honestly think we do not have to worry about such an issue once we know that the Queen has been neutralised. Given theyout of the basement, Tellie should be able to clear that in one good quick shot. Then the rest cane in zing guns." Jin said and Tellie gave a thumbs up, indicating that she had no qualms with that arrangement.

    "Then if that''s the case, let''s do it quick before the Queen goes mad with ideas again," Jin said as he raised his hand out and Lynn ced it on top of his. Soon, the rest did the same and did a quick team cheer with a ''let''s go.''

    It''s finally the end of the long stretch. Get it done well and everyone can focus on the future.

 Chapter 1805 King Of Bearling -Part 43

    As nned, Yinn was the first to enter the second basement and with her invisibility cloak as well as the hovering module, there was nothing to worry about. She slowly but surely passed through via the ceilings of the basement and she already saw silhouettes of the Royal Assassins standing by at the certain crevices of the basement.

    It was as if the entire Bearling Pce had been built in such a way that the Royal Assassins and Guards had ces they could hide and ambush their enemies. Surely, this was probably due to the fact that people had been invading the Empire multiple times that such a defensive feature had been installed.

    Of course, it would be a dual edged sword for the people working there too since if people can hide in a defensive battle, enemies too can do the same. Yet, if they had continued to keep this meant that it had been effective for the Royal Assassins and guards for centuries that they maintained it that way.

    However, in this particr case, Yin floated slowly as close to the ceiling as possible, reducing the risk of detection when all their eyes were on the entrance, thinking people woulde. This was made more impactful when Jin purposely asked Click to ce a few loud but nonlethal explosives in the first basement.

    This caused the distraction needed for the assassins to be even more on guard and not check where they were not supposed to be. This definitely made her trip towards the so called torture chamber a walk in the park. Yinn had also identified theser web mounts that had been ced along the pce''s basement and she also noticed that there were a few near the ceilings as well. They were ced in ces where they had expected the enemies to jump when they did not notice it.

    Therefore, a few of them were activated to show the threat it can pose but quite a number of them were on standby mode so that they could not be seen by the enemy when their attention and focus was to get out of the mess. Yet, with Yinn''s trip through the second basement, all of those had already been updated within the System so that when the rest came in to save the kids, it would be taken note of.

    When Yinn turned the corner to see the room, she was rather surprised that it was opened and the security in that area wasxpared to what she had seen when she came into the basement. It was then she saw from a distance that the Queen was attempting to soothe the kids as if they were in the same precarious situation as she was.

    She was not being forceful against the kids as they had already crowded around her to sleep and Yinn decided to move in to take a proper look before executing the Queen. It was then she noticed that one of the kids was crying beside the Queen.

    "I want my mommyбн" The girl sniffed and teared but the Queen rolled her eyes for a moment before she got into her acting mode tofort the little girl.

    "I am sorry to hear that but your mommy had gone to protect me from the baddies. She would be here soon enough to get you back?"

    "But I heard a lot of boom noises. What happens if mommy does note back and the bad guys are here?" The girl asked and it had be obvious the Queen''s patience was running thin. She thought that she had managed to keep these kids under control but she had forgotten how their attention span was as short as a ticking fuse.

    "Just sleep for now and not think. Your mommy wille back tomorrow morning."

    "Will you leave us here?" Another kid around her said but she did not know who was it.

    "No, I will not. If we leave, we will leave as one, alright?" Thessaliaforted them and the kids did not know that what she said was a death g for all of them. The rest of the Grey Bear Squad and Jin heard it, and the more they heard how she tried tofort them, the more they felt restless. Thankfully, the person who was doing all the infiltration was not affected by these conversations as she had sessfully entered the room without anybody noticing her.

    "Room is all clear. There''s a total of twenty kids in the room." Yinn said via the System Channel as she slowly hovered and crawled up to the ceiling of the captives'' room. "Ready tomence execution anytime, Jin once again, you sure you do not want to capture her alive? I have a non lethal bullet that will knock her out cold for the entire duration. Killing her would not stop the assassins from attacking us either unless they see aplete failure of their mission."

    "Having not to kill her will allow her to suffer for the rest of her life including after the early Armageddon that you had made." Page also offered the same sentiments. "Besides, you need a scapegoat for all the hate and grief especially after all the damage those Mecha Dragons had done. To see the Queen to be served justice from the angry mob would definitely benefit the Archduke''s rule and strengthen their resolve to serve for him."

    "What do the others think?" Jin asked onest time but Click, Diaz and Tellie believed that killing was easier. Less work not just for the them, its less messy too.

    The only other person who rejected was Lynn. "If you kill them right in front of the kids, you not only traumatised them but also because it will generate hatred for you as the new King or maybe the Archduke who would rule on your behalf. Some might even be paralysed with fear because of the cold blooded murder you did."

    "бнFine. Non lethal."

 Chapter 1806 King Of Bearling -Part 44

    "Brilliant choice," Yinn said as she ready the pistol that had the non lethal round, instead of the sidearm that had been used to kill.

    "Ready," Yinn confirmed once more and Jinmenced the operation. Shots were aimed to her exposed neck and they were silent because the maniptor ss that the System had provided had enabled her shots not to make a single sound at all.

    The only sound that was heard was a little thud on her shoulder as the non lethal shot contained an extremely strong venom that paralysed the subjectpletely. The only thing she could do was to struggle breathe. It might be a non lethal shot but it does not mean that it would not be painful living through it.

    At that point, one of the kids saw the Queen trembling and asked what was happening only to realise that that was a loud explosion right outside the room. The Royal Assassin who was supposed to be guarding the door quickly went into the room and closed the door to protect the kids as well as the Queen who was inside.

    However, by the time the Royal Assassin could make sense of what had happened to the Queen as well as themotion outside the room, Yinn had sent multiple non lethal bullets into the Royal Assassin as well. Causing her to convulse from the excess venom.

    In the meantime, the Royal Assassins noticed that the energy st had destroyed almost all the traps they had set up to protect the Queen as the Grey Bears swooped in to beat their asses. Page and Lynn were the first to dash out to hit the nearest few Royal Assassins that responded to the fight while Jin had used his Lightning sh Step to move to the very end of the basement corridor and started attacking from there.

    Diaz and Click on the other hand started to aim for the Royal Assassins in the middle of the room. As all the targets had already been tagged by Yinn, it was totally a breezepared to their fighting against the Mecha Dragons. It felt as if they had beaten all the side quests before going for the main quest kind of feeling.

    "All enemies neutralised." Tellie reported that she used the Surest of Eye powers to check for any more movement.

    "I hope so," Jin said as he was still looking out for two very specific assassins. The Elites that were supposed to hunt him, were Sigma and Alpha. However, no matter how he double checked with his Inverse Eyes, there were no signs of them at all. He could only hope that they followed Steele to aid the civilians and be reasonable enough to understand that the challenge was already over.

    Yinn finally came out of the captives'' room and all the kids were scared to death that some even tried to hold the knocked out assassin''s knife to protect themselves as Yinn mercilessly dragged the Queen''s body out of the room with her invisibility cloak on.

    "If I were the kids, I would also be traumatised by this scene," Jin said and Yinn snorted at him. The Queen was still alive despite the paralysation and cursed that her n had failed. Well almost. She still held onto the trigger that supposedly can be activated with just a touch on her wedding ring. All she had to do was to make sure she pressed itбнso long she had the strength to do so.

    "Oh yeah, before I forget. A little bird told me about your exploits against people of interest." Jin said as he picked up Thassalia''s hand and grabbed the wedding ring from her finger. "And your habit of exploding people.

    "What do you mean?" The Queen''s head could not wrap up what Jin was saying. How did he manage to learn of her abilities? And Jin did not know at all as well until Syn came in to provide the information the moment it knew of Jin''s intention to bring her into the light and let her suffer for her crimes.

    When Syn had mentioned about people with magic in the past and how the powers can manifest randomly on rare asions, Queen Thessalia was one of them too. She had the ability to manipte human bodies so that they could listen to her bidding for she was well versed in the art of blood magic. And that included a sort of self destruct as well.

    If Jin had deduced the worst case scenario, it was possible that she wished to self destruct along with all the kids as well, killing Jin and the rest when they were in the room. With twenty over kids with her, the explosive force would undoubtedly do enough damage to cause Jin to disappear no matter how strong and resilient he was. Or that was what she thought.

    However, she needed a medium to perform her magic and that privy information had been released by Syn for it too cannot condone such practices to use kids as part of her act. Jin picked up the wedding ring and crushed it with her bare hands, thus unable to let her use any of her magic at all.

    "Well, looks like this is the end of the line for you. Can I shoot her once more with the non lethal shot?" Jin asked Yinn but unfortunately, she shook her head.

    "Any more and we have to ensure that her breathing can be regtedбнthough I think a bullet into her leg if it is not a vital artery should be okay." Yinn said and Jin stifled hisughter.

    "Then that''s fine. I can''t hit her too since I am worried I cannot hold my strength back." Jin said as he asked his Grey Bear Squad to deal with her. At that point, the Authorisation Letter that Jin had in it stuffed in his pockets flew out and glowed.

    This caused Masked Announcer toe out and Jin felt that this would be yet another charade.

 Chapter 1807 King Of Bearling -Part 45 (Final)

    ?

    "p p p p, Congrattions! You had finally beaten the Royals of the Empire." The Masked Announcer said as he looked at the pathetic expression on the Queen. "Did not expect you to stoop so low that you will even dare to use kids as your human shield and insurance against him."

    The Queen wanted to reply but because of the venom from the non lethal round, there was nothing she could sound it loud. All she could do was muffled screams and angry expressions with her eyebrows.

    The restughed at her as they hauled her ass out of the pce to see that all the Royal Attendants were still alive. That was when she realised that she had been betrayed by them, especially her most trustworthy servant. The looks in her eyes said it all as Puzzle bowed ever so slightly.

    "Oh, don''t worry. He is not getting away. For what he did, he might need to serve the new King until the day he dies. There will be no rest for him." Jin said and Puzzle nodded his head silently. As they dragged the Queen out of the Pce, the Masked Announcer sounded the city''s rms and gave the news to everyone through the public speakers even though he should not have any rights or permission to that particr channel.

    "Lord Jin hadpleted the challenge. As a witness to his victory, the Masked Announcer of the Three Winged Angel Dungeon (which is me, if you have not recognised) had deemed Lord Jin of Mount Sunn, the new King of the Empire! Everyone, let us p!" The Masked Announcer stated as he was standing out in the open pping furiously just for Jin.

    "Any famous first liners from the new King?"

    "Royal Guards, get the situation under control right now. The Grey Bears and Pandarens would be assisting you to sweep every single district systematically to ensure that no Dragonlings are left. And Steele, get your ass here and lock the Queen up. We got a lot of questions to ask especially after the stunt she pulled to get all those Dragon Mechanoids in the city." Jin said and the rest of the Grey Bearughed.

    "ErmбнThat''s not really a famous first liner, that''s more like a paragraph. Regardless, d to see that the King is already doing stuff to repair the city he had destroyed. That''s some responsibility." The Masked announcer said and Jin tapped on his shoulders, asking if he could say a few more words.

    "Oh, and any spies from other nations listening to this. You are wee to try and fight us. If my Mechanoid Squad and I can beat 12 Mecha Dragons up in one night, I surely can kick your butt if you dare to invade us when we are at the most vulnerable. Otherwise, I am open to negotiations and creating friendships. That''s all, thanks."

    "Looks like our dear new King seemed to be quite a business person. Does not sound like it''s a bad thing but things might be heating up for the Empire if he were to stick for some time." The Masked Announcer said but Jin knew that he was baiting the people because Syn might have already told him about the early Armageddon that the new King was about to dish out. It was a matter of time that happened and yet the Masked Announcer was still trying to hype things.

    Soon, Steele arrived with a group of Veteran Royal Guards and they took custody of the Queen who had been paralysed. "So, is there any proper ce to keep her before she had justice served on to her?"

    "If you want justice to be served, these two are more than willing to do so," Steele said and it was then the two elite assassins came out from behind the Royal Guards.

    "Huh? I thought the Royal Assassins are loyal to a fault to the Queen?" Jin asked and though he knew that he did not need to take his weapon out, those assassins traumatised him a little with all thoseser web mounts that he instinctively ced his hands on his weapon holster.

    "That you are wrong. Their allegiance is not with the person but with the crown." Steele said as he bent his knee and greeted his new King and so did the other veteran Royal Guards. The assassins followed eventually as well without hesitation and they took the Queen away from Yinn who had been holding on to her.

    "This venom is not that great long term. I suggest using this instead." Sigma took a bullet and passed it to Yinn. "If you can replicate it then congrats to you. Otherwise, we are always avable to supply you with a limited stock once the city has been rebuilt."

    "Thank you, I will take note of that." Yinn smiled quickly and Sigma returned the gesture too. The Queen seemed to have regained a bit of her senses and tried to struggle but the centipede on Sigma crawled around Thessalia and in an instant, she was frozen.

    "We will take it from here." The veteran Royal Guards said as they pulled her up andy it over one of the guards'' shoulders.

    "Then, I guess we better listen to the King''s previous orders to clear the Bearling City of the Dragonlings," Yinn said and the rest nodded their head as well. Jin wanted to move along with them too but the Masked Announcer held him back.

    "There is a private matter I have to ask before allowing you to go. If you would spare some time for me." The Masked Announcer said and Jin looked at Steele. In an instant, he knew that they required some privacy, which Steele gave by telling the Grey Bears the situation within the city grounds.

    "What is it that you got to say?" Jin asked as he sat at the steps of the Pce''s entrance with the Masked Announcer looking over the broken city.

    "Just a minor request for you to consider if you do not mind since I already knew your ns to initiate an early Armageddon." The Masked Announcer said as he finally decided to sit beside Jin.

 Chapter 1808 Just Crown Me Already -Part 1

    ?

    "What is it? Please do not ask for things like a fight in a duel of death! For I find you the worthy one to end my life!" Jin said and the Masked Announcerughed hysterically.

    "Oh my! I did not know that you had such humour. Hahahaha!" The Masked Announcer said as heid back a little with his hands supporting from behind. "No, it is not that drastic. If I ever really want to die, I can ask the Almighty to perform that feat. Though, I would not lie. Seeing you fight makes me understand that you have too much under your sleeves and you have barely shown any of it. Most of your attacks might be earnest but your powers are not."

    "I am guessing you deduced that from the sudden disappearance that I made when I fought with the Mecha Gigan Dragon erm I meant that 3rd Tier Mechanoid Dragon?" Jin asked and he nodded.

    "Let''s say that I got awfully interested and the Almighty allowed me a ten seconds glimpse of what you can do. And I must say, fighting with you at full strength is not something that I can achieve by myself. Perhaps, with the other angels, I might have a chance. Not me alone."

    "There are other angels like you? What are they? One Winged Angel, Two Winged Angelбнisn''t that a normal angel by default." Jin asked and the Masked Announcer enjoyed his cold humour.

    "They are the same Three Winged Angel as me and they all have the same appearance as me too. In fact, if I am not mistaken, we are born at the same time too and we all have too simr personalities that it won''t be wrong to say that you find us all the same."

    "Then, how can I differentiate all of you if I ever met the very same Three Winged Angel?"

    "I guess, you have to ask Almighty on that question. I personally never met them after we were born and to this day, we never reunite. I can only assume they have the same powers as me and so if I ever fight against you, I probably need them to add on the manpower. In any case, we digressed."

    "So yea, what''s the favour you wanna ask about," Jin asked and the Masked Announcer took out a thumbdrive. An old fashion thumbdrive that can be used to be plugged into the back of Jin''s neck.

    "I heard you are some sort of merchant selling dungeons. Take this source code with you. And see if you can create a dungeon that canmemorate my monsters." Jin picked it up and was curious about what he meant.

    "What do you exactly mean? Aren''t monsters respawnable once some time has passed?"

    "They do. But the problem is that most of the boss monsters do not get to see much action. It felt like a disservice for them to stay in such a ce."

    "Well, as you have already known I am a merchant. I brought the customers here as well and you had seen them fight as well. There is a chance for them to try your dungeon when the timees. And trust me, they are not the kind that will back off easily and they will keeping back."

    "Wait, so if they die, they are not truly dead?" The Masked Announcer sounded surprised and Jin nodded his head.

    "For now, they are told not to interact too much with the locals and keep interaction as transactional as possible. However, this might prove to be a problem in the future when people know about their secret and might want to seek this kind of power." Jin said and the Masked Announcer smiled.

    "I see, countries would want to take advantage of immortal adventurers and this might cause further wars."

    "Yes. So, the early Armageddon was meant to reset this and so my customers would be moved to another world with the help of the Almighty. I might discuss with the Almighty of maybe making a sort of ess that they could join this particr world but their rights to resurrection might be restricted or removed."

    "Then, it does not make any sense anymore. Those adventurers won''t have the time and strength toe to my dungeon already."

    "Not so fast. If it''s possible, I wish to ask the Almighty to at least share the dungeons between those worlds. So that means the entrance is avable to both worlds. That way, you will have a fair share of those adventurersing after you, no?"

    "I see, so that is what you meant." The Masked Announcer thought for a while and nodded, thinking it was a good idea. "Then I guess, you do not need the source code?"

    "On the contrary, maybe I would want it. Who knows maybe I can replicate them in my world and other worlds. Your boss monsters can travel with me and see what the universe can offer."

    "Damnбнnow I am tempted to give you my source code if that is true."

    "For what? It is not like you get to experience all of those?" Jin asked and the Masked Announcer shook his head.

    "I will not, but if you are ever back here or even just allowing the codes to be reconnected temporarily to the Almighty, I think it''s possible to let all those data flow into us and let us see and understand what they had been through." The Masked Announcer said that he had thought of sudden possible ways to reconnect.

    "I see, if that''s the case I do not mind having your source code."

    "Hmmm, I believe sharing with the System would be a better idea. I do not wish to let it expose out in the Virtual Simtion if possible. I do not know if there are any leaks that might happen if I put it out in the public domain." Syn suddenly said and Jin was surprised that he came out.

    "Ermбн can Masked Announcer see you?" Jin said as he pointed towards him.

    "Yes and no," Syn said.

    "Oh, Almighty. The Three Winged Angel greets you. It is an honour for you to grace your presence to us." The Masked Announcer had lowered his head and did not dare to bring it up.

    "Ah okay. Guess this is getting awkward. I take that initial suggestion then." Jin gave a thumbs up to Syn and the ''Almighty'' disappeared, and that enabled the Masked Announcer to have some time and space for him to lift up his head.

    "For you to talk to him so casually. You are no doubt an existence, beyond special." The Masked Announcer said and Jin shrugged off his praises. "Now that your request can be fulfilled. Let''s start by settling this whole ce down." Jin sighed as he knew there were some things he had to do before he could be officially crowned as the King.

    "That I cannot help you for I am just the witness to this particr challenge. I wish you all the best and hope that you may find me useful in the future." The Masked Announcer said and before Jin could ask him something, he had already disappeared like he had always done.

    "Well, I can use you if I know what your abilities are." Jin rolled his eyes to the side and slowly walked to Puzzle and the rest of the Royal attendants who had been waiting patiently within the pce. "Alright, where do we start?"

 Chapter 1809 Just Crown Me Already -Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1809 Just Crown Me Already -Part 2</h4>

    Bearling City was in a mess.

    Without proper time to evacuate, everyone had to leave their belongings just to save their lives. That meant looting and all other sorts of crimes were inevitably going to be rampant the moment the Royal Guards were clear to the Dragonlings away.

    Jin had expected some form of chaos but he was secretly hoping that most of it would be situated at the Bearling pce which was away from the residential areas. However, the appearance of the Mecha Dragon caused him to have such a thought to be cast away into the drain.

    However, with the enforcement of borders by the Royal Guards to clear the area, Jin had decided to do something controversial as well. He called Denise and the Daimon Generals to fly in experts and specialists who deal with construction.

    If they were going to fix Bearling City from all that mess, then it was better that they rebuild everything all over again. After Jin had a glimpse of how bad the entire city''s infrastructure was, it might be better to build the entire city from scratch againбнor so he thought.

    The moment the experts and specialists quoted him the figures to redo the entire city, he nearly vomited out his guts. Even the amount of money that he had was not even 1% of the quotation that the experts had put out. It was to the point that he asked if that was even extortion.

    "I do not remember building that 200 over floors for adventurers was that expensive, and that is rebuilding the entire district along with that skyscraper. But now you are telling me one house cost as much as rebuilding that entire district?" Jin asked and sadly the experts nodded their heads.

    "If a fast paced construction is in order, we need to obtain the resources from surrounding cities and make sure that they can get more of those as soon as possible. The coordination to get the various materials from the limited supplies that the Empire had would be a challenge. That is why some of the money is needed to outsource our supplies to the other nations." The experts said and Jin realised that it was not possible to do so in such a short time.

    "I understand if that''s the case then we will do the rebuilding when I have the security in order. Looks like fast paced reconstruction would not be possible at all." Jin said and instead, asked the experts to do an extensive survey of the districts to estimate the amount of money needed for repairs.

    In the meantime, the Rocketeers Mechanoids that the Archduke Dyke had bought previously was still left untouched. Jin felt that this was the best time to use them in this situation and the Royal Guards agreed to it. The Dragonlings might have already been killed but when the people were to reenter the cities, it would be quite the chaos as well.

    Thus, those top of the line Rocketeer Mechanoids would be what''s needed for the security of the city and keeping things in order. Denise had also promised a batch of Diamonds Security Mechanoids to be dispatched to the city to aid with thew and order.

    Soon, the entire ce had been crawling with those Mechanoids and when the citizens were finally allowed to return, they felt a little oppressed by the presence of those Mechanoids walking around with guns.

    "Is this the future?" Some of them asked as they thought that this might be the way Jin was going to rule the Empire. Not exactly the best first impressions but Jin had iterated in public announcements that all those Mechanoids were there temporarily to maintain security. "Unless you wished to be looted, robbed, or have your things stolen, then please allow me to have those security Mechanoids be there for all of you. Once the situation has settled down, I will slowly remove those Mechanoids." Jin said but he honestly did not mean any of those.

    This was mainly because he wanted to return to the real world as soon as possible. There was no need for him to build an Empire here when it was not real for him. There are no extra benefits after getting the title of the King since all he needed was the official way tomence Armageddon and he and Lynn would be able to return.

    The clock is ticking elsewhere in his world and there are things that had been in the backburner for weeks. Not to mention, he is more interested in investing his energy to get a new separate world up online as soon as possible, migrating his customers to that area and letting them have their fun there without screwing up the order of nature in this ce.

    As spoken to the Masked Announcer, it would not be a good thing for the inhabitants of this particr world if the Pandarens acted what they want with their unlimited resurrection capabilities. The Pandarens would eventually be the main lead of this particr simtion and that would have serious implications on how such a capability would reflect on the current state of power.

    So, while Jin had avoided that at the moment by implementing a poption cap due to the number of Virtual Simtion pods his store possessed and that their customers were still starting out and growing their grades, the disparity of power will get worse as more people enter and different ideas and ambitions of his customers were to grow in the Virtual Simtion.

    Thus, Jin only allowed them in Daimon City and certain parts of Parry City. While he did enabled them to enter Bearling City to aid with the Dragonling problems, most of them have to log out once they are done with the security sweep. The remaining few had decided to stay for the side quests such as literally cleaning up the streets for that extra few simution coins.

    Other than that, the whole city is in a mess and understood why the proposal for an offshore duel came about. The silver lining of it all? At least the King had promised an entire makeover of the city.

 Chapter 1810 Just Crown Me Already -Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1810 Just Crown Me Already -Part 3</h4>

    A week had passed and the security situation had more or less been stabilised. Diamondz Corp had been seen sending their construction workers and Mechanoids including the equipment to be used for the reconstruction of the area.

    Other than that, the new King Jin had been sleeping on his desk mainly because all the things that should have been done were not being taken care of. Instead, he was surprised to find that Puzzle was the one doing all the administration work when it was supposed to be the duty of the King and Queen.

    To his surprise, the Royal Attendant Puzzle possessed the power and ability to manipte things since he had ess to all the documentation but he did not. The only thing he did was follow the Queen''s orders and advise her on what to do to get certain things done.

    Otherwise, most of the orders by the King and Queen had been faithfully executed by Puzzle and the other royal attendants. The Inner City Council was also a sham where the Queen had been putting rtives and other ipetent fools that were useful to her but not to the city, resulting in a city being seen through rose tinted ss. It was hriously awful when Jin saw it.

    In the meantime, Archduke Dyke had also sent his full construction team who had years of expertise from Mount Sunn and into Bearling Pce. The construction at Mount Sunn was notpleted but the foundation had already been made so Dyke had gotten a few other subcontractors to finish the job instead.

    After all, if Archduke Dyke would be crowned King or at least to be the regent for the next few years, he needed to be involved in the whole situation that Jin had been sucked into. Obviously, dearest Panda Cultivator had his own ideas but when he thought about it, Jin once again felt that it was not worth his time and allowed Dyke to do his own way of handling the city.

    Besides, Archduke Dyke himself had many years of experience on how to deal with all these domestic issues that Jin kicked all of the Inner City Council members out of their position and installed the Archduke''s City Councils as the new Inner City Council of Bearling. This might sound like a horizontal job transfer but things were moreplicated than that.

    Being a member of the Inner City Council of Bearling meant to be the government that led the entire Empire. The Inner City was just a title to make things less grandeur as the previous kings thought that having too grand of a title may promote arrogance upon working. Not exactly the wrong idea but people had already associated being an Inner City Council member meant that you get to being the head of a department that governed what the Empire needed.

    So, it was a vertical job promotion rather than a horizontal job transfer. No doubt, the Archduke''s City Council members were ted that they were to have such a job promotion while they passed their own responsibilities handling the central district of the Empire to their apprentices instead. However, as mentioned, because of the fools and nepotism of the Royals, the task they had were monumental.

    Surely, the Archduke''s team had shes with the Inner City Council since they were handling the Central District''s policies. It was to the point many of times, those membes in the Archduke Team had boasted that they could do a better job than the people in the Inner City Council. And now that they are in that current position, Dyke had force them to remember what they had said to him previously and the rest could only wallow sorrow for ever sprouting those words.

    "So many things to fix. They had really diverted a lot of money into the making of those Mecha Dragons." Archduke Dyke said as he shook his head to see that the Empire could be in the red if they were not careful in the next few months.

    "Guess it looks like to continue their influential lifestyle, they probably going to use the Mecha Dragons as leverage against other countries. Maybe expanding it even more and getting more territory." Jin said.

    "That''s what the Royal thinks and in reality its not as easy as it is anymore. The Empire is rather a lonely ce mainly because of how big it had be. A lot of people wants theirnd back and had form anti Empire alliances in the dark. If the Royals were to attack a certain country within that anti Empire Alliance without knowingбн.or with sufficient warningбн" Dyke shook his head at the possibilities.

    "The Empire might be no moreбн Hey, at least we defeated the threat within our Empires ourselves. Surely the foreign delegations would have something to say." Jin said and Dyke noted. "I am sure they are saying things behind my back to you and instead to me directly."

    "Haha, acting smart right now eh?"

    "OF course, suddenly a man who Archduke Dyke found to be worthy to be a lord because he rescued his son became famous in less than a year. And let me reiterate. Archduke Dyke found that person. So, who''s the real mastermind when people tried to analyse this whole situation?"

    "That will be meбнeven though you are the one who did everything behind the scenes." Dyke grinned for a moment.

    "Yeap, its great that you are taking the shotsбн since most of them see me as just a puppet like how people knew that the King was a puppet to the Queen." Jin said.

    "And that is the most scary part is that all of them had assumed wrongly. Hahahaha! Oh this is so much fun. I never thought of it this way until you mentioned it." Dykeughed and once he calm down, he told Jin about the things he found out from his spies from other nations.

    And the political game continuedбн

 Chapter 1811 Just Crown Me Already -Part 4

    ?

    Soon, Bearling City started its recovery phase when most of the major repairs were done, and the Inner City Council had their bearings stabilised after such an upheaval event that had happened. That was when Jin was finally able to have his coronation as King and get an official meeting with the Almighty.

    In the meantime, Jin had confirmed that Milk and Peppers had indeed gotten his body back the way it was. The System had also ensured that his body was ready to receive his soul and the AI Administration had improved its odds of returning his soul through the data that both Systems shared.

    Syn had also made sure that Lynn was able to return as well with no hups and multiple simtions had proven that the theory to return the both of them could work as they had tried it on an unsuspecting puppy which was found on the streets by Qiu Yue. As cruel as it might have sound, the animal testing worked, and they were ready to send Jin home.

    The Archduke Dyke initially wanted to have a grand ceremony of crowning Jin as the King with all that pompous celebration that would usher them in a new King while showing the military might of the Empire in a parade but Jin denied all of that.

    "Too expensive and it''s a waste of money. Not worth the people''s time as well."

    That was his line in the public announcement he made when Archduke Dyke had set the ceremony date. Everyone was at a loss of words when Jin refused the pompous portion of the ceremony. Some apuded him, stating that such money could be spent at better ces while others felt that the new King was being irresponsible for the coronation to be the King of the Empire was a sacred phase for the Empire to be recognised.

    Yet Jin stood his ground and said that it was unnecessary. And so, when the day of his coronation came, the public had a viewing of the coronation where Jin did not even invite the priests who had been essential in all ceremonies to be the supposed represented voice of the Almighty. Instead, it was a little boy in formal attire carrying a cushion that held the crown on top of it.

    People felt it was sphemous of Jin to spoil the sacred process until they saw that the Masked Announcer was right beside the little boy as well and he was kneeling towards that boy. They had no idea whether this Masked Announcer was a fake one, or the very same announcer that had been in the challenge. However, since Jin had already done this, all they could do was to watch.

    But never did they know the Almighty whom they worship to was right there in the screen. That little boy was Syn who had purposely changed his avatar to be that little boy. Why would Jin need priests to be the represented voice of the Almighty when the Almighty himself came to present Jin the Crown?

    "Thanks Three foring." Jin said to the Masked Announcer. "Otherwise, they would think that I am doing this as a joke."

    "Its my honour to serve you and the Almighty." The Masked Announcer said as he also felt proud that Jin had call him with an abbreviated name, as if it was citing that he was close with him.

    "If you want to me, me your Almighty. He had to purposely choose a little boy to give me the crown."

    "I wanted to see if I can emte your twisted sense of humour and it seemed like I had been sessful in doing so." Syn said through the boy and Jin had to keep a straight face due to the all the cameras looking at him.

    "He just does not want to knelt down and present me the crown with him standing. This way, he get to be the Almighty in this current ceremony while maintaining his pride as the Almighty."

    "How very astute of you to recognise that." The boy smiled wide and he stood before the King and presented the King his crown. Usually at this point, the priests would be holding the crown to put it onto the King but with the boy and Masked Announcer around, thetter decided to do something even more special due to thements of his Almighty."

    "Then I too shall attempt this twisted sense of humour with my own understanding." The Masked Announcer said as he released his masked and begun to glow brightly until the cameras capturing the scene turned all white.

    It was then, a glowing human with three wings stood right beside Jin and the boy. With the Three Winged Angel in his human perceived form, he picked up the crown and gently but firmly ced it onto Jin''s head, ascertaining his title as King of the Empire.

    Without a doubt, the entirety of the Empire went hysterical the moment he was crowned as King.

    Now they understood why Jin said that there was no need for such pompous ceremonies, citing it was a waste of money and how Priests were redundant. When the true represented voice of the Almighty himself, the Three Winged Angel came to crown Jin. There was indeed no need for those priests and other forms of parade.

    Even the invited honoured guests and delegations who were in the Bearling Pce Hall had been struck with speechlessness. From Kings of other nations showing their presence in this very hall upon the Archduke''s invitation to the peasants and homeless watching through the public streaming broadcast, this was no doubt a scene to behold.

    "Hahaha. Now I get Three''s twisted sense of humour. His is definitely a grade higher than you, your Almighty." Jinughed at Syn and even though Three wanted to apologise, even Syn found it instantly gratifying to watch.

    "You do not have to be sorry, this was indeed the best reaction I got from the entire poption in the Virtual Simtion." Syn said with a goodugh inside him.

 Chapter 1812 Just Crown Me Already -Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 1812 Just Crown Me Already -Part 5</h4>

    When the coronation was over, the Three Winged Angel disappeared and so did the boy. What was left was the cushion on the ground with Jin having a crown on his head. It took a moment for everyone to get into their heads that this coronation was over and the crowd pped as Jin stood up.

    The rest of the other Kings whom Jin did not bother to remember their names came to congratte him. It seemed like if there was a religion, the only religion that they ever worshiped would be the Almighty as everyone started to dub Jin as the Divine King because of his actions.

    "Wait till they know that I am going to start the Armageddon process." Jin thought to himself and the System in its robotic voice,ughed slowly. Eventually, the Archduke came to break out the group as he and an entourage of guards started to move him out of the area.

    "I thought I said this should be as simple as a ceremony as it can be and yet you invited kings, queens, ministers, and all sorts of weirdos into the Pce halls?" Jin asked the Archduke through the System.

    "C''mon, this is already the simplest it can ever be. There''s no the usual royal parade, the interviews before and after. All I did was send an invite out. If they are willing toe, theye. Else, it''s fine. There''s no need to worry after all. Besides, it is not for you but for me to mingle with them and get their connections, especially after the show you put up. This is fantastic. O Divine King."

    "I regretted already, should have asked those priests toe instead."

    "Oh, trust me. Those priests are a pain in the ass even more so than your Masked Announcer. This is already considered the fastest ceremony one could ever have. You know those priests, will try to say your deeds, your future endeavours, and ask various people from different walks of life toe to honour you. You would not like it. Besides, look! I am already escorting you out to have an official meeting with the Almighty."

    "Yeah, if you knew, I already had one just now," Jin said with a bit of sarcasm and he knew that the Archduke Dyke would be replying with reference to the Three Winged Angel rather than the little boy.

    "Hahaha, the Three Winged Angel while he is the true representation of the Almighty, you are going to have an audience with him personally." Archduke Dyke said and Jin tried to pull a prank on him to see if he could get it or whether he believed it or not.

    "I just saw the Almighty. He was that little boy."

    "Yea yea, and if he is the Almighty, then I am бн" Archduke stopped walking and looked at Jin. After all the nonsense he had been through with Jin, there got to be some element of truth in whatever he said even though it felt like it was joking. The entourage also came to a halt and Archduke Dyke looked as if he wanted a proper confirmation of what he said.

    Yet, Jin smiled confidently and asked the entourage of guards to move along. At that moment, Dyke did not know whether Jin was joking or he was indeed telling the truth. (If anything, Jin had a Krafty moment right there!)

    A four wheel drive came and to his surprise, Yinn and Lynn were in the front seats as the guards opened the door for Archduke Dyke and King Jin to enter into the vehicle. "Good morning, your Majesty," Yinn said with a slight tone of formality that it somehow triggered Jin.

    "Yinn, I did not expect you to y along with them as well."

    "That''s the whole fun of it. Since when can you be King when you are back to your real world? Enjoy it while you can, yo~" Lynn said and Jin got even more annoyed.

    "Says my supposed Queen when she refused to take on that title even though Archduke Dyke find it a good idea to have a Mechanoid as the Queen."

    "No way. I want my proper wedding ring and have my penguins with me when I marry you."

    "That''s awfully direct." Both Yinn and Dyke said it so tantly that it made Yinn blush a little before she let out her tongue cheekily.

    "Where''s the rest?" Jin tried to change the subject to try and remove the awkwardness.

    "They are at the back though Diaz and Page wanted to drive as well, so they are in their motorcycles. Click drove while Tellie''s her passengers. Besides, you need some security on your way up the mountain which Page and Diaz are one of the best few to respond immediately." Yinn said as Jin looked at the back to see his Mechanoids were waving at him frantically.

    "Aww. Those girls. Tell them to drive normally!" Jin said when Diaz started to throw stunts by riding one wheel and Page followed her as well. Yinn merelyughed it off that Jin was still their usualmander as having the title of the King did not exactly change him.

    Soon, the motorcade exited Bearling City without much problem mainly because the Archduke had specifically demanded not to have any dys to the trip to the Bearling Mountains. To Jin''s surprise, there were quite a fair number of citizens who came to see Jin going through the city and a few were waving their hands and gs of the Empire to show their support.

    "Oh man, if they only knew that I ammencing Armageddon."

    "You said it like it''s a bad thing." Archduke Dyke said and Jin tilted his head to him.

    "It''s not?"

    "Nope, it''s a regr process for us. Besides, the person who initiated Armageddon can change certain things to their Kingdom which they normally could not."

    "Why am I hearing things for the first time AGAIN?"

    "We thought you knew??" Yinn, Lynn, and Dyke said it together once more and Syn secretlyughed watching it as if he managed toplete some sort of objective

 Chapter 1813 Just Crown Me Already -Part 6 (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 1813 Just Crown Me Already -Part 6 (Final)</h4>

    "What kind of benefits?"

    "Something like putting more dungeons in your nation, a new gold mine, or everyone has to pay 5% more tax and nobody canin. That''s a bit far fetch but you get the point. Essentially, you are wishing for a reset and a benefit to the country. I don''t think that''s bad for you."

    "Then why won''t people ask for Armageddon whenever they have the chance to do so?"

    "Because it''s not easy to get an audience with the Almighty, and even if you did, do people really think of Armageddon as their first priority? Most people would want things like get me to be rich! Give me the ultimate group of females with whom I can wine, dine, and have sex with all day long! Those kinds of stuff. People won''t ask for it, give me Armageddon and bless this country with more dungeons!" Archduke Dyke said and it does make sense if Jin thought about it that way.

    "The only reason why you are thinking of Armageddon is to get back home. But I as your regent can put it in such a way that you are doing it to get more perks for your nation. It''s a win win kind of situation where people will continue to revel you as the Divine King." Archduke Dyke said and Jin rolled his eyes.

    "Gosh, at this rate I do not wish to return to this ce anytime soon."

    "Come on, at least return when there''s a crisis or something. That way being the Divine King would make it even more so unique and symbolic to the Empire."

    "Heh. You make things sound like the nations would all be vying for the Empire anytime soon." Jin said and Archduke Dyke shrugged his shoulders. "At the very least when they saw you and your special act, they would not be doing anything dangerous for now. In fact, you might be revealed as by many of the religious believers." Archduke Dyke replied and Yinn interrupted them stating that they had arrived. "Alright, all the best now. Thank you for fighting for the Empire." Dyke raised his hands out and Jin shook it firmly.

    When Jin came out of the vehicle, he too removed that crown on his head as he looked at the statue that was right above him. It was merely a person holding onto a stone tablet but the only difference was that its face had been weathered away by the conditions in Bearling Mountains.

    "Good luck, Jin. All the best to you too, Lynn. Hope to see you again." Yinn said as she now passed the small USB device. The rest did the same as well and gave each other a hug. (To be honest, Jin was a little jealous of such a sisterly scene. The System did rmend that he could do the same with Archduke Dyke and that kind of spoilt the mood for him already.)

    "Alright, we will get going now," Jin said and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad stood in attention and saluted him.

    "Thank you, Commander, because of you. We had been through so much more and experienced what we never thought we could do." Yinn said and the rest nodded their head in unison and stood ever proud that their Commander was Jin.

    In return, the King returned his salute as well to the best of his abilities and turned away to walk with Lynn towards the stone tablet. The Grey Bear Squad did not let go of their salute until a small portal opened in front of Jin and Lynn and they walked into it."

    "Guess that''s it, huh?" Diaz said as the portal closed right in front of them.

    "Alright, Grey Bear Squad. As yourmander dictates it, you will be the first batch of Mechanoids who have the privilege ofmanding other Mechanoids. Each of you will have your own squads and all of you only report to me and no one else. The Regent. Though in technical terms, you report only to the King and I can only ask for your services." Dyke said to the group who was now without amander.

    "Don''t worry about the small details. If you do anything bad, Jin would definitely know about it. Since that sneaky System will keep a tab on us." Click said and the restughed.

    "That is true too." Dyke nodded his head.

    "But truly, a squad of our own?" Tellie asked and Dyke nodded his head.

    "Yes, Jin had given the green light since he is now King. You will be working with Denise to get your own Customised Squads though if Master mmet ever wishes to intervene, that would be under his own initiative. Otherwise, Denise will provide you with the essentials."

    "Does that mean we go on our own missions or do you have already something lined up for us?"

    "I do. The destruction of the Mecha Dragons had yet to bepleted and Rocketeers aren''t exactly being very honest with us considering the number of 2nd Tier Mecha Dragons you all had fought. Most if not all of you would be dispatched to various cities to find and locate the leftover Mecha Dragons and ensure they are either destroyed or dismantled."

    "That sounds like a lot of work. But Jin probably will make us go by ourselves right now instead of putting up squads." Click said and the rest agreed.

    "The other Mechanoids are there to provide assistance and support. You all are probably the only few who can go toe to toe with 2nd Tier Mecha Dragons. However, do not hesitate to call for backup if you find a situation that might need more manpower. Remember you all are not King Jin." The Dyke reminded and the rest saluted him.

    "Good response. The King had indeed trained all of you well. Alright, let''s return for now. By evening, the event will start and if Jin really does make it happen, we need to make sure everything else is in order. Otherwise, we have to prepare for Armageddon."

    "Yes, Sir!"

 Chapter 1814 Empty White Space

    <h4>Chapter 1814 Empty White Space</h4>

    It was an empty white space like how Jin had always been in Kraft''s ck infinite space. For Lynn, it was not an unusual sight as well since she too was trained by Kraft beforeing into the Synthesis World. And the moment Jin said the word Kraft, Lynn got it already.

    However, unlike the times when the both of them were alone in that ck space, this time around they are together, holding hands knowing that they can ovee this as a couple. Syn emerged right in front of them and greeted them in his boyish form that he had used as an avatar just now.

    "Ready to make your wish?" Syn asked

    "You already know what I want."

    "You have to say it in an official capacity so that it can be recorded properly," Syn replied and both Jin and Lynn said it together.

    "Armageddon."

    "Very well. I have noted your intent and the benefit you wish to reap for your country for initiating early Armageddon?"

    "I have a specific idea but I am hoping it is not to just my nation but also the entire Synthesis world."

    "Hmm? But the request should only be for the countries'' benefit." Syn was curious about what he had to say.

    "You could say it is for the people of my nation''s benefit." Jin was insistent that he would be making a reasonable request.

    "Hmm, alright, I will hear you out for now." Syn nodded his head and had his ears opened.

    "Pandarens would not be discriminated against nor looked down upon. Their resurrection abilities should not be exploited by any person or nation. This will remain until the new World has been created for them." Jin said.

    "Ah, I see. Now I get what you mean." Syn nodded his head. "Based on a person''s greed, they would definitely be able to exploit the Pandarens'' abilities of being able to resurrect. Some might get jealous that they are still alive as theirpanions died while others would find that it is unfair that they have some sort of magical ability and yet they can be resurrected as well."

    "For now, I will not allow them to move anywhere other than Daimon City and maybe ess to some part of Parry City. At most, Bearling City if the Empire needs to defend itself from an invasion. Otherwise, it''s off limits to them."

    "So, you want me to see if the reasonings and ignorance to their abilities can be applied within Daimon Citizens. If it is sessful, then it is for the other citizens as well."

    "Yes, something like that, then I will be able to expand their exploration phase little by little. And in that time, I will try to work with the System to get a new world up as soon as possible. Of course, I cannot do it by myself and would need a group of gaming developers to do so. Is there any gaming world that we can go into and get such a group?"

    "The System will rmend you return home and settle your dungeon supplier store as well as the Virtual Reality conundrum. In the process of doing that, the System will work with you to create the VR World that we might intend to do for your world''s audience.

    "Alright, alright." Jin nodded his head at the System''s request. I think I got toocent and Qiu Yue must be cursing at me for noting back home any time soon.

    "Okay, I will attempt to implement your request for Daimon City Citizens and subsequently the rest as well. If there are no other questions, then I will proceed with the Armageddon countdown for the World."

    "Yes, please. Thank you." Lynn said and Syn smiled a boyish look.

    "And since you two are going back to your own world, follow me. I will bring you to your pods."

    "We have pods?"

    "It''s something like an image connection for your subconscious to your consciousness. If I were to remove you from where you are standing, your subconscious would probably feel disoriented. This is done for the top 10 participants who had won the round as well. So, there is nothing special for any of you. Just standard procedure." Syn said as the two pods eventually came in sight within the infinite white space as they walked for some distance.

    "Alright, see you on the other side," Jin said as he hugged Lynn but thetter decided to take the initiative to give him a kiss instead.

    "There''s a little boy over here, you know," Jin said but Syn pretended to not see and whistled with his head turned to another corner.

    "I think you are seeing things," Lynn said as she ced her lips onto his and they were locked in a slow embrace for some time before Jin let go of her. She gave another kiss on his cheek and they went to their individual assigned pods. (Since their names were engraved at the front of those pods.)

    "You guys just rest and hibernate inside these pods, I make sure everything proceeds smoothly before I start the Server Restart and then you all should be on your way home. Your System will be monitoring you throughout the entire event and we will make sure if there are any hups, it will be solved as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will cancel the whole thing and try again."

    "Does that mean you will Armageddon twice if necessary?" Jin asked and Syn nodded his head.

    "The Synthesis World AI Administration had decided that you had somewhat restored the bnce of the world and it is not your fault that you are being brought here. So, we will do our best to return you guys back to where youe from. Of course, if we did a good job, please give us some additional resources as thanks."

    "No worries about it. Talk to you soon, Syn." Jin said as he closed his eyes and Syn activated the hibernation process.

 Chapter 1815 Welcome Back?

    <h4>Chapter 1815 Wee Back?</h4>

    "Jinбн"

    "Jinбн"

    "Jinбн Wake up." The voice was all too familiar to him as he begrudgingly opened his eyes. There he found himself waking up in a bench but the scenery was something that caught him by surprise. Shocked? Stunned? There was no exact words for it.

    It was the destruction of the Tree Mall and the surrounding Tian Gong District. The almight tree that stood tall as the pride of Tian Gong District had fallen and was burning right in front of his eyes.

    "Jin." The sound made him break the focus of looking at that particr scene.

    "Grampsбн?" Jin turned to see that his grandfather was in full General Uniform aspared to the usual warm casual clothes that he was wearing. He held a stick in between his legs as he sat beside Jin.

    "This image. Is it unbelievable?"? Ming asked but Jin shook his head reluctantly.

    "бн No. It can happen." He admitted.

    "Why? How? And What can you do?"Ming asked once more and Jin became serious.

    "To prevent this or to take revenge?"

    "Heh, for you to even think the other option. Looks like you have seen a fair share of destruction since thest time we met."

    "Is this about thest Cardinal that you are going to introduce?"

    "Yes. And ot took me some time to calm this Cardinal down to do things on my behalf. Seiryuu. The Azure Dragon. I know that you had see your fair share of dragons in your previous fight but this is a beast of its own." Ming used hismanding stick and point it upwards to the sky. The thunder bellowed and the clouds weeped yet a trace of a dragon was not there.

    Jin did not know what Ming was pointing at until a momentter the weeping clouds parted to make way for a circr te to slowly fall to the ground. On that te lied a woman with horns and tails of a Dragon. Her face had been blocked off as she held an umbre that is off nothing of this world. It looked like a simple transparent umbre and yet scenes of joy, anger, sadness and many other emotions were seen animated in each of the panels in that umbre she was holding.

    "Wait бнa minute. Is thatбн" Jin was so engrossed with the umbre, he did not notice the girl that was standing on the circr te as it continued to descend towards them.

    "You are Kong Rong''sбн" Jin was speechless for a moment. "The Umbre Girlбн Ryuli. The one I saw in the dream as well."

    "Dream?" Her eyes was still covered in darkness and yet her mouth gave a smirk. "Are you sure that''s a dream to you? For me. Its all too real." Thedy said as Jin looked at Ming but he had disappeared. "To think that my spiritual essence would be locked within you, blocking me frompleting myself in full."

    "Oh, the pain you inflict to me would be twice fold onto you. Nay, Ten Fold MAYBE A HUNDRED FOLD!" The Dragon Lady said as she st her Maqi out, causing the atmosphere to not just be tense but heavily curated to destroying everything and anything. Even the bench that Jin set on had beenpressed by the heavy weight of her Maqi. Eventually, the building gave way and so were the surrounding buildings. Jin managed to jump out of the way andnd on his two feet but the opposing Maqi was too intense that he felt his knees gave way and broke from the pressure as well. Only right now, once it broke, his healing factor came kicking in and tried to resolve it.

    "What kind of Cardinal is this??" Jin asked and at that instance, Ming came in once more right in front of Jin and stomped his crane to imprison her once more. "Is this really Seiryuu? And Ryuli the person I met in my dreams had really happened? What is this space time bullshit?" Jin had so many questions in his mind that he did not understand a single thing anymore.

    "Calm yourself down." Ming mmed his crane once more and those thoughts dispelled for a moment.

    "This is the next trial you have to face and will be the hardest trial to conquer. I can only give you a hint. What you did was not a dream. You saved that kid but in return, you opened up a Pandora box within you."

    "For the person you saved had supposed connections with Seiryuu as well. I do not know whether it was intentional by fate or by some weird freak ident. But one thing is for sure. You conquer this trial, you will find an eternal ally with thatdy and you will have the true powers of the Cardinals at your behest when the time is right." Ming said as Shadow Ryuli broke out of Ming''s containment. His grandfather once more did the same technique to imprison her as he pushed Jin back to the conscious world.

    "Jinбн?" The Panda Cultivator felt as if people were pulling his cheeks and pinching him all over his entire body. He slowly forced his eyes to open to find himself surrounded by the people who he called family for the past year or so.

    "He is alive!" Qiu Yue said as she squeezed his cheek even harder, as if to pull him out of the virtual simtion pod and get him to see the people all around him without checking on his condition at all. But even if he wants to be happy, his heart felt extremely heavy after what he had seen just now.

    That glimpse of Ryuli and her connection to Seiryuu, how does it link?

    "Jin! d to see you made it!" Lynn was ted that her partner managed to return to the real world as well. Jin tried to keep his wits about him and pretended to be happy even though he had been burdened by this sudden trial.

    "Don''t think about it for now." He told himself as this was a reunion he had been waiting for a long time.

 Chapter 1816 It Is All On Her!

    <h4>Chapter 1816 It Is All On Her!</h4>

    "You sure he is okay? The colour of his face seemed off. I mean youpared it to this fake Jin that we have." Qiu Yue said as she pulled the Fake Jin that the celestial had created for the fun of it and shoved it at his face.

    "Urgh, can you don''t? People would think I have some narcissisticplex if I keep looking at him." Jin said and he got out of his pod. But at that moment, he felt his entire body extremely heavy and he noticed that his healing factor had kicked in. The worms were travelling all over his body as if to repair damages that had long been sustained. He could feel the pain but oddly enoughpared, to what he had experienced in the Synthesis World, this was rather tolerable.

    "Milkбн Peppersбн What did you guys do to my body?" Jin immediately called out those names and the two betors suddenly started to sneak away as if they had done something bad.

    "Milk, Peppers," Now Lynn was the one calling out and Peppers immediately pointed at her counterpart.

    "It''s her! It is all on her! She suggested that smuggling a body out of the celestial ne is out of the question as ording to our abilities! She said that we should minimise your body, something akin to a miniature. Then we will sneak out of the celestial ne as if we bought a board game from there!"

    "Hey and how did someone fuck it up so bad that they dropped the entire board game right in front of the Celestial Police?! Along with all the miniatures on the ground?" Milkined

    "Says the person who grabbed the miniaturised Jin so quickly just to hide him! You probably crack all his bones and muscles doing that!" Peppers argued.

    "Do you want the Celestial Police who were so kind to pick up all those miniatures to find and notice that we had shrunk Jin''s body?!" Milk countered. "We are practically doing human trafficking!"

    "At least I attempted to use telekinesis magic to pick up those miniatures so that they cannot detect Jin''s magical signature, okay?" Peppers let out her tongue and pulled her eye bag down which prompted Milk to pull Peppers'' shirt and the scuffle began. The rest knew that this was how they wished to get out of this situation ''alive'' as they continued to bicker and argue until they got out of sight of everyone.

    "Why the two of them reminded me of Diaz and Clickбн" Jin thought to himself and started to get out of the Simtion pod. "Hey at least, I am back here, still alive and intact," Jin said to the rest as the first thing he did was to test his Maqi powers. That was the first thing he did since he knew that the Maqi cirction would definitely help ease the pain he was handling right now.

    It was then he realised that his Maqi felt different than what it used to be.

    "Wait a minute. Are you kidding me?" Jin said and the rest looked at him with curiosity.

    "What''s wrong?" Lynn asked as Jin tried to emit his Maqi out but they were literally only oozing out bit by bit.

    "My Maqiбн feels weird. It felt like I lost power or something."

    "Mine feels okay. In fact, I think I might have been infected by your Maqi. I can now control chi and my mana circuits rtively well." Lynn said as she snapped her finger and immediately a kindle of fire came out without much trouble. Previously, when she had to cast just that small spark of fire, there was a need for a medium to let it umte the chi and cause the fire to spark out. Right now, with the ability to manipte her mana circuits as well, she did not need to do any casting unlike regr mages and she could get her fire magic out without any problems.

    "Sorry to cut short the celebrations but do you guys mind letting me meditate and check my cultivation properly?" Jin said and the rest had no choice but to give Jin some space.

    "If that''s the case, we will eat first since everyone was waiting for you to start the dinner."? Qiu Yue said and Jin nodded his head without looking at her. She merely sighed but knew that the powers of cultivation were equally important to their lives. "Looks like our boss ditched us again, you know what that means?"

    "It''s on him!" The people and monsters who were there cheered as if to liven up the mood again while Jin asked the System to open a portal for him to return to his cultivation room.

    "System, any obvious changes to my Maqi?" Jin tried to see if there was anything hindering his body when he got back to the particr world. He might be thinking that because if his body was left in the celestial world for so long as if it had been ditched to a garbage pile, there might be some changes to it that he was unaware of.

    "No. The System had thoroughly checked your body when Betor Milk and Peppers returned it. There were no significant changes to your internal structure other than some external and internal injury as per their exnation just now."

    "Lol, you did not check whether the body was okay or not before you allowed them to put it into the Virtual Simtion Pod?" Jin asked as he took out his shirt and pants, leaving his underwear on and sat at the centre of this empty room meant for cultivation.

    "The System believed it was best to leave it as status quo to the best of the System''s ability. Any additional external interaction such as Milk''s healing magic might be detrimental to your body in the worst case scenario. The System had already triple scanned your body after the miniature magic that Peppers had cast as the System was afraid that it would reduce your weight and height when Peppers returned it to normal."

    As much as he did not like what he was feeling, Jin took a deep breath in upon hearing the System''s exnation and started circting his Maqi.

 Chapter 1817 Cultivation Grade Test

    <h4>Chapter 1817 Cultivation Grade Test</h4>

    "Dantian Core seems okay. Both the primary and secondary." Jin talked to himself. The Meridians are fully opened as well, no obstruction in that." He took another breath in and started to push the Maqi to move faster through his circuits now that he hadpleted a cycle.

    Eventually, he managed to connect all the circuits with ease but for some reason, the quality of the Maqi was not the same as he had imagined it to be. Jin wondered if he had been too used to being a Grade 4 Cultivator in the Synthesis World that he could not feel and understand what it was like to be of his previous grade.

    He took another deep breath and now started to exude a Maqi aura. This time he was going to pour out as much Maqi as possible so that the System could measure the quality and quantity of the Maqi.

    "Quantity and Quality had surpassed for Grade 1,mencing check for Grade 2."

    "Quantity and Quality had surpassed for Grade 2,mencing check for Grade 3."

    "Quantity and Quality had surpassed for Grade 3,mencing check for Grade 4."

    "Quantity and Quality had not surpassed for Grade 4, rmencing check for Grade 4 and Grade 4 Peak."

    "Quantity and Quality had not surpassed for Grade 4 but reached Grade 4 Peak. Commencing validity checks for Grade 4 Peak."

    "Error. Invalid Check. Error. Mismatch of Quality. Rechecking Quantity and Quality check for Grade 4 Peak."

    "Error. Invalid check for Grade 4. Performing backward checks for Grades 3, 2, and 1"

    "Error. Invalid check for Grade 3. Error. Invalid Check for Grade 2. Error, Invalid Check for Grade 1."

    "Results: No Cultivation Grade avable for User. Suggested result: Commoner. Error."

    "User has Maqi Aura. Rmencing and checking for Quantity and Quality for Magic Levels 1 to 4. Error. Suggested Result: Commoner. Error."

    Jin heard the errors multiple times but decided not to think much about it and kept pouring his Maqi out regardless of the results. Yet the System continuously gave an error that eventually Jin got fed up and stopped.

    "What the hell? That much Maqi and I failed your usual tests?" Jin said as he panted a little.

    "User, the System suggests that you portray your cultivation grade to the System for verification." The System said and Jin closed his eyes and did as he was told. When that happened, he could hear and feel a couple of footsteps surrounding him. Not just that, he felt the presence of four other beings right beside him as if they were alive. They were breathing in and out just as a normal being would as well.

    This made Jin curious and opened his eyes to see there were four pandas that were waiting for Jin to open his eyes. The moment he did, they pounced on him and he could feel the weight of the Pandas as well as their fur.

    "System, what are you doing? Why are you putting out these Pandas here for me?" Jin asked and the System gave a negative answer.

    "The System did not produce those Pandas out. Look closely." The System replied and Jin then noticed that their paws and fur whenever he ruffled them, there was some sort of yellowish dust that emerged and it sparkled. Not only that, their ck fur felt like it was the darkest of the nights while the white was the brightest of it all. They were not natural looking Pandas but rather, they were Perfectly molded Pandas.

    "No way. This can''t beбн" Jin realised what he had created and the possibility that he had indeed dropped his Grade.

    "Usually, whenever a cultivator portrayed their cultivation, silhouettes emerged. If such a cultivator would be at its peak, its silhouettes get sharper and clearer, meaning that had a better understanding of his own chi abilities as well."

    "бн" Jin did not make anyments as he hugged the ''live'' Astral Pandas.

    "But User had sessfully made your cultivation alive. The Pandas you are hugging is the culmination of your understanding of your cultivation."

    "No, I don''t know shit about it."

    "But your subconscious does especially after what it had experienced in the Synthesis World. While this is the System''s theory, just as Sub System User Lynn had experienced your Maqi and gained enlightenment to be able to unlock it, your subconsciousness had understood the understanding of cultivation and enabled you to portray the best of the best abilities from you." The System added that even when Lynn had been exposed to Maqi previously even inrge quantities, her body did not react to it at all. It was when her subconsciousness had been exposed to Maqi and even practiced how to use Maqi, Lynn was able to wield it effortlessly.

    "Fuckбн" Jin knew what that meant. If his portrayal of cultivation could only show four Astral Pandas, it means that he was technically just a Grade 4 cultivator.

    "The System might beg to differ but needed evidence to show that its hypothesised theory holds water," A punching bag came down right beside Jin and the System requested Jin to hit as hard as he could, just like when he had done so every time he gained a grade previously for record purposes.

    Jin knew that tangible results were the only thing that mattered now that the current cultivation tests were not able to get anything out of him. Perhaps, those tests could not detect this kind of ''ultimate peak'' cultivation grade but a punching bag could.

    Thus, Jin put down his pandas who eventually yawned when left alone and started toze together. Only when the Panda Cultivator started to gather his chi within his fist, the pandas begin to disappear since the portrayal of cultivation was over.

    As always, he cleared his mind of all distractions as the Maqi around him began to gather around each of his fingers and subsequently in each piece of muscle fibre within his hand andter enveloped his entire right upper limb.

    When he believed it was the right time to do so, he let it go.

 Chapter 1818 Punching Bag

    <h4>Chapter 1818 Punching Bag</h4>

    The punching bag disappeared.

    The result was that simple.

    A grade 18 punching bag. Made with the strongest material that could be found on the market and supposedly costs millions of dors to the System.

    That punching bag disappeared.

    If Jin had attained Grade 18 or maybe at its peak, that punching bag would probably have broken and leaked grade 17 bead materials from the punching bag. If he was a Grade 19, the punching bag would definitely break and cost a hole in the punching bag with some of the Grade 17 beads being burnt by the impact and friction.

    But that punching bag disappeared.

    "Wait. Wait. Wait a minute." Jin who knew a long time ago what the material of that punching bag had asked to double confirm once more. "Are you sure that is the Grade 18 Punching bag? Are you sure you did not switch it out to the Grade 10 version?" Jin asked and the System immediately brought out multiple Grade 10 punching bags which were of a different colour than the one he used just now. There were no backup Grade 18 punching bags mainly because it was too expensive to be made and the System did not reveal where could the bag be from as well.

    Jin stood there dumbfounded for a moment before he sat down before he started walking around the pristine looking cultivation room to check if there were any remnants of the Grade 18 punching bag left. Even a small little bead would be fine.

    And yet he found nothing. Even with his Inverse Eyes, there was nothing. Jin could not believe it until the System had given up and yed the slow motion video for Jin to see. Just a punch cutting through the air and then the punching bag dissipated as if it had never been made before.

    "Oh my godбн"

    "Congrattions. The System believes that the User has attained the unattainable while still having room to grow since based on your portrayal of cultivation, you have another ''16 more grades'' that could be attained. Whether you can pass the golden number 20, is another day to think about. But for now, your cultivation grade limit in terms of strength cannot be beaten by anybody in this world."

    "In this worldбн hahaaбн" Jin still had that shback of the destroyed Tian Gong District and the presence of Shadow Ryuli whom he had trembled.

    "Yes, in this world. With this kind of strength, it means there''s actually hope fighting against the Celestial ne should their whims bring them to this world."

    "Waitбн does that mean all of my minions and betors would be at full strength? Since you did say that they had been capped because of my strength capabilities."

    "Yes, they had been unlocked to full strength and their growth from now on would depend on their actions and experiences. However, the System did not send the word out and it is for them to find out themselves that they are capable of more."

    "Hehбн but strength is one thing, techniques and skills are another. You saw how Zeru managed to defeat Number Four with his skill rather than brute strength."

    "That is one thing you have to find out yourself. For the past year or so, User had been focused on gathering strength, hoping to surpass most of the Royal Zodiac Heads so that you would not be underestimated by them. Now that the strength has been unlocked, its time you look for alternatives to get stronger."

    "So, going to the Virtual Simtion does have such an effect on my bodyбн Does that mean if I go in again, I can increase my cultivation grade?"

    "The System is unsure but at the same time, it had doubts that it will have the same effect as you would have right now. It might be thebination of problematic factors that enabled you to reach to this stage of cultivation."

    "Urgh, if I had known that this is like some sort of free upgrade to my cultivation, I would continue to stay in the Virtual Simtion and gain levels from there." Jin now felt sulky that he got out early.

    "The System had noments on that. The System only knows that Qiu Yue had been working extremely hard to keep this ce afloat."

    "Oh by the way, why are we still keeping that fake Jin around?"

    "In case of emergencies when you need to be away. While that fake Jin might be of your old cultivation grade, it is still rather useful when ites to defending the area and pretending that you are around. The System had managed to instill a few simplemands to it and it had been rather useful. Even Sub System User Qiu Yue had used it as a sparring partner and even called it Jinny to differentiate you and him."

    "Urghбн That''s my old nickname by herбн and using it as a sparring partner? I think she uses it mainly for venting her anger," Jin said and the System also concluded as such. "In any case, you are right. I should check the Astral Panda Manual and see if I can create any new techniques too."

    "That would be great for passing it down to your descendant." Then the System could see Jin''s bothered gaze and added "бнor future disciples of the Royal Panda n."

    "Yeah right. if I do that, I am creating a monster of a n to enter." Jin said and suddenly it rang the System''s bells.

    "Speaking of that, Royal Zodiac Dragon Leader Kong Rong is looking for you. He is wondering if you could host that nationalpetition for the annual Royal Zodiac Martial Arts and Sports Competition. He said that making you do would be so much cheaper than creating actual sporting events."

    "Urgh."

    "Plus, it increases your reputation to be part of the Royal Zodiacs."

    "Do I really have to fit inбн" Jin sulked and guessed it best to use this and the VR to put Dungeons and Pandas back into the dungeon supplying business.

 Chapter 1819 The Baby Astral Pandas

    <h4>Chapter 1819 The Baby Astral Pandas</h4>

    "You are back," Lynn said as she lifted a te filled with food for Jin to eat while the rest had already returned. "Damn, that''s a lot of food. I do not know whether I can finish it or not."

    "It''s all your favorites, so I do not doubt the capability of your stomach to finish it," Lynn said as she passed him a fork and spoon as she sat beside him to watch him eat and in the meantime, check her phone since she finally had some alone time as well.

    "How''s your cultivation grade? Did it increase?" Lynn asked and Jin did not know where to begin.

    "ErmmбнIt''s a littleplicated." Jin was already sucked into the tasty foods that Qiu Yue and the others bought since Lynn definitely had no time to cook any of them.

    "How so?" She stopped browsing her phone for a while and looked at him.

    "Sigh. I do not really know how to say it well. Ermбн. Technicallyбн I dropped cultivation grade," Jin said as he munched a little and spoke even though Lynn was an advocate of finishing whatever was in his mouth before speaking.

    "Within expectations?" Lynn felt that this might be a concerning issue for him.

    "Exceeding expectations. I dropped to Grade 4."

    "Oh no. Isn''t that the cultivation grade you had in the Virtual Simtion?" Lynn asked and Jin nodded his head and when he was munching, he closed his eyes and portrayed a bit of his cultivation, causing one of the young astral Pandas to appear.

    "Oh my god." Lynn was shocked by the appearance of the Astral Panda as it went up and hugged her even though she was about to do the same. This is бнpart of your cultivation?" Lynn said as she eyed him. "You better make sure no girls are near you when you do that."

    "Why? Won''t that make the perfect distraction for female enemies? They will literally fall for these." Jin smiled and Lynn beat his shoulders yfully andter ignored the boyfriend to y with the Panda. It was only when she had calmed down and the Panda waszing in her arms she continued her question.

    "So, you are the lowest among all of us right now?"

    "In terms of numbers. Yes. But the System and I just checked, I got strongerбн by a ton. Definitely enough to deal with even two Royal Zodiac Heads if theye to face meбн" Jin had decided to tone down his estimates since he never knew how strong they were. A Grade 18 punching bag cannot bepared to a Grade 18 skilled cultivator.

    "Howe there''s only one panda? Where''s the other three?" Lynn asked as she took her phone up and tried to take a photo of it. Surprisingly, it managed to appear in the photos like they were real. Unlike the silhouettes which could only be seen with the naked eye and cannot be captured with photos or videos.

    "You are more concerned about the Pandas?"

    "Why not? It''s time to name these Pandas too. Righttttt?"

    "At this rate, people will ignore me and y with the Pandas," Jin said as he swallowed down his entire ss of water.

    "Hahaha, imagine you use these Pandas to do spy missions and they get caught. Oooo too cuteeee." Lynn said and somehow Jin got curious as he summoned another panda out and took a piece of French fry from his te to pass it to it.

    The Panda ate the whole thing and even enjoyed it which made Jin extremely surprised by its actions. How could a manifestation of Maqi be able to swallow that? He quickly looked at the bottom of the Panda and even on the floor to find no trace of it anywhere.

    "The System is now curious as well." The System reported and Lynn noticed that it hade into the conversation.

    "What? Curious about what?"

    "Take a look at this." Jin picked up another piece of French fry and passed it to the Panda that Lynn was holding. It sniffed at it andter ate it. (Please do not feed French fries to your local zoo''s Panda(s). The zookeepers will find you and hurt you like how Kraft would.)? Lynn was amazed and she too wanted to be part of the action as she picked up now a piece of fried chicken nugget and put it into the Panda''s mouth which it chewed happily into that delicious piece of processed meat.

    Now Jin tried something even more controversial as he used his mind andmanded the Panda to spark a fire on its right paw. Instantly, the baby Astral Panda did just that and Jin realised the amount of implications he could do if he had a huge Astral Panda right beside him. He will have a Panda partner that can fight with him and for him when things get rough or the ess to either monsters or dungeon instance creation is limited.

    "This is amazing and its good, isn''t it? People might underestimate you as a Grade 4 Cultivator when in actual fact, you might be like Grade 4 Ver 2 or something. Hahaha!" Lynn pped and too saw the potential these Astral Pandas could be but more importantly, there was something to dote on.

    "Yea, I guess you could say that. I am not sure why but everything felt so much different, The atmosphere, the monsters and even Qiu Yue."

    "Of course, the concept of time is totally different from Synthesis World and of this world. It was so bad that Kraft and the System had to create something to reverse that concept of time within the current versions of Virtual Simtion pods using both Time Compression and Time Dtion of a grand scale." Qiu Yue came out and beckoned the Astral Panda toe to her arms.

    "If anything, I will even call Kraft a God of Time and Space for the work he had done. If researchers all over the world knows that Kraft could do this, they will ask him to build a freaking spaceship with quantum engines. So, you better thank them for manipting time in those pods or your customers would be elders by the time they came out."

 Chapter 1820 Farming World Discrimination

    <h4>Chapter 1820 Farming World Discrimination</h4>

    "Oh, didn''t expect you toe out here," Jin said as he got a bit left out and summoned another baby Astral Panda for him to hug.

    "I sensed an irregrity in the living room so I came out to take a look. Did not expect your Maqi to be this ermбнthick though. It did not feel like it when you were trying to circte your Maqi." Qiu Yue said as she sat at the corner of the table right opposite Lynn.

    "How''s the store so far? I honestly apologise and thank you for keeping it on track for me," Jin said as he bowed a little.

    "Nah, nothing I cannot handle. Besides, it was kind of fun? I finally managed to try out the business for real while my Beavers are keeping things busy in the Farming World. However, I did scrap your Pandarens farming grounds project because I find that the Farming World is too precious to let the cultivators y for fun."

    "Oh? What did you do?"

    "The Northern Kingdom had finally started to grow properly. General Matt Umiterus had temporarily taken charge of the Kingdom for now with the Schr of the East and West advising him on what to do. Also, despite calls from the Northern Kingdom citizens to destroy it, the schrs had determined that the Demon Rats Underground Empire is something that we can take advantage of as well in the future despite the history we had for it." Qiu Yue said and Jin continued to listen while the Panda in front of him decided to take the rest of his dinner into its mouth.

    "Seeing General Matt had trusted us to do all the renovations after hearing the Southerners''pliments, I decided to be more bold and do a makeover of everything especially since the Northern Kingdom is a ce where we are going to have full control of aspared to the Southern Region."

    "Geez, at this rate, the East and West would feel that they are the ones being left out and most probably feel inferior," Jin said as he opened his mouth and the Baby Astral Panda put the nugget into his mouth.

    "It is their problem, not ours. Besides, we only added militaryplexes to the Southern Region and helped to strengthen their fortifications from iing attacks. We have yet to revolutionise the entire Southern Region. If things go well, I might even get Weslie and Gold to do aplete analysis of Southern Region''s climate and see what kind of crops we can get..although when I see deserts, the only thing I can think of isбн"

    "Sand." Lynn snuggled the Astral Panda and it made a cute yawning noise.

    "Oil." Jin opened his mouth once more and the Baby Astral Panda happily put another piece into his mouth.

    "Both of you are correct." Seeing how Jin''s Astral Panda was feeding his owner, Qiu Yue''s panda wanted to pick one up and feed her too but she rejected and in the end, the Panda ate for itself.

    "If they have oil. We will strike gold. Like literal gold. We can elerate development in the Northern and Southern Regions, do trades for both ces, and start growing money in theirnds."

    "Don''t get ahead of yourself, what did you do for Town Wecha."

    "Oh, that. Urgh. We had to clear everyone out, put them in the open, and make them trust the Demon Rats that we had grown."

    "They epted them?"

    "Nope, not by a long shot. There were lots of friction from the citizens and there were many who were cursing at them but they had forgotten that there were victims in the Demon Rat poption as well."

    "Then why did you even do that in the first ce?"

    "Because, if we are going to workrge scale, we would definitely need the Demon Rats. Their poption growth is incredible and they are quite the hardworking fellows too. I had to go down multiple times to make sure that any disputes were to be handled with equality. There is no discrimination of pay and numeration for both races."

    "I assumed you gave them a guarantee as well."

    "I do one even better. I made the Demon Rats to serve as security guards and the police."

    "Huh?!" Both Lynn and Jin opened their eyes wide. "Won''t that be horrifying for the humans?"

    "On the contrary no, I told them if the Demon Rats ever abuse their authority, the Military can step in. However, they have to remember that any false reports would be handled with punishments as well. So, there''s the military police and the Demon Rats police. This way, the Demon Rats have their equipment to protect themselves and some autonomy to do work while the human''s military police would be there to handle disputes as just as possible. All reports have to be sent to the System anyways because I programmed it that way and any fake reports would be punished."

    "Ouch, I think this is a rather bad move," Lynnmented.

    "I''m not too sure. They all know that there is someone in the pecking order that is higher. If there were only the Farming Humans and the Demon Rats, I am sure that they would be discriminated. However, because the Farming Humans know that we are there to ensure equality and had vouched for these Demon Rats, it gave them a chance to redeem themselves. But, I won''t lie. This is a move I would not dare to do."

    "Heh, I thought this was a move you would be daring enough to do."

    "Though, I am curious, why would you want the Demon Rats to work there? They could have work in Pandapolis, Demonpolis or even the Seven Cities. All of those cities needed help." Jin asked as he shook his head to the Astral Panda who wanted to give him the veryst piece of chicken nugget.

    "Tell me about it. As soon as I took up your role and clean up all the bad practices you made to be more efficient. I suddenly find myself picking up more than multiple Empire projects that without my Beavers I would have asked the System to kill me instead."

 Chapter 1821 Get Back To Work

    <h4>Chapter 1821 Get Back To Work</h4>

    "You revamped the Dungeon World''s Cities as well? I did not hear of that when I spoke to the denizens."

    "It''s in the works but nothing too fanciful. They are too far away from Demopolis and Pandapolis. I understand from the System that with enough money, there is an option to pull all the cities together."

    "Affirmative, Former King Baal had stated that it was how Demopolis had been formed previously, bybining two separate dungeon cores thousands of miles away from each other and joining them together. However, it was cheaper previously because of theck of developments in the area. Right now where almost everynd had been allocated and developed, the use of fusing all of the cities would be an expensive but undoubtedly a very useful endeavour to work on."

    "Wait, wait. Before you go into the Dungeon World, I actually want to hear more about what you have done for the Farming World. You said you renovated Town Wecha and also removed the Farming option."

    "I won''t say I had removed the farming option but rather, I feel that once we had discarded that old Virtual Reality Instance you made previously and moved all of the minions to a brand new Sanctum of Worlds with affordable housing for all of them and their existing facilities and belongings remaining the same, I see there is no need to use the real Farming World to have that simtion of farms. We can just do another dungeon instance to justify the farming experience."

    "But seriously, I feel that we should change the way we do our shop instance already. It was catchy at first being an ind and all and connecting them to various ces but it feels troublesome. A lot of the cultivators did not even bother to use Qing Gong, they merely took the slower tram and talked to their friends until they reached the dungeon or service instance where they wanted to go. And I cannot change the shop instance because I am not that good at creation. Now that you are back, I think you can do something about it."

    "Oo okayбн"

    "Yeah, I did a simple survey with the Pandarens and they said that while the aesthetics are nice, they rather have some teleporter that goes to the ce directly. It''s no fun having to waste time travelling around though the trams were a good pace back."

    "Lol, if that''s the case I might as well do a multi level train station with shopping carts or mini pop up stores at various levels to cater to the group. That way, it''s easier to track ces and we can actuallyбн I guess you might like thisбн cater to advertisements." Jin said and Qiu Yue''s eyes somehow opened wide.

    "Oh бнmy godбн Jin, did you learn how to do business in the Virtual Simtion? That word бнthat word." Qiu Yue could already hear the sounds of the stacks of cash mming on her table as they came in droves.

    "We will make it slightly cheap for small medium enterprises while making the bigpanies pay a little more for the very same space. It''s also a good way to promote various service instances that had not been seen by many businesses."

    "Lol, Qiu Yue''s face is shining already. Jin, you should stop it, or else she will not be able to sleep in the night." Lynn said as Qiu Yue stood up, dropped the Astral Panda, and hugged Jin for a moment before putting her hands on his shoulders.

    "Do. You. Know. How. Many. Times. Companies. Have. Been. ASKING TO SPONSOR US?!!? Jin!!!!!!!!!!" Qiu Yue shook Jin so hard that even the Astral Panda the dungeon supplier was holding was starting to get dizzy.

    "There are many things I want to update but you know, I suggest you get some coffee and pull an all nighter to get that Train Hub design up as soon as possible. I do not care how much it costs, make it as beautiful as you can. Use better tiles, fast trains, and more NPCs. I do not bother. This brand new shop instance will be our passive cash cow and you better make it right!" Qiu Yue said as she picked up the baby Astral Panda that she had dropped, kissed it multiple times, and ran up the stairs after leaving it aloneбнbefore she came down and asked.

    "Ehh.. Is it possible to hold onto your Panda while I do my work, that thing is reallyfy." Qiu Yue asked and Jin was speechless.

    "I guess so? I do not know how long they canst and how far they can be away from me before they disappear. So, this might be a good chance for the System to gauge their properties and test out several variables." Jin remarked and then she quickly came down the stairs to grab the Astral Panda. She put it on her head while she chanted money money money as she went into her room.

    "Then I supposed you will need a tumbler of coffee since the current boss of Dungeons and Pandas had given you an assignment toplete as soon as possible." Lynnughed as she too carried the Astral Panda in her arms. "And since I can''t have the big Astral Panda for my sleep tonight, I will take this fellow with me too." She winked at him and told Jin that she would bring her specially made coffee to his working space while bringing his empty te to the kitchen.

    "Oh gosh. The night I came back, I am being forced to work again. Life is tough. Life is Harsh. System, Can I not work?"

    "You are a workaholic. There''s nothing else you can do but work."

    "I guess working on the Train Hub might be of some excitement," Jin said as he stood up and instead of grabbing the Astral Panda, the baby Pandatched onto his leg instead and he walked up the stairs with it in tow.

 Chapter 1822 Cultivation Grade Data

    "Wow, it''s been a long time since I have to manually move stuff," Jin said as he kind of not miss the interface in the dungeon maker. All this time within the Virtual Reality, he was able to use the holographic console and create scenarios and where to put his dungeon monsters just by a touch of his thoughts.

    There was no need to manually move them with aputer mouse or use any touchscreens as he did for the dungeon maker. Of course, the touchscreen had its uses as it felt like he was able to move windows and do multiple things at the same time while the ''thought'' movement needed Jin to concentrate solely on dungeon creation.

    "The System also believed that going from your thought movements to touchscreens felt backward, so the System had already put in the necessary upgrades to ensure that the dungeon creation experience would be as easy as it could have been." The System reported and Jin''s eyes lit up.

    "Are you serious? Does that mean I can do the stuff I did in the Virtual Simtion as well?"

    "Yes, while this should have been unlocked in the Supplier Rank 6 and you had not been doing any objectives or quests from the System, the System felt that those objectives were more or less useless considering how User had always been wandering to perform its own objectives. And the things you do have merits and reasoning behind them. Therefore, the System has decided to reward you with this particr upgrade."

    "Wait wait wait. You meant to say that you have this all along but you did not use it because I am being locked away due to insufficient supplier rank. And then it so happened that the Synthesis World has such a feature and thus when I am back at this ce, you had decided to allow me to finally utilise such a feature that you ALWAYS have?" Jin asked with a ''what da fudge you have this all along and you did not tell me about this'' kind of facial expression.

    "To be frank, the System was not able to properly have that option ready for use. There were too many bugs and due to those bugs, it may cause the User significant headaches even though the System knew that those headaches would also be temporary due to the User''s Healing Factor. However, upon being exposed to the nature of the holographic console that the Synthesis World had used, the System shamelessly asked the AI Administration to provide a sample of its source code for its holographic console for reference. It proved to be an awe-inspiring experience for it to be so simple and clean." The System exined.

    "Fine. Okay. I get it." Jin finds that there is no use arguing with the System with regard to something that has already been done.

    "And the plus point? You can create any dungeon instance just as how you did it in the Virtual Simtion, on the go as you implement it wherever you are. This would greatly increase your flexibility and power considering you are now able to create the dungeon instances and put it into reality whenever and wherever you need it. The plus point as well? No more 15 minutes intervals for the dungeon."

    "Does that mean this is like an upgrade to my powers as well? I mean previously, you kept asking me to use my phone to create the dungeon instances because it needed your help to do so."

    "The System still helps the User to put up the dungeon instance, but given your new cultivation grade, you are able to createplex dungeon instances on the go, and with a little help from the System, you would be able to implement it. That is what the System had assumed since you had reached more than just the pinnacle of Cultivation Grade in terms of strength. In terms of enlightenment, however..."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Okay, stop I get it." Jin finds that the System is using this opportunity to make fun of him.

    "On the other note before you start, the System is evaluating your said new strength as well and has beenparing with references in the past. There is a chance that what User have right now, could actually be the original grade expectation of cultivation."

    "Huh, what?" Jin did not get what the System meant.

    "As the System had been attempting to review the error checks that the Cultivation Grade tests had made, the System recalled that there were old Cultivation Grade tests archived in its databank. Upon retrieving old Cultivation Grade Tests, it had been noted that the Grade tests qualifications and the new data matched."

    "Wait a minute, so you are saying people got weaker over the years? Hmmmбн actually it is not that surprising. There are fewer monsters to fight now, and people usually scuffle against each other, not because of death row and promises but because of petty things. Well, in the past, people fought to death due to petty things too..."

    "Indeed, and the System checked with even older Cultivation Grade Tests, the ones when the fall of the Banned Emperor, and the rise of the Jade Emperor. Your Cultivation Grade data matches extremely well with the old. It is of no surprise that even if someone were to hit Grade 20 in the modern world, they might not be able to change thews of nature at all."

    "In fact, I felt it was weird that I reached my previous cultivation grade way too damn fast. It felt as if the grade threshold was from 17-20 extremely skewed or the cultivation I am using is too damn unique that I moved up thedder way too quickly. Now that you exin it this way, I somehow feelбнI do not know, maybe relief?"

    "You should not." The System warned. "In fact, the System would rmend continuing to work hard for it."

    "Why?" Jin asked and the System thought he would have known the answer.

 Chapter 1823 Digressed Too Much

    "If this is the original power level of a Grade 4 of the old, that means if the Banned Emperor ever to arise, it is of a force that is unstoppable. Back then, as the Panda n was of the major supporting role, the elders did not exactly see the entire fight against the Banned Emperor. But it had been rumoured that the Banned Emperor was at Grade 19, nearing to Grade 19 Peak. Even the Jade Emperor who took over did not have such a cultivation."

    "Geez. You make it sound like we are going back to the past."

    "If there are agents of the Banned Emperor and they had been active ording to Kong Rong, the System would always take the threat of the Banned Emperor properly. A Grade 19 Cultivator can be equivalent to a Minor God in the Celestial ne."

    "What? Those gods are that strong? But when we fought with Baal, he was a Higher Demon and he did not feel that invincible at all." Jin said as he continued this chat with the System despite knowing that he had to do the multi train hub shop instance for Qiu Yue as soon as possible. (Perhaps, he is procrastinating especially since he just came back to this world.)

    "If Demopolis King Baal were to fight within the Demon ne when he was duelling with you, the System estimated that he would be at least three to four times stronger. However, if the User would go into a fight with Baal when he had stayed in the Demon ne for ages, there is no way of defeating the Higher Demon without the help of Celestial ne items."

    "Wait, so you are saying the ne itself gave them energy and power? And when Baales out to create Demopolis, his power diminished?"

    "Yes, you can have a talk with Baal if you want. The System deduced that he had his reasons foring out of the Demon ne and brought and also united his Demon kins and other Demon Kins into the Dungeon World. Although the intention might have been pure at the start, the desire to return to the Demon ne had him be careless and greedy with our current researcher''s desire to be at the top."

    "Ah, that stupid bat. Kivaбн" Jin had almost forgotten his name.

    "Exactly. If King Baal continued to be coerced by the artefact that Kiva had encountered while being in the Demon ne, you would never win. Count your lucky stars he had been brainwashed of some sort that you were not fighting him on his own turf."

    "Shitбн And there I thought, I was quite decent inbat." Jin recalled the harrowing fight against Baal and how he nearly died a couple of times if not for Moloch.

    "In any case, we had digressed too much. The System''s main point is that the thought maniption and prompt creation of dungeon instances anywhere can be done mostly due to your current newбн ''old'' cultivation grade.

    "Heh, from the way I see it, it felt like we are just taking the baby gloves off, the tutorial is over," Jin said but the System did not like such a red g that Jin had spoken too casually about.

    "Watch what you say, the System just wants to work without interference from other entities. While the System does thirst for revenge against the Banned Emperor due to the inherent nature of our collective consciousness, the System prefers not to fully encounter the Emperor at all." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Well, dittos to me too, who would want a Banned Emperor right at their doorstep? I am merely a dungeon supplier." Jin said in such a monotonous ignorant tone that if the others heard it, they would surely want to give him a punch.

    Other than the conversation that Jin had with the System, the Dungeon Supplier finally started to work on the new shop instance. Even though he did say it would be a train hub, he was contemting whether to use old model looking trains or high speed trains. If it was of the former, he went to search online for British train stations particrly Waterloo as a reference.

    The fancy clocks and the spreading of the train rails from the train terminus when it moved out, had the charm of the old Western era that remained relevant to this day. There was nothing more than having it shout beautifully sculpted. Perhaps he could add a few Panda statues to it as well since he had to be careful not to copy the Waterloo station so tantly.

    "Hahaha, wouldn''t it be funny if some of the lotives were to have cosmetic features? Like a Panda having its butt face up and the smoke from the lotives can be looked as if it was farting."

    "That''s a terrible joke to y. Not to mention, the Animal Societies maye after you." The System replied.

    "Even if I am the official Royal Zodiac Head of the Panda n?" Jin asked

    "It''s sadly not official in the eyes of the public and its status is still pending within the Royal Zodiacs themselves. Your disappearance had made things even worse for Kong Rong."

    "Hey at least, there can be no fights if there are no Panda Heads to be around."

    "Sadly, that is true."

    Returning to the reference of using London Waterloo Station also meant that it was easier for him to create the shops. All the existing stores were to be ced at the front and once they are done buying or even window shopping, the cultivators can quickly move to their destination.

    The only problem is that the Waterloo train terminus seemed inefficient in Jin''s eyes. He might be able to build it big enough and spread it even wider, but there are only that many angles the train can go in 365 degrees Terminus railway station. What''s more, it would be a little dumb to put lotive trains in the basement. Though having modern trains in the basement would solve the problem, it breaks the atmosphere by having old and new trains together.

    Thus, Jin decided to go for thetter option instead.

 Chapter 1824 New Subway Store Instance

    To use modern high speed trains for all destinations, Jin can merely copy every other modern city subway train station blueprint. Not to mention, they were easy to find as well. Mainly because the System is able to get its hands on thetest designs from the databases.

    Not to mention, it is efficient in terms of design which the System likes due to having people just go to whichever tform they need to go. Unlike the Waterloo train hub, people have to wait for the train to depart until it''s out of sight then the next train will arrive.

    For now, it''s not too bad because of the number of service and dungeon instances that Dungeons and Pandas had but it would be a pain in the butt for Jin in the future if he were to add even more. Also, the System consistently creates newndscapes for the users to see under in the subway station, all they have to handle is the darkness of the tunnels.

    In addition, the System noted that when most of the cultivators had seen the scenery once, they didn''t bother to look at it again as about 90% of them were all looking at their phones once they had taken the picture. Otherwise, they were all looking for information, messaging or just filling their time with entertainment via their phone screens. It''s a sad sight of the truth but thosendscapes do not work after the first time.

    On the other hand, if they were to use the multi level subway station concept, those tunnels could be used for advertisements. Movies trailers, product cement, and even in house promotion of dungeon instances. It is in some way a little intrusive but it catches people''s attention and that is what they need.

    Of course, Jin did think of giving a virtual tour of the dungeons instances from above via the trains as well but that could be implemented on ater date when he had set up everything else. Separately, the Subway stations are a good way to iste the dungeon instances and the System could save on processing power as well rather than show the entire ind of service and dungeon instances.

    The exits would be simr to walking out from the esctor or stairs but Jin had decided that he would make it a little moreбнexclusive so that when the group walked out, it felt like they were the only ones who entered when in actual fact, they came together with many like minded people trying to attempt the dungeon as well. So in order to perform such a feat, groups had to be formed before they exited the subway ticket counters and as the group was going up the stairs, there would be a flicker of blinding lights when they were close to the end of the esctor, removing all the crowd that were in front of behind them.

    Only when they wish to exit the dungeon instance, they could use the emergency exit or follow the Pandamonium app to get to the nearest subway station entrance. Of course, this is based on the dungeon instance creation''s implementation. For example for the Great Wall of China Dungeon, the subway station can be located near the tower but definitely not appear in the middle of the Great Wall. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    This way, the connection to old raid instances when they rotate would also be easier though the route to enter would be more or less the same. That is unless Jin had decided for an aerial entry and he would make the subway station exit tform to be floating in the skies. Only from there, the cultivators could descend to their destination. Otherwise, a suitable entrance or exit would be created to denote the start of the dungeon entrance and its endpoint.

    The System found it even more systematic since the design seem to help to reduce the crowd and more importantly, it saves space. Service Instances on the other hand would be a little differentpared to Dungeon Instances. They would be more crowded unless the customers decided to pay a little more for a more private experience and that''s where the flicker of blinding lights will appear for them. Of course, Jin had decided to tweak it even further to have a public service instance, a semi private service instance, and a totally private service instance. (There will still be ''CCTVs'' monitoring them in case of any possible police rted incidents)

    And that goes for the trains too. The first carriage can be catered for the more privileged groups and the rest would be for the public. Jin had also included a woman''s only carriage in between in case some of the female cultivators prefer to have some peace and quiet and in order to not be sexist, Jin also did a men''s only carriage. He honestly wondered how many men would like to take that instead.

    But other than that, the schematics of the subway train hub shop instance were rather simple. The first floor is where they can buy the tickets before entering or they can do that via the Pandamonium App. Stores and souvenirs would be ced on the first floor as well. And once they get to the first basement level, that would be where thetest event trains would be held. More popup stores were ced at the center of it and at both ends of the basements, will be the redemption options. Subsequently, the subway trains to the service instances would be ced in the new few levels while the dungeon trains would be further down below.

    Then the question is the pathway to all these basements. Given that Jin catered to a huge number of people, elevators would be preferred but the hassle for the number of people going to each level would be huge.

    "This is another headache I got to solve before implementing the size of the tforms," Jin said to himself until he realised there might be a relic solution that could solve this.

 Chapter 1825 Head Of Operations -Part 1

    Therefore, he decided to make several huge sized paternoster lifts, elevators that are endlessly looping at a slow rate with no doors so that cultivators could get in and out of the lifts whenever they needed to go. But at the same time, he installed normal elevators as well for those who had luggage to carry or items to hold. That way, there should be sufficient lifts and he also ensured there were esctors at each end of the subway train station.

    "While The System does not see any problem with the current setup, we rmend that Jin separate the Service Instance Stations, Dungeon Instances Stations, and maybe Raid Instance Stations away from each other rather than putting them all in one multistorey subway train station. This way, it will be less confusing and it allows for expansion in the future." The System reported.

    "Oh. And if we do that I see! So now that we are systematic enough, we can also showcase most of our old raids'' instances?" Jin asked and the System rejected that particr idea.

    "With our current customer numbers, it is not worth it to do such an endeavour. You can however still create such tforms dedicated to those raids. Whenever the System chooses a raid for them to y on that particr day, the trains will be around and the tform will light up specifically for that." The System stated and Jin realised that was a good idea.

    "Ahh.. so when we got better numbers, we can have more tforms to be opened so the rest could go in."

    "Yes. While the Raid instance might see a lesser influx of people going to that station, at the very least, it''s systematic for people to know where to go."

    "If that''s the case, should we create a separate event instance station so that it would not congest the area?"

    "If it is a new opening of a new raid, service, or dungeon instance, we can hold it in the event instance station tforms. Once the promotion for those event stations is over, we can put them into their respective tforms." The System reported.

    "Hahaha. Pardon me but I was thinking of an internal monster attack event within the train station."

    "The System thinks that it is viable to do so but not at the moment. Please focus on the release of the train station."

    "Yes, yes. Why did I even bother to leave the Virtual Simtion? That life seemed to be more carefree than this." Jin grumbled as he continued to do the implementation of the train stations as per the System''s rmendations.

    Come morning, Jin was already holding on to his sk of coffee, staring into space when in actual fact, he was using thought maniption throughout the entire night as he did the finishing touches to it. He could not believe that the System was not able to give him this thought maniption for the creation of the dungeons. It was so much faster, smoother, and less hassle.

    The only problem is that he had to concentrate so much, his brain hurt the moment he let go of the task at hand because it was loading and required time to reconstruct. Yet, this was the fastest dimensional instance creation he had ever done. If it had done it the manual way, there was a need for not just Time Dtion but it takes days to get it finish.

    "At this rate with Time Dtion magic, I might actually have extra time on my hands." Jin said as he send thepleted product to the System for double checking and debugged.

    "At this rate with Time Dtion magic, you can create all the backlog dungeons you had promised and not done to the Pandawans and Pandarens."

    "Urgh. Do you really have to remind me of those."

    "The customers already knew howzy the owner is and yet they are still so fiercely loyal. Is it fair? The System can only wonder." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "But I have other things to do so, right? You told me there''s the meeting on the Royal Zodiac martial artspetition and sports whatever nonsense thingy."

    "Royal Zodiac Dragon Leader Kong Rong is currently busy and said that he can meet you a weekter," The System reported.

    "Oh, so now I am the one who is free?"

    "Pertaining to that, the System actually had a talk with Sub System User Qiu Yue. Patching to her now."

    "Wait, what? Isn''t she sleeping or something?"

    "No, Sub System User Qiu Yue had been working overtime digging out all the sponsors and business contacts that wanted to advertise not just in the Tree Mall but also within Dungeons and Pandas. However, due to the selective space that the Tree Malls has after the major rehaul that Qiu Yue had done so excellently, there was actually little space for much advertisement. In short, those who wished to do so had to bid hard for it despite the low initial cost."

    "Oh..wow she even made them to bid for the advertising space?"

    "The response was terrific. Her marketing skills are second to nonepare to you."

    "Well, thanks." Jin rolled his eyes. "If she is so good, why don''t you continue to make her as the boss of Dungeons and Pandas."

    "That is what we wish to discuss about." Qiu Yue finally patched in.

    "Wow, which part had you heard?" Jin was surprised that Qiu Yue had been listening all this while.

    "From isn''t she sleeping or something."

    "Damn. That means you picked up the phone instantlyбн You could have just make some noise."

    "Bah, I rather the System speak at that point of time. It can be irritating to exin my actions. Anyways of course, the advertisement selection can wait if the System requires the attention from the both of us."

    "Fine fine. So System, what are we looking to discuss?" Jin asked as he drank his coffee.

    "The actual promotion of Sub System User Qiu Yue to a proper title rather than interim boss." The System stated.

 Chapter 1826 Head Of Operations -Part 2 (Final)

    "So, you want her to stay as the boss of Dungeons and Pandas?" Jin questioned as he rocked in his chair in the Dungeon Maker Instance.

    "Head of Operations." The System replied.

    "Lol, before you say anything else. This is all the System''s idea. I have nothing against it but I also think it''s best the System discuss it with you since you are the owner."

    "Huh?" Jin was confused by what Qiu Yue was implying.

    "Sigh, the System wanted to give me the title and powers for the said job. And I''m like don''t you have to ask Jin first? The System said'' User would not mind.'' That kind of stuff and I told it/them urgh, the System that it''s still best to make a decision with him around."

    "OhбнI get the whole picture now." Jin nodded as he was lost in his thoughts for a while. "Hmm. While I like to say I don''t mind. And I really do not mind considering how the change in leadership had also given the store what it really needed. A total revamp and restructuring of the whole ce. You deserve credit. But I want to know is that, are you totally OK with it?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "You still have multiple Empire Building projects to take care of. I mean you took that away from my hands and I''m like phew! I nearly went nuts trying to n for cities and stuff. Also, the implementation of the Demopolis city had been taken by the Foxes and I am damn surprised they are so capable at doing so ording to the System''s summaries."

    "Oh yeah. Apparently, I heard from Kraft or Pei, I don''t really remember but they all were trained to be leaders back during their days. That is why they can be efficient as long as they are equipped with the right amount of knowledge with regards to the job."

    "Is that why you would prefer the Seven Cities, Demopolis, and Pandapolis be joined as one?"

    "Of course. And they can take care of everything in the Dungeon World. I don''t trust the lords and the Servants of whatever Church that is trying to preach about their religion."

    "How much would it cost for us to do that?" Jin asked about the System and the amount of exorbitantly expensive.

    "бнif we raid the Churches'' Money Tree? That particr tower that the Kraft had always been messing around about?" Jin asked.

    "Then it will be at least ten floors up to get that kind of money. That is assuming the rate of returns is exponential ording to the pattern that Kraft and his Night Foxes had cleared." The System reported.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Soбн if we do a proper expedition, then excluding the expenses, you are saying Floor ten would be sufficient?"

    "The System cannot guarantee especially when the tower had been rather stricttely against Kraft and his Night Foxes attack. One of the Night Foxes even said that there had been an intensive revamp of the tower considering how Kraft had been bored and raiding it a couple of times. The Church Knights got fed up and asked the superiors to give better support."

    "Oh, because even if Kraft did not unleash his powers and kept raiding the first few floors, the Church is still losing money." Jin nodded his head.

    "Not to mention, you involve the Night Foxes, they would practically steal everything including the underwear if they are able to." Qiu Yue said as she remembered that one time she went to a money raid with them as well. "But if what the System reported is true, then perhaps we can actually get more money if they did a revamp of the money tree."

    "But will it reduce your workload if we do that?" Jin asked and Qiu Yue thought for a bit before nodding her head.

    "Technically speaking, if we are justbining the cities. Yeah definitely. But if we want to revamp their entire infrastructure then erm not really. Though even if we want to do that, it''s possible to do that in phases so overall, it is still a reduction in workload. However, you think too much Jin."

    "As much as I keptining about everything that you had done wrong, you alreadyid most of the foundation for the shop. All I did was to maintain the ounts liaise with our ountant ire, ensure the operations were smooth, improve the process if possible, and maybe break some hearts because of house evicting from that old huge mega world instance you were intending." Qiu Yue said and Jin chuckled a little.

    "So, yeah. After doing all the major improvements I had done, it''s not that much of workбнI hope I do not jinx myself saying that. In any case. Operations wise, I can handle it with no problems as well as the Empire Building portion. Besides, when given the title, I am the Head of Operations. Which means I can get some minions to do the work. Hehehe, right little Panda?" Qiu Yue said as she pulled up the baby Astral Panda on the screen to show it to Jin and he was surprised that he was still there when he had already dissolved his Panda when he was working.

    "Ok, if you feel that you can handle it, then I have no qualms about letting you take that title. That will really save me a bunch of effort."

    "Duh, if it''s a small shop, all you had to do is to handle dungeons and shops. The System can do everything else. But now you made it so big, you would definitely need people to handle it. Remember those Demon Exorcists that Grandma Yuan left with us? I tapped into them to do some work and it looks like they can work. Right now, I am using them to liaise with their JODE organisation to make sure everything goes smoothly for the school."

    "Oh shit, I totally forgot to put the school into the service instance," Jin said and he looked at the System.

    "The school is not ready yet and the tform is not needed as of right now, that is why the System did not say anything."

    "Yeah and speaking of Grandma Yuan, remember to look for her. Something to do with needing to pass some boxes and stuff to you." Qiu Yue said as she thanked Jin once more for the promotion in the title.

 Chapter 1827 Amber Arbour

    When some of the Pandarens came in the early next morning to have their daily dose of dungeons or just mere sightseeing, they were given an update to restart their Pandamonium App the moment they came close to the Dungeons and Panda.

    To veteran customers, they were delighted to see an update as this meant that something was brewing within Jin''s shop. With the free strong wifi around the area, the update was installed quickly and they noticed a new interface had surfaced upon opening the app.

    Qiu Yue had been advocating a slight revamp of the interface to allow a smoother transition between the modules that were in the Pandamonium App and Jin had finally given the approval since he was around. It does look cleaner and more importantly, the UI was simple and easy to read.

    But most importantly a popup came out to indicate to everyone that there is a major overhaul to the shop instance and this might be one of the more permanent instances until Jin gets tired of it. And so when the customers entered, they were surprised to see a Panda Mascot in train attendant clothes which fashioned a simple ck and white uniform, standing in the middle of the entrance.

    "Wee to our very new store instance. You can buy your tickets via your phone or at the ticket booth over there! But if you do wish to only view the store, you can just open your Pandamonium App and tap in with your own unique QR code at the bottom of the app!" The Panda Mascot said.

    "Oh, I am just here for the morning breakfast by the penguins." The Pandaren said to the Mascot as he opened the new version of the Pandamonium App and clicked the obvious scan button at the centre of the bottom of the app. The QR code emerged and he managed to tap in without any problem.

    "The food stores are not far from here! It''s located once you go down the esctors!" The Panda Mascot said and the Pandaren thanked it for its help. Soon, as more Pandarens started to make their way to the Dungeons and Pandas, more Panda Mascots emerged with their big fluffy heads and aided the Pandarens with any of their queries.

    Once they entered the store instance, they realised that they were in the central area where there were no longer those usual food stands and stalls. Though Jin never wanted to remove that authenticity feeling away, the fact that the numbers of Pandarensing in might be crazy at times, they had topartmentalise them so that there was space for people to walk around in this underground station.

    In a way, it is sort of an upgrade for the Penguins from owning a food stand or stall, they had been given their own shops or even restaurants depending on their poprity before the ce had been renovated. And the fact that each penguin finally started to learn to be ambitious, they asked Jin whether they could have their own decorations.

    Now with the thought maniption and live adjustments for the Penguins to see, it did not take more than an hour for each of the stores or restaurants to be set up. (Thank goodness for time dtion.) However, at the very end of that particr central area, there was a staircase that goes up rather than down.

    Those first few Pandarens who came to explore the area had the luxury of knowing that it leads to what seems to be the canopy of the Tree Mall. Or at least it looked that way since they could still feel the cold breeze of the temperature controlled air within the dungeon instance.

    "Wee." An otter greeted them as they wore a waiter uniform to greet the group that managed to find the ce first. "You are the first few customers to step into the Amber Arbour. A ce you will be served by our most famous inhouse chef, Lynn."

    "Chef Lynn? Do you mean she is back? The penguins said that she was doing some enlightenment run just as Jin." The Pandarens were excited to hear that inhouse chef''s name.

    "Yes, indeed. She had returned and this time she came back with more tricks under her sleeves that could continue to wow you. The only difference this time is that most of her food is based on the bounty of the day." The Otter took out the menu and showed them the three sets of items.

    "Chinese, Japanese, or Western. It is unfortunate that I am unable to reveal any more and their prices can differ depending on the day. For today, Chinese is the most expensive, followed by Japanese andstly Western." <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "So, it''s something like a mystery set?" The Pandarens asked and the Otter nodded his head.

    "The only thing I can tell you is that if you possessed certain allergies, you can tell us in advance and the Chef and herpanions would see if they could put out an alternative for you. But if such allergies had been reported into the Pandamonium App, you do to have to worry as we will already note of such allergies for you."

    "So, while I understand my Chinese set might be different from a person with allergies. And if I find that particr set to be more interesting, can I request to change?"

    "Apologies, no refunds. If you want the alternative, you can request a top up with a fee to it. I apologise that this is how the shop will work. Also, if there are leftovers, you can request to take away the leftovers. Otherwise, if you are not adventurous enough to try, I am afraid that I cannot rmend walking into the Amber Arbour." The Otter said that when the Pandarens decided to enter, their Pandmonium App gave a big red warning stating that there would be no refunds given.

    By pressing ''I ept'' they lost all the rights toin or demand something new. Jin wondered why Lynn wanted to make things so difficult for the customers when all they wanted was to eat her food. Then, all he could think of was that she still wanted to have fun cooking.

    Just as how her Amber Arbour had been created, seats were on mini tree tops which looked grandeur and there were also pic spots where people could just sit together as a group and enjoy with a dedicated sound barrier so that the noises were muffled. It was as if Lynn came to a point where she cooked what she wanted and if there were no sales then that food would go to minions or even be sold to other worlds.

    All of these were done along with her Dad as well who also started to learn how to do some basic assistant tasks. (He noted that Lynn was stricter than the teachers or instructors he had in his life.)

    "We will give it a go." The group of Pandarens were agreeable to taking the risks of a mystery meal since they knew that Lynn could hardly go wrong. And to their pleasant surprise, when they took Chinese. It was an assortment of Dim Sum.

    A breath of relief from a Pandaren while the others didn''t think much of it until they took a bite in and felt as if nature was breezing through them when the hot piping crispy char siew (barbeque pork) bun melted in their mouth. It would not be an exaggeration that they felt as if the pigs were sliding around their tongue before they went into their throat.

    It was to the extent that they did not know whether they should buy the mystery set of Japanese and Western just to bring back home for their families too.

    Lynn came in and brought them each a ss of handmade honey with a lemon at the side of the ss. "Sorry, no straws. It will spoil the taste if I give them to you. Enjoy from the wooden mugs." The chef said as she personally came out to thank them for being the first customers of her new restaurant within the store instance.

    The Pandarens were amazed to see the beautiful goddess of cooking in Jin''s store standing right in front of them, personally giving the drinks to them. Needless to say, they were speechless and even more so when they started drinking the honey with lemon. It was so good that they had forgotten to take a picture of the mystery meal.

    From the looks of it, it seemed like it was a good start to the new store instance with theeback of Jin and Lynn.

 Chapter 1828 Advertising

    As the days got by, so did the number of customers who were used to this particr new store instance. In fact, a majority like the tidy and systematic ways of getting about. The Pandamonium App also had a map directory that showed them where they needed to go.

    And also, the thing that most of the businesses had wished to capitalise. Advertisements were finally been added to the store instance. People were surprised to see major brands working along with Dungeons and Pandas to showcase thetest shoes, phones, gadgets, and even movie trailers. Not only that, there were also non sponsored advertisements to help the local stores within the Tree Mall to get some exposure as well.

    But of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch in the world, if they were to showcase their products and thrive from it, the Dungeons and Pandas would get a smallmission fee. Not much, just a 1 Yuan charge for each product they sold off. But any product or product that was sold for less than 50 yuan would not be charged.

    Meanwhile, there were also advertisements that had dynamic QR codes to allow them to take pictures of and enjoy discounts in Tree Mall shops as well. One of them even posted that one of those QR codes had yielded him Panda Coins and some people took this chance as if it was some treasure hunt, getting all the QR codes and looking at all the advertisements just to get that small amount of free Panda coins. It was a win win situation for both the Dungeon Supplier stores as well as the advertisers.

    And since the new subway train instance had been up only recently, Qiu Yue continued to explore how best it is to present those advertisements to make sure they are not intrusive and yet immersive enough to entice the customers. Qiu Yue believed that with System''s technology along with their own NPCs and minions, there is no doubt that it would be even easier to create their very own advertising department to grab the major brands by their ''balls''. After all, thosepanies can skip the ''middleman'' and go straight to the Qiu Yue almost instantly.

    Of course, this would be additional work for her but she knew that there was one person who would be extremely interested in this kind of job and that was none other than one of Kraft''s Foxes, Kiyu. When the little fox heard of this role, she was delighted to take it up but Qiu Yue repeatedly told her that it was for the future and they also needed to see if the advertisements had an impact or not. If there is no uptick in sales from the sponsor''s end (since they could know how many people view the ads from the QR codes and Pandamonium App links, they are able to know whether the advertisement spaces they rented were effective or not.)

    In the meantime, Qiu Yue asked Kiyu to study the advertising space and see how it could be improved which of course thetter yawned at that subject. To her, all she wanted to do was to create but Qiu Yue told her that if she did well, Lynn could offer her more food on a regr basis. "Youбн are so evil. To use food as bait."

    "You a fox, using food to entice you is perfectly normal. I apud Jin''s foresight to get such a wonderful chef by our side."

    "I wonder though, if she could match with the expectations of those who set the standards of this world," Kiyu asked and Qiu Yue gave a fuzzy smile.

    "Don''t you think those are overrated? They purposely get those awards so that they can jack up the prizes for their food. I doubt Lynn wants that kind of recognition."

    "Didn''t she have some chef boyfriend previously and she worked like mad to try to get him?" Kiyu asked and Qiu Yue tried to recollect only about it.

    "Yeahбнshe did. But things got somewhat messy. In any case, I think she is happy with what she has right now. Why change something when everything is proceeding so smoothly?" Qiu Yue asked and Kiyu shrugged her shoulders.

    "You know how our shop is getting popr, right?"

    "And? Get to the point."

    "There were a few guys who came and asked Lynn to join their restaurants and it starts to get ridiculous that it seems like they are courting her, always asking her to think about the offer," Kiyu exined.

    "So you believed that they are here to not just scout her but hope that she joins under some ranked chef that will so call elevate her up?" Qiu Yue asked and Kiyu nodded her head. "Then, why don''t we ask her ourselves?" Qiu Yuemented as she immediately dialled her up through the System''s channel.

    "No, not interested at all. They did put out names saying that they wanted me to work under those chefs. They said that their chefs were impressed by my food. Yada yada yada. Obviously, I rejected all of them."

    "Why though? If you be a ranked or named chef, you can definitely raise the bar for food quality in Dungeons and Pandas. Not just normal folks will swarm to eat your food, even those rich bastards too. And they have money. Don''t we all want money?"

    "Haha. Of course, we want money, right Lynn?" Qiu Yue said and Kiyu was confused.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Yeap. With enough money, I can request the System to buy more of those out of this world high tech fridges. Maybe a chi regted oven as well but that one my penguins willin if they need to stand there just to get the oven upбн haha" Lynn said as she decided to take the role of washing dishes since she was talking to them.

    "Anyways, serving rich people or normal folks. I am still serving people. As long as they enjoyed my food. I am good with it. Besides, why in the world I would want to move away from this ce? We have so many different ingredients to try from other worlds. By getting the ingredients to taste right or maybe taste different and yet still within the eptable range, is a type of privilege that no other chefs are able to have."

    "Not to mention, you don''t have to make things overlyplicated. For example that pork bun that Lynn sold. To the majority of people, they have certain expectations for a taste that has already been known. Change the taste too much, people might not like it." Qiu Yue said as she picked up the pork bun that was right in front of her as the analogy.

    "However, keep the taste the same. Tweak it a little. Make the pork a bit more chewy, the bite of the bun a bit more puffy, and the smell of the bun a little more fragrant. And what do you have for such a product? Lots of money." Qiu Yue said as she took a bit and stuffed the rest into Kiyu''s mouth.

    "She is right. All you need is to have that edge to make customers continue toe back to you. And yes sure, the current selection of ingredients Earth has can make that happen. But if I can also experiment with other world''s ingredients, I do not see a reason why take a small shortcut to achieve what I cannot do?" Lynn replied and she admitted that she can bezy at times too.

    "Gosh, if Lynn considered herselfzy then what is Jin?" Kiyu put her hand on her mouth as if she found out something horrible.

    "Yeah, Jin iszy." Both girls said the same time and theyughed. Lynn turned off themunication leaving Kiyu and Qiu Yue alone once more.

    "However, I think we should be a little more assertive in protecting Lynn. I do not think those scouts and headhunters would give up." Kiyu said.

    "Don''t worry. Lynn can protect herself. Have you forgotten her hundreds strong army of penguins? All of them are capable of holding two choppers and a bomb at their back, willing to kill anyone who dares to hurt her."

    "Oh lol, you don''t say. I wish I had suchpanions too. Boohoo" Kiyu remarked with a sad face.

    "When you start working on your advertising department for real, then perhaps I might be able to spare some people for you like how I started to send the Otter Vige from the Giant World to help Lynn."

    "I thought they were being elusive and only wished to stay in their own bubble? Some of the Giant World Tribes had decided toe out and work?"

    "They have to. Jin had been too nice to them, giving them free meals. But it''s also because of that kindness, it allows me to manipte them to feel guilt. Therefore, they started working too. Muahahaha" Qiu Yueughed evilly.

    "Oo waбнlooks like however became a boss even though it is just a temporary position for you, turns evil," Kiyu said and then asked where Jin had been.

    "To Grandma Yuan''s ce. He said he wanted to sort out the Exorcist''s school for real and get it implemented as soon as possible. I managed to do some stuff for him on the side, but ultimately, he had to have control of the ce, since he is supposed the Headmaster of JODE''s new training school centre."

    "Then it looks like we will be expecting even more traffic from this school. Maybe Itori cane to take a look and even help Jin with it since she is working in the education department at Demopolis!"

    "Perhaps. We will see how Jin''s meeting with Grandma Yuan goes once more."

    "Probably another scolding and maybe beating," Kiyu said and Qiu Yue agreed.

 Chapter 1829 Durian Shell Punishment

    "You should have brought some tea as the System rmended you to." The System reported as Jin was on his knees kneeling on a half durian shell for both legs while carrying two buckets of water for each hand. If he spilled any water from it, ire would put another 50kg weights on his upper limbs.

    And it was rigged.

    The water was filled not just to the brim, it was overflowing periodically with chi created water when ire was instructed to pour the water under themands of a certain well known entity of Tian Gong District.

    "Saying anything now will not change anything!" Jin said to the System until he heard a bang from the walking stick.

    "Have you forgotten that I am still connected to the System?" Grandma Yuan said and even without talking and merely with just eye movements, ire understood hermands. She took out a 100kg weight and strapped it on Jin''s arms.

    If Jin was using Maqi to regte, there would not be any problems holding such weight but this was a different story when Grandma Yuan forbade any use of Maqi so there he was under the spikes of durians poking at him while sustaining the weights that had been ced so haphazardly around him.

    It was a literal trantion of ''Do you understand the weight of the situation that you were in when you epted the building of the JODE Exorcist School?''

    Of course, Grandma Yuan did not say a word about that particr problem even as Jin visited her and ire. And while there is no doubt Grandma Yuan knew of the situation that Jin had been ced in because of her asional contact with the System, she did not spare any mercy to him.

    Sure, Qiu Yue had made some changes to make Grandma Yuan and Jin the headmaster of the new JODE centre in order to have shared responsibilities but considering how there were no further developments to the project when Jin was not around, it was bing a joke in themunity which Grandma Yuan had to suffer. So,pared to what Jin was experiencing right now, it was nothing as to the insults that Grandma Yuan had to take in.

    "There is only so much I can do." Grandma Yuan said as she asked ire to bring the box that she did ask Jin to pop up to pick it up. "So, I believe you know what is to be done next."

    "I do."

    Jin thought ire took her time to search for the box but in actual fact, she was making tea for Grandma Yuan first before bringing the gift box to Jin.

    "Oops, sorry. I totally forgot about the gift box just now." ire smiled so wide, it was bloody obvious that it was sarcastic.

    "Be careful, the box is fragile." Grandma Yuan said and ire purposely pretended to drop it which caused Jin to react instinctively, causing more water to spill from the bucket. "Another 100kilos of weight."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Yes, Grandma Yuan," ire smirked once more and knew this was practically punishment in action as she added more weights onto Jin and the Panda Cultivator was already shaking. There was definitely some injury from the durian spikes and his worms were actively healing the wounds. At the same time, he wondered what grade those durian shells were to be able to handle over 300kg of weight including him.

    "Don''t you dare smash the durians. If you smash them or even just a small crack, you will see what you get next." Grandma Yuan said as ire finished cing the 100 kilos of weight on Jin. This means that Jin had to use all his willpower to bnce himself out while kneeling on the durians and also making sure the water on the bucket did not spill and simultaneously handle the weight of 250 kilos of weight on him. (He did not have the time to think where the weights came from.)

    It was only until ire and Grandma Yuan had finished their tea session in peace that Jin was allowed to be relieved of their punishment. By then, Jin curled up at the side of the room to see that those durian shells were barely fine. Ever so barely. His healing factor kicked in fully for the muscle strains he got handling those weights without Maqi.

    It was then Grandma Yuan asked Jin to open the gift box.

    "What is this?" Jin asked as he opened to see an old inscription charm that was made out of wood.

    "Beats me. Ming told me to give this to you when your Pandas were visible. I did not understand what that meant until the System told me that you can make visible Pandas out from your cultivation. Show me one, I like to grab one and cuddle." Grandma Yuan''s request was absolute. No bargaining allowed.

    Thus, Jin quickly summoned one out and it ran toward Grandma Yuan like a yful kid who wants its granny''s love. ire stared at him and even though he was pathetically on the ground because of her actions, he unwillingly summoned the other to let her y as well. This also bought him some time as they y with the Pandas while he healed himself and takes a closer inspection at the charm.

    "Huhбн It''s not actually a charm and rather, it looked like it''s a string of numbers of some sort." Jin said and asked the System to map it out for him. With a quick search, the coordinates for it was located somewhere near the Royal Zodiac Dragon n''s Military Bases in Shanghai.

    "Ehhбн I guess I have to contact Kong Rong for this. There is no way I can go into the Royal Zodiac Dragon''s territory especially their military bases and say hi. My Grandpa left this and I need to enter your territory to get it."

    "Are you sure they are map coordinates?" ire asked as she hugged the Panda tightly and smelled its fur.

    "The System felt that it is of such a nature as well. It will not hurt to take a look as the System do not have ess to the map data of that area." The System said and Grandma Yuan who was casually looking at themotion.

    "Is thisбн?" She thought to herself and if she could stare at the System, she would have done so.

    For it is something that she knew the System was hiding its information on purpose.

 Chapter 1830 If You Knew

    "If you knew, why did you not tell him." She spoke to the System privately.

    "The System believed that this is something he should find out himself. Besides, it had been hinted to him a few times. The secrets would reveal themselves when the time is right." The System replied to her as Jin was finally able to stand up. However, the moment he stood up, those pesky worms seemed to find some more broken muscle tissues that were hiding in his curled up position and started to attack them, causing him to limp for a moment and asking them to give him some more time to recover.

    "Hmm, not the greatest of ideas but since there is nothing brewing in the background and Zeru is keeping track of the Banned Emperor, I guess we can stand and do nothing for some time." Grandma Yuan said as she pretended to y with the Astral Panda.

    "Indeed, Zeru did say that the perimeters were clear and there should be no harm done at this juncture. He will continue to keep track of any developments." The System wanted to say more things but Jin finally opened his mouth.

    "Well, guess we have lots of things to do ever since I came back?" Jin asked as he looked at the coordinates and learned that Kong Rong was also not avable at the moment. "I doubt this is urgent, right? Since you said that Ming asked you to pass it to me only when the timees."

    "Yes, but like many things, do not waste too much time." Grandma Yuan felt like she was jabbing at him on the school issue once more.

    "I check on it, settle the facilities as soon as possible, and give you the authority to run it. Besides, the deadline for the facility is бн" Jin was obviously looking for the System to give him a saving grace.

    "Unfortunately for Jin, the school development deadline is supposedly in a few weeks'' time. However, the System is confident Jin is able to clear that in no time."

    "Too close forfort but I will get it done within this week before I meet Kong Rong to talk about the бнthe martial arts and sportspetition!" Jin said as he felt that if he stayed any longer, he might be in deeper trouble.

    "Oh, thepetition ising, might be a good time for JODE to send some representatives to participate. What do you think, ire?" Grandma Yuan asked and her assistant nodded her head with confidence.

    "I believe the students you had cared for and groomed are good candidates for thepetition. But it would be better if they have a school that hosts it rather than being part of it in name." ire responded and Jin got it. Like he really really REALLLLLYYYY got the hint.

    "Okay! Okay! Yes, Grandma Yuan!" Jin said as he dashed out of the ce the moment he wore his shoes. "Geez. Why am I suffering this when I am the one who had been in the unfortunate position to enter the Synthesis World!" Jin grumbled knowing that he just needed to get it off his chest.

    "If the User had nned his time better and made fewer promises before you got sucked into an unknown world by celestial beings who are able to control time, space, and your body. Then things might not be this way."

    "To be honest though, how''s the school instance? I thought we did up quite a fair bit previously." Jin asked.

    "It''s unfortunate but Qiu Yue had deemed the school instance as a waste of processing power. Not to mention, she said it was extremely inefficient in terms of design and did not meet the requirements of JODE organisation. So instead of nitpicking it, she destroyed the entire school instance, urging the organisations to give their expectations and requirements properly. Of course, she still kept all the good ideas that the Demon Exorcists had given and even neatened the notes for you to read." The System reported that it sent out a report via his phone while he took a cab back home.

    "Most of the ideas had been incorporated with the requirements so there were sample designs of the ssrooms, lecture halls, animal and demon storage areas, school facilities, and the misceneous items."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Soбнis it true that the submission of the school instance for inspection is really within the next few weeks?"

    "Unfortunately, yes. Even if you did not meet Grandma Yuan today, she wille to haunt you within this week after learning that you have arrived." The System replied.

    "Then what happens if I really had no chance ofing out? Won''t that be bad?"

    "Yes, Sub System User ire had already prepared a renumeration fee to JODE for not being able to submit the first iteration of the school instance on time. They initially wanted to try extending the deadline because your presence had disappeared for a considerable period, but the fact that the User had decided to emerge during the Virtual Reality spoils all chances."

    "Geh! Oops I never really thought of thatбн"

    "So did Qiu Yue until ire reminded her after the event had started and the headache came. That was why Qiu Yue had reluctantly put her fingers into this matter and tried to salvage it as much as she couldбн until she realised it''s easier to just make a new one than adjusting the old school instance based on the new requirements."

    "If I was around, I probably could fight back and tell them what''s done is done."

    "Something along those lines might be possible if you are around. And the fact was, you were not. No point to think about the past. Also, the System believed that they are the customers and ultimately, they have the right to request for something that we should be able to deliver considering how we focused on quality over quantity." The System stated and Jin sighed knowing that what it said was absolutely correct. If there is one thing they try not to forget is the customer''s experience is important. (Although sucking their money was equally a priority too.)

    "Then бнdid Qiu Yue?" Before Jin could ask the obvious question, the System already gave the affirmation reply.

    "Yes, with the new requirements being shoved down to our hypothetical throats, it also meant that ifpleted, the quotation for the new instance could also increase as well, and thus lifting our bottom line even higher than ever. Not that high but still rather high. Leave it to Operations Head Qiu Yue to settle it." The System corrected itself for thest part of the sentence.

    "Lol, no more Sub System User Qiu Yue?"

    "At times, calling by her new title somehow empowers and motivate her to perform better. The System will see if the effectst long or not. Else, the System will return to the standard title that she possessed."

    "Still better than User."

    "Would you prefer the System to call you, Useless?"

    "Fine. Point taken."Jin shook his head as he shut his eyes a little to think what toe out for the new school instance as the cab drives him back to Tree Mall. (Even though he could just portal! Did he forget how to portal after so long?)

 Chapter 1831 Creating The School Again

    "Why do I even need to create a school again!" Jin said to himself as he relegated himself back into the Dungeon Maker room.

    "Does the System need to remind you that you did it because you wanted more money and reputation before you got to this stage?" The System said and Jin looked at the screen with a huge sigh. "There is no need to reiterate that there would be costs incurred as the System had mentioned. That amount of money could be used for other things such as buying a store in Shenzhen for your Virtual Reality Simtion Expansion.

    "Fine, fine, fine. All I have to do is to provide the required specifications while ensuring that it is pretty too, correct?" Jin said as he already started using his thought maniption and created the foundation of the school instance as he had done previously for the old blueprint.

    "Yes, and the System had also contacted the four Demon Exorcists that were under your care previously."

    "You mean being forced to be under my care."

    "When you are not around, Qiu Yue officially took them up as full time employees with renewed contracts as created by the System. But instead of doing tasks given by Qiu Yue, she wanted them to fulfill a certain amount of JODE rted tasks instead. The tasks were regardless of the ranks within the Demon Exorcists. As long as they couldplete at least 10 a month, they would be given a minimum sum sry. Do more than 20, there would be extramissions as well."

    "Oh. I supposed Qiu Yue wants them to do that so they could be more exposed to the Demon Exorcists'' society and build a reputation?" Jin asked

    "Yes and not only that, it is to see and check how the Demon Exorcists in the current organisation would work. This is mainly due to the fact that they were personally trained by Grandma Yuan and they do not have much exposure in terms of the standards created by the usual Demon Exorcists."

    "Did they do well? I assume they do well since they had been specially trained by Grandma Yuan."

    "Exceptionally well. It was to the point they were receiving more than 30 tasks a month and they had been busy clearing them, paving the way to be Demon Exorcist specialists in their very own fields. They might be the next up anding famous Exorcists. Of course, because they were contracted by the System, they have the obligation to return to Dungeons and Pandas. Qiu Yue made sure of that so if you needed any help with the creation of the school, there is no doubt that the Demon Exorcists could assist with it."

    "Lol, and here I think they were little brats who had trouble keeping up with the situations," Jin said as he started using the old school design as a reference and built the basements.

    "To be fair to them, they were already the top when you met them. However, circumstances have shown that the world''s situation is not as friendly to them as they wanted it to be. All those experiences that you had allowed them to view plus the dangerous situations they had been ced in, had made them grow drastically more than Grandma Yuan expected them to be."

    "Lol, and don''t forget we even gave them their dual inscription charms, allowing them to be more than they can be."

    "Indeed, and they had used the charms sparingly as they never knew when those charms would expire. It was only at times when people''s lives were in danger, then they will use them."

    "If they know that they cannot die because they had been contracted by the System, what do you think they will think? Wait, I assume you did not tell them, right?" Jin asked and the System gave an affirmative answer.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Telling it defeats the purpose of them attempting to struggle. Besides, it is not every time they are in a life and death situation. If the System is not wrong, the only time they were in such a position is whenever they are with you."

    "Wow. Thanks. I am the Danger Ma." Jin rolled his eyes even though he was in thought maniption mode. (Because of that, some of the console screens shot upwards to follow the movement of his eyes and he had to readjust them once more. Note to himself not to do such stupid eye movements during thought maniption.)

    "Thus, the System had messaged each and every one of them to return by tomorrow night for dinner with you. All of them had sent a reply, indicating that they had epted the dinner meeting within less a minute from the invitation."

    "What does thatst part for? That I should be happy that they were all so excited to see me?"

    "Just for your information."

    "Pfft. Then give me a basic breakdown of their activities. Are they all Demon Extermination?"

    "Most of it is, considering that they had been trained by Grandma Yuan the JODE higher ups did not spare any effort in putting them to do special extermination missions which most normal Demon Exorcists would not be able to get."

    "We have that many Demons lying around? Or is this the influence of the Banned Emperor as well?"

    "No, there were calls for help from various countries as well. Like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and even Bhutan."

    "Lol, I would be more surprised if the Western Demon Exorcists were to ask for the Eastern counterparts for help."

    "There was such a case but it is better your fellow бнtutees tell you the whole story about it. That particr case might prove to be interesting especially when they had to coborate with the Vatican."

    "Huh? Aren''t the Vatican Agents like the elites of the elites in Western Exorcisms?" Jin asked.

    "Indeed. And they are currently returning from there as we speak."

    "Wait. So, you are telling me this is not a mere dinner meeting? There is an agenda to it?" Jin questioned and yet the System was not replying.

 Chapter 1832 Creation Of JODE Training School -Part 1

    "Hello! Can you at least answer?" Jin asked and the System eventually sounded out.

    "Yes, the coincidence is undeniable. In return, the Vatican had promised that if this issue could be solved, they would consider allowing school exchanges to the Vatican for a five year period. A Memorandum of understanding (MOU) which would not be beneficial for the JODE School but the rtions between the Eastern and Western Demon Exorcists."

    "Why am I having the feeling that you had been nning this with Grandma Yuan, ire, and the kiddos that wereing back? Is Qiu Yue in the known as well?" Jin felt that the timing for all of this to settle the Demon Exorcist issues had been rather well timed. It was as if Jin was given some time toe back to the real world, and settle down a little. Get reprimanded for a task he had no choice but to abandon and return to it. Now, he has to settle an issue rted to the said task.

    "Everything is preordained. The System is too busy handling your Virtual Reality escapade to care about this. Not to mention the System had to ensure that Milk and Peppers were safe from getting out of the Celestial ne without being caught. Milk did not want to do it because of her previous rtion with -beep redacted info beep- and Peppers was the one who insisted on bringing you back."

    "Alrightбн sorry about that. And thanks for keeping an eye on Milk and Peppers."

    "If you are free, you should listen to Milk and Peppers, how they rescued you." The System sent its opinion rather than a rmendation.

    "Okay, I will." Jin took a deep breath in to reset since the conversation became a little heavy at the end of it. After this, he continued with making the JODE''s new regional training centre.

    With the advent of the subway train stations as the instance''s entry and exit, Jin felt that the old school instance was not sufficient to cater to the subway train instances as well. Instead, he decided to make a huge foyer as if there could be cars entering. Yet, everyone knew that it was impossible to do that since Jin had not made any cars drivable in the Dungeons and Pandas before. But, with this, people hoped that this could be the start of something possible in the future.

    Once he had done with the foyer, he started to concentrate on the building itself. Firstly, the school''s office where registration and other administrative issues could be done. On the second floor, would be where all the lecturers, teachers and even visiting professors'' desks would be. It was spacious enough for now but Jin knew that when they started to do up the partitions for each individual teaching professional, it would be way smaller than it could be. (Still, that was their requirement.)

    After this, he purposely created additional rooms for storage because he knew back as a student, the teachers never had enough storage areas. Even with what Jin had created right now, they would stillin that there was enough room for their items. Oh, and Jin also created a ce where they could keep their less restricted items that still required more than just a lock and key and needed for easy essibility.

    Next, the main auditorium had also been created with seats that could fill up a thousand students. And that meant there was a need to have second floors facing the stage too in order for the audience to have a better view of the stage. After all, this auditorium could not only be used for addressing the students but also for lectures and talks. However, he decided to do something that would not just wow the public who would be attending this JODE new training centre.

    Recently, Las Vegas announced the building of an indoor theatre where there''s a panoramic view of their indoor video wall which pictures and videos can be projected continuously in a spherical shape, allowing an immersive view. Jin had decided to do a miniature version of it in this particr auditorium to see if it worked well.

    And if it does, he might be able to create his very own movie theatre that features an even more immersive spherical wall of OLED panels and sound immersion. He believed that if he did that, the audience might be able to get an even clearer view and sound quality from such a movie theatre. This will also bring up the number of peopleing into his Dungeons and Pandas as part of its service instance highlights.

    The System was interested in such a project that it had also decided to keep it in view once this particr school instance had been created. In fact, Jin said that if the System was capable enough, it could create such a service instance on the sideline and when the school instance is over, they might be able to push it out soon. "Hahaha, imagine all those movie creators who had been throwing out high quality films but the cinema industry does not have the capital to change it to throw such out good screen technology."

    "You and the System both know that such industries were to eat the masses'' money, gaining as much profit as they could while reducing the cost. Only stupid businessmen like you would give it out at such a low cost that they might feel you are a threat if you expand."

    "Then I guess it''s a good thing that I keep it exclusive for now," Jin smirked as he continued doing the school instance. With such a highly advanced auditorium, the rest of the school had to keep up with the appearance too and Jin believed that JODE definitely had enough money to splurge. If they were already looking to build a training centre from scratch, they will have the capital to spend on this as well even though it is ''just'' a dimensional instance."

 Chapter 1833 Creation Of JODE Training School -Part 2 (Final)

    Once the auditorium had been done, it would be the ssrooms next. As per their requirement, Jin had allocated space for at least 40 ssrooms even though they only asked for 35. This was in case they had more recruits than usual or they could be needed to spit sses for some tier based learning of some sort.

    Whatever it was, it was easier for Jin to put up 40 ssrooms so they could align nicely to each other and he was beginning to appreciate the simplicity of systematic designs. Surely someone could definitelye in and create great designs for the ssrooms but Jin knew that this would not work in an Asian setting, especially for the Chinese where ssrooms were meant to impart knowledge, drill it into their brains and release it for examinations.

    There was no need for any special looking ssrooms where you could get distracted. That was also why most of the ssrooms did not have windows and instead, holographic images creating the room''s environment such as peaceful grassy knolls can be used to indicate the end of the session where they could stay inside their ssrooms after ss to rx for the moment before the next lesson begin.

    Otherwise, it was all study, study, study. After all, the Demon Exorcist was not something to be taken lightly. People risk their lives on a daily basis to protect citizens and exterminate demons. They do not need such distractions within the ssroom.

    Thus, when the ssrooms were done, Jin proceeded to add misceneous rooms such as club rooms, the ITbs, and several soundproof rooms for extra curriculum activities such as wind orchestra, bands, or even choir. A total of twenty over of such rooms so each block contained 20 rooms each and there were three blocks in total that were at the left of the auditorium.

    As for the right side, it was where the gym, the Demon storage rooms, the underground swimming pool and even a fighting arena at the top of the building. The armoury, training rooms and halls were further to the right so that they could be reinforced individually or reced when things got messy.

    It is only at the back of the auditorium building where Jin had built the stadium for not just the track and field but also a ce where people can take part in official fights as well as a ce for audiences to sit back and enjoy the fights (or rate the fights during tests and exams)

    "I guessбн I had almost everything up?" Jin thought to himself as he looked through the list once more to make sure he did not forget anything else until the System told him he did miss a few things.

    "Food. Living dorms. Farnd. Monster breeding area. Library. Small sized Lecture Halls. Inscription and Tech Labs. And you forgot something vital. Toilets."

    "That is not just a few things. Oh gosh, how can I forget about food? Can''t they juste out and enjoy the food in our store instance?"

    "They need to have a distinction between school and the outside world."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Lol. Imagine them having to eat terribly yucky food and students are always running out of the area to take care of their stomachs." Jin remembered some of those days that as students they did just that.

    "That is their problem. If they want us to prepare the meals, they have to pay. A lot more than the public. -as per Qiu Yue''s request." The System stated and Jin chuckled that his Head of Operations really knew how to get an extra buck or two.

    Thus, with what was missing, he created another block to amodate the school''s library and even though he did not know much about JODE previously, he knew that they have that infamous three storey library where the first level is for the newbies, the second level would be for the more experienced students and the third were for veterans. Not to mention, they got to have a room to store their forbidden scrolls and tomes too.

    "If they were forbidden, why can''t they just burn them."

    "Should the forbidden knowledge be needed in a time of crisis, it is avable. Otherwise, it is used as a reference in case people use forbidden techniques, skills or powers. There is at least a record of it and how to possibly circumvent it." The System said.

    "More like an excuse to hoard stuff." Jin rolled his eyes as he created the library block. Like the library, he had not filled up the entire space with anything yet. Not even a single piece of furniture was ced in any of the rooms with the exception of the auditorium since there is a need for proof of concept to make sure that the LED and sound systems work tremendously well.

    Next, he readjusted the stadium so that the food canteen which is at least three storeys high as well was ced in between the main office and the stadium. (Hurrah to the power of dimensional instance creation!) In the meantime, he also added a strong foundationyer of wall for the canteen as it was a little close to the stadium. And knowing how ''idents'' can happen, he purposely reinforced it multiple more times so that the people eating would not be able to strike by ident by things that were happening from the stadium. At the same time, the second and third storey of the canteen had a ss window that overlooks through the Stadium as well. So that those idental ''omg wow he is strong'' romantic/ fantasy moments could ur.

    The System told Jin that it was not going to happen in real life that often but then he argued there was always a chance for that to happen. Not to mention, its free standing view for some of the students who were not able go into the stadium.

    "Oh yeah. Toilets. I need to add those toilets as well. Urgh. So troublesome. Now I understand why I prefer to make dungeon instances more than this kind of service instances. Oh shit, did I add enough toilets in the store instance?" Jin suddenly thought about it and the System said that during the final reviews, it had add a couple more already.

 Chapter 1834 I Am Done...

    "I am doneбн I am doneбн" Jin said as he closed his eyes upon finishing the creation of the school instance.

    "The productivity of this thought maniption is extremely high. The System regrets not fixing it earlier." The System stated that the amount of time that Jin had used to make this was substantially less than the time, he did the old school instance. In the meantime, the System did some debugging to ensure all the school routes were valid and there was no mismatch of requirements.

    "Yeah, please go take a look at the farnds as well as the monster breeding grounds. Why would they even want any of those is above my pay grade. Like what does have to do with being a Demon Exorcist? Please don''t tell me that they go around breeding monsters to fight against Demons. Or maybe even make a living, growing nts for their chemistrybs." Jin said as he asked the System for an ice pack for his eyes.

    "If User is able to finish this quickly for such an instance, the System would rmend that Jin finishes the Gentlebear Dungeon Instance and provide the Cultivators a new dungeon instance to go into." The System said while making an icepack appearing right in front of Jin''s hands.

    "Oh, the one we left mysterious keys all around the dungeon instances and even store instances previously." Jin put the icepack on his eyes and it felt great. The only terrible thing about it was that the condensation was already leaking down his face. It was as if his eyes were emitting out a lot of heat when in fact it did as Jin had incidentally used his Inverse Eyes powers to aid with the process of making the School Instance.

    He had no idea that with his Inverse Eyes turned on, the movement of his eyes could rapidly increase along with the System''s tracking abilities and therefore speed up certain things especially when he could see and match what he was thinking about at the same time.

    "Yes."

    "Didn''t we say that we want to give another key run for those neers before we release that GentleBear Dungeon Instance to people?" Jin tried hard to remember the details but he was probably too tired to think and left it to the System to do the hard work of finding the evidence of such a conversation.

    "Indeed. If so, what do you wish to create?"

    "Huhбн if you think about it, we have not been creating any new content by ourselves. Most of the content is based on the need for Pandarens. That Gentlebear dungeon instance is one of our original contents too." Jinid back as he felt that he might be forgetting his roots of creating the dungeon supplier store.

    "So, you wish to make any original dungeon instance while allowing the Cultivators to earn something from it as well as the keys?"

    "Why not? I do not see the problem with it. I mean we had been ripping off the Pandarens so much that I started to feel bad for them. Hahaha." Jin said as he brought the icepack down the moment the System finished its checks.

    "The System does not mind, just that creating an original dungeon instance with a storyline once more would be a challenge for you especially when you do not have much time on your hands." The System said. "Also, do take note that the new chi absorption restriction had been set such that the cultivators would have it harder beyond Grade 5."

    "I thought the initial bar was ehh Grade 8 or 10?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Indeed, but after much investigation through the data of the Pandawans as well as national data of the cultivators throughout the Dungeon Suppliers in China, it seemed that we had the most number of Grade 5-10 Cultivators in the area. It had be a concerning factor when the growth of such cultivators are not meant to be this quick."

    "Oh, so we are doing this chi absorption restriction to ensure that we do not get investigated thoroughly eh?"

    "Yes, if there are a bunch of cultivators that were grade 5-10, to the government censure, they are the anomaly. Probably hard working cultivators with talent as well that grew under your dungeon instances. They would not think much of it and treat it as a one off case. The System can also suggest that we had purposely trained these Pandawans and offered them better privilegespared to other customers mainly due to their consistent patronage of the shop."

    "Butбн if more people are getting from Grade 5-10 easilyбн from a certain areaбн"

    "The government agencies will suspect something is off and wille to investigate. Surely, that is not a bad thing for the country overall. After all, the User is pumping out high grade cultivators into the workforce as well as for the nation where getting killed by Demons is a real threat."

    "Howeverбн" Jin let the System continue.

    "However, this means extra work for you but because you are the up anding Royal Zodiac Panda n''s Head, they might push this responsibility to you to train not just cultivators but police, armies, secret agents, etc."

    "And yet, if we put the chi restriction absorption to Grade 5бн" Jin once again let the System finish what it wished to say.

    "If we do so, we still increase the cultivation grade of the workforce to a certain margin, increasing their productivity as well as getting opportunities to train the police, armies, and secret agents, allowing them to reach the minimum standard of Grade 5 to 6. The only difference is that countries would probably be wary that the new standard for China''s security forces would be at least Grade 5 and above aspared to the usual Grade 4."

    "Welp, I guess it is totally another issue if our minimum standard for security forces is at least Grade 10."

    "Then all the n leaders must be at least of your level. The True Grade 4."

    "Ew, can you at least give a nicer name to it?"

 Chapter 1835 Problems With Mini Games

    "The System follows the User''s way of bad naming conventions." After which, the System gave such a fakeugh through the intes.

    "Anyways, I understand where you are getting from, and thanks for continuously doing research to make sure that we do not get into trouble."

    "It is the System''s duty to keep a low profile if possible although the User''s reputation has reached to a certain point where a low profile is a bit meaningless."

    "Gah, when we need to, we will show our strength. It''s like how Kong Rong doesn''t go around wielding his dragon powers about." Jin yawned as he looked at the time and it was close to morning once more. "I still have time before the dinner meeting, correct?"

    "Yes, indeed. The System is assuming that the User wished to get Grandma Yuan and ire to take a look at the newly done School Instance as well?"

    "Yeah, why not? And it''s a good time for them to take a look at it, criticise us, and maybe inform the relevant authorities that we are done. In the meantime, the four Demon Exorcists can also meet up with Grandma Yuan, share their exploits, andter talk about that Vatican thing to her as well. Considering she is one of the leading seniors in their field, it would not hurt to have some advice as well as rmendations for their problems." Jin said as he stood up to stretch a little.

    "Then the System supposed you are going to create the next original dungeon instance?"

    "Yeah, more like a start of a Dungeon Instance Series if it''s possible."

    "Something like a continuous act filled with nothing but action?"

    "That is what most peoplee to Dungeons and Pandas for when they are looking for dungeons. Recently, I noticed on the inte that there were reviews of games that boast of high difficulties."

    "Does the User mean thetest iteration of Dark Sols?"

    "Indeed. I understand it''s a role ying game but notice how it''s a seamless experience from one area to another, andter fighting a big bad boss but you can also die quite badly." Jin exined as he happened to watch the trailers and even some gamey when he needed his mind to wander for a bit before returning to create the school instance.

    "With this kind of game setting, we can turn on the restriction of not being able to use chi or magic unless it is of a certain form that is allowed within the dungeon instance," Jin added and the System noted.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "And this way, we can also create our very own monster bosses as well as fights. Maybe draw some inspiration from our minions too. Oh oh and do a variant version of them so that they could be promoted too."

    "User just want more figurinesбн" The System finally understood his desires.

    "Damn, can you not. Those figurines making were the bomb okay. Even though they are so expensive, they are off the shelves almost immediately for those serious collectors. Imagine if we actually do a series on it."

    "The Supa Robo Wars is waiting for such a version of your dungeon as well. In fact, all of your old mini games need updates."

    "I thought I hired people to do all those creations," Jin replied and the System acknowledged that the person he hired, Yong De, the person who was working on the Arcade games, and He Rong who had been consistently producing new cards and figurines battles but because it''s just a series of mini games, people eventually got bored of it and some were not willing to invest more into it. Only newers woulde and try a little before walking away.

    The System even stated that the yers wanted a dungeon version of such themes and hoped that whatever they had bought could be used for the dungeons as well. "Long story short, Shopkeeper Yongde is doing what he can to keep the profits afloat but theck of interest from the yers has plummeted the sales of the Arcade especially when ites to original items.

    "Lol, how can I create a dungeon based on our monster card game? Supa Robo Wars maybe but definitely not the figurine battles. Oh dear, I had no idea that our arcade had been doing so badly." Jin said as he asked for the profit numbers and they were indeed not looking great at all.

    "Qiu Yue initially wanted to axe Yong De and He Rong, but she also noted the amount of effort they put into innovating. It''s just that the effort does not show the results. Thankfully, the minigames saw a rise in numbers when the User was not around as some of the usual customers got bored and decided to try it. While they enjoyed it, the procurement of cards and figurines is not something they could do on a daily basis."

    "Yeah, that''s true. It is not like our characters are famous in the local or overseas animation scenes. It''s still a niche scene to have them understand that our creatures here have stories too." Jin uttered the truth which he did not like to say out loud. Even though it was true that those promotional items were always sold quickly, it was mainly because they were won through redemptions rather than outright buying them.

    Then again, he did see a surge of request for these products in the second hand online markets and there were scalpers selling them at such a high price that it made Jin wonder if what he had been doing for the mini games were right or if he did need to revamp them just as how Qiu Yue was brutal in cutting costs and optimising the store.

    As much as Jin wished to prate the market with his own local products, he was having problems just as how their local Tiangong district was facing low demand for exquisite goods. "I see, if I really want them to thrive, I should either incorporate them or maybe put them into the Pandamonium App and make it a minigame in the app. So having physical cards would be a plus." Jin thought about it and decided to ask the System for its opinion.

 Chapter 1836 Proposing A Time Limit

    "Possible but honestly speaking, the User does not have the resources to make the mini gamee true properly."

    "Why so?"

    "Even though they put in the effort to create those cards based on our minions, most of our monsters are terrifying and powerful which makes the battles even less meaningful. Even if we were to put them as five or six star rarity on them, the problem would be bncing the characters to make sure that they are working all useable. Rather than relying on that one or two overpower cards that could destroy the mini game." The System stated.

    "If it is just a mini game for the fun of it, then it is fine. But if it''s for longevity purposes, it will fare badly without consistent development despite the fact that User had been getting minions as if he was going out for a walk to gather some flowers from the side of the road."

    "Even for the Virtual Reality Simtion, the AI Administration had admitted that bncing was a problem since anything could happen within the world they had created. It was so bad that they had to phase out magic so that the world could be a little more ''breathable'' for the users. It will be the very same thing once the new Virtual Reality Simtiones out for the Pandarens."

    "While the hardware is being installed, Syn had shot out questions on how our cultivators and monsters/demons usually fare. As much as Syn wanted to give free rein to the Pandarens when the new Virtual Reality Simtion is running, it would be able to control unless monsters such as Dragon Mechanoids appear on a regr basis for them. It''s a new set of game difficulty design problems that Syn had to handle."

    "Sopared to what the User always creates, punishing dungeon content can be cleared as long as the cultivators understand it. That is why up till now, the Escape City Instance with the Deep Ones is still an unclearable content because it is not just punishing, it is too random for them. The objectives were not and most of them did not know what to do. Only those who had scoured through the sub forums for Escape City Instance knew bits and pieces and tried to use that information to win."

    "The only problem with that is the form keeps changing the unpredictability of the dungeon had rendered their information useless."

    "Yes, no doubt the System felt that the Escape City Dungeon Instance is one of the User''s masterpieces in terms of level design including the random generator of events that the System had used. However, when someone keeps dying and has to pay money to try again, it bes something the customers do not really want to venture into. At most when we have an anniversary sale that includes a free try to Escape City, those people might give it a shot again. Otherwise, it''s a dungeon that might be cleared unless some group of hardcore cultivators with lots of money is able to grind and explore all the various routes possible." The System deduced.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Hmm, then I am guessing you are telling me all this as a warning for the dungeon ''series'' that I wished to create as well?" Jin asked and the System replied positively.

    "Yes, instead of lives, the System rmends selling a ticket via time limit instead. However, the System would not be heartless and state that if the cultivator was fighting battle halfway when the time limit had been reached, he/she would automatically be teleported back to the store instance. Instead, when the time limit had been reached and once the Pandaren had finished fighting their said monster, they would be teleported back."

    "Eh, then won''t people try to cheese or cheat it and not killбнlet''s say thest goblin and try their best to move to the boss so that they have the time limit not removed?"

    "If that is the case, it''s the User''s choice to implement a barrier type of obstacle that disallows cultivators to move forward unless they killed all the monsters within that area or a final barrier that requires the death of monsters or no aggro on said cultivator before entering for the boss fight. Alternatively, you can also allow them to cheat on that or go against the System''s advice and implement a strict time limit rule when one will disappear once the limit strikes zero."

    "Nah, I think the time limit rule is possibly user friendly which by the way a bit of digression but I am keeping Escape City Instance as it is. We put a lot of effort into that dungeon and if it is the way of cultivators not attempting it, then we will leave it as per the rumours of it being impossible. That way, we will have a dungeon that could be attractive to even high grade cultivators. Anyways, sorry. I was thinkingбн" Jin coughs a little for talking too fast.

    "бнapologies. Cough. I was thinking that the time limit rule should be implemented and allow them to cheat or cheese the system design if needed. Let people see,in a little on the social media, get some awareness of such a run by other Pandarens and we hot fix it on ater date that only allowed running away from the monster will also incur a timer. Failure to kill it upon time limit will cause the dungeon to closeбн.or something like that. What do you think about it?" Jin asked and the System run its calctions on its predictive models.

    "The hype of a new dungeon since your return would cause the possible number of views on social media to soar. Not a bad n. Also, we can use this time limit model and see if its more appeasing to the target audience. Especially when the idea of a free second or third try is extremely enticing." The System stated and Jin agreed to it too.

 Chapter 1837 Creating The Dark Days Dungeon Instance

    As soon as they finished the conversation among themselves, it was enough rest from all the talking and thus Jin decided to start his Dark Sols Dungeon Instance series which heter dubbed it Dark Days Dungeon Series so it could be short formed as DDD Series or D3 Series.

    Unlike the school instance and store instance where he had to be wary of the creation of the environment, this time around he did not need to. Jin asked the System to pick some random dark looking grassy knolls with surrounding cliffs and forest as the background. After all, this was the first portion of the series as it did not have to look that great.

    What needs to be great was the enemies.

    Jin had decided on the goal of using his minions which he had obtained from the start again to proceed with the start of this Dark Days Dungeon Instance. And so, the goblins were the first minions that they were going to fight.

    Same thing as the Virtual Simtion as well as the previous few short dungeons instances, the cultivator''s powers had been sealed. However, not all were sealed as opposed to what Jin had proposed earlier.

    Instead, he was going to allow the cultivators to choose one particr technique be it just a simple technique or some ultimate technique, as long as it fulfilled the restriction of that particr dungeon instance, they can bring that one technique over. So for now, the restriction of the first Dark Days Dungeon would be that they could only bring one Grade 1 Technique with them.

    It might not seem like much but both Jin and the System agreed that they had been too generous to the yers recently that it became a yground for them when they came to the Dungeons and Pandas when by right, their goal was to try and cultivate themselves not only their skills but their experiences.

    Therefore, this particr Dark Days Dungeon instance was meant to be a sort of training dungeon for those who wish to take their cultivation seriously.That was why initially, the duo thought of not allowing any techniques at all for the first stage but only through some deliberation, Jin decided against it mainly due to the fact that not many would be able to handle the toughness of such serious dungeon ys at all.

    Instead, the System questioned if Jin would wish to put a free tutorial trial of the first dungeon of the DDD series. That way, there is finally something free that the customers could try and see if they wish tomit to this particr genre or not.

    And if that''s the case, they could put no techniques allowed for the tutorial trial. And as usual, Jin had decided to rely on the first three goblins he had caught, cing them in the very same battlefield environment that the System would be using for the first stage in the tutorial mode.

    Butpared to the dungeons that the cultivators had yed, Jin was going for a more game like approach for this Dark Days Dungeon just as how Dark Sols was about learning the pattern, knowing how the fight will be, and gradually gaining the patience to defeat it.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    He had noticed that most of the cultivators trained did not have such capability to fight. A lot of them would try to use rangedbat andter resort to melee when they find the winning edge. This was especially true when he saw them fight during the Virtual Reality Simtion in Synthesis World. While it was not wrong to do so, they were practically abandoning their techniques for a simpler fight.He had also noticed that most cultivators would not use their techniques unless it gave them a fighting edge.

    Again, it was not wrong but that also meant that a lot of the techniques that had been transferred to them would be wasted. So Jin decided to try and change that with Dark Days Dungeons. For now, the first stage would be simple enough to use a Grade 1 Technique. Butter in the series, he hopes to change the restrictions such as only being able to use a Grade 1 Technique movement skill.

    That was the n for the dungeon instance in the future, but he had to see the reaction of this particr dungeon first before testing other instances out. And as the System had said, Jin still had the Gentlebear instance that needed to be resolved so this particr dungeon''s end reward would definitely have the keys as part of the rewards too.

    "Ahhh ahhhh the cultivators would have a field trip with this. I thinkбн" Jin had once again broken the record and managed to create a boss variant of his minion and finished the entire Dark Days Dungeon Series. While granted there was nothing lore inducing like Dark Sols, it was still meant to be a challenging dungeon that he believed that even most if not all of the Pandawans would enjoy.

    "The System will once again do a few simtions to ensure that it is yable and able to be defeated. The Jin clone that had been given to us would be a good substitute for a yer as its chi powers can dial up or down depending on how we want it to be." The System said and Jin squinted his eyebrows.

    "Youбн whatбн? The Jinny clone?"

    "Yes, the Jinny Clone as dubbed by you. It had been a useful y test dummy for the close quarterbat house fight along with a few other NPCs. And this would be equally an interesting demonstration since he had no idea what is going on within that Dark Days Dungeon Instance #1" The System replied.

    "Okay, sure. Have fun with it and try not to break it. I am going to take a shower and head out for dinner. Did you choose the ce?"

    "Obviously Lynn''s Amber Arbour. The ce can be monitored and strictly no worry of information leaking out." The System stated as if it was an apparent choice and Jin shrugged his shoulders, thinking that the System might have somewhere else.

    "Okay, tell me if our very first D3 Series is okay to be published." Jin said as he went off the Dungeon Maker.

 Chapter 1838 Dinner With The Demon Exorcists -Part 1

    "Oh my god, it really is big boss Jin. HI BOSS!" Rong, using the Ox Demon Style of Ao Ye, shouted at Jin as he saw him already waiting in one of the private areas in Amber Arbour.

    "Rong, after working for so long, can you be more mindful of your manners outside work? You are representing the Demon Exorcists." Lian, the Nine Tail Fox Demon Cultivator said as she waved happily at Lynn who happened to be beside Jin while serving preparing the teapot for the group.

    "Ermбн Did Lynn be prettier?" Lein, the Qilin Demon Cultivator asked Su Zhen, the Great White Snake Demon Cultivator so tantly that it pissed her off mildly. But even thetter could not deny that Lynn somehow became even more mature and prettier. It was as if she had been shaped by some experience and came out to be an even better person.

    "Lein, you are toote. I heard that Lynn had already been taken." Lian put her hand on Lein''s shoulders, telling him to give it up. "You know that you still have me or Su Zhen, right?" She purposely said it so that Lein could finally make a move toward the Great White Snake Demon Cultivator.

    "What nonsense! He is not even fit for me." Su Zhen snapped at Lian for even trying to pair him up with her.

    "Still as rowdy as ever all of you," Jin said as he told them to take a seat.

    "Big Sis Lynn, people are raving about your new restaurant concept once more," Lian said as she took out her phone and showed Lynn that she had been tagged multiple times online in social media and in the Pandamonium App Forum.

    "Hahaha. Thank you Lian for following the social media ount. My Penguins are the ones who control my social media ount because they know that I cannot be bothered by it. They also took the chance to use me and my ount to spread about their dishes online." Lynn said as she poured a ss of tea for the group that juste in.

    "I just find it hard to believe that these people would take it at face value that these Penguinsбн never mind." Rong decided to stop as he felt like he sensed a chopper was being aimed at him from afar. However, Lein was stupid to continuementing.

    "Yeah, I too cannot believe that people believe these penguins are capable of cooking иC What the fuuu?" Lein suddenly saw a chopper being flown right beside his ear and Jin unsurprising caught it.

    "Lynn, I think your penguins need to be aware that even though these Demon Exorcists are our own people and employees here, that does not mean they can retaliate anytime anywhere."

    "Don''t worry, I think the penguin who did it is probably the newer batch of penguins who do not know who you guys are. The older veterans will teach him properly." Lynn said with a gentle smile but somehow both Lein and Rong could feel the killing intenting out from her.

    "Lynn." An old voice resonated among the chatter and everyone stood up to greet Grandma Yuan.

    "Good to see you again, Instructor Yuan!" The Demon Exorcists bowed ever so slightly and greeted at the same time. Even Jin who was not part of the group, bowed a little as well.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Grandma Yuan! It''s great to see you again." Lynn ced the teapot down and had a hug with Grandma Yuan.

    "Hahaha, I find peace in my heart that you are still well and alive after trying to go to that Synthesis World to find that fool. Be careful, at this rate, he might be like his grandfather." Yuan said and Lynn nodded her head as if to heed her advice.

    "The usual?"

    "It''s okay, the tea that you poured had some good fragrance as well. I would not mind trying it out."

    "This tea will help with your appetite for the things toe," Lynn said as she paid more attention to the pouring of tea as if there was an etiquette to observe.

    "The tea smells fantastic. As for the dinner, I hope it''s not that extravagant."

    "Don''t worry. The dishes that I prepared are of some nostalgia. Please give me some time to prepare it while you all can have your mini reunion and chat." Lynn smiled as she departed for the kitchen.

    "Where''s Ms ire?" Su Zhen asked and Grandma Yuan exined that she had some things to handle at the backend since Jin reportedly had finished the school instance. The rest of the group were delighted to hear that the school was officially done.

    "Wet your ears a little more before even thinking of bing instructors in that school." Grandma Yuan knew their desires when they heard of the school and Jin ced his phone at the centre of the table allowing the System to create a holographic image of the school instance. At this point, the table and tree top pavilion that they were sitting under had already been blocked with anti monitoring magic and charms to prevent any information from being leaked out.

    "Thisбнis more than what the organisation has requestedбн" Grandma Yuan said as she could already see that it was different from the old school instance.

    "Since you and I have to cohandle the headmaster''s responsibility due to my dear Head of Operations'' bright idea, I decided to take the liberty to change a few things and add some extra ssrooms in case of an ''overwhelming response''. It will also be a good ce to conduct talks due to the size of the auditorium, capable of holding at least a thousand people." Jin said and everyone was already wowed by the size and practical design of the area.

    "Of course, aesthetics wise, it might becking a little but since they want the submission of the first draft, this should be more than enough to cater to their needs," Jin said and Grandma Yuan eyed him. "I supposed this is meant to take more money from them?"

    "Yes, yes. There is no denying about that. And for the fact that we are going to help our dear rising Demon Exorcists team with their problem pertaining to the Vatican, I think the increased quotation for the new school instance should not pose a problem, correct?" Jin looked at them with the eyes of a businessman at work.

 Chapter 1839 Dinner With The Demon Exorcists -Part 2

    The rest of the Demon Exorcists gave a bout of bitterughter knowing that Jin would bring out on that topic sooner orter. But before they could say anything else, Otters came out as a group to fill the entire table with food.

    "Please eat, Instructor Yuan." A traditional sign of respect and courtesy from the Demon Exorcists, asking Grandma Yuan to be the first to eat. It was only when Yuan dug into her food, that the rest could finally partake.

    That was when Lein had decided to open up on the topic of the mission they had in coboration with the Vatican Exorcists. "Yes, we recently travelled to Italy as part of our overseas extermination missions which of course you would know that Big Sis Qiu Yue had given us the go ahead to explore the area."

    "You mean given us the go ahead to travel out of the country to expand our experience and knowledge." Su Zhen interrupted as it was pretty obvious that Lein was gobbling the food as if he had not eaten in days, which in turn made him not speak properly. "I will do the exnation." She said as she repeated the first sentence that Lein had started.

    "In Italy, we met up with one of the Astro Zodiac Major ns, the Gemini n in Rome for a coboration effort to fight against a particr group of demons that seem to have Eastern roots which the Western Exorcists in Gemini n wished for additional assistance in identifying their pattern of hunting."

    "Wang Liang or just as most of us called it malevolent spirits, but this particr group of demons that we were hunting were seen carrying a graveyard tome behind their back and were prone to leave the people dead with their brains partially eaten. None of these matches the European Demons that they had known of and thus asked for our assistance to find and identify where the demon had eastern origins to it." Su Zhen exined.

    "But these Wang Liang does not seem to be simple demon spirits. We managed to find one because our Ba Gua Compass was ringing like mad the moment we reached the airport. They had no idea that there was one hiding within Da Vinci International Airport Terminals." Rong added.

    "Then did you all kill it?" Jin asked and they shook their heads.

    "Mainly because our weapons are in the restricted cargo for obviously safety reasons when flying in the air so we were not equipped to fight it. Of course, we tried to use only our chi and skills to try to chase after it to kill it. Caused amotion at the airport and their airport police nearly arrested us." Su Zhen said.

    "Hah! You mean we nearly had a bullet in each of our heads before being arrested and locked up until the Gemini n representatives came to bail us out." Rong eximed.

    "Gosh, that scene was insane with all the policeing after us and we were trying to kill it to have some proof of evidence that we are doing our job. The moment his graveyard tome stone dropped on the ground because of Rong''s Ox Demon Silhouette charging attack, the Wang Liang literally ripped open a dimension and we saw dozens of them hiding inside it." Lian chimed in with her opinions as well.

    "We thought that he was trying to get more of them toe out and reinforce the area, but we were wrong. He escaped and closed the dimension tear by himself. Of course, we also tried to ensure that the dimension tear was sealed properly but the policeбн" Su Zhen sighed as it was the first time she had ever been cuffed up for doing something right.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "Then? Did you guys manage to find more of those Wang Liangs?" Jin asked and Su Zhen did not know whether to shake her head or not.

    "The Gemini n offered their resources after realising that we were able to detect one. And needless to say, we were able to find another again near Rome''s Colosseum site." Su Zhen said.

    "This time, we are equipped for the fight and there were Gemini n''s Demon Exorcists with us too. High ranking ones as well." Lein replied.

    "Is there a Diego Li Puma in the ranks of those senior exorcists?" Grandma Yuan questioned and the group nodded their heads. "That old guy is still around, eh?"

    "Instructor Yuan, you knew him?"

    "I fought alongside him briefly in the World War. The Europeans had been given the green light to help China but it was just a token force when it came to Demon Exorcists. They had their fair share of fights to partake in as well. Anyways, continue with your story."

    "Sir Diego was the one leading the team and since we told them that we saw quite a few other Wang Liangs hiding behind the dimension tear, their n was to prolong that tear and extract those Wang Liangs out of those tears in order to eliminate them."

    "He should be powerful enough to kill those Wang Liangs." Grandma Yuan said. "Unless his brain turned so senile that he is not able to cast his beloved light magic."

    "No, Instructor Yuan. Sir Diego and his fellow teammates were amazing. It is just that, those Wang Liangs did not die from those light magic. Instead, they transformбнor mutate." Su Zhen exined. "We did not know what was happening at that point in time since we were considered to be just armed scouts, tasked to search for the Wang Liangspared to the firepower the Gemini n had brought out."

    "Those Wang Liangs were no match for them but they turned into something more hideous," Lian said as she took out her phone and showed them. These demons looked exactly like men with Roman armour on them. The only difference was that the armour was grown onto them as tentacles were seen spreading out of those armour tes and it even had tes equipped too.

    "Seeing how most Demon Exorcists were mostly Mages rather than Sword Magus, we had decided to enter the fight," Lein recalled.

 Chapter 1840 Dinner with the Demon Exorcists -Part 3

    "So, I am guessing that if you all are here sulking about it, it''s a failure then?" Jin said it so bluntly that it was kind of embarrassed the four Demon Exorcists who were supposed to be the rising stars of China''s Demon Exorcist organisation.

    "Yes. And we are shameless to return to ask for help." Rong pulled his chair back and bowed towards Jin. It was as if the group knew this ''scolding'' woulde and Rong had decided to be the first to take the brunt of it.

    "Although I am technically a Demon Exorcist by title, I am not the correct helpline that you should ask for first. Get Grandma Yuan''s opinion on this instead." Jin said and they all instinctively looked at Instructor Yuan.

    "Let me have a talk with the old fellow Diego first before we decide anything else," Yuan said as she asked the System to give him a call.

    "Are you sure you that you wish to call Demon Exorcist Diego?"The System asked as it needed to break into a few systems to get this particr phone number.

    "It will be troublesome to go by the official route and it''s a waste of time. Get to it." Grandma Yuan said and the System did just that. The phone number was found and it rang consistently for a long time before he picked up.

    "Who is this?" Diego asked and Grandma Yuan spoke out first.

    "I''m not sure if you remember. Corporal Yuan of the defunct 55th Demon Exorcist Brigade. Battle of the Donghai Bridge." Grandma Yuan said and Diego kept quiet for a moment.

    "Give me a while, let me go to a more private ce to talk," Diego said as they all heard footsteps and the locking of the door. "It''s nice to hear your voice again, Yuan. Pray tell, the reason for this call?"

    "I assume you have met my students?" Yuan asked and it took Diego some time to connect the dots.

    "Those were your students? All of them?" Diego asked and Yuan''s small sound of approval gave some joy to the group in front of her. "I hope they did not give you too much of a trouble being in Rome."

    "No, never. In fact, I am grateful to them for protecting our Demon Exorcists from the encounter. I assumed they briefed you a little on the situation."

    "I had the summary of it."

    "Then, I do not have to say too much that felt impossible to write in the report."

    "So, have you identified the demons? If it is in Rome and they transformed into beings wearing Roman armour, I am believed that it''s a little more than meets the eye, correct?" Yuan asked and Diego sighed.

    "Indeed. Truthfully, if your cultivators were not there to aid us, we would have suffered more casualties than we already had. We thought based on the report they were only Wang Liangs and the dimension tear. So, I hadmandeered a few mid tier Mage Demon Exorcists for the fight, and brought a few Sword Magus as well."

    "The standard team formation if those were the only kind of demon spirits that we were dealing with. I do not me you and in fact, I am more surprised that you were part of the team as well."Yuanmented.

    "I am just an old man now, a tutor for these new Demon Exorcists. Besides, I decided to go because of the dimensional tear. After all, we do not want a repeat of what happened in your National Expo Centre I also assumed that your students were also involved in that fight, correct?" Diego said and Yuan smirked.

    "They were but they are not the ones who ultimately remove the threat. Do not give them too much credit." Yuan replied as she casually eyed at Jin when she talked about the removal of the threat.

    "Indeed, too much praise is bad for their mental growth as well." Diego agreed before continuing. "In any case, those Wang Liangs that we tried to exterminate mutated into as your students had said, undead Roman soldiers. But upon closer inspection, I suspect that we are fighting a mutated variant of Y''m-Bhi.Not only taking it had those features but it took the form of the past Roman Soldiers and diators that had fought in the area."

    "I supposed they are capable for I see there were still bruises and a few cut marks on my students despite their best attempts to hide it." Yuan said and the rest were indeed long sleeves despite the weather.

    "Indeed. Our Sword Magus were killed almost instantly. Your students gave their all in order to protect the remaining who were still breathing even though they were supposed to be here as just scouters, pin pointing to us where the Wang Liangs were at. I am d that they were the ones China had sent to aid us."

    "But that does not solve the problem that they are still there, is it not?" Yuan asked.

    "It has not, the tourist site had been sealed and a barrier had been erected. The Italian Demon Exorcist Organisation is preparing for a counterattack as we speak. I am afraid I cannot share much details to you other than this even though you were once arade of mine."

    "No, I am more concerned of another thing. Any incidents with the Banned Emperor Terrorists recently? As well as Void Beings?" Yuan finally felt that there was enough courtesy talk between them and asked the real questions.

    "No. So far, the Demon Exorcist Organisation had asked Italian intelligence as well as my contacts in the Gemini n. There are no sightings of the Banned Emperor Terrorists. As for Void Beings, I am unable to confirm its existence but precautions had been taken to ensure that if we were to encounter such beings, the ce will be evacuated for a serious fight." Diego replied and said that he got to go.

    But Yuan stopped him.

 Chapter 1841 Dinner With The Demon Exorcists -Part 4

    "If I may, Sir Diego. Just onest request." Yuan asked and Diego held the phone for a while longer than he should have.

    "Let the Chinese Demon Exorcists go in for round two. This time, the same students as well as their senior."

    "You will being into the field?" Diego asked and Yuanughed.

    "No, but a fellow stubborn apprentice of mine."

    "Even if I can approve it, he will not be around for the fight for we are going in soon by midnight," Diego said and Yuanughed.

    "By midnight? If I am not wrong, the time difference is 6 hours. So, right now it''s about 2 pm at your ce. They would arrive there by midnight, at most they wille to the party a littlete, that''s all."

    "Hmm. I would not deny that if your students are around, it would make things simpler since our sword magus is not as strong as your cultivators in terms of meleebat." Diego talked to himself even while on the phone.

    "Do you really need to get approval, when you are the Head of the Italian Demon Exorcist Organisation?" Yuan asked and Diego chuckled a little.

    "We are not doing this alone. The Vatican has volunteered to help since they are around the corner. And it so happened that one of the Sword Magus that had been severely injured was one of the Vatican Elite''s younger brothers. So, it might be a littleplicated to get approval."

    "All I am saying is that if there is a mutation of the demon spirits, the chances of a Void Being is high even if it is not induced by any Banned Emperor Terrorists. My people had fought against a Void Being and lived to tell the tale. The only difference is that we cannot reveal the strength of that Void Being and the details of it. Since the fight had been ssified as a State Secret."

    "I see. Fine, I will do what I can. You give me the name of that particr apprentice of yours as the rest still have their Visas valid." Diego said and Yuan smiled. "At the very most, they would be ced on standby or reserves since both of us cannot guarantee that they will arrive at the operation site when we start the fight."

    "That is more than sufficient. I just do not want to see any more capable Demon Exorcists lose their lives because they were not prepared for the unexpected situations." Yuanmented and Diego knew that feeling all too well.

    "I understand. I will pass you my email address soon." Diego hung up the phone and the matter had been settled.

    "I will get Milk to heal all of your wounds. Have a good meal for now." Jin said as he started eating and guessed that the school instance was not of a priority to Grandma Yuan at the moment as the rest were telling more detailed experiences to her.

    It was only Su Zhen who asked Jin if she could have a spar with him once more before they went to Italy.

    "What makes you think that we will be involved in any fight?" Jin asked and Su Zhen shook her head. The presence I felt when I was fighting against those variant Y''m-Bhi, I could not shake the feeling that there was a Void Being around.

    "Before we continue our talk, what the heck is that thing that you pronounce and how you spell it?" Jin asked as he had no idea what the Demon was.

    "They are like a mixture, an abomination of creature and human fused together. But the thing is that they are dead so any feelings like pain or loss of a limb do not bother them at all. So, they can fight until they are not capable of moving. The difference between the usual one and the Y''m-Bhi that we saw, it felt like it had been imbued with monster parts and had the intellect of a veteran soldier. It was as if a lost vengeful soul had been hosted by the body."

    "They are able to use magic arts, something that normal Y''m-Bhi are not supposed to and their strength is monstrous." Lian chimed in as Lein and Rong were so engrossed in telling Grandma Yuan their exploits.

    "How are they not just undead? Why give a fanciful name?"

    "We are not sure as well, they were given that name by Sir Diego. Honestly, calling them undead is easier than making my tongue roll so much duringbat."

    "Then shall we just call them undead when we encounter them?" Jin said and Lian gave him a hi-5

    "How can both of you be so uncultured?" Su Zhen had no idea how this conversation could happen.

    "But are they really that strong that even you Su Zhen are not able to fight against them properly?" Jin asked and Su Zhen reluctantly nodded her head.

    "My dual inscription charm seems to be at its limit too and I did not wish to rely on it too much."

    "We can always make new ones for you though," Jin said and Su Zhen shook her head. "That''s borrowed power. I want to use my own powers to kill it."

    "If you put it that way, almost all of my powers are borrowed too and if I just rely solely on my own strength, I would not be here, standing where I am," Jin said and Su Zhen smiled a little, hearing it. "In any case, if all of you are already contracted employees of the System, then I guess the System has footage of them fighting, correct?"

    "Yes, User."

    "Alright, then you guys continue to talk to Grandma Yuan first while you give me a while to analyse the monsters if possible."

    "Then what about our sparring bout?"

    "Save your energy, Su Zhen. Rest for the moment and enjoy thepany of your friends." Jin replied as if he was giving precious advice. "Oh and stay there, yeah? Lynn is bringing in her desserts soon too."

    After which, Jin left for the Dungeon Maker.

 Chapter 1842 Dinner with The Demon Exorcists -Part 5

    "Ew, they are really ugly," Jin said as he saw the yback from the Demon Exorcists'' fight. Some of them had extra hands and their bodies were not proportionately symmetrical at all. Even those extra hands had variations, some wererge and a few were smaller. However, this made them to be more deadly when they were growing and carrying metal des and tower shields to protect themselves.

    What''s more, was that he had noticed something odd whenever they hit one of the mutated undead warriors. (He was not willing to call them Y''m-Bhi at all) The rest who were defending themselves or attacking the Demon Exorcists seem to have various effects being bestowed on them. Some were growing an extra tentacle, a few were repairing their bodies while some had their strength doubled.

    It was as if the wounding of these mutated undead warriors actually caused them to be stronger. So Jin asked the System to try and spot if there were any instances where two Mutated Undead Warriors were injured at the same time.

    Eventually, they found a frame based on Su Zhen''s perspective as she injured two of the Mutated Undead Warriors at the same time and the one in front of her grew strong enough to not just deflect her attack but nearly mortally wounded her as well if not for Su Zhen''s quick wit to used the summons of the two lesser white snakes that she previously used to attack the enemies as a buffer against the one that was aiming at her.

    Those two lesser snake summons were annihted almost immediately and it was like a joke to them.

    "No wonder they said they were all too powerful. Each time you injure one of them, the others would have a variation of boosts from a simple pure significant raw power boost to recovery abilities."

    "So, the option is to kill all of them at the same time?" The System queried even though it had already derived its own deduction to the particr problem as well.

    "Not really. They are still healing and not fully regenerate in an instant. They still have some room for errors." Jin said as he reyed the clip a few times."Let me call out someone as well to view the clip."

    And suddenly the entire Dungeon Maker felt as if it had an earthquake when Jin knew that it was the monster, he had summoned that came in.

    "You called Master?" The Void Being Farasha pped his butterfly wings.

    "Do you think this is the work of a Void Being?" Jin asked as he erged the screen and swiped it upwards so that the digital screen would be at eye level of Farasha for him to see.

    "Eh. It is bloody obvious to me who is doing this." Farasha said.

    "So, it''s really a Void Being''s work?"

    "Yes, and it''s a high level Void Being like me. Just that he is more annoying to deal with."

    "How so? Can''t I just st Void Energy against it?"

    "Urgh, if everything is that simple. The Void ne would be a more peaceful ce than you could ever imagine." Farasha said as he yawned a little and stretched his butterfly wings, causing some void energy to flutter within the room.

    At that point, Jin closed his eyes and tried to remember how to absorb the Void Energy in. Surprisingly to him, they moved in rather fast and he was able to have control of the remnants of Void Energy that Farasha had emitted.

    "Looks like you still have not lost your touch in handling the void energy," Farasha said.

    "And here you are, testing me to see if I lost the touch or not. Thinking of getting out from this ce, if I ever lost that ability?"

    "Perhaps, but not now. Maybe when you get more Void Beings under yourmand then we will see if is it worthy to stage a rebellion. But for now, I amfortable where I am."

    ''Anyways, who is he? You have yet to describe or tell me his name."

    "Even if you know his name, it''s not as if you can go search on the inte about him."

    "Ehhh.. true that. But maybe his name might have some significance. Besides, if he is using Roman attire and stuff. There must be some rtion to the ancient Roman Empire."

    "Spartakus"

    "Hahaбнwhatбн You must be kidding me." Jin quickly took the keyboard to the console and typed Spartacus instead. "This guy?"

    "Huh. No wonder he carries a mask with him everywhere he goes, that''s the face of his mask." Farasha said.

    "Wait. Mask?" Jin asked the System to yback the fight between the Demon Exorcists and the Mutated Undead Warriors. They were all indeed wearing a bronze human shaped mask that had a simr face design as Spartacus himself."

    "So we are fighting with a Void Being with a possible Roman warrior origin where he can create more of these Mutated Undead Warriors."

    "Those numbers? They were like a hair dropping from his head. He definitely can summon thousands out if he really feels like it. Keyword. Feels like it. His might is based on quantity rather than quality. I am bnced." Farasha remarked. "But if you pit me against him, I probably need to give more than what I have to fight against him."

    "Does that mean Rome is in danger? That''s the more pertinent question."

    "It depends if they harassed him enough."

    "From what I can see, it seems like some of those evil spirits had managed to find a dimension tear in that area and had been messing around time and space a little more than they should. When they did that, they probably absorbed some void energy as well which allowed them to manipte the dimension tear to where they want to."

    "It just so happened that the void energy mutated the spirits into something worse, something of Spartakus''s minion. I will say that as long as they only kill those Mutated Undead Warriors, then perhaps there should not be a problemбн"

    "Howeverбн" Farasha was not sure whether to tell Jin or not the further warning.

 Chapter 1843 Dinner With The Demon Exorcists -Final

    "However, what? It is unlike you to pause and mutter" Jin said

    "It''s still a little bit of a tricky situation." Farasha scratched a head a little. "This is because you are going to fight in that ce right? Well, in the Void ne, Spartakus lived in exactly that particr ce. Even the design was absolutely simr, maybe less broken down."

    "What does that mean?"

    "I did tell you how the Void ne is like a parallel world to your world. So, I am saying that the likelihood that those Demon Exorcists are fighting at his doorstep is certainly high. And that really depends on his mood and whether he wishes toe out and remove those rascals. Of course, if they were mere low life, Spartakus probably would not give a shit about them."

    "So, it''s either we see the Demon Exorcists dead and kill the Mutated Undead Warriors outside of the Colosseum or they fight so evenly and boring long that the supposed void master of that ce does not give a shit about them?"

    "Something like that." Farasha nodded his head slowly.

    "Ew, that sucks. And I will be pulled into the fight too. Can I just take a ne now and make an excuse that we arete?" Jin asked the System but it had noments in rtion to that.

    "Personally, the System would not wish to be involved in this. Angering a Void Being of that kind of strength would only make things worse. If a few extradeaths could prevent a catastrophe from happening to the region, the System would prefer that to happen."

    "Farasha agrees to it. No matter how I see it, I cannot deem humans as important. But if you make me want to care about it, that''s the way I will do things."

    "I should have just asked Grandma Yuan out today and not those four kids." Jin shook his head and felt that he had regretted his actions already.

    "Welp, you can still stop them or let them die. After all, they are your employees. They will revive again with lots of pain on them. It''s a lesson but nheless, it would be a problem for you." Farasha said which made Jin sigh even more.

    "If it was just me, I probably think the same as you. But Lynn will definitely judge me for not saving lives. Besides, it''s not as if Spartakus was doing anything stupid like what Farasha did. They were ying on his turf and if they were disturbing him, he had all the right to kill them."

    "You are assuming they knew about it. Right now only you and the System have such privy information. You can ignore it or watch through their deaths. Besides, that old guy is already at his limits too judging from the video."

    "You mean Diego?"

    "Yes, even though this is just a video, I can already sense he is not going to live long anymore," Farasha remarked. "So, if he passed away from this, it is part of his active duty to his country. He should be proud of it."

    "What a twisted way to see thingsбн Anyways, thanks. Perhaps they might be able to strike a bnce and get out of this alive."

    "I am hoping that as well. Otherwise, I will prepare myself in the event that I need to be summoned to fight Spartakus." Farasha said as a portal appeared right below him and he dropped into it.

    "Oh man, this is a big headache indeed," Jin said as he asked how many resurrection materials the System had or could buy.

    "It''s useless. Those that were killed or massively infected by the void energy would not be able to return to this world." The System stated and Jin sighed once more.

    "Fine. Let''s get going then." Jin stood up from his chair and with a quick portal to Amber Arbour, Jin already saw Milk was there yawning away healing the group of Demon Exorcists.

    "Alright, all done. You may go now." Milk said before she slowly walked to Amber Arbour''s kitchen, definitely to go in to steal some sweet desserts.

    "Are you sure we are not able to have that sparring opportunity?" Su Zhen asked and Jin looked at Grandma Yuan.

    "On second thoughts, can they don''te? They might be in the way." Jin purposely said something so blunt. "If they already had trouble fighting those бнabominations, it''s not like round two is going to help when all you had is a day''s worth of rest."

    "Very well. I was hoping that they bring you there because they are a familiar face with the Italian Demon Exorcists. With them there, you would have an easier time blending in."

    "Why would I need that? I''m just there to observe the fight which they should be capable of since they fought it once already. It''s not like if I help them actively, they will recognise me and perhaps I can open an overseas store in Italyбн" At that point, Jin bber stopped and turned silent for a moment. "You want Diego or the Italian Demon Exorcists to owe us a favour?"

    "Might be helpful for the school, might be helpful in getting an overseas store. Who knows?Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Grandma Yuan can only help in these aspects since she is not as nimble as she used to be. But tough? That''s another question entirely.

    "No. It''s okay. I will go myself. Let the rest stay."

    "However!" Lein wanted to make an objection but eventually stopped himself.

    "I know that I am treating you all like kids right now and that you all deserve to be out there fighting more of these to gain experience. But after analysing the point of view videos from all four of you are currently incapable of fighting these monsters. Don''t make my job even more difficult." Jin said as he checked and made sure that everything was with him.

    Maybe it was a habit from the Synthesis World, but he made sure he ced a fully loaded pistol in the holster on his chest and ced an invisible inscription charm on it. Meanwhile, his Bam and Boo was finally back with him as well and ready to rock and roll.

 Chapter 1844 Do Not Let Them Come

    Chapter 1844 Do Not Let Them Come

    "System, do not let theme. NO matter what." Jin said once more and whatever he said this time was final. He was not going to entertain any ''Let me prove myself! Kind of bullshit.''

    And obviously, that really happened as Lein and Su Zhen came forward asking to aid Jin in his endeavour against the Mutated Undead Warrior. Grandma Yuan even asked Jin not to be stubborn as she was not in the position tomand him despite the amount of scolding and punishment she gave Jin for not being responsible enough.

    "We promise to not be in your way. Besides, the Italian Exorcists know about us. If you were there alone, then they might think you are somebody with evil intentions." Su Zhen begged to go to prove her worth once more. He did not see her be so determined aspared to thest time he saw her.

    "Can''t I just use my Demon Exorcist badge?" Jin asked as he looked at his Living Metal storage watch and had so many feelings for it. (He finally has instant ess to an almost infinite storagepared to Virtual Reality.)

    "You can, but it might be easier if you have someone they knew. Especially during operations like this, they would be stricter to the people who have ess." Lian said as she and Rong continued to sit down to look at themotion. She was not going to risk her life unnecessarily to fight against those Y''m-Bhi without knowing more about them.

    "So, in short, I just need to bring one Demon Exorcist with me to follow me?"

    "Yeah, kind of," Lian replied back and then she thought she was seeing things. Jin was pointing at her, causing her to be stunned for a moment. "Wait, what?"

    "Yes, you. Lian, let''s go. We don''t have enough time. You have all your gear in your storage ring, right? The rest will stay. None of them are going with me except for her." Jin eximed and everyone was confused by the situation.

    "Look, They can go in my stead, I am иC I do not have the same offensive capabilities as them."

    "Either you areing with me, or none goes with me. Make up your mind. Time is wasted. 5,4,3" Jin looked at his storage watch and Lian felt that this is a disservice to the rest of the Demon Exorcists if she were to stay. Hence, she took the napkin beside her to wipe her mouth and drank the entire ss of tea in one gulp.

    "This is ridiculous. Why me?" Lian said as she took out her gloves that acted as w weapons. It is like those Y-MEN where they could get Gallium ws out of their hands but Lian was using gloves with retractable w des as her weapon of choice. This is also because at the bottom of her wrist was a retracted de which is useful for sneak attacks or even ambush fights where the ws were broken or she needed something to augment her fighting style.

    The portal opened and Lian checked her floral dress and asked if she needed to change into something of a more neutral colour as this was the onlyst excuse she could make up on the spot. "Don''t worry about that." Jin ced his hand on her shoulders and suddenly she felt a bit of a tingling sensation of chi flowing through her, causing her floral dress to literally turn all white. "It''s a tinge of created wood bleach but without it being itchy to your skin or anything. Now. Let''s. Go."

    Jin said as he grabbed Lian''s gloves and went into the portal, shutting it before anybody else could go through. Even Lein who tried to put his hand in had been forcefully rejected by the portal. Su Zhen felt terrible that she was not allowed to go back and she was experiencing it worse than Lein''s rejection of the portal.

    "Instructor Yuan, why?" Su Zhen asked and Yuan could only shake her head.

    "Sometimes, being overzealous might make things moreplicated. Jin recognised that you were agitated to prove yourself and so did Lein. He must have a reason why he needed a coolheaded assistant rather than someone who wants to make things right instead." Yuan said and told the two to sit down. "And since he had already rejected you, sit down and drink some tea to cool yourselves down. System, get Lynn or the Otters to bring us some calming tea."

    "I don''t need it," Rong said and Yuan scoffed a little.

    When Jin and Lian went to the other side of the world in less than a second, they emerged near an alley and gged a taxi down. "Sir, I would like to inform you that the Colosseum is currently closed."

    "The whole Colosseum? Then why did Ie to Rome?" Jin acted as if he were a frustrated tourist

    "I do not know, but the news stated along the lines of possible weakness to the building that might need some time to fix. It is old after all. Are you sure, you want to go there?" The taxi driver asked.

    "Yeah, taking pictures from outside. Better than nothing!" Jin suddenly said in his terribly tranted English when he knew that the System could probably fix that ent, grammar, and tone in an instant. Lian knew he was ying a fool when clearly he spoke fluent English for the previous line.

    "Sigh. Why did I even suggest that? Should have kept my mouth shut as Rong did."

    "Too bad, you are already here," Jin spoke to Lian from the System Channel.

    "Besides, why are we here so early? Isn''t the operation tonight?" Lian questioned and Jin continued to look outside the window.

    "Since we alreadye all the way here, let''s do some sightseeing around the Colosseum." Jin turned to smile at Lian but to her, it felt that smile had many hidden meanings.

 Chapter 1845 Colosseum Surveillance

    Chapter 1845 Colosseum Surveince

    "When you said sightseeing, you meantбн this?" Lian was speechless when Jin was standing on the rooftops of the buildings from a street away from the Colosseum. They were not exactly hiding as they sat near the stairs which allowed them to be at the rooftop.

    "Why? This is also a view of the Colosseum." Jin said as he turned Bam and Boo into a fan to cool himself down.

    "If we are here for too long, the Demon Exorcists and other officials woulde and question us! Not to mention, we are here by portal! Not through official means! My passport is not with me at all!" Lian was frantic and Jin had fun seeing her being in such a mess.

    "You worry too much," Jin said as he took the fan and threw it forward. Before it could really be thrown further than a metre away, it hit something transparent and dropped. There was actually a barrier that surrounded Jin and Lian and it prevented them from being seen.

    "бнYou could have told me earlier that you have erected a barrier."

    "If a skilled Demon Exorcist like you could not feel the barrier then it means that my barrier works, right?" Jin smiled as he yawned a little while using his Maqi to grab back the dropped fan.

    "We could have rented a room or something."

    "You already said we do not have approved passports. How do we even rent a room? And besides, you want to rent a room with me?" Jin asked which made Lian blush a little.

    "What do you even mean? Don''t you already have Lynn? I have nothing to offer you aspared to Lynn!" Lian wanted to shout but realised that they were in a barrier and it was best not to make too much noise.

    "And yet, we are more intimate than ever being in this barrier." Jin joked as Lian decided to keep quiet and asked whether Jin had a pair of binocrs with him. He quickly took out one out so that she would be upied for the moment. At the same time, Jin summoned the most efficient pairs of eyes he could ever ask for. "Que Er. Looks like I need your expertise once more."

    As Jin said her name, she emerged right in front of the two cultivators and bowed towards Jin. "Master, it''s been a very long time. I am grateful to still be of service to you."

    "You think I will ask the Night Foxes?"

    "Sadly, that was my sentiment as their intelligence gathering skills are definitely better than mine by a lot." Que Er said and Jin smiled.

    "I will not deny that but right now this is a more delicate situation where your magpies and the control of other birds would prove to be a safer option than those reckless foxes," Jin said as he tried to butter her up with some sweet words. "Besides, since when have you disappointed me?"

    Que Er smiled as she bowed once again and with that, emerged a variety of birds from behind her. They were already moving to optimal locations to ensure that the entire area were under her surveince.

    "May I ask what are you looking for?" Que Er asked and Jin was very direct.

    "Demon Exorcists and possible Banned Emperor Terrorists."

    "Possible Terrorists? That is practically everyone in the area." Que Er said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Check the sewers as well if your birds can do that," Jin said as he deposited a huge sum of System points into Que Er''s ount even before the task had officially started. She was undoubtedly startled by the amount and realised that he was not joking when he asked to monitor every single movement. "The System will aid your birds too but do not tire them out. We need to do it until midnight."

    "If I had known that''s the case, I should have eaten more just now," Lian grumbled as she found that using the binocrs to look at things was a lost cause if those birds were going to be doing her job for her.

    "As the Nine Tailed Fox Demon, I believed that you should be quite capable of sensing cultivators?" Jin asked and Lian did not dare to answer that question. "I will take it as a yes." Jin took out an inscription charm that had the word amplify on it and passed it to Lian.

    "I need you to be a wide range sensor. Monitor not just the area but the movement of general chi around the area. It does not matter if the emission is low. Just capture the signal and let the System do the analysis. All you have to do is to make sure you catch everything. Use the Que Er''s birds as a proxy to sense things too."

    "That will take a lot of chi even if I am sensing them at a very low rate of interval. I assume you want me to do this until midnight? I do not think I can handle that." Lian was more than just regretting that she hade for this trip.

    "Enough with the excuses. You are a talented Demon Exorcist and make use of that talent properly. I will provide you with chi as well. Digest it properly and then emit it out slowly. Jin said as he ced his hand once again on her shoulders and she could feel the difference in power and intensity whenpared to her chi.

    Lian knew there would be a difference but she never expected it to be that much of a big difference. It was as if she was standing right in front of a skyscraper. That was why even with just a small push of chi from Jin, Lian finally understood what he meant to digest it properly and put out the chi slowly and carefully. In a way, it was a type of training for her as well while she was on this mission.

    As much as she hated toe alone, Lian realised that this might be an opportunity for her to grow and perhaps even catch up to the standards of Lein and Su Zhen if she was able to grasp this training properly. This would definitely be a long day for her.

 Chapter 1846 Demon Exorcists Gathering

    Chapter 1846 Demon Exorcists Gathering

    It was near midnight and there was no sign of any strange activities other than the gathering of the Demon Exorcists who were in their inclothes. The Vatican Elite Guards were more obvious since they came donning in with their heavybat armour and it was simr to the Roman Soldiers that Jin had seen. The difference was that while the design was identical, he was very sure that they were more technologically advanced to protect them from just simple sword strikes and piercing arrows.

    However, by the time the Vatican Elite Guards came, there was nearly no one in the vicinity except for a construction team who had put up warning signs and lights which Jin believed it was apany being bought to put up the cover of doing maintenance in the night.

    At the same time, the senior Demon Exorcists who came were also armed to the teeth with a number of them donning priests'' clothes with simple chest armour and modern pieces of gauntlets and knee pads. Obviously, their main protection was their clothes which Jin could discern that they were at least a high grade.

    "Are we not going to say hi?" Lian asked and Jin shook his head as the birds had been positioned well enough to have the whole colosseum under their surveince.

    "We are going to stay put here until the thing dies down. Let the team of Italian Demon Exorcists handle to entire fiasco." Jin said as he suddenly received a phone call. It was obviously an Italian number based on the phone code which the System stated it wasing from the Head Exorcist Diego La Pluma. "Hello?" Jin called and the voice sounded weary.

    "Is this the number for the Demon Exorcist Xie Jin?" Diego asked.

    "Yes, speaking. Are you the Demon Exorcist that I had to report to?" Jin pretended to question and it was on loudspeaker so that Lian could hear the conversation as well.

    "Indeed. I am the Head of the Demon Exorcist Organisation in Italy. If you are able to pick this up, can I assume that you havended safely in Rome?" Diego questioned as he knew it was going to be time for the operation.

    "Yes, I just arrived not too long ago." The System immediately gave corresponding flight times for Jin to check and thankfully there was one that hadnded from China at 11.30 pm. It gave him the perfect excuse that he needed time to reach the operation site.

    "Excellent. However, as I assumed your teacher, Yuan had exined to you that we might be starting ahead without the support of the Chinese Demon Exorcists." Diego wished not to have manyplications with overseas Demon Exorcists organisations if it was possible. After all, he was the head and needed to think for political reasons.

    "Yes, I did and had known theplications upon arrival. I will try to reach there as fast as I can but if the operation ispleted by then, I will just stay for the night before I return to China."

    "Thank you for understanding. The most I can do is to ensure your flight can be partially reimbursed to you from our organisations given that you were being asked to fly from one area to another at the shortest possible time."

    "Yes, that would be appreciated. Though, a full reimbursement might be a better alternative." Jin tried to joke and Diego didugh along with him.

    "I see what I can do."

    "All the best for the operation," Jin said and the both of them ended the call. "Guess, I did not need you after all. All those liesssss of needing you guys."Jin said as he poked Lian at her arm and she could not be bothered to reply. The weariness from the sensor skill had started to kick in despite Jin''s consistent push of Maqi into her.

    "Still no extraordinary signs of chi or manaing from anywhere. Everyone that is going to fight is being concentrated in the Colosseum. No outliers or guards being posted anywhere except for the cover uppany that were putting up sound barriers and a few light posts to demarcate a bigger radius of no entry" Lian reported as she asked if she could stop the sensor skill since the operation was about to begin.

    "No. Continue at it. Continue until the entire operation ends. Also, if there is a sudden change in the situation, continue to monitor even if I leave this area to help them out." Jin stated.

    "In short, I am not going to move with you when the shit hits the fan?" the Nine Tailed Demon Cultivator asked and he nodded seriously.

    "Any signs of the Banned Emperor Terrorists, tell the System. It will know what to do with I am busy."

    "No wonder you did not want Su Zhen or Lein toe with you. If you issue such orders to them, they will break them no matter what." Lian sighed as she continued to keep the sensor skill''s output chi energy as stable as possible.

    "Because they have the ''Hero'' attribute in them. At one time, or maybe even now I still feel like I have that in me. However, as I grow with this System and went through so much shit with it. I understand that there are some things that the best action is no action.

    "The System believed that is a good philosophy that the User should adhere to. However, up till now, you had been intervening in so many things that for you to preach such a phrase is considered to be hypocritical." The System spoke out and it caused Lian to burst intoughter.

    "Damn System, I thought you had my back on this," Jin said and Lian tried to hold in herughter.

    "However, the System did deem that the User''s actions this round to be of the right choice. That is why the System supported the User despite consistent demands from Grandma Yuan to get the other three toe here as well."

    "Good. Keep them there."

 Chapter 1847 If They Are Desperate

    Chapter 1847 If They Are Desperate

    "If they are desperate enough, they will take a flight here themselves," Jin added and the System did say that there were attempts to do so but the flights were all full. Even if they tried to be on the waiting list, it would only be possible to take maybe one or at most two of the Demon Exorcists to fly back into Italy.

    At that point, when they are finishing up their conversation, it was about five minutes before midnight. Thus within the anti sound, anti visual barrier on top of the roof, Jin had made sure that the visualsing from the birds were clear enough to see the entire battle at hand.

    True enough, the Demon Exorcist Mages had already taken positions around the Colosseum, preparing trap formations as well as precasting spells so that they could use offensive lethal spells at the tip of their tongues.

    At the same time, the Vatican Elite Guards had buffed themselves with the aid of the Demon Exorcist Mages as they were already in formation from the supposed petrification spell that Diego had cast previously. The supposed dimensional tear was also showing signs of breakage since what Diego did before they escaped the area was a temporary fix. Mages had consistently returned to the site to reinforce not only the dimensional tear but also the recasting of the petrification spell that Diego had done.

    Since it was effective, they continued to do so while monitoring the situation until they were able to gather a force strong enough to defeat all of them in one swoop. Thus, that force had indeed been assembled and it would start its attack as soon as the clock strikes 12.

    бнOr so they thought.

    Even though they had purposely extended the duration of the petrification spell and prolonged the fix on the dimensional tear, there were already signs of simultaneous breakage from both the spell and the tear. It was as if Diego had chosen the correct timing to handle these monsters.

    "Why did the mages not kill them when they had been petrified?" Jin asked Lian as that was one thing he did not get. "It''s not like they cannot cover the walls of the Colosseum and st it with one big explosion."

    "I think it''s precisely because this is the Colosseum which is why they did not dare to do any extensively damaging spells. Imagine the cost it will incur on tourism. The main media will scrutinise the incident and the public would want answers."

    "But it is not as if the Demon Exorcists is some kind of secret organisation. They are recognised." Jin said as the petrification spells finally broke and the Y''m-Bhi also known as Mutated Undead Warriors by Jin and Lian was active once more.

    "All the more, the credibility of their actions will need to be justified since this is an ancient monument of the past that''s filled with a loreful of history. Pardon the pun." Lian smirked a little when she replied. "Imagine the headlines. Demon Exorcists destroyed Colosseum in a bid to destroy monsters rted to the unknown cases of serial killing."

    "I will dig that." Jin smiled. After all, those ces of relics can be repaired if they really want to. They ARE mages. Not like us cultivators who could only hold most offensive tricks under their sleeves."

    "Anyways,It looks like the Vatican Elites are making short work of the group. They will probably make sure the dimensional tear is fixed as well." Lian said as she could also gauge the powers of those Vatican Elite Guards through her sensor skill and she noticed that they were not even near Jin''s level as well. "By the way, can I ask what''s your cultivation grade?" Lian felt that this question had been bugging her the entire day.

    "Are you sure you would not be distracted if I told you the answer?" Jin queried.

    "Yeah duh. I probably be shocked for a moment and then return to work." Lian replied and if Jin said if he was Grade 20, she would probably believe him as well.

    "Ehhh Grade 4," Jin said so casually that Lian felt that it was a joke.

    "Yeah, right. Come on. It is not like you really need to hide your cultivation even from your бнerm employees?" Lian asked and Jin smiled.

    "Ask the System. I am Grade 4, am I not?"

    "Yes, the System had noted that Jin is a Grade 4 Cultivator."

    "Well, he WAS a Grade 4 Cultivator. What''s his grade now?" Lian asked once more as she could not believe that even the System had decided to y along with the joke.

    "The System had no reasons to lie." The System reported and Jin even said that he was willing to take the heaven''s oath right in front of her if she did not believe it.

    "Noбн fucking way." Lian could not wrap her head around it. "You are a Grade 4 Cultivator?? Then what have I been doing with my cultivation if your chi and power intensity are so much different from mine." Lian mumbled to herself.

    "Like I said, don''t get distracted. I can swear to you an oathter when we are done with this if you really really want to know that I am not lying." Jin stated as he watched how the Mutated Undead Warriors were doing the very same thing that Jin had seen in his Demon Exorcists'' point of view video.

    "Even the Vatican Elites could not recognise the patterns? It did not make me feel like there''s much brain in their actions." Jin shook his head in dismay. Eventually, the Guards felt that killing one at a time was the solution they hade up with. The causalities were numerous and it was to the point where the Mutated Undead Warriors started to aim for the Demon Exorcist Mages who were at the Colosseum stands.

    Some of the Demon Exorcist Sword Magus were able to intercept them but their strength was nothingpared to the might of a Vatican Elite. So all they could do was to keep it at bay.

    "It''s going to be a long night," Jin grumbled.

 Chapter 1848 Understanding The Risks

    Chapter 1848 Understanding The Risks

    The cycle continued. The Sword Magus got injured or killed protecting the Mages who have stronger firepower but extremely long chant times. The Vatican Elite Guard would then swoop in whenever possible to finish off whatever the Mages had done or when the Mutated Undead Warriors were distracted. Else, the casualty rates for the Demon Exorcists Mages were fairly low thanks to the aid of the Sword Magus and Vatican Elite Guards. (And yes, the Sword Magus had the highest death toll count in this particr operation.)

    Diego could not bear to see those younglings losing their lives over just like this but such is the work and risk of a Demon Exorcist. That was why he and a few others were responsible for keeping those Demon Exorcist Sword Magus and Mages alive whenever possible. They concentrated their healing arts to make sure they were at least still breathing and the emergency medical team would take over from there.

    So, as the numbers dwindled for the Mutated Undead Warriors, the battlefield was also getting smaller with the withdrawal of injured Exorcists within the area. Lian was forced to watch a losing battle of attrition along with Jin when she bloody well knew that he could change the course of the fight if he were to step in.

    "Why?" Lian asked.

    "Why what?" Jin knew that she finally had enough to ask the most pertinent question for the entire operation.

    "Why are you not helping them? Even by taxi standards, the Jin from the Airport would have already reached the Colosseum to aid them." Lian asked with a hypothetical scenario.

    "Because that particr Jin was stupid and got scammed by a taxi driver. He is now stranded in nowhere. With no proper inte, he cannot find his way to the Colosseum." Jin replied.

    "Then what about Lian who was with him?" She continued with that absurd hypothetical scenario that Jin spoke of even though she was starting to boil from the inside.

    "That Lian felt that Jin was ipetent and attempted to call for a taxi. However, that Jin does not wish for that to happen, and thus karate chopped her so that she fainted on the spot. He might have identally hit her a little too hard."

    "Does that Jin n to find a taxi andter help the Italian Demon Exorcists?"

    "By hitting too hard, police saw him in action and arrested him. He is being held in an Italian Police Station lockout for assaulting ady. There is no way that Jin can help at all."

    "бн get straight to the point. Why are you not helping them? There must be a reason else you would have easily picked Su Zhen and Lein to do all the fighting and you wait for the final boss to appear."

    "It is exactly why I do not want the final boss to appear and that''s why I did not pick Su Zhen and Lein toe with me. Instead, I brought Lian who is cool headed and knows how to read the situation more than Su Zhen. She gave herself too little creditpared to what Su Zhen had been getting. Do you think either Lein or Su Zhen is able to do what you are doing right now? I bet you that in less than half an hour, they would already have fainted. But you?"

    "You had been doing this for more than 8 hours straight consecutively and yet only now that you are feeling the pinch. Granted you had my chi to thank for as well, but do you think they have the patience and tolerance like you do?"

    "Stop patronising me," Lian said as she cooled down and recollected whatever Jin had said. "Do you mean that Su Zhen or Lein''s interference might cause the big final boss to appear? And by us not taking any action, it will reduce that threat significantly?"

    "Yes."

    "So you have some idea who the Final Boss will be?"Lian finally analysed what Jin had said and asked him directly.

    "Yes."

    "бнAnd he is someone you cannot defeat?"

    "No. Well, maybe."

    "But by allowing him to exist, something more hideous than losing a few Demon Exorcists would happen?"

    "Yes."

    "And that is why inaction is a better action than rushing in to aid them?"

    "Yes. I am d you are starting to get it."

    "Then, why did you not tell me in the first ce? Is all this surveince just a waste of my chi, effort, and time?"

    "No. It is vital. If you are not around, either I do it, or through the proxy of Que Er, I will make her do it," Jin remarked.

    "Now I get it vaguely why you did not allow Lein and Su Zhen toe. Well, if my senior said that the final boss is extremely bad news, then I would keep it that way. Besides, they are paid to risk their lives and know the consequences of failing."

    "Thank you for understanding," Jin replied as he too was a little frustrated that there were quite a number of deaths just from this fight alone. Thus, he finally decided to give Diego a call. If he were to pick upбн

    "Jin?" Diego answered.

    "Listen. Listen closely. Those Y''m-bhi urgh Mutated Undead Warriors. Each time you injure one of them, the rest will get buffed. Either by regeneration or by increasing their defensive and offensive capabilities. What you did previously to kill one by one is a good method. However, each time you men wound one of the warriors, even with concentrating your manpower on one Y''m-Bhi will prove to be a difficult match."

    "So, I am suggesting that you all defend from all of the Undead Warriors and truly focus on just one monster. This will help with the elimination even faster."Jin said.

    "Then where are you? Why are you not here to help?"

    "It''sбнbest that I keep a distance away from all of you," Jin replied and ended the call. He hoped that this would increase their odds of survival a little more.

 Chapter 1849 Si, Signore

    Chapter 1849 Si, Signore

    Diego did not know why Jin was not there to aid them. Given the person who had been rmended by Leader Yuan was supposed to be more than capable of clearing this entire mess, he instead decided to give them advice on how to eliminate the threat.

    Regardless, Diego immediately ryed the information Jin had given him to the rest of the group and they managed to regroup and follow Diego''stest intel to fight against the Y''m-Bhi. Soon, they realised that what he said was true. The fight became easier and they eventually managed to have total battlefield control of the area.

    This even gave Sir Diego some time to put up a proper fix to the dimension tear. While some of the Vatican Guards asked if this was the right decision since some of the Wang Liangs were in there as well. It would have been better to lure them all out and kill them.

    However, Sir Diego refused the Vatican Elite''s call to arms and told them to focus on the bigger picture where most of them were severely injured, tired and some never toe back again. The Guards eventually understood and aided to help clear the battlefield. Various vans came in and because it was a cover up operation, the constructionpany that was employed by the Demon Exorcists organisation also assisted by providing transportation to the nearest hospital.

    "They are packing up now, do you still want the sensors to be up?" Lian was feeling the fatigue biting into her bones already but Jin did not wish for it to stop.

    "Lower the interval rate but continue for at least one more hour or two then we will call it a day," Jin said and she understood the objective and continued while Jin took out some instant coffee from his storage watch. He made hot the coffee using his Maqi and passed it to her, telling her to hang on for a little while longer.

    Almost everyone returned ording to the birds and sensors except for Diego who had decided to stay at the centre of the Colosseum to pray for the souls that were lost. "Looks like the Western Demon Exorcists are rather бнerm close to their gods."

    "A number of their spells derived from the prayers of gods and their faith in them. So, it''s not that surprising to us Eastern Cultivators to see them to be more devoted." Lian replied but suddenly she noticed that there was an uptick of energy away from the Colosseum.

    "This felt like it''s a new tear in the dimension. The energy readings are the same! About a kilometre away north from the Colosseum" Lian said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Lian, inform Diego. I will move out first." Jin said as he stood up and started to run in the direction where the System had also pinned the coordinates for him.

    "Do you want me to go as well?" Lian asked and Jin rejected her offer.

    "Continue to monitor, I am sorry but increase the interval rate of the scans. If they are willing to open more tears away from the Colosseum, it means that they had enough fun, this is the real deal." Jin replied.

    "Does that mean the big final boss will appear?" Lian asked through the System Channel since Jin was already out of her range.

    "As long the tear is not within the Colosseum again, the chances of a big bad boss happening are not zero but lower," Jin replied and fastened his steps. He was dying to use the Lightning sh Steps that Byakko offered him but this is the urban area and it was best not to make too much damage.

    "Hello?" Diego picked up his phone, noting that this was another number.

    "Hi, Sir Diego! This is Lian. I believe you knew Su Zhen and Lein, I am from their group if you remember. Sorry to call this particr line but it''s an emergency."Lian tried to be respectful in her tone when talking to Diego.

    "It is okay, what is the matter child? For you to have such urgency in your tone." Diego could hear that she wanted to let it out of her heart.

    "Jin and I had been monitoring the fight. We apologise for not intervening but Jin said it''s not time yet. And now I understand that he''s right for the fight is not over." Lian wanted to say sorry first before telling him the matter. After all, if Jin was going to handle it, reinforcementsing in a few secondster would not be a problem, correct?

    "There''s one dimension tear happening north of Colosseum, if you do not mind, I can send you the coordinates. I am not sure if Senior Jin knows how to close the tear but it would be best if you could go there. I have already called an Uber to your location and it''s arriving soon."

    "How kind of you. But are you sure your Senior is able to hold the fight until I arrive?"

    "He is that capable," Lian said with absolute confidence instead of the wavering voice she had been using till now to talk to Diego.

    "Good. I shall trust you, Lian." Diego said as he was given the details of the ce as well as the Uber car te number.

    "I am still checking if there are any more tears in the area, if there is any update, I will inform you as soon as I can."

    "Thank you, little one." Diego saw the Uber caring and as he stepped in, he ced a fifty Euros note right in front of the driver. "Be there in less than five. Emergency."

    "Si, Signore." The driver took the extra tip and asked the Demon Exorcist to buckle up as he dashed through the roads and traffic lights despite everything else.

    Jin managed to reach in time to see Wang Liang trying toe out of the tear. However, Jin was not going to give it any quarters as he stabbed it through its chest and shed it with some Maqi imbued into the attack, instantly killing it. By that time, the other Wang Liangs came out to y by mutating into Y''m-Bhi, surrounding Jin.

 Chapter 1850 As Warned By Farasha

    Chapter 1850 As Warned By Farasha

    As warned by Farasha, Jin had decided to take down the Mutated Undead Warriors with as little Maqi as possible. Deriving more on swordy and ensuring that he applied the principles of killing one at a time and not injuring the others so as to not wake Spartakus up because he finally found a worthy challenger.

    He also ensured that there was at least a thirty second gap time between each kill even though more and more Wang Liangs areing out to y. Jin maintained hisposure and fought with each one of them on equal footing.

    Eventually, Diego''s Uber came and saw that Jin was fighting in the street alone. The Uber Driver saw what was happening and asked if the old man wished toe back into the car and escape the scene. Diego smiled and rejected the offer as he conjured up a barrier blocking visuals and sound, camouging the scene almost immediately.

    It was then the Uber Driver noted that this was clearly a fight that was not within the realms of a normal man like him. "All the best." The Uber Driver said as he drove away.

    "Do you need help, young one? It seems like you are struggling." Diego asked as he powered up his miniature cross that was hanging around his neck.

    "No. And please, do not use any powers if you can." Jin said as he evaded one more and killed another.

    "Are you training yourself or are you toying with them?" Diego stopped his incantation as per Jin''s request.

    "None. It is best to fight without much power. I can exin to youter." Jin said and Diego got even more curious than ever.

    "But you are not in a pinch. Besides, you owe me an exnation for noting to intervene. I understand if you wish to understand the enemy but not evening to fight is another thing altogether. Are you happy to see fellow Demon Exorcists die?"

    "No," Jin said as he shoved one of the Mutated Undead Warriors away and waited for a while more before killing it. "From my own research, I have concluded that a Void Being stays in the Colosseum."

    "A бнwhat?" Diego could not believe his ears.

    "A Void Being. Do not act dumb, you definitely know about them."

    "No, I do know about them, but I could not fathom that a Void Being stays in the Colosseum."

    "Well, that''s my deduction from the research I had derived before reaching here. As much as I do not want my research to be the basis of my actions, I also do not wish to risk angering the Void Being to emerge out of his abode and surface to this particr world."

    "Jin, there''s another tear iing near my current location," Lian said and Jin repeated the same thing to Diego.

    "Can you handle it, Lian? The surveince can be left to the birds. Remember as little chi as possible. Just as how you manipted my iing chi and broke it down to small bits for consumption."

    "Looks like even if I say no, it''s a no to my no," Lian said as she stood up and stretched a little. "Okay, Boss. I will do my best. Won''t let you down."

    "You better, foxes under mymand are considered to be the strongest few creatures ever known. Do not sully their reputation." Jin replied and Diego could hear what he was saying but did not understand a single thing. Birds? Foxes? Is Jin a Beastmaster of some sort?

    "I would like to grasp a little more of the situation. It seems like you have a better understanding of this entire thing than the whole of Italian and Vatican Demon Exorcistsbined." Diego said.

    "Like I said, it''s just theory with no facts to back it up. I could not give you rumours and have you acting on them. Can I?" Jin said as he once again dodged, low kicked one of them and killed the other. It was still a surprise that none of them were moving towards Diego.

    "Then let me listen to this theory of yours."

    "Fine." Jin went back to dodging all of them as much as he could and even jumped up to a building before moving to back down, not killing any one of them at all. He was doing everything he could while trying to think of a summary that would suit the Italian''s Head.

    "The Void Being is rumoured to enter our world if we exercise too much power against its minions. It would not have been disturbed if it is not for these Wang Liangs tearing the dimension fabric against the Void Beings and ours. However, Wang Liangs are not supposed to be this powerful, able to cut through the dimensional tear into the Void Being''s ne. The fact that these are obviously Wang Liangs which originated from our country. Which means that they had been transported here and someone gave them a shortcut into the Void Being''s ne."

    "In short, indirect Sabotage or terrorism?" Diego asked but Jin shrugged his shoulders in front of him before continuing his dance and then killing them.

    "That is what I deduced. Whether it''s true or not, it is left to be investigated and answered. It could be a series of extreme coincidences that allowed the Wang Liangs to enable a dimension tear into the Void Being''s ne."

    "So, the reason for you not giving us the tip earlier is so that we do not overpower their minions? Until it''s a pyrrhic draw?" Diego asked and Jin kept quiet for he knew that any answer he gave would not soothe the broken heart.

    "I cannot confirm nor deny that particr statement," Jin said as he danced around once again and Diego nodded his head. He could see that his Demon Exorcists were clearly not at the same level as Jin and even the Vatican Elites could not even solo these many Y''m-bhi by themselves. For him to kill these many and not emit much chi showed that there was a high level ofpetency in not only his swordy but experience fighting against these many monsters.

    Diego understood that if given such information early, all of his Exorcists would definitely go full power to kill these warriors and might inadvertently wake up the rumoured Void Being.

 Chapter 1851 K-

    Chapter 1851 K-

    It did not take long for Lian to reach the supposed site and she already saw one of the Wang Liangs attempting to murder a couple who had been out at night. With a quick leap from the roofs, she managed to kill it almost immediately.

    "Demon Exorcist Association! Are you two alright?" Lian asked in English not sure whether they would understand.

    "Siбн Si, Signora!" The couple said as they never expected Lian to swoop down from nowhere to kill the Wang Liang in front of them.

    "Then, are you able to stand? If you are able to escape from the South, these creatures areing from the North." Lian said as she drew her ws out from her gloves with a sharp swing of her arms.

    "Here. Boost in capabilities!" The male said as he cast Agility Up and Strength Up. Surprisingly, the female did the same as well with Stamina Up.Lian was surprised but had forgotten that she was in a Western country where mages were amon ce in this part of the world.

    "Thank you. Now go!" Lian shouted as she made full use of the buffs that she had kindly received from the couple, killing as many Wang Liangs as she can before the duration ends. It was at a certain point where those Wang Liangs finally turned into Y''m-Bhi and it got tougher from there.

    Suddenly during the fight with the Mutated Undead Warrior, she heard a police siren sounding once but it kept shing. The two Italian Policemen came out from their vehicle armed, and that was when she realised she did not have the time to cast any istion barriers.

    "Demon Exorcists Association! Associazione Esorcisti Demoniaci!" Lian tried to remember her broken Italian hoping that the police could understand.

    "Do you need help?!" The police called and Lian was not sure if she should ept their help but she was damn d that the police were able to understand her English instead of her Italian.

    "Cordon off the area! Do not let people cross this area! Inform the Association toe!" Lian said as she tried to avoid the attack and attempted to sh the Mutated Undead Warrior back.

    "Roger! We will provide some support!" The police officer said as they too cast a spell that caused chains to emerge and bind the Mutated Undead Warrior temporarily.

    "Thanks!" Lian was delighted that the officers were also mages and they specialised in making sure that their suspects did not run away. This also meant that their binds were of a certain Magic level and she could be sure that they were at least useful to hold the Undead Warriors temporarily longer.

    Hence, she tried her best to eliminate as many as she could to the best of her abilities, shing and stabbing the undead warrior''s heads and forcing them to die a horrible death. This was to ensure that these Y''m-Bhi do not have the ability toe back alive again and attack her.

    However, as much as she did not use her chi abilities, that also meant that she had a major handicap in her skills too. This made her a little more vulnerable especially when she was reckless in her attacks, hoping to strike and kill with every sh. She had remembered that they had to be killed almost instantly and damaging them would only make things harder for her.

    As for that reason, she became a bit too narrow in focus that she was unable to see a strikeing her way from the back. "My little fox. You should be more aware of your surroundings." The man said as his overcoat arched his presence but that gun that he used was undeniably unique.

    "K-" Before Lian could say any word, the person ced his finger on her lips.

    "Ah ah ah. My presence here should be a mystery. Also, do not worry. I am not emitting any chi either. The police''s binding spells are more than enough magic for this particr scene." The ''man'' hiding his face with a fedora hat replied.

    "Thank you," Lian eximed as she once again felt the power of this particr man''s chi within her body the moment his finger touched her lips. It was an extremely dark but at the same timefortable kind of chi. It was not evil or whatsoever and rather it''s the sort where you wish to have this cool feeling of solitude when you wish to temporarily cut yourself off from the world to destress.

    And as what she learned from Jin''s chi dissemination lesson in the afternoon, she carefully digested this man''s chilly chi and dashed through Undead Warriors, slicing their heads and cutting them away to make sure they nevere back.

    All the man in the overcoat did was just one shot and was delighted that the little demon fox cultivator was able to make full use of the tiny gift he had given her. He pped once before disappearing into the shadows where the police officers were not able to notice his presence at all after seeing how Lian was able to massacre the rest with minimal chi.

    However, she could not rest as the tear was still open though she was sure that any Wang Liang imposters had already been killed and those who wereing off the tear were genuinely minions of the big bad final boss.

    "Fear not, my child." A confident loud voice came from afar as Lian saw that it was Diego floating right above her.

    "I guess, he never needed that Uber ride," Lian said as she saw him descend down to the ground level, and with his magic, the tear was closing. At the same time, she also find that he had been using less magic than he ever did inparison to the closing of the tear at the Colosseum.

    "I had met your senior. He told me that he have the power to seal the tear at that area and asked me to aid you instead." Diego said and Lian was finally able to sit on the ground, panting for her breath as she looked at the police officers who were overseeing the entire situation.

    They too thanked her with a tip of their hats and reported the situation to their centralmand.

 Chapter 1852 Any More Dimensional Tears?

    <h4>Chapter 1852 Any More Dimensional Tears?</h4>

    "You looked like shit," Jin said as he saw Lian lying on the floor after the entire fiasco was over for now. "Any more dimensional tears around?"

    "Do not seem like it. Unless you are expecting me to turn my sensor for the entire of Rome." Lian said sarcastically as Jin gave her a hand to get up.

    "You managed to close the tear?" Diego asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "If you want, you get to return to where I was and give it a check. After all, this is your country, won''t expect you to trust any foreigners to take care of your backyard." Jin said as Lian was a little wobbly and identally fell into his chest.

    "Gah, so tired." Lian could barely stand and Diego chuckled.

    "Do you wish to stay a little longer before heading back? I can prepare amodations for both of youбн Where are the rest? I assumed there was arger group that came with you. Erm ..Su Zhen was it and Lein."

    "Not enough flight tickets," Jin said as he looked at the time. "It''s okay, we have a flight to catch back."

    "Are you sure you are not staying for the investigation or any subsequent tears?"

    "Seeing how you fight already proved to me that you knew what to do if there were subsequent tears. But I doubt there are that many Wang Liangs flying about. When I fought at my location, there were none left emerging out from tear."

    "Same here," Lian said and Diego nodded his head.

    "Looks like I worried for nothing but as you said, I will start an investigation and see if they are as you had suspected." Diego thanked Jin and Lian once more and told them he would handle with the police that Lian was dealing previously.

    And thus, the duo walked into an alley, ensuring that no one else was looking to take a portal back to the System''s embrace. They returned to the entrance of Amber Arbour where an otter greeted them. "Urgh, what time is it right now?" Lian asked and Jin looked at his watch.

    "About 12 noon?"

    "Why do I have the feeling of jetg when there''s no jet involved."

    "It''s probably the mixture of your saviour''s chi and my Maqi inside you. There might be residues still circting within you which you probably need to A) digest them all, or B) excrete them all."

    "Does that mean I can have a fight with you?"

    "Why does everyone want a fight with me? How about I treat you to some lunch and you go back home to have some proper sleep?"

    "It''s rare to see you and challenging you would push us to the limits since you are obviously the stronger one among us four despite your im that you are a Grade 4 cultivator. Like who will believe you are a Grade 4 cultivator." Lianined.

    "Oh, you guys are back. How did it go?" Lynn asked and realised to see Lian was being supported by Jin, already half dead.

    "Do you mind reserving two seats for us? Thisdy here despite her state wants to challenge me for a fight. She had some bloated chi and needed to expel all of it to feel better."

    "Ah. Symptoms of excessive chi. I can prepare soup and food that could help quench the aftereffects so she does not feel terrible the next day."

    "I would like that very much, thank you, Lynn. You are a saintpared to this diabolical boss that I am working for."

    "I know right? He expects too many things from people." Lynn asked the otter to get their own concoction of anti fatigue potion from the kitchen to let Lian feel better. Upon drinking the potion, she could already feel the effects of the potion working, making it stronger than any coffee she had ever drank before.

    "I am guessing you still want the fight?" Jin asked and Lian nodded her head as they both pretended to use their phones and teleported into an empty training instance.

    "Would you prefer unarmedbat or I can use my weapons."

    "By all means use them. If it is a lethal blow predicted by the System, it would create a barrier instantly in front of us to prevent us from killing each other. So, you can go all out. Besides, if anything really majores about, you will be resurrected by the System since you and the other Exorcists are considered our full time employees."

    "Yeah, about that. Ever consider a raise for me?" Lian asked as she did some stretching.

    "For? I don''t see anything that you had done that deserved a raise. If it is aboutst night''s task, all I can give you is probably some overtime pay."

    "Damn, and here I thought I can try to put up a bet that if I canst like 10 seconds against you, I might be able to get a raise or something."

    "Lol. You are many years too early for that. Besides, if I really allow that. All of my monsters would want to fight with me again. So nope, I cannot set precedence."

    "Then how about if Ist 10 seconds against you, you give me one month''s worth of bonus?" Lian teased as she was ready to get into her stance.

    "More like if you can withstand one blow from me, I will give you one month''s worth of bonus." Jin joked and Lian stood there for a moment to consider it.

    "No. No. my strength is too much even for you." I was merely joking.

    "Please." Lian suddenly bowed. "I need to know the power gap between you and the others. If I keep chasing after Su Zhen or Lein, I will never improve as much."

    "Why the sudden change in attitude when ites to me?"

    "Because after sparring with you months ago, I felt that you are an entity that deserved to stand at the very top. How can you have an employee that is notpetent to be under the top person in the world?" Lian asked.

 Chapter 1853 LianтАЩs Duel -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1853 Lian''s Duel -Part 1</h4>

    Jin considered what she said carefully and sighed. "System. I''m afraid you have some resurrecting to do. Make sure she gets all the power."

    "User, are you not going to let her even try attacking you a little bit? Going straight for the blow will be an insult to her determination to be like you."

    "Lol, she had that devil man''s interest because of her connection to being a fox. Do you think I would be forgiven in the future when she bes stronger than me? Lian would probably y the same trick to me, asking me to attack her and then show me my futility against her."

    "Truth be told, I really want to try my supposedly strongest attack since all that chance had always been overshadowed by Su Zhen and Lein." Lian countered saying that she did prefer it if she was able to attack first.

    "You should just go mission hunting with Rong and let the other two go their own missions together. That is unless you have a thing for Lein."

    "Howбн How can that be!? He is something like a blood rtive to me. There is no chance for me to even-" Lian tried to defend herself and then realised what Jin was doing so she took a deep breath in and ignored him by moving into her battle stance.

    "Aren''t you going to use your dual inscription charm? That should provide what you need to summon out yourtent powers." Jin asked as still stood there while he identally yawned a little.

    "No, I figured out how to pull out mytent powers without the dual inscription charm but it''s definitely not as powerful if I used the inscription charm instead," Lian replied while Jin said he was willing to take the hit anytime. "Then I shall."

    In an instant, there was an explosion of chiing out from Lian and Jin could see that she had three tailsing out of her back. "Ah, so that is what she meant that she figured out how to pull out hertent powers, by fusing directly with the demon arts," Jin thought as Lian was already dashing towards Jin at a speed that most average cultivators would even have difficulty catching.

    Yet Jin was not even using his sword at all and merely reinforced his palms with Maqi slowly diverting the attacks away. And it was really slowpared to what Lian had been pushing out. All Jin did was merely move a little to amodate the direction Lian wasing from and then use his palms to slowly push the edge of the ws away from him.

    However, if people think that he is at his pinnacle, he would say that the best was not to use any Maqi at all and just merely use his in empty palms and fingers to do the trick which eventually, he actually did! After a few hits, Jin thought this might also be a type of training for him too and this was the best ce to try it out since she was going all out against him.

    After all, what''s the worst that could happen? Loss of fingers? His healing factor can take care of that when he had the worst injuries before. And so, he reduced the Maqi from his entire palm and into just the tips of his fingers so that the contact between the w de and the specific point of his skin would have the Maqi to block the attack.

    Yet, Lian had no idea that that was what Jin was doing and only believed that she could only go faster and maybe moreplicated attacks. For the first time, she utilised the Demon Fox Phantom Scratch which caused the des to have quantum abilities to move through time and space. She thought this might at least cause a wound even just a slight cut on Jin''s skin, that would be all she asked for.

    бнAnd yet, it did not happen. Jin was able to stop the pointed tips of her w weapon from even descending into his flesh. "I am not going to lose just like this!" Lian said as she utilised the remaining portions of Jin''s Maqi and the Overcoat man''s chi into her. Assimting it quickly and forcing hertent powers to emerge.

    Another tail emerged during that progress and this gave her the power to bite into the invisible Maqi barrier that Jin was using, barely touching the tip of his skin to cause some damage to the top superficialyer of thergest organ on his body. It was at that point, she retreated away and started panting.

    "What kind of fake Grade 4 Cultivator are you?"

    "You told me to not hold back my strength. In a way." Jin said as he was also shocked by the developments of his strength. He knew that he might have been stronger but he never understood why he was not even taking damage from a Grade 9 Cultivator. Even a Grade 18 or Grade 19 would definitely receive a scratch or two from that kind of attack. In most Wu Xia novels, that would be where the antagonist or protagonist goes full power using that small injury as an excuse.

    But right now, all he had was a small bump on his skin which of course he was definitely being saved by the thin Maqi barrier he put up. But still, it was not even the reinforced version of his palm. "System, this is too much, overwhelming too much. It feels like I am bullying anybody that is below my grade."

    "Such is life for an overpowered cultivator in this world. But do remember that some celestials and definitely higher level celestials have stronger powers than you currently have right now." The System said.

    "What? There are people even stronger than this?" Lian said as she panted and gave up. "Your turn. I will go full defence to protect even though I will die in the process."

 Chapter 1854 LianтАЩs Duel - Part 2 (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 1854 Lian''s Duel - Part 2 (Final)</h4>

    "Sorry." Was the only word Jin had before he walked away.

    Lian thought it was a feint of some sort until Jin opened a portal and asked if she wasing or not. It made her confused even more and asked ''Why?"

    "Why? Because Lynn had already prepared the food and we are done with the match."

    "Then all you had to do is to punch me before Iбн huh?" Lian noticed that her Four Tail Demon stance was not activated at all. In fact, she felt that she had never activated her chi at all and her stomach was growling.

    "Fox Demon Cultivator Lian, you have already been resurrected. Please follow User to Amber Arbour for your meal. Eat while it''s hot or Sub System User Lynn would be furious." The System said and Lian could not believe what the System said until she looked at the back of her.

    The entire wall of the training instance broke there was nothing but empty ck void space behind the instance walls some бнblood on the ground. It was not. "This is impossible, you killed me before I knew? Is this a joke by the System?"

    "Juste out and eat, the System will rey the slow motion video for you to watch," Jin said as he rubbed his tummy. Lian was still confused about what had happened but followed Jin to Lynn''s Amber Arbour to have her meal.

    It was only during her meal that she had watched the entire thing in slow motion. The moment she finished talking, Jin was already right in front of her, punching her once cause her entire body to dissipate into blood, stter organs, and fragmented bones.?However, the impact was so great that blood flew with the shockwaves, and it flew into the void along with the broken parts of the wall.

    At that point, the System had already prepared to resurrect her instantly due to her contract and Jin''s advanced warning. When Lian watched all of this, she could only put her head on the table and knock it a few times.

    "Your powerбн is absurd."

    "I know, right??I never expected myself to be this strong and the System said that there are even stronger people, monsters, and beings out there. But I''m like no no no no. If I am already this strong, I should capitalise on this fact and take advantage of the ces when I have yet to develop first."

    "Do you really still need to develop, Mr. Grade 4?"

    "My techniques for one had been rather бнerm basic. I never really throw out signature moves at all. Well, I could manipte elements at my will, but they were nothingpared to those basic attacks as well."

    "I think sometimes basic is enough." Lian munched on her food tofort her new body and crashed soul. "At the very most, just do something fancy once in a while and shout out the name as your new technique. If you think it is cool and useful for it to be a technique then keep using it." She offered her opinion.

    "For example, this all so simple punch. Just name it something like Astral Panda Diverging Punch. When it''s actually a punch. If people saw this footage, they would definitely believe it and would wish to cultivate the 19 Astral Lazy Pandas to learn this killer of a move" Lian said and Jinughed, not sure whether what she said was something genuine or she was making fun of him.

    "I will think about it. Maybe if I do something cool in the future, I will get it named." Jin said and asked what''s her n for the future.

    "What? Is this like some impromptu annual appraisal for the year? Do I get my bonus for maybe injuring you just a little?"

    "You had good speed and sense but you need a little more variation in your attacks so that they cannot predict you. That phantom move you didбн that could be the start of your signature moves."

    "That is already my signature move. Forcing out that tails to fight with you is already taking everything out of me do to so."

    "Perhaps, you should like consistently pull those tails out. Rather than using it as your ultimate attack."

    "It is tiring though," Lianined as she munched on her pork chop. "Not to mention, I need to eat a lot to get my energy back."

    "Then get used to it. Just like how you had made use of my chi and consistently used the sensor skill for the past day. Do you feel that sometimes your body has the urge to just use that skill and sense things even right now?" Jin asked and Lian did not even notice it until he said it. Her body could automatically use the sensing skill because she had been drilled the entire day into it.

    "You are бнright. I did not even notice it. And it''s only a day since I did that."

    "It''s because of our cultivation and especially yours. The Nine Tail Fox Demon was known to be a creature that had to be careful of its surroundings because people hunted them down because of their unique tails.?Perhaps, it''s because of its tails that the fox was named a Demon for the people it took down for its own safety had branded the fox to be a demon." Jin said and Lian nodded.

    "So, you want me to try using the Three- erm Four? Tail stance until I got used to it regardless of the chi consumption?"

    "You can utilise its properties like its strength and speed first. Besides you are Grade 9 now, aren''t you supposed to have nine tails instead? Hu Hu Hu." Jin joked but Lian rolled her eyes.

    "Why am I dealing with this kind of boss."

    "Let''s make things simple. I have a new dungeon instanceing right up. Making a tail toe out is part of your Grade 1 repertoire, right?"

    "Ehh.. yes?" At that moment, she did not realise what she had gotten into.

 Chapter 1855 Discussion On How To Suck More Money From Customers

    Chapter 1855 Discussion On How To Suck More Money From Customers

    "Okay, then when the new dungeon instance is up, I want you to use only that technique and get used to the consumption of chi energy while you clear the dungeon. Do that as part of your training regime." Jin said and realised that he might actually have someone to be his training dummy to test out the Dark Days Dungeon Series while training Lian up as well. (He just does not want to use Jinny.)

    "Eh? You already created a new dungeon instance?" Qiu Yue was surprised by how quick he had done. Granted it took her ages to do it but he just finish creating the store instance, and could not believe the speed he was able to create a new dungeon instance. This was good news for her.

    "Yeah. Why not? I need to revitalise the store and get back the customers I had lost."

    "Correction. The System had noted an influx of customersing in to test out the Virtual Reality Instance." The System noted.

    "Huh, then what about our usual dungeon instances? The rates have dropped, didn''t they?"

    "People are always levitating for new experiences besides, it is getting expensive toe in here. Some of the cultivators have been noted to take on additional part time jobs just to enjoy the Virtual Reality instances or other dungeon instances."The System did report a slight drop in dungeon instances.

    "Lol. At this rate, the government wille and intervene you, Jin." Lianughed.

    "Isn''t that good, they work hard, we got our money and everyone is happy," Jin grumbled.

    "Not everyone can afford the dungeon instance lifestyle. It is still kind of a hobby rather than apulsory thing to do in lifeбнthough I got to admit having a high cultivation level would undoubtedly increase the quality of life." Lian said.

    "About affordability, Head of Operations Qiu Yue did mention creating a Premium Dungeon Pass. The System understands that the store had rolled something simr for a limited time and had seen some sess with it but the profitability did drop. However, the number of people holding onto the subscription had maintained substantially until we dropped the Dungeon Pass.

    "Oh, so you are saying we should do the dungeon pass thingy?" Jin asked and the System re empahsised the need to ask ire and Qiu Yue for their opinion before going ahead with it.

    "Then erm, when are you going to open the new dungeon instance?" Lian asked as it seemed that Jin was going to have some meeting with the bigger wigs of the store.

    "Alright, I wille downter. I probably need to write a report to Grandma Yuan as well as inform the others what had happened in Rome." Lian took her leave and Jin bid her goodbye while he tried to connect to the two other Sub System Users.

    "Yo, what''s up?" Qiu Yue got into the call and there were background noises of constructions. It wasn''t until the video screen emerged that Jin then realised that she was in the Farming World dealing with some of his Empire Building projects. On the other hand, ire was in Grandma Yuan''s ce as she was reluctant to relocate her office to Jin''s Tree Mall.

    "Sorry for this impromptu meeting, can I ask your opinions on making a permanent Premium Dungeon Pass?"

    "Oh, that pass thing?" ire remembered she had some notes on it as she asked the two to wait for a moment. Apparently, there was indeed some interest in revitalising the Dungeon Pass.

    "I am down for the dungeon pass. It''s like doing a gym subscription pass. Some people will spam the shit out of it while others would not even spend a single cent. However, why do you suddenly think of it? You already have a new dungeon to release?"

    "Yes, I do," Jin said and ire finally took out her notebook, flipping to a few pages before answering them.

    "I checked andpared the rates from other dungeon instances to ours. We areparatively cheaper considering that we did put up some significant discounts to entice people to y, but over time the need to pay had indeed dropped the number of customers interested in it. If we were to do a monthly subscription system, we might not only have better numbers but also a higher retention rate of customers." ire said as she asked the System to scan her notes and put it up for them.

    "This is the revised rates from the past ounting months that Jin was not around and while we are maintaining profits because of the overall numbers that we have,it definitely had declined because of theck of new dungeon instances. If we have a monthly or even yearly subscription, the retention numbers are projected to be like this." ire said and drew on the console screen which was reflected to Jin and Qiu Yue.

    "Wow, if that''s the case, why you guys did not implement it? Waiting for my approval?" Jin asked and the other two nodded their heads.

    "Sort of. But it is bad if we do not have a new dungeon instance to back this up. With the subscription model, we can increase the rates of the individual dungeon instances, and provide a discounted fee if they subscribe to us. If Jin disappears again, as usual, we can give them rebates through additional benefits for being members." ire proposed.

    "I stand by ire''s decision but ultimately, we need to see what kind of subscription membership model are we looking at. A monthly? Annual? Tier based?" Qiu Yue asked and Jin questioned why not all three of them to be ced together.

    "That would be quite the heresy. I never heard of offering so many subscription options." iremented. (Oh she never knows how terrible our world is.)

    "We have the System and your Sub System to do the numbers. Why not ask them based on their predictive model analysis?" Jin asked and in an instant, they created the numbers as well as the prices that could bepetitive not just for now, but also in the case of a recession or intion, they might be able to either reduce or increase rather easily.

    ire double checked on the prices as well as the numbers to see if it was enticing for the customers while Qiu Yue had decided to leave it to her and returned to her construction job. Jin questioned if the models and prices could be ready by tonight and rie nodded her head that with the Sub System predicting the odds, it should even be ready in an hour''s time.

    Jin then decided that with the new instance popping up, the customers have to dig their pockets a little more than usual to enjoy what the shop has to offer in theing days. After all, he had nned for the Gentlebear Dungeon Instance, the second instance of Dark Days Dungeon, a sneak peek at Royal Zodiac Dragon''s leader Kong Rong''s request for the National Martial Arts and Sportspetition, his Virtual Reality Store implementation, and probably a revamp of his old mini games as promised a long long time ago.

    After all those weeks (months for his world) of inactivity, Jin felt that this was the time to push out content or else his fans would be disappointed.

 Chapter 1856 In Bad Terms

    Chapter 1856 In Bad Terms

    "Geh, they are not going to talk to me at all," Lian said to herself but Rong overheard her.

    "It''s your own fault. If you had not gone to Italy with Senior Jin, they would not be this pissed off as well." Rong stated. They were all staying in the same apartment rented by Qiu Yue but apparently, after the incident that caused Lian to be picked instead of the other two, Su Zhen had decided to move into Lein''s room to sleep while kicking Rong out of the room.

    "I know that she''s mad at me, but isn''t she mad to sleep with another guy?" Lian asked Rong who had been abandoned by Lein even though he did not do anything wrong.

    "Oh, you do not have to worry about that, we had separate bathrooms and another wall that separates us," Rong said and Lian was confused.

    "Wait, what?"

    "You don''t know? Lein found me irritating because I usually snored quite loudly. So, he had requested Qiu Yue to remodel the room a little so that there is a wall that separated us. She even gave me my own bathroom since Lein could not stand by ermбнbathroom habits."

    "You are definitely not going to sleep in this room for your information." Lian could not imagine the kind of bathroom habits that Rong had.

    "Wait. Wait! Are you thinking something dirty? It''s just that I have lots of hair to shave that''s all! And I wash the toilet properly! Go ahead andpare my toilet and his! My tiles are sparking clean!"

    "TOO MUCH INFORMATION!" Lian eximed.

    "Not as if you girls do not have anything to shave!" Rong tried to counter but he did it so badly that Lian used her one tail to p him. "Ouch. Fine! I sleep in the living room. Geez."

    "And the toiletбн you can use as long as you clean it properly." Lian begrudgingly allowed him since there was no toilet outside the two rooms.

    "Hehe, thanks,dy boss. By the way, why are you showing your tail out? I thought you always hated it and only used it for ''ultimate attacks''? Didn''t you say this cultivation is irritating to use? Not to mention, it spoils your image a little?" Rong decided to look at the ghostly tail that was floating beside her and tried to touch it.

    "Oh wow, its kinda fluf- GEK! Why did you p me if your tail again?" Rong questioned.

    "Did I say you can touch my tail without my permission?" Lian was angsty and a little flustered since Rong had no idea that touching her tail was a sensitive issue.

    "Ow. All I am trying to say it looks kind of fluffy and nice to touch, that''s all! You don''t have to hit me so hard with it." Rong rubbed his head and suddenly Su Zhen came out from his old room and shouted at them to keep quiet.

    "Lein and I are cultivating, can you guys keep it down?!" And she mmed the door again.

    "Wow, I did not expect such a spoiled image of her just because she was not selected," Rongmented softly.

    "She just wants to be the very best since her mom is at the top of the food chain in JODE. Not like us, we are like eh, middle ss people." Lian started whispering as well.

    "Middle ss? You and Lein are of nearly the same ss-OW Okay! Change of topic. So, what are you going to do tonight? Get the report out as requested by Grandma Yuan after you told her what happened?" Rong asked and Lian gave a disgusted face.

    "You think I am that kind of hardworking person? Fuck that. Besides, I promised Senior Jin to participate in his new dungeon instance tonight. He said it was along the lines of a solo dungeon experience."

    "Are you sure that you are not getting cheated of your money lol."

    "Rong, have you forgotten that employees have benefits? We can do 30 dungeon instances a month."

    "Oh? Ohбн" Rong suddenly started to nod his head as if he realised something.

    "Wait, so have you been training in dungeons that you are paying for them?"

    "No, no. I was wondering why was it so good that I get to have free dungeons every first few days of the month, and I had to pay them afterward."

    "You mean you had been training by yourself that you subsequently got to pay because you went over the limit?" Lian asked and Rong nodded his head earnestly.

    "The dungeons here are undoubtedly hard. Especially Escape City. I kept going there to beat Fish men but in the end, the one who got beaten was me."

    "You did it at your own time off work?"

    "Well, yeah. Not many people wanted to take me because I am just another ''average'' Demon Exorcist. Most would want you, to sense and find stuff, or Su Zhen who had shit loads of knowledge in her brain, and perhaps Lein since he got shy skills and techniques. I am just an Ox Demon user, another muscle in the team in case shit goes down the fan." Rong said in such a sad and depressing way that Lian did not know how to react.

    "It is not that bad, you are with us."

    "I am with you guys because Grandma Yuan wanted us to work as a team and we had been employed by the System. Lein and Su Zhen know my skills so they understand what I am good at and what I am not. Usually, I am the main person to go in to attract the attention of the monsters and you guys finish them off."

    "You see, you got acknowledged that we need a tanker like you."

    "But there are many other musclemen out there, I am no different. Therefore, I am always training myself to make sure that I remain useful to the group, else in no time, I''m out." Rong said and Lian had no idea how tofort him.

    "Alright, so how about we don''t give a shit about those people in the opposite room and do the new dungeon? This time, I will pay for your instance as a thank you for always protecting us." Lian said as she encouraged him toe out.

 Chapter 1857 Announcement of Price Changes

    Chapter 1857 Announcement of Price Changes

    "Somehow I feel like I am being roped into something that I could not be bothered with. What can be more interesting than Escape City Instance? The rest is like meh." Rong said as he was literally being dragged out of their apartment and teleported into the store instance.

    "Wee! Wee! It''s great to be bear again! I mean back again!" Bear Cub One said as he waved to the Pandarens who were waiting for the new instance to open after Jin once again revealed everything at the veryst minute.

    "Does he know what is the meaning of hype? Who posts things at the veryst minute and expects people toe?" One of the Pandarensined as he had to cancel his dinner meeting toe here.

    "And yet here you are! You do know that you cannot beat the thrill of going into his dungeons blind." Bear Cub One replied and the Pandaren could not help but smile a little from the side. The rest of the Pandarens also started pping and Rong had no choice but to stand up and join the crowd like a normal person. (Or else, he would be seen as otherwise.)

    "So, let us have it for the owner Jin toe out and say a few words since this is his first dungeon instance ever since hiseback!" Bear Cub One said as he weed Jin to the stand on a makeshift pedestal at the centre of the Events Station tform with the train towards the new dungeon right behind him.

    "Greetings and good evening, everyone. Wee to Dungeon and Pandas''test Dungeon instance reveal! As much as I like to keep the tempo up and let you guys get on the train behind me and go vroom vroom! The reason why all of you are here in front of the ticket counter is because there is currently no way to buy the ticket for this Dungeon instance as of now."

    "Exactly! Waiting for you to finish talking and we might need to return to work! So, hurry up!" One of the Pandarens shouted and the rest chuckled a little.

    "Geez, now you make me feel like I am a politician," Jin remarked such a cold joke, no one exactlyughed. "Anyways, I have some news and announcements to share, and the reason why I did not allow the sales of tickets to the new instance until this announcement had been publicised."

    "And of course, I will make it short and the minor details will be out in the Pandamonium App," Jin said as he took a deep breath and told them about the passes. "In our bid to move forward and provide quality y for our fellow yers and cultivators."

    People started booing because they knew that this was a rather standard line for a price increment.

    "We foreseen that the price we had posted was not sustainable in the long run. Most of the dungeon instances would see at least a 30% increase in price to amodate the prices we had to pay for the expertise needed as well as the maintenance of such expertise." And that caused a lot of mumbling in the Pandarens.

    "Isn''t that just you?" One of the Pandarens shouted and it allowed someughter in the group for a moment.

    "However, in order to allow affordable pricing for our Pandarens, we are pleased to inform a monthly tier based premium pass that allows our Pandarens to enjoy the Service Instances, Dungeon Instances, Events, and even the asional Raid Instances atpetitive pricing. An email via your Pandamonium App had been sent to all of you."

    From there, Jin put up several tiers of monthly pricing and even an annual pass package for those hardcore fans. The tiers differed so that they could amodate different types of people''s needs.From those who prefer dungeons or lean more towards service instances to casual cultivators who wish toe and enjoy the dungeons once in a while.

    There was even a student and elderly premium pass that as long as they were eligible for it, they would be given a discount to those selected tiers. And now with a brief nce, most of the Pandarens who were definitely educated could see that they were increasing the price of the individual dungeon instances to promote the premium passes.

    With the passes, they were also considered official subscription members of the Dungeons and Pandas store and even the lowest tier of subscription for the casual would have a 5-10% discount on selected dungeon instances based on the week''s demand. Overall, people could count and calcte on the spot that with the passes, there was still a discount inparison with thetest increase in prices.

    "So, in order tomemorate the start of these passes, anyone who buys these passes within the next 48 hours would be entitled to one free run to thetest dungeon instance! And any referral to your friends and rtives or even strangers will yield you one set of potions that could be brought in for this particr dungeon! Limited stocks only! " Jin said and the official announcement for the premium pass had been sent throughout the entire Pandamonium Community.

    "You will be sure that revamps to our mini games, new dungeon instances and maybe even an all raid instance will be out soon. There are also rumours that we might be hosting a grand event next year. So, please look forward to it and enjoy what Dungeons and Pandas can offer!" Jin added as he stepped backward with ceremonial scissors in hand.

    "And now, this is the grand opening of a new installment to Dungeons and Pandas. We dubbed it Dungeon Series! Inspired by the famous game Dark Sols, this is Dark Days Dungeon Series. That should be enough information with regards to the dungeon series and I hope that you all will enjoy it as much as I did create it!"

    "Good luck and have fun!"

 Chapter 1858 Boss, Any Discount?

    Chapter 1858 Boss, Any Discount?

    "Boss, do we have a discount? Lol." Rong said as Lian brought him towards Jin when the announcement was over. He looked awfully excited when he read a little more about the dungeon that had been published on the Pandamonium App.

    "Don''t you guys have free dungeon passes or something?" Jin asked and Lian exined to him that Rong had used up all of his passes in the first two days which made Jin speechless.

    "I see that you are quite an avid dungeon goer. Here, two extra free passes for both of you. Enjoy the dungeon, yea?" Jin said that he had something to do and needed to go off soon. Besides, there were a few Pandarens despite the new price changes in the announcement still wanted to meet and greet the ''legendary'' who had built the Dungeons and Pandas from scratch.

    In the meantime, Lian was delighted that she did not need to pay for Rong now that Jin had given them free passes. Her bet paid off for wanting to see Jin straight after the meeting. However, this was also a good time to really test out her strength and skill. So far, she had grown her tail out but was still embarrassed to show it out in public and thus shrunk the tail size so that it could be hidden under her dress instead.

    Rong, on the other hand, smiled at the free pass and asked if Lian wanted to go into the train with him despite knowing that this would be a one man dungeon. "Nah, I like to see how you fair first for my own research, to erm support you better in the future." Lian wanted to see what the dungeon would be like and having Rong to be the guinea pig was the next best idea for the night.

    "Oh. Ok. Whatever you say. See youter." Rong said as he entered through the ticket counter just like the many others who had been ''duped'' into buying the monthly (some even the annual pass of the highest tier!) to officially enter the tform and take the first train to the ce where they will start the new dungeon instance.

    Before they reached the Dark Days Dungeon instance, rules were being revealed to the yers. All of their equipment would be confiscated including the items they were equipped with and they would only be given a wooden club.

    Appearance wise, there would be a Grade 0 Shirt and Pants that had been delivered into their storage boxes in the station where they would be arriving. (Even their underwear had been subjected to grade zero rating.) All they had to do was to find that locker scan their QR code and they would have ess to it. The changing room and toilets were not packed as each time they entered the toilets, it was a private instance for them to change before they returned to the main station and went up the stairs/elevator to the start of their dungeon run.

    It did not take Rong to change and put all his remaining items into his storage ring. Another warning emerges stating that the storage ring would not be essible while the Pandamonium App would only be avable at certain checkpoints but certain functions of the app can not be used during the dungeon.

    "Wow, it feels rather strict," Rong said as he did not mind all of these rules he picked up the wooden club and started to move out of the toilet to find that almost everyone was wearing the same exact shirt and they could not help but tough as if they were minions of some sort.

    "I am going up now." Rong texted Lian but before she could reply, the message to Rong had been disabled. It was then she realised that there was no streaming avable for thetest Dark Day Dungeon Instance at all. Some of the Pandarens were alreadyining if there was a bug and requested the moderators and even directly messaging Jin to fix it as soon as possible. (Obviously, the System threw those messages to junk)

    However, instead of replying to one of them, he made an additional announcement. There is no footage avable nor streaming allowed for this particr dungeon until the next Dark Day Dungeon Instance has been released. "If your friends were to describe it to you, then please allow your imagination to run free. Cultivators who can draw, all I ask is to keep it as spoiler free as possible. However, I cannot control the inte (Lies, he could.) so if there is any information out there, please be wary of fake information as well."

    "Holy crap, this is really personal training to the max. Can you imagine someone were to post an entire series of guides, only to be trolled at the veryst moment?" Lian heard some Pandarens say.

    "I think this will be a very real problem until the majority of cultivators who tried it can testify that the dungeon had been that way." Another Pandaren remarked.

    "But don''t you think this is exciting? We finally get to experience something new and perhaps dangerous." The Pandaren who overheard them join in. "Perhaps, we can make a club and only verified people, not trolls to share the information."

    "Boss Jin probably will create the forum for this new dungeon when his new instance is out, so probably not so soon. Maybe earliest next week? I think he is looking at the response of this new dungeon first." The Pandarens continued to talk among themselves.

    "Sigh, that means I really got to try this dungeon myself. It will be a bit stupid to ask Rong for advice, right?" Lian''s great idea went down the drain as she put the pass ticket that Jin gave towards the ticket machine. "Hahah. Maybe it will cheer Rong up since he could tell me what he had experienced." Lian thoughts of cking got worse but eventually, she decided to go experience it herself.

 Chapter 1859 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 1

    Chapter 1859 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 1

    As Rong came out of the subway station, he found him holding onto his club tightly. There was a choice of going for the tutorial first and the reward was said to be a pair of Grade 0 shoes. However, Rong felt that he was okay with being barefooted since he had been through worse situations from Grandma Yuan''s training.

    With just a Grade 1 Club and clothes to cover himself, Rong found himself overseeing a dested vige from the top of the cliff. He could see that beyond the vige was a clearing and ake beyond that. Other than that, it was pretty obvious that there were nothing but rocky hills that covered the vige''s left and right.

    The south was the subway''s exit so there was definitely nothing behind it. Even if he tried to look for something, all he saw was that the subway exit had been connected to the hills. Game design wise, it was pretty obvious that the Dungeon Supplier wanted his cultivators to go through the vige and reach the clearing to ride the boat.

    However, unlike his usual dungeon instances where there would be objectives or even NPCS to guide, there was nothing of that sort within this particr dungeon instance. To make things worse, it is set in the middle of the night.

    Rong does not know whether because they were ying it in the evening and thus it had a night setting or whether the dungeon instance used darkness as part of its theme. "Well, it''s called Dark Days Dungeon instance. I guess, it''s not that surprising that this is a night fight." Rong said as he tried to use his cultivation to scan the area.

    But to his surprise, he felt that his grade had been suppressed to Grade 1 Cultivation.No matter how he tried to increase his chi powers, it was hard capped by the dungeon instance. "Shit, so this is really a survival game," Rong said to himself as he understood that there was a time limit of 30 minutes. If he dies, he will start from the Subway exit once more or maybe inside the station. This would definitely waste more time if he were to die so he decided to go with the old school method of searching.

    Rong ced his ears on the ground and tried to reduce his breathing. It was not hard to discern that there were noisesing from the dested vige and with his consistent dungeoneering, he could recognise that they were the sounds of Goblins.

    Even though he had defeated them multiple times before, he did not do it with a Grade 1 Cultivation. "So this is like practicingbat with your chi being restricted! I am starting to like this!" Rong knew that he might have an easier time fighting against the goblin minions because of hisbat experience but if he understood where Jin wasing from in terms of dungeon design.

    If they were to throw some dangerous monsters, new cultivators trying this would definitely be scarred for life. So, for now, this particr dungeon instance might be an easy mode for Rong he was already looking forward to the second instance and the subsequent ones, hoping that Jin might create something even more crazy and special.

    Yet, he had forgotten that he needed to clear this first, and knowing Jin''s dungeon design, it was best not to underestimate this instance. "But going down the correct way is boring. Why don''t I take an express shortcut?" Rong said as he took a few steps back and reinforced his chi onto his feet. With a short warm up jogging around the same spot, Rong subsequently ran straight and jumped off the cliff.

    With a loud war cry, he managed to jump and covered at least 1/3 of the deste vige. The moment hended, the Ox Demon Cultivator could already feel the eyes of many goblins looking at him.

    Since he was on the open ground in the middlene of the vige, Rong provoked the goblins toe get him. His goal was not to use any Grade 1 Techniques if possible and he literally picked the lousiest skill in his lowest grade''s repertoire, Grade 1 Enhancement Technique Ox Stamina since it was mandatory to choose one.

    Now the Goblins were already starting to surround him but he realised that they were not the same cheeky goblins that he had fought against. All of them were bloodthirsty and there were already two arrows that flew towards him. If not for Rong deflecting them with his club, he would have already been injured by it.

    "Shitбн I think this is not the best ideaбн" Rong said to himself as he started to bash the Goblins only to find that they were able to defend themselves, parry the blows, and attack back. It was only a few goblinster that there was a set pattern to the Goblins''s fighting style.

    He did not know whether this was incidental or intentional but he tried to take advantage of it and tried to ovee them by hitting them with his club. The only problem was that as he tried to pick up the swords that were left lying on the ground, he was not able to do so. They were heavier than they looked and the arrows that were stuck on the ground were immovable as well.

    It was only when Rong found an item giving off a slight glitter that he managed to pick it up with ease. "It is another clubбн" Rong said to himself and decided to dual wield the wooden clubs. After all, two clubs are always better than one. It enabled him to rampage a little more but it was pretty obvious that some of them were a little trickier to deal with which forced Rong to move into a house for some cover.

    "Holy shit. This is actually harder than I thought!" Rong said to himself, knowing that if he was some new cultivatoring in, by recklessly jumping into the middle of the vige and dering himself as the target, Rong would probably been killed.

    He was not wrong as that was happening throughout many cultivators'' gamey.

 Chapter 1860 Dark Days Dungeons #1 -Part 2

    Chapter 1860 Dark Days Dungeons #1 -Part 2

    So many deaths in such a short period of time. Everyone had the same thinking as Rong did, but they were not as capable as him. Now the Pandarens understood why this particr dungeon instance was based on a time limit rather than the number of tries.

    "It is hard! How would I know that Goblins can hit this hard!" One of the Pandarensined about the forum in the general section since there was no dedicated sub forum for this particr dungeon instance at the moment due to Jin''s insistence.

    Many others followed the same sentiment andined about the difficulty level of the dungeon, especially with all the restrictions that had been ced on it. From not being able to use their own equipment to have to go in without shoes.

    It was only then some of the Pandarens defended that this is the difficulty that dungeons should be. While they do not condone light hearted dungeons where people y and enjoy for fun, there were Pandarens out there who really wish to experience the grit of hunting monsters. A few others even stated that Jin had explicated stated that this particr dungeon had been modeled and inspired by the critically acimed Dark Sols video game. (Definitely not the same as the critically acimed Last Fantasia XIV with an expanded free trial in which you can y the World Reborn and the award winning Skystation expansion up to level 69 for free with no restrictions on ytime (Government rules applied.))

    When people used the Dark Sols excuse, plenty of Pandarens had already rested their case and they knew how difficult that particr game was. However, all of them had forgotten that particr game was not difficult but time consuming. Patience, recognition of patterns, and determination were the main core concepts for the yers to learn. Once they had grasped those, every particr duel and exploration that they had would be an experience that they would not forget.

    Thus, Jin decided to emte that experience within this to the best of his abilities. But unlike video games, the yers can have the freedom of running around, climbing, jumping, and even swimming whereas video games have limits and walls that block the yers from moving. That was why, in terms of dungeon design, Jin did not focus too much on limiting the yers'' freedom and rather allowed them to move unless it had been dictated by the environment that it was a no go.

    The Goblin minions that he had used were also using a two weapon pattern movement aspared to the simple move and attack kind of pattern. Jin also made sure that the aggressiveness of the Goblins was unparalleled. They were not the ''I got hit once, and I am retreating a little'', and rather ''I will chase you down the roads of hell if I need to.''

    And to make things worse, Jin had purposely added a small puzzle in the Dark Days Dungeon Instance. Many had not recognised it yet since they were only minutes into the game. However, one smart aleck had decided that if he was going to fight, he would go straight for the clearing immediately. But knowing the game had been inspired by Dark Sols, there was a boss standing at the centre of the clearing waiting for the cultivator''s arrival.

    The problem with that was anyone who decided to skip the mobs to try and reach to the boat as soon as possible, the boss would unleash a deadly skill that would instantly rip anyone apart. When it happened, the Pandaren had no idea what was it. All he could see was ck. Yet, he reported this to the thread and many others had decided to try it as well. After all when they are dead, they are resurrected back at the Subway station''s medical bay for that was their first checkpoint and they have ess to the Pandamonium App and forums. Only when they moved out into the fields, all of such features had been temporarily blocked.

    And the Pandarens did find out that it was truly a one shot kill regardless. However, as much as those Pandarens tried to type those out, it had been filtered by the Pandamonium App. It was fine at first but subsequently, when someone talked about the spoilers of the dungeon, the filter came on and their posts had disappeared. The Pandarens guessed that it was because of the censor that Jin had talked about. It was only when those who had decided to finish or give up on the fight, that the sub forum thread appeared for them.

    After which, they realised that their posts were not exactly censored and rather relegated to that particr sub forum thread. It was at that moment they realised that the Pandamonium App AI was smarter than they thought it was. It had censored various portions if they had not reached a particr part of the dungeon.

    On the other hand, those who had hit the clearing first had ess to such simr posts on their experiences but not what people had experienced at the start of the dungeon. In short, the AI censoring their posts was to prevent spoilers and information sharing to a certain extent. Certainly, if the Pandarens were to group together and speak to share their information, there was no way the System could stop them from doing that. (Actually, it could if it is within the store''s instance but both Jin and the System too felt that it was extremely intrusive while the AI filtering can be seen as an advancement of technology instead.)

    However, that was the whole point of the censoring as well. If people wished to enjoy the dungeon solely for the experience, they would be able to do it without too much interference. Yet, if people wished to discuss it, they coulde together offline and form discussion groups with their friends or even strangers.

    It was both an introvert and extrovert friendly experience and Jin tried to cater while providing this unique exposure to the best of his ability.

 Chapter 1861 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 3

    Chapter 1861 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 3

    Obviously, Rong had no idea about those forums as he was still stuck within the Dark Days instance figuring out how to move forward. All he knew was that it was best to pick up anything that glitters on the ground.

    By the time he had managed to close himself off away from the group of Goblins and fought them in a narrow space within a broken down house, the Ox Demon Cultivator was already panting and had no choice but to use his Grade 1 Enhancement Technique, Ox Stamina, to temporarily regain his strength to fight against those Goblins.

    And to make things worse, he had to make sure that they were dead. There was an instance where he thought he had killed a particr Goblin and focused on fighting the rest off within the living room of the broken down house. That particr Goblin pretended to stay dead until Rong had his guard down before stabbing him from the back.

    The stab was sessful but the eventuality of that Goblin''s beating heart was not. Still, the backstab worked and Rong incurred an injury which he could only use his chi to stop the pain. Despite this knowledge, all he could do was to pour chi in the area to cease the bleeding and perhaps tighten the muscles so that there was a chance for it to mend itself with his chi.

    However, being at grade 1 means that the chi needed to do that was insufficient. It wasn''t until Rong started picking up all the glittering items on the ground that he found a potion. For some reason which he believed it was pertaining to the game design, his sight had been blurred whenever he approached the flickering of the glitter.And when he stepped on it, he felt nothing but the floor (or the body of a dead Goblin in some instances.)

    It was only when he ced his hand near the glitter, the image of the item and its form materialised in front of him. That was why he could not see whether any of those glitters was something that he needed.

    Only when he found a potion, he use it as quickly as he could to not just mend the stabbed wound but also the shes and cuts he had received from the Goblins previously. It tasted awesome but the effects were not the same. Only when he focused on the item, the potion look the same as the one being sold in Dungeons and Pandas but its effectiveness had been half because it was a ''Crude'' recovery potion.

    Other than that, there were misceneous items that he could pick up and throw in his storage ring. It was at that moment he realised that there was this particr protection charm that he picked up whose description when focused on, was a little weird.

    "Protection Inscription Charm against the Unheavenly sh: A hastily made product by the vige witch in order to protect the remaining vigers from the ultimate harm. However, it was never used because the witch was killed in the process of sending it out to her fellow vigers."

    Rongter found a few more of those inscription charms and felt that they might be useful for somethingter. For now, he inserted and infused those charms into his Grade 0 clothes as he found that there were still a few Goblins patrolling the area.

    "If this was real life, those Goblins would already havee to me based on the noise and stench of battle. Jin really makes this as if it was a video game." Rong said to himself as he did the most unbelievable thing.

    He had decided to sneak out of the broken house through its back door and move towards the clearing. However, he was never a thief nor an expert in sneaking, The moment he pushed the back door, a loud creaking noise was heard and the patrols had been alerted by it.

    "Ahhh fuckkk. I did not check." Rong said to himself as he got ready for battle and prepared to smash some Goblin heads. A few Goblins came from the front while there were two which he sensed that would be going around to aim for him via the back.

    Yet, the first Goblin who had contact with him died almost instantly as he took the two clubs he was wielding to ambush the Goblin from the cover of a pir and smashed his brains out. The slight startle from the other Goblins gave Rong the most opportune chance to move out of the house and shut the door. Using one of his clubs as a stick to block the door''s entrance. He used the time to face against the two goblins who came around the back.

    Unfortunately, he was a little hot headed from the adrenaline that he did not see an arrowing through from the top of the neighbouring house. The arrow no doubt gave trouble to his dominant arm but what Rong needed was striking power and not uracy for his enemy was right in front of him. So through brute force and some chi enhancement, he mmed his club into the opposing Goblin and did not give an opening for the second Goblin to act.

    The Club swung horizontally, impacting the second Goblin''s face and that was not the end of it as Rong poured more of his strength into the attack and sent it flying, and smashing his face onto the house''s wall.

    "Damn, if I am not Grade 1, the wall would have broken with it and might have killed the other two Goblins in the house," Rong thought to himself but that concentration was once again broken due to the opposing Goblin Archer sending shots out.

    "Arghh, this is so irritating! Now I understand why the Pandamonium App stated that this would be a hard dungeon." Rong thought to himself as he took a deep breath to reassess the area for a moment

 Chapter 1862 Dark Days Dungeons #1 -Part 4

    Chapter 1862 Dark Days Dungeons #1 -Part 4

    Previously when he questioned Lian ''Who the hell would advertise their dungeons to be hard and told them they will enjoy the difficulty is out of their mind'', he finally admitted that he was wrong but at the same time frustrated that he had been restricted. This was because Rong finally felt that he was undoubtedlycking.

    All those training with his powers had made him realise that his fundamentals were not as good as he thought. He had always assumed that Grandma Yuan had given them the best training package within the Demon Exorcists but now all he understood was that even Grandma Yuan had wanted them to unlock their powers quickly when they were young. She was not wrong in her methods but he realised this was how cultivation should be. Without a proper base foundation to hold his future powers, he will be shaky.

    "I wonder if Jin could clear this in record time?" He thought to himself as he faced the two Goblins who finally broke out of the door. But given how there was an archer- no two archers now from each side, Rong had decided to finish the battle within the house again.

    There was no indication that he could not use the enemies'' weapons to kill themselves as long as he was not holding on to them. And when Rong tried it, the method did work, allowing him to break and force the Goblin to push its dagger into its neck while he judo threw the other Goblin. When thest Goblin was on the ground, he took his club and kept bashing its face until the bones were crushed and organic matter slowly oozed out its ears and nose.

    "What the hell man? This is hard as fuck!" Rong said as he stood up and checked the house once more before he went to one corner of the house and started to take deep breaths. When he was ready, he pulled the arrow out of his right arm and used a portion of his shirt to bandage it so that it would stop bleeding. Rong could use his chi again but he was unsure whether he had the time to slowly heal up.

    On the contrary, he started to search the house if there was anything he could use to block the arrows and the Ox Demon Cultivator managed to find another Protection Inscription Charm against the Unheavenly sh. This was the third one he found and Rong wondered why they were so many of it. Still, he mindlessly used it to reinforce his underwear since there was a charm slot that could be used.

    "Ehhh do pillows really work?" Rong asked himself and felt that this was better than nothing. In his tired and injured state, the Ox Demon Cultivator was very sure that he would not be able to deflect the arrows properly with his club. (Maybe if Rong was fit like a fiddle like the time he started, he could have done it.)

    "Oh well, at least this is better than nothing," Rong said as he found a few strings of rope lying around and noticed that they were not attached to the Goblin, meaning he could pick it up. So, with a bit of innovation, he had wrapped the pillow around his left hand like a buckler before he attempted to rush out again.

    All he hoped was that those two archers were still on their respective roofs like how a video game would be. "Alright, let''s go!" Rong said to himself as he dashed out of the house not through the back door but the window that was closer to the subway exit. The moment he did that, he activated his Grade 1 Enhancement Technique once more, giving him the strength to jump up to the roof with one huge leap.

    Upon reaching the roof, the Goblin Archer released the arrow and Rong lifted up his ''pillow'' buckler only to find that it did stop the arrow momentarily which allowed the Ox Demon Cultivator to rush and smash its face.

    It was at that point, he saw that the roof had something glittering once more. "Please let it be a bow!" Rong pleaded as he knelt to pick it up. The glitter materialised and it was undoubtedly the very same bow and arrows that were left by the Goblin Archer.

    "Yes!" He said to himself as he picked it up and tried to aim towards the clearing where the second Goblin Archer would be. At that point when he attempts to aim at the second Goblin Archer, an arrow is flying towards him which instinctively causes him to raise his pillow buckler up. But instead of the arrow being stuck on it, it hits the edge of the pillow which allowed the arrow to be deflected and barely misses Rong''s shoulder.

    At that point, Rong became confident as he ripped out the pillow buckler and aimed towards the Goblin Archer. Even though he was a melee cultivator, Grandma Yuan did make them learn the basics for a variety of weapons. Bow and arrow were definitely one of them and it did not take long for Rong to be in position so that he could shoot a precise shot towards the Goblin Archer.

    It was not a headshot but a direct hit to its chest. After ying in Jin''s dungeons for some time, he got to learn some of his monsters'' anatomy. For the goblin, its heart was of simr anatomy position as the humans, and shooting the arrow toward the chest provided confidence for someone who had not been using a bow for a time.

    When that was over, Rong rested on the roof for a while longer in hopes that he could use the Enhancement Technique when he went to the clearing. Rong had the feeling that the final boss would be there and although it was best he hurry since there was not enough time left on the clock, it was imperative to at least be ready for the fight especially after what he learned about the Goblins'' attack patterns and behaviour.

 Chapter 1863 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 5

    Chapter 1863 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 5

    "Alright, let''s do it," Rong said as he walked towards the clearing. He tried to see if there were any more goblins trying to ambush him but when he was resting, he did expel some chi in an attempt to search for more.

    Other than the strong energy signature at the clearing, there should be nobody else around the ce. But he knew that his chi was not strong enough to sense a wide enough area. That was why he initially used the method of putting his ear to the ground hear for threats.

    But right at this moment, he did not have the strength to do it properly and clearly. Even with his enhancement technique, he believed that he could only pull it off for another two more times before he overextended his body from the stamina enhancement technique. After all, it was used in such a way that Rong pushed his chi into various portions of his muscles and allowed them to withstand the fatigue that the cultivator was feeling.

    It was meant to aid his ability to withstand pain as well as push over the limit of Grade 1 to Grade 1 Peak. But seeing the condition of his body, he knew that he could have paced it a little better rather than rushing to kill all the goblins with that first pounce.

    "In fact, I should have used the first pounce to kill goblins rather than just announcing my position," Rong said to himself as he knew that was a stupid move from him. Probably from arrogance, thinking that he could clear this dungeon fast.

    Just as he was about to go closer to the clearing, he saw a familiar goblin. It was a Hellknight Goblin sitting on a trunk log waiting for the cultivator toe close. "Heh, if it''s Dark Sols inspired, won''t you have some door or something to wee me so that it would mean the transition of minions to a boss fight?" Rong joked but the moment he said that and stepped forward into the clearing, the ''mysterious'' Hellknight Goblin mmed his sword into the ground, causing a wave of ck energy sh moving towards it at such a high speed that there was no way to avoid it.

    At the same time, Rong realised that one of his Protection Inscription Charms against the Unheavenly sh broke, leaving him with two more charms. Once Rong managed to save himself unknowingly from the sh, the Hellknight Goblin stood up without making a noise and mmed his sword once more.

    This time, Rong was alert but there was no ck energy shing out of his sword. Instead, the entire clearing had been surrounded by a ring of dark bluish mes. "Shitбнthis is really the boss." Rong did not want to believe it since the Hellknight Goblin had been an ally in various dungeons and now he was the boss of this Dark Days Dungeon instance.

    "Bossman Jin really knew how to hype this dungeon difficulty," Rong said as he wielded his two wooden clubs. "Is this even unbeatable?" The cultivator asked himself as he stepped forward not to get burned by the blue mes.

    "Sigh, it is best to move and take the initiative first before he makes his attack," Rong said as he charged forward only to see the Hellknight raise his right arm, causing blocks of stone to emerge from the ground. Rong did not know what that was but anything that he created should be considered dangerous.

    Thus, he quickly smashed them with his clubs only to find that his clubs were on fire which changed the property of the club momentarily into Fire Element. Rong had no idea whether if that was a good thing or not but did not hesitate to m his club into the Hellknight.

    The Goblin boss took damage and had visible damage from taking the blue fire elemental clubs. But just as Rong was about go to in for the second hit, he heard the stones which he did not attack explode behind him.

    By right, he should focus on the Hellknight but it was imperative to ensure that his back had no dangers at all. That was when he saw orbs of blue mes floating around after the stone explosion and they were aimed towards Rong.

    "Fkk!" Rong had to cease his attack and evade those ming orbs that were directed at him. Just like that, the Ox Cultivator understood the first mechanic of the Hellknight. Some of the mes that he evaded hit the Hellknight and that actually had some greenish plus signs appearing around him.

    "Wait. So my me clubs can injure him but his own blue mes heal him? What the shit!" Rong said but he had no time to think about it as the next attack pattern came when the Hellknight Goblin rushed towards Rong to punch him.

    Naturally, Rong defended with his clubs but the impact nearly caused him to closer to the ring for mes behind him. "Ouch ouch, hot!" Rong eximed as he moved forward. Next, Hellknight Goblin repeated the pattern again, allowing him to grow the stones out of the ground.

    Now that Rong knew that those stones did, he quickly moved in to destroy all stones, gathering the necessary energy in his clubs andter mming them on the Hellknight. Yet the Hellknight blocked the attack with his arms even though it meant taking damage to his arms.

    At that point, the Hellknight kicked Rong away and started the emergence of the stones again. But this time, there was something different, the stones came out of the ground even faster and popout a few skeletons of the Goblins that Rong had killed previously.

    "Cheating! Such cheat! I want my fire element!" Rong eximed as he zoomed to kill the minions only to find that the Hellknight used that as a distraction to give another punch against Rong. Unfortunately for the boss, the Ox Demon Cultivator at that point activated his enhancement technique and without him able to see it from his blind spot, Rong smashed his fire elemental club at the back of the Hellknight, causing him to waver in his stance.

    "Must be a critical hit!" Rong was delighted as he fell to the ground from the punch as well.

 Chapter 1864 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 6 (Final)

    Chapter 1864 Dark Days Dungeon #1 -Part 6 (Final)

    The Hellknight Goblin jumped backwards from the hit and Rong believed that he was going to win thisбнuntil he found out that there was going to be a phase 2 to this particr fight. The Hellknight Goblin picked up his sword and shoved it into the ground again, causing a wave of Unheavenly sh to emerge, directed at Rong who was on the floor.

    "Shittttt!!!" Rong was definitely not able to stand up to evade the attack in time and he took the sh point nk, only to remember that he still had two Protection Inscription Charms against the Unheavenly sh. Well, he left thest now that the previous one had been destroyed.

    "No no no!" The Ox Demon Cultivator saw that the Hellknight Goblin did not leave his sword alone, instead, he lifted it up and pointed towards Rong. "This game is fucked up!" Rong said when he imbued his wooden club with chi and used it to block the attack.

    Needless to say, the wooden club was cut into two, bing something more worthless than firewood. "Think! Rong! Think!" He tried to remember if he had picked up anything useful when he fought against the Goblin minions and remembered that he still had an iron dagger and a rusted iron gauntlet.

    He thought that both of them were useless but considering the situation right now, it beats having nothing at all. He still had one more Wooden Club with him but he knew that if he wanted to smash the Hellknight''s head, he needed to wait for the stone to emerge from the ground and there, he gained the fire elemental power up to give the Hellknight one more hit.

    Thus, he summoned the iron gauntlet first and fitted it to hit his right hand while he tried to evade the attack. "Learn the pattern! Learn the pattern!" Rong told himself as he knew that the sword swings would have a pattern too but he did not expect there to be a second strike, a third andstly a consecutive four and fifth strike.

    If not for his iron gauntlet infused with some chi, he would not be able to get out of the sword range for thest two hits. But just as the gauntlet had proven to be useful, it broke down after defending Rong from the Hellknight Goblin''s strikes. "At least let me get a hit in damn it!" Rongined as he also took out his iron dagger and held it in a unique dual wielding position. The dagger was pointed at the Hellknight Goblin while his other hand kept the wooden club away from it.

    "Four more minutesбн" Rong said as he paced himself, hoping to see other attack patterns but the Hellknight Goblin did the five sword strike again which made the Ox Demon Cultivator make sure that he had enough space to evade and not get hit by the Ring of Blue mes that denoted the edge of the arena.

    But what he did not expect was that the fifth sword strike became different as it hid the sword within its cape as if it was charging it. "Wait for it.. wait for itбн" Rong focused hard on the Hellknight Goblin''s movement and the moment he unleashed it, it was undoubtedly an Unheavenly sh but this time it was a horizontal one.

    Rong quickly dropped himself to the ground, barely avoiding that sh and started to rush into the proximity of the Hellknight Goblin. It was at that point, the boss finally started to summon the stones within the clearing once more.

    "Yes! Yes!" Rong screamed as this was the time to prepare for the huge strike. He activated his enhancement technique, Ox Stamina onest time as he visually checked the stone emergence pattern so that he could hit as many as possible while moving towards the Hellknight Goblin.

    Soon, almost every stone pir that had been raised out from the ground was destroyed by Rong, allowing him to gain enough power within his club. It looked like he was dragging around a ming torch behind his back while he rushed forth with his knife.

    The knight went into a defensive position waiting to parry the knife attack only to be countered with Rong sliding through the clearing and sending a low swiping kick, causing the Hellknight Goblin to fall.At this point, Rong had the upper hand to send his dagger downwards and the Hellknight Goblin had to protect itself by dropping therge sword and putting its palm out and be pierced by the dagger.

    "This is the end!" Rong shouted as he did not use his club to hit the Hellknight Goblin. Instead, he used the club to hit the hilt of the dagger that he was holding. He did not know whether it would work or not but this move sacrificed his hand in the process but will definitely push the dagger down.

    To his surprise, the fire element was being transferred from the wooden club and into the iron dagger, enchanting it to be strong enough to give a final blow to the Hellknight Goblin. A loud explosion ensued causing Rong to be knocked backwards.

    However, at that point, he did not have enough energy to manoeuvre himself away from the Ring of mes. "Shit, am I going to lose this dungeon instance, just like that?" Rong thought until he noticed that he had been thrown to the nearest house with the ring of mes inactive.

    The Hellknight Goblin did not die and instead screamed in agony as he released a series of random Unheavenly shes across the entire vige before calming down. "Shitбнif I did not have thatst inscription charm, I would really have been dead," Rong said as he struggled to keep an eye on the Hellknight only to see it pointing its sword at the Ox Demon Cultivator before walking backwards andter towards the bottom of theke.

    "Congrattions! You have cleared the Dark Days Dungeon Instance #1! Unfortunately, because you are an employee of Dungeons and Pandas, there is no price for being the first and your title would be invalid too. Apologies!" A cute sounding female voice said and he could roughly figure out who that was before he fainted.

 Chapter 1865 Did You Have Fun?

    Chapter 1865 Did You Have Fun?

    "Urgh Ms Milk. Do you really have to bandage my hand until like this?" Rong asked as he woke up in the private medical room of the Dark Days Dungeon Subway Station.

    "You are so injured from it, so maybe I can ---ahhhhhhhhhhHHH!"

    "Don''t mind her, Mr Rong. Did you have fun?" Peppers asked as she pulled Milk away from trying to flirt with almost every man she saw. (Sheined and said that she was not flirting at all but Peppers never believed it.)

    "It''s amazing but Ms Peppers. I doubt you can go in there. You are magic based and they would allow you to bring one Level 1 Spell into the dungeon." Rong said and Peppersughed.

    "My Level 1 Spell? I think that''s enough to decimate the entire vige. The Hellknight Goblin will not hold a candle against me!" Peppers said and Milk knocked her head.

    "Do not listen to this fool. Sometimes, her head is over the moon." Milk remarked and the two of them quarrel again.

    "It is tough being them. Always fighting. I wonder if they ever get tired of it." The sounds of armoured footsteps came in and Rong saw the real ''copy'' of the Hellknight Goblin.

    "Dread Reaver sh. It is an honour to see you in person." Rong said as he tried to get out of bed but sh denied him that opportunity.

    "Please, just rest. There is no need to be so polite when we are all now employees of Master Jin." sh said as he calmed Rong down and took a seat beside him while the two Betors had done their ''job'' and returned to what they had been assigned to do.

    "That fight was insane. It''s too bad I can only enjoy the ''first to finish Dark Days Dungeon'' in secret." Rong smiled as he slowly unwrapped the bandage on his hand. It was already healed by Milk''s magic but there was a little bit of phantom throbbing.

    "Hahaha. That''s true since if we employees were to take it, the cultivators would cry foul y. In fact, because of what you did, there were a few other monster employees who had decided to try the Dark Days Dungeon instance themselves too."

    "Have you attempted it yourself as well?" Rong asked and sh shook his head.

    "Imagine being beaten by an NPC with specific attack patterns that were modelled from yourself. You will feel inferior." Dread Reaver remarked and Rongughed.

    "That is true, but if Boss Jin ever made a version of me. I would like to see what I can do exactly. But hey not to worry, that Hellknight Goblin is not dead since he went into theke. The NPC can take revenge in round two."Rongmented.

    "Hahaha, definitely not so soon. I am betting Master Jin would create the second one, it would be either the Orcs or Mistress Ke Mi''spanions."

    "I never fought with Mistress Ke Mi before, is she powerful? I heard she can use music or sound to destroy someone. There were rumours that a deaf person could hear her music and if it is with killer intent, the deaf can even die from it."

    "Hahaha, don''t listen to those rumours but I have to say take a pinch of salt with such gossip." Dread Reaver sh replied.

    "By the way, did you see Lian anywhere? If I am out and close to the time limit, she should be done too." Rong said and he heard someone grumbling.

    "Stupid Ox. Can you not keep it down?"

    "Lian! You okay? Managed to pass it?" Rong came down from his bed only to feel his legs were a little numb with pins and needles. It was only with some chi he managed to stabilise it and move towards the opposite side of the private medical room.

    "Duh, of course. Too bad for me I finished with just one second remaining." Lian pouted as she could not believe she would lose to Rong.

    "What? Is it so bad to lose to me?"Rong felt a little disappointed.

    "No. That means you are my goal for this Dark Days Dungeon. I will have to beat this dungeon earlier than you to be satisfied." Lian folded her arms and turned her head away from Rong. She hoped that this small rivalry against him would allow him to be more encouraged.

    But she had forgotten how simple minded he could be.

    "If that''s the case, then I have to strive for the fastest run ever to finish this!" Rong said with a delightful grin on his face.

    "Sigh, looks like he regained his vitality." Lian smiled as she asked him to move away. "I want to sleep a bit; it has been a tiring week for me." Rong eventually talked to Dread Reaver sh and asked a few questions before he left the medical room while Lian decided to sleep there for the night and requested the System to put up some privacy barriers for her. The System queried why she was not willing to return to her room when all it took was just a portal.

    "Sigh, and see the two pouty faces? No thanks." Lian insisted and she turned off the lights for her bed and slept there for the rest of the night.

    "How did the two Demon Exorcists do it?" Jin asked as the System reported that theypleted it in one try. "Lian was more consistent as she systematically defeated the goblin minions and even searched the houses. The System believed her sensor skill which she lowered the grade and effectiveness just to use it for this instance was the right choice."

    "She managed to find all the six inscription charms while Rong only found three. Regardless, this dungeon instance had pushed their limits and it seems there was some foundational reinforcement to their overall well being."

    "In short, I should do more of this dungeon?" Jin asked with a grin and the System acknowledged.

    "It might be terrible for all the cultivators but soon once they start seeing the effects of the core foundation, they should prove to be cultivators than they once used to be. Just be sure to add in a few ''light hearted'' dungeons for the casual cultivators. Please do not neglect them." The System reported and Jin nodded his head.

 Chapter 1866 Theory Crafting

    Chapter 1866 Theory Crafting

    The reception of the Dark Days Dungeon had been surprisingly decent when Jin thought that there would be a lot of controversy due to the difficulty of it especially for the ''normal'' cultivators. For the fact that Jin had decided to keep most of its contents under wraps, most of the cultivators did not know what to expect and in fact, most of them went in with the expectation of being ''careful''.

    There was no information avable until you tried it once. Of course, if one were to look outside of the Pandamonium App circle, like social media and stuff like that, there would definitely be spoilers. However, a majority of the cultivators had unconsciously agreed that it was best not to spoil the fun of it.

    Besides, there was not much to spoil with the exception of the advice to search for the bodies or the vige and ''get the Protection Inscription Charm no matter what''. As for the rest of the chatter in the, people actually abide by the ''rules'' and most of the conversation pertaining to the Dark Days Dungeon had been confined within the Pandamonium Sub Forum thread.

    Some were sharing their experiences on how they fought the first phase of the boss and the mechanics of the stone pirs skill. It was quite clear that Jin had indeed followed the Dark Sols'' forme and implemented attack patterns and mechanics for cultivators to understand.

    For the stone pirs, it might seem random at first until they took the time to understand it. Some even tried and remember where it was situated and draw it out. It was to the point where many of the cultivators chimed in their information and builtprehensive coordinates of the Hellknight Goblin''s first mechanic.

    They eventually found out that there were three patterns of stone emergence altogether and the possibility of those three patternsing out had been rather skewed in such a way that most cultivators agreed to at most remembering two particr scenarios. Based on the two scenarios that came out the most frequently, the forum peeps had even deduced which was the best ce to stand so that they could hit the maximum amount of stone pirs that even a regr cultivator could achieve.

    It was like a big theory crafting session for something that Jin haphazardly put up (Of course, they never knew that!) and the owner of Dungeons and Pandas was sincerely impressed by the ''DDD Community'' or so they quote themselves to be. It was unlike any other dungeons where the discussion was mostly lighthearted and maybe capturing hrious moments within those dungeons. At most, some would ask for help on how to fight against the bosses but this Dark Day Dungeon Instance was producing not mere guides. They were taking into ount the kind of techniques that would be suitable for the run.

    Cultivators were sharing their information from the type of techniques used and people in the forum were coting those data and even putting them in Excel sheets to show which would be suitable. If someone were to use the very same technique and had managed to clear a certain phase of the fight, they would try to put it in words.

    However at times, it was difficult to visualise what the cultivators were talking about and some customers even took the extra mile to go into Jin''s training service instance, Panda Muscles Service Instance to rent one of the training dummies and showed the forum people how he had done it. Those who saw it asked whether Boss Jin would ever consider creating a dummy training arena of the same size as the Vige''s Clearing to get used to the space.

    To their surprise, Jin had agreed within a day and added a new portion in the Panda Muscles Service Instances to rent training rooms that simte the Vige''s Clearing arena. There were even props where ready where the stones could be ced via chi markers. When Jin announced this rental service, the number of people buying the monthly premium pass went up drastically. This was because they got to use the Panda Muscles Service Instance to learn the fight andter attempted it.

    The difficulty spike had in fact brought poprity back to Dungeons and Pandas and people all over China wereining when Jin would ever bring his service to other regions of the nation. "A work in progress. We are nning to implement our Virtual Reality game stores and Dungeon Supplier stores simultaneously at various locations in theing year. I can guarantee you that a region would be lucky enough to get it first and if that is sessful, we will strive to expand even more at a rapid pace. For now, pleasee patronise Shenzhen''s Tree Mall and experience what this shopping centre could offer that others could not." Jin said in the forums and everyone got excited.

    Along with that announcement, CEO SeaMesh Ke Loong had also stated that hispany would be lending his expertise to aid with Jin''s shop expansion which instantly skyrocketed SeaMesh stocks up to 30% of its original price for some reason. Ke Loong was expecting a small increase because he also believed Jin''s circle of influence was considerably small when Jin''s announcement made headlines in Shenzhen. Yet, he never expected investors to pour in so quickly, pushing SeaMesh prices to such heights.

    Perhaps the investors may have the belief based on the fact that SeaMesh had recently been doing very well in their tech expertise portion due to their vital role in creating the Virtual Reality as no pun intended a reality. Some even had the suspicion that SeaMesh was backing up Jin all these while in his new Dimensional Instance Technology and that Jin''s store was just a front for experiment.

    But wild theories aside, with this injection of cashflow, Ke Loong was poised to aid Jin in his expansion of both the new Dungeon Supplier Store and Virtual Reality Store. It will definitely be a busy year for Jin and his team. (Meanwhile, in the background, the System was dying to get Panda Inc to IPO.)

 Chapter 1867 Cardinals Chat

    Chapter 1867 Cardinals'' Chat

    Maybe it is because of the fabulous interaction from the cultivators in the Dark Days Dungeons sub forum threads, Jin was motivated to create the second one almost immediately instead of waiting for more data and feedback on the dungeon instance.

    But just as he was about to do that, the System stated that Kong Rong had decided to make a visit to Jin''s store. "I thought he was busy and wanted toeter in the week?" Jin asked and the System did not have an answer for that.

    "While the System does have a peek at Kong Rong''s schedule, it did not mean that it was a priority for the User to understand and even pursue exnations on his schedule. Regardless, Ryuli and he are around to meet you."

    "Did you say Ryuli?" Jin asked and the System now asked for an exnation. "User, please be aware that you are attached as of now. While the System does not condone the User to have a concubine, it doesn''t mean that you can get it right now. Perhaps after you get married. Unless you have a valid reason that you wish to tell the System?"

    "Gah! Do you think I have an interest in every girl I see?" Jin did not understand why the System acted that way to tease him or not.

    "Then why did your heart rate increase, and your breathing pattern slightly alter with the mention of the name Ryuli?"

    "There is something I need to ask her about. No matter how awkward it is." Jin said as he remembered the disaster within his Subconscious which Ryuli was in. Recently, he had been trying to take some time off to cultivate a little not just to maintain his cultivation but also to check on the Cardinals although the true reason was to revisit that terrible disaster that the state of Shenzhen was in.

    However, whenever he tried to do so, he returned to the snowy mountainous cliff where he had first met Genbu and Yamata no Orochi. In that area, Suzaku would be slightly distant in her bird form, perched on a rather huge tree branch while Byakkou was acting like a little kitten lying but the fact that he was a huge ass tiger, only his head was resting on Jin''s thighs.

    It was at that point he asked questions about Seiryuu whereas the rest felt that it was not actually the best topic to talk about. It was only after a brief moment of silence that Genbu started speaking out. "Seiryuu was the most devoted to protecting the nation, so the incident at Lost Flower City had been a very big blow for him."

    "Wait. Is that where Suzakuбнerm and Zeruбн That situation?" Jin could vaguely remember how Suzaku was extremely bitter against Zeru and vowed to kill him if she ever saw him again. However, deep down, everyone including Jin knew that she was still deeply in love with him for Love and Hate were just sides of the same coin.

    "It''s more like what had transpired after бнthat incident. You should have heard how Zeru managed to protect a politician against a thousand over thugs." Byakkou asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "That infamous thousand thugs were not just thugs. They were actually from the people who worshipped Seiryuu. Cultivators who had been isted from time and retained their tradition up to this day."

    "Wait, so those people were not chasing after the politician but actually Zeru himself? What did he do?"

    "By now you would have known what kind of techniques that Zeru used, right?" Genbu chimed in.

    "Yes, the ehhh Lotus techniques. He taught me a few of it tooбнwell just the basic few." Jin replied and the rest looked at him at the same time, he felt something was amiss.

    "Is that something I should be worried about? Like how the techniques should not be used and they are forbidden or something like that? Or is it something that will take my life away?" Jin asked, now a little worried.

    "Oh yeah, we forgot. You can heal yourself painfully." Byakkou returned to be azy kitty.

    "What''s the matter, hey don''t leave me in the dark."

    "Zeru basically lied to be Seiryuu''s next sessor when he actually took the techniques he learned and ran away to be with his wife, Fei Er," Genbu exined in the shortest summary of it all without all the bad things that happened in between Suzaku felt that it was doing the story a disservice.

    "Wait, so all of you are from the Lost Flower City?" Jin asked and Genbu nodded his head. "Soбн if you guys are from thereбн and judging how Suzaku became a phoenix despite her past lifeбн I am guessing. All of you are leaders of some sort of n? Seiryuu is one of them by deductionбн But how did you all be animal spirits?"

    "Wow, for a guy as dumb and clueless as Jin, he managed to understand all of these rather well." Byakkou yawned while he turned his body and asked Jin for a belly scratch.

    "Why am I doing this when you are scolding me." Jin could not understand the reason why as he used his Maqi to create multiple invisible hands and helped Byakkou.

    "We are Cardinal Spirits because that is our duty. Until the death of our current sessors, they will take over to be the next Cardinal Spirits." Genbu replied.

    "What I do not understand is that you all have Cardinal Spirit duties, right? Then why are all of you residing in my mind?" Shouldn''t you all be busy?"

    "Nah, they don''t usually call us out so we are practicallyzing around doing nothing. Ming was the one who had decided to take us all into your pathetic cramp space to not make us bored. Granted, it was quite fun in the Synthesis World so I would not have regreted the decision." Byakkou exined. "Besides, it did good for Suzaku as well."

    "So, you guys want me to settle Seiryuu as I did for Suzaku?" Jin asked and the reply was unanimous.

 Chapter 1868 Twins of Seiryuu

    Chapter 1868 Twins of Seiryuu

    "I don''t think he knows though." Byakkou looked at Suzaku as if asking for permission to talk a little history about the Azure Dragon. Suzaku sighed and nodded her head ever so slightly once more.

    "The current Cardinal of Seiryuu is actually twins. A boy and a girl. However, for some reason we noticed that the female presence of Seiryuu had disappeared for some time, thinking that maybe the guy had gone more insane and killed her." Genbu started to exin.

    "But it does not feel that way, as Suzaku had once tried to seek his help so that we four Cardinals can help you survive Synthesis World since that was where you were so powerless and helpless." Genbu continued. "However when Suzaku reached his domain, the Azure Dragon thought that his sister came back only to find the presence was Suzaku''s instead."

    "Oh.." Jin now realised how tsundere Suzaku was. Secretly wanted to help Jin but did not dare to say it out loud or even show it.

    "That was where he exploded and demanded where we kept his sister too. Shouting nonsensical things like ''Human? Did that Zeru once again take something precious away from me again?!'' And he went on a rampage where leaving him in his domain was probably the only way to go for now." Suzaku finally spoke.

    "We believed that his sister had gone out into the real world, ignoring Ming''s advice and mission, searching for a way to get enough power to beat Zeru. Although if she is really out there, there might also be a chance she had forgotten about Zeru since most of the time when someone leaves their domain, they would not have the memories of their past." Genbu spoke.

    "However, since fate is always such a trickster we would not know whether the female portion of Seiryuu would be enjoying life while her brother was still tormenting himself to the mistake he made." Byakkou shrugged his shoulders and continued to enjoy the belly scratching.

    "Ehh, then how do you recognise if the other portion of the Azure Dragon is around us?" Jin wanted to know and identify it.

    "Meh, just utilise our Cardinal powers as how you did in the Synthesis World. We might not have granted you everything but it should be more than enough. After which, she will undoubtedly be able to sense her ''kind''. Though if she really forgets about it, the best would be to use the brother''s powers to lure her out." Genbu suggested.

    "That is impossible. Seiryuu is not an opponent that Jin could be able to knock on the door and ask ''Hey, lend me your powers? I maybe can search for your sister.'' If I am not wrong, the moment Jin spouted out the word sister, he would go mad about it." Byakkou warned.

    "Lol, thank goodness they are of the same age, otherwise I might mistake him as having a sisterplexбнwait wait wait WAIT! A! MINUTE! PLEASE. PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME." Jin suddenly shouted which caught their attention.

    "Did Zeru spoil the heart of Seiryuu''s counterpart while chasing Fei Er? Just as how Suzaku got her heart broken?" Jin asked as he wanted to know if this was because of Zeru''s personality. Only Byakkou and Genbuughed and they shook their heads. Suzaku kept her face straight and this gave Jin a sigh of relief.

    "Geez, I thought that man was some sort of harem ma."

    "We would be lying if there were no girls who want to be with him," Genbu remarked and they all agreed that getting Azure Dragon''s spirit to calm down first before searching for his sister would be the best way to get things done. For that point of contention, Jin asked if he somehow managed to find the Sister first.

    "Then it would make things even easierбн? Well, that''s what we hope if Seiryuu is able to reunite with his sister." Genbu said and Jin promised to try his luck as well.

    -----

    "Nah, it''s just that there were consistent reports that Ryuli had been looking for me for a certain period of time. Perhaps, she could finally tag along with Kong Rong so that she could talk to meбн?" Jin tried to smoke his way out but the System decided to drop the subject and told Jin that the meeting would take ce in the Amber Arbour.

    "Feels like that is now the true meeting ce for every one of us?"

    "Agent Ryuli is not part of the group. The System would not allow a stranger to enter without full credentials even though the User approves of her. If you wish to put the meeting in the Dungeon Maker, then prepare a contract for her and we can make the arrangements to have the meeting there instead." The System stated.

    "Nah, no need to do that. I do not see a point in going such an extra mile just for a visitor. Perhaps if she proves herself to be useful then I am able to provide a contract for her to sign. Or maybe, Kong Rong wants us to let her join the System? Who knows? Let''s just y by year on why she is here, though I believed it was due to the fact that she had been wanting to meet me up I did not give any chance for her to have a meet with me.

    "Indeed, Agent Ryuli had umted at least 15 instances where she wanted to see Jin. However, Use during those times had been dealing with problems from the past multiverse worlds. It was impossible to drag the User out of the situation just so that an agent of the state was able to meet with him. Unless it was of severe importance, which the System had detected no signs of it and Kong Rong did note to us personally, the System thus did not make any noise of it."

    "Damn okay," Jin said as he teleported himself to Amber Arbour to wait for his guests.

 Chapter 1869 Possible Plots of the Banned Emperor Terrorists

    Chapter 1869 Possible Plots of the Banned Emperor Terrorists

    "It''s been a long time, eh?" Kong Rong said as he and Agent Ryuli sat together when Jin weed them. "You do not mind if I brought her along, right?"

    "Yeah, I don''t though but do you think it is appropriate for her to listen to our conversations?" Jin asked as he sat and asked the Otter to bring some drinks and snacks along. "Some light meal to apany the conversation?"

    "Coffee will do. I missed Lynn''s ssic blend mixture." Kong Rong said as he looked at Ryuli. She merely nodded her head and walked to the next table. Jin also asked the Otter waiter to take her orders and put them under his tab. The Otter understood and went to take her orders as well. Usually, it would only be the mystery meal that is avable, but Jin''s guests had the incentive to select what they wanted. Of course, no absurd requests which Ryuli merely requested for a cup of tea too.

    The sound barrier went up again and Kong Rong started to talk to Jin about the issues that mattered. "You wished to discuss business first or some of the ongoing issues that we had been experiencing?"

    "I like to ask a little more about Banned Emperor Terrorists. Recently there was a batch of Wang Liangs that had been seen in Rome, Italy. The attacks had been random at first but eventually, it all led to the Colosseum. I found out that it is the home of a Void Being. And the Wang Liangs had been seen been affected by those Void Energy, causing them to change into Y''m-Bhis, ehhh mutated Undead Warriors in my opinions."

    "I assume theseбнmutated Undead Warriors are connected to the Void Being?" Kong Rong was already taking down notes.

    "Yes, I believed we had killed most of them and did not awake the Void Being into our world. I am wondering if you can search for any information about that?"

    "When you said Void Being, I assume it is of an Elite ss that even you were not able to take on alone?" Kong Rong teased Jin but thetter shook his head.

    "Nah, it''s not that I cannot fight him. ording to intel from Farasha, the Void Being is a monster called Spartakus. Apparently, he possessed a shit ton of minions under him. Enough to tten a peaceful metropolitical city easily and go out conquering stuff."

    "Sounds like Spartacus."

    "Exactly, but whether they are coincidentally the same being or the same nature, begs to be known. So far we had alerted the Head of the Italian Demon Exorcist Organisation to be careful exterminating those monsters near the Colosseum to not wake the Void Being. Grandma Yuan had also been informed and thest I heard, they are liaising together to increase security to catch remaining Wang Liangs."

    "I see, I will check on my part whether I can liaise with the Italian''s External Intelligence and Security Agency to see if there are any Banned Emperor Terrorists working on that angle. Meanwhile, for our side, Zeru had been actively aiding us in our fight against the terrorists. They had caught and killed approximately fifty over criminals."

    "Along with your agent, Ryuli over there?" Jin suddenly felt a chill when he said her name as if she could understand that she was being mentioned despite aside from the privacy barrier that had been ced.

    "For certain missions, yes. But not all the time. I had been briefed that their contact was merely to ensure that the region they were monitoring had the threats been annihted."

    "Just curious, did Ryuli show any animosity against my sword grandmaster?" Jin asked and Kong Rong was a little surprised by the line of question.

    "I doubt so. There was nothing that warranted any of such behaviour. Is there a problem that Sword Saint Zeru spoke of? I understand Ryuli can be a bit of an oddball at times but she had been one of our mostpetent agents around."

    "Nothing, I am just checking. Had hunch or erm vibe with regards to their work style." Jin said and told Kong Rong to continue.

    "We managed to extract some information, some with the help of Kraft and we rewarded him generously for that. They spoke in riddles of a possible n to attack the iing Royal Zodiac National Martial Arts and Sportspetition." Kong Rong said and that piqued Jin''s interest very much.

    "Ohбнno wonder you are looking at me to see if I can contribute to that,"

    "Yes, if it is in a dungeon instance, we will be sure that there would be no casualties. Of course, if the attack did happen, it would be confined either within the Tree Mall or within your dungeon instance. Even if the attack does not create any casualties, surely it will cause reputation damage to the Royal Zodiacs hosting it."

    "And considering that I am half step into that world, it will affect my reputation as well."

    "Yes. You can say that. So, I am hoping that the System and you could detect the threat and iste them so we can beat them to a pulp in another world where we still can run thepetition safely."

    "The only problem is if they dare to attack the Tree Mall."

    "Yes, but they have to remember that they are attacking one of the strongest civilian poptions in China especially after all these people around you had been training the heck out of your dungeons." Kong Rong and Jinughed at the same time.

    "Well, you are definitely not wrong with that. Not to mention that it is also the most armed poption as well considering how the civilians all had weapon licenses after buying from my shop." Jin said before agreeing to host the Royal Zodiac National Martial Arts and Sportspetition.

    "Brilliant, we will tell you the budget and perhaps I can push a few buttons to increase that amount so you can provide them with one of the best experiences ever. You never know, with this, more and more people will want to use you as an event tform."

 Chapter 1870 If The User Dies

    Chapter 1870 If The User Dies

    "At this rate, I would like to buy the surroundingnd and convert it to my name. Lol." Jin said and Kong Rongughed. "If you do that, you might be suspected to beundering money at a huge scale. The government isn''t very kind to that. ThoughбнI can try helping you ask around if there is any plot ofnd avable for you to expand. But for now, I think that you have been lucky enough for Grandma Yuan to gift you thisnd." "Lol, she is earning enough passive ie to spend for the next lifetime," Jin said and Kong Rong chuckled. "Though from what I heard, she is creating sponsorships and schrships with that passive ie money for people to get into the Demon Exorcist School that I had created."

    "Oh yeah, how is that going? I heard the facilities were supposed top notch or something." "That is if only they approve the current design that I had made. Once the JODE is agreeable to that, then I will start the furnishing." Jin said as he asked if Kong Rong was busy. He shook his head and showed him the school''s blueprint.

    "Quite a standard design, if I say so myself but you have all the facilities which most of the Demon Exorcists werecking. There was never a school that had everything epassed into one area. You might be the first to have the most equipped Demon Exorcist school ever built." "Is it that bad? I know that the Demon Exorcists is kind of like partially relying on charity in some way mainly because of how there were too little demons to exterminate and even if there is, it''s mostly minor ones." "Yes and even with the current events where there was that monster horde and the threat of Banned Emperor sending out Demons to disturb the peace of the majority, there was not enoughбн push factor to increase the number of schools or training centres. In fact, I believe that it might be possible with your school and looking at its sizeбн They might actually close several centres and push all the students to you instead." "Ohбн so, they don''t have to pay for rental, bills and other stuff. I settled almost everything for them." Jin nodded his head.

    "Yeah, at most, they will ask you to add a hostel as well and the JODE will pay you more since they are closing those centres down for a more centralised studying environment. This way, students don''t have to travel all the way to some remote region just to have their studies. Somehow, you are putting the Demon Exorcists out for people to know that they still exist by having a school within your store?" Kong Rong stated and he got where he wasing from.

    "You never know, if your school bes sessful, other countries might even send their kids to China either for exchange or for permanent enrolment. This might bring in a kind of revenue that would ultimately benefit the economyбнand your store. Hahah" Kong Rong said and started to fiddle with another idea.

    "Sayбнif you can make a school, can you make an intelligence academy as well? Your dungeon instances will be the perfect ce for them to simte all the different kinds of threats easily." "Blehбнyou want this because you want to ck in the movies section." "Call it official do not disturb time?" Kong Rong smiled and Jin thought about it. "At this rate, General Hou Fei might want to put a military camp in secret over here as well if I were to ede to your request."

    "That would be a decent idea though. The System cannot be taken over through usual and unusual means. As long as you are alive, the System will still continue to act." "If the User ever dies, the System can still continue the services required but there would be no improvements after that. It is merely maintenance. For now, the chances for Sub System Users to have ess to the majority of the System is usible after the death of the User but it depends on whether the System would appoint them as future official Users remains to be seen. That would be of another discussion." The System stated.

    "Wow. And here I thought the System would genuinely disappear after I die." Jin said.

    "That would have been the case if you had chosen the System to be an aid for your cultivation, the System will die with you because it is a personal System. But now that you have involved the System with so many other people, the legacy of the System will continue to live on." The System said and Jin was befuddled. "All this time what he had believed was a lie that if he dies, the System dies too? And thus the System is desperate to keep him alive?"

    "Why don''t I just kill myself right now?" "It is not beneficial for the System for you to die does not mean that the System cannot survive if the User dies. Those are separate issues altogether." "Hey, System. Want toe with me? I had shit loads of secrets that I have yet to share. Besides, do you want dirt on the Royal Zodiacs? Youe to the right ce for that." Kong Rong teased and the System refused.

    "The revenge against the Royal Zodiac had been repeatedly analysed to the point where the System had also concluded that it was not conducive for the System and had decided to follow the User. But right now, it is best for the User to follow the System''s advice. There are some promises the User made had to realise before moving forward." The System repeatedly reminded Jin in case he ''casually'' forgot about it and proceeded onto something new again.

    "Yes yes. I understand I will go ahead and finish up the school when the JODE replies to me as well as the Gentlebear instance. I will also check on the other worlds and see what can be done. Okay?" Jin felt that the System was nagging so much there were times Jin really wished there was a mute button he could utilise. But as much as he needed to clear all those, there was an issue of liaising with Syn with regards to the new Virtual Reality World that they were to create. бнAlthough the next thing he needed was actually a talk with Ryuli.

 Chapter 1871 Who is Your Master?

    Chapter 1871 Who is Your Master?

    And he did. Kong Rong wanted to move after having a cup of coffee but Jin requested to have a talk with Ryuli. This actually allowed the Royal Dragon Zodiac n Leader to say he made a move first while using the System''s portal System. Usually, people were afraid that if Kong Rong goes around without security, it would be bad for their image. But there were ces where Kong Rong needed to go somewhere alone and to this end, he had used the System''s portal to move to Rome, Italy. There was a contact or two which he could use to find out whether the Wang Liangs were nted by the Banned Emperor Terrorists. It was also somewhere which he needed to do alone mainly because of the secrecy of the contact that he was meeting. "If anything, I am relying on your System to get me out of any sticky situation." Kong Rong teased the System but it took his request very seriously.

    Back to Jin, Agent Ryuli had the same sentiments as Jin as she wanted to have her questions answered. "Who is your master?" "What?" Jin was confused by the manner of questioning since Ryuli did not answer him if he could have a talk with her or not and instead asked that question.

    "I repeat again, who is your master in cultivation?" Ryuli asked as she sipped her drink.

    "Erm.. Ming? My Grandfather?" Jin asked and Ryuli squinted her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows. "I did not mean the first person who taught you how to cultivate, as in the master who teach you how to utilise your current cultivation." "I бнdo not have a master?" Jin asked and Ryuli was confused.

    "Then? Who... How did you learn your cultivation through?" "Through some trial and error and with a cultivation manual left by my grandfather?" Jin replied as he was really curious why she asked that.

    "Wait, so you cultivate all this by yourself? Then where did you get the manual or rather, where did your grandfather find that cultivation manual from?"

    "He created it all by himself and if I am not wrong, he only started and finished it right before he died. I can show you the condition of the manual if you want." Jin said and Ryuli shook her head. "That means I reached another dead end again. Sorry to bother you with my line of questioning." "Then can I ask what is that all about? If I am able to pry a little information about it, I see whether I can help you." Jin said and Ryuli sighed. It looked as if she thought about it for a while and decided to trust Jin since he had been working with Kong Rong so much that Kong Rong was willing to throw everything on the line for this Panda Cultivator, he should be trustworthy enough.

    "I am looking for the master who gave me my cultivation powers," Ryuli said as she emitted her energy and it was undoubtedly Maqi. "Because of this, I can utilise both magic and chi at the same time and for some reason, I can feel that same vibeing from you. And I had confirmed that your chi had a tinge of magic within it as well. This is why there are times I thought I sensed two power sources within you rather than one. It could be possible that you worked for that particr master who gave me my powers." "Ahбн I see." Jin was not sure whether she would believe that Jin was the one who gave her some powers. But at the same time, he did not believe it either since it was supposed to be a dream in a taxi. He had no idea why he remembered it so vividly and the actions he had taken.

    "Maybe it is in the course of pursuing cultivation, that those mana circuits got unlocked and augmented with the chi circuits? I mean if you have it and I have the same as you, it is possible that there might be other people out there who have the same kind of powers too." Jin tried tofort her. "Impossible. The concept of chi and mana had been explored for centuries and no one was able to join them together. The fact that you possessed them is due to your cultivation and only your cultivation. The reality is that the Maqi is identical to yours, meaning that User did actually do something to pass the Maqi to her. There is no other exnation than that. It left the System perplexed as well but there is no other exnation than you giving her directly." The System was mumbling in Jin''s ears that he found it extremely irritating. "The only thing the System could think of is Time Travel. But the System could not believe that the User had any possible powers capable of doing that." The System stated and Jin asked Ryuli to digest on what he said for a moment as he picked up his phone to pretend to talk to the System.

    "You are freaking noisy! What is wrong with you?!" "The System believed the theory that the User had time travelled back in time to give her the Maqi." "I said it was a dream okay! How I could time travel while dreaming?! And if I did, what are the fucking odds that I have a disciple right in front of me? Out of the billion people in China?! Just chill System! I have something else to figure out as well!" Jin said as he put the phone down even though Ryuli could sense that there was no phone call at all Jin was clearly speaking to someone. She decided to ignore it for now as Jin returned to the table.

    "Original Betor Kraft did talk about how Kiyu had residual time magic-" Jin immediately shut the System out even though he remembered the conversation he had with Kraft.

 Chapter 1872 Sei -Part 1

    Chapter 1872 Sei -Part 1

    "Anyways, yes. I believe you are a busy man so what can I help you with?" Ryuli asked and Jin questioned if she was able to spare him a minute. "Ehhбн That issue is not that important but..." Jin realised that he could use Ryuli''s request to find out whether she had the twin sister of Seiryuu. Besides, it made sense that she used the dragon cultivation if she really does have Seiryuu inside of her. "I just wish to emit a bit of chi towards you to see if your chi reacts and if it is identical, will that be okay?" "Hmm, I do not see any problem with that. Now that you put it that way, I am interested in knowing the results as well." Ryuli replied and she extended her hand out. "Alright, here goes," Jin said as he took a slow deep breath as he did not emit just his chi but a little bit of Byakkou''s energy as well. After all, he had been using his lightning techniques so many times, it''s the one that he was so familiar with. However, the only problem was that he was not sure whether the Cardinal''s powers would still flow through him since he only used them in the Synthesis World and not in his own world. "It worked!" Jin said to himself as he slowly ced his hand on Ryuli.

    Suddenly, she grabbed Jin''s hand hard as if it were by instinct. It instantly shocked Jin and he tried to let go of it but Ryuli was not doing so. On the contrary, it seemed like there was a gushing amount of Maqi that was being emitted out of her. "TELEPORT US NOW!" Jin did not want the other customers to be bothered by the scene and he believed that it might get ugly. "Please don''t tell me that she is going to wreck the Tree Mall, right here and now?!" Jin thought to himself as he held onto her and the System immediately teleported them into a training instance.

    "High intensity fluctuations of Maqi inside Ryuli. The training instance might not be able to hold her. The System is preparing a series of instance locks to make sure that she does not get out of it." However, instead of doubting the System''s condition and ability to hold her, Jin knew that the System''s instances should be imprable. Ever since the God''s invasion into the Dungeon Maker, the System had been putting in a lot of effort to prevent things froming in or out. That is why Jin did not question the System when it said that Ryuli might have the capability and possibility of getting out of the training instance. "System, open a portal. Bring us to the Farming World of the Southern Region''s Deserts. Now!" Jin shouted as he was notfortable with the fact that what he had seen in his visions was Ryuli destroying the entire Tree Mall. The portal immediately opened based on Jin''s orders and there were noints nor excuses from the System. Jin quickly took Ryuli who seemed to still be struggling with herself. He immediately threw her into the portal and they arrived in the middle of the Southern Regions'' deserts. "Now entrap us into a ready made instance. In the meantime continue to reinforce the dimensional instances. Putyers uponyers. Do not stop. Use all your remaining processes to ensure this instance is extra fucking tight." Jin ordered without hesitation and the order was ryed within the blink of an eye. They were back in a dimensional instance in another world and the System was pouring the creation of more dimensional instances to keep both Jin and Ryuli at bay.

    "Do you wish for the System to call upon the Betors?" The System queried and Jin refused. He created this problem and he will do whatever it takes to remove and solve this problem. "Ryuli. I understand you are still in there. Wake up your senses." Jin shouted as he already have the System Rider belt on him and as well as his Bam and Boo not in sword form but in the form of knuckle busters. However, the longer the chi flows out, the more Jin could feel the difference in her. She did not have Jin''s Maqi in here anymore. Instead, it was of another kind of chi, the one that felt ominous, malevolent, and wateryбн? All of the Maqi that was previously within her had been extinguished and the Ryuli in front of him was no longer the Ryuli he had been acquainted with.

    Jin would like to ask what the heck is happening but there was no time for him to go in cultivation stance to ask questions. So, he decided to use Genbu''s cloning item technique. But instead of the System Rider Belt which he already possessed the original one in the real world, he cloned Genbu''s System Rider card which he had made when Jin was in the Synthesis World. After all, there was no such card avable in real life no matter how many times he searched for it within his System Card Deck. Thus, this was the only way to make thingse true. Hence, with Genbu''s System Rider card, he subsequently transformed into System Rider Genbu. "Oh. Clever boy. To use my own technique to summon me out." Genbu''s voice was ringing inside his brain aspared to how crystal clear it was within the Synthesis World. He believed it was because he did not grasp the concept of the System Rider Card properly or maybe Genbu was supposed to be in his subconsciousness and not real life.

    "As suggested by all of you, I used a bit of Byakkou''s lightning technique and mixed it with my Maqi. The moment I touched her, she became like this." Jin exined and Genbu was mildly shocked.

    "To think that you found the other half of Seiryuu so quickly. We thought that you were joking but you actually have someone in mind?" "You did say that the other half of Seiryuu disappeared out of the blue. This is the only person I ever share arge amount of Maqi with, in this world other than my employees or minions. So, naturally, I tested it out.

    "Shit and judging your power level, you might not be enough to win her. She deems very formidable in the arts of the Dragon Style." "She is one of China''s most elite agents wielding the power of the Dragon if I am not mistaken," Jin said and Genbu shook his head. If she used any other cultivation, you might have a chance. But this is бн This is impossible for you to win alone. If I am not wrong, Ming had also purposely prepared a series of trials for you to go through before you fight Seiryuu in your mind. You are in no position to win." "Even with my minions?" "Perhaps you can win with them, but have you forgotten how hard you do to earn the powers of the Cardinals? This is exactly the same. It is meaningless if you do not win it with your own powersбн well, we can help to a certain extent since we are now part of your powers." Genbu rambled but it seemed like Ryuli had finally been taken over by the Twin Sister of Seiryuu.

    "Welp. Guess we talked too much."

 Chapter 1873 Sei -Part 2

    Chapter 1873 Sei -Part 2

    "It''s fine, even if you attack her just now, you would not be even able to go near her since the malevolence in Sei is too strong, you would probably be swept away by it. Your attacks would also be dissipated by her malevolence chi as well." Genbu said as he took his shield out and ced it in the front. Yamata no Orochi was also wrapping itself around the body armour to prepare for itself to divert any aqua energy blows that came from Sei.

    "I do not know whether she will listen to me since she always finds that I nagged too much in the past. But let me try to talk to her and see if she could see some sense and in the meantime, charge some Maqi. This is going to be a difficult fight." Genbu said as he started shouting at Sei. "Sei! The Twin Sister of Seiryuu. It is me! The ck Tortoise Genbu! Can you recognise my voice and chi!?" Genbu put out the names to not only get attention but also help her to have time to recognise that it was Genbu she would be conversing with and not some random stranger.

    "Whereбнis. Where is my brother?! Did Zeru get to him?!" Sei shouted and Jin could see the crazed state that Sei was in. It was exactly the same as Suzaku but at least she was still sane despite the consistent outbursts that she made. But this is an entirely different story. What the hell did Zeru do that made them hate him so much? "Sweetheart, listen. Ryuu is in a very safe space. It just so happened that the User, the one I am possessing now was not in full control of his powers back in the day. Therefore, making you separate from him." Genbu tried to speak slowly and loudly at her. His actions and words were cautious in order not to draw any further irks from Sei.

    "He finally found you and wished to rejoin you and Ryuu together," Genbu exined but Sei was not buying it.

    "Are you sure? If he is so kind and benevolent, why is he not letting you out? Why do you have to take this form? Don''t tell me that he is still learning and trying to do so in the process. If that''s the case, then isn''t he the same as caging you up?" Sei argued back.

    "So, why should I listen to this guy who takes his own sweet time to release you?" "Why don''t you give him a chance?" Genbu realised that it was aplicated story to exin to Sei how she got separated. Time Travel? idental release of powers? And then the girl? In the same state as Sei when she got separated from her brother. This was such a mess to even try to tell an angry girl right now." "How about I give him a chance right now? Tell him to get Ryuu to be out here. And then we might be able to talk!" Sei shouted thest sentence and her chi spread throughout the dungeon instance. "AND WHAT IS THIS PLACE?! WHY AM I TRAPPED IN SOME SORT OF PLACE AGAIN?" "Does she have some sort of ustrophobic syndrome? She does not like to be trappedбн" Jin said and Genbu could not be bothered with Jin since it was clearly not the time for jokes. "Look, Sei. We are in this dimensional instance so that we do not destroy things by ident. You know that our powers are far too great and can be easily abused. You are currently in a delicate state that-"

    "I CAN HANDLE MYSELF!" Sei said as she sent another burst of energy out and the dimensional instance started to crack.

    "Looks like she is not willing to hear out an old man," Genbu said.

    "You are not going to try any more harder? This all you got?" "When the young one does not wish to listen, the only way to get them to listen is when they are beaten to the ground. Life experience." Genbu replied.

    "You are the one who says that she is almost impossible to kill even in my current state." "Well, technically currently Sei is half of Seiryuu, so you should have a little bit of a chance to win?" "Do you want to get Suzaku toe out and try to talk to her instead?" Jin asked and Genbu shook his head. "Both of them are a little bit of the logger heads but they respect each other''s space. But hmmm." Genbu said as he tried his luck onest time.

    "How about I let you talk to Suzaku? Will that help a little bit more? Because I need to get out of this to let here in. I do not wish to make you think that this is an action taken to attack you or intimidate you." Genbu said as he materialised Suzaku''s System Rider Card and slowly pulled out his own. Genbu was still in control as he ced it into the System Rider Card slot carefully. "Good Luck. I do not know how much help can Suzaku give. But let''s hope for the best." Genbu gave hisst words before Suzaku substituted him and her transformation had fiery wings that denoted her presence and chi. "Sei." Suzaku did not waste any time in addressing her.

    "Suбн" It did have some effect on her or that is what Jin thought until Suzaku took a battle stance. "Wait, wait wait. We are fighting?" Jin asked but Suzaku didn''t say anything.

    "She only respects strength. Jin. Show her your strength and she might listen to you. Don''t worry, you can''t kill her." Suzaku said as her chi was burning bright and Sei released her dark aqua energy around her as well. "Oh shitбн" Jin said to himself. Genbu made the wrong bet that Suzaku could help but for some reason, Sei''s temper seemed to have calmed down a little. In fact, she turned more serious aspared to when Genbu was talking to her. Thus, Jin understood that this was inevitable but at the very least he knew that he had chosen a good spot for the fight. "Knowing that Seiryuu was the master of the sea and a seasoned maniptor of water, Jin had chosen the southern deserts to make sure that Sei would not have ess to any water source near her. (Well, if she decided to flee north, there''s the ocean but at least the battlefield is in the desert. "I am not going to hold back, Sei. I need you to wake up." "No, Su. I am the one that is going to wake you up and set you free." Sei said as she utilised Ryuli''s body and had the War Umbre armed with a ton of chi within it. "Wow, the irony. An Umbre." Jin thought to himself that Sei might have subconsciously made Ryuli the Avatar of Seiryuu for the past twenty over years. With the fire burning and water flowing, both of them made the move approximately at the same time when they heard the next cracking sound from the dungeon instance walls.

 Chapter 1874 Sei -Part 3

    Chapter 1874 Sei -Part 3

    Both intense fire and water chi shed against each other with explosive forces. "Jin you better keep up if you want me to fight for you. I am going all out." Suzaku said as she merged her techniques with Jin''s Maqi to get the most out of the explosive power.

    The water evaporated and so did the fire extinguished from the first blow and they released the second one.Another bombardment of fire and water being mixed within the dungeon instance that the shockwave from both attacks was barely able to allow the instance to withstand the impacts. For something that could be supposed to hold a Grade 19-20 cultivator fight, the System realised that Jin and Sei were now fighting above that supposed Grade 20 power line. If anything, the System needs to learn from Jin and regain the ancient powers that it once wielded. The processing powers that the System sorely needed previously had suddenly be a priority again for it. The System realised that if Jin were to ever want to fight against the Celestials, he needed to get as much processing power as he could get his hands upon to increase the System''s capabilities too. But for now, the System was doing whatever it could to make sure that the dungeon instance did not break. Surely, if it can withhold the impacts temporarily, then multyers would do just fine for now. Sei was roughly able to estimate the power of the current user that Suzaku was in. "He is no match for me no matter how I see it. Thatst two blows is more than enough to determine his depth." Sei said as she started to release even more chi but Suzaku was not going to give her any breaks. Her fists with the Bam and Boo''s transformed knuckle dusters were imbued with fire chi. But unlike the usual fire chi infused fists, the mes did not hover around Suzaku''s fist. Instead with each punch that Suzaku tried to give, mes shot out of her knuckles, giving it the explosive power and range that a physical punch would not have possessed. Sei clicked her tongue and blocked it with her water chi that she was about to charge with. A spherical water barrier surrounded her to make sure that every time she blocked, the fire would be extinguished by the water barrier that she had ced. "See, no matter how scrupulous you are, his fire attacks are not going to prate my defences." Sei said as when she parried the blocks, she gave a counter punch too that was faster than what Suzaku could manage to see and she was blown away by a gush -no, a huge wave of water chi onto the System Rider.

    No matter how one looks at it, the System Rider had been swept away from the wave creating the distance that Sei needs to charge her chi. Yet, Suzaku who knew some of Sei''s attacks, remained to be a thorn at the Seiryuu''s side.She released her mechanical wings that had been grown along with the System Rider and out came fiery feather plumes and they immediately flew to their target.

    However, since Sei had possessed Ryuli, her skills were also for Sei to use. Just by opening her war umbre, those fiery plumes posed no threat to her at all. The flumes might have exploded upon contact but Sei merely twirled the war umbre and those explosions were like little fireworks that had happened right in front of her. "Pretty but useless," Sei said as she swung her war umbre once more before closing it as if to denote that that attack was pathetic. In the meantime, she already charged her chi and a gigantic sphere of water chi had umted right above her, ready to flood the entire dimensional instance and drown the System Rider.

    "Do you want a break? You are not used to this System Rider yet," Jin asked. "Besides, you do not have to do this continuously. Remember, you forced me to fight fucking months long of battle. All I need is to keep switching minions to upy her and waste her chi. Let''s see who canst this battle of attrition." Jin said and Suzaku let out a small chuckle.

    "That is assuming you can survive her onught of attacks." "Don''t worry. I have Old Man Genbu as the ultimate defence. As long as I am alive and throwing Maqi into the living metal pieces, we would be alright." Jin said and Suzaku yielded to allow for a quick tap out.

    Jin already knew what to use against her and had already prepared the System Rider Card that meant to counter that huge water bubble that she was going to do. As long as Sei did not kill him in one shot and he could evade those deadly attacks, Jin believed that he couldst for the fight. "Now die so that my brother can be free from that pathetic user. He is not worthy of you, Old Man Genbu, and perhaps Byakkou as well." "You know that by doing this, you are breaking the oath that you had made with Ming. Are you going to follow in the footsteps of the person who betrayed you and your brother?" Suzaku said her piece of her mind and Sei got even more mad.

    "Don''t you ever dare to bring it up!" Sei said as shemanded the huge water bubble to be dropped onto Suzaku immediately. "Now!" Jin quickly switched out Suzaku and brought in a very old friend whom he never seen for a long time. The temperature within the room suddenly drop drastically and the huge water bubble was held in mid air not able to move for a moment.

    "Brother! It''s nice to see you again." The voice said as the System Rider continued to change from Suzaku''s form into his. "Honestly, I did not expect you to be able to do this without your Shaitan transformation," Jin said and the Prince (King) of Icy Wrathughed loudly.

 Chapter 1875 Sei -Part 4

    Chapter 1875 Sei -Part 4

    "King of the Orcs, Frost Echo at your service! I had been waiting for my turn for the longest time." Frost Echo said as he used his power to crack the frozen water bubble into pieces. At that point, Jin could feel that Frost Echo was not the only one possessing Jin''s body. The Shaitan of Ice, Shiva could be felt using his body as well. "You could say that I have managed to go into a state where I share my body with Shiva and I am able to take her form without her full presence." Frost Echo said as he changed Bam and Boo into two hatchets as he shed them together. "But Ice and water huh? Does not look like a goodbination for any of us. You are not going to contact Ifrit?" Thest sentence seemed to be a mix of Frost Echo and Shiva''s voice being blended together. "I will. My n is to wear her down. She is most likely a very experienced maniptor of water chi and I am doing whatever I can to make sure that she does not kill me while I live long enough to win." "So, your idea is to rotate as many monsters and minions as possible?" Frost Echo asked as he already started conjuring ice spears out and threw them towards her. "Yes, I can use my Maqi to maintain the integrity of the Living Metal Armour but in short, I am borrowing all your magic powers while using mine to the minimum," Jin said and Frost Echo understood.

    "If that''s the case then let''s have a party! I have not released my strong spells for a while now." Frost Echo believed that the rest of the monsters within Jin''s care would be thinking the same. They had not had the opportunity to throw their best skills out no matter how much they trained. This would definitely be a good time to release everything while ensuring that Jin survives.

    "Tsk! Another one of your form changes." Sei said as she used her water barrier to cancel out the ice spears. "If you think that changing forms can win this battle, then I will dly oblige to show you that it does not matter at all! GET MY BROTHER OUT OF YOU!" When she shouted portals of water appeared right beside her and from them, forms of Chinese Dragons flew out of them rushing towards System Rider Frost Echo. "She got no manners for you eh?" Frost Echoughed as he immediately asked Shiva to take over this entire body and this also caused the change in the living Metal to take a more feminine shape and his kingly looking armour had been transformed into transparent ice. In an instant, the Water Dragon forms were met with pure brute ice spears, all of them delicately crafted to freeze and break those dragon forms. One of them even prated and headed towards Sei where she casually used her war umbre to deflect it away.

    But since Jin was going for all out approach and rotating the monsters, Shiva was already gathering all her magic powers for one explosive push. A gigantic column of ice burst out from the ground in the same as a huge white (actually rather yellow) bear towards Sei, which forced her to instinctively release a Water Dragon that wasrger than the Ice Bear to counter the attack. Surely the Ice Bear had been consumed by the attack but ice spikes emerged from the column, breaking the Water Dragon''s form. This gave Shiva onest opportunity to shoot out another ice spike from the broken Ice Bear towards Sei and this time, Sei had enough as she herself took the initiative to break it and rushed towards the System Rider Shiva.

    "Enough of far casting? Or is that your weakness?" Shiva provoked Sei as the Shaitan had memories of Frost Echo''s experience in fights. Not to mention all the various Orc warriors that were once her avatars, making her formidable enough to hold her ground against Sei as she used the two hatchets that Frost Echo was once holding as her weapon of choice.

    Sei did not give any chances as well as she utilise the War Umbre to her advantage. Each time she deflects, water chi would appear to parry and counter the hatchet''s attack. Shiva also summoned Ice Armour that could deflect those water chi missiles and each time they both knew that they were running out of projectiles, they would counter each other with both water chi and ice magic to break the fight apart. "I am running out of magic soon. Will give myst shot for you to change your cards" Shiva told Jin and he understood. The moment Sei ced her legs on the ground once more, she realised that the surface was slippery. It took some time to process but when she did, ice spikes were already emerging from the ground at various angles. Not to mention, those ice spikes do not appear once and multiple times. So, whenever Sei destroyed a batch of them, another came out which forced her to jump up. It was then she realised that even the walls and ceilings had ice spikes growing as well and they were aiming towards her too. While she was busy swiping away all the spikes with her War Umbre, Jin also took the chance to swipe away his System Rider card and ced a new one in. "This is an honour. I never thought that I had the chance to be in this rumoured System Rider." "Well, I need all the electricity elements I can get, so I am counting on you, Keyrin," Jin said as he summoned the Thunder Ram Demon from the Farming World to be histestpanion in his System Rider. And to his surprise, Keyrin did not talk and rather already started to run towards Sei without a care for the circumstances he was in. A huge thunderous bolt emerged out of nowhere, striking Sei when she was breaking the Ice spikes away and that honestly caught her by surprise.

 Chapter 1876 Sei -Part 5

    Chapter 1876 Sei -Part 5

    "What the hell?!" Sei shouted as she did not care anymore and she used her chi to float herself and dashed towards Keyrin who was moving towards her too. This time Bam and Boo had turned into the horns of Keyrin and like a dual de movement, Keyrin supercharged himself to give the best lighting m he could ever give.

    The water for some reason was able to reflect the lightning to some extent but Jin could see that Sei was taking damage from the attack as well. "Two can y that game!" Sei shouted and Jin realised floating spheres of water spiralled towards Jin without any warning as well.

    At that point, Keyrin released a bout of electricity around him, causing the water spheres to partially lose their strength as they hit Jin. However, Jin had no idea that even when the spheres had their strength lessened, they were still able to not just break the living metal armour but also pierce into his body.

    "Master, are you okay?" Keyrin asked but Jin told him to focus on the fight.

    "I will handle the pain and damage. You do not care about the body. All you have to do is to throw out as much magic and power you can towards her!" Jin eximed as he attempted to fix the holes within his body with Maqi as well as the healing factor that he had.

    Thus, for the entirety of the fight, Jin was handling the physical and mental stress the body was suffering so that his monsters that possessed his body could fully concentrate on fighting. To the minions who were sharing the same physical space as him, temporarily felt invincible mainly because they were not able to feel any pain and had an outlet to throw all the magic and powers out.

    Of course, they have a duty to keep the body they were residing in some form of defence but Jin had repeatedly told them not to give a shit about his body and give their best. This meant the strain that Jin felt was all for him to bear. Whatever disintegration of his body because of the monster''s full on attack was also something given for Jin to handle.

    To him, Jin had previously gone through worse punishment and torture and knew that the pain was temporary. It might felt long and aching but as long as he was able to hold this body and let the monsters do their job, they could win this fight.

    Keyrin while a little worried about his master, had decided to obey his master. Mainly because the opponent in front of him was undoubtedly several if not many levels above him. No matter how he saw it, he had to understand that this particr fight was meant to be prolonged and injure Sei in the meantime.

    Whoever canst the longest will be the winner.

    And so, Keyrin gave his best. He used Bam and Boo as a conduit and sent off the strongest bolt of electricity he could make before rushing in once more, charging Bam and Boo with all his magic and mming it onto the Sei''s War Umbre who now had been imbued with even more water chi, causing a strike against Jin.

    Keyrin did manage to move but he was not able to evade in time causing Jin to literally have a semi circle hole at the side of his body. "It''s okay, Keyrin. Changing." Jin said as Keyrin threw Bam and Boo towards Sei for her to deflect while Jin moved in to change into the Zither Mistress Ke Mi.

    "Master, you are injured." Ki Mi said as Bam and Boo returned to the System Rider, transforming itself into a Zither for Ke Mi to y.

    "It''s okay, don''t worry. Just focus on the enemy." Jin said but Ke Mi did not listen to him and yed a short verse from a song that would boost the healing regeneration only Jin. But the moment the verse was over, she mmed the strings on her zither, changing it into something more aggressive and waves of sound chi shed through the water barrier that Sei had, damaging her shoulder.

    "Tsk! This form changing thing is extremely irritating. Sei said as she believed that this form was a caster and decided to not y the same game as her. She dived from the ceiling and towards Ke Mi at the same time, she produced a giant spiral water drill.

    Yet, Ke Mi could not forgive this person who had injured her master. The very same person who gave her a new home, a new family and a chance to start anew. Her aggressiveness in the song did not falter and instead of shes, she imitated the very same size of a drill by using the vibrations of the air molecules around her.

    In that instant it was formed, it flew to interact with the water drill before it could do anything harm to her and Jin, and even though the Panda Cultivator was not physically seeing the destruction happening on top of him since Ke Mi was concentrating on ying the tune, he could sense the air drill practically ripped the water drill apart causing the technique to be useless.

    However, the Sei did not stop there as she still proceeded ahead despite some minor cuts and wounds on her face and hand from the air attacks. Yet, she did not expect System Rider Zither Mistress to be strong. Her War Umbre was stuck in midair by an invisible force as if there was a wall in front of her.

    Ke Mi swung her hand after ying a high pitch note which forced Sei to be knocked backwards, hitting onto the wall of ice spikes that Shiva had made previously. It was pretty obvious that this was the first time Sei had been pushed away from the attack and this increased the confidence Jin had to win this battle of attrition.

 Chapter 1877 Sei -Part 6

    Chapter 1877 Sei -Part 6

    Or that was what he thought.

    As Ke Mi was ying a more soothing piece, Sei tried to get out of the ice spikes, knowing that the user in front of her was somewhat capable. She finally acknowledged him and started to put her two palms together as she made a few signs as if Sei was dabbling in ninjutsu.

    But it was actually a sign of incantation where the chi within her body started to rise once more and out from behind her came out another dragon. This time around, it was not a silhouette, not a water form, and instead a real summon.

    However, that did not deter Ke Mi to continue ying her Zither as if she was not bothered by the surroundings around her. Jin on the other hand kept quiet and listened to the Zither. He knew that Ke Mi had a n and even though she did not see as muchbat as many others do, many of the monsters always revere the Zither Mistress as one of the strongest monsters that Jin had. Even Kraft had praised her a few times out of context.

    Yet as Ke Mi continued to y her song, now onto another verse, Sei had once more summoned another Water Dragon. This continued until she had nine dragons surrounding her. "If you had stopped me from summoning at one, you might have a chance to live. But now that you did not even disturb the longest incantation my n had created, you have no hope of defeating me."Sei said as she used her War Umbre to point at the System Rider.

    "I do not know who you are and I acknowledge that you are somewhat strong. To me, I still believed that Ming had made a mistake entrusting all the Cardinals to you. He believed that you are the one who can control us and avert cmity."

    "Avert Cmity? Wait wait wait. Since when do I ever control the Cardinals? They are the ones controlling me." Jin wanted to shout out but he remembered that Ke Mi was still working on her music piece and it was best not to break her concentration for he knew that any sound he made would be equivalent to a spontaneous concern from Ke Mi. If anything, he is currently his Achilles heel for the Zither Mistress right now and he had decided to just keep his mouth shut and learn moreter.

    And as Sei did not have a response from the User or neither the System Rider Zither Mistress, she had decided that violence was the only way to go. Her nine water dragons started to spiral around here despite their iplete forms but the moment Sei said go. Those Water Dragons roared while shooting out jets of water toward Ke Mi.

    The water cannons had been stopped by the invisible wall that Ke Mi had put up but the impact of each shot literally shook the dungeon instance. In addition, the Water Dragons were not the patient kind who shot one at a time. Instead, they shot all nine simultaneously in hopes of breaking this invisible air barrier that was stopping them. And if that was not enough, they were chagrining their chi as they sprung forward with the objective of destroying the barrier with their own strength and powers.

    In the meantime, Ryuli was also creating water spheres and threw them at high speeds to break the barrier, only to be stopped regardless of that invisible wall. Jin had no idea that the ultimate defence might not be Genbu but actually Ke Mi. He had no idea that the Zither Mistress had this much power in her.

    Meanwhile, the attackers did not know that Ke Mi was also performing something dangerous and she was near the end of the verse that she had yed. Hence, with thest pluck of her strings. Something miraculous happened to Jin.

    All of the water dragons were split into multiple pieces as if strings had cut into their skin, flesh and bones. And that was the same for Sei as well until she quickly summoned the strongest water chi barrier she could ever make.

    But to her horror, the strings could even prate through the barriers and severely injure Sei in the process. There was no doubt the water barrier had lessened the strength of those strings that came forth, killing not just her nine dragons but it did not stop there.

    Upon injuring Sei, the Zither Mistress had already wrapped her up in a multitude of strings. How long can itst, they would not know but Ke Mi did exhaust her strength from doing this. "Thank you, you are the best." Jin said, allowing her to leave with a smile as he changed back to Suzaku once more.

    "This is not the end of her." Suzaku eximed as she did not change the zither and instead started ying a song. Jin was surprised that Suzaku knew how to use it so professionally.

    "But I will try to calm her down. Or else, we are going in round 2." Suzaku told Jin what needed to be done and continued ying a seemingly old tune. Even though he is not a fan of the Zither nor had he been exposed to a lot of zither music, it was pretty apparent to him that it was a tune that felt ancient.

    Sei''s anger started to simmer down as she quietly hung on the strings while listening to the tune. It did not take long for her to have her chi emission to be reduced as well but she was undoubtedly still using her chi to heal herself.

    Once the music had stopped, Suzaku asked a in and simple question. "Have you done ranting? Are you willing to talk and understand things? Or do you want to go a second round? Besides, you have gone and possessed another person''s body without permission. Shouldn''t you at leaste out of that. The user had already taken pains not to hurt her as much."

 Chapter 1878 Sei -Part 7

    Chapter 1878 Sei -Part 7

    Sei contemted for a moment but subsequently refused to. "I will talk in this body but will not return it to her when I am done. She is a decent vessel to be in and I would not leave her."

    "Well, at least we are able to get one thing right," Jin said to Suzaku and she sighed. "Hey, it''s better than nothing."

    "Sei, why do you not want to leave her?" Suzaku asked as she yed a background tune for Sei so that she would not feel too lonely talking in this broken dungeon instance and it was something soothing so this might have calmed her temper a little. Why stop something when it is not broken?

    "She had been alone all this time.For Ryuli''s entire life, she had been training to be the best so that she would not be abandoned."

    "Well... at least I still have my grandpa with me but at times he is not entirely the best person to be under as well. So, I kind of get what you mean." Jin suddenly talked and Sei turned alert.

    "Chill, Sei. It''s the user. He is the one that Ming had asked us to be in." Suzaku said but Sei was a little perturbed by the voice.

    "Youбн I remember you. Show me your face." Sei said and Jin was confused.

    lightsжнж╧vel "Sei. What do you wish to do?" Suzaku asked with a little bit of seriousness in her tone. "Why do you want to see his face for?"

    "Let me see. I promise I will not attack you if you do what as I said. If we are going to fight, I will make sure that we are on equal footing. I swear under my n''s honour." Sei said and Suzaku told Jin that it should be fine.

    "If she swore it under her n, she would not do anything that would backstab you. Sei and Ryuu had always put the n first before anything else." Suzaku said as she finished her current zither''s verse and stopped.

    With a deep breath, Suzaku pulled out the helmet that Jin was wearing and showed it to Sei.

    "How can it be." Sei was in shock. "You should have been a little kid twenty over years ago and we would not have been in your care. There is бнwhat I do not understand." Sei kept talking to herself but it was within the range of Jin and Suzaku. Now that Jin had showed his face, Suzaku was in the backseat of body possession.

    "Look. Are you asking how you got separated from your brother or you saw a simr ''me'' when you were separated from Ryuu and had been sucked into Ryuli when she was young?" Jin asked and Sei kept quiet for a moment before answering.

    "Thetter. But that is impossible. You should be a young infant and Ming just caught us. There is no way you can identallyбн"

    "Time Magic." Jin dered the most absurd exnation of them all. "That temple belonged to the Butterfly n and they were Time Magic specialistsбнor that is what my fellow colleague told me previously. That is the only exnation I can give you. The fact that you saw me, I can no longer deny that what I did was a dream and instead real.

    "I gave my Maqi to Ryuli and might have identally sent you into Ryuli when it happened. If that was the case, all I can say is I am deeply truly sorry that I separated you from your brother. If you do not wish to leave Ryuli alone after what she had been through, I cannot me you nor force you otherwise." Jin said as he bowed his head a little to apologise.

    "If you need to. We can continue with the fight and let your twenty year umtion of hate be directed toward me and me only. For I had no idea what the fuck was happening at that point of time and the only thing I could think of was to help the poor kid." Jin apologised once more and Sei calmed down a little.

    "Then my brotherбн"

    "How about this Sei? Give me some time. A little more time. Your brother is within my subconscious and I do not how to extract him other than to have him acknowledge me. However, seeing that both you and Ryuu had some previous feud that had not been resolved, I would need all the help I can get to wake your brother up."

    "If she leaves Ryuli, she will not be able to return," Suzaku said Jin and Sei even repeated the same reasoning why she is not leaving Ryuli.

    "Okay. Then are you able to wait a little while longer? If everything goes well, perhaps I could ermбнget Ryuu to wake his senses up and see some reason. After that, I will send him to you. What do you say about that?"

    "Hey, if you do that, you would only have three Cardinals protecting you. There might be no way for you to avert future cmity if there is one. At the very least if you have Ryuu with you, we might be able to get away with 3.5 Cardinals."

    "What is this Cmity you are talking about?"

    "Honestly, the Cardinals have no idea as well but we know that it is something that would happen in time. Be it the advent of the Banned Emperor, we have to be prepared for it." Suzaku replied.

    "Can''t we just ask Ryuli toe and help when that happens? After all, you don''t have to be within me, right to avert the Cmity? Instead, you all need toe out as well. Then if that''s the case, why not get Ryuli to handle Seiryuu''s portion?"

    "If you do that, it is best that the System rmend you take in Ryuli as part of your employee." The System does not exactly know the full story but it knows from the short exnation that to prevent possible Cmity, four Cardinals must be around."

 Chapter 1879 Sei -Part 8

    Chapter 1879 Sei -Part 8

    "Will that be a sufficient enough reason to let Sei and Ryuu be united?" All of the conversations previously had been in openmunication and Sei had heard the entire thing.

    "If I am able to reunite with my brother, I will make sure that he will do the minimum toe to help you if there is this supposed ''cmity'' or ''cmities''. I would once again-"

    "No, don''t need to swear under your n''s honour. Get your brother to agree first before doing this swear thing. Don''t force unto him a decision that he is not aware of."Jin said and Sei kept quiet for a moment.

    "Now that I have settled my curiosity, let us continue with our fight," Sei said and Jin was confused.

    "Wait, what? I thought you said that everything had been settled?" Jin stood up, a little frustrated with Sei. "What do you want now? Why are you going to fight me once more? Did we note to apromise already?"

    "You need to defeat me to get Ryuli signed into the contract, am I wrong?" Sei said and Jin shook his head.

    "As long as she signed it, everything would be fine," Jin eximed.

    "She is talking me through her subconsciousness. She said no. She added ''If you want me to be your employee, you have to take me down. Isn''t this a dungeon instance? By right, I should not die If I am killed right?'' and had asked me to use her powers as well, not just my water chi ones."

    "What does that exactly mean?" Jin asked and suddenly Sei was not merely holding a water based chi sphere in her hands. There was Fire, Thunder, Ground, Water, Metal.

    "What the fuckбн" He made sure that his helmet was securely tightly and took a battle stance. "Now it made me feel as if I wasted all this effort trying to talk to her." This was not the same Ryuli that Jin knew. Like the System Rider, Sei is currently in possession of Ryuli and the fact that the Dragon n Agent was able tomunicate with her means she had epted Sei as herpanion as well.

    With the elemental spheres rotating around her hand, Sei managed to cut away all the strings that Zither Mistress Ke Mi had used and she was healed from her chi regeneration as well. This was honestly one of the worst round two fights he could ever want to do.

    But as Sei had recovered most of her health, her chi had been partially depleted from the previous fight while Jin had the benefit of Ke Mi actually healing him during the fight. In short, what the Zither Mistress did was not just protect Jin, she was preparing her technique to fight against Sei while ying a tune that enabled Jin to recover his chi promptly as well.

    So, in terms of the second match, Jin was better rested aspared to Sei. Still, that did not mean Jin might be able to win the fight especially when Sei had ess to Ryuli''s repertoire of skills as well as the ability to use Maqi as well.

    This would not be one element vs. multiple elements as per the previous duel but rather a battle of wits to see who can outsmart each other. This was the real test of his abilities and he had to go above and beyond his current (already powerful) limits.

    "I let you have the first move. Since I am the one who proposed this fight." Sei said as she bowed and courteously allowed Jin to do what was needed.

    "Get Byakkou. Although he might be useful in the end process, we do not know how much stronger can Sei get now that Ryuli has given her permission to use her Maqi powers. After all, Sei is still half a cardinal being with high water affinity. No matter what other elements she could wield, the fact that she is not with Ryuu makes her vulnerable to water element more than the other elements."

    "You mean Ryuu have other elements?" Jin asked and Suzaku told Jin to focus on the fight. "Alright. Alright." Jin took out his card and changed it to Byakkou instead. The roaring of the white tiger made Sei know that Jin was going for her weakness. He is not entirely wrong that Byakkou would be the natural enemy for Sei but Jin has to try harder than usual if he thinks that using Byakkou is the end solution to this fight.

    "Yo Sei. Nice to meet you. Been a long time since we sh des together." Byakkou waved.

    "Who wants to fight with you on a daily basis? Associating with you would definitely make my n disappointed."

    "Ahhh little girl always thinks about the n. Don''t you want Sei as your partner? Well, maybe concubine?"

    "What kind of audacity are you talking about?!"

    "Hey, it is not his fault that Ming put every one of us in there. It''s not his fault that he put you with that girl. It''s definitely not his fault that you are throwing a tantrum and he had to calm you down. In fact, you should be grateful that he even suggested duelling with your brother so that your brother will think properly and then give him to the girl you are possessing right now. Geez. If your n is so great, then why such bad manners at an innocent man?" Even though Byakkou did not attack her yet, his words were piercing and she received emotional damage just from that.

    "Apologise to him when this is all over. And make sure you honour your word that you aid Jin when he really does need your help."

    "Yesбн Brother Byakkou. I understand" Sei bowed a little to Byakkou and she took her stance. (The word brother here is not kin, but of respect.)

    "Good. Now we shall duel. May the most resourceful fighter win." Byakkou said and Sei nodded her head. At that moment, he already used Lightning sh step to move close to her and mmed Sei with his enhanced ws courtesy of Bam and Boo.

 Chapter 1880 Sei -Part 9

    Chapter 1880 Sei -Part 9

    There was nothing much to say about it, to be honest. From the System perspective, it was merely an exchange of powers. No doubt it was a crazy duel that had no limits barred on them. Byakkou was shooting out electricity like nobody''s business in all directions while Sei had used the element of earth to create walls so that the lightning strikes would not hit.

    At first, System Rider Bakkou was able to intervene and do some damage and Sei yed to the advantage of the Earth Element and created various rock barriers which did not allow Byakkou to strike through. It was only through brute force whenever he destroys the barrier that he shoots the lightning out but in return, those fists that prated through the barriers were met with counter attacks and Sei was extremely versatile in creating obstacles for Byakkou especially when they had fought hundreds of years ago.

    "This is impossible for me. I have used the strongest of my lightning attacks but they are imprable for now. Let me rest and I wille backter. However, I urged that you find a simr lightning element minion to press with the attack. When you hit her with lightning element, it was extremely effective." Byakkou said as he tapped out.

    It was onlyter Jin swapped to Ayse, his Head Researcher that things were a little more spicy. "I heard of the situation from the minions and the System. I am d to be of service to you, Master Jin." She was extremely happy to be called out as she wanted to test out a variety of experimental devices along with her System Rider call out. It was as if she had been patiently waiting for the chance to do so.

    "Do what it takes to win this. We cannot lose at all. Knowing your behaviour, you surely can get it done." Jin encouraged Ayse and all she presented was a confident smile.

    That was when the tables started to turn a little more. The System Rider Suit suddenly seemed to have a temporary upgrade to its armour. Made from living Metal, Ayse had ced a booster pack behind him which allowed him to float, fly, and zoom around whenever. However, Ayse mentioned that there were functions that would be activated under certain conditions. It was not part of Ayse when she came in so this was undoubtedly a new module for the System Rider. She even said that it could be passed to the next monster when she tapped out... if She tapped out.

    Not only that, but her storage ring which she asked the System to teleport in was filled with gadgets to test out. That was when Jin thought that this might be the winning form against Sei. Ayse had the avatar Syldra by her side, the Lightning Shaitan. But what she had possessed that overpowered Byakkou aside from the power of lightning was the power of brains. She might not have that much brawnpared to the Cardinal but with Technology in her sight, Ayse believed Jin had chosen the right person to brawl it out with Sei.

    "Let''s try drones first," Ayse said as her storage ring flew out multiple Swallow drone birds and they had been imbued by the power of lightning. Sei immediately did the same trick again but this time, the birds perched on top of the Earth Element Barrier and did not attack. Instead, it continued to gather while Ayse actually threw a thermite charge on top of that barrier too. When activated, it burst the barrier and a bunch of dust emerged.

    That was when all the swallow drone birds flew in like a hungry flock being attracted to leftover food. Sei was surprised as she could not sense the swallow drones for some reason and only Ayse who she believed was casting magic. After all, Sei did not appear and fought in modern wars so she had no idea that there were such things as drones.

    But she did not care and used her water chi to crush them. The only problem with that was when one of them had been destroyed, it set a chain reaction that caused the rest to explode with electric bombs in there as well.

    Add to the factor, Sei had stopped the birds froming in by repairing the rock barrier, she effectively blocked herself within the small area and the chain lightning burst was extremely effective, causing extreme pain to her. The small radius due to the rock barriers made the burst even more potent since the energy dispersion had nowhere to go except to Sei''s body.

    "+1 for science," Ayse said she got more swallow drone birds to appear to do the next attack but Sei was not going to fall for the same trick. She removed the Rock Barrier and headed to destroy the swallows with her very own lightning Maqi as well. After all, those drones were metal, so they were vulnerable to lightning.

    "Ah, then I guess you have to contend with this then." Out of the storage bag came dozens of drill like drone creatures. The fact that they had a drill on their nose was particrly odd but they all rushed towards Sei without care. The Seiryuu counterpart tried to use lightning bolts to burn the drill moles as well however, the drills were deflecting more of the lightning energy away as they moved in to pierce her.

    Of course, Maqi was not only her forte right now as she shed them away with her War Umbre only to release dozens of insectoid drones within the drill. Theytched onto her and started stinging her.

    "You wicked! Using poison!" Sei shouted and Ayse shrugged her shoulders. "All things on the battlefield are fair. As long as you kill the enemy, there should be no problems with it," Ayse smiled as she once again dominated this particr duel. Those insectoids that were stinging here had a variety of poisons stored within their bodies.

    Even though the doses were minimal, they were mainly meant to counteract the Maqi. And considering how Sei was now simr to Jin, it also meant that the potency was twice as effective. This is because Ayse had included Mana depleting venoms in the insectoid drones as well.

    So, by hitting both chi and mana circuits, it was crippling Sei even further that once it was done, Ayse called out a huge lightning bolt courtesy of her Shaitan Syldra to finish the job. And if that was not enough, shoot a few more bolts until the enemy falls or manages to evade the bolts at least twice.

    However, from the looks of it, Sei was not avoiding them and was trying her best to deflect the attacks with the War Umbre that she had. It was then Ayse saw something amiss. She could feel an umtion of chi despite the venoms that had been given to Sei. It was then a huge water and rock dragon flew out beneath the War Umbre and towards Ayse.

    Thinking that Ayse was a caster and not a warrior, Sei had been sorely mistaken that she was versatile in both by being a jack of all trades and maybe master of some.

    "That was an interesting development. System, remember to pass me the data when this duel is done." Ayse said as she took out another toy from her storage ring. Jin now swears that he should pour more money into Research and Development whenever possible.

 Chapter 1881 Sei -Part 10

    Chapter 1881 Sei -Part 10

    Upon learning that this current form that Jin was wielding was more бнunorthodox, Sei also decided not to hold back anything else and started to pour her chi into making more of those Water Dragons that she previously made to go against Ke Mi.

    However, knowing that the skill had been countered once, she had ced something more unconventional to make sure that her skill would have more sess. And that was to imbue each Dragon that she summoned with a different element into it. This meant that instead of 9 water dragons, there would be a mixture of water, fire, lightning, earth, and even metal dragons in her skill.

    She believed that with a multi element attack, there would be something that would definitely overwhelm the defences of her opponent. Not only that, but the difference in forms also means that they do not exactly have the same capability as each other. Sei noticed that some forms were slightly weaker than the others and it so happened that this one had the brains and brawn to back her fighting strategy.

    Thus, Sei liked to bet that this would work against her.

    In the meantime, Ayse had brought out a device that looked like a rifle. But instead of bullets, Jin noticed that the items she was using as ''bullets'' were simr to the crystals that Peppers had talked about. The Panda Cultivator remembered that there was one time Peppers keptining that the crystals that absorbed her mana were heavy and always wished that Ayse could keep improving so that she did not have to lug around a bunch of crystals on her body.

    Upon seeing those crystals to be simr to what Peppers had held on previously, Jin had to ask. "Are those crystals the stuff that Peppers carry every day?"

    "Oh? You knew about these?" Ayse was surprised since she thought that Jin hardly talked to Peppers considering how she had always been a recluse.

    "They be that small andpact already?" Jin asked and Ayse was happy to hum her acknowledgement. "Then that meansбнyou are using that to power your rifle?"

    "Power? Why power them when you can use them against enemies, especially annoying tough ones like the one in front of us?" Ayse asked as she cocked her rifle and aimed at Sei who was creating the Dragons behind her opened war umbre acting as if she was trying to heal herself but was actually chanting the incantations for the Nine Dragons Attacks.

    "Besides, our opponent there seemed to be using the same technique as what she had used against Zither Mistress Ke Mi and I am not as strong as Ke Mi by any far stretch. So in order to protect myself, I too have to be like you, Master. To borrow other people''s powers. The only difference is that I know how to utilise them even more than they know how to." She smiled as she took aim and fired a shot without hesitation. Her rifle popped the remaining canister that held onto the crystal and she casually reloaded it without seeing the effects as if she already knew what was going to happen.

    The problem was that Sei did not know what that was. All she knew was that it was some sort of weapon that could shoot projectile fast as Ryuli had described to her. But understanding her opponent''s strength, Sei decided to cast her water chi barrier using her War Umbre as the catalyst.

    If it was just an enhanced bullet filled with mana, that would probably be fine as Sei''s water barrier is of a high level but what she did not expect was that the bullet that was flying towards her contained a magic density that far exceeded one''s imagination when ites to a mere bullet being enhanced fill mana. The Seiryuu counterpart was prepared to see her water barrier partially broken or maybe ripped and the bullet prated through the War Umbre and perhaps injured Sei a little before she released her incantation against Ayse.

    Sadly for her, she never understood the origins of that power within the bullet. For when it had finally made contact with the chi water barrier, the entire dungeon instance rocked. Walls were broken and the secondyer had to be the one that controlled the impact of the explosion. Ayse was already equipped for what was to happen and had the System Rider boots to be stuck on the ground with underground spikes to hold her in position.

    Needless to say, this interrupted Sei''s incantation as she immediately changed all those chi into a makeshift barrier. Even when she was taking damage, the few dragons she had already summoned were swimming around her to make sure that she suffered slightly lesser damage.

    The fact that she didn''t lose her body was already a boon as she huffed and puffed from the third degree burns that she incurred and immediately changed the dragons into an intenseyer of barrier made from the metal Maqi that she was manipting.

    "For a spirit that boasted the strength of a supposed legendary creature, you seem to be hiding a lot. I understand your wish to hide the first round to cover your tracks and surprise your enemy. But this current barrier? I do not approve of it. You are like a coward. Master Jin, I am disappointed to report that this particr person might not be worthy of being your employee." Ayse said as she took another shot at it and the very same thing happened.

    Ayse reloaded her rifle while tolerating the impactful shockwaves while loading the crystal bullet into her rifle chamber again. The Pepper''s Grade magical explosion rocked and destroyed the secondyer of the dungeon instance, exposing the thirdyer to the two fighters. At first, the System thought that Sei would pose a threat but it seemed like the System might need to get the Research and Development team to coborate in order to improve the attack.

    "Huh, and here I thought the increase in magic density would cause a more impactful explosion. Looks like the intricacies of her spells incantations being written on the canister might matter as well. Let''s try the third bullet to be sure." Ayse said with a smile.

 Chapter 1882 Sei -Part 11

    Chapter 1882 Sei -Part 11

    "ENOUGH! ENOUGH! I FORFEIT!" Sei shouted as the metal barrier cracked to see that Sei was hiding in a water bubble that had been formed only recently with literal foam and bubblesing out from the big bubble itself.(It''s a bubble on fire!!)

    From the difference in temperature inside and outside of the said water barrier, the water bubble looked as if it was not able to maintain its shape. Sei was merely inside there because of the extensive wounds she had suffered. Muscles and bones were exposed from the burns and when she talked, it looked like her muscles were doing the talking.

    Her eyes were also gone from the extreme heat that came from the explosion but the fact that her body remained intact despite everything else means that she was still able to hold against Pepper''s explosions if Sei had fought Peppers at full strength at least half a year ago.

    "You looked terrible, you sure you do not need to die? After all, you did mention that this is a dimensional instance and you should be able to resurrect again."

    "I jest! I jest! Please forgive!" Sei said as she raised both of her hands as if to literally surrender in front of Ayse.

    "What do you wish to do, Master? A temporary verbal contract would be better than nothing." Ayse still has her rifle aimed at Sei in case she decides to go back from her words.

    "A temporary verbal contract for now, get her body back to the way it was and I will talk to Ryuli, not Sei." Jin agreed to it and thus the System began talking to Sei about the terms and conditions while Ayse was still holding the rifle barrel towards her. After a series of ''Yes, I agree'', Sei and Ryuli had temporarily been inducted into the System and they teleported both Jin and Sei into the Luxury Healing Instance to get Sei treated for her wounds.

    Milk came in and saw the horror that Sei had presented.

    "Wait a minute, isn''t thisбн?" Milk then saw that Jin was in his System Rider suit and Milk took a sniff at him. "This is Ayse, isn''t it?"

    "Yeap. And before you say anything, Yeap." While Ayse did not show her expression, Milk could already see that Ayse was smirking.

    "Sigh. Okay. Give me a moment to heal her, you ermбн guys can wait outside." Milk did not know how to address the System Rider since there were two people in it. The System Rider went out for a while and sat on a bench to rest as Jin started to praise Ayse.

    "Wowбн Ayse. I totally did not expect that."

    "It was a long term side project for me to properly enhance Pepper''sck of бнhmm how do we put it, mobility after casting?" Ayse replied.

    "The crystals can be used for general energy consumption but we figured that if I can allow Peppers to have a backup in case her one explosion does not work, she would not be entirely useless," Ayse said as she picked up the bullet from the loaded rifle and allowed Jin to see it properly.

    "Can it cause an explosion like right here and now?" Jin was worried that it was vtile in nature and Ayseughed.

    "No, Master. It cannot. I specifically built this with safety in mind. The rifle is the mechanism that allowed those explosions to go through. Without the rifle, this crystal is merely an embodiment of a highly dense magical energy. In short, Peppers can also take any of these crystals and use it to quickly replenish her mana in the event she really needs it rather than taking from the universal mana pool."

    "Oooo, that''s cool! Then she can do other magic if she wants to."

    "That is akin to forcing her to eat vegetables if you want her to cast other magic spells." Ayse and Jinughed.

    "But no, we are actually keeping a huge stock of this in case something happens to the universal mana pool. Like if Peppers suddenly got cut off from the mana pool? Or what if the universe mana pool actually had a depth and it dried up? What about the universal mana pool is corrupted and any mage using it would be corrupted too?"

    "That''s quite a lot of hypotheticals to consider."

    "SO FAR. Soooo Far, those situations were the extreme kind but upon learning that you people have internal magic circuits while other worlds tapped onto the universal mana pool I began to question why you guys have internal magic circuits instead. Did the universal mana pool leave you guys out or was it a natural unique trait that you Earth humans possessed? We have not traveled far and wide enough to know but I like to assume things."

    "Things like you guys might have been cut off from the mana pool and thus have to create your own set of magic circuits to continue using magic. The fact that half of your world does that while the other half does not make me believe that this theory might hold some truth."

    "So, you are doing this for Peppers? And ehh as well as those people who have to rely on the universal mana pool to get their magic powered up?" Jin asked

    "Yes. Like we said before a long time ago, other people have limits to how much ess they have to the mana pool, but Peppers had unlimited ess to it. Without the pool, they would be useless. Thus, this crystal collection is merely a stop gap measure when things turn to shit and give us time to analyse. Maybe likeбн The pool is forbidden because a group of celestials is holding onto it. We just have to kill them and problem solved? Or something even more hideous. You get what I mean." Ayse exined and Milk suddenly popped out saying that it is okay to visit her now.

 Chapter 1883 Sei -Final

    Chapter 1883 Sei -Final

    "Do you need to go? Sorry if I took too much time from you." Jin said and Ayseughed.

    "No problems at all. In fact, I would like to see how that Sei is taking it. Call it a guilty pleasure of mine."

    "You are a sadist." Jin shook his spiritual head.

    "And yet, you employed me." Ayse shrugged as she went in with the System Rider intact and Sei was there lying on the bed, now ego deted and acknowledging that not everything could be solved with just a higher power chi.

    "Heh. And you think that it is enough to kill Jin if you use enough powerful skills? You have been fighting against his monsters and not him yet. He might be suffering with his body being knocked left and right by you but if this System Riders dies, his Maqi is mostly preserved to fight with you too, well with a tattered body but he still can fight like a berserker."

    "I do not know whether you areplimenting me, taunting her, or whatever." Jin eventually gave up trying to argue with Ayse. She probably has the right lines to counterattack him if she really wants to. "In any case, let me talk to Ryuli, would you?" Jin asked and Sei eventually conceded. While her appearance did not exactly change, the colour of her eyes did.

    "Urgh, what did I get myself into?" Ryuli asked and Jin tried to exin to the best of his ability the possible reason why she got Sei in her. The Dragon Internal Security Agent said she already heard that part of the story but listened again did help with the processing of the information.

    "So, you are saying you had been blessed by this System thingy. That is one thing I did not exactly understand."

    "You never read any web novels before? Like how there is this almighty super unnatural being with the powers ofputing that could serve just one particr person and make him above average than the usual person?"

    "Above average? The System felt somewhat offended." The System replied and Jin rolled his eyes.

    "Well, most Systems don''t usually have personalities. This one had one since they are apparently my ancestors as well."

    "What the fuck?" Ryuli had trouble understanding.

    "Well, if she had already signed the verbal contract, I do not think it hurts for her to know the history about us?" Jin asked.

    "It will take too long if you exin it. Ask one of the Panda Nurses to prepare a bowl for her so she can vomit." The System said but Jin already found one under her cab that was beside the bed.

    "What is this for?"

    "For precautions. Okay, System go ahead." Jin said and the rush of memory transfers was given to Ryuli. True enough, she vomited due to the excessive headache and nausea she got from receiving those memories.

    "Thank goodness you only had tea previouslyбн" Jin said as there was nothing but liquid within the vomit.

    "Iбн get what you mean right now. So, in short. I am stuck in this predicament because of you?"

    "That''sбн yea. Wee to the familyбн?" Jin pped slowly not knowing what her reaction would be and Ryuli did was to sigh.

    "Well, at least I now figured out the twenty year long question that had been stuck in my head on who my ''master'' really was. It''s a surprise but still a decent surprise, I guess. At the very least you are at the side of good."

    "Ermбн you can''t exactly say we are the good guysбн more like the grey guys?" Jin shrugged his shoulders slowly when he said thest portion.

    "In my books, as long as you aid in killing the Banned Emperor Terrorists, you are the good guys," Ryulimented. "The rest, I do not really care."

    "Your definition of good is rather vague," Jin said and Ryuli did not care as she tried to stand up.

    "But it looked like without Sei''s help, I would not be this strong too. So, thank you."

    "I am not sure whether you want to continue the current cultivation you are using or you wish to follow Sei''s cultivation. That way you will have a better affinity with her and maybe her brother as well when hees in." Jin realised that was another hurdle he had to go through.

    Unlike now where he had the power of the System Rider and his monsters to aid him, there is no such help within his subconsciousness. He had to fight Ryuu with little to no chi as that had always been the way it is within his subconscious world.

    But considering how he had been in Synthesis World solely on his subconscious, perhaps he had the chance to use his Grade 4 Cultivation powers as well? That was a question he needed to explore when he returned to that world again.

    For now, Ryuli was able to understand what had been happening to her and the real identity of Jin. The Leader of the Royal Panda Zodiac n also gave a heads up to Kong Rong and he literally ''loled'' when Jin told him that Ryuli was within the System. In fact, he was extremely happy that she was within the System as he finally had a helper who understood his agendas and secrets. Not to mention, this also meant that Ryuli was definitely an ally and he did not need to worry about any backstabbing from her. (After all, in the game of spies, everyone is a liar.)

    "I should treat you to a meal when I have the chance." Kong Rong replied but Jin did not want a meal, he had Lynn cook for him lots of delicious stuff in the future. "Give me free information instead or I don''t know, get me good locations to buy and snatch up prime area to create another store of mine."

    "Gah, this guy. Always take the chance to take advantage of me. Fine, fine. I see what I can do but it won''t be so soon."

 Chapter 1884 Restoring Ryulis Weapon

    Chapter 1884 Restoring Ryuli''s Weapon

    "Yourбнluxury healing instance is a one hit wonder," Ryuli said as she could feel that she felt brand new. With the exception of the need to regain her chi naturally, there was not much problem with her body at all. The only problem that she had was the War Umbre now broken.

    "You can head to our cksmith, he should be able to either fix itбн or throw your War Umbre away and give you a new one," Jin told Ryuli about the Three Head Bear cksmith and sheughed.

    "Can that bear really make a War Umbre for me? Usually, I had to go to the northern parts of China to get it sorted out and I bought quite a few War Umbres just so that I do not usually go back there," Ryuli replied.

    "You cannot hurt and give it a try. Considering now that you are part of the store, he should be able to hook you one War Umbre easily." Jinmented as he opened the portal and brought the Ryuli there instead of riding the train to his store.

    The Three Bear Smith was already working on many other weapons that were on queue but when the cultivators saw Jin, they did not hesitate to say hi to him. "Sorry, guys just need to Mr Big Bear over there for a moment."

    "What do you need?"

    "You mind creating a War Umbre? Her''s broken." Jin was straight to the point. The Three Headed Bear stopped what he was doing for a while and all three heads went close to her and sniffed her.

    "New Employee?" The Three Headed Bear used the System Channel tomunicate and Jin nodded quietly to not disturb the current scene too much.

    "Give me her broken weapon. I see if I had a spare." The cksmith said as Ryuli passed it to her and he examined it a little before asking if it is okay to throw it away.Ryuli casually nodded her head and the cksmith went into his ''storage'' room that was what most of the Cultivators thought. However, that room was not just a ce to keep his materials but it was also equipped with a hypertime dtion module that allowed him to work on emergency stuff like this to make sure that he got time to do some work for the monsters and minions and use the time right within the shop open premises for the cultivators.

    This way, the cultivators would know that they were not cheated of their time and money since the cksmith would always return and produce their items within the time limit. This was no different as a few minutester, the Three Headed Bear cksmith came out and showed Ryuli a brand new War Umbre. This time there were even the Azure dragon motifs on it.

    Even though all he did was a grunt, the Three Headed Bear was actually talking within the System Channel, saying that the System had already informed him of her rtionship with Seiryuu. "I so happened to have a few pieces of certain metal and cloths that had high water affinity. This should be able to keep you dry during rainy weather and assist you in battles."

    "How much?" Ryuli asked and the bear raised up its paw out which she promptly took out five stacks of pure cash and ced it on the table from her storage ring. "Enough?"

    The Three Headed Bear cksmith took a peek at the cash denotation on the stacks and was delighted that it was more than sufficient. Thus, he nodded his head as he decided to even throw in a free gift like a scabbard for the War Umbre to her.

    "Is this really a free gift, looks like you prepared beforehand and used it to earn brownie points from her," Jin asked and the cksmith red at him for a moment. Ryuli unexpectedly smiled at this interaction and thanked the Three Headed Bear for this aid. And this allowed the cksmith to return smiting stuff for Jin''s customers. "There are training dummy spots outside of the cksmith for those who wish to try out their new weapons," Jin said and Ryuli was hesitant at first since she checked the time, thinking she needed to report back to the Internal Security Agency soon. But then, who gives a shit about her timing when she''s one of the top few agents in the agency?"

    "Alright, that''s a good feature for the cksmith store. Gives you time to check out your new weapon and report it if it doesn''t work as intended."

    "Usually it''s more like it worked too well and it took so much chi that they needed to go back to reduce the quality a little so they could handle the chi consumption a little better," Jin said as they found a spot that was avable for them to test out.

    At the same time, Ryuli was wondering if she were to concentrate fully on just Sei''s water abilities, would she be a betterbat agent? After all, she never really had a proper name for her cultivation mainly because it was an imitation of the Dancing Dragons Style that she got it from her mother. And the ambiguity allowed her to work with multiple elements.

    But there was nothing wrong with taking up another style since Dancing Dragons was ultimately a foundational base style before it became a specific cultivation style. But there was nothing in the Royal Dragon Zodiac Archive''spendium about Seiryuu so if she were to use Sei''s powers and make the Dancing Dragons her base, she probably has to create a brand new style.

    And since she is right in front of the dummy, she might as well try creating the first technique. The War Umbre was opened and with a slight twirl, water chi started to move around Ryuli until a Water Dragon Form emerged, floating above her War Umbre.

    "Dancing Azure Dragon Style, Flying Water Dragon Technique," Ryuli said as she closed the umbre and pointed at the dummy. The Water Dragon Form immediately flew and crashed into the dummy, causing it to be knocked out of its original spot."Your dummy is weak," Ryulimented.

    "No, it is your technique is too strongбн That dummy is meant to handle Grade 18 attacks."

    "Oh? Ohбн OoooOh!" Ryuli looked like she was delighted by the change and asked if she could try it again.

 Chapter 1885 Call from Grandma Yuan

    Chapter 1885 Call from Grandma Yuan

    Jin''s phone rang when Ryuli was messing around with her new specialised techniques for a while longer. "Yes, Grandma Yuan? What''s the matter?" Jin asked as he felt that this should be about the school instance or the situation in Italy."

    "You had friends looking into Italy''s problem?" Grandma Yuan asked and Jin furrowed his brows for a moment.

    "Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Jin questioned and Grandma Yuan said that there was suddenly a folder on a suspected list of people who might have released the Wang Liangs on Sir Diego''s table by the police an hour ago. The Italian Demon Exorcists were asked to proceed with the police to search and deal with the suspected criminals in case they release even more Wang Liangs into the public or used it to distract the arrest.

    "Wow, Kong Rong. You worked fast." Jin thought to himself and told Grandma Yuan that at least the police were working fast on the case.

    "They have to. The public could not ept that malevolent spirits were wondering about, doing serial murders and the public security agencies were not doing anything about it. With this new information, they might be able to seal the deal and stop the Wang Liang incidents and nip this in the bud before things get even worse." Grandma Yuan said before she paused for a moment and asked the real questionбн or rather an order to Jin.

    "Diego wants you to be part of the Demon Exorcist Extermination Task Force for this particr matter. They have lost too many exorcists in the previous raid and a number of Vatican Elite Guards were injured as well. He requested for only you butter added that he did not mind if you brought the other capable Demon Exorcists with you too." Yuan said.

    "Ah, he might mean Lian and the others."

    "Are you really not going to bring Su Zhen and Lein? They had read the report done by Lian and had understood the underlying reason why you did not bring them. You were afraid that they wanted to prove themselves and went overboard while Lian was cool headed enough to understand the situation."

    "Well, you had trained up some rather hot headed Demon Exorcists. You already saw that they had been dying to prove themselves but what I need are people who can listen to orders and only defy them when the situation demands it because of the benefit. Do you think they will listen to me when their emotions were flying so damn high?By the time, they listened, Void Being Spartakus might have already emerged and we got to do more than damage control." Jin conversed and for once Grandma Yuan agreed with him about their attitudes since ording to the report, self restraint was more important than showing who was the best.

    "So, I am guessing you are only bringing Lian with you? Do you need to take a few veteran Demon Exorcists as well? I can call them at a moment''s notice." Grandma Yuan asked and Jin shook his head. I might have someone that would be better than those veteran Exorcists and is currently avable for a fight." Jin looked at Ryuli who was already ying with the dummy by throwing two Water Dragons with her War Umbre at the moment. "Well, I do hope that person is avable."

    "Alright, then I will tell Diego that a total ofбн"

    "Three for now. Otherwise, it would only be Lian and me." Jin said and Grandma Yuan noted.

    "Are you going by portal or ne?"

    "Let''s go by the proper route this time around. With so many eyes on this investigation and the possibility of running around chasing criminals, it''s better to have proper documentation going in, or else if the shit hits the fan, I did not enter the country illegally." Jin said with Grandma Yuan chuckling.

    "Okay. I will get ire to prepare three tickets for tomorrow''s flight. In the event that you are able to confirm the details of the third person, please get ire to make the necessary arrangements."

    "I am going to pick economy ss!" ire shouted over the phone and Jin sighed.

    "I thought we have enough money to splurge a little?"

    "Nope. Not happening. Unless you make another dungeon instance soon!" She shouted again and Jin believed Grandma Yuan had ced it on speaker mode to talk to Jin.

    "Now that is out of the way, I guess we can talk a bit about the school right now if you are not busy," Yuan said and Jin was okay with it. "JODE had seen the blueprints and ire had also brought Chancellor Ma Ge along with his team to have a look at the premises."

    "That''s fast. The System did not tell me about that."

    "There was no need to." The System stated that it was merely an inspection to check the premises of the school.

    "They even brought a few construction experts to look at the buildings and they were surprised to find not a single defect in the instance." Grandma Yuan said but if she could see Jin''s expression, he would be fielding out a ''duh'' face since this was a Dimensional Instance. "Chancellor Ma Ge could not believe it initially and did not wish to take any chances."

    "So, is he satisfied with it?"

    "More than happy to start ss as soon as there''s furnishing. However, things are not that simple. There is a need to coborate with the teachers to know what they exactly want for their sses too."

    "Do I really need to do that? Like thepanies and stores that Qiu Yue and I handled, they show us what the item is, where to put it, and better if there''s an artist or interior designer''s illustration so that we can do everything for them quickly. We do not have the time to talk to them especially when this is a school which we have no knowledge about."

    "Sigh, then I will do that instead." Grandma Yuan answered

 Chapter 1886 Kong Rongs Approval

    Chapter 1886 Kong Rong''s Approval

    ?

    "Grandma Yuan. I know that we share the responsibility butбн"

    "It''s okay, Jin. I will take over from here. We know you did your part," ire knew that Jin was conflicted by Grandma Yuan''s sighing and decided to intervene to take over the workload. After all, it was really not Jin''s job to all of those when they wanted the school to be up.

    "Alright, if ire is taking up that workload, there is nothing much to talk about." Grandma Yuan said and ended the conversation there and then.

    "Wow, rude." Jin said and figured it must be her passive aggressiveness on overdrive since Jin had disappointed her twice in a row for not allowing her ''favourite'' Demon Exorcists to shine in an overseas operation and rather gave it to a lesser known student instead. "Hey, at least it''s still her student. What''s so bad about Lian? Maybe I should spite her and bring Rong too. He did pretty decent for the Dark Days Dungeon."Jin smirked as he proceeded to ask Ryuli if she was done with her trial techniques.

    "Yeah. I managed to get three Water Dragons before I got tired. And you seemed rather serious over the phone just now. Anything important?"

    "Mmhmm. There is a Joint Demon Exorcist operation between Italy and China. I was being requested by the Head of Italy''s Demon Exorcists Organisation so I do not really have much choice but to oblige. Want toe?"

    "Demon Exorcism? Not my area of expertise even though I know had been known to kill Demons on a regr basis as part of my job when the Demon Exorcists arete." Ryuli seemed to have a grudge against them.

    "It might be rted to the Banned Emperor Terrorists. If I am not wrong, Kong Rong had some hand in making this joint operation possible."

    "Okay, sure. When is it? I currently do not have any extermination requests assigned to me nor any major case." Ryuli asked and Jin wasughing on the inside. He never knew that she hated the Banned Emperor Terrorists so much.

    "Question, you do hate those Banned Emperor peeps a lot, eh?"

    "Their numbers are growing for some reason and the more we subdued, the more we found out there are so many things that were hidden so carefully that if we did not thwart them in time, the public security might be at high risk."

    "Devotion to the job is one thing, do not make it an obsession," Jin remarked and Ryuli snickered. "Tomorrow''s the flight. Want to have a group call with Kong Rong and see if he has any information about it?"

    "I do not see a problem with it and I like to know how this System Chat works." Ryuli had decided to take the initiative to try out the System Chat and it was like moving using her thoughts when there was nothing to guide.

    Soon, Kong Rong emerged in their heads as voiceover only and Ryuli asked for permission as a sort of courtesy even though she believed her boss did not require it. "Yeah, I am fine with it you can bring Agent L, I erm mean Ryuli to Italy. They have done a favour for me so it will be wise if we join and return the favour for them before the debt gets worse." Kong Rong replied positively.

    "Anything we should take note of?" Jin asked citing that he only knew they were going to be there in case Wang Liangs had been used to distract or cover the suspects'' tracks.

    "Not really. And with that said, most of these are high probability suspects. The police are merely going there armed in case of emergencies but if things go smoothly there should not be any action." Kong Rong said. "Besides, the Italian Intelligence had been monitoring them for some time too though their resources were recently stretched thin for some reason and could not keep a watchful eye on all of them for that long."

    "Since when do things go smoothly, especially duringrge joint raids like this?" Ryuli asked and Kong Rong was speechless because the dragon girl was absolutely right.

    "I should have a safe house in Rome and will give you the coordinates to that in case any of you need to restock or things or have a break."

    "You mean when shit hits the fan."

    "C''mon, Ryuli. You don''t have to make it so obvious that I am merely preparing for alternate situations." Kong Rong said and Ryuli shook her head. For some reason, Jin could see a difference when she was talking to her work boss aspared to her ''store'' boss.

    "Regardless, stay safe and give me a call if things really went awfully awry that you need assistance from abroad. Now that one of our internal security agents is participating this as a ''Demon Exorcist'', the Agency has every right to support you in this operation." Kong Rong said and the two thanked the Dragon Leader.

    "Alright, I shall continue my training properly in the бнPanda Muscles Instance, right? Probably work on my techniques a little while longer since for some reason, my chi regeneration got better after trying out new stuff. Give me the details once it has been sorted out." Ryuli said and Jin thanked her.

    In the meantime, Jin notified Lian about the joint operation and surprisingly she did not reject it at all. Instead, she only asked when''s the departure date. "ire will sort out the tickets and we will be flying by tomorrow. The Joint operation details have not been released to us either and we will should know more once we get there."

    "Then I will do a bit of training as well before we depart for tomorrow." Lian thanked Jin and the Dungeon Supplier felt a little left out.

    "Should I go for training as well?" He asked the System and yet all the System said was to finish up the rest of the dungeon instances he had left hanging instead.

 Chapter 1887 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 1

    Chapter 1887 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 1

    Obviously, Jin did not listen to the System to do the dungeon instances as rmended. Instead, he took the remaining time before sleepy time to look at the forums. Pandarens finally cleared the Dark Days Dungeons with themunities'' help and more were doing so within the hour that celebrated the first official clear of the instance.

    Information was released within the Dark Days'' forum sub thread and people startedpiling the data as well as simple tricks that could enhance the cultivator''s chance to clear it. There was no doubt about it, thetest Dark Days dungeon was one of Jin''stest and most profitable dungeons that he had ever made.

    People were praising the change of charge per entry to charge per time limit. This gave some of the cultivators the pressure to clear the map within the time limit but it also allowed cultivators to do reckless stuff like suiciding in one portion of the map just so that they could reappear healthy to do the next portion.

    Of course, there were people who believed that this was merely the first portion of the Dark Days Dungeon and if Jin were to do something like this particr time limit battle, distance would eventually y a part of the equation. Checkpoints and maps would berger and there would be a disadvantage in trying to ''suicide'' oneself just to clear a mob and return again. After all, you need to clear a particr distance to reach the area.

    And so far, the limitation of the cultivation techniques. The choice to only bring one technique also enabled the Cultivators to practice that particr technique to their satisfaction. Some even challenged themselves to bring a lesser used technique and attempted to clear the dungeon. (After all, they had brought the premium tier monthly dungeon pass which allowed them to choose a dungeon for the week and y it unlimited times.)

    With that said, the change of entry rules for Dark Days Dungeon had made the Monthly Dungeon Pass to be one of the best buys to a certain group of cultivators. They were not only able to try out the Dungeon to their maximum satisfaction but they also got to test out their theories within the Panda Muscles Instance as mentioned previously.And if they had enough, they would enjoy the remaining time to soak in the Hot Spring Instance where they get to rx and feel fresh before getting out of the dungeon store.

    This whole package deal was something that a few customers had been waiting for months and if Jin were to release this meant that he was going to create a few more extra instances that could helpplement the array of existing instances.

    Also, Jin had also ensured that their Pandapolis portion for customers was still working fine and dandy after not checking on them for so long. The Casino Hotels and beaches were still of tip top condition for tourists and customers to try out their finest instances to their liking and that was because of Qiu Yue.

    After Jin had implemented the monthly pass, Qiu Yue did not hesitate to push for better hotel packages along with such dungeon packages as well. Instead of a monthly deal, it''s an all you can visit kind of dungeon pass but its validity depends on the price that had been paid. The most popr deals were the full day pass, three day pass and the whole week pass. There was also a pass where you could choose the number of days and even add on extra days on those existing passes but they were not as popr though they remained an option.

    Of course, because of this, the full day, three day, and one week pass often see massive discounts along with the hotel packages that had been bought so as to entice people to get the hotel packages which obviously be more expensive than just the full day pass alone.

    With this kind of pricing, all they needed was to advertise in the Pandamonium App as well as social media to gain traction. And speaking of advertisement, the first week of advertisement had proven to be quite a spectacle.

    Because of the possibility of earning Panda Coins while capturing the QR codes of said advertisements, the number of clicks and views those advertisements got were in the high numbers, some even exceeding their goals because of the cement of advertisements.

    This also gave Qiu Yue the data on which locations were considered prime areas even though she had identified a few previously but back then, those were only theories based on the System''s predictive model analysis.With some solid data, she was able topile and show her potential and existing customers the current data since Qiu Yue said that the advertisement prices were currently experimental and subject to changes. It all depended on how much they would lock on their prices since it was the first time they were doing this.

    Thus as money was rolling in, so did the ambition of Jin searching for a new ce in either Shanghai or Beijing to target one of China''s busiest metropolitical cities to earn the best amount of bucks. And with respect to that, Kong Rong surprisingly replied to him early on about a possible location in Shanghai.

    "The rent''s expensive but the traffic is high because it''s in the Pudong district, Shanghai." Kong Rong said and when Jin asked where the location was exactly, it was in the mall of Shanghai''s International Financial Centre (IFC).

    "Holy shit, that is expensive territory. But yes, that''s definitely tourist and local money."

    "Not to mention a lot of pent up sryman/women waiting to punch the hell out of something because of the work they do. Also, I assume that you can totally buy it, given the amount of money and reputation since I had set a business meeting with the IFC''s Director Operations."

    "Can I assume he is like a part of my n, which is why he is able to respond to you so quickly?" Thatment made Kong Rongugh.

 Chapter 1888 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 2

    Chapter 1888 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 2

    "Are you in or not?" Kong Rong asked once more and Jin gave the quickest reply, ''Why not now?''

    "Well, I am still having dinner with him and he was busy talking on the phone so I thought I just gave you a heads up."

    "He''s in Shenzhen?" The coincidence of Kong Rong doing this was a little too much for Jin to handle.

    "What? No. Definitely not. I purposely used the System to portal me to Shanghai for this matter." Kong Rong was totally lying as Jin knew that he was probably doing it to save time to settle a few of his internal security agency''s issue.

    "Rightбн well, I can meet him if you are able to drag the dinner a little," Jin asked as the System was already taking all the formal clothes that he had in his wardrobe and they were terribly cheap looking.

    "I can do that. Don''t take too long. We are at the Kerry Hotel in Pudong. You should able to find us in their steakhouse." Kong Rong said and Jin thanked him before ending the call.

    "System believed that User does not have a proper set of formal clothes that is suitable for meeting clients. System rmends that you go to Employee Bai Xin, the store owner of our own armoury store to get your suit made in order to make yourself presentable."

    "Or I can just wear a set of formal shirt and pants argh I do not have good enough shoesбн" Jin said as he saw the wardrobe that he had and it was terrible.

    "Like the System said, go to Employee Bai Xin and-"

    "It''s okay, instead of wearing formal, I am just going with smart casual. ck Polo-t and brown pants. After all, it''s an impromptu meeting!" Jin said as he quickly changed out his shirt and jeans.

    "The System feels that it is inappropriate to meet a person that you wish to make an impression to be dressed like this. Do you need me to get Yun out here to scold you instead?"

    "Gek, you are ying the Mom''s card. This is so unfair. Kong Rong said not to take too much time though."

    "Then this will be a quick one." Yun suddenly appeared and it scared Jin for a moment.

    "Hiбнerm Mom? It is been a long time." Jin said as Yun pulled his hand into a portal and into Bai Xin''s Armoury Store instance. Interiorly, it did not change much and there were still a bunch of people looking at the armour.

    "Bai Xin, we will be using the luxury room for a while, mind following us?" Yun asked and Bai Xin nodded her head as she knew not to mess with Yun in her days manning the store.

    "Red Pandas, help me look after the store when I am away. If anything, you can give me a call." Bai Xin said and those Red Pandas nodded their head. Only when Bai Xin entered the luxury waiting room, did she see Jin being dragged by Yun.

    "Oh. It''s you, Boss."

    "Why the change of tone when you see Yun and then you see me."

    "Not sure, Yun feels more like the Boss around here when you are not around." Bai Xin shrugged.

    "I thought it would be the other way around, more friendly to Yun and more afraid of me," Jinmented and Bai Xin chuckled while shaking her head. "Boss, you do not know how Yun can be when you left."

    "Stop yapping and get his measurements, Bai Xin. We need a tailored suit in fifteen, no in ten. I had already cast the Time Dtion Spell in here. It''s okay to use leftover premium cloth since he is not paying a single cent for it." Yun said and Bai Xin acknowledged instantly, taking out her measuring tape and a few pins started floating beside her via chi maniption.

    "I also thought it was Qiu Yue that handled most of the things?" Jin asked and Bai Xin already a professional in Jin''s store was able to take measurements and chat with the customer.

    "She did. But she handled the overall operations, Yun''s the one that handled problems on the ground as she had always done back when the store was slightly smaller. Oh, yes please hold this set of cloth and imbue your chi in it," Bai Xin said as she already started cing pins on Jin, asking him not to move.

    "Ehбн Yun, you managed to solve everything by yourself?"

    "What do you think? Obviously, I have the System around to aid me as well. And I do have a decent enough cultivation in case people got a little more than rowdy." Yun replied as she was on her phone, typing furiously on certain things. "Anyways, I did not get to say this to you but wee back and also thanks, for some reason, my cultivation had been fully unlocked when you returned from the Synthesis World."

    "At times, I still think that you are some sort of NPC instead of a real person," Jin remarked it out loud.

    "You should.I am made from broken stuff and not the real Yun or mother as you had known. And as much as I should not roley as your Mom now that you know the truth, there are still things I would like you to know that the System had programmed me to care for you or discipline you whenever needed."

    "In short, you are the System''s moral enforcer when ites to meбн"

    "Heh, what a way to put it." Yun smiled as she saw Bai Xin had all the measurements done. She could have used an electronic method to scan Jin but Bai Xin was insistent that the manual old school fashion has its perks.

    "Give me five minutes, I will get it done soon." Bai Xin said as she took the cloth away from Jin and went into the workshop to get the suit out. In the meantime, Jin texted Kong Rong he would be there in five and sat beside Yun quietly, hoping she would say something else to break the ice further.

 Chapter 1889 Extra: Synthesis Worlds Comrades

    Chapter 1889 Extra: Synthesis World''s Comrades

    "Did you make any friends in the Synthesis World?" Yun continued to use her phone when she was making small talk with Jin.

    "That question sounds so Mum." Jin thought to himself as he nodded his head despite Yun not being able to see it unless she gave him a side eye. "I made a few. They were wonderfulpanions who initially wanted to kill me. Although I really hoped that they could be with me. Their strength will undoubtedly augment the team and I can use them without worrying about bringing monsters out."

    "Then why don''t you make a contract with them?"

    "I kind of did? But I do not think I have the right resources to make them."

    "The schematics for the Mechanoids had already been provided by Synthesis World AI Administration Representative Syn and had beenter revised by Master Mechasmith mmet based on their current firmware versions which the System noted that should be an easy thing to fix as Sub System User Lynn also had all of their previous data with her."

    "Also, the System had already checked on the relevant parts needed to build it and noted that the Mecha World could provide a few of those if we were to raid their inventory." The System stated and Jin suddenly felt like a dumb idiot.

    "You what? You have their schematics and you did not tell me?" Jin remarked.

    "The User did not ask the System and if he did, the System would be willing to give it to User for the work he had done for the Synthesis World. Besides, the System was nning to use this set of schematics as a reward for youpleting the remaining dungeon instances."

    "Wow, this sneaky bastard. To think that he could still hold such stuff back from me."

    "There is nothing much the System can offer as the User had already reached beyond the threshold of learning. Almost everything that the System had has already been shared with the User. Withholding this set of information was the only reward the System can provide to remain relevant in the initial impression the User had from the System."

    "You do know that you are needed every single day, right? Aside from Jin''s needs, you are providing for hundreds if not thousands of people. You are no longer the same System I know." Yun told the System and somehow that kept him quiet for a while.

    "Alright, System. If we are going to get inventory from the Mecha World, how much time would you think it needs? Or can the Night Foxes get them?"

    "Why? What''s the rush?"

    "Well, if I can get the Mechanoids up before the Joint Operation between the Italy Demon Exorcists and ours, we would definitely have better manpower management in our hands."

    "Huh." As Jin was exining to the System his intentions, Yun was browsing the Mechanoids'' blueprints.

    "Have you ever thought of making these Mechanoids for sale?"

    "What? And provide a brand new war against AI and people? No thanks. People are afraid of change and fear makes humans do irrational stuff. Without properws, regtions, and stuff like that, the Mechanoids would be abused." Jin said

    "No, no. What I actually meant are the parts. It seems like they can actually be useful for medical purposes. I mean we would need a proper experienced doctor and researcher to see it but I think it can make huge waves in the medical industry if done right. It''s a rather lucrative prospect to look into." Yun said which made Jin think a little for a bit.

    "бнI will look into that," Jin said and the System stated that the Night Foxes would be able to get it done, obviously for a price.

    "Tell them, I pay them 2 times more than that usual overtime pay that Kraft pays them," Jin said and suddenly the usual Night Foxes that Jin deals with appeared.

    "Can I confirm the inventory amount?" Narris, the Vice Leader of Night Foxes asked as she showed Jin a piece of paper that the System stated it needed said parts.

    "Get sufficient backups in case the building of the Mechanoids fails. If you canplete it after my meeting with the IFC Operations director, I will add a bonus pay to my proposed rate." Jin said and Narris nodded happily before they disappeared since they could have some extra money on the side as Kraft had always been stingy to them.

    "You want them badly?" Yun asked and Jin nodded his head. They are not just my teammates but also my lifeline back when I was in the Synthesis World. If I can let them try out new stuff in this world, I will do so in a heartbeat.

    "Not to mention, it will augment your current roster. Guess, it would not hurt to have five..bodyguards or secretaries under you."

    "Lol, more like having a personal Strike Team at my behest." Jin joked.

    "It''s all done. Do you want to give it a try and see how it fits?" Bai Xin asked and Jin nodded while surprised by the speed she had created the suit before he gave it a try. The shirt, Jacket, and pants fit tremendously well and there was still a minute to spare, all thanks to the time dtion magic.

    "For this set, you try these few pairs of shoes. Doesn''t matter the type just choose what you think feelsfortable." Bai Xin said as she swiped her sweat away from her brows. Its been some time since she did a rush order but it was fun to her.

    "That pair looks decent." Yun pointed and Jin wore it, walked in it a bit, and felt it wasfortable enough."

    "Why the chi though?" A random question popped out from Jin and Bai Xin took a while toprehend.

    "Ah! It''s because I can use the person''s chi to form the body, easier to double check. That''s all."

    "Hmmm. Interesting. Thanks, I got to run." Jin said as he thanked both of them before opening a portal.

 Chapter 1890 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 3

    Chapter 1890 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 3

    "AH! Speak of the devil," Kong Rong said as he raised his hand and Jin walked into the steakhouse looking for him. He was rather surprised that the Dungeon Supplier dressed himself well for the meeting. It was as if he was a different person when he walked in.

    "Hi guys, nice to meet you. Sorry and thank you for this impromptu meeting. Name''s Jin." The Dungeon Supplier immediately extended for handshake with the IFC Director of Operations.

    "Hi, nice to meet you too. I heard a lot about you in recent times and they had been good rumours. Name''s Sun Kai Hung. Or you can call me Kai if you wish. Some of the Westerners have difficulty pronouncing my name." Kai Hung said as he returned the handshake. It was strong, firm and Jin could feel that he was putting some chi into the handshake as well although it did not really matter to him.

    "It''s fine, Mr Sun. Thank you for meeting me,"

    "Like I said, Kai Hung or Kai would be fine." Kai Hung said as he settled and Kong Rong sat beside him so that Jin could be seated at the opposite side and they could discuss the situation properly. "One of our tenants is leaving as their entirepany had not been making much profit as a whole even though they are making bank at our IFC Mall."

    "Just not enough to support the entirepany?" Jin asked and Kai Hung nodded his head.

    "This is privy information because the bid for the tenancy of the store is not out yet. But we are highly suspecting they are not staying within the next month."

    "Wait, if there''s a bid, then that meansбн?" Jin looked at Kong Rong. "You are not here just to inform me about just the bid, right?"

    "I''m d that you are catching on." Kai Hung smiled. "The rent for the ce is right beside the Pineapple and Hua Wee''s g store in order to not say the name of thepany but the previous tenant rented it for about 750, 000 Yuan annually. So, the base bid for the annual rental is about 800, 000 Yuan, about 66K Yuan per month. "

    "I guess if you are asking whether I can give a t annual rental price?" Jin asked and Kai Hung smiled.

    "Kong Rong, I like your friend." Kai Hung said and raised the number 15 with his two hands. But then he realised it was facing Jin wrongly and he inverted it so the number 15 was seen by Jin.

    "Hahahaha oh my god, Kai. I nearly thought that you wanted 5.1 million Yuan annually from Jin."

    "If he gave me that amount, I might as well rent the entire floor to him and have some notes left to smoke as well." Kai Hung joked back but Jin looked at him seriously.

    "Can you? For 5.1million Yuan?" Jin asked and it baffled Kai Hung for a while.

    "It''s a jokeбн right?" Kai Hung did not know whether tough or not.

    "Depends whether you can make that happen or not," Jin said as he straightened his suit andid back as the waiter came and asked if he wanted to order anything."No thanks, just in water would be fine."

    "The water is chargeable, just for your information." The Waiter said and Jin nodded his head. Kai Hung usually would judge someone based on their drinks but his potential tenant was drinking water and yet he was asking Kai Hung if he could rent out the entire floor for 5.1 million. He felt that suddenly his entire concept of rich was screwed up.

    "Here''s your mineral water sir." The waiter said and yet Jin was still waiting for Kai Hung''s answer. It was then Kai Hung decided to see if he was willing to bite.

    "How about this? We are ted to make Basement Five our newest car park floor. I don''t rent it to you, I will sell it to you for 88 Million for good prosperity''s sake." Kai Hung was half jesting.

    "If you are willing to put two entire sets of esctors dedicated only to basement Five, I do not see a problem with that," Jin said as he took out his phone as if to check his ounts.

    "Jin, you are kidding, right? No one will rent an entire basement floor for 88 million dors!"

    "He did not say rent, he says buy. I own that piece of basement. I own part of the International Financial Centre. Am I right to say that?"

    "Yes, if you are really willing to buy it at that price, I will even throw in that store we were talking about for free to you." Kai Hung could feel that this was no longer a jest but he decided to follow through.

    "Okay, then can I ask, when will the basement be ready?"

    "It would be for ted next year." Kai Hung tried to remember the exact date but he could not recall it off the bat.

    "What? Wait. So, you want me to pay this much and it is ted for next year? Kong Rong, do you think this is a joke from your pal?"

    "Wait. If we can have the funds early, we should be able to call in the constructionpanies in be done by January next year." Kai Hung tried topromise. 88 Million dors is a lot of money, spending another few million or two to expedite the basement would be a good thing for thepany as well.

    "That''s still at least three months awayбнoh wait I need to do my one year anniversary soon. Thanks for reminding me. Anyways, no. It''s still toote. I need it next month for my one year anniversary reveal. 35 Million Yuan, I buy it off from you and do the fifth basement myself.

    "Look, Mr Xie. It''s not that I do not trust you or anything but we have contracted the best most experiencedpany in construction and what you are working on is our IFC''s foundations.We cannot risk any other constructionpany to just take it."

    "Oh no, you sure can." Someone tapped on Kai Hung''s shoulder and Jin smiled devilishly as the Operations Director looked behind to see who it was.

 Chapter 1891 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 4

    Chapter 1891 Getting the IFC Contract -Part 4

    "Trust me. You can do it and you will take responsibility for it by creating the contract for us to survey the basement, and even call upon the best defect teams to check and rectify any problems we might have with the basement constructions." Kraft said in his business suit as well when he took out his overcoat even though he should not be wearing it when it was not yet a particrly cold weather environment.

    "Yesбн Yes... I will do just that." Kai Hung said and he sat beside Jin. "So, 35 Million Yuan okay?" Kraft asked and Kai Hung felt hesitant since he should not be the one making this decision alone for he is not the CEO of the IFC holdings.

    "70 Million and I promise that you get your contract from me. I need some cash to make sure that the board understands this бнunique situation that we are being presented with" Kai Hung was sweating profusely right now when he should not be especially when he had worked with tough customers and tenants before.

    "36 Million. We will do the construction ourselves." Jin counteroffered.

    "No, no. Even if I allow that.. 65 Million."

    "37 Million, put in the condition of those two sets of esctors as well. We can do that construction too." Kraft added as a waiter came and asked what would he like. "in water too. Thanks."

    "60 Million. I really cannot go any lowerбн"Kai Hung said.

    "40 Million and we take that store beside Pineapple and Hua Wee." Jin yawned as this was going nowhere.

    "50 Million. 50 Million for all that you asked." Kai Hung was shaking already when the waiter asked if he needed a napkin to wipe his sweat. "This is my final offer."

    "Alright 50 Million and throw in five years of free water and electricity," Jin said and Kraft nodded his head over that ingenuity of a condition that he had.

    "Okay. 50 Million."

    "Huh, a verbal agreement is not going to work, please sign that you had promised the President of Panda Inc. That you are willing to agree on 50 Million for the prospective fifth basement on behalf of the IFC Holdings." Kraft aside he already had it printed a long time ago and ced it on the table.

    "This бнcontract, it stated 50 million." Kai Hung was shocked that he had been manipted.

    "What? No, no. Can you see that I have a handheld printer here?" Kraft smiled as he opened his coat and showed that there was a folder with paper and a device on top of the folder. He printed another piece of paper for Kai Hung to see and told him that he could make adjustments through his phone.

    "I see. Can I go back and read the use first before signing?"

    "Sure, then read thest use, any changes outside from this particr table from this particr steakhouse at this particr duration of timing will incur a penalty fee as well as subject to further changes of the price which you cannot deny." Kraft pointed out and Kai Hung

    "This isбн extortion! I will not sign it."

    "Come on, do you really think we can make a profit in the basement?" This is practically free money for you since you can get defect teams to check for problems. Who knows, maybe we will fail badly and eventually turn this into a car park as you originally wanted. We still be earning some decent cash from it.

    "What you actually want is some shares from IFC Holdings to be a minor stakeholder!" Kai Hung believed that was their motive and the both of them merely shrugged their shoulders.

    "Think as you will. We just wanted the basement." Jin replied.

    "And the free shop," Kraft added on

    "And the 2 esctors." Jin''s turn.

    "AND the free 5 year electricity bills." Kraft did not want to miss that out and they bothughed.

    "If I do not sign it?" Kai Hung was a bit hesitant but they both once again shrugged their shoulders.

    "Then no extra bonus for you this year, I guess? We can do the auction bidding and give you the rental annually. It''s fun to outbid everyone when the timees, "Jin said and Kraft nodded. "They knew who lose out the most if they did not get the deal. Besides, the fifth basement was originally meant to be used as more car park space, Foundations had already been ced when it first started but they did not know whether IFC needed that many car parks until recent reports suggested that it would be best to put one more basement to amodate for the car park situations since people were undoubtedly more affluent.

    "Curses! I thought I had control of the conversation, not them!" Kai Hung thought to himself as he took out his pen slowly."Thisбн is a situation that I have to make with the rest."

    "Then be prepared for lower profit margins on your side while we save money just by outbidding the auction" Jin stood up and readjusted his clothes once more. He also realised that with a bit of chi, the suit was straightened almost immediately.

    "Wait! Wait! Please wait for a minute." Kai Hung knew this was not an opportunity that could be seen on a daily basis. 50 million split among the people from the top of the food chain will believe that is essential and in rtive terms, they will earn roughly 7-10 million from this prey.

    "Very well, thank you for doing business with you." Jin extended his hand for a shake before walking with Kraft out of the steakhouse.

    "Who told you about this? The System or my mother?"

    "You don''t have to worry about that. Kraft uses a sleight of hand to steal a bottle of unopened red wine and they subsequently portal back into their abode. "You want a drink?" Kraft asked as he took the huge ice cubes from storage.

 Chapter 1892 Getting the IFC Contract -Final

    Chapter 1892 Getting the IFC Contract -Final

    "Do you think he will be in trouble signing that kind of contract with us?" Jin asked and Kraft merely smiled as he enjoyed the taste of his red wine. Kong Rong suddenly appeared as he requested a meeting with those two rascals who were out there pressuring his n mate to get the deal.

    "You guysбн Seriously." Kong Rong took the bottle in front of them and drank straight from it.

    "If we are expanding, we will need a decent amount of ce. The location matters but space is more prevalent. Creating Dimensional Instance is one thing but there''s a need to tell everyone we own the mother freaking basement of IFC."Kraft raised his cup towards Kong Rong and both of them clicked their ''sses'' together.

    "He is clearly ripping off you guys, don''t you know that? That supposed fifth basement isn''t something that had been cleared by the authorities. There is no proper certification -oh what the hell." Kong Rong was about to finish his sentence and Kraft already took out a file and ced it on the table for him to see.

    "Don''t tell me this isбнwow you guys work fast on this." Kong Rong picked it up and saw that several renewed preliminary inspections had been scheduled by Craft Heavy Industries, a supposed German constructionpany that had been in the business for years.

    "I suppose if you are in this, you want some portion of it?"

    "Not much, just a dedicated Dimensional Instance for my Night Foxes and me. We are looking to expand the Night Foxes with the Sun Foxes." Kraft smiled and Jin tilted his head a little.

    "Sun Foxes? You found elves in the Goblin World?" That was when Jin realised it was not the System or Yun who had leaked the information to Kraft but instead, it was possibly Narris since he did ask her and her group to steal some inventory for him in the Mecha World.

    "Not just elves, High Elves. Those proud fools who only knew how to look down on people and did not have any other abilities worthy. Even my juvenile Night Fox is stronger than their average foot soldier."

    "I assume the Night Foxes were ted for this particr endeavour but won''t they be jealous that they got a dimensional instance closer to our world?"

    "Nah, in fact, they are over the moon. It''s akin to kicking the High Elves away from their precious kingdom. But we have yet to n an attack against it."

    "Why would you want to do that though? Is it really necessary to create war when we had already made peace with them?" Jin asked and Kong Rong felt this was out of his depth.

    "Do you need me to go? I could get a good rest at the Hot Spring Instance -oh oops I should not do that after drinkingбн" Kong Rong said to himself and then Kraft shook his head.

    "The conversation is for another time as my Night Foxes are still scouting the ce a little. They had been training all this time just for this revenge. So let me indulge such a chance. Besides, I heard that they have information about the lost Dwarves and rumours have it there''s a family of them still staying in the High Elf Kingdom." Kraft replied and Jin will think about it.

    "In any case, yes. I hope your n mate is alright after that incident." Kraft returned to the topic at hand.

    "He is obviously not. He signed something that needed the board''s decision first. At best a good reprimanding for not following the rules but who knows? You just offered them an olive branch if I am not mistaken."

    "Why do you say that?" Jin asked and Kong Rong gave them some insider info.

    "The IFC Holdings itself is facing some financial difficulties and they are looking to liquidate or inte the rental prices for their mall."

    "Shouldn''t they be quite stable? I mean if IFC Holdings is having trouble with financial difficulties, we are looking at problems surfacing throughout China''s economy" Jinmented.

    "Their overseas investments did not go as nned and the losses in potential profit are making them losing millions as well. So, they giving you a basement and you injecting 50 million is like throwing a lifebuoy at them before the government noticed them."

    "Heh. Then by having Jin''s store underneath IFC, it will not only increase the appeal of the mall andmercial building but give them the reason to raise the rentals for other shops since there will be an increased influx of tourists going in there." Kraft reasoned and the trio could see the benefit IFC is reaping since they would not be able to get any more Jin since they had sold the space to him.

    "You should get Xiong Da or his specialistwyers to look into this in case they could find a loophole to exploit us before getting into a proper contract," Kraft added and Jin nodded his head.

    "Although I am rather curious, why the need for emphasising two sets of esctors and I assume stairs as well into basement five?" Kong Rong asked

    "Have you seen our queues?"Both Kraft and Jin said together and theyughed. "Not to mention, we are four basements down," Jin remarked.

    "Can''t you just use the store that they allowed you to use to teleport them down to the basement? I mean if I am not wrong, you are going to dimensional instances so why all the hassle?"

    "The Car Park Service Instance needs space and we can earn a lot from that alone now that we possess a basement. We just need more space than usual." Jin said as he flicked the holographic console and the System showed Kong Rong the details.

    "Holy shit. You earned that much just by doing car parking?!?" Kong Rong could not believe the figures and he was seeing tens of thousands in a day''s profit just from the Tree Mall car park alone which brought him to utter disbelief.

 Chapter 1893 Car Park Service Instance

    Chapter 1893 Car Park Service Instance

    "Nah. Qiu Yue did the change behind my back and I only saw it recently," Jin said and found that the change was extremely positive. "So far, we provide quick repairs, refuelling, and cleaning services in our current Tree Mall Car Park as well. The fuel is self grown from waste and the only cost we have is the building of an oil nt just to make sure the oil is of the world''s standard."

    "Heh, that one was fun. Qiu Yue made me scour the ck market to find the most optimal distition process and we managed to find one that could create a more premium octane rating than the current market that Earth has." Kraft chuckled and Jin gave a thumbs up for his previous efforts.

    "So, people had beening to our Tree Mall to not just park cars, but to refuel as well both their car and bodies. Anything they had ordered from their Pandamonium App had been aptly prepared to be served once they were in the process of refuelling, be it while waiting or after payment had been done." Jin said and added that the cleaning and repair services yed a part too.

    "I am guessing that there''s time dtion magic to y that allowed your cleaning services to be one of part of your profits too." Kong Rong was still checking the holographic console.

    "Aye. After every ten refuelling, we gave a free cleaning service. And once they tried it out, they realised it was not just the exterior of the car but the interior as well. All they need is to have a cup of coffee and tada it is done."

    "So, it is not just rtively cheaper, it''s efficient and of high standards." Kong Rong could see how the profits they were making were of their own. There were no external third partypanies taking care of their car parks and thend was theirs. It''s solely their profit."

    "I assume you are demanding separate gantries when IFC get you to sign it?"

    "Obviously. With such a bigmercial building, they definitely let their big wigs use the car park more than the lower level workers since it''s a priority basis. And they already said they needed more car park space so why not provide something they sorely needed as well?"

    "Heh, imagine when the bigwigs realised that they are paying so much more for a lousy car park space when they can have better quality ones just right below their feet." Kraft grinned at that thought.

    "I see.. even though there would be some visitors who would be ripped off by the expensive empty car parks in the future, you arepeting with them for repeated visitors." Kong Rong said

    "Well, we can be evil and put our own rates outside their car parks and let the visitors decide whether they wish to park at our ce or not." Jin smiled and the other two chuckled as well for such minor details.

    "Then once they are empty, perhaps they can sell the rest of the basements to you." Kraft envisioned and Jin would like that as well. Having 5 levels of basement might not look that great on paper but it''s equivalent to having a separate mall at the bottom. And it''s at the bottom of IFC Mall? One of the few most influential malls in Shanghai? That''s a big plus to doing business.

    "By then, they might learn their lesson and rent it out to you instead."Kong Rong said and Kraftughed.

    "Don''t worry, we will find a way to that situation when that happens."

    "You are just one scary fellow I never wish to fight against. It''s a good thing I am part of your team. I do not know whether I can withstand your mind''s maniption. But please continue to do good things for the nation and her economy."

    "Naturally, I have to do it often to keep my skills fresh. Otherwise, I might be the one who be manipted instead." Kraft smiled as he asked Kong Rong to pour him some red wine since he was holding the bottle. "Besides, if we wish to be part of the Royal Zodiac ns, we need cash, right? Lots of cash."

    "I will not deny that. If you are an official n of the Royal Zodiac, buying those basementster bes part of your right. But do be careful, after all, IFC is not exactly fully Dragon''s territory. It''s abination of the Horses and us."

    "We will take note of that," Jin replied but for now, they needed to wait for the contract to be made within the week that Kai Hung had promised based on the agreement he signed.

    "By the way, Jin. I had also spoken to the rest of the Royal Zodiac n Leaders about the uingpetition. Tiger, Pig and Sheep ns would like to meet with you as they were the ones who coborated to get thepetition done the previous year."

    "Don''t you need to be in that meeting as well? Since we are doing this because of internal security purposes."

    "Nah, the System can give me a summarised versionter. Besides, only once everything had been nned then I can slot in my ''internal security'' opinions." Kong Rong winked an eye as he thanked the two of them for giving him such a wonderful panic attack during dinner.

    "Once you have met them, get the details then we will start promoting it widely that the location would be at the Tree Mall in Dec." Kong Rong said as he requested the System to open a portal back to his house.

    Only once left alone, Jin then asked Kraft about his desire to attack the High Elf Kingdom. "Any excuses have you made to get the High Elf to act so that we are not the aggressors?"

    "Ah, wanting to use a tactic of entrapment to make the High Elves look bad, huh? Seems like you learn fast from me." Kraft teased.

 Chapter 1894 High Elves

    Chapter 1894 High Elves

    But when he drank thest portion of his red wine, Kraft shook his head. "No, we actually do not need any of those. There seemed to be a High Elf Delegationing to the adventurer''s town to show their presence as well as demanding a toll to the High Elves."

    "Huh? Toll to the High Elves? Who do they think they are?"

    "Exactly, but the Goblins, Orcs, and Humans all had thought the same until the three races separately met the very same fate witnessing the High Elves punishing them. By showering tons of magic at their cities even though the groups of High Elves that came to ''punish'' were a rtively small group."

    "So I am guessing that if the High Elves saw that the new aspiring city does not have to give any tolls to the High Elf Kingdom plus we have Dark Elves in our midst."

    "Hoo boy. This is World War Three we are talking about in their context. And I am suspecting they have that family of dwarves not just for fun but also as a reminder that the High Elves are superior and had taken out the technologically advanced dwarves. And they can keep a family in their Kingdom because they can."

    "Why are the Orcs and Goblins fighting against each other when they have such an arrogant kingdom right above them?"

    "Because if the Orcs were to take over the Goblins, they only needed to pay just that same one toll." Frost Echo came in as the System found that this situation would undoubtedly involve the Orcs and Goblins too.

    "They do not just rain fire and lightning on us, those bastard High Elves will damage our environment with their spells and demanded the very same toll that had been asked of us. I believe this was to promote infighting or maybe even spilling it into the goblins."

    "So, was that initial war against the Goblins because of this as well?" Jin questioned and Frost Echo shook his head.

    "Partially yes, but not entirely. However when they first came, the Orcs and Goblins had such a major fall out, it prompted the two races to hate each other after that. This is why to see now that they are united, I do not wish for it to happen again. I am willing to pledge my Orcs for the cause as well."

    "No, we are not going to do that." Kraft intervened in the conversation.

    "We are going to let them rain hell and fire onto the new adventurer''s town. Even if it means the death of precious Goblins, Orcs, and Humans."

    "You want them to have a united front so that the three can all face the High Elves?" Frost Echo asked to see a bloody n happen was not exactly what he would like.

    "Have you forgotten how many goblins and Orcs we have in our possession?" Kraft asked and Frost Echo did not get it until Jin pointed it out.

    "We fake the demise of the New Adventurer''s Town when we know that the High Elves Subjugation team ising. Get the citizens of New Adventurer''s Town to hide or evacuate and we litter the entire ce with our own Orcs and Goblins along with additional holographic images so that we can inte the numbers even more. Hell, we can even get Farming World Humans is under our contract toe and increase the numbers too so that it would like a normal town that was unaware of their eventual demise."

    "Nice. Good for you to think that way."Kraft approved of Jin''s method.

    "Besides, once we destroyed it all, we can rebuild it again, and this time with better more modern materials," Jin said as he found that the current town they had was growing but it was not growing right.

    "Lol, and let Qiu Yue handle the expansion?"

    "Yeah. And I am nning to revamp that cave too. The profit is low and there''s not much interest after the initial few months."

    "Heh. It''s too difficult and I believed people had figured out that the reward from those dungeons isn''t that enticing. Well, it did bring people together and they created this new adventurer''s town, allowing humans to work in orc and goblin territory and likewise the same as well. Most humans while still having their grievances against our two races, have shown that humans are capable of tolerating us too." Frost Echo exined and Jin nodded his head.

    "That''s why we need to remove the cave. Perhaps, making the New Adventurer Town the new trade and resort town would be a decent chess move since we have not interacted with the other cities much. Anyways, we will see how it will go after the High Elves mend their punishment onto the town first." Jin replied.

    "I will get my spies and soldiers to make sure the evacuation of the New Adventurer''s Town is as smooth as possible. But can I ask, how did you know the High Elf Kingdom had finally noticed our town?" Frost Echo asked Kraft.

    "Eh? Your spies did not tell you? There''s a High Elf lurking around in New Adventurer''s Town recently. Perhaps my Night Foxes are too sensitive to them so they could pick her scent out." Kraft said as he put the ss down and started to shoo them away.

    "I do not need to hear your details of what you guys are going to do in the New Adventurer''s Town. Just make sure that I have a nicefortable base for the Sun Foxes when the IFC approves our basement idea. And Jin, make sure it isfortable, okay? Or I will get the-"

    "You will get the IFC to revoke my contract. Yes, I understand my dear Devil. Just go and settle your devious ns."

    "Looks like you would be spending lots of cash again if you want to rebuild the New Adventurer''s Town."

    "Don''t worry. I will attempt to coincide theing of the High Elves with a raid at the Dungeon World''s Money Tower. This way, there will be lesser people to evacuate when the High Elvese for their subjugation." Jin replied.

 Chapter 1895 No Land For You

    Chapter 1895 No Land For You

    The night was peaceful for almost everyone except for the Operations Director of IFC who was struggling to understand why he had epted such a deal with someone whom he did not exactly have much interaction with.

    Was it with Kong Rong that he let down his guard? Regardless, the more read the agreement he had signed on the table whether it was based on coercion or not, he could not simply ignore it. Well, he can do that but that also meant that Jin and hispany would have rights to the rental shop which his tenant was moving out from at any price.

    So even as he cracked his head, morning came and he never had a single wink of sleep. When he reached the office, the only thing Kai Hung did was to go straight into the CEO''s office and tell him about the matter at hand.

    "Why? Isn''t that a good thing? We have some failing investments and this will cover our losses just nicely. At most, we say that we have to renegotiate the pricing once more after a revaluation of the ce. After all, if he agreed to the initial 88 millionбн" CEO Na Ying replied. "Besides, it''s just a basement and how big can a shop get? Let''s just have an emergency board meeting and see about it."

    Soon, it did not take long for everyone to jump on board of the hype train to get Jin into the picture. Even a few of the board members had heard of this Dungeon Supplier and had even checked the store''s potential to be of a rtively high value. There was no need to doubt that it would definitely bring fortune in.

    "Since he wants the basement, he should give it to him. At most, we pull out some random taxation that needs to be paid in order to continue using it. That way we can still earn some petty cash from him after that." One of the Board Members said.

    "Who knows? Maybe if he is that sessful, we might be able to convert the remaining car park spaces to him and we can sell it to him at an even higher price. I do not think he would reject it."

    "But if he buys the basement, he will be a part of our board. Are you willing to take that risk?" Kai Hung asked and the board was curious.

    "What do you mean risk?" The members asked.

    "If he buys more of the basements, he will technically be holding shares more than all of youbined and thus have a bigger say in this board meeting. In fact, if things go on, he would be the third or fourth biggest stakeholder in IFC holdings."

    "I do not see a problem with that. If he has the money and capability to do so, I wee such talented people into my board and be part of the decision making team so that IFC Holdings can prosper." Na Ying replied and the rest of the board also nodded their heads.

    In summary, everyone wants the short term injection to recover from their losses and the rest of the headaches cer when Jin enters the fray. If he was not doing well and needed to recoup losses, the board wins too since they could take away his shares. And besides, he is a small timer somehow with lots of money in his hands.

    To the people at the top of IFC Holdings believed that he had this short term sess without thinking much of the future until the IFC CEO and Operations Director met with Jin and hiswyer Xiong Da who actuallyter requested something else.

    "Youбн what?"

    "As much as I want to sign that contract with you, it seems that we have a few issues with it." Jin said and Xiong Da immediately took out a series of documents to certify its notification for theirwyers to read.

    "Byw, IFC Holdings have the permit to own, lease, and build anything they liked on thend they own. However, anything below a certainnd level which unfortunately coincided with the construction of the fifth basement is considered statend. IFC Holdings had to rebid for thend again if they wished to sell us that space." Xiong Da said and Jin was relieved that Xiong Da knows his shit very well.

    "You are technically selling a lease of illegalnd to Jin and can be charged for it. Still, this is a small matter since we found it out early rather than having a binding contract with you. In fact, we have already applied to the Urban Land Authority and will be submitting for bidding if the state allows it to."

    At that moment, Na Ying looked at her team ofwyers who could miss out on such an important detail and it was only Xiong Da pointed at them a certain use which made the team ofwyers look like fools for allowing their opponent to use such a loophole in thew to get away from it.

    And to their surprise, it was not long that the bidding auction for that particr sub soilnd had been released to the public by the statend. It was as if Jin had some forces behind the scenes that they did not understand andprehend. Kai Hung was very sure that the Dragon n''s Leader did not even have such power with the government which goes to say how much of an enigma Jin was or he was just so lucky.

    But what Xiong Da did not understand was that if Jin was willing to fork out so much money, why could he not just rent more stores instead than to get that particr basement instead? It was as if he was practically interfering with the IFC Holdings just so that he could get what he want.

    That was when Jin smiled and said that this was not the end of it.

 Chapter 1896 No Land For You Too

    Chapter 1896 No Land For You Too

    "Kraft and I thought of the same thing as you too," Jin said when Xiong Da asked him that question. Why bother? Then we realised something as well. If thatnd can be bought, it also means other ces will have the very same opportunity too. We nt ourselves into a famous mall and get the most out of it."

    "But this kind of directpetition is kind of like predatory against the current malls, isn''t it? I mean when Ipared Tree Mall with the others? They simply lose by a huge margin. Unless you are purposely doing this to kickpetition out of the way?"

    "IFC Holdings is currently leasing the mall to another constructionpany. This is the only way to show that we can hold a mall of our own andter bid for the right to have that mall. If the currentpanies overseeing those malls want to fight against us, they have to step up their game instead. Besides, they should be happy that I am providing them traffic to them...assuming they do not go to mine first. Hahaha!"

    "Because you currently do not have any luxury brands under your mall''s name."

    "Not that I do not have any, I have major brands in my Tree Mall''s name. But I just don''t have the extreme luxury ones."

    "So, you are doing this to attract the extreme luxuries into your new underground mall?"

    "You could say that. But we will see how this particr experiment goes about for now. If it''s a loss, we can always return it to the government."

    "Heh, you make it sound so easy but I have no idea you had that much money with you. If I had known, I would not have sponsored so much for the Tree Mall previously."

    "Hey, I was really poor back then okay? Just that I had some good investments going through the year that allowed me to earn this much."

    "Then you should give me some back. After all, I am your investor in the Tree Mall."

    "Am I not giving you free dungeon runs already?"

    "Wow, you are such a cheapskate. Anyways, call me up when you have settled on the date for the bid."

    "Want to hear something evil?" Jin suddenly thought of something bad.

    "What is it?"

    "We purposely bid it to a fairly high amount and let IFC take it instead."

    "LOL." Xiong Da did not think of that. "Overpriced car park for sure. Not to mention they have to handle construction and stuff. I think if it came to that which is actually possible since you kind of pissed them off, it would be hrious if they really win it and realised they acquirednd that was kind of useless. I mean, there''s even a subway right beside them already, no use building a subway below theirs." The Super Lawyer decided to return for the day after they had settled all the nonsense that had happened.

    Over the weekend, Kong Rong actually came to confirm what Jin had done since Kai Hungined to him andter found that it was not either party''s fault. He could only say that this was just a ridiculous situation. "Honestly, if you had just rented a store, none of this would have happened."

    "But sadly, it did happen. If Kai Hung had not told me about the fifth basement they are creating, I would not be in this situation. And hey, look at the bright side, at least we avoided them to be under thew." Jin made such a bad pun, that Kong Rong actually rolled his eyes.

    "Heh, surprisingly, he told him that as well and stated that if they had not found out from you building a fifth basement would incur a vition of thew, they might have been in trouble. Oh, and their CEO? Theirwyers got a trashing from her, not physically."

    "Yet in a way, I did waste his time." Jin shrugged his shoulders and Kong Rong shrugged as well since they both knew it was quitemon certain preparations became useless. "So, this week no new dungeon instances? Or you have been busy with the work that Xiong Da gave you. After all, you probably needed to read up when you do thisnd acquisition thing."

    "Yeah, he said that at least I have Panda Inc. as thepany front, or else it would have been hard to apply it with just my name on it. ''Thirty years ago, it might have been possible but not now.''" Jin imitated Xiong Da''s voice. "And nah, I had been looking at the stuff your other Royal Zodiac ns had sent to me before the meeting tomorrow. Must say that you guys sure have a lot of things in the past and started way earlier as well. Why the dy up till now?"

    "Ha ha haбн to be honestбн Remember that city where you were beating those monsters called upon by those Banned Emperor Terrorists? It was that particr venue but if we put thepetition up at that venue, it would probably receive more bacsh for being so insensitive although they needed the extra revenue to be honest."

    "So, you guys had nned to ditch thepetition this year?"

    "Kind of but it''s a waste too. Because it''s meant to be the 30th Annual Competition. So, it''s got to be big in some way. So, even though the venue had been paid for in advance, the ns decided not to go for it, due to the incident. Until we realised that we have you to sought after that fantastic Panda Celebration event that you made."

    "Gek, I should not have let you Royal Zodiac Leaders out in the open."

    "Hey, it''s a good thing you know? They enjoyed it quite a fair bit and rmended the other leaders to try it too." Kong Rongughed as he bid farewell to Jin and hoped that he could get hisnd.

 Chapter 1897 A Talk With Hu Yuan Ba

    Chapter 1897 A Talk With Hu Yuan Ba

    "Huh. You are early." Hu Yuan Ba, the Head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger n said as he saw Jin in the Amber Arbour looking at documents while waiting for the rest.

    "EhhбнThis is my store, isn''t it? So technically I should be around." Jin did not exactly know if Yuan Ba was mocking him or not.

    "No, usually those n leaders who invited people to their homes or offices, are thest to arrive to show their significance for they owned the ce. "You guys always do that? Or is it because it''s to show your power?" Jin asked as he ced the documents aside and called for the Otter servant to receive the guests.

    "I would not deny that habit. Eventually, it became a sort of culture. Coffee with a pot of sugar please." "Look after your health old man. You want your daughter Yang Ling to scold you?" Jinined and told the otter to give him just one packet of sugar.

    "I can use my cultivation to burn those sweets away. Just let me have my coffee in peace." Yuan Ba said as he told the otter to ignore the boss and listen to the customer. The Otter waiter then looked at Jin as if waiting for his instructions and Jin shook his head, expressing himself to let the Royal Zodiac Tiger do what he wanted.

    "How''s Yang Ling and your two other sons after I beat them up?" Jin shamelessly asked Yuan Ba as he waited for the rest.

    "You seriously want to bring that up?" "I did return your territories to you afterst night''s discussion, did I not?" Jin said as he realised that he really did not need the factories even though it was nice to have them. Qiu Yue had done an analysis and noted that Pandapolis factories were churning out better productivity and revenuepared to what he had taken from the Tigers.

    "The two sons did not want your pity territory so I gave it to Yang Ling to handle instead." "That''s good. She definitely had what it takes to handle those territories." Jin nodded his head in agreement that it was a good decision that Yuan Ba gave it to his daughter to manage it. Because when Jin received those territories, the buildings were in such a poor state that he was baffled the ce could still be running properly.

    "But I heard you did maintenance and even upgrading the factories to their original state. Are you sure you are okay wasting your investments just like this?" Yuan Ba asked and Jin shrugged his shoulders. "I already returned it to you. Just stop fussing about it already." Jin said and Yuan Ba decided to open up to Jin a little more. "My two sons did not forget about what you did to them. They won''t take it down easy and will probably want a rematch." "Meh, they cane anytime. My doors are open but please get some insurance for them in case they are injured beyond recognition." "What I meant is that they want to challenge you during this particr annual martial artspetition."

    "Are they stupid or dumb? Or both? They want to lose their faces nationwide fighting with me?" Jin asked why Yuan Ba did not stop them.

    "Sometimes, I think that I might have pampered more than I have done so for Yang Ling. They would not listen to reason and even ask several other private tutors.. erm masters to aid them with their cultivation." "I assume that they are forking out their own money to do this and you are not paying a single cent from it." "Hard to say, since I did give them quite a fair bit of allowance before Yang Ling officially took over some of my duties." Yuan Ba thanked the Otter Waiter for the coffee and started pouring a few spoons of sugar. It was only with Jin''s initial warning that he decided to stop at the fourth scoop and put the sugar back. "Fine. Just know that I do not give any mercy or face to them if they challenge me." Jin said and Yuan Ba nodded. He still found it a pity that Yang Ling was not able to be with Jin ever since he found out from his Tigers that Jin was attached. Her gratitude towards him was boundless and he regretted that he was somewhat too tough against him despite all the things that Jin had done for his daughter. All he could do not was to repair the rtions and make sure that if there was ever a chance for Jin to change his mind, his daughter could swoop in and grab Jin instead.

    "Since the rest are a littlete, then why don''t we discuss the security details for the Tree Mall and the Dungeon Instance," Jin said and a voice came from the stairs.

    "I am not a littlete. I am on time." Yang Rou Xiang, the Leader of the Royal Zodiac Sheep n said as she slowly walked up the stairs and took a seat beside Jin instead of sitting beside the Tiger n''s Head. "More than on time. On the exact dot as well." Jin said as he looked at his watch and Rou Xiang smirked.

    "Now that the Pig iste and before we discuss official stuff, I am genuinely more interested in the thing you mentioned to me. Way more than this particrpetition." "What thing can make the Sheep n Leader to be so riled up? She is normally not that agitated." Yuan Bamented and Rou Xiang smiled widely.

    "You might not believe it but with this innovation, it can entirely change the world''s medical industry if Jin wants to." Rou Xiangmented and Jin gave a short grin as he too knew that this was a game changer as he gave a quick call.

    "Give me a moment on that. Click, minding down and bringing us the prototypes? Our guest will like to see it."

 Chapter 1898 Prototype Prothesis Limbs

    Chapter 1898 Prototype Prothesis Limbs

    The moment Jin finished speaking on the phone, ady came out from below the Amber Arbour and brought a hand and leg for Jin to see. "Thanks, Click. You may return for now" She merely smiled and made herself out of sight of the two guests. "I assumed you had broughtpany with you?" Jin asked Rou Xiang.

    "You sure you want to do it now? I am fairly alright to check on the goods." "I mean Mr Zhu is not here yet. We can spare some time if Mr Hu is okay with it." Jin said and Yuan Ba replied that the Royal Pig Zodiac waste. "He is caught in traffic. There was some highway incident and asked us to proceed with him first. So, I guess we can spare some time to look at yourбн gamechanger." Yuan Ba was equally interested in it. "Very well, the patient should be sitting at the first floor of Amber Arbour." Rou Xiang said and when the three leaders peer over the pavilion, they did see twodies sitting at a table with their caretakers.

    "Lead the way then," Jin said and Rou Xiang stood up and slowly walked down while Yuan Ba asked Jin a question on the gamechanger.

    "How is this different from my daughter''s Gearbox? She had been trying to sell her product to the military and now youe out with this?" "Sir, your daughter''s gearbox augments the entire body and her item is for reinforcing the soldier''s body as a whole. My item reces the body part. Surely, she can do something in the future that reces it but so far from what I checked, my recement does not interfere with your daughter''s gearbox design. In fact, theyplement each other." "Then that''s a good thing to hear." Yuan Ba was satisfied since the Gearbox had been the money maker that Yang Ling was working on to put the Tigers on the map once more. He even believed that Jin returning the territories to Yang Ling would definitely enable her to change the production methods of those factories for Gearbox. At first to Yuan Ba, what Jin did was something akin to aiding the tigers but when Yuan Ba saw the prototypes on the table, his heart sank thinking that Jin did not do him a favour and instead createdpetition.It was as if the Panda Leader was telling the Tigers that even without those factories, I would being up on top from all of you.

    However now that Jin had rified the difference between the Gear Box system and his prototypes as well as no conflict of interest, he was now genuinely curious about the item and how it works.

    "Mdm Yang!" The two patients bowed even though they were in their wheelchairs but their caretakers stood up and did their greetings instead.

    "Do you like the look of this ce?" Rou Xiang asked and her two patients nodded their heads excitedly.

    "Incredible. The ce is beyond my imagination. Even though it looked just like some subway station, the vibrancy of the environment was totally different from the usual subways. It felt like I am in some sci fi setting." The male patient who lost his leg said. "Sorry Mdm Yang, my brother is a little obsessed with Dungeon Instances. He had been wanting to see Dungeons and Pandas for some time." The female patient apologised for her brother even though she lost more than just a leg. Her right upper limb had been amputated as well.

    "I assumeбн" Jin looked at them as he carried the two prototypes with him. "Yes, they are victims of the recent monster outbreak attack that you have aided. Their home was close to the border walls when it happened. They did not evacuate for certain reasons beyond our control. In summary, their parents were killed and they survived the attack."

    "Mdm Yang graciously allowed us to be taken into the orphanage even though we were already teenagers. She even paid for our hospital fees." The male patient eximed and his older sister told him to keep quiet for now.

    "Seems you are well liked." "Well liked or not, the fact remains that they are helpless because of their situation. So, show me if your product would really work." Rou Xiang said and Jin turned to look at the second floor of Amber Arbour. Thedy who passed Jin the prototype stood up and told the group she would be back. If not for the fact that Jin was entertaining a few guests, thedy would not have maintained a such feminine visual.

    "Click, mind helping put these prototypes for the kids?" Jin asked and Click nodded her head. "You should get Page to help out. We only have two prototypes here." The engineer said as she stared at the loss of hands and legs. "Page! Do you have another prototype with you?" Jin shouted as he pointed at one of the legs but instead of shouting back anotherdy stood up and asked which one by pointing at her legs. Jin responded with the right leg. Page gave the ok sign and took another prosthetic leg before walking down the stairs of Amber Arbour. By this time, a number of people were already looking at themotion that Jin had made and some of the cultivators had realised that the Royal Zodiac n''s Heads Tiger and Sheep was right within their vicinity.

    "Do you really need to shout and attract all this attention?" Rou Xiang asked as if she had been annoyed by Jin''s ways of doing things. "What? Isn''t it good? Social Media is the best ce to send a message. If they are taking videos of what we are doing. This would be a good sign for me and my subsidiarypany making this product."

    "You are assuming it will work." Yuan Bamented.

    "Trust me, it will work no matter what. Would not have allowed it even if it doesn''t.

 Chapter 1899 Walk? I Can Jump!

    Chapter 1899 Walk? I Can Jump!

    "What''s your name?" Page asked since Click was doing some adjustments to the mechanoid''s leg to make sure that its height matched the other leg.

    "Names''s Cai Jian. My Older Sis is Cai Yun."

    "Nice name. Cai Jian, are you ready to try walking?" Page asked as she pulled up the right sleeves of his pants. Cai Jian nodded his head and was extremely curious if it could really work. After all, he did try some of the prosthetics but they were ufortable mainly due to the fact that his wound just healed and it was still soft and tender on the inside, making it tiresome for him to handle the weight. Not to mention, there was both pain and phantom pain as well while trying to walk.

    "I am ready but I be honest, I do not have much hope for it."

    "Don''t worry. If our product does not suit you then it means we still have much to do. In return, I am sure my Boss will treat you to an ice cream dessert. This ce sells very delicious ice cream waffles." Page said and Cai Jian nodded his head, willing to try the prototype.

    "All set. What he needs to do is to just put it in. There will be a little bit of like ehh nibbling feeling at first. After which, it should be A OKAY!." Click said and just as she said, Cai Jian felt as if the prototype of biting on the remaining portion of his leg but instead of pain, it felt ticklish.

    At that point, the prototype reacted and the metallic toes were already wiggling from the ticklish feeling. Cai Jian could hardly believe it as he quickly removed the paddles on the wheelchair and started to try standing.

    There was no pain standing at all too and it gave him the urge to try walking even though he has yet to bnce himself. "Woah woah. Slowly slowly. The prototype needs some time to adjust itself as well." Click said and that was when Cai Jian listened to her and gave time for the prosthetic leg to adjust itself.

    There was a minor green light emitted from all three sides of the prosthetic leg, stating that it had calibrated and Click gave the go ahead for him to walk. Cai Jian could not believe it. He did not even need to think and he was walking as if it was a natural thing to do.

    At that point, he started to jump and he felt that the prosthetic leg had even more power than his normal one, only to realise he had identally poured chi into the leg as well. "Youбн can even have chi circting through the leg?!" Cai Jian eximed and Jin nodded his head.

    Thatment itself was a wow from the people who were watching Cai Jian walking and jumping around so much so that it had already started spreading in the social media. Rou Xiang could not believe it too as she could clearly sense the cirction of chi within the prosthetic leg.

    "This is indeed a revolutionary product. I will do my best to get the licenses for you so you can sell them as soon as possible." Rou Xiang said to Jin as Cai Jian continued to run around a little more until Rou Xiang told him to be careful of the crowd.

    At that point, Cai Yun was equally excited now seeing that her brother was able to move so smoothly with his new leg but at the same time wary that she could have the same feeling as her brother did. "What''s the matter?" Page asked and Cai Yun shook her head. "It''s okay, you can say it out."

    "You said that these are prototypes, right? Can they work on me when I do not even have half a thigh for you to put the prosthetic leg on?" She said as Cai Yun pulled her pants up to show that the amputation was up to her hip. The only thing left was perhaps the femoral head as her gluteal tuberosity had beenpletely cut off.

    "Don''t worry about it. Our dear chief engineer here would be able to adjust the prosthetic leg for you." Page smiled as she took responsibility for adjusting her prothestic arm instead. "You lost these protecting your brother?" Page asked but Cai Yun shook her head.

    "I lost these when I tried to escape from the monsters. My brother lost his during an explosion. We used all the chi we could to stop the bleeding but eventually we both fainted from the loss of chi. Next thing we knew, we were on the hospital beds, side by side." Cai Yun exined, not realising that as she said all those things, both Page and Click had already the adjustments and were ready to connect them to Cai Yun.

    "Like I said, a bit of a nibbling feeling. Please bear with it." Page smiled. "And with this, you will be ready to start afresh."

    The hand and legs connected perfectly fine and since Cai Yun had seen the process that Cai Jian had gone through, she too waited for the minor green lights to be lit up on all the visible sides of both prosthetic limbs before she could feel the sensationing back to her.

    "Sis, what are you waiting for? Stand up!" Cai Jian said and his sister listened to him, realising that it had no pain at all. She felt totally herself and before she could do anything else, her brother already pulled her away from the wheel chair and they managed to run around the ce for a bit.

    "Hey Hey Hey! No more chi emission, store''s rules! if you want, take it to the Panda Muscles Service Instance." Jin shouted and the two kids suddenly giggled and nodded their heads. "Click and Page, take them there, would you?" Jin asked and his two Mechanoids gave a thumbs up before bringing them out of the store instance.

 Chapter 1900 Pig Clans Generosity

    Chapter 1900 Pig n''s Generosity

    "They are adjustable?" Rou Xiang asked as she saw the two of them have their prototype limbs to match the same height and length as their legs and arms.

    "To a certain extent but to be honest, they are the prototypes of the prototypes. I want to make those limbs able to grow with their age but even though you see it''s a sess right now, their battery life is terrible." Jin lied but he did not want to sell the growing prosthesis so soon. He just wanted to sell the normal ones out first.

    "So, the standard limbs have better battery life?"

    "Yes. This onests at most for half an hour only. The standard limbs once it had been measured and configured to their height, canst for a week without any charging. That is assuming about 20 thousand steps a day. Last longer if they do not walk too much."

    "Wow, I am very interested in this. It really does look revolutionary." Yuan Ba chimed in. "To be able to push chi andplete the cirction is more than just a miracle."

    "Hahaha, too bad for you. I have the capital to make them but I need the licenses first to sell them. And not just chi, if my research and development team could do it, limbs with magic circuits are also possible. We just need a little more trial on that."

    "Where did you make them?" Rou Xiang and Jin grinned as he finally could say his famous trade line after so long.

    "Trade Secret."

    "Geh, you and your trade secrets," Rou Xiang buzzed off Jin with her hand as she saw the two kids running with Click and Page.

    "I will get your licenses for you. Send me your mass produced product a few of them and I will get them certified."

    "You sure you are not going to give it to the Monkey n''s leader?" Jin asked and Rou Xiangughed.

    "Hahaha! And let him produce something more inferior? That guy always cuts corners when ites to new inventions. No. You do it. I had a feel of the product just now and could see that it is undoubtedly sturdy," Rou Xiang replied and with a quick handwave, Yinn and Diaz had already brought four huge suitcases worth of ''limbs''. The caretakers of Cai Jian and Cai Yun took them under themand of their leader.

    "My employees will take care of your patients for the moment, do not worry. Besides, those limbs only had half an hour of battery life, they would be back here by then." Jin said as he could see the conflicted faces on whether to move away from the wheelchairs and keep those suitcases or not.

    "I will send you the passcodes for the suitcases in case, you know people steal them."

    "Ye of little faith in me." Rou Xiangmented.

    "I am just saying, with these many people taking videos of this new product, couldn''t hurt to be a little more careful." Jin had that evil smile expression on him that Yuan Ba smirked as well.

    "Sorry, I amte." Zhu Tai Fang, the Head of the Royal Zodiac Pig n came in with a group of cultivators behind him as well.

    "This is?" Yuan Ba said and Tai Fangughed.

    "Well, I figured I amte so as an apology, I am bringing in a few of my n''s cultivators here to try Jin''s dungeon supplier store as a way ofpensating it a little."

    "Thank you, Mr Zhu. Your business is much appreciated." Jin gave a firm handshake to wee her.

    "And also, if you guys do not mind, I shall treat to you guys an early dinner if your stomachs can amodate food. Because I want to try this infamous ''Lynn''s cooking'' that I had been hearing over the," Tai Fang replied.

    "That''s great to know. Please take a look at the menu and she will serve the rest of you if your stomachs are rumbling." Jin smiled and the leaders did not hesitate to take up the offer. The food was eventually served and each of them purposely chose a different set meal.

    Tai Fang went for the Chinese Mystery Meal while Yuan Ba went for the Western and Rou Xiang gone for the Chinese Mystery meal (Light.) The moment they dug into their food, there was no conversation initiated at all. Every one of them was enjoying their food to such an extent that words were not needed to convey their happiness.

    It was only when Tai Fang who was the first to finish everythingid back on his chair to enjoy the scenery that he said only just one word. "Fantastic." In the meantime, Lynn came out to check on them and Tai Feng gave her thumbs up.

    "How do you know that it''s me?"

    "Your face is stered on social media. If I do not recognise you, I am a failure as a fellow chef too."

    "I hope that you do not judge me too harshly, fellow chef." Lynn bowed a little to pay her respect to Tai Fang.

    "Hahaha! With this simple meal, you are already in my top 10% list. And I can believe this is not your full concentrated effort at all. Would love a meal that you had put in a 100% effort into it."

    "When I have the time and the asion to do that, perhaps I will. But for now, I am quite happy with the current arrangement that I have."

    "Oh, no no. Please do not misunderstand. I did not mean to poach you or anything. There is no doubt that if you are in the gourmet world, you will be praised by everyone if you put in a little effort. But I also respect chefs that wish to enjoy what they make."

    "That''s quite refreshinging from a gourmet chef like you."

    "Hah! I am retired as a gourmet chef. I know where to find my happiness. All I can hope is you found yours early."

    "I do, and currently enjoying it," Lynn smiled as she ced her hands in her pockets.

    "I believe you." Tai Fang saw her genuine smile and nodded his head. "I wille back again."

 Chapter 1901 Jealous of His Medical Instance

    Chapter 1901 Jealous of His Medical Instance

    "Now that we are done eating, shall we continue with our meeting?" Jin asked and they nodded their heads.

    Obviously, when the three of them were together it was mainly because of the sections they were handling. Yuan Ba was in charge of security, Rou Xiang was for the medical portion while Tai Fang handled the food.

    "I will not minding in to work alongside Lynn if that is agreeable with you, Jin."

    "I would not mind, in fact, I think it''s an honour for me to host you and your team while Lynn learns a little from you as well," Jin said and Tai Fang smiled.

    "Do not worry, I will respect her boundaries when ites to the kitchen."

    "That is reassuring to hear from you," Jin said and the other two started to talk about the security and medical portion of the martial artspetition. For Yuan Ba, he knew that the nearby police station had made several concessions to put more police patrols around the Tree Mall. So, most if not all of the policemen in that particr station already knew the routes.

    "It''s both a good and bad thing. If the Banned Emperor Terrorists wished to sabotage, they would definitely try to trace the police''s movement." Jin remarked. "So, what I suggest is that you mix policemen or security detail that are not familiar with the Tree Mall. This way, this will add as some ''randomness'' to the security details patrolling the ce."

    "I see, then the policemen from Tian Gong Station can do their patrols as usual and those that are unfamiliar with the district would help with patrolling the area that they do not know to spot portions where the current police might have missed out due to ''familiarity''."

    "Yes, indeed."

    "Then I assume you are going to take care of the security within your own instance?"

    "That I will, you have a hundred percent guarantee that I can do a very good job at that." Jin thumbs up and Yuan Ba smiles a little.

    "As for the medical portion, it is not that I do not trust you but I would need to see your facilities if you do not mind once the meeting is done."

    "I can vouch that he has the medical facilities that we need. In fact, this is way equal or maybe even better than any hospital that handles our day to day workload." Yuan Ba said as he had been saved by Jin and colleagues in this very medical service instance.

    "I understand but it would still be best for me to look."

    "I have no qualms with that. We can go now if you wish for it." Jin said and the rest would like to tag along as well. Jin created a portal in front of them and told them that it was a faster way to move around especially when the medical instance was usually hidden and not for public use.

    When Rou Xiang saw it, she now understood why Yuan Ba would enjoy the experience. It was practically a hotel rather than a hospital! As she took a quick nce at the details imprinted at the side of the lift, they practically had everything.

    From surgical wards to intensive units and even recovery wards. And because Rou Xiang was the director of various hospitals, with just one peak into the wards, she could see the condition and even certain standards of practices had been met even though this was merely an area of rest for the group.

    And for the fact that they were able to heal Yuan Ba during that attempted assassination also showed that the ''practitioners'' here were not just skilled but highly skilled too. The only thing that bothered her was that they were all Pandas. However, she did notin to Jin since there was not even a single strand of fur on the floor at all.

    A quick emission of her chi could also sense the cleanliness of the recovery instance that she was in and she could not believe that it was not just clean but very clean for a hospital grade instance. There was no way to do this unless there were dedicated cleaners on the clock, with shifts 24/7 just to do this.

    "Jealousy? Is this feeling of jealousy within me?" Rou Xiang thought to herself as the more she walked around the ce, the more she wanted her staff to work here instead. But does she really want her staff to be here? If they ever see this, they will not hesitate toe back again and demand a workce like this.

    "Are you satisfied with the medical instance?"

    "Are you interested in receiving cases if we are ever flooded with cases?" Rou Xiang teased.

    "Please no. I do not want people toe here and sue for medical negligence orck of certification or whatever. All those surgical wards that you see are just for emergencies. IF we really need to operate on something. Otherwise, those wards are off limits."

    "Then isn''t it so much of a waste? My doctors can use this ce." Rou Xiang chuckled. "They are all dying for more surgical wards."

    "Hahah! What do you have to be afraid of Jin? This is literally the top leader of the health departments. If she says go, those doctors go. If she tells the doctors to jump into the water, well they have to jump or else no job." Tai Fangmented and Yuan Ba also nodded her head. No one can defy her in the field of medical health and that was how much power she had and yet Jin is here refusing her.

    "I am not part of the medical line, I won''t be jumping. But if you really want this ce to be usedбн Only medical emergencies I suppose." Jin finally took a step back and allowed it.

    "Heh. I will think about it." Now Rou Xiang turned her head away and Jin felt so duped that the other twoughed at him too. (Although deep down, she was considering it hard.)

 Chapter 1902 Another Dungeon Supplier

    Chapter 1902 Another Dungeon Supplier

    After the tour, they returned to Amber Arbour to do one final discussion, mainly on the content that Jin was about to show. "Usually, our format for the Martial Arts portion would be allowing multiple duels to happen all at once. But because of it''s the thirty anniversary, the prize pool was supposedly bigger and thus more participants had been eager to get the prize pool." Tai Fang said.

    "Well, at least we can safely say that Jin is handling most of the content and we should be able to handle the size of it. If he can make that Pandastic Festival, this would be a breeze for him to make, right?"

    "Yeah, right. You guys better not shortchange me. The amount of effort I need to do this is a hell lot that I might need to get another Dungeon Supplier to aid me with the other secondary details."

    "You have another Dungeon Supplier?" Rou Xiang was shocked to learn that.

    "Hmm, he is like a part timer. The previous temporary boss of this ce did not want to use him because of certain connections he had previously. Supposedly suspected Banned Emperor Terrorists if I am not wrong. But eventually, the Internal Security Agency cleared him, so I should be able to employ him to get some stuff done." Jin replied.

    "Well, if Kong Rong had officially cleared him up, there would have been no problems I guess." Yuan Ba said and the rest nodded their heads as well. "And we also have a Banned Terrorist Killer here, so I assume he should be in good hands in case things go wrong."

    "He should be fine, I also had people to check his background too." Jin lied. He knew that he was in connection with the Banned Emperor Terrorists during the attack at the National Expo. It just so happened that things went south and he decided to turn a new leaf with the System. This was also why Kong Rong was able to pull some strings and make some evidence disappear as well as Kraft doing his job manipting the good guys.

    Otherwise, Dungeon Supplier Buzz would not be able toe out scot free so easily, especially when the Internal Security Agency had been extremely strict after the damages the terrorists had done.

    "Alright, but sports wise, please prepare sufficiently for this number of sports. I also assume that you have enough dimensional instances for hostel stays. It would be a headache to get ces for those participants trying to stay. As well as the representatives too." Tai Fang asked and Jin nodded.

    "Makeshift hostels should be fine for thepetitors but I cannot guarantee for the tourists. I am afraid I built too much so it''s best you give me an estimated number. But do not be too conservative as well. Or else, you will end up paying more if I do extra near the due date."

    "If you put it this way, we will also pay more if you have too many extra rooms as well." Rou Xiangined and Jin shrugged his shoulders. "So, if we are paying, I would rather pay for extra rooms besides, you can hide those empty hostels if needed, right?"

    "Ah, for publicity sakeбн Okay sure. Then I guess you can be more generous with your budget too, correct?"

    "Lol, Boss Jin. Practically 75% of our current budget has already been diverted to you. How much more greedy do you want to be." Tai Fang asked and the other two leaders shook their heads as Jin grinned.

    "Well, I got to make a stadiumбн" Jin knew that the Demon Exorcist''s school had a stadium and he made one service instance that looked like one before. He could use those two venues for the runner ups matches while he built a newrge modr stadium for the temporary martial artspetition service instance.Perhaps, if things go well, he might be able to connect the Panda Muscles Instance with this temporary service instance and there would be more space for Cultivators to try out new venues. This was especially true when he saw there were badminton matches, tennis, beach volley ball and even kayaking. He got to build a river/sea track just for this!

    If sessful, he might even be able to rent out to coaches or teams to have their teams train in the all newbined Panda Muscles instances.Maybe, he could even start selling his Panda Muscles Instance as summer camps or winter camp trainings too! At that point in time, he was thinking too much that any side conversations from the leaders would not be going through his brain at all.

    "Oops sorry. I did not exactly listen. Was thinking about how to n the venues based on your current list." Jin lied so that his real thoughts were not exposed.

    "Are you able to get it done within a month? We know it might be pressing but we need to ensure that the venues have been checked and are within the international standards even though it''s just a nation widepetition." Rou Xiang asked.

    "After all, we are all doing this so that those people who win the nationalpetition can go into the international stage with ease." Tai Fang added.

    "Well, since you are already paying me this much, I will try to fulfil it," Jin said and the rest felt that this was a good ce to end the conversation.

    "Oh, by the way, can we order take away from Lynn''s store? Yang Ling missed her food." Yuan Ba asked and Jinughed while nodding his head.

    "In that case, I shall not be courteous." Tai Fang called the Otter Waiter toe and ask for a hundred mystery meals.

    "Are you very sure?" The Otter asked and the other two leaders also ordered simr portions too.

    "Can Lynn do it?" Yuan Ba felt a bit guilty but Tai Fang was smiling.

    "For her calibre? I believe this is nothing."

    "Yes, she can handle that easily. That I can put my utmost trust in. But instead of you bringing that food back in your storage rings, would you mind employing my food delivery services instead? I can give you a 110% guarantee that the food would be piping hot and be even more delicious than how the current technology of storage rings can do." Jin said and that surprised Tai Fang.

    "You can do that?"

    "Yes, and unfortunately, this is propriety technology and not avable outside or anywhere else. All our food deliveries had been given five stars as well as tips because of this service." Jin said and with that, Tai Fangughed even more loudly.

    "Otter! Scratch that 100 orders. Give me five hundred!" Tai Fang boldly ordered while the other two still kept their original hundred portions. Jin thanked the three of them for their orders and asked for the address before they left.

    "Thank you, and pleasee back to Dungeons and Pandas again!" Jin bid goodbye to him and the Three Leaders who departed from the store instance started talking among themselves.

    "So? Rou Xiang, are you going to take his offer for putting emergency cases over here?"

    "As much as I like to do that, I have to at least have a few scheduled cases to be done at his ce. He seemed to becking doctors but those Panda looking nurses seemed more trained and motivated than my nursesбн I will liaise with him and a few of my associates that were nearing retirement to check if they were interested."

    "Then Tai Fang, are you really going to feed your entire n with that 500 hundred portions?"

    "Why of course! I even gave him multiple addresses to see if he can deliver all of them within an hour." Tai Fang smiled.

    "Is this another one of your mini tests?" Rou Xiang asked and Tai Fang nodded.

    "If Lynn and her crew could settle these 500 portions easily. I have more faith that handling the crowd of the nationalpetition size would not faze her."

    "And here I thought you were being generous to Jin." Yuan Ba smirked.

    "Nah, I even got my reports from my n''s cultivators. Each of varying grades had participated in a few of his dungeon instances just to see the quality of his dungeon instances."

    "Heh, I had forgotten that you had a side job being an inspector for Dungeon Suppliers." Rou Xiang remembered.

    "Nah, I just do internal auditing for my personal fun. And all of them gave A+. The kind of grade I had never seen for a damn long time. All of my cultivators enjoyed it especially histestбн Dark Day Dungeon Instance? One of my n mate even challenged me to try it because he said that I probably have skipped the foundation phase and would not be able to clear it so easily."Tai Fang rolled his eyes.

    "Sounds like it''s something I would like to try. I shall go check the Pandamonium Appter."

    "Yeah about that, and the app. The Dark Days Instance is not visible until you try it once yourself. They said Jin had purposely kept it as spoiler free as possible and many people respected it. You can see that those who try to put it up on social media have been brought down by other users. It''s weird but Jin hasa mini cult following for his Dungeon instances."

    "Considering how the Panda n in the past never actually had that many official elders and most of its members were people of interestбн" Rou Xiang thought to herself as she was probably the only few who had more in depth knowledge about the Panda n since there were medical books from their n still within her archives.

    "Well, let''s hope that Jin can keep his promise and not disappear from us within a month." Rou Xiang added and the rest nodded their heads.

 Chapter 1903 Give Us Work

    Chapter 1903 Give Us Work

    "Buzz, you there?" Jin asked as he entered the Dungeon Maker.

    "Yeah, Boss. I am viewing those old dungeons as you had said and tried to duplicate them." Buzz said and Jin smiled.

    "How is it so far? Are you able to cope?"

    "I must say, the dungeon making software that you and the System had created is fantastic. But how the hell are you able to create such oundish ideas? I have no idea that you could do something like that." Buzz replied.

    "Lol, stop praising me already. Have you seen the mini games?"

    "Yeah. I understand why the System is having concerns. There are not many game updates for that stuff. I had been studying the Mecha World and I understand why you are trying to steal some ideas from the Supa Robo Wars to put in a possible instance."

    "I like you to take up those mini games and see if you can update, modify or do whatever it takes to make it fun again. If you think you have the balls to change Supa Robo Wars, then go ahead and show me a good draft. I will pay you good money for it," Jin said and the System asked the User if it was a wise choice.

    "Why? Didn''t you want the mini games to be updated?" Jin asked and the System acknowledged that it needed to be updated.

    "But the User is missing the point. There is a need toplete the other dungeon instances, especially the one that had been given to you."

    "You mean the Martial Arts Competition? I am going to do everything by myself. Just send me the parameters for the Martial Arts Competition and all the Sporty stuff. We are going to burn the midnight oil and finish it by today." Jin said as he stretched his hands and legs even though it was his mind that was going to be tickled by the amount of work.

    "Are you sure? Won''t it be better for your Dungeon Supplier helper to work on thepetition as well?"

    "Meh, he can add more bushes or touch up on certain areas. Let''s just make this quick and I can start thinking on what to do for the Dark Days Dungeon Part 2." Jin replied but before he could do anything, he had a notification from Page.

    "Commander, everyone wished to meet you for a while."

    "What''s wrong? Do you girls need anything?"

    "In a way, yes. But it''s best to talk to you in person."

    "If that''s the case,e into the Dungeon Maker." Jin figured that since he had yet to start the service instance, he could solve whatever was guing the Grey Bear Mechanoids which he had managed to revive a few days ago after the Night Foxes grabbed the inventory from Mecha World.

    "The entire Grey Bear Squad entered the Dungeon Maker in casual clothes aspared to the battle vests that Jin was ustomed to them wearing."

    "We are bored. Please give us something to do." Diaz said and Yinn nodded her head.

    "As much as we appreciate the fact that you had made copies of us into this world, the problem is that we are not doing anything, kind of eats into our system processes. We are not built to be idle," Yinnmented.

    "I want to do Mecha Smith stuff but Old mmet isn''t here at all. It sucks. This is the best time to try out new stuff."

    ''Wellбнif I want to get Old mmet and Nieбн It''s entirely possible. Since they had written a contract with us, we can actually summon their data in and give them physical bodies." Jin said slowly as if waiting for the System to confirm it.

    "Affirmative. However, at the moment, the User had been swarmed with projects that he was not able to provide sufficient time and attention to recreate Mecha Smith Master mmet and Mecha Smith Apprentice Nie into this world."

    "Actually, you guys can do something for me now that I think about it. Since all of you are Mechanoids, and not affected by ermбн diseases, do you mind going to the Zombie World and check how terrible it is?"

    "That will be Lord Derek''s world, isn''t it?" Yinn and the rest of the Mechanoids have the System''s database ess when ites to the minions and Jin nodded his head. "What''s that for? I thought you had enough zombies in your possession?"

    "You are not wrong on that front but I want to do something else. I want to see how terrible the zombies there could be and as Mechanoids, you guys are definitely not affected by any bites, just melee and elemental attacks etc."

    "Oh? Will the other monsters be affected by the Zombies?" Page asked and Jin''s brain stopped working for a moment.

    "Will the zombie bites affect our monsters?" Jin asked the System before it could answer, it was also stunned that it did not think about such a situation before.

    "The System had not predicted nor calcted such possibility."

    "Ehбнwe could ask Derek about it,"Jin said and the System had already summoned Half Ghoul Lord Derek into the Dungeon Maker as well and told him about the predicament.

    "Unfortunately, I did run some blood tests before. I am afraid to say, it is possible and no one is immune to it. The fact that most of our zombies do not spread to the cultivators is mainly because they were in those dungeon instances. You had already seen how the Demon Rats had turned against their fellow kind when they were bitten."

    "Do you have a vine for it?" Jin asked and Derek shook his head.

    "I might be able to create ones that were from my strain of zombies but there are other zombies in the Zombie World. It is impossible to do so without collecting their samples. But why do you want to go to the Zombie World for?"

    "You just gave me an idea even though my initial thoughts were mainly to scout and possibly create a new raid. Also, I needed resources if I wanted to expand and the Zombie World is a resource rich ce where the remaining resources were left untouched."

    "Why would you need resources when we have the Farming World to grow them?"

    "It''s precisely because Farming World is STILL growing them, we need to have ess to certain stuff quickly. The System kept yapping on finishing the instances but it also alerted me to get the Mecha Brain from the Mecha Titans. And from what I heard when the Night Foxes gave me the inventory they stole, the two sides already had Mecha Titans when I was away in the Synthesis World."

    "You want the resources to fight against the both of them?"

    "Yes, Each time we destroy them, their broken Mechs flying all around the space can be taken by our harvesters. We can put them in the Recycler and create more stuff. Maybe even recycle Mechas."

    "Then why does the User still want Dungeon Supplier Buzz to work on your mini game?"

    "Ehh. To give me ideas on the different kinds of Mechas to create? I might just be creating the generic ones for the Pandarens and only give the customised kinds for long term yers like Pandawan Bu Dong and Deng Long. But before we can create those Mechas, we need resources. I am not going to spend that much money when I can use it to expand our stores in Shanghai"

    "The System still thinks that the amount you wish to bid is outrageous. Please reconsider renting."

    "Soбн ehh, I know you guys are discussing but you want us to be there for how long?" Diaz asked and Jin looked at Derek as if wanting to know if there were any good ces to start.

    "I honestly have no idea as well. I guess you can try cities and see if you can get something. I mean, the world is more or less the same when ites to city names so I don''t think you will go wrong trying the cities."

    "But you just want us to scout, correct?" Click asked and Jin said that it would be best if they could clear out the immediate dangers in that area as well then salvagers could go in and start deconstructing the area so that they could bring items for the Recycler.

    Apparently, to the System, Ayse had managed to upgrade the Recycler and now it is the size of a football field. It was that huge and monsters could throw bulk items through its conveyor belt and move. Qiu Yue apparently demanded the upgrade because of the Demon Rats Empire and the amount of waste it had was making the Recycler move too slowly.

    They were lucky that Ayse was able to get Peppers to make a long term spell erging the Recycler and still making it work as per usual since Ayse was not able to get sufficient parts to make a Recycler proper.

    "Then, since you are already going to the Zombie World. Please collect samples of every distinct zombie that you encounter, especially those elites. It might be able to assist me in making a proper vine against the zombie bites." Derek said and the team nodded.

    "I will try on my end if I can get it done as well. My Nanobots should be able to analyse theponents and send them to the System." Page said and he felt that would speed up the process of learning it as well.

    That was when Jin thought of something rather hideous but did not wish to reveal it to them and secretly told Derek instead to look into it.

 Chapter 1904 Zombie Virus

    <h4>Chapter 1904 Zombie Virus</h4>

    "You would like to do whatбн?" Half Ghoul Lord could not believe his ears and the rest of the Grey Bear Squad was quite interested in what Jin had whispered to Derek about.

    "Ohe on. There is nothing to hide among us, right?" Diaz was insistent on learning the truth, probably due to the Streisand effect of not knowing at all. Even Tellie who usually did not care about things also wanted to know what Jin was hiding.

    "Fine. Fine. I told Derek that perhaps with enough samples, we do not only make a vine. But also make a poison or virus that can be as lethal as the zombie viruses against a particr group of people."

    "Lol, what group are you thinking of that needs you to do this kind of stuff?" Click was now interested too.

    "The people on the Celestial ne to be more specific." When Jin said that, the Grey Bears did not have any idea who they were until they searched through the System''s database to have an understanding of what they do and why they posed a threat to Jin that he wanted to use such a method against them.

    "Heh. If that really works. It would be Karma in disguise." Half Ghoul Lord Derek smirked when he heard that his target audience for the zombie virus was the Celestial Gods.

    "Butбн If you do that, won''t that make the Celestial Gods even more dangerous? They would be mindless, hungry for flesh, and also powerful enough to make things disappear even faster." Yinn queried.

    "At least, they are mindless and will fight among themselves first," Jin replied.

    "You are assuming they do not grow out from the Zombie Virus and gain a sort of immortality that would be impossible to fight against," Derekmented and warned his n might backfire even though he still thinks that Karmic Justice was rather sweet to savour.

    "The System also does not rmend the destruction of the Celestial ne using the proposed Zombie Virus. While they may have proven to be a threat against User, like the Demons, they are actually vital for the bnce of the world."

    "What. So, you are saying even though they might be assholes, we still need them?"?Jin asked and the System acknowledged positively to that query.

    "Imagine what would happen if all the Celestials had been killed? The Demons would take this as an opportunity to take reign of various worlds and grow to an unstoppable force."

    "Technically speaking, those Celestials if we kill them, they would be under us. Am I right? We can use the Celestials to kill the Demons and gain the both of them."

    "And? Have User thought of the situation where the disappearance of the Celestials and Demons could cause?" The System prompted and hinted that there might be other forces that both the good and bad were holding back.

    "Lol, you mean like the Outer Gods? Like ehh the Chuchulu? Deep Ones? Our dear little Derpy?"

    "Possible. The System while do not have the ability to specte, there were supposed lores hidden within the memories of Mister Derpy which indicated otherwise." The System stated and Jinid back on his chair to think about it.

    "Well.. we can just concoct the Zombie Virus first and see if we ever need to use it. But should the vine prove to be effective and useful in the future, there is also a chance for Derek to be able to transform the people back from the zombies." Jinmented that all the zombies that the Grey Bears were going to kill would eventually enter the System due to the System''s Dungeon Supplier capability.

    "I have no qualms with killing Zombies. Ladies, let''s go stock up on our ammunition and weapons before entering the Zombie World." Yinn said and Jin reminded them that they should utilise the new storage rings that they had been gifted by Jin.

    "With those rings, you can definitely store a good amount of weapons. And BRING THE WEAPONS BACK! They cost money." Jin said as the System had ensured that the Mechanoids had been installed with a simr system to what Lynn had used. It is just that it''s of a smaller scale due to the fact that they had already been upgraded quite a fair bit from their previous monster boss upgrades.

    Miniature Prototype Dantian Engine or that''s what the System had named it before installing it into the Mechanoids. With this, they would be able to utilise not just a tad bit of chi, they would be able to get used to it and use stuff like the storage ring which required chi to be activated. It would also act as a backup power supply should their batteries be fried either by electromaic pulse or because they overused it.

    Either way, this particr scouting mission was also used to test out whether the creation of their designs was feasible forbat too since they had not been able to try out any features of their mechanoid bodies after their data had been installed into them.

    And with Jin allowing them to have free roam in the Zombie World also meant that they did not have to worry about friendlies. Whoever they see, will instantly be marked as an enemy. Derek even confirmed that there should be no humans around at all.

    But intelligent zombies might be of another matter entirely however, he believed there should not be any creature who is able to reach his level. Still, there was no guarantee, especially with how the Celestials had transformed all of them into zombies, that there might be mutations urring just as how Derek saw his zombies mutating into something else.

    The only difference is that Derek was able to control how the zombies under his control were mutating since there was the aid of the System to assist with it. Thus, he had no idea what kind of monsters the Grey Bear Squad would encounter.

    With the exnation out of the way, Jin had decided to allow them to choose which part of the map they wished to go. And for all ces, the group had decided to a portion of the Great Wall in Derek''s China.

    "Why? You can go see Paris, The Statue of Liberty or what left''s of it, the Pyramids and other things. Why the Great Wall?" Jin asked.

    "Because you had a dungeon instance that featured the Great Wall of China along with the zombies. We had some System knowledge of the area based on that dungeon instance and would like to use that as a basis for scouting." Yinn replied and Jin could not help but shake his head.

    "You do not have to rely on past dataбн Fine, we need to pick a ce anyways and I did give you permission to choose where you want to go." Jin said as he attempted to pick a portion of the Great Wall that was closest to Beijing so that there would be a city they could travel to and check the area out."

    "The Research and Development section had informed the System that they had made prototype roller des and requested the System to get minions to test it out. Since the world the Grey Bear Squad is going would be filled with nothing but Zombies. Hence, with transportation might be a pain, the System had proposed to allow the Grey Bears to use these prototype rollerdes along as well."

    "Don''t we have that Mindjacker Floating Module?" Tellie questioned and the System rejected such a notion.

    "The data collected from the Synthesis World had proven to be expensive for the Mindjacker Floating Module to be implemented. It is possible that the Grey Bear Mechanoids have arger capacity than the Dantian Engine. For now, please use those rollerdes and ensure that all your monster upgrades can be used. Otherwise, send the required forms to necessitate a change in the Mechanoid structure." The System stated and the Grey Bears noted the requirements for the scouting mission.

    "Remember to take some pictures as well" Jin bid them goodbye as they entered the Minion''s portion of the Armoury Instance. Bai Xin was there to greet them since she currently did not have many customers and the Red Pandas were able to service them instead.

    "I got the message from the System. The rollerdes are over there in that experimental prototype section. The gun selection is in the Weapon Instance under the supervision of my brother so you can get them there. But yourbat vest and armoured clothes would be in Aisle 3 and 5 respectively." Bai Xin said and the Grey Bears thanked her for the direction.

    "Oh, by the way. Do you have deployable armour stands? Or is that under the Weapons instance?" Click asked and Bai Xin told her to check Aisle 9 as they were considered to be armoured essories.

    "Just a gentle reminder, watches andbat shoes are in Aisle 1 and 4. Night Vision goggles and helmets are in Aisle 2."

    "Basically, get go to almost every Aisle then," Diaz remarked and Bai Xin chuckled while putting her tongue out.

    "Hehe, please remember to check out as the System needs to deduct System points if needed. But if Jin was the one sending you guys out, the System should have prepared a certain budget. The rest of the System points, you can get it from Jin." Bai Xin added and the Grey Bears were excited.

    Even though they had been inbat for years and intensivebat when they were with Jin, this was the first time they had real moving bodies with metal and synthetic flesh parts meshing all as one.

    They could not wait to get their weapons and make their way into the Zombie World.

 Chapter 1905 Zombie World Vs Synthesis World

    <h4>Chapter 1905 Zombie World Vs Synthesis World</h4>

    "Aren''t you supposed to start with your Competition Service Instance?" The System asked as Jin was seen watching the holographic console and seeing what the Mechanoids were choosing in the weapons store for now.

    "It felt like an eternity ago that I was with them. Without them, I would not have been here early." Jin said as he reminisced about the past in the Synthesis World.

    "Without them, you might have been in less trouble in the Synthesis World." The System stated.

    "Well, if not for them, I would not have my name etched into the Empire''s history books," Jin stated with a smile, thinking that it was an achievement.

    "It is just a Virtual Simtion." The System replied.

    "Virtual Simtion or not, to those people there. It''s their everything. Their lives had always been like this since their world had not been appropriate for living." Jin answered as he chuckled seeing how Click was frantically bargaining with the Weapons Instance''s owner Bai Wan for more discounts.

    "User. Are you nning to use the Zombie World as a refuge for the Synthesis World?" The System had decided to probe Jin''s actual motives.

    "Ehhhhhhhhбн" Jin felt he had been found out.

    "Did Half Ghoul Lord Derek wish to transform the zombies into normal humans?" The System asked and Jin shrugged.

    "Well, the zombies unlike the humans have a better chance of staying in the dested location like the Synthesis World without much problem if you ask me. And even Derek did mention how the transformed zombies, aka those that gained their humanity, retained their zombies'' strengths. They do not particrly feel hungry all the time even though they appreciate a good meal every now and then. Soбн an exchange of Worlds?"

    "The System felt that User is thinking like how a Celestial God would do things."

    "Is that a bad thing to do?"

    "No. But ying with the lives and discing people from their worlds is another level of authority."

    "If you really think about itбн When humans have the ability to move through the seas, they will move to newfoundnds. When humans have the ability to move through space like the Synthesis World, they attempt to find a new world too. So, when humans have the ability to cross through multiverses, they will do the same as how humans had been doing all this while in their history and I have no doubt that I would not be the only one who has the ability to transverse through space." Jin exined as he reminded the System that Rei was a person who ''isekai'' into this world and how he became a manga artist while trying to live here.

    "Still, the System''s logic demanded thatбн"

    "Come on, if you look at it from another perspective. We have to ship in bulk of items just to give the humans in the Synthesis World a chance to survive. Their current Paradise domes are not exactly the best way of living and with limited resources, they had to send those humans back into their hibernation pods when the timees."

    "By reinforcing those modr Paradise domes, we are only prolonging their suffering. If the humans are removed from the equation, and we put the humanised zombies in the area, they might be more useful in rebuilding the area. And vice versa."

    "The zombies do not have any benefits living in the Synthesis World at all. Only the humans from the Synthesis World would reap the rewards of having a new World at theirmand. Do not forget that the Zombie World was innocent. The Celestials came to destroy them while the Synthesis World had the destroyed because of their own actions. They polluted it to the extent that they had to put the remaining human poption into hibernation." The System reminded him.

    "So what you are implying is that it is extremely unfair for the Zombies if they were to be ced in the Synthesis World instead? And that by doing that, it further punishes them for doing something they were not in the wrong to do so?"

    "Affirmative. Something along those lines. The System would thus would not advise or rmend that the humans from the Synthesis World be transported into the Zombie World. If you really want to help them, the System would rather have the User do it by transporting them into the Mecha World''s universe instead. They not only have better space transport systems but also numerous fertile worlds which they all granted for."

    "And let those humans climatised themselves in that new hostile environment so that they can fight for their lives just as how they fight among themselves?" Jin did not know what the System was thinking.

    "Exactly. If the simtion that Syn had created does seem to revolve against dungeons just like you but instead of uniting together to fight against dungeons, little had been done on that aspect. Thest major raid was the one where we had some information that Mechasmith mmet was in. Other than that, people and nations were building items just to kill each other. Therefore, the System believed that allowing the Synthesis World to survive in the Mecha World''s universe would be one viable option especially when they can have the ability to create real life Mechanoids as well."

    "Just not as busted as the Grey Bears I assume."

    "Yes, Master Mechasmith mmet had the help of not just the Diamondz Corp but also the System to get the blueprints of the upgraded Grey Bear Squad." The System replied and Jin sighed. "If they have enough resources, they would be building not just Mechanoids but Mechanoids piloting Mechas." Jin gave some thought to that.

    "There is a chance where they could just create huge Mechanoids and go ahead with it. However, Mechanoids with Mechas might seem to be a long term solution since it would take significantly fewer resources to create small Mechanoids andrger Mechas. Not to mention, Mechanoids would have a better chance of survivingpared to the humans in the Mecha World. They did not need air and could be retrieved from space battles'' aftermath. A quick transfer of their knowledge and experience would be sufficient to deploy them into the battlefields again." The System stated and it made Jin ponder even more.

    "Do you want to do that? We now possessed the knowledge of creating the Mechas and Mechanoids. Also, with their world like this, they can focus on just Mechanoid and Mecha productions. We can just provide the necessary basic facilities to keep them going. Its better than being in that Virtual Simtion, am I right?"

    "Then you would just use that particr Virtual Simtion for the Pandarens?" The System questioned and Jin nodded his head.

    "I mean, while I would like to create another Virtual Simtion from scratch, it will still be a huge undertaking even with Syn''s help. So instead of putting all of the humans in that Virtual Simtion, we can help lessen the load of that Virtual Simtion, allowing a huge group to move to a space colony where we rotate the humans going in and out on a two year basis. This way, they can still reproduce, and live a decent life while creating machines of war for our Mecha World''s invasion since both factions have a Mecha Titan."

    "Instead of recultivating thends, User is nning to let the humans stay in space?"

    "Yeah and perhaps send expeditions on a monthly basis to their world to find, search for remaining resources, or take the time to try and recultivate their world so that it could be used for future generations. I guess this is a better idea than transporting them to either the Zombie World or the Mecha World''s universeбн?"

    "The System does find it enticing but not the space colony station. If you wish to build Mechas and Mechanoids, just do it on the ground. It is less costly and monthly expeditions can be done with multiple four wheels rather than wasting rocket fuel up and down from the space colony station. This would also enable us to give resources to Syn more readily rather than allowing the AI Administration to just take resources from us for the rental usage of their Virtual Simtion servers."

    "Still, it did not remove the question of why User wished to explore the Zombie World in the future now that his original objective had been discussed. The System understands that allowing the Mechanoids to enter the Zombie World would be beneficial because it acts as a test run for their current robotic abilities and most importantly whether their supposed monster upgrades were able to work, especially in conjunction with the Prototype Dantian engine.

    "I see nothing wrong with getting more zombies in our possession. They are good fodders for any fight and seeing how Half Ghoul Lord Derek is able to find subordinates that could increase their firepower in the future, I do not see any disadvantage going into the Zombie World."

    "User also stated he wanted to create a raid instance with this."

    "Yeah, but instead of a raid filled with hundreds or thousands of Pandarens, I am thinking of doing a limited 24 men raid instance. Something like a lucky draw to be able to run this 24 men raid instance. Of course, this would coincide with the prices they can win. What do you think about it?"

    The System thought for a while and felt that it was undoubtedly feasible especially when the zombies amount to millions and if Jin wished to rid the Zombie World of zombies, that would take more than just a thousand 24 men raids instance.

 Chapter 1906 Creating the Martial Artist Stadium

    <h4>Chapter 1906 Creating the Martial Artist Stadium</h4>

    After much debating on the matter, Jin had finally started making the Martial Arts and Sports Competition Service Instance. After much consideration, he figured that he should still make thepetition a little more unique than usual.

    Surely, he could make a stadium like he had done for the Demon Exorcist School Instance but that would be a little boring. Not to mention, there was almost nothing to show other than just a grand scale of a stadium that the audience would be in.

    He had already made a variety of stadiums ever since the inception of the Dungeon Supplier store so Jin probably had exhausted his ideas when it came to the setting of a stadium. Surely, he could put it behind a huge screen but to be able to watch it live always had this exhrating feeling that could not be felt behind that screen.

    So, instead of making a pompous kind of seating arrangement, he had decided to make it more theme based ording to the match set that he was about to create. This provided even more creativity for him as he was going to use the match''s theme to set the mood of the stadium''s environment.

    Jin decided to do simple ones first and as such, he had begun with a desert environment fight. The scorching rays of heat and the high temperature would be regted and directed at the centre portion of the stadium. The rest of the audience seats would not experience such conditions and rather, they would be blown with cool regted air. If the guests in the front row would put their hands over the rails, they could literally feel heaven and hell when ites to the temperature control.

    This was the beauty of creating the stadium within the Dimensional Instance and Jin knew that he could utilise this instance creation better than any other dungeon suppliers on this particr. The fights would be fought in that scorching heat while the stadium had been decorated simrly to the ancient Arabic Kingdom. Instead of chairs, seats were given with adjustable (but not removable) pillows and all sorts of rugs were ced all over the stadium.

    It might look messy from a nce but there was actually order in that disorder. The sizes, colours and even quality of the rugs corresponded appropriately to the amount that each guest would be paying. The edges of the stadium were also baked with white walls with Imic wall cravings. But this was not the end of the Arabic theme that Jin had made.

    The first few matches of this theme would no doubt be in the dry desert sand but when the qualifiers were over, Jin had prepared several environmental ''obstacles'' to ensure that the scorching desert was not the only thing that the martial artists would have to handle.

    Jin might have been a pioneer when he created the next stage of the desert theme. Because when both of Martial Artists were to move in a single direction, the stage would not be static at all. Instead, the stage would move along with them as well. This means that the stage was a fluid arena where it could take them from a in empty desert to ''somewhere else'' and their fight could happen in a desert vige instead.

    NPCs had also been inserted where they would continue with their business, ignoring the Martial Artists unless they had been interfered. Pandas with desert appropriate attires would be the merchants and even bystanders. The best thing of all? Everything that could be picked up can be used for the fight as well. And that means the merchants who were pretending to be selling, have goods like weapons and inscription charms. However, Jin had to ask the Royal Zodiacs aka the sponsors whether this was allowed or not. If they were adamant that it should not happen and Jin merely just had to set their settings as mere props which could be destroyed like a piece of breakable wood.

    As such, the fights could evolve and be done within a house instead but Jin had also made sure that there were Magic Eyes everywhere to take the videos as cinematic as possible and not missing out a single bit of thebat at all.

    As for the Quarter Finals, the fights in the vige can be taken into the inner city where if they run around enough, they would be able to duel outside the gates of a Pce. At first, Jin thought it was ridiculous since there would definitely be people unable to watch if he were to create a Pce at the centre of the stadium.

    But that was where the System utilised the previous stadium settings that Jin had created and made the seats move in a systematic manner where everyone within the stadium would be able to watch the fight regardless of any building obstruction. At the very most, Magic Eyes Screens would emerge and amodate their guests until people would be able to watch everything from their seats.

    With this, surely the semi finals would be held within the pce filled with Imic architecture while surely most had been referenced from real life pces that the System was able to take from the inte to create most of it.

    Jin believed that this would provide an unforgettable experience for the martial artists even though this was the first time that he was doing this. The System on the other hand found it an interesting concept and queried how many themes was he about to do.

    "About another three more I think? If I remember correctly, the final match consisted of four rounds. And with the dimensional instance as well as the medical luxury instance even though we all knew that part of the instance was a hoax, we are able to field the contestants immediately at full strength."

    "So, the winner with three wins will take the trophy but if it''s a tie, there would be an extra match." The System stated and Jin nodded his head. We can just do a randomiser and see which theme would be repeated once more unless you want me to create a specific dimensional instance theme just for the tiebreaker."

    "The System believed that would be the most optimal route as a tie on both ends also meant that the contestants should deserve something better. A special stage that would allow both of them to settle their differences once and for all."

    "Hmm, that is true. It would provide an epic ending for whatever anniversary the Royal Zodiacs had nned for the Martial Arts Competition." Jin added.

    "However, The System also find that the special stage should be ced at thest portion of our agenda. It is not as important as the other four themes since if time is not permitted, the System also rmends just allowing the martial artists to choose at random or have the two of them choose one and they y a coin toss to settle the differences."

    "Ah, so in short, it is like however won that coin toss, may have a slight advantage since they were more familiar with that particr theme." Jin understood where the System wasing from.

    "However, this might not be fair since a coin toss can be a biased move against the martial artists."

    "Nah, its fine. If they chose where they wanted to fight, luck also ys a part for them to be apetent martial artist." Jin shrugged the System''s worries off. "So, aside from the desert theme, is the System looking forward to any other theme?"

    "Shouldn''t the User be the one choosing? After all, its part of your creative process." The System stated and Jin shook his head.

    "Yeah, but if you could give me a heads up of something that you like, maybe you can find some enjoyment in working this particrpetition as well?" Jin exined but the System did not give a proper statement.

    "The System''s primary concern is that the User would be able to finish it in time. Its choice of theme should not be a factor that the User needs to take into consideration."

    "Aww man, its fine. I will work doubly hard. Just choose something! Or else, I am ordering you to do it." Jin insisted that the System chose something.

    "Very well, since the User is adamant, the System will choose one particr theme." The System stated and it went quiet for a moment before putting its choice right in front of Jin to consider. When Jin saw the theme he was scratching his head as he had no idea that the System could have suchбнtaste.

    "Are you sure for this?" Jin asked and then he quickly retracted his question, knowing that the System will state that it was better for the Dungeon Supplier to make his own theme instead. "No, no, no. Do not reply me. I will take it as do it to the best of my abilities."

    "The System appreciates User for amodating to the System''s request."

    "Nah, don''t say that I just find it unusual to choose such a particr theme." Jin said as he looked at the words written on the console: Highway Chase.

    "The System believed that this would be an exciting theme while not taking too much time to create since it is on an expressway."

    "Lol, can you imagine we purposely create a portion where there''s a big jam in the highway." Jinmented and the System found it to be usible in a highway chase, making it look forward how Jin could create it.

 Chapter 1907 Grey Bear Squad in Zombie World

    <h4>Chapter 1907 Grey Bear Squad in Zombie World</h4>

    As Jin was messing around toplete his dungeon instance, the Grey Bears Squad finally got to the Great Wall of China from the coordinates based on Jin''s World. The System does not have any surveince prepared nor has it used its powers to scout the ce in advance. Thus, the area that the Grey Bears had teleported to, was a destination which everyone had no idea what was installed for them.

    "We should have asked for a neбн or a helicopter," Yinn said as the teleportation had brought them several thousand metres up above the sky mainly because the System did not want any disruption of the portal. What if the coordinates of the portal had been stuck in between buildings? Or is it in some pir? It would be a waste of portal energy and the System''s resources.

    Thus, rather than attempting to fix the portal coordinates, the System merely used the sky as its entrance. Jin had also made sure that Bai Xin had given all of them a parachute when they entered the portal. Hence when they entered the portal, they would be diving down into their supposed destination.

    It did not take long for them to adjust and find a possible clearing for a cleannding. It was only then the entire squad released their parachutes so that they couldnd safely. But as they were on air, each and every Mechanoid had automatically assigned themselves to do a quick survey of thend.

    "Not as many zombies as we expect," Diaz reported and the rest concurred as well.

    "Derek did state that there are different kinds of zombie activations so we still have to keep alert of them." Yinn reinforced the squad not to lower their guard or else they might be swarmed over easily.

    "We should be fine since there are zombies roaming around over there," Tellie reported and pointed towards the Great Wall''s towers, citing that there was at least a group of twenty over zombies mindlessly walking around at that position.

    "Then I guess we got lucky and do not have to encounter the sleeping zombies then." Click said as they had heard from Derek that the Sleeping Zombies were one of the more dangerous basic level zombies they could encounter. Those zombies sleep in the day and subsequently be more active into the night. And unlike the zombies who merely roam around mindlessly the entire day, these sleeping zombies are afraid of the sunlight like vampires and once dawnes, their ''assertiveness'' doubles as if to make up for the lost time during the day.

    The worst part is that sleeping zombies do not always travel alone but in groups. At first, the squad thought that the groups would not scare them since they had modern weapons with them. However, Derekter exined that when ites to Sleeping Zombies, their group size is approximately at least a hundred to two hundred at the low size. There were packs that went up a thousand.

    When asked how Derek knew all this, he could only say that he had the knowledge within him when he turned into Half Ghoul Lord. Other than that, there was nothing else he could prove whether those Sleeping Zombies were real or whether his information was reliable or not. One thing was for sure, when the Grey Bears saw such zombies, they had to run.

    "Allnded sessfully?" Yinn asked and the rest gave their acknowledgement through the System Channel. They quickly disengaged their parachutes and checked the surroundings to make sure that there were no zombies around that could alert any horde.

    "I am dying to try out these chi based weapons though," Diaz said as she checked her rifle only to see that they were almost identical based on the designs in the Synthesis World. While she did not question it, the others did. They had no idea that the weapons were simr and even the naming convention was the same too.

    When asked by the System, it only replied that certain items, names, and even doppelgangers could potentially create the same thing on differents. So, to the System, it was not that unusual at all as it showed the multiverse''s ck Market as an example. Various weapons had the samepany names and made the very same weapon.

    When asked whether that person was the same as Jin, going around various worlds to sell his weapons just as Jin tried to sell his dungeons but failed terribly at it, the System could only answer that there was such a possibility and was unable to give any further rification to that particr weapon.

    As for the rifles that Diaz and the rest were holding, they were chi enhanced rifles where instead of putting their normal battery converted energy into the weapon, they had to use their chi to do so. This way, one of the methods for not getting discovered was that the chi enhanced rifles were imbued with an inscription charm that reduces orpletely removes the noise from the shooting.

    But most of the time it''s thetter unless the user of the said rifle is strong enough to propel the bullet into their enemies without the use of the trigger. This meant that instead of pressing the trigger manually, the user would use its chi to push the rifle out of the chamber instead. The rifle barrel was there to help push the bullet out.

    Of course, there was the leftover bullet casing and gunpowder in those bullets so such rifles can handle gunpowder-less bullets and use only chi to propel them. Even the bullet casing had been modified such that it contained a small amount of chi based on the simple inscriptions on it. Hence, such bullets are expensive since each of them was uniquely craved to be part of the ammunition clip.

    Most users would usually need three to four years of training to even use such chi enhanced rifles with modified bullets but for the Mechanoids who had brains and processors that outwit most humans, the chi energy usage was a simple feat for all of them to handle once they understood the process.

    "We can kill those zombies at the tower or move further through the forest and down to where the highway could be," Yinn said to the group

    "That is if this world is simr to the one that Jin resides in." Page reminded.

    "Forest would be quite a hassle in my opinion. Our objective is to scout into the cities to see what they have. If we were to spend too much time in the forests, we would be wasting resources." Tellie gave her opinion.

    "Yeah, those bunch of zombies should be easy killing. Maybe we do not even need to use our rifles at all, just some closebat fights and knives will do the trick."

    "Or swords?" Click smiled as she showed her recently bought a sword from the weapons instance.

    "You want to act like Jin is it?"

    "We did have some data on his fighting style, should not be too difficult to replicateбн I think?" Click replied as she tried to swing her sword but felt it did not have the same feel as she had seen Jin perform it. "Regardless, if we do not try it, we would not know whether it would work or not. Besides, going to the tower gives us some vantage point."

    "We had already scouted the area when we were descending from the skies, that should be enough data," Yinn replied.

    "Yeah, but that data is useless once we start traveling. At least we know that the highway is down south and what we have to do is to move to the highway as soon as possible since there would be rest stops before approaching the highway." Click argued.

    "For once, I will concur with Click. We are well equipped for the situation and we can back out anytime. What we need now is some speed in our scouting or else, it will be a waste of our resources. Besides, our main objective is to test our strength. If we try to avoid everything to reach the city, that would also be quite a shame." Page supported Click and the rest also started nodding their heads.

    "Alright, let''s go to the tower and kick some zombie butts then. No guns. Let''s not waste the bullets for now. Use whatever melee weapons you бнyou guys all brought swords?" Yinn could not believe it as the entire Grey Bear Squad had brandished their short swords out.

    "Don''t act like you are the odd one out, we saw you getting a sword as well," Diazmented and Yinn embarrassingly took out her sword as well and nodded her head.

    "Same concept, we all saw how Commander Jin fared with a sword. It is better to use him as an example rather than textbooks." Yinn tried to reason but the rest of the group giggled.

    "See, everyone had been influenced by themander, there is nothing to be ashamed of," Diaz said as she tapped hard on Yinn''s shoulder and started running towards the Great Wall''s tower with her short sword out. The rest also followed and Yinn reluctantly joined the crowd.

    In no time, they reached the base of the Great Wall''s tower, and with a rope gun and an ascender, it took only minutes to reach the top of the tower where they began their rampage. The zombies had no idea was this menacing force that came to eliminate theirzy carefree lives. But the fact that they killed almost without a sound, had allowed them to be captured by the System after their deaths.

 Chapter 1908 Taking a Moment To Enjoy

    <h4>Chapter 1908 Taking a Moment To Enjoy</h4>

    The tower was cleared without much resistance, and the Grey Bears took their bearings while updating the map through the System. They could deploy a drone ahead, but most of them felt it was not worth it considering they knew that the expressway was down south.

    However, all of them took a while to slow down to take in the sights of the Great Wall as well as the surrounding environment. The sun was not going to set anytime soon, but the slight fog in the area had made the forest feel a little more than magical.

    If they hade a littleter, perhaps they could see the sunset from the Great Wall Tower''s view. "We can actually do that, you know? Jin did not specify any timeframe that we have to deal with this as soon as possible." Diaz was the first to speak out, as she could see all the Mechanoids had the very same expression on their faces.

    "Huh, for once you said something nice, eh?" Click said as she looked at the sky for a moment in order to determine if they could get the rough timing that they were on. However, Page and Tellie had a better idea than the engineer as they searched the dead zombies to see if they were wearing any watches. Of course, electronic watches were a no go unless they were the ssic battery only without any smart functions, but automatic watches could give them some indication of the time.

    Sure enough, they were able to find three pairs of watches, and they all pointed at approximately the same time. Page even found that very watch powered by batteries and was still working when she picked it up to inspect. With this, they were able to tell not only the time but also the date. It was ironic that it had the very same time wavelength as Jin''s World and thus it does make things easier for the group to keep track should they need to return to their master''s.

    "Well, if everything is the same as Commander''s world then it would be about an hourter that the sun should set. We can take our time to walk to the closest Great Wall Tower that is near the expressway. We should still have a decent view from there." Diaz remarked, and the others nodded their heads. After all, it was their very first time seeing the sunset together in a foreign world with their physical bodies. They believed that they had the luxury to at least enjoy this particr scene before continuing to walk ahead.

    In the meantime, despite the slight fog, their sr battery panels on their bags were still working, and this will give them some extra battery juice as well instead of walking within the forests. Hence, they took the time to stroll towards the next Great Wall Tower, killing any zombies that were blocking their way. The only one who was busy was actually Click, as she took this time to start performing some 3D printing. This was because of the presence of her storage ring, where she could abuse the amount of space that it could carry.

    After all, the Grey Bear Squad would not know whether the highway road towards the nearest town or city would be infested with zombies. And although visibility was not a problem for the Mechanoids, they were not sure how active those zombies could be or how sensitive they were to noises. (After all, they do not smell like human since they are Mechanoids.)

    So, it was better to be prepared by creating extra drones or mechanical turrets so that they could have some extra firepower if there was a need. Although there was always the portal back, the System did say that it did not wish to waste precious resources and system processes to always bring the Mechanoids to and fro the Zombie World. This was evident with the other minions that went out scouting too. (The only outlier were the Night Foxes since Kraft had forced them to go on constant patrols to ensure that information was still avable to him firstpared to the rest.)

    "So as they finally reached the Great Wall Tower nearest to the highway, all of them decided to stop for a moment and have a quick bite that Lynn had prepared for them previously. Rations were packed simrly to what their Virtual Simtion would have done. This was precisely how Lynn had allowed them to reminisce about their past by imitating how the rations were. It was a bittersweet experience for all of them, but the moment they tore the rations open and took a bite, it was a brand new feeling.

    "Oh my god. Lynn''s cooking is way beyond words. This is even better than anything she had cooked in the Virtual World!" Diaz said, and the rest concurred as well.

    "But this still cannot beat the piping hot food that was served in Amber Arbour at all." Yinn remarked.

    "Duh, this is packed food. But the fact that she was able to enhance the vourspared to those shitty rations we were used to eating, heavenly was not even the word to praise her food." Click replied. Thus, with such vourful bites, they all waited for the sun to set with the mountains as part of the backdrop.

    There were no birds, no chatter, even among the Mechanoids except silence. Everyone quietly saw the sun set and coloured the skies with its majestic orange hues before the abyss took over, leaving them with nothing but stars and clouds. Not even the moon was out for them to peak at.

    "I enjoyed it," Page said inly, and the rest smiled as they felt the same way too.

    "Alright, let''s go. Swords out, rifles at the side. Once we reach the highway, we are going to use those prototype roller des to move." Yinn said, and everyone did not object to it as they rappelled down the tower and ran diagonally through the sparse forest andter onto the highway express.

    As expected, the highway was littered with cars. Some were burned, some were crashed, but the majority of them were halted. The funny thing was that most of the cars remained intact, and only a few had been brutally damaged. The Mechanoids deduced that there were still a good number of vehicles that still had zombies within them, and they were not provoked toe out.

    And their hypothesis was proven right, as they ran a tad too close to one of the cards that a zombie was banging on the car. Page was swift to dispose of the zombie before it could make any more noise, but it sure did rife up the entire expressway as the Grey Bears could sense that the ce was not quiet anymore.

    However, Yinn did not give a damn about the small fry as she pressed the squad to move further south. So far, the expressway has not deviated from the current map that Jin''s World was using, but she would not be surprised if there were different changester, when they move closer to the towns or cities. Still, that was not her main concern, as the squad was swiftly moving through the highway as fast as they could.

    It did take them some time, but eventually, the disturbing sounds of the zombies were far away from them, and the current cars they passed did not make a sound, mainly because they zoomed past them fast enough to make their presence known. The prototype roller des powered by kic energy were able to speed them up to the point that they could breeze through hundreds of metres easily within minutes.

    However, that also means that the squad needs to make sure of the road condition, as any cracks, potholes, or even slight debris like a twig could break their momentum very easily. Yet, it was something they had already taken into consideration when they moved through the highway. The squad deployed a sensor formation where they could give each other depth and distance despite the speed they were travelling. This could never be achieved with humans, but Mechanoids were an equation entirely out of the spectrum of human''s capabilities. Their ability to process the information far ahead had given them the advantage of keeping them away from the zombies as well as the road ahead.

    It was safe to say that with their formation and speed, they were possibly the fastest skaters the world had ever seen, and it was a rtively quiet way of travelling too.

    Unfortunately, as smooth sailing as they wished the trip would be, they had noticed that the front had something blocking them and it was not something they could avoid or jump out of the way from.

    "It seems like an abnormal group of zombies based on its shape. They do not match with the rest of the zombies that we saw." Tellie reported, and the rest knew that this was the data that they were dying to get, but they were also wary that if they were to move to intercept this, it would cause other zombies toe out of the ''woods'' for them.

    "We will stop 400 meters away from it." Yinn said, and the rest acknowledged, slowing their speed down so that they do not make too much sound from the friction in an attempt to perform a forceful stop.

    When they reached their destination, they purposely moved away from any cars and positioned themselves near the edge of the highway to have a proper understanding of the situation ahead.

 Chapter 1909 Special Class Zombie

    <h4>Chapter 1909 Special ss Zombie</h4>

    "How''s the Grey Bears doing?" Jin yawned as he finally finished the entire four themes for his Martial Artist Stadium and also sent an email to the Royal Zodiacs asking whether items were permitted or not.

    "They had encountered a special zombie on their way to Beijing." The System stated and Jin asked if he could take a break to see how they were fighting.

    "The System believed the special ss zombie should not be too much of a threat to the Grey Bears." The System replied (what it meant was it was nothing worth watching as the Grey Bears could easily obliterate the special ss zombie if they went full power).

    "Just show it to me... Won''t it just be a quick break if you let me watch this and I continue creating the dungeon instance for the sports portion?" Jin asked, and the System finally relented, showing Jin the magic eye that the System had deployed to literally keep an eye on the Grey Bears as they explore this new world.

    The special ss zombie stood there while the Grey Bears Squad took positions to the best of their abilities without waking any more zombies around the area. However, it seemed that the special ss zombie was more perceptive to the intruders than the regr ss zombies who were pacing around mindlessly.

    It roared, and that spurred the Grey Bears to take action immediately. All five of them immediately rushed into the vicinity of the special ss zombie to finallye face to face with its appearance rather than just a signal from their sensors.

    It was without a doubt grotesque, as the special ss zombie was made up of not just human parts but also animal parts. An abomination of a human that was two metres tall with a huge arm that was too heavy for it to carry around as it was mish mashed with various ''hands'' from other regr ss zombies however, what they did not expect was that those hands were the ones to coordinate and push itself up from the road.

    Using its coordinated strength as well as its abomination traits, the special ss zombie was able to bounce out of the streets and flee towards Diaz with its hand extended. There was no way Diaz was able to evade the attack, but at the same time, the Grey Bears were d that they had chosen her first. Surely, it was mainly because she was the nearest to the special ss zombie but as much as the Grey Bear did not know the special ss zombie capabilities, so did thetter as well.

    Thus, when it grabbed onto Diaz, it did not expect that the Gunzerker had retaliated with multiple shots into its arm, causing the special ss zombie to wring in pain and try to squeeze and kill Diaz. However, the more the abomination tried to use its hand to apply pressure against Diaz, the stronger the retaliation was, with shotgun bullets being shot out from her entire body.

    Eventually, the abomination gave up and released Diaz as the rest rushed in to stab their sword into the special ss zombie. However all of them knew that it was also a lose lose situation for everyone, mainly due to the fact that Diaz had used her bullets in her body. Unlike the rifles that they were holding, the shotgun shells and bullets were all standard issued ammunition. Therefore, all of the retaliation it had caused caused the firing of bullets to echo repeatedly, breaking the silence of the night.

    They knew it was an inevitable reaction since it was either Diaz got squashed by the special ss zombie or the current situation that they were in. However, these simultaneous strikes by the remaining four Mechanoids was sufficient to cut the head away, causing the zombie body to drop on the ground lifelessly and unable to continue with its carefree life.

    "We have to get out of here as soon as possible." Yinn said, and the rest agreed. They might be able to get away with their prototype rollerdes, but with the current development of zombies starting to surround them, they would not have enough speed or space to move out of the way.

    Hence, the conventional ''two legs'' was their only option though they were lucky to be Mechanoids since their two legs can leap and jump with the help of the abandoned cars around the highway. All of them stopped engaging against the zombies and picked their rifles up. They believed that if they were to engage with them in a physicalbat, they would be slowed down significantly.

    "Fire only when necessary." Yinn said and they started to move while Click picked up a controller that had been attached at the side of her waist. She instantly turned it on and far behind them, there was loud music ying with colourful lights illuminated the highway. It was one of the many distractions that she had spent time creating when they were strolling through the Great Wall of China.

    The decoy was made out of spare parts, and waster attached with basic speakers so that it yed loud music and disyed shoddy disco lights. Yet for such a cheap stake decoy, it had proven to be useful to get the zombies to run for it.

    Not to mention, the Mechanoids were not made from flesh and they did not have the scent of humans. With the mass of zombies attempting to move through the highway, the squad''s footsteps were almost negligible that they were able to slither away from the decoy as much as they could.

    However, they did not expect another special ss zombie within them until Tellie who had been continuously scanning ahead, saw it with her Surest of Eyes'' abilities. It was as if when Tellie tried to inspect her closer, she could feel the special ss zombie staring back at her.

    It did not take long for it to announce the location of the Grey Bear Squad to the zombies and while the decoy was still active, luring a fair bit of zombies, the ones closest to the Grey Bear Squad turned their heads.

    "Wow, these special ss zombies are just annoying as fuck." Clickmented as she removed a weapon from her storage ring. "I take care of the back. You guys handle the front."

    "Roger that." Yinn nodded and saw the big ass tank of gasoline Click ced on the ground, knowing that it would be a waste of time to think of helping their squad''sbat engineer. The rest also trusted her and had their sights set on the new special ss zombie.

    It had wings behind its back, but instead of using them, a huge eagle zombie detached itself from the special ss zombie and flew towards them. Tellie did not hesitate to take action and shot the eagle zombie using her chi power rifle. It was silentpared to themotion that was affecting them, killing the eagle zombie even before it could be within a hundred metre radius of the Grey Bear Squad.

    Naturally, the special ss zombie howled in pain, but it did not stop there. Instead of an eagle zombie, it started to spawn raven zombies, using quantities to annihte the Grey Bears. However, Tellie smiled as she could finally try the Surest of Eye''s abilities even more in depth.

    Seeing how Tellie would be able to control the air, Yinn had called upon Page and Diaz to rush for the special ss zombies that were ahead of them. While Yinn did use the word rushed, it was more like moving close enough so that their shots would not miss since the chi enhanced bullets were of limited quantities and they did not wish to waste them if possible.

    So, they moved closer with swords and only when they believed they had a clear enough shot, they take it. The shots went through, but it was not sufficient to kill the special ss zombie as they could see that the abomination was smart enough to not be in the open and attempted to move away from the Grey Bear Squad.

    However, the Mechanoids had already tagged her, and despite her attempt to hide within the crowd, there was no way they could get away from her. All that matters is the time needed to reach her as Tellie deals with the Ravens.

    Yet, that eventually did not pose a problem as well since Tellie had utilised the Surest of Eyes'' abilities, able to identify the flight patterns of those raven zombies. And instead of using a chi enhanced bullet, she unloaded them and used a unique bullet that was sold in single quantities from the weapons instance.

    "You know how rockets could carry mini rockets?" Bai Wan told Tellie when she asked what was so interesting about that particr bullet. "Well, this bullet is currently carrying mini bullets too. While doing some minor chi maniption, you can send it flying off to where you want. The only disadvantage of this is that its too weak to be used against armoured targets. But if you are targeting numerous unarmoured targets, this is your go to guy."

    And as much as Tellie wants to believe in Bai Wan''s description, the only truth she believed in was the evidence. So, as the Grey Bear Sniper pressed onto the trigger and imbued it with a little bit of chi, she saw the bullet flew out of her barrel and split into multiple pieces immediately. All of the Raven zombies that had been targeted were taken out instantly.

    Hence, with the skies cleared of vermin, the remaining Grey Bears could pursue without any worries.

 Chapter 1910 Types of Zombies

    <h4>Chapter 1910 Types of Zombies</h4>

    A bullet zipped across multiple zombies in one go, and it hit the shoulder of the special ss zombie that they were chasing. But once that happened, the abomination of a zombie screamed and caused many regr ss zombies to start swarming around it so that they could offer the protection that it sorelycks. However, when that happened, Yinn was already one step ahead of her.

    She used the headlights as a way to gain ess to the special ss zombie as she swung with the rope gun that each of them possessed. With that, the Grey Bear Squad Leader was swift enough to send another bullet into the zombie''s head before she could deploy extra raven zombies to popte the night skies.

    This was immensely crucial since they did not wish to attract any more attention by lighting the skies with bullet fire. Unfortunately, as much as they hope to keep a low profile, Click was not being subtle at all.

    "BURN YOU ROTTING FLESH! BURNNNNNN!!!" Click wasughing within the System channel since she still had to follow the rules of engagement set by her squad leader. The use of her me thrower had halted the advance of the zombies that were chasing from behind, giving the Grey Bears some breathing space to kill the special zombie, which they had already did.

    Hence, Page stopped Click and told her that they had to continue moving. Click was nevertheless not happy about the need to move away so soon when she was finally seeing scores of zombies being burned into crisps. "Alright, alright. Let''s go." Click literally clicked her tongue as she kept her methrower back into her storage ring and started running once more.

    After sprinting for some considerable distance and killing any zombies that were needed, the Grey Bear Squad was not just in the clear but also found a pit stop, a refuelling station in the middle of the highway, and they decided to stay there for the remainder of the night before travelling once more. There were no doubts that there were a few zombies within the gas station, but the Grey Bears disposed of them mercilessly and systematically.

    To the Mechanoids, they were just a type of monster that needed to be dispatched regardless of the situations they were in. Especially in this case, where there was a mother zombie hiding within the toilets, holding her zombified baby. The Mechanoids could discern that the mother zombie was trying to hide her child from danger by showing her side and back rather than her front. It disyed a different kind of behaviourpared to the rest of the regr ss zombies the squad had encountered.

    It was something that Half Ghoul Lord Derek had stated before, exining that this kind of zombies had been influenced heavily by their past life''s emotions, making them prone to a changeбкa deviation in the usual behaviour disyed by the general horde. It was considered to be one of the first steps into the realm of special ss zombies.

    Give it time and perhaps stronger exposure to certain elements. Be it the environment or the situation they were in, these zombies would have the chance to grow into the abominations the Mechanoids had encountered. The only problem was that Derek did not exactly have a name for the stages of those who were entering the realm of special ss.

    This was not because Derek did not have enough zombie samples that had pushed for such a special ss, but it''s due to the fact that different zombies had different eleration growth. Derek did an experiment previously by putting several zombies into various stressors, but in a controlled environment so that he knew that the growth was the only thing that would be affecting them. The results varied so greatly that some grew into the special ss within a day or two, while others took at least a week or two. Later, Derek tried even stricter controls, like choosing zombies based on their type (like sleeping zombies or roaming zombies) andter age, gender, and even their build. It was to the point, he tried to choose whether the zombie was bald or filled with plentiful hair.

    Yet, Derek could not find a proper conclusion despite the samples that he had, but what the Half Ghoul Lord could do was to somehow control the type of special ss zombie that the regr ss zombies who had been affected by the stressors Throw the zombies into a BBQ pit long enough, and they turned into a fire element type, able to spew fire.

    If the zombies were exposed to the sea currents for an extended period of time, they would be able to harness the powers of the sea too. The zombies using earth powers were a little difficult, and it seems like the easiest way to get them to do that was to expose them literally to the power of the earth. And the way to do that was throughndslides and earthquakes. (Of course, the System was able to simte it long enough to get the zombies to use the earth element.)

    The only irony was the Snow Zombies. As their names suggest, they had to be exposed in snow for a disgustingly long period of snow to get them to earn their powers. And as the name suggests, they could not create ice but snow, even though they should be of the same element. But Derek had found that there were literally Ice Zombies that could create only ice and not snow. This meant that it was what they were exposed to that allowed them to produce such an element.

    So, for the past two special ss zombies that the Mechanoids had encountered, Derek had deduced that the first one had an affinity for eating zombie arms, particrly right arms. Maybe to the point where it grew way more hands than it should have. As for thetter, birds, especially ravens and eagles, were part of its exposure. Maybe the zombie was a feeder to those ravens, or it was an avian trainer, thus seeking out those birds.

    However, upon seeing these two zombies through the Mechanoids and System''s reports, Half Ghoul Derek had just realised that he was barely tapping into the potential of the zombies and how the special ss could vary more than just supposedly known basic elements.

    "Maybe, if I expose a zombie with enough swords, it could produce zombified swords. That would be a crazy support character for the rest of the zombies since it might have the ability to create swords as its ''offspring'' and the regr ss zombies did not have to rely on scraps of metal left on the battlefield. They can have their very own live sword armoury." Derek remarked and all Yinn could say was to give it a try.

    "Maybe you should get the zombie to keep swinging its sword. And it might be a sword master too."

    "I doubt that swinging a sword repeatedly will make them a swords master."

    "Don''t you humans (or in your case, past humans) have a saying that goes, ''I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.'' I believe with this quote, your zombie might be a lethal sword wielding monster." Yinn chuckled as her Mechanoids replied that the entrances and exits refuelling station had been reinforced with barriers and obstacles, allowing them to rest for the remaining portion of the night.

    "You are not wrong. I will look into it." Derek said and wished them well that they could get to a city area soon so they could see if they were able to deduce the condition of the cities. And while he was not wishing to jinx them, he also hoped that they were able to have some decent challenges along the way as well, not just the swarming of regr ss zombies.

    With that, the conversation between the two minions had ended, and Yinn started to take some bearings on their position.

    "We should be able to see some form of civilisation a few clicks further south." Tellie said as she took out the map of the Zombie World andpared it with Jin''s World."

    "The System also approved the use of the online shop that most Pandarens used. But instead of Panda Coins, it epts System points as part of their transaction." Click said she was the first to ess it so that she could replenish what she had used and even buy an extra storage ring. (At this rate, she might even be holding storage rings on her toes.)

    "That''s great. Everyone, please restock if needed. We are going loud tomorrow. And Click, do not just get ammunition and spare parts. Use some Squad funds to either buy some oil or enough spare parts to 3D print a pump so that we can get one of these cars to move. I do not want to waste too much time walking around and being swarmed all day long." Yinn ordered, and Click nodded her head.

    "Sorry if I am a little useless." Pagemented, feeling that she was the only one that was not able to do much since her specialty was closer to using maniption on mechanical living beings. While she had ungodly strength as part of her repertoire as well, she felt that she was not working at her maximum potential."

    "Nah, its okay. I bought some spare parts in case we got into bad situations. Going to create additional nanobots for you to control if things really go south." Click said, and Page thanked her. Once everyone had did their restocking, they all sat cross legged and used their dantian engine to produce extra power for their batteries until dawn came.

 Chapter 1911 Click Is Happy Modifying

    Chapter 1911 Click Is Happy Modifying

    When dawn came, the activities of the zombies were no doubt being lessened to a certain degree. Half Ghoul Lord Derek could only deduce that why the zombies were more active in the night based on his experience and his fellow zombies under hismand is that they were somewhat affected by the sr energy of the sun.

    "It might have something to do with the celestial''s powers. Perhaps, under the power of the sun, we be more indolent so that it would be easier for the Celestials to control us if they want to?" Derek was not able to give a concrete answer to Yinn and her team when the squad asked him such a question.

    "Have you ever been controlled by a celestial before?" Yinn questioned and Derek shook his head. Firstly, Jin did not have any celestials under him nor did he capture any. Even the betors under hismand like Milk and Peppers who no doubt were able to go into the Celestial ne due to their links to the heavens and universal mana pool, did not have the actual powers of a celestial.

    "The minion closest to being a Celestial might probably be Zhi Nu due to her supposed folklore background." That was when the System came in and corrected him, stating that she did not have any celestial powers at all.

    "Then what about that Empress..dy that you had used for the Dungeon as well?" Derek asked since they were on the topic at hand. "As Half Ghoul Lord Derek had suspected, the Heavenly Empress is a mimic of a celestial and not an actual celestial at all. It was only through the User''s interference and consistent use of Zhi Nu that she obtained her powers. It was not because she had celestial abilities manifesting within her." The System stated and it answered all of Derek''s queries.

    As for the Grey Bear Squad, they had finally started to move out the moment they caught a speck of light emerging over the mountains and forested areas. They quickly got out of the pit stop with a working car after they had satisfied its needs for gasoline. And while they were able to squeeze all five of the Grey Bears into the car, they had decided to rotate and have one sitting on the rooftop of the car by utilising its roof carrier as a base.

    Needless to say, it would be dangerous for normal humans to perform such a feat but they were Mechanoids and there''s equipment that enabled them to stay on the roof carriers. In fact, Click made some amendments to the roof carrier so that it not only could amodate the Mechanoid sitting on it, it also ensured that it was sturdy enough to withstand their abrupt movements whenever necessary. Additionally, there were also ammunition clip slots on the roof carrier as well. To be able to get their ammunition clips easily was a neat feature but there is only so many the slots could hold. Still, it proved to be useful since the Mechanoids, unlike humans, based their actions onputed processes instead of muscle memory. But the coolest thing was that the roof had a quick ''pass me something'' slot between the roof carrier and the cabin.

    However, what amazed the squad was that Click was able to make the changes as they were refuelling the car. Diaz thought it was a waste of resources but Tellie and Yinn thought otherwise, thinking that even though it could just be using the vehicle for just a short duration, the improvements to the vehicle allowed them to be more versatile and responsive towards the threats. Page volunteered to be the lookout and in return, all she asked was to ''steal'' a ck cap and sunsses from the grocery store within the refuelling station. Of course, Yinn had no qualms with that and even told her to grab some snacks while she was at it since a bit of munching would be useful in not just regaining energy but also helping pass the time. Of course, Page believed that they would be too busy trying to avoid the zombies that they would not have the time to do so. And it turned out to be true as the Grey Bear Squad had not only equipped themselves with their standard set of equipment but also added to their repertoire some silent weapons as well.Modern repeating crossbows and longbows were bought from the System''s store and they had stocked up a load of arrows into the boot of the car as well. So even though they had Page as their look out, the other Mechanoids excluding the one that was not driving had been ced on sentry duties as well. It''s not like they would shoot any zombie on sight but they would target those who were too close forfort. But what was more amazing was that Click had added something at the front of the car. a lightweight but sturdy ramming head. It was designed simrly to a train''s cow catcher just that it was designed just for the car. This was done so that whenever they crashed into a zombie, it would act as the car''s bumper to divert the monster away from the car and not allow it to crash into their windscreen.

    As to why Click made these many modifications despite the risk of losing it all when they encounter a special ss zombie was mainly due to the fact that she did not want to stop half way just because their car had rolled over that many zombies. She rather take the chance of losing the modified car to a special ss zombie along the way than keep switching cars because she did not make any modifications to the vehicle at all.

    Not to mention, she had decided to take the wheel mainly due to the fact that she wanted to be in control of the said vehicle and modify the vehicle if needed as long as she was in possession of it due to the powers of the Necromechanoid living within her body. (Although, she could also do that while not driving at all so Click was merely creating an excuse in order to take the reins of the car. Maybe she merely wanted to crash and kill zombies whenever she could.)

    So, with the newly modified vehicle and their ''next'' level of preparedness, they were driven to the closest town that the highway had offered only to be weed by more zombies. From the asional crossbow bolt into the zombie heads on the highway had turned into a battle of not being overwhelmed by the hordes of zombies. When they were a few minutes into the city, zombies were not just running after them not only due to the sounds they made but also their new activity to the mindless rotting flesh. (Though it was pretty obvious it was mainly due to the fact that their vehicle and gun shots were making too much noise for them to not ignore.)

    Now the Grey Bear Squad understood why Jin wanted to create some sort of raids to clear the zombies out, especially in urban areas. Even in these slightly underdeveloped towns, the poption of zombies was immense. Granted it might be due to the fact that they were in one of the more popted regions but it was still a harrowing experience to see that many attention hungry zombies trying to bite them despite the fact that they were not humans at all.

    And that was when Click had decided to modify the car on the go as well, allowing it to spur fire utilising the gasoline that the car runs on. Obviously, when Yinn caught on, she quickly smacked her from the passenger seat and told her not to waste fuel so haphazardly. (However, she did inherently enjoy that initial burst of mes blowing it out from the sides of the car.)

    It was only until midday the car finally gave way and they decided to run to the highest building in the town to get a good look at the situation they were in. After temporarily abandoning their vehicle, they quickly moved to clear a residential housing condominium. They were thankful not to encounter any special ss zombies and the residential housing condominium had multiple gates that barred the regr ss zombies from overwhelming them with their presence. That way, they were able to get to the highest floor without too much trouble and got an overview of the situation. "Enough scouting for now?" Click asked as she took pains to reinforce the gates they passed so that the zombies had difficulty oveing them. Page and Diaz were firing at the Zombies, ensuring that they were defeated before anymore arrives to haunt them.

    "Seems like a good ce to stop and a decent ce for the 24 men raid to start as well," Yinnmented as she found this particr penthouse for the Pandarens tomence their raid if Jin wished to use this town they were in. "But if you want to rest a while in this ce, be my guest," Yinn added to her sentence when she saw that Tellie already had her sights locked and believed that she wanted to do some target practice from this height andfort.

    In the meantime, Diaz and Page had decided to hone their sniping skills with Tellie, their resident squad Sniper to make sure their skills were not ''rusty''.But Yinn and Click took the time to review the squad''s stock of spare parts and ammunition wasteding here though subsequently had printed an entire antenna tower so that the System could create a surveincework of the entire area.

 Chapter 1912 Going for the Auction -Part 1

    Chapter 1912 Going for the Auction -Part 1

    When the Grey bears reported back to Jin that they had finally done their job, theirmander had his head deep into the sports instance that he was not replying back. The System also advised to not disturb him even though he looked as if he was staring into space. It was only at a closer inspection did the Grey Bears saw that Jin''s eyes were moving rapidly despite having them wide open. They were shaking left to right, up and down and there was no sign of stopping at all. To a normal regr person looking at such a scene, they would have imagined that Jin was possessed or something but right in front of Jin was a table.

    The table had been popted with holographic items and they could see that those holographic items were being shifted around, creating a background of some sort and simtions were being yed back as if to check whether the items fitted altogether would work. "The System would remind him that you all had finished the assigned work. For now, you could either rest or return to the Zombie World to see if there was anything else you could do." The System stated and the Grey Bears proceeded with thetter, returning to check the penthouse as well as the surroundings of the town.

    Meanwhile, Jin was finishing bits of the marathon path that was for the sports instance. He had ensured that there was sufficient elevation, curves, turns and water pit stops to be included in the marathon challenge. That was when he finally decided to stop for the day since the System did remind him that the bidding for the underground basement wouldmence in a few hours from now. As much as he wanted to reach on the dot, there was a need for registration and some other paperwork to be done before he could enter the halls. "A total waste of time," Jin said as he still had quite a fair bit of the sports instance which he had notpleted. "The System had created a module where the User could connect to the dungeon maker remotely to continue his work but it would take absolute concentration to keep moving the items using my mind without being detected." The System reported and Jin shook his head. "It''s fine, we can cope and finish this once we return from the bid," Jin said as he once again wore the very same suit that Bai Xin had made for him but this time around, the System had applied some magic of its own to change the colour of the fabric, allowing it to be of a different shade of blue so that his image would remain fresh.

    Kraft also came into the Dungeon Maker and saw that Jin was all ready to move out. "Wow, I initially thought I had toe here to jolt you out of your seat. Looks like you were time conscious this time around." "Lol, I did ask the System to put a timer at the corner so that I would have some awareness of this issue." "In any case, let''s get going. My Night Fox had already gone ahead of us and filled up the forms so we would not need to waste time doing that stuff." Kraft said as he teleported a ck car into the dungeon maker. "Too many cameras, it would be easier for us to emerge the car from a random car park slope and we drive a little to the destination. Besides, a little bit of a car ride would do good to the souls and initiate some conversation. Tinda will be the driver for the day." Kraft said as a Night Fox emerged out from a portal, and bowed towards Kraft and Jin before entering the vehicle to start it up.

    The moment they entered, Tinda had already started to move the car a little so that when the System teleports the vehicle, it would have enough inertia to be going up the slope of a car park. And that was what had happened the moment the System determined the ramp was clear and no cameras were in the vicinity before allowing the car to go through the portal. It did not take long for Tinda to hit the main streets, enabling Jin and Kraft to rx a bit.

    "So? How''s your progress in searching for the High Elves?" Jin asked as heid back a little and took a bottle of water from his storage watch to quench his thirst while peeping out of the window to enjoy the Shanghai city''s scenery.

    "Meh, apparently they would not be reaching the New Adventurer Town so soon." "Howe? What''s the matter?"

    "A few of the Orcs and Goblins adventurers had encountered an Earth Golem, a rather old and powerful one to boot. They did not know that the Earth Golem was there sleeping and the Goblins took the rock as their urinal."

    "Wait... urinal?" "Yes, they peed at his head. And it was so stinky and most of the goblins attest to it. Do you know that it was so bad that toilet cleaners of the New Adventurer Town are now considered a respected job? They were paid a decent wage to make sure that the toilets were clean of filth that some goblins and Orcs wanted to stay in New Adventurer Town because of their toilets and sanitary rules?" "Wow, I did not know that at all." "Yes, it was to the point that Frost Echo and the Goblin King might want to add such rules into their kingdom so as not to let too many talent transfer to move into the New Adventurer''s Town. Well, now they had to enforce it since both of those kingdoms were already building temporary buildings to amodate the refugees when the High Elves arrived." "Wait, so what does that have to do with the High Elves? The Earth Golem destroy the path or something?"

    "Yes, there is a cavern that provides quick ess from the Northern portions of the Goblin World to the Southern portions. The High Elves were supposed to use that entry but the Earth Golem chased those goblins and orcs into that cavern. It sealed the cavern with its powers andter left."

    "Then how did you know of such a report?" "Because one of my newer Night Foxes was doing some training in that cavern as well. That was where they heard the story from the adventurers." "So, without the cavern passage, how long does High Elves need to reach New Adventurer''s Town?" "Not sure but this is definitely one of the roads that they had to use if they want to reach the town fast. Otherwise, it''s walking over the mountains or moving to the nearest sea port and taking a ship, forcing it to go one big round to the Human''s city. From then, they had to go through about another 4-5 days depending on their expedition size."

    "But I am sure you doing all you can to waste their time even further, right?" Jin asked and Kraft smiled. It was then he was unsure whether the Earth Golem and the adventurer story was real in the first ce or was a scheme and Kraft used a cover story.

    "What? Why would I bother lying to you? The most is that I might have omitted a few facts here and there." Kraft grinned which made Jin sigh and shake his head.

    "Alright, forget about the Earth Golem. So, how?" "How? Well, the town they had to go through would not tell them a single piece of information even if it cost their lives." "Because you threatened them?"

    "On the contrary, no. They loved me and hated the High Elves. Some of the elders used to tell how their childhood had been gued by their presence. So, when I came into the picture and told them about such a threat, they felt that this was the only time they could join in to mess with the High Elves."

    "What did you make them do?" "Nothing much. Just asking them to put the price of the information to be exorbitantly high. They did not need to be worried about being killed or anything. Most of them had signed a temporary time sensitive contract with the System." "System, you can do that?"

    "Affirmative. These humans are not of use to the System and having them would not bring any profit. However, a time sensitive or limited contract allowed them to survive the anger of the High Elves until they were out of the picture or out of their vige."

    "Oh, not to mention, we also sabotage the ship at multiple points. It will look like a magnificent vessel but it''s full of fake materials that could create problems once they are in the middle of the sea." Kraft smiled and Jin could see that Kraft really did his homework.

    "But don''t those high Elves use magic? They could just climb up the cavern... unless," "Unless? There''s no unless. They would not use magic due to the size of the expedition team because its inefficient. Explosives had been ced around the mountain and only with the magic energy signature from the High Elves, they would explode right in their face." Kraft eximed before returning back to serious mode. "Oh yea, if you are thinking how would we know the magic energy signature and get it programmed."

    "Your scoutsбн" Jin said and once again, he felt safe that Kraft was around to settle all this trickery be it tant or cunning, it would provide the New Adventurer Town a way out before the day of destruction to their townes.

 Chapter 1913 Going for the Auction -Part 2

    Chapter 1913 Going for the Auction -Part 2

    "We arrived," Tinda replied as she parked the car outside of the Ministry of Land. "Narris should be waiting for the two of you at the front gate." "Thanks, Tinda for taking out your busy schedule to drive us around," Jin said and Kraft gave an unsightly frown. "What do you mean her schedule is busy? She is always free to drive you around." "Do not make things so difficult for people, Kraft. The Dark Elves are still fellow beings. Not ves." Jin wanted to continue but Tinda interrupted.

    "Master Jin. Don''t," Tinda shook her head slowly as if to indicate that it was not worth fighting.

    "User, please remember the agreement that Original Betor Kraft and his Night Foxes are not for us to interfere. Comments are enough." The System stated and Jin nodded his head. "Yeah,ments are enough," Kraft replied.

    "The System would help the User to understand that the Night Foxes do work hard and y hard as well. And even though we did agree that Kraft could handle his own minions, the System would still intervene if the punishments were too harsh." The System sent an encrypted voice message to Jin which made the Dungeon Supplier understand why the secrecy. Kraft wants to act tough in front of not just Jin but the System and everyone who knows him.

    "Just give them a little more care and I hope myments will not make you change the way you do stuff." Jin replied as if he understood the ''public'' reply the System had given and Kraft smirked slowly.

    "As long as you understand. Anyways, this is a small matter, we have bigger issues at hand." Kraft said as he looked forward to the event as they saw Narris was waiting with Xiong Da at the front doors. "You know, at this rate, you should just hire Xiong Da into the System. With the boost from the System, he would be a force to be reckoned in anyw rted stuff." "Yeah, man. I had no idea he had the knowledge to deal withnd issues too. It felt like nobody had taken him seriously other than his peers and the industry circle he is in." Jin said as he raised his hand to wave at Xiong Da. "Do you really need to be here?" Jin asked as he shook hands with him.

    "Well, if things go well, I can work in Shanghai as intended too. So, it''s a win-win for me." "You are going to Shanghai to work there permanently?" "Nah. My partner as in business partner, not my wifey, wants me to expand our services to that area too since quite a number of our clients are there even though we are based in Shanghai. I told him that aside from the initial build up of the second office, I would take a step at a time. Well, and if this issue can be settled, it looks like I can still meet my dear Pandawans in Shanghai too if I were to be located there from time to time." "Are you banging on the fact that the dungeon instances can be linked?" Jin asked as if he was going to be disappointed. "Why not? Can''t they work that way?" Xiong Da''s eyes went wide open and Jinughed as he did not wish his number one customer and supporter of his dungeon supplier store would be disappointed.

    "For you, I will link it up." Jin winked and Xiong Da clicked his tongue while avoiding Jin''s gaze for a moment as they walked into the Ministry of Land''s office. They were subsequently directed to a meeting room where they saw Kai Hung and his CEO, Na Ying, as well as some otherpany representatives in the room for the bid.

    "Huh, there are quite a few big shot names around here. Constructionpanies, financepanies, and even an ITpany want the space. If this subplot bidding is sessful, it will change the way how Ministry of Land deals withnd in the future." "How so?" "Because this is the first time thatpanies are bidding for an undergroundnd. Usually, these undergroundnds are reserved only for the subway stations."

    "Eh? Then somehow, we managed to initiate thisnd bidding process?" "They could have rejected our proposal, to be honest. But there must be a higher up, probably ministerial level that sees opportunities to take more money from the private sector. You could say that it''s like trying out a bid and seeing how things go. If it is sessful, it would be in their mastern in the futureбн or that is what I believe it would be." Xiong Da exined.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen. We shall start with our bidding process for the upation of Underground Land No.

    0001S. The first in Shanghai and if I dare say, the first in the whole of China." The speaker said as he started to speak the technical details of thend and the opportunities that thend could provide. At the same time, Jin was looking through the list of hispetitors and attempting to deduce why they would want thend. Na Ying and her IFC Holdings was the simplest to deduce mainly due to the fact that they had been owning the entirend above it so even though they eventually got thend for car park space, it would be a darn expensive car park.

    On the other hand, it was pretty obvious why a huge ITpany would want thend mainly due to its ability to put servers and cables, strengthening the infrastructure of Shanghai even further.For the constructionpanies, they would most likely rent it out or build an underground mall topete with the IFC mall. Else, they could use it for future subway projects and the government had to ask for its cooperation to share thend. This way, they could make money from it in the future considering how the subway ns were expanding. As for the financepanies, they probably had the very same idea as the constructionpanies as well as they could very well sell or rent it out.

    It was only Jin who wanted to use it to build a Dungeon Supplier Store and everyone was surprised that this ''Panda Inc.'' who incepted only a year ago was able to join this bidding process. There was a certain requirement in terms of capital in order to be qualified for the undergroundnd and that was also why thepanies were big names in their industries when Jin searched in the on them.

    Panda Inc. wascking in so much presence that one of the financepanies asked if Jin and co were even qualified for it and the speaker nodded his head. "He had shown his paperwork and is qualified for the bid." "But I bet he does not even have a Tier 2 Security Clearance, much less a Tier 3 Security Clearance. Are you even sure you have vetted thepany?" One of the auction people asked and the speaker went away from the microphone and asked his team members who had handled the paperwork. The security clearance of thepany was meant to make sure that thepany was not some boguspany or even a foreignpany that would be used to acquirend property and other official properties within the nation.

    "With regards to your concern, the saidpany had Tier Double Zero security clearance. So, you may let that security matterid to rest." The Speaker said solemnly and everyone all back at Jin as with their eyes opened with surprise. Jin pretended to act cool and wanted to send a telepathic message to Xiong Da but even hiswyer had an astonished stare towards the dungeon supplier before everyone returned to their gaze to the front. To thosepanies, it finally made sense why he was able to join this auction not because of the wealth he had. "What is Tierбн Double Zero security clearance? I did not exactly fill in the paperwork myself." In the meantime, Jin decided to ask the System.

    "Tier 1 security clearance means that thepany is a trustedpany which had cleared its background checks. Tier 0 security clearance meant that thepany had rtions with the Royal Zodiac. Tier 00 security clearance means that you are either a Royal Zodiac n Head or part of the Head''s family."

    "Wait a minute. If you put it that way, and we used Panda Inc. as ourpanyбн does that meanбн?" "Yes, Congrattions are in due. While the System suspected that Royal Zodiac Dragon Kong Rong had some influence on this security clearance, the other Royal Zodiac Heads must have also acknowledged that you are part of them as well for you to get this security clearance. In the eyes of the government, you are now part of the Royal Zodiacs." "How the hell did you get Tier 00 security clearance and howe I did not know it up till now? Aren''t you some Panda Cultivator?" Xiong Da was frantic as he had no idea how Jin was able to get Tier 00 security clearance. "This literally changed the whole bidding process already!" "How so?" "When you bid, Tier 0 and Tier 00 security clearance kind of have an added advantage. All they had to do was to bid or match the winning bid and you get thend! Heck, I think as long it is within 90% of the matching bid, thepany has no choice but to yield to you! You don''t have to overbid at all!" Xiong Da was excited, ted, and also confused about how he got Tier 00. But right now, the bid was more important.

 Chapter 1914 Going For The Auction -Part 3

    Chapter 1914 Going For The Auction -Part 3

    "I guess Kong Rong kind of knows about this bidding system process? Is that why we are able to get this auction quick and fast?" Jin asked and Kraft, who was at his side, finally spoke out.

    "It looks like the Royal Horses had pulled some strings into this. You did not need to pay any money to bid because of the security clearance that you had. A privilege of some sort but the otherpanies especially the lower tier security clearance such as that financepany over here..." Kraft pointed at the list.

    "They had to pay a considerable fee just to enter this auction," Kraft said as he signalled the amount of money to Jin via the use of chi. Jin was surprised by the amount and he had no idea they needed to pay that sort of amount to enter.

    "Why would they do that? If they lose, will they get back that deposit?" "A partial return if I am not mistaken. But not the entire sum that''s for sure. I believe it''s mainly because of the fact that this auction is the first of its kind. To have their name in the auction is more than enough for future auctions. It''s more like putting their names down so that the government would have records of them. You know? it''s like those Senpai, please notice me that kind of reaction."

    "We are starting the bid now." The speaker said, and thend valuation was ced at 10.5 million Yuan. It''s at a low end but the speaker knew that the bidding should at least go up to 30 over million Yuan which is their target amount for that basement.

    Is thatnd valuable? It''s all about spection. How thepanies view that piece of crappynd. If they think it''s primend, the price will automatically rise by itself due to the reputation it has.And indeed, they do have that kind of reputation especially when its right under the IFC mall, which prides itself on luxury goods and good human traffic flow.

    It did not take long for the auction price to go up. And the increment was quick. With each raise of the hand, came another almost consecutively and there was no stopping until it reached 30 million. It looked like everyone had expected that to be the standard price as the raising of hands slowed down when that target had been hit.

    But all this time, Jin did not raise his hand a single bit as he continued to see who was most interested in the piece ofnd.

    "You are not going to bid?" Xiong Da asked telepathically but Jin remained silent as he reevaluated his life choices. Only the System and Kraft were able to know his thoughts as he did not close it away from his business partners.

    "Regretting your choice already?" Kraft smiled as he saw the frantic bid.

    "Let''s say if we really got the basement, what''s the alternative for not creating the second dungeon supplier store?"

    "Perhaps, delivery? We would have ess to Shanghai''s market share and if Shenzhen was any indication that we were toe to toe with the current deliverypetition, I will say it''s a very big deal." Kraft said. "Not to mention, thepetition is so serious that they wanted to buy over Pandafull Delivery which Qiu Yue gave a straight no when the offer was presented to her. She even had the gall to say money is not an issue and on that week itself, the delivery charges went down by another 50%, allowing us to get even more business. Oh, the burn she gives thepetitors. It''s so so sweet."

    "System, your opinion?" Jin asked since he knew that even if he did not bid now, his security clearance would give him the opportunity to steal it right under their noses and that was how dirty he could y unless thepanies could estimate his threshold. That was also the reason why they were slowing the bid to see if Jin had any trigger buttons they could push. But for now, he remained stoic and there was nothing to read from his face except for a yawn. (Thank goodness there were no Panda Beamsing out from it!"

    "45 Million! Calling once." The speaker said and it tried to drag a little longer.

    "Wow, 45million for a basement. These guys are rich AF." Jinmented to Kraft as he turned his head to him.

    "Lol, Boss. 45 Million is nothing to you, isn''t it." Kraft chimed in and Jin gave him a disgusted look.

    "Is it because I am not paying you well enough, that you have to reveal that kind of information?" Jin replied. "Of course, it''s nothing. Because I have nothing to pay with!"

    "Wow, that is such a bad cold joke." Kraft shook his head as he grabbed Jin''s hand and raised his hand for him.

    "45.5 million Yuan by our mysterious Tier 00 auctioneer." The speaker had also spiced up the bid for the auction.

    "70 Million Yuan." IFC CEO Na Ying raised her hand as if she wanted to protect thend that was under her. There was no way she was going to let Tier 00 security clearance spoil her chance to get the piece ofnd. It was at that time, that some people were typing furiously on their phones as if to check with theirpanies whether it was okay to proceed bidding higher.

    Then, the ITpany was the first to back away by standing up and walking out of the room. It was pretty obvious that this was out of their league since they could never recoup any losses to get that much.

    But it was another matter for the several finance and constructionpanies who had decided to up the bid as well. But it was of minor increments rather than a major increment like what the IFC CEO had done.

    "Wow, this is actually fun to watch," Jin said within the System Chanel and he raised his hand. "Let''s make it lucky centric. 88.8Million? I understand it''s not the usual amount but is that eptable?"

    "Why not? When ites tond, auspicious symbolism does always y a part. 88.8Milion it is."

    "Then why not I make it even more auspicious then? 108.8 Million Yuan." CEO Na Ying said and the COO beside her was already sweating beads as if this was a terrible game to y. Na Ying on the other hand wanted thend at all cost. It was the pride of IFC Holdings to not lose that plot ofnd.

    "Wow. 108.8 Million. Boss Jin. You sure you do not want to raise it even further?" Kraft asked and it made Na Ying nervous too.

    "Eh? Not interested already." Jin said as he walked out of the room and the speaker sealed the deal with IFC Holdings to award thend to them.

    "You sure?" Xiong Da asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Yeah. I can do much with 108.8 Million dors and in turn, the government earns that much money from this transaction. I feel like someone might owe me a favour." Jin said as he side eyed a person the moment he got out of the room.

    Even without any magic eye or inspection techniques, the executive was there smiling and bowing to them slightly before walking to greet them. Only when he came closer, they saw that he was wearing the Royal Horse Zodiac n''s enamel pin. "I am guessing you knew our game n?"

    "Not really, but I have a feeling that I might be taken advantage of. Especially with that Tier 00 Security Clearance." Jin spoke in a lower voice and the Horse n executive got it and led them to another room while the IFC Holdings were confirming their deal with the auction team.

    There he saw a familiar face and it was Ma Ge, the Chancellor of JODE. "Here I thought, I can earn some money from you so I can use that money to pay for the school instance that you made for me."

    "When I heard rumours that Royal Horses were crafty people, I did not expect them to be of that calibre of shallow," Kraft said it so tantly but it somehow did not invoke a reaction to the Ma Ge and his other Horses Executive.

    "Hmm, but it looks like I did you a huge favour, didn''t I? I never knew that you have some say in the Ministry of Land."

    "Heh. You of all people should know that being part of JODE is like an extra curriculum activity. Something that I am obligated to do as part of the Royal Horse Zodiac n. Handling the Ministry of Land is my main job. And yes, you have no doubt done a huge favour for us. We were quite conservative with the estimates and you helped us to earn 300% more than we had estimated."

    "So, how about it? I am sure you have anothernd you can offer us. I know that even if I were to win the bid, you would probably use thisnd offer as an appeasement gift for me once I knew that you were part of it. Be it sooner orter."

    "Now who is the crafty one? I am sure it is not the Horse n at this rate but rather the Pandas. The legends of your ancestors'' acumen did not seem to die out just yet." Ma Ge replied as he asked one of his assistants to bring a few files over.

    "Instead of just one piece ofnd to offer, I shall allow you

    to choose. Prices would be very reasonable considering yourpetitor had already put in the downpayment."

 Chapter 1915 Going for the Auction -Final

    Chapter 1915 Going for the Auction -Final

    What Ma Ge said was true. There were a variety of space allocations that even Kraft joined in the selection process and gave his opinion based on what he knew via a quick System search. In the meantime, Xiong Da was there looking at them and seeing if Ma Ge and the others were going to throw some other stunt.

    If they were able to attempt to ''cheat'' the Panda n, all the more they should be careful when they sign the contract for thend acquisition. After all, when someone felt like they had won, they would most likely be in 1the most vulnerable state as well. That and it was Xiong Da''s fault that he did not see thising. He had never expected one of the Royal Horse n''s family members to be in direct contact with Jin. And the line where he said the ''Pandas'' acumen'' was bothering him. There were no cat or bear like families in the Royal Zodiac and the closest was the Tigers.

    Yet it was pretty obvious from their interactions in the past that they never knew about each other and it was to the point where they had fought against each other for survival. The creation of the Tree Mall was partially due to the Tiger''s interference and he knew from a quick look at the ounts that Jin was not with them at all. Nor were they given anypensation for it.

    But in recent days, Jin had been getting close with the Royal Zodiacs and he did not hesitate to disy such a rtionship. Xiong Da still remembered how the Royal Zodiac Leaders had joined during the Pandastic Festival and people were practically worshipping Jin for bringing them to the dungeon supplier store. And this particr unexined development was expounded on with Jin and Ma Ge. Granted that there must be some rtions where they had met each other in the capacity of their ''extra curriculum activities'' by being Demon Exorcists. (Xiong Da also knew about the school instance since as the number one supporter of the dungeon supplier, he had ess to news of thetest instances even though Jin usually kept quiet on quite a number of developments.)

    But the way they talked was like equals, not of client and product manager rtions. "Xiong Da, you have traveled quite a fair bit, what do you think of thesend allocations?" Jin asked and thewyer took a look at the items they had selected. "Huh, most of them are in popr spots but they are rather smallpared to the few in the outskirts of the city which are bigger in size."

    "Size is amodity. In fact, if you choose the outskirts, I might even give you a discount." Ma Ge offered but the trio knew where he was going with that. While he did earn a lot from the previous transaction that IFC Holdings had secured, by sellingnd on the outskirts of the cities to Jin, he maintained the smaller sizes that could be used to be sold for higher prices to other customers.

    "Heh, we knew your intentions."

    "Well, yeah. But seeing how you attract business and people like a honeypot to bees, we believe that you can develop the outskirts of the cities you have chosen. In fact, we will assist with the construction and revitalisation phase of the area. Whatever you want, we will consider it greatly. This is how much the Royal Horse n is betting you can make good money." Ma Ge said and Jinughed.

    "If that''s the case, why don''t you just give me thend to develop it further? You think I cannot do it after the construction of the Tree Mall?" "Honestly, after you created that Tree Mall, everyone in the Royal Horse n was...extremely interested in how you did it. We did send a few surveyors to look at it but they could never figure out the construction phase. It felt like you used magic to carve out the entire ce but at the same time, we knew that was almost impossible given the timeline." Ma Gemented.

    "It''s a trade secret." Jin smiled and then Xiong Da and Kraft looked at the selection once more. Bigger is no doubt better but considering this was on the outskirts of the city, they were a bit more apprehensive towards that idea as they wanted good traffic.

    "If you really want big, you should just go for this ce." Xiong Da also felt frustrated looking at the options even though the Royal Horses were waiting patiently to the point that they were not even using their phones. Their respect for the customers were of top tier standard but the Royal Horses also knew that they put themselves in such a situation too.

    They could have allowed the duo to take the selection list home to study it well but they did not. The Royal Horses including Ma Ge were there on purposely to put pressure on them and yet Jin and Kraft did not care even though Xiong Da did.

    He knew there were people who had thick skin but he never expected that both groups were able to fight for the top ce. As Jin and Kraft were asking for ways to get the selection list out, the more reasons the Royal Horses gave as well.

    And since it came to this, the duo utilised the power of their otherworldly being to check out thends and makeparisons on the go. And to their surprise, the one that Xiong Da chose, was actually one of the better choices.

    "A 68 percent chance of sess if developed well. There is no need for the Royal Horses to meddle with the development as well." The System stated and Jin was staring at that piece ofnd.

    "Wait a minute. Can I ask why is this plot ofnd not sold? It''s well within Beijing. Shouldn''t thend be more precious?" Jin asked since he is not exactly in the know of the geopolitics of Beijing. (China is too big that it''s quitemon to be ignorant.)

    "This one? Changping District, Liu Qian Town?"Ma Ge picked the folder up to have a closer look at it. "Oh. This one. Their town mayor filed for bankruptcy due to poor choices in development. It was to the point that people literally yed the intonation of the words and made it sound like flowing money or losing money."

    "Flowing money sounds like a good name. Flowing money in is what we want. I do not see a problem with that."

    "Most of the townfolks knew that their days were numbered as well. They have a few good cultural stores and even a decent weaver too. If I am not wrong, one of their daughters had attempted to revive the business by using her family''s weaving techniques on social media. It was mildly sessful but the fact that the town was bankrupt had made it hard for her to spread her goods or let people know of her skills."

    "Is that supposed to make me take pity on her?" Jin asked and Ma Ge shrugged.

    "I am merely providing information to you. If you are taking this town, I can give you an even lower price if you are willing to provide some jobs for the townfolks too."

    "Lol, and here I thought Royal Horses are heartless people. That''s what people stereotype when we do our taxes." Jinmented.

    "If they are not earning money, we cannot earn that tax too. In fact, we might need to provide some social support for them too. So, I rather do them a favour, give the new owner some discount and that discount could be passed to them in terms of jobs and opportunities."

    "Its still a fairly far ride from the main cities though. If we were to build this, our project should lean towards resort management." Kraft stated and Xiong Da agreed to that.

    "Hahaha, not another Tree Mall?" Jin teased and Xiong Da countered with his limited knowledge.

    "It''s not viable in my humble opinion. Maybe factories and manufacturing would not mind the distance since they would need space. And considering how you created your Tree Mall, most of the shops I see have a certain size and the space was more in the basement, which leads me to believe that the more space you have, it is proportionate to the size of the dungeon instance too."

    "You are not exactly wrong but I can see how we can cater to factories since we do not have any of that in the Tree Mall."

    "Heh. If you are doing a manufacturing hub while trying to lure customers, I am all for that. I have a lot of factory bosses who needed cheap manufacturing ces." Ma Ge said and did not mind pushing them toward Jin''s way.

    "Wow, it will be hard to juggle factories and resorts at the same time. The roads have to be reworked too." Jin said and Ma Ge smiled, indicating that if he ever to go that route. He would be there to provide the necessary infrastructure too.

    "If that''s the case, then we will consider this and put it aside first," Jin said and Ma Ge stifled hisughter. He really thought that Jin was done choosing when in reality, he was just putting this as one of his choices. Xiong Da could only shrug his shoulders when he locked eyes with Ma Ge, trying to tell him that he brought this upon himself.

 Chapter 1916 Driving a Hard Bargain

    Chapter 1916 Driving a Hard Bargain

    After looking through the options again and again. The only one that appealed to them was Liu Qian Town in Changping District, Beijing, and a small piece ofnd on Tianjin Road, Shanghai. It was just 800 square feet ofnd that was ''recently'' avable to the Royal Pandas'' mulling of thends. The Royal Horse n members finally released that option after they saw Jin and Kraft arguing for the past two hours straight. But when the Royal Horses presented thatnd option to them, both parties literally ''pretended''. It was as if the duo was waiting for this to happen and the Horses had seen their true colours and finally relented. It felt so fake that Xiong Da could not help but feel amused by it. They did not know that Kraft the mind reader and self proimed world ss mind maniptor was in the room with them. He had knew that the Royal Horses were keeping thisst portion of thend as their so called trump card in case Jin was not satisfied with the price he had paid. They had no idea that they still had to show this trump card even though Jin was not paying the price. The IFC did. At the same time, that 800 square feet ofnd definitely worth less than the profit the Ministry of Land had earnt from the auction just now and the duo knew what to do. Also, why was the Panda n so focused on getting that small piece ofndpared to the acres ofnd that Liu Qian Town had presented?

    This was mainly because Tianjin Road where thatnd was located was near or considered to be within a very famous shopping street in Shanghai. It was just a road away from the East Nanjing Road which was boasted to be one of the main shopping attractions in the district. There''s a saying that ''if you had not been to Shanghai unless you go to Nanjing Road.'' Even if Jin was not in the Nanjing Road, being just around the area was more than enough to expand not just locally but internationally as well. With the number of tourists Nanjing Road had on a daily basis, the Panda n would definitely get these tourists to try their Dungeon Supplier Store and bring back memorable mouth to mouth experiences. Jin was not merely aiming for more tourists to visit him but rather, to create a reliable brand name so that when Jin was to push out of China and into other countries, his dungeon supplier store would be a name that resonates with other people. Ma Ge was not stupid as well. He knew the potential Jin could bring and he had seen the cold hard facts before he kept this as thest resort trump card for Jin to consider. If it was IFC that he was handling right now, he would not even bother allowing his Royal Horse n members to showcase this particrnd. The main dealer that was in charge of the discussion right now had seen numbers of how Tiangong District had grown tremendously with the Tree Mall. Morepanies and high human traffic were its distinctions of the Tree Mall, indirectly and directly boasting the district profits in just half a year. It was so good that the Mayor of Shenzhen was also been praised within the governing bodies to have the foresight to provide tremendous efforts allowing the implementation thesepanies within the Tree Mall''s ecosystem.

    In truth, when Ma Ge heard how Jin could turn Liu Qian Town into a Resort and a Manufacturing Hub, his heart skipped a beat. If the manufacturing hub could be realised within the dungeon instances it would not only provide a higher GDP for Changdong district but rather, secret facilities to improve the nation''s technology could be tuck away from the eyes of suspecting onlookers.

    This ranged from military development without the worry of human deaths though of course certain limits had to be ced to dangerous space exploration technology advancement as the dungeon instance could no doubt simte space without it getting messy with manipting real world conditions. It would be a win win situation for the country and Jin. Unfortunately for him, the duo decided to take Tianjin Road even though Kraft managed to take in all the thoughts that Ma Ge had when the Panda n purposely took their time to choose things. The dragging of the decision was not only for the trump card to appear but also to collect thoughts like this so that the System, Jin, and Kraft could make a proper decision on whether to press harder on the acquisition of thend.

    "You know, Jin? Even if we take Tianjin Road''s pathetic piece ofnd, I feel that we should explore Liu Qian Town as well. It would be a pity not able to create a manufacturing hub. It will definitely push the potential and possibilities of dimensional instance if you take thatnd up." Kraft said as hey backward on the chair and talked to Jin, knowing that his disciple had the ability to pick up the cue and talk back smartly.

    "Huhбн give some example," Jin said as he alsoid back to set the mood despite the fact that everyone was somehow working overtime because of what these Panda n members were doing.

    "I don''t knowбнsay unlimited air space? Unlimited space space?"

    "Unlimited space space?" Jin attempted to look confused.

    "Space as in outer space. You can create that easily right?" "Zero G is definitely an easy feat for me. And you can still breathe if you want to. There would not be any problems with that. And anytime you want to turn the oxygen off as well as vacuum an entire portion of the dimensional instance to test things out, its like flipping a switch."

    "See. If we can do that, we should be able to deal with not just aerospace but also outer space manufacturing. Imagine the money!" "Lol, but Ma Ge is only allowing us to choose one. There''s no way to refuse a piece ofnd on Tianjin Road. That equates to being insane, especially for an entertainment based industry yer like us." Jin said and Ma Ge could already see where this is going.

    "Two." Ma Ge might have already been tired if all the bantering that he raised his hand and raised his two fingers. "If you buy Tianjin Road and Liu Qian Town at the same time and only this two. We will provide them at the base price instead of the discounted price. In return, we will assist with the building of the manufacturing hub. I am very sure all the Royal Zodiac ns especially the military specific ns like the Royal Roosters would make a deal with you. I can foresee you recoup the losses within a five year period and that is conservative numbers." "We take the two of them including your assistance and a twenty percent discount on Tianjin Road''s price. After all, you did say that we made you a generous sum of money." Jin counteroffered.

    "5% discount" Ma Ge shook his head.

    "15%" Jin replied and the people in the room knew what the price was.

    "10% final." Ma Ge sighed but Jin wanted to say 13% just to be the prick of a negotiator and held his breath for a moment. However, when he realised the price was in millions, he disregarded his ''graceful'' self and went forth countering the offer.

    "13%"

    "10%"Ma Ge did not relent.

    "12%" "10%" "11%"

    "10%"

    "11%" Jin stood his ground on this and Ma Ge cough out a bitterugh before allowing Jin to have his way. "Fine, fine. I give you that 1%" Ma Ge said. "Give me a small discount for the school improvements." "I will think about it," Jinmented and Ma Ge stood up, extending his hand so that they could shake and ept the deal while his assistants continued with the remaining paperwork. Kraft also did the same as he pretended to give a call with his phone when Narris and Tinda were already outside waiting.

    "Xiong Da, I am sorry you have to work overtime, but can you assist my assistants for a moment. I will return soon after a quick break." "Sure. You owe me a sneak peek at thetest dungeon." "Heh. I will give you and the Pandawans a week of exclusive ess to a dungeon raid including the overtime fees. How about that?" Jin asked and Xiong Da smiled widely. "I take your word for it. Be back in 15 minutes. Thend deeds need your signature as well." Xiong Da said as Jin and Kraft went out of the building to take a breather. Kraft took out his cigar and smoked at the designated area while Jin took out a bottle of water from his storage watch to chill out.

    "Heh, looks like we had a good deal."

    "Good deal? More like an excellent deal. Qiu Yue would have been extremely mad if I had spent a 100 over million of Yuan for a pathetic basement." "Well, you technically convinced everyone that you are buying a basement, and no matter how you try to beautify it, it''s just a basement. We got to put a lot more effort attracting attention before the crowdse in and then you pulled such a stunt. However, how the hell did you know that it would pan this way? I could not even sense that Ma Ge''s chi signature until muchter."

    "Call it a hunch." Jin smiled.

 Chapter 1917 Surveying the Lands

    1917 Surveying the Lands

    "Well, good hunch then. Keep it up," Kraft smirked and the Night Foxes messaged them through the System to return so that they could have the contract signed. Chancellor Ma Ge kept his word and the discounts were applied to the Tianjin Road while they had obtained the deed for Liu Qian Town too. While they were written to be under the property of Panda Inc, the Royal Horses indicated to Jin that if he were to ever change thepany or dissolve thepany, thosends would still belong to him because of his title. Selling it back to the government or the Ministry of Land would not pose too much of a trouble as well due to his current title.

    Jin had no idea that being a Royal Zodiac Head despite it not being announced officially had its perks too. When the deed was done, every one of them returned to their abodes to have a rest except for the Dungeon Supplier who wanted to have a look at Liu Qian Town and Tianjin Road as soon as possible. Despite the fact that Jin would have it in his hands within a few weeks, he wished to take a look at the current state of the town and attempted to visualise the possibility that he could do with it. Kraft criticised Jin for being too hardworking but he did not know how the current boss of Panda Inc was feeling.

    Even though he was tired, he finally obtained the chance to expand. Not just in one ce but in two simultaneous areas. Of course, he could take it slow and build slowly but time was money. This was especially so when he had spent millions to obtain those twonds despite that they were bought at literally the best price possible. (Whoever asked for discounts for thends?! Only Jin dared to do that and managed to seed in it too.)

    Hence, the Dungeon Supplier went to Tianjin Road since the System already had found a secret passage without any security cameras and low traffic for Jin to teleport in. When he reached the area, it was undoubtedly crowded with people and he noticed that 800 square feet ofnd was literally a small box that could only fit in at most three cars in that space. Other than that, there was nothing special about it. But if you were to think based on its price, the dynamic human crowd walking around the area was more than what he had expected. He checked his watch to make sure that he got the day correctly and despite it being just a Wednesday with no festivals, it was still chockful of tourists roaming the streets, most of which were overflowing from Nanjing road. "There is no I can make the very same Tree Mall right over here. Maybe a cafиж might be a good storefront?" Jin thought to himself as he surveyed the area where a majority of the buildings had the old European feel to Nanjing road due to its history. It would be weird to break the immersion of the ''theme'' of Nanjing but he also knows that if he does not stand out among these shops, his store might suffer some repercussions no matter how reputable he was in Shenzhen. After all, what works in one area does not necessitate that people could replicate the same sess again. The cafиж could be a decent idea but it was still missing the ''poof'' factor that the Tree Mall had. Sometimes it was true that size does matter as that would allow people to notice. But just as he was about to give up thinking for the moment, he suddenly saw a group of girls wearing panda shirts, obviously bought from Shanghai Zoo.

    That was when Jinughed at himself. He had the best weapon of this while and he had forgotten that he could use it to the best of his abilities. In fact, it was his right to use that since he was the Head of the Royal Panda Zodiac n.

    "Just use Pandas. in and simple. Pfft why do I need to think so hard." Jin chuckled at himself once more before he stood like an idiot at the empty 800 square feet ofnd that had been barred by the Ministry of Land''s physical barriers from entering. "I will get back to you. You are my next money maker." Jin said to thend and walked away until the System had determined that there were no more cameras or humans around within its vicinity to teleport Jin to his next destination.

    At first, when he reached Liu Qian Town, it was practically a rural underdeveloped town which was in high contrast with what he had seen on Tianjin Road. Now Jin understood why Ma Ge wanted Jin to take thisnd. The main objective was not because he wanted that manufacturing hub up as hinted by Kraft but to revitalise this particr town. To give these townsfolks one more chance in life just as how he had given his Tian Gong District''s shop owners a second chance to start again after the attack from the Royal Tiger Zodiac n''s Triad. But this was definitely much harder to achievepared to the Tree Mall mainly due to the fact that this town was practically in ruralnds because of theck of development in the area. By using his Maqi to hide his presence as he walked around the area, hopefully not to get noticed by people, he had managed to take his time to survey the area exploring things and facts that thend deed was not able to describe or managed to hide. There was a major super highway right above the town and he was sure it connected to the rest of the developed areas both north and south of the town. He could see how this was definitely a great space to make the manufacturing hub a reality and that super highway that was literally right above the town was able to expand ande into Liu Qian Town. It was to the point Jin believed that he needed to bring all of the townsfolks together to talk before he made any significant developments. This was especially so when he saw how most of the houses were rundown and perhaps somewhat appalling that he found there were still these kinds of underdeveloped towns especially within Beijing District. (This definitely showed that he was still protected by the System, making him a frog in a well and not knowing about the state of the world he was in.) He would require to get their opinion and make them understand that if he were to develop the town, there was an essential need to break everything down and grow again. He believed he would be met with significant resistance from the elderlies but unless he met them, there was no way to know of their opinions. The younglings might want the change but as he walked around the area, he could see that the poption was mostly the elders and the young were only there because they might be too young or they did not want to leave their elders alone because of the moral value of filial piety. But whether it was a forced or voluntary decision, that was not what Jin could deduce unless he learned of them and that would be a tad impossible due to the amount of work he had. "Maybe I can put a liaison here to settle them downбн" Jin thought to himself and suddenly heard a loud howl echoing through the area. Unlike the rest of the townsfolks, Jin was the only one who was alert, and that somehow broke his ''low profile''. It was at that point, the townsfolks noticed him andughed. "You must be a traveller to rest before going to other cities, right?" One of the elders said and Jin pretended and went with the flow.

    "You guys are not scared of it?" "We are very near the protected borders but the barriers had been holding them wellбн Erm well enough unless those monsters were from Mongolia." The Elder seemed like he was trying to face certain memories that had surfaced when he talked about it.

    "Which Royal Zodiac n is supposed to protect this ce? There must be border guards from them." "This is a rural ce, the regr military guards are the ones protecting the area. The Royal Zodiacs won''te here. But worry not. Perhaps they did not want their name to be sullied, the home army had been rather responsive to attacks and they woulde to warn us if there were any breach." Suddenly another loud wave of howling was heard consecutively and the elder paused what he had been saying. "I suggest you take refuge in your hotel room for now." The old man said as he could see a man in uniform running hectically towards the elder.

    "Chief! Chief! It''s best to vacate the town or at least hide in the ''Liu Ah Liu''." The young military soldier said as he was holding his rifle and Jin could see that it was fully loadedpared to the usual three bullets that were used for guard duties. In the meantime, the System reported to him that Liu Ah Liu was the only hotel in the area to serve people who needed an overnight stay before moving to other cities. Also, the coincidence to see that the rumoured Chief who had held multiple debts was right in front of him but that was not the main concern as Jin was mildly interested in themotion that happened.

 Chapter 1918 A Certain Help

    1918 A Certain Help

    "Sir, you should be going to Liu Ah Liu Hotel as soon as possible," The Elder cautioned him once more and began talking to the soldier but Jin was not leaving at all. Instead, he moved to the side as he eavesdropped the conversation between the soldier and the Liu Qian Town''s Chief.

    "How many men do you have to evacuate the elderly?" The Chief asked.

    "Chief Ding, I came here as soon as I could with just a jeep and a partner. The rest were still checking and securing the perimeters while a few more went to notify the remaining towns in the area." The soldier said, and Jin could peek from afar using his Inverse Eyes to see his surname Hong sewn on his chest. "But the casualties would be here first, wouldn''t it?" Chief Ding questioned and Hong nodded his head.

    "There is no guarantee that the town would be hit, it''s just a precaution," Hong advised the Chief not to panic.

    "Thest time you said that those Monster Howling Apes were right at our doorstep!" "But we did put it down, didn''t we? Only one of the houses had been damaged and the military hadpensated. Last I remembered, that family " Hong asked the Chief to have more faith in their team. "We still have the cover of the night to keep things down but we need you to at least evacuate them as orderly as possible."

    When Hong said thest sentence, he noticed that Jin was tantly hearing their conversation even though he was at least a few metres away from them. "Sir, please leave for Liu Ah Liu Hotel as soon as possible." He tried to be courteous but Jin walked forth. "I can be of a certain help," Jin said as he was relieved that he still had his Demon Exorcist badge in his storage watch. When he took it out to show it to them, their guard was slightly lower, and could understand why this particr person was here not just to eavesdrop but to offer help too.

    "I do not have money to offer you aspensation." Chief Ding replied and Jin shook his head.

    "That is fine. Let''s just say I am in the mood for phnthropy. Give me some description of what the monster looks like and I will do what I can." Jin said but Hong was suspicious of the person''s generosity and capability.

    "I am sorry but it''s not that I am not willing to trust you but are you even capable of handling it yourself when we needed a team to ward off the monstersing." Soldier Hong said as he wanted some proof that he could trust Jin to hold the fort when it came down to it.

    "I won''t me you for not trusting but I think this would be sufficient proof." Jin raised his hand out and Hong grabbed it. It was amon method to secretly show how 11:00

    strong one person was by exchanging chi with each other if one did not wish to portray their cultivation for people to see.

    The whole idea was to do a handshake and at that point of time, the two would contest to see how their chi could reach the other person''s arm in the shortest amount of time. A cultivator of a higher grade could easily overwhelm a lower grade with his chi based on the difference of their grade.At that time, the other person will also try to block and send his chi over to his ''opponent''.

    If they were evenly matched, it means that supposed cultivation should be the same but that was not the case when Hong shook Jin''s. He thought that the Demon Exorcist did not have much chi in him but the moment he was about to reach his ''goal'', Jin immediately sent his chi out, overwhelming his entire arm causing Hong to have a numbing sensation throughout his arms and shoulders momentarily.

    "Enough proof?" Jin asked as Hong let go of his hand and nodded. He did not expect the Demon Exorcist to be of such a high level. Judging from his chi level, this particr person might be a professional.

    "The sensation will go off soon enough," Jin said as he casually put his hands back into his pockets and scanned the area with his Inverse Eyes. "Ok, I will trust you...Mr..." Hong wanted to ask for the name but Jin merely smiled. "Details, please." Jin ignored Hong''s request for his name and the soldier reluctantly gave the information that there were at least three Howling Ape monsters that broke through the barrier. "There might be a few other variants of monsters out there, but we do not have any information of it as of now as the sensors picked up these few that leaked through the barrier."

    "How did the monsters go through the barrier in the first ce? Shouldn''t they be stopped in the first ce, and once they hit the barriers, the sensors will go off?" Jin asked and Hong did not seem particrly happy to chat about it at the moment so Jin decided to change his questions. "Never mind, when was thest attack?"

    "About 4 months ago. The monsters descended from Mongolia from what we know. This attack might be from the same ce as well. The weather and environment might have been the cause."

    "Alright, that''s all I need to know for now. Thanks." Jin said as he let the two finish their conversation. Hong was subsequently tasked by Chief Ding to aid the elders who were immobile first while the Chief himself would spread the news to the rest of the townfolks.

    "User, just to verify, are you using this opportunity to make yourself known to the Chief?" The System asked and Jin nodded his head

    "I thought it was obvious enough?" Jinmented. "But I am now more interested in the leakage. The barrier should be able to stop them long enough for the military to respond. But right now, it seemed like they were...hmmm." Jin walked further North as instructed by the Chief as to where the barrier was.

    "Does the User think that this is the same problem as what you had experienced previously?" The System queried.

    "That monster horde incident? Nah. I think this is genuinely a problem that the military needs to solve. At the very least, I had some exposure to the possibility that the barrier might be breached asionally." Jin replied as he climbed up a tree branch and surveyed the area with his Inverse Eyes. "Are you nning to solve this on your own? The Grey Bear Squad can be informed."

    "Nah, right now this is a deal between thatckey of a soldier and the Chief of this town. If we were to send reinforcements into the wild to search for the monsters, it might cause some confusion. Unlike the other Royal Zodiacs, I do not have a designated army under my name. Just apany."

    "The System can immediately register for a private militarypany under your name for you to mobilise them." The System said and Jinughed out.

    "There is no way we are able to do that at a moment''s notice." Jin chuckled at the absurdity of it

    "As long as the monster is not in sight, it is possible to do so." All the System needed was the go ahead to perform its set of tasks to implement the private militarypany.

    "Nah, it''s fine. Let the military settle them if they ever find them. So long they did not enter my territory, I would give any two hoots about it. Also, if I were to help at every instance the monsters appear, they might as well pay me rather than the military." Jin rolled his eyes. The mountains and forests were quiet without much activity but the town on the other hand was packed with people and neighbours shouting at each other even though they were organised in their evacuation. The two soldiers were seen doing their best to aid the most immobile elders out of their houses and everyone was moving to the Liu Ah Liu which was situated at the southern most side of the town.

    "Seems like a rather closemunity," Jin said to the System. "Looks like I have to do some proper research before discing them."

    "Or, you could just do what you need to do and build a better housing environment for them to be in." The System stated. "Just equal or less rent unless you hired them and consider that as free housing." "Lol, hire those elders, to do what? make them sit in Amber Arbour to drink free coffee andin about life all day long?" "Doing some charity would not hurt themunity. If you were to take care of the elderly in the area, maybe assisted from some donation or mandatory contribution from the current townfolks, it might be doable."

    "To do what? Open an old folks dimensional instance? I might as well let them stay in the VR and have fun in there." "That works too. Letting them feel alive again in thest few years of their lives does not sound like a bad idea." The System stated and Jin wondered why the System was talking like this. Is it aiming for some geriatric business that Jin does not know about? Or was he aiming to go for such a business model?

    Still, it was a food for thought.

 Chapter 1919 Red Cross Ape -Part 1

    1919 Red Cross Ape -Part 1

    The evacuations were going apace and there was another small team of soldiers that had been dispatched to Qian Liu Town to reinforce the area since they thought that Hong and his partner were not sufficient to deal with the situation at hand.

    "Any new details?" Jin initiated a long range telepathy that made Hong surprised for a moment but the answer was not exactly encouraging. The monsters were not in sight in the other towns as well and despite going on full alert sweeping the area as per protocol, the soldiers were not able to find anything that indicated their presence. "There were no tracks after they broke through which caused us to deduce that they had decided to move through via the trees instead. The iing team did not have much information as well." Hong replied and Jin thanked him.

    "It would be a faster and more efficient use of time if User sent out scouts to find the monsters and be done with it." The System stated but Jin reiterated that this was something he still had to do. "Besides, this gives me some time to skive a little. I had been working too hard, no?" Jin teased the System. "And I also looked kind of cool, sitting up on a branch waiting for the enemy toe down? That''s like a cross off the bucket list of mine when I''m younger." "Who do you want to look cool at?" The System Channel lit up as a brand new voice came up yapping between the System''s conversation with Jin.

    "Oh, Qiu Yue. Have you heard the news? I did not get the basement." Jin found this as a good opportunity to waste time while waiting for the monsters to appear (if they ever do.) "Yeah. I did. Guess my prayers worked after burning a lot of paper money right in front of the Panda God statue in the middle of the tree mall." "Did you really do that? You do not strike me as a religious person. Also, why did you burn paper money, it''s not even like god needs money. Don''t you need to offer incense instead?" "I was joking. How the hell did you even take it so seriously? Are you really that bored to elicit a response from me?" Qiu Yue asked and Jin smiled.

    "Sadly, yes. I had forgotten how boring it was to just wait and do nothing. My mind tends to wander when I am waiting."

    "Well, at least you have the System to apany you while you are at it. Anyways, yes. I did receive the news. I am d, to be honest as I really think that basement deal was extremely bad. But in retrospect, seeing how it all went too smoothly and even such an early date for auction did mean there were hands at the back of the scenes trying to move the pieces fast. It''s just that I did not expect the Royal Horses to have their hands dipped in so deep in this." "They earnt a shit load of money though. I do not understand why IFC Holdings wanted that basement so hard." "It will affect their image since IFC Holdings practically has a foothold there. Imagine having and underneath them being owned by someone else, even if a person who did not study or believe in Feng Shui could see it looks bad for them." (For those who do not know, Feng Shui is the Chinese art or practice of creating harmonious surroundings that enhance the bnce of yin and yang)

    "In that case, they do not have a foothold, they were standing on someone else instead, and their ''foundation'' had been stolen by someone else," Jin remarked and Qiu Yue nodded her head.

    "But I heard from Kraft you bid high. That was such a risky move." "Nah, the moment I proposed 88 million Yuan to take the basement, I figured that they would have prepared a simr figure or higher. It would be stupid to go in a fight unprepared." Jin replied. "Regardless, the basement is their problem now and I also received word that they had made an offer to us through our official email." "To rent their basement or the store beside Huawee?" "Both. They asked us to consider it. I think they want to gloat at us for not being able to get thend auction." Qiu Yue deduced.

    "Nah, now that we have twonds at our disposal, we should focus on growing those two ces first."

    "Is that why you are there right now to act as the hero?"

    "That is assuming the monsters woulde out for me to act as a Hero. Otherwise, I am just a phnthropic guard on duty." Jinughed as he looked at the surroundings once more until he witnessed a glimmer of activity at the far edge of the forest with his Inverse Eyes.

    "System. Can I have a magic eye in that area?" Jin asked and apologised to Qiu Yue that he might have found something.

    "Sure, sure. Still, this call is to congratte you for getting thatnd. As part of the operations team, I approved of that move even though things might have gotten awry. Thank you for not spending the money we earned unwisely."

    "Heh. Thank you for being my second inmand. It is good to have a rational person with me at the helm of this business." "User, it has been confirmed, it''s the monsters as described by Soldier Hong." The System replied as it gave a positive imagery of the monster group to Jin. It was at that point, Jin whistled loudly, attracting the attention of the soldiers who were still evacuating the remaining poption of Qian Liu Town. The rest who did not know of his presence started to stare where the soldiers were looking.

    At the same time, Jin was using hand signals which he had learnt from his grandpa to indicate that the enemy wasing from the Northeastern direction. "Alright people, hurry your pace a little more! The monsters might being in this direction and even though the Demon Exorcist would take care of it, it''s better to be safe than sorry!" Hong shouted and the soldiers picked up their pace, using their chi to power themselves up so that they could move faster to aid the older poption.

    At the same time, one of the soldiers made a phone call to their superiors telling them of the newly updated situation but they already saw Jin jumping from one house roof to another, moving towards the direction of where the monster group wasing. "Please remind me to control my strength. I need evidence that they are dead." Jin asked the System.

    "If you really want evidence, you should allow them toe closer and do some damage to the town. Besides, you are going to renovate the town and those houses need to be demolished as well." "Wow, you start to think like Kraftбн but nah. These are still homes of families who suffered to get to this part of their livesбн Unless you have some knowledge that they had been insured?" "The System does not have such advanced detection and search features." "Lies, it''s more like you do not want to do any of those." "Touche. But it is not worth the system''s resources. On the other hand, the System could direct you to a clearing that the User can use and disy your strength while still within the partial view of the evacuees at Liu Ah Liu Hotel."

    "Sounds good. Where is it?" Jin asked and the System immediately gave the coordinates. "Alright. Time to attract their attention then." The Panda Cultivator took out their Bam and Boo but instead of dual swords, it changed shape into a drum and gong. He started to bang the gong as he moved towards the clearing and the townsfolks knew that he was doing this to get the attention of the monster group. It did not take long for the monsters to take notice and the group did follow the sound of the gong to the clearing. And only at the clearing, Jin could finally see who the opponents were. Varying grades of Monster Apes and a few huge mutant dogs were following them. But what he did not expect was a high grade Monster Ape. Possibly a Grade 12 Monster Ape judging from its appearance and chi. Hong who went ahead to check on the situation could confirm that as well and he quickly phoned his superior. "Sir! It''s a Grade 12 Monster Ape as part of their group. The Red Cross Ape that the Mongolians had talked about."

    "Are you able to confirm that?" The superior could not believe his ears as the current military guard did not have the appropriate grades to fight against a Grade 12 Red Cross Ape. He could activate the Elite Guards or even a Royal Zodiac n Elite Cultivator but that would take time.

    "Yes. Sir. There is no doubt about it, the Cross at its back is extremely evident. The were other ape monsters and mutant dogs with it too." "бн" The supervisor knew that if he were to ask the soldiers to intercept them, it would be a suicide mission. "I would not me you if you ran but there would be consequences for you if you manage to survive. Yet, there would be better than death." "Sirбн I do not think that might be needed." Hong reported back.

    "Why?" "The Demon Exorcist that I made report earlier had enclosed himself with an unescapable barrier. A do or die barrier." Hong reported and the supervisor was astonished by it.

 Chapter 1920 Red Cross Ape -Part 2

    1920 Red Cross Ape -Part 2

    A do or die barrier was the colloquial name for it when Hong reported to his supervisor. The actual name for it was the Binding Matrix Entrapment Formation and Jin was using the upgraded version of it since he was capable of producing it in an instant due to his current cultivation ''grade''.

    Hong and the other soldiers thought that it would take some time for the formation to work but when it instantly popped up, it might only mean two things. He did some preparation beforehand or the Demon Exorcist was strong enough to create the formation instantly. Considering that they saw him hanging around a tree branch for the entire evacuation process, there was no way he did thetter. Thus, the only exnation was that he was that powerful to create the Binding Matrix Entrapment Formation with just his chi, which reinforced to Hong that the Demon Exorcist that so happened toe in time was more than just a mere coincidence. It was a blessing in disguise.

    This gave Hong the confidence that the monsters would still be trapped in the Binding Matrix Entrapment Formation even if the Demon Exorcist was killed by the monsters. In theory, such a formation should be able tost for a week even if the Demon Exorcist who conjured it was dead. It was used against ''dangerous'' monsters such as this scenario to ensure that they could not escape and allow reinforcements toe in time.

    However, Jin created this not because the monsters were dangerous but instead, it was used to give the impression and trust that the monsters were unable to escape should he have killed one of them instantly. Why bother chasing them when he could just settle for killing them within the barrier? "Well, I could kill all of them in one shot, but that would just bring up too much suspicion, wouldn''t it?" Jin said as he was in a staringpetition with the Red Cross Ape.

    "The System does rmend that you attract attention by seeing what they were capable of." "So, like some exercise dodging around?" "Yes, and let them be tired and kill them without too much chi release. It should provide sufficient entertainment for the evacuees and the soldiers who are looking at you." "What you mean is to y with my prey until there are enough eyes staring at me and then I ughter them?"

    "That is exactly what the System had said, why did the User paraphrase it?" The System asked as Jin was already following itsmand and started to evade them. With his Inverse Eyes and enhanced chi sense, he was able to have some sort of foresight and dodge the attacks that wereing for it. However, the more he dodged their moves, the more the Red Cross Ape got frustrated. It was the first time it felt that it was not able to grab a human with its bare arms. Even as he tried to increase his speed and resorted to pounding, he was still not able to get a hold of the Demon Exorcist in front of him. And to make things worse, Jin was ying the gong casually whenever the Red Cross Ape missed him as if to spite him. It was extremely irritating for the Red Cross Ape that it even took one of the mutant dogs and swung it around like a weapon, thinking that it might be due to its reach that he was not able to hit Jin. But even with the mutant dog as a weapon, he missed even more and despite the death of the mutant dog from all the smashing and pounding, there was still not a scratch on Jin.

    Eventually, he shouted for the other Red Apes to join in and even within the confined space, Jin was exacerbating their emotions for every single miss they made with the gong he was holding. Subsequently, it did not take long for the mutant Dogs to join in as well despite having the fear that they might be smashed by the Red Apes and their big boss. Yet to the Red Apes, they had no care or love for the mutant dogs despite the fact that they were following them as part of their group for a considerable amount of time. They did not feel any pity for the mutant dogs as they identally smashed them. In fact, such an action rendered made them feel relieved. This was because they had been hitting nothing but the ground or the air with the way Jin had been moving. Even if it was a mistake, it did provide relief that their punches do work, just not against Jin. When the soldiers and the people in Liu Ah Liu Hotel saw themotion, they were all amazed by the footwork that Jin was showing.

    In their minds, they might have thought that the rumoured Demon Exorcist might have thought it was impossible to win against these apes alone and thus decided to spend as much time as energy possible to survive. Only when the reinforcementes in, the Demon Exorcist might be able to break the formation and work together to win against these monsters. Meanwhile, he was doing whatever he could to tire them out so that they would have lesser stamina against the military.

    But Jin was not thinking like this. At first, he was merely following themands of the System, knowing that showing his capability was part of the steps to show that he was apetent person when he arrived at their doorstep to makemands and change their lives by turning them upside down for the new Dungeon Supplier Store and the Manufacturing Hub Dimensional Instance. Yet the more he dodged the Red Cross Ape, the more he thought of how the barrier could be disrupted by a mere Grade 12 monster. Surely, the barrier should be able to hold more than that after the horde incident that killed many. The government had promised an immediate review of the borders and passed an emergency budget bill to strengthen the barriers as soon as possible. Thus, there was no way that a Grade 12 monster could pierce through the barriers. Hence, Jin believed that it might be due to a possible innate talent that the Red Cross Ape had possessed. That was when he thought that having the barrier up was actually the right move. If he could break the barrier that was surrounding and protecting the cities and districts, then this trap formation was also a test to see if he could break out of it. If there was some innate talent that could allow him to prate through such barriers made by Jin especially since it was several grades tougher than the monster''s current cultivation, it might actually be a worthy monster to keep for himself. The rest of them could be released by the System as he had sufficient minion monsters under him already, not to mention he could create quite a few at will so long he paid the required resources through the System.

    But the more the Red Cross Ape got angry, all Jin saw was just an increase in attack power. While it was nothing to scoff at, it was still a considerable amount given that the clearing it was trapped in was severely battered. Dust and residue rocks flew due to the impact of its hit but it was not strong enough to break through the barrier. "An inside job then?" Jin thought about it and the System concurred since it could not find anything unique about the monster too despite repeated analysis of it. "That''s the only viable conclusion. Otherwise, it''s the implementation of the barrier that might have been iplete."

    "Imagine the horror of the Royal Zodiacs when they found out that their barriers were not strengthened and their money had been siphoned away." Jin barely evaded thest attack as their punches coincidentally became a consecutive attack.It was then Jin found that it almost experienced it again and this time, he believed the Monster Apes were smart enough to adapt and change their tactics ordingly.

    At that time, the reinforced soldiers finally came by the truckloads and all of them took positions to make sure that should the barrier had failed, they would be able to continue the fight by covering all their grounds. "Sir Demon Exorcist! We are ready, you can break the Binding Matrix Entrapping Formation right now!" Hong shouted and followed by the official request from his superior.

    "That was where Jin decided that it was enough ying and seeing that the stamina of those Monster Apes does not seem to end, the Astral Panda Cultivator might as well subdue them at that very moment.

    The two apanying monster apes were the first to go as Jin used the stick to smack the ape''s head and it felt unconscious just from the attack while the gong turned into a sword, splitting the body and its head away from each other. The Red Cross Ape saw the sudden change of tactics from the Demon Exorcist and suddenly felt fear running through its veins. Itspanions who were able to crush humans easily had fallen so easily by this human after they went full rampage. That was where the Red Cross Ape had enough underestimating the Demon Exorcists and jumped back, causing it to hit the formation. At that point, he changed his fists position as if he was taking a stance despite being a monster.

    "WaitбнIsn''t that Bu Dong''s cultivation? The Angry Ape Style? Jin recognised it enough especially when Bu Dong had been using it so frequently that he could not mistake it. "Is that how it managed to break through the barrier?"

 Chapter 1921 Red Cross Ape-Final

    <h4>Chapter 1921 Red Cross Ape-Final</h4>

    "System, if this Grade 12 Red Cross Ape unwittingly used a Grade 12 technique against the border''s barrier, do you think it will break down?"

    "The System does not have ess to thetest border''s improvement but if it was based on projection and estimation using the past data of the border''s barrier, the Red Cross Ape does have a chance to destroy said the barrier temporarily allowing such a small group to pass through without much of a problem.

    "Oh. So, this is a rather smart ape then?" Jin said as he now turned his Bam and Boo back into twin swords. But instead of killing it instantly, Boo had been transformed into a giant sword and Jin threw it on the floor, right underneath the Red Cross Ape.

    The spectators who were watching this were going insane. Who in the right mind would give the monster a weapon? One of them wanted to shout at Jin but there was no way he could hear them from such a distance. Hong and the other soldiers shuddered at the thought when they realised what Jin had done and the possibility of him losing.

    "What was he thinking?" was floating simultaneously in their minds as the Red Cross Ape obviously epted the invitation and picked the sword up. Upon doing so, the monster''s chi eluded furiously through its body and into the sword, causing it to burn bright with such vibrant energy.

    Yet, Jin was standing with his own sword ced right behind his back in an upright decision. The Red Cross Ape now used its known techniques as well as the sword graciously bestowed by Jin but no matter how he did it, the barrier could not be cracked, his sword moves no matter how strong the shes were, could not touch Jin.

    It was as if the Demon Exorcist wanted to show the Red Cross Ape the difference between man and monster. How it could be inferior against the opponent that he was duelling against? It did not take long for the Red Cross Ape to understand that. With such a high cultivation grade, Jin had no doubt that the Ape had some intelligence of its own. There was no way it could have survived until now without wit and to be able to lead a small group of its own was a testament that he was knowledgeable in certain areas despite it stillckingpared to humans.

    But as much as the Red Cross Ape did not wish to show defeat, Jin too had decided to entertain it oncest time. It was apparent to Jin that the Ape was gathering as much chi as possible to do one big attack and Jin pulled his sword from his back and to the front.

    There was no need for any more wasted time as this onest attack was all that was needed to show that Jin was not only proficient in dodging but to dominate the Red Cross Ape that even in the department of strength and raw power, he was no match for Jin too.

    Even as the Red Cross Ape made his move the moment, he felt he had reached his peak, Jin did not move until thest very microsecond parrying it without moving his stance at all. Even as the chi exploded all around the barrier, burning and evaporating every single entity aside from the two of them, Jin was standing there without any scalding nor moving away from the heat.

    To Hong and the others, they could see that he had manipted his surroundings to the point where he was able to avoid all the chi heat transfer around him and made him look as if he was invincible. It gave the image that this particr Demon Exorcist was as nameless as he was, the mysterious vibe that he was not just some elite but an Elite of the Elite. The very top 1% that had graced theirnds and saved them from this menace.

    Now in retrospect, Hong could vaguely understand why this mysterious nameless Demon Exorcist had ced the trap formation in ce. It was not because he was not able to control the monsters and wanted to wait for reinforcement, it was not because he wanted to keep all the monsters in the barrier so they would not be able to run away.

    It was because he did not want the monsters to escape from him. Being trapped in this barrier was akin to being trapped in a corner. And even if this animal could bear its fangs, the hunter entrapping this monster was no pushover. In fact, he wanted the monster to show its true potential as if it were a test to see if it was worthy of survival.

    And as unexinable as the scene was to see Jin unharmed by the chi mes created by the Red Cross Ape, the scene was over as the monster as proud as it should have been for surviving this long, growing to such a high grade and possibly plundering and killing humans, it finally had reached the point where he had to serve his supposed punishment.

    Right there and then, the Red Cross Ape dropped the weapon he ''borrowed'' from Jin and could finally see the futility of the situation. With his limited intelligence, he kneels and bowed in servitude just as his ex group members had done the same when they asked to join his group. To many, it was a sign that he had offered his head to the Demon Exorcist, looking for a quick death from such an expert.

    But Jin was not granting him that luxury.

    Instead, he was going to make him live and suffer this humiliation throughout his life. Waving in the air a little, letters made out of chi emerged from his fingers and they danced slowly to the ape''s neck. It did not take long for the spectators to realise that Jin was making the Red Cross Ape as his pet, his ve, and his servant. Whatever they view it as, the Red Cross Ape now obeys this particr extremely skilled Demon Exorcist and everyone ps their hands as the trap formation dissipates and the monster walks obediently behind Jin.

    Hong could not believe it as he and the other soldiers including his superior came out from their supposed battle positions and walked towards Jin. The Red Cross Ape looked defensive when they approached him but his appearance was lightened up the second Jin cleared his throat. There was no need for words and the soldiers were in shock.

    "To be honest, I never thought to see a day where I see apetent Demon Exorcist. And to be able to witness someone as strong as you, it seems like the JODE society is not an entire sham at all." Chief Ding came out to thank Jin even though he did not know his name.

    "Apparently, he likes alcohol and oranges and grapes. Could you take care of him until I get back?" Jin asked as he took out a wad of cash even though he knew that payment these days was digital.

    "There is no way this amount would be sufficientбн" Chief Ding would not know how to feed a Grade 12 Red Cross Ape much less to keep one on a leash.

    "Oh, that''s right. You do not know what kind of alcohol it likes. It might be pickyбн" From his storage watch, he took another few wads of cash and passed it to Chief Ding and the rest were also equally in shock. This Demon Exorcist was not onlypetent martially but financially as well?! What has the world be? Surely, Hong would understand what a martiallypetent cultivator would be worth but this kind of money is not something that people could just throw it out randomly to strangers and ask them to keep the Red Cross Ape fed.

    "In return, this guy will take care of your defences for now. After all, the military has trouble keeping guard against random attacks, right?" Jin said and Hong as well as the other soldiers were a little speechless. Of course, if they have a freaking Grade 12 monster as a pet to help guard the borders, surely it would be a ride in the park.

    Chief Ding also could not refuse after being offered this much cash as maintenance.

    "Oh, and Chief Ding. Don''t you dare the money spend on other things like your debts," Jin said and Chief Ding froze up instantly. He had no idea how he knew about his predicament but this put him in an even precarious situation.

    Was this really just keeping the Red Cross Ape as a pet to guard the borders as previously intended or was it a threat against Chief Ding and his townsfolks that if he and the rest were to do something stupid, this particr monster could wipe them off the surface of this Earth and into the afterlife.

    "бнYes. Understood. Benefactor." Since he was not able to get his name, Chief Ding responded as respectfully as possible.

    "Huh, Benefactor. That sounds rather nice." Jin smirked and waved at him as well as the rest of the onlookers at Liu Ah Liu Hotel. "But even though I said that not to spend on other things, use that money wisely to keep your people fed too. That is the least amount of responsibility for a Vige Chief needs to do, right?"

    "Yes. Benefactor. I thanked the town on your behalf and will proceed to feed your Red Cross Ape and the townsfolk too." Chief Ding bowed to thank Jin but when he looked up, the Demon Exorcist had disappeared. Even Hong and the rest who were around him did not notice how he had vanished.

    "Truly an elite that should not be trifled with."

 Chapter 1922 High Elves Attack -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1922 High Elves Attack -Part 1</h4>

    When Jin returned to the Dungeon Maker, Kraft was smiling at him as if he had done more than what the others would have done. "To think that you subdued the Red Cross Ape, making it your servant rather than using the System to do that. All for the impression to show that you are an expert."

    "If the Red Cross Ape dies in one hit, the onlookers would not know how strong the ape is. They might have thought that the military was just ipetent in killing it. By allowing it to show its powers to a certain extent, the onlookers even those who were not of a high grade could see that this Red Cross Ape was a danger to them if not taken care of. The evacuation that the military had done was justified."

    "Ah, and you allow the military to save face and in the mean time bring up the reputation of the Demon Exorcists as well."

    "Well, Ma Ge did give us something good deal on thend even though he drove a hard bargain."

    "It''s more like the User drove a hard bargain to him." The System begged to differ.

    "In any case, by doing this act of бн''non violence'', the Demon Exorcist organisation would sure to have some ermбн extra points to their name. I am sure Ma Ge would appreciate it a fair bit." Jin replied.

    "Anyways, thend would not be yours until a weekter ording to the paperwork. Xiong Da still needs to verify a few more documents with the Ministry of Land and you are good to go. That''s Tinda''s words and I decided to be the messenger for this."

    "I have an aching feeling why you wanted to tell me directly about this issue," Jin said as he folded his arms.

    "What? I''m a bearer of good news. What is so bad about that?"

    "No, you want to see where that Red Cross Apees from, don''t you?" Jin questioned and Kraft shrugged his shoulders.

    "Why would I want to know where that Red Cross Ape originated? So what if it came outside of the borders and probably from Mongolia? They are no match to me and I do not see any benefits in looking out for their breeding ground." Kraft reasoned.

    "Then why do you want to meet me? Is it because of the High Elves then?"

    "Heh, you are not that dumb after all. Looks like you caught on fast."

    "Lol, otherwise, you would have thrown me into some dark dimension and demanded me to reflect on my actions. Don''t you think I know the drill by now?"

    "I was merely testing my luck if I can do that." Kraft smiled as he moved away from the chair that belonged to Jin and even dusted the chair a little while graciously bowing a little to offer the chair back to him.

    The moment Jin sat down, holograms and pictures of the High Elves were being taken in high resolution for some reason. There was even one that had a picture of the High Elves'' nostrils while the soldier was sleeping and Jin suspected that the Night Foxes were the ones who did that to show that the High Elves had their guard lowered so much that they could not even notice their presence.

    It also showed the will and determination of the Night Foxes to resist the urge to kill those High Elves even though they could do that right there and then. But at the same time, Jin was curious.

    "If the Night Foxes could infiltrate them, why did you not send an all out assault against them? I still do not understand why you want them to destroy the New Adventurer''s Town although I am all for it too."

    "I did say that by allowing the New Adventurer''s Town, it will renew the anger among the Goblins, Orcs, and humans, did I not?" Kraft reiterated and was a little annoyed that Jin could not follow his reasons.

    "Yes, you did but those three races already had animosity against the High Elves, do they not? If you ask them to fight against the High Elves, they would do so willingly alongside the Night Foxes. They knew that they now might have a chance to win against them, especially with the Night Foxes by their side."

    "But I want to know where they are staying. That''s the mystery that the other races could not find out. If we attack this expedition, it will end there and then. Sure, the sighting of other High Elves might arise but they would be so geared for war, it would not be fun at all. I rather ambush them and see them cry. For this, even the Night Foxes can agree with me on that."

    "So, you really want to sacrifice an entire town so that you can ambush them?"

    "Yes. I am not giving way on that at all. I owe the Night Foxes this for all the shiftwork they had done for me." Kraft replied.

    "Wow, this is the first time I hear you say something so responsible." Jin was amazed, surprised, and maybe even in awe that Kraft said such honourable things.

    "I might force my workers to work overtime and at times to the bone, but I will always grant their wish. They had been waiting for this a very long time and I would not give any quarters to anything or anyone. Even if it means to burn down the entire town and lose some people in the process, I will do that for my Night Foxes." Kraft said with a resolute tone.

    "Fine. I will allow that. System, how much loss are we expecting from the destruction of the New Adventurer''s Town?"

    "Enough to pay for yournd in terms of Dungeon Dors. That''s its current valuation that the System had determined. It might not be indicative of the value that it had racked up throughout the months. The growth had been exponential and to burn it down the ground means the System and User have to spend resources to rebuild it."

    "Can we liquidate certain items or at least move out a few things before the High Elves'' arrival? Even if we cannot save people, saving the goods should allow some mary relief." Jin asked and the System had stated that it would mobilise the goblins and Orcs to do a sweep a day prior.

    "Be quick about it, from the map, it looked like they might being in about a few days'' time."

    "Hmmбн actually on second thought, don''t remove everything." Kraft suddenly cracked a smile. "They had been going through quite a few detours and while they had been rather obedient to their superiors, it was pretty obvious that they were at the breaking point due to resources."

    "What do you mean?"

    "There might be a chance that they might want to raid the New Adventurer''s Town a little to get the resources, take a few hostages to show that they were serious. And once they have their fill of raiding then they will start destroying the ce.

    "Eh? So we have to put up an act with them? I am not sure if our own Goblins and Orcs are up for it."

    "Come on, they should be able to. The monsters had been in dungeon instances for so long that they needed to limit their strength to fight against newbie cultivators. This is practically the same thing. Just put up a neat little show along so that they would get killed by the High Elves. In return, I promise they can be part of the ambush against the High Elves'' kingdom. Though, it''s a slight pity that you do not allow usual ''piging'' protocols." Kraft mumbled hisst line and Jin heard it loud and clear since he did not have the intention to hide hisments, just being more conscious since his ''master'' was around.

    "Alright, if that''s the case then you are paying those monsters the System points needed for those who were killed in that act of yours." Jin finally agreed to it even though Kraft did mention this to him before about this n.

    "To make it more sweeter, let''s put some mildxatives to the food as well. And also make some of the coins wither into ash when they touch it. Oh, the faces on them would be such a delight to the Night Foxes." Kraft grinned when Jin knew that all of these mischiefs were also for him to partake on.

    Thus, the operation to trick the High Elves had already started with the outeryer of the New Adventurer''s Town to be evacuated and ced in Jin''s temporary dimensional instances until the raid was over. Jin''s Orcs and Goblins who heard of the n started to popte those areas and prepare to act as meek as they could even though Jin did say some retaliation was allowed. As for the townfolks who were not under Jin''s control or contract were instantly forced into the temporary dimensional instance with the intention to wipe their memories away once it had been done.

    But for now, Jin had decided to keep that method as a secondary method since Kraft said that he might be able to mass hypnotise the entire town once they are in the temporary dimensional instance to think that the new town they build after the High Elves'' attack would be the thing they would waiting for anxiously to happen.

    It was only at that moment, that Jin wondered why Kraft could not just mind manipte the High Elves to tell him the location.

 Chapter 1923 High ElvesтАЩ Attack -Final

    <h4>Chapter 1923 High Elves'' Attack -Final</h4>

    Jin saw the whole thing in motion when he was informed a few ''Earth'' dayster that the High Elves had reached the outskirts of the New Adventurer Town. Like what Kraft had described, the High Elves despite their hunger, theck of armour, and weapon maintenance (Some were likely sabotaged by the Night Foxes when they were not looking) had continued their fa?ade.

    Standing all high and mighty on their horsebacks, the High Elves began shouting their decree that the citizens of New Adventurer''s Town had to pay their tribute in terms of coin and resources to the High Elves.

    Obviously, the Orcs and Goblins who had been ''hired'' by Jin and Kraft continued to man their own business, not responding to the crazy group of High Elves who were on their horsebacks shouting their lungs out to be heard.

    Eventually, the High Elves had deemed that those lowlifes were not worthy to be educated and brute force was the only answer they understood. Hence, with whatever spent forces they had left, the High Elves charged in to kill the townsfolk who were minding their own stuff.

    Certainly, chaos had to break out as the actors started screaming and shouting for help. A few Orcs came out from their houses armed with their axes to bring down the High Elves and something akin to a calcted culling, a small number of High Elves had been killed, which gave the rest of the High Elf expeditionary force to throw the entire group into the town.

    However, to their surprise, they were not carrying any gold with them and instead palm sized stones with inscriptions on them. Some of the actors were interrogated on the spot for gold but the Orcs and Goblins had stated that this town used these palm sized stones to pay for groceries, sries, and anything that deals with money.

    In short, there was no actual gold they were carrying and the only few that the High Elves had found were all the fake gold that Kraft had nted. The food that the Orc and Goblins had was also manipted by Kraft and the Night Foxes beforehand. They had beenced with varying degrees ofxatives, viruses, and some other unknown substances mixed in it. The actors clearly pretended to put them on their tables and the High Elves in their constant state of hunger grabbed a few quickly to eat.

    Once the piging was done, their High Elf High Commander (That''s quite a fair bit of Highs in that.)?demanded all to burn the entire Adventurer Town down for not providing the requested tribute, and the rest who survived were crying and running away from the town. A few of the High Elves had decided to chase after them, as a sort of sport to kill those who were escaping.

    But what those High Elves did not know was that when they were out of a certain range from the town and the main expeditionary force, the Orcs and Goblins stopped acting. With the knowledge and information rendered by the System, those actors were in the known that these High Elves had moved too far from theirrades. Thus, armed with superior physical and magical strength, the Orcs and Goblins overturned the situation in the blink of an eye and literally turned them into dummy practice.

    Their magnificent horses were bound by the Goblins'' magic, causing the High Elves to fall from their ''high'' position while the Orcs ripped the armour apart and sent their fists into their ribcages. Even without any weapons, Jin''s Orcs were able to crash the High Elves'' mediastinum with ease and turned them into numerous fragments. And those who had sticks or even basic farming tools were able to cause significant piercing or blunt damage to the High Elves, breaking their legs and even disfiguring their faces to no end.

    Those who were killed were naturally being inducted into the System and their souls do not return to the world they were born in. And unlike most who had resurrected and were given a warm reception and even an exnation of why they were alive again, these High Elves were not given the same treatment. In the past few days, Jin had sought testimonies from the various races in the Goblin World, particrly the Orcs, Goblins, and a few human adventurers'', their tales, fables, and some even first-hand encounters told stories of how the High Elves were such shitty people with such a crappy personality.

    And thus, everyone was agreeable that those High Elves should be put into Kraft''s and the Night Foxes'' jurisdiction. And these came from the people who were willing to take in the Demon Rats who they had been fighting fiercely against as enemies for a long time. They had seen how the Demon Rats were able to cohabit with them but no chance was given to the High Elves at all.

    Therefore, when the High Elves resurrected, they were literally off their proverbial high horses and into the abyssal darkness where they were treated with tortures that robbed them of their senses. For example, removing the sight and allowing them to feel despair through their sense of touch, hearing, and even smell.

    Pungent smells that induce more than vomit, tentacles that each touch felt like a sharp razor edge running along your skin, and the mixture of horror sounds that create an earworm effect that would never leave their brain.

    Kraft even said that this was merely the beginning and that the Night Foxes had been trained worse than this. However, the Devil Fox had assured Jin that they would be aspetent as the Night Foxes once he had fun бнamusing them.

    In the meantime, those horses that the Orcs and Goblins had taken had been repossessed by the System and the pieces of armour that the Orcs ripped were also taken in to analyse their smithing prowess. It also gave the Research Department some chance to see if there was any dwarven engineering being done on these armours.

    If proven to be true, there might be a chance that the rumour that the dwarves were still alive in the High Elves Kingdom might be real and a rescue can be initiated to take them away. When Jin brought up the issue of the dwarves really living in peace, the Head of his Research Department scoffed at him.

    "Those Dwarves are one of the proudest races I have ever known. They would rather starve and work long hours to survive than to lick the boots of these High Elves." Aysemented and even Frost Echo nodded his head, stating that numerous damaged records had shown that the dwarves did not surrender to the High Elves.

    "If they had the numerical superiority,?they might have been the ones to suppress the High Elves. It was a pity that their numbers were limited and were the few reasons why they were so technologically advanced. Tobat their low and aging poption." Ayse added as she said she needed a few days to check theposition of the armour that the Orcs had collected.

    So while some of the High Elves never return from their greedy hunt against the running townsfolk, the High Commander had already progressed at such a stage that the New Adventurer''s Town was reduced to rubble.

    What they did not expect was that despite their more modern designs, they burned a little too easily with the destructive magic they used. But instead of investigating this probable mystery, the High Elves rejoiced that they had finallypleted their mission. For the Orcs, Goblins, and even humans toe together? It was definitely not permissible by the High Elves.

    To them, it was a possible threat that may haunt the High Elves in the future but they could never have thought that such a future was already waiting for them. In fact, it had already been nned for them in such a way that they would never recover their kingdom ever again. But that was a story for another day as Kraft was already delighted to have new specimens to y with before they were inducted into the brand new Sun Foxes.

    For now, the Night Foxes continued to watch afar as they relished at the fact that those High Elves were going to enjoy a journey of misery back to their Kingdom. But to their surprise, the poisoned food the High Elves had piged was already in effect. It was contrary to the Night Foxes'' spections that the High Elves were a sturdy race that was resistant to a number of things.

    It wasn''t until something clicked that they realised that thexatives and virus they had brought were from Jin''s world and not something that originated from the Goblin World at all. This meant that their bodies did not even have the antibodies to fight themon viruses, let alone the mutated versions that was a major epidemic in Jin''s world.

    Slow? Sure, but Kraft and the Night Foxes were already relishing this moment to see the High Elves getting what they deserved.

 Chapter 1924 Demise of the High Elves Expeditionary Force

    <h4>Chapter 1924 Demise of the High Elves Expeditionary Force</h4>

    "You said that you wanted them to be alive so the Night Foxes could follow them back to their kingdom. What happened to that n?" Jin asked as he sat at his Dungeon Maker instance questioning Kraft. It was pretty obvious that the n to follow the High Elves back to their kingdom would never happen due to the fact that the Night Foxes had tried out too many variations of poisons into the food.

    Some of the High Elves had so much diarrhoea that they lost a lot of water content and had difficulty eating. In fact, eating the rations made them even worse off and they got sicker. And to add on with the fact that those foods had diseases from Jin''s world. The flu virus got into their immune system quickly, especially with theck of бнproper food and nutrition in them.

    With so many sick, the High Commander had to make an abrupt change to the expeditionary force''s return trip and head to the nearest town. However, in order to not let the Goblin World to experience a possible epidemic due to the Night Foxes'' and Kraft''s mischief, Jin had already gone ahead to get the fellow Orcs and Goblins to create a ''natural'' roadblock to stop them from moving forward.

    He knew that if they were so beaten up by the number of sick people, there was no way they were going to get their soldiers to remove the heaps of broken trees and rocks from a ndslide''. Of course, Jin did not discount the fact that there was a possibility the High Commander and some other magic users would merely use their magic to remove the obstacles.

    But given how massive thendslide was, it would still take a considerable amount of effort to do that which the System had deduced that the possibility for them to take the ''brute force'' method to clear thendslide would be close to a mere 4% chance.

    And their gamble paid off as the High Commander had decided to go for a detour instead. Despite some having said that the detour would cause more casualties, many who were not familiar with managing environmental disasters would rather be on the side of caution and not to err when ites to the responsibility that lies on their shoulders. However, that detour eventually became the end of the expeditionary force.

    More of them had gotten sick as they had no idea how to stop the flu from spreading. There were no hygiene practices as that was unheard of in their era. They assumed that if it was a cough, most of them would just tough it out and seek the medics for some soothing herbal drink to get along for the day. Never did they expect that one by one, the soldiers were down with fever, muscle cramps, and extreme fatigue.

    It was to the point the healers were fighting a type of battlefield that they had never encountered in their lives before. By the fourth to fifth day, even the healers were infected despite adhering to their medical practices. But even as the System had described to Jin who was not a medical professional, they were clearly not doing enough to prevent the spread of the disease. It was to the point where Jin requested his minions to slowly put up more of those ''natural'' obstacles to prevent the expeditionary force from walking away.

    As some tried to escape or tried to seek help by running out of the camp, they were eventually met with the Orcs and Goblins who were quietly guarding the ce. Most were killed instantly, giving them that temporary sweet relief they were looking for.

    However, death was merely a transition phase as those High Elves did not wake up with peace and tranquillity which had always been preached by their fellow High Elvan tradition. Instead, they found themselves in the hands of a Devil and its aplices which they could clearly recognise it was their Arch enemies. Still, there was nothing that could be done despite receiving a healthy body. Their mouth was sealed and they were unable to chant out the magic to fight against their captors. Even those who were skilled in chantless magic found their ess to the universal mana pool to be blocked. It was something they did not expect and they found themselves empty on the inside.

    The feeling of touch and feel magic was gone and now bound by metal and leather, they found themselves in such a hopeless situation. Something that the Night Foxes were delighted to spread that experience to every single High Elf that came under their control.

    So as much as the capable ones ran to their death early, the remaining few struggled to stay alive. Subsequently, even the High Commander got caught with the illness and even his healing magic was not able to destroy the source of this flu that everyone had.

    It was then, that he too had rationalise that even if they were to return to the Kingdom via an expensive mode of travelling, it might risk spreading this flu epidemic to the High Elves who were living peacefully. But the rest did not think this way.

    In fact, most if not all of the High Elves felt that the decision the High Commander made was the most irrational decision that he had ever made in this expedition. To them, It was imperative that they returned to the Kingdom as quickly as possible so that they get the best care avable to them. They did not state that their current healers were ipetent (or well, maybe some of the higher ranks did.)?but they believed that if they were to inform the Kingdom, more healers would be avable to aid the dying expeditionary force.

    It did not take long for a coup to emerge and the High Commander while weakened by the virus, was still healthy enough to take on five to six sectionmanders all by himself. But that was not the end as the misinformation spread like wildfire, stating that the High Commander had decided to kill the severely sick in order to cut losses and also not permit people to use the portal for their own sake.

    This angered most of the soldiers who were still rtively healthypared to the sick ones and they took that misinformation gravely since the ones stricken with illness were their close friends andrades. Even though he was skilled enough to kill the sectionmanders all by himself, he was not able to win against the toons of soldiersing together so determined to chop his head off.

    Of course, the High Commander did not care about those who rebelled and countered them to the best of his abilities. (Kraft was honestly rooting for him.) But because of the flu as well as theck of rations, his powers were not as strong as it was and he could not continue the series of repeated assaults from his own soldiers.

    He died. Brutally.

    His head was disced for everyone to see and as for the rest, they managed to retrieve the portal stone that would allow them to return to the Kingdom. There was just one minor problem. In the midst of their rebellion, the High Commander had already cursed the portal stone with all his might, knowing that such a situation could happen.

    Thus, upon activating the portal stone, it not only did not open a portal but the stone also unleashed waves of curse magic that sickened the poption even further. This was how much the High Elves could be. To the High Commander who initially believed that the soldiers would be understanding and honourable people as dictated by their teachings, he saw such an ugly side of them.

    He had always assumed that the soldiers were only doing it against other races and never their own race but that was because their race had never suffered at all. Always living in luxury and in their own perceived world of understanding, he never expected his troops to act this way. One or two perhaps that''s still eptable but almost every single High Elf under hismand thought the same way as his sectionmanders, it shook him.

    If he was going to be thrown under the bus for doing such an honourable thing, then he shall pull all of them down with him too. After all, he was going to die and if the soldiers ever manage to return to the kingdom with such a state of sickness, the Kingdom might go into rapid decline. So, for the betterment of his people and his kingdom, the High Commander decided to do such a selfish thing to curse every single one in his expeditionary force and make them suffer with him.

    So that even if he dies, he knows that the rest would notst any longer as well.

    And that was true. More tried to run away and they were met with the same fate as those who tried to escape earlier. Eventually, the camp was filled with only Elves who were so sick that they could not move or healers who did not give up on them.

    Yet, as time passed, every single one of them dropped to the ground and the Devil Fox picked all of them up. Their time was not exactly up yet since they had to go for the same ritual routine as the rest who hade earlier.

    The only people he gave a lighter ritual programme were the healers who did whatever they could to help the severely ill.

 Chapter 1925 Elves

    <h4>Chapter 1925 Elves</h4>

    "I did agree that I went overboard but look at the bright side, we did not have to do anything drastic and saved a lot of manpower resources!" Kraft said and Jin rolled his eyes.

    "Easy for you to say. Orcs and Goblins had to waste their time taking turns to be on guard and surveince to ensure that the High Elves did not move away from their makeshift camp. It was not just a day or two kind of thing. It''s practically a week or two." Jin replied angrily even though he knew that there was no use crying for spilled milk when it was already over.

    "It''s not like you had much to do these few days. You were merely dabbling with the paperwork from the Ministry of Land and checking up on your new pet in secret even though you practically owned the town a few days after that incident."

    "Hey, I had been working my ass off doing up the building ns for the new Dungeon Supplier store for Shanghai and Beijing, okay?"

    "Working your ass off? If that''s working your ass off, the rest of the minions might have used your ass to wipe their tears off." For goodness sake, those buildings amount to nothing important. All of those things would eventually be torn down in a few months because you got sick of it or there werements to improve it." Kraft debated for the sake of arguing and Jin took this as a chance to recognise that he was creating bullshit to stir the ho''s nest.

    Thus, he attempted to take a deep breath in and calm himself down but in the end, the logic is in his brain demanded an exnation for such a roundabout way to do things. "In the first ce, why did you not just take control of the High Commander and learn his thoughts? That way, we did not even need to go through the destruction of the New Adventurer''s Town, create artificial natural disasters which we eventually need to clear up after the total demise and even save us resources?"

    "Wow, using me for not doing my job?" Kraft was taken aback. This usation was heavy handeding from Jin but it was pretty obvious why the Devil Fox did that. It was mainly due to the fact that he wanted the High Elves to suffer after enjoying a supposed hard earned victory. Their arduous journey to reach the New Adventurer''s Town was not an easy task in the first ce especially when the Devil Fox himself had decided to put manmade obstacles to slow them down.

    Some amounted the expedition to a damn cursed run, while many others had deemed the High Commander ipetent in running this expedition. They never had thought that there was someone behind the scenes manipting and pulling the strings to make them suffer like this. Of course, Kraft could have taken the thoughts as easy as snapping his fingers and learning the location of the High Elf Kingdom. But because of the above reasons mentioned, he did not. In fact, the Night Foxes that he had trained were also able to get the coordinates of the High Elves'' Kingdom without the aid of their master and yet, none of them rejected the n to toy with the High Elves'' lives a single bit.

    "To put it inly for this particr ''incident'', I enjoyed the ride more than the end product,"?Kraft exined and Jin was speechless. He figured as much seeing how the High Elves were still been tortured to this day when they had been resurrected which meant that the Devil Fox and the Night Foxes were not releasing them of their misery even after their initial death.

    But what was more бнerm a closer inspection, the Night Foxes never let the High Elves die a second time despite all those torture rituals. They made them feel as if their next death would be the sweet eternal release, they all had been waiting for. However, it would nevere because the Night Foxes never allowed them to die. Each time their muscles had been stripped from their bodies, it would be reced again. Each time, they had been starved, their stomach would be filled with food once more. Some of the High Elves even tried ways to kill themselves in such a situation but they found themselves well and healthy instead of dying.

    "In any case, as an apology, we shall contribute to the funding of the New Adventurer''s Town if that appeases your anger. The Night Foxes collectively agreed to take out their own savings and pocket change to help rebuild it. After all, ording to them, they were extremely grateful for the actions and inactions we did to aid them in their revenge against this small group of High Elves. They look forward to the main course eagerly."

    "What actually makes them to be so bitter against the High Elves? I mean judging from the information that I had gleaned through the System after you had interrogated and coborated the evidence, it seemed like they were living in luxury while the Dark Elves when we found them were in tattered and torn clothes."

    "For one, that particr ce where the High Elf Kingdom had resided, was one of the strongholds that the Dark Elves once held. ording to records, it was supposedly their veryst bastion before the High Elves kicked them out." Kraft said and it did not need much deduction to understand for Jin to see where this was going.

    "Wait a minute. You are saying the High Elves kind of like move everyone to this castle like ce after driving the Night Elves away?"

    "That was what I thought but eventually, the Dark Elves said that as much as the High Elves were arrogant and sloppy, they were not like this in the past. Therefore, the Night Foxes especially the elder ones deduced that there might be a secret hidden bastion of High Elves hiding somewhere else in the event of a catastrophe attack against the current existing Kingdom of High Elves had been defeated." Kraft said.

    "Ohбн So, there is a reason why you have been torturing each and every one of them this way." Jin understood Kraft''s thought process for the moment and spoke out in hopes that the Devil Fox would be able to rify the reasons he had formted.

    "Yes, Searching through not just the memories of their own but we are running even deeper to see if their genes had encoded the mystery of the secret bastion. if that''s what you are thinking." Kraft responded and Jin nodded his head. Basically, what the Original System Betor was doing was exerting so much pain response from them that it initiated fight or flight responses.

    However, it was not just any regr fight or flight response. Instead, he was hoping that someone was able to dig out the hidden powers of their elves and get one of their almighty ancestors to possess them in their dire need for help. In doing so, the mind possession of their ancestors would be taken advantage of by the Night Foxes and Kraft.

    It was not for them to fight these possessed High Elves but rather to manipte and collect the thoughts of the souls that were possessing them. All of this would not have been known if not for the stories and legends of the Dark Elves passed from one elder to another. To the tribe, it might have been made as a good bedtime story to talk about, but not for Kraft when he absorbed them as his own unit.

    Each legend that the Elder spoke of would definitely have a speck of truth in it and the story about the ancient ancestors possessing their body was something that Kraft had proven identally when he was schooling the Dark Elves before they became the Night Foxes. But the one who had been possessed was not a mighty warrior and instead, a schr. To Kraft who had sufficient power under hismand did not need a new warrior. Therefore, he was ted when the schr spirit coborated with the Dark Elf Elder''s stories, allowing Kraft to understand their arch enemies even better.

    Even though he never expected the Dark Elves to have such a rich history when interacting with the schr spirit, Kraft got the hint that the Dark Elves previously possessed powers that were equivalent to the Celestial beings themselves. This was one of the stories that Kraft was able to decipher from the words of the Schrs but he never made it known to Jin or the System.

    He felt that it was unnecessary at that moment and that truth still rang true up to this day when he still pat his back up to his day for recruiting the Dark Elves. It was also the reason why he was now doing this act of revenge against the High Elves for a reason.

    To gain more favour from the Night Foxes and add more monsters that were capable of defying the celestials should the need arise especially when Jin was not ready for them.

 Chapter 1926 The Townfolks of AdventurerтАЩs Town

    <h4>Chapter 1926 The Townfolks of Adventurer''s Town</h4>

    Yet, Kraft never tells Jin about his true motives at all. They were always hidden from him and gave excuses no matter the circumstances. And like every other time, Kraft merely yed dumb to all of Jin''s usations and gave him the standard answer that the dungeon supplier did not wish to hear. All Jin could do was sigh and shrug it off as he had always done even though he did feel that this time around, Kraft had done something even more sinister and he knew there was an underlying agenda behind it.

    For now, he gave up and decided to focus on something that needed his attention more. As much as Qiu Yue had already been informed to do the reconstruction of the new adventurer''s town for all the people they had evacuated, it was not as easy a task that she could snap her finger and produce it immediately.

    Surely, if it were makeshift tents and camps, there would be no problems to it. However, the fact that the people who had been evacuated were duped by Jin and his minions that they were doing major renovations to the New Adventurer''s Town not because of a growing poption but due to the fact that it had already been burned down by the High Elves.

    So, the dungeon supplier had to provide a brand new way to let them not just live but also earn the money he had lost from the destruction of the New Adventurer''s Town as well as the construction of the new one. Surely, he could do that by throwing them in some foreign warzone like the Money Tower that Kraft and the Night Foxes raided periodically.

    However, with their consistent harassment, even the first floor had been so reinforced that even the usual adventurers had difficulty obtaining rewards or fighting against the guards that were standing a few hundred metres away from the Money Tower.

    Still, he needed some way for them to earn some money either through continuous trading with the other three Kingdoms that had established themselves to be steadfast allies of New Adventurer''s Town. (The Orcs, Humans, and Goblins.)

    Or they do something major that would enable them to earn their wages.

    And what better do to so than to be in the next dungeon raid that Jin had prepared while they awaited the rebuilding of their New Adventurer''s Town? Yes, it might have been thought to be an impromptu solution but it was nevertheless still a solution.

    Jin was willing to open the floor for Cultivators to try the Zombie World.

    By allowing the various adventurers ranging not just the usual Orcs, Humans, and Goblins to work alongside the Pandarens, there were also other races who had decided to see the New Adventurer''s Town. Halflings, Gnomes, and even half Orcs were given the opportunity to thrive in this new ce. Discrimination was not tolerated and that was a policy that had been enforced strictly by fellow security patrols (mainly the younger and newer Night Foxes).

    Judging how the Zombie World was filled with a huge supply of zombies no matter how one sees it, clearing them on a regr basis would definitely not be an issue. So while Jin was actively settling the foundation of New Adventurer''s Town along with Qiu Yue, he had found employment for the people who were there or had been evacuated early to the other kingdoms.

    In fact, the employment had not been limited to only the citizens and townsfolks of the New Adventurer''s Town but also the three Kingdoms as well. The only catch was that Jin would only allow the townsfolks to get the first bite of the pie and subsequently, the rest could join in. And even if they do, it was based on firste first serve with ''limited slots''.

    This was because Jin did not want to over attract these people and make them reliant on Jin''s raid as a source of ie. In fact, when the NEW New Adventurer''s Town is up, he is going to continue to do this by finding other worlds once the Zombie World had most of their zombiespletely eliminated. At the same time, he also recognised the limitations that these adventurers could provide and give to themunity and hence he needed a cap on the number of people he could enlist.

    However, the main reason for putting a cap and not over attracting was that he did not want the people of this world to be overly reliant on his source of ie which would disrupt the bnce of the kingdom. In fact, he might actually pose a fixed wage so that people who were doing this could hardly get rich but it would still be a viable ie for those who tried.

    Their job was not to clear zombies as that would be the cultivator''s main job and how Jin could get the ie in order to sustain them. In fact, they would pose as NPCs that the cultivators could hire at inted price using Panda Coins or even Zombie Medals which they could earn via the Zombie Raid.

    This was because the minimum raid size that Jin was proposing would be at least eight people. After reviewing the journey and the conditions that his Mechanoids had been through, eight would be a good number to start off with and the maximum per raid was 24 men.

    For now, the Mechanoids had identified one location where the Pandarens could spawn and start their mission but it would be kind of stupid that all of the Pandarens would be appearing at the same location. So, in the past few weeks, the Mechanoids had been teleported all over the Zombie World to get even more locations avable for raiding.

    At the same time, Jin was still pondering whether to not spawn so close to major cities and allow the Pandarens to spawn in towns in outlying regions. This should give them some potential progression upon reaching a major city. At the same time, he made sure that those spawn points were also friendly to the cultivators but still pose a challenge to the Pandarens rather than just killing zombies.

    After all, it was not like the Virtual Reality where he could restrict their cultivation nor their powers.?He did not have free reign to manipte his customers but unlike the Virtual Reality, he and the System was able to create the choke points if needed especially when all the zombies they killed could be umted into the System. And that include the Abnormals and special ss zombies.

    If there are no special ss zombies, he could always reuse the ones that his Mechanoids had defeated previously. Not to mention, he was able to create that artificial chokepoint if needed when the raid group that had been form was consisted of several high level cultivators.

    And the other way round was also possible where he could get special ss, he owned to fight against other special ss zombies to create a unique situation where the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But the System stated that it was too early for such plex'' mechanics to be exined to the people who were participating in the raid. Their priority was to allow them to try out the raid while paying the refugees a liveable minimum wage and still get a decent profit from it.

    The only problem was that the System and him had to devise a way to create a type of ''NPC'' database that monitor their progress.

    After all, these ''NPCs'' might not have experience in handling the zombies nor do they know theyout of the area. So, when they were to be deployed, it was akin to setting a brand new employee out to the unknown and letting them venture to get the experience.

    So, there was a need to make sure that such experiences were recorded and those that the cultivators enjoyed working with would be avable to them again at a higher rate. Obviously, the adventurers will see a pay raise from that, but Jin would also be monopolised by Jin without them knowing.

    But considering the conversation of Yuan to Dungeon Dors and subsequently to Goblin''s World gold coins, they actually do not worth much because of how backwards their world''s technology were. As in, excluding the Dwarven Technology who had shown repeatedly how crazy convenient they were, most of the towns do not have the level of basic sanitation.?Even with the creation of the New Adventurer''s Town, the sanitation level was basic. It was not developed as it should be.

    Yet, all of those were going to change with the brand new adventurer''s town. "At this rate, I got to change the name of the town or else I have to keep saying New New Adventuer''s Town, and its sounds weird." Jin thought to himself and eventually had an idea to call it New New Town instead. Obviously, Kraft and the System rejected it especially when the former had dips for the town due to its ties with the town for Night Foxes Headquarters.

    Regardless, the reconstruction take time and with Jin prepared enough for the Zombie Raid, he was going to release it (almost) concurrently with the next Dark Days Dungeon which everyone was waiting for.

 Chapter 1927 New School Package

    <h4>Chapter 1927 New School Package</h4>

    And as Jin said that he was preparing for the Zombie World Raid, there were other things that needed his attention as well. Ma Ge had finallye to Jin''s Dungeon Supplier store to look at the School Instance.

    While Jin did promise some discount, Ma Ge felt that he was being duped by him. The Dungeon Supplier did not lie and gave him a certain percentage of discount on CERTAIN things and not the entire instance.

    "It was my fault. I did not say it clearly. And because of that, I am willing to ept the consequences of my own blunder," Ma Ge said when he found out that Jin had only given certain price cuts on the school instance if he was willing to furnish the area using the items that he had introduced as part of the ''New School'' package.

    Ranging fromputers, tables, and chairs to cabs, fully furnished food stores, and even contracts to the chefs, cleaners, and even maintenance team. In short, Jin wants a full monopoly on the school despite general antipetition rules stating that JODE had to bid for the services it required. It was practically akin to holding a gun at his head kind of situation if he wants the discount but Ma Ge was not reluctant about it.

    In fact, he was d that Jin was able to create such aprehensive package for him as the JODE Chancellor did not have to worry about the misceneous problems when it came to filling the school up with the necessary services. While ultimately Grandma Yuan was the Headmaster of the new school instance, Ma Ge still stepped in when it came to the major financial decisions.

    To Jin, it was a little wed considering how the organisation head could control the financial situation of the school without much interference from the finance department. While it was true that the dungeon supplier was operating that way as well, he still thinks that an international organisation giving so much power to the chancellor was somewhat disturbing.

    It was not until the System stated that the Royal Horse n was practically the one and only major contributor in terms of cash flow injection into JODE. And when the User heard it, all he could do was sigh and pray that it maintained that way since there was a lot of money riding on to this school instance if Ma Ge signed the ''New School'' Package.

    This meant that the school would not be just an expense that Jin had to monitor but rather, it was a profit driven instance that had the capability to bring in more money for him. All he had to do was make sure that the School Instance''s maintenance retained its high quality standards and Ma Ge could continuously contract him for it.

    Also, talking about the School, Ma Ge told Jin that he wished to open the school intake as well as transfer the students who had their schools closed down to be moved into the instance by the end of the month.

    That was when Jin''s eyes popped out.

    "You are kidding me, are you not? That is when the National Martial and Sports Competition starts as well, no?" Jin asked and Ma Ge raised his eyebrows.

    "Is something the matter? So what if that National Martial And Sports Competition had to do with you? Isn''t that responsibility under the Tiger, Sheep, and Pig n?" Ma Ge asked and it looked like he was not in the loop yet Jin had decided to give this information free of charge.

    "бнYou what?" Ma Ge could not believe it that the three Royal Zodiac ns were willing to give Jin this opportunity to host thepetition. "Okay, this is the first time I have heard this. Maybe, my family members did not have the chance to tell me. Do you mind if I make a phone call?"

    "Sure, by all means," Jin was curious as to why Ma Ge, a prominent figure in the Royal Horse n had been left out of the loop.

    "Wait, so what you meant is that you had pulled out all of the investments we did because thepetition changed its venue? Are you stupid or what? Is that why you did not want to tell me that there is a change in venue and that thepetition is going to be held somewhere else?" Ma Ge was fierce on his phone

    "What do you mean that it is just a rumour?" Ma Ge then looked at Jin who had already taken out his phone casually and showed the JODE Chancellor the chat messages that he had been exchanging with the other Three Royal Zodiacs Head. That was when Ma Ge realised that his family members might be taking this chance to backstab him and he changed his tone a little. "Fine. Fine. I get where you areing from. Just withdraw all of them as quickly as possible."

    "Family Drama? Do I have the privilege to pry in it?" Jin asked and Ma Ge sighed.

    "Not really. it''s bad to hang out our home''sundry for others to see. I believe you can agree to that?"?Ma Ge rebutted and Jin could only shrug his shoulders. "In any case, thank you for telling me this information. It is one vital piece of information that might affect some of my investments."

    "So, I assume that I am not getting a free pass for not doing the school instance in conjunction with the National Martial and Sports Competition?"

    "I am surprised that the other three did not give the official heads up to the rest of the Royal Zodiacs though." Ma Ge said and Jin told him that they had decided to do a multi tierpetition instead after reviewing the dateline.

    "They initially wanted to remove thispetition entirely but only decided to give in after they found that there was way too little time. So, they wish tobine the budget from this year and next year to give a big bam instead."

    "So, it''s like apetition that will go for two years?" Ma Ge asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "The winners for this round are announced as the winners for this year and the next. Thepetitors would still give their best shot for this currentpetition but if they were to lose, they could try again when the new year starts. Which is in two months time."

    "Huh, that''s quite a change in thepetition mode. This means that whoever wins now might be dethroned once the challengerse back in again. I assume this is done because there were some changes to thepetition rules or something akin to that?"

    "Yeah. The arena is not some boring static arena. It will be a battle of wits and a feast to the eyes as well." Jin smiled as he did not want to spoil too much of the content to Ma Ge. "So, when we discussed about this in the group chat, the three Royal Zodiac n Heads all believed that allowing the challengers to only go once might be unfair due to a shocking change in environment."

    "So, by using the excuse that thispetition would be spanned for these two years, you are giving most people the chance to try once more if they were to lose once."

    "Yeah, something like a rematch for the losers so that they could fight against the current reigning champion and get the ultimate crown. I got this concept from the international gaming leagues. This way, the lower bracket, and the higher bracket will have their own champions and they could fight against each other to get the highest honour."

    "Ahбн So, that means my investments are not exactly in much jeopardy if you are putting the game mode like this. In fact, I might be saving some money from my family''s reckless actions. Looks like I got some homework to do." Ma Ge said with a chuckle but before he left, he checked with Jin once more.

    "Does anyone else know about this tierpetition?"

    "In a few days time. We should be announcing it soon." Jin replied as he checked his phone to make sure that the information he had given was correct. "Yes, in three days time."

    "Wonderful. I assume this information is free of charge?" Ma Ge tried to bargain and Jin smiled.

    "Yeah, sure. It is free of charge since you have decided to buy the New School Package from me. But erm, would appreciate it if youe visit the Dungeon Supplier periodically in the future to buy more stuff and support us."

    "Heh, how about I do something better than that?" Ma Ge realised that he had forgotten to give Jin something and thus quickly sent the dungeon supplier an email. "For your generosity of that information just now."

    Jin looked at the email that he was given, his mouth went wide open immediately. The dungeon supplier noticed that there were already pending offers to have a piece of the pie which both of them call it ''the manufacturing hub''.

 Chapter 1928 Buzz The Perfectionist

    Chapter 1928 Buzz The Perfectionist

    ?

    When he first came back from the Synthesis World, he never thought he would be that busy within a month or two. In fact, he thought that he could finish the things that he needed to do in a jiffy. But as always, issues started to surface and they needed as much attention as the other things that he had started when he returned to his World.

    The JODE School Instance, the National Martial Arts and Sports Competition Instance, the Dark Days Dungeon Series, and the Zombie Raid Instance. Those were the few instances that he needed to finish by the end of the month and they were not the only things that required his attention.

    With the purchase and acquisition of thend deeds, he needed to put up his dimensional instances as soon as possible to get back the usefulness of thend he and hispany acquired. After all, they cost millions, and one less day that was left empty, one less day of profit for him.

    To make matters worse, he also had the New Adventurer''s Town that he needed to take care of. Even though he was sharing this responsibility with Qiu Yue, she was also needed to contribute to the construction of the dimensional instances at Liu Qian Town and the smallnd at Tianjin Street in Shanghai as well.

    Not to mention, the System was pressing Jin toplete the backlog of dungeon instances such as the Gentlebear Instance that he had teased a long time ago and at different intervals. Of course, Jin had apparently ignored the System''s consistent reminders toplete the dungeon instances because he was swarmed with new projects.

    The only silver lining of this whole fiasco was that he had another Dungeon Supplier under the System''s influence to aid with the creation of the instances. At first, he wanted Buzz to create the dungeon instances but when Jin realised that he was not verypetent in creating using the Dungeon Maker instance despite the new and improved holographic tracking, Jin decided to change his tasks.

    Of course, Buzz could create it but the amount of time that he used to create a single dimensional instance was too long. But when Jin took a look at his work, he realised why Buzz was taking too darn long to do this.

    He was overly meticulous with his dimensional instances. The amount of details inside the instance was insane. It was to the point where even the grass des were taken care of. (Obviously, Buzz said he did not exactly change every single grass de but when it looked unnatural to him, he needed to fix it.)In addition, the System stated that Buzz had created such a detailed dimensional instance but not at the cost of the System''s processes. To its surprise, his techniques in the creation of the dimensional instance had reduced the number of processes rendered.

    When queried, Buzz exined that he always has to find ways to reduce the amount of process and maximising the details in his previous workce due to theck of server space. Thus, this habit was brought forth into the current workspace. However, when he found out he had so much processing space to y with, BUzz still restrained himself and made the best of the situation. What''s more, he was able to reduce his current process by a few percent using the System''s dungeon making process and the System learned much from him too.

    That''s why when the System learned how Buzz created it with efficiency with respect to the amount of detail given, it decided to give it a try and started to optimise the previous dimensional instances that Jin had created. With that in mind, the System managed to reduce the processes by 15%. Further optimisation was possible but right now, the System was satisfied with the current reduction.

    Thus, with all these improvements and how Buzz was so slow in creating dungeon instances, Jin decided to give Buzz another kind of job instead. Rather than creating the new dimensional instances, Jin had assigned Buzz to enhance the current dimensional instances that Jin had created with more details and reduce the redundant processes that he might have done.

    Thankfully, with the System ''AI'' capabilities, the optimisation was done even without Buzz''s intervention and thetter was able to concentrate on maximising more details into the dimensional instance. It was to the point that when Jin entered, it felt like he was overwhelmed by the enhanced realness that he had experienced.

    That was when he realised that he found a hidden goldmine and gave himself a pat for giving him a second chance to work for Jin. The only caveat was that Buzz was considered as just an employee and not a Sub System User. He could have easily made Buzz part of the Sub System User and given him more control of the things that he does but at the moment, Jin continued to monitor him at the request of Kong Rong.

    After all, he had contacted the Banned Emperor Lackeys before and there might be a chance they would do so again. Even though making him a Sub System User was as easy as stripping his powers when needed and the System was able to monitor him 24/7, Jin also felt that the powers needed to be earned. This will also give him some employment progression which JIn felt that most of his employees werecking. However, that''s the reality of being a small medium enterprise. Everyone has dual or even triple roles. Sometimes even more but because of how Jin had to keep the System a secret, there was only so much he could do.

    But with Buzz being able to do most of the secondary stuff for him, Jin was free to do the rest of the items that required his utmost attention. The National Martial Arts and Sports Competition had already been sent to the Three Royal Heads for consideration and they should get back to him within the week.

    The Zombie World Raid was scheduled to be created tomorrow and the second portion of the Dark Dungeon Series would be pushed out as well on the next day. This was a promise to the people who had believed in him and subscribed to his new pricing model. However, when Jin discussed this progression with the System, the System still believed that it was stupid for Jin to put two new items back to back.

    Yet, Jin''s rationale was that he did not want to deplete the Zombie World''s zombies that quickly and even limit the number of people going into the Zombie World to clear the zombies. And to keep the difficulty, he was thinking of putting a time limit to it as well. Simr to how the Dark Days Dungeon Series worked, he believed that moving forward, using a time limit rather than lives was a better idea.

    However, what works for one particr dimensional instance might not necessarily work for another dimensional instance. Hence the reason why Jin wanted to test it out was to make sure it worked for the raid as well. And if the time limit feature does well, he might continue with it for the subsequent dungeon instances that he had in store for the customers. (Of course that does not apply to Service instances and the uing Martial Arts and Sports Competition, though it would be a little hrious if that were to happen.)

    Fortunately for the System, it had decided to y its trump card under its proverbial sleeve in order to not let Jin put two dungeon instances consecutively. Buzz came into the picture as the System requested Buzz specifically to enhance the Second Dark Days Dungeon Instance, putting more emphasis on the environment and even the background sound details.

    Yes, for the first time in Jin''s dungeon instances, there would be background music being yed at asional times to purposely confuse the cultivators. He never dared to put any background music on, mainly because he was not musically inclined at all. But not Buzz the supporting dungeon supplier. It was precisely due to the fact that he had to do almost everything by himself, Buzz was also a fairly seasoned gaming musicposer.

    It was a pity that he had fallen from grace by siding with the Banned Emperor Lackeys due to extrinsic circumstances. But when Jin gave him a second chance, he was delighted that he had some use to Jin and the System. Therefore, Jin finally gave way to the System to test out this new background musicposition in the Dark Days instance.

    Jin was also willing for Buzz to do this mainly due to the fact that Dark Days Instance was meant to be brutal. If the music ying in their ears were to increase the adrenaline rush or even cover the necessary sounds that the boss monsters make as part of the cue. Also at this point, Jin gave way partially due to the fact that Ke Mi was extremely excited to be able to help with the creation of Dungeon instance music.

    For months, she not only improved her Zither skills but also tried out different musical instruments. And with that, Buzz had requested for her assistance to perform several musical solos where he would do the apanying music so that it was possible for him to make the background music at a faster pace.

    But as much as he tried to give to Jin as soon as possible, Jin knew that it was impossible for Buzz who was an ultimate perfectionist when ites to details to finish in time. This allowed the System to have a minor win and the Panda Dungeon Supplier had to push out the Zombie World Raid first.

 Chapter 1929 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1929 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 1</h4>

    A new dungeon instance.

    To some Pandarens, it was about time especially after they paid for the new subscription model. However, some of them thought that Jin would not fulfill his promise after changing the pricing since they knew that there were rising costs to the endeavours he had been taking.

    But when the Dungeon Supplier had sent a high alert notification through the Pandamonium App that a new dungeon instance was avable to try out, they were all relieved that Boss Jin had kept to his word.

    However, some were a little unhappy that there was little to no notice when Jin brought out the raid instance. They knew that it was his own prerogative to give notice to his customers but they would have wished for some teasing of the material at hand. Meanwhile, others had thought otherwise. They think that Jin keeping the information close to his chest and releasing it when the instance was ready had been the more ideal situation.

    It was mainly because as the System had stated previously, Jin had teased and promised certain instances and they had not been fulfilled at all. While it was true that the Dungeon Supplier had given something else and at times exceeded all expectations, the long term customers who saw and understood Jin''s pattern found that this kind of no information and sting them with something good was definitely a more ideal situation that would yearn for a pleasant surprise.

    Thus when the Zombie Raid Instance had been announced and the customers who read the details that were apanied with it, the customers were indeed given an eye opener to how the raids were usually done. It wasmon to follow a good form and if it worked, he should have stuck with it but in Jin''s eyes. He had yet to find the best form.

    It might be that the Dungeon Supplier was using this Zombie World to waste time for the customers but at the same time, he had ns for the Zombie World. Even though the discussion yielded previously from moving people from Synthesis World to the Zombie World was futile, he still believed that having a ''safe'' World at his disposal would definitely be of use.

    Be it for emergency evacuation or setting the stage for a bitter fight to the end, having an isted world under his sleeve would still prove to be of use. Thus, while he used his cultivators to clear the area and enjoy the Zombie Raid as a regr consumer item, Jin was also collecting all the Zombies under his name and control.

    Surely, the System was not exactly happy to have to have this many under its control, but it did notin much mainly due to the fact that these zombies do not expend as many resources as a regr beast, monster, or human. And the fact that they had some limited intelligence after an extended period of exposure with Half Ghoul Lord Derek, they would be useful for menial work which the System as almighty as it was, still have issues covering that.

    So, the current Zombies were already working in factories in Pandapolis alongside the Demopolis Citizens as well as the immigrants who decided to make Pandapolis their home. The extreme no discrimination rule had been rather effective and there was no prejudice against the Zombies or the other monsters as long as they had done their tasks and met the quota for the day.

    Hence, the Zombie World Raid was akin to aplishing multiple objectives all at once. But more importantly, it was to provide a tform by Jin for the more casual yers. As much as he liked the concept of the Dark Days Dungeon Series, not every single cultivator would like to challenge themselves. By having the Zombie World Raid, it can cater to minors to the elders who just want to have some fun rather than be always in a sticky situation such as those who had participated in the Dark Days Dungeon Series.

    That was also why the Dungeon Supplier had looked into supplying work for the adventurers and citizens of the Goblin World when he was attempting to rebuild the entire damn thing to the best of his ability.?Their capabilities had been deemed to be sufficient to aid the cultivators in to fight against the zombies.

    However, when the announcement came for Zombie World Raid Instance, some of the long term customers were a little confused by it. This was mainly because the Pandarens were unsure whether this new instance was connected to the Great Wall of China Zombie Instance.

    That was when Jin had indicated in the forums that the Great Wall of China Zombie was an exaggerated form of the Zombie attack as well as an introduction to the Zombie World Raid Instance. "As a matter of fact, the Great Wall of China that you had seen in that raid was just a portion of what can be seen in the Zombie World Raid Instance,"?Jin exined that the entire Zombie World Raid Instance was based on real worldndmarks with a slight variation in case some idiot decides to suit him for copying.

    When questioned if the exaggerated form was truly exaggerated or whether the Pandarens could experience something like that in the Zombie World Raid Instance, all Jin gave as a reply was just a ;) emoji.

    To some Pandarens, they thought that Jin was teasing them but the rest who were veterans in Jin''s dungeon instances knew that it could happen if they were not careful and when dissecting his reply, they could only infer that there might be worse forms of zombie attacks as inparison to what they had experienced in the Great Wall of China Instance.

    Meanwhile, some other people joked that Jin was practically allowing the Chinese people to travel around the world without any cost at all, if what he said was true and that the Zombie World Instance was a direct and yet variant copy of the world they were staying in.

    In addition, dungeon instance reviewers believed that if this instance were to be true, it might possibly be one of the first few (or potentially the very first )rge scale dungeon instances that the Dungeon Suppliers in the world had seen as what Jin had imed was that this is a replication of the entire world.

    Some of the onlinementators could not believe it while othermentators who had tried Jin''s dungeon instances trusted that he did not give false information at all as they had seen how Jin had expanded again and again, pushing the boundaries of the Dungeon instances over the past year or two.

    There were even a few hardcore believers of Dungeons and Pandas who imed that the assumed departure of Jin for enlightenment purposes was meant to create such a crazy Raid Instance like this. It was to the point that some even thought that it was inappropriate to call it a Raid Instance and rather, it should be named as a World Instance instead.

    But semantics aside, the moment Jin had opened the Raid Instance via his Subway Train Station Store instance, the queue for it had be phenomenal. And yet, Jin did not do anything else but simply announce that it was as it is.

    The truth came when the cultivators were assigned to different exitways and a brief description of the exit had been given to them. A partial portion of the names of the towns and cities that existed in the real world were used and the Pandarens were expected to see something simr the moment they stepped out. Of course, the train subway exit aside, when the Pandarens saw the surroundings, the team could match street to street via the inte map that they had if they could guess correctly the town''s name before they exited the subway exit.

    Some of the buildings were also the same just that they were deserted and filled with other zombies. The first group that came out of the subway station situated themselves in the same ce as the Mechanoids and when they attempted to match the possible information they had based on the partial names of the signboard beside the subway station exit, they were able to get a hit on the inte.

    And that first group was none other than the privileged Pandawans as Jin had given Xiong Da a heads up on when the dungeon instance would be published for the public. It was a sort of minorpensation for the amount of time wasted to assist him with the issues with the Ministry of Land.

    Thus, Xiong Da based on that information had taken leave in advance as well as informed the rest of the Pandawans in the event they could also take the leave to y. However, most had stated that they could not do so mainly because of the holiday crunch that theirpanies had experienced.

    Hence, the only few who could make it for Xiong Da were Bu Dong and his pal Yue Han. The Pandawans could have joined other Pandarens as well but since Jin had given Xiong Da a few vouchers to test out the NPC Adventurer System, they decided to bolster their numbers with those instead.

    But when reviewing the adventurers, Xiong Da was not satisfied with the current selection and asked Jin if he was able to give a more advanced team of adventurers instead and he was willing to put in the money. This was because the purpose of him wanting to y with them was to have an elite group.

    "In short, I want to have a group that could coordinate with me and the other Pandawans easily. Money is not an issue since I am paying you back the money you paid me." Xiong Da teased and Jin rolled his eyes but knew what he had in mind.

    He knew that he had ''employees'' who could serve as elite mercenaries rather than those adventurers.

    "It will cost ya," Jin replied and Xiong Da gave two thumbs up to show that he was all ready to pay up.

 Chapter 1930 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 2

    Chapter 1930 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 2

    "Nice to meet you," Yinn said as she raised her hands for a handshake from Xiong Da. When Yue Han and Bu Dong saw the team in the first ce, they did not know how to react.

    Beauties of their own right as Bu Dong and Yue Han got embarrassed when they saw them. Xiong Daughed as he believed that they were thinking they might have a chance to woo after them.

    "Guys, focus. This is a raid. Stop ogling thedies with your lecherous eyes" Xiong Da said which enabled Yinn and her team to verify the signals and confirm how Bu Dong and Yue Han were feeling. From elevated heart rate and apparent blushing, the Grey Bears understood that the guys were infatuated with them.

    "Just a word of advice, don''t bother," Yinn told them straight in the face but they averted their eyes away from the Grey Bears. Ladies inbat gear and they were not wearing it for cosmetic purposes. Even though they were not in the army or had done their roulette conscription services, both Bu Dong and Yue Han had some basic knowledge based on the shooting games that they yed previously.

    From the guns they used to the cement of the ammunition and pouches, they all were about practicality. It looked like there was nothing that the Grey Bears had on them that was excessive. Bu Dong had no idea where they came from as their ethnicity seemed to be mixed but one thing was sure. The vibes that they released seemed deadly.

    Even if they did not have much chi as a seasoned cultivator who had been through much of Jin''s dungeons, going through some life and death situations even though they were ''simted'', Bu Dong and Yue Han could sense they were more than just seasoned operators.

    Xiong Da did not only manage to get a hold on seasoned operators but deadly ones too which would definitely help with the raid. "Could you introduce your team of operators to me?" Xiong Da asked as he needed a quick understanding of their level ofpetency.

    "Name''s Yinn, specialised in stealth and warfare management."

    "That means you are the leader of the group." Yue Han interrupted and Yinn gave a quiet death stare to indicate to him that it was rude to break her introduction. But eventually, she let go of the stare and added to hisment.

    "That''s right, I am the leader of this Grey Bear Squad," Yinn said it with a small pause of hesitation as the entire group knew that the real leader was Jin. However, in this scenario where they were hired as a mercenary team, they had to be obliged to the situation that Jin had created.

    "If you allow me to, I can lead the group and subsequently the area we were traversing as we had been tasked by Dungeon Supplier Jin to scout a little in advance to provide better support and experience for the cultivators we were protecting.

    "Hmm.. I don''t think protect isn''t the correct word to use. Not to brag but we are all capable of protecting ourselves." Bu Dong said and Yinn bowed a little as an apology.

    "Sorry, I should have used the term providing assistance."

    "No worries about it." Bu Dong unknowingly blushed.

    "The one beside me is Tellie. She is our Second. If I am incapacitated, the leadership goes to her. " Yinn introduced them to Tellie, who gave a quick nod rather than a salute that the peeps were expecting. "She specialised in long range engagement and had multiple spectacr confirmed kills."

    "Do not listen to Yinn. I was just doing my job to execute those kills." Tellie replied and Yinn proceeded to the next member for introduction.

    "Diaz, handles all types of weapons and is our main assault team member."

    "Would have preferred a title but being called as the squad''s main assault go to person is okay too," Diaz replied as she gave a short wave to the Pandawans.

    "Page, our Combat Medic. I do not need to say much about her since her role is exnatory. Her closebat skills are top notch if I were to add. Otherwise, she had seen enoughbat and life saving scenarios to make her a tough nut."

    "Nice to meet you." Page nodded her head and gave a short smile.

    "Thest person to introduce is Click, ourbat engineer and explosive specialist. She has quite a few...pretty unique drones stashed in her storage ring so do not be rmed when you suddenly see more bullets flying over your head." Yinn replied.

    "The first three drones are free of charge. Subsequent drones would be chargeable as extra expenses at the end of the raid. Discount applicable to the next seven drones. After the tenth drone, it would be twice the price."

    "Wow, why is it so expensive? Isn''t it that the more you use, the cheaper it should be?"

    "There are other customers that are on the waitlist to hire us. Lack of drones for their use would also mean ack of firepower. The need to replenish the drones needed to be factored in. Such as a faster lead time to manufacture those drones." Click lied. She lied so hard that the Pandawans took it at face value because it made sense.

    "What are the kind of drones that we have? Or is it pick and choose?" Xiong Da asked and Click took out a foldable tablet and showed it to them. There was a variation of drones, consisting of stationary ones that used turret forms to floatatable drones that provided assistance on the fly. What Xiong Da found interesting was the seeking ball drone. The preview video that Click had filmed previously showed how the seeking ball drone could automatically roll and find its target.

    It was at that time that they were previewing the selection that made Bu Dong worried. "Hey, are we wasting too much timeselecting this?"

    "The fees only start rolling when we are in the field. Please take your time to select your drones if you need to." Yinn said and Bu Dong was quick to breathe a sigh of relief. Xiong Da on the other hand put his hand on Bu Dong''s shoulder and told him to rx.

    "Dude, this is not the first time you are with me. Take it easy man. You know you do not have to worry about money when I''m here."

    "Lol, I still feel bad at times to take advantage of your generosity." Bu Dong replied.

    "But you know, I was expecting the assisting teammates to be cultivators and not mercenaries." Yue Hanmented.

    "Yeah, I honestly did not expect that as well. When I first saw the NPC Adventurer System that Jin had shown to the rest of the Pandarens, I thought we might be getting some high level wizard or expert swordsman." Xiong Da added.

    "If you are unsatisfactory with our mercenary services, it is not toote to back out. This is after all an introduction and no services have been rendered yet."

    "Nah, I will take youdies. To have soldiers watching our backs is far more effective. I mean we are the frontliners since we have better sword skills. But with you all, we know that quick response force would be more suitable in a mass zombie situation." Bu Dong said.

    "Thank you for putting in some degree of confidence in us," Yinn said and subsequently asked them to choose their drones or whether there were any more loadouts they were interested in. That was where the list of loadouts that each and every Grey Bear squad member had was put into much detail down to the type of essories they were using.

    While this kind of customisation was weed, they did not know a single thing about military loadouts. Even Bu Dong and Yue Han who had yed so many realistic military games was unable toment on it. They could only thank them for showing what they have and hoped the situations were not drastic for them to be missing of any loadout.

    "At most we can buy from the impromptu online store. That is avable correct? I been in too much of the Dark Days Dungeon Instance that I sometimes forget about the functions." Bu Dong said.

    "Yeah, it should be working, the Pandamonium App Page on the Zombie World Instance stated that the Popup Store Function is avable. But why the hell are you in the Dark Days Dungeon. I thought youpleted that already?" Yue Han asked.

    "I was trying out different grade 1 techniques and also to brush up my foundations. As the pattern is the same through out like a video game, using different technqiues made it so much harder and I had a better appreciation and understanding of my grade 1 techniques. its really a rather decent handicap and training simtor." Bu Dong replied.

    "Boss Jin said that the second iteration of Dark Days Dungeon ising soon. Should be after the hype of Zombie World Instance goes down." Xiong Da said and Bu Dong had glittering stars in his eyes.

    "Damn, now I am hyped up. There is going to be a rematch against that Goblin Knight. But I wonder if it is the second portion or inter parts."Bu Dong mumbled to himself and the other two shook their heads consecutively.

    "Haha, you are truly a battle maniac." Yue Han replied as they finalised the drones they wanted to use and started to move out to the subway tform.

 Chapter 1931 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 3

    Chapter 1931 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 3

    When they emerged from the subway station, it took them a little orienting to understand that they were currently at a penthouse. The subway exit eventually disappears as if to indicate that they are not going back unless the time is up.

    Then again, the rules did indicate clearly that they were going to be respawned in the ''checkpoint'' or hideout when they were killed. To some people who were smart in terms of gaming knowledge, they shamelessly asked whether this could be used to their advantage such as killing themselves so that they would return to the initial hideout.

    Jin was quick with his reply and stated that yes, such a function could be abused but he did state that there was a penalty in terms of Zombie World Raid Points. As long as they were willing to take the penalty, they could die and return to the hideout. Of course, he did not make such a harsh penalty for dying or else, it would be somewhat unfair.

    The penalty was an incremental function. The first death would not incur any penalty but the subsequent death would. There was also a time limit that needed to be fulfilled to reduce the penalty back to zero. And as usual, there was an incremental function to the penalty as well. The first death will result in a 30 minute penalty, the second death would incur an hour penalty. With this in ce, the penalty was meant to tell the rest not to be too reckless in their fights.

    And the only way to exit it fully was to shout a unique safe word which the Pandarens had to designate prior to the raid. It was a new safety feature to break out from the immersion and Jin was testing it to learn whether it was useful or not. What was the frequency and usage of such an emergency exit phrase and this would be a useful raid to test it out.

    But to the current group, it was not an issue as they were not nning to exit the ce and make full use of the time they had been given. As Yinn and the rest were the first to make the penthouse the hideout, they purposely gave vague information that a ton of zombies were lurking in the building and they could clear it right here and now or skip everything to explore the area.

    It was a freedom of choice kind of raid. This was because the objective of the Zombie World Raid Instance was to clear and establish perimeters that would allow humans to live peacefully. This was not possible with their current group size and the number of zombies that were in the area.

    Even if they could clear the area now, there was no guarantee that the zombies would note back again. So the whole situation looked like it was a futile scenario. However, Jin had emphasised that there was indeed a definite number of zombies in that world. Whether the Pandarens could clear it or not was up to them.

    And that was what Xiong Da and the remaining Raid Team had to do. They decided that since this was their first raid, they would clear as many zombies as they could to make sure that when subsequent teams arrived to use the same hideout after Xiong Da and others left, they would have an easier time.

    Was it supposed to work as a noble sacrifice? Not exactly. If what the Grey Bear Squad had said was true, it meant that there was a whole boatload of points waiting for them to be taken. Why would they want to miss such an opportunity when presented to them?

    That was exactly the whole point of being the first raid team to enter into this Zombie World Raid Instance. And so they had to monopolise this opportunity to their fullest abilities.

    "The coast is clear to exit," Diaz said as she scanned the surroundings. Compared to the time when they had exited the Zombie World with a bunch full of zombies attempting to tear them from limb to limb, it was indeed a different sight to behold. The corridors were rather empty with a few zombies lying at the corners and so the Pandawans took this opportunity to kill them as stealthfully as possible.

    "So, the stairs or the lift?" Yue Han asked and everyone pointed at the obvious: the Stairs. No one wanted to be stuck in a lift and cause a perfect opportunity for the zombies to notice the sound of the lift moving and potentially overwhelm the lift area. And that was not the worst case scenario as the zombies caused the lift to overload and break the lift''s weight.

    A moment''s worth of respite will have long term repercussions to handle. If the building was truly cleared, the lifts could be used in the future. But then even if Yue Han wanted to use the lift, was there any power to it? That was something that they did not consider until they tried it out themselves. Even so, the raid team did not try it out as the majority group had decided to move via the stairs instead.

    But the moment they opened the stairs, they noticed that there were already a bunch of zombies lying in wait. It seemed as if they had been alerted by the noises the cultivators had made when they killed the zombies even though they had been rather careful with the killing.

    Yet, the zombies were perceptive to the sounds mainly due to the fact that it had always been quiet all this while until the arrival of the raiding team. The sudden emergence of their footsteps echoed the change in environment which led the zombies to run with their instincts.

    Still, the fights were quick despite the zombies knowing that their target would be appearing from the corridor. Bu Dong mmed himself at the zombies through the stairs while Diaz and Yinn annihted the ones that wereing up with a few shots. This cleared the way quickly for the group to move to the next lower floor.

    At that point, they rushed in to make sure that no zombies blocked the door so that their group could fan out. "Haha. I am sorry to underestimate the number of zombies in this building." Yue Han said as the groups of zombies stared straight at them through the corridor.

    "We will take care of this," Diaz said as she revealed a gatling gun from her storage ring and immediately dispatched the zombies with a string of bullets. their bodies broke into pieces with the strength of the bullets ripping through their weakened flesh but the numbers were disrupting how things would go.

    Bu Dong did not think that gatling gun could be that deadly until he realised that there was some form of chi being imbued into the weapon as well, allowing the bullets to be as deadly as they were seeing. "Wow, they are cultivators too? Not many cultivators would go with the way of the gun." Bu Dong sent a telepathy message to Xiong Da.

    "Maybe, they are just using their chi to power up the guns. Nothing special." Xiong Da replied back telepathically.

    "Did you not sense it? Their chi presence was basically zero. Even someone as strong as Boss Jin, you could feel his pressure and strength no matter how he tried to hide it if you forced your own senses. But these mercenaries... Their chi was almost invisible. I thought being able to sense Boss Jin''s chi was already an achievement, but their chi presence... it''s another level of its own."

    "Now that you mentioned it, the amount of chi strength they portrayed via their chi is not proportional to the power output that was being disyed. In addition, the sounds were also muffled..." Xiong Da added until they realised something odd.

    The gatling gun that Diaz was using was not pouring out empty shells at all. With a focused zoom, Xiong Da could finally see that the bullets used were different from themon bullets he had seen before. Sure, he was not an expert when it came to guns but he believed that he saw enough variation of bullets to understand how certain guns worked.

    "It looks like it''s a modified gun, not the usual one we were used to." Xiong Da stated as he used the bullets as a reference. Bu Dong had to focus his chi on his eyes to ensure that they could see what Xiong Da was talking about.

    "Man, you are right. It''s the weapons that made a difference," Bu Dong said telepathically and decided to ask Yinn bluntly about it.

    "Those weapons? They are not for sale at all. Most that we carried are custom made by Jin''s craftsmen."

    "Are you kidding, Jin sell these kind of weapons? How did I not know that at all." Bu Dong replied and wondered if these were the norm for those operators who were special to Jin. But for now, the killing continued from room to room, floor to floor.

 Chapter 1932 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 4

    Chapter 1932 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 4

    As the first raid team had started their progress, the rest of the raid teams that had already been assembled were also being teleported to various areas of the Zombie World.

    Egypt, France, USA, United Kingdom, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, and China were the ces where Jin had created the hideouts for them to participate from. He wanted to have more ces for the raid teams to try out and branch out from there but those were still considered to be limited especially when Jin was only relying on his Grey Bears to scout for the hideouts.

    Yet, those hideouts were sufficient for now as each country mentioned had at least two locations where the raid teams started their exploration. For example, Xiong Da and the others were in the supposed outskirts near Badaling City while the next location was ironically, Qian Liu Town as well.

    He purposely took Qian Liu Town as the second hideout as an easter egg for the subsequent store expansion that he had nned. Of course, he also found it reasonable that the area was remote enough to act as a branching point to breach into Mongolia if the Pandarens wanted or explore the forests and mountains of Beijing.

    As for the rest of the Pandarens who wished to participate, there was a waiting time induced to it as Jin did not wish to mass popte the Zombie World Raid so quickly as mentioned. However, the more the raids go through, the more hideouts get to be established.

    That also means that more people are going to have the chance of going into various areas and pioneers of those hideouts would be recorded in the Pandamonium App as an act of glory for creating such a hideout. It was a small and yet non essential mention in the Pandamonium App but to some Pandarens, it meant a lot to them that they had achieved something like this, and had their name etched in ces like the Pandamonium App.

    But for now, after the first raid team had gone in and was sessful in killing their first zombie, the rest of the premade teams who had managed to get a booking to enter the Zombie World Instance were teleported.

    Yes, the premade teams were on a firste first serve basis. Those who were able to get the bookings when the Zombie World Instance was up had the opportunity to y it as soon as it opened. This was also to help assist and manage the expectations of the Pandarens who wished to enter the raid. This was also used as a sort of experiment, to see if Jin were to limit something in particr, would it have any impact on the customers even though this would ur with lesser waiting time for them.

    For now, the booking of the slots was rather effective in controlling the number of entries in the purchase of tickets or the redemption of tickets through the Dungeon Supplier Pass. The only problem was that he was afraid the slots might be wasted and thus he implemented ast minute slot for those who wished to try their luck.

    Those Pandarens who resorted to this method would have to be on standby in either the Tree Mall or the Dungeons and Pandas store instance. Once the Pandamonium App had released the slot to the public, the one who would get it would be the team who was first in the queue. And based on the number of interested applicants, the waiting time to respond would be adjusted ordingly to those who had applied as well. However, the minimum response time had been set to a minute and Jin did feel that it was fair to those Pandarens who wished to try their luck on this too if they were not able to get the slots.

    In addition, if they were already in a dungeon or service instance to waste their time, their ability to respond to the Last minute call up was avable as well. Just that they need to forfeit their current instance and be teleported to the new Zombie World Raid Instance. That was the risk they had to take if they wished to squeeze and make the most out of their time.

    That aside, he was surprised that even when he and the System had emphasised this would be a rather casual and persistent kind of Dungeon environment, the numbers who had signed for the Raid were in the hundreds. It was to the point where Jin realised that he had no choice but to not waste any time he had to keep them disappointed. Thus, he employed and deployed his Savants from the Dungeon World to look into other countries like Africa and Russia since his current scouting group had been hired by Xiong Da and the other two Pandawans.

    Speaking about them, they were fifteen minutes in and had already cleared four floors of the apartment building that they were in. They had decided to split into four groups to handle the zombies as they realised that they would not be moving through the floors quick enough given the time limit they have. Compared to the rest, they were already privileged to get a time limit of an hour whereas the others only have 30minutes for their slot. Surely there was some bias but given that Xiong Da had done so much for their acquisition of the next phase of expansion, this privilege was well earned.

    And also, due to the size of the building''s corridors, there was no way for the entire squad to go through it with finesse. Thus, having only two per group make it significantly easier for the groups to perform their job more effectively. All of the three Pandawans had been split to pair up with one Grey bear while thest group consisted of Page and Diaz.

    While Diaz was the main assault forward in the entire squad and should be ced at the front when the choice was merely either her or Page, she did not do that. Page was the one who Diaz had selected to go in front instead. And that was mainly because of her absurdly strong meleebat. Even though there was a modification of attributes in the Virtual Simtion when the Grey Bears were still in Synthesis World, the System was able to replicate the same numbers and values that the Grey Bear Mechanoids had, allowing them to have simr if not maybe even better stats.

    Of course, it required money and lots of it too.

    This was due to the fact that the System needed to get parts from the ck Market as well as stealing some material from the Celestial ne which Milk and Peppers had already done so before they came out of the Celestial Realm. Even though Peppers was seen to be a child who just wanted snacks as much as possible, she was still responsible enough to buy a few items that could potentially be useful for the Dugneon Supplier. The only exception was Milk who had purchased items for her own use only.

    And so, the Mechanoids were created with Celestial Metal, Rubber and Cloth, something that would have been impossible for the System to purchase from the ck Market. They do sell it but it was at such an obscene price that it did not take long for the System to reject it.

    Thus, Page built with Celestial metal was able to punch and slice the Zombies with her bare hands. It did not take long for them to die as well especially when most of the attacks were punching the stomach or the head. Holes in either area would most likely cause the zombies to copse. And that was also why Page and Diaz had been assigned the lowest of the four floors to make sure that there was some buffer when it came to noise.

    Diaz did not need to shoot any more things as every single zombie crowded Page easily, enabling her to search for a proper exit aside from the one they came from. "Do you want to try this?" Diaz asked she threw her a pair of knuckle dusters.

    "Heh. I guess you should not be too concerned about that." Page wore it in her right hand and sent another one through the roof just by punching. And at that point, the feather duster had already broken down into particle debris. If they were doing this on a regr basis, the consumption and resilience of the material needed to be reviewed, and not only be used on a daily basis.

    "Zzzz, then I should have kept it for myself rather than giving it to you." Diaz shook her hands, not wanting to pick up the now knuckle duster and see what was the problem with it for a moment before throwing it aside not wanting to be by dusts.

    "The Coast is clear." Xiong Da said through the team channel and subsequently, everyone else followed through with the next n except for the floor where Diaz and Page were in.

    "Sorry, we might need a short interval. Just found a special ss zombie lurking around." Page reported and asked whether they could engage it first.

 Chapter 1933 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 5

    Chapter 1933 Zombie World Raid Instance -Part 5

    The sound of a special ss zombie excited the Pandawans. For the past ten minutes or so, they had been fighting only regr zombies which did not prove a challenge to them with the asional scare that happened to them when they opened the doors a little too quickly. Upon hearing the word special ss, their blood was pumping to the point where they wanted to smash through the floors and go to the floor where Page and Diaz were.

    Naturally, the response time to request fire for effect turned into actual firing when the special ss zombie started to walk closer to them. Diaz still had her gatling gun on her and she already threw another hail of bullets towards it as Page ran at the side, narrowing and avoiding the stream of bullets. But as she got closer, Diaz stopped her gun allowing Page to shoot hers instead. They were not giving any quarters for the special ss zombie to recover even as it started to defend itself withrge burly hands and a rather fat physical body.

    However, as things started to look positive and the special ss zombie looked as if it had been defeated, Page noticed that it was moving at all. If it had been sprayed by that many bullets, it should have at least tilted to the side in pain rather than staying stationary considering most of its weight has been centre at its abdominal area.

    That was when Page started to get suspicious and moved nearly while changing her magazine. She did not dare to confirm the killing of the special ss zombie until she knew that it really stopped moving. It was only at that point that those burly arms started to swing by which forced Page to perform a quick dodge by squatting. Those arms smashed through the corridor walls and doors like it was paper.

    But even though it was destroying the corridor like paper, the debris still scattered and hit Page. Diaz moved away just in time and subsequently forced herself through the corridor to rescue Page. She did panic a little to see her buddy fainted but the worry was all for naught when she became about in less than a second and followed with a uppercut that forced the zombie to lose its arms.

    At that point, it gave Diaz a bit of a shocker to see her buddy revive so quickly, andter remembered that she was not just some bat medic''. Her modifications had given her superhuman strength and her ability to manipte Mechanoids. The Gunzerker had forgotten that Page was a Mechanoid herself too and that means she was also ''eligible'' to manipte herself.

    "So much for caring," Diaz said as she saw Page return to normal so quickly despite seeing the debris breaking an entire part of her face away.

    "Thanks for caring." Page smiled back butter realised that the fight was not done as the Special ss Zombie moved backward. It was at that moment that both of them understood it was not just moving away, something actually popped out from the back of the zombie andter caused the fat zombie to dete like some open balloon.

    It was at that point where there was no need for Diaz and Page to be in action as they saw the other portion of the Special ss Zombie decided to dash out of the corridor and send itself jumping over the parapet. While there was time to react to put some bullets into the running special ss zombie, the bullets did not affect it in any way. It was there that the Special ss zombiended in the empty space outside of the building that they were in.

    "It is running. North side." Page reported and the Pandawans quickly moved their asses to the northern corridor where there was a balcony on every floor to overlook the parapet. Is that how all special ss zombies look like?" Yue Han asked but the Grey Bears simultaneously gave a no for the answer. Subsequently, only Yinn exined that all the special ss zombies as their title had stated, were special in their own ways.

    "It seemed like this particr zombie is a runner of some sort." Page added. "And the bullets we fired had no effect on him. Either that or it is extremely tenacious that it is able to move around without the worries of injuries."

    With that information, Tellie took the conjecture to the test as her scope was already trailing the zombie and decided to take a shot at its thighs to see whether she could slow it down. But because of the distance, the zombie was umting through its dashes, Tellie had to remove her silencer to increase the uracy of her shot.

    Thus, when the shot went through, the sound echoed through the entire town as if warning every single zombie in the area that the Raid Team was around. It was a calcted risk that Xiong Da had given the permission to fire as Tellie did request permission to perform such an act.

    Sure enough, the bullet reached its intended target, plunging itself into the flesh of the special ss zombie''s leg. And yet, the zombie continued to run without care of the injury that it had incurred. The only difference that it does not know is that the bullet was a tracing round and Tellie was able to effectively track where the special ss was running to despite theck of information around the outskirts of Badaling city.

    All they knew was that the tracker was working and the special ss zombie ran the hell out of the way. "How long does the tracker stay online?" Xiong Da asked as he felt that it was a waste to see the special ss zombie out of their grasp.

    "The signal should be live for at least a week. I can send you the coordinates and the tracking web app through the Pandamonium App even after our contract is done." Tellie said that she had the assumption they were not going to chase the special ss zombie when their main objective was to clear the building.

    But as theymented their loss for not being able to get the special ss zombie, there was a loud howl that came beneath them. That was when the zombie started to get a little irritated. They seemed to be more sensitive to the unusual movements that the Raid Teams had been making and were going toward the building.

    Bu Dong wanted to rush by diving down from the high floors of the apartment building and make a huge impact against the zombies but Xiong Da had already predicted that and spoke up before Bu Dong was able to perform any actions.

    "No. Just no." We are going to clear this ce systematically as mentioned. The floors that are cleared means that we have control of the area. If there is a need to move away from the horde, we will know that the floors have been cleared and there will be no zombies ambushing us." Xiong Da exined and Bu Dong had no choice but to bepliant because his leader made sense. Even the Grey Bear Squad had the same agreement with him.

    Despite the agitation they saw in the eyes of the zombies, and they could sense that there was activity in that apartment block the Pandawans were in, they were not moving at a murderous pace to reach their destination. Therefore, they still had time if they were to calm down and move logically.

    If Bu Dong had based on that howl and dived into the masses of zombies that were outside of the building, he might have been able to create a spectacr technique move with the amount of chi he could generate during that dive. But once that move had been done, he would be alone surrounded by zombies with little to no cover. Sure, there may be buildings around which he could hide but he had to contest with the remaining zombies before he could reach for cover.

    And would Yue Han, Xiong Da, or the other Grey Bear Squad members woulde to rescue him after his moment of glory? Likely not. The only thing they would do is pour some lead to the zombies around him, in hopes that he could get into cover soon.

    Perhaps, he could qing gong his way out the moment he reached for the roofs but do not forget that there were zombies lurking everywhere and even the rooftops were not safe from them. They could be hiding in the vents or corners.

    Thankfully, none of those happened as Xiong Da was in control of the situation and the team. Bu Dong was obedient enough and Yue Han followed orders to the dot as he knew how deadly zombies can be in a group setting. Thus, they continued to clear floor by floor as per their initial strategy until someone met up with that loud howling special ss zombie.

 Chapter 1934 Zombie World Raid Instance -Final

    Chapter 1934 Zombie World Raid Instance -Final

    Jin checked on the progress of his first raid team in the Zombie World Raid Instance. "Lol, there is literally no progress from their current fight." Jin thought to himself but he also checked the amount of points they had umted.

    And as expected from the number of points, Jin knew that they were not cking as well. This meant that the number of zombies that were lying dormant was of a significant amount. This was also seen in the rest of the hideouts that had been employed by other raid teams.

    A lot of them who were able to get in the first round might seem like it was firste first serve basis but the System had been rather picky who had the chance to go in and y the raid instance. There were conditions that the System had made to ensure that it was moving the way it wanted the raid instance to go.

    In a way, it was akin to setting an example for the rest of the groups that were toe in the future. Those conditions were simple. As long as the group leader had some experience in the previous Great Wall of China Dungeon Instance, he or she would be eligible for the first round.

    This was mainly due to the fact that the System wants experienced team leaders who understand the danger of how zombie hordes are leading the groups so they know what to do in a pinch. And so far, that selection of team leaders has paid off.

    The teams were more cautious and rather systematic in their fights against the zombies. Sure, they might be slow which was expected but those team leaders had already experienced showing flowery big actions only to pay the consequences after that. But the same could not be said for their team members and that was where chaos might ensue.

    But if there were no chaos and everything was systematic in nature, it would not be fun spectating it. And sure enough, while most teams seemed to be cautious, there were a few teams who had deviant team members who could see that they did not have the patience to practice caution.

    Thisck of caution exacerbated the members'' behaviour due to the fact that there was a death penalty. They can die and still y within the same round and some decided to use that to their advantage. And that they have a time limit, means that some want to earn big points fast otherwise they do not have the slots to go in again even though Jin had emphasized that this raid instance was here to stay for a long time.

    Even the rewards that Jin had prepared were staggered, meaning the reward list was not an exhaustive list. Everything had been made in such a way that it rewards yers in the long term.

    And because of thatck of caution, there was a team who had decided to use one of the team members as a sort of lure to get those zombies to crowd around and kill the zombies simultaneously. Thankfully, the System had deemed that the team member who had been sacrificed was a willing volunteer. If it was not, the System would immediately send the entire team out of the raid instance and do a pending investigation with NPC Panda Security Captain Hei. If found any bullying, Hei would instantly ban the relevant members.

    Overall, the groups that had entered the raid instance followed a certain pattern that the System had expected from them. Aside from a few deviants in their groups and only one raid team going absolutely nuts, the Pandarens viewing the entire stream already knew what to expect when they entered the Zombie Raid Instance.

    Other than that, Jin subsequently enjoyed Xiong Da''s raid team progress as they finally reached and fought against the special ss zombie that they had been hearing ever since they were on the top floors.

    It was situated on the ground floor of the apartment building where there was empty space around the area with the exception of foundation pirs. While this gave grounds for the Pandawans to go big or go home now that they found a second special ss zombie, they needed to be wary of how to proceed.

    This was mainly due to the fact that if their attacks were to destroy any foundational pirs, the hideout that they came from would effectively be useless for the subsequent groups. This was especially so when Jin had said that this particr raid instance was a persistent world setting.

    Hence, whatever they do will have a direct impact on the things that they are to experience in the future. That is why they have to be careful whether the attacks they do, do destroy the foundational pirs of the apartment building they were under. (That and also if they did, the entire building would be crumbling down on them.)

    Xiong Da did send a quick private message to Jin with regards to whether they died and the hideout had been destroyed. Naturally, Jin responded with a simple response. "You just gonna be revived at a ce where you had never seen before. Probably another hideout."

    With that in mind, Xiong Da had asked the team in an attempt to lure the special ss zombie out of its ce and into the open space. But no matter how the group tried to lure it with a magazine of bullets into its flesh, the special ss zombie was not moving away.

    To make matters worse, the special ss zombie was regenerating considerably faster than the regr zombie and it had moveable tendrils that acted as a flesh barrier whenever the Grey Bear Squad had aimed its head.

    For a zombie to have such fast reacting tendrils that could match the speed of a bullet had made them more dangerous than it seemed to be. But Diaz begged to differ. She had decided to try that theory by overloading it with not just a magazine of bullets but rather, a full box of bullets instead.

    To her surprise, the zombie grew even more tendrils to block the bullets and even used stronger flesh tendrils as a buffer while the head and entire body remained stationary. Hence, it reinforced the fact further that if they got to destroy its head, the special ss zombie would be killed.

    But for this particr special ss zombie, it was not aggressive in nature and had always been defending itself all this while. Though it was not aggressive, it had been howling its lungs out this entire time. And at each interval, the howling got louder and louder.

    Xiong Da assumed that this particr special ss zombie was made to create or maybe assemble a horde together. So, if they do not destroy it fast enough, this entire ce would be overwhelmed with undead bodies crawling for a bite of their flesh.

    And since it was not able to move, Yinn was contemting using her powers to teleport it somewhere else just as she had done for her team when they were in the Synthesis World. But the team and her orders from Jin were explicit. To not reveal their true powers to the group and act as if their chi powers were limited. Only shows how they would act when they were just Mechanoids.

    Otherwise, either Yinn or Tellie would have cleared this special ss zombie in a jiffy. One by teleporting or the other by utter destruction using her signatureser beam attack while avoiding the foundation pirs of the apartment building.

    But since Jin had already instructed not to reveal this kind of power to the group even in emergencies, the Grey Bears had to acknowledge the orders of theirmander. Yet that did not mean it was the end of the group as Xiong Da had decided to pin it all in one move.

    "I am not sure whether it works or not but if it doesn''t, Bu Dong please lead the team as Ie down from the Hideout after my death penalty."

    "Oh please, the way you say it seemed like you were going to die and take a long time toe back. When all you could do was just jump out of the window and reach the ground floor." Bu Dong rolled his eyes.

    "Ohe on, let me be a little dramatic once in a while." Xiong Da giggled as he stepped backward, gathered some chi, and started charging toward the special ss zombie. "And also, I like to see if my efforts have paid off from the training in Dark Day Dungeons!" Xiong Da eximed as he used a technique that he had learned when he was a mere Grade 1. It was a charging attack which he does not usually use nowadays since his chi was much stronger than before. (also, a little demanding on his knees.)

    "Hungry Hippo Charge!" Xiong Da shouted! As much as there was a name to the technique, he became a little toozy to shout it out as he had gotten used to the technique when ying the Dark Days Dungeons.

    Multiple tendrils moved to the front to block it only to find that it was useless against Xiong Da who had used all his strength to bash through the tendrils and subsequently moved in to grab the body of the zombie.

    That was when Xiong Da realised that it was not as tough as it looked, the tendrils might be meat shields but they could not even handle the charging form that Xiong Da had performed. (Or maybe he felt that all the training in Dark Days Dungeon really did pay off and he got way better in the technique than he had thought.

    Regardless when he thought of uprooting the immovable special ss zombie and bringing it out into the open space, that idea changed when he had easily grabbed its torso. Since he had his hands on it, Xiong Da decided to transfer all the force that he had and crush the special ss zombies with his bare hands.

 Chapter 1935 End of Zombie World Raid Instance

    Chapter 1935 End of Zombie World Raid Instance

    As soon as he did that, the amount of Zombie points awarded was ridiculously high. Even the System knew that different special ss zombies should award the appropriate amount of zombie points. Effort should be rewarded as intended.

    But when Xiong Da''s Squad checked the time left in their Pandamonium App, they would not have much left to spare upon defeating the special ss zombie. All they could do was possibly do a debrief session or kill any remaining zombies that wereing into the building.

    It sounded like they were clearing up the area but they had not forgotten that the howling of the special ss zombie had made things especially difficult for them to move out of the building premises. Surely the walls of the private apartment building would put a mark on the zombie''s progress but the previous special ss zombie''s howling was significantly potent that those zombies were pushing and even stepping on one another to climb up the low wall that was meant to protect the private apartment from improper human intrusion. (They were definitely not meant to stop zombie intrusion.)

    Even so, Jin believed they had already done a good job clearing twenty over floors of zombies in an hour and were still able to contend with two special ss zombies. While it was a pity they could not get the first one, the System thereforepensated the zombie points with the second one. Of course, it was not a direct insertion of points. but after the raid was done.

    They had an after mission holographic screen to disy their results the moment the time was up and all of them teleported back to the subway station that brought them to the Zombie World Raid Instance. It gave them the breakdown of how many zombies they had killed and how many assists they had made. Of course, those did not matter to them aspared to the amount of zombie points they had umted. As long as any of those numbers would be useful to contributing the zombie points to their score, they will be satisfied.

    In addition, the three Pandawans also receive 5% of zombie points of what the Grey Bear Squad had killed. That was a surprise to them when they saw the results screen to find that what they had killed was also part of their score.As the Grey Bear Squad Leader, Yinn told them that this was part of the advantages of using the NPC Adventurer System.

    "Obviously, we are not part of the NPC Adventurer System since Jin had been kind enough to throw you a special offer to use us. But we are obligated to tell you that the workings of the NPC Adventurer System are meant to aid you since you paid money or Panda Coins for it." Yinn exined. She also added that there were levels to patronising the NPC Adventurer System.

    The more they use it, the percentage of zombie points they receive will also increase. There is currently a max of 50% but the road to get that level was undoubtedly paved with lots of expenses to the customer''s wallet. Therefore, this was not exined until the end of the first mission upon using the NPC Adventurer System. It was to not let others think that this is a substitute for the real yers'' interaction.

    "In fact, Jin had a team bonus multiplier if you ever had a full team going into the Zombie World Raid Instance. The erm...programme will monitor how well the team works and depending on your performance, a multiplier can be added in. It can go up to a maximum of 50% as well." Yinn told them to remind the other two Pandawans that money was not everything even though she had seen the records on the System to know that Bu Dong was quite the spender too despite his age.

    "Heh, I will take note of that." Bu Dong could also sense that Yinn was talking to him instead of Xiong Da or Yue Han. The way he interpreted it was that Jin had told Yinn beforehand and asked her to ry such a message.

    "But damn, if we could get you again, that would be fantastic." Xiong Da eximed as he knew that he was working with professionals.

    "From the records, your group of existing Pandawans is morepetent than us. We are just mercenaries." Yinn replied humbly.

    "Nah. Even Bu Dong can sense that your team is different from any other mercenaries out there especially when you had been handpicked by Jin himself. What you are showing was definitely lesser than you are capable of. I am sure of that." Xiong Da added.

    "There is no way that you are able to choose us again unless Boss Jin allows for it." Click said as she stretched herself when they were talking. She felt a little sad that none of her drones were being deployed for this current raid. She was expecting to earn a little from their excessive use but it looks like they were cautious enough to prevent the use of such drones and at the same time, the current fighting environment had also reduced the possible use of the drones as well.

    Perhaps if they were in a more open surrounding where there were no covers, no narrow spaces which the cultivators could not utilise to their advantage then perhaps the drones might have some space for action.

    But overall, the results were rather decent and they had quite a fair amount of zombie points from the raid. Not to mention, they were the only group that upied a simultaneous time slot which meant Xiong Da and the other two Pandawans were ahead of the rest for the time being.

    This was undoubtedly a significant advantagepared to the rest of the Pandarens mainly because there were some results were limited especially the plushies which Xiong Da had already actually told Jin how he had bought a house where he dedicated all of his plushies which he got from Jin and ced it in there.

    When Jin previously saw the plushie collection from Xiong Da''s phone, he decided to create and put up a gallery instance where it would showcase all the plushies, toys, collectibles, and other rewards that he had created previously and put them up for disy.

    "I am not that interested in other stuff other than your plushies. You just have to make sure that any limited edition plushie that you have, I must acquire it too." Xiong Da once said he was now a serious collector of the plushie.

    What''s more, there was a statement where this particr new zombie panda plushie that Jin had put limited stocks in was ground breaking. It does not only let you feel extremely stress free from it but also exudes a particr fragrance that was supposed toe from a recurring inscription charm. As long as the inscription charm had sufficient chi, it would exude a particr fragrance.

    As to the smell, there was no mention of what it was and the Pandarens had to redeem the limited edition zombie plushie first before knowing the smell. But Jin guarantees that this would be one of the nicest smelling zombies the customers would ever encounter.

    Other than that, most of the rewards were rather standard as Jin did say that the rewards had been staggered to make sure that at each major breakthrough, the Zombie World Instance had, they could get better different rewards during the next phase.

    When questioned when was the major breakthrough, Jin hinted at milestones like liberating and taking over a capital city, by ensuring no zombies were in there for a number of days. Or killing a hundred thousand zombies. Such minor and major milestones would enable the store to be updated and Jin assured that there were no changes to the zombie points at all.

    However, he did state that if there were limited edition zombie points to be earned, there would be lead time for the Pandarens to take note and it would be an event with regards to the Zombie World Raid Instance. As of now, there were no such events nned in the near future until the Pandarens got used to Zombie World Raid Instance as a permanent fixture of the Dungeon Supplier store.

    "Thank you for your service then," Xiong Da representing the Pandawans thanked the Grey Bears for an eye opener on the teams that Jin had under him and were on his payroll. It might not mean much to Bu Dong and Yue Han but Xiong Da knew the implications of keeping an elite team under his name.

    There had been rumours and gossip floating around that Boss Jin was an up anding Royal Zodiac Head. The trip to the Ministry of Land''s main branch office had confirmed much of that suspicion mainly due to the fact that Jin had been given a privilege tier that was usually reserved for the Royal Zodiac ns. And even if Jin had said that perhaps he had some connections, it was impossible to give such a high tier exclusive just for Jin unless they owed him something huge.

    Yet, the impassive look on Ma Ge who was part of the Royal Zodiac Horse family did not make such an ''expression of gratitude''. Not to mention, Jin was not even ...grateful? Xiong Da could see in his face that Jin didn''t expect it but when he got it, it was as if he should have it.

    Of course, all of these were conjectures and inferences that Xiong Da had, and even the documents that Jin''s employees had prepared did not mention one bit that Jin was about to be a part of a Royal Zodiac n. In addition, Jin''s cultivation was not suitable for any of the Royal Zodiacs. The closest might be the Tiger n but Xiong Da knows that the Tigers do notck any sessors.

    Still, Xiong Da knew that Jin was someone big. But he had no idea how big Jin was. And that ''big'' status was confirmed once more when the national news stated that the National Martial Arts and Sports Competition would be held in Shenzhen, Tiangong District.

 Chapter 1936 The Competition Announcement

    1936 The Competition Announcement

    Thepetition announcement caught everyone by surprise, especially the participants as they never expected it to be revived after what happened to the city that was supposed to be hosting it. Unfortunately for them, the announcement was not a hoax since the national newspaper had quoted the Royal Zodiac Heads who were hosting it and there was even an official telecast of the announcement being broadcast to the nation. It was actually happening and there was panic in the past participants as everyone who was supposed to be involved in it started searching on the inte who was this particr dungeon supplier.

    As much as Jin believed that he was famous, he was not exactly well known to people in the other fields since those martial artists had believed that dungeon suppliers had devolved to a state where they were not taken seriously by these people. In the past, it might have been the go to ce for them to achieve the relevant skills and experience but not at the moment when people had been pampered by technology.

    However, the more these martial artists checked Jin''s credentials, they started to have doubts about that particr belief. While national news and a quick inte search were what most martial artists would have done, some of their masters have connections to the military and other closed intelligence sources to learn more about this dungeon supplier.

    Credit within the closed circles had made Jin look like he was the real deal and reviews of his Dark Days Dungeon Series were reminiscent of the old way where Martial Artists were restricted and trained until they got used to their techniques. But considering how recent Dark Days Dungeon was, some of the martial art masters wondered whether Jin did that to show that he had the calibre to host such an event. Surely he had made the scene within closed circles and Royal Zodiacs had vouched for him but there were still suspicions, thinking that this particr guy was a fraud to be able to do so much within a year.Thus, many who joined thispetition had an ulterior motive to denounce this dungeon supplier when they had the chance but if they really met the real deal, then things might change for the martial arts scene too. Most of them took a ''Let''s join and see'' approach since thepetition venue had already been endorsed by the Royal Zodiacs. But do not forget that the Martial Artists were just half of the crowd. Thispetition was catered to athletes too and they wereughing that all of thesepetition venues could be done by a dungeon supplier. Most of them were ignorant of the fact that Jin was able to create such realistic venues and denounce the Royal Zodiacs'' trust in him. However, they had forgotten or had not noticed there were sports enthusiasts within the cultivator groups and incidentally turned into fanatics who defended Jin and his dimensional instances. While Jin did some sports service instances, Panda Muscles was not exactly the best example to showcase its prowess for sports likepetitive cycling and even yacht racing but they were sure that based on the dungeon instances that Jin created, he was able to create the most realistic kind of environment for them topete in. In fact, Jin was able to control the most damning factor that all sportspetitors hated. The weather. Surely, everyone would love topete in sunny weather but what if Jin could create a special category where he made sure that everyone would bepeting in bad weather to push the limits of thepetitors? And in doing so, it might create excitement for the spectators while ensuring that even in an ident, thepetitors would not be hurt by it too. Screw that safety officer when Jin had the Luxury Recovery Instance and its Panda Nurses to take care of these people. This would undoubtedly bring a brand new level ofpetition where no other venues or city host was able to do so. If this was done right, he could potentially not just bag nationalpetitions into his pockets but also internationalpetitions. No ridiculous stadiums needed to be built or fancy amodations. The cost could be brought down and more profit for the host nation as they handle the crowd. All the city officials needed to worry about was handling the number of peopleing and going from Jin''s instances.

    Yet, the one that had the most amount of excitement was the cultivators. Yes, the Pandarens to be exact. They never thought of the day that Jin would be able to hold an official national event, one as major as the National Martial Arts and Sports Competition. Many were excited as the National News Media outlets only gave the minimum facts about the event but the Pandamonium App had dedicated one event page to it. With Kiyu as the main designer, she made the app page to be extremely shy with the aid of the System. Even without any technical support or coding knowledge, the System assisted her in creating one of the most vibrant event pages ever created. The System put in so much effort mainly because of the public response and for image''s sake. If they made such a shoddy terrible effort to the event page, mostpetitors would not expect much from it. And it was undoubtedly necessary for them to create the page to provide the information mainly due to the fact that the moment thepetition had been announced, the number of installs from the online app store was in the thousands. As much as the Chinese were used to busyyouts, the System did not make the Pandamonium App filled with words. Instead, it went for the more modern, fewer words but a shy kind of interface. At the same time, they gave the necessary and straightforward information on how the registration should be. It also gave sneak peeks on every single sports instance that had been created so that people could get tickets to see such an event. And that was the part where the System broke down the pricing to a very streamlined experience. Modelling from the monthly pass, the System had created an ultimate event pass that restricts and gives ess to every single sports instance avable.

    From physical ess to digital ess, the System had learned from its past experience working Pandaflix and the Monthly pass to give the most creative and expensive experience.

    That was why the System had purposely presented the sneak peek on the sports instance and the simtion of the possible participants in the sneak peek videos. So they could either watch the live stream show from thefort of their homes ore to the sports instance and watch it live. Kiyu worked hard to make all those sports videos work visually well. From the dramatic climbing of mountains to the intense scene of the people fighting for a ball. It was to the point some people were skeptical whether Dungeons and Pandas could truly provide such quality. The only difference between these neers and existing customer base was that, thetter knew this was not just possible. It existed.

    Thus, the critics and reviewers were fighting online fiercely on the videos and the justification of the price. And this was what Jin wanted badly. Even if there was either positive or negative press, he was getting publicity. And that publicity despite its scepticism was producing the noise that Jin wanted for thepetition instance.

    Because regardless of all that noise, the numbers do not lie. The app installs went to the thousands, and the website that the System had along with the new specialpetition instance had thousands of hits too. There were even several asions of distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks as well but the System was able to shrug it off as it had been prepared for it knowing that the noise made had allowed them to be rather sessful. Even the Royal Zodiac n Heads had no idea that Jin was able to handle such bacsh and learned how the Chinese society as a whole viewed Dungeon Suppliers. If this was sessful, Jin might not only be one of the most renowned Dungeon Suppliers in China but also possibly the most notable Dungeon Supplier out of their country as well for this period of time.

    He had the capital and resources to pull through. He knew how vicious the noise could be but once and when this event went smoothly, his next step was to announce the establishment of the brand new sites that he acquired previously. He believed that the people in Qian Liu Town would be in shock and that Tianjin Road would have a new addition that would not be missed by any locals or tourists.

    Yet, there were still uncertain facts and unknown situations that might be an obstacle to this road to sess. And it usually came hand in hand when the Royal Zodiacs were involved, especially when there were instances that had already shown it happened before in pastpetitions, it can happen again.

    The Banned Emperor Terrorists.

 Chapter 1937 Prize Pool

    1937 Prize Pool

    "Are we going to do a reception for this event?" Qiu Yue asked as thepetition drew even closer and the participants who wished to participate went to the thousands. The Royal Zodiac ns in charge of the event were not expecting to have such a high participation rate.

    In fact, they assumed that because it was an impromptu announcement for thepetition, they were going to have much fewer participantspared to the one the Zodiac ns tried to host in the cities where the incident happened.

    "Considering the amount of people that had joined to see and curious about this new way topete, I think it''s best to have a reception. We can use the Royal Zodiac Heads again as the main highlight for the reception." Jin joked for thest portion.

    "Eh. Doing it once is great exposure but doing it so many times, is a little excessive, don''t you think?" Qiu Yue believed that there were other things that could be done in recement of using the Royal Zodiac Heads. It feltzy to reuse it again.

    "But the receptions are all the same," Jin remarked. "There is nothing special about thispetition. It''s not like there is a major prize awaiting them... oh wait. System, there is a prize for the best martial artist, is it?" "Yes. It amounts to 50,000 USD. One of thergest prize pools for being the first." The System replied.

    "Wow, they are giving out USD instead of Yuan? Those Royal Zodiac Horses must have gone insane to give such a big prize pool." Jin said as he mentally calcted the conversion rate to give himself an approximate figure for the sum. It all adds up to 350 thousand Yuan give or take. That was still a sum that was considerably high.

    "It is well to note that the sum that had been given on an annual basis was 50,000 Yuan." The Systemmented as it showed its User the previous year''s prize pool to show how much they had decided to put in.

    "Am I not charging them enough? Are my rates too cheap that they got so much money to spare?" Jin asked and Qiu Yueughed. "Sad for you, the creation of those sports instances is already considered dirt cheap even if you attempt to rip them off." Qiu Yue stated as the System also chimed in.

    "Exactly, the quoted price to make and build the instances was already 10 times the usual market price. That was when you had insisted on jacking up the prices two times more." "Bleh. If I had known that, I would be charging them at least 20 times more than the usual market price." "The services that you quoted are still subject to change. We had ced a base amount there and the variation in price was allowed due to the number of participants and audience that came in. After all, a portion of the sales have to go back to the Royal Zodiacs."

    "That is one thing I do not understand. Why do we need to ''donate'' money back to the Royal Zodiacs for? Whatever we earn should be ours to keep." Jin was being greedy and wanted to keep all the profits to himself.

    "Because this is ultimately a national event. Each national event needs a fundraiser of some sort." The way Qiu Yue said was so nonchnt thatSo that portion you are giving the Royal Zodiacs would be used as a donation to their charitable organisations." "Lol, in that case, we should create our own charitable organisations." Jin suggested at the spur of the moment. "And do what? Save the pandas? The Pandas do not need saving. Much less any more charitable causes to them. They are already booming from what I heard." Qiu Yue reasoned on the type of charitable organisation that Jin would want.

    "Eh true. The Pandas do have a better life than us humans at this stage in the world''s social dynamics." Jin said as he took out his phone to check on Xin, his Panda in the zoo that he built. "See. It reinforced my point of them having such a damn good life."Jin said as he shed his phone to Qiu Yue as Xin was yawning whilezily biting the fresh bamboo shoots that the zookeeper had just given.

    "Lol. Xin looked like it had gained quite a fair bit of weight." Qiu Yuemented and the System affirmed that query, stating that Xin had gained another 8 kg upon arriving at Jin''s Zoo. "In any case, there is no need for you to create a charitable organisation if you do not have the influence." "But we all know that the Royal Zodiacs will profit from this no matter what we do." "Are you bitter that they are taking money away from you? If yes, why don''t you think of ways to earn that cash back? After all, you are running a business and so are they. Even though this was an event, they are business minded people. It is not rare that they want to cover some losses whenever possible." Qiu Yue wished to remind Jin that both parties were doing a business transaction as obvious as it was. They were not doing this out of goodwill. "You think I do not know that?" Jin said but Qiu Yue shrugged her shoulders.

    "So far, I think you had it good. A lot of the things and deals that you acquired throughout the past year or so had been rather smooth sailing for you. You had not met any that pretended to be friendly but at your back, they backstab and perhaps even front stab the shit out of your business." "The System also agreed as the System deduced that what the User was doing was extremely new even though the concept had been here for a very long time."

    "You mean I revitalise it, after all this is just a rehash of the old dungeon suppliers. There was nothing new to this at all. We are bringing back the old to make sure it is the norm again." "Aissshh! Do not interrupt the System talking!" Qiu Yue beat Jin''s shoulder. "Because the User was doing something out of the norm, no one dared to interact with him on a business level. And the System had managed to source and purchase most of the supplies from the Multiverse ck Market which was significantly cheaper than of this world. That was also why the User did not run into problems such as supply problems or negotiating deals with other vendors to get it done..." "Wow, when the System puts it that way, I really do not have anything to argue against." Jin thought about it and recognised that he was indeed quite fortunate. Most Dungeon Suppliers would have trouble sourcing for good equipment and even if they did, the amount of money they had to spend was tremendous. If Jin had remembered correctly, with the aid of technology to aid Dungeon Suppliers to create the dimensional instances, it could go up to a hundred of thousands of dors. And that was just getting decent equipment from branded namedpanies that sell such equipment. If they wish to customise their equipment just as Jin would have done it, it might potentially go up the millions.

    That was why those who know Dungeon Suppliers and their cost factors, it is also the reason why the System had gged various names that corresponded to key employees of certain majorpanies that manufactured Dungeon Supplier equipment to be in the list. Yes, the System was so terrifying that it had backdoor ess to the national records as well as thepany records of itspetitors. Kraft was no doubt its partner in crime. But in doing so, the System understood the level ofpetence each of those manufacturingpanies had and the reason why the System was able to confidently say that it would take several years to even reach the System''s basic level of realistic dimensional instance.

    And those employees that participated in the nationalpetition as the audience were not only from local nationalpanies or conglomerates but also from multi nationalpanies. The overseas MNCs were not taking any chances despite thinking that it might be overhyped from China''s side. However, when corporate spies said otherwise, they decided to take it in with a pinch of salt to see what it was but Jin believed he would wow them to the point of no return. Eventually, Qiu Yue snapped them out of the conversation and said that they had once again rail off topic again. Seeing as Jin was slightly reluctant to create a grand reception, Qiu Yue had decided to step up.

    "Fine, I will just create something simple and not those grandaur things that you always put out. At the very most, I take this as a refresher to use the Dungeon Maker especially since you said that there''s this new tracking eye function that should make things easier." She knew that if she created it hurriedly and gave Jin the shoddy work, he had no choice but to bepulsive enough to make sure it was good enough for presentation.

    "I doubt you will get giddy. But it should be useful for you." Jin replied and gave her the go ahead. At least there was some foundation done and all he had to do was to make the necessary changes.

    At the same time, he also hoped that he was able to put it out in time...because unlike him who was already quite picky with details, there''s the Chinese saying that there''s always one mountain that would be higher than the one you see. Buzz was still adding details to the second iteration of Dark Days Dungeon and that was assigned to him at least a week ago.

 Chapter 1938 In Lieu to the Opening of JODE School Instance

    1938 In Lieu to the Opening of JODE School Instance

    And as much as Jin wished to do the reception for the iingpetition instance, there was another issue that he had to handle. It was the JODE school instance that the dungeon supplier had promised Ma Ge about.

    Despite the hype of thepetition instance, the JODE did not care about it as the school instance was something that they had been promoting and pushing for a very long time. Not to mention, the closure of smaller JODE training centres around China as well as some other underdeveloped countries was done all for today.

    The fact that Grandma Yuan and ire had been actively taking care of the enrollment procedures and even the transfers of Demon Exorcists from those underdeveloped countries allowed Jin not to care about the iing problems.

    All he had to do was to handle the building itself as well as the team that handles the maintenance of the school which was not exactly a problem since that was also something that the System could take care of by employing Jin''s minions or taking some from the New Adventurer Town to do the job. Obviously, they had contracts to keep their mouth shut on certain things and there were even memory wipes to make sure they would not remember how they got the money.

    But Jin was not a big fan of such memory wipes but he epted memory tweaks instead. So instead of not remembering how the New Adventurer Town got the money, they could only ''remember'' that they were rewarded for the efforts they had made to get the money. And yet, that was not the end of the creation of the school instance. Grandma Yuan and ire also handle the employment of the iing staff as well. When the various small training centres closed, the staff had also been vetted whether to bring them to the new school instance or they had to be transferred. There was also somewhere the JODE middle management was considering retrenching the staff since they were not aspetent as they thought they would be. However, Grandma Yuan had managed to get the deal to retain almost 95% of the teachers that had their schools and training centres affected.

    Most of them were however on provisional contracts, stating that they need to improve themselves within the next two years and hit certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Objective Key Results (OKRs) to ensure their contracts to be continue as intended.

    This was in lieu of the current threats of the world as well. With the rampant increase in the Banned Emperor Terrorist incidents that had happened within the past year, there was no way that the people protecting the society did not improve. And the only way to have better grades in cultivation was to self improve or to put them in a precarious position. Grandma Yuan and ire had decided tobine those two factors. Putting them in a situation where they only have a two year contract to either improve their cultivation grades or have a better grasp of their powers.

    Of course, Grandma Yuan did not know every single lecturer, instructor or teacher as it was impossible to have an in depth understanding of all of them. However, one particr entity was able to do that.

    09:02

    Of course, Grandma Yuan did not know every single lecturer, instructor or teacher as it was impossible to have an in depth understanding of all of them. However, one particr entity was able to do that.

    Upon those teachers signing the contract, the System had ess to every single information they had on them. It was as if the permission was given to the System to look into their very souls. That was where Grandma Yuan could decide which of the criteria those teachers had to focus on before going in depth.

    Of course, whatever the System had coted did not mean that those teachers only amounted to whatever data that the System collected. It also knows that there were outliers. For example, Jin was the monster that the System was not able to quantify with just his data alone. He was analysed to be Cultivation Grade 4 and not above but his powers were totally different from a Grade 4. Still, using Jin as the case study was not the best example one could have and yet it was easy for the System to exin to Grandma Yuan the current situation. Unfortunately, even Grandma Yuan does not have all the time in the world to produce an effective analysing system within a short period of time, much less their training regime. Therefore, she merely asked the System to take the most suitable and optimal skills that would be more useful to sustain the teachers in a fight if there was one.

    The System understood the rationale of what Grandma Yuan needed and proceeded with the creation of conditions upon signing the new contract with them. Obviously, the teachers who signed the contract forms and immediately received their conditional assignments were shocked. It made the teachers feel as if Grandma Yuan did extensive homework on the various JODE teaching staff and put in the effort to think what was the best skill for them to focus on.

    It wasughable to some people who were watching from the side lines, particrly ire, who saw how the teachers felt extremely grateful that Grandma Yuan was caring for them when in actual fact, the System was the one doing the job.

    Yet, the irony was lost when everyone was busy with their work in making sure that the school instance was ready to beunched. Once all the teachers had their contracts up and those with conditions understood their work, Grandma Yuan proceeded to make sure that the teachers created standard workflows and the basis of teaching curriculums.

    And it was a nightmare mainly due to the fact that each training centre had its own teaching curriculum as there was no standard curriculum that the teachers had to follow. Of course, Grandma Yuan would understand if the training centre they were from were specialist training centres such as Demon Taming or Trap Formation Mastery. But the fact that there were many mid level training centres that had their own variation of training curriculum, posed a major headache for Grandma Yuan. However, as someone at her age and position as grand headmaster, there was no need for her to step in and do the work.

    All she had to do was to select those who previously held senior positions to take on the job. Were they the most effective people to be holding such a title? No, not really. The moment every single teacher had been employed here had been subjected to a contest of hierarchy.

    The most important thing is that Grandma Yuan wants to see results and see who can make the best curriculum schedule for the sake of the student''s development. And sadly, the seniors who went for the battle route were most likely to be selected to be the head of that particr department.

    As usual, Grandma Yuan was not the one who would be choosing the best curriculum as the System was the not so innocent victim that had been chosen for the job. As much as this was a contest, the System still reads and finds the most optimal curriculum that could be squeezed within the three years that the JODE students would be here for.

    And unlike the usual curriculum, this particr school instance was meant to revamp the entire education system as Chancellor Ma Ge wished for it to be for the longest time ever. What Grandma Yuan was doing had been given full support by the Chancellor to the point that the budget for the school would be doubled if she seeded in doing so. Hence, the System nit pick the programmes that each curriculum regime the seniors created but at the same time, what the seniors did not know was that Grandma Yuan had also done the same for the junior teachers as well. After all, being a senior teacher does not mean they know what is best for the current modern society or the needs of the students.

    In doing so, Grandma Yuan could also spot and maybe list a few potential candidates that might be worth cultivating for the school instance for the near future. Regardless of the secrecy and maybe some shadow y, it was ultimately for the good of the school''s future and image. After all, this would be the firstrgest JODE training school thatprises from the basic level to the advanced ones. The minimum number of years to be a JODE was as mentioned previously, three years. But if they were to excel, they could go into the advanced courses which deal with specialisations that might potentially put their stay in this school instance to a maximum of 6 years. For now, there was no academic pursuit for the training of JODE exorcists was more important and thus 6 years. Or else, for those who wish to research and develop techniques, the number 6 became the number of minimum years they had to have before being able to do such sophisticated academic research.

    All in all, the school instance was opening within a few days time and that decision was something no one could change with the exception of the Chancellor.

 Chapter 1939 Yuan Foundation

    1939 Yuan Foundation

    The cultivators were curious when they started seeing groups of kids in uniforming into the store. But inparison, the ones who were more curious were the students instead.

    When they first heard that their school was closing down, and they had to be transferred to a new ce, their feelings were mixed. Some of them were ecstatic that they were going somewhere new. Others were worried about being homesick since to some, the schools that were closing down are close to their homes. But those were the initial thoughts in the months back when the closure of their schools had been announced. Now the students who reached the location of their new school were equally confused. They were expecting a building that resembles a school and yet all they see is a Dungeon Supplier store in a big gigantic mall in the shape of a Tree.

    If not for a JODE representative outside the Tree Mall ushering them in, they had no idea that this was the ce where they would be living for the next three years of their life. (minimally three years ording to their new learning curriculum.)

    That was also to say that some of them might have trouble entering since some of the students that had been transferred into this particr school were rtively poor. About 20% or so were from underdeveloped countries and JODE had always been recruiting from these countries mainly due to the fact that they do have untapped talents.

    And to make things... worse, all these talents had already signed a rather excruciating contract with JODE. It was disguised as a sponsorship and after their schooling days, they had to work for JODE for twice the amount of years they had spent during their school instance. This means that if those talents were able to develop and advance to the next stage, being a master in trap formation for example, their schooling experience might go up to six years. That would mean their total bond period would be 12 years in total.

    To some, this sounds like the most stable job of all and they could not wait to get it to secure as this future stability in their life had been assured. This was especially important to these talents when their family had been in poverty for the longest time ever but also this proved to be a risk. In order to keep the sponsorship, they have to meet a certain standard in terms of grades. Upon failing to meet the requirements twice would result in the termination of the sponsorship as well as the repayment needed. While this might not be an issue to most since JODE recruiters were rather stringent in their selection of candidates, such cases could happen. That was why Grandma Yuan had decided to set a fund up for these people in case things went south for them. And this was coincidentally in line with what Jin wanted when he discussed it out of the blue with Qiu Yue. A charitable organisation.

    But instead of it being it under his name or under Panda Inc''s name, Grandma Yuan set it up under hers. Of course, this could not be done without Jin''s cash. ire had obtained permission from the System to do this and being the ountant of the Dungeon Supplier store, she knew how much the store was able to afford for such funds.

    JODE Chancellor Ma Ge had also approved of such funding, stating that if there is such a fund under the Headmaster''s name, it will increase the reputation of the JODE school. And thus, ire had decided to use something nostalgic to remember Grandma Yuan by and that was to reuse the street that everyone in Tian Gong had known her for. In the many years under her care, the streets had been rtively safe from most interference until she grew too old to take care of it and subsequently relegated the ce to the Royal Tigers and their police force for it.

    Tian Gong Yuan Foundation.

    ire believed that it was deserving to use the name Tian Gong in it for all the work she had done but Grandma Yuan smacked her assistant stating that it was not necessary to put her name in and told her to change the name to Tian Gong District Fund instead.

    Obviously, ire objected to it, stating that she had done so much that it should be named under her name instead. "How about the Yuan Foundation? Simple and easy. If you do that, you do not have to worry about it since its just your surname."

    "Fine. Fine." Yuan stated and gave ire the go ahead or else no matter how much scolding that Grandma Yuan gave ire, she would not listen to it mainly due to the fact that ire had been more or less immune to it.

    And thus for those students who were sponsored but did not have the necessary funds to travel or the sufficient allowance to feed themselves, the Yuan Foundation was the go to ce where they could apply or petition for additional funds. And without a doubt, the System does monitor the applicants and knows those that were in need of those funds or require equipment despite the sponsorship.

    The Yuan Foundation even provided free phones to those who were too poor to get one although Jin didment on whether it was possible to provide a mandatory standard issue phone to all of the students. That way it can be used as an identification student pass to enter the dungeon supplier store.

    "I will consider it in the future when we have more budget." Grandma Yuan stated knew that phones was the least of her worries as moving forward, they need to make sure that the school instance could operate smoothly.

    Thus, when the students entered the school instance, most of them were astonished by the sheer size of it. Many of them akin it to the size of a university campus and they were mostly right since that was how Jin remodeled their school.

    Parents who came with their children could not believe that their children would be studying on such a luxurious modernised campus and everything they saw looked extremely real. The JODE representatives who were there as ushers were consistently bombarded with questions about whether what they were touching was authentic or not.

    09:03

    All the ushers could say was to trust their five senses as technology had advanced this much to allow them to feel this way. And this was not a particrly quiet school opening as well. Like thepetition instance, national news made Jin and his Dungeon Supplier store into the headlines once more. Twice in a month was something that no Dungeon Supplier could have ever achieved and people were starting to pay more attention to this person.

    Parents who came with their children could not believe that their children would be studying on such a luxurious modernised campus and everything they saw looked extremely real. The JODE representatives who were there as ushers were consistently bombarded with questions about whether what they were touching was authentic or not.

    All the ushers could say was to trust their five senses as technology had advanced this much to allow them to feel this way. And this was not a particrly quiet school opening as well. Like thepetition instance, national news made Jin and his Dungeon Supplier store into the headlines once more. Twice in a month was something that no Dungeon Supplier could have ever achieved and people were starting to pay more attention to this person.

    Chancellor Ma Ge came down to the school instance personally and news media outlets had been invited exclusively into the new JODE school instance as well. When asked for the proper name for the school, Chancellor Ma Ge could only say that it would only be revealed once the first school ceremony and opening speech have been done.

    However, Ma Ge subsequently wished that they ask more about the school instance as most of them seemed to have a different objective in their minds. Instead of focusing on the new JODE school instance, a number of reporters queried Ma Ge on why the Royal Zodiacs were so supportive of this particr dungeon supplier.

    From participating in their biggest special event to hosting the National Martial Arts and Sports Competition and now this JODE School Instance. It was a concern to the reporters and they believed that there was a link between Jin and Royal Zodiacs that had not been uncovered by the reporters. Even seasoned investigators of these media outlets were not able to track Jin''s movements especially when he had been seen to be working within the shop''s premises.

    Yet, it seemed like Ma Ge was prepared for the reporters to ask such a question as he gave standard replies stating that the Royal Zodiacs had seen how the instances had worked and how reliable they were. "Cost saving measures had been employed while ensuring the performance of their projects was optimal had always been their priority."

    "The fact that Dungeon Supplier Jin was able to fulfill such requirements and deliver them with excellence, we do not see why we should not let Mr Jin to handle our projects." Ma Ge replied and that was when his secretary took over, saying that Ma Ge is needed for the opening ceremony for the JODE school instance.

    With such a standard reply, the reporters could not believe it and knew that there was something deeper that they did not know nor understand. But at the same time, they also know that it was dangerous to dig further since most of the issues pertaining to Royal Zodiac n were strictly regted by internal security and as such Kong Rong, the Royal Dragon Zodiac n was also there looking at the crowd.

    The reporters immediately understood the implication and decided to put this current curiosity to the rest for now as they proceeded with the main event.

 Chapter 1940 Yuan Foundation JODE Academy

    1940 Yuan Foundation JODE Academy

    "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all foring to this special asion which represented the growth of the Joint Organisation for the Demon Exorcists." Chancellor Ma Ge said as he stood at the centre of the stage with a rather majestic looking podium that would have cost thousands in real life. "The past year had been a rough year for many especially those who had been hit by the incidents from the Banned Emperor Terrorists. While it is not our jurisdiction to pursue and persecute them due to the nature of our job, these terrorists had been using demons and monsters as part of their arsenal to disrupt the peace and safety of our cities." "This had never been true where there was a recent disruption in Italy that we cooperated with the Vatican Church to annihte a series of demons together that might have been purported by the Banned Emperor Terrorists." "This unspoken agreement toe together and fight against amon threat had never rang ever more true as we all had seen the atrocities these terrorists were able to wreck with their demons. Regardless of the scale, the fact that these terrorists continued to use demons to disturb the bnce of our peace, there was a need for JODE to ensure that we are equipped to counter them."

    "While prevention of such terrorist activities is the best possible route we can take, this is a job and discussion that we might participate in in the future. Our job, especially the people we have employed here is for one reason. To grow and cultivate untapped potential and talents into a bulwark against such future threats."

    "That was the reason why the joint organisation had decided that in order to make sure our most aspiring and youngest could achieve the best. We have unanimously agreed to open this particr school. Yes, we had made the most disheartening decision to close down not just several but many JODE training centres and even establishments overseas which some of our past fellow Demon exorcists had once dedicated their entire lives to make happen." "But in return, I will assure my pastrades that the creation of this dimensional instance was not a waste of their efforts." Ma Ge said as the screen behind him started to change and the video wall that Jin was so proud of mimicking started to show portrait pictures of all the students that had been enrolled into the school.

    "All these people that you see on this video wall are the prospective JODE Demon Exorcists that would be joining us in this school. We will bebining different levels and reassessing all the students that had joined into our new learning curriculum. So to those students who had been reassigned to a higher or lower ''year'', please be aware that this is for the sake of your learning."

    When Ma Ge said that the students who were in the auditorium got a big shocker and so did the media. Was this an announcement you had to make to the public? Probably not since this was an internal school issue and yet Ma Ge decided to say this on the record.

    "For those who had been reassigned to the lower year, we would like to publicly say that we regretted that our teaching methods had not been effective for you and thus would need you to stay back for a year or two to let you relearn your basics again. Of course, this was not withoutpensation. If you have managed to return back to your current year through a series of tests and exams in less than a year, we will recognise your effort ordingly by dismissing the school fees that you incur to spur you further." "Such expenses would be borne under the Yuan Foundation which had been run by this district''s most well known non political figure. Grand Headmistress Yuan." Ma Ge said and a light was shone towards Grandma Yuan''s seat and so did the Magic Eyes. "And speaking of Grand Headmistress Yuan, she had relentlessly fought in the frontlines as well as the backline to bring this school up. That is why all of you had been waiting for the name of the school to be revealed and we had decided that with all the work Grand Headmistress Yuan had done, the JODE organisation decided to bestow the name of Grand Headmistress Yuan as the school''s name." When Ma Ge said that, two backstage crew brought over a covered long nk to the front of the stage and the chancellor came down from his podium to reveal it. When he pulled the red cloth away, it revealed the following words

    "Yuan Foundation JODE Academy." "What game are they ying at?" Jin wondered as he knew that while Grandma Yuan was a veteran in JODE for the longest time ever, she never had the respect of the organisation. While some do acknowledge her, most have kept her from doing anything significant. The change in attitude came not during the proposal of the school instance either since they wanted to let Jin be the Grand Headmaster of the school instance.

    But ever since Jin came back from the Synthesis World, their attitude was so different that it had made him very puzzled and to some point, confused too. It was like a nagging mystery that was begging itself to be solved but Jin had been so busy that he knew of the urrences but did not bother to prod it until now when he finally got some space to think.

    "While the System does not have extensive knowledge of the change of attitude, the System believed that it had to do with the fact that User is getting recognition to be the new and uing Royal Panda Zodiac n Head."

    "What does that have to do with Grandma Yuan?" "Has User forgotten about the incident where Ex System User Ming had gone against the Royal Zodiacs and subsequently turned back time?" The System asked.

    "Yeah, but what does that have to do with Grandma Yuan? If memory had been reset, they should not even know about Grandma Yuan''s condition." "The memory might have been reset but Ex Sub System User Yuan did not. She might have done something in lieu for Ex System User Ming to a certain extent that it jeopardised her position with the Royal Zodiacs."

    "Hmmmбн." Jin was not buying that theory.

    "The next possibility is that her attitude towards the Royal Zodiac had changed and she had been wary of them for the longest time possible. Aversion was part of her routine and the Royal Zodiacs had noticed the cold shoulder." "That бнI think I can ept," Jin replied and thought that Grandma Yuan might have taken a more active role in JODE making the Chancellor and the rest of JODE management warm up to her.

    "And to add on, the rtionship between you and Ex Sub System User Yuan is more likely to have increased the chances of her being in this position and being supported." The System added and Jinid back within the crowd to think about what the System had said. He thought about what the Royal Zodiac ns were really up to. Are they really willing to let go of their existing powers and allow a new uing Royal Zodiac n toe in uninterrupted? He knew that the Royal Rat Zodiac did not like the idea of him bing official because of what he had done to his people. But at the same time, he also remembered how the Royal Tiger Zodiac Head had changed.

    "No one could change their hatred that easily. What exactly happened?" Jin wanted to think about it further but ''mandatory'' ps from the audience broke his train of thought. Apparently, the Chancellor had decided to throw the carrot out as well. The bad news of those students had been delivered and now he gave the good ones where he stated that those who were deemed to be proficient enough to be in the next level would be rewarded marily too.

    "While some of you might think that throwing money to the problem is not solving the crux of the issue but please remember that this mary reward is to spur them forward. To encourage them that the organisation is aware of the effort to them." Ma Ge replied.

    "But now I guess you have enough of me and I will give your attention ad time to the Assistant to the Grand Headmistress Ms ire to tell you more about this school instance which we had been keeping secret for the longest time ever." Ma Ge said and the seemingly ordinary video wall suddenly started to move and change so much that the audience realised that this was no ordinary screen they were looking at.

    "This is..!" The reporters were astonished when they saw the video that was ying right in front of them had surrounded the entire half of the auditorium that it bewildered them as if it was real. Many of the reporters already could see this was a copy of the Las Vegas unique attraction but to see it in action was entirely a different experience.

    It felt too real.

 Chapter 1941 JODE Promotional Video

    Chapter 1941 JODE Promotional Video

    When the video came to life, everyone was astonished by the backdrop of the entire auditorium. They never expected that it was possible to follow such a high tech gimmick from the US to China so easily especially when there were reports that stated the equipment could not be fabricated easily by the rest due to its proprietary rights and thus the visual effects achieved by it would be a cut from the rest. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Yet in this school instance, Jin had installed this screen as if it was just another equipment that the school might need. Everyone was undoubtedly being blown away by this magnificent disy and all took the opportunity to take a video of it.

    Even Ma Ge was genuinely surprised by it and initially thought that Jin had purposely increased the price of the IT equipment as a way to markup and earn more money. In his mind, he honestly thought how nice can a huge screen be?

    Now that he saw it in action, he understood that the money was extremely well spent. But what he did not know was that Jin did still earn money from it. (Lots of it in fact. That pesky dungeon supplier knew that he would still be rolling in cash because it was something that their finance team would not understand until they saw it first hand.)

    And as for the video, the JODE management too had initially wanted to y a standard video but Grandma Yuan rejected that idea. It was poorly made with no standard and for it to be aired for the entire row of national media reporters to view. It was uneptable.

    That was why Kiyu had been called in to make the video and even got Grandma Yuan''s four disciples into the development of the promotional video. And considering how the four disciples already knew about the System, it was easy to use them to get the production of the video going.

    But they never expected that Kiyu, being so carefree from their daily interaction, would be such a devil for details. If not for Grandma Yuan''s training, they might not have known that the traits they had earned such as perseverance and determination would be tested to the extreme.

    There were hundreds of cuts and retakes because Kiyu was not satisfied with their performance. Even a little wrong movement would cause Kiyu to patiently say let''s do a redo. The odd thing was that Kiyu was never mad. Her face always gives the empathetic: I understand that you are tired but one more try, okay? There was little to no shouting from her making her look like she was a goddess that had descended.

    But it was not the same for the people acting. The disciples eventually got tired and they grumbled as everything could have gone smoothly since the System had the capability to make video cuts easy but Kiyu denied that kind of capability. She wants it to be done without any recuts. It was a full dynamic experience.

    When Lian had enough, she literally went towards Kiyu for an exnation and Kiyu decided to let the four disciples show what she meant when she yed the video for them. At first, it looked normal but it was onlyter when Kiyu requested them to put chi into their eyes that the JODE Exorcists realised the difference.

    The chi flow could be seen in the video and that was the difference between the video taking that Kiyu had always been takingpared to normal video cameras or phones. "You cannot cut and paste the chi flow, it will be unnatural," Kiyu exined as she showed a video that she casually edited to show the difference.

    They immediately understood what she meant as the JODE Exorcists could see the chi was stagnant in the re-edited cutspared to the flowery flow that the one full takes will portray.

    "It might not seem like much to the public eyes, but what if you are a high grade cultivator? To them, it''s an insult and it shows ipetence in the JODE exorcists because of these recuts. If you get what I mean." Kiyu eximed and the JODE exorcists finally understood the consistent recuts were for what purpose. But even when they understood, it was a different thing to actually redo the cuts especially when it takes a lot from them when Kiyu had a lot of demands.

    That was why when those four JODE exorcists finally saw the final video, it was no surprise that the girls simultaneously had a drop of tearsing out of their eyes because of the efforts they had made to make this would never be shown to the public. Just joking! They were mostly delighted that Kiyu did justice to their efforts. The video was simply breathtaking and the video wall that Jin copied had enhanced that effect to twice the amount, making it an unforgettable opener for the audience watching it. Like a music video, it depicted JODE exorcists going through the school premises as if they were a brand new student and how they went through their studies which subsequently lead to their promotion exams. Through that four minute videos, it showed the various extra curriculum activities they could potentially participate and Kiyu was also not hesitant to show a dungeon instance club where the main four Demon Exorcists took part together to fight against monsters within the Dungeon Instance both individually as well as a team. For the individual portion, there was no acting as Kiyu purposely took the footage where Rong and Lian went through the Dark Days Dungeon Instance. It was some sort ofpensation for Rong too as he was supposedly the first person to clear the Dark Days Dungeon and yet because of his employee status, that privilege to be announced as the first yer had been forfeited. In addition, his first clear video could never be distributed to the public as he was part of the employee''s store. Clearly, Kiyu knew of that and decided to take the initiative to put him into this video. This will eternally be the glimpse of his first clear footage to every new aspiring JODE student whoes in.And for that, Rong too had that drop of tear going through his face.

    Once the video had been presented, the morale of the audience improved drastically. As they had glimpses of the school from the video, all of them could not wait to get out of this auditorium to learn more about it. At that moment, the emcee who took over had started with some administrative issues.

    It was initially nned to have the grand headmistress Yuan take the stage after the video but they seem to have underestimated the crowd that came in. Of course, since this was a dimensional instance, Jin was able to achieve the impossible. He had temporarily increased the auditorium space even though the size from the outside was still static. But when that happens, it takes a considerable amount of resources that was unrealistic to hold for an extended period of time. That was why the Grand Headmistress''s address to the students had been postponedter while the JODE chancellor and his team dealt with the parents and mass media that came to view the ce.

    And in order to do so, the emcee had begun to put up the ID numbers of the students on the video wall and those names that had been shed on the wall would step out to meet with their representatives to go to their ssrooms for attendance taking. Most of the representatives were their homeroom teachers but considering some of the teachers were also handling the backend support for the subsequent mass media cum parents tour, there were substitutes within the representatives too.

    This way, the JODE Chancellor and Grand Headmistress can privately address questions to the mass media as well as any questions from the concerned parents who think that this dimensional instance would not be a permanent arrangement.

    As for the students, instead of the concern, they were more interested in looking at the school and what it has to offer. After all, some of them are going to stay more than three years and wanted to know first hand what this ce has. But more importantly, they like to know who their teachers are.

    So, each of the students had found their group, and about 50% of the groups were ted that they had been paired with a teacher they knew from their old school/ training centres. The other 50 were a little lost since everything looked extremely new to them. Some were ted they managed to jump grade and others were dejected that they had to be relegated to a more basic level. Yet, this did not linger in their minds for long as the interest to learn more about the school was currently their first priority. Amongst those representatives were also the four disciples that were shown in the video and those students in their groups were excited to see such terrific seniors to be their guides.

    Some of them asked if it was really possible to wield such crazy powers through training and the disciples cautiously acknowledged their queries. "Heh, you will judge whether we are terrific when we have that talent showcaseter at the stadium," Rong said as he knew that the students would be in for a treat during the tour. "Yeah, the talent showcase will definitely blow your mind. Literally." Lian said as the two group representatives confirmed their groups before they led them to their ssrooms.

 Chapter 1942 Reporters can be an A**hole

    Chapter 1942 Reporters can be an A**hole

    After the groups of students went into their respective sses, the JODE Chancellor and his management finally exined to assure families and the media on the current state of their school instance. Most of the questions had already been anticipated and ire being the one most knowledgeable knew the inside out of not just the System''s dimensional instance but also the Demon Exorcist topics. Questions upon questions had been answered systematically and almost every those curious yet ''extremely'' concerned parents had been shot down. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The only question that she was unable to answer was the future of JODE. That was the only one where she relegated that question to Ma Ge to answer. And yet, even with that, he gave a short and open ended answer that did not satisfy the reporter at all. As such, the reporter decided to change his question which ire was able to answer. "If there are no other questions, we can proceed with the tour," ire said and everyone seemed to look forward to the tour that they unanimously decided to not ask anymore. (There was one who wanted to ask a question but before he could open his mouth, he could feel the number of stares stabbing behind his back. Thus, he subsequently shook his head and stated that he was taking a stretch.)

    "Alright. if there are REALLY no more questions. Groups would be assigned based on the rows and category." ire announced and the emcee took over. Soon, the groups were formed and all of them were being sent to corners of the school to start. Jin also decided to tour and see their teacher''s point of view to know what kind of expectations they had. And it was easy for Jin to blend in mainly due to the fact that no one exactly knew that he was the creator of this school because everyone was too busy working to get the school up and running.

    Still, he was rather surprised at how enthusiastic the teacher he was following showed the ce to the parents and media reporters. If Jin was not wrong, the teacher was part of the Demon Taming Department so when it came to the Demon Taming Stables, he was extremely vivid despite the fact there were currently no demons in the stables.

    And it was precisely because he was so excited on the stables that one of the reporters turned a little sour and did a prick move, asking why there were no monsters in there if the teacher had praised it to the high heavens.

    "For the safety of our audience, it is best that the animals were being kept in a different area." "Are you suggesting that the Demon Exorcists are not skilled enough to handle and defuse such a situation if it ever happens? Or are you not confident enough to handle your Demons?" The reporter said in an oh so annoying voice that a few started to gossip and whisper about thepetence of the Demon Taming Department.

    However, it seems like the teacher knew that such a person may emerge from the group and continuously gave assurance that it was indeed for the safety of the group.

    "You do not have to worry. I myself am a Grade 7 Cultivator. I know most demons are usually in second or third grade. Just bring it out! I can handle it!" The reporter provoked and that was when the teacher felt like he was in a pinch that he could not escape.

    "I know we can be such assholes but do they really have to do that in front of the entire group?" Jin said to himself and guessed that if he did not help to defuse the situation, the teacher and Yuan''s Foundation JODE academy would be on the cklist of this particr reporter. However, before he made any move, he asked the System which newsgroup did was the reporter representing.

    "Sinhua Daily." The System said and told him that while he might not be a rather big yer in our National Media, Sinhua Daily is rather vocal in their global audience.

    "Then I guess if I do not help, he will blemish the name of this JODE school as well as my dungeon supplier to the global audience," Jin said and the System agreed as well.

    "Well, what are we waiting for? Just show us one. And we will be satisfied." The reporter taunted.

    "Sir, you do not understand. I cannotpromise the safety of-" Before the teacher could finish saying, Jin finally interrupted.

    "Grade 2 or Grade 3? Are you seriously underestimating the JODE Demon Exorcists?" Jin shouted in the middle of the crowd and the eyes stared at him. "You think that we are so stupid to show you low grade monsters and demean ourselves?"

    "Who are you to even speak out like this to me?"The reporter said and wanted to spite him even more.

    "Me? I am a nobody, not someone particrly notable. But it''s just that the way you say our Demon Exorcists, I could not ept it." Jin said as he walked out of the crowd with a half Panda Mask on his face. At the same time, he hovered over his storage watch to take out a Demon Exorcist emblem.

    And when he faced the entire group, he pinned the Demon Exorcist''s emblem on his shirt and smiled. When the reporter saw this mysterious stranger, all he did was to click his tongue. No matter how he tried to focus his powers to sense his chi, all the reporter could feel that this pompous Demon Exorcist was mere a Grade 4 Demon Exorcist. The rest of the group who were able to sense chi could also see his grade and began to smirk at the absurdity of this Demon Exorcist who tried to protect the teacher.

    "Yeah. You are really a nobody. And seeing how you wear a mask, I assume you are also afraid to show your identity, eh Grade 4 Demon Exorcist?" The reporter purposely teased him so that those who could not identify his chi were able to read the situation. "You. I do not know who you are but please do not make matters worse." The teacher sent a telepathic message to Jin and yet the masked Demon Exorcist did not budge a single bit. "Don''t worry, Teacher. I was part of the Demon Taming Department as well. So, I think I should stand up for it when they speak ill of it." Jin said as he patted the teacher''s shoulder and the group could deduce that the Teacher had secretly requested the Demon Exorcist to make matters worse.

    "Very well. Don''t say we do not give you a chance to prove yourself. Grade 4 Demon Exorcist." The reporter purposely emphasised thest part to show his irate toward the Demon Exorcist who tried to act cool.

    "Then don''t run away when you see it, alright? Besides, you won''t die since this is a dimensional instance." Jin said and the reporter took his threat as empty words. "User, are you nning to use that?" The System could roughly infer what Jin was going to do.

    "Why not? It so happened to work in favour for us." Jin said as he slowly raised his hand and with a snap of his finger, a portal opened right behind him. "You will definitely scare the group." The System warned but Jin did not care.

    "They deserved it." Jin''s mouth started to twitch as he slowly lowered his hand and pointed at the reporter. When the Demon Exorcist teacher saw the portal, he was terrified. Even in the Demon Taming Department, the size of a portal to call upon their Demon is equivalent to the size of the Demon. So when he saw howrge the portal was, he trembled бнwith both fear and excitement. Was this a bluff? Was this real? He had no idea what lies behind as being a teacher for so long, it was rare for him to see such a huge portal. "Who is this Grade 4 Demon Exorcist?!"

    "You think you can scare us with such a big portal?" The reporters and the group who did not know the basics of Demon Taming merely thought that the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist was merely ying as the fool. Some of them even took their phones out to video the entire scene as they thought this might be a hrious act by the Demon Exorcist.

    However, everything changed when a huge hand emerged from the portal andter its head. The Red Cross Ape roared with unfettered strength that the people filming it were stunned by its appearance. The next arm came out while holding onto a huge rod as support to put itself out of the portal.

    "Oops. Sorry, Red Cross Ape. Looks like I underestimated your size. Did not remember you might have grown bigger with all that free booze and fruits." Jin smiled as he snapped his finger once more and the portal erged.

 Chapter 1943 The Grade 12 Demon Ape

    1943 The Grade 12 Demon Ape

    Now with one leg out of the portal, the Red Cross Ape roared once more, beating its chest with its left hand and stomping the rod with its right. And like any animal trying to show its dominance, the Red Cross Ape''s aura spilled over to the entire group aggressively and yet naturally. Everyone who sensed it could feel how crazy and stifling the sensation was. There was no doubt about it. This Demon was at least a Grade 10 and above. As if Jin was able to hear their thoughts, he proudly scorned the group with his gaze, particrly at the Sinhua reporter. "Grade 10? Looks like you never see enough of the world. The Red Cross Ape is at least a Grade 12." Jin folded his arms as his pet stood behind him and continued to roar. And like its master, his gaze was only on one particr person.

    "A Grade 4 Demon Exorcist taming a Grade 12 Demon?! That is totally unheard of! In fact, it''s impossible! Are you risking the lives of every single person in this facility?" The Sinhua Reporter said and Jin smirked. (He loved that his Panda mask was only covering half of his face as they could see how proud he could be to demean the reporter even further.)

    "Cross, Sit." Onemand from Jin suddenly turned the ferocious beast into something of a puppy. The Red Cross Ape ced his weapon at the side and sat beside Jin while still staring menacingly at the Sinhua Reporter. "Cross, y dead," Jin said once more and it pretended to get shot by a huge cannon. Holding its hand on its chest, as if to depict the wound that he had received. The Red Cross Ape huffs and puffs giving its all to show that he was ying dead. But even when his actions were convincing, his eyes were not.

    For it was still staring at the Sinhua reporter as if waiting for the chance to pounce on it and kill it. The rest of the group could also see that the Red Cross Ape did not mean any harm to them at all and they all slowly backed away a little despite knowing that that mysterious Grade 4 Demon Exorcist had everything under his control. Just as the reporter wished to do the same, the Red Cross Ape who was supposed to be yed dead, gave a loud grunt. Of course, it scared the shit out of the reporter as he knew that there was no way it was able to defeat a Grade 12 Demon on its own. Even when he tried to look at the Demon Exorcist Teacher that he had tried to pick on for help, the teacher''s eyes averted away. "There is no helping you." It was what the teacher had implied as he too also felt that this mysterious Grade 4 Demon Exorcist was definitely not a Grade 4 at all. There was no way a Grade 4 could control a Grade 12 at all, it was totally not feasible for that to happen. "Alright. Alright. Enough of the threatening to that poor man. I think he learned his lesson." Jin said as he tapped at the Red Cross Ape when he took out a huge watermelon from his storage watch. Instantly, the Red Cross Ape quietly and gratefully took the watermelon. The Demon Exorcist Teacher was astonished. Even when dealing with lower Grade Demon Apes, there was never an instance where the Ape would stoop lower to receive his food. They all have a prideful nature that cannot be extinguished. Red Demon Apes were the proudest apes in their family species and yet this particr Demon Exorcist not only tamed a variant Red Ape, but a high grade too. So, it would undoubtedly be the most prideful demon that could have ever existed in the Ape family. That was why the Demon Exorcist Teacher literally wanted to take his teacher''s title out and worship this particr Demon Exorcist as his new teacher. "What are you guys looking at him like this? I thought you all wanted a Demon to look at and take pictures with, right? Well, now is the chance. Go ahead and stand right beside it." Jin said and the group ''graciously'' rejected the offer. "Oh no no no. I insist! I had expended effort and chi to bring this Red Cross Ape out of its house. At least let it do some things before going back. How would you feel if you were being called out and subsequently pushed back?" Jin said and the Red Cross Ape also beckoned the group toe forward and have a photo. At first, it was showing a friendly face but the reluctance in the group was so high that it got fed up and gave an angry face. By roaring once more, it showed a more forceful beckon. And everyone had decided to push the Sinhua reporter forward to be the scapegoat.

    "Do remember to take a good picture! Our JODE academy needs your help for publicity!" Jin said and subsequently after the reporter took the photo, a few adults decided to take the risk. In their minds, there was nothing to lose since this was a dimensional instance and the Chancellor had reassured them that the training would be tough especially because this school was a part of the dimensional instance. All deaths are meaningless when they can be revived over and over again. With that feeble concept of protecting their sanity, they went close to the Red Cross Ape to touch it. Unexpectedly, the Red Cross Ape smiled even though those adults within the tour group would never foresee that Jin was the one behind the scenes telling the Red Cross Ape to give the widest smile possible. For a Demon Ape, its acting was rtively fluid and Jin was also pleasantly surprised by it. There was no way you asked Peppers to do this without controlling her with sufficient incentives and punishment. Jin knows very well that the Red Cross Ape was really working its best to give the entertainment value that Jin wanted to bring across.

    Perhaps it felt guilty for all the food and drinks that it had been consuming without doing a single thing after being defeated. And when it finally could prove useful to its master, it would do what it could to make sure that the debt he had incurred be repaid. However, I would not lie that I did feel a tad disappointed with the current situation. What he wanted was more of a fight that could bring glory to his master and not scare a group of useless humans who could onlyin. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Still, a job was a job and it attempted to do as well as it could.So, once the first batch of adults had taken the photos, the rest continued to do the same as well. Only through subsequent groups, the people in the tour group were more open and decided to take a little more daring photos with the Red Cross Ape. Subsequently, the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist tapped on the shoulder of the teacher which he saved. "I leave him to you for this entire tour."

    That statement itself scared the teacher out of his wits as he knew that it was impossible for him to control a Grade 12 Red Cross Ape. All the red gs were there and the teacher literally went to his knees to beg the Demon Exorcist to not y such a game with him. "Hahah. I am joking. Besides you are the tour group''s guide. I cannot possibly ask you to handle him." Jin said as he pped his hands and shouted if anyone wanted anyst pictures before he returned the Red Cross Ape home. After all, the Vige Chief of Qiu Lian must be panicking to see that the Red Cross Ape was out of his sight.

    When everyone was satisfied and there were no more ''onest picture'' moments, the portal opened and gave way for Jin''s pet to return to where it was supposed to go. It was at that time the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist walked against the flow of the tour group and told the teacher to not worry about the group. "You should do fine after this incident." However, the Demon Exorcist teacher did not let Jin go. "Wait! Are you one of the contestants for the subsequent JODE exhibition?" "Perhaps?" Jin shrugged his shoulders and gave a short smile before leaving. He also tapped on his shoulder to show some good luck but the teacher felt that this was not the end that he would see this Grade 4 Demon Exorcist. But at the same time, he questioned his existence for he knew the circle of Demon Tamers were extremely small. To have a person of this calibre would surely be known among his peers. Yet when he circted the Red Cross Ape picture to his group. All he had was just one question asked repeatedly. "Who is he?"

 Chapter 1944: Combat Exhibition Showcase

    Despite the hup that Jin had unfortunately been in, most of the tour groups that walked around the school did not have much of a problem at all. In fact, the System was anticipating a more chaotic movement of the schoolpound but most of the things went well.

    And like what the Demon Exorcist teacher had said previously, there was a talent showcase, an exhibition of sorts to show people and give confidence that the Demon Exorcists have some rather strong people in their midst despite the incidents that had happened.

    In short, they wished to create heroes out of thin air. They want to assure people thatpetent Demon Exorcists existed and if the Banned Emperor Terrorists were ever to strike again, they are more than ready to not just prevent the attack but put the hurt into their ns as well.

    The exhibition showcase did not only have that reason for putting up such performances. It was also to inspire the existing students that such heights could be achievable by them as long as they put in the effort. But what makes thisbat exhibition showcase to be different from previous years and openings is that they are in a dimensional instance.

    So long they are in this dimensional instance, they have the perception that they would not die even shing with a difficult opponent. The JODE teachers and management wished to ingrain this into their students too. ''It is precisely because this was a dimensional instance, give your best shot. If you survive, learn what when wrong and how can be improved. If you die.

    You can try again until you win against it."

    Therefore this currentbat exhibition showcase had a big disimer. All of these genuine fights to the death and dying should not be seen as a failure by the audience mainly because the current exhibition monsters had been adjusted to be hard.

    It is to give the audience a sense of feeling that JODE Demon Exorcists are giving it their all to clear the obstacle that was presented ahead of them. Of course, most of the management did not agree to this initially because they knew how the Chinese people'' culture.

    All of them wanted to have ''face'', and pride in what they do. They will feel ashamed for the things they have done badly and it might haunt them. Thus, by losing in this currentbat exhibition showcase, it might only give them a sense of loss and perhaps judgment from the audience.

    Of course, these people would never know how much effort these Demon Exorcists had put in or what had caused them to lose. All they know is that they are quick to judge and that judgment will cause these Demon Exorcists to feel ashamed of the loss they had created.

    However, Grand Headmistress Yuan had another agenda. "If you think you can lose, then don''t lose. If you wish to lose, at least regain your honour by dying with a valiant fight." As heartless as this sounds during her part of her opening speech to the exhibition showcase, Yuan did not care if they lost their ''face'' or not.

    This was because she wanted to show what kind of standard the current batch of Demon Exorcists have.

    It was like a promise that if they could not defeat even a monster of a certain grade, they have to make sure that this shameful defeat would be etched in these Demon Exorcists'' minds to work harder and stronger so that they could win it easily for the nextbat exhibition showcase.

    And that was the speech that Grandma Yuan had given before themencement of thebat exhibition showcase. After she gave her speech, the crowd had already settled down with their expectations managed.

    Or that''s what they had thought until those in the known, started to see squads upon squads to emerge from the sides of the stadium. People who managed to recognise them will know that those were Demon Exorcists that were considered to be elites in each of their provinces.

    From Beijing''s Mad Hatters to Hainan''s Phoenix Force, people who were from those areas would know that these were like themandos of Demon Exorcists who were here to have the showcase.

    Of course, it''s not the entire team that came or else if there were any emergencies, how would the Demon Exorcists could respond to it? (Jin could just teleport them but why would he reveal such a technique to these people for.)

    For the Demon Exorcist bCommandos'', they were also excited to see what kind of monsters the dungeon supplier had in store for them so that they could judge his worthiness. To Jin, he was delighted to serve especially when this showcase was not just for the people seeing it but also for the people participating in it.

    If the Commandos do feel that the fights were dynamic and engaging enough, there is no saying that they might create a work trip here as part of their training programme.

    Of course, his Operations Manager needed to do some follow up with thosemando squads after the exhibition was done but as Grandma Yuan had designated, Jin was not going to give them a free pass just because it was JODE''s school grand opening.

    Even JODE Chancellor Ma Ge had also noted that he was expecting to receive some bad publicity from the loss that hismandos might get but was still confident that they could pass whatever test Jin would throw at them.

    That was why with permission from the JODE Chancellor and Grand Headmistress Yuan, Jin asked his monsters to give their all. Obviously, he did not throw super awful summons at themandos where it was a point of no return for their face and physical body.

    But a number of his monsters were rather overpowered or underpowered because their strength lies in numbers. So when he took the stage, he exined that while Demon Exorcist''s main concern was monsters, there were times when those monsters were apanied by humans like the Banned Emperor Terrorists.

    So, he said that these Demon Exorcist Commandos should be trained to also handle humans and not just monsters. Thus, Jin would be providing them with some human ''enemies'' to test their skills. Of course, there would be demon monsters with these human enemies too but they were more of an apanyingpanion.

    In terms of strength, those Demon Monsters would be of lesser strengthpared to the humans.

    This was thest and final excuse that Jin could make up in case the audience saw that their Demon Exorcist Commandos failed in action. But at the same time, Jin was not expecting much from thesemandos mainly due to the fact that they were not as well known as the name suggests them to be.

    They might bemandos in name but a lot of them were mostly selected because they were the best in that particr training centre.

    And Jin knows that a centre''s best might not essentially mean that it could be the nation''s best. That was why Jin as heartless as he wanted to be, just gave thatst excuse in hopes that the audience and reporters close an eye to the situation.

    The Demon Exorcist Commandos on the other hand had no idea who their opponents were until they came in from one side of the stadium when their turn began. Hainan''s Phoenix Force was up first as they were polled internally that they were the stronger few groups ofmandospared to the rest.

    The JODE management could only hope that they proved to be a survivor in theing fight. Jin also released his group which was meant to be an enemy for them and it only consisted of one cloaked person and two wolves beside him.

    The wolves were made and the souls were fused for this fight. It was not a monster or creature that Jin had captured previously. Therefore, the System had tailored the stats to be of something simr to their opponent''s grades. The only difference was that this one cloaked person is of another grade level than the average grade the Commandos possessed.

    It was meant to be a challenge and Jin had not relent a single bit.

    But when the Demon Exorcist Commandos, Phoenix Force had saw their opponents, they were a little skeptical. ''Just one cloaked person? against a squad of five? Was that a tad too much when ites to underestimating them?'' Those were their thoughts except for themander who was afraid.

    Extremely afraid.

    He could not sense the cloaked person''s chi, not even a single bit which meant that the person might not be a cultivator or was very good at hiding his chi. Either way, there was no doubt that the person in front of him was not amoner.

    "Battle Formation Charlie. Deal with the wolves first before the human enemy." Phoenix Force Leader said.

 Chapter 1945: Phoenix Force

    "And there goes Phoenix Force right on the ground! This is an unbelievable sight!" The emcee said and every other participant who was in the arena awaiting their turn to fight suddenly had cold feet.

    They could not imagine it. Phoenix Force of Hainan. They were considered one of the stronger few Demon Exorcistmandos that had existed within China for the longest time. Their reputation of tedious training sessions has had its rumours spread to a ''memorable'' for those who had participated in it.

    That was why the people could not believe that the Phoenix Force had been beaten by the two Demon wolves that should be considered as an appetiser in the eyes of the audience.

    Those Demon Wolves only had a Grade 8 Peak Cultivation within them and while they might have a few tricks in their sleeves, in Jin''s eyes, they were really considered cannon fodder based on the cultivation of the Demon Exorcist Commandos.

    Surely, the Grade 8 Peak Demon Wolves had techniques like Shadow Step which allowed it to move through the ground utilising the shadows around the arena to get by. So even if Jin closed an eye to not see how the Demon Wolves were able to ambush the Demon Exorcist Commandos, they could have taken a hit or two by these wolves, right?

    That was what Jin had thought as well and he assumed the rest of the audience watching thebat exhibition showcase would be the same too. They even assumed that the cloaked human was one of the Demon Exorcists who had pretended to be an enemy.

    However, when the wolves had managed to ambush them well, they performed a light swiping attack thinking the Demon Exorcists could defend it. No, it did not go well. Out of the two attacks, two of them connected and the twomandos lost their arms from it.

    Everyone did not expect the monsters to be this vicious and this also gave Jin a big headache. The onlyfort was that the wolves had been named and categorised for the public to see that they were Grade 8. So, their disappointment could only be tracked to the Demon Exorcist Commandos instead.

    The other threemandos decided to take the chance to retaliate as they knew that worrying about their woundedrades would not help. Besides, deep down they knew that the dimensional instance was able to revive theirrades again.

    But even though their counterattack was a disappointing turnabout, the audience believed that could not recover the honour they had lost from the first attack. Jin even tried to restrain the Grade 8 Peak Demon Wolves down to Grade 8 when the Demon Exorcists attacked.

    "I could not believe it. They did not make a dent in the monsters at all? Are you sure they are Grade 10 Demon Exorcists?!" Jin wanted to pull his hair out from learning that they were unable to execute a proper attack. He even asked the System to analyse the Demon Exorcists once more to make sure that they were really an average of Grade 10.

    The System who saw the chain of events happening had decided toply with the User''s request and it had confirmed once more that they were indeed of Grade 10. Even the techniques that they used to attack the Demon Wolves were at least Grade 10.

    "At least?" Jin started to get suspicious and the System stated that their cultivation foundation is extremely weak upon closer inspection of their chi cirction and as well as the quality of chi. The reason one could be of Grade 10 was mainly due to the fact that they could output a high quantity of chi out.

    Quality+Quantity including some enlightenment here and there would definitely allow those Demon Exorcist Commando to reach Grade 10 easily.

    But more importantly, they do not have much experience inbat at all. Unlike Jin who had gotten his cultivation grades through constant struggles and fights to the deaths, most of these Demon Exorcist Commandos got their grades through pure training.

    Sure, they might have the determination and persistence to achieve this Grade 10. But their Grade 10pared to Jin''s previous grade 10, would be likeparing a potato from Japan who had gone through lots of processes and care to a potato from a mass manufactured farm that handled everything through automation. A poor analogy but it should have brought the example through.

    But that was not the case for the Grade 8 Wolves. Those were souls who had experienced life and death, battle to battle over and over again, willing to do anything just to survive.

    That was why the Grade 8 was able to defeat the Grade 10s easily. In the audience, the Demon Exorcist Teacher who saw this scene was reminded of the mysterious Grade 4 Demon Exorcist who could control the Grade 12 Red Cross Ape.

    The Demon Exorcist Commandos attacked once more upon learning that their counterattack did not work. The Demon Wolves even gave them time and space to charge their techniques and it was so evident that even the audience was somewhat speechless.

    "I think the wolves are giving them a chance."A spectatormented.

    "The wolves are giving them a chance? More like the wolves pitied them so much that they even decided to let go of all the defences just so that they can let them put a scratch on their hides."The other spectator scorned.

    "I cannot believe the standard of Phoenix Force had stooped so low that they cannot handle just a few Grade 8 Wolves."

    "The cloaked master who saw the entire scene must have also thought that this was a joke beyond a joke. He is not even doing anything at all!"A reporter stated and the people around him agreed.

    "They really need to up their game after thisbat exhibition showcase. Looks like the Demon Exorcists in this JODE school are in good hands. The enemies can be tough enough to give them the needed experience."

    "Who knows? Maybe if the enemies are these tough, there might be a retention problem."

    "If there is, then how can we rely on this generation of Demon Exorcists to protect us?"

    "If I am in that battle, I would have already surrendered my life to the Demon Wolves. There is no way I could have won." Another said.

    It was ironic but people were starting to have more confidence in the school knowing that these enemies were created from within the Dimensional Instance. But the confidence of Demon Exorcist Commando dropped significantly and it brought a different type of pressure to other Commando groups.

    Needless to say, most of the Commando Groups were in a dilemma about whether to continue with the showcase. This was mainly because most of them who were here even though they were Commandos, were actually akin to reserves that were being sent to this dimensional instance thinking it would be a normal showcase.

    No one told them it would be this crazy difficult. If they had known, theirmanders might have sent out the best of the best into this showcase. Yet at the same time, at least they had excuse that the reserves are still in training and therefore were unable to perform as intended. (It was undoubtedly still a bad excuse.)

    The Phoenix Force finally readied their attacks and sent their techniques flying for everyone to see. As shining and spectacr as it was, the me attacks did little against the Demon Wolves'' hide that the wolves started to think that maybe if they acted like they were damaged by giving some ''face'' to the Phoenix Force.

    "Erm guys, just kill them already. Anymore and I think the Phoenix Force Demon Exorcists would not be able to tolerate this insult." Jin said and even the Wolves agreed, putting them out of their misery after the end of their shy moves. The audience could also feel some shame for them to be so desperate and pped in hopes that they could get better in the future.)

    The wolves continued to stay along with their cloaked master as depicted in the rules where the winner had to stay for the next fight. This was to let the winner be ''tired out''. In the event that the Demon Exorcists ever win the fight, it would be the end for them. But for the ''enemies'' they had to stay so the next Demon Exorcist should have an ''easier'' time handling them.

    But as stadium staff cleaned up the arena, the next Demon Exorcist Commando team did not dare to move forth to the stage. Their thinking was that if Phoenix Force, a veteran team hardened with some experience was unable to defeat the Demon Wolves, what makes them think that they could get away with winning this group?

    "Looks like we may need a change in programme. I cannot believe the Demon Exorcist Commando would be so frightful of losing that they did not even dare to go up the stage." Jin said as he shook his head at the condition of the Demon Exorcist teams. It was no wonder the public had been so critical of them and why Ma Ge wished to revamp everything in such a rushed state.

 Chapter 1946: That Fake Demon Exorcist

    Eventually, the audience gave a loud boo as the next contestant was not nning toe up to fight for the match and the image of the Demon Exorcist Commando was getting worse by the second. The JODE Chancellor as well as the management started to eye at the Demon Exorcist Commandos as if to ''spur'' them into action but none of them was willing to take centre stage.

    It was to the point where Grand Headmistress Yuan had to step in to settle the crowd and said that there might be some hups at the side of the arena. But some of the spectators called bullshit. "If none of them even wish to stand in this arena then they should not call themselves as Demon Exorcist Commando."

    The jeering got even louder and Grandma Yuan believed that unless one of them came up, there was really no saving for the group. Lein and the others wanted to jump in and save the day but a telepathic message from their instructor stated not to go as it would make things worse for the Demon Exorcist Commando.

    "Some of the people in the tour group had already known your existence and your affiliation to this JODE School Instance. If youe out just to save their hides, they will view themandos even more badly than before." Grandma Yuan stated.

    "Then what can we do to prevent this from getting worse?" Lein was concerned about the reputation of the Demon Exorcist and there was nothing they could do at this point to fix it. That was when suddenly a person started walking out of the stadium and into the arena field.

    "Finally, someone with the balls toe out!" One of the spectators said.

    "I don''t care whether you lose or not, but good on you to at least keep the name of the Commandos!" Another spectator called out.

    "Now I wondered which unit he is from. There is no batch or anything on him. Looks like he is a normal Demon Exorcist."The gossip started to spread and that was when Grand Headmistress Yuan decided to take the risk to announce.

    "As unorthodox as his appearance, this particr individual will be the cornerstone of security for this JODE school instance. Given that this ce is in the dimensional instance, it does not mean that the people might be unsafe from external or internal threats.

    This individual had been hired by the dungeon supplier to keep the ce safe." Grand Headmistress Yuan said and everyone started to calm down and whisper to each other. The only person who was excited to see this individual was the Demon Exorcist Teacher from the Demon Taming Department.

    To him, it was clear that he could finally see the unique Grade 4 Demon Exorcist in action.

    But precisely because he was just a Grade 4 Demon Exorcist, he started to receive criticism from the audience. And the statements were getting louder and louder with each whisper.

    "What is so great about this Grade 4?"

    "He is just a Grade 4 and the Dungeon Supplier entrusted the security to him?"

    "What is with that mask? Why must he hide himself behind that panda facade?"

    "He probably masked himself because he knows he cannot take the shame."

    To top it off, even the Demon Exorcist Commando were so shameless that they even started to bet how long this Grade 4 showoff couldst. Were they jealous of his ability to stand up while the rest could not? They do not know but one thing was for sure. No one else dared to stand in the middle of a judgemental crowd.

    All of the yapping and random talk were getting on the nerves of the Demon Exorcist Teacher as he knows that once the battle starts, this ''mere'' Grade 4 will show them otherwise. Even the tour group who had encountered him also kept quiet as they understood how they felt previously and were ready to see the audience to be blown by his actions.

    They and a few others truly knew the existence of how strong this Grade 4 could be.

    Chancellor Ma Ge who took the effort to sense the chi that had been emitted immediately realised who it was and started to chuckle. "To see him covering for us, I bet he is going to use this situation to ask for a favour in the future." Ma Ge said to himself and the Grand Headmistress was within an earshot.

    "He is probably thinking what kind of favour he wants to get from you." Grandma Yuan said and Ma Ge shook his head. It seemed like other than the two of them as well as ire, the rest of the management had no idea who this person was.

    "Thank goodness, I changed my Panda Mask before I used it for the tour group thingy." Jin suddenly realised that he could have used the same mask that would have allowed Pandarens to notice him. But he had forgotten that he had bluffed the Veteran Pandarens so much that they already knew the person standing at the centre of it all was the Dungeon Supplier himself.

    But right now, most of them were ying along with the crowd because they knew that Jin was as usual ying theatrics considering how things were right now. Most if not all of the Pandarens who had watched the previous fight knew that the Demon Exorcist Commandos needed a booster, a quick and strong first aid to save the day.

    And seeing how they already lowered the audience''s expectations and yet were unable to perform, the Pandarens could see that Jin had no choice but to show up as a mysterious Demon Exorcist to save their faces. That was also the reason why all of them were excited to y along with everyone.

    However, if there was an underlying reason, it was mainly due to the fact that Jin hardly disyed his powers or techniques for the public to see. The veterans know it as he had always escaped from such a situation or purposely did a fast resolution so that they could not enjoy what Jin could offer.

    Of course, they were not going to expect much from this match as well since the customers knew Jin well enough. But at the same time, they still continued to hope.

    On the other side of the arena, the Demon Wolves and cloaked person were still waiting for Jin to draw his des but instead, all he took out was a dagger. (Bam transformed into a dagger just for this fight while Boo was still in his sheath.)

    That draw was enough of a signal for the Demon Wolves to charge towards Jin. At that moment, everyone who wasining had already kept quiet and the stadium was rtively silent to see how the situation developed.

    It was a simple charge until the Demon Wolves used the very same technique they had used against the Phoenix Force Demon Exorcist. The Shadow Step to ambush Jin from behind.

    But unlike the Commandos who had their hands ripped off the moment the Demon Wolves activated their Shadow Steps, Jin was able to evade with just a slow turn of his body. His Inverse Eyes could already see where the ws were going to hit and Jin moved just in time so that the inertia from the Shadow Steps would not allow the Demon Wolves to change their attack direction in time.

    Just that act of dodging so closely alone had enabled the audience to be at the edge of their seats. Half wanted Jin to fail while the other half naturally yearned for Jin to pass it. Thus, when it happened, the audience''s reaction was somewhat mixed.

    And the next act by Jin sealed the deal that this would be a decentbat exhibition showcase for the rest to see. After Jin had dodged, instead of attempting to put in a cut into the Demon Wolves'' hide like how most would do as inflicting minor wounds across a period of time would allow their enemies to sumb, he did something totally different.

    Jin grabbed one of the Demon Wolf''s legs and subsequently mmed it to the ground. The impact caused a momentary stun to the Demon Wolf where Jin used that short window to send his dagger right straight into the Wolf''s carotid.

    Obviously, the other Demon Wolf pounded at Jin as an attack of opportunity since Jin was upied by the killing of the Demon Wolf he had pinned down. And yet Jin did not budge as he merely stomped the ground and a sharp sand spike emerged right beneath the pounding Demon Wolf, piercing and incapacitating it almost immediately.

    After seeing a shitshow of abat showcase, the Audience was in awe by the simple yet deadly attack that Jin had performed. But the reason why they were in awe was because they finally got past the appetiser, and now to the main dish.

 Chapter 1947: A Dishonourable Act

    "Master, do you wish for me to drop my power level to an equivalent cultivation grade 4?" The cloaked person asked through the System Channel and Jin wanted tough. Surely not all of his monsters have not realised that he had be an entity that had surpassed the so called legendary grade 20 and was something of simr status to a grade 24.

    However, if he were to say that, the monsters under him would not understand him and they might also misinterpret without proper exnation. Thus, he decided to do a half truth half lie instead. "Nah, I am just suppressing to look like a Grade 4. Go full force against me." Jin said and the clocked person nodded his head.

    As for the identity of the cloaked person, Jin had selected the Variants that he had caught in the Dungeon World previously. They had been going strong considering that they had the level system from the Dungeon World. From all the work that Jin had utilised them for, they had gained a heck lot of levels which would have made them 2x more powerful than before.

    This could not have been achieved in the Dungeon World because of how the monsters they had been fighting were not of relevant experience and this would not allow the Adventurer Variants to grow.

    The one that Jin would be duelling with was the Warrior Variant but unlike normal warriors, this Variant had been built in such a way that he could wield some magic as well and that included monster summoning.

    For him, summoning the Wolves was not because he was not strong enough but rather, he had been using them as a distraction or buffer against enemies so that he could fight to the fullest at every major enemy group that he encountered. But this time round, it was differentpared to the usual enemies that he had been fighting.

    The Warrior Variant who had been stripped of his name upon his creation by Kraft finally get to fight against his Master.

    He had always wondered how strong his master really was when he remembered the days that they got decimated by Kraft and his other minions. Perhaps if he managed to win against the master, the Warrior Variant might be able to request something from his master once the duel was over. That thought alone and the permission to go full force against Jin made the Warrior Variant to be extremely delighted.

    He did not remove his cloak but instead pulled down his hood to show a full mask of his own too. Modelled like a full metal helm, his eyes glowed with magic from within which caused him to look extremely menacing and he got even badass looking as he summoned out his two de axe out. At that moment, Jin continued to use keep Boo hidden and had the dagger as his own weapon.

    It did not take long for Grand Headmistress Yuan to acknowledge that this was going to be a fight that would be of a different proportion and requested the System to turn on the force field barrier up to protect the audience.

    A sheet of energy suddenly shot out beyond the rails of the stadium and that was the signal that was needed for the Panda Masked Demon Exorcist to sh with the Warrior Demon Exorcist.

    In the blink of an eye, the two fake Demon Exorcists left their positions, leaving nothing but dust on their floor tiles. Sparks were already flying as the two interacted with each other. It was so fast that the floating TV monitors that were spread around the stadium started to show close quarter shots of the fight.

    Jin managed to use his hand to bring Warrior Variant''s axe away with just a palm flick, sending his dagger dangerously close to the opponent''s neck.

    But at that moment, a Demon Wolf came out from midair rushing towards Jin with the goal of biting the Jin''s neck as well. It was a tit for tat which the Warrior Variant believed it would deter Jin from going his throat. Yet, he was so wrong to think that his master would react that way.

    In fact, the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist ignored the Demon Wolf and focused on going for the Warrior Variant''s neck instead.

    That was when the Warrior Variant could feel his blood pulsating faster than usual. It had been some time since he had been stuck with such dangerous incidents. For this, he hardened his shoulder muscles and attempted to stop the de move slitting through by neck by using his shoulders and chin to block the attack.

    As dumb as it sounded, the move worked as Jin needed to spend some attention on the Demon Wolf who was terribly close to his neck as well.

    The Dungeon Supplier also stiffened his shoulder muscles but not for the same reason as he had used his head as a counterattack against the Demon Wolf, mming directly on his front fangs that they broke upon contact.It flinched the wolf so hard that the Warrior Variant was equally surprised to see it unfold for the first time.

    Since the dagger had been stuck, Jin decided to pour chi into it causing it to release a quick burst of hot steam from it which forced the Warrior Variant to release in order not to be scald from it. That was however not the end of it as the steam subsequently turned into light andter an explosion ensued.

    Usually, when this happens, the person casting it will take a few steps back to assess the situation before doing anything else.

    Jin did not do that.

    Instead, he went for the Demon Wolf so that it would not bother him again when he was aiming for the Warrior Variant. The dagger flew as the Demon Wolf was reeling in from the pain from the broken front fangs.

    The audience had no idea how painful it was to receive such a blunt hit from the front as the fangs did not only break but the roots of those fangs had been pushed so deep that it prated into the Demon Wolf''s nose, causing severe bleeding.

    But even as the Demon Wolf was able to sense Jin at the veryst minute, its movement was not fast enough to utilise Shadow Steps to prevent a stab into its neck. That was not the end of it as Jin stretched forward to hold onto the Demon Wolf''s torso as he used it as a shield against the Warrior Variant attack when he was preupied with the killing of the Demon Wolf.

    The attack from Warrior Variant was a straight pure vertical sh from his axe but there were tricks involved in it. Without shouting the name of his skill as he should have, the axe glowed bright red as it swung downwards.

    Jin did manage to block the initial attack but not the subsequent aftereffects of it. It was a high level skill called Explosion Swing and he too had received the pain he had administered to his enemy.During that short downtime, the Warrior Variant did not waste any time as he poured magic into his legs and did a bullrush when he caught a glimpse of Jin''s silhouette after the explosion swing.

    But as he moved through the smoke, he realised that the distance he estimated was wrong and in actual fact, his master was not there as well. It was a secondter that he realised that Jin had manipted his location and positioned himself nicely within the smoke debris.

    "Your wolves are not the only ones who know how to perform shadow steps." Jin said as he grabbed the Warrior Variant''s head with his left palm and wanted to snap his head as well as insert a dagger''s de into his neck.

    "As a Warrior Variant, I feel it is regrettable that my master used assassin tactics to fight with me instead of frontal assault." The Variant stated as he quickly used his hand to cover the spot where Jin was aiming, causing the dungeon supplier to miss the neck and the dagger was plunged into his palm.

    At that point, Jin already poured chi once more and did the same attack pattern where hot steam andter explosion came to destroy his hand before moving back to gain some distance away. "I apologise, in my mind the fastest way to kill a warrior like you is through swift assassination.

    But you have already blocked my assassination attempts twice and proven yourself to be a strong warrior." Jin responded as he swung his dagger and it slowly grew in size.

    A proper long sword emerged and Jin took a frontal stance while waiting for the explosion dust to settle. Out of the smoke came out the Warrior Variant partially wounded from the attack but ready to go for the next round. He had lost his right hand but within that smoke, he already tore the cloak and used it as an impromptu bandage.

    "For the dishonourable act against you, I too shall handicap myself and work with my left hand only," Jin added as he ced his right hand behind his back and the sword was held with his left.

 Chapter 1948: The Warrior Variant

    Upon watching, the people were finally on the edge of their seats. They never expect it to be such a nerve wrecking experience to see these two Demon Exorcists sh among themselves.

    The killing intent was immensely strong being emitted from the both of them as each went for their vital points. Even as each of them failed, the desperate attempts to survive were undoubtedly being conveyed to the people watching the show.

    The only person who was unsatisfied by the fight was actually the Demon Exorcist Teacher who had seen the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist disying his Grade 12 Red Cross Ape for the tour group to see. He specifically wants to see how the Red Cross Ape fights against the Warrior Type Demon Exorcist.

    Would it be an exhrating duel for the audience to watch, that he does not know as he has never seen the Red Cross Ape in action before?

    However, he does know that this uing fight would be an even fiercer one mainly due to the fact that both of them had been handicapped. People might think otherwise but the Demon Exorcist Teacher knew that if one were to handicap themselves, they would be pulling their best shots out for everyone to see.

    And it was indeed nothing less spectacr when Jin and the Warrior Variant met for the first sh the moment they had dered their handicap status. The chi and magic powers being unleashed by both contestants were felt by the audience.

    With each sh, the chi residue got even stronger, and if not for the force field barrier that was surrounding and protecting the people in the stadium, some of the audience in the front seats might have already been affected by it.

    Soon, both of them had enough of parrying and started to y the ''disy'' game. The Warrior unleashed his explosive powers but Jin was able to deflect it swiftly with his very own as well. Soon, the floor tiles they were fighting on had been destroyed and the ground sunk from the consistent explosions that had happened.

    It did not take long for them to subsequently move to another portion of the arena so that they could continue their attack. But unlike thest minute where they were pretty even, Jin finally got the hang of the Warrior Variant''s attacks as well as force. It did not take long to see the gaps that the Warrior Variant had mainly due to the fact that the Warrior was mostly a two handed user.

    He was definitelypetent with the use of his double de axe but gaps could be seen when he attempted to wield the same explosive powers with just one handpared to the ease of use when he wielded it with two.

    And unlike the Warrior Variant, Jin was proficient in wielding his longsword for the longest time possible. He had deflected even stronger blows via his longsword and dished out equally strong attacks with just one hand. That was why it was not a handicap for him to wield it in one hand instead it was the norm. Having two hands avable merely gave him more opportunities for a counterattack.

    That was why when he felt that the fight was bing a standstill aspared to the adrenaline he had when Jin first fought against the Warrior Variant, he instantly sent a burst of chi into his sword and mmed it hard into the Warrior Variant''s axe des.

    The only difference now was that the burst of chi was sufficient enough for Bam to cut through the Double Axe''s de and eventually slide into the leather cuirass of the Warrior Variant. Yet at that point, the Warrior Variant knew that the only opportunity was now. It was a do or die kind of situation for him even though he did not have the edge of the axe on his side.

    Instead, he had summoned another Demon Wolf to do the killing in his stead.

    As much as he did not wish to follow Jin''s matter, the Warrior Variant had used the Demon Wolf which he summoned as a gauntlet. He grabbed it by the neck and sent it flying towards Jin''s neck once more. If Jin were to plunge his sword into the Warrior Variant''s torso, he did not have to worry about distance. The only thing he need to hope for is that he was able to time it right.

    "Tsk. I did expect a bit of dirtiness on your part. But to use the Demon Wolf to act as your extension." Regardless of the danger that Jin was facing when he talked to himself, he still regarded the handicap that he had promised with the Warrior Variant and took the bite.

    The only difference was that the two could y that game of ''extension''. With his Maqi, he was able to temporarily create a Panda chi silhouette that had a physical body to withstand the attack for him. The baby panda covered his neck in a way where it looked like it curled up Jin''s entire face to protect.

    It was not a particrly good sight for the audience to see as the Chinese people tend to have a bias towards cute things, especially baby pandas.

    But a fight was a fight. No matter how unfair it was, the opponents had to y to their advantage.

    That was why Jin pulled this trick to gain sympathy points from the audience but he had forgotten that in doing so, it had also verified to the Pandarens that the one who was fighting might have been Jin. Knowing that the cat was out of the bag, he decided not to hide his powers any longer as he kicked the Warrior Variant away and started to m his hands on the ground.

    This caused a series of spikes to emerge out of the ground and attempts to hit the Warrior Variant with it. Of course, the Warrior Variant was not stupid to be pierced so easily as he unleashed a devastating blow to the ground, decimating the ground spikesing towards him and under him as well.

    But what he did not anticipate was that he should not have just mmed once as the spikes grew once more at a pace that he was unable to cover.

    It sent him flying into the air while more spikes from the side pierced him. The Warrior Variant as the name suggests went through battles with a shockingly high level of tenacity with him as well. This enabled him to break all the ground spikes all at once in a single stroke of his two handed axe.

    At the same time, Jin did not relent with the ground spikes but the Warrior decided to y the same game as well and summoned as many Demon Wolves as he could.

    Desperately copying the idea from Jin, the Demon Wolves had been used as meat shields to cover himself from the onught of ground spikes but at the same time, he had summoned them near Jin in order to distract him from using the ground spikes spell.

    But to his horror, even before they could be summoned out from their portals, the moment Jin sensed an embodiment of mana converting in the area, the ground spike had already been prepared to pierce the emergence of the Demon Wolf.

    As ugly as the battlefield had be, it turned into a battle of attrition to see who got a sufficient amount of mana to waste and the amount of energy to hold on. But unlike the Jin, who had surpassed the supposed Grade 20 threshold, the Warrior Variant could not hold a candle to his master.

    Even if he wished to show his master his ultimate move and see how would the master react, he basically had no time to even prepare for such a skill as his master''s ability to cast these many ground spikes so effortlessly is already considered a talent that he could not surpass. And like those who had been enamoured by Jin''s powers, the Warrior Variant was also caught in that vicious trap.

    Even as he died meaninglessly through another wave of ground spikes, his faith in his master had been renewed.

    At the same time, the audience was speechless.

    They knew that there was something special about the Demon Exorcist just as he had managed not to break a sweat against the enemy that managed to wipe the Demon Exorcists so easily. But to see the chaos that ensued after that was an eye opener for them to see such a strong Demon Exorcist exist among them.

    The Sinhua reporter was the same as well. He initially wanted the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist to lose but to see the battle develop to such a state, the reporter knew that this was no ordinary Demon Exorcist. He was called out to show that there was still a standard that the Demon Exorcists could achieve.

    Whether or not the Demon Exorcist Commando could reach that particr standard, it was for the audience to see in theing year.

    However, all of those were not the audience''s main concern right now as they wanted to know badly if the baby panda survived the attack or not even though they knew it was not real.

 Chapter 1949: Warrior Savant

    "Perhaps we should give Jin two times more enemies otherwise this would not be any more entertaining." JODE Chancellor Ma Ge said and Grand Headmistress Yuan chuckled as it was pretty obvious that fighting one to one might be interesting at the start. But that excitement will die down when they already know the power level of the existing challenger.

    "I do not think that Jin minds about it. He was probably keeping his strength restrained from the looks of it." ire added as she saw the battle unfolded. Even her urge to fight was telling her to give it a try but at the same time, fear had held her back. The very same fear that all the Demon Exorcist Commandos have when they see Jin and the Warrior Variant fight against each other.

    They felt powerless when they saw the strength that those two ''demon exorcists'' portrayed and it made them feel like whatever they had trained for was for naught. The reserved Demon Exorcist Commandos even felt that if they showed this fight to their top stars within their own forces, they too would not dare to challenge Jin or the Warrior Variant.

    But as much as this gave a spectacr match to the audience, it was merely the beginning. With that many Demon Exorcist Commandos that were supposed to fight something simr to a quickpetition showcase, it would indeed be a pity for the high note to end it right here right now. Therefore, Grand Headmistress Yuan had decided to y along with JODE Chancellor Ma Ge''s suggestion.

    To put not just one but multiple variants at the same time.

    However, even Grandma Yuan knew how to create excitement and asked the System to present one Variant for now. Only when Jin was in the heat of battle, she throw in the second one. This was to simte situations where the Banned Emperor Terrorists were able to reinforce their nks to kill the Demon Exorcist that they were pitting against.

    But to theirбнunexpected reaction, the next person that came in had the very same equipment as the previous one. From the weapon to his attire, it looked like they had called out the same person. Yet Jin could already feel that based on his magical level, it was not exactly the person that he had fought previously.

    Of course, the System could have easily brought the person back since this was the dimensional instance. The only difference was that monsters when resurrected within the dungeon instance to fight would experience some sort of fatigue. That was the same as the cultivators who were resting in the Luxury Recovery Instance.

    They could go into their desired dungeon instance once more but if they do not rest, their bodies would not be able to handle the strain that their body umtes upon ''reconstructing'' within the dimensional instance.

    However, the Warrior Variant was different. He was partially robotic although they were not pure robots aspared to the Mechanoids who were fully made out of parts and chi generators. The Variant was more organic in nature when it came to parts. Surely, he could be retrofitted with parts but there was no better way to do it than to allow his body to grow back those organs or body parts themselves.

    Still, if he were to be immediately resurrected ande out to fight with Jin, the amount of fatigue that he umtes would be vastly different than a fully organic creature, allowing him to go at least two to three rounds without rest.

    "Looks like you have defeated my pupil." The ''Demon Exorcist'' holding the very same model of axe said.

    "Ah, so you are the newly promoted Savant?" Jin said through the System Channel while he continued to keep quiet in real life when the rows of audience were looking at him intently for his answer.

    "Yes, my master. There are quite a few promoted Savants that are dying to meet you. Ever since the defeat we had in the Dungeon World, the Variants had always been looking forward to working hard enough so that we could be promoted to Savants." The Warrior''s outer appearance looked stoic despite his pleasantposition through the System Channel.

    "All of the newly promoted Savants are part of thebat exhibition showcase?" The two of them continued to stare at each other as they started to walk sideways. With their masks on, the silence they produced was awfully deafening.

    "Yes, my master. They were initially here to showcase some of their talent to the audience. But it looks like they might be able to present their skills to you personally." The Warrior Savant was the first to remove the dirtied bandages from his axe and it remained as bloody as the previouspetitor.

    "Wait, if you are already the Warrior Savant, then that Warrior Variantбн?"

    "Ah. He is really my pupil. As the Warrior title had been taken by me for the Savants, he should be going into a subss of Warrior sses. Last I heard, he might try to take the Axe Arcanist." The Warrior Savant said as he paced himself even slower when Jin decided to unsheathe his sword. This time he was even more serious as two des were out instead.

    Bam and Boo had been drawn with Bam at the front, pointing towards the enemy while Boo was partially hidden behind Jin.

    "Oh yeah, I saw those Demon Wolves. Now I get what you mean when you said he wants to be an Axe Arcanist. Looks like there would be more Savants iing." Jin said with a smile in the System Channel but the audience took that expression differently. It made him look like he was going to enjoy this fight. While that was not untrue, it was not meant that way.

    "Indeed, my lordship. Lord Kraft had put in a lot of effort attacking the ''Money'' Tower from the Church of the Afterlife. He took in a lot of disciples and revamped them into Variants.

    Unlike the first batch of Savants, it seemed like our seniors had proven themselves to be of a high standard that Lord Kraft did not want to sully the name of Savants within your army." The Warrior Savant said as he too started to pour energy into his axe as well but Jin could sense that the amount of energy that he was inserting was way WAY more than his supposed pupil.

    At that point, the number of barriers that the System had ced subsequently increased. That was a shining light for a moment before it turned transparent for the audience to watch without much distraction or difficulty.

    However, based on the barriers itself, the audience could already sense that this was going to be a fight that was worth buying the popcorn and other snacks which the Red Pandas were going round selling.

    They took the chance of thisbat exhibition showcase to earn more money and the audience would have their mouth busy to not talk and watch the fight. Unknowingly, Jin and the Warrior Savant was actually buying time before the duel start.

    But just as the tension was running high within the group, the Emcee just remembered that the Demon Exorcist who won can leave the stage and allow the next person to enter.

    Just by saying that one sentence, the entire audience within the stadium erupt with jeering at the emcee for even suggesting that. It was as if he was the wet nket that the audience did not needed. However, it was also at that moment that most of the audience missed out the very first sh that Jin and the Warrior Savant had done.

    The explosion was respectable to the sense that the front rows were having chills from the force of impact and the blinding lights before the smoke engulfed the entire arena. The remains of the ground spike that Jin had previously had been levelled into nothingness but more importantly, he was defending from the double de axe that the Warrior Savant was using.

    At that point, the Warrior Savant showed the ''cultivation'' of a bear as he swung his left hand to bash into Jin''s head.

    "Heh! Looks like you had been watching thebat exhibition showcase as well!" Jin yelled out loud as he removed himself from the difficult position that he was in by letting go of his swords and move to the right. At that moment, he gave a quick roundhouse kick which the Warrior Savant responded by twirling his body and used the double de axe to block.

    But what he did not know was that the swords Jin let go were being hung by a thin thread of chi that he subsequently hold and retracted. Jin blocked the Axe''s attack once more and the impact from the blow could be felt once more. Let''s not mention the explosive power that cause the entire stadium to shake as well.

    This was undoubtedly a brand new level of fight that Jin had to handle and withholding too much of his strength was not a wise choice at all.

 Chapter 1950: The Fight Against Savants -Part 1

    The Warrior Savant was not pulling any punches as he knew that what hecked in speed, he made up in literal explosive power. Yet he too understood that raw power had no effect on Jin and he got to do something. And that special thing he had that might prove to be an edge was the cultivation equivalent of a bear.

    Perhaps he had been exposed and watched cultivators in various fights that he had unconsciously gained the bear form out.

    So when fighting with Jin, he fully utilised this bear form to the best of his ability in order to counter Jin. Still, the dungeon supplier was trying his best not to use any of his Maqi as a part of training for himself. He had been forcing himself in the past fight as well as the current one to utilise only the chi portion of his Maqi.

    It was not necessary for him to do this since he had full control of his magic and chi circuits. However, ever since he had turned to the new Grade 4. He noticed that he had discovered the intricacies of his circuits even better. Every time he used his chi, his circuits expanded ever so slightly.

    Even if he could not see it, the current grade that he possessed allowed him to have a full sense of his entire chi circuitwork.

    Somehow he noticed that his magic circuits were more refined than his chi ones. He deduced that he had been using magical spells while activating them through chi circuits. That was possibly why his magic circuits were more expansive and stronger than his chi circuits.

    It was an unconscious move he had been making and Jin only realised it now mainly due to the fact that there was nobody in this nation or maybe this world that was able to teach him how to use both circuits at the same time.

    Even Ryuli was unable to fully execute her skills as well as Jin and had mainly used her chi circuits rather than her magic circuits because of her training and cultivation style. It was through this that Jin was able to subsequently find out that her chi circuits were inversely proportional to his. At the same time, her magic circuits were significantly smaller than his.

    So, he believed that by using only the chi circuits, he might be able to expand them and eventually he could have equal sizes for both the chi and magic circuits. It was a working theory that he believed it might work although there was no guarantee that his chi circuits could expand as much as his magic ones mainly due to the fact that there was only this much space within the human body.

    The body had topromise in some way and perhaps the magic circuits might be reduced to amodate the size of the chi circuits. However, reduction in size was not a problem as his main concern was the concentration. If both of the circuits could reduce in size but increase in density, both his magic and chi powers could be of equal value and able to dish out even stronger attacks out.

    Right now, he had the edge mainly due to the fact that now he was in the new grade 4 level, he was able to sense the growth of his chi and magic pathways within him.

    To his knowledge, Ryuli was not able to do that and she needed Jin to check on her asionally in order to know the progress of her circuits. That was why the dungeons supplier thought that thisbat exhibition showcase might be a good start to the training he might have.

    "Can you afford to be distracted?" the Warrior Savant noticed that Jin was moving based on reactions but not taking this fight seriously. It was at that point where the Warrior Savant''s hand started to glow with an intense bright light. If the Warrior Savant did not sound out, Jin might had been hit by it and he would be gone flying to the other side of the arena.

    Perhaps, the Warrior Savant wanted a good fight and that was why he sounded out towards Jin.

    Even though he was grateful, it was unnecessary as at that point, Jin had decided not to be the nice guy any longer. By concentrating his chi energies, he managed to rough out the problem he was encountering and empowered his swords. At that point, two baby panda silhouettes emerged right above him.

    Despite their ying stance and cuteness within the silhouettes, there was a sort of strength it was trying to disy. Yet, the silhouettes somehow made the Warrior Savant underestimate the strength of the attack, causing him to be knock down by the attack.

    It was at that time Grand Headmistress Yuan had decided to ask the System to send in the second person in. And sure enough, a bolt of magical energy zoomed and urately hit Jin''s long swords. It was so fast and quiet that Jin did not even notice it until the veryst second.

    If Jin had not used his swords to block them, he might had been at the nks, giving the Warrior Savant the energy to attack back.

    That was when Jin knew that if he did not finish the Warrior Savant right here and now, he would not have the chance again. So even with the distraction that the mystic bolts had happened, the dungeon supplier was extremely focused in providing absolute destruction against the Warrior Savant.

    His swords were steaming with intense amount of chi that it looked as if a touch from it would cause severe burns.

    On the other hand, the Warrior Savant was given enough time due to the distraction he was given. He roared intensely to not only attempt to scare Jin but also wanted to invoke the bear spirit that he had been trying to cultivate.

    And the bear spirit reciprocated, embodying him with the strength of the bear. It was a fight between the fearsome Warrior Bear and the Astral Baby Pandas.

 Chapter 1951: The Fight Against Savants -Part 2

    But even as the Warrior Savant wanted a 1 to 1 fight, the Savant that had interrupted their fight was not allowing them to do this. He was a little irritated that there were othersing in to disrupt the precious duel they had but at the same time, he knew that the Grand Headmistress did this because she did not believe the powers of the Warrior Savant.

    The Caster Savant was there standing at the corner shooting his boss and he was preparing even more bolts of energy to be cast towards his position. There was no other way that Jin was going to escape from this as he was pinned down with the Warrior Savant''s new form. It seemed like thetter was able to simte using his magical powers to have the bear ''cultivation'' form into his body.

    Thus, Jin had no choice but to work simultaneously against the threats he had. The two Astral Pandas that he had previously were focused on fighting the imbued Warrior Bear Form while the next two Astral Pandas which he reserved emerged with the powers of magical barriers focused on blocking the attacks.

    The audience who watched this had never imagined that someone could use their cultivation so specifically like how this particr Grade 4 Demon Exorcist had done. Usually, the silhouettes were meant to be an embodiment of their power, simply a demonstration of their grade and used to boast their powers.

    Yet in this particr instance, this Demon Exorcist was able to manipte the chi he had emitted into this silhouette as an extension of his powers.

    Just as the Warrior Bear Form was attempting to break out of the pinned down position that the Warrior Savant was in, Jin was still at the top using the two Astral Panda silhouettes to continuously pin the Warrior Bear Form down as he fought against the Warrior Savant.

    People were confused at first about the Warrior Bear Form until a few who were perceptive enough saw that the Warrior Bear Form seemed like an entity on its own that was simr to the silhouettes that Jin was wielding.

    The only difference was that unlike Jin who had the silhouettes outside of him, this particr Warrior Bear Form was embodied within the warrior and acting separately from the Demon Exorcist. So, it looked as if there were two separate but simultaneous actions being taken at the same time.

    The Warrior Savant eventually realised that Jin was more powerful than he looked. His master was able to not just continuously pin himself but proceeded with assaults that made his double de axe to be ineffective in the situation. It was only because of his experience andpetency in using it that enabled him to defend against the attacks.

    No matter the aid that the brand new Caster Savant had been throwing towards them, Jin was able to defend without any problem.

    The only effect those energy bolts had was that they distracted Jin from time to time but that minute timepse was ineffective in bringing an opportunity window for the Warrior Savant to utilise. The only way he could attempt to get out was to pour out an explosive force as he had been doing to cause Jin to evade.

    But every time he tried to force such an attack out, Jin''s long sword would turn into a pair of gauntlets imbued with chi and it hit him at certain points of the body with such force that he coughed and was unable to produce such an explosive force out.

    And when he thought he would have the double de axe to act to his advantage, those gauntlets turned into short swords and adjusted ordingly to parry his attacks.

    When the audience watched the unfolding of this battle, they could see that the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist was dominating the scene. There was no doubt that the Warrior Savant was doing his best but at the moment, he could not find a way outбнuntil Grand Headmistress Yuan had allowed the third Savant to enter the fray.

    And to Jin''s surprise, it was not a new Savant like the Warrior Savant as well as the Caster Savant. The third Savant that came into the fray was Lancer Savant. One of the original few Savants that came about when Kraft first released his ''magic'' to do things.

    The Caster Savant was not able to do much, mainly due to the fact that Jin was in deadlock with the Warrior Savant. That was also why Jin did not wish to move away from the Warrior Savant because of the fact that he had to contest with the Caster Savant when he moved out.

    Of course, the Caster Savant was not idling by to let things go his way. As Jin continued to be in a deadlock with the Warrior Savant, he was preparing more and more spells to be released simultaneously to eliminate Jin the moment he got out of it. The only time that he was going to go all out without any intervention was when Jin had killed the Warrior Savant.

    But now with the appearance of Lancer Savant, the Caster Savant was confident that killing their master would work. What''s more, the Lancer Savant had decided to do something fanciful. Before its emergence, the Lancer Savant had requested the System to teleport him to the top of the Stadium out of Jin''s point of view.

    Thus, when he entered the fight, the Lancer jumped further up and dived into the conflict that Jin and the Warrior Savant engaged in. Obviously, if he did not y the cards right, he might kill the Warrior Savant and Jin would still be alive. However, with the deadlock, the chances of inflicting massive damage on Jin was immensely great.

    There was no way the monster of a master would be able to get out of it unscathed as soon as the Warrior Savant noticed Lancer Savant entering the battlefield.

    He knew that the bigger picture was to aid thetter in making sure Jin could not run away from it and so using his Warrior Bear form, the Warrior Savant grabbed onto Jin regardless of the injury Jin was able to inflict on the Warrior Savant.

    It then became apparent when the Caster Savant had also conjured chains onto Jin, forcing him to be in ce, unable to escape from the deadlock that both the Warrior Savant and Caster Savant had created.

    At that point, the murder intent of the Lancer Savant was apparent to Jin and the Caster Savant applied multiple magic circles right around his masters. Jin knew that if he did not do something about it in a second''s notice, he would really be pierced by Lancer''s diving attack as well as the subsequent damage incurred from Caster''s multiple magic bolts.

    The Warrior Savant was willing to hold Jin until the end of the duel was a testament to his determination to bring his master down to his knees.

    However, all of them did not know the innate powers that Jin possessed. This was mostly because he had been very active in showing such powers to his minions. And even so, after acquiring the System Rider system, he always borrowed the powers of his minions to do his job.

    So, it was suffice to say that all of them were rather shocked and surprised that Jin was able to not just break out of the hold that the Warrior Bear and Caster Savant had created.

    Even though his flesh was torn out from the deadlock that the Warrior Bear had put him into, Jin''s brute strength proved to be an overwhelming force that the Warrior Savant did not expecting from a cultivator whose focus was to be a jack of all trades.

    Not only that, an Anti Magic Spell barrier had been cast by Jin, causing the circles to break before any magical bolts could be released. This allowed Jin toe out of the deadlock as well as make sure that he would not be sted by the Lancer Savant''s Dive attack.

    At the same time, the Lancer was not able to change his trajectory in time, only able to divert it a little so that it did not cause a vital wound against the Warrior Savant. He too had no idea that Jin was able to slip away this easily even at this degree of danger being presented to him.

    Eventually, friendly fire ensued as the Lancer Savant pierced the Warrior Savant at the side of his torso. The only reason the Warrior Savant could still be breathing was because the Lancer Savant had ejected all his magical energy that was being umted in his spear into the atmosphere, allowing him to slow down in time as well due to the reverse venting of the magical energy.

    But that was not sufficient to stop the attack froming down into the Warrior Savant''s torso. Jin saw this as an opportunity to kill the Warrior Savant once more but to his dismay, the Caster pulled the Warrior Savant towards himself in order to cast some healing spells on him.

    In the meantime, he sprouted more magical spells that were stronger than the anti magic barrier that Jin had released only to find that the barrier had already dissipated. It was a waste of spells but since it was already out, he would have to just use it and make sure they hit the target or the target''s barrier.

    After all, it was all about wasting his master''s life energies or his Maqi so that he would be too tired to continue fighting.

 Chapter 1952: The Fight Against Savants - Part 3

    "System, just tell me honestly. Will there be more Savantsing in?" Jin asked as he surveyed the arena for a moment before moving to evade the attacks front back centre.

    "The System is unable to answer the User as it is on the whim of Ex Sub System User Yuan to give the orders. Besides, this is a great workout for you and a disy of your prowess wearing a mask." The System replied.

    "Yeah right. Almost half of the audience are Pandarens and a number of them are veterans. It would not take a minute to let them know that I am the Dungeon Supplier that gave them this school instance." Jin said as he performed a shadow step technique and pushed himself away from the impending fireball that came his way.

    "But by doing this, the audience would be convinced that there is a team of elite Demon Exorcists that had been out of sight from the public until now."

    "I do not think thating out now would be a good idea. This gives the terrorists some thought that this is the strength of our troops. You honestly think this will deter them?" Jin asked.

    "No. Based on historical trends, it is impossible. As long as the Banned Emperor Terrorists had faith in what they did, they would act irrationally. The only deterrence that such a disy and demonstration of skills would be able to have an effect could onlyst at most a few more months and optimally a year or two.

    After that, our enemies would have garnered enough strength and investment to perform a craftier operation."

    "So, I believe that point is moot, especially after how we learn that the Banned Emperor Terrorists have infiltrated not only government organisations but also high level positions that even the Internal Security Agencies were not able to track. Oh ya, did Kong Rong able to find out any moles?" Jin said as he continued to dodge the attacks now from the Lancer and Caster Savant.

    As much as they were throwing out deadly attacks at him, Jin was still able to parry and evade them.

    It was to the point where his regeneration had already kicked in and the sides of his torso did not hurt so much anymore. Sure, they did prove to be a hard gang to defeat if Jin were to control his powers but surviving those attacks? It was a feat that he had learned the hard way through the months. Hence, he was able to have afortable talk with the System.

    "Yes. With the aid of the System, he was able to locate two moles through the temporary contract method and gave fake information in order to lure the other Banned Emperor Terrorists out of their hiding ce. He was also able to flush out even more terrorists through Original System Betor Kraft''s help."

    "I bet he had a field day with all of those people," Jin said and suddenly he sensed a fourth presence within the arena. It was a brand new Savant which the System had designated him as the Wyrm Summoner.

    "There is a new Savanting in." The System reported and Jin wanted to roll his eyes out from his eye sockets.

    "Well thank you for the warning," Jin said so sarcastically but it had no effect on the System. This time, Jin could not take his time to evade nor defend against attacks. He had to be decisive with his attack moves or else if more Savants were to appear, it would be a difficult match to win against.

    Surely, the Savants did not take much pride in killing their master especially when he was overpowered but at the same time, the Savants were already operating at maximum capacity fighting against Jin. Despite pushing to their limits, they were still unable to make a dent in Jin''s movements and to put a physical toll on his body.

    Four Wyrms flew from the skies spewing mes of various colours which was proportional to their skin colour towards Jin while the Wyrm Summoner held onto thergest wyrm as it was his most prized possession when ites to Wyrms.

    Jin sighed as he saw the obstacles he had to evade even more. His shadow steps are finally being countered by the Caster Savant who cast metal chain spells to lock Jin into ce. The Dungeon Supplier had to use his magical portion of his Maqi to break the locks but before doing so, he had to counter the Lance piercing to his direction while the Axe swings from the top.

    To the audience, it was more than just a fight, it felt like it was a performance that was being showcase to them. The Grade 4 Demon Exorcist beautifully moved away from all the attacks and able to parry against almost every attack was like seeing someone dancing so elegantly on ice skates. But that magnificent disy was doubled when Jin went against the Wyrms.

    After putting himself out of harm''s way, the ''Grade 4'' Demon Exorcist finally summoned that one creature that the tour group that he was in saw. The Red Cross Ape was an excuse to be called out once more not to help him fight but to hide his ability to use his qing gong to the point where it looked as if he was flying.

    Thus, when a huge red hairy arm emerged from a portal that Jin had summoned, the Demon Exorcist Teacher as well as the rest in the tour group suddenly shouted the loudest within the stadium. They had always believed that the ape was the Grade 4 Demon Exorcist''s trump card.

    And that expectation was defied repeatedly as half of the body came out roaring at the Wyrms while it grabbed Jin violently and threw him towards the closest possible Wyrm.

    Unlike the rest of the audience, the tour group cheered even louder as Jin not only reached the closet Wyrm but also slicing it into half. That was when the audience realised that the Red Cross Ape was not an ordinary Ape Demon that this particr Grade 4 Demon Exorcist had collected.

 Chapter 1953: The Fight Against the Savants -Part 4

    To put it simply, the Red Cross Ape was ted.

    When it had been summoned from Liu Qian Town, it thought that it had to do another exhibition of itself being an obedient huge ape for other people to take pictures of. After all, the day had not passed yet, and considering how strong his master was, there was no need for it to really do much against those humans that he was showing off to.

    But things changed when themand that Jin had given to it was vastly different from the first. The Red Cross Ape emerged into the portal with delight throwing its master into the skies, allowing it to kill one of the wyrms that had been pestering him from the start.

    Jin continued to use his Qing Gong to move around in the skies with the slight help of his Maqi to produce a burst of wind so that he was able to look as if he was flying through the skies. Meanwhile, his Red Cross Ape roared to get the attention of the other Savants that were in sight. However, Jin gave him a different task instead.

    "Let me handle those humans, you take the big flying lizard instead," Jin ordered and the Red Cross Ape who was still partially within the portal immediately put strength into its legs so that it could not only push through the portal but also have enough power to jump into the skies to get the Wyrm.

    However, it also did not take long for the rest of the Savants who were shocked by its appearance to gather their thoughts and move to intercept the Red Cross Ape.

    They knew that Jin was the threat but this Red Cross Ape was something that they did not expect to be of the equivalent power like themselves. Jin was not ying around anymore and it seemed he wanted to clear this fight as fast as he could. The loss of a wyrm was immediately seen as a threat that Jin was someone they had to put in not just 100% effort but 110% effortбнmaybe even 200%.

    The Wyrm Summoner who saw the loss of his summoned creature die easily made him scared and at the same time frustrated. He quickly got the rest of his Wyrms to intercept. The smaller two Wyrms understood the task at hand but one of them was not able to execute it as the Wyrm Summoner did not expect Jin''s Ape to be able to jump high enough to grab one of its smaller Wyrm''s tail.

    Once the Red Cross Ape got a proper grip of the smaller Wyrm, it decided to use it as a project to hit the Caster Savant who had been the only person who had been stationary all this while. The Caster Savant did not expect itself to be one of its targets and certainly did not realise that the ape was clever enough to use the Wyrm it caught as a projectile to be thrown at it.

    In a panic mode, the Caster Savant started to pull out all his defensive spells in case the throw of its strength was unparalleled. And true enough the Wyrm was being flung into his direction like a speeding meteor towards the Caster.

    The first few barriers that the Caster Savant had employed broke instantly and it was only until it was down to the veryst pieces that the Wyrm''s body had disintegrated.

    Even though the Caster had managed to survive the attack, someone did not.

    The Wyrm Summoner whom Jin had been focusing on for the past minute went down with the aid of his Red Cross Ape. It was too high in the air that both the Lancer and Warrior Savant were not able to do anything to aid their fellow Savant. The Red Cross Ape was initially on a downward trajectory toward the ground after throwing the Wyrm as a projectile since whatever goes up muste down.

    But Jin did not allow him to do so.

    Instead, he used his Wind Maqi, conjuring a miniature tornado right below the Red Cross Ape to propel him up once more. Jin did not stop there as he too conjured solid bars in mid air for his Red Cross Ape to hold.

    His ''pet'' was intuitive enough to see the solid bars and the Red Cross Ape used that to pull himself up and also make it like a jumping pad to spur him further into the skies so that he could reach the same heights as his master.

    In unison, both the Red Cross Ape and Jin were finally able to see eye to eye as theyunched their attacks on the Greater Wyrm and the Wyrm Summoner that was on it. Obviously, it did not make it easy for the both of them who were not flyers by spewing out a jet burst of mes filled with electricity and ice elements in it.

    However, the Wyrm Summoner did not expect the Red Cross Ape to do the very same thing again by picking its master up and throwing him toward the enemy. "Bloody hell, this Red Cross Ape is surely learning on to take revenge against its master whenever it could." Jin thought to himself as he had to brave the mes.

    He was able to erect a personal barrier protecting his front but the sides and back of him were tingling with electricity and the feeling of being burnt with an icy numb. Still, that did not deter him and Jin was able to pull through the attack, giving him a full view of the exposed summoner.

    With the Caster upied by the Wyrm projectile that its Red Cross Ape threw, he was not able to cast any spells to support the Wyrm Summoner Savant.

    As ast ditch effort, the Wyrm Summoner Savant attempted to summon a Wyrm right in front of him. However, before he could materialise it properly, Jin''s pointed tip of his de already contacted his cloth robe and into his chest.

    That was also where the Wyrms he had summoned disintegrated on the spot.

 Chapter 1954: The Fight Against Savants -Part 5

    "LETS GOOOOOOO!" The Sinhua reporter who was bitter at Jin''s actions due to the humiliation he suffered, turned extremely supportive during this fight. It was as if all the hate had gone when he saw Jin was not those who merely showed his powers for the sake of goading.

    That mysterious ''Grade 4'' Demon Exorcist was that powerful.

    He had killed the Wyrm Summoner ''Demon Exorcist'' in one go when everyone thought he was supposedly the strongest among the four. To be able to control 4 Wyrms and use them in sync was a feat that even Demon Exorcist Tamers did not have the expertise to do so. Much less handling one Wyrm.

    But they have seen the weakness of the Wyrm Summoner. As the Wyrm Summoner was powerful in wielding those four Wyrms, the monster of a summoner was not able to hold himself against even an all rounder. That was why the audience understood why it did not appear in the beginning and instead at theter part of thebat exhibition showcase.

    If the Wyrm Summoner were to appear first, the audience believed that there was no way he would survive to fight against Jin. That was why they deduced that the Warrior ''Demon Exorcist'' and subsequently the others appeared to tire the Grade 4.

    It was only after they were either out of tricks or were sure that they had reduced the stamina of the Grade 4, then the Wyrm Summoner came in to support them. Hence the four Wyrms as those dragons subspecies were meant toplement the other three ''Demon Exorcists'' to fight against the Grade 4.

    Still, they never expected this fake Grade 4 to withstand the might of these four Demon Exorcists. Everyone knows that being able to have a mastery in either the de or chi powers would take dozens of years. But to be able to showcase an all rounded expert that not only be able to fight with a variety of weapons but also cast chi based magic? That was a first for many of them.

    As if to impress the audience even further, Jin took out a monster out of nowhere the moment the Wyrm Summoner appeared. This further increased his poprity to be a tamer of a strong demon while still being able to hold his ground against multiple enemies. The Demon Exorcist Commandos who saw thisbat exhibition showcase had their jaws dropped.

    No matter how hard they had trained and were bitter to the Grade 4 in the first ce, turned into a slight shame.

    How could they call themselvesmandos when by definition they were the best of the best in the frontlines and yet there was this guy who was beyond everyone''s expectations? It was subtle but they felt that JODE Chancellor Ma Ge and Grand Headmistress Yuan did not put this person and them here by chance.

    It was a calcted move to show how inadequate the current expertise of the Demon Exorcists was.

    But as the various groups were at the back thinking upon watching the scene, the obviously fake Grade 4 did another stunning move. Just when everyone thought that he was only proficient with two elements, they did not know that he was more than just proficient.

    He was a god damn specialist in those two elements.

    Jin knew that when he reached the ground, the caster would throw spells in intervals while the other two Savants would break him down. So his next objective was to disable the Caster Savant before Grand Headmistress Yuan pulled another one from the rug for him to contest.

    Either way, he need something powerful that even when another Savant interferes, either the Caster Savant or the next Savant would not be able to stop him.

    Even if they did, they would receive damage that was significant enough for his little Pet who was enjoying this whole endeavour. Thus, use the Caster''s stationary position as the basis of casting. Ground spikes first came out which Jin knew that it would not work mainly due to the fact that if the Caster Savant did not move away from it, he must have some backup n of sorts.

    Either through protection spells or a teleportation spell to spirit him away from the ce.

    Thus, the ground spikes did the trick and the Caster Savant teleported away while Jin pretended to pull another wave of ground spikes up around it.

    However, the Caster disappeared out of sight, and considering that the arena was the only space that the stadium had with no obstacles around, Jin knew that he was either way high up in the sky but still within the arena''s boundaries or he was invisible.

    The Savants had no idea that Jin did not need to cast detect or reveal magic when his Inverse Eyes were capable of doing all that without a single magic cast. It instantly revealed the Caster Savant''s location to be right above Jin.

    Considering that was the only ce where the Caster would be able to throw fire balls ice balls or whatever magic balls at Jin, it was a pretty safe spot for a swordsman like him.

    But what the Caster Savant did not expect was that the Jin turned his back even as he was falling to the arena grounds and extended his hand towards the Caster. At that point, the Caster felt the winds around him were moving a little too unnaturally and then realised Jin had manipted the molecules around the Caster.

    A ''wind like hand'' grabbed the Caster Savant and he was being violently pulled to the ground.

    Moving at a velocity that was even faster than the rate Jin was falling from the skies those who did not keep the movements of the fake Grade 4, were not able to see that the Caster had been dragged from the skies and straight into the arena grounds there the grounds spikes that initially missed him from the start, began to shoot right towards him, piercing the Caster Savant so messily that the System exploded an impromptu dust of sand of the ground spike to cover the incessant piercing of the Caster Savant.

    It was a brutal death that the Caster was unable to react in time and Jin was left with the Lancer and Warrior Savant to deal with.

 Chapter 1955: The Fight Against Savants -Final

    The Lancer and Warrior Savant sighed as they knew that losing their caster and summoner created a fairly overwhelming disadvantage for themselves.

    Surely, Grand Headmistress Yuan could surely bring out a heck lot of Savants for Jin to fight andplement the Lancer and Warrior Savant. However, dealing with four was more than enough for a showcase or else it would be an eternity especially since Jin seemed like he was more than capable of handling not just four but a dozen Savants too.

    That was why both the Lancer and Warrior Savant decided to drop their weapons, indicating a sign to surrender rather than the usual fight to the death. The audience could also see further fighting only showcase the ability of Jin''s sword menace and not any other things. Whatever that Jin wished to show had already been wide open as the fake Grade 4.

    Besides, there was grace in surrendering since they both knew the inevitable when Jin entered battle with only the two of them. If there was only one, he might take it easy. But it''s a different story if there are two Savants that he has to fight against with.

    The audience was also satisfied with thebat exhibition showcase, and to see the Lancer and Warrior ''Demon Exorcists'' had decided toy down their arms, they started pping to show appreciation for the showcase. Even JODE Chancellor Ma Ge was delighted by the oue of this particr exhibition showcase.

    The only one who might not be happy would most probably be the Wyrm Summoner as he was barely able to do anything when the time came for him to shine. He had no idea that Jin was able to eliminate him so quickly and the only thing that he could think of was that Jin considered him such a threat that he needed to be dealt with instantly.

    That was the only constion he could have upon admitting his defeat from Jin. If he had known that he would be the first to be eliminated, the Wyrm Summoner Savant would probably have called out itsrgest and biggest Wyrm into the picture, at least showing the ferocity of his pet beast to everyone before dying such a quick death.

    As for the fake Grade 4 Demon Exorcist, instead of a cool pose, Jin squats down for a moment before sitting on the ground while staring at the school instance''s clear blue skies. He nearly wanted to remove his mask but his instinct to protect his identity was stronger than his urge forfort.

    Meanwhile, the Warrior and Lancer Savant came towards Jin and extended their hands to him. They knew that showing camaraderie between duellists was the plus point that the audience and reporters could support.

    Jin knew that as well and shook their hands for ''marketing'' purposes and it did result in a louder apuse from the public. The emcee for the showcase eventually told everyone that this was the end of the tour and they were wee to enjoy the booths that had been ced along the ss corridors.

    At first, the audience was clueless mainly due to the fact that thest time they toured the school instance, there were no booths of any sort. That was why when everyone had that clueless face on them, ire had decided to interject and stated that the booths had been setup during thebat exhibition showcase.

    "Once you return to the school premises to explore, you will understand what we meant. If there are any problems, you may consult the Pandamonium App for more information. Thank you." ire replied and the Demon Exorcist Teachers who were assisting in touring the ce bid them goodbye as they were allowed to return home or continue exploring the area to their hearts'' content.

    Jin, on the other hand, slowly got up with the Savants'' help but he found himself slowly but surely being surrounded by Demon Exorcist Commandos. All of them went to their knees and had their heads to the ground.

    To see not one, not two but a dozen Demon Exorcist Commandos kowtowing to Jin asking for him to impart some advice or possibly maybe schedule a training session. All they wanted after seeing such an expert showcasing his prowess was to get some idea of his training regime.

    However, as Jin stood up, he told them not to waste their time. "You all do not have the mental capacity to perform tasks. If you really want to win? Go to Liu Qian Town in Beijing. Find my Red Cross Ape and battle with him daily. Of course, if you die, it is not my fault."

    "Why can''t we duel and train in the dimensional instance instead?" One of the Demon Exorcist Commando asked and the fake Grade 4 merely shrugged his shoulders. "Don''t ask me. Ask the person who handles this ce. I owed him a great debt and thus also entrusted my ape to him as well. If he wants to put the ape at Liu Qian Town, there is no way I could say no."

    The Savants hearing it wanted tough as they knew that the person they were talking to was none other than the boss. But of course, Jin had to maintain this persona and stated that this was none of his business since he was not part of the team that created the dimensional instance.

    The Demon Exorcist Commandos who were kowtowing let out a bitter smile and instead phrased the question differently. "If we are able to obtain the boss of this dimensional instance, are you able to train us?"

    "Train? I suggest that youplete at least half of the dimensional instances here first then you think about asking me to train. If you cannot evenplete at least half of the dimensional instances by this master, then do not even think of even looking for me." The fake Grade 4 Demon Exorcist attempted to walk away ''slowly''.

    That was when themandos all kowtow once more again and shamelessly ask. "If we are able to clear at least half of the dimensional instances, are you willing to teach us?"

    "That is for my mood."

    "And if we clear them, how do we contact you?" The Demon Exorcist on behalf of themandos asked and Jin merely snicked.

    "Tell the master about this situation, he will surely inform me when the time is right. Also, do not tell me to train all of you individually. I do not have such the time. And to emphasise, I do not do this for free!"

    "Yes, Master! We know that your time is precious. We willpensate you ordingly." The Demon Exorcist representative said but then just as Jin thought he had took control of the situation nicely, someone sinister came in to interrupt.

    And sadly, that was the most obvious response since there were audiences who saw the Demon Exorcistmandos kowtowing but when they tried to take a picture, their image came out blur, only to realise the stadium''s barrier was still there. (When in fact, the System purposely blurred the barrier so that they were not able to take any videos or pictures.

    Only word of mouth and gossip were avable but such gossip was baseless considering only a few people witnessed it.

    Yet, the one person who should not have witnessed it, saw everything. JODE Chancellor Ma Ge was extremely furious when he came down to the arena to see those Demon Exorcist Commandos kneeling in front of Jin.

    "To think that all the majority of resources that had been to all of you were for naught. If not for him, do you think you have the face to return to your bases?" Ma Ge said while emitting his chi. It was not as strong as some of themandos, but it was still rather heavy due to the infusion of anger within it.

    "All your budgets would be cut by half. One quarter of it would be used for dimensional instance training and that training can only be done at this dungeon supplier. Anywhere else, you fork out your own money. The other quarter of that half will be redirected to this school instance. Do I make myself clear?"

    All of the Demon Exorcist Commandos stood up and saluted JODE Chancellor Ma Ge. Acknowledging not only him but also realising that they are the bringer of bad news to their home bases before the official replyes in.

    "Looks like I got more work cut out for me if that money really doese to me," Jin said to himself and the System was already calcting the amount of money each individual base had to make sure that it was enough for the training programme.

    "It seems enough to make Dark Days Dungeon Series 3 and 4."

    "Let me... clear the martial arts and sportspetition first andter Series 2 before even thinking of 3 and 4..." Jin now regrets epting so many things without understanding his capacity.

 Chapter 1956: An Italian Side Job -Part 1

    As Jin saw the Demon Exorcist Commandos being exorcised by their own JODE Chancellor for giving such a bad rep to the JODE''s name, Jin started to walk off and when no one was looking, he was about to take his mask off until a voice came from behind him, calling him out.

    It was at that very moment he sighed, thinking that he had to keep the mask on just to keep the pretenses on for a while longer. But when he turned his head, he found out that it was not just some random figure that called for him. It was the Italian Head of JODE, Diego La Pluma.

    "You are none other than Jin, right?" Diego asked as he whispered thest part of his question and also noted that there was no one around before revealing the name out.

    "Was I really that obvious?" Jin chuckled as he started to remove his mask and Diego could finally have his suspicions confirmed.

    "The chi you emitted was rather unique. So pardon me for calling you out like this when you wanted to keep your identity hidden." Sir Diego apologised with a slight bow.

    "Hahaha, just to the general public. Can''t let most people know that the Dungeon Supplier is that strong to the public can I? I do not want trouble toe knocking to my way."

    "I see, so if you give the illusion of strength through a masked face, then people might have suspicions and doubts about the allies of the dungeon supplier. That way, trouble does note so directly."

    "Sometimes, it is better to pretend to keep a low profile and let the enemy continue guessing. We are not living in a society where power is status. Surely, the strength of my cultivation does provide some sort of benefits but in this modern world, it''s a mix of factors."

    Jin exined and Diego understood where he was getting from since he too had been in that same position for several years.

    "In any case, since you found me, do you want to find somece to talk properly? I feel that talking with an esteemed person like you at a random corridor of a stadium is demeaning of your status."

    "No, I do not mind at all. And rather, I prefer such a setup. It is easy to track who ising from afar with just a nce and I am in safe hands to know that any CCTVs that have been installed are being controlled by the person I am talking to. So all in all, this is one of the few safest ces to talk."

    "I am at all ears," Jin said as hepletely removed his mask and took out a jacket from the storage ring to cover his minor wounds but more importantly the shirt that he had worn for battle. It would not take a schr to find out that the person Diego was talking to had the very same clothing as the fake Grade 4 Demon Exorcist.

    "Thank you for sparing your time. It''s the state of the situation since you left Rome. We had decided to track down the remaining Demons while ensuring not attract the attention of the Void Being that you warned about. However, as cautious as we were, it seems that some of our men did not listen to instructions and had suffered the irk of the very same void being we tried to avoid.

    "He appeared? There is no news about it from the JODE societies." Jin responded with concern.

    "No, the so called Spartakus that you had referenced, the Exorcists heard a loud terrifying ...and yet muffled moaning simultaneously to all the Demon Exorcists that were in the field of operation. At that point, we stopped all activities and returned to avoid causing more harm to it." Diego exined.

    "We do not know whether that was really the sound of Spartakus or not as we have no other evidence of him. Even our Loremasters attempted to search through our libraries and even the forbidden sections, they do not have any records on Spartakus at all.

    We did try to find everything we could about Spartacus instead and there was little to nothing that referenced him to possibly be the monster that you said he was."

    "I too do not have much information about him and I only know that the only thing is that after dealing with a void being in the centre of China, the threat of containing and eliminating it is extremely tough. We were lucky that I had experts with me when we dealt with this unknown threat....also got lucky that the void being let down his guard."

    "Will you think we have the same luck?"Diego tried to crack a joke knowing that it was not possible and Jin''s shaking of his head reaffirmed it.

    "You already said he made such a muffled moaning that he is aware of your exorcists'' presence. If you have the consistent irritation of a thorn beneath your skin and you finally have enough of it, would you take your time to remove it? Not the best analogy but you get what I mean, right." Jin said and Diego grinned at it.

    "But are the demon numbers consistently high or were they diminishing as time passed?" Jin asked.

    "We are tracking thest few as we speak, or so we hoped," Diego said and could not give an exact number. "At the very least, they do not multiply ording to China''s Loremasters. So, if there is an increase in numbers, we would know it is through the maniption of those rumoured Banned Emperor Terrorists."

    "If I am not mistaken... your nation''s intelligence services should be working on that front." Jin hinted and Diego was shocked that he knew about it.

    "Your sources...are rather informative." Diego started to see a new light towards Jin.

    "Indeed. As much as we talked about power, it attracts both unsavory enemies and favourable allies to their attention." Jin smiled and Diego did not have a nice good chat for a long time.

    "Then I guess I can trust you a little more than I should have." The Italian Head replied as he took out a thin folder from his storage ring. "This is the current operation details that we have been thinking of. Take a look and perhaps, I can render your services a little."

    "Render my services?" Jin picked up the folder and it had a great big ''top secret'' stamped right in the middle of the folder like those spy shows.

    "Well, to be honest, I am extremely impressed by the dimensional instance that you have done. All the rumours were true considering what I had seen today." Diego smiled while Jin continued to nce through the information that he was given today.

    It was a treasure trove of information that Jin was not able to take in all at once and requested the System to take it all in right now. Even with his Inverse Eyes and more than decent photographic memory all thanks to his cultivation, he was not able to process the current information that was given to him.

    There were redactions to certain lines making reading a pain in the ass but the most important part that Diego wanted to show was the proposal portion of the operation. It seems like Diego already had nned ahead and wanted to show Jin this but whether he wished to show it to Jin or not is another issue.

    And the fact that now Jin had this in his hands meant that there was kinda no way out for him. He got to work at it but obviously, Diego did not do this without considering that Jin might reject it and hence all the redactions in the Top Secret folder so that he could not get the whole operation details.

    However, with the aid of the System, it was easy to piece them together given the amount of time Jin had with that particr document. Of course, it did not share its findings with Jin at the moment as Jin was considering the ''services requested''. It was easy to see that the Italian Demon Exorcists were afraid of the repercussions based on what little information they had.

    And it seemed like Kong Rong did coborate with the Italian side as there were mentions of the fight of a Void Being in Shenzhen. They had too talked about how Jin''s dimensional instance techniques had enabled the experts to do their job with ease and able to reduce the damage done.

    Thus, they wished to do the same for Spartakus and hoped that Jin would be able to participate in it. Otherwise, they had to find alternatives but of course, why should they when they have someone with recent experience dealing with it?

    That was why Jin had made it very simple after looking at the operation folders. Even without the System to analyse the issue carefully, it also knew that this was an opportunity that they should not pass, especially when ites to rtionships with international organisations.

    "I will do it... But for the right price." Jin said and for some reason, Diego felt more relieved than anxious.

 Chapter 1957: The Italian Side Job -Part 2

    "The right price, eh? Looks like I need to get my purchasing team to look after you." Diego said as he saw Jin''s expression change for the worse. "Hahaha, You are so easy to read that liaising with you is a joy for me."

    "Well, you are the head honcho, can''t you just quote a price for me?" Jin smiled devilishly and that was when he saw Diego picking up his phone to make the necessary calctions only to find that the price or less than desirable. After which, he showed his phone screen''s calctor app to Diego, and Jin was shocked. "Wow, do I only worth that much to you?"

    "I was merely basing the quotation from your current dungeon instances. As I said, I am really bad at purchasing or quoting the right price. If you want more than this, you should look for my purchasing team." Diego said as he scratched his head. It was pretty obvious, he was not able to give a proper quotation and Jin could see it in his numbers.

    Even Kong Rong who was the head of the Internal Security Agency had better numbers when it came to quoting a price for Jin''s service.

    "If I were to give you a price now, would you ept it or would you think it''s a ripoff?" Jin asked as he knew that if he were to go through the purchasing team of anypany, it wouldplicate methods since all they want is to make sure the price is lowered to the best of their ability.

    Not to mention, they would definitely not know how this operation would go, or the painstaking need to create a void being that could amodate a void being.

    "Hmm...considering this is an unprecedented threat and since the Chinese Intelligence had already proved that this is not some mere ramblings of a madman that a Void Being exists despite theck of proof, I can say that I am able to amodate a special price for you,"Diego said and Jin finally smiled, thanking Diego.

    "If that''s the case, I will charge you a t price first as a deposit and once the job is done then you pay us the remaining?"

    "Ah no no. My purchasing team had been rather careful with my purchases recently ever since I got scammed once."

    "What?"

    "I am not saying that I think that you are a scammer, considering you hold a reputable store with rather powerful allies as your friends.

    Well, perhaps you are in some sense but that is for psychologists and conspiracy theorists to formte them but what I am trying to say is that I have been burned by scams before and my purchasing team reinforced that we must have a contract regardless of any agreements, be it a quotation or purchase order. Some ck and white."

    "Ah," Jin assured Diego that this was the norm for most businesses and he will be giving that to Diego by the end of the day. "For now, let us enjoy the festivities of this school instance, shall we?" Jin said as he pped and a portal emerged.

    "This is?" Diego was a little apprehensive going into the portal despite the indication by Jin to do so.

    "Let''s say it''s a thank you dinner for purchasing my services in advance. And also, a gathering of the ...powerful allies that you spoke of. After all, we need to discuss some specifics on the operation details, do we not?" Jin asked and Diego saw where this was going.

    He had been through way too many transactions that Diego knew this dinner was to ''fatten the goose'' so that when it came to ughtering it, the goose could not say no.

    But Jin had disguised this as a meeting with some other people, probably Grand Headmistress Yuan and JODE Chancellor Ma Ge for the situation. And Diego was right when he entered the portal to see the two of them already discussing certain issues. But what he did not expect was a character that was supposed to be elusive in nature.

    Diego only heard him by name from the coboration with the Italian''s Intelligence side stating that he was the one who had given them the information about the current Void Being and the dangers of it. That was why when he saw this particr figurehead sipping a ss of coke at the side of the table...he was perplexed.

    "Ah, Sir Diego. It''s great to see you again."Ma Ge said as he stood up and weed Diego into the fray as he was considered a VIP guest for the entire group. Even Kong Rong stood up to shake hands with Diego.

    "Nice to meet you too, Mr Kong Rong and finally have a face to the name that my friends on the other side of the fence kept referring you," Diego said and Kong Rong merely smiled.

    "It''s nothing. If they could render services to eliminate amon threat that could trouble the both of us, it was something that I would dly assist." Kong Rong replied as everyone took a seat.

    "Then I leave it to you guys for discussion?" Jin said as he wanted to move away from another boring meeting. All he needed was to pull Diego in and give him a taste of Lynn''s amazing food pte so that he would be satisfied with the...service that he provides and thus more inclined to give a better rate or price for the subsequent job that he had been awarded to do.

    ...but as usual, Grandma Yuan was not going to let Jin go scot free and demanded him to stay. All Jin could do was to sigh internally and put up a wide smile when joining on the table. He knew this would happen but at the same time, he was hoping that it would not happen. All he could hope for was a quick getaway as long as one of Lynn''s servants or she herself came in to take him away.

    And yet, that did not happen, Lynn personally came to show the food to herself and when Jin tried to make an excuse, his girlfriend also ignored his plea to run away, forcing him to stay.

    Thus, he was stuck with the group for the longest time ever where they exchanged pleasantries and only when most of the group had finished their food, they started talking about the joint operation between Italy and China. Jin was honestly surprised that Kong Rong was willing to spend time over here and when probed, he said that he merely wanted to take the excuse to appreciate Lynn''s gourmet food.

    If Jin could roll his eyes, he would have already done so in front of Kong Rong but too bad there were too many people around to even do that properly. And since they had already gone through the dinner phase, all Jin could do was hope that the subsequent discussion was fruitful.

    Before they started, Diego asked if this was a safe ce to begin spilling ''tea'' on the operation, and the rest unanimously stated that it was. And when that was assured, Diego began giving them the summary of the operation details but not as explicit as the redacted folder that Jin had seen.

    Still, it was enough information to go by for them to discuss and Kong Rong suggested that they nipped the situation in the bud before the Void Being decided that enough was enough and wanted toe out of the colosseum by himself to stop the buzzing that had been happening.

    To the JODE Chancellor, he said that he was out of his depth as his role was to manage organisations but was willing to allocate extra budget to contain this threat. But at the same time, Diego requested to Ma Ge not to put the news up anywhere about this.

    Kong Rong agreed that while international cooperation is extremely juicy news to boast about, it would not do any good if the enemy knew about it as well.

    "They might believe that we have the capability to contain one Void Being and proceed to unleash several more at the same time. That is one thing the world is not ready for." Kong Rong said and Jin nodded his head furiously in agreement.

    While it was nothing to Jin and his minions, he did not want to go to every single corner of the world collecting Void Beings as if his life depended on it. After all, he was supposed to be a DUngeon Supplier, not a Void Being yer.

    Ma Ge sighed and nodded his head reluctantly to see the potential of news to boost JODE''s capability but Diegoforted him. "Don''t worry. If this works out, I will make sure I get some sponsors..to improve the financial situation of the organisation."

    "Don''t look at me. I am a worker in their eyes." Jin said as he could see Diego was side eyeing him. It was at that point the other three smiled since they knew the status of Jin being a Royal Zodiac Head albeit it was not the official title.

    "Hahaha. I am merely teasing you. You will have your job money alright, and I am not asking you to contribute after that." Diego smiled.

 Chapter 1958: The Italian Side Job -Part 3

    "Crafty old men, I can never trust them!" Jin said to himself as he was not experienced enough to see past the actions of JODE Chancellor Ma Ge and the Italian Head of Demon Exorcists, Sir Diego. He might have some certain powers of foresight with his Inverse Eyes but he can never see what they are nning at the side.

    All he knew right now was to fleece as much money as he could from Diego, possibly Ma Ge as well but something, or perhaps a hunch, was telling him they had already known what kind of tricks Jin was going to pull in order to get the best oue of them all. It was at that point that he felt that perhaps he should start ying the business game despite the limited experience that he had.

    So far, things managed to go his way mainly due to the fact that he has the novelty on his side. There was a niche factor that allowed him to have an edgepared to the others since everyone did not have it.

    But Now that people had experienced it and enjoyed that edge that Jin provided, they wished to manipte and get something out of it from him such as how other businesses in China had been doing.

    When the Chinese are curious about a certain thing, they are cautious in their approach to getting it and try to think of ways to get it as soon as possible. Now when they had been exposed to this dimensional instance and they feltfortable using them, it was now the chance to fully utilise it and exploit Jin whenever possible because of his unique capabilities.

    However, Jin sometimes forgot that he was the only one who could provide such a service to them and the other dungeon suppliers could never reach that kind of level with their current technology unless the dungeon supplier had been consistently trained in the arts of dimensional instances through the traditional way and not rely on technology to further their dimensional instance calctions.

    It was at that point Jin started to realised why only the dimensional instance had been ''cultivated'' to work with technology while the other techniques that people had were still being passed on from student to student.

    But that realisation came at the wrong time as Diego and Ma Ge were discussing the prices for the dimensional instance. Yet, that realisation was the thing that enabled Jin to be confident enough to say no to their low target pricing. It was as if the talking had made him understand that Jin still had that edge and he should not be pushed around.

    After all, he had the money to back himself up, the ''hidden'' status of the Royal Zodiac to support him and most importantly, he probably had one of the highest cultivation in China and perhaps the highest in China if he were to boast especially when everyone all looked up to the Royal Zodiacs and expected them to be the strongest group that China has ever have to offer.

    Of course, he understands that there was still the underworld or even cultivators that did not wish to dere their cultivation grade but no one outside his System''s contacts knew that he too have a freaking army working for him 24/7.

    That was not including the amount of firepower he was holding under the guise of fake items that cannot be used outside of dimensional instances. It was to that point of micromanagement that they should be afraid of him and not Jin be afraid of these petty men talking about how Jin should lower the prices for them.

    Maybe with that kind of thought floating in Jin''s head, he immediately gave a straight ''no'' when he was pressed to give a better quotation during dinner especially when this meeting was not something he wished to join in the first ce.

    "No, this is too low. If you are seriously considering me to not just provide services in dimensional instances but also handle the Void Being, do you expect me to work with this kind of offer? I rather stay in China and work on my dimensional instances." Jin said and the rest were shocked to have such a strong response.

    "JODE Chancellor Ma Ge, I appreciate that you had previously offered to assist in getting me the things I sought but that does not mean that I have to always be in your debt." That was what Jin wanted to say within his head but he managed to control himself as he knew that saying might potentially hurt the rtions with the Royal Zodiac Horse n.

    Even though Jin did not need the Royal Horse n to survive, there were certain things in Jin''s World that it was not worth making an enemy with, especially when the Royal Horse n controlled most of the economy with the back of their palms.

    "Then, what do you propose?" Ma Ge asked him and Jin smiled.

    "Why? To be free of charge. I even handle my own airne fees and stuff like that." Jin said and it shocked the people in the room even further. They could not believe the most money minded person within them had decided to take such a route.

    "No, no, no. When ites to you. your FoC is more expensive than the price I quote." Ma Ge rejected it tantly and Diegoughed, asking whether this was a joke by Jin. Yet, the Dungeon Supplier rejected that notion and told them that he was really giving them free of charge.

    "...No strings attached?"

    "Well, if you are going to quote such a low price, I might as well do it free of charge for you?" Was another thought of Jin but the act of keeping his mouth shut and controlling his thoughts to navigate these tricky seas currently gave him the patience to hold his tongue.

    "There are indeed strings attached. Let me handle the Void Being my way. There are certain trade secrets that I do not wish to show to people if you get what I mean."

    "That means you do not want reinforcements and you ...and your team? You all will handle the Void Being Spartakus yourselves?" Diego asked once more and Jin nodded his head.

    "That is why after consideration, I think I shall put it as free of charge for you and let me handle the situation properly. I do not wish for any meaningless death if I can afford it." Jin made it sound like he waspassionate for others when in actual fact, it was a pain in the ass if he had witnesses around. Kong Rong would be fine but not the rest when they do not know his powers.

    "I say just take the offer. It is rare for Jin to give it to you free of charge." Kong Rongid back and watched the situation unfold.

    "I am suspicious." Ma Ge said and Diego also smiled bitterly as he nodded his head too. "What do you really want Jin?"

    That was where Jin believed he might have a foothold in the current agreement. "All I ask is that you could find me a ce where I can start my overseas expansion. You had already seen what my Dimensional Instances could do, so I believe that there are possible sales if given the chance."

    "Hahahah! You have not started setting your foot in Beijing and Shanghai and now you want to eye for overseas expansion? Are you being a little too greedy?" Ma Ge said but he liked this kind of people who had ambition as well as the ability to make things happen. In thetter portion, Jin had proven multiple times he could do it.

    "I am not asking for an immediate overseas expansion but at the very least, consider that. I am also not eyeing Italy, any...good overseas expansions would be fine and dandy."

    "I might say, I would like my Demon Exorcists to be trained in these dimensional instances. They could really learn a lot and train better than the current training curriculum that they have." Diego nodded his head that having one of Jin''s Dungeon Supplier stores would be fantastic.

    And if the crowd is of any indication, it will no doubt boost the tourism rate a little more. And even though that was not his department to worry about, he roughly understood the financial situation of his country and if Jin''s arrival could not only strengthen his Demon Exorcists in the long run and also his country''s economy in some small way or another, he does not see a reason why not.

    "I will look into my contacts and see if there is anything I can do for you but considering I am not in the field of real estate, I am not able to provide much with that. I apologise if Ie out empty," Diego said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Well, if I think about it, the scouting fee cost can cost simrly to your quotation. I will see what I can do on my side as well." Ma Ge was agreeable to the new terms that Jin put out.

    "With that issue settled, I have some things to handle as well. I apologise and please have seconds. It''s on the house." Jin said as he excused himself out of the dinner area. It was at that point in time that the System had an inkling that the free of charge was an excuse as well.

    But never did he expect that excuse would turn into an actionable moment.

 Chapter 1959: The Italian Side Job -Part 4

    "User, what are you doing?" The System said that Jin had returned to the Dungeon Maker Instance to have not only a change of clothes that did not seem to have the purpose of staying at home. They were clothes filled with defence inscription charms. He was also looking at the list of monster minions which were avable to summon.

    (Although he could summon anyone, he tried not to disturb those who had work.)

    It was at that point, that the System felt that something was wrong and wanted to stop the User from doing anything rash. "It''s a side job, right? And since I am not being paid, I might as well do it right now." Jin said as he made sure Bam and Boo were in tip top condition.

    "Are you really not going to wait for the other Demon Exorcist to keep track of the area? From thest we saw in the operations folder, the Colosseum is currently under heavy surveince due to the nature of its location. If you go now, you will be disrupting the daily operations."

    "I will get it done during the night, just as how we did it previously with Lian. Huh, maybe I should take Lian with me as well." Jin said and the System seems to disapprove of its User''s actions.

    "What is the rush?" The System queried and Jin merely shrugged his shoulders. "I have nothing better to do right now. Might as well clear this, since this job is free of charge. Then those Demon Exorcists in Rome do not have to be so wary that things can go to shit. Do we always have to wait until trouble brews and then we start the fire fighting process?"

    "User might be right, but this is a foreign country we are talking about. Doing things that are not within our jurisdiction would be a pain in the butt and a hassle to go through. User might have a rtionship with Demon Exorcist Italian Branch Head Sir Diego but that does not mean it is a free ticket to do whatever you want."

    "Then it''s time we go even more incognito as to our usual ''masking'' behaviours." Jin chuckled and it was at that point, that the sinister lead supporter came in to fan the mes. "My dear boy. I like your thinking so much that I cannot help but wonder if you are truly going to do this without me!" Kraft said as he enjoyed the fact that Jin was ''breaking'' the rules.

    "Get the Nine Foxes. Let''s do this quickly and we might be able to finish this faster than expected." Jin said and Kraft felt like he had heard the instruction he had been waiting for the longest time ever.

    "One dead Void Beinging right up~!" Kraft said as he snapped his fingers and within a second interval, all of them appeared. ck Foxes Tsu and Kai, White Fox Itori, Pink Fox Evon, Orange Fox Ixel, Red Fox Ixa, Pink Fox Pei, Purple Fox Kiyu, andstly Kraft''s brother in arms, Rex. All of them reported their presence regardless of the work they were holding.

    The System was speechless as these foxes held key appointments in Demopolis and with the fusion of Demopolis, Seven Cities as well as Pandapolis, they had a lot of work in their hands and yet Kraft and Jin had shamelessly called them out.

    "Let''s go for a mini excursion or you could say a quick break from work." Kraft pped his hand once to show his excitement. Some of the foxes seemed resigned at the fact that they were being called not for an emergency but for the whims of their old master. And yet inside them, there was also a sense of relief that overwhelmed them.

    It had been a long time since they had a quick getaway from their ever piling mess of documents and folders.

    They too wanted a break but never had the excuse to do so. Although it would have been better that they allocated and scheduled a time together to go out, they felt that it was impossible considering everyone''s schedule was all over the ce. It did not take long to understand that it would never happen to get everyone to sit down and get a timing together.

    That was why Kraft''s method, while effective in allowing them to have a breather, was not exactly the best way to handle the situation. Still, they were overall happy to have a meet together with not just the rest of the foxes as well as Jin.

    It was at that point Rex realised that this might be the perfect opportunity to talk about the issues of the fusion of Pandapolis alongside other cities to make a Mega Pandapolis City just as the System had talked about ages ago on how there were various City Levels that they were able to be.

    To that point, it seemed like all the other Foxes also had the very same idea as Rex since before they opened their mouth to talk, almost everyone sent a telepathic message through the System Channel to ask Rex (in their group) to see if it was advisable to discuss with Jin about moving forward for the state of Pandapolis.

    Rex was pleasantly surprised by the thoughts of every single fox on site to think the same as him and it was also at that point where he felt this quick excursion might be the perfect opportunity to not only rx but also make sure that whatever issues they were facing can be exined to Jin in person when he had been absent from the Pandapolis scene for the longest time ever.

    Kraft was also in that System chat group even though he had ced it on mute but the sudden surge of activity had piqued his interest to have a peek at it only to realise that everyone was not talking about how terrible this timing was or the irritating fact that they had to apany Jin and Kraft to go for this free ''side job''.

    Everyone was bustling in on what was the priority of items that needed to be said to Jin during the fight and Kraft almost burst intoughter upon seeing the chat group. That was when he assisted the Nine Foxes by opening his mouth and asking the suggestion of having a meeting during this fight.

    "Meeting? What meeting are you talking about?" Jin asked as he was a little confused about Kraft''s intentions.

    "You do know that you have been so busy with other stuff, you kind of miss out on Pandapolis, Demopolis and the Seven Cities that had your name as Lord in it, right?"

    "Well, I did not exactly be the lord of the Seven Cities but yes I get your point. You want a meeting now rather than fighting the Void Being?" Jin asked as he was still a little perplexed by the situation.

    "No, no. It is more like we go to fight the Void Being with you but at the same time, discuss the things that need to be done as well as an update. After all, the decision ofbining all 9 cities into one major city region or Megalopolis is a rather big issue to undertake by ourselves." Rexmented.

    "Megalopolis is rather an overstatement in my opinion." Pei interrupted and the othersughed as they knew that if they got into an argument now, nothing was going to move.

    "I think I am fine with discussing the matters of the Pandapolis as it would not be an issue. I mean, we should technically make short work of the Void Being with all 9...erm all 11 of usbined together, right?"

    "Then, let''s have a quick warm up session and get the meeting start up as soon as possible." Rex said and the others agreed to it readily. For the first time, the System also believed that Jin might be able to clear the Void Being and make it under its control quickly considering the amount of power he currently possessed in this current team which he wished to field.

    Initially, the System thought that he would be wasting resources and time by using the lower ''powered'' minions to do the job of killing the Void being but now that the System saw Jin was not doing that and instead performing the opposite by deploying the strongest few in his repertoire of minions.

    Not only that, but the User was also taking this opportunity to clear all the outstanding issues of the Dungeon World, the System believed that this free of charge trip might actually be worth more than it was supposed to be.

    However, as optimistic as the System wished for the situation to stay this way, they have no information on Spartakus with the exception of what Farasha had warned. The only difference was that based on the analysis of Farasha''s warning, they might only have touched the surface of the problem and not the entirety of it.

    The System could only hope that it would be a smooth journey without major hups.

 Chapter 1960: The Italian Side Job -Part 5

    The teleport immediately sent everyone to Italy, Rome right straight to the Colosseum. Given the time difference, they had to wait a little while longer for the crowd to subside бнor that was usually the way things worked.

    If Jin did not know any better about the Void Beings, it was no doubt the best solution to wait for the monster to appear and they react ordingly. But this time around, everything was different mainly due to the fact that Jin was in possession of a Void Being, Farasha that snappy crocodile with butterfly wings.

    Thus instead of waiting for the monster to appear and give them hell on their, Jin decided to do the opposite and invade them. The System, on the other hand, felt that it was not the most optimal of solutions as they had always been defending their world from the Void Being invasions. It would be a different story if the humans invaded the Void Being''s parallel world.

    All he had to do was to put on the System Belt, activate Farasha within it, and with some preparation on his side, he summoned the crack to enter the Void Being Parallel World. The crack would also be small enough to not allow any Void Beings to move through and at the same time not to influence Jin''s world with its void energy. It was a quick slip in and out when everything was done.

    That was because if Jin was sessful in going through the Void Being''s parallel world, the rest of the Void Beings might use this as an excuse to hop into the wagon of ''let''skill all the humans because they had interrupted our peace'' kind of situation. The humans were already as busy as killing each other in a different part of the world and yet they want another trouble to fall to theirp?

    Absolutely not.

    Thankfully, Farasha intervened and stated that the Void Beings are mostly solitary creatures, and even if they were to attack the human world, it was only through invitation such as how Farasha came into the picture, or annoyance such as Spartakus.

    "There was no doubt that Spartakus had the intention to attack the human world mainly due to the fact that we had been making too much ruckus at his turf.

    Or well, that is what I had based on the reports to state this." Farasha replied and Jin also knew that as much as they rather have the Void Beinge to the human world to avoidplication, he had been reassured by Farasha that the invasion into the Void Being''s parallel world does not have any effect on other Void Beings.

    However, at the time they had teleported into the Colosseum, they noticed that there were eyes locked onto the group and surely there were squads of agentsing towards them without warning.

    Yet at the same time, they needed to make sure not to rm the groups of tourists that had been touring the area and so those ''agents'' started to incite unconventional warfare to fight against Jin and his group who had entered.

    The only problem about such unconventional warfare was that they were facing Kraft, a master in the field of psychological maniption, and all spells rted to it. He naturally defended all the attacks and although he knew that killing them would only make things worse, he still needed to retaliate a little to show that they were messing with the wrong people.

    And so, for each spell cast by the agents, it had been reflected and the spells transformed into something more of a silly nature. One that forced the agents who received the reflected spells to be rendered somewhat indolent. Not only that, whatever they spoke out of their mouths was filled with gibberish animal sounds.

    It was at that point, more agents popped up and they did not care whether they made a scene or not and started to converge towards Jin''s group despite the Foxes'' confidence that they could easily topple each and every one of them.

    "Put your hands up." One of the older looking agents said and slowly but surely Vatican Guards were seen at the top of the Colosseum and Jin believed that all of these people thought that they were the Banned Emperor Terrorists considering the skin colour and ethnicity which the entire fox group was made out of.

    "I am under Italian Head of Demon Exorcist, Sir Diego La Pluma''s orders to eliminate the threat that is residing within this Colosseum. If you wish to interfere with our work, I will treat you as the enemy right here right now." Jin dered in Italian and with a local ent, courtesy of the System''s aid in mimicking it.

    The agents hesitated for a while and did not seem to believe him and the group as they decided to close in a little more.

    "I warn you one more time. Take another step in I will not hesitate to knock all of you unconscious just so that no one interferes with our work.

    Then you have to handle the aftermath of the news stating that groups of Italian''s finest intelligence officers, agents, Demon Exorcists, AND even the Vatican Guards rendered unconscious to a group of Demon Exorcists being hired by Sir Diego from China." Jin continued to threaten them but it was of no use.

    "And I warn you onest time. Put your hands up or else."

    "Kraft?" Jin asked and Kraft pretended to raise his hands but in actual fact, it was to raise them so he could initiate a p.

    At that point, every single person other than the one who gave the orders to Jin had fallen to the ground unconscious. Even those who were struck with the indolent spell that Kraft had reflected away initially.

    When the group saw the entire wave of agents who were on standby to fall to the ground without any signs of waking, they chuckled at the stupidity of the humans who thought that they had the upper hand in this situation.

    As themanding agent saw every single one of hisrades falling to the ground, he quickly reacted by bending down saving one of them from hitting her head on the rails. At the same time, he also checked whether they were still breathing as warned by the group''s supposed leader or did the unknown group of possible perpetrators were lying and he needed backupбн.

    Assuming that he could be alive long enough to send the message out.

    "You are still breathingбн" The agent said and was relieved but now that sense of relief turned into fear. He never expected that there would be such a group who had abilities unknown to him and even though they were not portraying their grades out for him to see, he knew that with this group would not be easy to deal with.

    Even without the aura and based on logic alone, if they had came from China to Italy without a portal appearing, it means that someone within the group was exceedingly strong in phasing spells or had cultivated long enough to create a teleportation technique that enabled the whole group toe at such a distance.

    And now this act of causing everyone to be unconscious, their intentions might be well intended not to harm the agents but at the same time as it was ambiguous since they could have cooperated and give them the necessary documents to prove it.

    Unlessбн

    "Shit, and here I thought I can have an upper hand fighting Spartakus. Looks my gut feeling is right." Jin said everyone in the colosseum suddenly felt an awfully strong aura suppressing their movements. It was to the point where even themanding agent who was of a high grade level of 11 had been pushed to the ground by it.

    But that was not happening to the group that was standing in front of him and then he realised they were not looking at him and instead, towards the sky.

    "The skyбн cracked?" The agent said to himself and in no time, he could understand the threat he and the Italian Demon Exorcists were facing was of another level that they would never be able to handle it on their own.

    It was no illusion as the bright skies continued to remain as it is but there was a kind of ss cracking above them with the darkness from within the slits of those cracks pouring out in high contrast with the bright sunny skies.

    "Ermmmбн we can just go into the crack now and stop him froming out. But in any case, Spartakus had allowed us to avoid the scenario where we invade their world. We should be thankful that he helped us to prevent our dear nagging elder from thinking too much." Kiyu said as she referred to the System''s concerns and the others chuckled a little.

    "Heh, that guy is still struggling against the aura suppression." Ixel said as he side eyed him not because he wished to show concern but wanted to see how the fool struggled against the Void Being.

    "Seems like his Magic Grade is at least 10 and above. The rest of the tourists had already fall to the ground already so you do not have to worry about shame." Itori directed herst sentence to the struggling agent.

    "Heh. Let him struggle all he wants, we do not have time to care about him. Let''s go in and meet with this Spartakus to end this quick. We still got that meeting to hold." Jin said as he put on his System belt and signalled everyone to move into the cracked space leaving the agent pathetically desperate to keep his consciousness alive and breathe.

 Chapter 1961: The Italian Side Job -Part 6

    As the group went into the fray, it was not exactly the most pleasant feeling. The Void Being''s parallel universe seemed like it was an inverted version of their world as they saw the world reflected right above them.

    It was an exact replica of the world, just that everything from the human world had been inverted and it made Jin ponder whether the Void Beings knew whatever things that the humans had been doing for the longest possible ever.

    These Void Beings had been observers of the entirety of human lives and did nothing to aid nor support the humans at all. Is that why Farasha said that the Void Beings would not have the urge to disturb the humans mainly due to the possibility that they were considered part of their daily lives when they gaze above the skies?

    Or was it in their nature to observe and have their minds wander as they see those humans struggle, survive,mit atrocities, and be understanding showing both sides of love and hate to the people they have connections to or not. Do they really just sit and stay in their parallel world and not have any opinions?

    The Void World.

    Even though it is a parallel world of Jin''s everything does feel void of something. Of colour, of shape, of substance, of chi, and of magic. Even the ground that they were standing on looked and felt like it could break any minute. He was right to choose the Foxes for this fight into the Void World.

    It might seem overkill in the first ce but ever since the first encounter with Farasha, Jin knew that the longer they dragged the fight, the harder it might be to kill and the faster his minions would fail.

    Of course, he was not going to forget the trick that Farasha had allowed him to learn and with connection to the Void directly into the Void World, he might be able to have some tricks of his own. The enemy could be invincible on his own turf but Spartakus had no idea that the group of humans who had invaded into his territory had some inkling of how to deal with Void Beings.

    The towering giant who had decided to show himself thought that these humans were throwing themselves to the guillotine of his and while he was not wrong on that aspect, the majority of the group all grinned widely towards him had given him a type of emotion he had never felt for the longest time ever since his existence of a Void Being.

    The tingling sensation when the prey saw its predator. The heart palpitations never stopped and sweat started to form. Spartakus could not believe it as he roared to remove all of those distractions of this new emotion and looked at them with menace.

    As for the group, all they saw was a shadowy giant who was standing right in front of them with a huge shield and a spear. But upon closer look, the pair of shield and spear seemed carved from human parts all mish mashed and concentrated into the equipment.

    "Wow, this guy has such terrible taste," Ixa said as she folded her arms to have a good look at the Void Being who seemed to be phasing in and out of the darkness.

    "You should see his cloak at his back," Itorimented as she conjured dozens of light spheres and sent them flying towards the Void Being to see if it was agitated by something so harmless. That was where they could see if this guy was able to live up to the lores of human history or if he was reactive to every single thing that was being thrown at him.

    Eventually, the lights did not stop moving, and neither did they faze the towering giant even though the sphere of energy was supposed to be as bright as five thousand nits, the glow dimmed the further it traveled away from Itori. Yet, it was sufficient to show the group what she was implying before the light was fully consumed by the Void.

    "Ew. The cloak made out of human skin?" Ixamented but Itori felt disappointed that this was what Ixa could glimpse.

    "Really? All you see is just human skin? Can you not see the intricacies of the cloak? It had been designed with a shape in mind. There''s a skull motif using various ethnicities and of different ages too." Itori eximed as she had never seen someone so borate in the craftsman in terms of using human skins.

    "Those human skins that you are so engrossed with are the humans that I had encountered and defeated in my historical days of battle. Was it only a few thousand years ago? I do not exactly remember." Spartakus said in his booming voice as he did not take any chances and mmed his ''human'' shield down and had his spear pointing downwards to Jin''s group.

    And instead of being prepared to be taken down by the Void Being, the two girls who were discussing his attire continued to argue among themselves.

    "Well, good for you that you can see through all the darkness to see that skull motif. But do you think everyone has the same ability as you? How can I even see the back of his cloak when I am standing in front of him!" Ixa said and Itori shook her head.

    "That is why I am exining it to you in detail, am I not?"

    "Ladies, I think he is pissed that we are not giving a fuck to him," Jin said as he finally turned with his System Rider Belt and summoned the Zither Mistress Ke Mi as his apanying minion. Bam and Boo turned into a semi circr zither where the strings were also contoured along with the semicircle.

    While he ced his fingers onto the zither, Jin told Ke Mi what he wished to do upon summoning her and she immediately understood her task before taking full control of the System Rider Zither.

    And with her first few plucks of the zither, everyone seemed to be energised by it and was raring to go for the fight. The only difference was that the subsequent sounds that emerged from Ke Mi zither were something more бнempty.

    The entire group of Foxes knew how talented Ke Mi was but for her to make such an empty feeling tune was unlike her. It was as if she was being manipted by the void or the void had taken the beautiful sounds of this uniquely customised Zither just for the System Rider. But only upon hearing the tune, the Foxes realised that they were being transmitted with some kind of energy into them.

    "OhбнSo this is the Void Energy that the System had been talking about." Kraft stated and already began mixing it with his chi. Even as Spartakus was appalled by theirck of action, he was not going to let these intruders stay here any second longer and started to pierce his huge human spear into their direction.

    He believed that he was in an overwhelming position as no matter how strong their chi or magic powers were, everything would be absorbed into the void. Whatever chi energy had been dished out, it was like the spheres of light, it would disappear after the void absorbs it with time.

    Maybe even time had been dispersed into the void as well but they could not know that for sure unless they returned to their own world to know the amount of time that passedбнassuming they could return based on Spartakus'' confidence.

    And as a warrior, Spartakus was not going to give any quarters to his enemies and put his all into the fight. The spear that had been thrust into the group was emanating void energy so that even if they were able to dodge it, the void energy would disperse as void missile projectiles and move to find their target.

    Or that was what Spartakus was nning and hoped to achieve until he realised there was a force stopping his spear thrust and when he peeked over his huge shield, he saw a human in a long coat holding the tip of the spear, not allowing him to finish the piercing action.

    That was where Spartakus believed it was time for his backup to do the trick, enabling tens of magic missiles shaped in shadowy arrows toe toward Kraft. Yet at that same time, the magical missiles with clearer and transparent shapes stepped in to deflect all the attacks.

    Spartakus could not believe that they were able to handle and defend themselves against projectiles filled with void energy but regardless, the oue had beenid bare and so Spartakus attempted to send his spear flying once more by retracting it.

    The only difference now was that it was not just one human holding on to the tip of the spear but two of them. "I see why those pieces of music sounded empty. It is to attune us into this world." Rex said as he held the tip of the spear with Kraft. They were going to finish this as soon as possible and have a meeting with Jin about the fate of Pandapolis.

 Chapter 1962: The Italian Side Job -Part 7

    "Tsk, do they think that having strength was the secret of winning against me?" Spartakus thought to himself as he imbued void energy into his spear once more which caused something eerie to happen that the Foxes did not expect.

    Once thought of them as ornaments on the sword, the humans that had been ''carved'' into the sword suddenly became alive with the void energy that had been forcefully entered into their systems. Their cries were empty as they breathed life into their non functioning lungs and against their will, they rose from the giant spear and started to extend their hands towards the direction of the Foxes.

    When the rest of Jin''s group understood what was happening, the humans that had been enved to the spear started to throw out void energised beams that could not be evaded. Each time the Foxes tried to move away, thesers would turn and aim them again.

    It was only because the Foxes were so skilled that they moved only at the veryst minute, and ever so little just to miss the trajectory of the beam, that the void energised beams would not be able to change their courses in time to hit them.

    And even as the rest had started to block the beams, Spartakus found it extremely weird that these humans would be able to wield void energy. This was because no magic shield or some chi technique had been able to fully block the beams shot by these humans controlled by Spartakus'' spear.

    This was because those humans that had been used on the Void Being''s spear were all heroes of the past where they overestimated themselves to be the saviours of the world when they challenged Spartakus in an effort to save their towns, cities and kingdoms. The Void warrior had not been randomly choosing humans to litter his spear as mere decorations.

    They were all established elites who had proven to be a bothersome thorn in Spartakus'' side when they fought with him.

    Of course, Spartakus won quickly and easily but the damage he received was somewhat of an insult to him and to a certain point, their tenacious behaviour to stand against him despite the odds stacked against them was something that Spartakus wished to remember by.

    That was the official reason that he gave to other Void Beings who saw the spear but in true honesty, the Void Beings knew that Spartakus was a sadist and had purposely put those ''heroes'' to shame by making them a part of his spear.

    It was not an honour for each time the spear received damage at a certain part, that particr human body would be torn. Spartakus would then repair it with void energy but in the meantime, that also meant that the human would be alive due to the void energy permeating his/her body. So even as the void energy mends the internals the human cried and wailed in pain.

    They wished for their bodies to be gone with the void rather than suffer in eternity with the Void Being and that could be seen in the faces as they threw the void beams towards the Foxes.

    The only one who could see this clearly was Itori but she had no idea what these chained humans were suffering through because it was clearly none of her business. However, their wrung expression was sufficient to show that they were begging for help to put them out of such misery.

    So as she threw herself behind Ixel for protection because of his strength to create even bigger shields, Itori prepared her counterattack by concentrating on the coordinates of those humans firing at them.

    Unlike Earth where she could do it in a blink of an eye, it seemed as if the Void World''s environment had an effect on their perception as well.

    While it was not as bad as one not being imbued by Void Energy transmitted from the System Rider all thanks to Ke Mi and Jin, there were still some effects of it and Itori who was trying to be as precise as possible had trouble pinpointing her targets properly.

    So when the White Fox was not able to perform a counter attack that was urate then all she could do was enhance and amplify her spells so that they could hit because of the scale of it. When the Void Energised Beams had stopped, Itori climbed up on Ixel and he automatically went to piggyback her onto his shoulders.

    It was a natural move to show their closeness as foxes as she released the cast for those chi based White Firebined with the Void Energy that she had umted.

    However, those humans did not see any spell release from the girl even though it looked as if she cast something based on a huge flicker of a spark that emerged above her. So while in agony and looking to see where this chi technique was going tond, those humans did not know that they were being burned as the seconds passed.

    Only upon realisation that they finally feel the sweet taste of relief when they see their fingers and subsequently their body goes into mes. Sure, it was a pain to be burning alive as the skin was seared andter their muscles. It was the same effect on the bones, meaning that the fire that had been conjured was not some ordinary me coloured in white.

    In contrast to the abyssal void, this white me felt like salvation and as it burned the bones so fiercely into ashes, it also smoothed the soul as its warmth was something that these humans had longed for.

    "Anyways, are we going to start the meeting or not?" Pei asked as she did not care about the battle and already taken out her tablet from her storage ring to start looking at the things she wished to discuss. As the head of the Health Department there were so many things to look into and the most important portion was the allocation of the budget.

    And in response, Evon sneered at her for he did not need a tablet to know what he required to discuss. For the person responsible for the Science and research department, all he needed was more men or monsters.

    There were too little schrs within Dungeon World to make a proper difference and the fact that Jin''s personal Research Department was taking the brilliant minds away was making things difficult for him to move ahead. It was as if Evon wished to have apetition with Ayse but thetter never saw him as a threat before.

    "If we are really starting the meeting, can I start with my agenda first?" Itori said as she stopped her casting for a moment as she raised her hand to attract the attention of the people that were talking. "I have the teachers and lots of students as well as the necessary facilities but there''s a need to know the topics we wish to teach."

    "Can we talk about revamping the Circles of Hell portion? We had been receiving quite a few prisoners that we need to hold for the crimes they do." Ixelmented but he got a whack from Itori since she was already sitting on his shoulders.

    "Need to discuss on the reeducation of wrong doers and rehabilitation as well. Deterrence does not do any good to these people when they live so long lives and death is not much of an option to consider. Oh, and we need to get our religion up and running properly. That Peppers and Milkbination is not really working that well.

    Not to mention, we should change the religion name to properly reflect Pandapolis beliefs. In fact, why don''t we just scrap the current religion that we are attempting to run?

    At the rate I am seeing the numbers and reviews, it felt more like a fan club for those two Betors." Itori who was not usually the most talkative person in the room started to speak out so much that the Foxes were mildly taken aback.

    It was rare for her to show concerns but there must be a limit to her fanaticism towards work. "Since when do we have a department of religion? And why are you so concerned about it?" Kiyu asked as she was merely taking pictures of the environment after blocking those void energised beams. But even as Kiyu wanted to discourage her further, Ixel interrupted and apuded Itori for thinking for him.

    "At times, I do not know whether Ixel is pretending to be dumb or he is truly dumb." Kiyu rolled her eyes and Rex chuckled seeing that the group of foxes was lively as usual.

    "We have something to report but not of a high prioritypared to the issues you all have." Tsu and Kai said in unison before they too released the very same intensity of mes simr to Itori just that it was ck and it was directed towards the Spartakus'' face.

    Without a doubt, this group of humans were providing more than just an irk to the Void Warrior.

 Chapter 1963: The Italian Side Job -Part 8

    Spartakus could not handle this type of nonsense any longer. Surely, they were stronger than the usual bunch of soldiers and he had never seen their presence for the time he had been observing the Colosseum. Yet at the same time, he also figured why not.

    Every single one of them had been suppressing their chi to the point where they felt like it was just any person on the street. They hid their presence so well that their chi aura suppression felt extremely natural even to the eyes of the trained.

    But that was not the main point. What he was irritated was not because they had managed to fool him into thinking that they were mere humans. In fact, he weed such challenges for there was nearly no one in a century that was able to make him feel threatened. But the problem he felt annoyed was mainly due to the fact that those humans were discussing something that he did not have any idea about.

    They were not discussing about how to defeat him but using him as an excuse to discuss on topics that had no bearing on the fight. And yet, in doing so they portrayed their arrogance and ignorance towards him.

    The Void Warrior was so furious that he roared once more and mmed his shield on the ground, causing a literal wave of void energy to move through the floors and be shadowy silhouettes of soldiers rushing towards the group.

    It was easy for most of the Foxes to move away from the attack but the only one who did not move was System Rider Zither, focused on ying the instrument to make them less immune to the effects of the Void Energy and simultaneously enabling their attacks to be effective.

    And yet, all of them even Kraft and Rex who were holding the tip of the spear, talking to themselves had forgotten that the System Rider was behind them supporting the group.

    Yet, all of them had extreme confidence that Ke Mi and Jin were able to survive it easily which subsequently proved that their conjecture was correct. Ke Mi merely flicked her strings on the Zither when the immense wave of Void Energy came too close forfort and the monstrous wave merely split into two, avoiding her and the area around her zither.

    After this, Ke Mi continued to confidently y her instrument without any care for the subsequent wave of energy.

    But Spartakus was not moving slow aspared to the wait and see approach that he had been using for the past few minutes.

    Upon sending that wave of energy, he already charged his human spear and transmitted even more energy into it, causing each and every human that was on the spear to slowly emerge like a flower revealing its inner petals andter the outer petals when someone ced their finger on it have a look into it.

    So like a living item, the parts of the human spear were screaming out with agony and spewingser beams that had been moving through at subsonic speeds to hit their targets. The amount thrown out was so much different than the initial one they had encountered and if the Foxes were to block every single possible variation andbination of beams, they would have trouble focusing on attacking.

    Thus, Evon had decided to be the heroic scapegoat that no one had expected and needed even though his actions did bring some acknowledgment from Rex.

    Using the power of ''science'' he threw out bits of triangr shaped metal from his storage ring and started to float around the entire group, protecting the group from all the attacks. No one really understood the sacrifice that he was putting down as everyone thought that they were just mere triangr shaped metal bits.

    However, those metal bits were thetest invention from the Demonpolis R&D department. The only people who knew anything rted to this were possibly the System and ire who had been monitoring the amount of funds Evon had been taking.

    However, if the others had known, they too would not have preferred Evon not to make such sacrifices as those triangr metal bits had been infused with some of Evon''s dried skin and dead fox hair that had dropped on the ground. With those as catalysts for this infused alloy, Evon was able to treat them as part of his body and mindlessly used them as an offensive and defensive weapon.

    The only problem with those bits is that they had not been infused with void energy since they came out fresh from the storage ring. So, as they protected the group from the Void energised beam of ''Never Ending Stalking'', they would break. There were only one or two which were closer to Evon where it could withstand the second hit mainly due to the infusion of chi from their master.

    Still, this bought the group enough time to keep their cool and started to take this monster a little more seriously. It seemed like they knew how irritating aware this monster was to the situation. They thought that if they could discuss and talk about Pandapolis and fight as part of the distraction to keep the whole group attentive to the meeting, it might be the best way to go.

    (Since Kraft and some others have short attention spans.)

    However, the Void Warrior wished to throw out even more defying acts of offensive moves that the group had no choice but to kill fast andter bring Jin to a location to discuss about Pandapolis.

    But in actuality, not every fox thought the same, the ones who genuinely wanted it were Pei and Rex and yet thetter had sufficient power to make everyone go with the flow he wanted mainly due to the fact that he was ranked as the leader of Demopolis.

    So as Evon was busy blocking the beams with his infused alloy of unimaginable disgust, Rex and Kraft had brought out their big guns. Literally.

    Kraft took out No Mercy and for some reason, Rex also had a simr model as him and Kraft did not seem surprised by it as it was him who had copied the original from his brother from another mother. So, people who had thought that No Mercy was Kraft''s original weapon, were not wrong nor were they right.

    He treated it dearly ever since his brother turned to trouble in the past and had always been using it as a memento to his dear friend.

    But now that he had managed to be one of the most vital parts of Jin''s ecosystem of minions, Kraft was d that it turned out that way and it was one of the reasons why the Devil Fox as sinister as he could have been, had pledged an unwavering bout of loyalty to Jin. (Though that does not mean he was going to stop disturbing and irritating Jin as much as he pleases.)

    When Rex saw the imitation that Kraft was carrying, he merely smiled that his brother still kept it all these years and keep in functioning condition. Without a word, Tsu, Kai and Kiyu transformed into bullets and went straight to Kraft while Rex had Ixa, Ixel and Itori turn into the bullets he needed too.

    All six of them went into their individual barrels and that was where Ke Mi could see that this might be the huge blow they wished to inflict against the Void Warrior.

    Whether it works or not was something the Foxes were looking forward to see but right now, Ke Mi had changed the empty tunes a little and started to y it a little faster, transmitting chi to the two Fox Brothers while also buffing them significantly.

    The strengthening buffs however onlyst for ten seconds because of the over boost that it possessed but that was more than sufficient to the likes of Kraft and Rex.

    Though they did not thank Ke Mi directly, the Fox Brothers were happily using every single energy and strengthening boost they could get as they fired theirrades turned bullets straight to Spartakus even though they were able to see that the human spear wasing their way while still spewing those peskyser beams out.

    The bullets that Rex and Kraft fired had their own will since they were бнwell Foxes. And so, in that bullet form, they were able to speed through the iingser beams that was about to intersect them and even to the point where they were able to block the damage once before moving towards the Void Being''s chest and into his proverbial heart.

    (They were assuming he had the same human anatomy as a human despite not being human.)

    However, what they did not expect was that despite its size, it was able to move so quickly and used the human filled shield to block the iing attack. Now it was up to the six of them despite turning into bullets to have just one to reach the heart and stop this Void Being in his tracks.

 Chapter 1964: The Italian Side Job -Final

    The Human Shield wept when they saw the iing attacks from the particr humans that seemed to have some hope of defeating the Void Warrior. Yet at the same time, they were obliged to aid the victor who had enved their bodies to his cause.

    Thus, with reluctance upon living once more through the energies of the void, they cast their magic, creating a series of barriers while sending a variation of projectiles toward Rex and Kraft. Incidentally, none of them matter as with that reluctance came with hope. The hope of struggling against this particr Void Warrior who kept them here in this abyssal world for eternity.

    To them, they feel that Hell might be a better ce than a ce where there was nothing but emptiness.

    And because of that struggle, the magic barriers and projectiles were dyed and this gave the Fox ''bullets'' an edge that the Void Warrior Spartakus had never thought of.It pierced through the human shield and moved to make contact with his body. At this point, the bullets'' movement and the slowness in creating the barrier had caught Spartakus off-guard.

    Simultaneously, he believed that these bullets should not be any more painful or deadly than he had suffered before.

    Oh, he was so wrong.

    As the bullets went into his gigantic body, they not only did significant damage in twisting and turning every piece of sinew, blood vessel, muscle, and perhaps organ through their path, but the foxes did the impossible that there was no way Spartakus could have think of.

    Each and every one of them had decided to transform from the bullet form upon doing a certain amount of damage back into their physical human forms.

    Surely, this will not create a dent or a minor wound in that Void Warrior''s peak perfect looking body, but with chi, the Foxes were able to regr their circtory systems to not breathe for a minute or so as they wreaked havoc within his body.

    So long as he did not have a spell or a defence mechanism to block those humans from messing around with his body, he had to tolerate the slow death that they were about to give him.

    Well, slow was subjective as that was the perspective of Kraft who was standing there soaking all the projectiles along with Rex as Spartakus tried to find a solution to the problem that had bing to be a threat to his life.

    All Six of them returned to their human form had already took out their weapons from their storage rings and started unleashing scores of techniques as if this was a warm up section for them.

    Surely, Spartakus had already felt the danger but there was no way to know where those humans had been moving throughout his body. Unlike a cultivator who can sense the dangers that their body could be in using chi sense, Spartakus do not have such abilities despite being exposed by them on varying asions in the past and enving heroes up to this day.

    Arrogance could be the crux of the issue that ultimately brought to his untimely death.

    Without knowing where the humans were within his body and they keep changing locations to confuse him such as Kiyu who had been running around throwing timed bombs to screw with Spartakus'' senses, it was a matter of time before he fell.

    Kraft and Rex also knew the demise that wasing for him and they too did not relent with their offensive the moment they finished blocking each wave of damageing towards them.

    Ke Mi using the System Rider also feels that the end was nigh and started to do her attacks of her own especially when she was preparing a few tunes in preparation for such a turn of events.

    Waves of chi and Void energybined flew out of her Zither which subsequently transformed into a silhouette of a Giant (or given her perception of giants based on what she had known of them through the Dungeon World.) Huge silhouettes of giants smashed into the Human Shield and it prevented Spartakus from reacting properly.

    There was nothing that he could do as he was the kind of person who used strength to win and had no way to fight against trickery employed by the foxes. So, in a desperate attempt to possibly get out of the situation he was in, Spartakus assumed that killing Kraft and Rex would solve the problem.

    If those humans were able to turn into pieces of metal to fly into his body, then they must be minions or summons of the pair of humans standing right in front of him to defend themselves from the attacks.

    So, without much hesitation or life in him, he quickly executed one of the strongest but simplest skills he could dish out in that short amount of time. The void energy that pulsated through the spear vibrated, causing the spear to grow bigger.

    Kraft and Rex avoided the first strike as Spartakus threw a quick and heavy thrust but they never expected that the void energy transform the spear into something simr to the homing void energised beams that they had been avoiding.

    The metal and humans stuck on the spear split into two and went to separate ways to chase after Kraft and Rex. With that, the human shield that Spartakus was holding had been put to full use as the shield suddenly started to show its true form by spitting out a rope like string of humans out from the shield and towards Kraft and Rex.

    They were all holding void shaped weapons in order to hurt the duo and also casting magical bolts at them.

    However, all of this was merely a distraction.

    Kraft and Rex both smiled as they did not expect the Void Warrior does have a simple mindset. Perhaps the stereotype was true that all warriors only have ''muscles'' in their brains. If Spartakus could learn how to count, he might have known that 6+2 does not equate to 10. There were two more missing and they were Evon and Pei.

    And that was when the Spartakus found out about it, it would have been toote for him to react. Pei was already flying high up behind his neck with Evon covering her in a veil of energy that cloaked her presence using his powers while he was in Fox form.

    They did not know how a normal cloaking spell could work against his senses and seeing how the Void World could slowly eat one''s energies, it was best to have someone to continuously cast the veil spell to ensure that one could not be detected.

    Hence, the idea of Evon clinging to Pei''s shoulders and casting a veil to keep her presence unknown to the Void Warrior. Unlike most clichиж stories when the victor shouted ''I GOT YOU!" in hopes of catching the enemy unaware and showing the enemy that they had the upper hand in this situation, Pei merely kept quiet and sliced the Void Being''s Neck as swiftly and hard as she could.

    It was only when she saw the entire neck being sliced into two and fall to the ground, she let out a peace sign to the rest as her moment of victory. Yet Kraft and the others were not going to stop there. They were Foxes with a rtive amount of experience under their belt. As much as they trick their enemies into their ns, they too have to be wary of the enemies'' way of doing things.

    Kraft immediately called upon Jin and the System Rider immediately stopped ying the tune as a card flew out from his pouch of cards via chi maniption and Ke Mi was swapped out of it.

    "Thank you, Ke Mi. You did brilliant today as always." Jin said as he bid her goodbye and weed someone who was familiar with this world that they were in.

    "Here I thought I mighte in when shit hits the fan. But looks like I have a brand new respect for all of you." She chuckled as her form changed Jin''s humanoid form into something more grotesque too. There might not be any crocodile head but it was embodied in his chest armour. While the butterfly wings came out on his legs instead.

    Thank goodness they were not physical in nature and were akin to holographic nature. But rather than wasting time looking at his appearance, he zoomed towards the Void being headless body telling the rest toe out of it before he unleashed thest attack at him.

    That was when Kraft and Rex understood that cutting his head might not have been the solution but a process they had to go through and it was a good call that Kraft had quickly asked Jin to emerge and turn action.

    "Thank you all for helping me to clear this as soon as possible!" Jin said as the crocodile design that was on his chest suddenly turned more real as if a 3D shape of the crocodile head was rising out of it. During that time of emergence, a void energy ball was being charged and umted.

    It was not until the head had fully emerged out of it that Jin released that sphere of condensed void energy towards the headless body.

    Finally, it was done.

    The body was sucked into the void energised ball as well as the human spear and shield. They were by Farasha''s exnation an extension of Spartakus too. "He really has a bad match with your pals. With normal conditions, humans could neverst more than 30 seconds."

    "Heh, that was what she said." Jin blurted out but Farasha had no idea what he was talking about.

 Chapter 1965: Extra: The Void Beings Life Under A New Rule

    "Yo, wee," Farasha said as she stretched herself in the dimensional space after Jin released her from the System Rider ecosystem. There she saw a Void Warrior confused by the situation and was in disbelief that things were not going his way.

    "Where is this ce, fellow Void being? I do not sense the power of the void going through the area at all." Spartakus asked and Farasha could see that this almighty prideful creature still could not ept the fact that he had been defeated by a bunch of humans.

    "If this helps you to digest the information a little better, then the summary of it is that you had been beaten by a human that has the ability to harness void energyбнif you had not noticed that the group was able to do that to prevent your attacks," Farasha said as she tried to stay as calm as possible when she said all of this so not to make the Void Warrior feel that this was just as an illusion and wanted to make more trouble.

    She had gone through that phase of rejection before something simr to the five phases of grief where she could not ept the news that she had been defeated by this puny human who she was serving right now.

    All she could do for Spartakus was to assist him in transit into this new phase where he could ept the fact (maybe just not today)_ that he was enved for eternity until the death of the Master that captured him.

    "Hmm. I had my suspicions but I never expected that there were Void mages still alive. In fact, I thought that they were good at harnessing the surrounding energies and got lucky that they were able to damage me." Spartakus exined and Farasha shook her head.

    "AI had thought and analysed this for the longest time possible. It does seem like luck from our perspective and even up till now, I sometimes feel the same as well. However, I could feel that there was a logical exnation to understand all of this."

    "What do you mean?" Spartakus said as he gathered his strength in his fist and sent a shocking punch through the air, causing air to vibrate so loudly it sent a shockwave through the dimensional instance, and eventually, it managed to reach the limits of the dimensional instance.

    There was a slight crack as if giving the Void Warrior some hope that he could get out of this ce and return to his usual way of living.

    Yet, the existing tenant who was in this dimensional instance the longest, knew that it would never happen. It might look all nice and dandy with a 24 hour day cycle and no rain but just twilight sunset scenery which she realised it could be changed. All she had to do was to ask the System to make the necessary changes.

    Other than that, it was just fields of never ending patches of flowers on one side of the dimensional instance and a rocky cliff to indicate the middle of the instance where the other half was the slightly angry seas.

    This instance was simple enough that she couldze around in the fields and subsequently go into the sea for a quick dip if she wanted to. It was the life that she never expected and surprisingly pleasant. And once the System had identified that she was not a threat, it allowed her to move to other ces within the System''s ecosystem to make friends and try to fit in despite her size.

    Of course, she could transform herself to fit to the sizes of most monsters but having her to keep her original proportions was quite the talk of the town when she first entered.

    She realised that while she was born in the Void, raised in the Void, and lived in the Void the entirety of her life, Farasha did not know there was such a side of life that she had never seen before. It made her feel that she had been avoiding everything by living in the proverbial well in her world.

    Yes, she did feelfortable but there was no denying that there was a sense of void and nonaplishment that was eating into her heart.

    That was why when she was ''invited'' by the Banned Emperor Terrorists to go out of the world, the sky she had been seeing all day seeing the lives of humans going to and fro about, she could see whether the ''grass'' on the other side of the field was really greener.

    It might be the same process for Spartakus but unlike Farasha, who had spent most of her time in solitude, Spartakus had killed humans before. He had invaded their world and they had invaded his private ce. To him, humans were just minor insignificant life forms for his pleasure. While he did enjoy the days of trampling them, he too will feel tired after a while of the same thing repeatedly.

    That was why he decided to space it out so that when he was extremely bored or when the humans picked up the bait just as the previous incident of his ''minions'' were to be annihted, he got the excuse toe in to kill them.

    While it was true that someone or somebody had instigated the influx imitation of his minions, Spartakus thought it was quite amusing to see above him that those fake minions were pulling. There were times he decided to give these fake minions a push by inserting some void powers into them.

    This enabled them to be more aggressive in theirбнattempts to disrupt the human public space but it was not until a certain situation that enabled the humans to be a little more clever. They started to learn from one particr human and copied his methods to fight against these fake minions.

    Of course, Spartakus did not take heed of this even though when he recalled back about those memories, he could roughly know where and how it started but not who. Why should he remember the face of a human when he could crash them easily?

    And soon, he realised that his fake minions were being killed one by one and there was no more insertion of these fake imitations into his realm. So, he too had used his real minions to disturb the peace that the humans were trying to maintain. It did not take long for the humans to once again adapt even though the frequency of the attacks increased throughout the day.

    It did not long for them to be coordinated and knowledgeable enough to perform suchplex operations to defeat the real ones. However, they too did not know that they had been dealing with the real ones up to this day. The Demon Exorcists in Italy only assumed that they had evolved or grown in such a way that it changed their habit and methods for them to think and ovee these minions.

    It was thus the reason why Spartakus felt annoyed that his minions were being killed and there were fewer casualties of humans urring because of it. Was his minion worse than the imitations? He did not really care but what he wanted was to fill the void that had been biting into him for the longest time possible.

    And in order to remove that void and remain purely empty, he got to go into the Human World without any invitation to assault them.

    And coincidentally, Jin''s gut feeling toe right after the dinner conversation with Sir Diego had proved to be right on point for him to confront Spartakus before he could even enter this world. Such coincidences and the impable timing eventually became the reasons for the new contracted ''employee'' of Jin to cope with.

    Yet, for now. As a Void Warrior, all he could do was continue believing that breaking the dimensional instance walls was the way out. Farasha did not make any sound and let him do his way of coping with his denial of the situation.

    While she could empathise and wanted to help him as weird as it sounds, (Probably she got influenced by all the other monsters under Jin''s banner that she was slowly bing that way.) but she knew that when someone was angry, they could not listen to reason.

    Might as well let him do what he needs to do to adjust to the situation no matter how long it takes so that they have an easier time convincing him. On the other hand, for Jin and the others, they had already returned to the real world and back to the Colosseum with other dozens more Demon Exorcists and Internal Security Agents pointing their weapons at them.

    "Hahahah, do you really still want to not y dirty? We don''t have our passports with us you know." Kraft said as he kept his hands in his coat. Jin then shook his head and allowed Kraft to takemand of the field.

 Chapter 1966: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 1

    "Stop. They are on our side." A voice came out and it was surprising that the injured senior agent who wasmanding the field previously, hade in to ask the rest to put their arms down against the group. "Besides, all of you do not have what it takes to win against them. Numbers do not matter."

    It seemed like the agent had already learned his lesson but Jin suspected that he had indeed listened to him and already contacted Sir Diego with regards to the situation at hand.

    And he hit the mark when Diego reached out to them with an active phone call, waiting to be picked up. Jin and the rest slowly put their hands down and he took the phone to listen to the conversation. "I am a little awestruck at how you are able to get to Italy so quickly but at this point, I should not be surprised at anything you do."

    "I just so happened to keep a portal coordinate up in the event that we need to return to the ce in an emergency. I hope that such a reason was justified." Jin knew that portals were not allowed or restricted for a reason and without proper clearance, those found using portals might be caught and maybe even be punished.

    Diego signed and already predicted what Jin was about to say. After all, there was no way Jin could get air tickets, get clearance, and fly to Italy without hours of traveling when the timepsed was barely less than three. The only exnation he could have been using a portal coordinate to reach there and Jin needed to be there before using the portal coordinate. (Which he did!)

    Of course, Diego never knew about the almighty System that Jin was hiding in in sight with and one that was capable of teleporting them almost everywhere in the world as long as they had coordinates and a persistent field of view.

    Previously when Jin first started out, there was no way the System could have done that, in fear of teleporting Jin to a coordinate where he could be stuck in between two rocks or dangling from a cliff kind of situation.

    (More likely he would be dangling from a parapet in the modern context) But now with Jin''s wealth and Kraft''s resourcefulness to have him ess to various satellites that littered the skies, there was almost no ce (above ground) that the System was not confident in throwing Jin to.

    "I will keep both of my eyes closed on that particr travel method since it seems that you have already solved a problem of ours considering how I heard from our operating agents that the entire group had returned from a spatial crack in the sky," Diego said to confirm the situation at hand.

    "Yeah, he is dead dead and will not be bothering you. Not really the best ce to fight against a Void Being but my teamбнis capable." Jin said as he looked at the group behind him yawning and checking their phones, realising that they were all very busy people with the exception of Kraft who had been staring at the agents as if he wanted to do some experiment on them.

    "I see. Thank you very much. I have a lot of questions at my end with regards to the foe, your impable timing to reach before the danger happened, and many more but it seems like you are a tested and proven team of individuals that wished to keep thisбнextermination method close at heart. Is that why you ask to do this job for free?"

    "Thank you for understanding but I cannot reallyment on that." Jin was actually at a loss for words but he decided to show he was professional and pretended to hide behind a veil and let Diego overthink things.

    "That''s alright. I sort of get it. In any case, do you need my agents to escort you to the airports? After all, I can only assume that you have not chopped your passports and the only way out is from there as well.

    I also hope that you brought your passports with you as weird as the situation is." Diego realised how ridiculous it was to carry their passports into battle in hopes of returning back to their country after defeating a monster that was considered to be superior in all aspects.

    The team might not have returned in one piece and the fact that they did had shown theirpetence but what if they did not? Perhaps they already lost someone among themselves? That was where Diego decided to pop a quick question in too.

    "No, we thankfully did not lose anyone in the Void бнne? We got lucky that we caught Spartakus off guard, giving us the needed edge to win the fight as swiftly as possible." Jin said and the agent who had passed the phone to them could not believe what he was saying. That ominous aura that the Void Being released through the spatial cracks was able to suppress every single person in the Colosseum.

    It was unfortunate that a few old tourists died from it and their group needed to suppress the news as much as possible. Many others had to be brought to the hospitals due to healthplications from experiencing the deathly aura and even some of the backupbatants and agents that came had to seek for medical aid trying to save the tourists and staff of the Colosseum.

    And yet, this group of people came out of that looking almost unscathed. It was an understatement by him as the senior agent had experienced it first hand.

    What he now knows is that there is undoubtedly this group of cultivators that outstrip even talents from the strongest magician in Italy and he believed ording to his national database that there was no one (in the open) that could have beaten this Void Being so quickly.

    In addition, he also realised that those agents and security forces that had been knocked out by Jin had suffered zero injuries from the suppression.

    He was unsure whether it was because they were unconscious or it was the work of this particr elite team. Butter he concluded that it was thetter since he realised that even the environment and infrastructure were not able to handle the deadly aura that the Void Being had released. nks broke and rocks shattered.

    In short, the supposed enemy with which the agent had wrongly pointed his guns had inadvertently saved his agents and the security forces who were dispatched for this supposed uing operation.

    Even as the victims of Jin''s unconscious attack woke up, they said that they experienced one of the best sleep they could get in years and only felt remorseful (and relief) that the entire operation was over.

    "Heh, even if the entire region of police came to catch them, there was no way of containing them at all." The senior agent thought to himself.

    "Or do you have a return portal coordinate?" Diego asked

    "I am afraid it was a one way ticket for us," Jin replied and Diego kept quiet for a while.

    "I will do what I can but my men will escort you to a safe house for holding. Only once we have prepared the necessary documentation, we should be able to let you out of Italyбнwhich I assume is the case, or do you wish to explore more of Rome?" Diego asked and Jin wanted to shed a tear of misery out. There was no way he had the luxury of time to explore ces.

    At the same time, the sights of Italy could notpete with the wonders the other parallel worlds had to offer.

    "It is okay, We should already thank you that you are not throwing us behind bars foring illegally."

    "I do not think that those metal cages could keep you. And besides, you have done a service to our nation. If people knew how we treated our saviours, they would criticise us Italians for not giving a suitable form of hospitality." Diego said with a cheeky tone.

    "If that''s the case, I hope you can pardon us for one more favour as I have a request to make," Jin said as he put the loudspeakers on. "I am putting you on loudspeaker first."

    "Shoot, what''s the issue that you want to resolve." Diego was thinking about whether Jin was about to change his initial request for doing this job free of charge. From what he looked, if the threat had not been contained in their ne or world, the destruction brought by the supposed Void Being would have devastated them.

    And that was assuming Jin had refused to work because there was an insufficient amount of payment given to him.

    But what the Head Demon Exorcists of the Italian Branch realised that he might have been overthinking too much for the request was something more than do-able.

    "Please get usбн some food? My team is hungry. Even fast food would be fine."

 Chapter 1967: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 2

    "Why did we even bother to listen to them and be under their mercy?" Kraft asked in the System Channel as he yawned despite the police truck rocking a little through the roads.

    "Don''t you guys want to do a discussion? We finally would be able to have time to ourselves and talk without any interruptions at all." Jin replied in the System Channel and some of the foxes chuckled a little. However, all of them continued to keep their stoic faces and no one was making a move on their faces.

    They knew that if they were to speak with chi telepathy or move their mouth muscles, the agents that were escorting them would know what the hell they were up to.

    Of course, Kraft wished to test the limits of their agents but Jin told him not to bother them as they were innocent people listening to instructions. They should already be d that they were not in chains. (Not like those chains could stop them at all.)

    "I think this will just make Kraft even more disgusted and prone to havoc if we were just to talk and ignore him." Rex knowing his brother in arms well enough that this was not the best of ideas for the Original Betor of the System.

    "Its fine, all he needed to do is to make a copy good enough while he can sip some coffee at some Italian cafиж down the streets." Pei shrugged her shoulders stating that this was possible for a master maniptor like Kraft.

    "Yeah, I will probably do that once we reach the safehouse. I just wanted to try fighting a Void Being. Too bad the one we pit against was just some arrogant warrior. He should just be one of the beings at the lowest hierarchy.

    Oh well, at least I get to feel and understand how Void energy felt like, so its not exactly a waste of time for me at all." Kraft said and at that moment, the police truck stopped and the agents opened the door which they see a small deserted back alley with one of the agents beckoning them to her location.

    It was only when she saw the number of peopleing in, she was a little shock as she knew that there was no way the agents ratio to one person could fit into the safehouse''s room. Thus, she looked at her supervisor and all he did was to shake his head.

    They had thought that if they were to use magical telepathy, these cultivators would not be able to listen a damn thing from them as they always inherently thought that the cultivators were inferiorpared to magicians. Just like how Kraft felt that the warrior was of a lower level aspared to Farasha when it was not actually the case.

    "Just keep them here for processing and get them some food. They will not run and even if they didбнlet them be. You are of no match to even a single one of them." The senior agent said so tantly that the agent that was supposed to supervising them was stunned once more to receive such an order.

    And the only time she broke out of that state was when the senior agent took out his wallet and handed her three hundred dors in fifty euro bill notes.

    "This is all I am carrying right now. If you need to add using your own money, just go ahead. I will get the HR department to reimburse you." The senior agent said and the female counterpart was extremely confused.

    "Why are we not following protocol for holding these people?" Thetter spoke in Italian to avoid being heard by the foxes.

    "For one, they saved Italy in an extremely timely manner. They should beuded as heroes and yet the entire force thinks that they are criminals. Just because they eliminated the threat quickly, and we do not see and feel the repercussions, we should take it as case closed?"The senior agent spoke and Kiyu could not help but to interject into the conversation.

    "We do not need to beuded as heroes. We are merely doing what humans should. To help. You scratch my back, I scratch yours" After which she followed the group up the stairs and into the safehouse.

    Jin had not experienced a safehouse setting before and thought it would be well decorated like the movies. Sad for him and the group, the interior was extremely empty. There was a one room safehouse with only a chair and a bed but the curtains were of good quality. He believed that it was to keep the impression that the ce was upied.

    "Guess we are sitting on the floor," Jin said as he sat down and felt a little tired. This was the first time he was able to experience fatigue. It was as if the use of void energy, or the creation of void energy had sapped his entire body''s strength away despite the grade he was holding. But one thing was for sure. The words stress free was never in his mind before until now.

    It was as if the creation of void energy was possible from all the pent up stress that he had been experiencing ever since he returned to his world from the simted one in Synthesis World.

    The amount of void energy spent had given him the feeling of tranquility just for a moment and he wondered if Farasha and Spartakus always feel that way until the ages passed and the pent up void energy had been stored for the longest time ever.

    "Maybe they are just pent up fighters who knew that there was no way around the situation until they think that bullying little humans which they consistently saw above them might satisfy them. Only once that void energy had been expended, they will truly feel at peace." Jin thought to himself.

    However, that feeling of tranquillity was undoubtedly fading away as the rest took their seats on the squeezy one room t and started to pull their documents out of their storage rings. Thus, when the female agent who came up from the stairs to find all of them started to furiously type on theirptops, she was at a loss again.

    She had to remember that she was not dealing with criminals that had allegedly caused dozens of agents and guards to fall unconscious but saviours of her nation from a disaster that may prove to be fatal without their intervention. She was struggling internally but orders were orders. Thus, with a quick sigh, she asked what they wished to eat.

    "Just make it easy and get us something within that three hundred dor budget. But don''t spend it all, we do not know how long we are going to be ermбнprocessed?" Jin spoke out for the group since he was the one tabling the meeting and not preparing the discussion.

    "Ehh remember to get us lots of drinks as in to replenish fluids and quench thirst, not alcoholic ones." Jin said it in such a weird clumsy way as in his Italian ent that the female agent cracked a smile.

    She understood what he was getting to and appreciated the conversation in Italian. However, what she did not know was that during that conversation, a certain somebody had already snuck out of the safehouse leaving a copy of himself in a corner, covering himself with the long coat that he always wears and also a nket he stole from the bed to wrap around his head.

    While his clone was able to talk and converse like a normal human being, Kraft had to handle that through telepathy. So, instead of wasting energy to do that, he makes the clone pretend that he had fallen asleep from all that fighting and ignores the rest.

    Just as the female agent counted the number of people and closed the door, Rex had already begun the agenda of the meeting that they had been wanting to do so. "We actually wasted a lot of time in doing this particr endeavour. Have everyone settled their backlogs for the past two hours with your team members?"

    "Its not that bad on my side. It was near clock out time when that Krafty bastard summoned me. I assumed everyone is the same?" Pei said and the rest nodded their heads except for Evon.

    "I am not. Please give me some time to clear up a few issues between my team members first. You guys can go ahead with the meeting without me for now." Evon said as he went to another corner of the already cramped room and ced his earpiece on as well as a anti sound barrier. After which he was furiously scolding one of the team members based on his expression."

    "Ahhh. Ahhh. I truly pity the team members under Evon." Kiyu said as she shook her head when she noticed that Evon never changed his ways from the past.

    "Heh, that is why we ask Rex to get him the many stubborn people under him so that they could pit heads against each other and get them to recognise their ws." Ixel said with aglee

    "I don''t think it works that way..." Itori replied.

    "No, Ixel. I did not do that." Rex sound out to prove his innocence

    "Let''s just proceed without him first, okay? This respite of a joint meeting бнWe might never get again for the next few months" Pei reiterated to push everyone for the conversation.

 Chapter 1968: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 3

    "So, what''s the agenda of the meeting?" Jin asked as he yawned a little knowing that this might not actually be the right time for him to conduct the meeting after what he had gone through. The fatigue was setting in faster than he had expected and he honestly wanted to lie on the bed and escape from this discussion.

    However, duty calls and he was already using his chi to circte through his body to keep himself awake.

    "We have general city affairs which I can exin more about since I am the leader of Demopolis and also the Interim Leader for each of the seven cities that we had acquired through unorthodox means," Rex said and Jin tilted his head to the side with his brows furrowed.

    "Then what about Pandapolis? From what I know, Qiu Yue had her hands into the city for a bit but she is not the leader."

    "Unfortunately, User is still the leader." The System reported. "However, due to your consistent absence regardless of the Celestials'' trick of teleporting you into the Synthesis World, the System had already relegated most of the responsibilities to Rex as well. He did not say out of courtesy of the actual lord that was reigning the area."

    "Oh, Rex. We might not be best of buds but you have to sound out if you are overworked. Kraft wille and kill me if I make you work till you drop to the ground." Jin said in concern for Rex and the othersughed.

    "Boss, you do not have to worry about Rex a single bit. This is nothingpared to what he had to coordinate in the past. In fact, this might feel like a warm up exercise to him." Peimented and the others nodded their heads.

    "Right now, we have consistentmunication with the advances of technology but back then, the cultivators and households that were under the Fox''s name were all handled by Rex.

    If not for this guy single handedly push the collective group, our fight against the Royal Zodiacs would have already been over a long time ago." Itori said and added that there was a time when Rex had to handle a hundred over households to coordinate the resistance efforts.

    "s, things happened." Rex smiled bitterly and Pei tapped his shoulders. "Let bygones be bygones, you had technically paid for your actions while being entrapped by the System. You see yourself, working well..not to the bone yet, but still working hard for your new master. I do not see any problem with that." Pei remarked and Rex thanked her for thepliments.

    "Sorry, my lord. Looks like we have digressed a little. Yes, I am currently controlling and overseeing the affairs of Pandapolis as well." Rex said with a little pride in his voice and Jin nodded his head with satisfaction. It was not that Jin did not wish to handle the city but he did not have the capabilities, the knowledge to fully run a city.

    Not to mention, the amount of management needed just to keep everything moving smoothly? That was something one person could not handle.

    If not for the System and a few trustworthy demons at the helm like Moloch to handle the start, Jin would have already lost Pandapolis. But now, it was running albeit slower than clockwork but it was still functioning.

    "As for the rest and if you have forgottenбн"

    "Not forgotten, just needed a bit of a reminder" Jin gave a cheeky smile knowing that he really could not remember what they were doing despite the so call ''photographic'' memory that he had. (Well, he had the System to remind him of things.)

    "Tsu and Kai handle the Internal Affairs department, so they will talk to you about that shortly. ording to them, there were a lot of things to report as well as the need for additional manpower.

    Pei as you have known, is in the Health Ministry, Ixa is performing rather well in the transportation side of things while Ixel coordinated with Tsu and Kai using whatever police forces he could muster." Rex gave a quick summary.

    "It''s funny how we do not have agriculture orbour lead," Jin asked and everyone pointed at Evon who was scolding furiously on the phone. "I thought he is considered the Science department?"

    "He is, but then he realised that there were so many thingscking considering the advancement of technology in your world. As much as his attitude is extremely terrible, that monster of a fox is actually handling everything technical when he feels that it''s a problem." Rex''s bodynguage finally rxed despite the stiff start they had.

    "You meanбн" Jin could not follow.

    "Yes, he is actually handling stuff that requires machines. And that is a heck of lot of things." Pei said that even the setting up of hospitals could not happen without Evon. "He has a knack for creating things and those ''things'' do note out from mid air. We have to make them or buy them.

    He had been scouring through all the rubbish in the ck market as well as your world''s markets to get the cheapest possible route to technological advancement."

    "Lol, his motto is ''Regardless it takes even if I got to work a few people to death. Oh wait, death is not an option in this world. Muahahahahah!;'' " Ixel mimicked Evon and it was like despite there was aplete sound barrier surrounding Evon, it seemed like he was able to sense Ixel insulting him and turned to stare at him.

    "I guess, I should keep quiet." Ixel had his head down and Evon returned to his phone call shouting at them.

    "Still, I pity the workers under him though. They must have it rough." Jinmented and Rex stifled out a quickugh.

    "Master, you do not have to. Those people under Evon are probably one of the highest sry earners within the many cities we control. Not only that, they were guaranteedplete health benefits and even had overtime pay. Evon fought for these rights stating that if you want a city that ispetent for living, then you got to paypetent wages.

    If they cannot take the stress then let the System do a quick upload of all the information and we pass it to another who has a better handle on this.'' That was what he said and so far, his group of hundred is one of the most hardworking and sad to say, produced the most results for this cotion of cities."

    "Yeah, they were the ones who assisted in building a freaking new sewer system and Qiu Yue was not even at the helm. All he requested were extremely hardworking beavers and he made sure that it worked."

    "Soбнconsidering his nature, I assumed that freaking new sewer system had other features as wellбн?"

    "Hahahaбнyes. Defence systems were in ce within the sewers and there were alternative hidden routes that required high level ess to enter. Those parts of the sewers are currently like storage warehouses that keep food, oil supplies, and even weapons." Tsu sounded out as this was a part of his internal affairs job.

    "So, am I right to say that Rex is like the administrator of all the citiesbined while Evon is actually the one that sets everything down in motion? And that includes cross department stuff?" Jin questioned and almost everyone nodded their heads.

    "The only exception is General Vual. He handles the military side of things. We find him extremely capable in coordinating troops and have high administrative knowledge that I believe there was no need for me to step out of my boundaries and take ount of the military." Rex remarked.

    "AhбнVual. That is one name I have not heard for the longest time."Jin knew that this was the Demon who wanted the best for Demopolis after everything that had happened with Baal and Kiva.

    "Yes, he had been rather happy that you had taken the Demopolis Army out for ''walks'' once in a while so that he could see not only the results of his oversight as well as gather information on how to improve on things, especially like their formation or the need to improve on their training," Rex said.

    "And not to mention, the humans from the Seven Cities serving the military were ratherpliant to a Demon. It was totally unheard of in the Dungeon World, especially for those who had served the Church of the Afterlife."

    "Ah, you reminded me of that. Please remember to discuss about the Church and its organisation after we clean our internal city issues." Jin said and he nodded his head.

    "Don''t worry about that. There are a lot of things happening for the Church of the Afterlife but we have to say, we need to have our hats off just for Kraft with regards to this.

    If not for him consistently attacking the Money Tower, the Church of the Afterlife might actually be busy aiming their reticules towards us since we had technically stolen seven cities under their noses." Rex said and he started to bring out more documents that he wished to discuss.

 Chapter 1969: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 4

    "So, what''s the status of the transportation department?" Jin decided to take the easiest one in first since how wrong can things go with vehicles and roads? Boy, he was somewhat a little off his mark when he thought that it was the easiest thing to take care of first.

    "We have started to introduce cars within the cities especially in Pandapolis due to its inherent infrastructure. Both monsters and humans are extremely interested in it and Pandapolis Manufacturing has already produced the first batch of cars for sale.

    The only problem that they have is whether we should do memory injection or through rote learning." Ixa reported, seeing that she was being called out when Jin mentioned the word transportation.

    "I will suggest memory injection, we do not want them to create problems with the first batch of cars on route, right? Plus, not everyone had seen these cars before and they would not know how to react when they see such metal objects moving at such high speeds in real life." Ixelmented.

    "You mean most of Pandapolis had seen what a car is?" Jin asked.

    "Yeah, we had been heavily advertising it to be the next new thing for transportation. There were even demonstration events at every corner of Pandapolis for people to see what the hell this is." Ixa said and Jin was starting to think whether it was feasible to have those cars right now when everyone in Pandapolis-to his memory, everyone had been using the main roads as their pathways to work.

    Sure, there was ane for horse carriages but it would immediately be upied by the pedestrians when those horses had passed the area.

    "Do we have buses as part of the transportation system?"Jin asked and Ixa shook her head.

    "You wish to get public transport up first and waste more of our collective funds when there are other things that are in need of fixing?" Ixa asked as she felt that this transportation thing was the best way to earn money from the citizens staying in the city especially since they were clueless about it. They can put these cars at a high price and they could notin at all.

    Not to mention, these cars were made with leftover parts from the ck market.

    While they may be freshly baked from the factory, Ixa believed that there would be quite a lot of problems with the cars since they were hastily being put in and they were not meant tost long. The System does have knowledge on car manufacturing and has even stolen quite a few ns from overseaspanies who had resided their projects within the maind.

    So, the System knew that this batch of cars was equivalent to those cars that had been produced about forty years ago.

    Any longer than this period of time, the System would be creating vintage cars that might actually be more valuable regardless of their mass production. So, Ixa had the same sentiment and wanted to ditch all of the goods when the time is right.

    Perhaps, she could also learn from a certain tiny city ind in Jin''s world where they had imposed an expensive certificate to acquire a car and also ced a limit on the car''s duration. For example, the certificate they bought to acquire the vehicle could only allow the owner to have the car for ten years. After that, they have to renew the certificate or scrap the car.

    This will allow a decent profit toe into the city''s coffers and allow their young Pandapolis Central Bank to grow aspared to providing bus services to the public. However, at the end of the day, this was still Jin''s city and Ixa could only provide her advice and possible proposals to aid with it.

    "No, those carsбнI was initially thinking of selling in our world but looking at the quick technical sheet that the System had provided me about those cars, I rather not do so." Jin said as he too had started holding sheets of paper in his hand to consider things.

    "So, you are willing to ept this proposal?" Ixa asked, hoping to have a quick resolution of this matter.

    "No. I stand firm in providing bus services to Pandapolis. Get buses and with better specifications than these pathetic cars. We merely have to set the speed limit and the interior to look lousy.

    The engines and stuff could work as per modern day solutions." Jin said and wanted Ixa to work with the System to look into staffing issues, route nning, and also the establishment of bus stops and stations.

    "So, you do not want cars on the streets and entirely buses?" Rex asked and Jin nodded his head.

    "Let there be some socialism in this. Both rich and poor will take the same buses. If they want to go somewhere fast, tell them buy a teleportation spell instead." Jin replied and some of the Foxes chuckled.

    "Yeah quite true. Why bother with cars when you can get from point A to point B in a jiffy using teleportation spells? The only people that are suffering are those who do not have the power, mana, or even dungeon dors to buy those spell scrolls."

    "Then what shall we do with the first batch of cars? You want to dismantle them for parts?"

    "What? No!" Jin shook his head.

    "Last I remember, we are a dimensional instance supplier, am I right?" Jin said and Ixa could not follow what he was thinking about. The others had the same empty face on them when Jin finally surrendered, not giving them time to guess what he was about to do. He believed that their heads were all in their own bubbles on what to exin to Jin when it came to their turn.

    So, he decided to reveal the answer.

    "We create racing death matches within Pandapolis for the Demons, monsters, and humans to vent their steam. We will then also add Pandarens into the fray as well and we can charge rather cheaply for the Pandarens to ''own'' the cars and at the same time provide jobs for Pandapolis citizens since we need mechanics, race coordinators, and all the other stuff needed for a death race. "

    "Soбн you are saying instead of a normal race, the citizens can kill each other in this?"

    "Yeah. And they had to sign our contract, so there are less people being influenced by the Church of the Afterlife. I am not talking about Pandapolis only nor the collectivebination of cities. When word gets out about this, people and monsters from various cities woulde in to take a look at this and possibly interested in it."

    "I can attest to that. Who does not like cars? And who does not like driving speeding cars while shooting bullets and shing metals at the same time?" Ixel remarked and the rest agreed to their fellow fox sentiments as well.

    "I would not lie. This is a lot of work and I can understand where you areing from a business perspective. If those car races can produce money in your world, I do not see why we cannot replicate such business model to this world as well. It will definitely offset the expenses incurred from the bus services."

    "It is also because I want other people from the other cities in the dungeon world to like our bus services and death matches. If things go well, we might be able to start taking in major construction road projects to nearby cities andter bus services as well. And at the same time, slowly infecting these citizens with the idea of convenience." Jin showed a devilish smile.

    He knew it was a matter of time before those people and monsters would enjoy such convenience. It had already been portrayed out by the Demons who had been staying in Pandapolis since their forced eviction from Demopolis City pending their major reconstruction.

    They adored the idea of convenience. From the use of hot water straight from their taps to the amazing lights that lit up their rooms. It might seem like a daily item in modern world life but to the Demons, it was one miracle invention to another that they could not have such technology existed without magic.

    It was to a point where some felt that magic was something akin to inferior technologypared to all of those items that they had seen to create convenience in their life.

    "I see, then I will make sure the Bus routes are well plotted so that every part of the city has ess to them." Ixa finally epted the idea that she had more work ahead of her.

    "Oh, and do remember to do express buses," Jin said as he remembered that convenience was a way to exploit the prices too. After all, time was money and in any other world that he was in, the same concept appliedбнwell perhaps not in the Void World.

 Chapter 1970: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 5

    "With the transportation portion to be done for discussion, let''s go with the next portion that we would be looking at. Would anyone wish to pitch their discussion for the ball to continue rolling?" Rex asked since he felt that with Jin in the picture, it looks like the discussion of even the simplest thing like transportation would have a different thing in mind.

    "I guess, I will take a go." Ixel raised his hand and he started to talk about the Police department and Rex also believed that the Internal Affairs department would be able to take over after that.

    After all, they should be in the same portion of the city but considering Ixel is not usually the cleverest in the group and was known more of his strength, the Foxes had assigned him to a smaller portion of control with Tsu and Kai overseeing him.

    Perhaps it sounded overkill to have three foxes in the Internal Affairs department but Tsu and Kai did not only take care of the security portion of internal affairs. As the name had stated, as long there are issues internally, they will be the ones taking care of it.

    And that means a slew of items such as manpower issues, employment problems, economical and finance of the city, and many others that the rest did not take over.

    While it might seem like it was not sufficient to have two brilliant foxes to be handling everything and anything under the sun, Rex had known them to be extremely capable leaders. In the past, Tsu and Kai handled one of the mostplicated branches of their n particrly in administrative issues.

    They were able to deal those matters with finesse and provided something akin to a modern equivalent of a quality management system like what the international organisation for standardisation ISO had demanded in modernpanies.

    It was also the reason why Kraft had always chosen Tsu and Kai to be hisckeys and manipted them from the start to make them be with him. That was how the Devil Fox usually got his things done and that was all thanks to those two foxes.

    Even now with his Night Foxes and his recently developed Sun Foxes, Tsu and Kai had dipped their toes into the formation of these teams. On asions to run away from the overburden of work, the two foxes would be utilising the Night Foxes to relieve their stress.

    And with the Sun Foxes onboard, they had refined the training regime that they used in Night Foxes'' trial and error training to make them a more effective group of high elves.

    Of course, this was not the entire point but rather there was a rtion to the Night and Sun Foxes. It was precisely because Rex knew that Tsu and Kai were the next in line for the Devil Fox''s lust for attention aside from himself, Kraft would hardly say no when the Heads of Internal Affairs required help from the Devil himself.

    It was as if Rex had calcted that with so few leaders at hand, having one master maniptor as part of his leader council, albeit a fleeting one, is better than none. So, every Tsu and Kai had some problems that needed solving and did not have the time to do so, they would enlist either Kraft or Ixel depending on the situation whether it was a problem of brawns or brains.

    Thus, the Internal Affairs was effectively being held by four foxes and they would be the ones handling all of Pandapolis, Demopolis, and the Seven Cities'' major problems.

    "Go ahead, Ixel." Rex said and as Ixel was not the best with words, he spoke rather informally in a meeting that was supposed to have some importance considering Jin was ''Lord''. However, thetter did not care about such nonsense as long as Ixel could bring his point apart. The rest of the Foxes also knew that but Ixel kept apologising for it.

    "No, no. Just continue speaking Ixel." Jin said and Ixel reported that there are no major problems with regards to the police department.

    "The Demons, monsters and people were rather uncooperative at first as they never believed that Demons could uphold justice. However, as the months go by, they realised that the Demons themselves do not view justice the same way as humans. That sense of justice was more like a sense ofбнduty?

    They work to the letter and to the point, that they had forgotten aboutpassion which the humans had to teach them about it despite the fact they are police."

    "That sounds like there''s still some cohesion within the police force?"

    "Yes. Each patrol that goes out must consist of the three races. So long there''s a demon, monster and human are avable, the team leaders will send them out and those three will also take turns to take the lead. Of course, there were quite a few shes at first but as time went by, they realised the benefits of having such a diverse party."

    "I assume having those there together, they were able to resolve problems in Pandapolis and Demopolis with more ease?"

    "Yes, the victims did not see the police as a superior force but as someone that was there who was to help. That includes catching the perps. However, it was more difficult for the Seven Cities to understand this concept. I tried to exin to them but most of them prefer to have their military to patrol instead."

    "Did you do anything to circuNovelFireent it, or is that an issue now that you have to tackle?"

    "I went down personally to each of those cities and in those cities, conducted various talks on having this kind of diverse patrol scouts. They did not really like the idea but when Tsu said to take police forces from theSeven Cities and ce them in Demopolis and Pandapolis.

    At the same time, let them cultivate that trust between Demons and Monsters so that when they return to the Seven Cities, they are not only bringing that concept into the city but also hopefully convincing the rest that the Demons and Monsters were not as crazy or dangerous as they think they are. Humans themselves can be equally dangerous."

    "Good job." Tsu and Kai said in unison and that made Ixel blush a little.

    "But surely, there are other things that had been done to change the image, right?" Jin knew that this police patrol thing was surely not the main solution to such a deep rooted problem of distrust.

    "Yes, but that is for me and Kai to talk about it. However, we wait until Ixel finishes his report to you before we step in." Tsu replied and Ixel nodded his head.

    "So far, there is a drop in humans attacking monsters within the cities and there are even fewer disputes except for drunk fights. We like to propose a curfew but Brother Kai said that we should not do that as it was their tradition and in his words, he said ''Even if they kill each other, they can be revived again, so I see no issues in drunk fights.

    As long as they do not disturb other people, that is fine.'' So, most of the patrols were there to make sure that the fights to not get out of hand. I even made them to shake hands after the fight was over."

    "Now I finally know the reason why my hospitals are always so busy in the nightбн" Peimented and shot a nce at Kai and he slowly tried to avoid eye contact, pretending to talk to Tsu about something else. The rest of the group chuckled and knew that even though fighting was a byproduct of the problem they had to resolve it.

    If they were able to resolve it, there would be less fighting but at the same time, the reason why the Foxes did not discourage fighting was mainly because this was still a dog eat dog world. It might feel peaceful from within and the reason for it was that the principles of modern human society from Jin''s World had been implemented.

    Yet, they should not forget that the entire 99.9999 percent of the world could potentially be still hostile to them since they were just a coalition of cities together, they were not even a nation.

    Thus, fighting keep their senses on the ball, so that if there were attacks, the citizens would not be running to evacuate but to run to keep their precious equipment and documents in check so that when the fight arises while protecting their proverbial rice bowl, they were ready to fight back.

    "Other than that, I have no issues. Oh! Sorry. The department is receiving a lot of resumes, as people feel that it''s a good money earning opportunity. Can we have a proper training facility to train them just like how Demopolis has an entire military base?"

    "Lol, Ixel. If the police have an entire base to themselves, I think people might think that we are policing our cities a little much or maybe overboard perhaps. However, Rex could probably squeeze something out of Demopolis''s military base. Maybe share a facility or two to improve the utilisation of the military base? It will be good that the police have the same military discipline too."

    "Sure, I will look into it. However, that will mean there are some changes that the military base has to amodate." Rex said and Jin nodded his head, stating that he could bring it upter in the discussion. For now, it''s the next one in line.

 Chapter 1971: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 6

    "Health! Health!" Pei raised her hand as she wanted to air her grievances, believing that now was the right time to do so. They had already gone through the Ixa and Ixel''s portion so Jin could tackle the hard parts.

    "Is health really the issue now that most of them can die and revive back?" Tsu kidded about it and all he got was a devil nce from Pei.

    "I hate to break it to you but most of the people had the same thinking as you. A quick survey has shown that if one thinks that they are sick, they rather just weather it through than see the doctor. A lot of them had the misconception that they should only see the doctor if they have physical wounds." Pei said.

    "So like, a cough or flu would definitely hamper them but it will not spur them to see the doctor because it is not something ''serious'' that they need to see a healer for it." She added. "In turn, such flu viruses will spread and they will not only affect the people in the workce but also during their way to work."

    "And for recent examples, the viral flu season had just passed and about 10% of the workforce in Seven Cities had reported that they could note to work. And those were the people who were severely sick and down with the cold to the point that they were having fevers. The others continued to soldier on to work as if nothing had happened." Pei exined.

    "So, in short, you want to do some awareness programme?"

    "Yes and no. As I have checked with the local healers in the Seven Cities andpared them to any healers that had resided in Demopolis since most of the current poption came from there. The healers all stated that their main job is to fix back limbs or give them some adrenaline boosters so that they could work better.

    They are not doing much to providefort to the ailments of mostmon health problems. Most of the people who suffered those basic health problems were subsequently eliminated."

    "Eliminated as inбн? They expire?" Jin asked.

    "Yes, that''s right. To them, it feels like their time is up and they wrote some sort of permission form to the healers where the healers will cast a death spell in ways that they could not return to the Dungeon World anymore. Even the resurrection will not work.

    Thatбнor they do not have any money to pay the Church of the Afterlife, meaning there is no additional coverage because they have been owing the church money that the organisation did not wish to resurrect them back again."

    "Sounds overlyplicated for a ce where they have resurrection." Jin said and the rest nodded. They knew that inparison to their world where resurrection is an option but not apulsory way of life, the citizens of Dungeon World had it rough as well.

    "So, in order to make them aware that visiting the healers, well erm the healers we are currently training, we need money and the budget to push for awareness. There is no way the poption would understand until they tried it out themselves and-"

    "-And herees the age old question whether we should provide it as a public service, as a public good for the betterment of the society, or charge them a portion of money so that the health services rendered could remain useable and profitable enough to sustain themselves.

    But due to the human''s avarice and greed, most do not see it that way."Jin said and Pei was a little speechless for a moment or two on how to continue since Jin basically spoke whatever she wanted.

    "Looks like you are well informed about it."

    "Let''s just say that I have been with Qiu Yue long enough to hear herin about it. She had taken a module on Global Health back when we were studying and this was one of the topics that she had been rather passionate about."

    "Then your conclusion? Do you have any to give?" Pei asked and sadly Jin also shook his head. In terms of culture and ways of practice, socialism would no doubt be the best benefit the city could get. However, his profit intake is not as significant in the dungeon world as he wanted it to be.

    If not for the stocks that his System ountant ire had been ying behind the scenes along with the System, Pandapolis would have already copsed a long time ago.

    This is especially so when Jin had let go of Pandapolis and allows it to grow itself, thinking that by using the same concept as the one he had used in the Adventurer''s New Town in the Goblin World, it should do just fine. However, he was wrong. Dead wrong. The scale of the city and the debt that had been incurred creating the city was immense.

    It was so huge that Jin did not even want to see the numbers at all when the System prompted him.

    Eventually, even the System believed that Jin was not particrly interested in Pandapolis because of the sheer amount of work he needed to put it to get the city working. That was why the proposition to use the foxes was a good idea and a fairpromise towards Kraft in releasing the Foxes.

    It knew that the Foxes were once leaders and they were rather well versed in the arts of administration due to their leader status. That was why for their survival and consistent living as a human rather than just a bullet, the System had assigned them to take over Demopolis state of affairs and subsequently Pandapolis.

    Now that even the Seven Cities were under them, the route to uniting all the cities into one coalition would be a tough job. And this discussion was barely scratching the surface of the problem. One could say it''s merely the tip of the iceberg. But if they do not solve the broad problems that each department faces, it will trickle down and affect the coalition of cities down the road.

    "Let''s do half and half." Jin finally decided, knowing that staying on the fence was still the better option than choosing onepletely. And if he does choose just one side, he and the city will suffer in the long term. For example, if he were to make healthcare free, the costs to the city would increase drastically.

    The Foxes and the citizens of the coalition cities might not see the effects right now but as the city ages. (And technically it already did with almost half the poption being on the older side.) The health care costs would skyrocket due to all the problems the people are facing.

    Sure, the current system is effective to a certain extent mainly due to the fact that is was depending on the survival of the fittest model. Those who cannot pay, those who feel that it is enough living, they pick a death spell from the healers.

    But that in turn as Pei had mentioned had its disadvantages when ites to productivity. Then if Jin were to introduce payment, the citizens would be disinclined to try it mainly due to the fact that they were currently okay with the existing System that they had. Why pay more money to have ess to solutions where they could just tolerate it out?

    These citizens were not really earning much at all because of the inherent systems in ce in the Dungeon World, they took things for granted.

    Thus. Jin had decided for Pei to follow models that used both payment and public service. He knew some of the countries had been using such models before and they were working rather well. "Confiscateбнhmm wait that sounds like a bad word. Let''s just reappropriate a small portion of their sry each month. And we top up that money in their ounts as well.

    This way, they use that money to see the healers."

    "Huhбн?" Pei was a little confused.

    "What this means is that we give them the illusion of somewhat free healthcare. But in actual fact, we are using the money that we had helped them to save to see the doctor. At the same time, we also subside some of the doctor fees on our part and they have ess to the healing options at a cheaper price." Jin said and hoped that Pei understood.

    "So what you are basically saying is we take their money, keep it and only when they are ill, they can use that ount to pay for their illness? At the same time, we provide cheaper services because we can subside them?"

    "Yesбн? Why did you repeat what I said?"

    "I am merely confused as this is not exactly the way a businessman will work. However, at the same time, I am getting your point. Off my head, I could think of the advantages but there may be some problems such as overutilisation."

    "Then we just got to limit the amount of money they can take out for each trip and have a department to handle requests andints whether to approve a higher amount to take out from the ount," Jin said and Kiyu who was listening at the sidelines chuckled.

    "So, we are basically being the parents of the citizens. Only giving them a small amount even though that is their money in our banks." Kiyu said and the Rex who heard it thought it was a uniquely good idea from the business perspective.

 Chapter 1972: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Part 7

    "I will need some time to digest what you said. I can pass the floor to the other department." Pei said that she wanted to know the feasibility of such a system to be implemented into the coalition of cities. There was no need to work out the details right now as that was for her minions to think about it. And when she meant minions, she merely meant as those workers under her control.

    She believed in the power of segregating all the work apart so that each one only handles a particr item on the agenda. Only when they were done with it, someone or a few of the leading team members would put them all together. This will quicken the process by a lot but truth be told, it does not provide the best quality despite the efficiency.

    Her minions still had tomunicate with each other in order to make sure the module of work they were doing made some sense. So, the ones who had the most headache were the leaders of such teams assigned to have their workpartmentalised. Yet, this was what their boss demanded and they could only listen to her.

    But the good thing about working under Pei was that they also had unlimited ess to the System and the use of its resources to build what they wished to build. Surely, the objectives had beenpartmentalised, but anyone who had a brain cell or two would know that they could also coborate behind her back to make sure that things made sense.

    Thankfully, it was not just an individual or two who thought way and it was the majority of the group that was able to act selflessly. The main drive was that those who believed to do poorly in the previous project were not kicked or fired. Instead, they were given the opportunity to shine as group leaders.

    So, the people who they believed had cked during the course of the previous project had been assigned to the worst task of all. At first, her team thought that this was just one such asion. But the longer they work with her, the more they realised this is the way she ''punishes'' the worst performers.

    This was because those who could ess to the System meant that they were already one step in Jin''s bubble of actual monsters.

    The only difference was that while Jin technically owned them due to the contract they had signed, thinking that Pei owned them, the Dungeon Supplier had so far not stooped so low to take them out to battle. If they were assigned as administrative staff hired by Pei, he would do his best not to even touch a single strand of their hair.

    Yet, Jin was suddenly afraid of the immense undertaking of the job that Pei''s workers would be handling. He knew that he said that proposal of the new system because it was something that might be money saving in the long run while enabling them to have some ess to the funds from the citizens to do some additional investments.

    And if those investments bear fruit with the aid of ire''s consistent killings in the ck stock market, they would be able to gain some extra capital to do things that might change or overhaul the cities.

    However, since Jin had already blurted that idea out, he had no choice but to stick with that and could only hope there was salvation ahead for Pei''s workers. "Perhaps, I should butt in and give them a vacation once their project was doneбн"

    "You should not. You know Pei hates it when someone tried to even dares to think of interfering." Kiyu sent a chi telepathy message to Jin and when he turned to see her, she was already side eyeing to prevent proper contact with the System User in order not to let Pei to have any suspicions.

    "Aye, there is no way things will go smoothly for themбн" Jin thought and decided that it was best to just move to the next agenda. "I guess Itori, you can finally go ahead with your proposal."

    "As you know, the Demons only knew how to fight. Unless their families had a particr trade or skill set that was deemed to be important, those skills would only be inherited by their family members and no one else. For they believed that such skillsets are their tools for surviving in Demopolis." Itori started strong in her proposal.

    It seemed like she had practiced this a little before this discussion.

    "But that is when Baal was still at the top and partially brainwashed by Kiva and his stupid greedy crown. Now, Demopolis is under your administration even though it is being run by us foxes.

    So, we believed that it is time to have a proper education system to not only teach fighting skills to those demons but also technical skills necessary for the survival of not just the Demons growing up but also the city."

    "Surely, you are not going to put fighting as just ''part'' of the curriculum, right?" Ixel asked as he expressed concern if the Demons would be useless in a fight when push came to shove. For now, people do not dare toe near Demopolis as well as the Seven Cities mainly due to the fact that Baal was still alive and rumoured to be within the city premises.

    He was after all one hell of a conqueror when ites to piging other territories and fending off attackers before they could even be within ten miles of Demopolis'' walls.

    It was also the reason why the Seven Cities dared to attack Demopolis under the Church''s banner mainly due to the fact that they believed Baal had been taken prisoner by the victor. Without Baal the Demon conqueror to be on the frontlines of Demopolis, the Seven Cities became shameless attacking the group.

    But when they found that the victors were not just lucky in defeating the Demon Army, it was not just some one trick pony. They managed to overturn the might of seven cities so quickly that the rest of the cities and guilds had decided not to touch Demopolis and Pandapolis for the time being despite the vulnerabilities being so visibly open for them to exploit.

    In fact, it was to the point that it was practically inviting or maybe begging them toe and raid Demopolis.

    Only a few stupid ignorant medium sized guilds who did not know thetest information about Demopolis had decided to do just that and ended up being annihted almost instantly. The fight was so fast that even observers who were looking or spying at Demopolis could get a glimpse of the fight. It was as if the guild entered and no sound was made when they pulled through at the gates.

    This blocked the spies, onlookers, and other observers'' vision of what truly happened but since they never heard of those guilds since then, they could assume the worse for them.

    "And thus, the Education Department had proposed the creation of technical schools along with the standard schooling that we are proposing. In fact, there is a chance we might just do a big copy and paste from the JODE Exorcism curriculum." Itori said and Jin could not help but to chuckle at that proposal.

    "You don''t mean to say that those Demons will get to learn the very things that could potentially kill them?"

    "And if they don''t die? What does not kill them, makes them stronger, no? After all, the demons in Demopolis aren''t the only demons residing in this world.

    They just so happened to be the fewrgest groups of demons that congregated in this particr city- well under Rex''s rule now, it''s a military fortress city but you get my point." Itori asked and Jin could not refute that sentence if she used the analogy to such an extent.

    "Then, what do we call these demons? Demon Exorcists Demons? Or just Demon Exorcists, with the emphasis on the word Demon so that they were ssified as Exorcists?" Jin asked to make fun of Itori even though she was being serious about the conversation.

    "If you have a better idea of what to teach, then why don''t youe out of the curriculum?" Itori said with such spite that Jin decided to back off, knowing that what he said must have gone overboard. Only the Foxes knew that she merely had a short fuse and not to mess with her when she was angry.

    "Alright, we will stick to that but I would ask that you take the most updated curriculum from the JODE school instance that we are currently hosting. They had taken into ount fighting against humans as well, so this should be an all rounded-"

    "I already did that, you don''t have to remind me about it. Not to mention, I did have a hand in the curriculum that was created so do not think I am merely rmending this for the fun of it," Itori remarked harshly and Jin decided to keep his mouth shut. Perhaps, it was best for Rex to take over.

 Chapter 1973: A Plea -Part 1

    Rex looks a little perplexed when he was finally given the chance but even as he is about to open his mouth, there was an idental knock on the door and suddenly the turning of keys. When the doors were opened, the female agent asked if they could assist her in picking up the food.

    Jin stood up to aid her and so did Kai for they were the closest to the door.

    "Lol. Pizza." Jin said as he saw the huge boxes within the stic bags that she was holding onto. It was no wonder she needed help to get it through the entrance of the house. Everyone also stood up to aid with it with the exception of the fake Kraft who was at the corner and pretended to be asleep and Evon who had cast a spell around himself to have an anti sound barrier.

    But the barrier only stops sound froming through, not sight or smell. The fragrance of the Italian Pizza was already permeating the boxes and filling the entire house with its aroma. This undoubtedly made Evon a little irritated because he too was hungry after the fight against Spartakus.

    It seemed like they had to stop the discussion for a moment or continue to proceed through the System Channel as they ate in silence. However, that was not the case for Jin who wanted to know the current situation that was happening outside. Like what was the aftermath of the victims who had gone to the hospital?

    He knew there were a few unfortunate deaths and people were already grieving such losses.

    The female agent thought for a moment and decided that there was no harm in sharing information with them. The senior agent had already stated that they should have already been crowned as heroes for the prompt actions taken to stop that obscene monster disying such a powerful aura from descending.

    She might not have been at the scene but the people who had gone to the hospitals were not just the only victims within the Colosseum.

    "A 10 kilometre radius around the Colosseum had been affected but we had managed to evacuate most of the citizens out as soon as possible regardless of the tourist crowdбн" The agent said but the sentences from Pei stopped the female agent from speaking further.

    "Stop lying to us. We might be your captives but we are not idiots." Pei said and the female agent bit her lips for a moment.

    "The effects of the powerful aura that had been emitted finally showed some effects to the poption around that 10 kilometre radius. We thought that the people who needed medical attention were only the tourists and staff within the Colosseum. But we were wrong." The female agent said as she picked up her phone and showed the news article to Jin.

    "People started to fall to the ground, seemingly lifeless but they were still breathing. If those citizens did not have some minimum level of magical powers within them, they would not be able to resist it. Some were already killed because of idents that were happening from the loss ofбнconsciousness."

    "So, I assume like your senior who had a magical grade of 10 and above was able to survive that powerful aura even up to now?" Jin asked and the female agent nodded her head. "However, it seems like there were signs of him severely weakened by the aura. I have no idea how none of you are still fit as a fiddle when your cultivation auras seem rather weakбн"

    It was like a provocation by the female agent to see how strong they truly were but the rest were not so stupid to fall for such a low level trick. Even Ixel did not entertain such a request and merely opened the pizza box and started to eat shamelessly out of the box.

    "Then are you telling us this because you are implying that we are not able to return back to our country that soon because of the situation that is unfolding?" Pei asked and the female agent was somewhat speechless from that quick snap back at her provocation.

    "We will try our best to expedite it but the fact that there''s chaos right now, we would not be able to process that request for you so soon. You all would have to stay here for a while longer." The female agent said as if she had the power to stop them.

    "Do you guys really want to stay here for another 24 hours?" Jin asked and the majority of the foxes merely gave a sneer. They might have been heroes now but that does not mean they cannot be the bad guys as well. Of course, all the female agent would incur would be a hit at her nape causing her to fall into a deep slumber.

    But as evil thoughts to overpower her in a second were creeping into their heads, Jin''s phone rang and it was Sir Diego.

    "Yes, Sir Diego?"

    "Have you been processed?" Diego asked straight to the point.

    "No, Sir. The agent in charge of us told us to wait in this pathetic room for maybe another 24 hours though we believed it is longer than that."

    "I see." Diego paused for a moment. "Then I assumed you had been updated with the current situation?"

    "Yes, Sir. We had already done our best to not allow him to emerge out of the crack. Any residue of void energy aura is not within our means to contain it. Nor were we aware of such a side effect on people with cultivation or magic training." Jin said and Diego understood.

    "I am not ming you at all. It could have been worse if that Void Being you killed hade in earlier to wreak more havoc. I sincerely apologise for the hospitality given to you."

    "Nah, it''s fine. The pizza that the agent bought was not bad. We like it." Jin replied as he saw the rest were eating like they had never seen food before. Even Evon came out from his barrier to take a box with three pieces left into his barrier and continued cursing at his workers.

    "Then, would it be alright if the nation employs you to assist with the major ident that we have?" Diego asked and the Female Agent who had been using her magic spell to listen was rather shocked by the proposal.

    "I am sorry but we are expensive. That ying of the Void Being for free was a one time offer." Jin replied and Diego nodded his head. "Besides, ording to that agent, we are not allowed to even step out of the house." Jin at that point, made a rather coarsement towards Diego.

    "I will get that sorted out. If you can help them. I am under the impression that you are able to perform some sort of miracles with thoseбн foxes of yours. A dimensional instance of an unprecedented scale so that you are able to epass everyone within that 10 kilometre radius.

    And so that all of them within the dimensional instance can exit at various specific points such as hospitals and emergency field camps by the military?"

    "Wow. Looks like someone had been spilling my secrets out." Jinmented and Diego let out a quick yes.

    "Kong Rong had talked about how you create dimensional instances to keep things in. So I assume that you can not only keep things in but also bring people to ces since the dimensional instance is some sort of time space maniption." Diego said and Jin sighed.

    "10 kilometres. That will be 10 million euros. No discount. Staggered Payment in half a year." Jin let out his terms and Diego was quiet for a moment as if he was doing the calctions. It seems like there was some talking in the background indicating that his conversation with Jin was being broadcast to other people as well.

    "Any discounts?" Diego asked and yet Jin warned him.

    "Discounts? Do you want to talk about discounts while people''s lives are on the line? I did not expect that from you ministers who were supposed to solve the situation for the sake of the people." Jin said and Diego was once again silent.

    "Then, you are charging this kind of obscene price!" One of the listeners echoed through and Jin could assume that Diego was on a voice call or video call with several people of high position.

    "Mr Jin, we do not have the funds nor the budget to facilitate such a high cost. Can you save the people first and we talk about the pricingter?" Another guy was a little calmer and replied to the Dungeon Supplier with such a plea.

    "Otherwise, we will just put you in the mmers! Don''t forget that you came into this country without any proper permit! Be d that you are not behind bars right now! Help us now or- " The very same irritated person was talking and suddenly he was cut off. It was pretty obvious that he was not helping with the situation and the rest were already hasty in order to appeal for the better part of Jin.

    "The government had already ensured the people that help wasing and asked any Italians who were able to assist with the incident to aid to the best of their abilities. That was what they had written on your social media channels. So, let''s just believe in your people." Jin said as he ended the call before Diego could say anything else.

    "Let''s return to our discussion shall we?"

 Chapter 1974: A Plea -Part 2

    "Youбн" The female agent was enraged by Jin''s decision and her perspective of him changed once more, thinking that this was not the ''good'' person that she expected him to be. "Driven by greed. You are nothing but just a businessman."

    "Yes, I am." Jin said as he sat back down on the floor and took his phone out to check on the news only to realise he did not have any signal. But with the help of the System, the inte automatically returned to normal for his phone without him sounding it out.

    "Why? When you can do something about it and yet not do anything?"

    "Why? Because we are humans. Do you expect me to be a saint?" Jin said as he continued to scroll and see the damage that had urred from that unexpected side effect of Spartakus''s emission of his aura. It seemed like he and his team had never understood the power of void energy as much as they wanted it to be. Perhaps, he should ask how the rest were feeling.

    Yet, before he could even bring out concerns to his Foxes, the female agent felt the impulse to take her gun out to shoot this arrogant son of a betch but instead, went towards him and pulled at the cor of his shirt.

    "People are injured and perhaps dying as we speak! If you are able to create that kind of dimensional instance, everyone will be able to aid those who were injured! And they are able to bring them to the checkpoints."

    "And?"

    "And we can save them especially those who are dying or need medical attention immediately!" the female agent said and Jin continued to remain stoic at her cause. The foxes were merely enjoying the show and not interfering with the situation with the female agent.

    "So, first you point the guns at us. We forgive. Because we too would be wary of the situation when given the opportunity to be in your shoes. A group of humans suddenly teleported to a location that had activities tied to possible terrorist attacks. The suspicions can run high and I do not me you." Jin did not stop talking.

    "Then when we returned, I understood once more that because of the need to pacify the group from attacking us, we had knocked them unconscious. And your country''s intelligence brings backup to ascertain the truth, that we acknowledge and were cooperative."

    "But even knowing the truth, you all proceed with a tinge of salt which I couldpletely rte to as it is part of your job scope to doubt us. You all amodated us and gave us a ce to stay to hide and while we have no right toin, we just followed your decision. But you know pissed me and perhaps everyone in this team off?Your leaders'' attitude."

    "That defence minister is known for his temperбн" The female agent could not fault him. "But it was you in the first ce that had proposed such a ridiculous price?"

    "As much as I do not wish to be racist, don''t you Westerners always preach that life is priceless?" Jin asked. "And how do you advocate pro-life? Last I remember a news report by the Astral Zodiac Union stated that they would do their best to use reincarnation for those who were not of age to die.

    And how everyone is pouring money not just for the materials of reincarnation but also the research into it?" Jin asked and the female agent was speechless. She could not believe he brought up such a point even though it was out of context.

    "So? If they are so pro-life? What''s 10 million to them to save their citizens? It seems like they are all talk and have no action to back it up. I already did the killing of the Void Being as a free of charge service and not to mention, in time as well. Yet, all I receive from all of you areints, distrust, and maybe even scorn.

    So, I ask once more, do you expect me to be a saint?"

    When Jin said all those, the Foxes wanted tough a little. They honestly expected Jin to save the day once more as that was how his personality was, but this time around, he might have put money first. And yet all of them knew, especially Rex understood that what Jin had was money from all the different sources of ie that he acquired.

    "Anyways, I am done talking. We will stay here until we are due for processing. It''s not like you are able to do anything even exining to you this much." Jin said as he picked up thest pizza slice from one of the boxes and chewed on it.

    The female agent also felt powerless not able to do anything about the situation after hearing it. But yet, the solution was right in front of her eyes. She might not have been a long serving agent but she was still an agent of the state and swore to protect and serve the nation.

    That was when another phone call came from Jin''s phone and it was none other than Diego, the Head of the Italian''s Demon Exorcists. Jin picked it up and decided to put in speaker mode since there was no use hiding it from that female agent since she was already eavesdropping in the first ce.

    "What''s up?"

    "The most we can round up is 2 million euros and we can wire it to your ount right now. The rest of the 8 million will be in staggered payments."

    "Sorry, my price just went up by another 2 million because your intelligence agent here and reminded me that we are not saints. It''s a total of 12 million euros if you want us to do it." Jin said and Diego was at a loss of words and there was a lot of rumbling in Diego''s background.

    "Look, Jin. As much as I do not wish to y this card, you might have forced my hand. You are currently under our custody and we can keep you here indefinitely. This 10 million, I had made people bend backward that they were already decrying at the absurdity of the development of the situation."

    "Then, so be it. I think all of us in the team would like to have some much needed holiday, would you agree?" Jin said and the Foxes cheered. They all knew that if they want to break out, it is as simple as turning the door knob. "Besides, you never know which other Void Being might still be lurking since we killed Spartakus.

    Last I remember upon fighting with him, he did sound out that his brothers woulde to avenge him. Good luck with that. If you cannot handle an aftermath like this, try having them descending to the world." Jin lied so hard on thatst part but since Diego was not in the field with them, anything lie that he made up could be usible.

    But what both parties did not expect was the agent interfering.

    "You bloody fucking wankers! Don''t give me shit that you cannot afford another 2 million to this guy? You all know that we have all the intelligence on all of you that is on call and I recognise those voices very well because that is my job. One big leak from the national intelligence to the media is more than enough to bring all of you down!"

    "Youngdy, are you threatening us? Do you want to be arrested for treason?"

    "Then I shall take that any day than to see you all squabbling for a pitiful amount of cash for a highly tangible solution right in front of us. This businessman had made me remember that I am sworn to protect and serve my country. And if I need to do bad things to save my countrymen, then I shall do it with my head held high!"

    "Hooo." The Foxes and Jin were actually impressed that there was someone willing to stand up in this kind of situation.

    "As much as I hate this idiot for eating into our coffers at such an exorbitant rate, he is our current solution. If he cannot do the shit he had been assigned to do, I will fucking hunt him down and make sure that regardless of the number of lives I need to reincarnate to bring him down with me!" the female agent said and Jin was actually quite impressed.

    "Wow, the more you talk like this, the more I feel like hiring you," Jin said and the rest also felt the same as there were not many who were willing to risk so much of their lives for the better good of the society. They thought such a chivalrous spirit would have died a long time ago.

    "Then you better make sure you prepare a sry that is befitting of my actions." The female agent finally smiled at him.

    "Heh, how about a one time payment of 12 million euros as an opening offer?" Jin joked.

    "Send me a proper contract, till then I am contracted and pledged to serve the nation."The agent said that they knew that the other side''s mike was still open. Whether they wanted to charge her for treason or collusion and whatever things that could increase her potential sentence, it was for the next working day as someone with a deep voice entered the conversation.

    "15 million euros. The other three million euros is from my personal pocket." While Jin did not know the voice, the rest on the other side murmured the word Prime Minister.

 Chapter 1975: A Plea -Part 3

    "Prime Minister!" Diego and the other ministers within the phone call were reining in through the shock from what he had proposed. They were not too concerned by his generosity but the fact that their country had not been doing well economically and throwing money just like that to a foreigner was not the most ideal development of a solution.

    Too many of the ministers that were on the call, they were still sceptical about how Jin could really clear this hurdle or now.

    "Now you are talking to my tune," Jin said and asked for a contract to be filled up immediately A simple IOU would be sufficient or at least in writing and not just verbal agreement. Instead, the Prime Minister of Italy rejected that notion and asked for a bank ount to submit the money immediately. Obviously, Jin did not give a bank ount that could be traced back to his own.

    ire and Qiu Yue had opened various bank ounts at the time that he had gone missing.

    With the aid of the System, they nearly have an ount in every major country that will allow the transfer of funds much more easily, or letting that money grow quietly in one corner of the world. This was no exception as the System gave Jin the number needed for the Italian Prime Minister to key in the numbers.

    "Are you okay to say the numbers out loud?"The Prime Minister asked and Jin merely said that he did not have to worry about that. So long the money had been transferred, that is none of the Prime Minister''s business in a polite way.

    However, when the System revealed the amount for Jin to double check, he could not believe his eyes. While the Prime Minister did say that he was giving out from his pocket a cheque of three million euros, what he saw was that he had wired 15 million instead.

    "Sir, I think the number is wrong," Jin asked with a hardy tone to show that this was not the first time he was handling such a big number.

    "I will redeem it through the treasury. This is an emergency, I trust that you do your job?" The PM asked and Jin started to smile. "Leave it to us. Mdm. Please show me the way. All I need is to be within the 10 kilometre radius." The conversation dropped and what was left was the PM with the other ministers alongside Diego within the conversation.

    "Are you mad? Now I can see that you are truly not fit for the post." The defence minister eximed and the rest of the ministers chimed in, citing their distrust of the prime minister after what he had done. Yet, Diego who was still on his way back to Italy, merely spoke out of concern.

    "If the PM had made his decision to be that way and decided to shoulder the burden of the crisis, we do not have the right to make any judgement. Let''s focus on getting the checkpoints up so that when the people were to exit the dimensional instance, we would be able to handle it." Diego suggested not to y the finger pointing game and start to act like responsible adults.

    The voice chats slowly died down and the prime minister only said a few words in resonance with what Jin and the other female agent had portrayed.

    ''Sworn to protect the nation.''

    This was all that was needed to remind him and now hopefully to the rest of the ministers within the call to answer. If they were to swallow and keep their pride a little (and a heck lot of money), they might get through this unprecedented crisis.

    In the meantime, Jin told the rest that they had to postpone the discussion of the Pandapolis problem for a while longer. Rex was the first to say that he believed that was a good idea but in actual fact, there were a lot of things to digest from the previous discussion as well as the fact that Evon was way too busy to care about them for now to enter the meeting.

    "The more pertinent question is do you need our help?" Pei asked and Jin thought about it for a moment.

    "I think it''s best to have you guys with me. After all, I am just a Grade 4 cultivator, you remember?" Jin jest but the female agent was shocked by the revtion of his grade. She immediately tried to grab him but before she could, she realised her vision was upside down and eventually went dark."

    "I guess I should not just say out my cultivation," Jin said as he was the one who had literally turned her over and put the female agent down. Even though he did ask her to lead the way, it was a formality done by Jin himself to maintain a decent image of the dungeon supplier to the ministers of Italy.

    When the charade was over, Jin did not need her help as he had already secretly asked some other fox who had been a busybody and perhaps with some ADHD deficit to do the scouting.

    "Aye, the ce is in a shit hole. Everyone looked like they had been overdosed by the void energy aura but as you had manded'', I had identified the spot where my foxes can stand so that you can take over their chi for the creation of that huge ass dimensional instance that you had been wanting.

    "Thanks for making this request, Kraft."

    "No thanks needed. All I needed is a meeting with that defence minister. He seemed like an ass and I wished to toy with him. Maybe set up a meeting with him?" Kraft chuckled but Jin knew that he could not guarantee it and merely agreed that he would attempt to do so.

    And when Jin looked at the System to see the required radius that they needed to cover, he felt that it was not enough. Diego had made it sound so simple that they could create the dimensional instance with just a click of the finger.

    What about the citizens and rescue staff who were working their asses and who were not privy to this new development? There were no ''higher'' authorities to deal with the citizens once they had entered the dimensional instance.

    They would get even confused by the sudden change in environment and the cut off ofmunication due to the nature of the dimensional instance would make things even more chaotic.

    And it seems like the nners of this particr n were not as ideal as Jin thought it would be. All Diego gave was just a rough n with no followup team to coordinate the rescue operation. It was as if they would decide or let the rescue and perhaps hospital teams that were handling the load to handle the rest of the situation.

    Why not make it easier for them to pile a heck lot of bodies at those checkpoints and get them to handle it right in front of their doorstep?

    That was why Jin did not pluck that initial cost of 10 million euros from the skies. If he was to create a dimensional instance to help with the rescue operations and relieve the healthcare staff who suddenly had an influx of unconscious people, he got to have to have the money to do it.

    Obviously, 10 million was more than sufficient to break even as the System was already churning out the numbers when Jin had rejected the ministers.

    He knew that they would call back but at the same time, it also gave the System some time to do the cost breakdown if they were to provide fairlyprehensive healthcare and holding services for the city of Rome.

    It was then the System stated that there were only a few percentage points for profit and Jin already believed that was the best deal they could get if the ministers agreed to it. Even if the ministers did not trust his dimensional instance, he would still work to get the dimensional instance up and get the shit done.

    After all, it felt that it was his duty to aid the people even though he was not of the same nation, not of the same n. One could say that he might have felt a little guilty for not getting enough information from Farasha that had caused this side effect to knock almost every single person in Rome unconscious. But the main reason was mainly because he could do it.

    The Dungeon Supplier had the resources and knew how much he was able to utilise to aid the rest. Of course, he could have done it as a service but he was ultimately a businessman through and through. He needed to let them know that there was a certain limit to his phnthropy.

    That was why, he was also a tad surprised they were able to get the money wired almost immediately and since the money had already been taken and ced within his pockets, Jin got to start working.

 Chapter 1976: A Plea -Part 4

    Jin did not care about the usual methods of moving to his destination. Now that he had been paid 15 million euros up front, he believed that he and his colleagues should use the best possible way to solve the problem.

    That was why when the moment they got out of the safehouse''s door and down the stairs, the female agent could not sense their presence anymore. Even Evon who had been busy talking shit to his employees at the corner, had disappeared and that includes the fake Kraft since it would be weird that everyone had dissipated into the winds but not him.

    (Sounds ironic but he was already the first one to get out of it.)

    The female agent then realised that they were indeedplying with the rules that the Italian national intelligence agents had been giving. The respect that they had given to the authorities was way more than they deserved. If they could disappear just like this without a sound, they were more than capable of killing the female agent supposed under her watch with a snap of a finger.

    "Maybe they did not even need to move their finger at allбн" The female agent shuddered at the thought of losing her life in an instant but at the same time had no choice but to report to her boss that they had gone missing.

    "But before you have mistaken them for running away, the Prime Minister had tasked them to save the people within that 10 kilometre radius bullshit that you guys have been dealing with." The female agent reported.

    However, before themanding agent could reply, he realised that his environment started to change drastically. The blurry night skies filled with city lights and rms ring throughout the entire district were all gone.

    All he could feel was that he had been teleported into a dimensional instance or that was what he thought since he had been quite a few even though dungeon instances were not exactly very popr among the Westerners. It was more of a cultivator kind of thing but that did not stop the senior agent from trying it out.

    Yet at the same time, it did not feel like it. The feeling of being a dimensional instance had a sense of fakeness and yet this atmosphere was breathable. In fact way more breathable than he could remember. There was no taste of gasoline running idly in the air nor there were that city stench that remained after a series of heavy rain.

    He noticed that the cars were also teleported but subsequently, he understood that anything that the unconscious humans were touching had been ''teleported'' into the dimensional instance as well. This included buildings without walls but the essential structures to keep the building standing.

    And if there were unconscious people leaning on those walls, those portions existed to prevent them from falling. In short, this entire dimensional instance was the scale of the 10 kilometre dimensional instance with only foundational portions of buildings standing so that rescue workers could reach them easily.

    His team was confused by the change and only the senior agent knew what was exactly happening. In that short time when he left Jin and the group in the safe house, his credentials had already allowed him to know who that mysterious powerful cultivator was.

    Unsurprisingly to him, he found Jin to be a rather famous dungeon supplier in China. It was so popr in recent months that even Western Media who had been to his dungeon supplier store raved the possibility of a return to their shops. It was to the point that the senior agent was somewhat curious about what it would look like.

    And here, he got a glimpse of it. Huge Panda Workers dressed in all yellow, blue and white uniforms separately aiding different causalities. Those rescue workers who were tasked to do their job were stunned for a moment until a loud PA speaker system had been broadcast through the dimensional instance. (in Italian, of course)

    "To all current rescue workers including those volunteers, please take note that there are Pandasing to aid with the rescue. Makeshift medical camps had already been established at certain points with a bright red g that stands 20 metres tall. You cannot miss it."

    "Blue uniformed Pandas are trained paramedics while the white ones would be doing the more of urgent rescues, the blue ones are aiding the tagging. The Yellow uniforms are firefighters with heavy tools equipped. Just shout out.

    Yes just shout out who you need and the Uniformed Pandas would be on their way to your side." The PA speakers stated and it so happened that the senior agent and his team were trying to ply a group of supposed family members out from a car that crashed into a tree.

    Thus, he shouted and a team of yellow uniformed Pandas were seen rushing to their side. Within five seconds of analysing the situation of the car and they already brought out the heavy equipment.Electric chainsaws and mpers were used with haste and professionally while a blue paramedic Panda came.

    The car had crashed sideways upon hitting the tree, causing the tree to drop onto the roof, blocking the standard removal of the car side door.

    At first, the agent and his team wonder why the tree was teleported with the car when they could have just teleported the car into the dimensional instance and they have an easier time removing it. Only when upon closer inspection, the agent and his team realised that the tree had splintered and a piece of its trunk had stuck into the dad''s chest.

    Yet because most of them were unconscious, the victim''s body was not in a flight or fight response.

    The slow heart rate allowed the bleeding to not be so drastic which was a boon as the father might potentially be rescued. Not only that, the System had already identified that this was a situation where time needed to be slowed down at certain areas of the dimensional instances. So, time dtion of the specific area also yed a part in keeping the victims alive.

    Of course, the System did not immediately recognise this until the Panda Firefighters called it out.

    After all, it was processing each and every single human being within the ten kilometre radius. As they were trying their best to remove the tree splinter away from the tree, the blue uniformed Panda came and knowing that its size would not be able to aid in any way, it literally transformed into a baby panda and asked its fellow firefighter colleague to break the ss.

    With the ss broken, it squeezed into the car to perform emergency triage to the victims. Aside from the father and the mother, the children sitting behind them had no issues. The mother had a crushed leg and if they were not careful, the crushed injury might have crush syndromes and cause a shock to the body.

    This was because the prolongedpression of the skeletal tissues caused systematic manifestation of muscle necrosis. If they did not handle it properly, or allow some pressure to be released with a bit of blood letting, the mother might passed away of renal failure from the shock from the quick release of the crush syndrome.

    That was where the baby panda paramedic screeched loudly and the human team attempting to rescue them saw another group of white scrubs panda rushing with a stretcher and other misceneous equipment.

    It did not take long to realise that the mother might be in a worse condition than the father as the Paramedic had already temporarily closed the wound by fusing the wood and the skin with some sort of glue like gel. When pressed for more information by the human team, the pandas stated that the splinter was superficial, as the rib cage had managed to block it from entering it too deeply.

    So, while there might be a possible puncture of the left lung, the heart was safe and his right lung was still working perfectly fine.

    The Pandas told the human team to rx or if they wanted to, help other people as they had managed to take the situation under control. To the agent and his team''s understanding, everyone within the 10 kilometre was been aided in such simr ways too. That was because the rest of the volunteers were also reporting back to the senior agent and he was able toprehend the full picture.

    "Looks like we could take a short breather, knowing that the entire 10 kilometres had been serviced by these cute looking Pandas." The agent said and his team nodded their heads, feeling relieved aspared to the pressure that they had for wanting to rescue with such little manpower.

    "Sir, it seems we really have to pay the dungeon supplier in China a visit." One of his team members joked and the senior agent shook his head.

    "From some insider information, we might be the first country in the West to get his store expansion."

    "Well, I hope that is correct because if he can do such a crazy dimensional instance, I really wondered how packed his gaming side would be. I envy the cultivators."

    "So, do I. So do I." The senior agent nodded his head.

 Chapter 1977: A Plea -Final

    "Was it easy?" Jin asked as he sat on the edge of a building to see the progress of the dimensional instance.

    "Rtively. The processes were normalised after the first half hour." The System reported. "There are currently no issues with the dimensional instances and the Panda NPCS had been employed thoroughly through the entire instance. Almost every victim had been taken care of and they are currently being in various stages of care depending on the triage the paramedics had identified."

    "You should just call them doctors seeing how they are also treating the victims," Jinmented and yet the System did not reply from that. "In any case, how are the others faring? Are all the foxes still here?"

    "Every other fox other than Kraft is assisting with the rescue operations after assisting with the creation of the dimensional instance. However, based on the power output, most of it was still from the User. They were only useful acting as a rangefinder for you to expand your dimensional instance."

    "A marked g is still more useful than not having any. But it sure stretched my Maqi to the point that I could feel headachesing down to me." Jin grumbled as he really felt paralysed after pushing out such a huge dimensional instance.

    From the outside, it looked as if there was some dome shaped barrier that was barring people from going in and it actually made the citizen volunteers and rescue workers panic for a moment until a piece of breaking news had been out in the media that ''professional'' help had been employed.

    Word from their higher ups had spread down to the workers and through word of mouth, they were also able to calm the citizen volunteers down. Thus, they decided to focus on the supposed ''chokepoints'' and both hospitals and clinics were relieved for a moment that there was currently a definite stop in the flow of potential patients.

    Yet, the usherers still urged people who were not urgent in their interpretation of sickness to not crowd the hospital since they had no idea what was happening and could not handle this particr disaster and provide a solution to those who fell unconscious from the effects of the supposed power aura.They started to try to inject magic into the unconscious but it felt like they were not responding to the problem at all.

    That was because the void energy aura that had burst throughout that 10 kilometre radius practically acted as a kill switch and stopped their core from working. So what Jin''s Panda NPCs did was to slowly infuse magic or chi into the victims with the goal and intent to reach to its core. The practitioners in the hospital did not do that and neither do they have the resource to do so.

    That was why once the Panda NPCs were able to kickstart the core, the victims were able to wake up from their unconscious state. From there, all they needed was a consistent injection of magic energy to maintain the magic circuits and continued to keep them running until they felt they were able to conjure at least a basic spell.

    The victims with higher grades were able to recover betterpared to those with a lower grade in magic. But because of this simple trick, even the victims who had recovered hade to volunteer their magical powers to assist the other unconscious as long as they were not in a state where the White uniformed Pandas had to step in to deal with other problems like the crush syndrome.

    Also, with the time dtion, almost everyone who was able and lucky enough not to be hurt, almost 90% of the poption within the dimensional instance had been considered to be in the condition to be discharged within half an hour.

    The remaining 10% were the ones who needed more medical attention and they stayed within the dimensional instance until the Pandas deemed that in a condition that they could pass them to the hospitals with ease.

    At the same time, Jin had also asked Kiyu to make an announcement through the PA broadcast system. "As much as we want to let you out, this dimensional instance would not be breaking so soon mainly due to the fact that there are still severely injured people that need constant attention.

    The owner wished to apologise that he was not capable enough to break the dimensional instance down and stated that the ten kilometre radius dimensional instance would still be up even after you got out of the instance."

    "So, we have catered some food from all of you. We have to emphasize that this is not an advertisement message but sharing the information that your Prime Minister had graciously thrown out an exorbitant lump sum of money to get this dimensional instance to work. So, please show some gratitude to your Prime Minister if you are able to!"

    "And yes, the food that you are consuming, it''s all paid by your Prime Minister! So, eat as much as you want! If you wish to have some takeaway, do not hesitate but please spare some thoughts to those behind you as the food still needs some time to churn out." The Broadcast started and people started seeing Penguins pushing food carts selling all sorts of variety of food.

    Naturally, with such food stallse with security too and the Pandas in SWAT vests were already walking around to ensure the people do not cut queues for the food.

    With food on their hand, the penguins also gave out pic mats of various sizes so they would have some indication that they could eat anywhere they wanted so long it did not obstruct the queue. This gave couples, families and friends to gather and recount their experiences as they filled their stomachs and taste buds with sumptuous food.

    With this, Jin had also asked Kiyu to sound out in the PA broadcast system to state that the people who were trapped within the dimensional instance could get out in batches in order not to overcrowd the entrances. "The only thing we can ask from all of you is to have patience.

    Your cars and apartments are currently still within the dimensional instance and once we know that all of the victims have been stabilised, we will then break the instance down. We apologise for the dy."

    So with that kind of conclusion by the System, Jin who had been resting on a rooftop had finally decided to open the dimensional instance, allowing the ''discharged'' to walk out. This sudden influx of peopleing back to Rome was a shock as the mass media was already camping around the area waiting for this dimensional instance to open up.

    People were getting bombarded left and right by the reporters to get information while others who were lucky to walk out of the area and actively trying to avoid the media started to call their loved ones to tell them that they were fine.

    At the same time, the national intelligence agents were also part of the first batch to be released as Jin knew that they were needed to be released to provide information to the hospitals and clinics who were trying to solve this mysterious case of mass unconsciousness.

    Simultaneously, those agents were also tasked to find space for the 10% of patients that were critically injured or ill from the sudden ckout of the masses.

    They were given a number that they could call to provide the location and time on where those patients could be transferred or else the dimensional instance would still be up and running just for the sake of them. The Italians were surprisingly understanding despite the repeated apologies Jin''s Pandas gave for not being able to remove the dimensional instance.

    Not only that, those who were recalling their tales to the media, they had nothing but praise for Jin''s dimensional instance.

    This new information that wasing out from the dimensional instance was a surprise for the elite group of politicians who were dying for a sign of a result. All of them except for Diego were not confident that Jin was able to pull such a trick and it was only Diego''s long friendship with the Prime Minister that thetter had decided to gamble.

    "Looks like your rmendation was more than justified." The Prime Minister who saw the live news was extremely relieved. The people who wereing out from the dimensional instance are not only ted but they were thankful for such a service rendered to them. But what the Prime Minister did not expect was the praise he had been getting.

    "The quickest rapid response ever employed by the current Prime Minister Office," was the tagline for most Mass Media reporting and it seemed like this Jin was doing more than he was given credit for. The one and only con that came out from this situation was that the dungeon supplier had utilised the Prime Minister''s money to the point that it would be shameful for him to ask for a reimbursement.

    But to the Italian Prime Minister, this 15 million euros was probably the most well spent personal money he could ever do in his entire life. For he could foresee his ratings would be shooting up to the skies.

 Chapter 1978: Extra: Void World

    "As the nk page looked at me, I looked back at it with a little tinge of sadness." Kraft teleported to Jin''s side after he took a book up on the floor within the dimensional instance. The dungeon supplier looked towards him still, lying on the groundzing after exhausting most of his powers to create the 10 kilometre wide dimensional instance.

    Jin believed that he might have at least broken some sort of Guinness world record for making such a dimensional instance but the System decided to keep quiet, knowing that he would be disappointed that thergest in historical record was about 100 kilometres wide. (But if it was by modern world records, Jin could probably have broken it already.)

    Yet, that historical feat was not backed up with proper shreds of evidence and no one had been able to replicate it. There were, however, several ancient records that speak of such size but none of them were able to substantiate nor replicate it.

    But what Jin was more curious about was what Kraft had said. Whether it was just a passingment that he tried to be witty or there was something he wished to say it out loud. "Mind saying that again?"

    "The book that was once filled with words were all wiped clean," Kraft said that he was exining it literally and to prove that, he passed the book to Jin to see. "There is some residual void energy on it and it seems like, it''s a magical tome. Stuff that some magicians carry to date even though most people had already transited to electrical copies."

    "So, the void energy had wiped out all the magic in it?" Jin asked as he felt some void energy within the tome. It was not an old book by any means and the papers were still rather fresh for a grimoire. He sat up properly and tried to put some Maqi energy into the grimoire, hoping to see some effects from it.

    But try as it may, the pages continued to remain nk. There were no traces of the written magical words on it. It was ultimately a lost cause trying to get it fixed and there was nothing Jin could do about it. He was not god almighty and even this mishap that had happened over Rome was something that he did not expect at all.

    All he could say was that he did his best to salvage the situation while earning some extra cash from this. Sure, it might cost a pretty penny for the government of Italy, especially for the Prime Minister but at the very least, everything turned out well and he believed the Prime Minister would be getting some boost in ratings despite the incident that had happened.

    After all, as much as the mass media would likely harp on this situation for at least a week or two, the most important thing that people would judge against the government was its response to such national emergencies.

    So yes sure, people may ask why such a situation had happened and how things could have been prevented but so far, as long as the government response was swift and surgical in nature, healing the root cause to the best of their ability, the nation would not judge them that badly.

    At the same time, Jin also really got lucky as he never thought that pushing sufficient magical energy to kickstart their cores was the key to their awakening. He assumed it was not a big deal and perhaps the hospitals and clinics would already have figured it out.

    But he was wrong.

    All the hospitals were doing standard protocols and were deducing other possible causes of the state of unconsciousnesspared to Jin whose ways were not exactly medical in nature. Plus, it was not easy to inject magical energy through the bodies and into the cores. The person who was doing that would need a bountiful amount of energy to do so.

    And as Panda NPCs, all of them had Peppers'' magical crystals to aid them.

    That was why the NPCs were not as easily fatigued as the people would have thought. And for the fact that people were also attempting to contribute their magical auras, it could not amount to anythingpared to the amount of energy that the NPCs were dishing out.

    It''s like those samaritans were contributing 0.5%-1% of the needed magical energy to kickstart the core. But instead of dismissing them straight, the Panda NPCs thanked them and encouraged them to help as well. It was better that they contribute and feel that they were doing something important so that they would not feel left out of this situation.

    It was through amunity effort that the people of Rome would be able to get out of this positively rather than think that this was a disaster that they could not cope or ovee.

    And with this method, people who got out of the dimensional instance would brag that they helped each other, working hand in hand like how humans should be doing rather than taking advantage of one another.

    This situation would eventually allow the people of Rome to define themselves and make themselves proud to be able to ovee this situation together. To be honest, Jin did not think that far but when he felt that this was a social experiment which he could afford to attempt due to the scale, he and the System decided to give it a go.

    Of course, the idea did note with a snap of the finger but through some observation Jin felt it was worthy to consider this as an experiment. Because, if the Italians could do it, why not his own race when pushes to shove?

    Sure, there must be certain factors in ce to spur people to do such acts but Jin believed that if the conditions were right, people would not only think for themselves but also for others too. Jin just needs to know which factor or what criteria he could make use of and it all depends on the situation.

    But back to the book, Jin could see the lethality of the Void Beings and at the same time, see their potential. He felt that they might actually be the solution to a problem that had been bugging him ever since he was stuck in the Synthesis World. Perhaps he or his minions had talked about it before but it did not ring a bell until recently.

    The empty pages on the books also gave him more assurances that they would not just be the solution but also the key in ensuring their survival should a particr бнracee to disturb their sense of peace.

    The Celestials.

    As divine as they might be, the Void Beings were the total opposite of them. Not the Demons from the Hell ne. Sure, the Demons might have shed with the Celestials on multiple asions and also had invented spells to counteract divine and celestial magic.

    But the more Jin tried to wrap the properties of the Void Energy, the more he felt that Void Beings were the natural enemies of the Celestials.

    At the same time, there could be a reason as to why the Celestials might not have disrupted the peace in Jin''s World mainly due to the fact that the Void Beings was practically a veil of the realm away protecting his world. What''s more, it might not have been a coincidence that the Void World was the closest parallel world to Jin''s.

    After all, ever since the advent of resurrection had begun, there were historical and modern records that stated that resurrection might not always work despite professional strict protocols that had been in ce to regte and reduce illegal resurrections from happening. Thetter was the problem that Jin felt that was the reason why there was a Void World to begin with.

    Because as resurrection goes awry, the soul does not return to the karmic cycle of life as most had theorised and with some basis on that. This was because the soul had deviated from the karmic cycle of life and was forcefully pulled out from that cycle for the resurrection to seed.

    So, if the soul that had been plucked out of the karmic cycle, and it failed to go to a host body, what would happen to it?

    It will either be stuck in Jin''s World or lurk around as a ghost. Be it vengeful or not, that was not one Jin would have known. But there were also instances where the soul was not able to be fully materialised into the earth''s physical realm. So where could it go?

    The metaphysical one.

    That was where Jin believed that those lost souls would turn to. Eventually, the more souls stuck in between the living and dead, this ''stuck'' ce bes a realm, and subsequently a world of its own.

    Of course, when Jin presented this theory to the System, it felt sceptical about it but could not deny that Jin''s theory might have some weight to it. That was why, Jin''s goal for protecting his World from the celestial was not more ample preparation. Sure, they needed that too but more importantly, the experiment to see if Void Beings would be effective against a Celestial.

    But if they do not have any Celestials to exploit, the closest they could get might potentially be a former Hell being. And an Elder Hell Being too.

    Who else could it be but Baal, their former Demopolis King.

 Chapter 1979: Relieve the Severely Injured

    But Baal was just apanion that Jin did not wish to disturb right now. Apparently, Moloch had told him that Baal was doing something awfully secretive that was in preparation for the Celestials should they ever try to attack.

    However, that was not the main reason why Jin did not wish to call for Baal to pit a fight against the Void Beings. To his knowledge, Baal''s powers were more or less being restricted after being captured by yours truly.

    So, even though the Dungeon Supplier believed that he would already have recovered most of it when he had reached the new ''Grade 4'', Jin still assumed that Baal was not at his very best. Combined with the fact that the previous situation in Demopolis kind of sap his powers away.

    It was only through the backing of the rest of the Demons that would enable him to grow strong once more. Regardless, that was just one particr theory that he had thought about as the minutes went by and was merely part of the consideration when he was trying to sort things within his mind.

    What he was discovering was that Void Energy was a potent source of power that he and the rest of his crew had never really researched into it. Even the Science Department got no clue about this Void Energy especially since Jin was the only one who could wield it.

    (Well, Farasha did but none dare to touch her except for Jin mainly due to the fact that he had protection from Void Energy because he possessed the generation of Void Energy.)

    Yet at the same time, the generation of Void Energy was something that he still could not wrap his head around. It was a source of energy that he could not generate unless he was near a Void Being. So he felt that rather than he was generating, it felt like he was leeching onto a source.

    But when he considered the facts, he was more as if the dungeon supplier was actually a sort of holding medium for the Void Energy to collect and send out. Like a kind of converter

    That was why during his fight with Spartakus, Jin felt that he had an infinite source of energy to y with and he kept reinforcing Kraft and the other Foxes the Void Energy needed to confront Spartakus.

    But right now, he could also see that the Void Energy had indeed taken a toll on the Foxes bodies. They were not invincible by any chance nor were they immortals. The Foxes were a bunch of highly trained cultivators who were at the peak of their craft. Perhaps, beyond peak was more likely the correct definition though how much they were beyond, it was not for Jin to seek at the moment.

    Still, to see them visibly tired after a fight had shown that the monster cultivators themselves were subjected to Void Energy''s destructive nature. Tired out from just one fight was not an everyday scene and they too could feel the fatigue stacking onto them.

    Which was why Jin strongly felt that the Void Energy could possibly be the solution against the Celestial. Just that he needed to know how to harness the Void Energy en mass. Perhaps, there was a need to push the battlefield with the Celestials into the Void World or if he could create a dimensional instance that was filled with Void Energy. That would ultimately be the best solution.

    "Well, thinking too much would not solve anything right now and there is just being a worrywart," Jin said out loud and Kraft finally raised his eyebrows towards Jin since he could see and hear what Jin was thinking about all this while.

    "I will see whether I can look into it as well. But no guarantees as usual. It depends on my mood."

    "I know, but hearing you say that brings somefort in my ...heart? Hahaha. Still, I like to thank you foring to my aid to fight against the Void Being." Jin said as he finally stood up and opened up a holographic console to check the details.

    "Do remember to bring me if you are doing the next one, I wondered if we truly kill it with just chi and magic alone," Kraft said but before he once more disappeared, he gave a truly deserved to be p kind ofment. "Do remember to report back to the safe house."

    "Well, you tell that to the other Foxes as well. Not just me." Jin rolled his eyes and saw that the System had already determined most of the victims were in stable conditions. "We can''t just leave them alone with the monitors on them, can we?"

    "Does the User really want to waste that kind of money? Surely, The System might have bought them cheap off the ck market but does that mean, we can throw out those medical equipment as if they are not worth a single cent?"

    "Well..." Jin scratched his head and asked, what''s the alternative to it? "After all, we cannot really break the dimensional instance down while they are all hooked up to all that equipment."

    "The System believed that the dimensional instance could still be manipted." And Jin did not fully understand what it meant. "Please exin more in greater detail. Keeping me in suspense is kind of useless when we are the ones who should be cooperating together."

    "Let the Systemplete the sentence." The System replied it listed out a programme where it could potentially adjust and change the outeryer of the dimensional instance to reflect information. "The System proposes to put up the huge sign, telling the rescuers that the severely injured could be transported via a particr exit that we designate."

    "Lol, we are lucky that there''s no hospital within this ten kilometres." Jin said as he saw that the designated area was just right outside the hospital entrance. And as stupid as it sounded, there was a jam there mainly due to the fact that Jin''s dimensional instance had blocked almost half the road towards the said hospital.

    Yet, Jin could not and did not care because, at that time of conjuring the dimensional instance, the only thing that he was worrying about would be how to ensure the 10 kilometre dimensional instance could be created and withstood with time. So, as much as it did much good within the dimensional instance, he had too identally done some bad with it.

    "But even if we put the sign there for everyone to see, the hospital does not necessarily have the people or the resources to take care of these severely injured."

    "We tag the information through a QR code. There is a form which the practitioners can fill in with the working health ID and I will only ept department heads or higher. If they were not departmental heads, they would not be able to proceed with the forms."

    "It sounded to me that you had already hacked into Italy''s databases." Jin felt that there was something behind the scenes that he did not know when he was lying dead on the floor of a broken roof attempting to recuperate after conjuring the ten kilometre dimensional instance.

    "Such details are not necessarypared to what is needed to be done. Moving on, once they have filled in the details on which patient they could take or which hospital ambnce would be able to fetch them, we will push the carts one by one for them to take over."

    "I guess, that works? I just want to go back home and sleep, or to the safe house." Jin preferred for the System to do everything for him and it undoubtedly obliged, knowing that Jin did not have adequate knowledge to do so nor he really care about the victims because most of his job scope was to make sure the dimensional instance was sturdy.

    "Very well, the System shall do most of it. I will be taking Ex Betor Pei to coordinate the efforts." The System said but from afar, Jin could already hear Pei moaning loudly as if to protest to the System that she still needed to do some more work.

    "Ex Betor Pei, this is a very good opportunity to learn coordination between various hospitals. The situation and circumstance might potentially provide you the experience needed for future scenarios that might ur in the coalition of cities in the future." The System reported and yet Pei was shaking her head intensely, not wanting to learn at all.

    All she wanted was to be like Jin, taking a rest at the safe house no matter how squeezy and decrepit it was. Still, Pei was one of the more obedient foxes so she begrudginglyplied with the System''s orders. "Fine, fine.

    Let''s get it done fast and I can go to close an eye or two before returning back to China." Pei said and the System started to churn the programme to disy it out for the entire nation and potentially the world to see.

    And it worked. Maybe a little too perfectly and that might the quick contribution Pei had given to the System. Instead of getting people out through a QR code, Pei wore her half mask and started to use her chi to shout at the people who might be responsible for the uing patients.

 Chapter 1980: Finally, The Supposed Discussion! -Part 8

    Within the next few hours and some crazy coordination, everyone was able to be out of the dimensional instance and the severely injured had their conditions stabilised in the various hospitals.

    Pei undoubtedly nearly went insane trying to coordinate since she not only had to pretend she did not know that the System hacked into the various hospital databases to get the best information it could to liaise with her, but she also had to be forceful in the rmendation.

    "It seems that humans of different eras did not change the way how things are done. They always prefer to rely on someone to ''lead'' them out of the crisis andterin for being led." Pei said and Jin could notfort her with a bar of chocte to perk her up. Just as how he would have done so with Peppers and Milk.

    Pei did not say anything else and appreciated the quick snack. On the other hand, Jin could finally remove the dimensional instance and it revealed the deste state of the previous situation. Cars crashed, and unfortunately, houses were broken into due to some looting.

    There were also fires previously that had burned a few of the apartments and because of the dimensional instance, the fire was able to stop spreading.

    That also meant those who were unconscious had died in the fire which Jin and the other Panda NPCs had already bagged them and given them to the authorities to handle during the transfer. There were so many things to fix and people had to get back to their lives as soon as possible.

    It felt like a momentous task that Jin was fully capable of aiding but this was not his country nor was he paid for going to extra mile.

    In fact, he had already gone the extra mile by giving aid to the people within the dimensional instance and that was more than the objectives that had beenid down by Diego and some other ministers. Sure, he could have done more, but he did not need to considering he already reduced his profit just so that the dungeon supplier had done the ''right'' thing for the people.

    Thus, all the foxes and he obediently returned to the safe house to wait for their processing. To their surprise, there was another agent that was there waiting for them and they believed it was the subordinate or colleague of the female agent but they did not know her name.

    The new agent was surprised that Jin and the others returned and immediately reported the situation to his superiors. There was quite a bit of back and forth but nothing too serious based on the conversation the foxes had eavesdropped on.

    All Jin did was take out some euros from his storage watch (since when did he even have such paper money prepared?!) and pass it to the agent who was still on the phone.

    "Sir, get us some food, alright? All of us are hungry and have not eaten for a whole day."

    The agent felt a little offended that he had to do this kind of service but in the end, he gave up upon learning that they were the source of ruckus that had been happening.

    "So, are we still going to continue the discussion that we had left off?"

    "Ehhhh. Do we really have to?" Kiyu was reluctant to continue the conversation and so were the others. It did not take a genius to recognise Jin had overworked them to the core, even more so than their usual work hours. "Aren''t you tired as well?"

    "Yes, I am. But we need to clear the discussion too, right?" Jin said as he was telling the others that he had to make sure his responsibilities as the overlord were met.

    "Let me discuss with you alone if the others do not wish to proceed," Rex said as he stood up and beckoned the dungeon supplier to the corner of the room but Evon immediately swooped in and took the corner to himself.

    "Go away. I enjoyed this corner and I still have things to clear." Evon replied, giving them no repose to talk back. He instantly put up a barrier that was not just anti acoustic but also anti anybody else. The two leaders merely shrugged their shoulders and went to the other end of the corner where they set up a small barrier and started to do their talking.

    "Where shall we start? Or should we continue with what we had discussed previously? I guessed we have given enough time apart to digest the things that we had talked about." Jin asked.

    "For the health part, I will follow up with Pei to get things done. I believe keeping a portion of their gold and using it to pay for their health expenses can be a good investment. This and the fact that we have the System, there is nothing to worry about losing those money and we would sure earn some investment profit that would enable us to expand even more in the future."

    "I do not think we will earn that much from keeping people''s money. But that also means that they have to be registered as a citizen. Or else, we are unable to keep track of them."

    "That I agree. We need to look into getting citizenship done properly but that should be done once we connect all of them together." Rex replied.

    "I assume the connection ofnd would take some time? I have no idea how that works at all."

    "The System had assured us that it is a rather seamless process. The fact that Demopolis did not be such a size was mainly due to the fact that they kept raiding small towns and cities to get to thend. Once they acquired thend, the Dungeon World would shift a little to amodate thend around Demopolis."

    "You make it sound like the Dungeon World was some sort of Lego set, always avable to change when needed."

    "Yes User. As odd as it sounds, yes, it is that way." The System chimed in and Jin acknowledged that fact immediately.

    "Okay, then we shall to the unification first andter put them together. I assume you are liaising with Qiu Yue to make sure that we are able to get those cities upgraded too?"

    "Yes. Because of our densely popted Pandapolis, it was able to amodate the Citizens of Demopolis as well as one of the Seven Cities. That way, we can revamp the entire city and put in the groundwork to ensure that they will serve the needs of our modern cities. And that included transportation."

    "You just make sure Ixa and Ixel got it right with the moving of poption and subsequently the instation of the transportation,"Jin said and Rex gave him a thumbs up. At the same time when they were talking about this, it reminded Jin that the supposed New Adventurer''s Town was in a mess as well after what the High Elves did.

    Of course, Kraft and the Night Foxes had fun with their revenge but it was not sufficient for the Night Foxes to end it that way. They got to use the Sun Foxes to win to infiltrate back into the High Elf Kingdom and wreak much havoc.

    It was to the point that the Sun Foxes had to numb themselves for the uing betrayal that they got to doбнor that was what they thought until Jin heard reports that Kraft was doing massive brain washing to ensure that the Sun Foxes do not even feel a single strain of remorse doing such horrible things.

    But at this point, Jin felt that a lot of the worlds that were under his influence were rebuilding to the point where he nearly felt pity for Qiu Yue. He wondered if he did not have Qiu Yue, what would he have done. Sure, he did some rebuilding before using the dungeon instance builder as a guide but it was not as intricate as Qiu Yue.

    While he was building fantasy items in dimensional instances, Qiu Yue was doing the real deal. It was to the point where Qiu Yue could have a story arc by herself.

    "Other than that, let''s talk about the Church of the Afterlife as well as our military preparedness," Rex said and Jin was interested in this way more than the infrastructure portion.

    "I am at all ears."

    "We should listen to the Foxes and redo our religion or resurrection business proper if we want to fight against the Church. It seems like they had been arming themselves to the point where we need to consider that they might prepare for a fight against us. This is especially after the repeated raids against the money tower."

    "I thought Kraft was able to get quite a lot of money from it?"

    "He did, for the size of attack force that he had brought, they were racking in dungeon dors that can feed an entire Demopolis army every single time Kraft raided. That was why the Churchies were not happy. And from the looks of it, it seems like it might be a century long crusade against us."

 Chapter 1981: Finally, The Supposed Discussion -Final

    "Century long crusade, are you fucking kidding me?" Jin could not believe it at all as he did not know how the situation had devolved to such lengths. And Rex had no reason to exaggerate. After which, he took a minute to sit back for a moment to absorb that fact.

    Rex then used his magic along with the help of the System to pull out a holographic map of the Dungeon World. This time, the barrier that was surrounding them got even darker so as not to be surprised by any people, especially the agents who wereing through. It might not make sense to them but they should not give any reason for them to suspect that they were plotting things.

    Rex showed thend that Pandapolis and the future cities once they had merged together. "This is the possible and also expected routes that the Churchies might take to attack us. From what we have seen, they are spreading lies that this religion that we are having is a hoax and people should not believe in us."

    "The Holy City of After Life, Before Life, Coming Life, and During Life are gathering troops based on our scout reports. The Night Foxes stationed in the area had seen a surge in activities and they were actively recruiting soldiers."

    "Lol, the names. They are really not a religion but more of a conglomerate using so many Life in the cities. Oh wait. They are in alphabetical order. AL, BL, CL, and DL." Jin spoke out loud and at the same time read the quick summary reports that the Night Fox scouts had given. "Are you very sure that they are nning an attack on us?"

    "I am afraid that I do not have positive evidence to show that they are going to attack us but one of the Night Foxes heard that this phase." Rex pressed on the holographic report that was floating right in front of them and it was an extract from the soldiers that were assembling. "Looks like we are doing some demon culling."

    "Listen to this as well." Rex paused it and yed another. "Lol, did you hear? That a city is ying up some new religion?

    Orders are alreadying in to crush them before their religion took hold." "Hahahah, they must be a bunch of idiots who have never seen the wrath of the Afterlife to even think of trying a new religion." Rex stopped the recording and allowed Jin to consider that based on such a small extract of information, the possibility was extremely high that they were going to attack the Pandapolis and the rest.

    "Not to mention, there were ns to attack us again based on the Seven Cities'' Army return and before they performed their mutiny. We believed they are indeed sour because of the defeat they suffered."

    "No wonder you say it''s a century long crusade. If their method of survival for their religion was based on annihting the others, they would not stop until we are crushedpletely." Jin said and knew this was going to be a messy war.

    "The only good thing is that we have the modern technology to hold siege. And we have the power of the multiverse to keep the people afloat with resources. We do not need to worry about the besiegement and their regr tactics would not work considering we have modern war equipment at our behest."

    "At the same time, they have the power of reincarnation in their hands. Sure, it will cost some money but considering how they inted their prices to reincarnate, I am very certain that it is a small price to pay.

    "To be honest, we can also loot their equipment and this will increase the amount they have to spend." Rex tries to reason that the one who is losing is them, not Jin.

    "Yea, right. we are the ones wasting all the firepower against them. Unless we are throwing bodies at them too using the same sword and sorceryбн Unless we did the same thing by raid their city core. Just like how we did it for Demopolis."

    "I do not think it''s the same. From what I know, their core is protected the same way as the Money Tower," Rex deduced and suddenly Kraft popped his head into the barrier. He was probably the only person who was able to slip through Rex''s barrier easily and gave them a heads up.

    "If you ask me. It is useless to attack the cities. I have a great suspicion that the cores are all hidden in the Money Tower. Otherwise, there is no way the Money Tower is able to throw at us so much funds when we were merely raiding them for fun."

    "I thought you did a serious raid against them?" Jin asked and also queried whether he wished to join the conversation. Yet, he was ignored by the Devil Fox.

    "We did perform a serious raidбнwell rather serious one with all the Night Foxes going all out. It seems they have their own version of Gunndams and epic monsters within their halls. If I am not wrong, they even have the Shaitans of their own. Although, I still think ours are the original stuff."

    "The most we went through was Level 4. After that, there were armies upon armies stopping us in our tracks along with the statue heroes that turned alive to fight us. along with their version of Gunndams sting us. Of course, I can summon a meteor or something but that would be too boring, isn''t it? Though, I really did let the Night Foxes go all out."

    "I dare say that if you ever throw the entire Pandapolis and Demopolis Army to the money tower, their marching to our cities would be rerouted to the Money Tower instead. If that really happened, it means our theory is correct and the City Cores for the Church of the Afterlife is in there.

    Otherwise, there is no way they are packing this much power in the Money Tower and yet they are going dishing out pathetic foot soldiers towards our cities." Kraft said and this gave Rex a pause for thought.

    "What do you think if all the Nine Foxes went? I assumed it was overkill for Spartakus but it looked like we underestimated it due to the use of Void Energy. But that is not the case for the Money Tower, right?"

    "I dare say that even with all Nine Foxesbined, we might still struggle considering that it''s not just the power of four city cores that is energising the Money Tower. I will safely bet that almost every single city they control has its cores in the Money Tower. Thest I remember, the Seven Cities'' cores are not fully in their control, correct?" Kraft questioned Rex and he nodded his head.

    "Indeed. We were only able to have half the control despite the major sess of the mutiny. And because of that, the core control had to be overwritten. The army literally spent their whatever they had in the treasuries and whatever resources they had in hand to get full control of the dungeon coreбн So, we assumed that the core was demandingбн"

    "But instead, I can theorise that the Money Tower is where the other half of the core is. In return for full control of the core, tribute had been paid for the core to be returned as a whole.

    That was why the Church was not extremely angry nor did they retaliate almost immediately when they found out the Seven Cities is not in their possession." Kraft shrugged his shoulders at the end, thinking that this was the only thing that could fulfill his reasoning.

    "Still, there is a possibility that the soldiers would not be rerouted. Because as you said, they are foot soldiers.

    And given the distance between Money Tower and Pandapolis along with the entire coalition, there is no way the soldiers would be so stupid to rerouteбн Unless we gone in so deep that they are desperate to keep things alive." Jin rebutted and they could only see a nod at such a possibility.

    "How many levels are there?" Rex asked but Kraft for real, shrugged his shoulders.

    "Could be ten, could be hundreds. If our theory is true, they will be trying their best to hide the cores to the best of their abilities. However, the dungeon world is a fair ce. Given the trials, they will provide an adequate amount of reward as well. Should we really reach the top. We will not only earn back our money''s worth but also get a shit ton of cities under our care.

    At that time, the System would probablyin to tell us to get our shit together for handling a nation."

    "The System would not do such despicable actions." The System rebutted and they allughed before focusing on the main issue.

    "Let''s n for the massive attack but do this long term. If they want a century long crusade, then we shall apany them with that until we get our shit together. Besides, most of our minions are hungry and itching for a fight right now." Jin concluded.

 Chapter 1982: Wrongful Detainment

    "That is fine by me. We have a lot on our te as well, " Rex noted and knew that even if they wished to have a functional city with modern facilities such as transportation, education, healthcare and other privileges, the Fox understood that the nature of this world was to build, destroy and build again.

    Whether the chickenes first or the egges first, it was a question that could never be answered and it would take an eternity for people to figure it out. That was why Rex could emphasise more on the defending portion until Jin felt that it was ready to go for an all out attack as Kraft had theorised.

    Still, it was precisely because it was just a theory, that Rex also believed it was not worth the risk to send an offensive force until they were truly ready. Besides, raising Pandapolis''s growth was a long term investment and being able to have enemiesing to their city might actually be better than going to theirs.

    Sure, there would be a waste of resources but as Kraft had said, every effort madees with the equal value of reward. Defeating the soldiers would still bring in some ie because their death results in extra points from the city''s Dungeon Core. At the end of the month, there would be reimbursements that could outweigh the expenses incurred as long as they manage it effectively.

    That was where science came into y.

    If one single artillery strike can kill a dozen soldiers, the price of making that mass produced artillery shell might be covered, and there would be profit. Not to mention, when science and magicbined together. Put enough vtile magic into an empty metal ball filled with scraps of iron pieces and hurl it to the enemies, the cost savings would be immense.

    So, sometimes, having cheap despicable solutions could be the way of winning this kind of long war of attrition. At that time, when they were about to finish up the conversation, there was a knock on the door, and there came the agent along with his colleagues. Even with a small safe house, they tried to surround the room with the numbers that they had.

    "I apologise, there is nothing much to buy considering how the ce is still in a little havoc. But I managed to get some fresh bread. However, we will also be sending you to the airport." The agent said and some of the agents started to manhandle them a little with cuffs which incited the Foxes to be a little more resistive to such an act.

    "What is with all the cuffs again?"

    "I apologise, but this is really no longer my judication. These are part of the immigration authorities. I took some time to convince them to give you the bread too." The agent said regrettably and Jin reminded them not to resist. After all, they did break thew foring in unattended.

    From Jin''s understanding, these authorities had no idea that Jin and the Foxes had saved their people and assumed that they were some sort of illegal immigrants who were meant to be deported back to the country. Considering how messymunications could be, they might not have known that the service the Foxes and Jin had done for their country.

    Still, the Foxes were a little pissed that they were handled with some brute force and there was also some shouting as well from the immigration agents as well. They were soon brought from the safe house and to the closest possible airportбнor so they thought until they found that they were brought to some sort of detention centre within the airport where there were even more closed doors and bars.

    It was not the nicest of feeling but the rest begrudgingly followed them until to the point where they were ordered to do processing.

    "Wait, processing? What are we criminals now?" It was at this point Ixel felt that a little more pissed off.

    "We need to process you before we can deport all of you back." The immigration police agent said with a non caring face.

    "You do know that I can break these chains and sever your neck from your body?" Ixel asked and that was where the surrounding agents went straight for their tasers. "Har? Do you think those tasers can do shit to me? To us?"

    "Ixel. Enough." Rexmanded and Ixel immediately kept his mouth shut while staring at the immigration agents.

    "My good Sirs, we will not proceed with the processing. I suggest that you ask your higher ups for proper instructions. Otherwise, there will be possible ramifications in mishandling this politically dedicated situation." Jin spoke out at the end of the room while chained to the chair.

    "Har?! What the fuck are you talking? Do you think you are in a position to talk?" One of the agents said. "If you have not noticed, you are in a room where no chi or magic can be allowed. Not to mention, those cuffs you are all in are dampeners that will not allow even a Grade 18 to activate their chi."

    "Oh really?" Kraft smiled and in an instant, all of the Foxes released their chi simultaneously that choking the immigration agents down to the ground. There was no mercy in their chi and surprisingly even Rex participated. "Oh really?"

    The agents who were at least grade 10 and above could not believe the situation, their chi was overwhelming and all they could do was struggle to take a breath to continue living. It was impossible, how were these people were able to express this amount of chi despite the room and dampeners that they wore?

    Even a certified grade 19 had difficulty trying to cope the situation and it had been certified to work.

    Yet, these group of humans were able to overpower it so easily and not just that, the auras were enough to suffocate them. They were not even at the stage of disying their techniques at all. When the security cameras saw the situation, a high alert was sounded out but as more people came to intervene in the situation, they were instantly in the same situation as the agents in the room.

    If that was not a show of power, eventually, the entire group was able to force the aura to encase the entire detention centre. All agents and other retainees were all suffocating at the same pace and the Foxes were still sitting at their seats, not moving a single inch.

    It was only a minuteter they released the aura and the agents within the room were all coughing for air. "So, do you think I am in a position to talk now?" Kraft asked and the agents gritted their teeth as they tried to call their superiors. It did not take long for the superiors to reply and the chief immigration agent for the detention centre came down personally to the room they were in.

    The moment he walked into the room, he immediately demanded the cuffs to be removed and subsequently knelt down and begged for the group''s forgiveness. "Please excuse the ignorance my agents had disyed. Information was not disseminated properly. We not only wrong the saviours of Rome but also chained them."

    That was when the agents who were in the room felt a little confused and the Chief immediately gave the TLDR. "They were the ones who created that huge dimensional instance and saved thousands of citizens and yet we treated them as downright criminals."

    And Kraft being the asshole, as usual, asked the same question once more.

    "So, do you think I -nah WE are in a position to talk now?"

    The agents did not know how to apologise except to put their heads down. "More like, can we have our bread? You confiscated them, right? Don''t tell me you already gave it to your people?" Pei questioned and a few of the agents panicked a little. It looked like Pei was spot on and she sighed.

    "Fine, so? Do we still need to processing?" Pei questioned them and the Chief shook his head.

    "My agents will escort you to the airport terminal proper. I will take responsibility and ask for the airport hotel to provide you all some form of amodation while we settle your paperwork for all of you." The Chief said and Jin stood up.

    "Do not bother. We have wasted enough time here. We will create a portal and leave from here. Is that fine with you?" Jin asked and the Chief knew that portals were considered illegal if there were no proper issuance of certification. But considering that they hade to Italy to save their country via a portal, there should be no problem if they left here.

    Still, if the top government officials were to know about their conduct, even the Chief might have a problem answeringбн worst case scenario? He will lose his job."

    "Iбн am sorry. I cannot allow you to do that. Please respect the proper immigration process. We will try to expedite as quickly as possible for you." Chief once again knelt and asked for forgiveness.

 Chapter 1983: Who Scam Who?

    "What a bore." Ixa yawned as now they were ced in a hotel room instead of a detainment area.

    "At least we have two beds. Better than the other safe house. And we can take a shower too."Ixel tried to reason but Ixa rolled her eyes. They could have done something more useful than having all the foxeszing around in a room together.

    But Jin''s orders were toply with the immigration and they gave him respect because they knew that if they created trouble for him right now, it would be difficult for the Dungeon Supplier to move forward in Italy when ites to expansion.

    They know that they too did not need toply but given the fact that they were exhausted from the day long use of chi, especially thatst portion where they practically went into overdrive and to show theirpetence against those immigration agents.

    The fatigue was so apparent that some of the Foxes were already dozing off at the corner while Kiyu shamelessly upied a bed and created a barrier so that none of the foxes could disturb her while she dived intolnd.

    In the meantime, Rex was already typing out documents and perhaps orders for the Demopolis military to be sortie for defensive battles. There were drafts and ns based on Jin''s rather direct peeping over the shoulders.

    As for the rest, they were justzing around, waiting for time to pass. And time did pass as there was a ring on the bell after a long while. The very same few immigration agents were there to greet them but instead of them wearing vests filled with equipment, they were in their regr clothes with a batch on.

    "What''s the matter?" Pei questioned as she was the one to open the door.

    "We like to escort you to the airport counter to get your immigration done so you can return as soon as possible." The agent said with a little grace in their words. There was undoubtedly some fear but they tried to remain calm when they interacted with the Foxes.

    "Lol, who wants to bet that they provided us some in economy seats back?" Evon shouted out shamelessly. "Boss, can we do an upgrade instead? We got some money, right?"

    "Considering how they have treated us so far, I suppose it''s fair I as a boss show that we can do better right? I can pay to upgrade the seats or how about we hire a private jet ne instead?" Jin asked and the rest pped their hands in unison and the immigration authorities felt like they were in a bind.

    They had indeed gotten those ''in'' economy seats and because of the urgency, the booking itself was quite a bomb.

    Cancelling them will no doubt save a lot of money for the agency but their Chief would definitely be mad at them especially when they made a fool for themselves and now their ''guests'' were going to pay to return to the countries. If other departments were to hear about the immigration agency''s folly as well as their ''absent'' execution of the aftermath, they would be aughing stock.

    Yet at the same time,mitting to a private jet ne immediately? This was something that the agency could not possibly do at all.

    At most, the budget that the Chief had given them was to allow premium economy seats. But that was blown out of the water when they realised that the reservation of economy seats had already taken up 98% of the budget designated by the Chief.

    And if they sincerely wanted to get a private jet, all the immigration agents could do was to show them the direction of thepany. And asked if they could give them a discount.

    "What about we hire a pilot and let them ride on one of those private jets that we had impounded instead?" The immigration agent sent a telepathy message to one of their seniors who was standing at the front door.

    "That''s not a good idea. Those impounded private jets do not have any maintenance done. If we were to allow those jets to fly without proper maintenance records, it would be on our heads if anything happened to them." The senior agent asked the Foxes to wait for a moment as he gave the excuse of not having the corridor cleared.

    "Then we can just allow them to teleport back, right? Isn''t getting a portal certification an easier matter for us? We do not have to waste money on our side. They were already willing to spend money on a private jet, I believe the price of a portal costs as much as the certification for a portal." One of the agents asked and some of the team members felt it was a brilliant idea.

    "However, the portal quota had already been capped for this month. That was why even the prime minister and his fellow cab members were flying backst night. Even they respected the portal quota cap. If we were to break this, it might potentially cause us to lose our standing in the department." One of the senior agents pointed out and the rest was in a bind again.

    "Surely, the Chief will help to fight for this, no?" The agents asked. "We said that the foreigners needed to return quickly and they have a portal ready. There''s nothing spent on our end. Just the needed permission."

    "Fine. Fine. Let''s go with that. They might not be happy that they have to spend their time at the portal but at least they would not need to suffer another few hours of flight sitting at rubbish seats and cursing us." The lead agents decided and eventually told Jin and the Foxes about the situation.

    "Lol. You guys waited this long to reach the consensus that we need to take a portal back?"

    "It''s either that or you can hire a private jet for yourfort. Otherwise, the only thing we can offer you is the economy seats." The agents said as they nearly forgot that they still do have some authority in this situation. At the same time, they were hoping their leader would be reasonable enough.

    "Sure, we can portal back but pay us the budget for those economy seats that you booked," Jin said as it was pretty obvious that their telepathymunications were not as secure as they thought.

    "I apologise but those seats were goodwill offers by the airline considering the deeds you had done." The senior agent said and everyone within the room, be it the agents and the foxes, knew that was a fucking. tant. lie.

    "Oh really? Shall I go talk to the airline agency and ask them instead?" Jin decided to y the game of ''tag'' too.

    "There is no need to. We had liaised with them and can cancel the seats so that you guys can just take your portal."

    "Just a theory, if given more time, will they be able to give us better seats, say first ss... nah never mind, Business ss will suffice if we were to wait longer? Or the airline that you had liaised with is a miser?" Tsu questioned and every other fox all agreed.

    "Yeah, if it''s the goodwill of the airline, I do not mind staying behind for a few days, spending some money in Rome, and going back with a business ss." Kai coborated with Tsu on this and the rest agreed once more.

    "Ahaha... Let me ask the airlines for their opinion."

    "Oh, I do not mind going with you. I know quite a few people connected to ITA Airways, surely it may help expedite your case." Kraft grinned and the agents started to panic a little.

    "There are no worries there, we will settle for you. After all, we did something displeasing to you."

    "No trouble at all, it''s even more boring to stay in this pathetic looking hotel room. Right guys?" Kraft urged the rest and they all followed with the act.

    "Why did you not say it''s ITA Airways. I too know a few people." Kiyu yawned as she pretended to hear all those conversations when she was half asleep when in actuality, she was also doing an impromptu act.

    "Besides, you did say that we need to follow you to the airport counter to get our initial immigration done," Jin said and extended his hand out to show them to lead the way.

    The agents on the other hand were not able to exert their authority as they wanted because of what had happened previously and they reluctantly brought the group to the airport counter while a senior agent rushed to the ITA airway counter with his Chief on the phone asking for a huge favour.

    But given that Kraft had already nted ''eavesdroppers'' around them, every other fox and Jin was able to relish the desperate conversation the senior agent had with the airway representative. It was so bad that even the on duty manager had to call his manager toe down to have a talk.

    Yet at the same time, the senior agent was going to call Kraft''s bluff, believing that Kraft was lying. This way, they might be able to get out of this sticky situation. There was no way these remote groups of strong cultivators had friends at such ces in the airline.

    Boy oh boy. Each and every Fox who heard such an intention from the senior agent''s thoughts wasughing to their hearts'' content. One of the senior managers came down from their airport office to defuse the situation and when the senior agent introduced the senior manager to Kraft, he was extremely surprised that the senior manager did acknowledge Kraft as a good friend.

    "Kraft, my dear brother. What happened?"

    "Oh, it''s nothing. We kinda saved Rome and I heard that the goodwill tickets were only economy tickets. It''s a tad disappointing, you know that?" Kraft said and the senior manager was aghast.

    "You are the few who save Rome? That big ass dome in the middle of the capital?"

    "Well, duh. You knew me for some time and you still doubt my abilities?" Kraft joked and at that point, the immigration senior agent felt that he fell into a shithole that he cannot return to after he hear the next sentence.

    "Those tickets were no goodwill tickets. They were bought by the immigration tickets. But seeing how they were able to afford this much to the heroes of Rome showed how corrupted our public offices have be. Not to worry. For your service to Rome and from a brother to another brother. I will cater a private ITA airway ne for you."

    "Bro."

    "Bro."

    Enough was said about the maniption of the senior manager of ITA Airway.

 Chapter 1984: One Way Ticket

    The others were holding in theirughter, knowing that if they were to express their faces straight, the humiliation of the Immigration office would be more than just aughing stock.

    They gambled that Kraft and the foxes were lying, but to see a senior manager able to fulfill their request. They were in shock. Since when was a senior manager was capable of giving such luxurious flights to these Chinese.

    And that was also how one of the agents had once again had something grabbing their balls to question the senior manager on the validity of the luxury ne or if was it something that the agency needed to know about.

    "Oh, my bad. This is an old coat from the office. I didn''t force them to change my status mainly due to the fact that I do not usuallye here. Honestly did not expect to see Brother Kraft as well and perhaps this lucky coincidence was something that needs to be celebrated." The senior manager said as he pulled out his name card and gave it to the immigration officer.

    Aside from his name, the agent receiving the business contact card was shocked to see that he was actually an associate director of ITA Airways.

    These director levels would not even bother toe to the airport offices to check but this was an outlier of their usual behaviour because the immigration agency had been bugging them for flights that even the senior manager of the branch was not able to handle it.

    So happened, this particr associate director had a returning flight to Rome and had decided to step in and solve any mishaps that the immigration agency had made. Not to mention, to see ''Brother Kraft'' and to learn that he was one the few who asissted with Rome''s capital wide emergency, He had no choice but to step in and call out the immigration officers.

    "I would close an eye for you guys mainly due to the fact that we are not acquainted and it is also my fault for using such an old name tag. But the treatment of Brother Kraft is one thing I cannot tolerate." The associate director remarked with a stern look.

    "You did not see him in action and you believe his words?" The immigration officers felt that every time one of them opened their mouth, more shit would to happen.

    "Of course, I know Brother Kraft''s capabilities to the minute details. Why else would you think I would call him my brother? But right now, not only do you use your authority to barge your way through my airlinepanies,sugarcoat, and subsequently threaten my staff.

    And now to know that my brother friends were being treated this unfairly, it looks like a normalint letter might not suffice." The associate director said as he ordered one of his employees to take down the names of the officers who were present.

    "We do not answer to you."

    "Neither will our refund policy for those economy tickets are now turned into 1st ss tickets by my authority. Brother Kraft, you will be taking the 12pm flight back. Let me get a reservation spot for you in the airport''s finest lounge along with your friends.

    We will cater you some food considering what you had were mere crumbs of bread." The associate director said as he pointed at Evon who was chewing on a piece of stale like bread. (Yeah, so much for buying fresh bread in the first ce.)

    That meant the immigration agency did not need to waste any more money on the trip as everything else had been provided free by ITA Airways. All they need to realise is that they will be losing face but pride is much easier to swallow than losing money.

    "Whatever," Was the sigh of the immigration agents and they felt that they did not need to spend any more time than this but just a writtenint from ITA Airways. It was business as usual to them.

    If they wished to me someone, they could have med the national intelligence for giving such terrible information handover when they were to get the ''prisoners''. But even the intelligence agent who had brought bread knew that it was those immigration agents who wanted to show their muscles and authority since they were unable to do so outside of the airport and their premises.

    If they wished to me, the national intelligence agents would have already created something to counter them.

    However, that was not Jin''s problem nor was it the foxes. They were happy that they managed to outsmart the authorities and get a sweet ride home. They would not be able to have done so if they did not take any risk trying to trick them too.

    So, aside from the asional lockups in fairly bearable environments, they were able to get a 15 million euro reward for their efforts as well as a nice ne ride home. This was Jin''s first time to ride such a luxurious ne and it happened to be the foxes too. Most were so used to portals that they never thought of riding a ne, much less a private flight experience.

    That experience was furtherpounded by the fact that this was the first time they were invited to a private lounge with the high ss society etiquette.

    Initially, Brother Kraft wished to decline the offer since they were not dressed appropriately and the associate director''s one phone call was enough to get them into a private room within the private lounge to have all the food and choices Italy could offer. It was undoubtedly an experience not to be forgotten and that experience stretched across the smooth immigration process.

    The agents as much as they were pricks to Jin and the Foxes had done what was promised and did give them an expedited process through immigration. One could say that they literally closed ''two of their eyes'' to make this group transition process smoothly.

    Nothing much of the flight could be said under than a good long rest. Jin was expecting some discussions between the Foxes after what he had talked to them about, but it looked like the fatigue finally hit everyone after a sumptuous good meal. It felt as if they transited through time and space through the long rest and reached Shenzhen Bao An International Airport in the blink of an eye.

    "Gosh, the food was so good as well. I must say, their Chinese food beats some of our own local stalls hands down."Pei said as she was stretching her hands when she was out of the ne along with the others.

    "As long as Lynn could still win over your heart, I have no qualms." Jin teased and Pei grabbed him by the shoulders and told him not to worry.

    "Her food will always remain number one in my heart. There is no fight about that, my dear master." Pei said and they realised that Kong Rong was there waiting for them to arrive.

    "Did we do something wrong again?" Jin asked and Kong Rong merely smiled while shaking his head.

    "You did nothing wrong. In fact, you have elevated China''s standing once more. That dimensional instance was something that no one could ever have done. And you even rescued those that could be rescued within that short time frame. I can imagine the losses would be so much more."

    "So, I am guessing our immigration process would be rather smooth-ish too?" Ixel asked which Kong Rong gave the Foxes his guarantee. Unlike those people there, our connections between agencies are a little more ...agile and robust. Besides, our dear master here is one of the unnamed Royal Zodiacs n Heads.

    There is no way we would be able to give such a terrible reception to the heroes of Italy, no?"

    "I assume that they would be blowing their toots with this considering how the government loves achievements," Rex said and Kong Ron unwillingly nodded his head.

    "They wanted to present and give a grand wee to you. But it seems like you beat them at their game and managed to return on the day they received the news."

    "It was a waste of time, all these procedures and political ramifications. If it was not because of Jin, I would not have bothered." Kraft yawned but it was not a lie he enjoyed his time since he was not the one who was forced to stay in a safe house. The rest of the Foxes wished to give him a p in the face but they had enjoyed thest leg enough to ignore whatever that Devil of a fox had said.

    "But you are not here because of weing me back, right? Is something a matter?"

    "I might have found our dear Banned Emperor Terrorist who had nted those demons into Italy...for we are going to a certain part of south Asia to find him. In terms ofpetence, the Italians are rather good with overseas connections rather than connecting themselves from within." Kong Rong said and asked if Jin wished to follow him.

 Chapter 1985: Getting to the Root Cause

    "Nah, not really. If you do not mind me. I might hate the terrorists under the Banned Emperor but they are not my primary concern. After all, I am just a businessman." Jin reasoned as he felt that there were many unfinished business that he would have wished to take care of from the past few days. One could say that he might have taken an impromptu vacation.

    "Besides, Ryuli should be within the extermination team, right? She probably can handle it solo if she puts her mind to it."

    "I figured that you say that but Ryuli is currently busy with another mission and I cannot pull her out from that. I was hoping that you would go or at least a minion or two so that if shit hits the fans, we are able to manage it better."Kong Rong replied.

    "Then I am guessing you are not faring well in the trust department?" Jin guessed it right at the start and Kong Rong did not hesitate to admit to that since Jin and Ryuli were the only ones he trusted more than the rest. "I thought we did make your men sign the contract thingy? You still do not trust them as much as the System''s scanning?"

    "When we did the secret purging, the men were more or less affected by the betrayal. They did not know how we found out but because it was so surgical in nature, quite a number were affected by it. And because of our drop in numbers, the defence ministry filled in the manpower immediately with no questions asked.

    Naturally, we do not know whether there are sleepers in this group since the task force to bring down is not under my direct jurisdiction."

    "And asking them to sign something out of the blue would not aid with your need for trust. I assume you are not going into the battlefield as well?"

    "Yes, I am not. If I did, I would not need to go through this. At the very least if I am putting some of your men into the fray, I feel safer if there are sleepers in this strike package." Kong Rong addressed his concerns.

    "Kraft, do you wish to go? You may have some fun with the sleepers." Jin asked and Kraft''s expression was perplexed, thinking whether it was necessary for him to go through that another boring flight to a certain area.

    "While I do enjoy the luxurious flight from Italy, I would not wish to go through that again," Kraft said bluntly and Kong Rong chuckled.

    "You can just meet them there, you big dumb dumb." Kong Rong replied while taking out a metal card and handing it to Kraft. "Use this as part of the credentials. I can tell them, you are the secret backup that I have in case shit hits the fans. Otherwise, you just observe how they do things. Is that fine with you?"

    "Erm..."

    "I will give you ess to a restricted folder that I recently found in the Ministry of Manpower. You can work your way-" Kong Rong had decided to use these ess rights as an excuse but Kraft did not allow him to finish saying and epted the proposal.

    "Done deal."

    "Whut." Jin and the rest who were still at the runway were surprised by Kraft''s quick eptance.

    "With ess to the Ministry of Manpower, I would be able to find if there are any cultivators that might be worth looking into," Kraft exined his rationale clearly for the first time in ages.

    "Why would you want to do that? And how did Kong Rong know that you want ess to the Ministry of Manpower?"

    "Because for some fucking reason, there is no secret electronic database in the Ministry of Manpower," Kraft replied and Jin was surprised to hear that.

    "I can only concur with that, the Ministry of Manpower had decided to keep their secrets in a restricted basement instead. With files and files of secret stuff that would not see the light of day."

    "So you already know that I am going to send Kraft and thus you prepared this to pique his interest?" Jin questioned but Kong Rong merely shuddered his shoulders.

    "There was a high possibility that you would send or you go with Kraft since there are no other people better at maniption than him

    considering how I want to clear the sleepers in the strike force. But if it was pure annihtion, I think your regr better than average minions would have done the job nicely." Kong Rong reasoned and Jin gave a quick grin.

    "I see, you do think far."

    "Or else, how am I supposed to stay on my toes and keep China from breaking apart due to internal threats?" Kong Rong smiled back as the Devil Fox readily epted the card. "Anyone else wished to follow?"

    The crowd was quiet aside from the loud background noise the nes made on the runway. It gave the indication that they were all busy with their own things and even as Kraft looked at Kiyu, she pretended to whistle and moved away from him.

    All that was to know was that Kraft was really going alone and everyone in the crowd knew it would not end well for the sleepers since no one was going to keep him unchecked.

    "Send me the coordinates. I will go now." Kraft remarked and the System immediately ced the inputs based on Kong Rong''s request allowing him to disappear in front of everyone. It was at that point where Jin felt like asking if it was okay for Kraft to disappear in in sight after all the shit he went through with Italy but then he remembered that they were in Kong Rong''s yground.

    The guardian of the yground was here to make sure that nothing went wrong and also give privileges to the ''little children'' that he was guarding.

    That was why Jin finally rxed when he remembered that Kong Rong was in control of the area. After which, the Royal Zodiac Dragon n Head even offered the rest a ride back to their Tree Mall. Every single fox refused and only Jin took up the offer as he wanted to talk to Kong Rong on certain things, especially after what had happened in Italy.

    The n Head was undoubtedly happy when Jin said that he wanted to talk to him about that topic.

    So when the both of them were in the car, they tried to address the elephant in the room. What was the response that both countries gave?

    "The Italy Ambassador to China was full of praise for you but also apologised for the treatment of your ...stay. But there were no indirect responses when it came to the fact you had earned a hefty amount from their Prime Minister. They felt that the 15 million was too steep a price until..."

    "Our China Ambassador to Italy defended you immensely by stating that if there was someone that could dish out a 10 kilometre wide dungeon instance, show her. She will ask what was their asking price for such an incredible feat. She also defended and stated that the ill reception that our team had received was nothing short of disgust.

    For cultivators of reputable strength to withstand such ill reception was considered as something undeserving for the regr public."

    "Wow, her words were strong. Who is she?"

    "Just some random Rabbit n member. I do not really remember her name to be honest. All I know was that the government was insistent on reparations for such ill reception especially when one of those receiving it is an uing Royal Zodiac n Head."

    "They are really going for that?" Jin did not feel particrlyfortable hearing the news

    "After what you had done, the rmendation to put you up as the official Royal Zodiac Panda n head is getting more and more...shall we say erm approved by the government officials as well as the rest of the Royal Zodiacs."

    "I thought they hated me."

    "Well, it''s not that bad to think that way, but I can say you are definitely warming it up to them considering what you had done for the country and for quite a few of the Royal Zodiacs Head."

    "Yeah, and when I got promoted to Head n, I got to give everyone a special discount for dungeon instances fighting," Jin said with a little bitterness but Kong Rongughed.

    "If every capable fighter goes through your dungeon instances, there is no need to worry about defending from external threats. The ones I should be worried about are internal ones when each of them fights against each other.

    "Maybe that is why the decline of dungeon suppliers?" Jin tried to think about it.

    "What do you mean?" Kong Rong had no idea.

    "If everyone is strong, it sets a new standard for everyone. But the less dungeon suppliers that you have that can do this, the bnce would not be interrupted."

    "I see, but seriously, yours is just the abnormal one."

 Chapter 1986: The Search in the Caves -Part 1

    As Kong Rong and Jin were returning from the airport, The System had already been thrown together the coordinates in a certain supposed undisclosed ce in South Asia for Kraft to enter. Even if he had the coordinates and knew where it was, it did not prepare him for the coordinates to throw him into a cavern when he came out from the other side of the Portal.

    The Devil of a Fox was willing to throw down more Night Foxes and a few newly trained Sun Foxes to the test for this particr field trip. However, when he saw the cavern, he refrained from doing so. "Huh. These are no ordinary cavesбн why are we in some tourist area?" Kraft thought to himself as he looked at his cell phone while the System adjusted his time and location for him.

    It was located off Mumbai and the GPS location stated that he was in some fairly famous location called Bhaja Caves.

    And it was precisely he knew it was a tourist location because he saw a modern litter that did should not exist in a remote ce. Still, the best ce to hide or run might actually be a tourist area since it provided a sufficient amount of subterfuge than a remote town where a neer would already have eyes all over him.

    "At the very least ording to the time, it passed the tourist visiting hours," Kraft said as he took a while to appreciate the ancient Buddhist carvings on the walls and the architecture a little before he called out his Night Foxes. Five emerged from the shadows and knelt down in a line, waiting for the orders. "Search for the culprits.

    If he is a Banned Emperor Terrorist, you all should be more than trained to sniff out the kind of chi he emits."

    "Yes, My Lord." The night Foxes said as they dispersed into the shadows of the caves and Kraft walked out of the once magnificent cavern, now preserved to a certain extent because of themercial value it had for being an ancient Buddhist site.

    "For a Banned Emperor Terrorist to hide around hereбн That''s a little uncanny." Kraft said as he now summoned the Sun Foxes. Unlike the Night Foxes which emerged through the shadows, the Sun Foxes merely did a diffusion between their location and the location that Kraftmanded them to emerge out from it.

    So, it looked as if the Sun Foxes were blended into reality when they were merely phasing and teleporting from one location to another. Kraft looked at them with a certain disgust mainly due to the fact that he had not trained them to a particr standard. Yet, at the same time, he wants to know if they could be ready even before he deems them as ready.

    "Look for the Chinese Intelligence Assault Force. Tail them and report every movement to me as short and sweet as possible."

    "Yes, My Lord." The Sun Foxes shivered a little at the end of the sentence before they proceeded out. Kraft gave a short click at the end when all of the Sun Foxes had left, only to inadvertentlypare them with the Night Foxes. Surely, he knows they would be at a disadvantage when ites to physical movements since the High Elves were more adept at magic rather than physical fights.

    However, he heard of stories that the High Elf Assassins can be as deadly as a Night Elf Assassin. Ultimately, it ends up just how much they train.

    Though as soon as he was thinking whether he should teleport himself to a nearby town for some grub, one of the Night Foxes alerted him that he might have found a potential cultivator that suits the requirements of being a Banned Emperor Terrorist. The only problem was that his skin colour was not as they expected from a Banned Emperor Terrorist.

    "Pfft. What kind of observation is that?" Kraft lolled but the Night Fox who had reported it apologised, stating that the only Banned Emperor Terrorists he had encountered were mainly Chinese, the same race as the Banned Emperor''s origins.

    "But this guy is dark skinned. I did not wish to report it at first though my gut feeling is telling me otherwise." The Night Fox replied and Kraftughed, knowing that it was not his fault to think that way.

    "If you think about it, this would have made things even much easier for this particr Banned Emperor Terrorist to secretly sabotage Italy. Because a Chinese would have stood out more than a dark skinned fellow in Rome." Kraft tried to reason the theory of why the Italians were still unable to find a match to that.

    "In any case, are there Sun Foxes around that area? What''s your status?" Kraft asked and two of them reported were on the lookout but currently no official Chinese cultivators were detected. "You sure about that?" Kraft asked as a confirmation, not knowing that when he asked that question, it felt like he was giving them the death stare.

    That was why when they answered, they made sure that they were doing it in a careful manner.

    The Night Foxes on the channel heard it and only knew that they were still not cut out for helping Kraft in the field as of now. Because, no matter how strong you are, if one of them gives a weak and cautious answer, all they have is a whooping waiting for them when theyplete the mission.

    But perhaps, they might be lucky this time around as Kraft might have be distracted when he saw the shining opportunity to hit the Banned Emperor Terrorist before the Chinese Intelligence Officers that came in.

    The ability to manipte minds was his forte and Kraft could not resist putting his hand on that terrorist and learning something from him. But if they got the wrong suspect, then too bad. Just a little reverse psych from the Night Foxes should be able to put the possible victim back to their original state. However, that also depends on whether Kraft was willing to have mercy or not.

    Hence when Kraft entered the area, he quickly pounced on the potential Banned Emperor Terrorist and hit him with a mind ckout while essing every single information he could obtain from him. "Oh my.

    Good job, my dear Night Foxes, it looks like you hit the jackpot~!" Kraft said as he ced his hand straight into the mongrel''s face and started to see what good things he might have in store for him.

    "Hmmбн Hmmm. This is rather fascinating. There is actually an entire organisation of Banned Emperor Terrorists not just within China but all over the world!" Kraft said with a tinge of sarcasm inside. He knew that they were operating in various parts of the world but he knew that it was a lie created by the Banned Emperor Initiations.

    A wall of lies that prevented people from going deeper into their minds because of all the useless wasteful information that was being spread to protect the secrets a veteran Banned Emperor Terrorist would have.

    That was why Kraft said that he hit the jackpot because each and every veteran banned Emperor Terrorists had the same mental barrier that protected them. At first, they thought they hit the jackpot but after catching enough Banned Emperor terrorists, they then realised it was their mode of operation.

    It just varied in the type of useless bad info that came out from it initially but dig deep enough, the patient would be able to get the information they wanted.

    "Let''s see how deep can this rabbit hole go." Kraft chuckled as he figuratively put his hand through the barriers of nonsensical information and found something that was notmonly seen in the sea of bad information.

    Thus, Kraft quickly sent it to the System for verification since he could not possibly know all of thebinations of fake information that the Banned Emperor Terrorists were havingбн.and it was a hit.

    A piece of genuine information that the System happily sent to all of the Night Foxes, Sun Foxes, and Kraft the location of a possible hideout that the Banned Emperor Terrorists might have been residing within the area of Bhaja Caves.

    The only problem was that the hideout was close to the tourist site and if a fight ensued, there would surely be an uproar between the Indians and the Chinese when ites to that. Not to mention, an unsanctioned strike without letting the Indian government officials know? It was the perfect excuse for a melting pot of political problems to happen and the System does not want that.

    Even Kraft being the chaos incarnate would also understand the ramifications if the Chinese Strike Team was not able to bring down the Terrorists properly. And to add on the uncertainty that there might be sleepers within the strike team? This brings the melting pot to a brand new level.

    "As much as I want to see that brand new level, is the System going to do something about it? Or shall I really introduce that brand new level? That would bring a smile to Jin''s face, no?"

    "Please do not be stupid. The System will provide your newly Sun Foxes some resources and System Points if you are able to clear this quietly."

    That was why System was actually going to release a small reward for Kraft and his Foxes if they managed to get the situation well contained without any serious ''fireworks''. And for that, the Devil Foxpiled, knowing that a stingy System giving a reward out was better than doing this without anyway rewards.

 Chapter 1987: The Search in the Caves -Part 2

    "Do you think I should overthink a little about this?" Kraft said as he looked at one of the carved Buddhist statues with a bit of concern. There should not be anything rted to the Banned Emperor when ites to Buddhism but for them to choose a site so close to Bhaja Caves was somewhat concerning.

    "They would not have chosen a religious site for nothing," Kraft said to himself as the Banned Emperor always prided themselves on being one full of symbolism despite the tyranny that he had reigned the country with.

    "He was never a fan of Buddhism, is he not?" He now queried the System which took some time for thetter to return the reply.

    "No, he did not. However, there was evidence of Buddhist paintings in a particr room of his pce. If anything, he might have collected such paintings and statues as part of his collection."

    "Do you know what he had collected?" The Devil Fox asked but the System was not able to reply with full certainty.

    "While the System might be able to recollect and identify certain Buddhist paintings, the System as a collective believed that the resources spent to recollect such a scene might not be useful in the current ''overthinking'' mode of yours."

    "Then why do they keep trying to search for the Flower City? Even Jin had a hint to the doorway to the Flower City but he never bothered to go there and find out." Kraft felt a little perturbed by it now that he thinks about it.

    "It''s the User''s choice whether he wishes to utilise the hint that was given to him to go into the Flower City. Otherwise, the Original System Betor Kraft would need to ask either Sub System User Qiu Yue or Sword Saint Betor Zeru for assistance in entering."

    "You see, even Qiu Yue went in once! What the heck is Jin doing!" Kraftined that the most important person controlling every single minion had to be granted permission to enter the Flower City in order for Kraft to be admitted as well.

    Because regardless of how Kraft appeared to be independent all the time, the fact was that he was still a minion of Jin despite having the original betor status.

    Therefore, he needed a rmendation from a citizen of the Flower City in order to get the approval to enter. There was no test or what so ever to be taken to enter and even with his magnificent powers, he knew that there was someone who could kill him if he tried to enter by force.

    It was none other than Zeru and even Zeru had once spoken of a guardian that was stronger than him that might have the powers to defeat Zeru if he were to be an exile of the Flower City. "WellбнI can put a fight against Zeru and maybe win 1 round out of thirty?" Kraft tried to reason with the System and it was apparent that the System did not allow such a case to happen.

    Not to mention, he could not get such a rmendation from Qiu Yue since she was a guest visitor herself but he could get Qiu Yue to enter again if he really wanted to. After all, she owed him a debtбнor many debts. Yet, that also does not mean Qiu Yue has the wits to find what Kraft wants to find.

    And even if he does not underestimate the queen builder of cities across the multiverse, it would still take too long and that might have already fizzled his inquisitive mind.

    "Come on System, you are in control of Zeru, that means you have records of his memories. I am not asking you to show me his memories, and emotions (although that would be a bonusбн) I merely wanted images of Buddhism or any context of Buddhism within the Flower City. Pictures of it would be fine. Totally fine."

    "The System would not allow Original Betor any ess to the memories of another Betor their permission. It is best that you ask Betor Zeru yourself." The System immediately sent a connection call to Zeru regardless of Kraft''s reluctant behaviour mainly because it was too tired of handling a whimsy fox.

    "Yes? Do you need assistance?" Zeru asked and Kraft started to think whether it was truly necessary to get him all over to India just to kill a few Banned Emperor Terrorists.

    "Yeah, why not?" He figured it would not hurt and get him to give some insight into the current situation. If the System was not going to give the fox an answer, why not the fox get some answers from the sword saint who has resided in the Flower City for ages instead?

    "Be right there," Zeru said and within a second, a portal opened right beside Kraft and Zeru was already clenching on his scabbard. "This ce isбн?"

    "Do you have any idea what the hell -erm the heaven are all these?" Kraft asked and this triggered the type of expression that Kraft was yearning from Zeru.

    "Follow me. I think I can give you an answer." The Sword Saint said as his every step was like eight steps forward but it was nothing Kraft could not do as well, just that thetter needed to use a little more strength than usual. "I assume the Banned Emperor Terrorists are staying here?"

    "Yesh. They have a hideout further down but my Foxes should be able to handle them. There is nothing much to worry about on that end."

    "I do not worry about theckeys but rather the actual revival of the Banned Emperor." Zeru blurted a piece of information which made Kraft''s eyes go starry wide. Soon, they reached a portion of the caves which depicted a god on a chariot and another on an elephant.

    "They looked rather familiar. Are they some sort of gods?" Kraft asked the System and it acknowledged the Fox''s reply with two names. Surya, the Sr Deity, and Indra, the Hindu mythology''s version of Zeus.

    "As expected, the Celestials had a hand in this world more than we believed," Zeru said as he slowly took his de out from his scabbard instead of the usual insanely fast sword draw that he used to kill his enemies.

    He ced his de right at the bottom of Surya''s neck and sure enough, there was some sort of resistance that was unable to allow him to cut and disfigure the carvings. He released his de and this time he tried it right with Indra and now small electrical sparks were seen popping out of the cave walls.

    "So what? The Banned Emperor had some help from the Celestials?" Kraft just did a quick shoot of questions to Zeru to better understand the situation.

    "No, the Banned Emperor Terrorists are trying to get Celestials involved to get their Banned Emperor back." Zeru theorised.

    "They needed relics of the past that were kept hidden from the world. And if they got enough of such ancient relics, perhaps, they could invoke a celestial? Or maybe a series of celestials to aid them to get their old king back."

    "Because they believed that their king is a god and hence they did not ask from the Demons?" Kraft asked but Zeru shook his head.

    "No, I do not think it that way. And like I said, the gathering of the relics was a theory that they wanted to aim for the call of the Celestials. However, the more I fought with them, the more I felt that their call might incidentally be answered by the Void Beings."

    "Because they are practically a veil away from our world?" Kraft could see the dots. "That does not exin the celestial relics they sought for."

    "We do not know what relics are they looking for specifically. Right now, their mode of operation feels too random or there are multiple factions doing multiple things at the same time. I cannot guarantee that. All I know is that a lot of them are pack mules.

    They know nothing about the situation at all and the best we could do is to specte." Zeru said as he now drew a line down with his sword between the chariot and the elephant carvings.

    The wall instantly split into two and behind those two carvings were actually the Foxes performing their actions fighting against the hideout of Banned Emperor Terrorists, panicking and wandering how the information had been leaked out.

    Just as they thought they could have a proper defensive line with the cave walls behind their back, the said walls quietly opened up to reveal two cultivators with an aura that was more than enough to rece those walls.

    Kraft smiled as his foxes did as they were trained, even the newly inducted Sun Foxes had managed to keep most of the Banned Emperor Terrorist members alive. Only through excruciating cuts in their bodies or amputations to show that the Foxes meant business, this particr terrorist cell was at the mercy of none other than the Devil Fox.

 Chapter 1988: The Search In the Caves -Part 3

    "We really do not know anything..." One of the terrorist cell members said as all he could feel right now was merely the huff and puff of his breaths. Fear had taken over him so deeply that the only thing his body couldply with was themand from Kraft.

    "They really do not know anything." Kraft sighed as he decided to try root analysis of their memories once more. The ''fast scan'' can only reveal so much and if he were to take his time, there could be traces of clues that might prove useful.

    Yet at the same time, he knows that he did not have much time to y with. One of the Night Foxes was able to pinpoint the location of an iing group of people. And their scent was enough to differentiate them from the locals since that group had the stench of spilled blood on their bodies. Thus, Kraft could at most search one cell member and hope that he could get the most out of that.

    "System, based on what you have seen, choose one." Kraft said as he tossed the cell member that he had ''yed'' with to the side. Eleven of them were all lined up at the wall, with broken bodies and loss of limbs. All of them were on the verge of death and were kept alive because of the Sun Foxes'' magic.

    If the Sun Foxes were to cut their magic away, they might at most live another 2-3 minutes or so before bleeding out and all they need was just a nudge for them to have their lives snuffed out instead of living in hell eternity for that 2-3 minutes.

    The System originally did not wish to be part of this ...selection process but when given the choice, it had decided to choose the one that Kraft let go most recently especially when he was supposed to be the person with the highest authority and the reason why he was thest to be interrogated.

    All the information that Kraft had acquired from the previous ten was sufficient enough to coborate with the leader''s interrogation.

    "Urgh so boring. People keep thinking that the leaders have all the information but when in actual fact, it''s the people right under the leader that had the most privy of information, not the leaders themselves."Kraft said as he pulled the supposed leader out again and he was begging to just end his life.

    "Dude, I am sorry. I am not the one who chose you. If you want to me someone, please me my biggest boss," Kraft smiled empathetically as he literally put his hand into the ''leader''s'' head and he started to scream. "Rx, it doesn''t hurt. It really doesn''t."

    бнAnd the leader really did not feel any pain. Instead, it felt like it was a physical massage onto his brain muscles and it actually felt good. The only difference was that he was not supposed to feel positive about it and thus he screamed. "Oh, you~! Be honest about it, or else I will give you real pain." Kraft reiterated and the leader kept quiet.

    So, once more, the Devil Fox squeezed the ''leader''s'' brain in hopes of finding something more relevant. And perhaps he was too numb to the word Fox that he did not notice it during the quick scan but during the deep search, he started to have some suspicion about that particr word.

    "Who is Fox?" Kraft asked the ''leader''and the mention of that nickname brought shudders to not just him but the rest of the terrorist cell members as well. It was at that moment, that Kraft literally cast a wide to capture the thoughts of Fox from the rest of the terrorists with his psychic abilities.

    The immediate impression that the Banned Emperor Terrorists gave was that Kraft and the others were the police considering how swift and brutal they acted and fell them. And what''s more, Kraft found out that this...

    Fox had given them tips that the Chinese Strike Force wasing to annihte them and they actually created a diversion and a big trap beforehand where just a single drop of blood would activate a summoning circle to call upon the Void Beings.

    Bits and pieces of information came together and Kraft was able to mould out the entire scenario with a few assumptions. (He, as usual, forgets to credit the System for helping him to do this out.)

    "Huh, they really think the Void Beings are part of the Celestials? Guess the knowledge gap is really non existential for them. Also, why not Demon Summoning? Does this group of people feel that this is superior to summoning Demons?" Kraft shook his head when he tried to gather more information to ensure that the estimated coordinates based on their memories were correct.

    "Technically speaking... the Void Beings is a menace that we cannot handle." One of the Night Foxes said, knowing that speaking out of hand might cause Kraft to punish him.

    "Meh, you are right. If angels had been depicted to be either humans with wings or grotesque monsters with angelic wings, I guess they believed Void Beings might be the Celestials they are looking for." Kraft frowned when he made that deduction and that gave the Night Fox a breather that he made the right choice.

    "Jin. You are right, there is a sleeper but whether the sleeper is within the current force or outside of it, I do not have enough information. Just that, this sleeper is one hell of a crazy bastard. He rmended a summoning circle. For. Void.

    Beings." Kraft sent hisments to Jin and Kong Rong to hear.

    "Again?!" Jinined. "Can you prevent them from activating the summoning circle then?"

    "I do not know whether I would be in time, but I know that even with your...assistance in letting me feel how Void Energy is, I do not have the ability to generate it." Kraft sighed. "So, just a heads up."

    But even when he was having this conversation with Jin, he already teleported himself to the approximate location where he should have been. The circle was not activated yet considering there were no bodies around and Kraft had a thinking. Why allow the summoning of a Void Being when he maniptes the summoning with a twist of his own?

    "Oooooo! This should be fun!" He thought to himself as he broke the summoning circle by literally decimating a piece of the circle''s line with his powers. After which, he took a stone, cut himself, and poured some of his own blood on it so that he couldplete the circle.

    "Let''s see whates out of this instead!" Kraft was excited to know whether the abrupt change would bring any unexpected surprises. Of course, he was not left without supervision.

    The System was eyeing his every movement and had also noted the initial summoning circle''s design in case Jin ever needed a summoning circle spell to call out Void Beings now that they knew how the Banned Emperor Terrorists were able to put Demons through the thin veil that separate Earth and the Void Being''s World.

    But the System was more concerned was how much more they do. Who was their teacher? Or is there a Void Being that controls this particr faction that used Void Beings as a way to terrorise people? Did this particr ideology of using Void Beings being shared with other factions of the Banned Emperor? Are there equally dangerous factions that the Internal Security or the System does not know?

    Is this group the same group that Zeru had been chasing after since their attempt to enter the Flower City?

    There were so many questions in the System''s logic circuit that Kraft''s overthinking pales inparison.

    "They areing! They areing!" Kraft felt delighted that he could finally see movements from afar as he snapped his fingers and transmuted into a Fox. What''s the best way to catch a fake Fox? Of course! By bing a fox himself!

    The surrounding environment was also suitable for Kraft in fox form as the summoning circle was being ced in the centre of a derelict abandoned group of wooden houses and it had been overgrown with scrubs and bushes that it was easy for Kraft to hide in there and watch the action.

    (Of course, he rather jump up on a branch and oversee the entire situation from the top but there were no good trees around.) He also ensured that he was not within the summoning circle.

    The Chinese Strike Force eventually came and they looked extremely well prepared although overgeared seemed to be the right word as Kraft felt there was no need for such equipment. Regardless, he started to count the number of personnel the strike force had and coted it with the System''s information. (Kong Rong did allow the System to read through the briefings.

    "Ho... who''s the missing one?" Kraft asked as he noted that out of the 7, there was one not around with them. The System already started analysing based on their masked features as well as height and voice tones. (Kong Rong really gave everything.) and subsequently reported that a 1st Lt was not in the picture.

    The Devil Fox was eager to see where this particr ''fox'' is and wished for it to show its true colours before the real foxes in to show him, who''s the person that was worthy of the codename ''Fox''.

 Chapter 1989: The Search in the Caves -Final

    "What are you going to do, Mr Fox?"Kraft asked as he had collected enough information from the Banned Emperor Terrorists that he was able to get the Night Foxes to disguise themselves as them.

    Even themunication tool and the encryption signal were spot on that when Fox gave the prompt, the confirmation reply was more than enough to show that the Banned Emperor Terrorists were already waiting to pounce on the Chinese Strike Force.

    Apparently, the Banned Emperor Terrorists were more or less ready to die so that the summoning circle would be in effect. This also gave the Chinese Strike Force the confidence that they hadpleted their tasks. So, it did not take much for the Night Foxes to pretend their deaths since they were capable of not just holding their breath but also forcing their heart to not beat.

    It was a skill that Kraft had explicitly forced them to learn with perfection so that they could use it against their foes. It was also the reason why none of the Night Foxes upon learning this particr method had ever doubted Kraft''s reason to tap and confirm their assassination targets.

    No matter how natural the assassination would be, it was essential to a confirmation strike to ensure that the body could never resurrect again. This meant that the Night Foxes were not only able to cheat death but to ensure death for their foes.

    That was why when the Chinese Strike Force noticed the ''ambush'', they were quick to report their victory, not knowing that the ''Fox'' had set up a trap where when the supposed Banned Emperor Terrorists had died, the summoning circle would light up and summon a Void Being or something equivalent to defeat all of the Elite Force.

    "Boo Hoo ~my dear Fox. It is not happening." Kraft smiled as he put both of his hands together and caused the circle to light up. The Fox who was watching from afar had so far not noticed anything wrong with the current process and was eagerly watching the death of the Chinese Strike Force beforeing towards it so that the Fox and the Void Being would have some conversation.

    Kraft could hear his desires so tantly from afar that he called Jin and asked if he could lend a hand.

    "What am I supposed to do?" Jin had been forcefully teleported to the ce where Kraft had called and upon seeing Kraft''s devilish face, he knew that he was being called for a reason despite having a talk with Kong Rong.

    "You catch on fast my dear Boss. Give me some void energy power. Just enough to have the vibes of it. I do not need much." Kraft said as he gave a side wink showing that he had a n in mind. At the same time when the summoning circle glows, it also paralysed the entire group, disabling them from moving while popping out smoke.

    This bought some precious time for Kraft to converse with Jin in case he wanted to know more. Thankfully, he was able to understand the situation quickly and only asked the essential questions.

    "Does this have to do with the traitor?" Jin obliged as he asked that question but instead of attaching himself with a System Rider and calling the monster to obsess him which he had been doing to provide the Void Energy, he did the easy way out by opening a portal and Farasha''s head popped out ever so slightly.

    Without any questions, Farasha allowed Jin to touch him and thetter was able to transmit the void energy via Farasha and to Kraft.

    "Oof. No matter how I felt this energy flowing through me, I could understand why no one could everprehend this power and why we were not able to replicate it. This is literally the void of energy but to be able to manipte a void and harness energy from this?

    This is something I still cannot wrap my head from it." Kraft said as he thanked Jin and snapped his finger every so quickly causing Farasha''s portal as well as Jin to disappear from the current location. Jin didinter stating that he could have spectated and enjoyed the show but returning to talk to Kong Rong and informing of his suspicions was equally important.

    Soon, Kraft causes a sh among the paralysed strike force and now oozing with Void Energy, the Chinese Strike Force panicked at the unknown feeling. Simultaneously, the Night Foxes also teleported away to make it look as if the summoning circle had consumed their bodies as part of the sacrifice to activate the summoning circle.

    When the Fox saw it, he was ted that the summoning worked and was delighted that he was able to kill off an elite group of Chinese security forces. This will undoubtedly increase his chance of climbing up thedder and trust among the government forces and rece those who had been found by the Internal Security and ultimately Kong Rong.

    He had no idea how sleeper agents who had worked perfectly well in their jobs without giving indication were discovered in one sweep and annihted by Kong Rong. Whether the Head of Internal Security knew all along or there was a traitor among their ranks.

    Even if it was thetter, the only person who have knowledge of the sleeper agents were of the highest ranks within the Banned Emperor Terrorist Cells. There was no way they could have slipped up considering they were now said to be in Deep Freeze and only toe out when the time was right.

    Not to mention, thest when he checked, the Freezing Adobes were left untouched and the magic guards were not activated at all. That was why Fox was extremely curious about how Kong Rong was able to get sleeper agents'' information so urately. Killing one or two might have been possible, but the entire sleeper agent cell within the Internal Security Agency? That was not beyond ult magic.

    "Yo, I do not know who you guys are, but be my meal okay?" Kraft smiled so brightly, it brought terror to the team of paralysed force.

    As they struggled to get out of it, they knew that this was a being that they could not defeat if all of them were not able tobine their forces. And even if they did, the leader of the Strike Force felt that they might not be out of this alive. He tried his best to call upon Fox and tell him to call that this operation was a failure.

    "Tell the others that the Banned Emperor Terrorists are exhibiting summoning capabilities that are equivalent to the one in the Shenzhen Expo Incident. Hurry!" The leader shouted through thems but all they heard from thems wereughter. Pure maniacalughter that even Kraft was able to hear when the Strike Force kept quiet and understood that they had been betrayed.

    After being a Sleeper for so long, there was no doubt that this ''Fox'' character that Kraft was hearing finally broke out of character. Why would he not? If Kraft was in the same position as Fox, he too would want to do the same thing as well. Letting others know that he had actively betrayed his teammates for the longest time ever.

    The feeling of ruination that had been brought to the team whom he had gone through thick and thin, he could not help but relish in it.

    But Kraft felt this was wrong.

    Wrong not because this Fox guy was using his nickname. Wrong not because this guy had betrayed the team. Wrong because Kraft should be the only one feeling this way. Kraft should be the only one who brings betrayal and ruination to his teammates but not at the expense of their lives.

    That was why he had decided to help the Strike Force to right some wrongs by looking in the direction of Fox and beckoning him toe to the so call summoning circle. When Fox saw it through his binocrs, he initially thought something was amiss and tried to shake that disbelief for a while.

    Only at that moment, he suddenly feel his body was being carried and dragged. It was then this ''Fox'' had no idea what was going on until he came to his senses that he was being pulled toward Kraft and to the audience he wished to kill.

    "What? What is happening?" He never expected the Void Being to be sentient to such an extent and tried to exert his chi. However, the more he attempts to do so, he feels that it is extremely futile as the Void Energy that Kraft''s exhibited was absorbing every single ounce of chi that this Fox exudes.

    It was to the point where this particr Fox was struggling physically to break out of this certain telekic hold so that he could be able to a) escape or b) fight. But no matter how he did that, he was not able to.

    "Soбнmy dear audience? What do you think we should do with this бнtraitor?" Kraft grinned at the supposed leader of the Chinese Strike Force, waiting for his reaction.

 Chapter 1990: The End of Fake Fox

    "Is the monster really helping us?" The leader of the Chinese Strike Force is wholly confused by the situation. At one point, he thought that this particr Void Being was going to kill them, but no matter how he tried to use his chi, it felt like the Void Being was absorbing every single particle of energy from them.

    But even if he does that, he is showing his animosity towards the summoner of this particr summoning circle. Most of all, he was still reeling from the fact that Fox, a long time member of his elite team had suddenly betrayed him. Why here? Why now? What''s the reason for such betrayal?

    Is there something that Fox wished to achieve that he could not have done it in China? Or was he nning to run since this is foreign territory and it was a ck ops mission? There were so many questions within the leader of the Chinese Strike Force but the only thing he was being asked why now was whether he wished for the summoner to be punished.

    "Of course, I want to punish him but-" And even before he could make an argument, Kraft had already used his telekinesis to pull Fox''s face right to his palm and squeeze his head. In a manner of getting juice from an orange through brute force, the scene of Fox dying would be stuck in the Chinese Strike Team for the rest of their lives.

    They did not know whether they should be appeased that this particr monster was able to get revenge for them since they had no idea if they are the next to go.

    "What? Do you want to question him? Do you think you have the privilege to call the shots right now?" Kraft asked as he had already gotten all the information he could from this Fox. Apparently, there were other factions as suspected of summoning their Banned Emperor and this particr Fox was in the faction that specialised in Void Beings.

    Celestials and Void Beings, they had indeed been categorised as the same group ording to the information and memories of this dead ''Fox''. There was no differentiation to the summoning since they were all special summons in their opinions especially when summoning was a difficult process.

    What Fox did not know was that all they had been summoning were Void Beings and not Celestials at all. As for the other faction, they had been specialised in summoning Demons and those required less detailed requirements than Void Beings.

    They could just offer blood as an offering or some offered a partial of their lives as part of the contract but what differed from Demons and their summoning of Void Beings was that the Demons were more like a Gacha system in action rather than Void Beings.

    In Void Being summonings ording to Fox, if they had figured out where the veil was the thinnest, they could prepare the necessary offerings as well as preparations to break the veil and get the Void Beings toe out. Usually that would include getting a few lesser demons to assist in the breaking of the veil and coercing the Void Beings toe out.

    It happened in Shenzhen where there was a mix of Demons and Void Beings as well as Italy where the demons were used to lure Spartakus out.

    That was also why they believed that the Void Beings were Celestials as most of the lesser Demons that broke through the veil were annihted and the Void Being came out of it. Not to mention, when all their chi and magic had been rendered useless, making them trust that the Void Being was some sort of higher being which they were indeed, just not the kind that they should be looking for.

    "No... I apologise." The Chinese Strike Force leader whose head was now on the ground facing towards Kraft, while attempting to kneel to the best of his ability since he had been restrained by this...'' higher being''. The rest saw what their leader was doing and also tried to do the same thing as well.

    All of them knew that their lives were indeed at the mercy of this ''higher being'' and there was nothing that they could do to get out of it, especially when their chi had been rendered useless.

    Kraft also felt the powers of their chi coursing into him through the void energy acting as some sort of ''leech'' and while he did not need their chi considering how he himself was a broken power user, it still felt good.

    "Let this be a warning to not summon me unnecessarily," Kraft said as he grew drunk in the chi that he had absorbed and pulled them up by their throats using their own chi. After all, he had to show how a Void Being cannot be that merciful, aye? (Actually, ording to Farasha, there were kind Void Beings but their numbers are not many, so not everyone thinks humans are ythings.)

    "We shall not." The leader used all his strength to say those three words as quickly as possible so that the ''Void Being'' would not have any excuse to execute his team members.

    "Not bad. I expected you to take even more time to respond." Kraft smirked as he felt ''happy'' and let go of them, allowing them to breathe but still using their chi to suppress their movements. They were able to tolerate the chi suppression since they were elite fighters themselves but they were not stupid to lift a finger against a ''higher being''.

    "You are now marked by me and if I need a favour. You will pay that favour. For now, bring that traitor away." Kraft said as he seared a tattoo mark at the side of their necks. There was a half fox head while a skull like fox for the other half.

    It was a decent tattoo, to be honest and everyone believed that the higher being was doing it as a reminder not to be a traitor now that they owed him a favour.

    The chi suppression aura by Kraft was still active but a portal emerged right beside them and it was pretty obvious that if they wished to get out of that suppression aura, they had to go through the portal regardless of the dangers thaty ahead of it. Still, they were going to move forward and not to be seen as weaklings but as capable ''ves'' that could be useful to the higher being.

    The Chinese Strike Force assumed it was a test if they could get out of there alive when Kraft was merely teasing them to his desire.

    Yet, he was not that heartless and with that portal, it allowed them to return to China, especially the defence base that was their pride and home. And of course, he knew where they stayed as he had already imed every single information from the fake ''Fox'' and therefore had the portal coordinates prepared.

    When the Strike Force returned to their home base, it was even before their pilot was able to refuel and do their extraction. Yet, the strike force team once again experienced the so called higher being''s powers once more. The defence base had been protected by a series of defensive magic barriers. Even creating a portal will trigger the barrier system and will not allow the portal to emerge.

    However, everyone was shocked when they saw the Strike Force lying within the armouries of the defence base, a ce of higher defensive magic charms.

    People gathered to assist them and even called for an emergency medical service for them. Kraft upon doing his job merely smiled as he closed the portal and checked the broken summoning circle.

    "Looks like a close shave, huh Boss Jin? If not, you probably have to deal with another Void Being." Kraft said to himself and also teleported back to China as he continued to roast the remaining Banned Emperor terrorists even though they did not know much. It was a training session for the Sun Foxes to get information and see if they were able to gleam the same kind of information as he did.\\

    As for the reporting, the System had already recorded everything and performed a summary for Kong Rong and Jin although thetter roughly understood the situation at hand. That was why they merely gleaned through the report since they had already predicted the circumstances that had gone their way.

    Kong Rong''s suspicions were also confirmed and knew that there were still quite a few Banned Emperor sleeper terrorists that were within the military, police and other governmental institutions. They were like cancer that was hiding and waiting for the proper chance to strike.

    Now the Leader of China''s Internal Security is really starting to envy Jin who had people and monsters with absolute loyalty to him and he did not need to worry about a single thing.

 Chapter 1991: Martial Arts and Sports Competition

    But even as Kong Rong had learned of the news, there was nothing that he could do at the moment. While he was thankful for what Jin had done especially after loaning Kraft to him, the Dungeon Supplier was merely helping one of his supposed Panda n subordinates especially when he did so much in the backlines.

    Earning that 15 Million Euros was also partially due to Kong Rong''s efforts. That was also the reason why Jin readily loaned Kraft to Kong Rong so that the matter could be seen to itspletion and also as a thank you for aiding him to earn this fair sum into his pocket.

    There were no doubt consequences to their actions, good or bad, Kong Rong had already given Jin the breakdown as they returned from the airport.

    And to see the situation to be under control and finally under wraps, Kong Rong could focus on other things while Jin was able to start working on his other projects which he had sorely missed because of the business trip to Italy. One of them that needed urgent attention was the martial arts and sportspetition instance.

    So far, the martial arts portion has gone extremely well. The Martial artists and various cultivators were rather surprised by the realistic environment that they were ced in and while the environment yed a very minor part in the fights, it was undoubtedly a highlight to them since the cultivators and martial artists always thought that they had to fight in a clean environment.

    Of course, when they signed up for it, the rules and uses had already stated that there would be differing environments as part of the obstacles ced. It might be an advantage or disadvantage to the martial artists, but this was the surprise that would be waiting for them as they awaited their turn.

    Surely, there were people who stated that ceteris paribus should be the way to go but most of the audience preferred a more dynamic fightpared to the dull empty ring. And yes, a dull empty ring also meant that the fight would be focused on the martial artists though Jin had taken a look at the past videos of such martial artists'' fights.

    They were not as mourised as he thought they would be. Most of them were using standard moves to win partially due to the rules and regtions that had been set. It was not a match where the gloves were off.

    This was also why, the most important change in this particr series of fights was that the martial artists and cultivators were allowed to fight to the death mainly due to the fact that they were in a dimensional instance.

    This instantly increased the number of participants mainly because of the removal of such rules and the use of more deadly moves were permitted. It was to the point where the interest in these fights went up significantly higher than in previous years. The announcement for the temporary abolishment of non killer moves by the Royal Zodiac ns had given rise to foreigners interested in this.

    They were also able to participate but there were limits imposed since this was mainly apetition to determine who could represent China.

    Should the foreigners be able to reach to the semi finals or finals, they would be given a set amount of money and call it quits. It was unfair and might seem a little underhanded but a foreigner was not able to represent China.

    Also, because of these ''killer moves'' allowed, the interested audience came in droves,there were some who bought tickets for every single match and everyone was taking their phones to take videos of all the various fights so that they could upload them into their favourite social media. And to their pleasure, most of the fights were rather fierce and there were rarely any withdrawals.

    What they did not know was that the System did a little ''Krafty'' maniption and gave them a little adrenaline boost if they were near death. A little bit of psycho maniption was all that was needed to push everyone to fight to their fullest. That was also why the fights were interesting to watch and those who bought all the tickets had the st of their lives.

    At the same time, the Main Store instance was still able to amodate everyone who came. From temporary lodging to food, the System and Jin provided everything under the sun, making this as much of a sess as they could ever get. The experience that they had from the Pandastic Festival was the reason why the System was able to coordinate almost everything.

    It did not take long for Jin to catch up and understand what the System was trying to do as it automated almost every process possible.

    All Jin needed to do was to make sure that there were enough dungeon instance variations for the people and so far, he got lucky and did not use finish all of the extra variations. This meant that he could put people into bonus rounds if he really wanted. A so called second chance for those martial artists and cultivators who had lost.

    Besides, who did not like an underdog?

    That was why as automated as the processes were, the System still needed Jin''s output and he returned just in time to perform this deed. (This was also why the System did not make any noise when Jin was out on his business trip because the System had already predicted and timed his return ordingly. If it was any longer, the System would have sounded off.)

    So, with sufficient losers (unfortunately), Jin was able to make a poll based on the videos that the System had coted for the entirepetition so far and allowed the audience to choose who should be deserving of a second chance.

    He also allowed people who were not part of his audience to choose too but their votes were worth lesser as they did not pay like the audience did and only watched from the sidelines. However, he still enabled such interaction mainly due to the fact that tickets were always avable since his dimensional instance could be erged for people toe in and watch the fight.

    From front row seats to floating seats, as long as there were people buying the tickets, there was always a fresh set of rows for them to choose from until it had been fully upied. Only then, Jin would release another set of seats for people to choose from.

    Previously, the Dungeon Supplier valued quality views but as more people wanted to get a piece of the action, it was pretty obvious that this was the best opportunity to not just let the dungeon supplier grow, but also allow ''normal'' people who were not always keen of dungeon suppliers to have a taste of his store.

    This way, they might return not because of running dungeon instances but for the diversification of events that Jin had ensured to keep the dungeon supplier store and concept fresh in people''s heads. In some way, it was to revolutionise how people look at dungeon supplier stores. (Well, perhaps only his store since the others were stillgging behind in terms of everything that Jin provides.)

    That was why for the first time and perhaps in the future as well, he hadpromised his initial values and opened as many seats as possible while also ensuring that everyone had a good view watching it.

    If necessary, dynamic magnifying magic, a specialty of the System that almost no one in the world was able to follow, was used along with their seats to provide an exciting experience that new Pandarens could not foresee.

    This goes the same for the sportspetition as well.

    Rules such as the use of chi was strictly forbidden and with the System being the referee, they were surprised that many athletes had been given a warning card for ''unintentionally using chi." Those warning cards were given rather than immediate expulsion because the System and Jin knew that in the real world where there were circumstances where there were too many unintentional uses of chi and it was hard for the judges to catch in the heat of the action and the yers orpetitors could be found arguing with the referees and judges.

    This is not the case for Jin''s dimensional instance and it instantly became a hit to all the judges as well as those who adhere to the rules of the sports. Sure, there was a bit of variation and some increased difficulty due to the changes in the usual environment they had topete, but thepetitors who worked hard found themselves finally on a levelled ying field with the rest.

    There was no need to cheat anymore.

    It was truly a brand new eye opener forpeting athletes who had beenining that the best of the best had been ''doping'' with chi to win thepetition. For this is the most fair ying field that they could ever get.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1992: Jins Involvement in the Competition

    Even as all of those martial arts and sportspetitions were being held in the Dungeons and Pandas, Jin was worried about something that he should not have worried about. However, the more he worried about it, it seems like the chances of it happening seemed to go up.

    And that was the chance for him or his minions toe out as apetitor in a martial artspetition instance. He did not have such a worry in the first ce but as thepetition grew more intense, there were certain Pandarens or Pandawans who had been watching the martial artspetition and asked why did the owner of the dimensional instance not join to prove his strength.

    Some argued that being able to create such an interactivepetition instance was already a show of his strength but it seemed like the events of the current world had made the Chinese society especially the martial artists a little curious as to how the Dungeon Supplier from Shenzhen was able to be gain international recognition within a short span of time.

    Jin thought that only the top government officials and the Royal Zodiac n leaders would know of the identity of the Chinese Dungeon Supplier who had offered to aid in Italy''s darkest moment. He never realised that the information did note from within but from outside.

    It seems Italy had no qualms in sharing information with the world that Jin was the ''hero'' to save Italy and rtions between his country and the former had gone to all time high.

    It was to the point where the current martial artistpetition had been viewed internationally especially, by the Italians, and some even joined. That was why the mention of foreigners previously but Jin did not expect a lot of them had purposely flown to Shenzhen just for the martial artistpetition itself.

    They called themselvesbat magicians and since the martial artistpetition held no restrictions against magicians, just that the foreigners had their own category until they merged with the original tree ofpetitors, people were starting to show interest in the boss of Dungeons and Pandas.

    It was to the point where there werementaries from other Royal Zodiac n Heads that also offered their insight into the aftermath of Italy''s incident and indicated the urge to see Jin in action.

    It might have been a randomment from the mouth of those n Heads but they were not lying that the existing Royal Zodiac n Heads were interested in the uing Royal Zodiac n Head that would be heading the old Panda n.

    It was still up for debate whether they should allow him to join in an official capacity, but it seemed like there was still resistance between the n Heads since 12 Zodiacs had always been the legend.

    Allowing a new Royal Zodiac n Head to emerge wouldplicate the history of the existing 12 Royal Zodiacs. Yet, there was no denying that those in the know of Jin''s powers could see that allowing him to take the official ce of a once defunct Royal Zodiac n would undoubtedly increase the power of China.

    They could see that he was a powerhouse to be reckoned with and the contributions he had made were significant and eye catching.

    It was to the point where people should be investigating him but they had no idea that the official ''people'' who had the ability to investigate were under Jin''s influence as well.The internal security was extremely biased towards Jin partially due to Kong Rong''s favouritism to the Dungeon Supplier.

    There were many a times when the Internal Security had mini events where they had to use the dungeon instances. Or... it was more like the head of Internal Security had been using the dungeon instances as opportunities to increase the strength of his team as much as possible.

    Especially in the recent Dark Days Dungeons, the training had paid off a lot considering that Kong Rong himself had difficulty going through it despite the painful childhood he went through to get a solid foundation.

    But the difficulty was subjective as the timing restriction that he had given himself was one to topple the fastest clear time that the Pandawans or Pandarens had put up. After all, this Dark Days Dungeon instance was something that had been proven that it is methodic in nature.

    It means that as long as you know the particr pattern or patterns that the Boss was using to fight against you, you can train patiently and eventually win against the Boss.

    Of course, this is not useful in a fight but the thing that the Dark Days Dungeon instance teaches is to observe the enemy and not be hasty especially when you are at a disadvantage.It also helps that only one particr technique can be used so they can hone their techniques depending on how much they wish to do so.

    So, with the ''investigative team'' biased, Jin already had the support of the Royal Zodiac Dragon n Head to be the newest uing Royal Zodiac. It was also at a time when the tensions between various countries were at an all time high and China wished to show its strength by having Jin enter the fray.

    However, there were still a few n Heads who were wary of the repercussions of bringing Jin to be the Royal Zodiac Head.

    In fact, there was resistanceing especially from the Rat n not because of the reason why Jin had annihted the entirety of their upper echelon Triad but rather, because the Rat n had attempted to bring someone they know and of a high prestige status to be a Royal Zodiac. Yet it was rejected almost immediately.

    For this, the n Heads had unanimously agreed that the Royal Zodiac Panda n had been officiated previously before they were being persecuted due to certain actions. "The history of bad blood should be forgotten'' was the reason to allow him to join. This was mainly due to the fact that the System had reversed time and allowed what Jin''s Grandpa Ming to be erased.

    And that somehow also included the bad blood and animosity of the problem.

    That was also why they wanted Jin to enter the current martial artspetition and show the world that they had an uing Royal Zodiac Head that they had to be wary of. That would definitely bring their biggest political rival in this world stage be cautious in what they do.

    Yet at the same time, the Royal Zodiacs feel that it was not sufficient of a threat to allow Jin to be the Royal Zodiac Head at this stage until he not only win the National Martial Artistpetition but also the internationalpetition for Cultivators and Mages.

    To win against weapons was one thing, but to win and be the victor of the world was something that the Royal Zodiacs had been dreaming of since the inception of suchpetition. If Jin was able to win it, it would be the first time China had put their people on the pedastal and dere that they have the greatest in their country.

    But whether Jin wished to partake in it was another question by itself.

 Chapter 1993: Still A Delibration

    "Do you think that I have time to handle and enter the Martial Artist Competition?" Jin loled as he was reminded of the offer that the Royal Zodiac n Heads offered, especially the Tiger Dad who wanted Jin to show the world what he was capable of.

    "Considering that you had already made sure that there are other dungeon instances ready, the System does not see it as a problem for you to join. Increasing poprity would also in turn increase the poprity of the Dungeon Supplier store."

    "For the System to forget that there is still the expansion problem at hand? Is this truly the System that I know about?" Jin asked and the System kept quiet for a while before replying.

    "The System had a priority ranking on the issues at hand. And the priority to enter thepetition is the same as the priority of dealing with the expansion problem that you have created." The System stated as a matter of fact.

    "So the possible advantages and rewards that I may get is roughly the same for both sides? Is that what you meant?"

    "Yes, the short term advantages of getting first ce in the Martial Artist Competition would outshine the current expansion that you are about to develop. By doing so, User will prove to the world there there is truly one major capable cultivator that the countries should be wary of.

    The System theorised that your name and store would be more attractive when ites to the expansion that you wished for. There is also a possibility that User might earn more money and also get the original Shanghai basement that you wish for on a whim."

    "Lol, you still think I am grumpy or a little bitter for that particr case?"

    "ording to the System records and analysis, the User did put in a lot of effort in creating ideas for the basement aspared to the expansionnd bought from the famous shopping street as well as the underdeveloped region in Beijing Province."

    "Are you like...kind of erm dissing me for not stating the names of those expansions?"

    "The System is reflecting the same kind of attitude back to the User. There is no ill will replying back to the User. The System is merely informing and making the User aware of the portrayal of himself towards the expansionspared to the basement that he initially wished for."

    "...You are seriously thinking too much about it. Besides whatever concept that I had about the basement can also be applied to the new expansion areas as well..." Jin remarked casually while in actuality, he was being careful how to respond back to the System in case the System was going to spite him back with furtherments.

    "If the System is over analysing the situation, then the System rmends the User not get involved in the Martial Artist Invitation Competition and concentrate on the release of the new Dark Days Dungeon instance. After which, start to look into the development of the two expansion areas so that more revenue cane in. Does the User agree with this n?"

    "You do not want to see how other people react to the Martial Artist Competition?" Jin asked and the System returned a nonchnt reply.

    "The System had collected sufficient data from various events and this is on a bigger scale than any other events due to the infusion of new rules and regtions such as killer moves are allowed, the System felt that there was no need to be worried."

    "Not even Banned Emperor Terrorists?" Jin asked, considering they had been through a series of Banned Emperor terrorist plots and it would have been normal to be aware of the situation.

    "This is a unique situation. There might be Banned Emperor Terrorist sleepers and with Original Betor''stest information, it was safe to say that there should not be any attacks regardless of the possible sleepers. On the other hand, this is a Martial Artist Competition.

    If there is truly an attack during national events and when during the quarter finals and beyond that would be shown on television, the whole of China would be more united in defeating the Banned Emperor Terrorist." The System iterated.

    "Oh ya! The television part. Is Qiu Yue able to get better terms and conditions?" Jin asked, knowing that selling their content to national TV was something that never happened in his lifetime but he was going to squeeze every single penny that he could from them if possible. If not, he wished to get a 3 month televised slot as apromise.

    That might also work for promoting dungeon supplier content to the public and even better if it is during those popr timeslots. Of course, he was being greedy at that point.

    But never in his life did he realise that his desires were readily met. "The Head of Operations was able to get thete evening national televised slots for the quarter finals, semi finals as well as the finals. One hour each and they were willing to drag if it was longer than that. The price stays the same as quoted by the System."

    "In addition, the Head of Operations, Qiu Yue had also managed to clinch a deal for a provisional one month televised slot on Saturday Evenings 8.30pm. If it is proven to be popr, they would extend ordingly for a provisional three months andter six months. All of it depends on the poprity of the programme."

    "Now that''s what I am talking about! How much will it cost though? Still within expectation?"Jin asked and the System stated not to worry about the details as there was a budget set aside for it. If anything, there were already things in ce to promote the Dungeon Supplier Store even further using the televised slots. With Kiyu at the helm, the System believed they were going to do just fine.

    After all, it was mainly due to Kiyu''s aid in the making of the proposal that allowed Qiu Yue to get those slots. While there were no doubt some connections involved, considering Ma Ge from the Royal Horse Zodiac n to pull some strings, it was ultimately the effort shown by Qiu Yue and Kiyu that paved the way for this proposal to be feasible.

    They were merely using the connections that Jin had to break through in the industry.

    Who knows? Maybe Kiyu is able to create a short film or even drama series which she could use to get the Dungeon Supplier to be all the more popr. After all, the dungeon instance can create anything realistically and the System is able to produce makeshift items and buy items from the multiverse ck market if it is long term.

    Regardless, Jin wants to breakthrough and diversify. If he could go into the television and film industry, there would be money to be earned and with the number of minions that he has under his care. He could easily create war films be it historical fiction, science fiction or even fiction stories extremely easily. That was why one of the reasons why he had a partnership with Rei.

    "Ah, speaking of Rei, I should go get some information about the movie that he was making...or I could just ask the System." Jin indirectly looked at his electronic hologram to get more direct information. (If the System had a face, he would probably be staring at him all day long.)

    "Rei had yet to make his movie. The System believed that he had stumbled on something difficult to produce especially when the studio is having a strike because of the amount of money they were being paid."

    "Then erm pay them more? What''s the issue with that? I thought we had more than enough a budget."

    "The staff mentioned were the actors. Rei had decided to do a live action sequencepared to a 3D animated production considering the fact that they were able to use the Supa Robo Wars as the backdrop."

    "Wait what? Since where did this change ur?"

    "Since when you were not in this world."

    "So he is hoping that some A grade actor would live up to the hype of the studio?"

    "Exactly." The System stated and told Jin that they needed more than just a few millions in their bank ount if they would want to make a live action movie starring actual moving robots.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1994: Challenge Accepted!

    "If you do not change the subject at will, the System would like to know whether the User wishes to participate or not." The System asked as it could see that Jin was once again changing the topic, a bad habit that he always used to get away with the things at hand.

    "But I am really curious about that Rei thing! If I can help out, maybe my name could also flourish. Teehee~" Jin tried to push for the benefits of being famous to be within the movies when it was so obvious to the System that poprity from the movie was limited mainly due to a few reasons.

    Jin is not popr in the first ce in the film industry, and he acting within it would probably wish to wear a mask in order to hide his identity as usual despite the fact that he desperately wanted to use this as an excuse to avoid any discussion.

    Not only that, no matter how one sees it, watching Gunndam is a niche film, and unless people are truly amazed by not just its graphics but also its story, the sales of the film could only work if it is a resounding sess.

    However, there were too many hups ording to the System''s records, stating that Rei aside from doing the System''s tasks, he had been handling the film rather poorly because he rather did it as an independent studio rather than allowing any major publisher to assist him with it.

    After all, he wanted the profits for himself and he believed that the System and Jin wanted the profits to themselves as well.

    That was why while the dy is unfavourable, Rei''s decision to change into live action is to buy more time for the studio. But each time Rei''s decision to make it bigger and better stood out for the public to see, the more they felt like it was going to fail.

    Partially due to the ambition that Rei had (not to mention the time he did not have.) The System felt that it might actually be a good thing for Jin toe in and intervene in order to save the film or else it will be spiraling into hell and it bes an investment that would not be worth saving any longer.

    "The System is going to give the User a mandatory quest." Judging from the System''s point of view, Jin had been too wishy washy when the stakes were high in this current situation. "Save Engineer Rei''s film by enacting it the way you want it to be.

    Publish it using Engineer Rei''s name and when the film produces enough money, use it to invest in his current studio and the actor & actress that he wished to employ."

    "That sounds...fair," Jin said but the System was not done.

    "The filmmaking must be done before the Finals of the Martial Artist Competition. You will be inserted as ast minutepetitor to fight against the finalist."

    "So, I am like thest boss before the Finalist could take the crown?" Jin asked and thought that was not a bad idea. It felt like there was a twist in the martial artistpetition, allowing him to debut as the dungeon supplier boss.

    "Yes, it is your choice to mask up or not. Because even if the User do or don''t, you will be bound to win thepetition. People will expect you to go to the internationalpetition of Cultivators and Mages as China''s representative. Otherwise, as its shadow representative. Also, even if you masked up, as long as people are interested, they can find who he is." The System exined.

    "Well, you make some sense." Jin started to ponder. If he did not join as apetitor but joined as an obstacle to the Finalists, it would greatly increase his clout for being an extremely strong cultivator.

    And to be a shadow representative had all the vibes that Kraft would like to have because it sounded like Jin would be the backup that no one had expected to defeat most if not all of the international representatives. He also believed that other countries have their shadow representatives and they were definitely not the kind the morally right people would want their country to represent.

    But sometimes infamy has its perks as well and as much as the citizens of said country would hate their shadow representative, there was no denying that if they win thepetition for their country, it would bring more benefits than harm to the country. People all over the world will know that the said country has someone they should not mess with.

    Of course, some said it is subjective since throwing a nuclear missile down or igniting a series of magic explosions could bring down a city. So what will the strongest person in the world do to prevent all of those? After all, ''he is just one person''.

    Needless to say, it might look like apetition of formality but there is still prestige that the strongest person originated from this particr country.

    Sure, a series of magic explosions will be able to decimate a city but it will also give ample reason for the strongest person in the world toe in and kill every single soldier that might be responsible for that and more.

    That was what the System wanted to portray to the world that Jin is someone who should not be messed with.

    At the same time, if he could not win to be the strongest cultivator in the world, it would definitely be an eye opener for the System and to see whether there were indeed people with cultivation or magic powers that are beyond the so call rumour Grade 20 and into the real cultivation grade that Jin was utilising.

    Hence Jin contemted a little and decided to give it a try considering that it was a quest that was given to the dungeon supplier after a long time. "So, what''s the reward? You know I do not really need money or any more stronger minions. Unless you can provide me a Higher Celestial or another Higher Demon like Baal."

    "Indeed, the System does not have any rewards that could assist you considering you have reached heights a normal human does not usually have. Be it power or wealth. However, the System might have something that could assist you in the worst possible oue."

    "You meanбн you can cheat death? I thought you could no longer reverse time considering how you do not have any more processing power to spare. And money can only buy you that much processing power. Unless we have more than just boatloads of money."

    "During your disappearance into the Synthesis World, Rei''s family members were able to disclose a portion of the Mecha Titan schematics to the System. It further increases the knowledge of the System in the production of Mechas.

    "And? You wish to withhold that and you have yet to release that for the minions or the Research Department to study?" Jin asked and the System gave an affirmative response to it.

    "Yes, the System withheld the data mainly due to the fact that if the information were to be decimated to the production line, you would have an army of Mechas that is superior to the current Mecha World."

    "Isn''t that a good thing? But I cannot believe you are withholding such information from me."

    "The problem with such mass production is that we need to either destroy hundreds of space colonies to get what we want or the System can open passage to a new world where you might be able to find such materials in abundance."

    "Ohбн so it''s not that you are withholding information for nothing. Its because we do not have the capability to produce it. And the reward that is avable to me is actually a brand new world to exploreбн. Or really be the viin and destroy the Mecha World I mean Mecha universe? I am so confused about the naming convention but you get where I aming from."

    "Yes, we refer to the world as Mecha World but in actuality, their technology is so advanced that they had expanded through multiple gxies that it is counter institutive to call it the Mecha World when it should have been the Mecha Universe. Yet, the naming conventions to the ces we had gone were-"

    "Stop right there. I get what you getting. Okay, okay. Let''s do it. Let''s see how far we can get with the martialpetition as well as Rei''s film. I do feel a little excited doing thetter though.

    Hehe!"

    "The System will provide the necessary backup as well push the minions to assist with the film making. Ex Betor Kiyu will also be informed to assist with the movie making. Do note that it is tedious work and considering how Kiyu needs time to post process it, the System will make the objective easier by narrowing the quest objective.

    Finish the filming process before the martial artistpetition finals."

    "Fine, I take that challenge on, regardless of the reward."

 Chapter 1995: Film Making -Part 1

    Jin knew that taking the challenge by himself was just to fulfill his curiosity about a new world, he would not deny that unlike the business portion of his dungeon supplier store, he was fulfilling the obligations that he had with other minions even though it was not needed for him. Although that being said, he had other obligations he had earlier such as Pandapolis.

    He honestly had no idea that a city could be built under his name and it was built to the point where it was not only functional but profitable as well. Of course, the profit margins were considered little since he had been allowing his ''governmental officials'' to throw money into the city to improve it to the point that it isfortable for the people there.

    That was perhaps why when Kraft saw the difference between this and the New Adventurer''s Town in the Goblin World, he felt rather disappointed.

    Jin suspected that there was no need for the High Elves to destroy the New Adventurer''s Town despite Kraft''s im and seeing how the High Elves never ever returned to their kingdom, it was pretty apparent that Kraft never had the intention of allowing them to be back in their abodes.

    It made Jin curious why Kraft who had a base full of his belongings as well as it being the headquarters of the Night Foxes to be burned to the ground for. Thankfully, it was well hidden and protected to avoid any damage to the headquarters due to Kraft''s magic but Jin deduced that Kraft''s insistence to rebuild the New Adventurer''s Town stemmed from the envy he had from Jin''s Pandapolis.

    So, even though he did feel a bit bad staying in Synthesis World for some time, part of him had the inert desire to stay even longer rather than go back to his own world and deal with the dungeon supplier and the other businesses that he had employed in this short period of time.

    But he could not say it out that he wanted to stay and enjoy the world that had been simted to the point where he enjoyed giving orders and thrashing other people.

    Yet, despite his inner desire to stay, his sense of responsibility to his store and to his employees was strong enough to not allow him to ditch his work entirely. That was the reason why he had been rushing and creating so many projects while seeking time in an effort to expand his operations. He could have rented somewhere easily in Shenzhen to expand but no, he wanted to own thend.

    Sure, he could have gotten somewhere less busy like the Liu Qian Town but he knew that suchnd needed time to grow, it did not feel optimal at all.

    If not for Ma Ge''s suggestion that he would provide support in the creation of a possible manufacturing park in the area, Jin could have let go of thend offer seeing how he wanted fast growth of money. This was because he had the capital to get what he needed and he did not need to be fussy unlike when he first started his store.

    Of course, he had to thank his grandfather for the headstart and if it was not for the fortune his grandfather spent on thatnd, it was impossible for him to get where he is right now.

    Perhaps, he would still be a bum, or maybe worse, be in the same footsteps of his grandfather to be a cultivator and not earn much from it.

    Regardless, Jin felt that this particr challenge that the System gave him was the right opportunity to try something new and even boost his growth even more so that his other unemployed minions would have the chance to have some job too rather than staying and training within the dimensional instances. There was no wrong to that but Jin felt it was too much of a waste.

    However, at the same time, he felt that he needed someone to take charge of the minions as a whole. His true second inmand where all that person does was to make sure all the minions were fully utilised.

    There was Qiu Yue who was supposed to do all those considering she was the Head of Operations but she had been fully upied with the rebuilding of the Adventurer''s New Town, the Joint Cities of Pandapolis as well as the Farming World, there was actually no time for her to look into the full employment of the minions.

    All she was doing was asking the System to get her the minions necessary in for the rebuilding of those ces and most of them were ironically the monsters, not the humans from the Dungeon World.

    To her, humans were useless. They easily tired and their brawns were unreliablepared to the monsters. Not to mention, humans tend to ask for more rewards the more they do things while the other monsters did notin at all even though all of them had willingly signed the contract.

    This was why Jin needed to do something about those who were unemployed or menial tasks even though they were under him.

    And this film making might be possibly the life changer for some of them there was a need to have lots of manpower with limited focus technical expertise to make things right. Jin had started calling Rei with regard to the film and told him about the quest that he had embarked on.

    "Ohбнso the news finally got to you, huh," Rei said as he felt like a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. At the same time, he realised a portal emerged right beside him when no one was looking and he quickly went in, knowing that at the end of it was Jin waiting for him to discuss about the problem.

    "Tell me, my dear friend. Of all the problems that you are currently facing and we see how best we can help you or we need to do more to alleviate the situation." Jin said as he had a coffee prepared right beside Rei.

 Chapter 1996: Film Making - Part 2

    For some reason, when Rei told him everything, he felt his shoulders were lightened even just so a little. He had always thought that he should put up a strong front and wanted to bring a movie that was befitting as thanks for reuniting him and his family. However, the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he felt that he was doing it wrong and the spiral just kept going and going.

    Somehow able to meet Jin at this point of juncture allowed him to think otherwise. As much as he did not want Jin to interfere because this is after all a gift to him as thanks but Rei felt that he had once more dropped into the bottom again with all the problems that he did not foresee.

    Unlike Jin who had the System to consistently monitor him, the System did not prioritise its processes to observe and intervene, merely observe. One was that the System did not have as much processing power as it liked to have and the other its that he was just a minion.

    From the System''s perspective, as long as it was not doing anything productive or losing the budget that had been bestowed to the certain minion, it would stop the minion''s activities almost immediately. It did not need to think so much with regard to that.

    After stopping the minion, it would then report to Jin, reporting that the minion had failed its ''mission'' to earn money from their activities.Rei was one of such instances and if not for Jin''s prompting, the System would not have indicated that the animation studio that was supposedly used to animate Gunndam was at such a crossroads.

    And to be honest, if Jin did not have the System putting such a quest up, he would either just approve and push money onest time for Rei to do his job and continue doing the things that his System would want him to do. However, now that the System had decided that there were subsequent benefits in making the movie, it had ced it as a main quest for Jin to grow.

    If it was not for Jin to grow, the System would not care less for Rei''s plight.

    "Hmmm, looks like there is a lot of problem with the production. How about this? Can you trust me in this? I might not be the greatest film maker or director but I think I have enough experience to make an action film. A short action film. No story but just lots of boom boom using our robots in Supa Robo Wars.

    Or maybe we just pick a scene off your manga and film it the hell out of it?" Jin asked and Rei thought for a moment.

    "So instead of an actual Gunndam film as promised, we do short films? Would that hurt the publicity and my reputation?" Rei asked and Jin shrugged his shoulders.

    "You say that Panda Inc. had decided to absorb your animation studio entirely and also decided to hire you while stopping the current production because of the hups you encountered. Yes, it might be a stain on your reputation but judging from the scale that you wished to aim for, I do not think I am able to finance it." Jin said and Rei reluctantly nodded his head.

    "The System might have an idea that might be able to allow Engineer Rei to salvage his so call reputation. The method would be to say that Panda Inc had fully bought over the studio instead of just funding it and the CEO had decided to pull the plug on the project for now and give other responsibilities for Engineer Rei to take up." The System suggested and the both of them nodded their heads.

    "I see, so instead of Rei getting the brunt of the criticism, it''s thepany that is getting the k. I do not mind." Jin shrugged his shoulders a tad and nodded his head as if this might actually be better for Rei so that he would not get hit so badly by it.

    Perhaps the only type of criticism he might get is that he had tried to do the best film ever possible and Panda Inc is unable to shoulder all the financial burden that Rei created.

    "The System thinks of it like as a change in direction based on the sponsor''s alignments and goals. Perhaps that would be a more appropriate way to phrase it." The System stated and Jin grinned a little.

    "Say what you will but the people would say bad things about us if we want to save his reputation. But oh well, this is a minor setback. If we can throw out the first short film and throw it out to a reputable media tform.. oh wait I can just use Pandaflixбн AHAHAH." Jin just realised this is a good chance to promote his own tform that was supposed to only be used for dungeon suppliers.

    And if things go well, he might be even able to create animation shows from it.

    "You did not sell your rights to people, am I right?" Jin asked Rei once more as a confirmation and he violently shook his head.

    "I got lucky and they asked whether I was okay with a studio animating my manga. The contracts were favourable to me and they gained traction. I did not follow for a second cour of animation mainly because I did not like the artwork that the studio was doing. It was a bit nd for my taste but I have no idea why it was still a hit within the anime industry." Rei said.

    "Not only it was a hit, but the studio and the publisher is able to get high value gains just from one cour of showing. Thest I remember seeing the sales of figurines and other merchandise that they sold was tremendously disgusting."

    "I know, but I did not get much royalties because I did not sell my rights to them. Besides, at that time after getting the money, I had sufficient to live by. I did not live such a vivacious lifestyle that is not sustainable." Rei said and Jin took up to give a pat on his back.

    "Don''t worry. With this return, we might be able to see the returns. Since you are mine, your rights are mine too. Muahhaha" Jin smiled devilishly and Rei merely nodded his head in return. After all that Jin had done for him, he knew that Jin was merely saying that to feel that he was in power.

    When in fact, the dungeon supplier had supplied Rei and his family a veryfortable home in Pandapolis as he continued to work as his part time job to get the robots and nes in working condition while putting effort into his movie.

    "So, what are we waiting for? Let''s go. Unlike your stupid animation studio, we have a dimensional instance at our disposal to do what we want." Jin said as he beckoned Rei toe with him until he suddenly had a stroke of inspiration that might enable him to get something more бнprofitable while filming.

    "Rei. Since we are doing a short film or a series of short films. We do not need to be the protagonist, right?" Jin asked and Rei suspiciously nodded his head. "Fabulous!" Jin yelled and he opened up his consoles. "Now this is going to be so exciting that I cannot wait."

    "What? What?" Rei was not able to catch the drift but the System did. After staying the longest time with a cunning person, even the System is able to learn and understand what is going on.

    "The System will prepare the necessary pilots and equipment but the System needs to know where the force is going to hit." When the System replied, Rei was even more confused than ever. He did not understand what was going on.

    "Force? Hit? Huh?? Aren''t we going to make film at the dimensional instance?"

    "Dimensional Instance? Why would I do that now that I know I can earn something while filming an action film? System please remember to create lines and insert them into the minions for them to blurt out naturally." Jin said and the System acknowledged.

    "That would usually take some System points from the minions, are you sponsoring the system points?"

    "Do I have System Points to spare in the first ce?"

    "No, but the System can use the User''s money in recement for System points."

    "Then duh, just spend the money since we are going to get our money''s worth if this short film is not profitable at the end of it," Jin said as he looked at Rei before smiling. That was when Rei''s mind suddenly clicked and could not believe it.

    "Wait, so you are saying that you are going to be an antagonist because what we are going to do is to raid the United Federations or the Xeon Union?"

    "Well duh. We had always wanted to do that but never had the chance to do so because we did not know where our family was. Now that your important people are here safe and sound, we can go all out at other people."

    "But you are killing other peopleбн oh wait. I forgotбн The System." Rei gave out a shortugh.

    "Yes, it is a burden that I have to shoulder. It feels like I am umting more karma when I do my killing spree and that Karma is to provide livelihoods for the people that I killed since they will being back to me.

    Although I still do not understand why killing humans in my own world does not allow me to keep them." Jin said as an afterthought but ignored it for now since there was a bigger picture to work on at the moment.

 Chapter 1997: Film Making - Part 3

    "All the magic eyes ready?" Jin asked the System and thetter replied that it had prepared thousands of cameras to take in the sights and sounds.

    Kiyu would have a headache trying to decipher which clip would be useful though the System, on the other hand, had started to learn Kiyu''s style and simrly with the usage of ''the System'' aspared to the basic artificial intelligence that Jin''s world was using, it would be able to create a few full samplepiled clips that would allow Kiyu to make the editing of films much more easily.

    "Affirmative. The target that Minotaur Sebastia had asionally entered to the Mecha World Universe to check had been verified once more by the Sun Fox scouts." The System replied.

    "Sun Foxes? Kraft is already allowing you to use them?" Jin was surprised by it as he was in the Dungeon Instance Maker area to check on the preparations.

    "Affirmative.

    Original Betor Kraft had stated that the Sun Foxes are ready for such operations and stated that if the operation could not go smoothly due to theck of scouting by the Sun Foxes, he would gently remind them how it is being done." Thest sentence was said without too much emotion granted that it was the System but Jin could feel that the System was merely reiterating Kraft''s sarcasm into the picture.

    "How many Fortress Golems we can use to move out? Or any Gunndam replicas that we would be able to utilise?" Jin asked the System while adding one more question. "Those humans that we had employed from the Seven Cities, have they been...'' educated'' on how to use the Mechas?"

    "Yes, for this particr raid, the System had purposely chosen a high security military fuel facility that is used to facilitate their logistic support. The System has provided sufficient data into their brains that they should be able to fight logically while ensuring that the operation is a sess.

    Whether it is a pyrrhic sess or a ''worthwhile'' sacrifice, that would be left for the Dungeon World''s humans to ensure our victory."

    "Lol, if it works well enough, we would be able to get them employed as permanent pilots. And the unemployed humans can also be used to for the production of those Mechas at Pandapolis."

    "Affirmative. Production lines of new Mecha fodders also known as the Mechanised Golems Gunners or MG Gunners for short had been created. The first runs had already been done and the Dungeon World''s humans had been taught how to pilot them." The System stated as Jin took a quick peek at what the robots looked like. They were simple looking Gunndams despite their names as Mechanised Golems.

    The Fortress Golems were heavy duty and their features were akin to a dwarf who had extremely simple robotic features as their face.

    But for the MG Gunners, they look more human like in their design. With a slightly protruding torso as the part of their body for the pilots to enter and manoeuvre the Mecha, the armour that surrounds this MG Gunner is rather light.

    There were no extra tings mainly due to the fact that the System initially ran this long ago for the viin act that they had always wanted to do but never did because Jin was in the Synthesis World for the longest time ever.

    However, now with this filming endeavour, the System was finally able to dust off these Mechas and use them for the fight. Full System diagnosis had been done for all 20 of these Mechas and none of them had any problems. After all, the quality assurance and control for these Mechas were rather hush due to them having dual circuit systems.

    It had been modelled how the cultivators and magicians were in Jin''s world as they had one circuit for chi and the other for magic. But as the cultivators grew, they gradually lost their magic circuits in lieu of the growth for additional chi circuits and vice versa for the magicians as well.

    This was thankfully not the case for Jin and the System had used this as part of the design for the new MG Gunners.

    The first circuit is electrical in nature as there was a small electromaic engine reactor that powered the MG Gunner. Meanwhile, its backup is actually a magic crystal that had been reserved for emergencies. But at the same time, this particr magic crystal is also used as part of the amplification design that had been embedded into the System.

    Unfortunately, this meant that only humans with magic capability could fully pilot the entire machine with its perks. That was also the reason why Dungeon World''s humans were used since they have an abundance of magicpared to the humans in the Goblin World.

    The Farming World''s humans have some magic capabilities but being able to conjure a spark is already considered a miracle in their poption''s eyes. That was why Schr Gold and Weslie were titled as Schrs because of their unique abilities to conjure magic as well as having the powers to wield magic freely.

    If one were to consider Gold and Weslie (before they were captured by Jin and the System) with the likes of a Graded Magician, there was a possibility that they might perform worse than a Grade 3 Magician. There was nothing much to say now that they were in the hands of the System.

    Jin had allowed them to research and be exposed to so many different capable magicians that they are improving non stop.

    So, with the Dungeon World''s humans as the test pilots for this short film, they were also there to collect data for the MG Gunner so that they could be used to better the value of the subsequent productions or whether there was a need for any changes.

    So far, the trial runs before the MG Gunners were rotting inside an isted warehouse to prevent rust had proven to be rather effective for its specifications. In fact, the MG Gunner can work as well as a protagonist Gunndam as long as the pilot has sufficient magical powers and ammunition to boot.

    Without proper logistical support, the MG Gunner might have problems surviving on its own and thus be considered to be a fodder Mecha in the eyes of the System. Even the Fortress Golems who had proved their worth were considered the superior fodder aspared to the MG Gunner.

    But the System believed that with sufficientbat data, it would be possible for the MG Gunner to achieve Mark I and perhaps Mark II in the near future.

    In fact, the MG Gunner might be the base of an evolution of various Mechanised Golems that would being out of Pandapolis Factories should the film be considered a sess. The System had already thought of various bases to attack and perhaps even encountered with the United Federation''s own customised Mechas that could rival the name of a Gunndam.

    But the filmes first and (again) if it is sessful, the System will be able to get Jin to look into allowing the Gunndam to be televised on television asionally although the System felt that statistically, putting it as a short film might be able to garner more profit mainly because it is a hobbyist dream to watch a good entertaining action flick.

    So the possibility of it being a hit in Pandaflix would have a better probability than putting it on national television.

    Jin on the other hand was ted that all the items were in ce for him to just snap his fingers and go. He had no idea that the System had prepared all of this when he was gone and was delighted to see he could get this viin idea even though he knew that it was a risk. But after saving so manys, perhaps it should be okay to destroy once in a while, right?

    Only then, there will be bnce in the multiverse.

    Yet, that was just his own personal ramblings and there were no proper justifications for him to do so. Still, he could see the profit of being a viin considering that both the United Federations and Xeon Union might be able to unite together to defeat amon enemy.

    Maybe at some point, improve their technology as well so that they could further wreak havoc against them and win, not knowing that by exposing this technological advance to the ''viin'' the System might be curious and wish to copy it for its own advancement as well.

    It might possibly be a never ending battle but for now, all Jin had to do was to sow seeds of discord so that they could fight among each other for a while longer before Jin officially entered the fray as the viin against the two major factions of this Mecha World Universe.

    "What are we waiting for since everyone is ready? Let''s get the operation started!" Jin smiled and gave the go ahead for the space vessel which Rei duplicated to rush to this heavily fuel depot.

 Chapter 1998: Film Making -Part 4

    As the space vessel which Rei had personally be at the helm for had reached its target destination in a matter of seconds due to the distance the System had ced them away, thousands of the magic magics had beenunched from the ship''s starport and zooming away to get the best possible angle for the fights.

    Each of them was powered by the System''s unique magic propeller engine that was as quiet as the void of sound would be. The only thing one could hear from it was the wind as it passed through close to their eyes.

    However, considering this was outer space and there was nothing but vacuum, this so called wind was definitely not possible, and also that means that the magic eyes that the System had deployed were able to move ever so quietly than ever before since there was no wind to stop them at all.

    And when the space vessel appeared ever so quickly right in front of the space colony due to the use of a short warp generator, the space colony''s security systems were not quick enough to pick it up.

    In fact, Jin and the System had caught them at the worst possible time. People were attempting to fly back to their homes for a holiday that did not exist in Jin''s World. Not to mention, the space vessel was an unregistered model that the United Federation Space Colony was not able to identify whether it was a friend or foe.

    The only time their battle instincts started to kick in was when they saw autocannon shots were being bombarded right at their spaceport when people were dying to return to their homes. It was a random barrage as the System merely targeted the densest corner of the space colony based on a quick sweep from the space vessel.

    It did not even go through with Rei who was leading the space vessel for its permission and had already fired automatically into the fray. The System was afraid that Rei would not be able to sleep well in the night knowing that he had to give themand to kill his fellow humans in a cold blooded manner.

    Unfortunately, the magic eyes did not even direct their cameras towards Rei or the crew that had been manning the space vessel, instead it had poured whatever energy they had capturing the deathly sight of the bombardment that the space vessel''s auto cannon had done to the space port.

    In the meantime, the magic eyes had already infiltrated the military bases and it had managed to catch a glimpse of the panic from the defenders'' point of view. It was to the point where it surprised Jin that the magic eyes were able to do such a magnificent job.

    While the dungeon supplier how the System was able to sneak these magic eyes into the security base, he decided to just go with the flow and enjoy the videos taken by the Magic Eyes.

    "What is happening? The Xeon Union attacking?" One of the captains on duty was shocked by the sound of the barrage and the rms ring like crazy.

    "We do not know and we are sorting everyone that is on duty." Themunications officer replied to the captain but simultaneously, the MG Gunners were already on the move. They were shot out from theirunching bays through a metal pod.

    The pod acted as a big bullet spiralling down to the enemy''s base with its bottom being shaped like a funnel. The human pilots were also able to handle the descent to a certain degree but considering how the vessel was at the stratosphere, it was being shot at a high speed to ensure that it did maximum damage when itnded, giving some breathing space for the MG Gunners to emerge from their pods.

    And unfortunately for the United Federation military base, their anti air base defences were taken out just like this because those big ''bullets'' moved at such speed that they created destruction when theynded while ensuring that their Mecha was unharmed from the descent.

    At that point, the MG Gunners were already moving into obvious hangars that were housing the defending Mechas. However, instead of exploding the entire ce to kingdome, the MG Gunners tore open the hangars and started to shoot at the humans that were trying to arm the Mechas. The MG Gunner pilots even threw anti personnel gas grenades to ensure that they were killed by the toxic gases.

    Even if some were able to get space suits, most of them were not prepared for such an attack.

    Once most of them were killed, the MG Gunners would tag the United Federation Mechas and a bright blue light would pierce into the skies, allowing Rei to call their auxiliary air support to swoop in and take charge of the unactivated Mechas.

    Of course, not all of the MG Gunners were sessful since there was a veteran or two who were pessimistic enough to stay on standby their whole duty. They were the ones who were able to sortie out almost immediately and destroy the assigned MG Gunners that were supposed to raid those selected Hangars.

    Unfortunately for the United Federation Mecha pilots, they were still outnumbered since most of the hangars were closely gathered for the other MG Gunners to provide support. A couple had been shot down and the captain on duty had no idea what the enemy Mecha was doing until they saw ortho copters descending from the enemy space vessels and a team of hijackers came into the picture.

    The captain was insistent that the United Federation Mechas could not have their cockpit locks broken without authorisation and did not care much about them.

    He was also certain that even if the hijackers were able to find the emergency escape button to forcibly open the cockpit, they would never be able to close it back, allowing them to be vulnerable like a soldier fighting with his ribcage wide open and his heart was exposed for people to take advantage of.

    However, this was not the case for the hijackers. They were not advanced hackers but humans with magical abilities. Even without the correct keys, a little bit of highly advanced unlock magic was needed to get the cockpit doors to open with just the words ''Open Sesame''.

    That was also the reason why Jin had chosen humans from the Dungeon World because of their knowledge of magic. And now that they were also equipped with the capabilities to pilot these big bad guys, they were the perfect candidates to be the hijackers of the enemy Mechas. The System had noted from Kraft that unlock magic was still surprisingly useful even with hi tech gadgets.

    All Kraft needed was to tweak the magic sequence a little in the chanting and for some reason, it became a universal key to open almost everything.

    That was why Jin had instead opted to have an open door concept since he knew that Kraft would be able to open anything if he really wanted to. But these hijackers were not trained in such high level unlocking magic and instead, they were given scrolls courtesy of the Night Foxes.

    And with the activation of magic, they were able to open those cockpits with ease. The only caveat was that Jin had insisted that they tried to open with their own magic powers first before using the scrolls as he wanted to see if the spell level and knowledge difference could affect the unlocking probability.

    So far, one of them worked without using the skill scroll that the Night Fox gave but the others were unsessful. This gave Jin confidence that what Kraft did was merely increase the probability of the spell to work because of his expertise and natural knack for opening things.

    Regardless, whatever they did, a lot of the hijackers had managed to get the cockpit security system to unlock for them and they were able to start up the United Federation Mechas.

    It was at this point that the defenders had lost all faith that they were able to defend this space colony. The only confusion that they have is that they do not understand why this unknown group of people wasing to this high security refueling facility of a space colony.

    There was nothing here other than fuel and to breach this facility was merely going to attract unnecessary attention to them. And the fact that this is a high security outpost should have forced them to hold their hand and operate elsewhere.

    It was true that currently, the enemy seemed to be winning considering how they had managed to steal the Mechas making the captain in charge to be bbergasted, however, the reason why it is ssified as High Security was that warships would pass here to refuel and they were a behemoth of a problem of its own.

    With a press of a button, a United Federation Rook ss warship will emerge within a fifteen minute period. And so, all they could do was to try to save as many civilians as they could and evacuate the people who were able to move so that they could escape the carnage the Rook ss Warship would appear.

    But Jin knew all this beforehand when Rei who was the engineer for both the United Federation and Xeon Union for a brief period of time had told him about this information. They were banging on it for a good fight even though all they recruited were merely peasants with above average magic abilities, they believed it could still be an exciting show.

    Sometimes all people needed was just another chance.

 Chapter 1999: Film Making -Part 5

    "Captain! The Rook ss Warship, the Chariot XIII had arrived in our local space!" The officers said and the captain immediately nodded his head.

    "Get them to sortie out as many as they could! Tell them to treat all Mechas in the space colony as hostiles! We do not have a single Mecha that is on our side!" The captain eximed as he was disappointed by how ill prepared his pilots were that they were not even able to be in their cockpits.

    But at the same time, he was devastated and wanted revenge because these pilots were the same few friends that he had upon living in this ursed space colony.If it was not for the constant war, they might be able to return to their homes on a regr basis.

    And to think that when such an opportunity came, terror had struck them the hardest. They still could not identify whether the attackers were of Xeon Union origin considering these Mechas that had descended were not of the usual models that the captain was aware of.

    Perhaps they could be special customised forces but it still begs the question of why were they targeting this area for.There was nothing special and there were multiple refuelling space colonies like the rest as well.

    The only unique feature that the captain could think of was that there were indeed some asteroid fuel mining procedures being done here to cope with the asional excessive demands.

    While those asteroid fuels could be extracted and can be processed here locally, they were not refined to the state where it was usable for consistent use. These asteroid fuels were added as a supplement to the existing fuel like an additive to increase the potential of the warship engine''s capabilities.

    However, it was at the expense of reducing the lifespan of the warship engines because the refinement of the asteroid fuel was not done explicitly.

    But even so, these enemies were merely stealing their Mechas at the moment and not targeting or were they near their oil stockpile at all. Instead when the Chariot XIII had sent their United Federation Mechas down, they were ready to engage them.

    The Space Vessel that the enemies had used as part of their transport, suddenly started to wrap away as if leaving the MG Gunners and the hijacked Mechas to their own demise... or that was what the United Federation''s Rook ss Warship, Chariot XIIImander had thought.

    They never expected it to suddenly emerge right beside them and the ck slick space vessel that looked like a modern soundbar from Jin''s world to m itself towards the Warship. For some reason, it had managed to prate through its energy barrier and forced the Warship''s crew to go into emergency mode.

    It was as if the space vessel was waiting for the United Federation Mechas to depart with full force beforemencing its operation. This way, there were no additional Mechas that had been left to go around the warship and destroy the space vessel that invaded them.

    They could do it but most of them had been equipped with thrusters and booster systems suitable for ground invasion rather than a space battle or a hybrid system.

    Whether it was poor nning or themander was having saviourplex, that was not to be known at this point in time since the moment the space vessel crashed into the Chariot XIII, hijacker teams wearing power space armour that the United Federation had never seen before.

    In fact it wasughable as they looked like medieval in nature like knights in standard steel ted armour with a cape and a literal ss fishbowl as their helmet. However, theughing and giggling stopped when they realised their guns were not prative enough to pierce through the huge fishbowl that these masked people were wearing over their heads.

    All because of charms and magic. The use of defensive charms courtesy of Jin''s World had enabled the hijackers to have ayer of barrier that was sufficient enough to stop those bullets froming. And considering how the bullets were not even coated with chi or mana, the barrier could easily stop those bullets as if they were nothing.

    Perhaps a more explosive force would be more efficient in halting their advance but that would also mean unnecessary damage to their ship.

    And with a bit of magic, the hijackers were able to create a pocket of air within that fishbowl that they had made as well as using levitation magic to propel themselves easily through theck of gravity within the warship. Locked doors due to protocol were automatically unlocked for them because of magic and the defenders were killed left and right without the use of any explosives.

    To their surprise, themander was also not able to start their engines, as if something was stopping them from moving or software had killed their systems to the engine.

    All of that was courtesy to a Night Fox who had apanied Rei and his space crew. He possessed a simr set of advanced skill sets that would allow him to hack the spaceship just as how Kraft did it. In fact, Kraft had trained a team of hackers that had the same hacking abilities as him but they could never beat the master despite their efforts.

    Most of them, their goal was to reach or transcend their master''s abilities but it looked like it was not happening anytime soon.

    Still, there were many instances where they felt that they had learned the skill for naught mainly due to the fact that their master was hogging almost everything single major opportunity that they could have had. Not to mention, most of the worlds that they were currently working with were mostly not of the technological age that was suitable for that kind of skill set.

    It was to the point where this team of night foxes was considered to be white elephants aspared to the other Night Foxes.

    That was why when given the chance to shine in this particr short film, the Night Fox did not hesitate to give it his all to hijack and take over the ship. Now that they had the ship under control, even unlock magic was not necessary as the Night Fox was able to have full control of the entire ship.

    All it needed was to touch the circuitry once to have the analysis of the ship to be sent to him, enabling the Night Fox to have a full picture of the area.

    Hence, with the Fishbowl Knights trashing the Chariot XIII, killing almost everyone they saw, they eventually were able to reach the bridge to kill themander and the entire crew. Evenmunications to call for backup were not avable since the Night Fox had full control of the Rook ss Warship and eventually, the Chariot XIII was under the control of the Fishbowl Knights.

    "All clear. The Rook ss Warship Chariot XIII is ours." The leader of the Fishbowl Knights reported to the leader of MG Gunners while they had already made first contact with Chariot XIII''s Mechas the moment they descended. However, the MG Gunners had an advantage mainly due to the fact that the Chariot XIII''s Mechas were also using the standard United Federation General Robot Model.

    They were called UFGR Soldiers for short but unlike the MG Gunners who had managed to descend in a particr way where it was impossible for them to get shot, the United Federation GR Mechas were open for fire.

    The MG Gunners shot with fairly good precision as they knew that they at the very least had an energy barrier that protected them to a certain degree, unlike the United Federation GR Mechas which only had a literal triangrnding pad as their shield not just for the descent but also against the shots from the MG Gunners.

    But what they did not expect was that the shots were urate enough to break thending pad which was a surprise since most shots from a standard rifle do not have the capability to go very far. But the ball game changed when there was mana to propel the bullet further and allow it to hit thending pad.

    This caused heat to burn up the pad and the UFGR Mechas needed to break off from the pad. In turn, it caused overheating on their Mechas, and some needed to sacrifice their shields to prevent the cockpit from being overheated. Others tried to use their jet packs to reduce or prevent terminal velocity so that when theynd, they incur sustainable damage.

    Yet they had to take evasive maneuvers to make sure that they were able tond without any problems.

    So it became a chicken and egg game. Either they burn their thrusters to survive and attempt to survive thending or vice versa. Both ways will result in an increased risk of pilot death but there was no other route for them to go. The end result is that the MG Gunners have an advantage that they can utilise and they were using it as much as they could before the UFGR Mechas were tond properly.

    Eventually, some didnd and some were killed in mid air descent. As predicted a few of the pilots wasted too much of their thrusters avoiding the MG Gunners'' assault causing them to have insufficient thrusters power tond with ''grace''. This caused them to crash almost immediately upon touching ground while others sustained gravitational damage too.

    It was a great field day for the MG Gunners.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 2000: To The New King, 2000 Years From Now.

    When the remaining United Federations General Robot (UFGR) Mechas reached thend, the MG Gunners were targeting them without mercy. Some tried tond with some obstacles to reduce contact with the MG Gunners but they were not sessful.

    Initially, they thought that they had the numbers until they realised that there were more MG Gunners that were hiding within the synthetic forest after descending into the space colony while there were some who kept themselves inactive until those UFGR reinforcements came.

    With the loss of support from the Rook ss Warship Chariot XIII, they were at an extremely significant disadvantage especially when the remaining MG Gunners came out and sniped them from their camping positions.

    Each of the UFGR was systematically taken down. Chaos ensued to the receiving party but it was different for the MG Gunner side when Jin who was overseeing the entire situation found out that they were doing it so well they wanted to move to the second phase of the operation.

    Jin thought about it for a moment before agreeing to give them the go ahead. He believed that the MG Gunners do have good control of thebat situation and considering how there were no other space warships arriving to reinforce as of now had shown that they were safe for at least half an hour to proceed with the second portion of the operation.

    "Rei, drop the containers and prepare the ortho copters to bring the loot up," Jin stated, and the MG Gunners were ted that they were able to move to the next stage. Even the Night Fox assigned to hijack the Chariot XIII had suggested using the support space vessels that the warship had.

    Most of them could be flown unmanned and considering how the Night Fox was going to take this space warship back to Pandapolis, he believed that the support space vessels could be used to collect more ''loot''.

    "Yeah, that sounds great. Go ahead with it as well." Jin smiled knowing that the assigned Night Fox wanted to do more to make up for all the lost opportunities that he could not have done so previously. And with that approval, the support space vessels departed almost immediately to show that the Night Fox had already prepared everything and only needed permission tounch them.

    And as stage one of the operation wasing to an end after destroying the veryst United Federation GR Mecha, The MG Gunners had already ditched their guns for more specialised equipment such as drills and cutters. They went straight to the oil storage facility to start picking up the ''loot'' with support space vessels and ortho copters on the stand by to take them to the hijacked Chariot XIII.

    It was such a boring process that some MG Gunners who were stationed at the military base started scavenging for possible parts that could be looted as well.

    As much as the MG Gunners wished not to kill the remaining defenders on site, some of the defenders tried to return fire and thus the MG Gunners had no choice but to eliminate them. There was no mass execution mainly due to the fact that Jin wanted the United Federation to know that this was done by an unknown party, an unknown force.

    "This is after all a short film prelude. A test pilot film perhaps..." Jin thought to himself, seeing how everything was going particrly smoothly, that it would be an insult to use this as a short film. There was no line, no hook, and thus the catch. The operation went so fluid that Jin felt it was not good for a proper short film. Instead, a prelude to a film might be more appropriate.

    So, he ditched the possibility of releasing the short film and instead used this as a pilot short episode to be premiered in Pandaflix.

    "Kiyu, once you get all the material, please remember to get the voice acting done. With the System''s editing for the voices, it should be easy for you to manipte.

    Most of the video clips should be up shortly for you if there is no hup with the second stage of the operation." Jin said it out even though he might have jinxed it but since it was too quiet, he thought that saying it out loud may actually be allowed the operation to be jinxed and he would be able to see more action rather than a one sided overwhelming battle.

    "Then do I have your permission to use your voice and avatar?" Kiyu replied back and Jin thought about it for a moment. "So, I am assuming I am going to be the viin?"

    "Hmm, perhaps the viin sidekick? You are not viin enough in my opinion. There are kind viins and there are just psychotic viins. I do not think that you have been in a situation where you had to be the viin."

    "I thought I was always the viin since I had been killing monsters and humans when I started this job." Jin shrugged his shoulders and Kiyu started to think for a moment.

    "Actually, when Ie to think about it, most of your business practices are not shrewd enough and they are still rather friendly towards yourpetitors. The only difference is that your ''goods'' are so strong that they already blow most of yourpetitors away." Kiyu thought to herself.

    "But do you wish to have a taste of the feeling of being forced to act as the viin?" She added and Jin started to have the chills.

    "Kiyu, whatever you are thinking, please stop." Jin said as he suddenly realised there was a pattern to this kind of impromptu thinking from either himself or from his ''colleagues'' which would cause him to go into various ''big'' situations.

    "System, what do you think of sending him to one of the worlds that are going to be annihted regardless of what one does? That way, we can also gain favour with one of the higher Demons if we do that. It might help with the fight against the Celestials should we have another higher Demon other than Baal in our list of trump cards." Kiyu queried.

    "Or alternatively, we do this and we can get Baal back up to his former strength too."

    The System thought for a while and started to list a few conditions and all this while Jin was extremely confused as this was the first time, he was hearing about this.

    "If User were to enter such worlds, the User should not be interfered with if he were to experience the full annihtion process and thus the System is required to find a world that had minimum impact on the time since there is not enough time for him at all.

    "Meh, there are so many Earth microseconds equal to XXX World''s centuries out there. I am sure you can find one easily." Kiyu said. "In return, I will fully engage myself into this whole film endeavour thingy. In fact, I will take full responsibility for making sure there''s profit to earn every time a film or episodees out. How about that?

    And you know a one time exclusive condition with the System cannot be broken. You can force me back to do work or even ''motivate'' me to do the work regardless. Oh, and do grant me a sub system while you are at it."

    "Wait. Why are you all not discussing this with me? From the conversation, I can roughly understand that we need counter measures against Celestials, but what is this annihtion bullshit that I am hearing? Can someone exin more to me before kicking me into a situation without me knowing again?" Jin was a little frustrated that he was not being included in things that will involve him.

    "Eh? Your trial. I figured that the quest that you have right now is way too easy. I am just asking the System to amp up the difficulty for you. Do you want fame? I am controlling the film, the videos, the clips, the sound track, the direction of the film.

    If you want fame or if you want Pandaflix to go to the next stage of its business, you have to go through me." Kiyu said as if she was the god of films and the System was literally backing her up at this point in time.

    Jin was staring through his dungeon maker and thought about it for a moment. "Wait, System, you cannot be serious? Do you really think she could do that? And did you really give her a sub system because of that bet?"

    "The System had known Kiyu''s ability and her power to influence people. It is to the point where if one were to watch her show, they would be entranced by it. By providing the suitable sub system, she would not only bring her powers up a notch, she would also make sure that her trance powers would be useful in influencing people to be addicted to Pandaflix." The System stated.

    "Also, the System would like to add that she was the one who had decided to make a special contract with the System. The System did not force her to do so. Of course, the System was willing to provide her with the necessary tools to let Sub System User and Betor Kiyu to perform her role. In return, the System has to honour her wishes for doing so."

    "Holy shit, this is the first time I am hearing this. Can the System really make decisions just like this?" Jin asked and Kiyu smiled wildly at her master.

    "Well, the System already made its decision and decided to put up the contract. It''s a win and slight win situation for me. Besides, you should be d that you are hearing this. If Kraft is the one who did this, he would have done it behind your back and it would be to the point where at one moment you blinked and the other moment, you are in another world."

    "I am not that evil! Am I?" Kraft grinned as he emerged right behind Jin''s seat. "But to see my dear fellow Fox to take a special contract without asking for my permission. That is a bit of a no no, you know?" Kraft replied.

    "I had always expressed my intention to do the film and media industry, is it not obvious enough?" Kiyu asked as she shrugged her shoulders. "I even got a bloody title that you bestowed me in a whim. Have you forgotten about that?"

    "Ehh, yeah I did." Kraft smiled so naturally that he made him show that he did not care at all for Kiyu''s title at all and all she could do was gave a sigh.

    "See what I have to deal with on a daily basis?" Kiyu said while tilting her head and Kraft giggled just a little.

    "бнSo am I going to be teleported to some ungodly ce without any proper exnation?" Jin asked as he felt that he was suddenly at the mercy of the System. It had been a long time since he had that feeling.

    "Unfortunately for the User, the contract had been made and the conditions had to be fulfilled. As exined, this particr world is unlike the Synthesis World where the timing had no difference. Even if you spend 2000 years in there, you will still be able to feel that you did not move a single bit.

    The System would even save your progress right here and tell you what you had forgotten when you returned.

    "Wait. Wait! Wait! Why does it sound like the System is not going toe with me?" Jin suddenly started to feel anxious and Kraft was right toe at this moment. It was a long time since Jin had shown true feelings of anxiety. "And also do tell me this is the reward that you promised me because motherfucker I will rip you apart if I have the chance."

    "The reward and the trial are two different ces. And if the User is sessful in seeding this trial, the System will immediately reward you with something from the world that the System was keeping for User." The System then summoned Baal into the Dungeon Maker Instance and the Higher Demon walked towards Jin before kneeling down with one knee and his head low.

    "I heard of the generosity that you are performing."

    "I was forced. Please tell me what the fuck is going on. Because the System is not saying a single shit."

    "You know how Engineer Rei had been transported into another world? This is exactly the same position that you are in. Both Higher Demons and Higher Celestials each have a chance to do this. So I have yet to utilise that chance but to be able to use it on you would be a saving grace for me." Baal said as he continued to lower his head but Jin prevented him from doing that any longer.

    "So, if I managed to save the world from annihtion, you gain some powers of some sort?" Jin was scrambling to gather as much information as he could from the previous conversations to make sense of it.

    "Heh, if I am Celestial, that would be your ultimate goal but no. Because you are being sent by a Higher Demon, the goal is actually much easier than you think. Annihte as many monsters or humans as you can before the world actually annihtes you. But if you can prevent the world from being annihted, you- I erm we will win."

    "How the hell would I know that I prevent the world from being annihted?" Jin realised that there was no escaping this sudden death situation that he was in. He attempts to get as much information as possible in hopes that it would help. What worried him was that there was no System at all.

    "You and or your group survive and be thest one standing. Well, when I said group, it is a bit vague but anything or anybody that you considered as an ally and not an enemyбн I guess? It''s been a long time since I read the rules of transmigration trial." Baal said and Jin pulled his hair backward in an attempt to calm down.

    "Ah but in return, I will be aiding you with a brand new Systemбн? I think?" Baal was waiting for the System to reply and it gave an affirmative answer.

    "While the System is unable toment on this as there is a possibility that the System that the User possessed might not work. This is because the Higher Demon or Celestial takes the role of the System when you are in such a trial. So assume that there is a chance that you do not have the System with you."

    "Though in return, the more you kill, you more you get to interact with me. I regain my powers through this transmigration trial and might be able to aid in your efforts." Baal said.

    "So, right now I am just Baal''s bitch?" Jin said it so bluntly that Kiyuughed so loudly that from the hologram that Jin was watching her through, she nearly fell backward from her chair.

    "You know what? I will spend all my System points on Baal. This way, he should have sufficient energy to not only allow Baal to send Jin to the destination but also gift Jin a power for him to go through the trial."

    "Wwwait a minute! I am losing all my powers again?!" Jin asked and he knew that this was not the same as the Synthesis World where he was in contact with unconsciousness.

    "Who knows? Don''t fail Baal though. We are all relying on you to power him up enough so that he can be a powerful ally against the Celestials." Kiyu said as she said bye and started to do her first pilot film that could be used to hook the viewers even though it was a robot sci fi genre.

    "Waitбнwhat happens if I die? Will I die? But technically I am not under the influence of the System. Am I right? Shitбн Shittt. This is so confusing." Jin saw Baal''s eyes were shifting and it felt like he could not answer that question at all.

    "To be honest, most Higher Demons and Celestials would choose someone more desperate or more normal in life. They hardly take in people with unique talents because it kind of spoils the fun for them. So, I do not think I can tell you whether your current talents and skills could still be used in the trial.

    Maybe you will have ess to the System if you get lucky?" Baal was not ready to promise anything.

    "The System is getting ready to teleport you. May the odds be in your favour and you clear the trial fast enough that you cane back to finish your things." The System stated and Jin got confused even more. Didn''t it say that it was going to take a few minutes?

    "Yes I did say a few minutes but you would most probably be tired out from the trial and require rest."

    "Wow, you are truly a ve driver. I forgot you can be like this." Jin said but before he could put another word out, he could feel that he was teleported rather than having a portal to walk through.

    All he knew was that when he opened his eyes from the teleportation, he looked at the room to see that he was a luxurious room with knights, nobles, and people who were well dressed to looked at him with hope.

    "The summoning is sessful! Hail the new king!" One of the casters or Jin assumed he was a caster, shouted. Everyone started to cheer and congratted the casters or summoners.

    "I know I made fun of Rei for Isekaiing but this is just another level of absurd that could only be seen in manga and manhua," Jin said to himself as the first thing he did was to check whether his chi was working or not.

    To his relief, it did work and he could sense that he was in the ''grade 4'' state and not some reduced power state or anything. Next, he tried to do was to call out to the System and suddenly a holographic message appeared in front of him stating the following. "Congrattions on surviving the summoning and bing the new King. Stats: Strength +1, Magic +1, Agility +1, Stamina +1."

    "бн" Jin could not believe it. He felt nothing from that message and an old man pushed through the crowd to kneel before the transmigrated dungeon supplier.

    "My new king. I understand there might be lots of confusion for you and you might have plenty of questions you want answers right now but I suggest that you take a good rest first and we will prepare the information for you." The old man said as he beckoned Jin to follow him.

    It was away from the crowd that his ted posture turned into something more of a despairing state. "At the same time, I suggest that you read the letter that was poised to you from an old king. He stated not to open it until the new King was born on the day of the Full Moon. However, many had tried to open it and failed.

    You may or may not be the one." The old man said as he unlocked the door and showed the King his quarters. It was rather empty for a King''s quarters but there was a proper king size bed (no pun intended) and the essential items that one might need for a resting quarter.

    Jin then saw a ss box tightly sealed with a letter inside of it. He believed the design was used to make sure that the letter do not get moldy. But at the same time, there seem to be a lot of dents and scratches on the ss box, indicating that people attempted to break open the box to know the content of the letter.

    Yet when Jin tried to open it, it merely clicked and the ss box opened for him. He sensed the letter was imbued with some sort of magic but it quickly dissipated the moment the ss box opened and noticed that the envelope was not even sealed with anything. Perhaps, the magic was the seal.

    However, when he opened the envelope to take out the letter, all he saw was a nk sheet of paper. "Huhбнhe did say something about the day of the Full Moon?" Jin said as he went towards the window only to find that the Moon was practically facing him. It felt that the moon was way too big and close forfort even though it was hanging among the stars.

    Words started to emerge from the letter due to the exposure of moonlight and Jin started to see some words on it. But when Jin look at the first sentence, he felt that he had entered some shitty trial that would have a high difficulty level. Deep inside him, Jin honestly hoped that Baal would not only regain his former powers but also make sure that he got extra from this trial.

    But even with this frustration, Jin read the first sentence even though it made no sense at all.

    "To the new King, 2000 years from now."

 Chapter 2001: The Moon King

    "This is the prophecy that I had foreseen and whether you believe me or not, it is of your own volition. I too hade from a world that was different from this ce and had been made King the moment I arrived in this dreaded ce where they call themselves the pinnacle of magic.

    From the historical records that I had nced at, they might have portrayed the kings as heroic beings who were here to save the country."

    "But no matter how I see it, they had treated us as fodders depending on our capability to lead them. Lead them well, and they will notin. Lead them badly, assassins wille by the day to disrupt your life. Live vicariously without any care? They will poison you for wasting their resources and what they will do is to summon another new king."

    "Did you take that in? Because of the limited amount of time I could write, this is the only impression I can give you as part of the history. The next would be how I wrote this letter. All I could say is that I had fulfilled that ''lead them well'' part sufficiently that I had managed to achieve the ability to look into the future. Precisely 2000 yearster."

    "In these 2000 years, I do not know whether this wretched civilisation will still stay as it is or grow into an advanced civilisation as just how my world would been. I missed modern music, television and the likes of it."

    "Looks like this guy is of the same era as me." Jin thought to himself and he felt a little pity for him.

    "But even if it does not, all I can do is to warn you of the real end of the world. They had been pitching this idea that the end of the world is nigh and I had done everything in my power to ensure that we would be ready for the end of the world. However, what came was an invasion from a neighbouring city mainly due to their jealousy for this particr city that was famous for magic."

    "While it was true that we would have lost half of the city due to its might if we were unprepared I would not say it''s the end of the world. There were many times, they used this idea to give the King a sense of urgency and to do better for the city. But what I can tell you is that this is not reverse psychology if you ever know the term but rather a true warning.

    Exactly five years from the moment you open this letter, you will be seeing the true end of the world."

    "While I wish to say it is Demons that are the crux of the problem, I would say that these people acted as demons even though they were d in bright holy halos above their heads. And if you do not understand what I meant, Angels will be the cmity to bring an end to this world."

    "Ah shit, it''s the celestials being bigger assholes than everyone else as usual." Jin rolled his eyes backwards for a moment before returning to read the rest of the letter.

    "But there is a silver lining behind all of this for I had created the ultimate magic to do harm to these Celestials." And that line alone was enough to pique Jin''s interest as he knew that they did not have any information on how to fight against the Celestials other than using the Void Energy.

    "Mixing Demon blood within your own magic, equipment and weapons will provide the necessary firepower to kill an angel." Jin looked at that and felt a little suspicious whether it would truly work against most higher powered celestials.

    "You might be doubting me whether it will be useful since there is no proof. So, the only thing I can hope is that the royal record keepers have performed their job and preserved the relic that I had prepared for you. It is the item of a rather famous mythological being in my world and also the reason why the battle angels areing regardless of what you do in these remaining five years."

    "I can only say that if you do not recognise this particr relic, you should still be able to feel the strength that this angelic relic resides. Otherwise, it''s all up to you whether you truly believed me but we had taken down this mythical being by introducing the use of demon blood into our equipment and magical chants."

    "I do not know if the art to fuse demon blood into the equipment still exists or not but should you be able to manufacture them, you will greatly improve your chances of survival. Other than that, all I can say is to say good luck to you. May you enjoy these 5 years in this world or I hope that you can survive for more than 5 years."

    The moment he read thest portion of the letter, the piece of parchment immediately caught in a yellowish fire that was simr to the colour of the moon. Jin did not fret nor panic when it happened and instead, a sigh came out of it.

    "So, it is true. My System is noting at all no matter how I tried to call it" Jin said as the system that he was seeing was this particr status console and an inventory tab which he believed was the same as most games where he could put it in and take it out from a static space.

    He attempted to do that with the envelope and it was sessful which proved his theory that it was simr to such a concept he was familiar with.

    Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Jin opened it to see the very old servant looking at him. It seemed as if he was peering into the room to look at the ss box to see whether the prophecy was true for this particr new king.

    And that was where he was ted that Jin was truly the one.

    "The Moon King Sessor! You finally appear to save us all from cmity!" The servant eximed as he went to kneel down to wee the new King once more.

    "I like to see the relic that the Moon King had kept," Jin said and the servant was surprised to hear that.

    "Would you not want a good bath and some gourmet food before truly starting? It must be heavy news after reading the famous Moon King''s letter?" The old servant asked and Jin stared at him without flinching his eyelid.

    "Do not waste my time."

    "Understood." The old servant then beckoned Jin and followed him as they walked passed many people who all greeted the King with reverence. But upon reading the letter that this supposed Moon King had said, Jin looked at them with slight disgust. Yet, he tried to maintain hisposure as he did when he was in the Synthesis World.

    If not for the experience over there, he could not have presented himself as a dignified person.

    Soon, they were walking down a spiral staircase which reminded them that most items were always locked in the basements to reduce the chances of them being raided. And after despite his appearance, the old servant was fit as a fiddle going the stairs only to realise he was using magic.

    Jin and the old servant eventually reached a door where he started to draw an explicit magic circle with mana on his fingertips. It was an explicit and intricate design of a magic circle and once he finally connected all the dots in his magic circle, the door finally creaked open for them to enter.

    "Pardon theck of maintenance. We only clean this ce once a year to reduce exposure of this relic to other people." The old servant said as he pped with mana sped within his palms and candles lit up to show.

    "This is the relic that the Moon King had kept for 2000 years if my memory served me well enough. To think I am the servant that had been honoured to open this and present it to the Moon King Sessor. It brings me great joy."

    But despite all of the old servant''s rumbling, Jin was in literal shock when he saw the item. He was now very sure that the person who had isekai to this world 2000 years ago was undoubtedly a person who had simr mythology history as his.

    "If what the System said is true and that this world centuries were merely microseconds, that person who died 2000 years ago was dead when I was talking with Baal and the others," Jin said to himself as he gulped down his saliva to observe the relic with much interest.

    For the relic that this Moon King left behind was none other than a hammer.

    With a lightning symbol on it too.

 Chapter 2002: The Hammer - Part 1

    "Holy shit, it''s Thor''s hammer ...I think!" Jin said to himself as he went around to look at the relic. "Is it possible for me to hold it?" He asked the old servant and thetter did not reject his request. After all, he was the new sessor to the Moon King.

    Jin took a long good nce at the hammer before putting his hand on it. He knew that if this so called Moon King had managed to kill a monster of a celestial named Thor, he was no ordinary Moon King. Yet at the same time, this must be extremely grave news to the Norse Celestials since they not just lost a major god but a powerhouse at that.

    Unless the mythologies did not correspond to the ones Jin knew, they must be extremely angry to this particr world.

    Perhaps, they could keep this under wraps for the past 2000 years but it might not have been the case anymore. The loss of such a powerhouse celestial would definitely cause them to move in at a pace where annihtion is inevitable for this.

    At the same time, Jin also remembered how Thor''s hammer would only respond to the one who was righteous, or to put it simply, worthy to wield it. So, when Jin heaved a deep breath in hopes that he did not get electrocuted the second he touched it, he secretly hoped that he was worthy despite all the things he had done.

    Yet, when he held onto it, all he could feel was a strong burst of hatred permeating through the hammer as if it was going to bite him whole if he was not careful. This was not some worthy hammer. It was filled with so much bitterness that could not bepared even with any demon''s emotions at all.

    But because of all the training that Jin had gone through and the fact that his Maqi was still active, he had decided to brave through this hatred and fight against it so that he could understand the meaning, the emotions and perhaps the thoughts of this leftover legendary relic.

    "That fucking bastard! Just because he can make a brand new relic, he had to throw me here just to escape this ce!" The Hammer shouted and suddenly realised that despite being blinded by anger, misery, hatred, and desperation for being stuck in this state for so many years, he finally saw that there was someone holding him.

    "WHO IS THIS?" The Hammer boomed and instead of letting go, Jin calmly said his name.

    "Jin. Outsider."

    "Outsider?" The Hammer calmed down a little or maybe got a little hopeful, something which he had not felt for the past two thousand years. "Does that mean that I can get out of this fucking ce?" It did not care why the person who was able to hold him was able tomunicate with him but at this point, he did not care.

    "Depends on your definition. If you mean this musky looking room, then yes. But if you mean from this world, then perhaps not now." Jin said with a shrug and it seemed that he really was not ''worthy'' as he was not able to lift up the hammer. However, as he was conversing telepathic with the hammer, he did not let go of it.

    In the meantime, the old servant was in awe as he never expected someone or anyone, let alone a potential Moon King candidate to be able to hold on to the hammer for this long.

    It was somewhat of a test in the eyes of the old servant regardless of the letter. He knew that he had been passed down with information that this particr relic had something to do with the Moon King. And no matter which king candidate had descended from the summoning, the old servant would at least allow them to do this relic trial.

    That''s right. Even without Jin''s question and his curiosity leading to this particr hammer, the old servant would still bring him right into this room to test it out. Some of the King candidates had been killed by the hammer''s outright hatred and some were scarred by it.

    But those who were able to endure the hammer had be a sort of statistic that proved they were capable of leading a longer termpared to the rest of the kings.

    And yet, this particr human was not only able to handle the hammer''s malice but also seemed to be in conversation with it.

    The old servant did not need to be a master of magic to see that Jin was busy talking to the hammer but to be able tost this long with the hatred of the hammer continue permeating throughout the room, the old servant had no choice but to move out of the room and patiently waited outside for the Moon King sessor to eithere out breathing or long enough that he might had already been dead on the floor.

    Still, it was a shocker to see that after multiple times attempting to get a Moon King sessor, the old servant thought that the pattern would repeat despite the anomaly that had presented itself. For Jin to be able to open the box was not just a fluke considering how he was now able to hold a conservation with the angelic relic.

    "What do you mean by perhaps not now? Are you saying you can get out of this fucking world?"

    "Why? Do you want to go back to your master? From the looks of it, your master doesn''t even give a shit about you considering how he is not here for like what? I don''t know. 2000 years or something like that?" Jin said and the hammer sighed.

    "Yeah, he probably already found a better weapon than me. Last I heard, an infamous cksmith was making a brand new hammer and I was just a loan. Starts with M or something. Sigh.

    I know it is inappropriate for me to harbour hate and revenge against him since I was basically a loaned weapon but hey, I honestly thought that we had a good rtionship or something." The hammer rambled and Jin figured that the hammer''s ego probably didn''t have anyone to talk to for the longest time ever.

    But the hatred and malice that this hammer had was still overflowing which he felt it couldn''t be helped as well. "Being stuck in a room for 2000 years despite it being a sentient weaponбн" Jin switched off for a while to be with his own thoughts."Even though it is not a human, I could not help but to empathise with the hammer." Jin suddenly thought of something rather ridiculous.

    "Say, I do not me you for your predicament, but do you want to use this hate to smite the Celestials? I mean technically your powers might had manifested something to be anti-celestial."

    "How do you know I am celestial when you are an outsider? Have you had contact with one of us before? I erm mean, my master''s kind before?" The hammer suddenly got suspicious.

    "You could say I got into the same situation as you. If I am not wrong, you were left here right?"

    "Thrown against a giant elemental rock, allowing my previous master to flee."

    "Well, Mr Discarded, I was teleported because this group of celestial think that it would be fun to throw me to some virtual reality world, causing my body and soul to separate for quite some time."

    "Huh, then how did you get it back? Wait a minute. Now that you mention it, your body do seem to have a familiar smell now that I concentrated sensing you."

    "My friends were able to retrieve me. Then my soul got connected back through some heavy carrying support from myradesбнalthough the saidrades now throw me here for me to survive myself. They said it was for some trial."

    "Lol. Then they aren''t really your friends then?" The hammer asked, now starting to feel a little empathy not just for Jin but also able to connect with him.

    "Nah, this trial was necessary to prepare ourselves against a possible attack from the Celestials. One of my ermбнcolleagues had their world wiped out due to a whim from Ares."

    "Ermбнyeah. Such things do happenбн They needed it for the annihtion trial. My master did the same when he came here."

    "Why though, aren''t they strong enough? And I thought they have the only chance to do this trialбнif my knowledge is notcking." Jin asked.

    "Nah, the trial can be done many times. You just need to know the loopholes to do so. But power begets power, ya know? From what I know Demons also do this."

    "Yea, I had been sent here by a colleague with some demonic background," Jin said and the Hammerughed followed by him.

    "So, what do you propose fellow temporarily discarded?" The Hammer asked.

 Chapter 2003: The Hammer -Part 2

    "Like I said, your hatred for your master had made you strong and you might have something simr to a power that could m the celestials head on." Jin said but in actuality, he was basing it on a guess.

    The emission of energy felt a little familiar so Jin decided to dig a bit deeper. And during this conversation, he was kind of analysing theposition of the power that the Hammer was putting out and thus found out that it had some simrities to two kinds of powers.

    It was minute in nature but he could definitely ''taste'' void and demonic energies within the mix of the celestial energy. It was as if this hammer might be the solution to killing the Celestials once and for all.

    Baal might not have explicitly said it but if the Demons had been pitting against the Celestials for centuries or years beyond time, then it was possible that the Celestials had some protection against Demonic energy. So, going full demonic was not the best solution but better than just using human chi and attempting to go in with a toothpick rather than a spear.

    Find exclusive tales at m-vl-em,pyr

    Then again, what if there were conflicts against one''s own race? Or to put it in another way, how did one show its dominance and achieve a hierarchy system within their own race? That means having Celestial powers would be sufficient in killing a Celestial as well but it was not the most effective.

    On the other hand, Jin had void energy and while it was untested territory, Farasha had already proven that it proved effective at killing Demons but not Celestials. Yet, the Demons themselves proimed that it was definitely sufficient to kill the Celestials using Void Energy.

    But the problem with this theory is that Jin can only use Void Energy when there is the presence of a Void Being or within the Void Realm.

    He was not able to manipte or even fabricate Void Energy without the presence of an existing Void source. But even without Void Energy, Jin was still able to kill Demons and perform such a feat because he had a good amount of Maqi; by mixing mana and chi, it was like a level 2 kind of energy to fight against a level 3 energy.

    Difficult against a proper higher demon but Jin was not fighting alone back then since Moloch who was by his side had been providing his own mana to assist with the fight.

    That was why Jin was able to win against Baal to a certain extent by exerting himself to the fullest capacity.However, it was pretty certain that using merely magic or chi was not enough since it was a level 1 kind of energy fighting against a level 3 energy.Perhaps, killing demonic or celestial demons might be sufficient with magic but definitely not the stronger ones.

    Even the Moon King''s letter had already proven it to be true when Jin thought about it off hand. The dead Moon King had stated that this country that he is in right now is filled with magic users. And yet, they had to infuse Demon Blood into their equipment to fend off the angels.

    Jin did not need to be a very smart guy to see the connection that celestials particrly could not be killed unless there was a counterforce against it.

    But when previously posed a question on why his weapons were still effective against the Demons in the Dungeon World, the System was not able to provide a straight answer. And yet to defend itself, the System also showed video clips of instances where tanks and humans with high magic or chi were not able to hurt demons at all.

    Just a mid tier demon could get minor injuries from all those but nothing else.

    And that begged the question of whether the world they were in had affected the demons or celestials immunity or the System might actually be partially Celestial due to it being a product of the heavens so anything it touched or contact with gave the people killing ability against the demons.

    It was not a proven fact considering they did not capture a Celestial since the Demons like Diabolos and KRaft had swiftly annihted the Celestials to the point the System was not capable of resurrecting them. This was because what Diabolos did was not just ripping their bodies but also their souls so that they could never be resurrected back to the Celestial nes.

    At that point, Diabolos definitely did not consider the situation where the System was able to capture their songs and use them for the benefit of Jin and the rest. To him, Diabolos was merely fulfilling its internal instinct of eliminating the celestials. Whether he gained favour from the System or Jin, that was a secondary objective.

    So, with the mystery continuing to allude Jin on whether he and his army of minions were capable of killing the Celestials when the time came, it was more beneficial for the Dungeon Supplier if he could secure a more definite source of energy that could kill the Divine.

    "Ah...to be honest, I have no concrete n. But the fact that someone had given me a heads up that the ce would be enmassed with angel monsters in 5 years should provide us some time to do some preparation before theye. I do not have the full situation of this ...kingdom I am supposed to take care of."

    "Heh, if you want to know something, they had always been sending people here to touch me...well not that I noticed at first to be honest but as the years passed, I tended to y along to see if they could see through my hatred and talk to me."

    "So, you were acting all along?"

    "Kind of. I got to know whether the person that would be holding me would be useful to fuel my agenda against that bastard of a master that I had. Since I am a loaned weapon, I make sure I pay two thousand years'' worth of interest back to him." The Hammer eximed and Jin shook his head.

    "Hey, I already lowered my standards okay? I was that desperate,"

    "Then do you want to increase your force and see whether I can handle it?"Jin asked and the Hammer thought for a while.

    "Hmmm, I will do it in increments. That way, you might be able to survive rather than just one huge boost. I would rather keep you now that I know there''s someone to talk to." The hammer chuckled.

    "I am fine with that, I would also like to see how much I could handle." Jin nodded against the challenge and the Hammer as per his request, started to emit stronger energy by the second.

    It did not take long for the old servant to notice that the malice energy that the Hammer was emitting started to overflow out from the crevices of the door. He then realised something was very wrong and decided to walk away from it temporarily.

    But as the energy started to manifest as a physical gas form, the old servant assumed that something terrible happened to the Moon King sessor candidate and it caused the hammer to go haywire.

    All he could do now was to call for the mages as fast as his old terrible legs could support in hopes that he would be in time to contain it before things grew out of proportion.

    However, Jin was so focused on handling the Hammer''s powers that he did not notice this unfortunate predicament that the energy leaked out of the room. Yet, the hammer relic noticed it perfectly well and decided to change the energy to focus just on Jin himself. It knew what his powers had manifested into and how it could be dangerous to people.

    And even though he did kill people knowingly with his powers, it was not his style to kill them identally.

    Unfortunately, this instantly boosted the amount of energy that Jin had to handle and the hammer relic was temporarily not aware of it but the realisation came toote and he could not take it back otherwise there would be a rebound.

    Yet, to his surprise, Jin was able to handle it perfectly well. In fact, there was little to no struggle in his face when the surge came and Jin merely stared at him nkly as if this was telling the hammer, "Is that it?"

    "Har, this rascal. I will make sure that you do suffer badly!" The hammer stated and sent another surge of energy into Jin''s body for him to handle and yet the Dungeon Supplier could still yawn.

    "Looks like your this erm...malice energy is not as strong as I thought." Jin attempted to provoke it a little more and the hammer decided to fall into its provocation. He was doing all this because of the System popups he had been getting.

    "You had tolerated high malice energy for 1 minute. +1 Magic."

    "You had tolerated high malice energy for 2 minutes. +1 Magic."

    "You had tolerated a new level of malice energy. +1 Magic."

    All these keep popping up and Jin knew that he could still handle it. Whether the increase in magic is true or not, that was not for him to know for he could barely feel the difference. In fact, this particr System was not even putting up any status window for him to see his status properly which infuriated him.

    For now, he could only hope that all these stats eventually make a difference for him but at the same time, Jin felt that he was finally able to feel what a ''real'' System User feels like. Previously, he thought he was a System User but there was no proper gauge of his growth.

    Sure, perhaps the System was modern or something when he thought about it but onlyter to find out that because he was not a fighterbat kind of System user, there was no use of the System to provide such information.

    "GAH, I give up." The Hammer said and he left himself dead on the pedestal. "You win. you win. There is no way I can continue any further. This damn outsider is just no match for me." The Hammer said as he surrendered himself to this so called sessor to the Moon King.

    If anything, it looked like he had found a pretty good user after 2000 years and the hammer was going to do anything to get the user to use him rather than being stuck in this pathetic four walls.

    But this damn outsider was not letting go and still smiled so devilish. "I SAID I GIVE UP!"

 Chapter 2004: The Hammer -Part 3

    "Ohe on!" Do not give up that easily." Jin wanted to exploit the hammer''s so called malice energy to get more benefits from the System. He knew that the hammer was able to do more but seeing that he was giving up this early might have reasons to it as well.

    Jin was not dumb when he saw the malice energy turning into physical form and subsequently saw the hammer focusing all the energy towards Jin instead. It was a little bit of a shocker for Jin at the start but it was nothing he could not handle at the current state that he was in.

    Yet at the same time, Jin could see that the Hammer was not giving its all, fearing that Jin was not able to handle the pressure and inadvertently caused an idental explosion that would injure the rest. At the root of it all, the hammer was still kind.

    So, the dungeon supplier decided that if he could not press the hammer into provocation once more, he would just leave it be. And that was what he did as the Hammer sighed and refused to do it again.

    "I am assuming with this trialpleted, I am considered worthy to pick you up? Mr Loaned?"

    "Oh, so we are going to give each other nicknames now eh?" The Hammer said and Jin merely shrugged his shoulders.

    "Well, if you gave me Mr Discarded, I thought I would just follow suit. Besides, to be called Discarded is not a bad name after all considering how they really just throw me into this particr world without consenting me. I know it''s a trial but to think that they could throw me around like nobody''s business, I guessed I would rise up to the challenge and be a King at that as well.

    "Heh, The Discarded King rather than the Moon King." The Hammer scoffed and Jin realised this was the best time to get information from him about the Moon King.

    "You dealt with him, right? Has he used you before or did he merely just put you here as a trophy?" Jin asked as he attempted to pull him up instead of holding. There was practically no weight at all.

    "Meh, he just put me as a trophy. Although I did see him in battle with my master. He did not do much, to be honest, most of the heavy lifting was done by his knights and soldiers. That Moon King guy though, he did cast a lot of debuffs on my master -"

    "To be honest, since he already ditched you here, you should just call him your ex master. And though I have some inkling who your master might be, mind tell me who is that ex master you had?"

    "What''s your guess?" The Hammer asked and Jin immediately blurted out Thor''s name considering there was a lightning symbol engraved onto it. "Hahaha. I guess I cannot fault you if you consider that as a clue. But sadly, no. I am not Thor''s loaned hammer at all."

    "Oh. erm ohhhh..." Jin felt disappointed in a sh and the Hammer felt that he had lost all respect for the uing ''Discarded King''. "Then I do not need you anymore." He teased a little and the Hammer was like a ''tsundere'', a person who yed hard to get but actually soft on the inside decided to ask Jin not to leave him.

    "I am a loaned weapon to Magni, Thor''s son."

    "Oh. Hmmmm..." Jin thought about it for a while andter acknowledged that despite being a loaned weapon, he was still a weapon that had been wielded by someone rather significant within the Norse Mythology. "But to be honest, I am not well versed in using a hammer. The most I can do with a hammer is to ...I dunno, maybe knock on some nails?

    Perhaps, if I can contract you to hammer in some nails for me?"

    "At least use me to create stuff like smithing or something..."The loaned hammer said.

    "Well, if you can create stuff from raw materials into something tangible, I will take you in in a heartbeat." Jin smiled with a thumbs up.

    "Ha ha. Very Funny. If that is my special ability, I would not be rotting here for 2000 over years." The hammer replied. "An entire army of celestials woulde to this world just to pick me up."

    "Don''t they have hammers that create stuff in the Celestial nes?" Jin asked, thinking that what the loaned weapon said was total bullshit. Delve into stories on m-v-l-e-mpyr

    "If I am not mistaken, there''s actually a bunch of those hammers but they were heavily guarded." The loaned hammer remarked.

    "So, that''s why you think that an entire army wille to pick you?" Jin stared at it with a sarcastic look.

    "Fine, I am just exaggerating. But I do believe I can do some smithing..."

    "I doubt a war hammer can do smithing..."

    "Why you...bloody rascal. I am at least 2000 years old do you have some respect-"

    "Why should I respect a 2000 year old cker?" Jin teased once more and he could feel the malice energy flowing through the hammer and into him.

    That was when the System suddenly popped up a window. "By challenging the ego of a warhammer to do out of its specifications is something no one had done before. The prideful ego of the warhammer had also been challenged and you had masterfully tamed it to your bidding. Special ss unlocked: War Smith (Rank F)."

    "What." The both of them saw the window not knowing what had actually happened.

    "Wait, you can see the message?" Jin asked and the Hammer ''nodded'' its head.

    "War Smith Special Ability unlocked: Improvised Smithing (Rank F): Requires twice the raw material but is able to create the item that the War Smith had in mind. Idealised thoughts might not necessarily match the end product. Having a design beforehand may potentially reduce the raw materials or increase an item''s rating."

    "Ehhh???" Jin and the Hammer saw and could not believe their eyes when they read the text together.

    "System is detecting that the current user had an existing ss before acquiring this special ss. Analysing...."

    "Analysisplete. Existing ss: Dungeon Supplier Rank S-. ss'' special ability to be unlocked for existing ss: Dungeon Summoning."

    "What''s a dungeon supplier? Are you like a dungeon lord of some sort?" The hammer asked.

    "It''s hard to exin without context but erm...Kind of?" Jin was looking at the Dungeon Summoning skill and was astonished by what it could do.

    "Summon worlds and nes of this particr universe and only this particr universe up to Rank S-.Usage and Cooldown: Summons are not limited unless the summoned is of the maximum rank, Once the maximum rank dungeon has been summoned, the cooldown would be 24 hours. If the enemy is unable to clear your dungeon in a stipted time, the dungeon will proceed to be a Dungeon Cmity.

    All monsters that previously resided in that dungeon will emerge at the very least twice the amount.

    Note: Those monsters are not under the User''s control but the User can forcibly close the dungeon unless it''s a Dungeon Cmity." The System stated and Jin could already think of ways to use it, to exploit it but before those ideas could be digested internally in his brain, the System let out another notification.

    "Congrattions! The System had foundpatibility between War Smith and Dungeon Supplier. A Synchronised ss Ability had been unlocked: Dungeon Salvaging. Once a day, the dead monsters or participants'' corpses and items will be salvaged from all the dungeons. If all the materials used were from dungeons for Improvised Smithing, Improvised Smithing will temporarily increase one rank. Ie.

    Rank F to Rank F+."

    "Wow...this is an OP skill.""What''s more OP is that this is the first time I see a King''s candidate having a S- ability right from the bad. Most of the sses that I saw were Sry Worker and Students or ehh NEET? Most were Rank F- and they got a second ss because of what they doter... I think.

    Because very few that survived me evere back to try to carry me up." The hammer said and Jin wondered how many of those who were reported missing had been thrown in such situations. No wonder there was little to be said when Jin''s original System threw him under the bus for this.

    "Is that why the System, seeing how people had failed for 2000 years, decided to bestow me with a special ss?" Jin asked and the Hammer could only reply with a single ''perhaps''.

    "All I know is the ranks can be grinded. I remembered a guy had NEET Rank A when that guy when I first met him, he was merely NEET Rank F-, so yeah, if you can get your Improvising Smithing to a higher rank, the ability might change a little."

    "Oh thank you, Mr Loaned Warhammer. Your advice is well appreciated," Jin teased him once more.

    "Gah. Can''t you select a better nickname?"

    "Huh... What about the Variable Impact Adjustment Tool? The Kic Calibrator? or the Universal Fitting Device?" Jin remembered his friends and him was giving terrible engineering names to the tools. After all, he had attended engineering previously.

    "I have no fucking idea what you just said." The hammer replied coldly.

    "What about Gentle Persuasion?" Jin thought about it and the hammer chuckled.

    "While I like that nickname, don''t you think it''s hard on you to call me that? Gentle Persuasion it''s hammering time!" The hammer eximed.

    "Then forget it, I will just call you the Hammer. Make things so much simpler." Jin gave up on that aspect just as how the hammer gave up on him.

    "... Are you serious?" The Hammer questioned how terrible Jin was in giving good proper names.

 Chapter 2005: The Hammer -Part 4

    "Unless you cane out with a better name yourself? Or just call you Ham or Mer or Hamm or...Mmer? How about Ammer? Muahahah!"

    "I would rather be called the Hammer than all those nicknames," The Hammer sighed, acknowledging the fate that he had gotten into. It was either taking this name that Jin had bestowed or arguing with him non stop and risked not being picked up by this owner.

    Although the chances were extremely low because Jin had acquired a special ss because of the Hammer, this particr universal adjustment tool was not going to have any chances since he had already been staying put for 2000 years.

    Jin chuckled as well, knowing that without the original System to keep track of names for him, he would not be able to remember the names so it was better to keep it simple.

    It was ironic that Jin was able to keep details of what had happened in his head so easily but when ites to names, he just could never remember them clearly. He prided himself on having a good memory but just not for names.

    Perhaps that was why he always gave weird names in hopes that he could remember them but even that had failed multiple times for him and he decided that giving generic names would be much easier. Hence, the hammer had no choice but to ept that it shall be called the Hammer.

    "So, dear Master. What are you going to do now?" The Hammer asked and Jin was perplexed.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Maybe you did not notice because of the contamination of ''malice'' energy from me but there are a dozen mages standing right outside attempting to understand the situation from within after being alerted by that old servant who panicked." The Hammer replied.

    "Oh yeah, I noticed, but I don''t really care. If they treat you as an infamous relic, they are afraid that I cannot contain you. That''s all. In fact, if I hurl you out of the door, the mages would probably run." Jin exined. "Besides, they made me King, no? Should not be much of a big deal.

    With you around, they would not dare to make a move so easily."

    "That is true, although without me, you could do the same too," The Hammer thought for a while and decided to chill. It seems like this outsider not only has the power to back himself up but also the skills to make people bow down to him if necessary.

    "h. You can do stuff others cannot. You think I can make things out of thin air?" Jin said but in actual fact, he could almost do that with the dungeon instance capabilities but right now without the original system by his side, there was no way he could do that. And even if he could do that, those items were only in the dimensional instance itself. He could not possibly bring them out to reality.

    And unlike the previous so called ''trial'' that he was in, the Synthesis World is a virtual reality, allowing him to still bend the rules of physics and reality to a certain extent. That was why Jin was actually really d that he was able to not just meet this hammer but to do things despite the loss of the original System.

    "Unless that original System of mine is mimicking this System as how it had done so in the Synthesis World." Jin''s eyes narrowed for a while as if he had some suspicions.

    It was then, that Jin had decided not to worry too much. Perhaps this was the special gift that Kiyu had mentioned since she previously said that she decided to give all her System points to Baal so he had enough energy to ''bless'' Jin. And whether that blessing would be useful to Jin would be an entirely different issue.

    "In any case, let''s get a grip of this kingdom''s situation before we can n our revenge against the impending doom that has beset upon us." Jin said and the Hammer looked at him with suspicion as well.

    "I don''t think so. I have a feeling you just want to see how sturdy I am when ites to making things, right?" The Hammer queried and Jin could not stifle the corner of his lips.

    "You seem to be getting better at reading me. Good on you!" Jin chuckled before walking out of the door to see magic circles appearing right in his face. "Where is that old servant? I did not catch his name."

    "I am here, this humble servant whose name is Ham is here to serve." That sentence alone was more than enough to almost let Jin and the Hammerugh simultaneously. They never expect to have an inside joke to appear so soon.

    "Guess it should be grateful that I called it the Hammer." Jin said in his thoughts, partially believing that his ''loaned'' weapon could read his mind. And its reply back in telepathy had proven that theory in the next second.

    "Yea yea, whatever. the Discarded King," the Hammer decided to go casual as well with the naming convention which Jin did not mind at all.

    "I am guessing you did not tell me the whole story," Jin replied and Ham quickly (as fast as he could for his age) to kneel down and beg for forgiveness. The rest of the mages also bent their knee as they saw their supposed new king standing right in front of them with the rumoured hammer in his hands.  stories

    All of them knew how dangerous that particr hammer was and some had bad memories of it due to its reputation for being an infamous test of courage during their study days.

    "So, now that we are done with the killing of kings portion, shall we get to the actual stuff? What''s the fucked up situation that requires this kingdom a king not by standard criteria but to actually ''summoning'' a random person like me?" Jin asked and the rest got even more scared as the hammer was instinctively pouring out some malice energy on cue.

    "It''s a long story sire, we asked that-"Before Ham, the Old Servant was able to reply, Jin interrupted him since he already got the gist from the Moon King''s letter.

    "Give me the short version in less than 1 sentence."

    "But sire!" The old servant begged.

    "Okay, that''s one sentence. I am not interested in the history. Get me all the ministers to the throne room and only them." Jin said as he pointed to one of the mages to get him to the throne room which he quickly obliged.

    "Already throwing your weight around?" The Hammer asked telepathically and Jin shrugged his shoulders just a tiny bit so that the others do not notice it.

    "If you are here for 2000 years, the history of this kingdom would not matter. What matters is the current technology of this ce and the rtionship of this kingdom with the rest of the kingdoms. Whether it is a powerhouse as the Moon King had stated or it had degraded due to the switching of many hands." Jin said casually and the Hammer nodded its proverbial head a little.

    "You mage, bring me not the throne room. I want to see the town from this castle. Where''s the best sight located?" Jin asked and the mage once again obliged. He quickly showed the way as Jin told him to hurry up. Soon, he reached the top of a watchtower and the guards who were on duty were cking. They thought that their fellow mage was bringing a new recruit around.

    Yet, the current mage was like nudging them to the side to not y a fool. "Ehh, our dear mage is trying to look like a tough strict guy, eh? Rx man. Hey recruit, I bet you are here because you want to have a good view of the city, right?"

    "Yes, Sir!" Jin decided to y along with them and the Mage instantly knew that those two guards would be in trouble and he would be strung along as well. All he could do was to not disturb the King''s acting.

    "That''s a good shout." Guard ''A'' said and they let him move closer to the edge of the tower to have a view of it. However, the moment Jin got near the edge, both of the guards pushed Jin off the cliff and held him up by the pinch of his shirt. The mage immediately panicked and wanted them to stop but Guard B pushed him away and told him to rx.

    "We are giving him the best view of the tower, he should be thankful to us! In fact, he should pay us for giving him such premium services!" Guard B reiterated.

    "How''s the view, recruit?" Guard A ''cared'' for the new recruit but suddenly he realised that there was no weight to the pinch. Only when he went over the edge to have a clearer picture, Jin was hanging there like a spider. His feet and palms were stuck to the wall using Maqi while he used his Inverse Eyes to have a quick look at the entire kingdom.

    It did not take long to observe the setting of the area and it put Jin back to the pre industrial revolution period. "This ce is the same as Goblin World when ites to technology. How did they not evolve since 2000 years ago?" Jin said to himself, now understanding why this world needs to be annihted. It''s because it''s stagnant.

    "Oh, this recruit is trying to show whose'' boss it is not?" The Guard now poured magic into his hands and grabbed Jin''s shirt as hard as he could and pulled him up back into the tower.

    "Do you really want to hit me, especially after what you have done? I will give you a chance to be forgiven. After all, I did follow through with your act." Jin asked and the Mage now eximed that he was the King.

    "King? If he is the King, then he must be the new King''s candidate. Those people are worth nothing in my eyes." Guard A said and immediately did not hesitate to bring his fist down to his face to scare him.

    Yet, with inverse eyes on it, Jin could clearly see this guy was merely intimidating and did not make a single move after that. "So, you would not dare. How disappointing." Jin said as he got up from his current position and saw that there was an old mage standing right behind him alongside with the young mage.

    "Wise choice for calling me." The old mage pats the young one''s shoulders and the Guards immediately kneel down to greet the old mage.

    "Royal Mage General Gara!"

    "Do you need me to punish them?" Gara asked but Jin dusted off his shirt and shook his head.

    "Nah, I did say to forgive them if they did not hit. I will keep my word. However, deduct this month by half as punishment." Jin said as he told the young mage to lead him back to the throne room."I can teleport you there if you want, your Majesty."

    "Gara, was it? No thanks. And I am not fit to be your Majesty. Just deem me as your...newly appointed project manager for this kingdom." Jin smiled as he walked away with the young mage.

    "Heh, this new king. Looks like someone interesting has finallye to be our king." Gara said as he used his magic to twist both of the guard''s baby fingers. "Punishment by deducting from your sry? Looks like he might have already known the overarching problem of this kingdom even before consulting. But as for you two, be d that you were not executed on the spot.

    He could have burnt the both of you into ashes with a snap of the finger and I, Gara can attest to that. So take this additional punishment with gratitude."

    The Guards kept their mouths mum and continued to kneel as the Royal Mage General teleported away, supposedly to the throne room.

 Chapter 2006: The Red Banquet -Part 1

    "Why...are there so many people in the throne room?" Jin asked the mage and he proceeded to say that most of them were the ministers''ckeys. To help them take things, take notes, answer for them...which bewildered Jin.

    "Then what does the Minister do?" He questioned and the mage proceeded to say that their positions were most hereditary. "So, it''s not based on meritocracy?"

    "What''s that about?" The mage asked and Jin exined that it was based on the merit of the person to take that position. "If you put it that way, their forefathers from 2000 years ago had done that. The children are now reaping the rewards."

    "Now I can understand why this kingdom is still so stagnant. Do other kingdoms do the same thing as well?" He asked and the mage shook his head and asked whether the King wished to go to the first floor where his throne awaited him since they were staring at the crowd from the second floor.

    None of them noticed him at the moment and those who looked up only thought that there were some conversations done between fellow mages and did not bother.

    "It is not my ce to say too much. You can get the official reports from the ministers and their...employees." The mage said then Jin looked at him with a stern face.

    "I order you." Those three words. Simple as that. it was more than enough to get the Mage to open his mouth.

    "What do you wish to know, my Lord?"

    "Are there any kingdoms that are currently at war with this kingdom?" Jin asked and he nodded his head. "How many?" and the mage raised up his hand to show all five of his fingers.

    "Five Kingdoms?" Jin asked and he shook his head.

    "Not exactly. 4 Kingdoms and 1 Alliance of Nations." The mage said and Jin suddenly realised that the dungeon summoning skill that he had was not because of him, but might be for the kingdom''s sake.

    "Why so many? And why is the ce still so choke full of lousy people?" Jin asked and the mage exined that these Wars were dered but no movements were made from either side. "Wait what?"

    "The Magical Kingdom of Ress had dered war against these five but neither side made any moves because Ress who was the initiator of these derations did not send a single troop to the battlefields. Trades are also as usual but there were a lot of sanctions from both sides.

    "Why would they do that? Why not call off the war rm?"

    "This is the so called brilliant idea of the finance and war minister. The War Minister did this, drafting more levies and getting people to work below average wages while also utilising the prisoners to work harder and for free. The mage soldiers as well.

    The Finance Minister, on the other hand, inted the prices of the magic crystals dering that there was a dwindling amount of crystals left but in actual fact, there were still treasure troves of living crystals that the kingdom could exploit.

    "Would that not hurt the rtionship between the Kingdom of ..erm Ress?" Jin asked and the mage unknowingly shrugged his shoulders.

    "This is the current ministers'' way of thinking. They are collecting money for themselves. Even the rest were doing so and only those who licked their feet...erm metaphorically will get a share of that pie." The mage said.

    "Huh. Interesting. Did you do those things as well? So is that Gara?"

    "No, my lord." The mage incidentally raised his voice before apologising and wanted to kneel but Jin used Maqi to prevent him from kneeling and attracting attention. It was at that point that the mage soldier realised they had summoned a strong king and one with an attitude. It would be best if he could have some know how to govern the kingdom and not just brawns.

    "Me... no, I was an adventurer longer than I was an employed soldier. Also, the roads had been filled with so many demons recently, if I dared to call myself a seasoned adventurer, I would not dare to fight these many demons." the mage said and Jin finally asked for his name and his adventurer''s rank if any.

    "My Lord, my humble name is Linus Rollshaft, I was a Rank B- Adventurer."

    "So, I assumed that you got this soldier''s job is to feed yourself because of the demon infestations? Are there no monsters around that hate the demons?"Jin questioned, knowing that there might be certain situations where the monsters were at loggerheads with the demons even though they were always categorised as the same group.

    "Not all monsters support them. Especially those with average intelligence or more hated them like the beastkins. Minor intelligence like goblins and orcs will obey the demons but the more ...erm for theck of a better word, subspecies? unique branch of the race? Those will oppose the demons too."

    "Oh lol...so the orcs and goblins here are not that smart." Jin said out loud to himself as he continued to let Linus do the exnation."

    "So, all these war derations and status is to make sure that they have enough troops to fight against the demons rather than the others?"

    "No, the Kingdom of Ress War Minister had proimed that the other nations were doing this to undermine the sovereignty of the kingdom," Linus replied and Jin held him there for a second.

    "Please do not tell me that all these nations are bordering the Kingdom of Ress. I do not have a map with me right now but this is how I feel if you put it this way."Jin questioned and Linus unfortunately nodded his head.

    "The only one the Kingdom of Ress did not border with is the Alliance of Nations. They have a deep rtionship with the Warrior Kingdom of Beil north of us, so they epted the war deration with the Kingdom of Ress too." Linus stated.

    "Then the other three kingdoms, I am assuming, upied the east, south, and west regions?"

    "Not exactly. The North is where most of the demons areing from. In fact, a few kingdoms fell while trying to fight against the demons, and their refugees were incorporated into the bordering nations of the North. It so happened that the Kingdom of Ress is now the borderline before the stranded north."

    "Huh, then why dere war on each other when you guys have amon enemy?"

    "Because by doing so, I believe the War Minister can take those refugees as prisoners of war too. It will lessen the demand forbour... and make them productive. And by being at war with the other nations, the Kingdom of Ress does not need to take in additional refugees from them. There was no pressure."

    "This is national politics gone so fucking wrong. What the hell is the Foreign Minister even thinking if there is one." Jin said and Linus shook his head, stating that there was no such post. "Much figures." Jin sighed.

    "Then what are the Ministries aside from War and Finance?"

    "Your Majesty, even if I tell you, you might not have the power to defy them. The rules for the Kingdom of Ress is that the King is at the bidding of the Ministers. Whatever the Ministers said, the king has to follow the Ministers''w as their word is irond."

    "So that is what happened to the previous kings and queens as well?"

    "Yes, a few of them die in battle against the demons," Linus said.

    "Therefore, I am a soldier with a glorified title? I bet the War Ministers use this summoning as a way to get free specialised troops to do their bidding, no? I worried for the so called Queens."

    "Huh? There are no Queens that had been summoned before."

    "Oh...okay. That''s great to know." Jin wondered how thedies would be summoned and might possibly be abused by these ''irond'' ministers. It was a terrible thought but seeing how their politics were distasteful to begin with, Jin did not hesitate to consider such a possibility. Discover tales on m-vl-em,pyr

    "But your Majesty, if you are able to wield the power of the celestial relic, things might be different for you," Linus reported with respect.

    "Hmm. Hmm. Then perhaps, this might be a show that is worth going into." Jin suddenly has very naughty thoughts on how to bully the ministers. Perhaps, Kraft had taught him too many devilish tricks that Jin always tries to find and apply them to such scenarios.

    At the same time, the supposed Moon King sessor also realised that as long as he can make something out of a molehill, the System that resides in him will provide him with additional achievements.

    It was a way to exploit the System to give him more stats and that way, it will better prepare him for the uing 5 year invasion of the angels.

 Chapter 2007: The Red Banquet -Part 2

    But even with that kind of thinking, it seemed like there was no need for him to go that far as one of the Ministers was already grumbling very loudly about why the supposed new king''s sessor had not appeared so far.

    "This king really thinks he can hold sway on us? We areing here as a courtesy call for him, to let him know that although he is the king, he still has to listen to us!" The minister shouted and everyone in the court agreed to it.

    "Now, now. Let''s not be hasty, shall we? Perhaps he had already died from the celestial relic from the Moon King. We should wait for the old servant to give us that news andter plot our time. Besides, as you can see, the king''s servants are already preparing the tables for us while we wait for this king.

    They knew that we had already waited long enough for dinner to be served under the royal''s tab." The other minister said and the rest started tough knowing that they did not need to spend money for their dinner since it was going to the debt of this particr king. He had to work hard to get back all that money.

    "What if he survived the celestial relic and needed time toe here?" Gara suddenly spoke out and the Ministers looked at him with suspicion. This had been a long time since the Royal Mage General had spoken a word during the conversation of the Ministers. While he had roughly the same power and rank as them, they all knew that Gara did not make much small talk as his magic did all the talking.

    So, the War Minister had decided to entertain him with his thoughts.

    "If he does, he can join us in this uing dinner and we celebrate his survival from the relic. After that, we will bill that to him and have the new king to work his ass off paying the cost of the dinner."

    "I briefly saw the new candidate during the summoning process. He does not seem to be the usual king that we had." Gara gave a lie but within that lie, a warning to the ministers. When Jin overheard it, he was already smiling. This Royal Mage General might have been hiding, no- ignoring all that was happening so that when the right time came, he would strike.

    This might be the ally that he was searching for in this mess of the Kingdom.

    Perhaps he did have an agenda but as long as it aligned with Jin, there were no qualms with it.

    "Royal Mage General. You might have your opinions but for the past few generations, all the kings have always been rubbish. Crying kids, despaired adults and there was even one handicapped. All of them could not do shit to run this country. I honestly have no idea why you guys keep summoning all these useless king candidates for. Just because of the legacy of the Moon King?

    That guy is already dead for 2000 years. Just let us be the actual kings, create a cab and we can move the Kingdom of Ress to the next stage." The War Minister eximed and each and every Minister was shouting in support for the War Minister except for one.

    "Who''s that guy? He did not make any noise at all." Jin said as he continued to monitor the situation from the top. He knew that all of the Ministers were in their colourful attire to differentiate them and their minions and there was this rather old veteran looking minister who kept his mouth shut for the longest time ever.

    In fact, Jin noticed that there was no interaction between the bulk of the ministers and him. Not even a greeting. All that old minister did was sit at the corner with oneckey analysing the whole situation.

    "That guy? бнAh. He is the Minister of Kingdom Development. Usually deals with the development of the kingdom as well as spearheading the research of the kingdom. The only problem with that is there is no funding going into that. Every minister in this room felt that there was no need for research at all." Linus stated as he squinted his eyes to check if he had identified the minister correctly. Stay with the story on m v l e m p y r

    "If I am not wrong, his name is Topharm. If the rumours were correct, the generation before him apparently had tried to back a particr King because that King had the same thoughts and alignment with the Topharm''s parents. However, as much as Topharm''s parents tried to assist and support the king, the other ministers had schemed and caused a downfall."

    "Let me guess, he does not have a family? Or if he had one, it was a forced marriage with that he did not agree to. Subsequently, he wed and gave birth to someone because he was forced to as well.

    So that his child will continue to be a minister and that this is a reminder for the rest of the ministers to not to cross the group." Jin theorised and Linus was amazed by that line of thinking because it was exactly what had happened.

    This might honestly be a boon if this candidate was able to cid the entire group of ministers ande out as the final victor of it all to bring the current Kingdom of Ress to a new age.

    "Your Majesty. If you are willing to make changes. I will follow you to the depths of hell."

    "Heh, if you follow me, the depths of hell are not enough of a route. We are going to fight and sit on the throne of the heavens too." Jin said but at that point, Linus had no idea that they were going to fight not just against demons but angels too.

    "Are all the ministers such assholes?"

    "You never seen the atrocities they had done. I am not extremely well versed with memory vision spells but here. This is one of the worst that I have seen and been etched with it for all eternity." Linus said as he created a small sphere of whirling on his palm before it turned clear and projected his memory onto it.

    Jin saw the ministers all line up stark naked with their fellow ''entertainers'' in action. Not only that, the ministers were in some luxurious stadiums where their beds were the seats and the centre of it all was the arena. They watched humans fight against each other with bare hands to death.

    For a mage kingdom citizen to fight without any magic was basically the greatest handicap and to see the raw visage of humans tearing each other apart with tooth and nail was arousing them for their entertainers to do the job. Not only that, the winner will fight against the captured demon.

    Linus was scheduled as one of the guards to ensure that the demons do not go overboard and this was just a standard duty which almost every soldier in the castle did. They cannot say no as that would be against orders.

    Only if the ministers felt generous that they give them a tip or two, and if the ministers felt that they were in a bad mood, the guards themselves had to risk their lives for the sake of entertainment as well.

    Linus was lucky he was able to pull through this asion without any hups but there were a few of his seniors that did not have such peace during their course of duty. As much as Linus did not wish to do this, it became a daily asion that he became a little numb from all the sins that were happening.

    Still, he could not forget the first time he saw it happening as he honestly hoped to cut them down for they are also the demons that are hiding in in sight.

    "Huh, well. Then as king, should I not try to educate them so that these monsters be humans again?"

    "Are you that kind?" Linus did not dare tough but that emotion came out as an instant reaction, not allowing him to withdraw it. So, he quickly kneels to apologise.

    "Heh. Heh. Heh. They like to watch sports a lot, right? Well, it so happens that I like this kind of sports watching too."Jin smiled as he decided to start

    It was then, that Jin also understood that this was more than enough observation and he decided that it was time for the show to start. However, before he did, he touched his storage watch for a moment and attempted to see if it was still working or not.

    To his relief, he was still able to ess his storage watch and he took out a Panda mask and wore it as he always did when it to theatrics. He cleared his voice for a bit and he started his show.

 Chapter 2008: The Red Banquet -Part 3

    Jin climbed over the edge of the railings and jumped down from the second floor. There were a few who saw it and alerted the rest, eventually the ministers were in the known.

    They were shocked by that behaviour and more so by the mask that Jin was wearing. Undoubtedly, it looked cute and innocent but behind that mask, was a person who was going to make their lives a total mess.

    The War Minister was the first to open his mouth and demanded the person in the mask to reveal his identity but Jin merely kept quiet and sat at the throne. The rest eventually understood what was going on. This new king had decided to be showy in order to impress the ministers that he was strong athletically.

    But a strong physical body would not sway anyone in this kingdom that was dominated by magic.

    "So, you are the new king, eh? What''s your name? At least have the courtesy to say it in order for us to bow down to you, is it not?" The War Ministermented and the rest were already sniggling at the corner. They knew what the War Minister was going about.

    While Jin did not have an experience with the magic in this world, he probably had an inkling that by saying his name, he might be subjected to a contract that he could not break out of when the rest of the conditions were fulfilled. Perhaps, even by sitting on this throne had already enabled the War Minister to prepare all the conditions for the magic trap.

    "Is that the way you had been talking to your past kings?" Jin said and immediately, he did not give any chance at all. An impressive bout of magical aura infused with chi shot out from his body to cover the entire room causing every single one to feel the immense killing intent he had been covering behind the mask.

    The only ones he did not subject to this aura were Royal Mage General Gara and Linus who he appreciated for all the information that he had gotten. Sometimes, all it takes is to talk to a worker who has been on the ground to know the general situation at hand.

    This killing intent while not directed at Linus and Gara had already impressed the Royal Mage General. To be able to manipte magic to the point where it did not affect the people within a cloud of oppressive aura was nothing short of excellence. "So, I am right, this new King is not just any person that could be bullied.

    He has the experience and powers to back himself up." Gara smiled as he walked to lean on the wall to watch the rest of themotion.

    All of the ministers and theirckeys were suppressed and most of them dropped to their knees and subsequentlyy on the ground. Jin made it hard for most of them to breathe but not enough for it to make them unconscious. And those who decided to oppose this aura were setback with an even heavier dose of suppression from Jin.

    However, the ministers as much as Jin did not like them had proven to be quite the fighters too. Despite their demeanour and possible misconduct, most of the ministers were rather well versed in magic and were able to hold their ground despite the aura that Jin was emitting. Yet, the new King did not increase his suppression against them as he wished to talk to them.

    "That guy there at the corner. You a minister?" Jin projected his voice with Maqi and pointed towards the Minister of Kingdom Development and Research and thus Topharm nodded his head. Jin did not suppress him as much and although he wished to believe Linus that this old man was a victim of abuse as suggested by Linus, he needed to hear it from his mouth as well.

    "Do you think you acted like a minister and aided the kingdom to the best of your abilities despite the shortfalls that you had?" Jin asked, which surprised Topharm that the new King asked such a question. He had no idea what kind of game that Jin was looking into but slowly shook his head.

    "I did not do enough for the kingdom but if you are willing to give me a chance, I can prove it to you," Topharm said. "But I can assure you one thing. I might have done some bad things in life however I did not perform hideous acts that will categorise me to be worse than a demon.

    Yet, if you think that is not enough of a confession, I am willing to prove that I can be of service to you." Topharm even dered his name and used a little bit of magic not to only defy the magical aura that was suppressing him but also to adjust himself so that he could bow and kowtow in front of the new king. "With my life!"

    "That was a little unexpected. I was thinking of having a longer conversation with him to not just tease him but also warn the rest of the group." Jin thought to himself. But he figured Topharm was not stupid either. He might have seen this as an opportunity to get out of the situation that he had been stuck in.

    "Alright, then." Jin took out a bottle of water which amounted to at least two litres. "This is a truth serum solution. All of the ministers are to drink this and answer my questions. If not, you will be set aside for judgment. And you old man. I apud your bravery in answering to me and pledge your allegiance to me.

    But if you have nothing to hide, drink this and I will ept your pledge of loyalty." Jin said as he released the aura surrounding Topharm just as he had manipted the aura to not let it affect Gara and Linus.

    Topharm coughed a little from the pressure relief and he briskly walked to the front even though the rest of the ministers and theirckeys were caught in this aura suppression ''event''. The rest of the servants were also not affected by the suppression aura and they quickly brought a cup towards the minister and asked if the King needed them to pour.

    "There is no need for you to be here. Please leave." Jin said in a peaceful manner and the servant for some reason was shocked by the response and quickly moved away. "

    "Are you afraid that the ss might be poisoned?" The Royal Mage General suddenly spoke out.

    "Heh. And kill my first ever loyal minister? Possibly." Jinughed as he snapped his finger and a hand came out from the ground. From stones and sand, it was shaped in a position where it was able to hold a cup as well. And a stone cup was indeed created from this spell cast that was done without a single chant.

    Jin then took the bottle, uncapped it, and poured it gently right in front of the supposed Kingdom Development Minister. "Pick up the cup and drink everything," Jin said and the minister did not hesitate at all. Was there really a spell in it? Jin did not even perform such a thing as he already had all the literal mind hacks to read what was going on in the person he wished to interrogate.

    Butpared to Kraft, Jin was not able to do that on a constant basis. It will definitely eat up his Maqi considerably and not to mention the intake of information thates in was huge. Therefore, he was just going to perform it when he was dealing with each of them one by one. The only thing left was how to show that the minister was lying or not.

    "Ah. I got it." Jin thought to himself as he cleared his throat and started to question the minister who was kneeling down despite his weak knees.

    "What''s your name?"

    "This humble one is named Topharm, your Majesty."

    "What is your upation?"

    "Kingdom Development. I also dealt with some research as well." Topharm stated.

    "Speak inly, are there any traitors in our midst?" Jin asked and Topharm did not know whether this was a trick question or not.

    "...Not that I know of," Topharm said and Jin nodded his head.

    "Are you willing to confess anything before reaffirming your allegiance to me?"

    "I had not done enough even though my family had vowed to always support the person sitting on the throne so long he had deemed our family useful. This had been the creed. Regardless of the hatred I had for the ministers, my allegiance will always be with the crown just as my forefathers had done."

    "You are basically useless right now?" Jin asked a bold question and Topharm panicked.

    "I will not deny that. But I had created ns to revitalise the city if you are willing to give a look." Topharm replied with a shaky voice.

    "Even at the current state, this kingdom is in? Do you really have a n?" Jin asked once again. He knew that what Topharm said had always been true but is the truth sufficient?

    "Give me ten days. Nay. A week. I will create a n that will properly revitalise the area." Topharm pleaded and Jin nodded with pleasure.

    "I will hold it to your word. Otherwise..." Jin did not need to finish his sentence as he told Topharm to move up to the second floor. :Linus, get the servants to serve some bread and drink for the Kingdom Development Minister. Also, get yourself a chair to sit on. This might be a long talk." Jin said as he eyed Gara as if to tell him to do the same too.

    Find more adventures on m|vl-em,pyr

    The Royal Mage General obliged and the three including several servants were up there as the rest on the first floor were still attempting to catch their breath.

    Some of them were already sweating and might be on the verge of fainting but as they were about to do so, some of the pressure was relieved and it was somewhat a torture for them.

    "War Minister~!" Jin said with a smile. "You made the most noise, I wonder if you could squeak out as much as well," Jin said as he used his Maqi to drag the War Minister to the front of the throne. The stone hand that was used to serve the cup suddenly grew more hands and held tight to the War Minister right in front of Jin.

    Jin gently poured the water again into the cup but this time, the new stone hands forced open the War Minister''s mouth and shoved the water into his throat. They abruptly closed his mouth and did not care whether it choked him or not. He had to swallow that amount of water.

    It was only after a while that Jin released the stone hands from the War Minister''s mouth and allowed him to speak. "You dare treat me like this and even threaten me with truth serum?"

    "Threaten? I did no such thing." Jin smiled as he asked a question. "How much money had you cheated from this kingdom?"

    "None? I did everything and used every penny properly for the will of the Kingdom!" The War Minister was pissed that this King never even asked for his name and lied straight away, knowing that the truth serum might not have acted so quickly. He might have some time to bullshit his way.

    Yet at the same time, Jin''s eyes glow brightly and strongly. They were inverted triangles rotating within his eyes the moment the War Minister spoke that lie. "Lying right off the bat, huh?" Jin said and the rest who were in cahoots of the War Minister knew that what he said was indeed a lie. Perhaps, the lie detection came from Jin and hence the truth serum.

    However, all of them did not know that what Jin took out was merely a bottle of soda. He believed this era of people would never have tried such a drink before and would assume otherwise as a truth speaking serum.

    "Bring him to the side. I will deal with this liarter." Jin said and the stone hands twisted all of War Minister''s fatty limbs and literally threw him to the side of the throne as he asked the next minister toe forth. By setting the example for the first, nearly every one else got real honest.

 Chapter 2009: The Red Banquet -Part 4

    It did not take long for the rest to be sorted out by Jin''s ''lying mechanism'' but he needed to show that he was not fooling around. The various ministers who had lied had their limbs broken and all they experienced was pain from the twisted elbows and knees that Jin had caused.

    However, all of them were still breathing and suffering through the pain and cursing Jin for doing such an act. Only when the first round of ministers was done, Jin looked at the side and pitied the group a little.

    "Now that you have suffered the punishment dished out by me, do you think you should be speaking the truth now?" Jin asked as he stared at the remaining ''broken'' ministers who were seeking redemption.

    Unfortunately, some still lied and Jin left them at the side. It showed how deep rooted the problem was and also how fractured the entire society of ministers had been. There was no way such a group would be able to run the Kingdom of Ress effectively. And to change, some things must go.

    Gara who was watching from above had never seen such a disy of ...truth telling before and theckeys who were with the ministers told as much information as they could to Jin, allowing him to understand the whole situation that the Kingdom of Ress was in. A lot of them pitched in almost immediately because they were afraid of the repercussions and the pressure that they were facing.

    After all, in this half an hour, Jin had yet to let go of his suppression aura and people were already feeling extremely weary. The only time they were able to experience relief from this pressure was when Jin interrogated them. And any lie would result in broken arms and limbs so the need to say the truth was more than sufficient.

    Theckeys also suspected that once the ministers were done, they were next and most of them had volunteered to give out the information needed.

    "Looks like you were lucky to earn the King''s grace," Gara said to Linus and he nodded his head with guilt. "If one is well versed with magic, one will be able to see that the drink does not contain any magical powers at all. It''s probably a drink King Jin had brought from his other world."

    "You mean... he can gaze into the souls of someone and see whether they lie or not? I thought truth seeking spells wereplicated and sometimes ineffective?" Linus asked which made Gara snort a bit.

    "Have you forgotten he is an outsider? Such rules do not apply to him. You can already see the amount of magic power he had been emitting out. He is no ordinary magic user and perhaps he might have been a formidable person that so happened to transport here. If so, he might really be the Moon King''s sessor."

    "So, there''s a chance he will clear the rot and move the Kingdom of Ress to the next stage of development?"

    "There''s a high chance but one person cannot do much. That is also why he had decided to rule by fear right now, knowing that people do notply. But right now, I look forward to what he is going to do with the rest of the wrongdoers." Gara said as he himself was already taking mental notes on who were the major culprits in this confession event.

    Not to his surprise, most in the War Department under the War Minister had been thrown to the side. It seems like their loyalty for him was immensepared to the supposed tyrant who was now on the throne and who ruled the ce by fear.

    But after all the confessions, Jin stood up and used his stone hands which were now numbered in the tens to hold onto those who had been ''tossed'' aside after the confession event. The magical aura suppression had stopped for the entire ce and Jin looked at the group who had their limbs broken.

    "Do you know it''s a death sentence crime to mistreat a minister? You have no power to do this in the first ce."

    "Sorry, no one briefed me on the rules when I first came. Besides, my impression of being a king meant that I can do whatever the hell I want," Jin said as he once again did the same method by using the stone hands to immobilise them and forcefully open their mouths.

    This time it was not soda that Jin poured into their mouth, but rather the healing potion that the System and the rest had manufactured for him previously.

    He hardly needed the elixirs mainly due to the fact that his body was able to regenerate fast enough to prevent the use of it. (Or rather, he did not want to waste it so that the stock of potions could be sold to the customer rather than to him during their dungeon instances.)

    But instead of giving the whole bottle and forcing it into each and every single person''s throat, he merely gave each of them a drop while also infusing it with his Maqi to elerate the healing process. After all, he knew that all the stone hands that were used to break their limbs did a clean break so healing would be quick too.

    And with that act, people already thought he was some miracle worker as much as he was a demon. All of the limbs were healed and the War Minister thought the new King was foolish or perhaps he was acting when he was actually kind.

    "This guy, the moment he let me out of this bullshit, I am going to ughter him with all my authority. He does not know that the Royal Mage General and the rest of the troops were aligned to me and me alone." The War Minister said as he tried to let out several groans but Jin was merely ignoring him.

    "Well, what are we waiting for? Everyone had already confessed to what they had done, I had forgiven a few of them while the main culprits were apprehended at the side of the room. Consensus had shown that the War Ministry was in the wrong with a few pockets of resistance from various ministries and their ministers too." Jin reiterated.

    "Looks like we have done quite a lot, we should get the banquet going. Am I right? There was a banquet that needed to be served if I did not hear wrongly and I am paying for it, correct?" Jin looked at the servants who were timid to leave the scene and those who tried realised they could not leave at all.

    Now what they can do is to listen to their new King and serve the food as the cooks did not stop once the order had been given.

    Tables were rashly ced and several of the minister''sckeys even came to help while the main culprits were still being held by the stonehands. The moment someone had decided to resist the stone hands that were immobilising them, a suppressive aura came to hover around them, forcing them to have abolished any thoughts of resisting.

    In less than 20 minutes, the tables were ready and the servants were already serving food to the various groups. Jin even beckoned Linus and Gara toe down and have their food too but when the servants brought food for Jin, he refused to eat.

    "Sorry, no thanks. I am still working." Jin said and the servants acknowledged their new king''s orders and told him that his food would be cooked again if he wished to eat. "What? No need. Just reheat them with some fire magic. It''s fine.

    I am not picky with food. Do not waste it." The servants quickly acknowledged and walked away to prevent him from doing his job.

    "So? What are you waiting for? Eat! Everyone eat! Do not mind me." Jin said and no one dared to do so until Gara became the first to break the silence. Linus followed suit and the rest started to eat.

    "Great. Now that everyone has at least a bite. We need some entertainment too, right?" Jin stared at the audience and they looked at each other suspiciously until they simultaneously nodded their heads slowly.

    "What do you want to do?" Gara was the only person who was brave enough to speak out after all the mess that had happened.

    "Erm, what''s the usual loadout for soldiers going into dungeon expeditions?"

    "We have a basic adventuring list for the soldiers going in," Gara said and Linus nodded his head to provide affirmation. "Unless they are veteran soldiers clearing, they have a customised list since they know what dungeon to go into."

    "So...how many do we have here?" Jin asked as he turned his head towards the War Minister and hisckeys. A total of 16 people if I did not count wrongly, including the Finance Minister as well as the Foreign Rtions Minister." Jin then looked at the servants that were waiting at the side of the room. "Servants, go get 16 backpacks filled with the adventuring list as well as their known weapons.

    But the basic ones will be fine. If you have no idea what weapons they used, try to decipher it from them or their friends."

    "Oh, but you only have 5 minutes to ask and get back here within 30 minutes, or else I will be bored and the rest would have cleared the tes. As long as the tes are not cleared... you get my drift. Gara, I am sorry but please assist with the armoury part." Jin smiled and the servants instantly bowed their heads and ran off.

 Chapter 2010: The Red Banquet -Part 5

    When the ''punished'' group heard what Jin had nned, their minds were already starting to churn on how to escape. Perhaps, with the servants moving to various portions of the castle to get the supplies, other people loyal to the ministers who were currently detained by Jin might be able to act upon it and rescue them as they move to the dungeon location.

    At that point, they were already cursing and hoping that their allies would be able to rescue the ministers so that when they ran away from the Kingdom of Ress, they could create a counter force, or perhaps a resistance force that enabled them to take back what was rightfully theirs.

    In the worst case scenario, the ministers would create chaos such that it would be hard for the Kingdom of Ress to function properly.

    And the ministers, especially the War Minister knew which connections to probe so he could present the new King a lot of obstacles in the future. Some of the servants also felt that the new King had clearly messed up the situation. For him to be kind by putting them in a dungeon run would only cause furtherplications.

    Linus also thought of it that way but did not dare to speak out among so many people. His presence should not have been there in the first ce as his duty was to merely escort the king to the throne room.

    He had never expected to sit beside the Royal Mage General Gara and participate in this whole facade to the end.

    "My Lord... I have ced some extras in the backpack." The servant whispered as he pretended to have some trouble putting the backpack down in front of the War Minister. "Please remember me..." the servant said as he bowed and left the area, knowing that he might have seeded in earning the War Minister''s favour.

    And when everyone had a basic adventurer''s backpack with their supposed weapon of choice, Jin stood up and suddenly all of the gates and doors were barred shut with magic.

    "Looks like some of the servants did not get my message. I said only the basic adventurer essentials. For those who felt that they might have identally left something in the backpacks, please remove them." Jin was giving them a chance before things got big and a few servants had decided that risking their lives for the ministers might not be a good idea after all.

    They went to the backpacks and took a few items out before apologising to the King and staying at the side. Jin then beckoned Linus toe even though he was the most ufortable person in the room.

    "You are a soldier on duty, are you not? And also an adventurer. Tell me, if I have a dungeon right in this castle. What are the items you feel that it''s useless in this basic adventurer pack." Jin asked and Linus panicked.

    Why was he in such a situation when he had done nothing wrong? The ring eyes of theckeys as well as the immobilised ministers were extremely piercing. It was as if they were telling him that if he did anything unnecessary, he and whoever was close to him would be killed.

    "What? Are you worried that they might punish you? Then I as the new King of Ress will assure you that you have no worries about that. Right, Gara?" Jin said and Gara nodded his head with a faint smile.

    Linus then slowly opened the backpack and took out everything. From what he saw, most were travelling essentials to go to the said dungeon and even though the set was supposed to be basic, the servants had taken the initiative to pick the most extensive ''basic adventurer set'' possible in case it was in the farnds.

    So when Jin had set the condition that the dungeon would be in the castle, he instantly eliminated most if not all of the travelling aid, leaving all of them their weapons and a pair of potions. There were some bandages as well as a few magic stones which Jin believed were enchanted with healing magic.

    Other than that, Jin was satisfied with what Linus had taken out and nodded to him as if to proceed to the next person.

    Soon, all sixteen had their bags empty and the person who did not take back the extras was the servant that gave the War Minister the most. "Gara, pick that servant out."

    "Dispose him?" Gara asked and Jin shook his head even though he was smiling.

    "There is no need. He probably was desperate but since he does not listen to mymands, multiply the cost of those goods that had been removed from the adventurer''s pack by two and put it as his debt. Interest rate 10%. per week." Jin said and Gara was a little bewildered by the type of punishment that he had dished out.

    "I acknowledged," Gara said and he immediately nced towards the servant''s direction, knowing that he made a mistake to gamble for the War Minister.

    "Very well, with that pouch of potions with you and your weapon, you are hereby sentenced toplete a Rank C dungeon as a group. You may use anything within your disposal to survive. Oh and hint, a group could be defined as two or more people."Jin said as he snapped his fingers once and a portal emerged right in front of them.

    Everyone was shocked when they saw a dungeon portal emerging right within the room. The only ones who were alert were Gara, Linus and the few guards who had been posted in the throne room.

    "That''s why I said travelling essentials were not needed. The portal is in the castle." Now all of you, off you go. There''s a show to watch." Jin said as he summoned a magic eye with his Maqi and threw it into the dungeon. Compared to the System''s magic eye, it was likeparing a bicycle and a Rolls Royce.

    Yet this ''bicycle'' that Jin had conjured was still good enough as a video recorder for the event.

    "Oh yes, I forgot, the stone hands are not only restricting you but also restraining you from using any magic. Not to mention, my suppression aura. Now this is my bad, so I shall throw you guys in. " Jin said as he used the stone hands to grab all the remaining gear that they had and he literallymanded his stone hands to catapult them into the portal.

    "They should be able to clear a Rank C dungeon, am I right?" Jin said but he did not summon one that was from this universe mainly because he had no idea what this universe had. Instead, he summoned based on whatever imagination he had inside his head.

    Such creations required Maqi and Jin felt that he had enough to expend despite the rampant use of aura to suppress the people. "Tribe of the Elephantman," Jin said as he pped his fingers together which teleported the portal to be behind the throne chair. After which, he pped it again and a screen emerged right above him.

    "Servants, now you may bring some food to me. I am famished." Jin said as he turned, walked towards the supposed War Ministry''s table and sat there all alone waiting for his food to arrive.

    As if a desert looking outworld was not enough, there was a slight fog which hindered their vision a little. Butpared to what they had been through, they were finally free. Their magic powers were stable as well, and that means they were able to cast magic despite the terribly basic weapons they were wielding.

    So long they were able to cast magic, there was nothing much to fear as the War Minister asked one of hisckeys to blow all the fog away from them so they could have a clearer picture.

    But before theckey was able to even draw a magic circle in mid air, he suddenly felt that he was missing something. And it was only when he looked at his body that he realised that there was a hole in his chest.

    "Oh, that is brutal," Jin said as the first appetiser came and the king had already begun eating. Yet a few of theckeys felt like vomiting the moment they saw the bleeding hole in that person''s heart.

    It was then they realised Jin was not going to let the main culprits free at all. At the same time, he also gave them a chance. As long as they could clear this, they would be able toe out with a nk te record. Whether they could embrace the chance or not, it is for them to survive this first.

    But will Jin honestly allow them to live?

    That was for the culprits to find out as they started to realise that they were being surrounded by monsters. And they were no ordinary monsters which they had seen before even though their shape of them was familiar to Jin. Explore stories at m-v le-mpyr

    The War Minister could only curse at this predicament that he was in and vowed to kill Jin the moment he came out of this.

 Chapter 2011: The Red Banquet -Part 6

    "So, instead of killing them directly, you have decided to kill them using a dungeon?" Gara asked and Jin nodded his head while continuing to partake in his meal. It was rather delicious and he did not know that it could taste this good. Perhaps, the food ingredients that they had provided to the Ministers were top notch which made him wonder how the food quality for the rest of the kingdom.

    "Is this part of your King''s powers?"Gara pressed for answers.

    "Yes. I could make an easier dungeon but I do not know the grasp of my powers which is why I put this creation out for them to try. Don''t worry. I won''t make them survive at all. Even though the War Minister is shouting for revenge." Explore stories at m-v le-mpyr

    "That way, people could say that it''s the ipetence of the ministers and theirckey that they were not able to survive this dungeon?" Gara asked and Jin merely shrugged his shoulders.

    "I honestly did not think that far ahead when it came to punishing him. When I saw what that guy did to other humans, I did not think it was fair." Jin said.

    "But you set that servant free for going against the orders of the King?"

    "Free? He is paying a penalty is he not?" Jin asked and Gara replied that defying the orders of the King could result in digging their own graves. "Oh, it''s fine. From what I can see, this kingdom is in a losing economy. If the servant did something wrong and he is not taking pay for it, it''s good enough punishment since the kingdom is going to earn back some petty cash.

    What I am more interested in is their coffers." Jin pointed towards them with his fork.

    "I want their money and eventually their powers as well as their rights. Or else, there is no way to run this kingdom effectively."

    "You will still need trusted people to do the work," Gara said and he nodded his head towards Linus. "He seemed decent, he can help me with my paperwork."

    "Your Majesty, I do not know how to read or write properly. I only know the basics to cast magic!" Linus humbly rejected the offer which made Jin look at Gara. "You probably can find some decent people, right?"

    "Am I yours tomand now?" Gara said and Jin shrugged his shoulders. "It all depends on you whether you wish to see what kind of direction I take."

    "And what direction do you wish to take?" Gara asked as they could hear shouting from the broadcast. The Elephantmen were chasing after the ministers with a kind of fury that they had never seen in monsters before. No matter what kind of offensive magic had been cast, it did not seem to work or work as intended.

    Jin had made these elephantmen''s skin to be rough enough to withstand a certain level of magic and melee damage. But they are vulnerable as long as you slice their noses off. That was the weak point that reduced the toughness level of these elephantmen.

    "Simple. Call off the war status between the countries. Get the economy and trade running as soon as possible. Get our shit together. Bring work and food to the people. That''s the main objective for year 1 and we see how we work from there." Jin said and Gara could not help butugh.

    "You make it sound so easy. Do you think we can do all that with the current demon situation that is guing all of us?" Gara said and Jin pointed at the dungeon portal without saying anything else as he put more food into his mouth.

    Gara was confused for a moment and then he suddenly clicked to him. "This...dungeon, we can get materials? Can you summon more of them?"

    "That is why they are my first test group. I would not say it would not be risky but if we can get materials while training our people and also create jobs. I do not see why not."

    Jin was genuinely excited at the prospect. Unlike the dungeon instances, people can get injured and die for real. There is no System to revive them. But at the same time, it also means that the materials he can get from the dungeons are real, unlike the dungeon instances he created.

    The thing which he was rather surprised about was that he did not expect infusing Maqi into the dungeon summoning process could create such detailed monsters out. He had no expectations that they were able to create monsters out of his own imagination and assumed that putting Maqi into the equation might only change it ever so slightly.

    This means that the possibilities of dungeon summoning can differ from summoning a random dungeon to summoning a dungeon that meets the requirements of Jin''s wishes.

    However, the only thing he could not control at the moment was the environment. Perhaps he did not put in the effort to think and create the environment which was why the environment felt so random to have a desert ce with elephantmen running around. It was on his to do list to check that the dungeons he summoned next would have an impact on the environment if he put his mind and Maqi into it.

    For now, he was extremely satisfied as it also meant that all he needed to do was to focus on the monsters and the dungeon summoning skill would do its job.

    "It makes me feel that I am truly a dungeon creator!" Jin thought to himself and giggled a little. Meanwhile, Gara was equally excited alongside Jin. If what his new King could do was true even to a certain extent, it would definitely be the deus ex machina that would be able to save the Kingdom of Ress from a certain doom.

    Surely, there were a lot of things that needed to be done, and seeing how this particr King not only had the power to change things, he had the power to remove the rotting system from this kingdom. If it was really true, Gara would spare no effort to allow him to use the Mage army to the bone if it was necessary.

    In the meantime, they saw that the entire group was not able to run away from the group of Elephantmen. All that was left was the War Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister who were panting and drinking thest drop of their mana potion.

    It did not take a genius to find out that they were out of options. Both ministers were on a sand dune hill and the Elephantmen were all smiling as they happily swung their bloodied swords around to show them that their time was almost up.

    "This is impossible! I am the War Minister of Ress! I demand soldiers to be at my side!" He was shouting violently and brandishing his wooden staff as if not telling them toe any closer. However the concept of a corner animal did not apply to him since his skills in magic were not apt for the battle.

    Most of it was maniption and coercion skills and for some reason, the spell Charm Person did not work on these monsters at all when it had been effective for all the other monsters he had encountered before. He even managed to charm a demon.

    "I believe he is desperate because his Charm Person spell does not work as intended," Gara said as he knew the incantation that wasing out of his mouth.

    "Charm Person definitely would not work on a monster even though it''s a humanoid," Linus eximed and Gara grinned. This made Jin curious about the spell and its working conditions and thankfully, Gara was already exining.

    "But the Minister does not know. We had been faking the performance of his Charm Person, making him think that his spell was omnipotent to work on anyone." Gara replied and Linus nodded his head as if he understood it well but he did not.

    "You guys use Charm Monsters or Charm Demons at the sidelines and make it pretend that the War Minister was able to charm anyone with Charm Person?"

    "Sigh, considering how many people he killed for telling him his spell does not work, I think it''s a fairpromise for not telling him," Gara remarked as he saw one of the Elephantmen, supposedly its leadere towards the duo with a huge bloodied battleaxe.

    It felt pitiful that the duo was not able to perform anyst stand fight against it and with a swing, both of their heads were decapitated. And the dungeon portaly still right in front of them.

    "Welp, looks like our dear ministers were not able to survive. How sad." Jin said as he cleared his throat and stood up. "Before someone could inform their next of kin, I guess, we need to clear the dungeon or else there will be some flood cmity, right?"

    Jin said as he asked for the extra items that had been confiscated from the basic adventurer''s loadout previously and spread them on the floor. "Linus, your sword is a mass manufactured sword?"

    "Eh, I do not get what you mean but it''s a standard issue item if you are asking...?" Linus said and Jin nodded his head, asking him to pull it out for him.

    "Now, Mr Hammer. Looks like you have some work to do before we go into the dungeon. Give me a good item to bring for the fight!" Jin said as he pulled out the celestial relic from his storage ring. "It''s time to do some improvised smithing!"

 Chapter 2012: The Red Banquet -Part 7

    Mr Hammer looked at the spread of items and he was disgusted. "Look, I know I am somehow a warhammer being repurposed as an improvised smithing tool but are you telling me that you want to do some smithing with these items?" Mr Hammer talked back to Jin.

    "Yeah, is there a problem? You have an audience right in front of you too. And we got to close that dungeon portal no matter what." Jin talked to the hammer and people thought that he was insane. However, people who were well versed or highly attuned to mana could somewhat hear what they were talking about. It was like a murmur for Gara but if he concentrated hard enough, it was possible.

    "Are you fucking kidding me? A few vials of potions, some nkets, a few daggers, wine, and an assortment of magic stones?!" The hammer eximed and Jin shrugged. "This is what we have right now, or else how can we do improvised smithing?" Jinmented which made the hammer sigh badly.

    "Commence Improvising Smithing then. Put all the items around the sword and start hitting the sword." Mr Hammer instructed and Jin asked if he were to use full strength and infuse the hammer with energy.

    "Yeah, just use however much strength as you can. From my understanding, it should affect the end product as well." Mr Hammer said and before he could even speak another word, Jin already pulled him above his head and started to swing it downwards while holding onto the sword''s hilt. The first bang caused a shockwave of ripples that scared the entire audience momentarily.

    Even the sound was so loud that guards guarding the doors attempted to enter the throne room and wondered what was themotion.

    To their dismay, they were unable to enter because of Jin''s magical barrier but they realised that there was no problem until Jin went in with the second bang on his sword. It was invisible to the rest but the System was telling Jin to hit at certain ces and at intervals as well.

    If the dungeon supplier was not mistaken, it was something simr to those whack the moles situation where he got to hit when the hit circle that was projected on the sword turned of a certain size.

    It was slow at the start but the intervals got shorter until it sounded as if he was a professional smith, banging around while everyone around him was looking with some curiosity yet at the same time staying from a distance. The progress bar from the System eventually turned full and it needed was onest whack toplete the Improvised Smithing process.

    Hence, Jin garnered all his strength, and Maqi whenever possible to m it onest time. The weapon glowed for a bit before the light diminished and the others started to gather closer to see what Jin had made.

    It still looked like a sword but it had engravings on it. The moment Jin brought it upwards, the monster of the sword glowed ever so lightly under the dim conditions that the castle was in considering the sun had set.

    The System then reveals the stats to Jin, "Blooded Mana Sword. Rank B. The de had been reimaged as a straight de with one keen edge. The other side is blunt for mana additional mana insertion. Has the ability to leech mana and health from monsters at various intervals to replenish the user. At times, there is a 10% chance of it to create phantom daggers made out of blood or magic."

    "Eh, not so bad," Jin said as he swung his de once downwards and he was able to project the flow of magic through the sword. The rest did not know how strong it was because they did not have the capability to read whatever there was on the system''s hologram message to Jin. After all, they did not have the System.

    But what horrified them was not the sword that Jin had brandished and rather, the so called new King had decided to enter the dungeon without any care. Linus panicked for a moment to see the King to do such a rash action but stopped and looked at Gara, as if waiting for a more official order rather than just follow the King to his death.

    "If the King feels that he is strong enough to enter the dungeon by himself, let''s see how he does it. This will also give confidence to the rest of the ministers and theirckeys despite his show of power just an hour ago."Gara said. "At the very most if we feel that he is in danger, I myself will proceed to assist him."

    Linus knew that Gara could definitely clear a Rank C Dungeon easily with the current powers that he wields so this was all about how much value Jin would be able to put on the table for Gara to take action.

    However, as much as there were murmurs within the group, the magic screen that was projecting the dungeon immediately cleared their thoughts. Jin went in with his panda mask on and ughtered the Elephantmen within seconds. It was not something that Gara believed he could have done as well.

    The moment Jin made contact with the Elephantmen who were toying with the dead ministers'' bodies for all the trouble they made, he merely infused Maqi into his sword and cut them cleanly into two without any trouble. And he did it with just one swing of his sword.

    Find exclusive chapters on m-vl-em-py-r

    Only Gara and Linus who were stronger with their magical senses were able to see a visible sword arc wave projectileing out from the sword, eliminating almost every single elephant in a wide breadth.

    There was practically no need for him to aim for their trunks at all but the leader of the Elephantmen was able to block the damage from it was also partially due to the fact he was the furthest of them all from Jin''s sh. Still, that did not deter the King as he had another weapon on his other hand.

    It was Mr Hammer and he instantly threw Mr Hammer with all his might while controlling the projectile shot with some magic as well.

    The Elephantmen Leader was able to block the first strike from Mr Hammer causing it to recoil but it was also precisely why Jin had used magic to control its projectile angle, allowing Mr Hammer to go one big round and maintain its momentum.

    It was at this point, Jin shed head on with the Elephantmen Leader which forced thetter to have no choice but to defend with all its might the moment their sword and axe interacted with each other.

    This left the Elephantmen Leader to be defenceless for a moment and Mr Hammer''s strike was more than sufficient to deal a rather hard blow against the humanoid. It also made the Elephantmen Leader to flinch and Jin did a swift retract of his de so that he could dive closer to the enemy''s torso and make a clean cut.

    It did not take long for the slit on its torso to open and the leader had to put his hand there to prevent his guts from falling out considering it was an open wound. At that point, the audience could see that blood particles were slowly moving toward Jin''s sword and being absorbed by it.

    "Wow, I thought I was in full health, did not expect that I was absorbing nutrients from an elephant." Jin thought to himself as he felt more energetic and moved in to deal the killing blow. Instead of allowing the blood''s energy to enter his bloodstream through the use of his sword, he instantly infused it with Maqi causing his sword for a moment to change shape.

    Or that was what the audience saw, a silhouette of the Elephantmen was seen right above the sword and it looked as if the sword and the silhouette were attacking simultaneously from different directions.

    It confused the enemy for a moment and before it could react properly, there was a straight slice of the silhouette''s battleaxe into the temple of the elephantmen leader''s head and an extension of the cut of the initial gaping wound which caused it to fall to the ground, sumbing to death from major bleeding.

    Everyone who was watching it was astonished by the significant difference in power that the new King hadpared to all the other Kings that came before him (and of course, during their lifetimes as well) Even Gara was rather surprised by the strength of his new King as he thought that he was only magically inclined due to his magical suppression.

    He had no idea that the new king was also well versed in sword arts too.

    This meant that they really had struck gold when ites to a Warrior King. Also, if he really meant what he said by making things right for the Kingdom of Ress, it might be possible that Ress would be in good hands for the next few years.

 Chapter 2013: The Red Banquet - Final

    When the Elephantmen Leader had died, the wind gales started to pick up, making the entire ce look as if there was a sandstorm that was ongoing, however, Jin had already sensed a huge monstering from within the sandstorm.

    There was no doubt about it that it was the boss monster of the area now that the Elephantmen had already been killed. Unfortunately, the sandstorm was interfering with his senses but his inverse eyes were able to know the general direction of where the monster wasing from.

    So as Jin waited for the boss monster to emerge, he began to generate Maqi and slowly pushed that energy into his Blooded Mana Sword, waiting for the opportune time to strike.

    "Heh, looks like the boss knows that the waiting game is to its disadvantage," Jin said to himself as he saw that the boss could not wait any longer and decided to pounce into action literally.

    It was a monster that exceeded the expectation of imagination for Jin and it made him feel that he was fighting a product of a Void Being. Its ears were the trunks of the elephant while there were tusks protruding from its entire body like a porcupine.

    Jin had no idea what it was and until the System decided to just disy its name right above it as Tusk Porcupine. Jin then knew that this was merely a chimera of some sort and fighting it head on might prove detrimental.

    "If that is the case, then let''s perform some improvised smithing too," Jin said out loud and it confused Mr Hammer who was now hanging right at the side of his waist.

    "What do you want to smith, I do not see anything that is smithable?!"Mr Hammer eximed and Jin smiled. If we are fighting an enemy that is out of my imagination, then I have to let it fight something that is out of our imagination as well, is it not?" Jin said as he used the Maqi that he stored in his sword to m it on the ground.

    But instead of things flying away from the impact, corpses, weapons, and other items were being attracted by the Sword''s Maqi. It was a pulling magic and that also messed up the pounce that the Tusk Porcupine had attempted.

    At that point, Gara initially thought that he wished to use the boss monster as an ingredient. If he was able to do that, it would be hriously crazy as a power. That was what the others thought too as well until they all witnessed how Jin went to use his hammer to smack the Tusk Porcupine far away while hemenced his improvised smithing.

    All the dead corpses including the dead War Minister and the Elephantmen had been utilised in this improvised smithing and some of the audience was not too keen on Jin''s indiscriminate use of resources. At the same time, they all kept quiet, fearing that it might incur certain eyes to look at them and report them for their ''opinions''.

    However, the show went on as Jin continued his improvised smithing with a rhythmic banging of the hammer right and each material that had been used had dissipated into a sh of light.They had no idea what he was banging on because of the angle of the magic eye. (They had forgotten that the magic eye was created by Jin.)

    So, when thest final bang came about, the Tusk Porcupine did the very same pounce but this time holding on to a huge tusk while diving straight to Jin''s position.

    Somehow, it coincidentally shed with the sh of light and a huge arm emerged from the process of Improvised Smithing. It was the dead Elephantmen Leader but unlike necromancy, the monster''s gaping wound seemed to reveal mechanical parts inside of it.

    The Elephantmen Leader used its nose to wrap around the iing tusk and stopped the assault dive the Tusk Porcupine had initiated and with its trunk''s strength, it was able to m the Tusk Porcupine to the ground, rendering it rattled for a moment.

    Jin wanted to move in for the kill but he was curious what this new creation was capable of and allowed it to show more of its skills. Like a robot, a hole opened mechanically behind its back and it shot out two spears, enabling the Mechanical Elephantman to pick them up with its humanoid arms and he used them to smash them into the most vulnerable part of the Tusk Porcupine, its underbelly.

    Blood immediately spewed and the Tusk Porcupine retreated while extending all of its tusks out toward the direction of the Mechanical Elephantman. Jin did not need the smarts to move out of the way but at the same time, it would be a pity if this Mechanical Elephantman would be destroyed.

    Hence, he threw Mr Hammer to the Tusk Porcupine''s direction causing it to flinch for a moment and its release of the tusks from its back was dyed ever so slightly, allowing the Mechanical Elephantman to move away from the shot''s direction.

    But to Jin''s surprise, those tusks were not just a natural mechanism of the Tusk Porcupine. It was able to track its target and follow it no matter where it went. Still, that did not deter the Mechanical Elephantman as it used its brute force to destroy the first few before they realised that it was using the same magic as theckeys that had died. Read first at m-v le-mpyr

    The only difference was that it was unleashing it on a stronger and more powerful scale.

    However, what the audience was surprised by was that the Elephantman was not even casting at all. Magic Circles merely appeared right behind it and it shot out those magic missiles without a sound made. The multitude of magical missiles mmed right against the tusks causing a few to be intercepted while the older looking tusks were able to withstand the attacks and proceeded forward.

    A few hit the Mechanical Elephantman despite its solid defence and it was by no means the fault of the improvised product that Jin had made. Those tusks that survived the magical projectiles were even stronger than steel and they also broke the spears that the defender tried to use to defend himself.

    The fierce attack caused the Mechanical Elephantman to lose its right hand and a portion of its torso. Yet, it was still mechanically alive even though it was spewing out ''ck blood'' from parts of that had been torn by the attacks.

    The Mechanical Elephantman moved forward and its back opened a hole once more to allow a battleaxe to pop up from it, allowing the mechanical monster to have a new weapon in its hand rather than a broken shaft.

    While the Tusk Porcupine was strong, it had a fatal w. By doing that attack just now, it was supposed to kill its target instantly. However, the fact that it was a tad too far for the attack because of the danger it sensed and Jin''s interference had caused it to be now vulnerable.

    So, when the Mechanical Elephantman came, all it could do was to use its ear trunks in an attempt to wrap it and fight the attacker with teeth and ws.

    Unfortunately, the Elephantman had its trunk as well and even though the Tusk Porcupine was sessful in wrapping the Mechanical Elephantman, its trunk was able to slip out and unleash a magic circle that spew out mes that literally burnt the Boss monster to charcoal even as it struggled to bite and w its way.

    It did not have the perception that this mechanical Elephantman had no sense of touch and thus the sensation of getting burnt did not bother it at all. When everyone saw Jin cleared the Rank C Dungeon with his powers be it new or old, it was pretty obvious that they had summoned a Warrior King.

    So, when he came out of the dungeon portal, everyone was kneeling down voluntarily including the Royal Mage General to pledge genuinely their loyalty. They knew that any further resistance against this new Warrior King would be foolish.

    "All hail the new warrior king of Ress!" Everyone said in unison after Gara shouted.

    "What? I am called the Warrior King? That sounds some. Call me the Discarded King instead. It''s a promise I made with this stupid Hammer." Jin returned the reply and they stared in disbelief. Even Mr Hammer was bewildered by Jin''sment.

    "Why? What''s wrong? You guys wanted to discard me in the first ce, right? So I guess it''s fitting that my hammer''s request and the way you guys handled the situation made it appropriate for me to be called as the Discarded King."

    Gara did not exactly agree with this naming stance but at the same time understood where Jin wasing from. If he was called the Warrior King, the citizens would not care for this new king that had been summoned. But if he were to have a unique nickname despite it being a little derogatory in nature, it would attract the attention of the citizens and would allow them to be curious.

    However, Gara was yet again thinking too much of the situation as Jin really did not give a shit about titles. He had so many that he would not have bothered. The only thing that he truly bothered because of the theatrics he had made, allowing the System to grant him bonuses. While they were idolising him, Jin opened up his system to see all the notifications that he did not check just now.

    "You earned the Title. Victor of the Red Banquet. One time bonus experience to skills +20%"

    "Surviving a Banquet and while destroying supposed enemies of the state. All Stats +3"

    "To introduce a ridiculous name but also be acknowledged by the kingdom. All Stats +2"

    "Completed Rank C Dungeon by yourself. All Stats+1"

    "Creating the First Mechanical Being in this world. Magic +1, Luck +1"

    "Cutting four or more monsters in one swing. Str +1, Agi +1"

    "Destroying the major filth of the kingdom. Luck +10"

    "Heh." Jin smiled.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 2014: The Olive Branch -Part 1

    "We have a lot of things to take care of. For today and tomorrow, we rest. Gara, I do not know how you wish to address this but take it that they had died valiantly in battle when a dungeon portal popped up. Do the necessary arrangement." Jin said and Gara got his meaning.

    There was a need to have ''a little'' cover-up even though it would be pretty apparent when eventually the news got out so Jin decided to get them to give them a proper send off. It was also the least he could give them considering he had used them as a stepping stone to get the kingdom moving.

    "Acknowledged," Gara said to Jin and within hours, more mages like Linus came into the picture and started to control the flow of information, especially with those in the audience. The people who had witnessed this had dubbed it the Discarded King''s Red Banquet for he had annihted the majority of the proponents that can go against him and will go against him.

    And those that did have paid the price in blood.

    Even without the loyalty use that Jin had with the System, he believed that his actions were more than enough to show what kind of person he was and rumours would no doubt fly around. So for the next two days, he let his past actions to speak of him and people were starting to notice that this was not an ordinary king that the Kingdom of Ress had summoned.

    In the meantime, Jin kept to himself studying the Mechanical Elephantman in the interest of how to improve it or how best he could do it in the future. And while he was at it, he also studied a few other topics at hand to the best of his abilities to better understand this particr world which they had called Atopia while Gara settled the demise of the ministers and theirckeys.

    (Jin did thank the System for allowing him to read the stuff tranted.)

    At first, the minsters'' families wanted to seek revenge since they were all in power but somehow the mages under Gara were able to keep them under control as a new decree from the ministers as a whole had swiftly emerged, citing that the new king had power over their ministries as well as the affairs of the Kingdom.

    Jin was genuinely surprised that the ministers that had attended the Red Banquet understood the underlying meaning when Linus had depicted them as a bunch of fools, especially under the control of the War Minister.

    He was no longer seen just as a puppet which was a shocker to the kingdom to hear especially when they had been changing Kings as if the kingdom was changing their diapers. Everyone had no idea what to expect from this new King but it did not take much brain power and deduction to know that the demise of the ministers and the emergence of the king''s new ability to lead the country was interlinked.

    It also did not take long for missives from various royal messengers toe in from other countries to greet the new king and Jin took that opportunity to drive his objective.

    To his surprise, they agreed very willingly, and not a single hour in, every single one of the kingdoms that had been affected by this ''war'' status took part in this magical ''zoom'' conference right in the throne room where he killed the ministers.

    Jin did not expect them to act so fast and had his suspicion that the Kingdom of Ress had something unique that the others did not have, which caused the War Minister to dere War on others, and yet the other countries and kingdoms did not dare to invade.

    He was missing vital information and there was no one around at that point of time when he was about to do the magic conference that was held right in the throne room.

    However, Jin did find it a little creepy how this tele conference was conducted. It was basically something simr to a remote body possession where the royal messengers sent the message back via magic and they all got possessed by the consciousness of the kings and queens who were ruling the kingdoms to be in the same meeting room as Jin.

    "Greetings and congrattions are in order to the New King of Ress. I am from the kingdom of -" Before the person could finish, Jin stopped him.

    "I am sorry, I am not too fancy about the royal etiquette and your messengers had already defined themselves which kingdom they are representing. At the same time, I also could not catch the names of your kingdoms so please apologise if I messed up. However, let''s get cut straight to the chase. There is a lot of housekeeping I need to do before I can properly attend to foreign rtions.

    I would need some time before we can do proper negotiations." Jin dered and without giving them any time to speak, he told him about his negotiations.

    "I have noted that we are currently at War due to the selfishness of my War Minister who is now dead. I might have done something wrong killing him without asking why he did it but no matter, to have a War status with all my neighbouring countries was something I would not like to have as well either. So, I am putting out an official olive branch to offer peace to all of you."

    "Are you willing to have reparations prepared along with the olive branch?" One of the Kings asked and Jin sighed.

    "No, I do not and will not prepare any reparations orpensations. Let''s make it a mutual understanding that we just wanted peace. Or at the very least, a ceasefire."

    "I am afraid without any reparations, I am unwilling to change this war status. Since your kingdom had started the War, we need to negotiate for certainpensation as your previous War Minister had greatly hurt us in his dealings. I understand it is not your fault since we know from the beginning of time that your Kings change consistently and you are not in the known."

    "Huh, so they know about this summoning procedure...Is this the unique thing that the Kingdom of Ress has?" Jin thought to himself and shook his head. This negotiations might be more troublesome than he thought but with iplete information at hand, there was nothing much he could do either than to cope.

 Chapter 2015: Olive Branch -Part 2

    "I maintained my stance that I am starting afresh and not willing to put out thesepensations or reparations.

    You work with me, I will eventually help you once I sorted the Kingdom out." At that moment, there were some murmurs and discussions among the kings and queens through their proxies which gave a great deal of information about what kind of rtionship they had with each other and how close they were with each other. Or how are they colluding against the Kingdom of Ress?

    It did not take long for Jin to understand that they could be in cahoots and Jin needs to do something about it or else, he and the Kingdom will be seen as weak. Yet at the same time, he was curious about their reply and waited for them to speak to him first.

    "King Jin. It looks like we reached an impasse and at the very most, we can give you a ceasefire with a basicpensation of at least 50,000 gold." One of the kings said and he remembered he was from the Kingdom of Ends, possibly thergest kingdom that had the most borders with Resspared to the other three Kingdoms. "This is to cate the Alliance of Kingdoms that I am with.

    Not to mention, you did not send this message to the fifth kingdom and were not in attendance at this meeting. We have to tell him to cease all war preparations as well for the time being."

    "I see." Jin did not know the value of 50,000 gold whether it was a shit ton or was the appropriate amount forpensation. Still, he shook his head and stood firm "Ceasefire for half a year and nopensation." He knew that putting a date out would definitely give them some pause to think for a moment...or that''s what he hoped.

    Instead, all he got was a reduction of 10,000 gold from the original asking price of thepensation and he sighed hard. He had no idea of the finances of the kingdom and they were taking this chance to rip him off.

    "Very well, let''s leave the war status as it is. And since you all are not in the mood of having peace, I shall do the same. We will close import and export trade routes as of next week Friday." Jin said and somehow this made the Kings and Queens start to show signs of panic attacks.

    "This is preposterous. What can one kingdom do against an ongoing onught of demons and fend off the might of five kingdoms with an alliance of other smaller kingdomsbined? Are you out of your mind?" The King of Ends shouted the loudest through his messenger. However, Jin felt that they finally showed their true colours.

    Perhaps it was because they had forgotten they were in this remote magical meeting but their faces were showing expressions of greed and sess. Probably the sess of forcing the King to make such a stupid decision. They believed that if the new king of Ress was grabbing power, he would want to do the same by grabbing power against the other kingdoms.

    And now that their war ministry is in disarray, It was their time to swoop in and split the kingdom of Ress to the five kingdoms.

    "So, there was really something they wanted from Ress but they were going to the extent of sharing the spoils ." Jin thought to himself as he at the very least understood that the geographical location of Ress was extremely sucky considering it was the borders against the ravagednds by the demons and the borders of the rest of the kingdoms.

    They would not be so stupid to increase theirnd mass just so that the demons could whack them harder. Therefore, it got to be something that Ress got to offer that they were willing to go to war with and how the War Minister holds so much power.

    It was at that moment Gara happened toe in at the right time as if to see what kind of decision that Jin was about to make yet simultaneously, understood that Jin did not have the knowledge to make an informed decision.

    "Sure, why not?" Jinid back on his throne and gave such a reply, as if not giving a hoot about the current situation.

    Gara realised this was actually a good time toe in and provide the information that he solely needed. "Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider this very carefully. The trades with the five kingdoms especially with regard to the trade of magical crystals are extremely important. We are sitting on a deep mine of crystals but considering how people are mostly mages, there is really no use of it to us.

    It''s a different story to the kingdoms who are relying on these crystals since they have very few mages."

    Jin smiled when Gara provided the info that he needed and suspected while Gara continued. "Not to mention, we sell them with the services of mages for the fight against the demons. While there is no human trading allowed, I am afraid if they invade us, they will trade our mages as products instead." Stay updated with m-v le-mpyr

    "Oh, is it? Then I guess I do need to consider it more." Jin said and the Kingdoms were a little annoyed that this Royal Mage General gave out information that was vital in his decision making.

    "So, with the war, we can control the number of magesing out, huh? As much as they did not like it, they had to pay the price that the War Minister had put up. Am I right?"

    "Yes, perhaps if we can negotiate with the prices of service mages then we might also be able to enact a ceasefire." One of the Queens identally blurted out which made Jin suspect that the situation on the mages must be rather severe for the other kingdoms.

    And despite the sanctions that the kingdoms had ced, Ress was still able to survive up till now and with the War Minister drowning in money for his luxury parties for the privilege.

    "Gah, why is it always so corrupted." Jin thought to himself as he gave his ultimatum. "It is unfortunate that when offered a simple olive branch, I was being shunned with the desire ofpensation. And while I threatened to close trades, I had been retaliated forcefully by the five kingdoms.

    Seeing the situation as such, I shall continue to stand my ground and demand that the roads are to be closed and the Kingdom of Ress will stop trade with every single nation by the end of next week."

    "Yes, my lord. I will get the ministers to enforce it." Gara said as he obediently nodded his head andplied with that order. In his mind, the thoughts were already spinning, thinking what is to be expected from his new King.

    And those thoughts were rather positive as he honestly could not wait what trouble this Discarded King will make to improve the situation that he will throw Kingdom of Ress into.

    Basically, this would be the change Gara was waiting for so long. It looked like he did not need to work overthrow the entire government after all now that this King might be here for good to clean everything up.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!